Launch of Xiaomi’s Full Inverter Air Conditioner is Fast Approaching

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Jul 17, 2017

Since 2015, Xiaomi has released numerous smart home products as the demand for such devices have been growing rapidly. It seems that the company will be soon introducing a new full inverter air conditioner.

At the end of June, an air conditioner with model number KFR-35GW / 01ZM was spotted receiving 3C certification in China. It is manufactured by Sichuan Changhong Electronic Technology Co. Ltd and it was also found that the product be launching as full inverter air conditioner by Xiaomi.

Insiders from Sichuan Changhong foundry has revealed that Xiaomi’s air conditioner is ready and there will be multiple models of Xiaomi’s air conditioning products. Xiaomi has been working on air conditioning product since the past the three years and it seems that its arrival is finally drawing near.

It has been by the insiders that Xiaomi’s full inverter air conditioner is arriving soon and it is expected to be at least $500 cheaper than similar products from other brands. Such an aggressive pricing will compel users to buy the first air conditioner from Xiaomi.

In 2015, Xiaomi had teamed up with Midea, a private Chinese firm that specializes in electronic consumer goods, to manufacture a smart AC unit. However, the co-operation between the two companies drew ire from Gree’s president Dong Mingzhu. She commented on the collaboration between Xiaomi and Midea as “two swindlers working together make it into a fraud group.”

The i-Youth Smart Air Conditioner that was the product launched by Xiaomi and Midea was met with lukewarm response from the consumers. Industry watchers feel that since Xiaomi does not have its own AC manufacturing factory, it won’t be easy for Xiaomi to gain good market share in short time.

However, the low-priced air conditioner from the company will cause a price war with other brands. The specifications of the Xiaomi full inverter air conditioner have not surfaced yet. At present, Gree and Midea are the two leading air-conditioning brands in China followed by Haier. The market share of Xiaomi is 7 percent in the air conditioning market.

(source)

Galaxy Note 8 Launches Late August and Goes on Sale in September Says CEO

By

Habeeb Onawole

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Jul 17, 2017

The Galaxy Note 8 has been in the news a lot lately, with the focus being on launch date. Samsung’s CEO has decided to clear the air regarding when the new flagship will hit the market.

Samsung CEO DJ Koh

Speaking at an interview in Taiwan during the weekend, the CEO, DJ Koh said plans are underway to release the Galaxy Note 8 in August. He then said availability will be in two phases. The US, UK and Samsung’s home country will get the phone first in September while the rest of the world gets it in October.

Samsung is aiming for an early release so that sales do not coincide with that of the new iPhones.

Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Render

The new Galaxy Note 8 will be the direct successor to the ill-fated Galaxy Note 7 which had to be recalled. This was due to issues with its battery which caused it to burst into flames and made it dangerous to use.

Samsung later re-launched the phone has a refurbished version this month, calling it the Galaxy FE. It is currently available in South Korea and may launch globally later. The phone now comes with a smaller battery, a Snapdragon 821 processor and Samsung’s new assistant called Bixby.

Previous reports had put the Galaxy Note 8′ launch on August 23 and while the CEO didn’t state the exact date, we know it is definitely late August.

(Source)

Meizu Flow Headphone To Be Released Alongside The Pro 7

By

Jed John Ikoba

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Jul 17, 2017

Meizu has already revealed that the much anticipated Pro 7 will be launched on July 26. The tech company has also released another poster revealing that it would be launching another product alongside the Pro 7. The product is named Meizu Flow which is a headset and it is teased with the powerful slogan “Feel nothing Hear everything”.

The details as regards the features of the headset is unknown but as we told you earlier on, the Meizu Flow is expected to be a high-end headphone and the slogan for this teaser suggests that much. The headset may have popped up online in a recent leak, though, and is said to have a design which looks similar to AKG’s high-end product – K3003. The poster also contains the inscription – “Meizu PRO headphones” which could be an indication that it would be releasing more than one headphone.

