Share Your Review Of Your Current Smartphone On Gizmochina & Get Rewarded!

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Nov 22, 2017

Samsung has officially launched the Bixby AI smart voice assistant for its smartphones in the Chinese language. The Chinese version of Bixby voice assistant will first be incorporated on the Galaxy S8 models and the Galaxy Note 8. The feature will be available to users of both models as from November 30. Also, future Samsung flagship models will come with Bixby smart voice assistant enabled.

Samsung first introduced Bixby voice on the Galaxy S8 and S8+ smartphones and the AI is already available in American English and British English after some initial bottlenecks. The smart AI was later introduced on the Galaxy Note 8 and also the Galaxy J7+ mid-range smartphone but not yet in China. Other mid-range models like the A-series would also get Bixby in the near future. The tech giant also recently announced that Bixby was now available in 200 countries, with plans in place to make it available in different European languages. It also introduced it in India but the Indian version only supports U.S English with some optimization which will enable it to understand English spoken in Indian accents.

The Samsung Bixby offers basic functions like performing some basic tasks such as taking screenshots, turning on the Wi-Fi, adjusting brightness, turning on the flashlight, taking selfies and more in response to the relevant voice commands. Bixby would also be capable of performing advanced tasks such as controlling the smart home gadgets such as turning on the air condition, controlling the washing machine, managing groceries o the Family Hub smart refrigerator and much more. Samsung also made improvements to the Chinese version as it supports local applications and there are more than 20 third-party apps currently supported. The company hinted that they will continue to incorporate more apps in he future.

OnePlus 5T Becomes Fast Selling OnePlus Phone in Just 6 Hours

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Nov 22, 2017

After several weeks of leaks, the OnePlus 5T was globally unveiled on Nov. 16. The handset was made available for purchase on Nov. 21 in the U.S. and Europe. OnePlus 5T has met with overwhelming response on the first day of its sales as the company has tweeted that it has become its fastest selling smartphone in just 6 hours.

OnePlus 5T will be soon arriving in other markets. In India, Amazon had carried out a flash sale yesterday, but the official sales are expected to begin next Tuesday. In China, it will be available for buying starting from Dec. 1 after getting unveiled on Nov. 28.

The OnePlus 5T that is packed with some new features has arrived as an improved version of the OnePlus 5. The Chinese firm has recently confirmed that it will be discontinuing OnePlus 5 once its stocks are over.

Record-breaking launch day sales – in just 6 hours, the #OnePlus5T has become our fastest selling device. Order now. https://t.co/vErBcGRqXX pic.twitter.com/0DvxL1dqUA

— OnePlus (@oneplus) November 22, 2017

The dimensions of OnePlus 5 and OP5T are almost similar, but the company has managed to include a larger 6.01-inch display on the OP5T by reducing its bezels. The inclusion of a larger display that offers a screen-to-body ratio of 80.5 percent has resulted in the relocation of the fingerprint sensor to the back panel of the handset.

The new OnePlus 5 features a new Face Unlock feature that allow users to unlock it by scanning their face. The smartphone also includes an improved pair of rear-facing camera sensors.

OnePlus 5T is running on Android Nougat out of the box. However, the company will be beginning with the rollout of Android Oreo beta in the next month followed by its stable release in early 2018. The OP5T continues to feature the standard 3.5mm audio jack. It is powered by Snapdragon 835 chipset and Dash Charge enabled 3,300mAh battery.

Are you impressed by the OnePlus 5T? Will you be buying it? Share us your thoughts by adding your comments below.

Galaxy S9 Reportedly Arriving with AI Capabilities, Could Be Significant Upgrade Over Galaxy S8

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Nov 22, 2017

Just like full screen design, adding Artificial Intelligence (AI) capabilities is the latest trend in the smartphone industry this year. Huawei’s recently released Mate 10 and Mate 10 Pro flagship phones feature a dedicated Neural Processing Unit (NPU) along with the Kirin 970 SoC. During the Bixby Voice launch event that was held in China yesterday, Samsung announced that the Galaxy S9 UX has been rebranded as Galaxy Ai UX. This is a clear indication from the South Korean tech giant that the Galaxy S9 will arrive with AI features.

