Xiaomi yearns for global expansion right from inception but it lacked a strong patent portfolio. That seems to have changed as the company has gradually been stacking up relevant patents. According to Lei Jun, Xiaomi’s CEO, the company has 6324 patents to its name presently and 53% of these numbers are trademarked outside China. Majority of Xiaomi’s patents were filed in China but the company also has patents in Europe, Japan, U.S, U.K, Russia, India, Mexico, Australia and South Korea.
BBK subsidiary Vivo recently launched the Vivo APEXfull-screen phone with a retractable selfie camera. It also emerged that Xiaomi had a similar patent under its portfolio. The patent was approved in 2015 but only came out recently when the Vivo APEX was trending. The figure disclosed by Lei Jun is a considerable improvement from last year when the CEO during the Mi 5X / MIUI 9 launch hinted that the company had obtained 4,806 patents at that time. He also mentioned the patent acquisition agreement it had reached with Nokia which would aid in its bid to take its trade abroad. So, we can say the tech giant has added 1,518 new patents from July last year when the Mi 5X was launched till date.
Apart from Nokia, Xiaomi holds several patent agreements with Microsoft and other patent holders. In addition to that, the company hinted that it is also increasing its Research & Development effort with investments in that regard. Xiaomi recently opened a new R&D center in Shenzhen, Mainland China for this purpose.
Last week, ZTE’s sub-brand Nubia unveiled its latest smartphone — Nubia V18. The smartphone, which was available for pre-orders from 22nd March, is now available for purchase at a price of 1299 Yuan (approximately $206).
The sales for the Nubia V18 started in China today at 10:00 AM local time. The smartphone is available in three colors — Stone Black, Space Gold, and Nebula Red, and can be purchased online through Nubia store, Suning.com, and Tmall.com.
The Nubia V18 comes with a metal back and a U-design antenna line. On the front, it has reduced top and bottom bezels and those on the sides are quite thin, thanks to the full-screen display.
The phone flaunts a 6.01-inch FHD+ display, 18:9 aspect ratio, and 86.25% screen-to-body ratio. Under the hood, the device is powered by Qualcomm‘s Snapdragon 625 processor, which also powers the company’s recently launched Nubia N3.
The device packs 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage with support for expandable storage up to 128GB using a microSD card. It also comes with AI that should help users set reminders, take notes, among others, along with the support for AI algorithms that helps to take better pictures.
On the camera front, the phone comes with a 13-megapixel camera with f/2.2 aperture, phase detection autofocus (PDAF) and LED flash. On the front side, there’s an 8-megapixel snapper with f/2.0 aperture and 80° wide-angle sensor.
For added security measures, the phone comes with a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner. The company has promised that it will roll out a software update which will introduce Face Unlock feature on the device. The smartphone runs on Android 7.1 Nougat operating system with the company’s own Nubia UI 5.1 on top, which is said to be specially customized for this device.
The phone drives power from a 4,000mAh battery, which the company claims can last two days on a single charge. It can also be used to charge other devices. The company has included NeoPower 3.0 for fast charging and battery management.
Huawei just launched the P20 series phones and the smartphone fans are most interested in the more powerful P20 Pro that we covered a few moments ago. However, the P20 is also a true flagship device that has many of the Pro’s features at a lower price of about 650 EUR. Learn more in our Huawei P20 hands-on review.
The P20 looks and feels very similar in the hand as it is made of metal and glass, it has a notch display and the build quality is excellent. However, differences start with the display. The P20 sports a 5.8″ LCD panel (1080 x 2244 pixels) whereas the P20 Pro has a 6.1″ OLED panel with the same resolution. In practice, the P20’s display looks almost as good as the one found on the P20 Pro.
We have a Pink Gold color option but there will also be a Twilight, Black, Midnight Blue models.
The P20 has 2 sensors instead of a triple camera setup found on the P20 Pro. The phone uses a dual camera system that consists of one 12 MP snapper with f/1.8 aperture lens and another 20 MP shooter with f/1.6 lens. The main camera has OIS, 1/2.3″ sensor size and it uses 1.55 µm pixels.
As for hardware, the P20 has the same Kirin 970 chipset as the P20 Pro, 128GB of internal storage (no microSD card slot) but it has only 4GB of RAM in comparison to 6GB found on the P20 Pro.
I was also impressed by the fact that Huawei managed to cram in a huge 3500mAh battery into such a thin profile of the P20 (149.1 x 70.8 x 7.7 mm).
