Samsung Galaxy A8s vs Xiaomi Mi 8 Pro vs Oppo R17 Pro: Specs Comparison

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Dec 10, 2018

Xiaomi has a new product and it wants you to get excited about it. The new product was teased on Weibo by Xiaomi’s co-founder Wang Chuan.

Mr. Chuan shared a teaser image for the device which he said has been in development for a year. The image shows an object which looks like a shower head or the receiver part of a telephone. The official Xiaomi TV Weibo account reshared the post which led people to assume it is related to the TV.

This is just speculation as the account may only just be publicizing the new product which seems to be a special project developed by Wang Chuan who once headed the TV department of Xiaomi.

There is no teaser poster for a launch yet, so we can’t get more clues to identify the product but it is not a shower according to the official MIUI Weibo account. However, it does seem to be an amazing product judging from the comment of one of Xiaomi’s spokesman who seems to have used the product.

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UMIDIGI One Max now available for presale for $179.99!

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Dec 10, 2018

UMIDIGI is here once again with a new device i.e One Max which has been just put on pre-sale for $179.99. It’s a first waterdrop full view display phone of UMIDIGI which has been announced a few days ago with mid-level specs at a quite fascinating price. Users who want to own it on a pre-order can have it by shelling out $179.99.

It is quite immersive devices having a display of 6.3 inches featuring a waterdrop notch with a 19:9 aspect ratio. It carries a glossy metal frame with 2.5 D glass on both sides of the phone. Its full view display allows it to achieve a 91.5% screen ratio. In terms of performance, you will get an Helio P23 SoC with a 4GB LPDDR4X RAM coupled with 128GB internal storage.

Further, in order to withstand your daily usage, UMIDIGI has added a 4150 mAh battery with 18W fast charging support. Even though, you can wirelessly charge it with 15W wireless charging and NFC.

Read More: UMIDIGI One Max teardown reveals its big internal storage(video)

UMIDIGI One Max in box content carries a charger, USB cable, screen guard, phone case and a handset itself.

In-camera section, UMIDIGI One Max hosts a 12MP+5MP dual rear camera with a 16MP high-resolution camera for selfies. UMIDIGI is available in two different variants of Twilight and Carbon Fiber. You can check its unboxing video to get the full overview of the device.

(Source)

Nokia 8.1 with 6.18-inch FHD+ PureDisplay and SD710 SoC launched in India for Rs. 26,999 ($373)

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Dec 10, 2018

As expected, HMD Global has today launched its latest mid-range smartphone in the Indian market — Nokia 8.1. The phone, which is the successor of the Nokia 7 Plus, was originally unveiled globally last month and is the global version of the Nokia X7 that was launched in China in October.

In India, the phone is priced at Rs. 26,999 which roughly converts to $373 and will be available in two color variants — Blue/Silver and Iron/Steel. While the phone’s pre-booking starts from today, it will go on sale from 25th December through leading mobile retailers as well as Amazon and Nokia online store.

The smartphone features a 6.18-inch Full HD+ display with 2244 x 1080 pixels screen resolution, 18.7:9 aspect ratio, and 81.5 percent screen-to-body ratio. It supports HDR10, 500 nits peak brightness and is capable of 96 percent color gamut.

Under the hood, the Nokia 8.1 is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 710 octa-core processor clocked at up to 2.2GHz, coupled with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage. There’s also a microSD card slot that enables storage expansion up to 400GB.

Coming to the optics, the smartphone features a dual rear camera setup, consisting of a 12-megapixel Sony IMX363 primary sensor with f/1.8 aperture and a 13-megapixel secondary ZEISS optics lens with f/2.2 aperture. On the front side, there’s a 20-megapixel sensor with f/2.0 aperture for taking selfies and video calling.

The camera comes with several AI-based features including scene detection that can automatically detect 18 scenes. It also has AI Beauty and AI Portrait mode, six AI studio lights, AI expressions, and a new dual-view mode.

For added security, along with the face unlock feature, the phone also comes with a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor. Connectivity options on the device include Dual 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n/ac dual-band, Bluetooth v5, GPS + GLONASS, and a USB Type-C port.

As for the software, being a part of Google‘s Android One program, the Nokia 8.1 is running a stock version of Android 9 Pie operating system out-of-the-box. The phone is driving power from a 3,500mAh battery that supports fast charging technology.

