Chinese telecommunication giant ZTE’s subsidiary Nubia launched its latest gaming smartphone; the Red Magic 3 in China back in the month of April. It was expected that the device will soon make its way into the Indian market but no announcement followed. Now, the company has listed the handset on its Indian website, revealing it will launch in India on the 17th of June.
Nubia Red Magic 3
To recall, the Red Magic 3 is the successor to the Red Magic Mars launched last year. The smartphone features a 6.65 inch FHD+ AMOLED display which also supports HDR playback. Owing to the presence of a 90Hz refresh rate in the display panel ( like the OnePlus 7 pro) , gamers are expected to experience less screen tearing and negligible lag issues. The front of the device also houses DTS:X surround sound. The rear panel of the Red Magic 3 houses the camera, an elongated fingerprint scanner and an LED strip which can be customized with a combination of 16.8 million colours.
Under the hood, the Nubia Red Magic 3 is kitted with the 7nm Snapdragon 855 SoC. The chipset is comprised of an Octa-core CPU and the Adreno 640 GPU. In terms of optics, the smartphone has a single f/1.7 aperture equipped 48MP sensor at the back. It is touted as the first device in the world to support 8K video recording via the main camera. For selfies, an f/1.6 aperture equipped 16MP front-facing camera. The Red Magic 3 may be available in the following memory and storage variants at the time of launch.
6GB RAM and 128GB ROM
8GB RAM and 128GB ROM
12GB RAM and 256GB ROM
The Nubia Red Magic 3 is powered by a massive 5000 mAh battery with support for 27W fast charging. For effectively cooling the smartphone while gaming, it has a liquid+air cooling system. The device also has remappable shoulder buttons to assist inside a game. The handset runs on Android 9 Pie out-of-the-box, with Nubia’s Redmagic OS 2.0 on top.
As mentioned above, the Nubia Red Magic 3 will be launched in India on June 17. While the pricing of the smartphone in the country hasn’t been announced yet, it is expected to start at Rs. 35,000 for the base variant.
Chinese telecom giant Huawei is expected to launch two new mid-range smartphones in China soon. These devices, purported to be the Nova 5i and the Nova 5 will be the successor to the Nova 4 series launched last year. While details about the latter are still bleak, the former has been certified by Chinese certification website TENAA, which reveals its key specifications.
Huawei Nova 5i
According to the listing on TENAA’s website, the Nova 5i from Huawei will be its mid-range offering. The smartphone will measure 159.1 x 75.9 x 8.3mm and weigh 178 grams. It will have a 6.3-inch display with a resolution of 2310 x 1080 px. The device will run on an Octa-core processor with a clock speed of 2.2GHz. While it is not specified which SoC will be used in the handset, it may be the 12nm Kirin 710, which is comprised of an Octa-core processor and the Mali G51 GPU. This processor is also found in devices like the Honor 8X and the Honor 20i.
Huawei P30 Pro
In terms of optics, the Nova 5i has been revealed to have a quad rear camera setup. This will be comprised of a 24MP primary sensor, an 8MP secondary sensor and two additional 2MP sensors. For selfies, a 24MP camera will be present on the front of the device. It will be launched in three colour variants, namely Red, Black and Blue. The smartphone will be available in the following two memory configurations.
The Huawei Nova 5i is expected to make its debut in the last week of June alongside its elder sibling Nova 5. Unfortunately, the company has not revealed any information about the pricing of the smartphone, but it is expected to be a sub Rs. 20,000 device when it launches in India.
At the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo or E3 as it is generally called; American technology giant Microsoft has revealed key details about its next-generation Xbox gaming console. Codenamed Project Scarlett, the device will be the successor to the Xbox One X gaming console released in the year 2017. It will also go head to head with the upcoming PlayStation by Sony, details of which were released a while ago. The details about the new Xbox were unveiled via a video shared by the company.
