WhatsApp's vacation mode will make all muted archived chats stay archived even when new messages arrive

WhatsApp is reportedly working on two new features ‘Vacation Mode’ and ‘Linked Accounts’. According to the report by WABetaInfo, the new feature will be released by Android, iOS and Windows Phone operating system platforms. The new ‘Vacation Mode’ is an extension of the company’s ‘Silent Mode’, which was recently rolled out to Android users.

The new ‘Silent Mode’ hides any notification dots for muted chats on the app, which means the users will not see how many new messages are in the muted chats from the WhatsApp icon on the device. This new feature is pre-activated for all WhatsApp users with the latest update for the app.

The ‘Vacation Mode’ will take this feature a bit further and make muted archived chats stay archived even when new messages arrive. Currently, WhatsApp unarchives any such chats, when there are new messages to read. The report states that users will have full control over the feature through the notification settings panel of the app.

The new ‘Linked Accounts’ feature will allow users to link their WhatsApp account to other social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The ‘Linked Accounts’ feature would be accessible for users under the WhatsApp profile settings once launched. Currently, this new feature will only bring support for Instagram as an external service. However, others will follow soon. The report further added that this feature might be targetted towards the WhatsApp Business app.

Asus launches OnePlus 6 competitor Zenfone 5z at Rs 29,999

Asus has launched the Zenfone 5z here in India. The device will pose a direct threat to popular phones in the same segment. OnePlus 6 that comes with a base price of Rs 34,999 is expected to get a lot of competition from the new phone. The Asus Zenfone 5z was first unveiled at the MWC 2018. The device smartphone will be sold exclusively on Flipkart.

Flipkart had accidentally listed the smartphone one day before the official launch. The official price of the Zenfone 5z is the same as what was reported earlier. The device will be made available in three variants. The 6GB RAM, 64GB storage variant is priced at Rs 29,999. The second variant comes with 8GB RAM, 128GB of storage and is priced at Rs 32,999. The third variant comes with 8GB RAM and 256GB of storage is priced at Rs 36,999.


The Asus Zenfone 5z will start selling from July 9. Launch offers include flat discounts, cheaper mobile protection and no-cost EMIs. ICICI Bank credit and debit card holders can get a flat Rs 3,000 discount on the device. Flipkart's 'Complete Mobile Protection' plan worth Rs 2,299 is being offered at Rs 499. For buyers interested in purchasing the smartphone on installments, Flipkart is offering no-cost EMIs starting at Rs 3,333 a month. Reliance Jio will offering a 2,200 cashback and 100GB data with the purchase of Zenfone 5z.

To enhance the after sales service of the device , Asus will be providing free pick and drop of faulty devices, a substitute phone and invoice free walk-in.
Coming to the specifications of the device, Asus Zenfone 5z comes with flagship features. The device features a Snapdragon 845 chipset assisted by Adreno 630. The device features a 6.2inch IPS LCD display with a FullHD+ Super IPS+ display covered by Corning Gorilla Glass. The phone boasts a screen to body ratio of 83.6 per cent. Like most flagships from this year, the Asus Zenfone 5z also sports a notch to house the front camera and all the necessary sensors.

The camera on the device is a dual lens setup with one 12megapixel unit and the other with an 8megapixel sensor. The camera also gets EIS for stable videos. The front camera is an 8megapixel unit which also gets gyro EIS for stable shots.

The phone runs on Android 8.0 Oreo with Asus' ZenUI 5.0 on top. The device has a dual SIM slot (nano). One of the slot doubles up as a memory card slot that can hold a card of up to 400GB. The phone comes with a 3300mAh battery  and comes equipped with a USB Type C port.   

Flipkart claims lead over Amazon in smartphones

Flipkart has kept its lead over Amazon India on smartphone sales, even as both platforms claimed more than doubling of sales in the category on the second day of festive sales. Flipkart claimed to have sold 1.3 million smartphones in the first 20 hours, double the number of orders as compared to the same period last year.

Flipkart had seen overall sales of Rs 1,400 crore in a single day last year during the smartphone sales day. The company did not disclose gross sales number. Flipkart also claimed an overall market share of 65% of online sales, and 75% in smartphone category since the start of its flagship Big Billion Day event on Wednesday. Amazon claimed a higher growth in sales in the smartphone category.

"We have already seen a 100% increase over previous Diwali, even before the end of Day One. For smartphones, we saw an even larger gain, that grew 150% over 2016," said an Amazon spokesperson.

Analysts tracking the sales are saying that gross merchandise value (GMV) on Thursday could have crossed Rs 2,500 crore. "Overall, on Day 1 of sales on Wednesday, the industry saw a GMV of Rs 1,000 crore," said Anil Kumar, CEO, RedSeer.

