This week was all about Apple. The Cupertino giant announced next-generation Apple TV, all new iPad Pro, iPad mini 4, some Apple Watch updates, upgraded flagship smartphones – the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus.
At a special event in San Francisco on September 9, Apple started its Keynote with Watch updates. The new collection of Apple Watch now includes hand-stitched leather band models by designer Hermes Paris. The collection adds a ‘Double Tour’ Apple Watch (staring $1250) that wraps around the wrist twice, Single Tour (starting $1100) and a Cuff (starting $1500) model.
There are two new finishes for the Apple Watch Sport as well – the Rose and Rose Gold in anodized aluminum. These will come in both 38mm and 42mm sizes, and will be paired with some new colour bands as well. Apple also said that watchOS 2.0 update will finally ship on September 16th – which was announced at WWDC earlier this year.
The second announcement from Apple was the all new iPad Pro – a huge tablet with a 12.9-inch display with a resolution of 2732 x 2048 pixels. It has a new A9X, Apple’s 3rd generation 64-bit chip with 2x memory bandwidth, 2x storage performance and 1.8x faster performance than the A8X in the Air 2. It is just 6.9mm thick, which is just 0.8mm thicker as compared to the iPad Air 2. It weighs 712 grams, slightly heavier than the first iPad.
The Apple iPad Pro comes in Silver, Space Gray, and Gold. It is priced at $799 for the 32GB version, $949 for 128GB and $1079 for the 128GB for WiFi + LTE variant. It’ll be available in November. The Smart Keyboard costs $169 and the Apple Pencil is priced at $99.
Apple introduced the iPad mini 4 as well. It has the same 7.9 inch Retina Display with 2048×1536 resolution seen on last year’s iPad mini 3 with Retina Display, but packs an updated Apple A8X chip with M8 motion co-processor, compared to old A7 chip in the mini 2 and mini 3. Touch ID fingerprint sensor and other internals are similar to the iPad Air 2.
The Apple iPad mini 4 comes in Silver, Gold and Space Grey colors and starts at $399 for 16GB, $499 for 64GB and $599 for WiFi variants and $529, $629 and $729 for 16GB, 64GB and 128GB Wi-Fi + Cellular models, respectively.
Then Apple announced the next-generation Apple TV with a new Touch interface remote. The latest model gets a hardware refresh and is now being powered by Apple A8 chip.
The new Apple TV also comes with a brand new version of tvOS. Apple TV will be up for grabs in two models – 32GB for $149 and 64GB version for $199. The newest version of Apple TV will be available in over 80 countries starting this October.
Last but not the least were the two new S upgrades for iPhones by Apple. Apple introduced the new iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus with Force Touch display technology underneath the same 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch Retina display, respectively.
Both smartphone carries the same design language as that of its predecessor, but the company has used entirely new aluminium, custom Apple alloy in the constructions. The iPhone 6s and 6s Plus has an updated A9 processor underneath, which according to company offers 70% more processing power than what the previous generation chip.
Apple finally gone with a larger camera sensor on the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus. It now packs a 12-megapixel iSight camera with ‘50% percent more pixel and 50% more focus pixel’ allowing to autofocus even faster and more accurately, alongside a True tone LED flash. The rear camera can also shoot 4K video now. The front FaceTime camera is now a 5-megapixel shooter with Retina flash. The iPhone 6s Plus Retina display doubles up as the flash, which gets 3 times more brighter while taking selfies.
The iPhone 6s and 6s Plus will be up for grabs in four colour options – Silver, Gold, Space Grey and Rose Gold. Prices for two-year contract in the U.S. are same as it were with predecessors – $199 and $299 respectively for the 16GB base variant. The unlocked 16GB variant will start from $649, and $749 respectively.
Other Launches This Week
Micromax’s YU Televentures this week launched its affordable 4G smartphone dubbed the YU YUNIQUE in India at Rs. 4,999. It has a 4.7-inch (1280 x 720 pixels) IPS display at 312 ppi, is powered by a Quad-Core 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 processor coupled with 1GB of RAM, and runs on stock Android 5.1 (Lollipop). It doesn’t run on Cyanogen OS out of the box like other YU smartphones, but you can upgrade to Cyanogen OS 12.1 based on Android 5.1.1 (Lollipop) by heading to YU service centres for free, flashable ROM will be available in future. It features an 8-megapixel auto focus rear camera with LED Flash and a 2-megapixel front-facing camera.