Meizu CEO Jack Wong approves the beautiful fan-made render of the Meizu 16S

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Jed John Ikoba

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Dec 10, 2018

Meizu’s CEO Huang Zhang (Jack Wong) has always been very opinionated when it comes to smartphone designs, especially dissing the present trending styles of notch screen, waterdrop and even the in-hole design. The company’s founder has instead insisted the symmetrical design which involves just trimming the bezels with space wide enough to accommodate the selfie camera. That seems to be the design the upcoming Meizu 16s will feature.

A fan recently posted a fan-made render of the Meizu 16s on the Meizu community forum and the render caught the attention of the CEO who indeed confirmed the Meizu 16s design is not very much different from the render. Huang Zhang then threw more light on the efforts the company will make to further trim the bezels on the chin and top aspect of the display. Among other things, he hinted that most phones come with left and right border sizes of 3.5mm. This is smaller than the iPhone X’s which is over 4mm while the chin is 4.7mm. Mot phones have a chin size of more than 6mm as this is the aspect where the antenna is located and also to enable the screen to be fixed firmly to the frame of the phone. However, the Meizu 16s chin may also be over 5.Xmm since the antenna will run through that part for better reception. However, the CEO hinted that the company may decide to extend the antenna to the left and right border which may make them wider. However, Huang Zhang isn’t really up for that design but to make the bezels on the chin the narrowest and then make the upper bezels close to the width of the chin.

According to earlier details, the Meizu 16s series will be among the first set of models that will use a Snapdragon 855 chipset and the price will certainly be higher than the current models.

(source)

Huawei Nova 4 images leaked on TENAA; Official teaser video and live shots also appear

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Anvinraj Valiyathara

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Dec 10, 2018

Few hours ago, Honor introduced the Honor V20 flagship phone with in-screen camera display. Its parent fir will be launching Huawei Nova 4 smartphone on Dec. 17 with the same display design. A week ahead of its launch, the Nova 4 has appeared on TENAA with its images to reveal its appearance from all directions. Moreover, the Chinese manufacturer has also released a teaser video of the smartphone.

The Huawei Nova 4 TENAA images reveals the smartphone will be featuring a small hole for the front-facing camera on the top-left corner of its display. The display is surrounded by super-slim bezels on three sides expect for the bottom one which is a slightly thick.

The back panel of the Nova 4 features a Huawei P20 Pro like triple camera setup without Leica branding. A fingerprint is also placed on the glass rear of the smartphone. What follows is an official teaser video of the Nova 4 which again showcases the front design of the smartphone.

CNet has also shared some exclusive (shown below) images of the Huawei Nova 4. All the images suggest that the smartphone will indeed offer a very high screen-to-body ratio.

The TENAA listings of VCE-AL00 and VCE-TL00 model numbers that belong to Huawei Nova 4 only contain few details on its specs. The handset features a 6.41-inch display and it is fueled by 3,900mAh battery. The dimensions of the handset are 157.57 x 74.85 x 8.2mm.

Read More; Honor confirms January 22 date for Honor View20 launch, releases poster for V20

There is no confirmation on whether the Kirin 980 chipset or Kirin 710 SoC. Probably, the company may settle for Kirin 710 for the smartphone. The handset may come with up to 6 GB of RAM and an inbuilt storage of 128 GB. It will be loaded with Android 9 Pie OS flavored EMIU 9.0 skin. Through the 3C listing of the Nova 4, it has been revealed that its 3,900mAh battery will carry support for 18W rapid technology. As of this writing, there is no information available on the pricing of the smartphone.

(source 1, 2, 3|via 1, 2)

Huawei Matebook 13 to go on presale starting from December 17

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Dec 10, 2018

A short time ago Huawei has released its all fresh Huawei Matebook 13 in the market. The device comes powered by the Intel’s new 8th generation chip and is more powerful than ever. Detailed specifications and images of the device are already available on the web. However, the brand has just revealed the date when this premium device will go on open pre-sale. So, let’s know more about its sale and specifications.

The device first came into headlines because of its super thin and lightweight design. According to Huawei this premium piece of tech will be made available for users through open pre-sale starting from 17th Dec. Huawei Matebook 13 comes powered by the Intel Core i5 8th generation(i5-8265U) or the Core i7 8th generation(i7-8565U) processors. The device offers an 8GB DDR4 2133Mhz RAM while graphics have been taken care by a Nvidia MX150 discrete card.

