Alleged Xiaomi Mi 8’s 3D Facial Recognition Module Appears in Leaked Photo

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May 15, 2018

Earlier today, Xiaomi confirmed that it will be holding a launch event in Shenzhen. However, it did not confirm on the date and time for the event. It is speculated that the Chinese firm will use the Shenzhen platform to announce its new flagship phone. Rumors have it that two smartphones namely, Xiaomi Mi 7 and Xiaomi’s 8^th Anniversary Edition smartphone by the end of this month. A leaked photo of the structured 3D light module has appeared on Weibo. At first, it was speculated to be the image of the TrueDepth Camera and Face ID system of the iPhone X. However, a careful look at it reveals that the structured 3D light module is significantly different from what is present on the iPhone X. Moreover, the image also shows a modified version of the MIUI for the notch.

A tipster from China claims that the 8^th Anniversary Edition phone from the company will be launching as the Xiaomi Mi 8. He has also added that the leaked image could belong to Mi 8’s 3D facial recognition module.

Previous reports have claimed that the 3D facial recognition solution for Xiaomi’s upcoming flagship phone is being jointly developed by Qualcomm, Himax Technologies and Truly Opto-electronics. It is speculated that the Xiaomi Mi 8 may debut as the first Android phone with support for 3D facial scanning.

The Apple iPhone X that was launched last year is the world’s first phone to support 3D facial recognition. The Face ID feature on the iPhone X allows it to carry out authentication by scanning the face of the user in 3D. The structured light 3D module of the iPhone X includes a TrueDepth Camera that captures the face data accurate by analyzing more than 30,000 invisible dots to make a depth map on the face of the user. At the same time, it also captures an infrared image of the face.

Apple iPhone X Face ID 3D Face Recognition

The neural engine of the A11 Bionic SoC springs into action to convert the depth map and infrared image into a mathematical representation which is then matched with registered facial data of the user. The Face ID is so secure that it can be not only used for securely unlocking the iPhone, but also for authenticating payments on it. Apple was so confident about the Face ID that it decided the axe the Touch ID fingerprint scanning feature from iPhone X.

The Xiaomi Mi 8 is expected to offer such kind of robust security through its 3D facial scanning feature. Like the iPhone X, it may not feature a fingerprint scanner. However, Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun had recently hint the Mi 7 will be coming with an under-display fingerprint scanner. Hence, it may so happen that the Mi 7 may not feature 3D face scanning but come with in-screen fingerprint reader.

(source 1, 2)

Smartisan Nut Pro 2 Special Edition Launched, Gets New Processor

By

Habeeb Onawole

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May 15, 2018

Just before the announcement of the Smartisan R1 flagship later today, the manufacturer has released another phone – the Smartisan Nut Pro 2 Special Edition. The new phone has been listed on JD.com.

The original Nut Pro 2 was launched in November 2017 and is one of the best designed and most affordable Snapdragon 660 phones in the market. So what is new in the special edition since the original actually has five different variants?

There is only one major change and that is the processor. The Smartisan Nut Pro 2 Special Edition swaps out the Snapdragon 660 processor for a Snapdragon 636. Yes, a less-powerful processor. However, it comes with 6GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. The rest of the specs have been left untouched.

So you have a 5.99” FHD display, 12MP + 5MP dual rear cameras, 16MP front camera, and a 3,500mAh battery with support for 18W fast charging. It also has a fingerprint scanner and support for face unlock, a USB-C port, and nano-SIM.

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Oppo Realme 1 With MediaTek Helio P60 SoC Launched In India, Price Starts At Rs. 8,990 ($133)

By

Jeet

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May 15, 2018

Recently, Oppo had announced a new sub-brand especially for the Indian market — Realme. The company has today launched the first smartphone under its Realme brand — Oppo Realme 1. The smartphone has been launched in partnership with Amazon India, and thus, will be exclusively available through Amazon.in. According to the company, the smartphone is a “Made In India” product.

The Oppo Realme 1 features a 6-inch full-HD+ display with screen resolution of 2160 x 1080 pixels and an 84.75 percent screen-to-body ratio. Under the hood, the smartphone is powered by an octa-core MediaTek Helio P60 processor clocked at 2GHz. The device also packs dual-core AI-specific chip and comes in three variants based on memory configuration — 3GB, 4GB, and 6GB RAM.

As of the storage, the 3GB RAM model comes with 32GB of internal storage while the 4GB RAM model packs 64GB of onboard storage. The top-end variant having 6GB RAM packs 128GB of internal storage. All three models come with a dedicated microSD card slot, enabling users to further expand the storage capacity.

Coming to the camera department, the Oppo Realme 1 sports a 13-megapixel rear camera with LED flash. On the front side, there’s an 8-megapixel snapper for taking selfies and video calling. The company says that it comes with Oppo’s AI Beauty 2.0 feature that offers 296-point facial recognition along with beautification feature.

