Xiaomi Launches The Mi Bunny Children Scooter Priced At 249 yuan (~$39)

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Jun 5, 2018

Xiaomi has announced a new toy for the kids and it is a scooter. The Mi Bunny Children Scooter, as it is called, is a mechanical scooter with lots of features and safety nets which make it a cool gadget for the kids. It looks very much like the Beiwa Beva Children scooter which was announced last year. But this is an upgraded model and it is directly a Xiaomi product.

The Mi Bunny Children Scooter is capable of bearing a load of 50kg and has a dimension of 597mm x 294mm x 780mm. It is 597mm long, the front wheels are 294mm apart while the handlebar is 780mm away from the floor. It weighs just 3.1kg. Further, the scooter is equipped with 129 TPR skid-proof points on the floor area which allows the kid to pedal the scooter comfortably.

In addition, the Xiaomi Mi Bunny Children Scooter comes with a wide and thick PU rubber wheel, with a front wheel thickness of 32mm and a rear wheel thickness of 52mm. The scooter is equipped with two wheels at the front and a single wheel at the back, thus ensuring the child skids comfortably. The wheels is equipped with built-in lamp which is powered by induction technology. As the child skids on the scooter, electricity is generated to power the lights and the effect will be an attractive beautification that kids would love. At the same time, the Mi Bunny Children Scooter uses a wide brake cover to make the brake operation easier. The brake is equipped with a sturdy and wear-resistant stainless steel brake pad, which is not easily deformed. Even after it is used for a long time, the braking effect is still pretty impressive. With a solid triangular structure, one-touch handlebars can be removed, and equipped with a special silicone strap.

In order to adapt the scooter to children of different age grades, the Mi Bunny scooter uses a design that allows the handlebar to be extended upwards or distended, depending on the one that is suitable for the child. The handlebar adopts a C-shaped curve design which is more in line with the human hand-holding angle, making the child’s operation more comfortable and more smoothly. The upper part of the entire handle is completely covered with soft glue, avoiding the metal bumps that may be caused by the exposure of the child, and the safety is further improved. Also because of the full package design of the handle, cleaning corners are avoided, making the handle easier to clean. The handle is also designed to aid the child in navigating the scooter easily.

The front wheels can be adjusted in order to provide better balance for the child. For children who are yet to master how to balance the scooter, the wheels can be adjusted to become slanted, giving it more balance and this also reduces the taxi speed. For children with better balance ability, the straight wheel angulation offers faster taxi speed.

The Mi Bunny Children scooter comes with a price tag of 249 Yuan ($39) and will be officially available on June 8. The gadget is already on reservation via Mi Home in China. Check that out from the source link below.

(source)

Vivo NEX S Alleged Specifications Surface Online Ahead Of Official Launch

By

Jeet

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Jun 5, 2018

Vivo is gearing up to launch its full-screen smartphone, which is confirmed to have been named Vivo NEX, at a launch event in Shanghai on 12th June. Reports indicate that the company will launch the smartphone in three variants — Vivo NEX, NEX S, and NEX A.

Now, an alleged specs sheet of the budget NEX-series device has surfaced online, which is believed to be of Vivo NEX S. According to the leaked screenshot of the specs sheet, the smartphone will come with a 6.01-inch Full-HD+ display having super slim bezels and nearly 100% screen-to-body ratio.

It is expected that the smartphone will retain the pop-up camera mechanism for the front-facing shooter. While the Vivo NEX will be powered by Snapdragon 845 processor, the budget variants of the phone are expected to come powered by Qualcomm‘s Snapdragon 710 processor.

On the back side, the phone will come with 20-megapixel + 16-megapixel dual camera setup and on the front side, there’ll a 24-megapixel snapper. Further, the leaked reveals that the smartphone will pack 4GB RAM and 64GB of internal storage. On the other hand, the Vivo NEX is expected to come equipped with 6GB of RAM.

The device will be running Android 8.1 Oreo operating system out of the box and will drive power from a 3,320mAh battery. The main model is reported to come with under-display fingerprint sensor but it is not clear if the budget devices will also come with a similar fingerprint sensor.

Earlier, Vivo had showcased its Vivo APEX smartphone as a prototype which featured full-screen and nearly bezel-less display. The production version of the phone has been named Vivo NEX and the company is launching the device on June 12.

(Source)

Fitbit: 1 Million Versa Watches Shipped In Less Than Two Months

By

Habeeb Onawole

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Jun 5, 2018

Fitbit is happy with the numbers its latest smartwatch – the Fitbit Versa – is pulling. The watchmaker has announced that it has shipped over 1 million units in less than two months.

