First up is the highlight of the week from Huawei. The company launched three products in its Honor portfolio – the Honor Bee, the Honor 4C smartphones and Honor AP007 power bank.
Huawei Honor Bee is the latest budget dual-SIM smartphone from Huawei, launched at Rs. 4,999. It packs a 4.5-inch FWVGA display, is powered by a 1.2 GHz quad-core Spreadtrum processor and runs on Android 4.4.2 (KitKat) with Huawei’s Emotion UI (EMUI) 3.0 on top. It packs an 8-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and a 2-megapixel front-facing camera. Read our hands on with the device here and checkout the video below.
httpv://youtu.be/mL_jGZcft4o
Coming to the second smartphone Huawei Honor 4C, first announced last week in China, is priced at Rs. 8,999 in India. It packs a 5-inch HD display, is powered by 1.2 GHz Huawei Kirin 620 64-bit A53 octa-core processor and runs on Android 4.4.2 (Kitkat) with Emotion UI 3.0. It has a 13-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera. Read our hands on here.
httpv://youtu.be/_hs6qoK_fgQ
Lastly Huawei launched a 13000mAh power bank in India dubbed the Honor AP007 at Rs. 1,399. The power bank has two USB slot with 5V – 2A output that lets you charge two devices at a time. There is a power button and LED indicators to show the charge.
Pre-order for Honor Bee has started on both hihonor.in and flipkart.com and sales will start from May 11. Honor 4C and power bank AP007 will go on sale starting 6pm IST from May 8.
Lenovo A5000 and P70 smartphones that went on sale in India recently have been officially launched in the country. The Lenovo A5000 and P70 are priced at Rs. 9,999 and Rs. 15,999 respectively. These smartphones are available through Lenovo Retail stores and TheDoStore online.
Both the A5000 and P70 have a 5-inch (720×1280 pixels) HD display, runs on Android 4.4 (KitKat) and pack a 4000mAh battery. The A5000 is powered by a 1.3GHz quad-core MediaTek processor, while the P70 is powered by a 1.7 GHz octa-core MediaTek MT6752 processor and comes with 4G LTE connectivity. Checkout full specifications here.
This week, Panasonic launched the Eluga L 4G, company’s first smartphone with 4G support in India. It has a 5-inch (1280 x 720 pixels) HD IPS display based on one-glass-solution (OGS) technology), is powered by a 1.2 GHz quad-core 64-bit Snapdragon processor and runs on Android 4.4 (KitKat). It has an 8-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera.
Micromax launched another smartphone in its Unite series – the successor of last year’s Unite 2 dubbed the Micromax Unite 3 Q372. The smartphone is available through third-party online retailer at Rs. 6,569.
It has a 4.7 (800 x 480 pixels) display and is powered by a 1.3 GHz quad-core MediaTek processor, similar to the Unite 2, but this runs on Android 5.0 (Lollipop) out of the box. It has an 8-megapixel auto focus rear camera with LED flash and a 2-megapixel fixed focus front-facing camera.
iBall also launched two new Android tablets the iBall Slide 3G Q45 and Slide 3G i80. The dual-SIM Slide 3G Q45 features a 7-inch (1024×600 pixels) display, is powered by a 1.2 GHz quad-core Cortex A7 processor and runs on Android 4.4 (KitKat). The Slide 3G i80 features an 8-inch (1280×800 pixels) IPS display and is powered by a quad-core Intel Atom Z3735F processor. It has 3G support and voice-calling capabilities.
The iBall Slide 3G Q45 comes in silver color and is priced at Rs. 5327 online, while the MRP is Rs. 6,599. The iBall Slide 3G i80 is priced at Rs. 10,499 and will be available across India soon.
Lastly, the watch manufacturer Timex launched the IRONMAN Move x20 and Timex IRONMAN Run x20 GPS activity trackers in India at Rs. 8,995 and Rs. 11,995 respectively.
The IRONMAN Move x20 is an all-day activity tracker that can track your steps, distance and calories burned, while the Timex IRONMAN Run x20 is a GPS watch that provides real-time distance, pace, speed and calories burned while running. See full details here.
The two other smartphones launched this week are InFocus M330 Limited Edition Black variant priced at Rs. 9,999, and budget Spice Stellar 405 at Rs. 3,299.
Weekly Announcements
BlackBerry is getting its latest Leap smartphone in India later this month. The smartphone was first announced in March 2015, the handset combines mid-range specifications, solid reliability of BlackBerry OS with its enterprise credentials. The BlackBerry Leap is priced at $275 globally. The Indian pricing is expected to be around Rs. 22,000 when it is available starting May 12.
The BlackBerry Leap employs a compact 5-inch 720p display. It is powered by a 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 processor and has 2GB of RAM onboard. An 8-megapixel camera is placed at the rear while there is a 2-megapixel front camera also onboard. The phone is powered by BlackBerry OS 10.3.1. While you wait for further information, do check out our BlackBerry Leap Hands On.
httpv://youtu.be/hHtA3hFPKVs
Sony announced its latest mid-range handset in the Xperia series dubbed Xperia C4. It is a selfie-focused smartphone that comes with a 5-megapixel front-facing camera with 25mm wide-angle lens along with a soft LED flash, similar to the Xperia C3. It has a 13-megapixel rear camera with LED flash. Other specifications include a 5.5-inch 1080 display, 1.7 GHz octa-core MediaTek processor and Android 5.0 Lollipop.
The phone would also be available in dual-SIM variant called Xperia C4 Dual. It packs 2GB RAM, 16GB of internal storage with expansion slot and a 2600mAh battery. Sony Xperia C4 and C4 Dual come in black, white and mint colors and would launch in select markets from the beginning of June 2015. No word on pricing yet.
ZTE announced nubia Z9, the company’s latest flagship smartphone in China this week. The ZTE nubia Z9 Classic Edition with 3GB RAM and 32GB internal storage is priced at CNY 3,499 ($564/ Rs. 35,850 approx.), Elite Edition that has 4GB RAM with 64GB storage is price at CNY 3,999 ($644/ Rs. 40,945 approx.) and the top Edition with the same 4GB RAM and 64GB of internal storage along with fingerprint sensor costs CNY 4,499 ($725/ Rs. 46,064 approx.). The registrations have already started and sale will commence on May 21. No word on global roll out yet. Checkout the full specifications here.