PVR Limited, India’s largest cinema exhibition company, and e-sports and gaming company NODWIN Gaming announced a new partnership for India’s first in-cinema esports live tournaments together, beginning with Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI), the version of PUBG exclusively for India.

The pilot will begin with the popular game and going forward would include games from different genres. Gamers and gaming enthusiasts across the country will be able to participate in online esports cups and in-cinema tournaments with separate prize pools for each city.

This initiative is expected to fast track esports entertainment’s growth trajectory in India by combining the appeal of esports gaming with the magic of big screen experience.

Esports has a growing market in India. According to research from EY in August, the esports market size in India was Rs 300 crore in FY2021 and it expects it to reach Rs 1,100 crore by FY2025.

However, the sport has a much larger economic impact: we expect it to generate economic value of around Rs 10,000 crore between now and FY25. The consultancy expects 1.5 million players, 85 million viewers, and over 20 broadcasters and several brands, organizers and publishers to collectively define the esports market in India by FY2025.

The quarter-final, semi-final and finals of the cups, in each participating city, will be broadcasted in select PVR Cinemas, along with live streams on various digital platforms, including NODWIN Facebook and Youtube pages, PVR’s website and mobile app.

The tickets will be priced at Rs 150-200 initially. ““Our purpose at PVR is to gather, grow and entertain communities. With us becoming a part of the Indian esports ecosystem, we have the opportunity to serve our purpose by giving PVR communities another entertaining way to gather on our esports platform. NODWIN team has a relentless passion for gaming, we are delighted to be partnering with them on this initiative,” said Kamal Gianchandani, Chief of Strategy, PVR Limited in a statement.

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There is a general progression in prices for phone brands. Most companies start at a cheaper note to attract buyers, and then they graduate to higher prices as time passes and ultimately end up asking customers in thousands for their flagship products. OnePlus has followed this strategy brilliantly and created a niche for itself. It has also prodded the likes of Xiaomi to test the waters in the premium market. But while moving up the ladder, OnePlus and others realised that there was a large mid-price segment that needed companies to cater to its demands. And, for this segment of entry-level gamers and buyers to graduate from low-cost phones, a bit of everything was required.

All brands are catering to this market and the competition is hotting up. Realme, which is going gung-ho in this segment with its GT series, has launched a new series to compete with the likes of the OnePlus Nord and Pixel 4a. The master edition is unique as it offers a bit of everything, but will that appeal to phone buyers? Let’s find out.

Design

Samsung’s camera placement has found a buying among most mobile phone makers, but then most smartphones nowadays look the same from afar. The GT Master Edition (ME) is no exception. The phone has round edges and is nearly bezel-less. There is a power button on the right side and two volume buttons on the left, which are placed a bit low making one-handed operation a bit difficult at times. The punch-hole camera is on the left side instead of the middle and, quite frankly, looks better there than in the middle. The phone comes with a headphone jack and a USB-C type port. The back is where the real change is visible. The master edition comes with a nice plastic leathery feel, which gives the phone a unique look and has a good grip.

Screen and speakers

The screen is one of the better features in this phone. Given the 120hz display and high brightness, the screen looks amazing at all points of time. Although I would like it to be less reflective, the screen performance is good overall. The fingerprint scanner works very well and is quick to respond. One of the criticisms of in-screen fingerprint readers has been slow speed, but Realme responds pretty quickly to the touch. The speakers, however, are a disappointment. The sound is not loud enough and most of the times unidirectional. In a gaming phone, one expects more and multidimensional sound for an immersive experience. Most of the times, the clarity is also missing which makes the screen redundant. A good screen needs to be complemented by good speakers.

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Buyers of Apple’s new iPhone 13 face longer-than-expected delivery times because of a wave of Covid-19 infections in Vietnam, where components for the device’s new camera module are assembled, Nikkei Asia said.

The disruption, which could ease as soon as mid-October, is linked to a constriction in supplies of modules for the phone’s four models, as a significant number of components are assembled in Vietnam, it said, citing people familiar with the matter.

Several users and Apple’s partners, such as Verizon Communications Inc and Best Buy, have highlighted delays after pre-ordering began in September due to a shortage of supply and high demand, with analysts warning of one of the longest waiting times for the phone in recent years.

Apple relies on more than a dozen factories that manufacture components in Vietnam, which has been grappling with a rise in infections since April, mostly in its business hub Ho Chi Minh City and neighbouring industrial provinces.

Google cites Apple in EU court defence

Payments to phone makers to pre-install only Google Search on their devices were not aimed at preventing competition but were necessary for Android to seize market share from Apple, Google told Europe’s second-top court on Wednesday. Google was addressing the General Court on the third day of a week-long hearing as it tries to get judges to dismiss a record ^4.3-billion ($3.7 billion) EU antitrust fine and a European Commission order to loosen its search engine grip on Android devices.