The Fitbit Versa can be called a cheaper version of the Fitbit Ionic – another smartwatch released this year. The low-price and also female health tracking feature seems to have helped the watch gain popularity.

Fitbit said over 2 million people have used the female health feature which logs period, records symptoms and compares cycles since it announced it in May.

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Lenovo’s 4TB Hype For The Z5 Turns Out To Be A New 4TB Particle Cloud Storage

By

Jed John Ikoba

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Jun 5, 2018

Lenovo finally unveiled the Z5 which didn’t come as a flagship but a mid-range smartphone. One aspect that we picked from the several teasers of the Z5 is that it will come with up to 4TB of internal storage but no mention was made of that during the launch event. It has now been unravelled that Lenovo’s 4TB hype was actually for its cloud storage device which it calls Lenovo Particle Cloud.

The Particle cloud is a blockchain product and a home data storage as well as data sharing smart gadget. It has a built-in 4TB capacity monitoring hard disk as well as distributed storage privacy encryption that allows users to easily carry out real-time storage of documents, photos, videos, high-speed access and sharing anywhere, anytime.

The 4TB particle cloud is equipped with a Quad-core processor with a frequency of 1.5GHz. It comes with an 8GB eMMC flash memory, 2GB DDR3 RAM, and its service life is up to 114 years. It is shock-resistant, high-temperature resistance, consumes as low as 3.5W, and has a low operating noise of just 26db.

In addition, the particle cloud uses bank-level, two-factor encryption and distributed cloud storage, which ensures high data security and privacy. In terms of pricing, the Lenovo particle cloud comes with a price tag of 1399 yuan (~$218). It will go on sale on June 18.

Motorola One Power Key Specifications Leaked with New Renders

By

Anvinraj Valiyathara

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Jun 5, 2018

Motorola One Power is a rumored Android One smartphone from the Lenovo-owned company. A render and an image of a prototype of the alleged phone that surfaced in the previous week had revealed that it will be arriving with a notched display and a vertical dual camera setup like the iPhone X. A well-known tipster who holds a good track recording for shedding information on upcoming Motorola phones has revealed the key specs along with some renders.

According to the leakster, the notched display of the Motorola One Power will carry support for Full HD+ resolution. The Snapdragon 636 chipset will be powering the phone along with 6 GB of RAM. It will have an internal storage of 64 GB.

He has further added that the dual camera setup of the phone will include an f/1.8 aperture 16-megapixel primary sensor and an f/2.0 aperture 5-megapixel secondary sensor. For shooting selfies, it will be fitted with an f/1.9 aperture 16-megapixel frontal camera. It will be coming with the usual connectivity features including NFC. The handset receives power from a 3,780mAh battery.

The tipster has shared some “official pictures” of the phone. The inner corners of the display and the edges of the notch do not really match with the recent photos of the One Power. The chin of the phone and the bottom portion of the rear panel has “motorola” branding. The back panel has a batwing “M” logo. It is speculated that it could be embedded with a fingerprint reader.

It is speculated that Motorola won’t be releasing Moto X5 Android One smartphone this year. Rumors have suggested that the company will launching the One Power smartphone instead of Moto X5.

The specifications of the smartphone suggest that it could be aimed towards the upper mid-range market. As of this writing, there is no information available on its pricing.

(source)

The New ASUS VivoWatch BP Is A Nest of Sensors Including ECG For Blood Pressure Tracking

By

Jed John Ikoba

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Jun 5, 2018

Taiwanese tech giant ASUS has launched a new smartwatch dubbed VivoWatch BP. The ASUS VivoWatch BP is a successor to the VivoWatch which was launched three years ago. The new sports smartwatch comes with lots of new features but the most notable one is the blood pressure tracking and de-stress index. This feature makes the ViVoWatch BP one of the few BP tracking watch around just like the latest Lenovo Watch X.

The VivoWatch BP won’t rank among the flashy smartphones in the market. If you are searching for something fashionable, then you may want to turn your head the other way. However, what it lacks in design, it gains in the features it packs. It is equipped with several sensors under the thick screen bezels but the biggest is the Electrocardiographic (ECG) and photoplethysmographic (PPG) sensors which measure your current blood pressure. Both sensors work simultaneously to deliver better accuracy. The BP is measured by placing the fingertip on the front-facing ECG sensor for about 15 to 20 seconds.

Apart from helping users keep track of their blood pressure, the VivoWatchBP also tracks other vital data like heart rate, sleep quality, de-stress index and overall activity data. The smartwatch uses the HealthAI technology which enables it to be connected to an Android app and the data gathered is transferred to the app with personalized suggestions and recommendations. You get suggestions like how many steps you need to take today, how many hours of sleep you should get during the night and also it tries to motivate you to exercise.

