Redmi 5 With 5.7-Inch Display, 3300mAh Battery Launched at Starting Price of Rs. 7,999

Redmi 5 has been launched in India by Xiaomi. To recall, the smartphone was first unveiled in China in December alongside the Redmi 5 Plus. The latter was launched in India last month as the Redmi Note 5 and Redmi 5 Pro. Now, the Chinese company has brought the Redmi 5 to India, and made it available exclusively via Amazon India, apart from Mi.com, the Mi Home stores, and offline retail partners; all units sold in India will be manufactured locally, the company says. The Redmi Note 5 on the other hand was exclusive to Flipkart. Xiaomi has revealed the Redmi 5 price in India, availability, and launch offers. Read on for more details.

Redmi 5 price in India, launch offers

The Xiaomi Redmi 5 price in India starts at Rs. 7,999 for the 2GB RAM, 16GB storage variant, going up to Rs. 8,999 for 3GB RAM, 32GB storage variant, and Rs. 10,999 for the 4GB RAM and 64GB storage variant. It will be available exclusively from Amazon India, as well as Mi.com and Mi Home stores in flash sales, starting March 20 at 12pm IST, before being made available via offline retail partners.

Redmi 5 launch offers include an instant Rs. 2,200 cashback from Reliance Jio with 100GB of additional data, and a 5 percent discount on Amazon India and Mi.com using SBI credit cards. Users will also get 90 percent off on their first Kindle eBooks purchase (up to Rs. 400). Buyers will get a free ultra-slim cover with the smartphone.

Redmi 5 specifications

The dual-SIM (Nano) Xiaomi Redmi 5 runs MIUI 9. It sports a 5.7-inch HD+ (720×1440 pixels) display with an 18:9 aspect ratio, 282ppi pixel density, 450-nit peak brightness, 72 percent NTSC colour gamut, and an eye protection mode. It is powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 SoC clocked up to 1.8GHz, coupled with Adreno 506 GPU, and 2GB, 3GB, or 4GB of RAM.

The Redmi 5 bears a 12-megapixel rear camera with 1.25-micron pixels, f/2.2 aperture, PDAF, HDR, and LED flash. On the front, it bears a 5-megapixel camera with an LED selfie light, face recognition, and the Smart Beauty 3.0 app. The smartphone comes in three inbuilt storage options – 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB – all of which are expandable via microSD card. Connectivity options include 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth v4.2, GPS/ A-GPS, and a 3.5mm audio jack, and the battery capacity is 3300mAh.

Sensors on board the Redmi 5 include accelerometer, ambient light sensor, gyroscope, and proximity sensor. It measures 151.8×72.8×7.7mm and weighs 157 grams. It is available in Black, Gold, Lake Blue, and Rose Gold colour variants. It bears a fingerprint sensor on the rear panel, and the company is touting the dual pyrolytic sheet technology on the smartphone for heat dissipation optimised for Indian environmental conditions.

Vivo V9 Specifications, Design Revealed on India Site Listing Ahead of Launch

Vivo V9 is set to launch in India on March 23. While we still have a few days to go till the announcement, it seems Vivois quite eager to make the phone official. A listing on Vivo India’s website reveals several details about the upcoming smartphone including colour variants, internal specifications, design elements, and a rather interesting pricing of Rs. 1 crore – evidently just a placeholder.

According to the Vivo V9 listing on Vivo India’s e-commerce portal, the smartphone will be available in Pearl Black and Gold colour options. Additionally, it will get some AI and AR based features for the front camera. These include AI face beauty, gender detection, and AR Stickers. Interestingly, the press renders show a wallpaper similar to the one seen on the iPhone X.

Vivo V9 specifications

The dual-SIM (Nano) Vivo V9 runs FunTouch OS 4.0 on top of Android 8.1 Oreo out-of-the-box. The phone sports a 6.3-inch full-HD+ (1080×2280 pixels) IPS display. It is powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 626 SoC, coupled with 4GB RAM and 64GB inbuilt storage (expandable via microSD card).

