The big launch this week was by Motorola. It finally brought the mid-range Moto X Play to India, as expected. The smartphone was announced back in July, same day as Motorola launched the 3rd generation Moto G in India.
The Motorola Moto X Play packs a 5.5-inch 1080p IPS display, is powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 processor, has a 21-megapixel rear camera with dual-tone LED flash, 5-megapixel front-facing camera, 4G LTE support and 3630mAh battery. The firm launched the dual SIM version in India. It also has Moto Voice, Moto Display, Moto Assist and Moto Actions.
The Motorola Moto X Play comes in Black and White colors and starts at Rs. 18,499 for the 16GB variant and the 32GB variant costs Rs. 19,999. It is exclusively available on Flipkart. Checkout our Moto X Play Photo Gallery and Hands-on Impressions.
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Intex launched two new smartphones in its Aqua series this week – Intex Aqua Power II and Intex Aqua Glam at Rs. 6,490 and Rs. 7,690 respectively.
The Intex Aqua Power II packs the same 4000mAh battery as last year’s Aqua Power, but this has a 5-inch 720p screen instead. The phone is powered by a 1.3 GHz quad-core processor and runs on Android 5.1 (Lollipop). It has a 5-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and 2-megapixel front-facing camera. It also has dual SIM support and 3G connectivity.
Coming to the Intex Aqua Glam, the smartphone is targeted at women. It comes studded with Sarvosky Crystal stones, has glass back cover and also comes in Pink colour, in addition to Champagne Gold. It has a 4.7-inch HD display, is powered by 1.3 GHz quad-core processor and runs on Android 5.1 Lollipop. It has a 8-megapixel rear camera with dual LED flash and a 8-megapixel front-facing camera for capturing better selfies.
Micromax too launched two new smartphones dubbed the Canvas Juice 3 and Canvas Juice 3+ smartphones in the Juice series with a 4000mAh battery. The Canvas Juice 3 went on sale last week. Both the smartphones are powered by a 1.3GHz quad-core MediaTek processor, run on Android Lollipop and have a 8-megapixel rear camera with LED flash.
The Canvas Juice 3 has a 5-inch HD display and a 2MP front-facing camera, while the Canvas Juice 3+ has a 5.5-inch HD display and a 5MP front-facing camera. The Canvas Juice 3 comes with 96dB speakers with Cirrus logic Wolfson stereo DAC.
The Micromax Canvas Juice 3 is priced at Rs. 8,999 and is available from online and offline stores. The Micromax Canvas Juice 3+ will be available by the end of September, but no details about the pricing yet. Read our full report here.
Micromax’s website also listed a new smartphone in the Bolt series – the Micromax Bolt Q338. It has a 5-inch HD display, is powered by a 1.3GHz quad-core MediaTek processor and runs on Android 5.1 (Lollipop). It has a 8-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera. The Micromax Bolt Q338 comes in Black color and is priced at Rs. 6,499. Micromax on its Facebook post teased the launch for later this month.
Lastly, Asus finally rolled out three products this week. Company launched the Zenfone Selfie in India last month starting at Rs. 15,999. It went on pre-order on Flipkart mid-August, and the smartphone variant with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage went on sale at Flipkart.
The Asus Lolliflash selfie flash and ZenEars earphones went on sale at Rs. 899 and Rs. 699 respectively. The Lolliflash selfie flash and the ZenEars earphones were introduced at the Zenfone 2 launch event in India back in April along with the ZenPower power bank. The Lolliflash is a dual LED flash that connects to the smartphone’s 3.5mm audio jack. The ZenEars is in-ear earphones.
Weekly Announcements
Amazon’s much-rumored most affordable Fire tablet went official this week. Amazon says that the new Fire tablet is almost 2 times more durable than the latest generation iPad Air as measured in tumble tests,and has 2 times more processing power than Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 Lite. It has a 7-inch (1024 × 600 pixels) WSVGA IPS screen, is powered by a 1.3GHz quad-core processor and runs on new Fire OS 5 ‘Bellini’ based on Android Lollipop.
It has Amazon Underground app store that offers over $10,000 worth apps, games and in-app items for free, including extra lives, unlocked levels, unlimited add-on packs, and more. The new Amazon Fire Tablet comes in Black color and is priced at $49.99 (Rs. 3300 approx.). If you buy 5 tablets, you get 1 tablet for free with code FIRE6PACK. This can be purchased from Amazon.com and will ship from September 30th.
Company also announced two new Fire HD tablets – Fire HD 8 and Fire HD 10. The Amazon Fire HD 8 and Fire HD 10 tablets have a 8-inch and 10-inch HD displays respectively. These are powered by a quad-core MediaTek MT8135 SoCs and run new Fire OS 5 ‘Bellini’ based on Android Lollipop.
The Amazon Fire HD 8 comes in Black, Magenta, Blue and Tangerine colors and is priced at $149.99 for 8GB and $169.99 for 16GB versions. The Fire HD 10 comes in Black and White colors and is priced at $229.99 for 16GB and $259.99 for 32GB versions. The new Fire Kids Edition comes with Blue or Pink Kid-Proof Case and is priced at $99.99. Check more details here.
Amazon also introduced new versions of its Fire TV Products along with the launch of its $50 tablet. The company has announced the new Fire TV that supports 4K Ultra HD. The new Amazon Fire TV will let users access the 4K UHD streams of Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Video, and Netflix.
Along with the Fire TV, there is new Fire TV Stick as well that comes with a Voice Remote. It comes with a a dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM and has 4x the storage and 2x the memory of Chromecast.
The new Amazon Fire TV and the Fire TV Stick with Voice Remote are available for pre-order and are priced at $99.99 and $49.99 respectively. Check full details here.
Qualcomm announced two new chipsets in their Snapdragon 600 and 400 lineup dubbed the Snapdragon 617 and Snapdragon 430. Both these chips have LTE support,including Global Mode RF360 support. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 is an octa-core chip with 8 ARM Cortex A53 and CPUs clocked at 1.5GHz per core and packs Adreno 405 GPU. The Snapdragon 430 is an octa-core chip with 8 ARM Cortex A53 64-bit CPUs clocked at 1.2GHz per core and packs Adreno 505 GPU. These also support Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0, the next generation of fast-charging technology.
Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 3.0 is the next-generation fast charging technology for smartphones, tablets and more. It will be 4X faster than conventional charging, twice as fast as Quick Charge 1.0 and 38% more efficient than Quick Charge 2.0, claims the company. It will help improve fast charging up to 27% or reduces power dissipation by up to 45% when compared to Quick Charge 2.0. It is also 100% backward-compatible with Quick Charge 1.0 and Quick Charge 2.0 devices and supports a broad range of connectors.
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