OnePlus X gets a Massive Price Drop in Nepal

OnePlus

GadgetByte

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March 22, 2017

OnePlus X gets a Massive Price Drop in Nepal

iHub Pvt. Ltd., the authorized distributor of OnePlus products in Nepal, has undertaken huge price drop on OnePlus X in Nepal. The OnePlus X gets a new pricing of Rs. 21,700 and that is Rs. 7,000 lesser than its previous price tag. Well, that’s what we would like to call a massive price drop.

Should you buy the discounted OnePlus X?

The same question if asked before this price cut would be a hard one to answer. But now with this new pricing, the OnePlus X is totally worth all your money. The 5inch screen phone comes with Full HD AMOLED display whereas most of the phones in this price range will ask you to settle with just an HD LCD display. Plus, the smaller dimension phone gives a good one hand usability. The phone is protected with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 both on the front and the back and there’s metal frame along the edges. Under the hood, the OnePlus X is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor coupled with 3GB of RAM. If you don’t know, it’s the same configuration as in Sony Xperia Z3. So, the phone is arguably a powerful one. Though the device boots on Android 5.1.1 Lollipop, it is upgradeable to Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow.

The phone’s 16GB inbuilt storage might sound a little short when many devices these days are offering 32GB. But hey, the storage is expandable up to 256GB via microSD card in its hybrid SIM tray. The cameras are well just of average performance as that’s what our review says but now in this price range, the 13MP unit on the back and 8 MP on the front sound competitive enough. The only considerable downside is its inclusion of 2525mAh battery that doesn’t give an outstanding battery life.

ONEPLUS X SPECIFICATIONS:

5-inch FULL HD AMOLED Display
Gorilla Glass 3 protection on the front and back
Snapdragon 801 chipset (QuadCore Cortex A15 processor @2.3Ghz)
3GB of RAM
16GB internal storage (Expandable up to 128GB)
Supports two nano SIMs Or One nano and a microSD card
13MP rear camera with LED flash
8MP front facing camera
Android 5.1.1 Lollipop
4G LTE bands, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, FM radio, and Micro-USB
138gms
2525mAh battery

Verdict

OnePlus, the brand that offers premium phones in budget pricing, is getting life to that statement even in the market of Nepal. With this price cut, OnePlus X is hands down one of the best phones to buy in the price range of around 20k. I believe it won’t be out of place to mention, this phone heats up a bit while gaming and while using continuously for a long time.

Official: Oppo A57 Launched in Nepal

OPPO

GadgetByte

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March 22, 2017

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Telecell Pvt. Ltd, the sole authorized distributor of Oppo phones in Nepal, launched Oppo A57 in Nepal. It’s the fourth Oppo smartphone to launch in Nepal after the company unveiled A37, Neo 7, and F1s in September. Now you can buy Oppo A57 in Nepal for the price of Rs.26,500.

[Update: The Oppo A57 is now available for Rs.24,990]

Oppo A57: What’s Inside?

Oppo A57 is a 5.2inch LCD screen phone that has the resolution of 720*1280pixels (HD). Under the hood, the phone is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 435 OctaCore CPU clocked at 1.4GHz and is backed by Adreno 505 GPU. The phone has a front mounted fingerprint sensor that doubles as a home button as well. The company claims this sensor to work even with moist fingers. This 3GB RAM Phone comes with 32GB of onboard storage that’s expandable up to 256GB. On the photography side, it has a whopping 16MP selfie unit and 13MP primary camera on the back. The 7.7mm thick metal body phone houses a 2900mAh battery inside.

