Avail Great Discouts And Save Extra Money On Top-Branded Items On Banggood

-

Oct 31, 2018

Nubia’s Red Devil eSport official Weibo handle has shared a posted which announces the impending entry of a new gaming smartphone on November 6. The phone will be called the Nubia Red Devil eSport mobile phone and will actually be launched on Jingdong crowdfunding on that date.

The phone is billed to be an all-round gaming phone considering the details on the poster. The device comes with innovative physical gaming keys with frame touch technology which allows for 4-finger operation. It also comes with a linear motor which enables 4D shock. Other expected features include DTS 7.1 channel and 3D surround stereo bounce, the sense of hearing does not fall.

In terms of the hardware, the Red Devil eSports will be powered by a Snapdragon 845 chipset and this will be supplemented by up to 10GB of RAM. This will make the device the second gaming phone after the Black Shark Helo to have such. There will also be an internal storage capacity of 256GB. In addition, the poster also detailed the Red Devils eSports mobile phone to also come with an air-cooled + liquid-cooled dual cooling system. The frame is also designed with dual-sided gaming accessories which means you don’t need any peripheral add-on to get the feel of holding a gamepad. It is worthy of note that the new Red Devils eSports gaming phone will come pre-installed with the GameBox game space to ensure a more comprehensive gaming experience.

If the phone actually goes official on November 6, it will be in contention with the Black Shark Helo and Mi Mix 3 for the race to become the first 10GB RAM model to hit the market.

(source)

LG will reportedly showcase its foldable smartphone during CES 2019

By

-

Oct 31, 2018

Foldable phones are in a good stead presently to emerge as the next big thing for 2019. For a while now, we have been inundated with several patents, designs, renders and so on. But interestingly, the first true foldable phone was launched yesterday and it isn’t from any of the popular brands. The Rouyu Flexipai manufactured by relatively unknown Rouyu technology gets that honour.

We don’t have a clear timeline of when the top brands will unveil their own foldable model but Samsung, LG and Huawei have been revealed to have something in the works. Popular tipster Eva Blass has disclosed via a recent tweet that LG will unveil its own foldable phone at its own keynote at CES 2019.

I can't speak for Samsung…

…but I do know that LG plans to unveil a foldable phone at its 2019 CES keynote.

— Evan Blass (@evleaks) October 31, 2018

No leaked photo of the LG foldable phone has been seen but a patent filed and approved by the US Patent and Trademark Office in late 2017 suggests the smartphone will most likely fold horizontally just like Samsung’s foldable. LG was recently rumoured as working with Lenovo to release a foldable table. So, we may really be seeing a foldable model from LG next year.

(source)

Unboxing photos of the Meitu T9 Doraemon Limited Edition evokes nostalgia

By

-

Oct 31, 2018

I am sure quite a lot of you recognize Doraemon, the robotic cat from a Japanese manga/anime of the same name even if you never watched the anime or read the manga. It was first created back in 1969 and has grown to become one of the best selling manga in the world. Smartphone maker, Meitu decided to release a Doraemon Limited Edition of its Meitu T9 flagship and pictures of the phone have surfaced online.

The unboxing photos are from ITHome who seem to have gotten their hands on a unit. The Meitu T9 Doraemon Limited Edition comes in a custom retail box that has the robot cat’s face plastered on it.

Apart from the phone, the box also contains a clear case and some documents – all with the Doraemon branding. Even the charger, 3.5mm to USB-C audio converter and USB cable are in the same blue color of the cat.

As with all limited edition phones based on pop culture characters, not only the body of the phone is customized but also the user interface. The Meitu T9 Doraemon Limited Edition is no different as it has a custom theme with icons and wallpapers inspired by the manga. The specs have changed a bit though.

[envira-gallery id=”220431″]

The Meitu T9 has a 6.01-inch AMOLED notched screen, a Snapdragon 660 processor, and 4GB of RAM instead of 6GB like the original. Storage is still 128GB and there are dual cameras on both sides of the phone – a 12MP primary sensor and a 5MP secondary sensor.

The cameras have a bunch of features including an AR mode with Doraemon stickers. It packs a 2900mAh battery with support for 18W fast charging. The Meitu T9 Doraemon Limited Edition is available for purchase on JD.com for ¥3499 (~$500).

Meitu plans to release 6 limited edition models of the phone. It already released a Sailor Moon Edition and Dragon Edition. There will also be Hello Kitty, Sakura Kinomoro, and Chibi Maruko editions.

