HMD Global owned Nokia has been rumoured for some time now to be working on a new budget smartphone, the Nokia 2, which is said to compete with smartphones like the Xiaomi Redmi 4. Today the alleged Nokia 2 was spotted on Antutu. It carried the model number TA-1035 on the website and is being said to be one of the five variants of the smartphone which will launch in India on October 31. The other four model numbers are said to be - TA-1011, 1007, 1023 and 1029.
If the Antutu listing is to be believed which was first reported on by specspricenigeria.com the alleged Nokia 2 smartphone will come with an HD display with a resolution of 1280x720 pixels. It will be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 212 SoC along with the Adreno 308 GPU. It will come with 1GB of RAM along with 8GB of internal storage. Additionally, it will be running on Google's Android 7.1.1 operating system. All of this will be backed by a 4,000mAh battery.
As for the camera, it will come with an 8-megapixel primary camera with an LED flash. On the front, it will feature a 5-megapixel selfie camera.
It is being highly indicated that the Nokia 2 smartphone will launch on October 31 at an event the company is hosting in Gurugram. The invite reads - "Unveiling the next big milestone for Nokia smartphones". Additionally, the company is running a promotion on Facebook for its fans stating that this will be the first global launch of a smartphone launch that they will be hosting in India, it is also inviting its fans to the event. For more details please check out Nokia India's Facebook page.
The Chinese tech giant, Xiaomi, has already sent out media invites for its upcoming event. The launch event is scheduled for November 2 and the company is about to roll out the MIUI 9 at the time of the event. It has been confirmed by Manu Kumar Jain, MD, Xiaomi India, that the company will be launching MIUI 9 alongside the 'best' selfie smartphone.
According to Jain, the Xiaomi event has more than one surprises for its consumers. As he tweeted to reveal the upcoming MIUI 9, he mentioned it as "Surprise #1" which clearly shows that this is only one of the surprises of much more to come. A previous tweet made by Jain stated, "Multiple surprises planned for the launch of the BEST selfie smartphone. Hints on this table Any guess? #YourBestSelfie" which reveals that the company is about t launch a selfie-centric smartphone at the event.
The company has been giving hints on a selfie-centric phone which could also be the recently launched Mi Note 3. The Xiaomi Mi Note 3 was recently launched in China and might be making its way to India through the upcoming launch event. To recall, the Mi Note 3 features a 16-megapixel selfie camera and a 12-megapixel dual-camera setup at the back. The smartphone is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 SoC coupled with 6GB of RAM.
Meanwhile, two smartphones by Xiaomi appeared on TENAA, the Chinese certification website, with the model number MEE7 and MET7. One of those smartphones enters the selfie-centric smartphone criteria with a dual-camera setup up front. These smartphones could also be counted as a possibility for the upcoming smartphones at the November 2 launch.
10.or had recently entered the Indian smartphone market and have launched two new smartphones as of now. The 10.or G is the high-end offering from the company. The smartphone is a direct competition to the popular Xiaomi Redmi Note 4. The highlights of the smartphone are the massive 4,000mAh battery, dual-camera setup and a full HD display. Here is our full in-depth review of the 10.or G.
Specifications
The 10.or G features a 5.5-inch IPS LCD display with a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels and comes with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection. The smartphone is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 626 SoC coupled with Adreno 506 GPU. The phone comes in two variants, one with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of onboard storage and the other with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of inbuilt storage. Storage on the device is expandable up to 128GB using a microSD card. Under the hood, there is a 4,000mAh battery powering up the device. The dual-sim smartphone runs on Android 7.1.2 out of the box and will soon be updated to Android 8.0 Oreo as promised by the company.
As for the optics, the 10.or G sports a 13-megapixel dual-camera setup at the back with one RGB and one Monochrome sensor. The rear-facing camera comes with a dual-tone LED flash. Up front, there is a 16-megapixel selfie shooter with f/2.0 aperture.
Design
The 10.or G comes with a metal back and gives a premium feel when held in hand. It is impressive to see that though the phone has a 4,000mAh battery under the hood, the device still feels lightweight and weighs at around 170 grams. The phone comes with a 5.5-inch display with selfie camera, speaker and sensors found on the top. At the back of the smartphone sits the dual-camera setup alongside the dual-tone LED flash. The fingerprint sensor lies below the camera setup followed by the 10.or logo and the bottom.
The power button and volume rockers are found on the right of the smartphone while there is a hybrid sim tray on the left. There is a 3.5mm jack at the top and the micro USB port lies at the bottom in between the speaker and the microphone.