Oppo A57: Specs Highlights

5.2 Inch HD IPS LCD Display; 720p (HD); 282ppi
1.4GHz OctaCore Snapdragon 435 Processor; Adreno 505 GPU
3GB RAM With 32GB ROM (Expandable Up To 256GB)
Primary Camera: 13MP, f/2.2, phase detection autofocus, with LED Flash
Selfie Camera: 16MP, f/2.0, 1.12 µm pixel size, 1080p
Front mounted Fingerprint
Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow; Color OS
Dual SIM
4G/WiFi
Bluetooth
2900mAh Battery

Verdict

New releases are always welcome but we can’t underlook what’s already available. Opting for Oppo A57, one has to make a lot of sacrifices. The biggest sacrifice is settling for a lower display resolution which is an only HD one. If you are spending 26k on a phone, I think it’ll be wiser to spend some extra and buy phones like Huawei GR5 2017, Samsung Galaxy J7 Prime, Coolpad Cool1 dual or even OnePlus 2 that will rather be a better daily driver. That said, yes Oppo A57 comes with a good selfie unit but is taking selfies the only use for a smartphone? Well, the answer is “No”. So, if you are a selfie manic then only buying a phone like this can be considered a wiser decision or else just look around, there are many better devices available at same or near to price range.

Google officially announces Android O to Developers

Android

GadgetByte

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March 22, 2017

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Google officially announces Android O to Developers

Just after the arrival of the second beta version of Android 7.1.2 Nougat, Google just announced its upcoming version of Android unsurprisingly named Android O. Of course, it’s not the final name.

Google hasn’t presented all the features that will be included with Android O. But, Hopefully, We’ll see more and more about the new version of Android in the weeks before the Google I/O 2017 [ 17 – 19 May 2017].

Try Android O Developer Preview – Download from here

[socialpoll id=”2428977″]

What’s available in this first preview of Android O?

Background limits

Biggest changes that have been seen is an effort to reduce power consumption. Android O Developer Preview limits how frequently background apps can retrieve the user’s current location, regardless of your app’s target SDK version. This will help your smartphone save more battery life than ever before.

Notifications in Android O

Android O will be more visually appealing. The new version of android will see user-customisable notification channels whereby alerts are grouped by type. Users will be able to adjust the background colors of notifications, and the messaging style

The best feature about notification is the ability of the user to be able to snooze notifications, and developers have the option to set time limits for notifications to time out.

Improved Autofill Framework

Android O will bring new Autofill APIs that will make setting up new apps and placing transactions easier. The autofill app will store and help your autofill secure user data, such as addresses, names, passwords, etc.

Picture-in-Picture mode [PIP Mode]

Android O is also bringing a new feature that was previously only available on Android TV devices Picture in Picture (PIP) mode. With this feature, one can continue to watch a video while navigating through other apps.

Connectivity Enhancements

Wi-Fi Aware will basically allow nearby devices to discover each other and communicate over Wi-Fi without an internet access point. Improvement will also be seen with Bluetooth which will help enhance audio quality.

Adaptive icons

Adaptive launcher icons are also new in Android O, which can display different shapes across different devices. For example, a launcher icon can be displayed in a circular shape on one device, and be displayed in a square shape on another. Each smartphone maker provides a mask, which the system then uses to render all icons with that shape. The new icons will also be used in shortcuts, the Settings app, sharing dialogs and in the overview screen.

Multi-Display support

Android O will be able to support multiple displays. This will allow a user to move an activity from one to another screen and more.

Copy Less

This feature of Android O will ease copying text from one app and paste it within another. This is done by giving suggestions in the second app as to what we might be about to type based on what we were doing in the previous app.

There are few other features that we are able to see in the Android O [Developer Preview]

Opening addresses in Google Maps [This Feature is already in iOS]
Improved gestures
Better management of cache data
Improvement in keyboard control

Oppo F3 Plus launching on March 23: Everything We Know so Far

GadgetByte

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March 21, 2017

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Oppo F3 Plus launching on March 23: Everything We Know so Far

After the F1 family, Oppo is set to release the new Oppo F3 plus on March 23. And Oppo is challenging its competitors in making it the best selfie-takers in the business. Even flaunting a dual selfie camera setup, as hinted by their official Facebook page.

Talking more about the cameras, the Oppo F3s sports a 16MP camera at the back and a set of 16MP and 8MP cameras with a f/1.7 aperture on the front. One of the selfie cameras has a 120-degree wide angle lens. Now the dual front camera is sure to be the key selling point for the device but there is still more to look forward to.

