Meizu M6 Note May Surprise with a Snapdragon Chipset

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Aug 15, 2017

Meizu had announced the M5 Note in December 2016 and the Chinese firm is now prepping up to launch its successor. Meizu has confirmed that it will be holding an unveil event on Aug. 23. The official poster revealed by the company suggests that the upcoming Meizu M6 Note will be coming with dual rear cameras. The company has released a few statements that shows that Meizu M6 Note will surprise the audience with its processor.

Here are some Meizu’s statement on the processor of Meizu M6 Note:

“The Meizu M6 Note will feature a processor that may surprise people, and will offer a vast improvement in performance and efficiency compared to the previous generation.”

“The Meizu M6 Note will debut some very exciting changes for our M-series. One will be in the camera department, whereas the other is related to the processor.”

Most of the Meizu smartphones are either powered by MediaTek or Samsung Exynos chipsets. However, it seems that Meizu may use a Qualcomm Snapdragon mobile chipset for the M6 Note. The MediaTek Helio P10 powers the M5 Note and a leaked image that had appeared in the previous week had suggested that the Helio P25 may power the M6 Note.

However, Meizu’s statement suggests that we may see a Snapdragon driven M6 Note this year. There is a possibility that the Meizu M6 Note may come in MediaTek and Snapdragon editions. The inclusion of the Snapdragon chipset indicates that the Meizu M6 Note may release in the U.S.

As far as the photography prowess of the M6 Note is concerned, a leaked photo has revealed that it will be coming with dual rear cameras and a quad LED flash. However, the quad LED flash system seems to be different from the one present on Meizu E2. The exact camera configuration

It is speculated to house a 4,000mAh battery like the Meizu M5 Note. Rumors have revealed that the Meizu M6 Note would be coming with a 5.5-inch full HD display. It is expected to arrive in two variants such as 3 GB of RAM + 32 GB of internal storage and 4 GB of RAM + 64 GB of storage. It is expected to come with a front-facing fingerprint reader. Speculations indicate that it may arrive with a price tag of 1,599 Yuan (`$240).

(source)

Huawei P10 Plus Bright Black Variant Unveiled, Now On Presale Via VMall

By

Jed John Ikoba

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Aug 14, 2017

Huawei has further expanded the rich array of colour options the P10 Plus is available in, with the addition of a new Bright Black variant of the flagship. The new Bright Black variant is now on presale on Huawei’s official online store- Vmall and that would run until August 18 when the sales would commence.

With this new colour variant, the Huawei P10 Plus is now available in Arctic White, Prestige Gold, Greenery, Dazzling Blue, Graphite Black, Dazzling Gold, Rose Gold and Moonlight Silver. The Bright Black variant is different from the Graphite Black in that it comes with a smooth, glossy finish unlike the matte finish on the Graphite Black variant. The new colour variant comes with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage and is priced at 4,888 Yuan ($709) which is the official price of the 6GB + 128GB variant.

As a reminder, the Huawei P10 Plus sports a 5.5-inch LCD screen having a resolution of 1440 x 2560 pixels. The device is powered by an Octa-core 2.3GHz Hisilicon Kirin 960 chip with the Mali-G71 MP8 GPU powering the graphics. The P10 comes with a dual 12MP + 20MP camera setup at the rear with the Leica badge. Up front, there an 8MP front-facing camera or selfies. The P10 Plus gets its light from a 3,750mAh battery and providing the interface is EMUI 5.1 based on Android Nougat.

(source)

Is Xiaomi Planning To Release A New Bicycle Tomorrow?

By

Habeeb Onawole

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Aug 14, 2017

Xiaomi already has released two bicycles but may be launching a third tomorrow. The official Mi Home Weibo account revealed early today that it has a launch scheduled for 10 AM on August 15.

The post includes a teaser poster with a text. When translated, we were able to make out the phrases anti-theft, good to ride, and good looking. From this we presume the bike will have an anti-theft protection, be comfortable to ride, and also have an attractive design.

The two Xiaomi bikes released last year are priced at different extremes. One is the QiCycleR1 priced at $3000 and the other is the foldable electric bicycle that sells for $455. We don’t know how much this new bike will cost, but our guess is that it will lie between the two.

