With the MWC 2017 quickly approaching, there’s still some speculation as to what the manufacturers will have to show off. While the likes of LG are expected to launch the LG G6, we are now hearing that Huawei will unveil the Honor 8 Pro during the course of the event.

The smartphone will apparently come with dual-rear cameras, which has been an industry trend for the past couple of years or so. It is said that the Honor 8 Pro will be known as the Honor V9 when it breaks cover in China. The handset has already been approved in China, which means we don’t have to wait for the official launch for the confirmation of the hardware specs.

As per TENAA’s listing, the smartphone comes with a 5.7-inch Quad HD (2560x1440) panel, and an octa-core processor with a clock speed of 2.4 GHz. However, the exact make of the processor is not known at this point.

Huawei is one of the top manufacturers in the world right now, thanks mainly to its high power cost effective handsets. It is not yet known if this new offering will go easy on the wallets, but one can hope that the company won’t drastically change its policies for this particular device.

Hardware specifications of the Huawei Honor 8 Pro

Display: 5.7-inch Quad HD (2560x1440) panel   
Processor: 2.4 GHz octa-core (make unknown)   
Camera: 12MP dual-rear cameras, 8MP front camera   
RAM: 4/6GB   
Storage: 64/128GB   
OS: Android 7.0 Nougat   
Battery: 3,900mAh   
Connectivity: 4G LTE 

As per a new report, Xiaomi will bring the Redmi Note 4 to the Indian shores by January 2017. The smartphone has already sold pretty well in China, and it was only a matter of time before the company brought the handset to India.

Since the company sells the smartphone in multiple storage combinations, there’s no telling which model(s) it will bring to the country. But since Xiaomi usually doesn’t launch the high-end “Pro” variants in the region, it’s safe to assume that the handset will max out at 3/4GB of RAM and 16/32GB of storage. But with that being said, we wouldn’t be surprised if the company takes a slightly different approach this time around.

The Redmi Note 3 has been immensely popular in India, making it one of the top selling smartphones of the country. Keeping this in mind, Xiaomi would expect similar results from the successor as well.

Strangely, the Redmi Note 4 was launched in China way back in August. Considering how well the Redmi Note 3 was performing in the country, the company probably didn't want to dampen its momentum.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 specifications

Display: 5.5-inch Full HD (1920x1080)   
Dimensions: 151 x 76 x 8.4mm, 175 grams   
Processor: Octa-core Snapdragon 625   
Camera: 13MP rear camera, 5MP front camera   
RAM: 2/3GB   
Storage: 16/32GB (expandable via microSD)   
OS: Android 6.0 Marshmallow   
Battery: 4,100mAh   
Connectivity: 4G LTE 

[Update: the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 will retail exclusively from March 9, 2PM on Amazon India. The 16GB internal storage + 2GB variant with 4,000mAh battery will cost Rs 9,999 while you will have to shell out Rs 11,999 for the 32GB + 3GB RAM variant, which comes with 4,050mAh battery.]

The Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 is expected to be revealed tomorrow (Thursday, 3rd of March), possibly as an Amazon India exclusive. As we're this close towards the launch of the device, it's only  fair to get a better understanding of its hardware and features so that  we're not in for any surprises. So what can you expect from the Redmi  Note 3 as far as the hardware is concerned? Read on for more. 

Hardware specifications

The Redmi Note 3 has been around for a couple of months now, so we have a very good idea of what to expect from the smartphone. It comes with an all-metal design, accompanied by a 5.5-inch Full HD (1920x1080) display. Further, the handset comes with a six-core Snapdragon 650 processor, 2 or 3GB of RAM and 16 or 32GB of internal storage which can be expanded using a microSD card slot.

There's also going to be a 16MP camera on the back as well as a 5MP front facing sensor for selfies. Android 5.1 Lollipop with MIUI 7 is handling the software side of things while there's a 4,000mAh battery onboard to make sure you don't run out of juice early on in the day. The 32GB variant of the handset comes with a slightly larger 4,050mAh battery. The handset will be 4G enabled, with dual-SIM support on board as well. Overall, the Redmi Note 3 is well covered in the specs department.

Features

The Redmi Note 3 is Xiaomi's first ever handset to pack a fingerprint scanner, which is placed right below the camera sensor and the dual LED flash. The handset will not feature the USB Type-C port though, which is a strange omission from the company, but not something that would bother customers. Barring the fingerprint scanner and the premium metal design, there really isn't a lot to talk about with regards to onboard features on the Redmi Note 3.

