Micromax expands Bolt series launches D303 Android smartphone at Rs 3,499
Miromax the domestic smartphone maker has yet again launched a new budget Android smartphone dubbed as ‘Bolt D303’. The company has priced the device for Rs 3,499 and it will be available in Blue colour option.
On the specifications front, the Micromax Bolt D303 features a 4inch display with 800×480 pixels resolution. The smartphone comes with dual SIM functionality and runs on Android 4.4 KitKat operating system. The device is powered by a 1.3GHz dual-core processor coupled with 512MB of RAM. The onboard storage of the smartphone accounts to 4GB which can be expanded further via microSD card. The smartphone flaunts a 3.2-megapixel rear camera with LED focus and fixed focus. On the connectivity front, the device offers 3G, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS and houses a 1,300 mAh battery.
The Micromax Bolt D303 also offers Swipe keyboard from Firstouch, which enables the users to to communicate in their selected language. Along with this, the smartphone also comes pre-loaded with 10 regional languages including, Hindi, Gujarati, Punjabi, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Oriya, Bengali and Marathi. Along with this, the phone also offers some pre-installed apps like Firsttouch launcher, Chatz, Clean Master, hotstar, Housing, NewHunt, Quikr, Scandid, Snapdeal.
ASUS has brought another great graphics card in the form of Strix-GTX980TI to India
ASUS is a well-known brand for computer products like graphic cards. They have launched the Strix GTX 980 Ti, graphics card, which is built for nothing but gaming performance. The GPU also has a strong fortification for extreme reliability and longevity.
The graphics card is powered by the latest GeForce GTX 980 Ti graphics-processing unit. The company claims that this graphic card delivers up to 24% faster gaming performance than reference cards in The Witcher 3 game. It is packed with the exclusive ASUS technologies, including DirectCU III with a patented triple wing-blade 0dB noise fan designed to deliver maximum airflow.
Strix GTX 980 Ti, graphic card also has ASUS Auto-Extreme technology with Super Alloy Power II components for premium quality and reliability. Over that, GPU Tweak II with XSplit Gamecaster for intuitive performance tweaking and instant game play streaming. Asus has also given this graphic card a GPU-fortifier and a strengthened back plate that provides superior GPU protection.
Another beautiful feature in these graphic card is that it has the Strix LED with pulsating light effects that every gamer would love to have in his gaming rig.
ASUS Strix GTX 980 Ti will be available from mid-July in two variants: STRIX-GTX980TI-DC3OC-6GD5-GAMING at Rs 64,000 (plus taxes) and STRIX-GTX980TI-DC3-6GD5-GAMING at Rs 60,000 (plus taxes). Both the graphics cards will come with a 3-year warranty.
Techs Specs of the ASUS STRIX-GTX980TI-DC3OC-6GD5-GAMING
- 1,216MHz base clock in gaming mode
- 1,317MHz boost clock in OC mode
- DirectCU III with Triple Wing-Blade 0dB Fan design
- Auto-Extreme technology with Super Alloy Power II
- GPU Tweak II with XSplit Gamecaster
- 6GB GDDR5 memory
- 1,000MHz base clock in gaming mode
- 1,075MHz boost clock in OC mode
- DirectCU III with Triple Wing-Blade 0dB Fan design
- Auto-Extreme technology with Super Alloy Power II
- GPU Tweak II with XSplit Gamecaster
- 6GB GDDR5 memory
Truecaller introduces SMS Replacement App Truemessenger to fight spam
Truecaller have recently unveiled Truemessenger, which is a new way of sending short messages on the Android phone. Truemessenger makes SMS safer and adds context to user’s conversations, by allowing a user to put a name to a number on their SMS messages and automatically filter out spam.
Truemessenger has becomes a necessity in today’s communication arena. With the increasing amount of SMS spam, and unknown messages sent to private mobile phone numbers, Truemessenger puts a user in control of who they want to communicate with and keeps their inbox clean and free from unwanted messages.
