HP Launches Dual-Screen Gaming Laptop, Omen X 2S, in India

Dual-screens on laptops are expected to soon become a raging trend. Asus already took everyone by surprise by adding a massive second display to its ZenBook lineup, whereas Intel is dreaming of an innovative dual-screen laptop future. Well, HP today launched its dual-screen Omen X 2S gaming laptop, first shown off at Computex last month, in India.

As HP touts, this is the ‘world’s first dual-screen gaming laptop’ to launch in the market. Omen X 2S not only hosts a primary 15.6-inch Full-HD IPS Antiglare micro-edge screen, with a 144Hz refresh rate, but also includes a secondary 6-inch 1080p touchscreen right above the keyboard.

This screen sits right in the center (as seen below) and doesn’t extend to the edges. It could come in handy to message, chat with followers while game streaming, controlling music playback, and a lot more.

HP asserts that the dual-screen concept has been developed with inputs from the Omen gaming community. You can basically place any app on the touchscreen (which supports Windows gestures) but there’s no integration with any app here – except for HP Command Center.

As for the specifications, HP Omen X 2S is powered by up to Intel 9th-gen Core i9 CPUs, coupled with up to 8GB Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 GPU (MaxQ-design), up to 16GB DDR 2666Hz RAM, and 512GB of M2 PCIe SSD. There’s support for Intel Optane memory on board here as well.

The HP Omen X 2S features the company’s proprietary thermal management technology and it’s packing a three-vent design (with two 12V fans) with five-away airflow. There’s also Thermal Grizzly liquid metal thermal paste used in the gaming laptop for 10x better thermal conductivity. The keyboard supports 4-zone RGB lighting and you can customize the color of the Omen logo on the rear panel as well.

The launch event also saw HP unveil two other gaming laptops, i.e the Omen 15 and the Pavilion Gaming 15. HP Omen 15 (pictured on the right below) includes a 144Hz Full-HD display, up to 9th-gen Intel Core i9 processor, paired with up to Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 graphics, 16GB RAM and the same thermal management setup as the high-end Omen X 2S.

The HP Pavilion Gaming 15, however, is described as your gateway to gaming by HP and features a Full-HD+ 144z display, coupled with up to the latest 9th-gen Intel Core i5/i7 processor and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti with Max-Q design. The design of this new entry-level gaming laptop is quite similar to the Omen 15, as you can see above.

These gaming laptops were accompanied by the launch of a myriad of new accessories including the Omen Photon wireless mouse, Qi wireless charging mousepad, and their Mindframe gaming headset that cools your ears while gaming. This sounds really fricking cool (no pun intended) but we will test it out to know if it actually works.

Price and Availability

The dual-screen Omen XS will go on sale from July 1 at a starting price of Rs 2,09,990 whereas the HP Omen 15 and the Pavilion Gaming 15 laptops will start retailing at Rs 1,24,990 and Rs 70,990 respectively. All of the products can be found on HP’s official website and other retail partner stores.

So, are you excited to try out a dual-screen gaming laptop? Let us know your thoughts down in the comments section.

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Xiaomi Confirms Redmi 7A India Launch

While we are eagerly waiting for Xiaomi to announce the launch date of their Redmi K20 series, the company has today revealed that its entry-level Redmi 7A smartphone too is coming to Indian shores next month. It’s a successor to Redmi 6A from last year and is going to sit between the Redmi Go and the Redmi 7 launched earlier this year.

The Redmi 7A India launch was confirmed by Xiaomi India MD Manu Kumar Jain via an official tweet, where he touted that the combined sales of Redmi A series (including the Redmi 4A, Redmi 5A, Redmi 6A) is greater than the population of Australia. And he then asked the Mi fans to gear up for the Redmi 7A.

As you can see in the tweet above, Manu Kumar Jain hasn’t revealed the launch date for the Redmi 7A but is inviting Mi fans to guess the same. It could either be a standalone launch next week or we expect Xiaomi to launch this device alongside the Redmi K20 series in mid-July.

Redmi 7A: Specs and Features

Redmi 7A sports a 5.45-inch HD+ IPS LCD panel, with an 18:9 aspect ratio and display resolution of 720 x 1440 pixels. You can obviously see large bezels around the screen, which is acceptable in an entry-level phone. It has TÜV Rheinland certification and p2i nano-coating for splash protection.

Instead of the MediaTek chipset we saw in its predecessor, Redmi 7A is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 439 chipset. It’s paired with up to 3GB RAM and 32GB internal storage. There’s a solo 13MP (f/2.3) sensor and LED flash on the rear, alongwith a 5MP selfie shooter that supports Face Unlock onboard.

