Exhibiting its 5G prowess, Bharti Airtel on Thursday announced that it had successfully conducted a live demonstration of 5G service over a commercial network in Hyderabad city.

The company said the full impact of the 5G experience would be available to Airtel customers when adequate spectrum is available and government approvals received.

Gopal Vittal, managing director and chief executive officer of Bharti Airtel, said, “Every one of our investments is future proofed as this game-changing test in Hyderabad proves. With Airtel being the first operator to demonstrate this capability, we have shown again that we have always been the first in India to pioneer new technologies in our quest for empowering Indians everywhere.”

The demonstration in Hyderabad was conducted over an existing liberalised spectrum in the 1800 megahertz (MHz) band.

ALSO READ: Bharti Airtel tops Nov user additions, increases base to 335 mn: Trai data

Vittal said India has the potential to become a global hub for 5G innovation and this would require the coming together of the ecosystem — applications, devices, and network innovation. He added that Airtel was “more than ready” to do its bit.

The company seamlessly operated 5G and 4G concurrently within the same spectrum block.

Though Airtel has started testing 5G services, the spectrum for this has been kept out of the auctions proposed to be held in March.

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Airtel is now a 5G-ready network and the telecom operator is waiting for adequate spectrum allocation to rollout 5G services in the country, said Gopal Vittal, MD & CEO, Bharti Airtel on Thursday. Recently, the company demonstrated live 5G over a commercial network in Hyderabad city and said that its network is 5G ready. Airtel did this over its existing liberalised spectrum in the 1800 MHz band through the Non Stand Alone  network technology. Using the dynamic spectrum sharing, Airtel operated 5G and 4G concurrently within the same spectrum block.

“I am very proud of our engineers who have worked tirelessly to showcase this incredible capability in Tech City, Hyderabad today. Every one of our investments is future proofed as this game changing test in Hyderabad proves. With Airtel being the first operator to demonstrate this capability, we have shown again that we have always been the first in India to pioneer new technologies in our quest for empowering Indians everywhere,” said Gopal Vittal.

ALSO READ: Space dept, defence min agree to free band worth Rs 60k cr for 5G services

Airtel said it is capable of delivering 10x speeds, 10x latency and 100x concurrency when compared to existing technologies. In the Hyderabad demonstration, users were able to download a full length movie in a matter of seconds on a 5G phone. This demonstration has underlined the company’s technology capabilities.

The full impact of the 5G experience, however, will be available to our customers, when adequate spectrum is available and government approvals received, Airtel said.

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Chinese social media firm Bytedance, which owns Tiktok and Helo apps, has announced the closure of its India business following continued restrictions on its services in the country.

Tiktok’s global interim head Vanessa Pappas and vice president for global business solutions Blake Chandlee in a joint email to employees have communicated the decision of the company that it is reducing team size and the decision will impact all employees in India.

The executives expressed uncertainty on the company’s comeback to India but expressed hope to do so in times to come.

“While we don’t know when we will make a comeback in India, we are confident in our resilience, and desire to do so in times to come,” the email said.

According to a source at Bytedance, the company held a town hall on Wednesday where it communicated about the closure of India business.

When contacted Tiktok spokesperson said the company has worked steadfastly to comply with the government of India order issued on June 29, 2020 and continually strives to make its apps comply with local laws and regulations.

“It is therefore disappointing that in the ensuing seven months, despite our efforts we have not been given a clear direction on how and when our apps could be reinstated. It is deeply regretful that after supporting our over 2,000 employees in India for more than half a year, we have no choice but to scale back the size of our workforce.

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South Korean tech giant Samsung is reportedly working on a new chipset in the first half of this year with an aim to beat the performance of the Apple A14 Bionic.

Samsung launched its Exynos 2100 chipset with the latest Galaxy S21 series smartphones. Though the Samsung Exynos 2100 is a big improvement over the company’s Exynos 990, the chipset still lags behind when compared to the Apple A14 Bionic chipset that powers the Apple iPhone 12 lineup, reports GizmoChina.

While the Exynos 2100 matches the Snapdragon 888 in pure CPU-only tests, an earlier speed test shows that performance drops when the GPU is stressed.

That’s probably why Samsung seeks AMD’s expertise to optimize the next chipset’s performance and efficiency.

The Samsung Exynos chip will reportedly have the Cortex X1 Prime core, clocked at 2.9GHz, alongside Cortex A78 cores, which will be clocked at 2.8GHz and four small A55 cores clocked at 2.2 GHz.

Since the company is using the 5nm process, the chip’s power efficiency should be at par with what Qualcomm and Apple produce.

Budget News:  unionbudget2021-2022

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By Aditya Kalra

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – China’s ByteDance has decided to reduce the size of its India team and is unsure when the company will make a comeback in India, it said in an internal memo to employees on Wednesday.

India has decided to retain its ban on video app TikTok and 58 other Chinese apps after reviewing responses from the companies on issues such as compliance and privacy, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.

The apps were banned amid rising tensions between India and China following a border clash between the two nations last year.

“We initially hoped that this situation would be short-lived … we find that has not been the case,” ByteDance wrote in an internal memo to staff, seen by Reuters.

“We simply cannot responsibly stay fully staffed while our apps remain un-operational … we don’t know when we will make a comeback in India”

Budget News:  unionbudget2021-2022

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Sony is reportedly planning to launch a member of the premium ‘Compact’ line of phones in 2021 with a 5.5-inch Xperia model to compete with the iPhone 12 mini.

