Xiaomi’s Mi band and the Mi Band 2 were manufactured for Xiaomi by Huami which is now an independent company of its own with Xiaomi owning some stakes in the outfit. Huami has gone on to popularise the Amazfit brand, making in-roads into the U.S and other regions. Back home, the smart wearable maker has also been selling its line of smart wearable. Huami recently launched a new fitness band and is now set to launch another smart band with a long lasting battery.
The gadget is likely a Huami smart band youth edition and according to a Weibo post by the company’s CEO, the smart band will offer up to a month of use without the need to charge the wearable. The smart band is also teased as coming with GPS feature and with some level of durability.
Other details of the smart band are still sketchy but the device will be officially launched on July 4 at 19.00 CST. The smart band seems to have gone on presale on the Amazfit official flagship store on Jingdong (JD.com) upon deposit of 1 Yuan.
A few years ago, fingerprint scanners were reserved for high-end phones. Now, don’t be amazed to find a fingerprint sensor in a phone priced under a $100. The technology continues to evolve and the focus now is to make scanners that can sit directly under displays. Qualcomm just announced it has joined the race at this year’s MWC Shanghai.
The chip manufacturer announced that it is working on making under-display sensors and is even already making samples. This scanner will be able to sit under OLED panels that are up to 1200µm thick.
An image provided by Qualcomm shows that their scanners will cut across three main categories:
Under-display scanners will be used for premium phones.
Under-metal and glass scanners will be used for high-end phones and will be able to scan through glass of up to 800 µm or aluminium of up to 650µm.
Under-glass scanners for mid and low tier phones that can scan through glass 800µm thick.
Qualcomm said the Scanners for Metal and Glass will be compatible with the new Snapdragon 630 and Snapdragon 660 mobile platforms while the Scanners for Display, Glass & Metal are designed to be compatible with future Snapdragon 800 series, 600 series, 400 series and 200 series mobile platforms. They will also work with non-Snapdragon processors and as standalone sensors.
Qualcomm says their scanners will be able to detect fingerprints underwater and also heart beat and blood flow for a more secure authentication.
Qualcomm and Vivo Partnership
The highlight of the announcement is the partnership with Vivo. Qualcomm says it is working with the Chinese manufacturer and will display modified versions of the Xplay6 sporting Qualcomm Fingerprint Sensors for Display at the Shanghai Mobile World Congress.
This announcement is the final piece of the puzzle that makes everything clear. It turns out that Vivo won’t be announcing a new phone with an under-display scanner but will be demoing Vivo Xplay6 units with the technology. Plus that video we saw is genuine but probably a demo unit.
We all have heard and seen 360° photos and videos on the internet, but how many of you have actually used a 360° camera before? I believe the concept of 360° content production is still pretty new for a lot of readers out here and the Xiaomi Mi VR camera is here to help you start your journey. It’s far from being the best 360° camera in the market, but for its relatively affordable price tag of under $250, the Mi VR 3.5K Panorama camera manages to produce some good looking 360° photos and videos.
The Xiaomi Mi VR 360° camera comes in an elegant black shade. You get a matte like texture on the front as well as the back, while the sides get a smoother finish. I love the overall compact design of the device and the fact that it’s hard to get scratches on the body makes me love it even more! Often while taking 360° pictures or videos, you have to keep the camera in rocky terrains or sandy beaches and so far, my Mi VR camera has managed to survive them all without any significant scratches. Of course, I have not yet dropped it to see if it survives, but I don’t have the courage to see what’ll happen in such a situation. But don’t be shy to expose your Mi VR camera in different terrains to get the perfect 360° shots.
The mini tripod comes with the camera itself and does a fine job of keeping the camera study in different terrains. Even when it was raining and things were a bit slippery, the tripod managed to keep the camera intact. This along with the protective sleeve (which is also included in the box) makes up for the perfect pair of accessories for the camera.
Note that the camera uses a standard 1/4 inch mount, so you can use any tripod or accessory with this connector.
Xiaomi has kept the design simple, with three buttons on top — a Record button (in red), a Wi-Fi button and a Power / Mode button. The buttons are tactile and give good feedback when clicked. On one of the sides, you have the MicroUSB port used for charging as well as a MicroSD card slot. Note that the camera is IP67 certified, which means its dust and waterproof. Hence, the slots are covered.
There are three notification lights, all located on one side of the device (on the opposite side of the Mijia logo). The battery indicator glows blue and red (when the camera has low charge). Then there’s a camera as well as a video notification indicator in blue. The video indicator starts blinking in red when you are recording.
Overall, I’m happy with the camera’s elegant design and sturdy built quality.
Xiaomi Mi VR 3.5K 360° Camera Specs
The Mi VR camera is made up of two 190° Fish Eye lens with 2 x IMX206 sensors. With this configuration, along with the Amabrella A12 chipset inside, the Mi VR camera manages to capture up to a max resolution of 3.5K at 30 fps. You can even capture 60 fps videos in lower resolution. You can capture in 3.5K for about 75 minutes in a single charge, but make sure to keep a large memory card handy. Speaking of memory cards, the camera takes MicroSD card up to 128GB. Do note that it is recommended to use a Class 10 or up memory card inside the device for the best performance.
There are three shooting modes (customizable in the app): Flat / Sphere / Planet. The cam supports time lapse and comes with 6-axis stabilization as well, which keeps the videos relatively stable.
