Here are our top five news stories of the week.
This week in the world of technology has been interesting with a lot of new announcements and partnerships. The excitement with the Apple iPhone 8 and Samsung Galaxy Note 8 is now increasing. The week saw the much controversial Samsung Galaxy Note Fan Edition officially announced and receive the thumbs up. Apple patents for facial recognition technology also saw the light of the day. OnePlus entered further complications with soap boxes reaching customers instead of the smartphone. Additionally, there were also multiple leaks surrounding other flagship smartphones like the Google Pixel and upcoming Motorola series smartphones.
However, the highlight of the week was the launch of the Honor 8 Pro smartphone. The flagship smartphone replaced the Honor 8 and is an advanced version of the same. The Honor 8 Pro comes with quite a few changes to the design and an interesting dual camera setup on the rear. The smartphone comes with an RGB sensor and a monochrome sensor for photography. The phone will take on the newly launched OnePlus 5 and both will go head to head in the market. However, at Rs 29,999, the smartphone is cheaper than the OnePlus 5 and offers similar specifications. The phone will be available on Amazon India starting July 13 (July 10 for Prime members).
While Samsung’s woes with the Samsung Bixby voice assistant are still not over, the brand is now looking at creating a Bixby-powered smart speaker to take on the likes of Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and others. Samsung Bixby voice assistant is ye to be officially rolled out globally. The assistant is unable to understand and learn Chinese and English languages, recent reports have suggested. Additionally, Samsung’s inability to recruit people to teach the assistant the languages has only led to further delays. The plans for the speaker, while ambitious could be put on hold if the assistant issue is not resolved.
HMD Global, which has managed to revive the Nokia brand once again is now looking at bringing Nokia’s camera glory back with Carl ZEISS optics. Reportedly, the brand has tied up with Carl ZEISS for camera technology in upcoming Nokia smartphones. Nokia flagship smartphones will most likely come with the Carl ZEISS camera optics in the later part of the year. Nokia has always been synonymous with strong hardware and good photography and HMD Global is trying its best to bring all the good old features of Nokia phones back to the latest series.
Nokia and Xiaomi have signed an agreement where Nokia’s upcoming smartphones will be powered by Xiaomi’s Surge chipset, starting with Surge S1. The chipset is one of the lesser powerful SoCs, perfect for mid-range smartphones. Additionally, the chipset also comes with low-light photography functionality, one of the highlights of Nokia smartphones. And while Chinese brand continues its strong run in India, Amazon has now become the second largest foreign investor in the country, with investments of over $2 billion. The e-commerce giant will now host the Amazon Prime Day sale in India for the first time starting July 10.
Honor 8 Pro
- Honor 8 Pro with 6GB of RAM, dual camera setup to be priced at Rs 29,999 in India: Report
- Honor 8 Pro with dual-camera, 6GB RAM launched in India, priced at Rs 29,999: Specifications, features
- Honor 8 Pro Review: A premium smartphone at less than a premium price
- Honor 8 Pro vs OnePlus 5 vs HTC U11: Price, specifications, features compared
- Honor 8 Pro to OnePlus 5: A look at dual-camera setups and how they differ
- Honor 8 Pro to receive Android O update soon after release
- Honor 8 Pro to go on sale via Amazon India on July 10; priced Rs 29,999
- Huawei expects 20-25% share from mid-range smartphones sold online in 2017
- Honor 8 Pro or OnePlus 5: Which is the better buy?
Samsung Bixby Home Speaker
Nokia-Carl ZEISS partnership
Nokia-Xiaomi agreement
- Nokia’s future smartphones could be powered by Xiaomi’s Surge chipsets
- Nokia, Xiaomi sign agreement to explore IoT, AR, VR, artificial intelligence and more