Other things you need to know about the design: there is no headset jack, the P20 has a lower IP53 certification in comparison to IP67-certified P20 Pro. In addition, the P20 has hi-fi wireless audio system that assures great sound quality via the Bluetooth. Finally, the P20 does not have the IR blaster like the P20 Pro.
The P20 has the same software as the P20 Pro. The EMUI 8.1 is based on Android 8.1, which is said to be a more capable platform for the AI.
As usual, there are plenty of features and customization options in the UI Huawei phone have been famous for. My first impressions – the phone is really fast and smooth thanks to the powerful chipset and neural processing unit that helps allocate resources to the specific task. I also found the fingerprint scanner to really fast but I was most impressed with the face unlock feature. I used it in low light but it still unlocks the phone very fast but keep in mind that you still need to press the power button first in order to use it.
My first impressions about the phone – the P20 shapes up to be a solid flagship device. Just as the P20 Pro, it looks and feels premium, the display is really nice and sharp, the overall performance seems to be great and we can’t wait to test other key features of the phone: cameras, battery life and more. Make sure to stay tuned to Gizmochina for our detailed Huawei P20 review.
Huawei had launched the Honor 9 smartphone in June last year. A couple of leaked shots of the Honor 10 smartphone have surfaced recently which indicates that the arrival Honor 9’s successor could be close at hand. The new photos show that the Honor 10, the first flagship smartphone from the company will be arriving with a notched design.
In order to avoid negative reactions from audience, OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei has officially confirmed that OnePlus 6 would be arriving with a notched display. He added that the presence of notch on the OnePlus 6 will provide its users with a very large screen space. The upcoming Xiaomi Mi 7 and the rumored Mi 7 Plus smartphones are also expected to arrive with notched display. These reports suggest that many smartphone manufacturers are gearing up to launch notch enabled phones.
Huawei has already launched notch enabled Huawei Nova 3e (P20 Lite), P20 and P20 Pro smartphones and the leaked photos of the Honor 10 suggests that it will be also arriving with a similar design.
Even though the alleged Honor 10 is covered in a box in the leaked photos, it is clearly visible that it features a notch at the top. Below the display, there is a button that could be integrated with a fingerprint scanner. The rear view of the phone reveals that the top-left corner features a dual camera setup. Like the predecessor phone, the Honor 10 may feature a glass and metal combination chassis.
Recent leaks have claimed that the Honor 10 could be fueled by the Kirin 970 chipset. Like the Honor 9, it may arrive in variants like 64 GB storage + 4 GB RAM and 128 GB storage + 6 GB RAM. As of this writing, there is no information available on the other specs of the phone.
There is no confirmation on the authenticity of the above images. Hence, it is advised to read this report with a pinch of salt.
HMD Global, the company behind the Nokia smartphones, has announced that it is holding a launch event on 4th April in India. It has already started sending out media invites, which reads – “We welcome you to Explore. Express. Create. Reimagine. We welcome you to discover the N-powered city of tomorrow.”
At the launch event, the Finland-based company is expected to launch its recently unveiled smartphone, which includes Nokia 7 Plus, Nokia 8 Sirocco Edition. This is in line with our previous report which said that Nokia will bring its Nokia 7 Plus smartphone in the Indian market in early April.
Both the devices — Nokia 7 Plus and Nokia 8 Sirocco edition were announced at Mobile World Congress along with Nokia 8110 4G and Nokia 1. However, HMD Global has already launched Nokia 1 Android Go edition smartphone in the Indian market.
The Nokia 7 Plus features a 6-inch Full HD+ FullView display with 2160 × 1080 pixels screen resolution with 18:9 aspect ratio and 2.5D curved glass cover with a Gorilla Glass 3 shield on top. Under the hood, it is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 processor, along with 4GB RAM.
There’s 64GB of internal storage with support for microSD card slot for expanding storage capacity. Further, the phone runs Android 8.0 Oreo operating system out-of-the-box. There’s a fingerprint sensor on the back for added security.
The phone has a dual camera setup — 12MP primary shooter with f/1.75 aperture, 1.4µm pixel size with ZEISS optics and a secondary 13MP snapper with 1.0µm pixel size, F2.6 aperture with ZEISS optics. On the front, it features a 16MP snapper for taking selfies and video calling.
On the other hand, the Nokia 8 Sirocco edition is the most premium phone from HMD Global so far. It flaunts a 5.5-inch QHD pOLED display with 2560×1440 pixels screen resolution with Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection.
It is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 octa-core processor, along with 6GB RAM, and 128GB storage, which is expandable up to 256GB via microSD card. The phone also has IP67 water-and-dust certification.
