Weekly Roundup: LG G6, Meizu E2, Vivo V5s, Google Yi Halo, Gionee M6S Plus and more


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This week LG launched its flagship G6 smartphone, Gionee M6S Plus and  Meizu E2 were introduced in China, Acer introduced several devices at its next@acer event in New York and more launches and announcements in this week’s roundup.

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LG this week launched its flagship G6 smartphone that packs 13-megapixel dual rear cameras with dual-tone LED flash, OIS 2.0, manual mode,  125-degree lens for secondary camera and a secondary 5-megapixel front camera with 100-degree wide angle lens.

It has IP68 ratings for water and dust resistance that makes it safe to be immersed in up to 1.5 meters of water for as long as 30 minutes. It has also passed the MIL-STD 810G standard for durability.

It comes in Astro Black, Ice Platinum and Mystic White colors, is priced at Rs. 51,990 and is available exclusively on Amazon.in online and from stores.

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Samsung launched Galaxy On Nxt 64GB version, compared to 32GB version in the original version. Other specifications of the phone are same including a 5.5-inch 1080p display, Exynos 7870 14nm processor, fingerprint sensor, unibody metal design, 4G VoLTE and a 3300mAh battery. It comes in Gold and Black colors, is priced at Rs. 16,900 and is available exclusively from Flipkart.

Vivo V5s

Vivo this week launched V5s selfie-focused smartphone as the successor of last year’s V5 smartphone. It has the same 20-megapixel front-facing camera with Sony IMX376 1/2.78″ sensor, f/2.0 aperture and 5p lens. It also has ‘Moonlight Glow’. It has 64GB of internal storage, but other specifications are same, including a 5.5-inch HD display with 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection, Octa-Core MediaTek MT6750 64-bit processor, Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) with Funtouch OS 3.0 and a 13-megapixel rear camera with LED flash.

It comes in Crown Gold and Matte Black colors, is priced at Rs. 18,990 and is available for pre-order through online retailers such as Flipkart and offline stores.

Gionee M6S Plus

Gionee this week announced M6S Plus smartphone that packs a 6020mAh battery with fast charging support with dual charging chip,  6-inch 1080p AMOLED 2.5D curved glass display, Octa-Core Snapdragon 653, 6GB of RAM with 64GB of 256GB storage options and a 12-megapixel rear camera with f/1.9 aperture, dual pixel focus tech and an 8-megapixel front-facing camera.

It comes in Ink Black color, is priced at 3499 yuan (US$ 508 / Rs. 32,750 approx.) for the 64GB version and the 256GB version costs 4299 yuan (US$ 625 / Rs. 40,240 approx.).

Meizu E2

Meizu announced E2 with a 5.5-inch 1080p display, is Octa-Core MediaTek Helio P20 processor, Flyme OS 6.0 powered by YunOS. It has a 13-megapixel rear camera with Quad-LED dual-tone flash arranged in the antenna bands that promises bright and clear images even in poor lighting conditions and an 8-megapixel front-facing camera. It has mTouch fingerprint sensor, unibody metal design and a 3400mAh built-in battery with support for fast charging.

It comes in Black, Moonlight Silver and Champagne Gold colors and is priced at 1299 yuan (US$ 188 / Rs. 12,070 approx.) for the 3GB RAM with 32GB storage version and the 4GB RAM with 64GB storage version costs 1599 yuan (US$ 230 / Rs. 14,870 approx.).

Yi HALO VR

Google and Chinese imaging company Yi Technology this week jointly announced Yi Halo”, the virtual reality (VR) camera. The Yi Halo is the second camera based on Jump, a VR technology product from Google for professional productions.

It has 17 4K action cameras, including one optimally-placed Up camera. The Yi Halo can capture 8K by 8K stereoscopic 360-degree VR footage at 30 frames per second (FPS), or 6K by 6K at 60 FPS. It weighs less than 8 pounds (3.5 kg approx.) and its internal battery lasts for 100 minutes.

It will go on sale starting this summer for $16,999, with units already available for select creators.

Acer Swift 3

Acer announced Swift 1 and Swift 3 Ultraslim Notebooks and Switch 3 and Switch 5 2-in-1 Notebooks at its next@acer press event in New York. These run Windows 10. The Swift 3 is a sleek, portable device with lightweight design weighing just 1.8 kg).It  features a sturdy brushed-aluminium body. There is also a special edition Swift 3 with Corning Gorilla Glass cover customize it with photorealistic images that are highly durable and damage-resistant.

Acer Switch 3

The Acer Switch 2-in-1 notebooks can be used with an Acer Active Pen on the touch screen to sketch, take notes or annotate documents or photos with Windows Ink.  The Acer Switch 5 offers a fanless, quiet experience through Acer LiquidLoop cooling and has a fingerprint reader. It has Acer’s patented auto-retracting kickstand that allows viewing angle be adjusted one-handedly. The Switch 3 also has a fanless design, comes with a sleek metallic top cover with subtle design and complementary etched edging.

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Acer also announced Predator Triton 700 and Predator Helios 300 gaming notebooks. The Predator Triton 700 notebook sports a 15.6-inch FHD IPS display and has a thin design with 18.9 mm (.74 inch), 2.6kg (5.7 pound) aluminum chassis. The Predator Helios 300 gaming notebook line in 15.6-inch or 17.3-inch display variants. The notebooks feature matte black chassis with red accents. They can be configured with 7 th Gen Intel Core i7 (7700HQ) or i5 processor (7300HQ) and they come with NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 or 1050Ti GPU. The notebooks support up to 16GB of DDR4 memory (upgradable to 32GB), SATA SSD 1 and a 1TB HDD 1 .

Acer Leap Wear1

It also announced Leap Ware smartwatch that can monitor your heart rate, stamina, stress / fatigue levels and exposure to UV rays. It features a polished stainless steel circular frame and is suited for daily usage. It sports a 1.6-inch display with Corning Gorilla Glass SR+ which offers scratch resistance.

The watch is powered by MediaTek MT2523 chipset and MT2511 bio-sensing chip. It also features an array of sensors with advanced algorithms for smart fitness tracking. It has an IPX73 water resistance rating and has a built-in LED light which illuminates at the press of a button. It comes with Navy Blue or Light Brown color bands and starts at $139.

Samsung Galaxy J3 Prime

Samsung announced Galaxy J3 Prime with a 5-inch HD display, Octa-Core Exynos 7570 14nm processor, Android 7.0, 5-megapixel rear camera with LED flash, 2-megapixel front-facing camera and 4G LTE support. It comes in Black color and costs $150 (Rs. 9645 approx.) without contract.

ZTE MAX XL

ZTE announced Blade Max 3 and ZTE MAX XL smartphones. Both the phones have a 6-inch 1080p display and have a fingerprint sensor on the back. The ZTE Blade Max 3 packs 13-megapixel dual rear cameras and a 4000mAh battery. The MAX XL runs on Android 7.1 (Nougat) and packs a 3990mAh battery.

The ZTE Blade Max 3 comes in Blue color, is priced at $199.99 (Rs. 12,860 approx.). The ZTE MAX XL comes in Black color and is priced at $129.99 (Rs. 8,360 approx.) without contract.


Author: Srivatsan Sridhar

Srivatsan Sridhar is a Mobile Technology Enthusiast who is passionate about Mobile phones and Mobile apps. He uses the phones he reviews as his main phone. You can follow him on Twitter and Instagram