(Source)

Xiaomi’s largest Mi Home in India opens in Bangalore

By

-

Oct 31, 2018

Xiaomi has no doubt met with good fortune since its sojourn in India began in 2014. The company currently ranks as the top smartphone and Smart TV vendor in the Asian country and has no intention to let that slip away from its grip. One way Xiaomi is trying to use to maintain its grip of the market is creating a balance between its online and offline sales models. Xiaomi presently has several Mi Home stores spread acro the various cities in India. However, the company has just opened what is definitely its largest Mi Home store in India and Banglore has the honour of being the host city of the store.

The brick and mortar store is located in the prominent Indiranagar area of Bangalore. The entire building occupies an area spanning across 6000 sq. ft. and covering two floors. The store is replete with numerous Xiaomi products which have been launched for the Indian market. It is also the finest Mi Home in terms of retail design grandeur. The building itself adopts a modern architectural design while the product stands are designed with a futuristic concept. However, since the focus is going to be on the products on display, it utilises a minimalist approach of white and grey colour coating on all surfaces. The building showcases unique, edgy patterns and is constructed using eco-friendly materials. The new Mi Home is also equipped with special solar-powered charging stations as part of the brand’s effort to implement pro-environment measures.

Apart from products that are available in India, the home store is detailed to have the largest experience zone with a collection of over 200 experience products that are sold globally. Some of the cool gadgets fans can have a feel of in the experience zone include the Mi Robot vacuum, Mi Smart Washing Machine, and Mi Smart Laser Projector. There are also several products ranging from smart home, smart travel to fitness and personal wellness sections. You may want to confuse the Mi Home with a tech campus as the store offers unique spaces such as the engagement zone and a Mi Home cafe wherein customers and Mi Fans can host regular meetups or spend quality time on their personal work and reflection.

UMIDIGI One Max design & specs leaked: Water drop notch, 128GB ROM and big battery

By

-

Oct 31, 2018

Chinese smartphone maker UMIDIGI is presently going ballistic with its product launch this year. Just recently, we saw the company unveil the entry-level premium model UMIDIGI A3 and UMIDIGI A3 Pro. The company even launched the Uwatch smartwatch just days ago. A couple of months back, the UMIDIGI One and One Pro were unveiled under the UMIDIGI One flagship series. Seems the company is planning to expand the series as a new smartphone model dubbed UMIDIGI One Max has leaked out in a poster showing the render and specifications.

As the name implies and just as rendered on the poster, the UMIDIGI One Max comes with a wide display. The details include a 6.3-inch waterdrop display but the resolution is unknown at this moment. The device is also listed to pack a massive 128GB of storage, perhaps on one of the variants. In addition, it would be fired up by a dependable and mammoth 4,150mAh battery.

Let’s take a closer look at the design briefly. At the front, what stands out is the water drop notch design which gives the device a high screen to body ratio. The notch houses just the selfie camera. The bezels at the two edges are ultra thin while the chin and top edge bezels are trimmed to their barest minimum. At the rear, the device packs dual cameras that are arranged vertically at the top left corner while there is an LED flash at the bottom. The rear is similar to the Twilight gradient colour of the Huawei P20 Pro. So, we may likely see the Twilight hue on the device which means the back panel is made of glass. This design is also featured on the UMIDIGI One.

Other key details like the processor, camera configuration and others are still unknown. The price is also not yet known but that could become officially in a short while. We’ll keep you updated as soon as fresh details emerge.

We were right, the Honor Watch Magic is a cheaper Huawei Watch GT

By

-

Oct 31, 2018

Huawei announced a new smartwatch called the Watch GT at the Mate 20 event at the beginning of the month. We later learned that Honor was also going to release its own smartwatch. The watch was announced today and its called the Honor Watch Magic.

The Honor Watch Magic shares a lot of similarities with the Huawei Watch GT but costs less. It runs Light OS and has a similar design too but is smaller.

Specs and Features

The Honor Watch Magic has a 1.2-inch AMOLED display with a 390 x 390 resolution, a PPI of 326 and support for multiple watch faces. The display is housed in a 316L stainless steel frame that measures 9.8mm in thickness (11mm with the glass). Depending on the version, the watch comes with silicone or leather bands. They are QuickFit 22mm bands and are easily swappable to match your style.

The Honor Watch Magic uses a dual-chip technology – one high-performance chip and an energy efficient chip. The watch also has a triple frequency GNSS receiver (GPS, GLONASS, and Compass/Galileo) for tracking.

In terms of its features, the Honor Watch Magic has Huawei’s TruSeen 3.0 technology for continuous heart rate monitoring. Also, with Huawei’s TruRelax technology and support from the Institute of Psychology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the watch provides 24-hour blood pressure monitoring and will suggest breathing exercises to help you keep calm with real-time feedback.

The Watch Magic also has TruSleep 2.0 which monitors 8 different sleep data, can identify up to six different sleep disorders, and can provide up to 200 sleep suggestions.

