Hot launches: Smartphones of May 2013

The month of May saw the coming of some highly-anticipated flagships and some newcomers to the Indian market. We saw a smartphone launch nearly every day considering the long list ahead of you. So let’s get started. Here are the smartphones for May.

The black version of the HTC One

HTC One
HTC’s long-awaited flagship One was launched in India last month for Rs 42,900. One has a 4.7-inch 1080p display and a Snapdragon 600 SoC. In terms of imaging, the HTC UltraPixel camera is great for low-light shots and the HTC BoomSound experience is unparalleled in smartphones. See our review here.

Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini
The S4 Mini has a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED display with a qHD resolution. Under the hood, it is powered by a 1.7GHz dual-core processor. The smartphone runs on Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean out of the box. The S4 Mini is equipped with an 8 megapixel shooter on the rear and a 1.9 megapixel camera on the front.

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Sony Xperia ZR
With a 4.6-inch 720p display and a waterproof and dustproof body, the ZR is a younger sibling of the Xperia Z. It is powered by a 1.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro processor by Qualcomm, along with 2GB of RAM. On the camera front, it is equipped with a 13 megapixel camera with Sony’s Exmos RS for mobile sensor.

Sony’s latest waterproof smartphone, the Xperia ZR

Samsung Galaxy Core
Galaxy Core ships with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and has a 4.3-inch display, along with a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal memory. Thankfully, you can expand it to 64GB by using a micro-SD card.

Celkon Signature A119Q
Celkon A119Q comes with a MediaTek MT6589 SoC with a quad-core CPU running at 1.2GHz and the PowerVR SGX 554 GPU. It runs Android 4.2.1 Jelly Bean, and will hit stores next week for Rs 12,499. The phone’s 12 megapixel rear and 3 megapixel front cameras could give it an advantage over rivals. It also has a 5-inch, WXGA capacitive touchscreen display with a resolution of 720 x 1280 pixels.

Micromax Canvas Doodle A111
The dual-SIM Canvas Doodle has a 5.3-inch capacitive display and comes with a stylus too. In terms of processing power, the Doodle has a 1.2GHz quad-core processor Qualcomm MSM8225Q. Additionally, there’s 512MB of RAM. The smartphone will be running Android 4.1.2 out of the box. Just like the Canvas HD, the Doodle will also have an 8 megapixel camera on the back, accompanied by a VGA shooter on the front. The Doodle has a 2100 mAH battery.

The new BlackBerry Q5

BlackBerry Q5
Targeted at emerging markets, the BlackBerry Q5 is the low-end BlackBerry 10 handset. It has a 3.1-inch touchscreen and the classic BB QWERTY keypad. The Q5 is expected to launch in July. The handset will be powered by a 1.2GHz Snapdragon processor by Qualcomm. Keeping this alive and running will be a massive 2100 mAh non-removable battery that will surely last a long time thanks to the relatively smaller screen size and non-demanding hardware.

Zen Ultrafone 701HD
The Ultrafone 701HD’s 5-inch display has a 1280 x 720 pixel resolution. Powered by a quad-core MediaTek MT6589 processor clocked at 1.2GHz, the smartphone supports dual SIM (GSM + GSM). It has an 8MP rear camera, but offers a 3.2MP front-facing camera. The Ultrafone 701HD runs Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. It offers 4GB of internal space, which is expandable up to 32GB via the microSD card slot. On the connectivity front, one will find support for 3G, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

Micromax Canvas Music A88
The A88 is geared towards music lovers. It comes with a pair of JBL Tempo headsets and has a 4.5-inch display. In terms of processing power, the Canvas Music should chug along fine thanks to the 1GHz dual-core processor. On the back, the smartphone sports a 5 megapixel camera with LED flash.

HTC’s midrange Desire 600

HTC Desire 600
Despite being a mid-range handset, the Desire 600 is powered by a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 CPU and has 1GB of RAM. The 8GB of internal storage is expandable via the microSD card slot. On the back is an 8 megapixel BSI camera with f/2.0 lens. The display on the HTC Desire 600 is a 4.5-inch qHD panel.

LG Nexus 4
The LG Nexus 4 made a belated entry to India and there’s a white version in tow, too. It still has the same 4.7-inch 720p display that we saw last year when it was unveiled and the SoC is a high-end Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro, which has a 1.5GHz quad-core processor. Most importantly, the Nexus 4 will get timely updates straight from Google when they are ready for rollout.

