Xiaomi recently launched the Special Edition Red colour variant for the Mi A1 and is now focusing towards bringing the promised Android Oreo update to its first Android One device. The company promised, at the time of launch, that the Mi A1 being an Android One device will receive the Android Oreo update by the end of 2017. As the year has come to an end and we have not seen any stable build of Android Oreo, the company has offered the Beta version of the latest operating system to some of the users.
If the beta tests run out well, we might see an update to Android Oreo early next month. The beta tests are currently being offered only to a small group of users and it is not an open beta version. Telecomtalk, Indian news website invited to test the beta Android Oreo, reported that Xiaomi has already rolled out several updates under the beta testing program. This could mean that Xiaomi has almost reached the point where the can release the final version of the software update.
The software update will bring Android Oreo and its features which include Picture-in-Picture mode, Autofill API, notification dots, redesigned settings application and notification shade and much more. People who tested the beta also reported that the Android Oreo on the Mi A1 runs much smoother than Android Nougat.
Apart from the Android Oreo update and its features, the Mi A1 also gets support for fast charging. The Snapdragon 625 on the Mi A1 officially supports fast charging but was not enabled initially with Android Nougat. Though the fast charger is not included in the box, users can head over to the local or online stores to grab one.
Xiaomi might keep up with its promise by delivering the Android Oreo update within the next few days before the end of 2017.
Apple recently launched the new edition of iPhones including the iPhone 8, 8 Plus and also the iPhone which they started selling last month. The launch of the new iPhones clearly means that the prices of the older iPhones will go down significantly. Apple has slashed the prices of the iPhone SE and now you can easily grab an Apple iPhone SE 32GB just for Rs. 17,999 which was earlier priced at around Rs. 26,000.
Despite the customs duty on smartphones increasing from 10 percent to 15 percent, prices of the Apple iPhone SE was slashed whereas the iPhone X got a bit more expensive. The price of the iPhone SE was not affected due to the hike in customs duty as Apple has started assembling them in India under Wistron since June 2017. The Apple iPhone SE is currently available at Rs. 17,999 on Amazon India.
As for the specifications, the iPhone SE features a 4-inch display with a resolution of 640x1136 pixels. The smartphone is powered by the Apple A9 chipset coupled with PowerVR GT7600 GPU. The device packs 2GB of RAM and 32GB of onboard storage. The iPhone SE runs on iOS 11.2 out of the box. Under the hood, there is a 1,624mAh battery powering up the internals.
In terms of optics, the Apple iPhone SE sports a 12-megapixel camera with phase detection autofocus and a dual-tone LED flash. Up front, there is a 1.2-megapixel selfie shooter.
People looking for a budget smartphone and need to try out an iOS device, the iPhone SE 32GB at Rs. 17,999 is a steal deal.
Samsung, the South Korean giant, has been working on the 2018 edition of smartphones which will begin to launch soon. The company has started the party by launching the Galaxy A8 (2018) and the next 2018 edition smartphone could be the Galaxy J2. The smartphone is being surfaced online for quite some time now and these leaks and rumours have just come to an end. Winfuture.de, a German website, has posted the official images and specifications of the upcoming Samsung Galaxy J2 (2018) ahead of launch.
Source: Winfuture.de
As far as the specifications are concerned, as per Winfuture.de, the Galaxy J2 (2018) will be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 SoC. The smartphone will feature a 5-inch Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 960x540 pixels. The device packs 1.5 GB of RAM and 16GB of onboard storage which is further expandable using a microSD card. The smartphone will run on Android 7.1.1 Nougat out of the box. Under the hood, the Galaxy J2 (2018) will come with a 2,600mAh battery.
For the optics, the Galaxy J2 (2018) will feature an 8-megapixel camera at the back with LED flash. Up front, there will be a 5-megapixel selfie shooter.
In terms of pricing, the Galaxy J2 (2018) is said to get a RUB 8,000 price tag which roughly converts to Rs. 8,778. If the pricing is to be believed, the smartphone will be a direct competitor to the Xiaomi Redmi 5A, 10.or D and Nokia 2. As of now, there is no word on when the smartphone will be launch. However, it is expected to be showcased for the first time in CES.