Microsoft Project Scarlett
As mentioned above, the newest generation Xbox or Project Scarlett will be Microsoft’s flagship gaming console. This insinuates that a smaller device, likely to be a successor to the Xbox One S might also be released with Project Scarlett. According to the company, the upcoming device will have a custom designed CPU; based on the Zen 2 and Radeon RDNA architecture by AMD. Microsoft claims it will be up to four times more powerful than the Xbox One X, which is still the most powerful gaming console on the market. To improve the resolution and framerates while gaming, the console will use the latest GDDR6 RAM.
The upcoming Project Scarlett gaming console will also have support for 8K gaming, with framerates up to 120fps in games. Like the upcoming PlayStation 5, it will also feature ray tracing and have a variable refresh rate support. The upcoming device from Microsoft will also use an SSD as virtual RAM which is touted to reduce game load times and increased speeds. According to the company, all the aforementioned upgrades will increase performance by 40x over the current generation. While Microsoft has not announced a particular launch date for the Project Scarlet gaming console; but it has revealed the device will launch in the second half of 2020. For the beginning, the gaming title Halo: Infinite has been exhibited to be available for the console at launch.
Taiwanese electronics giant HTC has seen better days. Once a force to be reckoned with, the company has seen its smartphones sales decline sharply over the last few years. Due to increasing competition by Chinese competitors such as Xiaomi, Huawei and OnePlus, the company has lost a major chunk of the market share. Now, latest reports claim that HTC is trying to make a comeback with a mid range smartphone; that it plans on launching on the 11th of June. This device is speculated to be called the U19e and will be a watered down version of the company’s flagship handset due later this year.
HTC U19e
As previously mentioned, the alleged HTC U19e will be a mid range offering from the company. Leaked schematics of the device reveal it will have a large display surrounded by minimal bezels. The images show that it will have a dual front facing camera setup, like present in the U12+ from last year. The smartphone has the volume rockers and the power button mounted on the right side. It is also insinuated that the device may also have the company’s active edge feature which acts as a shortcut to apps and commands inside the UI; by squeezing the sides of the handset.
The HTC U19e has been revealed to have the model number 2Q7A100. Past leaks about the smartphone have revealed its key specifications. The HTC mid-range smartphone will run on the 10nm Snapdragon 710 SoC. It consists of an Octa-Core CPU and the Adreno 616 GPU. In terms of memory and storage, the device may have 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of internal storage; which might be further expandable via a microSD card. The device will have a display with an FHD+ resolution of 2160 x 1080 px. As mentioned above, the U19e will debut on the 11th of June at an expected price of Rs. 25,000.
Asus launched its latest flagship smartphone, the ZenFone 6 at an event in Valencia, Spain on the 16th of May. The device features top tier specifications at a more affordable price than similarly specced handsets available currently. It has been long speculated that the company will launch the latest smartphone in India soon, but no announcements regarding it were made. Now, it has been revealed the ZenFone 6 will be launched in India with the name Asus 6Z on the 19th of June. The change of name is allegedly due to a legal battle in the Delhi High Court against the ZenFone branding.
About the case
The aforementioned lawsuit against Asus was filed by Telecare, which owns the trademark for the Zen and Zen Mobiles name. To not cause confusion between products of the two companies, the Delhi High Court ordered Asus not to sell any product which is identical or deceptively similar to the trademark “Zen” and “Zen Mobile”. Notably, this decision will affect the company’s product lineup only in India at the moment. Interestingly, Telecare alleges that it started selling products under the registered name in the year 2008; while Asus began the sales of its ZenFone lineup starting in year 2014.
