Andy Rubin may have been teasing a smartphone for a while, but now the device known as the Essential Phone PH-1 is official. The Essential phone costs $699 and has flagship specifications like a Qualcomm 835 processor, 4GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage.
The phone will be launched in the US to start and will be unlocked to all carriers. Essential is making the design of the phone simple, but with two prong connection, and working on a host of accessories that click into place, starting with the worlds smallest 360 degree camera.
The essential phone has a full front 5.71 inch display with radiused corners with a 19:10 aspect ratio and a 2560 x 1312 QHD resolution and a brightness of 500 nits. The back has 13 MP dual cameras with one RGB sensor and one Monochrome sensor and f/1.85 aperture lens. The front has an 8 MP camera and both cameras are capable of shooting 4k video at 30fps.
The Essential phone also has a 3040mAh battery and supports fast charging using USB, but it does have a cordless dock that allows you to lay flat the phone.
The design and specifics of the brand mention the basics and essentials as the focus of the company, the design is built around a solid titanium frame, which is completely scratch and ding resistant, with a ceramic back and gorilla glass front.The company drop tested the titanium frame phone, and found it to do better than the “Aluminum competitor” the Essential Phone Ph-1 is only 7.8 mm thick.
The phone has been launched in black and white and will launch in two additional colors at a later date. Those in the US can book the Essential phone on the company’s website.
Images of what appear to be the Brazilian retail unit of the upcoming Moto Z2 Play have leaked. The leakster has not only leaked the packaging but the full unboxing experience, showing a new color full design on the packaging.
The leak also shows the new slim design of the Moto Z2 Play along with practically every spec of the device. The images show that the Moto Z2 Play show that the phone will have 4 GB of RAM and 64GB of Storage, along with possibly support for microSD, the device also appears to comewith a 3000 mAh battery with TurboPower charging.
The specs also reveal that the Moto Z2 play has a 12 MP dual AF pixel camera along with Laser autofocus, and a 5.5 inch 1920 x 1080p display. The Moto Z2 play clearly seems to be built on the Mods platform and will support old and possibly new mods, referred to as Moto Snaps in Brazil.
The Moto Z2 play leaked is the grey model which comes with the black front panel, though it will be offered in a white and gold model, as well as a white and silver model according to leaks.
HTC will launch the HTC U11 on June 9th according to information received from people close to the launch. The HTC U11 which was recently announced in Taiwan at the company’s HQ in Taipei will be launched in two waves, the first wave in the First week of June for markets including United States, UK, Europe and Australia for the 4GB and 64GB variant of the U11 by HTC.
The Second wave of launches will begin in the second week of June for markets like India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Singapore and Thailand where the phone will be launched in the 6 GB + 128 GB variant. According to our sources the price that HTC is aiming to sell the HTC U11 at is Rs 54999 but this may change as the shipment reaches India and the costs are finally evaluated. HTC wants to keep the phone at tough competition with the Samsung Galaxy S8 in India.
The highlight of the HTC U11 is the Edge sense feature which allows users to squeeze the phone from the edges to initiate an action. The front has a 5.5 inch 2560 x 1440 px display with a Super LCD panel with Gorilla Glass 5, the fingerprint sensor and capacitive back and menu buttons sit on the bottom chin of the phone.
The HTC U11 has a new 12 MP utra-pixel camera module with a 1.4 micron pixel size , f/1.7 aperture and dual pixel autofocus. The 5 axis optical image stabilization on the back camera merges with EIS like on the Google Pixel to give a mix of both worlds and really steady shots even in low light. The video is captured at 4k @30fps and will work with gyro based electronic image stabilization which too is a pretty good example of leveraging the power of the new chipset and software for a good outcome. The HTC U11 is the first phone to be awarded the DXO mark rating of 90 and features impressive optimizations for better UI and camera performance.
The front camera is 16 MP sensor which does have an f/2.0 aperture but no auto focus. The front camera also has a wide angle lens and manages to do a good job in low light.
Xiaomi has announced the Mi Max 2 at an event in Beijing starting RMB 1699 or about $247 or roughly Rs. 16000. The phone is equipped with a massive 5300 mAh battery along with many improvements over the previous generation Mi Max.
The Mi Max 2 has a unibody metal design along with the same 6.44-inch display, and yes it still has big bezels. The phone will be available with 4 GB of RAM and 64 or 128 GB of storage. The phone with the larger capacity will cost RMB 1999. the phone will go on sale in China starting the 1st of June. Specs include :
2.0GHz Snapdragon 625 processor
Android 7.0 Nougat with MIUI 8
4GB RAM
64GB or 128GB storage
12MP rear camera
5MP front-facing camera
Rear fingerprint sensor
USB-C port
The new Mi Max is expected to launch in India by the end of June for a price of Rs. 16999 for the 64 GB variant. Xiaomi may also push updates of MIUI in India to some of it’s old phones early this summer.
Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 held the better half of 2016’s news headlines thanks to faulty batteries and a large outcry from the consumers and the media. However, not all companies feel that the battery issues that Samsung dealt with would have been something of an issue in their production.
During the launch of the HTC U11, the company showed off it’s extensive testing around each and every aspect of production, in which batteries were one of the biggest under scrutiny.
Motorola’s Battery engineer,Russ Gyenes, with 25 years of experience at the company under his belt claims that the 8 point check is something that all battery manufacturers and users should have already had.
“I looked at that eight-point check,” he said. “Why wasn’t this being done by them in the past” .
Motorola has been making smartphones for many years, including the first smartphone which used a battery. The company talked about it’s many battery protocols and how it ensures not only at the testing stage but at each stage of production, including design and manufacture that the batteries comply with the outcome expected from the finished product.
The company’s 118 question audit with each manufacturer of their batteries ensures that the batteries comply to standards set not only by various battery regulatory authorities around the world but with Motorola’s own strict compliance rules. If any of those fail the whole process is stopped at a very early stage so it can be rectified. “It is a showstopper” claimed Russ, “Batteries simply should not fail any audits”.
Russ Gyenes, has been trying to convince Motorola to talk about their battery technology to the consumer, but clearly the interest to do the same was not there prior to the Samsung incident.
DJI has launched a brand new compact drone called the Spark, the drone had leaked in images earlier this year. The new drone has some interesting features and may be great drone for first time drone owners.
The Spark has a 2 axis gimbal and shoots video at 1080p resolutions, in comparison with the DJI Mavic the drone has lesser resolution. However, the drone can be controlled with hand gestures and also features the ability to be flown directly from the DJI app on your smartphone, without the need of a controller.
The DJI Spark has a 1/2.3” CMOS sensor that captures 12 megapixel photos, and most of the fight systems are controlled by the forward-facing 3D Sensing System, dual-band GPS and GLONASS, a high-precision inertial measurement unit, and 24 powerful computing cores built into the tiny Spark .
The spark offers 16 minutes of flight time with Lithium polymer battery, and can be flown with the Remote controller accessory. While the Spark starts at US $500 in the United States and other markets, in India, the retail price of a DJI Spark, including an aircraft, a battery, a USB charger and three pairs of propellers, is INR 43,000.
The Spark Fly More Combo includes an aircraft, two batteries, four pairs of propellers, a remote controller, propeller guards, a charging hub, a shoulder bag and all necessary cables, with a retail price of INR 60,000.
OnePlus just sent out information that the OnePlus 5 will be the first Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 based phone in India. This till now may be a true fact, as no manufacturer has managed to launch Snapdragon 835 equipped phones in India. Samsung decided to launch the Exynos variants in India for the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus.
However, HTC has already announced that the HTC U11 will launch in India in the first week of June and Sony’s XZ premium may also hit India soon. So if any of that happens, then OnePlus’s claims may fall short.
The OnePlus 5 is also expected to have 6 GB to 8 GB RAM along with 128 GB to 256 GB of Storage. The leaked images of the OnePlus 5 show a dual camera setup at the back along with OnePlus’s announcement that they are working Wirth DXO mark to get the best possible camera setup.
The launch of the OnePlus 5 is expected to happen in June with the device shipping as early as July to most countries including India.
OnePlus 5 is also expected to get Dash Charge 2 a faster and more efficient charging system which will be designed to ensue that batteries will have a better health despite high amperage of charges.
HTC has launched the new U11 at an event in Taipei. The HTC U11 will be the company’s successor the the HTC 10 and their new flagship for the year 2017.
The company sticks strongly to their brand philosophy and wants to continue their U series of phones forward, and to make that happen the design for HTC plays an important role. The HTC U11 continues the Liquid surface design seen on the HTC U ultra, but, the similarities mostly end there.
The HTC U11 is sleeker and more refined, built with Gorilla Glass 5 protection, which is a good thing considering the front and back are glass. The metal frame holds everything together and the phone looks great with a good play of colors using the glass layering technique on the back of the phone.
The phone also manages clean lines with a flush back and a tiny camera bump along with IP67 water resistance, making this the first HTC flagship with any kind of weather resistance. The phone has been launched in 5 colors all of which will be coming to most markets including India, the Brilliant Black, Amazing Silver, Ice white, Sapphire Blue and Solar Red.