The phone features a 12 MP primary shooter with 2L7 wide-angle lens, 1.4um pixel size, f/1.7 aperture along with a 13MP secondary snapper with a 3M3 Telephoto lens, 1.0um pixel size, f/2.6 aperture. On the front, it sports a 5MP camera with 1.4um pixel size.
The Nokia 8 Sirocco runs on Android Oreo operating system and is powered by a 3,260mAh battery having fast-charging support as well as Qi Wireless Charging support. Both Nokia 7 Plus and Nokia 8 Sirocco edition are part of Android One program, ensuring faster software updates and monthly security patches.
Xiaomi is known as a company which supports its devices in the long-term. Last year, we saw that even the first smartphones released by this company are still updating via OTA, even though they are not receiving major OS updates anymore. More than two years after its official announcement, Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 has just been updated to the latest version of the company’s user interface: MIUI 9.5 (Global version). However, this is not the same firmware that you can find on the latest Xiaomi devices.
The new update to MIUI 9.5 Global is still based on Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow. But this is not significantly important as MIUI is rich in features and improvements, and it does not need the latest Android version to be great. Anyways, the new update does not bring important changes. There are just some UI updates and there isn’t any new features. An important addition brought by this update is the security patch released by Google in the month of January. Further, it brings some fixes to bugs present in the previous version. The update weighs about 425 MB and it is identified by the number of version 9.5.1.0.MHOMIEK.
We suggest you download it by using a WiFi network in order to save your data traffic. If you own a Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 which runs the MIUI Global version but you still haven’t received the OTA notification, you can head to the Settings, then tap on Info about device and Software updates to manually force the arrival of the new firmware. Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 is only one of 30 Xiaomi smartphones which will be updated to MIUI 9.5 in the coming weeks. You can click on this link to know all the other devices which will get the official stable update to MIUI 9.5 Global and its improvements.
The Vkworld S8 smartphone propelled straight to popularity among smartphone users after hitting the store shelves in October, last year. It is an ideal phone for tech buffs who want to buy a power-packed mobile device without spending a fortune.
The S8 normally sells for $229.99 on Banggood. But much to the delight of cost-conscious smartphone lovers, the site is currently offering a considerable discount on the device’s original asking price.
You can now buy the well-received Vkworld S8 smartphone by shelling out just $159.99 on Banggood. This is a noteworthy 30% reduction in the handset’s quoted price.
Despite carrying a slashed price tag, the S8 boasts an array of awe-inspiring specs and features. Here’s a brief glimpse of what the Vkworld-branded smartphone has to offer.
The S8 packs a powerful MediaTek MT6750T, 64-bit processor along with an equally robust ARM Mali-T860 MP2, 650MHz, 2-Cores GPU, under the hood. It offers 4GB of RAM and 64GB of expandable internal memory (up to 128GB using SIM 2 slot).
On the photography front, the S8 sports a 16-megapixels + 5-megapixels dual camera setup at the back and a 13-megapixel front shooter for selfies. It features a big 5.99 inches IPS, FHD+ display with a screen resolution of 2160 x 1080 pixels.
Moreover, the phone runs on Android 7.0 Nougat operating system and it is backed by a 5,500 mAh Lithium-ion Polymer battery. This massive battery is non-removable.
In order to check out the full specification and take advantage of the promo, which is slated to end on March 31, simply click here. The discount will be valid for the remaining 69 pieces of the blue and black color versions of the smartphone.
Apple has officially announced a new model of iPad aimed at schools. Unlike most of the other tablets by Apple, this is a low-cost device. It will be launched in the U.S. with a price tag of just $329, that is hundreds of dollars lower than most of the other iPads. Further, schools will have the chance to order this tablet for just $299 a unit. Even though it is an entry-level tablet compared to other Apple devices actually in commerce, it supports the Apple Pencil for handwriting and drawing.
It also supports Logitech Crayon, a new third-party pen which is not pressure-sensitive like the Apple Pencil, but it will be sold with a more affordable price tag. The Apple Pencil will continue to have a price of $99, but it will cost $10 less for schools. The new Apple iPad for students comes with a suite of apps dedicated to school: Pages, Numbers, Keynote and more. All of these apps support the input from the Apple Pencil.
The shipping date of the tablet has been confirmed just one day after the official announcement. Apple Store will start shipping the tablet in the U.S. starting from April 2, as well as AT&T. BestBuy is actually giving a $25 gift card to the ones who choose to buy the new iPad. On the Apple Store, the tablet is also available bundled with a Logitech Slim Folio Case with keyboard and an Apple Pencil for a total price of $500.