Battery Life
The 1600mAh battery on the camera is good for capturing photos for around a day on a single charge or videos for more than an hour. I personally used the camera for 30-40 360° pictures and a few videos a couple of times and I still had like 40-50% charge remaining on the device, which I feel is pretty good. The standby time is also good, as I would still see nearly 30-35% charge after switching the camera on the next day. Charging the camera takes around 2 hours.
Mi VR 360° Panorama Camera: How To Use
Since 360° cameras are a relatively new concept for many readers out here, I would give you a brief idea as to how to use the Mi VR camera.
Connecting the Camera to the App
Charge the camera first for an hour until you see the fully charged blue battery icon on the camera.
Hit the power button and turn on the camera.
Once the camera is on, you can either start recording or you can connect your smartphone.
If you want to connect your smartphone, make sure to download the Mi Sphere app first from this link.
To connect to your phone, just press the Wi-Fi button on the camera and connect your smartphone’s Wi-Fi to the camera’s network. It should be something like MJXJ-XXXXXX. Note that the default password for the camera’s Wi-Fi network is 12345678.
Open the Mi Sphere App (downloaded from the link above) and it has all the instructions that you need to connect to the camera.
Shooting Pictures / Videos Using the Camera (Without connecting to the App)
Once the camera is switched on, you’ll see the current shooting mode via the indicator icon. It can be either the camera mode or the video mode.
You can switch between the two modes via the power button.
You can capture pictures or videos by clicking the record button once. You’ll hear a light beep which indicates whether the pictures was captured or the video shooting started.
Shooting Pictures / Videos With the Camera App
Once your camera is connected to the phone, turn on the app and you’ll see a yellow camera icon. Click on it to take you to the camera interface. You’ll be greeted with a large preview screen as well as a few additional options such as settings (on the top right corner), gallery (bottom left corner), capture button (bottom center) and camera / video toggle mode (bottom right). There’s a timer setting as well (the one which looks like a clock icon).
Click on the capture button to take pictures or videos.
You can fiddle with a few settings as well like white balance, exposure, ISO, and resolution.
Once the photo / video is captured, you can select different viewing modes as well such as Mirror Ball, Flat, Little Planet, and Pano. Further, there’s an option for single screen view as well as 2 screen view (for VR headsets).
Further, there are four filters that you can apply to the photos — original / fleet / youth / film. Not the best filter options, but at least you can do this directly in the app itself.
Note that there’s a share button integrated right inside the app (you have to go to the app’s gallery and click on the image to get this option on the top right corner). Available sharing options include Facebook, Messenger, Twitter, WeChat, Weibo etc. No option to share videos directly to YouTube (which is disappointing) but there’s a way you can share it to youtube.
Download the video to the phone first and then using YouTube Metadata injector or any other video editor, insert 360 metadata (helps them identify this as a 360 video). Once done, you can upload it to YouTube or any other 360 supported platform. You can actually try an app called VRFix for Android that reinjects the 360 metadata to videos.
Mi VR App Settings
Mi VR App Settings
Resolution settings
White Balance Settings In Mi Sphere App
Mi Sphere App Basic Settings
More settings menu
Mi VR App Photo Filters
Mi Sphere App Filter
Mi Sphere app Video editing options
video filter options
vid editing in app
Mi Sphere App Sharing Options
Sharing Settings
I know this turned out to be a very long review because of these instructions, but I hope it makes your lives easier with the Mi VR camera.
Xiaomi Mi VR 3.5K Camera & Video Quality
The Mi 3.5K VR camera managed to capture 360° photos and videos with sufficient levels of detail. Well, you might find them a bit grainy for your taste but when compared to other VR cameras in the same range, Xiaomi’s 360° device does quite well.
Actually, the bar itself is quite low for 360° photos, so the content captured by this camera comes out quite better than other cheap alternatives. The image size ranges from 6-14Mb while a 30-second video would be like 100Mb in size. The dynamic range is pretty good and the colors are quite accurate as well. 360° photo stitching is also good but it’s not completely seamless. Do note that Xiaomi’s app does a fine job of getting the two pictures together for a complete 360° picture.
As for video quality, there are two resolutions available and thanks to the 6-axis stabilization, your videos come out less shaky, even when you are walking and recording.
Overall, for under $250, the Xiaomi Mi VR 3.5K camera does pretty well in terms of quality as compared to its competitors.
Or you can see a couple of live uploaded photos down below.
Verdict
It might take some time getting used to the world of 360 photos, but with the Mi VR 3.5K camera around, things are pretty straightforward. We are seeing a flood of 360 content these days and cameras like the Mi VR 3.5K enables regular users to join the 360° club with good hardware for starters. I would definitely recommend it for those who wish to take good quality 360° photos without breaking their wallets.
Have you received your OnePlus 5 already and you are a bit sad that it doesn’t have EIS for 4K videos? Or are you having WiFi issues?
OnePlus announced at a Reddit AMA session that a fix for the WiFi issue and addition of EIS will come via a future update. How soon that update will roll out is currently unknown. The OnePlus 5 has received two OTA updates since its release last week. There was one on launch day and another one about two days ago.
OnePlus also revealed a few interesting details about the company. First, there are no plans to launch devices with microSD card expansion at the moment. So if you have been hoping the feature will make it to future models, you may want to discard that thought.
They also mentioned that the company has no tablet in its product map. This is funny because I believe at one point in time, the company considered making one. It is sad I do not have proof anymore.
Today, Xiaomi held a Mi Ecosystem event at Beijing and announced two new products. One of the products is the Ninebot Plus, a successor to 2015’s Ninebot Mini.
