Sony, the Japanese tech giant, has announced a price cut for the popular Sony Xperia XA1 and the XA1 Ultra in India. The new price cut is applicable starting September, 19. The Sony Xperia XA1 which was earlier priced at RS. 19,990 will now be available for Rs. 17,990. The Xperia XA1 Ultra retailed for Rs. 29,990 has now got a price cut of Rs. 2,000 making its current price at Rs. 27,990.
Xperia XA1 and XA1 Ultra
Both the Sony Xperia XA1 and XA1 ultra feature a borderless design making the most of the edge-to-edge display. The smartphones are powered by the MediaTek MT6757 Helio P20 processor which is an octa-core processor clocked at 2.3GHz. The devices come with 32GB of onboard storage which is further expandable up to 256GB using a microSD card. The Xperia XA1 packs in a 3GB of RAM while the bigger XA1 Ultra comes with 4GB of RAM. Ultra mainly being the display size here, the XA1 Ultra sports a 6.0-inch display with a resolution of 1080x1920 pixels and a pixel density of 367ppi. The Xperia XA1, on the other hand, features a smaller 5-inch display with a resolution of 720x1280 pixels and a pixel density of 294ppi. The smartphones run on Android Nougat out of the box and will be soon updated to Android Oreo. The XA1 being smaller comes with a 2,300mAh battery while its big brother is backed by a 2,700mAh battery.
On the optics front, both the smartphones come with a 23-megapixel camera sensor at the back with f/2.0 aperture and a LED flash. Up front, the XA1 sports an 8-megapixel front-facing camera with f/2.0 aperture while the XA1 Ultra features a 16-megapixel selfie shooter with an aperture of f/2.0 and optical image stabilization.
Google Pixel 2 and the Google Pixel 2 XL are the most anticipated smartphones of the year. The smartphones have their launch around the corner and we are being greeted by many leaks and rumours of the devices already. Just like every other anticipated smartphone, this one also got a lot of leaks ahead of the launch. This time around, the pricing details, storage variants and the press renders of the upcoming Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL have been revealed. As revealed by Droid Life, the press renders show that the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL will share the same design language.
Source: Droid Life
It is also being suggested that the bigger of the lot, the Pixel 2 XL will be manufactured by the South Korean giant LG Electronics while the smaller Pixel 2 will be manufactured by Google's old partner HTC. The Pixel 2 XL will be offered in two colour variants, one being the all-black while the other being a combination of black and silver, as per the report.
Both the devices will come in two storage options including the 64GB storage variant and the 128GB storage option. The price being a major concern here, the report suggests that the Pixel 2 XL will be priced at USD 849 (roughly Rs. 54,650) for the 64GB variant while the 128GB variant will cost around USD 949 (approximately Rs. 61,090). Whereas the smaller Pixel 2 which is manufactured by HTC will start at a price of USD 649 (roughly 41,800) for the 64GB variant and will go as high as USD 749 (roughly Rs. 48,200) for the 128GB variant.
However, we will still have to wait for October 4, the official launch date for the devices to know how true are these leaks and rumours.
OnePlus, the Chinese mobile manufacturer that is owned by OPPO Electronics, has now come up with a new edition for the OnePlus 5. The smartphone was launched in June 2017 and since then has received a lot of love and attraction from the customers. The flagship recently got a new colour variant which was Soft Gold. The company has been introducing various colours and limited edition smartphones post-launch, since the OnePlus 3. The OnePlus 3T got a huge success for the Matte Black variant and the Collete Edition. This time with the current flagship, the company decided to collaborate with the French fashion designer Jean-Charles de Castelbajac in order to produce a limited edition OnePlus 5.
Commenting on the collaboration, OnePlus Co-Founder and Head of Global, Carl Pei, said,“We’re always looking to try new things with partners who embody the Never Settle spirit”
“It’s been great collaborating with an icon like Jean-Charles Castelbajac, who is continuously bringing game-changing ideas to the fashion industry,” he added.
The new limited edition OnePlus 5 is named OnePlus 5 JCC+. Sadly, all the new products in the new "Callection" line of products will only be available in Europe and never make their way to India. The limited edition OnePlus 5 JCC+ is priced at EUR 559 which roughly converts to Rs. 43,178 which is considerably higher than that of the regular one. Also, the limited edition smartphone will come only with the 8GB RAM and 128GB storage variant.
