iPhone 15 launch expected on Sept 12, as Apple sends Wonderlust event invite

The guessing game is finally over, as Apple has confirmed plans for its September 12 'Wonderlust' event -- where among other things the iPhone 15 series is expected to be unveiled. There was some uncertainty over the past week or so, whether Apple's September iPhone 15 event is going to be on Sept 12th or 13th, but that confusion is put to bed by Apple's confirmation.

In fact, just a few days ago, there was some speculation that the iPhone 15 event may even be delayed or pushed back by a week from its original schedule, due to alleged production delays of the iPhone 15 -- especially the iPhone 15 Pro Max reportedly. 

Also read: India to make 25-percent of iPhones all over the globe, hints Apple and govt sources

The iPhone 15 series devices will be of special significance from an Indian perspective. Not only has production of iPhone 15 already began in India -- a first for the country, where a hitherto unannounced iPhone is already being produced, something that has never happened before -- but Apple is planning to ramp up India's overall iPhone production from 7-percent to 25-percent of the company's overall global supply chain. 

What to expect in the iPhone 15 series

Quite a few landmark changes are confirmed to arrive on the iPhone 15, thanks to a series of leaks over the past year. The biggest change of it all is of course the ditching of the Lightning Port and embracing the USB Type-C port for charging and data transfer. There's a whole new Action Button expected on the left edge of the iPhone 15 series which will also act as a mute slider. As always, the iPhone 15 is going to ring in some new colours with Titanium frame.

Also read: Apple iPhone 15 updates: New colours, reason behind price hike explained

There's also intense speculation around the naming of the highest-end iPhone 15 series phone model - will it be iPhone 15 Pro Max or will Apple prefer the iPhone 15 Ultra instead? Beyond the nomenclature, the highest end iPhone 15 series model is expected to debut a 10x periscope lens -- a first ever on an iPhone.

From a price perspective, various reports are indicating that even if the price of the base model of the iPhone 15 remains unchanged compared to the price of the base model of iPhone 14 in the past, that Apple will most likely increase the price of its Pro or Ultra variants of the iPhone 15. The justification for this price increase could be the introduction of a Titanium model of iPhone 15, among other things.

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Indian govts laptop and PC import ban effective from November 1, despite manufacturer appeals

In a recent development, the government has reaffirmed its stance on not delaying the impending restrictions on the import of laptops, personal computers, and tablets. These measures, which entail the compulsory acquisition of licenses for bulk imports of these devices, are slated to become effective from November 1, 2023.

Notably, prominent industry players engaged in a discussion with Rajeev Chandrashekhar, the Minister of State for the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), where they sought an extension of the transition phase by approximately 6 to 12 months.

Also read: Laptop import ban explained: Do you need to worry about your next purchase?

Alkesh Kumar Sharma, the secretary of MeitY, expressed satisfaction with the overwhelming response garnered by the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) initiative targeting large-scale electronics. Consequently, he underscored that there is no justification for extending the transitional period for these corporations to commence domestic manufacturing. Sharma elaborated, "We have already received 58 registrations encompassing a spectrum of participants, ranging from large and small entities to both domestic and international stakeholders. With the application window for the scheme open until August 30, 2023, we anticipate further participation."

The government had made an unexpected announcement on August 4, unveiling import constraints on personal computers, laptops, and tablets. Following significant uproar, however, the authorities opted to postpone the implementation of these restrictions until November 1.

Also read: Lenovo Legion Slim 5 16IRH8 Review: A solid gaming laptop, but you can get better for cheaper

During their interaction with Minister Chandrasekhar, prominent laptop manufacturers including but not limited to Dell, Acer, Samsung, Panasonic, Apple, Lenovo, and HP, articulated several concerns regarding the decision and the intricacies involved in obtaining the requisite licenses.

As it stands, the restrictions on the import of select electronic items are slated to take effect from November 1, 2023. Despite industry appeals, the government remains steadfast in its commitment to enforcing these measures as planned.

