Powerful Phone with Low Cost, Xiaomi Mi 5X Unveiled in China

The Xiaomi Mi 5X is official. The handset has now been revealed at an event in China.

The Mi 5X is the latest low-cost, high-power, device from Xiaomi, featuring a 5.5-inch, Full-HD (1080p), 2.5D curved-glass display, octa-core Snapdragon 625 chip, 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB internal storage.The handset will run Android 7.1 Nougat with Xiaomi’s MIUI 9 skin out of the box. 

Xiaomi Mi 5X Specs:

• 4GB RAM with 64 GB Internal Storage
• 5.5 inch FULL HD (1080p) Display
• Octa Core Snapdragon 625
• 3080mAh Battery
• Dual Camera Setup
• MIUI 9 with DHS Audio

On the back, you’ll find a dual-camera setup, featuring a 12 MP wide-angle lens and a 12 MP telephoto lens, with dual-tone LED flash and phase-detection auto-focus. The front camera, meanwhile, comes in at 5 MP. This setup will help the phone achieve the ‘Portrait mode’ function which uses induced background blur to emulate the bokeh on a photo taken by a high-end camera with a wide aperture. 

Xiaomi has added the fingerprint sensor on the back of the smartphone along with an anti-fingerprint coating on the body of the smartphone. The phone will be draw power from a 3,080 mAh battery with a USB Type-C connectivity and a 3.5 mm headphone jack.

The hew handset will be available in Black, Gold and Rose Gold color variants for 1499 yuan — the equivalent of around US$222 — from August 1st in China. Further availability information hasn’t been revealed at this time.

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Asus Zenfone 4 Max Launched with Massive Battery

Taiwanese handset maker Asus has unveiled the first smartphone in the ZenFone 4 series, the ZenFone 4 Max, boasting of a massive battery. The new Asus smartphone has been launched in Russia, and it also sports dual rear cameras. The new Asus ZenFone 4 Max price starts at RUB 13,900 (roughly 15,000) and will be going on sale in Russia as of now with no word on international availability. 

The new ZenFone 4 Max is said to be one of the first out of the five ZenFone models expected to launch this month. 

Asus has unveiled the new ZenFone 4 Max with two different chipsets likely targeted at different markets. The phone comes in two variants: one powered by quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 SoC and another powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 SoC. The price has been revealed for the Snapdragon 425 SoC variant. 

Two of the biggest highlights of the new ZenFone 4 Max are said to be dual rear cameras and 5000mAh battery. The phone supports fast charging, and can be used as a power bank as well - a standard feature across all Max smartphones from Asus. 

The ZenFone 4 Max features a 5.5-inch IPS display with full-HD (1080x1920 pixels) screen resolution. The phone also boasts Gorilla Glass 2.5D on top. It comes with 4GB of RAM and packs 64GB of inbuilt storage that's expandable via microSD card (up to 256GB).

At the back, the ZenFone 4 Max sports two 13-megapixel cameras with an f/2.0 aperture and LED flash. There's also an 8-megapixel front camera with F/2.2 aperture. It runs latest ZenUI version based on Android 7.0 Nougat. It measures 154 x 76.9 x 8.9 mm and weighs 181 grams. The ZenFone 4 Max supports dual Nano-SIM cards.

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Honor 8 Pro: Tough Competitor for OnePlus 5

Huawei’s child brand, Honor will be launching a new smartphone in India- the Honor 8 Pro. The Honor 8 Pro is the same smartphone launched in China recently as the Honor 9 with dual cameras at the back. And in India, the Honor 8 Pro succeeds the Honor 8 launched last year and priced in the upper mid-range seg ment.

Huawei has just showcased the smartphone in India, and it will be officially launched in July. Also, the pricing of the device is not revealed as well. The Honor 8 Pro has upgrades over the Honor 8 in every aspect, sans the camera department. The Honor 8 is one of the best camera smartphones of 2016. The Honor 8 Pro uses a dual camera setup at the back- one with a 12MP sensor and the other one with a 20MP sensor.

The 12MP sensor captures the regular RGB shots, while the 20MP sensor clicks Monochrome shots. The 12MP sensor has f/2.2 aperture, laser autofocus technology, and LED flash. It’s capable of recording 4K videos. Honor has added an 8MP front-facing camera with f/2.0 aperture for selfies and video calls.

The Honor 8 Pro has a glass body design along with a metal frame sandwiched between the glass on front and back. The glass used at the back is a 3D curved one and has a shiny look. The fingerprint scanner is integrated into the home button of the phone, rather than the one present at the back of the Honor 8.

