HMD Global’s Nokia has unveiled two new variants of the Nokia Steel smartwatch that was first announced around July this year. The two new editions are limited editions and bring new colours to the mix and are now available on its website in addition to the already available Black and White models.
Apart from the new colour options, dubbed Full Black and Rose Gold pack the same specifications as the previous colour options. The two new colours are priced differently, with the Full Black option costing the same as the original two colours at $129.95, while the Rose Gold model is priced a bit higher at $149.95.
The Nokia Steel smartwatch has a traditional watch face but comes with sleep and activity tracking features. The mid-range smartwatch can also sync with a custom phone app and the Nokia smart weighing scale. There is a Steel HR which features a heart rate monitor, ability to receive text, calls and event alerts. The Steel HR also has a sleep cycle analysis tool. As for battery life, the smartwatch can last up to 25 days on a full charge, something which sets it apart from the Apple Watch. A third wearable gadget is the Nokia Go which is a basic activity tracker that comes in different colours with a rubber strap and looks similar to Fitbit wearable.
OnePlus has confirmed that there is indeed a OnePlus 5T coming. A blog post as to why they kept the audio jack was the official reveal. Another confirmation of the device’s existence was on Weibo. The micro-blogging site is known to show the device used in posting. And on Thursday, a post by OnePlus co-founder Pete Lau, revealed the device in use was a OnePlus 5T.
Today, the OnePlus 5T has been seen on GFXBench and the benchmarking site reveals some specification details of the upcoming phone. The listing itself isn’t on the official GFXBench site. We don’t know if it was pulled down or if this is genuine, so we advice you take this with a pinch of salt.
The OnePlus 5T is shown here running Android 7.1.1 Nougat and not Android 8.0 which is disappointing. We won’t be surprised if that is what it actually comes with out of the box. We saw the same scenario play out last year with the OnePlus 3T. Android Nougat was already out but it came with Android Marshmallow out of the box. Weeks later, it got upgraded to Nougat and it is up for an update to Oreo – its last major update. Hence fulfilling the unwritten rule of at least two major OS updates.
We hope OnePlus doesn’t pull the same trick with the OP5T. It will be disappointing as it is seen as a very lazy move.
The OnePlus 5T is shown as sporting a 6.01-inch display with a 2160 x 1080 resolution that translates into an 18:9 aspect ratio. The processor is the Snapdragon 835 with an Adreno 540 GPU, same as the OnePlus 5
For RAM and ROM, there will be a 6GB RAM model with 64GB ROM and an 8GB RAM model with 128GB of storage. Rear camera is listed as a 16MP sensor but we know it is a dual camera setup. The front camera has been bumped up from 16MP to 20MP.
There is no battery info, so we are still in the dark about that. However, if you have been waiting for wireless charging to come to the OnePlus, you will have to keep hoping. Pete Lau took to weibo to explain why they don’t see it happening soon.
According to him, as long as there is Dash Charge there is no reason for wireless charging. Whichever one you use, your device still stays in one spot while charging. He also adds that the wireless charging coil make phones thicker, which apparently is not what they are aiming for.
Broadcom is reportedly planning for an unsolicited bid to acquire smartphone chip maker Qualcomm for over $103 billion in what would be the largest acquisition deal in this space.
People aware of the development says that Broadcom is currently speaking to advisers about the potential deal and the bid could be announced in the coming days, probably creating a roughly $200 billion company.
While the valuation of the bid from Broadcomm has not been decided yet, it is believed that the offer of around $70 to $80 per share is being contemplated. At $70 a share, an offer would value Qualcomm at around $103.2 billion — a premium of around $27.5 percent.
This comes at a time when Qualcomm is trying to close its pending acquisition of NXP Semiconductors worth $38 billion. According to the sources, Broadcom is also prepared to buy NXP Semiconductors in addition to Qualcomm as it aims to emerge as a global chipmaking giant.
It is noteworthy that a source has also stressed that no final decision has been made yet related to the deal. So there is still a chance for Broadcom to not proceed with a bid.
The development also comes when Qualcomm is faces legal battles in multiple countries over its business practice. The company was recently fined a record NT$23.4 billion ($774 million) by Taiwan’s Fair Trade Commission.