In addition, the ASUS smartwatch comes with GPS tracking, allowing you to share your location with friends and family for safer weekend mountain hiking. The gadget also packs a pretty impressive battery life which Asus claims can run for about 28 days under normal usage. This is twice the battery performance compared to the previous version.

As for pricing and availability, the ASUS VivoWatch BP comes with a price tag of $169. The smartwatch will be available in Asia by the end of July while it will hit Europe in August. US customers will have to wait until Q2 or Q3 next year as a result of pending FDA approval.

(source)

OPPO R15 Gets Yet Another Color Variant

By

Habeeb Onawole

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Jun 5, 2018

Just a few weeks ago, OPPO announced the OPPO R15 Nebula Special Edition. It is actually a new color variant of the phone created by Egyptian designer Karim Rashid. Today, the manufacturer has unveiled yet another color variant called Magic Powder.

The Magic Powder OPPO R15 has a color gradient design like the Nebula edition. However, this time it is a mix of gold and pink. The result is nothing short of beautiful.

The OPPO R15 Magic Powder will go on sale tomorrow for ¥2699 (~$421). It will be available on the official website as well as JD.com. OPPO will also ship the phone along with a free unit of the OPPO M11 Bluetooth speaker for those who pre-order.

The new color variant has the same specs as the other variants. It has a 6.28-inch 2280 x 1080 display, an Helio P60 processor, 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage.

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Xiaomi Mi 8 First Selfie Camera Samples: Here’s How The New AI Beauty Performs

By

Michele Ingelido

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Jun 5, 2018

Every year, Xiaomi has been putting efforts on improving the cameras of its devices. And in the previous years, the Chinese company has managed to release some of the best camera phones in the affordable smartphones market. According to the company’s declarations, the new Xiaomi Mi 8 unveiled just three days ago is its best camera phone, even better than the Mi Mix 2S. Indeed, DxOMark has already included it in its best camera phones ranking, in which the handset obtained the 4th place with the same score as Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus.

Now, the first selfie samples have surfaced online and we can assume that even Xiaomi Mi 8’s selfie camera is outstanding just like its dual rear camera. The front snapper of the device supports AI portrait selfies and a new AI Beauty algorithm, and it is evident in the below selfies which made those girls’ face nearly perfect without any blemishes. Further, the selfie camera is able to deliver a great bokeh effect, blurring the background with good edge detection. In case you do not remember, Xiaomi Mi 8 features a single selfie snapper with a resolution of 20 MP and a f/2.0 aperture and a huge pixel size of 1.8 microns.

Near the front camera, there are also infrared sensors for the Xiaomi’s 3D facial recognition technology. The rear camera is a dual setup composed of the wide-angle Sony IMX363 primary sensor with a pixel size of 1.4 microns and a secondary S5K3M3 sensor. Both sensors feature resolutions of 12 MP, but their apertures are different: f/1.8 and f/2.4, respectively. They are also equipped with 4-axis optical stabilization and they support optical zoom, as well as dual pixel autofocus.

Xiaomi Mi 8 has been launched in China with a price tag of $421 in its base variant. The phone already sold out in the first sale.

(Via)

Lenovo Announces The Watch X: Measures Blood Pressure, Heart Rate & More

By

Habeeb Onawole

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Jun 5, 2018

Lenovo also announced a new smartwatch at today’s event. The Lenovo Watch X (10) comes with a bunch of sensors and an OLED display. If you don’t like the Watch 9 announced earlier this year, then you should check out the Watch X.

The full specs of the Watch X are still unavailable but we will update the article once we get our hands on it. The Watch X comes with an OLED screen which lets you see the recorded readings in real time. The Watch X has a Milanese watch strap but there is also a leather variant if that is what you prefer.

The watch has six different sensors – a barometer, a heart rate sensor, a blood pressure sensor, a gyroscope, a gravity sensor, and a geomagnetic sensor.

Powering the watch is a 600mAh battery which Lenovo claims can last up to 45 days on standby. Connectivity is via Bluetooth 5.0 LE. The Watch X is also water resistant up to 80 meters.

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MIUI 10 Global ROM Rollout May Get Confirmed on June 7

By

Anvinraj Valiyathara

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Jun 5, 2018

During the unveil event of the Xiaomi Mi 8, Mi 8 Explorer Edition and Mi 8 SE smartphones, the Chinese manufacturer had also launched the MIUI 10 ROM. The Chinese manufacturer has already started the closed beta of MUI 10 in China and the public beta of developer ROM is expected to be available in the country late June to some handsets like Mi 8, Mi MIX 2S, Mi MIX, Mi 6X, Mi 6, Mi 5, Mi Note 2, Redmi S2 and Redmi Note 5. The remaining Xiaomi phones will be getting the developer ROM in July. In India, Xiaomi will be holding a launch event the rumored Redmi Y2 smartphone. Manu Kumar Jain, Xiaomi’s Global VP and Managing Director for India has shared a new teaser on his Twitter which reveals that the company will be launching the MIUI 10 soon.