While the smartphone doesn’t come with a fingerprint sensor, it comes equipped with Face Unlock feature, which according to the company, can unlock the smartphone in just 0.1 seconds. The device also features AR stickers for both the front and rear cameras.

The company says that the device comes with an AI Board assistant. The phone supports dual 4G VoLTE along with the usual set of connectivity options such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS. As of software, it runs on ColorOS 5.0, which is based on Android 8.1 Oreo operating system. The phone is fueled by a 3,410mAh battery and is optimized by AI Battery Management feature.

Currently, only the 6GB RAM and 128GB storage variant will go on sale in India in the first sale, which will take place on May 25th at 12:00 pm on Amazon India. The other variants with 3GB RAM + 32GB storage and 4GB RAM + 64GB onboard storage will be available in India after about a month.

The 3GB RAM model has been priced at Rs. 8,990 (approx. $133) while the 4GB RAM variant will be available for a price of Rs. 10,990 (approx. $162). The high-end model having 6GB RAM costs Rs. 13,990, which roughly converts to $206. It will be available in three color options — Diamond Black, Moonlight Silver, and Solar Red.

As for the launch offers, the smartphone is being offered with a 5 percent cash back on SBI cards, Jio benefits worth Rs. 4,850. The company is also throwing in a free case and a free screen protector.

At this price point, the Oppo Realme 1 will be up against the Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro, which comes with 4GB RAM + 64GB storage and 6GB RAM + 64GB storage. Xiaomi recently hiked the pricing of the Redmi Note 5 Pro and now it starts at Rs. 14,999.

With Realme, Oppo is aiming to take on another China-based company Xiaomi, which accounts for almost 60 percent of mobile devices shipped through the online retail segment. The Realme brand has been positioned by Oppo as a “premium mid-range smartphone brand”. According to the company, it will comprise smartphones in the Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 20,000 price range, but the company has kept the doors open for premium models in the future.

Vivo X21i Featuring Helio P60 SoC Launched in China for 2,698 Yuan (~$425)

By

Anvinraj Valiyathara

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May 15, 2018

Vivo has launched the Vivo X21i smartphone in China today. It is a new variant of the Vivo X21 smartphone that was made official in March this year. The biggest difference between the X21 and X21i is that the latter features the MediaTek Helio P60 chipset whereas the former has the Snapdragon 660 SoC onboard. The Vivo X21i is now available for pre-orders in the home country of China with a price tag of 2,698 Yuan (~$425).

Vivo X21i Specifications and Features

The Vivo X21i features the same specs that are available on the X21 smartphone. Hence, the X21i is equipped with a 6.28-inch Super AMOLED screen that offers an aspect ratio of 19:9 because of notch present at the topside of the display. The screen of the phone is placed under 2.5D glass. The company claims that the display offers a screen-to-body ratio of 90.3 percent.

The MediaTek Helio P60 (MT6771) chipset that comes with an inbuilt APU for handling AI tasks powers the Vivo X21i. The 64 GB storage model has 6 GB of RAM whereas the 128 GB storage edition has 4 GB of RAM. For additional storage, it includes a microSD card slot.

The rear side of the phone features dual 12-megapixel cameras that is equipped with several AI features like scene detection and beauty mode. While shooting against the light, the X21i will begin the AI backlit camera feature to capture brighter images. It has a front-mounted camera of 24-megapixel. The selfie camera can shoot optimized selfie shots through the AI beauty mode feature by recognizing gender, skin quality and environment. The front camera is also equipped with features like AR stickers and Face Wake facial recognition.

vivo x21i Aurora White — Vivo x21i Aurora White

The Vivo X21i is loaded with Android 8.1 OS that is overlaid with FunTouch OS 4.0 UI. It also includes Vivo’s Jovi AI assistant. The smartphone receives power from 3,425mAh battery. It measures 154.37 x 74.98 x 6.99mm and weighs 159 grams. The rear side of the phone that also houses a fingerprint scanner apart from the vertical dual camera setup is made out of 2.5D glass. The X21i can be availed in colors like Ruby Red, Aurora White and Polar Night Black.

Vivo X21i Pricing and Availability

The 64 GB storage + 6 GB RAM edition of the Vivo X21i is priced at 2,698 Yuan (~$425). Even the variant featuring 128 GB storage + 4 GB RAM carries the same pricing of 2,698 Yuan (~$425). The pre-orders of the Vivo X21i has already started on the official stores of the Vivo at its online store, JD.com, Tmall and Suning. The official sales of the smartphone are slated to begin on May 19 at 10:00AM (local time) in China.

Preorder ASUS Zenfone Pegasus 3S ZC521TL Smartphone For Only $129.59 On Banggood [Coupon Code]

By

Vinay Patel

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May 15, 2018

The Asus Zenfone 3s Max ZC521TL smartphone garnered considerable popularity among smartphone lovers after hitting the store shelves in February last year. More than a year after the phone’s debut, Banggood is now offering a noteworthy 40% off on its retail price.

