It’s been barely a week since a report emerged that Huawei will begin mass production of the Kirin 970 chip that would feature on its upcoming Mate 10 flagship in September. A new rumour has sprung up from Poland alleging that the Huawei Mate 10 would make its grand debut in October. The rumour was even specific about the launch date being October 16 and the venue to be in Munich. The Huawei P10 was first launched in Europe as well before it was unveiled in China.
The Mate 10 is expected as the final flagship that would be released by the Chinese tech giant this year. It is coming on the heels of the launch of the Huawei P10 earlier in the year, and then the Honor 9 which was launched not too long. The Mate 10 will be the giant of them all, with it size traditionally being phablet size.The device is expected with a 6-inch JDI display with an 18:9 aspect ratio and 2160 x 1080 pixel resolution. The device will feature a Kirin 970 chip, which would Huawei’s first 10nm chip.
The rumour also listed the price tag of the Mate 10 to fall on the region of PLN4,000 in Poland, which is around $1100. In addition to the Mate 10, Huawei is also said to be working on a Mate 10 Lite which would cost half the price of the Mate 10 at PLN1,999 (~$556) and as you’d guess, would have a slightly reduced size from the Mate 10 and it is rumoured to be 5.8 inches. The price tag looks way outrageous and cut off from reality but then, the Mate 10 is meant to rival the iPhone 8 which is expected to have a hefty price tag. But then, Huawei isn’t Apple and doesn’t even have any model which sells as high as $800 and even the Mate 9 is priced less than $800. This is just a rumour and so, should be taken with a pinch of salt.
Huawei Nova 2 Plus Bright Silver version was recently revealed in a video teaser to be in the works and we had thought it would go on sale on August 3. The fact is that the Bright Silver version of the Nova 2 Plus will open for pre-sale on August 3 and the preorder will be opened until August 8 while the device will open up for sale on August 9. The device is already listed on Huawei Mall (Vmall) and also on JD.com and Suning Tesco.
The new variant comes with a slightly higher price tag of 3,099 Yuan as against 2,899 Yuan for the other colour options with 128GB storage. The variant also has a mirror finish that is highly reflective. The soon-to-be-released variant brings a premium finish common with flagship models to a mid-range device. The Nova 2 and Nova 2 Plus were listed among the top selling Huawei models in the first half of the year. This new additional colour variant which is turning out to be a very popular option, considering how the Mi 6 and Sony Xperia XZ had a similar variant, could help continue the good sales.
The Huawei Nova 2 Plus was released along with the Nova 2 about two months back and it features a metal body with a thin build which is just 6.9mm thick. The metal body of the device is coated in silver, thus giving it a mirror finish. The Nova 2 Plus comes with a 5.5-inch 1080p LTPS In-Cell display and is powered by an Octa-core Hisilicon Kirin 659 processor and a Mali-T830 MP2 GPU powers the graphics. The processor is backed by a 4GB RAM while the Bright Silver variant has 128GB storage. Both the Nova 2 and Nova 2 Plus were initially available in five different colors namely, Rose Gold, Streamer Gold, Grass Green, Aurora Blue, Bright Black and Obsidian Black. The Bright Silver variant is the seventh variant of the Nova 2 Plus and that is a whole lot of options to chose from.
The Galaxy Note 8 is probably the biggest device set to lunch this month. In the last few days we have been getting a steady stream of images showing the flagship from all angles. To cap it up, we finally get to know the full specification details, thanks to Evan Blass (@Evleaks) of VentureBeat.
Galaxy Note 8 Design
The overall design of the Galaxy Note 8 is similar to that of the Galaxy S8/S8+. It will have the same infinity display only taller. Though the corners of the Note 8 aren’t as curved as that of the Galaxy S8.
The Note 8 will arrive in four colors namely Midnight Black, Orchid Grey Maple Gold and Deep Blue. However only Midnight Black and Maple Gold will be available at first. A fresh render leaked by Evan Blass shows the Maple Gold and Midnight Black variants together alongside their respectively colored S Pens.
The renders show that all the color variants will have the same black front panel and black colored rear camera housing. Since the fingerprint scanner and LED flash sit in the same housing as the cameras, they also get the black coating.
Button placement follows that of the Galaxy S8 too. The volume rocker and Bixby buttons are placed on the left and the power button on the right.