Pricing and availability

The Redmi Note 3 costs 899 CNY (Rs 9,300) for the variant with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage. The model with 32GB of storage and 3GB of RAM is priced at 1099 CNY (Rs 11,400). It is possible that the company will only release one of these two variants in India, so we're looking at a price tag of well under Rs 12,000. A report from earlier today substantiated this as it was mentioned that the Redmi Note 3 would be priced well below Rs 15,000.

Availability could be limited to Amazon India as reports have mentioned, which might not be a big surprise since  Xiaomi's Redmi Note Prime is also an exclusive from the retailer.

Competition

If the phone is around the Rs 10,000 mark as we think it should be, the phone will be competing with the likes of Lenovo K3 Note, Coolpad Note 3 and Yu Yureka+, Asus Zenfone 2 Laser and Micromax Canvas 5. In this segment phones that offer a fingerprint scanner include Lenovo K3 Note, Lenovo Vibe K4 Note, Coolpad Note 3 and LeEco Le 1S.

Watch Live

If you wanted to watch the event live, then you can do so by clicking here . The event will begin at 2PM IST on March 3, 2016.

BlackBerry is currently known for its launched Android smartphones the DTEK50 and the BlackBerry Priv which broke cover about a year ago. However, the company’s claim to fame was its native BlackBerry OS based QWERTY phones which were known for anti-theft/hack encryption. This particular feature made it an attractive proposition for political leaders from around the world. However, the emergence of Android and iOS pushed BlackBerry to a corner, meaning that they had to do something and quickly.

The rise

This is where BlackBerry 10 (popularly known as BB10) came into play, just a couple of years after the company acquired QNX, an operating system based on Unix. Then CEO of the company, Thorsten Heins, promised that phones with BB10 will be launched by late 2012. The timeline quickly changed to Q1 2013, with the operating system finally going live on January 2013, along with the all-touch BlackBerry Z10 as well as the QWERTY based Q10.

The quick fall

Before the devices were even launched, the entire tech world knew where BB10 was headed. The fears were substantiated by the kind of sales the two devices saw. Further, there were internal battles being fought within the company with regards to prioritizing the Z10 development over the Q10. It’s safe to say that these factors as well as the delays didn’t help the company’s cause. When asked about the BB10 release timeline in July 2012, Heins merely said that they were looking to bring the perfect product and didn’t want to “rush” things.

Including the release of the Z10, a total of five full-touch BlackBerry 10 based phones have launched. The BlackBerry Z30 (October 2013), the P'9982 (December 2013), the Z3 (February 2014), and the BlackBerry Leap (April 2015).

Phones like the Q5, P’9983, Passport and Classic with full-sized QWERTY keyboards were all launched between May 2013 and December 2014. The last known version of BB10 is v10.3.2, which can be found on devices like the Leap and Classic.

The future

BlackBerry has ceased development on the platform since early this year, deciding to concentrate full-time on Android. We have seen phones like the BlackBerry Priv and the DTEK50 running Google’s operating system with relative success so far. Although the phones haven’t been made available globally, BlackBerry does appear to be heading in the right direction.

The company decided to change things around significantly with the arrival of John Chen as the CEO of BlackBerry. He was open to embracing Android as a means to survive in the market, which has currently worked for the company. When asked recently about the fate of BB10, the company vaguely mentioned that it never took it off the table, mildly hinting that there might be something left to come from the BB10 camp.

With Google’s Pixel phones just a few months old, a new leak from China is giving us an early glimpse of what the second gen variant might look like. Given that we’re still pretty far away from the release of the second-gen Pixel, we are taking this with a massive grain of salt.

Speaking about the renderings shown here, it’s noticeable that the handset is packing a glass back, reminiscent of the Google Nexus 4. The two-tone color scheme is also missing here, which would be a shame as it made the Pixel phones stand out from the crowd.

The rear panel houses a similar camera, flash, and fingerprint sensor as the predecessor. The front is showing to be packing dual-speakers on the bottom bezel, so it’s clear that the designer here is not a fan of slim front bezels. Naturally, the phone also comes with a USB Type-C port. That’s pretty much everything we can tell from these renders.

Given that the Pixel and the Pixel XL was launched in October, we expect the successor to launch at around September or October this year. We’re curious to see if Google will offer HTC the responsibility of producing the second gen Pixel handsets, much like it did in 2016.

Google took a logical step by killing off the Nexus lineup and replacing it with the Pixels. It was partly a gamble, which has paid off to some extent. The pricing, however, was a little too steep in my opinion. Perhaps the company can rectify this with the 2017 models.