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OnePlus follows a trend of releasing T version of its smartphones after a few months of the original device. The OnePlus 5 and OnePlus 5T follow the same trend. The OnePlus 5 launched on 20th June 2017, followed by the OnePlus 5T which launched on 21st November 2017. Now the OnePlus 6 is the company’s new 2018 flagship and it has brought some features which are unique to the smartphone, including the portrait selfie mode. This mode takes selfie shots with a bokeh effect in the background. The company is now planning to bring this feature to the OnePlus 5 and 5T.
OnePlus 5 Gold
OnePlus hosted Open Ears Forum event in India which happened on 7th July 2018. It is in this event that OnePlus confirmed about the selfie portrait mode update for the OnePlus 5 and OnePlus 5T.
The OnePlus 6 did have the portrait mode feature out of the box but only for the rear-facing dual cameras. Rather, the smartphone received an OTA (Over The Air) OS update for OxygenOS 5.1.6. The smartphone takes these portrait mode selfies by solely depending on the software processing of the image. The OnePlus 5 and 5T users will also get a similar experience. The front-facing camera on all the three devices; OnePlus 5, OnePlus 5T, and the OnePlus 6, is a 16MP sensor. So, all the devices should produce a similar type of portrait image, but we will have to wait until the update is available to gauge better.
What is worth noting is, both the OnePlus 5 and the OnePlus 5T run on previous year’s Snapdragon 835 chipset. So, it will be interesting to see how well the selfies taken with these smartphones do against the ones taken with the OnePlus 6.
Honor has launched, what effectively is their update to the Honor 9 lite, the Honor 9N. The new phone from the company has a starting price of Rs. 11,999. Honor continues to stress the fact that smartphones don’t necessarily have to cost a lot to offer flagship-like features. The company plans on selling the smartphone exclusively via Flipkart from 31st July at 12 PM. We can expect this to be a flash sale so prospective buyers should be ready to place their orders as soon as the device is live on Flipkart. The smartphone will also be available on Honor’s own website.
Display And Design
The Honor 9N, while a mid-range smartphone, has impressive specifications and features. Starting with the display, the phone features a 5.84-inch Full HD+ 2160 x 1080 px screen. The display follows a 19:9 aspect ratio. The smartphone has a striking similarity to the Honor 9 Lite. One of the reasons for this could be that both devices belong to the same lineup. With the exception of a microphone, which sat between the rear-facing camera and LED flash in the Honor 9 Lite. In the case of the Honor 9N, the two microphones sit on the top and bottom of the device.
Honor 9N Display
Specifications
Honor 9N uses the EMUI 8.0 which is the company’s custom ROM based on Android 8.0 (Oreo). We can expect the phone to later be updated to Android 9. The smartphone is powered by the Kirin 659 chipset which is an octa-core SoC. Out of the eight cores, four run at 2.3 GHz and the other four at 1.7 GHz. The SoC has the Mali-T830 MP2 GPU in it as well. The smartphone also has three storage variants. The 3GB RAM and 32GB internal storage variant will cost Rs. 11,999. The 4GB RAM and 64GB variant will cost Rs. 13,999. And lastly, the 4GB RAM and 128GB variant will cost Rs. 17,999. The smartphone also has a microSD card slot allowing users to expand storage up to 256GB.
Camera
Huawei has been proactively implementing AI to its smartphones and the Honor 9N is no exception. The major area where the AI capabilities of the device will be evident is in the camera. The camera setup on the smartphone consists of a total of 3 cameras. The primary camera has a 13 MP sensor and 2 MP sensor. The secondary camera on the device is a 16MP sensor which the smartphone will also use for face-unlock.
The Honor 9N is yet another mid-range smartphone offering a neat design and a value for money performance. The current trend of mid-range smartphones goes out to show that you do not have to own a flagship in order to enjoy a similar experience. Smartphone manufacturers are making sure that users still get an uncompromising experience without having to spend a lot of money. Stay tuned to iGyaan for a full review of the smartphone. Here’s the link to buy the Honor 9N.