Galaxy Note 8 Specs
The Galaxy Note 8 will have a 6.3-inch Super AMOLED display, making it just a tiny bit larger than the Galaxy S8+. Just like the S8 and S8+, it will come with an Exynos 8895 and the Snapdragon 835 mobile platform depending on the market.
The Note 8 will have 6GB of RAM standard paired with 64GB of storage with the option for expansion via a microSD card slot. According to leaker @Ice Universe, the Chinese and Korean version will have quadruple the storage (256GB).
Samsung will double the rear camera on the Galaxy Note 8. Each one is a 12MP sensor but the primary wide-angle one has an aperture of f/1.7 with dual-pixel autofocus while the secondary telephoto lens has a f/2.4 aperture and 2x optical zoom. Both sensors have OIS.
The front facing camera is an 8MP sensor with autofocus and an f/1.7 aperture.
The Galaxy Note 8 will feature a 3000mAh battery. This is smaller than that of the Galaxy Note 7 (3500mAh) and even the Galaxy Note 7 FE (3200mAh). The phone will support wireless charging and be IP68 certified.
Galaxy Note 8 Launch Date
The Samsung Galaxy Note 8 will be officially unveiled in New York on August 23.
Galaxy Note 8 Availability
Following its August release, it will go on sale first in South Korea, US, and the UK in September. The rest of the world will get it in October.
The OPPO R11 and its bigger sibling, the OPPO R11 Plus are the first phones to be powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 660 mobile platform. The Snapdragon 660 is currently the king of the mid-range chips in the market right now, so we have no issues with OPPO using it for their flagship phones.
It however came as a surprise when we saw a Snapdragon 835 variant of the OPPO R11 on Geekbench. The Geekbench listing also reveals that this OPPO R11 has 6GB of RAM and runs Android 7.1.1.
The device scores 1953 points in the single-core test and 6329 points in the multi-core test. Compare these results to that of the Sony Xperia XZ1 powered by the same processor though with a smaller RAM (single-core:1909; multi-core:6459) and you can see they are similar.
Huawei’ssub-brand, Honor, has a Note line too. Though it usually comes with a massive display, it doesn’t have a stylus like Samsung’s. The last version was the Honor Note 8 released in September 2016. That means we should expect the Honor Note 9 around the same time.
A leak from China says the Honor Note 9 should come with dual cameras like the other Honor flagships released this year. The cameras are said to be two 12MP sensors but the technology to be adopted is unknown.
The Honor Note 8 has a massive 6.6-inches Super AMOLED display which is bigger than that of the yet-to-be announced Samsung Galaxy Note 8. The Honor Note 9 may end up with a larger screen or retain the same size. However a leaked image shows it with no side bezels.
The leak adds that the device will be powered by an unannounced Kirin 965 processor. It will also have 6GB of RAM and 64GB of storage.
OPPO has released a poster which tends to point at the impending launch of a new smartphone but this isn’t a new mode per se. The teaser seems to refer to an upgraded version of the R11, specifically the FC Barcelona edition of the OPPO R11. The teaser did not state in clear terms what will be launched but the teaser poster image looks like the colour combination on the OPPO R9 FC Barcelona edition.surrounding a smartphone which is clearly the OPPO R11.
The OPPO R9 which is the R11’s predecessor had a customised edition dubbed the FC Barcelona Edition which came the team’s logo and name at the rear as well as the red and blue jersey colour of FC Barcelona. There was a limited edition with an 18K gold-plated Barca logo at the back which is reportedly crafted by hand. Further, the signatures of three Barca players – Messi, Suarez and Neymar were at the back of the limited edition. The customised edition was auctioned of JD.com last year to raise money for charity and it was sold for a whopping 88,914 Yuan which is about $13,494. The OPPO R9 FC Barcelona edition has a price tag of 3999 Yuan ($607) and was available in Red, Blue, and Gray colours.
The teaser also comes with a dominant blue colour with a touch of red and is revealed to have taken OPPO over one year to design. The device will be officially unveiled tomorrow for us to know its features but if really this is the OPPO R11 FC Barcelona edition, the specifications will likely remain the same with changes being on the design only.
A recent report by research firm, Strategy Analytics has revealed that Xiaomi’s Q2 sales has propelled it back to one of the top five smartphone brands in the world. The info was shared on Weibo by Xiaomi’s CEO, Lei Jun.
