This week saw a lot of announcements particularly in terms of smartphones from OnePlus, Motorola, InFocus and more. Many manufacturers also launched their smartphones in India such as Samsung, InFocus, Lava etc.
Probably the most hyped announcement of the week was that of the OnePlus One successor, the OnePlus 2. The OnePlus 2 features the same 5.5″ 1080p screen but gets a more powerful octa-core Snapdragon 810 processor and 4GB RAM on the 64GB variant while the 16GB variant makes do with 3GB of RAM. While the Snapdragon 810 is known to have caused issues in the past in terms of heating and performance, OnePlus claim that like Xiaomi, they’re using the V2.1 of the chipset which solves those issues. It also has the same 13 Megapixel resolution on its main camera but it has OIS (Optical Image Stablilization), Laser Tracking Autofocus and a dual-LED flash to go along with it. There is a USB Type-C port, 3300 mAH non-removable battery, Dual nanoSIM slot and a 5 Megapixel front facing camera as well. The smartphone will hit India and other major markets on August 11th with the pricing set at 22,999 for the 16GB variant and 24,999 for the 64GB variant exclusively through Amazon in India. To check out the prices of the smartphone worldwide, do check out this post. on
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZuobNWxWu0
We went hands-on with the OnePlus 2 and later did an unboxing as well. We even have a camera samples post for you to check out the newly upgraded camera of the OnePlus 2.
Motorola was the second company to bring us new smartphones the same day when they announced the 3rd Generation Moto G smartphone. The new smartphone features a 5″ 720p screen that is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 3 and is powered by a quad-core 64bit Snapdragon 410 processor. It comes in both 8GB as well as 16GB variants with 1GB RAM and 2GB RAM respectively. There is a 13 Megapixel rear camera with LED flash, IR filter, f2.0 aperture and a 5 Megapixel front facing camera with 72 degree wide angle lens. There is a 2470 mAH battery on board and the device is IPX7 water resistant. It has a DualSIM slot, comes with Android 5.1.1 Lollipop and supports 4G LTE as well. The Moto G 3rd gen is priced at Rs11,999 for the 8GB (1GB RAM) variant and Rs12,999 for the 16GB (2GB RAM) variant.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hxlyZYHmC0
If you haven’t already seen it, do take a look at our unboxing of the Moto G (2015), its photo gallery and comparison with the Moto G (2014).
Motorola also announced not one but two successors to the Moto X (2014). The Moto X Play and Moto X Style. Let’s start with the Moto X Style which is the flagship Moto X product for 2015. It has a 5.7″ 1440p display with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 and is powered by a hexa-core Snapdragon 808 processor; same as the one found on the LG G4. It has 3GB of RAM and 16GB/32GB/64GB capacities of internal memory that is expandable upto 128GB using microSD cards. The primary camera is a 21 Megapixel unit with dual-tone LED flash, 4K recording and f2.0 aperture while the front facing camera is a 5 Megapixel unit with an 87 degree wide angle lens, LED flash and f2.0 aperture. It also supports 4G LTE and comes with a 3000 mAH battery.
The Moto X Play on the other hand is a sportier and lower end version in the X series. It has a 5.5″ 1080p display and is powered by an octa-core Snapdragon 615 processor. It has 2GB of RAM and is available in both 16GB and 32GB variants supporting microSD cards upto 128GB. It has a similar camera to the Moto X Style but only supports upto 1080p video recording and the front facing camera is a 5 Megapixel unit but without any of the fancy features the Style has. It comes with 4G LTE support, Android 5.1.1 Lollipop out of the box and has a massive 3630 mAH battery.
Moto also announced Surround and Pulse wireless headsets. The Moto Pulse is an over-ear headphone with 40mm drivers and a 60 foot wireless range. It has built-in playback controls and can be folded when not in use offering upto 18 hours of playback from a single charge. It will cost you US$ 59.99 and comes with the Moto Connect app that lets you monitor the battery level.
The Moto Surround is a wireless headphone that is both sweatproof and waterproof. It has an around-the-neck design and has earphones that extend out of the main module. It has an integrated mic that supports hands-free calling and has a 12 hour rating for music playback from a single charge. It costs US$ 69.99 and comes with the Moto Connect app that lets you monitor the battery level.
