Huawei Mate 9 Porsche Design is a limited edition model from Huawei which was announced last year alongside the Mate 9 and Mate 9 Pro. The Huawei Mate 9 Porsche Design comes as a ready answer to fans who have been waiting for a Huawei phone with a curved display. This one isn’t just for any category of fans, though, as it carries an 8999 Yuan ($1300) price tag. The Mate 9 Porsche Design is customised, crafted by the popular Porsche Design studio with an AMOLED display panel.
Thus, it was mortifying and even horrifying to see how the device looked when it took a tumble off its owner’s hands and boom! the screen got shattered. More horrifying is the cost the owner will likely incur on the $1300 phone if he decides to get the screen changed.
The Mate 9 Porsche Design screen alone costs around 4688 (around $679) and this is apart from the cost of the labour by the repairer. So, the owner may likely be looking at an $800 repair bill. That is enough to get you an iPhone by the way. I’m sure you’ll agree now that the Mate 9 Porsche isn’t for everyone. Apart from being very expensive, it is also costly to maintain. The Mate 9 Porsche Design and the Mate 9 Pro, both have the same curved design except that the Porsche Design has the Porsche logo at its front and back, and also comes only in 6GB + 256GB memory variant.
The LG G6 was announced at MWC 2017, sporting a unique 5.7-inch Full Vision display with an 18:9 aspect ratio. Even though LG’s latest flagship isn’t powered by the new Snapdragon 835 processor, its reviews have been mainly positive. News has it that the Korean electronics giant is working on a smaller version called the G6 Mini.
The LG G6 Mini is rumored to launch with a 5.4-inch display that will have the same aspect ratio has its bigger sibling. Its screen-to-body ratio will be under 80%. Other specification details are currently unknown though we can be sure it won’t be getting the Snapdragon 835 chipset.
Images of the device have also leaked online and they look identical to the original. There are dual rear cameras on the back, positioned above the fingerprint scanner; and the name “G6” written at the base. There is an audio jack sitting at the top and a USB Type-C port and speaker grille lining the bottom.
Good rugged phones are usually expensive and they don’t have the best specifications out there. I just came across the Blackview BV7000 Pro, which is probably the best designed rugged smartphone I’ve ever tested. Learn more in our full review.
UNBOXING
The phone ships with all the usual stuff and some extras include the USB OTG cable, a pair of earphones and a screen protector.
DESIGN and DISPLAY
It is obvious that the BV7000 Pro is a rugged phone since it is thick and heavy but I have to say this is one of the best-designed rugged smartphones I’ve tested so far. It comes in different colors but I prefer the gold one.
The phone has the IP-68 rating meaning that it is water and dust resistant. Also, the rugged body assures that the phone will survive a few accidental drops.
Naturally, all the ports are covered with flaps to avoid any water damage. The flaps open and close easily.
We have a 5” 1080p display, which is sharp and vibrant and it is bright enough for outdoor use. Also, it is covered with the Gorilla Glass 3.
Just above the display, we have an 8MP shooter. It is great that we have the LED notification light and nicely backlit capacitive keys.
I really love that industrial look of the metal-made sides of the phone, where you can also find nice and tactile buttons. There is another programmable button. I have to say that this has become one of my favorite features of the phone as you can customize the button in a lot of different ways.
The backplate has a rubberized finish with some really nice-looking metal accents. When it comes to optics, we have a 13MP camera and a single LED flash.
Most of the rugged phones don’t have fingerprint scanners but the BV7000 Pro has this feature. The scanner is fast and accurate, and it unlocks the phone straight from the standby mode. The loudspeaker quality is above average I would say.
Blackview BV7000 Pro design gallery:
HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE
When it comes to hardware, the Blackview BV7000 Pro is one of the most powerful budget rugged phones out there.
The phone ships with an octa-core MTK6750 chip (1.5GHz), 4GB of RAM and 64GB of expandable storage. You should expect quite a few skipped frames if you want to play games like Asphalt 8 on the highest graphics. On the other hand, playing this game on medium graphics is much better and you may have some enjoyable gaming experience. Finally, the phone does not have overheating issues.
USER INTERFACE
The Blackview BV7000 Pro comes with the Android 6.0 out of the box with the proprietary skin on top of it.The skin removes the app tray and completely redesigns the icons whether you like it or not.
There are some customization options like the ability to change transition effects. Also, there are quite a few motion and gesture controls. As always, I use just a couple of them and they work pretty well. Most importantly, I didn’t have any issues with the phone’s daily performance even after installing quite a few apps and I would say that this Blackview phone is a pretty fast performer.
