Nubia Z9 mini With 5-Inch Display, Snapdragon 615 SoC Launched at Rs. 16,999

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As expected, ZTE has launched its Nubia brand of handsets in India, with the firm making available one of its Nubia Z9 series smartphones to start with - the Nubia Z9 mini. Going on sale from Tuesday exclusively on Amazon India, the Nubia Z9 mini has been priced at Rs. 16,999.

Launched alongside the Nubia Z9 Max in March, the dual-SIM (Nano-SIM) ZTE Nubia Z9 mini smartphone shares most of its specifications with the Nubia Z9 Max, but sports a smaller 5-inch full-HD (1080x1920 pixels) IPS display. It bears Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection and offers a pixel density of 441ppi. The smartphone runs Android 5.0.2 Lollipop with the Nubia UI 2.8 skin on top.

The ZTE Nubia Z9 mini handset is powered by a 64-bit octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 (quad-core Cortex-A53 1.5GHz + quad-core Cortex-A53 1GHz) processor coupled with 2GB of LPDDR3 RAM. It sports a 16-megapixel rear camera with Sony IMX234 Exmor RS sensor, LED flash, and f/2.0 aperture, apart from an 8-megapixel front camera with Sony IMX179 Exmor R sensor with f/2.4 aperture. It bears a 2900mAh removable battery, and features 16GB of inbuilt storage expandable via microSD card (up to 128GB).

The smartphone supports 4G LTE connectivity, compatible with networks with in India. Other connectivity options include Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS/ A-GPS, and Micro-USB with OTG. The Nubia Z9 mini weighs 147 grams, and measures 141.3x69.8x8.2mm. It will be available in Black and White colours.

For now, the Chinese company has not revealed when it intends to launch other smartphones in the Nubia lineup in India yet, which include the recently unveiled ZTE Nubia Z9 Classic, ZTE Nubia Z9 Elite, and ZTE Nubia Z9 Exclusive, apart from the Nubia Z9 Max already mentioned. At the time of writing, the Nubia Z9 mini was not yet listed on Amazon India, though customers can register for notifications on the dedicated Nubia page.

ZTE Nubia Z9 mini

• Key Specs
• News

Display

5.00-inch

Processor

1GHz

Front Camera

 8-megapixel

Resolution

 1080x1920 pixels

RAM

 2GB

OS

 Android 5.0.2

Storage

16GB

Rear Camera

16-megapixel

Battery capacity

2900mAh

See full ZTE Nubia Z9 mini specifications

Micromax's Yu Yuphoria With Cyanogen OS 12, Snapdragon 410 Launched at Rs. 6,999

Micromax subsidiary Yu Televentures on Tuesday launched its second smartphone, the Yu Yuphoria, in India. The smartphone has been priced at Rs. 6,999 and will be exclusively available via Amazon India. The first flash sale is scheduled for May 28 for which registrations begin starting 5pm IST on Tuesday.

Domestic brand Micromax claims to have used a "crowdsourced design" when making the handset. Micromax Co-Founder Rahul Sharma at the launch revealed that the Yu Yuphoria went through a number of processes including pre-bending, stamping, welding, laser etching, sandblasting, and polishing. Sharma claimed that the Yu team achieved sleek matte finish after extreme cycles of sandblasting which they learnt from the automobile industry. The Yuphoria smartphone features a metal frame around the body. He added that antenna on the handset has been placed on a gold plated spring.

(Also see: Yu Yuphoria vs. Yu Yureka)

Sharma stressed that while manufacturing Yuphoria, the team filed four patents including one for antenna layout for LTE devices. The smartphone will be available in Buffed Steel and Champagne Gold colours.
For specifications, the Yu Yuphoria features a 5-inch HD (720x1280 pixels) TFT IPS display and sports third-generation Corning Gorilla Glass for protection. Sharma at the launch claimed that the screen to ratio on the Yuphoria is 67 percent. The Yuphoria runs Android 5.0 Lollipop-based Cyanogen OS 12.

The handset is powered by a 1.2GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 (MSM8916) processor coupled with 2GB of RAM and Adreno 306 GPU. It features 16GB of built-in storage.

The dual-SIM based Yuphoria supports 4G and features accelerometer, ambient, proximity, gyroscope, and e-compass. It sports an 8-megapixel rear camera with an f/2.2 lens and LED flash. while also featuring a 5-megapixel front camera with f/2.0 aperture. It is backed by a 2230mAh battery, and weighs 143 grams.

