Weekly poll: is the Huawei P20 Pro the flagship you wanted?

We’re starting to understand why marketing departments love huge numbers they can push. “What’s that, Samsung and Apple? Your camera shoots only 12MP photos? How quaint!” When you have the only 40MP camera on the market like the Huawei P20 Pro has, the ad basically writes itself.

You can take a gander at the camera samples we took – both in the native 40MP mode and the 10MP supersampled mode. One is great during the day, the other does its magic at night. What do you think? DxO loves it.

We have to say that the hybrid zoom was quite impressive. It’s a combo of the 3x telephoto lens (8MP sensor) and data from the 40MP sensor combined for a total of 5x magnification.

Then there is the 24MP selfie camera, which takes some getting used to. The first shots we took were out of focus, but the next selfies we took were pretty great. Still, we wish autofocus would be standard on selfie cameras as it is on rear cameras.

Huawei P20 Pro • Huawei P20

The P20 Pro isn’t just a camera, it has an awesome screen too. Our early impressions of the image quality on the 6.1” AMOLED are positive, even though the notch is divisive. The 5.8” IPS LCD on the regular Huawei P20 is good too, just not as good. We can say the same thing about its dual camera too.

The Kirin 970 chipset is not the fastest, but it’s certainly fast enough. Plus, the NPU will probably make a bigger difference in your daily use than higher benchmark scores. We saw on several occasions that the camera AI can have a positive influence on the image (though it does miss the mark occasionally).

Still, €900/£800, even if you do get those free Bose QC35 II noise canceling headphones is not easy to swallow. We’re already seeing indications that the price will drop by €50 and as we said, it’s the only 40MP camera on the market.

The Huawei P20 doesn’t feel as special, but that’s only in comparison to its Pro sibling. In general, it’s a great high-end Android and €650/£600 is perfectly reasonable (again, with free QC35 II headphones).

Okay, we lied a bit, there’s another 40MP camera on the market – the Huawei Mate RS Porsche Design. It’s a notchless reinterpretation of the P20 Pro with an under display fingerprint reader (and a second reader on the back!). That’s a €1,700 phone, unfortunately, so we don’t think it will be a hot seller.

So, what do you think of Huawei’s phones? Is a P20 Pro already in your shopping cart or are you leaning towards the P20? Do you wish for a non-Porsche Mate RS or are you going for another phone entirely?

Which Huawei P20 phone is your favorite?

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Wifes & Girlfriends of Australia Cricketers

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In the wake of the recent ball tampering issue with some of the top cricketers of Australia, this week saw the fall of many top pros. However, it is unfortunate that the names of their wives and girlfriends are unnecessarily dragged into this controversy. Social media is the latest way to troll and shame the famous celebs online. Many of them have a huge following on social media, but the wives and girlfriends were unwittingly targeted by angered fans. Some of them were still in the country of South Africa with young small kids. As the paparazzi followed them as they rushed home, some of them did not see anybody.

Australia Cricket WAGs

Candice Warner: Aged 33, Candice is the wife of David Warner, the former vice- captain. It has been a tough week for them. Cricket fans across the social media has given a tirade of abuse mostly as her husband was in the ‘leadership group’ during the ball tampering incident.

Dani Willis: Steve Smith and his affiance were all set to be married this year. On Instagram, she was on the taking end of all the online abuse the cricket fans have given.

However, Dani is lucky to have several supporters giving her strong support through the statements.

Rebecca Marsh: Aged 28, the wife of Marsh, Shaun and their toddler travel most of the time. They try to get things to work out in the same way. She said that only after getting a baby “you don’t know what it is like” although people say things to prepare you.

Rachel Mcclellan: Usman Khawaja & Rachel Mcclellan were engaged back in the year 2016. The pair has several times shared cute pics in various places on Instagram. It is said Rachel who works in event management & marketing has a following of 18,000 on the Instagram.

