Tecno Spark 4 with 20:9 display, triple rear cameras and 4,000mAh battery launched for Rs. 7,999 (~$113)

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Sep 25, 2019

The Tecno Spark 4 arrived in India today, just a few weeks after the Spark 4 Air was introduced in the country. The smartphone comes with a display with waterdrop notch and triple rear cameras. It competes with the likes of the Lenovo A6 Note, Redmi 8A, Moto E6s, Realme C2, Nokia 3.2 and Infinix Hot 8 in the country.

Tecno Spark 4 Specifications and Features

The Spark 4 features a 6.52-inch HD+ display with an aspect ratio of 20:9 and a screen-to-body-ratio of 90%. The smartphone draws power from a quad-core MediaTek Helio A22 SoC and is paired with 3 GB and 4 GB of RAM. Storage options include 32 GB and 64 GB of internal memory. The device features expandable storage up to 128 GB with a microSD card.

Editor’s Pick: Xiaomi Redmi 8 to launch soon in India

The Tecno Spark 4 sports a triple-camera setup at the rear. The primary unit is a 13-megapixel sensor with an aperture rating of f/1.8, which is paired with a 2-megapixel depth sensor and a low-light imaging sensor. Features include a dual-tone LED flash module, PDAF, AR stickers, eight scene modes, AI HDR, custom bokeh, panorama and AI Beauty. The front camera is an 8-megapixel unit, which features a portrait mode, AI beauty mode, wide-selfie mode and AR stickers.

The Spark 4 draws power from a 4,000 mAh battery with AI power management for better efficiency. Tecno claims that Spark 4 will offer up to 26 hours of call time, 110 hours of audio playback, 6.9 hours of gaming and 6 hours of video playback on a single charge. The device gets face recognition and a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner in terms of security. Connectivity options include dual SIM 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, GPS, microUSB, USB OTG and 3.5mm audio jack.

Tecno Spark 4 Price and Availability

The Spark 4 is priced at Rs. 7,999 (~$113) for the 3 GB + 32 GB variant. The higher spec 4 GB + 64 GB variant is priced at Rs. 8,999 (~$127). The 3 GB variant comes in Royal Purple and Vacation Blue, while the 4 GB variant comes in Majestic Purple and Bay Blue colors. The smartphone is currently on sale across 35,000 offline retail stores.

Visionox is Chinese Smartphone makers’ new Favorite for developing Experimental Displays

By

Joel Joseph

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Sep 25, 2019

Xiaomi stunned everyone with its Mi Mix Alpha concept yesterday featuring a 360° wraparound display. It’s basically a permanently folded curved screen device. Looking at its beautiful curved display, we may assume that it’s from big-league OLED makers like Samsung, LG, or even BOE. But turns out, Xiaomi worked very closely with China’s Visionox to bring this curved screen design to reality.

A top-rated digital blogger and supply chain source, Mocha revealed on Weibo earlier today that Visionox and Xiaomi developed the Mi Mix Alpha concept together. So it was none of the big names like Samsung or BOE (Mate X display supplier) that brought such an experimental design close to a commercial release. Xiaomi’s product director Wang Teng Thomas didn’t deny this claim. He replied to the post saying that Xiaomi works with multiple OLED panel makers including Visionox.

Visionox may not be a household name when it comes to OLEDs, but the company’s roots go back to the strong OLED project team of Tsinghua University, one of the most prestigious universities for science and technology in the world. What’s even more interesting is that he revealed Visionox is also going to supply OLEDs to Huawei very soon.

It looks like Visionox has become China’s new favorite for developing experimental displays. Apart from the Mi Mix Alpha concept, Visionox is also supplying flexible OLEDs for Xiaomi’s dual folding smartphone. Further, the flexible AMOLED display for ZTE’s Axon 10 Pro is also supplied by the same company.

nubia-alpha-2 — Nubia Alpha also comes with Visionox’s flexible display

But Visionox is also part of another experimental product, coincidentally, also called as the Alpha. In case you still haven’t figured it out, I’m talking about the Nubia Alpha, the foldable watch shaped smartphone, that features a four-inch flexible display from Visionox. The Chinese OLED maker currently has around 6,000 OLED patents to its name and has two plants, one in Gu’an, Hebei province, and another one in Hefei, Anhui province for manufacturing flexible OLED panels.

Huawei Children’s Watch 3S goes on sale in China for 688 yuan ($98)

By

Jed John Ikoba

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Sep 25, 2019

Huawei announced two new smartwatches for children earlier this month. One of the smartwatches dubbed Huawei Children’s Watch 3S is now officially on sale in China for 688 yuan (~$98).

The Huawei Children’s Watch 3S was announced alongside the Watch 3X and is the more affordable model among the two. The watch comes with a number of innovative features including support for HD calls. It adopts an eye-catching design, paired with other equally appealing elements such as a porous silicone strap. The watch has an IP68 waterproof rating, which allows submersion in 1.5m of water for up to 30 minutes.

