Sony Xperia X release date: where can I get it?

Sony announced a brand new series of phones at Mobile World Congress back in February including the Xperia X, Xperia XA and Xperia X Performance and since then it's also announced the Sony Xperia XA Ultra.

The company didn't reveal whether these phones would replace the Xperia Z5 series as the flagship must-have Sony devices, but they still pack a punch with high-end specs and a beautiful new design.

The Xperia X features a full HD 5-inch screen, 23MP rear facing camera, 12MP selfie snapper, Android Marshmallow and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 650, while the Xperia XA features an edge-to-edge 5-inch 720p display, 13MP rear camera and 8MP front facing shooter.

Then there's the Xperia XA Ultra, a newer addition to the range which has an edge-to-edge 6-inch 1080p screen, a 21MP rear camera, a 16MP front-facing one and an octa-core MediaTek processor. It's coming to the UK, but with a launch set for July it's not available to pre-order yet.

That just leaves the Sony Xperia X Performance, which sits at the top of the range, though at the time of writing won't be readily available in the UK. Sony did tell techradar that it will allow third-party retailers to stock it in the UK though, so you may be able to buy that soon. We'll update this article if we hear anything else.

Sony

Today you can pre-order the Xperia X from Sony's website for £459 in black, white and rose gold.

Meanwhile, the Xperia XA can be pre-ordered now for £239 in white, black, rose gold and lime gold as well.

The release date for both phones is currently unclear, although the Sony site states the Xperia X will begin shipping towards the end of May, while XA per-orders will start rolling out late June.

Amazon

You can pre-order the Sony Xperia X for £459.99 on Amazon while the Xperia XA is up for grabs at £239.99.

The Xperia X will be released on June 3, while the Xperia XA will take a little bit longer, coming out on June 20.

Carphone Warehouse

The Xperia X is up for pre-order from Carphone Warehouse with the lime gold version an exclusive to the retailer. If you pre-order now you'll also get a free Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact that's worth £249.

The phone pricing starts at £32 a month with no upfront cost and at the time of writing it says delivery is expected within 11-14 days, which would be May 30 - June 2.

Mobiles.co.uk

UK retailer Mobiles.co.uk has released pricing information for the Xperia X with deals beginning at £32 a month for 3GB of data and a free phone. If you want to spend a little upfront it's £50 on day one with £28 a month after that - plus that's for 1GB of data, you'll have to pay £100 upfront for that monthly price with 3GB. Delivery is expected on May 27.

No word on whether the Xperia XA will be available from Mobiles.co.uk yet.

EE

EE has confirmed it will be stocking both the Xperia X and Xperia XA but so far it only has the Sony Xperia X up for pre-order.

It can be had from £35.99 per month with a £69.99 upfront cost, for which you'll get 1GB of data, 500 minutes and unlimited texts. Or if you don't fancy paying that much upfront you can get it for £38.49 per month and just £9.99 upfront with 500MB of data, 500 minutes and unlimited texts.

Whichever tariff you choose at the time of writing it says to expect dispatch within 14 days, which would mean the phone would be on its way to you by June 2.

Three

Three has the Sony Xperia X available to pre-order from £26 per month plus £99 upfront, which would get you 500MB of data, 600 minutes and unlimited texts. You can drop that upfront cost down to £19 if you pay £33 per month and that includes 2GB of data, unlimited minutes and unlimited texts. The network gives a delivery estimate of May 27.

Vodafone

Vodafone has revealed that both the Xperia X and Xperia XA will be on the red network, but hasn't provided any details of when or for how much. We'll keep this updated if we hear more.

O2

The bubbly network hasn't said if it will be stocking the Xperia X and Xperia XA, but we'll keep an eye out.

Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) vs Xiaomi Redmi Note 3

The Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 is going to be used as a benchmark whenever a new mid-range handset is released. With the Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) now making its way to India, it's only fair that we compare the two handsets. 

Key features: 

The Galaxy J7 and the Redmi Note 3 are not exactly the same when it comes to displays. While the Redmi Note 3 enjoys a crisp 5.5-inch Full HD display (1920x1080), the Galaxy J7 (2016) available in India comes with a 720p display (1280x720) on board. Surprisingly, the Chinese variant of the Galaxy J7 comes with a Full HD display, so it's a little surprising that they've decided to stick with a sub-par 720p display for the Indian version. 

However, the Galaxy J7 seems to have a minor advantage in this area as it sports a Super AMOLED panel, while Xiaomi is sticking to a standard LCD panel. But to counter this, Xiaomi's offering comes with a fingerprint scanner and a relatively large 4,000 mAh battery, while the Galaxy J7 lacks a fingerprint scanner and comes with a 3,300 mAh battery on board. 

Design: 

Gone are the days of mid-rangers being plastic dummies. Manufacturers take design very seriously today and almost every mid-range handset comes with a metal body, just like the Redmi Note 3 and the Galaxy J7. Although Samsung's design is less flattering compared to Xiaomi's. The Galaxy J7 is also slightly heavier than the Redmi Note 3, which doesn't help its cause. 