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Get Xiaomi Redmi Note 4X for just $139.99! [COUPON]

By

Linus

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Aug 14, 2017

Xiaomi’s Redmi Note lineup has been very popular both in China and internationally. The Redmi Note 4x is the upgrade to the Redmi Note 4 and it sports great specs, fantastic build quality and you can now get it for just $139.99 from Gearbest.

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The front of the phone looks just like previous Note-series devices. We have a sharp and bright 5.5” 1080p LCD display. In fact, it looks even better than a great display found on the Redmi Note 4.

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The Note 4x is made of metal and it definitely feels premium but I was disappointed that the top and bottom parts of the back plate are made of plastic not like on the all-metal Note 4.

We have a 13MP shooter on the back, which is coupled with the dual-LED flash. Xiaomi phones are known for great fingerprint scanners and the Redmi Note 4x is no exception. You can unlock your phone very quickly straight from the standby mode.

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A standard edition of Xiaomi Redmi Note 4x that sports an octa-core Snapdragon 625 chip with the max. clock speeds of 2.0GHz, 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage, which is also expandable via the microSD card slot. If you are willing to pay extra, you can get a 64GB model with 4GB of RAM.

You can now get it for just $139.99 from Gearbest using a COUPON: XR4XPG

Buy Xiaomi Redmi Note 4x for just $139.99 from Gearbest using a COUPON: XR4XPG

Meizu Pro 7 Does Have A Titan Red Version, Goes on Sale on Aug 18

By

Jed John Ikoba

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Aug 14, 2017

Long before the Meizu Pro 7 and Pro 7 Plus were released in July, a leaked render of the device had emerged showing the flagship encased in red. Later on, when it launched, the Pro 7 was announced to come in red, gold and black colours but only the black and gold colours have been available since then. Meizu has now announced that a Titan Red variant of the Pro 7 will go on sale on August 18, just four days from now.

The Meizu Pro 7 as you already know, comes with a unique secondary display which has received lots of positive reviews even though some might think otherwise. A red paint job adds more beauty to the sleek device which was designed by San Francisco-based German design firm Frog design. The red variant would suit the female folks and they seem to be the target market as Meizu released some teasers with the Titan Red variant in the hands of a female model. The new color variant will go on sale at 10 AM on August 18 across the difference e-retail channels including Meizu Mall, Lynx, Jingdong (JD), Suning, as well as offline via Meizu national store, Gome and others.

Apart from the sleek design which gets even sleeker with this red variant, the Pro 7 features a MediaTek Helio X30 chip as well as Helio P25 on some models. It has a 5.2-inch Super AMOLED display with full HD resolution and is fueled by a 3000mAh battery with mCharge 3.0 and providing the interface is the Flyme 6 OS based on Android 7.0 Nougat. The Pro 7 starts at 2880 Yuan (∼$426) for the base variant powered by Helio P25 and 3380 Yuan (∼$500) for the Helio X30 version. What we don’t know is if the red variant will be available for both the Helio P25 and X30 variants.

(source)

New LeEco Phone Seen At Chinese Patent Office

By

Habeeb Onawole

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Aug 14, 2017

LeEco has been in the news in recent months, not for a new product release but for its financial troubles. Today the news is different as a new LeEco phone was seen at the Chinese patent office.

There is nothing spectacular about the device. No specification details were revealed and the design isn’t unusual. The design actually looks like what HTC would churn out.

The back seems to be made of metal. There is a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner sitting in the middle. At the top right corner is the rear camera and LED flash. The LeEco phone also has antenna lines at the top and bottom.

The front is plain too. There are moderately sized bezels at the top and bottom and none at the sides. At the top lies the front facing camera and sensor, flanking the earpiece on both sides. On the right hand side of the device is the power button and volume rocker and on the left lies the SIM tray.

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New Coolpad Budget Smartphone Hits TENAA With 2GB Of RAM

By

Jed John Ikoba

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Aug 14, 2017

The unfortunate financial troubles of LeEco doesn’t seem to affect the Coolpad brand despite Jia Yueting’s Lele holding having the majority shares and thus control over the brand. The company was already in collaboration with LeEco before the financial troubles emerged. Coolpad seems to be coasting on with the recent launch of the Coolpad Cool Play 6 a couple of months back and the launch of the Note 5 Lite C just about a week back. A new Coolpad model seems to be in the works as it was recently spotted on China’s telecom regulatory agency TENAA.