Samsung Galaxy Mega 5.8
The smaller (relatively) Mega phone, the Galaxy Mega 5.8 is priced at Rs 25,100 and will be in stores this month. Mega 5.8 comes with a 5.8-inch display with a qHD resolution. It runs Android 4.2 Jelly Bean and is powered by a 1.4GHz dual-core CPU. There’s 1.5GB RAM, 16GB of internal memory, microSD card slot, an 8 megapixel rear snapper and 1.9 megapixel front-facing camera. The Galaxy Mega 5.8 has a large 2600 mAh battery.

The truly mega, Galaxy Mega 6.3

Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3
The bigger Galaxy Mega 6.3 is priced at Rs 31,490 and brings a 720p display. There’s a dual-core 1.7GHz processor ticking away inside. This one too has 1.5GB RAM and 16GB of internal memory, which can be expanded up to 64GB thanks to the microSD card slot. As a nicety, the Galaxy Mega 6.3 gets NFC support for extra wireless capabilities. The 6.3 comes with a massive 3200 mAh battery.

Panasonic P51
The Panasonic P51 smartphone sports a sleek design and brings a 5-inch display with a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels. The smartphone is powered by a quad-core MediaTek 1.2GHz processor and runs on Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean). There’s an 8MP camera (auto focus with flash) on the back and a 1.3MP front camera that can shoot 720p videos. The smartphone sports a unibody design and has a thin 8.5 mm waistline and weighs 135 g.

Samsung Galaxy Grand Quattro
The dual-SIM Galaxy Grand Quattro is Samsung’s budget quad-core offering. It has a 1.2GHz quad-core processor and runs Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean. The 4.7-inch (11.9 cm) TFT display has a disappointing WVGA resolution, but there’s 3G and Wi-Fi for connectivity. On the back is a 5 megapixel camera with LED flash while a VGA camera resides on the front. In addition, it has 8GB of internal memory and microSD card support for up to 32GB cards.

Aluminium beast

A slight design refresh of the Lumia 920, the Nokia Lumia 925 is decked up in a durable aluminium shell and comes with the latest PureView camera technology and new third-party applications. In terms of specifications, the Lumia 925 is identical to the Lumia 920, which boasts a 4.5-inch 720p display, a Snapdragon SoC with a 1.5GHz dual-core processor and an 8 megapixel camera.

Micromax Canvas 2 Plus
Priced at Rs 12,100, the Canvas 2 Plus is an upgrade to the Canvas 2. It runs Android 4.2.1 Jelly Bean, which is just one peg below the latest version of the OS. The smartphone has a 5-inch display with a disappointing 854 x 480 resolution. Micromax has once again gone with MediaTek’s MT6589 chipset with the processor having a clock speed of 1.2GHz. Internal storage in the dual-SIM phone is restricted to 4GB, but there’s a microSD card slot as always to take in cards up to 32GB in capacity. The Canvas 2 Plus has an 8 megapixel camera with dual LED flash. The front camera is a 2 megapixel unit. The 2000 mAh battery should last long considering the low-res display.

Xolo Q1000
Available for Rs 14,999, the 5-inch Xolo Q1000 has a display resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels. The handset is a GSM+GSM dual-SIM phone. The smartphone runs on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, so the interface should be smooth thanks to Project Butter. The Q1000 gets a low-cost 1.2GHz quad-core processor and 1GB of RAM. On the back is an 8 megapixel camera with a BSI sensor. It also has 4GB of internal memory, which is expandable up to 32GB via the microSD card slot.

Gionee Gpad-G2
Gionee has added a dual-SIM phablet to its smartphone portfolio. The GPad0G2 is a 5.3-inch smartphone and is available for Rs 13,990. It is 9.9 mm thick and is powered by a 1.2GHz quad-core processor of unknown make. The phone has a qHD display—it has a resolution of 960 x 540 pixels, which is exactly one quarter of a full HD (1080p) frame, in a 16:9 aspect ratio. It will ship with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean

Huawei’s WP8-running Ascend W1

In addition, we also saw these smartphones launch in May:
Spice Stellar Horizon Pro Mi505
Samsung Galaxy Star
Huawei Ascend W1
Celkon Signature One A107
Celkon Signature One A9+
Samsung Galaxy Fame
Spice Smart Flo Pace 2
Swipe 9X