Tech Bites

ISRO on Monday successfully launched its maiden X-Ray Polarimeter Satellite that would offer several insights into celestial objects like black holes. ISRO's ever reliable Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) in its C58 mission, placed the primary X-Ray Polarimeter satellite XPoSat into a 650 km Low Earth Orbit as intended after lifting off at the pre-fixed time of 9.10 am from the first launch pad in Sriharikota. As the 25-hour countdown concluded, the 44.4-metre-tall rocket lifted off majestically with thunderous applause from spectators who had descended here in large numbers at this spaceport situated about 135 km east of Chennai. PSLV-C58/XPoSat Mission: Lift-off normal ? ?️XPoSat satellite is launched successfully. ?PSLV-C58 vehicle placed the satellite precisely into the intended orbit of 650 km with 6-degree inclination?. The POEM-3 is being scripted ... #XPoSat — ISRO (@isro) January 1, 2024 The X-ray Polarimeter Satellite (XPoSat) is aimed to investigate

ISRO’s recently launched space observatory satellite, the XPoSat or X-ray Polarimeter Satellite is one that has been completely designed by the women scientists and engineers, working at ISRO, Mission Director Dr Jayakumar M has revealed. Speaking at a press conference after the successful launch of the XPoSat, and several other payloads on board the PSLV-C58 rocket from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikotta, the Dr Jayakumar said, “We are extremely happy to see the grand success of the launch of the PSLV. XPoSat is a space observatory.” #WATCH | On ISRO’s PSLV-C58 XPoSat Mission launch, Mission Director Dr Jayakumar M says “XPoSat is a space observatory…This is a totally women-engineered satellite for comparison of Solar irradiance and UV index. This showcases women’s empowerment in the field of science and… pic.twitter.com/FOlLgSOM9R — ANI (@ANI) January 1, 2024 He added, “What makes this more interesting, is the host of new technologies that is getting demonstrated i

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is gearing up for a groundbreaking start to 2024 with the launch of its maiden X-ray Polarimeter Satellite (XPoSat), a space-based observatory designed to explore X-ray polarization and its cosmic sources, including celestial entities like black holes, neutron stars, and magnetars. Scheduled to lift off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota at 9:10 am on Monday, the PSLV-C58 rocket will carry the primary payload, XPoSat, along with 10 other satellites destined for deployment in low-earth orbits. XPoSat’s Mission XPoSat stands as the world’s second X-ray polarimetry mission, following NASA’s launch of the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) in 2021. Notably, XPoSat will operate within the medium X-ray band, distinguishing it from IXPE, which focuses on the soft X-ray band. If successful, India will secure its position as the second country globally to launch an advanced astronomy observatory dedicated to studying the i

Nothing Phone 2a is expected to be unveiled at the Mobile World Congress 2024. Over the past few weeks, details of a new smartphone from Nothing have surfaced online. The UK-based OEM is said to be working on the Nothing Phone 2a, which is likely to launch with trimmed specifications as compared to the company's last handset, the Nothing Phone 2 . Design renders alongside several key features of the purported phone have been tipped previously. Now, a tipster has suggested the price, colour options, and RAM and storage configurations of the Nothing Phone 2a. Tipster Roland Quandt (@rquandt) shared in a post on X that the Nothing Phone 2a is likely to launch in Black and White colour options. He also claimed that the base variant of the smartphone with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of onboard storage could be priced below EUR 400 (roughly Rs. 36,800). The tipster added that the handset could also be available in a 12GB + 256GB variant but did not hint at a price range for this option.  No

We already looked at the best flagship phones of 2023. They are great to dream about and drool over (yes, all of them are splash resistant), but in reality, not many people have a lakh Rupees or more to spare for a smartphone. Today, we look at the best phones of this year across various budgets that most people like us can actually consider buying. We will start around Rs 60,000 and go all the way down to under Rs 25,000. So here are the smartphones that impressed us most this year. Best Smartphones of 2023 Best phone around Rs 60,000: OnePlus 11 5G After a lacklustre 2022, OnePlus turned things around in a big way in early 2023 thanks to the OnePlus 11 5G. Packed to the brim with features generally reserved for the Pro variant, the phone remains mighty impressive. This stylish phone is powered by Qualcomm’s flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip, and offers 16 GB RAM and 256 GB UFS 4.0 storage. It has a 10-bit 6.7-inch curved LTPO3 AMOLED display with a resolution of 3216 x 1440 pixels.

