It's been an interesting week for tech news, with Xiaomi[1] finally unveiling its flagship smartphone for the year with some interesting variants in tow. The Nokia[2] brand continued its nostalgic return to the market with current licensee HMD Global[3] unveiling refreshes to three models in its stable. The week also had its fair share of telecom announcements, with Jio[4] unveiling its Holiday Hungama Offer that sweetens prepaid recharges with cashbacks, and BSNL[5] boasting of a corporate offer for Baba Ramdev's Patanjali group of enterprises. The Vivo X21[6] - sporting a novel in-display fingerprint sensor - also arrived in India this week, marking the biggest smartphone launch in the country for the period.
Let's begin with the Xiaomi flagships. The Mi 8[7] was launched[8] by Xiaomi on Thursday at its annual launch event in Shenzhen, China. The smartphone as expected sports an iPhone X-like notch in its bezel-less display, sports a dual rear camera setup, and runs on the Snapdragon 845 SoC. There is an in-display fingerprint sensor available, however, only on the more expensive Mi 8 Explorer Edition[9] model, which also offers up to 8GB of RAM, 3D facial scanning, and a transparent back panel. The Xiaomi Mi 8 will be available in three variants, with the 6GB RAM/ 64GB inbuilt storage variant priced at CNY 2,699 (roughly Rs. 28,600), the 6GB RAM/ 128GB storage variant priced at CNY 2,999 (about Rs. 31,600), and 6GB RAM/ 256GB inbuilt storage model priced at CNY 3,299 (roughly Rs. 34,800). The Mi 8 Explorer Edition (8GB of RAM and 128GB inbuilt storage) is priced at CNY 3,699 (roughly Rs. 39,000). The smartphone has...