When Nokia announced the mid-range Nokia X6 in China, people were expecting that the device will launch globally as well. The Nokia X6 starts at CNY 1,299 (Rs. 13,190.55 approx) and is on sale in China. Nokia has now launched the Nokia 6.1 Plus which is the Android One global variant of the Nokia X6. An Android One device is an unmodified variant of the Android OS, providing the device with a clean and bloatware-free experience. The Nokia 6.1 Plus is expected to go on sale on the 24th of July in Hong Kong, following which the phone will be available globally.
Nokia 6.1 Plus
Most of the phones Nokia is launching belong to the mid-range segment, with the exception of phones like the Nokia 8 and the Nokia 8 Sirroco. And, the Nokia 6.1 Plus is yet another mid-range smartphone. While there are certain rumours which indicate a new Nokia flagship is on its way in 2018, Nokia has been catering more to the budget-friendly price segments in the recent years.
The display on the Nokia 6.1 Plus is a 5.8-inch IPS LCD display with a 2280 x 1080 px resolution. The aspect ratio of the device is 19:9. The device uses Corning Gorilla Glass 3 for its front and back glass panels and it also has an aluminium frame. The smartphone is available in Black / Copper and White / Iron colour variants.
The Nokia 6.1 Plus is an Android One device which has the latest Android 8.1 (Oreo) out of the box. The device runs on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 SoC. This is an octa-core 1.8 GHz Kryo 260 chipset paired with the Adreno 509 GPU.
The storage variant available globally for the Nokia 6.1 Plus is 64GB with 4GB RAM. While the internal storage is low, the smartphone allows you to use a MicroSD card of up to 400GB to expand storage.
The camera setup of the Nokia 6.1 Plus sports a total of three cameras. The primary camera setup has a 16MP sensor with f/2.0 aperture and a 5MP depth sensor with f/2.0 aperture. The secondary camera is a 16MP sensor with a f/2.0 aperture. Powering the smartphone is a 3,060 mAh Li-Ion battery.
Chipsets in smartphones are becoming powerful as well as power-efficient as they evolve further. While the Snapdragon 636 is a good SoC for a mid-range smartphone, Huawei offers AI-capabilities for the same price as well. A device like the Huawei Nova 3i uses the Kirin 710 SoC which can handle AI computation. The Nokia 6.1 Plus will most likely launch in India in the month of August or September. It will be interesting to see how well the smartphone does in the Indian market.
India has been subject to a lot of violence because of fake news spreading across social media platforms. Because of fake WhatsApp news going viral in the district of Tiruvannamalai, a family of five lost their lives. Facebook currently owns the messaging platform and is now planning to bring major changes in the way WhatsApp works. In their latest announcement, Facebook said that they will limit the number of messages users can forward.
The limit currently in India for forwarding a message is 250. The new WhatsApp update will bring this down to just 5 in India and globally the limit will be 20. The latest case of violence happened in Tamil Nadu. 65-year-old Rukmani and other four family members were travelling to a temple in Tiruvannamalai. They stopped at a village close to the temple to ask for direction when a woman wrongly suspected the family as child lifters. The rumour spread across the village via WhatsApp. The woman called her son who was ready with a mob. To avoid them, the family decided to turn back but found themselves surrounded by another mob in the neighbouring village. Again, because the news spread via WhatsApp. The family was then murdered.
The above mentioned is just one of the many cases where the victims were subject to brutality because of fake news. This led to a dire need for some serious changes in the way the social media platforms work. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, India raised its concerns about fake news to WhatsApp. Which is one of the reasons why the update is now the messaging platform’s top priority.
WhatsApp
Social media platforms are a space where people can share their opinions. However, people take this freedom of speech for granted. Regulations and protocols for people on social media is still a grey area. It is reassuring to see platforms like WhatsApp taking steps to manage and hopefully control the spreading of such fake information.