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Realme C51 could offer 33-watt fast charging under 10,000: Launch on September 4

Realme has confirmed the launch date of its upcoming entry level smartphone, the C51. It will launch on September 4. The company has also confirmed that the smartphone will come with 33-watt SUPERVOOC fast charging support. Along with that, this smartphone will feature an alleged mini capsule on display. This capsule is positioned on either side of the notch, offering access to details like data usage, step count, charging status, and notifications.

On the design front, the upcoming Realme C51 phone could feature flat edges and the sim card tray will be placed on the left side, while on the right side there will be volume rocker and power button. You will be able to purchase it in two colour options that are Blue and Black. The smartphone will come with a dual tone finish; glossy upper back with solid matte texture. Apart from that, there will be three camera rings on the back but the catch here is one of them consists of the LED flash.

Also read: Realme C55 Review: Fantastic battery life, performance could be better

Unfortunately, the company has not revealed any other details of the Realme C51 other than these, but the smartphone has been already rolled out in other regions such as, Taiwan, Cambodia and Indonesia. Let’s check out what this other variant offers. 

The global variant Realme C51 features a 6.7-inch LCD 120Hz display with HD+ resolution. It is powered by Unisoc T612 chipset and is packed with a 5000mAh battery with 33-fast charging support. It has a 50-megapixel dual camera setup and a 5-megapixel selfie shooter. 

Also read: Realme C51 reportedly cheaper than Realme C53: Check leaked specs and features

The Realme C51 is expected to launch in India under ₹10,000, and is most likely to be available on Flipkart and Realme’s official website. However it is also expected to launch at a cheaper price than its predecessor, Realme C53. The Realme C53 was launched in India at a price of ₹9,999. 

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Vivo V29e Review: Slim on size, not on your pocket

So the Vivo V29e, in a nutshell, is overpriced. Yes, it comes with Vivo’s premium design language with the curved glass and everything, and we get a very good camera setup with great battery. However, the underwhelming performance puts all of that on the side, since no matter how good the camera or design could be, offering a Snapdragon 695 at a sub-₹30,000 price isn’t justified at all and makes the Vivo V29e really difficult to recommend. 

It wasn’t very long ago, I was writing the review for the Vivo V27 Pro and wondered how often does the brand update its V-series devices, since it hadn’t been long since I reviewed the predecessor, the Vivo V25 Pro. Now, as I write the review for the first smartphone in the Vivo V29 series, I am sure that this is not an yearly update and is more of an 8-month upgrade from the brand. Yes, the successor to the Vivo V27 Pro is still a couple of months away, but that will also make for a nice 7-8 months update cycle for Vivo’s popular mid-range devices.

The Vivo V29e is the youngest of the lot. This is the device that will sit at the bottom of the lineup, below the Vivo V29 and the Vivo V29 Pro, both of which are expected to arrive in October this year. Now, while it sits at the bottom of the pyramid, the Vivo V29e also targets the mid-range segment between the ₹25,000 to ₹30,000 price band. But apart from the premium look and feel, does the smartphone justify this price? Let’s find out:

Vivo V29e Review: Design

The Vivo V29e is a beautiful phone. It looks premium, it feels nice and light in the hands, it is slim. We get a curved front and back, with this sort of dual-tone back where we also get a glossy patterned stripe running through the left side of the back panel. The smartphone is also super lightweight and very slim, making it super handy and very easy to hold and use with one hand.

This time around, there is no camera module. Instead, the rear cameras protrude out of the back panel of the back panel, with the LED flash placed on the right of the camera cutouts. We also get Vivo’s branding for the camera features on the gloss patterned stripe on the back panel of the smartphone. Up front, things are familiar. There is a hole-punch curved display with the camera cutout in the middle of the screen.

Overall, it is a slightly new implementation to a familiar design that we have come to know the Vivo V-series smartphones to be in the last couple of years. We get the familiar curved back and front, along with a super slim and light profile with a hint of change with the back panel and the new camera implementation.

Vivo V29e Review: Display

The display on the Vivo V29e is a 6.78-inch 10-bit curved AMOLED panel with a 120Hz refresh rate and an FHD+ resolution (1260x2800p) with support for HDR10+. The display is good. The first time you set eyes on this display, it is a pleasant and smooth experience. It is nicely sharp and detailed, and the colour representation is also pretty good.