The device appeared on TENAA as Coolpad THD-MO and it adopts a design which looks similar to the Xiaomi Redmi 4A except that its own rear camera is located at the centre with the LED flash located under it. Also, the volume rocker is on the left side of the display while the power button is on the right side. The device weighs just 125g and has a dimension of 142.5 x 70.5 x 7.8mm.

On the specifications, the Coolpad THD-MO isn’t in anyway spectacular as it features a 5-inch IPS display with a resolution of 1280 x 720. It is powered by an unknown quad-core processor clocked at 1.1GHz which is backed by 2GB of RAM, while there is 16GB of internal storage. The internal storage is expandable up to 64GB via microSD card. The device is also listed to have an 8 MP rear camera and a 5 MP front camera. Keeping the lights on will be a 2,500mAh battery and for the software, it runs on Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow. Clearly, the Coolpad model is a budget device and should come with a cheap price tag. It will also be available in three colors – Gold, Silver, and White.

(source)

Moto Z2 Force’s Jelly Scrolling Issue Revealed in a Video

By

Anvinraj Valiyathara

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Aug 14, 2017

After the launch of OnePlus 5, early owners of the flagship phone started complaining about the jelly effect while scrolling on a webpage or any app. It seems the newly launched Motorola Moto Z2 Force is also having the same issue. The problem was first spotted by XDA Developers.

Daniel Marchena from XDA Developers states that there is jelly scrolling effect while scrolling through Settings menu as well as app drawer. On investigating on the issue, it has been found that the jelly scrolling effect on the Moto Z2 Force is mainly because it refreshes in opposite direction as compared to the Samsung Galaxy S8+ which can be seen in the other video of this post.

When OnePlus was facing criticism for the jelly scrolling issue on the OnePlus 5, the same publication had found that the smartphone is fitted with an inverted display. The display IC is located on the bottom side instead of top on the OnePlus 5. The original Moto Z Force as well as the Z2 Force have the display IC located at the bottom.

The jelly scrolling effect does not impact the functioning of the phone and it is not considered as a manufacturing defect by OnePlus. The publication claims that the Motorola phones (for example: Moto Z Force) in the past have also had the same issue, but the issue got amplified when the jelly scrolling effect was seen on OnePlus 5.

This suggest that Motorola may have also incorporated an upside down mounted display on the Moto Z2 Force. There is no workaround for this and it appears that there won’t be any software update to fix this issue. If early adopters are facing this issue and find it to be very annoying, they can’t take advantage of the refund policy.

The Moto Z2 Force has a 5.5-inch QHD P-OLED ShatterShield display and it is powered by Snapdragon 835 chipset. It features 4 GB of RAM an internal storage of 64 GB and a microSD card slot. It has a12-megapixel rear camera and a 5-megapixel front camera. It includes other features like a fingerprint reader, 3.5mm audio jack and a USB-C port, a 2730mAh battery and carries support MotoMods accessories.

Do you think that jelly scrolling effect on Moto Z2 Force is a deal-breaker?

(source)

LEAGOO Teases Another Partnership With English Premier League

By

Habeeb Onawole

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Aug 14, 2017

Lately, Chinese manufacturers have taken to foreign sports leagues as a way to increase brand popularity. The two examples that come to mind are Vivo’s partnership with the NBA and Golden State Warriors, and OPPO’s partnership with FC Barcelona. But there is a third you might not have taken notice off and that is LEAGOO and the (English) Premier League.

LEAGOO may not be as big as the two manufacturers mentioned above, but its taking big steps towards pushing its brand’s popularity. In 2016, the LEAGOO brand was advertised during some Premier League matches.

This season, it is taking it further by releasing a custom version of its flagship phone in partnership with one of the Premier League clubs. LEAGOO say it will reveal the identity of the club in London on August 17, 2017.

Ahead of the announcement, it is running a competition on Facebook where you have to guess the name of a football player using a silhouette and the few details provided. Winners stand the chance of winning a LEAGOO T5 and a LEAGOO branded shirt. More details available here.