With their sales dipping year after year, HTC might just call it quits in the Indian market. The company has been facing a bit of trouble across its global markets and are struggling to keep their sales figures up as well. In a recent report by the Economic Times, the resignation of Country Head Faisal Siddiqui, Sales Head Vijay Balachandran and Product Head R Nayyar has left the Indian arm of the company in dire straits. In a stunning move, the company has asked around 70 to 80 of its Indian employees to leave the company with only Chief Financial Officer Rajeev Tayal staying behind after the three key members’ resignation. Although the company could halt all Indian operations soon, they are still pushing forward with their Virtual Reality division which will be overseen and controlled by the Taiwanese branch of the company.
HTC Dream
Looking back at the company’s storied history, the HTC Dream was the first commercially sold Android phone back in September 2008. Since then, the company has been rather competitive in global markets. However, in recent years, the company has not been able to keep up with the pace at which other manufacturers are adding innovations to their smartphones. Despite launching a flagship like the HTC U11+, the company has not been able to do well in the markets. The device runs on the Snapdragon 845 with the Adreno 630 GPU. In its early years, the company launched the Nexus One in association with Google which did really well in the market. The company then released the HTC One (M7) which had one of the best cameras of its time. Despite having only a 4MP rear-facing camera, the smartphone could take professional looking shots. Its metallic design gave the phone a very unique look and it also had BoomSound front-firing stereo speakers. This was one of the major selling points of the smartphone since these speakers were the best sounding ones of their time. Arguably, the BoomSound speakers could still outperform speakers of many 2017 and even 2018 flagship smartphones.
This move means that the company will stop selling its smartphones through offline retailers. The company still plans to use online shopping portals like Flipkart to sell its smartphones in India. They also acknowledge the fact that India is one of the most crucial markets for a smartphone manufacturer. This could mean that the company still hasn’t completely given up on the Indian market as yet.
HTC One (M7)
With its offline retail shut down, HTC may face some dispute by retailers. The major retailers of the company’s smartphones in India are the Optiemus Group, MPS Telecom, and Link Telecom. HTC owes debts in several crores to some of these retailers.
The future for HTC looks bleak at this point in time. While the company has plans to keep on selling its smartphones, it will have to bring about some major changes in its business strategies to survive the competition.
Big screen-size smartphones have been around for a while now, ever since the first Samsung Galaxy Note launched back in 2011. From the standards of 2011, the Galaxy Note 1 was a phablet. Nowadays, 5.3-inches is the average screen size for a smartphone. The Xiaomi Mi Max series was the first from the company to launch with a 6.44-inch display. On 19th July, the Chinese manufacturer launched the Xioami Mi Max 3 in China. The phone has a starting price of CNY 1,699 (Rs. 17305.44 approx). Currently, the smartphone is exclusive to China, but Xiaomi could launch this device globally soon.
Made with glass, the front panel of the Xiaomi Mi Max 3 houses the gigantic 6.9-inch display with 2160 x 1080 px resolution. The display is an IPS LCD panel with an 18:9 aspect ratio. The smartphone has an overall aluminum body.
The smartphone uses the MIUI 9.5 which is based on Android 8.1 (Oreo). The Xiaomi Mi Max 3 runs on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 636. This is an Octa-core 1.8 GHz Kryo 260 chipset. The SoC is paired with the Adreno 509 GPU.
The Xiaomi Mi Max 3 will be available in two storage and RAM variants. The 64GB storage variant has a 4GB RAM and the 128GB variant has a 6GB RAM. The smartphone allows storage expandability of up to 256GB using MicroSD card. The price for the 64GB is CNY 1,699 (Rs. 17305.44 approx) and the 128GB variant will cost CNY 1,999 (Rs. 20361.14 approx).
