Samsung plans big comeback with premium smartphones in India

Eight years back, Samsung became the leader in the mobile phone industry in India with the roll out of "Galaxy S3" from its Noida facility. https://ift.tt/2vgbcSA https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Moto G Power, G Stylus go official in the US

Motorola recently launched the new Razr smartphone in the US to whet the appetite of true-blue flip phone lovers, but it hasn’t forgotten about its patrons in the mid-range segment. Motorola announced on Friday two new models in the Moto G line-up of smartphones, namely the Moto G Power and Moto G Stylus. While the former’s unique feature is long battery life, the latter’s is an inbuilt stylus. Both models are currently on sale in the US and will be launched in Canada by springtime. The Moto G Power starts at $249 (Rs 17,800 approx), and the Moto G Stylus, at $299 (Rs 21,400 approx).

The Moto G Power is presumably named so because it packs a massive 5000mAh battery on the inside along with support for 10W “rapid” charging. The company claims the battery is good for up to 3 days of use on a single charge. The handset is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 chip with 4GB of RAM. Internal storage is 64GB but can be expanded to up to 512GB using a microSD card. The rear camera setup includes a 16MP primary sensor (f/1.7 aperture), 2MP macro sensor (f/2.2 aperture), and an 8MP ultra-wide angle sensor (f/2.2 aperture). The selfie camera is a 16MP unit (f/2.0 aperture).

The Moto G Stylus, as you can tell, comes with an inbuilt ‘slide-out’ stylus for scribbling and drawing on the screen. Like the Moto G Power, it’s powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 chip with 4GB of RAM. Internal storage is 128GB but can be expanded to up to 512GB using a microSD card. Compared to the Moto G Power, the Moto G Stylus has a smaller 4000mAh battery with support for 10W “rapid” charging. The company claims the battery is good for up to 2 days of use on a single charge. If you’re in the market for a smartphone with a stylus but reside in India, you can consider the Samsung Galaxy Note10 Lite that was launched earlier this month. It starts at Rs 38,999.

Both Motorola mid-range entrants sport a 6.4-inch “Max Vision” IPS LCD screen with a resolution of 2300 x 1080 pixels. The screen is housed in an aluminium water-repellent body that has a fingerprint scanner on the back side. Both handsets run Android 10 right out of the box. While the Moto G Power is available in a single Smoke Black colourway, the Moto G Stylus is available in a single Mystic Indigo colourway. Both models feature Bluetooth 5.0, a 3.5mm audio jack, and native support for Google Assistant. In its official blog, Motorola hasn’t mentioned if it has plans of bringing its two new mid-range models to India anytime soon.

https://ift.tt/38gcBXO

LexisNexis Risk Solutions, part of RELX, agrees to buy Arizona-based Emailage, which uses machine learning to help clients detect fraud; source says for ~$480M (Patricia Nilsson/Financial Times)

Patricia Nilsson / Financial Times:
LexisNexis Risk Solutions, part of RELX, agrees to buy Arizona-based Emailage, which uses machine learning to help clients detect fraud; source says for ~$480M  —  Relx is to buy Arizona-based Emailage for about $480m, as the UK-listed information and analytic group deepens its push into the fraud prevention sector.

Redmi K20 Pro will be discontinued in February: Lu Weibing

When Xiaomi launched the Redmi K30 in December last year, it pulled off a surprise and did not launch the Redmi K30 Pro. Contrary to rumours, Redmi went ahead and announced two variants of the Redmi K30 with different chipsets for 4G and 5G. While the Redmi K30 Pro is now expected to be launched very soon as per the rumours, Xiaomi's Vice President and Redmi Brand's General Manager, Lu Weibing, has announced that the Redmi K20 Pro is being discontinued this month. 

Weibing took to Weibo to announce the latest development. He said, (directly translated) “This month, the K20Pro will be completely closed. During this time, I have been thinking about whether to do a curtain-off ceremony for K20Pro?” He also mentioned that the company shipped 5 million units of the Redmi K20 Pro globally. For reference, the smartphone was launched in China late in May last year, which means it hasn’t been in the market for one year yet. However, the discontinuation is also a sign that Xiaomi is making way for the Redmi K30 Pro.

While Weibing has said that the Redmi K20 Pro will be discontinued this month, he didn’t mention the regions it will stop selling in. We don’t know if the discontinuation is limited to China or if it will be implemented simultaneously in other markets as well, including India. 

However, Redmi K30 Pro is on its way. The smartphone was spotted on Geekbench listing. It is expected to be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 SoC, paired with 8GB RAM. The handset could sport a 64MP primary Sony IMX686 sensor.

https://ift.tt/39jgX0l

Vineti, a company that makes software for cell and gene therapy firms, raises $35M Series C, led by Cardinal Health, with participation from Novartis and others (Alaric DeArment/MedCity News)

Alaric DeArment / MedCity News:
Vineti, a company that makes software for cell and gene therapy firms, raises $35M Series C, led by Cardinal Health, with participation from Novartis and others  —  The company said it plans to expand into new supply chains for advanced therapeutics in addition to cell and gene therapies …

How Hoop, an app for making Snapchat friends, hit #2 in the App Store with a virality and monetization strategy making users spend in-app currency to reach out (Josh Constine/TechCrunch)

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
How Hoop, an app for making Snapchat friends, hit #2 in the App Store with a virality and monetization strategy making users spend in-app currency to reach out  —  Snapchat's developer platform is blowing up as a gateway to teen social app users.  Hoop is the latest Snap Kit blockbuster …

Tech giants seek Hong Kong alternative after US blocks undersea cable: Report

U.S. Department of Justice had signaled staunch opposition to the project because of concerns over its Chinese investor, Dr. Peng Telecom & Media Group Co, and the direct link that the cable would provide to Hong Kong, the Wall Street Journal had reported in August. https://ift.tt/31D7Bd6

Cornonavirus: Facebook warns of hit to Oculus production

https://ift.tt/2ODll2j

White House dismisses idea of US buying Nokia, Ericsson to challenge Huawei

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence on Friday and the top White House economic adviser dismissed an unusual suggestion from U.S. Attorney General William Barr that the United States consider taking control of two major foreign rivals of China-based Huawei Technologies Co Ltd. https://ift.tt/2H2D0MM

Apple to delay reopening of retail stores in China

Apple Inc is extending its retail store closures in China due to the coronavirus outbreak, even as it worked towards opening its corporate offices and contact centers, the iPhone maker said. https://ift.tt/2vSiTOX

Twitter says Facebook, Messenger accounts hacked

A Twitter spokesperson said in an emailed statement that the accounts were hacked through a third-party platform. https://ift.tt/2H7rlfz

Realme has launched its first smartphone of 2020: Comparison with phones from Nokia, Xiaomi and Samsung

https://ift.tt/2UB5KnK

Indian startups, Ratan Tata has warning and tips for you

https://ift.tt/31AF3RH

Rare online revolt in China over death of virus whistleblower

The Chinese public have staged what amounts to an online revolt after the death of a doctor, Li Wenliang, who tried to warn of a mysterious virus that has since killed at least 637 people and infected about 31,211 others. https://ift.tt/2SsapFX https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

How predictive algorithms are increasingly being used to set police patrols, prison sentences, and probation rules in the US and Europe (New York Times)

New York Times:
How predictive algorithms are increasingly being used to set police patrols, prison sentences, and probation rules in the US and Europe  —  Across the United States and Europe, software is making probation decisions and predicting whether teens will commit crime.  Opponents want more human oversight.