Through the official Weibo account, Xiaomi has confirmed that it will be holding a press conference on April 25 to announce a new smartphone. Rumors are rife that the Chinese manufacturer will be debuting the Xiaomi Mi 6X smartphone that has been recently certified by TENAA telecom regulatory body in China.
Xiaomi will be announcing its next smartphone at China’s Wuhan University which is the alma meter of Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun. The teaser does not directly confirm the name of the device that will be launching on April 25. Xiaomi is currently to be working on the launch of two phones, the Xiaomi Mi 6X and Xiaomi Mi 7 flagship phone. Since the latter is speculated to get announced later in this quarter, it can be assumed that the Mi 6X may get official on April 25.
According to the TENAA listing of the Mi 6X, it will be arriving with a 5.99-inch FHD+ resolution supporting display that will be delivering an aspect ratio of 18:9. It is powered by an octa-core processor that clocks at 2.2 GHz. There are conflicting rumors surrounding the chipset that will be power the Mi 6X. Some sources have claimed that it will be feature Snapdragon 626, while other rumors have stated that it could be driven by Snapdragon 630 or Snapdragon 660 SoC.
The 64 GB and 128 GB Xiaomi Mi 6X variants are expected to respectively feature 4 GB and 6 GB of RAM. It is speculated that the Mi 6X will be equipped with a 20-megapixel Sony IMX376 front-facing camera whereas its backside will be fitted with 12-megapixel Sony IMX486 + 20-megapixel Sony IMX376 dual camera setup. The handset is expected to receive power a 2,910mAh battery that is likely to carry support for fast charging capabilities. It will arrive preinstalled with Android 8.1 Oreo that will customized with Xiaomi’s latest version of MIUI.
A recent report had revealed that the Xiaomi Mi A2 moniker was found in the source code of Indian version of Xiaomi’s official site. Just as Xiaomi Mi 5X launched exclusively in China, but it was globally launched Mi A1 with stock version of Android, Xiaomi is also expected to release Xiaomi Mi A2 with stock Android Oreo outside of China.
There’s no dearth of water-resistant products and waterproof gadgets that can be used in the shower, in the rain and even in the swimming pool. While it is particularly important for smartphone users to protect their devices from dunking into the water, only a few steeply-priced handsets are watertight.
But much to the relief of those who love to pack their phones along on their adventures in a bid to stay connected, Banggood is offering a great selection of waterproof products that will protect your gadget from sure death. As if that weren’t enough, the site is offering considerable discounts on these items.
Waterproof Case
This category comprises waterproof cases for smartphones. Note that only a few products in this category are up for grabs at a lowered price.For example, the 2-in-1 waterproof snowproof dustproof shockproof PC PET TPU case for Samsung Galaxy S8 would normally set you back $15.99 on Banggood. But you can now buy it at a discounted price of just $13.99 on the site.
Waterproof Feature Phone
Banggood is giving buyers an opportunity to save a considerable amount of money on select feature phones that are impervious to water. There’s a 33% off on the Vkworld Stone V3 feature phone, which usually sells for $59.89 on the site. Thanks to the aforesaid discount, you can now get your hands on this waterproof outdoor mobile phone by shelling out only $39.99. You can save an additional $4 by using coupon code ‘water’ at the time of checking out. This reduces your grand total to just $35.99.
Outdoor Sports Phone Products
This section features heavily discounted products that are ideal for adventure junkies who love outdoor sports. For the sake of an example, the X-Cam SIGHT 2 2-axis stabilizer handheld gimbal for iPhone and Xiaomi is currently available for a slashed price of just $46.99.
It’s worth noting that the device usually comes bearing a price tag of $75.99 on Banggood. This is a 38% reduction in the product’s retail price.
On top of that, you can use coupon code ‘water’ to save an extra $4.70 at the time of checking out. By applying the coupon code, you can bring your grand total down to only $42.29.
While you can apply the aforesaid coupon code to get 30% off on select products, note that preorder product cannot use the coupon. The discounted products will retain their retail price as soon as Banggood Waterproof Products Promotion comes to an end. You can visit this link to avail the deal.
OnePlus is known for teasing the features of its forthcoming flagship before launching it officially. A recent report had revealed that the OnePlus 5T has gone out of stock in markets like North America and India which indicates that the arrival of OnePlus 6 is close at hand. A new teaser released by the company shows the OnePlus 6 stacked under its predecessor – the OnePlus 5T. Since it is placed under the OP5T, the new teaser only reveals the features of the left edge of the phone.
As it can be seen in the below image, the left edge of the phone has a longer SIM card tray and a volume slider. What’s missing from the left side of the phone is the Alert Slider.