The Oppo F2 Plus also includes VOOC fast charging (4A/5V charger) and an upgraded touch access which will be a fast, accurate and responsive fingerprint reader.

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The Oppo F3 Plus has a 6″ 1080p IPS screen, a powerful Snapdragon 653 SoC, 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage with microSD support. Android Marshmallow 6.0.1 takes care of the OS, which is pretty outdated, but will Oppo roll out Nougat update in the future? I am not quite sure. The device weighs about 167gms and will be just 6.9mm thick. Gorilla Glass 5 helps keep the device protected. It comes with a 4000mAh battery. Precise dimensions of the phone are revealed to be 163.63 x 80.8 x 7.35mm.

Talking about aesthetics, this device will be available in Black, Gold, and Rose Gold. The battery will be non-removable and the fingerprint will be front-mounted. If you don’t want a big screen phone, Oppo will also be launching a smaller Oppo F3 as well. These phones will be revealed on March 23.

Read our article on 5 Reasons Not To Buy Oppo F1s

Deals: Colors P32, P50, and P85 Gets a Price Drop

Colors

GadgetByte

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March 21, 2017

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Deals: Colors P32, P50, and P85 Gets a Price Drop

Nepalese smartphone brand Colors has dropped the price on their Pride Series of smartphones. It hasn’t been while since they did the same with its Elite Series. Pride Series is focused on the first time Smartphone users who are coming from Bar phones or other non-smart devices. It can also be a great phone to use as a secondary device if you’re not into Bar phones. Colors Pride P32, P50 and the latest P85 are among the Pride Series to get the price drop.

Colors Pride P32:

Colors Pride P32 is the most affordable phone among the bunch. For Rs.5,495 (Previously Rs.7,000), the phone comes with 4.5-inch(854×480) display, 1GB RAM, MT6580M 1.3Ghz Quad-Core Processor, 8GB onboard storage which can be expandable up to 32GB, Android 6.0 Marshmallow and is backed up by 2200mAh battery which should be enough for a day of usage considering the specs. It is a dual SIM phone(3G+2G). Optics wise it comes with 5MP Rear shooter along with a VGA front shooter.

Colors Pride P50:

Colors P50 is pretty much similar to the Pride P32 in terms of specs. It comes with a 5inch (854×480) display, 1GB RAM, MT6580M 1.3Ghz Quad-Core Processor, 8GB onboard storage which can be expandable up to 32GB, it is also running on Android 6.0 Marshmallow and comes with Colors Lite for data saving. Optics wise it comes with 5MP Rear Camera and 2MP Front Facing Camera.It is a dual SIM phone(3G+2G). Pride P50 is backed up by 2200mAh battery. Colors P50 is priced at Rs.6,695 (Previously Rs.7,495)

Colors Pride P85:

Colors Pride P85 is one of the most affordable phone that comes with a fingerprint sensor in Nepal. The phone looks pretty good design-wise, with the iPhone like aesthetics. P85 comes with a 5inch 720p display, MT6580 1.3Ghz Quad-Core processor, 1GB RAM, 16GB Storage which can be expanded up to 32GB. Optics wise, it comes with an 8MP Rear camera with Triple LED Flash which is gonna give pretty decent images during low light and up front comes with 5MP Camera. It is also running on Android 6.0 Marshmallow and is backed by 2,500mAh battery. The best part about the phone is definitely the fingerprint sensor which can do more than just unlocking the phone.

Uses of Colors P85 Fingerprint Sensor:

Quick Launch: Press the home button to launch the apps quickly
Quick Dial: Press the home button to quickly call even the phone is locked or the screen is off.
App Lock: Lock apps in order to protect privacy. Use your fingers to unlock these apps.
Message Encryption: Press the home button to unlock your encrypted message.

The phone is priced at Rs.9,995 (Previously Rs.11,495).

