LeEco CEO Jia Yueting Steps Down Amidst Financial Troubles

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May 22, 2017

The financial troubles bedeviling the innovative Chinese company LeEco may have taken its first casualty and it turns out to be LeEco’s founder and CEO, Jia Yueting. According to a stock exchange filing, Jia Yueting will step down as CEO of one of LeEco’s holding companies, Leshi Internet Information & Technology Corp Beijing. The filing also revealed that the company’s finance chief will also be eased out and that the former CEO will still retain his position as chairman.

Leshi was founded by Jia Yueting in Beijing in 2004 and is reputed as the first streaming video company in China to go public. Jia later founded Leshi Holding as a sister company of Letv to provide media content and products that linked to its services. Both Letv services and Leshi products were marketed internationally under the Letv name until January 2016, when media services began under the Le.com name and electronics products were labeled LeEco.

Information made available in the Stock exchange filing also include that Jia will remain as chairman and woulf focus on corporate governance, strategic planning and core product innovation. His former role as CEO will be taken over by longtime Lenovo executive Liang Jun, who joined Leshi as an executive in 2012. The announcement includes that Yang Lijie would resign as chief financial officer due to personal reasons and his position will be taken over by Zhang Wei, who was formerly the company’s China CFO.

LeEco’s financial troubles began last year after an aggressive expansion drive which saw the company enter the US market and also India. The company had tried to seek billions of dollars in fresh funding and also shed some of its libilities, reducing staff and abandoning a deal to buy Vizio, a U.S. TV maker. The financial difficulties may also be unconnected with the LeSEE electric car project which LeEco was developing with Faraday Future and is believed to have gulped huge sums.

(source)

Meizu M5C Could Be the Mysterious Meizu Device Launching on May 23

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Anvinraj Valiyathara

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May 22, 2017

Meizu has released a teaser to confirm that it will be holding a launch event on May 23. The teaser image contains a big C letter and there is no information on the specifications of the device that will be announced tomorrow. It is only known that it will be arriving with an affordable price tag.

According to the head of Global Marketing for Meizu, Ard Boudeling, the company has not released a phone that is priced lower than $275 up until 2015. The reason behind it was that phones at such a low price wouldn’t deliver great user experience. Hence, the company concentrated on releasing phones at higher price points.

Meizu C launch — Meizu’s teaser image for May 23 launch event

He adds that the smartphone market has swiftly developed in the recent past and the hardware components have become cheaper. So, the company aims to release cheaper devices that meet their quality standards. The product will be unveiled tomorrow will stand testament to it. Hence, the new Meizu C phone is expected to come with a cheaper price tag.

The alleged phone is speculated to be only available for purchase through online channels and it won’t be made available for buying through brick-and-mortar stores. Meizu has been releasing M series smartphones that offer impressive specs and features at affordable prices.

Some sources are speculating that the Chinese firm may introduce an entirely new C series line of cheaper smartphones. However, there is a possibility that Meizu may announce the Meizu M5c (Blue Charm 5C) that had recently appeared on the official website of Meizu and its listing was quickly removed. Here is a leaked shot of the alleged Meizu M5C:

The alleged smartphone was also spotted at TENAA with a model number of M710M. It revealed that the Meizu M5c has a 5-inch IPS screen that supports an HD screen of 1,280 x 720 pixels. It is powered by MediaTek MT6737 chipset and 2 GB of RAM. Its native storage is 16 GB and it has an expandable storage that supports up to 128 GB microSD card. It is running on Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow OS.

It is rumored to houses an 8-megapixel rear camera and a 5-megapixel frontal shooter. It is speculated to include a 3,020mAh battery.It could be cheaper edition of Meizu M5.

Here is a leaked photo of an unknown Meizu phone by Android Headlines. It resembles with the phone shown in the above image.

The phone features a mBack button, the multifunctional key that not only works as a Home key but also as a Back button and a fingerprint reader. A long press on it also allow users to turn off the screen. The mBack button is seen placed below the screen. The rear camera of the phone is equipped with an LED flash. It is expected to be available in multiple colors like black, blue, red, pink and gold.