BENCHMARKS
IMAGE QUALITY
When it comes to the image quality, the Blackview phone can take some decent daylight images but you should not expect any spectacular results. The level of detail could be higher, the dynamic range is usually off and the colour reproduction is not always accurate.
The camera does not really impress in low-light as there is quite a bit of noise and there is a visible red tint in some of the shots.
The selfie camera is not the best but the pictures will do the trick for social media.
When it comes to the 1080p video, it is kind of mediocre as the footage could look sharper. Also, there is no continuous auto-focus on board.
CONNECTIVITY
I didn’t have any connectivity issues with this device and even the GPS lock speeds and accuracy were okay.
BATTERY LIFE
In order to keep the phone relatively slim, Blackview implemented a 3500mAh battery. Still, it performs pretty well as I could constantly get over 6 hours of screen-on time.
CONCLUSIONS
The Blackview BV7000 Pro is a really solid budget IP68-certified and rugged smartphone. Even though there are quite a few budget options out there, this phone is the best-designed, in my opinion.
Also, it has great specs and decent performance but as usual to all budget phones, it has a few shortcomings you have to consider before buying it.
Xiaomi has fixed the second round of sales for the Mi 6 in China for May 5 at 10 AM via Xiaomi mall. Of course, the flagship will still be sold via flash sale and across several platforms too. We expect the next round to pan out just the same way the first round went. That is, the Xiaomi Mi 6 may likely be sold out in seconds as well.
The company did not disclose if the sales would still be for the Black variant only or if the white and blue and maybe the ceramic version would make their own debut during this next flash sale. It is unlikely, though, that the ceramic version will be available so soon. Even the sleek blue and white versions may not be available in the next round of sales.
The Xiaomi Mi 6 is the company’s latest flagship device in the high-end Mi-series. The flagship device comes with the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chipset backed by 6GB of RAM on all models. There is also two storage versions, one with 64GB and a top-end model with 128GB storage. One stand out feature of the Mi 6 is the premium body design it packs. Another amazing feature is the dual camera setup at the rear which deviates from the main sensor + depth of field sensor. Instead, it features a 12MP main sensor and 12MP telephoto sensor. The Mi 6 runs MIUI 8 based on Android 7.0 Nougat and has a 3350mAh battery under its hood and lots more.
OPPO surprised not a few when it emerged as one of the most popular brands in China last year, spurred by the successes of the R9 and R9S models and their siblings. While some are yet to give up on the Find 9, OPPO seems poised to expand the R-series with a new model dubbed R11. The OPPO R11 has just received 3C certification in China which means the device may be launched anytime from now.
According to the 3C certification document, the R11 comes with charger models AK779, AK779GB, AK779JH and AK779JH1. The device is also shown to have OPPO’s legendary VOOC fast charge with 20W (5.0V dc / 4A) support which is capable of delivering 2 hours of charge time in just 5 minutes.
Don’t ask me why OPPO skipped the number 10 to 11, but the OPPO R11 has made some appearance in a couple of leaks and had even been reported to have received radio certificate in China. The alleged photos of the R11 were also spotted recently in an apparent advert featuring Chinese pop singer and Actor, Wang Junkai. OPPO and Wang Junkai have a long standing relationship beginning from the R9 days. The Chinese superstar was one of the celebrities who endorsed the R9.
The OPPO R11 is rumoured to come with a 5.5-inch 1080p display and a Snapdragon 660 processor firing it up. The R11 also packs 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage which is likely expandable. The R11 is rumoured to also come equipped with a 16MP selfie camera and at the rear, there is a dual camera setup comprising a 16MP main + 8MP secondary sensor.
Xiaomi Mi 6 went on sale for the first time today, in Jet Black color. And guess what! We have got the Xiaomi Mi 6 in our review labs. We are all excited to see how Xiaomi‘s first flagship performs in real life and we can comment on the performance in detail only after a thorough review. Initial impressions have been positive so far but keeping all that aside, we wanted to show you some real life samples of the Xiaomi Mi 6 vs OnePlus 3T. While we know OnePlus 3T isn’t the best camera out there, it’s still a great camera phone, so it will give you a good idea as to how the Mi 6’s dual cameras perform in real life.
Like the OnePlus 3T, the Xiaomi Mi 6’s camera is quick to capture images, so no issues here. The quality of the pictures is also excellent. The colors pop out well in the camera samples, giving the images a rich look. Even when the natural lighting was low, the Mi 6 managed to keep the noise to a bare minimum.
I feel the images on the Mi 6 were a tad richer in colors and even sharper. But the OnePlus 3T seems to take brighter images, especially in low-light situations.
