This week we saw pretty big announcements from Samsung and Xiaomi. Where Xiaomi rolled out its first ‘Made in India’ smartphone Redmi 2 Prime from Sri City manufacturing plant in Andhra Pradesh, Samsung unveiled its flagship Galaxy Note 5, S6 Edge+, Samsung Pay and more at its Unpacked event in New York. On the same day, Xiaomi also hosted an event in China to unveil its all new Redmi Note 2, Note 2 Prime and other devices.
Weekly Announcements
Samsung, as expected, launched the Galaxy Note5 at its Galaxy Unpacked 2015 New York. The device features Super AMOLED screen with a QHD resolution, Exynos 7420 chipset coupled with 4GB of RAM.
The Galaxy Note 5 brings the latest storage standard – UFS 2.0. The base model will house 32GB of internal storage, but you can upgrade to 64GB to match your needs. Unfortunately, the new design language means no microSD slot and surprisingly Samsung is not releasing the 128GB variant this time.
Coming to the cameras, Samsung Galaxy Note5 has a 16 megapixel f/1.9 aperture sensor, optical image stabilization and brings auto real-time HDR option. On the front, it packs a 5-megapixel shooter. Checkout full specifications, and our Photo Gallery of the Galaxy Note5.
Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+ smartphone packs a 5.7-inch Quad HD (2560×1440 pixels) Super AMOLED display that is curved on both the sides, is powered by a Octa-Core ( Quad 2.1GHz + Quad 1.5GHz) Exynos 7420 processor coupled with 4GB LPDDR4 RAM and runs on Android 5.1 (Lollipop). It has a 16-megapixel rear camera with LED flash, OIS and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera. Check out the Galaxy S6 edge+ photo gallery here.
The company also announced its native mobile payment service Samsung Pay, alongside teasing its next-gen Gear S2 smartwatch.
Samsung Pay will be pre-loaded on select Galaxy S6 edge+ and Galaxy Note5 devices and a free software upgrade will be rolled out beginning mid-August to enable Samsung Pay on Galaxy S6 and S6 edge devices in the U.S. and Korea.
Samsung Pay can be used to make payments with simply swiping and scan their fingerprint. The service uses tokenization, Samsung KNOX, and fingerprint authentication to provide secure payments and reduce the security risks inherent to plastic cards.
Xiaomi in China announced the Redmi Note 2 smartphone at its MIUI 7 event. It packs a 5.5-inch full-HD display, is powered by a octa-core MediaTek Helio X10 processor coupled with 2GB of RAM and runs on MIUI 7 based on Android 5.0 (Lollipop). It has a 13-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and phase-detection auto-focus (PDAF), resulting in a quick focus of just 0.1 second. It also has a 5-megapixel front-facing camera. It has a Magnesium alloy frame and is 8.25mm thick.
The Redmi Note 2 has 16GB of internal storage and the Redmi Note 2 Prime has a faster 2.2GHz Helio X10 SoC and 32GB of internal storage.
The Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 comes in Dark Grey, White, Blue, Bright Yellow and Pink colors and is priced at 799 yuan (US$ 124 / Rs. 8,080 approx.) for the TDD-LTE and TD-SCDMA 16GB variant, 899 yuan (US$ 140 / Rs. 9,092 approx.) for the TDD-LTE and FDD-LTE variant with 16GB storage and the Redmi Note 2 Prime with 32GB storage costs 999 Yuan (US$ 155 / Rs. 10,115 approx.). It will go on sale in China starting from August 16th.
Xiaomi alongside introduced the compact wireless router Mi Wi-Fi nano, smaller than the Mi Wi-Fi mini router. The router is so compact that it fits in your palm or can be carried in your pocket. It weighs just 100 grams. The main highlight of the wireless router is that it has micro USB input that lets you power it using a power bank since it consumes just 36W power. A 10000 mAh Mi Power Bank can power the router for up to 30 hours, says Xiaomi.
