Facebook is not just limited to your daily social media apps these days but the company has been quite active in the AR & VR space through its subsidiary Oculus which back again with yet another Virtual Reality headset dubbed Quest 2 at Facebook’s Connect virtual conference.
The Quest 2 is the successor to Oculus’ last-gen Quest headset and its more powerful, has a better design, and has 50% more pixels on each display than the original Quest along with the support for 90Hz refresh rate.
The Oculus Quest 2 features a new display with 1,832×1,920 pixels resolution per eye but there’s no word on which type of display it is but let’s assume its an LCD display with 90Hz of refresh rate but currently, the software only supports a refresh rate of 72Hz but Oculus has told that the future applications will be supporting 90Hz. The headset is powered by Qualcomm XR2 SoC coupled with 6GB of RAM. Further, the new headset just weighs 503 grams that is lighter than the original Quest which weighs 571 grams.
The controller has also got the update which makes it a lot more power efficient then the last generation.
Apart from launching a new product Oculus has also discontinued an old one which is none other than Rift S and will be replaced by the newly launched Quest 2 since it is also capable to function as a PC VR headset with the additional Quest Link accessory.
The Oculus Quest 2 is priced at $299 for the 64GB variant while for an extra $100 you can grab the 256GB storage variant and can be preordered starting today in the US, UK, and Europe while the delivery will be starting from October 13. The second iteration of Quest is priced $100 lesser than the original Quest which launched back in 2018 for $399 for the base storage variant.
The compatible titles include Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy’s Edge, Myst, Jurassic World Aftermath, Warhammer 40,000 Battle Sister, Pistol Whip: 2089, The Climb 2, and Rez Infinite which will be coming later this year.
According to a recent report from Reuters, the Indian e-commerce giant Flipkart largely owned by Walmart is preparing to open up initial public offerings in foreign countries like the US or Singapore in 2021 which could be valued around the range of $45-50 billion.
Flipkart is one of the well-established e-commerce marketplaces in the country and after Walmart’s acquisition the company is growing but the reports suggest that the launch of players like JioMart in the segment has left Flipkart in some worry so the company is looking to gear up and for that, the company will be requiring finances and to tackle this situation Flipkart is looking towards the international IPO.
Flipkart is currently deciding between the Singapore and United States since the company is incorporated in Singapore while it’s parent organization Walmart is based in the United States so opening up an IPO in the US will be able to gather more funds.
There is no confirmation from either Flipkart or Walmart since both of them have denied Reuter’s request to comment on the news. The discussions come after the new regulations drafted by the Indian government which makes it easy for homegrown companies to list themselves overseas.
According to a source familiar to this matter has told Reuters that the work has already begun and the Flipkart has started working on the compliance, legal, and finance aspects to meet the regulatory standards ahead of a potential listing.
According to one of the sources, the company won’t be going to list before the end of 2021 or mostly the listing will go live sometime at the beginning of 2022 but for now, things are blurry due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The overseas IPO would prove beneficial for the Walmart owned Flipkart since the likes of its major rivals of Amazon and Jio has been investing heavily on the e-commerce segment so getting some funds to eradicate the competition might be a great option in times like these when e-commerce has witnessed an upwards slope up during the COVID pandemic in the country.
Last year, the Chinese flexible display manufacturer Royole launched its FlexPai foldable phone. That phone made a huge impact on the market of foldable smartphones – beating Samsung’s Galaxy Fold and Huawei’s Mate X. In this year back in March, the company has announced that they were working on the improvements of the successor of FlexPai, dubbed as FlexPai 2. Today we’ve got the confirmation from the company that the FlexPai 2 will launch on September 22, 2020.
Apart from this, the FlexPai 2 has also been spotted in a Geekbench 4 listing revealing its synthetic performance. That’s why some of its specifications have now been revealed, such as this device is powered by the Snapdragon 865 chipset paired with 8GB RAM and 128GB of internal storage. The storage is further expandable up to 256GB via an external microSD card. Let’s talk about the performance scores of the device on Geekbench. The FlexPai 2 has managed to secure 4,252 points in the single-core test and 13,365 in the multi-core department.