The device weighs just at 1.28kg’s, and its thickness is somewhat around 14.9mm. Matebook 13 offers a 13.0(inch) Display with a resolution of 2160 x 1440 pixels and an aspect ratio of 3:2. This panel supports 100% sRGB wide color gamut, and the peak brightness remains at 300 nits. The new Matebook comes with a 42W battery and provides 256GB of internal storage. The power button on this device also doubles as a Fingerprint Scanner.

Read More: Huawei 13-inch MateBook announced with NFC connectivity and fingerprint scanner in China

For connectivity options, the Notebook provides a 3.5mm audio jack, a USB Type-C port, a Type-C interface, etc. The new Matebook 13 supports the NFC module, and Huawei’s Share 3.0 ensures that files from your Mate-series devices can be transferred in seconds. The pricing details of the Matebook 13 are not yet available. However, we can say that the price might sit below the price tag of the new Apple MacBook Air. Considering the overall specifications of the device we can say that it will be more likely to replace your office PC and is not meant for hardcore gamers.

(Via)

Honor confirms January 22 date for Honor View20 launch, releases poster for V20

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Dec 10, 2018

Huawei and Honor are known to launch their phones under different names in different markets, a trend HMD Global has also picked up for its Nokia phones. The Honor V20 is the upcoming flagship by Honor and it will launch globally as the Honor View20. Today Honor officially confirmed the release date for the View20 via a Twitter post.

Last week when we first reported that the Honor View20 was scheduled to launch on January 22, it was just a speculation as the poster itself didn’t reveal the name of the device. Honor later confirmed today that the event is indeed for the launch of the View20 and has released a new poster for it. The event will hold in Paris, France o the 22nd of January.

Discover. Explore. #SeeTheUnseen on Jan 22 in #Paris 🇫🇷 #HONORView20 pic.twitter.com/wwDounCvyR

— HONOR (@Honorglobal) December 10, 2018

Just like the first poster, this also confirms the phone will have a hole for the camera in the top left corner of the display. At the HonorArtology event today, Honor revealed the display will be called All-View Display, which is its own version of Samsung‘s Infinity-O Display which debuted on the Galaxy A8s today. The phone will also come with a 48MP Sony IMX586 rear camera with a 1/2.0-inch large CMOS. It (actually, the V20) will be the first phone in the world to feature the sensor.

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Vivo Y93s launched with waterdrop notch display, Helio P22 and 4,030mA battery

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Anvinraj Valiyathara

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Dec 10, 2018

Vivo Y93s is yet another entry-level smartphone from the company that has gone official in China. In fact, it is a different chipset variant of the Vivo Y93 smartphone that was announced in China in the previous month. It also comes with higher internal storage. The rest of the specifications of the new Vivo smartphone are same as Y93.

Vivo Y93s Specifications and Features

The Vivo Y93s measures 155.11 x 75.09 x 8.28mm and it weighs 163.5 rams. It is fitted with a 6.2-inch waterdrop notch screen. The IPS LCD panel produces HD+ resolution of 720 x 1520 pixels and an aspect ratio of 19:9.

The Snapdragon 439 chipset is present under the hood of the Vivo Y93 phone along with 4 GB of RAM. It has an inbuilt storage of 64 GB. The newly announced Vivo Y93s phone has MediaTek MT6762 (Helio P22). The SoC is coupled with 4 GB of RAM. It carries a larger internal storage of 128 GB. Users can add up to 256 GB of microSD card on the Vivo Y93s.

Vivo Y93s Zixia Red and Starry Night Black

The Vivo Y93s promises long-lasting performance through its 4,030mAh battery. However, there is no support for fast charging on the device. The Android 8.1 Oreo OS customized with FunTouch OS 4.5 UI is preloaded on the smartphone. Vivo has also included its gaming mode feature on the device.

The rear side of the Vivo Y93s features a vertical camera module. It includes a primary sensor of 13-megapixel with f/2.2 aperture and a secondary sensor of 2-megapixel with f/2.4 aperture. For capturing selfies, the handset is equipped with a frontal shooter of 8-megapixel with f/1.8 aperture. The Vivo Y93s lacks a fingerprint reader. The front camera enabled with face recognition feature can be used for unlocking the device.

