While it showcases the power of different Apple devices working in unison, it serves little use when it comes to practicality. Let me share why and then show you how to stop seeing iOS app widgets on Mac’s Edit Widget screen.

But first, the basics.

How to add iPhone app widgets to Mac

1. Right-click on your Mac’s desktop and choose Edit Widgets.
2. You will automatically see your iPhone apps on the left. Select one to see their widgets.
3. Take the mouse pointer over a widget and click the green plus button to add it to your Mac’s desktop, or use drag and drop.

You can repeat the above steps to add as many widgets as you like on your computer desktop.

Additionally, you can click the date and time from the top right corner of your Mac’s screen to open the Notification Center. After that, click Edit Widgets from the bottom to add iPhone widgets to the Notification Center or the desktop.

Why iOS app widgets provide almost zero usefulness on Mac

Let me put my point with these four reasons.

1. No interaction

After you add your first iPhone app widget to your Mac’s desktop and click it, you will notice that the widgets cannot do anything. It will show “Open app on iPhone to continue.”

You cannot interact with the widget. The only thing a few iPhone app widgets on Mac do is they can possibly show some stagnant information there. (One such useful app is the Chrono World Clock app, whose iOS app widget on Mac shows the time in added cities.)

Secondly, most Apple widgets like Batteries, Reminders, Notes, Podcasts, etc., are already available natively on Mac, so there is no use in adding an iPhone version to your Mac. And even if you did, you won’t be able to interact with those widgets.

2. No widget editing

You can right-click on an added widget on Mac’s desktop and select Edit Widget to choose what shows up on it.

But the story is different for iPhone app widgets on Mac. Even though you will see the Edit Widget option, it leads to nothing practical.

For instance, if I add the iOS Countdown app widget to my Mac and then choose to edit it, it brings up my Mac’s Edit Widget screen, but no option to pick a countdown!

3. Disturbance

The widgets on the desktop untidy the screen and cause disturbance when you are working on the main Mac app like Chrome, Safari, Mail, Slack, Messages, Photoshop, etc.

Now, I know the widgets are dimmed when they are in the background, but you can still see their outline, and it’s disturbing. If you have difficulty focusing, desktop widgets will add to that while serving little to no function.

4. Bugs

Even after you delete the iOS app, its added widget continues to show on the Mac and offers no information or just the old, stagnant information.

If you do not have time to engage in active cleaning, this practice can lead to several useless widgets on the screen, creating more chaos and confusion.

How to stop seeing iPhone app widgets on your Mac

1. Open System Settings on Mac running the latest version of macOS Sonoma.
2. Go to Desktop & Dock.
3. Scroll down to the Widgets section and turn off the switch for Use iPhone widgets.

Now, when you go to add widgets to the desktop or Notification Center, it will only show native Mac app widgets that are useful and interactive. You won’t see widgets from iPhone apps here.

Can I add iPad app widgets to the Mac desktop?

As of now, you cannot do that even if your iPad is running iPadOS 17. You can only add iPhone app widgets to your Mac running macOS Sonoma.

The post 4 Reasons why adding iPhone app widgets to Mac is not useful appeared first on LawyersTech.

If this happens with your new expensive Apple mouse, you may think you have bought a faulty product and get worried. So, let me put your mind at ease!

It’s normal for the top touch part of your Magic Mouse to move a fraction of a millimeter when you push it horizontally with your finger. This is true for both Magic Mouse in black and white colors.

You don’t have to worry about it, and your mouse will function as expected. You can use its left and right buttons as well as the top touch surface.

However, if the mouse pad or table is coarse or your hands are sweaty and you can’t grip the mouse properly, you may feel this tiny movement to be irritating. At times, it can also make a small noise, which can be disturbing.

The top of my new Magic Mouse also moves slightly

I bought a black Magic Mouse for my Mac desktop last year. After taking it out from the sealed box, the first thing I noticed was that the top portion moved ever so slightly.

It was worrying as I had dropped a lot of money on this Apple mouse when compared to other options found on Amazon.

So, I immediately messaged a friend, and he confirmed that the top piece of his years-old Magic Mouse also moves very, very slightly. I was assured, as I had purchased it from a local online retailer, and it had no return option.

I’ve been using my mouse for a year now

The ever-so-slight movement of the top part of my Magic Mouse has not caused any trouble or failure of the button press or touch surface.

It works well with my Mac, MacBook Pro, and iPad.

Exchange your Magic Mouse if you’re worried

If you’re worried, I would recommend getting a replacement.

In most countries and regions like the USA and Europe, you can easily exchange or return the product if you have bought it from the Apple Online Store or Apple physical store.

Additionally, laws in these countries also allow you to return or exchange the product bought from any retailer if you’re unhappy with it. Just make sure you decide within 7 or 14 days, depending on where you live and what the conditions were when you were making the purchase.

The post Does the top of a new Magic Mouse move left and right? appeared first on LawyersTech.

Now before we start saying that Android has cheap phones at all price points, we have to know that India also has a vast population of the wealthy, high-tier middle class, and ever-increasing purchasing power of the general middle class.

It is not that iPhones are not popular on mouths. It is not that people have not heard of Apple or iPhone! Many people wish to have an iPhone as it is trendy and seen as a luxury and status device among youth plus people in general. But it is the drawbacks of Apple, iPhone, and iOS (many of which are region-specific) that hinder the growth of Apple in India. Lets us look at some primary reasons.

Why Apple is not successful in the Indian market?

1. No partnership with mobile wallets or BHIM UPI

In India, mobile payments (mobile wallets from companies like Paytm, PhonePe, Mobikwik, Freecharge) are a huge hit.) But Apple does not yet allow payments from these methods on the App Store. In China, it accepts WeChat Pay.

Update: From 2021, Apple started supporting Rupay cards (bigger than Visa and Mastercard in India) as a payment method in Apple ID.

Google, on the other hand, has partnered with almost all mobile carriers and all mobile wallets. You can use these to pay on Play Store.

2. No official Apple Store or service center

Apple has no official Apple Store in India. It only has authorized resellers. Many times experience here isn’t premium that a customer pays for the Apple products. Further, the existence of authorized Apple resellers in small towns is a rarity.

In 2016, one Apple-authorized service center in New Delhi (Connaught Place) asked ₹1500 for an under warranty service. Another Apple-authorized service center in Anand Vihar (12 km from New Delhi) did the same for free.

So no official store leads to irregularity. Since there are only Apple resellers or third-party sellers, many of them do not have some niche Apple products like Apple Watch and AirPods for people to try in-store before buying.

3. Poor Siri

Siri pales in comparison to Google Assistant and Alexa in India. Apple’s voice assistant does not support Indian languages like Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, etc. However, it has English (India) as a language option — which better understands Indian English accents. But this too is not a perfect or even satisfactory experience because it does not understand even slightly complicated place or person names. Siri also lacks features like movie timings, nearby shows, restaurants, proper direction, and other similar features.

Next, if we Google something in a browser or Google Assistant, Google shows many different options.

For example, if you ask Siri ‘Google Domino’s Pizza,’ it just shows a list of websites on its flat Siri screen (earlier it used to show in Safari browser, which was better.) On the other hand, if we search the same on Google Assistant (or browser), Google automatically shows the nearest Domino’s, the address, phone numbers, distance, and other useful information in one command. It is extremely helpful.

Earlier, Siri used to show results in Safari whenever it was asked to ‘Google’ something. This was helpful. Apple removed this feature, and now Siri shows Google’s result on its screen, which is lackluster.”

4. Inability to download content from the internet easily, (iOS restrictions and lack of robust file manager)

Many people in India, especially students, download movies, TV shows, music from various internet sources (it is illegal) and share with friends. This is easily done on Android devices. There are small computer shops where you pay ₹20 (US$ 0.29) and can get five full HD movies on your memory card or android device. The same isn’t comfortable with iPhones.

5. Limited dual SIM card capabilities

The maximum number of users in Indian has a minimum of two SIM cards. It is easy to have a high-end Samsung device with two SIM cards than keep two phones.

Update: Latest iPhones have dual SIM capabilities, but they are limited to only two mobile carriers-Reliance Jio and Airtel. Vi (Vodafone + Idea) requires a postpaid connection for e-SIM!

Note: These iPhones (unlike iPhones sold in China) do not take in two physical SIM cards. (mobile network companies provide scannable code, which is then imprinted on the inbuilt e-SIM as the second SIM.)

6. Premium price not just for products but also after-sale services

iPhones are not manufactured locally in India (except some models like iPhone SE, 6s, 11, etc.). As a result, huge tariffs are to be paid. This directly increases the price of Apple products.

iPhone X (64 GB) in USA costs $999. In India, it costs ₹90000, that is $1288.

On the other hand, companies like Xiaomi have local manufacturing and assembly in India. This saves them from substantial tariff costs, and thus they can keep the prices low and yet provide respectable specs. Samsung, on the other hand, has everything in India.

Recently, in addition to all other manufacturing plants, Samsung has opened the WORLD’S LARGEST MOBILE MANUFACTURING PLANT in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India. It also plans to manufacture Galaxy Note 9 here.

Apart from product price, the cost of after-sale services or repair services like screen replacement is too high.

Screen Replacement on iPhone X is equal to the price of One Plus 6 in India. Screen replacement for my iPhone 6s plus is Rs. 21000, which is the cost of a new iPhone 6 in India.

7. Fierce Android competitors

Android companies like Samsung, One Plus, Oppo, Vivo, Mi are too fierce. They run online mega sales, flash sales, discounts, promotions, free screen replacement, ads by cricketers, Bollywood actors, YouTube Creators, etc. Marketing is huge!

Also, the commission paid to offline mobile sellers by companies like Vivo and Oppo is a lot more than other companies. Thus mobile sellers push to sell phones from these brands to people who do not know much or care greatly about specs and performance. (Remember, Apple has no official Apple Store!)

8. Competitors’ service centers everywhere!

There are Samsung service centers almost everywhere. Most other companies also have service centers scattered everywhere. Apple has limited service centers.

