Xiaomi recently teased the launch of the Redmi Note 7 in India, but before that could happen, a tech news website has published the alleged storage variants and the colour options of the phone that will reportedly make their way to the Indian market. Only two storage configurations of the Redmi Note 7 are said to be coming in India out of the original three variants, and it will be released in a choice of three colours. The Redmi Go is also said to be coming to India with a new red colour option in tow, alongside the blue and black variants that were showcased at the time of the announcement.

The latest rumour, which comes courtesy of MySmartPrice, states that the Redmi Note 7 will be offered in two storage variants at the time of its launch in India. The two variants will reportedly include the base 3GB RAM + 32GB storage version and the 4GB RAM + 64GB storage model. However, the details about their pricing for the Indian market are not known at the moment. There is no word on whether the Chinese smartphone maker will launch the Redmi Note 7’s top-end 6GB + 64GB variant in India, however, tipster Ishan Agarwal claims that the company might eventually launch it at some point in the country but the same is not certain.

In terms of the colour options, the Redmi Note 7 will allegedly be offered in Red, Black, and Blue colour options. However, we suspect that these are just unofficial names of the Twilight Gold, Fantasy Blue, and Bright Black colour options of the smartphone announced by the company. As for the Redmi Note 7’s arrival in India, Xiaomi India head Manu Kumar Jain recently teased that the smartphone will soon be launched in India, but a specific launch timeline is yet to be officially revealed.

Furthermore, the same rumour notes that the Redmi Go will also be released in India soon. The Redmi Go – claimed to be the first Android Go smartphone from the company – will reportedly be offered in a new red colour option in India. The red variant of the Redmi Go will be joined by the original blue and black variants of the affordable smartphone that was unveiled last month. But unfortunately, there is no concrete information regarding the Redmi Go’s pricing and launch date in India.

Internet users in the country are more likely to encounter fake news online than the global average and social circles are increasingly spreading risks, says a global survey. The Microsoft survey, covering 22 countries and coming a few months ahead of the general elections, shows that as many as 64 percent of the Indians surveyed have encountered fake news as against the global average of 57 percent. Overall, in Microsoft’s Digital Civility Index (DCI), India ranked 7th, with 59 percent compared to the global average of 66 percent. This reflected a 2 percent gain year-on-year, indicating a better level of online civility in the country. “A lower index indicates lower risk exposure and a higher perceived level of online civility among the population,” Microsoft said.

The DCI is based on a survey completed in May 2018 to gauge the attitudes and perceptions of teens (ages 13-17) and adults (ages 18-74) in 22 countries about online behaviours and interactions. It asked questions like, ‘which online risks have you and your close circle experienced, when and how often have the risks occurred, and what consequences and actions were taken?’ — and it measured respondents’ lifetime exposure to 21 online risks across four areas: behavioural, reputational, sexual and personal/intrusive,” Microsoft said in a statement.

The country is ahead of the global average on Internet hoaxes with 54 percent of those surveyed reporting so and also instances of phishing or spoofing at 42 percent, Microsoft said in a statementTuesday. Interestingly, the survey finds that there has been a sharp 9 percentage points increase in family and friends spreading online risks to 29 percent.

“Social circles became riskier in India,” the survey said, adding the jump to 29 percent has taken the country little over the global average. Indians are also higher than global average when it comes to reporting of severe pain from online risks, with 52 percent saying so as against the global average of 28 percent.

In what only complicates the matter, the country saw increased consequences from risks and little positive action taken following online risk exposure, the survey said. “Indians match the worldwide trend for consequences and were more likely to say that they were stressed and lost sleep in the latest year versus the previous year’s study,” the survey said.

Smartphone makers are experimenting with ideas like pop-up cameras and hole-punch displays to get rid of the notch, but Samsung has a very unique idea to accomplish the feat. As per a patent granted to Samsung, the company is looking to integrate a camera into the stylus that might eventually debut on a future version of the S Pen. Even more impressive is the fact that the camera fitted inside the stylus will have optical zoom hardware for a more superior magnification compared to digital zoom.

Spotted by the folks over at Patently Mobile, the patent granted to Samsung by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is titled “Electronic pen device having optical zoom” and talks about a stylus that comes equipped with an optical system that comprises of a lens and an image sensor. As per the patent document, the camera-toting S Pen would come with a control board designed to work in tandem with an electronic device that might well be a smartphone and also features a communication module.

The stylus would be capable of sending the imaging signals or data to the connected device via a wire as well as wirelessly, possibly through Bluetooth. The S Pen that comes with Samsung’s latest Note flagship – the Galaxy Note 9₹ 59,900 – already has Bluetooth support. So, the camera-equipped stylus described in the patent might just be an evolutionary form that builds on the wireless connectivity support of its predecessor and utilizes it to send imaging data captured by the onboard camera. The stylus would also feature a control key inside the housing or the cover that could be used to control the magnitude of optical magnification.

What is truly impressive is that Samsung’s camera-laden S Pen will have support for optical zoom whose mechanism will be controlled by an external electronic device that may be a smartphone, notebook or a monitor. Samsung explains in the patent that smartphones typically employ digital zoom, but in the process of enlarging an image via a program or algorithm, the overall quality of the images takes a hit. Optical zoom employs an array of lenses, and since a stylus would provide more space to fit such a module, it is better suited for an external device rather than a smartphone that does not provide enough space and will have to increase its thickness for accommodating the optical zoom hardware.

As per the patent, Samsung’s advanced stylus will also include a battery and a prism in the optical path for conversion of signals. The technology of equipping the stylus with a camera is still in the patent phase, so it might still be a few years away before we see an S Pen with optical zoom-enabled camera arrive with a Galaxy Note flagship. As with most patents, it is uncertain whether the technology will make its way to commercial products. Nonetheless, it would still be a major breakthrough and will introduce another way of avoiding the notch or a hole-punch and help create a truly seamless display.