Xiaomi has launched a new product under its Youpin crowdfunding platform. The product is manufactured by Huami technologies and is dubbed Amazfit Antelope Light Sports Shoes. The sports footwear adopts an attractive and durable design. That notwithstanding, it got slammed a price which we consider to be ultra-cheap for such quality- 199 Yuan (~$31).
The Amazfit Antelope Light Sports Shoes has a simple but attractive design. The upper design is said to be inspired by the flow curve of modern architecture. The fabric is manufactured using hot melt film moulding process. Thus, it does not only retain the outlook of an interwoven fabric design, it also has a soft texture. The design also includes a transparent waterproof layer but the design takes into account the need for airflow into the interior.
The sole fitted on the Amazfit Sports shoes equally adopt an ergonomic design and the insole is designed according to the curvature of the foot bones. The sole is manufactured using the innovative material dubbed ERC which effectively absorbs the force of impact of the feet to the ground and feeds back the energy evenly to the feet. Tus, it acts as a shock absorber. The outsole adopts an abrasion-resistant rubber partitioned floor-to-ceiling textures to provide excellent grip performance with strong anti-wear and anti-slip properties.
Surprisingly, the Amazfit Sports shoes is a smart shoe. It has built-in MIJIA Smart Core 2 chip which records the basic daily movement data such as steps, mileage, consumption. The chip also has a running mode which accurately calculate the touchdown time and vacant ratio during running. There other professional sports data that can be recorded by the chip.
The Amazfit Antelope Light Running Shoes comes in different sizes ranging from size 35 to size 45. The sports shoes are also available in Black, Vibrant Orange, Grey for men while the female models come in Black, Mint Green and Rose Powder colours. The Running shoes are available for funding on the Xiaomi Youpin platform and so far, the response has been overwhelming. The product is expected to start shipping on May 17. There is no indication at the moment if this product will be launched outside China.
Huawei launched probably their best smartphones yet – the P20 and the P20 Pro. We were most impressed with the P20 Pro but the P20 is also a legit flagship smartphone that brings quite a few premium features at a lower price than the P20 Pro.
If you decide to buy either of these phones, we suggest you checking out official cases to protect your investment.
Huawei P20 Official Silicone Case
I was quite surprised when I saw that this case costs just below $20 since it is well-made and protects the device quite well.
As the name implies, it’s made of silicone, which is really nice to the touch. The phone will not be scratched by the case itself since it uses a soft material inside.
The case offers excellent protection while maintaining your device’s sleek, elegant lines. As an official product, it is designed specifically for the Huawei P20 and allows full access to buttons and ports.
Huawei P20 Official Silicone Case
The case for the P20 Pro is identical to the P20’s case, it’s just tailored specifically to this device.
It is designed specifically for use with the Huawei P20 Pro, so offers a perfect fit and does not impede the use of any of the functions including the power and volume buttons, headphone and charging ports or front and rear cameras.
Official Huawei P20 Pro Car Case for Magnetic Car Holders
This Official case offers your Huawei P20 Pro complete protection from bumps, cracks and scratches so that you can keep your P20 Pro looking as good as new, all while keeping a sleek and stylish appearance.
With an integrated metal plate in the back, this case is able to securely stick to magnetic car holders and stands with ease so that you can utilise your P20 Pro as a sat nav or multimedia system.
Again, we found this case to well-made and it fits the P20 Pro very well. It’s made of plastic and all the ports and buttons are easy to access. For the price of about $25, it brings a lot of value.
Gionee has been under the radar since the beginning of the year. It hasn’t announced any new phone and it didn’t attend MWC 2018. Latest reports say the Chinese manufacturer is facing some troubles.
Last November, Gionee announced 8 new phones at an event in Shenzhen.
The manufacturing arm of the company is said to have laid off some of its staff and there are reports the headquarters will be dismissing up to 50% of its workers. Gionee is said to have a workforce of about 8,000.
Some employees who spoke with Netease, a Chinese media, said the company went on a 2-month break but were not paid their full benefits. They also said the layoff was presented to them as a choice between staying and being on a sort of compulsory leave or leaving and getting your benefits later. Whichever one you choose, you won’t be getting any payment for a while.
The bottom line is that the company is finding it hard to pay its workers. It is also said to be unable to pay suppliers and advert partners. Earlier this year, A Chinese court is said to have frozen 41.4% of the shares of the company’s founder, Liu Rong, for a period of two years due to unpaid gambling debts.
ZTE’s sub-brand Nubia recently announced its new gaming wing and was reported to launch a gaming smartphone under the new brand later this year. Today, the company has officially announced that it is holding a press conference on 19th April to launch its first gaming smartphone under its new gaming brand — Nubia Red Devil.
