Vc Tech

Attendees walk past signage in the exhibition hall during the Microsoft Inspire partner conference at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C., U.S. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg Microsoft Corp. will offer businesses a free version of its Teams corporate chat app, taking on Slack Technologies Inc. in the startup’s main market. The new version is available for groups of up to 300 people and gives users unlimited messages and search, as well as 10 gigabytes of data storage, plus 2 gigabytes more for each team member, Microsoft said. Users also get free access to online versions of Office apps to let them create and edit files, slides and spreadsheets.  Microsoft introduced Teams 16 months ago as an add-on for paying Office 365 cloud customers. Slack pioneered a free app that gets users to try before aiming to upgrade them to a paid version. Slack is also trying to appeal to larger companies. Microsoft wants to lure us...

Neil Campling, co-head of global thematic group at Mirabaud Securities, said that 82 percent of revenues from Apple's App Store come from gaming. Because of this, Apple has become "one of the biggest gaming companies in the world," Campling said. Research shows that the mobile gaming industry threatens to overtake traditional gaming. Bumper revenues via its App Store have placed  Apple  among the largest gaming firms globally — despite the fact it does not make its own games, an analyst told CNBC. "I think what's often lost is we've got hundreds of thousands of apps in the (Apple) App Store, but 82 percent of revenues is in gaming, it's all about the gaming vertical," Neil Campling, co-head of global thematic group at Mirabaud Securities, told CNBC's "Squawk Box Europe" Tuesday. A vertical market is one that focuses on a niche, specific industry rather than one that caters to a broad group of customers. Campling suggeste...

Apple appears to be readying multi-user Face ID support in iOS 12.  9to5Mac reports that the recent iOS 12 beta lets iPhone X users setup an “Alternative Appearance” in Face ID settings. “In addition to continuously learning how you look, Face ID can recognize an alternative appearance,” reads Apple’s own note on the feature. Touch ID, used on older iPhones, supports fingerprints from different people, but Face ID has been restricted to just a single user so far. While the new iOS 12 feature is clearly designed to recognize a different appearance (possibly for hats etc), testers have found it works on an entirely different face. 9to5Mac  speculates that this feature could be related to an iPad with Face ID that’s also referenced in the iOS 12 beta. Several reports have suggested Apple is readying a new iPad with Face ID and no home button for later this year. An additional face for Face ID might be useful for a new iPad, but it’s also a feature tha...

Xiaomi phones  have been frequently popping up on TENAA   and other regulatory websites lately. The latest bit of info comes from the FCC, where Xiaomi devices got approved, and the same model numbers popped at Singapore’s Communications Authority. The more interesting part is that under “Marketing Name”, the Xiaomi M1805D1SG is listed as Mi A2 Lite, suggesting the arrival of a cheaper Mi A2. The listings reveal only technical details like bands and frequencies for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connections, but they come just in time for a follow-up of the Xiaomi Mi 6X announcement last month. Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite We speculated  the phones might be part of the new Redmi 6 series, but apparently Xiaomi decided to surprise everyone.

Xiaomi Mi 8 has received an overall DxOMark score of 99 The handset is sitting at par with the Galaxy S9+ It also has several improvements over the Mi Mix 2S Mi 8  was launched on Thursday with an iPhone X-like design. While the new  Xiaomi flagship is yet to reach the market, folks at DxOMark have managed to test the Mi 8 camera performance to show what's good (and not so good) about the latest Mi series flagship in terms of optics. The Mi 8 has received an overall score of 99 - surpassing the marks DxOMark Image Labs gave to the iPhone X last year and sharing the fourth place with the Galaxy S9+ that also received an identical overall score back in March this year. The overall score is also notably higher than what the Mi Mix 2S received earlier this year. As per the result of DxOMark's benchmark tests, the Xiaomi Mi 8 has received a photo score of 105 from the DxOMark team, while its video ...

Surprisingly, this time around the latest Lenovo Z5 info comes from a leak and not from the company's VP. All the information we have on the device so far was officially teased from the Lenovo's official, but now something extra has slipped through the cracks. The renders show the promised nearly bezel-less display with a small chin on the bottom. This is in line with the previous teasers showing nothing but screen and thankfully no notch. They also reveal how Lenovo has tackled the front-facing camera and the accompanying sensors problem. Lenovo Z5 press renders Just like the  Xiaomi Mi Mix , the upcoming Lenovo Z5 will incorporate the front-facing camera, the ambient sensor, and probably the proximity sensor, on the chin. The earpiece is missing, obviously, so we suspect some kind of tech similar to the one driving the Mi Mix with the vibrating screen replacing the speaker.

The  Xiaomi Mi 8 is official, confirming most of the rumors. The phone, celebrating the 8th anniversary of the Chinese company comes with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845, dual cameras and dual GPS. It is also the first official Xiaomi phone with a notch on the display that can be hidden with a toggle. The cutout is used for an in-house infrared solution for 3D Face Unlock that works in a dark environment. There is also a more exclusive version of the Mi 8, called Explore Edition. It has an underscreen fingerprint scanner and a see-through back panel that gives a peek to the internals of the device. Xiaomi Mi 8 Explore Edition Introduced by the CEO of the company, Lei Jun, the Xiaomi Mi 8 comes with a dual camera setup of 12 MP (f/1.8, 1.4µm) + 12 MP (f/2.4, 1.0 µm), the second being a telephoto cam. It brings AI features enhancement for over 200 scenes and does 4-in-1 pixel binning for better low-light shots. The primary sensor is IMX363 by Sony, while the...

