This week, we saw Chinese manufacturer Vivo launched three smartphones, Xiaomi got the new headphones and a 32GB variant of the Mi 4i, upgraded YU YUREKA Plus and a lot more.
Vivo launched its flagship smartphone in India – the Vivo X5Pro. It packs a 5.2-inch 1080p Super AMOLED display. It has 2.5D curved glasses and Corning Gorilla Glass protection on the front and back. It is powered by octa-core 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 processor coupled with 2GB of RAM and runs on Funtouch OS based on Android 5.0 (Lollipop). It has a 13-megapixel rear camera with LED Flash and a 8-megapixel front-facing camera.
The Vivo X5Pro is priced at Rs. 27,980 and will be available across India starting from August 15th. Read our hands on impressions here.
The company also launched V1 and V1Max smartphones, which it had announced earlier this month. Both these smartphones have run on Android 5.0 (Lollipop) with Funtouch OS 2.1 on top, have 4G LTE connectivity with support for 4G LTE bands (TDD B40 2300MHz and FDD B3 1800MHz) for India and have dual SIM support.
The Vivo V1Max has a 5.5-inch display, but the display resolution is unknown. It is powered by an octa-core Snapdragon 615 processor instead of Snapdragon 410 on the V1, but this features the same 13-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera.
The Vivo V1 comes in gold color and is priced at Rs. 17,890, while the Vivo V1Max comes in Silver color and is priced at Rs. 21,980. The Vivo V1 is already available across 200 cities in India and the Vivo V1Max will roll out starting from August.
Xiaomi has introduced two new headphones – Mi Headphones and new Mi In-ear Headphones, in India to celebrate the first anniversary of its entry into the country, along with the Mi 4i 32GB variant. The Mi wired Headphones was announced earlier this year along with the Mi Note and Mi Note Pro smartphones.
The Mi Headphones and the New Mi in-ear Headphones are priced at Rs. Rs. 5499 and Rs. 999, respectively in India and would go on sale starting from tomorrow, July 23rd on mi.com/in from 10 AM. We unboxed several Xiaomi products, including the new Mi in-ear Headphones recently. Check out the video.
httpv://youtu.be/o5Ng7P_0dlU
The new 32GB variant of the Mi 4i smartphone is priced at Rs. 14,999. It will be available through flash sales on Mi.com from July 28th. Apart from the storage, other specifications of the smartphone are similar to the 16GB variant.
To remind you, the Mi 4i packs a 5-inch 1080p display, 2nd generation Octa-Core Snadpragon 615 processor, MIUI v6 on top of Android 5.0 (Lollipop), 13-megapixel rear camera with two-tone LED flash, 5-megapixel front-facing camera, 2GB RAM, Dual SIM support, 4G LTE connectivity and a 3120mAh battery.
After teasing for some time, YU finally launched upgraded YUREKA smartphone dubbed YUREKA PLUS. It has a 5.5-inch (1920 x 1080 pixels) Full HD IPS display with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection, compared to a 5.5-inch HD display on the YUREKA. It is powered by an octa-core 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 (4×1.5GHz + 4×1.0GHz) processor coupled with 2GB of RAM and runs on Cyanogen OS 12 based on Android 5.0 (Lollipop). It has a 13-megapixel auto focus rear camera with LED Flash, Sony IMX214 sensor, compared to Sony IMX135 sensor on the YUREKA and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera.
LG launched two smartphones this week – LG G4 Stylus and LG Max priced at Rs. 24,990 and Rs. 10,990 respectively.
The LG G4 Stylus has a 5.7-inch HD display, is powered by a quad-core Snapdragon 410 SoC coupled with 1GB of RAM and runs on Android 5.0 (Lollipop). It has a 13-megapixel camera with LED flash, laser auto focus, a 5-megapixel front-facing camera. It comes with dual SIM support and 4G connectivity.
On the other hand, LG Max has a 5-inch FWVGA display, is powered by a 1.3 GHz quad-core processor coupled with 1GB of RAM, runs on Android 5.1.1 (Lollipop), packs a 8-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera. It also comes with dual SIM support.
Sony this week launched its Android TV line-up and world’s slimmest BRAVIA 4K LED TV, at just 4.9mm thickness at its thinnest point. The Android TVs run on Google Android 5.0 OS with Voice Search, Google Cast and lets you download a range of TV apps and games from the Google Play Store. These new models range from 43-inches (108cm) to 75-inches (190cm) and include 5 new series with 13 new models. Checkout the pricing and availability details here.