A recent rumor had claimed that the company has repositioned the Alert Slider to the right edge of the phone. OnePlus may have probably released the new teaser to show that it has relocated the Alert Slider to the right side. One of the recent teasers from the company also claimed that the Alert Slider on the OP6 can be used for adjusting the focus while shooting a photo.
The OnePlus 5T has U-shaped antenna bands that are present on the edges of the top and bottom of the rear panel. However, the antenna strips of the OP6 seems to be limited to the metallic frame and they do not appear on the back panel. This suggests that OnePlus 6 may arrive with a glass rear. There are no details available with the glass rear enabled OP6 will carry support for wireless charging.
In the image, the OnePlus 6 appears to be slightly longer. However, the exact dimensions of the phone are not available. It seems that the size differences between OP6 and OP5T will be negligible.
It is speculated that the OnePlus 6 will be officially launched in China on May 5. As OnePlus has been debuting its smartphones first in overseas market before announcing it in China, it is speculated that the OnePlus 6 may get official by the end of this month. Until then, the company is expected to release more teasers on its next-generation flagship.
The first teardown of Huawei P20 Pro made by iFixit has just revealed several important things about the components and the grade of repairability of the most powerful flagship released by the Chinese giant. To remove the back cover, the guys from iFixit had to use a special tool with two suction cups, but, even though the Pro is waterproof, they didn’t have to heat the device. In order to separate the backplate from the rest of the device, they had to disconnect the autofocus laser cable from the motherboard.
After removing the NFC antenna under a shield held by a few screws, it is possible to access to the motherboard, which has a small footprint leaving space for the big 4000 mAh battery. The motherboard is connected to the three camera modules (through two connectors) and the LED flash. According to iFixit, despite Huawei‘s claims suggesting that only one lens is optically-stabilized, every camera module has OIS as each of them can move around just like every optically-stabilized sensor. In case you do not remember, Huawei P20 Pro has a triple camera composed of a 40 MP RGB sensor, a 20 MP monochrome sensor and an 8 MP telephoto sensor.
According to Huawei, only the latter has OIS. Guys from iFixit also discovered that Huawei P20 Pro has a modular charging port, so it will be easy to replace it when it does not work properly anymore. On the other hand, the display is kinda hard to replace as it requires taking off the rear glass and disconnecting its cable which is connected to the motherboard. Further, the battery is difficult to remove as well. Several components of this device are modular and can be replaced, but according to iFixit that P20 Pro has just a 4/10 grade of repairability, which isn’t much for a costly device like this. You can check out the entire teardown from iFixit here!
Just like in 2017, Nubia decided to release the cheaper ‘Mini’ version of the Z series before the real flagship Z18 this year too. Nubia Z18 Mini is official and it is one of the most interesting mid-rangers without any doubt. That is why we think it is time to compare it with the other interesting and popular mid-rangers in the market. We have already compared the Nubia Z18 vs Redmi Note 5 Pro and now we are moving on to other phones which are priced close to the Z18 Mini.
Honor 7X is one of the best-sellers in the mid-range sector and, given that Z18 Mini has extremely interesting specs, we want to let you know which one fits your needs. Below, you can find the Nubia Z18 Mini vs Honor 7X specs comparison.
The most evident difference between Nubia Z18 Mini and Honor 7X is their design. The first has a glass back and an aluminum frame, while the second has a full metal unibody design. Both have the same 7.6 mm thickness and a similar weight, but Nubia Z18 Mini is much more attractive due to its Honor 9-reminiscent backplate. It also appears to have a higher screen-to-body ratio and smaller dimensions. In terms of hardware, Nubia Z18 Mini wins again.
It has a much more powerful SoC and also 6 GB of RAM, that is 2 GB more than the most powerful configuration of Honor 7X. There are still no camera samples, but we believe Nubia Z18 Mini’s dual camera will shoot better photos due to its brighter f/1.7 aperture and its 24 and 5 MP resolutions. Front cameras, batteries and displays should offer similar performances. Nubia Z18 Mini is a way better phone, but Honor 7X is much more affordable ($286/€230 in China vs $204/€165 in the global market for the base configurations).
ZTE Nubia Z18 Mini vs Huawei Honor 7X: PROS and CONS
Samsung usually makes good phones and that is unarguable but one snag about Samsung models, including its flagships, is that they pack small battery capacities that are usually not enough to compete with those of Chinese manufacturers. However, Samsung may have listened to complaints from fans about the battery sizes it crams inside its models. It is rumoured that the upcoming Galaxy Note 9 would pack a bigger battery than its predecessor.