Qualcomm has also been fined $854 million in South Korea and $975 million in China. It is also facing lawsuits from Apple and the FTC in the United States. The key matter in the allegation is that Qualcomm uses its dominant position to charge unfair royalty rates.
Broadcom has recently announced it would move its corporate headquarters from Singapore back to the US. The company is a major supplier of iPhone parts and counts Apple among its largest customers. It is not clear what would happen to Qualcomm’s legal fight with Apple if this deal goes through but it’s likely that Broadcom would settle the dispute.
However, getting clearance for such as huge deal is not an easy task, and apart from the financial challenges, the deal may also encounter close regulatory scrutiny. The combined entity would be the world’s third-largest chipmaker, just behind Intel Corp. and Samsung Electronics Co.
The Meizu M6 Note is one of the popular mid-range phones released this year. When it first launched it was available in three variants – 3GB RAM + 16GB, 3GB RAM + 32GB, and 4GB RAM + 64GB. However, a new 4GB RAM + 32GB variant has been seen on Jingdong Mall (JD.com).
The new variant is for those who want that extra RAM but are fine with just 32GB of storage. The price is ¥1499 (~$226) and though it is currently unavailable, it will come in Peacock Blue and Obsidian Black.
The 4GB RAM + 32GB M6 Note also comes with some free gifts. There is a tempered protective glass, a flip case, and a pair of Meizu ME20 wired in-ear headphones.
Oppo recently announced two new smartphones — Oppo R11s and R11s Plus, which will go on sale from November 10. The smartphones are basically an upgraded version of recently released Oppo R11 and R11 Plus that was launched in June this year.
The company has started taking pre-orders of the smartphone and has managed to cross the registration for pre-orders to over 300,000 within just 24 hours. Oppo started taking pre-orders for the smartphone shortly after announcing it.
Currently, the online retailer JD.com is showing that the registrations have crossed the mark of 381,000. The shipments for the phone will being from November 10 and given the fact that there is still about one week left, it won’t be surprising if the registration numbers for the Oppo R11s crosses the 1 million mark.
The Oppo R11s and R11s Plus were announced a couple of days ago, featuring a bezel-less design and comes with improved camera performance. The R11s has a 6.01-inch FHD display with Gorilla Glass 5 protection and 85.8% screen to body ratio.
It is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 chipset with 4GB RAM and 64GB of internal storage which is expandable up to 256GB via microSD card. On the rear, there is a dual camera setup, having one 16MP and another 20MP cameras with f/1.7 apertures, 2.0µm pixels and dual-LED flash.
On the front, it has a 20MP camera which comes with the company’s A.I. Beauty Recognition feature. The smartphone packs a 3,205mAh battery with support for VOOC fast charging technology. It runs on the new Color OS 3.2 based on Android 7.1.2 Nougat OS.
The OPPO R11s will be available in two color options — Black and Champagne Gold and is priced at 2,999 Yuan (~$455). A special Red colored variant is priced a bit higher at 3,199 Yuan (~$485) .
Xiaomi may be planning the launch of its main Redmi series model which is said to go by the name Redmi 5 Plus. The supposed box casing of the device had earlier been spotted online and we had even seen a couple of photos purported to be live photos of the model. Once again, new renders of the Redmi 5 Plus have appeared online and it shows what the front and rear views would look like. We can’t verify the authenticity of the leak but it bears semblance with the previously leaked real photos of the Redmi 5 Plus.
One major highlight we can pick up from the latest renders remains the full-screen design the device is said to feature. While there are still doubts in some quarters if Xiaomi will completely overhaul the Redmi series with the adoption of a full-screen design, there is a strong likelihood that would be the case. The barrage of leaks pointing at a full-screen design could well have confirmed the Redmi 5 Plus’ design.
Apart from the display design, the Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus is also seen to have a dual camera setup at the rear which is aligned in the vertical direction. The rear design looks very much like that of the Mi Note 3, except that it packs a dual camera setup with the LED flash located under the camera. There is also a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor. Specs wise, the Redmi 5 Plus is said to feature a Snapdragon 625/630 processor backed by a 3GB RAM while there will be a 32GB of internal storage. There may likely be another high memory variant. There is no word yet as to when the Redmi-series models would be launched but that won’t be too far away.
