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Samsung, Nokia and Sony are leading from the front in making smartphones and tablets afordable
Every month we see a new handset or tablet being launched in the country. The influx of so many devices in to the market is also forcing many manufacturers to slash the price of their devices in due course.
Carrying on with their efforts to make smartphones and tablets affordable Samsung (four devices), Nokia (three) and Sony (five) are leading from the front in April.
1. Samsung Galxy Tab P620
Old price: Rs 23,200
New Price: Rs 12,499
Samsung Galaxy Tab P620 comes with a 7 inch display with 3G calling functionality. It was originally launched on Android 3.2 but currently ICS update is available for the device.
Samsung Galaxy Tab P620 utilises an Exynos 4210 dual core processor running at 1.2 GHz. The processor is coupled with 1 GB of RAM. The device connects to the internet thorough WiFi and 3G. It uses a standard sized SIM slot so users won't have to upgrade to a micro SIM.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab P620 is a multimedia powerhouse and supports most audio and video codecs natively, plus users can easily download applications from the Android marketplace as well. P620 features 16 GB of internal storage which can be used to store movies, apps, music, pictures and documents, and if you run out of space you can expand it to 64 GB via a SDHC card.
The tablet's 2 megapixel front camera is good for high definition video calling. At its rear there's a 3 megapixel camera with inbuilt flash for illumination in low light.
2. Samsung Galaxy Ace Plus
Old price: Rs15,500
New price: Rs14,500
Samsung Galaxy Ace Plus (GT-S7500) is the enhanced version of the widely popular Samsung Galaxy Ace.
Galaxy Ace Plus has rounded edges and a 3.65-inch HVGA capacitive touchscreen.
The smartphone is backed by a 1 GHz processor running on Android Gingerbread, and it features Samsung's TouchWiz user interface.
It comes with 2 GB of internal storage capacity, which is expandable up to 32 GB. For connectivity, it has WiFi and Bluetooth 3.0. Besides, it has a 5 megapixel back camera with single LED flash.
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3. Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 N8000
Old price: Rs 37,500
New price: Rs 34,500
Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 (N8000) comes with a huge 10.1-inch LCD display along with a quad core 1.4 GHz processor and Android ICS operating system.
Marketed more as a tablet, the Note 10.1 comes with 2 GB RAM for a lag-free operation.
It has two cameras -- a 5 megapixel unit in the rear and a 1.3 megapixel front facing camera for video calling. The rear camera is capable of recording 1080p full HD videos.
Despite being a tablet, the Galaxy Note 10.1 comes with a SIM slot which you can use to call as well.
For connectivity, there is Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth 4.0, USB 2.0, A-GPS etc. It has 16 GB of internal storage space but users can increase the storage space up to 32 GB additional.
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4. Samsung Galaxy Note II N7100
Old price: Rs 36,645
New price: Rs 33,995
The Galaxy Note II N7100 has a 5.5-inch true 720p (1280 x 720 pixel) resolution display and comes with a S-Pen stylus. The display is built using Super Amoled technology.
Galaxy Note 2 N7100 utilises an Exynos 4412 quad core processor running at 1.6 GHz. The processor is coupled with a 2 GB of RAM.
The Note 2 supports Wi-Fi /b/g/n and both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz band compatibility. The Note II phablet also has Bluetooth 4.0 LE.
It has a micro size SIM and at the back there's an 8 megapixel camera while in the front it has a 1.9 megapixel camera.
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5. Nokia Lumia 710
Old price: Rs 12,999
New price: Rs 11,994
Nokia Lumia 710 sports a 3.7-inch TFT LCD touchscreen display screen with 480 x 800 pixel of resolution and runs on Windows Phone 7.5 (Mango) OS.
It comes with a 1.4 GHz Qualcomm Scorpion Processor with 512 MB RAM and has Adreno 205 GPU.
Nokia Lumia offers a 5 megapixel camera lens with LED flash light. This helps you to click images and record HD videos. It supports 4x digital focus and 3x video zoom. The handset records HD videos with 1280 x 720 pixel resolution at 30 fps.
Other camera features like geo-tagging, touch focus, continuous auto focus, exposure compensation, auto and manual white balance and image editor provides better quality images.
Lumia 710 with its 1300 mAh Li-Ion battery claims to provide a talk time up to six hours in 2G and seven hours on 3G. The phone has an inbuilt memory of up to 8 GB which helps you store files of your choice.
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6. Nokia Lumia 920
Old price: Rs 36,600
New price: Rs 35,999
Nokia Lumia 920 features a 4.5-inch HD ClearBlack IPS panel display with PureMotion HD+ layer that allows users to work on the display even wearing gloves. The display supports 1280x768 pixel resolution natively and thereby offers 332 pixels per-inch pixel density.
This display has been constructed using Corning Gorilla Glass 2 technology.
