Weekly Roundup: First smartphone with Google’s Tango, Moto Z, Z Force, Lenovo Smart Shoes, LeEco Le 2 and more

This week was big for Lenovo. It announced World's First Project Tango-enabled smartphone PHAB 2 Pro for consumers at the Tech World 2016 in San Francisco in partnership with Google.

The Lenovo PHAB 2 Pro has four cameras that includes a 16-megapixel RGB camera, a depth camera, a motion tracking camera and a 8-megapixel front-facing camera for Tango's 3D mapping technology to understand the world around you. It also has a fingerprint sensor on the back.

The Lenovo PHAB 2 Pro comes in Champange Gold and Gunmetal Grey colors with full metal body design, is priced at $499 (Rs. 33,310 approx.) and will be available globally starting September. It will be available in the US from retailers like Best Buy and Lowe's.

Lenovo also introduced the PHAB 2 and PHAB 2 Plus phablets alongside the PHAB 2 Pro. These are the successors of last year's PHAB and PHAB Plus smartphones. The high-end PHAB 2 Plus has a 6.4-inch 1080p 2.5D Curved Glass display and comes with dual 13-megapixel rear cameras with Futjitsu Milbeaut ISPs, Laser AF, PDAF, LED flash. It has several features such as refocus, background swap,extreme manual settingsand Augmented-Realityspecial effectsIt also has a fingerprint sensor.

The PHAB 2 has a 6.4-inch HD screen and has a single 13-megapixel rear camera sensor and PDAF. Both these have a unibody metal design, run Android 6.0 (Marshmallow), pack 3GB of RAM and a 4050mAh battery. The Lenovo PHAB 2 and PHAB 2 come in Champagne Gold and Gunmetal Grey colors and start at $199 (13,275 approx.) and $299 (19,950 approx.). These smartphones will roll out globally from September 2016.

Lenovo also announced Motorola flasghips – the new Moto Z and Moto Z Force with modular accessories dubbed Moto Mods. The Moto Z comes with a 5.5-inch Quad HD AMOLED display and below it sits a fingerprint scanner just like the Moto G4 Plus. The handset is incredibly thin at 5.2mm with all metal body. Inside it houses the latest quad-core 2.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor coupled with 4GB of RAM and 32GB or 64GB of internal storage. There's a microSD card slot for expandability up to additional 2TB.

The new Moto Z Force carries the same Moto ShatterShield technology from the last year's Moto X Force, which was first of its kind. The Moto Z Force comes with a 5.5-inch Quad HD Shatterproof display with Corning Gorilla Glass protection. The phone has Moto G4 Plus like fingerprint scanner. The handset chassis is built from Aircraft-grade aluminum and weighs 136 grams and measures 153.3 × 75.3 × 5.19mm.

Most other specifications are similar as the Moto Z, which include Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor coupled with Adreno 530 GPU, 4GB of RAM and 32GB or 64GB of internal storage. Both Moto smartphones has a 13MP rear camera with optical image stabilization (OIS) and laser autofocus, along with a front-facing 5MP camera with wide-angle lens, and an LED front flash. Both handsets are "water-repellant", so these can handle water splashes or little bit of rain, claims company.

Lenovo also unveiled the modular accessories Moto Mods for the Moto Z and Moto Z Force, which are like snap-on's that get attached to 12 "magical-pins" located at the bottom back of the smartphone. These Moto Mods include a Moto Insta-Share Projector, JBL SoundBoost, Moto Shells, and instant Power Pack.

The Moto Z and Moto Z Force will be made available in September along with Moto Mods accessories, but there is no word on pricing.

We also saw Lenovo briefly showcasing its first ever concept Smart Shoes that can 'track steps, activity, fitness, navigate and interact with games.'

The firm developed these Smart Shoes 'Yaoat F2' in partnership with Intel, so it uses Intel processor. These smart shoes are said to track your daily activity such as your steps, movement, heartbeat, and calorie consumption etc. So when you're playing, these Smart Shoes will monitor the amount of calories you've burned and moreover the data can be useful for your coach to design better training / workout sessions. Each shoe has a built-in battery and supports wireless charging. At the bottom of shoe sole, there is smart LED strip that lights up at night.

Also this week, LeEco launched two new smartphones in India – the LeEco Le 2 and the LeEco Le Max 2. Both these smartphones were first introduced in China in April and we brought you live coverage from there as well.