On the specs front HTC has pretty much upped the game, for markets like India this will be the first Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chipset equipped handset from any manufacturer. HTC will also only launch the 6 GB RAM and 128 GB storage variant in India and plans to price it competitively against the Samsung Galaxy S8. Other markets including US , Europe and Australia will get the 4GB + 64GB variant in the first wave. The front has a 5.5 inch 2560 x 1440 px display with a Super LCD panel, the fingerprint sensor and capacitive back and menu buttons sit on the bottom chin of the phone.
The HTC U11 has a new 12 MP utra-pixel camera module with a 1.4 micron pixel size , f/1.7 aperture and dual pixel autofocus. The 5 axis optical image stabilization on the back camera merges with EIS like on the Google Pixel to give a mix of both worlds and really steady shots even in low light. The video is captured at 4k @30fps and will work with gyro based electronic image stabilization which too is a pretty good example of leveraging the power of the new chipset and software for a good outcome.
The front camera is 16 MP sensor which does have an f/2.0 aperture but no auto focus. The front camera also has a wide angle lens and manages to do a good job in low light.
The main camera on the HTC U11 is the highest rated with a DXO mark score of 90. The camera also has interesting modes built in including a full PRO mode with RAW capture and HDR boost which works to get the best result in poorly lit conditions.
The HTC U11 launches with Android 7.1.1 out of the box and will feature the ability to use Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa which launches in July as a play store app. Interestingly users will be able to use both assistants at the same time, ideally because one may not be able to the function of the other. The HTC Companion assistant will also reside on the phone as a contextual assistant, again leveraging the power of the 835 chipset.
The new layer of HTC Sense is super clean and intuitive, HTC continues to remove redundancy from their apps, so you mostly get a stock android experience with continued customizations offered via the HTC themes.
The main feature of the HTC U11 is the “Edge Sense”, a feature that allows you to squeeze the edges of the phone to be able to initiate a task, initially things like launching an app, or turning on the flashlight. Later the company wants to enable automations based on the Squeeze feature, allowing you to set up tasks that you would normally need to tap on the screen to achieve. For eg. one squeeze could in theory, click a picture, launch Instagram, and share that image including preset text and filters.
For now the Edge Sense will be restricted to app and feature launches. The Edge sense needs to be setup the first time you start the phone, deciding how strong a squeeze you need for the phone to activate.
The HTC U11 will include noise cancelling U sonic in earphones inside the box, the earphones will map your ear canal and do a tone setup to give you the best sound and this works really well. The new noise cancellation feature works with the USB-C port which allows two way data flow. HTC will also include a dongle for Usb C to 3.5 mm headphone jack, this tiny dongle includes a DAC which in itself is a feat.
The HTC U11 will be manufactured in Taiwan at the HTC plant in Taipei, which has one of the strongest standards and best assembly lines in the world. The U11 goes through various layers of testing before making it to the final box. The factory which has a futuristic assembly line, run by 50% robots, tests each component of each phone before the phone is packed into a box. Then each packed phone goes through a quality check where each aspect including aesthetic and internals of the HTC U11 are checked by quality control engineers.
HTC’s U11 manufacturing process is too difficult to shift out of the company’s own manufacturing unit and they want to bring back their gold standard when it comes to build quality and general quality assurance.
HTC wants to sell the HTC U11 in markets like India, Malaysia, Thailand etc within one week of global sale which starts first week of June. The company is strongly focused on the right pricing and wants to fix their mistakes of the past. While the European price of the phone is Euro 749, the Indian market will see the phone for around Rs. 55000-57000 making it a strong competition for the Exynos equipped Samsung Galaxy S8
OnePlus has confirmed that the next OnePlus phone will be called the OnePlus 5 and will launch in the summer. The company has denied any superstitious reasons behind not using the number 4 and instead warranted the use of the number 5 for the OnePlus 5 as an inspiration from Ex-NBA star Robert Horry.
The OnePlus 5 will be the successor to the OnePlus 3 and 3T. The name OnePlus 5 has been inspired by former NBA player Robert Horry, who has a huge fan-following among OnePlus staff members. OnePlus’s Shenzhen office sports two Robert Horry’s paintings andhis number five jersey inspired the smartphone’s name.
While the reasons may be many rumours for the next OnePlus device have not slowed down. A new screenshot of the upcoming phone’s settings panel reassures that the news of 8 GB RAM in the OnePlus 5 may be authentic.
