Walmart-owned PhonePe, said that it will enable digital payments for over 25 million small merchants across India in the next one year. The Bengaluru-based firm will also onboard them on its PhonePe for Business app, offering them end-to-end control of the payment process including instant payment confirmations, receipts, and reconciliations.

The company plans to reach 5,500 talukas via its merchant acquisition team that will lead to over 10,000 jobs being created in semi-urban and rural areas.

“Kiranas and merchants across small villages and towns are striving to progress and prosper. We are really excited to partner with them in this journey and take digital payments to the last mile of India across every village and town,” said Vivek Lohcheb, vice president, offline business development, PhonePe. “This is also in line with our brand ethos of ‘’Karte Ja. Badhte Ja’’ which reflects the role played by PhonePe in India’s progress, helping bridge the digital divide while empowering merchant partners across Bharat.”

Read Complete Article

Samsung dropped to the second spot in the Southeast Asian smartphone market in the second quarter of the year, as Chinese brands expanded their presence with budget devices, a report said on Monday.

OPPO edged out Samsung to become the top vendor with a 20.3 per cent market share.

Samsung was the second-largest smartphone vendor in Southeast Asia with a market share of 19.5 per cent in the April-June period, according to industry tracker Counterpoint Research.

OPPO edged out Samsung to become the top vendor with a 20.3 per cent market share.

ALSO READ: OPPO F17 series set to launch in India on Sept 2: Know features, and more

Chinese phone makers took four of the top five spots. Vivo came in third with 17.9 per cent, followed by Xiaomi with 14 per cent and Realme with 12.8 per cent.

Samsung first gave up its top vendor position in the Southeast Asian market to OPPO in the fourth quarter of 2019.

Read Complete Article

The ongoing pandemic and work-from-home scenario has seen laptops flying off the shelves. The rising demand for notebooks led to several new players, including smartphone makers, foray into the laptop making business. Chinese smartphone brand Honor is the latest entrant in the market. The brand launched the MagicBook 15 in India recently. The notebook has 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, a hidden pop-up webcam, 2-in-1 fingerprint power button and a 65W fast charger.

Launched at Rs 42,990, the laptop with AMD Ryzen 5 3500U mobile processor and Radeon Vega 8 Graphics competes in sleek and lightweight category. It weighs 1.53 kg and is 16.9 mm thick, which makes it one of the lightest 15-inch laptops.

For working professionals and multi-taskers, it is a real good deal. The MagicBook 15 is packed with the AMD Ryzen 5 3500U mobile processor and houses Radeon Vega 8 Graphics for better performance.

The laptop is equipped with an ultra-fast PCIe NVMe SSD storage drive with reading speed five times faster than previous generation.

It comes pre-installed with Microsoft Windows 10 and a 1-month free Microsoft 365 Office trial package (which is now a usual offering with new laptops).

Read Complete Article

Chinese smartphone maker OPPO is gearing up to launch the OPPO F17 series in India on September 2. Successor to the OPPO F15 series, the OPPO F17 series will come in two models, the OPPO F17 Pro and its vanilla edition the OPPO F17. The smartphones will launch through an online event, which will livestream on company’s social media channels and YouTube. The livestream will start at 7 pm (IST).

With regard to changes, the OPPO F17 Pro and the OPPO F17 are set to bring several improvements over the predecessors. However, design seems to be one of the areas where the phones improve by leaps and bounds.

According to the OPPO F17 Pro listing page on the company’s official portal, the Pro edition will measure 7.48 mm thick and touted to be the slimmest smartphone of 2020.

Interestingly, the company also give away expected price in a disclaimer where it mentioned that the phone will be slimmest in under Rs 25,000 segment. Besides, the phone will be one of the lightest smartphones in its segment and is touted to weigh just 164 g.

Read Complete Article

Lifestyle accessories maker Fossil on Thursday announced to roll out a software update for its Gen5 smartwatch. The update is touted to improve user experience by bringing new utility tools, updated health tracker and battery optimisation features. The software update is now available for the company’s Gen5 (review) smartwatch in India. Here are the new features that comes with the update:Optimised activity tracker

The update brings new ‘Welness App’, which monitors heaalth and fitness related metrics in real time and optimises battery life by shifting power consumption off the main processor. It tracks the essential health readouts like heart rate, pace, distance, steps, calories and more.Sleep tracking

The is a new addition. The sleep tracking feature track sleep history, monitor restfulness and lets you set sleep goals. As for the battery optimisations, the Gen 5 supports quickly charge and features multiple battery profiles for varied usage conditions.