In my home state (having a population of 100 million and an area 78 times that of New York City), there is just one Apple Service Centre; in the state’s capital. The state capital is 7 hours (one way) from my place of residence. Now imagine submitting my iPhone or Mac one day and then going to pick it some days later after the repair!

This is the story for many Indian states! (However, there are plenty of service centers in cities like New Delhi, Mumbai, and Bangalore.)

9. iPhones are not impressive on paper!

iPhones and iOS are siblings. Both together work well. But in India, people are spec checkers. Android phones crush iPhones in this department. People will tend to buy a phone with powerful specs on paper like 4000 mAh battery, 6 GB RAM, 24 MP Front Camera, etc. On paper, iPhones lack this. So this results in some people choosing ‘great-on-paper’ Android devices over iPhones.

Let us conclude!

Nevertheless, Apple is investing hugely in India. CEO Tim Cook said that India is the next big thing for Apple (as other big markets like North America and Europe have reached smartphone saturation level.)

Apple has partnered with homegrown consumer electronics chain Croma to open Apple Stores in India (or at least have its signature wooden tables displaying its products in existing Croma Stores.)

Apple has kept prices of many of its paid apps and subscriptions less in India (compared to the United States.) For example, Regular Apple Music subscription in India costs $1.72 per month. For students, it is just $0.86 per month.” The same pricing strategy is followed for many other third-party apps.

On a comparison scale, Apple is far behind. Even if we talk ONLY about premium smartphone space, Apple has been dethroned. Now the king of the premium segment is One Plus (some sources say Samsung). Keep in mind that any phone above ₹35000 falls under the premium segment in India.

My opinion

Apple is the trendsetter with vast reserves of cash and potential. Once Apple gets seriously serious about the Indian market; tweaks its existing products and services to suit Indian consumers, it would hardly take Apple 2-3 years to be a dominating player in the Indian market.

There is a strong intuition that Apple is already planning for India and the Indian sub-continent. The launch of its official Apple online store in India is a fantastic step in the right direction.

It is just a matter of time. Let us wait like we waited a year for the first iPhone to launch in India when other countries were getting the second version of the iPhone.

Fact: The first iPhone never launched in India. iPhone 3G was the first iPhone to be launched in India in August 2008. It was launched with Vodafone and Airtel.

Notes:

• For some points, by ‘Apple’ it might mean ‘iPhone’ and vice versa.
• Originally I published this article in skeleton form as a comment on a related YouTube Video.
• Initially, this post was written and published in mid-2018. Recently, a few lines were revised.
• For some additional Apple issues in India, read my review and experience using AirPods.
• People reading this may contribute more points or contradict me. We can have a constructive debate. Thank You.

The post 9 reasons why iPhone is not successful in India appeared first on LawyersTech.

What is a cookie?

Cookie, also known by names like HTTP Cookie, Web Cookie, Internet Cookie, Browser Cookie, is a small piece of data sent from a website and stored on the user’s device (phone, computer) by the user’s web browser while browsing. Cookie allows the server to deliver a page tailored to a particular user. In short, it allows the website to recognize you every time you visit that site.

Laws in various countries (primarily European Union (EU)) require website owners to ask user’s permission before collecting cookies.

Plugins to ask Cookie Permission

If you go to Add Plugin page and type the word cookie, you will see dozens of plugins to show cookie notice. Install any plugin that you see has a good number of installs with satisfying ratings.

That being said, if you already use Jetpack on your website, there is no need to install an extra plugin to show Cookie consent. Jetpack allows you to shows Cookie Banner.

How to enable cookie notice using Jetpack plugin

1. Go to Appearance – Customize – Widgets (choose Footer widget or any widget location where you want that Cookie notice to show)
2. Click Add Widget.
3. Now select Cookie and Consents Banner (Jetpack).
4. Customize the text and button according to your preference. You can be funny with your text.

How to center cookie banner text of Jetpack plugin

After you have successfully set your cookie banner, open a private window and visit your website. You will see the cookie banner. Now, if your cookie text is less, it will not be centered. To center the cookie text, follow these steps.

1. Go to Appearance – Customize – Additional CSS.
2. In Additional CSS, please copy this text and paste it there.
   #eu-cookie-law {text-align: center;}
3. Finally, click Publish.

Next, open your website in another private window (or use the private window of another browser) and load your website. You will see that the text is centered.

See the difference in the screenshots below.

Note: This is effective on desktops. On mobile, due to the small screen, it does not make much difference.

I hope this was helpful. To make your cookie notice even more beautiful, you might try other cookie plugins. There are dozens of them. They let you easily customize banner color, text size, location of the banner, appearance (slide or fade), etc. Happy customizing!

Note: This Additional CSS will work only on cookie notice shown by the Jetpack plugin and not other cookie plugins.

The post How to center cookie text of Jetpack plugin (easiest way) appeared first on LawyersTech.

At the core, all these perform the same task, which is to securely and instantly send messages and media from the sender to the receiver.

However, each of these has some extra features which help them differentiate from the rest. Telegram is one such secure app that stands out. Let us look at some tips and tricks for Telegram Messenger.

22 Telegram App Tips and Tricks

1. Available Even For iPad And Windows Mobile

Telegram is the VLC of instant messaging. Telegram is available on almost all modern platforms, including Windows Mobile.

Besides being available for iPhone and Android, Telegram has a web version as well as apps for macOS and Windows. Unlike WhatsApp, Telegram also has an app for iPad. This makes it one of the few apps which you can use irrespective of the platform/device. You can sign in to as many devices as you want with the same account and use it at the same time.

2. Make Calls From Laptop Or Computer

Telegram allows users to make voice calls from the macOS app or Windows app. However unlike Skype, voice calls are not supported on the web version of Telegram which is accessed using browser at https://web.telegram.org/

3. Lock Chats At Your Comfort

Telegram supports password lock on iOS and macOS apps. One unique thing is that you can set different passwords for iOS and macOS Telegram apps even if you are using the same account on both.

To set password go to Settings – Privacy and Security – Passcode & Touch ID

4. Two Factor Authentication In Web Version

One secure thing about Telegram is that it supports Two Factor Authentication even for Web Version of Telegram. For this, either setup Two Factor Authentication in Telegram mobile app or,

• Go to https://web.telegram.org/
• Select your country and fill in your mobile number associated with the Telegram account.
• Next, you will receive a text message (and also a Telegram message inside Telegram app on your already logged in Telegram mobile or computer apps). This text/Telegram message will have a login code. Fill it in. Now you are logged in to web version of your Telegram Account.
• To set Two Factor Authentication click on three horizontal lines on the top left and then go to settings.
• Click on ‘Set Additional Password.’ Fill the asked self-explanatory details like password, password hint, and email. Click Save.
• Now, whenever you log in to the Telegram app on the mobile app or another browser or another computer, you will be asked to fill in this code as a second wall of verification after OTP verification.
• To check this open an incognito window or use any browser other than the current browser you are logged into Telegram. You will be asked to fill the password that you set, after filling in the text/telegram message code.

5. Automatic Lock Duration Or Easy Lock

You can set time duration, after which the Telegram app will automatically lock the chats/Telegram app if you are not using it. You can choose to set the auto-lock duration from 1 minute, 5 minutes, 1 hour, or 5 hours. You can also switch off auto-lock.

To lock the app instantly irrespective of the auto-lock settings, just click on the tiny lock symbol (or the word ‘Chats’) written at the top middle of the app home screen.

Additionally, on the macOS Telegram app, on the bottom left, there is a settings icon when you are at all chats window. Place (not click) your mouse pointer on the settings icon. An option to ‘Lock Telegram’ will slide up. Click on it. The Telegram app is now locked.

Note: This will work if you have set up a password by going into Settings – Privacy and Security – Passcode.

6. Create Own Stickers

Using the’ Stickers’ bot, you can create your stickers using PNG images with a transparent layer.

7. Individual Reply To All Lock Screen Messages

On iPhone, if you get five WhatsApp messages and you reply to one, all the other WhatsApp messages also go away. It is also annoying when you are in conversation from the lock screen with a person and are typing the reply, and in meanwhile, that person sends another WhatsApp message.

Now, this new message is not visible as you are already typing a reply to the earlier message. If you hit send, the new message also disappears without you having seen it. To see this message, you have to unlock your iPhone and go inside that WhatsApp chat to read the message. This isn’t the case with Telegram.

If you have five Telegram messages on your iPhone’s lock screen and you reply to one, the other four Telegram messages stay on the lock screen. Now it might be handy for some and troublesome for few. But this certainly is helpful to me.

8. A Separate Chat For All Important Saved Messages

On WhatsApp, we have the option to put a star on a message that we consider important. Telegram takes this approach to the next level. It allows a separate chat box that has all the saved messages from all your contacts. It is easy to view all the important saved messages at one screen.

Additionally, next to each saved message, there is an arrow pointing right, which takes directly to the person’s whole chat of which that saved message is a part of.

9. Night Mode Even For Macos App

Mobile Telegram app currently has four color themes: Day Classic, Day, Night blue, and Night. One which I love is Night Blue.

But all the fun is not only on mobile. The official Telegram app for macOS also supports these themes. To turn this on,

• Launch Telegram App on macOS laptop or computer.
• At the bottom left, you will see a settings icon. Click on it. Next, click on ‘Theme’ and select your desired Colour Theme.

Additionally, you can quickly turn on Night Mode by simply placing (not clicking) the mouse pointer on the settings icon (at bottom left). An option to turn on Dark Mode will slide up. Click on it. Enjoy Dark Mode.

10. Clear Cache To Free Space

Telegram allows managing space by clearing Cache files and stickers effectively.
Go to: Settings – Data and Storage – Storage Usage – Clear Cache and you can free some space.

Additionally, you can turn on or turn off the ability to save photos from channels and group chats to manage your phone space. To do this,
Go to: Telegram Settings – Data and Storage – Save Incoming Photos.

Here you will see options for saving photos from Contacts, Private Chats, Group Chats, and Channels. By default, these are turned off. You can decide accordingly to manage your space.

11. Keep Files Forever In Cloud Storage Free Of Cost

With other popular messaging apps, if you delete a file or image to free local space, it is gone from your end. You can not get the media back. But on Telegram, you can choose to keep the media in their cloud storage for as long as you want. And this is absolutely free of cost with no limitations.