This discount will be specifically valid for the gold color version of the Zenfone Pegasus 3S ZC521TL smartphone, which would normally set you back $299.99 on Banggood. Apart from that, we’ll divulge details about getting an additional $50.40 discount at the time of checking out.

The Zenfone Pegasus 3S ZC521TL smartphone is currently up for preorder for just $179.99 on Banggood. On top of that, you can use coupon code ‘514AZFPG3S’ while checking out in a bid to further reduce your grand total to only $129.59.
In terms of specs, the Zenfone 3s Max ZC521TL sports a 5.2 inches IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen display with a screen resolution of 720 x 1280 pixels at a pixel density of 282 PPI (pixels per inch). Moreover, the phone is housed in a robust metal body which is intensified with 2.5D curved glass layer on top.

The phone packs a powerful MediaTek MT6750 processor along with an ARM Mali-T860 MP2, 520 MHz, 2-Cores GPU, under the hood. It also offers 3GB of RAM and 32GB of expandable internal memory (up to 2TB).

The dual-SIM (micro+nano) smartphone features a 13-megapixel camera with flashlight, ƒ/2.0 aperture, two-tone flash, PDAF, Face Beauty app, and panorama on the back. You can find an 8-megapixel camera with 85° wide angle lens and Face Beauty app in the front for the selfie addicts.

The Zenfone 3s Max ZC521TL smartphone runs Asus Zen UI 3.1 based Android 7.0 Nougat operating system and is backed by a built-in 5000mAh battery. Furthermore, the device comes with a slew of sensors such as fingerprint scanner, accelerometer sensor, distance sensor, ambient light sensor and lots more.

On the downside, Banggood is likely to wrap-up the promo soon and the aforesaid discount coupon will be expiring soon as well. You can visit this link in order to avail the deal before it comes to an end.

Get 40% Off On ASUS Zenfone Pegasus 3S ZC521TL Smartphone On Banggood

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Buy LeTV LeEco Le Max 2 X820 Smartphone For Only $141 On Banggood [Discount Coupon]

By

Vinay Patel

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May 15, 2018

Chinese tech firm LeTV made its long-awaited LeEco Le Max 2 X820 smartphone available to the public in May 2016. The phone boasts an array of astounding specs and features that propelled it straight to skyrocketing popularity among smartphone enthusiasts.

On the downside, the Le Max 2 X820 didn’t come cheap. But much to the delight of cost-conscious buyers who have restlessly been waiting to get their hands on the well-received smartphone, Banggood is offering a considerable 23% off on the phone’s retail price. Let’s delve straight into the details.

The LeEco Le Max 2 X820 smartphone normally sells for $208.12 on Banggood, but the popular Chinese online shopping website renowned for offering the best bang for your buck is currently selling the coveted handset for a slashed price of just $161. Note that the discount will only be valid for the rose gold color version of the smartphone.

But that’s not all. We’ll even tell you how you can save an extra $20 at the time of checking out. In order to get the additional discount, all you need to do is apply discount code ‘510lemax2’. This will bring your grand total further down to only $141.At $141, the LeTV LeEco Le Max 2 X820 is an irresistible smartphone, given that it sports a big 5.7 inches capacitive touchscreen display with a screen resolution of 2560 X 1440 pixels. The extremely easy-to-grip phone has dimensions of 156.8 mm x 77.6 mm x 7.99 mm (LxWxH) and it weighs in at just 185 grams.

Moreover, the LeEco Le Max 2 X820 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 MSM8996 processor and it uses a Qualcomm Adreno 530 GPU, under the hood. The phone offers 4GB of RAM and a hearty 32GB of onboard storage, but it doesn’t support expandable memory.

The dual-SIM smartphone houses a big 21-megapixel camera with 6-element lens, f/2.0 aperture and two-tone flash on the back. Up front, there’s an 8-megapixel front shooter with a ƒ/2.2 aperture for selfies and face-to-face video chats.

The LeTV LeEco Le Max 2 X820 smartphone runs eUI 5.8 based on Android Marshmallow operating system and draws its juices from a built-in 3100mAh Lithium-ion battery with quick charge feature. Aside from that, the phone has multiple sensors such as fingerprint recognition, gravity sensor, light sensor, distance sensor and lots more.

It is imperative for you to bear in mind that the LeEco Le Max 2 X820 smartphone will retain its original asking price as soon as the promo comes to an end. On top of that, the aforesaid coupon code is also likely to expire soon. You can follow this link if you want to avail the discount and use the coupon code before its lapses. In addition to the discount, you’d also earn 161 Banggood points.

