The Coolpad Note 3 that launched in October last year already received a Lite variant in January, we can expect the new Plus variant to come with slightly bumped up innards. To recall, the Coolpad Note 3 Lite at Rs. 6,999 was the basic version of the Coolpad Note 3 . Chinese smartphone manufacturer Coolpad launched its Note 3 smartphone in India last year at Rs. 8,999.
Coolpad has started sending media invites for an event on Friday where the company says it will showcase the 'Plus' variant of Coolpad Note 3 smartphone. The company has unfortunately not revealed any details of the upcoming smartphone - we will have to wait to see what Coolpad has in store for the Note 3 Plus smartphone.
The dual-SIM supporting Coolpad Note 3 Runs On Cool UI 6.0 based on Android 5.1 Lollipop, and came equipped with a 5.5-inch HD (720x1280 pixel) IPS display with viewing angle up to 178 degrees. It was powered by a 64-bit 1.3GHz octa-core MediaTek MT6753 processor with 3GB of LPDDR3 RAM along with 16GB of inbuilt storage, which can be further expanded via microSD card (up to 64GB). It supported 4G LTE connectivity and came with a 13-megapixel rear camera, with f/2.0 aperture, 5 Element HD Lens, alongside a 5-megapixel front-facing camera. The Coolpad Note 3 was backed by a 3000mAh battery, and was available in white and black colours.
The highlight of the Note 3 smartphone was its fingerprint sensor that was said to support 360-degree finger rotation, and offered speedy recognition in 0.5 seconds. It featured compass, gravity, proximity, ambient light, and gyroscope sensors.
Earlier this month, Xiamoi came across a report stating that Xiaomi could launch the next-gen Mi Band 2 with display on May 10. Now, CEO Lei Jun has posted a photo on Weibo which shows off the upcoming Mi Band 2 with display. The first Mi Band could count steps, track sleep, whereas the Mi Band 1S got a heart rate sensor. However, a display could have been better and easier to keep a track of the activity and also look at time, and that�s exactly what we can expect from the next-gen Mi Fitness Tracker
From the photo, we can see that the upcoming Mi Band has a simple display and it also looks a bit wider compared to the current model. The increase in dimensions would be to accommodate the display and a slightly larger battery to offer the same 30-day long battery life as the current generation Mi Band.
The unit also appears to come in a pod that fits inside a strap, just like the Mi Band and Mi Band 1S. Besides the display, there is a single physical button too, tapping on which could display the time and other tracking activities.
Xiaomi on Monday announced it is launching the Redmi Note 3 in India on March 3, anticipated to be the variant it had launched in China in January. The company is holding an event at Talkatora Stadium in New Delhi, which will be open to fans as well, it confirmed in a forum post.
To recall, the new variant of the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 with Qualcomm's Snapdragon 650 SoC was launched in Dark Grey, Champagne Gold, and Silver colours at CNY 999 (approximately Rs. 10,000) in China, and can be expected to be available at roughly the same price point in India. It sports an all-metal body and also packs a fingerprint scanner at the back, just like the original Redmi Note 3 with a MediaTek SoC.
The highlight of the new Redmi Note 3 is it packs a hexa-core Snapdragon 650 processor (four cores clocked at 1.2GHz and two cores clocked at 1.8GHz). Other specifications of the smartphone are identical with original, including a 5.5-inch full-HD 1080x1920 pixels IPS display and offers 178 degree viewing angle. The Redmi Note 3 will be available in two RAM and storage versions - one including 2GB of RAM and 16GB of inbuilt storage, and other 3GB of RAM and 32GB of inbuilt storage. The company as of now has not given price information for the 3GB/ 32GB variant of the Redmi Note 3.
It runs MIUI 7 based on Android Lollipop and supports dual 4G SIM cards. The handset packs a 4000mAh battery with fast charging support that can charge up to 50 percent in 1 hour, same as the Redmi Note 3. On the camera front, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 sports a 16-megapixel rear camera with phase detection autofocus (PDAF) and two-tone flash. It also houses a 5-megapixel front camera. It measures 150x76x8.65mm and weighs 164 grams. For connectivity, the handset supports 4G LTE (compatible with Indian LTE bands), Bluetooth, 3G, GPRS/ EDGE, GPS, Glonass, Wi-Fi, and Micro-USB.
As geek culture becomes mainstream, the number of high profile movie releases we're looking forward to just keeps going up and up. There are way more than just 10 films we are looking forward to in 2016. We took a look at the list of announced releases, and put together a calendar of films that might interest you as well.
Check out our guide with expected release dates for movies and plan out your whole year, and we're also going to highlight the films we're most excited about in 2016. Note that there's a chance that release date of some movies may change due to unforeseen circumstances.
January 8: The Hateful Eight 29: Kung Fu Panda 3
The year gets off to a great start with Kung Fu Panda 3 - the trailers make this film look exciting and hilarious. We're going to see Po get reunited with his panda family in this instalment, and stars Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston as his father. The village comes under attack, and Po has to train them to defend himself, completing his journey from enthusiastic apprentice, to trained fighter, to teacher, across the three films.
