Tech Stories India

Xiaomi has today officially launched Mi Note 10 Lite variant along with Redmi Note 9 and Note 9 Pro Global variants. It is priced at €349 for the base model. Expected Mi Note 10 Lite Price in India: Rs 26,999 - 32,999 ( Available in 6GB ram / 64GB and 6GB ram / 128GB variants ). Mi Note 10 Lite is powered by Snapdragon 730G which is a mid-range processor and doesn't support 5G networks. It has a big 5260mAh battery onboard and comes with a 30W Fast Charger in the box. The main camera on this is the same one we saw on the Redmi Note 9 Pro Max variant launched a while back in India - 64MP Sony IMX686. This is a 4-in-1 Super Pixel sensor, hence outputs pixel binned 16MP files by default offering a better dynamic range. There is an 8MP ultra wide-angle sensor as well as a 5MP macro lens next to it.  Mi Note 10 Lite Specs 6.47 inch 3D Curved AMOLED display ( Full HD+ ) 64MP main camera ( Sony IMX686 ) Quad Camera System ( ultra-wide-angle lens + macro lens ) MIUI ...

Amazon has announced OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro will be available to purchase from May 11, 2020, onwards. They have already started taking pre-orders ( sort of ). These dates can change if Indian govt continues to prohibit selling non-essential products online in May month as well.  OnePlus 8 Series Pre-book Offer: You can Pre-order OnePlus 8 Pro or OnePlus 8 by buying a Rs 1000 Giftcard from Amazon.in . You can use this gift card balance to purchase anything you like from Amazon.in - don't have to be the phone. After you purchase the phone between May 11 - June 30 by paying in full, you will get Rs 1000 Amazon Pay Balance in 30 days as a launch offer. Specs and Features: Both these devices are powered by Snapdragon 865 chipset and support the 5G network. The Pro model has a custom made 48MP main sensor as well as a 48MP ultra-wide sensor - both made by Sony. The regular model only has one 48MP sensor. OnePlus 8 Pro has a Quad HD AMOLED screen with a 120hz refresh rate whil...

Huawei is rolling out a new OTA for Honor 10 variants worldwide with the latest security patches from Google ( April 2020 ). Strangely Honor 10 ( COL-L29 ) is still on older Android 9 Pie, and the EMUI 10 update is long overdue for this old flagship device.  Honor Play is also receiving April 2020 updates on Android Pie. Huawei has officially confirmed Honor Play won't get Android 10 update. Honor 10, on the other hand, will for sure receive an update in the future. When? Nobody knows.  Honor 10 is powered by Kirin 970 Octacore processor and comes with Dual Cameras at the back. It has a 5.84 inch Full HD display with a small notch at the top. It doesn't have a huge battery or IP67 but is a great compact smartphone with good looks. Since it already ships with Google Apps, you don't have to worry about having to flash gapps manually when Android 10 arrives. 

DJI has just announced Mavic Air 2 drone with improved specs and features. It is priced at $799 for the regular model and $998 for Fly More Combo and is available to pre-order from Amazon US ( check here ). It will ship to customers on May 11, 2020. DJI Mavic Air 2 features a 1/2 inch CMOS 48MP Quad-Bayer sensor ( probably made by Sony ) which is now popular on a wide range of Android smartphones. The quad-Bayer arrangement means, by default, it takes 12MP photos with increased dynamic range and quality. You can also shoot 48MP high-resolution shots with it. It offers a 24mm focal length and the aperture is F2.8. Thanks to the pixel binning tech, Mavic Air 2 offers Enhanced HDR Photos, Videos as well as Panoramas. DNG Raw shooting is supported as well. 4K @ 60fps support lets you shoot high-quality videos. You can also shoot 8K hyper-lapse videos thanks to this big 48MP sensor on board.  It is equipped with a 3500mAh battery which should give approx 34-Min Max Flight Ti...

Google has officially launched Pixel Buds 2020 Edition ( 2nd Gen ) for a price of $179. In India, if it ever launches, it will be priced around Rs 16,999 MRP. Unlike the first-gen Pixel Buds, this is a truly wireless model and comes with a charging case.  Specs Highlights Sweat and water-resistant (IPX4) Bluetooth 5.0 support 12mm dynamic speaker driver Passive noise reduction Dual beamforming microphones Voice detecting accelerometer Battery Backup: Up to 5 hours of listening time and up to 2.5 hours of talk time USB C charging port Wireless Charging support Google Pixel Buds 2020 is available in 4 different colors - Clearly White, Almost Black, Quite Mint, and Oh So Orange. On a single charge, you can get around 5 hours of listening time and 2.5 hours of talk time. Google claims a 10-minute charge of earbuds in the provided charging case would give you up to 2 hours of listening time and 1 hour of talk time.  Pixel Buds 2nd Gen is compatible with...

