Just before the end of 2016, Qualcomm and Windows announced that 2017 will see the launch of Snapdragon 835-powered notebooks. At the Computex event currently holding in Taipei, Microsoft and Qualcomm have announced partner manufacturers that will launch notebooks powered by the SD835 running full Windows 10.
These notebooks will take advantage of the chip’s Gigabit LTE modem for constant connection to the internet hence the tag “always connected PC”. The small size of the chip will allow for a better designed laptop. Since the chip is no larger than a penny, the PCB is smaller, allowing for larger batteries or other additional components.
The notebooks will also be able to enjoy superior battery life thanks to the chip. Qualcomm claims that battery life will last up to 4 or 5 times longer when in standby mode compared to other laptops. Aside that, when your device is in standby mode, emails and other data will still sync just like a smartphone.
All Snapdragon powered notebooks will come with LTE built-in via a technology called e-SIM (embedded SIM). AT&T, T-Mobile, Vodafone and a number of international carriers will support the technology. Data plans can be simply added from the Windows Store.
There was a demo on display and a number of office programs like Excel, Word and PowerPoint were tested out. There was also a video download test from YouTube to show how fast Gigabit LTE is. The 1080p video downloaded at a speed of 370Mbps and took roughly 30 seconds. The highlight was the download and installation of a 32-bit legacy app, 7-Zip.
Intel has unveiled another revolutionary product in chip manufacturing dubbed Intel Core i9-7980XE which not only lets you multitask but lets you run loads and loads of apps without any hassle. The new chip is part of the company’s new Elite Core X-series family and it uses a whopping 18 cores.
Intel’s 18-core Core i9 chip takes the bar a tad higher from where AMD left off with its 16-core Threadripper CPU. The 18-core chip is the first time the company is utilising an 18-core CPU for its processor. As would be expected, the new chip equally has a huge price tag slammed on it. Manufacturers would have to part with $1,999 for a single unit making this a super high-end chip which you may definitely not find on just any desktop PC. But the chip will sure satisfy the yearnings of gaming enthusiasts who would like to play games in 4K while attending to other tasks like broadcasting the game in HD live. The Intel Core i9 also scores another first in the aspect of packing a teraflop of computing power.
Apart from the 18-core chip, Intel also has other models in the Core X family which uses 10 cores, 12 cores, 14 cores and 16 cores respectively. The model with 10 cores comes with the model number i9-7900X and will sell for $999 which is cheaper than last year’s deca-core chip. Despite the difference in cores, all the i9chips come with a base clock frequency of 3.3GHz and can reach up to 4.3Ghz dual-core speeds with Turbo Boost 3.0. The performance of the new X-series chips has been greatly improved, thus increasing both single and dual-core speed.
Other members of the X series include a set of lower core count models such as a Quad-core i5-7640X and i7 models available in 4-cores, 6 cores and 8 core models.In order to take care of the heat issues that might arise from the higher numbers of cores, Intel also developed its own liquid cooling solution which will work across these new chips, as well as some previous generations. All of the new Core i9 processors, along with the 6-core and 8-core i7 chips, feature 140W thermal design points (TDPs) which are the maximum amount of power that they’ll draw just like last year’s 10-core CPU.
Last year, just a month before the OnePlus 3 launched, OnePlus released 8 different retail boxes the phone would likely arrive in. It asked fans to vote for their favorite design but it turned out none of the boxes were chosen. It is pulling the same stunt this year again for the OnePlus 5 and it remains to be seen if our votes count this time.
The designs were posted on their weibo page and are quite interesting. There are even a couple of them in red. It’s sad to see that the flip book package design used for the OnePlus 1 is missing. While that package box does look nice, it take up more space which isn’t good when you are transporting products. A smaller sized box allows you to transport more items.
If you own the Pixel, Pixel XL, Pixel C or either the Nexus 6P or Nexus 5X, then you should know you are eligible to sign up for the beta version of Google’s Android O. These are basically the confirmed devices that will get the update when a stable version is released. For the rest of us we have to wait for manufacturers to announce if we get the update or not.
OnePlus is probably the first to announce which phones will get updated to Android O. CEO, Pete Lau took to Twitter to announce that the OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T will both be updated to Android O.
A lot of you have been asking, so I'm proud to say Android O will come to OnePlus 3 and 3T.
