Heena Sharma Blog

  I own a smart TV which I bought in 2019. It was rich in specifications and features back then, but it now seems to have aged prematurely. Not that it has bad picture or audio quality, but it lags behind newer smart televisions in performance, connectivity, and user experience. Thankfully, there are streaming devices like the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max which bring to speed these otherwise mediocre televisions with their faster internet connectivity, sleek performance, and support for tons of new and updated apps. How? Let’s find out: What is Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max? The Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max is a streaming device with HDMI interface that turns any screen with HDMI input into a smart screen connected to the internet for online streaming of content available on supported apps like YouTube, Prime Video, Apple TV, Netflix, Disney+ Hotstar, etc. It boots Android operating system-based Amazon’s Fire OS with Amazon services like Prime Video and Amazon Music built-in, and ...

  Amazon India’s ‘ Covid Warriors ’ are helping colleagues and the community with critical resources amidst the medical emergency that has accompanied the country's second Covid-19 surge. In the midst of Rashmi's mother's battle with Covid-19 at a Mumbai hospital, authorities asked her family to make their own arrangements for oxygen as the facility was running out of stock. In Bengaluru, Prashant faced a similar race against time as he desperately tried to hunt down oxygen concentrators for his father, who had not been able to get a hospital bed and was fighting the virus at home. For Abhishek, based in the US, the emergency and anxiety spanned continents as he sought oxygen support for his father-in-law in Delhi. For each of these Amazon employees (names changed), it was a colleague – an Amazon Covid Warrior – who stepped in to help. Read More

  In line with government's " Atmanirbhar Bharat " vision, Amazon India on Wednesday launched a toy store where sellers from 15 Indian states will showcase thousands of unique toys across categories like traditional, handmade and educational. The launch of the "made in India" toy store could help local manufacturers to take on the deluge of Chinese toys into the Indian market. Amazon.in said that the store will enable thousands of manufacturers and sellers to sell locally designed and manufactured toys, inspired by Indian culture, folk tales as well as toys that encourage scientific thinking and innovation. "I commend Amazon India's efforts to feature local toys by launching a dedicated 'Made in India' toy store where the state's vibrant toys from Channapatna will also be featured," Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister C. N. Ashwath Narayana said in a statement. Read More

  It is Dhanteras today, an occasion that marks the beginning of Diwali festival in India. Dhanteras is considered an auspicious day to buy precious metal. While there is no specific sale happening around the occasion, e-commerce platforms operating in the country like Amazon and Flipkart are running Diwali sales where one can avail offers and discounts on wide range of products, besides bank offers such as no interest equated monthly instalment and instant discounts. Let’s take a look at offers available on e-commerce platform: Amazon India Dhanteras sale Amazon is currently running its annual festive season sale named the ‘ Great Indian Festival sale ’ . Valid until November 13, the sale include wide range of products, including discounts on precious metals like Gold and Silver. Besides, there are bank offers to sweeten the deal; Amazon is offering 10 per cent instant discount on transaction made through State Bank of India credit cards subjected to minimum order value of Rs...

  Flipkart will host its annual ' The Big Billion Days ' sale from October 16-21. It has enabled new and convenient payment offerings on its platform to pave the way for an inclusive and consumer-centric shopping experience. It has onboarded more than 50,000 kirana shops to strengthen its supply chain and delivery capabilities ahead of the upcoming festive season. Flipkart will make available no-cost EMIs through offers from Bajaj Finserv EMI cars and other bank credit and debit cards. Its partnership with Paytm will enable millions of users to conveniently pay through their Paytm Wallet and Paytm UPI while shopping. Flipkart customers will also get instant cashback to their Paytm wallets. The State Bank of India (SBI) will offer a 10 per cent instant discount for its debit and credit Card users during the six-day sale. Over 100,000 Amazon-enabled local shops, kirana and neighbourhood stores across India will serve customers in the upcoming festive season on the e-commerce...

OnePlus is set to launch its affordable smart TVs in India on July 2. Before the launch, however, the company has started taking pre-orders on its partner e-commerce platform Amazon. Amazon is taking pre-orders for OnePlus smart TVs (2020) by offering a two-year extended warranty from Acko general insurance worth Rs 3,000 at a discounted price of Rs 1,000, which would also be reversed to consumers Amazon Pay account later, essentially making the two-year insurance free to all those who pre-order and purchase the TV. "An email confirmation will be shared on purchase. Purchase any of the new OnePlus TVs (2020 models) on Amazon before August 5," the company said in a statement. Read More

Amazon is considering including television channels to its Prime Video service, according to a news report in technology portal Protocol. Some publicly available job listings from the technology giant also point to the same intention. The new channels in Prime Video may bring live news, music, sports, award shows and special events besides movies and TV shows. Amazon is "actively pursuing" deals to license live and linear programming, said the report, citing an unnamed industry insider. "Linear TV enables customers to watch 24/7 streams of their favourite TV stations airing programmes including sports, news, movies, award shows, special events and TV shows," said one of the job listings which is seeking application for a Principal Product Manager, Technical for Prime Video Linear TV. Read More

