Vodafone ties up with Samsung to offer upto INR 1500 cashback in 24 months on selected smartphones

Vodafone, one of India’s leading telecommunications service providers, today announced a strategic partnership with Samsung, the leading mobile handset manufacturer, to make a select range of Samsung 4G smartphones more affordable and accessible with an attractive cashback offer.  Vodafone customers, both existing and new, can purchase any of the popular Samsung 4G smartphones - Galaxy J2 Pro, Galaxy J7 Nxt or Galaxy J7 Max to enjoy the cash back offer of Rs. 1500.

To avail this special offer, prepaid customers have to simply recharge with Rs 198/- per month for 24 months which would give them unlimited voice calls and 1GB data/day (the customer can also do any other recharge cumulating to Rs. 198/- per month). Postpaid customers need to opt into any one of Vodafone’s attractive Red Plans. At the end of the first12 months, users will receive a cash back of Rs. 600/- and after another 12 months, a cash back of Rs. 900/- respectively, thus availing a total cashback of Rs. 1500/-. The cash back will be credited to their Vodafone M-Pesa wallets.

Speaking about the offer, Avneesh Khosla, Associate Director – Consumer Business, Vodafone India said, “We are incentivizing our customers to enjoy the Vodafone SuperNet 4G data strong network on some of Samsung’s most popular 4G Smartphones. With this partnering, we now offer cashback over the widest spectrum of 4G smartphones across various price points. This is in line with our strategy to democartise data and make 4G more accessible. Our offer with Samsung will encourage customers to buy/upgrade their smartphones for a richer voice and data experience.”

Mr. Ranjivjit Singh, Chief Marketing Officer, Samsung India, said “We are happy to partner with Vodafone as it gives us another opportunity to enhance consumer experience, combining our popular Galaxy J series smartphones with their services at affordable prices. Today, every third smartphone sold in India is a Galaxy J series device. These smartphones come with several consumer centric innovations developed under the Samsung ‘Make for India’ initiative.”

Details of models and cash back offer extended

Model	Cash Back 12 Months (Rs.)	Cash Back 24 months (Rs.)	Handset MOP	Total Cash Back	Effective price (Rs.)
Samsung Galaxy J2 Pro	600	900	8490	1500	6990
Samsung Galaxy J7 Nxt	600	900	10490	1500	8990
Samsung Galaxy J7 Max	600	900	16900	1500	15400

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Top 5 things to consider when buying a Laptop on a Thin Budget

A laptop is one of the most sought-after electronic gadgets. And why not, there are many reasons you should own a Laptop. Finding a laptop that offers the best features at a thin budget could be difficult and confusing. This list will explain you five things that you can look for in a laptop when you are low on budget.

1. Keep a Clear Objective

When you are running low on the budget, this is the first thing you need to consider. Every buyer has his own specific needs. If you’re buying it for educational purpose think about the task that you would need your laptop to do. Also, if you consider getting a laptop for your work then, you can think about some most important jobs to do. Having a clear objective in your mind helps you to choose a laptop that fits best into your requirements.

2. Decide in advance where you can compromise

You must accept this fact that you’ll not get all the cutting edge components in your laptop. But what you can do is to choose the factors you can compromise. For example, a laptop may have 1TB HDD, but in reality, you may not require that much. So, you can go for 500GB HDD. This will help you to get a laptop that has a more RAM and a decent processor. What you need to do is to find the right configuration that is best for you. If you want some really good budget laptops, see laptops below 20000 on Review Station.

3. Discern the Difference between a Cheap Laptop and an Affordable Laptop

Quality is certainly one of the important things to consider when you have got a thin budget. It is quite a different thing to pay less and get a laptop that will drown you into regrets. This is certainly not a good deal. An affordable laptop would be one that fully serves its purpose. So, when you’re going through the specifications of a laptop, think its use after six months or even after the end of the warranty. This will help you to turn down those cheap deals.

4. Choose the Seller Carefully

Thanks to the competitive spirit in the market, we get many things at a rate we expect. It would be wise to check the prices on both offline and online stores. Sometimes, there are good deals for purchasing laptops online. You can grab this opportunity to get the best laptop within your budget. Also, some stores give promotional offers, checking them can be the right thing to do.

 

5.  Consider the Opinion of Others

Taking the opinion of someone who is a tech-savvy could be very helpful. It is a good thing to ask for an opinion from a person who is using or has used a low budget laptop. You can also try your hands on to the laptop you want to buy. You can also, go online and search for reviews to get the right choice. Be sure to head over to frugaltrendsetter to read the best tips on how to buy electronic gadgets and other accessories on a budget This knowledge can help you take better shopping decisions

A Device that Serves its Purpose

The market has a lot of things to offer, but not all things are best for you. You need to weight down facts to make the right decision. Never the less if you keep your eyes focused and wait for the right deal you can cherish many benefits. So, choose discreetly, choose wisely.

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Hotstar Named in Most Entertaining Apps of 2017 by Google Play

In another big win, Hotstar, India’s leading video streaming platform, has been named in the Most Entertaining Apps of 2017 by Google Play, the largest global app store for Android mobile devices.

