This week, Sony finally launched its 2015 flagship Xperia device dubbed Xperia Z3+ in India. Lenovo got its budget phablet K3 Note, and Fitbit officially made its debut in the country.
First up, the Xperia Z3 successor finally came to India as the Sony Xperia Z3+ and not the Xperia Z4, which was expected. But what was not expected was its hefty price tag, Rs. 55,990. Sony is bundling along a free Quick charger worth Rs. 3,490 and you will get the screen protector installed out-of-the-box as well.
The Xperia Z3+ was first announced last month and packs a 5.2-inch (1920 x 1080 pixels) Triluminos display, is powered by an octa-core Snapdragon 810 processor, runs on Android 5.0 (Lollipop) and is just 6.9mm thick. It has a 20.7-megapixel rear camera with 1/2.3″ Sony Exmor RS image sensor, BIONZ image processing engine, 4K video recording and a 5.1-megapixel 1080p front-facing camera with EXMOR R sensor. Read our hands on with the device here.
Second device, that actually had more buzz than Xperia Z3+ is the Lenovo’s budget phablet K3 Note – priced at Rs. 9,999.
It packs a 5.5-inch 1080p display with 72% screen-to-body ratio, is powered by 1.7GHz octa-core 64-bit MediaTek processor, runs on Android 5.0 (Lollipop), has a 13-megapixel rear camera with dual-tone LED flash and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera. It also has dual SIM support and 4G connectivity, including support for LTE bands in India. It also features Dolby Atmos. Checkout our first impressions about the device.
The Lenovo K3 Note comes in Pearl White, Onyx Black and Laser Yellow colors, and will be available exclusively from Flipkart through flash sales starting July 8th.
Fitbit finally came to India this week and launched a line of activity and sleep-tracking products including Fitbit Surge, Fitbit Charge HR, Fitbit Charge, Fitbit Flex, Fitbit One, Fitbit Zip and Aria Wi-Fi Smart Scale with Amazon India. The company offers a range of connected health and fitness devices spanning multiple styles with prices ranging from Rs 3,990-19,990. Checkout the full details and pricing here.
HTC launched two smartphones this week. The Desire 826 dual sim is company’s latest mid-range smartphone in the Desire series – priced at Rs. 26,990. It was first unveiled at CES earlier this year and packs a 5.5-inch (1920 x 1080 pixels) display, is powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 processor ( four Cortex A53 cores clocked at 1.7 GHz per core and four clocked at 1.0 GHz) with Adreno 405 GPU and runs on Android 5.0 Lollipop with HTC Sense UI on top. It has dual-tone color and dual finish, similar to the HTC Desire 820.
It has a 13-megapixel rear camera and a ultrapixel front-facing camera. The HTC Desire 826 dual SIM comes in White Birch, Blue Lagoon, Purple Fire colors and will be available across India by the end of this month.
HTC also launched the One ME dual sim in India. It was announced in China earlier this month and packs a 5.2-inch Quad HD screen, is powered by a 2.2GHz Octa-Core MediaTek Helio X10 (MT6795T) 64-bit processor and runs on Android 5.0 Lollipop with HTC Sense UI on top. It has a fingerprint sensor on the home button. It has multi-directional touch-based sensors that lets you place your finger on the sensor in any direction to unlock your phone.
There is a 20.7-megapixel rear camera with dual LED flash and an Ultrapixel front-facing camera. The HTC One ME dual sim comes in Classic Rose Gold and Meteor Grey and is priced at Rs 40,500 in India. It will go on sale by the end of this June.
Micromax launched its latest selfie-focused smartphone – the Canvas Selfie Lens Q345 – that has a 5-megapixel front-facing camera and comes with a Clip on 0.4X wide-angle lens to capture images and videos in wide-angle. This lens can be used on front and rear cameras, says the company.
Micromax Canvas Selfie Lens Q345 has a 5-inch HD (720×1280 pixels) IPS display, is powered by a 1.3 GHz quad-core processor and runs on Android 5.0 (Lollipop). It has an 8-megapixel auto focus rear camera with LED Flash, and comes with dual SIM support and 3G connectivity.
The Micromax Canvas Selfie Lens comes in White with Champagne and Moondust Gray colors and is priced at Rs.8,299. It comes with 500MB of free 3G data free for 2 months for Vodafone users.