When ZTE launched the Axon 7 smartphone last year, it was well received by the users as well as critics and thus became a major hit. It was among the most affordable premium flagship smartphones launched last year.
This year, everyone was looking forward to the successor of the Axon 7, but instead, the company launched ZTE Axon M last month — a smartphone that features a foldable dual screen.
The launch of Axon M confused many people who started wondering if the company will launch the Axon 7 successor or not. A Twitter users Andrew Wallace tweeted directly to ZTE USA and inquired about the launch of the Axon 7’s successor. And the response received from the company confirmed that it is working on the Axon 7 successor.
In its response, the company that “there will certainly be a follow on to the incredibly successful Axon 7.” However, apart from the fact that there will be a successor to the Axon 7, we don’t know anything about it.
To remind you of the specs, the ZTE Axon 7 comes powered by a Snapdragon 820 processor, coupled with 4GB RAM and 64GB internal storage. It features a 2K 5.5-inch display with 2.5D glass and Gorilla Glass 4 protection on top.
Under the hood, the device has a 3250mAh battery and supports Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 3.0 technology. It comes with a 20MP f/1.8 aperture camera with OIS and EIS at the back, while up front, it has an 8MP f/2.2 88-degree wide angle shooter.
Given that there are no leaks surrounding its successor, we don’t expect it to launch this year. However, it could be launched in early 2018 but we’ll have to wait sometime to get more information regarding the Axon 7 successor.
The Axon 7 was one of the best smartphone in the premium affordable segment, competing against the OnePlus 3 and later OP3T. Its successor is also expected to fall in the same category of affordable premium devices.
The development related to the Axon 7 successor comes at a time when OnePlus is gearing up to launch a successor to its flagship smartphone — OnePlus 5T. While the company has not yet revealed the launch date, a leaked teaser poster has revealed that the smartphone will be launched later this month, on 16th November.
Counterpoint Research has released its quarterly report on the smartphone market in China for the third quarter of 2017. The report comes with lots of surprises but most of all generally bright outlook for the major OEMs in China. Q3 2017witnessed a change of batton as OPPO overtook Huawei to occupy the top spot in market share for the period under review.
OPPO took the lead with an 18.9% market share, while Huawei and Vivo were neck and neck with each other with 18.6% market shares each. OPPO also recorded the highest growth Year on Year as it leapt from 16.5% last year to 18.9%. Fellow BBK subsidiary Vivo also recorded a substantial YoY growth of 2.5%. Xiaomi occupies the fourth spot despite a strong showing in Q3 but it grew from 10.3% share last year to 13.8% this year. U.S phone maker Apple completes the top 5 spot with a 10% share of the market, up from 8.5% last year.
While the top five brand experienced growth in their shipment compared to Q3 2016, the story isn’t the same for the other brands in China, including Samsung, whose cumulative growth in Q3 last year fell from 26.8% to 17.5% for this year. Tist isn’t a positive outlook as it shows the boom in the industry isn’t felt by all OEMs in China. There isn’t any indication that will change in Q4 as the quintet might continue their dominance with a lot of new, sleek models already released and even some more coming before the end of the year.
The media is awash once again with news of a fresh lawsuit already in process between chipmaker Qualcomm and Apple Inc. This time around, Qualcomm is doing the suing, accusing Apple of breaching the software licence contract they had in order to benefit rival chipmaker Intel. Qualcomm claims Apple shared vital information about its broadband modems manufacturing process with Intels.
In the court document filed midweek at a San Diego court, Qualcomm claims Apple used its commercial prowess to demand unprecedented access to highly confidential software details, including source code and thereafter shared same with Intel. The lawsuit details that the U.S phone maker first demand for highly confidential information on how its chips work on an unidentified wireless carrier’s network. The chipmaker claims Apple copied an Intel engineer in the said email. The court document also detailed another case of a request for information between an Apple engineer working for Intel and an Apple engineer working with Qualcomm in order to obtain technical information from Qualcomm.
Apple has declined to comment on the lawsuit but it is instructive to note that the phone maker started using Intel broadband modem chips on the iPhone 7 and is reportedly planning to completely stop using Qualcomm’s modem chips next year. Qualcomm and Apple are already locked in multiple lawsuits in the U.S and even in China and this just keeps straining their relationship.