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The 140 countries attempting to conclude years of negotiations to overhaul global tax rules for an increasingly digitized economy are racing to resolve key details against a ticking clock.

With just over a week until an Oct. 8 meeting of all the governments involved, negotiators are still wrestling over parameters of setting a global minimum corporate tax and sharing the spoils from levies on tech giants like Facebook Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google, according to people familiar with the matter.

They are also trying to work out how the global deal will coordinate countries on halting new unilateral digital taxes and unwinding existing measures — a hot-button issue for governments seeking to protect revenues, and for the U.S., which sees such levies as discriminatory against its firms.

Hanging over the talks is uncertainty over whether the U.S. could actually make good on any kind of agreement after a leading Republican senator, Patrick Toomey, said this week that Congress probably would block ratification.

Taken together, the hurdles threaten the goal of the Biden administration and the Group of 20 advanced economies to end a revenue-eroding race to the bottom of offering ever-lower taxes to lure business investment. The changes to global levies are a key piece of Biden tax proposals to help pay for trillions of dollars in social spending.

And more broadly, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which is attempting to broker a deal, has warned failure would lead to a cocktail of unilateral digital levies and trade and tax disputes that could strip more than 1% off global economic output annually.

In the run-up to the Oct. 8 meeting of all the countries involved, Group of Seven finance ministers, who have shaped the talks at key moments, met Wednesday on a conference call. The U.K., which currently chairs the group, said there was “a common understanding” on some important issues and a commitment to implementation. But nations stopped short of specifying positions on the headline numbers that will shape the deal.

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The Jabra Evolve2 30 headphones are primarily for office or work-from-home purposes, but they go beyond that, too. I had the headphones for review and after about a month’s usage, here’s what I can say about them:

Priced modestly at Rs 12,149, the Jabra Evolve2 30 headset comes with two-microphone call technology for voice calls and online meetings. It also has 28mm drivers and an ‘advanced digital chipset’ for improved audio quality for both calls and playback.

The on-ear headphones have oval memory foam ear cushions with the angled earcup design and a single-sided busy light that turns on automatically when you’re on a call.

The earpads are not just highly soft and comfortable, they provide a notable degree of passive noise isolation, too.

Both the headband and slider of the Evolve2 30 are made using stainless steel, so a bit of sturdiness is there.

The right earcup has the boom mic and on-ear controls. There are three buttons for volume/track navigation and playback, and there’s a single mic mute button.

The buttons are highly responsive and work seamlessly to skip and pause audio. An outer panel has a button placed subtly to answer or end calls, or open Microsoft Teams notifications.

These are corded headphones (USB-A cable) so there is no support for Bluetooth, but at this price, there is little to complain about.

When it comes to performance, the headset is precisely for office calls and virtual meetings, however, you can use it beyond that well as the sound output is rich and clear, and you get stereo audio performance on top of that.

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Vivo today launched its X70 series in India featuring ZEISS T coating and Ultra-Sensing Gimbal Camera. The X70 lineup consists of two smartphones — X70 Pro and X70 Pro+. The Vivo X70 series will go on sale starting October 7, though pre-bookings will open from today.

The X70 series is co-engineered with ZEISS for imaging, and on top of that the line-up has certified compliance to ZEISS T* Coating, which guarantees imaging brilliance by enhancing light transmissions and reducing unnoteworthy image artifacts, the company said.

Vivo X70 Pro+: Specifications

Vivo X70 Pro+ features a 6.78-inch UHD+ (1,440×3,200 pixels) AMOLED display with 120Hz dynamic refresh rate.

The smartphone is powered by the Snapdragon 888+ processor and the device comes in 12GB RAM + 256GB storage variant only.

It features a 50MP primary lens with Gimbal stabilisation technology, a 48MP wide-angle camera, 12MP portrait camera, and an 8MP periscope camera. The periscope camera offers 5x optical zoom, 60x superzoom and also supports OIS.

What’s noteworthy is the vivo X70 Pro+ comes with the company’s V1 imaging chip for camera and gaming performance.

The device comes with a 4500mAh battery with 55W fast charging support.

Vivo X70 Pro: Specifications

The X70 Pro features a 6.56-inch Full HD+ curved display (2376 x 1080) with a 120 Hz refresh rate.

The X70 Pro is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 1200 processor and comes in three storage variant.

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Homegrown fitness accessory maker Noise recently launched a smartwatch called ColorFit Ultra, a feature-heavy budget smartwatch with impressive on-paper specifications.

