Huawei Mate 20 Pro to Asus ROG Phone: Top 5 innovative smartphones of 2018

In 2018, smartphone shipments and sales reached new highs in many parts of the world, especially India. The year will also be remembered as one in which companies took some big risks in terms of design and came up with phones that were not only original but innovative as well. These aren’t necessarily the most polished smartphones in terms of experience, but they do offer a peek into where we are headed, and what the future could hold.

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Here is a list of five smartphones we thought were the most out of the box:

Most innovative smartphones of 2018: Oppo Find X

Oppo Find X price in India Rs 59,990

It took a few years, but Oppo has finally managed to deliver a phone that is full of surprises. A curved glass front and back, with a metal frame sandwiched between, makes the Find X one of the best-looking premium smartphones of 2018. The Find X has no notch and the 6.4-inch OLED display dominates the front of the phone.

The phone has a motorised part on top when the camera is activated. However, the implementation is not perfect and long-term durability does appear to be a concern — Oppo says it is designed to last up to 5 years with an average usage of 150 times a day.

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Techie take: This phone isn’t cheap, but offers the top-notch experience. The Find X may not be the most revolutionary smartphone, it’s definitely one of the most transformative devices launched this year.

Also read : Oppo Find X review

Most innovative smartphones of 2018: Huawei Mate 20 Pro

Huawei Mate 20 Pro price in India: Rs 69,990

When Apple and Samsung continued to fight over the premium flagship of the year, Huawei shook the world with the Mate 20 Pro. This phone is arguably one of the best Android smartphones on the market, thanks to its cutting-edge hardware. There is no better Android phone that crams everything — huge OLED screen, ultra-fast performance, all-day battery life, triple rear cameras, water-resistance, in-display fingerprint scanner and a beautiful glass and metal design.

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There’s wireless charging in the rear, which can even wirelessly charge other devices. Plus, the phone houses a 3D face recognition system similar to that of Apple’s Face ID. The Mate 20 Pro is a great performer, but I am still not convinced with the heavy EMUI skin based on Android 9.0 Pie.

Techie take: For Rs 69,990, you get what you pay for. This is among the best premium Android smartphones out there.

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Also read : Huawei Mate 20 Pro review

Most innovative smartphones of 2018: Vivo NEX Dual Display Edition

Vivo NEX Dual Display Edition price in India: TBA

From a distance, the NEX Dual Display Edition looks like the original NEX smartphone, packed with a bezel-less smartphone. But when you flip the phone, it’ll quickly hit you. The Vivo NEX Dual Display Edition offers a second display on the back with no front-facing camera. The smartphone does away with the camera module in favour of two screens.

Vivo NEX Dual Display Edition offers a second display on the back with no front-facing camera.

The idea is to take selfies with the main camera system using the back screen as a viewfinder, thus eliminating the need to put a front-facing camera. While the concept is not new, it’s exciting to see Vivo’s take on the dual-screen smartphone. But it is a TOF camera that is also the big draw, which can be used for 3D facial and object scanning.

Techie take: One thing is clear: Vivo has raised the stakes in the premium smartphone market. How the consumer reacts to this remains to be seen.

Most innovative smartphones of 2018: Honor Magic 2

Honor Magic 2 price in India: TBA

Let me say this: Honor Magic 2 is an unconventional device. But I liked its weirdness. The main selling point of the Honor Magic 2 is a sliding mechanism that hides the phone’s front camera when closed. The slider phone feels different and it shows the technical prowess of Huawei. It is an innovative approach to get rid of the notch in order to make a bezel-less smartphone.

In my brief use, I did like the sliding nature of the Magic 2. But I am also worried about the way the phone requires a user to pull down on the screen with a bit of force. I didn’t experience any quality issues, though.

Techie take: The Magic 2 has a beautiful design, a total of six cameras (three on the back and three on the front), and Kirin 980 processor. The phone is not yet available in India.

Most innovative smartphones of 2018: Asus ROG Phone

Asus ROG Phone price in India: Rs 69,999

When I first stumbled upon the ROG Phone, I knew it was my type of device. It doesn’t look like the regular flagship smartphone – after all, the ROG Phone is designed with mobile gamers in mind. Taking cues from a gaming laptop, the phone has an aggressive look with its glossy chrome finish, copper grills on the front and back, and the illuminated ROG logo (which can be customised).