This phone features a dual rear camera module, which includes 16 MP + 20 MP sensors with auto-focus. But unfortunately, there will be no front camera on this device.
Now coming to the most important part of the device, which is the display. The FlexPai 2 features the company’s third-generation flexible display dubbed Cicada Wing. The bends of this display offer higher brightness output and improved viewing angles. Physically, the folding technology is also very much durable, which can withstand all types of bends including rolling up the display.
From some recent reports from Samsung, we came to know that Samsung is working on its ‘F’ series smartphones and in the upcoming days, the company is going to launch its ‘F’ series smartphones in India.
According to some fresh tweets from the tipsters, the support page of Samsung Galaxy F41 also goes live in India. The model number was SM-F415F/DS. From this, we can assume that this upcoming phone can be dubbed as the Samsung Galaxy F41.
It is almost clear that Samsung Galaxy F-series smartphones will come in the Indian market with a price tag between Rs. 15,000 and Rs. 20,000. That means we can expect the phones of the F-series will be really pocket-friendly. According to the company, the first phone of that series will get launched in India next month via the online market. The company has also added that F-series phones will be basically camera-centric handsets. Just like the M-series smartphones, the F-series are claimed to focus on the online market initially.
As we know that the main focus of the M-series smartphones is the battery, the F-series will make its focus to the camera module. So it will be a blessing to the mobile photographers in a pocket-friendly budget.
Recently, Samsung has launched its latest M-series smartphone, the Galaxy M51 carrying a 7,000mAH battery. It is also said that M51 is the best handset under Rs. 30,000. So, we can expect some great start from Samsung with its F-series smartphones.
Sony globally introduced the successor of WH-1000X M3 over-the-ear headphone on 6th August and around one and half months later going to release the product, named Sony WH-1000X M4, in India. This headphone by Sony was listed on Amazon at the beginning of this month and if you were excited about it, wait till 2:00 PM IST. Before the launch, have a look at all the qualities this headphone has.
The overall design of WH-1000X M4 is the same as its predecessor. Not only that, but it also equipped with the same QN1 noise-canceling processor. Besides, there are gesture controls, adaptive sound controls, wear detection, and more. In the case of audio, this headset supports SBC, AAC, and LDAC Bluetooth Codecs.
Sony claims it can serve you for over 30 hours in a single charge, again same as the M3.
A new feature is introduced in this called “Speak To Chat”. This feature automatically pauses the running track when it detects you are talking with someone around you. In WH-1000X M3, you need to cover the right ear cup with palm for the same. So, this is one of the most noticeable differences. Another one is the new one has Bluetooth 5.0, M3 had Bluetooth 4.2.
You can connect this headset with multiple devices simultaneously. For a hands-free experience, there is built-in voice assistant support. All kinds of audio customizations are possible through the Sony Headphones Connect application.
Sony is bringing two color variants – Black and White with the price tag of Rs.28,490. You can pick anyone as per your choice from the Amazon India page, the sale will start today at 2:00 PM IST. The buy link is given below.
Samsung Galaxy M51, the Meanest Monster Ever was revealed in India on 10th September and now, it stepping in for sale today (18th September). Let you know, it’s the first-ever smartphone in the market having a massive 7,000mAh battery capacity. Before diving into the pricing and variant part, have a look at the specs, in case you don’t know.
Specifications of Samsung Galaxy M51
The Samsung Galaxy is equipped with a 6.7-inch (16.95cm) sAMOLED Plus Infinity-O display (contrast ratio 78960:1 || aspect ratio 20:9). On top of that, the screen is almost bezel-less to provide a great viewing experience.
To power the monster, Samsung assigned the Snapdragon 730G processor (2.2GHz based on 8nm architecture, Adreno 618 GPU with game booster) paired with LPDDR4X 6GB/8GB of RAM.
There is 128GB of internal storage for both the sets which can be extended up to 512GB through a MicroSD card
The most attractive one is Galaxy M51 is carrying India’s first 7,000mAh battery. It can provide up to 64 hours of calling, up to 24 hours of browsing, 34 hours of video playback, and 128 hours of audio playback time. To recharge it, the company is giving a 25W Type-C fast charger in the box that can push the battery level from 0% to 100% in 115 minutes. Point to note, the reverse charging feature is also included.