Samsung Galaxy Note 9 Concept
The Samsung Galaxy Note 8 launched last year came with a 3300mAh battery. But recently, it was said that the Note 9 battery capacity would be ramped up to 3850mAH. The latest rumour now points at a 4000mAh battery onboard Samsung’s next flagship model. If true, this would definitely be the biggest battery size included in the top Galaxy models. In addition, this will bring the device on par with the flagship models by Chinese OEMs such as Xiaomi Mi Mix 2s and Huawei P20 Pro with 4000mAh batteries. It will also give Samsung a good leverage in the Chinese market where it sees to be losing ground lately.
In another related rumour, the Galaxy Note 9 is tipped as packing a 6.-inch display instead of a 6.3-inch screen size on previous Galaxy Note models. Since the Note 9 is expected to sport the Infinity Display 2.0 design that made an appearance on the Galaxy S9, it should sport slightly trimmed top and bottom bezels, compared to the Note 8, which would explain the rounding towards the higher 6.4-inch screen diagonal number. We may also see the Note 9 come with a tougher frame and cover glass than the Note 8, and perhaps an in-display finger scanner. However, we can’t rule out the possibility of the device retaining the orthodox rear-mounted fingerprint sensor as there are rumours backing either of them. The device will be powered by the Exynos 9810 and Snapdragon 845 chipsets and we might see 6GB RAM/128GB storage as the starting memory combo. Samsung may likely retain the excellent dual camera setup featured on the Galaxy S9+ in the Galaxy Note 9 and that won’t be a surprise. We still good a couple of months to go before the device is launched so, we expect more details to emerge as time goes by.
It seems that every year the Chinese tech giant Huawei releases a new phone, there is a lot of hype. It’s the same thing this year with the P20 Pro and to be honest, this is one of the most exciting phones of 2018 yet mainly because of that triple Leica camera setup, really nice design and flagship-grade specs. At the first glance, this is a superb smartphone but as most of the devices, it also has a few caveats to consider. This phone has a premium price tag of about $900 or 850EUR. Learn more about the device at our detailed Huawei P20 Pro review.
The P20 Pro ships just with a cable, a charger, a pair of earphones, a headset jack adapter and SIM ejector pin. Huawei didn’t include the case this time around, which is a bit disappointing.
DESIGN and DISPLAY
I don’t want to sound subjective at the very beginning of this review but the Huawei P20 Pro is one of the best looking phones out there. The Twilight gradient color is just beautiful and the phone changes the looks in different lighting. That’s why the phone may look a bit different in some parts of this review.
The overall build quality is excellent too thanks to a nice metal frame and premium-feeling buttons. I found the phone to sit comfortably in the hand thanks to nicely curved glass backplate. I was also impressed by the fact that Huawei managed to cram in a huge battery (4000mAh) into such a thin profile of the P20 Pro.
A triple camera setup looks really impressive on paper. It consists of one 40MP RGB sensor, 8MP telephoto shooter, and 20MP monochrome lens.
Here is more information about the cameras: the P20 Pro uses a 223% larger sensor than the competition, it has 5x hybrid zoom, 4 in 1 hybrid focus system, 4D predictive focus, it can achieve ISO levels up to 102400, and it can record 960fps slow-motion at 720p. Also, AI-powered Kirin processor makes the best out of this powerful hardware configuration. In other words, AI helps apply the best camera settings to take a nice-looking picture automatically.
Huawei also added a laser receiver to achieve fast auto-focusing speeds and a flash with the color temperature sensor that is used for white balance adjustment.
Huawei didn’t skimp on selfie shooter either as the P20 Pro uses a beefy 24MP camera. All the specs and numbers sound really impressive but we’ll see if the camera is truly great a bit later in this review.
Now, let’s talk about the display. Yes, it has the infamous notch but Huawei gives you an option to hide it. Honestly, I like the notch. At first, I was really skeptical about it and you may know that already if you follow me on Twitter but in practice, it looks quite nice to me. As for the display quality, it’s among the best on the market. Well, it may lack punchiness and vibrant colors of Samsung’s screens, but this is still one of the best displays on the market. It’s sharp, clear and easily visible even under direct sunlight.
After using the P20 Pro for a while, I have to say that the fingerprint scanner on the front is more convenient to me. I just love the fact that I don’t need to pick up the phone from the table to unlock it. Speaking of that scanner, it’s just blazing fast, super accurate and it unlocks the phone straight from the standby mode.
I was also really impressed by the face unlock feature. It’s ridiculously fast and accurate and it works well in any light and even if you wear glasses. All you have to do is press the power button before using this feature.
Other features you need to know: the phone has a nice LED notification light, IR blaster, dual SIM card slot but no microSD card support.
