Every cricket lover can feel the thrill
when bowlers uproot the stumps with their vicious Yorkers. The bails come off, and stumps and bails start glowing. The umpire raises his hand, the batsman is
declared out, and he has to walk back to the pavilion. Sounds good?
However, there are certain moments, like run-outs, when it is crucial to know at what moment the bails have been
dislodged. During close calls, the decision of batsman being out or not out
depends on that. Earlier, the moment of dislodging of bails was decided by the
judgment of umpires and that might have resulted in speculations over the
decision. But not anymore.
This blog will give you a technical understanding of what is going on behind this wonderful technique.
Bronte EcKermann of Zing International came
up with a set of stumps and bails which start glowing the moment bails are
entirely dislodged from the stumps. This makes it easy for the umpires to
take calls in run-out decisions. It is claimed that the sensors react within
1/1000th of a second after they have been dislodged,, thus eliminating
chances of any error in judgment.
The circuit of bails contains one light
sensor at each end and a LED circuit inside it. When they are placed over the
stumps, the light sensor cannot get any light, and hence the LED circuit is incomplete.
The moment they are entirely dislodged, the sensors get light, LED circuit
gets completed, and the bails start glowing.
A similar kind of circuit is provided in
the stumps as well, but with the light sensor at only one end. Whenever the bails
are taken off, the light falls on the sensor and stumps the light up.
While the Zing wickets look pretty elegant
and help in better decision-making, they are pretty costly. Each system of
wickets and bails used in international games costs about Rs. 25 lakhs. So no
more taking home stumps after winning the match!
While buying cellphones, we often get confused while choosing between the different types of processors manufactured by different brands.
We often wonder which will be the best buy at a given budget, what parameters we should compare to make a verdict. Let us see some of the crucial parameters based on selecting a processor that suits your need and does not burn a hole in your pocket.
Clock Speed
This is one of the most fundamental aspects to look at in a processor. It refers to the frequency at which one core of the CPU is running and can be used as a benchmark to judge the processor's speed. It is indicated in GigaHertz (GHz).
At this point, we can say; higher the clock speed faster is
the processor. For example, Qualcomm Snapdragon 675 offers a clock speed of
2.0GHz, Kirin 970 by Huawei provides clock speeds up to 2.4GHz, Samsung Exynos
9610 runs at 2.3 GHz and so on.
Number of Cores
Next, we can draw comparisons by checking the number of
cores provided in the CPU. CPUs with multiple cores can run multiple programs
with greater ease. However, all cores are not the same. Often in multi-core processors,
some cores are provided for carrying out a high-performance task, and a few are
energy-efficient cores for running ordinary programs. It is to be noted that most of the applications cannot make use of multiple cores properly. Hence while choosing a processor, one shall
look for the performance of single-core
as well. For example, the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 675, an octa-core
processor is equipped with two cortex-A76 processors (Kryo 460 gold), which is
the performance core and is clocked at 2.0 GHz. The other six processors are
cortex -A55 (Kryo 460 Silver), which are meant for day-to-day tasks and
consume lower power than the A76 cores, resulting in increased battery
life. Similarly, Huawei Kirin 970 has four Cortex -A73 processors clocked at
2.4GHz and four cortex A-53 processors clocked at 1.8 GHz. MediaTek Helio P70
comes with four Cortex-A73 cores clocked at 2.1Ghz and power-efficient
Cortex-A53 cores at 2.0Ghz.
*Cortex-A76 is the successor of Cortex-A75 and Cortex-A73
and has better performance than the latter one.
GPU (Graphics Processing
Unit)
It handles the visual rendering elements of a phone display and decides the gaming performance of a processor. Essential aspects of GPU are its clock speed, maximum display resolution supported by GPU, and the fabrication technology, i.e., the thickness of the chip on which it is fabricated (mentioned in nm).
The most common GPU's used in smartphones is Adreno from
Qualcomm, ARM Mali, and Power VR. Let's take an example of Adreno 612 and
Mali-G72 MP3 GPU. Both have a clock speed of 850MHz. However, the Adreno 612 is
fabricated on 14nm technology compared to the 16nm technology of Mali-G72 MP3.
