Amazon overtakes Microsoft to become third most valuable company in the world

With a market cap of $702.5 billion, Amazon has become the third most valuable company in the world, racing past Microsoft, which has a market cap of $699.2 billion. According to a report in The New York Post, Amazon stock surged 2.6 per cent on Wednesday, taking the company’s market cap ahead of Microsoft for the first time.

Apple tops the list with $849.2 billion market cap, followed by Google’s parent company Alphabet at $745.1 billion. With $521.5 billion market cap, Facebook is at the fifth spot.

    

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is now the world’s richest man, not just at present, but of all time. Both Bloomberg and Forbes have put Bezos on top of their billionaire lists. Bloomberg said Bezos’ net worth reached $106 billion while Forbes put it at $105 billion, Xinhua news agency reported.

The previous record was held by Microsoft founder Bill Gates with $100 billion in 1999. The majority of Bezos’ net worth comes from the 78.9 million shares of Amazon stock he owns.

Nokia 6 4GB RAM variant launched in India for Rs 16,999

“The new Nokia 6 variant comes with 4GB RAM and 64GB built-in storage”

HMD Global on Thursday launched the 4GB RAM variant of Nokia 6 (review) in India. Apart from the increased memory, the new variant of the smartphone comes with 64GB built-in storage, compared with 32GB inbuilt storage on the original model. The new variant has been launched by the company in just a Matte Black colour.

Notably, this is a new variant of last year’s smartphone and should not be confused with the Nokia 6 (2018), which comes with a Snapdragon 630 SoC, and was launched by the Finnish company in January this year. 

Ajey Mehta, vice president at HMD Global India was quoted as saying in the release, “The Nokia 6 has emerged as the one of our most successful phones receiving plaudits for its design, durability and functionality from its countless fans. To take the Nokia 6 experience to the next level, we are now introducing an updated version of this great phone- one with 4GB of RAM.”

Apart from the memory and the storage, the rest of the specifications on the Nokia 6 are same as the original variant. This means, the handset packs a 5.5-inch full-HD (1,920 x 1,080 pixel) IPS LCD display with a pixel density of 403ppi. The Nokia 6 is powered by a Snapdragon 430 processor and runs Android 7.1.1 Nougat out-of-the-box.

In terms of optics, the handset comes with a 16-megapixel primary rear camera with PDAF, dual-tone flash, and f/2.0 aperture. At the front, we have an 8-megapixel sensor. The Nokia 6 (2017) houses a 3,000mAh battery and the connectivity options offered by the handset include 4G VoLTE connectivity, micro-USB (USB 2.0), USB OTG, a 3.5mm audio jack, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.1, NFC, FM, and GPS/AGPS+GLONASS+BDS. The sensors on board include an ambient light sensor, proximity sensor, accelerometer, e-compass, gyroscope, hall sensor and a fingerprint Sensor.

The 4GB RAM variant of the Nokia 6 will be made exclusively available through Flipkart from February 20th at Rs 16,999. There is an additional launch offer of an extra Rs 2,000 off on exchange of your old smartphone phone as well.

Moto Z2 Force with 5.5-inch ShatterShield display and TurboPower Pack launched for Rs 34,999

“The Moto Z2 Force comes with bundled with a TurboPower Pack mod worth Rs 5,999”

Recently, the Lenovo-owned Motorola sent out media invites for the launch of the Moto Z2 Force in India. Now, the brand has gone ahead and released the device in the country today. Notably, the smartphone comes to the country a whole year after its launch in the US. In India, Motorola is offering a free Moto TurboPower Pack mod with the device, which connects to it using the 16-pin magnetic connector at the back. The TurboPower Pack adds an extra 3,490mAh battery to the device, and costs Rs 5,999 when sold separately. 

The Moto Z2 Force comes with a 5.5-inch quad HD display that flaunts Motorola’s proprietary ShatterShield panel. Motorola claims that the display is designed to not crack or shatter, but can pick up scratches and cosmetic damages. However, the five-layer design comes with a replaceable exterior “lens” that can be swapped out if it gets scratched. The device flaunts an all-metal unibody chassis with a water repellent nano-coating. For security, there is a fingerprint scanner on the front

On to the core specs of the device, it is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor, which has been mated to 6GB of RAM and 64GB of expandable storage. In the imaging department, you get a dual camera module on the rear panel consisting of a pair of 12-megapixel shooters in an RGB + monochrome setup. For selfies and video calling, there is a 5-megapixel shooter on the front, which has been accompanied by an LED flash. Out of the box, the device runs stock Android 8.0 Oreo with Moto Actions baked in. It is fuelled by a 2,730mAh battery that supports Turbo Charging. The battery strength goes up to 6,220mAh when the PowerPack mod is attached.

Motorola is offering the handset in a single black hue. It is priced at Rs 34,999, and will go on sale exclusively via Flipkart at midnight tonight. It will also be available to purchase offline at Moto Hubs around the country.