You should also know that there is no headset jack but the sound quality using a supplied adapter is excellent.Also, the P20 Pro has hi-fi wireless audio system that assures great sound quality via the Bluetooth.
There is a dual stereo speaker setup that is really good too. I like that the sound is deep, punchy and loudspeakers can get pretty loud. Finally, the Huawei P20 Pro is IP67-certified for water and dust resistance.
HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE
In terms of hardware, the P20 Pro is a beast. It ships with the latest home-brewed Kirin 970 processor and other powerful components (6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage) that in conjunction with the AI, assure excellent all-around performance.
That can be seen when playing the latest 3D games. All the titles I played run absolutely fine, no skipped frames, no stutter, and the P20 Pro does not get hot while gaming either. Flagship-grade performance.
USER INTERFACE
In terms of user interface, I can just repeat myself – performance is excellent thanks to no small part of Kirin AI chipset with integrated NPU unit that helps allocate resources to the specific task. As usual, I’ve installed a lot of apps, use many different social media apps, Google accounts etc but I’m yet to see the phone lag or stutter. This phone is almost stock Android fast, which is really impressive.
EMUI 8.1 is based on Android 8.1 and I know that many people still can’t get used to cartoonish and a bit different than stock Android look. Honestly, if you had asked me a year ago, I would have said the same thing. However, I got used to the Huawei’s user interface and even though it’s still not my favorite, I kind of like it.
The very first thing you want to do is bring back the app tray. Other stuff you can do: customize the phone in many different ways. As usual, you can choose from plenty of themes, change transition effects, adjust quite a few display settings, use one-hand mode and so on. There are quite a few ways to navigate through the UI. You can simply use navigation bar and swap the buttons of it. You can also use a navigation dock that I didn’t really it like because I found on-screen and off-screen navigation systems more comfortable to use. You can control your phone using just the home button which is pretty convenient and that’s probably my most favorite way of navigating through the UI. Finally, we have classic Huawei smart assistance features which are useful and work fine but it’s still a bit weird since Huawei thinks that using your knuckle is the most natural way of interacting with your phone.
CAMERAS
Just before we start talking about optics, we suggest you download full resolution camera samples since pictures on the website are resized to reduce page loading times.
I found the stock camera app to be responsive and it can take pictures very fast. Also, you understand why Huawei keeps talking about the AI-assisted camera. Every time you take a picture using the auto-mode, AI recognizes the scene and adjusts the settings automatically. There are plenty of shooting modes to choose from but my favorites include a pro mode that allows you to adjust a lot of different settings.
The portrait mode now allows you to choose from different lighting effects and it works both with the main and selfie cameras. Photos usually look quite nice as the subject is separated accurately from the background. However, you can’t completely turn the beauty mode off but that’s not an issue for me, I think I need this mode. Also, I got a few soft-looking shots with both main and selfie camera but keep in mind that all portrait pictures were taken by myself.
Daylight image quality is usually very good thanks to 40MP sensor. There is plenty of detail and sharpness, and you have a lot of megapixels to play with. However, AI tends to adjust image settings in the way that pictures look nice on social media out of the box. Therefore, you may get oversaturated pictures with high contrast, especially if you tend to shoot a lot of landscapes.
If you want to use 5x hybrid zoom, you need to switch to 10MP resolution manually, which is quite frustrating. On a positive note, you can zoom in a lot and images remain nice and sharp, and you can clearly see details even at the maximum zoom level. However, I don’t understand why the first zoom option is 3 times. If I want to use just 2x zoom I need to pinch to zoom manually, which again, takes more time than just tapping on the zoom button. If we compare the quality of 40MP and 10MP pictures, we can definitely see that there is more detail, which is useful if you like zooming in or cropping the images.
Wide aperture mode allows you to photograph objects with a shallow depth of field effect and I found the overall image quality using this mode to be pretty good.
You can also take very nice black and white pictures but in general, I prefer color photography.
Finally, night image quality. If you use auto-mode, you can take nice pictures but I found the Samsung Galaxy S9 to be slightly better in some of the shots. However, if you use night mode, you can take long-exposure shots without the need of a tripod. Then, night image quality is one of the best on any smartphone. Really impressive results thanks to that AI image stabilization and large sensor.
Selfie camera usually takes pretty nice and detailed pictures that will definitely do the trick for social media.
4k video is very sharp, detailed, continuous auto-focus is reliable and super fast but… video stabilization does not work in 4K mode and you end up with shaky footage. That’s really frustrating but hopefully, this can be improved with the future software updates since the hardware is there. I even enabled stabilization feature on the third party camera app called Open camera but the footage still came out shaky.
If you don’t need 4K, 1080p video looks much better in terms of smoothness. The footage is very stable but obviously, you are losing the sharpness of 4K.