Mel Waring: The cricketer Nathan Lyon & Mel Waring had two young incredible daughters and traveled a lot of times together. Late last year the pair broke up after spending nine years together.

These are the women behind some of the top cricketers supporting their partners/ spouses professional sports life. They travel with them most of the time to show the support. Some even travel having one or even more than one young kid. It is unlikely that the wifes and girlfriends are unnecessarily the target on social media by angry cricket fans.

Published by Mamatha on 01 Apr 2018

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Video: Dhoni gets emotional while addressing speech to fans regarding return of CSK in IPL

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Chennai Super Kings is one of the strongest and liked teams from Indian Premier league. And without a doubt, it is majorly because of captain cool MS Dhoni. The team CSK was banned from playing in IPL because of spot-fixing controversy. Now the imposed ban has been removed and the team back to gain the lost-honour. The team management has decided to keep Dhoni the skipper of the team. While ‘greeting the public at an event in Chennai, Dhoni couldn’t hold back his emotion.

#Thala dhoni @is back pic.twitter.com/0mDqXVl5wP

— Aman aheer (@Amanaheer1) March 28, 2018

As I said it was, I knew I would play for the Pune team but the actual moment comes when you start walking with the team-sheet in your hand till that point of time its only practice and everything. It was a very emotional moment…since I have started playing T20 cricket represented the Indian cricket team, Jharkhand team in few tournaments and CSK for eight years, so it was an emotional moment not to see myself in yellow,” Dhoni said at the event.

#Thala #Dhoni became very emotional while speaking about 2 years of struggle and come back of @ChennaiIPL !!! #WhistlePodu #WhistlePoduArmy pic.twitter.com/AWAycP7jrv

— CSK World (@CSK_World) March 29, 2018

“But at the same time as professionals, we have to move ahead and also not to prove to anyone but to prove a point to myself that I am making sure whatever I gave in for CSK, I am not leaving any inch that I am not giving for the Pune team,” he added.

Seeing him getting emotional, Suresh Raina quickly offered him a drink.

So happy to be with the team behind official CSK app @ChennaiIPL #downloadit pic.twitter.com/3lvdCclVhW

— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) March 26, 2018

The IPL tournament will start from 7th of April.

Published by Ashish Mishra on 01 Apr 2018

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Weekly poll results: it’s a tie! Huawei P20 Pro and Xiaomi Mi 2s loved equally

Well, we did not expect that – when we asked if you’re more interested in the Huawei P20 Pro or the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2s, we thought that surely one of the two will prevail. Sure, we asked a couple of days before the phones went official, but there we extensive leaks. Plus, the phones were unveiled this Tuesday, so you had plenty of time to change your mind.

However, the phones remained of absolute even popularity – when we stopped the poll, the difference in votes was less than 10. That’s good news, we think.

The Huawei P20 Pro is a camera monster with a notched screen and a hefty price tag. The Xiaomi Mi Mix 2s goes for thin bezels without a notch and good all-round performance at a more affordable price. Two different takes on a flagship, the two equally desirable.

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Google gives email details of “Whistle Blower” in CBSE Maths Paper Leak

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The New Delhi police got the email details of the student from Google. This email was used to send email to chairperson of the CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education ) board. It was regarding the leakage of exam paper for the subject of mathematics a day prior to the exam. The Special Commissioner of Police (crime) said that they have identified the sender of the email address. The email was sent by a student of Class X who used his father’s email address to send the email to the chairperson of the CBSE board. Both father and son are undergoing questioning about this issue at present. The police also said that the student of 10th class received the question paper on WhatsApp before he sent the email to the CBSE chairperson.

image source

There were many complaints sent through emails and letters about the leaked mathematics paper which are being compiled by the police. The  Central Board of Secondary Education received these complaints in letters and emails and shared a few of them. The police are also scrutinizing these complaints regarding the paper leak to check if they are genuine or if they are some kind of works of mischief. Several coaching centers and schools in outer Delhi that are under the scanner were visited by the police. It is because they are trying to find the origin of the mathematics subject paper leak. They are also questioning 60 people from out of which 53 are students about the paper leak. Also, the WhatsApp groups from where the papers were transmitted are also getting probed.

