Asus ZenFone Max Pro M1 drops flash sale model to be available 24/7

ASUS India has announced that their first-ever “Made in India” smartphone, the Asus ZenFone Max Pro M1 will now be available for purchase 24/7, exclusively on Flipkart.com. This marks an end to the flash sales model that was being followed for this device, although this extends to two variants of the device only.

The ZenFone Max Pro M1 is receiving tremendous response in the Indian smartphone market, as it brings heavy competition to established value players like the Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 and Redmi Note 5 Pro. The ZenFone Max Pro M1 began its sales through a flash sales model, which saw the device being sold out in every sale in a matter of minutes. To make the best of the situation, Asus has ramped up the production and supply of the 3GB RAM + 32GB storage and 4GB RAM + 64GB storage variants, and has now made them available for purchase round the clock.

As for the 6GB RAM + 64GB storage variant that went on its first flash sale on 26 July 2018, Asus is working hard to making this variant readily available. For now, this variant will continue on with the flash sales model till its availability ramps up.

The Asus ZenFone Max Pro M1 certainly ticks a lot of the right boxes for a user looking to purchase a competitive, value device. You get an excellent device with specs that match the toughest competition, an excellent pricing scheme, stock Android Oreo 8.1 out of the box, and bootloader unlock and kernel source code as well. With the open sale model, the Asus ZenFone Max Pro M1 beats the Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro in availability, making it natural for customers to pick up Asus’s available device over Xiaomi’s unavailable device. Asus is also doing well for Android updates, so we are certainly hopeful for the future of this device.

Here is a table comparing the Asus ZenFone Max Pro M1 with the Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro:

Specifications	Asus ZenFone Max Pro M1	Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro
Dimensions	159 x 76 x 8.5 mm	158.6 x 75.4 x 8.1 mm
Weight	180 g	181 g
Display	5.99″ LCD; 1080 x 2160 pixels; 18:9 aspect ratio	5.99″ LCD; 1080 x 2160 pixels; 18:9 aspect ratio
SoC	Qualcomm Snapdragon 636	Qualcomm Snapdragon 636
RAM & Storage	3GB + 32GB; 4GB + 64GB; 6GB + 64GB	4GB + 64GB; 6GB + 64GB
MicroSD	Yes; Dedicated Slot	Yes; uses SIM2 slot
Dual SIM	Yes	Yes; Hybrid SIM/microSD slot
IR Blaster	No	Yes
Battery Size	5,000 mAh	4,000 mAh
WiFi	Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac; Dual Band
Rear Camera	13MP main sensor, f/2.2 or 16MP main sensor, f/2.0 (6GB RAM model only); 5MP secondary sensor, f/2.4	12MP main sensor, f/2.2; 5MP secondary sensor, f/2.0
Front Camera	8MP, f/2.2 or 16MP. f/2.2 (6GB RAM model only)	20MP, f/2.2
Android Version	Stock Android Oreo 8.1	MIUI 9.5 on Android Oreo 8.1
Pricing	3GB/32GB: ₹10,999; 4GB/64GB: ₹12,999; 6GB/64GB: ₹14,999	4GB/64GB: ₹14,999; 6GB/64GB: ₹16,999

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LG Stylo 4 is now available as Amazon Prime Exclusive for $250

If you are on the market for stylus-enabled phones, but you don't want to break your bank for one of Samsung's Galaxy Notes, LG has a decent budget alternative that comes bundled with a pen. And the Stylo 4 has now joined the Amazon Prime Exclusive program that lets you save a few extra bucks from its retail price. Of course, you can't expect top-notch performance out of the LG Stylo 4 but a lot of the features that you can find on the Galaxy Note8 are available on the Stylo 4. The device is powered by a modest Snapdragon 450 chipset driving a big 6.2-inch 1080 x 2160 IPS display. RAM...

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Go-Jek kicks off Southeast Asia expansion with Vietnam launch

Go-Jek, the Indonesia-based ride-sharing company valued at $5 billion, has begun its ambitious plan to increase its rivalry with Grab by expanding into three new markets after it opened shop in Vietnam.

The service — which is known as Go-Viet — covers an initial 12 districts in Ho Chi Minh City with a motorbike on-demand service. Rival Grab is in five cities in Vietnam and its services include motorbikes, taxis, private cars and food delivery.

The August 1 Vietnam launch as TechCrunch reported in June. The plan is to then expand into Thailand in September, and the Philippines before the end of this year. Singapore remains a market that Go-Jek would like to enter — it has held partnership talks with taxi operator ComfortDelGro — but it remains unclear whether, and when, that might happen.

GO-VIET will be live on August 1st in the Apple App Store & Google Play.

We're expanding to 12 districts across Ho Chi Minh City  and this will be GO-JEK’s first international operations outside of Indonesia. pic.twitter.com/xMrRRTc29w

— GO-JEK Tech (@gojektech) July 31, 2018

Go-Jek expansion plan will put some heat on Grab, which has occupied a near-dominant position across Southeast Asia since it acquired Uber’s local business back in March.

