Fitbit Charge 4 and Charge 4 SE launched with an in-built GPS, Spotify control, and more

The last time we heard any big news about Fitbit, it was under Google’s scanner for acquisition. While Google’s $2.1 billion bid to acquire Fitbit was stalled by the U.S. Department of Justice and the process is still underway, Fitbit is launching two new fitness trackers to keep the momentum going. The Fitbit Charge 4 and the Charge 4 SE look and work just like the Charge 3 but also feature an in-built GPS and Spotify controls.

Fitbit XDA Forums

Fitbit Charge 4 can track your fitness activities throughout the day. Besides automatically detecting workouts like running, swimming, elliptical training, and other forms of sports, Charge 4 can also track the number of floors you’ve climbed alongside the calories burned by walking. You can feed in your daily goals and track them in real-time but if you forget, your Fitbit will remind you to burn some calories. It can also guide you through breathing exercises for a calmer mind.

The Fitbit Charge 4’s in-built GPS allows you to go out on fitness trails without carrying your phone along with you. With the information from the GPS, the Fitbit app shows a heat map based on the intensity of your physical activity. The heart rate monitor can measure your heart rate 24/7 and classifies the heart rate into different zones by analyzing your activity. The watch can also track SpO2 and allow women to keep track of their menstrual cycle.

Fitbit Pay for NFC-based payment is also supported on the Charge 4. The battery inside it can last up to seven days without GPS tracking and five days with it.

The Fitbit Charge 4 also supports customization of watchfaces alongside message previews and quick replies. You can also control music playback on Spotify so long as the tracker is connected to the phone. Meanwhile, the app can show you a daily rundown of your physical activity along with personalized suggestions in Fitbit Premium. You do get 90 days of free trial with the Charge 4.

There are four options for the Charge 4 – black, rosewood/mauve, blue, and the classic woven strap. Since it is identical to Charge 3 in terms of dimensions, you can also use older straps with the new tracker. If you buy the Fitbit 4 SE instead, you get an extra reflective strap which may help others spot you when you’re running or cycling in the dark.

The Fitbit Charge 4 is available starting today for $149 while the Charge 4 SE comes for $169. It will also be available in India for ₹14,999 (~$195), as per Gadgets 360.

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Via: Verge

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Unlock the Power of Microsoft Excel With 43 Hours of Top-Rated Training

From basic accounting to data analysis, many tasks in business involve working with numbers. Although most people can create a simple spreadsheet, Excel has many advanced features that can help you complete these assignments faster. The Premium A to Z Microsoft Excel Bundle helps you unlock these tools, with 10 courses from top teachers. Right now, the bundle is only $49, more than 90% off the usual price.

If you run a business, knowing your figures is essential. In most cases, Excel is the best tool for the job. With 43 hours of hands-on training, this bundle helps you master the software and stay ahead of the curve as Excel knowledge grows increasingly more vital to everyday work. The video tutorials start with the absolute basics and help you gain advanced skills. 

Along the way, you learn how to work with formulas and functions, create beautiful charts, and use macros to automate tasks. You also get a whole course dedicated to productivity tips, plus training on power queries, VBA, and other key features. 

The training comes from a number of sources, including two highly rated instructors. Alan Jarvis is a top-rated Excel teacher who has taught over 80,000 students from around the world. You also get instruction from best-selling instructor Chris Dutton, who has 4.6 stars from 64,511 reviews on Udemy.

In other words, you can trust that the training you’ll be getting is coming from seasoned professionals who know their stuff and know it well.

The training is worth $1,732, but you can grab the bundle now for only $49.99 today.

Prices subject to change

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[Update: Verizon too] Motorola Moto Z4 starts receiving official Android 10 update

Update 1 (04/01/2020 @ 09:30 AM ET): The Verizon variant of the Motorola Moto Z4 is also receiving the official Android 10 update. Scroll to the bottom for more information. The article as published on March 13, 2020, is preserved below.

Long before the rise of the Android One program, Motorola decided to ship a close-to-stock version of Android under the management of Google. After being acquired by Lenovo, the situation deteriorated over the years. No more blazing fast updates from Motorola anymore, along with the fact that the Moto Z lineup does not carry a true and proper flagship anymore. To rub salt on wounds, the Motorola Moto Z4 will reportedly get only one major Android OS version update.

Moto Z4 XDA Forums

A bunch of Motorola phones recently received the Android 10 update over the air, and looks like the Moto Z4 becomes the newest member of that club. The OTA is hitting US retail Moto Z4 units and carrying the version number QPF30.130-15-7. The included security patch level is January 2020. Owners of the phone can now enjoy features like system-wide dark mode and the new gesture-based navigation.