Huawei can't ship phones with Google Gapps ( Play Store, Gmail, Google Maps, etc ) and Google Play Services on their smartphones. This is due to the 'Huawei Ban' by Trump Govt which prevents them from getting into a licensing agreement with Google to use their apps and services. Huawei P40 Pro, Honor 9X Pro, Honor 30 Series, etc ship without these google apps.  Huawei is not banned from using Google's Android since it is open-source. However, they have to wait until the AOSP Android version is publicly available after the release by Google. For rest of the OEMs, who have a licensing deal with Google, can get access to upcoming Android versions a few weeks or months early. This means Huawei would take more time to push out newer Android versions to their phones.  Huawei's own App Gallery has a lot of apps actually. You can also download apps from Amazon App Store as well. Trusted websites like APKMirror provides .apk files for many popular Android apps. So most ...

Xiaomi's Redmi Note 9 Series has been out for a while now, and offer good value for money Android smartphones. Currently, there are two variants available - Redmi Note 9 Pro Max and the regular Note 9 Pro . Xiaomi has now announced on twitter they are bringing new members to the Redmi Note 9 Series soon. The launch event will be streamed online on April 31st, 2020. Redmi Note 9 Pro is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G Octacore processor and comes with a 48MP main camera. The Pro Max variant comes with a 64MP main camera instead. It features a Full HD+ IPS LCD screen and is equipped with a big 5020mAh battery. The new variant launching on April 31st will have similar specs but is expected to be cheaper Redmi Note 9. Useful Link: Redmi Note 9 Pro Max vs Redmi Note 9 Pro Specs Differences Source: Xiaomi Twitter

Due to the Lockdown in place in India, both Amazon.in and Flipkart, as well as other e-commerce online shopping websites are only allowed to sell essential products. So products like mobiles are all listed out of stock or temporarily not available online. During this lockdown period, we have seen a few new mobile launches, but all are yet to go on sale and are not even available to pre-order.  OnePlus has launched two flagship Android devices earlier this month. OnePlus 8 Pro and regular OnePlus 8 are powered by Snapdragon 865 chipset and come with 5G support. The Pro model has a custom made 48MP main camera as well as an ultra-wide-angle 48MP shooter. It is also the first OnePlus phone to come with IP68 certification.  Xiaomi Mi 10  was scheduled to go on Pre-order on March 31, 2020, online on Amazon.in. It is a flagship device and comes with Samsung made 108MP main camera. It is powered by Snapdragon 865 5G chipset and can record 8K videos. iPhone SE 2020 ( 2nd ...

IQOO 3 is one of the cheapest Snapdragon 865 powered Android smartphones you can buy today in India online from Flipkart. When it was launched in India a couple of months ago, the base model price was set at Rs 36,990. It has now seen a price drop and can be bought for an offer price of Rs 34,990. Important Note: Even though all IQOO 3 variants are powered by Qualcomm's 5G Snapdragon 865 chipset, not all variants have 5G Network capability in India. The 5G variant is still priced at Rs 44,990. IQOO 3 priced at Rs 34,990 comes with 8GB of ram and 128GB of storage. It has a 6.44-inch Full HD+ Super AMOLED display and has a big 4440 mAh battery on board. 55W Fast Charging would let you top up the battery quickly when in hurry. This is one of the few phones in the market to come with a UFS 3.1 storage which is much faster than many UFS 2.1 devices still launching in India. The main camera on the back is a 48MP sensor which has now become a standard.  Since the In...

Canonical has officially launched Ubuntu 20.04 LTS - the latest version of the most popular Linux distribution. You can now upgrade your older Ubuntu to 20.04 easily or download iso and install a fresh copy to try all the new features. This latest LTS version now comes with a build-in Dark Mode. To enable it, go to Settings and check for the Appearance tab. You can now see three Window Colors to choose from - Light, Standard, and Dark . Choose the Dark one and exit the settings. Now, all your Windows will use a darker theme instead of the default lighter look. Even after enabling this Dark Mode, you would still see some areas in the UI using a lighter theme. If you are frustrated by this, check out this excellent article by OMGUbuntu to know how to get a full dark mode on the latest Ubuntu. 

