It’s that time of year again when major ecommerce platforms are selling their mega gadgets. Flipkart has officially kicked off the Big Billion Day sale, along with Paytm. In contrast, Amazon’s Great Indian Festival kicks off tonight at noon unless you’re an Amazon Prime member, in which case the festivities have already started. All the e-commerce giants offer big discounts on popular gadgets. We have a list of some of the best offers not to be missed.
On Day 1 of the Flipkart sale, you’ll find discounts on the Apple Watch, Google Chromecast 2, and a range of large-screen LED TVs. Amazon is offering an early access sale, exclusively for its Prime members, with discounts on the Mi Max 2, Amazon Fire TV Stick, select televisions, Kindle Paperwhite, and Apple Watch Series 2. Paytm’s Mera Cashback Sale has many offers on Apple products, including the 2017 MacBook Air, which is available for just Rs. 45,699 after cashback. There are also offers on a range of HDTVs.
Jio cuts the price of the JioFi M2S 4G hotspot by half. As part of the ‘Festive Celebration Offer’, the JioFi M2S hotspot now costs just Rs. 999 and is valid in both online and offline stores. However, this is not a permanent price reduction as the offer is only valid from September 20 to September 30.
Apple raises app download limit over cellular connectivity Apple made some drastic changes to the App Store in iOS 11. While many of the changes are cosmetic, we’re starting to discover—plenty of hidden changes. One is the new app download limit for mobile data, which has been increased to 150 MB from the previous 100 MB. Apple says this will allow “customers to download more apps from the App Store over their mobile network.” While iOS 11 adds many new features, we’ve also lost a few. For example, the wishlist feature is no longer available in the App Store.
We’ve got a comprehensive list of how to get started with iOS 11, how to set up the new Files app, and how this update heralds a big change in how you use the iPad Pro, so don’t forget to check them out.
Tim Cook considers Apple iPhone X price ‘good value’ As Apple gears up to ship its iPhone 8 series, we all know that the real star of the show here is the upcoming iPhone X. However, the starting price of $999 for a smartphone is quite high, even for Apple. However, Tim Cook disagrees; in a recent Good Morning America interview, he calls it “value price.” While this may be the case in the US, where many people upgrade their iPhones within their contract period with their carrier, it’s still a lot of money if you buy it at full price.
LG Q6+ launched in India with 4GB RAM. After testing the waters with the Q6 (Review), LG has launched the Q6+ in India for Rs. 17,990. The only real difference between the new phone and the regular Q6 is the 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of storage. The smartphone will be available on Wednesday in stores in Astro Black and Ice Platinum colors. In addition to the FullVision display, the smartphone has a face unlock function.
In other smartphone launches, OnePlus has unveiled a Limited Edition of its flagship smartphone, the OnePlus 5. The company teamed up with French fashion designer Jean-Charles de Castelbajac to launch “Castelbajac”, an exclusive line of products made with JCC.
Pixel 2, Pixel 2 XL, and other Google products leak ahead of launch. Google has confirmed that the hardware event will take place on October 4, when we will see the s generation of Pixel smartphones. However, new renders of the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL smartphones, expected to be produced by HTC and LG, respectively, have leaked online. The price of the regular variant would start from $649 and for larger variants from $849 (about Rs. 54,600).
It looks like we’ll be getting more than just new smartphones, as Droid Life reports that Google may also be announcing a new Chromebook called the Pixelbook, a mini version of the Google Home speaker, and new Daydream VR headsets. The Google Pixelbook reportedly comes with a pressure-sensitive stylus called the Pixelbook Pen and can fold into a tablet, making it different from previous Chromebook Pixel devices.
Apple Music for Android gets an update. Apple has quietly updated its Apple Music app for Android with several new features. With the version 2.2.0 update on Android, Apple Music users can create profiles to share their music and playlists with friends. The company has also added support for voice search and a recently played widget. Users can pin this widget to their home screen and easily play recently played music.
Vodafone calls TRAI’s abolition of call charges a ‘retrograde’ step. After TRAI decided to lower mobile calling rates to six paise per minute, Vodafone called the move a ‘retrograde’ measure. “We are disappointed with this decision and are now considering our options in response,” the company said but did not specify its options. Mobile companies currently charge 14 paise per minute for allowing a domestic call from a rival operator to terminate on their network, which has now been reduced to six paise per minute as of October 1, 2017.
Meanwhile, Reliance Jio calls the response from rivals Vodafone and Airtel “baseless allegations”.