For the first time, Xiaomi is introducing dual rear-facing camera for the Mi Max series. The primary camera for the Mi Max 3 has a 12 MP sensor with a f/1.9 aperture, and a 5 MP depth sensor. The secondary camera of the Xiaomi Mi Max 3 has a single 8MP sensor with f/2.0 aperture. The smartphone can shoot 2160p videos at 30fps, 720p and 1080p at 30fps gyro-EIS stabilization, and 720p@120fps. The phone will be powered by a massive 5,500 mAh Li-Ion battery.
Mi Max 3 Battery
Xiaomi is one of the top brands in India. With that said, there are already a lot of good smartphones in the price range at which the Mi Max 3 is sold in China. From the Samsung Galaxy J8 to the Huawei P2 Lite. We will have to wait until the device is officially launched in India.
When we talk about displays and glass panels, Corning is the top manufacturer that comes to mind. Corning is an American tech company with its headquarters in Corning, New York. The company specializes in manufacturing glass and ceramic materials. In a press release on the 19th of July, Corning announced the latest in its Gorilla glass series, the Corning Gorilla Glass 6.
The first version of Corning Gorilla Glass was designed specifically with the first generation of iPhones in mind. Although Apple has never officially claimed to use Corning glasses on their smartphones. The company demanded a strong glass material which would not only be durable but also responsive. Which is how Corning Gorilla Glass came to be. Since then, the company has made display and body panels for other companies like Samsung.
Wooden Finish On Gorilla Glass 6
The Corning Gorilla Glass 6 will allow users to customize the way they want to use the glass. They can use it for displays, or as textured back panels. The best part is, Corning will do the designing and texturing of the glass for the company.
Glass Customization
With the increased demand for smartphones, the demand for their durability is also increasing. Coring has been developing glass panel technology since 2008 when it launched the first generation of Gorilla Glass Panels. Corning announced the second generation of the Gorilla glass four years after the first version, in 2012. With each passing year, Corning claims that it has not only worked on the durability of the glass panel, but also on its methodology of developing them.
The latest Corning Gorilla Glass 6 can survive up to 15 drops from a height of 1 meter onto rough surfaces. This is twice the durability as compared to Corning Gorilla Glass 5 which could survive only 80% of drops from relatively the same height.
Smartphones like the OnePlus 6, Nokia 8 Sirocco, and the LG G7 ThinQ use the Corning Gorilla Glass 5. Now that smartphone manufacturers are embracing full glass-body design, it is important that the material can survive rough use. The American company claims that Corning Gorilla Glass 6 is suitable for such scenarios. The glass will provide scratch resistance, optical clarity, wireless charging capabilities and enhanced durability.
Corning claims that the Gorilla Glass 6 is durable enough to be used without a case. Since the company is already providing an option to customize the glass to give it the desired design, the need of case wouldn’t arise in the first place.
It is quite coincidental that Corning announced the Gorilla Glass 6 before the launch of Galaxy Note 9 and the new iPhone line up. We believe that these smartphones could feature the Corning Gorilla Glass 6 in the form of a display as well as the back panel.
In a smartphone, a display is its most used parts by a user. Which is why it is important for manufacturers to use a durable material. Once the Corning Gorilla Glass is officially available, it will be interesting to see how well it does.
HMD Global is out with yet another Nokia smartphone. This time the device belongs to the sub Rs. 15,000 price segment. The Nokia 3.1 has officially launched in India on the 19th of July at a price of Rs. 10,499. Nokia plans to sell the device on Paytm Mall and on their own website and it will available at offline retail stores as well. Out of the box, the smartphone will use the Android 8.0 (Oreo) and receive further updates to Android 8.1 (Oreo). The company claims a secure and up to date Android experience with Android One for the device. The sale for the Nokia 3.1 will start on the 21st of July.
The Nokia 3.1 has a 5.2-inch display with 1440 x 720 px and an aspect ratio of 18:9. The phone has an aluminium frame with a glass front panel and a plastic back panel. The phone weighs around 138.3 g. Nokia claims that the display uses Corning Gorilla Glass but, the version of glass used is unspecified.
