vivo on Tuesday launched its budget gaming phone Y20G for Bangladeshi market.

The latest entry in the brand’s youth oriented Y series, Y20G is equipped with a gaming processor and fast charging, said a press release.

Available to buyers throughout the country from retailers and vivo exclusive stores, Y20G is meant for a user-base that likes to play games on their smartphones and still want to use their device for day-to-day activities without having to carry around a power bank.

The G80 gaming processor equipped phone comes with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. The massive 5000mAh battery is supported by 18W fast charging that enables users to charge up the phone up to 70% in just 69 minutes. It also features a side-mounted fingerprint scanner that is lightening fast, unlocking the screen in 0.17 second.

The phone will be available across Bangladesh in two 2.5 D dazzling colors: ‘Obsidian Black’ and ‘Purist Blue’.

Honorable Managing Director of vivo Bangladesh Mr. Duke said; “the Y series is becoming one of the most popular smartphone line-ups in Bangladesh and Y20G further strengthens the series. Designed with on-the-go consumers in mind, the Y20G will provide an “uninterrupted smartphone experience” and “long gaming sessions”.

Battlefields come alive on Y20G

With a Helio G80 octa-core processor, and clock speeds going up to 2.0GHz; Y20G promises to deliver non-stop gaming. The phone features ‘Hyper Engine Game Technology’ that enables dynamic power management.

It also features a brand-new ‘Esports Mode’ and customized audio effects with stereo sound, helping gamers to fully immerse in the experience, and bring those distant worlds and battlefields become truly alive.

Gamers can also activate the ‘do not disturb’ feature that stops distracting alerts and incoming messages.

Long-lasting battery life; 8-hour non-stop gaming

The 5,000mAh (TYP) super capacity battery and 18W Fast Charge technology charges the device up to 70% in just 69 minutes. With AI power-saving technology, a single full charge can provide up to 20 hours of online HD movie streaming or 8 hours of resource-intensive games. The reverse charging feature also covers your other devices when you are out and about.

Unlocking experience by a literal split second with a healthy storage

Side-mounted fingerprint scanner on Y20G unlocks the screen in 0.17 second, making unlocking instantaneous and intuitive. But the software supports face unlock as well with its Face Wake technology.

The Y20G also has plenty of memory and storage with 6GB and128 GB ROM. While the phone comes with a respectable memory and storage, the triple card slot will support memory expansion of up to 1TB.

Quality photography with super macro capabilities

Y20's AI Triple Macro Camera is supported by a wide range of features, including Face Beauty, Portrait Light Effects and Filters. The 2MP Bokeh camera delivers accurate and sophisticated results, thanks to the updated bokeh algorithm. Super macro camera can discover tiny and exciting worlds full of gems hidden right before your eyes with a focus that draws as close as 4cm. With a main 13MP rear camera, an f/2.2 large aperture, and PDAF technology, every detail will shine.

Experience enhanced

The 6.51-inch Halo FullView Display with an HD+ (1600×720) resolution offers a bigger and immersive view, and with the latest In-cell technology, the display is more colorful too. It has Eye Protection Mode that filters out harmful blue light to protect your eyesight when switched on.

Y20G also has Multi-turbo 3.0 that focuses on optimizing core scenes to reduce stuttering and lag in games. The Funtouch OS11 has two other features: AI Albums and iManager to support various other routine functions of a smartphone. With the AI editor, you can create stylish videos and quickly share them on social media. iManager acts as a personal mobile butler that frees vivo users from boring everyday tasks such as cleaning up your phone or scanning for issues at night.

The smartphone is available for Tk17990 throughout the country at various authorized vivo outlets and the e-commerce site named Pickaboo, G&G, Othoba, Robi-Shop.

Spacewalking astronauts ventured out Sunday to install support frames for new, high-efficiency solar panels arriving at the International Space Station later this year.

NASA’s Kate Rubins and Victor Glover put the first set of mounting brackets and struts together, then bolted them into place next to the station’s oldest and most degraded solar wings. But the work took longer than expected, and they barely got started on the second set before calling it quits.