Talking about the gaming smartphone, the company had previously said that it has included “all possible specs under the microscope.” It also said that it is prepping up to debut a new of line of products that will “provide a more complete gaming experience for the masses.”
The gaming smartphone is expected to come equipped with features like air cooling, near black body, carbon nano-material, and a three-dimensional wind tunnel section structure. Rumors suggest that the smartphone could be powered by Qualcomm‘s Snapdragon 845 along with 8GB RAM.
The device is also expected to feature 18:9 aspect ratio display with 120Hz refresh rate — similar to the Razer Phone that was launched last year. Nubia had showcased its prototype at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2018 earlier this year in February.
Nubia CEO Ni Fei has already confirmed that the gaming phone will be launched simultaneously in China and Europe. With the gaming phone, Nubia aims to expand its international presence. After the phone’s debut in China and Europe, the phone will also make its way to the Indian market.
Apart from Nubia, Xiaomi-backed Black Shark is also launching a gaming smartphone tomorrow, i.e. 13th April. Several reports suggest that the phone will be available in three memory configurations — 6GB RAM with 128GB internal storage, 8GB RAM with 128GB onboard storage and 8GB RAM with 256GB internal storage. It has been confirmed that the Black Shark smartphone will be powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 845 chipset.
The Teclast F7 propelled to skyrocketing popularity among gadget buffs after hitting the store shelves, last year. That’s hardly surprising given that it boasts an array of awe-inspiring specs and features that make it an irresistible notebook.
If you’ve restlessly been waiting to get your hands on the power-packed notebook but aren’t willing to spend a lot of money, we got good news for you. GearBest is currently offering the Teclast F7 notebook for just $299.99.
The site is offering a noteworthy 17% off on the Teclast F7’s original retail price. Note that the Flash Sale price will be valid only for the remaining 125 pieces.
The Teclast F7 notebook is a bargain under $300. The device packs a powerful Intel Celeron N3450, 64-bit processor along with an Intel HD Graphics 500 GPU.
It offers 6GB of DDR3 RAM that facilitates advanced multitasking. The F7 comes with 128GB SSD storage capacity that provides ample room for users to store their pictures, videos, music and lots more.
The device is backed by a robust 4,900 mAh Lithium-ion-Polymer battery and it runs on Microsoft Windows 10 Home Edition OS. Moreover, it sports a single 2-megapixel front-facing camera.
You can visit this link in order to check out the full specification and avail the deal. It is imperative for you to bear in mind the promotion is slated to end in 5 days.
Black Shark, a Chinese firm that is backed by Xiaomi will be announcing its first gaming phone tomorrow. A leaked video of what appears to be the real Black Shark gaming phone has appeared on Weibo to reveal its front and rear design.
The below images that were snapped from the leaked video (available in source link) reveals that the Black Shark gaming phone has rounded corners. The front view of the handset suggests that it does not feature an elongated display. Hence, it is difficult to confirm whether the handset will be equipped with an 18:9 or 16:9 aspect ratio display by looking at the photo. However, the AnTuTu listing of the phone that had appeared in February had suggested that its screen would be supporting FHD+ resolution of 2160 x 1080 pixels and an aspect ratio of 18:9.
The image suggests that the Black Shark gaming phone is comfortable enough for one-handed use. The side bezels appear thin, but the upper and bottom bezels are a bit thick. A home button that is most likely enabled with a fingerprint sensor is present on the bottom bezel of the phone.
Previous reports have revealed that the gaming phone will retain some of the core features of MIUI. The above image shows that the appearance of the icons is quite similar that of MIUI. This indicates that the Black Shark gaming phone will be running on a customized version of MIUI.
In the back ground of the above image, there is a box that contains the image of what looks like a Bluetooth gaming controller that could be attached to the topside of the phone. Users may attach it to the Black Shark phone and benefit from immersive gaming experience by holding it in a landscape mode.
Shown below is the previously seen photo with Bluetooth gaming controller connected at topside of the phone. The back panel sports a unique and sporty design. It has a horizontally arranged dual camera setup along with its LED flash at the top-left corner.
Previous reports have revealed that the Black Shark gaming phone that will be powered by Snapdragon 845 chipset will be coming in two models like 6 GB RAM + 64 GB storage and 8 GB RAM + 256 GB storage. It is also expected to be equipped with fast charging enabled battery and a high refresh rate display.
JD.com is the official sales and promotional partner of the Black Shark company for the next three years. In collaboration with the Chinese retailer, Xiaomi has already started receiving reservations for the Black Shark gaming phone. The official sales of the Black Shark phone are slated to begin on April 20. As of this writing, there is no information available on its pricing.