Asus 6Z
The Asus 6Z is the latest flagship offering by the company as mentioned above and will succeed the ZenFone 5Z. It measures 159.1 x 75.44 x 8.4mm and weighs 190g. The smartphone has a glass design on the front and back with a metal chassis for reinforcement. It has a 6.4 inch LCD display with a resolution of 2340 x 1080 px. The screen to body ratio of the device stands in at an impressive 92 percent which is achieved by implementing a flip up camera mechanism. Like the Samsung Galaxy A80, the Asus 6Z has a rotating camera setup which can be used to take pictures from the rear as well as the front. For biometric security and rapidly unlocking the handset, it has a rear mounted fingerprint scanner and supports face unlock.
Under the hood, the Asus 6Z is kitted with the 7nm Snapdragon 855 SoC which is comprised of an Octa-core CPU and the Adreno 640 GPU. In terms of optics, the smartphone has a dual camera setup which consists of an f/1.8 aperture equipped 48MP primary sensor and a secondary f/2.4 aperture equipped 13MP Ultra wide angle sensor. As mentioned before, the device uses a flip camera mechanism to click pictures at different angles. For memory and storage, the handset may be launched in the following variants.
6GB RAM and 64GB ROM
8GB RAM and 128GB ROM
8GB RAM and 256GB ROM
The Asus 6Z is powered by a massive 5000 mAh battery which supports 18W fast charging. It has a unique Google Assistant button on the top right which can also be configured to open any application based on the user’s choice. In terms of connectivity, the handset supports Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 5.0 and NFC, 3.5 mm jack and bottom mounted USB Type C port. It is available in two colours, namely Twilight Silver and Midnight Black.
As mentioned above, the Asus 6Z will be introduced on the 19th of June in the Indian market. It will be exclusively available online on Flipkart and offline in select retail stores across the country. While the company has not revealed its Indian pricing yet, it is expected to cost starting at Rs. 40,000 for the variant with 6GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage. The variant with 8GB RAM and 128GB of onboard memory may cost Rs. 44,000; while buyers may have to shell Rs. 47,000 for the version with 8GB RAM and 256GB Internal storage.
Korean electronics giant Samsung is one of the few brands that still makes Android tablets. Despite the sharp decline in the sales of Android tablets over the past few years, devices from the company have seen a positive response from the market. Samsung launched its current flagship tablet, the Galaxy Tab S4 last year, which has since been overdue for an upgrade. Now, the successor to the device, purportedly called the Galaxy Tab S5 has been leaked on benchmarking platform Geekbench. It features top tier specifications and is expected to be marketed as a full fledged computing device.
Galaxy Tab S5
The model number of Samsung’s upcoming tablet mentioned on the benchmarking platform Geekbench is SM-T865. This coincides with that of its predecessor, the Galaxy Tab S4 with the model number SM-T835. It is thus believed that the listing is of the latest offering in the company’s flagship tablet lineup, allegedly called the Galaxy Tab S5. The listing reveals it will run on the 7nm Snapdragon 855 SoC; which is comprised of an Octa-core CPU and the Adreno 640 GPU. For memory, it will have 6GB of RAM, but more variants with high RAM capacity are expected. The Galaxy Tab S5 will run on the current generation Android 9 Pie OS which may be skinned with Samsung’s latest OneUI.
With a base clock speed of 1.78GHz, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S5 managed to receive a single core score of 3506 on Geekbench. The multi core score of the device has been revealed to be 9788; both the scores falls in line to the ones obtained by other smartphones sporting the Snapdragon 855 SoC, like the OnePlus 7, Xiaomi Mi 9, and the Redmi K20 Pro. Unfortunately, other specifications and the launch date of the tablet are not known yet; but it is expected that Samsung will launch it alongside the Galaxy Note 10 in the month of August.
You can check out our impressions on the Samsung Galaxy Tab S4 below.
Xiaomi’s subsidiary Redmi launched its latest smartphones, the Redmi K20 and K20 Pro at an event in China on the 28th of May. While the former is a mid-range device, the latter is a flagship offering from the company. Both smartphones offer competitive specifications at a lucrative price tag. It was expected that the company will announce the handsets’ availability in the Indian market; however, no announcement regarding the news followed. Now, a senior Xiaomi executive has announced that both the Redmi K20 and K20 Pro will launch in India within the next six weeks.
