News Update Times

Lahore (Muhammad Yasir) Telenor Pakistan has become one of the first telcos to launch Spotify Premium in Pakistan. Through this collaboration, Telenor Pakistan customers will be able to subscribe to Spotify Premium through their Telenor mobile balance and enjoy unlimited #MoreSeZyadaEntertainment.

This collaboration will enable Telenor Pakistan’s 47 million customers to access Spotify’s over 70 million tracks and over 4 billion playlists from around the world. Users may also enjoy personalised music recommendations and discover new music. The premium version offers ad-free music listening and allows access to many personalisation features such as the ability to curate specialised playlists and browse through a wide catalogue of local and international songs. Subscribers also have access to content offline and the service works on computers, smartphones, tablets, television and has the ‘Spotify Connect’ feature as well.

Commenting on the development, Khurrum Ashfaque, COO Telenor Pakistan said, “The launch of Spotify Premium is a much-awaited news for music enthusiasts around the country. With masses having limited online payment options, we are enabling ease of access to 47 million Telenor Pakistan customers to subscribe to Spotify using their mobile airtime. Collaborating with Spotify to enable premium access has also furthered our ambition of bringing new and quality content to our local audiences and will also enable our local artists to tap into Spotify’s over 345 million listeners worldwide.”

Spotify is the world’s most popular audio streaming subscription service, with 345 million monthly listeners. Spotify comes to Pakistan offering the best listening experience in local and international music, with the Spotify app available to download for free or with an upgrade to Spotify Premium for only PKR 329 per month with free access during 1 month for new Premium users. There are multiple pricing options to fit different users’ needs that include Premium for Students at PKR 165, Duo at PKR 429 per month and Family, allowing 6 profiles for family members living under one roof, at PKR 529 per month. Telenor Pakistan users may subscribe to Spotify by visiting: https://www.spotify.com/premium .

realme GT pre-showed at MWC Shanghai, realme announces its “Dual-platform

Dual-flagship” strategy for the mid-to-high end market

At MWC Shanghai 2021, realme, the world’s fastest-growing smartphone brand, pre-showed its new flagship realme GT and announces its “Dual-platform Dual-flagship” strategy to comprehensively lay out its mid-to-high-end product line, bringing more powerful leap-forward technology and trendsetting design to young people. At the same time, realme continues its rapid growth in 2020, achieving a milestone of 70 million smartphone users worldwide in just the first two months of 2021.

Dual flagships, leap to high-end market

According to Counterpoint, realme’s global smartphone shipments in 2020 accumulated more than 42.4 million units with a 65% growth rate, which made realme

become the only smartphone brand in the world to grow by more than 50%. And in the new year, realme will take the mid-to-high-end products as a critical target for brand development. Adhering to the brand spirit of “Dare to Leap”, realme will bring a more comprehensive mid-to-high-end smartphone product line and inject new inspiration into the industry.

To this end, realme officially announces the “Dual-platform Dual-flagship” strategy. In the mid-to-high-end segment, realme will adopt both Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 series and MediaTek Dimensity series flagship 5G platform and release two flagship series focusing on performance and image respectively, bringing more premium products to young users. The strategy of “Dual-platform Dual-flagship” will also start a new journey for realme.

Performance flagship, born for speed

GT series will become the flagship series with top performance in the realme smartphone portfolio in the “Dual-platform Dual-flagship” strategy. As the new performance flagship with Snapdragon 888, GT brings users the power of the leap-forward high performance and a sustained surging experience and spiritual resonance.

At the same time, to better unleash that the performance of Snapdragon 888 realme GT is innovatively equipped with the Stainless-Steel VC Cooling System. The new cooling system further improves the phone’s heat dissipation performance by applying stainless steel in the cooling system and optimizing the heat dissipation structure.

At the same time, the realme GT is also unique and extraordinary in design. The first Dual-tone Vegan Leather Design uses two different kinds of material in two different colors to achieve a sense of speed that matches the high performance. To achieve this visual effect, realme also pioneered a one-piece molding process for the back cover and inner frame, making the Vegan Leather fit more tightly with the black glossy “race track”. At the same time, Vegan Leather upgrades to the 2nd generation with a more delicate texture, softer touch feeling, and better color effect.

As the beginning flagship of realme, realme GT will be officially released on March 4, bringing new excitement to realme’s smartphone product line and the

mid-to-high-end market and bringing the spirit of breakthrough to global consumers. Stay tuned!