So if you own either one of these two phones, be rest assured that the update will reach your phone. You shouldn’t expect a time frame for the update as Google hasn’t yet officially unveiled the OS. It still doesn’t have a name yet, although at the Google I/O event, there were packs of Oreo cookies available for the attendees to snack on.
This is probably a hint that it will be called Android Oreo. By now, everyone should know that the Android versions are named after sweet treats.
Nubia Z17 is one of the most anticipated smartphones of 2017. Nubia, as a company, may not be as famous as Xiaomi or Huawei, but the brand is known to release some of the best-looking smartphones in the market. This is exactly why we are waiting for the Nubia Z17’s official release, which is tomorrow, i.e. June 1. Continuing the tradition, many of the features of the flagship are already known to us, thanks to the series of teasers released by the company. But we know quite a lot more than the information revealed by the teasers, thanks to benchmarking sites like AnTutu. So let’s take a look at the expected Nubia Z17 Specs, Price, Release and other details down below.
ZTE Nubia Z17 Design Rumors:
There are two major design renders circulating on the internet claiming to be the real Nubia Z17 design. One of the renders show off a curvier phone with dual curved display up front, curved corners and vertically arranged dual cameras at the back. Just below the camera setup lies the fingerprint sensor. There’s the traditional red Nubia circle on the capacitive home button as well.
The second render shows off the phone with an Honor 8-like design in blue. This render is not as curvier as the one above but comes with a bezel-less design, red home button, and a mirror-like design at the back that we first saw on the Honor 8. Now, we believe this one to be the real design, especially because the Nubia Z17 passed through TENAA and the design on the certification site seems to be very similar to this render. The dual cameras are arranged horizontally, similar to the iPhone 7 Plus and there’s a dual tone LED flash beside it. The fingerprint sensor lies near the center of the back and below it is the Nubia logo.
The first render confirmed a 3.5mm headphone jack on the phone, but we can’t see the top of the phone in the second renders, so we are unsure about the headphone jack’s existence.
Nubia Z17 Specs Rumors:
AnTutu and TENAA have always been the reliable sources of smartphone specs before its launch. The same applies for the Nubia Z17. The phone was spotted on AnTuTu, Geekbench as well as TENAA, confirming that it will feature the Snapdragon 835 octa-core chipset inside. There will be a 5.5-inch bezel-less display and multiple memory variants like 4GB / 6GB RAM and 64GB / 128GB ROM options. What makes this phone even more interesting is the recent reports about 8GB of RAM inside. This would make it one of the first smartphones (after ZenFone AR) in the market to feature such large RAM capacity. Although the added advantage of 8GB RAM inside a smartphone is a topic of debate, it sure would be a big deal for many tech enthusiasts.
As for the cameras, the Z17 is said to feature dual 12MP sensors at the back. TENAA wasn’t clear about the camera specs, but it showed a 23MP sensor (there could be a secondary 12MP sensor) at the back and a 16MP shooter up front. We’ll have to wait for official details to confirm these specs.
The phone should run on Android 7.1.1 with Nubia’s redesigned UI. Inside, there should be a modest 3100mAh battery. At least two color options are expected, Gold and Silver. Finally, the company has confirmed that the Z17 will be waterproof and dustproof, which is good news considering the Z11 wasn’t waterproof.
ZTE Nubia Z17 Price & Availability:
Nubia Z series has always been the premium lineup of the brand and naturally, it commands a premium price tag as well. We haven’t got any significant rumors about the Z17’s price tag, however, considering last year’s models were announced at 2499 yuan (~$366 for 4GB RAM variant) and 3499 Yuan (~$512 for 6GB RAM variant), this year, the price could go a bit higher. That’s what the trend has been lately, including with the Xiaomi Mi 6. And if there’s an 8GB RAM version, don’t expect it to be cheaper than $600.
The Nubia Z17 will be launched tomorrow and should be available for purchase the following week. Initially, the phone should be available only in China but may head to other markets like India after a couple of months.
Stay tuned to Gizmochina as well will be covering the Z17 launch tomorrow.
On Monday, a screenshot of a leaked internal mail revealing the OnePlus 5 launch date surfaced online. The image mentioned June 15 as the launch date for the next flagship killer. Today, an official poster leaked online confirms the date and time of the launch.
The image was posted on Weibo by KJuma, a popular leakster on the micro-blogging platform. not only does it reveal the date as June 15, 2017, it also mentions the venue and time.