Yu Yuphoria

• Key Specs
• News

Display

5.00-inch

Processor

1.2GHz

Front Camera

 5-megapixel

Resolution

 720x1280 pixels

RAM

 2GB

OS

 Cyanogen OS 12

Storage

16GB

Rear Camera

8-megapixel

Battery capacity

2230mAh

See full Yu Yuphoria specifications

The World’s Most Expensive Celebrity Bikes

While rumours are rife that B-Town and Hollywood celebrities are usually hooked onto their pretty co-stars, they’re often far from being real. They are, in fact, often lusting over their material acquisitions, which also includes their special edition bikes. Speeding around the city in style, here are some of the most coveted motor bikes celebrities own.
Zooming through the city on their off days, Luxpresso peeks into some celebrity garages to list down the most expensive bikes the men of the entertainment industry ride.
Celebrity Images: Reuters

Salman Khan
The world stands witness to the collection of bikes and cars the bad boy of Bollywood owns. Apart from his Hayabusa and Yamahas, the actor is also a proud owner of a limited edition Suzuki Intruder M1800 RZ that currently costs around INR 16 lakhs.

John Abraham
A speed fanatic himself—the actor whose love for bikes has inspired the the younger generation of the country after his deadly stunts in the Dhoom series—he currently rides a 1300cc single-cylinder Suzuki Hayabusa that stands alongside a couple of Yamaha R1s in his garage.

Brad Pitt
Completing Brad Pitt’s coveted collection of 10 bikes is a custom made Ecosse Titanium Series XX ride which he flaunts on weekends in the uptown neighbourhoods of Los Feliz in LA.

Sanjay Dutt
Last seen in the SRK’s movie Ra One, Harley Davidson’s Fat Boy is Sanjay Dutt’s most expensive two-wheeler ride, one that he loves taking out for rides by the sea whenever he is in Mumbai.

Shahid Kapoor
Another actor who owns the Harley Davidson version of the Fat Boy is Shahid Kapoor. A perfect chopper style bike, it adds to his chocolate boy personality. In fact, we are glad the Harley was not the bike he crashed while performing a stunt at IPL’s opening ceremony in Kolkata.

David Beckham
The latest bike added to Bekchams celebrated garage is the classic Triumph Bonneville T100 which he rode on Victoria’s 41st birthday on the streets of LA. Priced at an undisclosed amount, the denim clad footballer and adventurist owns some of the top auto drives in his garage, which is also home to this vintage two-wheeler.

Keanu Reeves
Co-owner of the well-known Arch Motorcycle Co, in partnership with Gard Hollinger, last year, he launched the special edition KRGT-1 bike which he now accelerates across the streets of Santa Monica post his acting sessions.

Honor 4C and Honor Bee Budget Dual-SIM Smartphones Launched in India

Huawei has launched two new smartphones under its Honor brand in India, the recently introduced Honor 4C, as well as a new 'made for India' handset, the Honor Bee. The company also launched a power bank in India, the Honor AP007.

The firm has priced the Honor 4C at Rs. 8,999, and the Honor Bee (seen below) at Rs. 4,999. Both smartphones will be available exclusively on Flipkart, starting 6pm Friday. The company is touting a launch offer of 10 percent discount on price. The Honor AP007 power bank has been priced at Rs. 1,399.

The Honor 4C features a 5-inch HD (720x1280 pixels) TFT IPS display. It is powered by a 64-bit 1.2GHz octa-core HiSilicon Kirin 620 processor coupled with 2GB of RAM. The dual-SIM dual standby Honor 4C smartphone runs Android 4.4.2 KitKat with Emotion UI 3.0 skin on top.

The smartphone sports a 13-megapixel rear autofocus camera with an f/2.0 aperture, LED flash, and a Sony CMOS sensor, while it also houses a 5-megapixel front camera. The handset packs 8GB of inbuilt storage that can be expanded via microSD card (up to 32GB). The Honor 4C is backed by a 2550mAh battery.

Connectivity options include Bluetooth v4.0, A-GPS, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, GPRS/ EDGE, 3G, Micro-USB, and a 3.5mm audio jack. It weighs 162 grams, and has dimensions of 71.9x143.3x8.8mm.

The Honor Bee is also a dual-SIM dual standby handset (Micro-SIM), and features a 4.5-inch (480x854 pixel) display. The smartphone runs Android 4.4 KitKat with Huawei EMUI 3.0 Lite on top.

Powered by a 1.2GHz quad-core SC7731 Cortex-A7 processor coupled with 1GB of RAM, the smartphone bears 8GB of built-in storage that's expandable via microSD card (up to 32GB). The Honor 4C sports a 8-megapixel rear autofocus camera with dual-LED flash and a CMOS, apart from a 2-megapixel front-facing camera. The smartphone is powered by a 1730mAh battery.