By default, this is turned on (and set to keep your media forever). You can change it according to your preference. To do so go to, Telegram Settings – Data and Storage – Storage Usage – Keep Media. Here you can choose to keep media on cloud storage for 3 days, 1 week, 1 month, or Forever (default).

Now even if you clear cache from the local storage of your device to free space, you can easily get the files and images from the cloud storage by simply opening the chat. Files and images would automatically load again (if you scroll to its position.)

12. Save Data Costs By Limiting Automatic Downloads Of Files And Videos By Custom File Size

Go to Telegram Settings – Data and Storage. Under Automatic Media Downloads, you have various self-explanatory options like completely turning off automatic downloads.

Telegram takes it a step further by adding few extra niche options like giving users the option to turn on or turn off cellular and Wi-Fi automatic downloads according to Contacts, Other Private Chats, Group Chats, and Channels.

Additionally, Telegram also allows setting the file size of videos and files which can be automatically downloaded. For this, go to Telegram Settings – Data and Storage – Video (or Files) under Automatic Media Downloads. At the bottom, you can set the automatic file download size from 1 MB to unlimited.

13. Self Destructing Images And Videos

Telegram allows its users to send images and videos which self destruct after the set time frame. You can choose to self destruct the image/video after 1 second to 1 minute. (In between, there are many other time frames to choose from.) To send a self-destructing image,

• Open a chat, click on paper clip icon on the bottom left, and select the image/video you want to send or click one using the camera.
• After that, you would be on the edit screen. (Here you can add stickers or draw on the image or video if you want.)
• On the bottom right, there would be an icon resembling a stopwatch. Click on it. Select self destruct time duration and hit send.
• Image/Video will automatically get destructed (deleted) from the receiver’s chat after the expiration of the time frame set by you.

14. Select Multiple Images In Full Screen

On Telegram, you can view and select multiple images or videos in full-screen mode. To do so, open a chat, click on the paper clip icon on the bottom left, and select the image you want to send. Now on the top right corner, you will see a circle. Click on it.

Now you can swipe left or right and view images or videos on full screen. To select image(s), just keep selecting them by clicking the small circle in top right. Click the blue arrow to send all selected images and videos in one go.

15. Remove / Show Calls Tab

Telegram provides a one-click option to either show or hide calls tab on the main screen. Go to Telegram Settings – Recent Calls. Here you can choose to either show or hide Calls Tab icon in the Tab Bar (bottom bar on the main Telegram screen.)

If you choose to hide the calls tab, you can still see the list of calls (outgoing+incoming+missed) by going to Telegram Settings – Recent Calls.

16. Approximate Last Seen Shown Even If You Turn Off Your Last Seen

Telegram shows you approximate last seen of an individual, even if you have turned off your last seen. It shows rough last seen by using approximate terms like ‘Recently,’ ‘Within a week,’ ‘Within a month,’ ‘Long time ago.’

17. Control Over Who Can Add You To Group Chats

On Telegram, you can choose who adds you to Group Chats. You can choose between Everybody and My Contacts. You can even disallow individual persons from adding you to group chats. To do so, go to Telegram Settings – Privacy and Security – Groups.

18. Automatic Dark Theme According To Your Screen Brightness

Wish to automatically have a dark theme when your screen brightness is below a certain level or have a dark theme every night for those long late-night chats and it being turned off automatically in the morning.

You can easily set a scheduled time for dark theme or set it to adjust according to your phone’s screen brightness automatically. Go to: Telegram Settings – Appearance – Auto Night Theme – Scheduled.

Now you can give the app location permission and set it to automatically enable or disable dark theme according to local sunrise or sunset.

Additionally, you can set a specific time according to your preference. This is similar to how Night Shift can be configured to work automatically on Apple devices.

Also, you can set the Telegram app to automatically enable or disable Dark/Night theme if the screen brightness falls below the set level. To do so go to, Telegram Settings – Appearance – Auto Night Theme – Automatic.

Set the screen brightness setting present there according to your choice. Now, whenever your phone display’s brightness falls below that set level, the Telegram app will automatically switch on dark mode. For proper implementation of this, make sure you have auto-brightness turned on in your device display settings.

19. Stickers Instead Of Emoji

Emojis are cool. They can express multiple feelings in one click. However, you can choose stickers that are bigger and different from emoji in very simple steps.

In a chat, just click on the emoji you want to send. Within a few milliseconds, stickers conveying a similar message to that selected emoji will show up. You can click to send a sticker instead of emoji.

This option is turned on by default. You can manage this option by going to, Settings – Stickers – Suggest Stickers by Emoji. Here you can choose ‘None’ to switch this feature off.

20. Chat Without Sharing Your Phone Number

Go to Settings – Set Username. Now you can simply share your username, and people can chat with you without you revealing your phone number.

Additionally, you can share your username in a web link format like this.
https://t.me/username

Replace the username above with your username and share it. People can click on that link, and it will automatically open a chat window with you on their Telegram App or Telegram Web Version.

21. Discover Channels And Join Them

In the search box, you can search for things like cricket, Europe, movies, etc. You will get channel suggestions. You can join them and talk to like-minded people who share the same interest.

22. Choose To Delete Account After Inactivity Automatically

Telegram allows to automatically delete account if you are away for a time period. You can choose automatic deletion if you are inactive for 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, or 12 months. To manage this, go to: Settings – Privacy and Security – If Away For (under DELETE MY ACCOUNT). Select the preferred time duration.

Telegram App Conclusion

Overall, Telegram is a great messaging platform. It is secure, encrypted, omnipresent across all platforms, and feature-packed yet straightforward to use. But, in a country like India where WhatsApp is the universal messaging app and ‘Made in India’ Hike the next favorite alternative to WhatsApp, it is tough to find friends from our contact list who are on Telegram.

However, the popularity of Telegram is growing, especially among college students who use it to share notes and big files in groups.  It is also used by couples who want some privacy and do not want to be seen online on WhatsApp at odd hours.

This post was written on 14th August 2018. In March 2020, only some grammatical errors were corrected. Rest everything is the same.

The post Tips and tricks for Telegram Messenger appeared first on LawyersTech.

Every such comparison video starts well by mentioning facts about T-Series’ foundation and the assassination of its founder, but these videos fail to provide an apparent reason why T-Series is rising so rapidly.

And this is not the fault of the YouTubers making those videos. Sitting 10000 kilometers away from India, the only source for their data is the internet. Despite this geographical limitation, some of the videos are very well made.

I, an Indian, have tried my best to touch all points. Let us start with a small beginning.

There are appropriate headings. You may skip any section you are not interested in, but if you want to get the clear picture and also know a bit more about India, then I would recommend you not to skip any section.

In between, I have mentioned some fun facts and extra read just to share some knowledge.

Why T-Series Grows So Quickly

Mega Music Company vs. PewDiePie

BEGINNING OF T-SERIES

Shri Gulshan Kumar started T-Series in 1983. Shri is a salutation prefix that Hindi speaking Indians use before a male name; just like Mr.

It began as a cheap destination for pirated Bollywood songs. In 1984 T-Series released its first ORIGINAL soundtrack. In 1990 T-Series gained massive popularity with the release of the soundtrack of a very successful romantic film Aashiqui. The word Aashiqui means ROMANCE.

The film received widespread love from the audience and was hugely successful. The music of this Bollywood feature film was even more successful and sold 20 million copies. To date, this is regarded as the best selling Bollywood album of all time. The songs of Aashiqui are still some of the most loved romantic songs played in India on radios, FM, public places, etc.

ASSASSINATION OF T-SERIES FOUNDER

In 1997, Gulshan Kumar was assassinated by D-Company — the group which was accused of 1993 Bombay (Mumbai) bombings. In 2011, D-Company was placed third on the list of FBI’s WORLD’S 10 MOST WANTED FUGITIVES.

After Gulshan Kumar’s death T-Series has been managed by his younger brother Krishan Kumar (not so successful actor, acting in only five films from 1993 to 2000 and they were either directed or produced by family members / T-Series) and Gulshan Kumar’s son Bhushan Kumar (film and music producer and composer)

[bctt tweet=”Currently T-Series produces films as well as music under T-Series Films and T-Series Music or just T-Series. They are highly successful in both these relatable ventures.” username=”Lawyerstech”]

T-SERIES ON YOUTUBE

The official T-Series YouTube ‘About’ section says that they joined YouTube on 13th March 2006.
However, the oldest video of T-Series dates to 23rd December 2010. So it can be said that they did not upload for the first 4-5 years on YouTube or just simply deleted videos uploaded between 2006 to 2011 (deleting video makes no sense, but it can be a possibility.)

PewDiePie joined YouTube on 29th April 2010, and his oldest video dates back to 2nd October 2010.

So we can say that PewDiePie started uploading to YouTube about 3 Months before T-Series.

SOME MYTHS THAT ARE MAKING ROUNDS ON INTERNET ABOUT T-SERIES

A. AUTOMATIC SUBSCRIPTION

[bctt tweet=”NO, people making new YouTube accounts in India do not automatically get subscribed to T-Series. This is just some malice spread initially on Reddit, and subsequently, it spread on YouTube.” username=”Lawyerstech”]

I have checked this four times by making new YouTube (Google) accounts using an iPhone and signing in to YouTube app for the first time, using an Android phone and signing in to YouTube app for the first time, using YouTube on Bluestacks and signing in to YouTube app for the first time and making new YouTube account and signing to YouTube for the first time on a browser.

Never was I automatically subscribed to T-Series or any channel for that matter. This is absurd that people are buying this fake news.

But yes at times for new and not logged in users, videos from T-Series and the T-Series channel are recommended on the YouTube homescreen. But then in India, YouTube puts popular, catchy semi-nude thumbnailed videos from other big Indian channels like Set Max, etc. and music videos from Rihanna Vevo or fun videos from Dude Perfect on their homepage too.

YouTube recommends these to new and not logged in users according to its algorithms. T-series automatically getting subscribers is just a myth spread by some people and surprisingly bought by even celebrity YouTubers!

