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Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Redmi Note 4G

iaomi Redmi Note 4G to Go on Sale on Tuesday via Flipkart

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Xiaomi's budget 4G-smartphone, the Redmi Note 4G, will go on sale on Tuesday via Flipkart.
The first flash sale on Tuesday for the Redmi Note 4G will kick off at 2pm IST on Flipkart for registered users. As of now, the company has not detailed the number of units that will be up for purchase.
The last tweet by Mi India urged interested buyers of the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4G, priced at Rs. 9,999, to register for the flash sale.
View image on Twitter
The Flipkart's Mi page notes that every user will have to register each time for separate sales and due to the great demand of Xiaomi handsets, it will limit orders to one phone per registered email ID per sale.
The Chinese handset brand last week had announced the availability of the Redmi Note 4G for the Indian market. Xiaomi has been lately struggling in India as it wastemporarily banned from selling handsets in India as they are alleged to infringe on Ericsson's patents. The company finally scored a reprieve by being allowed to sell its Qualcomm-based handsets in the country.
The Redmi Note 4G, unlike the Redmi Note, will be also available in Airtel stores in six cities which are yet to be named by the company. Customers will have to registerseparately to buy a Redmi Note 4G from Airtel stores.
Featuring single-SIM support, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4G runs on Android 4.4.2 KitKat OS with MIUI v5 skin on top. During the launch in India, Xiaomi had indicated that updates to Android 5 Lollipop will be available in the future, but provided no time frame.
The smartphone is powered by a quad-core 1.6GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 CPU coupled with 2GB of RAM. Other specifications of the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4G are similar to the Redmi Note (3G), which includes a 5.5-inch 720x1280-pixel IPS LCD display; a 13-megapixel rear autofocus camera with LED flash; a 5-megapixel front-facing camera; 8GB built-in storage with microSD card expansion (up to 64GB), and a 3,100mAh battery with support for fast charging.

Display

5.50-inch

Processor

1.6GHz

Front Camera

 5-megapixel

Resolution

 720x1280 pixels

RAM

 2GB

OS

 Android 4.4

Storage

8GB

Rear Camera

13-megapixel

Battery capacity

3100mAh

Best Smartphones Under Rs. 15,000 : January 2015

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In our last roundup of the best Android phones that cost less than Rs. 15,000, we had recommended the Xiaomi Mi 3 as the best phone to buy, and had been suggesting the 8GB variant of the Asus Zenfone 5 as the best value for money phone you can get. Three months have passed since then however, and a lot of new phones are in the market under Rs. 15,000. Also notable is the fact that since our last roundup, the Xiaomi Mi 3 is no longer available to buy. However, if you can get your hands on it at less than Rs. 15,000, it remains a great buy.
Some of the high profile launches since our last roundup included the three Android One phones and the fingerprint sensor equipped Xolo Q2100, not to mention the Jolla Smartphone running the Sailfish OS and the entry-level Firefox OS phone, the Intex Cloud FX. If you're looking to buy a phone right now, then here are our top picks for smartphones under Rs. 15,000:
Best overall: Motorola Moto G (Gen 2)
The Moto G was one of the handsets responsible for creating the current interest in the under-Rs. 15,000 market, and the second generation of the device remains an excellent buy. The new Moto G (Review | Pictures) is a bit boring to look at, but does well in terms of its display, software, performance, battery life and camera, making it a really good pick.
  • Design
  • Display
  • Software
  • Performance
  • Battery life
  • Camera
  • Value for money
  • Good
  • Good performance
  • Good camera
  • Great battery life
  • Excellent value for money
  • Bad
  • Average looks and material quality
Best value for money: Asus ZenFone 5 (8GB)
Available at under Rs. 10,000, the Asus ZenFone 5 (Review | Pictures) 8GB model remains our value-for-money pick, since you get a phone with a great camera, decent performance and looks, at a price where the competing phones come with serious compromises.
  • Design
  • Display
  • Software
  • Performance
  • Battery life
  • Camera
  • Value for money
  • Good
  • Great Pricing
  • Solid build quality
  • Fantastic performance and battery life
  • Bad
  • Still running Android 4.3
  • Scratch-prone camera lens
  • Occasional heat problem
Read detailed Asus ZenFone 5 review
Best camera: Panasonic P81
The Panasonic P81 (Review | Pictures) launched at a fairly high price of Rs. 19,990, and at that price it wasn't a great option at all. However, the phone has just received a huge price cut and although that doesn't help with the boring design and average display, it certainly makes the P81 a reasonable buy today. We liked the camera on this phone even at its original price, and at approximately Rs. 11,000, it is probably the best option around with great low-light performance. In case you don't want to go with a phablet that has a 5.5-inch screen, you could instead pick up the Moto G. That phone has a pretty good camera too, but the P81 wins in terms of low-light performance.
  • Design
  • Display
  • Software
  • Performance
  • Battery life
  • Camera
  • Value for money
  • Good
  • Camera captures great low-light pictures
  • Good performance
  • Value for money
  • Bad
  • Crude Android skin
  • Unattractive finish
Read detailed Panasonic P81 review
Best battery life: Micromax Canvas Nitro
Launched in September for Rs. 12,900, the Micromax Canvas Nitro (Review | Pictures) did not thrill us - its scores in design and software were middling, and the camera is downright bad. The phone comes loaded with bloatware, and the performance is only middling. But the battery life on the phone is unmatched in the category, and if you're someone who's always on the move and needs a big battery that won't let you down, then there's no better option than the Canvas Nitro.
  • Design
  • Display
  • Software
  • Performance
  • Battery life
  • Camera
  • Value for money
  • Good
  • Insane battery life
  • Good value for money
  • Decent performance
  • Bad
  • Bad camera performance
  • Unwanted bloatware
Best phablet: Panasonic P81
While there are other phablets in this category, the price cut of the Panasonic P81 makes it a worthy option. You won't get the best looking phone for your money, and the Android skin from Panasonic is crude, but the phone has good performance, a great camera, and delivers incredible value for the money it costs.

