IQoo to launch Snapdragon 865-powered 5G smartphone in February in India

BBK-owned IQOO has officially announced its entry to India. Abbreviated from 'I quest on and on' and pronounced as 'aiku', the sub-brand will be operating in the premium segment, independently of Vivo in India.

The brand was first announced in China last year with a focus on 5G connectivity and gaming. Under the brand, Vivo launched IQoo Pro and IQoo Neo, powered by the Snapdragon 855 and Snapdragon 845 respectively. The former even had a 5G variant that was announced at MWC China. Now, the brand will operate independent of Vivo in both China and India.

First to bring a Snapdragon 865-powered 5G phone

In India, IQoo wants to be first brand to bring a Snapdragon 865-powered flagship to India. Considering how you can't unpair the 5G modem from the chipset, it will also happen to be the first 5G-enabled smartphone in India. The launch event is scheduled to happen in the first half of February. The upcoming flagship will also feature a new battery tech and it's not confirmed whether it's just a large-capacity battery or faster charging. The same smartphone will also have a 4G-only variant running on Snapdragon 865.

We spoke to Gagan Arora, Director of Marketing at IQoo about his plans for the brand's entry into the Indian smartphone market.

"The philosophy of IQoo is based on performance. It stands for 'I quest on and on' and the quest is all about performance. It (smartphones under IQoo) has to be the best and performance comes at a premium. We will be the first one to introduce Snapdragon 865 in the Indian market. Second thing, in terms of the latest capability, 5G will be there," he said.

The price to performance ratio will be crucial to the brand's success in India. The premium segment has seen good growth last year with new entrants like the Realme X2 Pro, Redmi K20 Pro shaking things up a bit. Mr. Arora said IQoo smartphones will maintain the competitive pricing of flagships in India.

"The prices has to be competitive for sure, but the focus on experience will also be there. So it (smartphones under IQoo) will be premium because of performance, not because of the price," Mr. Arora added.

Pricing remains the key to success

While that sounds like the upcoming flagship will be priced just as affordable as other Snapdragon 855+ powered phones in India, you may want to hold on to your horses.

The 5G-enabled Snapdragon 865 is considered to be more expensive to source from Qualcomm as compared to the previous generation. This higher cost in tandem with the extra efforts needed to enable 5G connectivity could make the smartphone's price a lot higher than we expect.

But then again, considering IQoo will share manufacturing space with Vivo and other BBK-owned brands, it should also enjoy the higher economies of scale that will come with being under the Chinese electronics conglomerate who can technically manage to order the flagship chipset in large volumes, and get some leeway on the price.

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Vodafone announces Rs 558 recharge plan with 3GB data per day, unlimited calling

Indian telecom companies recently announced new pricing for their offerings, with the hope of bolstering their earnings. With increased tariffs, companies expect to increase the Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) and while we already know the new plans, Vodafone-Idea has now listed another one for its consumers. The company has introduced a new Rs 558 prepaid recharge plan for its consumers, which comes with unlimited calling, daily data and free daily SMS. The recharge has a 56-day validity and is clearly aimed at consumers who need more data per day as one will get 3GB data per day under the plan. 

The Rs 558 prepaid plan also offers unlimited calling without any kind of capping or FUP. This means that one can place calls on any network, without paying anything extra. This is in contrast to Reliance Jio’s service, which is now levying a 6 paise per minute charge from its consumers as IUC. Coming back to Vodafone’s new prepaid plan, the telco is also offering 100 daily SMS and as mentioned above, 3GB daily data. In addition, users will also get to avail Vodafone Play subscription worth Rs 499 and ZEE5 subscription worth Rs 999 for free. 

Vodafone also offers a prepaid plan priced at Rs 599, which offers a lower amount of data per day but for a longer validity period. Under the recharge, users get to avail 1.5GB data per day and unlimited calling without any FUP. There will also be 100 SMS per day, along with free Vodafone Play and ZEE5 subscriptions. 

Airtel, on the other hand, has a prepaid plan priced at Rs 598. It offers unlimited calls, 100SMS per day, 1.5GB data per day with 84-day validity. Reliance Jio also has a recharge plan priced at Rs 599 in the same range, which comes with 84-day validity and 2GB data per day. However, calls are not unlimited when placed to users on other networks. 

