Unity Announces Deal to Set Up China Joint Venture Amid Expansion Plans

Unity, the game software development platform used in popular games like Genshin Impact, Honor of Kings, and Call of Duty: Mobile, on Tuesday announced a deal to set up a joint venture in China, as it plans to expand in the country. The company's announcement came on the same day AppLovin offered to purchase the game development platform for $17.54 billion (roughly Rs...

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Sony LinkBuds Review: A unique experience

Owning these buds is a unique experience that cannot be matched by the offerings of any other brand. What you earn in terms of style points and unique design and features, you lose out in the form of modern-day essentials like ANC. So, if you are out in the market with a ₹20k budget, and want to try out something new, then go for it. However, if you are looking for anything close to a bang-for-the-buck experience, then stay away from these.

Sony finally took the leap and launched their LinkBuds (WF-L900) in India, pricing them at ₹19,990. This is the latest addition to Sony’s line of premium earbuds, including the Sony WF-1000XM4, which retails at the same price. With their unique design and approach towards giving the users a new audio listening and calling experience, they do stand out. But the question is, are they good enough to stand up to the standards set by others in the market? Well, to find that out, we put the earbuds through their paces in our test, and here’s what we found out.

Sony LinkBuds: Build, Design, and Fit

The Sony Linkbuds have anything but a mainstream design, and wearing them is a statement about your openness to adapting to the latest technology trends. The buds come in a plastic-free package, and their aesthetic parts (case and earbuds shell) are made using recycled plastic material. So, Sony earns the brownie points there.

When it comes to the fit of the earbuds, things start getting tricky. They are small and lightweight. However, given their 8-shaped design language, the fit is either a hit or a miss. Even with their silicon loop, which is meant to hold the buds in place, if your ears are small, then these might not fit you. Some of us at the Digit Test Centre cherished the new design and the lightweight feel of the buds, but people with smaller ears could not get it to stay within their ears. So, you should look out for that. If you have relatively big ears, these slide in like a glove.

In terms of the case, Sony trumps most other TWS makers out there. The case is really small and has great pocketability. The branding is subtle, just like on the buds themselves. The case and the buds lack the sturdiness that someone shelling close to 20k of their hard-earned money would want. The overall feel of the case is flimsy, and with no metal bracket support, you could easily break the lid of the case. And, if you like opening your earbuds case with one hand, good luck. You have to press a button in the front to open the case, which makes opening the case a task that you’d need to pay attention to get it right every time.

Sony LinkBuds: Features

What Sony loses out in terms of the design and build of the case and the fit of the buds, it makes up for it in the features department. These earbuds are a great example of how good engineering can help package well-executed features in a small form factor. Apart from the regular inclusions like in-ear detection and others, the two features that stand out the most are – adaptive volume control and wide area tap.

Let’s start with the wide-area tap. Sony LinkBuds come with a technology that Sony calls the Wide Area Tap. What this does is that it extends the touch-sensitive area from the buds over to the region in front of the ears. So, you can tap on your skin to change tracks. How cool is that!? While this may seem like a gimmicky feature at first glance, the actual performance is way above par. Sony has done a great job of implementing this feature. Even on the buds, the touch response is great.

The second on the list is the adaptive volume control which automatically changes the volume levels depending upon the ambient noise. This feature, just like the wide-area tap, outperformed our expectations. The change in volume when we shifted from one place to the other was smooth and accurate enough to ensure that our music/call was audible at all times.

However, the way that these buds are designed, they miss out on what has become a staple in premium earbuds, active noise cancellation. These earbuds lack ANC and often let too much ambient noise in due to the virtue of their design. The adaptive volume control tries to make up for it, but with little success. We cannot complain much here because when deciding to get your hands on these buds, this is what you signed up for. If you take flights often, then you should look elsewhere or get a dedicated pair of headphones with ANC. During your workouts, though, these would work just fine. They have an IPX4 rating, which is nowhere close to what you get with other products in the price range but have to live with.

In terms of the app, these use the Sony Headphones Connect app, which we discussed in our previous reviews and shared our love for. To sum it up in a single line, it has most of what you could ask for, including custom EQ controls, option to modify the touch controls, etc. Basically, it has all the bases covered.

Sony LinkBuds: Performance

The Sony LinkBuds live up to the expectations that we had set, especially considering the price and the fact that they are made by Sony, who know their way around in making good personal audio products. The soundstage is wide, and instrument separation is great on this pair. The cherry on top is Sony’s Digital Sound Enhancement Engine (DSEE), which fills in all gaps in the earbuds' sound quality.