Among the best selling phones on Flipkart were iPhones and Redmi Flipkart were iPhones and Redmi Note 4 as well as Samsung S7 and S8, Flipkart's Smrithi Ravichandran said. Amazon did not respond to specific queries till the time of going to print.
Amazon kicked off its Great Indian Festival for all customers on Thursday, after giving an early access to Prime customers for 12 hours on Wednesday, in which it saw large appliances emerging as the biggest category.
Industry experts said both platforms changed prices on some products to match deals that did well on rival platform, especially on products like MacBook Air and iPhones. The trend during day two on cashback website CashKaro was that top players Flipkart and Amazon India were neck-toneck on their smartphone sale war, because of price-matching.

"When Flipkart started their sale at midnight, they had very good pricing on iPhone, which Amazon matched within the night," said Swati Bhargava, cofounder, CashKaro. "Alternatively, MacBook Air price was lower on Amazon, which was matched by Flipkart."

However, Paytm Mall, the third player in the ecommerce sales war, claimed to have the lowest prices across platforms. The company received smartphone orders from customers across 700 cities and town within 24 hours, with iPhones and Samsung Galaxy J3 Pro emerging as the top-selling smartphones, registering 12x surge in order volume over regular days. 

WhatsApp Introduces Video Calling

Some good news in this time of chaos all around! The most popular messaging app WhatsApp officially introduced video calling for its over 1 billion users worldwide on iOS, Android and Windows platform.

“We are introducing this feature because we know that sometimes voice and text just aren't enough. And we want to make these features available to everyone, not just those who can afford the most expensive new phones or live in countries with the best cellular networks,” WhatsApp said in a blog post.

To try out this feature, users can press the call button on the top right corner in a chat which will bring up two options: voice call or video call. To place a video call, click on the option from the screen. Users can also simply switch between the rear and front camera, mute conversations and disconnect the call as well.

While Facebook Messenger users have enjoyed voice calls for over a year and a half, many popular messaging apps like still don't offer the feature. With over one billion users, WhatsApp's video calls can connect people all over the world.

Tips To Travel Smartly With Google Maps

In just a decade, technology has advanced so much that now we don’t have to pay for GPS in our rented cars. Now, free navigation is available from none other than Google itself in the form of Google Maps.

Google Maps, introduced around a decade ago, has got a place in almost every Android and Non Android device. Nowadays, Google Maps can provide you with any direction, restaurant, fuel stations, cinema halls and lot more stuff. You can even spot the high traffic roads and what route to take to avoid tolls and traffic. Google Maps is a handy tool to travel smartly without any glitches.

There’s much more that we can do with Google Maps. Here are some tips you can follow to travel smartly with Google Maps:

Offline Maps

Offline maps are one of the best features that Google Maps Offer. While traveling we usually have problems with our data connection. To overcome this we can save Google Maps of particular region so that we can access it without internet connection.

By the mid of 2012 Google embedded Offline Maps feature into Google Maps. So, next time whenever you travel save Offline Maps in your Google Maps app. You can do so by simply tapping the hamburger button in the upper left of the Google Maps screen. Select the Offline areas. Finally, to add it in your local storage just tap on the plus button in the bottom. You can zoom in zoom out, drag the map to select the area to download the Offline maps of it.

Save Important Places

You can save important places with just a tap. While traveling, we usually encounter lot of places of interest. But after a trip we forget to checkout those places. To solve this problem you can save important places on your maps. You need to follow the steps below to save the location:

Tap on the location on the map.
A popup will appear from the bottom, touch it and press save.

Avoid Highways and Tolls

Google Maps not only provides information, it also makes the information usable by applying proper metrics and algorithms. Ultimately, it gives us option to avoid tolls and highways. Whether you want to avoid tolls, highways and traffic or all of them, select the required option and you are good to go!

Train and Bus Schedules

This is a useful feature that Google added a couple of years ago. It provides you with information like Train and Bus schedules on a selected location (from your present location to desired location). It will also provide you with the departure times and fares.

Explore

Google Maps help travelers allowing them to skim through the places at the tip of fingers, checkout pictures, and read reviews as well. You can also check nearby attractions and find all places of interest. You can effortlessly search for the things you might require during your journey and pin the locations.

Multiple Stops

You can add multiple stops in a single journey. Google Maps will take Multiple Locations as input and will give you a full plan on how you can travel between these locations.

Find ATMs, Restaurants and others

You can scroll the ATMs near your location easily. You can check the ratings of Restaurants along with the location information. To save on restaurants and hotels you can use Couponraja discount coupons and save some extra bucks. Couponraja is a leading coupon code aggregator in India that allows you to get discounts on popular restaurants like McDonalds, KFC and others. Also, when you book flight/train/bus tickets or hotel rooms, do not forget to check out some exciting discounts at Couponraja and save big.

So, download the Google Maps app for a comfortable journey right away and keep Couponraja coupons handy to make travelling easy on pockets.