Alleged Huawei Nova 2s Appears on TENAA with Full Screen Design Along with Front-Mounted Finger Reader

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Nov 22, 2017

A new phone by Huawei with two model numbers HWI-AL00 and HWI-TL00 has appeared on TENNA, the telecommunication regulatory body from China. The TENAA images show that the new smartphone not only sports a full screen design, but also a front-mounted fingerprint reader.

It is speculated that the smartphone shown in the above images is the upcoming Huawei Nova 2s. It seems to be the same handset that had appeared in the leaked photos earlier this week. Some other rumors speculate that it may launch as Nova 3.

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The alleged Nova 2s / Nova 3 features a 6-inch display that supports 18:9 aspect ratio. Most of the full screen design smartphones that have launched so far have rear-mounted fingerprint scanner as their front panel is mainly occupied by large-sized display. Surprisingly, Huawei has managed to place a fingerprint sensor embedded Home button on the slim-sized bottom bezel of the rumored Nova 2s.

The backside of the smartphone features dual camera system that includes a 16-megapixel sensor and a 20-megapixel sensor. The Chinese firm has also included dual selfie cameras on the phone.

The Kirin 670 chipset is powering the smartphone along with 4 GB of RAM. Its internal storage is 64 GB. It is also speculated to feature a 3.5mm audio jack. Its 3,340mAh battery is expected to carry support for 18W fast charging.

Like other Nova branded phones, the rumored Nova 2s / Nova 3 is also expected to be targeted towards the youth. Speculations are rife that the smartphone may be announced in the next month with a starting price of 2,499 Yuan (~$377).

What do you think about the design of the alleged Nova 2s / Nova 3? Will it trigger other brands to launch full screen design phones with front-mounted fingerprint reader? Let us know your views by commenting below.

(source 1, 2)

OnePlus 5T Benchmarks Are Not Manipulated, Claims Report

By

Anvinraj Valiyathara

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Nov 22, 2017

In the past, various smartphone OEMs including OnePlus have been accused for manipulating the benchmark results of their flagship phones to show unrealistic scores. Beginning with OnePlus 5T, OnePlus will not be cheating on Android benchmarks.

After the launch of OnePlus 5 in June, the company was accused for sending manipulated OP5 units to reviewers that produced very high results on benchmarking platforms like AnTuTu, Geekbench 4 and GFXBench. The manipulated scores showed that the Snapdragon 835 powered OnePlus 5 performs better than other flagships powered by the same SoC.

At that time, OnePlus had maintained that it did not cheat by overclocking the OnePlus 5. It also claimed that it was only trying to show daily usage performance potential of the device. According to XDA Developers, in order to compare performance of devices in regular usage, they should be using their normal performance scaling in all the apps.

OnePlus has consistently defended itself even though it has been caught cheating in benchmarks. Thankfully, the Chinese firm has now put an end to altering benchmark results.

This means that OnePlus 5T’s benchmark listing will be in the same league as other smartphones powered by Snapdragon 835 chipset. OnePlus 5 benchmarks in reviews could not be trusted, but since the OnePlus 5T review units are said to be free from manipulation, its benchmarks can be trusted.

(source)

Samsung Has Unveiled New Loaning Offer for Trying Galaxy S8, Note 8 in South Korea Before iPhone X’s Launch

By

Anvinraj Valiyathara

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Nov 22, 2017

From Nov. 21, Samsung has started the “Galaxy Experience Program” in South Korea. Since the launch of the Apple iPhone X is drawing near, it is speculated that the new scheme has been mainly designed for attracting iPhone X buyers by providing them Galaxy S8 or Galaxy Note on loan.

The new program that is dubbed as “Upgrade to Galaxy” is currently only available in the home country. If it finds success, then it is likely to be also introduced in other regions in the future. Here is how it works.

Buyers are required to submit an online application until Nov. 27. Samsung will choose 10,000 lucky applicants by Nov. 30. These people will be eligible to collect Galaxy S8 or Galaxy Note 8 from a Samsung Digital Plaza store between Dec. 1 to 11. These applicants will be required to be a small fee of around $45 to participate in the new offer.

The amount will be refunded to those who decide on purchasing any of these Galaxy phones. Apart from the refund, Samsung will also giveaway a JBL Bluetooth speaker and Display damage insurance for free. Also, the South Korean company will be also providing attractive discounts on official accessories.