However, OnePlus will bring the accessories launched with the limited edition OnePlus 5 to India. The accessories will be available via their online store starting October 2.
Apple today released the iOS 11 operating system. You can go ahead and update your iPhone right now with the help of our How to install iOS 11 on your device. Apple has added various new features to the new iOS, like a customizable Control Centre. If you own an iPhone 5C, iPhone 5 or an iPad 4 or lower, then we are sorry you won't be getting the update. Interestingly, Apple with its new iOS 11 has completely dropped the support for 32-bit apps. Thus if you have any old apps that haven't been updated to support the 64-bit architecture, they won't be usable anymore.
iOS 11 Customizable Control Centre
The company with this update has made the control centre that you dragged from the bottom of your device to get access to quick settings much more user-friendly. The control centre now takes up the full screen to have much more quick toggles on it. Interestingly the company has now made the control centre fully customizable, as now you can add or remove the quick toggles from the settings.
Apple File Manager
The company has now added a file manager with the new iOS. It lets the users access the file system of iOS from within the app. The new app has been named Files and will be from on available on the home screen of the iOS 11 devices.
Siri from the keyboard
Talking to Siri is not always the best option, and the company has realised that. So with the new iOS 11 update, the company now allows you to activate the "Type to Siri" feature from the accessibility settings. After activation, you can open Siri and then type the question you want to ask it.
Apple now in the Safari browser provides an always-on adblocker. This will stop ad firms from tracking the moves of the consumers. It might affect most website's revenue model like our's, however, we do feel that users need some privacy from the heavy pop-up ads that a few sites show to generate more and more revenue.
iPad Dock
In iOS 11 there are also a few iPad specific features introduced, including a new multi-tasking system. The new system is being called by Apple as the dock. Whenever you are performing a task and want to multi-task, you can just swipe up from the bottom and open up the dock. After which you can press the app you want to multi-task with and it will open up in a small window on the screen so that you can do so.
As the festive season in India is around the corner, e-commerce websites like Amazon and Flipkart are coming up with huge discounts in order to celebrate the festive season. Amazon India offers over 160 million products to choose from this year, which is 40 percent more than that of last year. Apart from the huge discounts, customers will also get 10 percent cash back on filling up their Amazon Pay balance up to RS. 5,000 or get 10 percent cash back on purchases made via HDFC credit and debit card of about RS. 5,000. Shopping on Amazon has been made more affordable by introducing No cost EMI and exchange schemes. Customers can shop for items above Rs. 3,000 by paying as low as Rs. 250 per month. Also, to make the shopping more attractive, 10 Lucky customers who shop on the Amazon India App will stand a chance to win one year of free travel worth Rs. 1.5 lakhs from Yatra.
“Amazon.in customers are in for a treat like never before! With our Great Indian Sale, we are excited to bring together fantastic deals from thousands of brands and sellers across a vast selection of products in all types of product categories. Customers across the country can buy products of their choice with assured fast & reliable delivery. As always, this Great Indian Sale has something for everyone!” said Manish Tiwary, Vice President - Category Management, Amazon India
Here is a sneak peak on what Amazon has to offer to its customers:
Prime members only deals
Amazon Exclusive Xiaomi Mi Max 2 32GB will be available at Rs. 12,999
Prime Exclusive Redmi 4 & Redmi 4A sale
Buy a TCL 65-inch 4K UHD LED Smart TV and get a TCL 32-inch TV free at Rs. 94,990
BPL 25 L Convection Microwave Oven at Rs. 7,990
Fitbit Charge 2 Activity tracker at a discount of 30 percent resulting the price at Rs. 10,499
Offers up to Rs. 5,000 on Kindle e-readers
Amazon Fire Stick will have a Rs. 500 discount along with Rs. 499 cashback for the prime members
Large Appliances & TVs
Up to Rs. 10,000 off on LG, Voltas and Carrier ACs
Up to 35 percent off on Washing Machines from Samsung, BPL, IFB, Bosch and Haier
Up to 30% off on Samsung, LG & Whirlpool Refrigerators and Microwaves from IFB, LG and Samsung
Up to 60% off Chimneys from Hindware, Elica and Faber
Up to 40% Off on TVs, No Cost EMI and up to Rs. 20,000/- off on exchange of TVs
Exchange offers up to Rs. 10,000 on Refrigerators and Washing Machines
No Cost EMI offers on Washing Machines & Refrigerators starting as low as Rs. 900/month onwards across all major credit cards + Bajaj Finserv cards
Buy one, get one offer - Buy a BPL 7.5Kg fully automatic washing machine for Rs. 18,490 and get a BPL 20L solo microwave free; Buy an IFB 7Kg fully automatic washing machine for Rs. 26,990 & get an IFB 17L solo microwave free
Amazon Exclusive - BPL Microwave Ovens starting at Rs. 3,790 onwards; IFB microwave ovens starting at Rs. 4,500 onwards
Amazon Exclusive - LG Inverter Split ACs at Rs. 1080/month onwards; Voltas Split & Window Air Conditioners - Starting at Rs. 1100/month onwards; Kenstar 1.5 Ton 5 Star AC at Rs. 960/month
Bundle offers to convert TVs to Smart TVs at a fraction of the cost by using Fire TV Stick
Smartphones & Consumer Electronics
Up to 40% off on mobile phones - Top offers from, Apple, Samsung, OnePlus, Xiaomi, Moto, LG, SONY, Panasonic, Bose, JBL, HP, Dell, Canon and many others.