The smartphone features a massive 5.7-inch Quad HD screen with a resolution of 1440×2560 pixels. It is powered by Huawei’s in-house Kirin 960 octa-core chipset and has 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage. The storage is expandable up to 128GB via a microSD card.

Huawei has armed the device with a large 4000mAh battery, and it comes laden with Android Nougat based EMUI 5.1. The phone also has support for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, dual-SIM, NFC, 4G LTE, USB Type-C port, and 3.5mm headphone jack.

Aforesaid, Huawei did not announce the pricing of the smartphone, however, it’s likely to costs around Rs. 30,000 in India. Furthermore, Huawei has slashed the price of Honor 8 in the country, and it’s now available around Rs. 18,000, from the original launch price of Rs. 29,999.

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LG unveils G6+ with B&O Play headphones;software updates for G6

Four months after the G6 was first unveiled, LG has now introduced a G6+ model, with more onboard storage, B&O Play headphones and new colour options. Unlike some other phone manufacturers that increase the screen size when they introduce a Plus model, the screen on the G6+ remains at 5.7-inches.

The G6+ comes with 128GB of internal storage, double the highest amount available in the regular G6, and will arrive with new colour options: Optical Astro Black, Optical Marine Blue and Optical Terra Gold. The Optical finish gives the back of the G6+ a reflective look, but the colour doesn't wrap around to the front, instead the front bezels will be all black.

A pair of B&O Play headphones to take full advantage of the 32-bit Quad Hi-Fi DAC fitted to the phone. LG hasn't said exactly which pair of B&O Play headphones you'll get.

LG has also added wireless charging to the Plus model, something that we would have liked to have seen on the regular G6.

The G6 hasn't gone completely unloved though, as LG has announced some software enhancements for the current model, which include Face Print.

• Face Print appears to be LG’s take on facial recognition, which happens to be one of the authentication methods from the Galaxy S8. The unlocking is supposed to take less than one second.

• Low Power Consumption is an always-on mode that leverages hardware and software from Qualcomm and Google to collect data from sensors and networks without consuming a lot of power.

• Finally, Covered Lens will warn users when their fingers are detected in the phone’s wide-angle camera field of view.

The LG G6 will also be available in Optical Marine Blue and Optical Terra Gold colour finishes. LG has yet to confirm when the software updates and the G6+ availabilty in global markets.

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J7 Max and J7 Pro Launched in India to Promote Samsung Pay

South Korean tech giant Samsung has launched two new Galaxy smartphones in India dubbed as Galaxy J7 Pro and Galaxy J7 Max. Both of these are yet another Samsung 4G phones also supporting VoLTE. The smartphones sit on the top of Galaxy J-series lineup introduced in the year 2015. The Galaxy J7 Pro is none other than Galaxy J7 (2017) launched recently worldwide. The company has just tweaked the name for the Indian market.

Specs-wise, the Galaxy J7 Pro sports a 5.5-inch Full HD Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. Furthermore, the display also gets 2.5D curved glass on top. Underneath it, the device draws its power from an octa-core Exynos 7870 chipset ticking at 1.6GHz. To remind you, it’s the same chipset which also powers the Galaxy J7 Prime and the Galaxy A3 (2017). The phone also gets 3GB of LPDDR3 RAM and 64GB of expandable memory onboard.

For photography, the phone packs a 13-megapixel rear camera with f/1.7 aperture and a LED flash. Up front, the phone flaunts another 13-megapixel snapper for video calling and selfies. The selfie shooter is also accompanied with a LED flash. The phone runs Android 7.0 Nougat and packs in a 3,600mAh battery.

The Samsung Galaxy J7 Max, on another hand, puts on a larger 5.7-inch Full HD IPS display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixel. In comparison to J7 Pro, the J7 Max misses out on both metal unibody as well as AMOLED display. The J7 Max, however, features a polycarbonate back cover similar to most of the budget smartphones. It is powered by an octa-core MediaTek Helio P10 processor ticking at 1.6GHz. Accompanying the processor, the phone gets 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal memory. Additionally, you can also expand the storage via a MicroSD card.

Coming to photography department, similar to its sibling, the J7 Max also sports 13MP camera on either side of the phone. Furthermore, the phone also boasts of a Smart Glow 2.0 coloured LED strip. Surprisingly, the J7 Max with a bigger display pack in a relatively smaller 3,300mAh battery than its sibling.

Both of the smartphones support Dual SIM cards and house a fingerprint scanner. Also, these are the first mid-range smartphones from the company to support Samsung Pay. Talking about the pricing, the Galaxy J7 Pro carries a price tag of Rs 20,900, whereas the J7 Max is up for grab at Rs 17,900. Users can get their hands on J7 Max starting June 20, however, the J7 Pro won’t go on sale until mid-July.

