Everything You need to know about New Windows 10 S

Windows

GadgetByte

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May 7, 2017

Everything You need to know about New Windows 10 S

Recently, Microsoft released a new version of Windows 10 called the 10s. By name, it sounds like a new update to your current windows but it’s an operating system with a completely different concept. If you have heard about the Windows 10 S but don’t know what it is and what sets it apart from the regular Windows 10 then here’s your answer:

What is Windows 10 S?

Windows 10 S is the trimmed down version of the Windows 10 Pro which is designed to run on low-powered hardware computers. The new OS is made to compete directly with the lightweight laptop operating systems like the Chrome OS that is taking the industry by storm. A lightweight OS means, it can run on a very cheap hardware and provide optimum performance and battery life. Windows 10 S is targeted for students and business who prefer security and performance. The ‘S’ in the name is streamlined for simplicity, security, and speed. If you’re running Windows 10 then it can also run the 10 S.

Apps from Windows Store Only:

Your applications are delivered via the Windows Store ensuring Microsoft-verified security and integrity. You cannot just run a .exe file to install third-party software on the 10 S. This means you don’t have Chrome, iTunes or any Adobe products on your computer. Microsoft does allow developers to port their apps to the store but it may take some time to really see some popular third party apps on the store.

Default Apps:

With Windows 10 S Microsoft is locking down users on the Windows ecosystem. The default browser on the OS will be Microsoft Edge which you cannot switch despite installing other browsers from the store. Also, whichever browser you use, Bing will be default search engine which you cannot change.

Security, Performance and Battery Life:

By limiting apps to those in the Windows Store, Windows 10 S is ideal for people who have everything they need in the Windows Store and prefer the peace of mind that comes with removing the risk of downloading apps from other places. As a trimmed down version of the Windows 10, the 10 S is optimized for maximum performance. As Microsoft demonstrated on their Surface Laptop, it boots up in just 15 seconds.

The lite software and minimum use of hardware resources ultimately result in less battery consumption. Microsoft promises the best battery life out of the 10 S. With the Surface Laptop, MS assures it will provide backup for 14 Hours which is a pretty bold claim.

Bottomline:

Windows 10 S is not for everyone, it is targeted specifically for students and schools, where on a limited environment one can assure productivity, security, stability, and affordability. The operating system is not completely restrictive, you have all the core functionalities of the system intact. If you are a professional then it is definitely not the right operating system for you. But if you happen to buy a laptop running 10 S, it can be easily upgraded to Windows 10 Pro for $49 from Windows store. But until this year, for every 10 S user, there’s free upgrade to Windows 10 Pro.

All the major laptop manufacturers like Acer, Dell and Lenovo will be bringing out their own series of laptop running Windows10 S, later this summer.

India Launches SAARC Satellite, A big step for Nepal as well?

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GadgetByte

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May 7, 2017

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India Launches SAARC Satellite, A big step for Nepal as well?

India launched their GSAT-9 Satellite on May 5^th 2017 by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) for the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) region. It is basically a communications and meteorology satellite. This plan was put forward by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, of a satellite that serves the needs of SAARC member nations in the 18^th SAARC submit held in Nepal in 2014.

What is a communication satellite?

Well a communications satellite is an artificial satellite that relays and amplifies radio telecommunications signals. It creates a communication channel between a source transmitter and a receiver at different locations on Earth. These satellites are used for television, telephone, radio, internet applications. There are over 2,000 communications satellites in Earth’s orbit of which the SAARC satellite will be one of them. Like every other machine, satellites do not last for ever. However the mission duration is estimated to be 12 years.

The SAARC satellite basically has a geostationary orbit (GEO). It orbits the Earth at an altitude of 35,786 kilometers which is about 35 times the length of the east west highway. It orbits around the earth once every 24 hours which is similar to the earth’s rotation about its axis. This means that the satellite will appear stationary to all the observer from the earth. This Satellite is specifically for TV broadcasting and telephone communication as the satellite dishes pointing toward this GEO satellite will never have to change the position. This GEO satellite is at such high altitude and has uninterrupted view of a large area of the earth. It is therefore also used for monitoring the weather and climate of the Indian Ocean.