Mobile phones, televisions, refrigerators, laptops and stationary items will be allowed to be sold through e-commerce platforms like Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal from April 20 during the lockdown, officials said on Thursday. The clarification from a senior home ministry official came a day after Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla issued revised guidelines for the extended lockdown period till May 3. Electronic items like the mobile phones, TVs, laptops will be available on the e-commerce platforms from April 20, the official said. However, the delivery vans of the e-commerce companies will need permission from authorities for plying on the roads. According to Wednesday's guidelines, commercial and private establishments were allowed to operate during the extended lockdown. Read More

Amazon Pantry , the company’s daily essentials store for Prime members, is back online and is accepting orders in a few cities after temporarily shutting down last week due to the lockdown. It is now serviceable in Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune for select pincodes. Pantry offers essentials including food, beverages, household supplies, health and beauty products at discounted rates. “We are prioritising deliveries of existing orders. Deliveries of new orders could take 7-10 days,” said the e-commerce company. Amazon Pantry was delivering essentials in over 100 cities across India before suspending services temporarily when the country entered the 21-day lockdown to contain the spread of Covid-19. Read More

Walmart-owned Flipkart said on Wednesday it would resume services and Amazon said it was working with the government to enable its deliveries after state governments reached out to the firms, which had temporarily stopped accepting new orders amid reports of police high-handedness. The Delhi police issued a statement saying they were proactively engaging with e-commerce portals and were issuing passes to ensure agents were able to commute seamlessly and deliver essential goods to residents during the 21-day lockdown. The Bengaluru police, too, came out with guidelines for issuing curfew passes. Following this, Flipkart Chief Executive Officer Kalyan Krishnamurthy said, “We have been assured of the safe and smooth passage of our supply chain and delivery executives by local law enforcement authorities and are resuming our grocery and essentials services later today (Wednesday).” Read More

Amazon.com Inc said on Monday it would hire 100,000 warehouse and delivery workers in the United States to tackle a surge in online orders, as consumers shop heavily fearing the spread of the coronavirus outbreak . Amazon said it would invest over $350 million to raise the pays for these employees in the US and Canada by $2 an hour, 2 pounds in the UK and about 2 euros in the European Union. It currently pays $15 an hour for workers in its US fulfillment centers. Read More

Shortly after being named Amazon.com Inc.’s global logistics chief in 2013, Dave Clark held a conference call with his new reports. During the meet-and-greet, according to a person on the call, Clark described his early-career habit of lurking in the shadows of Amazon warehouses and scoping out slackers he could fire, which earned him the nickname The Sniper. Clark speaks in a monotone and is hard to read, but the message was clear enough: The new boss wanted his underlings to know that he will let little stand in the way of ensuring that customers get their orders on time. The Sniper demonstrated his determination yet again on Sunday, when—at the height of the holiday shopping rush—he essentially fired FedEx Corp. Clark’s team had noticed that FedEx’s delivery performance was slipping and banned third-party merchants from using the logistics giant’s ground network for the rest of the season. Clark has not forgotten the shambolic holiday season of 2013. Just months after he...

E-commerce platform Amazon India is offering discounts, deals, exchange offers, bank offers, zero-interest equated monthly instalment schemes, etc, on a wide number of products, including smartphone, as part of its ongoing festive-season sale. The Amazon Great Indian Festival sale started on September 29 and will continue until October 4. In the sale, the e-commerce platform is offering up to 10 per cent instant discount on SBI cards and credit-card EMI transactions, free one-year screen replacement in partnership with Acko, besides exchange offers and besides interest-free EMIs on smartphones. Samsung Galaxy M30 (3GB/32GB) This budget smartphone from South Korean electronics major Samsung is available at a discounted price of Rs 9,999, which is nine per cent lower than its prevailing retail price of Rs 11,000. The phone has a 6.4-inch fullHD+ screen with infinity-U-shaped notch on the top. Powered by Exynos 7904 mobile processor, the phone boasts a 5,000 mAh battery and 15W...

Chinese electronics maker BKK Electronics’ smartphone brand Oppo recently launched the Oppo K3 in India. The smartphone goes on sale today (July 23), exclusively on e-commerce platform Amazon India. The phone boasts an elevating selfie camera, AMOLED screen, in-display fingerprint sensor, VOOC 3.0 fast-charging technology and Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 system-on-chip. It comes in two RAM and storage configurations — 6GB/64GB and 8GB/128GB — priced at Rs 16,990 and Rs 19,990, respectively. As part of an introductory scheme, Amazon is offering a Rs 1,000 instant cashback in the form of Amazon Pay balance on both RAM and storage variants. The cashback brings down the phone’s effective cost to Rs 15,990 and Rs 18,990 for 6GB/64GB and 8GB/128GB variants, respectively. The phone also gets an instant discount of up to Rs 1,000 on Axis Bank debit and credit card transactions. Additionally, both the variants come bundled with additional benefits worth Rs 7,050 from Jio, discounts worth Rs ...