Coming soon. #FullScreenExperience

Can you guess what are we talking about? 😇 @XiaomiIndia @MIUI_India pic.twitter.com/wp5Oebny8o

— Manu Kumar Jain (@manukumarjain) June 1, 2018

Last year, Xiaomi had launched the MIUI 9 ROM in China in July. And when the Chinese firm had launched the Redmi Y1 smartphone in India in November. it had used the same platform to announce the rollout of MIUI 9 Global ROM. Hence, it is being speculated that Xiaomi will be confirming on the rollout of MIUI 10 Global ROM on June 7 when it launches the Redmi Y2 phone.

The MIUI 10 has come with some new features and the company has claimed that it faster than MIUI 9. The major improvement that has arrived on the MIUI 10 is the heavy integration of AI. The ROM includes AI Portrait Mode which makes it possible for even older phones like Mi Note 2 to capture shots with bokeh effects. The AI Preload can analyze the usage of an app and reduce its loading times. It also includes a new Recent Apps switcher, navigational gestures, a driving mode and a hub for accessing all smart devices.

As far as Redmi Y2 is considered, Rumors have it that it the same selfie-centric Redmi S2 phone that was launched in China in May. It has a 5.99-inch FHD+ screen, Snapdragon 625 SoC, soft-LED enabled 16-megapixel front camera, dual rear cameras and more. It is likely to arrive with a pricing of Rs. 9,999 (~$149).

Vivo NEX’s Pop-up Front Camera Officially Confirmed!

By

Jed John Ikoba

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Jun 5, 2018

BBK subsidiary, Vivo last week confirmed that it would launch the concept NEX smartphone in an event holding on June 12. The Vivo NEX is expected to be the mass production version of the Vivo APEX concept phone which was unveiled a couple of months back. The Chinese manufacturer recently released a teaser poster on its official Weibo account which re-echoes the presence of a pop-up selfie camera on the NEX. The company has now released a new poster which basically confirms the presence of a pop-up selfie shooter.

The teaser poster contains the render of the full-screen device with the selfie camera already popped up. The crisp clear picture on the display obviously represents how powerful the selfie camera output would be. The poster also shows the device will indeed be a truly bezel-less model with no notch at the upper edge. The sides also look completely bezel-less while the chin has just a minimal level of bezels.

As a reminder, the NEX’s selfie camera is hidden on the top bezel from view and it comes up automatically when a user selects the front-facing camera option inside the camera app. When not required, the pop-up camera can hide inside the top bezel. When the feature was demonstrated on the Vivo APEX phone, the company had claimed that it can pop-up in just 0.8 seconds. That could also be retained on the NEX smartphone. The poster also points at the presence of artificial intelligence (AI) on the device.

As for the specs, the Vivo NEX is expected to have a Snapdragon 845 chipset on its topmost model while there is rumoured to be a model with a Snapdragon 710 chip.

(source)

Lenovo A5 Goes Official With 18:9 Display And 3GB RAM, Priced At 599 Yuan ($94)

By

Jeet

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Jun 5, 2018

At a launch event in Beijing, along with its much-awaited smartphone Lenovo Z5 and Lenovo K5 Note, the China-based company also introduced yet another smartphone under its lineup of budget-friendly devices — Lenovo A5.

The Lenovo A5 features a 5.45-inch HD+ 2.5D curved glass display, which has a screen resolution of 1440 × 720 pixels and is clubbed with 18:9 aspect ratio. Under the hood, a 1.5GHz quad-core MediaTek MT6739 64-bit chipset with PowerVR Rogue GE8100 GPU powers the smartphone.

It packs 3GB of RAM and two options in terms of internal storage — 16GB and 32GB. Further, the phone’s storage capacity can be expanded up to 256GB through a microSD card. On the software front, the device is running Android 8.1 Oreo operating system out of the box with the company’s own custom interface ZUI 3.9 on top.

On the imaging front, the Lenovo A5 boasts a 13-megapixel rear camera with LED Flash, f/2.2 aperture, and an 8-megapixel front-facing snapper with f/2.2 aperture. The phone also features a fingerprint sensor on the back panel as well as comes with support for Facial Recognition feature.

Connectivity options on the device include Dual-SIM, 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.2, and GPS. The device is backed by a 4000mAh battery. It measures 158.3 × 76.7 × 8.5mm and weighs 176 grams.

