News on Science and Technology

Apple announced three new phones, iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max and iPhone XR. Today I'll be writing about the XR, the most affordable one. iPhone XR is almost the last year's  iPhone X with some changes in the display, camera, processor and build materials. Let's check out the specifications first: Display:  6.1 inch IPS LCD display with 828×1792 resolution (19.5:9) and a notch. Chip-set:  Apple A12 Bionic. Variants:  64/128/256 GB ROM with 3 GB RAM. microSD Card Support:  No. Cameras:  12 MP (f/1.8, 28 mm, 1/2.55", 1.4 micro meter, OIS, PDAF, Quad LED dual tone flash, HDR) rear camera and 7 MP (f/2.2, 32 mm) front camera. OS:  iOS 12. Battery:  No mAh values yet. But Apple told this. Price:  Starting from ₹76,900. Design: The iPhone XR follows the design language of the iPhone X . But there are some changes. The bezels are a bit thicker as iPhone XR sports a LCD panel in place of a OLED one and LCD panels can not be bent. Th...

So, if you want a phone with dual cameras on back and two-day battery life along with a notch on a more pocket friendly package than the Redmi Note 5 Pro then here's a phone for you, Redmi 6 Pro. It's basically the Indian version of the Chinese variant of Mi A2 Lite. Let's go through the specifications first. Display:  5.84 inch IPS LCD display with 1080×2280 resolution (19:9) and a notch. Chip-set:  Octa-core Qualcomm® Snapdragon© 625. Variants:  32 GB ROM with 3 GB RAM and 64 GB ROM with 4 GB RAM. microSD Card Support:  Supports up-to 256 GB. Cameras:  12 MP (f/2.2, 1.25 micro meter, PDAF) with 5 MP (f/2.2, 1.12 micro meter, Depth Sensor) rear cameras and 5 MP (f/2.2) front camera. OS:  MIUI 9.6 on top of Android 8.1 Oreo. Battery:  4000 mAh. Price:  Starting from ₹10,999. Design: The phone basically carries the modern design language of Xiaomi devices and looks like the Redmi 6. But the phone is bigger with 5.84 inch displa...

Xiaomi has brought dual rear cameras at a pocket friendly price with the Redmi 6. It's basically the Redmi 6A, but better than the 6A in some aspects. Let's go through the specifications first. Display:  5.45 inch IPS LCD display with 720×1440 resolution (18:9). Chip-set:  Octa-core MediaTek® Helio© A22. Variants:  32 GB ROM with 3 GB RAM and 64 GB ROM with 4 GB RAM. microSD Card Support:  Supports up-to 256 GB. Cameras:  12 MP (f/2.2, 1.25 micro meter, PDAF) with 5 MP (f/2.2, 1.12 micro meter, Depth Sensor) rear cameras and 5 MP (f/2.2) front camera. OS:  MIUI 9.6 on top of Android 8.1 Oreo. Battery:  3000 mAh. Price:  Starting from ₹7999. Design: Design wise the phone got a new look. The phone is thinner and the sides are more curved now providing a better grip. The camera module has changed. The new module holds the  two lens in a black pile shaped cabin with a flash beside this. A line has gone through the middle of t...

Xiaomi launched their new budget phone Redmi 6A in India. The phone seems to be very promising in a reasonable price. Let's go through the specifications first. Display: 5.45 inch IPS LCD display with 720×1440 resolution (18:9). Chip-set: Quad-core MediaTek® Helio© A22. Variants: 16 GB ROM with 2 GB RAM and 32 GB ROM with 3 GB RAM. microSD Card Support: Supports up-to 256 GB. Cameras: 13 MP (f/2.2) rear camera and 5 MP (f/2.2) front camera. OS: MIUI 9.6 on top of Android 8.1 Oreo. Battery: 3000 mAh. Price: ₹5999. Design: Design wise the phone is better than it's predecessor Redmi 5A. The sides are more curved now providing a better grip. The camera module has changed. The new module holds the lens along with the flash in a black pile shaped cabin. The speaker is on the back of the phone. And there's the new 18:9 display. Display: The display got bigger. So, more intuitive experience on the go. You will be satisfied for your bucks. Performance:...