The watch can track lots of activities including swimming, mountaineering, cycling (stationary cycling too), walking, running (including treadmill running) and more. Honor says the Watch Magic has an altimeter, a compass, and a barometer for mountain climbing. It also has a built-in coach for workout sessions.

The watch also has NFC and supports Huawei Pay, AliPay and bus cards. Its battery is much smaller than that of the Huawei Watch GT – 178mAh as against 420mAh but Honor claims it can last up to a week for moderate usage and 10 hours with GPS turned on.

Vivo Y93 powered by Snapdragon 439 chipset launched in China for 1,500 Yuan ($215)

By

Jeet

-

Oct 31, 2018

We recently reported that Vivo could soon launch a new smartphone in its home market named Vivo Y93. In line with our report, the company has today silently launched the Vivo Y93 smartphone in China.

The phone is priced at 1,500 Yuan, which roughly converts to $215 and is already available for purchase through the Vivo Online Store in China. It comes in two color options — Starry Night and Red. While the phone is up for sale in China, there’s no confirmation about its availability in other markets.

The company says that it is using 3D micro-arc design at the back to make the smartphone more ergonomic. The Vivo V93 sports a 6.2-inch HD+ LCD display with 1520 x 720 pixels resolution and a smaller teardrop notch at the top.

Under the hood, the device runs on an octa-core 12nm Snapdragon 439 processor clocked at 1.95 GHz along with an Adreno 505 graphics processor. In the memory department, the phone comes with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage. There’s also a microSD card slot which allows you to further expand the phone’s storage capacity up to 256GB.

Coming to the optics, there’s a dual camera setup on the back, consisting of a 13-megapixel primary sensor and a 2-megapixel secondary sensor for depth sensing. The primary snapper features phase-detection autofocus for fast focus speeds and the phone also supports AI-powered portrait mode. On the front side, the device comes equipped with an 8-megapixel snapper with features like Face Wake, AI beautification, and AR stickers.

The front-facing camera also comes with Vivo’s AI beautification feature that analyses user’s skin texture, skin color, and scene light to add customized beautification effects. It also comes with Face Wake facial recognition feature, which the company claims can detect 1,024 unique features of the user’s face for higher security. Unfortunately, the device does not feature a fingerprint sensor.

The Vivo Y93 runs Android 8.1 Oreo operating system with the company’s own FunTouch custom interface on top. It also comes pre-loaded with the company’s Jovi AI assistant. There’s also a Game Mode feature that aims to enhance your gaming experience. The phone is fuelled by a 4,030mAh battery but lacks fast charging support. However, it comes with intelligent battery-saving features that helps in extending battery stamina.

Energizer E500S running Android Oreo (Go Edition), 4G VoLTE launched for €99.99

By

-

Oct 31, 2018

Energizer is well known as an American company that manufactures batteries but they have ventured into smartphone manufacture in recent times. The company has released a new smartphone which it dubs Energizer E500S. The E500S is a slightly improved version of the E500 and has as its most spectacular feature the €99.99 price tag. The phone is also SIM-free and not locked to any network which makes it a cheap entry-level product that’s just fine to take on a trip overseas.

The Energizer E500S presents with a 5-inch touchscreen display having a resolution of 800×480 pixels. The screen is covered with a tempered glass screen protector. The device is powered by a Quad-core MediaTek chipset clocked at 1.3GHz. The processor teams up with just 1GB of RAM while there is 8GB of expandable storage. The device runs on Google’s Android Oreo (Go Edition) operating system which is a special edition of Android optimized to run smoothly on very low-end hardware. The device equally comes with 4G VoLTE support, dual SIM slots. The 4G connectivity is what differentiates the E500S from the E500. The packing box also has a shock-proof cover for the phone inside.

The entry-level model packs an 8MP single camera at the rear with LED flash while at the front, there is a 5MP selfie shooter. Under the hood, there is a 2,000 mAh battery which is quite small. coming from a company that is associated with battery manufacturing. The phone is already available to buy all over Europe.

(via)

Honor Magic 2 is official: Slider Design, AMOLED Display, Triple Cameras, In-Display Fingerprint Scanner and Lots More

By

-

Oct 31, 2018

The Magic 2 was the highlight of the Honor event today and for its latest flagship, Honor has packed the phone full to the brim with tons of features.

Specs

The Magic 2 has a 6.39-inch AMOLED display with a 2340 x 1080 resolution. Honor says the phone has a 91.5% screen to body ratio. Under the display is a fingerprint scanner for unlocking and for payment.

The Kirin 980 is the chipset under the hood and it is paired with 6GB or 8GB of RAM and 128GB or 256GB of storage.