Hence, Adreno 612 has a slight edge in performance over the latter one.
Modem
This determines the maximum download and upload speeds supported by the processor and is usually mentioned in Mbps. Moreover,
it decides the Wi-fi and Bluetooth connectivity supports. For example, Qualcomm
snapdragon 675 houses the X12 LTE modem, which has a maximum download speed of
600Mbps (Cat 12) and maximum upload speed of 150Mbps (Cat 13). For Wi-Fi, it
supports 802.11ac Wave 2 Wi-Fi standard with a peak speed of 867Mbps. For Bluetooth,
it can support Bluetooth 5.0 technology. We will take a look at another standard
chipset, MediaTek Helio P70. It has a peak download speed of 300Mbps (Cat 7) and an upload speed of 150Mbps (Cat 13). It supports Bluetooth 4.2.
Manufacturing Process
In general, fabrication on a thinner chip provides faster
performance to the CPU. Hence a processor fabricated on an 11nm chip will have the edge over a chip manufactured on a 12nm chip.
Above are the significant parameters based on which you
can decide which CPU to go for while buying smartphones. There are some other
parameters like RAM speed and camera support, which in most cases
can be taken as the higher, the better. And last but not least, the price
matters a lot. Sometimes with a slight compromise in performance, you can get a significant price difference. So, consider all these factors while buying a
smartphone to get a device that can fulfill your requirements.
A few weeks back, in the wake of the recent conflict with China, Micromax
founder Rahul Sharma in a video message, appealed to the citizens of
India that it is high time that we must shift away from Chinese goods and promote Indian goods. He announced the arrival of a new series of smartphones from Micromax, named IN series. These handsets will be available on Flipkart and Micromax websites.
Micromax has launched two models in the IN series: in 1b and in note 1. In this post, we will take a look at the features of IN 1b model.
RAM
and Internal memory storage is the only difference between these two variants. Let's see other features of this model that are common for both variants.
Processor:
IN 1B comes with a 2.3GHz octa-core MediaTek helio G35 processor based on 12nm technology. The helio G35 processor is somewhere in between Snapdragon 625 and Snapdragon 665 in terms of performance.
Given the price of these phones, this is a pretty good deal.
RAM:
IN 1b comes in two variants. E6523 offers 2GB RAM, which is quite low as per today's standards. However, the E7533 variant offers 4GB RAM, which is impressive at this price.
Storage Memory: Again, there are two different storage offered by the two variants. E6523
provides 32GB ROM for storage, whereas E7533 comes with 64GB ROM as internal memory. Again E7533 variant is above par compared to other phones in this price segment.
The variants offer expandable storage up to 128GB and have provided a dedicated memory slot for microSD cards.
Camera: Both variants provide 13MP
+ 2MP Dual Rear Camera with LED flash, which is a bit disappointing as
most of the manufacturers are offering triple camera at this price
segment.
The secondary camera offers an 8MP shooter, which is at par in this price segment.
Connectivity: These
phones have dual 4G VoLTE standby networks i.e., both SIMs can use 4G
network at the same time. It also offers 3g, Edge, and GPRS connectivity.
Other connectivity features are listed below:
Bluetooth: Yes, v5.0
WiFi: Yes
WiFi Hotspot: Yes
USB Tethering: Yes
Infrared: No
USB connectivity: Yes
Audio Jack: 3.5mm
GPS Support: Yes
Since infrared is not there, the device cannot be used as a remote controller, unlike in some other handsets.
The display features: Both variants are offering 6.52 inches capacitive touch screen with a 1600x720 pixel HD+IPS display. It offers a pixel density of 269 PPI. A notch is there on the top to accommodate the selfie camera.
Apart from the above features following are some of the important specifications to look for before buying the phone:
Battery capacity: These handsets offer a 5000mah non-removable battery that is pretty high in terms of capacity, but the processor is of 12nm technology, so battery backup might be average.
The fingerprint sensor is mounted on the backside of the phone.
Overall, the E7533(4GB, 64GB) variant seems to be quite an impressive deal at Rs.7999. It is offering good performance for day-to-day use as well as for moderate gaming with decent battery backup.
