This week OPPO introduced R15 and A1 smartphones, HTC introduced Desire 12 and 12+ smartphones with 18:9 displays, Vivo introduced X21 and V9 smartphones, Lenovo introduced S5, K5 and K5 Play smartphones, Xiaomi introduced Mi Casual, City and Travel Backpacks , and lots more new launches and announcements in our weekly roundup.
OPPO announced its flagship R15 series of smartphones in China. It comes with a 6.28-inch FHD+ 19:9 aspect ratio OLED display with a notch with a 1.78mm narrow frame and 90% screen-to-body ratio. It calls it Super-V Display. The R15 is powered by the latest MediaTek Helio P60 12nm SoC, while the R15 Dream Mirror Edition is powered by Snapdragon 660 SoC. Both the phones have 6GB of RAM and 128GB storage.
These also have a 16-megapixel rear camera 1/2.6″ Sony IMX519 sensor with 1.22μm pixel size and f/1.7 aperture and come with AI Intelligent Scene Recognition that can recognize 16 kinds of scenes and 120 kinds of multi-scene combinations and also comes with AI portraits with built-in AI chip . The R15 has a 5-megapixel secondary rear camera, while the Dream Mirror Edition features a 20-megapixel secondary camera with f/1.7 aperture. These also have a 20-megapixel front camera with AI smart beauty that can scan 296 feature points of the face, which is 16.5% more than the previous generation.
The OPPO R15 comes in Snow White, Hot Red and Star Purple colors and is priced at 2999 Yuan (US$ 473 / Rs. 30,800 approx.) and the OPPO R15 Dream Mirror Edition in Dream Mirror Red costs 3299 Yuan (US$ 520 / Rs. 33,880 approx.), while the Ceramic Edition costs 3499 Yuan (US$ 552 / Rs. 35,935 approx.). Both are now available for order and goes on sale in China from April 1st.
OPPO also introduced A1 in China, which has similar specifications as the A83 that was introduced in China and launched in India recently, but it comes in two different colors and 64GB storage, compared to 32GB in the A83. It has a 5.7 HD+ full-screen 2.5D curved glass display, is powered by MediaTek Helio P23 SoC with 4GB RAM, comes with a 13-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and an 8-megapixel front-facing camera.
It comes in Dark Blue and Cherry Red colors, is priced at 1499 yuan (US$ 537 / Rs. 15,400 approx.), available for order in China and goes on sale from April 1st.
Vivo announced X21, its latest top-end smartphone in the ‘X Series’. It has a 6.28-inch FHD+ 19:9 Super AMOLED display with a notch, 90.3% screen-to-body ratio, 1.66mm narrow bezels on the sides, 1.79mm bezels on the top and 5mm on the bottom. It is powered by Snapdragon 660 with 6GB RAM and runs Android 8.1 (Oreo) with Funtouch OS 4.0 with A.I features.
It comes in standard and in-display fingerprint sensor version, comes with a 3D glass body, features dual rear cameras with a 12-megapixel primary sensor with Samsung 2L9 sensor with Dual Pixel technology along with a 5-megapixel secondary rear camera to capture the depth information. It has AI scene recognition that can automatically detect 17 scenes and the 12-megapixel front camera has AI beauty recognition for a perfect selfie and can output 24-megapixel resolution images.
It comes in Black, Aurora White and Ruby Red colors and is price at 2898 yuan (US$ 457 / Rs. 29,870 approx.) for the 6GB RAM with 64GB version, 3198 yuan (US$ 505 / Rs. 32,960 approx.) for the 6GB RAM with 128GB storage version and the X21 with in-display fingerprint sensor with 6GB RAM with 128GB storage costs 3598 yuan (US$ 568 / Rs. 37,085 approx.). The standard version is available form March 24th and the in-display fingerprint sensor version will be available from March 28th.
Vivo launched V9, the company’s latest smartphone in the ‘V series’ and the successor of last year’s V7 in India. It has a 6.3-inch FHD+ 19:9 2.5D curved glass display with a notch, 90% screen-to-body ratio and 1.75mm slim bezels. It is powered by Snapdragon 626 with 4GB RAM, runs Android 8.1 (Oreo) with Funtouch OS 4.0, has 16-megapixel rear camera along with a secondary 5-megapixel camera to capture the depth information for portrait shots.