Software
10.or G runs on Android 7.1.2 Nougat out of the box which is nearly stock. The nearly stock Android operating system on the smartphone comes with almost no bloatware excluding the Amazon and Prime videos application. The overall software experience was impressive. 10.or has also promised that users will soon get an update to the latest Android 8.0 Oreo, which is a plus point. Being a stock Android smartphone, the device will get Android updates significantly faster.
Home Screen
Notification Panel
About Phone
Performance
The 10.or G is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 626 SoC coupled with Adreno 506 for GPU. The chipset is capable of running most applications and games smoothly. The Snapdragon 626 combined with stock android helped in delivering a great overall smartphone experience. The device was able to run games like Subway Surfers and Temple Run 2 smoothly. Games like Asphalt 8 and Injustice 2 ran without any lag.
AnTuTu
GeekBench
Camera
The 10.or G comes with a dual-camera setup at the back consisting of two 13-megapixel sensors with one being an RGB sensor while the other one is a Monochrome sensor. The dual-camera setup is helpful in capturing the depth as well as more colour information. The cameras on the 10.or G are pretty impressive and perform really well outdoors. However, in low lighting conditions the cameras do tend to struggle a bit but thankfully the dual-tone flash saves the day. The front-facing 16-megapixel camera also manages to deliver some pretty great shots.
Battery
There is a 4,000mAh battery powering up the 10.or G. The battery on the device is able to deliver more than one day of charge with light to moderate usage. However, the smartphone will give one full day of battery life with heavy usage. During our review period, we were able to get around 4.5 - 5 hours of screen on time.
Verdict
The 10.or G is another smartphone introduced by 10.or, pronounced Tenor, after their launch of 10.or E. These smartphones are exclusively available via the e-commerce website Amazon India. The 10.or G is priced at Rs. 10,999 for the 3GB + 32GB variant while the 4GB + 64GB variant retails for Rs. 12,999. At the price, the smartphone has a lot to offer. The device comes with good amount of specifications and is able to deliver seamless performance. Though the looks are not unique, the smartphone feels lightweight in hand. 10.or G delivers a nearly stock Android experience and the company promises to update the smartphone with latest security patches and soon provide the Android Oreo update.
The cameras on the smartphone were also really impressive and were better than what one could expect from a smartphone of this price range. To give a final verdict, the 10.or G is one of the best smartphones at this price range.
iVoomi, the Chinese smartphone manufacturer, had recently entered the Indian smartphone market has been really popular for their budget line up. Now, the company is all set to make their after-sales experience better for their customers. The company has achieved the goal of setting up more than 500 service centres in six months since they were introduced in the Indian market.
Commenting on the same, Mr. Ashwin Bhandari, CEO, iVOOMi, India said “We are glad to announce that we are further expanding our service centre networks in India to provide our customers with unmatched after sales services.”
“We are even working on an innovative structure for delivering services to the market. The next stage will be building nodal centres, wherein we will have knowledge and support centres to fix the problems being faced by the consumers.” he further added
iVoomi is now present in all the 29 states of India and looking forward to expanding in all the cities gradually. The company has also announced its plan to increase its strengthen its space in the Indian market by serving its consumers through 500+ service centres which are spread across 400 cities nationally. iVoomi has also planned to work towards the target of delivering services to all the consumers with a TAT of 48 Hours by the mid of 2018.
iVoomi is also working on some of the important functions like creating knowledge centres for the customer care executives of different service centres and training them so that they can transfer knowledge about all the products’ technology to customers and educate them on different parameters. The company also offers 6 months screen replacement policy on few of its products and in the next stage it will be coming up with few more innovative offers which will be released by the end of this year.
Oppo, the Chinese smartphone manufacturer, has finally unveiled the Oppo F5. After a lot of leaks and rumours, the successor of the F3 has finally been introduced. Just like the other handsets offered by the company, the Oppo F5 also focuses on the selfie and brings a 20-megapixel front-facing camera which is also a highlight of the smartphone. The phone also comes with a full-screen display with minimal bezels and artificial intelligence (AI) beauty technology integrated into the front camera.
Specifications
The Oppo F5 features a 6-inch IPS LCD display with a resolution of 1080x2160 pixels and an aspect ratio of 18:9. The smartphone is powered by MediaTek MT6763T Helio P23 chipset. The phone comes in two variants, one with 4GB of RAM and 32GB of onboard storage and the other with 6GB of RAM and 64GB of native storage. The storage on the device is expandable up to 256GB using a microSD card. The phone is backed by a 3,200mAh battery and runs on Android 7.1 Nougat.
As far as the optics are concerned, the Oppo F5 sports a 16-megapixel rear camera with an aperture of f/1.8, phase detection autofocus and a LED flash. Up front, there is a 20-megapixel front-facing camera with f/2.0 aperture.
