OnePlus on Thursday launched the Nord 2 5G in India. The smartphone comes in blue haze, gray sierra, and green woods colours. Powered by MediaTek Dimensity 1200-AI system-on-chip, the Nord 2 5G comes with up to 12GB RAM and 256GB on-board storage. It will be available to existing Red Cable Club members on July 26 and July 27 via the ‘Red Cable First Sale’ on the OnePlus online store, OnePlus Store app and OnePlus Experience Stores. Alongside the Nord 2 5G, OnePlus unveiled the Buds Pro wireless earbuds. The earbuds will launch in India in August.OnePlus Nord 2 5G: Price, sale details, and sale offers

The OnePlus Nord 2 5G comes in 6GB, 8GB, and 12GB RAM variants.

While the former two get 128GB on-board storage, the latter comes with 256GB on-board storage. The 6GB RAM variant comes in blue haze colour only, whereas the 8GB and 12GB RAM variants also get the grey sierra colour option. OnePlus also launched an India-exclusive green woods colour variant with PU leather back cover — comes with 12GB RAM and 256GB on-board storage.

The OnePlus Nord 2 5G (8GB and 12GB variants – blue haze and gray sierra) will be available to existing OnePlus Red Cable Club members on July 26 and July 27 via the ‘Red Cable First Sale’ on the OnePlus online store, OnePlus Store app and OnePlus Experience Stores. On the OnePlus online store and the OnePlus store app, OnePlus is offering a bundle deal — the OnePlus Band or OnePlus Buds Z will be available at a discounted price of Rs 1,499. Additionally, the first 2000 to purchase the Nord 2 5G on the OnePlus Store app will win a OnePlus handy fanny pack.

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Instagram said Wednesday it is testing a new feature called ‘Collab’, which will let people collaborate on Feed Posts and Reels.

The feature is being rolled out in India and the United Kingdom.

With ‘Collab’, one user can now invite another as a collaborator on the post or reel. If the invitee accepts, both accounts will appear in the post or reel header, and the content will be shared with the followers of both users.

Reels is Instagram’s short-video format, and has been very popular with creators on the platform.

“Collaborating is a huge part of how people connect on Instagram. With ‘Collab’, you can invite a collaborator to your Feed Post and Reels, so they can share the content with their followers.

If they accept, then they’ll be shown as an author, the content will be shared with their Profile Grid and their followers in Feed, and you will both see your shared feedback,” said Instagram in a statement.

The Facebook-owned platform is only testing the feature with a small percentage of its global community now.

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India has been sending a large contingent for the last three editions of the Summer Olympics. The Tokyo Olympics 2021 will see a 228-member strong contingent from India participate in 18 sporting events.

India’s Olympic contingent for Tokyo 2020 includes 127 participants from 18 sports, including two alternate players and one reserve goalie in men’s and women’s hockey squads, respectively.

Four Indian sailors — Nethra Kumanan and Vishnu Saravanan (laser class), KC Ganapathy and Varun Thakkar (49er class) — were the first to reach Tokyo from their training bases in Europe.

Check Tokyo 2020 opening ceremony, India full schedule and live telecast details here

India in previous Olympics

In the 2016 Rio Olympics, 117 Indian athletes participated (63 men and 54 women) across 15 sports. The Indian roster featured three Olympic medalists from London, including badminton star Saina Nehwal, freestyle wrestler and four-time Olympian Yogeshwar Dutt, and rifle shooter Gagan Narang.

Check Tokyo 2020 men’s and women’s full schedule and match timings (India time) here

In the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, India sent 83 athletes, 60 men, and 23 women, who competed in 13 sports. In the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, 57 athletes in 12 sports represented India, and for the first time since 1928, the men’s national field hockey team was unable to take part in the Summer Olympics after failing to qualify.

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The prevalence of the highly-transmissible Delta variant of COVID-19 among specimens sequenced over the past four weeks exceeded 75 per cent in many countries worldwide, including India, China, Russia, Israel and the UK, the WHO has said.

In the COVID-19 Weekly Epidemiological Update published July 20, the World Health Organisation said that despite efforts to extend vaccination coverage, many countries across all six WHO regions continue to experience surges in coronavirus cases.

