Smartphone technology is evolving at a rapid pace by bringing new innovations to the table and removing some at the same time. Last year Apple caught immense attention as it removed the 3.5mm audio jack from the iPhone 7-series. Although Apple received heavy backlash for doing so, many smartphone brands followed suit. Now a new patent filed by Microsoft appears to solve the problem of retaining the audio jack without affecting the design.

It has been argued that the removal of the audio helps OEMs keep the smartphone build slim. It also makes way for other components to take more space such as battery, larger displays and more. There are also others who argue that this is a tactic for brands to promote wireless headphones. First reported by MSPowerUser, Microsoft has filed a patent is titled “Plug receptacle for an electronic device”.

According to the patent filed, the design language would be such that the headphone jack would be an expandable one. Also, it will only be pulled or stretched out when someone needs it. Otherwise, the smartphone’s design will remain the same and may even give the illusion of no headphone jack at all.

Microsoft further details how this would work. It says, “A plug receptacle is disclosed, comprising a receptacle housing having a passage configured to receive at least a part of a plug of a plug connector, a front side having a first opening and a top side having a second, elongated opening that intersects the first opening, the passage opening to the front side via the first opening and to the top side via the second opening.”

It also says that that the plug receptacle will come with a cover which can be pulled in and out. There are three proposed designs for this headphone jack. In one there would be a flexible material that will expand when the headphone is plugged in. There would also be a hard pleated material which would expand in the same way. As for the last design, it is said that the plug receptacle will expand in both directions. Considering this is only a patent, the production may or may not take place. However, it does sound interesting for an alternative to saving the headphone jack.

The week has been dominated by smartphone leaks and launches. Today was more of a mixed bag in the tech world. The day started with the sale of the Google Pixel 2 in India. Apple also started rolling out the stable versions of iOS 11.1, watchOS 4.1, macOS High Sierra 10.13.1, and tvOS 11.1. Moving on, a hands-on video of the HTC U11 Plus and U11 Life emerged online giving a close look at the upcoming smartphones. Google also introduced a new Bluetooth pairing feature for Android users. Lastly, the iPhone X, which will commercially launch on November 3 has an exciting Airtel offer.

Google’s latest flagship smartphone, the Pixel 2, went on sale today. The smartphone is priced at Rs 61,000 for the 64GB variant, and Rs 70,000 for the 128GB model. You can purchase the Pixel 2 through Flipkart or via offline stores like Reliance Digital and Croma. Recapping its specifications, the Pixel 2 features a 5-inch full HD OLED display, with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835 SoC and 4GB of RAM under its hood. For photography, the Pixel 2 sports a 12.2-megapixel rear camera of f/1.8 aperture, and OIS. Up front, it houses an 8-megapixel front camera.

Apple has released the latest updates for its devices with iOS 11.1, macOS High Sierra 10.13.1, watchOS 4.1, and tvOS 11.1. The iOS 11.1 brings a few important bug fixes, 70 new emoji, and the return of the 3D app switcher for iPhone 6s and above. watchOS 4.1 brings the long rumored Apple Music or iCloud Music Library streaming for the Apple Watch 3. The update also brings the option to toggle automatic Wi-Fi connections on and off. With macOS High Sierra 10.13.1, users get a new emoji, KRACK Wi-Fi vulnerability fix, among others. Lastly, tvOS 11.1 update brings some bug fixes and performance enhancements for the Apple TV.

HTC is expected to launch the U11 Plus and U11 Life tomorrow. The smartphones were spotted today in a hands-on video revealing the design and look. The HTC U11 Plus has a large display with thin bezels on each side, and sports a glossy back panel. The smartphone also has five on-screen buttons. The HTC U11 Life, on the other hand, is an Android One smartphone and was seen running stock Android. It has a decent design with a home button and capacitive buttons on each side.

For effortless Bluetooth pairing, Google has rolled out Fast Pair for devices running Android 6.0 Marshmallow and above. Using Bluetooth LE (Low Energy) and the Android smartphone’s location, Fast Pair discovers Bluetooth accessories nearby. Once you receive a pop-up notification you need to tap on it to start pairing. In addition to locating accessories, Fast Pair will also show the product name and image if it exists on the Google server.

On November 3, the iPhone X will be available for purchase in various places including Airtel’s new Online Store. Airtel postpaid customers will be able to purchase the iPhone X as an unlocked device on a first-come-first-serve basis if full payment is made. Airtel is also offering cashback of Rs 10,000 for Citibank Credit card users between 6:00PM November 3 and 7:00AM November 3. The iPhone X is priced at Rs 89,000 for the 64GB variant, while the 256GB model will be available at Rs 102,000.

We are part of the generation where within 30 minutes of Beyoncé announcing her pregnancy to her 92 million Instagram followers, the picture received over 1.4 million likes. By the end of the day, the singer had broken the record for the most liked picture on Instagram, hitting the 6 million mark. We are the generation that may not have physically visited a place, but in pictures, there is no detail we don’t know. And so, for a generation like ours, holding the attention span can be difficult.

Which is why, an ideal way to keep the attention of a millenial with you is by leveraging the platforms they are already hooked to. WhatsApp is one of such platform. In fact, a big lot of the Gen Y and the Big Boomers are already joining the millenials in terms of addiction to the platform. After all, it has a user base of one billion people. So, if you have a team, and a WhatsApp group, here are five fun games you can play with your colleagues to stay productive.

How to play:

Write three clues which have a common connect. Ask your audience to find that connect and share their answers. Reply every answer and try to create engagement by providing hints. Ideal for sharing general company or product- related information such as things that three key members of your team have in common or three features your competitor’s products don’t offer.

What happens next?

