Realme has finally launched the much-awaited Realme 5 and Realme 5 Pro smartphones in India. The key highlights of the smartphone include the quad-camera setup at the back and a VOOC Flash Charge 3.0 fast charging technology. While the smartphone has just arrived in the country, it might take some time to get a hands-on one. So, here are some alternatives you should consider.
Redmi Note 7S
Redmi Note 7 comes with a waterdrop style notch.
If you do not prefer the UI on Realme smartphones, one can never go wrong with the most popular Redmi Note 7S. It comes with a 6.3-inch FullHD+ display with a waterdrop style notch upfront. It is powered by a more Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 chipset coupled with up to 4GB of RAM. It is available at a starting price of just Rs. 9,999.
Asus ZenFone Max Pro M2
Asus ZenFone Max Pro M2 sports a dual-camera setup at the back.
Even though the Asus ZenFone Max Pro M2 is a year old now, the phone still performs like a beast for its price. The smartphone sports a 6.26-inch bezel-less display up top. It packs in a Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 processor and a massive 5,000mAh battery. The device comes with a dual-camera setup at the back. It is currently available at a starting price of Rs. 9,999.
Samsung Galaxy M20
Samsung Galaxy M20 comes with an Infinity V notch display.
If you are looking for something from a tier-one brand, Samsung Galaxy M20 might just the right choice. It comes with the company's own Exynos 7904 octa-core processor paired with up to 4GB of RAM. It is backed by a massive 5000mAh battery with support for Fast Charging. All of this comes at a starting price of Rs. 9,990.
Realme 3
Realme 3 comes with a Gradient Unibody Design.
One can always look back at the predecessor Realme 3 series. The smartphones were great and they are also expected to receive a slight price cut now. The Realme 3 is powered by the MediaTek Helio P60 processor coupled with up to 4GB of RAM. It features with a 6.22-inch display with a waterdrop style notch and a resolution of 1520x720 pixels. The phone is available in India at a starting price of 8,999.
Honor Play comes with flagship-grade hardware at a relatively lower price
If you can pay a little extra for your next smartphone, we would highly recommend considering the Honor Play as it will bring flagship-grade specifications on board. It is powered by the company's in-house Kirin 970 processor and comes with up to 6GB of RAM. While the phone was launched at a price of Rs. 19,999, it is currently available for just Rs. 13,999.
Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi join hands to bring a new AirDrop like service.
The Chinese smartphone manufacturers, Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo have now come joined hands to bring their own wireless file transfer protocol for their Android devices in order to give competition to Apple's much popular AirDrop feature. While Oppo and Vivo work under the same shed (BBK Electronics), it was Xiaomi who was invited from the outside.
With the help of the new Inter-Transfer Alliance, these popular smartphone brands will be able to offer a new file transfer technology to its users. Just like already existing apps like ShareIt, this will also allow users to send or receive different types of files including photos, documents, audio files, videos and more. However, unlike Shareit, this service will be ad-free and it will be able to speeds up to 20MB/second.
According to a recent post by Xiaomi on its blog, the companies are currently looking forward to adding more manufacturers to the alliance. The official announcement states, “Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo jointly established the “Inter-Transfer Alliance” to achieve cross-brand one-key mutual transmission, bringing users a better file transfer experience. After the call, the inter-transfer function is fast, fast, low-power, no need for traffic and third-party applications, cross-brand file transfer and data migration “one-touch”, and recently open beta.”
Over the past many years, Apple users have enjoyed using AirDrop and Android fanboys have always envied them. Since Android failed to integrate something like that into the operating system, these popular smartphone giants have come forward to solve the age-old problem. Although people suggest that there will be a “Fast Share” feature on Android Q, it will be limited to a few Android devices. Also, these companies will not ask users to install a separate application but they will include the feature in the upcoming software updates for their respective user interfaces.
Smartphone manufacturers are constantly bringing new smartphones in order to keep up with the competition. While Samsung is bringing its latest flagship Galaxy Note 10 series to India, Xiaomi and Realme are gearing up to bring new mid-range smartphones. Here are the top five smartphones arriving in India soon.
