Qualcomm introduced its high-end Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip in October and the chip has already been used in several flagship Android phones released this year. In 2024, more phones are expected to use this chipset. While a wide range of brands have committed to adopting the new chip, Motorola is yet to reveal its plans regarding the release of a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC-powered phone. Now, Chen Jin, General Manager of Lenovo Mobile Business Group, has hinted at its upcoming models for 2024.
Chen Jin, via a post on Weibo, has shared insights into Motorola's roadmap for the upcoming year. The Lenovo-owned company's product list for 2024 includes a new Razr model. The new generation Razr phone is confirmed to have a new design and AI integration. Motorola also plans to introduce large language model capabilities in its flagship X series smartphones in the coming year.
Other products planned for 2024 include the new Moto S series and Moto G series smartphones with several improvements. The post says Motorola will launch its full range of products next year. Chen Jin claims that the Moto Razr series made gratifying progress in China and even the global market in 2023. He said that the company was reorganising its product planning and rhythm in the face of the two major opportunities and challenges of folding screens and AI large models in the mobile phone industry.
Motorola released fewer models for China and other markets this year. The company introduced Moto G34 5G with Snapdragon 695 SoC earlier this month in China. The Motorola Edge 2023 with Dimensity 7030 SoC debuted in October. In the Indian market, Motorola Edge 40 Neo with the MediaTek Dimensity 7030 was launched in September.
Apple said it would put its latest smartwatch models back on sale in its US retail stores Wednesday after it won a court ruling in a patent fight, providing a quick reprieve for its $17 billion (roughly Rs. 1,41,461 crore) business.
The company said its Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 would also resume online sales beginning Thursday by noon Pacific time. The US International Trade Commission had banned the import and sale of the products at Apple's official channels after it ruled in favor of Masimo, a medical device maker, in a patent infringement case. An appellate court in Washington had issued an interim stay of the ITC's decision earlier Wednesday while Apple seeks to overturn the decision.
“Apple's teams have worked tirelessly over many years to develop technology that empowers users with industry-leading health, wellness and safety features and we are pleased the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has stayed the exclusion order while it considers our request to stay the order pending our full appeal,” a company spokeswoman said in a statement.
The watches will be back on shelves beginning Wednesday at some of Apple's about 270 retail locations across the country, with wider availability by Saturday, the company said.
Apple was forced to stop sales of one of its signature products after the ITC found the company infringed a pair of Masimo patents related to measuring blood-oxygen saturation. Apple pulled the watches from its website on December 21 and in retail stores on Christmas Eve.
The ITC announced the sales and import ban in October, but the White House had 60 days to review it and potentially veto it. US Trade Representative Katherine Tai said Tuesday she wouldn't intervene and the White House refused to veto the measure.
Apple also has developed a software update for the Apple Watch that it believes will mitigate the issue. It submitted the design of that update to the US customs agency and said the government is scheduled to decide January 12 whether to approve the changes.
The appellate court in Washington gave the ITC until January 10 to respond to Apple's request for a longer stay during the company's full appeal. A spokesperson for Irvine, California-based Masimo declined to comment on Wednesday's court ruling. Masimo's shares fell 4.6 percent to $115.11 (roughly Rs. 9,580) at the close in New York after the court temporarily ended the ban on watch sales. Apple's stock was little changed.
The ITC had argued against the interim stay of its order, saying in a Tuesday court filing that Apple didn't face “irreparable harm” during its appeal because sales of some watch models continued.
“The Commission's remedial orders do not affect all Apple Watch products, but only those that include a light-based pulse oximetry feature, i.e., a feature for measuring the oxygen level in the blood,” the ITC said.
Masimo is also seeking to intervene in the appeals case. The company said in a separate filing on Tuesday that Apple's emergency request for an interim stay should be denied “because there is no emergency.”
“Apple misleads the Court as to the status quo,” Masimo said. “Apple fails to inform the Court that it has already stopped sales of the infringing Apple Watches that are the subject of the challenged ITC orders.”