Nokia 3.1 Screen
Running on an octa-core MediaTek MT6750, the Nokia 3.1 features the Mali-T860MP2 GPU. Out of eight cores, four Cortex-A53 cores run at 1.5 GHz and the remaining four run at 1.0 GHz. In India, only one storage variant of the smartphone will be sold which is the 16GB variant with 2GB RAM. The Nokia 3.1 has a MicroSD card slot allowing users to expand the storage up to 256GB.
The camera setup of Nokia 3.1 consists of single primary and secondary sensors. The primary camera is a 13MP sensor with a f/2.0 aperture and an LED flash. This sensor is capable of shooting 720p videos at 30 fps as well. The secondary camera on this device is an 8MP sensor with a f/2.0 aperture.
There is a 2990 mAh Li-Ion battery powering the Nokia 3.1. Considering that the smartphone is slightly underpowered, the 2,990 mAh should last a day in an ideal use case scenario.
A device running on Android One means that it will receive the latest updates for the operating system as soon as they are available. On paper, the Nokia 3.1 seems like a value for money smartphone.
Vivo has been in the Indian smartphone market for quite a while, however, only in 2018 was the company noticed by the industry properly. While Vivo has been a forerunner in the offline retail market, this year, the brand redefined itself with a few firsts. Vivo showed off the first smartphone with an in-display fingerprint reader and also a phone with a popup front camera. All this was done to allow the front of the phone to become display focused. The Vivo Nex was shown off as a prototype at the Mobile World Congress 2018 this year, a phone that was to show off future technology. It seems, however, the future is only moments away from the grasp of the audience.
Vivo has launched the Nex in India for a price of Rs. 44,990. The phone features some impressive technology that may pave the way forward for innovation in smartphone technology. The unboxing experience is pretty satisfying as the phone comes well packaged and front and back screen protectors are pre-applied. In box accessories include a high-quality USB-C cable, a 22.5W Charger and quality in-ear earphones. There is also a silicon-plastic back case included in the box.
Vivo Nex
Protective case
In-Ear Earphones
USB C Cable
22.5 Watt USB Charger
Sim Ejector Tool
Documentation
The Vivo Nex is surprisingly well made, the phone has an all-glass front and because the front camera is housed in the pop-up mechanism, the front remains only for the display. The front also gets this near bezel-less look by including the fingerprint sensor in the display. The tech, even though in its early stage, works rather well, is easy to set up and responsive to unlock. The phone is missing a “face unlock” feature, due to the way their pop up camera is constructed, and the lack of any IR sensors. The company also decided to stay away from the software-based face unlock options seen on many other smartphones, including the OnePlus 6.
In Display Fingerprint Sensor
The Vivo Nex has all the specifications you can ask for from a modern day smartphone. A Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 chipset, 8 GB RAM, 128 GB of Storage and a massive 4000 mAh battery with really fast ( up to 22.5 watt) charging. It also has a dual camera setup: a main 12MP sensor with an F1.8 aperture with a 5MP secondary shooter with a F2.8 aperture along with 4-Axis optical image stabilisation.
The Vivo Nex is missing a few things, like face unlock, wireless charging and any form of IP certified water resistance due the moving motor and camera module. While the design and execution of this new pop up camera is cutting-edge, others ( including Vivo’s sister concern Oppo) have tried it as well. The moving part in a portable pocketable device does not seem to make long-term durability sense. But, the module and motor mechanism is impressively robust and designed to last for a long period of time. Vivo claims several hundred thousand times.
The operating system and usage experience is also rather pleasing and clean. With little bloatware, which is easily uninstalled, the phone runs on the company’s Funtouch OS, a skin for Android 8.1. The UI is minimal and super responsive. The phone also supports gesture-based navigation, allowing for better and fuller use of the large 6.59 inch display. The screen is a Super AMOLED panel which allows the phone to display the fingerprint icon with the entire display off. The animations on the display for the fingerprint unlock are also possible due to the use of the Super AMOLED panel. The display has a 2316 x 1080 px resolution, although it seems to have a little bit of a blue tint that we had to manually fix by turning on the reading mode.
