The Nubia N3 is one of those smartphones that had been circulating in rumors for quite some time. It is, in fact, the first Nubia smartphone to come with a full screen 18:9 display. The inclusion of the new display technology doesn’t come as a surprise considering the current trend in the smartphone industry. The trend of 18:9 displays which was initially kickstarted by the LG G6 and the Samsung Galaxy S8, has now started to influence OEM even while designing budget and mid-range offerings....

The Nintendo Switch is perhaps the most high-profile gadget of recent times that has not been officially released in India. The console brought Nintendo back from the seemingly dead and has pretty much wiped the floor with the competition from Microsoft and Sony while becoming one of the most successful gaming products of recent times. It has an enviable game library and extremely innovative gameplay which lets you play games on the tablet itself with controllers or connect it to a larger display using a connector....

The alpha build of “yet to be named” custom ROM based on Android Lollipop is now available for download. OnePlus clarifies that the ROM is extremely close to “stock” AOSP and contains no extras as of now. OnePlus hopes to get the help from its user community to further develop this custom ROM, and eventually make it “customizable, yet bloat-free with stock-Android-like simplicity by default”. OnePlus is expected to release a production ready build of this new custom ROM by February 2015....

According to the tech blog GizmoChina, the new smaller OnePlus handset will be dubbed as OnePlus X and it is very clever of OnePlus to use the name ‘X’ instead of the Mini. Apart from this, the device is expected to be priced around $249 and expected to be released in October or November this year. We feel that the OnePlus X will probably be a mid-range smartphone running on Snapdragon 615 (or its equivalent) and also offers features like USB Type-C and a FHD screen....

Oppo A53: Design and Display The Oppo A53 features a 3D iridescent wave design, which is said to be inspired by ocean waves, with a curved back to offer a comfortable grip in hand. Towards the front, the device features a 6.5-inch HD+ LCD with a 90Hz refresh rate that comes in at a 20:9 aspect ratio. Moreover, the display has a hole-punch cutout on top to house the front-facing camera....

Not the UI experience you would expect: The phone is still running the Android 7.1 Nougat with Oppo’s own ColourOS custom skin which in my opinion has failed to deliver. It’s not about the performance, but it’s about features which have become a defacto for any Android Smartphone. Right off the bat, I noticed that it did not show any notification icon from apps on top of the screen by default, then there was no app preview during multitasking, in order to remove the notification, I had to swipe, and press delete button, and lastly, there is no option to reboot when you press and hold the power button....

The OPPO A83 comes with a tall 5.7-inch nearly bezel-less HD+ display on the front. The screen features rounded corners and an aspect ratio of 18:9. Underneath, an unspecified octa-core processor keeps things running. There’s 4GB of RAM, 32GB internal storage which is expandable up to 128GB and a non-removable 3090 mAh battery. The camera arrangement includes a 13-megapixel rear shooter, a single LED flash, and an 8-megapixel front-facing lens....

Oppo R5 – the world’s slimmest smartphone Oppo has managed to achieve an impressive feat with the just announced R5 – it is the world’s thinnest smartphone at just 4.85 mm. Impressive, you think? As a matter of fact, it is so slim that it doesn’t have a 3.5mm headphone jack. If more companies will start producing smartphones so thin, I guess we’ll need to change the standard for the headset port or make them completely wireless....

Before we even get into the review, we need to get the devil off our backs. Philips Hue is pricey, and there are no two words about it. At Rs 16,995 in India ($200 in US and €179 in Europe) for the starter kit with 3 LED bulbs, and Rs 3,500 for every extra Hue bulb, it’s hard to justify the price if you’re looking it to replace your home lighting....

My first ‘high-end’ smartphone was the N95 8 GB. And this brought a more powerful 5.0-megapixel camera to the equation, and a slightly larger display (2.8 inches was a big deal in those days), but in most respects was rather similar to the N70, although it did bring a slide out keyboard into the equation. Oh and it was slimmer – just 21 mm thick. And incidentally, at that time, I was saving up to buy what many felt was the king of smartphones in the market – the Nokia E90 Communicator....

To register for the beta, users will need head over to Prisma’s official website and sign up for the newsletter through the “Sign Up for News” button present on the bottom. Consequently, you’ll receive a Google Play link for installing it. Developers have mentioned the Android application will work exactly like its iOS counterpart – you’ll be able to choose from an extensive list of beautifully designed filters inspired from artworks created by personalities like Picasso....

