Boult Mustang Torq review: Unique design, reasonable performance on budget

Boult Mustang Torq review: Unique design, reasonable performance on budget



Boult, the Indian electronics company, has collaborated with Ford motors to bring its new Boult Mustang Torq wireless earbuds, which has its design inspired by Ford’s iconic muscle car – the Mustang. With a unique design, a 13mm audio driver and environmental noise cancelling (ENC) technology for calling, the Mustang Torq promises to be among the top contenders in the budget wireless earbuds segment. But does it manage to keep up when used in real life situations? Let us find out:


Design


The key selling point of the Boult Mustang Torq wireless earbuds is design. The moment you pull the buds case from the box, you’ll immediately notice its sports car-like design. The front of the case appears inspired by the rear end of a sports car, prominently featuring the Mustang branding. On the top, a bulge evokes the engine deck of a rear-placed sports car engine. The running horse logo of the Mustang is also present. White stripes run along the sides with “GT” written on top, likely drawing from the Mustang GT (Grand Touring) car. Unusually, the rear includes two USB Type-C ports.


Opening the case reveals red LED lights pulsating around the Mustang branding on the front and inside, with five arrow-shaped LED light strips.


The earbuds themselves have a muscular look but are extremely lightweight. They feature red LEDs and Mustang branding running down the stem. While Boult has clearly invested in the product’s design, the white ear tips seem slightly out of place with the overall aesthetic.


Despite its unique design, the case fits easily into pockets and isn’t heavy. However, the plastic quality of the case and the buds doesn’t seem sturdy enough to protect against occasional drops. Boult has also overlooked some finishing touches, as one of the rear USB-C ports is offset, making charging difficult. Additionally, placing the buds into the case requires some effort, as they don’t fit instantly and need some twisting to fit properly. Despite these downsides, the device looks unique and is sure to turn heads in public, especially among car enthusiasts.




Sound


The Boult Mustang Torq wireless earbuds, with their 13mm driver, offer clear sound with an adequate thumping bass effect during music playback. However, this thumping effect can sometimes overpower the sound, detracting from the overall listening experience. The earbuds can get exceptionally loud, and while they maintain audio quality at most volume levels, the sound can become noticeably distorted at the maximum volume.


Although the earbuds do not support lossless audio, they do come with Advanced Audio Codec (AAC) in addition to the standard Sub-band Coding (SBC). The Boult Mustang Torq does not offer active noise cancelling (ANC) to eliminate ambient sounds during playback. However, it includes extra ear tips of different sizes, which successfully manage to reduce mild outdoor sounds, offering an isolated feel. Overall, the earphones provide decent audio quality for their price point.


Calling


For calling, the Boult Mustang Torq wireless earbuds come with a dual-mic setup on each bud and offer Environmental Noise Cancelling (ENC), which aims to enhance voice clarity during calls by reducing background noise. The microphones are good at voice reception, providing clear voice transmission to the other end. However, the ENC functionality is less impressive, as it tends to pick up extra sounds from the background in loud environments.


Verdict


Priced at Rs 1,999 on Boult’s official website, the Boult Mustang Torq are value-for-money with clear voice, adequate bass, and good mic reception during phone calls. Additionally, their unique design, inspired by the Ford Mustang, is sure to turn heads. While the inconsistency in audio quality at high volume levels and occasional overpowering bass effect can be a hindrance for some users, the earbuds still have more positives going for them in the budget wireless earphone category.

First Published: Jul 19 2024 | 3:23 PM IST



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OpenAI brings GPT-4o mini AI model targeting app developers: Check details

OpenAI brings GPT-4o mini AI model targeting app developers: Check details


GPT-4o mini (Image: OpenAI)


OpenAI, on July 18, launched its new small GPT-4o mini AI model, branding it as their most cost-efficient offering. Targeting app developers with its new model, OpenAI in its press note stated that it expects that the GPT-4o mini will expand the range of applications built with AI, as the new model makes AI capabilities more affordable.


GPT-4o mini: Details


The Microsoft-backed AI startup company said that the GPT-4o mini surpasses GPT-3.5 Turbo model and other small models from other companies on benchmark scores across textual and multimodal reasoning. Additionally, it stated that the GPT-4o mini enables a variety of tasks with low latency such as passing a large volume of context to the model, interacting with customers with real-time text responses and more. 