Vivo NEX S
Vivo NEX Notch-less Display
The Vivo Nex is a step in the right direction and is a good looking premium device that helps technology move forward. However, portable technology and the lack of moving parts is what made smartphones so great in the first place. The durability is something that we are sceptical of as we fully review the device.
Apple’s iPhone X set the bar rather high with its facial ID technology and also ushered in the trend of notch displays. It seems that smartphone manufacturers are now moving away from this design and are focussing on doing away with the notch. The Oppo Find X was the first phone to launch in India which featured face-unlock technology but without a notch display. Now, the Vivo Nex has officially launched and it also features a notch-less display and face-unlock technology. The smartphone will go on sale via Amazonat a price of Rs. 44,990.
The display on the Vivo Nex is a massive 6.59-inch panel with 2316 x 1080 px Full HD+ resolution and an aspect ratio of 19.3:9. The screen to body ratio of the smartphone is 91.24% which means that the phone sports ultra-thin bezels. The back panel of the smartphone has a sleek glass finish as well.
Vivo Nex Display
The Indian variant of the Vivo Nex will be running on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 SoC. The Snapdragon 845 is a flagship chipset and has a total of eight Kyro 380 cores. This chipset will be paired with the Adreno 630 GPU.
The Vivo Nex has launched with a single storage variant option. The 128GB storage variant is paired with 8GB RAM.
Following the Oppo Find X, the Vivo Nex is the second smartphone to launch with a pop-up camera in India. The smartphone camera setup consists of a dual rear-facing and a single front-facing pop-up camera. The rear-facing camera has a 12 MP sensor with f/1.8 aperture and a 5 MP depth sensor with f/2.4 aperture. The primary camera is capable of recording 2160p and 1080p videos at 30 fps.
Apart from the face-unlock technology, the Vivo Nex also features an in-display fingerprint sensor. Powering all of this is a 4,000 mAh Li-Ion battery which should be enough for the smartphone to last an entire day.
The trend of the notch-display is more or less at its last stage and we’re beginning to see various companies find a way around it. Regardless, the Vivo Nex and the innovation it has brought to the table is a sign that the industry is moving forward.
The Nokia X series was first introduced in February 2014 as Microsoft Mobile was marketing the Nokia X series at the time. The OS for these smartphones were based on Linux and had Android as its backbone. Now, HMD Global has reimagined the Nokia X series and after the Nokia X6 was released in China earlier this year, the Nokia X5 is the latest smartphone to launch in the Nokia X series. The smartphone launched on the 18th of July in China.
The Nokia X5 will feature Android 8.1 (Oreo) out of the box and HMD claims that it will receive an Android P update as soon as it is available. The smartphone features a 5.86-inch notch-display with a resolution of 1520 x 720 pixels. The aspect ratio of the device is 19:9 with a screen to body ratio of 79.6%. The smartphone has a 2.5D curved display which gives it an elegant and sleek look. The phone is covered with glass panels on both the front and rear. Complementing the glass panels is a plastic frame as well.
The Nokia X5 runs on a MediaTek MT6771 Helio P60 SoC. This is an octa-core chipset with four Cortex-A73 and four Cortex-A53 cores running at 2.0 GHz. The GPU for the device is the MaliG72 MP3. The device will be available in two storage variants. The 32GB storage variant will have 3GB RAM and the 64GB variant will have 4GB RAM.
There is a dual rear-facing and a single front-facing camera setup on the Nokia X5 as well. The rear camera has a 13 MP sensor with f/2.0 aperture and a 5MP depth sensor. The primary camera is capable of recording 1080p videos at 30fps. The front-facing camera is an 8MP sensor with a f/2.2 aperture.