In terms of connectivity, I found the P20 Pro to be good and reliable in all aspects. Call quality is excellent and signal reception is actually better than most of the phones I’ve tested in the recent memory. Also, I found GPS to be very accurate, Wifi is fast and Bluetooth works fine. Finally, there are quite a few sensors on board, like on most of the flagships.
BATTERY LIFE
Battery life has been great. Firstly, I’m very impressed with excellent standby time as the phone drains almost no battery despite the fact that I used the P20 Pro with 2 SIM cards and reception in my apartment is kind of poor.
Also, I could use the phone for an entire day or even a few days, depending on the usage. That results in an average screen-on time of about 6 or even 7 hours while using the phone quite intensively. That is a very good result.
The supplied Huawei’s fast charger can fully charge the phone in just about 1,5 h. Unfortunately, there is no wireless charging, which is kind of disappointing.
CONCLUSIONS
The Huawei P20 Pro shapes up to be a solid flagship smartphone and there are many reasons to love it. In fact, this is easily the best phone Huawei has ever made. I like its design, excellent build quality, nice and sharp display, very good and innovative camera setup, great overall performance and solid battery life. I also like that the fingerprint scanner is on the front, Face ID works very well, there is a dual SIM card slot, IP67 certification and some other extras like the IR blaster and great stereo speaker system.
Now the cons. My biggest frustration is that there is no stabilization in 4K video mode. That’s important to me as I’m a huge video guy. You should also know that there is no microSD card slot, no headset jack, and no wireless charging. Finally, camera app needs a little bit of polishing and I think it will be improved over the time since the phone is still running on an early software build.
At the end of the day, can I recommend the Huawei P20 Pro? Absolutely yes. Obviously, there are some shortcomings to consider like on each and every phone but given the overall package the P20 Pro offers, this device can be easily called one of the best flagships of 2018 yet and definitely the best phone Huawei has ever made.
If you are in the market for a great budget phone, Gearbest has quite a few on sale. In fact, we have reviewed most of them and we can easily recommend as one of the best options for the price. Check out these good smartphone deals (Limited Time/Supply Offer).
Xiaomi Redmi 5 is one of the best options if you can’t spend more than $120 for a phone. It has a nice design, pretty good specs for the price and a long lasting battery!
Xiaomi Redmi 5A is even a cheaper phone than the Redmi 5 as it costs just over $80 with the Gearbest’s discount. As far as design goes, the Redmi Note 5a is kind of plain looking and it is very similar to the Redmi 4a. The phone has a Snapdragon 425 chip, just 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage. What is awesome, is that there is a dedicated microSD card slot along with a dual-SIM card tray. I think this should become a standard feature on each phone.
LeEco Le Pro 3 Elite is yet another great phone for the price. I mainly like it for its all-metal design, high-quality display, and good daily performance. Notable specs include a Snapdragon 820 chip, 4GB RAM and 32GB ROM.
Last but not least – Xiaomi A1. If anyone asks me which budget phone to buy – I usually recommend the A1 for its metal body, greats specs, huge battery, decent cameras and obviously, stock Android user interface. It ships with the most power efficient processor – Snapdragon 625. If you add 4GB of RAM and 64GB of expandable storage, you can be rest assured that the phone will perform well on the daily basis.
Nubia M2 is one of my personal recommendations for a budget phone with a great camera. In fact, I believe this phone has the best cameras for the price. Even though there is no deal for this phone at the moment, I believe it offers a great package overall. The phone ships with a Snapdragon 625 chip, 4GB RAM and 64GB ROM.
Overall, the Nubia M2 is a great budget phone. I love its design and excellent build quality, great overall performance, solid cameras and a very good battery life. The only thing that may disappoint you is outdated Android 6 but at least the phone is very snappy.
HMD Global has rolled out new updates to two of its devices. The Nokia 3 has now received an Android 8.0 Oreo stable update while the Nokia 7 Plus has been updated to Android 8.1.
The Nokia 3 which is over a year old already launched with Android Nougat out of the box. HMD Global revealed that all its phones will get updated to Android O and Android P. With the Nokia 3 getting its update today, that leaves just the Nokia 2.
If you own the Nokia 3 do check for the update and provide us with the change-log.
The Nokia 7 Plus also received an update that pushes it to Android 8.1 Oreo. The update is 590MB in size and brings along April’s security patch. New features include battery saving navigation buttons, a revamped power menu, new setting menu, and Bluetooth battery percentage.
The Nokia 7 Plus was released this year at MWC 2018. It has a 6” FHD+ display, a Snapdragon 660 processor, 4GB of RAM and 64GB of expandable storage. There are dual 12MP Zeiss sensors on the rear and a 16MP front-facing camera.
