OnePlus 5T Android 8.0 Oreo Open Beta Will be Available Soon

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Dec 28, 2017

Last year, Samsung had to discontinue the Galaxy Note 7 within few months after its launch as it had encountered life-threatening battery related issues. Earlier this year, Samsung had introduced the 8-point battery safety check system to let its fans know that the future phones from the company will not come across such an issue. Unfortunately, some of the units of the recently introduced Galaxy Note 8 smartphones have met with a battery related issue. Users of Galaxy Note 8 have taken to the Samsung community forums to state that their Note 8 units are unable to charge once the battery percentage reduces to 0 percent.

Users who have encountered the issue have tried charging the Note 8 using different cables and chargers, but the phablet refuses to charge once it reaches 0 percent and does not turn on again. Some users who have encountered the problem have said that they are able to see charging cycle on the screen after connecting the charging cable, but the phablet refuses to charge. Others have said that when the Note 8 is kept for charging, it becomes warm and the display goes blank. Users who have tried wireless charging have claimed that Note 8 becomes unresponsive but continues to show blue charging light.

Customers who have availed Samsung Galaxy Note 8 units through Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint seems to have come across this issue. Hence, it appears that the carrier variants of the Galaxy Note 8 appear to be the most affected. There is no confirmation on it, but it could mean that the Snapdragon edition of the Galaxy Note 8 could be facing this issue.

Samsung is aware of the issue and is ready to replace affected Galaxy Note 8 units after inspecting each case. One of the administrators on Samsung US forums has advised users who met with the issue to return the affected units to get a replacement device.

At present, it does not seem to be a widespread issue and also it may not be as life-threatening as the issue that had surfaced on the Note 7. If it’s a software related issue, Samsung may roll out a new software update to fix the issue. As of this writing, it is advisable for Note 8 users who are facing the above issue to contact Samsung in order to seek a replacement.

(source 1, 2, 3|via 1, 2)

Xiaomi Crowdfunds MADV Mini Panoramic Camera Priced At ¥399 (~$61)

By

Jed John Ikoba

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Dec 28, 2017

Xiaomi has launched a new product under the crowdfunding platform and this time around it is a panoramic camera. The camera is a plug and play camera which comes with a USB Type-C interface that allows it to be plugged directly into a smartphone. The camera is called MADV Mini Panoramic camera and is produced by Beijing Crazy King Technology Co. Ltd. In keeping up with Xiaomi’s trademark, the Mini camera comes with a cheap 399 Yuan (~$61) price tag.

Specs wise, the MADV Mini Panoramic camera features a 13MP camera on one side, teaming up with a 13MP camera on the other side. It comes in a compact size which is about the size of a male wristwatch dial. With such size and a weight of just 23.5g, it is easy to fit into the pocket. The camera also comes with a dual 210 ° wide-angle fisheye lens and each lens has an F1.8 large aperture, greatly reducing the dead zone at both ends. The camera can shoot at 5K resolution (5276 x 2688p) JPEG high-definition panoramic photos and 1920 x 960p resolution high-definition videos @ 30fps.

In addition, the camera supports panoramic electronic image stabilization, shooting asteroids, crystal ball, fisheye and other panoramic shooting modes. There is a MADV Mini app through which you can view and edit the panoramic photos and videos shot, and it supports one-click sharing on multiple platforms as well as the recording of panoramic life.

Meizu 15 Plus Shows Up on a Webpage to Reveal Front and Rear Design

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Dec 28, 2017

The rumor mill has revealed that the Meizu M6s that is speculated to launch in January could be the company’s first full screen design phone. Apart from this budget-friendly smartphone, Meizu is also rumored to be working on high-end phone called Meizu 15 Plus. A leaked photo showing the smartphone listed on a webpage has appeared on China’s microblogging site Weibo. The new image shows the front and rear design of the phone.

In the above image, the “15 Plus” product name can be seen on the left side while the handset is present on right side. The major portion of the front panel of the phone is occupied by the display of the phone. The bottom bezel is slightly thick but the other three bezels are almost non-existent. The selfie camera seems to be present on the top-center of the phone.

