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Pixel 2's Custom Image Co-Processor Opened Up for Third-Party Apps

Google on Monday announced that it is expanding capabilities of Pixel 2's Visual Core image-processing chip to third-party apps on the latest Google flagship smartphones. Previously available only for the stock camera app with Android 8.1, Pixel Visual Core will now be available across third-party apps that make use of the Pixel 2 camera APIs. Google claims that Pixel Visual Core uses computational photography and machine learning to improve image quality in apps. The feature will be rolled out via the February monthly update.Pixel Visual Core was revealed back in October last year with the launch of Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL. The chip has been designed in partnership with Intel, and is available on the Pixel 2 duo, though its access had so far been limited to the stock app. "Pixel Visual Core is built to do heavy-lifting image processing while using less power, which saves battery. That means we're able to use that additional computing power to improve the quality of your pictures by running the HDR+ algorithm,"Ofer Shacham, Engineering Manager for Pixel Visual Core, said in a blog post announcing the availability of Pixel Visual Core to third-party apps and detailing its advantages.

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Xiaomi Mi Box 4, Mi Box 4c smart TV boxes go big on AI, can stream 4K videos

Both the Mi Box 4 and Box 4c come with similar features, while the only departments the Boxes differ is RAM and Bluetooth. As per the pricing details, the Mi Box 4c is announced at a price tag of CNY 249 – which roughly translates to Rs 2500, on the other hand, the Mi Box 4 is slightly more expensive and comes at a price tag of CNY 349 which roughly translates around Rs. 3,500. The registrations for both the Mi Boxes have already started and are now live. Both the Mi Box 4 and Mi Box 4c will go on sale starting February 1 but in China. The first Mi Box was announced back in 2016 – at the Google I/O event. Mi Box 4 succeeds the Mi Box 3, while the Mi Box 4c is the advanced version of Mi Box 3c. Xiaomi launched the Mi Box 3 and Mi Box 3c that come with AI-based user interface PatchWall back in 2016. The same user interface is seen in the newly launched Mi Boxes as well.

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Coolpad slashes price of Cool 1, Note 5 and Note 5 Lite

Coolpad has today slashed the price of its Cool 1, Coolpad Note 5 and Coolpad Note 5 Lite smartphones. Starting 29 January 2018, these smartphones will be available at the discounted prices, exclusively on Amazon India. Starting with Cool 1, the 3GB variant gets a price cut of Rs 4,000 and it is now available for Rs 7,999, while the 4GB variant gets a Rs 6,000 discounts and it is now available for purchase at Rs 8,999. Similarly Coolpad Note 5 and Note 5 Lite will be available for a discounted price of Rs 7,999 and Rs 5,999 respectively.Apart from that, Coolpad is also offering a 0 % interest EMI on Cool 1 (3 GB variant), Note 5, Note 5 Lite and a discount of Rs 500 on device exchange only on Cool 1 (32 GB) and Note 5 Lite.

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Ford to unveil Figo-based cross hatch on January 31

Ford has announced it will take the wraps off its new Figo-based cross-hatchback on January 31, 2018. The cross-hatch has been spied testing a number of times and we have had an exclusive drive in a pre-production prototype of the model, as well. Reportedly named the Freestyle, the crossover version of the Figo will sport rugged, SUV-esque cosmetic changes, including a higher ground clearance, roof rails, body cladding, fatter tyres and larger wheels. On the inside, lower-spec variants of the Figo-based crossover will share the 6.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system with lower-spec EcoSport trims. Higher-spec models will have the 8.0-inch system with Ford’s Sync 3, instead. The top-spec trims will also get six airbags, ABS and ESP. The highlight of what is expected to be called the Ford Freestyle is under the bonnet. A new 95hp/115Nm, 1.2-litre, three-cylinder petrol engine from the carmaker’s Dragon series, will debut on the cross-hatchback. It will be mated to a new five-speed manual transmission from Getrag, replacing the older IB5 unit.

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WhatsApp Android Beta Gets Notification Channel Support on Oreo

WhatsApp has leveraged the enhanced notification support on Android 8.0 Oreo by bringing support for app notification channels. The new support is already available through the latest WhatsApp beta versions and is likely to soon be available to the masses via the next public release. It ultimately allows you to disable the certain WhatsApp notifications you find inconsequential and prioritise those that matter to you. Importantly, notification channels were first implemented for Google Chrome notifications to let users adjust notifications for individual sites back in July last year.

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Xiaomi Mi Notebook Air 13.3-inch model updated with 8th generation Core processors

Xiaomi has updated its Mi Notebook Air with the latest eighth generation Intel Core processors in China. The Mi Notebook Air 13.3-inch model now starts with quad-core processors as opposed to dual-core processors on the previous models.Xiaomi Mi Notebook Air 13.3-inch can now be configured with either 8th generation Core i5 or Core i7 chipsets along with discrete NVIDIA GeForce MX150 graphics card. The 8th generation Intel Core i5-8250U has four cores, and eight threads and maximum clock frequency of 3.4GHz. The Core i7-8550U model also has four cores, eight threads, and maximum clock frequency of 4GHz. Intel claims the 8th generation processor brings 40 percent performance improvement over its predecessor.