B. BOTS

[bctt tweet=”I do not believe that T-Series buys or engages in bot activities to increase its subscriber number. They aren’t some small creator who will remain unseen by YouTube doing these!” username=”Lawyerstech”]

A channel so big and elite will be punished instantly by YouTube if they do something so sinister according to YouTube’s terms and conditions. YouTube would not keep mum and set any wrong precedent.

READ THE COMMENT SECTION BELOW THIS ARTICLE FOR AN IMPORTANT EXPLANATION REGARDING BOTS.

When YouTube was down for a few hours, SocialBlade tweeted, “Interesting.. YouTube is down worldwide, but T-Series is still getting subscribers.”

Few Indian people also saw the T-Series channel and the subscribe option. (This was because by that time YouTube was already working in India and it was down in India just for a few minutes.)
YouTube further replied that this is normal that the number of subscribers fluctuates during such times and even normally. YouTube replied that this fluctuation in subscriber number is normal.

It is interesting that despite SocialBlade working with YouTube for long, were unaware of this fact.

T-SERIES AND PEWDIEPIE YOUTUBE STATS

Please Note,
i- “~” means approximately.
ii- More than the numbers focus on what is written in orange, as the number of subscribers and views etc. will change every second, but what is written in orange would have little change in the near future.

SOME STATS AS OF 26th OCTOBER 2018, 1:20 PM [IST]

Number of Subscribers

• T-Series – 67,201,343
• PewDiePie – 67,363,768

Total Videos on each channel

• T-Series – 12,772
• PewDiePie – 3,639
  T-Series has uploaded 3.5 times more than PewDiePie.

Total Channel Views

• T-Series – 51,530,745,187 views (51 billion views)
• PewDiePie – 18,965,916,790 views (18 billion views)
  T-Series has 2.71 times more views than PewDiePie.

[bctt tweet=”T-Series has uploaded 3.5 times more than PewDiePie. T-Series has 2.71 times more views than PewDiePie.” username=”Lawyerstech”]

Daily Stats

• T-Series Daily Views – ~8 Million to 10 Million
• PewDiePie Daily Views – ~6 Million to 8 Million
• T-Series Daily Subscribers Gain – ~120000+
• PewDiePie Daily Subscribers Gain – ~30000

Last 30 Days

• T-Series views in last 30 days – ~2,394,954,000 (2 billion)
• PewDiePie views in last 30 days – ~176,887,800 (176 million)
  T-Series has received around 13.5 times more views than PewDiePie in last 30 days.
• T-Series net Gained Subscribers in the last 30 days – 3.6 Million
• PewDiePie net Gained Subscribers in last 30 days – 874,103 (close to 1 Million)
  T-Series has gained around 4.1 times more subscribers than PewDiePie in the last 30 days.

[bctt tweet=”T-Series has received about 13.5 times more views than PewDiePie in the last 30 days. T-Series has gained around 4.1 times more subscribers than PewDiePie in previous 30 days.” username=”Lawyerstech”]

For detailed results, there is nothing better for these comparisons than widely popular SocialBlade.
T-Series detailed stats on SocialBlade
PewDiePie detailed stats on SocialBlade

WHY T-SERIES IS GROWING SO FAST AND WHY IS IT GETTING SO MANY VIEWS?

1. IS IT BECAUSE OF INDIA’S HUGE 1.3 BILLION POPULATION? Err… Yes… Umm… No!

Most of the people talking about T-Series exclaim that India has a population of 1.3 billion people and so T-Series is overgrowing. Well, this is true, but only to an extent.

India’s total population is 1.3 billion. Now T-Series’ main channel about which we are talking is ONLY focussed on HINDI content.

What is Hindi?
Hindi is the fourth most spoken language in the world after;
1. Mandarin (China Region) 1.1 Billion Speakers,
2. English (worldwide) 983 Million Speakers,
3. Spanish (worldwide) 527 Million Speakers.

Hindi is spoken natively by only 322+ million people. Additionally, it is the second language for 120 million people.

So in total, we can say that it is spoken or understood by 550+ million people. I have rounded off it to 550 million and included Urdu and a bit of other regional languages. This is because such people can understand Hindi and might watch Hindi content.

So roughly and naively speaking, we can argue that PewDiePie can make his content for potential 983 million people. In comparison, T-Series can make their content only for likely 550 million people, which is around half that of PewDiePie.

Thus now we can say that this population number is not the only thing that we should consider in our T-Series vs. PewDiePie comparison.

We have to look at other factors that are fuelling T-Series’ rapid growth.

Extra Read: India has the world’s second-highest number of languages (780 languages) in the world after Papua New Guinea (839 languages). The 2001 Census of India recorded 30 languages, which were spoken by more than a million native speakers and 122, which were spoken by more than 10,000 people.

India is the seventh-largest country in the world by area. India is so diverse that a person from North India is as clueless of languages of South or East India as someone from the USA, Spain, Sweden, or the UK. The same goes for people from South India visiting North, West, or Eastern parts of India.

Thankfully English is one of the 22 recognized constitutional languages and used throughout India as a primary or secondary language for all signboards, railway station names, food packaging, communication, IVR language, websites, etc.

[bctt tweet=”Additionally India has the second-highest number of English speakers in the world after the USA.” username=”Lawyerstech”]

This makes India a powerful linguistic nation. So, Felix, you should visit India someday. You potentially have millions of untapped English speaking and understanding people in India waiting to enjoy your videos.

IF NOT POPULATION THEN WHAT IS MAKING T-SERIES GROW LIKE FIRE?

Internet Connectivity, Mobile Companies, Online Shopping, Young Age group, Partnerships, Offline Presence, Multiple Channels…list goes on… there are many factors… Let us look at them one by one.

2. INTERNET CONNECTIVITY

Before 5th September 2016, one GigaByte of monthly (that is total 1 GB for 28 days) 3G data cost ₹250, that is US$3.78 (according to exchange rates of August 2016)
Note – “₹” is the symbol for Indian Rupee

In the year 2016, 4G was limited only to metropolitan cities and some big cities.

On 5th September 2016, a new mobile network provider made its services available to the public in India. This mobile network is home-grown Reliance Jio.

Extra Read: Reliance is the main company name, and Jio is the mobile network’s name. Jio in Hindi means ‘to live’.

Jio’s mobile network is a true 4G network, or you can say it provides only 4G / LTE services, and it does not offer 2G or 3G services, and thus Jio sim cards do not work with 3G phones.

India is divided into 22 telecom circles. Jio is the only Indian mobile company having a 4G presence in all of 22 telecom circles.

LAUNCH OF JIO ON 5th SEPTEMBER 2016: Reliance Jio offered its sim card FREE OF COST within 5 minutes just by biometrics verification (fingerprint attached with World’s largest identity network Aadhar).

Along with this free sim, FREE 4 GB 4G DATA PER DAY was given for the next 3 MONTHS. (Total 4x28x3 = 336 GB)

In simple terms, you pay absolutely zero, and within 5 minutes, you were getting 4GB 4G data per day for the next 90 days.

This offer was further extended to an additional 90 days, thus totaling free data for six months. However, after the first three months, the daily data limit was reduced from 4 GB per day to 2 GB per day.

There were enormous queues outside Reliance Retail and Reliance Digital stores or any telecom shop issuing these free sim cards.

Fun Fact: Jio wanted to give additional 3 months of free data, thus totaling free mobile service to 9 months, but TRAI (Telephone Regulatory Authority of India) stopped Reliance from giving free data as it was anti-competitive and other mobile networks complained as they were losing customers.

Within 83 days, Jio had 50 million users, and within 6 months, Jio had 100 million customers. It became the fastest company in the world to reach 100 million customers beating giants like Facebook, Uber, etc.

After the free period of 6 months ended and as of now (October 2018), the mobile data price in India is among the cheapest in the world.

[bctt tweet=”Today users in India, get 2 GB 4G data EVERY DAY for 84 days for just ₹398 (US$ 5.43)” username=”Lawyerstech”]

Compare this with the mobile data plan for your country!

There are no illogical restrictions with this data (like some companies in the USA and Europe.)
You can use Jio’s mobile data anywhere (no roaming charges) and on any device. You can use it as a personal hotspot with any number of devices and of any kind without paying an extra rupee.
This huge mobile data wave increased the number of YouTube viewers, online shoppers, smart TVs, smartphones, smart devices, etc. by many folds in the country.

Fun Fact: As of now, Jio carries more mobile data than all mobile networks of the USA and China combined. Thus currently, Jio is the world’s largest data network.

JIO → YOUTUBE → T-SERIES
People have a free mobile plan with daily 4 GigaBytes/2 GigaBytes of data, which expires/renews every night. What will the youth of this young country do with all this data? Porn? (pun intended) Sure.

But after storm, there is a fine calm morning.
After watching porn, you relax. Your mind is at ease. You look for some entertainment and leisure.
Who is there to provide these? — T-Series! (and YouTube)

T-Series had/has the most extensive and regularly growing collection of free movie trailers, music videos from Bollywood films and independent artists, short films, etc. It is natural people will click and watch.

[bctt tweet=”This internet wave of Indian people coming on the world wide web for the first time in their lives gave rise to T-Series (and other Indian Channels.) They were exploding with views and subscribers.” username=”Lawyerstech”]

3. MOBILE HANDSET COMPANIES

Smartphones are expensive. Well, they used to be. Not anymore. Around 2014, Chinese handset companies like Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, One Plus, etc. started selling their handsets in India. These companies provided big-screened, huge battery sized, capable smartphones at low prices.

As Chinese companies started growing, Indian mobile handset companies like Micromax, Lava, Spice, Karbonn, etc. too followed the path and started making affordable smartphones and sold them via offline and online mediums.

Huge smartphone sales resulted in more people coming online and thus lead to an increase in YouTube viewership, and T-Series was already the main Indian creator on YouTube providing Hindi speaking Indians with free entertainment.

People started attaching themselves to T-Series by subscribing.