We can’t say if the headphone will be offered as part of the Pro 7 package at a reduced price but the accessory will be unveiled at the same event with the Pro 7 and Pro 7 Plus as revealed on the Meizu crowdfunding platform’s Weibo account. Whether it is an in-ear, on the ear or Bluetooth headset, we’ll wait some more to find out about that but Meizu’s business background means it has the ability to manufacture quality headsets capable of giving out a powerful and much more immersive sound. However, don’t expect this one to come with a cheap price tag.

(source)

Xiaomi Mi 6’s All Four Color Variants Including Bright Blue to be Available from Tomorrow

By

Anvinraj Valiyathara

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Jul 17, 2017

Xiaomi Mi 6 was introduced in China on April 19 and the company had confirmed that it would be coming four colors. However, at the beginning, only the black variant of Xiaomi Mi 6 was available for purchase. The white edition of Xiaomi Mi 6 was made available on July 14 and it sold very quickly. Few weeks after its launch, its Ceramic Edition was made available briefly. The other color variants of the Mi 6 would be going on sale tomorrow in the home country of China.

The four colors like Bright Black, Bright White, Bright Blue and Ceramic Black of the Xiaomi Mi 6 will be available for buying from July 18. The above poster does not provide any information on the timing of the availability of the Mi 6 color variants. It only states that these models will be priced at 2,499 Yuan (~$369).

Since white variant was exhausted within few seconds after its launch on July 14, it seems that the other variants will be sold out quickly. Xiaomi has not given any information on the number of units of each color variants of Mi 6 that will be available for buying tomorrow.

Xiaomi Mi 6 is one of the bestselling flagship phones of 2017. It will be the first smartphone to get the MIUI 9 update. Few days ago, a special edition of the phone called Xiaomi Mi 6 Jackie Chan Limited Edition with an autograph of the actor was introduced. Around two months ago, several color editions of the ceramic variant of Xiaomi Mi 6 such as gold, gray, silver, white, black, pink, champagne gold, frosted black, dark gray, cherry blossom, and blue were spotted on TENAA. However, there has been no confirmation from Xiaomi on the arrival of these color variants of Mi 6.

Xiaomi Mi 6 is available with a screen size of 5.15 inches that supports full HD resolution. It is fueled by Snapdragon 835 and 6 GB of RAM. It comes in storage models like 64 GB and 128 GB. It has a 12-megapixel dual rear camera system and an 8-megapixel frontal camera. The 3,350mAh battery is enabled with Quick Charge 3.0 support.

(source)

Nokia 105 & Nokia 130 New Feature Phones with Low Pricing Launched

By

Anvinraj Valiyathara

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Jul 17, 2017

HMD Global reintroduced Nokia this year by launching phones like Nokia 6, Nokia 5 and Nokia 3. And, it also launched a revamped version of the old Nokia 3310 entry-level phone. After releasing the Nokia 3310 (2017), the company came to know that there is great potential for feature phones. Hence, the company has launched two new entry level phones, the Nokia 105 and Nokia 130 that run on Nokia S30+ platform. These smartphones had appeared on TENNA few weeks ago.

Nokia 150 Specs, Features, Pricing

Nokia 105 has a 1.8-inch color display and it comes in single SIM and dual SIM versions. It comes loaded with games like Snake Xenzia and try and purchase games such as Doodle Jump and Crossy Road. It supports 2G network and it includes a 800mAh capacity battery that offers a continuous talk time of 15 hours and a standby time of up to one month. As far as storage is concerned, the Nokia 105 allows users up to 500 SMS and up to 2,000 contacts. It does not feature a camera. It also features FM Radio and microUSB 2.0.

Nokia 105 features a polycarbonate chassis and tactile island keymat. It measures 112. x 49.5 x 14.4 mm and its weight is 73 grams. The Nokia 105 single SIM is priced at $14.5 and its dual-SIM model is priced at $15. It is available in color choices like Black, White and Blue.

Nokia 130 Specs, Features, Pricing

Nokia 130 also features a 1.8-inch color screen. It comes with an internal storage of 32 GB and also features a microSD card slot. It is also loaded with games like Snake Xenzia along with 5 try and purchase games from Gameloft. Its 1020mAh battery can support up to 11.5 hours of video playback and 44.5 hour of continuous playing of FM Radio. It also features Bluetooth connectivity and supports wireless Bluetooth headsets and it also includes a LED flash light. It is equipped with a camera on its rear panel.