Coming to the camera, there is a quad-camera setup in the rear where the main sensor is of Sony IMX682 64MP with an f/1.8 lens. Along with that, a 12MP ultrawide (123 degrees) sensor, 5MP depth sensor, and 5MP macro sensor are also there. The Single Take facility is added to the setup. In the front, users will get the Sony IMX616 32MP punch hole camera at the center position.
The phone will run on OneUI which is based on Android 10
For the security, both the fingerprint and face unlock support are provided
In the end, it has Dolby Atmos support
Pricing and Availability
As you can see, there are two variants available hardware-wise and color-wise two variants – Celestial Black and Electric Blue. The 6GB variant costs Rs.24,999 where the other one is of Rs.26,999. All will be available from today (18th September) via Amazon India. The sale will start at 12 noon. The buy links are given below.
What if it costs $299? The next-gen budget gaming console will support the Quick Resume feature while playing multiple titles seamlessly
The new Microsoft Xbox Series S was a kind of surprise from the company this month and having shared its images, Microsoft launched it with the pricing alongside the flagship Xbox Series X. It derives all the good things from its big brother, however, targeting the 1080p or 1440p gamers coming in at a sweet $299 price.
Microsoft even announced a mouth-watering Xbox All Access scheme that allows you to get both the Xbox Series S and the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for just $24.99 a month. Now, to show the prowess of its new budget console, Microsoft did share a video where the Quick Resume feature for the Xbox Series S is in action:
So this shows how smooth the game transitions are and who could guess this is a $299 hardware? The new Microsoft Velocity architecture helps to deliver more than 40x the I/O bandwidth of an Xbox One, for faster loading times and Quick Resume for multiple titles.
Also, the 512GB custom NVMe SSD gives a huge 2.4 GB/s of raw I/O throughput along with Hardware Accelerated Decompression that offers 100x more I/O performance than any current-gen controllers. Then there’s the fast AMD hardware that delivers 4x the processing power of an Xbox One console.
As we see in the video, the transition between heavy games like the Star Wars and Minecraft is seamless, takes a few seconds to load. Then if say you are bored with one game, you can quickly return back to the first game and due to Quick Resume, you can continue from where you left off.
The next-gen budget console gaming experience seems much more promising with 3x the GPU performance of the Xbox One with a promise to play games at 1440p at 60 frames per second, with support for up to 120fps.
So, the performance and features that you get on a $299 machine make the Microsoft Xbox Series S even more valuable deal. A lot of 1080p gamers will be pouncing on this console in November and for the price its obvious.
A couple of weeks ago, Sony has announced its upcoming Xperia series smartphone, which is Sony Xperia 5 II. Finally, the wait is over as the company has launched the Sony Xperia 5 II in some selected regions including the US and the UK. This phone holds a pretty powerful processor for high-end gaming. Now let’s get into the specifications of this newly launched Sony Xperia 5 II.
The Sony Xperia 5 II is offered in four different color variants in the US (Black, Blue, Grey, and Pink), whereas three different color variants in the UK (Black, Blue, and Grey color). This phone runs on the Android 10 OS and is powered by an octa-core Snapdragon 865 SoC processor paired with 8GB RAM. This phone comes with only 8GB RAM variant. In terms of storage, this phone offers 128GB of UFS storage onboard that can be expanded via microSDXC card (up to 1TB).
Regarding the display, the Xperia 5 II features a 6.1-inch full-HD+ (1,080 x 2,520 pixels) OLED display with a refresh rate of 120Hz and 240Hz touch sampling rate. The display comes with a 21:9 aspect ratio and also supports HDR with 100 percent coverage of the DCI-P3 color space.
Coming to the camera section, this phone features a triple rear camera module, which includes a 12-megapixel primary sensor with an f/1.7 lens, a 12-megapixel sensor with an f/2.4 lens, and a 12-megapixel sensor with a wide-angle f/2.2 lens. Regarding the selfie, this phone offers an 8-megapixel sensor with an f/2.0 lens, housed in the top bezel on the front.