(source 1, 2|via)

Xiaomi’s Super Sale On Jingdong Saw Over 255,000 Units Sold In A Day

By

Habeeb Onawole

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May 21, 2017

On Friday, Jingdong Mall (JD.com) celebrated its second year anniversary. To mark the event, a number of Xiaomi smartphones were on sale.

A weibo post via the online store’s official account has revealed that Xiaomi set a new industry sales record. According to the post over 255,000 Xiaomi phones were sold on that day alone, amounting to ¥330 million (∼$47.9 million) in total.

The celebration is not yet over and over the next couple of days more phones will be on sale. They have also released official posters teasing the products that will be available for purchase.

The Xiaomi Mi 6 will be available at its official price of ¥2499 ($363) on May 23 and the Redmi Note 4X Jingdong Special Edition (3GB+16GB) will be available for ¥799 ($116).

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Xiaomi Mi Max 2 Real Images Leaks Alongside a TPU Case

By

Habeeb Onawole

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May 21, 2017

The Mi Max 2 is a highly anticipated device from Xiaomi, especially for those who love phones with large displays. The Mi Max 2 is scheduled for a May 25 launch and according to leaks, the phone will only have a few design changes with the upgrades occurring under the hood.

A set of leaked live images that surfaced online yesterday said to be of the Mi Max 2 is our first look at the device.

The Mi Max 2 in the image wears the champagne gold paint and could pass for the same device as the original Mi Max. However, you should notice that the antenna lines are different and now have the U-design. The camera setup is also different as the LED flash sits on the left of the sensor and not the right.

This is a 6.44-inch device, so one hand use is out of it. We guess that is why Xiaomi still retains the fingerprint scanner in exactly the same position. But we really wish the scanner was positioned in front of the device, so we wouldn’t have to pick up the device all the time just to unlock it. A simple home button swipe, and you can check for notifications or open apps without lifting the device from your desk or any other flat surface its placed on.

Another image shows the base and top of the device. We can see Xiaomi has reduced the number of holes that make up the speaker grille. While there are two sets on opposite sides of the USB Type-C port, don’t expect stereo speakers. Thankfully, the IR blaster makes a return and there is still an audio jack.

We have no doubt that the images are genuine as they match the blueprint that was seen on the website of Taiwan’s communications agency.

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OPPO R11 Plus TENAA Listing Reveals 6GB of RAM, Dual Rear Cameras and 3880mAh Battery

By

Habeeb Onawole

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May 21, 2017

The OPPO R11 has been in the news for a while but it is still yet to launch. The Chinese smartphone manufacturer recently released a new ad for the phone but still didn’t mention a release date. As is typical of OPPO, their flagship phone usually gets a bigger variant with the suffix “Plus” added to it. The R11 will be no different, seeing as the OPPO R11 Plus has surfaced on TENAA.

[envira-gallery id=”132266″]

The OPPO R11 Plus will feature a larger 6.0-inch display with the same 1080p resolution as the R11. Its RAM has also been bumped up to 6GB but storage has been kept at 64GB, though with the option for expansion via a MicroSD slot.

Just like the R11, the OPPO R11 Plus will also get dual rear cameras. TENAA lists them as a 16MP and 20MP combination. The front facing camera on the other hand is a 20MP sensor. The phone runs Android 7.1.1 Nougat and is powered by a 2.2GHz octa-core processor (likely Snapdragon 660).

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ASUS ZenFone Go 2 (X015D) Appears on TENAA with Images, Specifications

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Anvinraj Valiyathara

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May 21, 2017

A new ASUS smartphone has appeared as “ASUS_X015D” on TENAA, the Chinese telecommunication body. The ASUS X015D phone was also spotted on GFXBench benchmarking platform earlier in this month. The ASUS X105D appears to be a successor of ASUS ZenFone Go that has a model number of X104D. Hence, it is speculated to launch as ZenFone Go 2.