For those of you who don’t remember Xiaomi and Ninebot’s history together, here is a short refresher. Back in April 2015, Ninebot acquired Segway, the American self-balancing scooter manufacturer. That acquisition was made possible by Xiaomi, a major investor in Ninebot.
The new Ninebot Plus brings a number of new features and a higher price tag.
Ninebot Plus Design
The Ninebot Plus features two 11-inch inflatable non-slip tires and a new magnesium alloy elastic frame. It weighs 16kg and measures 57.7 cm × 28 cm × 62cm. Unlike the Ninebot Mini, it comes only in white.
1. Remote: a new addition to the Ninebot Plus is its new remote control. With the remote control, you can unlock the scooter, summon it to come to you, turn on or turn off the scooter’s lights or even activate a “follow me” mode. The remote control is rechargeable and has a 9-hr battery life depending on if you frequently use its vibration alarm. Its 680mAh battery should charge in 3.5hrs via USB.
2. Load Mode: another feature the Ninebot Plus has is a load mode feature that lets you turn it into a sort of trolley to carry items. Thanks to a self-adjusting gravity function, the Ninebot Plus will automatically find its balance when you load it with items. Maximum load weight is 20kg.
3. Ninebot Plus Camera: this is the most interesting feature of the scooter. If you are into making videos, the scooter can come in handy. Just fit in the Xiaomi PTZ Camera into the special slot between the seat and your scooter doubles as a professional track slider. The camera has 3-axis OIS, records in 1080p and has a 104° wide angle sensor.
Ninebot Technical Specs
The Ninebot Plus has a maximum speed of 18km/h and features two 400W motors. Both motors can supply a turbo boost of 2500W combined. The scooter has an IP54 rating and supports a maximum load of 100kg when in riding mode.
Its 329Wh battery system is made up of 42 18650 high power lithium batteries that can last up to 35km on a single charge. Charging time comes in at 5.5hrs.
Ninebot Price & Availability
The Ninebot Plus is priced at ¥3499 (~$514) and will go on sale on July 11 at 11:oo AM. It will be available on the official Mi website, at Mi Home stores, and Jingdong Mall (JD.com). It is not clear if the
Xiaomi has announced what could be termed its 2017 flagship product under the MIJIA brand and it turns out to be a Laser projector that can be used as a TV at home. The product is christened Mi Laser Projector and it presents with an expansive 150-inch display size. The product was unveiled during the Xiaomi MIJIA annual conference held today in Beijing. The idea of a cost-effective Laser projector was born out of the discovery of a fancy Laser Projection TV by Xiaomi’s VP Liu De priced at 100,000 Yuan. The unaffordability of the product was what spurred the tech giant to venture into its own research and development of an affordable laser projector.
The Mi Laser Projector comes with a 0.233:1 large depth of field and has an ultra-short focal lens design. The projector screen can be placed in the TV cabinet with the size adjusted to fit in. The wall can also be used as the screen and so, it does not occupy too much indoor space. The design also eliminates the cumbersome problem of wires scattered everywhere. The Laser projector itself only needs to be placed 50cm away from the wall in order to deliver 150-inch screen projection. You don’t need to manually focus the lens as it fine tunes itself.
Xiaomi claims the laser light inside the projector has a shelve life of 25,0000 hours. That translates to up to 34 years usage if the projector is used for 2 hours daily. A daily usage of up to 4hours can still guarantee up to 17 years of usage, meaning the laser is ultra-durable and long lasting. The projector’s two core technologies are the light source technology manufactured by the Light Peak photoelectric company while the imaging technology chip in use was made by Texas Instruments and Guangfeng photoelectric custom R&D.
Picture quality is assured as a result of the use of advanced laser fluorescence display technology (ALPD 3.0). The projector provides a red light ratio of 16% to 18%, wide color gamut, color quasi, with contrast comparable to the laser studio 3000: 1 screen contrast. The light source brightness can reach up to 5000 lumens which is of theater screen level. The projector also diffuses its direct light source, allowing for more eye protection.
For the sound, quality sound is assured through the use of Xiaomi TV’s custom speaker system with built-in high-power, dual full-frequency and dual high-frequency high-fidelity speakers. The sound system supports three kinds of external audio. The Mi Laser 150″ projector is capable of providing theatre-level audio-visuals right in the comfort of the sitting room.
In addition, the Mi Laser Projector also comes built-in with all the content available on the Xiaomi Mi TV. The Laser projector has its own remote control which supports the Xiaomi universal remote control app. That means the Xiaomi universal smart remote can be used to operate the sophisticated device.
Now, to the most interesting aspect, the price. The Mi Laser Projection TV will sell for 9999 Yuan ($1,470). That is a fairly decent price tag which is far cheaper than Samsung’s most expensive The Frame smart TV models with prices ranging from $1,999 for the 55-inch model to $2,799 for the 65-inch model. The Mi Laser TV will go on sale on July 4 via Xiaomi Mall, and MIJIA app. Outside China, the projector is only available via online retailers like GearBest and LightInTheBox and it is priced at around $2,000.
Qualcomm has today introduced a new family member to its Snapdragon 400 mobile platform – the all new Snapdragon 450. The new Snapdragon SoC has been unveiled at the Mobile World Congress Shanghai 2017 event. The Snapdragon 450 SoC is the successor of the Snapdragon 435 chipset that is present under the hood of some popular mid-rangers such as ZTE Blade V8, ZTE Nubia M2 Play, Xiaomi Redmi 4X (Redmi 4), and OPPO A57.
