It’s Amazon vs. Flipkart all over again, with the two e-commerce giants set to go head to head with their respective sales this week. The Big Freedom Sale is Flipkart’s answer to Amazon’s Great Indian Sale, which was announced this week. With both e-commerce giants wrestling for a share of your wallet, it means better discounts for all. The Flipkart Big Freedom Sale starts on August 9 and ends on August 11. Discounts on several high-profile mobile devices are already listed on Flipkart.
This includes the Moto M and Moto G5 Plus, usually priced at Rs. 15,999 and Rs. 16,999 respectively, will be available for Rs. 12,999 and Rs. 14,999 respectively during the Flipkart sale. In addition to this, the Lenovo K5 Note (Rs. 12,499) can be purchased at Rs. 9,999, while K6 Power (Rs. 9,999) will have a Rs. 1,000 discount and will be up for grabs at Rs. 8,999. Google Pixel XL’s price will be slashed from the official Rs. 67,000 to Rs. 48,999 during the Flipkart sale. The company is hinting iPhone 6 32GB will get a price cut too. Furthermore, the Redmi Note 4 sale will run through the duration of the Flipkart sale with buyers getting Rs. 1,000 over the exchange value of their old phone.
This isn’t all, TVs and laptops see discounts too, with the company teasing bargains on the Sony HD Ready LED Smart TV, Vu’s 45-inch UDH Smart TV, Intel Core i3 laptops, the Canon 1300D DSLR camera, and Skullcandy headphones to name a few. Flipkart will be running Spotlight of the Hour deals, and providing new arrivals and exclusive launches in TV and mobile phone categories during the Big Freedom Sale.
Meanwhile, the Amazon Great Indian Sale will see upto 35 percent on iPhone models and upto Rs. 5,000 off on Lenovo smartphones. Discounts of upto Rs. 2,000 on Samsung, OnePlus, and Moto phones will also be available too and Honor models see upto Rs. 1,000 off. Samsung and BPL TVs will have their prices slashed by up to 35 percent, while Sanyo and TCL televisions will have discounts of up to 33 percent and 15 percent, respectively. Laptops by Apple, Dell, Lenovo and HP will be up to 20 percent cheaper during the Amazon sale.
Let’s see what else made else made the news today.
Airtel offers 84GB data for 84 days at Rs. 399 to beat Jio Dhan Dhana Dhan offer
Another week, another plan to counter Reliance Jio. This time it’s Airtel. The company has announced a new plan that offers 84GB of data for 84 days at Rs. 399. Users will get unlimited local and STD calls and 84GB of data, with an FUP of 1GB per day. Airtel has clarified that the new prepaid plan offer is applicable only on 4G SIMs and cannot be clubbed with any other plan or offered by the company.
New iPhone 8, iPhone 7s Plus, and iPhone SE refresh rumours
In the run up to Apple’s yearly iPhone event, a flurry of leaks have given us an idea of what to expect. The latest, derived from the HomePod’s firmware code that was inadvertently made public, has suggested that the iPhone 8’s Face ID recognition system will work even if the phone lies flat. The code contains words ‘resting’ and ‘unlock’. Another leak shows the vertical dual camera alignment of the iPhone 8, and comes from tipster Benjamin Geskin. The smartphone appears to have two camera sensors on the rear panel, with Geskin adding the smaller represents the wide-angle lens, and the larger represents the telephoto lens.
The iPhone 7s Plus could use wireless charging according to dummy images via tipster Sonny Dickson. The dummy is seen to sport a glass back, pointing to the inclusion of the wireless charging feature that’s long been anticipated for the iPhone series.
The iPhone 8 and iPhone 7s Plus aren’t the only phones to see leaks. The budget-focussed iPhone SE may see a refresh early next year according to a report that cites the company’s supply chain. The report adds that India will be the first market to receive the new iPhone SE before it is made available more broadly, and it will be manufactured by Wistron at its Bengaluru facility. The new iPhone SE will reportedly start shipping in the first quarter of next year. Wistron is the same supplier that started assembling current-gen iPhone SE units in the country earlier this year.
