Asus to launch ZenFone 2 on April 23 in India

Ravi Sharma, TOI Tech

The month of January saw several smartphones with unique, top-end features hitting the Indian market, from Micromax's first Cyanogen phone to the latest Xiaomi price-warrior, among many others. Whether you want the country's cheapest 4G phone or its most expensive Android smartphone, the month saw launches across all price points.

Let's take a look at the 10 best smartphones launched in the country in January...

Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi launched its 2014 flagship, Mi 4, in India last month for Rs 19,999. The successor of Xiaomi Mi 3, this smartphone features a stainless steel metal frame and a 5-inch Full HD display that has Corning Glass with One Glass Solution (OGS) technology protection. The phone also has changeable plastic back covers.

Xiaomi Mi 4 is powered by a 2.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 quad-core processor and 3GB RAM. It will be available in 16GB storage variant. The phone runs MIUI 6, a new version of the company's operating system, based on Android 4.4 KitKat. The phone sports a 13MP rear and 8MP front Sony stacked CMOS camera and a 3,080mAh battery.

Though unveiled in December, Micromax's new CyanogenOS-powered YU Yureka smartphone was made available only in January. The Amazon-exclusive smartphone, priced at Rs 8,999, sports a 5.5-inch Full HD IPS display with 80-degree viewing angles and Gorilla Glass 3. Powered by a 64-bit 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 octa-core chip and 2GB DDR3 RAM, the phone has 16GB internal storage expandable up to 128GB via microSD card.

YU Yureka features a 13MP rear camera (f2.2 aperture, 75.4 degree angle, capable of 1080p video capture) with Sony EXMOR CMOS sensor and a 5MP front camera with 71 degree field of view. In terms of connectivity, the dual-sim phone supports 3G, 4G (CAT 4, including TDD-LTE, Indian 4G bands), Bluetooth 4.0 and GPS.

It comes with a 2500mAh battery which the company claims delivers 210 hours of standby time.

India's cheapest 4G-enabled smartphone, Lenovo A6000 was launched in India in January as a Flipart-exclusive product. Priced at Rs 6,999, this smartphone has a 5-inch IPS HD display and runs on Lenovo's Android 4.4-based Vibe 2.0 UI. Powered by the 64-bit 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 processor and 1GB RAM, the phone comes with 8GB of storage space.

A6000 sports an 8MP rear camera (with auto focus and LED flash) and a 2MP front facing camera. The dual sim phone supports 4G LTE connectivity with support for both FDD 1800MHz (Band 3) and TDD 2300MHz (Band 40) in addition to other popular connectivity options including Bluetooth 4.0 and 3G.

Featuring a 2300mAh battery, the phone has two speakers and Dolby Digital Plus sound.

The most expensive Android smartphone in India at Rs 64,900, Samsung Galaxy Note Edge comes with an extra screen on the side that operates as a panel separate from the primary display. The phablet boasts of a unique design, wherein the right edge of the screen is curved and provides quick access to frequently used apps, alerts and device functionality.??

Samsung Galaxy Note Edge sports a 5.6-inch Quad-HD+ (1600x2560 pixel) Super AMOLED display. It is powered by a 2.7GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 quad-core processor and runs on Android 4.4-based TouchWiz UI. The smartphone features a 3.7MP front camera and 16MP rear camera. It has 3GB RAM and 32GB internal storage, expandable up to 128GB via MicroSD card. It has a 3000mAh battery with support for quick charging.

The phablet also comes with additional software optimized to make use of the accompanying S Pen stylus. Users can multitask in multi-window mode, which supports minimizing apps as floating widgets. It also has text selection and crops selected areas on the screen for later viewing. The S Note app gets its own widget, so that users can access the core functions of the stylus as soon as they unlock it.

Micromax Canvas Hue, launched at Rs 10,999, has a 5-inch HD screen protected by Gorilla Glass 3 and runs on Android 4.4 (KitKat); the company in a statement said that the phone will soon get Android 5.0 (Lollipop) update.

The smartphone has a 1.3GHz quad-core processor with 1GB RAM and comes with 8GB internal storage and supports microSD cards with storage up to 32GB.

The smartphone has an 8MP camera with Sony sensor on the back and a 2MP camera in front. Micromax's battery saving technology helps the Canvas Hue's 3,000mAh battery of Canvas Hue last up to 30 days, the company said in a statement.

HTC Desire 526G+, priced at Rs 10,400, sports a 4.7-inch qHD display (960x540p). Powered by a 1.7GHz octa-core processor and 1GB RAM, the phone also has an external storage slot that supports memory cards of up to 32GB capacity.

Desire 526G+ runs Android 4.4.2 KitKat OS and comes with HTC BlinkFeed home screen that offers customized streams to deliver news and social updates.

The new Desire smartphone features an 8MP rear camera with LED flash for capturing pictures and a 2MP front camera for selfies. In terms of connectivity, the dual-sim smartphone supports 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, FM Radio and GPS. Powering up the phone is a 2,000mAh battery.

The BlackBerry Classic is targeted at BlackBerry loyalists who still use older versions of its physical keyboard devices such as the Bold as the phone features all legacy keys including the menu, back and call answer and reject keys in addition to a touch display.

The Classic sports a 3.5-inch square touch display with a resolution of 720x720p. Powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Plus processor and 2GB RAM, the phone comes with 16GB storage expandable via microSD card up to 128GB. The USP of the phone is its 35 key backlit keyboard. It is priced at Rs 31,990.

India is the first country where Samsung launched its new premium, mid-range smartphones -- Galaxy E5 and E7.

Galaxy E5, priced at Rs 19,300, has a 5-inch Super AMOLED display panel and runs on Android 4.4 (KitKat)-based TouchWiz software. The smartphone packs 1.5GB RAM, 8MP rear camera with LED flash and 2,400mAh battery.

The Galaxy E7 has a 5.5-inch Super AMOLED screen, 1.2GHz quad-core processor, 2GB RAM and runs on the same TouchWiz software as its sibling. The model has a 13MP rear camera with LED flash and 2,950mAh battery. The Galaxy E7 smartphone has been priced at Rs 23,000.

The FonePad 8 is Asus's first 8-inch Android tablet and the device also comes with voice calling feature. The tablet is available in Black and Gold colour variants at Rs 13,999.

Fonepad 8 sports an 8-inch WXGA (1280x800p) IPS display. Powered by a 1.33GHz quad-core Intel Atom Z3530 processor and 2GB RAM, the tablet comes with 16GB internal storage expandable via microSD card (up to 64GB). Asus Fonepad 8 runs Android 4.4 with Asus Zen UI running on top.

It sports a 5MP rear camera and a 2MP front-facing camera, and comes with a 4,000mAh battery.

Asus to launch ZenFone 2 on April 23 in India

The device features a 5.5-inch Full HD and a (1280x1920p) IPS display with a wide 178-degree viewing angle and comes with a new ergonomic design.

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