Snapdragon 450 Specifications
The Snapdragon 450 chipset is the first Snapdragon 400 series SoC to be built with 14nm FINFET manufacturing processor. The chipset is made for powering mid-range smartphones. It is an octa-core chipset featuring four Cortex A53 cores working 1.8 GHz and another set of four Cortex A53 cores gunning at 1.8 GHz. It includes Adreno 506 graphics which is also present inside Snapdragon 625.
It supports one 32-bit LPDDR3 RAM. Its dual ISP can support a pair of 13-megapixel camera sensors. It can support a max of 21-megapixel single camera. It can encode 1080p content and decode H.264 and HVEC media. For data connectivity, its Cat. 7 X9 LTE modem that makes use of 2x20MHz carrier aggregation. It supports USB 3.0 that brings support for Quick Charge 3.0.
Snapdragon 450 Features
The Snapdragon 450 chipset brings four major improvements:
Enhanced CPU and GPU Performance
The Snapdragon 450 offers 25 percent better computing performance than its predecessor. Also, it churns 25 percent increase in GPU performance than SD 435.
Better Battery Performance
The Snapdragon 450 brings up to four hours of extra battery usage time than Snapdragon 435. It consumes 30 percent less power while playing games. The support for Quick Charge 3.0 allows a Snapdragon 450 phone to charge from zero to 80 percent in around 35 minutes.
Camera and Multimedia
The Snapdragon 450 powered mid-range phones are capable of supporting real-time bokeh effect. It allows users to record 1080p (Full HD) videos at 60 fps. It also supports slow motion capture. The SD 450 chip supports 1,920 x 1,080 screens along with Hexagon DSP which brings improved performance for camera and multimedia.
Connectivity and USB
The Snapdragon 450 is the first Snapdragon 400 series chipset to feature Snapdragon X9 LTE modem that delivers 300 Mbps download speeds and 150 Mbps upload speeds. It supports wide range mobile networks through Snapdragon All Mode. It also carries support Wi-Fi 802.11ac along with MU-MIMO. It is also the first in Snapdragon 400 series to feature USB 3.0 for speedier data transfer.
The commercial sampling of Snapdragon 450 is pegged to begin in third quarter of 2017. Hence, the Snapdragon 450 enabled devices are expected to reach consumers by the end of 2017.
Samsung is usually known for releasing its flagship smartphones in its in-house Exynos chipset and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chipset variants. A new report states that Samsung may employ 7nm Qualcomm chipset as well as 8nm Exynos chipsets on its upcoming Galaxy S9 flagship that will debut next year.
The Samsung Galaxy S8 is available in Snapdragon 835 and Exynos 8895 chipset models. Both are 10nm chipsets. However, the Galaxy S9 will be featuring smaller but more powerful Snapdragon and Exynos chipsets. Samsung had manufactured the Snapdragon 835 chipsets for Qualcomm. However, according to a South Korean publication, the South Korean company has lost the manufacturing order of the next-generation 7nm Snapdragon chipset to TSMC earlier this year.
The publication has further reported that Samsung will be using 8nm manufacturing process for its next-generation Exynos chipset. The reason behind it is that Samsung is still prepping up on the production of 7nm chipset. However, Qualcomm seems to be having an upper hand as it next-generation chipset that is rumored as Snapdragon 845 will be built with 7nm manufacturing technology. It is said to be more power-efficient and cost-effective than 8nm chipset.
According to the publication, an industry insider has said that Samsung is likely to the next-generation 7nm Snapdragon SoC built by TSMC because of its energy efficient and performance. Also, Snapdragon SoCs come with inbuilt networking support for various kind of network bands which makes it quite convenient for cellular operators and OEMs to build a device that functions flawlessly. On the other side, the network support in Exynos chipsets mainly caters to international audience including South Korea.
Then, why is Samsung is producing an 8nm Exynos chipset which is not as efficient as the upcoming 7nm Snapdragon chipset? Another report from the same publication states that Samsung will significantly reduce the production of 7nm chipset in a bid to begin the production 6nm chipset in 2019. There are some rumors that the a 7nm Exynos chipset will be present under the hood of Galaxy Note 9.
This move could bring a momentary disadvantage of one year for Samsung as it will have to purchase Qualcomm chipsets manufactured by TSMC for its flagship smartphones. However, by 2019, the company is likely to have an advantage over TSMC. In the past too, Samsung has ditched 20nm chipsets to focus on 14nm chipsets. By skipping 10nm chipset, TSMC has attracted Samsung’s clients by manufacturing 7nm chipsets.
Once again, we have been treated to a new leak detailing the specs of the Xiaomi Redmi Pro 2. The Redmi Pro 2 is the tech giant’s second-gen model which is expected to take over from the Redmi Pro released last year. The Redmi Pro was Xiaomi’s first smartphone to feature an OLED display and a dual camera setup. A second-gen model is already due, considering the Redmi Pro was released in July last year.
The leaked specs sheet reveals the Redmi Pro 2 will feature an LCD display manufactured by TCL as against the OLED display the Redmi Pro uses. The display is listed to have a Full HD resolution but there are talks of a full-screen display on the Redmi Pro 2. The sheet also lists the device as packing a 3GB RAM manufactured by Samsung but there is no word on the processor. The Redmi Pro 2 was recently spotted briefly on Xiaomi’s official website with a Snapdragon 660 chip among other details.
On the camera aspect, the Xiaomi Redmi Pro 2 will pack two rear camera sensor comprised of a 12MP Sony IMX362 main sensor and a 5MP Samsung S5K4E8 secondary sensor. The device is also listed with a 16MP Samsung S5K3P8 sensor at the front for selfies. Other listed details include WiFi, Bluetooth, Accelerometer, Gyroscope. We can’t verify the authenticity of this leaked specs.