Internally, it packs an overclocked Snapdragon 845 processor alongside a 3D vapor-chamber built-in that helps the device stay cool during intense gaming sessions. This is a top-notch gaming smartphone and there is no second thought about it. I am ready to believe in Asus’ vision to create a dedicated gaming smartphone. However, the ROG Phone has a limited appeal, mostly due to its expensive price tag and the way it has been marketed.

Flipkart Year Ender Carnival Sale Starts December 23: Discounts on TVs, Large Appliances

Flipkart is now hosting a Year End Carnival sale starting December 23 site-wide. The e-commerce portal has announced that the sale will go on till December 31, and will see up to 70 percent off on TVs and large appliances. The 9-day sale will see discounts on TVs from Xiaomi, Samsung, Vu, and more. Furthermore, discounts on washing machine, refrigerators, microwave oven, and more from brands like LG and Whirlpool will also be listed on Flipkart. The site has also announced that 'magical deals' will be listed between 12am (Midnight) IST and 1am IST every day during the sale period.

Amazon has shared a few products that will see discounts during the Year End Carnival sale. This includes Xiaomi's Mi 43-Inch Smart TV 4A priced at Rs. 22,999, but will be sold for Rs. 21,999 during the sale period. The Samsung 32-Inch HD LED TV 2018 Edition is originally priced at Rs. 26,900, but will be priced at Rs. 15,999 during the sale period. This amounts to a discount of Rs. 10,901.

Similarly the Vu Iconium 43-inch 4K Smart TV priced at Rs. 41,000 originally, will be listed for Rs. 24,999 during the Amazon sale (discount of Rs. 16,001). The Vu 32-Inch Smart TV will also be discounted to Rs. 12,999, and the Vu 40-inch full-HD LED TV will also be available at a discounted rate of Rs. 15,499.

The Thomson B9 Pro 40-inch Full-HD Smart TV will be priced at Rs. 17,999, instead of its original price of Rs. 25,999. The iFFALCON 4K 55-inch Android TV will now be priced at Rs. 39,999 during the sale period, instead of the actual Rs. 59,990. Lastly, the Micromax 32-inch HD TV will be sold for Rs. 10,499, instead of Rs. 19,990.

Coming to larger appliance, the IFB 6kg front-load washing machine will be priced at Rs. 19,499, instead of Rs. 22,590. Similarly, the Midea 6kg front load washing machine will be priced at Rs. 11,999, instead of Rs. 14,499. The LG 260 litre frost-free double door refrigerator will be priced at Rs. 22,490, instead of Rs. 30,690. There's also the Whirlpool 292 litre frost free double door refrigerator which will see a discounted price of Rs. 24,240, instead of Rs. 28,100.

The Midea 1 tonne 3 star 2018 AC will be priced at Rs. 21,999, instead of Rs .37,000. The Morphy Richards 30 Litre Convection Microwave Oven will only be priced at Rs. 8,999 (original price Rs. 15,670). Flipkart is also offering No cost EMI from just ~CHECK~1,000/month on this product.

The Livpure Pep Pro++ 7 Litre RO + UV +UF Water Purifier will only be priced at Rs. 8,499 (original price Rs. 15,500), while the Hindware Atlantic 3 Litre Instant Water Geyser can also be grabbed for a discounted price of Rs. 1,999 (original price of Rs. 3,850), and the Maharaja Whiteline Neo Mixer Grinder will be listed for Rs. 1,299 (roughly Rs. 3,199).

Flipkart notes that juicer mixer grinders will start from as low as Rs. 999 during the sale period, frost-free refrigerators will be priced starting at Rs. 16,999, and split air-conditioners will be priced starting at Rs. 17,999.

Xiaomi Mi Play Rumoured to Be Bundled With 10GB of Free Mobile Data a Month for a Year

Xiaomi Mi Play, the next anticipated smartphone by the Chinese vendor that is set to arrive as early as next week, is now reported to come with free 10GB data per month for a year. The bundled data is likely to essentially help users access various Xiaomi services and apps that could come pre-installed on the upcoming model. It is unclear that with which telco Xiaomi has partnered for bundling the 10GB data. However, the Xiaomi Mi Play will have an app to let users claim the freebie.

As reported by ITHome, the Xiaomi Mi Play will come with an unlimited data plan that will offer the first 10GB for free at full speed, per month. The free Internet access is said to be available only for one year.

