Xiaomi Mi 6’s Super Limited Silver Edition Gets the Hands On Treatment

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Jul 31, 2017

Xiaomi launched the Mi 6 flagship in April this year and the device was announced to come in four colour variants which are Black, Blue, Silver and White. While the Black, Blue and White variants have been on sale, the Xiaomi Mi 6 Silver edition has been out of circulation. But during the launch of the Mi 5X recently, Xiaomi revealed that the Silver edition was going to go up on sale on August 3. Before that happens, we came across cool hands-on photos of the Mi 6 Silver edition and here you have them.

Just in case you’re unaware, the Xiaomi Mi 6 Silver Edition is a limited edition, call it super limited edition if you like because Xiaomi did disclose also that only 100 units of the Mi 6 Silver edition will be made available on August 3. This is as a result of the fact that the production process is cumbersome, especially the electroplating process. Lei Jun put the yield at 6% due to the special electroplating process where in an entire batch can be rendered useless by a spec of dust inside the chamber.

Design wise, the Xiaomi Mi 6 Silver Edition comes with a special design which like the others is made of stainless steel frame but its own glass covering is a special ultra-reflective mirror finish. The Silver edition is said to come with a different feel from the other variants. The Silver Edition is equipped with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage and would carry a lofty price tag of 3,999 Yuan (~$592), a thousand yuan higher than its black coloured contemporary. Check out some more hands-on images from down below.

(source)

Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Dual Rear Camera Features Apparently Revealed on Official Website

By

Anvinraj Valiyathara

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Jul 31, 2017

Samsung has recently confirmed that the Galaxy Note 8 would be coming with advanced and richer multimedia functionalities. It seems that the South Korean company has also confirmed that the Galaxy Note 8, the first flagship phone from the company to feature dual rear cameras, will be coming with some amazing camera features.

Recently, it was reported that Samsung Electro-Mechanics is building the dual camera system for the Galaxy Note 8. Speculations have it that that dual rear camera system of the Note 8 will be featuring a 13-megapixel wide-angle lens and 12-megapixel telephoto lens with 3x optical zoom support . The official website of the South Korean company has been updated with some new information on dual rear camera sensors through which the photography capabilities of the dual camera system of the Note 8 have been revealed.

The dual camera sensors that will be arriving on Note 8 could be a low power consuming module that carries support for high-speed autofocus. The dual camera sensor may support low-light photography and it could be enabled with anti-shake feature.

The above image shows the difference between snapping images with a single camera sensor and a dual camera system. Even in the dark, the Galaxy Note 8’s dual cameras would be able to shoot bright and clear images. This feature may become available on the Note 8 as Super Night Shot. Another image shows how high dynamic range (HDR) helps in improving a dull image.

With depth application, the dual camera sensors will be able to refocused image by calculating the height of the subject and distance between camera and the subject. This will make it possible for the user to blur the foreground or background after a photo has been shot.

With Smart Zoom, users will be able to apply 3x digital zoom as well as 3x optical zoom to shoot clearer images. The loseless zoom will make it possible to zoom an image without losing its colors and details. The Perspective Effect feature will allow users to rotate the image to pre-defined degrees. The Background Effect will possibly allow users to add different kinds of effects to the background.

It is likely that the dual camera features that have been revealed will not be exclusively available on the Galaxy Note 8 but also on some of other rumored phones such as the upcoming Galaxy C10, Galaxy C7 (2017), and Galaxy J7 (2017) Chinese Edition.

(source)

Motorola Accessories to Launch $99 Dash Cam with Wide Angle Lens

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Anvinraj Valiyathara

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Jul 31, 2017

Motorola has recently debuted the Moto Z2 Force flagship and it is expected to announce the Moto G5S and Moto G5S+ smartphones soon. The company is also pegged to launch Moto M2 and Moto X4 before the end of the year. Amidst all these rumors, Motorola Accessories (does not belong to Motorola Mobility that makes smartphones) is speculated to be working on a wide-angle dash cam.

Apart from manufacturing smartphones, Motorola is quite popular for making mobile accessories and various products for public safety and home. Speculations have it that the company will be soon entering automobile accessories market by releasing a dash cam in the near future. However, this will not be its first iteration in the automobile accessories market. In the past, it had released Motorola MDC100 Dash Cam that featured a 2.8-inch display and a 2-megapixel camera.

The upcoming dash cam could be a successor for MDC100. The new dash cam from Motorola is expected to carry support for shootings at Full HD resolution of 1080p along with motion detection. There is no information on the exact configuration of the camera, but it has been revealed that it features a wide-angle lens.