Get 23% Off On LeTV LeEco Le Max 2 X820 On Banggood

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Xiaomi Teases a New Event in Shenzhen, Likely for Mi 7 and 8th Anniversary Edition Smartphone

By

Anvinraj Valiyathara

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May 15, 2018

Xiaomi had launched the Xiaomi Mi 6 smartphone in April last year. The Chinese manufacturer was expected to launch the Mi 7 as its successor in April this year. However, instead of Mi 7, the company chose to launch the Mi MIX 2S as the first flagship phone of the year. Recent reports have claimed that the Xiaomi may debut the Mi 7 at the end of this month or before the end of the first half of 2018. Today, the Chinese manufacturer has released a new teaser on its Weibo account which suggests that it will be keeping a launch event in Shenzhen in the near future. It is likely that the company may use the platform to announce the highly anticipated Xiaomi Mi 7 phone along with the rumored 8^th Anniversary Edition smartphone.

The new teaser does not contain any information on the date and timing of Xiaomi’s upcoming launch event in China. It is speculated that the through the upcoming teasers, the company may confirm the unveiling of Xiaomi Mi 7 at the Shenzhen event.

A recent report had claimed that Xiaomi may debut the Mi 7 by the end of this month. It had also revealed that the Mi 7 will be accompanied by Xiaomi’s 8^th Anniversary Edition phone which will be the major highlight of the event. Reports have also suggested that the Mi Band 3 fitness tracker will also debut alongside the Xiaomi Mi 7.

As far as the Xiaomi Mi 7 is concerned, it is speculated to be driven by Snapdragon 845 chipset and 6 GB or 8 GB of RAM. Leaked information that have surfaced in the recent months have revealed that the Mi 7 will be arriving with a large notch like the iPhone X. The Mi 7 is rumored to debut as the first Android phone with 3D facial recognition. The glass rear of the phone is expected to house a vertical dual camera setup. It also pegged to carry support for wireless charging. The Mi 7 is also speculated to house an under-display fingerprint reader.

The rumor mill is yet to reveal any information on the 8^th Anniversary Edition phone from the company. Xiaomi was also rumored to be working on the advanced Mi 7 Plus. It is likely that the very same phone could be introduced as 8^th Anniversary Edition smartphone.

(source)

Buy Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S Smartphone For Only $545.99 On GeekBuying; Discount Coupon Inside

By

Vinay Patel

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May 15, 2018

As expected, the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S turned out to be an instant hit among smartphone lovers. The recently launched Mi Mix 2S is crammed with a broad range of awe-inspiring specs and features that makes it an irresistible smartphone despite the steep price tag it comes bearing.

But if you’re on a tight budget and aren’t willing to spend a fortune on a smartphone, we have good news for you. The well-received Mi Mix 2S is currently available at a lowered price of just $549.99 on GeekBuying.

The Mi Mix 2S smartphone would normally set you back $669.99 on GeekBuying, but much to the delight of cost-conscious Xiaomi fans, the leading e-commerce website is offering a noteworthy 18% off on the device’s original asking price. As a result, you can now buy the smartphone by shelling out just $549.99.

But if that doesn’t impress you much, we’ll tell exactly how you can save an extra $4. At the time of checking out, you can apply discount coupon ‘VLHRXDHR’ in order to bring your grand total further down to $545.99.
The Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S is quite a bargain at just $545.99, given that it sports a big 5.99 inches IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen display with a screen resolution of 1080 x 2160 pixels. Moreover, it comes with Corning Gorilla Glass 4 for added protection.

The Mi Mix 2S packs a powerful Qualcomm SDM845 Snapdragon 845 processor and uses an equally robust Adreno 630 graphics processing unit, under the hood. The device offers 6GB of RAM and 64GB of onboard storage.

On the photography front, the Mi Mix 2S houses a 12-megapixel + 12-megapixel dual camera setup with 2x optical zoom, dual pixel phase detection autofocus, and dual-LED dual-tone flash. Up front, there’s a 5-megapixel front shooter for selfies and face-to-face video chats.

The dual-SIM smartphone runs MIUI 9 based on Android 8.0 Oreo operating system and is backed by a non-removable Li-Ion 3400 mAh battery which delivers a standby time of about 2-3 days. Aside from that, the Mi Mix 2S boasts a slew of useful sensors such as ultrasonic distance sensor, gyroscope, an acceleration sensor, electronic compass, an ambient light sensor, and lots more.

If you’re interested in taking advantage of the promo, which is on the verge of wrapping up, head straight to this link. Note that the aforesaid coupon code is also likely to expire soon.

Get 18% Off On Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S Smartphone On GeekBuying

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Galaxy S10 Could be Samsung’s First Phone with Under-Display Fingerprint Sensor

By

Anvinraj Valiyathara

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May 15, 2018

Previous reports have claimed that the Galaxy Note 9 that is expected to launch around August this year will be Samsung’s first phone with in-screen fingerprint reader. However, fresh information coming from South Korea states that instead of Note 9, Samsung will be launching the Galaxy S10 as its phone with the advanced biometric recognition feature.