The back panel has a vertically arranged dual camera system with a ring flash positioned below it. Even though the smartphone in the new image resembles with the previously leaked photos of the phone, there are some inconsistencies in the picture such as the Meizu branding. Previous photos of the Meizu 15 Plus has the Meizu logo placed almost at the center of the back panel. However, the logo of the company is found at the bottom-right of the rear panel in the new image. Hence, the authenticity of the leak is questionable.

The Meizu 15 Plus is speculated to be powered by the Snapdragon 835 whereas the Meizu 15 is likely to feature the Snapdragon 660 chipset. The Chinese manufacturer will be launching these phones to celebrate its 15^th anniversary. The rumor mill has revealed that the Meizu 15 and 15 Plus phones may get unveiled in March next year.

Huawei’s Top Executive Detained, Faces Corruption Charges

By

Jed John Ikoba

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Dec 28, 2017

Huawei may have found itself in the same boat with Samsung who has had its president arrested on corruption charges. Authorities in China have arrested Huawei’s head of domestic sales, Teng Hongfei as part of investigations into a corruption case in China.

Although Huawei has officially confirmed the detention of its top exec, the company did not disclose the reason for his detention. Huawei hinged its unwillingness to disclose details of the case on the ongoing investigation. Local media reports that Mr. Teng is suspected of taking bribes but there are no specific details as to how that came about or how long before he is charged.

Teng Hongfei is an Executive Vice President of Huawei’s consumer business group for Greater China, and is credited as having overseen the strongest growth phase in the history of the 30-year-old firm and was in charge of its device sales when it became the largest handset maker in China. Most industry watchers agree that Mr Teng deserves some of the credit for the rapid growth of Huawei’s consumer electronics business.

Xiaomi Launches Yeelight Voice Assistant, Looks Identical To Amazon Eco Dot

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Dec 28, 2017

Xiaomi’s subsidiary Yeelight, which is known for making smart home products, has today officially launched a new product — Yeelight Voice Assistant. As the name itself suggests, it is a smart speaker powered by voice assistant — a first such product from the company.

In terms of looks, the Yeelight Voice Assistant is very much similar to the Amazon Eco Dot which was launched in March last year. The Yeelight’s smart speaker comes with four buttons on the top side — an action button, microphone on/off button, volume up button and volume down button, just like the Eco Dot.

However, the company has also included an additional button in the centre, which can be used to put the speaker in mute mode. Such feature is not available on Amazon’s Eco Dot but is present on the larger versions of the Amazon Echo.

The speaker is believed to have been powered by Microsoft’s Cortana voice assistant. Since Xiaomi entered into a partnership with Microsoft last year, all the Mi Smartphones comes pre-installed with Microsoft’s apps. The Mi MIX was the first phone from Xiaomi to feature Cortana.

It comes with six microphones and a single 2-Watt speaker. The company says that the device comes equipped with an advanced voice wake-up algorithm which can turn the device ON within a range of 5 meters. It also comes with advanced Acoustic echo cancellation (AEC) and Beamforming technology for echo reduction.

It is powered by a 64-bit Cortex A53 quad-core processor clocked at 1.2GHz and is coupled with 256MB RAM and 256MB of flash storage. As of the connectivity options, the device supports 2.4GHz and 5GHz Dual-band Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Low Energy (LE).

As revealed by the company, the Yeelight Voice Assistant comes with Dual AI systems and can also be used for controlling other smart home products from Xiaomi, such as smart LED bulbs, table lamps, bedside lights, ceiling lights, etc. While it currently supports only Xiaomi smart home products, the company has said that support for more devices will be included in the coming days.

Currently, the Yeelight Voice Assistant smart speaker has been listed on the company’s crowdsourcing platform for a price of 199 Yuan, which roughly converts to $30. The company is expected to start shipping the device from 31st January in China.

Sony Likely to Debut Snapdragon 845 Powered Smartphone at CES 2018

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Buy Electronic And Non-Electronic Items Starting From Just $0.99 On GearBest

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Dec 28, 2017

The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2018 will take place in Las Vegas in the next month. Many consumer electronics companies will be present at the CES 2018 platform to unveil various products like TVs, audio devices, and smartphones. Sony has confirmed that it will be holding a press conference at the CES 2018. Even though the Japanese tech giant has not confirmed it, the rumor mill is speculating that it will be announcing a Snapdragon 845 powered smartphone during its upcoming press conference.