Apple had argued the ITC's decision was wrong and said it was “taking all measures” to return the watches to the US market. In a headache for owners of the Apple Watch Series 6, 7 and 8 — all of which include the blood-oxygen feature — out-of-warranty watches also weren't eligible for hardware repairs as long as the ban had remained in place.
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Bitcoin on Thursday, December 28 recorded a profit of 1.38 percent on Thursday, December 28. With this, the value of Bitcoin has risen to the price point of $43,064 (roughly Rs. 35.8 lakh). In the last 24 hours, Bitcoin has spiked in its value by $846 (roughly Rs. 70,426). At the time of writing, Bitcoin has maintained a market dominance of 49.9 percent. Despite Bitcoin's minor price rally, its actually Ether that is shining brighter on Thursday.
Ethereum touched the $2,400 (roughly Rs. 1.99 lakh) mark as it surged by almost nine percent in the last 24 hours.
“Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin recently expressed his interest to revamp Ethereum Proof of Stake, which created positive sentiment around the largest altcoin,” Shivam Thakral, CEO of BuyUcoin told Gadgets360.
Ethereum saw its 19-month high while teasing the mark of $2,500 (roughly Rs. 2.08 lakh).
“ETH and its scaling solutions, almost all major layer-2s saw significant gains as well with Arbitrum's ARB (+26.7 percent) leading the charge; Optimism's OP (+22.2 percent) also observed major gains,” the CoinSwitch Markets Desk told Gadgets360.
Tron, Chainlink, Shiba Inu, Cardano, and Dogecoin emerged among gainers on the crypto chart.
Wrapped Bitcoin, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, Uniswap, and Cosmos also minted minor profits.
“Solana is increasingly positioning itself as a strong rival to Ethereum, its impressive rally highlighting intensifying competition in the smart contract platform arena. Concurrently, the path of Bitcoin continues to captivate both investors and analysts, with 2024 shaping up for pivotal developments. Amidst this backdrop, optimistic discussions persist regarding Bitcoin's possible journey toward the coveted $100,000 (roughly Rs. 83.2 lakh) milestone,” Rajagopal Menon, Vice President, WazirX told Gadgets360.
The crypto market cap, at the time of writing, stood at $1.69 trillion (roughly Rs. 1,40,65,810 crore) after growing by 2.47 percent in the last 24 hours, showed CoinMarketCap.
Meanwhile, Tether, Solana, USD Coin, Avalanche, Polkadot, and Polygon recorded losses on Thursday.
Cryptocurrency is an unregulated digital currency, not a legal tender and subject to market risks. The information provided in the article is not intended to be and does not constitute financial advice, trading advice or any other advice or recommendation of any sort offered or endorsed by NDTV. NDTV shall not be responsible for any loss arising from any investment based on any perceived recommendation, forecast or any other information contained in the article.
Infinix Smart 8 has been teased to launch in India soon. The handset was recently unveiled in Nigeria. Infinix has revealed some key features and colour options of the Indian variant of the Smart 8. The Indian variant is expected to be similar to its global counterpart in terms of specifications. Notably, the company has also introduced another model from the Infinix Smart 8 lineup in India, the Infinix Smart 8 HD, which debuted in the country earlier this month.
In a press note, Infinix confirmed that the Infinix Smart 8 will soon launch in India, although an exact launch date wasn't revealed. The company shared the design and colour options of the handset as well. In the images shared, the phone is seen with a wooden textured back panel and in black, gold, and white colourways.
The Indian variant of the Infinix Smart 8 is confirmed to have a 50-megapixel primary sensor and an unspecified secondary AI-assisted sensor alongside a ring LED light unit at the back. The front camera, also accompanied by an LED flash will have an 8-megapixel sensor. The phone will also come with the Magic Ring feature, which is similar to Apple's Dynamic Island that shows notifications and other relevant alerts.
Since the Indian variant of the Infinix Smart 8 is likely to be similar to the global version, it is likely that it will share its specifications. The global variant of the handset carries a 6.6-inch HD+ (1,612 x 720 pixels) display with a refresh rate of 90Hz and a peak brightness level of 500 nits.
