Xiaomi has teamed up with Cashify to launch a new smartphone exchange program in India. With this program, Cashify will determine the value of users’ handsets based on the condition and market value, which will be adjusted according to the price of the Xiaomi phone. Customers who trade in their old phones will have to go to a Xiaomi Mi Home store to buy them. The trade-in value of the handset can be checked on the Cashify app or website; they can then have the device picked up by the startup and have the determined value credited to their account.
Vodafone launches Rs. 199 plan with ‘unlimited’ calling. Vodafone has launched a new prepaid program for Delhi-NCR customers, with bundled calls and data for Rs. 199. The new package offers unlimited local and STD calls, but they are limited to free calls of 250 minutes per day and 1,000 minutes per week. In addition, users cannot make calls to more than 300 unique numbers in 7 days. Otherwise, 30 paise per minute will be charged for the remaining validity. Apart from the bundled calls, Vodafone gives users 1 GB of data for 28 days.
Honor 8 Lite price cut in IndiaHuawei-owned Honor has given a price cut to the Honor 8 Lite smartphone in India. The smartphone was launched in May for Rs. 17,999 and will be available now for Rs. 15,999 through points of sale. Honor 8 Lite (Review) is an Android Nougat-based smartphone with a 5.2-inch full-HD display, octa-core Kirin 655 chipset, 4 GB RAM, 64 GB internal storage, and microSD support to 128 GB, 12-megapixel rear camera, 8-megapixel front camera, and 3000mAh battery.
Samsung Galaxy S9 features leaked Samsung Galaxy S9, the next flagship smartphone the South Korean company will launch, will reportedly have an updated design and facial recognition. Apart from this, the upcoming handset would have vertically aligned dual cameras and a fingerprint sensor on the back. The hardware inside is expected to be powered by the new Exynos 9 Series 9810 SoC, the yet-to-be-revealed Snapdragon 845 chip, and either 4GB or 6GB of RAM.
Net neutrality takes a huge blow in the US. The head of the Federal Communications Commission, Ajit Pai, has announced that the regulator will vote on December 14 to roll back the net neutrality protection measures introduced by former US President Obama. If protection is revoked, internet service providers in the country can give preferential treatment to apps and services of their choice and their content. While internet giants like Alphabet (Google’s parent company), Facebook, Amazon, and Netflix opposed this rollback, ISPs like Comcast, AT&T, and Verizon favored it. With three Republicans on the 5-member voting panel, it’s pretty clear that net neutrality protection will be withdrawn.
UC Browser Back in Google Play Store, the popular mobile browser removed from the Play Store last week, has made a comeback in the Google app marketplace. The new version of UC Browser is available to users with updated technical settings that “strictly comply with Google Play policies,” the company says. It was removed because one of the settings violated Google’s policy, which the company has fixed with the new build. UCWeb says it is the most popular mobile browser in India, with a 45 percent market share and over 500 million downloads worldwide.
Coolpad Note 5 Lite 32GB storage variant launched in IndiaThe Chinese brand Coolpad has launched a new variant of its Note 5 Lite smartphone in India, with 32GB of internal storage. This is twice as much storage space as the original model. The key specs of the smartphone include a 5-inch HD display, 1GHz quad-core MediaTek MT6735 SoC, 3GB RAM, a 13-megapixel rear camera with dual LED flash, and an 8-megapixel front camera with LED flash. , fingerprint sensor, and 2500mAh battery. As for the price, the new Coolpad Note 5 Lite 32GB variant costs Rs. 8,199 (MRP Rs. 9,999), Rs. 700 more than the 16GB model.
OnePlus opts out of Google’s Project Treble The current crop of OnePlus smartphones isn’t part of Google’s Project Treble, an initiative to help device manufacturers push faster Android updates. This includes the new flagship OnePlus 5T and older models OnePlus 5, OnePlus 3T, and OnePlus 3. Project Treble is Google’s attempt to provide Android with a modular foundation to deliver software updates faster by providing a vendor interface that facilitates the implementation of the vendor separates, including the lower-level device-specific software largely written by silicon manufacturers, along with certain carrier tweaks, from the core Android OS framework.
Google Pixel 2 bootloader issue is fixed. While one of the main Pixel and Nexus devices is the unlocked bootloader (which allows users to flash custom software without voiding the warranty), some Pixel 2 bootloader units could not be unlocked. Google finally solved the problem and advised users to reset their handset to unlock the bootloader. The official problem tracker marks the issue as resolved, so if you had one of the affected units, all you need to do is go to Settings and factory reset the phone once. Ensure the handset is connected to the internet during the initial setup phase.
Meg Whitman, CEO of HP Enterprise, retiresMeg Whitman has announced that she will step down as chief executive of HP Enterprise (HPE) six years after she took the position. Her resignation will take effect on February 1, 2018, and she will remain on the HPE board. Current HPE President Antonio Neri will take over as CEO of join the company’s board of directors. Whitman was previously the CEO of eBay and was among those considered to take over as Uber CEO following Travis Kalanick’s impeachment. She also oversaw the breakup of HP into two divisions, HP Enterprise, and HP Inc.
