Reliance Jio on Tuesday unveiled new prepaid and postpaid plans for its network, which adjust the amount of data offered and validity periods. The new Jio plans start from Rs. 19 for 200MB of data for one day and go to Rs. 9,999 for 780 GB of data for 390 days. Most of the Summer Surprise offer plans have been carried over, with new additions of Rs. 349 and Rs. 399. Of the 12 prepaid plans now listed on Reliance Jio’s website, the telco offers two choices: one with a daily FUP and others that let you consume data at your own pace. The former has data limits of 1 GB or 2 GB, with the latter capping you at 128 kbps once you go over the allotted amount. Postpaid Jio users have five plans to choose from, with three in the FUP category and the rest being offered simultaneously. You can now view all Reliance Jio plans on offer.
Jio’s home broadband service was first noticed by Reddit users and will initially be available in Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Mumbai, New Delhi, Surat, Vadodara, and Visakhapatnam. Meanwhile, the company accidentally leaked its JioFiber preview offer through its website early Tuesday morning before deleting the page. Reliance aims to offer 100 Mbps speeds for 100 GB of data per month and will be free for the first three months, albeit with a refundable deposit of Rs. 4,500.
Meanwhile, a person suspected of being behind the Jio user data breach has been arrested by the police.
Amazon Prime Day sales in India and the U.S. Amazon’s Prime Day festivities kicked off Monday thanks to its protracted 30-hour schedule, but Tuesday saw even more deals and offers across the board. Discounts were provided on iPhone 6/6s, iPhone SE, LG G6, Lenovo Z2 Plus, Honor 6X in smartphones; LG, Samsung, Sanyo, and TCL in TVs; Bose and Ultimate Ears in audio gear; and Amazon’s products: Fire TV Stick and Kindle models. The iPhone 7 32GB dropped further to Rs. 42,999 as part of the discounts, alongside Google Pixel 32GB for Rs. 38,999.
Prime Day also kicked off in the US at 6 pm ET on Monday (early Tuesday morning here in India), with 50 percent off Amazon Echo. There are also offers on Samsung Galaxy S8, Moto G5 Plus, Surface Pro 4, PS4 Slim, and Netgear. As Tuesday hits the US, Amazon will reveal more deals, so stay tuned for the picks. Prime Day lasts until 11:59 pm local time on Tuesdays in eligible regions.
Nokia 5 and Nokia 6 will be available in India next month. Nokia’s mid-range Android phones – the Nokia 5 and Nokia 6 – won’t be available until mid-August, according to HMD Global. The company is currently aiming to ramp up production of the Nokia 3 to meet demand and will shift focus to the other two models later this week. Nokia 5 and Nokia 6 go on sale around August 15, Independence Day. Meanwhile, the Nokia 6 flash sale registrations will begin on July 14 on Amazon India.
While those phones have launched, we’re still waiting for the unveiling of the company’s high-end Android competitor, the Nokia 9. A new leaked case rendering gives us a glimpse of the phone’s exterior, including a vertical dual: Rear camera setup and a headphone jack on the top.
WhatsApp will get UPI support soon – Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Uber too? WhatsApp is integrating UPI’s digital payment infrastructure for its massive 200 million Indian users, a source familiar with the matter told Gadgets 360. The company is in talks with the umbrella organization NPCI and plans to implement the feature for the current year. Made in India, Hike Messenger already supports UPI payments, but the user base is much smaller.
Meanwhile, according to NPCI, Google has completed its UPI test with Android Pay. The organization’s MD and CEO, AP Hota, confirmed that WhatsApp and Facebook were also in talks, and all three will be “operational” soon. Hota added that Amazon and Uber would also soon integrate UPI.
Xiaomi’s new sub-brand and Bluetooth receiver, Mi Max 2 India launch date Xiaomi are said to be launching a third sub-brand as part of its offering, according to a Chinese website, in addition to Mi and Redmi. It will focus more on the offline market than the above two, as Xiaomi has taken a beating from Oppo and Vivo in its home market. While we don’t have a name yet, a new phone display has leaked and is expected to launch later this month.
Xiaomi launched a Bluetooth audio receiver in China for CNY 99 (about Rs. 900), which allows users to connect their favorite wired headphones to phones that don’t have a headphone jack. It’s not licensed for Apple’s MFi program, so any integrated buttons won’t work if you plug it into an iPhone.
Meanwhile, the company has sent out invites to the India launch of its budget battery powerhouse (5,300mAh) Mi Max 2, which is slated for July 18. Thanks to its launch in China, we already know all about the phone, so the bottom line is what the price markup will be – it’s CNY 1,699 (about Rs. 16,100) in China.
LG announces three Q-series phones with larger displays. The new phones will feature the taller FullVision display introduced on the LG G6 earlier this year, along with quad-HD shows and Android 7.1.1. Regarding specs, you get a 5.5-inch screen and Snapdragon 635 chip on all three, albeit with varying amounts of RAM and internal storage. Strangely enough, LG has not disclosed the price of any model.
Microsoft 365 bundles Windows 10 and Office 365 for business. At its partner conference in Washington, Microsoft introduced a new offering for businesses, bundling Windows 10 and Office 365 (along with other services) as part of a new service called Microsoft 365. It’s for making it easier for businesses to get their organization members and employees on board with the latest and greatest that Microsoft offers, potentially streamlining things in the process. Two variants – Enterprise and Business – are available. The first arrives on August 1, with prices that depend on a specific plan. The second will go into public preview on August 2 and will cost $20 (about Rs. 1,290) per user per month.
Lava A93 launched at Rs. 7,999 without 4G supportive launched a new budget Android phone – the Lava A93 – for Rs. 7.999. It aims to compete with Xiaomi Redmi 4 and Moto C Plus, but it lacks 4G support, let alone VoLTE. The A93 runs Android 6.0 on a 5.5-inch HD display, powered by a 1.2GHz quad-core processor with 2GB RAM, 16GB internal storage (expandable to 32GB), and a 3,000mAh battery. In terms of cameras, you get an 8-megapixel sensor on the back and a 2-megapixel sensor on the front. Both cameras have their flash.
Twitter allows you to mute notifications from accounts you don’t follow Twitter has introduced new features to curb abuse on its platform, including the option to disable notifications from accounts you don’t mind and those that don’t follow you. This is because users gain more control over the content they see, making Twitter less of a toxic experience for some users.
Oculus Rift and Touch price drop to $399 Oculus has slashed its Rift VR headset and Touch controller bundle by $200 in select regions, bringing it to $399 (roughly Rs. 25,700) for six weeks. That puts it on par with PS VR, which works with Sony’s PS4. Oculus Rift is the only VR headset not available in India; PS VR retails for around Rs. 40,000, mark the HTC Vive is currently down to Rs. 79,990 as part of Amazon’s Prime Day sale.
China takes steps against VPNs. The Chinese government has ordered state telecommunications companies to block access to VPNs in the country, which are heavily used by a select number of users and foreign companies to circumvent the ‘Great Firewall’. China has always tightly regulated and censored web traffic. The latest move will prompt VPN operators and businesses that rely on corporate VPNs to consider closing shop in the 1.5 billion-strong nation.