Logitech launched the X50, a portable Bluetooth speaker in India. It is compact and weighs just 142 grams, making it easy to carry. It has a 750mAh rechargeable battery that can be charged through micro-USB and promises up to 5 hours of continuous playback on a single charge. Apart from Bluetooth with A2DP, it also has a 3.5mm auxiliary input.
The Logitech Z50 comes in a range of colors – gray, yellow, orange or blue and is priced at Rs. 2,495.
Lava launched its latest smartphone in the Flair series dubbed the Lava Flair Z1 at Rs. 5,699. It has a 5-inch FWVGA IPS display,is powered by a 1.3 GHz quad-core processor coupled with 1GB of RAM and runs on Android 5.0 (Lollipop). It has a 5-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and 2-megapixel front-facing camera. It comes with dual SIM support and 3G connectivity.
Lastly, iBall launched Slide O900-C, the company’s latest tablet in the Slide series. It has a 7.85-inch (1024 x 768 pixels) 4:3 IPS display, is powered by an octa-core processor coupled with 2GB of RAM and runs on Android 4.4 (KitKat). It has a 5-megapixel auto focus rear camera and with LED flash and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera. It has dual SIM support, 3G connectivity and voice calling capabilities using hands-free.
The iBall Slide O900-C is priced at Rs. 12,999 and will be available through retail outlets and online retailers across India within the next two weeks.
Weekly Announcements
ZTE this week introduced Axon Lux and Axon with fingerprint sensor, and Axon Watch. The ZTE Axon Pro smartphone in the U.S. with 5.5-inch Quad-HD screen, an octa-core Snapdragon 810 64-bit SoC, and 4GB of RAM. It introduced Axon Lux smartphone with similar specifications in China, but this has a 128GB of internal storage with expansion slot, a fingerprint sensor and a leather-like finish on the back. It also introduced Axon smartphone with a 5.5-inch 1080p screen, 3GB RAM and 32GB of internal storage.
Other specifications are similar to the Axon Lux. These smartphones also have Eyeprint ID, a password-free eye-based biometric unlocking solution that captures unique vein patterns in the human eye using the smartphone’s front facing camera.
ZTE Axon Watch has a 1.4-inch (400 x 400 pixels) 286 ppi circular AMOLED display with Gorilla Glass screen with sapphire coating. It packs a 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor with 512MB of RAM. It runs Tancent OS and is IP67 certified (waterproof and dustproof). Checkout full details here.
The ZTE Axon Lux is priced at 3,888 Yuan (US$ 626 / Rs. 39,890 approx.) and the Axon is priced at 2,699 Yuan (US$ 435/ Rs. 27,680 approx.). Both these come in Ion Gold and Chromium Silver colors and is available for order in China. No details about the price or availability of the Axon Watch yet.
Huawei has announced Honor 4A, the company’s latest budget smartphone in the Honor series in China. It has a 5-inch HD display, is powered by 1.1 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 210 processor and runs on Android 5.1 (Lollipop) with Emotion UI 3.1 on top. It has a 8-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and a 2-megapixel front-facing camera. It has dual SIM support and comes with 4G connectivity.
LG announced Bello II, the successor of last year’s L Bello. It has the same 5-inch FWVGA screen, is powered by a 1.3 GHz quad-core processor and comes with a 8-megapixel rear camera with LED flash, but this runs on Android 5.1.1 (Lollipop) and has a 5-megapixel front-facing camera. It comes in single and dual SIM variants depending on the market.
Lastly, Samsung officially announced the new Galaxy Tab S2 this week, successor of last year’s Galaxy Tab S series. It comes in 8-inch and 9.7-inch screen size variants and packs Super AMOLED displays at QXGA resolution, are powered by octa-core Exynos SoCs and run on Android 5.0 (Lollipop). These have a 8-megapixel rear camera without LED flash and a 2.1-megapixel front-facing camera. These are just 5.6mm thick, making it the world’s thinnest tablets currently. These come in Wi-Fi and 4G variants. Checkout the full specifications here.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 come in Black and White colors and will roll out in global markets starting from August, 2015. Samsung has not announced the pricing yet.