The Sony Xperia 5 II comes with a decent battery backup of 4,000mAH with the support of 18W fast charging. The company claims that the device can be charged to 50 percent in just 30 minutes. In terms of size, this phone has a dimension of 158mm x 68mm x 8mm and it weighs around 163 grams.
This phone supports all the connectivity facilities like 5G, dual-band Wi-Fi, Dolby Atmos audio, GPS/ A-GPS, Bluetooth 5.1, a 3.5mm headphone jack, NFC, and a USB Type-C port for charging. There is also a support of the fingerprint sensor and face detection on this phone.
Regarding the pricing and the availability, this phone has a price range of EUR 899 (roughly Rs. 78,000) for the single 8GB + 128GB storage variant. This phone will go on sale from Autumn 2020 in the European market (the exact date is not confirmed yet by Sony). As per reports, the US pricing of this phone is around $949 (roughly Rs. 70,000), which will go on sale later this year (probably December 4).
Sony has also made an announcement of releasing two accessories for the phone – a Stand Cover (with a built-in kickstand) and a more traditional Style Cover. This phone also natively supports DualShock 4 controllers.
boAt Lifestyle, on 9th September, dropped its new Rockerz 335 Bluetooth neckband that the company described as ‘Greatest Of All Time’. No doubt boAt shows great confidence regarding the quality.
So, it’s our duty to cross-check all the features just for you, so that before purchase you can get a clear idea of whether this product is exactly what you are expecting or not. Aiming this, we ordered the boAt Rockerz 335 and now, delivering you the result as per my opinion.
Details :-
Before diving into the review part, have a look at the basic information of this Rockerz 335. This list includes the specifications, variants, and pricing.
The control board of Rockerz 335 is made up of metal and for the rest of the part, the company uses high-grade silicone which is very soft and flexible. Due to the silicone material, you can rest this on your neck for a long time or carry anywhere, though the 30g weight is also a factor.
All the buttons, charging port, and a LED indicator are placed on the right end of the neckband. You can notice boAt branding on the power button, left end of the band along with on both the earbuds.
I forgot to mention, the earbuds are magnetic to provide a tangle-free experience and comes with silicone made ear locks that ensure the secure fit. Do note, these locks play a vital role for your comfort, if you just put the buds in your ears may feel pain after some time. You need to rotate the buds slightly outwards after wearing them. It’s my personal experience.
Overall the built quality is good enough at this price range with the additional benefit of IPX5 waterproofing. In the case of comfort, just keep in mind about the ear-lock, you will get a great experience.
Connectivity & Usage :-
To manage your calls, tracking the power button and a volume control button is placed on the right end of the neckband along with a LED indicator. The connectivity section is handled by Bluetooth 5.0 and the pairing process is the same as other wireless audio devices. Officially the operating range is 10m, in practical usage, the bond remains for up to 6 to 7 feet only.
Here are the usage guidelines –
Press the power button once
Play or pause track
Receive or cut the call
Press the power button for 2 seconds
Reject call
Wake up the voice assistant
Press the power button for 3 seconds
Power on
Press the power button for 5 seconds
Power off
Press the volume + button
Increase volume
Press the volume – button
Decrease volume
Long press the volume + button
Next track
Long press the volume – button
Previous track
Press both + & – together for 5 seconds
Reset the Rockerz 335
If you are wondering how to enjoy the dual pairing, here are all the steps –
Pair the Rockerz 335 with the two devices individually, one after another
Turn off the Bluetooth of any one of your devices and connect the neckband with the other one
Turn the Bluetooth on of the second device
If the 335 automatically gets paired with the second device then well & good. Otherwise, do it manually
Keep in mind that during the dual paired condition you cannnot manage the volume through the neckband, though can manage tracks and obviously calls.
Now coming to the drawbacks of this part –
The most annoying thing I faced is the placement of the volume adjustment bar, it is placed in reverse order with comparison with other neckbands. That means you need to press the upper part to reduce the volume and the lower part to increase.
Secondly, the response time of the power button is slow, for example, if I press the button to pause the current track it will reflect around one or two seconds later.
I noticed latency while watching videos or gaming, the time is less than a second. For regular users or common people, it’s negligible. But think once before professional use.