In China, the Lenovo A5 is priced at 599 Yuan, which roughly converts to $94 and will be available in three color options — Black, Gold, and Rose Gold. For now, there is no information regarding the launch of the smartphone in any other market.

Lenovo K5 Note (2018) Official: Metal body, Full-Screen Display & Dual Cameras On A Budget

By

Habeeb Onawole

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Jun 5, 2018

Lenovo’s K-series were very popular at a time but along the line, the manufacturer sort of messed up the naming. After the Lenovo K6 series in 2016, it announced the Lenovo K8 series in India, skipping the K7 name. Now, rather than go on with the naming, Lenovo’s latest device in the K-series is yet another K5 Note.

To avoid confusing it with the 2016 model, we’ll refer to it as the Lenovo K5 Note (2018) even though Lenovo is calling it just Lenovo K5 Note. The device completes this year’s series which includes the Lenovo K5 Play and Lenovo K5.

Apart from the naming, which we are not pleased with, Lenovo might have a winner here as the K5 Note packs some interesting specs for an affordable price.

Lenovo K5 Note (2018) Design

Unlike the Lenovo K5 and K5 Play which have reflective bodies, the K5 Note is non-reflective metal. However, it comes with the trending 18:9 display with thinner bezels than its siblings.

Lenovo K5 Note (2018) Specs

The Lenovo K5 Note (2018) has a 6.0” display but Lenovo didn’t state the screen resolution. It is powered by a Snapdragon 450 – the same found in the Xiaomi Redmi 5 which should be its closest rival. It comes with either 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage or 4GB RAM and 64GB of storage.

On the rear are dual 16MP cameras while a lone 8MP camera sits in front for selfies and video calls. The phone has a triple card tray which lets you use two SIM cards and a microSD card slot all at once.

The K5 Note (2018) has a 3760mAh battery and runs ZUI 4.0 based on Android Oreo out of the box. Unlike the Lenovo Z5, we do not know if the K5 Note will get updated to Android P.

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Lenovo Z5 Is Official With SD636 & 6GB RAM, Comes In Aurora Color

By

Joel Joseph

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Jun 5, 2018

Lenovo’s phone as well as PC business has been dwindling in recent times but it isn’t going down without a fight. The company aims to get back in the game with the release of the new Lenovo Z5 mid-ranger. We have been seeing teasers of this particular phone for the past couple of weeks and the Z5 does look like a device that can change the tide for the Chinese giant.

About an hour ago, the Lenovo Z5 was made official in China. The company has adopted the tried and tested strategy of incorporating trending features at an affordable price tag on this new device. So, you have a notched display, handful of new color options, powerful mid-range hardware and AI, all at an affordable price point.

Lenovo Z5 Design

The Lenovo Z5 comes with a full screen 19:9 6.2-inch 2240 x 1080p display with a notch up front and 2.5D Gorilla Glass. The company made sure to point out the fact that its notch is smaller than flagship phones like the iPhone X or the Xiaomi Mi 8. Further, the company even boasts of its thinner chin as compared to Xiaomi devices like the Mi 6X and the Mi 8. However, the real highlight of Z5’s display is its support for DCI-P3 color gamut with 700 nits of brightness, a feature usually seen only in the top-end smartphones of recent times. The screen occupies 90% of the front, which is definitely a feat for its price segment. The back is standard with a vertically arranged dual camera setup on the left and a fingerprint sensor at the centre.

[envira-gallery id=”194686″]

There are three color options available, Schumann Black, XLR Blue, and Aurora. Looks like, Lenovo has taken some inspiration from Honor for its new model!

Lenovo Z5 Specs

The Z5 is powered by the capable Snapdragon 636 with 6GB of RAM and 3300mAh battery with 18W fast charge support. The phone runs on ZUI 4.0 which brings fluidity of the UI and adds Full U-Touch 4.0 Screen gestures, AI voice commands, and features such as automatic call answer via gestures. Note that the company has promised the Android P update for the Z5.

There’s a dual camera setup at the back of the phone with a primary 16MP f/2.0 sensor and a secondary 8MP sensor for depth information. Like most other phones of 2018, the camera experience will be enhanced by AI with support for 4D beauty mode, AI noise reduction, night mode and AI portrait mode. Further, the company has tied up with ArcSoft for the phone’s depth of field algorithms, so expect pretty good bokeh portraits. Front features an 8MP f/2.0 sensor with beauty mode.

Lenovo Z5 Price & Availability

Lenovo has ensured that the phone is taking on the Snapdragon 636 powered Redmi Note 5 in China. Pricing starts from 1299 Yuan ($202) for the 6GB + 64GB version and goes up to 1799 Yuan ($281) for the 6GB + 128GB edition.