image source

Anita Karwal, the chairperson of Central Board of Secondary Education had received an email about the paper leak a day earlier to the 10th Class Maths examination. In the email, there were 12 images about the mathematics examination leaked papers written in handwriting. The email also said that the maths subject exam must be canceled as the mathematics paper has leaked out. In order to find the sender of the email, the police wrote to Google and received a reply from Google about the sender’s email details. The Special Investigation Team (SIT) includes two DCPs, 4 ACPs, and 5 police inspectors. The team then got additional 2 ACPs as well as with their teams. The Joint Commissioner of Police (crime) is supervising the team.

Published by Mamatha on 01 Apr 2018

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Google app 7.25 beta hints at Google Assistant for Households and email on Google Home, prepares custom routines and custom search widget

Google app 7.25 beta has started rolling-out to users on the Play Store. The release of version 7.25 of the app comes only a week after the release of version 7.24. As usual, there are no user-facing changes to be found. However, an APK teardown of the app (via 9to5Google) hints at an “Google Assistant for Households” feature. Users may soon be able to have email notifications on the Google Home as well, and there are new strings for unlinking Duo accounts. Also, Google is working on custom routines and a custom search widget. Let’s take a look at the changes:

An APK teardown can often predict features that may arrive in a future update of an application, but it is possible that any of the features we mention here may not make it in a future release. This is because these features are currently unimplemented in the live build and may be pulled at any time by Google in a future build.

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Google Assistant for Households

At present, Google Assistant can be used by different members of a family. However, they must each use their separate Google accounts. Google is now developing a shared version of Assistant called “Google Assistant for Households,” although its differentiating features are unknown at this point. The string for the upcoming feature has a generic description: “You and your household are a team. Your Google Assistant can now treat you like one, helping you work and play together.”

Here are the relevant strings:

<string name="assistant_settings_household_setup_splash_screen_button_label”>Continue</string>

<string name="assistant_settings_household_setup_splash_screen_subtitle”>You and your household are a team. Your Google Assistant can now treat you like one, helping you work and play together.</string>

<string name="assistant_settings_household_setup_splash_screen_title”>Google Assistant for Households</string>

<string name="assistant_settings_household_title”>Your Household</string>

Email on the Google Home

As 9to5Google notes, Google made an announcement that Google Home would soon add notifications for reminders, flight updates, and traffic updates back at I/O 2017. Strings in version 7.25 beta of the Google app show that “personal results” will allow users’ voice to get their email, calendar, help with payments, and more on their device. “Get their email” implies that users will be access email notifications. Here are the relevant strings:

<string name="personal_results_action_button”>Turn on</string>

<string name="personal_results_cancel_button”>No Thanks</string>

<string name="personal_results_explanation”>"Voice Match is set up on your Assistant speaker. Now you can turn on personal results so you can use your voice to get your email, calendar, help with payments, and more on this device. You can turn off personal results in Assistant settings.”</string>

<string name="personal_results_title”>Get personal results with Voice Match</string>

Custom routines in Google Assistant

Routines in Google Assistant finally launched a few weeks ago. However, custom routines still haven’t been enabled. New strings in Google app 7.25 beta show that users will be able to change the order of actions in a particular custom routine. Here are the strings for the same:

<string name="user_defined_action_reorder_description”>Drag to change the order of actions in this routine.</string>

<string name="user_defined_action_reorder_title”>Change order</string>

Custom search widget

Previous Google app versions have hinted that Google is developing a custom search widget that allows users to edit its appearance. When the feature goes live, users will need to go to Google App menu > Customize widget, or Google App settings > Widget > Customize your widget to edit the appearance of the search widget. Here are the relevant strings:

