Quick Shots-62

Apple MacBook Pro 14-inch, MacBook Pro 16-inch, AirPods 3 announced: Price, specs, and availability

Apple Music voice plan

Apple started off the event with a new and affordable Apple Music plan called the Voice Plan. Priced at Rs 49 per month, the Voice Plan is half the price of the standard Apple Music plan. This is for those who like to use Siri to command their Apple devices. You’ll be able to skip through songs using Siri. 

With this plan, you can access songs, playlists, and stations. However, you will miss out on lyrics and music videos. You can access this on all Apple devices. You also miss out on spatial audio and lossless audio on this plan. 

Apple HomePod Mini gets new colour options

Apple’s most affordable smart speaker, the HomePod Mini will be available in three new colour options一 yellow, orange, and blue. Apart from the new colour options, everything else remains the same. It comes with a Siri voice assistant and smart home capabilities. It is powered by Apple’s S5 chipset and offers a 360-degree audio experience. 

AirPods (3rd generation)

The third-gen AirPods brings support for spatial audio with dynamic head tracking (similar to the AirPods Pro and the AirPods Max), adaptive EQ, and longer battery life than their predecessors. They are sweat and water-resistant as well. These new AirPods are easy to set up and pair as they can be paired to all your Apple devices with a one-touch setup. 

The buds offer 6 hours of battery life while the case is rated to offer four additional charge cycles 一 taking the total tally to 30 hours. A quick five-minute charge is said to offer one house of music listening. The new AirPods offer Magsafe as well as wireless charging options. They come with a new custom-made driver and a high dynamic range amplifier. 

MacBook Pro M1 Pro and M1 Max

Lastly, we have the star of the show 一 the new MacBook Pro NoteBooks. The new MacBook Pro machines can be configured with new M1 Pro and M1 Max chips. The new M1 Pro chipset is built on a 5nm process, 200GB/s memory bandwidth, offers up to 32GB of unified memory, up to 10-core CPU, and up to 16-core GPU. The M1 Max chipset offers 400GB/s memory bandwidth, offers up to 64GB of unified memory, up to 10-core CPU, and up to 32-core GPU. 

The new MacBook Pro is available with two screen size options and multiple CPU, RAM, and storage options. For the first time, Apple has introduced a 14-inch MacBook Pro along with the standard 16-inch MacBook Pro. These new MacBook Pros don’t come with a Touch bar instead you get more port options. 

The 14-inch variant comes with a 14.2-inch display and the 16-inch variant comes with a 16.2-inch screen. Both feature a Mini LED screen with ProMotion offering up to a 120Hz screen refresh rate. The display can sustain 1,000nits brightness and it has a peak brightness of 1,600nits. 

In terms of port options 一 there is an HDMI, Thunderbolt 4, SD card slot on the right while a headphone jack, two thunderbolt ports, and Magsafe 3.0 port for changing on the left. The 14-inch model can last up to 17 hours while the 16-inch model can last up to 21 hours. For the first time, the Pro laptops also support fast charging. A 30-minute charge will offer a 50% battery. Other features include a Full HD webcam, macOSMonterey, magic keyboard with Touch ID.

From Techradar

A piece of cloth to clean your Apple devices will cost you $19

The Apple-branded cloth, made of unspecified nonabrasive materials, will be available to purchase separately. Other than having an Apple logo stamped on it, it’s unclear how the cloth is any different from a typical microfiber cloth that you can get for a fraction of the price.

Apple recommends using “soft, lint-free cloth” and avoiding “abrasive cloths, towels, paper towels, or similar items” when cleaning your Apple devices, which are all worries that this $19 cloth puts to rest. On the cloth’s product page, Apple says it can clean the displays — and nano-texture glass — on any Apple device. Yes, there is a compatibility list if you’re wondering.

It’s reminiscent of the polishing cloth that’s required to clean the pricey nano-texture Pro Display XDR. Did we mention that the cloth actually comes free with the Pro Display XDR? Apparently, $6,000 is the price you’ll have to pay if you want a single piece of cloth included with your purchase.

From The Verge

Honor 50 finally hits first international market with GMS, $400 price tag

The Honor 50 will be the first phone of the now independent smartphone company with Google Mobile Services. We expect it to hit Europe on October 27, but it has just been introduced in Malaysia. The device is already up for pre-order with two memory options and in all four colors, including the Honor Code design.

The Honor 50 helped Honor to an impressive rebound in China. It comes with Snapdragon 778G chipset and a 6.57″ OLED display of 120Hz refresh rate.

The phone packs a 108MP main camera and an 8MP ultra-wide unit on its back, as well as a 4,300 mAh battery with 66W fast charging inside.

The Android 11 is skinned with Magic UI 4.2 and you will find the full Google Suite operational right out of the box.

From Gsmarena

Realme GT Neo 2T and Realme Q3s unveiled

Realme GT Neo 2T

GT Neo 2T brings a 6.43-inch Super AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and punch hole cutout for its 16MP selfie cam. The internals are handled by the MediaTek Dimensity 1200 chipset with 8/12GB RAM and 128/256GB storage. There’s a 64MP main camera around the back alongside an 8MP ultrawide snapper and 2MP macro cam. The battery comes in at 4,500 mAh and supports 65W fast charging.

Realme Q3s

Realme Q3s is another midranger though with a slightly toned-down spec sheet. Starting with a 6.6-inch 144Hz LCD with FHD+ resolution and a punch hole for the 16MP selfie cam. You also get Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 778G chipset paired with 6 or 8GB RAM and 128/256GB storage.

