Honor launches Honor 10 Lite with 24MP selfie camera, Android 9.0 Pie starting at Rs. 13,999

Honor will be launching the Honor View 20 mid-range smartphone in India on January 29th, and prior to that, the company today has launched its new budget smartphone in the country.

Called the Honor 10 Lite, the smartphone was originally announced back in November 2018 and is focused on selfie lovers. Like other Honor smartphones, the Honor 10 Lite also comes in two configurations including 4GB RAM with 64GB internal storage and another with 6GB RAM and 64GB storage.

Available in Blue, Sky Blue (Gradient finish) and Black colors, the Honor 10 Lite will be sold exclusively on Flipkart starting January 20th. Customers can also buy the same from Honor official website. Honor has priced the base variant (4GB + 64GB) of 10 Lite at Rs. 13,999, whereas the 6GB RAM variant costs whooping Rs. 17,999. No idea why Honor is charging Rs. 4,000 extra for additional just 2GB RAM.

Buy Honor 10 Lite from Flipkart

Asus Zenfone 3 Max (ZC553KL) vs Asus Zenfone 3 Laser (ZC551KL) - Review Comparison

Asus Zenfone 3 Laser

Asus launched the Zenfone 3 series in India back in August 2016 with hefty-price tag for every 3-series model. The Zenfone 3 series include dozens of smartphones like the Zenfone 3, the Zenfone 3 Deluxe, the Zenfone 3 Ultra, the Zenfone 3 Laser, the Zenfone 3 Max and the Zenfone 3 Zoom.

Last month, I reviewed the Asus Zenfone 3 (ZE520KL) smartphone, which turned out to be a premium smartphone at perfect price. You can check my Asus Zenfone 3 (ZE520KL) Review here.

Today, I will be reviewing, actually I will be comparing two different Zenfone 3 series smartphones which are priced similarly – the Asus Zenfone 3 Max (ZC553KL) and the Asus Zenfone 3 Laser (ZC551KL). Both, the Zenfone 3 Max and Laser come with unique selling point of Max battery and Laser auto-focus respectively.

The Zenfone 3 Max was launched in India three months after the initial launch of the Zenfone 3 Laser. Asus Zenfone 3 Max is available in two different variants which include a 5.2-inch Zenfone 3 Max (ZC520TL) and a 5.5-inch Zenfone 3 Max (ZC553KL), whereas the Zenfone 3 Laser comes in just 5.5-inch display option. I will be comparing the 5.5-inch variant of Zenfone 3 Max with the Zenfone 3 Laser.

The 5.2-inch Zenfone 3 Max is available in India for Rs. 12,999 and the 5.5-inch Zenfone 3 Max costs Rs. 16,999. Similarly, the Zenfone 3 Laser is available for Rs. 16,999. Priced similarly, let’s see which model of Zenfone 3 series is worth buying at Rs. 16,999.

Asus Zenfone 3 Max

Asus Zenfone 3 Max ZC553KL vs Asus Zenfone 3 Laser ZC551KL (Specs comparison) –

• 5.5-inch Full HD display
• 64-bit Octa-Core Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 processor
• Adreno 505 GPU | 3GB (Max) / 4GB (Laser) RAM
• Zen UI 3.0 based on Android 6.0 Marshmallow
• 16MP (Max) / 13MP (Laser) rear camera | 8MP front-facing camera
• 32GB internal storage with up to 128GB microSD card support
• 4100mAh (Max) / 3000mAh (Laser) battery
• 4G LTE with VoLTE, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS
• Fingerprint scanner | dual-SIM support (Hybrid slot)
• Zenfone3 Max: Dimensions - 151.4×76.24×8.3mm | Weight - 175 grams
• Zenfone3 Laser: Dimensions - 149 x 76 x 7.9 mm | Weight - 150 grams

Looking at the specifications, it is quite clear that Asus is not compromising the Zenfone 3 Max in terms of internal components for larger battery when compared with the Zenfone 3 Laser, which also comes with same internal components. Thumbs Up!