Connectivity options on the Honor Bee include Bluetooth v4.0, A-GPS, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, GPRS/ EDGE, Micro-USB, and 3G. It measures 66.7x134.3x10mm.

The Honor AP007 power bank features a 13000mAh battery, and three LED indicators. Only available in Grey colour, it outputs power in 5V, and has a 300 charge cycle lifespan.

• Key Specs
• News

Display

5.00-inch

Processor

1.2GHz

Front Camera

 5-megapixel

Resolution

 720x1280 pixels

RAM

 2GB

OS

 Android 4.4

Storage

8GB

Rear Camera

13-megapixel

Battery capacity

2550mAh

See full Huawei Honor 4C specifications

 

Microsoft Surface 3 Tablet Goes on Sale Alongside Trade-In Scheme

Microsoft's latest Surface tablet, the Surface 3, has gone on sale in select countries. Additionally, the company has also introduced a limited period trade-in scheme where Surface RT or Surface 2 owners can trade-in their working Surface tablet to get up to $150 towards a new Microsoft Surface 3.To recall, the Microsoft Surface 3 was priced at $499 (approximately Rs. 31,750) for the 2GB RAM and 64GB inbuilt storage variant while the 4GB RAM and 128GB built-in storage variant was launched at $599 (approximately Rs. 38,000). The new Surface 3 tablet can be grabbed via Microsoft Stores, microsoftstore.com and select retailers in the available markets.
Announcing the availability, Brian Hall, General Manager, Microsoft Surface revealed that starting Tuesday Microsoft Surface 3 will be available to buy in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and the United States. Some of the accessories that will be also available to buy alongside the new Surface 3 tablet include the Surface 3 Type Cover, Surface Pen, Surface 3 Docking Station and Surface 3 Screen Protector.
Hall also confirmed that starting Thursday, the Surface 3 tablet will be available in more markets including Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
It's worth noting that the limited period trade-in scheme for the Surface 3 tablet is for select markets such as Canada, Puerto Rico, and the United States. The company has detailed the trade-in scheme where the company will first determine the value of the trade-in after which it will accept the old working Surface tablet. The company after checking the tablet will send an email with a promo code that can be used against the purchase of the new Surface 3 tablet.
For specifications, the Microsoft Surface features a 10.8-inch full-HD display and runs Windows 8.1 out-of-the-box. The company at the launch had promised that Windows 10 upgrade will be available to the tablet. Microsoft had also claimed that the new Surface 3 tablet was the thinnest and lightest Surface ever, weighing 622 grams and sporting a 8.7mm thickness.
As mentioned above, it will be available in two built-in storage models- the 64GB model featuring 2GB of RAM, and the 128GB model featuring 4GB of RAM. Other features on the tablet include a USB 3.0 port, a Mini DisplayPort and a microSD card reader. It comes with an optional dock with four USB ports, Ethernet jack, and a Mini DisplayPort. The Surface 3 includes a free one-year subscription to Office 365 Personal, including full versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote as well as 1TB of OneDrive storage. It also supports the Surface Pen.

Microsoft Surface 3

• Key Specs
• News

Display

10.80-inch

Processor

1.6GHz

Front Camera

 3.5-megapixel

Resolution

 1920x1080 pixels

RAM

 2GB

OS

 Windows 8.1

Storage

64GB

Rear Camera

No

Battery capacity

 