The Xiaomi Mi Play is set to debut in China on December 24. The smartphone isn't likely to be a full-fledged gaming handset since the company is targeting premium mobile-focused gamers with its gaming smartphone brand Black Shark. However, the Mi Play is likely to be Xiaomi's answer to Honor Play that debuted earlier this year with a Kirin 970 SoC and features such as GPU Turbo.

ITHome reports that the Xiaomi Mi Play will have a 5.84-inch full-HD+ (1080x2280 pixels) display along with a 19:9 aspect ratio. The smartphone is also said to have 3GB/ 4GB/ 6GB RAM options and 32GB/ 64GB/ 128GB storage options. Further, it is reported to have a 12-megapixel primary sensor and a 2,900mAh battery.

Some recent teasers of the Mi Play showed its waterdrop-styled display notch and dual rear camera setup. The smartphone is also likely to have a gradient finish.

Monitor,Gaming Consoles,Power Bank, will be cheaper after price cut in GST

                     

The GST Council on Saturday cut rates on 23 commonly used goods and services, including TV screens, video game consoles, digital cameras, video camera recorders, and power banks. Monitors and TV screens up to 32-inches and power banks will attract 18 percent GST, as against 28 per cent earlier. Same is the case with digital cameras and video camera recorders, as well as video game consoles .

The annual revenue implication of the rate cuts would be Rs 5,500 crore, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said.

The council rationalised the 28 percent slab by bringing down the tax rate on seven items in the highest tax bracket, thereby leaving only 28 items in the slab.

Now, the 28 percent slab is restricted to only luxury and sin goods, apart from auto parts and cement -- tax rates on which could not be cut due to the high revenue implication.

GST on movie tickets costing up to Rs 100 was cut to 12 percent from 18 percent, while tickets over Rs. 100 will attract 18 percent tax, against 28 percent earlier. This will have a revenue implication of Rs. 900 crore.

Here's the full text of the note issued by the GST Council after Saturday's meeting:

GST Council in the 31st meeting held on 22nd December, 2018 at New Delhi took following decisions relating to changes in GST rates on goods and services. The decisions of the GST Council have been presented in this note for easy understanding. The same would be given effect to through Gazette notifications/ circulars which shall have force of law.

1. GST rate reduction on goods which were attracting GST rate of 28% :

1. 28% to 18%

• Pulleys, transmission shafts and cranks, gear boxes etc., falling under HS Code 8483
• Monitors and TVs of upto screen size of 32 inches
• Re-treaded or used pneumatic tyres of rubber; 
• Power banks of lithium ion batteries. Lithium ion batteries are already at 18%. This will bring parity in GST rate of power bank and lithium ion battery. 
• Digital cameras and video camera recorders 
• Video game consoles and other games and sports requisites falling under HS code 9504. 
•  

2. 28% to 5%

• Parts  and accessories for the carriages for disabled persons

2. GST rate reduction on other goods,-

1. 18% to 12%

• Cork roughly squared or debagged
• Articles of natural cork
• Agglomerated cork

2. 18% to 5%

• Marble rubble

3. 12% to 5%

• Natural cork
• Walking Stick
• Fly ash Blocks

4.  12% to Nil:

• Music Books

5. 5% to Nil 

• Vegetables, (uncooked or cooked by steaming or boiling in water), frozen, branded and put in a unit container
• Vegetable provisionally preserved (for example by sulphur dioxide gas, in brine, in sulphur water or in other preservative solutions), but unsuitable in that state for immediate consumption. 
• III. GST on solar power generating plant and other renewable energy plants 
• GST rate of  5% rate has been prescribed on renewable energy devices & parts for their manufacture (bio gas plant/solar power based devices, solar power generating system (SGPS) etc) [falling under chapter 84, 85 or 94 of the Tariff]. Other goods or services used in these plants attract applicable GST. 
• Certain disputes have arisen regarding GST rates where specified goods attracting 5% GST are supplied along with services of construction etc and other goods for solar power plant. 
• To resolve the dispute the Council has recommended that in all such cases, the 70% of the gross value shall be deemed as the value of supply of said goods attracting 5% rate and the remaining portion (30%) of the aggregate value of such EPC contract shall be deemed as the value of supply of taxable service attracting standard GST rate.

