Vodafone, InFocus Turbo 5 plus And Redmi Y1 series First Sale

Vodafone achieves first 5G data connection in Italy

UK-based telecommunications provider, Vodafone today announced that it has achieved the first 5G data connection in Italy. Vodafone conducted these 5G trails in partnership with Huawei. The telecom gear maker Huawei made available a radio base station for Vodafone using Massive MIMO technology.

These tests are part of 5G trails in Milan, which are promoted by the Ministry for Economic Development by Italy Government. Vodafone, which was selected to conduct 5G trials in the Milan metropolitan area, used frequencies in the 3.7-3.8 GHz portion of spectrum made available by the Ministry.

The 5G data connection was achieved using an antenna located at the Vodafone Village in Milan, marking the start of the planned network rollout.

The success of the 5G trial represents a major step forward. This was a real live test demonstrating the use of 5G Prototype equipment that already meets the current 3GPP standard, including Massive MIMO technology, which increases both capacity and coverage.

During the test, it was possible to appreciate the performance of the 5G network, reaching download speeds of more than 2.7 Gigabits per second, with a latency of just over a millisecond.

Meanwhile, Finnish telecom gear maker Nokia and Vodacom have signed an MoU under which the companies will trial Nokia 5G technology to accelerate in South Africa.

The launch of the new technology will enable Vodacom to drive digitalization for the benefit of businesses and individuals in South Africa.

Nokia says that it has a 5G portfolio that will allow operators to gain an early-to-market advantage in the delivery of ultra-fast mobile broadband services that leverage multi-Gigabit speeds and ultra-low latency.

Initially, the companies will focus on the delivery of Ultra-HD and virtual reality video services, leveraging the enhanced mobile broadband and ultra-low latency capabilities of 5G.

Both the companies will also collaborate to understand how 5G can drive continued economic growth in vertical industries important to South Africa including manufacturing, mining, healthcare, media, energy, and transportation.

Redmi Y1, Redmi Y1 Lite sold out in 3 minutes in first sale

Xiaomi has sold over 150,000 units of the Redmi Y1 and Redmi Y1 Lite that went on sale for the first time on Wednesday. It took the Chinese smartphone company only three minutes to sell the first batch of units. Manu Jain, Global VP and Managing Director Xiaomi India, was quick to share the announcement on Twitter.

Both phones were made available exclusively through Amazon India and Mi.com. The company says it will hold another sale for the Redmi Y1 and Y1 Lite smartphones on November 15. The next sale will commence at 12:00PM via Amazon India and mi.com.

Xiaomi Redmi Y1, Redmi Y1 Plus specifications and price

Redmi Y1 or Redmi Y1 Plus might not be premium devices, but they offer a plenty of features for the price.

Both phones feature 5.5-inch HD displays, Android 7.0 Nougat with MIUI 9, and a 3,080mAH battery. Redmi Y1 is powered by a Snapdragon 435 SoC, while the Y1 Lite is powered by a Snapdragon 425.

On the camera front, the Redmi Y1 has a 13MP camera, and a 16MP selfie camera. The Redmi Y1 Lite, meanwhile, offers a 13MP rear camera, and a 5MP shooter for selfies. The devices comes with connectivity options including dual-SIM support, 4G VoLTE support, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi. They also feature a fingerprint scanner on the rear.

Xiaomi Redmi Y1 price starts at Rs. 8,999 for the 32GB storage and 3GB RAM model, going up to Rs. 10,999 for the 4GB RAM and 64GB storage variant. And if you are looking to pick up the Redmi Y1 Lite, the device currently comes in only one configuration, with 2GB RAM and 16GB internal storage. It can be purchased for Rs 6,999.

InFocus Turbo 5 Plus Review

It's hard to reminisce the good old days when feature phones or Symbian phones ruled our digital world with so many budget smartphones making their way into the market. We've seen brands like Xiaomi, Lenovo, Motorola, and Nokia bring smartphones with compelling features, changing our outlook on an affordable smartphone.

Infocus, a US-based company is among those disruptive smartphone brands in the affordable range. Since dual cameras are the new rage in the smartphone space, Infocus thought it's wise to bring a smartphone with two cameras, but within the budget targetting the masses.With that idea came the Infocus Turbo 5 Plus, featuring dual rear camera as its biggest USP. The specs on paper looked fine for a smartphone priced at Rs. 7,999, but does it live up to the expectation of potential buyers? Let's find out.

Design 4.5

In terms of design, InFocus has got the Turbo 5 Plus right. It has a metallic unibody with dual cameras on the back, a physical home button and overall a premium-looking phone. For less than Rs. 10,000, the Turbo 5 Plus has some good face value, but what resides inside matters just as much.

Display 4

There's a 5.5-inch HD display, which is quite decent in terms of colour reproduction and viewing angles. It works surprisingly well under sunlight provided you have the brightness set for maximum. The screen responsiveness is a bit of an issue as we noticed a delay in touch. There is a noticeable lag and scrolling through home screen menus appeared sluggish. But it could be due to the performance of the phone rather than an issue with the display, which we will discuss further down in our review.

Camera 2

Camera is a crucial part of the Turbo 5 Plus, as the dual setup at the back cannot go unnoticed. A combination of 13MP and 5MP sensors for sharp focus and wide-angle shots look good on paper. But when we tested it out, we were disappointed with the results.

If you're looking at the Turbo 5 Plus for its camera, it's not recommended even at such a low price. The colours appear faded in landscape, auto-focus failed to identify the subject and portrait shots are below par. The Bokeh adjustment feature draws a blunt circle around the subject you want to capture and blurs the rest of the image, which is not ideal while shooting let's say a person in close-up.

There is also a wide-angle feature, which expands the coverage area, but fails to capture the details even in good lighting conditions. It's not something we'd expect from a phone with a camera as its biggest USP.

Under low-light, the Turbo 5 Plus struggles to capture a decent shot. Sadly, the handset is not the best camera phone out there but barely makes it to the top 10.

Performance 2.5

Moving on to the performance, we noticed a lag as we mentioned earlier. The stutter continues in apps like Facebook and even while playing games. For a smartphone that's powered by a MediaTek MTK6750 octa-core chipset, 3GB RAM and Android 7.0 Nougat, we were certainly surprised to witness such a lacklustre performance by the Turbo 5 Plus.

Fingerprint scanner 3.5

Speaking of lags, the phone's fingerprint scanner takes a brief second before unlocking. But it has an accurate reading, earning the phone the most stars in this category. This is surprising considering phones in the same price range like Xiaomi Redmi 4 can do a much better job.

Battery 3

Despite these shortcomings, InFocus Turbo 5 Plus turns out as a winner in terms of battery. With full charge, the handset easily lasts 9-10 hours - and that's with 4G LTE on, messaging, calling, social media browsing, music and games. On a video loop test, the phone lasted 10+ hours, which is quite an impressive feat.

But there's a downside to that as well. It took us 3+ hours to fully charge the device. It's natural to run out of patience while charging the Turbo 5 Plus.

Verdict 3

InFocus has some interesting and even worthy smartphones in its portfolio, but you'll have to give the Turbo 5 Plus a miss considering its outweighing cons over pros. There are many smartphones like Xiaomi Redmi 4, Redmi Note 4, Nokia 3 and others in the similar price range with worthier features.