Uncompensated frequency response graph of Sony LinkBuds (Orange)

Every track that we played on these buds sounded like what one would expect when spending so much money on a pair of TWS earbuds. However, the bass response was not that great. The bass sounded muddy and brought down the listening experience in tracks that are laden with bass instruments. The mids and the highs were as we expected them to be. Due to their design, the earbuds could not fit in the coupler of our testing rig, which meant that the bass response was not recorded well in our tests, and the other frequencies too weren’t represented with the accuracy that we’d like.

Now, coming to the microphone performance. The Sony LinkBuds are being marketed by Sony to be targeted toward providing the users with a great calling experience in which microphone performance matters. And again, Sony lives up to the standards that they have set for themselves. The audio coming from the microphones is crisp and could be heard with ease by the person at the other end, during our testing.

Sony LinkBuds: Battery Life

The LinkBuds lasted long during our tests. It took us close to five and half hours at 50 per cent volume to drain the battery of the buds. The case promises to give the buds another 12 hours of juice, which pegs the total battery life at about 17.5 hours in total. So you should get through a couple of days of usage with these. There is no ANC on these buds, which also helps them inch closer to the battery life advertised by Sony. The company is also claiming that with just 10 minutes of charge, you can get a listening time of 90 minutes.

Sony LinkBuds: Verdict

The Sony LinkBuds are unique, which means a lot of things. Firstly, there is no product that you can pit them against. Owning these buds is a unique experience that cannot be matched by the offerings of any other brand. What you earn in terms of style points and unique design and features, you lose out in the form of modern-day essentials like ANC. So, if you are out in the market with a ₹20k budget, and want to try out something new, then go for it. However, if you are looking for anything close to a bang-for-the-buck experience, then stay away from these.

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OnePlus Nord Buds Review: Go for it with caution

Priced at ₹2,799, the OnePlus Nord Buds are a good recommendation for anyone looking to buy a reliable pair of TWS earphones in the sub 3k price range. The sound quality is decent, and the best available for bass heads, and the battery performance is enough to get you through long calls.

OnePlus has launched the OnePlus Nord Buds, making it the company’s first budget true wireless earphones. The company has been trying to make inroads in the budget segment in the Indian consumer technology space, trying to ride on its insanely high price-to-performance ratio provider reputation. However, their ratios have gotten worse, and it is evident here. There has been a lot of competition in the budget TWS market, with players like Realme and Oppo bringing their A-game to the table with every launch. So, to test where the OnePlus Nord Buds stand, we put these TWS earphones through their paces in our testing process. And the results were interesting, to say the least. Here’s what we found out.

OnePlus Nord Buds Review: Build, Design, and Fit

The OnePlus Nord Buds hold their ground when it comes to build quality. The outer case, which is made of glossy plastic, despite being prone to picking up scratches over time, does give the product a premium feel. OnePlus’ attention to detail with the seams and the overall fit of the buds themselves make the purchase feel worth it, at the first glance. Fingerprints were not a noticeable issue in our white review unit. The inlaid OnePlus logo rounds up the case design perfectly, stopping it from being a plain white box that this case is.

Talking about the boxy design of the case, it is not particularly easy to fit in the pocket. Despite having a narrow body, the height of the case makes it difficult to carry around in the pocket without drawing attention. The design can be a bit polarising, some of us in the test centre liked its unique look, while others didn’t fancy it too much.

The earbuds themselves are light and feature boxy stem that tends not to protrude out. The weight of the earbuds also makes wearing them for a longer period easy. Two silver concave touch-sensitive buttons add a tasteful bling to the rather mute buds’ design. We have nothing from OnePlus to pit these against, but in comparison to others at this price, the experience of wearing them even during long writing or exercise sessions is easy on the ears. The three different-sized ear tips included in the box let the user customise the fit of the buds to a certain extent.

OnePlus Nord Buds Review: Features

At the price at which the OnePlus Nord Buds slot in, one should not hold high expectations. Even the devices that are marketed to be feature-rich, lack proper implementation of the features, making the entire user experience lackluster. However, OnePlus with these earphones lives up to the quintessential OnePlus philosophy of the yesteryears. Doing less but doing it well.

There is no ANC, the range is decent, and there is no wireless charging. These are the features that one shouldn’t expect in this price range too. When we got to our testing though, all the remaining scoring slots took no time to be populated with what we can call decent numbers.

They come with an IP55 rating, which makes them fit to be worn during workout sessions. The controls are intuitive and responsive. The concave shape of the touch-sensitive area on the buds makes it very easy to locate the touch points. Controls can be modified to trigger various actions in the settings menu in select devices, while other users will have to download the HeyMelody app. This itself isn’t densely packed with features but has the essentials like custom and preset EQ settings and touch control modification menu. The battery level indicator in the app is a nice addition as it lets users gauge how much longer they can jam to their favourite tracks, before the juice runs out on these earphones.