OnePlus recently started rolling out the Open Beta Android 8.0 Oreo update for the OnePlus 5. The company has now finally decided to end the Open Beta program and release the official version of Android Oreo. OnePlus has started rolling out the OxygenOS 5.0 software update for the OnePlus 5 which is based on Android 8.0 Oreo. Users will start receiving the update soon via OTA (over-the-air).
OnePlus has already updated its OnePlus 3/3T to Android Oreo which might be a reason why the company was quick enough to deliver the update to the OnePlus 5. The new OxygenOS 5.0 update has started reaching a few people and should be delivered to most of the OnePlus 5 users in coming few days. Interestingly, Carl Pei, Co-Founder OnePlus, recently tweeted revealing that the OnePlus 5 would also get the 5T's Face Unlock feature.
Due to popular demand, Face Unlock is coming for the OnePlus 5. Thanks for the feedback, and merry Christmas! ???
Apart from the new Face Unlock feature and Android Oreo, the OnePlus 5's OxygenOS 5.0 update will bring an upgraded launcher with optimisations for the shelf and includes the ability to let users upload their photos through Shot on OnePlus.
The stock camera application also gets a new design and optimisations for photo quality and a beauty effect for the Portrait mode. Gallery application now gets a "Places" tab where users can see the images on a map. The update also brings Parallel Apps feature which we saw on OnePlus 3/3T OxygenOS 5.0 update where users can use multiple accounts of the apps like WhatsApp, Skype, Facebook, Twitter and many more. The Quick Settings Panel and Lift Up Display feature gets a redesign.
System apps including the Calculator and Clock application have also got new set of features. The OxygenOS 5.0 update also brings the latest December 2017 security patch to the smartphone. keeping the OxygenOS aside, OnePlus 5 also gets Android Oreo's native features like Picture-in-Picture mode, Auto-fill feature, Notification dots and Smart text selection.
Reliance Jio came out last year offering free internet, with unlimited talk time for quite a while before his really cheap internet plans roll out. The company following the dream to conquer the market keeps updating their plans to be the most competitive in the market. Under its Happy New Year 2018 offers, The company came out with two new plans costing Rs 199 and Rs 299. Same as all the other plans the company offers with some amount of 4G data and unlimited talk time. The Rs 199 prepaid plan gives its users 1.2GB 4G data per day while Rs. 299 prepaid plan offers 2GB 4G data per day. According to their official website, the validity of both the plans is for 28 days. Below are the details and all the information you might need on the latest plans.
Jio Rs 199 Prepaid Recharge Plan
The Company's Rs 199 prepaid recharge plan offers unlimited high-speed 4G data with a FUP cap of 33.6 GB or 1.2 GB per day. In a traditional fashion of the company, this plan also offers unlimited calls and messages both local and STD for all its users. The plan also gives a free subscription to Jio apps to all its Prime members. The validity of this plan is 28 days. This plan can be activated using the My Jio app or the company's website.
The company's Rs 299 prepaid recharge plan offers unlimited and free high-speed 4G data with a FUP cap of 56 GB or 2GB per day. This prepaid plan also comes bundled with unlimited calls and messages both local and STD. The plan also includes free roaming. The plan also gives a free subscription to Jio apps to all its Prime members. The validity of this plan is 28 days. This plan can be activated using the My Jio app or the company's website.
The ever-growing smartphones industry had a great time this year and as the year has come to an end, we decided to short down a list of devices that made a change. The year 2017 was all about bezel-less designs, 18:9 displays and some great DxO mark scores for the smartphone cameras. The smartphones were so competitive in this year that it was really difficult to pick one of the best in every category. So, here we bring you the top smartphones we feel are the best in their categories.
Best Camera Smartphone: Google Pixel 2/ Pixel 2 XL
Google Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL are one of the best smartphones and when it comes to the cameras, no one can beat these guys. Google, this year, did some incredible job while creating these smartphones and did a magic with the software so the smartphones are able to deliver some pretty amazing pictures. The most surprising part is that these devices used a single camera at the back and still capture much better images than the smartphones with dual-camera setups.
Best Bang for the Buck: OnePlus 5T
When we talk budget smartphones, the first name to run into our minds is OnePlus. The company from its beginning is delivering flagship smartphones at a much more affordable price when compared to companies like Samsung and Apple. OnePlus recently launched the OnePlus 5T, a successor to the OnePlus 5 launched in July. The OnePlus 5 sports a 6.01-inch AMOLED display and is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 SoC. Also, the smartphone has an 8GB RAM variant which is seen on very few smartphones currently.