According to South Korea’s Chosun, Samsung had tried to introduce Fingerprint on Display (FOD) on Galaxy S8 last year. However, since it has been encountering technical difficulties, it is yet to launch a phone with FOD. Meanwhile, Chinese manufacturers such as Vivo and Huawei have already launched phones with FOD. One should be aware of the fact that unlike these Chinese smartphones OEMs that have partnered with third-party FOD suppliers, Samsung is building its own under-display fingerprint scanner.

FOD technology can be categorized into optical, capacitive and ultrasonic technologies. The Chinese smartphone OEMs have used optical FOD sensors from third-party companies like Synaptics and Goodix. The optical FOD sensors works by emitting light to scan the surface of the finger and match it with the stored fingerprint data. This technology is easy to implement but offers poor accuracy.

The under-display fingerprint scanner available on the Vivo X20 Plus UD works slower than the conventional fingerprint reader. The Huawei Mate RS features an under-display fingerprint scanner as well as a rear-mounted fingerprint reader. The probable reason why Huawei added another regular fingerprint scanner on the Mate RS could be that its in-display fingerprint scanner may not 100 percent reliable.

Samsung, Qualcomm and Apple are reportedly developing ultrasonic FOD sensors that can capture the minute details of the surface of the finger using ultrasound. It is highly accurate and durable, but it is expensive to produce. Also, the yield of mass production is low. It also requires much time for improving its accuracy.

Samsung will be not only using the under-display fingerprint scanner on its upcoming flagship smartphones starting from the Galaxy S10, but also it is expected to use it other departments such as home appliances, automobiles and IoT in the near future. Since the South Korean company is reportedly planning to use in-screen fingerprint scanner in multiple products, it could be waiting to implement it only when it is completely ready.

(source|via)

Honor 7C With 5.9-Inch Full-Screen Display And SD 450 SoC To Launch In India On May 22

By

Jeet

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May 15, 2018

Honor, the sub-brand of Huawei which makes value for money smartphones, recently launched Honor 7C in China. Now, the company is gearing up to launch the smartphone in the Indian market. Honor India has sent out media invites for a launch event on May 22nd, where the company will introduce Honor 7C in India.

While the invite doesn’t clearly mention that the phone in question is the Honor 7C, the teaser image shows the design of the phone similar to the Honor 7C, featuring dual camera setup. Also, the user manual of both the Honor 7C and Honor 7A were recently uploaded on the Honor India website.

The smartphone was originally launched in China a couple of months ago. It adopts trending Full-Screen design with the 18:9 aspect ratio. The device also comes with a sleek design and dual rear cameras and the selfie shooter packs facial recognition feature and some smart features for better selfies.

The Honor 7C features a 5.99-inch TFT LCD IPS HD+ display with screen resolution of 1440 x 720 pixels. The device is powered by Qualcomm‘s Snapdragon 450 14nm octa-core chipset clocked at 1.8GHz, with integrated Adreno 506 GPU.

The device comes in two variants based on the memory configuration — 3GB RAM with 32GB internal storage and 4GB RAM with 64GB onboard storage. Further, there’s a microSD card slot on both variant, enabling users to further expand the phone’s storage capacity up to 256GB.

Coming to the camera, the smartphone sports a dual camera setup at the rear. Design-wise, the camera is located on the top left corner and is aligned horizontally with an LED flash on the inner edge. The rear cameras comprise a 13-megapixel sensor and a 2-megapixel sensor for depth-sensing. On the front side, there’s an 8-megapixel selfie shooter with the display acting as a smart soft light.

There’s a fingerprint sensor on the back of the phone. The smartphone runs on the latest EMUI 8.0 based on Android 8.0 Oreo operating system out of the box. The device also packs a 3,000mAh battery which the company says is optimized to provide longer battery life.

The device was launched in four color options — Red, Blue, Gold, and Black. In China, the 3GB RAM variant of the Honor 7C is priced at 899 Yuan (~$142) while the 4GB RAM model costs 1,299 Yuan (~$205).

In India, we are expecting the Honor 7C to be priced under Rs. 10,000, which will place it in direct competition with Xiaomi’s Redmi 5, which is priced at Rs. 7,999. However, we’ll have to wait till the official launch to know the pricing. Since Honor 7X is Amazon exclusive in India, we are expecting the Honor 7C to be Amazon exclusive as well.

Another Lenovo Z5 Teaser Suggests That it Will Indeed Offer 95 Percent Screen-to-Body Ratio

By

Anvinraj Valiyathara

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May 15, 2018

Lenovo Group VP Chang Cheng had recently shared a sketch of the upcoming Lenovo Z5 flagship phone on his Weibo account. The sketch had revealed that the Z5 will be arriving with a true bezel-less design since it does not feature bezels surrounding the display are almost non-existent. Today, Cheng has shared another teaser on Weibo to show the bottom portion of the phone.

In order to provide larger screen space to the users, smartphone OEMs have recently adopted notched design like iPhone X. Some of the phones with notched design feature slightly thick bottom bezel. However, the Lenovo Z5 seems to feature ultra-thin bezels around the screen. The first teaser of the Lenovo Z5 that was released earlier in this month had revealed that it does not feature a notch. Hence, the Z5 is expected to offer a very high screen-to-body ratio of around 95 percent.