Lastly, Qualcomm launched its new portfolio of Snapdragon SoC’s this week – the Qualcomm Snapdragon 212 and Snapdragon 412, Qualcomm Snapdragon 616, and much anticipated Snapdragon 820.
Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 212 SoC is a quad-core processor that has multi-mode 3G/4G LTE Advanced and LTE Dual-SIM support for entry-level smartphones and tablets. It uses the same ARM Cortex A7 CPU seen on the Snapdragon 210, but the clock speed has been increased from 1.1 GHz to 1.3 GHz per core. The Snapdragon 412 quad-core processor uses 64-bit Cortex A53 CPUs similar to the Snapdragon 410, but the clock speed has been increased from 1.2 GHz to 1.4 GHz per core and the memory bandwidth has been increased from 533 MHz to 600 MHz.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 616 SoC is the successor of the Snapdragon 615 that was introduced last year. This has the same Quad-core ARM Cortex A53 + Quad-core ARM Cortex A53 arrangement, but the second set of Cortex A53 cores are clocked at 1.2GHz per core, compared to 1GHz in the Snapdragon 615 processor.
The current top end chipset, the Snapdragon 810, has been widely panned for the problems that accompanied it and this has directly resulted in a drop off in sales. The Snapdragon 820 is expected to be the flagship chipset for next year’s range of devices and will be adopting custom Kryo cores that are yet to be detailed.
As of now, Qualcomm has detailed that the SoC uses Adreno 500 series of GPUs – the Adreno 530. It supports 64-bit virtual memory addressing which will be helpful on the GPU end. The added graphic performance is likely to be handy for 4K output as the Snapdragon 820 supports HDMI 2.0 and hence 60Hz 4K video output.
Weekly Launches
This week Xiaomi launched its ‘Made in India’ smartphone the 2GB variant of Redmi 2 called the Redmi 2 Prime at Rs. 6,999. This smartphone is manufactured at Xiaomi and Foxconn facility in Andhra Pradesh. Apart from 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage, the Redmi 2 Prime packs similar specification as Redmi 2, which include a 4.7-inch HD display, 1.2 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 processor and 4G LTE with support for TD-LTE 2300MHz (Band 40) and FDD-LTE 1800MHz (Band 3) for India.
The Redmi 2 Prime is available on Mi.com and across all Mi India partners including Flipkart, Amazon, and Snapdeal. Check out our unboxing video.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWWwk5Hxu0c
Intex launched two budget devices this week – the Intex Cloud M6 16GB and the Intex Cloud Pace priced at Rs. 5,999 and Rs. 6,999 respectively.
The new Intex Cloud M6 variant comes with 2GB of RAM and 16GB storage, as oppose to 1GB RAM and 8GB storage variant launched back in May. Other specifications are similar, which include a 5-inch FWVGA display, a 1.2 GHz quad-core Spreadtrum SC7731 processor, Android 4.4 (KitKat), 8-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera. It supports dual-SIM and 3G connectivity.
Coming to the Intex Cloud Pace, this device is essentially the same Intex Aqua Speed smartphone that was launched earlier this year, but it runs Android 5.0 (Lollipop) out-of-the-box. The Cloud Pace packs a 4.5-inch qHD display, a 1.3GHz quad-core processor coupled with 2GB of RAM, an 8-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera.
Chinese smartphone maker, Phicomm launched the Energy 653 smartphone at Rs. 4,999. It has a 5-inch HD display, a 1.1GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 210 SoC coupled with 1GB of RAM, an 8-megapixel auto-focus rear camera with LED flash, a 2-megapixel front-facing camera and runs Android 5.1 (Lollipop) out-of-the-box.
