Xiaomi Redmi 5A was launched in India on Thursday, offering an excellent introductory price for the first five million units sold in the country. The smartphone was launched for Rs. 5,999 for the 2GB RAM/16GB storage variant, but the price will be Rs at launch. There is another smartphone variant, with 3 GB of RAM and 32 GB of storage, which costs Rs. 5,999. 4,999 for the first five million buyers. The Redmi 5A will go on sale at the offline stores of Flipkart, Mi.com, and Mi Home in India on December 7 at noon.
The price of the more expensive variant of the Xiaomi Redmi 5A will remain the same for the time being as the company has not announced any discounts. While this discount offer is pretty simple, there’s also a complicated mess of an offer if you want one. In this case, it is Reliance Jio’s “extra Rs. 1,000 cashback” offer for the Xiaomi Redmi 5A. Do you think we’re tough? Just wait until you decipher the fine print involved in this latest “effective price” gimmick.
To take advantage of this extra cashback, Redmi 5A users will need to top up their accounts with the Rs. 199 Jio package for 12 months. After this, they get ten vouchers for Rs. One hundred each can only be redeemed one at a time on a top-up of Rs. 309 or higher. Do you see our point now? Sure, there’s some discount associated with this. Still, it arrives quite late and requires you to use ten discount vouchers over ten months, after which you would probably have moved to another smartphone and a different carrier.
Here’s everything else that has made the news in the world of technology today.
Vodafone announces ‘Rs. 2,200 cashback’ on some Micromax phones. Vodafone India has announced a partnership with Micromax to offer cashbacks on some budget Micromax 4G smartphones. This offer is valid on the Micromax Bharat 2 Plus, Micromax Bharat 3, Micromax Bharat 4, and Micromax Canvas 1. If you thought the Jio Redmi 5A offer was complicated, prepare to be amazed because the Micromax offer from Vodafone is just as complicated. To take advantage of this cashback, you need to make top-ups worth Rs. 150 per month for three years. After the first 18 months, you will get a cashback of Rs. 900, and after three years, you will get a cashback of Rs. 1,300. Both cashback offers will be credited to your Vodafone M-Pesa wallet. Yes, we weren’t kidding about the complexity of these offerings.
Micromax launches Bharat 5 in India Micromax doesn’t want to be left behind as Xiaomi launches one budget phone after another. The Indian smartphone maker is set to launch Bharat 5 in the country just a day after the Xiaomi Redmi 5A. Judging by the invitation sent by the company, you would suspect that the smartphone has a huge battery, maybe even 5000 mAh, and can be charged quickly. Micromax brought its Bharat range of smartphones to counter the wave of other affordable phones on the market, and it looks like Bharat 5 will be the latest attempt in that direction.
This new Google app lets you keep tabs on data usage. Google has launched an app called Datally to help Android users keep tabs on mobile data usage. The app allows you to track the data consumed by individual apps and will enable you to shut down data access for individual apps. It also gives you information about public Wi-Fi networks nearby, with some notes on the quality of these networks. Datally is targeting developing countries where data limits are small, and people’s ability to buy data-heavy packages is limited. Until recently, this would have been very useful in India, but with Reliance Jio and subsequent competition in the Indian telecom market, large data caps have become quite common in the country. That makes Datally less useful, but it’s still a good tool to have, one that makes us wonder why these features aren’t built in at the OS level.
Panasonic Eluga C with a ‘bezel-le, ss’ display launched large d, displays with limited bezels have become the, smartphone trend of 2017, and now even Panasonic is joining in. The Panasonic Eluga C has a borderless screen and a dual camera setup. The phone has been launched in Taiwan at a price tag of TWD 6,000, which is equivalent to Rs. 12,900. The Panasonic Eluga C has a 5.5-inch display with ultra-thin bezels and an HD (720×1280 pixels) resolution. An octa-core MediaTek MT6750T SoC powers the smartphone clocked at 1.5GHz, coupled with 4GB of RAM. Panasonic has equipped the Eluga C with 13-megapixel + 5-megapixel camera sensors on the back and an 8-megapixel camera on the front.
Windows 10 now has 600 million active devices Windows 10 now runs on 600 million active devices, according to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, who announced this at Microsoft’s annual shareholder meeting, according to a report by GeekWire. The number includes the following devices: desktops, tablets, Xbox One consoles, HoloLens headsets, and Surface Hub devices, excluding Windows 10 Mobile smartphones. Microsoft has admitted it won’t be able to reach its goal of 1 billion active Windows 10 devices within three years of its launch in 2015.
Samsung is the world’s largest smartphone brand: GartnerMarket research firm Gartner has claimed that in the third quarter of 2017, Samsung took the top spot in smartphone sales worldwide. The company claimed that Samsung has a 22.3 percent share of the global smartphone market, with Apple a distant second with 11.9 percent and Huawei third with 9.5 percent. Gartner added that worldwide smartphone sales were 383 million units in the third quarter of 2017. It credited Samsung’s return to the top with sales of Galaxy S8, Galaxy S8+, and Galaxy Note 8.
Apple fixes embarrassing macOS security flaw Apple has fixed a critical bug in macOS High Sierra, which could give hackers total control over vulnerable machines. The company has announced that it will review its software development process to ensure that this bug is not sent to people who use its products. Apple also apologized to all Mac users for this embarrassing bug, requiring would-be hackers only to have physical access to a vulnerable computer and give them full control of the computer without entering a password.
Snapchat Unveils Redesigned App Snapchat has revamped its app to focus more on personal content than publisher posts. The app now splits your feed into separate streams for publishers and your friends. Snapchat relies on algorithms to build your feed based on your interests. The company has claimed that this change will also help publishers make more money on the platform, which has 178 million daily active users.
Android co-founder is taking time off from his new startup Andy Rubin, a former Google executive best known as the co-founder of Android, has taken time off from his smartphone startup Essential, according to a statement from the startup. Online news outlet The Information had previously reported that Rubin left Google in 2014 after an internal investigation revealed he had entered into a relationship with a subordinate. After this report was published, Rubin went on leave from Essential, but the startup declined to disclose the length of his absence. Essential said Rubin had requested time off to attend to personal matters.