Motorola’s US-specific website does not mention anything about this particular build as of yet. Moreover, we can’t spot any reference of the Android 10 related kernel source code for the Moto Z4 (codename: foles) inside the official repository of Motorola. It could be possible that the current build is part of a soak test conducted by the OEM, while a full-scale rollout may be in the works. On the flip side, the Verizon variant of this phone got the January 2020 patches in the form of Android Pie-based PDFS29.105-74-10 build just last month, thus it might take a few more weeks (or months) for the new firmware to reach to the carrier-specific model.

The fourth-generation Moto Z was initially speculated to be a high-end Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 device, but it turned out to be a mid-ranger with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 675 SoC. The phone runs Android Pie out of the box, as well as has the ability to use Verizon’s 5G network via the 5G Moto Mod. Thanks to Motorola’s decision, the official Android 11 based firmware will not land on this otherwise capable device. So users will have to stay content with their Android 10 update.

Source: /r/MotoZ

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Update: Verizon Moto Z4 is also receiving its Android 10 update

Users are reporting that the Verizon variant of the Motorola Moto Z4 is also receiving its Android 10 update through an official OTA, with March 2020 security patches.

Source: Moto Z4 XDA Forums, /r/MotoZ

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Honor is offering deals on smartphones, wearables, and laptops for the next 2 weeks

Following the launch of the Honor 30S, Huawei’s sub-brand Honor has officially announced the Honor Global Fans Day 2020 sale during which it will be offering deals on a variety of devices in its portfolio. The sale, which will last till April 14th, is already live in 18 countries and regions, including Germany, France, the UK, Russia, Czech Republic, Malaysia, and more. Along with the sale, Honor has also unveiled its first-ever Honor Experience Offers, as part of which renowned social-media influencers from around the world will be demoing the company’s smart devices.

In a statement regarding the sale, Honor’s President George Zhao, was quoted saying, “Until the end of 2019, we are so proud to have over 220 million fans around the world. We are delighted to be celebrating Honor Fans Festival 2020 with our fans and offering a range of great deals and discounts on our best-in-class products. This is our way of saying thank you for the continued support. We also hope more fans to join our global community… In line with our 1+8+N strategy, 1 Honor smartphone, 8 categories of in-house devices and a wide range of products from our partners, we launch this year’s Fan Festival themed as Honor Your Smart Life. Honor strives to create a more connected and intelligent world of global youth. Through the festival, we hope more people to enjoy the smart living brought by Honor all-scenario smart products.” Here are a few noteworthy deals that you can claim during the Honor Global Fans Day 2020 sale:

Product	SRP	Promotional pricing	Validity	Availability
Honor MagicWatch 2 (46mm)	GBP159.99	GBP139.99	Mar 27- Apr 14	Argos/Amazon
Honor MagicWatch 2 (42mm)	GBP149.99	GBP129.99	Mar 27- Apr 14	Argos/Amazon
Honor Band 5	GBP29.99	GBP26.99	Apr 1 – Apr 14	Argos/Amazon
Honor MagicBook 14	GBP549.99	GBP549.99 with free Honor MagicWatch 2	Apr 7 – Apr 20	Argos/Amazon
Honor 10 Lite	GBP149.99	GBP129.99	Apr 1 – Apr 14	Argos/Amazon /Carphone
Honor 20 Lite	GBP189.99	GBP169.99	Apr 1 – Apr 14	Argos/Amazon /Carphone
Honor 9X	GBP219.99	GBP219.99 with free Honor Band 5	Apr 1 – Apr 14	Argos/Amazon /Carphone
Honor 8S	GBP99.99	GBP89.99	Apr 1 – Apr 14	Argos/Amazon /Carphone
Honor 7S	GBP79.99	GBP69.99	Apr 1 – Apr 14	Argos/Amazon/Shop Direct
Honor 8A	GBP139.99	GBP99.99	Apr 1 – Apr 14	Argos

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Download: Xiaomi Mi 8, Mi 8 Pro, Mi 8 SE, Mi 9 SE, Mi 9 Lite receive stable Android 10 with MIUI 11

The initial batch of MIUI 11 update for several Xiaomi and Redmi phones went live during Q4 2019. However, the underlying software was still based on older versions of Android in most of the cases. The company eventually published the kernel sources of the Android 10 update for the Mi Mix 2s, Mi Mix 3, POCO F1, and the Mi 8 series late last year, while the actual builds have been greenlit for broad scale rollout after a few months. Following the footsteps of the POCO F1 and the Mi Mix 3, the Mi 8 series has now received stable MIUI 11 based on Android 10. Mid-rangers from the Mi 9 series, i.e. the Mi 9 SE and the Mi 9 Lite, are also getting the same treatment.