In this year, Sony became the first smartphone company to announce a Snapdragon 835 driven phone. The Sony Xperia XZ Premium, Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ are all powered by the same Snapdragon 835 chipset. However, since Samsung had acquired the initial stocks of the Snapdragon 835 chipset, it was able to release its flagship phones into the market before Sony.

Sony H8116, H8166, H8216, H8266, H8276 and H8296 are the rumored next-generation smartphones from the company. Recent leaks have suggested that the Sony H8216 and Sony H8266 could be the two variants of the alleged Sony Xperia XZ2. Both the variants have been found to be driven by Snapdragon 845 chipset.

The two variants of the rumored Xperia XZ2’s are expected to respectively feature 4 GB of RAM + 64 GB of storage and 6 GB of RAM + 128 GB of storage. The benchmark listing of the Snapdragon 845 powered Sony H8266 has recorded 2393 on a single-core test and 8300 on a multi-core test. This suggests that the prowess of the phone is on par with the upcoming Galaxy S8+.

The Japanese tech giant is known for using the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2018 tech event that is usually held in February each year for announcing its new phones. Hence, the company may showcase some other electronic devices such as TVs at the CES 2018 and use the MWC 2018 platform to unveil its new phones.

Samsung and Huawei are also rumored to debut their flagship phones at MWC 2018. There is a possibility that Sony may avoid launching its smartphones during the same event. Hence, the company may consider launching its phones earlier through the CES event.

Avail The ‘Goodbye 2017’ Promo On GearBest With Items Starting From Just $0.99

By

Vinay Patel

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Dec 28, 2017

GearBest is offering a big discount with up to 65% off numerous items as part of its New Year promotion, which comprises top bargains starting from just $0.99.

Must-Buy Doorbusters

Under this section, GearBest is offering a special discount price (available for a limited period) on various items, which are divided into two categories including one that’s slated to end in about one day and the other that’s scheduled to kick off tomorrow i.e. Friday, December 29.

The site’s ‘must-buy doorbusters’ category is currently offering electronic items such as XIAOMI Mi A1 4G Phablet, and Anet A6 3D Desktop Printer Kit as well as a non-electronic item in the form of MUHUISEN Men Soft Padded-collar Warmest Dress Shoes at a discounted price.

The other promo which is slated to start in about one day comprises Cube iPlay 10 Tablet PC, EMISH X700 Smart TV Box, Elephone S8 4G Phablet and other electronic items carrying an inexpensive price tag in line with GearBest’s ‘Goodbye 2017, Hello 2018’ promo.

Lucky New Year Bags

You can buy Lucky New Year bags that include items ranging from top Xiaomi CellPhone to Octa Core TV Box. Selfie addicts can buy selfie stick by shelling out just $3.99, while car lovers can go for a New Year bag that has Xiaomi-branded car gear for just $6.99.Cool Add-Ons

The promo features miscellaneous items including Mini Digital LCD Indoor Thermometer Hygrometer, and Mumian C01 Classic Sports elastic Stretchy Wrist Joint Brace Support Wrap Band for only $0.99.
If you buy items worth more than $60, you’d be eligible to receive 1 add-on for just $0.99, but there’s a capping of 1 unit per item.

Selected Electronics

Car lovers who have been waiting with bated breath to get their hands on Xiaomi mijia Car DVR Camera are in for a treat as well.
The device is currently up for grabs along with a slew of other electronic items including Original Xiaomi ROIDMI 3S Bluetooth Car Charger, and Xiaomi 70 Minutes Smart WiFi Car DVR for just $51.99.

Mega Markdown

This section is further divided into multiple categories including tablets, apparels, outdoors, electronics, smartphones, home and garden, health and beauty, toys and hobbies.

You can buy Xiaomi Mi Notebook Pro for just $979.99, which is a massive 18% discount from the tablet’s original asking price of $1191.51. Similarly, you can buy ZTE Axon 7 Mini 4G Smartphone for just $131.99 under Mega Markdown section’s smartphone category.

King of Brand Sale

This segment of the promo features products manufactured by leading brands such as Alfawise, BullCaptain, Creality3D, DJI, Elephone, Geneva, Motospeed, SJCAM, UMIDIGI, and Xiaomi. Everything from Alfawise X 3200 Lumens HD 1080P Smart Projector to Xiaomi Notebook Air is up for grabs at a discounted price.