Specifications
Mi fans! Here's a KNOCKOUT announcement! ? #RedmiK20 and #RedmiK20Pro are launching in India within 6 months.. ooops, I meant 6 weeks! ??
To recall, the Redmi K20 and the K20 Pro are the latest smartphones from the company. The devices have a glass design on the front and back with a metal chassis for reinforcement. They have an attractive gradient coloured design on the back. The handsets have a 6.39 inch AMOLED display with a resolution of 2340 x 1080 px. To maximise the screen real estate, they both have a pop-up mechanism on top to house the front-facing camera. For biometric security and unlocking the smartphones, the Redmi K20 series has an in display fingerprint scanner along with support for face unlock.
Under the hood, the Redmi K20 is kitted with the 8nm Snapdragon 730 SoC. The chipset is comprised of an Octa-core CPU and the Adreno 618 GPU. The more premium Redmi K20 Pro runs on the flagship grade 7nm Snapdragon 855 SoC which has an Octa-core CPU and the Adreno 640 GPU. In terms of optics, both smartphones have a triple rear camera setup consisting of an f/1.75 aperture equipped 48MP sensor, an f/2.4 aperture equipped 13MP ultra wide angle sensor; and a tertiary f/2.4 aperture equipped 8MP telephoto sensor. For selfies, an f/2.0 aperture equipped 32MP sensor is housed in the pop-up mechanism on top of the handsets.
Both the Redmi K20 and the K20 Pro are powered by a 4,000 mAh battery. However, the former supports 18 W fast charging while the latter supports 27 W fast charging. Both devices run on MIUI 10 which is based on top of the latest Android 9 Pie. The smartphones will be available in three colour variants namely, Blue, Red and Black. For memory and storage, the devices have up to 8GB of RAM and 256 GB of internal storage.
Pricing & Availability
As mentioned above, the Redmi K20 and K20 Pro will launch in the Indian market within the next six weeks. While the exact date of the announcement is not known yet, it is likely that the smartphones may be launched in the last week of June or first week of July. As far as pricing is concerned, the Redmi K20 is expected to be priced around Rs. 20,000, while the more premium K20 Pro may be priced around Rs. 30,000.
Korean electronics giant Samsung has announced new laptops, called the Notebook 7 and Notebook 7 Force on the 3rd of June. The devices are the latest entrant in the company’s Notebook 7 lineup and feature updated specifications and features over their predecessors. While the Notebook 7 Force has been launched in only a 15.6-inch display option, the regular Notebook 7 will be available in two sizes, 13 and 15 inches respectively.
Samsung Notebook 7, 7 Force
The Notebook 7 by Samsung feature metal construction with a design that is reminiscent of Apple’s MacBook lineup. As mentioned above, the devices have been launched with displays measuring 13.3 and 15.6 inches. Irrespective of the display size, its resolution is capped at 1920 x 1080 px. In terms of connectivity, the laptop features a variety of ports, including two USB 3.0 ports, USB Type C port, an HDMI port and a microSD slot. All the devices in the lineup also have a 720p HD webcam with Dual Array Microphones for video calls.
All the devices in the Samsung Notebook 7 lineup run on Intel’s 8th Generation Processors and support up to 16GB LPDDR3 RAM and 512GB NVMe SSD. In terms of graphics, the base variants feature Intel UHD graphics, but there is an option of upgrading to the NVIDIA GeForce MX250 as well. All the variants have fingerprint sensors for Windows Hello authentication and have a backlit keyboard.
The Notebook 7 Force, on the other hand, is a more premium offering in the lineup. It has a similar design to the rest of the Notebook 7 series but is available only in black colour. The laptop also runs on 8th generation Intel Core processors, has a backlit keyboard, and a fingerprint sensor. In terms of graphics, it has the NVIDIA GeForce 1650 GPU for better gaming performance than the rest of the lineup.