The Vivo APEX smartphone that was launched earlier in this year offers the highest screen-to-body ratio ever on a smartphone. In order to offer 91 percent screen space on its 5.99-inch display, Vivo had to achieve technological breakthroughs such as adding a pop-up selfie camera that remains hidden in the top edge of the phone, including an half-screen in-screen fingerprint scanner, and placing the proximity and ambient sensors under its display.

Cheng has previously claimed that the Lenovo Z5’s stunning bezel-less design has been achieved through 4 technological breakthroughs and 18 patented technologies. It appears that the Lenovo Z5 could be featuring pop-up selfie camera, and under-screen sensors and earpiece in order to offer a screen space of 95 percent. Since Cheng has already confirmed that the Lenovo Z5 will be a flagship phone, it is speculated that it will be powered by Snapdragon 845. As of this writing, there is no information available on its specifications.

The Honor 10 flagship smartphone was launched in the previous month in China. The OnePlus 6 and Smartisan R1 flagship phones will be unveiled in China in this week. The Xiaomi Mi 7 is also expected to debut in the home country by the end of this month. The first teaser of the Lenovo Z5 had already hinted that it may go official on June 14. Even the Vivo APEX phone is expected to release in China in the next month. This indicates that there will be a fierce battle between flagship phones in the coming weeks in China.

(source)

Porsche Design Insisted On Having No Notch On The Huawei Mate RS

By

Jed John Ikoba

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May 14, 2018

Huawei launched some of its best smartphones yet in the P20, Mate P20 Pro and Mate RS Porsche Design back in March. While the P20 and P20 Pro adopted the now trending notch display design, the Mate RS did not come with any cut out in its display. Porsche Design’s CEO has now revealed the reason for the notch-less design adopted on the Porsche Design Mate RS and that is because the company (Porsche Design) is against it.

Porsche Design based its rejection of the notch on how it affects a smartphone’s design. While speaking with Digital Trends, the company’s design director Christian Schwamkrug stated that the company things the notch compromises the smartphone’s design. He thinks the notch destroys the symmetry of the screen, comparing it to a picture which is either rectangular or square with a borderline and a clear frame format.

This view is consistent with that of many users as expressed in a survey carried out by Android Authority. Many users are also of the view that the notch destroys the symmetry of the screen and that it can get in the way if you are watching videos or playing games. Although Huawei included the option of hiding the notch on the P20 and P20 Pro but that is just a software feature. So, if you are not a fan of the notch design, the Mate RS Porsche Design may not be a worthy option due to its steep price tag. Huawei has slapped a €2095 (~$2599) price on the 512GB variant while the 256GB variant is €1,695 (~$2,103).

(via)

Geekbench Listing Confirms Nokia X(6) Will Come With Snapdragon 636

By

Habeeb Onawole

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May 14, 2018

The Nokia X launches in two days and there is practically nothing we do not know about the device. However, if you have been waiting for proof to show that the device is indeed powered by the Snapdragon 636, then Geekbench has got you covered.

The upcoming mid-range smartphone has surfaced on the benchmarking site just two days ahead of its release as the Nokia X6. It runs Android 8.1 Oreo, has 6GB of RAM, and is powered by the SDM636 – an octa-core processor clocked at 1.61GHz.

The Nokia X6 scored 1332 points in the single-core test and 4892 points in the multi-core test. These scores are similar to that of other phones powered by the Snapdragon 636 such as the Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro.

The Nokia X6 will come with a 5.8” FHD+ screen with a notch at the top. It will also come in 3GB RAM and 4GB RAM variants with 32GB or 64GB of storage respectively.

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Xiaomi Led The Indian Smartphone Market in Q1, With Four Chinese Firms Making The Top 5

By

Jed John Ikoba

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May 14, 2018

A report by research firm IDC has reaffirmed Xiaomi‘s lead in the first quarter of 2018 in the Indian smartphone market. The report shows that the smartphone market in India saw a cumulative shipment of 30 million units in the first quarter of 2018. This figure represents a growth of 11% year on year (YoY). Out of that number, Xiaomi maintained its lead with 30.3 percent market share while Samsung maintained its position in second place with 25.1% shares.

OPPO’s market share continues to decline in China with the company coming in at third place but with just 7.4% market share which is a far cry from Samsung’s 25.1%. Fellow BBK subsidiary Vivo came in at third with a 6.7% share which is a decline by 29.4% year-over-year but a 2.1% increase over the previous quarter driven by the Y-series. At the number five position is Chinese-firm Transsion Group which owns iTel, Infinix and Tecno brands.

It is interesting to note that out of the top 5 companies, four are Chinese firms. This is the second quarter in a row that Xiaomi is mounting the leadership position in the Indian smartphone market. This could be traced to the further expansion in the company’s offline channel and popularity of its models such as Redmi 5A and Redmi Note 5 Pro. Xiaomi still continued to improve on its online sales model, recording a year on year increase in its online shipment shares from 32% to 53% in Q1.