Rubins will finish the job during a second spacewalk later this week.

The spacewalkers had to lug out the hundreds of pounds of mounting brackets and struts in 8-foot (2.5-meter) duffle-style bags. The equipment was so big and awkward that it had to be taken apart like furniture, just to get through the hatch.

Some of the attachment locations required extra turns of the power drill and still weren’t snug enough, as indicated by black lines. The astronauts had to use a ratchet wrench to deal with the more stubborn bolts, which slowed them down. At one point, they were two hours behind.

“Whoever painted this black line painted outside the lines a little bit,” Glover said at one particularly troublesome spot.

“We’ll work on our kindergarten skills over here,” Mission Control replied, urging him to move on.

With more people and experiments flying on the space station, more power will be needed to keep everything running, according to NASA. The six new solar panels — to be delivered in pairs by SpaceX over the coming year or so — should boost the station’s electrical capability by as much as 30%.

Rubins and Glover tackled the struts for the first two solar panels, due to launch in June. Their spacewalk ended up lasting seven hours, a bit longer than planned.

“Really appreciate your hard work. I know there were a lot of challenges,” Mission Control radioed.

The eight solar panels up there now are 12 to 20 years old — most of them past their design lifetime and deteriorating. Each panel is 112 feet (34 meters) long by 39 feet (12 meters) wide. Tip to tip counting the center framework, each pair stretches 240 feet (73 meters), longer than a Boeing 777′s wingspan.

Boeing is supplying the new roll-up panels, about half the size of the old ones but just as powerful thanks to the latest solar cell technology. They’ll be placed at an angle above the old ones, which will continue to operate.

A prototype was tested at the space station in 2017.

Rubins’ helmet featured a new high-definition camera that provided stunning views, particularly those showing the vivid blue Earth 270 miles (435 kilometers) below. “Pretty fantastic,” observed Mission Control.

Sunday’s spacewalk was the third for infectious disease specialist Rubins and Navy pilot Glover — both of whom could end up flying to the moon.

They’re among 18 astronauts newly assigned to NASA’s Artemis moon-landing program. The next moonwalkers will come from this group.

Last week, Vice President Kamala Harris put in a congratulatory call to Glover, the first African American astronaut to live full time at the space station. NASA released the video exchange Saturday.

“The history making that you are doing, we are so proud of you,” Harris said. Like other firsts, Glover replied, it won’t be the last. “We want to make sure that we can continue to do new things,” he said.

Rubins will float back out Friday with Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi to wrap up the solar panel prep work, and to vent and relocate ammonia coolant hoses.

Glover and Noguchi were among four astronauts arriving via SpaceX in November. Rubins launched from Kazakhstan in October alongside two Russians. They’re all scheduled to return to Earth this spring

Zoom’s astronomical growth is tapering off along with the pandemic, raising questions about whether the videoconferencing service’s immense popularity will fade as more people return to classrooms, offices and other places that have been off limits for the past year.

The deceleration emerged in an otherwise impressive quarterly earnings report released Monday. The stellar results capped a year in which Zoom’s name became synonymous with the way millions of people have been forced to gather in online video panels while being corralled at home.

Also read: Zoom reports big 3Q gains, but slowing growth sinks stock

Although Zoom continued to enjoy robust gains from November through January, its subscriber increases were significantly smaller than in each of the previous three quarters that unfolded during pandemic life.

Despite that widely anticipated slowdown, both Zoom's quarterly earnings and revenue easily topped analysts' projections, as did management's forecast for the February-April period and the upcoming year. Those numbers helped lift Zoom's stock price by nearly 9% in Monday's extended trading, still leaving the shares well below their highs reached last autumn.

The deceleration in subscriber growth, which began late last summer, is causing some investors to fret that Zoom won’t be able to sustain its momentum as more people get vaccinated and life starts to revert to pre-pandemic patterns later this year.

Those concerns are the main reason Zoom’s once soaring stock price has dropped by about 30% from its peak reached last October. If the rally in Monday's extended trading is replicated in Tuesday's regular session, Zoom's stock will still be worth more than five times what it was at the end of 2019.