Samsung is yet to officially confirmed on the Samsung Galaxy Note FE (Fandom Edition) launch date. However, a report from the Wall Street Journal states that Samsung may debut the Galaxy Note FE in South Korea on July 7.
Even a previous report had hinted that the Galaxy Note FE would be launching on July 7. However, another report that surfaced after it stated that the Note FE’s arrival has been delayed and it will be debuting at the end of July. However, the fresh report from WSJ seems to confirm that the Note FE will finally debut in the next week.
Samsung will be introducing the Note FE in South Korea initially. The phablet will not be landing in the U.S., but it will be also releasing in some other countries. However, there is no information on the countries that will be getting the Note FE. In South Korea, Samsung will be selling 400,000 units of Galaxy Note FE that will be made available through the three leading carriers of the country. The company was initially rumored to sell 3 million units of the Galaxy Note FE, but it seems that considering the strong demand for the phablet, the company may have increased Note FE units for the native market. It will be selling with a price tag of 700,000 KRW (~$613) in South Korea.
The Galaxy Note FE is the refurbished edition of the Galaxy Note 7. It will be featuring the same internal changes albeit some changes like a smaller 3,200mAh compared to the 3,500mAh battery of the discontinued Galaxy Note 7. The Galaxy Note FE is also speculated to come loaded with Android Nougat OS and carry some support for Bixby AI.
The Galaxy Note FE will be hitting the South Korean markets few months after the release of Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ in the country. However, the South Korean company is of the view that the Galaxy Note FE’s sales will not disturb the sales of the Galaxy S8 duo. It is speculated that Samsung will not be manufacturing more units of Galaxy Note FE because it is already working on the launch of Galaxy Note 8 that is expected to get unleashed in August or September this year. It rumored to be debut with a costlier pricing of around $900.
Geotel is relatively new smartphone company from China that produces cheap devices. The Amigo is one of their latest models and it actually offers quite a lot value for the price of just about $100. Learn more in the full Geotel Amigo review.
The phone ships with all the usual stuff, no extras included.
DESIGN and DISPLAY
When it comes to the design, the Geotel Amigo is one of those rare compact phones that has 5.2” 720p display, which is actually great. It’s sharp and vibrant for both indoor and outdoor use.
The phone is made mostly of metal, except for the plastic top and bottom parts, the buttons do not rattle and in general, I don’t have any complaints about the build quality.
Just above the display, we have a 5MP shooter, which is coupled with the LED flash. Also, there is the LED notification light. On the bottom, there are on-screen navigation keys.
As for the camera, we have a 13MP shooter and dual LED flash. The fingerprint scanner may not be the fastest out there but it gets the job done and it unlocks the phone straight from the standby mode.
The loudspeaker is not going to impress you but it is decent for a $100 phone.
HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE
The phone sports pretty good specs for the price. The device ships with an octa-core MTK6753 chip (1.3GHz), 3GB of RAM and 32GB of expandable storage.
The gaming performance is pretty good if you play the 3D games like Asphalt 8 on medium graphics. However, you should expect quite a few skipped frames if you switch the graphics settings to the max.
BENCHMARKS
USER INTERFACE
The Geotel Amigo ships with a stock Android 7.0 out of the box.
There are a few added features like gesture and motion controls that work pretty well but what is the most important is that the phone is really fast, fluid and responsive all the time, even after installing quite a few apps.
CAMERAS
The Geotel Amigo can take some good-looking pictures in good lighting conditions. There is a good amount of detail, the pictures look quite sharp and in general, these are decent results from a $100 phone.
However, the camera falls apart in low-light scenarios.
Selfie pictures look bad and you will find a hard time using it for social media.
The front-facing LED flash lets you take selfies at night. Don’t expect great image quality but you may find it useful from time to time.
The 1080p video quality is just mediocre like on most of the cheap phones. Selfie video quality is kind of terrible.
When it comes to connectivity, the call quality is above average, the Wifi works fine and GPS is usable for navigation although it is not the most accurate out there.
BATTERY LIFE
The 3000mAh battery performs quite well. I was able to get over 5 hours of screen-on time, which is a good result considering the fact that I used the phone quite intensively.
CONCLUSIONS
The Geotel Amigo is actually a pretty good phone for less than $100 since it has a good build quality, decent specs and display and good overall performance. Also, the main camera can take decent images in daylight but it falls apart in low-light and the selfie camera is really bad.
If you don’t mind these shortcomings, the Geotel Amigo is a decent phone for the price considering the overall package you get for less than $100.
HMD Global’s first Nokia phone running on Android is the Nokia 6. The smartphone was unveiled first in China. As promised, the Finnish company is working on making the Nokia 6 in various markets across the globe. It has been found that the international edition of Nokia 6 is somewhat different from the Chinese version.
The Nokia 6 for China comes with 4 GB of RAM, but its international variant was confirmed in May to feature 3 GB of RAM. However, the letter that has been sent to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) by the Finnish company carries a list of hardware and software changes. One of the changes that can be seen on the international Nokia 6 is that it features 4 GB RAM and 64 GB of storage.
It seems that these changes were brought to Nokia 6 according to the feedback HMD Global received from the users. Since the company was making some changes on the international Nokia 6, it is because of this reason that some of the markets have not received the smartphone.