That's all for today. In the next post, we shall see the features of IN Note 1 handset. See you in the next post.
Science and technology never fail to amaze us with their new inventions and discovery.
After researching for more than a decade, a group of researchers and scientists are reportedly happy to announce that they made an artificial bionic eye that can help blind people see the world.
Bionic organs for the human body are not new things. Bionic limbs like hands or legs are readily available in the market in commercial form. But the bionic eye that can eliminate blindness for some groups of blind people is really the coolest and the smartest.
Melbourne, Australia-based Monash University has built an intelligent system that will bypass the damaged optic nerves in the retina(that causes permanent blindness) and transmit the signal directly to the 'view' center of the brain.
This smart bionic eye, aka 'Gennari's bionic vision system,' has two main components, Headgear and Chip.
Headgear will be in front of the eye with the help of some kind of spectacles, and a tiny 9mm Bionic Chip will be implanted in the brain. Though it sounds scary, the good thing is this bionic eye has already been tested on ships, and scientists have found some positive results with negligible side effects. The next trial has been planned on humans now in Melbourne itself.
"Our design creates a visual pattern from combinations of up to 172 spots of light (phosphenes) which provides information for the individual to navigate indoor and outdoor environments, and recognize the presence of people and objects around them.....If successful, the MVG [Monash Vision Group] team will look to create a new commercial enterprise focused on providing a vision to people with untreatable blindness and movement to the arms of people paralyzed by quadriplegia, transforming their health care", Arthur Lowery, professor at Monash University's Department of Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering stated.
Now, hopefully, if this smart bionic eye works as it reported, it would be a great help and gift to humanity. Though its cost might be prohibitive initially, the same will be drastically reduced over time as technology progresses. Govt can also subsidize and mass produce it to minimize the cost further.
After two Smartphones of the OnePlus 7 series already launched in the market, the OnePlus 7T saw the light of the day on 26th September.
From the pictures available on the internet, it seems OnePlus is trying to experiment with the orientation and position of its camera. After launching OnePlus 7 Pro with its movable selfie Camera, the Chinese Company will launch its OnePlus 7T phone with a triple rear camera. The three-camera are sitting within a circular module in the back of the phone with a LED flash.
Though the official website does not say anything about releasing its OnePlus 7T series, it is all over the news after Pricebaba.com revealed a video with key specifications.
This smartphone, as usual, will be powered by Snapdragon Chipset(SDM855+). Though much specification is unknown, the phone is expected to come with 8GB RAM and up to 256GB of non-expandable storage. The pictures surfaced on the internet, the screen seems to be full HD plus Optic AMOLED panel.
The smartphone measures 161.2 x 74.5 x 8.3 mm. There is a single non-movable selfie camera inside the waterdrop notch.
Zoom is a feature that people often use in smartphone cameras, but pictures get blurred and grainy. Smartphones being so slim, getting optical zoom higher than 2X was almost impossible. Well, at least it was so until now!
It has been possible to achieve optical zoom higher than 2X
by a technology which is known as ‘Periscope Camera.’ Let us see how this
camera works to provide higher zooming without compromising the image quality.
The basic structure of a periscope camera consists of a mirror
in a prism, a lens, and an image sensor. The light is allowed into
the prism, which bends the morning to 90 degrees. This light then passes through
the lens to provide the necessary zoom and is then sensed by the image sensor to
send signals to the smartphone. This arrangement allows the image sensor and
the lenses to sit inside the phone instead of popping out, which would look very
awkward. Also, the periscope camera sensor is perpendicular to the phone's back instead of parallel to it like other camera sensors.
Recently Huawei has launched a smartphone (Huawei P30 Pro)
equipped with a periscope camera that allows up to 5X optical zoom. Another
smartphone that comes with this technology is the Oppo Reno which provides 10X
optical zoom. Xiaomi is also working on a periscope lens smartphone camera, and it
is expected to be delivered in upcoming smartphones. Below are some images which depict the zoom achieved by the periscope camera.
It seems Nokia is really trying hard to be the boss of camera-phone in the smartphone market with its 5-rear-camera phone placed impressively. The dazzling array of the 5 cameras did a circular module along with one ToF(Time of Flight) sensor and an LED Flash.