• The world’s most popular audio streaming subscription service is now available to listeners in Pakistan for free
• Listeners will have access to personalised music recommendations, new music discovery and over 70M tracks, 4B playlists
• Launching with local curated playlists

Lahore (Muhammad Yasir)  Spotify, the world’s most popular audio streaming subscription service, officially launches today in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, offering a revolutionary music experience tuned to your personal taste. With a worldwide community of more than 345 million monthly active listeners including 155 million Premium subscribers, Spotify will offer a personalized listening experience for local and international music of over 70 million tracks. The Spotify service is available for free or with an upgrade to Spotify Premium, a subscription service that allows users to enjoy music without ad interruptions.

Users can upgrade to Spotify Premium for the ultimate Spotify experience for PKR 299 per month. The Premium Family subscription plan is available for PKR 479 per month for up to six family members living under one roof. The new Spotify Premium DUO (PKR 390 per month) is a subscription plan for two people living at the same home address, which includes Duo Mix, a regularly updated playlist made just for the two subscribers to discover audio they both love and enjoy together. Spotify Premium for Students subscription plans will cost PKR 149 per month. Direct carrier billing payment options are also available through Telenor and Zong. 

Spotify comes to Pakistan with an unrivalled mix of features and the freedom to play across a wide range of devices and app integrations. Music fans will also enjoy Spotify’s personalized music recommendations, which will help them to enjoy, discover and share new music from both local and international artists.

“We are incredibly excited about the opportunity to bring together creators and listeners around the world. As we’ve expanded our international reach over the years, we’ve connected over 8 million artists with listeners across nearly every continent, putting Spotify firmly at the heart of the global audio economy,” said Alex Norström, Chief Freemium Business Officer of Spotify. “Launching in these new markets is a key next step to fulfilling our ongoing commitment to building a truly borderless audio ecosystem.”

“We want to share the gift of music with as many people as possible to enrich the lives of not only our listeners, but the local artists who will now have access to a global audience,” said Claudius Boller, Spotify Managing Director Middle East and Africa, who will lead a team of music and audio experts for the newly launched South Asian markets. “We always want to be where our fans are, and with this expansion we are furthering our mission of sharing the sounds of Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka with the rest of the world.”

Playlists made for Pakistan

The new playlists offer expertly curated and regularly updated music by Spotify’s team of local music experts, across a range of popular genres for any mood or moment, including Hot Hits Pakistan, Pakistani Rock Hits, Pakistani Indie 101, Drama OSTs, Loadshedding Longing and more.

Unique music recommendation and discovery features

A major feature of the Spotify service is its personalisation, which allows fans to find the music they already love with ease, and also to help them discover new music and artists to love, based on their taste and listening patterns. When a new user joins Spotify, they are guided through a ‘Taste Onboarding’ process, which helps Spotify quickly customize recommendations to their music tastes.

Spotify’s music recommendation engine allows local listeners to enjoy personalised discovery features including Daily Mix (up to six individual playlists combining your favourite tracks with new songs we think you’ll love), Release Radar (a personalised playlist of new music based on the artists you follow and listen to most, updated every Friday) and Discover Weekly (a playlist based on your unique listening habits).

Spotify also offers:

• Mood and genre hubs: Head to Browse and choose from a wide range of hubs including Workout, Chill, Party, Focus, Gaming, Sleep, Dinner, Kids and many more.
• Play everywhere: Download the Spotify app on mobile, laptop and tablet.
• Listen everywhere: Listeners have the freedom to engage with Spotify across a wide range of devices and app integrations with Instagram, Facebook, Samsung mobile & TV, Apple TV, Apple Watch, Chromecast, Google Maps, Fitbit and more.
• Offline listening for Premium users: Simply download your music to your mobile device or desktop when you’re online to enjoy while you’re offline.
• High audio quality for Premium users – up to 320 kbps.
• Spotify For Artists: The platform offers tools that help artists, managers, and labels to track real-time statistics for new releases, understand their audience, connect more deeply with fans, and run their business.

Over the coming days, listeners in more countries across Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, Europe and Latin America will have instant access to a world of audio, and the most talented creators will be empowered to turn their passion into a profession.

The Spotify app is available to download for free or with an upgrade to Spotify Premium. To enjoy music the way you want it, download the Spotify app today via the Android or iOS app store or by heading to www.spotify.com/free.

Want to learn more about how to get started on Spotify? Click here.