The specs sheet of the new iOS tablet includes a 9.7-inch Retina display with a resolution of 2048 x 1536 pixels. The display has an anti-reflective coating, the TrueTone technology which adapts colors to the surroundings, ProMotion which enables the 120 Hz response rate and wide-gamut color. Under the hood, there is a quad-core Apple A10 Fusion chipset which can run at a max frequency of 2.3 GHz. In case you do not know, it is the same SoC as the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, that is great for a $329 tablet. The main camera of the new Apple iPad has a resolution of 8 MP and it can record videos in 1080p. There is also a 5 MP front snapper. The new Apple iPad will start shipping from April 2 in the following variants:
OPPO and Vivo that belong to BBK Electronics have recently launched OPPO R15, R15 Dream Mirror, OPPO F7, Vivo X21 and Vivo V9 smartphones with notched display design. Hence, the rumor mill has been speculating that the OnePlus brand that belongs to BBK Electronics will be also arriving with a notched display. An image of the OnePlus 6 that has been released by none other than Carl Pei, the co-founder of OnePlus confirms that it will be arriving with a notched screen.
The Sharp Aquos S2 and the Essential Phone were the first smartphones to arrive with notched display. Compared to these phones, the iPhone X that had 10th anniversary smartphone from Apple features a larger notch that houses the complex TrueDepth Camera system for Face ID.
According to Pei, the presence of a notch on the OnePlus 6 will provide its users with more screen space. Compared to all the predecessor OnePlus phones, the OnePlus 6 will be offering the highest screen-to-body ratio of 90 percent. Also, it won’t be resembling the OPPO R15 series as some rumors have been claiming.
Pei claims that the notch on the OP6 will be packed with a selfie camera, an earpiece, notification LED, proximity and ambient sensors. The notch will be smaller than iPhone X since it won’t be housing structured light like the Face ID. He has revealed that the OnePlus 6’s notch measures 19.616 x 7.687mm.
He added that the company has manually tested 1,000 apps from Google Play store to check how the notch appears on different apps. OnePlus is shifting the position of the clock towards the left side of the display to provide more space for status icons. The device will be disguising the notch while playing a video on the phone to deliver notch-free viewing experience. Also, the handset will be also supporting gesture-based inputs.
An image of the OnePlus 6 that was recently leaked by Evan Blass had revealed that the handset would be arriving with a 3.5mm audio jack, USB-C port and an external speaker grille. The back panel of the phone would be featuring a vertically stacked dual camera setup and a fingerprint reader.
The recently spotted Geekbench listing of the smartphone had revealed that the OnePlus 6 would be arriving with Snapdragon 845 chipset and 6 GB of RAM. This could be the base model with 64 GB of storage. The higher variant may feature 8 GB of RAM. A recent leak had revealed that the highest configuration model of OP6 may feature 256 GB of storage. It may house a 3,450mAh battery. As far as the launch is concerned, Pei had earlier revealed that it would be unveiled in late Q2.
The OnePlus 5T smartphone was launched in November, last year. Despite bearing a relatively steep price tag, the long-awaited phone was very well-received by smartphone lovers.
On the downside, the OnePlus 5T failed to sweep cost-conscious buyers off their feet. If you’ve restlessly been waiting to get your hands on the 5T smartphone without emptying your pockets, we have good news for you.Banggood is currently offering a considerable discount on the OnePlus 5T smartphone’s original asking price. The phone normally sells for $579.99 on the site; however, you can now get a 16% discount and bring your grand total down to just $489.99.
Although the discount will be valid until April 2, there were only 31 pieces remaining at the time of writing. You can visit this link to take advantage of the promo before it comes to an end.
Alternatively, you can preorder OnePlus 5T Star Wars version and save a considerable amount of money. While you’d ideally shell out $699.99 to get your hands on the Star Wars version of the 5T smartphone on Banggood, the site is allowing buyers to preorder the phone for just $664.99.
But if that not a good enough reason for you to buy it, you can use coupon code ‘5TSWPUSH’ at the time of checking out and save an additional $75. In other words, you can bring your grand total down to just $589.99 simply by applying the aforesaid coupon code.
It’s worth noting that the phone is likely to retain its original selling price once the promo comes to an end. You can head straight to this link in order to take advantage of the promo and use the coupon code before it expires.