Xiaomi Mi A3
Xiaomi's series of Android One smartphones is getting a new successor called the Mi A3. The device has been launched in Europe for a starting price of EUR 249 (roughly Rs. 20,000). Manu Kumar Jain has already started releasing teasers related to the launch of the new Android One smartphone. It is scheduled to arrive in India on August 21.
Motorola One Action
Motorola One Action comes with a triple camera setup at the back.
Motorola recently announced a new smartphone in Europe dubbed the Motorola One Action. The third smartphone in the “One” series is now set to arrive in India. It comes with a 6.3-inch IPS LCD display with a resolution of 2520x1080 pixels and a unique 21:9 display. It sports a triple camera setup at the back and it is powered by the Exynos 9609 chipset. All of this is backed by a 3,500mAh battery.
Samsung Galaxy Note 10
Samsung Galaxy Note 10 brings an Infinity O display.
One of the most exciting smartphone launches this month was the launch of the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 series. The company is bringing the new Note line-up to India shortly. The company has already listed the smartphone for pre-booking on its website. While the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 is priced at Rs. 69,999, the Note 10+ comes in at Rs. 79,999 and Rs. 89,999 for the 256GB and 512GB storage variants respectively.
After the successful launch of the Realme X in India, the company is now gearing up to introduce the Realme 5 smartphone. The device will come with a quad-camera setup at the back and it is expected to be priced below Rs. 15,000. The company might also bring the Realme 5 Pro with better specifications. Also, Realme 5 Pro is confirmed to feature a 48-megapixel camera.
Asus ROG Phone 2
Asus recently launched the second iteration of their gaming smartphone dubbed the Asus ROG Phone 2. The smartphone brings a more powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 855+ processor on board. While the company has not yet revealed any details about the device's India launch, it is expected to arrive in the country soon.
Jio Fiber Broadband service will be available starting September 5.
Reliance Jio recently revealed updated details about the Jio Fiber Home Broadband service. The company launched the service last year and now it is ready to widespread it across the nation. During the AGM, Mukesh Ambani announced that apart from delivering broadband speeds with up to 1Gbps speed, Jio Fiber will also offer television services, gaming, mixed reality and fixed-line voice calling access. Here's everything you need to know about the company's new line of services.
Launch Schedule
One of the most awaited announcements at the 42nd RIL AGM was the commercial launch date of the Jio Fiber Broadband connection. Mukesh Ambani confirmed that Reliance Jio will be commercially launching its broadband services on September 5. However, the comapny has not yet revealed full details on how they are planning to give away the connections to the interested users.
Plans
While the service was initially referred to as Jio GigaFiber, it is now being called Jio Fiber. The reason behind the change of name is that the company was initially supposed to bring 1Gbps speeds by default. However, they will now be introducing plans that will bring starting speeds of 100Mbps.
As of now, the company has not revealed much about the Jio Fiber plans. They have just confirmed that the prices will be set between the range of Rs. 700 all the way up to Rs. 10,000 per month. In order to attract new customers, a Jio Fiber Welcome Offer will be available. The company is also set to offer an HD LED TV or 4K TV alongside a 4K set-top box for customers opting for an annual plan called Jio Forever Plan. However, we will need to wait for some more time until the company reveals complete details.
Not so long ago, filming adventure sports was considered extremely hard. There was no such thing as a small, rugged portable action camera that could be mounted on to your bike, car or your helmet and one fine day GoPro launched and changed the game. Since then, many companies have tried to enter the space with their own unique products, many have just blatantly copied the concept and the design.
However, this new piece of technology doesn't come cheap. However, we recently have started seeing a lot of cheap GoPro knock-offs flood the market costing almost 30-40 times less in many cases. We found an Action Camera for around Rs. 500 on Amazon.
The cheap action camera we were able to get offers great value for money on paper, but however, can it keep up with the likes of GoPro? Let's find out.
We have taken Teconica Pro Hero7 to consider as an example as most of them are complete rip-off with different branding for copyright issues.