All the devices in the Notebook 7 series will be initially sold in Hong Kong and Korea and later made available in the US and Brazil in late 2019. While the 13.3-inch Notebook 7 is priced at US$ 999(Rs. 69,400), the 15.6 inch will cost US$ 1,099 (Rs. 76,400). The Notebook 7 Force has been priced at US$ 1,499 (Rs. 1,04,100).
In the last few years, the dominance of Chinese smartphone OEMs has increased substantially in the Indian market. Makers like Xiaomi, Realme and Honor have seen exponential growth in sales while established brands like Samsung and LG had lost their grip on the same, at least on the budget side of things. The former tried to redefine itself by launching the online-only Galaxy M series back in the month of January. By providing competitive specifications at a lucrative price tag, the lineup has seen a good reception and has put Samsung back on the radar. Now, the latest reports claim that another Korean giant, LG is looking to do the same; by launching an online exclusive, budget smartphone lineup in India soon.
About the series
As mentioned above, LG is planning to introduce a new series of smartphones in the Indian market. This may be a budget lineup which will only be available to purchase online. Along with the information, images alleged to be of a device in the series have also been shared in the report. These images reveal a handset with a glass finish and gradient colour scheme on the back. The right side of the smartphone has the volume rockers and the power button. Over at the back, a vertically placed triple camera setup along with an LED flash is visible. The rear panel also has a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner with the LG branding present.
One of the leaked images of the latest LG smartphone also reveals it will have a FullVision display; which may be an indication that it will have a near edge of to edge display with minimal bezels around it. It is also known that the device will make use of AI in certain areas around the handset; presumably in the UI (User Interface) and the camera application. The reports further claim the series will borrow many features from LG’s flagship series, such as the G and V lineup of smartphones. Unfortunately, more details about the handsets are unknown at the moment. But it is expected that the company may make an announcement regarding them soon.
The popular instant messaging platform, WhatsApp, is planning on removing the functionality that allowed users from saving someone else’s profile photo. This change was first noticed in the beta version of the application for iOS devices but now seems to be rolling out for Android users too. The latest update also adds new album features; such as providing more information about the files that need to be downloaded. These changes were spotted by a renowned WhatsApp leaker.
WhatsApp for iOS: What’s New?
The latest update from WhatsApp brings about many changes in the beta version on iOS. As mentioned above, the messaging app has stopped allowing to save someone else profile picture. While it is not confirmed wy this feature was provided in the first place, the removal of it seems to be related to privacy concerns. Apart from this, album improvements have also been added to the beta update. With this, whenever a user receives multiple images in a chat, the app will now tell the total size and number of images to be downloaded. All the aforementioned features were spotted in the beta version 2.19.60.26 of WhatsApp for iPhone.
Another change that is reported soon to arrive on WhatsApp is the use of a new media format. The current voice messages and audio filed use a format known as opus. This offers low latency and subpar quality of audio, which will now be replaced with the M4A audio coding format. The new format is reported to offer better quality and support in third-party apps. This feature is only available on iOS as of now. With the latest update, a new pop up prompting users to change their number when they try to delete their account. These features may make their way to the stable update soon.
It is June already and many smartphone OEMs have announced that their handsets will launch in India this month. Amidst a sea of devices, we have compiled a list of all the top upcoming smartphones that are expected or have been confirmed to be launching in the Indian market in June.
OnePlus has already announced its latest smartphone, the OnePlus 7 on the 14th of May. The company has now revealed it will go on sale starting on the 4th of June. It is the successor of the OnePlus 6T from last year and boasts of several improvements over its predecessor. In terms of specifications, the OnePlus 7 features a 6.41-inch Optic AMOLED display with a waterdrop notch. For biometric security and rapidly unlocking the device, it has an in display fingerprint scanner and support for face unlock technology.
