tech – Techno World

Xiaomi OLED Vision TV review: Economical option in premium smart TV segment

The Xiaomi OLED Vision TV is a good screen for watching content, but look elsewhere if you need a television that doubles up as a capable monitor for use with current generation gaming consoles

Chinese electronics maker Xiaomi recently launched its maiden OLED TV in India. Called the Xiaomi OLED Vision TV, the smart television is currently available in 55-inch screen size at Rs 89,999. Though cheaper than most OLED TVs from established brands such as Sony, Samsung, and LG, the Xiaomi’s TV does not cuts corners on any major features, technology or otherwise. It boasts an optical light-emitting diode-based screen panel of 4K UHD resolution with support for wide range of high dynamic range formats such as Dolby Vision, HDR10+, HDR10, HDR, and HLG. The TV has eight-way speakers system with Dolby Atmos and DTS for audio experience to match the premium visual experience enabled by the OLED panel. The Xiaomi OLED Vision TV seems to be a modestly priced smart television to experience OLED difference. Is it? Let’s find out:

Starting with the design, the Xiaomi OLED Vision has a premium metallic frame neatly holding its modestly sized 55-inch screen. The screen dominates the entire front profile for distraction free viewing experience. The rear profile of the television, however, seems to be done as an afterthought. There is a huge bulge on the lower rear side of the television. Though not a visual distraction, it may make the television look odd hanging on the wall. It could be one of the reasons Xiaomi did not include gears required for wall mount set-up in the package, but legs for the table top installation. Speaking of table top installation, the legs raise the television to some extent but not enough to leave room for a soundbar to sit in front without blocking some portion of the screen.

Xiaomi OLED Vision TV – Metallic leg standComing to the screen, it is a good one for an economical OLED television. The screen is bright, vivid, and responsive. It is a delight to watch 4K content, especially HDR movies, shows and docuseries. It works so even for fast-paced content, thanks to built-in tech for motion smoothing. The TV supports IMAX Enhanced for cinematic experience, but the lack of content makes it a novelty with no actual benefit at present. The screen is good for watching content, but falls short for gaming purpose. It is a screen of 60Hz refresh rate, which is not optimal for best experience, especially for those with one of the new-gen gaming consoles such as Xbox Series X (review) and Play Station 5 (review). Besides, there is no support for adaptive sync technologies such as Nvidia G-Sync, FreeSync, VRR, etc.

ALSO READ – Xiaomi Mi QLED TV 4K review

Complementing the visual experience is the eight-way speaker system of 30W peak output. On paper, the peak output may seem to be on the lower side but is not. The speakers are loud and clear, and, together with Dolby Atmos and DTS, deliver wholesome audio experience.

Rounding up the package is the smooth performance and user experience. The Xiaomi OLED Vision TV boots Android 11 TV operating system with Xiaomi PatchWall loaded separately as secondary interface. The default Android interface is familiar with suggested content from apps visible on the home screen. The PatchWall is similar with regard to navigation but with better apps integration and content filters. Both the Android and PatchWall interfaces work smoothly without interruptions, slowdowns, and lags. That said, the performance is good and it translates to consistent user experience.

Xiaomi OLED Vision TV – Far-field microphone arrayThe Xiaomi OLED Vision TV comes with a petite-looking remote controller. It is a Bluetooth-enabled remote with a minimal design and hotkeys for Amazon Prime Video and Netflix, besides other buttons. The remote lacks a dedicated mute button, but a long press on volume-down mutes the audio in no time. Likewise, there is no dedicated key to go to settings directly, but a long press on the PatchWall button opens quick settings for picture, sound, input and more.

Verdict

The Xiaomi OLED Vision TV is an economical option in the premium OLED smart television segment. It is a good screen for watching content, but look elsewhere if you need a television that doubles up as a capable monitor for use with current generation gaming consoles. That said, the Xiaomi OLED Vision TV is good for most part, but not the best. Yet it makes a good buy because of its price and the features it bring to the table.

Slack launches in India, scouts for firms designing digital workplaces

A survey by Slack of over 2,000 Indian knowledge workers found 4 in 5 respondents desired flexibility, and would switch jobs if their employer didn’t provide it

American workplace collaboration platform Slack has officially launched in India. The firm said it is on a mission to help Indian companies navigate the transition to a hybrid workplace by establishing a digital headquarters (‘Digital HQ’).

Having long championed a digital-first approach to work, Slack’s leadership in the workplace collaboration space was further cemented by the rapid shift to remote work in early 2020 brought about by the pandemic. Today – as the impact of the pandemic eases and Indian companies increasingly shift to a hybrid work model – Slack is calling for leaders to be as thoughtful in designing their digital workplaces as they did in designing their physical offices before the pandemic hit.