Nokia 130 measures 111.5 x 48.4 x 14.2 mm and it comes in colors like Red, Grey and Black. The single SIM and dual SIM Nokia 130 is available with an average worldwide pricing of $21.5.

HMD Global CEO Arto Nummela commented on Nokia 105 and 130 by saying that “With more than 4 billion people remaining offline[ix] and unable to benefit from the social and economic development opportunities of the internet, simply getting connected by voice and text is still such an important step for many people around the world. More than 400 million feature phones were sold globally in 2016[x]. We cannot underestimate the need and benefit of being connected and we are dedicated to delivering devices that can enable many people around the world to expand their horizon.”

Meizu Staff Debunks Rumours Of Exynos 8895-powered Pro 7

By

Jed John Ikoba

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Jul 17, 2017

One of the most recent rumours about the Meizu Pro 7 is that the Pro 7 Plus will come with Samsung’s Exynos 8895 processor while the Pro 7 will have an Helio X30 chip only. The rumour doesn’t in anyway remove the possibility of the Helio X30 chip having more or similar fire power as Samsung’s latest flagship chip but then, the Exynos 8895 benchmark is already known and it is powerful! That made the rumour sound interesting.

That notwithstanding, the rumour may not have any credibility in it as a Meizu staff has bluntly denied the existence of such configuration on the Pro 7 or Pro 7 Plus. The Meizu staff has taken down the post, by the way, so we couldn’t get a translated screenshot for you but he categorically stated that there is no Exynos 8895 on the Pro 7. The staff hinted that the Pro 7 project had commenced even before the Exynos 8895 chip or the Samsung Galaxy S8 was introduced and the R&D stage could even pre-date that of the Galaxy S8.

It is likely the rumour originated from the internet, particularly from Weibo as you can see from the screenshot above and not from Meizu. Perhaps, the rumours would sound less interesting if the Helio X30 chip has appeared on several benchmarks so we could know how capable it is as a flagship chip. But then, Meizu has released official posters for the launch of the Pro 7 on July 26. We expect some benchmark data to leak before then. Even if it doesn’t, we’ll serve you a detailed review of the device here on Gizmochina as soon as we get our hands on it after the launch.

(source, via)

Xiaomi Teases Launch of Smallest Mi TV Slated For July 18

By

Jed John Ikoba

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Jul 17, 2017

We had brought you the news that Xiaomi’s smallest Mi TV had received 3C certification a couple of days back. Well, the Chinese tech giant has released a poster that is meant to tease the launch of the new TV billed to take place tomorrow (July 18). The poster doesn’t explicitly state that the TV will be small or even the exact size of the TV but from the teasers, we can understand how its size will be.

The poster contains questions like if the bedroom is too small that there is no space for a TV or if the rental TV was too heavy to move. These no doubt means the TV will be smaller than previous Xiaomi releases. The poster also hinted at a lower cost for upcoming TV which s believed to be a 32-inch version of the Mi TV 4A.

Apart from the size which is expected to be around 32 inches, the Xiaomi TV is expected to come with the same features as the models that are already in the market, talking about the Xiaomi Mi TV 4A which is only available in 43-inch, 49-inch, 55-inch and 65-inch models. The TV will be making its debut on Xiaomi Mall by 10 AM tomorrow. We’ll have to wait till then for the price but it is speculated to be around 1,499 Yuan.

(source)

Meizu PRO 7 Launch Invitation Confirms July 26 Unveil

By

Anvinraj Valiyathara

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Jul 17, 2017

In the past month, plenty of information on the Meizu PRO 7 and PRO 7 Plus smartphones have surfaced. Recently, the senior vice-president of Meizu, Jeffery Yuan had updated his Weibo profile with an image of PRO 7. This indicated that the Meizu PRO 7 may launch on the rumored date of July 26. Finally, the Chinese has confirmed on the unveil event that will be happening on the same date.