In addition, the watch comes with 8 AI positioning sensors making it easy for the parents to now the child’s location at all time. The 8 positioning methods are GPS, Beidou, GLONASS satellite positioning, WLAN positioning, base station positioning, indoor positioning; A-GPS, accelerometer assistance and other eight positioning methods. Huawei’s children’s watch 3s also comes with a built-in AI positioning function, using Huawei’s NLP positioning service for smart optimization of better positioning results, helping parents to keep abreast of the child’s position.

In addition, the watch supports 4G full Netcom and you can choose freely between the three major carriers in China- China Mobile, China Unicom andChina Telecom. It also supports global call roaming. There is also an SOS function. The child just presses the FUN button on the right to start the SOS. The Huawei Children’s Watch 3s automatically calls the administrator and sends an “initiating emergency call” message to the administrator.

Huawei Children’s Watch 3s has a rich library of children’s stories, including children’s literature, calls, encyclopedias, English enlightenment and other books to keep the child occupied. Yet another stunning feature is the built-in smart voice assistant.

(source)

RedmiBook 14 Enhanced Edition Core i5 price slashed to 4,299 Yuan (~$603) in China

By

Anvinraj Valiyathara

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Sep 25, 2019

Redmi had announced the RedmiBook 14 Enhanced Edition alongside the Redmi Note 8 series on Aug. 29 in China. The company had announced three variants of the notebook that included two Core i5 model and a Core i7 edition. The Chinese manufacturer has today introduced a new price cut for one of the Core i5 models.

As the below shown poster shows, the RedmiBook Enhanced Edition that features 10^th generation Core i5 processor, 8 GB of RAM and 512 GB of SSD storage is now selling with a discount of 200 Yuan (~$28). At launch, it was introduced for 4,499 Yuan (~$631). With the new price cut, the notebook can be availed for 4,299 Yuan (~$603).

Editor’s Pick: Xiaomi Redmi 8A with 6.2-inch HD+ display and 5000mAh battery launched in India

RedmiBook 14 Enhanced Edition Specifications

The RedmiBook 14 Enhanced Edition comes with a 14-inch display that carries support full HD resolution of 1080 x 1920 pixels. It offers a screen-to-body ratio of 81.2 percent. It offers a wide viewing angle of 178 degrees. The device is loaded with Windows 10 Home Edition. The 10^th generation Intel processor is coupled with Nvidia GeForce MX250 discreet graphics.

The RedmiBook 14 Enhanced Edition has a full-sized keyboard. For connectivity, it features a USB 3.0 port, a USB 2.l0 port, a 3.5mm audio jack and a HDMI slot. The notebook features a pair of 1.5W speakers powered with DTS audio processing technology. For connectivity, it offers users with support for Wi-Fi 802.11ac and Bluetooth 5.0. It is backed by a 45Wh battery. The device measures 323 x 228 x 17.95mm and it weighs 1.5kg.

The other variants of the RedmiBook 14 Enhanced Edition are Core i5 model with 8 GB RAM and 256 SSD storage and Core i7 variant with 8 GB RAM and 512 SSD storage. They are respectively priced at 3,999 Yuan (~$561) and 4,999 Yuan (~$701).

Asus’ new adolbook14 is “the world’s first metal gradient laptop”

By

Airyl Jaszly

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Sep 25, 2019

ASUS computers don’t pop up here often, but when they do it’s because they’ve got something interesting, and that’s just the case here. The Taiwanese company has revealed the adolbook14 and it is calling it the world’s first metal gradient notebook. Asus is heavily marketing it as a fashionable PC, so let’s take a closer look.

Now, gradient colors aren’t exactly unusual. They’ve been widely used for various products, most commonly smartphones. According to Asus however, the adolbook14 is the first time any company has ever combined gradient aesthetics with metal notebooks. Now, we aren’t 100% sure of that, but it certainly looks nice.

The adolbook14 is equipped with either a 13.3-inch or 14-inch 1080p 16:9 display that has a 4.1mm narrow frame and a screen ratio of 87.4%. The shell is colored with nano-scale water-based environmentally-friendly paint. It’s also fairly light at 1.3KG, and it’s quite thin too at a mere 16.5mm. There’s a backlit keyboard here too, which is always good.

There are decent options when it comes to I/O, even considering the device’s thinness. We’ve got a 3.5mm headphone jack, an SD card reader, a USB 2.0 port, an HDMI video out port, a USB 3.1 port and a USB-C port. While the number of ports available isn’t all that impressive, the sheer variety is pretty good.

When it comes to other specs, the adolbook14 is equipped with up to a 10th generation Core i5-10210u processor. There are many different configurations for the RAM and storage, capping out at 8GB of RAM and a 256GB M.2 SSD. There’s a 72Wh battery, which the company claims can give up to 20 hours of video playback.

The prices here vary depending on the variant chosen, with prices ranging from 3599 yuan ($502) to 4999 yuan ($702). It’s actually a decent price for a notebook like this from a decently big manufacturer. As for how the adolbook 14 actually performs, we’ll need to wait until review units start to pop up. They’re available from Asus’ JDmall store, so take a look.

