Weekly Tech Recap: Ola ditches Google Maps, OnePlus Summer Launch Event announced and more
Weekly Tech Recap: In the hustle and bustle of everyday life, it can be easy to miss some important updates. But fear not, we have got you covered with the Weekly Tech Recap, where we take a look at the top news stories that have made waves in the world of technology. In this week's Tech Recap, Ola decided to ditch Google Maps in favour of a proprietary solution, Amazon announced its Prime Day sale, Apple listed some of its devices as 'vintage', OnePlus announced its summer launch event and WhatsApp reportedly started testing a new video notes feature.
Top 5 tech stories of the week:
- Bhavish Aggarwal's Ola ditches Google Maps, launches Ola Maps:
Cab aggregator Ola announced this week that it is 'fully' dropping Google Maps and will instead use its own mapping service called Ola Maps. Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal made the announcement via a post on X (formerly Twitter), where he said that Ola was spending ₹100 crore per year on Google Maps, but has reduced that expenditure to 0 this month by shifting to its proprietary solution.
Aggarwal wrote, "After Azure exit last month, we’ve now fully exited Google Maps. We used to spend ₹100 crore a year, but we’ve made that 0 this month by moving completely to our in-house Ola Maps! Check your Ola app and update if needed 😉,"
- Amazon Prime Day Sale announced:
Amazon has announced that its Prime Day 2024 sale will go live in India from July 20 onwards. While Amazon hasn't revealed the specific deals during the Prime Day sale, the company did say that there will be thousands of deals across TVs, laptops, smartphones, fashion, grocery and everyday essentials during the offer period.
The Amazon Prime Day Sale 2024 will begin on 12:00am on July 20 and end on 11:59 on July 21. Amazon also stated that there will be over 450 new launches from Indian and global brands like OnePlus, Samsung, Honor, iQOO, Bajaj, Motorola, Asus and more.
- OnePlus Summer Launch Event announced:
OnePlus announced earlier this week that it will launch the much-awaited Nord 4 along with Nord Buds 3 Pro, Watch 2R and OnePlus Pad 2 in Milan, Italy, on July 16. While the company has remained tight lipped about the features of these devices, it does state that the OnePlus Nord 4 will come with a metal unibody design, a first for OnePlus devices since the OnePlus 5T.
Earlier rumours suggest that the OnePlus Nord 4 will be powered by the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 chipset. It is likely to feature a 6.74-inch 1.5K curved AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate. On the optics front, the phone could feature a 50MP SonyIMX 882 primary sensor and a secondary 8MP ultra-wide-angle shooter. The battery is also expected to get a massive boost, going from 5,000mAh on its predecessor to 5,500mAh on the Nord 4. - Apple's AirPods, iPhone X and HomePod are now vintage:
Apple has officially classified three of its iconic products as "vintage." The latest update to Apple's vintage and obsolete products list now includes the iPhone X, the first-generation AirPods, and the original HomePod
According to Apple, a product is deemed vintage when it has been out of the sales market for more than five years but less than seven years. Once a product has been off the market for more than seven years, it is categorized as obsolete. Vintage products are still eligible for repairs, although this is contingent on the availability of parts. Obsolete products, on the other hand, are no longer supported for hardware services.
- WhatsApp could soon allow users to share video notes:
Meta-owned WhatsApp continues to innovate with new features aimed at enhancing user convenience. According to a recent report from WABetaInfo, the messaging app plans to introduce the ability to forward outgoing video notes, removing the hassle of having to record the same message multiple times for different conversations. Initially available to beta testers, this feature will be gradually rolled out to all users.
The new forwarding capability will allow users to easily share video notes across various chats, reflecting WhatsApp's commitment to user-friendly updates. This development comes as part of WhatsApp's ongoing efforts to enrich the user experience by providing more versatile ways to utilize video notes.