OnePlus One, Redmi Note and more: 

Upcoming smartphones in December

In the last two months, we saw some cool high-end handsets churned out by biggies like Apple and Google, and the next month will see Chinese phone vendors fight it out in the low to mid-range segments in the Indian mobile space.  From OnePlus One ready to make a grand entry in India to Oppo’s premium N3 with a motorised swivel camera, let’s take a quick look at the upcoming smartphones to look forward to in December 2014.

Redmi Note

Registrations on Flipkart have begun!

Xiaomi has been wooing audiences with its ‘value for money’ products and unique flash sales in which devices fly off the shelves in seconds. After the popular Mi 3 and best sellingRedmi 1s, the company is now gearing up to launch the Xiaomi Redmi Note in India. Following its popular flash sale technique, the Redmi Note will be up for grabs on December 2. The registrations for the device have already begun. The Redmi Note will be available in two variants: 3G dual-SIM, priced at Rs 8,999, and a 4G variant priced at Rs 9,999. The 3G variant will be available on December 2 while the 4G will be available on Flipkart as well as with a tie-up with Airtel by mid-December. Here’s all you need to know about  the Redmi Note.

OnePlus One

If priced well, it could be a huge hit

Amazon India has finally listed the OnePlus One on its store. Exclusively available via Amazon, it still follows the invite-only procedure to get the phone. If the chatter is to be believed then the device will be available on December 2 and there are strong indications that the price will be under Rs 25,000.  Here’s how to get an invite. We’ve already managed to get our hands on the OnePlus One smartphone, and in our review, we found it to quite impressive, assuming it will be launched at Rs 25,000.

Oppo N3, R5

A unique offering in the high-end segment

Oppo had launched its newest flagship N3 with a motorised swivel camera as well as the super-slim R5 at an event held in Singapore in October. Both devices are expected to hit Indian stores soon. We’ve been informed that Oppo plans to launch both devices in India by mid-December. The Oppo N3 sports a 5.5-inch display with a 1080p Full HD resolution. It gets a 16MP swivel camera that can be conveniently used as rear snapper as well as a front-facing one. Some other specs include quad-core Snapdragon 801 chipset, 2GB of RAM, fingerprint scanner on the rear side,fingerprint scanner on the home button, and a 3,000mAh battery. The Oppo R5 is extremely thin at just 4.85 mm, taking the crown away from the Gionee Elife S5.1. Specs-wise, it gets a 5.2-inch Full HD AMOLED display, 64-bit octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 processor, 2GB of RAM, support for 4g LTE and runs Android 4.4.4 KitKat operating system.

Gionee S5.1

Gionee’s slimmest smartphone lands in India

Gionee has launched its slimmest smartphone Elife S5.1 in India for Rs 18,999 that is expected to hit store shelves in the first week of December.  With a metallic frame and glass body at just 5.1mm thickness, it’s quite similar to its predecessor – Elife S5.5. The Elife S5.1 sports a 4.8-inch 720p AMOLED display, which is a step down from the 5-inch Full HD display seen on the S5.5. It comes powered by 1.7GHz octa-core processor coupled with 1GB of RAM. The S5.1 runs Android 4.4 along with a layer of the company’s Amigo 2.0 UI. On the camera front, there’s an 8-megapixel rear snapper and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera. The device also gets 16GB onboard storage. All of this will be fuelled by a 2,050mAh battery. Gionee has also added four new devices to its portfolio – V6L LTE, Pioneer P5L LTE, P4S and P6 – which are expected to be available by mid-December. In fact, the company claims that starting 2015, all its smartphones priced above Rs 10,000 will feature LTE.