Action Camera: Design and Features
The waterproof case is a big selling point.
The Teconica Pro Hero7 or any other cheap knockoff look the same and have same configurations. It weighs approximately 80g. As part of the bundle, you get a plastic waterproof housing for mounting it onto any hotshoe compatible mount, as well as two adhesive mounts, for mounting to a bike or any other place you can think of. It supports up to 32GB Class 6 micro-SD card, which is not included in the package.
The units are not waterproof by themselves, but the waterproof case offers up 10m of protection underwater. The build quality is good enough for the price. On the left, we have a micro-USB charging port and a micro-SD card slot to save all the recordings onto. There are also a few LED's next to the 2-inch LCD screen on the back which acts as a viewfinder. There is also a yellow led light at the top to let you know it is powered on.
The standard hot shoe mount is a good inclusion
The back panel is not a touch screen and is controlled by the buttons on the top, side and front. The interface is fluid but confusing to use. It takes some time to figure out how to use it. Even the bootup screen just says "sport's camera". This is because these are produced in China and then sold off elsewhere under different names. That's why the packaging was also non-descript.
It features a 12-megapixel 1080p 30fps wide-angle sensor with no other specifications mentioned anywhere. You can also get a 4K model by shelling out a little bit more, but considering the asking price, the sensor is more than adequate on paper.
Action Camera: Performance and Battery Life
The removable mounts and included attachments give a lot of versatility.
There are only a few modes available for you to use, including a video mode, a photo mode or audio recording mode. There is a 2x and a 4x Zoom option using optical zoom but I wouldn't even consider that. You cannot change any other settings except the zoom. You would be thinking, your smartphone is way better than this, but can you mount your smartphone to your car/bike? The cheap price, the wide-angle lens, and the waterproof case makes it a complete package for cheap on the go camera for recording stuff in a not so safe environment for your smartphone.
As you can see in the video below, the video and photo quality is really really bad. It needs ample light to produce any sort of usable footage. The camera quality is bad with images and video coming out to be grainy when brought up on a computer. The colours are dull and the white balance is really bad. There is no stabilization, optical or digital, which makes the footage quite shaky if you aren't super stable with your hand. Although there is a waterproof case included, due to the scarcity of light available underwater or in rain, it produces almost unwatchable footage. Also, in our testing, there were a few drops on the unit itself after subjecting it to underwater recording with the waterproof case. So I wouldn't trust the waterproof case at all.
What's a bigger issue is that the 2x and the 4x zoom settings show the zoomed image in the viewfinder, but after recording or taking a photo, the photo and the video comes in 1x only. The 2x and the 4x zoom setting is fake. It only shows zoomed up and cropped images in the viewfinder and the video is not recorded like that.
The battery takes up almost more than half of the space inside the camera
The battery is another story in itself. The 7V 900mAh 3.33Wh battery takes about 6-7 hours to charge with a normal 1amp charger which is already too much time for a battery like that. Apart from that, it lasts around 2-3 hours of keeping it turned on. With that charging time to use ratio, we thought our battery might be faulty or this camera consumes a lot of power. In any case, it is not worth it using it.
Verdict
Overall, the performance of the cheap action camera like these is highly disappointing.
The cheap knockoff GoPro's, like the one we reviewed, have bad video quality and a battery which makes you want to regret buying it in the first place. However, considering it comes with a waterproof case, which we tested and a couple of standard hotshoe mounts and considering the price for which we got the whole package, the deal is not that bad. For approx Rs 500, you are getting a cheap disposable waterproof camera, which you can mount on to your car or bike when you go out for a joyride.
If you need an action camera and you cannot afford to spend over Rs. 500 then this is a pretty good option. However, if you can afford to spend more, get the GoPro, it will completely be worth it.
The Stuffcool Bac currently sells at Rs. 695 on Amazon India.
Stuffcool Bac in-ear earphones review: Stuffcool is a new audio brand that has entered the Indian market with a number of its products. We got to spend some time with one of its wired earphones, the Stuffcool Bac and just to tell you in a bit advance, we were quite impressed with the quality of the earphones.
