Xiaomi Redmi 5 Unboxing and First Impressions

Xiaomi just launched the Redmi 5 smartphone in India last week as the successor of last year's Redmi 4, and it went on sale earlier this week for the first time. Check out the unboxing and the first impressions of the phone. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27rtq2kIVSM&t=1s Box Contents Xiaomi Redmi 5 in Black color 2-pin charger (5V-2A) Micro USB cable SIM ejector tool Clear protective case User guide The Redmi  5 has a 5.7-inch HD+ 1440 × 720 pixels 2.5D curved glass display, compared to the 5-inch 720p screen on the Redmi 5. It is also powered by a faster Snapdragon 450 SoC with 2GB, 3GB or 4GB RAM, compared to Snapdragon 435 in the predecessor. It runs on Android 7.1.2 (Nougat) with MIUI 9.2 on top.  It has a 5-megapixel front camera with f/2.0 aperture and selfie flash, same as the Redmi Note 5. It has a 12-megapixel camera on the back with  f/2.2 aperture and large 1.25μm pixel size and has LED flash below the camera and a fingerprint sensor is present below it. It has hybrid dual SIM slot that accepts two nano SIMs or a nano SIM and a microSD, in addition to 16GB, 32GB or 64GB storage. It also has an infrared sensor on the top for Remote ...

itel S42 First Impressions – FullScreen Selfie Smartphone

In a competitive Indian mobile market, itel has launched a new smartphone billed as S42 under its flagship segment, that comes with a slew of latest features including 18:9 aspect ratio display, 13MP selfie camera with Soft Flash, Face Unlock feature, Fingerprint Sensor, Android Oreo and much more that put the itel S42 in line with the current trends. The phone is designed specifically for the Indian consumers to offer a fuller smartphone experience. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoKctyunXic The itel S42 has a brushed metal finish on the back. The device is sleek, weightless and fits perfectly in our hands. At this price point, we find no problem in the build quality as it feels solid in hand, offers good grip, and goes easy on the wrist too. Moving on to the front, we have 5.65-inch HD+ 18:9 aspect ratio 2.5D curved display. The display is quite bright with good color reproduction, text looks sharp and the viewing angles are good too. The screen visibility under the sunlight is decent enough to operate as well. In fact, the multimedia experience in this device is surprisingly immersive with the combination of good audio and visual. On the Front-Top we have the dual Soft LED flash Earpiece, usual set of ...

Qualcomm announces Snapdragon 845 VR Development Kit, brings support for HTC Vive Wave VR SDK

Qualcomm today at the Game Developers Conference (GDC), announced a new virtual reality development kit which consists of a wireless, standalone VR head-mounted display (HMD), and a new software development kit (SDK) based on the powerful Qualcomm's Snapdragon 845 Mobile VR Platform. The company recently introduced the Snapdragon 845 VR reference design.  Qualcomm says that the new virtual reality development kit (VRDK) is designed with an aim to support the next generation of mobile virtual reality applications. Furthermore, Snapdragon 845 is capable of supporting immersive VR experiences. The development kit is designed as a stand-alone mobile VR platform which will be supported by Snapdragon profiler and power optimization tools to simplify development and provide VR application developers with access to new VR features. New technologies like Room-scale 6DoF SLAM, Qualcomm Adreno Foveation, Eye Tracking, and Boundary System that are important for immersive VR experiences will be supported in the Snapdragon 845 Virtual Reality Development Kit. Furthermore, Qualcomm has also announced that it will offer support for the HTC Vive Wave VR SDK on the Snapdragon 845 Virtual Reality Development Kit and is expected to be available later this year. The Snapdragon 845 Virtual Reality Development Kit’s hardware HMD and companion SDK are expected to be available in the second quarter of 2018. Commenting on the ...