Let’s make one thing clear – we are talking about “true” stable version of MIUI 11 on top of Android 10, not the early beta builds. As a result, the owners of the aforementioned devices can freely sideload the update packages without bothering about Mi Account authorization. Xiaomi has also published the device-specific Fastboot firmware bundles so that the end users can perform a clean install.

Sr. No.	Device, Device Codename, and XDA Forum Link	Build Number and Region	Recovery ROM	Fastboot ROM
1.	Mi 8 (dipper)	V11.0.3.0.QEAMIXM (Global) V11.0.2.0.QEARUXM (Russia)	Download Recovery ROM Download Recovery ROM	Download Fastboot ROM Download Fastboot ROM
2.	Mi 8 Pro (equuleus)	V11.0.3.0.QECMIXM (Global) V11.0.1.0.QECRUXM (Russia)	Download Recovery ROM Download Recovery ROM	Download Fastboot ROM Download Fastboot ROM
3.	Mi 8 SE (sirius)	V11.0.2.0.QEBCNXM (China)	–	–
4.	Mi 9 SE (grus)	V11.0.2.0.QFBMIXM (Global) V11.0.2.0.QFBEUXM (Europe) V11.0.2.0.QFBRUXM (Russia)	Download Recovery ROM Download Recovery ROM Download Recovery ROM	Download Fastboot ROM Download Fastboot ROM Download Fastboot ROM
5.	Mi 9 Lite (pyxis)	V11.0.1.0.QFCMIXM (Global)	Download Recovery ROM	Download Fastboot ROM

Apart from the flagship grade Mi 8 (Pro), the company has yet to share the Android 10 kernel source code for the remaining models. The SE variants of the Mi 8 and the Mi 9 share a common tree, while the Mi 9 Lite (rebranded Mi CC9) is closely related to the China-exclusive Mi CC9 Meitu Edition.

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Source: MIUI ROM Download

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Huawei reveals how its smartphone and tablet business fared in 2019

Huawei recently published its Annual Report for 2019, which details how the company’s various businesses performed last year. The report sheds light on Huawei’s mobile business and how it performed despite the harsh sanctions imposed on the company by the Trump administration. Separate reports from earlier this year have already revealed that the brand managed to do quite well irrespective of the trade ban, overtaking Apple to take the second spot as the largest smartphone brand and managing to sell more 5G smartphones than its Korean competitor Samsung. Here are the highlights from the latest report released by the company:

Huawei’s consumer business managed to generate a revenue of CNY 467,304 million (~$66 billion) in 2019, marking a 34% increase YoY. The company’s monthly active user base surpassed 600 million worldwide. Last year, the company kickstarted its “1+8+N” strategy, where “1” represents mobile phones, “8” represents tablets, PCs, VR devices, wearables, smart screens, smart audio, and head units, and “N” represents IoT devices. Thanks to this new strategy, Huawei managed to ship more than 240 million Huawei and Honor-branded smartphones, marking a 16% YoY growth. Out of the total shipments, 6.9 million devices were 5G-enabled.

Citing reports from IDC and Strategy Analytics, Huawei also revealed that the company and its sub-brand Honor managed to capture 17.6% of the global smartphone market, making it the second-biggest smartphone brand in the world. The company shipped over 44 million Mate and P series devices in 2019, a 53% YoY growth over 2018. Shipments of its flagship Huawei P30 series exceeded 20 million units within 8 months of launch. Huawei’s PC segment also saw tremendous growth and its PC shipments grew 200% YoY. However, the company did not share how many units were shipped in 2019.

In the tablet segment, Huawei revealed that its shipments continued to grow despite an overall decline in the tablet market. Citing a report from IDC, the company claimed that its tablet market share in China overtook that of Apple in Q3 and Q4 of 2019. Huawei’s wearables and smart audio products also saw significant growth, with 170% and more than 200% YoY growth respectively. Huawei credits this growth to the strong sales of its Watch GT 2 and FreeBuds 3.

Following the trade sanctions, the company launched Huawei Mobile services last year — a replacement for Google Mobile Services. The company claims that HMS already has over 400 million monthly active users, with over 55,000 apps integration with HMS Core. Its AppGallery, which is an alternative to the Google Play Store, is available in over 170 countries and has already surpassed 210 billion app downloads. To promote its services, the company claims that it held 45 Huawei Developer Day events in 32 countries and regions over last year and managed to register over 1.3 million developers. On top of that, the company has also increased its Shining-Star Program incentives from CNY 1 billion (~$142million) to US$1 billion and expanded the program to global developers. The program helps developers create apps through the entire creation process.

