Articles by Harish Jonnalagadda

WeChat isn’t widely known outside of China, but the app has over 1.2 billion monthly users.

The Trump administration signed two executive orders that ban U.S. entities from doing business with ByteDance — the company behind TikTok — and WeChat. Banning TikTok would effectively kill the app’s ambitions in global markets, but the order against WeChat has more serious implications.

WeChat is owned by Tencent, one of the largest tech companies in Asia, and while the app doesn’t get a lot of adoption outside mainland China, it is indispensable within the country. It’s used by over 1 billion people in China for everything from messaging, payments, taxi, hotel, and flight bookings, and even food delivery. So here’s a primer on WeChat, and why the Trump administration is banning the app.

WeChat is Facebook, WhatsApp, and Google Pay all rolled into one

WeChat (called Weixin in China) started out in 2011 as a messaging service, but it expanded to include payments, e-commerce, utility b…

Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra

The ultimate flagship

$1,300 at Samsung

Pros

Huge 6.9-inch 120Hz AMOLED panel
Snapdragon 865+ with 5G connectivity
S Pen with lower latency than ever before
Great new cameras
Three years of software updates

Cons

Middling ultrasonic fingerprint sensor
Expensive

The Galaxy Note 20 Ultra is the most powerful phone in 2020. There’s a massive 6.9-inch display with a 120Hz refresh rate, the latest Snapdragon 865+ chipset with global 5G connectivity, an S Pen that has just 9ms latency, outstanding 108MP primary camera at the back, and a gorgeous new design that allows the phone to stand out. You’re paying a lot here, but you are getting an incredible phone.

Samsung Galaxy S20+

Mainstream choice

$1,190 at Amazon

Pros

Outstanding 120Hz AMOLED display
Snapdragon 865 chipset with 5G connectivity
Upgraded cameras
Three years of software updates

Cons

Same annoying fingerprint sensor
Expensive
No S Pen

If you don’t need the S Pen, the Gala…

With full-fledged Android TV and a great remote, Xiaomi’s Mi TV Stick is one of the best budget streaming dongles around.

There are plenty of great Android TV boxes in the market right now, and Xiaomi itself has a decent product in this category in the $60 Mi Box S. The 4K-enabled Mi Box S launched nearly two years ago, but it continues to be a decent alternative to the Chromecast Ultra and the Fire TV Stick 4K.

Xiaomi is now setting its sights on the regular 1080p version of the Fire TV Stick. That particular model is available for $40, which is what the Mi TV Stick will retail for once it debuts in the U.S. The Mi TV Stick has the same fundamentals; you get a great remote, access to your favorite streaming services, full-fledged Android TV interface, and reliable 1080p streaming performance.

We don’t have details on when the Mi TV Stick will be available in the U.S., but with the Mi Box S officially available in the country, Xiaomi should release the product in the coming weeks….

Google Maps offers a comprehensive location-sharing feature that makes it easy for you to share your location with your loved ones. You also have the option of broadcasting your location via a dedicated link, set the duration for location sharing, and select contacts that you want to share the details with. Here’s how you can get started with location sharing on Google Maps.

How to share your location in Google Maps

Open Google Maps from the app drawer or the home screen.
Tap the hamburger menu (the three horizontal lines) on the top left corner of the screen.
Select Location sharing.

Tap Share location.
Provide Maps access to your contacts by hitting Allow.
Select the duration until which you want to share your location. Toggle to Until you turn this off if you want to share your location for a lengthy duration.

Select a contact that you want to share your location with. If a particular contact isn’t listed yet, then choose an app from the list at the bottom of the page to…

Smartphone addiction is a huge issue, and OxygenOS has a built-in feature that lets you take a break from your phone. Zen Mode automatically blocks all notifications and prevents access to apps on your phone, with the feature designed to promote mindfulness and curb screen addiction. Here’s how to use Zen Mode on your OnePlus 8.

How to enable Zen Mode on the OnePlus 8

Pull down the notification shade.
Pull down once again to reveal all the tiles.
Select the Edit icon.

Swipe left to go to the next page.
Press and hold on the Zen Mode tile and drag it to the quick settings menu.
Hit the Back button on the top left corner to save the changes.

Once you add the Zen Mode tile to the quick settings menu, you can launch the mode at any time just by pressing the tile.

How to use Zen Mode on the OnePlus 8

Once you launch Zen Mode, you’ll see a splash screen that tells you to take a break from your phone. Before you begin, you’ll see a page that highlights the fact you won’t be a…

The Android 11 Beta will be opening up to third-party manufacturers later this month.

