Weekly Roundup: Essential Phone, Sony Xperia XZ Premium, Moto C, Nubia Z17 and more


Xperia XZ Premium -10

This week at the Computex ASUS introduced ZenBook Flip S, ZenBook Pro UX550, VivoBook Pro 15 and VivoBook S15, ZenPad 3S 8.0 Z582KL and new ZenPad 10, Andy Rubin’s  Essential introduced  Essential PH1 smartphone, YU launched YUREKA BLACK,  Sony launched its flagship Xperia XZ Premium, Motorola launched the Moto C and more that happened this week in our weekly roundup.

ASUS ZenBook Flip S UX370

ASUS introduced ZenBook Flip S (UX370), which is currently the world’s thinnest convertible laptop at just 10.9mm thickness and is also one of the lightest at 1.1kg. It has a 13-inch up to 4K UHD multitouch NanoEdge 360° flippable display that has support for active stylus. The 360° ErgoLift hinge has a dual-action mechanism that lifts and tilts the keyboard into comfortable typing position when the display is opened beyond 135°.

It starts at US$ 1099 (Rs. 70967 approx.) and will be available from September 2017.

ASUS ZenBook Pro UX550

Asus also announced ZenBook Pro UX550 at the Computex 2017. It features a 15.6-inch 4K UHD NanoEdge display that has a slim 7.3mm bezel and is powered by 7th Generation Intel Core i7-7700HQ quad-core processor. Equipped by Windows 10. It comes with NVIDIA GeForce GTX1050 Ti graphics, a 1TB PCIe x4 SSD and 16GB DDR4 RAM. The device sports quad-speaker Harman Kardon surround-sound audio and a fingerprint sensor. It starts from US$ 1,299, and will be available this summer.

Essential PH-1

Android creator Andy Rubin this week introduced Essential Phone, as expected. It has a 5.7-inch Quad HD edge-to-edge display and is powered by latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor. It sports a titanium and ceramic body that offers it a premium look. It has a 13MP Dual RGB + Mono camera with image fusion technology and has a 360-degree camera attachment capable of shooting UHD (3840 x 1920) video at 30fps.

It is priced at $699, comes in Black Moon, Stellar Grey, Pure White and Ocean Depths and is available for pre-order in the U.S. A bundle with the 360-degree camera is also available for the promotional price of $749.

Panasonic 65-inch EX750 3D 4K TV

Panasonic India launched 65-inch EX750 3D (TH-65EX750D) 4K Ultra HD TV and EX600 series that includes 43-inch (TH-43EX600D) , 49-inch (TH-49EX600D) and 55-inch (TH-55EX600D) 4K Ultra HD TVs in its 2017 line-up along with UA7 sound system. All these TVs have 4K Hexa Chroma Drive Pro, 4K HDR technology and the high-end EX750 has 4K Pro HDR1000 powered by Studio Colour HCX2 processor.

The Panasonic EX750 65-inch TV is priced at Rs. 3,10,000, while the 55-inch, 49-inch and 43-inch  EX600 series TVs are priced at Rs. 1,78,900, Rs. 1,41,000 and  Rs. 78,900, respectively.

OPPO F3 Black Edition

After launching Black Edition F3 Plus in India last month, OPPO this week launched Black Edition of F3 smartphone in the country just in time for the upcoming Champions Trophy that starts tomorrow. There is also a limited edition black version that comes with a BCCI Logo, highlighting the OPPO and BCCI partnership.

The OPPO F3 Black Edition will soon be available exclusively from Flipkart as well as offline stores for Rs. 19,990. The OPPO F3 BCCI Limited Edition will be auctioned on Flipkart one day before the India vs. Pakistan match.

Xperia XZ Premium -1

Sony launched Xperia XZ Premium, the company’s latest flagship smartphone in India. It has the world’s first smartphone with Snapdragon 835 SoC and a 5.5-inch 4K HDR display with Sony’s own technologies such as TRILUMINOS Display for mobile, X-Reality for mobile and Dynamic Contrast Enhancer.

It has the same 19-megapixel Motion Eye camera as the Xperia XZs with 1/ 2.3″ Exmor RS memory stacked sensor, 960 fps super slow motion videos, Predictive Capture, Anti-distortion shutter, Triple image sensing technology and 5-axis image stabilisation for shake-free videos.

It comes in Luminous Chrome and Deepsea Black colors, is priced at Rs. 59,990 and will be available starting from June 12th. It is available for pre-order at all Sony Center, select retail outlets and exclusively on Amazon.in.