It has a 24-megapixel front camera with A.I face beauty for a perfect image event in low-light or glare and has face unlock. It also lets you add stickers to images, which it calls AR Stickers. It has a metal and glass design, comes with dedicated dual SIM and microSD slots and packs a 3260mAh battery.
It comes in Pearl Black, Champagne Gold and Sapphire Blue colors, is priced at Rs. 22,990, will be available for pre-order from today from Amazon.in, Flipkart as well as offline retailers and goes on sale from April 2nd.
HTC announced Desire 12 and Desire 12+ smartphones in the Desire series. These have a 5.5-inch and 6-inch HD+ full-screen displays, and the similarity ends there. The Desire 12 is powered by a MediaTek MT6739 SoC with up to 3GB RAM, runs Android Nougat, has a 13-megapixel rear camera and a 5-megapixel front camera.
The Desire 12+ is powered by Snapdragon 450 with 3GB RAM, runs Android Oreo, has a 13-megapixel rear camera along with a 2-megapixel secondary camera to capture depth information for portrait shots and an 8-megapixel front camera with LED flash. It also has a fingerprint sensor on the back. Both the phones feature a liquid-surface design with a glossy back.
The HTC Desire 12 and Desire 12+ come in Black, Silver, Purple and Gold colors, are priced at 200 Euros (US$ 246 / Rs. 16,055 approx.) and for 250 Euros (US$ 307 / Rs. 20,070 approx.), respectively and will go on sale in Europe starting from April.
Huawei announced Nova 3e, the company’s latest smartphone in the ‘Nova series’ in China. It is a variant of the P20 Lite that was introduced recently packs a 5.84-inch FHD+ 19:9 screen with a notch, is powered by Kirin 659 with 4GB RAM, runs Android 8.0 (Oreo) with EMUI 8.0 and has a 16-megapixel rear camera along with a 2-megapixel secondary camera for portrait shots.
It comes in Black, Blue and Rose Gold colors, is priced at 1999 (US$ 315 / Rs. 20,580 approx.) for the 4GB RAM with 64GB storage version and the 128GB storage version costs 2199 yuan (US$ 347 / Rs. 22,645 approx.). It goes on sale in China starting from March 27th.
Sharp introduced AQUOS S3 mini in China. It has a 5.5-inch Full HD+ display with a notch and 87.5% screen-to-body ratio, is powered by Snapdragon 630 with 6GB RAM and Android 7.1 (Nougat) with Smile Ux, same as last year’s AQUOS S2, but this has a 16-megapixel rear camera and a 20-megapixel front camera with AI portrait selfies and has face unlock that can unlock the phone in 0.1 second by scanning 1024 facial points.
It comes in Black, Blue and Gold colors, is priced at 1599 yuan (US$ 252 / Rs. 16,475 approx.) and is available in China through jd.com.
Lenovo announced S5, the company’s latest mid-range smartphone in the ‘S Series’, as it had promised. It has a 5.7-inch Full HD+ 18:9 display, is powered by Snapdragon 625 with up to 4GB RAM, runs Android 8.0 (Oreo) with ZUI 3.7 on top and U-Touch 4.0 for gesture interaction, has 13-megapixel dual rear cameras, one with monochrome lens and the other one with RGB lens for capturing portrait shots and has dual-tone LED flash.
It comes in Midnight Black and Flame Red colors, is priced at 999 yuan (US$ 157 / Rs. 10,289 approx.) for the 3GB RAM with 32GB storage version, 1199 yuan (US$ 189 / Rs. 12,349 approx.) for the 4GB RAM with 64GB storage version and the 4GB RAM with 128GB storage version costs 1499 yuan (US$ 236 / Rs. 15,440 approx.).
Lenovo also announced K5 and K5 Play, budget smartphones in the ‘K Series’ in China. Both these have a 5.7-inch HD+ full-screen display, dual rear cameras, glass back, fingerprint sensor on the back and a 3000mAh battery. The K5 is powered by MediaTek MT6750 SoC and the K5 Play is powered by Snapdragon 430 SoC.
These come in Black, Grey and Blue colors and are priced at 899 yuan (US$ 142 / Rs.9,261) and 699 yuan (US$ 110 / Rs. 7,200), respectively in China.
