Samsung Mobile India launched four smartphones in its Galaxy A and Galaxy J series which all features Samsung’s flagship ‘Infinity Display’ offering an almost bezel-less-like feel with 18:5:9 aspect ratio.

The all four new smartphones also run on Android Oreo operating system. While the all-new Samsung Galaxy A6+ and A6 feature a metal unibody design, the Galaxy J8 and J6 come with a polycarbonate body.

Samsung Galaxy A6+ and A6 specifications

Samsung Galaxy A6 and A6+ feature a similar spec-sheet with differences in processor, display size, battery and rear camera. The Galaxy A6+ is powered by a Snapdragon 450 processor while the A6 is powered by an Exynos 7870 SoC.

The smaller Galaxy A6 comes with a 5.6-inch HD+ Super AMOLED Infinity Display with 18:5:9 aspect ratio, the Galaxy A6+ has a 6-inch display with the same resolution.

The Galaxy A6 comes with a 16MP rear camera with f/1.7 aperture while the bigger A6+ has a dual-lens setup with a 16MP primary sensor with f/1.7 aperture and a 5MP secondary sensor with f/1.9 aperture.

There is a 16MP front camera on the A6 while the Galaxy A6+ has a 24MP selfie camera.

The smaller Galaxy A6 is powered by a 3,000mAh battery while the Galaxy A6+ has a 3,500mAh battery.

Both the smartphones have 4GB of RAM. The Galaxy A6 comes in 32GB and 64GB internal storage options. There is support for microSD cards of up to 256GB.

The main feature on both the phones in their Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered camera module.

Samsung Galaxy J8 and J6 specifications

The Galaxy J8 is powered by a Snapdragon 450 processor while the smaller Galaxy J6 features an Exynos 7870 processor. While the smaller J6 comes with a 5.6-inch HD+ Super AMOLED Infinity Display with 18:5:9 aspect ratio, the Galaxy J8 has a 6-inch display with the same resolution.

The Galaxy J6 comes with a 13MP rear camera with f/1.9 aperture while the bigger J8 has a dual-lens setup with a 16MP primary sensor with f/1.7 aperture and a 5MP secondary sensor with f/1.9 aperture.

There is an 8MP front camera on the J6 while the Galaxy J8 has a 16MP selfie camera.

The smaller Galaxy J6 is be powered by a 3,000mAh battery while the Galaxy J8 has a 3,500mAh battery.

The Galaxy J8 has 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage that can be expanded to up to 256GB. On the other hand, the Galaxy J6 comes in two variants, Galaxy J6 with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage and 4G RAM and 64GB storage version.

There is support for microSD card of up to 256GB on both.

Samsung Galaxy A6+, A6, J8, J6 prices and availability

1. Samsung Galaxy A6+ – priced at Rs 25,990
2. Smasung Galaxy A6 – comes in two storage variants (both with 4GB RAM) – 32GB storage at Rs 21,990 and 64GB storage costs Rs 22,990
3. Galaxy J8 – costs Rs 18,990
4. Samsung Galaxy J6 comes in two RAM and storage variant, Galaxy J6 with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage costs Rs 13,990 while the 4G RAM and 64GB storage version is priced at Rs 16,490

The Samsung Galaxy J6, A6 and A6+ will be available across retail stores and Samsung eshop website from May 22. The Galaxy J6 will also be available on Flipkart while the Galaxy A6 and A6+ will also be available on Amazon starting May 22. The Galaxy J8 will be available from July 2018. The devices will also be available on PayTM Mall. All the four devices will be available in Blue, Black and Gold color options.

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Reliance’s Jio Infocomm has now forayed into the banking business with a payments bank service and named it as Jio Payment Bank (Jio Payments Bank Limited), a joint venture between Reliance Industries and State Bank of India with a 70:30 per cent partnership between the two.

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) is one of the 11 applicants for setting up payments bank in August 2015. Jio received the licence to start operation in March 2017, according to media reports.