India wins bronze medal in eSports in the Asian Games 2018. eSports is added to Asian Games this year. This is a demonstration event and includes popular tittles like League of Legends, Starcraft II, Hearthstone, PES 2018, Clash Royale and Arena of Valor. The re-presenter of India for Hearthstone was Tirth Mehta with the gamer name 'gcttirth'. He qualified for the main event after winning the Indian qualifiers organized by the Electronic Sports Federation of India (ESFI) and South Asian qualifiers where he maintained a undefeated streak against the players of Sri Lanka and Pakistan. In the main event in Asian Games, 2018 in Jakarta, Indonesia, there was a single elimination bracket format. That means one lose and you are out of the game. 'gcttirth' defeated Japan and qualified for the semi-finals. In the semi-finals 'gcttirth' was defeated by Lo Tsz-kin (Kino0531) (the Gold Medal winnner) from Hong Kong at 2-3. Then he defeated Nyguen Anh Tuan from Vietn...

Apple has donated 7 crore rupees to Marcy Corps India, a non-governmental organization working with Kerala government in the Kerala Flood Relief. "We are heartbroken by the catastrophic flooding in Kerala. Apple is donating Rs. 7 crore to support the life saving work Mercy Corps India and the Chief Minister's Distress Relief Fund are undertaking to support survivors, help those who have been displaced and rebuild homes and schools." Apple said. Apple has also added banners to it's home page, App Store and iTunes Store. Clicking on those banners customers can donate to Marcy Corps India for Kerala Flood Relief. Apple customers can donate $5, $10, $25, $50, $100 or $200 to Mercy Corps India using their credit or debit cards. "We have also activated a donation button on iTunes and the App Store so customers who wish to donate to Mercy Corps' efforts can do so easily." Apple said. As per report 387 people have been killed by this devastating floo...

Xiaomi just made my jaw down with the launch of POCO F1. I will say it as a flagship which you can get in just 20999 rupees. Want to make your jaw down? Let's go through the specifications. Display: 6.18 inch IPS LCD display with a resolution of 1080*2246 (18.7:9), ~403 ppi and Corning Gorilla Glass. Chip-set: Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 (up-to 2.8 GHz of clock speed) and Adreno 630 GPU. Variants: 64/128 GB ROM with 6 GB RAM and 256 GB ROM with 8 GB RAM. microSD Card Support: Yes, up-to 256 GB. Cameras: Dual rear cameras {12 MP (f/1.9, 1/2.55", 1.4 micro metre, dual pixel PDAF) and 5 MP (f/2.0, 1.12 micro metre)} and 20 MP (f/2.0, 0.9 micro metre) front camera. Battery: 4000 mAh with QuickCharge 3.0. OS: MIUI 9.6 with POCO customization on top of Android 8.1 (Oreo). Price: 20999-28999 Rupees. Design: The POCO F1 is made of plastic. So, it does not look like a premium phone at all. But it will be fare over fancy looking glass back phone when dropped (alt...

Google showed off the new material designed look of Chrome for Android and Desktop on I/O 2018. And recently they announced this update will be available from September ( take a look ). Chrome on Android: 1. For Chrome on Android the space includes more white space and the corners got rounded everywhere. 2. The search box became pill shaped. 3. The tabs view changed as well. The tab view scrolls horizontally now instead of scrolling vertically like the Android P's recent apps view. But this view is not available now. Below are some comparison between the old and new Chrome on Android. Old New Chrome on Desktop: 1. The design has been changed by having more white space and rounded corner like the Chrome on Android. 2. The search box is again pill shaped. 3. The new tab button is placed at the right side of the open tab now. Which may seem misplaced. But the button is more larger which makes it more accessible. 4. The user's avatar is placed besid...

