Google is shipping Some Pixel 8 smartphones with unlocked bootloaders
Reddit

Some users are reporting that their Pixel 8 smartphones have unlocked bootloaders out of the box. Its NOT a widespread issue though

This is shocking for average users and at the same time hilarious for tech enthusiast. Hear me out

Imagine unboxing your pixel smartphone and Google splash screen is expected at booting time

But the reality happens to be: WARNING ⚠️
“The bootloader is unlocked and software integrity cannot be guaranteed.
Any data stored on the device may be available to attackers. Do not store any sensitive data on the device,”

I think an average consumer after seeing this warning would just freak out thinking that his new smartphone got hacked at boot up only XD

Anyways, Pixels are one of the BEST smartphones for development & its pretty easy to unlock bootloader on them & you can even RELOCK bootloader on custom ROMs
Kernel sources are released properly on time unlike with Xiaomi

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India Arrests Vivo’s CFO and Lava MD in Money Laundering case
Source

India’s financial crime agency (ED) has arrested Vivo India executives, including the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Lava's Managing Director over a massive $120 million money laundering scheme.

A company called GPICPL was made to conduct fraudulent activities.
Acc to the ED, GPICPL is NOT reported to be a subsidiary of Vivo in official records but projects itself publicly to be a subsidiary of Vivo”.

The 4 arrested have been charged for criminal conspiracy, cheating, using forged documents and money laundering

Remittances over Rs 1 lakh crore were allegedly transferred outside India to “trading companies” so that Vivo couldn’t be noticed by the Govt. of India.
Vivo showed ZERO Profits from 2014 to 2020 & NO income taxes was paid either

Rs 62,476 crore was “illegally” transferred by Vivo to China in order to avoid payment of taxes in India. These transfers were done to show losses

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Google Tensor G3 is the first Android smartphone chip to only support 64-bit apps

Starting with iOS 11, Apple removed 32-bit app support to improve the performance, and Google's Tensor G3 chip is the first Android smartphone chip to do the same.

Google claimed that the Pixel 7 was the first 64-bit-only Android phone, but later it was found that 32-bit support can be enabled with root.

Now with Tensor G3, Google has removed all 32-bit hardware support on the chip, which has these advantages:

- 64-bit apps run faster because they have access to more registers and instructions
- saving up to 150MB of RAM that was used by the OS even when 32-bit apps were not running
- 64-bit apps are more resistant to security vulnerabilities than 32-bit
- 64-bit-only device configurations halve the CTS testing time which can let phone OEMs update devices faster and more easily

Although most apps already support 64-bit, users won't be able to use some old games/apps that only support 32-bit devices.

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Edge begs for answers: Microsoft polling users who download Chrome
Source

Microsoft Edge now shows a poll when you try to download Google Chrome. The survey asks you to explain "why you are trying another browser.

In short, Microsoft will now interrogate you when you try to download Google Chrome.
However, Edge does not block the download of Chrome and it seems that this survey is in limited testing

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BBK to EXIT Indian Television Market
TOI

BBK companies — Realme and OnePlus entered India's TV market in 2019 and 2020. The companies had invested in building sales channels and branding in the category

But now both brands have discontinued the production and sales of televisions in India
However, they will continue to operate in the smartphone sector

In the first of 2023, 4.5 Million TVs were shipped in India which is 8% YoY growth.
Xiaomi led the TV market in the country with a 14% share with Samsung and LG in 2nd and 3rd place with 13% and 12% share

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Vivo Y200 launched in India

Specifications:
• 6.67-inch FHD+ resolution AMOLED Display
• 120Hz refresh rate
• 800nits peak brightness
• 100% DCI-P3 & 107% NTSC Color Gamut

• Snapdragon 4 Gen 1 SoC
• LPDDR4X RAM with UFS 2.2 storage
• MicroSD Card Slot

• 64MP main (OIS support) + 2MP useless dual rear setup
• Aura LED lighting
• 16MP Front camera
• 4800mAh battery with 44W fast charging
• In-display fingerprint sensor
• Android 13 based Funtouch OS 13
Colors: Jungle Green and Desert Gold

Price:
8GB + 128GB = Rs.22,000 (~265$)

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Nvidia is developing Arm-based PC chip to rival Intel
Source

NVIDIA is working on designing Desktop & Laptop CPUs that will run Microsoft’s Windows operating system, using Arm technology.
AMD is also planning to produce Arm-based PC chips

Both of them will unveil ARM based Chips for Windows in 2025 to compete Apple. Qualcomm is developing Arm-based chips for Windows since 2016 only

Apple’s custom chips based on ARM's design have given Mac computers better battery life and speedy performance
Executives at Microsoft have observed how efficient Apple’s Arm-based chips are, including with AI processing, and desire to attain similar performance for Windows

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Google admits it blocked Reviewers from benchmarking Tensor G3
Source

Previously during the review embargo period, some independent reviewers/owners of Pixel 8 series found that benchmarking apps like GeekBench 6 & 3D Mark were not available to download from PlayStore

It was speculated that there was an “API mismatch” that might have caused the issue.
Google has now confirmed that it indeed blocked benchmarking apps but ONLY for review embargo period.