Honor 7A and Honor 7C were launched in India on Tuesday, at an event in New Delhi. The two budget smartphones from Huawei's sub-brand Honor are exclusive to  Flipkart  and  Amazon  in India, respectively. The smartphones were launched in China in April and March respectively. Both smartphones have been priced starting below Rs. 10,000 in India, taking on Xiaomi's  Redmi Note 5  and  Redmi 5  series of smartphones. The two Honor 7-Series smartphones are very similar to each other, with minor differences in screen size and processor. In terms of similarities, they both have the same dual rear camera setup, the same front camera resolution, same screen resolution, same battery capacity, and both also run EMUI 8.0 based on Android 8.0 Oreo. Honor 7A, Honor 7C price in India, launch offers The Honor 7A price in India has been set at Rs. 8,999. It will go on sale exclusively via Flipkart from 12pm IST on May ...

A processor bump and Apple Pencil support The new iPad is very familiar. It has the same basic 9.7-inch screen size, bezels, Touch ID sensor, button placement, and cameras. The big new features are Apple Pencil support, which works the same as it did on the iPad Pro, and an update to the A10 processor. As with the previous iPad, it has 10 hours of battery life, an 8-megapixel rear camera that supports 1080p video, a front-facing FaceTime HD camera, supports optional LTE, and weighs one pound. Interestingly, there is no Smart Keyboard connector, which seems like a big omission. Holding and using the iPad, it feels very much like an iPad! The air gap on the screen is the same as before — large by iPad Pro standards, but only iPad Pro people will really turn their nose up at it. Same goes for the screen overall, which doesn’t have all the True Tone magic of the Pro, but is nevertheless vibrant and responsive. I checked out a quick demo of an AR classroom app and it was as ...

Apple’s  first quarterly earnings reports for 2018  are in, and the  company has reported  that  it sold 77.3 million iPhones in Q1 2018  (which includes the holiday season). That number is down 1.24 percent year over year from last year (78.3 million). But despite the slump in sales, iPhone revenue increased overall year over year, up 11.69 percent from $54.38 billion to $61.58 billion. While predictions for the average sale price of iPhone units sold during the quarter ranged from $710 to $755, the actual ASP was $796 (compared to $694 in Q1 2017), which directly explains the increase of revenue despite the decrease in sales. That said, despite the record revenue, analysts were still expecting a slight increase of approximately 1.5 percent year over year for units shipped, not a decrease. My estimate for iPhone units was expecting a lot more iPhone 8 with an average pricing of $710. Actual ASP was $796. A LOT of iPhon...

Users need to have a Jio connection for the offer Cumulative recharge of Rs. 2,500 is required in the first year Cashback of Rs. 6,000 is also applicable Samsung  Galaxy S9  and  Galaxy S9+ arrived  in India earlier this month with availability starting from Friday, March 16. The 256GB variant of the Galaxy S9+ is available exclusively via Reliance Digital stores, Samsung exclusive stores, and on Samsung Shop - the company's online store. Reliance Digital on Friday also announced the variant will be available via  Jio  Stores across the country, as well as on Jio.com. Alongside, a 70 percent buyback offer (with certain conditions) and a Rs. 6,000 cashback offer were also announced. As per the fine print of Reliance Digital's Samsung Galaxy S9+ buyback offer, users need to have a Jio connection to get started. Further, to be eligible for a 70 percent buyback value on the variant, a minimum cumulative recharge of...

Redmi Note 5 and Redmi Note 5 Prowill be up for grabs again, hours ahead of the Redmi 5 India launch event on Wednesday. As before, the smartphone will be available to purchase via Flipkart and Mi.com websites starting 12pm IST. Considering the popularity of the affordable Redmi Note 5 and its Pro sibling, it is likely stocks will run out within a few minutes of the flash sale opening. Offline buyers can head to Mi Home stores or  Xiaomi  offline partner stores to get their hands on the phones as well, though there is a small premium to pay if they choose the latter route. And, of course, those who get to order the Redmi Note 5 Pro online will not be able to use the Cash on Delivery option. Redmi Note 5, Redmi Note 5 Pro price in India The Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 is priced at Rs. 9,999 for the 3GB RAM, 32GB storage variant and goes up to Rs. 11,999 for the 4GB RAM and 64GB storage variant. The phone ...

BlackBerry Limited, the company that manages BlackBerry brand licensing and software, today began informing some app developers that it will forcibly remove paid software from the BlackBerry World app store on April 1st. BlackBerry says the marketplace will become a “free-only storefront,” and that “all purchasing mechanisms will be disabled.” Apps can still be monetized, the company says, but payment backends must be supported by the developer and built into the app itself. Refunds for paid content will be supported until April 30th, 2018, the note confirms, and customers will retain access to paid content even after it is removed. If a developer chooses not to transition an app from paid to free, the company will remove it by March 31st. Effectively, BlackBerry is announcing the end of BlackBerry World here,  as developer Steve Troughton-Smith notes on Twitter , where he posted the notice from the company and called it the final “nail in the coffin” for BB10, BlackBerry...