Hot launches: Smartphones of March 2013

Another month, another slew of smartphone releases. While there were many more launches in March, we’ve narrowed down the list to some of the hottest handsets that we feel deserve your attention in case you’re in the market for a new handset. Keep in mind that these handsets have been launched and are available for purchase in the market, officially.

Sony Xperia Z – Rs 38,000

The Sony Xperia Z has one of the best party pieces we’ve seen on a flagship yet. The waterproof and dustproof nature of the phone means you can be careless with it and this will especially come handy in the monsoons. Like all flagship handsets, the phone is powerful, features a full HD display and expandable storage, something we don’t see a lot in this segment these days.

Loves getting wet

Nokia Lumia 620 – Rs 14,200

Nokia’s high-end WP8 Lumias aren’t exactly being sold by the dozen, which is why the Lumia 620 is such an important phone for the company. Priced at an affordable Rs 15,000, the Lumia 620 offers a powerful performance without breaking the bank. The dual-core Snapdragon CPU ensures snappy performance and you get a good set of connectivity options as well like dual-band Wi-Fi and GLONASS for navigation.

Nokia's ray of hope

XOLO Q800 – Rs 12,500

XOLO’s track record has been pretty good so far and we’ve come across some well-built and functioning handsets in the past. The Q800 is the latest in that list, which finally makes their entry into the quad-core space. Dressed in a slim, candy-bar design, the handset packs a decently-sized display, has dual-SIM functionality, runs Android 4.1 and an 8MP camera. It should be arriving at our labs anytime this week, so stay tuned for the full review.

Adding more excitement to the sub-15K price range

Karbonn Titanium S5 – Rs 12,000

The S5 is the latest entrant in Karbonn’s stable. We’ve yet to put this phone through its paces. From the looks of it, it’s shaping up to be quite an interesting option. The handset runs Jelly Bean and is powered by a quad-core SoC from Qualcomm. Karbonn is one of the very few manufacturers to use Qualcomm’s chipset at this price range. Here are the rest of the specifications of the S5:

Karbonn's latest entrant

WickedLeak Wammy Titan II – Rs 14,000

We’ve only recently reviewed the Wammy Titan II and were quite impressed with its performance. The handset has decent aesthetic appeal and is also built well. The display is sharp and produces vivid colours. This one’s also powered by a quad-core MediaTek chipset and runs on Android Jelly Bean. Overall, the Titan II makes for a very tempting package at this price.

Clash of the titans

XOLO X1000 – Rs.19,000

The X1000 is the follow up to the X900, the first ever Intel-based Atom smartphone. Intel has once again partnered with XOLO to launch their new Atom Z2480 CPU, a higher clocked version of the same CPU used in the X900. The handset comes with ICS out-of-the-box but a Jelly Bean update should be on the way. You can read about the full specifications list below: 

Hoping to spark some interest in Intel chipsets

April also has some big launches coming up as HTC gets ready to launch the One. The Nokia 520 and 720 should also be available in the market this month. We'll just have to wait and see.