The Apple iPhone X sales have started from today. Fresh reports have revealed that the iPhone X buyers have formed large queues outside Apple stores across the world. iFixit has done a teardown of the iPhone X to reveal what’s present inside of the iPhone X. It has revealed that Apple has included a pair of batteries inside the smartphone and a surprisingly small-sized logic board.
From inside, the iPhone X does not appear very different any other iPhone. However, there are some noticeable changes under the back panel of the phone. First of all, the iPhone X includes two batteries that are arranged in L shape. The total size of the battery is 2,716mAh. The Cupertino company may have split the battery in a bid to fit other components around the batteries.
Another thing to not is that the iPhone X has a smaller motherboard. The size of the logic board is 70 percent the size of the motherboard of iPhone 8 Plus. The reduction in the size of the motherboard may have allowed the company to include larger capacity battery inside the iPhone X which is slightly bigger than the 4.7-inch iPhone 8.
Also, the teardown video shows that the Apple has added a bit of water-proofing foam inside the iPhone X. During the launch event of iPhone 8, 8 Plus and Phone X, Apple had announced that these phones feature IP67 certified chassis.
The Cupertino company has used a new bracket for the rear-mounted dual cameras which provides cushion to the sensors. The Lightning connector is also reinforced with a wider bracket. The earpiece of the iPhone X has been moved down a bit to house the TrueDepth camera system that include IR illuminators, dot projectors and cameras. It appears that the iPhone X features a vertically stacked dual rear cameras to accommodate the TrueDepth Camera system.
The Apple iPhone X teardown by iFixit also reveals the Apple A11 Bionic chip and SK Hynix-branded LPDDR4x 3 GB RAM. Toshiba has supplied the 64 GB internal storage for the iPhone X and it also features a Snapdragon X16 LTE modem that springs into action for high-speed data connectivity.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eu573kI_JXo
Apart from iFixit, a Chinese site has also created a teardown video of the iPhone X which has been embedded above.
HMD Global has recently unveiled the Nokia 7 mid-range and Nokia 2 entry-level smartphones. Fans of the Finnish firm are eagerly waiting for the launch of Nokia 9 flagship that is expected to arrive with a full screen design compared. A new Nokia phone with model number TA-1054 has received 3C certification. It is speculated that the TA-1054 device may launch as Nokia 9.
In the previous month, the Nokia TA-1041 and TA-1042 smartphones had received 3C certification. HMD Global had launched the TA-1041 phone as Nokia 7. However, the Nokia TA-1042 seems to be under the wraps. Rumors suggest that it could be a variant of the Nokia 7 or that of the Nokia 8 that is heading to China. Hence, the TA-1054 could be the rumored Nokia 9 phone.
The Nokia 7 had launched around a month after it had received 3C certification. Since the TA-1054 received 3C approval on Sept. 26, the arrival of the phone seems to be close at hand. The back panel of the alleged Nokia 9 had appeared around two weeks ago. It revealed that it would be coming with vertical dual rear cameras like the Nokia 8. The back panel also features a cut-out for a fingerprint reader which suggests that the rumored Nokia 9 would be supporting an aspect ratio of 18:9.
The recently unveiled Nokia 7 phone has a glass rear. Hence, the rumor mill claims that the alleged Nokia 9 is speculated to house a glass back. Some of the renders of the Nokia 9 that have surfaced in the recent past have also revealed that the phone would be coming with a bezel-less design.
It is difficult to speculate on the arrival time of Nokia 9 flagship because the Nokia 8 was unveiled recently in August. The arrival of Nokia 9 can cannibalize the sales of Nokia 8. The rumor mill has revealed that it will be arriving with a Snapdragon 835 chipset along with 6 GB and 8 GB RAM variants. Other rumored features of the Nokia 8 include 128 GB storage, IP68 certified chassis and iris scanner.
In 2014, HTC had launched the One M8 smartphone with Duo Camera feature. The rear panel of the phone featured a dual camera setup that included a main UltraPixel camera of 4-megapixel along with a secondary depth sensor. It was the world’s first smartphone ever to feature a dual camera that could shoot depth information. The following flagship phones from the Taiwanese company have featured single cameras. After the launch of HTC U11+ phone in Taipei, Chialin Chang who is President of the company has confirmed that it will re-enter the dual camera smartphone market in the next year.