Powering the smartphone is a 3,060 mAh Li-Ion battery.
The price for the Nokia X5 in China starts from CNY 999 (Rs. 10200.26 approx). If HMD Global releases the smartphone in India then we can expect the price to be close to its Chinese counterpart.
Clearly, the Nokia X5 offers a lot of features for its price. However, we still believe that the Nokia X5 will face tough competition in this price segment. How it fairs against other smartphone is something we will keep an eye out for.
The mid-range smartphone segment is a tough nut to crack for a manufacturer. There are already a lot of devices which offer value for money features. One such smartphone series is the Xiaomi Mi Max. The first phone to launch in this series was the Mi Max back in July 2016. Xiaomi is all set to launch a new device for the Mi Max series, the Xiaomi Mi Max 3. The device will launch on the 20th of July at 10.30 AM in China (8.00 AM IST). Before the launch, however, the price for two of the device’s variants are already available on Weibo.
We can get a rough idea of the Indian pricing of the smartphone from the Weibo post. The Xiaomi Mi Max 3 would cost CNY 1,699 (Rs. 17,335.89 approx) for the 4GB RAM and 64GB storage variant. While the 6GB RAM and 128GB storage variant would cost CNY 1,999 (Rs. 20,396.97 approx).
Specs
From the post, we also got a decent amount of information about some of the smartphone’s specifications. The Mi Max 3 could feature a large 5,500 mAh battery. This is by far the biggest battery Xiaomi has ever used in its devices. The smartphone’s predecessor, the Mi Max 2, featured a massive 5,300mAh battery as well.
The Xiaomi Mi Max 3 will sport a 6.9-inch display, as suggested by the post. We can expect a 19:9 aspect ratio to go along with the display. The advertisement for the display size of the Mi Max 3 seems to be taking shots at what looks like an iPhone.
Mi Max 3 VS iPhone Look-Alike
The post also confirms previous speculations regarding the Mix Max 3 featuring the Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 SoC. This chipset will be paired with the Adreno 509 GPU.
Colour Variants
The Xiaomi Mi Max 3 could launch in three colour variants. The usual Gold, Matte Black, and some shade of Blue. We will have to wait for the launch to find out the official names of these variants.
Conclusion
Xiaomi’s Mi Max series has always been big on screen-size, yet they are priced competitively. We can only expect the trend to continue with the Xiaomi Mi Max 3 as well. What do you guys think of the smartphone?
Samsung has set a benchmark when it comes to all things computing related. From manufacturing displays to home appliances, Samsung has done it all. The latest innovation in their line up is 8GB DRAM which is essentially a Low Power type (LPDDR5). Made for smartphones, Samsung has focussed on integrating AI capabilities and 5G compatibility with this 8GB DRAM. Samsung also claims high data-rates for the LPDDR5 DRAMs. The announcement was made on Samsung’s news blog.
Samsung 8GB DRAM
The senior vice president of Memory Product Planning & Application Engineering at Samsung Electronics, Jinman Han, quoted:
“This development of 8Gb LPDDR5 represents a major step forward for low-power mobile memory solutions.We will continue to expand our next-generation 10nm-class DRAM lineup as we accelerate the move toward greater use of premium memory across the global landscape”
This is exciting news because a faster and better-optimized RAM module will allow smartphone manufacturers to integrate AI into their devices. And then we have 5G which Samsung claims will be compatible with the LDDPR5 8GB DRAM. Prior to this DRAM, Samsung had started mass producing the 8GB LPDDR4 DRAM back in 2014.
According to claims by Samsung, the LPDDR5 will have data-rates of up to 6,400 megabits per second (Mb/s). This, compared to the current DRAM in flagship devices, is almost 1.5 times faster. Samsung further claims that you can send close to 14 full HD video files (with a total size of approximately 3.7GB each), in a mere second.