A number of manufacturers are working on foldable phones to be released in the near future. There are rumors the first set of commercially available foldable smartphones will hit the market this year. While we wait, a Taiwanese research institute has released a video showing a working device with a foldable AMOLED display.
The display is manufactured by the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) in Taiwan and a prototype is shown in a 72-second long video.
The device doesn’t score any point for design as this is clearly a prototype but we get to see the screen in action. ITRI says they are “rapidly approaching commercial standards” with the display.
The device when unfolded looks like a 7-inch tablet. It doesn’t fold into two equal halves and there is probably a reason for that. Rather than unfolding the device every time to check for notifications; with always-on-display, you can check new notifications in the visible part of the screen.
Motorola has launched a new Moto Mod — Stereo Speaker Mod, which marks the fourth speaker mod to be released by the company. Priced at $59.99, this new Stereo Speaker Moto Mod happens to be the cheapest speaker mod released so far by Motorola.
It comes with two 28mm stereo speakers which can hit volume up to 80db at a distance of 50cm. This new mod helps to add a larger and louder speaker to the phone with enhanced bass and clarity. It uses power from the smartphone with which it is attached to, and thus, no charging is required.
The Stereo Speaker Mod measures 153 x 73 x 15mm in size and weighs 102 grams. It is available in three color options – Black, Blue, and Red and comes with a built-in kickstand on the back. This new speaker is available for purchase right now on Motorola’s official website and the company is also offering a finance scheme for $10/month via Affirm.
Apart from this new speaker mod, the company has already released three speaker mods — JBL Soundboost, Soundboost 2 and Amazon Alexa powered speaker mod. The JBL Soundboost and Soundboost 2 are priced at $79.99 while the Alexa-equipped speaker mod is priced at $149.99.
Leaving speaker mods aside, the company has also released several other interesting mods such as keyboard mod, Polaroid Insta-Share Printer Mod which is a snap-on photo printer, 360-degree cameras, etc. Earlier, there were reports making rounds that the Lenovo-owned company is preparing to launch Virtual Viewer Mod — a VR rig as a Moto Mod.
Nubia is known for its phones but the ZTE sub-brand has added a new segment to its portfolio. Apart from the Nubia Z18 Mini released today, it also released the Nubia Smart Door Lock.
The Nubia Smart Door Lock is made of zinc alloy with an electroplated surface. It has support for five different modes of unlocking. You can use the fingerprint scanner, enter a numerical password, swipe with a card, unlock it with your phone, or use a key.
The lock has a cover that slides up to reveal the keypad and fingerprint scanner. When covered, it just looks like a giant door lock save for the screen which gives it away that this is no ordinary door lock.
Vivo India has released a new phone without any fanfare. The Vivo Y71 packs mid-range specs and a full-screen display but may have a tough time selling in India.
The design of the Vivo Y71 is not one we haven’t seen before. It is an all-metal design with glass on the front. The front bezels are significantly smaller and the back is plain except for a single camera, LED flash, and the manufacturer’s name.
The Vivo Y71 has a 5.99” with a 720 x 1440 resolution. It is powered by a Snapdragon 450 processor paired with 3GB of RAM and 16GB of expandable storage.
There is a single 13MP rear camera with LED flash and a 5MP front-facing camera. It doesn’t have a fingerprint scanner but there is Face Unlock. This is the second mid-range phone in recent weeks that doesn’t have a fingerprint scanner. The first is the OPPO A1.
The Vivo Y71 runs Android Oreo out of the box and packs a 3360mAh battery. It is priced at Rs. 10,990 (~$168) and should be available for purchase soon.
The mid-range section of the smartphones market is becoming more competitive in the past couple of years. Nowadays, the difference between mid-rangers and flagshipsisn’t too noticeable, at least in terms of performance. Nubia Z18 Mini and Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro are two mid-end devices which are suitable even for advanced users, despite being mid-rangers. But which of these handsets is the best and which one has the best value for money? This Nubia Z18 Mini vs Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro specs comparison will let you know our opinion about them.
Dual 12 + 5 MP f/2.2 + f/2.0
20 MP f/2.0 front camera
BATTERY
3450 mAh
4000 mAh
Fast Charging (Quick Charge 2.0)
ADDITIONAL FEATURES
Hybrid Dual SIM slot
Hybrid Dual SIM slot
If we consider the aesthetics, Nubia Z18 Mini is definitely the winner among the two. It boasts an elegant and reflective glass back and an aluminum frame which makes it look like one of the most expensive flagships. Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro has a classic metal design, it is well-designed but nothing spectacular. Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro has a slightly bigger display which is more comfortable for multimedia and productivity, but its opponent has a better hardware side. With a powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 chipset paired with 6 GB of RAM, Nubia Z18 Mini should provide faster performance.