Zoom finished January with 467,100 customers with at least 10 employees that were paying for the subscription version of its service. That was an increase of 33,400 customers from the previous quarter ending in October, far below the gains ranging from 63,500 subscribers to 183,500 subscribers in the previous three quarters of operation during the pandemic.

“Zoom has had an amazing year, but all good things must come to an end," said Nucleus Research analyst Trevor White. “The fundamental problem remains, however: Zoom is not going to be able to keep up with the growth that it has seen."

Also read: The growing popularity of Zoom in Bangladesh during COVID-19

Even so, Zoom is far larger, more profitable and better known than it was before the pandemic upended society and turned its videoconferencing into staple. The San Jose, California, company now has nearly six times more subscribers than it did a year ago while its annual revenue that has quadrupled to $2.65 billion during the past fiscal year.

In its most recent quarter, Zoom posted revenue of $882 million, more than quadrupling from the same time in the previous year. The company turned a profit of $260 million in the last quarter compared to $15 million during the same period in the prior year.

Realizing that the demand for videoconferencing won’t be as great after the pandemic is over, Zoom has been introducing other features such as an internet phone service for voice-only calls in hopes of bringing in more money. The company disclosed Monday that the phone service now has 10,700 customers, most of whom also subscribe to its videoconferencing service.

Chief Financial Officer Kelly Steckelberg said she believes videoconferencing will remain a key communications tool for most people who latched on to it during the pandemic.

“As we progress to the world reopening, people have now integrated it into their lives in the way they work, in the way they learn, the way that they socialize," Steckelberg told The Associated Press in an interview. “That is not just going to change."

Also read: Singapore stops Zoom for online education as hackers strike

With $4.2 billion in cash and a still-valuable stock, Zoom also now has the wherewithal to expand into other areas through acquisitions, said Third Bridge analyst Scott Kessler. Steckelberg acknowledged the company is “constantly looking at opportunities" to expand.

Zoom also is counting on many businesses to hold on to their videoconferencing subscriptions even after their offices reopen so some employees can continue to work remotely part of the time

Even so, “it would seem offices will be used more and Zoom will be used less," Kessler said.

Zoom believes the success of videoconferencing during the pandemic will encourage companies to hold more meetings online instead of requiring employees to travel from different locations to convene in one physical location.

 

The techno-enthusiasts are eagerly waiting for the latest phones built by the reputed Smartphone manufacturing brands. However, in the first two months of 2021, only a few phones were launched. Surprisingly the March is going to rock with a bunch of fresh phones developed by popular local and international brands. Let's check out the coming soon smartphones of March 2021.

New Mobile Phones Launching in March 2021

realme GT 5G

realme’s latest phone GT 5G is going to be launched on March 4, 2021, in China. This phone features a 6.8-inch 160HZ OLED display. The most amazing attribute is its QHD (1440 x 3200 pixels) resolution with 516 PPI density. Built with Qualcomm Snapdragon’s 888 chipset, realme GT 5G runs on realme UI 2 OS based on Android 11. The realme GT sports a 64MP prime rear camera with 4K video recording option. This phone is powered by 5000mAh battery provided with a 125Wfast charging unit.

Also read: Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro 5G: Midrange Smartphone with 108MP Camera 

Redmi K40 Series

Redmi releases two phones under the Redmi K40series; those are, Redmi K40, and Redmi K40 Plus. Both phones will debut in China on 4th March this year.

Redmi K40 comes with a 6.67-inch display featuring a 120HZ refresh rate, a Super AMOLED panel, and 1300 nit brightness. K40 has Full HD resolution with 395 PPI density. The display is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5.  This phone is equipped with Snapdragon 870 5G chipset. Here you get a 48MP prime rear camera with a 20MP front camera. This phone bears a 4520mAh battery with a 33W charger.

The Redmi K40 Pro shares almost similar features to the K40 except for the processor and camera section. The Pro version is blessed with Snapdragon 888 chipset and 64MP prime rear camera.