PUBG by Tencent has been launched back in February for Android this year and achieved a great popularity. It's mainly a Battle Royal Game. But the game does not run smoothly except high end devices although the system requirement is not that high i.e. Android 4.3 Jelly Bean and 36 MB of internal storage. If you have one of those older devices but still want to play the game here's Tencent come to rescue you. PUBG Lite is designed to run on low end devices smoothly. PUBG Lite is almost same as PUBG except two major changes: 1. You face 40 players instead of 100 players. 2. The map is smaller so that your phone has less amount of graphics to render. Except these PUBG Lite looks, sounds and plays same as the real PUBG. But if you are rushing to download PUBG Lite right at the moment, stop. Because the game is only available in Philippines now. But don't worry it will launch globally soon. This version may be successful in country like India where majority of the phone...

The Galaxy Note has put the latest technology on the hands of those who demands it the most since it's inception. No exception in this year's Galaxy Note too. Galaxy Note9 is the best Galaxy Note ever. Display: 6.4 inches Super Amoled Display with a resolution of 2960 by 1440, 516 ppi, 18.5:9 aspect ratio and Corning Gorilla Glass 5. SoC:  Global: 10 nm, 64 bit Samsung Exynos 9810 with 8 cores (4 cores with 2.8 GHz clock speed and 4 cores with 1.7 GHz clock speed),  U.S.A.: Qualcomm Snapdragon 845. GPU:   Global: ARM Mali-G72 MP18, U.S.A.:  Adreno 630. OS: Android 8.1 (Oreo). Variants: 128 GB ROM along with 6 GB RAM and 512 GB ROM along with 8 GB RAM. microSD Card Support: Supported up-to 512 GB. Cameras: Dual rear cameras, 12 MP (f/1.5-2.4, 26 mm, 1/2.55", 1.4 micro metre, dual pixel PDAF, OIS) and 12 MP (f/2.4, 52 mm, 1/3.6", 1 micro metre, AF, OIS, 2x optical zoom) and 8 MP (f/1.7, 25 mm, 1/3.6", 1.22 micro metre, AF) front camera. Battery...

This is ASUS's gaming phone, the Republic of Gamers (ROG) Phone. Its pretty good to see smartphone manufacturers making gaming phones on the footprints of last years Razor Phone. ASUS ROG Phone: Display: 6.0 inch OLED display with a resolution of 1080*2160 (18:9) and (~402 ppi). Chip-set: Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 with Adreno 630 GPU. Variants: 128/256 GB along with 8 GB RAM. OS: Android 8.1 (Oreo). Cameras: Dual 12 MP (f/1.8, 1/2.55", 24 mm, 1.4 micro metre, 4 axis OIS, dual pixel PDAF) and 8 MP (12 mm, no AF) rear cameras and 8 MP (f/2.0, 24 mm) front camera. Battery: 4000 mAh. Price:  ~59990 Rupee. Design: Where every phones look the same now with same notched display and minimal look, this phone stands apart. The phone is huge, thick (~9 mm) and heavy as well. The back gives a titanium look to the phone and has a rainbow shine while hold in an angle. The camera, flash cut outs and the line in the back of the phone gives it a geometrical look. The fingerpr...

Xiaomi backed Huami launched two smart watches in India which are looking very promising specially AMAZFIT Bip (another one is AMAZFIT Stratos) which costs only 5499 Rupee (launching price, may vary later). So, let's take a look. Design and Material: The smart watch really looks good. It seems like the Apple Watch. The watch is made of plastic but, it doesn't look cheap. The straps are made of silicon which are very comfortable to wear. Besides, the watch weights only 31 gm. So, you can wear the watch comfortably for a long time. Display: The 1.28 inch 2.5D Colour Touch Display with 176*176 resolution and Corning Gorilla Glass 3 is pretty good. The indoor and outdoor readability is quiet good, no problems with that. But, there is no auto brightness which is acceptable looking at the price. Sensors: 1. GPS and Glonass: For positional tracking. 2. Barometer: For elevation. 3. Geomagnetic Sensor: Its basically a compass. 4. PPG Heart Rate Sensor: To read your ...

