Weekly Wrap-Up #23 : Jio 4G, LYF Water 4, Galaxy On5 Pro, On7 Pro, Moto E 2016 & More….

Here is the latest wrap-up covering all the announcements and updates from the last week. This week we have seen quite a few smartphones launched in the Indian market. Samsung came up with two new smartphones while other manufacturers settled for one device each. Reliance 4G network, Jio expanded its preview offer for other smartphones and its smartphone brand, LYF came up with two new devices. Below are the recently launched devices with pricing and specifications details.

• Gionee launched a new 4G smartphone called Gionee F103 Pro in India; it is the successor for Gionee F103 that was launched in September last year. The device is priced at Rs. 11,999 and is sold across India via online and offline stores. Apart from the upgraded specifications, the device runs on Android 6.0 Marshmallow out of the box with the latest Amigo 3.1 UI on top. It sports a 5-inch HD display and is powered by 1.3GHz MediaTek MT6735 quad-core processor. It includes 3GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage along with a MicroSD card slot. On the camera front, the device has a 13MP rear camera with PDAF and LED flash, and a 5MP front facing camera. The device is backed by a 2,400mAh battery that can give 20 hours of talk time. The device comes with dual SIM support and offers 4G LTE with VoLTE for HD calling.

• Last week, Xiaomi announced that their affordable Redmi series had crossed 110 million sales. Starting from the first Redmi phone sold in 2013 and to the recently launched Redmi Note 3 and Redmi 3, the company had offered better specifications at very affordable price. Earlier this year in India, Xiaomi announced to have sold 6,00,000 units of popular Redmi Note 3 in first two months of weekly sales. However, the device is now available via open sale and is also listed on all the major online stores. The company also made partnerships to make their devices offline and might also open their own retail stores in the near future. In China, Xiaomi is expected to launch the Redmi Note 4 on July 27th along with the rumored Mi Notebook.

• Reliance 4G smartphone brand LYF had launched two new smartphones – Water 4 and Water 6. Interestingly, both the smartphones sports the same design and specifications apart from the internal storage.  The Water 4 is priced at Rs. 7,599 while the Water 6 costs Rs. 8,999 and both the devices lack the MicroSD card for storage expansion. The devices come with a 5-inch HD (1280 x 720 pixels) display and are powered by Snapdragon 410 quad-core processor. There is 2GB of RAM and the Water 6 features 32GB of internal storage, and the Water 4 is limited to just 16GB storage. In the camera department, the device includes 13MP rear camera with LED flash and a 5MP front camera.  Both the device supports 4G LTE, and a free Jio 4G SIM is offered for free with unlimited usage for three months.

• Samsung has updated the entry-level Galaxy On5 and On7 smartphones with the new Galaxy On5 Pro and On7 Pro. The new device comes with a faux leather back cover and runs on the latest TouchWiz UI based on Android 6.0 Marshmallow. The Galaxy On5 Pro is priced at Rs. 9,190 and the Galaxy On7 Pro costs Rs. 11,190. The company has included the S Bike mode and the Ultra Data Saving mode which are earlier seen on other budget Samsung devices. The Galaxy On5 Pro sports a 5-inch HD display and is powered by 1.3GHz Exynos processor and on the other hand, the Galaxy On7 Pro with a 5.5-inch display comes with Snapdragon 410 quad-core processor. Both the devices include 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage along with expandable storage option.

• Moto E 2016 is the latest smartphone Lenovo last launched last week in U.K. It is priced at GBP 99 (approx ) and will be available starting from September. The company also confirmed that the Moto E 2016 will not be made available in the U.S at all. The dual SIM device comes with 4G LTE support and runs on Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow out of the box. It comes with a 5-inch HD (1280 x 720 pixels) IPS display and includes a quad-core processor. It features an 8MP rear camera with LED flash and a 5MP front camera. There is no information mentioned about the RAM and the internal storage. It is backed by a 2,800mAh non-removable battery that can last at least a day of usage. It is said to be available in White and Black color options.

• Last week, Reliance’s 4G network, Jio confirmed to extend its preview offer for selected Samsung devices. Till date, only LYF devices used to get the Jio’s preview offer that includes unlimited usage of 4G data, voice calls, and SMS for three months for free. Whereas the Rs. 3,000 device from LYF get this offer; only the high-end Samsung Galaxy devices included in the list of devices eligible. Along with new users, all the existing customers can get the free Jio 4G SIM with the unlimited usage. All the Galaxy A (from Galaxy A5), Galaxy S (from Galaxy S6) and Galaxy Note (from Galaxy Note 4) series users need to download the MyJio to get the free SIM.