The all-new Realme Smart TV comes with a metal body (frame and stand) and a bezel-less design that comes in at 9.5mm. It features a 55-inch 4K SLED display up front, which offers 300 nits of brightness and comes in at a 94.6 screen-to-body ratio. The display supports up to 108% NTSC color gamut and comes with HDR 10, Chroma Boost, and TUV Rheinland certification. In a nutshell, the SLED technology employs an RGB backlight as opposed to a white or blue backlight on other TV panels, which allows it to offer better overall color reproduction and viewing experience....

A Note shaped hole in the sub-Rs 10,000 segment First off, there came the arrival of two Redmi Notes, and both came with suffixes – the Note 9 Pro and the Note 9 Pro Max. They were also slightly more expensive than their predecessors. But there was no sign of the “simple, basic” Note. A few weeks ago, that appeared as well – the Redmi Note 9. And well, it broke a tradition by being the first Note in a while to come at a starting price that was in five figures – Rs 11,999....

Another Note-able brick in the Redmi wall The Redmi Note 10T 5G comes from the Redmi Note 10 family and has some design hints that reiterate the same, what Xiaomi calls EVOL design language (it is basically “love” spelled backward). The Redmi Note 10T 5G comes with a tall, thin bezel-ed display on the front with a punch hole notch in the top center. It comes with a shiny, patterned carbonate back that tries to mimic glass and gets smudgy quite easily but stays true to its carbonate roots as it offers a good grip....

As the name suggests, the RedmiBook 14 has a 14-inch display on the front with thin bezels and weighs in at just 1.5Kg making it extremely compact and portable. Even while being thin and portable, the RedmiBook 14 does not skimp out on essential ports and provides users with 2 full sized USB 3.0 ports, a USB 2.0 port, a full-sized HDMI port and a 3.5mm audio jack. The internals on the RedmiBook 14 are quite powerful too....

Jio Happy New Year Offer Under the new Jio Happy New Year Offer, all the new and existing Jio subscribers will be entitled to special benefits which shall comprise of Jio’s Data, Voice, Video and the full bouquet of Jio applications and content, absolutely free, up to 31 March 2017. The benefits will be available to all subscribers signing up for Jio services up to 3 March 2017. The existing Jio Welcome Offer (“JWO’) users will continue to enjoy the unlimited benefits under JWO up to 31 December 2016, following which they would be automatically signed-up for the JNO as well....

The Samsung Galaxy A6 offers a 5.6-inch HD+ Infinity display and is set at an aspect ratio of 18:5:9. Meanwhile, the A6+ comes with a larger 6-inch FHD+ display. Both the devices are being offered in two variants, the 4GB RAM+64GB, and the 4GB RAM+64GB Storage. That apart the devices also support microSD cards of up to 256GB. The fingerprint sensor is placed on the back panel on both the phones....

Cutting a few corners…but neatly Of course, the lower price of Rs 49,999 has meant a few compromises as compared to the S20 proper. But Samsung has managed them with some skill. The most obvious one that will strike many is in terms of design — the FE comes with a plastic or carbonate back instead of a glass one. That said, it is smoothly textured — almost velvet-like — and will not pick up smudges or scratches easily (no case in the box, none needed)....

That apart the latest leak seems to inadvertently point at the possibility that Samsung Galaxy S7 might be waterproof just like it was the case with Galaxy S5. The unlisted Indonesian commercial called “Get ready for the #TheNextGalaxy” shows off the device being used by an athlete and the video starts getting interesting when it shows off the Indonesian archer Dellie Threesyadinda training in the rain. In the due course of the video there has been no mention of the phones model which in all likelihood points at the upcoming Galaxy S7....

The Snapdragon Wear 3100, which was supposedly meant to address the poor battery issues that plagued the Wear 2100 SoC is still not in major circulation and the devices that use the new chipset still struggle to get a past a full day’s usage. With all these shortcomings generally accompanied by a hefty price tag, does it make sense to invest in a WearOS smartwatch in 2019? I used the Skagen Falster 2 and the Misfit Vapor over an extended period of time to gauge if it does make performing smartphone-related tasks easier....