Read Complete Article

Sony has opened invite-only online registration for customers to be one of the first to pre-order the upcoming PlayStation 5 console directly from the company.

According to the company, there will be a “limited quantity of PS5 consoles available for pre-order” this holiday season.

The invitation programme is a chance for existing PlayStation customers to get their shot at being able to order the upcoming console.

“There will be a limited quantity of PS5 consoles available for pre-order, so we will be inviting some of our existing consumers to be one of the first to pre-order one from PlayStation,” the company said in a statement on Wednesday.

“Pre-order reservations will be taken on a first-come-first-serve basis, so once you get an invite via email, we encourage you to follow instructions and act fast,” he added.

Read Complete Article

Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi on Thursday launched in India the Redmi 9 smartphone. Second in the Redmi 9 series, the smartphone will be available in Carbon Black, Sporty Orange, Sky Blue colours at Xiaomi online portal, Amazon India, Mi Homes and Mi Studios from August 31. The phone will be available in 64GB and 128GB internal storage variants, both with 4GB RAM, priced at Rs 8,999 and Rs 9,999.

“With each Redmi device, we are moving closer to making sure technology is available for everyone. The Redmi 8 series has shipped nearly 25 million units globally, which is a testimony to the trust that our consumers have shown in us. With Redmi 9 we want to build upon the legacy of the number series,” said Sneha Tainwala, Redmi India Lead.ALSO READ: Xiaomi profit grows in second-quarter, boosted by premium phone sales

The Redmi 9 features Xiaomi’s Aura Iconic Design. It sports a 6.35-inch IPS HD+ display of a 20:9 aspect ratio. The display is TÜV Rheinland certified for eye-care protection. The Redmi 9’s back sports a textured design and features a fingerprint sensor. Like its predecessors, the Redmi 9 supports dual 4G standby SIM cards and a dedicated microSD card slot. It has a 3.5mm headphone jack, too.

To help students, journalists and researchers, Microsoft has added an audio transcription feature into Word for the web. Available as part of Microsoft 365 account, the feature is touted to save time and effort with transcription and voice commands in Word.

The Microsoft 365 users can record conversations directly in Word for the web and transcribe them automatically. The transcribe feature will also be available Office mobile by the end of the year, the company announced on Tuesday.

Currently, there is a five-hour limit per month for uploaded recordings and each uploaded recording is limited to 200MB.

Transcribe detects different speakers so after you finish recording, you can easily follow the flow of the transcript.

After the conversation, one can revisit parts of the recording by playing back the time-stamped audio and can even edit the transcript if see something amiss.

Taiwanese electronics maker Asus is set to unveil its Zenfone 7 series smartphones on Wednesday at 11:30 am (IST) in its home country. The series is expected to bring at least two smartphones; a pro model and its vanilla edition. Successor to the Zenfone 6 (Asuz 6z review), the phones are expected to bring seasonal upgrades with regard to design, display, imaging, performance and battery.

Asus Zenfone 7 series specifications (expected)

Asus has not officially confirmed anything related to the Zenfone 7 series but the smartphones’ launch teasers reveal some information regarding its design and expected features. Based on teasers, it is safe to say that the phones would look similar to yesteryear Zenfone offering with flip camera module and distraction free display. As for the changes, the camera module shows triple array set-up, which might be similar to the ROG Phone 3 (review).

If true, the Zenfone 7 series would bring a 64-megapixel primary sensor (Sony IMX686) of an f/1.8 aperture, a 13MP ultra-wide sensor of an f/2.4 aperture and 125-degree field of view, and a 5MP macro sensor of an f/2.0 aperture. With the flip camera module, the phones will be able to use all its available optics for selfies.

Wearables brand Fitbit has introduced an advanced smartwatch called the Fitbit Sense, which comes with electrodermal activity (EDA) to measure daily stress and comes with a heart rate tracker, electrocardiogram (ECG) monitor and skin temperature sensors.

The company also introduced Versa 3 and Inspire 2 wearables. All three wearables will be available globally starting late September and will arrive in India in the festive season, according to the company.

Fitbit Sense is priced at Rs 34,999 while the Fitbit Versa will cost Rs 26,499. The Fitbit Inspire 2 fitness band is priced at Rs 10,999.

“Our new products and services are our most innovative yet, coupling our most advanced sensor technology and algorithms to unlock more information about our bodies and our health so you can be in control,” said James Park, co-founder and CEO, Fitbit.

The new EDA sensor on Fitbit Sense measures electrodermal activity responses.