Ready for new info on the status of the Lollipop update for your 1st gen Moto X, Moto G with LTE, and Moto E.

Ready for new info on the status of the Lollipop update for your 1st gen Moto X, Moto G with LTE, and Moto E? According to David Schuster, the senior director of software product management at Motorola, all of those phones just mentioned will be updated directly from Kit Kat to Android 5.1.

After issuing test builds of Android 5.0.2 over the previous couple of months to a handful of devices, Motorola has decided that the improvements made in Android 5.1 are good enough that they aren’t going to waste any more time with any other Lollipop builds. Schuster did not mention when Android 5.1 updates would start rolling out, but they are testing it.

Now, I know you wanted news on a release of the update and we don’t have that today. I also know how frustrated many of you are at not having received Lollipop yet. Just keep in mind that most of the early Lollipop builds were bug-filled messes that did more harm than good in many cases. I’m not trying to make an excuse for Motorola, but almost every other manufacturer is also updating phones to Lollipop much slower than they had all anticipated. This was a big update, and Google hasn’t made it easy to deal with after having issued three major bug-fixing revisions to it since it first dropped in November.

As we learn more, we will be sure to keep you updated.
Source- droidlife

Team Kang members are working with Xiaomi on a new and refreshed MIUI 7, which will be finally based on Android 5.1, and be coming on the Mi 5.

Xiaomi, the company often referred to as China's Apple, has teamed up with the Android Open Kang Project (popularly known as AOKP) for its MIUI 7 custom user interface based on Android 5.1 Lollipop.
The news was confirmed via AOKP's official blog that revealed both Xiaomi and Team Kang were working closely on MIUI 7, which will debut on the next flagship smartphone, the Mi 5. For the uninitiated, AOKP develops custom Android ROMs for smartphones and tablets, much like what Cyanogen does with CyanogenMod.

The blog said, "With all the pieces of the deal in place, I wish to announce that all Team Kang members are working with Xiaomi on a new and refreshed MIUI 7, which will be finally based on Android 5.1, and be coming on the Mi 5."

The company revealed that MIUI 7 is internally codenamed MiKangy, which will see a new take on the Android UI. It added that the new UI will include popular features from top ROMs such as CyanogenMod, ParanoidAndroid, Omni, and AOKP to "create an experience which completely submerges the user in his own world."
The ROM maker stresses that the upcoming UI of the Mi 5 will evolve with the user and after few months of usage, the UI of each Mi 5 handset will have personalised features.

According to the company, MarcLandis will lead the technical development of MIUI 7 aka MiKangy, while Zaphod will oversee the product development.

The ROM maker also claimed that the tie-up with Xiaomi won't affect the future of AOKP, discarding any acquisition rumours - if any.

Xiaomi earlier this week announced a price cut for the Mi 4, which ties-in well with the company's plans for the Mi 5 release expected this year.

The Xiaomi Mi 4 will retail at CNY 1,799 (approximately Rs. 18,000) for the 16GB variant down from the previous price tag of CNY 1,999 (approximately Rs. 20,000). While a 'lite' variant of the Xiaomi Mi 4 with 2GB of RAM instead of 3GB, will retail at CNY 1,699 (approximately Rs. 17,000) - a CNY 100 price cut from the earlier price of CNY 1,799. Notably, both the Mi 4 variants would be available at reduced priced starting April 8.

Source- ndtv

Redmi 2A. The device is a more affordable version of the Redmi 2, which is available for the equivalent of $120 in India.

After redefining the budget segment in emerging markets like China and India, Xiaomi is at it once more with its latest product launch, the Redmi 2A. The device is a more affordable version of the Redmi 2, which is available for the equivalent of $120 in India.
Xiaomi was able to drive the price even lower by going with a 1.5GHz Leadcore L1860C SoC, which features a quad-core Cortex A7 CPU and Mali T628MP2 GPU. Other specs of the Redmi 2A include 1GB RAM, 8GB internal storage, 4.7-inch 720p display, 8MP camera, 2MP front shooter and a 2,200mAh battery.
All that is available for just 599 RMB ($96). Xiaomi has announced that it will be slashing the price of the handset to 499 RMB ($80) on April 8 to commemorate its five-year anniversary.