The OnePlus 5 is expected to run on the Snapdragon 835 chipset with a new 5.5 inch 2560 x 1440px AMOLED display and a dual rear camera setup sporting a 23 MP capture. The front camera on the OnePlus 5 is expected to be 16 MP along with 4000 mAh battery with what the company will call Dash Charge 2.
A new leak of the Moto Z2 Play by Evan Blass shows that while the company is strongly following their modular policy the Moto Z2 Play will slim down considerably but not without losing about 15-20 hours from it’s impressive usage time.
This may not go down well with the fans of the Z Play who were planning an upgrade this year. The design according to the leaks is still reminiscent of the the first-gen Z Play, while the hardware on the inside will see minor improvements. The Moto Z2 Play is expected to run on the Snapdragon 626 at 2.2GHz clock speed with the same Adreno 506 GPU.
On the memory front the upgrade to both RAM and storage is expected with a 4GB RAM and 64GB onboard combination. The Display on the Moto Z2 Play is expected to be the exact same 5.5 inch 1920 x 1080p display.
On the optics front the Z2 Play will feature the same 5 MP camera but the rear camera will feature the newer 12 MP f1.7 sensor seen on the Moto G Plus with some improvements on image processing and clicking capabilities. The Moto Z2 Play is expected to launch in two colors i.e. Lunar Gray and Fine Gold and will ship with refreshed Moto Z and Moto Z Force along with new E Series, X Series and Moto C phones in the coming months.
While it is not official, the next OnePlus phone will most likely be called the OnePlus 5. With the internet ridden with leaks and rumours. A listing has appeared online for the OnePlus 5 which seems to reveal it all. The dual camera back along with a front facing fingerprint scanner and display setup which is identical to the current-gen OnePlus 3T.
According to the listing the OnePlus 5 will run on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 along with 8 GB of RAM and 64 GB of storage. The OnePlus 5 gets a 5.5 inch 2560 x 1440px AMOLED display which is up from the 1080p standard the company has had from the start. The phone also will supposedly feature microSD expandability upto 128 GB.
The Listing also mentions a 4000 mAh battery along with “Dash Charge 2.0 ” and a 23 MP rear camera, the image shows two rear cameras, so whether one will be 23 MP or both is unknown. The front camera is mentioned as 16 MP which is essentially the same as the OnePlus 3T.
The listing also mentions the price of US $ 688, but these websites usually sell low stock phones for a premium. With the given information it is not easy to verify how much of it is true. The listing seems to be a best guess scenario for the OnePlus 5. But the website in question gearbest.com had given credible information for the Xiaomi Mi 6 in the past. Read the full specifications below.
LG will launch the 2017 flagship phone the LG G6 in India on the 24th of April with a price of Rs. 51990 according to several reports from Distributors in Delhi and Mumbai. The LG G6 is currently up for pre-orders on the Company’s website and LG is offering Rs. 7000 cash back along with 50% discount on the LG Tone Active+ HBS-A100 wireless headphones.
Those who miss the pre-booking will have the ability to buy the phone with a Rs. 5000 cash back up until May 31st. The pre-booking also includes a EA special pack with 6 games with in game purchases worth Rs. 14,100. LG G6 was the first phone launched around Mobile World Congress with the new aspect ratio on their display which is a 5.7-inch QHD+ fisplay with Dolby Vision and HDR 10 .
the LG G6 also has dual 13MP cameras with one wide and one a 13MP standard rear camera, a 5MP front snapper and a fingerprint scanner. The Lg G6 runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 chipset and has 4GB RAM along with 32GB and 64GB storage options however India may get only the 32 GB variant.
The LG G6 runs Android 7.1 out of the box and LG promises quick updates to the OS. With not a lot going for the internal hardware when pitted against the Galaxy S8, the LG G6’s price offering may get it some brownie points. Along with that gorgeous display with supports for Dolby Vision.
HTC will launch their 2017 flagship the HTC U11 on May 16th at the company HQ in Taipei. The phone which is expected to run the latest and greatest hardware also promises to utilise a very old patent that HTC has held for a few years now. In the patent HTC shows a devices allowing for squeeze detection along the bezels, the company shows off the new tech in their teaser for the HTC 11 .
The teaser also shows that the phone will not have a large screen to body aspect ratio like its competitors from Samsung and LG, while the phone does appear to have rounded displays and a curved glass on the front. The technology allows for usage of the phone, using the bezels as control surfaces allowing to interact with the phone without needing to touch the screen, hence making it easier to use the phone with one hand.
Does the teaser show the actual phone, or a random render to show of the technology is presently unknown. Leaks in the past have pitted the design of the HTC U11 in quite a similar place as the one shown in the video by HTC.