The Honor Magic 2 has triple rear cameras – a 16MP f/1.8 RGB sensor, a 24MP f/1.8 Monochrome sensor, and a 16MP super wide-angle f/2.2 sensor. The cameras are packed with tons of features such as scene recognition (more than 1500 scenes), HDR wide-angle photography with night mode, AIS, AR mode, studio level 3D portrait mode and even 480fps slow-motion recording.

The phone also has a 16MP f/2.0 camera in front and two 2MP f/2.4 depth-sensing cameras. There is also an IR 3D face unlock system if you don’t want to use the in-display fingerprint scanner.

The Honor Magic 2 supports 40W fast charging which it has dubbed Magic Charge. Owners will be able to charge the phone’s 3,400mAh from empty to 50% in just 15 minutes or from empty to 85% in just 30 minutes.

The Magic 2 is the first device in the world to support dual mode wireless projection technology. It also supports wireless PC mode like the Mate 20 series. So instead of a dock like the Samsung Galaxy DeX or a USB to HDMI cable, the Magic 2 will connect to a display via Miracast and provide a desktop mode for work.

Other features of the Magic 2 include dual GPS, 1.7Gbps download speeds thanks to the Hi103WiFi chip, dual VoLTE, Bluetooth 5.0, and a USB-C connectivity.

At the heart of the Magic 2 is an advanced AI Assistant called YOYO. YOYO has tons of features similar to what other assistants offer but it also has a feature similar to Google’s Duplex. At the event, Honor showed a video of the YOYO assistant making a hotel reservation for its owner.

Owners of the Magic 2 will also be able to use the YOYO assistant to control DJI drones by voice. There was also a live demonstration of this at the launch where Honor’s CEO used his voice to ask the drone to take off, take a picture of him, and also land. However, we can’t confirm if it is limited to a particular DJI drone or all its models.

The Magic 2 runs Magic UI 2.0 based on Android Pie. Honor says some of the software features of the phone will be released as a software update later.

Price and Availability

The Honor Magic 2 will be available in three color variants – Gradient Red, Gradient Blue, and Gradient Black.

The 6GB RAM + 128GB version will sell for ¥3799 (~$545), the 8GB RAM + 128GB version will retail for ¥4299 (~$616), and the 8GB RAM + 256GB version will have a ¥4799 (~$688) price tag. Pre-orders for the three variants begin tomorrow and run till November 5. The first sale is on November 6.

There is also a special 3D Bionic version with Graphene Cooling technology that has 8GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. It is priced at ¥5799 (~$832) and will go on sale in December.

[envira-gallery id=”220337″]

OnePlus 6T Hands On: You’ve got Solid Reasons to Upgrade

By

Joel Joseph

-

Oct 31, 2018

OnePlus 6T is officially here and China is the only major market where the phone is yet to release (November 2). For the past few years, the company has consistently manufactured best sellers. In recent years, the popularity of its phones have grown ten fold. But will the OnePlus 6T, a phone that replaces the five-month-old OP6, live up to our expectations?

Short answer is that it does! I managed to play around with the device at launch in India yesterday and things look really good. The phone is essentially the OP6 at heart. It’s a more refined version of an already good device, making the 6T an excellent find at its aggressive selling price. In simple terms, if the OnePlus 6 was modular, you would just have to replace a few parts to get to the OnePlus 6T. I sympathize with the OP6 owners, I mean, we really need a modular OnePlus device. Wouldn’t it be awesome if we could just swap out some parts instead of having to buy a brand new phone to keep ourselves updated?

That said, what’s a really good question is whether the OP6T is worth upgrading from the OP6.

Well, in a lot of ways, the OnePlus 6T has a lot to offer, even for existing OnePlus 6 users! You won’t get a long list of changes as compared to its predecessor, but these changes, albeit few, future proofs the phone for quite some time.

Let’s see these changes in detail in the OnePlus 6T hands on down below.

OnePlus 6T Hands-On

OnePlus 6T hasn’t changed much in terms of its looks when compared to its predecessor. In fact, when you hold the phone, it feels exactly like the OnePlus 6. The two variants, Midnight Black (Matte) and Mirror Black (high gloss) are the same as the older model. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t any differences.

The notched display is much better looking. Waterdrop really works for me personally, much better than the standard ugly notches. When I was reviewing the OnePlus 6, I started to ignore the notch after a day or two, and it became just an extension of the display. But every now and then, I would look at that notch and would hope that there was a better alternative to it.

Fast forward a few months and we saw OPPO refine what essential did with the notch, and OnePlus (unsurprisingly) hooked the 6T to this design. Until we get to a point where front cameras go under the display, the waterdrop notch seems to be our best alternative. Before you start talking about slider phones, personally, I don’t think they are here to stay. Adding moving parts to a smartphone-like device is never a permanent solution and this will likely be just a phase before we move on to in display cameras or something better.

