Samsung this week introduced Galaxy A8 (2018) and Galaxy A8+ (2018) smartphones, 10.or launched its budget 10.or D smartphone, Xiaomi launched its Mi A1 Special Edition Red version, Huawei introduced Enjoy 7S and the Honor brand introduced the Honor 9 Lite, and lots more that happened this week in our weekly roundup.
Samsung this week announced the Galaxy A8 (2018) and Galaxy A8+ (2018)smartphones in the Galaxy A series, as expected. These have 5.6-inch and 6-inch (1080 × 2220 pixels) Full HD+Infinity Super AMOLED displays with 18.5:9 display ratio with curved glass on the back and front. These are powered by Octa-Core Exynos 7885 14nm processor, but still run Android 7.1.1 (Nougat).
These have a 16-megapixel rear camera with f/1.7 aperture, and 16-megapixel and 8-megapixel dual front cameras, both with f/1.9 aperture. This lets you switch between cameras for close-ups with the background to portrait shots and the Live Focus feature lets you adjust the bokeh effect before or after you take the picture.
The Galaxy A8 (2018) and Galaxy A8+(2018) come in Black, Orchid Grey, Gold and Blue colors, are priced at 499 Euros (US$ 588 / Rs. 37,755 approx.) and 599 Euros (US$ 706 / Rs. 45,320 approx.), respectively in Europe and will roll out starting from early January 2018.
Xiaomi launched the new Mi A1 Special Edition Red color variant in the country. Apart from the color, other specifications are similar, including 12MP dual rear cameras, 5.5-inch 1080p 2.5D curved glass display, Octa-Core Snapdragon 625 Mobile platform and a 3080mAh built-in battery. It is available in limited numbers via Flipkart and Mi.com online at Rs. 13,999.
10.or launched 10.or D, the company’s most affordable smartphone as a part of “Crafted for Amazon” programme. It has a 5.2-inch HD screen, is powered by Snapdragon 425 Mobile Platform, runs on Android 7.1.2 (Nougat), which is upgradable to Android 8.0 (Oreo). It has a 13-megapixel rear camera and a 5-megapixel camera, both with LED flash, comes with a fingerprint sensor on the back, has dedicated SIM slots with a microSD slot and packs a 3500mAh battery.
It comes in Beyond Black and Aim Gold colors, is priced at Rs. 4999 for the 2GB RAM with 16GB storage version and the 3GB RAM with 32GB storage version costs Rs. 5,999. It will be available exclusively from Amazon.in starting from January 5th.
InFocus this week launched Vision 3 smartphone in India. It has a 5.7-inch HD+ 18:9 2.5D curved glass display with 82.4% screen-to-body ratio, is powered by a quad-core MediaTek processor, runs on Android 7.0 (Nougat) with SMILE UX and has a 13-megapixel rear camera along with a secondary 5-megapixel camera with 120-degree wide-angle lens. It also has an 8-megapixel front camera.
It has a fingerprint sensor on the back, packs a 4000mAh battery that promises 22 days standby and has reverse charging capabilities that lets you easily charge another smartphone via OTG. It comes in Black color, is priced at Rs. 6999 and is available exclusively from Amazon.in.
Huawei introduced Enjoy 7S, the company’s latest mid-range smartphone with a full-screen display in China, as it had promised. It has a 5.65-inch full HD+ full-screen display with 18:9 aspect ratio and comes with a 13-megapixel rear camera along with a secondary 2-megapixel rear camera to capture depth information.
It is powered by Kirin 659 SoC, similar most other mid-range Huawei and Honor phones, but this runs on Android 8.0 (Oreo) with EMIUI 8.0 out-of-the-box. It has a unibody metal design, has a fingerprint sensor on the back and packs a 3000mAh battery.
It comes in Black, Blue, Gold and Rose Gold colors, is priced at 1499 yuan (US$ 226 / Rs. 14540 approx.) for the 3GB RAM with 32GB storage version and the 4GB RAM with 64GB storage version costs 1699 yuan (US$ 256 / Rs. 16,480 approx.) and is already on sale in China.
Huawei’s Honor brand introduced Honor 9 Lite. It has a 5.65-inch full HD+ full-screen display with 18:9 aspect ratio and comes with a 13-megapixel front and rear cameras along with a secondary 2-megapixel rear camera to capture depth information. It is powered by Kirin 659 SoC, runs on Android 8.0 (Oreo) with EMIUI 8.0 out-of-the-box, has a metal frame, glass back, fingerprint sensor on the back and packs a 3000mAh battery.
It comes in Black, Blue, Grey and Black colors, is priced at 1199 yuan (US$ 182 / Rs. 11,670 approx.) for the 3GB RAM with 32GB storage version, 1499 yuan (US$ 227 / Rs. 14,590 approx.) for the 4GB RAM with 32GB storage version and the 4GB RAM with 64GB storage version costs 1799 yuan (US$ 273 / Rs. 17,500 approx.). It will be available in China from December 26th.
Vivo this week announced the Y75, a mid-range smartphone in the ‘Y series’. It has a 5.7-inch HD+ 18:9 full-screen display with 83.6% screen-to-body ratio and comes with a 16-megapixel front camera with Face Wake, face unlock feature. It is powered by MediaTek Helio P23 SoC, runs on Android 7.1 (Nougat) with FuntouchOS 3.2 and comes with a 13-megapixel rear camera.
It has dedicated dual nano SIM and microSD card slots arranged in a single tray, fingerprint sensor on the back and packs a 3000mAh battery. It comes in Black, Gold and Rose Gold colors, is priced at 1598 yuan (US$ 241 / Rs. 15,510 approx.) and is available in China.
Vivo this week launched the V7 in new Energetic Blue color variant in the country, similar to the V7+ that got the Blue version last month. Specifications are similar to the original V7, including a 5.7-inch HD+ FullView display with 18:9 aspect ratio, 16-megapixel rear camera with PDAF and LED flash, Octa-Core Snapdragon 450 14nm Mobile Platform, Android 7.1 (Nougat) based on FuntouchOS 3.2, fingerprint sensor on the back and a 3000mAh built-in battery. It is priced at Rs. 18,990 and is available from Flipkart online as well as retail stores.
Garmin launched Vivosport, its latest smart activity tracker with built-in Elevate wrist-based heart rate sensor that monitors heart rate 24×7. It was introduced back in August and comes with Chroma color touchscreen display with built-in sports apps to track both indoor and outdoor workouts such as strength training, cycling, cardio and more.
It is safe for swimming and showering and promises battery life of up to 7 days in smartwatch mode and 8 hours in GPS mode. It comes in Slate color in India, is priced at Rs. 15,990 and is available exclusively from Amazon.in online and is also available from select retail stores in India.
Samsung this week launched the world’s biggest curved monitor in India. The 49-inch ultra-wide curved gaming monitor (LC49HG90) has a 32:9 aspect ratio and 3,840×1,080 double full HD (DFHD) resolution. It delivers 1,800R curvature, an ultra-wide 178-degree viewing angle and accelerated refresh rate (144Hz) and 1ms motion picture response time (MPRT) with advanced, four-channel scanning technology to deter motion blur and produce a more consistent picture across the entire screen.
It is priced at Rs. 1,50,000, is available from Samsung Shop online and will be available at all leading retail outlets soon.