OnePlus has always been enormous in providing seamless software experience to its customers. The first smartphone by the company, OnePlus One came with CyanogenOS which was a customizable Android operating system. Later, the company introduced OxygenOS which was also a great ROM and has been using the same since the birth of the OnePlus 2. OnePlus 3 and 3T have got OxygenOS Open Beta Build which was started since the launch of Android Nougat for the devices. The official open bet build is still getting updates with new changes and is slightly different from what you get out-of-the-box. The company rolls out updates separately for the normal OxygenOS users and for the open beta users. Here, the people using open beta build will get new features before the stock OxygenOS users get. As far as the beta builds numbers are concerned, OnePlus 3 currently has the Open Beta 19 whereas the 3T has Open Beta 10.
Before getting started, you need to keep few points in mind:
Installing this update will cause no data loss and all your applications and files will remain intact.
However, we recommend you to take a full backup of your smartphone before starting with this procedure.
We request you to read the steps carefully and follow each and every step.
Your phone should not be rooted and should be on stock ROM and recovery.
We are not responsible for any damage caused to your phone or computer.
If you need to go back to the official OxygenOS build, you will need to format your phone completely.
So, to download and install the official open beta on your OnePlus 3 or 3T, you just need to follow these simple steps:
Step 1: Download the Open Beta build for your smartphone from the links given below
The smartphone industry has been a fast growing industry, and lately many new smartphones have been launched by different manufacturers. People nowadays tend to get confused about which phone to purchase. Every smartphone buyer first sets a budget and starts finding a suitable phone for himself. Here we bring a set of smartphones of different price segments which we think will be valuable for every penny you pay. Do keep in mind that there is no "perfect smartphone", but these are significantly better than their competitors.
Smartphones priced below Rs. 10000
Xiaomi Redmi 4
Redmi 4 by Xiaomi offers great specifications at a great price. This budget friendly smartphone is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 435 chipset and comes with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of onboard storage which is further expandable up to 128GB using a micro-SD card. The phone also packs a massive 4,100 mAh battery and has a 13-megapixel primary camera and a 5-megapixel front facing camera for video calling and selfies. The Xiaomi Redmi 4 is priced at Rs. 6,999.
Nokia 3
HMD Global, a company that owns the rights to manufacture Nokia branded smartphones, recently introduced a set of smartphones which included the Nokia 3 which is their entry-level smartphone. Nokia 3 packs a quad-core MediaTek 6737 chipset which is clocked at 1.3GHz. The phone comes with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of inbuilt storage. The phone may not sound good on paper, but certainly, has a great build and performs well as it comes with stock Android Nougat. Nokia 3 is priced at Rs. 9,499.
Smartphones priced below Rs. 20000
Moto G5 Plus
Moto G5 Plus sports a 5.2-inch display with a resolution of 1080x1920 pixels. The smartphone packs a Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor coupled with Adreno 506 GPU. It comes in two variants, one with 3GB of RAM and 16GB of inbuilt storage and the other with 4GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. The phone includes a 12-megapixel primary camera and a 5MP front facing camera. Moto G5 Plus is priced at Rs. 14,999 for the 3GB/16GB variant and Rs. 16,999 for the 4GB/32GB variant.
Nokia 6
Nokia 6 is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 processor coupled with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of inbuilt storage which is expandable up to 256GB using a micro-SD card. The phone packs a 3,000 mAh battery and has a 16-megapixel camera at the back and an 8-megapixel camera at the front. The phone sports 5.5-inch LCD IPS display with a resolution of 1080x1920 pixels. The phone has a great build quality and comes with stock Android Nougat. Nokia 6 goes on sale on 23 August 2017 with a price tag of Rs. 14,999.
Smartphones priced below Rs. 30000
Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017)
Samsung, in early 2017 launched a set of mid-range smartphones. These A-series smartphones come with decent specifications at a price of a mid-range phone. Samsung is a trusted brand and has a great record of after-sales services. The Galaxy A5 (2017) sports a 5.2-inch Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 1080 x 1920 pixels. The phone is powered by Exynos 7880 chipset coupled with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of onboard storage. The smartphone packs a 16-megapixel primary camera and a 16-megapixel front facing camera. Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017) is priced at Rs. 26,900.
Smartphones priced above Rs. 30000
OnePlus 5
A few weeks ago, OnePlus launched their latest flagship the OnePlus 5 which has already gained a lot of love and attention from many. OnePlus 5 is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chipset and is backed by a 3,300mAh battery. The smartphone comes with a dual camera 16MP+20MP setup at the back and a 16-megapixel front facing camera. This flagship from OnePlus comes in two variants, one with 6GB of RAM and 64GB of storage which comes with a price tag of Rs. 32,999 and the other variant comes with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage which is priced at Rs. 37,999.
Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+
Earlier this year, Samsung launched its flagship device in two display variants. The S8 and S8+ come with nearly same specifications except for the display. Both S8 and S8+ are powered by Exynos 8895 octa-core processor coupled with Mali-G71 MP20. The phones come with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. Galaxy S8 features a 5.8-inch Super AMOLED display whereas the S8+ sports a larger 6.2-inch Super AMOLED display. Samsung Galaxy S8 is priced at Rs. 57,900 and the S8+ is priced at Rs. 64,900.
LG G6
LG G6 sports a 5.7-inch display with a resolution of 1440 x 2880 pixels and a pixel density of 564 ppi. This flagship by LG is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 chipset coupled with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of onboard storage. The smartphone comes with a 13-megapixel dual-camera setup at the back and a 5-megapixel camera on the front. The phone runs on Android Nougat with LG UX 6.0 on top. LG G6 is available at a price as low as Rs. 37,490
Some honourable Mentions from last year
Though these smartphones were not launched in 2017, these phones still compete with the recently launched flagships. The phones have a great camera and deliver an amazing performance.
Google Pixel and Pixel XL
Google Pixel and Pixel come with the same set of specifications but with different screen sizes. The Pixel sports a 5-inch display with a resolution of 1080 x 1920 pixels, whereas, the Pixel XL features a larger 5.5-inch display with a resolution of 1440 x 2560 pixels. Both phones are powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 SoC coupled with Adreno 530 GPU and 4GB of RAM. The phones are offered in two storage options, one with 32GB of storage and the other with 128GB of storage. The range of Pixel devices starts at Rs. 44,000
Apple iPhone 7 Plus
Apple iPhone 7 Plus is the first phone by the company to offer a dual-camera setup. The phone is powered by the Apple A10 Fusion chipset paired with 3GB of RAM. iPhone 7 Plus comes with a 12-megapixel dual-camera setup at the back and a 7-megapixel front camera for selfies and video calling. The smartphone comes in three storage variants, 32GB, 128GB and 256GB. The price of the iPhone 7 Plus starts at Rs. 61,199.
Amazon might be working on a new mobile messaging platform based on a report by AFTVnews. It is expected that this new platform will be available for iOS, Android, and desktop. The report states that Amazon will be naming the app 'Anytime'.
The report has also stated that this new app will include an end to end message encryption, video and voice calling. It is also being said that the app will have a few features which will kind of make it into a social networking app.
Amazon might even put in an @ mention system like Twitter the micro-blogging website.to involve users in conversations. It is also being said that in the app users will only need a name and not a phone number to save contacts.
In the one of company's recent customer survey, there were references features like colour coding conversations, playing in app games, ordering food together, splitting a bill, location sharing, group music listening, and more. And to make even more money from the app the company will let businesses chat to their customers through the app.
If the reports are correct, and Amazon is building a chat service then maybe they will power the app through Chime, Amazon's chat service for enterprise users. The company might also integrate its Alexa AI into the app to make it much more intuitive.
Currently, There is no news as to if and when will Amazon be launching this application in the market. However, we are sure that they will have to bring something extremely new into the market to stand a chance against the market giants like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger.
HMD Global has gained a lot of attention with the launch of Nokia 3, 5 and 6, where the Nokia 6 has still not gone on sale, we have already started receiving reports on their upcoming smartphone. This new upcoming smartphone with the model number TA-1004 could either by the Nokia 8 or 9, as per the reports by a German website WinFuture.
According to the previous rumours and leaks, Nokia 8 and 9 would be launched in the second-half of this year. Reports also suggest that this smartphone with model number TA-1004 could be launched as the Nokia 9. However, HMD Global is now set to launch the first high-end smartphone, the Nokia 8.
As the reports suggest, Nokia 8 will be powered by Snapdragon 835 SoC (System-on-Chip), which is a high-end chipset by Qualcomm. Reports also claim that the smartphone will come with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of onboard storage, the device is also likely to come in two variants, one with dual-sim slots which will be sold in Europe and the other will be a single SIM variant.
HMD Global is likely to offer four colour variants of the Nokia 8: Bue, Steel, Gold/Blue and Gold/Copper, as per the reports. Some reports also claim that this high-end smartphone by the company will go on sale on 31 July 2017 at a price of €589 which is roughly Rs. 43,500. The price may vary for other countries. If the price given in the reports are true, this device may compete with current flagships like the Apple iPhone 7, Samsung Galaxy S8 and the LG G6.