“Adopting Slack as a Digital HQ allows Indian companies to connect their teams, tools, customers, and partners in a digital place that’s fast, flexible and inclusive for a work-from-anywhere world,” said the company. “A Digital HQ allows work to flow, breaking down communication and collaboration silos, internally and externally; automates tasks that take away time from deep, meaningful work; and enables new, flexible ways of working, striking the right balance between synchronous and asynchronous.”

In July 2021, Salesforce.com completed the acquisition of Slack Technologies, Inc. for $27.7 billion. Salesforce has had a presence in India since 2005 and today has over 6,500 employees across Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Hyderabad.

A recent study conducted by Slack involving over 2,000 Indian knowledge workers, The Reinvention of Work, found 4 in 5 respondents had a desire for flexibility, and a significant 80 per cent would seek a role elsewhere if their employer didn’t accommodate this. “Indian companies are keenly aware that the Great Resignation and the Great Relocation are very real, as employee expectations change and the war for talent heats up. Embracing Slack as their Digital HQ provides Indian knowledge workers with the ability to do their jobs from anywhere, at any time,” said the company.

For the many positives brought about by the proliferation of workplace apps that emerged as a response to the shift to remote work in 2020, there have been some challenges. In the same Slack study, Indian knowledge workers said they were wasting an average of 47 minutes a day switching between the various apps they use to do their jobs. One in five respondents said they were losing 10 hours a week – that’s nearly 10 working weeks a year. With over 2,600 app integrations, the Slack platform is purpose-built to address this loss in productivity and improve employee experience in the process.

One of India’s fastest growing internet commerce platforms, Meesho, has embraced Slack as its Digital HQ to save time, build company culture, streamline processes, and improve the way they work. “With the pivot towards remote working, multiple apps and systems were a huge hindrance to productivity and collaboration,” said Shikhar Saxena, Group Product Manager, Meesho. “We are glad to have Slack as a partner where everything happens in one channel, and what used to take a couple of days is now resolved in a matter of hours.”

Slack, which has users in over 150 countries globally, already has a significant following in India – representing one of the largest free user bases for Slack and positioned in its top 10 markets for paid teams globally.

Slack has, in fact, been operating in India for four years, establishing a product engineering team in Pune in 2018 following the company’s acquisition of Astro. The Slack India team has since grown to include a go-to-market function in the last year, and now has over 120 employees across four offices in Pune, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Gurgaon. Indian companies such as Zomato, Dreamsports, Freecharge, Razorpay, and many more are relying on Slack to drive their businesses forward.

Annoyed users cancel Netflix subscriptions during password sharing test

A Netflix experiment to crack down on password sharing outside of households has left users flummoxed, forcing some of them to cancel their subscriptions

A Netflix experiment to crack down on password sharing outside of households has left users flummoxed, as the streaming giant increased subscription fees for such users, forcing some of them to cancel their subscriptions.

In March, Netflix quietly rolled out an experiment among customers in three small markets in Latin America, asking them to pay extra when sharing their account passwords outside their homes.

The streaming giant announced the new password-sharing policy in Peru, Chile, and Costa Rica.

According to global tech news site Rest of World, for some Netflix users, the price increase has been enough to convince them to cancel their accounts outright.

“Others continue to share their accounts across households without any notification of the policy change or have ignored the new rule without facing enforcement,” the report said.

Overall, the lack of clarity around how Netflix determines a “household” and the differing charges levied on different customers have left subscribers in the test confused, “risking action from consumer regulators”.

As the OTT platforms witness a surge in subscriptions amid the pandemic, the problem of password sharing has also grown and resulted in stalled user growth for several players.

The major OTT giants, including Netflix, are working relentlessly to fix the problem of password sharing.

Netflix’s terms of use have always stated that subscribers are not allowed to share accounts outside of their household, but the platform had never previously enforced extra charges for infringing the policy.

For the first time, the company is defining “household” as exclusively people a subscriber lives with, said the report.

Netflix representatives told Rest of World that it knows some subscribers understand “household” as related to immediate family but that it has always defined the term as people living in the same building.

The company said different subscribers might be paying differing charges.

Peru’s consumer rights agency, the National Institute for the Defense of Free Competition and the Protection of Intellectual Property (Indecopi), said that the “differing charges could be considered a way of discriminating against users arbitrarily”.

Netflix saw its stock tumbling by 20 per cent after it reported a loss of 2 lakh paid subscribers in the first quarter of 2022, its first subscriber loss in over a decade.

Moreover, it forecast a global paid subscriber loss of 20 lakh for the April-June quarter (Q2).

Netflix is fast losing long-term subscribers. According to a survey report by The Information, new data show that people who have been subscribers to Netflix for more than three years accounted for 13 per cent of cancellations in the first quarter this year.