On paper, the rear dual camera of Nubia Z18 Mini seems better, but we have to see its photos to judge it in a definitive way. On the other hand, the selfie snapper is surely better on the Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro and it is also paired with a front-facing LED flash. At last, Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro has a bigger battery: with its 4000 mAh capacity, we believe it will last much more than its opponent. Nubia Z18 Mini has a better design and potentially better performance, but we define Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro a device with a slightly higher value for money. While Nubia Z18 Mini has just been launched in China with a price tag of $286/€230, Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro has been launched in India with a price tag of $265/€214.
Nubia Z18 Mini vs Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro: PROS and CONS
Earlier this year, Huawei confirmed that it is working on a new Andriod Go smartphone which is expected to launch in the first half of this year. Now, an executive at Huawei has confirmed that the smartphone will be a part of the company’s Y-series of smartphones, which is a lineup of entry-level devices.
Zhao Likun, General Manager for Huawei South Africa’s Consumer Business Group said, “Our first Android Go smartphone (is) named Y-series 2018. This is the first (Huawei) product equipped with Android Go.” He further added that the phone will be launched in May in South Africa.
Revealing details about what to expect from the smartphone in terms of specifications, Zhao Likun said that the phone could come with 1GB RAM and 16GB of internal storage. The company’s aim is to provide good performance and the phone should be good for use for at least two years.
If the previous reports are to be believed, then the first Android Go smartphone from Huawei will be the Huawei Y5 Lite (2018). It is expected to pack MediaTek MT6737m chipset and carry a screen with a resolution of 854×480 pixels.
For those who are unaware, Android Go is Google’s lightweight take on its Android mobile platform, which is targeting entry-level devices with 512MB to 1GB of RAM and as little as 8GB of storage. The platform comes equipped with special Google’s Go apps, including Google Go, Google Assistant Go, Maps Go, YouTube Go, etc. as well as data-saving functionality enabled by default.
LG has been revealed as planning to launch the LG G7 on May 2. According to the popular Twitter tipster, Evan Blass, LG will unveil the G7 bearing the name LG G7 ThinQ and that has been confirmed. Ahead of the launch, a couple of TPU cases on the G7 have appeared online and along with them comes the opportunity to get yet another sneak preview of the LG flagship before it is officially launched.
The LG G7 protective cases come with an efficient anti-slip design. Eve in the event of a fall, the cases possess the ability to cushion the fall so that the device isn’t damaged. One of two different cases leaked has a clip for holding the smartphone firmly in the pocket and can even be used on the breast pocket. The case also comes with a covering for the display which would protect the screen from breaking if the phone falls and will also keep the screen protected from scratches by sharp objects like keys inside the pocket. The second protective case is obviously for the ladies as it comes in pink. Apart from the pink color, the case is designed with refractive stones all over the back.
Basically, the design is consistent with the previous renders of the G7 which we had seen previously. The device is expected to adopt a notch display design at the front which will house the selfie camera and an LED notification indicator as well as the front speaker. While at the back, there will be a vertically aligned dual rear camera setup and under the camera will sit a fingerprint sensor. The LG G7 ThinQ will feature a 6.1-inch display.
The LG G7 ThinQ has its power button and volume rockers located on the right side but there is also a button on the left which is said to be a dedicated AI button. Thus, LG may likely be playing the AI card as well. We’ll have to wait until the launch to find out what the AI button does but it may be similar to Samsung’s Bixby button. Specs-wise, the LG G7 ThinQ will be arriving with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 mobile platform, 4 GB of RAM and an internal storage of 64 GB. There may likely be a higher memory variant.
Last month, BLU launched its first ever Android One smartphone — BLU Vivo XL3. Now, the company has launched yet another smartphone named BLU Vivo One Plus, which comes with slightly improved specs over the BLU Vivo One that was launched in February.
The smartphone comes with a 6-inch HD+ display with screen resolution of 1440 x 720 pixels while the previous model packs 5.5-inch HD display. Under the hood, the device is powered by a 1.3GHz quad-core MediaTek MT6739 processor.
The entry-level phone packs 2GB RAM and 16GB internal storage. There’s also a microSD card slot, allowing users to further expand the phone’s storage capacity up to 64GB.
Coming to the camera department, the BLU Vivo One Plus boasts a 13-megapixel camera sensor on the back, along with an LED flash. On the front side, there’s also a 13-megapixel snapper with an LED flash for brighter selfies.