The Meizu PRO 7 is now confirmed to debut on July 26 through a launch event that will be held at the headquarters of the company in Zhuhai, China. The event will begin at 7:30 PM local time. Here is the Weibo post from the company that declares the official launch of Meizu PRO 7:

The word “window” in the above Weibo post probably refers to the secondary screen that is present on the rear side of the Meizu PRO 7 duo. This secondary screen can be used for seeing notifications. It can also function as a viewfinder for camera. It can be also used for playing games. Meizu. The 2-inch screen will also work in black and white mode and it will be usable even when the phone is turned off.

Yesterday, some images of the leaked invitations of a box with a dummy unit of the Meizu PRO 7 had surfaced. One of the images of the dummy unit of the PRO 7 contains a secondary screen with the information on the launch date and venue mentioned on it.

The Meizu PRO 7 and PRO 7 Plus are speculated to respectively feature 5.2-inch FHD and 5.7-inch QHD screens that will probably support Quad HD resolution. Previous rumors had hinted that the Exynos 8895 chipset would be powering the smartphone, but fresh details suggest that all the variants of the Meizu PRO & and PRO 7 Plus will be driven by the MediaTek Helio X30 chipset that includes a ten-core processor. Both the smartphones will be equipped with a 12-megapixel dual rear camera setup. It is speculated to include Sony IMX386 and IMX286 sensors.

Following are the speculated RAM and storage variants along with their respective pricing of the both the phones:

Meizu PRO 7

6 GB RAM + 64 GB storage – 2,799 Yuan (~$413)

8 GB RAM + 128 GB storage – 3,299 Yuan (~$486)

Meizu PRO 7 Plus

4 GB RAM + 64 GB storage – 3,299 Yuan (~$486)

6 GB RAM + 128 GB storage – 3,599 Yuan (~$530)

8 GB RAM + 128 GB storage – 3,799 Yuan (~$560)

(source)

Xiaomi 5X New Leaks Reveal High Model with Snapdragon 660, 6 GB RAM

By

Anvinraj Valiyathara

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Jul 17, 2017

A leaked poster of the Xiaomi 5X that had surfaced recently gave out some information on its specifications. A clearer image of the poster has surfaced today. Also, fresh leaks suggest that the Xiaomi 5X would be coming in standard and high variants.

It seems that the poster is only talking about the key specs of the standard edition of the Xiaomi 5X. It would be powered by Snapdragon 625 chipset and 4 GB of RAM. A display of 5.5 inches that probably supports full HD resolution would be present on the Xiaomi 5X.

Fresh information suggests that the high edition of Xiaomi 5X would be driven by Snapdragon 660 chipset and 6 GB of RAM. This model will be providing a native storage of 64 GB. The poster reveals that it would be priced at 1,999 Yuan (~$294).

A leaked photo of the alleged Xiaomi 5X that had appeared in the past week revealed that it would be coming with dual rear cameras. New leaks state that it will be graced a 12-megapixel dual camera system that will be featuring a Sony IMX386 sensor and a Samsung S5k3m3 sensor. For shooting selfies, it would be arriving with a 16-megapixel snapper. It would be preloaded with Android 7.1.1 Nougat overlaid with MIUI 9.

It is likely that the standard edition of the Xiaomi 5X would be also coming with same front and rear cameras. There is no confirmation on whether the high version of Xiaomi 5X will sport the same 5.5-inch display or it will feature a larger one. The Xiaomi 5X is rumored to come with a front-mounted fingerprint reader. The pricing of the high variant of the smartphone is not known.

Xiaomi is yet to confirm on the existence of the Xiaomi 5X, but newer information suggests that it would be debuting on July 26 which is less than ten days away. Interestingly, Meizu is confirmed to launch the Meizu PRO 7 and PRO 7 Plus on the same date.

Xiaomi is known for its Mi series high-end phones and Redmi series mid-range phones. These phones are mainly sold online. The Xiaomi 5X is rumored to be the first smartphone from the speculated new sub-brand from the company. Reports claim that the phones under the new sub-brand will be sold offline to rival with brands like OPPO and Vivo.