(Source)

MediaTek MT5670 Smart TV chipset launches a day before OnePlus TV

By

Habeeb Onawole

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Sep 25, 2019

While there are folks that won’t pick up a phone powered by a MediaTek processor, they probably own a device powered by a chipset made by the Taiwanese company in their home. MediaTek not only makes processors for phones but also make processors for products like Blu-Ray players, smart TVs, routers, and smart speakers including those from the Amazon Echo line. Today, the semiconductor company unveiled a new processor – the MT5670 – for smart TVs.

The announcement comes just a day before it appears in its first product – the OnePlus TV. Yes, the OnePlus TV which will be unveiled in India tomorrow will be powered by the new MT5670 chipset. Leaked specs of the TV as well as a Google Play Developer console page revealed that the TV will be powered by the processor.

The new chipset, which was unveiled in New York, has four Cortex-A53 cores clocked at 1.8GHz and an ARM Mali-G51 GPU. MediaTek says the new processor will “deliver true studio-quality video”, and automatically adjust sharpness and quality using facial and scene recognition with its AI picture quality (AI PQ) technology. It also supports MiraVision technology and MDDi de-interlace solution for smooth picture quality. Below is a full list of features of the new processor:

Android TV 9 support
Worldwide multi-standard analog TV demodulator
ATSC/DVB-T/DVB-C/ISDB-T demodulators
UHD@60Hz direct drive
3D graphic support OpenGL ES 1.1/2.0/3.1/3.2
A transport de-multiplexer
A multi-standard video decoder (including VP9)
Rich format audio codec
H.264 encoder
HDMI 2.0 receiver with 3D support

MediaTek adds that the MT5670 will be available globally in smart TVs launching this month. So there is a possibility we may see it in another product other than the OnePlus TV later this month.

The MediaTek MT5670 is less powerful than Amlogic’s new T972 processor which powers Xiaomi’s new Mi Full Screen TV Pro. The 12nm Amlogic processor has the more powerful and efficient Cortex-A55 cores (quad) clocked at 1.9GHz as against, the MT5670’s Cortex-A53 cores. However, the Amlogic chipset has the entry-level Mali-G31 GPU while the MediaTek chipset has the mid-range Mali-G51 GPU.

(Source)

Xiaomi Redmi 8 to launch soon in India

By

Anvinraj Valiyathara

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Sep 25, 2019

Xiaomi had held a soft launch to announce the Redmi 8A smartphone in India. At the end of the online launch of the smartphone, Xiaomi’s Global VP and Managing Director for India, Manu Kumar Jain teased that India will be soon receiving the Redmi 8 smartphone. Probably, the company may announce the Redmi 8 in India in October.

In the snapshot shown below, the red-colored Redmi 8A with single rear camera can be seen in the left hand of Jain. In his right hand is the mysterious Redmi phone with a vertical dual camera setup. It seems to be the upcoming Redmi 8 phone. A leaked poster that had appeared this month had revealed that the Redmi 8 series will go official in China on Oct. 1. Probably, the Redmi 8 series may arrive in India a bit later in the coming month.

The Redmi M1908C3IC that was recently certified by China’s TENAA telecom agency seems to resemble with the dual camera Redmi phone which can be seen with Jain in the above image.

Editor’s Pick: Here’s Why the Mi Mix Alpha looks Awfully Similar to Xiaomi’s Foldable Prototype

According to TENAA, the Redmi 8 measures 156.3 x 75.4 x 9.4mm and it weighs 190 grams. It has a 6.2-inch display with waterdrop notch that offers 720 x 1520 pixels. It houses a 5,000mAh battery that will probably carry support for fast charging through USB-C.

The handset is powered by 2.0GHz octa-core processor and up to 4 GB of RAM. It has up to 64 GB of native storage. It will come with Android 9 Pie OS preinstalled. The dual camera system of the phone has a 12-megapixel primary lens. It has a frontal shooter of 8-megapixel. For more storage, it has a microSD card slot. A fingerprint scanner is present on the backside of the device. It is also equipped with face unlock.

Reliable tipster Ishan Agarwal had recently revealed that Redmi 8 will be releasing in 3 GB RAM + 32 GB storage and 4 GB RAM + 64 GB storage. Phantom Red, Fairy Green, Carbon Ash and Sapphire Blue are the rumored color options of the smartphone.

Shown above is a leaked image of the Redmi 8 that had surfaced in the previous month. It remains to be seen whether Xiaomi also announces the Redmi 8 Pro alongside the Redmi 8 handset. As of this writing, there is no information on the pricing of the Redmi 8 series.

Buy Xiaomi Redmi AirDots and Haylou GT1 Pro Bluetooth 5.0 TWS Earphones at Lowered Prices from GeekBuying [Coupon]

By

Vinay Patel

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Sep 25, 2019

Music lovers do not refrain from spending a lot of money on music accessories such as Bluetooth speakers, wireless earphones, etc. Those who go for inexpensive alternatives, on the other hand, end up compromising on quality and performance.

