Oppo Find X and Moto E5 Plus price in India revealed, WhatsApp has started marking forwarded messages, Jio Phone latest, Xiaomi finally made its debut on the stock market, and more news this week.
Oppo Find X and Moto E5 Plus arrived in India, Xiaomi finally made its debut on the stock market, Apple released iOS 11.4.1, Microsoft launched its Surface Go budget Windows tablet, Facebook was fined for its role in the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Paytm launched forex services, WhatsApp started labelling forwarded messages, while Apple unveiled its mid-year refresh of its MacBook Pro laptops – these were some of the biggest happenings in the week past. In case you’ve not managed to catch all the major tech news this week, there’s no need to fret – here’s a roundup of all the top news stories that broke over the past seven days.
Let’s start with the Oppo Find X. The Chinese smartphone maker’s latest flagship has been launched in India, and it’s certainly an interesting offering. First unveiled at a Paris event last month, the Oppo Find X features a camera slider – a design decision taken to reduce the size of display bezels. The slider contains both the front and rear cameras, sliding up when required – including when unlocking the smartphone with using the 3D facial scanning feature.
Oppo Find X’s 3D facial scanning feature – called O-Face Recognition – like Apple’s Face ID uses 3D structured light with 15,000 projected dots to recognise faces. Oppo claims it is 20 times safer than fingerprint recognition – which if true, would be good, because the smartphone doesn’t bear a fingerprint sensor. The company has only brought a single variant of the smartphone to India for now – the 8GB RAM and 256GB inbuilt storage – though Oppo says the Find X Automobili Lamborghini Edition may also make its way into the country, but did not provide a launch date. The Oppo Find X price in India is set at Rs. 59,990 – pre-orders will start from July 25, and it will go on sale from August 3 via Flipkart. It will also be made available via offline stores soon after.
The Oppo Find X runs ColorOS 5.1 based on Android 8.1 Oreo. It features a 6.42-inch full-HD+ (1080×2340 pixels) AMOLED panel with a 19.5:9 aspect ratio, and screen-to-body ratio of 93.8 percent. It is powered by a Snapdragon 845 SoC, paired with an Adreno 630 GPU and 8GB of RAM. The camera slider features a dual rear camera setup, with a 16-megapixel primary sensor and a 20-megapixel secondary sensor. It sports a 25-megapixel ‚AI 3D‘ front camera. The 256GB of inbuilt storage is not expandable via microSD card. The Find X comes with a 3730mAh battery with VOOC fast charging, said to deliver 2 hours of talk time with 5 minutes of charging.
Lenovo-owned Motorola this week launched the Moto E5 Plus and Moto E5 smartphones in India. Both budget smartphones sport large batteries, 18:9 displays, and splash resistant nano-coating. The Moto E5 Plus, priced at Rs. 11,999, features a 5000mAh battery, while the smaller Moto E5 sports a 4000mAh battery and a Rs. 9,999 price tag. Both the smartphone also feature Moto Display and Moto Actions software features, usually reserved for the mid-range and higher Moto series smartphones, as well as Android 8.0 Oreo. Both smartphones are available via Amazon India and Moto Hub stores, while the Moto E5 is being sold via retail stores in addition.
As for specifications, the Moto E5 Plus bears a 6-inch HD+ (720×1440 pixels) display with an 18:9 aspect ratio, a Snapdragon 430 SoC, and 3GB of RAM. It sports a 12-megapixel rear camera and a 5-megapixel front camera with selfie light. It sports 32GB of inbuilt storage, expandable via microSD card (up to 128GB). The Moto E5 on the other hand, sports a 5.7-inch HD+ (720×1440 pixels) display with an 18:9 aspect ratio, a Snapdragon 425 SoC, 2GB of RAM, a 13-megapixel rear camera, a 5-megapixel selfie camera with selfie light. It comes with 16GB of inbuilt storage, expandable via microSD card (up to 128GB).