160 smartphones and over 100 electronics available as Amazon Exclusives
Launch of Xiaomi’s Mi Max 2 (32 GB), Mi Fitness Band, HP Sprocket Printer and other launches from brands like Samsung and Apple
Special stores like the Half-Price Electronics Store (Min. 50% Off) and Min. 15,000 off stores to allow deal seekers to discover top discounts
Up to 60% off on headphones and speakers from the top Audio Brands including 40% off on Bose QC 25 Headphones
Up to 55% off and No Cost EMI offers on Cameras & Accessories
Up to 40% off on wearables with the range starting as low as INR 1,300
Up to 15,000 off on Laptops, exchange and No cost EMI offers
Up to 45% off on Tablets, exchange offers applicable
Up to 60% off on storage devices
Home & Kitchen and Furniture
Up to 35% off on water purifiers; Livpure Glo RO+UV water purifier at INR 9,299
Up to 50% off on cleaning supplies, power & hand tools
Up to 35% off on Godrej safes, bathroom fixtures
Up to 60% off across lawn and garden selection like pots, planters and tools and solar lights & lamps
30%-50% off on bedsheets from top brands
Up to 60% off on curtains; Cushion covers under INR 399; Up to 70% off on carpets & rugs
Up to 55% off on LED bulbs
Up to 60% off on barbecue & outdoor cooking
Up to 60% off across beds, recliners, dining sets and sofas
Apparel, Accessories, Shoes and Luggage
40% - 80% off on more than 3 lakh+ styles from top fashion brands
Flat 50% off on Levis, Minimum 50% off on Jack & Jones, Minimum 50% off on W, Minimum 50% off on Adidas, Minimum 50% off on Bata, Minimum 40% off on Fastrack Sunglasses, Minimum 40% off on Invicta
Minimum 50% off on all top luggage brands including Skybags, American Tourister, Safari, Delsey & Tommy Hilfiger
As the festive season is coming closer different brands and websites are coming with interesting offers and some lucrative deals. Taking advantage of the festive season and the Flipkart's upcoming Big Billion Day Sale, iVoomi has come up with great discounts on its line-up of smartphones. iVoomi is a Chinese electronic major which has recently entered the Indian market and is targeting the budget-oriented audience. The company brings great features and a considerably low price.
The Big Billion Day on Flipkart will start from September 20 and go on until September 24. The iVoomi smartphones will be available at the discounted price on these days. The discounts on the smartphones range somewhere in between 10-20%. To make the deals even more lucrative, customers will also get an extra Rs. 200 Supercash from MobiKwik on their wallets.
Mr. Ashwin Bhandari, CEO, iVOOMi, India said “We are excited about this festive season and we are glad to be the part of the celebrations by offering some great deals on our smartphones which will be available on The Big Billion day sale starting on Flipkart from 20th September,2017.”
“We are even excited to join this sale as its headstarts the celebration for our customers and we are expecting to double up the sale of our smartphone during this period “, he further added.