Also read: Infinix Hot 10 Review with Official Price in Bangladesh

Asus ROG Phone 5

Asus is expected to launch ROG Phone 5 on 10th March in China. Its 6.78-inch display bears an AMOLED panel with a 144 Hz refresh rate. This phone has a Full HD resolution with 380PPI density. Asus ROG Phone 5 is built with Snapdragon 888 SoC. This gaming phone comes with a 6000 mAh battery with a 65W fast charging adapter.

Read Best Upcoming Phones 2021

POCO X3 Pro

Poco X3 NFC was one of the most popular phones released in 2020. Now, its Pro version is set to launch in India in March. POCO X3 Pro runs on Android v11 OS. It is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 nm Chipset, 750G 5G. This Xiaomi phone has 6 GB RAM with 128 GB internal storage.

Also read: vivo drives innovation prioritising local users

In this phone, Xiaomi provides 6.67-inch IPS LCD display with 120HZ, refresh rate, Full HD resolution (1080 x 2400 Pixels), and 395ppi pixel density. The most wonderful feature of this phone is the 108MP prime rear camera with a 16MP front camera. It is supported by a 5000 mAh battery.

Redmi Note 10 Series

Redmi Note 10 series will be launched globally on March 4, 2021. In this series, buyers may get 3 phones: Redmi Note 10, 10s, and 10 Pro.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro runs on Android 10 (Q) OS. Its Octa-core processor is enriched with Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G Chipset. In the memory section, Xiaomi offers 6 GB RAM with 64 GB internal storage. Note 10 Pro comes with an IPS LCD panel featuring Full HD resolution with 393PPI pixel density. This phone is going to impress the Xiaomi fans with a 32 MP Primary Camera and a 64MP rear camera.

Also read: realme named among top 4 smartphone brands in Bangladesh

Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite

Xiaomi has released Mi 11 a few months ago. Its ‘lite’ version is set to launch in March in India.  Here you get 6.67-inch IPS LCD display with a 120Hz refresh rate. It has a Full HD resolution with 395PPI density.  In this phone, the buyers will get Qualcomm Snapdragon’s 732G chipset. In the camera section, Mi 10 Lite sports a 64MP main rear shooter with a 16MP selfie camera. This phone bears a 5000mAh battery.

Also read: Realme grows over 50% for 2 years

Realme 8 Series

It is rumored that realme 8 is going to be launched in India in the March of 2021. This mobile phone runs on the Android 11 operating system. Its CPU features an Octa-core processor bearing MediaTek MT6853 Chipset. Here you get 8 GB RAM and 128 GB internal storage. This phone offers a 6.5-inch IPS LCD display with Full HD resolution and 405PPI density. On camera segment, realme offers a 64 MP Primary rear Camera, with a 16MP front camera. It is backed by a 5000 mAh battery.

Coming Soon Phones on March in Bangladesh

Oppo F19 Series

The rumor goes that Oppo F19 series will be launched in March. There is a huge possibility that these mobiles would be available in Bangladesh too. In this series, you get Oppo F19 and Opp F19 Pro.

Oppo F19 Pro runs on an Octa-Core processor holding MediaTek’s Helio P95 Chipset. It offers 8 GB RAM and 128 GB internal storage. This phone operates on Android 11 OS. Here the buyers get a Super AMOLED display with Full HD resolution (1080 by 2400 Pixels) and 409PPI pixel density. On camera segment, the F19 Pro offers a quad-camera setup with a 64 MP Primary rear Camera. Interestingly, this new Oppo device comes with a dual front camera with a 16MP prime selfie shooter. This phone is backed by a 4215 mAh battery.

Read Oppo Reno5 Full Review with Price in Bangladesh

realme Narzo 30

After the huge success of realme Narzo 20, the renowned Smartphone manufacturing brand realme released its successor Narzo 30 in India. It is expected that this mobile will be soon available in Bangladesh.

