New Delhi: State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has issued a tender to launch 5G services in Delhi, that aims to provide service to 100,000 registered subscribers, a report in the Financial Express has said. BSNL has sought bids from network providers and gear makers to roll out indigenous 5G in standalone (SA) architecture across 1,876 sites, the FE, that has accessed the tender document has said. The 5G service, FE has said, will be deployed on a revenue share model, where the bidder will be responsible for capital expenditure (capex) and operating expenses. How To Check BSNL 4G Network Coverage In Your Area? Check Step-By-Step Process BSNL has yet not completed its full-fledged 4G services pan-India. Meanwhile, in order to trace BSNL mobile signals/network across the country, you can use few simple steps. You can use any popular network coverage checking website like opensignal or nperf to check network coverage of the telecom operator in your area, region, city. To test the telecom coverage in your area, open nperf in either your phone or PC 1. Choose ‘Coverage Map’ to find out mobile coverage in your area 2. In the country bar, select India 3. In the Carrier Bar –select your telecom operator BSNL  4. And Now click on the ‘Network Coverage’ Icons of six different colors will be shown below. Here the gray icon means no-network for you. Similarly Blue Icon means 2G Connectivity, Green icon represents 3G network, orange icon represents 4G network and maroon Icon represents 4G+ network. Alternatively, you can also see the status of 5G connectivity through the purple icon. You can search the name of your city or area in the search bar that appears below the country tab. Once you select the name of your city, area or region and click on ‘network connectivity’, you can check the network coverage status in your area

New Delhi: Elon Musk-run X social media platform has started to launch an update that will allow people you’ve blocked to continue to see your posts and your followers’ lists.  According to the company, If your posts are set to public, accounts you have blocked can see your posts. “We’re starting to launch the block function update,” said X Engineering in a post. “However, they cannot engage (like, reply, repost, etc.) with your posts,” according to X guidelines. Block is a feature that helps you control how you interact with other accounts on X. This feature helps people in restricting specific accounts from following, Direct Messaging, and engaging with them. The tech billionaire had earlier claimed that stopping people from seeing your public posts “makes no sense.” Now, X is rolling out its controversial update to the block feature, allowing people to view your public posts even if you have blocked them. “Accounts you have blocked cannot follow you, and you cannot follow an account you have blocked. Blocking an account you are currently following will cause you to unfollow that account (and them to unfollow you). If you decide to unblock that account, you will have to follow that account again,” according to X. Blocked users still can’t follow the person who has blocked them, engage with their posts, or send direct messages to them. Meanwhile, software engineer Tracy Chou has built an app that lets users automate blocking, saying that even though users can get around the block by creating other accounts, friction matters. “Making it easy for the creeper to creep is not a good thing,” she said in a post on X. The social network has argued that the block feature can be used to share and hide harmful or private information about someone. However, people have protested this change.

New Delhi: BSNL has completed the Direct-to-Device (D2D) technology testing, following which consumers can make audio and video calls without a SIM card or conventional network when this technology is implemented. Additionally, it seeks to provide uninterrupted access, even in isolated locations or during network failures. What is D2D service? In collaboration with international satellite communication company Viasat, BSNL has finished testing its Direct-to-Device (D2D) technology. According to Viasat, direct-to-device connection, which allows smartphones, smartwatches, and even cars to connect directly to a satellite network, is a ground-breaking technology. Regardless of location, the technology provides reliable connectivity for devices and personal communications. As a result of this advancement, wider coverage and reliable communication for users are anticipated, particularly in underserved and distant areas. Due to the Direct-to-Device service’s satellite communication foundation, devices can connect directly without the use of cable connections or mobile towers. Like satellite phones, this new technology works with cell phones running iOS and Android. Thanks to it, smartwatches, smartphones, and other smart devices may communicate more easily. Successful trial of D2D technology BSNL tested its technologies during the India Mobile Congress. Using Non-Terrestrial Network connectivity, BSNL, and Viasat were able to successfully test SOS and two-way texting on a commercial Android smartphone during the trial. A crucial first step toward continuous communication was the trial’s phone conversation made from a satellite 36,000 kilometers away. Now that D2D technology has been successfully tested, BSNL is in a position to compete for satellite connectivity services against other telecom behemoths like Airtel, Jio, and Vodafone-Idea. D2D service to let users make calls without a SIM card With direct-to-device service, consumers can make video and audio calls without a regular network or SIM card. The service will make it possible for smartphones, smartwatches, and even cars to establish a direct connection with a satellite network.  For people to access resources, communicate, and prosper in the digital age, direct-to-device service will provide consumers with greater coverage and reliable communication, particularly in rural and underserved areas. In the future, D2D services carry a future promise of being a lifesaver in dire situations like catastrophes or natural disasters. By enabling support and enhancing aid in rescuing people in dangerous situations, the service seeks to provide a crucial lifeline.