Huawei continues to strive undeterred despite the disappointing result it suffered in its bid to make an inroad into the U.S market. Instead, the Chinese giant is still on coasting on with full steam, dishing out smartphones week in week out, from budget models to flagships. From the look of things, Huawei isn’t stopping anytime soon. A launch poster has been revealed showing that the Huawei Enjoy 8 series models would be unveiled on March 29 at 14:00 UTC+8.
Huawei Enjoy series is known for competitively priced models with capable hardware. The last we saw from the series was the Enjoy 7S which was launched in December 2017. Before then, there was the Enjoy 7 which was launched around the middle of last year.
The expected Huawei Enjoy 8 series is comprised of the Enjoy 8, Enjoy 8 Plus and Enjoy 8E. Going by the poster, the trio will all be unveiled at the launch event which is just a matter of hours away. The models have at various times made appearances at TENAA for certification. All the models are expected to feature a 5.7-inch display with an HD+ resolution of 720 x 1440 pixels and an 18:9 aspect ratio. All the models are also expected to feature an Octa-core SoC clocked at 1.4GHz under their hood. Their differences may likely lie in the storage and RAM sizes available and perhaps camera configuration.
Xiaomi has launched a cool smart gadget under its ecological chain companies. The product is the Mi Smart RearView Mirror similar to the 70 Minutes Smart RearView mirror which was announced last year. This model carries Xiaomi’s branding and apart from that, it comes with some improvement in its feature and a more compact size. Despite the improvements, Xiaomi still retained the 999 yuan ($158) price tag the first-gen model was launched with.
Design wise, the Mi Smart RearView Mirror is compact, packing a 6.86-inch touchscreen display with a resolution of 1280×480 pixels. This is smaller than the 8.88-inch display the first edition features. It still comes in black color only. There is also an improvement in the cooling system. An aerospace aluminium material is processed into the unique thermal wings to greatly increase the cooling efficiency.
In terms of the camera, the Mi RearView mirror packs a Sony IMX291 image sensor that is capable of capturing anything even in low light condition. This sensor uses 6 sets of full-glass spherical lenses with each of them having 9 layers of coating. It comes with a large aperture of f/1.8 and 150 ° large wide angle.
In addition, the device comes pre-installed with Advanced driver assistance systems, or ADAS which supports FCW (Forward Collision Warning), PVS (Preceding Vehicle Starting), and LDW (Lane Departure Warning). It will save the video before and after the collision. We can even watch the videos in the rearview mirror as well via a mobile APP in real time. The gadget also comes with an emergency wake-up system.
The Mi Smart RearView Mirror also supports front and rear double recording and reversing camera functions, which can clearly and comprehensively observe the road conditions behind the car and give the driving process more safety protection. The rearview mirror is also integrated with the new Small Love AI speaker and so supports voice command. Besides simple operations such as increasing or decreasing the volume or capturing videos and photos, you can give ‘smart’ commands such as ‘I would like to go to the nearest airport’ or ‘play the latest song of Maroon 5’. By the way, this mirror has a huge amount of media resources including radio stations and music. The smart rearview mirror can also connect to the Mi Home app such that users can control their connected home appliances directly from your car.
Earlier today, OnePlus released a 30-second video in which they mentioned they want to “reimagine” the currency. A few seconds into the video, there is a text that says “Blockchain Meets Never Settle”.
At the end, we also see a spinning gold coin with a OnePlus logo on one side and the face of OnePlus co-founder, Carl Pei, on the other. There is also a parody of the United States motto “E pluribus unum” but written as “E PLURIBUS PEI-UM”. These hints point towards cryptocurrency.
So the big question is if OnePlus is truly launching its own cryptocurrency? Probably not. Some responses to the video say this is probably a teaser for OnePlus’ April Fool’s joke and they may be correct. However, even if this is a joke, we may get to see OnePlus cryptocoins (1coin sounds better) in flesh.
Google’s Android OS is available on billions of devices all over the world. Those devices are made by a plethora of manufacturers and some of these devices aren’t certified by Google. The tech giant wants that to change and has taken a big decision to fix that.
Last week, Android Police discovered that Google was locking users out of Google apps on devices that are not certified. Affected users are said receive a “Device not certified by Google” error message.
An official statement by Google (below) confirms the development:
“Certified Android devices offer users consistent experiences when using apps from Google and the Play Store, as well as various security benefits through Google Play Protect. We acknowledge that some manufacturers are building and selling devices that have not been certified by Google. Please see the website for more details.”
The website says certified devices go through hundreds of tests to ensure they “adhere to Android security and permissions model and have software builds with the recent security updates”.