Indian manufacturer iBall launched three devices this week – one Android smartphone and two tablets – Android and Windows.
iBall launched its latest budget smartphone dubbed Andi 4P Class X for Rs. 3,999. It has a 4-inch FWVGA screen, is powered by a 1.3GHz dual-core processor and runs on Android 4.4 (KitKat). It has a 5-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and a 2-megapixel front-facing camera. It comes with dual SIM support and 3G connectivity. Checkout details here.
iBall also launched the voice-calling Android tablet Slide Cuddle A4 at Rs. 9,699. It has a 6.95-inch (1024 x 600 pixels) display, is powered by an octa-core processor and runs on Android 4.4 (KitKat). It has a 5-megapixel auto focus rear camera and with LED flash and a 2-megapixel front-facing camera. It has dual SIM support, and 3G connectivity.
iBall Slide WQ77, the company’s latest Windows 8.1 tablet went on sale on Flipkart at Rs. 6999. It has a 7.85-inch (1024×768 pixels) IPS screen and is powered by an quad-core Intel Atom Z3735G processor. It has a 5-megapixel rear camera and a 2-megapixel front-facing camera. It comes with free Microsoft Office 365 license for one year and 1TB OneDrive cloud storage.
Spice Mobiles launched four new smartphones – XLife 404, XLife 431q, XLife 431q Lite and XLife 512 – in the new X Life series. The X Life series is specially designed for consumers seeking an exciting combination of innovation and great design, said the company. Check out the specifications and pricing of these smartphones.
Lava launched Iris X1 Atom S at Rs. 4,149. This budget smartphone has a 4-inch WVGA screen, is powered by a 1GHz processor and runs on Android 4.4 (KitKat). It has a 5-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and a VGA front-facing camera. It has similar design as other Iris X1 series smartphones, comes with dual SIM support and 3G connectivity.
Priced at Rs. 5,399, Celkon Millennia ME Q54+ is the successor of Millennia ME Q54 and is now available online. It has the same 5-inch FWVGA screen, is powered by a 1.2 GHz quad-core processor, runs on Android 4.4 (KitKat), has 5-megapixel front-facing camera and a 5-megapixel rear camera with LED flash. This has 1GB RAM and 8GB of internal storage, compared to 512MB RAM and 4GB of internal storage on the Millennia ME Q54. Celkon also promises Android 5.0 (Lollipop) update for the smartphone.
Weekly Announcements
Oppo this week announced its latest smartphone in the Joy series, dubbed Joy 3, after Joy and Joy Plus. The Joy 3 has a 4.5-inch (854 x 480 pixels) FWVGA IPS display, is powered by a 1.3 GHz quad-core processor and Android 4.4 (KitKat) based on ColorOS 2.0, similar to the Oppo Neo 5 (2015) that was launched in India recently. It has a 5-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and a 2-megapixel front-facing camera. It has dual SIM support and 3G connectivity, similar to most other smartphones from Oppo.
LG announced Band Play, the company’s latest smartphone in Korea. It has a 5-inch HD display, is powered by a quad-core Snapdragon 410 SoC and runs on Android 5.1 (Lollipop). It has a 13-megapixel rear camera with LED flash, Laser Auto Focus and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera. It also has 4G LTE connectivity.
LG Band Play comes in Black and White colors and will be available through Korean operator SK Telecom for KRW 394,800 ($356 / Rs. 22,660 approx.) starting June 25th. No word on the global roll out yet.
Huawei finally made an official announcement about the MediaPad M2 tablet, which was silently kept on demo at its official store in central Paris last month. It has a 8-inch Full HD IPS display with ClariVu display enhancement technology that intelligently switches modes according to the environment , is powered by a 2GHz Kirin 930 64-bit Octa-Core processor and runs on Android 5.1 (Lollipop) with Emotion UI 3.1 on top. It has an 8-megapixel auto focus rear camera with LED flash, 2-megapixel front-facing camera. It also has 4G (cat.4) support.
The Huawei MediaPad M2 comes in Gold and Silver color and will first roll out in first in China, Western Europe and the South Pacific. After that it will be available in Russia, North and Eastern Europe and Japan. No details about the price yet.
Lenovo introduced ideacentre Stick 300, a compact PC stick running full Windows 8.1 with free upgrade to Windows 10. This is similar to the Intel Compute Stick that will let you transform your TV or monitor with a HDMI port to a full-fledged PC.
It is powered by a Quad-Core Intel Baytrail Z3735F Processor, has 2GB RAM, expandable memory up to 32GB with a micro card slot, features WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, HDMI, a micro USB port for power and a USB 2.0 port to connect accessories. It measures 100 x 38 x 15mm.
The Lenovo ideacentre Stick 300 starts at $129 (Rs. 8200 approx.) and will roll out through retail stores and online starting in July.
Lastly, Uros, a Finnish company in partnership with ZTE introduced Goodspeed Mobile Hotspot which is a 3G Mi-Fi with 10 SIM card slots. This is the world’s first commercially available 4G hotspot that can accommodate and switch automatically between 10 SIM cards, said the company.
The Wi-Fi connection can be shared with 15 Wi-Fi enabled devices simultaneously. It has LTE FDD, LTE TDD, UMTS, EDGE and GSM. It offers download speed of up to 150 Mbps and upload speed of up to 50 Mbps. It has a 3200mAh battery that promises up to 12 hours of battery life and up to 7 days of standby. Checkout full details here.