Lahore (Muhammad Yasir) The “Connected for Shared Prosperity Forum” was held by Huawei, Global Mobile Association (GSMA), where participants joined both online and in person to discuss the value of digital technologies in sustainable development for a better, connected world, representing organizations from around the world, including international industry regulators and think tanks. More than 1000 guests from over 50 countries attended the conference online.

Chen Lifang, Huawei Senior Vice President and Board Member, delivered a keynote speech titled “Believe in the Power of Technology” where she described how technology can be used as an engine for human progress. While calling on individuals and businesses to think big and act small, Chen reiterated her support of the UN’s sustainable development goals and building a green, innovative and inclusive world.

We’ve all had mixed feelings about 2020. The pandemic has changed our lives. Many things we took for granted no longer exist and our values have changed. My biggest take away from the past year has been just how hard it is for society to reach a consensus. There seems to be constant conflict and disagreement, from deciding if it’s necessary to impose lockdowns to debating if it’s worth it to wear a mask. Today, we’ve come together to discuss the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals. I, personally, believe that technology is crucial to advancing these goals, and together, we must do two things to fully unleash the power of technology and drive sustainable development.

5G is a standardized technology defined by its high bandwidth, low latency, and broad connectivity. It helps traditional industries transform and can benefit all. Wide-scale 5G deployment can already be seen in multiple industries around the world. Every-day consumers are benefiting from 5G experiences, while industrial use in seaports, mines, and the transportation sector is increasing operational efficiency. Is this a bad thing? I don’t think so.

If we claim that technology is critically important but its development is ideologically wrong, this will only result in division, confusion, and regression.

We must reach a global consensus on this issue and believe in the power of technology to leverage it for the benefit of the society. Of course, there is always the danger that someone will abuse a new technology. This is not a new concern. But since the industrial revolution, we have seen how establishing rules to manage technological risks can safeguard us. Through rules, technological developments can transcend national boundaries and improve the livelihoods of all without incurring undue risk. We are entering a digital era, and many are hard at work creating the governance rules for cyber security, privacy protection, and trusted AI that will keep us safe. For the rest of us, it’s time to be confident and open to technological development.

What’s more, Huawei and UNESCO launched the Open Schools program over the course of a three-year partnership, to help schools in Egypt, Ethiopia, and Ghana improve their digital skills with online education. Every one of these examples, every single connection, every gram of emissions reduced, every watt of electricity saved, every small improvement we’ve made, couldn’t have been achieved without small advances in tech. This is the value tech brings to the world.

OPPO to unveil a new global charging initiative, 5G achievements and wireless charging innovations

 Lahore (Muhammad Yasir) OPPO, a leading smart device company, today hinted at the innovations it will reveal at Mobile World Congress, Shanghai (MWCS) 2021. From February 23 to 25 OPPO will demonstrate the results of new testing in the 5G space, alongside its partners, as well as futuristic developments in charging technology, smartphone concepts and the Internet of Things (IoT).

Faster Charging, For Everyone

OPPO will demonstrate new wireless charging technology, using its groundbreaking OPPO X 2021 rollable concept smartphone, as well as the latest developments in its VOOC flash charging. But perhaps most exciting will be its unveiling of a global initiative that aims to bring easy, rapid device charging to every area of daily life.

OPPO has led the flash charging space since first releasing its VOOC technology in 2014. MWCS offers the chance to demonstrate the innovations and partnerships that will expand its ecosystem into the future, reaching more people through more devices than ever before.

The Possibilities of 5G

After numerous successful trials in 2020, visitors will be able to see a live demonstration of OPPO’s 5G mmWave speed testing at the China Unicom booth. 5G mmWave will underpin the next generation of 5G applications and already features in OPPO’s 5G CPE, which will be showcased at MWCS.

OPPO’s 5G CPE converts 5G signals into stable, incredibly fast Wi-Fi connections. By working with leading industry partners like Ericsson, and developing two proprietary antenna solutions, the 5G CPE makes high-speed connectivity a reality for future smart homes. Visitors to the OPPO booth can learn more first hand.

Disclaimer

1. 5G Services are not currently commercially available in Pakistan
2. OPPO does not claim to be a service provider/operator for 5G Service

William Liu, OPPO, President of Global Marketing, said: “The sky is the limit for OPPO. At Mobile World Congress 2021 in Shanghai, we’ll showcase our next generation charging technology and reveal how OPPO is expanding its footprint from smartphones to multiple industry sectors.”

For more information regarding OPPO’s inventions, stay tuned at: https://events.oppo.com/en/oppo-mwc-2021/