It will be arriving with a bigger display of 4 inches that will support a resolution of 480 x 854. This dash cam is expected to hit the market with a pricing of $99. As far as appearance is concerned, it appears like a normal digital camera. The right side of the dash cam seems to have several buttons and the camera sensor is coupled with a dual LED flash.

For recording videos of longer duration, the upcoming Motorola dash cam will also feature a microSD card slot. The sensors present on the dash cam will assist the users in safely parking their cars. Europe will be the first market to receive it followed by the U.S. There is no information on whether other markets will be receiving the upcoming Motorola dash cam. However, as of this writing, Motorola is yet to confirm on the official launch of this dash cam.

Motorola Mobility is owned by Lenovo. However, the new dash cam won’t be launched by Motorola Mobility, but it will be a product from Motorola Accessories which belongs to a British firm called Binatone. This British company is in charge of most of the home products sold with Motorola branding.

(source|via)

XGIMI Launches The T1, A1 and A1 Pro Laser Screenless TVs

By

Habeeb Onawole

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Jul 30, 2017

Laser TV, Screenless TV, Ultra/Short Throw Projector. All these terms are used interchangeably to refer to more or less the same thing that broadly performs the same function which is media consumption without the need for displays. XGIMI is a Chinese electronics company known for its projectors. Last week, it unveiled the XGIMI T1, XGIMI A1 and XGIMI A1 Pro Laser Screenless TVs at an event in Beijing.

Like the name says, these are screenless TVs or rather, short throw projectors that cast a specific picture size on the wall without the need for placing the projector far away from the surface. In most cases, the projector is usually just a few inches from the wall itself. Unless you see it in person or watch a video, you won’t appreciate how neat this kind of technology is.

If you are planning on setting up a home cinema or want a large screen TV without having to deal with wires and cables, you should consider investing in one of these.

XGIMI T1

The XGIMI TI is a 4K (3840 x 2160) dual-color laser screenless TV and the most expensive one of the three. With a price tag of ¥79,999 (~$11,874), it is surely one of the most expensive screenless TVs in the market. One thing XGIMI is sure of is its brightness. They say it has the highest brightness in the market, keeping its colors and brightness even after exposure to bright light.

The XGIMI has a mixture of metal and black walnut wood design. The picture size is 120-inches and has a brightness of 4000 ANSI Lumens. It uses a true 4K lens, has a 94.8% color gamut and a 0.189:1 projection ratio. The lens is said to have a life span of more than 10 years with daily usage and the projector itself uses about half the power of an equal size LED TV.

The projector doesn’t need any special configuration when setting up. Just place it on your cabinet at a distance of 18cm from the wall and you have a 120-inch “TV” in your living room.

XGIMI has partnered with Harman Kardon for the audio of the T1. There are 6 sub-woofers fine tuned by the audio company.

The XGIMI T1 also has some smart features. It comes with GMUI 3.0 which we believe is XGIMI’s own operating system. The T1 displays your favorite content on the home screen and even has an AI assistant by Baidu.

This is the first time Baidu’s AI assistant will be used on a screenless TV. It supports voice interaction. You can search for videos and songs using just your voice, control the TV itself or even ask it questions about what’s on your screen such as identifying the actors in the movie or characters in a video.

For connectivity, there are three HDMI ports, one ethernet port, and two full-sized USB ports.

XGIMI A1 and A1 Pro

The XGIMI A1 and A1 Pro are less powerful variants of the T1. They both have a picture size of 100-inches. However, the A1 has a brightness of 30,000 ANSI Lumens while the A1 Pro is 35,000 ANSI Lumens.

Price for the A1 is ¥22,999(~$3414) and the A1 Pro costs ¥29,999 (~$4453).

They have the metal and walnut wood design like the T1 but with a clear glass at the top instead of black glass.

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Motorola Moto X4’s Likely Price Tag Leaked

By

Jed John Ikoba

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Jul 30, 2017

The Moto X4 is one of the models that are expected to herald the return of the rebranded Motorola line. The model has appeared in a couple of leaks recently, including its likely image and is even rumoured for release in the fourth quarter of this year. A new leak has appeared on Twitter that reveals the price of the Moto X4.

The Moto X4 is expected to fall in the mid-range category and the most spectacular is that the device will be supported by Google’s MVNO, Project Fi. The leak points at a price in the region of €350 ($410) in Europe for the 32GB variant. There will likely be a 64GB variant but its price is yet to be disclosed.