In the previous month, a South Korean publication had revealed that Samsung has invested a huge sum on a Chinese startup named DeePhi Tech which specializes in deep learning. And, it has invested $30 million on Graphcore, a AI company based in the U.K. These investments also suggest that AI will be one of the upcoming features of the Samsung Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+.

The inclusion of the dedicated chip for AI will allow the main processor to handle all the other tasks apart from AI which will ultimately help in improving the performance of the device. Rumors have revealed that Samsung may include a neural engine chip for speech recognition and neural language processing. It is also speculated to enhance facial recognition feature on the Galaxy S9.

According to one of the recent tweets from Evan Blass, the Galaxy S9 and S9+ are respectively codenamed as Star 1 and Star 2. These smartphones that belong to the Project Star codename have respective model numbers of SM-G960 and SM-G965.

The tipster claims that the 2018 will be a “tock” year to the “tick” year for 2017’s Galaxy S8 and S8+ phones. It suggests that “tick” could be hinting to the minor upgrade with design changes that came on Galaxy S8 duo. And “tock” could be indicating significant hardware upgrade arriving on Galaxy S9 duo. Hence, it seems that the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ may look like quite similar to their predecessors, but may feature improved hardware. The tipster has also claimed that he will be soon spilling more information the Galaxy S9 and S9+ phones.

(source 1, 2)

Xiaomi Launches ‘Mi Exchange’ – A Smartphone Exchange Programme In India

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Nov 22, 2017

In a bid to boost domestic presence and enhance its existing sales, Xiaomi has launched Mi Exchange programme in India. The Chinese smartphone company has partnered with Cashify to enable customers to exchange their existing handsets with the new Xiaomi smartphones.

The service is available through Mi Home stores. In India, there are around 11 Mi Home stores across Bengaluru, Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune and Chennai.

With this new Mi Exchange programme, customers can visit a Mi Home store nearby their location to buy a new Xiaomi smartphone in return for their old smartphone. The Cashify team will determine the value of the old smartphone model and then propose a suitable amount that will be discounted for the new Xiaomi device.

The resale value of the old smartphone will be evaluated by the Cashify team on the basis of its condition and current market value. Also, the unit being exchanged should be listed in Cashify portfolio.

While announcing this new programme, Xiaomi said:

In collaboration with Cashify, we have introduced a new programme – Mi Exchange which lets you exchange your old smartphone for a new Xiaomi smartphone. What you need to do is simply bring your old smartphone to a nearest Mi Home.

While there are only around 11 Mi Home stores in India, Xiaomi has previously said that it is planning to open 100 Mi Homes across India in the next two years.

Xiaomi, which entered the Indian market in 2015 with an online-only flash sale model, has now expanded its presence to offline channels also. Lately, the company has been focusing on the offline channels to expand its sales. It has been launching new devices in order to keep its portfolio fresh.

Yesterday, along with launching Mi Power Bank 2i, the company also announced the opening of its third manufacturing facility the country, situated in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, in partnership with Shenzhen-based HiPad Technology.

Recently, IDC report ranked the Chinese smartphone brand as the top smartphone vendor in the country in the third quarter this year, along with Samsung, with 23.5 percent market share.

Baidu’s Raven H & R Smart Speaker & Robot Make Google Home & Amazon Echo Look Boring

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Nov 22, 2017

Chinese web services giant Baidu held its world conference on November 16 in Beijing, China. The Baidu world conference was an occasion for the company to showcase some innovative and futuristic products that they have manufactured. During the conference, Baidu’s GM of Intelligent Hardware and founder of Raven Tech Jesse Cheng Lyu unveiled Baidu’s Raven series. The Raven series is made up of AI-powered hardware products that can hear, understand and fulfil customer’s needs, thus transforming the smart home experience using Baidu’s latest technologies.