Overseas Warehouse

The EU (European Union) warehouse features a myriad of electronic items that are likely to sweep budget-conscious buyers off their feet. You can get the global version of Huawei Honor 6X 4G Phablet for just $176.88, and adventure junkies can buy TANTUQI 5L Utility Canvas Waist Bag Shoulder Pack Outdoor Hiking Messenger Cycling Supplies for just $12.04.

The US (United States) warehouse, on the other hand, comprises some amazing electronic items such as XuanWheel X1 Colorful Bicycle Wheel Spoke Light and DZ09D Single SIM Smart Watch Phone by shelling out $19.99 and $5.99, respectively.

Buyers are advised to head straight to this link in order to take advantage of this promo before it ends on January 8. It’s also worth noting that only a few pieces of some of these items were left at the time of writing.

Cubot F1 Hands On : A Basic Smartwatch Under $65

By

Shine Wong

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Dec 28, 2017

The smartwatch market is seeing a lot of new entries in the past couple of years, but still, the segment is far from perfect. Most cheap smartwatches come with displays are barely visible under sunlight or are grainy and pixelated. The Cubot F1 tries something different by bringing basic smartwatch features on a sub $70 device with a display that is visible even under sunlight.

The watch features a simple LCD screen. In order to save on battery, the watch features a digital screen protected by mineral glass in order to ensure sufficient viewability under bright sunlight. There’s a backlight that ensures that you can see what’s on the screen even at night. It may not be a great solution, like the transflective Xiaomi Amazfit Pace smartwatch display, but for $60, it gets the job done.

The body is made out of metal and so is the strap buckle. The strap itself is made out rubber and feels good on the wrist. If you are used to touchscreen displays, then it might take a while getting used to the five button layout of the Cubot F1. As the display isn’t touch screen, everything is controlled by these five buttons, including display backlight, power on/ off, changing interfaces, and navigating through the interface.

The Cubot F1 comes with a lot of features on board and unsurprisingly, most are related to sports activity tracking. The watch features a heart rate sensor, pedometer, countdown timer, stopwatch, and even music controls. To be honest, these features have become standard among smartwatches these days, but for a watch that costs just around $60 and stays always on, its pretty good.

You can check out more hands-on pictures of the Cubot F1 from below.

More Cubot F1 smart watch details here: https://www.cubot.net/wearables/f1/

Huawei Mate 10 Reportedly Arriving on AT&T in February 2018

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Dec 28, 2017

Around a week ago, Huawei’s chief executive of the consumer business, Yu Chengdong had confirmed that the Huawei Mate 10 will be available in the U.S. in the coming year through local carriers. He had also said that the company would be expanding its smartphone business in the U.S. in 2018. According to The Information, Huawei will be debuting the Mate 10 flagship phone through AT&T in February next year.

Huawei’s high-end smartphones have been available in the U.S. through retailers like Best Buy and Amazon. However, it would be first time for a US carrier to sell a flagship phone from Huawei. The publication has claimed that the Chinese manufacturer will be investing around $100 million to advertise its phones in the U.S. in 2018.

Yu has also said that some of the EMUI (Huawei’s Android skin) elements are “stupid” which indicates that the Mate 10 will be arriving in the U.S. with an enhanced EMUI skin. It appears that AT&T won’t be the only carrier that will be selling Huawei’s flagship phones in the U.S. as Bloomberg had recently reported that the Chinese manufacturer is in talks with Verizon to sell its smartphones in the country.

Huawei has said that it aims to become the number one smartphone brand in the world by 2021. For this to happen, Huawei will have to ship more smartphones than Samsung and Apple across the world. To gain popularity over its major rivals in the U.S., Huawei needs to sell more phones through some US carriers.

In the past, Google Nexus 6P – a Huawei phone had sold well in the stateside when it was made available through major carriers. Hence, Huawei phones are expected to receive good reception in the U.S. Before becoming available for buying through the U.S. carriers, the Mate 10 series phones are expected to get showcased at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2018 which will held at Las Vegas in January.

Do you think that the Mate 10 series receive positive response in the U.S? Share us your thoughts by adding your comments below.