“We’ll definitely be releasing a dual-camera phone next year, but we’ll need to figure out how to make this feature stand out,” said Chang. The Taiwanese company has recently focused more on improving the camera experience on its new flagships. Hence, the HTC U11 that was launched in May this year managed to record an impressive score of 90 on mobile camera benchmarking platform, DxOMark. The newly unveiled HTC U11+ features an improved version of the same of U11 Plus camera.
Flagship phones from Huawei and Essential feature monochrome sensor as secondary camera lens. Samsung and Apple are using wide telephoto along with the primary camera. LG is making use of a wide-angle lens to assist the main sensor. There is no information on the dual camera configuration that the Taiwanese company will adopt on its 2018 flagship phone. If company decides to use the same dual camera system that was made available on HTC One M8, the 2018 flagship phone from the company may feature secondary telephoto lens.
Chang has also confirmed that HTC will be releasing around five to six smartphones in 2018 like it did this year. Instead of just releasing high-end phones, the company also plans to take on the 2,000 Yuan smartphone market in China in 2018. He added the acquisition of HTC’s Pixel team by Google is in process and the deal may close in early 2018.
Fresh information suggests that HTC was supposed to make the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL smartphones. However, since the latter was cancelled by Google, the Taiwanese company redesigned its iteration of Pixel 2 XL to launch it as U11+. When Chang was asked whether the HTC U11+ is the cancelled Pixel 2 XL he replied by saying that he does not know how to answer the question. He said that because of the relationship between HTC and Google, he can’t comment on Google’s products.
He commented on the HTC U11+ by saying that, “we actually started planning it as such around end of last year, like the way we sourced its key components and whether they made sense, it was planned that way at the time. We are also very happy that our U11+ used these parts.”
After the HTC One Max from 2013, the U11+ is the first phone from the company to feature rear-facing fingerprint reader. This is another indication that the phone U11+ may have been original planned to debut as Pixel 2 XL. According to Chang, the positioning of the fingerprint reader on the rear panel seems more sensible on the U11+ as it features an elongated 18:9 display. He added that if HTC had really built the two similarly specced phones, it could have used the same rear positioning of the fingerprint scanner on both devices.
Rumors of the Google Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL phones that had emerged at the beginning of this year had claimed that HTC would be manufacturing both phones. The rumor mill had also revealed their respective codenames as Walleye and Muskie. However, Google had reportedly cancelled the HTC Muskie phone to launch LG’s Taimen phone as Google Pixel 2 XL. Fresh information suggests that the newly unveiled HTC U11+ flagship phone could be the cancelled Pixel 2 XL Muskie phone.
According to The Verge, its sources have revealed that once Google rejected the Muskie phone, HTC decided to launch it as U11+ after some modifications. The recent high-end U-series smartphones feature reflective rear panels and the same has been included in the U11+ phone. It also features the stellar rear camera that is available on the HTC U11.
HTC’s Muskie was recent spotted in Android AOSP with a huge 3,830mAh capacity battery and 560DPI for its display. The specifications of the HTC U11+ such as the 3,930mAh battery and the 6-inch display with 18:9 aspect ratio is somewhat similar to the leaked information of Muskie phone.
After the HTC One Max smartphone was launched in 2013, the U11+ is the first phone from the company to house a rear-mounted fingerprint reader. The publication claims that the core design and engineering of U11+ was actually meant for the Pixel 2 XL phone. Hence, it appears that the smartphone was originally intended to launch as Pixel 2 XL.
The new flagship from HTC features Android 8.0 Oreo that is overlaid with the latest Sense UI. The Pixel Visual Core chip that is specially designed by Google for Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL is not available on the U11+.
The LG-made Pixel 2 XL has a 6-inch QHD+ screen that produces 18:9 aspect ratio. However, instead of the LCD panel found on the U11+, the LG phone uses a OLED panel. However, recent reports have revealed the Pixel 2 XL’s OLED panel is of mediocre quality as it suffers from various issues like blue tint, black smear, and screen burn-in. HTC U11+ may not have very slim bezels, but it certainly appears like a sold flagship that will appreciation from the critics and users.
Do you think that Google should have launched HTC-made Pixel 2 XL phone? Let us know your thoughts by adding your comments below.