The global variant of the Infinix Smart 8 is powered by an octa-core Unisoc T606 SoC paired with 4GB of RAM and 256GB of onboard memory. The RAM is expandable by an additional 4GB and the storage is extendable via a microSD card. The phone ships with Android 13-based XOS 13.
Backed by a 5,000mAh battery, the Inifnix Smart 8 supports 10W wired charging via a USB Type-C port. In Nigeria, the handset is offered in Crystal Green, Galaxy White, Timber Black, and Shiny Gold colour options.
PlayStation Plus' monthly free games for January 2024 — the new year — have been revealed. The month's offerings include narrative-focused period adventure title A Plague Tale: Requiem, top-down dungeon-crawling action RPG Nobody Saves the World, and third-person vampire-hunting shooterEvil West. The three titles will be available to members of PS Plus Essential, Extra, and Deluxe/ Premium plans, starting January 2. These games can be added to your PS4 and PS5 games library until February 5, after which you'll have to hold on to your PS Plus membership for continued access. If you enjoy any of these titles, you could purchase them for permanent access and continue from where you left off.
Sony confirmed the additions on the PlayStation Blog late Wednesday, adding that Warframe players will be treated to the Syrinx Collection, bringing themed chest and shoulder plates, new weapons, and credits for use in the sci-fi shooter. Indeed, titles that were added to the service last month will be leaving on New Year's Day — so feel free to add Lego 2K Drive, Powerwash Simulator, and Sable to your collection.
The PlayStation Plus Monthly Games for January are:
— PlayStation (@PlayStation) December 27, 2023
➕ A Plague Tale: Requiem
➕ Evil West
➕ Nobody Saves the World
Full details: https://t.co/TijCrsFdPc pic.twitter.com/0xpNiXUla8
Six months after escaping the French Inquisition, struggling siblings Hugo and Amicia travel far south, full of vibrant regions and cities, in the hopes of curing the former's blood disease. But when Hugo's powers reawaken, it shatters all hopes for a peaceful new chapter, bringing back a monstrous rat infestation and a trail of destruction, forcing them to flee once more and end the curse once and for all. Just like the 2019 prequel, Amicia is armed with a slingshot and crossbow to shoot bolts at enemies from the shadows, but the darkness is also where the bloodthirsty plague-ridden rats are hyper-active — urging you to find a good balance in your journey.
A Plague Tale: Requiem was nominated for Game of the Year in 2022, and will be available for free on the PS5.
When the ancient Calamity re-awakens, the pressure falls onto Nobody, a shape-shifting mass equipped with a magic wand, to save the enchanted world. Master the art of transformation to morph into over 15 varied forms, ranging from magicians, ghosts, dragons, a mobile egg, and even a turtle to solve puzzles enclosed within water bodies. Survey procedurally generated hostile areas and dungeons to uncover new mysteries and combine the skills of different forms to pull off some devastating combos. Nobody Saves the World also comes with co-op play, so you can invite a friend along for your bombastic adventures across this cutesy world.
Nobody Saves the World will be available to play on the PS4 and PS5.
Step into the boots of Jesse Rentier, one of the last agents of a vampire-hunting organisation, and save the American frontier from destruction by supernatural entities emerging from the shadows. Switch between an arsenal of firearms, lightning-field gauntlets, and peculiar gadgets to slay down hordes of bloodthirsty monsters in style, before taking a break to hunt down lore items and other collectibles. The structuring is largely based around jumping from one mission to the other — each of which concludes with a cinematic boss battle — so if you're looking for a gory good time to mindlessly slay vampires and monsters, Evil West might be perfect for you.
Evil West can also be played in online co-op and will be available on the PS4 and PS5.
Earlier this month, PlayStation also announced the set of games coming to its December Game Catalog, available to PS Plus Extra and Deluxe/ Premium tier subscribers. Standouts are Grand Theft Auto V, Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin, Metal: Hellsinger, and more.
