Punjab Kings started their IPL 2021 journey with a win. They beat Rajasthan Royals by 4 runs in a thrilling encounter.
Rajasthan Royals won the toss and elected to bowl first. Punjab Kings skipper KL Rahul [91 of 50], Chris Gayle [40 of 28] started well for their side. Later Deepak Hooda’s blistering knock [64 of 28] helped Punjab Kings to set a mammoth total of 221 runs on the board.
While chasing Rajasthan Royals lost both of their openers very soon. But Rajasthan Royal’s skipper Sanju Samson tried his best coming at number 3. Sanju scored 119 from just 63 balls. He was also named Man of the Match. But he failed to pull them to the finishing line as they were just 4 runs short after the end of 20 overs.
After the match, Punjab Kings skipper KL Rahul said, “I didn’t stop believing in the team, and we knew a couple of wickets will bring us back. The game went deep only because me included, we dropped some sitters. We bowled well until about 11-12 overs. We’re used to this, and it’s not something new for us, but a win like this brings the team together.”
“We batted really well and bowled well in patches. We weren’t consistent with the lengths but the bowlers will learn. A lot of talented, skillful players, and it’s important that we back them.”- he added.
Kylian Mbappe is reportedly on the verge of leaving PSG this summer, with Real Madrid having plans to finally put their money where their interests lie and sign the Frenchman. However, nothing is set in stone as of yet.
But rumours of this sort and the departure of a player of Mbappe’s stature warrant a plan B for the selling club, and that is what we’re looking at. Paris Saint-Germain are rumoured to be looking at Mo Salah as the replacement for Kylian Mbappe should he leave this summer.
TOPSHOT – Paris Saint-Germain’s French forward Kylian Mbappe celebrates after scoring a goal during the French L1 football match between Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) and Dijon, on February 29, 2020 at the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris. (Photo by FRANCK FIFE / AFP) (Photo by FRANCK FIFE/AFP via Getty Images)
The Liverpool man has been their most valuable player by the numbers this season, although Diogo Jota can be argued as a competitor for that place. With that said, the Egyptian has been open to the idea of a move elsewhere as well.
Hence, since the player’s contract runs until 2023, Liverpool could be forced into selling Salah if Paris Saint-Germain arrive with a favourable bid to prize the winger away from Anfield. All of that, of course, depends on whether or not Mbappe stays at the club.
Paris Saint-Germain were reportedly trying to do everything in their power to negotiate a new contract with Mbappe. The owner of the club was also reported to be involved in the discussions that called for Mbappe being given some form of say over the sporting decisions made by the club. However, no solid progress has been made from that front either.
As we all know iQOO 7 Legend will launch in India soon. It will be India’s cheapest Snapdragon 888 powered smartphone in India when launched. The smartphone is a similar version of the iQOO 7 Legendary Edition of China designed in partnership with BMW M Motorsport that has a white back panel with stripes of the BMW M Motorsport logo and a “Fascination meets Innovation” slogan. This smartphone will be available for online purchase in India via Amazon.
iQOO India has toned down this charging power in the India variant by almost 50%. The Indian version of iQOO 7 Legendary Edition will support up to 66W fast charging and as per iQOO India “iQOO 7 Legend is equipped with vivo standard charger (FlashCharge adapter 20V 3.3A), and supports up to 66W.”
The company also says “120Hz mode needs to be turned on manually. Some certain applications or interfaces may be only supported by 60 Hz due to reasons like compatibility.” The company has already mentioned earlier that the smartphone will be priced under Rs.40,000 in India.
Infinix India ha launched the Infinix Spark 7 last week a an affordable price range and the smartphone is also gaining popularity as time passes. The Infinix Spark 7 is available via Amazon India for online purchase and the phone is priced at Rs.6,999 for the 2GB RAM + 32GB internal storage variant. The first sale of this smartphone is on April 16.
Moving on, an exclusive image has surfaced of the upcoming Infinix Hot 10 Play smartphone’s retail box. The backside of the retail box has been pictured and it reveals some key specs of the phone and the price as well. All thanks to @yabhishekhd for sharing this. Another source claims that it will launch in India on April 19 via Flipkart.
As mentioned in the box, the Infinix Hot 10 Play will come with a 6.8″ HD+ display, which is huge. The Mediatek Helio G35 processor will be powered by 4GB RAM and 64GB internal storage. It will have a 6000mAh battery. We will get a 13MP dual rear camera and an 8MP front camera. The leaked image of the box shows a price of Rs.10,990 for the 4GB + 64GB variant.