Much to the delight of music lovers who aren’t will spend a fortune for a superior listening experience; Xiaomi has teamed up with GeekBuying to offer the Redmi AirDots and Haylou GT1 Pro Bluetooth 5.0 TWS Earphones at lowered prices.

We will not only check out the discounts but also show how you can save a considerable amount of more money at the time of checking out. So without wasting more time, let’s delve straight into the details.

Xiaomi Redmi AirDots Bluetooth 5.0 TWS Earbuds (International Edition)

Xiaomi recently made the Redmi AirDots wireless Bluetooth earbuds available in the Chinese market, following the Mi AirDots Youth Edition wireless Bluetooth earbuds, which was rolled out not too long ago. The Redmi AirDots was launched alongside the Redmi Note 7 Pro and Redmi 7 smartphones in China.

Powered by a built-in Realtek 8763 chip, the Xiaomi Redmi AirDots Wireless Earbuds has gone up for sale bearing a reduced price of just $ 23.99 on GeekBuying. This is a noteworthy 61 percent drop in the device’s original asking price of $60.99.

On top of that, if you are a new user you can save $2 more by applying the New User coupon at the time of checking out. You can follow this link to grab the discount and use the coupon before it expires. Note that the promo is slated to end in just one day.

Xiaomi Redmi AirDots Bluetooth 5.0 TWS Earbuds

Haylou GT1 Pro Bluetooth 5.0 TWS Earphones

Touted as super earbuds with high-end hardware, the Haylou GT1 Pro would normally set you back $43.99 on both online, as well as offline stores. GeekBuying is doling out a 32 percent discount on the earphones to bring its retail price down to just $29.99.

On top of that, you can grab a $5 off simply by applying coupon code 3R6RJIAJ during the checkout process. In other words, you can bring the already lowered asking price of the earphones further down to just $24.99 even before placing your order.

An absolute steal at this price, the Haylou GT1 Pro offers a stable and faster transmission without consuming a lot of power. It is backed by an 800mA large battery, which is placed inside the charging bin, delivering 26 hours of battery life.

The charging case sports a built-in battery display function that shows the real battery capacity of the earbuds in the form of the indicator light. Moreover, it supports Xiaoai from Xiaomi, Siri and Google Assistant.

You can visit this link to check out more details about the Haylou GT1 Pro Bluetooth 5.0 TWS Earphones and grab the discount. New users can also take advantage of the $2 off coupon and save more money.

Haylou GT1 Pro Bluetooth 5.0 TWS Earphones

GeekBuying 5 Day Flash Sale

Poco F1 finally confirmed to receive MIUI 11 update

By

Anvinraj Valiyathara

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Sep 25, 2019

Xiaomi announced the all new MIUI custom Android skin alongside the Xiaomi Mi 9 Pro 5G and Mi MIX Alpha smartphones yesterday in China. The company also provided an extensive list of smartphones that will be upgraded to MIUI 11. The list did not include the highly popular Poco F1 smartphone from last year. Poco fans were annoyed to see the Poco F1 not mentioned in the list. Today, Head of Pocophone Global Alvin Tse took to Twitter to confirm that the Poco F1 will be receiving the MIUI 11 update.

The reason why Poco F1 (aka Pocophone F1 in global markets) was not included in the list is because Poco F1 was not released in China. Tse said that the MIUI 11 will come to Poco F1 when it rolls out globally. He added that the MIUI 11 stable edition will be released in China in mid-October. He stated that the its global edition will be “a bit behind but not too far.”

Readers can read the Editor’s Pick to know more about the features of the all new MIUI 11.

Editor’s Pick:MIUI 11 Officially Launched! Features new design and productivity tools galore!

By mid-October, phones such as Mi 9, Mi 9 Explorer, Mi 9 SE, Mi MIX 3, Mi MIX 2S, Mi 8, Mi 8 Youth Edition, Mi 8 Explorer Edition, Mi 8 In-Display Fingerprint Edition, Mi 8 SE, Mi MAX 3, Redmi K20 Pro Premium Edition, Redmi K20 Pro, Redmi K20, Redmi Note 7 Pro, Redmi Note 7 and Redmi 7 will be receiving the MIUI 11 update.

By late October, the MIUI 11 update will be made available to Mi 9 Pro 5G, Mi CC9, Mi CC9 Custom Edition, Mi CC9e, Mi MIX 2, Mi Note 3, Mi 6, Mi 6X, Redmi Note 5, Redmi 7A, Redmi 6 Pro, Redmi 6, Redmi 6A and Redmi S2.

By early November, Mi MIX, Mi 5s, Mi 5s Plus, Mi 5X, Mi 5C, Mi Note 2, Mi Play, Mi MAX 2, Redmi Note 8 Pro, Redmi Note 8, Redmi Note 5A, Redmi 5 Plus, Redmi 5, Redmi 5A and Redmi 4X will be provided with the MIUI 11 update.