The 11 unit as Payment Banks who got license, under Section 22 (1) of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 to carry on the business of payments bank in India, from RBI are-

• Aditya Birla Nuvo Limited
• Airtel M Commerce Services Limited
• Cholamandalam Distribution Services Limited
• Department of Posts
• Fino PayTech – Fino PayTech Limited
• National Securities Depository Limited
• Reliance Industries Limited (Jio Payment Bank)
• Shri Dilip Shantilal Shanghvi
• One97 Communications – PayTM Payment Bank
• Tech Mahindra Limited
• Vodafone m-Pesa Limited

What is a payments bank?

A payments bank is like any traditional bank but operating at a smaller scale. The only difference is that payments banks do not have any credit-providing service.

Telecom major Bharti Airtel was the first one to start payments bank services in India in November 2016. After a huge success during demonetization, PayTM also launched its payments bank services in May 2017.

FINO Payments Banks Limited started in June 2017. The Aditya Birla group’s Idea Payments Bank was started from February 22 this year. And now, Reliance JIO.

How are they different from traditional banks?

The Airtel payments banks offers the highest interest rate of 7.25% unlike the other traditional systems. PayTM payments bank offers an interest rate of 4 per cent on a savings account and 7 per cent on fixed deposits. Payments banks can accept deposits of up to Rs. 100,000 per account from individuals and small businesses.

Apart from the interest rates, payments banks offer zero balance accounts or no minimum balance accounts without any extra charge.

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UPI (Unified Payments Interface) enabled WhatsApp (acquired by Facebook) Payments feature is already live for beta users in India, however it is not rolled out for every WhatsApp user till now.

If this feature is rolled out for every WhatsApp users in India in coming days, then let’s know how to add banks/bank account to your WhatsApp, and how to send/receive money to your peers/friends and vice versa?

As reported, this feature is available on WhatsApp version 2.18.21 for iOS, and version 2.18.41 for Android.

The payment option uses the UPI interface, which is regulated by the Reserve Bank of India through its payment subsidiary NPCI (National Payments Corporation of India) – a regulatory body responsible for all retail payments in India.

Since WhatsApp is the peer-to-peer payment option, you can’t use this for merchant payments. Using this payment option i.e. UPI enabled WhatsApp, money will be directly debited from and credited to your account. Once your contact number is linked with the bank account and UPI, there is no need to enter the VPA (Virtual Payments Address) or bank account number or IFSC code. The same applies to your friends or peers in the WhatsApp group.

Requirement to do WhatsApp Payments

1. Latest version of WhatsApp app on your phone
2. Both sender and receiver should be running the latest WhatsApp version as well as have WhatsApp Payments option enabled
3. WhatsApp number should be same as your mobile number linked to your bank account with UPI option support as well

Linking Bank Account to WhatsApp Payments

1. Open WhatsApp
2. Tap on three dots on the top right corner
3. Tap on settings
4. Tap on “Payments” just below notification
5. On the next screen, tap on “ACCEPT AND CONTINUE”.
6. Verify your mobile number using SMS, tap on “VERIFY VIA SMS”.
7. App will send you an SMS and use the same and complete the verification process.

Now you will see a list of all UPI supported banks, bank name and the last four digits of your bank account.

1. Select your bank.
2. App will fetch details and show your bank account number. After this, you will see the message saying setup complete.

Change or delete bank account in WhatsApp Payments?

If you have multiple bank accounts and want to add, change or link another bank account then-

1. Open WhatsApp
2. Tap on the three dots on top right and tap on Payments
3. Tap on “add new account’ and you will see the list of banks
4. Once you select your bank account, it will fetch details and add the account
5. You can either set up this account as your primary account to send and receive payments or you can remove also
6. By tapping on bank, you will see the option of setting the bank as primary or secondary bank to receive or send payment

WhatsApp Payments – How to send money?

The best feature of WhatsApp Payments is that you can send money to your friends using individual chats, or you can send money to your friends in a group too as follows-

1. Open individual chat (to whom you want to send money)
2. Tap on the “Clip” icon and there you will find the option “Payment”, tap on it
3. If the receiver has latest WhatsApp version and bank account configured, you can enter the amount followed by a note (a message) and tap on the send button
4. It will ask you to enter 4 digits UPI pin
5. Once you enter and authenticate then the money will be sent
6. You will also get the details of the transaction from your bank as an SMS.

WhatsApp Payments – How to receive money?

As of now, this feature is not available, but it will be rolled out to all users in some time.

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