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Everything about OnePlus 5 (Update: Indian Prices)

Device	RAM	ROM or Internal Storage	Price
OnePlus 5	6GB	64GB	₹32,999
	8GB	128GB	₹37,999

  

OnePlus 5 Global Launch is on 20th June while the India Launch is on 22nd June.

Chinese smartphone maker OnePlus has announced that its latest flagship device OnePlus 5 will arrive in India on June 22.For the OnePlus 5 event, OnePlus is also inviting its Indian fans. Although, to be part of the event the OnePlus community members will have to buy a ticket. To ensure that the OnePlus community get the total worth of the money they are spending, OnePlus in return will also give them a gift hamper.

With that dual camera, LED flash, antenna bands and shade of gray, commenters were quick to point out the unfortunate resemblance between this device and the iPhone 7 Plus, which is presumably why OnePlus decided to post the above image to make a point. Indeed, from this angle, the OnePlus 5 appears to feature a more unique outline running from the side to the top, but the rest is still practically identical to the iPhone 7 Plus.

The dual camera will also be enhanced by DxO's input.Here's hoping that there will at least be a new color design to drive more differentiation and maybe OnePlus still has a trick or two up its sleeve for June 20th. 

             
OnePlus releases Star Community Video showcasing some major stars like Amitabh Bachchan, Rajiv Makhni, Sushant Rajput, Vir Das etc which shows that OnePlus has started Brand Endorsements like OPPO and VIVO.

Amazon India has also accidentally revealed that the new device will come with 8GB RAM.

          This is from the source code of the teaser landing page, here: https://t.co/eZrZANmocK

                                      — Evan Blass (@evleaks) June 7, 2017

Evan Blass, who discovered the hidden information from a source code, wrote from his Twitter handle: “OnePlus 5 powered by 2.35GHz octa-core Snapdragon 835 processor and 8GB of RAM will release on 22 June 2017 as an exclusive at Amazon.in.” This line in the source code seemingly confirms that OnePlus 5 smartphone will indeed feature impressive 8GB of RAM. Notably, the flagship smartphone has been previously tipped to feature 8GB of RAM in leaks as well.

That’s not all
Apart from the official announcement of the launch date, and the specification leak, OnePlus CEO Pete Lau also shared a OnePlus 5 camera sample clicked in low light, to tease the smartphone’s camera.

From what we can see of this night time snapshot, it shows a clear sky framing an odd-shaped building. The camera captured several details of the building including shadows, the grime that covers the walls, and even some stairways inside the edifice.

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Moto X Play to Receive Nougat Update Soon

The Moto X Play is apparently on its way to receiving the highly anticipated Android Nougat update in India. The information comes from Moto India’s Twitter account where a representative confirmed that the Moto X Play will receive Android Nougat “soon”. Unfortunately, no exact roll-out dates have been revealed, but the good news is that confirmation for the update’s eventual arrival can now also be found on the official Motorola Mobility India support page.

Earlier this month Motorola published release notes for the Android 7.1.1 Nougat update destined for the Moto X Play, and if there was any doubt regarding the launch of Android Nougat on the Moto X Play in India, users can now rest more easily knowing that the update is on its way for an eventual release. 

According to the official Moto X Play support page in India, the smartphone is planned for an upgrade to Android Nougat and is currently “pending partner support”. It remains to be seen when the update will land on the device, but once Android Nougat will be distributed, it should introduce the usual range of new features and improvements specific to this particular OS version. This includes split-screen multitasking, improved performance and battery life, and a reworked user interface to name a few. The company’s previous release notes also mentioned the inclusion of Google Duo for video calling and the Android security patch for May 1st, however, keep in mind that release notes for the Indian market may vary.

The Moto X Play was launched in August 2015 around the time Lenovo was merging its smartphone business with Motorola Mobility following the company’s acquisition from Google. The smartphone was released running Android 5.1.1 Lollipop and received its first major update to Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow in less than 12 months of market availability. Spec-wise the Moto X Play features a 5.5-inch IPS LCD display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080, and conceals a Qualcomm MSM8939 Snapdragon 615 system-on-chip under the hood, housing eight CPU cores and an Adreno 405 graphics chip. A 21-megapixel main camera sits on the back panel alongside a dual-LED flash, and a 5-megapixel front-facing sensor caters to selfie enthusiasts. We’ll keep you posted with further developments regarding Android Nougat’s availability for the Moto X Play in India.

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