Gadgets Weekly: HP Omen 16 and more

Technology companies Samsung, HP, Sony and others launched laptop, smartphone, earphones and more this week (August 18-24, 2025).

DH's Gadgets Weekly edition lists the latest personal technology products and related events to keep you abreast of everything happening in consumer electronics.

. It sports a 16-inch QHD (2560x1600) display with 240Hz refresh rate, 3ms response time and offers 500 nits brightness. The 100% sRGB coverage promises vibrant, colour-accurate gameplay, while Eyesafe certification minimises blue light exposure to reduce eye strain during long sessions.

It comes with Tempest Cooling technology with expanded fan gaps, vapour chamber cooling, and heat phase redistribution for consistent performance at 46 dBA.

The device is powered by Intel Core Ultra or AMD Ryzen AI processors, and up to NVIDIA GeForce 12GB RTX 5070 Ti Laptop GPU.

It also features an integrated full HD webcam and comes with a 6-cell 83Wh battery. It supports HP Fast Charge, reaching 50 per cent in less than 30 minutes.

It runs on Windows 11, enabling a smooth, intuitive experience with productivity-enhancing features like Snap Layouts and Microsoft Store integration.

The HP laptop is eco-friendly and is made from ocean-bound plastics in the speaker enclosure and bezel, and post-consumer recycled plastic in keyboard keycaps and scissors. ENERGY STAR certified and EPEAT registered.

The new HP Omen 16 Gaming Laptop is available at a starting price of Rs 1,29,999 in Shadow Black colour.

.Is TikTok making a comeback in India after 5 years of ban?. The new earbuds comes in compact form factor and each weighs just 5 g. They come with IP54 water-splash resistant rating.

It features three mics and 1-Way Dynamic Driver and supports Enhanced ANC, which can reduce ambient noise and create a more immersive listening experience.

It also boasts of Crystal Clear Call technology and uses an advanced pre-trained machine learning model to isolate the user's voice, to ensure conversations during a phone call remain clear even in noisy environments.

It supports Bluetooth 5.4 for a stable wireless connection with the device running Android 11 or newer versions.

Each earbud comes with a 53 mAh cell and the Case features 515mAh battery. With a full charge, it can deliver 6.5 hours playtime with ANC on and with the case, it can last for 24 hours.

Without ANC, it can go for eight hours and with the case,it can last for 30 hours. It costs $149.99 (approx. Rs 13,080).

.Pixel 10: Top ten generative AI features of Google's flagship phone. Initially, though, computer cloud servers, which required huge power to run generative Artificial Intelligence services, have considerably come down thanks to Google's efficient algorithms.

In the latest report, Google revealed a comprehensive methodology for measuring the energy, emissions, and water impact of Gemini prompts, which estimates the median Gemini text prompt:

1) For each text prompt, it uses 0.24 watt-hours (Wh) of energy (equivalent to watching TV for less than nine seconds)

2) It emits 0.03 grams of carbon dioxide equivalent (gCO2e)

3) It consumes 0.26 millilitres (or about five drops) of water

"Our AI systems are becoming more efficient: Over a recent 12-month period, the energy and total carbon footprint of the median Gemini text prompt dropped by 33x and 44x, respectively," said Google.

Thanks to powerful and efficient gen AI language models, big research firms are using them to unravel scientific breakthroughs in the health and agriculture sectors, which are important for improving the living standards and food security for billions of people on the earth.

.Vivo unveils Vision Discovery Edition mixed reality headset. Sony earlier this week launched CFexpress Type A cards-- CEA-G1920T (1920 GB) and CEA-G960T (960 GB), along with a card reader MRW-G3.

The CEA-G1920T and CEA-G960T come with large storage capacities of 1920 GB and 960 GB, respectively.

They support a minimum sustained write speed of 400 MB/s, making it a good option for recording high-bitrate video without interruptions or dropped frames, ensuring smooth and reliable capture of cinematic-quality video material.

Further, these cards offer fast read speed of up to 1800 MB/s and a write speed of up to 1700 MB/s with an upgraded workflow experience for professionals.

The CEA-G1920T and CEA-G960T cards are priced at Rs 97,490 and Rs 59,990, respectively.

The new MRW-G3 is designed to support the latest CFexpress Type A memory cards compliant with the CFexpress 4 standard, which ensures optimal compatibility and performance for users of the newest generation CFexpress cards.

With high-speed USB transfer with 40Gbps support, it offers quick offloading and management of large files such as high-resolution images and 4K or higher video footage, significantly speeding up the workflow for creators and professionals.