Alan Mamedi, CEO & co-founder of Truecaller, said “Today’s messaging apps are under constant attack from spammers and surrounded by uncertainty, but when we communicate via email for instance, our email app shows you the sender’s name and filters out spam messages for you, but SMS has lacked these essential components – until today. With Truemessenger we’ve reimagined the SMS app experience by making it more social and putting control back into the users’ hands so they always know who they are communicating with.” He also stated “We know that spam calls and SMS are a major source of frustration for our users globally, and our users in India have been especially vocal in asking for a solution to this problem. Today, we begin our launch in India and are really excited to be able to offer Truemessenger into the Indian market to protect our users from spam, and help to streamline their communications. We look forward to subsequent launches globally in the near future.”
With Truemessenger, the community of users will be able to communicate effortlessly with anyone who has a mobile phone while keeping their inbox free from unknown numbers and spam.
With Truemessenger, a user can have:
- The ability to put a name to a number, even for contacts outside their phonebook
- The resources to detect, block, and report spam alongside other Truecaller members to build a smarter community
- The option to avoid messages from unwanted numbers and contacts
- A clean Inbox where spam messages are magically sent to a separate folder
- The ability to add advanced filtering options by creating customized filters with known spam keywords or number series (area codes or country codes)
Zen Ultrafone Sonic 1 budget Android smartphone launched at Rs 5,999
Zen Mobile has expanded its product portfolio with the launch of Zen Ultrafone Sonic 1. It is the latest budget offering of the company and comes with a price tag of Rs 5,999. The smartphone will be available in Black colour option and has a 5-inch HD display with 1280×720 pixels resolution.
The Zen Ultrafone Sonic 1 is powered by a 1.3 GHz quad-core processor clubbed with 1GB of RAM. The inbuilt storage of the device stands at 8GB which can be expanded further using a microSD card. The smartphone offers dual SIM functionality and runs in Android 5.0 Lollipop operating system.
The smartphone also flaunts a 5.0-megapixel primary camera with LED flash and a 2.0-megapixel secondary camera for video calling. The device houses a 2,000 mAh battery and incorporates 3G, WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS as connectivity options.
The customers can purchase the Zen Ultrafone Sonic 1 exclusively from eBay.
Huawei brings four new smartphones: Huawei Y336, Y541, Y625 and G620S
Huawei is one of the well-known smartphone and IT peripherals manufacturers. They have recently announced its expansion in the Indian retail market with the launch of a new smartphones series and the mobile phones under the brand Honor. The company will be offering a wide range of its Huawei branded smartphones, which include the Huawei Y336, Y541, Y625 and G620S. These will be available under its G and Y series between the price range of Rs 5,499 to Rs 9,499.
The company claims that the latest Huawei smartphones come equipped with the best in class technology at not-so-expensive price. These devices will be marketed through the company’s offline distributors across 1,000 stores in the initial phase, thereby flooding the mid\-segment market with these affordable products.
Mr. Allen Wang, President of Consumer Business Group, Huawei Telecommunications India, stated “After the global success in the first half of 2015 with our smartphones sales crossing 50 million units, making us global number 3, we are excited to launch our “Huawei Brand” series in India. The good news is that the new series will be available through the retail route where our customers can experience the products first hand. Keeping in mind the value proposition and commitment we offer to our consumers, Huawei is rapidly strengthening its after sales network to serve them better.”
The company also claims that the G and Y series smartphones come power packed with multimedia features and strong hardware. With this new range, Huawei phones boast of improved camera features like dual LED flash, patented power saving technology for extended battery life and unmatched features at inexpensive price.
The Huawei smartphones will be available soon in the Indian market.
Microsoft revamps Bing Maps and adds hosts of new features
Microsoft has rolled out a complete makeover for its Bing Maps. Along with the revamp, the company has also added some of the new feature to it. The Bing Maps focuses more on travel planning and enables the users to search, view and share multiple places at a time.