The source has only provided image of the rear side of the box and nothing else. We do not have the image of the original phone yet, but we will keep you update with any further news of this smartphone.
Xiaomi is going to launch the Mi 11 series in India on April 23. One of the most known names that will be launched is the Mi 11 Ultra or the Superphone as mentioned by the company. The tech giant has also mentioned that there will be more than one Snapdragon 888 SoC-powered smartphones that make it clear that other than Mi 11 Ultra, we can also witness the launch of Mi 11 and Mi 11i in the event, which are also powered by Snapdragon 888 processor.
Now the company is teasing that they will launch the launch a new ‘X’ Flagship series in India on the same date. The tweet mentions ‘series’ which indicates that there will be more than one ‘X’ smartphones, and we can expect Mi 11X and Mi 11X Pro from the launch event.
Mi Fans, Xcited that '✖️' flagship series is coming to #India! 😍
🔥 Xtreme performance 🔥 Xceptional display, camera & sound 🔥 Xquisite design 🔥 Xclusive / customized for India
The company has not mentioned the exact names of the smartphones of the ‘X-series’ but the tweet mentions ‘Xtreme performance’, ‘Xceptional display, camera & sound’, ‘Xquisite design’, and ‘Xclusive / customized for India’. The company claims that this ‘X flagship series’ is customized only for India, so this will be a brand new smartphone series exclusive for Indian customers.
Previous rumors claimed that Mi 11X will be launched in India along with Mi 11, Mi 11 Ultra, and Mi 11i. As mentioned by Manu earlier the series will have more than one Snapdragon 888 powered smartphones and thus Mi 11, Mi 11i and Mi 11 Ultra are the main focus here. Other than that we have seen a Xiaomi smartphone getting BIS certification that will be equipped with Snapdragon 870 SoC, this is said to be Mi 11x, the name has not been officially revealed but it is said to be made especially for India. The Mi 11i is the rebranded Redmi K40 Pro+.
The former Barcelona scout has also disclosed just how close Barcelona came to signing Vinicius Junior before joining Real Madrid.
Cury said, via Marca: “With [Vinicius] we were three and a half years ahead of Madrid.”
“We were betrayed by his agents, who had reached a compromise with Barcelona. At the key moment of the deal, they stabbed us.”
“A fortnight before signing for Madrid, here in Brazil, Vinicius said he was a Barcelona fan, that his idol was Neymar and that Messi was better than Cristiano [Ronaldo].”
“Then he said whatever he wanted when he was already in Madrid.”
Cury also explained that Real Madrid’s representatives went to visit Vinicius, which ultimately changed everything.
“His agents told us that they would come but that nothing would happen because the player [had already agreed to join] Barcelona. There was a verbal commitment.”
“The agents returned to Barcelona, closed the definitive agreement with us, shook our hand… And then they disappeared and betrayed us.”
Cury also claimed that Los Blancos were worried about seeing Rodrygo end up in a Blaugrana shirt.
He commented: “They didn’t trust Vinicius and feared they had signed the wrong player and we [were going to get] the right one,”
“That’s why they got two players of the same age, in the same position, and from outside the EU.”
“Barcelona met twice here in Brazil with the president of Santos [who Rodrygo was playing for]. I told them we had to leave with the deal closed. We didn’t. And then Madrid arrived.”
Neymar was part of one of the most successful attacking trios of the past decade, MSN. But surprisingly, he left Barcelona for a world record fee of 222 million euros and joined PSG. However, he later wanted to come back to Barcelona.
Andre Cury, who was previously part of Barcelona’s technical secretariat and also worked as Neymar’s agent in the past, has now revealed just how close Neymar came to re-joining Barcelona in the summer of 2019.
However, Cury still believes that there is a chance of Neymar returning to Barcelona. This could, in turn, lead to Lionel Messi staying at Camp Nou.
Cury said in an interview with Sport, via Marca: “Neymar still has five or six years [left] of a very good career,”
“Messi would surely stay [at Barcelona] to relive the magical moments they had together.
“That summer [of 2019] we were very close [to bringing Neymar back to Barcelona], but as Griezmann had already signed, [the club] was already up to its neck financially.
“PSG asked us for 150 million [euros], plus the transfer of [Ivan] Rakitic and [Jean-Clair] Todibo and the loan of [Ousmane] Dembele. The only difference is that Barcelona’s representatives offered 130 [million euros] instead of 150 [million euros].”
