Deal: pre-order a vivo X100 or X100 Pro from Flipkart or grab a tablet from Amazon's sale

The vivo X100 and X100 Pro are two of the most promising camera phones for 2024. The Pro model in particular shines with its 1/0.98” 50MP main sensor, 50MP 100mm periscope and 50MP ultra wide.

The vanilla X100 is no slouch either with a 50MP 1/1.49” main, 64MP 70mm periscope and 50MP ultra wide. Both phones are powered by the new Dimensity 9300 and have 6.78” 120Hz LTPO displays. The Pro has a 5,400mAh battery with 100W wired and 50W wireless charging, the X100 offers a 5,000mAh battery with 120W wired only charging instead.

The vivo X100 and X100 Pro are not available in India yet, but they are on pre-order – the first deliveries are scheduled for January 14 (Sunday next week).

You can also reserve a Galaxy S24 from Flipkart with a ₹2,000 pass. Does Samsung really expect there to be shortages? We don’t know, but the pass comes with some perks – after you complete your purchase of an S24, S24+ or S24 Ultra, you will get a ₹5,000 Flipkart Gift Voucher (and the initial ₹2,000 will be deducted from the phone’s price). Note: you can’t cancel this pass, if you change your mind Flipkart will give you a ₹2,000 Gift Voucher instead. The Galaxy S24 series will be announced on January 17 and shipping should start by the end of the month.

It looks like the Galaxy S24 series will use the Exynos 2400 for the Indian market this year. Want a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3? How about an iQOO 12 – the first phone to bring this chip in the country.

It’s not all about the chip too, the 12 has a capable 6.78” LTPO 144Hz display (1,260 x 2,800px, 20:9) and a surprisingly good camera – 50MP main (1/1.3” sensor, OIS), 64MP 70mm periscope and 50MP ultra wide. As is common for the series, the 5,000mAh battery charges super fast at 120W.

The Honor 90 packs a 200MP camera with a large 1/1.4” sensor. There’s no optical zoom and the native 2x zoom from the sensor isn’t spectacular. Anyway, there is also a 12MP ultra wide (112°) and a 50MP selfie camera with a wide lens of its own (100°). The phone is powered by a Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 “Accelerated Edition” and a 5,000mAh battery (66W wired only charging). The display on the front is a 6.7” OLED with 120Hz refresh rate and 10-bit colors (1,200 x 2,664px).

Slightly lower on the price ladder is the OnePlus Nord 3. With a Dimensity 9000 and a 6.74” 120Hz 10-bit display (1,240 x 2,772px) this one has a lot of oompf and a 5,000mAh battery with 80W charging to back it up. The camera uses a 50MP 1/1.56” sensor for the main (and OIS) and there is an 8MP ultra wide (112°), the selfie camera is a basic 16MP module.

Next we will look at 5G phones in the ₹13,000-10,000 range or thereabouts. The Realme Narzo 60x uses the Dimensity 6100+ to gain its 5G powers and it pairs it with a 6.72” IPS LCD (a 120Hz FHD+ panel). It has a basic 50MP camera on the rear and 8MP on the front. There are both a 3.5mm headphone jack and a microSD slot on board, plus a 5,000mAh battery with 33W fast charging.

The Infinix Hot 20 5G also features a 120Hz IPS LCD, a 6.58” FHD+ panel. This one uses the older Dimensity 810 chipset and has similarly basic 50MP rear and 8MP front cameras. The 5,000mAh battery charges at only 18W. The phone is equipped with a 3.5mm headphone jack and a microSD slot.

Next up, the Poco M6 Pro and Poco M6. Both have 90Hz IPS LCDs of about the same size (6.79” and 6.74”), but the Pro model has FHD+ resolution, while the vanilla M6 only offers HD+ resolution.

The Pro model uses the Snapdragon 4 Gen 2, the vanilla model gets the Dimensity 6100+. The Pro model also has double the memory (8GB RAM and 256GB storage), which justifies the price difference in our minds. Both have microSD slots if you need more (and 3.5mm jacks too). The batteries are the same on both – 5,000mAh with 18W charging.

Amazon is having a sale on tablets, so we picked out a few from several price categories.

We will start with the new Samsung Galaxy Tab A9+. It packs an 11” 90Hz LCD (1,920 x 1,200px) and a Snapdragon 695 chipset running off a 7,040mAh battery. The tablet has quad speakers and a microSD slot.

If you need more power in an 11” form factor, the Xiaomi Pad 6 is equipped with the old-but-gold Snapdragon 870. The 11” display is faster (144Hz) and sharper too (2,880 x 1,800px) with 10-bit colors and Dolby Vision. There are quad speakers on board and an 8,840mAh battery with 33W charging.

The Realme Pad 2 is a well-equipped mid-range tablet. With its Helio G99 chipset it offers both Wi-Fi and 4G connectivity. This is another slate to use IPS LCD, an 11.5” 120Hz panel with 10-bit colors and 2,000 x 1,200px resolution. Like the Xiaomi above, this one has 8GB of RAM and 256GB storage (but this one also has a microSD slot). We also find yet another quad speaker set here, the battery is close at 8,360mAh capacity and 33W charging.

Going into the sub-₹20,000 range (actually sub-₹15,000 due to the 50% off sale) is the Xiaomi Redmi Pad. Another Helio G99 slate, though without the 4G this time. It has a 10.61” 90Hz 10-bit display with 2,000 x 1,200px resolution – you guessed it, it’s an IPS LCD. Quad speakers and microSD slot too. As for the battery, it could have been better with 8,000mAh capacity and only 18W charging.

We close the tablet chapter with a couple of older but fairly pricey slates. The Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE is a 12.4” model with and LCD (2,560 x 1,600px resolution), though it only runs at 60Hz. It is powered by the Snapdragon 778G and a 10,090mAh battery with 45W wired charging. The USB-C port on this one supports DeX on an external display (DeX multitasking is available on the slate’s own display too). An S Pen stylus is included in the package.

The Apple iPad has a 10.9” IPS LCD, also 60Hz (2,360 x 1,640px resolution) and uses the Apple A14 Bionic chipset (from the iPhone 12 generation). This one has a USB-C port with DisplayPort for video out, but doesn’t support Stage Manager. It will probably get the best software support out of any device here, though.

The last thing to look at is a sub-₹10,000 phone. The Tecno Spark Go 2024 is an Android Go edition phone as the name suggests. Its Unisoc T606 chipset has only 4G connectivity but it is fairly fast otherwise. And here it is configured with 4GB of RAM and 64GB storage, which should have been enough for full Android. Anyway, you get a 6.6” HD+ IPS LCD running at 90Hz and with a punch hole for the 8MP selfie camera. There are stereo speakers on board, a 3.5mm headphone jack, a microSD slot and a 5,000mAh battery with slow 10W charging.

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