(source)

Tmall’s latest smart speaker has an “Emotional Engine”

By

Habeeb Onawole

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Sep 25, 2019

Today, Alibaba-owned Tmall announced a number of new smart products as well as version 4.0 of its AliGenie smart assistant at a special event in China. Among the products announced today is the Tmall Elf IN, a smart speaker with an “emotional engine”.

Smart Home products either have a display or they don’t but the Tmall Elf IN sits between the two. Rather than an LCD display like you have on the Tmall Elf CC or Amazon Echo Show 5, the smart speaker has a Dot Matrix display.

The dot-matrix screen will display info like the time, the temperature, weather reports e.g. animated raindrops, and even show animations when you are streaming music, making a voice call, or connected to a smart home product (light bulbs, air conditioner). It can also display emojis that mimic the mood of its owner which is where the emotional engine part comes in.

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The Tmall Elf IN works with several hundred home appliances from brands such as Haier, Bosch, Midea, Hisense, and Dyson. It is priced at ¥149 (~$21) and will go on sale on September 29 at 10 AM. The smart speaker will be available in white, red, and gradient blue.

Ulefone Armor 3W/3WT underwater camera performance shows up in video

By

Dimitris Economou

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Sep 25, 2019

The new rugged smartphone duo from Ulefone went on global presale 2 days ago and besides the massive 10300mAh battery they sport, they also come with solid specs overall. The waterproof rear camera that hosts a 21MP Sony sensor is one of them and you can use it to shoot photos underwater with the dedicated mode. Today, the company released a video demonstrating that feature and more. Let’s have a look.

The Sony 21MP sensor proves to be a worthy sensor with good dynamic range and rich color capture. The Camera app on the device offers Pro and Time-Lapse modes for different shooting demands. The Pro mode enables you to freely adjust white balance, ISO, and exposure, so anyone familiar with these terms can take photos like a pro. The front camera hosts an 8MP sensor that is adequate for selfies and fast Face Unlock. Lastly, the underwater mode enables the phone to capture great photos in the difficult environment of the underwater world.

As for the rest of the specs, the two phones are powered by the powerful Helio P70 AI SoC backed by 6GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage, a configuration that offers fast performance, fluid gaming experience, and long battery life. Also, there is a 5.7″ FHD+ display, Face/Fingerprint unlock, dual-4G/dual-VoLTE, NFC with Google Pay, global network bands, and Android 9 Pie. The 3WT is the walkie-talkie version of the 3W and has intercom added to the rest of the specs.

Presale is already ongoing since Monday and you can get the Armor 3W for just $239.99 while the Armor 3WT costs just $40 more, at $279.99. The promotion will end on September 30th and you can find out more about it here.

Xiaomi crowdfunds a heated goose down jacket, fired up by a power bank

By

Jed John Ikoba

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Sep 25, 2019

Xiaomi also released products under its crowdfunding platform despite the avalanche of products released during the press conference yesterday. The company announced its 407th crowdfunding product – a double-sided smart temperature control goose down jacket 3.0. The jacket is on offer for 499 yuan ($70) during the crowdfunding period. The price will likely get a slight increase after the exercise.

The smart temperature-controlled goose down jacket 3.0 uses 90% high-quality white goose down, layered to resist cold wind intrusion. The fluffy white goose down is said to be warmer than duck down. The jacket is stuffed automatically to ensure it is evenly distributed in order to keep everywhere warm.

The smart temperature control jacket features a smart three-speed temperature control design. The temperature control can be adjusted to suit the ambient temperature or as desired by the user. It can be powered using a power bank and Xiaomi claims a 10,000mAh power bank can deliver continuous heating of the jacket for up to 7 hours, enough to see you through a cold day outdoors.

The jacket also comes with a waterproof fabric texture which makes it suitable for use in the dark or when it rains. The front and back of the fabric are said to have been subjected to level 3 anti-splash treatment. The jacket has reflective strips at the front and back which reflects when the light beam strikes it at night, thus making the wearer visible at night.

This is yet another important product from Xiaomi that would come in useful during winter and other cold seasons. We expect the tech giant to make plans to start shipping these interesting products outside China. For now, it will likely be available only in China. Xiaomi has got a couple of other jackets that are already available overseas via thrid-party retailers like the Uleemark multi-storage jacket.

(via)

Xiaomi launches the Mi Outdoor Bluetooth Speaker with IP55 water and dust resistance

By

Airyl Jaszly

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Sep 25, 2019

Fresh off of the launch the recent Mi MIX Alpha, Xiaomi is now back with something new. It’s a much smaller launch this time around, with the latest Mi product being the Mi Outdoor Bluetooth Speaker, which we actually heard about a couple of months back. It’s finally ready to go on sale, for the price of 199 yuan ($28).