(source)

Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Renders & Details Surface

By

Jed John Ikoba

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Jul 17, 2017

Samsung‘s latest Galaxy S8 sales first showed prospects when the flagship went up for sale a couple of months back but along the line, sales have reportedly declined. Couple with the fact that Apple’s 2017 iPhone 8 flagship is just by the wings and may be launched soon, Samsung is said to be planning for a quick release of the Galaxy Note 8 around September.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 8 is the next model in the stylus laden Galaxy Note series that is as old as the Galaxy S-series. A couple of renders of the Galaxy Note 8 leaked recently, basically giving us an idea of what the device may look like. The renders resemble earlier ones we have seen before now and that tends to seal the idea that the Note 8 will utilise a design similar to the Galaxy S8. The leaked renders show the Galaxy Note 8 will have the same infinity display with a near-bezel-less front just like the Galaxy S8. The device will only have slight bezels at the top and bottom but the sides will be curved.Sadly, the renders only show the front view of the Galaxy Note 8 so we still haven’t got a view of the rear. However, the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 is said to come with dual cameras at the rear which consists of two 12MP sensors with Optical Image Stabilization. There will also a rear fingerprint sensor and as usual a Stylus pen.

As far as the specs go, the Galaxy Note 8 is also detailed in the leak to pack a 6.2-inch display and will be powered by a Snapdragon 835 chip on some models and an Exynos 8895 chip on some others. The device will also feature 6GB RAM version as the standard model and a higher 8GB RAM version that would be available in China. The price is expected to go as high as 7,000 Yuan (~$1030).

(source)

Sketch of 2nd-Gen Ivvi 3D Phone Leaks, Sports Dual Rear Cameras

By

Habeeb Onawole

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Jul 16, 2017

For those who don’t know, Ivvi used to be a sub-brand of smartphone company Coolpad. Last year, LeEco became the largest shareholder at Coolpad, but we do not know if it was responsible for selling off 80% of Ivvi’s stake in December 2016 to SuperD, a display technology company in China. This year has seen the release of the Ivvi K5 and the Ivvi V3. The former has a glasses-free 3D display and may be getting a successor soon.

A sketch of a new phone said to be a 2nd-gen 3D smartphone was leaked online last week. There were reports earlier this year that the company would launch new products with glasses-free 3D display and it appears the image points to one of them.

Apart from the phone having a 3D display, it will also have dual rear cameras and a likely front-mounted fingerprint scanner. The overall design of the phone is different as the sketch shows a phone that is curvier than your average smartphone. The display is also curved at the edges just like the LG G6.

It is not known if this is the final design but the phone looks like it will be a bit wide based on its unusual shape. Another info from the leaked image is the writing at the bottom right corner which says “Ivvi V Series”. This means it will belong in the same series as the V3 released last month.

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Xiaomi Provides Explanation for Delay in Split-Screen Implementation in MIUI

By

Habeeb Onawole

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Jul 16, 2017

Split-screen multitasking was already available for years before Google made it a default feature in Android Nougat. Samsung was one of the early pioneers and called it Multi-Window. Now that it is a stock android feature, some manufacturers are yet to implement it and a prime example is Xiaomi’s MIUI.

The feature will just be hitting devices via the MIUI 9 update scheduled to launch next month. Better late than never, right? Xiaomi decided to explain why it took so long to implement split-screen in MIUI.

First reason stated is the length of time it took discussing the new feature and how it will affect usage. They also had to figure out how to implement it across the various Xiaomi phones which are running different versions of android.

Another issue they had to deal with was the redesign of the recent task menu to accommodate the split-screen feature. Doing that escalated some previous issues that were already present within the recent apps menu.

Now that everything seems to be sorted out, we should expect the feature to be available on the first stable roll-out of MIUI 9.

Entering split-screen mode in MIUI 9 is simple. Once you are in the recent apps menu, tap the icon at the top left corner and you will be able to drag apps to each vertical half of the screen

Some advanced features that are present include double tapping the split windows to change the position of the apps or double tapping the recent apps button to switch to the previous app.

Exiting is easy as well. You can drag any of the apps till it completely takes the whole screen or use the exit split-screen button when you are in the recent apps menu.