Cury also commented on the controversial player swap of Arthur Melo and Miralem Pjanic that took place between Barcelona and Juventus last summer.
He said: “It’s one of the biggest aberrations I’ve ever seen in the history of football. It’s absurd,”
“You swap Arthur, a 23-year-old, who has a net wage of two million [euros], for a player, a 31-year-old, who should have a net wage of six million [euros], so you increase the wage bill.”
Most of us are used to Android tablets or iPads. However, there are also the tablets or 2-in-1 tablets running on ChromeOS, known as Chromebook. In case you are still not aware of it, ChromeOS is also a Google OS like Android based on Linux; but it’s very much lighter and still under development.
All the Google applications, alongside most of the Android applications available on the Google Play Store, are compatible with it; need for optimization in some cases.
Lenovo IdeaPad Duet Chromebook Tablet, also known as Lenovo CT-X636F, is one of the most affordable Chromebooks available in the global market. Why? Under Rs. 30,000 where the maximum of the brands offer only the tablet, Lenovo acts aggressively and provides the accessories like a detachable keyboard and cover with a built-in stand. The advantages of the ChromeOS and Stylus support are additionals.
Considering the way lower price with the offerings, I was curious how the company provides a Chromebook with the accessories with no additional costs and where exactly Lenovo compromises to label this pricing. I already get the answer and currently sharing it with you.
By the way, the product, Lenovo IdeaPad Duet Chromebook Tablet, costs Rs.26,999 and available vail Lenovo’s official website and popular online platforms. It’s a Wi-Fi-only Chromebook and comes with Ice Blue & Iron Grey color combination. Now, without any delay, let’s jump into the review.
Specifications :-
10.1-inches Full HD (1920×1200) Display with 400nits Brightness
MediaTek P60T Octa-Core Processor
ARM Mali-G72 GPU
4GB LPDDR4X RAM | 128GB eMMC Internal Storage
ChromeOS
7,000mAh Battery
8MP Primary and 2MP Front Camera
Bluetooth 4.2
Wi-Fi (2.4GHz | 5GHz)
In the Box :-
Tablet
Detachable Keyboard
Detachable Cover with stand
10W Charging Adapter
USB Type-C to 3.5mm Audio Jack
Paper works
Design & Cover:-
Design is the starting point of praise. The Lenovo IdeaPad Duet Chromebooks have a 239.8mm x 159.8mm body with a 7.35mm thickness. Needless to mention, dimension-wise, it’s very handy and portable. The mentioned figures are of the main body only, not with the accessories added. The Chromebook weighs around 450g which not feels too heavy while using it in the tablet mode, neither with the accessories having around 920g. Obviously, the built-in stand helps a lot.
The tablet is fully made up of metal, where most tablets in this price tag offer plastic. On top of that, the dual-tone Ice Blue and Iron Grey look very unique and attractive. The blue part in the back has a rubbery matt finish which feels very good.
You will find the volume bar and power buttons at the top on the right side of the tablet. Both the keys can provide good tactile feedback. There is the USB Type-C port at the bottom of the same side and the charge indicator LED. The two speakers and microphones are positioned separately at the top of the Chromebook. The pogo pins and the magnets are there at the bottom to attach the keyboard.
The keyboard and the cover are attached to the main unit through magnets. The keyboard is tiny in size, and the build quality is ok. I am accustomed to using mini keyboards, but it’s problematic for me as all the keys are placed in a tiny area. It can definitely be overcome after some time of regular usage.
The keyboard doesn’t need an additional power supply; it takes power from the tab via the pogo pins. The keys are very soft, responsive, and silent as well. The trackpad is also tiny but ok as compared to the tablet size. All the gestures and clicks are working very smoothly.
Coming to the cover, the outside of it is made up of high-quality fiber, and the inside part is flat, made up of plastic-like material. The magnets are powerful. The stand is attached to this pad with a metallic hinge. As an advantage, you can bend the screen at any angle as per your need and comfort.
Display & Audio :-
The Lenovo IdeaPad Duet Chromebook Tablet has a 10.1-inch touch screen with a 1920 x 1200 pixels Full HD IPS display, up to 400 nits of brightness, and a 19:10 aspect ratio. Despite the broad bezels, the screen looks pretty well with crisp color production and a decent viewing angle.
The viewing experience in the indoor lighting conditions was excellent for me didn’t get any color bleeding, screen flickering, brightness issue; but outdoors, especially in sunlight, the full brightness was not sufficient for me most of the time.