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LG V30’s Floating Bar that Will Replace Secondary Display Appears in Official Images

By

Anvinraj Valiyathara

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Aug 14, 2017

The Android 7.0 Nougat OS available on the LG G6 is overlaid with UX 6.0. Today, LG has confirmed through a press release that the upcoming LG V30 flagship phablet will be coming with UX 6.0+ Android skin. It will bring plenty of personalization options on the LG V30 including a Floating Bar feature as a replacement of secondary ticker screen.

One of the major attractions of the LG V10 and LG V20 smartphones are their secondary ticker screens that display notifications, frequently used apps and things of that nature. The LG V30 will be the first OLED FullVision display totting smartphone from the company. Since LG will be using a 6-inch OLED screen on the LG V30, it won’t be featuring a secondary ticker screen. The South Korean company has confirmed that the UX 6.0+ will be bringing a semi-transparent Floating Bar that will give easy access to frequently accessed features.

The above image indicates that it will sit in the form of a semi-transparent arrow at the side of the screen. When tapped, the Floating Bar would appear on the screen and tapping on the arrow again would make it disappear.

The Always on Display (AOD) feature will not allow show a clock but also it can be customized to show other things such as Quick Tools, Music Player and even a desired photo. The LG V30 will be also equipped with Face Recognition feature that can be used to unlock it by using the frontal camera. The South Korean company further states that users are not required to Press the power button first, unlike on other smartphones.

The Voice Recognition powered with Qualcomm Aqstic voice UI technology can recognize the voice of the user to unlock the phone without the need of pressing a button or swiping on the display. The LG V30’s Haptic feedback can also be personalized with different vibration combinations that can be matched with the ringtone of the smartphone.

in the past week, LG had confirmed on the various multimedia features that would be coming on the LG V30. The upcoming LG flagship will be arriving with a largest aperture camera sensor that will work with another camera lens of the dual camera setup to deliver DSLR-like photography experience.

Graphy feature that will be available in the Manual mode of the camera app on LG V30 will let users to users to choose from a portfolio of professional shots and apply them on the photos taken through the LG V30. It will also come with a GIF creator and moving making tool called Creative Movie.

(source)

Samsung Galaxy Note 8 U.S. Release to Happen on August 24?

By

Anvinraj Valiyathara

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Aug 14, 2017

In the past week, the South Korean media had revealed that the pre-orders of the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 would begin in the home country between Sept. 1 to 10 and it would be releasing on Sept. 15. The rumor mill had claimed that it would be hitting the U.S. markets by the same time. However, a fresh information that has appeared on Reddit suggests that the Galaxy Note 8 would be available for purchase much earlier than expected.

A Reddit user has claimed that a Best Buy employee has revealed that the Galaxy Note 8 would be releasing earlier in the U.S. He even confirmed that the Note 8 will be available for buying in the U.S. on Aug. 24 which is a day after its official announcement. The Best Buy employee has claimed that the information shared by him is based on the details he got through Verizon and Samsung channels.

A moderator from Reddit has verified the source and has confirmed that the information has indeed been shared by an employee of Best Buy. However, it is advisable to not to digest this report as an official news.

Usually, Samsung announces its flagship smartphone through its Unpacked event and it then takes a couple of weeks to release it in the market. For example, the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ were unleashed on March 29 and were made available for buying on April 21.

Samsung has not officially confirmed the U.S. release date for Galaxy Note 8. Even though the leaked information states that the Aug. 24 would be the date on which the Note 8 will be available for purchasing, it appears that the Note 8 may become available on pre-orders in the country.

In South Korea, the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 will also debut on Aug. 23 and until the end of this month, the phablet will be available at the Samsung Digital Plaza as well as other retailer and carrier outlets for hands-on experience. After the pre-order period of Sept. 1 to 10, the Note 8 will begin shipping between Sept. 11 to 14.

As Samsung has confirmed in a recent press meet, the U.S, the U.K and South Korea will be the first markets to receive the Galaxy Note 8 in September. The other markets will be getting the Note 8 in October.

