T3 India

Ankush Mahajan

Sony refreshes Bravia range with A9G and A8G

by

Sony has launched their new OLED TV series for the year at an event in the capital today. This includes two series in the Bravia range: A8G and A9G.

Billed as the successor to A9F from last year, Sony A9G is powered by the latest X1 Ultimate picture processor from the company. The chip controls 8 million self-illuminating pixels that can be dimmed and brightened individually for deeper blacks as well as more vibrant colours. The 4K OLED panels have a native resolution of 3840×2160 pixels coming with HDR10 and Dolby Vision support for HDR content. There is also a Netflix Calibrated mode that shows the colours of Netflix original shows as intended by the creators.

Coming to audio, A9G uses Acoustic Audio Surface+ that makes the screen vibrate to produce sound. This 2.2 channel setup features 20W+20W speakers plus 10W+10W subwoofers that produce very loud yet clear sound. It can also be paired with a home theater system making it act as the centre speaker. They also come with Dolby Atmos and DTS Digital sound. There are plenty of ports on the left side like eARC HDMI to connect the latest audio devices but they are positioned in a slightly inconvenient area.

Running on Android TV OS, Chromecast is built-in for casting from smartphones and Google Play Store can be accessed to download various apps or games. It can work with Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, Apple Airplay 2 and Homekit. Voicing AI commands doesn’t require the smart remote to be in the hand which can also control all the HDMI-connected devices. Bundled inside is a Flush Wall mount that makes the TV stick to the wall like a poster but it can also be extended and moved a bit to the side to adjust the viewing angle.

The A9G series is priced at Rs.2,69,900 for 55″ and Rs.3,69,900 for 65″ while A8G costs Rs.2,19,900 for 55″ and Rs.3,19,900 for 65″. A8G is currently being sold at all Sony retail stores, online and offline partners but A9G will be sold from 1 August 2019. Screen sizes larger than 65″ are slated to be coming soon.

ZOTAC unleashes compact MEK MINI gaming desktop

by

ZOTAC has introduced MEK MINI, a super compact gaming desktop for those always on the move or having a space issue. This product is the result of putting over 12 years of design and engineering expertise into good use that have previously spawned the ZBOX Mini and more.

The MEK MINI is powered by a 9th Gen Intel Core i7/i5 processor, 16GB DDR4 RAM, 240GB NVMe M.2 SSD, 1TB HDD and a ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 2070/2060 SUPER GPU. The ZOTAC GPU model in use is the world’s smallest RTX SUPER graphics card powered by NVIDIA Turing GPU architecture. For connectivity, Killer AC 1550 Wi-Fi and Killer E2500 Gigabit Ethernet have been used. The device has been built with 360 degree ventilation featuring a bottom up airflow design that ensures a balance of powerful performance and controlled temperatures.

Taking into account current trends, RGB LED lighting adorns the front fascia that can be customised with the help of SPECTRA software. There are 13 lighting modes on it supporting a wide spectrum of colours. Measuring 10.27″ x5.35″ x10.19″ , it can be packed into a backpack given the travel friendly design. This makes it suitable for LAN parties, eSports, demonstrations etc.

MEK MINI will be bundled with a ten-keyless (TKL) mechanical LED gaming keyboard and optical LED gaming mouse with an adjustable DPI. Running on Windows 10 Home 64-bit, there will be two variants: one running on Intel Core i7 processor with GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER and another with Intel Core i5 processor with GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER. Rest of the specifications remain the same.

Huawei enters into a partnership with Micromax for distribution

by

Huawei Consumer Business group announced that they are entering into a strategic partnership with Micromax Informatics Ltd with an objective to expand its customer portfolio and presence in the offline market in India. The two companies will devise strategies that will help the brand gain a stronger foothold in the Indian consumer electronics market.

Currently, Huawei sells primarily through retail partners to reach out to existing and potential customers across the entirety of the country. Under the phased expansion plan, there is a planned presence to be in cities starting from Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Kochi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Dehradun, Kolkata and Jaipur. Huawei currently has an R&D centre in Bengaluru which is driven by local talent who have significant contributions towards technological innovation.