Here is the list of software changes on the international Nokia 6:
Fix RF Card configuration error
Not load FP driver when the device enter power off charging
Here is the list of hardware changes on the international Nokia 6:
Add 2nd source battery, HE335
Add 4G RAM / 64G ROM
Change L6219 & R6210 to NC to improve WiFi mask performance
Change L6220 to NC
Change R711, R707, R2207 to Murata Bead board to optimize camera de-sense
Change FPM to low voltage, add one diode + Low voltage FW to reduce FPM noise
Speaker Box SUS material change from 304 to 430 to resolve static magnetic issue.
Change coil material from FH5 to FH7 to improve coil heat resistant.
Here is the list of mechanical changes on the international Nokia 6:
Rear cover, Increase the thickness of Rib to improve the Main Cam deviation
Rear cover, Increase the chamfer to fit the change of battery tape
Rear cover, Decrease the thickness to increase the gap between Battery and Rear Cover
Camera Ring, modify the Rib of Camera Ring to avoid the interference
A Cover, increase the mark of PLE
Change front camera sponge to conductive sponge, to resolve defense issue
Power Key: modify the key dimension to improve key feeling
Rear cover, increase thickness of NFC pad
Rear cover, increase thickness to resolve the front cam deviation issue
Rear cover, modify the gap between rear cover & A cover to resolve assembly interference issue
Four variants of the Nokia 6 will be released in the near future. These variants will carry the model numbers such as TA-1025, TA-1039, TA-1021 and TA-1033. As it can be seen in the table below, the TA-1039 and TA-1033 are single-SIM models whereas the TA-1035 and TA-1021 are dual-SIM models. All these models carry support for different WCDMA and LTE bands. Only, TA-1025 and TA-1039 support HAC.
As far as the U.S. launch of Nokia 6 is concerned, the smartphone will be made available early in the coming month. It will be available through Amazon with a price tag of $229. The retailer giant will be selling the phone in color choices like Matte Black and Silver. Tempered Blue and Copper color variants of Nokia 6 will be introduced later through the summer. It seems that the Arte Black variant may not be arriving in the U.S.
Since the U.S. will be getting the dual-SIM edition of Nokia 6, it will not be compatible with the CDMA networks of Sprint and Verizon. It carries partial support for AT&T 4G LTE bands. However, T-Mobile will fully support the Nokia 6.
The YotaPhone 3 has been spotted on GFXBench’s database, revealing the device’s model number as Yota Y3. The benchmark has confirmed previous rumors of the YotaPhone 3’s specifications; this includes: a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and running Android 7.1.1 (Nougat). Unlike my previous article, it appears that YotaPhone 3 will be sticking to a 5-inch display, like its predecessor, instead of the rumored 5.2-inch and 5.5-inch displays. We will be staying tuned to provide more details to confirm whether Yota will be providing any other display alternatives, however, variants are expected to be unlikely.
Confirmed from the benchmark, the device will be sporting 4GB RAM and have a minimum 64GB internal storage, note: 51GB will be available to the user. We also know that Yota has confirmed they will be providing a second, larger storage, device at 128GB. The Qualcomm processor is expected to a Snapdragon 625, this has been concluded from the system-on-chip makeup, containing eight ARM Cortex-A53 CPU cores clocked up to 2.0GHz paired with an Adreno 506 graphics processor. We also know that the YotaPhone 3 will feature a rear-facing 12-megapixel camera supporting 4K (3840 x 2160) video recording, High Dynamic Range (HDR) photos, face detection, and autofocus. For selfies, the device will come with a 12-megapixel front-facing camera.
In terms of sensors and connectivity, the YotaPhone 3 will have a gyroscope, a compass, accelerometer, Bluetooth and GPS connectivity, but lacks NFC. What key component we are missing from the GFXBench is the specification of the secondary e-ink display that will come with the YotaPhone 3, however, we expect Yota will be sticking to a 5.2-inch E-ink display with 1280 x 720 resolution, like its predecessor. Other features we’d be expecting is a front-facing fingerprint sensor and powered by a 3,200mAh battery. Note: This is speculated.
In terms of release and availability, the YotaPhone 3 is rumored to officially be launched and available for preorder this summer. The source states a Russian manufacturer confirmed the prices smartphones’ launch prices, ranging from $350 for the 64GB model to $450 for the 128GB model.
What do you think about the GFXBench’s publication of YotaPhone 3’s specification?
Qualcomm has made an official announcement on collaborating with three companies to fulfill its mobile VR goals. The three companies with which Qualcomm has entered a partnership are Bosch Sensortec, OmniVision and Ximmerse.
Bosch Sensortec’s BMX055 orientation sensor will be used in Head Mounted Display (HMD) Accelerator Program by Qualcomm. It includes various kinds of sensors such as accelerometer, gyroscope and magnetometer.
The U.S. based chip maker will be using OmniVision’s 1-megapixel OV9282 image sensor enabled with high-speed shutter in HMD Accelerator Program (HAP). It will be also equipped with Ximmerse’s controllers that are optimized for using with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chipsets for mobile devices. Also, the Flip controllers from Ximmerse will deliver lower latency and drift-free tracking with accurate precision.
HMD Accelerator Program was announced by Qualcomm in February this year. It was devised to assisted for OEMs of virtual reality hardware. HAP can help in reducing the engineering costs and cut down on the manufacturing time for creating VR products. It also reduces the shipping time of new products. HMD Accelerator Program provides VR manufacturers with means to authenticate performance metrics.
The program providers VR OEMs with reference products, tools and other resources that can help them to release VR hardware in short time. The Virtual Reality Development Kit and VR reference headset that are based on Snapdragon 835 are some items that are provided as resources to OEMs.
