Realme C3 review: Good performance overall, but camera disappoints

This smartphone could be a good option for those looking for a performer, but if you are looking for Instagram-worthy pictures, you might not be impressed

Technology News: After launching several smartphones last year, Chinese smartphone brand Realme is continuing to bring more smartphones to the Indian market. After the Realme 5i, the company has brought the Realme C3, aimed at those who love to binge-watch movies and web series.

The Realme C3 comes with some notable software and hardware upgrades over the Realme C2, including MediaTek’s Helio G70 Processor chipset and a 5,000-mAh battery. In the first impression, we felt the smartphone was worthy of some praise but we couldn’t just do that at its face value, so we used the phone for a few days and here is what we found:

Design and display

The phone’s textured back panel is a deviation from the usual gradient design we see in most smartphones these days. Apart from that, the phone is lightweight, despite a 5, 000mAh battery. The power and volume buttons are on the right and left sides, respectively. But they are very sleek, hence a bit difficult to locate. The phone has a tray for two Nano-SIMs and a microSD card. There are a Micro-USB port, a 3.5mm audio jack, and a loudspeaker at the conventional bottom position. Despite 195g weight, the Realme C3 feels light. The phone is available in Frozen Blue and Blazing Red colour options. When it comes to display, the smartphone has a 6.5-inch LCD screen with 1,600 x 720 pixel resolution, 20:9 aspect ratio, and 89.8 percent screen-to-body ratio. The screen has Gorilla Glass 3 protection.

Walt Disney’s weapon against Netflix and Amazon in India: Hotstar

Hotstar reported 300 million monthly active users last year

When Walt Disney Co’s Disney+ streaming service makes its debut in India on March 29, it will enjoy the luxury of home-court advantage: Hotstar. Disney’s control of Hotstar, which it acquired through the $71 billion purchase of Twenty-First Century Fox in 2019, gives Disney+’s entrance into the Indian market in partnership with Hotstar hundreds of millions of potential subscribers it can attract.

Hotstar reported 300 million monthly active users last year. Most of these are users of the free, advertising-supported service and Disney has said it is aiming to convert many of these users into paying subscribers. Disney could use the help as the streaming video war is waged on the global stage this year against rivals Netflix Inc and Amazon.com Inc. India is widely viewed as one of the biggest source of new subscribers.

Hotstar’s paid service includes shows from a spectrum of international programmers including AT&T Inc’s HBO, whose offerings include “Game of Thrones” and “Chernobyl” as well as popular live sports content like Premier League soccer. Disney+ Hotstar, will have two tiers of pricing where the premium variant will include its original programming like “Star Wars” TV series “The Mandalorian” and “WandaVision” and “Loki” from Marvel…

Sacred Games 2 to Leila: Here’s what Indians are watching on Netflix

Five of the ten most popular shows such as Bard of Blood, Delhi Crime, and Typewriter are Indian

The second season of Sacred Games was the most popular series on Netflix in India in 2019. The $15.8-billion Netflix, which is available in 160 million homes across 190 countries, rarely shares viewership data. This week, the firm released a list of the most popular series and movies released on its platform in India.

Five of the ten most popular shows such as Bard of Blood, Delhi Crime, and Typewriter are Indian. The rest are an eclectic mix of international shows. There is science-fiction horror show Stranger Things (Season 3) and the witty Sex Education, among others. On the other hand, four of the top ten films are Netflix movies — Drive, House Arrest, 6 Underground, and Chopsticks. Not surprisingly,

as percentage of the overall time spent on Netflix globally, film viewing in India is the highest. About one-fourth of the television time is spent on watching movies. The ranking is based on the “number of accounts choosing to watch at least two minutes of a series, movie or special during its first 28 days on Netflix in 2019,” says a Netflix release. The same methodology is used to calculate its daily Top 10 lists in the UK and Mexico.

Can Apple TV+ make a dent in Indian OTT with its aggressive pricing?

At Rs 99 a month, Apple TV+ looks like a real steal, but its growth here also depends on local content and distribution

Apple may be late to the game, but its entry into internet video streaming is bound to cause ripples and shake up the status quo. Last week, the Cupertino-based tech giant unveiled Apple TV+, its over-the-top (OTT) video service that will be available on Apple devices, a bunch of smart TVs and third-party streaming services. Apple TV+ will hit the screens on 1 November.

The move pits Apple TV against Netflix, the global force in OTTs, Amazon Prime Video, Roku and many strong local players. Only a few months earlier, The Walt Disney Co, one of the biggest content studios and production houses on the planet, said it was getting into OTT with Disney+, that is set to launch also in November.

India already has over 30 OTTs fighting aggressively for customer’s wallet-share and screen-time, and Apple’s success in the region would depend on it turns the levers of pricing, local content and distribution.

At the Cupertino launch, Apple trumped audience with its pricing strategy. In India, the OTT service is priced at Rs 99 a month, making it one of the cheapest here, and marks a huge departure from the exuberant pricing Apple is known for. For perspective, Netflix starts at Rs 499 a month, Hotstar at Rs 299 a month while Amazon Prime Video is priced at Rs 129 a month. Only Zee5 and SonyLiv have plans starting at Rs 99 a month…

Google, Uber, Twitter, Netflix & FB band up to challenge Trump travel ban

 

LATEST NEWS|The Trump administration could soon be facing another legal spoiler with Google, Facebook, Uber, Twitter, Netflix and other prominent tech companies planning to file a legal brief opposing the President's travel ban, reported the Washington Post while citing people familiar with the issue.

However, the report said that Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft were not party to the brief.

Citing sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity, the report said that Pinterest, Yelp, Square, Reddit, Kickstarter, Github, Glassdoor, Box, Mozilla, Dropbox, Twilio, Zynga, Medium, Pinterest, and Salesforce were some of the other companies which could be backing the filing. The filing was still being finalised as of Sunday.

The Washington Post accessed a draft of the filing, which said that President Donald Trump's entry ban – which targeted individuals from seven Muslim-majority countries, barring them from entering the US for at least 90 days, and suspended the US refugee programme – was discriminatory. The amicus brief, the report added, is expected to be filed with the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

The possible legal challenge comes at a time when, on Sunday, a federal appeals court rejected a request by the Justice Department to immediately restore President Trump’s targeted travel ban, deepening a legal showdown over his authority to tighten the nation’s borders in the name of protecting Americans from terrorism. In the legal back and forth over the travel ban, the United States District Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco said a reply from the Trump administration was due on Monday.

The administration was fighting Seattle federal judge James Robart's decision on Friday that imposed a nationwide, albeit temporary, halt on Trump's travel ban order.

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