Meizu announced E3, the company’s latest smartphone in the ‘E Series’ in China, as it had promised. It has a 5.99-inch Full HD+ 18:9 display, is powered by Snapdragon 636 with 6GB RAM, but it still runs Android 7.1 (Nougat) with Flyme OS 6.3 on top. It has a 12-megapixel rear camera with dual-tone LED flash, Dual PD full-pixel focus for 0.026s fast focus along with a 20-megapixel secondary camera, to capture depth information for portrait shots and 2.5x loss-less zoom. Both have Sony sensors and are protected by sapphire glass.
The Meizu E3 comes in Black, Champagne Gold and Blue colors, is priced at 1799 yuan (US$ 284 / Rs. 18,528 approx.) for the 6GB RAM with 64GB storage version and the 128GB storage version costs 1999 yuan(US$ 315 / Rs. 20,585 approx.). It will be available in China from March 31.
ZTE’s nubia brand announced nubia V18, the company’s latest mid-range smartphone in the new ‘V series’. It has a 6.01-inch FHD+ 18:9 2.5D curved glass display, is powered by Snapdragon 625 with 4GB RAM, runs Android 7.1 (Nougat) with Nubia UI 5.1, has a 13-megapixel rear camera with LED flash, PDAF for fast focus in 0.1 seconds and an 8-megapixel front-facing camera with beautify and support face unlock that can unlock the phone in seconds by scanning 106 facial recognition points.
It comes in Black, Red and Gold colors, is priced at 1299 yuan (US$ 205 / Rs. 13,370 approx.) and goes on sale from March 29th in China.
Xiaomi launched 3 new backpacks – Mi Casual Backpack, Mi City Backpack and Mi Travel Backpack in India, in its Mi Ecosystem priced at Rs. 899, Rs. 1599 and Rs. 1999, respectively.
itel mobiles launched the itel S42 and itel A44 smartphones with a full-screen display with 18:9 aspect ratio. Apart from these two phones, the company announced the itel A44 Pro. The itel S42 and itel A44 run on Android 8.0 Oreo and Android 7.0 Nougat respectively.
The itel S42 focuses on selfie as the phone packs a 13MP front camera with dual-LED flash, it has a Fingerprint sensor and is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 SoC with 3GB RAM. On the other hand, the A44 is powered by the MT6737M 64-bit Quad-core processor with 1GB RAM and 8GB storage, while the A44 Pro comes with 2GB RAM and 16GB storage.
The itel A44 comes in Champagne Black, Rose gold, Red colors, while the Black, Champagne colors and is priced at Rs. 5,799. The itel S42 comes in Black and Champagne colors and costs Rs. 8,499. Both the smartphones are available through offline stores across India from today. The A44 Pro will be available mid-April, but the pricing has not been announced yet.
Jabra announced the Elite 65e total noise cancellation wireless headphones. The company claims that the headphone last up to 13 hours with ANC turned off and it works with Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant depending on which OS you are using.
The noise cancellation is delivered via a combination of uniquely designed earbuds and Jabra EarGels. The oval-shaped earbuds ensure a better fit in the ear. The Jabra Elite 65e will be available from April at a price of $199 (Rs. 12,956 approx.).
ASUS launched ZenBook Flip S (UX370), which claims to be the world’s thinnest convertible laptop at just 10.9mm thickness and is also one of the lightest at 1.1kg. It has a 13-inch Full HD multitouch NanoEdge 360° flippable display that has support for active stylus. The 360° ErgoLift hinge has a dual-action mechanism that lifts and tilts the keyboard into comfortable typing position when the display is opened beyond 135°. It is crafted from a single block of aerospace-grade 6013 aluminum alloy, a material that is lighter than standard laptop alloy but 50 percent stronger.
The ASUS ZenBook Flip S UX370 comes in Royal Blue color, is priced at Rs. 1,30,990 and will be available through all retail partners across India.
Garmin launched vivofit 4 fitness tracker, successor of last year’s vivofit 3. It was introduced at the CES 2018, has an always-on color display for the first time in the vivofit series, comes with one-year battery life and the Move IQ captures different activities, such as walking, running, biking, swimming and using an elliptical, to view on Garmin Connect.
It comes in Black, White and Black Speckle in Regular and Large sizes, is priced at Rs. 4999 and is available exclusively from Amazon.in.