Samsung seems to be very aggressive with the new “Upgrade to Galaxy” program for not only enticing existing iPhone users but also for preventing buyers from purchasing the iPhone X that is scheduled to release in South Korea on Dec. 3. What do you think about the new scheme? Should Samsung make this offer available outside of the home country? Share us your views by adding your comments below.

(source)

Current OnePlus Phones To Get Android 8.1 But No Project Treble

By

Habeeb Onawole

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Nov 22, 2017

OnePlus a few days ago kept to its promise of releasing an Android 8.0 Oreo update for the OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T. OnePlus had already said that it would be the last OS update for both devices.

However, during an AMA session on the OnePlus forums, it was revealed that both devices (along with the OnePlus 5 and OnePlus 5T) will receive an Android 8.1 Oreo update later. At the moment, Android 8.1 is only available as a developer preview for the Pixels, Nexus 6P and Nexus 5X but will have a stable version before the end of the year.

Some of the features Android 8.1 brings includes the addition of a Bluetooth battery level icon next to the Bluetooth icon in the Quick Settings Panel. It also brings the ability to disable the “App is running in the background” notification, and limits notification alert sounds to one per second.

Unfortunately there is one feature that won’t be coming to OnePlus devices and that is Project Treble. Project Treble is one of Android 8.0’s key features. What it does is to make it easier, less expensive, and faster for manufacturers to update devices to new versions of Android.

It does this by separating the vendor implementation (device-specific, lower-level software written by silicon manufacturers) from the Android OS framework via a new vendor interface. In previous Android versions. device makers had to update most of the Android code to upgrade a device to a newer version of Android. But with project treble, the stable vendor interface provides access to the hardware-specific parts of Android, so that manufacturers can push out new Android updates by just updating the Android OS framework.

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Gionee Confirms Smartphones That Will Launch On November 26

By

Jeet

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Nov 21, 2017

Gionee is holding a press event on November 26 in Shenzhen, China where the company is expected to launch eight smartphones featuring a bezel-less display.

The China-based smartphone manufacturer has now shared teaser images on Chinese microblogging platform Weibo confirming that the company will launch Gionee F205 and Gionee F6 smartphones along with Gionee M7 Plus, S11, S11S and Steel 3.

However, the teaser images posted online by the company does not reveal phone’s specifications. But it confirms that both devices — F6 and F205 will feature a full-screen display with minimal bezels and an aspect ratio of 18:9.

Earlier, both — F6 and F205 were spotted on TENNA and GFXBench, respectively. From the earlier leaks, it is known that the Gionee F6 is expected to come with a 5.7-inch full-screen display, while the F205 is expected to come with a 5-inch HD+ display. It will feature an 18:9 aspect ratio and is said to be powered by the MediaTek MT6739 chipset with quad-core CPU and 2GB of RAM.

The smartphone is expected to pack 16GB onboard storage. On the camera part, it will have an 8-megapixel rear camera and 5-megapixel front camera. It is said to be running on Android 7.1.1 Nougat operating system with the company’s own custom Amigo UI on top.

Gionee F6, which has passed through TENAA certification, will feature a 5.7-inch HD+ display. It is spotted to have a MediaTek MT6739 chipset, paired with 1.4GHz CPU and up to 4GB of RAM. The smartphone packs 32GB onboard storage and run on Android 7.1.1 Nougat OS.

It is reportedly featuring a dual-camera setup on the back with one 13-megapixel lens and another 2-megapixel lens. It also has an 8-megapixel front-facing camera sensor. The smartphone will be fueled by a 2,970mAh battery.

Recently, the Gionee M7 Plus also got certified by TENAA, revealing the metallic build and the leather back of the smartphone. While the phone’s specifications were not revealed through the listing, some report suggests that the Gionee M7 Plus and M2018 will be the top-end models from the company among the entire lineup.

The Gionee M7 Plus is expected to feature a 6.43-inch FullView display with screen resolution of 2160 x 1080 pixels, 18:9 aspect ratio and a 2.5D curved glass on top. Under the hood, the device will be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 processor, coupled with 6GB RAM and 64GB internal storage. As of the camera, the device will come with two 16-megapixel lenses at the back and an 8-megapixel shooter on the front. The phone will be running Android 7.1 Nougat based company’s own Amigo OS 5.0.

