Oppo F21s Pro and F21s Pro 5G launch in India
Just as expected, Oppo introduced its F21s Pro and F21s Pro 5G smartphones in India today. The pair bring identical specs to the previously launched Oppo F21 Pro and F21 Pro 5G down to the dimensions but the new models get the Dawnlight Gold and Starlight Black color options with Oppo Glow design.
Both phones feature 6.43-inch AMOLED displays with the F21s Pro refreshing at 90Hz while the Pro 5G has a standard 60Hz panel. Oppo F21s Pro is equipped with the Snapdragon 680 chipset while the 5G model gets the Snapdragon 695 SoC. Both phones share the same 64MP main cam while the F21s Pro gets a 2MP 30x microscope cam compared to the 2MP macro lens on the F21s Pro 5G. Both devices feature 4,500 mAh batteries with 33W charging support.
From Gsmarena
vivo V25 arrives in India, pre-bookings start today
The vivo V25 will be available for pre-booking in India as of 15:00 local time. This comes nearly a month after the V25 Pro went on sale in the country. Some details for the V25 launch are still missing, e.g. there is no shipping date, but that will presumably be during Flipkart’s The Big Billion Days sales event (September 23-30).
Indeed, Flipkart is one of the retailers that will offer the V25, you can find it here. The phone is also up on vivo’s own store, of course. In both places the price of the base 8/128GB model is ₹28,000 (you can also pick 12GB of RAM and 256GB storage).
Both Flipkart and vivo.com offer ₹2,500 instant discount for HDFC/SBI/ICICI credit and debit cards. If you are trading in an old phone, vivo will also give you an extra ₹2,000 on top of what the phone is valued. Note that the ₹28,000 price includes a temporary 15% discount (MSRP is ₹33,000).
Besides the online retailers, the vivo V25 will also be available through brick and mortar stores like Reliance Digital, Croma, Vijay Sales, Poorvika, Sangeetha and others.
From Gsmarena
Xiaomi 12T imminent, according to tipster; should the pricier iPhone 14 be worried?
If the iPhone 14’s eye-watering $799 / £849 / AU$1,339 starting price puts you off, you might want to pay attention to the Xiaomi 12T, an anticipated mid-range phone which is expected to debut very soon.
This would be a lower-cost spin-off of the Xiaomi 12, as well as a successor to the Xiaomi 11T, and a few leakers seem to think that it could launch imminently, alongside a Pro version (as Xiaomi’s T phones generally do), as well as a budget tablet and some headphones.
Leaks so far suggest that the phone could have a high-res 200MP rear camera (similarly to the recently launched Motorola Edge 30 Ultra), though, beyond that, we’re expecting a similar device to the previous models, albeit with some upgrades and tweaks here and there. That’s fine though, because Xiaomi T phones are generally dependable and hardy mobiles with really intuitive side-mounted fingerprint scanners, big, good-looking screens, and useful camera features.
The best part will likely be the price, as these phones fall straight into the middle of the mid-range market. The Xiaomi 11T Pro cost exactly the same as the Google Pixel 6, despite having better specs in many departments, and the non-Pro version cost even less.
From Techradar
Honor Pad X8 Lite appears on company’s website
The Honor Pad 8 debuted in China in July and now it’s making it global rollout the global market. Now, the company listed a Pad X8 Lite on its website that sounds like a more affordable option but after further inspection, we realized it is a renamed Honor Tab 7, down to the Helio P22T chipset and unimpressive user interface.
The device comes with a 9.7” LCD with a resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels. On the inside, the Mediatek chipset has 32GB storage to work with, which is far lower than the 128GB option Honor offered to its home crowd. RAM is not mentioned and we can only hope it is 4GB.
The camera on the back has a 5MP sensor and no flash. The front-facing camera for video calls has a 2MP resolution.
The user interface is Magic UI 6.1 based on Android 12. The Pad X8 Lite is TUV Rheinland certified for low blue light content
Other specs include two big speakers on the two short sides, a 5,100 mAh battery charged through a micro USB port, Bluetooth 5.1 and Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac. There’s no 3.5 mm audio jack.
From Gsmarena
Snapchat Becomes Latest Popular App to Introduce iOS 16 Lock Screen Widget
Snapchat has become the latest mainstream app to adopt support for iOS 16’s new Lock Screen widgets. Snapchat’s new Lock Screen widget allows users to quickly jump into their conversation with their best friend and displays their current streak with them.