The Le 2 is the company's successor smartphone to the Le 1s. It packs a 5.5-inch 1080p display, has 3GB of RAM, runs on Android 6.0 (Marshmallow), has a 16-megapixel rear camera with dual-tone LED flash and a 8-megapixel front-facing camera, but the Indian variant has a Snapdragon 652 SoC instead of MediaTek Helio X20 SoC in the Chinese version.

The LeEco Le Max 2 is company's flagship smartphone in India. It packs a 5.7-inch Quad HD screen, is powered by a Snapdragon 820 SoC, runs on Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) with EUI 5.8, has a 21-megapixel rear camera with dual-tone LED flash, PDAF, OIS and a 8-megapixel front-facing camera.

Both smartphones boasts of a new Continual Digital Lossless Audio (CDLA) audio standard for loss-less audio through USB Type-C port and doesn't have 3.5mm audio jack. Both also have fingerprint sensor on the back, and comes with a full metal unibody design.

The LeEco Le 2 comes in gold, silver and grey colors and is priced at Rs. 11,999. It will be available through Lemall.com and Flipkart early July and the registration begins June 20th.The LeEco Le Max 2 comes in Rose Gold, Silver and Grey colors and is priced at Rs. 22,999 for the 4GB RAM with 32GB storage version and the 6GB RAM with 64GB storage version costs Rs. 29,999. It will be available through Lemall.com and Flipkart from 28th June and the registration begins June 20th.

The company also introduced its new Type-C earphones in India. Both these phones use CDLA (Continual Lossless Digital Audio) technology for an enhanced audio experience and replaces 3.5mm audio jack with USB Type-C audio.

The headset has in-built decoding chipset that can decode 24 bit/96 khz recordings and achieve real-time digital optimization. The LeEco Type-C CDLA earphones is priced at Rs. 1990 and will be available soon through Lemall.com in India.

Sony introduced USB flash drive in the USM-CA1 Series with USB Type-C and Type-A connectors earlier this year. This week, it finally launched the OTG drive in India. The USB Type-C reversible drive lets you connect it to smartphones, tablets, laptops and more. The drives also supports USB 3.1 Gen1, which allows for data transfer speeds (read) of upto 130MB/s.

The Sony USB Type-C and Type-A dual connection drive comes in  white colors, is priced at Rs. 1,999 (MRP), Rs. 4,099 (MRP) and Rs. 7,099 (MRP) for the 16GB, 32GB and 64GB variants, respectively.

OPPO introduced A59, the company's latest smartphone in the A series in China. It has a 5.5-inch HD 2.5D curved glass screen, is powered by a octa-core MediaTek MT6750 processor, runs on Android 5.1 (Lollipop) with Color OS 3.0, has a 13-megapixel rear camera with LED flash, phase-detection auto-focus (PDAF) and a 8-megapixel front-facing camera.

The OPPO A59 comes in Rose Gold and Gold colors and is priced at 1799 yuan (US$ 274 / Rs. 18,320 approx.). It is now available for pre-order from official OPPO online shop in China and ships from June 18th.

Micromax launched Canvas Amaze 2, the company's latest 4G smartphone in the Canvas series. It packs a 5-inch HD Display, is powered by a 1.4GHz Octa-Core Snapdragon 415 processor, runs on Android 5.1 (Lollipop) OS, comes with a 13-megapixel rear camera with dual LED flash and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera.

The Micromax Canvas Amaze 2 is priced at Rs. 7,499 and will be available exclusively from Flipkart.

Lava launched X81, the company's latest smartphone in the new 'X series'. It has a 5-inch HD 2.5D curved glass display, is powered by a 1.3GHz quad-core MediaTek 64-bit processor, runs on Android 6.0 (Marshmallow)-based Star OS, has a 13-megapixel rear camera with dual-LED flash and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera with LED flash. It has dual-SIM support and 4G LTE connectivity.

The Lava X81 comes in Space Grey color and is priced at Rs. 11,499. It will be available across all the retail stores and multi-brand outlets and exclusively on Flipkart from June 13.

NVIDIA introduced GeForce GTX 1070, along with the flagship GTX 1080 last month. The Zotac GeForce GTX 1080 went on sale in India couple weeks back, and this week the Zotac GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition became available for purchase through several retailers. It is based on new Pascal architecture and is built on TSMC's 16nm FinFET process.

The Zotac NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Founders edition is priced starting at Rs. 40,800 (MSRP) and is available for purchase from Amazon.in, MD Computers (Kolkata) , Prime ABGB (Mumbai) and other retailers.