Here you get 6.5-inch IPS LCD display with a Full HD display and 405PPI density. Narzo 30 offers a 120Hz refresh rate which would be a gift for the gamers. The display is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 3. This latest realme phone rocks with MediaTek’s 7nm chipset MT6873 Dimensity 800U 5G coupled with Mali G-57 MC3 GPU. Though being a gaming phone, Narzo 30 offers a triple rear camera setup with a 48MP prime rear camera. On the front side, it has a 16MP selfie shooter. This phone is provided with Li-Po 5000 mAh battery and 30W Dart charger. 

Read Xiaomi POCO M3 Official Price in Bangladesh with Full Review

Infinix Note 8i

The Infinix phones always surprise the users with exciting features under reasonable price ranges. In the last quarter of 2020, Infinix launched its latest innovation Note 8i. The Infinix fans will get this phone in Bangladesh this month.

Infinix Note 8i comes with 6.78-inch IPS LCD display. It has HD+ (720 by 1640 pixels) resolution with 264PPI density. It offers a 48MP prime rear camera with an 8MP selfie sensor. Here you get 128GB internal memory with 4 to 6GB RAM. In this phone, you can shoot a maximum of 1440p footage at 30fps. Its CPU is built with Octa-core Processor with Mediatek’s 12nm Helio G80 SoC. In the graphic unit, it bears the Mali G-52 Mc2 graphic card. Note 8i is powered by Li-Po 5200mAh battery with an 18W Fast Charging Adapter.

Read OnePlus Nord N10 5G Price in Bangladesh with Full Review

Facebook announced on Friday preliminary agreements with three Australian publishers, a day after the Parliament passed a law that would make the digital giants pay for news.

Facebook said letters of intent had been signed with independent news organizations Private Media, Schwartz Media and Solstice Media.

The commercial agreements are subject to the signing of full agreements within the next 60 days, a Facebook statement said.

“These agreements will bring a new slate of premium journalism, including some previously paywalled content, to Facebook,” the statement said.

Schwartz Media chief executive Rebecca Costello said the deal would help her company continue to produce independent journalism.

“It’s never been more important than it is now to have a plurality of voices in the Australian press,” Costello said.

Private Media chief executive Will Hayward said the new deal built on an existing Facebook partnership.

Australia's Parliament on Thursday had passed the final amendments to the so-called News Media Bargaining Code.

In return for the changes, Facebook agreed to lift a six-day-old ban on Australians accessing and sharing news. Access to Australian news sites did not appear to be fully restored until Friday.

Also read: Facebook oversight board to start operating in October

Google, the only other digital giant targeted by the legislation, has already struck content licensing deals, or is close to deals, with some of Australia’s biggest news publishers including Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. and Seven West Media.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the new Australian law was critical to the deals that Australian media businesses were negotiating with the two gateways to the internet.

Under the law, if a platform can't reach agreement with a news business, an arbitration panel can be appointed to set a legally binding price for journalism.

Also read: Facebook says it will lift its Australian news ban soon

"Global tech giants are changing the world, but we can’t let them run the world,” Morrison told reporters.

“People in free societies like Australia, who go to ballot boxes and who go and they vote, that’s who should run the world,” Morrison added.

Facebook Vice President of Global Affairs Nick Clegg on Wednesday took a veiled swipe at News Corp. in a social media post criticizing Australia’s law, which is aimed at setting a fair price for the Australian journalism that the digital platforms display.

“It is ironic that some of the biggest publishers that have long advocated for free markets and voluntary commercial undertakings now appear to be in favor of state sponsored price setting,” the former British deputy prime minister wrote.

News Corp. Australia executive chairman Michael Miller said last week that his company had pay negotiations with Facebook.

Also read: Facebook Q4 results soar; Zuckerberg hits Apple over privacy

“Having been someone who’s dealt with Facebook over the past months, we have some weeks where we’re getting good engagement and think we’re progressing and then you get silence. I think the door is still open,” Miller told a Senate inquiry into Australian media diversity.

News Corp. owns most of Australia’s major newspapers, and some analysts argue the U.S.-based international media empire is the driver for the conservative Australian government making Facebook and Google pay. News Corp. has announced a wide-ranging deal with Google covering operations in the United States and Britain as well as Australia.