Prices of the iVoomi smartphones under Big Billion Days offer
Samsung has made some great innovations with the flagship devices they released this year. The Samsung Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy Note 8 has received a lot of love and attention of many people. The design of the S8 is attractive and the display itself has convinced many people on buying the S8 or the Note 8. Also, the Note 8 has one of the brightest displays in the market. However, the only one let down in these new devices is the new Bixby button. The new unwanted voice assistant could have been there as a bloatware without disturbing anyone, but Samsung decided to go with a dedicated button which is much hated by most of the people.
Samsung has finally come up with the much-awaited solution where a software update will allow users to disable the button completely. Sadly, the update does not allow users to remap the button to their wish. However, now users can disable the Bixby button from the settings, which will now prevent any accidental Bixy button triggers.
Sammobile, a reputed website when it comes to software update, has shown that Samsung is slowly rolling out the software update that allows disabling the Bixby button.
This new update is most welcome and is actually much-awaited by many people. However, by now S8 users might have got used to the button triggers but it is still a nice option to have for those who still suffer from accidental triggers. People who have set back just because of the hateful button can now opt-in for the Samsung Galaxy S8 or the Galaxy Note 8.
Apple recently announced the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus alongside the new iPhone X. Just like every year, with the new iPhone's apple also released the final version of the iOS 11 operating system. As per the reports, the iOS update is suggested to hit the devices on September 19, 10:30 PM. The much-awaited software update which brings a complete UI overhaul and brings some new useful features can now be easily downloaded and installed on your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. Before heading towards the installation, check for the presence of your device in the supported devices list. Also, before proceeding with the update, it is highly recommended to backup your data.
iOS 11
Apple devices compatible with iOS 11
iPhone 5s
iPhone SE
iPhone 6
iPhone 6 Plus
iPhone 6s
iPhone 6s Plus
iPhone 7
iPhone 7 Plus
iPhone 8
iPhone 8 Plus
iPhone X
iPad Mini 2
iPad Mini 3
iPad Mini 4
iPad Air
iPad Air 2
9.7-inch iPad Pro
10.5-inch iPad Pro
12.9-inch iPad Pro
12.9-inch iPad Pro (2nd Gen)
iPad (5th Gen)
iPod Touch (6th Gen)
Download and Install iOS 11
Once an update is released, usually users get a notification which they can follow in order to update their iOS devices. However, in some cases, users are not greeted by the notification, but can still get the update. To check for the software update follow these steps:
Go to Settings > General > Software Update and the device will check for any software updates.
Once the update is found, tap on Download and Install.
Once the update is downloaded, tap on Install to proceed further.
The user will need to agree to the terms and conditions by tapping on Agree.
After following the steps correctly, your iOS device will reboot and the update process will complete. Do note, that the whole process can take some time depending on your internet connection. Also, the user must have around 2GB of free storage on the device in order to update.
iVoomi recently launched their flagship series of smartphones recently, the iVoomi Me 3 and iVoomi Me 3s. You can see our iVoomi Me 3 review here. The iVoomi Me 3s is the upgraded version of the Me 3s with a little bit extra ram and a few improvements. Considering a number of smartphones these days in the budget segment including big names such as Samsung, there should be something with the Me 3s to catch our attention. The unique point about this smartphone is its shatterproof display. Yes, A shatterproof display in a budget smartphone.
Specifications
iVoomi Me 3s has a 5.2-inch 720x1280p HD IPS LCD display. The 2.5D glass in the front is said to be shatterproof by the company. It is powered by a MediaTek 6737 64-bit 1.3GHz Processor coupled with a 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. It also has a dedicated memory card slot for expandable storage up to 128GB. In terms of optics, it has a 13MP rear camera and an 8MP front camera both with their dedicated LED flash. Also, it runs Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box and all of this is powered by a 3,000mAh battery. Also, it has the micro-USB slot and a headphone jack.
Design
Front
Back
iVoomi Me 3s features a pretty basic design which doesn't look bad at all considering the competition in this price range. The back is made out of plastic which doesn't feel as cheap as you would expect it to be. The rear flash diffuser is also plastic, and the camera lens is also the plastic. That's the concern as it can get scratched easily. There is no camera bump to help that. Also, there are speakers at the back in the bottom which get pretty loud.
Left
Top
Bottom
Right
The sides are completely made out of plastic with the power button and the volume rockers on the right and nothing on the left. There is the micro-USB charging jack next to the headphone jack at the top and nothing again at the bottom.
The front has 3 capacitive buttons below the display which looks a lot like the default on-screen buttons of the Samsung Galaxy S8 duo and the Note 8. The front camera and flash are covered under the front 2.5D curved glass which looks premium.