The ASUS X105D has a 5.5-inch HD screen that offers a resolution of 720 x 1,280 pixels. The phone is driven by an octa-core processor that clocks at 1.5 GHz. It will be coming in RAM variants of 3 GB and 4 GB that will come with respective 32 GB and 64 GB storage options.

It has a dual rear camera of 13-megapixel and its front-facing camera is of 5-megapixel. It is running on Android 7.0 Nougat OS. The smartphone supports VoLTE and is packed with a massive 4,850mAh battery. It measures 154.5 x 76.6 x 8.85mm and its weight is 175 grams.

The images suggest that the horizontally aligned dual rear camera module is placed at the top left corner of the phone along with its LED flash. The right side of the phone has volume buttons and a Power key. The Home button present on the front seems to be embedded with a fingerprint reader. The top side of the phone probably features a 3.5mm audio jack.

The GFXBench listing of ASUS X015D, the alleged ZenFone Go 2, also showed that the phone has a 5.5-inch HD display, 3 GB of RAM and 32 GB of storage. It revealed that the phone is powered by MediaTek MT6750 chipset. However, the rear camera of the phone is mentioned as 8-megapixel and its front-facing shooter is of 5-megapixel. Even the GFXBench listing shows that it supports only one SIM card, it is likely that ASUS may also sell its dual SIM variant.

There is no information available on the pricing and availability of the phone. Now that the alleged ZenFone Go 2 has appeared on TENAA, it is likely to get officially announced soon. Speculations have it that the Taiwanese firm would be announcing ZenFone 4, ZenFone 4s and ZenFone 4 Max smartphones at the upcoming Computex 2017 from May 30 to June 3.

(source)

Nokia 9 Flagship Finally Spotted in Leaked Hands-on Photos? Arriving with 5.3” QHD Screen, Snapdragon 835, Dual Rear Cam

By

Anvinraj Valiyathara

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May 21, 2017

As Nokia had confirmed, the company is in the process of rolling out Nokia 3, Nokia 5 and Nokia 6 smartphones in multiple markets across the globe. The company is expected to announce its next set of smartphones including its flagship phone by the end of Q2. Now, fresh hands-on photos of a prototype of the alleged Nokia 9 flagship smartphone have been revealed by a French online publication.

The rumor mill has been consistently claiming that the Nokia 9 is this year’s flagship smartphone. The leaked photos show the purported Nokia 9 hiding inside a protective box because of which it is not easy to make out it design. However, it does reveal that the phone will be sporting a full metallic chassis. The rear shot of the phone reveals that the smartphone features a dual rear camera setup.

The leaked shots also reveal that the Nokia 9 will also feature a USB Type-C port and a 3.5mm audio jack. Another photo shows a fingerprint reader (not clickable) placed between two capacitive buttons. The volume controller and Power key can be seen on the right side of the phone. Another image reveals the specifications of the phone.

The above image shows that the Nokia 9 is codenamed as Heart. It suggests that the smartphone would be coming with 5.3-inch display that offers a resolution of 1,440 x 2,560 pixels and it offers a pixel density of 577 ppi. It will be fueled by Snapdragon 835 chipset and 4 GB of RAM. The native storage of the phone is 64 GB. The prototype unit seems to be running a stock edition of Android 7.1.1 Nougat OS.

Rumors suggest that the phone features a pair of 13-megapixel rear-facing cameras. The image of the rear camera suggests that it features a laser auto focus and a dual-LED flash. Like the dual rear camera on Huawei flagships, the alleged Nokia 9 would be featuring a monochrome and a RGB sensor. One of the photos showing the camera app on the Nokia 9 reveals that it will offer the ability to stream live video to social sites like Facebook and YouTube. It will also users to snap photos the front and rear cameras at the same time. The two images shot can be arranged in a single photo. Here are some of the photos that were shot using the alleged Nokia 9:

The Nokia 9 would be coming with a pair of headphones and a Quick Charge 3.0 fast charger. A leaked information that surfaced in the previous month that the Nokia 9 would be priced at $699 and may launch in Q3 .