top 5 Camera Phones Under Rs. 10,000

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A lot of people want a good camera on their smartphones, without having to pay the price of a flagship device. It makes sense because most of us don't even carry dedicated cameras anymore - if your phone is your only camera then you'll want a good one there.
Add to that social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and there's a lot more places where you can show off your photos too. So it's no surprise that the cameras on even relatively affordable phones have come a long way from the low resolution, blurry cameras that were the norm just a few years ago.
A phone that costs Rs. 10,000 is unlikely to have used the same components for lenses and sensors as a high end flagship that doesn't have the same sort of budget constraints, and low-light performance in particular remains a somewhat weak area across the board. But you can get some good shooters with a budget that goes up to Rs. 10,000 now. Here are five smartphones that cost less than Rs. 10,000, whose cameras delivered good results, in alphabetical order:
1. Asus Zenfone 5
The Zenfone family from Asus has generally paid a lot of attention to its cameras, and the Asus Zenfone 5 (Review | Pictures) is no exception.
In our review, one thing we didn't like was the placement of the camera lens. It's a little prone to picking up scratches, which will obviously hurt the images you click. The 8-megapixel rear camera has a f/2.0 aperture lens and LED flash. The default camera app also has some useful features such as Time Rewind, which saves up to 31 images, starting 2 seconds before you actually press the shutter, so you can rewind and get the perfect picture. There are 18 modes in all, that give you a lot of control when you're shooting pictures.
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Although low-light photographs had less detail than well-lit outdoor shots, there was not too much noise in the photos, making it an excellent camera for the price.
2. Micromax Unite 2
The camera on the Micromax Unite 2 (Review | Pictures) has a tendency to blow out the highlights in the image, but aside from this, its daylight performance was pretty good.
The default camera app has very basic settings, but the 5-megapixel sensor on the phone is able to deliver good photos in daylight conditions. The colours and detail presented in pictures is not bad, but the camera really falters in low light conditions.
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3. Nokia Lumia 630 Dual Sim
The camera performance of the Nokia Lumia 630 Dual Sim (Review | Pictures) in daylight conditions is good enough to compete with phones that cost twice as much, but the lack of a flash hampers an otherwise excellent shooter.
The phone also lacks a front camera, and even in well-lit indoor areas like our office, we saw too much noise in the images. The daylight performance and Nokia's excellent camera software help to make up for the shortcomings.
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4. Xiaomi Redmi 1S
The Xiaomi Redmi 1S (Review | Pictures) went on its last official sale on Monday so getting the phone in India will be a little challenging, but you can still find plenty being sold second-hand (often unopened, for a small price increase).
When we reviewed the phone, we wrote that it has "class leading camera performance", and if you can get your hands on the phone right now, you will not have any issues with the camera. The camera can even capture details that even more expensive smartphones failed to do. The only problem is that the software processing worked overtime to reduce noise, and this smudged details a little.
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5. Xiaomi Redmi Note
Like its sibling, the Xiaomi Redmi Note (Review | Pictures) also boasts an impressive camera, and if you're looking for a value for money phablet that takes great pictures then signing up to buy a Redmi Note is a no-brainer.
Both the front and rear camera worked well in good lighting conditions, although the photos were a little grainy. We also managed to get some very nice close-ups with defocused backgrounds. The only problem is that the camera takes a little too long for lock focus, and the phone also exhibited a little shutter lag. However, the final result is certainly good enough for sharing.
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Which one of these camera phones is the best one for you? If you've already used one of these phones, leave a comment and tell us about your experience with the phone, and your thoughts about its camera.