Under the hood, it is kitted with the 7nm Snapdragon 855 SoC which is comprised of an Octa-core CPU and the Adreno 640 GPU. For memory and storage, the OnePlus 7 has up to 8GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage. In terms of optics, the handset has a dual 48MP + 5MP camera setup and a single 16 MP camera on the front. It is powered using a 3700 mAh battery with 20W fast charging support. The smartphone has been priced at Rs. 32,999 for the base variant with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage and Rs. 37,999 for the version with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of onboard memory.
Samsung Galaxy M40
The Samsung Galaxy M40 will be the latest addition to the company’s online exclusive Galaxy M lineup. It has been announced that the smartphone will be launched on the 11th of June. While the specification of the device has not been confirmed yet, past leaks have revealed it will sport a 6.3 inch LCD display; with an Infinity O style hole punch on the top left corner of the display. The teasers have also exhibited the presence of a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner for efficiently accessing the handset.
Under the hood, the Galaxy M40 is expected to run on the 11nm Snapdragon 675 SoC; which is comprised of an Octa-core CPU and the Adreno 612 GPU. In terms of optics, it is revealed to have a triple camera setup, details of which are not known yet. The device is also rumoured to feature up to 6GB of RAM and 128GB of Internal storage. More details about the upcoming smartphone may be revealed as we move closer to its launch.
Samsung Galaxy A80
The Samsung Galaxy A80 was announced in the month of April and is the first smartphone from the company to feature a mechanical camera mechanism. It was introduced alongside the Galaxy A70 which has already gone on sale in India. In terms of specifications, the Galaxy A80 features a 6.7 inch Super AMOLED display with no notch or hole punch in sight. The device has an in display fingerprint scanner with support for face unlock.
Under the hood, the Galaxy A80 runs on the 8nm Snapdragon 730 SoC, which is comprised of an Octa-core CPU and the Adreno 618 GPU. In terms of optics, the upcoming smartphone has a triple camera setup, which has a 48MP primary sensor, combined with an 8MP ultra wide sensor and a Time of Flight (ToF) sensor for capturing depth. The highlight feature of the device is the rotating camera mechanism, which allows the users to take selfies from the primary camera.
For memory and storage, the handset has 8GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage. The Galaxy A80 is powered by a 3700 mAh battery with 25W fast charging. It is expected to be priced at around Rs. 45,000 when it launches in India later this month.
Asus ZenFone 6
Taiwanese electronics giant Asus introduced its latest flagship smartphone, the Zenfone 6 at an event on the 16th of May. It is expected to be launched in India on the 6th of June at a lucrative price tag. In terms of specifications, it has a 6.4 inch LCD display with no obstruction like a notch or hole punch. For quickly accessing the device, there is a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner and also support for face unlock.
Under the hood, the Zenfone 6 is kitted with the 7nm Snapdragon 855 SoC; comprised of an Octa-core CPU and the Adreno 640 GPU. In terms of optics, a dual camera setup is present on the flip camera mechanism on the back. This setup consists of a 48MP primary sensor and a 13MP ultra wide angle sensor which can be flipped to 180 degrees for taking selfies. For memory and storage, the device has up to 8GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage. The handset is powered by a mammoth 5000 mAh battery with 18W fast charging. It is expected to be priced around Rs. 40,000 range in India.
Nubia Red Magic 3
The Red Magic 3 is the latest gaming smartphone from ZTE’s subsidiary Nubia. It was announced in the month of April and features top tier hardware. In terms of specifications, the device has a 6.65-inch OLED display with a 90Hz refresh rate. For quickly accessing the handset, a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor with support for face unlock is present.