The phone goes on sale on June 12.

Xiaomi Mi 8 Sold Out In About A Minute And Half In Its First Ever Sale In China

By

Jeet

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Jun 5, 2018

On 31st May, Xiaomi launched its flagship smartphone — Mi 8 at a launch event in Shenzhen, China. Today, the smartphone went on sale in China for the first time and all the units sold out in about 1 minute and 37 seconds.

However, the company has not revealed how many units of the Mi 8 were sold in this first sale. The next sale for the smartphone is scheduled to take place on 12th June at 10:00 AM. Just like this sale, in the next sale also, the phone will be available in three variants — 6GB RAM + 64GB storage, 6GB + 128GB storage, and 6GB RAM + 256GB storage.

While the 6GB RAM + 64GB internal storage model is priced at 2,699 Yuan (approximately $), the 6GB + 128GB and 6GB + 256GB models are priced at 2,999 Yuan (approximately $) and 3,299 (approximately $) Yuan, respectively.

The Xiaomi Mi 8 is the first smartphone from the company to feature a notched S-AMOLED display that offers a Full HD+ screen resolution of 2248 x 1080 pixels and aspect ratio of 18.7:9. The backside of the phone is made out of glass that has a unique “water drop arc” design. It features a 7000-series aluminum frame.

Under the hood, the device is powered by Qualcomm‘s Snapdragon 845 processor. It comes equipped with 3,400mAh battery that is enabled with Quick Charge 4+ fast charging technology. The handset comes pre-installed with Android 8.1 Oreo operating system with the company custom user interface MIUI 10 on top.

The Mi 8 features a wide-angle Sony IMX363 12-megapixel primary sensor with f/1.8 aperture and 1.4-micron pixel size and a secondary 12-megapixel S5K3M3 sensor with f/2.4 aperture and 1-micron pixel size. The dual cameras offer features like 4-axis optical image stabilization, optical zoom, and dual pixel autofocus. On the front side, it features a 20-megapixel sensor with f/2.0 aperture with a massive pixel size of 1.8micron and supports AI portrait selfies and AI Beauty.

Further, the Xiaomi Mi 8 is the world’s first smartphone to come with dual-frequency GPS. Other connectivity options on the device include dual-SIM support, 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11ac NFC, Bluetooth 5.0, and 3.5mm audio jack. The smartphone comes with advanced facial recognition feature has been dubbed as Infrared Face Unlock, which will offer better facial recognition than other Android phones with face unlock feature.

Apple iOS 12 Announced with Improved Performance & Several New Features

By

Jed John Ikoba

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Jun 5, 2018

U.S tech giant Apple is holding its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) presently and one of the first products that got unveiled is the new iOS 12. Apple has announced the new iOS version and also disclosed that the new update will be available to all devices which currently have iOS 11. The rollout will begin this fall and will hit models from the 5-year-old iPhone 5s as well as any iPad released since 2013.

The main focus of Apple in its operating system is performance and that is what obtained on iOS 12. The system’s performance gets the first major improvement. It is touted to be much faster than iOS 11 with 40% faster app launch, 70% faster camera, 50% faster keyboard, and huge optimizations under heavy load thanks to clever CPU boosts. It also comes upgrades of several of the features available on iOS including Siri.

Also, the new iOS 12 introduces new AR Kit 2 which focuses on shared experiences, allowing many people to share the same virtual environment like creating content, playing games, or just sharing your creations. LEGO, among other companies, are on board to create apps that share the same AR environments. In addition, the new OS comes with a brand-new file format for 3D graphics called USDZ. The format is an open source format and all native iOS apps will support reading USDZ files. Adobe will also add native USDZ support for Creative Cloud suite.

Another aspect that has gotten some improvement is Photos search. It is now improved with Search Suggestions. You can search by activities, events, locations, vacations, items. Apparently, you can now search by almost anything – even broad terms like museum, office, bar.

Another improved aspect is the Photos app which gets an extra “For You” tab. The tab automatically generates albums, suggestions for effects, even sharing suggestions – such as sharing your dinner photos with people you’ve been together with and then it will suggest sharing their photos on their phones with you and the rest.

Apple’s own virtual assistant Siri is getting a new feature as well and it is shortcuts. You can create shortcuts for actions Siri could do, like finding your keys, ordering coffee, reserving tables, reminders. There is a new Shortcuts app to help you create all shortcuts involving various apps. Siri Suggestions then uses those shortcuts to suggest to you something you might have forgotten like ordering your morning coffee, in case you didn’t do that on Monday morning. The suggestion could also be for you to send a message that you’ll be late for your meeting with someone.

