News

Realme 2 and 2 Pro launch in Southeast Asia

Aimed at the youth market

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As far as spin-offs go, Realme looks to be heading in the right direction.

After launching the budget-friendly Realme 2 and Realme 2 Pro in India, the company which was initially an OPPO sub-brand is setting its sights on Southeast Asia. At an event held at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Jakarta, Indonesia, Realme launched the two phones which are aimed squarely at the youth market.

Realme is marketing their phones as “Power meets Style.” The Realme 2 Pro is taking care of the power part with a Snapdragon 660 processor, up to 8GB of RAM, and up to 128GB of internal storage which is expandable up to 256GB thanks to a microSD card slot. It has a 3500mAh battery to power you through the day. There will also be 4GB and 6GB RAM variants.

As for style, the Realme 2 will come in three colors: Black, Blue, and Red, and will sport a diamond-cut-looking design on its back similar to the one first seen on the OPPO F7.

Cameras for portraits and selfies

The cameras seem standard enough for 2018. The Realme 2 sports a 13- and 2-megapixel dual-camera setup while the front-facing camera has 8 megapixels. It’s packed with features like portrait mode, beauty mode, and AR stickers. The Realme 2 Pro takes it up a notch (yes, it does have a notch) with a 16MP sensor with an f/1.7 aperture and a secondary 2MP depth sensor with an f/2 aperture. The selfie camera is 16MP and supports AI-powered beauty mode and smart HDR.

Both phones will run on Android 8.1 Oreo with ColorOS on top.

New entry-level king

Realme also announced a new entry-level phone — the Realme C1. It will sport the dewdrop notch just like the Realme 2 Pro’s, but the specs are more comparable to the Realme 2: 6.2-inch display, 13MP + 2MP dual cameras, 4230mAh battery, 2GB RAM and 16GB of storage.

Pricing and availability

As of posting, we only have the pricing and availability for Indonesia:

Realme 2 Pro (October 23 through Lazada)
4GB + 64GB: IDR 2,899,000
6GB + 64GB: IDR 3,299,000
8GB + 128GB: IDR 3,699,00

Realme 2 (October 16 through Lazada)
3GB + 32GB: IDR 1,999,000
4GB + 64GB: IDR 2,399,000

Realme C1
2GB + 16GB: IDR 1,499,000 with special sale on November 11 at IDR 1,399,000

We’ll update with the prices for the rest of Southeast Asia as soon as we get the information.

Apps

Netflix expands its cheaper ad-supported tier to Southeast Asia

This also includes more countries in Europe and South America.

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If you don’t care about seeing a deluge of ads on your platforms, you’re an incredibly rare breed these days. That same skill will come in handy for those nicely priced subscription tiers that comes with ads. Netflix, for one, has one of those tiers, and it’s now coming out in more countries.

As is prevalent in other platforms today, an ad-supported subscription tier lowers the price you have to pay every month. The catch, however, is that there will be an occasional sprinkling of ads here and there.

Netflix offers this service, which allows subscribers to get the service for cheap at the expense of their time. Currently, it is limited to only a few major markets in the world. However, the platform is expanding the tier’s reach to more countries in Europe, South America, and Southeast Asia.

Starting in 2027, Netflix’s ad-supported tier will expand to 15 countries: Austria, Belgium, Colombia, Denmark, Indonesia, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, and Thailand.

Netflix says that the ad-supported tier is a popular option for subscribers. Currently, the tier has around 250 million subscribers worldwide. Since some of the new countries have a more budget-conscious attitude when it comes to purchasing services, this number will likely go up after the expansion in 2027.

SEE ALSO: Netflix does the unthinkable: Mayweather-Pacquiao II set for September

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Apps

Google might limit free storage to only 5GB

The change will affect new users.

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Google One is a monthly subscription that gives you at least 200GB of cloud storage for your files and photos. For most people, a Google One subscription starts when Google inevitably tells them that their free storage space is running out and will soon stop backing up files. Starting today, new users might get that warning sooner rather than later as Google tests a lower limit to free storage.

Historically, Google offers users 15GB of free storage as a start. However, especially these days, 15GB can run out rapidly, prompting a Google One upgrade. Still, despite how “little” it is, Google’s free storage is generous compared to its contemporaries.

Now, Google is reportedly going to be more at par with the rest. As spotted on Reddit (via 9to5Google), new users will receive only 5GB of free storage. Based on Wayback Machine, the company changed its policy sometime between February to March.

Notably, 15GB is still available as an option, but users have to link their phone numbers to their accounts first.

According to Google, the policy change is meant to encourage users to upgrade their security. However, critics will point out that it just enables the company to collect more data about their users. Of note, the platform is already pushy about linking phone numbers before the change, but this adds another layer to entice people.

Also, Google confirms that the new policy is only a regional test for now. They have not announced when (or if) the change comes out for real.

SEE ALSO: Gmail now makes it easy to unsubscribe from all marketing emails

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Gaming

The Steam Controller literally screams when you throw it

Please throw it at padded surfaces only.

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We love harmless Easter eggs. Think of Chrome’s jumping dino or Android’s yearly quirk. It’s always fun when a device or app hides a special surprise for those in the know. Today, Valve is keeping the tradition alive by putting a screaming Easter egg in its new Steam Controller.

The first of its trio of new hardware, the Steam Controller converts the iconic layout of the Steam Deck into controller form. Besides offering an accessible controller, it also connects seamlessly to Steam, offering an easy doorway to plug and, literally, play.

Since it launched on May 4, users have already been playing around with their Steam Controllers. Presumably, this also includes a few rage moments that involve throwing the controller over a frustrating game.

If you threw your controller already, you might have heard an interesting surprise. As spotted by users online, the Steam Controller lets out a Wilhelm scream whenever it’s thrown.

For the unaware, the Wilhelm scream is the world’s most iconic scream. If you’ve watched a few movies, there’s a high chance that you’ve heard it before, as it’s often used as a background scream in many, many movies.

Notably, this has a cooldown of approximately one minute, so you can’t spam it over and over again. This also works on padded surfaces, so you don’t need to throw your controller at a hard wall. It’s just one of those nice Easter eggs that add a little spice to a favorite controller.

All that said, please don’t throw your Steam Controller at hard surfaces.

SEE ALSO: The Steam Controller is coming out on May 4

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