The Mi Outdoor Bluetooth Speaker comes with Bluetooth 5.0, and in a surprising twist it features a USB-C port (as all devices should have at this point). There’s a 2600mAh battery with 8-hour continuous playback, along with 52mm speaker drivers. There are even two HD microphone pickups, which is a nice touch.

When it comes to the design and build, things also look pretty good. It features the pill design that many companies have been going for as of late, but it’s got a few extras. It comes with IP55 dust and water resistance, which makes sense for an outdoor speaker. The main chassis utilizes seamless fabric and soft plastic, so it’s light and rugged.

Xiaomi’s Mi Outdoor Bluetooth Speaker will go on sale at 10:00 on the 26th of September. It’ll be available exclusively from Xiaomi’s official mall page for 199 yuan ($28). Overall, it seems like a nifty little bluetooth speaker, and it’s certainly not a bad price for the features available. Tell us your thoughts down in the comments section below.

(Source)

Huawei’s Kirin 990 chipset scores over 400K on Master Lu

By

Habeeb Onawole

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Sep 25, 2019

The Kirin 990 is Huawei’s latest flagship processor. It is the chipset inside the Mate 30 and Mate 30 Pro and will be the SoC that will power Huawei and Honor‘s flagship for the next 10 months or thereabout.

Prior to the release of the Mate 30 series, the Kirin 990 was spotted on Geekbench powering an unknown Huawei device. After the launch, the chipset was benchmarked on AnTuTu, scoring less than Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 855 Plus. Today, the Master Lu benchmark result for the processor has surfaced on the web.

The result reveals the test device is the 8GB RAM + 256GB version of the Mate 30. The device scored a total of 424261 points. A break down of the score shows that the device has a CPU score of 163,575, a GPU score of 160856, and a RAM/memory score of 42840, and a storage score of 56,990.

Compared to other devices, the Mate 30’s Master Lu score comes behind that of devices like the Nubia Red Magic 3 which has a score of 459,463 points and the Black Shark 2.

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The Kirin 990 is a 7nm chipset with 8 cores in a 2 + 2 + 4 arrangement. It has 2x Cortex A76 cores clocked at 2.86GHz, another set of 2x A76 clocked at 2.09GHz, and 4x Cortex A55 cores clocked at 1.86GHz. Its GPU is a 16-core Mali-G76 and it has a dual-core NPU. There is also a Kirin 990 5G which is a 7nm + EUV chipset with some of its cores clocked higher than the non-5G version. It also has a tri-core NPU. Hence, the Master Lu score for the Mate 30 5G version should be higher than the above.

Here’s Why the Mi Mix Alpha looks Awfully Similar to Xiaomi’s Foldable Prototype

By

Joel Joseph

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Sep 25, 2019

Xiaomi launched a spectacular smartphone yesterday, the Mi Mix Alpha featuring a 360° surround display that features a 180% screen to body ratio. The phone is nothing like the smartphones we’ve ever seen before, making an all-screen design very close to reality. But we couldn’t help but notice that the Alpha is awfully similar to the foldable Xiaomi prototype that featured a double folding design. Now, Xiaomi’s co-founder, Lin Bin has revealed why there are some similarities between the two.

Xiaomi foldable design — Xiaomi’s foldable prototype features a dual folding design

Lin Bin reveals that the Mi Mix Alpha and Xiaomi’s foldable that was teased earlier this year were developed in sync with each other. In fact, both the projects have been assigned internal codes in the same series. The two projects were developed simultaneously but the company could overcome the technical challenges associated with Mi Mix Alpha’s project recently which finally enabled them to carry out a small scale trial production.

This makes sense because the Mi Mix Alpha looks like a permanently folded version of the dual folding screen protoype revealed by Xiaomi back in March. Lin Bin’s comment also confirms that the company is still working on the dual folding design. We can’t say when Xiaomi will officially release the handset but given how it managed to bring the Mix Alpha concept to reality, the foldable phone may not be very far off.

Xiaomi Mi Mix Alpha featured — Xiaomi Mi Mix Alpha has a permanently folded screen

Still, both the Galaxy Fold and the Mate X foldable had to face numerous technical challenges before launch. The dual folding concept from Xiaomi looks really cool but it’s even more extreme than the single folding design used by both Samsung and Huawei’s foldable. So it remains to be seen if Xiaomi can bring the dual folding design to reality anytime soon.

The Galaxy Fold is already on sale in South Korea and goes on sale in the US next week, with a release expected on October 1 in India. Even the Mate X is finally going on sale in October, at least in China, confirms Huawei’s support. As the technology matures for mass production, we can expect to see better implementations of the foldable design in the coming years. And Xiaomi’s foldable could be one of those designs that make it compact and practical.

Huawei Mate X will release in October, confirms official Huawei support

By

Anvinraj Valiyathara

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Sep 25, 2019

At the IFA 2019 tech exhibition, Huawei had announced the Kirin 990 5G chipset. At that time, the Huawei Consumer Business Group CEO, Richard Yu had also confirmed that the company will be releasing the Huawei Mate X foldable phone in October. Huawei terminal customer service officer Guan Wei claimed that the Mate X is expected to release in China in October.