OEMs can either manufacture their own HMDs through the provided reference items or they can work with an experienced ODM such as Goertek or Thundercomm to personalize SD 835 VR HMD according to their commercial requirements. In China, many Snapdragon 820 VR HMD reference design based standalone VR HMDs are already available. More HAP based VR headsets are expected to launch in the near future.
HTC’s teaser on its upcoming standalone VR headset
During the Google I/O 2017 event that was held in May, Google and Qualcomm had come together to announce a new standalone VR headset driven by Snapdragon 835 that is poised to release by the end of 2017. It is based on the reference design from Qualcomm. HTC and Lenovo are also expected to announce standalone headsets enabled with Daydream VR. Again, these VR headsets are going to be based on Qualcomm’s reference design and will be powered with Snapdragon chipset. Standalone VR headsets will not require to use smartphones, PC or any cable connected device for virtual reality experience.
Customers and fans of the OnePlus brand can now openly buy the OnePlus 5 models direct from OnePlus via its website. This could be a gladsome news for those who missed out on the preorders. The open sales of the flagship device include both the 6GB RAM version and the 8GB RAM version but it is obvious demand for the 8GB RAM version is higher. While the 6GB RAM model is available to ship immediately, the 8GB RAM can only ship within the next 14 days meaning buyers will have to wait a little longer while the company replenishes its stock. Both offers also come with the same discount offer on some accessories like the DASH car charger, DASH power bundle, protective casing and more.
Both offers also come with the same discount offer on some accessories like the DASH car charger, DASH power bundle, protective casing and more, similar to the one that was announced when the OnePlus 5 was launched in the U.S. This time around the discount ranges from between 10% and 20% maximum. The sale is open to individuals in various regions but most prominent is the U.S, Canada, European countries, Asian giants like China, India and Hong Kong. Other regions are yet to be captured in OnePlus’ plan as at this moment.
As a reminder of the specs, the OnePlus 5 comes equipped with a 2.45GHz Snapdragon 835 chip backed by 6GB of RAM on one model and 8GB of RAM on the top most model. There is also a 64GB and 128GB UFS 2.1 flash storage options available. The OnePlus 5 sports a 5.5-inch Optic AMOLED display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080p. The display is further protected by a 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass 5 and supports sRGB and DCI-P3 colour space.
On the camera aspect, the OnePlus 5 packs a dual camera setup at the rear with a 20MP main sensor having f/2.6 aperture and a 16MP secondary telephoto sensor with f/1.7 aperture. The focus speed is up by 40% as a result of the second camera. There’s also 2X dual camera zoom for clearer long distance shots, improved HDR mode, and a Pro mode. For selfies, there is a powerful 16MP snapper which utilises the display as flash. The OP5 also packs a front ceramic fingerprint sensor which is capable of unlocking the device on 0.2seconds. There s also a 3,300mAH battery with fast charge support.
ASUS recently revealed that the Zenfone 4 would be among its new series and not quite long, the Zenfone 4 series lineup leaked revealing all the models the Taiwan-based company is planning to launch under the Zenfone 4 series soon. The name of the device and the model name as well as their specs were all featured in the leaked detail. So, it was easy to identify the exact model when an unknown ASUS Z01M appeared on GFXBench database. From the leaked data, we were able to grab that the Z01M is the ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie.
As usual, the GFXBench data reveals some of the specs of the ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie. Among the listed specs is an Android 7.1.1 Nougat operating system. The device is listed as packing a 5.5-inch display with 1920 x 1080p resolution. The Zenfone 4 Selfie is listed as coming with an unspecified octa-core CPU clocked at 2.0GHz. The presence of the Adreno 506 GPU narrows down the processor to either be the Snapdragon 625 or SD 626 SoC, both of which utilises the Adreno 506 GPU. The processor is backed by 4GB of RAM and the model has 32GB of internal storage which will likely be expandable.
GFXBench’s data are not always very accurate so we may actually take the 11MP selfie camera and 15MP rear camera listed on the data with a pinch of salt. The exact sensor size may likely differ in the final analysis and we really hope to see a more powerful camera setup reflective of the name of the model. But from all indications, the Zenfone 4 Selfie is a mid-range smartphone which would likely have an affordable price tag. No word yet on when the Zenfone series models will begin dropping but we believe their launch isn’t far away.
Finally, the real photo of Meizu‘s “most-wanted” flagship Pro 7 that has been the subject of rumours since last year has appeared online showing us what could be the real deal from various angles. The design of the Pro 7 recently leaked showing an innovative concept, a secondary display located at the back of the smartphone, something we have never seen before. Don’t get it all wrong, we know secondary displays are not new, the likes of LG, Yotaphone have been using that all this while but the thing is that the location has always been at the front, hovering above the main display. In contrast, that of Meizu is located on the top left corner of the back casing.
Taking a closer look at the leaked photos, we can gather that the display will have a curved glass on top and unfortunately, there is still a sizeable amount of bezels around the display both at the top and bottom. The side bezels are quite thin but since they are there, the black borders around the display are still visible. We already know the device will have a front fingerprint sensor located on the mBack button. There seems to be a single opening for the selfie camera up front without any other opening. The working home screen carries a theme which looks like Android Nougat, of course with a touch of Meizu’s Flyme OS.
The rear view offers a view of the secondary display in action and seems to be a miniature replica of the front home screen. As beautiful as the design may be, we are yet to see its spectacular importance apart from keeping you from opening up the main display all the time there is a notification beep. The rear display also houses the rear camera which is a dual setup as well as a LED flash in the same square. Also visible, is the U-shaped antenna band design wich fuses with the metal body.