The screen supports a standard 60Hz refresh rate. Here is good news if you watch lots of Netflix or Prime Video shows or from any other platforms. The Chromebook has Widevine L1 certifications, which means you can enjoy the shows in the highest possible resolution.
With the visual experience, audio also plays a major role. In this case, two speakers are placed at the top of the body in both ends, along with two microphones. It’s the first point where I’m disappointed. The audio output is not so loud and clear at all. I really had to struggle to hear anything.
The use of an earphone is highly recommended. You can connect it via Bluetooth 4.2 or using the Type-C to 3.5mm dongle provided in the box. The same experience for the mics as well. That means you have to use an earphone during any video call/conference or while media consumption.
Stylus support is one of its key specialties. The IdeaPad Duet supports all USI Stylus, and there are some extra features for it when you nurture images. Unfortunately, I don’t have any stylus to test the response out. Point to note, if the use of a stylus is on your priority list, you have to buy it.
Performance :-
The Geekbench 4 score shows that this IdeaPad Duet resides between Samsung Galaxy Tab S5e and Galaxy Tab S6 Lite among the Android Tablets. Thanks to the MediaTek P60T Octa-Core processor on the board, along with ARM Mali-G72 GPU and 4GB LPDDR4X RAM.
It manages to handle all the regular functionalities and animations with ease. Normal day-to-day tasks with Google applications and other light to medium size applications are running very fine. But struggles to manage heavy applications, rendering high-quality videos, and all.
I tried a few games on it. Google Play Store is available inside, so playing most of the Android games is possible. While testing, I first try to install Call of Duty Mobile, but Google shows the “device isn’t compatible with this version.” I was surprised by this note, as some of the other reviewers already tried this very game on the same device. Anyways, I went for some other. One of them was Asphalt 9. The processor is comfortable with low or media graphics settings.
If you are a multitasker, this product can be your perfect partner. The processor generally tolerates 6 to 7 applications at a time keeping each one active in the background. It’s more than enough on an overall basis at under Rs.30,000 price tag.
OS & Usage :-
The operating system is the main attraction of this IdeaPad Duet. As I mentioned in the beginning, it’s running on Google’s ChromeOS version 89 32-bit. This is also based on Linux like Android, very light in weight and secure. You would be surprised to know that this tablet will get software and security updates until June 2028; it’s even more than iPads. To work in this environment, you just need a Gmail account; that’s it.
Interestingly, there is Google Play Store as well. Yes, you can run Android applications as well. However, most of the applications are not properly optimizes for ChromeOS, and a few are not properly supported, but it’s scarce.
ChromeOS has some of its own signatures like both the split-screen and multi-window working facility, various gestures, and so on. But, as it’s currently developing, various improvements and optimizations are required to perform. For example, you can’t just slide in between images.
You have to use navigation arrows to perform that; no option to delete multiple files in a single click; switching between running applications is notably slow. Swiping from left to right generally works as going back and swiping from right to left to go forward; these gestures fail so often for me.
Other than Google’s and Android applications, you can also run Linux software and even develop them. ChromeOS allows users to download the Linux Development kit if needed. So, a wide range of accessibility is available with ChromeOS. Additionally, it’s very light, good for long battery life, and stylus compatible.
Point to note; you have to have a Gmail account to work in ChromeOS. It requires in the very beginning. In case you log in as a guest, there will be only Chrome, Files, and Settings to use; other applications like Google Play Store, Camera, Notes, etc., will not be accessible.
Battery :-
As I already mentioned a couple of times that ChromeOS is very good for the longer battery life. On top, the IdeaPad Duet carries a massive 7,000mAh battery inside. You may think, the Chromebook also has to power the external keyboard. Believe me, you will get back up for almost a day with regular usage along with the accessories. In tablet mode, the duration can extend further.
The massive 7,000mAh charge tank takes around an hour to go up from 15% to 50%. The rest 50% fills in the next two and a half hours approximately. That means, in total it takes around three and a half hours to charge fully. A 10W charging adapter with a Type-C cable is coming in the box.
Camera :-
The IdeaPad Duet has an 8MP primary and a 2MP front camera. A LED indicator is there with the front camera. The Chromebook is not exactly camera-centric, can click decent shots though. There are mainly two modes – Photo and Portrait for images and video mode. From settings, the resolution of the images and videos can be adjustable up to 1200p (1600×1200) for the front camera and up to 1080p (1920×1080) for the primary camera.