The first thing that I noticed and appreciated about these earphones was that it is fully braided. This made me feel a bit more secure as I tend to rip a lot of earphones during my usage. The braiding is not only for looks, it is quite functional too. During my time with the earphones, I brutally used them and till date, the earphones look perfectly fine.
The overall build of the Stuffcool Bac is quite good and they feel sturdy in while using.
Another good thing that I found about the earphones are its in-line controls and microphone. I don’t like to fidget around that much with buttons so getting only one button to accept/reject calls or play/pause music is a good thing for me. Along with the single button, there is a volume slider, which lets you adjust the volume of the music in points and I personally loved this addition.
The overall build of the Stuffcool Bac is quite good and they feel sturdy in while using. It has been some time since I have had these, and have beaten them a lot and even after suffering so much nothing much has happened to them.
Considering their price, I would personally not critique them as an audiophile, but as a normal user. And I have to say that these pack a lot of punch for their size. They are quite light and you can listen to them for long periods of time without getting tired. The microphone is quite good considering that while using them for calls and to play PUBG Mobile my voice was pretty loud and clear sounding to the receiving parties.
Considering their price, I would personally not critique them as an audiophile, but as a normal user.
Most people purchasing earphones at this price point look for the earphones that provide good bass. These are the earphones that manage to provide users with enough bass to keep them satisfied while at the same time also focusing on the vocals and instruments so that they don’t sound too muddled.
Highs are pretty good and the earphones are able to catch the mids quite well also. However, they suffer a bit while trying to output lows. This is mostly the case in terms of most earphones selling at this price point.
Overall, I would like to emphasise these earphones can easily become your daily companions while doing anything. At the price point they are currently available at, getting them for yourself is a great option if you are on a tight budget.
HTC Desire 19+ might arrive in India on August 14.
HTC India has just rolled out a teaser suggesting there is a new smartphone arriving in the country. While the first teaser showed up on the company's social media, there is another teaser on the e-commerce website, Flipkart. It suggests that the phone is scheduled to launch on August 14. Also, since the teaser arrived on Flipkart, it is clear that the phone will be available on the e-commerce website as well.
As of now, it is not clear which smartphone is being debuted in India. While some rumours suggest that it could be the Desire 19+, others point towards a phone belonging to the Wildfire-series. According to a report by GSMArena, the Wildfire phone might come with an HD+ display with a waterdrop style notch. It could also sport a dual-camera setup at the back and a 16-megapixel camera on the front.
HTC recently launched the Desire 19+ in Taiwan for a starting price of TWD 9,990 (roughly Rs. 23,000). The higher model with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage is priced at TWD 10,990 (roughly Rs. 25,000).
HTC Desire 19+ sports a 6.2-inch IPS LCD display with 19:9 aspect ratio and HD+ resolution. It is powered by the MediaTek Helio P35 SoC paired with up to 6GB of RAM. The device packs in either 64GB or 128GB of onboard storage. It runs on Google's Android 9 Pie operating system with HTC Sense UI layered on top of it. All of this is backed by a 3,850mAh battery.
In terms of optics, the HTC Desire 19+ features a triple camera system at the back consisting of a 13-megapixel primary camera, an 8-megapixel wide-angle camera and a 5-megapixel depth camera. Upfront, there is a 16-megapixel selfie shooter.
The Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi is now gearing up to launch the third iteration of the Mi A-series. The series brings stock Android with the help of Google's Android One program. The Mi A2 successor, Xiaomi Mi A3, has already been launched in China and the company is now finally bringing it to India.
Xiaomi has just confirmed that it will be launching the much anticipated Mi A3 smartphone in India on August 21. Notably, it is launching just one day after the Realme 5 series is scheduled to launch. Also, it was earlier speculated that Xiaomi will launch the Android One powered smartphone on August 23 but they might have shifted the date after the Realme 5 announcement.
As the smartphone has already launched outside India, here are all the specifications you need to know about.