4. MOBILE SALES AND EASY ONLINE SHOPPING

Numerous online sites are selling mobile phones in India. Four of the largest online shopping sites in India are,
1. Flipkart (recently Walmart bought 77% of Flipkart for 16 Billion US dollars)
2. Amazon
3. Snapdeal
4. Paytm Mall

Apart from usual everyday discounts, these companies have huge sales festival every year, every quarter and sometimes even in consecutive months.

Flipkart has its ‘Big Billion Day Sale’ and Amazon India has ‘Great Indian Festival’ where they provide insane discounts on products and services.

Both these biggest online market places agree that the most sold item in their sales is smartphones, related accessories/devices, and internet devices.

In India, one of the popular payment methods used by more than half online shoppers is COD or POD, which means ‘Cash On Delivery’/‘Card on Delivery’/‘Pay on Delivery.’ This allows online shoppers to place the order and pay the delivery man when he is at your door with your order (just like Pizza).

This led to even the skeptical people, parents in the late 40s and 50s, and older adults to try online shopping and buy things online with peace of mind like not getting their Debit Cards scammed or compromised. Elderly people, people working at small jobs, etc. all started updating from feature phones to smartphones.

Fun Fact: In India, maximum people use Debit Cards. Credit Cards are used in addition to Debit Cards and that too by a tiny percentage of people.

Now coming to offline sales, I will focus on two companies — Oppo and Vivo.
Samsung was (not any longer) the dominant mobile phone company in India. There were Samsung stores/shops selling Samsung phones in almost every small town/district/block.

Oppo and Vivo disrupted Samsung’s blue boards and replaced it with their Green (Oppo) and Blue (Vivo) billboards, stores, shop fronts, etc.

Fun Fact: Oppo, Vivo, RealMe, One Plus are under the same parent company.

[bctt tweet=”Oppo and Vivo started giving huge commission to shopkeepers for selling their phones. Some of my shopkeeper friends have even stated that Oppo and Vivo paid them sales commission which was 4-6 times the commission by other companies.” username=”Lawyerstech”]

Also, Oppo and Vivo advertised heavily with Bollywood actors and, most importantly, in cricket matches and tournaments like the Indian Premier League (IPL), which is the largest, most significant, and most money-making cricket tournament in the world.

So, Indian people were seeing phone advertisements on their TVs and seeing smartphone billboards with their favorite actors and cricketers on the streets. This led to colossal smartphone sales.

And what do people do on smartphones — well many things and YouTube is one of those many things which is free, fast and pre-installed on their shiny big Android phones with Jio Sim cards already providing vast amounts of fast, cheap mobile data.

People started viewing and liking the content released by T-Series. YouTube, just like it would do with any popular channel, started showing T-Series on its main page for first-time users or not logged in users. This lead to rapid growth for the T-Series channel in the number of views and subscribers.

5. YOUNG AGE GROUP

India has more than 50% of its population below the age of 25 and more than 65% below the age of 35.

This is the age group that is the primary target for media content and advertisements. These young people opening YouTube apps for the first time and seeing their already known favorite stars from TV, dancing, or acting on YouTube was/is sure to make them keep watching these contents and/or subscribing to the free YouTube channel that is providing them this entertainment.

6. T-SERIES SIGNING BIGGEST PUNJABI STARS

Punjabi language is different from Hindi, but people who speak and understand Hindi also enjoy listening to Punjabi music, especially in regions near Punjab like New Delhi, Western Uttar Pradesh, etc. Both these languages have some similarities.

[bctt tweet=”Modern Punjabi music has amalgamated lyrics in English, Hindi, and Punjabi. These songs often have dance, bass-rich music and appeal to the youth.” username=”Lawyerstech”]

T-Series started producing and releasing content by Punjabi singers. T-Series has Guru Randhawa (one of the most successful Punjabi Singers), realizing his music through T-Series.

Two of the most viewed videos on the T-Series YouTube channel are by Guru Randhawa. Both these songs are extremely popular and played in cars, parties, weddings, etc.

Other Punjabi singers in their most viewed videos are Badshah, Honey Singh, Ikka, Hardy Sandhu, etc.

So T-Series despite having a separate channel, especially for Punjab and Punjabi people named ‘T-Series Apna Punjab’ with more than 11 million subscribers; releases popular ‘Punjabi-Hindi-English’ mixed songs on their main T-Series channel.

This is a brilliant step, and this has attracted a huge number of views and subscribers, as new Punjabi music is popular among Hindi speaking youth.

7. RISE OF OTHER CREATORS

In India, not only is T-Series rising rapidly, but every Indian YouTube channel has seen enormous growth due to the reasons mentioned above.

[bctt tweet=”Now, there are 24 Indian YouTube Channels with more than 10 million subscribers. There are 5 channels with more than 20 million subscribers. Before 2013, there were just 2 Indian channel with more than a million subscribers.” username=”Lawyerstech”]

T-series was one of those channels with a million subscribers.

Rise of other creators and YouTube’s excellent related content recommendation makes it easy for people to see T-Series’ new videos in their recommendations, thus fuelling growth and subscribers.

8. RAPID FREQUENCY OF UPLOADS

T-Series uploads around 6-8 videos every day. PewDiePie, in comparison, uploads just one each day. Some YouTubers say that views ratio per video (some similar terms) is better of PewDiePie than T-Series.

Well, they are right. But this is just normal and understandable.

T-Series has 67 million subscribers, but most of their daily uploaded videos get around 500k views in one day and a few million in a week or month. Only a few videos become viral and get 100+ million views or 200+ million views in a month.

PewDiePie, on the other hand, uploads one video per day, and that video definitely gets million-plus views in 24 hours.

So instant daily views for every new video by T-Series are all about upload frequency and people’s attachment and liking with the title, thumbnail, and maybe content of the video.

PLEASE SEE MY REPLY TO THE FIRST COMMENT IN COMMENT SECTION TO BETTER UNDERSTAND THIS.

For almost every song, T-Series uploads a teaser of the song, then the song itself, then the lyrical video of that song, then maybe remixes of that song and so on.

Similarly, for a movie, T-Series might first release a movie poster launch video of one minute or so. Then it will release the teaser followed by movie trailer and other movie clips or additional trailers.

This increases the frequency of their video uploads, and this is natural and certain that not 10 million people will watch a song teaser every day despite getting that video in their YouTube Subscription box.

PewDiePie makes jokes and makes people laugh, so a significant portion of his subscribers is going to watch his every video every day. This is because his videos have a genre consistency.

[bctt tweet=”T-Series, on the other hand, uploads multiple videos of different kinds. Some are good, some are garbage, some just does not suit a person’s taste, some are just sixty seconds music teaser etc. So most of the subscribers would just skip these videos.” username=”Lawyerstech”]

Therefore comparing PewDiePie’s and T-Series’ views per video ratio doesn’t hold much rational value.

But T-Series uploading 7 times more videos than PewDiePie indeed reaches more random people and thus more overall combined views.

Strictly comparatively speaking, between T-Series and PewDiePie, in my opinion, PewDiePie gets most of the initial views from his subscribers while T-Series gets it from YouTube recommendations and songs/movie trailers being viral or popular on radios, TVs, etc. T-Series’ videos hardly get views on the very first day of upload. (see next point)

9. TYPE OF CONTENT

[bctt tweet=”PewDiePie is a single man making jokes and memes. His channel has one face and that face his Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg. His videos are on YouTube and YouTube only. T-Series, on the other hand, has hundreds of faces.” username=”Lawyerstech”]

“A T-Series song does not become hit solely by/on YouTube.”

Let us see how T-Series produces a multi-million times viewed video.

First, the song is released on T-Series official YouTube Channels and other partnered music streaming sites and TV channels. Most of T-Series YouTube subscribers skip this song.

Now, if this song is a hit on FM, Radio, TV channels, music streaming sites/apps, people naturally want to listen to it again or watch the music video or share it with friends and what easy and free platform for doing all these than YouTube!

[bctt tweet=”So the T-Series videos with 500 million views or 300 million views are a result of many external factors which PewDiePie does not have! Music Label vs. Only YouTuber.” username=”Lawyerstech”]

10. PARTNERSHIP OF T-SERIES

T-Series has partnered with every music streaming site and app in India that you know or can think of. You can listen to songs released/produced by T-Series on,

• Apple Music,
• Amazon Prime Music,
• Gaana,
• Saavn,
• Jio Music,
• Wynk Music,
• Hungama,
• iTunes,
• Google Play Music,
• Idea Music,
• Spotify.

As an Indian, can you think of any other music streaming apps? Even if there are, I am sure T-Series has songs on those apps too.

Content produced by T-Series is ubiquitous in India! Just look at the video description of one of the T-Series videos! It has all the different links and ways to set caller tunes.

Fun Fact: Spotify is not available in India yet. Still, I have seen some music from T-Series available on Spotify. Update: Spotify is now available in India.

Fun Fact: Not only YouTube, but T-Series is also the channel with most followers on DailyMotion.

11. MULTIPLE CHANNELS

T-Series has 25 other official channels in addition to the main T-Series channel. These additional twenty-five T-Series channels are there to cater to specific regions or groups of people.

For example,
T-Series Apna Punjab for Punjabi speaking people.
Fact: Punjab is a prosperous state of India with majority Sikh population.

T-Series Telegu is especially for states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. A Hindi speaking person can not understand Telegu.

Similarly, T-Series has T-Series Bhakti Sagar with over 12 million subscribers only for Hindu devotional songs.

Other channels by T-Series are,

• T-Series Kids Hut
• T-Series Kannada
• Shabad Gurbani (for Sikh devotional hymns and songs)
• T-Series Islamic Music
• Health and Fitness and even
• T-Series Kids Hut – Portuguese Fairy Tales

See the below screenshot for other channels with self-explanatory names.

In total, all T-Series channels (except main T-Series) combined have a subscriber base of – 50,600,418 that is more than 50 million.

[bctt tweet=”If we add 67 million subscribers of T-Series main channel with its other 25 channels then it equates to more than 117 million subscribers!” username=”Lawyerstech”]

This multiple-channel presence makes the T-Series name widespread with different types of people. So in a way, 26 T-Series channels are indirectly and unknowingly advertising for one another and building an image of T-Series’ red logo in people’s minds.

PEWDIEPIE VS. T-SERIES: IS THE COMPARISON FAIR

Off-course!