Google Assistant develops personalised speech recognition feature

According to 9to5Google, the tool will help Google Assistant get “better at recognising your frequent words and names”

Google Assistant will soon recognise your voice as the company is working on a personalised speech recognition feature.

According to 9to5Google, the tool will help Google Assistant get “better at recognising your frequent words and names.”

The “Personalised speech recognition” feature will appear in Google Assistant settings.

The feature description reads: “Store audio recordings on this device to help Google Assistant get better at recognising what you say. Audio stays on this device and can be deleted any time by turning off personalised speech recognition”.

The upcoming feature looks to expand AT and ML-based improvements beyond “Hey Google” to your actual Assistant commands, “especially those with names (using your voice to message contacts) and frequently spoken words”.

It’s still not clear when this capability will launch.

The feature will allow more advanced recognition of commands and contact names.

Owing to privacy concerns, Google will give users an option in settings to opt out of the personalised speech recognition if they don’t want their voice to be stored.

The virtual assistant software application can now also warn users when they need to change their password, and can even help them change it.

The company had said the new experience would roll out gradually, but it is only about now that more than a handful of users have started to get it on their devices.

Everything you need to know about the drone-as-a-service model

The government has said that wants to make India a global drone hub by 2030. Promoting the drone-as-a-service model is one of the ways to achieve this target. Let us know more about it

As part of the Union Budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said that the government would encourage start-ups to facilitate drone-as-a-service.

Drone-as-a-service enables enterprises to avail of various services from drone companies.

This removes the need for…read more

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg planning to launch NFTs on Instagram

As NFTs are all the rage these days, Mark Zuckerberg is planning to let Instagram users mint NFTs on the social media platform

As NFTs are all the rage these days, Facebook chief executive officer (CEO) Mark Zuckerberg is planning to let Instagram users mint non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the social media platform.

As per The Verge, Mark made the announcement at the session at South By Southwest, but did not provide a specific date for…read more

Apple likely to launch iPhone SE

Tech giant Apple has announced it will be holding a spring special event on March 8 that will focus on a 5G-equipped iPhone SE and an update to the Mac mini

The event will start at 10 a.m. Pacific Time and will be viewable through the normal video streaming venues. This will be Apple’s first special event of 2022, following after the Unleashed event from October 18, reports AppleInsider.

The tech giant has a large raft of rumoured products set to launch throughout 2022.

While some are expected to arrive later in the year, such as the usual fall “iPhone 14” refresh, there’s a collection of products that…read more

Amazon launches Echo Buds 2nd Gen with ANC, hands-free Alexa at Rs 11,999

The Amazon Echo Buds 2nd Gen will be available with wired and wireless charging case, priced at Rs 11,999 and Rs 13,999, respectively

Amazon on Thursday launched in India its second-generation Echo Buds wireless earbuds with active noise cancellation and hands-free Alexa at Rs 11,999. Compatible with Android and iOS phones with support for Google Assistant and Siri through customisable tap controls, the Echo Buds 2nd Gen will be available with wireless charging case at Rs 13,999. Important to note, prices of both the models include limited-period discount of Rs 1,000.

The Echo Buds 2nd Gen boasts a high-performance audio driver for balanced sound with extended dynamic range. According to Amazon, the audio drivers are…read more

Asus 8z launched in India: Know price, specs of compact flagship smartphone

Priced at Rs 42,999, the Asus 8z will be available on home-grown e-commerce platform Flipkart on March 7

Taiwanese smartphone maker Asus on Monday launched in India the Asuz 8z. The smartphone boasts compact design, top-notch specifications, and premium features. Powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 system-on-chip, the smartphone will be available in 8GB RAM and 128GB on-board storage configuration. Priced at Rs 42,999, the smartphone will be available on home-grown e-commerce platform Flipkart from March 7.

Asus 8z: Specifications

The Asus 8z boasts 5.9-inch fullHD+ AMOLED screen (Samsung E4) of 120Hz refresh rate and 240Hz touch sampling rate. The screen supports HDR10+ and is rated to hit…read more

Ukraine creates ‘IT army’ to hack Russian websites amid military operations

Facing massive cyber-attacks from Russia-sponsored threat actors, Ukraine has now assembled an ‘IT army’ tasked with specific cyber challenges

Facing massive cyber-attacks from Russia-sponsored threat actors, Ukraine has now assembled an ‘IT army‘ tasked with specific cyber challenges, which reached nearly 2 lakh users on Telegram on Monday.

Called the ‘IT Army of Ukraine’, it is also using the Telegram account to reach out to technology leaders to help the country fight Russian cyber-attacks and shut down Russian sites and their agents.

“A call out on the channel to shut down the API for Sberbank, one of Russia’s major banks, appears to have come into…read more