Asus Zenfone 3 Max

Asus Zenfone 3 Laser

Box Contents

Both, the Zenfone 3 Max and the Zenfone 3 Laser house a rectangular box design with device image and name on the front. After opening the box, first thing that you will see is the device itself followed by user guide, warranty card, SIM slot ejector tool and charging adapter.

Surprisingly, Asus has included premium quality in-ear earphones with some extra ear plug caps in the Zenfone 3 Laser, whereas the same is missing inside the Zenfone 3 Max. To compensate, Asus has included an OTG cable (more details under battery section) inside the Zenfone 3 Max box.

Design & Build Quality

Asus has improved drastically in terms of designing their smartphones with the introduction of the Zenfone 3 series. The original Zenfone 3 has premium design and build quality. Talking of the Zenfone 3 Max and the Laser, both these devices are no-exception. When compared to their predecessors, the new Max and Laser come with better design and build quality.

Besides having a 5.5-inch huge display, the smartphones are handy and can be used easily using one hand. The front of Zenfone 3 Max house capacitive buttons (back, home and menu) below the display with front camera and sensors on either side of the earpiece, which is placed above the display. You will find the same arrangement on the Zenfone 3 Laser.

Like every other Asus smartphone, the capacitive buttons are non-backlit, which is a big disappointment considering the price we are paying. Differentiating both the devices from the front is quite difficult, but when it comes to the back, which is made out of aluminum, you can differentiate between Max and Laser by looking at the camera hump or fingerprint scanner design. The Zenfone 3 Max is winner for me.

Asus Zenfone 3 Laser

Asus Zenfone 3 Laser

Asus Zenfone 3 Laser

Antenna bands, camera module, dual-LED flash, Laser autofocus and fingerprint scanner are all you can find on the back of the devices, obviously along with Asus branding. Fingerprint scanner on the Max has a square shaped design with rounded corners, whereas the one the Laser has a vertical rectangular design with rounded corners, similar to the one on the Zenfone 3.

Fingerprint scanner on both the devices is pretty fast and accurate. It even works when the device is in standby mode. On the right side of the device, you will find volume rockers followed by power / lock button with SIM slot tray placed on the left. On the bottom lies speaker, microUSB charging port and microphone, and on the top, we have the 3.5mm headphone jack with secondary microphone.

The Zenfone 3 Max is quite heavy when compared to the Zenfone 3 Laser, all because of mammoth battery capacity. Asus has worked well on the back of the devices, as they come with matte finish which sort of helps in gripping. Though, both the devices are a bit slippery. On the front, you will find 2.5D curved Corning Gorilla Glass 3, which helps in resisting the device display from scratches.

Asus Zenfone 3 Max

Asus Zenfone 3 Max

Asus Zenfone 3 Max

Pros	Cons
Simple Design	Slippery
Rigged Build

Display

Both the Zenfone 3 Max and the Zenfone 3 Laser come with a 5.5-inch Full HD IPS display with pixel density of 401 ppi. Talking specifically about the Zenfone 3 Max first, the device has a 73% screen-to-body ratio, compared to 77% screen-to-body ratio of the Zenfone 3 Laser. In terms of numbers, the Max has up to 450nits of brightness for outdoor visibility and the Laser has up to 500nits brightness.

Like the Zenfone 3, viewing angles, touchscreen response and color reproduction are all good. Outdoor visibility is not an issue either, as the display of both the smartphones are visible under direct sunlight. Auto brightness lights up the display when necessary, but it does take time at times.

Asus has included an option in Display setting to tweak the color reproduction of the display, just in case you are not satisfied or want more warm colors. As a part of ZenUI, you will find Bluelight filter mode on both the devices for reducing eye strain at night.

Asus Zenfone 3 Laser

Pros	Cons
Color reproduction	-
Brightness under direct sunlight
Viewing angles

Software

Honestly, I’m not a big fan of Asus’ proprietary ZenUI 3.0 software. You can check my detailed review on Software of Asus smartphones here.