Will it be beneficial for us?

As stated by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the satellite focuses on enabling:

full range of applications and services in the areas of telecommunication
broadcasting applications viz television (TV)
direct-to-home (DTH)
very small aperture terminals (VSATs)
tele-education and tele-medicine
disaster management support

The launch of SAARC GSAT-9 satellite is an excellent multi-dimensional facility that is currently at our disposal. This has led to the decrease in dependency of Nepal to other foreign satellite. Nepal can now rely on its own SAARC satellite for communication with the world. However, it depends on how the Government of Nepal is going to utilize its new resource. Do you think this is a big step for communication development in our country? Will it help to improve the rural communication infrastructure of Nepal? Well this is a question that only time can answer.

Ncell received Green signal to operate 4G services in Nepal

GadgetByte

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May 7, 2017

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Ncell received Green signal to operate 4G services in Nepal

Ncell has been the largest ICT service provider in the country. However, because of its CGT controversy, it has been brutally criticized and even boycotted from several groups. Some law experts of the country also had maintained stress on the government to restrict the expansion of any new services from Ncell till all the government taxes get cleared. Despite the pressure, Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) has approved the permission to add 4G services in the portfolio of Ncell services. The service will launch on the first day of June.

4G service was launched by NTC in the New Year 2017. Though the service is limited to Kathmandu valley and Pokhara, there are more than six million 4G users in Nepal. Since the launch of 4G service by NTC, Ncell had been making an appeal to NTA to provide 4G services to its users. However, because of the CGT controversy and the pressure developed from it, Ncell had not been able to operate 4G services. Ncell now has been able to expand 4G services because of the Technology Neutrality mentioned on the Frequency Policy of 2016. Ncell now can operate its 4G services starting from June 1. It will use the same frequency (i.e. 1800 MHz) as used by the NTC 4G. The private company has also been granted to use 800 MHz and 900 Mhz frequency to serve high-speed internet.

The first phase of the service will be dedicated to Kathmandu valley, Pokhara, and Damauli. The services will be then expanded to Biratnagar, Bhairahawa, and Butwal.

What is 4G?

4G is the fourth generation in telecommunication technology. It is more than two times faster than 3G. Theoretically, the speed of 4G is 100 Mbps. But the 4G service provided by NTC is quite slow to that level and is limited around 30 Mbps. The speed of Ncell 4G has not been disclosed yet. Since the frequency used is same, we can expect a similar speed from Ncell.

WHAT IS 4G? AND WHY DO WE EVEN NEED IT IN NEPAL?

If you haven’t activated 4G in NTC, here’s how you can do it right now:

HOW TO ACTIVATE 4G IN NTC

OPPO F3 with Dual Front Camera Launched in Nepal

OPPO

Yural Maskey

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May 6, 2017

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OPPO F3 with Dual Front Camera Launched in Nepal

As expected, Telecell Pvt. Ltd., the authorized distributor of OPPO Mobiles in Nepal, has launched OPPO F3 smartphone in a star-studded event in Yak and Yeti Hotel. The Oppo F3 was launched for Rs. 35,490. However, the phone has received a price cut of Rs. 2,500 and is now available for Rs. 31,590. The OPPO F3 is also available in Black color option apart from the Gold color option.

OPPO F3 is a cheaper variant to the recently launched OPPO F3 Plus (Rs. 54,900). It houses a full metal body and a 5.5-inch IPS LCD display with a full HD resolution. The display is protected by the latest Gorilla Glass 5. Powering the phone is an octacore MediaTek processor (MT6750T, 1.5Ghz, 64bit, Cortex A53) and 4GB RAM. Storage is 64GB, but you can expand it via microSD for upto 64GB.

