This week started with Samsung’s new mid-range – the Galaxy On5 and Galaxy On7 – smartphones debut in India. After the Galaxy J5 and Galaxy J7, these two smartphones have joined company’s online exclusive portfolio and will be available through Flipkart in India.
The Galaxy On5 and Galaxy On7 smartphones have 5-inch and 5.5-inch HD displays, respectively. The Galaxy On5 is powered by a 1.3GHz quad-core Exynos 3475 processor and has a 8-megapixel rear camera, while the Galaxy On7 is powered by a 1.2GHz quad-core processor Snapdragon 410 processor and has a 13-megapixel rear camera. The Samsung Galaxy On5 and Galaxy On7 come in Black and Gold colors and are priced at Rs. 8,990 and Rs. 10,990, respectively.
Both the smartphones have a 5-megapixel front-facing camera, run on Android 5.1.1 (Lollipop), pack 1.5GB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage with expansion slot. These have 4G LTE connectivity with support for LTE bands for India and have dual SIM support. These smartphones have Ultra Data Saving mode powered by Opera Max that let users promises up to 50% savings in data across all the content. It also has MixRadio that is available exclusively for Samsung devices with music catalogue of over 32 million tracks.
Checkout the unboxing video below.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wx4PC48nXI8
Micromax this week launched its latest flagship smartphone in the Canvas series called the Micromax Canvas 5. It has a 5.2-inch 1080p 2.5D curved screen with Corning Gorilla glass 3, is powered by a 1.3GHz 64-bit Octa-Core MediaTek MT6753 processor with Mali-T720 GPU and runs on Android 5.1 (Lollipop), which is upgradable to Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) in future. It has a 13-megapixel rear camera with phase-detection auto-focus (PDAF) to focus in 0.2 seconds and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera with selfie flash for capturing better images in poor lighting conditions. Checkout Micromax Canavs 5 Hands On and Photo Gallery.
The Micromax Canvas 5 comes in Space Grey and Tan Brown colors, is priced at Rs. 11,999 and is already available from all retail stores across India.
Apple finally launched the Apple Watch in India,and we exclusively reported detailed pricing in advance. The base 38mm Apple Watch with Silver, Space Gray, Gold or Rose Gold Aluminium Case and Sport Band starts at Rs. 30,900 and the 42mm version of it will be priced at Rs. 34,900. It goes up to Rs. 14,20,000 for the 38mm Apple Watch Edition with 18-Carat Gold Case and Modern Buckle. Apple Watch band Sport Band for both the version in various colors start at Rs. 3,900 and goes up to Rs. 46,900 for the Link Bracelet band. Apple Watch is available through authorized resellers offline across India. It is also available from Flipkart online. Check our Apple Watch unboxing and first impressions video below.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLEmGitroMc
To refresh, Apple had first unveiled the Watch in September last year and it went on sale in several countries in April this year. Apple Watch has Retina display with Force Touch and Ion-X glass, a hardened glass for protection. The 38mm version has a 1.34-inch (272 x 340 pixels) AMOLED display at 326ppi and the 42mm version has a 1.54-inch (312 x 390 pixels) AMOLED display at 326ppi.
Acer launched two new 4G smartphones this week exclusively on Flipkart dubbed the Acer Liquid Z630s and the Acer Liquid Z530. The Liquid Z630s packs a 5.5-inch HD screen, is powered by an Octa-Core MediaTek MT6753 SoC, packs 3GB of RAM and a 4000mAh battery, while the Liquid Z530 comes with a 5-inch HD screen, is powered by a quad-core MediaTek MT6735 SoC and has 2GB of RAM. Both these have a 8-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and an 8-megapixel front-facing camera. These also have DTS audio.
The Acer Liquid Z630s comes in Black with Gold color is priced at Rs. 10,999 and will be exclusively available for purchase on Flipkart through flash sale on November 12th. The Acer Liquid Z530 comes in Black color, is priced at Rs. 6999 and is exclusively available from Flipkart.