From Gsmarena

Realme Watch T1 announced: NFC, Bluetooth calling, and offline music playback

The Watch T1 comes with some features that aren’t available on previously launched Realme smartwatches sold in the global markets, including voice calls through Bluetooth 5.0, NFC for payments, and 4GB of storage onboard, which allows you to store up to 500 songs on the smartwatch so you can listen to music directly on your Bluetooth earphones/speakers without requiring a smartphone.

The rest of the Watch T1’s features are pretty standard. You get sleep tracking, activity tracking with support for 110 sports modes, heart rate monitoring, stress monitoring, and blood oxygen level monitoring. The last one can also be measured when you are sleeping.

The Watch T1 packs a 1.3″ 416×416-pixel color AMOLED screen which is protected by a Gorilla Glass and supports custom watch faces and an always-on display. The smartwatch comes with breathing training, music and camera control, and weather forecast. It also has in-built GPS with support for GLONASS, Galileo, and Beidou so you don’t have to rely on your smartphone for accurate route tracking.

The Realme Watch T1 is water-resistant up to 50 meters and ships with a 228 mAh battery advertised to offer up to seven days of endurance. The T1 also supports fast charging, and the bundled adapter is claimed to fully charge the battery in just 35 minutes.

The Watch T1 has a stainless steel frame, with straps made of silicone or leather, depending on which version you pick. The wearable comes in Black, Green, and Black Mint colors, with the last one having the “Dare To Leap” text on its straps.

The Realme Watch T1 is priced at CNY699 ($110/€95) and will be up for pre-orders in China starting tomorrow, with sales commencing from November 1.

From Gsmarena

Huawei teases Enjoy 20e with 6.3-inch display and 5,000 mAh battery

Huawei has the Enjoy 20e, an entry-level smartphone that succeeds the Enjoy 10e. According to the release poster, The Huawei Enjoy 20e will arrive with a 6.3-inch HD LCD display with a u-shaped notch.

There’s also mention of 128GB of internal storage and an amply-sized 5,000 mAh battery. The teaser photo also shows a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner, and a dual-camera setup with LED flash. It also appears in two colors: purple and green.

The Huawei Enjoy 20e is an entry-level smartphone, presumably powered by a MediaTek chipset. The poster simply says “stay tuned”, but the Enjoy 20e will reportedly launch during China’s 11/11 holiday: Singles’ Day. No pricing or further specifications have been revealed.

From Gsmarena

New vivo Y3s launched in India: a cheap Helio P35 phone with a large 5,000 mAh battery

Long story short, the vivo Y3s (2021) is already available in India at a sub INR 10,000 price. For now at least, the online vivo store is kicking things off with a 20% discount on the MSRP, so the final price is INR 9,500 ($125/€110). There are no memory options to choose from, you can only pick between the color options: Starry Blue, Mint Green and Pearl White.

This means that you get a Helio P35 with 2 GB of RAM and 32 GB storage – perhaps this is the place to mention that this runs Android 11 Go Edition (unlike the Y3, Y3s and other versions). Specifically, this is the FunTouch 11 version of the OS. At least you get a dedicated spot for a microSD card, right next to two nano-SIMs.

Other than the Go edition software, what sets this Y3s from the previous models is the slightly larger screen – it now measures 6.51” (up from 6.35”). It is still a 720p+ IPS LCD. Well, okay, the cameras are different too. The notched selfie camera got a 5 MP sensor this year, instead of the 8 or 16 MP sensors seen previously.

From Gsmarena

Amazon Music Unlimited users can now stream spatial audio on any pair of headphones

Amazon announced that starting today, Amazon Music Unlimited subscribers can stream spatial audio with their current headphones on its Android and iOS apps. The company currently supports two forms of spatial audio: Sony’s Reality Audio and Dolby Atmos.

Amazon first introduced spatial audio in 2019, but it was limited to a small number of devices. With this latest expansion, spatial audio will work with any pair of headphones that a user owns.

“We’ve always believed that the highest-quality audio possible should be the norm for streaming music, and that’s why today, we’re making spatial audio available to our customers without any special equipment needed, and no upgrade required,” said Steve Boom, the vice president of Amazon Music, in a statement.

From Techcrunch

Instagram is adding ‘Collabs,’ new music features for Reels, desktop posting and more

Instagram today announced a number of new features that will roll out this week across both the Instagram Feed and its TikTok competitor, Reels. The creator-focused additions will allow users to collaborate with one another, raise funds and make better use of music on Reels, among other things. The company will also make its Instagram desktop website more usable, by allowing people to finally be able to post both photos and videos less than one minute in length using their desktop web browser.

The latter has been a long-requested new feature, the company notes, and will become available to global audiences as of Thursday, October 21.

The company had previously tested the feature this summer, but it was not widely available.

The other new features will drop throughout the week, starting today with “Collabs.” Instagram describes this feature as a “test,” explaining that it will allow people to co-author both Feed posts and Reels.

From Techcrunch

India plans to test all the phones sold in the country for snooping, data security concerns

If reports are to be believed, the Indian government is planning to come down hard on smartphone makers to ensure that the phones sold in the country are not snooping on its citizens.

The move aimed at ensuring privacy and data security of Indians may result in the government agencies testing all the smartphones and applications installed on them before giving them a go signal. The agencies may also ask for the source codes of the software used on these devices, the ET report says.

The biggest impact of this move will be on the Chinese smartphone makers including – Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, Realme, Vivo, Tecno, Inifinix etc. These companies combined have the lion’s share of the total smartphones sold in the country.

From Techradar