How to play:

Share a comic strip or a small snippet, which highlights a situation or a problem and ask your audience for solutions. Ideal for process-related training like customer support or compliance such as a role-playing with a difficult customer complaint or tough sales prospect. You can even try role playing with popular office characters such as Dilbert to give it a fun element. You can use tools like Toondoo, StoryboardThat, Canva to create comic strips.

How to play:

Share a product name along with a resource file, like a pdf, video, and ask the followers to share interesting information or facts related to it. Just one rule – you cannot repeat information shared by others. Ideal for product training such as asking them to share information about the latest product range or what happened during a recent visit by management.

How to play:

Jumble up a word and ask your followers to identify the word. Follow up with the correct answer and additional information related to the word. Ideal for communicating technical terms or important concepts.

How to play:

Send out interesting questions daily on WhatsApp, and run a daily contest. Maintain a leaderboard for who’s coming out on top and give out monthly prizes. Make the questions fun and interesting or even appoint an interested party as the QuizMaster. Ideal for communicating concepts, history, product-related information These games are simple and easy to play. All you need is a WhatsApp group.

Xiaomi is all geared up to introduce a new smartphone in India tomorrow. The company is teasing the upcoming device as the ‘best selfie smartphone’. While details are unclear at the moment, rumors hint at the launch of the Mi Note 3, which was launched globally in September.

The launch event will be broadcast and you can follow this link to catch the action live. Additionally, you could also follow Xiaomi’s Facebook or Twitter handles to keep track of the updates. As Xiaomi teased in one of its previous tweets, the upcoming smartphone will belong to a new series altogether. On October 26, Xiaomi India head Manu Kumar Jain posted a tweet, suggesting that there will be a new selfie smartphone coming from the company’s portfolio. Soon after, Xiaomi India tweeted more hints about the upcoming phone. The company wrote, “I’m not a Note. I’m not a Book. I’m a new series.” Now this nullifies past rumors about Mi Note 3 being the device in question.

Just saying #YourBestSelfie pic.twitter.com/ZPvFdgpskX

— Redmi India (@RedmiIndia) October 26, 2017

The company recently announced that it has shipped 10 million smartphones in a month for the second time in a row. The announcement was made by Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun in a video post on Chinese social networking site Weibo. In India, the company recorded 4 million smartphones sales during the festive season.

Karbonn has launched a new smartphone in its K-series called, K9 Smart Selfie. Priced at Rs 4,890, the smartphone will be available in black and blue color options.

The smartphone features a 5-inch FWQVGA display with a display resolution of 854×480 pixels. Under the hood is a 1.1GHz quad-core processor paired with 1GB of RAM. Also on offer is an 8GB of internal storage, which can be further expanded up to 32GB via a microSD card.

The smartphone sports an 8-megapixel front camera, which also is the USP of the phone. The selfie camera comes with night shot mode and beauty mode. At the back, there is a 5-megapixel shooter with LED flash. On the connectivity front, the smartphone supports 4G VoLTE, Bluetooth, GPS, FM Radio, dual-SIM card slots, and micro-USB port.

Armed with a 2,300mAh battery, the company claims that the smartphone can last up to eight hours of talk-time, and up to 180 hours of standby time. On the software front, the smartphone runs on Android 7.0 Nougat out-of-the-box.

Recently, Airtel partnered Karbonn to offer an ultra-affordable 4G smartphone called A40 Indian at an ‘effective price’ of Rs 1,399. The smartphone was originally launched in India in July at Rs 3,499. However, there is a catch,  if you want to purchase the phone, you will have to pay a down payment of Rs 2,899, and then take a minimum amount of recharges over the course of three years to receive cashback of Rs 1,500. You will be required to make monthly recharges from Airtel, which will be worth Rs 3,000 in the first 18 months to avail Rs 500 as cashback. This needs to be followed with recharges of Rs 3,000 for next 18 months to get the remaining Rs 1,000 as cashback. All in all, you will be paying Rs 2,899 as the first payment, followed by Rs 6,000 worth recharges in the three-year time period, to avail a cashback of just Rs 1,500.

Xiaomi is gearing up to launch the ‘best selfie smartphone’ in India tomorrow. As it introduces a new smartphones series tomorrow, Xiaomi is also rumored to upgrade its Redmi series this month. The Redmi 5 Plus has been showing up on leaks quite frequently now. Now the device has been leaked yet again in what is claimed to be the smartphone’s hands-on photos.

Complementing past leaks, the Redmi 5 Plus is seen again with a tall edge-to-edge display. If rumors are to be believed, then the Redmi 5 Plus would be the first smartphone in the series with such a design. The leaked photos (via GizChina) further reveal a lit display with on-screen buttons making up for the lack of a home button. The design is similar to what we have seen before. What’s missing here is the rear panel’s design which has so far shown a dual-camera setup aligned vertically.

As far as specifications are concerned, the Redmi 5 Plus is rumored to feature a 5.9-inch full HD+ display with aspect ratio of 18:9. The smartphone will possibly be powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 625 SoC paired with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of expandable storage. The suspected dual-camera setup on the Redmi 5 Plus will possibly be a combination of 12-megapixel and 5-megapixel sensors.

Along with the Redmi 5 Plus, Xiaomi is expected to launch the Redmi 5 as well which would be the lower variant of the two. The Redmi 5 is rumored to flaunt a 5.7-inch HD display with Snapdragon 450 SoC under its hood. The smartphone could pack 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage.

The expected pricing details of the Redmi 5 and Redmi 5 Plus have been leaked as well. The Redmi 5 is predicted to retail at RMB 799 (approximately Rs 7,900). The Redmi 5 Plus, on the other hand, could be priced at RMB 1,099 (approximately Rs 10,800).