Canadians to pay more for Apple apps thanks to falling loonie

WATCH: Prices for Apple apps, games and in-app purchases will increase within the next 72 hours.

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Sure, gas prices may be lower; but you can now thank the falling loonie for an increase in your iTunes bill. For the second year in a row, Apple is hiking prices in the Canadian App Store to account for foreign exchange rates.

According to an email sent to software developers Monday, prices for apps, games and in-app purchases will increase in Canada, Israel, Mexico, New Zealand, Russia, Singapore and South Africa.

The change will take affect within the next 72 hours.

According to the document, two new low-price tiers will be available to developers for the Canadian App Store; however, Apple has not confirmed what those price tiers will be.

However, according to a report from The Next Web, apps will now start at $1.39 for Canadian users, up from $1.19. The report claims higher-priced apps will see the most impact – apps formerly priced at $50.00 will go up to $69.99.

An Apple spokesperson declined to comment.

This isn’t the first time Apple has raised prices due to the falling loonie. In Jan. 2015Canadian’s said goodbye to $0.99 apps after the tech giant was forced to increase app prices to account for adjustments in value-added tax (VAT) and foreign exchange rates.

Developers set the price of their own apps by choosing a price tier – CAD$1.39 being the lowest, CAD$999.99 being the highest. The developer can change that price tier at any time.

A word to the wise – if you have your eye on a few paid apps, you might want to buy them now before the price goes up.

A 3G smartphone

Zen Cinemax 2 Review: A 3G smartphone at an affordable price

Zen Mobiles launched its new 3G smartphone Cinemax 2 in the Indian market at a very affordable price of Rs 4,199. It is considered to be an improved version of its last year launched Zen Cinemax. The handset comes with nice built and decent specifications. It can be a good option for the people looking for a smartphone in the budget segment. Want to know more about the device? Read on.

Design & Display

Out of the box, we found the Zen Cinemax 2 smartphone to be very similar to the Lumia smartphone series from the Microsoft family. The smartphone is made of a removable back panel that is made of plastic and is also bulky, which makes it difficult for the user to use it with one hand. The removable back panel hides the two SIM card and memory card slots along with the 2,900 mAh battery. The power button is located on the right side and the volume rocker key is placed on the left side. The micro USB port and the audio jack are placed on the top panel of the smartphone.



The rear panel also sports a 5MP camera accompanied with LED flash. A 2MP front-facing snapper is placed on the upper left corner of the display for clicking selfies.




The 5.5-inch QHD display comes with 960x540 pixels of resolution and its quality is also pretty decent. The colour reproduction was average, however it worked fine under bright sunlight. With the large display we quite liked the games and movies experience. The touchscreen is responsive, however it is prone to smudges and fingerprints, like many in this category.

Camera and Performance

The Zen Cinemax 2 runs on Android 5.1 Lollipop operating system and tries to deliver the stock Android experience to the users. Users will not be able to customise the interface; however you can uninstall some of the pre-loaded apps that eat up a lot of space on the device. The user interface is clean and simple, which makes it easy to use and navigate through.

The smartphone is powered by a 32-bit 1.3GHz quad-core Spredtrum processor paired with 1GB of RAM. The internal storage of the smartphone accounts to 8GB, which can be expanded further up to 32GB using a microSD card. It packs in a 2,900 mAh battery and offers 3G, WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS as connectivity options.

Moving on to the cameras, the Zen Cinemax 2 comes equipped with a 5MP rear camera with an LED flash for low light photography. The camera app is simple with missing enhancements. Features such as Lens Blur, Panorama are missing from the app. The camera performs quite well during day time, but you will get disappointed when it comes to indoor photography as a lot of noise is visible in the images. Moreover, the pictures taken with full zoom turned out to be blurry.



The 2MP front camera also fails to impress. There is nothing great to boast about this cameras performance. But, considering its price point the smartphone one cannot expect more.






Stressing a bit more on the performance, the smartphone performs decently considering its specifications and the price segment. The handset was able to multitask smoothly in the initial phase of testing, but lags were witnessed when we downloaded and played some of the heavy apps. The smartphone also struggles to perform when you try to play graphic intensive games like Asphalt 8. The handset packs in a 2,900 mAh battery that easily stretches to a day of mixed usage.

The sound quality of the device is also not great when played on loudspeaker, but it is workable on headphones. It does not come with 4G connectivity that can be a letdown for the people looking for a budget smartphone in this segment. The call quality and sound reception during calls was fine.

Verdict

As said before the Zen Cinemax 2 comes with a price tag of Rs 4,199 and is a good option for people who want a big screen 3G device without burning a hole in their pocket. Those looking for other options around the same price bracket can also consider the Lenovo A2010, which offers 4G connectivity, 1GB RAM, quad-core CPU, 5MP camera and a 2,000 mAh battery. The Lenovo A2010 is priced for Rs 4,499 and is slightly better than the Zen Cinemax 2. However, people who are looking for the first time Android/smartphone experience can think of picking the Cinemax 2.