LG And HERE Partners To Develop Next-Gen Telematics Solution For Autonomous Vehicles

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Buy Original Xiaomi Smart Mi Air Purifier International Version For Just $139.99

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Dec 28, 2017

After partnering with Qualcomm for developing an autonomous driving technology, South Korea-based LG has now announced a partnership with HERE Technologies. Both the companies will now work on a next-generation telematics solution for autonomous vehicles.

In this partnership, LG will use its advanced telematics technology with high-precision map data, while the location services will be powered by the HERE Open Location Platform.

Telematics deals with integrating telecommunications with informatics for providing services such as navigation and entertainment. It uses technologies such as GPS, Bluetooth, WiFi and DMB.

Lee Woo-jong, President of LG’s Vehicle Components Company, said,

We’re excited to present a new standard for autonomous mobile communication solutions in cooperation with HERE, which has unsurpassed cutting-edge automotive guidance technology. With partners like HERE, LG can continue to advance the next generation of connected car technologies to help prepare automakers for the self-driving era.

HERE is working on developing HD Live Map — a cloud-based map service that supports connected advanced driver assistance systems and automated driving solutions.

It’s the same system that LG intends to deploy in the new solution. This will enable automakers to identify all roads and surroundings such as lane markings, stop signs, crosswalks, speed signs, traffic lights, etc.

Moon Lee, VP of HERE Technologies, said:

We believe our Open Location Platform-powered services can play a critical role in next-generation telematics technology for autonomous vehicles, and we’re excited to be working with LG to make this a reality.

Using this next-gen telematics offering, cars will be able to use their ADAS (Advanced Driving Assistance Services) to collect information on the road, along with information on cars surrounding them using the V2X (Vehicle to Everything platform).

The collected information will then be sent to the cloud servers. Them, LG and HERE’s telematics solution will analyze the collected data and send customized driving information to the car.

Buy Original Xiaomi Smart Mi Air Purifier International Version For Only $139.99 On GearBest

By

Vinay Patel

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Dec 28, 2017

The international version of Original Xiaomi Smart Mi Air Purifier is currently up for grabs on GearBest at a discounted price of just $149.99. This is a considerable 25% reduction from its original asking price.

Capable of purifying your home in just a few minutes, Original Xiaomi Smart Mi Air Purifier is ideal for daily use. It features multiple modes including a standard mode and super mode.

The standard mode offers purification capacity up to 330 cubic meters per hour covering purification area between 23.1 – 39.6 square meters. The super mode, on the other hand, boasts purification capacity up to 380 cubic meters per hour. This mode can cover up to 27.2 – 46.6 square meters area.

Aside from that, there are other modes such as high-speed mode, timing mode, sleeping mode, and an automatic mode to name a few. The device can remove the second-hand smoke, dust and it can also adsorb formaldehyde, a colorless, combustible, strong-smelling chemical which can cause adverse effects such as watery eyes, skin irritation, burning sensations in the eyes, throat, and nose.

If you want to get your hands on this smartphone-control smoke dust peculiar smell cleaner from Xiaomi, you must bear in mind that the promo is slated to end in 6 days. On top of that, there were only 106 pieces left at the time of writing.

You can apply coupon code ‘NEWARPGB’ at the time of checking out and buy Xiaomi Smart Mi Air Purifier for only $139.99. Head straight to this link before the promo comes to an end.

Huawei’s Honor View10 To Be Amazon Exclusive In India, Registrations Start Today

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Get 50% Off Flash Deals And New Arrivals On GeekBuying

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Dec 28, 2017

Earlier this month, Huawei launched its smartphone named Honor View10, which is a re-branded model of Honor V10 available in China. During the launch event, the company revealed that the phone will go on sale in India from January 8.

Now, the company has revealed that the registrations for the first sale in India will begin from 28th December, i.e. today. It seems that the Huawei’s Honor View10 will be exclusively available through Amazon India, just like the Honor 7X.

In India, the device will be available in two colour options — Navy Blue and Midnight Black. However, the company has not yet revealed the phone’s pricing.

The Honor View10 features a metal body design and comes with a 5.99-inch Full HD+ display with 18:9 aspect ratio and a screen resolution of 2160 x 1440 pixels. Under the hood, the phone is powered by the company’s own Kirin 970 processor, which has a dedicated NPU and brings a ton of AI features.