The second change is the fingerprint sensor that goes from the back of the phone to the front, right inside the display. I didn’t get a lot of time to play around with the sensor in the demo area, but the initial experience was pretty positive. OnePlus seems to have improved on the available in display fingerprint technology to make it usable for everyday purposes. I say usable because it’s still a bit slower than a traditional fingerprint sensor. But in display sensors are the way forward and the OnePlus 6T could definitely be the phone that brought this technology to the mass market. Samsung is also going to jump to this technology next year and I’m sure pretty soon, it will become standard among flagships.

You’d definitely miss the headphone jack. But that’s another step forward than backward. I know many here would disagree with this statement but Bluetooth seems to be the future. As smartphones become more advanced and compact, companies will try to squeeze out things that have alternate options. Bluetooth headphones have come a long way and they have a lot more to go, but this is probably a good time to switch.

OnePlus 6 came with gesture support and it was good enough for daily use. The new OnePlus 6T improves the same gestures with better animations making the overall navigation fluid and quick.

In the camera department, there are two major improvements. One is ‘Nightscape’ for better low light photography (it essentially boosts ISO and exposure) and the other one is studio lighting for better selfies. Both need to be tested extensively to determine whether they are really new features or just gimmicks. But in general, don’t expect anything out of the ordinary in comparison to the older model.

The bigger battery is really going to boost that battery life. It’s not that the OP6 had a bad battery life, but the 6T is going to take things to the next level, leaving behind expensive competitors like S9 or even the Pixel 3 XL. Also, did you notice the About Phone section (picture in the gallery below)? That’s different than any other UI out there!

Overall, the OP6T feels like a worthy update to an already good device. We’ll look at the phone in detail in an in-depth review soon!

Till then, more OnePlus 6T Hands-on pictures are down below!

[envira-gallery id=”220318″]

Nubia X vs OnePlus 6T vs Xiaomi Mi Mix 3: Specs Comparison

By

Michele Ingelido

-

Oct 31, 2018

Nubia X is official with a high level of innovation, but it is also one of the most powerful Chinese smartphones out there. That is why we can not avoid to compare it with the latest Chinese flagships launched in the second half of 2018. Given the similar price tag, we decided to compare it with OnePlus 6T and Xiaomi Mi Mix 3, both affordable flagships. Will Nubia be able to compete with two of the most important brands? Let’s see it together.

Nubia X vs OnePlus 6T vs Xiaomi Mi Mix 3

	Nubia X	OnePlus 6T	Xiaomi Mi Mix 3
DIMENSIONS AND WEIGHT	154.1 x 73.3 x 8.4 mm, 181 g	157.5 x 74.8 x 8.2 mm, 185 g	157.9 x 74.7 x 8.5 mm, 218 g
DISPLAY	6.26 inches, 1080 x 2280p (Full HD+), LTPS IPS LCD Secondary display 5.1 inches 720 x 1540 (HD+), OLED	6.41 inches, 1080 x 2340p (Full HD+), Optic AMOLED	6.39 inches, 1080 x 2340p (Full HD+), Super AMOLED
PROCESSOR	Qualcomm Snapdragon 845, octa-core 2.8 GHz	Qualcomm Snapdragon 845, octa-core 2.8 GHz	Qualcomm Snapdragon 845, octa-core 2.8 GHz
MEMORY	6 GB RAM, 64 GB – 8 GB RAM, 128 GB – 8 GB RAM, 256 GB	6 GB RAM, 128 GB – 8 GB RAM, 128 GB – 8 GB RAM, 256 GB	6 GB RAM, 128 GB – 8 GB RAM, 128 GB – 8 GB RAM, 256 GB – 10 GB RAM, 512 GB
SOFTWARE	Android 8.1 Oreo, Nubia UI 6	Android 9 Pie, Oxygen OS	Android 9 Pie, MIUI 10
CONNECTIVITY	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS
CAMERA	Dual 16 + 24 MP, f/1.8 and f/1.7	Dual 16 + 20 MP, f/1.7 and f/1.7, OIS 16 MP f/2.0 front camera	Dual 12 + 12 MP, f/1.8 OIS Dual 24 + 2 MP front camera
BATTERY	3800 mAh, fast charging with Quick Charge 4.0	3700 mAh, fast charging with Dash Charge	3200 mAh, fast charging with Quick Charge 4.0+, wireless charging
ADDITIONAL FEATURES	Dual SIM slot, dual display	Dual SIM slot	Dual SIM slot, pop up cameras

Design

Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 should get a design award for the innovative aesthetics of its Xiaomi Mi Mix 3. It has an outstanding screen-to-body ratio thanks to a slider which houses the front cameras and sensor. And it even has an elegant rear side made of ceramic. It definitely has the best design of the trio, but Nubia X is another cool device in terms of aesthetics, as it features an incredibly high screen-to-body ratio as well thanks to the absence of the front camera (it uses the main camera because it features a secondary display on its back).