The OPPO F3 justifies the tagline “Selfie Expert” as it boasts a dual front camera (16MP + 8MP). The 16MP camera is for taking high-resolution portrait selfie while the 8MP is for taking group selfies. The rear camera is a 13MP shooter. Backing up the device is a 3200mAh battery, but it lacks fast charging.

Connectivity wise, it has dual SIM card slot with both SIM support 4G LTE. There’s also WiFi, Bluetooth, and GPS. The fingerprint sensor is located on the front.

Check out our Video Review of OPPO F3 Here:

OPPO F3 Specifications

5.5-inch (1080 x 1920 pixels) Full HD 2.5D curved glass display with Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection
1.5 GHz Octa-Core MediaTek MT6750T 64-bit processor with Mali T860 GPU
4GB RAM, 64GB internal memory, expandable memory up to 128GB with microSD
Dual SIM (nano + nano)
Android 6.0.1 (Marshmallow) with ColorOS 3.0
13MP rear camera with dual-tone LED Flash, PDAF, 1/3-inch sensor, 1.12um pixel size, f/2.2 aperture
16MP front-facing camera with 76.4-degree wide-angle lens, 1/3.1-inch sensor, f/2.0 aperture and secondary 8MP front camera with 120-degree wide-angle lens
Fingerprint sensor
Dimensions: 153.29×75.24×7.3mm; Weight: 153g
4G VoLTE, WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS
3200mAh battery (No fast charging)

Should you Buy the OPPO F3 in Nepal?

At Rs. 32,990, the OPPO F3 is an interesting phone. It has a good 1080P display which is standard for phones at this price bracket, 4GB RAM and 64GB storage is good to see in a mid-range phone, the dual front camera is best in its league, and the phone looks gorgeous all thanks to its uni metal construction.

The biggest letdown of the OPPO F3 is an average MediaTek processor which can be found in a sub 20,000 smartphone these days. Even with 4GB of RAM, the phone suffers while playing high-end games and is not ideal for heavy multitasking. Phones like Xioami Mi A1 (Rs. 30,000), Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (Rs. 25,000) performs better than the OPPO F3.

The second letdown is it’s still running on Android Marshmallow 6.0 and the UI is heavily skinned and hence will take a time to get Nougat. Phones launching in 2017 should really have Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box. Gionee A1 has one and the Huawei GR5 2017 recently got the update as well. So, what are your thoughts on the Oppo F3? Leave us your thoughts in the comment section down below.

Apex Smart Diary Review: Is it really smart?

Reviews

GadgetByte

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May 6, 2017

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Apex Smart Diary Review: Is it really smart?

Apex Digital, a subsidiary of the Apex Group is making a name for itself in the Nepali market because of its smart store. The store has opened up various branches all over Nepal in a very short time. It has started to shine because of the on-hand experience with smartphones of various brands that it offers to its customers. And while Apex Digital has been working with smartphones for some time now, the store has recently introduced a new self-designed diary-cum-gadget into the Nepali tech market.

Named ‘Smart Diary’, the diary does justice to its name. It comes with a power bank, few charging cables, a flash drive, and more importantly, papers for writing. It allows three options in terms of colors: black, green and pink, and each color has a different texture on its cover. The black one I got to use has a smooth covering, the green one has a rough texture and the pink one has a mixture of both textures. Apex Digital has priced the Smart Diary at Rs. 3,999.

The smart diary is clothed by a leather-like material on the outside with padding on the inside, which makes it comfortable to hold and carry around. It can be opened with a magnetic clip that has a flash drive which slides out easily.

The interior, however, is not very different from a normal diary. The first few pages consist of personal memoranda, emergency numbers, and a calendar for the year 2017. This is followed by normal diary pages.