I know 99.9 percent of the people who have made videos on this topic do not agree with me. Most of you won’t agree with this, but please hear me out.

Every big and semi-big channel on YouTube is not just one man. There is a team of people working.
For Example – Linus Tech Tips has a team of 20+ people producing content for four YouTube Channels under Linus Media Group.

Similarly, PewDiePie definitely has some people working for him who are employed by him and help him in making videos for his channel.

Now suppose, The Ellen Show or Dude Perfect was to become the most subscribed channel on YouTube.

Would you say the same thing about comparison?
Some would argue that YES, the comparison is unfair as Ellen already comes on TV and is popular from there. I agree. See the next point.

Similarly, Dude Perfect is not just five men, but there is a big team helping them build sets, shoot videos, edit, etc. Five men are the faces we see on their channel. This makes us think that they are just five people responsible for this channel, but in reality, there are dozens of people working behind.

Similarly, T-Series has multiple people working for it. One thing that differentiates T-Series is that they have no fixed face. T-Series has no particular living face!

But this should not make us think that comparison is not justified.

YouTube does not differentiate between individual channels or company channels. YouTube will support whatever brings it more revenue. YouTube has reached such a height that it no longer needs to please anybody specific. The situation is such that creators and audiences need YouTube because there is no meaningful, strong alternative to YouTube.

There has never been a song in Hindi, English, French, and other regional languages that I have searched on YouTube and did not find it!

YouTube has become so mammoth that it has an advantage. It will support whoever brings in more revenue. If YouTube sees that traditional TV shows like Jimmy Kimmel, James Corden are bringing in more views and thus more revenue, YouTube will start working with them. This is the nature of the business.

Thus if YouTube has until now made no distinction between creators, then we too should not.
T-Series or PewDiePie, on YouTube, they are just channels and not company channels or individual channels.

But T-Series has an advantage over PewDiePie, which is neither in YouTube’s control nor PewDiePie’s control.

PEWDIEPIE VS. T-SERIES: IS THE COMPARISON FAIR

Off-course Not!

In one of the reasons above, I discussed how T-Series releases its content on a dozen different platforms and mediums like FM, TV, CDs, Music Streaming apps, etc., while PewDiePie just has YouTube. This certainly makes the comparison unfair.

But what can one do?

Despite both channels being in entertainment family, the nature of the content published by T-Series and PewDiePie is absolutely different.

So comparing PewDiePie with T-Series is like comparing Google Services and Samsung Mobile.
T-Series is Google — Present on all platforms, be it Web, iOS, or Android. T-Series is present everywhere, be it TV, Radio, Music or Movie Apps, CDs, etc.

This everywhere presence makes a brand name known and memorable in people’s minds. So next time a person sees the name ‘T-Series’ on YouTube, he will definitely know what it is. He is already familiar with the name and would like to be associated with it as he has already seen and heard about T-Series at many prior places.

PewDiePie is Samsung’s Mobile Division— Despite selling more phones than Google, Samsung has a limited presence. It just builds hardware (phones). PewDiePie, as of now, despite having more subscribers, just makes videos on YouTube.

So comparing both in whole isn’t justified, and comparing both by closing eyes and looking only at Youtube stats is also not justified as T-Series depends heavily on outside influence for growth on Youtube.

But we have to reach a conclusion!

When plain numbers are to be compared, we just have to look at the numerical and not the background story or our personal feelings. And thus, when we compare numbers to numbers, T-Series emerges as the bigger player in every field.

I have seen 10-15 PewDiePie videos and have loved them. I have laughed watching those videos, I have shared some of the videos. I have listened to my old favorite songs on T-Series channels and have been grateful to them for making content produced by a multi-million dollar production house absolutely free and easily accessible.

FUTURE OF T-SERIES GROWTH

T-Series will continue to grow at this pace for the next 2-3 years.

[bctt tweet=”Despite being the world’s second-largest smartphone market (after displacing USA to third place and behind only China), percentage of Indians using a smartphone is just around 36%.” username=”Lawyerstech”]

Other mobile networks are rapidly expanding their 4G/LTE services, and major players like Airtel, Reliance Jio, and Government controlled BSNL are already working on implementing 5G services.

Fun Fact: The 14 to 20 billion US dollars spent on infrastructure by Jio is already 6G proof, which means that Reliance Jio will have to invest very little in upgrading its infrastructure even to provide 6G services.

Samsung, Apple (iPhone SE, 6s, 7 only. Update: Now iPhone X), Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, Lava, etc. have already started manufacturing/assembling in India. These phones have ‘MADE IN INDIA’ written on them and not ‘MADE IN CHINA.’

Production of phones in India has reduced various taxes and duties on mobile handsets, thus helping smartphone sales.

Fun Fact: Both Samsung Galaxy Note 9 and Apple iPhone X were launched in the USA at 900+ dollars. But the original price of Samsung Note 9 in India was ₹73,600, while the original price of iPhone X (64 GB) was ₹92,000. There is a difference of ~ ₹20000. One main reason for this is that Samsung phones are manufactured locally while iPhones are manufactured and assembled in China and have to pay taxes and other duties to the government.

In July 2018, Samsung inaugurated the world’s largest mobile factory capable of producing 120 million phones a year in Noida, India.

The middle class in India is rising, and the poor class is also seeing a better life with resources. All this is further expected to increase technological penetration in villages and among poor people. All this is definitely expected to bring a large number of Indians on the internet (and YouTube) for the first time.

India has a big student population. There are cities in India like Kota, Rajasthan, which is only known for coaching classes for engineering and medical.

The number of Indian educational channels on YouTube is growing rapidly. And once a student comes to YouTube for clearing a textbook doubt, in a week, he will be back to listen to his favorite song. This is how YouTube works!

Feature phones are replaced by smartphones or smart-feature-phones like JioPhone with an effective cost of ₹0 to ₹500 (US$ 0 to US$ 7) JioPhone runs Kai OS which has Google Assistant, YouTube, WhatsApp, Video Calling, etc. Monthly data plans for JioPhones are as low as ₹48 (US$ 0.66)! By August 2018 (year and a half since release), 40 million Jio Phones have been sold!
The future of India in every sphere is going to be exciting!

As far as T-Series and PewDiePie are concerned, I just have to say that both are YouTube greats. For me, none of them is a winner or loser; they both are extraordinary minds who have defined YouTube and will continue to entertain their audiences with their brilliant content.

The picture of PewDiePie has been taken from here.

UPDATES:

1. This post was published on 28th October 2018.

2. 2nd November 2018: Original Title of this post was “How and Why T-Series surpassed PewDiePie – explained by an Indian.” The time when this post was written T-series was just about 160000 subscribers behind PewDiePie and was expected to overtake in the next 24 to 48 hours. Later due to Radio ads, Billboard ads (by PewDiePie’s supporters), and other such online and offline initiatives, the gap between PewDiePie and T-Series has increased by over 700000 subscribers. So I thought it is now appropriate to change the title as it will take time for T-Series to overtake PewDiePie. Also maybe by that time 5-Minute Craft overtakes both! 😉 This channel has amazing growth.

3. You are welcome to use the comment box below to share your opinion. You are also welcome to say Hi or contact me for/with suggestions, concerns, copyright issues, constructive criticism, query, etc. I would appreciate your involvement.

Please note before commenting that,
I have not taken sides. I am just comparing and mentioning ‘WHY T-SERIES GROWS SO RAPIDLY.’

At times I have enjoyed videos from these two great creators, but I am not subscribed to either T-Series or PewDiePie. I prefer to watch content from ColdFusion, PolyMatter, Wendover Productions, VisualPolitik, TechAltar, LEMMiNO, Business Casual, etc.

The post How and Why T-Series Grows so Quickly appeared first on LawyersTech.

WHY I AM THANKFUL TO ONEPLUS FOR MY APPLE AIRPODS?

In May 2018 One Plus announced wireless earphones (bought separately) with its One Plus 6 smartphone.
It had fast charging and magnetic media controls. (more on this later)

I watch launch events and keynotes of many innovative companies like Samsung, Apple, Microsoft and Google. This year I watched the One Plus 6 event.

I am well into the Apple orchard since 2014 when I got my own MacBook Pro (mid 2012, non retina). I had been accustomed to macOS (then called OSX) since 2013. One of my flat mates had a MacBook Pro. Later in first quarter of 2015 I got an iPad Air and a month later I got an iPod Shuffle and in first week of August 2016 I had an iPhone 6s Plus (which I love using till date)

Despite having a slightly soft feeling that Apple makes the best products; watching One Plus talking about its innovative fast charge and USB C charging on the Bullets Wireless interested me a-lot.
Bullets Wireless had magnets which easily attached together to pause the music* or not dangle loose when it is not plugged in the ears.
*Automatic pause play works only with One Plus phones – 5T and higher.
It was interesting!

Next the company claimed exceptionally good battery life. By 10 minute charge it promised 5 hours of listening time. Neat! A full charge promised listening time of 8 hours. For a wireless earphone so small, it sounded pretty impressive. Now all I wanted to know was when will this go on sale in India.

I started following news about Bullets Wireless closely. Finally it was announced that on 19th June 2018 at 12 noon these earphones would go on sale at the official One Plus India site and Amazon India.
I created a One Plus account and was ready with payment details etc.
I knew that since this is a sale I had to make the payment in a jiffy and complete my purchase under a minute. I had already saved my address etc.
The clock on my laptop turned 12:00, I clicked checkout and Bullets Wireless was Out Of Stock!
I was angry!

Later company’s product manager Szymon Kopec revealed the earphones sold out in 40 seconds! He did not say how many units were up for sale or any other detail.

Then I realised, maybe, this was just a sham promotional activity by One Plus to create a market of hyped air or by measuring traffic on its website — estimate the number of people interested in their wireless earphones. Whatever the motive behind this flash sale was are best known to One Plus India.
(Companies like Xiaomi with its flash sales, Paytm with its Re. 1 sale have been know to resort to such tricks to create hype and interest.)

WHAT I WANT IN WIRELESS EARPHONES?