The new feature of Bing Maps preview feature is live in United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and South Africa. It will help the users in organizing their search results into ‘cards’ which are displayed on the left side of the map. These cards will enable multiple destinations in a single view with all sort of relevant information about the routes and nearby places.
The travel directions have been upgraded with multiple routes and local traffic updates. The app also consists of split screen layout which provides a street side view about the destination. The users will also be able to take 360-degree tour and can also drag their mouse in order to view a new location.
The company states that the layout is user friendly which sharing the searchers easier and simpler.
Panasonic Eluga Z with 13MP camera, 2GB RAM launched in India for Rs 13,490
Panasonic has expanded its product portfolio with the launch of Eluga Z. The smartphone features a 5-inch HD AMOLED display with 720×1280 pixels resolution. The device comes with dual SIM functionality and runs on Android 4.4.2 KitKat operating system. Powering the smartphone is a 4GHz True Octa-Core processor paired with 2GB RAM.
The onboard storage of the smartphone accounts to 16GB which can be expanded further using a microSD card. The smartphone comes equipped with a 13.0-megapixel rear camera and a 5.0-megapixel front facing camera for video calling. The device packs in a 2,050 mAh battery and includes 3G, WiFi, Bluetooth, USB OTG and GPS as connectivity options.
Talking about the Eluga Z, Manish Sharma, Managing Director, Panasonic India said “With an aim to meet the needs of our consumers and their changing needs, the new smartphone showcases the convergence of Panasonic’s pioneering technology and consumer insight. The device offers great functionality and design, accompanied by a comprehensive system of applications that reliably address the needs of our evolving customers.”
The company has priced the Panasonic Eluga Z for Rs 13,490 and it will be available in Champagne Gold, Ivory White & Midnight Blue color options from the second week of July.
Microsoft Lumia 640 Dual SIM is a great option for youngsters who are on a budget (Review)
Ever since Microsoft took over the Lumia smartphones brand from Nokia they have been a bit aggressive with the Windows smartphone category in the Indian market. They are continuously bringing good Windows mobiles one after the other to India. Another one in the Lumia series, which we just reviewed, is the Microsoft Lumia 640. Read on to know more about this mid segment offering from Microsoft.
Design
The Microsoft Lumia 640 is available in an array of colours, which include orange, white, matte black, blue etc. We got our hands on the orange one to review. The Lumia 640 design is distinctive and colourful. It has a bright coloured plastic body (which we quite liked). The Microsoft Lumia 640’s body has a soft rectangular shape display with high gloss finish. This mobile phone has rounded corners, which gives a good look to the phone.
The 5-inch display has vibrant colours and we loved every bit of it. This IPS LCD capacitive display comes with 16 million colours. The screen has Corning Gorilla Glass 3 over it for protection. The mobile phone is 8.8mm thick and weighs 145g. The minimalistic design of the mobile phone is very impressive.
At the back of the mobile phone, we have a removable plastic panel that fits well with the frame. Under this removable plastic panel, there is a removable battery, two Micro SIM card slots and a Micro SD card slot. Also at the back, Microsoft has installed a loud speaker at the bottom right of the mobile phone.
The power button is located on the right side of the phone along with the volume key. The USB port is located at the bottom of the phone and the 3.5mm headset jack is located at the top of the mobile. The primary camera is on the top left (rear) of the mobile phone, which comes with the LED flash. A neat pair of headphones also come in the box.
Performance
The Microsoft Lumia 640 has the 1.2GHz Cortex-A7 Quad-Core processor that comes along with 1GB of RAM for applications and services. The users also get 8GB of internal memory to store files. This we feel could have been slightly more. However, there is the option to add up to a 128GB microSD card to store additonal files. All this runs on the Qualcomm MSM8926 Snapdragon 400 chiptset.