Display

Nubia X is the winner when it comes to display. It features two screens, one on the front and one on the back. If you want the best view quality, then you can use the traditional display on the front side. Instead, if you want to save battery or shoot a selfie, you can go for the secondary OLED display on the back which limits energy consumption thanks to its lower resolution.

Hardware/Software

You should not base your choice on the hardware side as all of these devices feature the same chipset, and it is the best chipset in the market: the octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 845. But there is one thing to say: Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 is the only one to sport 10 GB of RAM in its most powerful configuration. So if you need the best multi-tasking experience, it may be interesting for you.

Camera

Basing on the specs on the paper, we think that Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 might provide a better camera experience with its four cameras. But we will have to test it personally to give a definitive verdict, so we do not want to decide for a winner now. The sure thing is that all of these devices can shoot awesome photos judging from the specs of the rear cameras.

Battery

Given that Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 has a small 3200 mAh battery, we do not believe that it can compete with its opponents. But between Nubia X and OnePlus 6T it will be a very close fight when we will have the chance to try both. Nubia X has just 100 mAh more, so software optimization will play an important role here. But we believe that if you use the secondary 5.1-inch display of the Nubia X you will surely get better results than OnePlus 6T, so for now, Nubia X wins the battery comparison.

Price

Nubia X carries a starting price tag of about $470 in China, Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 debuted with a price of €500/$568 and OnePlus 6T starts from €559/$550. Call me unpopular, but I would personally pick Nubia X because I like its innovation and also because of its big battery. However, note that this device is currently exclusive to the Chinese market.

Read More: Nubia X dual screen phone with dual cameras, fingerprint scanners unveiled in China with ~$473 starting price

Nubia X vs OnePlus 6T vs Xiaomi Mi Mix 3: PRO and CONS

Nubia X

PROS

Dual display
Big battery
High screen-to-body ratio
Great hardware components
Affordable

CONS

No front camera
No micro SD

OnePlus 6T

PROS

Big battery
Amazing hardware
Good cameras
Gorilla Glass 6

CONS

No micro SD

Xiaomi Mi Mix 3

PROS

Full borderless design
In-display fingerprint reader
Outstanding hardware
Awesome camera
Affordable price

CONS

Smaller battery
No micro SD

Xiaomi attends OnePlus 6T India launch event but it’s for mischief. Find out how

By

-

Oct 31, 2018

When the Pocophone F1 was announced by Xiaomi last month, there was no doubt that the flagship was targeted at OnePlus models due to its cheap pricing. Xiaomi has confirmed that widely held assertion with its latest stunt pulled at the OnePlus 6T India launch. Recall that the OnePlus flagship was launched in India yesterday and according to reports, Xiaomi attended the event but not to cheer on its fellow Chinese OEM. Rather, Xiaomi reportedly shared calculators to fans who attended the event and the boxes had the inscription “You Do The Math”.

Never Settle for OverPriced. Unlock the #MasterOfSpeed. You decide. #DoTheMath pic.twitter.com/KvCIDyXXSq

— POCO India (@IndiaPOCO) October 30, 2018

Xiaomi did not attempt to deny the weird stunt it pulled as it even took to Twitter to expatiate more on it. The tweet borrowed OnePlus’ slogan “Never Settle” but this time around it says “Never Settle for OverPriced” apparently comparing the OP6T price tag to that of the Poco F1. The tweet also had the hashtag #DoTheMath. Apparently, Xiaomi also placed an outdoor billboard advert close to the OnePlus 6T conference venue with the same theme.

In case you don’t know, the Poco F1 comes with the same Snapdragon 845 chipset with the OnePlus 6T but the prices are comparatively cheaper. While the Poco F1 is priced at 20,999 rupees (~$283.83) the OnePlus 6T pricing starts at 37,999 rupees (~ $513). However, we must add that both phones have several distinguishing features that may justify the higher price tag on the OnePlus 6T. Stuff like a metal/glass back compared to the plastic back on the Poco F1, an AMOLED display as against LCD display on the Xiaomi model. The OP6T also comes with an in-display fingerprint sensor while here is a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner on the Pocophone F1. In addition, the OnePlus 6T model whose price is being compared by Xiaomi with its PocoF1 base variant has more RAM and storage than the cheapest version of the Pocophone F1, which is the one that Xiaomi uses in the price comparison. We believe the Mi Mix 3 would have made a better comparison with the OnePlus 6T but then, the pricing isn’t so different.