PlayStation Plus subscription in India starts at Rs. 499 per month for Essential, Rs. 749 per month for the Extra plan, and Rs. 849 per month for the top-tier Deluxe. The monthly free games are included with all three tiers.
Vivo X Fold 2 with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC was launched in the company's home country back in April. Now, Vivo seems to be gearing up to make waves with its new foldable smartphone with the Vivo X Fold 3 Pro moniker. Ahead of any official announcement, a Chinese tipster has suggested the key specifications of the Vivo X Fold 3 Pro. The foldable screen of the handset is said to offer a 2K resolution and 120Hz refresh rate and could run on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC. The Vivo X Fold 3 Pro is tipped to launch alongside Vivo Pad 3.
Tipster Digital Chat Station (translated from Chinese) has leaked the key specifications of the rumoured Vivo X Fold 3 Pro on Weibo. As per the tipster, the upcoming foldable will run on Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC. It is said to pack an LTPO inner foldable screen on the device with a 2K resolution and 120Hz refresh rate. It is said to include an ultrasonic fingerprint scanner on both screens.
Vivo X Fold 3 Pro is expected to have a slimmer profile and weight compared to the Vivo X Fold 2. It is said to weigh below 250 grams. The Vivo X Fold 2, on the other hand, weighs 279 grams. It is tipped to come with 100W wired charging and 50W wireless charging support as well.
For optics, the Vivo X Fold 3 Pro is said to have a triple rear camera unit, led by a 50-megapixel main camera with OIS (optical image stabilisation). The camera unit is anticipated to comprise a 100mm periscope telephoto camera with 4x optical zoom and an ultra-wide snapper. Vivo is speculated to pack a Sony LYT-900 camera sensor as the primary camera.
The tipster also replied to his post and opined that the Vivo X Fold 3 Pro will launch alongside the Vivo Pad 3 in the first quarter of next year. The tablet could be powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 9300 SoC.
As mentioned, the Vivo X Fold 2 was launched earlier this year with a starting price tag of CNY 8,999 (roughly Rs. 1,07,500). The China-exclusive handset has an 8.03-inch E6 AMOLED LTPO inner display and a 6.53-inch AMOLED outer screen. It has a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC under the hood and features triple rear cameras led by a 50-megapixel Sony IMCX866 primary shooter. It is backed by a 4,800mAh battery unit with 120W fast charging, 50W wireless charging, and reverse charging support.
iQoo TWS 1e were launched in China alongside the iQoo Neo 9 series on Wednesday, December 27. The company also introduced the iQoo Watch, which is said to be a rebranded model of the Vivo Watch 3. The iQoo TWS 1e are said to be a rebadged version of the Vivo TWS 3e, which was unveiled earlier this month. These in-ear true wireless earphones support active noise cancellation (ANC) and come with AI-backed noise reduction to allow clearer calling experiences. They are available for purchase in China.
The iQoo TWS 1e earphones are offered in Mecha White and Star Pearl Yellow (translated from Chinese) colourways. They are available for purchase in China via the Vivo website at CNY 159 (roughly Rs. 1,900), the same as the Vivo TWS 3e, although the latter comes in Dark Blue and Haobia (White) (translated) colour options.
The newly launched iQoo TWS 1e come with 11mm dynamic drivers and offer sound effects like DeepX 3.0 stereo, 3D panoramic audio, and Monster Sound to enhance the user's gaming experience. The earphones also support low latency of up to 55ms.
iQoo's new earphones offer touch gesture controls and seamless pairing with Vivo and iQoo devices. The iQoo TWS 1e support Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity and the storage case comes with a USB Type-C port. These true wireless earphones support ANC and an AI-assisted noise reduction feature.
In terms of battery life, with ANC enabled, the iQoo TWS 1e earphones claim to offer up to 9 hours of battery life from a single charge, and up to 36 hours of playback time with the charging case. With ANC turned off, a single charge is said to offer up to 11 hours of battery life on the earphones and up to 44 hours with the charging case. The earphones also come with an IP54 rating for dust and splash resistance.