Price and Availability
The Oppo F5 has been launched in the Philippines for a price of PHP 15,990 (roughly Rs. 20,100) for the 4GB + 32GB variant. The smartphone is up for pre-orders in the country and is available in Gold and Black colour variants. However, no pricing is announced for the 6GB + 64GB variant which comes in Red colour. The Oppo F5 will make its way to India next month.
When we upgrade our smartphones it leaves us with the question, what to do with the old one? You either tend to give it to your younger sibling or just go ahead and sell it. However, parting with the smartphone is one of the most difficult things to do for us, as we have fathomed a bond with it during the years, we used it.
Here are the Top 5 things we can do with our smartphones after we upgrade to a new one -
Turn it into a music player
One good thing about smartphones is that they can hold a lot of songs in them. When you get a new smartphone, you can just turn your old one into a music player for no extra cost. You can also attach it permanently to a set of speakers making it into a jukebox. I know that your new smartphone can also do it, but when you are listening to music you don’t want to be disturbed and buying a separate music player for that would not be recommended when you can get one for free.
Use it as a security camera
When you upgrade your smartphone, the old one becomes more or less useless. However, if the rear camera of the device is working you can turn it into a security camera. This can be done with the help of apps like IP Webcam, Home Security Camera, Manything, and more which can be downloaded from the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store. After downloading these apps connect the device to the cloud and place it where you want to monitor and voila you are done, just make sure that the device stays juiced up to help you surveil.
We know that this option will not apply to all the smartphones, that is why this is down on the list. Smartphones with inbuilt IR sensor can double as universal remote controls, therefore whenever you aren’t able to find the remote you can just use your old smartphone to control whatever digital device you want. Additionally, you can also use it along with a Chromecast which will help you stream the content you want to watch on a big screen.
Make it a designated Video Calling device
These days people have started making more and more video calls than normal voice calls as they help them connect on a much more intimate level. Having a device which can be always logged into your video calling apps is a good idea as you can keep it at home or your office as a dedicated video calling device.
Control your home appliances
Internet of Things (IoT) is growing extremely fast, and people are having more and more connected devices in their homes recently. All types of gadgets in your home can now be connected to the Internet via Wi-Fi and can be controlled through your smartphone, however, if you have a spare one lying around you can make it a designated remote control for your connected home.
Xiaomi, the Chinese tech giant recently launched the much-awaited Mi Mix 2 in India. The company also introduced the Mi A1 a while back which is a budget-friendly Android One smartphone from the company. After these launched, now Xiaomi is gearing up to launch a new series of devices in India on November 2.
The invite image of the upcoming Xiaomi's event flaunts a logo of what seems to be fast charging. This could mean that the upcoming series of smartphones will feature fast charging unlike the Mi A1. However, it is also being said that this could be a global launch for the MIUI 9 software as it also has a similar logo.
The upcoming smartphone could be the Xiaomi Note 3 which was introduced in China last month alongside the Mi Mix 2. As the company speaks about "new series", this could also be an all-new series of smartphones in the company's portfolio.
Meanwhile, Xiaomi managed to sell about 4million devices in just one month. The devices were sold between September 20 to October 19. Manu Kumar Jain, Managing director also tweeted about this recently.
Only brand to sell >4 Mn smartphones within a month ?
Xiaomi recently launched the Mi Mix 2 in India and it is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 Soc. The smartphone features a 5.99-inch IPS LCD display with a resolution of 1080x2160 pixels. The device packs in 6GB of RAM and 128GB of onboard storage.
Apple launched the iPhone X alongside the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus last month. The much-awaited Apple iPhone X is now finally ready to go on sale and the pre-orders of the smartphone starts on Friday, October 27. The phone will be available for pre-order in 55 countries including India. The top e-commerce websites like Flipkart and Amazon are getting ready to take pre-orders as their pre-order page is now live.
People who are interested to buy the Apple iPhone X can pre-order the smartphone starting October 27 on Flipkart and Amazon. However, if you want to purchase the smartphone via offline markets you will have to wait for some time. Apple has confirmed that the iPhone X will be available in Apple Stores starting November 3.
As far as the pricing is concerned, the iPhone X will start at a price of Rs. 89,000 for the 64GB variant. The 128GB variant of the iPhone X will retail for Rs. 1,02,000. The smartphone will be available in Silver and Space Grey colour variants.
Apple has also revealed the prices of the accessories one might need with the iPhone X. The Apple-designed leather and silicone cases will start at Rs. 3,500. Apple Leather folio which is a flip cover style case from Apple will retail for Rs. 8,600 for the iPhone X.
As far as the specifications are concerned, the Apple iPhone X features a 5.8-inch display with a resolution of 1125x2436 pixels. The smartphone is powered by the company's A11 Bionic chip. The phone packs in 3GB of RAM and comes in two storage variants including 64GB and 256GB. The device is backed by 2,716mAh battery and runs on iOS 11 out of the box.