After the series of hypes and promotional campaigns, OPPO took the wraps off the R11s and R11s Plus yesterday. Both models are equipped with the same design but only differ in their display sizes. The device is available in Black and Champagne colours but there will be a Special Red variant which will sell at a higher price and would be limited in quantity. We’ve got some couple of hands-on photos of the R11s special Red variant courtesy of Ithomes and honestly, the R11s is a beauty.
The device keeps up with the latest trendy full-screen (18:9) display which have replaced the traditional 16:9 displays and given the phones a new look. There also are some slight tweaking of the camera and battery aspects but it just a tad different from the R11 and R11 Plus in these aspects. The device also doesn’t pack a front fingerprint sensor as a result of the reduced bezels.
The OPPO R11s also features a dual camera setup at the rear with LED flash on the right while the fingerprint sensor is situated in the middle. The device uses the U-shaped fused antenna band design as a result of its metallic rear casing but the antenna lines are not double-lines but a single thick line on both edges. OPPO is also shipping the device with a 3.5mm headset, as well as a protective case for the phone. We can’t say if the other colour variants have the same composition inside their packaging box. On the whole, the R11s is a real beauty that hardly has any flaws on the design, perhaps Linus would find one during his in-depth review of the model. Expect that here on Gizmochina soon.
As a reminder, the OPPO R11s has a 6.01-inch 2160 x 1080 display. It is powered by the Snapdragon 660 SoC and paired with 4GB of RAM while the internal memory is 64GB. The rear cameras are a combination of a 20MP f/1.7 sensor and a 16MP f/1.7 sensor. OPPO still retained a 20MP sensor at the front but it now has AI features that add some few tricks. The AI Beauty works the same way as that of the OPPO F5, bringing on over 200 facial enhancements, scene detection, and portrait mode. Keeping the lights on is a 3205mAh battery with support for VOOC fast charging technology and the interface is an Android Nougat-based Color OS 3.1. See more photos from below.
OnePlus has confirmed that the OnePlus 5T is coming and it will be retaining the 3.5mm audio jack. The company has also released a render of the phone to show the existence of the 3.5mm headphone slot. Earlier year today, eSports player Alessandro Palmarini uploaded an image of a person holding a mysterious OnePlus phone. The alleged phone seems to be the upcoming OnePlus 5T.
Most of the leaked photos of the OnePlus 5T that have appeared in the past month have been found to be fake. Android Authority and well-known tipster Evan Blass have revealed some renders of the OnePlus 5T that can be trusted.
The above photo was snapped during the ongoing Paris Game Week. The Vainglory eSports team of Palmarini is sponsored by OnePlus which indicates that the image is probably featuring the OnePlus 5T phone. At the ongoing gaming event, various OnePlus 5 tethered units can be found at OnePlus booth. There is one mysterious phone with slim bezels around the display among them that can be seen in the hands of the person in the above image. Also, the screen appears to slightly curved at the edges. The phone does not seem to feature front-mounted fingerprint scanner as the screen occupies the major portion of the front panel. This could be the first real image of the OnePlus 5T.
Rumors have it that the dimensions of the OnePlus 5T could be same as that of OnePlus 5. However, OP56 is expected to house a larger screen. Hence, this could be the reason why one of the previous reports had revealed that the smartphone could be tagged as: “Larger screen. Same footprint.”
Blass has claimed that the OnePlus 5T would be unveiled after Nov. 20. The company seems to be prepping to launch the OP5T as the OnePlus 5 has already gone out of stock. As rumors have claimed, the OnePlus 5T may retain the internal specs of OnePlus 5, but may come with some improvements for its dual rear cameras and battery. Since the company has started teasing the OnePlus 5T openly, more features of the phone are expected to surface as the launch date nears.
What do you think about the photo? Could be this our very first look at the OnePlus 5T? Share us your views by posting your comments below.
HMD Global recently announced the Nokia 7 in China and expectedly, the model should launch in India anytime from now. However, HMD has disclosed that the mid-range model won’t be hitting India anytime soon. HMD Global’s Chief Marketing Officier, Pekka Rantala disclosed this to the Indianexpress at the sidelines of the Nokia 2 launch held a few days back.