Vivo Y93s Pricing and Release Date

The Vivo Y93s has landed with a price tag of 1,698 Yuan (~$245) in China. The Vivo Y93 is a cheaper device that is now selling with a price tag of 1,499 (~$217).

Currently, Vivo is selling only the Aurora Red and Zixia Red gradient color variants through its online store. In the near future, it will be also selling its Starry Night Black and Aurora Blue gradient color models. There is no word on the international availability of the Vivo Y93s.

Samsung trademarks Rize 10, 20, 30 names for new smartphones

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Dec 10, 2018

It seems Samsung has played a lot with present series of smartphones, and now their new naming scheme has appeared in the UK. As per our folks at Sammobile, they have found some paperwork for trademarks of Rize10, Rize20, and Rize30 filed by the Korean giant. Well, no other details have been revealed with the filing documents, but it made us not to ignore similarities of Samsung’s naming scheme.

Additionally, Samsung is preparing to launch several other devices in the coming time under Galaxy A series. Even, they are launching M series very soon which will carry smartphones with the naming scheme of Galaxy M10 and M20. Overall, various devices are coming from the Korean giant, but it is unclear which would bear Rize series name.

Perhaps, judging by the numbers, we can expect some more models like Rize 50, Rize 60 and Rize 700 in coming times. As far as of now, only three new names have been filed for trademarks.

Samsung is now look9ing to expand its brochure of smartphones across the globe. This new trademark filing might be a step to attain the goal of expansion. Samsung already has plenty of devices in the mid-range market under the Galaxy A, Galaxy Z, and new Galaxy M series while Galaxy S and Note series are the flagship devices of the Korean giant.

Read More: Samsung Galaxy A8s announced with Infinity-O display, Snapdragon 710 processor, triple rear cameras but no audio jack

As of now, these names can’t be related to just devices, and these can be something else also. Currently, it’s not clear whether these names will be used to denote which devices or when they will come for the public. Let’s wait and watch for the next some weeks or months.

We will let you know about any advancement about it in the coming time.

(Via)

Huawei Enjoy 9 is official sporting a Waterdrop notch, Snapdragon SoC and 4000mAh battery

By

Jed John Ikoba

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Dec 10, 2018

Chinese smartphone manufacturer Huawei has officially announced the Enjoy 9 smartphone in China and the device is billed to go on sale in China on December 12. The Enjoy 9 is a trimmed down version of the Enjoy 9 Plus which went on sale in October

Specs wise, the Enjoy 9 features a 6.26-inch 720x1520pixel IPS LCD display. The device has a waterdrop notch design which houses the selfie camera. The device packs a Snapdragon 450 chipset onboard instead of Huawei’s custom Kirin chipset. However, the chipset is a low-end chipset that won’t offer so much in terms of firepower. The processor is paired with a 3GB of RAM and 4GB of RAM on some models. The device also comes with 32GB of internal storage while the 4GB RAM variant has a 64GB storage onboard.

On the camera end, the Enjoy 9 sports a 13MP f/1.8 + 2MP f/2.4 depth-sensing dual camera setup at the rear while for selfies, there is an 8MP f/2.0 selfie camera. The device comes with Face scanner using the front camera but there is no physical fingerprint button at the rear. One outstanding feature onboard the Huawei Enjoy 9 is the 4,000mAh battery that will definitely deliver an extended usage period. On the software aspect, the device runs Android 8.1 Oreo-based EMUI 8.2. In addition, the device comes with three slots, two SIM slots and a third one for microSD card. The Enjoy 9 comes in Black, and three gradient Aurora colors – Blue, Red and Purple.

Huawei is yet to reveal the price of the Enjoy 9 but it is already listed on VMall with sales billed to start on December 12.

(source)

Honor announces Link Turbo for seamless transition between LTE & Wi-Fi networks

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Dec 10, 2018

At the HonorArtology event today, Chinese smartphone maker, Honor, unveiled a new technology called LINK TURBO for improved connectivity.

There are times when your Wi-Fi network may be slow and you are streaming a movie or playing an online game. Link Turbo can automatically detect this and switch to 4G without you noticing. It can also combine both 4G and Wi-Fi for a more reliable experience. Link Turbo uses on-device AI to analyze a user’s usage experience and also network conditions to switch seamlessly between Wi-Fi and 4G networks.