Coming to Gionee S11, the device’s information was revealed through an advertisement in Thailand. The phone comes with a 5.99-inch full HD display, with 2.3GHz octa-core MediaTek MT6763 processor, coupled with 6GB RAM and 64GB of storage. It features 16MP+8MP rear camera and 16MP + 5MP front-facing camera and runs Android 7.1.1 Nougat OS. It will be powered by a 3,500mAh battery.

On the other hand, the Gionee Steel 3 is expected to feature a 5.5-inch display with HD+ resolution, an octa-core processor with 2GB/3GB RAM and 16GB/32GB storage. It is speculated to have 8MP cameras on the front and rear and a 4,000 mAh battery. While the specs of Gionee S11S are not known, the camera samples of the smartphone have surfaced online.

We’ll have to wait for the official launch of the devices to get to know the pricing as well as availability information. Gionee’s launch event on November 26 will be live streamed in China on Shenzhen Satellite TV.

(Source)

Video: OnePlus 5T Subjected To The Durability Test, See How it Fares

By

Jed John Ikoba

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Nov 21, 2017

OnePlus 5T is still very fresh out of the factory and expectedly, fans would be eager to know more about the performance of the smartphone in real life us. Well, this isn’t a test of how you would ever use the OP5T phone but it is one important test. Talking about the durability test by popular YouTuber JerryRigEverything.

The durability test takes the OP 5T through the scratch test and then the burn and bed test. It starts off with the screen scratch test and the smartphone doesn’t disappoint in that aspect. The Gorilla Glass 5 protection is just adequate to wade any scratch despite the increased pressure. The front camera also has a glass 5 over it and so keys and coins won’t scratch the screen easily in your pocket. OnePlus opted for a metal build for the earpiece grille and it is more durable than the nylon-covered earpiece.

Read More: OnePlus 5T Hands On Photos: Hit Or Miss?

Unfortunately, the back casing of the device isn’t scratch resistance. It is made of anodized aluminium alloy which can easily be scraped with a razor. The fingerprint sensor, on the other hand, is made of ceramic and so is entirely scratch resistant. The bend test also shows the device has a durable build. But where the device really didn’t perform well is in the burn test. The6-inch FHD+ AMOLED display failed to recover from the burn mark made by putting it under a lighter fire. But then, it took a whole of 20 seconds to get that mark on. Who would subject such a beauty to such crude treatment under normal usage?

(source)

Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 Prototypes Leak Well Ahead of Time

By

Jed John Ikoba

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Nov 21, 2017

Xiaomi could be said to be a pioneer of the full-screen revolution that is currently sweeping the smartphone industry. The company first released the Mi Mix concept smartphone with a full-view design last year and that was followed by the Mi Mix 2 launched a couple of months back.

Naturally, the next model we’ll expect from Xiaomi should be the Mi Mix 3 and quite early, a set of photos said to be the prototypes of the Mi Mix 3 has appeared on Weibo. We’d have thought Xiaomi would take things a bit further with more reduced bezels on all sides but the prototype takes a different dimension altogether.

The prototypes come in three different designs all with varying sensor layouts and design styles at the rear. The prototypes also suggest the existence of a secondary design at the rear. The anterior design keeps up with the full-screen design language the Mix-series are known for and it is taken a step further with a higher screen-to-body ratio. The bezels are not visible as if they are non-existent. We’ll have to wait till next year to find out if Xiaomi has made the breakthrough in the realization of a truly bezel-less smartphone. For now, we’ll take this with a pinch of salt.

(source)

Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 Prototype 1 — Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 Prototype 2

Xiaomi Sets Up Its Third Manufacturing Facility In India For Power Banks

By

Jeet

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Nov 21, 2017

Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi has today announced that it has partnered with Hipad Technologies for its third manufacturing facility in India. Hipad Technologies is also a partner of Xiaomi in China for Power Banks. The facility is located in Noida, Uttar Pradesh and will be used for manufacturing power banks.

The Noida-based manufacturing facility is spread across 230,000 square feet and has the capacity to manufacture seven power banks per minute during its operational hours. The facility currently employs over 500 people and has plan to ramp it up in the future.

The company has revealed that the recently launched 10,000mAh Mi Power Bank 2i and 20,000mAh Mi Power Bank 2i will be manufactured at this facility. In India, the Mi Power Bank 2i is priced at Rs. 799 for the 10,000mAh model while the 20,000mAh model costs Rs. 1,499.

Manu Kumar Jain, Head of Xiaomi India, said:

We have seen phenomenal growth in a short span of time and a key reason for that has been our commitment to India. We want to bring the best quality technology at an affordable rate and local manufacturing helps us in that.