Audio Quality :-
boAt tried not to compromise for audio quality. So, it added Qualcomm aptX Classic and aptX HD decoder along with the Qualcomm cVc noise cancellation technology. On top 10mm dynamic audio drivers are also there in both the earbuds. As a result, it provides a beautiful audio experience. The audio is very loud and the bass is very soft, neither too much nor less.
During the calls both the input and output quality are good. That means the microphone is also working well. The noise cancellation technology handles the low and medium frequency noises pretty well but struggles with heavy noises. It’s completely understandable under Rs.2,000.
Overall, a green signal for me in the case of audio quality.
Battery life :-
The battery life is one of the main attractions of boAt Rockerz 335. It carries a 150mAh battery inside having the support of ASAP Charging technology. The company claims 10 minutes of charge can provide 10 hours of backup, takes 40 minutes to get fully charged, and most importantly lasts for up to 30 hours. Well, all are on paper.
I received the unit with 100% charge and it takes around 17 hours to discharge fully instead of 30 hours. I kept the volume at 50% maximum time. For 10 minutes of charge through the USB-C port, the battery level goes up from 0% to 80%, and the rest 20% fills in the next 20 minutes. Means, it takes 30 minutes to get charged fully. The LED indicator turns blue once the charge level touches the 100% bar.
Conclusion, both battery life and charging are very good in the practical field.
Pros & Cons :-
Pros
Comfortable to use
Secure fit
Good audio quality
Dual pairing support
Long battery life
ASAP Charging technology
IPX5 waterproofing
Cons
Latency issue
Volume bar placement
Verdict :-
Now time to sum up all the design, connectivity, audio, and battery portion of the device. boAt, this time too, provides us a great experience at an aggressive price. Paying just Rs.1,999 you will get a beautiful audio quality, huge battery life, premium-like built quality, and also benefits like dual pairing support, ASAP Charging technology, and waterproofing.
I totally agree the latency issue is annoying for professionals and the volume bar placement is a subject to adopt. If you are a casual user and want a value for money neckband boAt Rockerz 335 can be the best option for you. The buy links are given below for your quick reach.
Barcelona club president Josep Maria Bartomeu has received heavy criticism under recent times. His vision and policy of taking the club forward have been questioned by club captain and legend Lionel Messi himself.
It has been rumoured that the Socios are collecting signatures to produce a vote of no confidence against Bartomeu.
Més que una Moció has been launched about two weeks ago. While planning began months ago, the ultras had until the end of Thursday to collect the required 16,520 signatures needed to force an election.
According to a report by Mundo Deportivo, 20,731 signatures have been collected which is way above the required no of 16,520 votes, though the votes will have to be validated in the coming days.
Jordi Farre expressed that he was optimistic from the beginning: “I move around a lot with the partners and I had detected this fatigue. With these figures, we calculate that Bartomeu would have to get support from 12,000 members at the polls and I don’t think there are not 12,000 who did. If I had been president, I would have come to receive the voice of 20,000 members and has not done so.”
Marc Duch stressed that “it is outrageous to reach this figure, it is a scandal. The normal thing would be the resignation of Bartomeu because if I had 20,000 opponents, I would resign ”.
He further added that “it is a matter of exhaustion; It is not a question of 2-8 or that Messi wanted to go. There are five disasters. In two or three months, the club can sign many things and it will not be to prevail the interest of the club but the individual”.
What will happen next?
When the required 16,520 signatures have been reached, the partners can decide whether the current board will remain or a new election will be held.
Bartomeu is supposed to remain in position until March (he has decided to prepone the presidential election from June to March).
But if the partners decide to vote against Bartomeu in October and the vote of no confidence is successful (two-thirds of the votes against the board are required), Bartomeu and his board of directors will have to step down. A new board will take charge on an interim basis and the presidential elections should be held within 40 days to 3 months, which is latest by January (2 months before the scheduled presidential elections in March).
The 20,731 signatures collected against Bartomeu is the highest figure in history to promote a motion of no confidence. So you can definitely guess that it is a matter of when and not if Bartomeu resigns.
The time of Bartomeu at Barcelona is clearly over and it is for his own good that he resigns before the vote takes place and save himself from further humiliation.