The launch will take place at the Shenzhen Bay Sports Center (Spring Cocoon Gymnasium) at 3:00pm local time (7:00 AM GMT). This is the same venue Smartisan used for the launch of the Nut Pro last month.
Just below the date is a text that translates to “New Release” and below that is another bold text that translates to “Only fast, not broken”. We can’t make out the meaning of the second text as the intended meaning has been lost in translation. It might be a reference to its Dash Charge fast charge technology, the overall performance of the phone or it might mean something else entirely.
OnePlus‘ fans have a golden opportunity to test run the amazing OnePlus 5 flagship before it hits the road. Though this is not as spicy as Google’s recent contest where fans had the chance to take home thousands of dollars, it is also not as painstaking and it’s much less involving. OnePlus is giving to 10 lucky reviewers, the new OnePlus 5 for little involvement.
All you have to do is to first follow OnePlus on Instagram (@oneplustech), then submit three photographs from your Instagram account snapped with any smartphone. The OnePlus design team will contact you if you are a lucky winner. Please note that selection is based on the best picture thus everything about your picture comes into play from the camera quality of the phone you used to the environment, lighting and background of your photo. The eventual winners will get the new OnePlus 5 smartphone.
The plot of this OnePlus contest is closely related to the attention the company is giving to the OnePlus 5 camera and they even sourced for help from DxO who created DxOMark camera benchmark system. It appears that the company is quite confident of the OnePlus 5 camera that they went public with their plans with the OnePlus 5 camera. “We want to bring a device that’s truly tailored and perfected for photography lovers,” wrote OnePlus on the competition page.
The closing date for this contest is not stated, however, it may not be very long since the OP5 is rumoured as launching on June 15. Already, OnePlus has recorded over 15,000 applications as at the time of reporting. To keep yourself abreast with the proceedings of this contest, visit OnePlus.net/lab.
A few days ago, the invite for a Motorola event leaked online. The invite which is written in Spanish mentions the launch of a new product on June 1 at 9:30 am. A tweet by Motorola Canada has confirmed there will indeed be a launch tomorrow.
The tweet doesn’t mention the phone but sources say it is the Moto Z2 Play.
The Moto Z2 Play has been in the news a lot lately. We first got to see press renders of the device which gave us the hint that it would be thinner. Then a TENAA listing confirmed that it will be under 6mm thick (excluding the camera bump) and will sport a smaller 2820mAh battery.
Lenovo then issued a statement saying it will launch with a 3000mAh battery which is better than 2820mAh but still smaller than the original Moto Z Play’s 3510mAh battery.
The Moto Z2 Play will look a lot like its predecessor save for the redesigned fingerprint scanner, antenna lines, and Moto mods connector. It will sport a Snapdragon 626 processor, 4GB RAM, & 64GB ROM. There is a 12MP rear camera and a 5MP front camera, both with LED flash. It will run Android 7.1.1 out of the box and support the Moto Mods released last year.
The Essential Phone has been officially announced. It is an impressive flagship smartphone that can take on the likes of Galaxy S8 and Xiaomi Mi 6. Through a post-launch interview Andy Rubin, the founder of Essential firm has given out information on when the Essential Phone will be available in the U.S.
The Essential smartphone is already available for reservation in the U.S. However, the company has not disclosed the exact release of the Essential Phone. In the interview at Code Conference 2017, Rubin revealed that the Essential Phone would be available for purchase in the next 30 days which indicates that the company would start shipping the phone by the end of the next month
Apart from the official website, the Essential Phone would be available through channels such as carriers and retailers. As far as the international launch of the Essential Phone is concerned, the support page of the smartphone states that it be would announced later. Currently, the company is receiving registrations for the Essential Phone only in the U.S.
Even though the Essential Phone would be available through the U.S. carriers later on, the company would will be trying its best to make the phone available free from bloatware that are added by the carrier. Rubin has also said that the company will also be not adding much customizations to the stock edition of Android. He added that the Essential would be introducing its very own digital assistant on the Essential Phone.
The Essential Phone is priced at $699 for its unlocked version. It comes with a 5.7-inch LTPS LCD edge-to-edge screen that offers a resolution of 1,312 x 2,560 pixels. Its specs include Snapdragon 835 SoC, 4 GB of RAM, 128 GB native storage, a pair of 13-megapixel RGB + monochrome sensors. 8-megapixel selfie snapper, fingerprint reader, USB-C port, and 3,040mAh battery
The Essential Phone carries support for modular accessories such as the 360-degree camera that can be attached to the magnetic connector at the rear side. By paying $50 more, the 360-degree camera will come bundled with the phone.