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MG ZS EV officially launched in India starting at Rs 2088 lakh

When MG Motor announced the ZS EV in early December last year, we received little information about the pricing and availability of its all-electric SUV. Today, the British auto brand has officially lifted the veil on some of those key details. Available in the market starting today, the MG ZS EV costs Rs 20.88 lakh for the base ‘Excite’ variant and Rs 23.58 lakh for the high-end ‘Exclusive’ variant. That said, the first 2,800 customers who pre-ordered the ZS EV before January 17 enjoy a discount of Rs 1 lakh on both variants.

Being a proper electric vehicle (EV), the MG ZS EV is powered by a 44.5kWh battery that's good for a claimed driving range of 340 kilometres on a single charge. Because it's IP67-rated, the battery is resistant to dust and water (up to 1 metre depth). The electric motor that the battery is connected to puts out a total of 143 horsepower, which can launch the car from 0 to 100 kilometres per hour in 8.5 seconds. The ZS EV comes with a number of AC and DC charging options. It comes bundled with a domestic AC charging kit, which takes between six and eight hours to charge the car fully from a 15A domestic wall socket.

On the inside, the MG ZS EV contains numerous creature comforts and digital aids, such as an inbuilt air purifier that works against PM 2.5 particles, a panoramic sunroof, and a large 8-inch landscape-style touchscreen display for infotainment. This display  also shows the amount of carbon footprint saved on previous trips. Like many new cars these days, the infotainment unit comes with support for Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. The software powering it is iSMART EV 2.0, a reworked edition of the MG Hector's iSMART system. You can read more about that here.

The MG ZS EV competes directly with the Hyundai Kona Electric, which was launched last year at a starting price of Rs 25.30 lakh. In comparison to the ZS EV, the Kona Electric sports a smaller 39.2kWh battery but promises a higher ARAI-certified range of 452 kilometres on a single charge. The permanent-magnet synchronous electric motor inside the Kona Electric is capable of delivering a total of 136 horsepower. The car can go from 0 to 100 kilometres per hour in 9.7 seconds. You can read more about the Hyundai Kona here.

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Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite launched in India for Rs 39,999

Samsung introduced the “Lite” variants of its 2019 flagships at CES 2020. The company launched Galaxy S10 Lite and Galaxy Note10 Lite. While the latter was launched in India earlier this week, Samsung has now released the Galaxy S10 Lite in India. The smartphone comes with an Infinity-O Display and runs Android 10 out of the box. 

Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite features a 6.7-inch Full HD+ (2400×1080 pixels) Super AMOLED Plus Infinity-O Display with 394 PPI. The smartphone is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 chipset. It comes with 8GB LPDDR4x RAM and128GB of internal storage that can be expanded up to 1TB with microSD card. It runs OneUI 2.0 based on Android 10.

On the optics front, Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite sports a triple rear camera setup: a 48MP lens with f/2.0  aperture and OIS + a 12MP Ultra Wide sensor with f/2.2 aperture + a 5MP macro camera with f/2.0 aperture. On the front lies a 32MP selfie shooter. Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite comes with an in-display fingerprint sensor. It packs a 4500mAh battery that supports 25W fast charging. The device weighs 186 grams.

Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite price in India is Rs 39,999. It comes in Prism White, Prism Black and Prism Blue colour options. The smartphone will go on sale on February 4 through Flipkart, Samsung.com and leading retail stores. It can be pre-booked between January 23 to February 2020. Those who pre-book the smartphone will be eligible for one-time screen replacement at Rs 1,999. The company is giving cashback of Rs 3,000 on purchase of the handset through ICICI Bank credit cards.

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Poco looks to make a grand return with the Poco X2

The Poco F2 has been swirling around the rumour mill for a long time now. While many were wondering if Xiaomi had abandoned the brand, Poco announced earlier this week that company will operate as a separate entity. Poco took Twitter to post a teaser video offering a look into “Season 2” of Poco, giving us a hint that more devices from the brand would be coming soon. Moreover, a Poco F2 model started making rounds on the internet, recently. Now, it is tipped that the next smartphone from Poco could be called Poco X2.

