Pre-Bookings

HMD Global launched its trio of Nokia Android smartphones earlier this year and today, the Nokia 5 is available for pre-bookings across various cities like Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Indore, Hyderabad, Pune, Ahmedabad, and Calicut. The Nokia 5 is priced at Rs. 12,899 and will be available exclusively via offline retail. The Nokia 3 went on sale late last month, which only leaves the Nokia 6 which is all set for July 16 release, which will be exclusively available through Amazon India.

The Nokia 5 comes with a fingerprint scanner mounted on the home button and sports a 5.2-inch HD (720×1280 pixel) display. It runs on Android 7.1.1 Nougat and is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 SoC coupled with 2GB of RAM. It comes with 16GB of inbuilt storage, which is expandable via microSD card (up to 128GB). Nokia 5 packs a 13-megapixel camera on the back along with a flashlight and while an 8-megapixel sensor sits at the front.

Samsung Galaxy On Max launched as Flipkart exclusive
Samsung has launched a new mainstream smartphone called the Galaxy On Max, which is priced at Rs. 16,900 and will be exclusive to Flipkart. Some of the highlights include the presence of 4GB RAM, a 5.7-inch full-HD display, front flash, large aperture cameras, and support for Samsung Pay Mini. The Samsung Galaxy On Max doesn’t have an exact release date yet, and it’s just listed as ‘coming soon’ on Flipkart. It’s powered by a MediaTek MTK P25 SoC, 4GB of RAM and features a 13-megapixel rear camera.

OnePlus 5 camera gets DxO score of 87
The camera setup on the OnePlus 5 (Review) is its defining feature but when we tested it in our camera comparison, it didn’t quite stand up to other flagships like the Google Pixel and the Samsung Galaxy S8+. Our findings are now backed up by popular photography benchmark, DxOMark’s findings too, who have awarded the OnePlus 5 a score of 87. This puts it behind the Galaxy S8, Google Pixel and even the recent HTC U11. We guess its back to the drawing board for OnePlus.

Nubia M2 with dual cameras launched in India
Dual rear cameras is definitely a new trend in the smartphone space as Nubia has just launched a new model called the Nubia M2 in India, at Rs. 22,999. This phone will be exclusively available via Amazon India and will be made available exclusively for Amazon Prime members during the Prime Day Sale starting from July 10. The Nubia M2 features two 13-megapixel Sony CMOS sensors, a 5.5-inch full-HD display and is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 SoC.

Vivo X9s, Vivo X9s Plus with dual selfie cameras launched
Vivo, a popular Chinese smartphone manufacturer in India, has just launched two new smartphones – the Vivo X9s and the Vivo X9s Plus in China. The big highlight of both the smartphones are their dual selfie camera setups and the fact that they run on a custom ROM based on Android 7.1 Nougat. Prices for the Vivo X9s and the X9s Plus are 2,698 (roughly Rs. 25,600) and CNY 2,998 (roughly Rs. 28,500), respectively. It’s only a matter of time till they find their way to our shores.

Microsoft’s White Space project in trouble
Google’s free Wi-Fi project and Facebook’s recent Express Wifi project has helped millions of Indians get online for free. However, Microsoft’s White Space initiative, which uses the unused TV spectrum to beam Internet-carrying signals to several villages across India, has been in the works for three years now and is yet to take off. The company had pledged to bring affordable Internet connectivity to over 500,000 villages in the country in 2015. The company piloted the project in Harisal earlier this year but stopped it in a few months after the government refused to renew the spectrum band for commercial deployment, according to a report.

Xiaomi’s record quarter, MIUI 9 to launch before August 16 
Xiaomi’s custom Android skin is due for another major version bump, which brings it to MIUI 9. The company claimed its under development and is slated to arrive before August 16, as confirmed by a  forum post. Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun had mentioned earlier that MIUI 9 will be more fluid and powerful than previous versions and will feature split-screen mode and the picture-in-picture mode as some of the new features.

In more Xiaomi news, CEO Lei Jun confirms that the company has managed to ship 23.16 million smartphones in Q2 2017, which is a 70 percent increase from the previous quarter, marking a record high for quarterly smartphone shipments in the company’s life span. Jun also stated that revenue in India in the first half of the year is up 328 percent year-on-year.

#HelloMotoWorld event scheduled for July 25
Lenovo is gearing up to add more smartphones to its Moto lineup as it has started sending our invites for an event scheduled for July 25 in New York city. We have no idea what devices are are to be expected as the invite doesn’t really reveal much however, if we were to hazard a guess then we could see the Moto X4 smartphone being unveiled. Guess we’ll know in a few weeks time.

iPhone 8 facing 3D NAND storage chip shortage
There’s a lot of pressure on Apple for it’s next iteration of the iPhone and a new report suggests that Apple might turn to Samsung to help out with supplying 3D NAND chips for storage on the new phones. 3D NAND is still a new technology and Apple’s suppliers have reportedly failed to meet the demand for this year’s batch. With Samsung rumoured to be readying the Galaxy Note 8 too, Apple cannot afford to have any supply bottlenecks especially considering it’s the 10th anniversary for the iPhone.

RBI limits customer liability in online banking fraud
The  Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has laid out norms that essentially limit customer liability in the event of online banking fraud. The new norm directs banks to credit the amount involved in the unauthorised electronic transaction within 10 working days to the account holder. Banks may also at their discretion decide to waive off any customer liability in case of unauthorised electronic banking transactions even in cases of customer negligence.

LeEco founder Jia Yueting resigns as chairman
Chinese billionaire and founder of LeEco, has resigned as chairman of its main listed unit on Thursday. Leshi Internet Information & Technology Corp Beijing said that Jia Yueting will remain controlling shareholder without any role, having resigned as chief executive in May to focus on the electric car business, of which he will now become chairman.

Qualcomm files patent infringement lawsuit against Apple
Chip maker Qualcomm has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Apple for unlawful and unfair use of the chipmaker’s technology. Qualcomm is requesting a ban on the importation of some iPhones, due to this. “Qualcomm’s inventions are at the heart of every iPhone and extend well beyond modem technologies or cellular standards,” said Don Rosenberg, executive vice president and general counsel of Qualcomm.

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