Realme GT Neo 2 launch in India teased
The Realme GT Neo 2 will be the next smartphone from the company to launch in India. The launch of the phone was confirmed by CEO Madhav Sheth a few days back on Twitter, and now the company has started teasing the launch of the phone in India.
Although the Realme GT Neo 2 launch date in India is still under the wraps, the Realme GT Neo 2 microsite is now live on the company’s official website hinting at an imminent launch in India. The Realme GT Neo 2 was launched in China a couple of weeks back as the successor to the Realme GT Neo which was launched in India as the Realme X7 Max.
Read More at Techradar
The TicWatch Pro X is Mobvoi’s latest dual-screen Wear OS smartwatch
Mobvoi has launched a new smartwatch for its audience in China. The TicWatch Pro X reuses a formula we’ve seen on previous watches in its family but brings a few more smarts to the table.
The TicWatch Pro X packs a 1.39-inch dial which houses two displays layered on top of one another. It’s a nifty trick that massively improves battery life. The watch employs the 454 x 454 AMOLED screen for more detailed stats viewing, app usage, and navigation. The color-backlit FSTN LCD takes over for low-power tasks and provides basic info readouts. Depending on which screen you use more often, battery life can scale between four to 45 days. That’s pretty impressive given the power struggles other Wear OS devices face.
Internally, the TicWatch Pro X is almost identical to the TicWatch Pro 3. It packs the Snapdragon 4100 SoC with 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage. There’s also LTE and NFC support too. Users get access to more than 20 sports tracking features, while the Pro X also includes an SpO2 sensor and a heart rate monitor with arrhythmia warnings. The watch’s body is also IP68 water-resistant, making it adequate for swimmers, while built-in GPS will appeal to runners and outdoor lovers.
There is a small caveat. For those hoping that this would be Mobvoi’s first Wear OS 3 smartwatch, you’ll be disappointed. While the Pro X does run Wear OS, it’s not the latest version employed by the Fossil Gen 6 or Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 series. Notably, the TicWatch Pro 3 is due for an upgrade at some point in 2022, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Pro X included in this rollout.
Read More at Android Authority
Michael Kors Access Gen 6 smartwatches with Snapdragon Wear 4100+ go on sale in India
Fossil has launched the Michael Kors Access Gen 6 lineup of Wear OS smartwatches in the Indian market. The new smartwatches are essentially the same as the Fossil Gen 6 lineup that went on sale in the region late last month, but they offer a more premium design.
Like the Fossil Gen 6 lineup, the Michael Kors Access Gen 6 features Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Wear 4100+ SoC, a 1.28-inch display, 1GB RAM, and 8GB of onboard storage. However, it’s only available in a single 44mm size variant. The Access Gen 6 supports all the fitness tracking features that you get with the Fossil Gen 6 smartwatches, including blood-oxygen monitoring, continuous heart rate monitoring, various workout modes, and more.
As mentioned earlier, the only noteworthy difference between the Fossil Gen 6 and the Michael Kors Access Gen 6 models is the design. The latter is a more premium offering that features stainless steel bracelets, sparkling pavé accents, and more. Therefore, it commands a higher price. The Gen 6 Bradshaw starts at ₹24,995 and goes up to ₹32,495. It is available through select online and offline retail stores in India. For additional details, check out our coverage of the Fossil Gen 6 lineup.
Read More at XDA
Surface Pro 8, Laptop Studio, Go 3 available starting today
Microsoft’s Surface Laptop Studio, Surface Pro 8, and Surface Go 3 are now available for purchase. The Surface Laptop Studio introduces a new form factor while the Surface Pro 8 and Surface Go 3 update Microsoft’s 2-in-1 lineups. The Surface Pro X didn’t receive a design overhaul or spec update, but starting today, you can order a more affordable model without LTE.
Surface Laptop Studio
The Surface Laptop Studio is Microsoft’s most powerful Surface device ever. It is a non-detachable 2-in-1 that can be pulled into different modes.
Surface Pro 8
Microsoft’s flagship 2-in-1 now has thinner bezels and a larger display. It’s also significantly faster than the Surface Pro 7.
Surface Go 3
The Surface Go 3 has an option for LTE, or you can grab one with just Wi-Fi connectivity. The Intel Core i3 model is 60% faster than the Surface Go 2.
Surface Pro X
The Surface Pro X didn’t get a spec bump or design refresh this month. Instead, it gained an option for a model without LTE connectivity, which lowers its starting price.
Read More at Windows Central
Windows 11: A new era for the PC begins today
Today marks an exciting milestone in the history of Windows. As the day becomes October 5 in each time zone around the world, availability of Windows 11 begins through a free upgrade on eligible Windows 10 PCs and on new PCs pre-installed with Windows 11 that can be purchased beginning today.