Apart from this new facility, Xioami has two other facilities in Andhra Pradesh. The manufacturing facilities in Andhra Pradesh are in partnership with Foxconn and are used for making smartphones.

Manu Kumar Jain says that these facilities have provided employment to over 5,000 people with around 90 percent on them being women. He further added that they are open to increasing production capacity as well as setting up new factories if required, given that more than 95 percent of the company’s smartphones sold in India are assembled locally.

According to research firm International Data Corporation (IDC), Xiaomi has caught up with industry leader Samsung and shares the top spot in India’s smartphone market for the September quarter. Both Xiaomi and Samsung accounts for 23.5 percent marketshare in India, as per IDC.

Xiaomi Launches Mi Power Bank 2i In India, Price Starts At Rs. 799

By

Jeet

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Nov 21, 2017

After teasing the launch of new “i” product in India, Xiaomi has today finally unveiled the devices. To everyone’s surprise, the company has launched Mi Power Bank 2i, where apparently “i” indicates that it is made in India.

Xiaomi has launched two models of its new Mi Power Bank 2i in India — one comes with 10,000mAh battery capacity while the other comes with 20,000mAh battery capacity, for a price of Rs. 799 and Rs. 1,499 respectively. Both power banks will go on sale from November 23 in India and will be available on Mi.com, Mi Home, Amazon and Flipkart.

The 20,000 mAh power bank comes in a polycarbonate case and features two USB ports. It outputs 5.1 V/3.6 A power from each of the ports, that too even when the process of charging two devices simultaneously is undergoing.

It also supports Quick Charge 3.0 for faster charging, but only when one device is getting charged at a tome. On double pressing the power button, it will enable slow charging for low devices such as Bluetooth headset and fitness band. The device weighs 358 grams and comes with a conversion rate of 93 percent.

On the other hand, the 10,000mAh Mi Power Bank 2i comes with a double anodised aluminium design with 14.2mm thickness. As per the company, it has a conversion rate of up to 85 percent.

This one too includes two USB ports that provide support for 5V/2A, 9V/2A and 12V/1.5A charging options for laptops, tablets and smartphones. The device weighs 240 grams and measures 14.2 mm in thickness.

According to the company, the 20,000mAh Mi Power Bank 2i can fully charge Mi A1 4.3 times, Apple iPhone 7 for 7.1 times and iPad Mini 4 for around 2.5 times, while the 10,000mAh Mi Power Bank 2i can charge Mi A1 up to 2.2 times, iPhone 7 for about 3.5 times and iPad Mini 4 for 1.3 times.

The company says that the devices goes through nine levels of stringent quality testing, alonf with three levels of process inspection at each stage. According to Manu Kumar Jain, head of Xiaomi India, the sales of its Mi Power Bank range in India is four times higher than Lenovo.

In India, Xiaomi recently established its third manufacturing facility in Noida, Uttar Pradesh. Previously, the company had set up two smartphone manufacturing plants in Sri City, Andhra Pradesh. In order to start manufacturing the new power bank range locally, Xiaomi partnered with Shenzhen-based Hipad Technology.

Gionee F6 and Gionee F205 Officially Confirmed to Arrive On November 26

By

Habeeb Onawole

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Nov 21, 2017

Gionee has an event on November 26 and it plans to set a record by announcing 8 different smartphones. All the phones are expected to come with Full View displays but belong to different categories. The official Weibo account posted a teaser confirming that the Gionee F6 and Gionee F205 are two of the 8 smartphones.

Gionee F6

The Gionee F6 was seen on TENAA a fortnight ago. It will have a 5.7” display with a 720 x 1280 resolution. There will be two RAM variants – 3GB and 4GB but both will have 32GB of built-in storage.

The F6 will be powered by a 1.4GHz octa-core processor and will run Android 7.1.1 with Gionee’s Amigo OS on top. Gionee has also included dual rear cameras (13MP +2MP) on the phone and a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner. For selfies, there is an 8MP camera. Battery capacity is 2,970mAh.

Gionee F205

The F205 on the hand was seen on GFXBench. It has a smaller 5” display but with the same resolution as the F6, so it will have a much higher PPI and smaller form factor.