Last week, a Samsung smartphone with model number SM-G8750 surfaced online which is believed to be the Galaxy S9. Now, another smartphone with model number SM-G8850 has been certified by TENAA in China, which could be another variant of the Galaxy S9 Mini.
The listing reveals phone’s specifications. It features a 5.8-inch Quad HD+ Super AMOLED Infinity Display with screen resolution of 2960 x 1440 pixels. Under the hood, the smartphone is powered by octa-core Samsung Exynos 9-series 9810 processor with Mali G72MP18 GPU.
It packs 4GB/6GB LPDDR4X RAM and comes with a microSD card that enables users to further expand storage up to 400GB. It features a 12-megapixel primary rear camera and a 12-megapixel secondary camera sensor with LED flash. On the front side, there’s an 8-megapixel autofocus front-facing camera with wide-angle lens.
Connectivity options on the device include 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11ac (2.4/5GHz), VHT80 MU-MIMO, Bluetooth 5 (LE up to 2Mbps), GPS with GLONASS, USB 3.1, NFC, MST. It also has IP68 certification, ensuring resistance from water and dust. Running on Android Oreo operating system out of the box, the device is said to be powered by a 3,000mAh battery with support for fast charging.
Earlier, the benchmark listing of the SM-G7850 model revealed that it is powered by Qualcomm‘s Snapdragon 660 processor along with 4GB RAM and runs Android 8.0 (Oreo) out of the box.
The Samsung SM-G8850 will be available in two color options — Black and Blue. Since the phone has already been certified, we expect it to go official in the next few weeks.
The South Korean giant is also working on its new flagship smartphone, which is the next-generation Galaxy Note series device. The upcoming smartphone — Galaxy Note 9 is expected to pack a 6.3-inch Infinity Display 2.0 and will be powered by the Exynos 9810 and Snapdragon 845 chipsets and we might see 6GB RAM/128GB storage as the starting memory combo.
The company is likely to retain the dual camera setup featured on the Galaxy S9+ in the Galaxy Note 9. Latest reports indicate that the phone could come with a 4,000mAh battery. We are still a few months away from the official launch of the device, so we expect more details to emerge.
The easy-to-use Utorch S1 flashlight boasts micro USB charging and an array of other awe-inspiring features including high-quality CREE XP – L HI V3 LED chip, 5 brightness modes and lots more. These specs make it a bargain under $40.
GearBest is giving buyers an opportunity to save a considerable amount of money on 2 sizes (5000K and 6500 – 7000K) in the form of coupon codes. The site is giving $3 off on orders that go beyond $30, and $5 off on orders that surpasses $60.
Note that the coupon codes will only be valid for 72 hour(s) after receiving. You will get it in your GB Account, under ‘My Coupon’. Alternatively, you can use coupon code ‘USMINI’ at the time of checking out to bring your grand total down from $36.99 to only $26.99.
Buy One Get One Free
GearBest will reward the 1st, 50th, and 150th buyer to make a paid order for the Utorch S1 Mini Flashlight with a free gift. It is imperative for you to bear in mind that the earlier you submit an order, the bigger your prize.
The Winner List is slated to be revealed on Friday, April 13th and 20th on GearBest Blog. Moreover, you’d be eligible to receive another product at a relatively lower price when you buy a Utorch S1 Mini Flashlight.
Top Recommendation
This category comprises a broad range of Utorch-branded products that you can buy without emptying your pocket. For instance, The Utorch Color Changing Cat night light, which usually sells for $10.99 on GearBest, is currently available for only $9.99 on the website.
The Flash Sale price will be valid for the remaining 73 pieces of the white color version of the device for 5 days. You can get $5 off via a coupon code if your order tops $60.
Trending New Arrivals
This section comprises a slew of recently-arrived products manufactured by Utorch. GearBest is giving noteworthy discounts on select products featured in this category.
For the sake of an example, you can get 4% off on Utorch U19A dimmable remote control LED floor lamp as part of GearBest’s latest Flash Sale. In other words, you can now buy this alluring floor lamp by shelling out only $55.99.
With only 36 pieces left, the promotion is scheduled to wrap up in 5 days. You can check out the complete promotion and avail the deal by heading straight to this link.
LG is known for releasing G-series and V-series flagship phones in a year. The South Korean company was expected to launch LG G7 at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2018 tech expo this year. However, instead of launching G-series flagship, it announced the LG V30S ThinQ and LG V30S+ ThinQ smartphones. Recent information reveals that LG’s next flagship will carry LG G7 ThinQ moniker and it will be unveiled on May 2. Newer information revealed by AndroidHeadlines states that LG’s upcoming V-series phone will be called LG V35 ThinQ.