<string name="swc_drawer_content”>Go to Google App menu > Customize widget</string>

<string name="swc_settings_content”>Go to Google App settings > Widget > Customize your widget</string>

<string name="customize_feed”>Customize Feed</string>

<string name="customize_widget_summary”>Edit the appearance of your homescreen search widget</string>

<string name="customize_widget_title”>Customize your widget</string>

Unlink Duo account

We have known for long that eventually, users will be able to link their Google account with Google Duo. Version 31 of Duo has started rolling out, and it contains a setup screen for linking users’ Google account. The feature doesn’t actually work yet, but when it goes live for all users, they will be able to unlink their Duo account as well. This will mean that they will no longer be able to start or receive calls on Duo.

<string name="assistant_settings_duo_calls_edit_phone_number_key">edit-phone-number-preference-key</string>

<string name="assistant_settings_duo_calls_edit_phone_number_title">Phone number</string>

<string name="assistant_settings_duo_calls_unlink_duo_key">unlink-duo-preference-preference-key</string>

<string name="assistant_settings_duo_calls_unlink_duo_title">Unlink Duo account</string>

<string name="assistant_settings_duo_calls_unlink_duo_warning_dialog_summary">You will no longer be able to start or receive calls on Duo</string>

<string name="assistant_settings_duo_calls_unlink_duo_warning_dialog_title">Unlink Duo account?</string>

Alpha and beta channels

The first string describes a notification that lets users know that they are testing an early version of the app which may not have been subject to the usual policy and security reviews.

The second string notes that by being invited to try new features before they are publicly available, you as a user permit the developer to identify you and your use of the app “in some cases”. Here is the relevant string:

<string name="alpha_beta_channel_alpha_channel_notification">Note: This is an early test version of the app and may not have been subject to usual policy and security reviews.</string>

<string name="alpha_beta_channel_close_channel_description”>You’ve been invited to try new features before they’re publicly available. By proceeding you are agreeing that the developer can identify you and your use of the app in some cases.”</string>

Google Assistant smart displays get new functionality

Quartz is the code-name for the software platform that powers smart displays which have the Google Assistant. In version 7.25 beta of the Google app, they can now see related images; use the contact picker; see images, map as well as interior street view and panorama of restaurants.

<string name="quartz_image_search_related_image_description">Related image</string>

<string name="quartz_ganache_start_cooking_label">Start cooking</string>

<string name="quartz_contact_picker_item_title">Pick a contact</string>

<string name="quartz_local_place_detail_image_tile_content_description”>Images of the restaurant</string>

<string name="quartz_local_place_detail_map_tile_content_description”>Map of the restaurant</string>

<string name="quartz_local_place_detail_street_view_tile_content_description”>Interior street view panorama of the restaurant</string>

Using previous recordings of child’s Voice Match to create voice model on a different device

<string name="hotword_enrollment_google_home_fast_update_unicorn_header_title">"The Assistant can already recognize your child's voice"</string>

<string name="hotword_enrollment_google_home_fast_update_unicorn_progress_summary">"It looks like you've already set up Voice Match with your child's Google Assistant on another device.

These previous recordings can be used to make a voice model on this device. This should take less than a minute."</string>

<string name="hotword_enrollment_google_home_no_enrollment_found_toast_msg">Please finish hotword enrollment for account %1$s first.</string>

These new strings let users know that Assistant already recognizes their child’s voice. It will also inform them that previous recordings of their child’s Google Assistant on another device can be used to make a voice model on this device, and it should take “less than a minute”.

Miscellaneous

<string name="autoplay_video_description">Autoplaying video preview, double tap to play full video.</string>

This string lets users know that an autoplay video is being played, and informs them they can double tap to play the full video.

Price: Free

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Let us know in the comments if you spot anything new in the app update, and follow our APK Teardown tag for more articles like this!

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