Tech News March 13 Highlights: Motorola Razr physical launch event cancelled due to coronavirus
Tech News March 13 Highlights: In our daily live blog, we try and cover all the news from the consumer tech world, and today we are looking at the latest iPhone 12 leak, Microsoft’s Build conference going online-only thanks to the Coronavirus threat among other announcements. Motorola has also announced the foldable Razr phone will launch in India on March 16, but it will be an online only event, given you guessed it Coronavirus.
Microsoft’s Build developer conference, which was supposed to take place from May 19 to 21 is now a ‘digital event’ as well. Once again the Coronavirus outbreak is responsible. We have seen that Google has already cancelled I/O, its own annual developer conference. Apple is yet to confirm whether its developer conference, the WWDC will take place or not, but given the spate of cancellations, we won’t be surprised if this too becomes an online-only event.
It also looks like the 3D camera is going to make its way to the iPhone 12, and this is something that has been rumoured for a while now. The latest report from Fast Company, which claims at least one iPhone will support this 3D depth camera, which will include a laser, sensor and software system to measure distance between the phone and other objects. The ‘world facing’ 3D camera as the report calls it has supposedly been in development for two years.
Tech News Highlights: Redmi Note 9 Pro series launched, Galaxy S20 Ultra deliveries begin
Meanwhile, Logitech has introduced a wireless charging standing which would be a useful AirPower alternative. Those who don’t remember, AirPower was supposed to be wireless charging mat from Apple to charge your iPhone, Watch and AirPods at all once, but the project was suspended eventually because the company could not get the product to stop overheating.
We tested out Xiaomi's new Mi Outdoor Bluetooth Speaker priced at Rs 1,399 and ended up liking it a lot. It has its ups and downs, but when you look at the price, you are pushed to look at only the positives aspects. We found the device to feature good looks and have good sound quality. Another positive is its battery life. Read our in-depth review to know more about the device, and if it is for you.
EQ8 Audio has launched a new pair of truly wireless earphones, named the EQ8 Earbuds. It is priced at Rs 6,999 and can be bought via Amazon and the company's official website. The company states that the earbuds have a "rich experience in acoustics and can provide audiophile grade sound, bass and definition that is second to none."
It comes with a Qualcomm 3020 chipset along with a 6mm Neodynamium Graphene Driver. The device supports aptX and AAC codecs for a good sound output. The company claims that the earbuds can last 7 hours on a single charge and with the charging case, they can provide the user up to 40 hours of battery life. It comes with fast charging support, which can provide users with up to three hours of battery life on a 15-minute charge.
Other features include Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity, smart controls and dual microphones. They also come with IPX5 water resistance.
Food delivery apps like Zomato and Swiggy have come out with measures to fight the deadly wide spreading coronavirus. In an official press note Zomato said, “We are continuously training and educating our delivery partners on the best practices of personal hygiene, proper method, and frequency of handwashing/sanitizing as well as what to do in case they have any symptoms related to COVID-19.” While delivery partners at Swiggy are “continually being trained in best practices of respiratory hygiene, proper method & frequency of washing hands as well as identification of associated symptoms.” Read for more details
Samsung has launched a new Funbelievable Television Series, which is a more affordable range. These are Smart TVs starting at Rs 12,990 and come with two-year warranty. Samsung is launching these TVs in a 32-inch and 43-inch size. The 32-inch will cost Rs 12,990.
The new Smart TVs come with features such as Personal Computer Mode, Content Guide, Music System and Internet browsing capabilities. The Content Guide will help users find their favourite movies & TV shows from among a list of curated content from India's popular streaming apps such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Zee5, SonyLIV, VOOT and so on. These will be available offline in Samsung stores and online as well.
Motorola Razr is launching in India on March 16. Due to coronavirus outbreak, the company has cancelled the physical launch event and will announce the flip phone via an online event similar to Redmi and Realme. 'In the wake of the recent outbreak of COVID-19 and the World Health Organization declaring it a global pandemic, we must keep everyone's safety in mind. Therefore, instead of hosting an on-ground event, we will now be launching the revolutionary motorola razr online, on the 16th of March, 2020. This is an extremely tough decision for us as it is always our endeavor to bring the newest technology, personally, amidst all of you but times like these call for innovative methods.' The launch event will begin at 12:30PM and will be streamed live on the company YouTube channel and Facebook page.
Huawei MediaPad M5 Lite 10 is now available for sale in India. It is priced at Rs 22,999 for the sole 4GB RAM/64GB storage variant. It is currently available on Flipkart, Croma and other retail stores. The company is bundling a free pair of its Sport Bluetooth Headphones Lite, which are priced at Rs 3,999.