There is 2GB of RAM paired with MediaTek’s specially made for 18:9 displays MT6739 SoC clocked at 1.5GHz. Storage is 16GB but will definitely be expandable. GFXBench reveals the rear camera is an 8MP sensor and a 5MP sensor for the front facing camera.

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Xiaomi Mi Note 3 Gets A Cheaper Variant With 4GB RAM

By

Jeet

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Nov 21, 2017

Xiaomi has today launched a new cheaper variant of its premium med-range smartphone — Mi Note 3. The new model comes with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal memory. Earlier, the device was available in 6GB of RAM with 64GB/128GB storage.

Last month, Xioami had launched a cheaper variant of its flagship smartphone — Mi 6 with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage. The standard variant of this smartphone too features 6GB of RAM.

This new model of Mi Note 3 comes with the the same set of specifications as the standard model, except the memory configuration. The phone is priced at 1,999 Yuan (~ $302) and will go on sale in Xiaomi‘s home country, i.e. China, from Thursday.

While the company has launched a cheaper variant, the company recently reduced the prices of the other variants of the Mi Note 3 smartphone. After the price cut, the 6GB RAM with 64GB internal storage model is available at 2,299 Yuan while the 6GB RAM and 128GB internal storage model is priced at 2,699 Yuan.

The Xiaomi Mi Note 3 smartphone features a 5.5-inch Full HD display with screen resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels and pixel density of 403PPI. Under the hood, it is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 chipset, clocked at 2.2GHz. With the introduction on this new model, it now has two options when it comes to RAM — 4GB/6GB LPDDR4x RAM.

The smartphone sports a dual camera setup at the back, same as the Mi 6. It comes with a 12-megapixel primary sensor, coupled with wide-angel lens, f/1.8 aperture while the secondary camera comes with 12-megapixel sensor with a telephoto lens. There is also 16-megapixel front-facing camera.

The camera offers 2x optical zoom as well as phase detection autofocus (PDAF) apart from 4K video capture support. The front-facing camera has an AI-based beautification feature and also supports facial recognition unlocking.

Additional features of the Mi Note 3 include NFC, IR port, under-glass fingerprint, stereo speakers, and USB Type-C port. The smartphone is powered by a 3,500mAh battery which also supports fast charging.

Recently, Xiaomi launched a special edition model — The Xiaomi Mi Note 3 Wu Yifan Limited Edition, to celebrate the birthday of Chinese-Canadian actor and singerKris Wu a.k.a. Wu Yifan, who is Xiaomi’s brand ambassador.

Lately, Xiaomi has launched a bunch of new smartphones. A few months ago, the company launched Mi A1 — Xiaomi’s first Android One smartphone. Recently, it launched Redmi Y series with the launch of Redmi Y1 and Redmi Y1 Lite — a range of smartphones that focuses on selfie camera.

However, launching new devices has worked in favour of the company as most of these devices have been well-received by the users. This helped the company to become the leading smartphone vendor in India, along with Samsung.

Photo of Rear Shell Of Unknown Meizu Phone With Dual Cameras and Fingerprint Scanner Surfaces, End of mBack Button?

By

Habeeb Onawole

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Nov 21, 2017

One unique feature common to Meizu phones released in the last 18 months or so is the mBack button. This is a button that sits below the display and doubles as a home key/navigational keys and fingerprint scanner. Meizu adopted the design following the outcome of a ZTE lawsuit on its use of the holo circle capacitive button.

It appears Meizu may be doing away with the mBack button soon. A leaked image of the rear shell of an unknown Meizu phone may be the first proof of that.

The photo which was posted on Weibo shows the shell of a phone with three circular cut-outs in the middle. All the circles are stacked on top of each other and a design like this only means one thing – dual cameras and a fingerprint scanner.

The only reason we can think of for this new design is possibly because of a full-screen display. If Meizu releases a phone with a full-screen display, it will have to move the fingerprint scanner to the back of the device just as we have seen other manufacturers do.

So at the expense of a larger display in a more compact body, one of the brand’s signature feature will have to go. However, the button will likely still be available in its other phones that launch with a regular 16:9 display.

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Five-Year-Old Xiaomi Mi 2 Gets Android 8.0 Oreo ROM

By

Jed John Ikoba

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Nov 21, 2017

Xiaomi Mi 2 was released in August 2012, precisely five years and three months ago. The second-gen Xiaomi Mi model came at a time Xiaomi was still in its infancy but was among the models which set the company apart as a game changer. The phone sports a 4.3-inch display with HD resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels. It is powered by a Qualcomm APQ8064 processor paired with 2GB of RAM which seemed like a lot back then. By the way, the Mi 2 was the world’s first smartphone to come with a 28nm quad-core processor clocked at 1.5GHz.