Over the past week, the highest numbers of new cases were reported from Indonesia (350,273 new cases; a 44 per cent increase), the UK (296,447 new cases; 41 per cent increase), Brazil (287,610 new cases; 14 per cent decrease), India (268,843 new cases; 8 per cent decrease) and the US (216,433 new cases; 68 per cent increase).

The update noted that as of July 20, a total of over 2.4 million SARS-CoV-2 sequences have been submitted to GISAID, the global science initiative and primary source that provides open access to genomic data.

Over 220,000 (9 per cent) of SARS-CoV-2 sequences submitted to GISAID are confirmed as the Delta variant.

According to GISAID data, as of 20 July, the prevalence of Delta among the specimens sequenced over the past 4 weeks exceeded 75 per cent in many countries worldwide including Australia, Bangladesh, Botswana, China, Denmark, India, Indonesia, Israel, Portugal, Russian Federation, Singapore South Africa and the United Kingdom, the update said.

It reiterated that the Delta variant is expected to rapidly outcompete other variants and become the dominant circulating lineage over the coming months.

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NASA is making final preparations for its Perseverance Mars rover to collect its first-ever sample of Martian rock, which future planned missions will transport to Earth. The six-wheeled geologist is searching for a scientifically interesting target in a part of Jezero Crater called the “Cratered Floor Fractured Rough.”

This important mission milestone is expected to begin within the next two weeks. Perseverance landed in Jezero Crater on February 18, and NASA kicked off the rover mission’s science phase on June 1, exploring a 1.5-square-mile (4-square-kilometer) patch of crater floor that may contain Jezero’s deepest and most ancient layers of exposed bedrock.

“When Neil Armstrong took the first sample from the Sea of Tranquility 52 years ago, he began a process that would rewrite what humanity knew about the Moon,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for science at NASA Headquarters. “I have every expectation that Perseverance’s first sample from Jezero Crater, and those that come after, will do the same for Mars. We are on the threshold of a new era of planetary science and discovery.”

It took Armstrong 3 minutes and 35 seconds to collect that first Moon sample. Perseverance will require about 11 days to complete its first sampling, as it must receive its instructions from hundreds of millions of miles away while relying on the most complex and capable, as well as the cleanest, mechanism ever to be sent into space – the Sampling and Caching System.

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In a delight for millions of music aficionados in India, Apple on Tuesday launched the next generation of sound with Spatial Audio and Lossless Audio on Apple Music at no additional cost and the new features will be available on Android “very soon” in the country.

Apple Music is also making its catalog of more than 75 million songs available to its subscribers in Lossless Audio in India.

Apple uses ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Codec) to preserve every single bit of the original audio file. This means fans will be able to hear their favourite songs exactly the way the artists created them in the studio.

To start listening to Lossless Audio, subscribers using the latest version of Apple Music can turn it on in Settings, then Music and Audio Quality.

Here, you can choose different resolutions for different connections such as cellular, Wi-Fi, or for download.

For the true audiophile, Apple Music also offers Hi-Resolution Lossless all the way up to 24 bit at 192 kHz.

By default, Apple Music will automatically play Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos tracks on all AirPods and Beats headphones with an H1 or W1 chip, as well as the built-in speakers in the latest versions of iPhone, iPad and Mac.

At Rs 99 a month (3-month free trial) for individuals, Rs 49 a month for students and Rs 149 a month for a family, customers will get access to 75 million tracks in Lossless on Apple Music over a period of time, a growing catalog of songs on Spatial, the best in class recommendation engine and more than 30,000 playlists curated by Apple Music editors.

Spatial Audio with support for Dolby Atmos gives artists the opportunity to create immersive audio experiences for their fans with true multi-dimensional sound and clarity that comes from all around and from above the listener.

Albums that are available in Spatial Audio will have a badge on the detail page to make them easily discernible.

Apple Music is also offering a special set of editorially-curated Spatial Audio playlists to help listeners find the music they love and enable further discovery.

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Google-owned YouTube, an online video sharing and social media platform, is set to acquire social commerce media start-up simsim, betting on the emerging opportunity in the segment in India. The financial details of the deal were not disclosed. simsim was founded in June 2019.

“As more and more shopping happens online, video has an important role in helping viewers discover new products and find expert advice they trust,” said Gautam Anand, VP, YouTube APAC in a blog.