Xiaomi has slowly been regaining its market share this year. At the beginning of last month, it reveled that its shipments for the second quarter of the year was 23.16 million units. However, the report by Strategy Analytics puts the figure at 23.2 million units and their market share at 6.4%, propelling it to fifth position globally.
The report puts Samsung at the top with 79.5 million units compared to Q2 2016’s 77.6 million. Apple is number two with 41 million units sold, followed by Huawei at number three with 38.4 million units.
OPPO is fourth but has recorded the highest increase, jumping from 18 million units in 2016 to 29.5 million units in the same quarter this year.
The LG V10 and LG V20 smartphones that were fitted with LCD screens came with additional secondary ticker screens. However, the LG V30 that is going to be unveiled on Aug. 31 that is expected to be the first smartphone from the company with OLED screen is unlikely to feature a secondary ticker screen. A fresh report suggests that the information that showed on the secondary screen of the predecessor LG V series will be still available on the LG V30 in the form of a live floating bar.
An undisclosed internal source has revealed to Android Authority that the South Korean company has not scrapped the idea of secondary screen which has been one of the unique features of LG V30. OLED screen enabled smartphones can show certain notifications on the screen without turning on the entire display. This feature is available as Always-on Display on Samsung flagships. In the same way, a live floating bar will work like a secondary screen on the LG V30’s massive 6-inch OLED display.
The live floating bar is expected to give access to frequently used items and it may also show notifications. There is no information on how the LG V30 will be displaying the floating bar. It may remain at the top portion of the screen or it may be made available as a collapsible short menu that are available on Edge panel of Samsung flagships. There is a possibility that LG V30 may allow users to disable the live floating bar so that they can enjoy the 18:9 full-screen display.
The massive screen of the LG V30 is expected to support QHD+ resolution and it may carry support for HDR 10 and Daydream VR from Google. It is heavily pegged to feature Snapdragon 835 chipset and 4 GB of RAM. It is also speculated to deliver impressive photo shooting experience in low-light conditions as one of its dual rear cameras is expected to feature a f/1.6 aperture lens. It will be packed with a 3,300mAh battery.
Apart from Quad DAC, LG’s collaboration with B&O will allow the LG V30 to deliver stunning audio experience. It is also expected to arrive with MIL-STD-810G military standard certification that was made available on LG V10 and V20 smartphones. It may sound a bit contradicting, rumors have also hinted that it will be coming with wireless charging as it will be featuring all-glass chassis.
Qualcomm showcased its latest under display fingerprint technology at the Shanghai Asian Mobile World Congress in June. The technology was demonstrated using a Vivo prototype machine that looked like the Vivo XPlay 6 launched last year. Also, Qualcomm revealed that the technology would start shipping in the fourth quarter of the year and as it draws nearer, it has come to the open that Vivo may be the first OEM to utilise the technology. A new leaked photos have revealed the Vivo XPlay 7 showing it will come with the fingerprint technology.
The photos leaked on Weibo and a group seems to have been captured from a Powerpoint presentation. The Xplay 7 is said to go by the internal code name – Vivo X20. From the leaked photos, the Vivo XPlay 7 comes with a full-screen design with dual curved edges at the sides. The device has dual cameras at the front and also at the rear, potentially positioning it as one of the few devices with such arrangement.
On the specs angle, the Vivo XPlay 7 is expected to pack a Snapdragon 835 processor which would likely be backed by 6GB RAM just like the XPlay 6. We cannot rule out the possibility of an 8GB RAM variant, considering there has been precedence this year, ala Nubia Z17 and OnePlus 5. Other details are still sketchy as at this moment but from previous leaks, the under display fingerprint technology the XPlay 7 is coming with uses Qualcomm’s new ultrasonic technology which sends a pulse through the finger, some of which gets reflected while some get absorbed. These vibrations are then detected by a sensor which builds up a fingerprint. The sensor may likely work from any part of the display and isn’t restricted to a particular area.
The OnePlus 5 may be getting a new color variant soon judging from a new teaser poster released on its Weibo page.
The image shows the black and gray OnePlus 5 variants as well as a third transparent one. There is also a text that reads “Who is coming?” at the top.
The best bet is that the new color variant is mint gold. If you remember we saw it appear on TENAA shortly after the release of the phone. Though we wish OnePlus releases it in either red or blue too.
There is no other info with respect to a release date or configuration but it surely won’t be far off. When it launches, the price should probably be the same as the other two.
