Xiaomi owns one the cheapest 5G phone yet in the Redmi 10x series, starting just from $224 in China. But the company is already looking ahead for future projects in terms of connectivity technology. Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun told the news agency Xihuan News that they have already started to invest in the preliminary research on 6G technology. The executive didn't reveal much detail about the research plans, but probably, they'd be joining the likes of Huawei and Samsung in confirming work on 6G.

It looks like the Chinese company isn't stopping at mobile technologies, as Jun says Xiamoi is already started to conduct research on satellite internet and how they can integrate it in smartphones. Satellite internet is a key technology that can make internet accessible for people living in rural areas, where traditional mobile networks and fixed-line infrastructure failed to fulfill the desired range. Xiaomi offers several internet-based series in China, so increased internet penetration via satellite internet should ultimately benefit the company.

The executive also apparently stated that Xiamoi has cleared its 4G smartphones in China to make way for 5G technology. It is unclear that if this means Xiaomi is solely offering 5G phones in China, as the company just released the Redmi 10x 4G alongside the 5G series. And chipset manufacturers haven't revealed truly low-end 5G processors just yet, which means Xiaomi could likely still release 4G phones in the sub-$150 tier in China. Nevertheless, the firm's focus on 5G phones makes sense at home, as all the major networks in the country have switched to the new connectivity standard. But with the likes of India and several other markets yet to switch to 5G, 4G devices are still clearly important for the brand outside China.

Reports suggests that Microsoft is working on a New Internet Browser for Windows 10, Moving from the good-old bad-old Internet Explorer to the new Microsoft Spartan Browser. The New "Spartan" browser is still in-development. Today though there are a couple of new leaked images doing the rounds, and these two show us a very different design for Spartan.

The actual leaked images are the first two below. Underneath you can see a mockup based on them, which is supposedly a near 1:1 replica of the browser's UI.

Thankfully this time around Spartan looks a lot more modern, yet it still manages to be quite minimalistic. The browser clearly looks more like Chrome and Firefox than IE, and not many will say that's a bad thing. Next to the star for bookmarking purposes lies a "reading mode" button which strips out the text and makes whichever page you're on more readable (this is similar to Safari's Reader Mode).

The share icon lets you easily send a link to the current website through social networks or by email, and the three dots on the right are there to open up the settings, as you may have guessed. Spartan's window is borderless, allowing content to stretch from edge to edge. All of the UI elements are at the top.

VIA

When you move abroad, whether for a change of scenery, for work, or to move near loved ones, it can be challenging to know how to keep in touch with family and friends back home. Even in our modern era, where the Internet and social media make the world seem a lot smaller, simple things like making phone calls can be more confusing than anticipated when they are being done internationally. International calls can be expensive when done using your regular cell phone provider, with calls being charged anywhere from $0.50 to $1.50 a minute. Thankfully, there are options to stay in touch by phone with your family and friends back in your home country.

One of the best ways to stay in touch with family and friends is by voice phone calls. To avoid the accumulation of fees, a common answer is to get a virtual phone number, sometimes called an access phone number. This is a service that allows you to have a phone number that isn't connected to a specific phone line, instead, through the Internet. You can route your calls to a landline, a cell phone, or your work phone, so that it's always convenient for your family and friends to reach you. This also helps to avoid the high costs of international calls.

A great option for a virtual phone number service so that you can make voice calls back home is EasyRinger. EasyRinger was founded and designed by former Microsoft engineers living as expatriates in China. They built their service to meet a need that they saw lacking, and now have opened it up to the public and expanded to serve several different countries. While many countries like China block app-based services like WhatsApp, EasyRinger is available without needing any workarounds or confusing installation. You can choose your phone number, and you won't have to download any software to make it work. Just use your existing cell phone or landline, and your friends from back home will be able to reach you easily.