Moto X4 32GB will have some interesting pricing it seems. ~350 Euro in eastern EU. Lower than I thought.

— Roland Quandt (@rquandt) July 27, 2017

From previous leaks and benchmark appearances, we are able to gather the Moto X4 will have a 5.2-inch Full HD display. The device is expected to feature a Snapdragon 630 processor and that would be backed by a 3GB RAM. There are speculations that the device will pack a Snapdragon 660 chip but that may likely not happen. Other expected specifications include a 12MP rear camera as well as a 16MP front camera. There is also a rumour that the device will feature a 12MP + 8 MP dual camera setup at the rear. Also, the device will run on Android 7.1.1 OS. Although the X4 is tipped for release in the fourth quarter, no official date has been disclosed. We could as well see the X4 and even the Moto G5S launching at IFA Berlin 2017.

(source)

Micromax Announces Selfie 2 Smartphone With 8MP Front Facing Camera

By

Habeeb Onawole

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Jul 30, 2017

Indian phone manufacturer, Micromax, has a new smartphone for selfie lovers. Called the Selfie 2, the phone comes with an 8MP front facing camera. Don’t let the pixel count scare you away as it has real-time bokeh effect which allows you take portrait photos.

The 8MP front camera is a Sony IMX135 with a f/2.0 aperture. It has HDR, LED flash and can take wide-angle images. There is also the usual face beauty mode. Micromax includes a feature to take shots using the rear-mounted fingerprint scanner.

The rear camera is an OmniVision OV8856 13MP sensor. The camera has an 84° viewing-angle and a 5P lens. There is also a LED flash below it.

The Selfie 2 is an entry-level mid-range smartphone. It is powered by Mediatek’s MT6737 processor, the same one in the Indian variant of the Moto E4 Plus. There is 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. The phone comes with Android Nougat and has a 3000mAh battery.

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Nubia Z17 Coming In Flame Red On August 1 For ¥2799 (~$415)

By

Habeeb Onawole

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Jul 30, 2017

Red is a very attractive color and easily noticeable on virtually all objects. It is no surprise that smartphone manufacturers have picked it as one of their colors of choice this year alongside blue. To be honest, I am tired of the rose gold color and happy red is now appearing on devices. Nubia has announced that its Z17 flagship will launch in flame red on August 1.

The Nubia Z17 was released about 2 months ago in Black Gold, Black, Gold, Blue, and Flame Red. Since it became available for purchase you could get it in all the colors save for blue and red. Come August 1, the flame red variant will be available for purchase. There is still no news of when the blue variant will be available.

Pricing starts at ¥2799 (~$415) for the 6GB RAM + 64GB version and ¥3399 (~$505) for the 6GB RAM + 128GB ROM variant. The latter however comes with a free pair of Nubia Pro Wired Earphones that retails for ¥149 (~$22) and comes in red and black.

The Nubia Z17 is a 5.5-inch smartphone with a 1080p display. It has Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835 powering it. Apart from the 6GB RAM variants, there is also an 8GB RAM version.

Nubia has equipped the 17 with dual rear cameras. One is a f/2.0 23MP sensor and the other is a f/1.8 12MP sensor. The sensors have dual pixel technology with 2x optical zoom, and sapphire glass lens. The camera configuration allows for images with the background blur effect.

The front camera is a 16MP sensor with an f/2.0 aperture and an 80° viewing angle.

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Samsung Galaxy Note 8, iPhone 8 Front Panels Appear in Same Leaked Image

By

Anvinraj Valiyathara

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Jul 30, 2017

The Samsung Galaxy Note 8 and Apple iPhone 8 are expected to enter fierce battle in September. The Galaxy Note 8 is rumored to continue the same full-screen design that was introduced through the Infinity Display on Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+. The alleged iPhone 8 that is speculated to arrive as the special iPhone in celebration of 10^th anniversary of Apple iPhones is also rumored to come with full-screen design. A leaked image has appeared to show the front panels of the both the upcoming flagship phablets together.

The front panels of the Galaxy Note 8 and the iPhone 8 have appeared several times in the past. However, this new image that has been shared by an industry insider from China shows them placed besides each other. As it can be seen in the image, both the smartphones will be arriving with a near bezel-less appearance and with a huge display. However, it is very evident that the Galaxy Note 8 will be much bigger than the iPhone 8.

The Samsung Galaxy S8+ has a 6.2-inch display, but the Note 8 is pegged to come with a larger screen of 6.3 inches. It is speculated to support an aspect ratio of 18.5:9 which is also available on the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ smartphones. The front panel of the Galaxy Note 8 appears to be quite similar to that of the Galaxy S8+, but it the Note 8 will be coming with a larger Infinity Display.