One of the products is Baidu’s first smart speaker named Raven H and then two home robots that would be powered by DuerOS, the company’s conversational AI technology similar to Amazon’s Alexa or Microsoft’s Cortana. The two home robots are named Raven R and Raven Q. There are already more than 100 appliances ranging from smartphones to televisions, refrigerators and washing machines which use DuerOS as Baidu had earlier made the OS available to businesses and developers. However, the Raven series represents the first devices that would be showcasing Baidu’s AI services. DuerOS conversational AI is able to provide similar functionalities AI assistants like Alexa and Google Assistant can do, such as search the web, create reminders, perform transactions, control smart home devices, and play music. The company also revealed that all the Raven series products are integrated with Baidu’s AI technologies including facial recognition, computer vision, and even its Apollo autonomous driving technology.

The Raven H smart speaker and the two home robots were designed by Raven Tech and Teenage Engineering, a start-up Baidu acquired in February. The smart speaker has an LED display touch controller that is detachable from the device’s base. The touch controller can also be used within Wi-Fi range for voice control. Also, the Raven H’s touch controller can be used to control Raven series and smart home devices. It will go on sale next month and is priced around $256.

On the other hand, the Raven R is a home robot having an arm and LED display. The robot also has the ability to swivel and move to mimic expression and emotion. This could come in as a form of entertainment whenever you’re bored. You can watch how the Raven R dances from the video below.

Baidu also unveiled a third product in the Raven series and it is a home robot named Raven Q. The robot will utilise DuerOS natural language processing and computer vision to construct a 3D model of its surroundings. Baidu is yet to reveal the prices and release dates for both the Raven R and Raven Q home robots. We’ll bring you more details when both the smart speakers and home robots go on sale.

(source

Rumored BlackBerry KEYone Successor Surfaces on Geekbench

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Nov 22, 2017

A new BlackBerry branded device labelled as QUALCOMM BBF100-1 has appeared on Geekbench benchmarking platform. The newly unveiled BlackBerry Motion has a model number of BBD-100-X and the BlackBerry KEYone has a model number of BBB100-X whereas X is a number based on the region it releases.

The BBF100-1 is speculated as the successor edition of BlackBerry KEYone. In the previous month, a user agent profile had appeared on TCL’s website which suggested that it could be working on a successor phone for BlackBerry KEYone.

It was found that the model number of the smartphone is BBF100-1 and it is driven by Snapdragon 660 chipset. It was also revealed that it will be equipped QWERTY keyboard and its display carries support for a resolution of 1620 x 1080 pixels. It indicates that the screen will deliver an aspect ratio of 3:2.

On Geekbench, the BBF100-1 is seen loaded with Android 8.0 Oreo. The benchmarking platform also shows that the KEYOne’s successor is driven by Snapdragon 660 and 6 GB of RAM. On single-core and multi-core tests, the BBF100-1 has respectively scored 1532 and 4185 points.

The BlackBerry KEYone is one of the well-receive BlackBerry brand phones. Its successor may arrive with “KEYtwo” moniker. The BlackBerry KEYone was officially announced at Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2017. TCL may launch the alleged BlackBerry KEYtwo at the upcoming MWC 2018 that is scheduled to begin from Feb. 26. More information on the smartphone is expected to emerge in the coming weeks.

(via)

Xiaomi Redmi 5A Gets Lake Blue Color Variant, Costs 599 Yuan

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Nov 22, 2017

After launching the Redmi 5A smartphone out of the blue last month, Xiaomi has now introduced a new color variant of the phone — Lake Blue. This new variant of the smartphone retains the same set of specifications.

Priced at 599 Yuan (approx. $91), the Redmi 5A Lake Blue model will be available for pre-order from today onwards and will go on sale from November 24. The smartphone is already available in Champagne Gold, Platinum Silver Gray and Rose Gold colors.

The Redmi 5A smartphone takes over the reins from the Redmi 4A which was launched last year. The smartphone features an ultra-light all-metal body which is one aspect where it is different from its predecessor — the Redmi 4A.

The phone comes with a 5-inch HD display with a screen resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels. Under the hood, the smartphone is powered by a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 processor, clocked at 1.2GHz. It also packs 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage, which can be further expanded up to 128GB through microSD card.

