Samsung TV Plus launched in India giving users access to select free channels without a cable connection

Samsung has launched its Samsung TV Plus service in India. The service offers Samsung Smart TV users access to free TV channels. The only catch is that it is ad-supported, and that’s how the service is free. The Samsung TV Plus content is accessible through the UI of the TV. Consumers will not need to resort to an additional set-top-box or cable connection. All you need is an internet connection.

The Samsung TV plus app is accessible to consumers that have a Samsung Smart TV from 2017 or newer. The gamut of free channels will include content like news, lifestyle, technology, gaming and science, sports and outdoors, music, movies and more. 

Samsung TV Plus has been launched in India

According to Samsung, “TV Plus will also be available on most Samsung Galaxy smartphones and tablet devices with O OS or higher software version. Services for Galaxy smartphones are expected in April 2021. The TV Plus app can be downloaded from both, Samsung Galaxy Store and Google Play Store”.

Samsung says that the service is introduced keeping change in consumer behaviour during the pandemic led lockdown period in mind. During this period, consumers, “especially Millennials and Gen Z, began to explore their televisions more and more for new and exciting content”.

Samsung TV Plus is available now to Samsung TV users. In India, Samsung TV Plus offer access to 27 global and local channels. Samsung says that more partners will be on-boarded soon.

“Over the last one year, consumers have been spending more time at home. Their television sets and smartphones have become the centres of their lives, for both entertainment as well as information. We also noticed that consumers now immensely value great media content, reason why we chose to introduce Samsung TV Plus in India. Over the next few months, we expect to scale TV Plus to add more channels and content,” Reshma Prasad Virmani, Director, Services, Samsung India, said.

With the launch in India, Samsung TV Plus is available in 14 countries, including the US, Canada, Korea, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, UK, Italy, France, Spain, Australia, Brazil and Mexico. Globally, Samsung TV Plus offers Samsung Smart TV and Galaxy smartphone user’s access to 800+ channels spanning news, sports, entertainment, and much more. 

If you are looking for live TV channels, there are many options, both local and international available on YouTube. The Amazon Fire TV Stick (review) also has a dedicated section for live content catering to the cord-cutting generation.

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Zombie mode will return to Call of Duty: Mobile later this year

The ‘Zombies’ mode in Call of Duty games seems to have become a staple of the series ever since it was introduced with Call of Duty: World at War. Since then, almost all Call of Duty titles offered a zombie mode. Call of Duty: Mobile was no different. Back in 2019, the developers introduced a zombie mode in the game that was a completely separate entity from the Multiplayer and Battle Royale modes. However, the mode was removed a few weeks after launch, and it hasn’t been seen since. But now it looks like the mode will finally return to the game.

When will Zombie mode come to Call of Duty: Mobile

A post on Call of Duty: Mobile’s official Reddit page revealed that the mode will be available globally later this year. The developers note that this will be a completely “new zombies experience” so players could expect a different take as compared to the one that was released initially. Speaking of which, the Shi No Numa map which was a part of the original zombie mode in Call of Duty: Mobile will soon be released for the Chinese version of the game. 

Players have been clamouring for a re-release of the zombie mode for quite a while now. The statistics of the original zombie mode were still visible on the player profile sheet. This gave players hope for a return of the mode as it hinted that Activision hadn’t given up on it. However, Activision had been pretty quiet on the front all this while. The closest the game got to zombies for the Attack of the Dead mode that was a part of Multiplayer. Now though, it looks like players will finally get their wish. 

To recall, the original Zombies mode in Call of Duty: Mobile grouped players in teams of up to four. These players would then have to survive against waves upon waves of zombies. While the idea was pretty good, we found the execution to be a bit underwhelming. You can read more about our ideas to improve the mode here. 

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GOQii Founder Vishal Gondal Summoned by Faridabad Police Over Comments on Real Money Gaming

GOQii founder and FAUG investor Vishal Gondal has been summoned by police in Faridabad for allegedly defamatory comments about online real money gaming. Gondal had written an article about the ills of real money gaming, which has also seen multiple defamation notices.

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Xiaomi has launched the new Mi Laptop Pro laptops in China with OLED displays and 100W fast-charging

Xiaomi's existing lineup of Mi Notebook laptops is quite popular. The company offers a wide range of laptops in China and they have just added two new ultra-premium machines to the lineup - The Mi Laptop Pro 14 and the Mi Laptop Pro 15.