The latest development comes from the teaser video posted by the Poco India Twitter account. In the teaser, the name 'Poco X2' is hinted at, but you need to look closely to see it. The name is scattered about. Take a look at the tweet below to check it out:

#POCOIsHere #POCOX2 #PocoF2 Guys, many of you watched the official video of the second season of #POCO. But, did you pay attention to this easter egg??

It is rumoured that Poco could launch three smartphones under its “F2” series. Now, it could be the “X2” series. However, if Poco were to release an “F2” and an “X2", we can speculate that Poco could continue the F2 as a successor to the Pocophone F1, taking its spot as a midrange series and then release a higher-end “X2” later.  

As for the previous developments, we got our first look at the alleged Poco F2 Lite recently. It is said that POCO may as well repurpose parts from existing Redmi phones because of its current look. Poco F2 Lite is tipped to be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 765 chipset, which features an integrated 5G modem. The smartphone could come with 6GB RAM and pack a 5000mAh battery. Earlier rumours have also claimed that the Poco F2 will sport a “high resolution” camera. Although the camera configuration remains unknown for now. 

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Sony launches NW-A105 Android Walkman for Rs 23,990 sporting a Touch Screen Display and Hi-Res Audio

Sony has launched the NW-A105 Walkman in India priced at Rs 23,990. The walkman will be available starting January 24. The Walkman runs on Android 9 out of the box. It sports a 3.6-inch HD (1280x720) display and claims to deliver high res audio which is higher than the quality one gets from a CD. Sony has touted the quality of audio from its Walkman for some time now and is catering to those who don't want to listen to compressed audio the world is enjoying through music streaming services. 

The NW-A105 supports Wi-Fi and has a claimed battery life of 26 hours. It also supports Bluetooth and NFC connectivity in addition to the endangered 3.5mm audio jack. For your music storage, it has 16GB built-in storage expandable upto 128GB via a microSD card. It has 4GB RAM and a USB-C port for charging and data transfer. Thanks to the high-quality PCM conversion, customers will be able to enjoy DSD audio formats up to 11.2 MHz. The Walkman also supports DSEE HX & S-Master HX. 

To recap, the Walkman was the first device to let music lovers carry their music with them on the go back in the 1970-1980s. Users could listen to their audio cassettes on the go. It was with the launch of the iPod that digital music consumption changed and with the advent of smartphones, the portable music player market was killed. In a day and age where smartphones dominate the music listening experience, it is nice to see Sony bring a device that is dedicated to those that want to consume high-resolution audio.

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Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite to be launched in India today: Live stream, specs and more

Samsung introduced the “Lite” variants of its 2019 flagships at CES 2020. The company launched Galaxy S10 Lite and Galaxy Note10 Lite. While the latter has been launched in India, Galaxy S10 Lite is all set to be launched today. We already know the specifications of the smartphone, but the price is yet to be known. 

Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite India launch webcast will take place at 12 PM. Earlier this month, the company created a dedicated microsite that showcases key features of the smartphone ahead of its official launch. You can watch the live stream of Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite India launch here. 

Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite comes equipped with a 6.7-inch Full HD+ (2400×1080 pixels) Super AMOLED Plus Infinity-O Display with 394 PPI. The smartphone is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 chipset. It comes with 6GB / 8GB LPDDR4x RAM and128GB of internal storage that can be expanded up to 1TB with microSD card. It runs OneUI 2.0 based on Android 10.

On the optics front, Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite features a triple rear camera setup: a 48MP lens with f/2.0  aperture and OIS + a 12MP Ultra Wide sensor with f/2.2 aperture + a 5MP macro camera with f/2.0 aperture. On the front lies a 32MP selfie shooter. 

Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite comes with an in-display fingerprint sensor. It packs a 4500mAh battery that supports 25W fast charging. The device weighs 186 grams.’

Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite comes in Prism White, Prism Black and Prism Blue colour options. The price of the smartphone in India is yet to be revealed. It is rumoured to be priced around Rs 40,000.

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