We still got to see the device captured from the side but the photo is not clear enough for us to make out the features located at the bottom edge and the side rockers present. Obviously, the power button and the volume rockers will be by the side but at the bottom, we can’t tell if it is a USB Type-C port from the blurred photo.
This latest set of leaked photos is an indication that the Pro 7 may likely be launched soon. The Pro 7 is expected to pack a MediaTek Helio X30 chip and from the leaked renders, the flagship model will likely be available in Gold and Black colours. There may be more colour variants aside from these two, though.
Xiaomi continues to make rapid progress in India as indicated by the company’s smartphone sales record in the Asian country. Recently, it was revealed that Xiaomi is the most preferred brand in India, overtaking Apple and Samsung to the top spot. That preference has reflected in the sales of the Xiaomi Redmi 4 which was launched in India recently. Xiaomi India has now revealed that the company sold over a million Redmi 4 units in just 30 days. This revelation was made by Manu Jain, Xiaomi India’s Managing Director via his Twitter handle.
If we are to trace the history of Xiaomi products in India, then it will be better understood why these sales figures are encouraging. Just a few months back, the Redmi Note 4 went up on sales and the product sales crossed 1 million units in 45 days. The number of days needed to surpass the 1 million mark has further shrunken which further shows the fast growing popularity of the Xiaomi brand.
The Xiaomi Redmi 4 is a budget smartphone which was launched in November last year but was launched in India mid-May. The model sports a 5-inch display with 1080 pixel resolution. The Redmi 4 is available in three versions in India, with the mid version packing an Octa-core Snapdragon 435 chip, 3GB RAM as well as 32GB of internal storage, priced at Rs 8,999. On the other hand, the base model features a Snapdragon 435 processor and is equipped with 2GB of RAM as well as 16GB of internal storage with a price tag of Rs 6,999. A topmost 4GB + 64GB version with same SoC will go on sale by the end of June. All versions have microSD slots for expansion of the internal storage and pack a large 4,100mAh battery which is enough to ensure some extended hours of usage. You can check out our Redmi 4 Review to know more about the model that has shattered records in India.
Lenovo’s Motorola has launched the Moto Z2 Play in its home country, China and just as we reported a week ago, it keeps the ¥3299 (~$484) price tag of its predecessor.
The Moto Z2 Play arrives in China with 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage and a 5.5-inches 1080p Super AMOLED display from Samsung. It is powered by a Snapdragon 626 SoC clocked at 2.2GHz.
The Moto Z2 Play has seen subtle changes in its design with the most important being its new 5.9mm thick all-metal body. That thinner design comes at the expense of a smaller 3000mAh battery.
There is a 12MP dual-pixel sensor with a f/1.7 aperture and 1.4um pixel size. The camera has laser autofocus, dual tone led flash and can record in slow motion at 120fps. The front camera is a 5MP wide-angle sensor with a f/2.2 aperture. It also gets a dual-LED flash.
Other features of the Moto Z2 Play include NFC, fingerprint scanner, dual SIM support (nano-only) and a splash resistant coating. The phone runs Android 7.1.1 Nougat out of the box.
There is no doubt as of this moment that Xiaomi will be launching the Mi Mix 2 this year with a similar high screen-to-body ratio as featured on the first-gen Mi Mix. The Chinese tech company also hinted that the Mi Mix 2 will be designed by Phillippe Starck who masterminded the Mi Mix’s design. But we still haven’t heard much about the Mi Mix 2 design until now.
A leaked Xiaomi document to developers has shared some light on the design of the Mi Mix 2. The document recognised the innovative design of the Mix 2 and even mentioned the popularisation of the design by Samsung. Mention was also made of the LG G6 which also used a similar full-screen. The document then went on to state as a leader in full-display mobile phone technology, Xiaomi will introduce in the near future more full-screen phones with a larger display and higher screen ratio. The purpose of the document seems to be the effect the new design will have on the mobile phone software and the write-up drew developers’ attention to two aspects; larger screen aspect ratio and a virtual navigation key.
The Xiaomi Mi Mix was released in October last year with a 6.4-inch display which accounted for 91.3% of the screen and a 17:9 aspect ratio. The MiMix 2 display may not really be larger in size but the screen-to-body ratio may likely be increased to 93%as well as the aspect ratio as indicated o the leaked document. The Mi Mix featured a virtual navigation key and also uses a Cantilever piezoelectric ceramic technology which replaces the traditional earpiece. On the Mix 2, Xiaomi is said to partner with AAC technologies who will develop a better new generation technology known as AAC actuator which would be used for the ear piece sound output. The AAC actuator is said to achieve a better screen sound especially at low frequency. It also works better with the 3GPP standard.
In a similar vein, a couple of purported renders of a Xiaomi model believed to be the Mix 2 have appeared online showing the design is somehow similar to the Samsung Galaxy S8. The device looks a little smaller than the 6.4-inch display the Mi Mix featured, making the renders not so likely to be the Mix 2. It is still too early to start getting the renders of the concept flagship since it won’t be launched until most likely the fourth quarter.
There are talks of the renders being those of the Redmi Pro 2 but then, that is a mid-ranger. Putting this kind of design on the Redmi Pro 2 will make its price way higher than usual. The renders are also said to likely to be those of the Mi 6 Plus which is expected to be launched soon. The leaker only mentioned that this wasn’t the Galaxy S8 but MIUI mysterious new machine. So, we can’t say which of the Xiaomi models would pack this design but it sure looks like some interesting things are ahead.
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