Redmi 7A is running Android 9 Pie-based MIUI 10 out-of-the-box and houses a massive 4,000mAh battery, with support for 10W charging. It has a three-slot SIM tray, with the dedicated memory card slot (expandable up to 256GB).

The Redmi 7A is priced starting at 549 yuan (around Rs 5,499) for the 2GB+16GB base variant, but the 3GB+32GB variant retails at 599 yuan (around Rs 5,999) in China. You could expect to see similar pricing in India as well because the Redmi 6A launched at a starting price of Rs 5,999. Stay tuned for more information.

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Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ Real-Life Images Leaked Online

Samsung’s next Unpacked launch event, where it will unveil the flagship Note 10 series, is expected to be barely a month away. The rumor mill suggests an August 7 launch date for the Galaxy Note 10 and we’ve started to see a number of leaks pour in already. Samsung Galaxy Note 10 and Note 10 Pro were being rumored to be the two upcoming models for the company’s upcoming flagships.

Real-life images leaked by Twitter user @Mr_TechTalkTV, however, now change up things and suggest that the bigger and higher-specced Note 10 would be called the Galaxy Note 10+ (you can see the bootloader screen in the image above) and not the Galaxy Note 10 Pro as rumored just a couple of days ago.

The leaked image attached below gives us a clear look at the punch-hole at the center of the screen at the top, which will obviously catch your eye first. However, don’t forget to notice the smaller bezels all-around and Galaxy S10-like edge-curved display.

The punch-hole looks to be almost the same size (if not a tad larger) as before and would likely host the same 10MP selfie snapper as the Galaxy S10 lineup. It’s difficult to discern whether I like its center placement or not from the leaked images, but it doesn’t look bad either.

Further, the final leaked image shows off the back panel of the Galaxy Note 10+ but it’s blurred out – well, it looks the screenshot from the hands-on video wasn’t timed right by the tipster. However, you can see the vertical triple-camera module, with the TOF sensor and LED flash on the side if you look closely – putting it in line with the rumors that have surfaced recently.

Also, the design of the rear panel doesn’t appear to be ugly to me and looks perfectly in line with recent trends as opposed to certain leaks. It does seem like a really tall device though and it would be interesting to see the full-specs and handleability of the Galaxy Note 10+. What are your expectations from the Galaxy Note 10+? Let us know in the comments below.

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WhatsApp Payments to Go Official in India Really Soon: Report

If you’ve been keeping tabs on WhatsApp Payments rollout in India, then you would know that its official rollout to all users was held back due to data localization. Well, it looks like WhatsApp has finally figured out the logistics for the same and is now gearing up to debut WhatsApp Payments officially.

The launch of UPI-based WhatsApp Payments is delayed because the Indian government demanded the messaging giant to store all payments-related data within the country to comply with NPCI guidelines. As per sources close to the development, WhatsApp is now set to go live with its payment service as the data storage facilities required for the same has finally been set up.

One of the sources revealed that Whatsapp Payments will first go live in partnership with ICICI Bank (which is powering the payments in the beta test right now) and will later see HDFC Bank, State Bank of India, and Axis Bank follow suit.

This is a major victory for the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as WhatsApp (a global tech giant) has complied to their firm demands to store payment data locally in the country. WhatsApp is now only a step away from a full-fledged commercial launch of their digital payments service in the country.

The source further adds, “WhatsApp has completed the necessary work on data localization and has moved to the audit process. Once the auditors submit the report to the regulator, the company can go live with its payment application.”

WhatsApp Payments was first made available last year to select users across the country, allowing them to send or request money from within a chat window. The messaging giant had been testing the feature with over 1 million users for close to a year now. The UI has undergone multiple changes in the process, with the payment option now accessible from the home screen.

The payments option is available in each chat window, sitting under attachments and you can either directly send or request money from users right away. It’s the most convenient way to complete UPI payments and you also have the option to pay via QR code or UPI ID as well. So, WhatsApp has baked all the essential functionality in its payments service and all we can do now is wait for it to be made available to everyone.

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Vivo Shows Off IQOO 5G Phone, AR Glasses, and 120W Super FlashCharge at MWC Shanghai 2019

Vivo’s MWC Shanghai 2019 conference focused on and revolved around the most talked about technology and the most liberal buzzword in the industry right now – 5G. Vivo too took the stage to show off its 5G innovations, along with a number of smart home, IoT hardware and software apps that work in sync with the higher-speed network.

Here’s everything unveiled at its ‘Give Me 5’ conference that was held a day before the official opening of MWC 2019:

• Vivo IQOO 5G Phone

Though Vivo has already tested a Vivo NEX 5G prototype in the past, the company took time to introduce its first-ever 5G phone that will become commercially available in Q3 2019. It’s the iQOO 5G smartphone that’s powered by the Snapdragon 855 and couples the Qualcomm’s X50 5G modem to offer high-speed Internet – much like a number of other 5G phones released recently.