(source)

OPPO R11 Promo Ad Reveals Dual Cameras, Front View & Curvier Design

By

Jed John Ikoba

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May 20, 2017

OPPO continues its drive to get us to fall in love with the OPPO R11 even before it is launched. The company has released yet another ad video which gives us what is perhaps the first clear glimpse of the R11. In addition to the video, the Chinese tech giant also released a number of posters containing its spokespersons for the R11.

Coming with a Snapdragon 660 processor, the OPPO R11 cannot be said to be a flagship device but a mid-ranger. However, the camera configuration places it way above all other R-series smartphone OPPO had manufactured. The posters and video confirm the R11 will indeed feature a dual lens setup at the rear. There is no rear-mounted fingerprint sensor just like its predecessors so, the R11 will have a front fingerprint authentication method.

The posters and video also confirm the R11 will be available in three attractive colours which are likely Gold, Rose Gold and Black. We also got to see the front view of the OPPO R11 for what is arguably the first time. A front physical home button is present on at its usual position and at the top, there is a selfie camera and just the receiver speaker. The device also has narrow bezels t the two edges, just that the top and bottom bezels are quite large.

There are no talks about an OPPO R11 Plus at this moment. So, we can assume that the R11 Plus may not launch along with the R11 or it may not even exist at all. The R11 seems to stand at 5.5 inches and looking back at OPPO antecedents, the company may likely release a Plus-size version of the device. We expect to see a press invite to the R11’s launch very soon.

Nubia Z17 Press Renders Reveal Honor 8-Like Color Design

By

Habeeb Onawole

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May 20, 2017

ZTE’s sub-brand, Nubia is set to launch a new smartphone soon. Named the Nubia Z17, it has made an appearance on TENAA and has also been seen on the official website. Invites for an event scheduled for June 1 have been sent out which we believe is for the launch of the phone.

The key features of the Nubia Z17 are its Snapdragon 835 processor, IP67 rating and dual rear cameras. The invite also hints at a form of AI integration as the letters “a” and “i” in the words “Nubiaimagination” are highlighted in red.

Alongside the invite, press renders of a Nubia smartphone have also leaked online. We want to believe they are the Nubia Z17 but they look different from the phone we saw on the website.

The phone in the render is blue with a reflective back that looks just like that of the Honor 8. This means the Nubia Z17 will have a glass back. It will also have a rear mounted fingerprint scanner positioned above the Nubia logo.

While the images cleverly avoid revealing the dual cameras, we can tell that it is definitely not a vertical setup. The Nubia logo already sits in the middle, and a few millimeters above it lies the fingerprint sensor. It won’t be sensible to place the sensors vertically with this design. We can then agree that the image from the TENAA listing which has the cameras positioned horizontally is what we should expect.

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A Collection of OnePlus 5 Leaks and Renders, Which is The Real Deal?

By

Habeeb Onawole

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May 20, 2017

In the last one week or thereabout, there have been lots of leaks regarding the OnePlus 5. It is hard to tell which is genuine or which is fake. But we want to believe at least one of these images shows the original OnePlus 5.

Before we dive into the analysis of each one, a new image alleged to be a prototype of the OnePlus 5 leaked again a few days ago. What is special about this new leak is that it doesn’t have an audio jack. Now let’s not get ahead of ourselves. The audio jack could simply have been moved to the top and not permanently removed. And seeing the result from Carl Pei’s poll from last year asking if we like headphone jacks, we don’t think he’d want to break our hearts.

Do you like headphone jacks?

— Carl Pei (@getpeid) October 25, 2016

Now on to the leaks. The major differences between these leaks are the dual cameras and antenna design. Although there are a few smaller ones like button placements and colors.

OnePlus 5

Design 1

The first leak we are looking at shows the OnePlus 5 in black with single thin antenna lines at the top and bottom. The dual cameras share a single housing and are flush with the rest of the phone. Sitting a few millimeters from the camera is a circular LED flash. It also sports a single physical button on the right.