It is the final page of the diary that one encounters the genuinely ‘smart’ aspect of it and brings us to the major feature of the Smart Diary. Inside the outer covering is a power bank of capacity 10,000 mAh. Three cables, one for power input interface, another for a microUSB cable and a thunderbolt cable sit comfortably on the outer covering of the power bank. The battery life of the power bank is indicated by four LED lights present on the inner covering. These lights are accompanied by a power switch.

Using the microUSB cable, I had no issues with the battery pack. However, when I tried to charge the iPhone 6 Plus through the thunderbolt cable, I couldn’t really juice up its battery. Instead, the charge of the device actually started to decrease.

The diary’s flash drive is of 8 GB. It works without any hiccups and I liked the fact that Apex Digital has cleverly kept the drive inside the diary’s magnetic clip. But since the flash drive is surrounded by magnets on all sides, what if it stops working? Since I got to use the Smart Diary only for a short time, I couldn’t find any conclusive answers to the question.

Cons

Well, like I already mentioned, the major con of the Smart Diary is the fact that the flash drive could get damaged because of the magnet. Also, what’s the use of having a power bank and a thunderbolt cable if you can’t really charge an iPhone?

The Smart Diary also lacks a USB Type-C connector. And with more and more phones coming out with the feature, Apex Digital should have included the connector.

Who is it for?

No doubt the Smart Diary features some neatly included individual gadgets and pieces of technology. But is it for everyone? Perhaps not.

So who is it really for? If you work and carry around individual cables and power bank, then this is a perfect diary for you as it was for me.When I used the device, I didn’t have to carry around any other cables and power banks which, for me, were always annoying. Furthermore, I also didn’t have to carry an extra notebook. Oh, and Apex Digital will refill the papers if you fill it all up, but after you pay for it, of course.

Huawei Honor 9 Renders Leaked

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GadgetByte

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May 5, 2017

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Honor 8 was a pretty well-received phone last year. It made headlines for having a perfect balance between aesthetics and power and came pretty cheap as well. Now, the new iteration of the phone, Honor 9 has been leaked showing phones from different perspectives.

Design wise the phone closely resembles the Honor 8. But there are some notable changes to the hardware of the phone. Looking at the render it looks like Huawei has ditched the headphone jack on the phone as only the USB C port lies on the bottom and the top is completely clean. With the headphone jack removed, leakers have speculated that the new phone might come with some sort of water resistance. The fingerprint sensor has been relocated from the back to the front of the phone. And this might be the only cue to distinguish the Honor 9 from the old Honor 8. You get all the good stuff from the Honor 8 like the Dual Rear Camera, Dual LED Flash, Laser Auto Focus and IR blaster.

Besides the renders, the internals of the phone hasn’t been revealed yet. We can speculate that the phone could have a slight camera improvement, a larger battery and it can get upgraded to the latest Kirin Processor. We have to be skeptical about the renders as they are not from the official source and things can change until the time of official release.

Pact to deliver high-speed internet in quake-hit districts by NT and NTA

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GadgetByte

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May 5, 2017

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Pact to deliver high-speed internet in quake-hit districts by NT and NTA

Nepal Telecom (NT) and Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) have signed an agreement to provide free high-speed Internet service to the victimized locals of the major earthquake affected districts: Kavre, Sindhupalchowk, Nuwakot, and Rasuwa. The necessary budget for this drive will be taken from the Rural Telecommunication Development Fund (RTDF).

An agreement was signed between Chairman of NTA, Digambar Jha and Managing Director of NT, Kamini Rajbhandari amidst an event yesterday.

As per the agreement, NT will be responsible for providing the internet service at about 747 places in the districts for two years. Those spots include: 80 areas, 118 government and community schools, 69 health centers in Kavre; 70 areas, 82 government and community schools, 61 health centers in Sindhupalchowk; 62 areas, 95 government and community schools, 61 health centers in Nuwakot and 18 areas, 16 government and community schools, 15 health centers in Rasuwa. A total budget of 21 crores, 16 lakhs has been estimated for this.