Performance
The performance of the iVoomi Me 3s is at par with its competitors. It is able to handle everyday tasks like Whatsapp, Facebook, and music all at the same time. Also, light games like Crash of Cars and Crossy Road work without any hiccups. However heavy games like the Asphalt 8 struggled a little. This was expected considering the price tag and the shatterproof display. Although the toned down version of Asphalt 8, the Asphalt Nitro ran perfectly proving casual games and mid-level games work perfectly on this phone.
AnTuTu
GeekBench
Also, we tested the phone's performance on AnTuTu Benchmarks as well as Geek Bench. The results were at par with the competition with the battery life test resulting immense results. The AnTuTu wielded a score of 30,073 while the Geek bench resulted in 532 single core score and 1504 multicore score.
Battery
\
PCMark Work2.0 Battery Life Test
Battery Life
The phones 3,000 mAh battery lasts a whole day on normal usage. However, for heavy usage or gaming one needs to charge the phone again once in the evening and the morning to get going. Considering the price tag we will say the battery performance is beyond expected and the phone really outdid itself there. We also conducted the PC Mark Work 2.0 battery life test. It resulted in 8 hours 3 minutes of battery life on heavy use. It is really great as the OnePlus 3T wields somewhere around 8 hours and 30 minutes and it costs 3 times as much as the Me 3s.
Camera
Outside
Inside
Inside
Outside
Surprisingly, the iVoomi Me 3s has great cameras considering its price tag and the shatterproof display. The device yields good photos from the rear 13MP camera both indoor and outdoors and even in low lighting. Also, the front camera takes some pretty good photos. The front flash is definitely a plus point. Although the camera is good in its price range we have seen better. But some sacrifices had to be done in order to squeeze the shatterproof display. So the question finally comes to is it true?
Does the iVoomi Me 3s really have a shatterproof display?
The company told us that the iVoomi Me 3s has a shatterproof display. This means that the display won't crack and shatter into pieces when dropped during normal use. Something like this is not new but is unheard on budget smartphones. They dropped the Me 3s from pocket heights and face heights of around 5.5 feet high and really not a crack. Even when the phone fell down face down on concrete. Yes, it caused some scratches on the body and scraped off some plastic but that all was enough to crack any phones screen. So the answer to the question is the iVoomi Me 3s really have a shatterproof display is yes. Yes, it has a shatterproof display strong enough to take some drops but don't expect to beat down this phone with a hammer and expect it to survive. It will handle everyday drops without even a scratch.
Verdict
For the price of ₹6,499, the iVoomi Me 3s packs a great hardware and performs the same. The camera is also pretty good and the battery life is excellent. All of this with the shatterproof display combined makes it a great device for the price. However, the plastic build might disappoint some people but it really doesn't feel cheap at all and at the price of only ₹6,499 with a shatterproof display we would take it. It is one of the best budget smartphones out there right now. If you were thinking to buy a smartphone in this range, go for this one.
Huawei the smartphone manufacturer took to Facebook today and posted a not so subtle teaser taunting the new Apple iPhone X. The teaser video release makes a taunt over the fail that Apple suffered with its Face ID technology on-stage. As you can see in the video embedded below, at the end it states that that we'll get to see a real AI smartphone on October 16.
We know for a fact that the company will be launching the Mate 10 and the Mate 10 Pro on October 16 as it had already revealed so during IFA 2017. The devices will be the company's flagship devices and will end up going against the Apple iPhone X, Samsung Galaxy Note 8 and the LG V30.
As of now we know that these devices will be powered by Huawei's own AI based Kirin 970 SoC which it unveiled during IFA 2017. This new chipset has AI capabilities built-in and doesn't require to be connected to the cloud to perform tasks. The AI platform runs over a Neural Processing Unit (NPU) which is extremely fast at processing data.
Also to be mentioned, we currently haven't seen any AI powered smartphones from Huawei, and we don't know as to what to expect from these devices. So we will have to wait until October 16 when the company will officially announce these devices. Meanwhile on October 4 Google will be launching its new Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL smartphones.
The company also announced during IFA that the devices will feature a full screen display similar to the Galaxy Note 8 and the LG G6. Also from some previous reports, we know that the devices will come with a dual camera setup on the back, 6GB of RAM and 4,000mAh of battery.
