From laptops to smartphones, we have got all the happenings this week
Xiaomi’s concept phone
At an event in Beijing, Xiaomi launched two new phones — the Mi Note 2 and Mi MIX. The Mi Note 2 is the company’s second device in the Mi Note series features a dual curved glass design held together by a 7,000 series aluminum frame. Features include a 5.7 inch OlED display, up to 6GB RAM and 128GB storage, Snapdragon 821 processor, 22.56MP camera and a 4070mAh battery. Xiaomi also unveiled the Mi MIX which is the world’s first concept phone one can actually buy. With a truly edgeless design, the MIX is probably one of the best looking phones in the market sporting an all ceramic body and top of the line specifications including a 6.44 inch screen, upto 6 GB RAM, 256 GB storage, Snapdragon 821 processor, 16MP/5MP cameras, 4400mAh battery and more. The new phones are not coming to India in the near future but it is interesting to see Xiaomi innovate on the hardware side of things.
New Macbook Pros
Apple has finally launched the much-awaited refreshed Macbook Pros late last week at an event in San Francisco. like always, the new machines are faster and more powerful but pack an all new MultiTouch display known as the TouchBar which replaces the row of function keys. The TouchBar adapts dynamically to the app currently being used and it will be interesting to see how developers tap the new feature. Another big change is that Apple has decided to fully embrace USB Type-C ports and removed all other ports such as Magsafe, HDMI, Thunderbolt and even the regular USB ports. The 3.5mm headphone jack is still present though. The new Macs will be available in silver and space Grey colours are headed to India in the next few weeks starting at Rs 1.30 lakh for the base 13-inch Macbook Pro, Rs 1.56 lakh for the version with Touch Bar and Touch ID. The 15-inch Macbook Pro packs the TouchBar and TouchID by default and starts at Rs 2.06 lakh.
Microsoft studio
Microsoft, primarily known for its software offerings, has been silently working on improving its hardware offerings under the Surface brand and the Surface Studio it unveiled last week is probably the best Windows computer you can buy. It is an all-in-one PC and an iMac of the Windows world and features include a 28inch 4.5K display with touch, a collapsible hinge enabling you to switch between a desktop and studio mode, quad-core CPU and a dedicated NVIDIA GeForce GTX GPU, 2TB of storage.It will ship with a Surface Pen, Keyboard and Mouse. Pricing for the Surface Studio starts at $2999 in US and with broad availability in early 2017.