Infocus, as expected, launched its latest budget smartphone the Infocus M260 in India at Rs. 3,999. It is the first ‘Made in India’ smartphone from Infocus, assembled at the company’s local manufacturing facility at Sri City in Andhra Pradesh. It packs a 4.5-inch FWVGA display, is powered by a 1.3GHz quad-core processor and runs on Android 5.0 (Lollipop) with Inlife UI 2.0 on top. It has a 5-megapixel fixed-focus rear camera with LED flash and a 2-megapixel front-facing camera. It has dual SIM support and 3G connectivity. The Infocus M260 comes in Orange, White and Fluorescent Green colors and is available for purchase exclusively from Snapdeal.
The firm also launched the M530 successor the Infocus M535 in India. It comes in Gold and Silver colors and is priced at Rs. 9,999 in India. It is available exclusively from Snapdeal.
The Infocus M535 has a 5.5-inch HD display, is powered by a Octa-Core MediaTek MT6735 processor and runs on Android 5.1 (Lollipop) with Inlife UI. It has a 13-megapixel rear camera with LED flash, and a 8-megapixel front-facing camera. It has dual SIM support and 4G connectivity that includes TDD-LTE 2300MHz (Band 40) and FDD-LTE 1800MHz (Band 3) for India. It has unibody metal build and is just 6.99mm thick.
Gionee launched F103 in the fashion and lifestyle F Series in India back in September for Rs. 9999. It was also launched as the company’s first ‘Made in India phone’ last month, and this week Gionee launched 1GB and 3GB RAM variants of the smartphone, compared to 2GB of RAM in the original variant. Other specifications, including 5-inch HD IPS display, 1.3GHz quad-core 64-bit processor, Android 5.0 (Lollipop) with Amigo UI 3.1, 8-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera.
The Gionee F103 comes in Pearl White, Dawn White and Black colors and is priced at Rs. 8,499 for the 1GB RAM variant and 3GB RAM variant costs Rs. 10,999 in India.
After several leaks, Gionee’s first smartphone with USB Type-C finally launched in India. Dubbed the Gionne S Plus , it packs a 5.5-inch HD AMOLED display, is powered by an Octa-Core 64-bit MT6753 processor and runs on Android 5.1 (Lollipop) with Amigo UI 3.1 on top. The smartphone has a 13-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera. It also has dual SIM support and 4G LTE connectivity with support for LTE bands for India.
The Gionee S Plus comes in Dark Blue, White and Golden colors and is priced at Rs. 16,999. It will be available starting November first week, said company.
TP-LINK launched TL-WR940N, the company’s latest 802.11n wireless router that provides up to 450Mbps wireless connection with other 802.11n wireless clients. It has three antennas for better coverage, comes with MIMO & SST technologies for advanced wireless performance and has WPS button for WPA2 encryptions, preventing the network from outside intrusions. The TP-LINK TL-WR940N wireless router is priced at Rs. 2,220 and is available from Flipkart.
Cube26 launched IOTA Lite smart bulb in India that is powered by Texas Instruments microprocessor and uses energy efficient Toshiba LED. The IOTA Lite has a life of 15,000 hours and offers users the choice of 16 million colors. The smart bulb is rated at 7W and offers 500 lumens of brightness and is powered by Bluetooth 4.0. It connects into an existing light fixture without the need for a hub or extra hardware. The IOTA Lite provides weather alert and shows the weather forecast at the user’s location.
The bulb can be controlled via the IOTA Lite app that is available on Google Play. The app also offers a simple customization option through which users can choose any shade to denote different weather conditions. The Cube26 IOTA Lite costs Rs. 1899 and is available exclusively on Flipkart for Indian consumers from November 6 at an introductory cost of Rs. 1499 (Through the app).
iBall launched Andi Sprinter 4G, the company’s latest 4G smartphone. It also has universal remote that would let you control appliances such as TV, Set Top Boxes, DVD Players and more using IR transmitter. It packs a 5-inch FWVGA display, is powered by a quad-core MediaTek MT6735M 64-bit processor, runs on Android 5.1 (Lollipop), has a 8-megapixel auto focus rear camera with LED flash and a 3.2-megapixel front-facing camera.The iBall Andi Sprinter 4G comes in gold and wine colors and is priced Rs. 7099.
Kingston launched the UV300 solid-state drive(SSD) in India that is the first one to use TLC (triple-level cell) NAND.