See full Microsoft Surface 3 specifications

The Best Indian Mobile Games from Pocket Gamer Connects Bangalore

Last week, at Pocket Gamer Connects (PGC) Bangalore, we got to check out a ton of games from Indian developers, both upcoming and well established. PGC is one of the world's biggest mobile gaming conferences, and included talks from developers from around the world, and the Very Big Indie Pitch event, where developers stood to win Rs. 10 lakhs and a publishing contract with Reliance Games. From the many games we tried at PGC, here are the few that stood out long after we were done.
Super Nano Jumpers
This game won the Very Big Indie Pitch at PGC. It is a running game with a stop button to help you time your jumps. Along the way you'll come across obstacles that would give Super Meat Boy an inferiority complex.
Super Nano Jumpers will ship with 30 levels, and more levels will be unlocked through in-app purchases. According to the developer, Xigma Games it's currently seventy percent complete. Expect this game on Android and iOS in a few months.
Unwynd
Made by Pune-based Dropout Games, Unwynd is a slick looking puzzle game with easy to use swipe controls. While most puzzle games are fine with having one single solution, Unwynd can be solved in multiple ways, depending on your approach.
With 90 levels across three chapters, and more to come, there's enough to keep you coming back. You can check it out on Android or Windows Phone.
MaskGun
First-person shooters from Indian developers are rare. Good ones even more so. MaskGun is both. It combines the twitchy gunplay from classic first-person shooters like Counter-Strike with accessible controls.
Most FPSes have you worrying about movement and shooting, making them messy in terms of controls on mobile devices. In MaskGun, you control the movement with the left side of the screen and aim using the right side. Shooting happens automatically as you aim correctly on your opponent. This is a smart solution that makes it accessible.
A Thief's Journey
At its core, A Thief's Journey is a simple maze-based puzzle game. Delhi's VR Playing Games has turned it into one that has you in the role of a burglar, navigating murky rooms filled to the brim with traps and pesky security guards.
It's stylish, fun and took us by surprise. With no release date yet, we're hoping this shows up on iOS and Android soon.
Skatelander
Crossy Road has been out for awhile and Skatelander is one of the first games to actually improve on the formula.
And while the voxel-fuelled viral hit from developer Hipster Whale had you crossing roads, here you'll be skating across a plethora of obstacles, it takes place at a faster pace and as a host of IAPs similar to Crossy Road too. Expect this to hit iOS on April 30.
One More Run
A cricket game about running between wickets coupled with a pleasing retro aesthetic. One More Run puts you in a situation where losing a single wicket has you defeated and all you can do to scrape to victory is muster enough singles and doubles while running between wickets.
It's a neat twist on the formula, making it a more game-y, arcade-like experience compared to anything else out at the moment.
BlokStok - Street Fighter Madness
On the surface BlokStok looks highly derivative, but where this fighting game wins out is the fantastic production values and finesse that make this one of the more technically sound games from an Indian studio. It looks good and plays even better.
Along with realistic backgrounds, close up moves and a control scheme that makes it easy to play, this seems to be a good entry point for someone new to fighting games. While Delhi-based Darksun Technologies has no release date yet, this is one fighting game we're looking forward to.

Here's Why the Xiaomi Mi 4i Does Not Have a MicroSD Card Slot

Xiaomi's mid to high-end segment smartphones have mostly given a miss to microSD card slots. In the company's current lineup, only the Redmi-series include SD card slots.It might come as a surprise to a few, considering that the majority of Android smartphones do support expandable storage via microSD card slots; though Hugo Barra, Xiaomi's VP Global, believes that it adversely affects the performance of the handset.
Talking to Engadget, Barra at the side-lines of Xiaomi Mi 4i launch in Hong Kong explained why his company is against the use of microSD card slots in its high-end devices. He said, "For high performance devices, we are fundamentally against an SD card slot."
He claimed that microSD cards are vulnerable to failure and in most cases malfunction in various conditions. Pointing out that counterfeit SD cards are quite common, he added they are usually of "extremely poor quality" and slow as well. Barra says some of the issues caused by microSD cards reported by Android smartphones users are app crashing and loss of data.
"It's going to be a while before you finally accept that maybe the reason why it's not performing is because you put in an SD card, right? You're gonna blame the phone, you're gonna blame the manufacturer, you're gonna shout and scream and try to get it fixed, so many different ways until you say, 'Actually, let me just take the SD card out and see what happens,'" Barra added.
According to Barra, the trend in the industry to include a microSD card slots will soon change. "It is a trend: SD cards will disappear. You should basically not expect SD card slots in any of our flagships," he said.
Barra went to explain that Xiaomi's team doesn't want to compromise on battery capacity, ergonomics, and appearance of the handset to include a microSD card slot, and in the case of the Mi 4i, didn't want to do away with the second SIM card slot.
Similarly on the lines of giving microSD card slots a miss, Xiaomi has also avoided using removable batteries. Barra, citing Xiaomi's sales data, claimed that demand for spare batteries were low alongside external battery chargers. One the biggest exceptions in Xiaomi's product range is the Redmi series which include both removable battery and microSD card slots. The inclusion of the microSD card slot is because these budget phones typically come with small amounts of built-in storage.
Speaking about the decision to offer removable batteries in Xiaomi's lower-end handsets, Barra added, "Our thinking is if you're going to have a removable back for the purposes of having an SD slot, you might as well make the battery removable. It doesn't really increase the cost of the battery that much."
Xiaomi, after launching the Mi 4i in India, has been expanding the availability of the smartphone in other markets. Barra revealed that the Chinese company is gearing up to launch its first product as Mi 4i in Brazil. He added that Xiaomi's Brazil launch is in just a matter of weeks.

Xiaomi Mi 4i

Rs. 12,999

• Review
• Key Specs
• News

• Design
• Display
• Software
• Performance
• Battery life
• Camera
• Value for money

• Good
• Stunning display
• Great build quality

• Bad
• MIUI has its quirks
• Camera performance could be bette