Priced at Rs 4,499, Noise ColorFit Ultra looks like a promising entry in the cluttered budget smartwatch market. I used the device for a little over a month to see how it stacks up against other budget wearables, here’s my review:

Noise ColorFit Ultra: build and design

The Noise ColorFit Ultra comes with a 1.75-inch TruView colour display with 320×385 pixel resolution. The display is large and crisp with punchy colours.

The display is good but the touch response lags at times. However, it’s still one of the best displays we have seen in this price range.

While I had the blue unit, the watch also comes in white and black colour options. What I really liked is the extra Nylon strap you get in the package. I quickly removed the silicone straps as it gets too humid during monsoons and sweat adds to irritation, so, Nylon strap is a better option any day in such weather.

There is a solitary physical home button on the right edge that’s easy to click. Made of aluminium alloy, ColorFit Ultra looks and feels premium. All the sensors and the charging pin sit at the conventional rear position.

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Alphabet unit Google on Tuesday said deals with Android phone makers that landed it a record 4.3-billion-euro ($5 billion) antitrust fine boosted competition and rejected EU charges they were a carrot-and-stick tactic that stifled rivals.

Google was addressing the second day of a week-long hearing as it tries to get Europe’s second-highest court to annul the fine and a European Commission order to make it loosen its search engine grip on Android devices.

Lawyers for Google and the EU competition executive clashed over the company’s Mobile Application Distribution Agreements (MADAs) that require phone makers (OEMs) to pre-install the Google Search app and Chrome browser app in return for licensing Google Play for free.

“This licensing model is what attracted OEMs to the Android platform, and what enabled those OEMs to offer a consistent and high-quality user experience at the lowest possible price,” Google’s lawyer Alfonso Lamadrid told the General Court.

“People use Google because they choose to, not because they’re forced to,” he said.

Commission lawyer Carlos Urraca Caviedes rejected the argument, calling the deals and other restrictions Google’s carrot-and-stick policy towards phone makers.

“These helped Google ensured its competitors would not achieve critical mass to challenge its dominance,” he told the court.

He also said such deals were unnecessary in view of the market power of Google, the world’s most popular internet search engine, and its significant number of users.

Urraca Caviedes said what Google did “goes beyond what is necessary to develop and maintain the Android platform”.

A verdict may come next year. The case is T-604/18 Google vs European Commission.

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Apple is reportedly planning to start the mass production of an upcoming redesigned MacBook Air featuring powerful Apple silicon processor in the third quarter of 2022.

The new MacBook Air will feature an entirely new design, including a mini-LED display and a more powerful Apple silicon processor, according to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, reports MacRumors.

It will feature a “thinner and lighter” enclosure, two USB 4 ports, and a MagSafe charging connector.

Rumours and leaks have proposed that the next MacBook Air could follow the 24-inch iMac in departing from the usual silver casing, in favour of a more colourful lineup.

The report also points out that the rumour is about the ‘M2’ specifically, in that it is different from the ‘M1X’ that is “reserved for the Pro Mac devices”.

In February, it was claimed the ‘M1X’ would be an iteration of the M1, using 12 CPU cores instead of 8 and 16 GPU cores instead of 7 or 8, as well as a higher thermal design point of 35W instead of 15W with the M1.

In April, a supply chain report pointed at Apple producing new MacBook Pro models for the second half of 2021.

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By Nivedita Balu and Jeffrey Dastin

(Reuters) – Amazon.com Inc on Tuesday announced a household, canine-like robot called Astro and a deal with Walt Disney Co to imbue its voice-controlled tech in resort hotels, striving to make its virtual aide Alexa a bigger part of consumers’ lives.

The home robot is designed to take up tasks such as home monitoring, setting up routines and reminders, and can play music and TV shows while rolling around the house.

The device, which has digital eyes on a rotating screen mounted on wheels, is available at an introductory invite-only price of $999.99 and regular price of $1,449.99.

Among other launches in its latest lineup were a smart thermostat, smart display Echo Show 15 and a new health-tracking band called Halo View.

The Echo Show 15 can be mounted on a wall and is powered with AZ2 Neural Edge, a processor that helps users personalize the screen.

In its push to appeal to the next generation of customers – kids – the company introduced Amazon Glow, a gadget for playing games, reading or drawing while on a video call.

In its partnership with Disney, it will launch an Alexa-powered voice assistant at Disney’s theme park hotels, along with a paid feature that lets customers interact with Disney characters at home.

The feature is expected to launch next year and will let users interact with Disney characters with the ‘Hey, Disney!’ voice command.

Amazon has launched a number of new gadgets every year, including sunglasses with voice control and an in-home drone, that have not become massive sellers.

Devices make up for a fraction of Amazon’s overall sales.

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