There’s a fingerprint sensor placed on the phone’s back panel, ensuring added security measures. Connectivity options on the dual-SIM smartphone include 4G LTE, Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth, and GPS.
The phone runs Android 7.1 Nougat operating system out-of-the-box and comes with a split-screen feature enabling users to do two tasks simultaneously. We doubt if the phone will ever receive new Android version updates. It is powered by a 4,000mAh “monster” battery and supports 5V/2A quick charge.
Although the BLU Vivo One Plus has already been launched and listed on the company’s official website, the smartphone is not yet available for purchase and the company has not yet revealed its pricing information. It will be available in three colors — Black, Dark Blue, and Gold.
One of the companies under Xiaomi’s Mi Ecosystem is 90Fun (Shanghai Runmi Technology Co.). They are known for their backpacks, running shoes, jackets, and suitcases. The manufacturer’s latest product is the 90Fun Passport Suitcase and it does have some interesting features.
Most suitcases have one large compartment for your clothes and shoes and a few pockets to keep documents and gadgets. These pockets are not specially designed to hold your precious gadgets and documents just like a backpack and sometimes you have to open the main compartment to access them. The Passport Suitcase fixes that.
The suitcase has a separate compartment made just for your gadgets, travel documents, and any other personal items you need quick access to. There is a slot for your laptop, one for your phone, and a couple more for passports and wallets. The good thing is that the compartment has a high level of protection as it is said to be 100% crush-proof.
The compartment itself has a TSA lock separated from the main one.
Taiwanese fabless chipmaker MediaTek has released its unaudited financial report for the first quarter of 2018 showing the company’s sales revenue for January, February and March. The chipmaker continues to struggle to regain its profitability as a result of a decline in sales especially since losing out completely in the flagship chip segment to rival chipmaker – Qualcomm.
The financial statement shows that the company recorded a cumulative income of NTD 49,654 million (~$1.7 million USD) for the three months. This is 11.46% lower than the NTD56,083 million which the company posted in Q1 2017. However, the company can take out some positives from the improved sales Month on Month recorded in March, compared to January and February 2018. In January 2018, the company recorded a total of NTD 16,835 million in revenue which is an 8.07% drop Year on Year. Revenue recorded in February declined drastically to NTD 12,708 million representing a 25.03% slump YoY. However, the company’s fortunes rebounded in March with a revenue of NTD 20,110 million which is still 3.40% lower than the company’s March 2017 revenue. But the revenue in March represented a 58.24% Month on Month (MoM) increase in sales over February 2018.
MediaTek’s revenue is expected to continue improving this month, especially since its latest Helio P60 midrange chip is getting featured on more and more smartphones. Analysts believe the Helio P60 and perhaps the P70 will play key roles in boosting the company’s revenue in the second quarter.
Huawei’s Honor division has gradually evolved from a brand focused on premium flagship phones to include midrange and even budget models. The Honor division has also seen the launch of sports band and other accessories in recent times. Now, the Honor brand has officially announced what is going to be its first laptop model dubbed Honor Magicbook. The laptop will be unveiled alongside the Honor 10 on April 19.
Honor had released a teaser video on April 1 which featured the Honor Magicbook but then it was thought t be an April Fool’s joke because of the sleek design and ultra-thin bezels. Indeed, the latest poster announcing the launch date also contains the render of the device and the major standout feature is the ultra-thin bezels on all sides. This is likely going to be nothing similar to the laptop models across different brands that are presently on the market. In this regard, the Honor Magicbook has the potential of being a hugely successful device. We could be looking at the first bezel-less laptop that will spark up a revolution similar to the one already sweeping through the smartphone industry.
However, the hardware configuration of the Magicbook is yet to be revealed. The success of the laptop will depend, to a large extent, on the specifications of the laptop. We expect Huawei to include the latest and best hardware lineup onboard the device. Also, don’t expect the laptop to come in with a cheap price tag but in typical Huawei style, it will still be affordable when compared to Apple’s MacBook models. It’s interesting to observe that the two names are similar.We don’t know if that will be the only similarity between the MagicBook and MacBook. We’ll keep you updated about the new laptop when it goes official on April 19.
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For example, the 2-in-1 waterproof snowproof dustproof shockproof PC PET TPU case for Samsung Galaxy S8 would normally set you back $15.99 on Banggood. But you can now buy it at a discounted price of just $13.99 on the site.
Thanks to the aforesaid discount, you can now get your hands on this waterproof outdoor mobile phone by shelling out only $39.99. You can save an additional $4 by using coupon code ‘water’ at the time of checking out. This reduces your grand total to just $35.99.
It’s worth noting that the device usually comes bearing a price tag of $75.99 on Banggood. This is a 38% reduction in the product’s retail price.
