Smartphone company Huawei’s sub-brand Honor has announced to unveil their new device on 5th July. “The smartphone Honor 8 is a successor to last year’s runaway hit Honor 7. The device will be available for purchase from 12th July,” informs Vaikundarajan.
The company made the announcement by releasing an official teaser with a tag line - Beauty out of the ordinary. The key features of the phone were revealed on Chinese certification agency, TENAA’s website.
“Honor 8 is a 5.2 inch full HD display smartphone with 2.3 GHz Kirin 950 octa-core processor. It will be available in four different variants,” says Vaikundarajan.
The users will be able to choose between a 3GB RAM with 32GB of internal storage, 4GB with 32GB of internal storage, 4GB with 64GB internal of storage and the top model with 2K display, 4GB RAM with 128GB storage. It also comes with an option of expanding the storage up to 128 GB via microSD card and runs on Android 6.0 Marshmallow. “An interesting addition to the features is the fingerprint scanner and an infrared port,” adds Vaikundarajan.
Honor 8 will come with a dual 12-megapixel camera module at the back and a 8-megapixel selfie snapper on the front.
In this competitive market, brands like Honor will survive if they bring unique features to their devices and are accepted by the users
Smartphone giants Motorola confirmed the launch of Moto G4 on 22nd June in India. The device has already gone on sale. “The cost starts at INR 13,499 and goes up to INR 14,999. However, the company is yet to confirm on the cost for Indian market,” says Vaikundarajan.
Another known development is that the device has been labeled as Amazon exclusive for Indian market. “Meaning, unlike last year when Motorola phones were available only on Flipkart, the loyalty has now shifted to Amazon,” informs Vaikundarajan.
The device features a 5.5-inch Full HD display with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 with rounded edges and is 7.9 mm thick. The front camera is 5MP while the rear camera is 13MP with phase detection autofocus. Moto G4 Plus variation has a better rear camera of 16MP with improved low-light performance.
“The smartphone is powered by Snapdragon 617 and has a 1.5 GHz octa-core processor. For the cost in discussion, the features are worth every penny,” adds Vaikundarajan. Furthermore, the phone comes with a 2GB RAM and 16GB memory that is expandable up to 128GB via microSD card. The company said that the Moto G4 and Moto G4 Plus will have a promising battery life of 6 hours and can be charged within 15 minutes.
“A significant different between the two variants is that Moto G4 comes with a fingerprint scanner,” adds Vaikundarajan.
Concluding the review, Vaikundarajan says that the pricing more than justifies the features users will get. “Hopefully, Moto G4 will offer the same consistency as offered by the previous Moto G3 models.”
Smartphone company Lenovo announced the launch of Z1 smartphone in India on 10th May. "The phone is funded by Lenovo and is called ZUK Z1. However, the smartphone is being branded as Lenovo Z1," says Vaikundarajan.
Speaking of its features, Lenovo Z1 provides premium build quality device that runs on Cyanogen OS, an android based software. The smartphone has a 5.5 inch Full HD screen powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 quad-core processor. It comes with a 3GB RAM and 64GB storage. The device packs in a 13 megapixel Sony IMX214 main camera and 8 megapixel front camera. "Some of the key features include 4G radios, support for Bluetooth, GPS, USB Type-C port,a fingerprint reader and Wi-Fi," informs Vaikundarajan. The phone is powered by s 4100mAh battery.
Lenovo is the 2nd smartphone brand to use Cyanogen OS after Micromax. In a competitive market where several smartphone brands are battling for consumer space, Lenovo Z1 certainly brings something unique. “Whether it climbs the popularity chart or joins the long list of failed smartphones, only time will tell,” concludes Vaikundarajan.
Taiwanese company Asus launched a new smartphone in India priced at INR 5299 only. “Asus ZenFone Go 4.5 Gen 2 comes with two different camera options for both front and rear cameras,” says Vaikundarajan. “Front camera comes with 0.3MP+5MP while the rear camera comes with 2MP+8MP.”
The phone will be available for purchase on top e-commerce sites such as Flipkart, Amazon, Snapdeal, PayTM and Shopclues. Consumers can also approach Asus exclusive stores and other retail stores to buy the phone.
Speaking on its other features, Vaikundarajana noted, “It has a 4.5-inch FWVGA display with 854x480 pixels resolution. Powered with a 1.2 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, the smartphone runs on 1GB RAM and has 8GB internal memory with an expandable option of up to 64GB micro SD card.”
The phone runs on the latest Android 5.1 Lollipop-based Zen UI and has dual SIM feature with replaceable 2070mAh battery. The company stated that the phone represents luxury at an affordable price and will be appreciated by the users.
“The phone will be available in 6 colours: Pearl White, Glamour Red, Lemon Yellow, Silver Blue, Silver and Sheer Gold,” concludes Vaikundarajan.
LeEco, a Chinese electronics firm, started selling its 4G smartphone Le1s on Flipkart. “The rates have been subsidised to cater to the Indian market,” says Vaikundarajan.
A company spokesperson informed that the sale of the smartphone priced at INR 10,999 can be purchased for INR 9,899 using Axis Bank Card. Furthermore, the company aims to boost eco-system and hence will expect no margin.
“The production cost of the smartphone is roughly around INR 16,042,” adds Vaikundarajan. “This makes LeEco the first cellphone brand to enter the market with an extensive after-sales network.”
Vaikundarajan explains the features of the phone. “It has a metal unibody with 5.5 inch HD display and comes with 3GB RAM and 32 GB internal storage. Main camera offers 13-MP while the selfie camera is 5MP.”
The phone has a unique feature with 3000 mAh battery that offers 5-min quick recharge to sustain a 3.5 hour talk time.
The sale on Flipkart has seen an all new high with over 5.5 lakh registrations.
The company is gearing up to setup 555 service centres across 300 cities and towns in India.
Lenovo launched its new smartphone model Vibe K4 Note on Tuesday. “The phone is a successor to last year’s K3 Note which was a sleeper hit,” informs Vaikundarajan. Lenovo stated in their press conference that the previous model had sold over 1.2 million units in less than 6 months since its launch.