Unlike Grab, though, Go-Jek is taking a very local approach to each market. Not only will it use a local name in each country — in Thailand it will be called “Get” — it has hired local ‘founder’ teams who will be responsible for service offerings and other local business aspects. It isn’t clear how closely they will work with the core Go-Jek team in Indonesia.

That may mean anyone traveling between countries will need to download local Go-Jek apps, which is in contrast to Grab, which offers a single app for eight countries in Southeast Asia.

Valued at $10 billion, Grab has raised over $5 billion from investors, including its most recent $1 billion investment from Toyota. Go-Jek has pulled in just over $2 billion. Tencent, Google, Meituan and others participated in its most recent (estimated) $1.4 billion raise which closed earlier this year.

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Only a few hours left to buy super early-bird passes to Disrupt Berlin 2018

We dedicate this post to all the wafflers, the procrastinators, the vacillators and the chronically undecided. You have less than 24 hours to save money on your tickets to Disrupt Berlin 2018 on November 29-30. How much money? Up to €700. The door slams shut on super early-bird savings on Wednesday August 1 at 11:59 p.m. CEST. It’s do or don’t save, folks. Shake the inertia and buy your super early-bird passes now.

Honestly, Disrupt Berlin 2018 is the must-go destination for anyone interested in the European and international startup scene. How international? Last year’s Disrupt Berlin drew people from more than 50 countries, including all the European Union members, Israel, Turkey, Russia, Egypt, India, China and South Korea, to name a few. It’s the EPCOT of the startup world — with better tech.

We expect to host thousands of attendees and present hundreds of exhibitors in Startup Alley, where you’ll see the latest and greatest tech innovation on display. It’s the place to be for high-quality networking of every stripe. And both founders and investors can make the most efficient use of their time by using CrunchMatch, our free, business match-making service that connects founders and investors based on their similar business goals. It’s networking simplified.

Luke Heron, the CEO of TestCard, exhibited in Startup Alley last year and had this to say about his Disrupt Berlin experience.

“We used the CrunchMatch platform to schedule meetings with six or seven VCs on the second day. By and large, they were very positive meetings. If you’re a startup or an entrepreneur, attending Disrupt is a no-brainer.”

And don’t forget Startup Battlefield, our premier startup pitch competition. Since the first Battlefield back in 2007, more than 750 companies have competed and gone on to collectively raise $800 billion in funding — and 100 of them have either gone public or been acquired. Names like Box, Mint, Yammer, Vurb — and many others — might ring a bell.

Last year at Disrupt Berlin 2017, Lia Diagnostics won Startup Battlefield, the Disrupt Cup and the $50,000 grand prize. Could this be your year to win? Why not submit your application and compete?

There’s so much more to experience at Disrupt Berlin: speakers, Q&A sessions, workshops, swag and after parties. The possibilities and opportunities are limitless, but your chance to save money on passes is not.

You have less than 24 hours to take advantage of our super early-bird savings. The price hike goes into effect on Wednesday August 1 at 11:59 p.m. CEST. Don’t waste any more time. Purchase your tickets right now.

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Google adds new Singapore data center as Southeast Asia reaches 330M internet users

Google is adding a third data center to its presence in Singapore in response to continued internet growth in Southeast Asia.

It’s been three years since it added a second center in Singapore, and during that time the company estimates that something in the region of 70 million people across Southeast Asia have come online for the first time. That takes the region to over 330 million internet users, but with a population of over 650 million, there’s plenty more to come.

The local data centers don’t exclusively serve their immediate proximity — Asia data centers can handle U.S. traffic, and likewise — but adding more local capacity does help Google services, and companies that run their business on Google’s cloud, run quicker for internet users in that specific region. So not only is it good for locals, but it’s important for Google’s business, which counts the likes of Singapore Airlines, Ninjavan, Wego, Go-Jek and Carousell as notable cloud customers.

The search giant also operates a data center in Taiwan. The company had planned to augment Taiwan and Singapore with a center in Hong Kong, but that project was canned in 2013 due to challenges in securing real estate.

Google opened its first Singapore data center in 2011, and this newest facility will take it to around $850 million spent in Singapore to date, the company confirmed, and to over $1 billion when including Taiwan.

Google: Southeast Asia’s internet economy is growing faster than expected

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YouTube adding swipe gestures for skipping videos in Android app

YouTube has been rolling out a handful of features lately but as most of the times, some of them are available to just select number of users in a soak test before being introduced to the wider public. The latest update brings support for swiping to skip to the next or go back to the previus video but it's still not available to everyone. The gestures are pretty intuitive and replaces the forward and back buttons that appear on the video when you tap on it. It's a tad faster and more convenient this way. The transition animations shown in the video below remind us of Android P's recent...

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Apple smashes another fiscal record, reaches 17% increase in revenue

Apple announced its financial results for the third fiscal quarter between April and June. Cupertino amassed $53.3 billion of revenue, 17% more than the same period last year, Tim Cook announced in a press release. This is "the best June quarter ever and our fourth consecutive quarter of double-digit revenue growth," he added. All four geographic regions posted revenue growth YoY, even if international sales were 60%, while the other 40% came from the domestic US market. This is good news for shareholders which saw a 40% increase in their earnings up to $2.34 per...

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