The upper and lower bezels are a bit thick compared to the left and right bezels of the front panel of Note 8. The lower bezel is empty, but the upper bezel has cutouts for a selfie camera, iris scanner, an earpiece and more. Also, the Note 8 will be sporting a dual-edge curved screen.

On the other side, the bezels on the right, left and bottom sides of the iPhone 8 are quite thin. A recent report has revealed that theymeasure 4mm in thickness. The upper bezel is a bit thick and it appears to feature an earpiece, a selfie snapper and a pair of iris sensors. It is unlikely to feature a dual-edge curved screen. The inner corners of the top bezel will have an active OLED display that may show indicators for battery and network.

(source)

Speed Test: Xiaomi Mi 6 Running MIUI 9 Vs Samsung Galaxy S8 Vs Huawei P10

By

Habeeb Onawole

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Jul 30, 2017

Last week Xiaomi unveiled MIUI 9, the latest version of its custom ROM. Bringing a number of new features, one of the key upgrades to the OS is its speedy application launch time. Xiaomi is really confident of what it has achieved with the app launch time that it decided to pit it against the Huawei P10 and Samsung Galaxy S8.

All three phones had multiple apps installed from the same store on them and the test was carried out under a controlled environment. At the end of the day, the Xiaomi Mi 6 came out on top with 43 apps launching fastest. The Galaxy S8 (Samsung Experience) came in second with 4 apps and the Huawei P10 (EMUI 5.1) was third with 3 apps.

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Samsung Galaxy X Foldable Smartphone Allegedly Receives Bluetooth Certification

By

Anvinraj Valiyathara

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Jul 30, 2017

Previous rumors have revealed that the highly anticipated foldable smartphone from Samsung will be launching as Galaxy X. It seems that the arrival of the Galaxy X is getting closer as it has allegedly received Bluetooth SIG certification.

Earlier in this year, Samsung had trademarked the Galaxy X moniker at Korea Intellectual Property Rights Information (KIPRIS). The Bluetooth SIG certification has been granted to a Samsung mobile phone that has a model number of SM-G888N0. However, the Galaxy X moniker was certified, it was speculated that its model number is SM-9000.

The Bluetooth SIG certification has revealed that the SM-G888N0 has Bluetooth 4.2 onboard. This model number is not similar to any of the Samsung Galaxy smartphones. Interestingly, the SM-GN888N0 was also certified by Wi-Fi Alliance some time ago. It had revealed that the device was running on Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow OS. At that time, the SM-G888N0 was also speculated as the Galaxy S8 Sport (or Galaxy S8 Active).

The Galaxy X is rumored to be a flagship device and since the Galaxy S8 duo has Bluetooth 5.0 and Android 7.0 Nougat onboard, it is likely that the Galaxy X would be launching with upgraded specs. Rumors have revealed that the upcoming foldable smartphones will be available in two variants such as Galaxy X and Galaxy X1. The foldable smartphone project is said to be codenamed as Project Valley.

Some rumors had claimed that Samsung would be showcasing the Galaxy X foldable phone by the end of this year or in the starting quarter of 2018. However, the information that had surfaced in January suggested that it would be arriving later in the next year. The Galaxy X foldable smartphone is rumored to be available in limited quantity of 10,000 units to gauge the response of the market.

The rumor mill had revealed that Samsung had first tested fold-in mechanism for the alleged Galaxy X, but this idea has been reportedly cancelled as it would be convenient for the users to unfold it every time to use it. Hence, the South Korean company is rumored to use fold-in mechanism for the Galaxy X phone.

This reminds of the Lenovo Folio foldable concept tablet that was recently showcased at the Lenovo Tech World event. It has a 5.5-inch screen that grows to a 7.8-inch display when unfolded. Other sources that the purported Galaxy X won’t be a bendable device, but it will be coming with two different panels that will be connected with each other using a hinge.

(source|via)

Samsung Galaxy Note 8 to Deliver Best Multimedia Experience

By

Anvinraj Valiyathara

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Jul 30, 2017

The rumor mill has been leaking a lot of information on the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Note 8 that will be unveiling on Aug. 23. During a recent conference call, Samsung confirmed that it that the Galaxy Note 8 will be delivering stellar multimedia experience.