Huawei MediaPad M5 Lite 10 sports a 10.1-inch display with a resolution of 1920×1200 pixels. It is powered by the company’s own Kirin 659 processor paired with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage. All of this is backed by a 7,500mAh battery with support for 18W fast charging. The device runs Google’s Android 8.0 Oreo operating system with the company’s own EMUI 8.0 skin on top, which is quite an old version of the operating system. However, due to this, the company has been able to provide consumers with support for Google Mobile services.
It comes with support for the company’s M-Pen lite stylus, which is included inside of the retail packaging. Apart from this, the device comes with Harman Kardon tuned quad speakers and a ClariVu 5.0 display. As for the cameras, the Huawei MediaPad M5 Lite 10 sports a single 8MP sensor with auto-focus on the back. On the front, it features an 8MP sensor with a fixed focus for taking selfies.
A Google India employee in Bengaluru has been tested positive for coronavirus on Friday. In an official statement, Google said, "We can confirm that an employee from our Bangalore office has been diagnosed with COVID-19." The tech company further noted, "They were in one of our Bangalore offices for a few hours before developing any symptoms. The employee has been on quarantine since then, and we have asked colleagues who were in close contact with the employee to quarantine themselves and monitor their health. Out of an abundance of caution, we are asking employees in that Bangalore office to work from home tomorrow. We have taken and will continue to take all necessary precautionary measures, following the advice of public health officials, as we prioritize everyone's health and safety."
Looks like Logitech is the latest to have an alternative to Apple's doomed AirPower mat. At $129.99, this Powered 3-in-1 Dock will charge three Apple devices at once. This includes your Apple iPhone, the Apple Watch and AirPods. It provides 7.5W of fast-charging power on both docking stations, and can work with other Qi-compatible smartphones from Samsung, Google, LG, etc.
According to MacRumors, which is quoting known Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the company could launch its MacBooks with in-house processors by 2020 or the first quarter of 2021. This is not the first time that reports have talked about Apple working on its own in-house processors, though once this does take place it will mean bad news for Intel. Apple's iPhones and iPads already use custom designed chips from the company. It is not clear from the note if the MacBook Pro or MacBook Air models will arrive first with the in-house processors. Back in 2018, Bloomberg had reported on the same and said the project was named Kalamata, and that Apple was working to replace the Intel processors by 2020 itself.
One interesting feature of the Redmi Note 9 Pro series is the NaVIC support. Rival Realme's 6 Pro also comes with support for the same. Now NaVIC is India's own satellite navigation system, similar to GPS by the US or GLONASS by Russia, etc. What it means is that the device will have more location accuracy in India given it will rely on India's own navigation system. We expect more phones to support NaVIC in India in the future. Read more about this here.
Snap Inc, the parent company of Snapchat, has also cancelled its annual partner summit, which was scheduled to take place in April. The Snap summit was supposed to start April 2. It has also asked employees to work from home, joining the ranks of tech companies like Google, Twitter, etc.
Good news for those who had pre-booked the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra.The company is starting deliveries today. This is the most premium phone in Samsung's lineup this year, and comes with 100x zoom and a 108MP main camera. It also comes with 8K video recording, like the S20+ and S20 phones. For selfies, Samsung has packed this with a 40MP front camera. The price starts at Rs 92,999. While we have not yet got our hands on the S20 Ultra for review, you can read our review of the S20+ here.
Apple's iPhone 12 is supposed to launch in September, though it is also being claimed that the Coronavirus outbreak could see this get delayed to October. While there is still some time for the iPhone 12 series to launch, there are plenty of leaks on the topic already. The latest one comes from Fast Company which says one of the iPhones will have a 3D sensor system at the back. This will presumably help with augmented reality, and the supplier for this is Lumentum, which already supplies the 3D camera on the front for exisiting iPhones. Previously, Bloomberg had reported about the 3D camera depth sensor system on the iPhone 2020 and said that the Time of Flight 3D sensors would come with lasers and bounce off objects in the room to help create a 3D image of the surroundings. The camera will work up to 15 feet from the device, according to the earlier Bloomberg report.
As the Coronavirus outbreak continues, we have seen the cancellations of many technology events. The latest on the list is Microsoft's Build, which will now be an online-only event. In a statement, Microsoft said, "The safety of our community is a top priority. In light of the health safety recommendations for Washington State, we will deliver our annual Microsoft Build event for developers as a digital event, in lieu of an in-person event. We look forward to bringing together our ecosystem of developers in this new virtual format to learn, connect and code together. Stay tuned for more details to come." The United States has seen over 1200 infections of the Coranvirus so far.