The newly launched Mi Laptop Pro 14 and the Mi Laptop Pro 15 are high-end laptops with premium features and top-notch specifications. The laptops' chassis is made out of 600 series aviation-grade aluminium alloy and the unibody design makes them identical to Apple's MacBook Pro laptop.

Mi Laptop Pro 14

The Mi Laptop Pro 14 sports a 14-inch LCD panel with a resolution of 2560x1600 pixels. It supports up to 120Hz refresh rate and it has an aspect ratio of 16:10. Xiaomi also claims that this display is highly colour accurate with ΔE≈1.5 colour accuracy. The display also comes with TÜV Rheinland Low Blue Light Certification.

The laptop is powered by the 11th Gen Intel Core processor coupled with 16GB RAM. You get to choose between either the Intel Core i5-11300H or the Intel Core i7-11370H processors. The Nvidia GeForce MX450 is optional on the Core i5 version but the Core i7 version has the discrete GPU as standard. You also get a 512GB PCIe SSD for storage. 

The laptop also features a 56Whr battery with 100W fast charging support. In terms of the ports, we are looking at 3 USB Type-C ports (one of them is Thunderbolt) and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Other noteworthy features of the laptop include a backlit keyboard, a large touchpad like the MacBook Pro, and a fingerprint scanner.

Mi Laptop Pro 15

Moving on to the Mi Laptop Pro 15, it features a 15.6-inch 3.5K panel with a resolution of 3000 x 2000 pixels. This one is an OLED panel with Corning Gorilla Glass protection. Xiaomi says the panel has a 1,000,000: 1 contrast ratio, 600 nits peak brightness level, ΔE≈1 colour accuracy, 16:10 aspect ratio, and 93% screen-to-body ratio.   Intel's new 11th gen processer is at the heart of these laptops. You get the same processor options as the 14-inch variant with the same amount of RAM and storage. In fact, you get the same set of features, port selection, etc. on this one too.

Mi Laptop Pro 14/15 Pricing & Availability

Xiaomi has launched the Mi Laptop Pro 14 laptop at a starting price of 5,299 Chinese Yuan which is roughly Rs 60,000. The Core i5 variant with MX450 GPU is priced at 5,999 Chinese Yuan (approx. Rs 67,000), whereas the Core i7 variant is priced at 6,999 Chinese Yuan (approx. Rs 78,000). The Mi Laptop Pro 15, on the other hand, starts at 6,499 Chinese Yuan which is approximately Rs 72,620. The top of the line variant with the Core i7-11370H with MX450 GPU is priced at 7,999 Yuan which is roughly Rs 90,000.

The Mi Laptop Pro 15 will be the one that will be available first starting April 2 whereas the Mi Laptop Pro 14 will go on pre-orders starting April 26 and will go on sale starting May 1.

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Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G launched in India with Snapdragon 865 SoC, 120Hz display

Samsung has finally launched the Galaxy S20 FE 5G in India. The phone comes to the country after the launch of the 4G variant of the phone in India earlier last year. Samsung's latest smartphone comes with an interesting spec sheet and a premium design that includes a punch-hole display, triple cameras arranged at the back. 

There are also other interesting elements about the Samsung device, including the presence of an in-display fingerprint sensor, and the presence of a Super AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate. As opposed to the 4G variant of the device, the Galaxy S20 FE 5G also gets a Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 SoC that helps it work on 5G basebands.

Samsung Galaxy S20 FE: Price

Galaxy S20 FE 5G has been launched in India at a "special introductory" price of Rs 47,999 -- including an Rs 8,000 cashback. Without the offer, the phone will be available for purchase at a price of Rs 55,999.  The phone will be available for purchase starting March 31 on Samsung.com, Amazon.in, Samsung Exclusive Stores and leading retail outlets.

Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G: Specification

In terms of hardware, there is a lot to like about the Galaxy S20 FE 5G. The phone comes with a 6.5-inch FHD+ Super AMOLED Infinity-O display with a 120Hz refresh rate and punch-hole. Underneath the hood, there's Qualcomm's powerful Snapdragon 865 SoC paired with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage that is further expandable via a microSD card slot. 