A Samsung executive said during the conference call that the first-generation Galaxy Note that was introduced in 2011 was packed with several multimedia features along with a big display and a S-Pen stylus that was available on very few smartphones. He further added that, “the Galaxy Note 8 will feature more advanced, richer multimedia functionalities.” However, he did not reveal exact information on what he meant by “advanced, richer multimedia functionalities.”

There is a possibility that the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 may come with a huge storage to allow users to store plenty of multimedia content. Its screen which is larger than the 6.2-inch screen of Galaxy S8+ may support 4K resolution. It may come deliver impressive audio experience with inbuilt Harmon Kardon speakers. Also, the Galaxy Note 8 is speculated to supported augmented reality. After all, apart from the dual rear cameras and S-Pen stylus, the Galaxy Note 8 should have some features that will make it a difference than the slightly smaller Galaxy S8+ phablet. Since the Bixby AI supports both South Korean and English languages, there is a high possibility that the Note 8 will be featuring it.

Galaxy Note 8

The Galaxy Note 8 was recently found to be available for pre-registrations in Australia and has recently passed FCC certification which is one of the prerequisites for launching a mobile device in the U.S. Leaked rumors have revealed that the Note 8 will be coming with Infinity Display that will be supporting 18.5:9 aspect ratio. The Snapdragon 835 chipset and 6 GB of RAM will be present under the hood of the Note 8. It will be coming with a 3,300mAh capacity battery.

The first batch of countries to receive the Galaxy Note 8 will be the U.S., the U.K and South Korea. The Note 8 will be hitting these markets by early September. The other markets are rumored to receive it in October. It seems that the release of the Note 8 in South Korea and the U.S. will clash with LG V30 that is rumored to release on Sept. 15 in South Korea and on Sept. 28 in the U.S.

(source|via)

LG V30 Releasing on Sept. 15 in South Korea and on Sept. 28 in the U.S.

By

Anvinraj Valiyathara

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Jul 30, 2017

Even though LG did not confirm directly on the name of the device that it will be unveiling on Aug. 31, it is quite evident that the South Korean company would be debuting the LG V30 flagship phablet. Fresh information suggests that the LG V30 would be available in the United States almost one month after its official unveiling.

According to Android Authority, a source has revealed to do it that an internal document that contains plans for LG’s plans for its upcoming flagship phone that carries a codenamed of JOAN. The LG V30 flagship will be first made available in South Korea, the home country of the company. Fresh information suggests that the LG V30 would available in the U.S. by Sept. 15.

In the U.S., the pre-orders of the LG V30 is expected to begin on Sept. 17 through all the major carriers and release in the market on Sept. 28. As of this writing, there is no information available on its pricing. The LG V30 is also expected to debut in Europe and several other regions by the end of September. As of this writing, there is no information on the pricing of the LG V30. Speculations hint that the LG V30 may cost around $700 in the U.S.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 8 will be debuting on Aug. 23. The Galaxy Note 7 from last year met with an ill-fated death, but it was relaunched as Galaxy Note Fan Edition in South Korea in July which was met with stupendous response. Hence, the Galaxy Note 8 is pegged to receive overwhelming response. However, the LG V30 that will be debuting a week later could be the biggest rivaling for the Note 8.

The LG V30 is rumored to come with a Full Vison 6-inch display like the LG G6 and the flagship phone would be driven by Snapdragon 835 chipset. It is expected to feature 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of storage. However, other rumors claim that LG may release a 6 GB RAM model.

A 13-megapixel dual rear camera setup like the one present on LG G6 is expected to be available on the LG V30. Other rumored features of the LG V30 improved multimedia capabilities with impressive video controls and dedicated DAC, 3,300 mAh battery with wireless charging support along with military standard protection.

(source)

Samsung Begins Galaxy Note 8 Pre-Registration In Australia

By

Habeeb Onawole

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Jul 29, 2017

The launch of the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 is a little less than a month away. Although availability is said to still be in September and October, the pre-registration page is already up in Australia.

Australia isn’t even among the first set of countries to get the Galaxy Note 8, so its surprising to see that pre-registration is live there. There is nothing much to the page, just basic information (name, email, mobile number), carrier details, and also Instagram account if you have one.

The Galaxy Note 8 will be Samsung’s first globally available dual camera smartphone. It will have the same infinity display as the Galaxy S8 and S8+ but slightly larger than the latter. Samsung has said the Note 8 will offer more advanced multimedia features but failed to mention what these features are.

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Grab The Leagoo KIICAA Power For Just $59.99

By

Habeeb Onawole

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Jul 29, 2017

Dual cameras, 4000mAh, fingerprint scanner and Android Nougat are features found on phones over $200. What if I told you you can get the above mentioned features in a phone that sells for roughly a third of that price? Yes, you can, and that phone is the Leagoo KIICAA Power.