The HMD Exec disclosed that the Nokia 7 was designed for Chinese consumers and the company does not have any plans to bring it to India. Looks like Nokia only plans to release its models in specific markets where they are adjudged to be able to do well based on customer preference. For instance, the Nokia 8 flagship was first announced in the U.K and is available in other parts of Europe but it is yet to be launched in China and the U.S. The Nokia 2 has just been announced in India but is yet to hit China and may never do.
We can’t rule out the possibility of HMD using the new models to test the waters in various market and may introduce them in due course. In that case, it is possible that the Nokia 7 will be launched in India later on but that won’t be anytime soon.
It’s official! The OnePlus 5T is real and it’s coming soon. After the first teaser confirming the name, the company CEO has come out to talk about its upcoming flagship. While CEO Pete Lau hasn’t revealed an exact date of release of the handset (which btw we all are waiting to hear!), what he did confirm was the presence of the 3.5mm headphone jack. A few years back, no one would have ever thought mentioning the presence of a headphone jack would be a big smartphone feature. But in 2017, this seemingly standard 3.5mm headphone jack has split fans into two different sections — those who can live without it and those who cannot.
You don’t have to worry about this question as it turns out, OnePlus cares a lot about the 3.5mm headphone jack and it’s here to stay on the company’s upcoming smartphones. Not only did Pete confirmed the slot on the upcoming 5T, he even shared a render in the blog post. It shows just one part of the phone — where the headphone jack lies, but before you start claiming that this could be the render of the existing OP5, note that the company has made our lives easier by naming it “this is the OnePlus 5T Render no doubt about that”. So, take it as the first official render of the flagship.
Pete explained his company’s decision to keep the headphone jack and it boils down to two major points — 1. Cheap wireless headphones still aren’t as good as wired ones and 2. giving users the freedom of using whatever headphones you want, without any additional accessories. These are pretty valid points and it’s actually a good decision considering about 80% of OnePlus customers are wired headphone users.
With this post, one thing is clear — the launch is near! If previous reports are to be believed, the OnePlus 5T could meet us by the end of November. That’s like a few weeks away and during this period, expect us to be briefed about the phone via new leaks and official teasers.
First OnePlus 5T Teaser Confirming The Name
Now that the phone is confirmed, it all comes down to the pricing of the OnePlus 5T. Considering the rumors, an 18:9 6-inch display is in tow, but how much premium would OnePlus charge for this change is something that will be interesting to see. Something like a premium version of the OnePlus 5 would be a logical move but if the company decides to replace the OnePlus 5 with this new model, existing users could feel a bit cheated, yet again!
Let’s wait and watch. Now, it’s just a matter of a few days!
Cubot has made quite a few cheap phones over the time and the Note Plus is one of their latest models. It costs less than $100 but it has quite a few features for the price. Learn more in our Cubot Note Plus review.
The phone ships with all the usual stuff and some extras include a nice soft TPU case.
DESIGN and DISPLAY
In terms of the design, Cubot Note Plus does not look exceptional but the build quality is pretty good even though the device is made of plastic. A 5.2” 1080p display is very good for the price of the phone. We have a 16MP main and front camera.
The backplate is made of plastic and it attracts fingerprints easily. You can also remove it to access a battery and card slots.
Now a few features in a nutshell: the fingerprint scanner is quite accurate but the display could light up faster. The capacitive buttons are not backlit but we have some extras like an LED notification light and LED flash for night selfies. The loudspeaker is just mediocre like on most of the cheap phones.
HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE
The phone ships with decent specs for the price that includes a quad-core MTK6737T chip, 3GB of RAM and 32GB of expandable storage.
Gaming performance is just mediocre. You should expect quite a few skipped frames and some lag even on medium graphics settings in the games like Asphalt 8 or Nova 3. Also, the phone gets warm quite quickly.
BENCHMARKS
USER INTERFACE
What I like about some cheap phones is that they ship with stock Android 7 out of the box and the Cubot Note Plus is no exception. There aren’t any extra features to talk about but the phone is fast and responsive even after installing quite a few apps.
IMAGE QUALITY
The overall image quality is really good for a phone that does not even cost $100. Obviously, the quality decreases in low-light but still, you can get some usable pictures. Selfies look really good too for the phone this cheap. 1080p video quality is mediocre, just like on most of the cheap phones. Selfie videos are shot only at 480p resolution and the quality is poor.