NTA Chairman Jha has said that supporting NT to deliver high-speed internet facility in the quake-affected districts is a part of NTA’s main objective to make maximum use of RTDF in expanding telecommunications service across the country.

To quote NT’s Managing Director Rajbhandari, “NT is committed to complete all the projects that have been handed over to NT by NTA on time. All necessary researches on CDMA, GSM, ADSL and WiMAX technologies have been conducted in the districts with regard to the installation of the Internet service.”

ECN App: Local Level Election Information at your fingertips

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GadgetByte

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May 4, 2017

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ECN App: Local Level Election Information at your fingertips

Yes, the Local Level Election is approaching and the Election fever is on. You must have tons of curiosity regarding this election like if you are in the voter list or not, where’s your polling center, who are the final candidates and much more. All these of your curiosities can now be addressed with an app and that’s the ECN App. All the information regarding the Local Level Election can be at your fingertips if you have a smartphone that can be an iOS or Android device. So, you may at any time download the app from the Google PlayStore or Apple Store. But, if you first wanna know what you’ll be getting in the app, let me explain.

ECN App: Explored

ECN App is a free social app from Election Commission, Nepal that is developed by Professional Computer System P. Ltd. The app gives users the relevant information regarding the approaching Local Level Elections. You’ve to have the internet connection for the app to work. What app does is abstract the right information from the server of the Election Commission, Nepal. So, what you can get from the app is still accessible from the ECN’s website. But on the website, the information is kind of scattered. So, I personally preferred the app over the website.

Let’s take a look at the features that this 3.52MB Application (on android) has to offer:

Election Program: election type, schedule, day
Send Event SMS: to register for SMS notifications
Voter no. Search: check if you’re listed in the voter list
Voter Info: check your voter info using your voter no. and DOB
Polling Location/Centre: search polling Location/Centre
Voter Education: Educational Audio, Video regarding the election
Candidate Info: List of Final Candidates
Election Result: List of Elected Candidate with Vote Count
Media: Press Release, Code of Conduct, News, Observer

Verdict:

It’s a neat effort from the Election Commission, Nepal. The app is easy to go through. The app supports two languages: Nepali and English. I personally found the app to be informative enough. It helped me with my curiosity regarding the upcoming Local Level Elections with its schedules, voter information, and polling center information. If the app gets timely updates, it’ll be even cooler to check the final candidates’ list and the information along with the election results as well.

Galaxy Gear S3 Frontier Review: Best Smartwatch to Buy?

GadgetByte

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May 3, 2017

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Galaxy Gear S3 Frontier Review: Best Smartwatch to Buy?

Smart Watches are a rare thing in tech when it comes to Nepal. But still, we have few options available in the market. Their rise to popularity, obviously, has been hindered by their price tag, as they do not come any cheap. But if the price is not the concern and if you have to pick one, then the Galaxy S3 Frontier is the option you’d want to go for. Let’s find out what you can get out of a Rs.40,000 smartwatch.

Build and Design

The Galaxy S3 Frontier is aesthetically pleasing and feels sturdy. It comes with a 1.3inch Super AMOLED display which is really sharp and protected by Corning Gorilla Glass SR. The watch as a whole is IP68 water and dust resistance so you have nothing to worry about. It feels really solid and even with few drops and strikes here and there, I couldn’t find any physical damage on the watch. The fair and simple design of the watch makes it look like any other normal watch. The back of the watch comes with stainless steel and on the right side, it comes with two physical buttons. The upper button is used as a back button and the lower button is the home button which can be programmed for double tap feature. You can use the double tap to show the recent apps, enable S Voice, start S Health and so on.

One of the most pleasing aspects of the watch is the circular dial which makes navigating around the watch much faster and easier. You can spend hours just playing with the dialer. There are also few games on the Samsung App Store which you can play on this watch with the help of the dial. The watch is 12.9mm thick but doesn’t feel that big and the straps are 22m wide which felt pretty comfortable during my daily use.