The device packs 6GB RAM and 128GB internal storage and comes with an option for storage expansion up to 256GB using a microSD card. The phone features dual rear cameras with f/1.8 aperture — one is a 16-megapixel RGB sensor while the other is a 20-megapixel monochrome sensor. On the front, there is a 13-megapixel selfie shooter.

Even though the Honor View10 comes with narrow bezels, there is a front-mounted fingerprint scanner. Connectivity options on the device include Dual SIM, 4G VoLTE, NFC, Bluetooth 4.2, 3.5mm audio jack, Wi-Fi, GPS and USB-C port.

The phone runs Android 8.0 Oreo operating system with the company’s own EMUI 8.0 over the top. It also comes with facial recognition feature for authentication. It is fuelled by a 3,750mAh battery which comes with the support for fast charging through Huawei’s 5V/4.5A SuperCharge technology.

GeekBuying Is Offering A Massive 50% Off Flash Deals And New Arrivals

By

Vinay Patel

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Dec 28, 2017

What better way to kick off 2018 than getting a massive 50% discount on electronic items such as smartphones, tablet PCs, wearables, computer peripherals, electronic gadgets, security system, watches, jewelry and lots more.

As part of its ‘Happy New Year 2018’ flash sales, GeekBuying is currently offering a 50% discount on a slew of newly-arrived electronic items. Let’s check out what the site has to offer.

50% Off Flash Deals

GeekBuying is offering Coolpad Torino S2 3505I-U00 5.0 Inch Smartphone, OnePlus 5T 6.01 Inch Smartphone, Haier XShuai ShuaiXiaoBao Robot Vacuum Cleaner and few other electronic items as part of its new year flash sale with 50% off top brands.

Today’s Recommendation

This segment is further divided into New Arrivals and Hot Deals categories. You can get your hands on ZTE Nubia Z17 Lite 5.5 Inch Smartphone, CUBOT F1 Smartwatch, T-bao Tbook X8 15.6 inch Laptops and a slew of other recently-arrived electronics for a considerable discount.

The Hot Deals category, on the other hand, comprises Xiaomi Mi A1 5.5 inch Smartphone, Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 Smartphone, Makibes G07 IP68 Water Resistant Smart Sports Watch and lots more bearing a considerable reduction from their original asking price.

Local Warehouse

GeekBuying has 3 local warehouses based in Spain, Germany, and Italy. The Spain warehouse section offers various electronic items including Jumper EZbook 3SE 13.3″ Notebook Laptop, Coolpad Torino S2 3505I-U00 5.0 Inch Smartphone, GPD XD 5 Inch Android4.4 Gamepad at a discounted price. There are some other products available in this warehouse.

Similarly, Germany-based warehouse features amazing electronic items such as LeTV LeEco Le Max 2 X820 5.7inch 2K Screen Android 6.0 OS 4GB 32GB Smartphone, Jumper EZpad 6 Pro 11.6″ 2in1 Tablet, Makibes Talk T1 3G Smartwatch Phone and lots more for a large discount.

The Italy-based warehouse has Jumper EZpad 4S Pro 10.6 inch Tablet, Official International Version Xiaoyi YI 4K Action Camera and a myriad of other electronic items that you can buy at a discounted price.

Top Brands

GeekBuying’s ‘Happy New Year 2018’ sale features some of the top brands including ESCAM, LeEco, DJI, Jumper, Elephone, Amazfit, VORKE, Nubia, Tronsmart, and Xiaomi. The aforesaid brands are currently offering some of their select electronic items at a huge discounted price.

Those looking to take advantage of this discount must bear in mind that these items were available for only a couple of more days at the time of writing. In other words, the promo is slated to come to an end on Saturday, December 30.

If you don’t want to miss this opportunity to buy electronic items that usually carry a steep price tag at a discounted price, head straight to this link before the promo ends.

ZTE Joins The 18:9 Display Train With The Blade V9

By

Habeeb Onawole

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Dec 27, 2017

ZTE is one of the few manufacturers that we thought would wait till next year to “release” a full-screen smartphone. However, that won’t be the case as a new phone called the Blade V9 has appeared on the manufacturer’s Spanish website.

ZTE Blade V9 Design

The ZTE Blade V9 has a double sided glass design. The glass on the rear appears to be reflective like HTC’s U series. It will also likely get smudged easily.

The bezels on the front of the phone are smaller to accommodate the bigger screen. That change in design has prompted ZTE to move the fingerprint scanner to the back.