5 Reasons NOT to Buy Oppo F1s

OPPO

GadgetByte

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March 21, 2017

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When it comes to buying a phone, it is always the hardest to choose the right one. What happens with many of us is we buy first and think later. Usually, we buy a phone after seeing its advertisements on daily newspapers and ask the salesperson about the phone. He or she’s the salesperson, they are there to sell so just avoid them. That’s the reason, we end up regretting and asking ourselves “Why did I even buy this phone?”. There are different ways of finding a right phone and the safest way is to first filter out the wrong ones. So, if you have a budget of around 30K and thinking about buying your next phone, here’s why you should buy any other phones but not the Oppo F1s.

5 Reasons NOT to buy Oppo F1s at Rs. 32,000

Though recently the Oppo F1s (4GB/64GB) is available at the same price the 3GB/32GB variant was available few months back, it still doesn’t make the device worth buying. Here are the 5 reasons you should not buy Oppo F1s in Nepal:

1. Lesser Display Resolution

Oppo F1s is a 5.5inch screen phone that comes with only 720p(HD) display giving the 267ppi which is not so impressive for a device in this price range. It’s the only device with HD screen in this price range. Yes, the display is pretty vibrant and everything but 30 thousand for just an HD screen phone? Well, that doesn’t just sound right.

2. Outdated OS

We have been hearing a lot about Oppo F1s getting an update but it never did and we think, it never will. So, Oppo F1s boots on pretty outdated Android 5.1 Lollipop. So buying this phone you’ll be missing quite some tricks like “doze” mode and “Google Now on Tap”. If latest android is what you want on your phone, then you should check Android One GM 5plus that runs on pure Android Nougat and comes at just 25,000.

3. Not so powerful Chipset

A Phone is all about performance and performance is defined by the processor used in it. So, can you expect powerful performance from a chipset like MediaTek MT6750 that falls short when compared to processors like Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 and Qualcomm SnapDragon 652 that power OnePlus 2 and Coolpad Cool 1 Dual.

4. Really a Camera Phone?

The cameras look pretty good in numbers and on paper but when used they are not so exceptional. The 16megapixel selfie unit on the front doesn’t have an autofocus but a fixed focus. If you’re giving a phone the title “Selfie Expert” but don’t use a unit with autofocus then that will just not gonna work out. Coming to the rear camera, it’s a 13MP unit with no OIS that doesn’t even shoot a 4K video. So for a phone to be true Camera Phone we want it to offer something more, something extra and Oppo F1s failed to impress us here too.

5. Lesser Value for Money

Now, when choosing the best phone what we do is compare and comparing Oppo F1s with phones in similar price range, the phone is found offering less and asking more. Oppo F1s doesn’t have a gyro sensor and dual band WiFi module. Even just on doing Specs-to-Specs comparison the phone is far away from good value for money. The phone with lower display resolution, lesser powerful chipset and outdated OS with not so innovative UI is simply a “lesser value for your money”.

Disclaimer:

We made this decision after using the phone for 15days. And, it is truly our personal opinion. You may anytime agree to disagree. But, the facts are always there to stay.

Samsung’s new AI assistant “Bixby” will debut on its next Galaxy (S8/S8+)

Featured

GadgetByte

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March 21, 2017

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Samsung’s new AI assistant “Bixby” will debut on its next Galaxy (S8/S8+)

Right from the rise of smartphones, users adapted the touch interface as the primary way of interacting with a phone. Things started to change after big names in phone industry introduced their own AI-powered assistants one after another. Now, Google’s Assitant, Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa and Microsoft’s Cortana are doing good already. The voice-powered Samsung’s S-voice was seriously lagging far behind in the competition and who could realize that more than the Samsung itself. Finally, Samsung has made its new AI-assistant “Bixby” now official. It will make its debut on the next Galaxy and that’s Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 plus. However, Bixby will come pre-installed on future Samsung phones and home appliances as well.

What makes Bixby different than its competitors?

On a blog post, Samsung made its new AI-powered agent the Bixby official and mentioned how it differs from its competitors. To release a whole new voice-assistant on a phone, Samsung certainly needed to offer more than what are currently available. Looking at the blog post, Samsung does seem to deliver more on its new AI assistant that has three key properties:

1. Completeness

In any Bixby-enabled apps, the user will be able to perform any tasks, one could do using the touch interface, just by using his/her voice.