The new device is expected to feature dimensions of 140 x 68.9 x 8.9 mm (5.5 x 2.71 x 0.35 inches), making it just a bit bigger than the iPhone 12 mini (which measures 131.5 x 64.2 x 7.4 mm or 5.18 x 2.53 x 0.29 inches), reports The Verge.

The new Xperia Compact is also said to offer an 8MP selfie camera in a teardrop notch, a dual-camera setup with a 13MP main camera on the back.

A fingerprint sensor is embedded in the power button – similar to Touch ID on the latest iPad Air – and a 3.5mm mini-jack sits in the top of the phone for those who prefer wired headphones.

It may not be a flagship, but rather an entry-level device powered by Snapdragon 480 chipset.

The new device is expected to succeed the Xperia XZ2 Compact that was launched during MWC 2018. Back then, the Xperia Z Compact series was probably the only strong Android contender to pack flagship specs in a small size.

Budget News:  unionbudget2021-2022

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Amazon has rolled out a new feature called “hunches” that allows Alexa to proactively complete tasks around the house, such as turning off lights, based on your habits and frequent requests.

If the new proactive hunches are enabled, though, Alexa will skip asking for permission for a task and just do it, The Verge reported on Monday evening.

Alexa has been able to sense these habits and ask about them since 2018 — the company calls them acehunches” — but before this update, Alexa would ask permission before acting on something.

While proactive hunches seem like they could make Alexa a lot more useful, having granular controls over what Alexa can automatically act on will be important, the report said.

Along with new Alexa abilities, Amazon is also rolling out its Guard Plus security subscription service.

The service can alert you if Alexa picks up on certain types of sounds in your home and offers access to human agents who can call emergency services on your behalf.

Users can sign up for Guard Plus in the Alexa app, and it will cost $4.99 per month.

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On the occasion of Republic Day, Akshay Kumar launched the mobile action game ‘Fearless and United Guards (FAU-G).

Kumar took to Twitter and shared a short trailer of the game to announce its launch.

“Face the enemy. Fight for your country. Protect Our Flag. India’s most anticipated action game, Fearless and United Guards: FAU-G takes you to the frontlines and beyond! Start your mission today,” he tweeted along with the trailer.

The initial episode of the game is based in the Galwan Valley in Ladakh and the rest of the episodes will be set in other Indian battlegrounds.

The game is free to download and play while the users will have to pay for several premium features like skins of their avatars.

‘FAU-G’ was announced earlier in September last year when the Government of India banned the game ‘PUBG.

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The next killer smartphone app has arrived — and it offers the potential to transform how we communicate, share knowledge and even make new friends.

I am talking about voice-and-audio-based social networking startup Clubhouse. Its platform enables users to drop in and out of ephemeral chat rooms and take part in a range of gatherings, from small “water-cooler” type conversations to larger discussions featuring expert panels, often attended by thousands of listeners. Since its launch last March, Clubhouse has increasingly become a cultural phenomenon, attracting politicians, celebrities and experts from all walks of life. With its success and prominent backing, it may now be poised to upend the entire social media space.

Clubhouse’s latest figures reveal how quickly it is growing. During a weekly town hall event on Sunday, co-founder Paul Davison said the app’s weekly active user base had doubled to 2 million over the last couple of weeks. He also announced the startup had raised another investment round led by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, adding it now has more than 180 investors. While he didn’t offer any specifics, The Information reported on Friday that Clubhouse was getting interest at a $1 billion valuation. If true, that means the company’s value has risen by a factor of 10 since its earlier Series A round last May, also led by Andreessen Horowitz.

Something special is happening inside the Clubhouse community. Call it the power of the voice — and it’s what separates Clubhouse from other platforms. A short back-and-forth live conversation, with its nuance and tone, can build closer relationships more quickly than dozens of written posts and text messages sent through more established social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. Since I joined Clubhouse last summer, I met and became friends with professors, filmmakers, artists, engineers and more from places all over the world. It has been intoxicating listening to people’s life stories and absorbing their knowledge and experience, from learning how a streaming video executive greenlights projects to getting expert political analysis on the latest breaking news. It has easily become one of my favorite pastimes.

Budget News:  unionbudget2021-2022

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OnePlus on Monday launched a limited edition of its Buds Z in collaboration with Los Angeles-based artist and designer Steven Harrington, for Rs 3,699 in India.

“For our users who are looking for the right combination of great sound quality and aesthetic design, the OnePlus Buds Z Steven Harrington Edition will prove to be a valuable addition,” said Pete Lau, Founder, and CEO, OnePlus in a statement.

According to the company, the new OnePlus Buds Z Steven Harrington Edition features the artist’s signature stylized graffiti along with artistic caricatures and designs.

The limited-edition earphones have a two-tone purple and mint colour combo with a matching charging case.

Equipped with a dynamic 3D stereo powered by Dolby Atmos, these earphones construct a thoroughly immersive soundstage.

On a full charge, these limited-edition earphones provide an impressive 20 hours of playback time, while a quick 10-minute top-up provides three hours of vibrant audio.

It comes with three sizes of silicone ear tips to ensure a snug, stable and comfortable fit.

Budget News:  unionbudget2021-2022

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