Overall, the V9 is a significant improvement over the V8 with respect to design. Not only does it look better, but it is thinner at 7.5mm even with a significantly larger battery and has nearly the same weight as the V8.

ZTE Blade V9 Specs

The Blade V9 has a 5.7” FHD+ Incell display with an 18:9 aspect ratio. It is powered by the Snapdragon 450 just like the Xiaomi Redmi 5. The phone comes in 2GB, 3GB and 4GB RAM variants with 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB of built-in storage respectively.

Irrespective of the variant you settle for, the phone has support for storage expansion via a hybrid dual SIM slot.

ZTE has equipped the Blade V9 with dual rear cameras. One is a 16MP autofocus sensor with an F/1.8 aperture and a 6P lens and the other is a 5MP fixed focus sensor.

Both sensors are positioned in the top left corner of the phone with a LED flash beside them and are slightly raised. Below the camera setup, sits a fingerprint scanner. For selfies, there is a 13MP camera.

The Blade V9 runs Android Oreo out of the box. It has a 3.5mm audio jack at the top and a micro USB port at the bottom to recharge it’s 3200mAh battery. The phone weighs 140g and measures 151.4 x 70.6 x 7.5 mm.

ZTE Blade V9 Price and Availability

The Blade V9 comes in gold and black color variants. There is no info on pricing and availability at the moment as the phone doesn’t seem to have been officially unveiled yet.

We presume it will be officially announced in January, most likely during CES like its predecessor, the Blade V8. We also expect to see its siblings the V9 Pro, V9 Lite, and V9 Mini get announced in the coming months.

[envira-gallery id=”164055″]

(Source, Via)

Next Gen. MediaTek Helio P-Series Processors Will Focus On AI & Facial Recognition

By

Joel Joseph

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Dec 27, 2017

MediaTek revealed back in November that it was going to take a break from the top-end chipset segment in order to focus more on the mid-range market. The move wasn’t surprising given that its flagship chip of 2017, the Helio X30 failed to garner attention from the big players, except for Meizu, who used it inside the Pro 7 Plus flagship. But considering how even the Pro 7 Plus didn’t do so well, we can only assume that the overall sales of the new chipset has been disappointing this year.

Now, MediaTek’s Deputy General Manager, Kuan Chou Chen, revealed in the year end media meet that the company will launch two new P-series processors in 2018. The performance of the two chips is said to be impressive but the focus will be on advanced AI, edge computing, and computer vision technologies. This includes facial recognition tech, which has become the sought after feature in the past few months. Apart from facial recognition, advanced computer vision will enable better AR / VR and 3D sensing capabilities of the chip.

While it is said that the performance of the new Helio P-series family is going to be impressive, the executive failed to give out any specific details. An earlier rumour has said that the Helio P40 chip will feature two powerful Cortex A73 cores in an hexa-core architecture. Traditionally, MTK has been a big fan of large number of cores in its chipsets, so it remains to be seen if the company scales down to a hexa-core design for its new P-series processors.

At present, the most powerful chipset in the P-series family is the MediaTek Helio P30. The chip features eight Cortex A53 cores clocked at 2.3GHz with Mali-G71 MP2 GPU, 4G LTE WorldMode modem, VPU (Vision Processing Unit), and the company’s CorePilot 4.0 technology. However, we haven’t seen many P30 phones in the market, apart from the Gionee M7 which was announced back in September. Its slightly lower-end brother, the MediaTek Helio P23 is currently found on multiple OPPO smartphones, including the recently launched OPPO A79 and OPPO A75/75S.

(Source)

Nokia 1 Is Reportedly A Part Of Android Go Program, Expected To Launch In March

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Dec 27, 2017

HMD Global is reportedly gearing up to launch a new entry-level smartphone. The phone, dubbed as Nokia 1, will reportedly be a part of Google’s Android Go program.

The Nokia 1 is expected to be available from the first half of 2018. According to the reports, it will be available in Russia from March 2018 and could be priced around 5,999 rubles (approximately $104).

Since the phone is said to be the part of Android Go program, which is aimed at emerging markets such as India, there is a strong possibility that the device will also be made available in India quickly after launch.