Panasonic launched its latest smartphone in Eluga series with 4G support dubbed the Panasonic Eluga Icon at Rs. 10,999. It has a 5.5-inch (1280 x 720 pixels) HD IPS OGS display, is powered by a 1.5 GHz Octa-Core 64-bit processor coupled with 2GB of RAM and runs on Android 4.4 (KitKat) with with ICON UI skinned on top. It has a 13-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and an 8-megapixel front-facing camera. It supports dual SIM and 4G TD-LTE 2300MHz (Band 40) and FDD-LTE 1800MHz (Band 3) for India. It is just 7.9mm thick and has uni-body design.
Popular Electronics manufacturer, Philips launched the mid-range Xenium I908 and the budget S309 in India. The Philips Xenium I908 comes in Black color and is priced at Rs. 11,799. The Philips S309 comes in Black and Red colors and is priced at Rs. 4,999.
The Philips I908 appeared on the official Philips India website last year and packs a 5-inch 1080p screen, 1.7GHz Octa-Core MediaTek MT6592 processor, 13-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera. The Philips S309 has a 4-inch WVGA screen, 1GHz dual-core processor, 5-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and a VGA front-facing camera. Both these smartphone have dual SIM support and 3G connectivity. Checkout the full details here.
BLU launched the Win JR LTE and the Win HD LTE Windows 8.1 smartphones on Snapdeal in India.
Both these are powered by 1.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 410 SoC. The Win JR LTE has a 4.5-inch FWVGA IPS screen and the Win HD LTE has a 5-inch HD screen based on one-glass-solution (OGS) technology. Both these have dual SIM support with support for 4G TDD LTE Bands 38 and 40 and FDD-LTE bands 3,7 and 20.
Oppo finally launched its Mirror 5 smartphone in India. It was announced last month in China and packs a 5-inch qHD display, is powered by a 1.2 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 410 64-bit SoC coupled with 2GB of RAM, runs on Android 5.1 (Lollipop) with Color OS 2.1 ROM, has a 8-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera.
Oppo has launched the dual-SIM 3G variant of the smartphone in India and it is priced at Rs. 15,990.
BlackBerry this week launched its luxury smartphone in India the BlackBerry Porsche Design P’9983 Graphite. The Porsche Design P’9983 smartphone originally announced last September and the Graphite Edition was introduced back in April. It has colored elements and hand-wrapped leather on the back door cover. The keyboard has an exclusive keypad with specially crafted glass-like keys with the durability of rigid synthetic material, blackened glass and a graphite stainless steel color frame.
The BlackBerry Porsche Design P’9983 Graphite is priced at Rs. 99,990 and will be available from select retailers in India soon.
Sony launched its compact RX100 IV, High-Zoom RX10 II and α7R II with world’s first Back-Illuminated 35mm Full-Frame sensor in India.
The Sony RX100 IV and RX10 II are priced at Rs. 69,990 and Rs. 94,990, respectively and come with a free carry case, Micro HDMI cable and a 64GB SDXC memory card. The Sony α7R II is priced at Rs. 2,39,990, comes with all these freebies, a battery charger and two rechargeable batteries.
Both the RX100 IV and RX10 II have world’s first 1.0 type stacked Exmor RS CMOS sensor with advanced signal processing and an attached DRAM memory chip. The α7R II interchangeable lens camera features the world’s first back-illuminated full-frame Exmor R CMOS sensor. Checkout full details and specifications here.
Ricoh this week launched two new cameras in India, the Ricoh THETA m15 and the DSLR Pentax K-S2, priced at Rs. 34,770 and Rs. 56,995 respectively.
Ricoh THETA m15 is a compact spherical camera that uses two 180 degrees fish-eye lenses on each side to capture images and can stitch both together for a 360 degree result. It can also capture videos up to 1080p at 15fps.
The highlight of Pentax K-S2 is that the DSLR offers a weather and dust resistant body and features an optical pentaprism (100% field of view). The DSLR Pentax K-S2 features a 20-megapixel CMOS sensor without a low pass filter, and uses a Vari-angle LCD (3-inch, 921K dots), which company says has been used for the first time in Pentax series.