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Xiaomi 5X Could Be First Smartphone from Xiaomi’s New Sub-brand; Key Specifications and Pricing Leaked

By

Anvinraj Valiyathara

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Jul 16, 2017

Xiaomi is speculated to soon introduce a new sub-brand. Rumors had speculated that Xiaomi X1 could be the name of first smartphone under this sub-brand. However, a leaked poster that has surfaced from China has revealed that indicates that Xiaomi would be soon launching a phone called Xiaomi 5X. Speculations indicate that first phone under Xiaomi’s new sub-brand will be this Xiaomi 5X phone, and not Xiaomi X1.

The leakster had already appeared in the previous week. However, only the part showing its pricing was revealed. The poster reveals that the Xiaomi 5X would be coming with a 5.5-inch display that will probably support full HD resolution. The Snapdragon 625 chipset will be powering the phone along with 4GB of RAM.

As it can be seen that the Xiaomi has struck a deal with popular Chinese celebrity, Kris Wu for promoting the Xiaomi 5X. It seems Wu has ended his previous contract with Huawei Honor and is now with Xiaomi to probably advertise the new sub-brand from Xiaomi.

The Xiaomi 5X is expected to feature a thin metallic body and it is expected to arrive in color choices like gold and black. In the leaked poster, the Xiaomi Mi 5X phone that can be seen near the face of the Chinese celebrity features dual rear cameras that carries support for 5x optical zoom.

A leaked photo of a mysterious Xiaomi phone that surfaced in the previous week. The handset sports dual rear cameras coupled with a dual-tone dual-LED flash on its left. Its antenna bands seem to be placed on the upper and lower edges of the back panel. It seems that this image belongs to the Xiaomi 5X. Since the fingerprint reader is not placed on the backside of the phone, it appears that it will be equipped with frontal fingerprint reader.

The Xiaomi 5X is priced at 1,999 Yuan (~$296). The Chinese firm is known for launching smartphones in multiple storage variants. Hence, it is likely that this pricing could probably belong to the lowest configuration model of Xiaomi 5X.

Chinese brands like OPPO and Vivo have gained huge user base thanks to their offline marketing strategy. Xiaomi is rumored to debut its new smartphone sub-brand to compete against these brands. In fact, Xiaomi 5X is speculated to rival with recently launched OPPO R11 phone.

(source)

Meizu PRO 7 Officially Teased; PRO 7, PRO 7 Plus Variants & Pricing Leaked

By

Anvinraj Valiyathara

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Jul 16, 2017

Meizu PRO 7 is rumored to debut on July 26. It is speculated to launch alongside the Meizu PRO 7 Plus. The rumor mill has revealed plenty of leaked images of the Meizu PRO 7 in the past weeks. Speculations claim that the Meizu PRO 7 and 7 Plus would be debuting at Zhuhai, China on July 26 at 19:30 PM local time. Jeffery Yang, the senior vice-president of Meizu has change the display image of his Weibo profile to PRO 7.

Yang has also posted some new images on his Weibo. The PRO 7 duo are equipped dual rear cameras. It is not clear whether the images revealed by Yang are snapped using the PRO 7. Some of the images posted by him carries image of a window which could be hinting to the USP of the PRO 7 i.e. its secondary screen.

The backside of the Meizu PRO 7 and PRO 7 Plus feature a secondary screen below the dual rear cameras. The secondary screen is 2-inch in size. The secondary screen supports multiple functions such as it can work as a view finder for the dual cameras, for displaying notifications, playing games, and it can even work when the smartphone is turned off.

The Meizu PRO 7 will be a standard variant that is expected to come with a 5.2-inch screen that supports full HD resolution of 1,920 x 1,080 pixels. It will be driven by MediaTek Helio X30 chipset that features a deca-core processor. It would be coming in two RAM variants of 6 GB and 8 GB.

The dual cameras module sitting on the backside of the Meizu PRO 7 is equipped with Sony IMX386 + IMX286 12-megapixel sensors. The front-facing camera of the PRO 7 will be of 16-memgapixel. The two variants of the Meizu PRO 7 is rumored to be available with a pricing of 2,799 Yuan (~$413) and 3,299 Yuan (~$486)

The Meizu PRO 7 Plus would be coming with high-end specs compared to the PRO 7. It would be featuring a 5.7-inch QHD display and it would be powered by Samsung Exynos 8895 chipset. It is expected to arrive in three variants such as 4 GB RAM + 64 GB priced at $3299 (~$486), 6 GB RAM + 128 GB storage priced at 3,599 Yuan (~$530) and 8 GB RAM + 128 GB storage costing 3,799 Yuan (~$560).