You may call the smartphone old and outdated but not everyone thinks so because there are a crop of ardent Mi 2 users on XDA forum who still explore their smartphone. One XDA forum developer has shared his latest Android 8.0 build for the Mi 2, Mi 2C, Mi 2SC with a lot of the features working fine on the interface. The developer disclosed that the audio, Bluetooth, camera, WiFi, FM, sensors and GPS are all working well but couldn’t test if the phone works well with CDMA SIM card. There are a few bugs, though, which he isn’t planning to fix soon because they are useless to him. The issues include; Sound recorder cannot resume properly after a pause. Also, the flashlight in the stock camera cannot open manually (“Always On” mode not working). Camcorder works, but you have to select a 720p or lower resolution on both rear and front camera in settings before your first record, Kernel(v3.4.0) need to be patched for less vulnerable and a few others.

If you are interested, do head over to XDA forum to see how you can download. Do note that the ROM is for the Mi 2 and you’ll need to have an idea of how to flash your smartphone to do this.

(source)

360 N6 Pro Will Launch November 28, Invite Pays Tribute To Apple’s Jony Ive

By

Habeeb Onawole

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Nov 21, 2017

360 Mobile promised there would be an announcement today regarding its next phone. But rather than officially announce the phone, it revealed the name and launch date. The next 360 phone will be called the N6 Pro and it will launch on the 28th of November.

The smartphone manufacturer has sent out invites for the launch which actually has an interesting surprise. ITHome got a copy and decided to share photos of it.

The invite comes in a big box with a phrase that roughly translates into “full-screen and clear” confirming the phone will have a full-screen display.

Remove the cover of the box and you get a poster with the same image as the one on the box. Underneath the poster is a book. Now this is where it gets interesting. This is no ordinary book but a biography of some sort of famous Apple’s chief design officer Jonathan “Jony” Ives.

It is not unusual for Chinese manufacturers to include unusual gifts when they send out invites. Meizu is one manufacturer that is fond of that. It has included discontinued Nokia phones in its invites and even a pair of sneakers. However, 360 Mobiles takes things to a different level with the Jony Ives book.

They also included a quote from the top Apple executive that talks about the importance of a phone’s screen, possibly as a way to drive home the key feature of the N6 Pro. The quote is reproduced below:

“This analogy is to let everyone understand the importance of the screen in the heart, we want to develop a screen-specific products, the screen is the top priority … We talked about the iPhone earlier when the main focus on this concept …. It is an infinity pool where the display we want to magically appear. ”

–Jony lve

Asides the book, there is also a plastic mold of the display of the N6 Pro.

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German Telecoms Authority Bans Smartwatch For Kids Over Privacy Concerns

By

Jed John Ikoba

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Nov 21, 2017

The German telecoms regulatory body has placed a ban on the sale of smartwatches designed for children, stating that such devices are spying devices. The regulatory agency had previously banned the sale of an internet-connected doll named – “My Friend Cayla” for similar reasons. The agency enjoins parents who had such smartwatches for their kids to destroy them.

The smartwatches are sold by several companies in Germany an are usually targetted at kids between the ages of 5 years and 12 years. The Federal Network Agency claims it had already taken action against several firms that sell the watches online but no name was mentioned. The watch in question is said to come with a SIM card and offers a limited telephone function controlled via an app. The statement also disclosed that the smartwatches come with an app that allows parents to use such smartwatches to secretly listen to a child’s environment. The agency also revealed that their investigation showed that parents have used the watches to isten to teachers in the clssroom. The watch is programmed to call a telephone number and when that is done, it can be used to secretly listen to converstions an this prohibited under German laws. Thus, such devices are seen as prohibited transmitters.

The action of the German agency reflects growing concerns about the security and privacy risks associated with the risig number of smart gadgets referred it as “internet of things”. Surveillance is particularly a very sensitive issue in Germany where the former East German bloc’s Stasi secret police and the Nazi-era Gestapo kept a close watch of the population. The move could see IoT manufacturers adopting stricter security measures t curve the vulnerability of their gadgets.