Check out how Link Turbo works👇 #HONORView20 #HONORArtology pic.twitter.com/AHSMzo0dIt

— HONOR (@Honorglobal) December 10, 2018

In a video demonstrating how the feature works using the Honor Magic 2, we even see Link Turbo combining 4G and Wi-Fi for an active application while a secondary application (a downloader app) use only Wi-Fi.

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Samsung Galaxy A8s announced with Infinity-O display, Snapdragon 710 processor, triple rear cameras but no audio jack

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Dec 10, 2018

Samsung took the wraps off the Galaxy A8s at an event today in China. The phone is the first in the world with a hole in its screen and it is also the first Samsung phone with the new Infinity-O display. The screen isn’t the only impressive feature of the phone as Samsung also includes a powerful processor, triple rear cameras and sufficient storage and RAM. Sadly, this is also the first Galaxy phone without an earphone jack.

Design

The Galaxy A8s is covered in glass on both sides with a metal frame. The phone comes in three color variants – Gradient Black, Elves Blue, and Aurora Green (we are particularly fond of the green variant). The glass on the back is 3D and according to Samsung, the color of the phone should change based on the angle light hits it.

Samsung also did something cool with each variant. There is a colored ring around the middle camera (primary sensor) which adds a nice touch to the phone. On the gray variant, the ring is gold but takes on the color of the phone for the blue and green variants.

The hole for the camera in the Infinity-O display is pretty big and not as tiny as the one we saw in the leaked Lenovo Z5s video. There is still a bit of bezel visible around the device and it is even thicker at the chin.

There are antenna lines at the top and bottom of the phone. The bottom is also home to a USB-C port and a single speaker grille. The Bixby button and SIM tray are on the left while the volume rocker and power button sit on the right.

Galaxy A8s Specs

The Galaxy A8s has a 6.4-inch display with a 19.5:9 aspect ratio. Samsung didn’t reveal the screen resolution but we know it is 2340 x 1080 according to its TENAA listing. The phone is powered by the Snapdragon 710 – an upper mid-range processor – and paired with 6GB or 8GB of RAM. Irrespective of the RAM variant, you get 128GB of storage.

Like the Galaxy A7 (2018), the Galaxy A8s also has three cameras on its back. One is a 10MP telephoto lens with 2x optical zoom and it is paired with a 24MP f/1.7 main sensor and a 5MP f/2.2 sensor for real-time portrait effect. The selfie camera is a 24MP sensor.

The Galaxy A8s also has a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner, a 3,300mAh battery, and runs Android 8.1 Oreo.

Price and availability

Samsung didn’t announce a price for the phone but it has opened a registration page for those interested in purchasing it when it goes on sale. Samsung is also running a sweepstake where one lucky winner gets to win the phone. Twenty other winners will get a JBL SD-18 portable Bluetooth speaker while a lot more will get coupons that can be used towards the purchase of accessories and other items. You can check here for more details about the competition and registration for the phone.

Xiaomi Poco F1 gets permanent price cut of Rs. 1,000 (~$14) in India

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Dec 10, 2018

Poco F1, the affordable flagship smartphone from Xiaomi has been well-received in the Indian market. The company had revealed that it has sold around 700,000 units of the Poco F1 in India in just three months.

Now, the company has permanently slashed the pricing of Poco F1 in India by Rs. 1,000 (approximately $14), bringing down the starting price of the smartphone from Rs. 20,999 (~$294) to Rs. 19,999, roughly $280. Similarly, the 6GB RAM and 128GB storage model is now available for Rs. 22,999 (approx. $322) and the 8GB RAM and 256GB storage model costs Rs. 27,999 (approximately $393).

Lastly, the Poco F1 Armoured Edition, which comes with Kevlar back panel, will be available for Rs. 28,999 which roughly converts to $407. The price cut of Rs. 1,000 is applicable for purchase through online stores as well as offline stores.

The Poco F1 comes with a 6.18-inch Full HD+ IPS LCD display which is protected by a layer of Corning Gorilla Glass. The phone is powered by Qualcomm‘s Snapdragon 845 flagship processor and comes with LiquidCool technology.

As for the photography, the device comes with a 12-megapixel Sony IMX363 primary sensor, coupled with a 5-megapixel secondary sensor on the back panel. On the front side, there’s a 20-megapixel selfie camera powered with artificial intelligence for capturing enhanced selfie shots.