The Leagoo KIICAA Power is currently available for $59.99 down from its original $69.99 price. That’s $10 off which you can use to purchase a microSD card since it comes with just 16GB of storage.

The Leagoo KIICAA Power has a 5-inch HD display. There is 2GB of RAM on board and a Mediatek MT6580A quad-core processor. At the back sits an 8MP sensor paired with a 5MP secondary sensor with a large f/2.2 aperture. Leagoo says you can take images with the bokeh effect using the cameras. The front facing camera has a 5.0MP sensor with 77.9° viewing angle.

A 4050mAh high-density battery means you can watch videos and play games for hours. There is also a rear-mounted ceramic fingerprint scanner that unlocks in 0.3s and has a 360°recognition angle.

The Leagoo KIICAA Power runs Leagoo OS 3.0 Lite based on Android 7.0 out of the box. It doesn’t have LTE though but you get an audio jack, FM Radio, and dual SIM slots.

If you are interested in picking up this phone, you should head to the link below. The promo runs for a limited time, so we suggest you hurry. The phone is available in black and gold and comes with a free silicone case.

Buy The Leagoo KIICAA Power For $59.99

Moto G5S and Moto G5S Plus Pricing Leaked

By

Habeeb Onawole

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Jul 29, 2017

Pricing details for the Moto G5S and Moto G5S Plus have been revealed by tech blogger Roland Quandt. He also revealed the pricing for the 32GB variant of the Moto X4 yesterday. Comparing all three prices, it will be a tough decision (or not) for buyers if they turn out to be true.

Motorola Moto G5S will be ~300 Euro.
Motorola Moto G5S Plus will be ~330 Euro.
Again, prices from eastern EU.

— Roland Quandt (@rquandt) July 28, 2017

According to him, the Moto G5S will be priced around €300 and the Moto G5S Plus will be around €330. Add €20 more and you should be able to purchase the Moto X4.

While the Moto X4 is a brand new device, the Moto G5S and Moto G5S Plus are just slight upgrades to the Moto G5 and Moto G5 Plus released this year.

Moto X4	Moto G5S	Moto G5S Plus
5.2-inch 1080p Display	5.0-inch 1080p Display	5.5-inch 1080p Display
Snapdragon 630	Snapdragon 430	Snapdragon 625
Dual 8MP + 12MP Rear Cameras	13MP Rear Cameras	Dual 13MP Rear Cameras
16MP Front Facing Camera	5MP Front Facing Camera	8MP Front Facing Camera
4GB RAM + 64GB ROM/3GB RAM + 32GB ROM	3GB RAM + 32GB ROM/ 2GB RAM + 16GB ROM	4GB RAM + 64GB ROM
3000mAh Battery	*2800mAh Battery	*3000mAh
IP68 Rating	Water Repellent Nano-Coating	Water Repellent Nano-Coating
€350 for 32GB variant	€300	€330

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ASUS ZenFone 4 Pro Appears in Qualcomm’s Official Shot of 1Gbps LTE Testing and in Couple of Leaked Images

By

Anvinraj Valiyathara

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Jul 28, 2017

In the previous week, ASUS had released official teasers for ZenFone 4. Speculations have it that ZenFone 4 and other phones from the ZenFone 4 series will debut on Aug. 17. An Italian website, DDay.it, has revealed some leaked photos of the ZenFone 4 Pro placed in a protective case. Also, well-known leakster Roland Quandt has tweeted that the ZenFone 4 Pro was officially shown during a press event in Italy.

According to Quandt, Qualcomm and ASUS collaborated on the demonstration of 1 Gigabit LTE at the Italian press event. One of the other leaked images shown below shows that even Ericsson is also working with ASUS and Qualcomm. He revealed that the phone seen next to the laptop in the image is the ASUS ZenFone 4 Pro. It appears that the Snapdragon 835 chipset of the ZenFone 4 Pro is equipped with Snapdragon LTE X16 modem that is capable of delivering 1 Gbps LTE connectivity with carrier aggregation.

The real-life images of the ZenFone 4 Pro suggest that it would be coming with dual rear cameras that will carry support for 2x optical zoom. The Italian website has claimed that it has a 21-megapixel dual camera module. There is no confirmation on whether it features a pair of 21-megapixel sensors or if one of the camera lenses is of 21-megapixel sensor. Since it is rumored to be a flagship phone, the Italian publication has added that the Snapdragon 835 chipset will be powering the ZenFone 4 Pro.

