Weekly Wrap-Up #22 : Galaxy J2 2016, Galaxy J Max, TCL 560, Eluga Note, Galaxy Note 7 & More….

The latest wrap-up covering all the announcements and updates from the last week is here. 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. Asus released the Marshmallow update for a couple of devices. Reliance smartphone brand, LYF announced discounts over some of their devices. Below are the recently launched devices with pricing and specifications details.

• Samsung had officially launched the Galaxy J2 (2016) smartphone and the Galaxy J Max tablet in India last week. The Galaxy J2 (2016) is the successor to last year’s Galaxy J2 and is priced at Rs. 9,750. It sports the rumored Smart Glow feature on the rear which serves as the notification LED, selfie assist, and also shows usage alerts. On the other hand, the Galaxy J Max comes with a 7-inch WXGA (1280 x 800 pixels) display and costs Rs. 13,400. While the Galaxy J2 (2016) runs on Android 6.0 Marshmallow, the Galaxy J Max comes with Android 5.1 Lollipop based TouchWiz UI. Both the devices comes with dual SIM support and offers 4G LTE connectivity. Under the hood, both the devices are powered by an unknown quad-core processor coupled with 1.5GB of RAM.

• Asus had earlier launched the Zenfone Selfie and Zenfone Zoom smartphones with Android 5.1 Lollipop based Zen UI. At the beginning of 2016, the company confirmed to update all the Zenfone devices starting from Zenfone 2 to Android 6.0 Marshmallow. After many delays, Asus had finally updated both the Zenfone Selfie and Zenfone Zoom to latest Zen UI running on Android 6.0 Marshmallow last week. The company also confirmed that many Asus apps along with few Google apps would not pre-loaded on both these with the latest update, though the users can download them from PlayStore. Unfortunately, there is no OTA update, and the users need to download the firmware from the official website and manually update the device.

• Though Reliance’s Jio 4G network is expected to increase the average internet usage in the country, there LYF devices aren’t that good to disrupt the market. The devices come with least specs at their respective price ranges. The LYF Flame 3, Flame 4, Flame 5, and Flame 6 are priced at just Rs. 3,999 and comes with very basic specifications. These are also the most affordable 4G LTE smartphones available in the market. From last week, the company decreased the retail price of selected devices to further increase its market share. The Flame 4, Flame 5, and Flame 6 are available for just Rs. 2,999; but the Flame 2 at Rs. 3,499 seems to be a better deal. The Water 2 is priced at Rs. 9,499 after a discount of Rs. 4,000; while the Wind 6 is now available for Rs. 5,999 instead of Rs. 6,499. All these devices are also a get a free Jio 4G SIM with unlimited 4G data, voice calls, and SMS the for next three months.

• TCL, the Chinese smartphone manufacturer, launched its new entry-level smartphone TCL 560 in India. Just like the earlier launched TCL Pride T500L, the company added the IRIS scanner to this device for unlocking through the retina scan. While the Pride T500L is price sold through Snapdeal, the TCL 560 is exclusively sold through Amazon India at a price of Rs. 7,999. It comes with a 5.5-inch HD (1280 x 720 pixels) IPS display and is powered by Snapdragon 210 quad-core chipset. The device packs 2GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, and a MicroSD card slot for storage expansion. In the camera department, the TCL 560 offers an 8MP rear camera with LED flash and a 5MP selfie camera on the front. The device is backed by a 2,500mAh battery and connectivity options include 4G LTE with VoLTE support.

• As teased earlier, Panasonic came up with the Eluga Note smartphone. The device runs on Andriod 6.0 Marshmallow with the customized FitHome UI laid on top. At a price of Rs.13,290; it sports polycarbonate body while most of the device at this price range comes with an all metal body. It features a 5.5-inch Full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) display with a pixel density of 403 ppi. Under the hood is an unknown octa-core processor clocked at 1.3GHz along with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. On the rear, the Eluga Note features a 16MP primary camera with triple LED flash and a f/1.9 aperture. For selfies, it has a 5MP camera on the front. Interestingly there is no fingerprint sensor on this device. Recently Xiaomi launched the metal build Mi Max phablet with a 6.44-inch display. It is priced slightly on the higher side at Rs. 14,999 and comes with much more superior specs.

• Just after Evan Blass leaked the first looks images of Galaxy Note 7, we also got the basic specifications via Antutu. Unlike earlier rumors, there is no Galaxy Note 7 Edge, the basic variant to come with dual edge display. It sports a Quad HD (2560 x 1440 pixels) display and is powered by Snapdragon 820 processor. While the geekbench listed the device with Exynos 8893 chipset which will be an upgraded version of Exynos 8890 octa-core processor. Though we expected to see 6GB of RAM on this smartphone, the device is limited to just 4GB RAM. It has a 13MP rear camera and a 5MP selfie camera on the front. Just like the Galaxy S7 & S7 Edge, the Galaxy Note 7 might also be a waterproof and dustproof device. The IRIS scanner will be another addition to the device, though it sports fingerprint sensor, the device can be unlocked by scanning the retina of the user.