As for the cameras, the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G comes with a triple camera set-up that houses a primary 12MP wide-angle camera, a 12MP ultra-wide lens, and an 8MP telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom and up to 30x Super-Resolution Zoom. For selfies, the Galaxy S20 FE comes with a 32MP lens. Apart from these, connectivity features on the phone, we have support for 5G, 4G LTE, dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS, and USB Type-C port for data transfer and charging duties. The phone also includes an in-display fingerprint sensor for security. 

Other than this, the phone is kept alive by a 4,500mAh battery with 15W charging support. The device also comes with water resistance -- IP68 certification for water and dust-resistance.

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YouTube experimenting with removing dislikes, shooting themselves in the foot in the process

In one of the most puzzling moves ever, YouTube is experimenting with disabling the dislike button on the platform. Apart from being the worst idea ever, YouTube has stated that this move is supposed to discourage ‘dislike mobs’ from downvoting videos. It’s the most asinine reason given, but hey, it’s their won platform right? YouTube has stated that the dislike button could be disabled for the public but the channel owner will still be able to view the dislikes on their own YouTube Studio page. So, if this is about curbing bullying, allowing the user to still see the dislikes is rather hypocritical. 

 In response to creator feedback around well-being and targeted dislike campaigns, we're testing a few new designs that don't show the public dislike count. If you're part of this small experiment, you might spot one of these designs in the coming weeks (example below!). pic.twitter.com/aemrIcnrbx

— YouTube (@YouTube) March 30, 2021

Various publications have praised the move, stating that this would help creators get a more balanced like to dislike ratio. But, again who asked for this? In the official tweet, almost all the replies are skewing the company for this censorious move. Then again, this has been the trend for the past few years. Cancel culture is very real and it’s coming to YouTube as well. In fact, YouTube is going one step further and is looking at requiring users to go through various steps to just add a simple dislike. Our question still is, who asked for this? Likes and Dislikes on a video are extremely important, and it’s not just a popularity thing. It helps creators with feedback and what their audiences actually want to watch. 

Nobody actually wants this, except those creators whose content is so bad that they need to hide the amount of dislikes they get on their videos. You're actively promoting bad content by doing this.

— Cynical Reviews (@Cynical_CJ) March 30, 2021

If this does take place in the future, it could be a huge mistake for YouTube. The platform is already fighting a battle against creators and this move will only serve to alienate its older creators and people who don’t see a dislike as an end to their small careers. Trying to virtue-signal is a YouTube staple but this is just asinine and not a smart move at all. The fact that we're forced to use YouTube music over Google Play Music is indicative of the company's policies. 

 

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Vivo Y30G launched, brings dual cameras, 5000mAh battery and 65-inch display

Vivo has added a new device to its Y30 series of phones. The latest device on the list is called the Vivo Y30G which has been launched with a waterdrop notch and dual rear cameras. The new Vivo device brings with it a lot to like, including a 13-megapixel primary camera sensor, 128GB of onboard storage, and Android 11. Additionally, the phone also features support for 18W Dual Engine fast charging technology. 

Looking at the features and its spec sheet, the Vivo Y30G appears to have been launched as an upgrade to the Vivo Y30 that was launched in May last year. For now, the phone has only been launched in China, with the company announcing the Vivo Y30G at a price of CNY 1,499 (approx Rs 16,600) for its single 8GB+128GB storage variant. The Vivo phone is available in Aqua Blue, Dawn White, and Obsidian Black colours and is currently limited to China.

Vivo Y30G: Specifications

The Vivo Y30G features an interesting spec sheet. The phone comes with a 6.51-inch HD+ (720x1,600 pixels) IPS display with 20:9 aspect ratio. Underneath the hood we have an octa-core MediaTek Helio P65 SoC paired with 8GB of RAM. The Vivo Y30G also offers dual-SIM support and comes running a copy of Android 11 with OriginOS 1.0 on top. The Vivo Y30G also comes with 128GB of storage that can be expanded using a microSD card (up to 1TB). 

As for cameras, the phone features a dual rear camera setup with a 13-megapixel primary sensor and f/2.2 aperture. There's also a 2-megapixel secondary sensor with an f/2.4 aperture. For selfies, we have an 8-megapixel camera at the front with an f/1.8 aperture.

Apart from this, the phone also brings with itself a host of connectivity options including 4G LTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS/ A-GPS, Micro-USB, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Apart from this, the phone also includes a side-mounted fingerprint sensor for biometric authentication. Lights on the device are kept on by a 5,000mAh battery that supports 18W fast charging. 

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