The flagship processors this year from Samsung and Qualcomm are built on the 10nm node design. The process has been shrinking over time and will continue to do so, so far Moore’s law is still in use.
Samsung has announced a road-map for the future and it stops at the 4nm process. That’s a massive reduction from where we are now. The announcement was made at a Samsung Foundry Forum where Samsung said its next focus is on 8nm chips. The 8nm chips will be built using its Low Power Plus process.
For the 7nm chips, Samsung will use Extreme Ultra Violet Lithography to etch the circuit design on the silicon wafer. Samsung’s 6nm LPP process will use a new Smart Scaling solution that will allow for ultra-low power benefits before moving to its 5nm LPP process.
The FinFET architecture will be ditched when Samsung arrives at its 4nm LPP process. In its place will be a new architecture called Multi Bridge Channel FET which is Samsung’s Gate All Round FET technology that overcomes the performance and physical scaling limits of FinFET.
It has been months since Nokia announced its trio of Android-running smartphones. However, only the Nokia 6 is available for purchase and its sale is even limited to Mainland China and Hong Kong for now.
Although pre-orders of the Nokia 3, 5, and 6 have begun in some European countries, a world wide availability hasn’t been mentioned yet until recently. New report says that Nokia plans to make its new smartphones available globally before the end of June 2017.
We plan to release our upcoming Smartphones worldwide before the end of Q2 2017. (June) Stay tuned for updates.
The announcement was made by Nokia Mobile last weekend on Twitter.
Nokia already announced that the Nokia 3, Nokia 5, and Nokia 6 will be manufactured at Foxconn’s factory in India.
The Nokia 3 has a 5-inch HD screen, 2GB of RAM, and 16GB ROM. There is a Mediatek MT6737 processor under the hood. It has an 8MP rear camera and another 8MP front facing camera. The Nokia 3 runs Android 7.1.1 Nougat and is powered by a 2650mAh battery. It will sell for 139 Euros (~ $147).
The Nokia 5 increases the screen size to 5.2”but retains the HD screen. It also swaps the MT6737 processor for a Snapdragon 430 processor and the 8MP rear camera for a 13MP sensor. RAM and ROM remains the same as above. There is a fingerprint scanner and the battery is 3000mAh. Price is 189 Euros (~$199).
The market share of Windows 10 Mobile has considerably decreased to under 1 percent as Microsoft has not released a new smartphone since October 2015. Many may have speculated that the operating system would perish soon looking at its current status. A report from the previous month stated that Microsoft may soon kill Windows 10 Mobile. However, it appears that Microsoft is internally testing a refreshed UI for Windows 10 Mobile and it will be made available through a new smartphone.
Several Microsoft insiders have revealed that the new smartphone is speculated to be driven by “a different branch of Windows Mobile.” Also, the user interface of the operating system is said to be different from what we can see on the current Windows 10 Mobile OS. It seems that the new UI is in the initial stage of development. Also, it may not support older Windows Mobile apps. In order to provide new mobile experience on the forthcoming edition of Windows 10 Mobile, the Redmond giant may have axed the Silverlight apps.
Petri’s Brad Sams is of the view that the release of the device ay be around a year or less away. The new device is expected to support UWP apps. The market is filled with numerous Android and iOS devices. Hence, in order to attract consumers, Microsoft will have to provide a new experience through the redesigned Windows 10 Mobile. There is a possibility that Microsoft may cancel the project completely if the testing does not yield good results.
Microsoft has killed its Lumia line of smartphones and it has said that other OEMs will continue to launch phones running on Windows Mobile OS. Hence, the rumor mill is eagerly anticipating on a Surface branded smartphone. However, there is no confirmation on whether the new hardware that is used for testing the refreshed Windows 10 Mobile experience is the highly anticipated Surface phone.
In a recent interview on Marketplace’s make me smart, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said that the company will make phones. However, the new phones will not appear like conventional phones. He added, “We make phones today, we have OEMs like HP making phones and others and we picked a very specific area to focus on which is management, security, and this one particular feature that we have called Continuum, which is a phone that can even be a desktop,” He also claimed that the Surface is a good example on how the firm could differentiate in the market.
