Reliance Jio 4G Speed, Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017) and Galaxy A7 (2017) Launched, iPhone 7 Offers, and More: Your 360 Daily

Reliance Jio’s average 4G download speed was the fastest in February at 17.427Mbps, followed by Idea (12.216Mbps), Airtel (11.245Mbps), and Vodafone (8.337Mbps), according to data compiled by TRAI’s MySpeed app. This is a big jump for Jio, which was the market leader in December, but saw its average 4G download speed fall behind those of Idea, Vodafone, and Airtel in January. In average 4G upload speeds, Idea led the market in February with 7.497Mbps speed, with Vodafone (5.236Mbps) and Airtel (4.492Mbps) rounding up the top 3. Reliance Jio was a distant fourth on this metric, with average 4G upload speed of 2.208Mbps.

Having covered this, let’s take a look at the other important tech news of the day in your 360 Daily:

Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017), Galaxy A7 (2017) launched in India
Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017) and Galaxy A7 (2017) smartphones have been launched in the Indian market at Rs. 28,990 and Rs. 33,490, respectively. The two smartphones are available for pre-orders on Samsung E-Store, and will go on sale on March 15. Both models feature design similar to that of Galaxy S7, and have a simplified UX with Food Mode, and improved cameras with low-light optimisation.

The new Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017) has a 5.2-inch full-HD screen, 1.9GHz octa-core processor, 3GB of RAM, 16-megapixel rear camera, 16-megapixel front camera, 4G VoLTE support, Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow operating system, 32GB internal storage, microSD card support up to 256GB, USB Type-C port, 3.5mm earphone jack, and 3000mAh battery. The Galaxy A7 (2017) has a 5.7-inch full-HD screen and 3600mAh battery; the phone’s remaining specifications are same as that of the Galaxy A5 (2017).

Amazon offering up to Rs. 10,001 discount on iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus
iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus are available at discounts of up to Rs. 10,001 on Amazon India, while rival Flipkart is running a similar offer for the two iPhones – with flat discounts and exchange offers. The Amazon offer cuts the price of the base iPhone 7 32GB variant from Rs. 60,000 to Rs. 49,999, while the 128GB and 256GB models go from Rs. 70,000 and Rs. 80,000 to Rs 59,000 and Rs. 70,215, respectively. Similarly, the iPhone 7 Plus 32GB is Rs. 10,001 cheaper at Rs. 61,999, and the 128GB model’s price now stands at Rs. 71,999 instead of Rs. 82,000. However, there is no price cut on the 256GB iPhone 7 Plus.

Airtel to give away free data to postpaid customers
Airtel will provide its postpaid customers free mobile data as part of the Airtel Surprise promotional offer. Emails received by Airtel users say that the free data will be provided to them starting March 13. It is not yet known how much data each user will get; customers will need to open the MyAirtel app to see how much free data they get as part of the Airtel Surprise offer. The operator last week launched a plan that provides prepaid users 28GB of data with a recharge of Rs. 345.

iPhone 6 32GB goes on sale on Amazon India
The 32GB variant of iPhone 6 is available on Amazon India at Rs. 28,999 as part of a limited-period offer; iPhone 6 has been available only in 16GB, 64GB and 128GB variants since its launch in 2015. The new storage variant is being offered by third-party retailers and not by Apple, but comes with the standard, official one-year warranty. The 32GB iPhone 6 model is available only in Space Grey colour until March 7, and comes with an exchange offer that slashes the price by up to Rs. 8,550 (depending on the smartphone being exchanged)

Samsung Pay officially rolled out in India
The Samsung Pay mobile payment platform has been officially launched in India. At present, it is available for select banks, such as Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, SBI, and Standard Chartered; support for American Express and CitiBank will be added soon. The Samsung Pay platform supports credit cards and debit cards of the abovementioned banks (except SBI), and also allows users to make payments via Paytm. Smartphones that support the Samsung Pay platform in India include Galaxy Note5, Galaxy S7, Galaxy S7 Edge, Galaxy S6 Edge+, Galaxy A7 (2016), and Galaxy A5 (2016).

Netflix video streaming now available on TV in India via DTH services
Netflix has partnered with Airtel and Videocon d2h DTH services to enable users to stream online content on their TVs using the two companies’ set-top boxes. With this, users will only need a set-top box that supports Ethernet or Wi-Fi for Internet connectivity, rather than products like Chromecast and Apple TV to watch Netflix content on their TV. The online streaming giant has also partnered with Vodafone India to allow customers to pay for their Netflix subscription via their monthly bill or prepaid balance.

Facebook testing dislike button, may air original TV shows
Facebook is reportedly testing Reactions and a new ‘thumbs down’ button, dubbed the Dislike button, for the Messenger platform. While Reactions have been available on Facebook for quite some time now, they are not yet officially available on Messenger. The new Dislike reaction is not available on Facebook either; it would allow Messenger users to add the thumbs-down reaction emoji next to text in conversations.

The company, which has also launched the ‘Disputed’ tag to battle the fake news menace on Facebook, is reportedly planning to create original TV-like programmes. Facebook is said to be focusing on genres such as science, sports, pop culture, lifestyle and gaming, and may launch weekly series and shows wit run-time of about 30 minutes.

Flipkart to step up hiring in 2017
Flipkart Chief Operating Officer Nitin Seth has said that the company will increase hiring by 20 to 30 percent in 2017 over the previous year. However, he did not reveal how many people were hired in 2016. He said that most of the hires will be laterals, not freshers, and will be spread out as per requirements across verticals. This comes soon after rival Snapdeal confirmed plans to lay off 500-600 people in its e-commerce, logistics, and payment divisions.