2. Context Awareness

Just like Now on Tap, Bixby can read what’s on your screen and will help you carry out your current work-in-progress. Plus, Bixby can be called any time just with a click of a button and it will let the user switch between voice or touch seamlessly.

3. Cognitive Tolerance

Unlike current AI assistants that need users to use specific voice commands in preset formats, Bixby is intelligent enough to understand the user’s intention even in incomplete voice commands. It will try to make the best out of the spoken words and will make further queries as and per needed.

According to Samsung, Bixby is capable of doing much more than its competitors. It will just not facilitate searches and answer fact-based questions. Rather, it will learn and adapt to the user and his/her intentions. It will redefine the way one interacts with the phone. Having an assistant that is capable of performing any tasks that are only possible with touch is truly praiseworthy.

However, the Bixby will be limited to Bixby-enabled apps that will come pre-installed with the next galaxy. However, as Samsung is planning to release the SDK for the third-party developers. The number of Bixby-enabled apps will certainly increase with time. The Galaxy S8/S8 plus will have a dedicated button on the left side of the device to wake this assistant.

Verdict

Well, this AI assistant from Samsung, or should I say the agent as that’s what Samsung wants us to say, looks promising. The best part is Bixby to be integrated with every future Samsung products. So, I would love to see Samsung Home appliances coming with such powerful AI agent like the Bixby. Such integration is certainly going to redefine the way human interacts with a machine. We, no longer, will have to rely on touch interfaces for controlling our appliances. Plus, if things go as planned, you can ask your phone to change the channel on your Samsung TV. And, you can ask your Samsung Fridge to add milk to your shopping list on your phone when you realize your fridge ran out of milk.

Apple launches an all-new 9.7-inch iPad named ‘iPad’

Apple
iOS

GadgetByte

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March 21, 2017

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Apple launches an all-new 9.7-inch iPad named ‘iPad’

Apple has just announced a new 9.7-inch iPad silently. Titled iPad, a pretty common name if you ask me, the pricing of the device starts at $329 in US. The price of these new iPads, however, is priced exorbitantly here in Nepal starting at NRs. 49,000.

Price of iPad 2017 in Nepal

Variant	Price
Apple iPad \| 9.7-inch \| Wi-Fi Only \| 32 GB	Rs. 49,000
Apple iPad \| 9.7-inch \| Wi-Fi Only \| 128 GB	Rs. 59,000
Apple iPad \| 9.7-inch \| Wi-Fi + Cellular \| 32 GB	Rs. 65,000
Apple iPad \| 9.7-inch \| Wi-Fi + Cellular \| 128 GB	Rs. 78,000

Talking about the device, the Apple iPad is a successor to the old iPad Air 2. It basically features some older components – the reason for its low pricing.

The all new iPad is powered by Apple’s very own 64-bit A9 chip. Apple had included the chipset in the iPhone 6s and the iPhone SE. And except for the fact that it is thicker and has a larger battery, almost all the specs of the iPad and the iPad Air 2 is similar.

The device features the same 9.7-inch Retina display with the resolution of 1536 x 2048 pixels. The company has, however, claimed it to be brighter than that of its predecessor. Software wise, the iPad comes with iOS 10 out of the box.

Camera wise, the iPad will be equipped with an 8-megapixel rear-facing shooter with f/2.4 aperture and a 1.2-megapixel front-facing shooter. The primary camera is able to shoot videos up to 1080p while the secondary camera is capable of shooting videos up to 720p.

The iPad comes with features such as Touch ID, a SIM tray in the cellular versions, Wi-Fi and the beloved split-screen multitasking mode. Battery wise, the device is backed up by a 32.4Wh battery which Apple has claimed to last for up to 10 hours.

Read More: iPad Price in Nepal

Talking about the newly launched iPad, Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing, said, “iPad is the world’s most popular tablet. Customers love the large, 9.7-inch display for everything from watching TV and movies, to surfing the web, making FaceTime calls, and enjoying photos, and now it is even more affordable.”