The camera-eyed phone has already made its way to the market in several countries earlier this year(Feb 2019). However, the teaser for the phone to be launched in India has been launched recently. The expected date of the phone to see the light of the day is 17th July.
The phone is powered by Snapdragon 845. The dimension of the phone measured to be:
A bunch of photos of Nokia Daredevil is moving around here and there on the internet. It seems that Nokia plans to enter into the smartphone industry once again with its weird camera feature. It is not much time passed by when a Nokia phone surfaced on the internet. The leaked pictures of the Nokia 9 PureView proved the handset to be weird because that contained 5 rear cameras placed in a circular module. The official trailer of the Nokia 9 PureView has been released.
Not much is known about the unreleased Nokia Daredevil device; from the photos (circulated by @fenibook), some features can be quickly expected to be present in the upcoming handset.
The handset has three cameras in the rear. Some pictures suggest there could be two of them, and another camera-like thing is a sensor.
The handset has got a rear fingerprint sensor.
The device will come with a 48MP(f/1.8) rear camera with a toggle switch for wide-angle photography. That indicates one of the rear cameras is having a wide-angle lens.
As said earlier, official specifications have not been released. However, Slashleaks shared a screenshot with some specifications captured that suggest the below specifications:
Android 9,
2340×1080 display,
Snapdragon 660,
48MP primary,
3500mAh battery
There might be a slight discrepancy in the information about this Nokia Daredevil device present on the internet it is needless to say that Nokia is really trying hard to get into the smartphone industry with its really unique camera design and feature.
Have you ever picked up your phone in a dark environment and felt the painful burst of white light in your eyes? Thankfully, Android has decided to remove our pain by offering a dark mode in the newest Android version, i.e., Android Q. People have grown more conscious about the harm caused by staring at screens and the potential disruption of sleep caused by blue light. While some smartphone manufacturers have provided different versions of night mode, a true dark mode was missing on Android devices. The dark theme added by Google in Android pie only changed the background notification shade and app drawer. It did not affect the settings or any apps. In Android Q, we are about to receive a true system-wide dark mode.
To turn on dark mode:
Go to Settings >> Display >>Theme and select Dark.
It changes the backgrounds of all the settings menus and apps like Phone, Contacts, and Photos. It is expected that other apps will work towards compatibility with dark mode.
Google has also included a “Force Dark” option for developers, which automatically converts light backgrounds to darker tones.
Another advantage of the dark mode is that it will reduce battery consumption, particularly in OLED screens, as said in a session at Google I/O.
What if we tell you that you can
send messages or call your friends without Cellular Data, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth
Connectivity. Will you believe that? If no, please start believing. Yes, in
near future, with the help of MeshTalk technology, you can text or talk to your friend without
having any traditional connectivity being used today.
World Mobile Congress (WMC in
short) 2019 event held in Shanghai, China has revealed too much of Technology
is going that are going to be the part of the upcoming smart gadgets, mostly on
smartphone.
Recently, the smartphone making
company OPPO shared a new technology named MeshTalk that will allow a user to
make call or text without having a Cellular connection Or Wi-Fi/Bluetooth Network
to the mobiles within the range of 3 km.
The feature has been demonstrated
by placing two mobile next to each other without having any kind of connectivity through Cellular/Wi-Fi/Bluetooth.
A text message has been shared from one mobile to any mobile with their MeshTalk
technology.
It is said that the MeshTalk feature
is creating a LAN (Local Area Network), and the information or data is being
shared. Indeed these messages are sent with a new level of privacy because it is
direct communication between two endpoints. (Unlike cellular connectivity that requires the base station to be the intermediate point).
Though the demo was shown by placing
the phone side by side, it is claimed that MeshTalk can work for 3 km in open
space and in “Complex Urban Environments.” The exact roadmap for this feature to be
available in smartphones has not been announced yet. Understandably, this
feature is initially targeted to be launched with OPPO sets only as it requires
a dedicated chipset.
But nobody knows what exactly the
future has on its plate to offer. The feature might get adopted by other smartphone
makers if it is going to be successful commercially.
Till then, we have to keep using Cellular,
Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Connectivity.