“Today, we are taking another step to help viewers discover and buy products from local businesses: we have signed a definitive agreement to acquire simsim and expect to complete the transaction in the coming weeks.”

simsim, according to Anand, is helping small businesses transition to e-commerce by using the power of video and creators. The simsim app serves as a platform to connect local businesses, influencers and customers.

The company had raised $16 million in 2020.

According to a joint report by consulting firm Bain & Co and venture capital firm Sequoia Capital last year, the social commerce opportunity in India is pegged to reach $16-20 billion by 2025, compared to around $2 billion last year.

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Samsung has made it official to hold its next Galaxy Unpacked event on August 11, where the South Korean giant is likely to showcase new foldable devices Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Galaxy Z Flip 3.

“Get ready to unfold. August 11th at 10AM ET / 7AM PT,” Samsung said in a teaser. The event will be streamlined virtual.

Samsung is expected to unveil latest foldable smartphones with lower price tags compared with its predecessors. The company is also expected to unveil, a Galaxy FE phone, two Galaxy Watches and a set of new Galaxy Buds.

The South Korean tech giant is expected to start sales of the Galaxy Z Fold3 at around 1.99 million won ($1,744), which is 17 percent lower than the 2.39 million won set for the previous model, according to the sources.

The price of the Galaxy Z Flip3 is also expected to be around 22 percent lower than the predecessor.

Galaxy Z Fold3 might come with support for the S Pen Pro.

A recent report said that the Galaxy Z Fold 3 will feature an under-display camera. Its next clamshell foldable Galaxy Z Flip3 is expected to have a bigger outer display.

The Galaxy Z Flip 3 is expected to feature a larger external display of 1.83 inches. It has a dual-camera system, which reportedly includes a 12MP main snapper and a 12MP ultrawide snapper.

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Verizon Communications will make Google’s Messages the default messaging app on all Android devices it sells starting next year, the U.S. wireless carrier said on Tuesday.

With that move, Verizon would join peers AT&T Inc and T-Mobile US Inc in propping up competition to Apple Inc’s iMessage service.

Alphabet Inc-owned Google’s Messages comes with features similar to those in iMessage, using Rich Communication Services (RCS) technology to replace SMS-based texts.

Apple’s iMessage is limited to users who use the company’s devices, and the iPhone maker has not yet indicated any plans to extend the feature to Android users.

With RCS, users can send and receive high-quality photos and videos, chat over WiFi or cellular data and know when messages were read, among other features.

Earlier this year, AT&T and T-Mobile announced they would make Google’s messaging app as the default one on all their Android devices.

“Customers using Verizon’s Message+ app will also get full access to RCS capabilities by the end of the year,” Verizon said in a statement.

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Chinese technology company Xiaomi on Tuesday launched in India its first 5G smartphone under the Redmi branding. Named the Redmi Note 10T 5G, the smartphone will be available online on Mi online store and Amazon, and offline at the Mi Home and Mi Studio stores from July 26. The smartphone will also be available at retail stores soon. The Redmi Note 10T 5G will be available in 4GB+64GB and 6GB+128GB variants priced at Rs 13,999 and Rs 15,999, respectively.

As for the specifications, the Redmi Note 10T 5G sports a 6.5-inch screen of 90Hz refresh rate. The smartphone boasts a smart 360-degree light sensor, which helps the screen in automatically adjusting the brightness based on ambient light conditions. Part of the Redmi Note 10 series, the Redmi Note 10T 5G features the Xiaomi’s Evol design language with Gorilla Glass Protection on the screen.

This smartphone is splash resistant — P2i coating. It is touted by the company to have corrosion proof ports and rubberised seals.

As for the imaging, the Redmi Note 10T 5G sports a triple-camera array on the back. It has a 48-megapixel primary sensor, paired with 2MP macro sensor and a 2MP depth sensor. The optics are complemented with bouquet of in-camera modes such as night mode, slowmo, colour focus, pro colour, etc.

Powering the smartphone is the MediaTek Dimensity 700 system-on-chip, paired with up to 6GB RAM and 128GB on-board storage (UFS 2.2). The Redmi Note 10T 5G packs a 5000 mAh battery, supported by a 22.5W in-box charger. The charging capacity is, however, capped at 18W.

The Redmi Note 10T 5G will be available in metallic blue, mint green, chromium white, and graphite black colours.

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