Snapchat today also introduced new Chat Shortcuts that make it easier for users to filter unread messages, missed calls, and replies to stories within the app. Chat Shortcuts will also remind users to wish one of their friends a happy birthday in the event they forget. Snapchat also introduced Question Stickers and the availability of Snapchat on the web.
From Macrumors
Netflix expects 40 million new viewers by 2023 with its new subscription plan
In June, Netflix’s co-CEO Ted Sarandos confirmed that ads were coming to the streaming service. Things are yet to materialize on how to launch the new subscription. However, some preliminary projections suggest that with the new advert-supported version, the streaming service could hit 40 million viewers by 2023.
“We are still in the early days of deciding how to launch a lower priced, ad supported tier and no decisions have been made,” a Netflix spokeswoman said to WSJ in a statement.
The projection report comes from Wall Street Journal, citing a document shared between Netflix and its advertising partner Microsoft to its ad buyers. The streaming service has provided its shared projections for ‘unique viewers’ in select markets where it could launch its potential ad-supported plan in conjunction with ad buyers.
The concerned executives from both Netflix and Microsoft have reportedly met ad buyers to gauge plans to launch the cost-effective tier sometime later this year. The projections from the document suggest out of the 40 million users, 13.3 million are expected to be from the U.S. The ad executives were further told by Netflix that the platform may reach a ‘unique 4.4 million viewership’ globally by the end of 2022.
According to projections provided by Netflix, the supposed launch markets include countries like Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Spain, and the U.K.
From Android Central
Samsung aims to make global operations and products carbon neutral by 2050
Samsung announced Thursday it will invest more than $5 billion (7 trillion KRW) in its carbon-neutral projects and environmental technologies through 2030, aiming to make its global operations and products net zero carbon emission by 2050 in an effort to tackle the climate crisis.
The company says the strategy includes reducing emissions from the production process and power/water consumption throughout the entire product lifecycle, from raw material sourcing to recycling and disposal.
Samsung plans to remove Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions for all operations in the device experience (DX) business, which includes consumer electronics such as mobile devices, TVs, digital appliances and health equipment, with a goal of reducing about 17 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions by 2030. (Scope 1 means direct emissions from sources owned by a company such as a power plant or a fleet of cars; Scope 2 covers indirect emissions from the generation of energy a company purchases like electricity, cooling, heat and steam.) Its device solution (DS) division — the memory chip and foundry business – also targets eliminating carbon emissions across global operations by 2050.
From Techcrunch
Ethereum’s Merge paves way for a greener future
Ethereum has Merged.
The popular cryptocurrency platform for decentralized applications has successfully made the transition from a proof-of-work to proof-of-stake consensus mechanism, meaning it has ditched traditional “mining” and the massive energy footprint that came with it.
In other words, Ethereum just got a lot greener, and paved the way for other important improvements and optimizations in the future. For a detailed explanation of what The Merge means for Ethereum and crypto in general, go here.
From Mashable
TikTok claims it’s not collecting US users’ biometric data, despite what privacy policy says
Last year, TikTok quietly updated its privacy policy to allow the app to collect biometric data on U.S. users, including “faceprints and voiceprints” — a concerning change that the company declined to detail at the time or during a subsequent Senate hearing held last October. Today, the tech company was again asked about its intentions regarding this data collection practice during a Senate hearing focused on social media’s impact on homeland security.
TikTok’s earlier privacy policy change had introduced a new section called “Image and Audio Information” under the section “Information we collect automatically.” Here, it detailed the types of images and audio that could be collected, including: “biometric identifiers and biometric information as defined under U.S. laws, such as faceprints and voiceprints.”
The policy language was vague as it didn’t clarify whether it was referring to federal law, state laws or both, nor did it explain why, exactly, this information was being collected or how it might be shared.
From Techcrunch
Google and NASA bring the Solar System to your living room with more info than ever
Google and NASA are no strangers to collaboration. More than just posting the occasional space doodle, Google and NASA have paired up for everything from high-quality maps of the Moon and Mars to producing quantum computers. Over the past couple years, Google has made available over 100 3D models of various objects — among them planets, moons, and spacecraft. Now, Google and NASA are celebrating their latest collab, bringing extra context to some of those 3D models and kicking off a new online exhibit.
Over on Google Arts & Culture the pair have put together a project dedicated to the Solar System and space exploration in general. From the Sun to Pluto, the pages explore what we know about the Solar System and how we’ve come to know it. Aside from being a good way to waste some time and learn something new, the page is also meant to inspire students to engage in space science in particular, and STEM in general.
From Android Police