Whenever I look for bluetooth earphones my number one priority is battery life followed by decent sound quality which is followed by portability.
Also, I prefer small earphones over big headphones (big headphones obviously have better sound when compared.)

Bullets Wireless promised on paper and in their launch presentation that it was small, portable and had good battery life. Price in India at rupees 3,999 also seemed justified.

I further waited few months to buy them. Sadly I could not.

In early September 2018, I made up my mind that if Apple does not releases newer version of AirPods with its new iPhones (XS) then I would buy the first generation AirPods as they were on discount. Apple September keynote ended with new iPhone launches. Nothing was talked about AirPods.

AirPods ticked all my requirements except price!

Surprisingly, in October, during Flipkart’s sale, I was able to buy Apple AirPods on discount.

UNBOXING AIRPODS AND FIRST IMPRESSIONS!

When I first opened the box, I was happy about the extremely small size of the charging cum carrying case. I was happy that it could easily fit in coin pocket of my jeans. Some part of me was also worried about its sound quality. Online reviews for its sound quality were mixed to negative*. Every reviewer said that they sound just like Apple EarPods that is provided in box with every iPhone.
*Sound is good when compared to size.

When I opened the case, it felt good. It had magnetic lid. Paring animation with iPhone was great. It (and subsequent pairings) would have been better and intuitive if I had iPhone 7 or higher because these iPhones have Apple’s W1 wireless chips which is also inside AirPods which help them connect magically without diving repeatedly into Settings menu.

Anyways, once I connected it with my iPhone, I was able to connect them automatically with my MacBook and iPad as all are signed in with same Apple ID.

For me, sound quality was good, just like Apple EarPods.

SENSORS ON AIRPODS

The automatic pause play by ear detection works great with iPhone’s / iPad’s own music app and works good with third party apps like Gaana, JioMusic or YouTube. When you are listening something and if you pull either of the AirPods out from your ear the music stops playing and automatically resumes when you put the AirPod back in your ear without you having to touch your device. Neat!

However on MacBook this feature is limited to iTunes playback and media playback by Safari. Even on these applications it is hit or miss at times. In simple words this cool feature is not at all reliable on my old MacBook Pro.

[bctt tweet=”AirPod’s Automatic play pause doesn’t work with VLC or Chrome or Firefox and other such third party players or browsers!” username=”Lawyerstech”]

If needed you can turn off automatic detection in AirPods Settings. (though it is advised not to, to save battery)

GESTURE CONTROLS ON AIRPODS

EarPods has a handy remote control with three buttons which can perform useful tricks. They can Pause/Play, switch to Next Track/Previous Track, change Volume, work as Camera Shutter button, summon SIRI, receive or hang up calls etc.

AirPods can do most of the things mentioned above. But there is a catch. It can not do everything always. Why?

AirPods (both Left and Right) just have one type of control and that is DOUBLE TAP.

Good thing is you can configure double tap for different actions on left and right AirPods.
So you can do two things by these double tap gestures. I have configured ‘Play Next Track’ on right AirPod when I double tap it. On left AirPod I have configured double tap to launch SIRI.

EARPODS:

So at one given time, wired Apple EarPods can do six basic operations —
1- Play / Pause (single click of middle button)
2- Next Track (double click of middle button)
3- Previous Track (triple click of middle button)
4- SIRI (long press of middle button)
5- Receive / Hang calls (single click of middle button)
6- Change Volume (by using +, – volume buttons)

AIRPODS:

AirPods on the other hand can do 5 operations from the above six —
1- Play / Pause (by automatic ear detection. Remove either AirPods from the ear and media playback pauses. It resumes when AirPod is put back in the ear.)

2- Next Track (double tap on the AirPod you have configured)
3- Previous Track (double tap on the AirPod you have configured)
4- SIRI (double tap on the AirPod you have configured)

Out of the above three operations (point 2,3,4) , at a given time, any two of the operations can be configured on AirPods — one operation each on left and right AirPods.

5- Receive / Hang calls (Double tap on any AirPod when a call is received. Later double tap on any AirPod to hang up the call.)

AirPods can not change volume. This is one feature that I want the most.

Until then you can ask SIRI on AirPods to change volume to 70%, full volume, 50% or any percentage you want.

[bctt tweet=”In next AirPods firmware update Apple should find a way to allow volume controls on AirPods (without using SIRI)” username=”Lawyerstech”]

POSITIVES ABOUT AIRPODS

Now let us talk about the good stuff.

1- CHARGING PROCESS IS A DREAM!

With AirPods, never have I ever felt that I own a wireless product that I have to remember to charge.
Battery backup has been excellent so far. This has to. The product is new!

I get 4+ hours of battery life on single charge at almost full volume. It takes just 5 to 10 minutes of charging time inside case and then as Apple claims it can work for 3 hours.

I do not think there is any wireless earphone that has such a great charging experience. I have seen similar concepts’ earphones by Bose and Jabra but they are big and not as sleek and easy as AirPods.

[bctt tweet=”AirPods charging process is a beautiful wish made possible! (After wireless charging case (if Apple ever launches) the whole process will actually be magical.)” username=”Lawyerstech”]

My Story of how I use AirPods.

I am watching something for 2-3 hours or working on desk with AirPods in my ear.
It is dinner time.
I just put these back in the case. (which due to magnets feel snappy and incredible)
I return after dinner in 15 minutes and here are my AirPods with 100% battery.

I never have the need to reach for a cable or charger or look for an empty charging plug.

With One Plus bullets or any other wireless headphone, I would have had to find a cable, a charger, an empty wall outlet whenever I needed to charge it. All this would make me charge the Bullets Wireless only when needed and at times I would have less battery on them. But with AirPods they are always at 100% when I start working with them. Pull them out of the tiny case and I am good to go for next 4/5 hours.
(But I do not sit for that long in one stretch so my AirPods are charged after 2,3 hours of use or when they have around 35% or 45% battery still left.)

2- GOOD FIT

I am able to use them easily in metro trains and almost everywhere. I can not comment on other person’s fit but AirPods fit great in my ears (and also in many YouTube reviewer’s ears)

[bctt tweet=”I am confident enough to use them even in toilets. (But keep in mind that AirPods are not water resistant!)” username=”Lawyerstech”]

3- SIZE

The extremely small size (and weight) of the case and the light weight of AirPods make these absolutely easy to put inside any pocket or use it for long period of time without any problem.

4- BUILD QUALITY

One thing that Apple has mastered with all its products is build quality. iPhones, MacBooks, Macs, iPads and all Apple products have the best in class hardware build quality. AirPods is no different. The case is sturdy and does not create even slightest curve when reasonably pressed. The AirPods too have great build quality. The magnetic lid feels neat. The magnetic force felt when putting the AirPods back in case is pleasing. The lightning cable provided with AirPods is the same as ones provided with iPhones and other Apple products.

5- GESTURES AND AUTOMATIC PLAY/PAUSE

In this very article I have complained about AirPods sensors and gestures. But for a device this size, it is great to have these functionality. It takes getting used to, to hit the correct spot on the AirPods to activate the set commands, but once you get used to, it is handy. Ear Detection (media play/pause) is wonderful to have (works well on iOS devices.)

Some other features worth mentioning is – playing sound on AirPods by Find My iPhone app if you have misplaced your AirPods. This however works only when AirPods are connected and thus nearby like in the room or nearby sofa. This won’t help you find AirPods if they are stolen or not connected to any Apple Device.

Other good thing is that AirPods work just like normal wireless earphones with other Bluetooth enabled devices like Android Phones/tablets etc. Just open the AirPods case lid (with both AirPods inside the case) and press the Bluetooth button in back side of the case for 8-10 seconds. You will see AirPods as an available device under Bluetooth settings of your Android phone / other Bluetooth capable device. Click on AirPods to connect both the devices.

PROBLEMS WITH AIRPODS!

Everything magical about AirPods have been said.
Let me talk about some issues now. Many of these issues are nitpicking but if you are spending 10,000 rupees on an earphone that sounds okay, then I think you have the right to know everything about it.

1- DIRT MAGNET

The joints of AirPods are bigger or have more gaps / irregular crevices than EarPods. My AirPods catch thicker line of dirt than EarPods. See the picture to understand what I am saying.

Also in near future it would be a pain if dust gets inside the charging case.
The physical connect button on charging case has collected dirt since day one in its gaps, despite me taking great care and living on tenth floor which has less dust and dirt.

2- WOOBLY LID

The lid of my AirPods is a little wobbly. It has a movement of half millimetre in left and right direction. It also makes kut kut noise if moved. I have not touched any other AirPods’ case, so I can not comment on this. Apple chat support says this is okay.

3- PATHETIC TOUCH / TAP SENSORS

Touch / Tap sensors are pathetic. It fails 35% of the times. I have to tap multiple times or tap repeatedly with great force. It looks and feels insane. Vigorously beating your ear with one finger in a metro train! Imagine this!
This is nothing like what Apple shows you in AirPods’ videos. (However with more and more use, the fail tap percentage is decreasing.)

Update – After using AirPods for one month and using it in metros, public transport and elsewhere, I can conclude that tap sensors work well. It required some getting used to. Now I can tap at the perfect place for the sensor to work almost 90% of the times.

4- DIFFERENT MODEL NUMBERS FOR SAME PRODUCT!

The model number inside the lid of the charging case and what is shown on the connected iPhone under Settings → General → About → AirPods are different.
Inside the lid it says A1602 however on iPhone it says A1523.
However Serial Number shown at both places are same.

(Apple Support on Chat and Twitter as well as Apple Service centre declined to comment on this or just changed the topic. Anyone knowing about this please leave a comment. Thanks.)

5- ACTIVATED BEFORE PURCHASE!

I bought my AirPods on 11th October and received and activated it for the first time on 15th October. However when Apple Service Centre in Connaught Place, New Delhi checked, my AirPods were already activated in September 2018!
I then updated the details on checkcoverage.apple.com and fixed the purchase date.

6- IRREGULAR BATTERY DRAIN ON LEFT AND RIGHT AIRPODS.