Google adds that certified devices are required to ship without pre-installed malware and also include Google Play Protect which provides automatic virus scanning and Find My Device. New certified devices will also include the Play Protect logo.
For those with devices that are not Google certified, Google recommends you get in touch with the manufacturer or retailer for a fully tested and certified device.
However, there is actually a way for you to still use Google apps even after you have been blocked. Google provides an option for devices running custom ROMs but it requires your Google Services Framework ID. Google can’t actually tell if your device is truly running a custom ROM or not. So, if you get the error message, there is a link to a site where you can get exempted from the block.
The site requires you to sign in with your Google account details and then asks for your GSF ID. Getting the GSF ID is tricky but there are apps that you can use to extract the info. APKMirror has an app called DeviceID which can help you get the info, however, you must have Google Play Services installed to get the ID. Google will only allows 100 devices per user and it is reported that a factory reset may change your ID. So, anytime you do a factory rest, it counts against the 100 devices available.
Huawei just launched the new P20 series flagships and I’m mostly interested in the P20 Pro, which alongside the P20, are successors to the P10 series that was launched last year in Barcelona. Learn more in our Huawei P20 Pro hands-on review.
In fact, this is a completely new phone with all new design, new powerful cameras, improved AI neural processing unit and much more.
I’m not going to talk about the notch design in Android phones and P20’s similarities to the iPhone X. I will leave that for you, so make sure to use that comment section.
In case you don’t like the notch, you can always hide it. Thanks, Huawei, for giving us options. I will keep the notch as I got used to this design element very quickly.
First of all, let’s get the specs out of the way. Both P20 and the Pro will ship with the AI-powered Kirin 970 chipset but the Pro model will have more storage (6GB of RAM and 128GB ROM). Sadly, there is no microSD slot for storage expansion but both phones have dual SIM card slots.
In the hand, the P20 Pro feels very premium and expensive and it all starts with a large OLED full-view display, that I found to be really sharp and bright. The P20 will have a slightly smaller 5.8” LCD panel with the same resolution.
The P20 is said to be the world’s first to use gradient color and it looks beautiful, especially the color that I have. If you add a shiny metal trim and quality metal buttons, you are looking at a truly premium device.
I was also impressed by the fact that Huawei managed to cram in a huge battery into such a thin profile of the P20. The P20 has a 3400mAh power bank and the P20 Pro has a 4000mAh unit.
Other things you need to know about the design: there is no headset jack, the P20 Pro is IP67-certified for water and dust resistance whereas the P20 has a lower IP53 certification. Finally, the P20 has hi-fi wireless audio system that assures great sound quality via the Bluetooth.
The P20 phones are all about the new powerful cameras. The P20 Pro is more interesting since it has 3 cameras that have combined 68MP. Well, there is a 4th selfie camera with impressive 24MP.
The first is a powerful 40MP RGB camera that is accompanied by the 8MP telephoto lens. The third is the monochrome sensor that also has plenty of megapixels to play with (20MP). 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.
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 51200 and it can record 960fps slow-motion at 720p. Finally, the 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 in any light. Well, all of that sound really impressive on paper.
During my brief time with the device, I took quite a few pictures in low-light and first impressions about the image quality are pretty good thanks to no small part to AIS or AI image stabilization. In fact, Huawei claims that their image stabilization is so powerful, so you won’t need a tripod even in extremely low light situations. We’ll see if that’s true in the full review. I was also impressed with the 5x hybrid zoom as the image remained sharp and clear zoomed in. You can zoom in a lot as the object shown in the video was really far away. The camera app is really fast and responsive, and you can switch between different camera modes easily.There is also a pro and other modes that I will test in detail very soon.
USER INTERFACE
The EMUI 8.1 is based on Android 8.1, which is said to be a more capable platform for the AI.
As usual, there are plenty of features and customization options Huawei phones have been famous for. My first impressions – the phone is really fast and smooth thanks to a powerful chipset and neural processing unit that helps allocate resources to the specific task. Obviously, it will be interesting to see how the phone performs after installing plenty of apps. I also found the fingerprint scanner to be really fast but I was most impressed with the face unlock feature.
I used it in low light but it still unlocked the phone very fast but keep in mind that you still need to press the power button first in order to use the face unlock feature. The Huawei P20 will cost about 650 EUR and the P20 will cost about 900 EUR in Europe.