The Xiaomi Mi 5X went on sale yesterday and according to Lin Bin, the company’s co-founder, nearly 300,000 units were sold.
In his speech he thanked the phone’s brand ambassador, Wu Yifan; and added that the rose-gold version recorded the highest number of units sold. The next sale is scheduled for August 5 at exactly 10:00 AM.
The Mi 5X is a mid-range smartphone and the third smartphone from Xiaomi with dual rear cameras. It uses the same camera sensors as the Mi 6 but until we get a hands-on review, we can’t tell if it offers the same level of performance.
Xiaomi will tomorrow (August 3) release limited copies of the Mercury Silver variant of its latest Mi 6 flagship. From earlier disclosure, we know that the tech giant will only be making available 100 units of the Xiaomi Mi 6 Mercury Silver variant. Apart from being so limited, the Mi 6 Silver variant is turning out to be a memorabilia sort of, as it has been revealed that the new colour variant will come with some perks that would make a good one sitting in the archives.
One of the perks that would be packaged with the Xiaomi Mi 6 Mercury Silver edition is a personal letter signed by one of Xiaomi’s seven co-founders. The 100 units will apparently come with a letter each, randomly signed by one of the seven co-founders including CEO Lei Jun. The other co-founders are Lin Bin, Zhou Guangping, Liu De, Li Wanqiang, Huang Jiangji and Hong Feng. Also, the “lucky hundred” who successfully purchased the Mi 6 Mercury Silver edition will find an F-code inside each of their copy. Xiaomi’s F-code stands for Friends code and it’s aimed towards giving priority to important users who’ve greatly contributed to Xiaomi at first. Owners of the F-codes can directly buy Xiaomi Phones or other items from the official Mi home without ordering in advance. It can only help buy, can’t be used or exchanged for money. In this case, the F-codes will be valid for three years and since Xiaomi doesn’t ship directly out of China, you can’t use this from outside China.
Most importantly, you get the sleek, attractive and ultra-reflective Mi 6 Mercury Silver variant inside. Well, you know that already. But in case you still don’t know, the Silver variant will cost just 3,999 Yuan (~$592) which is 1000 Yuan higher than the Black variant. In addition, the Silver variant comes with 6GB of RAM and a robust 128GB storage.
Soon after confirming on a forthcoming unveil event of Aug. 19, ASUS has revealed through its official site that it will be holding a ZenFone 4 launch event on Aug. 17. The original launch invitation had revealed that the launch event would be held in Philippines. However, the official site states that the launch event will be held at the Taipei District, Taiwan.
The official site is now receiving registrations for the upcoming launch event in Taiwan. ASUS fans who are interested in attending the event can register between Aug. 3 to Aug. 6. The ZenFone 4 presentation will begin at 2:30 PM on Aug. 17. It appears that the ZenFone 4 will be unveiled to the world in Taiwan on Aug. 17 and it seems that there will be another ZenFone 4 unveil event in Philippines for the local audience on Aug. 19.
The teaser image available on the official site reveals that a South Korean actor named Gong Yoo is the brand ambassador for ZenFone in Asia-Pacific region. The actor can be seen holding a smartphone which is probably the ZenFone 4. The smartphone can be seen sporting dual rear cameras with rounded corner on its edges. The phone held by the actor does not seem to be the ZenFone 4 Pro flagship as one of its leaked photos has revealed that it features a “2x optical zoom” text in between the two rear cameras. It does not feature a camera bump which is available on the ZenFone 4 Max and ZenFone 4 Pro.
ZenFone smartphone fans are expecting that ASUS will be unveil all the rumored ZenFone 4 series phones on Aug. 17. However, there is no confirmation on whether the Aug. 17 event will be an exclusive launch event for ZenFone 4 or ASUS will showcase the entire ZenFone 4 series phones.
The rumor mill has revealed that ASUS ZenFone 4 series includes the ZenFone 4 Pro flagship, the ZenFone 4 with Snapdragon 660 and Snapdragon 630 chipset variants, another variant named ZenFone 4V and the selfie-focused ZenFone 4 Selfie. The following leaked photo contains the renders of the upcoming ZenFone 4 series phones.
Recently, there were reports that Xiaomi was going to release the second generation of its in-house Surge S2 chip, with its mass production said to commence in Q3 2017 and would power the Mi 6C and Mi 6S. There is now a fresh rumour that Xiaomi Mi 6C making the rounds that the Xiaomi Mi 6C would be released in the fourth quarter of the year.