Apps

The embedded apps are also improved. For instance, the News app is updated with new Browse section, where you can browse by different topics. In addition, Stocks app now gets News inside it, and it will be available on iPad. Also, Voice memos will now be available on iPad with this update. There will be iCloud support, as well. Other improvement include a new design for iBooks app which will now be called Apple Books. It will now have support for audio books .

Another app that gets some improvement is Car Play. It now supports third-party navigation apps, so users can change if they don’t like Apple Maps.

Other changes

There are also changes on the Do Not Disturb mode which now gets DND bedtime. DND is also easy to activate in various forms from the Control Center. Also, iOS 12 now groups notifications by app and topics and users can now turn on or off notifications from app straight from the lockscreen.

Apple also tailored the new iOS to be able to get you complete weekly reports of how you use your device, what sends you notifications, what time you spent on different apps, among other thorough statistics. You can limit your app usage, say Facebook, by setting a time limit and iOS will stop you after the time is up.

These are all developed to help reduce users screen time. The app control will also limit the usage of your kids iDevices via pre-set time limits on app, downtime on specific hours (bedtime), or always allow some apps.

Animjois and Messages

Apple iOS 12 brings some improvement to the Messages app with four new Animojis named coala, ghost, t-rex, and tiger. There is also a brand-new tongue detection which allows the iPhone X to detect your tongue movements. There is also an update for the Animojis called Memojis. They are Animojis designed after you. It’s like an RPG character creation – you have a ton of options for everything – hair, face, freckles, eyes, sunglasses, ears, and others.

FaceTime

Apple introduces Group FaceTime with iOS 12. Now, you can facetime with up to 32 people and the feature also integrates with messages. You can dial a whole group chat from within your Messages app. You can also join any already ongoing group facetime chat anytime. You can also replace yourself with an Animoji/Memoji n chats.

Qualcomm Announces Snapdragon 850 Chipset Built For Windows PCs

By

Jeet

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Jun 5, 2018

Qualcomm is focused on expanding its chipset business and along with making chips for mobile phones, the company is also making chips for the Internet of Things devices, VR headset, among others. Now, at Computex 2018 in Taiwan, the company unveiled the Snapdragon 850 processor, which is specifically designed for Windows devices.

The chip is supposed to drive a new generation of Windows devices on Snapdragon chipset, made by Qualcomm‘s numerous partners. Samsung has already announced that it will be making a 2-in-1 PC powered by the Snapdragon 850.

The chipset features ARM processors, integrated LTE, long battery life, and an instant-on resume with no hibernation. As the Snapdragon 850 is meant to be used in devices bigger than a smartphone, it can run at higher clock speeds without overheating. It has a faster 2.96GHz clock speed, which makes the processor about 30 percent faster than the SD835.

The Snapdragon 850 is built on the same second-generation 10nm process as the Snapdragon 845, and it’s paired with the same X20 modem for cellular connectivity. The company says that the Snapdragon 850 includes both hardware and software tuning to make it better at performing PC activities compared to the Snapdragon 845.

The Snapdragon X20 modem can now reach speeds of 1.2 Gbps, and Qualcomm will be leveraging the AI capabilities of their Hexagon DSP a lot more with the new platform. The new platform, according to Qualcomm, along with improved performance, should provide +20% battery life, and +20% wireless speeds.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 850 also uses the upgraded audio and video codec features and include support for H.264 and HEVC 4K encode and decode for video playback services. It has extended support for 4K video capture from integrated cameras.

On the audio front, it has improved dynamic range and reduced harmonic distortion metrics on its audio codec, and both analog and digital audio output is supported with Qualcomm’s Aqstic and aptX technologies.

For the new platform, Qualcomm is offering more assistance to the OEMs and vendors when it comes to reference designs and components, such as reference modem design and layout.

AnTuTu’s Top 10 Best Performance Smartphones for May 2018 Released

By

Anvinraj Valiyathara

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Jun 5, 2018

AnTuTu is considered one of the reliable benchmarks for testing the performance of a smartphone. Each month it releases its list of top 10 smartphones that offers best performance. Until the arrival of Snapdragon 845 chipset driven phones, AnTuTu’s list of best performing phones were led by Huawei Mate 10 Pro and Mate 10 that are fueled by Kirin 970 SoC. Today, the benchmarking platform has released the list of top 10 best performance smartphones between May 1 and May 31.

As it can be seen in the image below, the list is mainly populated by Snapdragon 845 powered phones. One should be aware of the fact that the list is not showing the highest score of each smartphone, but their average benchmarking score.