The first public beta of Android 11 is here, and it is limited to the Pixels. Google opened up the beta program to 12 third-party OEMs last year, but you’ll have to wait a little longer to try out the upcoming version of Android if you’re not using a Pixel. Thankfully, we now have confirmation from the likes of Xiaomi, OPPO, and OnePlus over their participation in the Android 11 Beta.

For now, these are the phones that are eligible for the Android 11 Beta:

Google Pixel 2
Google Pixel 2 XL
Google Pixel 3
Google Pixel 3 XL
Google Pixel 3a
Google Pixel 3a XL
Google Pixel 4
Google Pixel 4 XL

These devices will be added to the list before the end of June:

OnePlus 8
OnePlus 8 Pro
OPPO Find X2
OPPO Find X2 Pro
Xiaomi Mi 10
Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro

We don’t know when the Android 11 Beta program will kick off for third-party phones, but it is a good bet that we’ll hear more in the next two weeks. We sho…

With tens of millions of users, WhatsApp is the marquee app on KaiOS — and it is steadily getting new features.

We haven’t really talked about KaiOS a lot here, but the operating system is now installed on over 100 million phones, making it the third-largest mobile operating system in the world. KaiOS is a fork of Firefox OS that’s designed for feature phones, and over the last three years it has seen a meteoric rise because of devices like the $15 JioPhone in India and Nokia’s 8110.

While entry-level Android phones have gotten much better over the years — particularly with the introduction of Android Go — there are still tens of millions of users who turn to feature phones for their affordability. And with KaiOS, feature phones now come with a web browser, a dedicated app store, and even Google Assistant baked in.

Then there’s WhatsApp. The Facebook-owned messaging platform made its debut on KaiOS last year, and is now pre-installed on KaiOS phones globally. WhatsApp alread…

The coronavirus has spread to 188 countries around the world, and it shows no signs of abating. The pandemic has proved particularly devastating in recent weeks, with total confirmed cases crossing 5.5 million and fatalities of over 347,000 globally.

The virus has effectively shut down all sporting leagues around the world, major gatherings including tech events and music festivals, and closed down restaurants and malls. It has transformed how we live and work, and how we connect with our friends and families. Tech brands are doing their part to assist, with Google teaming up with Apple to build a coronavirus tracking tool.

Here’s the latest on the coronavirus and how it’s affecting not only the tech industry, but also the world at large.

May 26, 2020: Amazon ramps up COVID-19 testing efforts, Apple and Google’s exposure notification tech goes public

Amazon’s Lab126 — the hardware incubator that’s behind the Kindle and Echo devices — is now hiring engineers for its COVID-19 …

Realme is setting its sights squarely on Xiaomi’s Mi TV 4A series with the launch of its first TV.

Realme launched its first phone two years ago, and in that time the manufacturer managed to carve out a niche for itself in India. Realme consistently undercut Xiaomi in the entry-level and budget segments, allowing the brand to gain a sizable market share in the country in a short period of time.

Realme is now looking beyond phones as it tries to build on its momentum in the country. The brand has unveiled its first TV in India, dubbed the Realme Smart TV. The smart TV segment in the country has gotten a lot of attention over the last two years following the introduction of Xiaomi’s Mi TV series. To put it mildly, Xiaomi reinvented the smart TV category by offering TVs with great value for money.

And that is the strategy Realme is emulating with its first smart TV. The Realme Smart TV is available in 32-inch and 43-inch options, and the brand is targeting the budget TV segment with …

The Realme Watch is now official in India, offering a vast array of features for just ₹3,999 ($52).

Realme made its foray into wearables with the Realme Band earlier this year, and now the brand is debuting its first full-fledged smartwatch. The Realme Watch is a budget smartwatch that retails for just ₹3,999 ($52) in India, offering features like real-time heart monitoring and blood oxygen saturation levels.

The Realme Watch has a 1.4-inch LCD panel with a resolution of 320 x 320, translating to a pixel density of 323PPI. Realme says the smartwatch has a maximum brightness of 380 nits in auto mode, with the panel also offering 2.5D Gorilla Glass 3 protection against scratches. Oh, and there’s a Realme logo at the bottom of the screen.

There’s also IP68 dust and water resistance, and the smartwatch connects over Bluetooth 5.0 and works with Android’s Smart Lock feature. There’s no standalone GPS, but that’s easily forgivable given the category the smartwatch is aimed at.

Th…