The YU YUNIQUE comes in Black color and is priced at Rs. 4,999. It also comes with double data offer for Airtel customers. The smartphone will made available through flash sales on Snapdeal starting September 15th.
Samsung also launched its latest entry-level 4G smartphone the Galaxy J2 in India at Rs. 8,490. It has a new Ultra Data Saving mode powered by Opera Max that let users to allow and block individual apps from using mobile data and save data by enabling data optimization. Ultra Data Saving mode promises up to 50% savings in data across all the content and most apps and also frees up to 11% RAM. Check complete specifications here.
Apart from Galaxy J2, the Galaxy Note5 was also launched in India this week at starting Rs. 53,900. It was announced at the Galaxy Unpacked 2015 event last month along with the Galaxy S6 edge+ that was launched in India recently for Rs. 57,900. The Note 5 packs a 5.7-inch Quad-HD (2560×1440 pixels) Super AMOLED display, is powered by a Octa-Core (Quad 2.1GHz + Quad 1.5GHz) Exynos 7420 processor and runs on Android 5.1 (Lollipop). It has a 16-megapixel rear camera with LED flash, OIS and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera. Check more details here.
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Sony launched the latest smartphone in the M series dubbed the Sony Xperia M5 Dual. The smartphone was announced last month, and it packs a 5-inch 1080p display, is powered by MediaTek Helio X10 octa-core SoC and runs on Android 5.0 (Lollipop). It has a 21.5-megapixel rear camera with 0.25-second Hybrid Autofocus, LED flash, 4K video recording and a 13-megapixel front-facing camera. It is also water and dust-proof (IP65/IP68) and comes with 4G LTE support.
The Sony Xperia M5 Dual comes in Black and Gold colors and is priced at Rs. 37,990.
Lava launched Pixel V2, the company’s latest smartphone in the Pixel series. The Pixel V1 was launched as an Android One smartphone, but this runs on Android 5.1 (Lollipop)-based Star OS 2.0. It has a 5-inch HD display, is powered by a 1.3 GHz quad-core MediaTek MT6735 64-bit processor, has a 13-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and a 8-megapixel front-facing camera with LED flash, wide-angle lens, Face beauty, Pic Focus are more camera features. Check details here.
Jawbone launched its UP range of activity trackers in India – the Jawbone UP MOVE, UP2 and UP3 exclusively on Amazon. These trackers can wirelessly connect to iOS and Android devices via Bluetooth to offer real-time progress reports. The UP app encourages and motivates you to make minor improvements that can turn into long-term-progress – all based on your unique data from Jawbone’s hardware, said the company. Check out the features of these trackers.
The Jawbone MOVE is priced at Rs. 4,999, UP2 is priced at Rs. 9,999 and the UP3 is priced at Rs. 14,999.
Following Jawbone’s debut in India, maker of popular wearable devices Misfit too made its entry in the country with the launch of three fitness trackers. The company has launched Misfit Shine, Misfit Flash, and Misfit Link exclusively on Snapdeal. Misfit says that all the three fitness trackers do not require charging, are water resistant, and compatible with free companion apps on iOS and Android. All the three wearable devices track users’ daily activities, calories burned and sleep patterns.
The Misfit Shine is priced at Rs. 5,499, MisFit Flash is priced at Rs. 2,499 and the Flash Link is priced at Rs. 1,999. All of these devices come in different colors and are available for purchase on Snapdeal.
Alcatel OneTouch launched the OneTouch Watch in India at Rs. 7,999. It was first unveiled during CES 2015 earlier this year. The Alactel OneTouch Watch has a 1.22-inch (240 x 240 pixels) touchscreen display, is powered by a STM429 chipset, runs on proprietary OS and uses a companion app installed on the phone to connect from either iOS or Android. The app allows you to choose the notifications that appear on your watch, adjust your watch face and see health data collected by the watch.
The Alcatel OneTouch Watch comes in sporty dark red or volcano black and White colors and is priced at Rs. 7,999. It is now exclusively available from Flipkart. Read full article here.
Lastly, Philips launched its web-enabled LED home lighting system HUE in India. Hue allows users to control home lighting using their smartphone or tablet and supports both Android and iOS platforms. The Philips Hue range for India will include, Hue Starter Kit which includes the bridge and three Hue lamps, Hue Go, Hue Beyond – the luminaire family, Friends of Hue – LightStrips and Bloom.
The Hue Starter Kit with bridge and three Hue lamps costs Rs. 16,995. The Hue lamps are also available separately for Rs. 3,995 each. Check here for more details.