After a few weeks of Beta testing, Ubuntu 20.04 LTS Linux is now finally out with improved security and new software features. If you have been using an older Ubuntu version like 18.04, 18.10, 19.04, 19.10, etc, it's easy to upgrade to the new Ubuntu 20.04 LTS Focal Fossa via command line. How to upgrade? Open a Terminal ( Ctrl + Alt + T ) Type in "update-manager -d" command and enter After entering that command, Ubuntu will check for a new version upgrade. However, if there are pending updates for your system, you would need to install those first before Ubuntu to show you an option to upgrade to 20.04. So, after updating everything on your system, try the above command again. If you want to try this latest version from scratch, you can download the .iso file from the official website and create a bootable USB drive. You can also boot it as a Live CD and try if everything works well on your hardware, before Installing it on to the hard drive.  Find...

It's been a while since we saw a flagship, high-end smartphone from Motorola. Lenovo, who now owns Moto, has been making entry-level and mid-range smartphones for a few years now. The company is now back again with a true flagship phone - Motorola Edge Plus. Like every other flagship Android smartphone launched in 2020, Motorola Edge Plus is also powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 Octacore chipset. So, naturally, this supports 5G networks.  The display is a 6.7-inch Full HD+ AMOLED screen with 90hz refresh rate support for smoother operation. There is no 120hz support available like OnePlus 8 Pro or Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra. It features an Endless Edge display. Check out Full Specs and Features below. Snapdragon 865 5G support 6.7 inch FHD+ AMOLED screen 5000mAh battery  18W Turbo Power Fast Charging Support 15W Wireless Charging Dual Stereo Speakers Triple Rear Cameras 108MP F1.8 aperture Main Sensor with OIS ( similar to Xiaomi Mi 10 , Galaxy S20...

Sony's A7S series is known for its low light Video capture and was once the go-to camera to shoot high-quality 4K videos in challenging lighting conditions. It can see in the Dark and perform better than any other similarly priced cameras in high ISO conditions. A7S2 ( ILCE-7SM2 ) has been out for a while now, and A7S3 / ILCE-7SM3 is long overdue. What's stopping Sony from bringing its flagship video-centric mirrorless camera to the market? If you look at recently launched Sony bodies like the A9 Mark 2, A7R3 Mark 4, APS-C flagship A6600, you would notice one major feature missing on all those bodies. None of these cameras can shoot 4K at 60fps. While every major camera manufacturer is launching new bodies with 60fps 4K, for some reason Sony is not able to launch one with it. It's a curious case. Maybe there is some technical issue Sony is facing with the technology they have, that is stopping them from implementing this feature.  Sony's recently launched FX...

Canon has revealed more specs and features of its upcoming flagship mirrorless camera EOS R5. Some of these specs are insane and are never seen on mirrorless cameras from Nikon, Sony or Panasonic before. Sony, who has been developing A7S3 for a while would sure be a bit worried about this offering, as there are currently no Sony cameras in the market that can do 4K at 60fps while the new Canon EOS R5 boast 8K video capture internally. Specs and Features Brand new 40MP+ sensor ( How much MP needed for 8K ? around 34MP ) Brand new Image sensor 4K @ 120fps ( No other DSLR or Mirrorless Camera offer this ) 8K @ 30fps ( 10-bit 4:2:2 H.265 ) Dual Pixel Auto Focus in 8K mode as well ( btw some of the current Canon Cameras do not offer this in even 4K ) Full Sensor Read Out ( Canon is notorious for 4K Crop - which thankfully is not going to be an issue on the EOS R5 ) 5-axis IBIS ( In Body Image Stabilization System - Currently no other Canon camera offers this ) Canon L...

Sony has many superzoom point and shoot cameras in their WX and HX series line-ups. Of those, DSC-WX500 and DSC-WX800 ( DSC-HX99 ) are the popular ones, that offer around 30x zoom. That's a lot of zoom to have in a camera you can carry in your pocket.  The WX800 , also know as Sony HX99 in some markets is the newer one and is also the more expensive one. It has a price tag of Rs. 32,190 in India ( $499 in the US ) . WX500 , on the other hand, has an MRP price of Rs 22,490 in India ( $347 in the US ). If you look at the specs, you would see both featuring the same 18.2MP sensor and offer a similar zoom range. So which one to buy? Is it worth buying WX800 over WX500?  Reasons to buy WX800 ( HX99 ) over WX500 | Differences RAW + Jpeg Support 4K recording  Slow-mo 120fps  Touch Focus support Slide-out Electronic View Finder Eye Auto Focus WX500 vs WX800 | Similarities 1/2.3 type Exmor R CMOS sensor 18.2 Megapixels F3.5 (W) – 6.4 (T) Apertu...