Meizu launched the successor of the m1, the m2 earlier this week as well. It has a 5 inch 720p HD display with 1000:1 contrast ratio and Dragontail Glass protection. There’s a quad-core 64bit Mediatek MT6735 processor clocked in at 1.3GHz with Mali T720 GPU. There’s 2GB of RAM on board and the 16GB of internal memory is expandable upto 128GB using microSD cards. The main camera is a 13 Megapixel unit with LED flash, f2.2 aperture and Gorilla Glass 3 lens protection while the front camera is a 5 Megapixel unit with f2.0 aperture. The phone will run Android 5.1 out of the box with Meizu’s FlyMe OS on top. It will support 4G LTE and will have a hybrid Dual SIM slot along with a 2500 mAH battery.
ZTE launched a new series of smartphones called V3. Under it are three models namely V3 Youth, V3 Energy and V3 Extreme. The smartphones are majorly the same in specs with the difference between the Energy being the added full network support compared to the Youth and the Extreme edition bundles extra accessories as well. They are priced at 999 Yuan (US$ 160 / Rs. 10,310 approx.) for the Youth, 1299 Yuan (US$ 210 / Rs. 13,400 approx.) for the Energy and 1499 Yuan (US$ 240 / Rs. 15,470 approx.). The devices have a 5.5″ Full HD screen, 2GB of RAM and are powered by an octa-core Snapdragon 615 processor. There’s 16GB of storage on board that can be expanded using microSD cards upto 128GB in capacity. The rear camera is a 13 Megapixel unit with LED flash and there is a 5 Megapixel front facing camera too. It will have a 3000mAH battery powering it and will come with 4G LTE support as well as Android Lollipop 5.1 out of the box with nubia UI 3.0 layer on top.
Like Moto, LG also announced an active headset called the LG Tone Active Durable Bluetooth Stereo headset. The headset has an IPX3 rating for water as well as sweat resistance and comes in several different colours. It has a band that goes around your neck and earphones that extend out from it. It has Bluetooth 4.1 technology and a built-in microphone for making calls. Priced at US$ 120, it is available through AT&T and other retail stores.
Coming to the launches, InFocus launched a bunch of smartphones here in India. The InFocus M812 is the flagship model and it packs a 5.5″ 1080p display, Snapdragon 801 processor and 3GB of RAM at Rs19,999. The InFocus M550 3D costs Rs 15,999 and like the name suggests, it has a 5.5″ 1080p Stereoscopic 3D display. It also has 2GB of RAM and is powered by a Mediatek MT6752 processor. The InFocus M808 is a smaller 5.2″ device with1080p display, Mediatek MT6752 octa-core processor, 2GB of RAM and 13 Megapixel camera for Rs12,999. The InFocus M370 is a low end device with 5″ 720p display, quad-core Snapdragon 210 processor, 1GB RAM and an 8 Megapixel camera for Rs 5,999.
Lava launched their pixel V1 Android One smartphone with 5.5″ 720p display, 2GB RAM and quad-core Mediatek MT6582 processor for Rs11,350. Check out our hands-on and photo gallery of the device if you haven’t done so already.
Lava also announced a low end selfie centric smartphone called the X1 Selfie at the end of last month. It has a 5 Megapixel front facing camera, 4.5″ display and 1GB of RAM for a price of Rs6,777.
Micromax launched the Canvas Xpress 2 E213 smartphone with a 5″ 720p display and a 13 Megapixel camera for Rs5,999. We’ve already done the unboxing as well as a photo gallery of the device for your viewing.
Dell launched a new addition to the Venue 7 series of tablet. The new Dell Venue 7 3741 has a 6.96 inch display with 1024×600 pixels resolution, quad-core Intel Atom processor and 1GB of RAM at a price of Rs7,999. It also supports 3G connectivity and voice calling functionality.
Samsung launched the Galaxy Grand Prime 4G smartphone in India at a price of Rs11,100. It has a 5″ qHD display with 960×540 pixels resolution, 1.2GHz quad-core processor and 1GB of RAM.
Gionee’s Pioneer P2M smarphone witha 4″ 800×480 pixels display, Android 5.1 and a 4000mAH battery was launched at Rs6,999.
Wickedleak introduced their Wammy Neo 3 smartphone with 5.5″ 1080p display, 3GB RAM and 4G LTE support at RS14,999.
Celkon Millenia Xplore was launched at a price of Rs6,999. It packs a 5″ 720p display, 13 Megapixel camera and comes with Android Lollipop 5.0 out of the box. They also launched the Millenia 2GB Xpress. It is a 4.5″ device with 800×480 pixels resolution, quad-core processor and like the name suggests, comes with 2GB of RAM.