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Samsung India working on new online-exclusive budget smartphone

Samsung India might be readying a new budget smartphone series with a focus on online sales, reports ET. The new Samsung online smartphone series will see devices priced between Rs 5,000 - Rs 15,000 and will target young buyers with high-end specs and features at an affordable price point. “Samsung India has decided to launch a new series of smartphones this year exclusively for online, which will be high on hardware specifications and aggressively priced to target Xiaomi bestsellers,” three senior industry executives told ET.

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Google Chromecast Reportedly Also Killing WiFi Networks As Well

Last week we reported that there were some Google Home Max users who were reporting that their devices, at least in more recent times, were “killing” their WiFi networks, and that they had to hard reset their modems and routers to get it back up and running again. As it turns out it isn’t just the Home Max that is to blame as other Google devices are reportedly acting up as well.

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Apple's Lisa operating system to be released for free as open source

In an interesting turn of events, the Computer History Museum in California has decided release the Apple's legendary Lisa operating system for free. From now on, the operating system will be available as open source for everyone.

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Do iPhones Really Hold Their Price Better Than Android Phones?

Over the years, there's a truism that Apple's iPhones don't drop much in price, but most Android flagship will become much cheaper before long, so it's best to hold out for a little while and then get them in a deal. With the year-round e-commerce deals, the price cuts can be hidden as sales, but effectively the results are the same for customers. So you have people giving advice like "Never buy a Samsung at launch", but we started to wonder how true this really is.

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Mi A1 Finally Starts Getting Android 8.0 Oreo as Xiaomi Pushes OTA Update

Xiaomi has finally started rolling out the Android 8.0 Oreo to the Xiaomi Mi A1. The smartphone was launched under Google's Android One programme with Android 7.1.2 Nougat back in September and was promised to receive an update to Android Oreo by the end of 2017. The new Android version started rolling out as a progressive over-the-air (OTA) update on December 31, fulfilling that promise. As per an official post on Xiaomi's MIUI Forums, users need to first install software version 7.12.19 (Android Nougat) on their Mi A1 to receive the OTA update to Android Oreo (version 7.12.29). The update package comes in 1107.4MB size and includes the December Android security patch alongside other new features.

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Samsung launching 16GB variant of Galaxy On Nxt

Samsung is slowly expanding its Galaxy On smartphone series in India. The company has launched its Galaxy On Nxt 16GB variant in India at a price of Rs 10,999. The new Galaxy On Next will be going on sale from January 3 on Flipkart.The smartphone will be receiving a discount of Rs 1,000 and will be available at Rs 9,999 during the Flipkart 2018 Mobiles Bonanza sale, which will be held between January 3 and January 5.Samsung Galaxy On Nxt, with 32GB storage, was launched in India back in October 2016. The newly-announced 16GB variant is essentially the same phone with the same specs but only smaller storage.

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Qualcomm Snapdragon 670, Snapdragon 640, Snapdragon 460 SoCs Leaked

With the exception of Huawei and Apple, smartphones from most other Android manufacturers are powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon range of mobile processors. A new report suggests that Qualcomm is readying up refreshed models in its mobile processor offerings for 2018 - the Snapdragon 670, Snapdragon 640, and the Snapdragon 460.

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Nokia 3310 4G Variant With Android-Based YunOS Spotted on TENAA

HMD Global looks set to expand the Nokia 3310 family by adding a 4G member. While the official details are yet to be announced, the Nokia 3310 4G variant has reportedly surfaced on China's telecommunications certification authority TENAA's site with the model number TA-1077. The Finnish company launched the original Nokia 3310 feature phone with 2G connectivity at Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2017 back in February and brought its 3G variant in September. The handset was originally debuted with a price tag of Rs. 3,310.

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Nokia 7 could launch globally on January 19

Nokia 7 could be launching globally in early 2018. As per a report by Android Headlines, the smartphone could be launched with a model number TA-104, alongside the company’s upcoming flagship phone, Nokia 9 and the refreshed Nokia 8 and Nokia 6 smartphones. The Nokia 7 was officially launched back in October and was exclusive to China. The strategy seems similar to the one adopted with the Nokia 6 smartphone which was also launched as a China exclusive device in January this year, but was released globally later in June.

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Honor 9 Lite with 5.65-inch Full HD+ display, four cameras and Android 8.0 Oreo announced

Huawei’s sub-brand Honor has announced the launch of the latest Honor 9 Lite. The smartphone comes with a price tag of 1,199 Yuan (approx. Rs 11,667) for 3GB RAM + 32GB storage option, the 4GB RAM + 32GB of storage is priced at 1,499 Yuan (approx. Rs 14,586) and 4GB RAM + 64GB storage is priced at 1,799 Yuan (approx. Rs 17,506) . The smartphone will be available for purchase in China starting from December 26 and it comes in Navy Blue, Seagull Gray, Magic Nightfall and Pearl White colour options.

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Moto X4 review: A good choice for millennials

The basic design is similar to Moto G5 Plus, with a 5.2-inch Full-HD display, thick bezels on the top and bottom on front and a dual-camera set-up at the back -- all housed in a unibody metal and glass body. The device has a regular oval fingerprint sensor below the display that doubles up as navigation keys.