My first impressions of the P20 Pro are very positive as the phone looks and feels premium, the display is really nice, I’m okay with the notch design, the cameras produce good-looking images even in low-light and the phone is really fast despite many features and customization options in the UI. If you want to learn more about the Huawei P20 Pro, make sure to stay tuned for the full review which is coming out soon.
Smart speaker is the future of technology. The Simpsons predicted the arrival of such a device in people’s houses a long time ago. These special speakers can do several smart things: from setting alarms to playing music and interacting with smart home products. As one of the most important hi-tech giants in China, Xiaomi has announced two smart speakers, one of which has been unveiled yesterday: the Xiaomi Mi AI Mini Speaker.
In this article, you can see the first hands-on photos which are showing the gadget in all its splendor. The speaker comes with a shape which is reminiscent of the Mijia Rice Cooker, and the photos are showing it in its White hue. The dimensions of Xiaomi Mi AI Mini Speaker are 90 x 90 x 50 mm (it is a lot smaller than the Rice Cooker) and its weight is 210g.
On the top of the device, there are volume controls, a “Play and Stop” key and a microphone key. Around the controls, there are four microphones, while in the middle there is a LED which will indicate the status of the gadget. You can learn everything about Xiaomi Mi AI Mini Speaker through our article about its official announcement.
Xiaomi has just announced its first notebook gaming laptop. A monster which will be able to run every game thanks to its powerful Nvidia GTX 1060/1050 Ti GPU (depending on the configuration), and it will be sold at a very interesting price. We just got our hands on the first live photos of the new notebook thanks to which we can see its design in detail. Given that it is a gaming notebook, Xiaomi Mi Gaming Laptop is not as attractive as the other Mi Notebooks in terms of design. But it is very far from being the ugliest gaming laptop.
Unlike many other gaming laptops, its look is sober and suitable even for an office. Xiaomi Mi Gaming Laptop has a thickness of 20.9 mm and a weight of 2.7 Kg. On the right side, the machine sports a single USB port and an SD card reader, while on the left side there are two USB ports, an audio jack, and a microphone jack. This laptop sports two stereo speakers, they have a power of 3W and they support Dolby Atmos and Hi-Res audio technologies. On the rear side, under the monitor, there is an Ethernet port, an additional USB port, an HDMI port, a USB-C port and the AC port.
The keyboard boasts an RGB illumination and 5 programmable keys on its left side. Xiaomi Mi Gaming Laptop has a very wide touchpad which will allow playing a lot of games comfortably. The monitor comes with well-optimized bezels, a size of 15.6 inches, an anti-glare coating and a Full HD resolution of 1080 x 1920 pixels. For all the info about its specs, you can head to the official launch article. The laptop will be available to purchase in China starting from 5999 Yuan which roughly translates into $956. Click here to visit the official product page.
Apple has introduced a new 9.7-inch iPad as a successor for last year’s model. The new tablet that is priced at $329 is powered by Apple A10 Fusion chipset and it carries support for Apple Pencil.
New 9.7-inch iPad Specifications and Features
The 9.7-inch iPad supports super-high resolution of 2048 x 1536 pixels. Since it is an entry-level tablet, it does not offer features like True Tone display, wide-gamut color, ProMotion (120 Hz response rate) and so on that are found on high-end iPad Pro tablets. However, the screen offers enough real estate for browsing the web, watching movies, playing games and reading.
The 9.7-inch iPad that was released last year was powered by Apple A9 chipset. However, the successor model is driven by Apple A10 Fusion that features a quad-core processor that clocks at 2.2 GHz. It is the very same chipset that fuels the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus smartphones. The new chipset supports better graphics and users can also run AR apps on it. The SoC is coupled with 2 GB of RAM.
The new tablet from Apple features an 8-megapixel rear-mounted camera with f/2.4 aperture. There is no flash for it, but it is capable at recording full HD videos. The front panel of the device is fitted with a 1.2-megapixel FaceTime HD camera. The front camera can be used as Retina Flash to light up the display while shooting from the front.
The iPad Pro models come in 64 GB, 256 GB and 512 GB storage models, but the iPad models come in 32 GB and 128 GB storage variants. Each of the storage model is available in Wi-Fi only and Wi-Fi + LTE models.
As mentioned above, it is the first iPad model to support Apple Pencil. The new iPad official supports Logitech Crayon pen that carries a pricing of $49. Its pressure sensitivity is nowhere close to Apple Pencil, but it offers the same kinds of features. One should be aware of the fact that the Logitech Crayon will be only available in schools.
For schools, it includes the latest version of iWork productivity apps. It features tools designed for schools. It also brings along 200 GB of free iCloud storage compared to 5 GB storage for regular customers.