Google Play’s Best of 2017 is the annual round-up of the best performing consumer applications across categories such as entertainment, productivity, gaming, fitness among others. Being the largest app ecosystem in the world, with over 3 million available apps, each category is hotly contested with products from the world’s best technology developers.

Since its launch, Hotstar, the first Indian app to cross 100 million downloads on the Google Play Store, has racked up multiple industry accolades such as Apple TV’s App of the Year and has been featured on every list of India’s most downloaded apps.

Impressively balancing the twin challenges of supporting traffic from millions of daily users, while still pushing the platform towards a world-class user experience, Hotstar has placed special emphasis on creating a personalized viewing experience, so as to help users smartly navigate through hundreds of thousands of hours of content.

To underscore its leadership in live sports, Hotstar has also made big investments towards providing users a sports experience that not only provides analysis, but also allows users to track and re-live the highs of the match in a communal experience with millions of other users. Innovations in content, coupled with Hotstar’s consistent efforts to keep the app data-light, have ensured that Hotstar is often a new mobile data user’s first app.

Google Play’s Best of 2017 was announced on 1^st December and the detailed list of winners can be viewed here.

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This Week Bitcoin Price Hits $11,000, Etherum touched all time high of $522.31

Bitcoin hit another record high on Wednesday. The world's most popular cryptocurrency surged past $11,000 for the first time, even after reaching $10,000 the night before. The recent rally in bitcoin price can be attributed to increasing interests in digital currency for both investors and institutions. According to Bloomberg, Nasdaq Inc. plans to introduce bitcoin futures as early as the second quarter next year, a source with knowledge of the matter said on Wednesday. In October, CME, the world's largest derivatives exchange, also announced the launch of bitcoin future product this year. Glance Technologies Inc. (OTC: GLNNF), HIVE Blockchain Technologies Ltd. (OTC: PRELF), Riot Blockchain Inc (NASDAQ: RIOT), Bitcoin Investment Trust (OTC: GBTC), Overstock.com Inc (NASDAQ: OSTK)

Bitcoin Surged to $11000 this Wednesday, before dropping to below $9500

The cryptocurrency market is experiencing significant growth this year. Bitcoin is up over 900 percent this year. Ethereum, the second largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, also hit an all-time high of $522.31 on Wednesday, according to CoinDesk. The total market cap of all cryptocurrencies now reached $300 billion. According to CNBC, hedge fund manager Michael Novogratz said on Monday, "Bitcoin could be at $40,000 at the end of 2018. It easily could…Ethereum, which I think just touched $500 or is getting close, could be triple where it is as well."

Glance Technologies Inc. (OTCQB: GLNNF) also listed on the Canadian Stock Exchange under the Ticker 'GET'. Just earlier today the company announced breaking news that, "it has entered into a non-binding LOI to acquire the blockchain and cryptocurrency with rewards tokenization platform Blockimpact from Ztudium Limited, a company founded and led by leading blockchain influencer Dinis Guarda. Ranking.influencer.world ranks Mr. Guarda #4 worldwide in Blockchain and Crypto.

The LOI contemplates that Glance will acquire all of the intellectual property comprising the Blockimpact platform in consideration for payment to Ztudium of US$1.1 million, 80% of which will be paid upon closing of the acquisition and 20% of which shall be paid on completion of the integration of Blockimpact with the Glance Pay mobile payment platform. Glance has paid Ztudium US$100,000 towards the purchase price.

Glance intends to utilize the Blockimpact cryptocurrency platform to accelerate the creation of its rewards based cryptocurrency, which is also intended to be implemented on the Glance Pay platform. Glance hopes to complete the Blockimpact acquisition within the next 15 days and then work to integrate the Blockimpact blockchain technology with the existing Glance pay mobile payment network architecture. Completion of the acquisition is subject to the parties negotiating and entering into a binding agreement for the acquisition, on the satisfactory completion of due diligence by Glance, and upon the approval of the transaction by Board of Directors of Glance. Ztudium has agreed to a 30-day exclusivity period during which it will not negotiate the potential sale of Blockimpact other than with Glance.

Closing of the acquisition is further conditional upon Mr. Guarda and other members of the Ztudium management team responsible for the development of Blockimpact entering into a consulting agreement with Glance on terms satisfactory to each of Glance and the Consultants pursuant to which Guarda and the Consultants will assist Glance with Glance's adoption and use of the Blockimpact platform, in planning and executing Glance's planned rewards based cryptocurrency strategy, and by introducing Glance to blockchain experts, influencers and partners.  

"We are selling the Ztudium Blockimpact platform at a significant discount to what we believe is its true value because we are extremely excited about the opportunity to apply our team and technology to the Glance Pay rewards cryptocurrency," says Dinis Guarda, "We feel strongly that there is a large potential for this in the marketplace and we feel the combinations of our teams, technologies, and marketing capabilities are unmatched in the cryptocurrency space today," added Guarda.