As far as device security is concerned, Huawei says that it developed an in-house microkernel Trusted Execution Environment (TEE), which first made an appearance on the Huawei Mate 30 series. The TEE is used for storing users’ biometric data and passwords, and for performing operations like fingerprint verification, facial recognition, and password confirmation. Huawei added that its TEE has received EAL5+ certification. And finally, the report also talks about the company’s growth in offline retail, highlighting that it has over 65,000 retail stores, display zones and display counters worldwide, and over 6000 experience stores. To provide users with effective after-sales support, Huawei has also established over 2600 offline service centers in 105 countries and regions.

Even though Huawei reported significant growth across all verticals, everything hasn’t been hunky-dory for the company. The US trade ban has obviously had a severe effect on its business, with reports from CNBC revealing that Huawei saw a $12 billion shortfall in revenue due to the blacklisting. In a bid to curtail any further losses, the company is now hoping that Google will place its apps in Huawei’s AppGallery to bolster the performance of its service.

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Source: Huawei

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OEMs are raising prices of smartphones in India following a tax increase

India is one of the most competitive markets for smartphone brands. Before the COVID-19 pandemic took its toll on commercial activities, India was the only positively growing smartphone market in the world. The sheer number of smartphone users (about 400 million) and the huge potential to onboard a larger number of new users has drawn several brands to target India specifically. As a result, smartphones are sold at very lucrative prices with thin margins, especially by brands like Xiaomi and Realme. But as all good things come to an end, this glorious period of tempting smartphone deals in India might become less attractive following the 50% hike Goods and Service Tax (GST) hike that is effective starting today i.e. April 1st, 2020.

Last month, India’s Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, announced an increase in the GST rate on mobile phones and specified parts. As compared to the previous rate of 12% GST, the new applicable rate is 18% – i.e. a sharp 50% increase. The announcement comes in spite of the depreciating value of the Indian Rupee against the US Dollar, extensive competition, and already slim margins.

Mi fans, #GST on mobile phones has increased by 50% from 12% to 18%.

After much deliberation & in keeping with #Xiaomi policy of maintaining <5% margin on our hardware products,we will be increasing prices of our products.

New prices will be effective immediately. Thank you! pic.twitter.com/mdTqKdXm3r

— Manu Kumar Jain (@manukumarjain) March 31, 2020

As a result of this hike, smartphone makers are left with no alternative but to increase the prices of smartphones and accessories. Xiaomi, India’s largest smartphone seller, has already confirmed its intention to increase the prices of the phone citing the increase in GST rate and the poor performance of the Rupee. In an open letter to its patrons, Xiaomi announced that it will be increasing its prices.

Xiaomi’s spin-off brand POCO has also announced an increase of ₹1,000 (~$15) in all variants of the POCO X2 (review). In the meantime, while OPPO and Vivo didn’t announce a price hike formally, offline retailer Mahesh Telecom shared details about the increased prices of some of the top-selling models.

Likewise, Realme has also increased the prices of its phones.

While we are still awaiting details on the exact price hikes by companies, we have collated a list of smartphones with increased prices.