In terms of optics, the listing reveals that the Vivo V9 will sport a vertical dual rear camera setup with a 16-megapixel primary sensor and a 5-megapixel secondary sensor with LED flash. The front camera will feature a 24-megapixel image sensor. Both cameras come with f/2.0 aperture. There is a 3260mAh battery under the hood.

Connectivity options on the Vivo V9 are listed as 3G, 4G (with Band 40), Bluetooth 4.2, Wi-Fi with support for 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands, GPS, USB 2.0 with OTG, and FM Radio. Sensors include accelerometer, ambient light sensor, proximity sensor, compass, fingerprint sensor, and gyroscope. Dimensions of the phone are 154.8x75x7.9mm and the weight is 150 grams.

Vivo V9 specs, image of retail box leak ahead of March 27 India launch

Vivo’s upcoming V9 smartphone is no secret. The smartphone has been exposed to numerous leaks in the past. The phone is set to launch on March 22 in Thailand first and on March 27 in India. Ahead of the launch, some major specs have been leaked of the phone along with the image of the retail box and the phone itself.

The leaked photo, if to be believed, confirms the infamous iPhone-X like notch that is being rumoured for V9 for quite a long time. The notch is comparatively smaller than the iPhone X but it is there. The phone looks nearly bezel-less with really thin ones on all sides.

There are talks that Vivo V9 will be powered by a Snapdragon 660 chipset and pack 4GB RAM with 64GB internal storage that’s expandable. The device is expected to be backed by a 3,250 mAh battery. The phone will run Android 8.0 Oreo with Vivo’s in-house Funtouch OS 4.0 skin on top.

On the camera front, Vivo V9 will retain the V7’s 24MP front camera. The phone will come with dual cameras on the back as opposed to V7 that only has one camera at the back.

Coming to the expected price of the phone, there are rumours that suggest V9 could be priced around Rs 25,000 which is higher than the price of V7 or V7+.
Separately, Vivo is planning to launch Vivo X21 in China on March 29. The phone will succeed the X20 Plus UD and rumoured to sport an in-display fingerprint technology. Not much is known about it yet.

Huawei P20, P20 Lite, P20 Pro renders leak, reveal iPhone X-like notch and colour options

There have been plenty of leaks and rumours over the past few weeks regarding the upcoming Huawei P20 series that include the P20, P20 Lite and P20 Pro. The company is expected to unveil the phones at an event in Paris on March 27. Continuing the surprising notch trend that has gripped Android OEMs off late, all three P20 phones are expected to sport the forehead and a new set of renders confirm this even further.

WinFutures Roland Quandt posted a series of renders of all three P20 smartphones that reveal them from each and every angle. The renders confirm the iPhone X-like notch atop the display on each of the phones, which will house the front camera of either 16-megapixel or 24-megapixel depending on the model. Additionally, the renders also tell us the range of colours that the phones will be available in. The P20, for example, will be available in black, pink and pink-gold while the P20 Lite will be offered in black, blue and pink options. The P20 Pro has an interesting Twilight colour option that is sure to attract a lot of people apart from black and blue.

The display notch on all three phones is noticeably smaller than the notch on the iPhone X, which tells us that Huawei will not be housing a lot of sensors inside like infrared or dot projector. This largely suggests that Huawei will be using the front camera alone for face unlock. Again, this wont be surprising as most Android smartphones so far with a display notch have mainly used it to house the camera while increasing the overall screen-to-body-ratio.

Meanwhile, the rear of the P20 Pro render once again confirms Evan Blass previous report that the flagship will sport a triple rear camera setup with a maximum resolution of 40-megapixel. WinFuture says that one of the three cameras will be a monochrome sensor while another will be a telephoto lens capable of 3X hybrid zoom. Moreover, the P20 Pros rear camera setup will include a f/1.6 aperture and f/2.4 aperture.

Meanwhile, the Huawei P20 and P20 Lite will sport traditional dual rear camera setups with similar aperture like the P20 Pro. The report further suggests an infrared white balance sensor and laser-assisted autofocus. As for the fingerprint sensor, the P20 and P20 Pro will embed the sensor on the home button on the front while the P20 Lite will keep the fingerprint sensor on the back.