“New customers and anyone looking to upgrade will love this new iPad for use at home, in school, and for work, with its gorgeous Retina display, our powerful A9 chip, and access to the more than 1.3 million apps designed specifically for it.”

Sony Announced Xperia L1 Mid-Range Phone

Sony Xperia

GadgetByte

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March 20, 2017

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Sony Announced Xperia L1 Mid-Range Phone

Sony has recently released 4 new phones at the MWC, one of them, the Xperia XZ Premium was the winner of Best Smartphone Award. Similarly, other phones like Xperia XZs, XA1, and XA1 Ultra were also announced. It hasn’t been a month since these phones were announced and Sony already has another one in the pipeline, the Xperia L1 which is the successor of Xperia L launched way back in 2013.

Xperia L1 is a mid-ranger which comes with a 5.5inch 720p display which could be a bummer for many users. On the bright side, it has got the design of Xperia XA and XA Ultra making it look premium. Although the bezels on top and bottom are something to watch out for, the side bezels look pretty small giving that edge to edge look. The phone is powered by Mediatek MT6737T Quad-Core Chipset with 4x 1.45GHz Cortex-A53 CPU and Mali-T720 MP2 GPU and comes with 2GB of RAM. By the looks of the specs, it doesn’t seem like a performer. For storage, it has got 16GB internal storage and comes with MicroSD expandability option.

Optics wise, Xperia L1 comes with a 13MP rear camera with f/2.2 aperture and on the front 5MP f/2.2 camera. For connectivity, it comes with Dual SIM support, 4G LTE, Bluetooth 4.2, NFC and USB Type C for charging and data syncing. The phone will be running Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box. Backing up the phone is a 2620mAh battery.

Sony Xperia L1 Specifications:

5.5 inches(720 x 1280 ) @267ppi
Android 7.0 Nougat
Mediatek MT6737T Chipset
Quad-core 1.4 GHz Cortex-A53 CPU
2GB RAM
16GB Internal Storage, Expandable up to 256GB
13MP Rear Camera with f/2.2 aperture, 1080p @30fps
5MP Front Camera with f/2.2 aperture
USB Type C 1.0
Non-removable Li-Ion 2620 mAh battery

Xperia L1 seems to have nothing much to offer despite its good looks, although if priced aggressively this could be a proper buy. The price of the phone hasn’t been announced yet, it is expected to launch in the European, African, Asian, Latin American and North American markets very soon.

Qualcomm 205 Mobile Platform: new low-end chip with 4G support

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GadgetByte

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March 20, 2017

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Qualcomm 205 Mobile Platform: new low-end chip with 4G support

In an event in New Delhi, Qualcomm has unveiled a new entry-level SOC aimed at feature phones. As Qualcomm announced earlier to take back “Snapdragon” title from its low-end processors, this new chipset is named accordingly as Qualcomm 205 Mobile Platform. This new SOC houses X5 Category 4 LTE modem and hence will have download and upload speed of 150Mbps and 50Mbps, respectively.

More on Qualcomm 205 Mobile Platform

The Qualcomm 205 Mobile Platform, high-efficiency and low-cost SOC, consists of a dual-core CPU clocked at 1.1GHz and will be coupled with Adreno 304 GPU. This chipset will support LPDDR2/LPDDR3 RAM. Furthermore, it will work with Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.1, Dual SIMs, and location services (GPS, GLONASS). This new mobile processor can support VGA selfie camera and up to 3MP back Camera. The device based on this processor can support 480p displays.

Looking at its specs support, It is simply not designed for a smartphone phone but rather a feature phone.

Verdict

In a country like ours, feature phone is still a thing. Yes, the smartphone will start to replace them some days in the future but when is still not certain. Feature phone users do rely on mobile data for the internet. After the launch of Qualcomm 205 Mobile platform, even the feature phone users will get connected with the faster 4G network. It certainly is a good news. Therefore, we can be hopeful to see some cheap yet powerful feature phones in the year 2017.