The new iPad measures 240 x 169.5 x 7.5mm and it weighs 470grams. Its body is made out of metal. Its other features include GPS, compass, gyroscope and accelerometer.
The Wi-Fi only 9.7-inch iPad with 32 GB of storage is priced at $329. Its Wi-Fi + LTE model is priced at $459. The Wi-Fi only 128 GB 9.7-inch iPad costs $4429 and its Wi-Fi + LTE variant has a price tag of $559. Each of these models are available with $30 discount for schools. Also, the Apple Pencil that usually sells for $99 will be available at a reduced price of $89 for students.
The new 9.7-inch iPad is available for pre-orders starting from today. A week later it will be coming to markets like Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UAE, the UK and the US.
India, Russia, Thailand and Turkey and some others belong to the second batch of markets that will be receiving the new 9.7-inch iPad in the next month. At the beginning of May, it will be available in South Korea and rest of the world.
Okay, Huawei took the lid off the much-anticipated Huawei P20/ P20 Pro and along with them came the Huawei FreedBuds among other accessories. The FreeBuds is a pair of wireless earbuds that looks very much like Apple’s AirPods but in this case, they come in White and Black colours.
Huawei FreeBuds
The Huawei FreeBuds comes with an in-ear design which Huawei says offer better noise isolation than Apple’s AirPods. They also offer 10 hours of playback when fully charged and this is twice the 5 hours play time offered by the AirPods on a single charge. The FreeBuds also comes with a carry case that offers extra charges. The device was announced along with the Huawei Active Noise Canceling Earphones and a new DAC Headphone Amplifier which uses an “audiophile-grade” digital-to-analog converter to get the best audio out of your smartphone.
Huawei’s FreeBuds comes with a price tag of €159 (~$196) which is slightly higher than the $160 price tag which the AirPods clutched when it was launched in 2016. But then, getting twice the battery power is worth the extra bucks.
Before we move on to the rear camera, let’s check out some front camera samples.
RN5 Selfie Sample
Up front, the Chinese Redmi Note 5 comes with a 13MP setup instead of a 20MP setup as found on the Pro variant in India. Lower resolution doesn’t necessary mean lower performance, and the front camera on the Redmi Note 5 does pretty well, especially if are fond of background blur. Note that there is just a single camera up front with LED flash and Xiaomi uses software to get the depth information for bokeh photos. To be honest, the software does pretty well to detect your face and blur out the background effectively. So, if you are into this kind of selfies, you won’t be disappointed. Overall, the quality of the front camera is pretty good in the budget segment.
Coming to the rear camera setup, there’s a dual 12 MP (f/1.9, 1.4 μm) + 5 MP (f/2.0, 1.12 μm) setup withdual-pixel phase detection autofocus. It’s better than the f/2.2, 1.25 μm setup found on the Indian model, and should ideally capture better photos too. Unfortunately, we didn’t have the Indian Redmi Note 5 Pro model with us to compare, but overall, the Chinese model does pretty well, especially in day light photography.
Saturation levels are good in the samples. The phone is quick to focus and you’d be happy with the amount of details captured in each image. In some pictures, you can clearly see that the colors pop out really well. For example, in the image of the salad, the veggies look fresh and colourful. Maybe a tad bit more colourful than in reality, but I’m sure users who are into food photography would love the result.
This was about daytime photography, but when the lights go down, so does the image quality. Noise kicks in and images are dull, and to be honest, there’s nothing spectacular about the Redmi Note 5’s night time photography. You’d manage to take a few decent shots by adjusting your angle and light, but still it won’t be extraordinary. In its defence, the phone isn’t meant to click photos like a $500 flagship, but we could use a slightly better result in low light conditions.
As for the background blur from the rear camera, it works pretty well. AI has helped Xiaomi improve its edge detection algorithms and on most occasions, you’ll get a good bokeh shot from its rear dual camera setup.
Check out the samples below to see how the Chinese Redmi Note 5 performs in the camera department.
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
The S8 packs a powerful MediaTek MT6750T, 64-bit processor along with an equally robust ARM Mali-T860 MP2, 650MHz, 2-Cores GPU, under the hood. It offers 4GB of RAM and 64GB of expandable internal memory (up to 128GB using SIM 2 slot).
Banggood is currently offering a considerable discount on the OnePlus 5T smartphone’s original asking price. The phone normally sells for $579.99 on the site; however, you can now get a 16% discount and bring your grand total down to just $489.99.