The UV300 SSD will run up to 10x faster than the hard disk drive (HDD) as it is powered by the Phison S10 quad-core controller for optimized performance. It has read speeds of up to 550MB/s and write speeds up to 510MB/s. This essentially means that you will see faster startup/shutdown times and overall system responsiveness.The new UV300 SSD is now available in 120GB, 240GB and 480GB capacities at MRPs of Rs. 3700, Rs. 6,500 and Rs. 12,700 respectively. Check more details here.
Weekly Announcements
Samsung this week announced its first ever laptop with a 4K display in the U.S. Dubbed the ATIV Book 9 Pro comes with a 15.6-inch touchscreen with resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels. It is powered by Intel’s 6th generation Core i7-6700HQ (2.60GHz) processor with 2GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX950M graphics, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB SSD SATA 3 storage. It has a USB Type C 3.1 port along with three USB 3.0 ports, a 4K HDMI out, headphone / mic, and an SD card reader.
The Samsung ATIV Book 9 Pro features a Backlit keyboard. It measures 14.72 x 9.83 x 0.70 inches and weighs 4.45lbs (roughly 2kg). The battery life is rated up to 6.5 hours.
The South-Korean electronics giant also launched a two-in-one ATIV Book 9 Spin. Featuring a 360° hinge, the Samsung ATIV Book 9 Spin supports three modes of use: traditional laptop, tented screen and tablet. It features a 13.3-inch Quad-HD+ (3200 × 1800 pixels) touch display and is powered by 6th generation Intel Core i7 processor with speeds up to 2.50GHz.
The ATIV Book 9 Pro and ATIV Book 9 Spin will be exclusively available on Samsung.com and through Best Buy in the U.S. for an MSRP of $1,599 and $1,399 respectively.
Huawei announced Kirin 950 SoC at an event in Beijing this week. It is an Octa-Core SoC with four ARM Cortex A72 Cores that can be clocked up to 2.53 GHz and four ARM Cortex A53 Cores that can be clocked up to 1.8 GHz. It is based on ARM’s big.LITTLE architecture so it can alternate between the Cortex A72 or A53 cores depending on the type of tasks. It has support for Category 6 LTE networks and is built on 16nm FinFET process.
Compete details of the processor is not available yet and it is not clear when the chip would be commercially available. It is likely to be used in Huawei’s upcoming flagship smartphone Ascend Mate 8.
Motorola announced the all new Moto G Turbo in Mexico this week, and it will be available for purchase starting November 13 at a price of $283 (roughly Rs. 18,600). The smartphone is basically a Moto G with bumped up specifications.The main difference between the two could be the screen as the Moto G Turbo comes with a 5-inch 1080p display compared to the Moto G which has a similar size but a resolution of 720p. The Moto G Turbo has Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection as well. The processor too has been upgraded from the Snapdragon 410 on the original to the octa-core Snapdragon 615 on the Turbo. The RAM is 2GB and there is 16GB of storage on board as well that can be expanded using microSD cards. The device supports dual microSIMs and 4G LTE connectivity.
There is a 13 Megapixel camera at the back with f2.0 aperture and a 5 Megapixel camera at the front with f2.2 aperture. There is a 2470 mAH battery on board that supports turbo charging so the name could probably be derived from that. As with the original 3rd generation Moto G, the G Turbo also has an IPX7 rating which makes it waterproof upto 3 feet of water for upto 30 minutes.
Lastly, HTC introduced the Desire 828 dual sim, the company’s latest mid-range smartphone in the Desire series in China this week, after it got certified by TENAA back in August. It is the successor of Desire 826 dual sim that was launched in India recently. It packs a similar 5.5-inch (1920 x 1080 pixels) display and has an Ultrapixel front-facing camera, but this is powered by an Octa-Core MediaTek MT6753, instead of Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 processor in the Desire 826. It also has a 13-megapixel rear camera with optical image stabilization (OIS).
The HTC Desire 828 dual SIM comes in White Pearl and Phantom Grey colors and is priced at 1,599 Yuan ( US$ 252 / Rs. 16,525 approx.) in China. It is now available for order through official HTC eShop and goes on sale in China later this month.