OpenAI said that the GPT-4o mini has a context window of 128,000 tokens and supports up to 16,000 output tokens per request. The context window essentially determines the size of information an AI model can process. 


GPT-4o mini does not have access to real-time data, but the company said that it has knowledge up to October 2023. Additionally, the new model also supports the same range of languages as the GPT-4o model which is currently OpenAI’s most capable large language model (LLM).


GPT-4o mini: Availability


For consumers-


OpenAI has already started rolling-out GPT-4o mini in ChatGPT for Plus and Team subscribers as well as free tier users, replacing the GPT-3,5 model. Enterprise users of ChatGPT will get access to the GPT-4o mini starting next week.


For developers-


GPT-4o mini is also available as a text and vision model in the Assistants Application Programing Interface (API), Chat Completions API, and Batch API. Developers will have to pay 15 cents per 1 million input tokens and 60 cents per 1 million output tokens for using the new model.

First Published: Jul 19 2024 | 1:31 PM IST



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Google's revolutionary AI-powered Ask Photos feature may be released soon

Google's revolutionary AI-powered Ask Photos feature may be released soon


Google is coming up with an AI feature called Ask Photos in the Google Photos app, as was announced at Google I/O 2024. Ask Photos will be like an advanced version of an already existing search in Google Photos. 


This feature will use generative AI to change the way users interact with Google Photos. With the help of Gemini, Ask Photos is expected to gather information more quickly and make the process of identifying objects in photos and finding photos more seamless. 


Google had earlier shared how the feature will work and now more information has been revealed. The feature has not started rolling out but one of the readers of 9to5Google was given access to the new feature on Pixel 8 Pro and has seen how the feature will look like within the app. 


The feature did not show up on any other device as Google Photos app mentioned that it was part of a “pre-release” study. According to the disclaimer viewed by 9to5Google, Google might be looking for feedback from users. 


Reportedly, Ask Photos appears on the Search bar in the Google Photos app. Next to the search bar, an “Ask” button will appear with the Gemini logo, just above familiar faces and image categories. Google had previously shown the feature as a dedicated tab within the app, but the design was subject to change. 


A new page is also set up with the feature and the app asks users to assign names to people in the photos. Another page asks users for prompts or to write their own questions about what they would like to see. According to 9to5Google, the sample prompt of “Photos of me” over time was not active and disappeared briefly afterward. 


With over 6 billion photos uploaded to Google Photos every day, it can be a monumental task to find a particular photo or a video from among thousands in your gallery. “With Ask Photos, you can ask for what you’re looking for in a natural way, like: “Show me the best photo from each national park I’ve visited,” says the company, adding that “Google Photos can show you what you need, saving you from all that scrolling.”


Google had previously said that the feature would be introduced in the coming months. There is no clarity about when it might be launched but considering the information being released, it could be soon.

First Published: Jul 19 2024 | 1:21 PM IST



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Google brings final beta version of Android 15 ahead of public release

Google brings final beta version of Android 15 ahead of public release


Google has released the fourth beta of the new Android 14 operating system for smartphones. In an update to the Android Developers Blog, Google said that the new beta version is the last scheduled update in Android 15 beta program, before the company starts rolling-out the new OS to general users. 


Google also said that with the fourth beta release, developer Application Programing Interfaces (APIs) and all app-facing behaviours are now final and ready to be integrated into apps that have been developed for the platform. Additionally, the american software giant stated that with beat 4, it has optimised and fixed some of the issues that were reported.


Consumer facing version of the Android 15 OS is expected to be launched with the upcoming Pixel 9 smartphone series which is set to be unveiled at the “Made By Google” event scheduled for August 13. 


Android 15 Beta 4: What’s new?


Google announced that the Android 15 achieved Platform Stability with the Beta 3, thus beta 4 primarily focuses on improving the overall experience and fixing issues and bugs that were reported during testing.


According to a report by 9To5Google, with Beta 4 Google has resolved the lock screen issues which reportedly demanded authentication for interacting with elements on the lockscreen that generally does not require the device to be unlocked.


The report also stated that Google has added improved Device diagnostic features to Android 15 with Beta 4. Within the System option in Settings app, there is a Device diagnostics section that allows users to run manual tests and view battery and storage health. There is also an Evaluation mode that allows users to assess another device using their smartphone.