YU YUREKA BLACK Matte Black

YU launched YUREKA BLACK with a 5-inch 1080p 2.5D curved glass display with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection, Octa-Core Snapdragon 430 Mobile Platform, runs on Android 6.0 (Marshmallow), has a 13-megapixel rear camera with dual LED flash and Sony IMX258 sensor and a 8-megapixel front-facing camera with selfie flash. It also has a fingerprint sensor embedded into the home button to unlock the phone in just 0.2 seconds. It has a unibody metal design and is 8.7mm thick.

It comes in Chrome Black color with glossy finish and Matte Black color with smooth finish, is priced at Rs. 8999 and will be available exclusively from Flipkart starting midnight of June 6th.

Samsung Galaxy S8_fonearena-4

Samsung this week launched 6GB RAM with 128GB storage version of the S8+ in the country that costs about Rs. 10,000 more than the 4GB RAM with 64GB storage version.  It comes in Midnight Black color, is priced at Rs. 74,990 and will be available across India from June 9th.

Moto C

Motorola this week launched Moto C budget smartphone with 4G VoLTE support in India. It was introduced last month and packs a 5-inch FWVGA screen, is powered by a quad-core MediaTek MT6737M processor and runs on Android 7.0 (Nougat). It has a 5-megapixel auto focus rear camera with LED flash and a 2-megapixel front-facing camera that also has LED flash.

It comes in Pearl White and Starry Black colors and is priced at Rs. 5,999 in India. It is available across 100+ cities in the country.

Nubia Z17

ZTE’s nubia brand this week announced Nubia Z17 flagship smartphone in China. It has a 5.5-inch 1080p bezel-less display, is powered by an Octa-Core processor and runs on Android 7.1 (Nougat) with Nubia UI 5.0. It has a 12-megapixel rear camera with f/1.8 aperture,0.03 second dual pixel focus, 1.4μm pixel size along with a secondary 23-megapixel secondary camera for 2x optical zoom and 10x dynamic zoom. It also has a 16-megapixel front-facing camera.

It comes in Aurora Blue, Black Gold, Obsidian Black, Solar Gold, Flame Red colors and is priced at 2799 yuan (US$ 411 / Rs. 26,490 approx.) for the base 6GB RAM with 64GB storage version, 3399 yuan (US$ 499 / Rs. 32,170 approx.) for the 6GB RAM with 128GB storage version and the top-end 8GB RAM with 128GB storage version costs 3999 yuan (US$ 587 / Rs. 37850 approx.).

Samsung Notebook 9 Pro

Samsung at the Computex 2017 introduced new 13.3-inch and 15-inch Notebook 9 Pro models. The main highlight of new Notebook 9 Pro is its 13.3″ / 15.0″ 1080p display with Touch Screen Panel that can be rotated 360-degrees to use in notebook or tablet mode and built-in S Pen with a 0.7mm tip that cab detect more than 4,000 levels of pressure and tilt that lets you write or draw in the most comfortable position.

It comes in Titan Silver colors but there is no word on pricing or availability yet.

Asus ZenPad 10 Z301MFL

Asus introduced new ZenPad 3S 8.0 and two new Asus ZenPad 10 tablets at the Computex 2017 in Taiwan. The ZenPad 3S 8.0 (Z582KL) is the smaller version of the ZenPad 3S 10 (Z500M) that was introduced last year.

The new model has a 7.9-inch 2K (2048 x 1536 resolution) screen dual speakers and 4GB of RAM. It also has a 6.9mm slim unibody metal design. The new ZenPad 10 models come in 10.1-inch WXGA and Full HD models, run Android 7.0 (Nougat) and have 4G LTE support.

Moto Z2 Play Nimbus Blue

Motorola this week announced Moto Z2 Play.. It has a 5.5-inch 1080p Super AMOLED display, is powered by an Octa-Core Snapdragon 626 processor, runs on Android 7.1.1 (Nougat), has a 12-megapixel rear camera with Dual autofocus pixels plus laser autofocus that promises good low-light shots. It also has a 5-megapixel front-facing camera and has dual-tone LED flash for both front and rear cameras.

It comes in Lunar Gray, Nimbus Blue and Fine Gold colors and starts at $499 (Rs. 32130 approx.). It will be available from Brazil today for R$ 1,999 (US$ 616 / Rs. 39725 approx.) for the 4GB RAM with 64GB version.

nikonW300

Nikon this week introduced Coolpix W300 rugged compact camera in India. It is waterproof up to 30m, is capable of surviving falls of up to 2.4m, weathers the cold temperatures down to -10°C, and manages a dustproof ruggedness, claims Nikon. It sports 16MP, 1/2.3-inch CMOS sensor with 5x optical zoom and can record 4K Ultra HD resolution videos at 30fps. It also has three-inch LCD and built-in GPS, altimeter, and depth gauge.  is priced at $389.95 (Rs. 25,000 approx.) in the US. and will be available in July in India.


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