The Income Tax Department of India is issuing alerts around high-value crypto transactions. The matter came to light earlier this week when Punit Agarwal observed a rise in income tax-related queries tied to crypto transactions from the income tax department. Agarwal is the founder of KoinX, a firm that provides crypto tax management solutions in India. Essentially, Agarwal has conveyed to the Indian crypto investors that the government is maintaining a strict oversight on all tax-work related to crypto transactions in India.
Agarwal says that the Indian government is automating the process of validating and verifying the returns on crypto incomes to avoid any flaws in calculations.
For people to avoid attracting penalties on high-value transactions, Agarwal has strongly advised taxpayers to file their taxes accurately and verify data in the ITR filing against the Annual Information Statement (AIS) to catch any prevailing discrepancies.
“Income Tax portal matches the transactions appearing in AIS and the data filed by users. In-case the authorities find any discrepancies, then they issue a notification to the user to re-check if they have missed anything or if everything is in-line. For people, if they find any discrepancies in their income reported vs income generated, then they have to file a revised return. Also, they need to give an explanation to the notification. In case everything is in-line and as expected, people can just submit the feedback mentioning they confirm everything is fine,” Agarwal told Gadgets360.
In the absence of a set rulebook for crypto, India levied taxes on crypto profits last April hoping to be able to maintain some track record of crypto transactions, most of which are largely anonymous.
The country levies a 30 percent tax on crypto incomes and also cuts one percent TDS on each crypto transaction – aiming to identify potential defaulters and suspicious crypto holders, who could be engaging in unlawful activities like money laundering or terror financing.
From what Agarwal shared on X, however, does show the strict oversight that the Indian income tax department is indeed maintaining over the crypto sector.
Have you received any queries from the Income Tax Portal recently like this for your crypto transactions?
— Punit Agarwal (@a__punit) December 26, 2023
If yes, this thread is for you.
Note: Please don't panic. We're here to help. I'm just a DM away. https://t.co/Wl186Hku0d pic.twitter.com/iktKM7YnvF
:loudspeaker: :rotating_light:Important Announcement from KoinX: Handling Income Tax :flag-in:Queries for Crypto Transactions.
— KoinX (@getkoinx) December 26, 2023
We recently noticed a rise in Income tax queries & raids on matters related to crypto transactions.
Here's a detailed thread on how to handle such queries:thread::point_down: pic.twitter.com/o8VdP5k9PW
Given the confusion around filing crypto taxes, only 0.07 percent crypto holders in India reportedly paid their taxes last year.
Players like KoinX are trying to extend all the support required for people to file their crypto taxes because industry analysts believe that adhering to this tax regime can instil faith of the Indian government on the Web3 sector which will eventually result in its overall growth.
Taxnodes, another crypto tax solutions provider, has decided to offer complimentary NFTs as incentives to taxpayers using its platform to file their taxes.
iQoo Watch was unveiled in China on Wednesday alongside the iQoo Neo 9 series of smartphones. It is the first smartwatch from the Vivo sub-brand. The latest wearable features a 1.43-inch AMOLED display with always-on-mode and it runs on Vivo's BlueOS operating system. It is available in a version with eSIM support. The smartwatch features a blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) monitor and a heart rate tracker. It is is backed by a 505mAh battery. The iQoo Watch supports more than 100 sports modes and comes with a choice of leather or rubber bands.
Price of iQoo Watch is set at CNY 1,099 (roughly Rs. 13,000) for the Bluetooth variant with a rubber strap. The eSIM version with a rubber strap is priced at CNY 1,299 (roughly Rs. 14,000), while the eSIM version with leather strap is priced at CNY 1,399 (roughly Rs. 15,000). The Vivo Watch 3 debuted last month with similar price tags.
The iQoo Watch is currently listed for sale on the official Vivo website in Haoyu Black and Star Track Black colour options. Price and availability details of the new wearable in India are yet to be announced.