The MRW-G3 offers broad compatibility across multiple device platforms, including computers, smartphones, and tablets. It costs Rs 17,990.

.Google launches Pixel Watch 4, Buds 2a series. Lava International Ltd earlier this week launched the new budget Android phone Play Ultra series in India.

It comes with a 6.67-inch full HD+ (1080 x 2400p) AMOLED screen with 120Hz refresh rate, 1000 nits peak brightness, IP64 water-and-dust resistant rating, dual-SIM slots, in-display fingerprint sensor, microSD card slot, USB type-C port, and stereo speakers.

Inside, it houses 4nm class MediaTek Dimensity 7300 4nm octa-core with Mali-G615 MC2 GPU, Android 15 OS, 6GB / 8GB LPDDR4X RAM, 128GB UFS 3.1 storage (expandable up to 1TB), dual-camera module-- main 64MP camera (with 1/1.73-inch Sony IMX682 sensor, OIS: Optical Image Stabilisation) anda 5MP macro sensor with LED flash on the back, 13MP front camera and a 5,000mAh battery with 33W fast charging.

It comes in two colours-- Arctic Frost and Arctic Slate. It is available in two configurations-- 6GB RAM + 128GB storage and 8GB RAM + 128GB storage-- for Rs 14,999 and Rs 16,499, respectively.

.Google unveils premium Android-powered Pixel 10, 10 Pro, 10 Pro Fold . Samsung earlier this week hosted the Mumbai edition of its Galaxy Empowered, a community-led programme aimed at transforming classrooms by upskilling teachers, principals, and school administrators.

The Mumbai launch event brought together over 350 teachers and school leaders from 250 schools across Maharashtra and neighbouring states, underscoring the programme’s momentum and the strong demand for professional development among educators.

The event was graced by Shri Mangal Prabhat Lodha, Minister of Skill Development, Entrepreneurship & Innovation, Maharashtra, Shri Vishal V. Sharma, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of India to UNESCO, Paris, and Shri Himanshu Gupta, Secretary, CBSE, alongside senior leaders from Samsung India, education experts, and hundreds of educators representing CBSE, ICSE, IB, IGCSE, and state boards.

.Realme P4, P4 Pro with 7,000mAh battery launched in India. Emerging consumer electronics company Nothing Inc., earlier this week, appointed Hemant Kundavaram as the Chief Financial Officer of its Indian arm.

"Nothing’s journey so far has been truly remarkable. I’m excited to be part of this next chapter as the company accelerates its growth and deepens its presence in India. I look forward to driving a strong financial foundation that complements fast-paced growth and strengthens the brand’s India vision," said Hemant Kundavaram.

Kundavaram is a Chartered Accountant from the batch of 2005 and completed his B.Com graduation in 2002 from Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh. Before joining Nothing, he held roles at Ford India, IBM, Thomson Reuters, and Rockwell Collins, and moved to promoter-led startups in 2015. Most recently, he served as CFO at PMI Electromobility.

“India is at the core of Nothing’s global vision, and we’re entering an exciting new phase of growth here. Hemant’s proven expertise in financial operations and capital strategy will be instrumental as we scale rapidly and deepen our presence in India. With him on board, we’re strengthening our foundation to accelerate growth and advance our ambition of building from India to the world,” said Akis Evangelidis, Co-founder and India President, Nothing.

.Xiaomi unveils REDMI 15 with Snapdragon 6s Gen 3 silicon, 7000mAh battery in India. Yatra Online Limited launched the generative Artificial Intelligence (gen AI)-powered assistant DIYA in India.

It can assist customers with instant booking and can even do post-booking management. It supports more than 100 languages.

It also offers the option to search by airline, price, location, or preferences in the same conversation.

Users can even upload a photo of a monument or location, and DIYA AI can identify it, offer historical facts, myths, and legends, and provide travel recommendations.

It also supports customers to cancel flights (including individual passengers from a multi-passenger booking), check cancellation policies, view upcoming bookings, generate e-tickets, answer all travel FAQs, and more.

“DIYA represents the culmination of years of work in AI architecture, natural language processing, and multilingual model optimisation. We’ve built a system that not only understands complex travel requests but can also act on them instantly, across 100+ languages, with cultural and contextual sensitivity. This is the kind of AI that doesn’t just answer questions—it anticipates traveller needs and solves them in real time,” said Dr. Shakti Goel, Chief Architect & Data Scientist at Yatra Online Limited.

.Samsung unveils rugged Galaxy Tab Active5 series tablet in India. Get the latest news on new launches, gadget reviews, apps, cybersecurity, and more on personal technology only on DH Tech .