Reliance launched Lyf Wind 5, the company's latest 4G smartphone with VoLTE. It packs a 5-inch HD screen, is powered by MediaTek MT6735P SoC, runs on Android 5.1 (Lollipop), has a 8-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera. It has dual-SIM support, similar to other Lyf smartphones.The Lyf Wind 5 comes in Black and White colors and is priced at Rs. 6,599.  It will be available across India through all the channels.

Intex launched Cloud Glory 4G, the company's latest budget 4G phone. It has a 4.5-inch FWVGA screen, is powered by a quad-core MT6735M SoC and runs on Android 6.0 (Marshmallow). It has a 5-megapixel rear camera with dual LED flash and a 2-megapixel front-facing camera. It also has dual SIM support.

The Intex Cloud Glory 4G comes in Black and White colors, is priced at Rs. 3,999 and is exclusively available from Flipkart.

Panasonic launched two new budget 3G smartphones – T30 and T44. Both these have a 4-inch WVGA display, are powered by a 1.3GHz quad-core processor, pack a 5-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and a 2-megapixel front-facing camera. These have dual-SIM support, similar to other Panasonic smartphones. The T30 runs on Android 5.1 (Lollipop) and the T44 runs on Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) with Panasonic's own SAIL UI.

The Panasonic T30 comes in Metallic Gold, Metallic Silver and Steel Grey and is priced at Rs. 3,290, and the Panasonic T44 comes in Rose Gold, Champagne Gold and Electric Blue colors and is priced at Rs. 4,290.

iBall launched Slide Bio-Mate, the company's latest tablet in the Slide series with a fingerprint sensor. It has a 8-inch (1280 x 800 pixels) display, is powered by a 1.3GHz quad-core processor, runs on Android 5.1 (Lollipop), has a 5-megapixel auto focus rear camera with LED flash and a 2-megapixel front-facing camera. It has 3G connectivity, dual-SIM support and voice calling capabilities.

The iBall Slide Bio-Mate comes in Cobalt Brown Matte body, is priced at Rs. 7,999 and will be available across India.

Sennheiser launched HD 630VB, its first closed audiophile headphones high-end headphones in India for audiophiles. It offers intense bass experience, which can be customized via a rotary bass dial according to the listening environment.

The Sennheiser HD 630VB is priced at Rs. 39,990 and is available through retail stores and Sennheiser e-store.

Samsung announced the Galaxy S7 Active for AT&T in the U.S. It has a 5.1-inch Quad HD Super AMOLED display, is powered by a Quad-Core Snapdragon 820 SoC, runs on Android 6.0 (Marshmallow), has a 12-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera, similar to the Galaxy S7, but this is shatter-resistant, in addition to IP68 ratings for dust and water resistant and has also passed U.S. Military Standard (MIL-STD) 810G tests for a ruggerized phone.

The Samsung Galaxy S7 Active comes in Sandy Gold, Camo Green and Titanium Gray colors and will be available through AT&T.on contract at $26.50 per month for over 30 months or $33.13 for 24 months. This comes at around $795 (Rs. 53,150 approx.).

Lastly, ZTE introduced two new smartphones – the Blade A2 and the nubia Z11 Max. The Blade A2 is company's latest budget smartphone with a fingerprint sensor. It is also a successor of last year's Blade A1. It has a has a 5-inch HD 2.5D curved glass display, is powered by a octa-core MediaTek MT6750 processor, runs on Android 5.1 (Lollipop), has a 13-megapixel rear camera with LED flash, phase-detection auto-focus (PDAF) for quick focus in 0.1 seconds and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera that also has LED flash.

The ZTE nubia Z11 Max is company's latest high-end smartphone in the nubia series in China. It packs a 6-inch 1080p Super AMOLED 2.5D curved glass display with 1.32mm slim bezels on the sides, is powered by an Octa-Core Snapdragon 652 SoC, runs on Android 5.1.1 (Lollipop) with nubia UI, has a 16-megapixel rear camera with dual-tone LED flash and a 8-megapixel front-facing camera. It also has a fingerprint sensor on the back.

The ZTE Blade A2 comes in Silver, Gray and Gold colors and is priced at just 699 Yuan ( US$ 106 / Rs. 7,110 approx.). It is now available for order through jd.com in China and will go on sale from June 15th. The ZTE nubia Z11 Max comes in gold, gray and silver colors, is priced at 1999 yuan (US$ 304 / Rs. 20305 approx.) and goes on sale from June 16th.

Source: Weekly Roundup: First smartphone with Google's Tango, Moto Z, Z Force, Lenovo Smart Shoes, LeEco Le 2 and more