Motorola expands retail footprint in South India with 100 Moto Hub stores in Karnataka

Motorola has been expanding its retail footprint across India rapidly. Earlier this year it opened 50 new Moto Hubs in New Delhi, and recently in opened 25 stores in Kolkata and 50 stores in Mumbai. Today the company has announced the opening of 100 new Moto Hubs in Karnataka that includes 50 in Bengaluru, with a focus of strengthening retail store in the southern region. [HTML1] The Moto Hub store will house the entire portfolio of Motorola devices, including the online exclusives such as Moto X4 and Moto MODs as well as accessories like on-ear and in-ear headphones, moto shells and covers. Few months back Motorola announced a strategic partnership with Poorvika Mobiles across 43 cities in Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry and Karnataka and with Big C and Lot Mobile stores across 55 cities in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The company already said that it is planning to open 1000 new Moto Hubs in top 100 cities by the end of 2018, in the second phase of retail expansion. Commenting on the launch of new stores in the state, Sudhin Mathur, Managing Director, Motorola Mobility India said: We are highly focussed on sharing meaningful experiences with our customers and hence making their journey with our brand more memorable. We have received ...

SHARP AQUOS S3 mini with 5.5-inch FHD+ display, 6GB RAM, 20MP front camera announced

Sharp has introduced AQUOS S3 mini in China, even though the company did not introduce the rumored AQUOS S3. It has a 5.5-inch Full HD+ display with a notch and 87.5% screen-to-body ratio, is powered by Snapdragon 630 with 6GB RAM and Android 7.1 (Nougat) with Smile Ux, same as last year's AQUOS S2, but this has a 16-megapixel rear camera and a 20-megapixel front camera with AI portrait selfies and has face unlock that can unlock the phone in 0.1 second by scanning 1024 facial points. It has a fingerprint sensor below the screen that can unlock the phone in 0.1 second and packs a 3020mAh battery. SHARP AQUOS S3 mini specifications 5.5-inch (1080 x 2040 pixels) Full HD+ LCD 2.5D  curved glass display with 550 nits brightness, 135% sRGB color coverage Octa Core Snapdragon 630 14nm Mobile Platform (Quad 2.2GHz Cortex A53 + Quad 1.8GHz Cortex A53 CPUs) with Adreno 508 GPU /  Octa Core Snapdragon 660 14nm Mobile Platform (Quad 2.2GHz Kryo 260 + Quad 1.8GHz Kryo 260 CPUs) with Adreno 512 GPU 6GB LPDDR4x  RAM, 64GB storage, expandable memory up to 128GB with microSD Hybrid Dual SIM (nano + nano/microSD) Android 7.1.1 (Nougat) 16MP rear camera with LED Flash, PDAF, f/2.0 aperture 20MP front-facing camera ...

IRCTC partners with Ola to let users book cab directly from its platform

IRCTC and Ola have signed an LOI (Letter of Intent) that will enable commuters to book an Ola on IRCTC platforms. IRCTC has now integrated the Ola booking API onto its platforms; both website and IRCTC mobile app. The service has already started which makes Ola the first mobility platform in the country to partner with the IRCTC to provide first and last-mile connectivity to commuters. Both the companies have come to an understanding to further enhance the mobility experience and provide a one-stop solution to commuters on the IRCTC platforms. Ola cabs including Ola Micro, Ola Mini, Prime Play, SUVs, Ola Autos and Ola Share are available directly on the IRCTC website and mobile app. It also gives you an option to pre-book cabs up to 7 days in advance. It also gives you an option to avail the Ola booking facility as a part of tourism packages, and travel itineraries. Ola says that its self-serving kiosk on IRCTC outlets at railway stations will also let users book cabs. Commenting on the launch Saurabh Mishra, Head of Alliances at Ola, said: We are proud to partner with IRCTC and this partnership truly stands for our vision to build robust and reliable mobility for a billion people. Since Ola’s inception, it ...