The smartphone’s display has three colour profiles - Standard, Bright, and Pro. Here, the Pro is the one that is the most colour accurate (sRGB), while the other two, standard and bright are towards the saturated side, with the Standard profile being the DCI-P3 profile, and the Bright one being the saturated colour tone that is only there to make the display appear more vibrant.

I tested the colour accuracy on the most colour accurate “Pro” colour profile on the Vivo V29e, and the smartphone passed with flying colours! In the sRGB colour checker analysis, the Vivo V29e showed an average DeltaE of 2.4, which means that the Vivo V29e’s display represents colours very close to their original. For any display, an average DeltaE of under 3 is considered very good.

In the grayscale test, the Vivo V29e followed Gamma 2.4 quite evenly, but smartphone displays are more tuned towards Gamma 2.2, since Gamma 2.4 is more tuned towards viewing content in darker spaces. Apart from that, the Vivo V29e showed a good RGB balance during the grayscale test.

Coming to brightness, the Vivo V29e has quite a bright panel on offer. The smartphone showed a maximum luminance of 842 when I tested the brightness using a Lux Meter. Now, the numbers are pretty good, but the sunlight visibility of the Vivo V29e isn’t very good. At times, it felt like the smartphone is lacking that vibrancy that makes it stand out in the brightest of environments.

Overall, it is a very good display. It is accurate, it is responsive, and it is vibrant in the colour profiles meant to make the display stand out. The sunlight visibility isn’t the best we have seen, but that isn’t a deal breaker. What could be one though, is that the Vivo V29e doesn’t support HDR content on YouTube.

Vivo V29e Review: Performance

Coming to performance, this is the biggest chink in Vivo’s V-series’ armour. Year after year, the Vivo V-series smartphones have praised with their premium look and feel, but the performance is something Vivo only recently fixed with the V27 Pro. The Vivo V29e, sadly, doesn’t take that trend forward. 

For a Rs 27,000 pricetag, the Vivo V29e only offers a Qualcomm Snapdragon 695, making it probably the second-most expensive smartphone to come with the Snapdragon 695 chip. This budget chipset from Qualcomm is usually seen in smartphones around the Rs 20,000 range. 

As usual, I ran a bunch of benchmarks, and my first brush with just how low the price-to-performance ratio is, was when the smartphone wasn’t able to run AnTuTu and I had to download AnTuTu Lite in order for the benchmark to run on the Vivo V29e. It is a bit of a shame for a Rs 27,000 smartphone to not be able to run one of the most common benchmarks. The score, as expected, wasn’t the best in its segment. The Vivo V29e scored 453,640 points in AnTuTu, which is about half of what some of the competing devices were able to put out.

On other benchmarks also, the Vivo V29e lagged way behind competition, putting out a single core score of 910 points in Geekbench Single Core test and a score of 2170 points in the Geekbench Multi-Core score. Here is a comparison of how the smartphone fares against some of its closest competitors in terms of price:

Apart from the benchmark scores, I also found the Vivo V29e slightly underpowered while using the smartphone for high performance tasks. While playing games for prolonged sessions, for example, I experience frame drops quite a few times. The smartphone also heated up quite a bit while gaming or using the camera. Further, the software, as usual, did not make the experience any better. The Vivo FunTouch OS as usual, has a bunch of bloatware and there are a bit too many permissions and pop-ups while doing just about anything for the first time on the Vivo V29e.

Vivo V29e review: Battery

Now, while the performance may not be up to the mark, but the battery backup on the Vivo V29e is brilliant. The smartphone comes with a 5,000mAh battery with support for 44W fast charging. The 5,000mAh battery unit gives the Vivo V29e enough juice for the smartphone to last more than 1.5 days easily, even with heavy usage.

I tested the battery quite extensively. The smartphone only lost 4 percent of its battery while playing Call of Duty Mobile on the highest-possible settings for 15 minutes. In one hour of GPS navigation, the Vivo V29e lost only 6 percent battery, which is great. In our video loop test, the smartphone lasted a brilliant 1220 minutes which is more than 20 hours! That is brilliant battery life. The 44W fast charger, on the other hand, feels slightly slow as it took about an hour to charge from 0-100 percent. 

