Tech Wrap: Redmi Earbuds S launch, Uber layoffs and more

It was a mixed bag kind of a day in the tech world. There was a series of launches by Redmi and Realme in India and other markets as well. There was disappointing news about Uber layoffs in India.

Microsoft talked about Skype and how it’s not giving up on the app. Then the day kind of came to a close with a surprise announcement from the government about Aarogya Setu.

Here's a breakdown of all things that made headlines in tech today.

Redmi Earbuds S launch

Redmi launched its first wireless earbuds in India, and it carries an affordable price tag of ₹1,799. Redmi Earbuds S offer up to four hours of talk time and standby of 150 hours. It has Bluetooth 5.0 for connectivity, and is said to offer a range of 10 metres. The charging case also has an additional 300mAh battery. The wireless earbuds will go on sale tomorrow.

Realme X3 SuperZoom

Another launch that took place today was the Realme X3 SuperZoom. As the name suggests, this phone offers 60x digital zoom and 5x optical zoom. The smartphone also has a quad camera setup with a 64-megapixel primary sensor. It is going on sale first in Europe.

Uber layoffs

The most bitter part of the day was Uber announcing it is laying off 600 employees. This move will affect around 25% of Uber’s workforce across the country. The affected employees will get a minimum of 10 weeks payout, medical coverage for six months and outplacement support as well.

Microsoft Skype

Microsoft updated on Skype saying that it will continue investing in the app. It even plans to launch new features for Skype soon. Microsoft even acknowledged that while Teams may be the popular choice among users, it believes people still love Skype. So the app isn’t going anywhere, for now.

Aarogya Setu open source

India’s Covid-19 contact tracing app Aarogya Setu is now open source. This is for the Android version of the app. The government plans to make the iOS and KaiOS versions of Aarogya Setu open source as well. This move comes at a time when Aarogya Setu has been facing criticism from experts over privacy of user data.