It features an 8.7 megapixel camera with dual-LED flash. The camera has the Carl Zeiss optics and offers several features such as image stabilisation and auto focus. The most interesting feature of the camera is the Optical Image Stabilisation that allows capturing great quality HD videos.
The Lumia 920 comes with a dual-core 1.5 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 MSM8960 mobile processor with Adreno 225 graphics chip and 1 GB RAM. This smartphone offers 32 GB onboard storage but there is no micro SD card slot and 2000 mAh battery that promises about 10 hours of continuous talk time over 3G network.
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7. Nokia Lumia 820
Old price: Rs 25,499
New price: Rs 23,499
Nokia Lumia 820 features a 4.3-inch Amoled ClearBlack display with 480x800 pixel resolution natively. It houses a dual-core 1.5 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 MSM8960 mobile processor, Adreno 225 graphics chip and 1 GB RAM.
Lumia 820 has 8 GB onboard storage and one can expand the storage to up to 64 GB through a micro SD card. The Lumia 820 comes with Dolby headphone sound enhancement for better sound output.
This smartphone features 8 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss lens and dual-LED flash. Even this phone is capable recording full HD videos. It is powered by a 1650 mAh battery.
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8. Sony Ericsson Xperia Neo V
Old price: Rs 16,700
New price: Rs 14,490
The Sony Ericsson Xperia Neo V is the upgraded version of Xperia Neo and Xperia Pro. It was launched with Google Android Gingerbread 2.3 operating system.
The device has a 3.78-inch display and a 1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor with a dedicated graphics engine.
Neo V has a 5 MP camera with LED Flash and auto focus which can shoot 720p HD videos at 30 FPS.
The phone features a 1500 mAH battery, which the company offer 7 hour talk time for this smartphones. It has 32 MB of internal storage and 32 GB expandable memory slot.
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9. Sony Xperia P
Old price: Rs 20,990
New price: Rs 19,100
Sony Xperia P comes with 1 GHz Cortex-A9, Dual Core processor with 1 GB RAM and Mail 400 Graphics Processing Unit. Right now it has Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system but upgrade to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich is available.
Xperia P comes with an 8 megapixel rear camera along with a 0.3 megapixel front camera. There is an LED flash too for low level photography.
It has numerous connectivity options that a smartphone could have. The 3G phone has Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1, DLNA capability, HDMI support, 3.5 mm jack, and USB port. It has a signature transparent strip just below its 4-inch display.
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10. Sony Xperia Sola
Old price: Rs 14,490
New price: Rs 13,331
Sony Xperia Sola was the first ever Android smartphone from Sony's stable to feature a floating touch display. The floating touch display technology allows users to scroll through web pages on the device without having the need to actually touch the display.
Users can simply hover their fingers close to the display and the device recognises the gestures and translates it into action.
The Sony Xperia Sola features a dual core 1 GHz processor and will have a 3.7-inch display with a resolution of 480 x 854 pixels powered by Sony's Bravia Engine technology for better display.
The Xperia device features 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and NFC. It is DLNA certified as well. There is a 5 megapixel camera at the back of the smartphone that comes with 720p HD video recording capability but it misses out on a front camera so video calling is not possible on this device.
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11. Sony Xperia Go
Old price: Rs 14,490
New price: Rs 13,250
The Xperia Go has a 3.5-inch display which has its 320 x 480 pixel resolution that translates to 165 pixels per square-inch density. Sony Xperia Go utilises the Novathor U8500 chipset that includes a 1 GHz dual core processor and Mali 400 GPU.
With this the phone offers fluid touch operations and faster execution of commands and application requests. On the gaming front too the phone is good for most games but HD games seem to put a lot of strain and the device heats up quite fast.
The phone features 512 MB of RAM and 8 GB of internal storage memory which works well with the Novathor processor. Although of the 8 GB memory users only get to use 5 GB, it's still good for most users and can be expanded for another 32 GB using memory cards.
It is a rugged IP 67 certified device which makes this device water resistant, water proof and dust proof as well.
Xperia Go has a 5 megapixel camera with LED flash for additional illumination.
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12. Sony Xperia Neo L
Old price: Rs 13,490
New price: Rs 12,349
Xperia Neo L is armed with Sony PlayStation certification. The phone comes with a 4-inch FWVGA TFT capacitive touchscreen display with 854 x 480 pixel resolution and a scratch resistant surface.
Sony Xperia Neo L features a 1 GHz Scorpion Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 512 MB of RAM and Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system right out of the box. It has internal memory of 1 GB, which is expandable up to 32 GB through a micro SD memory card.
The device features a 5 megapixel autofocus main camera with LED flash, which is capable of recording up to 720p HD videos at 30 frames per second. There is also a front-facing camera for video conferencing.
The phone features 3G, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity along with a Wi-Fi hotspot, micro USB v2.0, native USB tethering, GPS etc.
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