The 8GB DRAM is also optimized to be less power hungry and work synchronously with the application processor. The LPDDR5 will achieve this optimization by lowering its voltage. Ultimately, Samsung wants to make the chip AI-friendly and better optimization will allow the DRAM to deliver better performance. The DRAM will also offer what Samsung is calling a ‘deep sleep mode’, which will essentially allow the DRAM to run on half of its usual power.
Ever since wearables became a trend, Xiaomi has been launching its own line of fitness bands and smartwatches. Huami is a partnered brand with Xiaomi, which made the Mi Fit, Mi Band, and the Amazfit smartwatches. The brand is now launching in India with two smartwatches. The Amazfit Bip and Amazfit Stratos are the two wearables launching on the 24th of July. Huami made an official announcement via Twitter regarding these smartwatches.
Huami Announcement
While the Amazfit Stratos follows a circular design, the Amazfit Bip has a more rectangular aesthetic. The Amazfit Bip has rounded corners, making it look similar to the Apple Watch. The strap found on both the smartwatches are rubberized.
The Amazfit Stratos is comparatively on the pricier side, as it costs about US $199.99 (Rs. 13,718.31 approx). Whereas the Amazfit Bip costs US $99 (Rs 6,785.96 approx). Naturally, the latter has a few corners cut in terms of specifications but the Bip still holds its ground with an IP68 rating and an array of sensors. Both smartwatches offer a lot of fitness tracking features and are compatible with both iOS and Android devices. The Huami Amazfit Bip and Stratos both use a proprietary OS.
Those who can’t wait for the devices to launch in India can directly order them from the US Amazon website. Considering the US price of these smartwatches are fairly competitive, we can expect the Indian prices to be relatively on the cheaper side as well. After their launch in India, we will give our final verdict on the price tags of the smartwatches. Given that the Indian market is already flooded with a plethora of fitness bands and smartwatches. On paper, both the Amazfit Bip and Amazfit Stratos look incredibly promising.
Are you going to buy a Huami smartwatch when they are available for sale? We are all ears in the comment section, do leave your feedback.
Launched on the 3rd of November 2017, the iPhone X has definitely brought some nifty features to the table. To name one, FaceID is by far the most secure unlocking mechanism in a smartphone. Which is why Apple was confident enough to skip out on the fingerprint sensor on the iPhone X. The decision to do away with the fingerprint sensor has probably set another trend after the notch-display. The Oppo Find X is among the first Android smartphones to embrace this concept. The 2018 Apple iPhone lineup has been hit with leaks and speculations for quite a while now. The recent leak shows three front panels, which we assume are for the three variants of the device.
A Tipster by the name Ben Geskin revealed the screen-size of each of the iPhones. The image of the front panels reveals there will be three variants of Apple’s 2018 smartphones. One with a 5.8-inch display, another with a 6.1-inch display, and the third with a gigantic 6.5-inch display.
iPhone Screen Size Leak
Taking the image as a reference, it is safe to say that Apple will release the three Apple iPhone variants this year. This keeps up with the rumour of there being two flagship devices, a 2018 iPhone X and an iPhone X Plus. The third device could be the “cheaper” iPhone.
The 2017 iPhone X had a 5.8-inch 2436 x 1125 px OLED True Tone Super Retina display with minimal bezels around it. Out of the box, the device ran on iOS 11. The iPhone X was powered by a 3,000 mAh battery which charges Apple’s lightning port. We suspect that the new iPhones will have a similar setup, with the exception of the “cheaper” iPhone.
Since Apple was big on AI last year, we think that the trend will continue in 2018 as well. The last year’s device featured the Apple A11 Bionic chipset with a neural engine. The camera setup may also see improved specifications.
The massive event in September will definitely be one of the most exciting updates for Apple fans this year. If the rumours turn out to be true, then it will be interesting to see what segment the cheaper 2018 iPhone variant will be priced at. We will keep an eye out for all the necessary updates, so stay tuned to iGyaan and comment below and let us know what you think about this latest leak.
