Month: April 2022

Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo is out with another iPhone 14 prediction and this time it’s about the selfie camera. All four new iPhones coming later this year will boast autofocus front-facing cameras with an f/1.9 aperture. This would be a major upgrade over past iPhones which have persistently stuck with fixed focus selfie shooters and f/2.2 apertures for a while now.

Photos, video calling and live-streaming apps will all benefit and the wider aperture will allow the sensors to capture more light which should result in better daytime and low light shots. The addition of autofocus will allow for better subject tracking and improved depth of field in stills and videos especially when it comes to Portrait mode. We don’t get any clues on the imaging sensor size and resolution but the addition of AF will surely bring a better selfie experience.

Source (tweet)

Realme introduced the Q5i earlier this week, and now it adds two more family members were announced – Realme Q5 and Realme Q5 Pro.

The Realme Q5 has a 6. 6″ LCD with 120Hz refresh rate and 1080p resolution. There’s a punch hole in the top left corner for the 16MP f/2. 1 selfie camera.

There are three more cameras on the back. The alignment is the same as the Realme 9 Pro (as is the rest of the body), but the sensors behind the lenses are different. We have a 50MP main shooter, a 2MP macro camera and a 2MP depth shooter.

Realme Q5

The Snapdragon 695 5G and the 5,000 mAh battery are also borrowed from the 9 Pro, as well as the side-mounted fingerprint scanner. The Realme Q5 offers speedier 60W SuperDart charging, though.

The phone will launch with Android 12 and Realme UI 3.0. It is currently available for pre-order in China in three colors – Silver, Gold, and Black, with sales scheduled to begin on April 27. Prices are CNY1,399 ($220) for the 6/128 GB version, CNY1,599 ($250) for 8/128 GB, and CNY1,799 ($280) for 8/256 GB.

The Realme Q5 Pro borrows the display, battery capacity and overall design from the Realme GT2.

The 6. 62″ AMOLED with 120Hz refresh rate has a fingerprint scanner underneath and a 16MP selfie camera in the upper left corner.

Around the back is a 64MP main camera, alongside 8MP ultrawide snapper and a 2MP macro shooter. The chipset here is the relatively old, but still capable Snapdragon 870.

Realme Q5 Pro

The significant change Realme implemented in the Q5 Pro is 80W fast charging for the 5,000 mAh battery. This is among the fastest in the company’s portfolio, trailing only behind the revolutionary GT Neo3.

There is a Black color option with a 6/128 GB memory that costs CNY1,899 ($300). There are Yellow and White variants with a checkered-flag design for CNY2,099 ($325) or CNY2,299 ($360), as they only come in 8/128 GB and the 8/256 GB options.

Realme also offers a limited edition retail box branded with characters from the Time Agent anime. It includes a Yellow 8/128 GB phone, a protective case, a Realmeow keychain, some stickers and collecting cards. The price of the whole package is CNY2,299 ($360).

Source 1 * Source 2 (both in Chinese)

vivo will unveil the X80 series on April 25 in China. The company hasn’t divulged much about it yet, but previous leaks of the X80, X80 Pro, and X80 Pro+ gave us a fair idea of what to expect from the lineup. And while we await more information from vivo about the X80 series smartphones, full specs of the Pro model have surfaced, which corroborate previous rumors and reveal new details.

The source claims that the vivo X80 Pro will come with a 6. 78″ 120Hz 2K AMOLED screen, 12GB RAM, 256GB/512GB storage, and 4,700 mAh battery. This is what we’ve heard already, but the source says that the X80 Pro will be powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC, contradicting previous reports of the phone having the Dimensity 9000 chip at the helm.

vivo X70 Pro (left) and X70 Pro+ (right)

The report further states that the vivo X80 Pro will sport four cameras on the rear – 50MP primary (f/1. 57), 48MP ultrawide, 12MP telephoto, and 8MP periscope (with 5x optical and 60x digital zoom). Previous leaks claimed the ultrawide and telephoto units will use 12MP sensors.

While the source doesn’t mention the selfie camera’s resolution, rumors have it that the X80 Pro will feature a 32MP selfie shooter.

The rest of the vivo X80 Pro’s leaked specs include an ultrasonic in-display fingerprint scanner, 80W wired charging, 50W wireless charging, and OriginOS Ocean based on Android 12. The smartphone will be 9. 1mm thick and weigh 220 grams.

Source

Xiaomi introduced the Civi series in China last September to replace the CC lineup, with the Xiaomi Civi being the first smartphone in the series. Xiaomi will add another member to the lineup tomorrow, dubbed Civi 1S, which is now officially confirmed to have the Snapdragon 778G+ SoC at the helm.

Xiaomi Civi 1S will come with the Snapdragon 778G+ SoC and triple rear cameras

Xiaomi also said that the Civi 1S will be smoother, more durable, and have longer battery life but didn’t divulge any other specs of the smartphone. However, with the full unveiling set for tomorrow at 2PM China time, there’s not much waiting to know all about the Xiaomi Civi 1S.

Source 1, Source 2 (both in Chinese)

Netflix published its quarterly report yesterday. The numbers for January and March looked uninspiring. The streaming company expected to add 2. 5 million subscribers, but instead, it lost 200,000 for the first three months of the calendar year.

The number tanked the company stock, which lost over 25% in after-hours trading

Reed Hastings is the Netflix CEO. He said that he was opposed to “the complexity and advertising” and preferred “the simplicity of subscription”. However, he also believes in consumer choice, meaning that Netflix is looking at introducing a lower tier without ads.

During the same January-March period in 2021, Netflix recorded an influx of 4 million paying users, but now it recorded only 0,5 million. However, since the platform pulled out of Russia, it lost 700,000 users, resulting in a net loss of customers – the first time this has happened since October 2011.

The main challenge ahead remains soft acquisition, but Reuters reminded that 100 million household in the US are already paying for Netflix and the company should look for expansion in other regions. There is also a fierce competition from rivals such as HBO Max and Disney.

All major streaming services are expecting a slower growth, with Netflix in particular forecasting 2 million more people to stop paying in the next three months, despite the return of big titles such as “Stranger Things” and “Ozark”.

These numbers resulted in a shocking drop in value, with Netflix stocks losing 26% after the bell on Tuesday, erasing $40 billion of value. The downdraft caught competitors as well – Roku fell 6%, Walt Disney reported a 5% decline, while Warner Bros Discovery was down 3.5%. It lost 50% of its value since Netflix said it expected a slow growth in subscribers in January.

Source | Via

As spotted by Esper‘s Mishaal Rahman (via Twitter), there is a new Nearby Share feature coming to Android. This feature was seen in the most recent version of the Google Play Services app, though currently dormant.

Nearby Sharing will now have an option called “Your Devices”, which lists devices within your immediate vicinity that also belong to the same Google Account. You can then transfer a file directly to the receiving device by clicking this button.

Nearby Share’s “self-share” mode will let you quickly share files to other devices signed into the same Google account without needing to approve the share.

This hasn’t rolled out yet from what I can see, but it’s present in the latest version of Google Play Services. pic.twitter.com/wdtxoiE2oz

— Mishaal Rahman (@MishaalRahman) April 19, 2022

Nearby Sharing lets Android and Chromebook users send files, photos and videos to nearby devices. However, there is one minor problem when you send files to other devices. In its current state, you are required to accept a confirmation prompt on the receiving device despite both being having the same Google account logged in.

Although the feature has not yet been made public, due to its close proximity to Google I/O next year, it’s possible that the feature will be available around the same date.

Via