The list is led by Snapdragon 845 powered OnePlus 6 that has managed to salvage an impressive average benchmarking score of 274,910. The China-exclusive Smartisan R1 that is also powered by the same chipset is sitting on the second position. It has scored 272,520 points. The Black Shark gaming phone by Xiaomi that includes the same SoC has scored 270,235.

The Samsung Galaxy S9 and Galax S9+ that are also fueled by SD845 have respectively scored 263,218 and 262,571 points on AnTuTu. Currently, they are placed on fourth and fifth positions on the listing of best performing phones on AnTuTu in May. The Xiaomi Mi MIX 2S is now holding to sixth position with a score of 261,719. On seventh is Nubia’s Red Magic gaming phone with a score of 214,904.

The Huawei Mate 10 Pro with a score of 212,001 and Mate 10 with a score of 211,566 are respectively placed at eighth and ninth positions. The Honor V10 that recorded 210,616 points sits on the last position on the list. These three phones are powered by the Kirin 970 chipset. There is no confirmation on why the list does not include the Kirin 970 powered Huawei P20 and P20 Pro smartphones that were launched in March this year.

The Xiaomi Mi 8 was also launched in the previous month. Since it has been made available for buying starting from this month, it is not present in the above list. During the launch of Mi 8, Xiaomi had claimed that it is the first smartphone ever to breach the 300,000 mark on AnTuTu. Hence, it seems that the top 10 list of best performing phones for June 2018 will surely have the Mi 8 ranking among the top 3 phones.

(source)

OPPO Find X Launch Date is June 19; Global Press Event to be Held in Paris

By

Anvinraj Valiyathara

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Jun 5, 2018

Last week, OPPO had confirmed the return of the Find series and today the company has revealed that it will be keeping a global launch event for the upcoming OPPO Find X flagship phone on June 19 at The Louvre in Paris, France.

The rumors about the OPPO Find X smartphone started swirling when the company had trademarked the name in April. In May, OPPO had held a press conference with the title “Connect to the Future of the Future” in Shenzhen, China to showcase its R&D achievements in 5G and 3D structured light technology. This suggested that the OPPO Find X could be a flagship phone that may arrive with features like 3D facial recognition and 5G support.

After officially confirming on the OPPO Find X moniker and launching a dedicated website for the Find series in the previous week, OPPO has now confirmed that the OPPO Find X phone will be getting a worldwide launch on Jun 19. The event will begin at 20:45 PM on the said date.

The Find series that were launched in the past have always featured advanced specs and features. Hence, the company may want to deliver the best of the specs on the Find X as it is arriving four years after the Find 7 phone from 2014. Apart from support for 5G and 3D facial recognition, it may come packed with features like under-display fingerprint reader, super flash charging technology and 5x optical zoom.

Such a smartphone is likely to feature Snapdragon 845 SoC and around 8 GB of RAM. Leaked information has revealed that the handset may come with a 6.42-inch OLED display that will carry support for 2K resolution. It may feature an internal storage of 256 GB and a 4,000mAh battery equipped with Super VOOC charging.

A recently spotted leaked image that is said to belong to Find X revealed that its chassis may have front and rear glass panels. Besides dual camera setup, the rear glass may have a starry sky design and it may also sport the well-acclaimed breathing light indicator that was seen on Find 7.

Are you excited about the return of the OPPO Find series? Do you think that the Find X will include all the rumored advanced features? Share us your views by posting your comments below.

(source)

Xiaomi’s IPO Is Reportedly Facing Some Skepticism From Investors

By

Jed John Ikoba

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Jun 4, 2018

Xiaomi‘s IPO is expected to go live on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange next month. The countdown has been a mixture of prospects and skepticism. The IPO is expected to be the largest in four years since Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd raised $25 billion in its 2014 debut in New York. Xiaomi has no doubt had a highly successful run lately, beginning from last year. That notwithstanding, it was reported recently that the tech giant’s valuation was reportedly scaled down from $100 billion around $70 billion.

There are reports that investors are still skeptical about the overall prospect of the IPO. According to a report covered by Reuters, some investors are also worried about Xiaomi’s profit margins, especially since the firm revealed that it will keep its profit margin at 5%. This is in addition to the slide in smartphone sales in China, Xiaomi’s biggest market. It must be noted, though, that Xiaomi’s supposed 5% profit margin doesn’t include profit from its software gotten from advertisement.

At some point, the company may have to change its focus on growth instead of profit since investors are only interested in the profitability of the venture. That could be challenged by Xiaomi’s growing focus on offline sales. The company is gradually expanding its brick-and-mortar stores locations and that is going to increase its operating costs thus eating into already thin profit margins. The IPO will likely go public in the first half of July if the company receive final securities approvals within the move next week. We’ll have to keep our fingers crossed expecting that the IPO lives up to expectations.

(source)