The phone comes with 6GB/8GB of RAM and 64GB/128GB/256GB of internal storage, depending on the variant. It runs on the company’s MIUI with Poco Launcher, based on Android 8.1 Oreo operating system and is powered by a 4,000mAh battery that supports Quick Charge 4.0 fast charging technology.

Meanwhile, reports indicate that the company could soon launch a couple of variants of Poco F1 with Kevlar back panel. While the Kevlar variant currently comes with 256GB internal storage, it could soon be available in 64GB and 128GB storage models as well. The upcoming models could be priced around Rs. 21,999 (~$315) and Rs. 24,999 (~$358) respectively.

Apple patents future AirPower wireless charging pad with advanced security features

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Dec 10, 2018

In order to compete against the Chinese manufacturers, the Cupertino giant is also preparing something innovative. Recently, we came to know that Apple has applied for the wireless charging pad patent. In a new filing at the United States Patent & Trademark Office, Apple has something new and superior to the AirPower wireless charging pad. The successive technology is superior to the present technology and packs various new advancements.

As per the documents and images leaked from the patent description, the new technology can charge multiple devices at the same time. It can charge your iPhone, iWatch, and iPad simultaneously. It will bring enhanced security features that showcase the charging status of multiple Apple devices. The charging status will be shown on the largest display devices among all that is connected with the charging pad.

The detailed diagram also gives us a look at the apparatus that will be used in the new wireless charging technology. It will include a wireless charging surface which will allow users to charge multiple devices placed in its proximity range. Moreover, there will be memory storage also, but its use is not clarified. Though, due to limited information available, nothing else can be figured about the new patent.

Read More: Apple reportedly commences iPhone X production again due to poor iPhone XS sales

It is an interesting piece of technology as on paper, but for the actual product, we have to wait for sometime. We hope the actual product from Apple to surface in the next couple of years. It can provide ease of charging to various Apple users around the globe. It will further open doors for new advancements in the field of wireless charging.

What do you say about this kind of wireless charging? Share your important thoughts via comments below.

(Via)

Xiaomi crowdfunds a super Compact 1.2L Mini Cooker for 199 Yuan ($28)

By

Joel Joseph

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Dec 10, 2018

Xiaomi is known for its Mijia Rice cookers in China and we have heard some really good things about the way it cooks rice. Given that rice forms a major part of a meal in Asian countries, smart rice cookers are only going to be more popular among people in the coming years. Xiaomi currently has three rice cooker sizes available, with the largest one featuring 4L capacity while the smallest one with 3L capacity. The cheapest one goes for around $55, which is pretty decent. However, if you are someone living in China and don’t eat a lot of rice, spending $50 in a smart rice cooker may not have made sense. Now, it might.

Xiaomi’s crowdfunding platform, Youpin has just listed a new electric smart rice cooker. What makes it special is its super compact size, featuring a capacity of just 1.2L. This is enough for 1-2 people and if you are a bachelor or a couple, this might just be perfect. The official description says that the OCooker (that’s the name of the mini cooker) can make up to 3 bowls of rice at once.

RELATED: Xiaomi Reveals It Has Sold Over 1 million Units Of The Mijia Rice Cookers

The mini rice cooker comes with a built-in NTC temperature sensor for accurate temperature measurements, real time rice cooking temperature monitoring, and 300W low power consumption. Unlike the Mijia rice cookers, which can be a bit complicated to operate, the OCooker’s control panel is pretty straightforward with options like cooking mode, porridge mode, timer, one button cooking, and a basic heating mode.

For 199 Yuan ($28) this might just be what you were looking for. You can read more about the OCooker from the source below.

(Source)

Japan Display cuts production of iPhone XR display due to disappointing sales

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Dec 10, 2018

Japan Display, which is a supplier to Apple for the iPhone displays, is reportedly cutting down production from December of liquid crystal display (LCD) for iPhone XR model because of the disappointing sales after its debut in October.

The reduction in the production of the LCDs is expected to be about 30 percent compared to the November peak level. It also marks a potential setback for the company which was expecting the iPhone XR supply contract as a key to breaking a four-year streak of losses.

For Japan Display, around 80 percent of its overall revenue is generated through the production of the display panel for smartphones. Majority of those earning is dependent on its business with Apple.

Earlier, the company, known as JDI, has reported sales forecast growth in the range of 10 percent to 20 percent. However, last month, the company lowered the numbers to between 5 percent to 15 percent for the year ending in March 2019. It is also cutting its operating profit margin estimate.