Vivo V29e: Camera

Coming to camera performance, this is an area where Vivo has established itself as one of the best in the game. The Vivo V29e aims to take that forward and offer a brilliant camera experience in the sub-Rs 30,000 segment. Now, has the smartphone been able to achieve that? I’m not very sure. We get a dual rear camera setup with a 64-megapixel primary shooter, and an 8-megapixel wide-angle lens.

The images out of this dual camera setup are good. Almost always, we get a sharp and detailed image on the smartphone, which is good in dynamic range. However, the images lack a certain vibrancy that people look for in smartphone photos.

The portraits on the Vivo V29e are very good. This is where we see Vivo’s expertise in the camera department come forth. The details on the subject remain intact, with brilliant edge detection and very good background blur. Good stuff.

In low light, the camera struggles at times and the images lack details or are hazy in certain scenarios. Around the lights also, we see some halo effect, but that is not the case all the time.

Vivo V29e: Verdict

So the Vivo V29e, in a nutshell, is overpriced. Yes, it comes with Vivo’s premium design language with the curved glass and everything, and we get a very good camera setup with great battery. However, the underwhelming performance puts all of that on the side, since no matter how good the camera or design could be, offering a Snapdragon 695 at a sub-₹30,000 price isn’t justified at all and makes the Vivo V29e really difficult to recommend. 

Yes, we may not get as premium a design as this, but there are smartphones that offer a good enough camera along with brilliant performance and a better display in this range. So yeah, the Vivo V29e isn’t the best phone for this budget, but if you want something that looks good and has a brilliant battery with spare money lying around, you can take a look at the Vivo V29e.

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New Intel Xeon chips fffer 240-percent more performance per watt but how

Intel has announced two new Xeon processors, Sierra Forest and Granite Rapids, at Hot Chips 2023. These processors are part of an effort to reduce electricity consumption in data centres, which is a significant concern for technology companies. Intel also revealed for the first time, the performance per watt of its upcoming data center chips. The company disclosed that its "Sierra Forest" chip would have 240% better performance per watt than its current generation of data centre chips. 

This announcement is particularly notable given the increasing pressure on technology firms to reduce energy consumption, a key driver for the development of more efficient chips. The push towards energy efficiency is not unique to Intel; Ampere Computing, a startup founded by ex-Intel executives, was the first to market with a chip focused on efficient cloud computing work, and AMD has also announced similar products. This competitive landscape underscores the industry-wide effort to develop solutions that can handle more computing work per chip while consuming less power.

Also read: Infinix InBook X3 Slim offers 12th Gen Intel chip and 65W fast charging at an affordable price

Ronak Singhal, a senior fellow at Intel, highlighted the practical implications of the new chips for data centre operators. He noted that Intel's customers could consolidate older software onto a smaller number of computers inside a data centre, leading to significant power savings and a lower total cost of ownership. "I may have things that are four or five, six years old. I can get power savings by moving something that's currently on five, 10, or 15 different servers into a single new chip," Singhal said. 

"That density drives their total cost of ownership. The higher the density, the fewer systems they need." This insight provides a clear picture of how the new "Sierra Forest" and "Granite Rapids" chips can address specific challenges faced by data centre operators, ultimately contributing to more sustainable and cost-effective operations.

How do Sierra Forest and Granite Rapids Xeon chips offer higher PPW?

Sierra Forest is designed for efficiency and uses Sierra Glen E-cores, while Granite Rapids is designed for performance and uses Redwood Cove P-cores. Intel claims that Sierra Forest will provide better rack density and higher performance per watt of power used compared to its previous generation of Xeon chips. On the other hand, Granite Rapids will offer better performance in mixed artificial intelligence (AI) workloads, partly due to an improvement in memory bandwidth.

Also read: Maximize your gaming potential: Here are the top 13th Gen Intel® Core™ laptops to go beyond performance on gaming!

The new processors have a tile-based architecture, which means they are made up of different components (tiles) that can be combined in various ways to create multiple products. Some input/output (I/O) functions are separated into two HSIO chiplets, while the CPU cores and memory controllers are on dedicated compute chiplets. These components are connected by EMIB (Embedded Multi-Die Interconnect Bridge) interconnects.