The Xiaomi Mi 6C is said to feature a design which includes a double-sided 2.5D curved glass design which gives it a similar look to the Mi 6’s four curved edge design. The screen ratio of the device is said to be higher than that of the Mi 6 but the shape is said to look like the Mi 5. In addition, the Xiaomi Mi 6C is also revealed as coming with a dual camera setup at the rear with the configuration given as a 12MP Sony IMX386 main CMOS sensor and a 5MP depth of field secondary shooter.
As stated earlier, the Mi 6C is expected to be powered by the Surge S2 chip which could also end up being called Surge X1 chip. The processor is produced using the 16nmTSMC process and is configured as four Cortex-A73 and four Cortex-A53 cores in an octa-core arrangement. The large cores are capable of running at a clock frequency of 2.2GHz while the small cores have a maximum clock frequency of 1.8GHz. In addition, the chip includes a Mali G71MP8 GPU and supports UFS 2.1 flash memory and LPDDR4 RAM with the performance said to be in the same league with the Kirin 960 chip. Other features said to be on the Mi 6C include a 4GB RAM +64 GB storage version and another with 6GB RAM + 128GB storage and the price is tipped to be in the region of 1999 yuan and 2499 yuan respectively.
Samsung has a new wearable device in works which seems to be a hybrid of a fitness tracker and a smartwatch. The features of this mysterious wearable tech that have been revealed by Samsung hints that it is not the forthcoming Gear S4 smartwatch.
The information on this device has appeared through a survey email that Samsung has sent out through its SmartLab Plus program. Through the survey, Samsung is seeking ideas on the taglines that can be used to advertise its forthcoming product. In the survey email, Samsung has revealed that this new product offers some of the best features from Samsung Gear S3 smartwatch and Gear Fit 2 fitness band.
Samsung has further stated that the new wearable device appears like a smartwatch instead of an activity tracker. It will be arriving with a small-sized body and slimmer watch bands. The device will be equipped with user-replaceable bands which will allow customers to personalize its appeal.
It will be a water-resistant device that will let users wear it even while swimming. Some of the other features that will be available on this wearable device are activity tracking, active sports, weight management, calorie management and coaching. These features will not only appeal beginners but also fitness experts.
It will be coming with a revamped UI with enhanced widgets for glanceable information for viewing the progress of fitness goals. Smart inactivity alert is another feature of this mysterious smart device that will remind its users to be active when doing a sedentary job. Since the email is seeking opinions on taglines for this upcoming wearable tech, Samsung is also asking the recipients of the email to consider the taglines of its other smartwatches and fitness trackers.
The email does not contain any information on when Samsung will be releasing this new device. Samsung sells its smartwatches as Gear S products whereas its fitness trackers are sold as Gear Fit products. There is no confirmation on whether the new product will belong to any of these branding or it will be introduced under a new brand name.
The Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ have been receiving overwhelming response since the time it was made available on pre-orders. A research conducted by Strategy Analytics has revealed that the Galaxy S8 duo have increased the average selling price (ASP) of Samsung smartphones in the second quarter of this year.
During Q2 2017, Samsung’s ASP on phones reached $235 which is the highest ever figure in the last three years. According to Strategy Analytics, it has happened solely because of the strong sales of Galaxy S8 and S8+. In 2016, the ASP of Samsung’s phones was $232 and it had fallen to $227 in the second half of 2016 when the South Korean company had abruptly suspended the production of the Galaxy Note 7 because of its faulty batteries. Samsung’s highest ever ASP on smartphones was in 2013 when it had reached $289. At that time, the company had sold flagships like Galaxy S4 and Galaxy Note 3.
The research firm has also claimed that Samsung had sold 19.2 million units of Galaxy S8 duo in the second quarter of this year. It also revealed that the South Korean firm sold 93 million smartphones in the same quarter which is around 21 percent of the global market. Its budget phones have also been well-received by the consumers.
Samsung had disappointed its fans when it had to discontinue the ill-fated Galaxy Note 7 phablet. However, by releasing Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ with stellar features, it managed to regain the trust of the consumers. Its ASP is expected to increase all the more in the remaining half of this year with the launch of the highly anticipated Galaxy Note 8.