Windows is a driving force for innovation. It’s an enduring platform for each one of us to create. And its home for over a billion people to do their jobs, live their dreams and connect with the people they love.
We’re pumped to be launching Windows 11; the entire user experience brings you closer to what you love, empowers you to produce and inspires you to create. Windows 11 provides a sense of calm and openness. It gives you a place that feels like home. It’s secure and everything is designed to be centered around you.
To fully understand the magic of Windows 11 you must get it in your hands. The gorgeous graphics, sounds and animations of Windows 11 along with the innovative and beautiful hardware from our partners and Surface provides an experience like none other.
Read More at Windows Blog
Lenovo ‘Legion Play’ leak shows off an Android-powered ‘cloud gaming console’
Gaming on the go has gotten quite a boost, thanks to cloud gaming services, and it seems Lenovo has plans to cash in on that trend with a new piece of hardware. This week, the “Lenovo Legion Play” has leaked as a “cloud gaming console” that runs Android.
Liliputing discovered images of the “Lenovo Legion Play” on a website from the manufacturer created for MWC 2021. That event has already come and gone with this device having never been seen, but the images and descriptions were clearly spotted on Lenovo’s German and Japanese websites.
What exactly is the “Legion Play?” Lenovo describes the product as a “cloud gaming console” that leverages Android and various cloud gaming services to create a handheld product that can play AAA games. Most specs aren’t revealed, but Lenovo mentions a 7-inch FHD display, a 7,000 mAh battery, and dual speakers and improved haptics for gamers. Rounding out the hardware would be USB-C and a headphone jack. The hardware itself is also remarkably thin.
Read More at 9to5Google
Netflix extends ‘Play Something’ feature to Android mobile devices
Netflix rolled out its randomized shuffle feature ‘Play Something’ to TV versions back in April. Now it is extending the same to Android mobile devices too.
Netflix will start testing Play Something feature on iOS in the coming months. The new feature is similar to the “shuffle” function that many music streaming services offer.
“Play Something helps Netflix members discover new shows and movies when they don’t want to make decisions,” said Patrick Flemming, Netflix director of product innovation.
Read More at Techradar
What happened to Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram?
In a nutshell, Facebook’s systems stopped talking to the wider internet.
It was as if “someone had pulled the cables from their data centres all at once and disconnected them from the internet”, explained web infrastructure firm Cloudflare.
Facebook’s explanation was a little more technical.
It said “configuration changes on the backbone routers that co-ordinate network traffic between our data centres caused issues that interrupted this communication”. This had a “cascading effect… bringing our services to a halt”.
How has Facebook reacted?
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, rather embarrassingly, had to turn to rival network Twitter to apologise.
Read More at BBC
Google will add a proper shortcut to its password manager on Android, at last
It’s October, and that doesn’t only mean it’s the Halloween season, no — it’s also the Cybersecurity Awareness Month, and Google is using the opportunity to share a few updates on its security measures for accounts and apps. The highlight is likely the announcement that the company is finally adding an easily accessible shortcut to its password manager right to the Google app.
While we haven’t seen the new shortcut in action yet, Google shares in its announcement that it’s “rolling out a feature in the Google app that allows you to access all of the passwords you’ve saved in Google Password Manager right from the Google app menu.” We presume that the “app menu” is supposed to be the account icon in the top right corner of the Google app that opens a menu when you tap it, like shown below.
Read More at Android Police
Earth Is Getting Dimmer
Earth is losing some of its glow, a study published in Geophysical Research Letters last week shows. It appears climate change and a natural climate shift have essentially scuffed up our planet. We really can’t have nice things, can we folks?
The study takes a look at earthshine, or the light reflected from the planet that casts a faint light on the surface of the Moon. It’s also known as the Da Vinci Glow, because Leonardo da Vinci was the first person to formally write about it. Research has advanced quite a bit since da Vinci’s writing 500 years ago, and the new findings use two decades of earthshine data collected at Big Bear Solar Observatory using a special type of telescope to view the Moon.
The best time to observe earthshine is when the Moon is waxing or waning. Look at the Moon then, and you may be able to make out a faint outline of the whole Moon in addition to the sliver brightly illuminated by the Sun. That ghostly outline is thanks to earthshine, caused by the sunlight reflecting off our planet.
The observatory is perfectly situated to measure earthshine for 40% of the planet, spanning the Pacific and parts of North America. Analyzing the data for roughly 800 nights between 1998 and 2017 showed a small but significant decline in earthshine. There were some year-to-year shifts, but the paper notes that those are “quite muted, with a long-term decline dominating the time series.”
Read More at Gizmodo
