KATHMANDU: Gionee, a global leader in telecommunication devices, launched two smartphones — the Elife E8 and Marathon M5 recently in Beijing. The Gionee Elife E8 has a 24MP rear camera with proprietary software that can produce images of 120MP quality, as per the press release issued on Monday. The phone also has optical image stabilisation, lossless zoom upto three times and 4K video recording. The front facing camera is 8MP. The phone comes with Android 5.1 Lollipop-based Amigo 3.1, and is a dual-SIM 4G smartphone. Other features include a six-inch QHD (1600x2560 pixel) Super Amoled display, a 2GHz CPU, 3GB RAM, a fingerprint scanner and dual speakers. Internal storage capacity is 64GB and it is powered by a 3520mAh battery. The Gionee Marathon M5, successor to the Gionee Marathon M3, comes with two 3010mAh batteries. The batteries will last up to four days on a single charge. The Marathon M5 also comes with Android Lollipop, and has dual-SIM capability. A 5.5-inch HD (720x1280 pixel) Amoled display, a 64-bit 1.5GHz quad-core CPU, 2GB of RAM, 16GB internal storage (expandable via microSD) are other features. The phone features a 13MP rear camera, and a 5MP front camera. Both these phones will reach the Nepali market soon, the release adds.

Ferrero to expand

LONDON: The board of British chocolate maker Thorntons said Monday it had agreed a takeover deal by Italian rival Ferrero that values the firm at about £111.9 million (156.2 million euros, $177.4 million). Thorntons Chairman Paul Wilkinson urged shareholders to accept the offer of 145 pence a share, a 42.9 per cent increase on Friday’s closing price. “Ferrero is a successful global confectionery business with a strong family heritage and as such represents a good cultural fit for Thorntons,” he said in a statement.

Nokia acquisition

BRUSSELS: European Union antitrust regulators are scheduled to decide by July 27 whether to allow Finnish telecoms equipment maker Nokia to acquire French peer Alcatel-Lucent to become the number two player in the sector. Nokia, which unveiled the 15.6-billion-euro ($17.70 billion) deal in April, sought EU approval last Friday, the European Commission said on its website. The merged company would rank behind market leader and Swedish peer Ericsson but ahead of Chinese rival Huawei.