February is a relatively slow month in 2016, but we're really excited about Deadpool. The merc with a mouth is one of the more entertaining characters in the lineup, and the trailer promised to deliver on all counts - hopefully, this will go better than Ryan Reynold's last superhero turn, where he played Green Lantern in a movie that's best forgotten.
March 18: Midnight Special 25: Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice
A still from Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Photo: Warner Bros. Picture
Batman v Superman is obviously the headliner for March, and the film looks like it will be filled with over the top spectacle. If you're not tired of Zack Snyder's disaster porn, then DC's answer to the Avengers could well be the highlight of the year, even if it looks a little too predictable.
April 15: The Jungle Book 22: The Huntsman Winter's War
A still from The Jungle Book. Photo: Walt Disney Studios
A live-action Jungle Book, with a star studded cast including Scarlett Johansson as the voice of Kaa, Bill Murray as Baloo, Idris Elba as Shere Khan, Christopher Walken as King Louie, Ben Kingsley as Bagheera, and Lupita Nyongo as Raksha, sounds like it could be one of the greatest renditions of Kipling's story till date. Or it could be an absolute disaster. We can't wait to see which one it will actually be.
May 6: Captain America: Civil War 20: Angry Birds 27: Alice Through the Looking Glass 27: X-Men: Apocalypse
May is going to be a big month for geeks, with a number of films to look forward to. The Angry Birds trailer looks like the movie is going to disappoint for a number of reasons, and we don't know much about Apocalypse yet, but the Civil War trailer has us cautiously optimistic. It has some very cool scenes in it, and Spider-Man will finally join the MCU, but much like Batman v Superman, this film too runs the risk of being very formulaic.
June 3: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 10: Warcraft 10: The Conjuring 2: The Enfield Poltergeist 10: Now You See Me: The Second Act 17: Finding Dory 24: Independence Day: Resurgence
The big summer rush really starts here, and includes a number of movies which could be excellent or just awful. Now You See Me was a quirky and fun film, and we're cautiously excited about the sequel, while no one has a good explanation for why a new Independence Day movie is being made. While TMNT 2 and Warcraft are films we have very low expectations from right now, Finding Dory takes us back to Finding Nemo, which is still one of the most charming movies we've seen. If any company can pull this off, it's Pixar, so we're optimistic for now.
July 1: The BFG 1: Tarzan 15: Ghostbusters 22: Star Trek Beyond 22: Ice Age: Collision Course 22: Knights of the Roundtable: King Arthur 29: The Bourne [Untitled]
A still of Leslie Jones, Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig and Kate McKinnon in Ghostbusters. Photo: Columbia Pictures
A new Ice Age? A new Star Trek? More Bourne? July has a number of big hitters coming, but nothing has us quite as excited as the idea of a new Ghostbusters movie. The original film was a cult classic, for good reason, and if a new movie can capture the spirit of the original - no pun intended - then it will be worth the wait.
August 5: Suicide Squad 12: Pete's Dragon
A still of Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Adam Beach, Cara Delevingne, Jai Courtney, Joel Kinnaman, Karen Fukuhara, Margot Robbie, Scott Eastwood, and Will Smith in Suicide Squad. Photo: Warner Bros.
Suicide Squad is a clear standout here, and we're really hoping that the film does well. While Batman v Superman looks slightly boring and predictable, this film, which is basically the Dirty Dozen meets the DC universe, looks amazing, and could help change the tone of superhero movies for the better, opening up new types of stories in the cinema.
October 7: Gambit 14: Inferno 21: Jack Reacher: Never Go Back 21: Underworld 5
Channing Tatum (left) and Gambit in the comics (right). Photo: Gage Skidmore/Flickr and Marvel
Last we saw Gambit was as a small part of X-Men Origins: Wolverine; he was a part of Taylor Kitsch's short lived career playing superhero. The part is being taken over by Channing Tatum, and hopefully, will have a better fate than the previous incarnation.
Gambit is one of Marvel's weirder characters, and if this film actually releases in 2016, we're going to be surprised, but pleasantly so.
November 4: Doctor Strange 18: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Harry Potter spin-off Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them promises to be very exciting and will no doubt do well at the box office, but the film we're really interested in knowing more about it Dr. Strange. Doctor Strange brings magic and the occult firmly into the MCU, a departure from the relatively grounded stories it has been telling so far. If Marvel can actually pull this one off, then we're just going to have to stop doubting them altogether. The sorcerer supreme has been involved in some of the most convoluted plots in the Marvel Comics Universe and we hope that the cinematic universe doesn't water him down too much.
December 2: Moana 16: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story 23: Passengers 30: Assassin's Creed
A still of Wen Jiang, Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Donnie Yen and Riz Ahmed in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Photo: Jonathan Olley and Leah Evans/Lucasfilm Ltd.
Star Wars is going to become an annual tradition, and with Force Awakens having broken box office records, the hype around Rogue One is going to be unbearable. Rogue One is set between the prequels and the original trilogy and focuses on the rebel fighters who steal the plans of the original Death Star. It sounds like a fun film, and one we're really looking forward to.
What movies are you most excited about in 2016? Tell us via the comments.