For graphics an Adreno 305 is also on board. Other features includes Gyroscope sensor, Accelerometer sensor and Compass sensor. The mobile phone also features HTML5 for browsing. The primary camera of Microsoft Lumia 640 comes with auto focus and can capture 8-megapixel still images along with HD videos. For selfies, there is a 1-megapixel secondary camera. The camera captures very decent pictures, but in low light and dark areas, the picture quality was not up to the mark. Macro shots on the other hand were quite good.
The mobile phone runs most of the apps without any hassles. But, one can’t play high end games on this device. We faced no problems when it came to audio and call quality on the Microsoft Lumia 640. The supplied headphones are really nice. Screen, image and video quality is also above average.
Moving on to its battery life, the Microsoft Lumia 640 has 2,500 mAh interchangeable battery inside it. It worked for 19 hours after a full charge (under nominal use). We tested the phone with AnTuTu Benchmark and it managed to score 11,983 points, which is a nice score for this mobile phone in the mid segment of smartphones.
Verdict
The Microsoft Lumia 640 has some great features in it. It comes with Microsoft Windows 8.1 with Lumia Denim update. This mobile phone has an impressive display, which comes with many vibrant colours. The experience was pretty much smooth throughout. People can get the mobile phone for Rs 8,999 at any online retail store. We must conclude it’s a great deal at this price. Only if Microsoft had added 16 GB of memory instead of 8 GB it would have been a steal.
Pros
- Very affordable
- Distinctive Lumia design with bright colour options
- Call quality is pretty clear
- Underpowered rear speaker
- Average battery life
- Gets heated up while playing games
- Network supported: 3G and 4G LTE
- Display size:5-inch IPS LCD capacitive display
- Operating system:Microsoft Windows Phone 8.1 with Lumia Denim
- Chipset:Qualcomm MSM8926 Snapdragon 400
- CPU:Quad-core 1.2 GHz Cortex-A7
- GPU: Adreno 305
- RAM: 1GB
- Camera:8MP rear camera and 1MP secondary camera
- Weight: 145g
- Battery: 2,500 mAH (removable)
Max number of Indians browse the net from a sub 10K smartphone says UC Web (Infographic)
We at Gadget Bridge always love to read and share a good infographic. Another one was passed to us by UC Web that showcases some interesting facts about the Indian users who are using its browser.
The very first fact that caught the eye was that the 65% of Indian smartphone consumers who are browsing the internet are using a sub Rs 10,000 mobile phone. 45% of the population is planning to upgrade the phone and go beyond Rs 10,000 on the next purchase.
70% of the users don’t have more than 20 applications installed on their mobiles. Coming to think of it, the sub 10K phones are always struggling for memory, hence one can’t even think of installing lot of apps of games on them.
Some more interesting facts revealed in this infographic include that 92% of the users of UC Browser are males and rest are females. 80% of the user base consists of consumers less than 25 years of age. Also, over 85% of the users use the browser to download various things, out of which music is the most popular genre. Check out the rest of the infographic below.
Oppo unveils Mirror 5s smartphone with 4G enabled and quad-core SoC
Oppo the Chinese smartphone maker has expanded its product portfolio with the launch of its new 4G enabled smartphone Mirror 5s. The device will be available in white colour option, but the company is yet to divulge the pricing details of the same.
Talking about the specifications, the Oppo Mirror 5s features a 5-inch display with 1280×720 pixels resolution. The smartphone offers dual SIM functionality and runs on Android 5.1 Lollipop operating system. Powering the device is a 1.2 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 (MSM8916) processor coupled with 2GB RAM.
The on board storage of the smartphone accounts to 16GB which can be expanded up to 128GB using a microSD card. The device sports an 8.0-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and a 5.0-megapixel front facing camera to facilitate video calling. The smartphone packs in a 2,420 mAb battery and offers 4G, LTE, 3G, WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS as connectivity options.