The ASUS ZenFone 4 Pro is expected to come with a 5.7-inch AMOLED display that will produce Quad HD resolution. Below the display is a Home button that seems to be integrated with a fingerprint sensor.

The Snapdragon 835 chipset will be accompanied by 6 GB of RAM. It will be coming with a native storage of 64 GB of storage. It will be preloaded with Android 7.1.1 Nougat OS. The model number of this ASUS phone is ASUS_Z01GS adds DDay. The previously spotted model number of ASUS_Z01GD could be its other variant. Speculations suggest that it will be releasing in September. The ZenFone 4V is the other phone that is expected to launch on Sept. 21. ASUS has already debuted ZenFone 4 Max and on Aug. 17, the Taiwanese company is speculated to introduce other ZenFone 4 phones like ZenFone 4 Pro, ZenFone 4, and ZenFone 4 Selfie.

(source 1,2,3)

Essential Loses Three Executives Soon After Essential Phone’s Launch; Is That Causing Essential Phone’s Delay?

By

Anvinraj Valiyathara

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Jul 28, 2017

The Essential Phone was introduced with various attractive features at the end of May. However, there is something wrong in the company as three executives have left Andy Rubin’s company, Essential Products in just one month. The shipments of the Essential Phone was promised to begin at the end of June, but it has been delayed. Could the recent resigning of top employees of the company be the reason behind the delay of the Essential Phone’s release?

As mentioned above, the employees that left the company do not belong to mid-management but they are high ranking executives that Rubin had handpicked to build a powerful team for his company. Brian Wallace who served as the Vice-President of Marketing for the company left the company at the beginning of this month. He has now joined well-known musician will.i.am’s startup iam+ as the Chief Marketing Officer.

The next one to leave the company was Andy Fouche who was working as the Head of Communications. Today, the head of UX, Liron Damir made his exit from the company. He played a vital role in the designing of the webOS and Pebble and now that he has joined Google, he will be pioneering the Google Home division and use his expertise in designing the future smart products from Google.

There is no confirmation on whether the exit of these top executives could be the reason behind the delay of the Essential Phone. The exit of these employees have been reported by numerous media sites, there is no official statement from the company on why they left the company.

Rubin confirmed in the previous week that the company will be begin the shipments of the Essential Phone in the coming weeks. Well again, the statement does not include an exact release date. Hence, it is not known how may weeks it will take for the Essential Phone to arrive in the market. Since the phone has already received certifications from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Wi-Fi Alliance, it seems that the Essential Phone’s release is close at hand.

Essential Products have confirmed that it is working on a device named Home. It will be a hub for connected appliances that can be controlled with voice. It will feature a touchscreen and a digital assistant. There is no information available on the release of Essential Products’ Home.

(source|via)

Essential Phone’s 13 MP RGB + Mono Dual Camera System and its Camera Samples Explained

By

Anvinraj Valiyathara

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Jul 28, 2017

The shipments of Andy Rubin’s Essential Phone were expected to begin at the end of the previous month. However, it’s arrival has been delayed. Since Essential Phone has recently received certifications from FCC and Wi-Fi Alliance, its arrival is close at hand. The 13-megapixel dual rear cameras of the Essential Phone are one of its best features apart from its modular capabilities for 360-degree video and full-screen design. Soon after the unveiling of the Essential Phone, the official camera samples that appeared noisy where released by Essential President Niccolo de Masi. The two photos shared by him on Twitter was deleted and replaced by a better panoramic video. The company has been working hard to improve the camera prowess of the Essential Phone. The company has now revealed how it developed the dual camera setup.

Ms. Yazhu Ling who is honored with MS in Color and Imagining along with PhD in Human Visual Perception is the person who is directing the camera department for Essential. The Essential Phone is equipped with a pair of 13-megapixel camera sensors that comprises of an RGB (color) senor and a monochrome sensor. Both the camera sensors work together to deliver composite shots.

According to Ling who has been working on the camera of the Essential Phone since October last year has said that when the Essential Phone is used to capture still images, both of its camera sensors are used simultaneously to crate a final image with rich and deep clarity. The dual camera of the Essential Phone is also capable of capturing impressive photos in low-light conditions. The following camera sample on the left is the raw unprocessed data shot using the color sensor and the one on the right is the processed image using Image Signal Processing (ISP).

When the dual rear cameras are launched for taking a snap, the surrounding are first examined by the camera sensors to check the available light. Then, the ISP springs into action to input the required light by calculating parameters like white balance, exposure and things of that nature. This process is called objective image tuning which is all about shooting an adequate image.