Reduction in GST rates/exemptions on services:

• GST rate on cinema tickets above Rs. 100 shall be reduced from 28% to 18% and on cinema tickets upto Rs. 100 from 18% to 12%.
• GST rate on third party insurance premium of goods carrying vehicles shall be reduced from 18% to 12%
• Services supplied by banks to Basic Saving Bank Deposit (BSBD) account holders under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) shall be exempted.
• Air travel of pilgrims by non-scheduled/charter operations, for religious pilgrimage facilitated by the Government of India under bilateral arrangements shall attract the same rate of GST as applicable to similar flights in Economy class (i.e. 5% with ITC of input services).

Lenovo Z5 Pro GT With Snapdragon 855 SoC, Up to 12GB of RAM Launched: Price, Specifications🤘🤘

Lenovo has launched their new smartphone today in China, that is Lenovo Z5s. At that event, the Chinese manufacturer introduced their flagship upcoming smartphone, which is the Snapdragon 855 edition of the Lenovo Z5 Pro GT. It is the same Lenovo Z5 Pro Snapdragon 710 edition which was introduced in November that is going to reach with an extraordinary chipset, bigger RAM and storage. The company also announced the specs, pricing and release date of Snapdragon 855 edition.At that event, the Chinese manufacturer revealed that Lenovo Z5 Pro GT Snapdragon 855 edition will offer Sony IMX576 24MP as a primary sensor, and Sony IMX519 16MP as a secondary sensor dual rear camera, and 16MP and 8MP dual front-facing camera setup for an amazing selfie. It will come with red colored frame and black carbon rear textured. It is newly announced that this Snapdragon 855 edition sports slider design with 6.39-inch AMOLED FULLHD+ display, powered by Android 9 Pie OS with ZUI 10 UI which is the Lenovo’s custom UI. It is fueled by 3,350mAh battery with fast charging.

The Chinese manufacturer also revealed that this Snapdragon 855 edition is leading the AnTuTu benchmarks chart. And the benchmarking score is 368,480, which is the amazing score. The only reason for the Lenovo Z5 Pro SD855 edition is at the highest position of AnTuTu list is 12GB LPDDR4X RAM.6GB RAM + 128GB internal storage- 2,698 Yuan (~$391)

8GB RAM + 128GB internal storage- 2,998 Yuan (~$435)

8GB RAM + 256GB internal storage- 3,998 Yuan (~$579)

12GB RAM + 512GB internal storage- 4,398 Yuan (~$638)

The pre sales will begin on 1 January, 2019 at 10AM and official sales will start on January 24, 2019.

Facebook exposed up to 6.8 million users’ private photos to developers in latest leak

Facebook exposed private photos from up to 6.8 million users to apps that weren’t supposed to see them, the company said today. These apps were authorized to see a limited set of users’ photos, but a bug allowed them to see pictures they weren’t granted access to. These included photos from people’s stories as well as photos that people uploaded but never posted (because Facebook saved a copy anyway).

The exposure occurred between September 12th and September 25th. Facebook toldTechCrunch that it discovered the breach on the 25th; it isn’t clear why the company waited until now to disclose it. (Perhaps it’s because the company was dealing with a separate and substantially larger breach that it also discovered on September 25th.)

Affected users will receive a notification alerting them that their photos may have been exposed. Facebook also says it’ll be working with developers to delete copies of photos they weren’t supposed to access. In total, up to 1,500 apps from 876 different developers may have inappropriately accessed people’s pictures.

Facebook said the bug had to do with an error related to Facebook Login and its photos API, which allows developers to access Facebook photos within their own apps. All of the impacted users had logged into a third-party app using their Facebook accounts and granted them some degree of access to view their photos.

“We’re sorry this happened,” writes Tomer Bar, engineering director at Facebook. The disclosure comes exactly one day after Facebook opened a pop-up installation in New York to show people how “you can manage your privacy” on the site.

Facebook has been in hot water again and again this year over data breaches and exposures, most notably with Cambridge Analytica. In many cases, the problems haven’t been caused by hackers, but they have stemmed from issues within Facebook itself. The Cambridge Analytica breach happened because of Facebook’s lax oversight of developers and data sharing; today’s issue happened because of another breakdown in communication between Facebook and developers.

Google has already pledged to shut down Google+ over similar issues. Twice this year, the service exposed information inappropriately to developers.