Amazon India is hosting a four-day sale on smartphones and is offering discounts, exchange offers, no cost equated monthly instalment (EMI) schemes, and cashback on EMI transactions from an SBI bank credit card. Named Amazon fab phone fest , the sale is currently live and would continue till March 28. Here are some of the deals and offers on smartphones: This midrange flagship smartphone from Chinese smartphone brand OnePlus, priced at Rs 37,999 for 6GB RAM and 128GB storage, is eligible for Rs 2,000 additional exchange value, meaning you can trade your old smartphone for the OnePlus 6T and get Rs 2,000 additional discount on the exchange. For example, if you want to trade the Nokia 7 Plus for the OnePlus 6T, you will get an exchange discount of Rs 5,100 (Rs 3,100 phone exchange price plus Rs 2,000 additional exchange value). This Apple’s ten-year anniversary edition is available at a discounted price of Rs 73,999, down from its original listed price of Rs 91,900. The phone i...

Amazon India is hosting a three-day sale on smartphones in which the e-commerce platform is offering discounts, bank offers, exchange offers, and no cost equated monthly instalment options on smartphones across various brands. Named the Amazon fab phones fest, the sale is currently live and will continue until March 7. Here are some of the deals to check out: This flagship smartphone from the stable of Chinese maker OnePlus is eligible for Rs 2,000 extra exchange value as a part of exchange offer. The phone is also eligible for no cost EMI, and the e-commerce portal is offering additional Rs 2,000 off on EMI orders and Rs 1,500 off on non-EMI orders on Kotak cards – subject to terms and conditions. The last year flagship from Cupertino, US-based technology giant Apple is available at a discounted price of Rs 74,999, down 18 per cent from its listed price of Rs 91,900. The phone is eligible for no cost EMI, valid only on HDFC bank credit cards and Bajaj Finserv EMI cards. Th...

The Samsung Galaxy M20 (review) and Galaxy M10 , launched recently by South Korean electronics major Samsung, would go on sale at 12 noon today (February 19) on e-commerce platform Amazon. Both phones are eligible for five per cent instant discounts if payments are made using ICICI Bank debit and credit cards. The phones are also eligible for Reliance Jio double data offer, valid on recharge of Rs 198 and Rs 299. Designed for millennials, the Galaxy M-series phones have V-shaped notch screens, dual-camera modules with ultra-wide angle lenses, high-capacity batteries, Exynos 7-series processors, and Android Oreo operating system-based user interface designed ground up for the M-series. The Galaxy M20 has a 6.3-inch fullHD+ infinity-V shaped notch screen. The Galaxy M10, on the other hand, has a 6.2-inch screen of the same format, but of an HD+ resolution. Both Galaxy M20 and M10 come with the Widevine L1 certification required to stream videos in high definition through app-b...

Amazon.com Inc resurrected thousands of suspended product listings in India by selling much of its stake in top local venture partner Cloudtail, a hastily arranged deal intended to comply with stringent new e-commerce regulations that upended the market. With the transaction, Cloudtail resumed selling products as of midnight, people familiar with the matter said. The Amazon entity sold 25 per cent of its shares to Prione Business Services Pvt, a company run by billionaire Narayana Murthy’s Catamaran Advisors LLP. Prione now owns 76 per cent of the venture from 51 per cent previously, they said. The remaining 24 per cent is now owned by a non-Indian arm of the US retailer’s called Amazon Asia-Pacific Resources Ltd, they said, asking not to be identified talking about a private matter. The deal allowed Amazon to recover a big chunk of item listings frozen since Feb. 1, when newly introduced e-commerce regulations threw Amazon’s and Walmart Inc.’s plans for the world’s fastest...

Chinese electronics manufacturer Xiaomi is gearing up to announce five new products in India on September 27. These products include a new smartphone, air purifier, television, security camera and a fitness band. Teaser page of these products, except for the smartphone, is already live on Amazon India, confirming that at least four of these products would be available exclusively on the e-commerce platform. Xiaomi has been teasing the upcoming products on social media channels, sharing hints on what to expect from the upcoming devices. The company’s Twitter channel now has a new cover image with a title ‘Smarter Living’ embossed on a red background featuring at least four products i.e. a fitness band, voice-enabled television, smartphone and a security camera. Xiaomi Mi Band 3 The upcoming fitness band is expected to be the Mi Band 3, a successor of the Mi Band 2 that was launched in India in 2016. The Mi Band 3 was launched in China earlier this year. Compared to th...

Chinese smartphone manufacturer OnePlus is gearing up to launch the OnePlus 6T soon. The phone teaser is now live on e-commerce platform Amazon, and a television commercial featuring Bollywood celebrity Amitabh Bachchan is out too. This is exactly how OnePlus started promoting the yesteryear flagship OnePlus 5T before the launch. With the teaser page out and television commercial featuring on different channels, it is safe to assume that the launch is now only days away. While the teaser on Amazon India does not reveal anything, the television commercial provides some details on the design aspect of the upcoming OnePlus flagship. ALSO READ: Apple leads global premium phone market; OnePlus enters top 5: Counterpoint Speaking of other upgrades, the OnePlus 6T is confirmed to get an in-display fingerprint sensor technology, where the sensor is placed beneath the display panel. This allows a part of the screen to double up as a biometric recognition module for identifying fing...