Best Speakers on Any Smartphone: Razer Phone
Razer, a gaming hardware company, entered the smartphone market this year by launching a smartphone focused on gaming. The smartphone got a warm welcome by most people as it came with a 120Hz display and a massive 4,000mAh battery. What most people tend to forget about the Razer Phone is that it has one of the best smartphone speakers currently. The Razer Phone has front firing stereo speakers and it is loudest when compared to the other smartphone launched this year.
Best Smartphone Design: Samsung Galaxy S8
Samsung launched the Galaxy S8 in March and the smartphone still stands out. the curved edges and the edge to edge display make it look gorgeous. The smartphone features a 5.8-inch Super AMOLED display and the device does not feel big in hands, in fact, gives a great in-hand feel. The glossy glass at the back looks amazing and adds functionality as it brings Wireless charging. It is also worth mentioning that the glass back attracts a lot of fingerprints at least on the black variant and the fingerprint scanner location is just not right.
Best Smartphone under Rs. 15,000: Xiaomi Mi A1
Xiaomi brought back the Android One by launching its first Android One smartphone, the Xiaomi Mi A1. The smartphone immediately gained a lot of attraction on the phone, with Xiaomi's great hardware and Google's stock Android, delivered incredible performance. Currently, Xiaomi has priced the Mi A1 at Rs. 13,999 which makes it a steal deal. The smartphone currently runs on stock Android 7.1.2 Nougat and will soon be updated to Android 8.0 Oreo.
Most Innovative Smartphone: Apple iPhone X
Apple recently started selling the iPhone X and people have been going crazy to get their hands-on the device. With the new iPhone X, the company finally took a bold move by ditching the old design which had huge bezels in order to make the smartphone look more like a 2017 device. Apart from the bezel-less design, Apple introduced swipe gestures and face unlock which might not be as good as a physical home button and touch id for most people, but it surely is a big change. Face Unlock on the iPhone X immediately gained immense popularity due to the way it works. The iPhone X is currently the best iPhone Apple can offer.
Best Overall smartphone: Samsung Galaxy Note 8
Samsung Galaxy Note 8 gained much attention as Samsung just came out of the Note 7 fiasco and gave a new face to the Note series with the Infinity Display. The smartphone became our pick for the overall best smartphone as it comes with great cameras and has been delivering amazing performance since it has hit the market. Samsung has also made its UI much better and lighter which has helped the new Samsung devices to deliver better performance. The main highlight of the smartphone is the S-Pen which has improved over the years and is loved by many. Sure the Note 8 comes with its own flaws like the placement of the Fingerprint scanner but the Note 8 is still better than many of the smartphones launched in 2017.
Most of the smartphone companies have shifted to the new design language and the new 18:9 aspect ratio while Sony is still stuck on the old one. Now, rumours are, Sony is soon going to launch another smartphone and this time it will feature a bezel-less design. Sony is expected to launch the flagship Xperia XZ2 along with a bunch of more Xperia smartphones early next year.
A smartphone code-named H8266 has been spotted on Geekbench revealing a few of the specifications of the upcoming smartphone. The H8266 is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 SoC which is powerful chipset and most manufacturers are likely to use it on their flagships. Most people might think that the H8266 is the Xperia XZ2 but that is not the case as XZ2 is code-named as H8216. The H8266 might be another smartphone or just another variant of the Xperia XZ1.
Apart from the Snapdragon 845, the Xperia XZ2 is rumoured to come with a bezel-less design and is expected to feature a dual-camera setup featuring two 12-megapixel sensors. There have been leaked images of the smartphone which show a bezel-less design where the phone only has a bezel on the top holding the front-facing camera and other sensors.
Rumours suggest that the upcoming Sony Xperia XZ2 will feature a 5.48-inch Full HD display with 90 percent screen-to-body ratio. As the companies have started hitting the $1000 price mark, it is expected that the Xperia XZ1 will come with a price tag of $900 (roughly Rs. 57,000).
OnePlus, the Chinese smartphone manufacturer has recently launched the OnePlus 5T. After the success of the OnePlus 5T, the company is now gearing up to bring its next smartphone. The OnePlus 6, successor to the 5T, is expected to launch sometime in the month of March of 2018 as per GizmoChina. Interestingly, the reports suggest that OnePlus 6 might be one of the first smartphones to get under-display fingerprint sensor feature.
