With an aim to achieve a 10 per cent market share of the premium smartphone category in 2017, Micromax on Wednesday launched its first Dual Camera smartphone Dual 5 at Rs 24,999.

“Our entry into the premium segment aims to simplify the eco-system with a combination of hardware, software services, digital payments and customer service. We aim to increase our ASP by 20 per cent in the year to come with new launches planned in Rs 10,000, Rs 15,000 and Rs 20,000 category,” Rahul Sharma, Co-Founder, Micromax Informatics, said in a statement.

The new Dual 5 comes with the same EAL 5+ security as a bank card, which is much more secure than the EAL 2+ security featured in other smartphones.

The device comes with Unique Fingerprint with a quick response time of 0.35 second and is equipped with a separate security chip to provide independent storage for your fingerprint and password information.

The premium metal body chamfering edged device, Dual 5 comes with an intensified camera system. The device has Wisdom Double Photo 2.0 that consists of two cameras — black and white that can capture contour details.

The device has 13 MP+13 MP dual rear camera and 13 MP front shooter with flash. The dual camera can record the depth of real-time information and automatically synthesize 3D videos and 3D photos which can be viewed using VR glasses.

The Micromax Dual 5 provides is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 processor and comes with a 128 GB on board memory. The device has a 3,200 mAh Battery with Quick Charge 3.0 and Power Saving Mode.

Dual 5 will be available from April 10 and registrations for the device opened on Wednesday.

IANS

Taiwanese electronics giant ASUS on Tuesday launched ZenBook UX330 premium ultrabook with a full body aluminium design inspired by the Swiss watch and a Japanese Zen garden.

The notebooks are available across all online retailers at a starting price of Rs 76,990 in two exclusive colours rose gold and quartz gray.

Weighing only 1.2 kg, it is also one of the slimmest and lightest 13.3-inch clamshell notebooks with an Intel Core i series performance processor in the market. The notebook is 15 per cent thinner than the already available ZenBook UX305UA.

The device boasts of a 7th Gen Intel Core i processor (i7-7500/i5-7200), 13.3-inch QHD+ 3200×1800 display powered by ASUS’ proprietary “Splendid Display Technology”, Backlit Keyboard and Next-Gen USB 3.1 Type C connectivity.

The notebook has a 12-hour battery life and comes with the standard two-year global warranty.

The ZenBook UX330 also boasts of the ASUS SonicMaster Audio System developed to deliver unmatched audio and comes with a 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.1, up to 8GB RAM, a 512GB SSD and USB Type-C port.

The ZenBook UX330 has five models. The FC082T is priced at Rs 76,990, both FB132T and FB157T are available for Rs 83,990. Both the upper-end models FB089T and FB088T cost Rs 96,990.

IANS

Samsung Electronics announced on Tuesday it will sell refurbished Galaxy Note 7 smartphones, after production was suspended last year due to battery issues that caused fires and explosions.

The South Korean company said in a statement that it was still deciding when and in which countries to sell the refurbished smartphones, which will depend on “consultations with regulatory authorities and carriers as well as due consideration of local demand”, Efe news reported.

Samsung plans to sell about three million units of the Galaxy Note 7, the statement said.

In addition to refurbishing some of the devices for sale, the company will recycle the components of others.

Samsung will salvage reusable components such as semiconductors and camera modules for the production of test models.

The firm explained that it will commission specialised companies to extract valuable metals such as copper, nickel, gold and silver from the devices.

Samsung released its high-end Galaxy Note 7 “phablet” on August 19, 2016, but a few days later began receiving reports of battery explosions and devices catching fire during the charging process.

The company recalled four million devices, including replacement smartphones that continued to catch fire, and later had to cease production in October.

Samsung’s investigation concluded that the lithium ion batteries were responsible for the damage which cost the company more than $5.42 billion.

IANS