The mid-monsoon month of August has not only flooded the Indian streets, but also the Indian markets with some freaky little gadgets.  With the launch of Xiaomi Mi A2, the mood has been set right for other mobile phones, which are anticipated to get launched in the Indian markets later this month. Oppo Find X and the 6 GB variant of the popular Asus ZenFone Max Pro M1 also hit the market shelves earlier this month. Along with these, budget phones like Tecno Camon iAce and Camon iSky have also made themselves available for the consumers, who cannot afford big brand smartphones.

Coming to the most anticipated arrivals, there are a lot of devices in the pipeline, yet the most awaited ones are Nokia 6.1 Plus (X6), Oppo F9 Pro and Samsung Galaxy Note 9. Let us take a look at each of these three devices.

Samsung Galaxy Note 9

All eyes will be set on Samsung Galaxy Note 9 that has already hogged more than its share of limelight through various rumours that refuse to die down.  After the Galaxy Note 7 fire fiasco in 2016, the Korean company had exercised complete cautiousness by housing a smaller battery in Galaxy Note 8 that released last year. Now the petty battery has been replaced with a whopping 4000 mAh battery and the company claims it to be very safe. The upcoming flagship “Phablet” featuring a 6.4 inch QHD SAMOLED infinity display panel with a resolution of 1440x2960 pixels promises to provide an extraordinary experience to the gadget lovers.  The dual SIM variant of the phone, which is rumoured to be launched on August 22, will be running on Android 8.1 Oreo and topped with Samsung Experience UX. Packing an Exynos 9810 SoC under the hood, the Indian version will come with 6 GB/ 8GB RAM and 128 GB/ 512 GB on board storage options and would be priced somewhere around Rs. 67,900 and Rs. 84, 900 respectively.

A fabulous camera setup is what adds to the charm of the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 that comes with a 12 MP dual rear camera having dual apertures F/1.5 and F/2.4 that can be switched between. The 8 MP front sensor has a F/1.7 aperture and the Scene Optimizer has been added for an improved image processing. The S Pen feature that has been an integral part of the Galaxy Note Series since 2011 comes with improved functioning.  The S Pen stylus will be Bluetooth integrated and can be used to run a presentation, run a camera, video streaming, opening the gallery and if that is not all, it will be apparently opened up for developers. With several connectivity options, sensors and many enhancements like better security, an intelligent camera and a beefier battery, Samsung is looking forward to break its past Galaxy Note series’ sales records.

Nokia 6.1 Plus (Nokia X6)

HMD Global, the licensee of the Nokia phones have sent invites for the Indian launch on August 21 and considering the past records, the company would launch multiple models of the brand on the same day. The company made three smartphones Nokia 2.1, 3.1 and 5.1 available for purchase in online and retail Indian markets on August 12. All the three models are from the budget smartphone portfolio and have decent specifications. Nokia 6.1 Plus is the international variant of the Nokia X6 that was unveiled in Hong Kong in May and may come with a price tag of around INR 20000 and will be based on Android 8.1 Oreo.

Key features of the phone include Full HD 5.8 inch display panel with resolution of 1080x2280 pixels and strengthened by 2.5D Gorilla Glass 3. There is a dual rear camera setup with 16 MP and 5 MP primary and secondary sensors respectively. Another 16 MP shooter for the selfies is provided along with a F/2.0 aperture.  There are a host of AI features like portrait lighting effects, optimised colour contrast, depth of field, Bothie Mode and HDR support along with face unlock function. The phone packs a 3060 mAh battery and is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 SoC octa -core processor.  In terms of storage, the smartphone is said to be having 4GB RAM and 64 GB inbuilt storage that is expandable upto 400 GB via microSD card. With these features the model may compete with Vivo V9 and Oppo F7.

Oppo F9 Pro

The F9 Pro by Oppo is said to be an improved version of Oppo F7 that already sells in the Indian markets. Its price would be set approximately at INR 30,000 which means it will not be a budget phone. With Chinese phones invading the Indian markets full-fledgedly, this phone may prove to be another competitive player as it may pit itself against Honor 10 and ASUS ZenFone 5Z in the Indian market. The phone may get released at an official event that will be held on 21st August, as indicated by the company. The specifications of the phone have been leaked and confirmed by the company.
As per information, the phone will feature a new peculiar notch style, VOOC charging technology and new gradient colour variants. Sporting a minimal bezel FHD display of 6.3 inch, the F9 Pro will expectedly have a horizontally aligned dual rear camera (16 MP + 2 MP) setup supported by LED Flash that are designed to look like waterdrops. There is 25 MP front camera with F/2.0 aperture and a bunch of AI features. The Oppo F9 Pro runs on Android 8.1 Oreo and will be powered by an octa core 12nm MediaTek Helio P60 chipset. It comes with 4 GB RAM and 64 GB (expandable upto 256 GB via microSD card slot) and 3500 mAh battery backup. The fast charging technology and impressive design will be the USP of the upcoming smartphone.
It will be interesting to see how each device fares in its respective segment when all three actually get down into the digital arena.

-- Deepak Kumar