Citing information received through a reliable source that has been crosschecked by LG’s in-house documentation states that the successor for LG V30/V30 Plus and V30S ThinQ / V30S+ ThinQ phones will be indeed called LG V35.
Design
When LG had launched the LG G6 with 18:9 display in 2016, it was marketed as a large-sized display phone designed for one-handed operation. The South Korean company is expected to use the same marketing strategy for the LG V35 ThinQ that will be equipped with an edge-to-edge design. The company will also advertise it as a lightweight device that offers immersive experience. It is expected to hit the market in two colors like Black and Grey with premium glossy finish.
Display
Leaked information reveals that the LG V35 ThinQ won’t be featuring the MLCD+ technology display that is speculated to arrive on the LG G7 ThinQ. Also, it seems that the P-OLED (polymer OLED) display that is available on the LG V30 and V30S smartphones won’t be available on the LG V35 ThinQ as its internal documentation does not contain any information on POLED panel. The handset will be arriving with an 18:9 aspect ratio supporting 6-inch FullVision OLED display that will offer 80 percent screen-to-body ratio. The documents do not suggest that it will have a notched display like G7 ThinQ.
Cameras
The LG G7 ThinQ is expected to come with a pair of 16-megapixel camera sensors. The same dual camera setup is expected to available on the V35 ThinQ. For color capturing, it will include an f/1.6 aperture 16-megapixel primary sensor that is equipped with a glass lens and 10-bit HDR compatibility. It will be coupled with a 16-megapixel secondary wide-angle lens that will offer a field of view of 107 degrees. The camera features like AI Cam, Google Lens, Super Bright Mode and camera related AI tweaks that are available on the G7 ThinQ will be also coming to the V35 ThinQ.
Artificial Intelligence
The LG V35 ThinQ will be a “super-smart device” and the company will be greatly focusing on its AI benefits. AI will allow users to carry out various tasks and do more on the phone by using less time while using voice assistant, camera and other features of the phone.
The LG V35 ThinQ will include the 32-bit high-performance ESS Sabre 9228 quad DAC. It will be packed with various customization features and digital filters for improving the audio output. Also, it will be equipped with far-field voice recognition in order to take advantage of the capabilities of the voice assistant at a larger distance of up to 17 feet.
Qualcomm was rumored to debut the Snapdragon 670 (sdm670) as the successor of Snapdragon 660 (sdm660) at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2018 tech trade show, but it did not come true. A newer report had revealed that the Snapdragon 670 could be powering the upcoming Xiaomi devices that are codenamed as Comet and Sirius phones. Fresh information shared by XDA Developers reveals that Qualcomm is rebranding Snapdragon 670 as Snapdragon 710 (sdm710). Hence, the Comet and Sirius could feature the all new SD710 mobile platform. The publication has also revealed some important details on the features of these upcoming Xiaomi phones.
Leaked firmware files had revealed the existence of Comet and Sirius phones earlier in this week. The publication has today confirmed that the updated firmware files of these phones show that all the references of the Snapdragon 670 has been replaced by Snapdragon 710. A reliable source has also confirmed to XDA Developers that the Snapdragon 710 is the rebranded version of the unannounced SD670. Here is a snapshot of a commit found on Qualcomm’s CodeAurora forums that confirms the existence of Snapdragon 710:
Well-known tipster Roland Quandt had recently claimed that Snapdragon 710 will be the first Snapdragon 700 series chipset by Qualcomm. He has already revealed a lot of information on the configuration of the SD670 chipset. Since the Snapdragon 710 is its rebranded edition, it is pegged to include the same specs.
The Snapdragon 710 will be an octa-core processor and Adreno 615 graphics with a frequency range of 430MHaz and 700MHz. The SD710’s octa-core processor comprises of a dual-core Cortex A75 high-performance processor and a hexa-core Cortex A55 low-end processor. The configuration of the Snapdragon 710 can be also confirmed through the following screengrab taken from Xiaomi device firmware.
The publication has also shared some preliminary specs of Xiaomi Comet and Sirius through the update firmware files. According to the publication, the Comet handset will be Xiaomi Mi device that will feature an OLED display that will be supporting Always-on Display feature. It will come with other features like Android 8.1 Oreo, dual-SIM support, IR blaster and 3,100mAh battery.
The Xiaomi Sirius has an OLED screen that will be equipped with a notch and it will also support Always-on Display. The Xiaomi Mi device will include features like Android 8.1 Oreo, dual-SIM support, IR blaster, portrait mode in camera and 3,120mAh battery. The Comet and Sirius devices will be lacking NFC and microSD card slot.
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.
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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.