Samsung teases Galaxy S9’s slow-mo camera and 3D emoji capabilities in promo videos

“The Samsung Galaxy S9 duo are expected to come with a new f/1.5 lens with variable aperture”

A number of leaks and reports in the past have suggested that the Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ smartphones will offer impressive camera capabilities. They are expected to utilise an improved camera sensor compared to their predecessors. Now, the South Korean tech giant has released a few promotional videos for the Samsung Galaxy S9 duo, which corroborate earlier leaks regarding the advanced camera capabilities of the upcoming Samsung flagships.

One of the Samsung Galaxy S9 promotional videos is all about speed, but it slows down rapidly towards the end of the video when the number “9” appears. This clearly indicates that the phones will be able to offer slow-motion video recording. The reports suggest that the Galaxy S9 duo will be able to record HD video at 480fps, and will feature motion-detected super slow-mo capture.

The second teaser video is shot in the dark, but when the “9” appears at the end of the video, the shot brightens considerably. This suggests that the Galaxy S9 duo will be able to capture photos and videos with much more detail in low-light conditions as well. The company is expected to achieve this with a new f/1.5 lens that will feature a variable aperture.

Finally, coming to the third teaser video, it suggests that the Samsung Galaxy S9 duo will come with 3D emojis like the iPhone X. Earlier reports had suggested that a depth-sensing feature will allow you to add stickers or images to photos that will be captured with dual cameras on the Galaxy S9+. The phones are expected to offer facial recognition capabilities as well.

Samsung is all set to unveil the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ at the upcoming MWC 2018 in Barcelona, Spain. They are expected to launch as the world’s first smartphones to be powered by Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 845 processor. We will be on the floor at MWC to bring you all the official details in the coming days, so stay tuned for regular updates.

Xiaomi India’s 3rd anniversary sale scheduled for July 20th and 21st

“The Xiaomi Mi Max 2 will also go on sale for the first time on July 20th”

On the sidelines of the launch of the Mi Max 2 (China unit review) phablet, Xiaomi India has announced its 3rd anniversary sale in the country. During the sale, on July 20th and 21st, the brand will be offering its accessories at discounted prices, and will be hosting Re. 1 flash sales of several devices. The Mi Max 2 will also go on sale in India for the first time on July 20th, before being available via other channels on July 27th.

Discounts on Xiaomi accessories during Mi 3rd anniversary sale:

• Mi Capsule Earphones – Rs 899 (Rs 100 off)
• Mi Headphones Comfort – Rs 2,699 (Rs 300 off)
• Mi In-Ear Headphones Pro HD – Rs 1,799 (Rs 200 off)
• Mi In-Ear Headphones Basic – Rs 549 (Rs 50 off)
• Mi VR Play – Rs 699 (Rs 300 off)
• Mi Selfie Stick – Rs 599 (Rs 100 off)
• Mi Air Purifier Bundle – Rs 10,998 (Rs 1,500 off)
• Mi Wi-Fi Repeater 2 – Rs 799 (Rs 200 off)
• Mi Protect – Rs 100 off

During the sale, there will be discount coupons up to Rs 500 up for grabs on Xiaomi accessories. Users will also be able to avail Rs 2,000 on Goibibo and five percent cashback of up to Rs 500 on minimum transactions of Rs 8,000. More details on the offers are available here. 

Qualcomm launches Snapdragon X24, its first 2Gbps LTE modem

“Snapdragon X24 has been claimed to be the first chip in the market to have been built on the 7nm FinFET process”

Qualcomm on Wednesday unveiled its new LTE modem, called the Snapdragon X24, which makes it possible for devices to achieve maximum download speeds of up to 2Gbps. The company says that its new entry is “the world’s first” Category 20 LTE modem and also the first announced chip that has been built using the 7nm FinFET process.

The chipmaker says that its new Gigabit solution features the most advanced cellular features of any commercially available 4G LTE modem to date, and also strengthens the foundation for the future 5G NR multimode devices and networks.

“As the world’s first commercially announced Category 20 LTE modem supporting download speeds up to 2 Gbps, the Snapdragon X24 LTE modem delivers 2x the speed of the Company’s first generation Gigabit LTE modem,” Qualcomm said in its release. “The Snapdragon X24 supports up to 7x carrier aggregation in the downlink, as well as 4×4 MIMO on up to five aggregated LTE carriers – both mobile industry firsts – for a total of up to 20 concurrent spatial LTE streams,” it added.

Notably, Snapdragon X24 brings along support for Full Dimension Multi-Input Multi-Output (FD-MIMO), a Massive MIMO technology that is “foundational” to future 5G NR networks, as per the company. Qualcomm says that its new 2Gbps LTE modem allows for fiber-like Internet speeds delivered wirelessly. With the use of this chip, Qualcomm says that the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) can possibly offer consumers immersive 360-degree videos, connected cloud computing, rich entertainment, and instant apps.

Qualcomm will be showcasing the Snapdragon X24 at MWC in Barcelona later this month in conjunction with Ericsson, Telstra and NETGEAR.