Asus Zenfone 3 Max and Zenfone 3 Laser, both run on Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow out-of-the-box. This forked version of Android from Asus is lightweight when compared to its competitors and also house an app drawer. The ZenUI is sleak and simple to understand, but the only issue with proprietary software is inclusion of Bloatware. ZenUI is no exception, as Asus has included huge amount of bloatware.

Besides having so much of bloatware, the UI is very smooth and responsive. At times, we did experience lag on both the devices, which I feel is negligible.

After setting up the device, you will find three pages full of pre-installed apps from Asus. To give you an estimate, you will find around 25-30 apps from Asus pre-installed. Some are good enough to get uninstalled, others you have to disable them to keep your app drawer clean or root and uninstall them for extra storage. Due to unnecessary apps, the notification panel is flooded with push notifications which aren’t really worth reading.

You can customize almost everything in ZenUI from changing the font style, font size, icon alignment, icon size, scroll effects, icon label color and much more. Customization also include lockscreen, notification panel, homescreen and even native pre-installed apps. In order to find the customization option, head over to preferences setting of ZenUI.

ZenMotion settings include Touch Gesture, Motion Gesture and One Hand Mode. Other common settings include glove mode, easy mode, kids mode and screenshot settings. You can also capture game screenshots, record game sessions and even broadcast live gaming videos to YouTube and Twitch using Asus’ in-built Game Genie feature.

Pros	Cons
Lightweight UI	Huge amount of bloatware

Camera

Let us divide this section for both the smartphone. First, I will talk about the Asus Zenfone 3 Laser, whose USP is camera and laser autofocus.

  Asus Zenfone 3 Laser

In terms of numbers, the Zenfone 3 Laser comes with an 13MP Sony IMX214 rear camera with dual-LED real tone flash, f/2.0 aperture, 32-second long exposure, Blue Glass IR filter and most importantly laser autofocus paired with Ultrafast TriTech Autofocus technology for focusing objects in just 0.03 seconds.

These are just numbers, in reality the camera of Asus Zenfone 3 Laser, in my opinion is above average. Laser autofocus is good but in my testing, it wasn’t really helping me focus on far objects ultrafast. Close objects were getting focused rapidly. Color reproduction and image details were rich when captured in daylight, but in low-light the images had noise.

The Zenfone 3 Laser also has 3-axis Electronic Image Stabilization (EIS), which was helpful while recording videos. EIS helps in smoothing the transition of videos and stabilize the same so that the video appears shake free.

Asus Zenfone 3 Laser

  Asus Zenfone 3 Max

                Talking of the Zenfone 3 Max, the smartphone comes with a 16 megapixels PixelMaster 3.0 camera with dual-LED real tone flash, 1/3" sensor size, f/2.0 aperture, Ultra-fast 0.03 sec instant focus and subject tracking using Asus TriTech Autofocus technology which include 2^nd gen laser autofocus, phase detection auto-focus and continuous auto-focus along with real-time HDR and 32-sec long exposure.

The camera of Zenfone 3 Max is similar to the one found on the Zenfone 3 Laser. Daylight images were sharp and crisp, but in low-light the camera underperformed and produced noise. Color saturation is another issue, at times, the color reproduction is too dull for an image. Depending on the lighting condition, my camera opinion of the Zenfone 3 Max changes.

Asus Zenfone 3 Max

Both the smartphones come with an 8MP front facing camera with the one on the Zenfone 3 Laser has an f/2.0 aperture and the one on the Zenfone 3 Max house an f/2.2 aperture. Again, both the devices perform similarly. Selfies are decent and not great. Low-light selfies produce a lot grain and aren’t very sharp.

Asus has stuffed the camera application of ZenUI with plethora of camera modes for every scenario like low-light, night, slow motion, time lapse, HDR and more.

One of the best feature of both the smartphones camera app is manual mode. Using manual mode, you can easily play with white balance (WB), exposure value (EV), ISO, shutter speed and focus, to capture perfect image or even record professional video. If you aren’t camera geeky you will definitely be using Auto Mode all time, but some of the modes which are worth discussing are Super Resolution and Night.