MediaTek’s COO Zhu Shangzu Joins Xiaomi As Investment Partner

By

Habeeb Onawole

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Nov 21, 2017

MediaTek’s Chief Operating Officer Zhu Shangzu has left the Taiwanese chip manufacturer for Xiaomi. The announcement was made today by Xiaomi CEO, Lei Jun.

Zhu Shangzu’s new position at Xiaomi is said to be as a partner in Xiaomi’s startup investment arm which also includes talents like Sun Changxu and Pan Jiu Tang.

During his period at MediaTek, Zhu Shangzu helped establish a strategic partnership between the semi-conductor company and Xiaomi. It is believed that his leadership skills and contacts in the tech industry will help Xiaomi achieve great success in its future investments.

Xiaomi’s investment company has invested in about 200 companies involved in hardware manufacturing, mobile payments, and mobile content development. In May of this year, it set up a ¥12 billion joint fund with Hubei Changjiang Industrial Fund.

Mr. Zhu Shangzu has a bachelor’s and master’s degree in electronics from Hsinchu Jiaotong University in Taiwan. he joined MediaTek in 1999 as the GM of Digital Consumer Electronics Business Unit and Digital Camera Business Unit.

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Tesla Launches PowerBank And Desktop Supercharger Priced At $45

By

Jeet

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Nov 21, 2017

Tesla — the US-based company known for its electric cars, has now launched a portable mobile phone charger that can be used to charge Android as well as Apple devices on-the-go.

The Tesla PowerBank packs a single 18,650 cell with a 3,350 mAh capacity. With such capacity, the device can charge an Android smartphone just once, or maybe less in some cases. The output rate of the device is 5V/1.5A and only offers USB, microUSB, and Apple Lightning charging cables. There is no USB Type-C port support, which is becoming the industry standard.

The lithium-ion cell inside the portable charger is the same type of cell that is packed among thousands of others inside the company’s Model S and Model X’s battery packs.

While the internals of the power bank are not impressive, the design of the device is quite impressive and will definitely excite die-hard Tesla fans. The PowerBank seems to have been inspired by Tesla’s supercharger monument at the Tesla Design Studio in California.

Priced at $45, there are better alternatives out there which offers much more feature and more charge cycles for smartphones. Currently, it is listed as sold out on the company’s website.

Along with the PowerBank, Tesla has also launched a Desktop Supercharger for the same price. Design wise, it looks just like a mini charging station that charges your phone. As per the company, it has used the same 3D CAD data used to make the actual Supercharger to make the minaturized replica.

A few days ago, Tesla showed off its upcoming truck, called the Tesla Semi which can travel 800 kilometers on a single electric charge while pulling a full load of 36,000 kilograms. Surprisingly, the company also launched the second-generation Roadster, a new version of the first car the company made.

Xiaomi Mi A1 Rose Gold Color Variant Launched In India

By

Jeet

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Nov 21, 2017

Xiaomi Mi A1 — the company’s first Android One smartphone, made its debut in India a couple of months ago. The smartphone was available in India in two color options — Black and Gold. But now, keeping the promise made during the launch of the Mi A1 in India, Xiaomi has introduced third color options — Rose Gold.

The Rose Gold color variant of the Mi A1 smartphone is now available for purchase in India, exclusively through Mi.com and Flipkart. Later, the smartphone will also be made available through Mi Home stores, Mi Preferred Partner stores, and retail partner stores. The Rose Gold color model is also price at Rs. 14,999.

The Xiaomi Mi A1 comes with a 5.5-inch Full HD display with screen resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels with a layer of Corning Gorilla Glass on top for protection from minor scratches. Under the hood, it is powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 SoC coupled with 4GB of RAM.

It comes with 64GB of inbuilt storage, which is further expandable upto 128GB through microSD card. However, the phone has a Hybrid SIM card slot, so you can either use microSD card or secondary SIM card.

As of the camera, the smartphone features a dual camera setup at rear, with two 12-megapixel sensors — one featuring a wide-angle lens with a 1.25-micron pixel sensor and f/2.2 aperture, while the other one sporting a telephoto lens, with f/2.6 aperture, and capable of delivering 2x optical zoom. There is also a 5-megapixel front-facing camera with a real-time beautification mode.

Connectivity options on the device include 4G VoLTE, dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11ac, GPS/ A-GPS and USB Type-C port. The smartphone is fuelled by a 3,080mAh battery.

For Mi A1, Xiaomi dropped its own MIUI for the first time as the smartphone runs on stock version of Android 7.1 Nougat operating system out-of-the-box. The company has promised to roll out the latest Android 8.0 Oreo soon.