(source|via)

Kirin 970 Mass Production Reportedly Started- World’s First Artificial Intelligence Chip Coming

By

Jed John Ikoba

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Aug 14, 2017

Mass production of Huawei’s next-generation Hisilicon Kirin 970 chip was earlier revealed to commence in September ahead of the Mate 10’s launch before the end of the year. A new report has now emanated from Taiwan that the mass production of the flagship Kirin 970 Systems-on-Chip has started.

The Kirin 970 SoC will be used on the Mate 10 rumoured to launch in October with a large display, powerful dual cameras and of course, with the firepower Kirin 970 will have to offer. Despite its launch still a couple of months away, there are reports that the Mate 10 is being searched for by those interested in the flagship countless numbers of times on online retail website Day Cat, apparently in a bid to find out the latest news about the flagship. That shows the level of interest the device commands even when it is yet to launch.

Earlier rumours had tipped the Kirin 970 to pack an octa-core CPU comprised of four ARM Cortex-A73 cores, and four ARM Cortex-A53 cores. There are talks of higher Cortex-A75 cores onboard the SoC. The next-gen flagship chipset is also revealed to have a maximum clock frequency of between 2.8GHz – 3.0GHz. In addition, the Kirin 970 will be equipped with Cat. 12 LTE baseband and would come as Huawei’s first chip to use the 10nm process. Also, the chip will come as the world’s first chip with artificial intelligence, according to Huawei. Apart from the Mate 10, the chip will also be used on Huawei’s flagship models for next year until we get to see another model in the Mate series.

(source)

More Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 Juicy Details Revealed

By

Jed John Ikoba

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Aug 14, 2017

Xiaomi is expected to launch the next generation Mi Mix 2 this year but details of the flagship have been hard to come by so far. The second-gen Mi Mix will be designed by French designer Philippe Starck, that we know already and recently, we got word that it would have a silver variant just like the Mi 6 Bright Silver Limited edition and a higher screen ratio of up to 95% as well as a new audio receiver technology.

Now, more details of the Mi Mix 2 have emerged, one of which includes that the flagship will be launched on September 12 this year. If this is true, it means the device will be dropping sooner than expected but it also supports talks of Xiaomi hoping to use the sleekly designed Mix 2 to grab some market shares from Apple by releasing the model at the same period the iPhone 8 will be launched. Already, we recently saw the Mi Mix take a cut in its price up to 500 Yuan and that could indicate the Mix 2’s launch is very close.

In addition, the Mi Mix 2 is said to come with a 6GB + 128 GB RAM combo on one version and that is pretty almost certain as it was spotted on Geekbench recently. There is going to be a second memory variant that would have 8GB of RAM and a whopping 256GB storage inside, according to the latest details. That also doesn’t sound ridiculous as the Chinese industry is gradually shifting towards 8GB RAM sized flagship models. The details also include that the Mix 2 will come with a price tag of 3,999 Yuan (around $599) for the 6GB RAM variant and 4,999 Yuan (~$749) for the 8GB RAM variant.

The Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 is said to go by the codename Chiron and would feature a 6-inch JDI display with a Snapdragon 835 processor onboard. The device is said to feature a 12MP Sony IMX386 sensor at the rear which should be more powerful than the not-so-inspiring 16MP OV16880 sensor on the Mi Mix. The Mix 2 will, however, feature a 5MP OV5675 sensor for selfies. So, what do you think of the Mi Mix 2’s features and price tags? Let us know your thought in the comment section.

(source)

Gizmochina Giveaway – Win A VKworld Mix Plus Smartphone

By

Shine Wong

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Aug 14, 2017

Gizmochina along with VKworld is conducting a VKworld Mix Plus phone as Giveaway gift to one of our lucky readers. Like always, you just have to follow the steps mentioned on the Gleam widget to get a chance to win this amazing phone.