However, reports are not very clear on the specifications department, where the display and cameras are concerned. According to some earlier leaks and rumours, the Nokia 8 might come with a 5.7-inch Quad-HD display with a resolution of 2560 x 1440, a dual 13-megapixel camera setup at the rear and may also feature Zeiss Lens.
Google wants to enhance the user experience of music listeners on its Play Music app. The new feature is known as 'New Release Radio', it as per the company will deliver personalised music based on the user's preferences and tastes. This feature uses machine learning to analyse as to what you like to listen and then provides you with songs that were released in the past two weeks.
Earlier Google had rolled out this update for Samsung smartphones. On which they got huge positive feedback. Due to which now they have released this feature for all Android smartphones that have the Play Music app installed. The users can now access this new feature by going to the New Release Radio station on the app. This is available free of cost to all free radio listeners and subscribers around the world. And would be constantly updated the company stated.
Snapchat recently had introduced a new feature for users to see the current location of their friends on a map. People said that this was an extreme invasion of their privacy. Now, Facebook has taken out a similar feature which lets users see where their friends are. However, this is not similar to Snapchat as users can see with high accuracy where their friends are hanging out. This feature would also prompt users when their friends are nearby and give an exact location to them.
For now, Facebook has limited this option to the mobile app and you can only see friends in nearby neighbourhoods. But Facebook has said that they will be expanding the functionality of this feature and will also be bringing it to its other apps like Instagram and WhatsApp and desktop.
The company has named the feature "Nearby Friends", and currently we don't know what purpose will it serve. And if you are in a friends neighbourhood and want to meet them, you can contact them on your own without them invading your privacy. However, this might be helpful in cases of an emergency and the location of a person is needed.
Reliance Jio has been on the news all around with the upcoming 4G VoLTE feature phone which was said to cost just Rs. 500. Few sources have got their hands-on the device and have revealed the images of the same. The phone will be launched with the brand name LYF which Jio introduced last year. Reports suggest that the phone will support video-calling, an app store and a microSD card. As per the images, the phone looks very simple with a candy-bar design.
The phone is said to sport a 2.4-inch display, a 2-megapixel rear camera and a front-facing VGA camera. Reports also suggest that the phone will come with 512MB of RAM and 4GB of onboard storage which will be further expandable up to 128GB using a microSD card. This is a dual-sim feature phone and will accept only nano sim cards.
Source: TelecomTalk
The device is also said to include an in-built voice assistant, which is currently present only on smartphones. The voice assistant will support Indian regional languages, and users will be able to ask about the weather and other queries, as per the reports. Jio may also optimise the phone’s software to run the Jio apps and some social apps like Facebook and WhatsApp. The phone is said to pack a 2,000 mAh battery.
As far as the connectivity is concerned, Reliance Jio’s LYF 4G VoLTE feature phone will support Cat 4 LTE Band 3,5, and 40, which will help in running the Jio 4G VoLTE service. The feature phone will also support GPS, Bluetooth 4.1 and USB tethering which will allow you to share the data with your personal computer, laptop or other devices. Previously, rumours suggested that this new feature phone by Jio will cost around Rs. 500, which is now being contradicted by the recent reports. These reports suggest that the Jio’s4G VoLTE feature phone could be priced at Rs. 1500 approximately.
Xiaomi is now planning to launch the successor to its already popular budget friendly devices the Redmi 4, Redmi 4A and Redmi Note 4. Recent reports from Weibo, show that Xiaomi is set to launch two variants of the Xiaomi Redmi 5. The reports also give a glance at the specifications, price and design of the smartphone.
Redmi 5 is said to be introduced in two variants, one with 3GB of RAM and 16 or 32GB of internal storage and the other with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of onboard storage. According to the reports, the device may come either with Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 chipset coupled with 3GB of RAM or Qualcomm Snapdragon 630 processor coupled with 4GB of RAM.
Xiaomi Redmi 5 will feature a 5-inch Full HD display with a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels and will include a 16-megapixel primary camera and a 5-megapixel front facing camera for video calling and taking selfies, as per the reports. Reports also suggest that the smartphone packs a 3,680 mAh battery which is a downgrade as compared to the currently available Redmi 4. The device is said to support Quick Charge 3.0 and will run on Android 7.1.1 Nougat layered with Xiaomi’s own MIUI 9.