The Nokia 1 is expected to feature an HD IPS display with a screen resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels. It is said to come with just 1GB RAM and 8GB of internal storage. Given that the device will be powered by the Android Go edition, and since Google has already announced watered down versions of its applications, the phone will provide decent performance.

There is no information available regarding the processor. But the company could opt for either Qualcomm or MediaTek as both companies have announced their support for Android Oreo (Go Edition).

At the time of announcing Android Go edition, Google said that it is meant for devices with 512MB to 1GB of RAM. Google has officially confirmed that there would be a lot of Android Oreo Go Edition phones coming in early 2018.

Next year, along with Nokia, China-based Huawei will also reportedly launch an Android Go phone. The smartphone from Huawei is said to come with specifications similar to the Nokia 1 and is expected to be priced around $85.

Currently, HMD Global’s cheapest smartphone is Nokia 2, which was launched in October. The phone, priced at around 99 Euros, features a 5-inch HD LTPS display and is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 212 processor. It packs 1GB RAM and 8GB of internal storage.

There is an 8-megapixel rear-facing autofocus camera and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera. Nokia has also included “Bothie” feature that enables users to use both front and rear cameras simultaneously.

It comes with IP52 certification, meaning that the device is splash proof. The Nokia 2 smartphone runs on the stock version of Android 7.0 Nougat operating system out-of-the-box and comes with Google Assistant. The company has promised to soon update the device with Android 8.0 Oreo.

(Source)

Chinese Regulator Keeping A Close Watch On Memory Chip Prices After Recent Surge

By

Joel Joseph

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Dec 27, 2017

Smartphone storage chip prices have soared quickly in the past 18 months and it is now being reported that Chinese regulator is keeping a close watch on the companies who are responsible for making these chips. The South Korean companies, Samsung, and HK Hynix are the top two manufacturers of memory chips for smartphones. It is said that China’s National Development and Reform Commision (NDRC) has spoken to Samsung regarding this price surge.

China Daily reports that NDRC could be looking at a possible price fixing strategy by these companies to maximize their profits. The supply of memory chips have been tight in the past few months, but their demand has been increasing, thanks to fast-growing companies like Xiaomi and OPPO. But the shortage of memory chips isn’t something that’s very recent. Remember how Huawei used a mix of eMMC and UFS memory chips in its P10 flagship because of a serious shortage of flash memory chips in the supply chain? So, Huawei’s case isn’t an isolated issue as other companies have also struggled to ensure timely supply of memory chips. For example, a few months back, Reuters published a report stating clients have started accepting long term 6 month supply contracts instead of the traditional quarterly or monthly ones to ensure they have enough supply of memory chips. Even the prices for these chips have risen rapidly in the past few months.

If the regulators come to a conclusion that this is a case of price fixing, it could impose penalties and fines on these companies. Given that foreign (South Korean) firms still hold the technology for making premium 3D NAND chips, it becomes necessary for the Chinese government to take care of the increasing prices to ensure this is not hurting the interest of the domestic smartphone manufacturers.

(Source)

Leaked User Agent Profile Suggests The Huawei P11 Is Coming With A 16:9 Aspect Ratio

By

Jed John Ikoba

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Dec 27, 2017

The Huawei P11 and P20 get bandied around as the next P-series flagship that would be unveiled by Huawei, most likely at MWC 2018 in February 2018. We recently reported a disclosure from Israel which indicated that the next P-series model will be named P20. However, a fresh leak has emerged which rekindles rumours that the next-gen P-series model will be called P11.

The leaked details come in form the UAProf (User Agent Profile) data, the Huawei P11 will sport a Full HD display instead of the Full HD+ which has been the centre point of recent flagships and other full-screen models. This piece of detail is, however, not likely to be correct. Although the UAProf data is genuine, Huawei may have altered the correct figure for the aspect ratio in order to keep that element of surprise going. The company employed the same strategy on the Mate 10 Pro whose User Agent Profile data revealed it would have a Full HD (1080p) display but in the end, the device launched with an 18:9 Full HD+ screen.

The Huawei P11 will take over the reins from the P10 and P10Plus and as stated, there are talks of the device being named P20. The device is expected to come with thinner bezels than the P10. The device is expected to be powered by Huawei’s latest Kirin 970 AI chip and would run the latest EMUI 8.0 which is based on Android 8 Oreo. We expect more details of the next-gen P-series model to emerge as MWC 2018 approaches.