Many times I see that my right AirPod has less battery than the left AirPod. I have failed to understand why this is when I always use them together. Maybe it has something to do with me being a righty and pulling out the right earpiece most of the times when I want to pause the music. This needs the sensors on right AirPod to do more work and thus draining more battery than the left AirPod.

At times the battery difference between both the AirPods is more than 10% despite both being used together.

7- SOUND QUALITY WILL DECREASE AFTER 10-12 MONTHS!

I can guarantee you this! Why and how am I so confident! Well, hear me out.

I have been using Apple EarPods (my PG roommate’s) since 2014 (when I bought my MacBook)
I bought my personal EarPods in February 2015, from an Apple Authorised store in Delhi NCR — FutureWorld

Initially the sound of EarPods is great but after some months the sound level decreases a lot. If that happens then one way to get good sound is by using EarPods like this. (See the picture below.) I know this is the right way to use earphones but most of us use it in simple ways like just putting it inside the ear without twisting or turning it and the wires.

(If EarPods’ sound level decreases over time, start using it this way. You will get better sound! I have experienced this! Source: YouTube, CBX Studio)

After my initial set of EarPods —
I regularly used new EarPods of my elder cousin brother’s iPhone.
Later on I used EarPods that came with my iPhone 6s Plus.
Since December 2017 I am using EarPods that came in with my bhabhi’s iPhone (my cousin brother’s wife’s iPhone).

All the above EarPods decreased in sound output level after 8-10 months!

By using the above EarPods I do mean using it extensively. Also, I never used EarPods with any other device except iPhone, iPad, MacBook and occasionally on iPod Shuffle.

Each one the the four EarPods had their sound level permanently decrease to a tremendously low level after 8-10 moths. Each one of them!

So,
One set of EarPods I had bought at Apple Store in 2014.
One set of EarPods came with my brother’s iPhone 6s in late 2015.
One set of EarPods came with my iPhone 6s Plus in August 2016 and the last EarPods that I used (and currently use) came with my Bhabhi’s iPhone 6 in 2017! (when iPhone 6 prices went really low.)

So you can see that all the EarPods were manufactured at different times and came with different models of iPhones (or bought separately); still each one of them lost their sound quality after regular use. I also have to make a point that none of them stopped working completely ever. It was just that their sound level decreased drastically. (And please do not think that I enabled ‘Sound Check’ or ‘Volume Limit’ or used ‘EQ’ on any of my devices. I never use these.)

I HAVE A SIMILAR FEAR THAT MAYBE AFTER 8 OR 10 MONTHS THE SOUND LEVEL OF AIRPODS WOULD ALSO DECREASE!

8- CONNECTIVITY ISSUES OF AIRPODS!

AirPods work great with my iOS devices but the story is entirely different with my MacBook Pro (mid 2012, non-retina)

[bctt tweet=”Within one day of buying AirPods I complained to Apple Support but they could do nothing.” username=”Lawyerstech”]

The issue with AirPods and my MacBook is that they misbehave. In middle of the music or movie playback or YouTube on MacBook, the AirPods would stop playing for 1-10 seconds without pausing the media or outputting sound through internal MacBook speakers.

If I am lying on bed and watching movie with MacBook on my knees and AirPods connected; even if I move a bit on bed or change my resting position the AirPods makes a screeching noise. It is a torture for the ears. It can even damage my ears. So with MacBook I always use it at max 70% volume.
This happens with all media played in any app or browser.
This is sheer torture. Many times in frustration I have hit the back on my MacBook with force!

I complained about this to Apple on their Twitter handle, then thrice on their Chat Support. They tried their best to help me sitting thousand miles away they could do nothing.

I read numerous articles. Following one of the articles, I reset the AirPods (by holding the button on case for 15+ seconds and paring my devices again)
I removed AirPods from my MacBook and reconnected it using normal process by pressing the button on the AirPods’ case (like i would have done with any other bluetooth device.) (Using similar process you can use AirPods with Android phones or other bluetooth enabled devices.)

I looked online for articles if my AirPods needed firmware update. But every article suggested that firmware (3.7.2 ) on my AirPods are the latest.

Nothing helped!

I contacted Flipkart and asked for an exchange. They said to contact Apple Service Centre as these products are not returnable or exchangeable. I will have to contact the official support centre.

Apple Chat support had already created a case ID and asked me to visit an Apple Service Centre.
I went to FutureWorld, N9, Connaught Place, New Delhi.

Nothing helped again!

Apple Service Centre at first were un-eager and not interested in my case as they could not understand my problem but when I persisted they submitted my device (AirPods) and said it will take 4-7 days. They said they will perform a diagnosis of the AirPods. They also said that they will call me once they have an update.
On second day I called them to inquire. They said that my AirPods are fine and there is no problem in these.

Extra Read – I got confused by the word ‘diagnostics’. Many times in past my iPhone and MacBook have been diagnosed, but I did not know whether this was possible with AirPods. So I asked Apple Support.
Interestingly Apple Support said that AirPods are not diagnosable. Though service centre can check/test the device and the issue and by diagnosis they meant discovering the issue.

I could not prove my case further because this connection issue and screeching noise is extremely random. Sometimes it happens 5 times in one 4 minute song, sometimes it happens once in an hour.
And it happens only with my MacBook Pro. With my iPhone, I have faced this issue only twice. (This too was for half a second.) I do not use iPad much so I can not comment on that, but AirPods seem to work fine with iPad. Also the connectivity range with MacBook Pro is extremely small as compared to iPhone.

(If my AirPods are connected with my iPhone 6s Plus kept on my bed, I can roam freely in my kitchen, living room and even other room’s washroom without any connection issues!
But if AirPods are connected to my MacBook Pro (mid 2012) kept on the same bed, I can not leave my bedroom. The moment I reach its door, AirPods start losing connection!)

Summing Up,
As of now it has been 15 days since I bought AirPods. It is working fine with iOS devices but with MacBook I have to take precautions like —
1- Not placing the MacBook anywhere else except desk.
2- Not using AirPods and MacBook at volume more than 80% ever.
3- Not bringing my arm or hands near the AirPods when it is connected to MacBook.
4- Avoid using MacBook and AirPods lying on bed.
5- Try to fidget as less as possible when using MacBook and AirPods on bed.
6- Make sure not to cover left side of MacBook (side with ports etc) by palm.

WHAT IS THE ISSUE WITH AIRPODS? (WHAT I THINK)

1- Maybe bluetooth on my MacBook is at fault. (But I have had no problem of any kind connecting JBL Go with my MacBook)

2- Maybe there are some software issues in macOS Mojave.

3- Maybe the sensors on the AirPods are extremely responsive when connected with my MacBook. That is why they register even arm coming near my ears as tap or something.

4- Maybe AirPods need firmware update by Apple to fix connection issues with old MacBooks or phones without W1 chip.

5- Maybe my MacBook is at fault. (I do not think I have changed any setting etc. This is because in September this year, I swapped the hard disk on my MacBook with SSD and installed a fresh copy of macOS. I set up my laptop as new and changed only few setting that I needed to like enabling 3 finger drag etc. Rest almost all settings on my MacBook are as default.)

6- Maybe AirPods are faulty but Apple Service Centre are unaware or negligent of this!
(Believe me the man at Apple service centre was clueless about what to do with my AirPods! Maybe Apple does not sell a lot of AirPods in India and thus service centres have seen very few AirPods issues!)

ONE THING THAT I WANT ON NEXT AIRPODS FIRMWARE UPDATE!

Apart from fixing above issues (if possible) in the next firmware update, I would like to see volume control on AirPods. This is the thing I need most for controls on AirPods!

[bctt tweet=”AirPods should have volume controls!” username=”Lawyerstech”]

CONCLUSION / HOW I USE AIRPODS NOW?

I use them normally like I would do. It works fine with my iPhone. I take the above mentioned precautions while using it with MacBook Pro.

It is a bit of a gamble to buy less known products from any brand even if it is trillion dollar Apple. It is scary because even the service centre is clueless* or hesitant to fix such devices which sell less or are unrepairable.

It has 1 year warranty. If I face any sound issue or any other connectivity issue I will dump it at their service centre!

Apart from this there is not much that I can do!

VERDICT…

So, coming back to the title of my first paragraph — “Why I am thankful to One Plus for my Apple AirPods?” — Despite the above mentioned issues, I am enjoying using my AirPods. I can sleep with resting on my either ear (or ear on palm) with AirPods in my ears. I can not do so with any wireless headphone. The portability, the wonderful charging mechanism and excellent battery life overshadows the few drawbacks! Sound is also fine**. Overall, AirPods for ₹8,000 is a great product; at least for me and my preferences!

Notes-

I began writing this article on 31st October after having used AirPods for 15 days. 80% of the article was written by 1st November. Rest has been written today. Most screenshots used in this article are also from today. (10th November 2018)

All pictures used in this post are clicked by the author (me) or are screenshots of my devices. Few pictures taken from elsewhere have source mentioned below the picture itself in caption.

*(See this Linus Tech Tips video about five thousand dollar iMac Pro which is a desktop computer targeted for professionals.)

**But if sound is your ONLY main concern then I would recommend following Sennheiser headphones which are priced same as AirPods. (during online sales)

1- Sennheiser HD 4.50 SE (Special Edition) BT NC Bluetooth Wireless Noise Cancellation Headphone.
During any sale on Amazon India or Flipkart, the price of these headphones fall from ₹14,990 to  approximately ₹7,000.

The Sennheiser HD 4.50 BT NC Bluetooth Wireless Headphones (Black/Silver) with Active Noise Cancellation is priced at  ₹14,990 and in sale it falls back to  ₹12,000.
But Sennheiser pushes you to buy special edition of these headphones during sale and thus though both normal HD 4.50 and Special Edition HD 4.50 are originally priced at  ₹14,990 but in sale the price of Special Edition (SE) is slashed by 50%.
(According to me the difference in both is just of Noise Cancellation. One has Active Noise Cancellation while the Special Edition has just plain Noise Cancellation. You might want to read people’s reviews and research a bit more. However both these headphones have positive reviews!) 

2- Sennheiser HD 4.40-BT Bluetooth Headphones (Black)

The post AirPods automatically disconnect and make screeching noise! appeared first on LawyersTech.