(source|via)

Moto E4 Plus Sells 100,000 Units In 24 Hours In India

By

Habeeb Onawole

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Jul 15, 2017

Lenovo launched the Moto E4 and Moto E4 Plus in India on Wednesday in India. While the Moto E4 was available right away, the Flipkart-exclusive Moto E4 Plus did not go on sale until almost midnight that day.

Moto E4 Plus

Report from Flipkart says it has sold 100,000 units of the new E series phone. According to the retail store, it sold 580 units per minute in the first hour of the phone being on sale. It also said there were a total of 150,000 visits to the product’s page within the same hour.

The Moto E4 is a 5.5-inch smartphone with a HD display. For its selling price of Rs. 9,999 (~$156), you get a 5000mAh battery, 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. There is a Mediatek MTK6737 SoC, Android 7.1.1 and a 13MP rear camera. You also get a 5MP front camera with LED flash and a fingerprint scanner.

That is value for money and a good reason for the device to have sold so much within a short time. Another reason can also be the deals Flipkart is offering alongside.

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Andy Rubin’s Essential Facing Problems As Top Executives Resign

By

Habeeb Onawole

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Jul 15, 2017

The Essential Phone by Andy Rubin should already be available for purchase but it is already past 30 days since the shipping date deadline set by Mr.Rubin himself.

It appears the delay isn’t the only problem the new tech company is facing. Reports say it is also having issues with top executives, two of whom have resigned recently.

The company’s vice-president of marketing, Brian Wallace announced his resignation recently. He is now the Chief Marketing Officer of i.am+, a startup founded by musician will.i.am.

Mr Wallace is the second top executive to resign in recent times. Andy Fouché, who held the post of Head of Communications left in June according to His LinkedIn page.

These two positions are key ones in any company and it means a lot if a company loses its marketing and communications chiefs before it even launches its first product. The reason for their departure is unknown but some say Andy Rubin is a difficult person to work with.

The Essential Phone is a Snapdragon 835-powered phone with a bezel-less design. It also plays with modularity as it has support for additional hardware that can be attached to the back via 2 accessory power pins. A 360-degree camera is the first accessory made for the phone.

The Essential Phone has a display of 5.7-inches, 4GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage. Following the trend of modern smartphones, the Essential PH-1 has dual rear cameras (13MP RGB+ 13MP true monochrome sensors) and up in front is an 8MP sensor. Battery is 3040mAh and there is NFC, Bluetooth 5.0 and Gorilla Glass 5 on both sides.

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Nokia 8 Specifications, Release Date and Price Leaks

By

Habeeb Onawole

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Jul 15, 2017

If we are to go by the statement released early this year about Nokia’s product road map, then we should expect 3 or 4 more devices before the year ends. Two of those devices are are high-end devices and according to leaks they will launch as the Nokia 8 and Nokia 9 respectively. Fresh details of the Nokia 8 were leaked early this morning by Roland Quandt.

According to him, the Nokia 8 is actually the HMD Global TA-1004 we saw on Geekbench a few months ago and not the Nokia 9. That device is powered by a Snapdragon 835 processor, nullifying the rumor that the Nokia 8 will come with a snapdragon 660.

The Nokia 8 will have 4GB RAM, 64GB of built-in storage and will launch with two SIM card slots in Europe. There will most likely be a single SIM model if they keep to their current trend.

Another detail leaked is the color variants the phone will arrive in. There will be blue, steel (silver), gold/blue, and gold/copper colors. It is unknown if all the colors will be available at launch or if some will be released first and the rest later.

And last but not the least, pricing and release date. The Nokia 8 will be launched at the end of this month and will be available for purchase on the 31st of July. Price in Europe is put at €598 (~$686/¥4652). We never expected it to be cheap, so this isn’t surprising.

The Nokia 8 may actually sell for less in other markets especially China and we know devices are usually more expensive in Europe due to the high tax rate.