Hence, the upcoming smartphone could possibly have Continuum as one of its best features. Moreover, it may sport a unique design like Surface devices. The alleged phone may ideally transform in a notebook or PC.
In what could likely be its final daily teaser, Nubia has teased the Z17 as coming with a waterproof body. This isn’t the first time we would be finding out about the waterproof feature of the Z17 flagship but it is the first (well, maybe second) official confirmation of this feature.
The Nubia Z17 promises to be an awesome smartphone, no doubt a true flagship, considering the top-end design and features it is coming with. The Z17 is said to come with a borderless display as well as a dual camera setup and onboard is a Snapdragon 835 chip with 6GB of RAM (there is a rumour of an 8GB RAM version). The device has recently been teased as well as coming with an artificial intelligence (AI) technology which it calls NU. Qualcomm’s latest Quick Charge 4.0 super fast charging technology is also one of the features expected on the Z17 flagship and also up to 128GB UFS 2.1 flash storage. With all these powerful features, it is left to our imaginations to guess how much the beast would cost.
It is known that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is an Apple Mac user but what we don’t seem to know is that the country’s leader isn’t the only fan of the U.S. tech company in the alienated country. A new product by a North Korean tech company – Ryonghung has revealed what could be a strong sentiment for Apple products. The Ryonghung iPad is a tablet PC except that it is bearing Apple’s trademarked name.
If it were in another country, we believe Apple would have been preparing to send its army of lawyers after the company’s ass so they’ll slug it out in the court. But it is North Korea, stuff like that doesn’t matter. Besides, this is not the first time such infringement would be happening. Some years back, a desktop PC that bears all the similarity in design to Apple’s iMac was spotted in a trade fair in Pyongyang.
In case you are wondering what lies inside the Ryonghung iPad, just know that it is nowhere near Apple’s iPad models. It looks like a low-end Android tablet and in fact, packs a Quad-core 1.2GHz CPU, 1GB of RAM, 8GB storage and an HDMI cable. It also comes with a keyboard and internet connectivity. We’re not sure of what software the tablet run but it sure runs something, anything. Does it matter because you’re definitely not going to be seeing this budget “iPad” anywhere outside North Korea?
MIUI 9, the upcoming proprietary Android UI from Xiaomi is now speculated to be available from July. The new leak has not revealed the names of the Mi devices that will be receiving the MIUI 9 update. The MIUI 9 is not expected to bring visual changes but it is expected to bring some new features.
Xiaomi was speculated to make the split-screen mode available on MIUI 8. However, it is now expected to come with MIUI 9 on Android Nougat devices. The other feature that is expected to arrive with MIUI 9 update is picture-in-picture functionality. An email containing information on arrival of these features on MIUI 9 was sent by Xiaomi to its developer was leaked at the start of this month.
In the previous week, it was reported that Xiaomi has axed the SMS scheduling feature from MIUI 9 citing low number of SMS users. The company has allegedly claimed that by removing this feature, it can use its processing power for other functionalities.
A report that appeared at the end of the previous year revealed that Xiaomi would allow its users to delete system apps such as Calendar or Calculator in MIUI 9. The screen recorder feature was first seen in the MIUI 8 Developer Edition. This function is also expected to arrive with MIUI 9.
It goes without saying that the MIUI 9 will also arrive with some optimizations for better user experience. Also, Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun had also confirmed recently that MIUI 9 will be more stable, powerful and smoother.
Xiaomi has followed a trend of launching the new versions of MIUI in August. Going by the new information, the MIUI 9 may get announced in July and it may roll out to users starting from August. Xiaomi is expected to confirm on the Mi Devices that will be receiving it in July or August. However, a recent leak has revealed that MIUI 9 would arriving on devices like Mi 6, Mi 5c, Mi MIX, Mi Note 2, Redmi Note 4X, Redmi Note 4, Mi 4C, Mi 4S, Mi 5, Mi 5s, Mi 5s Plus, and also Mi Pad 3 tablet. The split-screen functionality is speculated to be first available only on Mi devices running on Nougat, but later it will be also brought to Mi devices with Android 6.0 Marshmallow OS.
During the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2017, ASUS had unveiled the ZenPad 3S 10 tablet. The 10-inch slate now has a new sibling as the Taiwanese company has introduced its smaller edition called ZenPad 3S 8.0 at the recent Computex 2017 event. The company has also launch two new variants of ZenPad 10 in a subdued manner. ASUS has not introduced any smartphone at the trade show.