Super Resolution (SRES) mode takes several shots and stich together to form a 60MP shot. Images clicked using SRES mode are more detailed and less noisy. Night mode on the other hand, is a nice touch to camera app when clicking images at night. Images clicked at night using this mode are more detailed than auto mode and are less noisy too.

Asus Zenfone 3 Laser Review

Asus Zenfone 3 Max Review

Pros	Cons
Daylight images	Lowlight images & selfies
Manual Mode	Noise and grains
	Plethora of modes

Performance

The biggest downside of both the Zenfone 3 Max and the Laser is its old-school processor. The devices come with 64-bit Octa-Core Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 processor clocked at 1.4GHz, which is quite old when compared to new smartphones launched in the same price bracket. The processor is accompanied by Adreno 505 GPU.

Surprisingly, Asus has included 4 gigs of RAM inside the Zenfone 3 Laser and 3 gigs of RAM inside the Zenfone 3 Max, and has priced both of them at Rs. 16,999. On the storage front, the devices come with 32GB internal storage with expandable memory support using microSD card. As the smartphones come with hybrid SIM slot tray, you can either use dual-SIM at once or single SIM and microSD card.

Talking of real life performance, the devices performed well. There was no lag in normal usage, but while heavy multi-tasking the device did slow down. Playing graphic intensive games is not a good option on these devices as you might face small amount of lag and device do heat up warmly. Most of the time the performance was snappy.

Pros	Cons
Smooth Performance	Old-school processor
	Heavy Gaming

Battery

Finally, it’s time to talk about battery, the major USP of the Asus Zenfone 3 Max. Asus has include a 4100mAh battery inside the Zenfone 3 Max, which is huge but disappointing when compared to its predecessor which had a 5000mAh battery.

While using the device for the first time, it lasted more than a day producing SoT of more than 9 hours. On normal usage, you can use the device easily for one day and more or two days. And on moderate or heavy usage, the device can last till you sleep or a bit more producing SoT of 6 to 9 hours. Charging the device isn’t a big issue, as it supports fast charging and can be charged completely in around 4 hours.

Asus has also included an option of reverse charging, which allows the Zenfone 3 Max to charge other devices. For the same, Asus has included an OTG cable inside the box, using which you can charge other devices.

Asus Zenfone 3 Max

Talking of the Zenfone 3 Laser’s battery performance, the smartphone comes with an 3000mAh battery. The battery backup of Zenfone 3 Laser was good, but not the best when compared to the Zenfone 3 Max, that’s quite obvious.

The device was able to last easily till the end of the day, but you can’t expect it to last more than a day if you are a moderate or heavy user. Asus has not included fast charging support inside the Zenfone 3 Laser.

Pros	Cons
Battery Backup	microUSB Port

Verdict

Asus initially launched the Zenfone 3 Max in India with a price tag of Rs. 17,999 and the Zenfone 3 Laser in the India for Rs. 19,999. Fortunately, both the smartphones are now available in the market for Rs. 16,999.

If I have to judge the pricing with the offering, then I will definitely say a big NO to both these smartphones. The smartphones do provide quality build and great battery life, but you really can’t ignore the old-school processor and most importantly the bucks you are thinking of paying for these devices.

At Rs. 16,999, you can think of buying much better specced smartphone like Xiaomi’s Redmi Note 4 or Motorola’s newly launched Moto G5 Plus or even Redmi 3S Prime.

Still, if you are an Asus fan and looking for either of these smartphones, then my bet will be on the Asus Zenfone 3 Max, as it provides great battery life and has similar camera quality like the Zenfone 3 Laser. I really hope Asus price their upcoming smartphones in India well, as pricing is one of the biggest factor in the Indian market and if not priced accurately, then do expect low sales.

If you are interested in buying the Asus Zenfone 3 Max ZC553KL or the Asus Zenfone 3 Laser ZC551KL, then you can head over to Flipkart or Amazon or Snapdeal by clicking below links –

Asus Zenfone 3 Max ZC553KL – Flipkart | Amazon | Snapdeal

Asus Zenfone 3 Laser ZC551KL – Flipkart

Lenovo P2 with 5.5-inch FHD display, 5100mAh battery launched in India starting at Rs. 16,999

As scheduled, Lenovo has officially announced the Lenovo P2 smartphone in the Indian market. The Lenovo P2 is successor to Lenovo's P1 smartphone launched last year and comes with massive 5100mAh battery. The device comes with mid-range specifications and will be available in India in two variants — 3GB RAM and 4GB RAM.