(source)

Samsung Galaxy Tab S4 Gets Certified By Russian Certification Agency EEC

By

Jeet

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May 14, 2018

Samsung is currently preparing to launch a new tablet — Samsung Galaxy Tab S4. The device, which has already appeared on GFXBench and WiFi Alliance, has now been certified by EEC in Russia. Along with this Samsung Galaxy Tab S4 (SM-T835), another device from the South Korea-based company with model number SM-T595 has been certified, but no details are available regarding that device.

Based on the previous reports, the Galaxy Tab S4 is expected to come with a 10.5-inch display having a screen resolution of 2560 x 1600 pixels. This suggests that the device’s display will have a 16:10 aspect ratio.

Under the hood, the tablet will be powered by Qualcomm‘s Snapdragon 835 octa-core processor along with Adreno 540 graphics processor and 4GB of RAM. It’ll pack 64GB of internal storage and will come with a microSD card slot that will allow users to further expand the storage capacity up to 256GB.

On the back side, there’ll be a 12-Megapixel single camera sensor and an 8-megapixel front-facing camera for taking selfies and video calling. The upcoming Samsung Galaxy Tab S4 is expecting to be running Android Oreo operating system out of the box, with the company’s own custom user interface on top. The tablet will be powered by a 6,000mAh non-removable battery.

Samsung had launched the Galaxy Tab S3 tablet at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in February last year. The company did not launch the Galaxy Tab S3’s successor at MWC this year, maybe because of the decline in the tablet industry.

However, the Galaxy Tab S4 could get launched in the coming weeks, or the company may use the IFA 2018 tech trade show platform that is scheduled to take place in September at Berlin, Germany. While the pricing is also not known, reports indicate that the device might come at a price of around $599-$649.

(Source)

Microwear Released A New L3 Smartwatch

By

Linus

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May 14, 2018

Microwear is a relatively small Chinese tech company that mainly produces smartwatches. If you follow Gizmochina, you may know that the company has released quite a few affordable yet feature-packed watches. The Microwear L3 is the latest model that costs just about $57 but it offers quite a few features.

One of the highlights is that the watch is very thin compared to the competition (9.9mm). Also, the Microwear L3 uses metal and quality plastic in the construction.

In addition to this, the watch has a 1.2″ color display which is said to have a good outdoor visibility.

Just like many smartwatches, the Microwear L3 has a lot of sports modes that include walking, running, mountaineering, riding, badminton, table tennis or basketball.

Furthermore, the Microwear L3 has other features like the ability to answer the calls, receive text messages or notifications, music player, and even a heart rate monitor.

The Microwear L3 costs just about $57

Buy Microwear L3

Microwear L3 Official Page

Microwear ODM and OEM inquiry

Microwear smart watch Facebook

Nokia 7 Updates To Android 8.1 With Camera Improvements and More

By

Michele Ingelido

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May 14, 2018

Before launching the Nokia 7 Plus, HMD Global unveiled the original Nokia 7 back in late 2017, a mid-ranger which has been launched as a China-exclusive phone. The handset has just started updating to Android 8.1 Oreo, the latest stable version of Google’s operating system available. With Android P right around the corner, the device has received a big update weighing 698 MB which brings the firmware number of version to 224B.B01. The update is arriving via OTA alongside a complete changelog of all the improvements implemented into it, and it requires at least 1402 MB of free space in order to be installed correctly.

Besides the main improvements brought by Android 8.1 Oreo on every handset, Nokia 7 has just gained the support to dual VoLTE. This means that the phone now supports VoLTE technology on both its SIM card slots. Now, the phone can also show the battery status of devices connected via Bluetooth. Face Unlock has been added as well: the front camera will allow you to unlock your phone through 2D facial recognition. With this update, HMD Global has also added a Do Not Disturb mode for gaming and a Camera Pro mode which should allow experts to improve the quality of their photos through manual commands.

Now, the system theme can automatically adapt to the wallpaper color in order to provide a more beautiful and homogeneous user interface. The power management has been enhanced, so the battery should be able to last more. And the camera user interface has been enhanced as well, alongside the compatibility of 3.5 mm audio jack. At last, the new update heading on the Nokia 7 contains the latest security patch released by Google for the month of May.

If you live in China, you own a Nokia 7 but you still haven’t received the update, you can head to Settings and choose the software update tab to force its arrival.

(via)

OPPO F7 Youth Appears in Promo Video, Reveals 25-Megapixel AI Selfie Camera

By

Anvinraj Valiyathara

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May 14, 2018

In March, OPPO had launched the OPPO F7 smartphone with a notched display. The Chinese manufacturer is known for launching “Youth” edition as lighter version for its F-series smartphones. Now that the company has already unveiled the F7 smartphone, it is speculated to be working on OPPO F7 Youth. Myanmar is one country that is yet to receive the OPPO F7 smartphone. A promotional video that has surfaced on OPPO’s Myanmar Facebook account shows that the country will be soon receiving OPPO F7 and OPPO F7 Youth smartphones.

