Oppo Neo 3 handset out for Rs 10990, is competing with Asus ZenFone

For some weird reason, the Oppo Neo 3 thinks you’ll be willing to pay Rs 10990 for it when there are competitors with better specs costing much less. Take the new ZenFone 4 which has superior specifications on a few counts, but still asks you to cough up only Rs 6999 for it.

And then let’s not forget the Xiaomi Redmi 1S handset which is priced even more competitively at Rs 5999 in spite of featuring impressive components for a device of its ilk. So let’s tell you what you’ll be getting for Rs 10990 with the Oppo Neo 3 smartphone.

If you ask us what’s the difference between the Oppo Neo and the newer device, the addition of flash is the only major change we can spot. The latter handset works on Android v4.2 Jelly Bean mated with Oppo’s proprietary ColorOS user interface.

The dual SIM device sticks to a 4.5-inch FWVGA resolution touchscreen and works on a dual core 1.3GHz processor of unnamed origin, though MediaTek is the sensible bet. It limps along on 1GB of RAM and has 4GB of memory which can be expanded by up to 32GB via its microSD card slot.

Oppo Neo 3 specs at a glance:

- Android Jelly Bean with ColorOS
- 4.5-inch FWVGA 480 x 854p display
- 1GB RAM, 4GB internal memory
- 32GB microSD card support
- Dual core 1.3GHz processor
- 5MP rear camera w/ flash
- 2MP front lens
- 3G, 2G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC, GPS/AGPS
- 1900mAh battery
- 65.8 x 132 x 9.2 millimeters
- 130 grams

Facebook clears the air on rumors about its new Messenger application

If think you should be annoyed about all those rumors surrounding the new Facebook Messenger app, that’s nothing compared to what the company’s feeling. Not only has its recent and most irritating move to split its mobile version seen a lot of backlash, stories about it using the chat application to spy on users have also popped up.

In case you’re not in the loop, Facebook recently started coaxing people to download a separate tool called Messenger in order to make full use of chat that is already present within the social network’s mobile app. Since the company is trying to go big in the mobile applications’ scene, it made sense for it to try and coerce folks into downloading a standalone option for chats.

You can picture what it must have been like when those who were already feeling harassed by the need to install two separate Facebook apps on their phone, saw user reviews implying that the company was spying on them. Rumors about the software requesting permission to employ the concerned device’s camera and microphone for ‘sinister purposes’ starting snowballing.

This prompted Facebook’s Peter Martinazzi to tell those silly mortals to ‘Get the Facts About Messenger’ right. The post which sounds thoroughly unrepentant about dismantling the wholesome Facebook experience on mobile notes that it does ask leave to run features such as making calls and sending pictures, videos or voice messages.

But it’s only because when you send a photo via the application, it requires permission to turn on your handset’s camera and click the intended image. Martinazzi is assuring worried folks about the camera and microphone being left untouched by Messenger when it’s not running. He also had something to say about splitting theFacebook application.

Never mind that we want to expand our opportunity to serve you ads, was not what Martinazzi said. Instead, he chose to tell everyone about how people usually respond almost 20% faster when they have Facebook Messenger.