Here is the main features of VKwork Mix Plus:

Display: 5.5 inch, 1280 x 720 Pixel 2.5D Arc screen
CPU: MTK6737 Quad Core 1.3GHz
System: Android 7.0
RAM + ROM: 3GB RAM + 32GB ROM
Camera: 5.0MP ( SW 8.0MP ) front camera + 8.0MP ( SW 13.0MP ) back camera
Sensor: Fingerprint Scanner, Gravity Sensor, Proximity Sensor
SIM Card: dual SIM dual standby. Micro + Nano SIM
Feature: GPS, A-GPS
Bluetooth: 4.0
Network:
2G: GSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz
3G: WCDMA 850/900/2100MHz
4G: FDD-LTE 800/900/1800/2100/2600MHz

The VKworld Mix Plus is selling on Gearbest for $109 now($30 off)

Buy VKworkd Mix Plus on Gearbest

How to entry this giveaway? Just follow these steps via Gleam widget:

Visit VKworld’s Facebook and Twitter, follow them;
Share this article to your Facebook, Twitter, Google+ or other social media;

Terms & Conditions:

1. The giveaway is an international giveaway.
2. We are not responsible for lost shipments.
3. We are not responsible for any duties, import taxes that you may incur.
4. We reserve all rights to make any changes to this giveaway.
5. The prize will be shipped in a week when the giveaway end.

Just follow the steps mentioned in the Gleam widget to participate in the giveaway.

Once again, good luck.

Gizmochina Giveaway – Win A VKworld Mix Plus

Get The Pixel’s Camera HDR+ Feature By Sideloading The Camera App on Compatible Devices

By

Habeeb Onawole

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Aug 14, 2017

The Google Pixel has a fantastic camera that takes superb photos. The result of the photos is actually a joint work between the sensor and the software which does an amazing post-processing job thanks to the HDR+ feature. Much gratitude to the app developer that goes by B-S-G, as it is no longer exclusive to the Pixels. He was able to port it to other devices which can now take advantage of the HDR+ feature.

This version of the camera is a modified version of Google Camera 4.4.012.156195200 but it will work on phones powered by the Snapdragon 820, 821, and 835. These devices use Hexagon 680 ISP or above that’s why they are supported. It has been tested on the LG G6, OnePlus 3, OnePlus 3T (I’ve tried it too, though selecting slow motion mode force closes the app), OnePlus 5 and the Samsung Galaxy S8.

When you take a shot with HDR+ activated, you get a notification that it is processing.

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Motorola Moto Swift Concept Phone from 2012 Appears in Leaked Images

By

Anvinraj Valiyathara

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Aug 14, 2017

It seems that Motorola had planned a concept phone called Moto Swift in 2012. The Moto Swift was never created but its images have now surfaced to reveal its appearance as well as its features.

The details of the Moto SWIFT suggest that it would have been a mid-range phone for users in Latin America and Asia. It was supposed to feature a 4.3-inch FWVGA screen and it would have arrived with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich overlaid with MotoBlur UI. An 8-megapixel rear camera with full HD video shooting support was also going to be available on Moto Swift. The chin of the device has the usual Android ICS capacitive keys.

The design of the Moto Swift is similar to Motorola phones of 2012-2013 era such as Atrix 2 and Droid 4. It would have measured 128.6 x 67.45 x 9.4 mm. Its description states that it has a unibody design. A flashy Motorola “M” logo is present at the center arear of the back panel. The right side has round-shaped buttons for Power (red-accented one) and volume controllers. The left side seems to feature another red-accented button and an additional button. One of them seems to belong to be dedicated a camera launcher key.

In the previous month, details about the Motorola SPLICE concept phone had appeared. The images show that it would have come with a Kevlar casing. This suggests that the phone would have been usable in extreme weather conditions. Again, the design of the phone is similar to Motorola smartphones of that time. The Motorola SPLICE has a rugged appearance and has a thicker profile.

Like the Moto Swift, the Moto SPLICE would have also launched with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich OS. The specs of the phone would have been similar to that of Moto Swift as it may have arrived with HD screen and an 8-megapixel full video shooting camera. There is a 3.5mm audio jack on the topside and the volume controllers are on the right. A red colored “M” logo can be seen placed on the back panel of the phone. The top bezel has a Motorola text logo mentioned.

The details on other specs like chipset, RAM and battery are unavailable. There is no information on why Motorola did not release the Moto SWIFT and SPLICE smartphones.

(source|via)

Image Reveals Nine Generations of MIUI Icons

By

Jed John Ikoba

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Aug 14, 2017

One way to have a clear understanding of the things that have changed over the years in through pictures and this photo showing the icons for the key system apps for the successive generations of MIUI clearly give an understanding of how much the custom ROM which is skin over the Android OS has evolved right from the MIUI 1 through to MIUI 9.