Under the hood, the Nubia Red Magic 3 runs on the 7nm Snapdragon 855 SoC, comprised of an Octa-core CPU and the Adreno 640 GPU. In terms of optics, it has a 48MP primary rear sensor with a 16MP selfie camera. For memory and storage, the device has up to 12GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage. For efficiently cooling the upcoming smartphone under heavy gaming load, it has the company’s air and water cooling technology. The handset is powered by a 5000 mAh battery with 27W fast charging. It is expected to be priced around Rs. 35,000 price bracket in India.
Redmi K20 Series
Xiaomi introduced the Redmi K20 and K20 Pro last week. While the former is a mid-range offering, the latter is a flagship-grade device from the company, featuring top tier specifications at a competitive price. In terms of specifications, the smartphones have a 6.39 inch AMOLED display. For biometric security and unlocking the smartphones, the Redmi K20 series has an in display fingerprint scanner along with support for face unlock.
Under the hood, the Redmi K20 is kitted with the 8nm Snapdragon 730 SoC. The chipset is comprised of an Octa-core CPU and the Adreno 618 GPU. The more premium Redmi K20 Pro runs on the flagship grade 7nm Snapdragon 855 SoC which has an Octa-core CPU and the Adreno 640 GPU. In terms of optics, both smartphones have a triple rear camera setup consisting of a 48MP + 13MP ultra wide angle sensor + 8MP telephoto sensor. For selfies, a 32MP sensor is housed in the pop-up mechanism on top of the handsets.
Both the Redmi K20 and the K20 Pro are powered by a 4,000 mAh battery. However, the former supports 18 W fast charging while the latter supports 27 W fast charging. The Redmi K20 is expected to be priced around Rs. 20,000 while the K20 Pro might cost around Rs. 30,000 in India. Both the upcoming smartphones are one of the most anticipated in the country.
Honor 20 Series
Announced last month, the Honor 20 and 20 Pro are the latest flagship devices from the Huawei subsidiary. The company has announced the upcoming smartphones will be launched in India on the 11th of June. In terms of specifications, the handsets feature a 6.26 inch LCD display with a punch hole cutout on the top left corner. They have a side mounted fingerprint scanner for quickly accessing the device.
Under the hood, the smartphones pack the Kirin 980 SoC consists of an Octa-Core CPU and the Mali G76 GPU. The key highlight the Honor 20 and the Honor 20 Pro is the rear facing quad camera setup. Both smartphones have a 48 MP Sony IMX586 sensor, 16 MP wide angle sensor and 2 MP macro sensor. The fourth sensor on the Honor 20 is a 2 MP depth sensor whereas the Honor 20 Pro has an 8MP telephoto lens. For memory and storage, the handsets have up to 8GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage.
In terms of battery, the Honor 20 is powered by a 3750 mAh battery whereas the Honor 20 Pro is powered by a 4,000 mAh. Both devices also support 22.5 W fast charging. They are expected to be priced around Rs. 35,000 in India.
Xiaomi launched the latest iteration of its fitness wearable, the Mi Band 3 last year. It has been long speculated that the company will launch a successor to the device soon. Details about the upcoming wearable; purportedly called the Mi Band 4 have been leaked online in the past. Images of the device have surfaced online which reveal the updates inbound over its predecessor.
Mi Band 4
The Mi Band 4 will be the latest fitness wearable from Xiaomi. Images of the device reveal it will have a coloured display. This will be an improvement over the monochrome display found on the Mi Band 3. While its rest of the design is reminiscent of the previous generation, the addition of a colour display will make for a notable addition. As a colour display consumes more power than a monochrome display; the future smart wearable may have a 135 mAh battery which is a considerable bump from 110 mAh found on the current device. Noteworthy, disparate to previous Mi Band versions, the Mi Band 4 will have an inbuilt charging port. The previous generation devices have proprietary charging connectors; which have not been well received by numerous consumers due to their complexity.