According to Lenovo, the device will be available in Champagne Gold and Graphite Gray colors. Lenovo has priced the 3GB RAM variant of P2 at Rs. 16,999, whereas the 4GB RAM variant will cost you Rs. 17,999. The device will be available exclusively from Flipkart starting mid-night with various launch day offers. We will update the post as soon as we hear more about the offers.

Update: As an introductory offer, Flipkart is offering up to Rs. 15,000 off on exchange of old smartphone with additional Rs. 2,000 off and extra 10% instant discount when used SBI Credit Card. You can buy Lenovo P2 from Flipkart by clicking on the link below.

Lenovo P2 comes with a metal unibody design with fingerprint scanner on the front of the device. Like every mid-range device, the P2 also comes with dual-SIM support (hybrid SIM slot).

Lenovo has included TheaterMax technology in P2 which provide immersive VR experience when used with ANT VR headset.

On the specifications front, Lenovo P2 comes with a 5.5-inch Full HD Super AMOLED display with 100% NTSC color gamut. The device is powered by 2GHz octa-core 14nm Snapdragon 625 processor with Adreno 506 GPU. For multi-tasking activities it has 3GB / 4GB of RAM and it runs on Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow out of the box.

Lenovo P2 at Flipkart

Xiaomi Mi 4 price dropped in India, 16GB model now costs Rs. 17,999 and 64GB costs Rs. 21,999

Xiaomi had dropped the price of Xiaomi Mi 4 in the Indian market by Rs. 2,000. Xiaomi Mi 4 was originally announced last year in July and was launched in the country earlier this year in late-January. Xiaomi launched the 16GB Mi 4 for Rs. 19,999 and the 64GB variant costed Rs. 23,999. After the price-cut, the 16GB variant of Mi 4 is available for Rs. 17,999 and the 64GB for Rs. 21,999.

Oppo Mirror 3 powered by Snapdragon 410 SoC launched in India for Rs. 16,990

Chinese smartphone manufacturer Oppo has announced the launch of a new mid-range Android smartphone in the Indian market recently. Called Oppo Mirror 3, it is the same phone that was launched in China as Oppo 3000 last week. The smartphone was originally introduced in Vietnam last month. Oppo Mirror 3 comes in white and grey colours and is priced at Rs. 16,990.

Motorola Moto G (16GB) and Moto X now available in India for Rs. 9,999 and Rs. 17,999 respectively

Motorola launched the Moto X (2nd gen) and Moto G (2nd gen) in the country last month with Moto G (2nd gen) went on sale in early-September and Moto X (2nd gen) went on sale in the country couple of weeks after. With the launch of new Moto G, Motorola stopped selling the original Moto G in India. Now, the original Moto G is back in stock on Flipkart and at reduced price. The company has also reduced the price of original Moto X in India.

Motorola Moto 360 smartwatch running on Android Wear priced at Rs. 17,999

Motorola launched the Moto G (2nd gen), Moto X (2nd gen) and Moto 360 smartwatch in the Indian market last month. The new Moto G and the new Moto X are already up for sale in the country and soon Motorola will be releasing the Moto 360 smartwatch too. Now, Flipkart listing of Moto 360 has revealed the pricing of the smartwatch — which is Rs. 17,999, more than the Samsung Gear Live and LG G Watch smartwatches.

HTC One (E8) and Desire 616 officially launched in India for Rs. 34,900 and Rs. 16,900

HTC has officially announced the launch of two new Android smartphones in the Indian market, one under the Desire series and the other under One series of smartphones. HTC has officially launched the plastic version of the flagship M8 called HTC One (E8) and the newly announced HTC Desire 616 in India at an event held in New Delhi.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 7.0 with 7-inch display, quad-core processor, Android 4.4 KitKat now available in India for Rs. 17,399

Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 8.0 and 10.1 went on sale in India earlier this month, and now the third member of the Tab 4 series is also available in the country. Dubbed as Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 7.0, the tablet comes with 7-inch display and is now available for purchase from online retailer Flipkart for Rs. 17,399. The tablet comes in white and black colours.