The Xiaomi MIUI is actually a user interface which some users see as better than its native Android version especially in China where creating a custom UI based on Android OS is the norm. The interface is generally beautiful and very user-friendly. Moreso, the MIUI team updates the UI very often so as to fix bugs and other loopholes that are noticed.

Apart from its usability, the visual look of the MIUI embodied by the icons has been another area of interest and one clear indicator of that dynamism is the icon. As could be seen in the image, each version of the user interface brings with it a slight change in at least one of the icons and in some cases more than one. In some cases, the change is in the colour scheme of the icon but there’s always a change. No two generations have exactly the same icons. MIUI 1 has a different camera icon, messaging, phone dial icons and music player icon from the second generation (MIUI 2). The change continues until MIUI 9 with its smooth, refined icons but from version 7, the icons look almost similar.

Apart from changes in the icons, Xiaomi’s UI also comes with even bigger changes in the features it brings with it. The latest MIUI 9 comes with features such as Smart App Launcher, Smart Assistant, Split-screen, Picture-in-Picture mode and Image Search etc.

Leak Reveals ASUS Zenfone 4 Pro Packs A 3600mAh Battery

By

Habeeb Onawole

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Aug 14, 2017

The launch of the rest of the Zenfone 4 series is almost upon us. Last week, details of the Zenfone 4 Selfie & Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro, another Zenfone 4 Max and the mid-range Zenfone 4 leaked, thanks to Roland Quandt. Yesterday, he also tweeted the specs of the US model of the Zenfone 4 Pro.

The Zenfone 4 Pro (ZS551KL) is the flagship of the lot. According to him, the phone will come with a 5.5-inch 1080p display. The Snapdragon 835 clocked at 2.45GHz will power the device. RAM will be 6GB and it will be paired with 64GB of storage. Expect it to have an expandable storage slot too.

ASUS will pre-load it with Android 7.1 out of the box and also include a non-removable 3600mAh battery. The battery capacity is the largest on a Snapdragon 835 powered device till date and we hope ZenUI is well optimized to take advantage of it.

Other features include Bluetooth 4.2 (a future update may push it to 5.0), NFC, and 802.11ac Wi-Fi. The phone’s thickness is also revealed to be 7.6mm. So not only does it pack a bigger battery than most of its peers, it also keeps it in a thin body.

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Xiaomi Mi Max 2 Gets Price Cut On Third-Party Resellers’ Sites

By

Habeeb Onawole

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Aug 13, 2017

The Xiaomi Mi Max 2 was released a few months ago as a successor to the large-screen Mi Max. Although the upgrades aren’t much, the Mi Max 2 manages to improve upon or keep some of our favorite features from its predecessor.

The Mi Max 2 comes in two variants. One has 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage and the other has 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. Their respective official prices are ¥1699 (~$255) and ¥1999 (~$300), but can get it for less on resellers’ sites.

The 64GB version is priced at ¥1588 (~$238) and the 128GB version is ¥1799 (~$270) on JD.com. The store also has enough stock, so if you are planning to get the Mi Max 2, now is the best time.

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No Android P for The OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T

By

Habeeb Onawole

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Aug 13, 2017

OnePlus was one of the first phone manufacturers to announce an Android O update for its devices (the OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T). What it didn’t say then was that it will be the last major update for both phones. The info was revealed by the Head of Product during a Software Support Q&A on the OnePlus Forum.

This means the OnePlus 3 and 3T only gets two major updates before since they launched with Android Marshmallow. Though it does appear that both devices are only getting support for a little over a year, OnePlus says it “will continue to release security patch updates for the foreseeable future”.

During the Q&A, he also mentioned that both devices will get the OxygenOS 4.5 update at the scheduled time. Initially, the plan was to release the update along with the latest security patch level update. However, community feedback resulted in some modifications. The plan now is to release the security level patch this month and the OxygenOS 4.5 update later.

Don’t get too excited about the update as some features available on the OnePlus 5 will not make it to the OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T. They are Reading Mode, new off-screen gestures, and DCI-P3 screen calibration. The reason OnePlus is citing is hardware differences. The OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T do not have the RGB sensor for the Reading Mode and hardware for the other two features.

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