At present, Samsung is sitting on the numero uno position in smartphone market across the world. However, the only country where it has been failing to achieve good sales is China which is also the largest smartphone market in the world. Currently, Samsung occupies the sixth spot in the Chinese smartphone market.
There are numerous popular smartphone brands like OPPO, Vivo, Huawei, and Xiaomi as well as lesser known brands in China that are selling smartphones with dual rear cameras. However, Samsung has not released a single phone that is enabled with dual rear cameras in China. Hence, rumors have revealed that the South Korean company will launch several dual camera phones in the near future. Some of the rumored dual rear camera phones that are expected to release in China are Galaxy J7 (2017) Chinese edition, Galaxy C7 (2017), Galaxy C10 and Galaxy Note 8.
Huawei was recently enmeshed in a controversy after the P10 was discovered to have some discrepancies in the flash memory on the units. While some had UFS 2.1 storage, some came with UFS 2.0 flash storage and yet some P10 units had eMMC 5.1 memory. Huawei CEO Richard Yu had to personally offer some clarifications on why the company had to do that. While the dust generated from that issue is finally dying down, another controversial issue, even weightier, is brewing up but Huawei seems poised to tackle it before it snowballs into something serious.
A recent rumour emerged in China that Huawei’s mobile phones were installed with a software that can monitor the device and collect personal data of the user without permission. Huawei promptly issued a response denying the existence of such software on its smartphones and described the rumours as malicious and is aimed at tainting its business reputation. Huawei also set up a team to work in conjunction with law enforcement to trace the origin of the rumour and has also indicated its intention to take up the matter legally against any company identified to have a hand in the origin of the rumour.
Most importantly, Huawei says it attaches great importance to user’s privacy and that it is focused on innovation and development of new products. It called on other OEMs to join hands with it to build a healthy business environment. Huawei recently announced its H1 2017 earnings and it showed the company is not only consolidating its grip on the number one spot in the domestic market, it is also making progress abroad and could catch up with Apple in the next few years. The rumour could be from one of Huawei’s competitors trying to sabotage the company but we’ll stick to what we know so far, as the source of the rumour is still unknown.
Meizu Pro 7 and Pro 7 Plus were announced just about a week back but the device has got the teardown treatment courtesy of the guys at IT168. The Pro 7 Plus, as well as the Pro 7, comes with a sleek design that includes a primary display up front and a smaller secondary display at the back. Despite that and the presence of a large battery, the Pro 7 models featured a large battery and then had a thin body. These all make a tear down of interest because it affords us the opportunity to see how Meizu managed to cram so much into the device’s thin body.The dismantling began by unscrewing the two screws which are located on either side of the USB port. The screws are the same size as those on iPhones and most phones coming out now. After the removal of the screws, the device can then be opened into two, the front display and the motherboard. The motherboard is seen to have an L-shape instead of the usual PCB design. Obviously, this is due to the secondary display located on the left side at the rear.
The Pro 7 Plus features a large 3,500mAh battery with fast charging technology. There is also a Super AMOLED display at the main display up front, while the secondary display is an AMOLED display with a curved edge at the outer edge. The secondary display panel also means the battery is located at one edge with a flat and unusually long body. Despite cramming so much hardware inside the device, which includes a dual rear camera setup, the Meizu Pro 7 Plus is quite easy to tear down completely and looks like a well thought out device, no doubt. See more tear down photos of the device from below.
Meizu released the Pro 7 and Pro 7 Plus last week. One special feature present in both phones is a secondary AMOLED display on the back. It is a first of its kind in terms of design and type of display used, but not the first phones to have a second display at the back.
A new leak has revealed that we may be getting another Meizu phone with a secondary display in the near future. The leak is a set of images of a phone said to be the Meizu X2; and unlike the Pro 7 and Pro 7 Plus with rectangular secondary displays, this one has a circular display.
One of the images show the secondary screen showing the date and the other shows a charging icon. Although the authenticity of the images haven’t been confirmed yet as it kind of looks like a poor attempt at photoshop, but we can all agree this is an interesting take on dual displays.
There are circular AMOLED displays used for smartwatches and I am sure some display companies have units laying around. It won’t be a far-fetched idea for a phone manufacturing company to pick up some of those displays and use it in its phones.
Good rugged phones are usually expensive and they don’t have the best specifications out there. The Chinese company Blackview has produced quite a few rugged phones over the years and the BV8000 Pro is their latest model. It looks great and it has plenty of power but it costs about $260. Learn more in the full Blackview BV8000 Pro Review.