(source)

The Honor FlyPods/FlyPods Pro is the Huawei FreeBuds 2 Pro that didn’t launch, costs ¥799 (~$114)

By

-

Oct 31, 2018

At today’s event, Honor also announced its first truly wireless earbuds, the FlyPods and the FlyPods Pro and they have a familiar design. Remember the Huawei Freebuds 2 Pro that was supposed to launch alongside the Mate 20 series, it appears Huawei decided to let it launch as a Honor product first.

FlyPods

The Honor FlyPods has a similar design to the Apple AirPods. It comes in two variants – the FlyPods and the FlyPods Pro. The FlyPods Pro is actually the rebranded FreeBuds 2 Pro as it boasts additional features that greatly sets it apart from the regular variant.

The FlyPods connect via Bluetooth 5.0. Connecting the earbuds to your phone is simple and easy after the very first pairing. All you have to do is flip open the case of the earbuds and a prompt shows up on the screen with details about the earbuds including its current battery level and a request to pair.

The FlyPods has touch controls. The left earbud can be used to activate the voice assistant while the right earbud controls media playback. Both earbuds can be used to answer and reject calls.

Honor says if you lose one of your earbuds and you have a friend who also lost one of his earbuds, the two remaining earbuds can be put in a single case and will work as a new pair. This will only work provided they are different earbuds i.e. one left and one right earbud.

The FlyPods have an IP54 rating so sweat and rain shouldn’t damage them. The earbuds have a battery capacity of 420mAh and Honor says they should last 3 hours on a single charge and up to 20 hours with the charging case. The case charges via a USB-C port and can also be charged wirelessly.

FlyPods Pro

The Flypods Pro, on the other hand, has much more interesting features. Its key selling point is its BoneID technology. Using a combination of voice recognition and “bone sound pattern” recognition, the FlyPods Pro can be used as biometric recognition. Apparently, each individual has a unique bone sound pattern.

Simply ask it to unlock your phone and it will do so. Honor also says you can use the FlyPods Pro to make payments with your voice as it has support for WeChat payment and AliPay.

The FlyPods Pro also doesn’t need touch controls as the YOYO assistant is built-in. So you can ask it to control playback, answer calls and more. Just say the activation words “Hello YOYO” and you can proceed to tell it what to do.

Honor Waterplay 8 with Kirin 659 SoC, 4GB RAM, and dual rear cameras launched in China

By

Jeet

-

Oct 31, 2018

As expected, Honor, along with the Magic 2 smartphone and its foldable smartphone, has also announced a new tablet named Honor Waterplay 8. It is priced at 1,499 Yuan, which roughly converts to $215.

As the name suggests, it’s the smaller variant of the Honor Waterplay tablet that was launched last year. The Waterplay 8 comes with an 8-inch LCD IPS display having 1920 x 1200 pixels screen resolution, pixel density of 283PPI and 74.13 percent screen-to-body ratio.

Under the hood, the device is powered the company’s own Kirin 659 octa-core processor — the same chipset which powers its larger model launched in October last year. It is coupled with Mali T830-MP2 GPU, 4GB of RAM and 64GB of onboard storage. It also has a microSD card slot for expanding the storage capacity up to 256GB.

As for the photography, there’s a dual camera setup on the back, featuring a 13-megapixel and 5-megapixel camera sensors. Dual cameras on a tablet is a feature that is usually not found on tablets. On the front side, it comes with an 8-megapixel snapper with fixed focal length and f/2.0 aperture.

Just like its bigger sibling, this new 8-inch model is also water resistant and dust resistant with IP67 rating. There’s a home button just below the display, which doubles up as a fingerprint sensor. For an immersive audio experience, the tablet comes with dual speakers from Harman Kardon to offer stereo sound.

The Honor Waterplay 8 also supports the company’s GPU Turbo technology which the company claims can increase graphics processing efficiency by 60 percent and reduces SoC power consumption by 30 percent. These numbers in real life situations should give you a remarkable boost in graphics performance.

Connectivity options on the device include Wi-Fi 802.11 b/n/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.2 with BLE, GPS, GLONASS, and USB Type-C, and USB OTG. The tablet runs on the company’s own EMUI 8.0 custom user interface based on Android 8.0 Oreo operating system. It is fuelled by a 5,100mAh battery which supports 9V 2A fast charging.

The Rouyu FlexPai is the world’s first foldable phone and it starts at ¥8999 (~$1290)

By

-

Oct 31, 2018

A Chinese manufacturer you have probably never heard of has beaten the smartphone giants in the race to release the first phone with a foldable display. Rouyu Technology, today, released the FlexPai, the first foldable phone with a flexible display.