The leaks in the past also reveal the Mi Band 4 will be offered in two variants. The affordable variant will only have support for Bluetooth 5 Low Energy (LE) while the top end variant will also support NFC. The rest of the features will reportedly be taken over from the Mi Band 3; including a heart rate tracker, a pedometer for counting steps and a water resistance rating. In terms of pricing, it is expected that the lower end, Bluetooth version of the Mi Band 4 will cost Rs 2,000 like its predecessor; while the NFC version may be priced in the neighborhood of Rs 3,500. The smart wearable is expected to be unveiled in the following weeks.
Japanese electronics company Panasonic is widely known for making capable mirrorless cameras under its Lumix brand. The company on 31st May has announced its latest offering, the Lumix S1H Digital Single Lens Mirrorless camera; which boasts of being the worlds first full frame camera capable of recording in 6K resolution at 24 frames per second (fps). It is the successor to the Panasonic Lumix S1 launched last year and features notable improvements over it.
Panasonic S1H
As a full frame digital camera, the Panasonic Lumix S1H claims many world’s first to its name. Like mentioned above, it is the world’s first to record in 6K resolution at 24 fps in a 3:2 aspect ratio; or in 5.9K resolution at 30fps with an aspect ratio of 16:9. It is also capable of recording 10 bit 4K DCI video at up to 60 fps, which is also a world’s first. The camera has a variety of recording formats like the 4:3 Anamorphic mode like present in the popular GH5 camera from the company. The Lumix S1H also claims a wide dynamic range of 14+ stops with the V-Log/V-Gamut mode. Noteworthy, this dynamic range is the same as the premium Panasonic VariCam video camera.
Unfortunately, Panasonic has not specified if the Lumic S1H will feature the in body image stabilization; like present in its predecessor, but it is assumed that the latest camera will pack in the stabilisation option. It also does not have any recording time limit, which may be a beneficial feature for shooting events. In terms of pricing and availability, the Panasonic Lumix S1H will be available starting fall, which generally refers to the fourth quarter of the year in the US; with the global availability to be announced soon. For pricing, the company’s latest offering is expected to be priced around US$ 4000 (Rs 2,78,300).
OnePlus 7 is the latest smartphone from the Chinese smartphone OEM OnePlus and was launched alongside the OnePlus 7 Pro on 14th of May. It is the successor to the OnePlus 6T from last year and features top tier specifications; which include a 6.41 inch AMOLED display, 7nm Snapdragon 855 SoC and up to 8GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage.
Taiwanese company HTC is best known for its smartphones. However, due to intense competition in the space, courtesy of Chinese OEMs, sales for the company have fallen significantly in the past few years. It has been long speculated that the company may exit the smartphone business altogether. However, in the month of April, a mid-range HTC handset surfaced on performance benchmarking platforms Geekbench and Antutu which suggests otherwise. Now, the device has been granted Bluetooth certification which suggests an imminent launch.
HTC Mid-range Smartphone
The mysterious smartphone from HTC is expected to be a mid-range offering. It has been certified by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) with the model number 2Q7AXXX. This falls in line to the two previously leaked mid-range devices from the company. While the former had the model number 2Q7A100; the latter used the HTC 2Q741 moniker to identify itself. This insinuates the aforementioned handsets are part of a series that HTC may introduce soon. Unfortunately, the Bluetooth certificate of the smartphone does not add to the existing information about it, except for the fact that the upcoming device will have support for Bluetooth 5.0 Low Energy.
Previous leaks revealed the mysterious HTC mid-range smartphone will run on the 10nm Snapdragon 710 SoC. The chipset consists of an Octa-Core CPU and the Adreno 616 GPU. In terms of memory and storage, the device may have 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of internal storage which might be further expandable via a microSD card. Even though the listing did not reveal the screen size of the upcoming device, it mentions an FHD+ resolution of 2160 x 1080 px. Unfortunately, HTC has not confirmed the authenticity of the leak, therefore, the price and the launch date of the upcoming smartphone by the company is anyone’s guess. But, the listing on the Bluetooth certification website hint toward an imminent launch.