As per the reports, domestic factories have already lowered down the output of display panels for the iPhone XR. Further, the report adds that the company will halt production for around 10 days during the New Year holidays.

The Japan-based company’s panel inventories are reportedly running high after full-bore production in October and November. The company will now use some of the capacity freed up by this month’s output cuts for products other than smartphone displays.

Apple is conducting a more aggressive marketing strategy for its new iPhone models because of weaker sales. The company’s stock is also currently trading down for the year as Apple suppliers report order cuts across the board and investors fear the demand for iPhone XS and iPhone XR is low. The company will be reporting its iPhone sales results in a quarterly earnings call in January but Apple has already announced that it will no longer report unit sales numbers.

Smartisan official website displays all the smartphones as “out of stock”

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Dec 10, 2018

Don’t know whether Smartisan smartphones are selling like hot cakes or there is some sort of production struggle. Whatever the reason, the Smartisan official website is now showing all their smartphones as currently unavailable for purchase.

To make it worse, on the mobile phone sales page of the hammer official website, the nut Pro 2 mobile phone has been removed with no prior notice. And the remaining four mobile phones: the Nut Pro 2S, the Nut Pro 2 special edition, the Nut R1 and the Nut 3 all display the “arrival notice”. In a nutshell, you won’t be able to take home a Smartisan mobile from their official site as of now. Perhaps, we don’t know how long it’d stay as such.

It’s found that, in addition to the official website of Hammer Technology, Smartisan mobile is experiencing supply shortage in Jingdong, Tmall, and Suning e-commerce platforms too. So, it’s more likely that the supply channel of Hammer Technology indeed is going through some problems.

Till now, there is no response from Smartisan officials regarding the sudden anomaly. Let’s hope they’d acknowledge the issue soon. Well, for those who’re looking to purchase a smartphone all we’ve to say is wait until the stocks are back to normal.

(Via)

OnePlus 6T fingerprint sensor gets better and faster over time, claims the company

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Dec 10, 2018

A few months ago, Chinese smartphone manufacturer launched its latest flagship smartphone named OnePlus 6T, which is the successor of the OnePlus 6 launched a few months before 6T’s launch.

One of the major highlights of the smartphone is that it comes with an in-display fingerprint sensor, making it the first smartphone from OnePlus to have this feature. According to the company, it can unlock the phone in just 0.34 seconds.

Pete Lau, co-founder of OnePlus had said that the company was testing the use of in-display fingerprint sensor since the OnePlus 5T but didn’t use it until OP6T because “the technology wasn’t up to the standards of speed and reliability” of OnePlus.

Explaining the usage of the in-display fingerprint sensor, the company says that when a user places their finger on the sensor, it sends out light to illuminate the finger, allowing the sensor to “see” the user’s fingerprint. During the testing stage, the company discovered that green light gives the best results and that’s why they went for green color.

Apart from the high-tech sensor, OnePlus says that it also uses sophisticated algorithms to improve over time as they learn more about the way users unlock phones. Yale Liu, a software engineer at OnePlus says that every time a user unlocks the phone, the sensor also records areas of the finger that weren’t registered in the initial fingerprint setup stage.

The data is then added to the existing data, making it more complete. So, every time the in-display fingerprint sensor is used, it gathers more data about the user’s fingerprint. This means that over time, the phone will unlock even faster. He further adds that the algorithms are also able to figure out when the user’s fingerprint is different than usual – if their finger is wet or if they have a cut on it, etc.

The OnePlus 6T comes with a 6.41-inch Optic AMOLED Full HD+ display and is powered by Qualcomm‘s Snapdragon 845 octa-core processor with either 6GB or 8GB RAM and 128GB/256GB of internal storage. It features a 16MP + 20MP rear camera and a 16MP front-facing camera and comes with an impressive set of features for making photography experience better. The phone runs on OxygenOS 9.0 based on Android Pie and is backed by a 3,700mAh battery.

Meanwhile, the Chinese company has scheduled a launch event on 11th December at McLaren’s HQ to launch a special limited-edition smartphone. The same device, which is expected to be the OnePlus 6T McLaren Edition with 10GB RAM, is scheduled to launch in India on 12th December.

(Source)

Nubia X Collectors Edition with 512GB internal storage launched for 5,299 Yuan ($769)

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