Google stated the reason that it did not want benchmark results of the Pixel 8 series review units from "leaking out"

Imo, this is a very ridiculous & absurd reason considering sideloading the apps works fine

Surprisingly, its NOT just Google but most smartphones brands practice this.
XDA reviewer — 'Adam Conway' says that Asus and OnePlus also blocked installation of benchmarking apps

OnePlus was so serious that it actually blocked the package name so that even sideloading wasn't possible & the workaround was to repackage the app

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Apple Teased its Scary Event

Apple is holding a new event on Monday, Oct. 30 to roll out its new products. The event will be live-streamed on the company's website and on YouTube

New Mac computers powered by new M3 processor are expected to be announced

Launch time of the event is very unusual though as it will be aired at 5PM California time which is 5:30am IST or 12am GMT

Apple is working on updates to the iPad mini, iPad Air & entry-level models that focus on performance. However, they will not launch before Spring 2024

Apple is also developing a revamped iPad Pro with a screen that uses OLED technology and it will also be launched next year

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Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Announced

CPU: Manufactured by TSMC over its 4nm process
1x Cortex-X4@ 3.3GHz
3x A720@ 3.2GHz
2x A720@ 3.0GHz
2x A520@ 2.3GHz

30% performance & 20% power efficiency improvements over 8 Gen 2

GPU: Adreno 750
Hardware-Accelerated Ray Tracing with Global Illumination
Unreal Engine 5.2
240 FPS on 240Hz displays
1Hz Variable Refresh Rate in DPU
Adreno Frame Motion Engine 2.0
Snapdragon Game Super Resolution

40% better Ray Tracing & 25% performance & 25% power efficiency improvements compared to Adreno 740

Modem: Snapdragon X75 5G
Qualcomm FastConnect 7800
World’s first 5G modem with integrated AI tensor hardware accelerator

RAM: LPDDR5T support
ROM: UFS 4.0
Wi-Fi 7 upto 5.8GHz
Bluetooth 5.4v
Audio: 24-bit 96kHz lossless music
H.265 & VP9 decoder

Spectra Image Sensor (Cognitive 18-bit triple-ISP)
Camera: upto 200MP
Video: 8K @ 30fps HDR, 4K UHD @ 120fps
Display: 4K @ 60Hz, QHD+ @ 144Hz
USB: Type-C 3.1 Gen 2
Quick Charge 5
Satellite Communication

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Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 with Generative AI

Qualcomm AI Engine is the first AI Engine to support multi-modal generative AI models including LLM & LVM, automatic speech recognition (ASR) up to 10 Billion parameters solely on-device.

World’s fastest Stable Diffusion enables you to generate an image at a fraction of a second
LLM models can run up to 20 tokens/sec

Qualcomm Sensing Hub with 3.5x AI performance increase

Semantic Segmentation can enhance the vibrancy and detail of images in real-time
Night Vision video can brighten a dark scene

The Video Object Eraser by Arcsoft removes unwanted people and objects.

Zoom Anyplace, powered by Samsung’s first 200MP image sensor optimized for Snapdragon, allows capture of multiple videos, object tracking & 2x and 4x zoom—all in 4K

Vlogger’s View lets you share both your selfie camera & rear camera video simultaneously

Supports HDR photo technology from Dolby

Truepic’s cryptographic seal to prove the photo is real and not AI generated

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Qualcomm S7 and S7 Pro Gen 1 Sound Platforms announced

These are engineered for earbuds, headphones, and speakers by combining high performance, low energy consumption, on-device AI, and advanced connectivity.

The S7 and S7 Pro deliver "six times the compute power, almost 100 times the AI power"
Both of them supports latest Bluetooth 5.4v

Micro-power Wi-Fi:
With this, you'll be able to walk around your home/campus while still listening to music & making calls, where Bluetooth functionality cannot reach

Qualcomm XPAN Technology:
Keeps earbuds connected even when your phone is in another room.

The S7 Pro also has support for 192kHz multi-channel lossless music streaming and enhanced multi-channel spatial audio for gaming.

"Multiple DSP cores" on board and a sensor hub, supported by a 300% increase in memory - again compared to the S5 Gen 2

Comes with Qualcomm’s 4th Gen Adaptive Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) and fully programmable, low-latency DSP.

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Qualcomm unveils ‘Snapdragon Seamless’ cross-platform solution

Each US household now has on average 21 different digital devices & they don’t talk to each other all that well, especially if they’re from different manufacturers.

This can reduce consumer choice and create lock-in (like Apple does) where consumers feel stuck with one manufacturer so their devices can work together.

So, Qualcomm unveiled an innovative technology known as Snapdragon Seamless.
This cross-platform solution facilitates the seamless linking of multiple devices across multiple OSes including Android, Windows, and Snapdragon devices

For Example:
• Mouse and keyboards can work seamlessly across PCs/Laptops
• Files and windows can be dragged and dropped across different types of devices.
• Earbuds can switch intelligently

Microsoft, Android, Xiaomi, ASUS, Honor, Lenovo, Oppo etc have collaborated with Qualcomm to create this multi-device experiences.
It will arrive on global device platforms this year.

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Motorola showcased a smartphone that can be worn like a smartwatch

At Lenovo Tech World, Motorola showcased the “Adaptive Display Concept", a stunning piece of display technology
With the help of this display, a normal display can be bent into several “stand modes.”

Using this display on smartphones can allow the device to bend to fit around your entire wrist and be worn like a really big smartwatch.

Its not just a concept like Carl Pie showcases through videos made by their community members, but Motorola has actually made one as well. Check out the video attached above

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Humane AI Pin will debut on 9th November Globally

Humane’s first gadget, the AI Pin will launch on November 9th. Before it has even been announced, the AI Pin is one of TIME Magazine’s “Best Inventions of 2023"

This AI Pin will attach magnetically to your clothing.
It uses “a mix of proprietary software and OpenAI’s GPT-4” to power its many features.

The AI Pin has a “Trust Light,” which lights up anytime the device’s camera, microphone, or other sensors are recording data in some way.

Humane calls this Pin as “a new kind of wearable device and platform,” and it it doesn’t even require a smartphone or any other device
It interacts with the world the way the wearer interacts with it, while maintaining privacy and safety.

Humane demoed its AI Pin at a TED Talk, please CLICK HERE to check out some its features.

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