OnePlus 5

Design 2

Another design from the same source but just a little different. The camera setup is the same but is raised a bit from the rest of the body just like that of the iPhone 7 Plus. The LED flash has also been moved to the center of the phone. This second render has its power button and volume rocker on the left side.

Design 3

This render changes things a bit more. The color scheme is white but the camera design is the same as the one above. One addition to this setup is a secondary microphone that sits between the cameras and the LED flash.

The antenna lines have also been redesigned to look just like that of the iPhone 7 Plus. This render is basically an iPhone 7 with less curve and a blurred out OnePlus logo. We sincerely hope OnePlus doesn’t go with this design.

Design 4

Another take on design 3 but has the cameras flush with the back of the phone. It doesn’t look bad but the focus appears to be on the antenna line and not the camera setup.

Design 5

This is another take of design 2 and design 3. The dual cameras separated and have a chrome ring around them. We hope this design never got approved.

OnePlus 5 horizontal rear camera

Design 6

This is a bit more refined and not a shameless copy of the iPhone 7 Plus. The antenna line is the same U-design as those above but the dual rear cameras have a different design. The cameras are spaced apart but share the same housing. There is a secondary microphone on the right and a dual LED flash on the left of the camera setup.

OnePlus 5 prototype

Design 7

This is the prototype we talked about that lacks an audio jack. The dual rear cameras are positioned vertically just right above the OnePlus logo and they share a single housing. The LED flash sits between the two sensors, so it is protected by the same glass covering the sensors.

I like the fact that this unit lacks antenna lines. This gives the OnePlus 5 a simple and clean look. Of all the designs so far, this is what I hope the OnePlus 5 looks like.

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Get the Xiaomi Amazfit Smartwatch For Just $109.99 (Black – English Version)

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Daily Deals

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May 20, 2017

In today’s daily deal, we have the amazing Xiaomi Amazfit smartwatch up for sale at a discounted price. The watch is one of the best affordable smartwatches available in the market today, but until recently, only the Chinese version of the smartwatch was sold by third party retailers in most regions. Now, even the English / US version of the Amazfit Watch is being sold on sites like Gearbest which makes it one of the best smartwatches at this price.

Both Linas and Joe at Gizmochina can be seen using the Amazfit watch on a daily basis and so far the watch has managed to impress us very well. The two major highlights of the Amazfit watch are its reflective always on display which looks amazing under direct sunlight (backlight takes care of things when there’s not enough light) and the super long 7-day battery life.

There are a lot of special modes on the watch, like indoor running mode, outdoor running mode which makes sure your calories and heart rate data are continuously updated during your workout regime. The fact that the watch has GPS and can even connect to Bluetooth headphones make it one of the best watches at $109.99.

At present, the Amazfit watch’s English version is up for sale at $118.99, but with the coupon: AMAZFITAL, you can get an additional $9 off on the watch.

Check out more details on the deal on Gearbest from below.

Get The Amazing Xiaomi Amazfit Watch At Just $109.99

The Little Pepper V9 is a Xiaomi Mi 6 With A Mediatek Processor and a Larger Display

By

Habeeb Onawole

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May 20, 2017

Chinese smartphone manufacturer, Little Pepper is back with a new phone. Called the Little Pepper V9, you won’t be the only one that thinks it looks like the Xiaomi Mi 6.

The Little Pepper V9 shares a design similar to that of the Xiaomi Mi 6. Though we are not surprised to see that the blue curved back, dual rear cameras, and home button are where the similarities end.

The Little Pepper V9 sports a 5.5-inch Full HD display with 2.5D glass, 3GB RAM, and 32GB ROM. Instead of a Snapdragon processor, it is powered by MediaTek’s MT6737CT quad-core processor. There are two 16MP sensors on the rear and a 5MP rear camera for selfies.

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OPPO R11 To Feature A Special Portrait Mode, First Sample Revealed

By

Jed John Ikoba

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May 20, 2017

OPPO just recently revealed that its upcoming model which has long been revealed as adopting the OPPO R11 moniker, will have a dual camera setup at its rear and the configuration has also been made bare to be a 20MP + 16MP camera setup with one being a wide-angle lens and the other a telephoto lens.