Honor V10 China Launch Press Invite Is One Big AI Teaser, Expect Kirin 970 Onboard!

By

Jed John Ikoba

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Nov 21, 2017

Huawei is expected to launch what should be its last flagship smartphone for the year later this month. The Honor V10 will be going official on December 5 in London, UK for the global market but before then, it would be unveiled in China on November 28. We have already seen launch posters flying around the internet and even banners have been erected in various cities in China projecting the November 28 launch. We have now seen a press invite for the event and one thing that stands out is the AI and fast slogan the new smartphone is teased with.

This isn’t the first time the company will be teasing the AI power of the V10 but this time around the focus seems to be on the AI and not on the full-view display the V10 is expected to feature. What this tells us is that the device will come packing a Kirin 970 chip just as we thought. Huawei’s latest Hisilicon Kirin 970 is based on the 10n manufacturing process and is reputed as the world’s first chip with an independent in-built Neural Processing Unit (NPU) AI computing platform. This also brings the new AI capable chip to a device that is not as expensive as the Mate 10 models. Rumors have it that the Honor V10 would be coming with a starting price of 2,999 Yuan (~$450).

The Honor V10 has featured in several leaks and rumours well ahead of its launch. The Honor V10 is expected to feature a 6.0-inch display with FHD+ resolution of 2160 x 1080 pixels which means it will come with an 18:9 aspect ratio. The Kirin 970 SoC will be accompanied by 6 GB of RAM and 8GB RAM on a higher version. The device is also expected to be available in two storage models – 64 GB and 128 GB. On the camera end, the V10 will feature a 13MP selfie shooter and at the rear, there will be a 16MP + 20MP dual camera setup. The mobile will get its juice from a 4000mAh battery that will be coupled with 22.5W SuperCharge and would run on Android 8.0 Oreo-based EMUI 8.0.

(source)

Honor 7X Launching in the U.S. on December 5

By

Anvinraj Valiyathara

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Nov 21, 2017

Honor 7X mid-range phone was launched in China in the previous month. Huawei’s sub-brand Honor has today confirmed that it will be bringing to the U.S. on Dec. 5.

Earlier in this month, Honor India had made it official that the 7X mid-range phone will be arriving in India in December. The registrations of the smartphone have already started on Amazon India. It seems that the Honor 7X will be also available in other markets like the U.S. and the U.K. in the next month.

The Honor 7X has a full screen design and it houses an 18:9 aspect ratio display of 5.93 inches. The smartphone supports a Full HD+ resolution of 2160 x 1080 pixels. The Kirin 659 chipset that powers the Mate 10 Lite is present under the hood of the Honor 7X. The SoC is supported by 4 GB of RAM.

It includes 32 GB of storage and carries support additional storage through microSD card slot. It is loaded with Android 7.0 Nougat and EMUI 5.1 skin. The dual camera system present on its rear features a main camera of 16-megapixel and a secondary snapper of 2-megapixel. Its front-facing camera is of 8-megapixel. It is packed with a 3,340mAh capacity battery.

Honor is yet to confirm on the pricing and availability of the Honor 7X for the U.S. However, the company is expected to reveal these information on 7X’s launch date of Dec. 5. In China, the 32 GB, 64 GB and 128 GB storage variants of the smartphone are respectively priced at 1,299 Yuan (~$195), 1,699 Yuan (~$256) and 1,999 Yuan (~$301).

Huawei’s sub-brand will be holding a big launch event in London on Dec. 5. It is expected to not only announce the Honor 7X on the said date but also it is pegged to debut the Honor V10 flagship phone.

Honor V10 is speculated as a stripped down edition of the Mate 10 Pro flagship phone. The TENAA listing of the phone has revealed that it has a metallic body and it houses a 5.99-inch FHD+ display. The AI driven Kirin 970 chipset and 6 GB of RAM will be powering the phone. It will be available in 64 GB and 128 GB.

Its back panel will be featuring a non-Leica branded 16-megapixel + 20-megapixel dual camera system. It will be coming with a 13-megapixel front-facing camera. A 3,750mAh battery that is coupled with 22.5W fast charging will be fueling the Honor V10. It will be running on EMUI 8.0 skinned version of Android 8.0 Oreo. The Honor V10 is scheduled to get unveiled first in China on Nov. 28.

(source)