OnePlus Nord Buds Review: Performance

In the earlier section, we were talking about jamming to the tunes on the OnePlus Nord Buds. So, let's tell you what we found when we tested the audio performance of these earphones. On the spec sheet, things look impressive. They come equipped with 12.4 mm Titanium drivers that support Dolby Atmos. But the actual performance was underwhelming.

Uncompensated frequency response graph of OnePlus Nord Buds (Light Pink) vs Neutral (Dark Green)

We had set out with high expectations when we decided to play Hotel California on these earphones. It was not long before though that we were brought back to the reality that these are a budget pair of earphones. The sound that we got was laden with bass, with the highs and the mids missing the punch that one would expect a driver of the size that is there in this pair should have.

Uncompensated frequency response graph of OnePlus Nord Buds (Light Pink) vs Realme Buds Air 3 (Orange)

As we played different tracks one thing was apparent that these are meant for the bassheads. For anyone apart from this section that would love the OnePlus Nord Buds, the listening experience would be pretty underwhelming. They came out behind their direct competition on the market, the Realme Buds 3 in our testing process.

Tracks like Uptown Funk sounded fine, but as we moved to the tracks with higher instrument density and a wide soundstage, things got worse. For the price, it is acceptable. These are in no way the next Airpods killer, but OnePlus is also not the company that it used to be, making flagship killers in every segment that they explored. Noise isolation with a sung fitting tip was also decent.

Moving on to the performance of the microphone. This is where OnePlus Nord Buds redeemed themselves. The sound, although muddy at times was clear and even in the most challenging situations, the buds held their ground well. Ambient sounds were suppressed well during calls. Again, not to forget, this is when compared to other similarly priced devices. So, tune your expectations accordingly.

OnePlus markets support for Dolby Atmos with the Nord Buds. However, it is limited to certain high-end devices, and could not be found working with the Nord CE2 that we used during our testing. So, make sure to check the list of supported devices before making your purchase decision.

OnePlus Nord Buds Review: Battery Life

The OnePlus Nord Buds played music for six and a half hours straight during our testing, with the volume set to around 50 per cent. The case promises to provide another four full charges to the earbuds, which would push the overall battery life to around 30 hours. This is standard in TWS earphones these days, and the lack of ANC and transparency modes helps the OnePlus Nord Buds match the numbers mentioned on the spec sheets. With the additional Flash Charge capability baked in, as advertised you can get 5 hours of playback with just 10 minutes of charging.

OnePlus Nord Buds Review: Verdict

Priced at ₹2,799, the OnePlus Nord Buds are a good recommendation for anyone looking to buy a reliable pair of TWS earphones in the sub 3k price range. The sound quality is decent, and the best available for bass heads, and the battery performance is enough to get you through long calls. In terms of features, they are less but well done. Touch controls are intuitive and accurate, and the buds are IP55 rated, meaning that sweaty workout sessions shouldn’t affect these lightweight earbuds. While these earbuds are perfect for a basshead, you should look elsewhere if you are looking for a well-balanced sound.

If we were to sum up the verdict in a single sentence here, it would be – budget package, that punches well within its weight.

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Indias SSLV rocket with earth observation satellite lifts off into space

India's brand new rocket Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV-D1) on Sunday morning lifted off with an earth observation satellite-02 (EOS-02) formerly known as Microsatellite-2 weighing about 145 kg.  Piggybacking on that was the eight kg AZAADISAT built by 750 students of government schools facilitated by SpaceKidz India. At about 9.18 a.m. the 34 metre tall and 120 ton rocket broke free of the first launch pad and started its maiden upward one way journey carrying the two satellites. The rocket with a thick orange flame at its tail slowly gathered speed and went up and up. Just over 12 minutes into its flight, the SSLV-D1 will put into orbit the EOS-2 satellite and a few seconds later the AZAADSAT will be orbited. According to the ISRO, the SSLV is a ready to transfer rocket with modular and unified systems with standard interfaces for production by the industry. The SSLV design drivers are low cost, low turnaround time, flexibility in accommodating multiple satellites, launch-on-demand feasibility, minimal launch infrastructure requirements and others, ISRO said. The commercial arm of ISRO, NewSpace India Ltd plans to transfer the SSLV technology for production in the private sector. The Indian space agency said the EOS-02 satellite is an experimental optical imaging satellite with high spatial resolution. The objective is to realise and fly an experimental imaging satellite with short turnaround time and showcase launch on demand capability. The new technologies realised for the Microsat series of spacecrafts include payloads with a common fore optics and metallic primary mirror realised with the limited mass and volume of Microsat Bus, ISRO said. With the new launch vehicle included in its product lineup, ISRO will have three rockets -- Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and its variants (cost about Rs 200 crore), Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-MkII cost about Rs 272 crore and Mk III Rs 434 crore) and SSLV (Development cost of three rockets about Rs 56 crore each) and production cost may go down later. According to SpaceKidz India, the significance of this project is that it has been conceptualised as a tribute to mark the 75th anniversary of Independence. "From 75 government schools for girls across India, we have selected 10 students to give this opportunity. The selected students are predominantly from Classes 8-12. This is a first of its kind Space mission with an 'All women concept' to promote women in STEM as this year's UN theme is 'Women in Space'," SpaceKidz India said. Niti Aayog has partnered for this project to bring this opportunity to students of the government girl schools across India. Hexaware is supporting by funding the project.