Software

The watch is running on Samsung’s Tizen OS with 768MB RAM and 4GB storage. I noticed no lag during my usage even with loads of watch faces installed and apps running in the background. You need a companion Gear App and other Samsung Apps installed on your phone to connect it to the watch. All of your notifications and calendar events are synced to Gear seamlessly. You can also sync music and pictures. You can make a call, send SMS, reply to various app from the watch itself. There’s T9 keyboard on the watch for typing, or you can use the circular dialer to choose the default replies or just use the emojis.

You have plenty of watch faces to choose from, on the Samsung App store you can find all sorts of watch faces that suit your mood and style. It feels like wearing a new watch every single time changing the watch face.

Health Tracking

The watch proves to be more useful when used for fitness tracking. With the Samsung’s S Health app, the Gear can track pretty much everything you’re doing and provide insights on that. If you are working out, playing Golf, climbing stairs, running, walking, or sitting idle for too long, the watch will give you insights on all of your activities which you can check both on your watch and the S Health app on your phone. You also have heart rate sensor which seems to be pretty accurate. Apart from that, you have Altimeter, Barometer, and GPS.

The 380mAh battery seems to be pretty solid as it gave two to three days of battery backup depending on the usage and with the use of dark watch face. It takes two hours to fully charge the watch.

Verdict

With very few app support, the Tizen OS proves to be a drawback. With Android Wear 2.0 you could have a plenty of android apps right on your wrist but that’s not the same with Tizen OS. There are only a handful of useful apps on Samsung App Store and it feels like a restriction from using your watch to its full potential.

The goal of wearable is obviously to sync your notifications and track your health, and S3 frontier just does that in the best way possible. If you can live with limited apps on your wrist and if you just want a solid smartwatch that can last for days and track your health in the most detailed way possible. Then this is worth the buy. It’s definitely not cheap but it can help you in your daily tasks in a great way.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 4SD Launched in Nepal

Xiaomi

GadgetByte

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May 3, 2017

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Vatsal Impex Pvt. Ltd., the authorized distributor of Xiaomi Smartphones in Nepal, has officially launched the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4SD (3GB/32GB) for Rs. 24,999. The phone is available for purchase from any MI Showroom or any Xiaomi smartphone retail outlets. It can also be ordered online from Mi Nepal’s official website.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 4SD: What’s Inside?

The Xiaomi Redmi Note 4SD is also widely popular as Redmi Note 4X. The SD in its name is due to the fact that it comes with Qualcomm SnapDragon 625. The rest of the specs of the phone is identical to that of regular Note 4. It comes with 5.5inch Full HD IPS LCD screen. The model that has been launched in Nepal is the one with 3GB RAM and 32GB ROM. The built-in storage is expandable up to 256GB via microSD card. As far as cameras are concerned it comes with 13MP, f/2.0 unit with Dual tone LED flash and 5MP, f/2.0 unit on the front. Both the cameras are capable of shooting up to full HD videos. However, the primary camera can even shoot slo-mo videos in HD resolution at 120fps. The phone has a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner. The device gets its juice from 4100mAh battery.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 4SD: Specs Highlights

5.5inch FULL HD IPS LCD display
Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 Octa-Core CPU clocked at 2.0GHz; Adreno 506 GPU
3GB RAM & 32GB storage (expandable up to 256GB via microSD card; uses SIM2 slot)
MIUI 8 based on Android 6.0 (Marshmallow)
Rear Camera: 13 MP, f/2.0, PDAF, dual-LED (dual tone) flash; 1080p@30fps, 720p@120fps
Front Camera: 5 MP, f/2.0, 1080p
Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.2, IR sensor, FM Radio, USB OTG support
Sensors: Fingerprint (rear-mounted), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass
Li-Po 4100 mAh battery
Color: Gray, Gold, Black, Pink
Price: Rs. 24,999

You might also find this interesting: SNAPDRAGON VERSION VS MEDIATEK VERSION OF XIAOMI REDMI NOTE 4