First Published: Jul 19 2024 | 12:42 PM IST



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Microsoft resolves cloud outage that led US airlines to ground flights

Microsoft resolves cloud outage that led US airlines to ground flights


The Microsoft Corp. logo. The company is increasing its cybersecurity staff. Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg


Microsoft said early on Friday that its cloud services outage in the Central US region was resolved after it led to the grounding and cancellation of several flights.

 


Low-cost carriers Frontier Airlines, a unit of Frontier Group Holdings, Allegiant and SunCountry had reported outages that affected operations. Frontier said late Thursday that it was in the process of resuming normal operations, and that the ground stop had been lifted.

 


US Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg said the department was monitoring the flight cancellation and delay issues at Frontier, adding that the agency will hold the company and all other airlines “to their responsibilities to meet the needs of passengers”.

 


Frontier said earlier that a “major Microsoft technical outage” hit its operations temporarily, while SunCountry said a third-party vendor affected its booking and check-in facilities, without naming the company.

 


“The Allegiant website is currently unavailable due to the Microsoft Azure issue,” Nevada-based Allegiant said in a statement to CNN. Allegiant did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for a comment.

 


Frontier cancelled 147 flights on Thursday and delayed 212 others, according to data tracker FlightAware. 45 per cent of Allegiant aircrafts were delayed, while Sun Country delayed 23 per cent flights, the data showed. The companies did not give details on the number of flights impacted.

 


Microsoft said its outage started at about 6 pm ET on Thursday, with a subset of its customers experiencing issues with multiple Azure services in the Central US region.

 


Azure is a cloud computing platform that provides services for building, deploying, and managing applications and services.

Separately, Microsoft said it was investigating an issue impacting various Microsoft 365 apps and services.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Jul 19 2024 | 12:19 PM IST



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Google revels Pixel 9 Pro first look, new Fold gets Pixel 9 series branding

Google revels Pixel 9 Pro first look, new Fold gets Pixel 9 series branding


Google Pixel 9 Pro and Pixel 9 Pro Fold

Google has officially released the first look of two of its upcoming smartphones from the Pixel 9 series. In a teaser video posted by the company on X (formerly Twitter), Google released the first look of the Pixel 9 Pro smartphone. 


Additionally, the tech giant’s next generation foldable smartphone has also been made official. However, this time the Pixel Fold will be incorporated into the Pixel 9 series while getting rebranded as the Pixel 9 Pro Fold.




Google has also confirmed that the Pixel 9 Pro Fold smartphone will be available in India, unlike Google’s first generation Pixel Fold that skipped the launch in the region. 


Google Pixel 9 series: Launch details


Google has already confirmed that it will be hosting its “Made By Google” event on August 13 this year, where it will be unveiling the Pixel 9 series. The company has also updated its Google Store website with a dedicated page for the Pixel 9 series which states “Coming 14 August”.


While Google has confirmed that the next foldable smartphone will hold the Pixel 9 series branding, it is also likely that the Pixel 9 series will feature a fourth model. According to reports, the Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro are likely to have displays of the same size, but Google might bring a Pixel 9 Pro XL with a larger screen.


Google Pixel 9 Pro: First look


The image released by Google for the upcoming Pixel 9 Pro reveals the new design of the smartphone and a new camera module. The Pixel 9 Pro features a flat frame design instead of the curved edges seen in past generation devices. Apart from the new frame design, the Pixel 9 Pro sports a floating island-style camera module, which is disconnected from the frame, unlike the camera visor design on the Pixel 8 series.


Standard Pixel 9 and the anticipated Pixel 9 Pro XL model are also expected to carry a similar design to the Pixel 9 Pro.

Google Pixel 9 Pro


Google Pixel 9 Pro


Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold: First look


In the first official image released by Google for the upcoming Pixel 9 Pro Fold, the company offers a glimpse at the smartphone’s cover display and rear design. Instead of the traditional camera bar on Pixel devices, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold features an isolated square-shaped camera island on the top left side of the device. Similar to the Pixel 9 Pro model the Pro Fold also appears to be featuring a flat frame design. 

On the display front, it is difficult to say but the smartphone seems to be featuring a  narrower cover screen, which would likely affect the aspect ratio of the inner foldable display as well.

Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold


Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold

First Published: Jul 19 2024 | 11:05 AM IST



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