Xiaomi Mi A3 Specifications
Xiaomi Mi A3 sports a 6.08-inch AMOLED display with a waterdrop style notch. It is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 chipset coupled with Adreno 610 GPU. The device packs in 4GB of RAM paired with either 64GB or 128GB of onboard storage. The dual-SIM handset runs on Google's Android Pie operating system. All of this is backed by a 4,030mAh battery with support for Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0.
As for the optics, the Xiaomi Mi A3 comes with a triple camera setup at the back consisting of a 48-megapixel primary camera, an 8-megapixel ultra-wide and a 2-megapixel depth sensor. Upfront, there is a 32-megapixel selfie shooter with f/2.0 aperture.
While the specifications are already out, what most people are waiting for is the price. The starting price of the Mi A3 in India is expected to be somewhere around Rs. 12,999. Xiaomi Mi A3 is launching in India on August 21 and here's everything you need to know about the Android One device.
OnePlus users can watch Sacred Games Season 2 ahead of the official release.
At the time of OnePlus 7 Pro launch, the Chinese smartphone manufacturer announced its collaboration with Netflix. As Netflix is now gearing up to release the second season of the popular Sacred Games show, OnePlus offers its users to watch the first episode before others. While the official release is scheduled for August 15, OnePlus users will be allowed to watch the first episode on August 14. Here's how.
The members of the OnePlus community will have a chance to watch the first episode of the popular show by registering for special screenings in three cities including Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore. The screenings will be held on August 14 users with a OnePlus device can head over to this link to register for the screening. The tickets will be available starting today, August 10 from 12 PM onwards.
Commenting on this, Vikas Agarwal, General Manager, OnePlus India, said “When we announced our partnership with Netflix, we spoke about bringing unique experiences for our community and provided an incredible viewing experience on OnePlus 7 Pro with its HDR supported display. Now, we are happy to bring this unique experience to our community and look forward to a full house as we watch the first episode of the exciting new season of Sacred Games.”
OnePlus announced its collaboration with Netflix back in May this year when the launched two new smartphones in India, the OnePlus 7 and OnePlus 7 Pro. The company also released two posters and a behind-the-scenes video of Sacred Games Season 2, shot on OnePlus 7 Pro, demonstrating the camera capabilities of the device.
HP Chromebook x360 can be used in four modes: laptop, tablet, stand and tent.
HP has just launched a new Chromebook in India, dubbed HP Chromebook x360. It is priced at Rs. 44,990 and will be made available for consumers to purchase via the company's official HPWorld Stores, its official website, Amazon and Flipkart. The device is available in Ceramic White and Cloud Blue colour options.
The company is bundling its new HP Chromebook x360 with one year of free access to the Google One cloud services for a year along with 100GB of free Google Drive storage for the same time period.
Customers will also get 2GB of daily complimentary data from Reliance Jio for a year on purchasing its JioFi device along with the laptop. The JioFi will be available at Rs. 999. They will also be getting a Meritnation education package costing Rs. 35,000 free of charge.
It has been quite a long time since any company has launched a Chromebook in India. The laptop runs Chrome OS out of the box. It comes with support for Android apps, which can be downloaded via the Google Play Store.
The Chromebook x360 sports a 14-inch full HD IPS display with a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels. It also comes with a 7.5mm ultra-thin bezel, which the company is calling micro-edge. The laptop is powered by the 8th Gen Intel Core i3-8130U processor.
It comes with custom-tuned Bang & Olufsen B&O Play dual speakers and can be used in four modes: laptop, tablet, stand and tent. The laptop comes with 8GB of DDR4 RAM paired with 64GB of SSD storage expandable. All of this is backed by a 3-cell 60Whr battery.
In terms of optics, the laptop sports an HD True VisionHD Camera on the front. Connectivity options include Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth v4.2, two USB 3.2 Type-C ports, a USB 3.1 HP Sleep and Charge port, a 3.5mm headphone jack and an SD reader.
"We are excited to introduce the HP Chromebook x360 in India to help modern consumers unlock new ways to create, collaborate and consume with the features and functionalities of Chrome OS and Android apps," said Vickram Bedi, Senior Director, personal systems, HP India.