Camera: 

Samsung has crammed in a 13MP rear camera and a 5MP front camera with the Galaxy J7 (2016). Xiaomi is touting a 16MP rear camera and a 5MP front camera with the Redmi Note 3. Since we're yet to properly judge the camera performance of the Galaxy J7, it's hard to come to a conclusion here. But the Redmi Note 3 has proven itself to be a more than capable performer in the camera segment, so the Galaxy J7 will have its work cut out. 

Processor: 

Samsung is utilizing a 1.6 GHz Exynos octa-core processor, while Xiaomi is using the Snapdragon 650 hexa-core CPU. This is an area where we think Xiaomi has an advantage. However, we're yet to encounter detailed benchmark details to back up this claim. 

Battery: 

Xiaomi has a winner on its hands with the Redmi Note 3 and its 4,000 mAh battery. Samsung comes close with the 3,300 mAh unit, but one has to admit that it's not going to last as long as the Redmi Note 3. But we must mention that both devices will have a flurry of UI tweaks which should eke out at least a day's usage on full charge. Customers can't go wrong with either device. 

Other features: 

The Galaxy J7 is available with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage. The Redmi Note 3 is available in a 16GB + 2GB configuration as well as a 32GB + 3GB variant, so one can say that Xiaomi has an upper hand as far as variants are concerned. Both devices can support microSD cards of up to 128GB. 

Pricing and availability: 

The Redmi Note 3 is an Amazon India exclusive and is available on a flash sale every week, with prior registrations required. It is priced at Rs 9,999 for the 2GB RAM model and Rs 11,999 for the 3GB RAM variant. 

The Galaxy J7 (2016) will be available for Rs 15,990 via e-commerce retailer Flipkart starting Tuesday (10th of May). As you can see, Samsung has yet again missed a trick with the pricing of its latest mid-ranger. 

Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) and Galaxy J5 (2016) first impressions

Samsung is betting big on its Galaxy J Series smartphones and is constantly pushing a number of handsets to keep its presence felt in the budget and mid-range segment. After launching a sub 10K handset- Galaxy J3, the Korean giant is back with the second edition of Galaxy J5 and Galaxy J7 smartphones.

Both the smartphones come with slightly upgraded hardware as compared to their predecessors and is part of the mid-range family that offers 4G connectivity with quality hardware and software features without burning a hole in your pockets. We were present at the launch event and got the chance to have a first-hand experience with the new Galaxy J5 and Galaxy J7.

Micromax Canvas XP 4G is a 3GB RAM phone for Rs 7,499

Micromax has launched the Canvas XP 4G smartphone for Rs 7,499. It will be available exclusively on Snapdeal from May 10 onwards. The main differentiating features of the phone are its 4G LTE support and 3GB of RAM.

The phone has a 5-inch HD screen with a 720x1280 resolution, which translates to a decent pixel density of 294 ppi. It weights 124 grams and measures 142.7x72.8x8.7 mm.

Under the hood, the phone is powered by a MediaTek 1GHz quad-core processor and 3GB of RAM. It offers 16GB of internal storage, which can be expanded through a microSD card. It is one of the few phones in the market packing 3GB of RAM for under Rs 8,000.

The phone has a relatively meager 2,000 mAh battery as well as dual-SIM support. The phone also supports 4G LTE, 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 as well as GPS.

It runs on Micromax's own Indus OS running on top of Android 5.1 Lollipop. The lack of Marshmallow is a big letdown. Indus OS has been designed by Micromax specifically for the Indian audience in mind. It supports 12 Indian languages, out of which the 'Canvas XP' supports 10.

The Chief Marketing Officer of Micromax, Shubajit Sen, said, "Micromax has successfully expanded the overall smartphone market and created a favourable impact in the ecommerce channel capturing over 11 percent of the exclusive online market last year. A significant part of this success is attributed to our partnership with Snapdeal, where we have grown the overall entry level smartphone market. With the launch of Canvas XP with Snapdeal, we are further bringing a very strong product to our consumers to upgrade to the latest 4G phenomena."

For the price, the phone has a lot going for it, especially the 3GB of RAM. However, the underpowered processor, meager sized battery and lack of Marshmallow might count against it.

At this price range, the phone faces tough competition from the likes of the 'Coolpad Note 3 Lite', which offers a fingerprint sensor and a better camera for just 6,999 as well as Micromax's own 'Yu Yuphoria'.

Coolpad Note 3 Plus vs Lenovo K3 Note

The Coolpad Note 3 Plus was launched over the weekend by the company as a marginally upgraded version of the standard Coolpad Note 3. The only upgrade here is that the 'Plus' model comes with a Full HD (1920x1080) display while the standard variant sports a 720p (1280x720) display.