See the official tweet by OPPO:
Imagine a decentralized short-range communications solution that enables you to talk and send messages without the need for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or cellular data when up to 3km with another device. Say hello to MeshTalk. 📡 #MoreThanTheSeen#MWC19pic.twitter.com/MIGWG2OgQx
Realme, a relatively new entrant in the budget smartphones
has confirmed that it is working on a new smartphone that is equipped with
64-megapixel camera sensor.
CEO Madhav Sheth
has tweeted a photo taken from the 64-megapixel Samsung GW1 sensor. It comes
with a mega 1.6µm pixel and 1/1.72” sensor. The ISOCELL Bright’s tetra cell technology improves light sensitivity in low-light conditions. It is also
provided with a smart WDR feature that permits multiple exposures in a single shot,
resulting in greater detail for bright and dark areas. The advanced Super-PD
PDAF sensors can identify the distance of fast-moving objects even in low light
resulting in fast and accurate autofocusing.
The photos shared by Sheth
compare pictures taken by the Realme 64MP AI quad camera and Redmi Note 7 pro
48MP triple camera.
Here's a glimpse of what this realme prototype can do. Even compared it with some other flagship model in a more premium price segment. Buckle up and #DareToLeap to some real exciting camera experience this year. pic.twitter.com/kVgz9griQy
It seems that One Plus will not get settled down with its primary product Android Smart Phone. OnePlus has already
grabbed the smartphone space by offering high-end phones at reasonable prices.
Now it seems the company is going to take a shot in the entertainment sector also. Though
it was only hinted that OnePlus had been working on a TV project, but now It is all
over the news that OnePlus is going to launch an Android-based TV by the end of
this year, sooner than everybody expected.
The current CEO, Pete Lau, back in September, unveiled the news of the TV project by OnePlus. He revealed that the OnePlus TV
will debut with a “total connected” experience and emerge as a “premium,
flagship TV.” As that sounds, the TV is not going to be a ‘regular’ smart Android
TV, but an ‘intelligent smart hub.’
It is rumored that the TV will act as a smart
hub that will drive and control other smart home appliances. The TV is expected
to compete with the already existing Xiaomi’s MI TV series.
Though Twitter is flooded with
the news of the OnePlus TV, the actual date of the launch is found nowhere. It is
also unclear whether the Android Smart Hub TV will get launched in India
or in global markets. The price range of the TV is not mentioned anywhere, but
as the description suggested, it is evident that the OnePlus TV will not be
much affordable.
In a media interview, the CEO said,
"The home - perhaps the most important environment experience - is just
starting to enjoy the benefits of intelligent connectivity. Something that seems
as simple as displaying the photos from your mobile phone to a television is
still difficult to achieve. With the development of AI technology, our
imagination is endless - and we are looking forward to the future."
Last year the company already
made a contest to name their TV in OnePlus Community. The finalized name is not in the news, though; we may have to wait for the moment it will see the light of the day.
How many of us have been irritated by the notch on the top of the screen? How many of us have wanted a true full-screen bezel-less display?
Well, Vivo achieved the same by using a motorized pop-up camera. But that limits
the sensor size of the front camera, which in turn compromises the quality of the
photos.
Xiaomi has unveiled its Under-Display Camera Technology to provide a Full-Screen Display coexisting with a front camera. Currently, they are exploring the possibility of hiding the front camera under the display
itself! When the selfie camera is activated, the display area over the camera
becomes transparent instantly, allowing light to enter. Let us see how
Xiaomi plans to achieve this.
They use a custom display with a small area of a transparent display, which is made using a special low-reflective glass with
high transmittance. When not in camera mode, the transparent display acts like
a regular screen, allowing you to use the entire screen as a display. The front
camera is hidden under the transparent display, which itself doubles as a camera
lens.
Since this display embedded camera combo allows more light to enter the lens,
it produces clearer and crisper photos than the currently used pinhole camera.
When the display is turned off, the camera disappears and results in a black
surface that is entirely seamless. Moreover, this technology will also allow
smartphone companies to use larger lenses for the front camera, which has been so
far restrained by the size of the notch.
So very soon, we can bid goodbye to the notch that has been
bothering us and get a true full-screen display.
