We have seen a flurry of smartphone releases in the last week of May 2017 wherein Xiaomi announced the Mi Max 2 with a bigger screen, Gionee unleashed the S10 with four cameras, Asus unveiled the Zenfone Live with beautification technology, while Samsung revealed its budget smartphone Galaxy Feel. All the newly announced handsets come with impressive specifications, although the Zenfone Live is the cheapest of the lot priced at Rs. 9,999.
IBTimes India explores the price and key specifications along with the availability details for each of these handsets that fall into budget or mid-range category.
Asus ZenFone Live
Asus ZenFone Live is touted to be the first smartphone to feature real-time beautification technology for enhanced live video sessions on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram.
Featuring the soft-light LED flash the smartphone is expected to support background noise filtering. Among other key specifications, the ZenFone Live comes with 5in HD display powered by a quad-core Snapdragon 410 processor and an Adreno 305 GPU, 2GB RAM, 13MP camera and a 2,650mAh battery.
On the storage front, the handset will be available in two configurations 16GB and 32GB with support for microSD expansion up to 128GB. The phone is expected to run Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow with ZenUI 3.5 out-of-the-box.
Asus ZenFone Live is now available for purchase via Flipkart at Rs. 9,999 in Gold, Pink and Navy Black variants.
Xiaomi Mi Max 2
The Mi Max 2's biggest user selling points (USP) are its big 6.4in full HD display and a massive 5,300mAh battery. Although there is no word on its India launch, it is expected to take on iPhone SE and OnePlus 2 once they roll out in the sub-continent.
Apart from its impressive display and battery features, the Mi Max 2 comes with Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor and runs the latest Android 7.1.1 Nougat out-of-the-box. It features the industry standard 4GB RAM with two storage options: 64GB and 128GB.
On the camera front, the Mi Max 2 offers a 12MP rear camera powered by Sony IMX386 sensor and dual-tone LED flash, besides a 5MP selfie camera on the front with 85-degree wide-angle lens. The Mi Max 2 holds a lot of promise given its superior specifications with the battery, RAM, OS and display.
Watch this space for pricing and availability details once the handset launches in India.
Gionee S10
Chinese smartphone brands have been craving for supremacy in the Indian market as the competition heats up among smartphone companies with the likes of Xiaomi, Asus, Samsung, OnePlus, Lenovo and Gionee fighting it out for their share in the market.
In line with existing smartphone trends, Gionee S10 is flaunting its twin dual-camera setup as the main USP. The rear camera setup features 16MP and 8MP sensors while the front comes with 20MP and 8MP sensors.
One of the rear cameras is equipped with F/1.8 aperture to support enhanced stills in low-light conditions. The cameras also support wide-angle photography and 3D effects.
Among other key specifications, the Gionee S10 sports a 5.5in full HD display, MediaTek Helio P25 processor, 6GB RAM, 64GB internal storage, a 3,450mAh battery and runs Android 7.0 Nougat out-of-the-box.
The availability of S10 is currently limited to China and there is no word on its global availability. Coming to the pricing details, the phone is retailing at 2,599 Yuan (roughly $380 or Rs. 24,468).
Galaxy Feel
Galaxy Feel is touted to be the latest budget offering from Samsung with a smaller 4.7in HD Super AMOLED display. The device is powered by an octa-core processor clocked at 1.6GHz, besides featuring 3GB of RAM, 32GB of internal storage, a 16MP rear camera, a 5MP front camera and a 3,000mAh battery with quick-charging technology.
On the connectivity front, the handset equips USB Type-C port for charging and data transfer, besides supporting NFC, Bluetooth 4.2, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n and 4G VOLTE.
The Galaxy Feel is currently available for pre-orders via NTT DoCoMo site while its sales will open only in mid-June and will be limited to Japan. There is still no word on the handset's pricing or availability for the rest of the world.