The Glance rewards based token will be granted as rewards to users of the Glance Pay mobile payment app every time they spend on the Glance Pay mobile payment network, whether they have paid with the new cryptocurrency or via other payment methods. This strategy is intended to support rapid adoption of the cryptocurrency to a broad range of consumers, although the app will also be marketed to crypto users in leading urban centers. Glance also intends to apply elements of its anti-fraud technology to cryptocurrencies to reduce the risk associated with converting traditional currencies to and from cryptocurrencies…"

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Asus Zenfone 4 selfie Pro review: Stylish selfie expert or overpriced player in the race?

Asus has launched a plethora of devices under Zenfone 4 series this year and one of such devices is the Zenfone 4 Selfie  Pro. As the name suggests this device has its USP in the selfie camera or should we call cameras as the device comes with dual selfie camera. The Zenfone 4 Pro selfie is priced at Rs 23,999/- . So does the device justify the price tag or its an overpriced player in arena of 'Selfie Experts' ? Let's find out.

Specifications at a glance:

The zenfone Selfie pro is powered by time tested Octa-core Snapdragon 625 with 4 GB RAM and 64 GB of internal storage. The Zenfone 4 Selfie pro comes with 5.5 inch Full HD AMOLED display which has brightness of 500nits and clor gamut that's greater than 100% of NTSC color space as claimed by company. The display is crisp and can handle any type of content with ease. Even in outdoors on bright sunny day the display is readable and bright enough. The Zenfone 4 Selfie pro comes with a 76.7% body to screen ratio, however competitors in similar price segment are coming up with full view display now.

The phone comes with a finger print sensor on the front which is claimed to unlock phone in 0.2 seconds. We can say that finger print sensor is fast and accurate and we didn't faced any issues while using the device.  Zenfone 4 Selfie pro comes with 3000 mAh strong battery with Fast charging support. The charger supplied with device has a rating of 10W (5V/2A) rating. 

On camera department the Rear camera is a 16MP Sony IMX351 Sensor, which supports 4K video recording and comes with ASUS own SuperPixel Engine. On Front there are are two cameras for selfie , the first one features Sony IMX362 dual pixel image sensor that is said to be equivalent of 24 MP resolution camera. The 24 MP DuoPixel camera technology uses the information captured by the sensor to intelligently create one 24 MP photo. The second sensor is used to widen your frame area, i.e. it expands your view to upto 120 degrees which is best suited for group selfies.

Design:

The Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro is a sleek and stylish device which feels premium when held in hand. The device sports a rectangular metal unibody design with rounded corners. On the front of the device 2.5 D corning gorilla glass protects the 5.5 inch display. On top of the display there are two selfie cameras to the right of the ear piece and array of sensors to the left of ear piece. On the left edge of the device there is a SIM tray slot which can be ejected using the pin. The SIM tray can hold 2 Nano SIM cards and a micro SD card (upto 2 TB is supported). On the right side of the device you get volume rockers on the top and power button just above the middle of the edge.

Bottom of the device houses speaker grill, micro USB slot, mic and 3.5 mm audio jack. On the top edge there is just another mic (probably noise cancellation one). Turning the device on back, Antenna lines are visible on the top and bottom of the back panel. The Rear camera is sitting in middle horizontally and towards the top vertically with a flash light placed just the left of the Camera unit. In the middle of the back ASUS branding is visible.

Camera:

The frond camera works well in normal mode where there is enough light. The images are sharp and colors are natural. Sometimes images are overexposed when you are using front camera in sunlight. The low light performance is mediocre and images become bit noisy or blurry. 

There is a portrait mode as well in front camera which works pretty well. In group selfie mode the secondary 5 MP camera comes into the play and increases your view area. In view finder one can observe that switching to group selfie mode the edges resembles that of fish eye mode. The selfie camera is also capable of shooting 4K videos which will be useful for Vloggers specially. 

The back 16 MP camera does its job as expected and doesn't disappoint. The images from rear camera are detailed and clear in bright lit areas however in low light the images are grainy and not something we were hoping for with this camera. The images loose detail as soon as the light source is diminished. The autofocus of the camera works fine and quickly locks the focus on object in frame. The image processing is quite good and images are rendered in real time without any noticeable lag.

Below are few samples from the camera.

Low Light (Rear Camera)

Artificial Light (Rear Camera)

Day light (Rear Camera)

Group Selfie Mode (front camera)

Normal Mode (Front Camera)

OS and Apps:

The Zenfone 4 Selfie pro runs on Android 7.1.1 Nougat with its own ZenUI 4.0 skin on the top. Thankfully Asus has listened to our pleas and this device is as neat as you would want in terms of applications. The only app on board are the required minimal set of apps to get started without any bloatware. The UI experience is fluidic and smooth. We didn't noticed any lag while opening multiple apps. In settings we have an Asus customized settings option where in you can enable twin apps feature for accessing two accounts on apps like Facebook and Instagram.

Final Verdict:

This selfie expert has great build quality and hardware strength. The phone has got most of the things on the right side. We are happy that Asus has not compromised on the hardware or quality in this device. The camera features are in line with the competition, however the competitors are offering features like full view display at lower or similar price. If you are looking for a decent camera phone with smooth UI experience then you can opt for this phone. For other uses there are still options in market at lower price. 

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