The Chinese innovative tech company has also revealed that the R11 will come with a new feature on its camera which it called Portrait mode. This is in addition to the 2X optical zoom which the R11 is expected to feature. The portraits mode will be on the dual camera and will enable users capture a portrait image with the image coming out clear and the background blurred. OPPO also shared a sample photo shot by the R11’s dual cameras in portrait mode and it is just so crisp clear.

According to the R11’s AnTuTu appearance, the device features Qualcomm’s mid-range Snapdragon 660 processor with the Adreno 512. The device is also packs a 4GB RAM, 64GB storage and Android 7.1 Nougat OS. While the AnTuTu document only lists the display resolution as a 1920 X 1080 pixels resolution, it had earlier featured in rumours that the R11 will sport a 5.5-inch display. We expect the OPPO R11 to launch very soon.

TENAA Listing Reveals Moto Z2 Play Will Feature a 2820mAh Battery

By

Habeeb Onawole

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May 20, 2017

The Moto Z Play was one of the most beloved phones in the Moto Z series line-up from last year. It had a nice 5.5-inch Super AMOLED display, alongside the power-efficient Snapdragon 625 Processor paired with a 3510mAh battery. Plus it had support for Moto Mods and Moto Shells too.

You’d have thought the changes coming to its successor, the Moto Z2 Play would be minimal. Just a newer processor and improved cameras. Instead of leaving at that, someone at Lenovo decided that it was better to kill the most important feature of the Moto Z Play, its battery, in favor of a thinner design.

The TENAA listing for the Moto Z2 Play just confirmed that the phone will come with a 2820mAh battery. That’s almost 700mAh shaved off for a few extra millimeters of thinness.

The Moto Z2 Play is listed with model number XT1710-08 on the Chinese certification site. It has a 5.49-inch OLED display, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage. There is an octa-core processor clocked at 2.2GHz which we believe is the Snapdragon 626.

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Huawei Honor 9 Gets Network License, 3.5mm Jack Not Cancelled

By

Jed John Ikoba

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May 20, 2017

Huawei’s Honor 9 is expected as the company’s next “big thing” for this year. Huawei sure seems to have got a busy itinerary lined up for this year, obviously in its bid to retain its top 3 positions globally and perhaps, surpass the duo of Samsung and Apple who both occupy the first and second spot respectively. That is a tall order but they seem to be on course with the launch of the P10, P10 Plus, Honor V9 and Honor 8 Lite. There are talks of the Huawei Honor 9 joining the list soon as the company is rumored as planning to release the Honor 9 on June 27 in a conference billed to take place in Berlin, Germany.

While we cannot account for the veracity of the claim, the Honor 9 continues to edge towards a possible release as it has reportedly gotten network license certification by China’s telecoms certification agency, TENAA. Three new Huawei models with model numbers STF-AL10, STF-AL00 and STF-TL10 were recently revealed to have gotten network approval and they are believed to be the Honor 9 models.

This joins earlier rumors that the Honor 9 has also gotten radio transmission approval and had also been 3C certified. The 3C certification shows the device will have support for 9V/2A fast charge. Also, Huawei’s Honor president Zhao Ming George seems to have debunked rumors that the Honor 9 will not have a 3.5mm audio jack. The Honor president’s latest comments, coupled with an earlier one also on Weibo, thus means the Honor 9 will likely feature a 3.5mm audio jack after all.

The Honor 9 is said to come with a double glass design on top of a metal body. The device is also expected with a Kirin 960 chip as well as a dual camera setup which is said to be a 12MP + 20MP combination but not with the Leica badge. other likely features include a 4GB/ 6GB RAM, 64GB/128GB storage models, two-color warm flash, laser focus and a 3200mAh battery.