Paytm now lets you automatically add money to your wallet, send post cards
Paytm has added postcards on both iOS and Android versions of its app. If you are wondering what these postcards do, they essentially allow you to send money to your loved ones with customisation options and personalised text messages. Alongside, the company also introduced Paytm Automatic, which automatically tops up your Paytm wallet balance. Only available on the Android app at the moment, Paytm Automatic will let users set a particular amount as a minimum balance for the wallet, and also set the recharge amount whenever the balance dips below the minimum. This would essentially top-up the user’s balance whenever it’s running low.
OnePlus 5 OxygenOS 4.5.8 update rollout begins after game stutter issue
The OxygenOS 4.5.8 update for the OnePlus has begun rolling out after the company halted the OxygenOS 4.5.7 update earlier due to a game stutter issue. This new update brings the same changes as the bug-laden update, sans the game stutter issue of course.
In its post on official forum, OnePlus said regarding the OxygenOS 4.5.8 update, “OxygenOS 4.5.7 was withdrawn, we are pushing out the incremental roll-out of OxygenOS 4.5.8 OTA for the OnePlus 5 instead.” To recall, earlier this month, it was reported that OnePlus started rolling out its OxygenOS 4.5.7 update the ability to record videos in 4K resolution with electronic image stabilisation (EIS) on OnePlus 5.
LG Q6 India launch set for Thursday
LG Q6, which is amongst LG’s first Q-Series phones, is coming to India this week. Its exclusive online retail partner Amazon is teasing an August 10 launch while detailing that India will be getting the 3GB RAM + 32GB storage variant. In case you missed all the hype last month, LG’s Q-Series bring a lot of premium features seen in the flagship G-Series in a more affordable package. The LG Q6 variant launching in India also supports dual-SIM cards, and runs on Android 7.1.1 Nougat.
Amazon India officially launches ‘Local Finds’
Amazon India has finally made its Local Finds platform open to customers in India. Local Finds is a platform that allows Amazon users in Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, and Mumbai to find and sell used and new goods to others in their city. Amazon takes care of delivery and payments for Local Finds transactions. The company boasts that customers are adding “hand crafted and rare products” daily. The Bengaluru pilot prior to Local Finds officially launching saw roughly 600 sellers, and up to launch, it has seen 30,000 customers use the service across all four cities.
Samsung Galaxy Note 9 to feature in-screen fingerprint sensor: KGI
The Samsung Galaxy Note 9 smartphone will see an under-display fingerprint sensor instead of the Galaxy S9 according to a report from KGI Securities. As per KGI’s report, Samsung doesn’t have to risk the quick implementation of the under-the-display fingerprint scanner with Galaxy S series models as Apple planned to with the iPhone 8. The firm predicts Samsung will place the fingerprint scanner at the rear of the Galaxy S9 flagship models next year, just like it did with Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+.
However, in its report, KGI has said that the Galaxy S9 models will come with some other selling points including advanced iris recognition as well as dual cameras. These features have been said to buy the company the time it needs to introduce an under-the-display fingerprint scanner in a manner that’s market-ready.
TRAI calls on speed test apps to understand their methodologies
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is calling major speed test apps for a presentation to “understand” their methodology. This should result in a “paper” that will be made available publicly in the months to come. The sector regulator plans to meet 7-8 mobile Internet speed testing firms, including Ookla, over the next one or two months, in this regard. The move assumes significance as Airtel has used Ookla results in the past to assert itself as fastest network, a claim contested by Reliance Jio. TRAI hopes that its initiative would not only help raise consumer awareness about the various apps and choices available to users but could also lead to improvements in its MySpeed app.
Apple Watch Series 3 said to sport LTE connectivity
Apple is said to be planning to launch a version of the Apple Watch with cellular connectivity. This will reduce its reliance on the iPhone according to those familiar with the matter. Intel will reportedly supply LTE modems for the new watch. Apple is in talks with carriers in the US and Europe. It could choose to debut its new watch models alongside the new iPhone like it did last year.
Disclosure: Paytm’s parent company One97 is an investor in Gadgets 360.