Wei has suggested users to pay attention to Huawei’s official website, forum site and official Weibo account to know the exact release date of the Mate X. Now that there is official news on the arrival of the Mate X, it appears that the company is ready for its mass production and sales. After October release in China, the Mate X may come to global markets in November.

Editor’s Pick: Huawei Mate 30 series to release first in China after September 26 launch

The Huawei Mate X that comes with a flexible display was first showcased at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2019 tech event in February. At that time, the device was powered by Kirin 980 chipset. The sales of the foldable phone were expected to begin in August. However, its arrival was delayed by the company without revealing the reasons behind it.

It is speculated that the company may release two versions of the Mate X. One may feature the Kirin 980 and the other one could be coming with the latest Kirin 990 chipset that supports 5G connectivity natively. It is speculated that the Kirin 990 SoC edition of the Mate X will be featuring the same triple cameras that are available on the Huawei P30 Pro.

The Mate X had appeared on TENAA’s database in the previous month. It revealed that the device measures 161.3 x 146.2 x 11mm. It has an 8-inch display that supports 2480 x 2200 pixels and 8:7.1 aspect ratio. When folded, it transforms into a dual display phone with one side featuring a 6.6-inch display with 2480 x 1148 pixels resolution and the other side with 6.38-inch display with 2480 x 892 pixels and 25:9 aspect ratio.

The Mate X has 4,500mAh battery with 55W fast charging support. Its has up to 12 GB of RAM and up to 512 GB of storage. The device features a side-mounted fingerprint scanner.

Honor 9X Holographic Icelandic White color variant will go on sale from 1st October

By

Jeet

-

Sep 25, 2019

Honor, the sub-brand of Huawei, has today announced a new color variant for its Honor 9X series smartphones — Holographic Icelandic White. The company has also revealed that this new color option will go on sale in China from 1st October.

While the smartphone comes in a White color option, it shows different hues when viewed under a light source. The company has also confirmed that both the phones — Honor 9X and 9X Pro will come in Holographic Icelandic White color.

Coming to the specifications, both the models under Honor 9X series features a glass and metal combination chassis. With no notch onboard, the Pro model offers a full-screen experience through its 6.59-inch IPS LCD display, along with 19.5:9 aspect ratio and Full HD+ screen resolution.

Under the hood, the smartphones are powered by the company’s own Kirin 810 octa-core chipset. While the Pro comes with up to 8GB RAM and maximum storage of 256GB (UFS 2.1), the standard model has up to 6GB RAM and 128GB internal storage.

For additional storage, the handset comes equipped with a microSD card slot. The chipset is also equipped with liquid cooling technology for heat dissipation. Both of them are packed with usual connectivity features such as dual 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS, USB-C, and 3.5mm audio jack, along with a side-mounted fingerprint scanner.

As for the optics, the Honor 9X Pro features a vertically arranged triple camera system on the back, which includes a 48-megapixel primary lens with f/1.8 aperture, an 8-megapixel super-wide lens and a 2-megapixel sensor for adding depth effects.

The smartphone is blessed with an elevating camera of 16-megapixel for capturing selfie shots. On the other hand, the standard model comes with a dual-camera setup on the back, consisting of a 48-megapixel f/1.8 aperture main lens and 2-megapixel depth sensor.

The devices are running EMUI 9.1.1 out-of-the-box which is based on Android 9 Pie operating system. It also comes with GPU Turbo 3.0 technology that enhances the gaming experience. The smartphones are powered by a 4,000mAh battery.

Redmi K20 Pro Android 10 update is now rolling out in India

By

Anvinraj Valiyathara

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Sep 25, 2019

On Sept. 3, Google had rolled out the Android 10 update to its Pixel devices and some third-party phones including the Chinese edition of the Xiaomi Redmi K20 Pro. Numerous Indian users of the Redmi K20 Pro are now claiming on a discussion thread on Mi Forums that they are now receiving the stable edition of the MIUI 10 based Android 10 upgrade.

The Android 10 update for Xiaomi Redmi K20 Pro in India brings along MIUI v10.4.8 QFKINXM. The size of the update is 2.2 GB. The changelog of the update states that it carries optimizations for 32-bit apps that reduces the rate of force close and a fix for random reboot on the handset.

The Redmi K20 Pro Android 10 update comes with dark theme, gesture-based navigation and ability to prioritize notifications according to the preferences of the user. Some of the other features that are included in the update are improved permission manager, digital wellbeing, front camera effects and more ambient display preset. Few of the naïve features like Smart Reply that are found on the stock edition of Android 10 are not available in the update.

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Redmi K20 Pro Specifications and Features

The Redmi K20 Pro variants such as 6 GB RAM + 128 GB storage and 8 GB RAM + 256 GB storage are respectively priced at Rs. 27,999 and Rs. 30,999. The handset comes in Carbon Black, Glacier Blue, Flame Red and Pearl White color variants.

