Quick Shots-73

Xiaomi pushes half a million Redmi Note 11 devices in one hour

Xiaomi introduced its three-strong Redmi Note 11 series last week and unsurprisingly their first flash sale gathered a lot of interest.

According to official sources, over 500,000 units were sold in the span of one hour – that includes the Redmi Note 11 that was on sale, as well as pre-orders for the Redmi Note 11 Pro and Redmi Note 11 Pro+.

The Redmi Note 11 starts from CNY1,199 (around $185) and has a Dimensity 810 chipset, 33W fast charging and a big 6.6” LCD with 90Hz refresh rate.

The Pro variants have a more powerful Dimensity 920 SoC, four cameras, and plenty of fast charging, with the Plus option promising 120W rates.

Xiaomi or its brand Redmi did not reveal when the next flash sale will take place, but we expect more pre-orders and sales in the days leading up to 11.11.

From Gsmarena

Leaked Lenovo Thinkbook Plus image shows a second screen next to the keyboard

Reliable tech gadget leaker Evan Blass (@evleaks) on Sunday posted an image to Twitter that showed a 17-inch Lenovo ThinkBook Plus with a second screen to the right of the keyboard. The screen looks like it is being used to draw or write on a color image on the laptop’s main screen, and appears that the computer would include a full keyboard and a large trackpad along with an extra-wide display. The image also shows what looks like a pen or drawing stylus, giving further credence to the idea that it’s meant for drawing.

From The Verge

Apple iMac Pro 27-inch could arrive early 2022 with Mini-LED screen and M1 Pro CPU

Apple’s new iMac purportedly set to arrive in 2022 could be called the iMac Pro, and is rumored to be a replacement for the current iMac 27-inch, switching out Intel silicon for the new M1 Pro and Max chips, and implementing the same Mini-LED screen as seen on the new MacBook Pro models.

This fresh speculation from well-known Apple leaker Dylandkt contends that the incoming all-in-one will have a 27-inch Mini-LED display with ProMotion tech (that nugget originally comes from another respected leaker Ross Young (CEO of Display Supply Chain Consultants).

From Techradar

Galaxy S22 moves closer to launch as mass production reportedly starts

We are a few months away from the launch of the Galaxy S22 series. Various reports have claimed that Samsung will unveil its next flagship smartphones sometime early next year. Now, a new report claims that the South Korean firm could launch the Galaxy S22 as early as January 2022.

According to a new report from tech publication WinFuture, Samsung has started the mass production of some of the Galaxy S22 parts. The company seems to have started mass production of flex cables that connect various circuit boards inside the phone. Tens of thousands of units have reportedly been manufactured, and the company seems to be facing some issues in the production process, which is normal.

The South Korean firm has reported started manufacturing components of all the Galaxy S22 and the Galaxy S22+ variants. For the Galaxy S22 Ultra, though, the company seems to be prioritizing parts for the US variant. Although the report states that the Galaxy S22 series could be launched in January 2022, we had exclusively reported last week that Samsung will launch its next flagship phones in February 2022.

From Sammobile

Chips shortage: India woos TSMC, Intel AMD to set up manufacturing base

The crisis sweeping the global semiconductor industry is enormous. With the tech world totally dependent on chips, the problem has become fundamental, and worse, nobody knows when it will end. And India, which is trying to push itself into the forefront of the tech manufacturing, is also facing the pinch acutely. India, which is dependent on imports for all its chip needs, is now trying to address the problem holistically. 

According to a report in the Times of India, the Indian government has sounded out top chip-making companies like the TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company), Intel, AMD, Fujitsu and United Microelectronics Corp to try and set up manufacturing base in the country.

The Times of India report claims that the whole plan is being coordinated from the highest echelons of the country — the Prime Minister’s Office.

From Techradar

Oppo Reno7 series fully revealed ahead of launch

Oppo is readying its Reno7 series and contrary to popular belief, there won’t be a Reno7 Pro+ version, so instead, we will see a lower-end Reno7 SE. This leaves the Reno7 Pro on top of its series.

Anyway, the report suggests that the standard Reno7 and Reno7 Pro share a good chunk of the hardware. They will be built around a 6.5-inch OLED panel, but the vanilla will settle for 90Hz refresh rate while the Pro boasts 120Hz. The same 4,500 mAh battery with 65W fast charging support will be powering up both handsets.

The camera department segregates the two – 50MP Sony IMX766 main sensor joined by a 16MP ultrawide camera and 2MP unit for depth sensing. Whereas the Pro will make use of Samsung’s 50MP GN5 sensor, OmnVision’s 64MP OV64B snapper for ultrawide images and a 13MP telephoto camera.