Xiaomi on the other hand made its debut on the stock market, listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Monday. Things got off to a shaky start, and share prices fell as much as 6 percent on day 1 due to valuation concerns, but rose back to the offering price of HKD 17 (Rs. 148.41) by mid-day before ending slightly below at HKD 16.8 (roughly Rs. 146.66). By the end of the week however, the stock up was over 26 percent at HKD 21.45 (roughly Rs. 187.17) when markets closed on Friday, valuing the company at over USD 60 billion (roughly Rs. 411,090 crores).
WhatsApp introduced a new feature that labels forwarded messages, letting users know the message was not created by the sender, move that is expected to help curb the spread of fake news and misinformation that is currently gripping much of the world. In a similar vein, the Facebook-owned messaging company earlier this week started publishing full-page ads in major Indian newspapers, giving readers tips on how to „fight false information“.
Beside this, the company was also spotted testing three other features. Two were part of the same leak – ‚Mark as Read‘ and ‚Mute‘ buttons in Android notifications. Notably, both these features are said to still be in development, and are not yet accessible by users. The third feature was ’suspicious link detection‘, once again revolving around the aim of curbing misinformation as well as promoting user safety in terms of phishing and malicious downloads. The feature is not accessible by users, but was spotted to add a ’suspicious link‘ label to any message containing a link deemed suspicious, presumably matching it with third-party databases.
Let’s get to the telecom news of the week, and as usual, we saw new plans being unveiled by operators. But before we come to the new plans, let’s talk net neutrality. The Telecom Commission on Wednesday approved the net neutrality rules as recommended by TRAI. In essence, the rules bar service providers from discriminating against Internet content and services by blocking, throttling, or granting them higher speed access. Notably, there will be some critical applications and services that will be kept out of the purview of these rules, such as remote surgery or autonomous cars.
The Telecom Commission also approved a new telecom policy, the National Digital Communications Policy 2018, and it has now been sent for seeking approval with the Union Cabinet. The commission also allowed the installation of 12.5 lakh Wi-Fi hotspots in all gram panchayats with a viability gap of around Rs. 6,000 crores by December 2018.
As for new plans from telcos, we saw BSNL upgrade a number of its 3G Data STVs and prepaid unlimited combo packs, giving them 2GB of additional data daily. Of the new plans, the Rs. 444 STV now offers 6GB of data per data, as well as unlimited on-net voice calls, for 60 days. The changes are said to have been made on a promotional basis of 60 days, starting June 18 – the offer is said to be available in all of BSNL’s circles. Other plans that saw upgrades were the Rs. 186, Rs. 429, Rs. 666, and Rs. 999 prepaid unlimited combo packs, as well as the Rs. 187, Rs. 333, Rs. 349, and Rs. 448 3G Data STVs.
BSNL also revamped its Rs. 1,045, Rs. 1,395, and Rs. 1,895 FTTH broadband plans this week to offer 50GB more data than the previous FUP. The BSNL Fibro BBG ULD 1045 CS48 plan now offers 150GB of FUP data with download speeds of 30Mbps for Rs. 1,045 per month. The Fibro BBG ULD 1395 CS49 now offers 200GB of FUP data per month at 40Mbps bandwidth speed for Rs. 1,395. Finally, the BSNL Fibro BBG ULD 1895 CS129 plan now offers 250GB of FUP data at 50Mbps bandwidth speed, and is priced at Rs. 1,895.
Other state-owned telecom operator, MTNL, announced the launch of a new GSM offer for its broadband customers. Now, broadband subscribers with plans above Rs. 600 can avail a free MTNL 3G SIM card with access to up to 10GB of free data per month for a total period of 12 months. The SIM cards will carry a validity of up to 5 years, with calls and SMS messages chargeable as per industry standards. The offer is valid from July 1 up until September 28, a period of 90 days, and can be availed by new and existing MTNL broadband customers. Specifically, 5GB of free data can be availed by those with plans up to Rs. 799, while 10GB of free data will be offered to those with plans priced above Rs. 800 a month.
Airtel this week revamped its Rs. 499 postpaid plan to offer 87.5 percent more data to its subscribers. Part of its MyPlan Infinity plans, the refreshed Rs. 499 plan now offers 75GB of data per month, compared to 40GB of data previously. The revamped plan offers 100 SMS messages, unlimited voice calls, even on outgoing while roaming, and without any FUP limit. It also comes with a data rollover facility up to 500GB, other benefits including a one-year subscription to Amazon Prime, a Wynk TV subscription, access to Airtel’s library of Live TV and Movies, and Handset Damage Protection.