Other details not disclosed include the display size and camera configuration. Some say it will have a 5.7-inch 2K display and dual cameras but these may belong to the Nokia 9.

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Meizu Pro 7 Plus Price & Real Photo Leaked

By

Jed John Ikoba

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Jul 15, 2017

We have seen a lot of leaked renders of the Meizu Pro 7 so far but that of the Pro 7 Plus has been quite elusive. We may have seen the Pro 7 Plus’ real photo without realising it. Recall that a recent photo of the Pro 7 surfaced online recently revealing the secondary display may support touch input. Turns out one of the two phones in the photo is actually that of the Pro 7 Plus.

The leaked photo appeared in black and gold colors. On closer scrutiny, it would be noticed that the Black variant is a little bigger in size than the gold variant. That is because the black variant is the Meizu Pro 7 Plus. If you didn’t pick that up at first, don’t get furious because you are not alone. Moreso, the Pro7 and Pro 7 Plus both feature exactly the same design, the only difference would be the internal hardware they pack. The Pro 7 Plus is rumoured to feature an Exynos 8895 chipset while the Pro 7 will utilise MediaTek’s flagship Helio X30 chip.

In addition, the Meizu Pro 7 Plus price was also the subject of a recent rumour as the Pro 7 Plus is said to start at 3299 Yuan ($486) for the standard version and 3799 Yuan ($560) for the high-end model. Those are quite some exorbitant prices but it’s all a rumour so we hope the price doesn’t get so high. We’ll find out about that when the Pro 7 and Pro 7 Plus are officially launched later this month.

(source)

Samsung Galaxy Note Fan Edition Teardown Reveals Internals

By

Jed John Ikoba

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Jul 14, 2017

Samsung Galaxy Note Fan Edition is the refurbished units of the ill-fated Galaxy Note 7 that is best known as the “exploding flagship”. The new Galaxy Note Fan Edition was launched in South Korea about two weeks back and is tipped to go on sale in other regions soon. Before the Galaxy Note FE hits your region, we have got the teardown for the device revealing the internals.

The Samsung Galaxy Note Fan Edition teardown comes to us courtesy of the guys at IFIXIT and it gives us the opportunity to compare the Note 7 with the Note FE. As we already know, the Galaxy Note FE comes with exactly the same design as the botched Note 7. The internals also looks alike except for some changes. The battery obviously is one of the things that were changed on the new Galaxy Note FE. The new battery is labelled with a June 20, 2017 manufacture date and weighs about 2.3g lesser than the Note 7’s. The battery is also a non-removable one.

Also, the teardown reveals that the Note Fan Edition uses an Octa-core chipset instead of a quad-core model. This effectively casts doubt over the presence of a Snapdragon 820/821 processor on board because both chips are quad-core chips. Since this is the Korean model, it is possible this is an Exynos-powered model 2hile the SNapdragon version will hit the global market. Apart from these few things, the Galaxy Note Fan Edition and Galaxy Note 7 seems to be the same device in design and the internals. Check out the teardown photos from below.

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Specs & Price Of Xiaomi’s Upcoming Phone Taking On OPPO R11 Leaked

By

Jed John Ikoba

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Jul 14, 2017

Xiaomi’s upcoming mid-range phone has been popping up in the news at almost the same rate as the Meizu Pro 7. The device is tipped to belong to a new smartphone series Xiaomi is introducing to take on OPPO and Vivo. The leaked image of the device seems to corroborate this claim as it looks like the OPPO R11. As if that isn’t enough, a new leaked detail has emerged which contains the price as well as some key specifications of the Xiaomi model identified as X1.

The leaked detail shows that the Xiaomi X1 will come with a price of 1999 Yuan (~$295) which is a decent price. Some of the specs details also contained in the poster is the device will feature a similar 5.5-inch display size with a metal body. In addition, it will come with a dual camera setup at the rear having optical zoom. These are all features of the OPPO R11 and if the rumours are correct, then the device will also be fueled by a Snapdragon 660 chip with 4GB + 64GB memory at the minimum.

We can’t say for sure if this is accurate or when the model will be released but going by the poster, it will be available on Xiaomi Mall, Mi.com, or Mi Home.

(source)