The Redmi K20 Pro has a 6.39-inch notch-less AMOLED display with full HD+ resolution and in-screen fingerprint reader. The Snapdragon 855 chipset powers the smartphone. It is backed by a 4,000mAh battery that supports 27W fast charging.

It has a front camera of 20-megapixel. The rear side of the phone features Sony IMX586 48-megapixel + 13-megapixel + 8-megapixel triple camera system can be found on the backside of the device.

Buy Lenovo E1 Sports Smartwatch for Just $39.99 from Gearbest [Free Gift]

By

Vinay Patel

-

Sep 25, 2019

Health and fitness is an incessant journey, but many people jump off the fitness bandwagon due to lack of time to workout at the gym. Thankfully, the market is teeming with all sorts of fitness gadgets that help you lead a healthier lifestyle.

Sports and fitness enthusiasts spend tens of thousands of dollars on all sorts of smart wearables that can monitor their activities while keeping a track of their health. Those who go for inexpensive alternatives, on the other hand, have to compromise in terms of quality and performance.

Much to the relief of those on a tight budget, Gearbest has launched the Lenovo E1 Smart Watch Flash Sale, offering the feature-rich smartwatch for a considerably reduced price. Aside from getting a noteworthy discount, Gearbest users have a chance of winning a free gift with their order.

The Lenovo E1 would normally set you back $49.99, but you can buy it for a lowered price of only $39.99 from Gearbest. The watch is currently up for grabs in green, black color options. There’s a 20 percent off on watch with red band, and 28 percent discount on watch with black steel strap.

First 500 lucky buyers will qualify for a free wristband. This gift will not be listed in the shopping cart; however, it will be shipped directly to qualified buyers.

The Lenovo E1 sports an eye-catching 1.33-inch screen. The square-shaped dial is water-resistant and scratch-resistant. Moreover, the single-hand control design of the Lenovo E1 enables you to conveniently use the watch even when exercising.

The watch features a soft silicone strap for comfortable wearing experience for a longer duration. It can keep track of your heart rate and sleep pattern to generate an accurate health status report.

Furthermore, the watch adopts a 2.5D glass mirror treatment that makes the surface resemble the overflow of water droplets, allowing your fingers to slide more smoothly. It runs DIY 3D UI, allowing you to customize your wallpaper, adjust the position of the clock, etc.

The Lenovo E1 smartwatch offers seven modes including walking, running, cycling, skipping, etc. The watch draws its juices from a built-in 180mAh battery that offers 10 days of battery life, and 25 days standby time.

You can follow this link to check out more details about the Lenovo E1 smartwatch and place your order. With over 80 pieces sold at the time of writing, the promo is slated to end shortly.

Lenovo E1 Sports Smartwatch

Sharp launches Aquos Zero 2 with a 240 Hz refresh rate display

By

Sahil

-

Sep 25, 2019

Earlier this year, Japanese electronics maker, Sharp launched the Aquos Zero flagship handset which boasts of the being the world’s lightest smartphone with a 6-inch display. Today, the company has launched its successor which is called the Aquos Zero 2.

The key highlighting features of the newly launched handset include a 6.4 inch OLED display with an astounding refresh rate of 240 Hz and a lightweight body that weighs just 143 grams, 3 grams lighter than its predecessor.

Sharp Aquos Zero 2 Design and Features

Both the front and rear of the Sharp Aquos Zero 2 are made out of glass that provides it with an elegant overall design. As previously mentioned, it sports a 6.4-inch OLED display that has a resolution 2340 x 1080 px. Like several other smartphones of the modern era, it features a waterdrop notch above the display that houses an 8 MP selfie camera.

The Sharp Aquos Zero 2 features the Snapdragon 855 SoC which consists of an octa-core CPU and Adreno 640 GPU. In terms of memory and storage, it packs 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB UFS 3.0 ROM. For safely and securely logging into the UI, it features an in-display fingerprint sensor. Besides it also supports facial recognition.

The rear of the Sharp Aquos Zero 2 houses a dual-camera setup which consists of an f/1.7 aperture equipped 12 MP sensor and a wide-angle sensor. It is powered by a 3130 mAh battery and runs on the latest version of Google’s mobile operating system, Android 10. The smartphone will be offered in two colour options which include Astro Black and Misty White.

The price of the smartphone is currently unavailable, however, it will be revealed in the following weeks.

Sharp Aquos Zero 2 Quick Specs

Display: 6.4-inch OLED, Full HD+ 2340 × 1080 pixels, 240 Hz refresh rate
Operating System: Android 10
Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 855, Octa Core
RAM: 8 GB LPDDR4x
Storage: 256 GB, UFS 3.0
Rear Cameras: 12 MP + Ultrawide Sensor, LED Flash
Selfie Camera: 8 MP
Security: In-display fingerprint scanner
Connectivity: 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 ac 2.4G + 5G, Bluetooth 5 .0, GPS, USB Type-C
Battery: 3,130mAh
Dimensions:158 x 74 x 8.8 mm
Weight: 143 g

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