As the Redmi 5 is the successor to already present budget friendly Redmi 4, the phone is said to be priced at around CNY 859 (roughly Rs. 8,200) for the 3GB RAM and 16GB storage variant, whereas the 3GB RAM/32GB storage variant will cost around CNY 1,039 (Roughly Rs. 10,000). The top of the line 4GB RAM/64GB storage variant will cost around CNY 1,099 (Roughly Rs. 10,500). If this is the case in the pricing department, most users will prefer the 4GB RAM/64GB storage variant over the 3GB RAM/32GB storage, as there is only a slight difference in the price.
HMD Global’s Nokia 6 is available for registration starting today on Amazon India, and the smartphone will go on sale on 23 August 2017. Nokia 6 has got attention from a lot of people, and those who are interested in getting their hands-on this device has to register and will get the device shipped later next month. However, people who are interested in buying the Nokia 5 have to wait till August 15.
HMD Global has made Nokia 6 an online exclusive smartphone whereas the Nokia 3 and 5 will be available in offline stores. Nokia 3 is already available at the offline stores priced at Rs. 9,499 and was listed on Croma as well. Nokia 5 and 6 are priced at Rs. 12,899 and Rs. 14,999 respectively.
Offers
People interested in buying the Nokia 6 need to have an Amazon account to be eligible to register for the sale. Nokia 6 buyers will also get some amazing set of offers like:
Amazon will give Prime members Rs. 1000 in Amazon Pay balance
Users who sign into Kindle app will get up to 80% off on Kindle eBooks with a maximum of Rs 300 off.
MakeMyTrip offers coupons worth Rs. 2500 (Rs 1800 off on Hotels and Rs. 700 off on flights)
Vodafone will offer 45GB data, each recharge of 1 GB or more data gives users 9 GB extra data for a period of 5 months.
Specifications
Nokia 6 is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 chipset coupled with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of inbuilt storage which is expandable up to 128GB using a microSD card. The smartphone features a 5.5-inch Full HD display and packs a 3,000 mAh battery. The phone comes with Android 7.1.1 Nougat out-of-the-box.
Asus, today launched its first phone with Google Tango and Google Daydream support, the Asus ZenFone AR. This new smartphone comes with Augmented Reality technology. The phone was first introduced at the CES (Consumer Electronic Show) at LasVegas, being boasted as the world's second Tango-enabled phone.
Asus ZenFone AR has a set of amusing features as it has support for both Tango and Daydream platforms. As this is a Tango-enabled smartphone, it can understand the physical space by measuring the distance between the device and the object. Augmented Reality has now become an interesting feature and soon other manufacturers will start releasing smartphones with the same. AR technology can be used for virtual shopping, gaming, and mapping an in-door space. Asus has also collaborated with Gap to develop Dressing Room, an AR compatible app that helps users to try clothes virtually. The company has also collaborated with BMW for an app called iVisualiser that allows users to configure, customise, and walk around the BMW i3 and i8 cars in a digital space. Currently, Google Play Store has 45 Tango apps, out of which only 15 are accessible in India.
Another attractive feature of the ZenFone AR is the impressive audio that it offers. It has the hardware to give an immense high-quality output for a great AR and VR experience. The phone comes with Asus SonicMater 3.0 technology, a five-magnet speaker driven by a powerful NXP smart amplifier that delivers clear, expansive sound that can be played at high volumes without distortion. The smartphone can also output certified High-Resolution Audio (HRA) to compatible devices at 24-bit/192kHz. DTS Headphone:X™ provides virtual 7.1-channel surround sound for immersive entertainment experiences. Asus also packs a premium ZenEar S Headset inside the inbox.
Specifications
The ZenFone AR comes with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 chipset coupled with Adreno 530 GPU and 8GB of RAM. The phone sports a 5.7-inch Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 1440 x 2560 pixels and a pixel density of 515 ppi. The device comes with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of inbuilt storage. As for the camera department, the phone features a TriCamera setup including a 23-megapixel primary camera, a depth-sensing camera and a motion-tracking camera. The primary camera supports OIS (Optical Image Stabilization) and phase detection autofocus. The phone also includes an 8-megapixel front facing camera. It also packs a 3,300 mAh battery and supports Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 3.0. The smartphone comes with Android 7.0 Nougat out-of-the-box with the company’s own ZenUI 3.0 layered on the top. The device has all the basic connectivity options and has a USB type-C 1.0 connector.
Price and Availability
Asus ZenFone AR will be a Flipkart exclusive smartphone and is priced at Rs. 49,999 and is already available for sale through the e-commerce website.