Another report claims that the upcoming OnePlus 6 might come with the same Facial Recogisazion system as found on the Apple iPhone X. This means that the company will use a different 3D Camera Module for the facial recognition which will make the smartphone much safer and secure.These reports are just coming from rumours and we cannot totally rely on them as OnePlus usually launches their smartphone in July. The OnePlus 6 is also expected to be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 SoC and will run on Android Oreo out of the box.
However, the company has been launching a T variant of the smartphone launched in July after 3-4 months which might mean that the OnePlus 6 will can be introduced in March as the time difference between 5T and 6 would be 3-4 months. As the company is growing, they might change their way of launching smartphones and their year cycles.
Meanwhile, the company recently launched a special edition of the OnePlus 5T calling it the Star Wars Edition. The smartphone was made for Star Wars fans and for the movie Star Wars: The Last Jedi. The OnePlus 5T Star Wars Edition came with the same specifications as the regular variant of the smartphone. The smartphone is powered by the Snapdragon 835 SoC coupled with 8GB of RAM.
Samsung, the South Korean giant, has launched another variant of the Samsung Galaxy J7 Nxt which was initially launched with 2GB of RAM in the month of July this year. The J7 Nxt is a mid-range offering from the company and due to its popularity Samsung decided to bump up the RAM by 1GB and doubled up the internal storage from 16GB to 32GB.
To recall, the Samsung Galaxy J7 Nxt sports a 5.5-inch Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 720x1280 pixels. The smartphone is powered by the Exynos 7870 processor which is an octa-core chipset clocked at 1.6GHz. The device was initially launched with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage and now packs in 3GB of RAM and 32GB of onboard storage. The storage on both the variants is expandable up to 256GB using a microSD card.
The device runs on Android 7.0 Nougat with Samsung's own custom skin layered on top of it. The Galaxy J7 Nxt is backed by a 3,000mAh battery.
On the optics front, the Samsung Galaxy J7 Nxt features a 13-megapixel camera at the back with f/1.9 aperture and a LED flash. Up front, there is a 5-megapixel camera sensor with a f/2.2 aperture and a LED flash for selfies.
The new Samsung Galaxy J7 Nxt 3GB RAM variant was spotted on the company's online store with a price tag of Rs. 12,990 which is a bit higher than the Rs. 11,490 price tag of the 2GB RAM variant. The smartphone is also enabled with Samsung Pay Mini and supports AR stickers as suggested by the Website.
Honor, the sub-brand of Huawei, has launched another smartphone expanding its Honor 9 line up. The Honor 9 Lite is a more affordable version of the Honor 9 cutting down on few of its features. The highlights of the smartphone include the dual-camera setup on the front and back and the 18:9 display with minimal bezels.
Specifications
As far as the specifications are concerned, the Honor 9 Lite sports a 5.65-inch IPS LCD display with a resolution of 1080x2160 pixels and an 18:9 aspect ratio. Interestingly, the Honor 9 sports a 16:9 display with huge bezels while the Honor 9 Lite comes with an 18:9 display with minimal bezels. The smartphone is powered by Huawei's HiSilicon Kirin 659 SoC which is a powerful chipset when compared to the Honor 9.
The Honor 9 Lite is launched in three variants, one with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage and another with 4GB of RAM and 32GB of storage and lastly one with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. The dual-sim smartphone runs on EMUI 8.0 based on Google's Android 8.0 Oreo. Under the hood, there is a 3,000mAh battery powering up the internals.
On the optics front, the Honor 9 Lite features a dual camera setup at the back consisting of a 13-megapixel sensor combined with a 2-megapixel sensor with a LED flash. Interestingly, the device comes with the same camera setup n the back as well as the front.
Price and Availability
The Honor 9 Lite is currently launched in China at a price of CNY 1,199 (roughly Rs. 11,700) for the 3GB+32GB variant while the 4GB+32GB variant retails for CNY 1,499 (roughly Rs. 15,600) and the 4GB+64GB variant is priced at CNY 1,799 (roughly Rs. 17,500). The company has announced in the launch event that the smartphone will go on sale starting December 26 in China and will soon make its way to 14 other markets including India, Russia, and the UK
