Xiaomi’s first laptop is a Macbook Air rival that’s as cheap as $540

Chinese smartphone and smart device maker Xiaomi just announced its first laptop — and boy does it look familiar to products belonging to a company that begins with the letter ‘A’ 😉

The Chinese tech giant is holding a press event to unveil its new Redmi Pro smartphone today, but it also dropped a surprise with the unveiling of the Mi Notebook Air. Even the name sounds familiar, right?

The laptop comes in two sizes — 13.3-inch and 12.5-inch — running Windows with a full-HD display, full-metal body and type-C USB charging and two USB slots. There’s a full-sized keyboard with Apple-esque keys that are individually backlit. The company’s ‘Xiaomi Sync’ software is pre-installed to pair data from a Xiaomi smartphone, and you can unlock the laptop using a Mi Band wearable.

The starting price is 3599 CNY, or around $540, for the 12.5-inch model with the larger, flagship model coming in at 4,999, or $750. Don’t hold your breath on an international launch, since many of Xiaomi’s products — particularly its first forays into new categories — are China-only affairs. What we know so far is it will go on sale in China from August 2.

Under the hood, Xiaomi is promising an Intel Core i5 Processor with 8GB DDR4 RAM and 256GB PCIe SSD, and an expandable SSD slot. For games, there’s a dedicated NVIDIA GeForce 940MX graphics card. Size-wise, we are talking 306.9 mm x 210.9 mm x 14.8 mm with an apparent weight of 1.28 kg.

Those specs slip a little for the smaller model, which includes an Intel Core M3 processor with integrated graphics, 4GB RAM and 128GB in expandable SSD.

As is so often the case, Apple is the standard for Xiaomi’s product comparison. The Chinese company said the Mi Notebook Air is thinner (13 percent) than its equivalent Macbook Air, and 11 percent smaller than its rival thanks to a 5.56 mm bezel.

There was plenty of speculation about a Xiaomi laptop last year, and now that has materialized into a physical product it’ll be interesting to see how many units Xiaomi ships. Let it not be forgotten that the company has struggled to justify its huge $45 billion valuation. It sold “over 70 million devices” in 2015 and, while that figure is very respectable,an increase on its previous year while many in the industry are seeing volumes fall, it was some way behind Xiaomi’s original target. Added to that, there’s been no indication that its smart home focus — the idea that Xiaomi can build an ecosystem of products for Chinese consumers — has come to fruition yet.

That focus was a key driver for Xiaomi’s colossal valuation. Because, with hardware a fiercely competitive business with low margins despite Xiaomi’s smart approach to sourcing components, the potential for a data and services business that connects the dots can help Xiaomi stand apart from its rivals.

Some may see a laptop as an unnecessary product line, particularly in China where the audience is mobile-first internet users, but does fit into Xiaomi’s ambition to own every connected device in a Chinese consumer household. Or at least to offer an attractive option for any kind of internet-connected hardware product.

Microsoft Band 3: Specs, features, release date and price rumors

ere has been much talk about the Microsoft Band 3 release date. Expected in October 2016, the new fitness band is hoped to bring some necessary improvements, based on the user feedback that Microsoft encourages. The company runs a 'UserVoice' page where users can freely voice their opinions and share ideas on improvements in Microsoft's Health App and Band.

Last year, the Microsoft Band 2 was made available for purchase in November for a price of $249 and has been in stores for a little over four months now. It currently retails on Microsoft's online store for a limited time discounted price of $175 and can be purchased from other sources too.

Intex launches fitness band FitRist, priced at Rs 999

We expect to see the Microsoft Band v3 released at around the same price as theBand 2, considering the company slashed its prices by $75 in a matter of 5 months. That would mean the upcoming Band 3 will cost you approximately $250 to $300.

Among the improvements we expect to see will be rumoured waterproofing for the armband, the ability to monitor heart rate accurately and probably on a separate tile with cohesive information, an indication of battery life on the screen and the option to have an emergency medical tile.

Meet Microsoft's new fitness tracker, Band 2

Users have requested Microsoft to release a waterproof armband since its first iteration which Microsoft has alleged been working on since 2014 when it filed a patent for a fluid-proof battery housing with the United States Patent Application Office.

Most other expected improvements can be rolled out by Microsoft with UX updates to the Band 2. Whether or not they will really launch Microsoft Band 3 this October is yet to be seen.

Samsung Galaxy S7 review, news, price, specs and features

The long-awaited Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge have finally arrived — and they’re everything we hoped they would be. Announced at MWC 2016 in Barcelona, Samsung has again released two variants of the S7 — both similar at the core, but with a few subtle differences. Last year’s Samsung offering was a big one with theGalaxy S6 and S6 edge, and this time around Samsung has made its 2016 phones even better than ever before.

Last year with the GS6, Samsung dropped both the S6 proper and S6 edge at the same time, while the S6 edge+ came along a bit later. The design of the S6 was totally different from that of the previous years S5. Gone was the cheaper-looking plastic, here now was a solid glass and metal design.

This time around, Samsung has announced two variants of the S7, in two different sizes, right from the start. Both carry on with the metal and glass design of the GS6, with a few major updates. The S7 proper rings in at 5.1-inches, and the slightly larger — but otherwise quite the same — S7 edge at 5.5-inches. Both S7 variants are packed with features that include a microSD card slot, bigger battery, refreshed camera and even waterproofing.

Here's everything you need to know:

Samsung Galaxy S7 Review

It's not all that often we can recommend a phone without any real hesitation. The Galaxy S7 is one of those. Samsung has improved on most of our complaints from the Galaxy S6 era. Battery life is improved. Not great, but adequate. The overall design is better and less slippery, and it takes a case well without becoming too large. The display size hits that 5.1-inch sweet spot. The fingerprint feature is excellent.

And while we're a little back-and-forth on the camera, that's because Samsung is among the manufacturers that we tend to hold to a higher standard in that regard. The Galaxy S7 camera should, in any event, serve you just fine.