The chipsets will be borrowed from their predecessors – the vanilla will run on the Dimensity 1200 SoC while the Pro will be getting Snapdragon 888. 8GB and 12GB RAM options will be made available coupled with up to 256GB of internal storage.

Finally, the Reno7 SE is expected to bring a smaller 6.43-inch 90Hz display, Dimensity 920 chip and up to 12GB/256GB memory configuration. Just like the other two, the front will accommodate a 32MP selfie camera, while on the back, the SE gets a modest 64MP OmniVision OV64B primary camera along with 8MP Sony IMX355 ultrawide shooter and a 2MP depth sensor for portraits. A smaller 4,300 mAh battery is supposed to keep the lights on but with the same 65W fast charging.

From Gsmarena

Colorful debuts Intel Z690 iGame Motherboards

In line with Intel’s 12th generation CPU announcement, Colorful Technology Company Limited announced its new Intel Z690 Series motherboards this week. The new boards feature support for PCIe 5.0, unlocking support for the next-generation PCI Gen5 devices.

The Colorful iGame Z690 Ultra D5 will supports DDR5 memory, while the iGame Z690 Ultra supports DDR4 memory, offering build flexibility around Intel’s new CPU.  The iGame Z690 Ultra D5 and iGame Z690 Ultra motherboards feature a new Ice Terrace Space 1.0 Heatsink, an enlarged heatsink solution that delivers efficient passive cooling to the PCH, along with two M.2 slots.

Along with the release of the iGame Z690 Series motherboards, Colorful also revealed its new Battle-AX DDR5 Memory. It features a matte black heatspreader with red accents and is exclusively designed for the Intel 600 Series platform. The new memory modules have a starting frequency of DDR5-4800MHz and are available in 8GB and 16GB modules.

From Techradar

Some Older Macs Reportedly Bricked After Installing macOS Monterey

A comment on a post on Reddit includes a user chronicling their experience, saying that the ‌macOS Monterey‌ update bricked their 2017 iMac, declaring that “it’s just dead.”

Same thing happened to my 2017 iMac. Said it needed to restart. Never restarted. Waited a couple hours and tried to power cycle it. Reset pram ect. Nothing seems to be working it’s just dead. Took a couple tries to get it installed on my 2015 Mac Air. That seems to be running but I’m at a loss as to what to do with the imac. I unplugged it and headed to work. Hoping to find some solutions tonight to get this resolved in the am.

One possible solution floated on Apple Support Communities is that users may need to revive or restore their Mac’s firmware. “In very rare circumstances, such as a power failure during a macOS update or upgrade, a Mac may become unresponsive and so the firmware must be revived or restored,” Apple says in a support document.

All user reports suggest the issue is impacting older MacBook Pro, Mac mini, and ‌iMac‌ models. More recent computers such as Apple silicon-based Macs are not seemingly having problems, at least according to the lack of user reports suggesting so.

From Macrumors

Royole FlexPai 3 leaked render shows a new design and a pop-selfie camera

Notable leaker Evan Blass (@evleaks) has shared a leaked render of the upcoming FlexPai 3, giving us a detailed look at the phone’s overall design. As you can see in the image attached below, the FlexPai 3 looks radically different from its predecessor. It ditches the vertical camera module located on the front right bezel in favor of a more traditional rear-mounted camera module.

While the previous models didn’t feature a dedicated selfie camera and repurposed the main camera system for video calling and selfie duties, the new model will seemingly feature a pop-up selfie camera. We also notice that the phone only has two rear cameras, a step down from four cameras on the previous model. Elsewhere, we see a square camera cutout on the opposite side of the rear camera module. We deduce that it’ll help prevent the camera module from being scratched when the phone is folded outwards.

The Royole FlexPai 3 was recently spotted on TENAA, revealing some of its key specifications. As per the TENAA listing, the phone will feature a 7.2-inch screen (when unfolded) and a 3,360mAh battery.

There’s no word on when the FlexPie 3 will officially launch. Like its predecessor, it will probably be limited to the Chinese market.

From XDA

Facebook finally takes steps against misinformation about COVID vaccines for children

As for specifics, Facebook is going to roll out English and Spanish-language reminders in users’ news feeds that the vaccines are now authorized for kids, with information on where and how to get them. Furthermore, false claims about the vaccines being untested, unsafe, or ineffective for kids have been added to the long list of COVID misinformation that Facebook will remove from the site.

Facebook’s announcement came after weeks of heightened controversy around the company. Whistleblower Frances Haugen revealed internal documents showcasing the company’s seeming disregard for its ability to cause real-world harm. “Fake news” has been a talking point surrounding Facebook for years, and the spotlight has only gotten brighter as time has gone on.

From Mashable