Through the promo video, it can be known that the OPPO F7 Youth features a display that supports an aspect ratio of 19:9. It appears that the major selling point of the F7 Youth would be its 25-megapixel selfie camera that is equipped with Ai Beauty 2.0.

OPPO F7 – TVC

ကစ္ေလးရဲ႕ "သူက …." ဘယ္သူလဲ? #OPPO #OPPOF7 #F7Youth #AISelfieအစြမ္းရဲ႕စစ္မွန္တဲ့အသြင္[Unicode]ကစ်လေးရဲ့ "သူက …." ဘယ်သူလဲ? #OPPO #OPPOF7 #F7Youth #AISelfieအစွမ်းရဲ့စစ်မှန်တဲ့အသွင်

Posted by OPPO on Thursday, May 10, 2018

Unlike the red-colored OPPO F7, the Black colored F7 Youth does not feature a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner. The back panel of the F7 Youth is fitted with a single camera that is accompanied by its LED flash.

As far as the appearance of the F7 Youth is concerned, it looks quite similar to the OPPO A3 that features a rear panel with diamond-cut design that is devoid of fingerprint scanner. This suggests that the F7 Youth will be only equipped with facial recognition feature for unlocking it.

There is no information available on the other specifications of the OPPO F7 Youth. However, since it is expected to arrive as a lighter edition of the OPPO F7, it is likely to feature 4 GB of RAM or 3 GB of RAM. It may arrive in 32 GB and 64 GB storage models.

The OPPO F7 Youth will be preinstalled with Android 8.1 Oreo and the last Color OS skin. It may include the same 3,400mAh battery that powers the regular OPPO F7. The cost of the F7 Youth is under the wraps, but the pricing pattern of the predecessor models suggests that it could be priced around $260.

(via)

Xiaomi Becomes Indonesia’s Second Largest Smartphone Brand, YoY Growth of 1455%!

By

Michele Ingelido

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May 14, 2018

Xiaomi‘s expansion seems to be unstoppable. The Chinese company is registering record-breaking sales all around the world and it is slowly becoming a real menace to the veteran Samsung and Apple. After reaching the 4th place in the ranking of best smartphones brand in the world, Xiaomi has just become the second largest smartphone manufacturer in Indonesia.

The Senior Vice President Wang Xiang has just published a report by Canalys which highlight the second position of its company in the ranking with 18.3 percent of share in Q1 2018 (from January to March). In the last period, Samsung is the only company which has shipped more smartphones than the Chinese hi-tech giant in Indonesia, with a share of 25.5 percent. Samsung has shipped a total of 2.3 million units, while Xiaomi had 1.7 million units shipped.

The company has registered a 1455% year over year growth and as compared to the same period last year, Xiaomi had shipped only 107,000 smartphones in Indonesia. This is definitely one of the most incredible growths ever registered in the smartphones market. At the 3rd place of the ranking, there is OPPO with 1.5 million units shipped (same as Q1 2017) and a share of 16.8%, while at the 4th spot we can find Vivo with a share of 6.5% and 600,000 units shipped.

It took just a year for Xiaomi to outclass both OPPO and Vivo in the ranking.

(via)

OnePlus 6 Will Head To Netherlands On Announcement Day!

By

Michele Ingelido

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May 14, 2018

After confirming that OnePlus 6 will be available on launch day in several (temporary) pop-up stores all around the world, the former Chinese startup owned by BBK Electronics has partnered with a Dutch retailer called Belsimpel to help fans purchase its new flagship and accessories on launch day in the Netherlands. The Dutch retailer Belsimpel has just published a video teasing the launch of OnePlus 6 in its store: you can see it below and you can get more info in the original announcement article which you can find in the video description.

In case you don’t know, OnePlus 6 will be made official on May 16 at 18:00 CEST. Well, according to Belsimpel, it will also be the day in which the handset will be up for pre-orders. The pre-orders will begin just an hour after the official announcement, so at 19:00 CEST. Through this agreement, OnePlus officially enters the Dutch market. By purchasing the new flagship on Belsimpel, you will also get the official warranty. If you live in the Netherlands, you will be allowed to pay the original price or choose installment options. In case you missed it, OnePlus 6 has just been spotted on Amazon Germany which has revealed its design as well as its price.

According to Amazon Germany, OnePlus has not stopped increasing the price of its flagships. OnePlus 6 will cost even more than the 5T, with a price tag of €519 for the version with 64 GB of internal storage and €569 for the 128 GB variant. Despite the disappointment showed by a lot of fans, the device will rock a notched design in order to minimize the bezels’ thickness. The phone will sport a glass back and a vertical dual camera placed centrally, with a fingerprint reader under it.

(via)