Four phone launches in a day; Nokia 3310, Moto C, HTC U11 and Redmi 4

Tuesday, 16 May was a packed day for phone launches. HTC U11, after many leaks, was officially unveiled in Taiwan. The much anticipated Nokia 3310 finally got a launch date and an offline retail price for its India launch. Xiaomi hosted another glitzy launch in India for their newest phone in the Redmi series. Last but not the least, Motorola is targeting developing markets with the launch of their new 'C' class budget phones. Here's a breakdown of each of the phones launched, in chronological order:

1. Moto C

Motorola's leaked lineup from last week included a new category of smartphones - the 'C' class budget smartphones. On 16 May, the two smartphones - Moto C and Moto C plus - were officially unveiled, directly targeting the developing markets. Both of the handsets come with Android Nougat out of the box and sport the same 2MP front camera. The difference is in the rear shooter. The C features just a 5MP camera while the C Plus features an 8MP rear shooter. The C Plus has a larger 4,000 mAh-hour battery compared to the C's 2,350 mAh battery. The differences don't stop there. While the Moto C comes with just 1GB of RAM, the Moto C Plus has a 2GB variant as well.

While both come with a 5-inch display, the resolution favours the C Plus. The C has a 5-inch 854 x 480 display while the C Plus has a 5-inch display with a 1,280 x 720 display. Moto C comes with a 3G and 4G variant. The C Plus only has a 4G variant. No fingerprint scanners seen on both the phones and the 3.5mm headphone jack is very much present. The C has been launched at €89 for the 3G version and €99 for the 4G version. The C Plus will cost €119.

2. HTC U11

The HTC U11 is the successor to the HTC 10. The difference is that this time, the smartphone has been launched under the 'U' branding. The HTC U11 comes with all the flagship features one would expect. 5.5-inch Quad HD display and a Snapdragon 835 processor, the same as seen in Samsung's Galaxy S8. The HTC U11 has an all new glass and metal design. It has an inbuilt fingerprint reader on the bottom of the phone. HTC U11 omits the headphone jack though.

The HTC U11 is banking on its stand-out feature, the Edge Sense technology. This allows one to squeeze the phone to launch apps without the need to touch the screen. One can squeeze to launch the camera and squeeze again to capture a photograph. The phone comes with 4GB RAM and 64GB storage that is expandable up to a whopping 2TB via a microSD card. The smartphone features a 3,000 mAh battery and has Quick Charge 3.0 technology for fast charging.

The camera on the HTC U11 features a rear 12MP shooter and a 16MP 'selfie' front camera shooter. As with all other flagships, the HTC U11 runs Android Nougat 7.1 out of the box. It has Google Assistant and Amazon's Alexa and HTC Sense Companion. The U11 also comes with HTC BoomSound Hi-Fi Edition speakers. The phone comes with HTC's USonic headphones. The HTC U11 will cost a good $649 and will ship in June. The India launch date and pricing will be announced in the first week of June.

3. Redmi 4

Xiaomi's Redmi 4 is the successor to the wildly popular Redmi Prime 3S. Redmi 4 comes with a 5-inch HD IPS panel with a pixel density of 294ppi. It has an all-metal design. The Redmi 4 sports a fingerprint sensor at the back and has a hybrid dual-SIM card slot. It has a microUSB, not USB Type-C slot at the bottom for charging and an infrared sensor at the top.

The Redmi 4 sports a 2.5D curved glass at the front. The Redmi 4 has the newer Snapdragon 435 SoC. Redmi 4 has a 4,100 mAh battery and Xiaomi's MIUI 8 based on Android Marshmallow. Finally, Redmi 4 has 13MP primary camera and a 5MP secondary camera. Redmi 4 comes in 3 different variants. 2GB RAM + 16GB storage, 3GB RAM + 32GB storage and 4GB RAM + 64GB storage.

4. Nokia 3310

Nostalgia is the biggest factor for Nokia's comeback, especially in the Indian market. The first of a lot of phones expected to launch in India is the 3310. HMD Global has been trusted with relaunching Nokia worldwide. Nokia's 3310 will come in at Rs 3,310 and be available in retail stores only starting on 18 May. Nokia's 3310 is a 2G only phone and offers lengthy battery life and Snake for fans of the previous iteration of the feature phone. Four colour options will be available at launch: Warm Red and Yellow (both with a gloss finish), and Dark Blue and Grey (both with a matte finish).

The phone features a 2.4-inch QVGA (240x320 pixels) colour display and runs on Nokia Series 30+ OS. It comes with just 16MB storage, though it supports expandable storage via a microSD card. There is a 2MP camera at the back. There is also FM radio. The phone comes with a 1,200mAh removable battery. Will the nostalgia factor work is anyone's guess.