(source | via)

Fresh Kirin 970 & Snapdragon 845 Details & Launch Dates Leaked

By

Jed John Ikoba

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May 19, 2017

Barely a few months after Qualcomm‘s latest Snapdragon 835 chip was announced and subsequently became available on smartphones, news filtered in that the leading chipmaker was already working on a next-gen flagship chip which would be called Snapdragon 845. In the same vein, Huawei is said to be working on its next-generation flagship chip which is actually meant to take on the Snapdragon 835. The Huawei chip is likely going to be known as Hisilicon Kirin 970 chip.

We have had a couple of leaked details of the Snapdragon 845 and Kirin 970 which emerged on several occasions. now, a specs sheet containing the key specifications of the SD 845 and Kirin 970 SoC has appeared online. The list shows both the Snapdragon 845 and Kirin 970 will be built on a 10nm process but while the Kirin 970 will be manufactured TSMC’s FinFET process, Qualcomm’s next flagship chip will be manufactured on Samsung’s LPE process. The SD 845 was previously rumoured as being built on a new TSMC 7nm process but that is turning out to be false.

On their core specifications, the Snapdragon 845 is shown to be an octa-core CPU made up of four Cortex-A75 cores and four Cortex-A53 cores. It will come with the Adreno 630 GPU as well as an X20 baseband and 5X20MHz carrier aggregation. The processor is scheduled to ship in the first quarter of 2018. On the other hand, the Kirin 970’s CPU core is said to have been upgraded to a new generation of ARM Cortex-A73 core and will be the first to use the ARM Heimdallr MP (Heimdal) GPU. The Kirin 970 will ship with the third and fourth quarter of this year.

(via)

There’s Still Plenty Of Time Before MIUI 9 Launch, Not Coming on May 25

By

Jed John Ikoba

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May 19, 2017

Xiaomi has put paid speculations that it will be launching the MIUI 9 on May 25 alongside the Mi Max 2. Speculations were rife that the tech giant will announce the next-gen of its user interface on May 25 and that the Mi Max 2 will even debut running the new UI. But in a Weibo post via the official MIUI account, the company has played down talks of MIUI 9 coming as well on that day.

Xiaomi only kickstarted the upcoming version of its intuitive Mi user interface (MIUI 9) around December last year and we are yet to get word that the MIUI 9 is now in beta testing stage, whether closed or open beta. So, it is very much unlikely that the UI will be launched this early. MIUI 9 may likely debut around August this year or there about, perhaps on Xiaomi’s upcoming Mi Mix 2 or Mi Note 3 flagship.

Xiaomi has maintained a watertight secrecy about the UI but we expect that wall of secrecy to crumble soon enough. However, from the little we know so far about the MIUI 9, the next-gen interface would feature split screen and picture-in-picture capabilities. The user interface will also come with smart edge gesture support and will give users te leverage to delete system apps that they don’t need on their device. There will always be more innovative features and it sure will be based on Android 7 Nougat.

Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge Wins SID Display of the Year Award

By

Anvinraj Valiyathara

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May 19, 2017

Samsung has been rewarded with the SID Display of the Year Award for Galaxy S7 Edge’s quad-edge flexible display technology by the Society of Information Display (SID). Since the launch of Galaxy Note Edge, the South Korean company has been providing its customers with marvelous smartphones with curved-edge screens. Samsung has also inspired other companies to launch dual-edge curved screen smartphones.

The innovative flexible display products manufactured by Samsung Display have been used in its smartphones since 2013. The South Korean company had was awarded with SID Display of the Year award for a curved AMOLED and a bended AMOLED respectively in 2013 and 2015.

On Galaxy S7 Edge, Samsung debuted the first ever quad-edge flexible technology used in the industry that curves at top and bottom apart from the sides. The radius of the curvature at the left and right edges of the AMOLED screen can be varied by using the special curved technology that makes it possible to have a curved screen with natural curve appeal and better grip. The circuit plan of the screen has cut down the dead space around the edges of the screen to 1.09 mm.

The Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ flagship smartphones of 2017 feature larger quad-edge display with reduced bezels at the top and bottom. The display technology introduced on Galaxy S8 duo is known as Infinity Display.