Granite Rapids is seen as a traditional data center processor, equipped only with P-cores that deliver full performance. In contrast, Sierra Forest consists of chips with only smaller efficiency cores, optimized for power efficiency, area efficiency, and performance density. Both processors support PCIe 5.0/CXL 2.0, have up to 6 UPI links, and include accelerators for compression, cryptography, and data streaming. Each HSIO die also includes power control circuitry that manages the compute chiplets.

Intel plans to release Sierra Forest in the first half of 2024, followed by Granite Rapids. This release will coincide with the launch of AMD's 5th-gen EPYC Turin chips, leading to a high-performance battle between Intel and AMD. AMD's Bergamo, already on the market, has a similar approach to Sierra Forest, using dense Zen 4c cores. Intel also plans to release a second-gen E-core-powered processor, Clearwater Forest, in 2025.

Also read: Intel’s Sandra Rivera on future of AI, data centers and India’s tech moment

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BoAt Smart Ring announced: Price in India, where to buy, and more

The boAt Smart Ring has launched in India and went on sale starting yesterday, that is, August 28th. It will be available on all leading e-com sites, such as Amazon and Flipkart. Priced at Rs 8,999 the boAt Smart Ring comes with the health and fitness features of a smartwatch, and some additional capabilities that might not be seen in smartwatches.

boAt Smart Ring features

The boAt Smart Ring allows for single-hand touch controls. These touch functions include music controls, picture clicking, and app navigation. With music controls, you can use the ring to pause and play music or even go to the next or previous track. 

Also read: Boat Smart Ring specifications tipped: Would you buy a Smarting over Smartwatch?

The ring can be used as a remote shutter control for the phone it's paired with for some handsfree photos. Coming to app navigation, you can use the boAt Smart ring to swipe or navigate through certain apps. The supported apps haven't yet been mentioned by boAt.

boAt Smart Ring Health features

Of course, other than the above, you also have the boAt Smart Ring's health features. These include heart rate, SpO2 and sleep monitoring. You have temperature checking, steps and calorie measurement, and also several sports modes. All of which are commonly seen in smartwatches.

Also read: Boat reveals Smart Ring wearable device, will it rule the market?

Some more interesting features of the boAt Smart Ring are the emergency calling feature, where you can trigger an SOS call via the ring. It comes in various sizes so that you can get the right size for your finger. It also comes with a proprietary "smart" charger according to the company, and an advertised battery life of 7 days. The associated app, which can be downloaded on the Google Play or Apple store is where you will be able to track all of your stats and controls.

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Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 benchmark details leaked, check all the details here

As the Snapdragon Summit comes closer and is just two months away, we all await the upcoming flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. But ahead of its launch, a leaked benchmark listing has revealed some of its specs. The Snapdragon Summit is just 2 months away and the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 has become the talk of the town. If rumours are to be believed, the flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 will be launched earlier than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 was launched last year. 

Now, ahead of its launch, we have come across a leaked benchmark listing. This gives us a hint at what to expect from the upcoming chipset that’ll power our smartphones.

Also read: Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 appears on AnTuTu, claims to be 30-percent faster

Allegedly, tipster Digital Chat Station took to Weibo to share this leak. The tipster shared a Geekbench 5 score of the RedMagic 9. It scored 5977 in multi-score and 1596 in single-score.

The device which was tested, mentions that its motherboard is the “pineapple" moniker. This is the one that is rumoured to be the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. It runs on Android 14 and could be one of the first flagship phones to have the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3.

Also, the listing revealed that the device had one primary core with 3.19GHz, next to five middle cores at 2.96GHz clock speeds, and two cores featuring 2.27GHz. Hence, according to Digital Chat Station, the chipset could have one Cortex X4, five Cortex-A720, and two Cortex-A520, respectively. In addition to this, it will be equipped by an Adreno 750 GPU.

Also read: Xiaomi 14 series: First smartphones with Snapdragon 8 Gen 3? Check more details

The leak by Digital Chat Stating suggests that the device is using just a regular version of the chipset and there could be another version for the same chipset. This was true for this year’s  Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and "Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy" that was used especially for the Galaxy S23 series and other premium smartphones.

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