Weekly Wrap-Up #33 : Galaxy Note 8, OnePlus 5, OPPO R11, Nokia 3310, HTC U11 & More….

You are reading a story from PhoneRadar.

Here is the latest PhoneRadar weekly wrap up with all the latest happenings around the smartphones and mobile technology. We have seen quite a few smartphones launches in the last seven days. Talking about the upcoming devices, there are a couple of smartphone launches scheduled for the next two days in India and China. Also, check out the list of upcoming smartphones to know about the new smartphone launches that are scheduled for the next few weeks.

• After the Galaxy Note 7 fiasco, Samsung came back strong with the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus smartphones. Both these devices also received record number pre-orders in South Korea. Now, the latest report suggests the company has sold more than 5 million units in less than a month after the sale has begun. The company has started selling both these devices in India from May 5th. A few days after shipping days, quite a few user have faced the red tint issue on their displays. However, the company later released an OTA update to fix this issue. Unlike the U.S variants which include Snapdragon 835 SoC, the Indian variants of the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus came with the Exynos 8890 SoC. Last month, the company also mentioned that the Galaxy S8 pre-orders in the U.S are 30% more than the Galaxy S7 pre-orders.
• Samsung will be launching the Galaxy Note 8 by the end of Q3 2017. Before to that, we might see the launch of Galaxy Note 7 FE launch, a.k.a refurbished Galaxy Note 7. It comes with a smaller battery capacity and is expected to go on sale in few selected markets. We also got few leaks revealing unconfirmed specifications of the Galaxy Note 8. The Infinity Display which was introduced with the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus will be continued on to the Galaxy Note 8. It also comes with a dual camera setup on the rear featuring 12MP & 13MP sensors with 3X optical zoom. Both the sensors will have Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) and are said to be much better than the dual camera setup on the iPhone 7 Plus. In the second half of 2017, Apple will also launch the iPhone 7S Plus and iPhone 8 with dual rear cameras.
• OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T with their aggressive price tags are well received at least in India which is the companies biggest market. Now, the company is getting ready to unveil its next-gen flagship smartphone, OnePlus 5. While the official launch event can be expected to happen in the next few weeks, few specifications of the device with the model number A5000 are already revealed by Antutu. Even in 2017, the company is still continuing with the Full HD display. We might see the same 5.5-inch Optic AMOLED display as seen on the OnePlus 3 and 3T. It includes Snapdragon 835 SoC and comes coupled with Adreno 540 GPU and 6GB of RAM. The device will be sold in 64GB and 128GB storage variants, and there will be no MicroSD card slot for storage expansion. As rumors suggested, the OnePlus 5 features 16MP dual camera setup on the rear and another 16MP selfie camera on the front. The Android 7.1.1 Nougat powered device was mentioned to scored 176,000 points on Antutu.
• After debuting the all new U series in early 2017, last week, HTC launched its latest flagship smartphone called HTC U11. Apart from the glossy finish body and skipping the 3.5mm audio port, the device is totally different to the HTC U Ultra. The Snapdragon 835 powered HTC U11 comes with Edge Sense technology that can detect the pressure applied on the frame. The user can squeeze the phone to open the camera and has to repeat it once more to capture. While there is limited functionality, the company will be adding more customizations with the coming updates. It comes with a 5.5-inch Quad HD display, 4GB/6GB RAM, and 64GB/128GB storage. In the camera department, there is a 12MP rear camera with OIS and a 16MP front facing the camera. Apart from the in-house Sense Companion, the device offers Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa. Connectivity options include 4G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.2, NFC, GPS and a USB Type-C 3.1 port.
• Last week, the new Nokia 3310 went on sale in the Indian market for Rs. 3,310. It is the upgraded version of the 17 years old Nokia 3310. Compared to the old Nokia 3310, the new Nokia 3310 comes with slimmer and sleeker body, Color Display, Camera, and a MicroSD card slot. The launch of Nokia 3310 in India makes sense as the feature market here is relatively large when compared to most other countries. While the Nokia 3310 has only 2G cellular connectivity, even few developed nations like Australia doesn’t even support 2G anymore. On the front, there is a 2.4-inch QVGA display with a curved glass on top. The device runs on Nokia Series 30+ OS and is backed by a 1,200mAh battery. According to the company, the device should last up to a month on standby mode. There is also Bluetooth 3.0 connectivity with SLAM technology. If you are a fan of Snake game on your Nokia phone, then you need to get the new Nokia 3310 as it includes the updated Snake game in colors.
• OPPO has started its marketing campaign for the upcoming OPPO R11 and R11 Plus smartphones. Both these devices come with dual camera setup on the rear but don’t make use of the 5X camera zoom technology that was announced at the MWC 2017. From the teaser images, we can see the curved antenna bands on the top and bottom edges. Apart from the 20MP dual rear sensors, there is another 20MP sensor on the front for selfies. We expect the devices to run on Android 7.1.1 Nougat out of the box with the ColorOS skin on top. The OPPO R11 and R11 Plus should be featuring Full HD AMOLED displays and will be powered by Snapdragon 660 SoC. On the front, we will see the physical home button that comes integrated with a fingerprint sensor. The same OPPO R11 and R11 Plus will be launched later in India with a different name. The recently launched the OPPO F3 Plus is the OPPO R9s in China, but it additionally came with dual front cameras.

For more information related to any single topic, you can take the help of our search box placed on the top.

This story appeared first on PhoneRadar. Join the PhoneRadar Forums to discuss, meet experts & share your experiences. We have now launched a Hindi Website for the latest news in Hindi. Click here to read PhoneRadar Hindi