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Apple releases red iPhones, cuts prices on lower-end iPads

Red iPhone : Apple is refreshing and cutting prices on two of its iPads, but held back on updating its higher-end tablets.

A much-speculated 10.5-inch iPad didn't materialise, nor did new versions of iPad Pros aimed at businesses and creative professionals.

Apple unveiled the new iPads through a press release rather than a staged event, the opposite of the process reserved for bigger product releases, which typically are unveiled in September or October, in time for the holiday shopping season.

Apple AirPods review: Seamless connectivity without wires

Apple AirPods : I've been using Apple’s EarPods as my primary mobile headset for more than four years. Thankfully, they fit my ear and are quite comfortable, thus I’m able to fall asleep wearing them. And I do so nearly every night, when they are connected to my iPod.

Thus, after the jokes about losing one’s AirPods (Rs 15,400) died down, I was interested in taking it through its paces. Popping them out of the charging case, the AirPods paired very easily and very fast with my iPhone; and all my other Apple devices. Next, I went out for a run, wearing as bandana for fear of losing the AirPods.

Also Read : Gionee launches A1 smartphone in India with selfie-focused 16 MP camera

Apple unveils its cheapest iPad

Apple cheapest iPad : Apple introduced a revamped version of its most popular-sized iPad at the cheapest price ever, and a shiny red iPhone 7, whose sales will help to combat AIDS.

Apple unveiled a new 9.7-inch iPad with a brighter Retina display starting at $329, and a special edition red-aluminum finish iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, part of the company’s decade-long partnership with (RED), which contributes to the Global Fund to fight HIV and AIDS.

Apple's next big thing: Augmented reality

Tim Cook has talked up a lot of technologies since becoming Apple Inc’s chief executive in 2011. Driverless cars. Artificial intelligence. Streaming television. But no technology has fired up Cook quite like augmented reality (AR), which overlays images, video and games on the real world. Cook has likened AR’s game-changing potential to that of the smartphone. At some point, he said last year, we will all “have AR experiences every day, almost like eating three meals a day. It will become that much a part of you”.

Why the Indian market's an Apple-polisher

Why the Indian market's an Apple-polisher

Apple has slashed rates of the higher end version of its iPhone 6s and 6s Plus by Rs 22,000 in India, as it prepares to begin sales of its latest iPhone 7 and 7 Plus from October 7. The move is aimed at tapping aspirational buyers, who might not want to cough up the full price for the newer model and increase market share.

“The price drop won’t move the needle much,” said Neil Shah, director at Counterpoint Research. “However, with the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 debacle, it gives Apple a window of opportunity to attract premium Samsung customers, with attractive offers on the iPhone 6s and 7. This could bump up Apple’s share in the premium smartphone market to above 60 per cent from 47 per cent currently.”

Samsung Galaxy Note 7 is facing a global recall due to faulty batteries that is a potential fire hazard.

Prices of the 128GB variants of the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus were dropped from Rs 82,000 and Rs 92,000 to Rs 60,000 and Rs 70,000, respectively. Appleusually drops the rates of older generation devices in order to appeal to buyers, who might not want to splurge on the latest devices.

The 16GB and 64GB variants of last year’s iPhone models have been discontinued, and the company has introduced a 32GB variant of both devices. The new base variant of the iPhone 6swill cost Rs 50,000, while that of the 6s Plus will cost Rs 60,000. It isn’t clear if Apple will continue to sell the older iPhone 6 variants in India.Read more.

Vivo V3 Max: Performance to the max

Vivo recently launched the Vivo V3 and V3 Max, boasting of a super-fast fingerprint scanner and overall a powerful phone. I got my hands on the V3 Max. The rose gold metal back and stylish finish makes it look similar to the iPhone 6S plus. So, in terms of appearance the phone is a looker.

The Vivo V3 Max comes with a 5.5-inch full HD display. The colours are sharp and watching videos on the phone is a delight. The phone runs the Funtouch OS based on Android 5.1 Lollipop. Usually, I have a problem with custom OSes, but Vivo's Funtouch managed not to get on my nerves. The phone has a feature called 'Dynamic Sliding Effects', which basically animates the way you scroll through your app drawer. Swiping up on the home screen brings up the control centre. And though it seems novel on Androids, it is a standard feature in iPhones. So one can't help but think, whether Vivo is just trying to knock off iOS at places where its own design lacunae exist.

The phone houses a Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 processor with 4 GB of RAM. This is hands down my favourite part - testing a phone's performance. 4 GB of RAM is more than enough for a heavy smartphone user. So, I installed as many as apps as I could and took the phone out for a spin. First, I tried opening the camera app - which is slow to load in most phones - but to my surprise, there was no lag. Next, I played Order and Chaos - a RAM-heavy online game - the phone didn't lag or heat up. So far, so good.

Next on my list was its camera - a 13-megapixel (MP) primary and an 8MP secondary. The photos are clear and sharp; there is no colour loss evident. Low-light photos are better than most but still not the best. The front camera clicks decent selfies and its beauty mode has a hilarious feature called 'Makeup'. Basically, after you select the beauty mode, the 'Makeup' feature will let you choose from different filters called 'Candy', 'Cool', 'Social', etc. Once selected, these filters will make your face appear as if you were wearing make-up. At the risk of sounding sexist, it is safe to say that this feature will attract a lot of attention from women.

The phone has a more-than-enough 3,000-mAh battery which lasted for about one-and-a-half days on a full charge and with heavy usage. It has a battery saver mode which is pretty effective. It supports Qualcomm's Quick Charge 2.0 which boasts of two hours of music playback on a five-minute charge. I tested it out and went through my entire music collection. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised.

The Vivo V3 Max takes multitasking quite literally. It has a split-screen feature which lets you use two apps simultaneously. I tried it out by watching a video and chatting with a friend on WhatsApp.

But the showstealer is the fingerprint sensor. Located at the back of the phone, the sensor is lightning fast. Once your fingerprint is registered, it wakes your phone the moment your skin makes contact with the phone. I've used and reviewed various phones with fast fingerprint sensors, but the V3 Max is hands down the fastest.

Priced at Rs 23,980, the Vivo V3 Max is a pretty good phone with decent specifications. But it may lose out to competitors such as OnePlus which offer similar specifications at a lower price.

Oppo F1: A surprise package

Oppo phones, such as the R7, have always offered good specifications for a low price. The newest instalment, the F1, is being advertised as a "selfie expert" and houses decent hardware under the hood.

The phone has a metal back and a curved-edge front and many might mistake it for an iPhone 6s. The F1 is slimmer than its counterparts in the mid-segment range and also pretty lightweight.