Last week, Apple surprised everyone in the tech industry by launching a $399 iPhone SE 2020 ( 2nd Gen ). Apple is never known for launching phones for affordable prices, so the $399 price tag for a brand new iPhone came as a shocker to many.  However, in India, the price of this new iPhone is much higher. According to Apple's ad, the official MRP price for the base model iPhone SE 2 in India is Rs 42,500 . If you convert that to US dollars, it is approx $555 for the base model with 64GB storage. That can't be considered a budget iPhone.  This is mainly due to the import tax duties and GST taxes Apple has to pay when bringing these new phones to India. Google had to sell its $399 Pixel 3a for a similar price range a while back as well.  The SE is, in reality, an iPhone 8 with some internal changes. The main highlight of this phone is that it is powered by Apple's high-end chipset - A13 Bionic. The expensive iPhone 11 Pro Max which is priced above 1 Lakh in India ...

Indian Govt has allowed E-commerce sites like Flipkart, Amazon.in, Snapdeal, etc to start selling Mobile phones to customers again ( April 19 onwards ). Both Flipkart and Amazon have now brought all mobiles back in Stock. Since the country is under lockdown, expect big delays in delivery though in some places. Check here for current Mobiles in Stock:  Flipkart   |  AmazonIN  Flipkart has announced they will start delivering Mobiles from April 20 onwards. They have also mentioned currently they won't be accepting orders from pin-codes in Karnataka, West Bengal, and Sikkim. In other news, Since April 1, 2020, the price of almost every smartphone has gone up thanks to the increase in GST Taxes from 12% to 18%. So mobiles like Poco F2 has seen a Rs 1000 increase while iPhone 11 has gone up to Rs 68,300 from Rs 64,900. Upcoming Mobiles: iPhone SE 2020 is listed on Amazon.in and will be available to pre-order in the coming weeks. Mobile Phones are back...

There are plenty of mobile phone macro attachment lenses available in the market. Some offer 20x macro while the standard ones offer 10x macro. If you really want to get up and close to your subject, for eg, an Ant, you would need a 20x for that. However, at that close distance, the subject will get distracted and might move, resulting in you missing the shot. Also, at that closeup, the depth of field will be so narrow, it would be very difficult to get the exact area you want to focus. APEXEL HD 100mm Macro Lens, unlike other macro lenses provided by them, is a bit expensive at  $19.49 ( R 1,400 approx ) . It is a 10x macro lens and is not suitable for super high closeup shots of an insect or an ant using it attached to your main camera lens. However, it has a large front element, and the build quality is excellent. This large element at the front and Pro construction result in very beautiful photos with DSLR like soft background blur. Cheap macro lenses do not of...

Flipkart has announced the iPhone SE 2020 Offer as part of their Big Billion Days 2020. You can get the iPhone SE 2nd Gen, for the lowest price of Rs 25,999 . This is the lowest price ever for this model. Flipkart has also announced offers of iPhone XR 64GB ( Rs 37,999 ) and iPhone 11 Pro 64GB ( Rs 79,999 ). If you are looking to purchase iPhone 11 during this sale, you can get a Rs 47,999 Offer on Amazon.in part of their Great Indian Festival 2020 Sale offers from Oct 16th onwards. SE is powered by the fastest chipset Apple has ever produced - A13 Bionic, which is also onboard more expensive iPhone 11 Series of smartphones. Even though SE has a similar camera as the iPhone 8 and XR, thanks to this new chipset, it will be able to produce higher quality images out of the same 12MP sensor. Processing speed would be way ahead of any other $399 smartphone you can buy today worldwide. The display and design of the SE are the same as the iPhone 8. The Home button is back and houses ...

