#WeeklyRecap: Instagram's Reels, Jio's WhatsApp clone, Google's smart speaker, more
This week, tech giants like Google, Facebook, and Jio made headlines in the world of technology. Jio turned its JioChat messaging app into a clone of WhatsApp; Facebook crashed many popular apps, including the likes of PUBG, Tinder, and Spotify, while Google gave the first official glimpse of its next premium smart speaker for homes. Let's take a quick look at all the developments.
Facebook launched TikTok replacement in India, crashed several apps
A few days ago, Facebook's Instagram drew major attention by launching Reels, a short video service aimed at becoming the next TikTok, in India. However, the company also drew flak due to a critical login SDK issue that crashed a range of third-party applications, including heavily-used services like Tinder, Spotify, and PUBG, on iPhones around the world. The glitch has now be fixed.
Jio, meanwhile, copied Facebook's WhatsApp
While several apps struggled with Facebook's glitch, Jio was busy copying WhatsApp — the premium messaging service owned by the social network. The Mukesh Ambani-led company recently released an update giving a facelift to its JioChat messaging service, but the release made the app look like a blatant copy of Whatsapp. Jio had also mimicked the design of Zoom for its "JioMeet" video-conference service.
Google's new smart speaker and more
Google, on its part, surprised everyone by sharing the official photo and video of its next Nest-branded smart speaker. The device has not been launched but the company has already scheduled a "Google for India" event on July 13 and is expected to share more about the speaker during the show. It will also announce more products and features developed for the Indian market.
New Google features also on the way
Google was also reported to be working on two new features for Chrome — one to enable biometric authentication for auto-filling payment details and the other to reduce the battery consumption of the browser. It also enabled 32-person group calling support on Duo.
Apple released first public beta of iOS 14
Apple released the first public beta of iOS 14, its next big operating system for iPhones. Then, in another major development, the Cupertino giant was reported to be expanding its Foxconn production plant in Chennai as part of an effort to move manufacturing out of China. It is said that Foxconn is investing $1 billion for the shift but the move isn't official yet.
Finally, some new smartphone announcements
Meanwhile, in the smartphone category, a number of devices were unveiled, including OPPO Find X2 Pro Lamborghini Edition, Motorola One Vision Plus, Moto G 5G Plus, Lava Z61 Pro, iQOO Z1x, and POCO M2 Pro. Notably, two major smartphone launch events have also been confirmed: one for OnePlus Nord, which is on July 21, and the other is "Galaxy Unpacked" on August 5.