Apple New Chipsets: Apple’s M4, M4 Pro, and M4 Max chipsets set new standards for professional performance, combining power efficiency with advanced AI capabilities. It is built on cutting-edge 3-nanometer technology, these chips provide unmatched speed and multitasking, catering to the demands of entrepreneurs, data scientists, 3D artists, composers and developers, making complex workflows faster and more efficient than ever. According to Apple, the CPUs across the M4 family feature the world’s fastest CPU core, delivering the industry’s best single-threaded performance, and dramatically faster multithreaded performance. The GPUs build on the breakthrough graphics architecture introduced in the previous generation, with faster cores and a 2x faster ray-tracing engine. M4 Pro and M4 Max enable Thunderbolt 5 for the Mac for the first time, and unified memory bandwidth is greatly increased — up to 75 per cent. Adding further, the M4, M4 Pro, and M4 Max chipsets are designed with Apple Intelligence at their core, marking a new era for Mac. Apple Intelligence integrates powerful generative models with pioneering privacy features, leveraging Apple silicon and the Neural Engine to enable users to work, communicate, and create in entirely new ways. “Combined with a Neural Engine that’s up to 2x faster than the previous generation and enhanced machine learning (ML) accelerators in the CPUs, the M4 family of chips brings incredible performance for pro and AI workloads,” said the company. M4 features an up to 10-core CPU, with four performance cores and up to six efficiency cores. It’s up to 1.8x faster than M1, so multitasking across apps like Safari and Excel is lightning fast. A 10-core GPU provides incredible graphics performance, up to 2x faster than M1, making everything from editing photos to AAA gameplay exceptionally fast and smooth. M4 supports up to 32GB of unified memory and has a higher memory bandwidth of 120GB/s. M4 Pro takes the advanced technologies debuted in M4 and scales them up for researchers, developers, engineers, creative pros, and other users with more demanding workflows. It features an up to 14-core CPU consisting of up to 10 performance cores and four efficiency cores. It’s up to 1.9x faster than the CPU of M1 Pro, and up to 2.1x faster than the latest AI PC chip. M4 Pro supports up to 64GB of fast unified memory and 273GB/s of memory bandwidth, which is a massive 75 per cent increase over M3 Pro and 2x the bandwidth of any AI PC chip. M4 Max is the ultimate choice for data scientists, 3D artists, and composers who push pro workflows to the limit. It has an up to 16-core CPU, with up to 12 performance cores and four efficiency cores. It’s up to 2.2x faster than the CPU in M1 Max and up to 2.5x faster than the latest AI PC chip. M4 Max supports up to 128GB of fast unified memory and up to 546GB/s of memory bandwidth, which is 4x the bandwidth of the latest AI PC chip. This allows developers to easily interact with large language models that have nearly 200 billion parameters. M4, M4 Pro, and M4 Max are built for Apple Intelligence, according to the company. (With IANS Inputs)

OnePlus Pad 2 India Price: The OnePlus Pad 2, launched as a premium tablet in India back in July, is now available at a substantial discount on Amazon. The premium tablet is offered in an 8GB+128GB model and a 12GB+256GB storage variant. The premium tablet arrives as the successor to the original OnePlus Pad. The tablet launched at Rs 39,999 for the 8GB+128GB variant, while the 12GB+256GB model was priced at Rs 42,999. OnePlus Pad 2 Tablet Discount Price In India And Availability Now, OnePlus is now selling the tablet at a discounted price of Rs 37,999 and Rs 40,999 for the different storage variants. Consumers can purchase the tablet via Amazon and the OnePlus website. Notably, this is a straight-up Rs 2,000 discount on the selling price. OnePlus Pad 2 Tablet Bank Discount In India To further reduce the price, there is an instant Rs 3,000 bank discount available for ICICI, Kotak, and RBL cardholders. This discount lowers the cost to Rs 34,999 for the base model and Rs 37,999 for the top-end variant.  OnePlus Pad 2 Specifications The premium tablet features a 12.1-inch 3K IPS LCD panel with support for Dolby Vision, a 144Hz refresh rate with a 3000×2120 resolution. The display offers a high 303 PPI resolution and a versatile refresh rate that can adjust between 144Hz, 120Hz, 90Hz, 60Hz, 50Hz, 48Hz, and 30Hz.  With a peak brightness of 600 nits (reaching 900 nits in High Brightness Mode), the screen is well-suited for various lighting conditions. It is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, which should offer top-end performance for gaming and regular use.   The tablet is equipped with a 9150mAh battery with 67W fast charging support. On the optics front, there is a 13MP shooter on the rear and an 8MP snapper on the front for video chats. The tablet also features an Open Canvas and an AI Toolbox for enhanced functionality. It runs on OxygenOS 14.1. For connectivity, the tablet supports Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Type-C ports, with a Type-C audio device port for seamless connectivity.   

New Delhi: More than half of smartphones shipped in 2028 are projected to be GenAI capable, as broader use cases continue to emerge and availability expands across price segments, according to a new report.  The global smartphone market has reached maturity, and shipments are expected to remain stable in the coming years. Growth will likely be driven by emerging markets like India, MEA and Southeast Asia. “We expect smartphone revenues to continue to grow through 2028 as the premiumisation trend continues across markets. New technologies like GenAI and foldables are also likely to drive average selling price (ASP) growth as adoption rates rise,” said Counterpoint Research Director Tarun Pathak. While the smartphone market has enjoyed strong YoY growth over the last few quarters, it is mainly due to a recovery in macroeconomic conditions and consumer demand. While shipment growth may have slowed in recent quarters, global smartphone revenue growth accelerated in Q3 2024, recording 10 per cent YoY growth to reach the highest-ever levels for a third quarter. Apple led the market in smartphone revenues capturing a 43 per cent share and recording its highest-ever Q3 revenues, shipments, and ASPs. A slightly earlier launch of the iPhone 16 series, a product mix increasingly favouring Pro versions and continued expansion in non-core markets drove Apple’s success in Q3, said Research Director Jeff Fieldhack. With most major brands recording strong revenue growth, the $400 and above segment gained a net 2% per cent share YoY in Q3 2024. The ongoing premiumisation wave, observed across regions, has incentivised OEMs to rethink their premium portfolio and device financing strategies. The report expects the premiumisation trend to continue in the coming years and project global smartphone ASPs to rise at a CAGR of 3 per cent from 2023 through 2028.