HMD Global the parent company of Nokia has sent out invites to media outlets based in India. The invite is for an event that will take place in Gurugram on October 31. The company is highly expected to launch the Nokia 7 smartphone at the event, which it recently launched in China. The invite states “HMD Global invites you to an exclusive gathering to unveil the next milestone for Nokia phones.”
The Nokia 7 is priced at 2,499 Yuan (Approximately Rs. 24,000) for the 4GB RAM variant and 2,699 Yuan (Approximately Rs. 2,6000) for the 6GB RAM variant. However, we will have to wait and see what pricing strategy does the company adopt in India for this smartphone. The Nokia 7 also comes with the bothie feature that was introduced with the Nokia 8 initially, it lets the users take images from both the front and the rear cameras simultaneously.
In the design department, the Nokia 7 features a 3D curved back and the frame is made out of 7000 aluminium with diamond cut edges. It is available in two colour variants - Gloss Black and Matte White. It also features a rear-facing fingerprint sensor rather than a front-facing one.
As for the specifications, the Nokia 7 features a 5.2-inch full HD display with a resolution of 1920x1080. It is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 630 chipset coupled with 4GB/6GB RAM along with 64GB of internal storage expandable via microSD card. It is running on Google's Android 7.1.1 Nougat operating system and the company has guaranteed to upgrade it to Android 8.0 Oreo. All of this is backed by a 3,000mAh non-removable battery.
As for the camera, the device comes with a 16-megapixel primary camera along with LED flash and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera for selfies. The camera's come with Carl Zeiss optics and utilise OZO technology to provide 360-degree surround sound experience.
FiiO announces the launch of 2 Triple Driver Hybrid IEMs – F9 and F9 SE in India. The F9 will be priced at MRP Rs. 8990 and the F9 SE is priced at MRP Rs. 7990. Both models are now available for purchase via our official website www.fiio.co.in or at leading online and retail stores. Below is the Press Release that the company sent.
The F9 utilizes a hybrid design in which each channel is composed of one dynamic and two balanced armature (BA) drivers; it utilizes the standard MMCX connector for its interchangeable cables, and comes standard with both 2.5mm balanced and 3.5mmm single-ended cables; the ripple-like lines on the F9 not only give it a unique touch but also serve to ensure structural strength; over-the-ear design for an enjoyable experience; also, you can choose red for a unreserved and vigorous look, or go for black for an understated and sophisticated appearance.
In order to boost the production capacity and meet the strong demand for the F9 triple driver hybrid IEMs, we also release its standard edition F9 SE, which has some small changes based on the original F9, such as changed to non-detachable sans in-line controls single-ended cable, 3.5mm L-type plug. And it's still available in red and black.
1 Dynamic Driver & 2 Balanced Armatures for Triple helpings of rich sound
The F9 utilizes a hybrid design in which each channel is composed of one dynamic and two balanced armature (BA) drivers. The 9.2mm dynamic driver is specifically tuned to produce bottomless lows while the two BA drivers precisely portray extended upper-mids and highs.
Freely switch between balanced and single-ended with standard MMCX connectors
The F9 utilizes the standard MMCX connector for its interchangeable cables and comes standard with both 2.5mm balanced and 3.5mm single-ended cables.
5mm Cable
The 3.5mm single-ended cable comes with a full set of in-line controls capable of playing/pausing songs, switching tracks, volume adjustment, and even calls with its high-quality microphone. This makes the F9 a perfect complement to enhance your experience with your portable audio player or cell phone.
5mm Cable
The 2.5mm balanced cable is made of silver-plated copper wire, which ensures a balanced sound signature and a high level of detail retrieval. Of course, due to its balanced nature, the left and right channel wires are separated so that there is significantly greater channel separation - leading to a richer, more detailed musical experience.
Over-the-ear design for an enjoyable experience
After much testing and feedback from a wide variety of users, we came up with an over-the-ear design that is not only ergonomic but also comfortable. With the F9, you can easily get lost in your music for hours without fatigue.
Hi-Res Audio Certification
The F9 has been certified by the Japan Audio Society to be "Hi-Res Audio" capable. This means that the F9 is capable of a frequency response up to 40 kHz, which can fully reproduce the audio and give you a natural and life-like listening experience that truly lets you listen to the music the way the artists wanted it to sound.
PEK polymer nanocomposite driver for heightened detail
The F9 utilizes a dynamic driver made of PEK (polyether ketone) polymer nanocomposite, known for not only being tough but also being light. This allows the F9's dynamic driver to be highly capable of producing quick, detailed, and extended bass.
