Nokia 6 Will it bring back the glory?!

After a long gap and a series of news leaks, concept phones, finally Nokia released its new smartphone exclusively in China last month. Last year they bought the smartphone licencing from Microsoft, which is in fact sold to Microsoft back in 2013 (Interestingly though, they sold it at $7.2 Billion and bought back the same at $350 Million!). Anyway let's see how the device fares. Its key specs are:

• It sports 5.5 inch display with Full HD 1080p resolution
• A full Metal body along with front facing finger print scanner
• Snapdragon 430 octa-core chip set with 64 GB of storage(can be expanded up to 128 GB) and 4 Gigs of RAM
• A 3000 mah non-removable li-po battery with fast-charging
• Android 7.0 Nougat
•  It measures 154.00 x 75.80 x 7.85 (height x width x thickness) and weighs 167.00 grams.
• A 16 mega pixel rear camera f/2.0 aperture, PDAF, Laser AF, Dual-tone LED flash and an 8 Mp  f/2.0 aperture front camera
• Dual SIM dual Stand by (Hybrid SIM tray)
• Supports VoLte it seems (Since it has LTE bandwidth 40 support which is used by Jio)
• 2.5D curved display with Gorilla glass 3 protection.

Well it seems Nokia has stuffed in all the features according to current market trend. A well built, sturdy metal body, nice cameras (at least on paper), a decent battery, ample storage and RAM, finger print scanner etc. Of course it is not without any glitches, like for instance lack of Google Play store is a huge disappointment being an Android device. And it is not manufactured by Nokia itself. Instead they gave the contract to Foxconn Industries, a Chinese electronics maker. (But then it's the same company who makes i Phones too!)

                                      

When it comes to India, the response might repeat or otherwise, we've to wait and see. The pricing is all that matters. Anywhere between ₹12000 to ₹15000 can do wonders for this device.

Good day.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 launched in India.

Tech Updates...

After the huge success of Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 last year which was sold over 2.4 million units, now Xiaomi is all set to launch its successor Redmi Note 4. It will be available through Flipkart exclusive sale starting on 23 of Jan. So let's see what it has to offer to its buyers:

• A 5.5 inch diagonal display with 1920x1080p resolution(401ppi)
• Dimensions: 151 x 76 x 8.4 mm (72% screen to body ratio), Weight: 175 g 
• Dual SIM, Dual stand by 4G (micro and nano)
• Android 6.0 Marshmallow with MIUI8
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 Octa-core
• 4100 mah battery non removable
• 13 Mp rear and 5Mp front cameras
• 2.5D curved display glass
• A finger print scanner
• The phone will be available in three variants: 2GB RAM with 32GB storage for INR 9,999 ($146), 3GB RAM with 32GB storage for INR 10,999 ($161), and 4GB RAM with 64GB storage for INR 12,999 ($190).

Galaxy S8: A tough challenge for SAMSUNG

Samsung has been under a lot of pressure with the Note 7 disaster. Purportedly it lost over $5 Billion and more importantly, its reputation. Now it must prove its mettle to regain the lost reliability and obviously, all eyes are on the upcoming Galaxy S8. Let's see what they are offering with the device:

Best Budget Mobiles in India 2016

2016 has seen a tough fight in the budget segment of smartphones. With the advent of many new companies into the Indian market like Letv, Xiaomi, Vivo, Oppo, Huawei (of course this's been around here for quite some time) And the already well known Samsung, Sony, Lenovo etc, the competition was like cut throat. (We can safely exclude Apple from this list for obvious reasons!)

It's not so surprising to see a mobile these days with a full metal body, full HD display and even a finger print scanner and all this for just under 10k ! I'll try to make my list as relevant as possible. And mind you, this is only my opinion and yours may vary...

Note: Best prices may vary. It's better to buy when a sale is on.

#1. Xiaomi Redmi Note 3:

Sold over one million handsets in India, this is probably the best from Xiaomi so far.

Specs:

• 5.5 inch screen with 1920x1080 resolution(403ppi)
• Snapdragon 650 hexa core clocked at 1.8Ghz (the best in class for the price)
• Adreno 510 GPU.
• Two variants 16Gb with 2 Gb of ram &  32Gb with 3Gb of ram
• 16 Mp rear (f2.0) and 5Mp front (f2.0) cameras (No 4k recording though)
• Massive 4050 mah battery
• 4G with VoLte support

Best value for money laptops under 40k...

Most of the Indians do not wish to spend more than 40k on a laptop. And honestly, they are right in doing so. Unless you have some brand affiliation, you don't need to waste your hard earned money. Anyways, I tried to list out the best 'bang for buck' laptops here. And again, it's just my opinion...

Note: Best prices may vary. It's better to buy whenever a sale is on

#1. Acer E15 E5-572G:

• Intel i5 4210U (1.7 GHz with Turbo Boost Upto 2.7 GHz)
• HDD:   1TB
• RAM:   4Gb (DDR3)
• Graphics: 2Gb Nvidia Gt 940m (good for gaming)
•  OS: Linux
• Screen: 15.6 inch 1920x1080p (we don't usually get full HD in this price)
• two usb 2.0, one usb 3.0
• No DVD drive (but who cares!)
• Best for multimedia, gaming and also for general use.

Virtual Reality, the coming of age technology.

Virtual and Real. If I am teaching a language class, I would say these two are antonyms or words with opposite meanings. But interestingly these words together formed the latest innovation in technology i.e. Virtual Reality. 'what is virtual reality?' technically, Virtual reality is the term used to describe a three-dimensional,computer generated environment which can be explored and interacted with by a person. That person becomes  a part of this virtual world or is immersed within this environment and whilst there, is able to manipulate objects or perform a series of actions.

In simple terms, it's going to change the way we used to interact with a computer, play a video game or watch a movie. Not only this, it is useful in other fields as well like Architecture, Medicine, Sports and Arts. There are several tools to achieve this virtual reality like, VR-Headsets, Special e-gloves and other sensors. Currently this is still in rudimentary stage but I believe it has a larger role to play in the future.

If you want to try and experience the Virtual Reality, here are some devices you can choose from:

Honor 6X to be launched in India

The Chinese smartphone maker Huawei is all set to launch its latest Honor series mobile Honor 6X in India mostly on Jan 24. It was already launched in China last October and now is ready to hit the Indian market. This is the second in line after the Honor 8 to sport a dual-camera setup. But remember, this is the successor to the somewhat successful Honor 5x. Its key specs include:

• A 5.5 inch screen with resolution of 1920x1080p
• Kirin 655 octa-core chip-set (4cores at 2.1Ghz + 4cores at 1.7Ghz)
• It is available in three variants: 3GB/32GB storage, 4GB/32GB storage and 4GB/64GB storage
• A 2.5D curved glass
• Dual lens camera with a 12Mp+2Mp(to detect depth of field)
• 3340mAh battery with fast charging support
• Its dimensions are 150.9x72.6x8.2mm and weighs 162 grams.
• EMUI 4.1 OS based on Android 6.0 Marshmallow.
• It sports a finger print scanner which is claimed to unlock the device in just o.3sec.
  

As per pricing and market availability, we need to wait for the launch event. Expected price may be between ₹9900 to ₹15800 depending on the variant.
Update: It will go on sale at Amazon exclusive starting on 2nd Feb 2017. It is priced at ₹12999/- for the 3 GB RAM variant.

you can watch the video of full review of honor 6x (video courtesy Android Authority)