The images coming out are looking good at a glance but miss capturing details. The portrait shots are not ready to compete with the other portraits from some other devices. Videos are in the same position. If you attend video calls, I will suggest to rest the Chromebook and attend that by sitting somewhere putting on earphones.
Overall, the camera outputs are not so good, but considering the price and camera resolution, I have no scope to complain. Only the image processing improvement is the way to overcome and I believe, the ChromeOS team is already working on it.
Pros & Cons :-
Pros
Cons
Premium and attractive design with metal body
No fingerprint or facial unlock
Big and bright FHD Display
No storage expansion option
Huge battery life
Poor audio quality
ChromeOS features
No headphone jack
Duel band Wi-Fi support
Decent Camera output
Stylus support
ChromeOS is yet to be optimized
Long software and security updates
Accessories at no extra cost
Affordable price
Verdict :-
Despite the cons, all the mentioned pros are stronger and logical to refer this Lenovo IdeaPad Duet Chromebook Tablet to someone. It’s super handy, cool-looking, secure, cost-effective, has a wide work field, comes with stylus support, Widevine L1 certification. All of these at just Rs.26,999.
Most of the cons could be overcome if you have a wireless earbud. Then this Chromebook tablet can easily beat any of its rivals available in the market, other than iPads. The Lenovo IdeaPad Duet is available through Lenovo’s website, stores, and renowned online platforms as well.
As the launch date is nearing, Realme is revealing more about the upcoming Realme 8 5G smartphone. The launch date has been officially announced for Thailand on April 21 and rumors say that the India launch might happen on April 22, which is the next day.
Moving on, the company is now revealing different colour options of the Realme 8 5G. Previously the company had revealed that the phone will be equipped with the MediaTek 700 5G processor. Let’s have a look at all the colour options revealed ahead of launch by the company.
Here you can see two colour options, one in black and the other one in blue. But as we all know smartphone brands try to name the colours differently, so in this case, also we are getting some special names for these colours. The black version is named Supersonic Black and the blue version is named Supersonic Blue.
The official teaser that was released a few days earlier, in which we can witness the rear design of the upcoming Realme 8 5G. However, we can expect to see more teasers of both the upcoming 5G smartphones from Realme, revealing more of their designs and specifications well ahead of the launch event.
Moreover, Realme 8 5G has been spotted on Geekbench database with MediaTek Dimensity 700 SoC, which is a 5G chipset. The chipset will be paired with 8GB RAM. The chipset has also been confirmed by Realme Thailand’s official website. Madhav Sheth told to The Financial Express “We will have a Realme 8 5G version soon (but not so early),”. Madhav, however, did not produce any time frame regarding the Realme 8 5G launch date. He added, “we have to understand that adding 5G with these features will incur additional costs.”
It seems that Sony’s games can soon be made available on smartphones. I know we all tried those PSP and PS2 emulators on android back in the days, but they all sucked big time. But more than the gamers, Sony itself tried its best to provide its games on a small screen.
It brought its PlayStation Portable and also PlayStation Vita, even its Sony Ericsson Xperia Play that was a slider phone with physical gaming controls hidden beneath the display, couldn’t enjoy the same publicity as the Nintendo Switch.
However, it seems that Sony is thinking of taking a different approach right now, This time around looks like it is taking a different approach by focusing on bringing its top franchises more widely to smartphones.
Sony has recently posted a new job for a Head of Mobile position based in either San Mateo or Los Angeles, California. It’s a position to oversee the “mobile games strategy for PlayStation Studios and help build a foundation for future growth opportunities.”
The job description stated, “Do you want to lead the development and strategy of mobile gaming and help shape the future of gaming for a world-class studio? As Head of Mobile, you will own and develop the mobile game’s strategy for PlayStation Studios and help build a foundation for future growth opportunities. You will lead all aspects of the expansion of our game development from consoles and PCs to mobile & Live Services with a focus on successfully adapting PlayStation’s most popular franchises for mobile. You will be responsible for building and scaling a team of mobile leaders and will serve as the Head of this new business unit within PlayStation Studios.”
We are still as to what exactly Sony is planning to do here, however, one thing is clear that Sony is making a comeback in the smartphone gaming business, and this time around it’s planning to stay. We have many high-end titles which are both available on smartphones as well as on the company’s consoles. Take for example Pubg and Fortnite.
However, if sony managed to make its exclusive games available on the smartphone platform then it will create ripples in the mobile gaming industry.