The ZenPad 3S 8.0 (model number Z582KL) comes with a 7.9-inch screen that produces resolution of 1,536 x 2,048 pixels. The larger model is powered by Snapdragon 650 chipset. However, the smaller model is fueled by Snapdragon 652 SoC. The ZenPad 3S 8.0 has a 4 GB RAM model that will be coming in two storage sizes of 32 GB or 64 GB. A cheaper edition of the tablet will be also available with 3 GB RAM and the same storage options.
There is a 13-megapixel camera sitting on its rear side and the front panel features a selfie shooter of 5-megapixel. It is running on Android 7.1 Nougat. The thickness of the slate is 6.9mm and the device features an aluminum unibody. ASUS has not revealed any information on the pricing and availability of the ZenPad 3S 8.0.
The two new variations of the ZenPad 10 are Z301MFL and Z301ML. Both the 10-inch tablets have identical appearance and feature almost the specifications. The Z301MFL is a higher-end tablet with 10.1-inch screen that supports a resolution of 1,920 x 1,200 pixels. It is driven by MediaTek MT8735A SoC that features a 1.4GHz quad-core processor and Mali-T720MP2 graphics.
The ZenPad 10 Z301MFL will be available in model RAM and storage options such as 2 GB RAM + 16 GB storage, 3 GB RAM + 32 GB storage or 3 GB RAM + 64 GB storage. Other specs include microSD card, Android 7.0 Nougat, 3.5mm audio jack, USB Type-C port, 3G and 4G data connectivity, dual speakers at front, 5-megapixel rear camera and 2-megapixel selfie snapper.
It measures 251.77 x 172.17 x 8.95mm and weighs 490 grams. It is expected to come with some accessories such as Bluetooth keyboard dock. It will be available in color choices like Royal blue, Pearl white and Quartz gray.
The ZenPad 10 Z301ML has a 10-inch display that offers a lower resolution of 1,280 x 800 pixels. A slower 1.3 GHz quad-core CPU from MediaTek MT8753W chipset powers this slate. All the other specs of this tablet as well as its measurement, weight and color variants are same as Z301MFL model. Like the above tablets, ASUS did not reveal any details on its pricing and availability of ZenPad 10 Z301ML.
The countdown to the June 1 Nubia flagship conference has now turned from days to hours and soon the conference would come with its packages. But for now, we’ll still continue swimming in leaks and rumors until Nubia unmasks everything.
A new leak has emerged on china’s Weibo which suggests the Nubia Z17 will come with 8GB RAM! This latest rumor might sound exciting to some, while there are those that might have the opinion that 8GB of RAM on a smartphone is more of an overkill. Well, whichever side of the divide you are, it does not matter as this is just a rumor that cannot be confirmed by us.
However, this adds up to the features the Z17 is said to feature. Some, like a Snapdragon 835 chip and Q.C 4.0 have been confirmed. The phone has also been confirmed to come with an IP67 waterproof body and is also coming with a dual camera setup at the rear. The design is also another interesting aspect, as the Z17 is projected to come with a curved, bezel-less display.
Yi technology has now become popular when it comes to powerful budget action cameras and not quite long, the company started to venture into the high-end segment with the launch of the Yi M1 Mirrorless camera. The company also ventured into drones recently with the unveiling of the Yi Erida drone which was unveiled at CES 2017. Yi is now set to launch a new camera which is likely the Yi 360 VR camera.
The upcoming product will be launched on June 1 and from all indications, it is a panoramic camera. A similar product which we believe is the same with this one is listed on Yi technology website for pre-order so, from there we can get an idea that the camera is the Yi 360 VR camera.
The Yi 360 VR camera comes with dual lenses that are adjacent to each other with each having a 220-degree wide angle FOV. The cameras each have a 12MP SonyIMX377 sensor and f/2.0 aperture. The Yi Panoramic camera is Google Street View ready and has WiFi connectivity. There is also a 1400mAH battery and a microphone which means you can Livestream videos with the camera. It also comes with a USB Type-C port, microSD slot as well as Bluetooth 4.2.
The product will be officially announced on June 1 while booking will start on June 11. The camera comes in white and black colors and it carries a price tag of 2499 Yuan (~$364). Meanwhile, the Yi technology’s website puts it up on pre-order for $399 for those in the U.S.