Quandt provides some more details as well such as a 3,400mAh battery inside the P20 and a larger 4,000mAh battery for the P20 Pro. The report also notes that both the P20 and the P20 Pro will not support a microSD card slot, but they will support two nano SIM cards. The P20 Lite, on the other hand, will support storage expandability. Lastly, the report also notes that the P20 Lite, P20 and P20 Pro will be priced starting at EUR 369, EUR 679 and EUR 899, respectively. We will know everything else when Huawei unveils the trio on March 27.

Huawei Y9 (2018) With Four Cameras, Android Oreo Launched

Huawei Y9 (2018) has been launched in Thailand. The new smartphone has internals identical to the previously launched Huawei Mate 10 Lite and Honor 9i. Its price and availability details are yet to be revealed. However, there is speculation that the new Huawei handset will hit stores at about EUR 200 (approximately Rs. 16,000).

Huawei Y9 (2018) specifications

The dual-SIM Huawei Y9 (2018) runs Android 8.0 Oreo-based EMUI 8.0 and features a 5.93-inch FullView display with full-HD+ (1080×2160 pixels) resolution and 18:9 aspect ratio. Under the hood, there is a Kirin 659 SoC along with eight processing cores at a clock-speed of 2.3GHz, paired with 3GB of RAM. The SoC was previously powering handsets such as Huawei Mate 10 Lite and Honor 9 Lite. Further, the smartphone has dual camera setups on the front and back. The back camera setup includes a 13-megapixel primary image sensor and a 2-megapixel secondary sensor – accompanied with an LED flash, while the front panel has a 16-megapixel primary sensor and a 2-megapixel secondary sensor.

Huawei has provided 32GB of onboard storage that is expandable via microSD card (up to 256GB). The smartphone has regular connectivity options such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Also, it packs a 4000mAh battery. The handset comes in Black, Blue, and Gold colour options and includes a rear-facing fingerprint sensor. Besides, it weighs 170 grams and comes with 7.9mm of thickness.

The Thailand launch of the Huawei Y9 (2018) was first reported by Winfuture.de, which also added the EUR 200 price speculation.

It is unclear whether the Huawei Y9 (2018) will debut in markets other than Thailand. Having said that, the smartphone has a compelling list of specifications to take on major offerings by companies such as Oppo, Vivo, and Xiaomi.

OnePlus 5T gets Android Oreo 8.1 through Oxygen OS Open Beta 4

The OnePlus 5T has been updated to Android 8.1 Oreo, but only if you’re on the Open Beta program. OnePlus has rolled out its Open Beta 4 software package for the OnePlus 5T, as well as Open Beta 6 for the OnePlus 5. Both of these packages will bring the phone to Android Oreo, along with updating the Android security patch to February 2018. Note that the update will only be available to you through an OTA push if you’re already on the Open Beta program on your device. Users can also manually install the package to get onto the Open Beta program, by following the procedure on the software downloads page of OnePlus.Apart from the change in the software version and Android patch level, the differences in Open Beta 4 (for the OnePlus 5T) and Open Beta 6 (for the OnePlus 5) are functional and related to the Oxygen OS overlay. New features include a gaming mode, a new auto pick-up gesture to answer incoming calls by raising the phone to your ear, a global roaming solution, new clock styles on the ambient display mode, data migration for app back-up on OnePlus Switch, and optimized full-screen gesture support (only on the OnePlus 5T). While nothing major has been announced in this update beyond the actual software version, users will nonetheless welcome the quick and regular software updates issued by OnePlus.OnePlus has been regular with its software updates, and notably rolled out Android Oreo 8.0 to the OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T well before the new version made it to the new OnePlus 5 and OnePlus 5T. The company is known for taking user feedback strongly, and issues many of its updates and software-based features based on requests by users. OnePlus also actively maintains a forum, where key announcements are made and feedback is taken.The Open Beta program is notably not stable software, and hence is not recommended for users who aren’t completely sure of what they are doing, as this could cause stability issues and problems with the devices. However, advanced users can get a taste of upcoming features and software through the open beta program, before these features are thoroughly tested and rolled out as stable OTAs. OnePlus earlier this month rolled out Oxygen OS 5.0.4, the stable version of its software, for both the OnePlus 5 and OnePlus 5T.