The phone ships with all the usual stuff and some extras include the USB OTG cable, a pair of earphones, a screen protector, micro USB to USB C adapter and a screw driver with some extra screws.
DESIGN and DISPLAY
It is obvious that the BV8000 Pro is a rugged phone since it is thick and heavy but I have to say this is one of the best-designed and well-built rugged smartphones I’ve tested so far.
The phone has the IP-68 rating meaning that it is water and dust resistant. Also, the rugged body assures that the phone will survive a few accidental drops.
What is awesome is that the ports are not covered by any flaps that usually become annoying.
We have a 5” 1080p display, which is sharp and vibrant and it is bright enough for both indoor and outdoor use. Also, it is covered with the Gorilla Glass 3 for scratch resistance.
Just above the display, we have an 8MP shooter for selfies. It is great that we have a multicolor and customizable LED notification light, and nicely backlit capacitive keys.
I have always loved sharp edges of the metal chassis and tactile metal buttons. There is a multifunctional key, which as of now, can be only used for SOS and PTT services.
You can customize the SOS details in the settings menu.
On the right, there is a one stage camera shutter key. There is also a side mounted fingerprint scanner that I found to be pretty accurate but not the fastest I’ve seen.
The backplate has a rubberized finish with some really nice-looking metal accents. You can access two SIM card slots and the microSD card slot by using a screw driver to remove a backplate. It is not the most convenient way of doing this but that is the tradeoff of IP68 rating.
As for optics, we are looking at a 16MP shooter that is coupled with a single LED flash.
The loudspeaker quality is just great and the volume output is very good.
HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE
When it comes to hardware, the Blackview BV8000 Pro is one of the most powerful budget rugged phones out there. The phone ships with an octa-core MTK6757 chip (2.3GHz), 6GB of RAM and 64GB of expandable storage.
The gaming performance is just great. All the 3D games work without any issues even if you play them on the very highest graphics settings, which is impressive for a budget phone. Finally, I didn’t notice any overheating issues.
BENCHMARKS
USER INTERFACE
The phone ships with Android 7.0 out of the box but we have a heavily customized Blackview’s skin on top of it that changes the looks, removes the app tray and adds some extra features. For example, you can quickly launch the camera by pressing a power button twice. Also, you can change the colors of the notification LED light, use some gesture and motion controls that work pretty well or use one hand operation mode.
There is also a built-in toolbox that has some apps like a sound meter, compass, bubble level, pedometer or heart rate monitor. I can’t confirm the accuracy of these tools but I think they are quite accurate.
There are some other cool features and customization options to play with but what is the most important to me is the speed and fluidity of the user interface. I’ve installed a lot of apps on this phone and I’m yet to see it lag, thanks to 6GB of RAM.
IMAGE QUALITY
When it comes to the image quality, the Blackview phone is inconsistent. You can take some good-looking pictures but usually, the photos lack detail, sharpness and the dynamic range is usually off. Also, the colors reproduction is not always accurate.
The low-light camera performance is kind of poor, like on most of the phones in this price range.
Selfie images look soft and the level of detail is kind of low.
The 1080p video quality is just mediocre as there could be more detail in the footage.
The selfie videos are shot at only 480p resolution and the quality is kind of poor but still usable for video chats. However, I noticed that the sound is being recorded mostly to the left channel as it is louder than the right one.
CONNECTIVITY
I didn’t have any connectivity issues with this device as the call quality and signal reception are pretty good, and even the GPS lock speeds and accuracy were okay.
The phone has quite a few sensors including a gyroscope, so you will be able to use the device with VR headsets.
BATTERY LIFE
The Blackview BV8000 Pro ships with a built-in 4180mAh battery that performs just great. I could constantly get over 7 or 8 hours of screen-on time but your mileage may vary, depending on the usage.
Finally, the phone ships with the fast charger that can fully charge the battery in about 1.5 hours.
CONCLUSIONS
The Blackview BV8000 Pro is easily one of the best budget rugged and IP68-certtified smartphones out there. If you are okay with a mediocre camera performance, this phone can be easily recommended to buy since it looks great, it’s fast and fluid, it even handles 3d games well, and the battery life is great.
Obviously, there may be some cheaper options out there but I believe that the price of about $260 can be justified since you are getting a lot of horse power that assures a great all-around performance.
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