The iQoo Watch comes with a 1.43-inch AMOLED display with 466 x 466 pixels resolution and always-on support. It has Bluetooth calling support that lets users make and attend voice calls directly from their wrist, without taking out the connected phone. It runs on Vivo's self-developed BlueOS operating system.
iQoo Watch offers support for over 100 sports modes such as walking, swimming, cycling, and skipping that can be customised via the paired Android or iOS smartphone. The wearable sports SpO2 monitoring alongside an optical heart rate sensor. It includes an acceleration sensor, gyroscope, air pressure altitude sensor, geomagnetic sensor, ambient light sensor, and hall sensor. The smartwatch can be used for other daily health functions like sleep monitoring, stress monitoring, breathing training, and menstrual cycle recording. Further, it has an AI running coach.
The iQoo Watch has Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity. It also supports NFC to make touchless payments. It is backed by a 505mAh battery with wired charging support and is claimed to deliver up to three days of total runtime in normal use on a single charge. The battery is said to offer up to seven days of standby time on a single charge. The watch has a 46.1mm diameter and weighs 36 grams.
iQoo Neo 9 series has been launched in China on Wednesday, December 27. The lineup comes with two models - iQoo Neo 9 and iQoo Neo 9 Pro. They offer 16-megapixel front cameras and 5,160mAh batteries with 120W wired fast charging support. Both handsets feature 6.78-inch AMOLED panels and are available in three colour options and four RAM and storage configurations. The iQoo Neo 9 series is available for pre-order in China and will go on sale later this month.
Offered in Fighting Black, Nautical Blue, and Red and White Soul (translated from Chinese), the iQoo Neo 9 and iQoo Neo 9 Pro are available in four RAM and storage configurations. The base iQoo Neo 9 starts at CNY 2,299 (roughly Rs. 26,900) for its 12GB + 256GB option. Meanwhile, the 16GB + 256GB and 16GB + 512GB variants are priced at CNY 2,499 (roughly Rs. 29,300) and CNY 2,799 (roughly Rs. 32,800). The top-of-the-line 16GB + 1TB option of the iQoo Neo 9 is listed at CNY 3,199 (roughly Rs. 37,400).
iQoo Neo 9 Pro is priced at CNY 2,999 (roughly Rs. 35,100) for the 12GB + 256GB variant, whereas the 16GB + 256GB, 16GB + 512GB, and 16GB + 1TB options are marked at CNY 3,299 (roughly Rs. 38,600), CNY 3,599 (roughly Rs. 42,100), and CNY 3,999 (roughly Rs. 46,800), respectively.
Both iQoo Neo 9 smartphones are currently up for pre-order in China via the official Vivo website and will be available for purchase in the country starting December 30.
The iQoo Neo 9 and Neo 9 Pro feature 6.78-inch AMOLED displays with a resolution of 2,800 x 1,260 pixels, a refresh rate of up to 144Hz, an aspect ratio of 20:9, and HDR10+ support. The iQoo Neo 9 is powered by a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC with Adreno 740 GPU, while the iQoo Neo 9 Pro gets a MediaTek Dimensity 9300 chipset with Immortalis-G720 GPU. The phones support up to 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM and up to 1TB of UFS 4.0 inbuilt storage. They ship with Android 14-based OriginOS.
For optics, both iQoo Neo 9 and Neo 9 Pro feature a 16-megapixel front camera sensor, housed in a centred hole-punch slot at the top of the display. At the back, the vanilla iQoo Neo 9 has a 50-megapixel Sony IMX920 primary sensor with optical image stabilisation (OIS) alongside an 8-megapixel sensor with an ultra-wide lens. The Neo 9 Pro also comes with the same main camera as the base model, but is paired with a 50-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera.
The iQoo Neo 9 and Neo 9 Pro pack a 5,160mAh battery with 120W wired fast charging support via a USB Type-C port. The phones support dual SIM support with 5G, 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.3, OTG, GPS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS, and NFC connectivity. The handsets are also equipped with an IR blaster and an in-display fingerprint sensor.
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