The call quality is not the best but it is decent. Other connectivity options, including Wifi, Bluetooth, and GPS, work fine.
Unfortunately, the phone lacks gyroscope sensor, meaning that it is not compatible with VR headsets.
BATTERY LIFE
2800mah battery could perform a little bit better. You should expect to get about 4-4.5 hours of screen-on time, which is a standard result for most of the cheap phones.
CONCLUSIONS
Cubot Note Plus is yet another cheap phone from China that offers quite a few features for the price. The device has a great display, pretty good cameras, and fluid stock Android 7 user interface.
However, you should know that the gaming performance is just mediocre and the battery life could be better.
Even though there are some shortcomings to consider like on all cheap phones, a $99 price tag means that this device will not break your bank.
The year 2017 is indeed well positioned to earn the title of “Year of Full-screen phones” because we might never witness this sort of surge in the adoption of full-screen design again. This design style is expected to continue to dominate the smartphone terrain next year but who knows? The design pattern could as well fizzle out when something more interesting emerges. For now, we’ll continue to revel in full-screen models. The latest models announced today which keeps up with the full-screen design trend include the HTC U11 Plus and OPPO R11s. We have now spotted some sleek photos of the U11 Plus online that are worth sharing.
As you must have known, the U11 Plus features a full-screen design with the squeezable frame feature that was first introduced on the U11. The device, however, comes with a different form factor from the U11. For one, the large bezels at the top and bottom edges of the U11 is completely missing, giving it a more appealing look. The bezels are not as thin as those of Samsung Galaxy S8 as the screen to body ratio is just 78%. There isn’t a physical button at the front instead, it uses virtual buttons as well as the squeeze control.
The device comes with an 18:9 aspect ratio with a resolution of 2880 x 1440 pixels. It adopts a 6-inch Super LCD-6 display with support forHDR10 and with a DCI-P3 colour gamut. The U11+ is taller than the U11, its measurement is given as 158.5 x 74.9 x 8.5mm and it weighs 188 grams. The U11 Plus comes with IP68 certification which is more reliable than the IP67 certification the U11 presents with.
The device also looks good at the rear, adorning a glossy and reflective design. There is also wireless charging available at the rear panel. The device sports a single camera and a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor. Beyond that, you’re looking at an almost unchanged spec sheet on the inside; a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor as well as the exact same rear camera system as on the U11. The device is available in 4GB + 64GB storage version and 6GB RAM + 128GB storage version. It is available in colour choices like Ceramic Black, Amazing Silver and Translucent Black which sports a semi-transparent rear. See more cool photos down below.
After launching Holly 4 smartphone in India last month, Honor has now launched its Honor Holly 4 Plus smartphone in the Indian market. This is the re-branded model of Huawei Y7 Prime which was launched in June this year.
The smartphone comes with a 5.5-inch HD display with a 2.5D curved screen and a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels. Under the hood, it is powered by Snapdragon 435 SoC, along with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage.
It allows users to expand storage up to 128GB using a microSD card. The phone features a 12-megapixel rear camera with a 1.25-micron sensor and an LED flash.
There is an 8-megapixel front-facing shooter which comes with beauty mode and a 0.3-second autofocus. Other features of the camera include slow-motion, time-lapse and Pro Mode.
As of the software, it runs on Android 7.0 Nougat operating system out of the box with the company’s own EMUI 5.1 on top. The smartphone also comes with a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor.
It packs a 4,000mAh battery and as per the company, it is good enough to provide 20 hours video playback, 66 hours music playback or 15 hours of 4G web surfing.
Commenting on the launch, P Sanjeev, Vice President Sales, Huawei Consumer Business Group India said,
The success of the Holly series was so overwhelming that it encouraged us to continue making improved and revolutionary products. The Holly 4 Plus has been curated to meet the preferences of our consumers better. We have received an exemplary response in all our recent launches from the tech experts and our target audience. This is another offering from us with an aim to cater to the diverse Indian market and serve it in the best way possible.
The Honor Holly 4 Plus is priced at Rs. 13,999 in India and will be available in three color options — Grey, Gold and Silver.
It will go on sale from November 3 through all Honor partner stores across India. The company has confirmed that it will be an offline exclusive device at the moment.
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