However, the optimization of the images while shooting does not work perfectly all the time. Hence, many photographers prefer to capture RAW images that may appear dull but are very suitable for editing. Since people want their smartphones to shoot better looking images, Essential Phone employs subjective image tuning for photography. So, what is subjective image tuning? Ling says that, “The key to subjective tuning is capturing all types of pictures in the wild, identifying systematic image quality problems, and adjusting the ISP setting to address them. It is a painstaking, iterative process—but also one I find incredibly rewarding.”

Left- color only at ISO 400, Middle- mono only at ISO 400, Right – fusion

Ling and her team have been working hard to fine tune the subjective ISP technology that runs in background because users make use of the smartphone’s camera in different kinds of scenes, distances and lighting conditions. This will allow the dual rear cameras of the Essential Phone to snap good photos not only in the labs but also in real-life conditions.

The above camera samples show amazing results that a smartphone camera can shoot at ISO 1800. This value is quite high for the Essential Phone’s small sensors. Ling has further said that, “our subjective tuning process began in January 2017, and during that time, we have gone through 15 major tuning iterations, along with countless smaller tuning patches and bug fixes. We have captured and reviewed more than 20,000 pictures and videos, and are adding more of them to our database every day. We’re almost there, but I’m not going to stop tuning the camera on our phone until the last possible minute to provide the best photographic experience possible.”

Same scene snapped multiple times since March 2017. Each of the above images depict different stages of manual tuning.

Here is another camera sample:

The camera samples appear are only for preview purpose and they appear quite impressive compared to the grainy shots that was revealed earlier. More of official information can be found on the Essential blog link in the source.

(source|via)

Huawei Announces Exit From Low-end Market, Now To Focus On High-End Phones

By

Jed John Ikoba

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Jul 28, 2017

Huawei‘s Consumer Business division yesterday held a press conference which was sort of an appraisal of its performance for the first half of the year which just went by and also to unveil its plans for the second half of the year. During the media briefing, Huawei CEO Richard Yu announced sensationally that the company will stop producing low-end, budget smartphones and would instead focus on premium, high-end devices. Top among this transition is the Mate 10 which would be launched later this year with a premium design aimed to take on Apple’s upcoming iPhone 8 launching around the same time.

Huawei posted a record profit of 20.6% growth in shipment over last year’s H1 figures. The increase in total shipments also resulted in an increase in the revenue posted for H1 2017 which stands at 105.4 billion Yuan. The Chinese tech leader is hoping to ship 140 million to 150 million units in total this year and with the figures already posted, they are well on the way to achieving a figure in that range. Last year, Huawei shipped 139 million units but that didn’t translate into a commensurate profit margin. This is traceable to the fact that a large chunk of the shipments were budget and mid-range models. Richard Yu gave this as the reason for ditching the very low-end market because of the extremely low-profit margin. The Huawei CEO also disclosed that the company’s priority is Europe, China and Japan where the economy is healthy and people are able to buy the premium models.

This announcement raises some questions that we may not get an official answer soon and the most pertinent is the fate of the Honor brand. Huawei’s Honor brand is believed to focus on high-end phones but we could see the Honor brand revamped. Recently, Honor phones with budget specs were sported on TENAA which was seen as unusual. With this latest development, it is possible Honor will now incorporate budget and mid-range models while the Huawei brand focuses on only flagship models. We’ll get a clearer picture as the days roll by.

(source)

Samsung Galaxy S8 Active Full Specs Leak Online

By

Habeeb Onawole

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Jul 28, 2017

Full specification details of the Galaxy S8 have been leaked online. Earlier this week, we got our hands on live photos of the rugged variant of the Galaxy S8 and a few specification details. This fresh leak comes in form of snapshots by Weibo user, Kumamoto Technology.

Samsung’s Galaxy S8 Active ditches the curved display but keeps the size at 5.8-inches and the resolution at 2960 x 1440. Samsung says the display is shatter resistant. It has 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage and the Snapdragon 835 mobile platform under the hood. There is a micro SD card slot that allows you to add up to an additional 256GB of storage.

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Camera configuration is a 12MP f/1.7 sensor on the rear and an 8MP f/1.7 in front for selfies. The S8 Active has NFC, Bluetooth 5.1, MST, GPS and GLONASS and runs Android 7.0.

The Galaxy S8 Active comes with a bigger 4000mAh battery with support for fast wireless charging. It will be available in Meteor Gray and Titanium Gold.

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