CMP Gadgets

Tag: smartphone

  • Motorola Edge 50 Neo: Features, Price, and Availability in India

    Motorola Edge 50 Neo was launched in India on Monday. The smartphone made its global debut in August, boasting features such as a 50-megapixel Sony LYTIA-700C camera sensor, a 3X telephoto camera, MIL-STD-810 Military Grade certification, and Moto AI – the company’s artificial intelligence (AI) suite. It also gets IP68 certification against dust and water ingress and 5 years of assured operating system (OS) upgrades. It joins the Moto Edge 50, Edge 50 Fusion, and Edge 50 Ultra in the company’s flagship smartphone lineup.

    Price in India starts at Rs. 23,999. It is available in a single 8GB RAM + 256GB storage configuration. The handset will be available for purchase during a Motorola live commerce sale for one hour on September 16 starting at 7 pm on Flipkart. Its open sale will commence on September 24 at 12 pm on the official Motorola India website, Flipkart and other leading retail stores.

    It is available in four Pantone-certified colorways: Nautical Blue, Poinciana, Lattè, and Grisaille – all with a vegan leather finish back.

  • OnePlus Open Apex Edition: Upgraded RAM and Storage, New Crimson Shadow Colorway

    OnePlus Open Apex Edition will launch in India and globally on August 7, the company announced on Thursday. With its debut, OnePlus will introduce a new colourway for the smartphone. However, the changes may not be just cosmetic, with a listing on the official website suggesting this new edition could also get upgrades in terms of RAM and storage. Notably, OnePlus Open was introduced in India in October 2023 in a single 16GB RAM+512GB storage configuration.

    The OnePlus Open Apex Edition will come in a new colorway called Crimson Shadow. As the name suggests, it may be a shade of crimson in the vegan leather style. The company says this colorway is inspired by its signature “Never Settle” red. This new option is expected to join the existing colorways of the OnePlus Open, which are Emerald Dusk and Voyager Black.

  • Google Update

    Google announced seven new Android features for applications such as Meet, Home, Messages and Wear OS on Thursday. One of the highlights of the latest Android feature drop is the ability to edit RCS messages up to 15 minutes after sending them. Unlike announcements made at Google I/O 2024 where several features were limited to Pixel smartphones, these features are expected to be available to Android devices across devices and regions, although some features may be limited based on the region a user lives in.

    RCS Message Editing

    In a blog post, Google announced that it is bringing a feature that lets users edit RCS messages up to 15 minutes after sending them. This feature is said to be available via Google Messages – the company’s text messaging app.

    To edit a message, tap and hold on a sent RCS message and a new edit icon will be displayed on the top banner. Users can tap on the icon to modify their message, as long as it was sent within the last 15 minutes, according to the company.

    Instant Hotspot and Device Switching

    Google says that it will soon bring an ‘instant hotspot’ feature that will enable users to connect a tablet or a Chromebook to an Android smartphone’s hotspot without needing to type in the password. It is also bringing an update to Cross-Device Services that will let users switch between devices such as smartphones, web browsers or tablets for video calls.

    Google claims that Android smartphones can now also be used as digital car keys with lock/unlock, vehicle start functionalities. The feature has been rolled out with support for select MINI models and will be expanded to Mercedes-Benz and Polestar vehicles soon.

    Furthermore, the company says users can now control their smart devices using the Google Home Favorites widget on Android smartphones and the Google Home Favorites tile and complication on WearOS-powered smartwatches.

    Google Wallet users using WearOS-powered smartwatches in the US and Germany can now make payments with PayPal, according to the company. Lastly, it says new Emoji Kitchen sticker combinations will be rolling out soon, which can be shared as stickers by entering two emoji via Gboard.

  • Samsung Galaxy AI

    Samsung unveiled its Galaxy AI suite in January with the Galaxy S24 series. The South Korean brand’s on-device and cloud-based AI model has since made its way to previous-generation flagship smartphones and tablets in the last few months. Now, Samsung is adding Galaxy AI to its wearables. The Galaxy AI features will be added to the Samsung Health app and Galaxy Watches later this year. It will bring several features to monitor and analyse health metrics.

    On May 29, Samsung announced that it is bringing Galaxy AI features to its smartwatches through its Wear OS-based One UI 6 Watch software later this year. A limited number of Galaxy Watches will get the beta version in June. Users of Galaxy Watch 6, Galaxy Watch 6 Classic, Galaxy Watch 5, Galaxy Watch 5 Pro, Galaxy Watch 4, and Galaxy Watch 4 Classic in the US and Canada will be able to test out Galaxy AI features via the Samsung Members app next month.

  • Google Pixel 8a

    Google Pixel 8a is expected to make its debut next month at the company’s annual Google I/O conference that begins on May 14. While the company is yet to announce plans to launch a new handset, details of the purported Pixel 8a have been spotted online several times over the past few months. With a few weeks to go before its anticipated debut, a promotional video showing off the handset’s AI features has been leaked. Meanwhile, other Pixel exclusive features and software support for the upcoming Pixel 8a has also surfaced online.

    Tipster Steve Hemmerstoffer (X: @OnLeaks) leaked a promo video for the Pixel 8a in collaboration with MySmartPrice that shows several Pixel-exclusive features expected to arrive on the upcoming smartphone. The video shows the Pixel 8a will include Google’s Best Take feature that swaps out faces from multiple group photos or burst photos to ‘replace’ faces with eyes closed or unwanted expressions.

    Circle to Search — another feature currently available on select Pixel and Samsung Galaxy smartphones — will also be available on the Pixel 8a, according to the leaked video that also suggests the smartphone will feature Google’s Audio Magic Eraser feature that is designed to remove unwanted background sounds from recorded videos using artificial intelligence (AI). Live translation will for voice calls will also be supported on the Pixel 8a.