(Except for the headline, the rest of this IANS article is un-edited)

For more technology news, product reviews, sci-tech features and updates, keep reading Digit.in

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Indian Dota 2 team wins bronze at Commonwealth Esports Championship 2022

Commonwealth Games 2022 is being held in Birmingham, England. It started on July 28 and today, i.e., August 8 will be the last day. India has won several medals in this CWG and making us even prouder is the Indian team winning the Dota 2 match for a bronze medal. Yes, this was the inaugural esports championship and our team has left a lasting impression. 

Here are the details.

India wins bronze in esports championship at CWG 2022

India wins the first match against New Zealand, One more to go and we have the medal#indianesports #esports #india #teamindia @narendramodi @ianuragthakur @KirenRijiju @NisithPramanik @Rajeev_GoI @WeAreTeamIndia @IndiaSports @INOXMovies @artsmithconcept @MandehaJ pic.twitter.com/w7iHRW0LD7

— Esports Federation of India (@esfindia) August 7, 2022

Rocket League, DOTA 2, and eFOOTBALL were the three esports additions to the CWG games 2022. Of the three, it is Dota 2 where Indian players bagged the bronze. 

The Dota 2 team led by Moin Ejaz had unfortunately failed against Malaysia in the semi-finals but things turned around in their favor in the following match against New Zealand.

Image Source: Talkesports

The Indian contingents included Moin Ejaz, Ketan Goyal, Abhishek Yadav, Shubham Goli, and Vishal Vernekar. 

Our guys had a clear victory in Game 1 but New Zealand players gave a tough game in the mid-game. However, gladly, Moin and the team fared well in the second game and secured the bronze medal.

Now, even though the victory is not officially counted in the medal count, the bronze medal in the Commonwealth is still praiseworthy. We congratulate Team India!

For more technology news, product reviews, sci-tech features and updates, keep reading Digit.in

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Samsung to release its foldable tablet soon

The Korean smartphone manufacturer, Samsung, who seems to be single-handedly carrying the baton for foldable phones forward, looks to be set to announce its first foldable tablet soon. The industry leaks suggest that this move might come in the next six months.

Samsung, since the launch of its first foldable phone, the Galaxy Fold, back in 2019, has been busy expanding its foldable phone lineup. The company has been announcing newer phones year on year and stands as one of the only prominent smartphone manufacturers to be dedicating effort and resources to making better foldable phones. The latest foldable phones in Samsung’s lineup are the Z Flip 3 and Fold 3, with them now looking towards foldable tablets.

Samsung could soon unpack its foldable tablet

As per a blog post published on Naver, Samsung’s take on a foldable tablet could be announced simultaneously along with its flagship Tab S9. The source of this claim comes from the local hinge suppliers that are reportedly prepping for shipping newer hinges that could be fitted onto tablets. This announcement could happen sometime between January and February 2023.

While there are a whole lot of sources across the internet giving out leaked information about the upcoming foldable phones, this is one of the first instances where information about Samsung’s foldable tablet has come to the surface. No matter how little information we may have on this new tablet, it is safe to say that it is not beyond Samsung’s radar to work on a foldable tablet.

Nevertheless, if Samsung comes out with a new tablet or not, it can be said that the upcoming Unpacked event on August 10 will have a lot in store for the tech circles to talk about.

For more technology news, product reviews, sci-tech features and updates, keep reading Digit.in.

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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Open Beta Dates Revealed, Starts September 18

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 beta is coming in September. PS5 and PS4 users get first access, running from September 18 to 20. PC and Xbox players can participate in the playtest from September 24 to 26. Those who pre-order Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II gain early access as well.

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