Oppo Reno 11 series could soon make its way to the Indian market. According to a tipster, the Oppo Reno 11 and Reno 11 Pro will probably launch in India as soon as next week. The phones have already been made official in China. Although Oppo hasn't given any details on the India launch of the phones, it is teasing the launch of the Reno 11 series on its official website in Malaysia. The website also reveals the design and key features of the global variants of the Reno 11 series. It appears that the vanilla Oppo Reno 11 will feature a slightly different design globally compared to the China variant. Tipster Ishan Agarwal suggested in a post on X (formerly Twitter) that the Oppo Reno 11 series would launch in India and globally on January 11. Meanwhile, Oppo Malaysia has officially revealed that the Reno 11 series would launch in the country on January 11. It is likely that Oppo India may also start teasing the launch of the phones in India next week. The Oppo Malaysia website

The ever-changing landscape of the smartphone industry in India is always surprising. This year, there have been plenty of changes and several newcomers in some segments to make for a very interesting mix of devices for eager buyers to choose from. While most regulars like Xiaomi and Realme have seen a handful of launches in the budget segment, brands like Motorola and Infinix have gone in all guns blazing. Xiaomi has been making headway into the higher end of the budget range and the mid-range instead. The battle between Samsung and OnePlus has never been bigger than 2023, when OnePlus launched its first book-style foldable, the Open , late this year (after several delays). Brands like Oppo and Motorola took things a step up with foldables and premium smartphone offerings, while Samsung took it relatively easy with the same, but delivered a rather capable camera-focused flagship with its Galaxy S23 Ultra . Google ushered in the age of AI on smartphones, but definitely missed out

As part of compliance action against the offshore entities, Financial Intelligence Unit India (FIU IND) has issued show cause notices to nine offshore Virtual Digital Assets Service Providers (VDA SPs) under Section 13 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). According to an official release from the Ministry of Finance, "Virtual Digital Assets Service Providers (VDA SPs) were brought into the ambit of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Financing of Terrorism (AML-CFT) framework under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PML) Act in March 2023." "As part of compliance action against the offshore entities, Financial Intelligence Unit India (FIU IND) has issued compliance Show Cause Notices to the following nine offshore Virtual Digital Assets Service Providers (VDA SPs) under Section 13 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA)," it said. As per the release, the nine offshore Virtual Digital Assets Service Providers ar

Pros: – Very good design, outstanding build quality – Thickness and weight kept in check, inconspicuous display crease – Brilliant displays – inner and outer both – Powerful processing hardware, ample storage – Fluid and intuitive UI that adjusts seamlessly across displays – Impressive camera performance with a good mix of cameras – Good battery backup for the category – Phone speakers are surprisingly good Cons: – Expensive – No in-display fingerprint scanner or wireless charging – Macro shots look dull Rating: 4.2/5 Price: Rs 1,39,999 It would be fair to say that 2023 has been a good year for OnePlus; way better than 2022 for sure. It started with the OnePlus 11 – a mighty impressive smartphone that ticked a lot of boxes and raised the bar for their non-Pro phones. Their final release of the year has been the most ambitious till date and also their most expensive across categories. Foldable phones are still far from being mass-market products. The use case is also fa

Realme is gearing up to launch a new smartphone in India with a periscope zoom camera soon. The Chinese electronics brand has shared a teaser on social media platforms to offer hints about the launch of the new flagship smartphone without confirming the exact moniker and launch date. The upcoming handset is being speculated to be the Realme 12 Pro+. It could succeed the Realme 11 Pro+ that went official in the country in July. Through a teaser post on X, Realme announced the launch of a new smartphone in the country. The tweet carries the tagline “No Periscope. No Flagship" hinting at enhanced optical zoom capabilities. The poster image shows the rear portion of the device with a ring. The company  launched the Realme GT 5 Pro earlier this month as its first flagship phone equipped with a periscope telephoto camera. Although Realme has not confirmed the moniker yet, it is has been speculated that the Realme 12 Pro+ may break cover soon. Separately, tipster Abhishek Yadav (@

Nothing Phone 2a is expected to be unveiled at the Mobile World Congress 2024. Over the past few weeks, details of a new smartphone from Nothing have surfaced online. The UK-based OEM is said to be working on the Nothing Phone 2a, which is likely to launch with trimmed specifications as compared to the company's last handset, the Nothing Phone 2 . Design renders alongside several key features of the purported phone have been tipped previously. Now, a tipster has suggested the price, colour options, and RAM and storage configurations of the Nothing Phone 2a. Tipster Roland Quandt (@rquandt) shared in a post on X that the Nothing Phone 2a is likely to launch in Black and White colour options. He also claimed that the base variant of the smartphone with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of onboard storage could be priced below EUR 400 (roughly Rs. 36,800). The tipster added that the handset could also be available in a 12GB + 256GB variant but did not hint at a price range for this option.  No

The year-on-year demand for Electric Vehicles in the US has sagged so much so that carmakers are now reassessing their investment plans in the sector and delaying introducing new models. According to Wall Street Journal , the demand has shifted to hybrids and traditional ICE vehicles, customer inertia being attributable to relatively exorbitant costs and patchy availability of charging stations. The demand pattern bears out the sentiment, according to WSJ , since the urban areas still have raked in good sales figures as compared to rural and semi-urban areas owing to issues with the number of charging stations. According to the WSJ report, EV inventory is piling up at the dealers’ and it takes three weeks more to sell an EV than a fossil fuel car. As per the report, sales of EVs rose in the first 11 months of 2023, but at a pace way slower compared to the last year. Car experts, though, are hopeful that sales will pick up once there are more affordable models available on the road