Honor Store 2nd anniversary sale from March 21 to 23 – Re. 1 flash sale, up to Rs. 2000 off on smartphones and more

Honor, Huawei’s online brand today announced its 2nd-anniversary sale on its Honor online store from March 21st until 23rd March. As a part of this sale, it is offering a slew of discount and cashback offers on Honor 9 Lite, Honor 7X, along with Honor Power bank and flip covers. Every day it runs Re. 1 flash sale for cases at 12PM. The company also said that consumers can avail 15% SuperCash when paid with MobiKwik wallet, with maximum amount being Rs.3,000.  Other discounts include free mobile cover for users who purchase an Honor 7X 4GB+32GB variant, 'HONORBDAY1K' gives users a flat Rs.1000 off on the Honor 7X 64GB model, while the coupon 'HONORBDAY2K' gives Rs. 2,000, but it is limited to few units. On the other hand, Honor Power bank APO8Q will be available for 50% bringing down the price from Rs. 1999 to Rs. 999. The Huawei Quick charger AP32 will be available for Rs.499, which is a 50% discount. The Honor 6X, 8  PC cases will be available just for Rs. 29, while the flip cover will be avilable at Rs. 99 and Rs. 49 respectively. You can check out more details at Honor online store. Commenting on the sale, P Sanjeev, Vice President, Sales, Huawei ...

Top 5 Apps to enhance the WhatsApp experience

WhatsApp has taken over traditional SMS messaging in past few years and it has become the primary messaging app for most of the smartphone users, and with the launch of WhatsApp Business service providers and businesses are also ditching traditional messaging to share information with customers. In this post, we will tell you about 5 different apps which can enhance your WhatsApp experience. 1.Stash - Junk Photo & Video Cleaner: We all are parts of many groups on WhatsApp, and we all get those viral videos again and again in different groups. Even people send Good Morning, Good Night images/GIFs as well, and with every passing day, the spam on the phone storage keeps on increasing. Deleting this spam manually to keep the phone clean becomes a tedious task for most of us, and that’s where Stash comes to help. [gallery link="file" size="large" columns="2" ids="247107,247106"] This app uses machine learning to detect the WhatsApp media spam on your device and helps in detecting junk images and junk videos stored on the device. The app is also capable of detecting duplicate images on the device, this app also has an option called Whatsapp Feed which shows the viral content based on user preference. 2. Chat on ...

Xiaomi Mi Store app now available on iOS in India

Xiaomi introduced the Mi Store for Android in beta back in 2015, later it was launched through the Google Play Store for all the Android users. Now the company has introduced the Mi Store for iOS in India. This app lets you search, browse and purchase all Mi products, including phones, tablets and accessories. It has multiple payment options and lets you track order delivery status. Highlights of Mi Store Search, browse and buy Mi products Pay securely using multiple payment options Track your order status and manage your orders Read content from Mi Community and stay updated about latest product launches, reviews, tutorials, and more The Mi Store is available for download on the App Store and is currently available only for iPhone. Hope we can expect an iPad app soon. Via

Google Maps for iOS gets restaurant wait times, improved transit directions and More

Google Maps for iOS is getting a new update that brings features like restaurant wait times, improved transit directions and More. The updated app brings the version number to 4.47. The new restaurant wait times will be available at more than a million restaurants around the world. It will let you know long you can expect to wait before being seated, and it also gets the ability to sort and search through reviews of a restaurant, store, or other business. It also gets new transit directions feature that will let you know the transit entrance you need to go, which is available in New York, Hong Kong, Taipei, Paris, Los Angeles, Delhi, Moscow, Singapore, Madrid, Barcelona, Kiev, and Budapest. The official changelog includes: Features to help you discover new places and navigate to them: See average wait times at over a million restaurants worldwide. Search and sort through reviews of a place. Get transit directions that tell you exactly which entrance you need to go into. This feature is available now in New York, Hong Kong, Taipei, Paris, Los Angeles, Delhi, Moscow, Singapore, Madrid, Barcelona, Kiev, and Budapest, with more on the way! You can download the Google Maps for iOS directly from the App Store. Via