Huawei showed up the Nova series at a press conference in New Delhi. There are two phones, Nova 3 and Nova 3i in the series. While the Nova 3i will be available to buy from 7th August, there is no announced date from when Nova 3 will be available in India. Nova 3: Display: 6.3 inch IPS LCD display with a resolution of 1080*2340 (19.5:9) and ~409 ppi. Chip-set: HiSilicon Kirin 970 with a Neural Processing Unit (NPU) and Mali-G72 MP12 GPU. Variants: 64/128 GB ROM along with 6 GB RAM. OS: EMUI 8.2 on top of Android 8.1 (Oreo). Cameras: Dual 16 MP (f/1.8, PDAF) and 24 MP (B/W, f/1.8, PDAF) rear cameras and dual 24 MP and 2 MP (depth sensor) front cameras. Battery: 3750 mAh. Price: 34999 Rupee. Nova 3i: Display: 6.3 inch IPS LCD display with a resolution of 1080*2340 (19.5:9) and ~409 ppi. Chip-set: HiSilicon Kirin 710 and Mali-G51 MP4 GPU. Variants: 128 GB ROM along with 4 GB RAM and 64 GB ROM along with 6 GB RAM. OS: EMUI 8.2 on top of Android 8.1 (Oreo). ...

Honor has launched 9N which is the predecessor of 9 Lite. Display: 5.84 inch IPS LCD display with a resolution of 1080*2280 (19:9) and ~432 ppi. Chip-set: HiSilicon Kirin 659 with Mali T830 MP2 GPU. Variants: 64/128 GB ROM along with 4 GB RAM and 32 GB ROM along with 3 GB RAM. OS: EMUI 8.0 on top of Android 8.0 (Oreo). Cameras: Dual rear cameras 13 MP (PDAF) and 2 MP (Depth Sensor) and 16 MP front camera. Battery: 3000 mAh. Price:  11999 (32 GB ROM along with 3 GB RAM) and 13999-17999 Rupee (64/128 GB ROM along with 4 GB RAM). Design: The phone is nicely built. There is glass in front and back and a metal frame around the sides. The camera set up is placed horizontally with a LED flash like the iPhone 7 Plus. The fingerprint sensor is placed on the back. As the edges of the phone is rounded and due to the bezel-less design, the phone fits the hand nicely and its comfortable to use the phone with one hand. Display: The display is good enough to please your...

Xiaomi is going to launch the much expected Mi A2 & Mi A2 Lite soon (on 8th August Mi A2 may launch in India not the Mi A2 Lite). The Mi A2 is the global version of Mi 6X in China and Mi A2 Lite is the global version of Redmi 6 Pro in China. Both of them are Android One device (So, two years of major updates and three years of security updates). So, for the folks who like Xiaomi's design, build quality and affordability but don't like the MIUI, it's the phone for you. Mi A2: Display: 5.99 inch LTPS IPS LCD display with a resolution of 1080*2160 (18:9) and ~403 ppi. Chip-set: Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 (2.2 GHz) with Adreno 512 GPU. RAM: 3/4/6 GB. Storage: 32/64/128 GB and non-expandable. OS: Android 8.1 (Oreo) and up-gradable to Android P. Camera: 12 MP (f/1.8, 1/2.9", 1.25 micro metre) and 20 MP (f/1.8, 1/2.8", 1.0 micro metre, PDAF) dual rear cameras and 20 MP (f/2.2, 1/2.8", 1.0 micro metre) front camera. Battery: 3000 mAh. Price: R...

Honor, the sub-brand of Huawei launched a low-end phone, 7S which costs $110 (~7586 Rupee). The Global variant is available in Pakistan, Egypt and South Africa now and may make it's debut in India as well. So let's go through the specifications first. Display: 5.45 inch LCD display with a 720*1440 resolution (18:9) and ~295 ppi. Chip-set: MediaTek MT6739. RAM: 2 GB. Storage: 16 GB and expandable up-to 256 GB via microSD card. OS: EMUI 8.0 on top of Android 8.1 (Oreo). Cameras: 13 MP rear camera and 5 MP front camera for Global variant (both with LED flash) and 13 MP rear camera and 24 MP (f/2.0) front camera in China (both with LED flash). Battery: 3020 mAh. Price: ~7586 Rupee. Time for some details. Design: The design of the phone is good enough. The back is metal. Although the phone is made of plastic material. The phone feels a little thick in hand but provides a good grip which is good in overall. Display: The display is not great. The resolu...