The FlexPai isn’t just the first mobile device with a foldable and flexible display but also the first mobile phone to be powered by the yet-to-be-announced Snapdragon 8150 a.k.a. Snapdragon 855.

The FlexPai has a 7.8-inch high-definition display and is said to have a thickness of just 7.6mm. The exact resolution is not stated and we have no info specifying if the display is LCD or AMOLED.

The device comes in three configurations – 6GB+128GB, 8GB+256GB, and 8GB+512GB. It also has dual rear cameras – a 16MP wide-angle lens and a 20MP telephoto lens. The camera is on the left side when the device is laid out flat.

Rouyu Technolgy also says the device supports a proprietary fast-charging technology called Ro-Charge that can charge the device from 0 to 80% in 1 hour. Ro-Charge is said to be 40% faster and has an efficiency rating of 94% and also has 3-layers of protection. However, they didn’t state the battery capacity of the FlexPai.

This is the "world's first foldable screen phone" released by Rouyu Technology, which will use the Snapdragon 8150 processor, but its design is very rough, just to seize the "first", this is a futures product. pic.twitter.com/M0v9o2z0Bw

— Ice universe (@UniverseIce) October 31, 2018

The FlexPai isn’t a refined device and from a video shared on Twitter by the leaker @UniverseIce, one can see it isn’t a device that can fit into your pocket even when folded which sort of defeats the whole point. Like UniverseIce said in the caption, this is just a company trying to get known as the first to release a foldable phone with a flexible display.

Android Pie released for Nokia 6.1 Plus; Nokia 3, 5, & 6 confirmed to get it later

By

-

Oct 31, 2018

Yesterday, HMD Global released the Android 9 Pie stable update for the Nokia 6.1. Today, it has announced the update is also rolling out to the Nokia 6.1 Plus.

The announcement was made on Twitter by Juho Sarvikaas, Chief Product Officer at HMD Global. The Android Pie update is 1349.5MB in size and brings a bunch of new features such as a new navigation system, adaptive battery, and adaptive brightness. The update also brings October’s security patch to the Nokia 6.1 Plus.

Another day. Another update. Happy to announce that the Nokia 6.1 Plus now runs on Android 9 Pie #Nokiamobile #AndroidOne 🥧 pic.twitter.com/Spls0myFbA

— Juho Sarvikas (@sarvikas) October 31, 2018

Based on Nokia’s promise, the Nokia 8 and the Nokia 8 Sirocco are next to receive Android Pie and that will be in November. In addition to those two, Nokia has also confirmed that the Nokia 3, Nokia 5, and Nokia 6 released in 2017 will also get Android Pie.

Nokia 3, 5, 6 and 8 of 2017 will also get 🥧. This hopefully helps understand why everything cant happen at the same time https://t.co/k6GWhHFTMM

— Juho Sarvikas (@sarvikas) October 31, 2018

Device named Google Rammus appears on Geekbench, powered by an Intel processor

By

-

Oct 31, 2018

An unusual device has been spotted on Geekbench. The device is listed as the “google rammus” and its name isn’t the only thing weird about it.ge

The “google rammus” was benchmarked a few days ago and Geekbench reveals it runs Android 7.1 Nougat and has 4GB of RAM. It also states the device is powered by an Intel Core M3-8100Y processor.

There are reports that the device might actually be an older prototype of the Pixel Slate which is powered by the same processor. Apparently, Geekbench has an issue with recognizing Chrome OS. The Pixel Slate was shown to be running Android Pie on the benchmark site before its eventual release.

There are also some who are of the opinion that it is a less powerful version of the Pixel Slate that may be unveiled soon. The Pixel Slate comes in four versions with different processors. The least powerful has an Intel Celeron processor with 4GB/8GB of RAM. It is followed by the version with an Intel Core M3 processor and then two others with Core i5 and Core i7 processors.

AnTuTu confirms the Lenovo Z5 Pro is indeed powered by the Snapdragon 710

By

-

Oct 31, 2018

Lenovo is going to get some serious backlash for the Lenovo Z5 Pro scheduled to launch tomorrow. Not only is the phone not going to have four rear cameras, but benchmark results have revealed that it isn’t even powered by the Snapdragon 845 processor.

Yesterday, a Lenovo device with the model number L78031 was seen on Geeekbench and the benchmark result revealed that it is powered by a Snapdragon 710 processor. The model number is similar to that of the Lenovo Z5 (L78012) which leads us to believe the device is truly the Z5 Pro.

The same device has also been benchmarked on AnTuTu and it also confirms it has a Snapdragon 710 processor. The benchmark result also reveals the phone is running Android 8.1 Oreo, has an Adreno 616 GPU and a 2340 x 1080 display resolution. It has 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage and an AnTuTu score of 161428 points.