The HTC U11 will run on the Snapdragon 835 chipset with 4GB /6GB of RAM along with 64GB storage. A 12-megapixel Sony IMX362 Main camera and a 16-megapixel IMX351 front camera. Other leaks put the battery of the phone at 3000mAh with Quick Charge 3.0. The HTC U11 may also boast of Bluetooth 5.0 much like Samsung . The U11 is expected to have an aluminium alloy unibody with a new type of color technique with a exceptionally slim profile with flat sides.
Samsung has launched the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ in India for INR 57,900 and INR 64,900, respectively. The phone will go on sale on May 5th and will be available exclusively on Flipkart and on the Samsung Store.
The Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ are the company’s first major launch since the Note 7 which never made it to India. The Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ are pricer in India, when compared to global prices, however, if you preorder the phone here you get a free wireless charger.
Samsung had launched the Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ globally on March 29th, the new infinity display is one of the most interesting features of the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+, but general user perception leads to the phones being that much more fragile. The Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ for India will belong to the “Make in India” program from Samsung.
Both the phones run a new 10 nm chipset, The S8 has an Octa core (2.3GHz Quad + 1.7GHz Quad), 64 bit chipset while the S8+ will have an Octa core (2.35GHz Quad + 1.9GHz Quad), 64 bit chipset.
Both the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ have a 4GB RAM (LPDDR4), 64GB (UFS 2.1) storage, the Galaxy S8 has a 5.8” (146.5mm) Quad HD+ 2960×1440 px display with a 570ppi while the S8+ has a 6.2” (158.1mm) Quad HD+ 2960×1440 px display with a 529ppi density. Both have Samsung’s own super-AMOLED display.
For cameras both phones get a main Dual Pixel 12MP OIS (F1.7), Front: 8MP AF (F1.7). While the battery on the Galaxy S8 is 3000 man, the S8plus has a 3500 mAh battery. Both support fast charging and wireless charging as well.
The Galaxy S8 and S8+ has a HDR certified display, which should give the best color and contrast for video content. Both the phones have iP68 water and dust resistance.
The home button sits below the display, where if you press down on the screen near the bottom it mimics the feel of the button much like Apple’s latest Touch ID haptics, but inside the main display.
Samsung has also launched Bixby, an intelligent Artificial interface. The phones have a new Bixby button that allow you to navigate through services and apps with simple voice, touch, vision and text commands. Contextual awareness capabilities enable Bixby to offer personalized help based on what it continues to learn about the user’s interests, situation and location.
The Galaxy S8 and S8+ both have an iris scanner merged into facial recognition just like the Samsung Galaxy Note 7.
Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ users will get a Double Data offer on the Jio network. On a monthly recharge of INR 309 users will enjoy 448 GB of 4G data over 8 months. With this Double Data offer Samsung Galaxy S8 users can experience a truly unconstrained Digital Life on Jio’s world-class all-IP data strong only-4G network.
LeEco may be going through a bad financial phase, but it is not stopping the company from launching new products frequently. The new Le Pro 3 AI edition is appropriately named after the LeLe Assistant inside the phone. (LeLe ? Seriously?).
The phone runs on Helio chipsets with the Helio X23 variant with 32GB storage priced at CNY 1,799 (roughly Rs 17,000) and another Helio X27 variant with 64GB storage priced at CNY 2,399 (roughly Rs. 23,000). And because we didn’t have enough virtual assistants, LeEco has launched a new one with the Le Pro 3, and called it LeLe ( a name that will not do well in India). According to the company the Assistant will learn user information and practices over time and get better and better.
Made with dual 13 MP rear cameras with an f/2.0 aperture on both, while one of the sensors is a coloured one, while the other is a monochrome sensor. The camera setup has PDAF and dual-LED flash and their new Le IMAGE AI engine. The LeEco Le Pro 3 AI edition has a 5.5-inch 1920 x 1080p display, the lower variant has a 2.3GHz deca-core MediaTek Helio X23 SoC with 32 GB Storage and 4 GB RAM, while the Eco variant runs a 2.6GHz deca-core Helio X27 SoC with 64 GB Storage and 4 GB RAM.
The front has an 8 MP wide angle camera, and the phone runs on Android Marshmallow with EMUI 5.9 and has a 4000 mAh battery. The LeEco Le Pro 3 AI Edition will be available in a host of color options, including Rose Gold and Matte Black and at present it is only available in China, with no news of the Indian launch.
DIMENSIONS / WEIGHT
152.4 x 75.1 x 7.5mm
168 grams
DISPLAY
5.5-inch 1920 x 1080p
403 ppi
600nit Max Brightness