Now we get to the last major bit of telecom news of the week – Reliance Jio has brought the Google Maps app to its popular 4G feature phone, the Jio Phone. To access the app, users will need to update their Jio Phone firmware. To do this, users will have to go to Settings > Device > Software update and install the Jio Phone software update v2018.628.2. Notably, users will need a minimum of 30 percent battery to install the update. Once the update has been installed, users will need to open the Jio Store app and download the Google Maps app visible on the home page. As you can expect, since it’s made for a small 2.4-inch QVGA panel, Google Maps on Jio Phone has a minimal layout.
That’s it for the telecom news of the week – now let’s get to other major mobile launches in the past 7 days. Apart from the Oppo Find X, Moto E5 Plus, and Moto E5, India also saw the launch of the Oppo A3s in India. Priced at Rs. 10,990, the Oppo A3s is available only in a single 2GB RAM/ 16GB inbuilt storage variant. The highlights of the smartphone include its dual rear camera setup, a 6.2-inch ‚Super Full Screen‘ display, a 4230mAh battery, an octa-core Snapdragon 450 SoC, as well as a selfie camera powered by Oppo’s AI Beauty Technology 2.0. The smartphonewent on sale from today via Amazon, Flipkart, Paytm, as well as offline stores in the country.
The Infinix Hot 6 Pro was also launched in India this week by the Transsion Holdings-owned brand. Priced at Rs. 7,999 (MOP), the Infinix Hot 6 Pro is available only in a single 3GB RAM/ 32GB inbuilt storage variant, and will go on sale via Flipkart during the Big Shopping Days sale that kicks off at 4pm IST on Monday. Highlights of the smartphone include its 5.99-inch HD+ display, the fact that it runs Android Oreo out-of-the-box, a Snapdragon 425 SoC, a 13-megapixel rear camera, and a 4000mAh battery.
Meanwhile, we saw the Oppo F7 receive a substantial price cut in India. Launched back in March this year at Rs. 21,990 and Rs. 26,990 for the 4GB RAM/ 64GB storage and 6GB RAM/ 128GB storage variants respectively, the smartphone has now received a price cut of up to Rs. 3,000. Specifically, the two variants are now retailing for Rs. 19,990 and Rs. 23,990, respectively. The smartphone is available at its new price via Amazon India and Flipkart.
Intex also launched two new budget smartphones with 18:9 displays, which are the highlights of the two new offerings. Called the Intex Infie 33 and Infie 3, the smartphones have been priced at Rs. 5,049 and Rs. 4,649 respectively. They also come with a new Intex UI iteration that brings features such as Face Unlock, Privacy System, and App Freezer among others. The smartphones will be available to purchase via offline retail stores in the country.
We saw some launches outside India as well – for example, the Huawei Nova 3. The smartphone went up for pre-orders in China ahead of its official unveiling on July 18, which will also see the price of the smartphone revealed. The Huawei Nova 3 runs EMUI 8.2 based on Android 8.1 Oreo and features a 6.3-inch (1080×2340 pixels) full HD+ display with a 19.5:9 aspect ratio. It is powered by the Huawei HiSilicon Kirin 970 SoC, coupled with 6GB of RAM. It features a dual rear camera setup with a 16-megapixel primary sensor and a 24-megapixel secondary sensor. On the front, it bears a dual front camera setup as well, with a 24-megapixel primary sensor and a 2-megapixel secondary sensor. It is powered by a 3750mAh battery. As per reports, the smartphone is set to be unveiled in India this month as well.
Sony in the meanwhile launched the Xperia XA2 Plus this week. Its highlights include a 6-inch HD+ display, a Snapdragon 630 SoC with 4GB or 6GB of RAM, a 23-megapixel rear camera, an 8-megapixel front camera, and a 3,580mAh battery under the hood with support for Quick Charge 3.0. It will be available in 32GB and 64GB storage variants, and notably, pricing for the smartphone has yet to be announced.