Karbonn Titanium Hexa with hexa-core processor to be available exclusively on Amazon.in from May 20th for Rs. 16,990

Couple of months ago, Karbonn introduced it's first hexa-core powered smartphone dubbed as Karbonn Titanium Hexa in India. The smartphone was originally scheduled to be available across the country by April-end. Now, Karbonn has officially announced that the Titanium Hexa will be available exclusively on Amazon.in starting from May 20th for Rs. 16,990.

Karbonn officially launches Titanium Octane and Octane Plus with octa-core processor in India for Rs. 14,490 and Rs. 17,990

Along with Karbonn Titanium Hexa, Karbonn has also launched 2 more Android smartphones in India today. Dubbed as Karbonn Titanium Octane and Titanium Octane Plus, the smartphones comes with MediaTek's MT6592 octa-core processor. The Titanium Octane and Octane Plus are company's first smartphones to be powered by octa-core processor.

Karbonn Titanium Hexa powered by 1.5GHz hexa-core processor and Android 4.4 KitKat launched in India for Rs. 16,990

Karbonn has announced the launch of a (not exactly) new smartphone in India today at an press event held in New Delhi. Dubbed as Karbonn Titanium Hexa, the smartphone is powered by MediaTek's newly baked MT9591 hexa-core processor. Karbonn is the first Indian smartphone vendor to launch a smartphone running on KitKat OS. The Titanium Hexa comes in black and white colours and is priced at Rs. 16,990.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 Neo with 7-inch display, dual-core processor officially launched in India for Rs. 16,490

Samsung has officially announced the launch of Galaxy Tab 3 Neo in the Indian market recently at the Samsung Southwest Asia Forum 2014 in Bali. The tablet was originally announced last month. The tablet comes in black and white colours, and is priced at Rs. 16,490. The Tab 3 Neo will go on sale in India in the coming weeks. 

4G TDD-LTE supported XOLO LT900 with Snapdragon S4 processor now available in India for Rs. 16,999

XOLO LT900 which was found listed on Flipkart is now available in India. The LT900 is XOLO's first smartphone with 4G TDD-LTE support. A third-party retailer on Flipkart is now selling the smartphone in India for Rs. 16,999, and promises to ship the device by 7th January, 2014. The LT900 will be launched in partnership with Airtel, as it is the only telecom operator in the country right now with 4G services, that too in limited cities.

XOLO Play Tegra Note with Tegra 4 processor officially launched in India for Rs. 17,999, XOLO's own user-interface coming soon

As promised, XOLO has officially launched the XOLO Play Tegra Note in India for Rs. 17,999. The tablet comes in black colour only, and is now available for purchase from all the major retailers across India, including e-retailers. XOLO Play Tegra Note is a re-branded Tegra Note tablet that was announced back in September by NVIDIA and XOLO was announced as a partner for India launch. 

HTC Desire 501, Desire 601 and Desire 700 dual-SIM smartphones launched in India for Rs. 16,890, Rs. 24,190 and Rs. 33,050 respectively

As expected, HTC has officially launched three new Desire series smartphones in India. Dubbed as HTC Desire 501 dual-SIM, Desire 601 dual-SIM and Desire 700, the smartphones were originally introduced in Taiwan last month. According to HTC, all these three smartphones will be available for purchase in the coming days. 

5.7-inch WickedLeak Wammy Titan 3 with Full HD display, 1.5GHz processor officially launched in India for Rs. 16,990

WickedLeak has officially launched another Android powered phablet in India under its Titan series. Dubbed as WickedLeak Wammy Titan 3, the phablet is now on pre-order on WickedLeak's official website for Rs. 16,990 and will be shipped from 1st December 2013 on-wards. The Titan 3 comes in black & white colours, and will face tough competition with Micromax Canvas Doodle 2.