If you have been looking for a nice, budget 50mm F1.8 "Nifty Fifty" lens for your Sony A6000 / A6300 / A6400 / A5100 APS-C body cameras, you are going to like this new lens from Yongnuo. Yongnuo 50mm f1.8 DA DSM lens for Sony E-mount is priced at $139 US Dollars. Sony's official 50mm F1.8 sel50f18f, on the other hand, is currently priced at $348 in the US and Rs 20,990 in India on Amazon. Yongnuo 50mm f1.8 for Sony E-mount is now available to purchase online from AliExpress ( Check here ). Specs and Features DSM — Digital Stepping up Motor 8 Elements in 7 Groups construction F1.8 Maximum aperture / F16 Minimum aperture 7 Bladed circular aperture blades Weight: 146g 1 low dispersion glass USB Firmware upgrade supported Auto Focus / Manual Focus For $139, in my opinion, it's a good buy for the Sony A6000 Series of cameras. A 50mm F1.8 is a very popular lens and can be used to take portraits with good background blur. Yongnu also makes similar Nifty...

Google Camera Go is a toned-down version of the mighty Google Pixel Camera App. It doesn't have a lot of features we are accustomed to seeing in Gcam Ports put out by developers like Arnova8G2, Cstark, Fu24 etc. A modder named Parrot043 has just released a Google Camera Go Port with HDR+ for All Phones. I tried it on my Huawei and Honor phones as well, which normally do not support Gcam modes. It works well. Don't expect super high-quality images like you get from Pixel phones. Download link here.   ( Warning: Install at your own risk as these are modified apks and are not official Google versions ) What's working? Parrot043 has enabled hidden HDR+ menu in the Google Go Camera, however, currently, HDR is not working properly . Chances are Google has not yet finished the HDR+ implementation and hence didn't ship it with this Go Camera release. He also enabled 10x zoom feature. Video recording may be broken on some phones as well.  App Features Portrait Mo...

Apple has finally launched the 2nd Gen iPhone SE ( 2020 Edition ) worldwide. This is currently the cheapest iPhone powered by the A13 Bionic chip which also powers top-end iPhone 11 Pro Max. It is priced at $399 for the base model, making it tempting to pre-order one when it goes live. Is it worth buying an iPhone SE 2020? Let's check out the Cons and Pros. Reasons to buy iPhone SE 2nd Gen A13 Bionic Chip - the fastest chipset you can get in a smartphone  4K @ 30fps - many high-end Android smartphones still struggle to implement this ( For eg: Google Pixel 4 ) iOS 13 and future software updates for years to come and Apple sends them much faster comparing to Android OEMs Small and Compact design - Easy to carry around in the pocket unlike iPhone 11 Pro max and those bulky newer 6.5+ inch Android phones Touch ID Sensor - for those who own older iPhones would love to have this Home button back. Wireless charging - that's a rarity to see in a $399 smartphone IP67...

Apple has officially launched iPhone SE 2020 Edition. This is currently the most affordable Apple iPhone with Apple's might A13 Bionic chip. It is priced at $399 which is an unheard launch price for an Apple smartphone. In India, it will be priced around 32,999 for the base model. Storage Variants: 64GB, 128GB and 256GB  Colors Available in : Black, White and  Product RED iPhone SE 2020 is an idle phone if you have been wanting to get an Apple device with high-end performance in a small package. It is powered by the same chipset as the expensive iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro. In fact, this chipset is much faster than many flagship Android smartphones launching in 2020.  Specs and Features 12MP F1.8 aperture Main Camera with Portrait mode and Computational Photography Algorithms 4K @ 60fps recording Smart HDR Photos support IP67 Water and Dust Resistance 4.7-inch Retina HD Display Touch ID with Home button  WiFi 6 support Wireless Charging supp...

OnePlus has officially announced OnePlus 8 Series mobiles globally. The regular OnePlus 8 model is a mid-range Flagship phone comparing to the more expensive Pro model. Is it that better than the last year's OnePlus 7T?  Let's analyze. OnePlus 7T is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 855+ Octacore chipset and comes with 6.55 inches AMOLED Full HD+ display. Newer OnePlus 8, on the other hand, is powered by Snapdragon 865 chipset and naturally has 5G support. It has the same 6.55 inch AMOLED display with the same resolution and aspect ratio ( 20:9 ). Both have the same 90hz refresh rate as well. When you look at the display, the main visible difference you can spot is the placement of the camera. On the 7T, it was placed at the top middle as a waterdrop notch, while on the OnePlus 8, it's now a hole-punch style cut out on the left top corner. Last year's OnePlus 7T pro had a pop-up selfie camera that is not seen on these newer OnePlus 8 Series of smartphones.  So P...