Source-Android central

now xiaomi has partnered with The Mobile Store to sell its smartphones through offline retail stores,

Xiaomi entered India last year with online-only model partnering with Flipkart to sell its smartphones and accessories. It started selling its accessories on its own website in India recently, now the company has partnered with The Mobile Store to sell its smartphones thorough these offline retail stores, according to areport from ET.
According to the report, relatively lower number of Mi 4 and Redmi Note 4G smartphones will be available at The Mobile Store across 55 stores in Delhi NCR, from Saturday. These smartphones will sell at Rs 19,999 and Rs 9,999, respectively, similar to the online rates on Flipkart. The Mobile Store shops will also act as service centers, the company’s chief executive Himanshu Chakrawarti said to ET.
Xiaomi tied up with Airtel to sell the Redmi Note 4G smartphone back in December though Airtel Stores across India. Xiaomi will continue to sell the smartphones though Flipkart.
Manu Jain, head of India operations at Xiaomi, said to ET:

This will be the first time that we’re getting into offline trade in India. In China, about 20-30% of total sales through come from telecom operators stores while the rest comes from our online store.


Source- androidtechies

Xiaomi Mi 4 64GB goes on open sale at Flipkart in India

The rapidly growing Chinese electronics startup, Xiaomi, is going places with the series of announcements to boost the smartphone sales. Xiaomi has announced it will sell the Mi 4 64 GB model without registration on Flipkart in India starting March 28.

The company has announced it wants to sell 100 million smartphones this year and for that we can expect more open as well as flash sales being hosted. One thing to be noted is that the stocks will be limited in the case of both type of sales.

For today from 2 PM IST, no registrations are required to purchase the Mi 4 64GB version costing INR 23,999 ($384). The Mi 4 64GB is identical to the 16 GB version albeit with more storage space. Do read our Xiaomi Mi 4 review if you are considering to buy one.

Source

Official hands-on video gives a peek of BlackBerry Leap

Hot on the heels of its latest quarterly earnings report, BlackBerry published an official hands-on video of the budget friendlyLeap smartphone. Earlier this month, BlackBerry announced the Leap at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

The short video shows the BlackBerry Leap in action. It showcases essential BlackBerry features such as Blend, Hub among others in less than a minute. The Leap boots BlackBerry 10.3.1 OS.

BlackBerry Leap packs a rather outdated Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 chipset, coupled with two gigs of RAM, and 16GB of expandable storage. A 5" 720p display, 8MP main camera, and rich connectivity suite complete the highlights in the device's spec sheet.

Source

Asus Zenfone 2 arrives in India on April 13

Asus caused quite the stir back in January, when it announced the Zenfone 2, which would pack a high-end Intel Atom chipset alongside 4GB of RAM, and cost $200 in the meantime. As it later turned out, that wasn't quite the case and the price was for a lower-specced model, while the top dog gravitatesaround the $280 mark.

Either way, the highly-anticipated Asus smartphone is on its way to India, with a reported launch event scheduled for April 13. Asus is delivering on its promise for a Q2 launch, and they proved to be pretty quick about it. Not only that, but the company has chosen to offer only the top-of-the-range model, at least in the beginning.

The Asus Zenfone 2 ZE551ML comes with a 5.5-inch FullHD screen, as opposed to lesser models which either pack a 5-incher or 720p resolution, or both. The ZE551ML moniker is still not entirely indicative of the configuration though, as multiple RAM and storage options are available.

The highest specs include an Intel Atom Z3580 chipset with a 2.3GHz quad-core processor, 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage, but according to the report only the 16GB/32GB options will be available in India. In any case a microSD slot provides potential expansion to those who need it. Other than that, the smartphone comes with LTE connectivity, 13MP/5MP camera combo, 3,000mAh battery and Lollipop out of the box, for a comprehensive package on a budget.

Via