No matter how you choose to contact your family and friends, intentionality becomes much more important when living abroad. You can no longer simply call up your friends whenever you think of them, as often, the time difference will make this difficult. Plan ahead of time and schedule a phone call with your loved one, so that you've both set aside time to talk, and to make sure you'll both be awake!

Living abroad is often an opportunity to pursue something better or more exciting for yourself, but it can also be incredibly lonely when you have to leave your family and friends behind. Rather than relying on the disconnected nature of social media, plan to find a way to make phone calls to your loved ones, so that you can hear their voice and they can hear yours. Something as simple as singing "Happy Birthday" to your grandmother or catching up on life with your friends can make the transition to another country much more manageable.  

According to market analysts like JPMorgan Chase, Apple has ordered OLED panels in huge quantities, as made evident from the company's 10-K filing. The orders amount to a total of $4 billion approximately, with Samsung being the number one beneficiary, followed by JDI and Sharp.

The multi-billion dollar purchase orders are extended over the period of an entire year and the popular consensus is that the panels will be used to construct the iPhone 8's display. Manufacturing costs associated with OLED panels have come down drastically in the last year or so, to the point where they can actually be cheaper to produce than the LCD panels, when manufactured on a large scale. Therefore, it only seems logical that Apple will shift towards OLED which offers better colors, deeper blacks and even greater power-efficiency, as compared to LCD.

In other news, Apple has patented an AR mapping tech which will provide the user with real-time augmentation with his/her surroundings while using the concerned application. Wireless charging could also be included in the iPhone 8, provided that Foxconn manages to iron out the kinks in its Energous WattUp tech that can be used to charge a smartphone from as far as 15 feet!

Saikat Kar (tech-enthusiast)

An article by USAToday.com revealed that the mobile games industry could be worth $100 billion by 2021. Mobile games are expected to make more than 70% of all revenue made from mobile apps, and as there are more than one billion owners of smartphones and tablets, that's a huge figure.

The potential amount of money that could be made from mobile gaming has led some of the biggest game developers to put more resources into mobile. Companies like Blizzard, Epic Games and LeoVegas may be known for console and PC gaming, but these brands are all trying to grow their fanbases on mobile as the industry just keeps growing.

App and Browser Versions

Most people on mobile devices will want to download their mobile games, but for people who have weak internet connections or don't have much room on their phones, that won't be an option. The casino review site, Bonus.ca, says that online casinos have learned that and so they allow players to access games such as slots, blackjack, and roulette, through their mobile browsers. Players don't need to download an app to gamble on their phone as many casino sites only ask people to create an account to start playing. 

For larger games with more textures, files, and game modes, being compatible with browsers just won't be possible. However, for those game developers who can make their games work on browsers, they can appeal to many more mobile gamers. 

Support for Cross-Play

Many developers, such as Epic Games, the creator of Fortnite, got started first on PCs and consoles. This doesn't mean that they treat mobile gamers differently, though, and the company has tried to bring all of its players together by using something called cross-play.

Cross-play, explains Forbes.com, allows players to compete against each other whether they are playing Fortnite on iOS, Android, PC, PS4, Xbox One, or Nintendo Switch. Switch and mobile users will be grouped together, but you can still play together across platforms if you are in a team. As more developers release their games on all platforms, expect cross-play to become a regular thing. 

Releasing Smaller Games

By not releasing a mobile game, companies are potentially failing to appeal to a huge number of players. However, that doesn't mean that it is incredibly easy to just bring a game over to mobile devices. Some games were created for PC and controller inputs, or they are large games that mobile devices wouldn't have room for.

Some game developers, such as Blizzard, have tried to find a fix for this. An article from IGN.com explains that the company will be releasing a mobile game called Diablo Immortal, which will have some of the gameplay from its popular dungeon-crawling RPG series. This allows Blizzard to appeal to mobile gamers without trying to fit such a large game onto smaller screens.

As more game developers rush to the gold in the mobile games industry, things are becoming more competitive. It will be much more difficult for other developers to find success, which is why these companies are trying to get into the industry now.