Key Features

Given the low price tag, the only key feature we can talk about here is the presence of powerful and crisp 1080p display panels. Both devices sport 5.5-inch displays with the said resolution, which means that there's not much to separate the two in terms of display quality. The Coolpad Note 3 also has 3GB of RAM on board, while the K3 Note is settling for 2GB, which can be an area of advantage for those opting the Coolpad offering.

Design

This is an area where the Coolpad Note 3 Plus has a distinct advantage over the K3 Note. Thanks to the premium metal body used by Coolpad, the Lenovo offering seems to be lagging behind. That's not to say that the K3 Note is a bad looking device, but just that Coolpad has paid more emphasis on the appearance of its handset.

Camera

Both phones come with 13MP rear cameras and 5MP front cameras, so there's very little to tell the two apart. It would ultimately come down to the customizations made by Coolpad and Lenovo.

Processor

The Coolpad Note 3 Plus is packing the octa-core Mediatek 6753 processor, while the K3 Note is sporting the slightly lower specced MT6752 chipset by Mediatek. However, the octa-core processor on the K3 Note has a clock-speed of 1.7 GHz, while the Coolpad offering is running at 1.3 GHz.

Battery

Both devices come with a 3,000 mAh battery under the hood, which means you will get the same amount of backup for the most part. However, the battery life is dependent on the kind of software optimizations done by the manufacturers, so we can't say for sure if both devices will offer identical battery backup.

Other Features

The Coolpad Note 3 Plus comes with a fingerprint scanner on the back, while the K3 Note doesn't have it on board. This is what makes the Note 3 Plus a very attractive offering in the mobile industry, especially given the pricing. Both handsets come with 16GB of internal storage as well as a microSD card slot. However, the K3 Note can only take cards of up to 32GB, while the Note 3 Plus can expand its storage by 64GB.

Pricing and availability

The Lenovo K3 Note is freely available from Flipkart without any flash sales or pre-registrations. The handset is priced at Rs 9,999 and is available in a 16GB model.

The Coolpad Note 3 Plus will be available on the 12th of May via Amazon India for Rs 8,999, so you still have some waiting left to do if you're interested in purchasing the device.

Samsung Galaxy Note 4 gets Android 6.0 Marshmallow update in India

Samsung has started rolling out the Android 6.0 Marshmallow update to Galaxy Note 4 in India. The over-the-air (OTA) update was made available to international variant earlier this month.

The Android 6.0 Marshmallow is a major update for the Galaxy Note 4 and brings a number of new features to the smartphone. The update adds a new Touchwiz UI, which revise the visual design and provides enhanced usability to everyday usage, advanced power saving mode that restricts background data and extends battery life, Quick connect to easily find and connect to nearby devices and a new vibration pattern.
Besides, the smartphone will get all the noted features of the Android Marshmallow such as Google Now on Tap, improved notification, better app permissions, etc.

As per a report on Sammobile, the update is about 1.4GB in size so we advise the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 users to download it over a Wi-Fi connection. Moreover, a screenshot says that the update does not support the decrypt device function. It means that if your Note 4 is encrypted, you will not be able to disable the encryption function after performing the update. You can disable encryption from Settings menu. Besides, the screenshot also suggests that if users face some issues with the Samsung Gear or Gear Fit Manager application, they should simply uninstall the app and then install the new version after you have installed the latest update.

Samsung Galaxy Note 4 users will be notified by a pop up on their handsets if they haven't already received it.

Just to remind you, the Galaxy Note 4 phablet sports a 5.7-inch 2560x1440p Super AMOLED Quad HD display and comes with Samsung's Exynos 5 chipset combined with 3GB RAM for effortless performance. On the camera front, you get a 16MP rear snapper, like the Galaxy S5 and a 3.7MP front camera with ability to click wide-angle selfies. The phablet comes with 32GB internal space, which is expandable by up to 128GB.

Lenovo could launch the Vibe P1 Turbo in India soon for Rs 17,999

The Lenovo Vibe P1 Turbo handset is one of the best mid-ranged handsets available in the market today. A new report is now suggesting that the device might make its way to the Indian markets soon, carrying a price tag of Rs 17,999. It's not known as to when the device will officially hit the Indian markets, but it could be anytime in the coming weeks given that the pricing is being tipped by an Indian retailer already.

The key feature of the Vibe P1 Turbo is the 5,000 mAh battery, which should comfortably make it run for a day with heavy usage. Much like other large battery offerings we've seen around us, the Vibe P1 Turbo can be used to charge other devices. The company mentions that the device can provide up to 45 hours of talktime and a standby time of 30 days on its own using full battery capacity.

Hardware specifications of the Lenovo Vibe P1 Turbo include:

5.5-inch Full HD (1920x1080) display
9.9mm thickness
189 grams
Octa-core Snapdragon 615 processor
13MP rear camera
5MP front camera
3GB RAM
32GB of storage (expandable via microSD)
5,000 mAh battery
Android 5.1 Lollipop
4G LTE with dual-SIM support