Old vs New Smartphone Prices in India after GST hike

Brand	Model	Old Price with 12% GST	New Price with 18% GST
Xiaomi	Redmi K20 Pro 6GB/128GB	₹24,999	₹26,999
	Redmi K20 Pro 8GB/256GB	₹27,999	₹29,999
	Redmi K20 6/64GB	₹19,999	₹21,999
	Redmi K20 6GB/128GB	₹22,999	₹24,299
	Redmi Note 7 Pro 4GB/64GB	₹9,999	₹10,999
	Redmi Note 7 Pro 6GB/64GB	₹10,999	₹12,999
	Redmi Note 7 Pro 6GB/128GB	₹11,999	₹13,999
	Redmi Note 7S 3GB/32GB	₹8,999	₹9,999
	Redmi Note 7S 4GB/64GB	₹9,999	₹11,999
	Redmi 8 4GB/64GB	₹8,199	₹8,999
	Redmi 8A 2GB/32GB	₹6,499	₹6,999
	Redmi 8A 3GB/32GB	₹6,999	₹7,499
POCO	POCO X2 6GB/64GB	₹15,999	₹16,999
	POCO X2 6GB/128GB	₹16,999	₹17,999
	POCO X2 8GB/256GB	₹19,999	₹20,999
Realme	Realme X50 Pro 6GB/128GB	₹37,999	₹39,999
	Realme X50 Pro 8GB/128GB	₹39,999	₹41,999
	Realme X50 Pro 12GB/256GB	₹44,999	₹47,999
	Realme X2 Pro 6GB/64GB	₹27,999	₹29,999
	Realme X2 Pro 8GB/128GB	₹29,999	₹31,999
	Realme X2 Pro 12GB/256GB	₹33,999	₹35,999
	Realme X2 4GB/64GB	₹16,999	₹17,999
	Realme X2 6GB/128GB	₹18,999	₹19,999
	Realme X2 8GB/128GB	₹19,999	₹20,999
	Realme X 4GB/128GB	₹16,999	₹17,999
	Realme X 8GB/128GB	₹19,999	₹20,999
	Realme 6 Pro 6GB/64GB	₹16,999	₹17,999
	Realme 6 Pro 6GB/128GB	₹17,999	₹18,999
	Realme 6 Pro 8GB/128GB	₹18,999	₹19,999
	Realme XT 4GB/64GB	₹15,999	₹16,999
	Realme XT 8GB/128GB	₹18,999	₹19,999
	Realme 6 4GB/64GB	₹12,999	₹13,999
	Realme 6 6GB/128GB	₹14,999	₹15,999
	Realme 6 8GB/128GB	₹15,999	₹16,999
	Realme 5 Pro 4GB/64GB	₹12,999	₹13,999
	Realme 5 Pro 6GB/64GB	₹13,999	₹14,999
	Realme 5 Pro 8GB/128GB	₹15,999	₹16,999
	Realme 5 3GB/32GB	₹8,999	₹9,499
	Realme 5 4GB/64GB	₹9,999	₹10,499
	Realme 5 4GB/128GB	₹10,999	₹11,499
	Realme 5i 4GB/64GB	₹8,999	₹9,999
	Realme 5i 4GB/128GB	₹9,999	₹10,999
	Realme C3 3GB/32GB	₹6,999	₹7,499
	Realme C3 4GB/64GB	₹7,999	₹8,499
Samsung	Galaxy S20	₹66,999	₹70,500
	Galaxy S20+	₹73,999	₹79,900
	Galaxy S20 Ultra	₹92,999	₹97,900
	Galaxy Z Flip	₹1,09,999	₹1,15,890
	Galaxy Note 10	₹69,999	₹73,600
	Galaxy Note 10+ 12GB/256GB	₹79,999	₹84,200
	Galaxy Note 10+ 12GB/512GB	₹89,999	₹94,700
	Galaxy Note 10 Lite 6GB/128GB	₹38,999	₹41,000
	Galaxy Note 10 Lite 8GB/128GB	₹40,999	₹43,100
	Galaxy S10 Lite 8GB/128GB	₹39,999	₹42,142
	Galaxy S10 Lite 8GB/512GB	₹44,999	₹47,300
	Galaxy A71	₹29,999	₹31,500
	Galaxy A51	₹23,999	₹25,250
	Galaxy M31 6GB/64GB	₹15,999	₹16,856
	Galaxy M31 6GB/128GB	₹16,999	₹17,910
	Galaxy M30s 4GB/64GB	₹13,999	₹14,749
	Galaxy M30s 4GB/128GB	₹14,999	₹15,803
	Galaxy M30s 4GB/128GB	₹15,999	₹16,856
	Galaxy M21 4GB/64GB	₹13,499	₹14,222
	Galaxy M21 4GB/64GB	₹15,499	₹16,329
OPPO	Reno3 Pro (Global)	₹29,990	₹31,990
	Reno2	₹36,990	₹38,990
	Reno2 Z	₹25,990	₹27,490
	Reno2 F	₹21,990	₹23,490
Vivo	Vivo U20	₹17,990	₹19,990
	Vivo S1 4GB/128GB	₹15,990	₹17,990
	Vivo S1 6GB/64GB	₹17,990	₹19,990
	Vivo S1 Pro 8GB/128GB	₹18,990	₹20,990
	Vivo V17 8GB/128GB	₹22,990	₹24,990
iQOO	iQOO 3 4G 8GB/128GB	₹36,990	₹38,990
	iQOO 3 4G 8GB/256GB	₹39,990	₹41,990
	iQOO 3 5G 12GB/256GB	₹44,990	₹46,990

The list above is incomplete but we’ll be adding more recently launched devices as we learn about the increase in prices of other smartphones in India. Needless to say, the tax increase will affect the entire industry. Those who can absorb the rise in cost, will; while those with thin margins will have no option but to pass on the burden to the end consumer. However, keep in mind that the country is on COVID-19-related lockdown, so sales on both offline and online platforms are on hold.

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