Currently, there is no 3GB RAM version of the device launched, at least not yet. However, it is possible that Xiaomi could announce such model later, just like it did with the Redmi 4A.

At the back, the phone features a 13-megapixel camera sensor with phase detection autofocus (PDAF) and an LED flash. On the front, there is a 5-megapixel front-facing shooter. The smartphone packs a slightly smaller 3,000mAh battery whereas the Redmi 4A has a 3,120mAh battery under its hood which according to Xiaomi, can provide 8 days of standby time.

The smartphone ships with the company’s latest MIUI 9 out of the box, with features like split-screen multitasking, image search, and an AI assistant. It is based on Android 7.1.1 Nougat operating system. Connectivity options on the device include dual SIM, dual stand-by, 4G LTE, 3G, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.2 and GPS. As mentioned, the device drives power from a 3,000mAh battery, 120mAh less compared to its predecessor.

The announcement of this new Lake Blue color option for the Redmi 5A smartphone comes just a day after the China-based smartphone company launched a cheaper variant of Mi Note 3, priced at 1,999 Yuan (~ $302), featuring 4GB of RAM and 64GB internal storage.

Xiaomi Begins Android 8.0 Closed Beta Recruitment For Mi 6

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Habeeb Onawole

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Nov 22, 2017

Xiaomi has been busy working on a stable version of the latest iteration of its custom version of Android, MIUI 9, so it didn’t pay much attention to Android 8.0 Oreo. Now that the roll-out has begun hitting devices, it can now focus its attention on Android 8.0 Oreo.

Report reaching us says Xiaomi has begun recruiting beta testers for Android 8.0 for its flagship device – the Mi 6. This is a closed beta and the selection may take a few weeks. Selected users will get to use the closed beta version for a month or so before it is then opened to more devices. A developer version will then be released as a public beta.

The pattern is similar to last year’s when it wanted to begin rolling out Android Nougat. We expect more devices to join the closed beta program before the end of the year and a public beta will be made available in January. A final stable update will arrive much later, most likely after the Mi 7 and a bunch of other new devices have been announced.

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Xiaomi Mi 7 Likely Specifications & Price Leaked

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Nov 22, 2017

Xiaomi still attempts to sell its smartphones at affordable prices but the prices are not up to what many people expect. The tech giant seems to have joined the train of increasing smartphone prices sweeping through the industry, especially on the flagship and mid-range models. Such could not be said of the Snapdragon 835-powered Mi 6 which is the first flagship model manufactured by Xiaomi this year. The device is very affordable presently. The price of the flagship model presently revolves around $350-$400, cheaper than some mid-range models like the OPPO R11.

The likely specifications and prices of the next-gen Mi 7 flagship which Xiaomi is expected to release next year have now appeared online. The Xiaomi Mi 7 should be expected in the first quarter or early second quarter of 2018 and so it is not unexpected that details of the device have started to leak out.

The Mi 7 is tipped as coming with a full-screen design just like the trend currently sweeping through the smartphone industry. The device is expected to come with an 18:9 6.01-inch OLED display which would be supplied by Samsung. The 2018 flagship will also come with a rear fingerprint sensor as a result of the full-view display. On the driving seat would be the Snapdragon 845 processor, Qualcomm’s 2018 flagship SoC. The SD 845 chip is expected to be released next month and mass production should begin before March next year.

Further, the device is not expected to feature a 3D facial recognition technology according to information from Taiwan’s industry chain, the reason being that the corresponding technology is yet to be perfected. Other specs include 6GB of RAM, dual rear camera sensors said to be 16MP + 16MP sensor with an aperture of f1.7. The Mi 7 is also expected to pack the same battery capacity as the Mi 6 and will support fast charging among other features. As for the price, the Xiaomi Mi 7 is expected to start at 2699 Yuan.

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.

[envira-gallery id=”158840″]

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

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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.

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

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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.

Current OnePlus Phones To Get Android 8.1 But No Project Treble

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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

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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

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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?

Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 Prototypes Leak Well Ahead of Time

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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.

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

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

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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

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