The 2016 flagship phones, the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge respectively feature 5.1-inch and 5.5-inch quad HD AMOLED screens. However, the Galaxy S8 has a 5.8-inch S-AMOLED screen whereas the Galaxy S8+ has a 6.2-inch S-AMOLED display. The screens on Galaxy S8 duo offer a higher screen-to-body ratio and supports a screen resolution of 2,960 x 1,440 pixels along with an aspect ratio of 18.5:9. Both the Galaxy S8 duo have received overwhelming response from the audience and critics.

The upcoming Galaxy Note 8 is also expected to feature Infinity Display. Rumors have it that the Note 8 would be coming with a 6.3-inch UHD screen that will support 4K resolution. It seems that Samsung has a very good chance of winning the SID Display of the Year again in the next year. The Galaxy Note 8 is speculated to get announced in August or September this year.

(source)

OPPO Find & N Series Scrapped Says Leakster, Focus Is On R & A series

By

Jed John Ikoba

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May 19, 2017

If you’re one of those still looking out for the OPPO Find 9, still hoping OPPO would one day just launch the much anticipated Find 9, then this will make you feel bad. Popular leaster @Kumamoto technology or Kjuma has revealed that OPPO has finally scrapped the Find series along with its N-series, replacing both with the mid-range R series and the A series. He also disclosed that OPPO will release a high-end flagship at the second half of the year.

The OPPO R9 which was launched in 2015 signalled a period of financial breakthrough for the Chinese company.The company’s marketing strategy, coupled with the fast charging technology which the R9 and R9 Plus possessed contributed to their success. This was soon replaced by the R9S and R9S Plus last year and they both continued the success story with amazing results. This may have prompted the company’s decision to halt its flagship Find-series.

We have had quite a number of leaks and rumours surrounding the Find 9 which has been on the radar since last year with rumors claiming it would be launched then. But that did not materialize and until this moment, OPPO is yet to release an official statement concerning the Find or even the N-series. The OPPO N-series on its own part only had the N1, N1 mini and N3 which was released in January 2015. Since then, nothing has been heard about the series. We can’t say for sure if this latest news is true or false until OPPO comes out with a statement on that. So, it is still possible the Find 9 does exist.

(source)

Suspected Moto Z2 Appears on GeekBench, Snapdragon 835 Chip in Tow

By

Jed John Ikoba

-

May 19, 2017

Lenovo did reveal that it would be killing its ZUK and Lenovo mobile phone brands and would instead focus on the Moto brand. Despite struggling to regain its past glory, the Moto Z -series remains one of the best in Motorola’s line-up presently and it is no wonder the Moto Z flagship is being touted as having a successor in the works. The Moto Z2 which will take over from last year’s Moto Z is said to have appeared on GeekBench database posting a stunning result.

The device appears as Motorola XT1650 and in reality, there are lots of benchmark test for the Moto XT1650 listed on Geekbench’s database uploaded as far back as August last year. Almost all of the test show there is a Quad-core MSM 8996 motherboard, which is the Snapdragon 821 chip. But in a spectacular manner, the details contained in this listing include the MSM 8998 which is Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 835 chip. Secondly, this benchmark result is shown to have been uploaded on January 21, 2017. That again places some doubt over the benchmark result. However, the GeekBench database further shows that the Z2 features 4GB of RAM, Android 7.1 Nougat. The listing also shows the Z2 pulled 1930 points on the single core test and 6207 points on the multi-core test.

In addition to this latest benchmark appearance, images of the Moto Z2 had earlier popped up online, showing the design and features the Z2 may likely come with. The render shows the Z2 may likely feature an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor just as found on the Xiaomi Mi 6. The front view also shows the selfie camera lying at the right side of the earpiece while there is a front flash at the right side. The display also comes with very slim bezels at the sides.

The Moto Z2 is also expected with a metal body and some great improvement at the rear camera. The rear camera is a dual setup and it comes with a two-color warm flash. The Z2 is also shown to come with support for wireless charging.