Blackview has made quite a few budget phones over the year and the A9 Pro is one of their latest models. It has decent specs for the price of just about $90. Is it any good? Learn more in the full Blackview A9 Pro review.
Blackview A9 Pro ships with all the usual stuff and some extras include a screen protector, a pair of earphones and a soft TPU case.
DESIGN and DISPLAY
As far as design goes, I love that the phone is compact since it has only 5” 720p display, which may not be the sharpest out there but it is not bad for a cheap phone.
We have a quality metal trim that goes all around the device, tactile metal buttons and in general, the phone is well-built.
We have a notification LED light, which sits next to the 2MP selfie shooter.
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. Also, the sensor has a touch panel. If you tap it, it takes you back, if you tap and hold it, you will go home. You can also switch to traditional on-screen navigation keys.
One of the key selling points of this phone is the dual-camera setup that consists of one 8MP shooter and another 0.3MP sensor.
The loudspeaker quality does not really impress like on most of the budget phones.
HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE
The phone sports okay specs for the price. The device ships with a quad-core MTK6737 chip (1.3GHz), 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage.
The gaming performance is pretty good if you play the 3D games like Asphalt 8 on medium graphics. Still, you may see a few skipped frames but nothing major. The phone gets warm pretty quickly but it does not overheat.
USER INTERFACE
The Blackview A9 Pro comes with the Android 7.0 out of the box with the proprietary skin on top of it. The skin removes the app tray and redesigns the icons whether you like it or not. The are quite a few gesture and motion controls that work quite well but some of them are quite slow to respond. You can also use a one-hand operation mode that works quite well, use a floating dock and so on. Most importantly, the user interface performance has been smooth and fluid, no complaints here.
BENCHMARKS
IMAGE QUALITY
The Blackview A9 Pro can take decent daylight images considering this is a cheap phone. Sure, the level of detail could be higher, the dynamic range adjustment could be more accurate but in general, you can take some decent-looking daylight images.
The dual-camera setup allows you to take some good-looking pictures with bokeh effect. Sure, this is not the flagship-grade quality but the results are quite impressive for such a cheap device.
The low-light camera performance does not impress like on most of the cheap phones.
Selfie pictures will definitely do the trick for social media needs but there could slightly more detail.
The 1080p video quality is above average. Selfie video quality is again, kind of mediocre but it is possible to use the camera for video chats or other stuff.
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 almost 5 hours of screen-on time, which is a good result considering the fact that I used the phone quite intensively.
CONCLUSIONS
The Blackview A9 Pro is yet another cheap phone from China that aims to deliver a lot of value for the price and it succeeds in quite a few ways.
The phone is plain-looking but it is well-built and it uses a quality metal frame, the display is great for everyday use, the user interface performance is decent and the battery life is good.
Obviously, you should consider some caveats like a poor low-light camera performance, mediocre loudspeaker and the MTK6737 chip is not designed for hardcore gamers.
At the end of the day, the Blackview A9 Pro is still a decent offering for the price but as always, make sure to consider a few shortcomings like on any other budget phone.
Xiaomi first released the Mi Note 2 along with the Mi Mix last year, both sporting revolutionary designs that were alien to Xiaomi’s design language. While the Mi Mix would go on to take the main spotlight, the Mi Mix still commanded some admiration for its curved edge design and well-packed line-up. As usual, the device will have a successor and that success believed to be named Mi Note 3 was earlier rumored to launch in the second quarter of the year. That isn’t likely now but there are talks of a Q3 launch for the flagship device.
A new render of the Xiaomi Mi Note 3 have leaked online showing the device will sport a dual camera setup to the rear. It is unlikely that Xiaomi would completely overhaul the design of the Note 3 so it isn’t surprising that the design of the render looks very much like that of the Mi Note 2 except for the dual cameras at the rear. The dual cameras look very much like that of the Mi 6, aligned in a horizontal plane. The render is likely not real so, just take a look and move on.
We still don’t know much about the specs the Mi Note 3 would pack it is expected to feature an OLED display and may pack the Snapdragon 835 processor with 6GB of RAM and 128GB storage. The device is said to sport a 5.7-inch display size and others. The Mi Note 3 may likely be unveiled along with the Mi Mix 2 just the same way the Note 2 was launched with the Mi Mix last year.
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