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
iVoomi, Hong Kong-based smartphone brand, has recently entered India and has already brought up a variety of smartphones to the country. The company is currently focussing on bringing smartphones to the budget segment so most of the people can afford it. iVoomi, after achieving success in the products, launched recently, is now gearing up to launch the iVoomi i1 and i1s in India.
To get the world talking about the upcoming smartphones, iVoomi has released a teaser video boasting about the i1 and i1s. The teaser video shows the device with the message #IsmeSabKuchHai. The #IsmeSabKuchHai is a sentence in Hindi for saying "This has everything". The message gives us a clue that this could be one of the best devices ever made by the company since their entrance in the Indian market.
The video shows a housemaid being hired and demanding for various things in the house. Her demands start with a few of the household products for doing various tasks at the same time which suggests that the upcoming smartphone can handle Multitasking well. The maid also asks for a huge room which in terms of smartphone clearly indicates towards storage. She then also demands to be introduced to various people which in terms of smartphones means Social Media or Networking. At last, the person hands over the iVoomi i1 or i1s saying #IsmeSabKuch hai.
The teaser video also gives us a glance at what the smartphone could look like. The upcoming iVoomi i1 or i1s will come with a single camera at the back with a LED flash. Also, what looks like to be is a fingerprint scanner right below the camera setup. However, we have to wait for the company to launch the smartphones to see what they have under the hood. The devices are teased to be launched in the first week of January 2018.
10.or launched the 10.or D in order to compete against the Xiaomi's recently launched Redmi 5A. These smartphones offer great value for their price as they come under, what we like to call, the ultra-budget segment. Both the smartphones come from reputed brands where 10.or might seem a bit unknown to some but it is a smartphone brand owned by Amazon. As both the smartphones are priced very similarly. Let's see how these stack up against each other.
The 10.or D features a 5.2-inch IPS LCD display which is slightly larger than the Redmi 5A's 5-inch panel. Apart from the 0.2-inch size difference, both the smartphones come with HD displays delivering a resolution of 720x1280 pixels. Digging in further, both the smartphones are powered by the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 SoC coupled with the Adreno 308 GPU. In terms of storage and RAM, both the devices are available in two variants, one with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage and the other with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage.
As the 10.or D and the Xiaomi Redmi 5A are powered by the same processor and have the same amount of RAM, some might think the performance delivered will be the same. However, both the devices come with different software, where 10.or D runs on stock Android 7.1.2 Nougat while the Redmi 5A runs on MIUI 9 based on Android 7.1.2 Nougat. Notably, MIUI or any skin loaded on Android makes the operating system slightly heavier than the stock version. It is also worth mentioning, 10.or has promised the Android Oreo update for all of its devices which will be rolling out soon.
Under the hood, the Xiaomi Redmi 5A comes with a 3,000mAh battery whereas the 10.or D is backed by a larger 3,500mAh battery. This might indicate a slightly better battery life on the D when compared to the Redmi 5A.
On the optics front, both the smartphones come with a 13-megapixel camera at the back and a 5-megapixel selfie shooter. Though the cameras look the same, it will depend on which company has optimised the camera app better to deliver better photographs.
Interestingly, 10.or is also offering a fingerprint scanner on its D smartphone at the same price where Redmi 5A is missing one.
In terms of pricing, the Xiaomi Redmi 5A is currently priced at Rs. 4,999 for the 2GB+16GB variant while the 3GB+32GB variant goes for Rs. 6,999. 10.or D is priced the same for the 2GB+16GB variant as the Redmi 5A is current price. However, 10.or is selling the D's 3GB+32GB variant for Rs. 5,999 which is Rs. 1,000 cheaper than the Redmi 5A's 32GB variant.
HMD Global is currently working hard on bringing the Nokia's next flagship the Nokia 9 on to the market. As the company is busy manufacturing the units and preparing for launch, leaks and rumours have already given us a clue on what the device would look like. Renet reports have also given us a glance at what would the Nokia 9 carry under the hood. The much-awaited Nokia 9 is expected to launch anytime in the first quarter of 2018.
As per the FCC website, the Nokia 9 is said to be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 SoC coupled with the Adreno 540 GPU. The smartphone will featrue a 5.5-inch OLED display for which the panel will be manufactured by LG. The website further claims that the Nokia 9 will come with 128GB of internal storage and will be backed by a 3,250mAh battery. As for the cameras, the Nokia 9 will sport a dual-camera setup at the back consisting of 12-megapixel and a 13-megapixel sensor. Up front, there will be a 5-megapixel selfie shooter.
It is also being speculated that the suggested 5-megapixel selfie shooter could be a dual-camera setup. According to the FCC listing, the Nokia 9 will come with a Chicony CKACE19 camera module at the front. However, Chicony's website claims that the CKACE19 camera module is a dual camera module consisting of two sensors. Both the sensors on the module are 5-megapixel, one with f/2.0 aperture at the other with f/2.4 aperture.
There are still a few weeks left before the company officially brings up the smartphone. So, this list of specifications can be taken with a pinch of salt until we wait for any official wording from the company.
Amazon India has announced another smartphone under its recently launched brand, 10.or (pronounced Tenor). The company has added a budget-oriented smartphone to its portfolio and likes to call it the 10.or D. The smartphone is launched at a price to directly compete against Xiaomi's recently launched Redmi 5A. The highlights of the smartphone include the 3,500mAh battery for which the company claims 2 days of battery life on a full charge.
Specifications
As far as the specifications are concerned, the 10.or D features a 5.2-inch display with a resolution of 720x1280 pixels. The smartphone is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 SoC which is a quad-core processor clocked at 1.4GHz. The device will be available in two variants, one with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage while the other one packs in 3GB of RAM and 32GB of onboard storage. The 10.or D runs on Android 7.1.2 Nougat out of the box. Under the hood, there is a 3,500 mAh battery powering up the internals.
In terms of optics, the 10.or D sports a 13-megapixel camera at the back with a LED flash. Up front, there is a 5-megapixel front-facing camera for selfies and video calling.
Price and Availability
The 10.or D is launched with a price tag of Rs. 4,999 for the 2GB RAM variant while the 3GB RAM variant will retail for Rs. 5,999. As the brand comes from Amazon, the smartphone will be exclusively available via Amazon India starting January 5. Interestingly, the company is also offering an additional 1-year warranty for Prime customers.