Well, Vivo has tried keeping its 5G smartphone’s profile pretty sleek and thin by using a new 3D stacking design inside. This helps free up space for other hardware features but also doesn’t affect 5G connectivity or make the phone bulky. We can expect to see Vivo IQOO 5G being officially launched to the public in the next three months.

• Vivo AR Glasses

The Chinese giant also showed off its Vivo AR Glass at the MWC Shanghai event. It sports two 720p displays and offers six degrees-of-freedom. It runs Vivo’s new AR 3D launcher that allows you to control apps and functions using the eye tracker system onboard or their 5G smartphone.

The Vivo AR Glass supports 5 types of applications, including AR games, mobile office to view and answer emails, watch 3D high-definition movies, facial recognition, and object recognition. Yeah, you’ll soon have a pair of glasses that allow you to look at people and have their name in front of your eyes. Your 5G smartphone will become a controller and keyboard while playing games or office work respectively.

• Vivo Super FlashCharge

Well, Vivo also shed light on the “Super FlashCharge” technology, which has been in the news for a couple of weeks, can juice up smartphones at ultra-high120W power output. The company revealed that a charge pump technology, which delivers power at 20V and 6A, is being utilized here to offer shorter charge times.

And as Rupesh had already told us, the 120W super-fast charging tech will charge a 4,000mAh battery from 0 to 50% in just 5 minutes. And then, it simply takes 8 minutes for this tech to charge the rest of the battery, which means it will charge the phone from 0 to 100% in merely 13 minutes. Yeah, that sure sounds insane as most phones nowadays take over 1 hour to fully juice up.

Vivo also used the MWC Shanghai 2019 stage to show off a wide range of 5G network applications, which rely on the high-speed and low-latency. This includes cloud gaming, screen mirroring, and EasyShare among several other smart scenarios. Does this make y’all any more excited about the 5G-enabled future? Tell us in the comments below.

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Realme is Teasing a 64MP Camera Phone

Realme Mobiles has been launching some pretty impressive smartphones of late. Phones like the Realme 3 Pro, and the Realme X are definitely pretty impressive smartphones, but if you were thinking that Realme would settle for that, well, you’d be wrong.

The company has already started teasing its next smartphone, and apparently, it will come with a 64MP primary sensor. Yeah, you read that right, while companies are putting 48MP sensors into their phones, Realme decided to one-up them all with the world’s first 64MP camera phone. Not just that, the company is also teasing that the phone will come with a quad-camera set up.

The 64MP camera will be the recently announced Bright GW1 sensor from Samsung, which will let the phone shoot 16MP photos with an effective pixel size of 1.6µm — and that should definitely help the phone in handling low-light conditions.

What’s surprising here is that reports and rumors so far were hinting that a 64MP smartphone would come first from Samsung or Xiaomi, but it looks like Realme is going to beat them both to the punch. According to a recent tweet by Realme CEO Madhav Sheth, the upcoming Realme phone will be the world’s first with a 64MP Samsung Bright GW1 sensor.

The image posted by Sheth does look pretty impressive, and in a follow up tweet, he even said that the company will launch the 64MP camera phone in India first. So, are you excited for this upcoming Realme phone with a 64MP camera? Let us know in the comments below.

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16-inch MacBook Pro Could be Coming this September

Apple has long been rumoured to be releasing a larger MacBook Pro for people who need a bigger screen, but with all the portability that the MacBook Pro offers, and while the Cupertino giant has so far not made any such announcements, a new report now suggests that the bigger MacBook Pro might finally be coming this September.

The report comes from analyst Jeff Lin from the research firm IHS Markit. According to Lin, the 16-inch MacBook Pro will have a display made by LG Display, and will boast of a 3072×1920 pixels resolution.

In an email, reported by Forbes, Lin says “We foresee that Apple will release a new product [at the] Sep’19 Apple event if there’s no unexpected development issue.”

 

Image courtesy: IHS Markit, via: Forbes

This isn’t the first we’ve heard of this new 16-inch MacBook Pro. Back in February, famed Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said that a 16-inch MacBook Pro will be launched sometime in 2019, with a new design.

While Kuo didn’t mention anything about the display technology, or the company making the display, Korean website The Elec recently reported that Samsung was in talks with Apple to provide OLED displays for this upcoming MacBook Pro. However, if the IHS Markit report is to be believed, the Cupertino giant apparently chose to go with LCD panels instead.

Either way, if this report is true, then Apple will be launching the 16-inch MacBook Pro alongside its new iPhones at the September Apple event. So, are you excited about a bigger MacBook Pro, let us know in the comments.

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