R&D plays an important role in Huawei’s product offerings with the company investing around 10% of their revenue towards it. Their last year spending was over $15 billion and ranked 5th globally in the 2018 EU Industrial R&D investment scoreboard.

Announcing the partnership Mr. Tornado Pan, Country Head (Huawei Brand) Consumer Business Group, Huawei India said “Since our very entry into the Indian market, the brand has been witnessing overwhelming response from all section of consumers. With an aim to be present where our consumers are, we plan to focus on a robust offline distribution network catering to the needs of consumers in urban as well as the rural regions of the country and to make them experience the innovative technology that has won the hearts of customers’ world over.”

Commenting on the partnership, Mr. Sunil Joon, Head – Strategy, Micromax Informatics Ltd. said “Over the past decade, Micromax has pioneered the democratization of technology in India – by offering affordable innovations through their product offerings and removing barriers for large scale adoption of advanced technologies. We are pleased to partner with Huawei telecommunications, with this long-term partnership we aim to reinforce our commitment towards consumers in India. Huawei has been consistently coming up with compelling technology focused for the Indian market in the premium device category, together, we aim to move a step closer in solving consumer needs with innovative offerings. Additionally, we are looking at boosting our services and strengthening our association with our existing and potential customers. The two brands will be seamlessly complementing each other as Huawei has its prowess in the premium smartphones segment and Micromax is popular in mass segment of smartphones.”

Huawei Watch GT Active smartwatch targets the fitness enthusiasts

by

Huawei on Monday announced the availability of Watch GT Active in India. The smartwatch was previously showcased during the P30 series launch early this year in March.

Watch GT Active has a 1.39″ AMOLED HD display with 454x454p resolution having a 46mm size. It runs on the company’s own Lite OS that is compatible with both iOS and Android based smartphones. As the watch is lighter, it can be worn for an extended period of time without feeling much fatigue. Staying true to the ‘Active’ moniker, the smartwatch comes with various activity-based features. There is a Triathlon mode which tracks swimming, cycling and running data. A self-learning algorithm can detect and monitor both indoor as well as outdoor activities.

Additionally, TruSleep 2.0 helps keep track of sleep and suggests over 200 ways to improve sleep quality. TruSeen 3.0 has continuous heart rate monitoring to track the heartbeat throughout the day. A battery life of upto 2 weeks is promised on a single charge due to software optimisations and the inclusion of dual-chipsets that switch according to the task being performed. The smartwatch is 5ATM water resistant upto 50m making it great for swimming and other water-based activities that don’t make the wearer go too deep. For connectivity it includes Bluetooth 4.2, GPS, GLONASS and GALILEO. There are sensors for Altitude barometer, compass and 3D distance sensor.

Available in orange and green colour variants, Huawei Watch GT Active is priced at Rs.15,990. It comes with a 1 year warranty and 10 day replacement guarantee from Flipkart.

  • Front of the Green variant
  • Back of the Green variant
  • Side of the Green variant

Huawei unveils MediaPad T5 tablet

by

Huawei recently announced the MediaPad T5 tablet for the Indian market. It comes at a time when there are only a handful of tablet launches happening.

MediaPad T5 is equipped with a 10.1″ FHD display having a 76.4% screen-to-body ratio. As it has a 1920x1200p resolution, it provides an aspect ratio of 16:10. Under the hood, T5 runs on a proprietary HiSilicon Kirin 659 processor paired with 2GB or 3GB RAM depending upon the model selected. Further, it offers storage options between 16GB and 32GB that can be expanded upto 256GB via microSD card. A 5,100mAh battery powers the device for approximately 10 hours. Speaking of software, EMUI 8.0 based on Android 8.0 Oreo comes installed out of the box.

The 2GB/16GB variant will be sold for Rs.14,999 while the 3GB/32GB model will retail for Rs.16,999. For early bird buyers, the company is offering a complimentary bundle worth Rs.2,999 that includes a flip cover and Huawei-branded earphones. It is currently up for preorder on Amazon India but will be available for sale starting 10 July.