Tag: Budget Device

Google Announces New Low-Cost Chromebooks To Take On Microsoft

Microsoft had recently announced its plans for taking on one of its biggest business rivals, Google. The Redmond-based technology giant had announced that they would be bringing low-cost laptops to target the market of Chromebooks. Google decided to reply back in kind and has now unveiled a series of low-cost Chromebooks to capture the space before Microsoft arrives with its offerings.

The first in the series of new launches is the Asus Chromebook Flip, which comes with a touch screen. It has a 10.1 inch display with a resolution of 1280×800 pixels which can be folded backwards so that you can use it as a tablet. This 2-in-1 notebook will be powered by a Rockchip 3288 processor with four ARM Cortex A17 cores. It offers 16 GB of internal storage and promises 10 hours of battery life.

Asus Chromebook-Flip

Along with the Asus Chromebook Flip, Haier and Hisense have also introduced their Chromebook options which have a dirt cheap price tag. Both the offerings feature 11.6-inch displays with a resolution of 1366×768-pixel. They are powered by ARM Cortex-A17 based processors along with 2 GB RAM. They offer 16 GB of storage space and feature two USB 2.0 ports, HDMI output, and a microSD card slot. They differ only in terms of battery life; the Haier model offer 10 hours while the Hisense model offers 8.5 hours of runtime on a single charge.

Asus Chromebook Flip is priced at $249 (approx Rs. 15,525) while the Haier and Hisense versions will be available for $149 (approx Rs. 9,300). They will be available in the US and may find their way to the Indian shores in the future. With such tempting prices, we can only hope they arrive here sooner than later.

April 1, 2015
Lenovo to Take on the Redmi 1S with an Affordable 4G device

Xiaomi is fiercely racing ahead in the smartphone race. With the recent influx of capital into the company, Xiaomi has become the most valuable startup in the world. Its products are seriously challenging its competition, and there still hasn’t been a real opponent to the company. Lenovo, the other Chinese electronics giant, plans to take on Xiaomi with a new 4G device which will be priced below the popular Redmi 1S.

According to a report, Lenovo would be introducing a new device at CES 2015. The website suspects that this device might be the Lenovo K3. It is said be powered by 4G-LTE compatible Qualcomm’s 1.2 GHz Snapdragon 410 processor. Lenovo is wasting no time in introducing the device in competitive markets. It will be launching the device in India just a week after its CES launch.

The specifications cited for the Lenovo K3 make it look like an effective challenger to the Redmi 1S. It has a 5 inch 720 HD display with a pixel density of 294 PPI. It holds 1 GB RAM with 16 GB of internal memory, which might be advantageous as against the Redmi 1S’s 8 GB storage.

There has been a flux of affordable smartphone companies this year. Companies like Motorola, Xiaomi, Asus have begun the culture of offering good specifications at affordable prices and thus have gained a considerable amount of market share. The winner of this battle, of course, is a budget buyer who gets great functionalities without shelling big bucks.

Considering the price of the Xiaomi Redmi 1s(a mere 5,999); this device could be a game changer if it delivers the specifications mentioned above. It will also be nice to see a healthy rivalry to the Xiaomi 1s, which presently seems to be running away with the ‘Best Budget Phone’ tag.

December 30, 2014
Micromax Funbook P255 Available Online For 4,499 INR

Micromax has launched another budget tablet adding to its Funbook series, the Funbook P255, which is priced at INR. 4,499.

According to the information at hand, the Micromax Funbook P255 has a 7-inch capacitive display with a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels. It sports a 2 megapixel rear camera and a 0.3 megapixel front-facing camera. The device is powered by a 1.2 GHz Cortex-A8 processor with Mali-400 GPU and comes with a 512 MB of RAM.

The device has an inbuilt 1.15 GB of available storage that is expandable up to 32 GB via micro SD card. The Funbook P255 surprisingly, runs Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. The Funbook P255 includes a 2600 mAh battery. The connectivity options on the tablet are Wi-Fi and 3G (via dongle support).

September 18, 2013
HTC Zara Specs Leak, Budget Device With 4.5″ Display And Sense 5.5

HTC is bringing the design language from the One series down to entry level devices, according to an image by notorious leaker evleaks.

The HTC Zara has been rumoured before, but its specs never really jumped out at us. With a 4.5-inch qHD screen (960×540 pixels), a dual-core 1.2Ghz Snapdragon 400 processor, 1GB of RAM, 8GB internal storage, an UltraPixel camera, a 2100mAh battery and, perhaps most interestingly, Android 4.3 with Sense 5.5.

As handsets go, the HTC Zara (a codename and not final shipping designation) looks to be a mix of the lower-end Desire line and the HTC One. You can see two front-facing speakers along with the company’s unique button placement. The main differences are the more rounded corners and that distinctly Desire-like camera ring on the back.

HTC Zara is the second phone we hear of that’s going to launch with the updated Sense 5.5 user interface running on top of Android 4.3 Jelly Bean. The HTC One Max is going to debut with the company’s updated UI. Sense is HTC’s differentiator in the Android game, though recently it has been focusing more on hardware improvements than software gimmicks. Whether Sense 5.5 will retain the familiar BlinkFeed home screen remains to be seen, but we don’t think HTC will mess with a good thing.

[Via]

August 20, 2013