ONEPLUS 3T (Left) | XIAOMI MI 6 (Right)
Well, enough talking about the Xiaomi Mi 6 vs OnePlus 3T camera samples. Let’s show you how they look. The camera samples taken from the Mi 6 has its watermark, so it’s easy to identify the phone.
The Xiaomi Mi 6 went up for sale today in China and the units were not even enough for those that registered for the flash sale, such that it was sold out in just a few seconds. You might want to wonder when fans outside of China can get the Snapdragon 835-powered beast when the available stock isn’t enough for the domestic market. Moreso, it was recently revealed that Xiaomi won’t officially be selling the Mi 6 in India, one of the largest markets in the world.
However, if you reside in China, India or anywhere outside of China, it may interest you to know that the Xiaomi Mi 6 flagship is now available for sale on Giztop, Gizmochina’s own online store. If you are sure able the credibility of Gizmochina as to the delivery of authentic stories, then you can be assured of the safety and ability of your order to get to you in good time. For now, only the 64GB storage version is available for purchase and as you are aware, it only comes in Black for now.
Giztop had been accepting pre-orders for the Mi 6, even before it was launched until it officially went up for sale. The good news is that all Xiaomi Mi 6 pre-orders on Griz top will start shipping today. Isn’t that wonderful? If you still aren’t convinced, by the time you will be convinced all units might have been sold out. So, why not head over to Giztop and buy this flagship now before the stock runs out?
It’s no secret that Xiaomi has been producing all sorts of gadgets and the company is not a newcomer to the headphones market. Their latest model has a great design, intuitive controls, and a lot more other features. Learn more in our review.
UNBOXING
The headphones come in quite a nice box where all the items are packed neatly. A nice touch is that the Xiaomi included a nice carrying pouch to protect your investment.
DESIGN and FEATURES
When it comes to the design, the headphones are made of high-quality plastic and they do not look or feel cheap at all. On the right headphone, we have a play/pause button, which is nice and tactile. However, it would have been nice to have the volume or skip tracks buttons too.
The soft cushion looks and feels great. Also, it does not seem to wear off anytime soon.
We have a microphone for hands-free calling. The call quality is great. The voices are clear and loud on both ends.
After using the headphones for more than a month, I can assure you that they are comfortable to wear even for an extensive period of time. I used them mainly indoors as I don’t like wearing headphones once I’m out and about.
SOUND QUALITY
The sound quality of these headphones is very good. To be honest, this is the best sound quality I’ve heard in any headset in this price range. The sound is balanced and clear.
I can hear the pronounced highs and mids very well. The lows are great too but don’t expect to hear a lot of bass that would punch you to the guts. Finally, I didn’t notice any distortions even at the highest volume setting.
CONCLUSIONS
The Xiaomi headphones deliver once again. They look great, the sound great and they are comfortable to wear. The only shortcoming is that there are no volume controls on the headphones but for the price of just below $40, you simply can’t beat it.
About a month ago, OnePlus released the limited edition OnePlus 3T Midnight Black. Just like the name says, it is a black color variant of the flagship device. The OnePlus 3T was originally launched in gunmetal grey and soft gold. However, requests from fans for a black variant led to the release of the Midnight Black Edition.
The limited OnePlus 3T Midnight Black is sold out globally apart from UK and HK, where it will run out in next couple of days. Just FYI. 🔥
OnePlus Co-Founder, Carl Pei took to his twitter page today to announce that the limited edition phone will soon be out of stock permanently. At the moment only the UK and Hong Kong store still has it and I bet they won’t be available for long.
The OnePlus 3T Midnight Black comes with 128GB of storage and sells for £439/HK$3,788. Shipping will take place within five days. If you are interested in getting a unit, try to place your order ASAP. Links to both sites will be provided at the bottom of the page.
Xiaomi has this annoying tradition of under-clocking the processors on some variants of its flagships. The Xiaomi Mi 5 and Mi 5s are fresh examples. The base version of the former is clocked at 1.8GHz instead of 2.15GHz and the Mi 5s is clocked at 2.15GHz unlike the Mi 5s Plus that is clocked at 2.35GHz. You should then understand our joy when we learnt no such thing would happen with the Xiaomi Mi 6.
That joy soon turned to disappointment when we saw that the Adreno 540 GPU was listed as under-clocked on the Mi 6 product page. Instead of the standard 710MHz, the GPU speed was written as 653MHz. However, Weibo user @Fertile was able to confirm that the Mi 6 indeed reaches the 710MHz clockspeed even almost 800MHz when he benchmarked it on GFXBench.
The Xiaomi Mi 6 finally went up on sale today in China just as it was scheduled to. The sales took place across several e-commerce platforms including Mi Home, Xiaomi Mall, Jingdong, Tesco, and Suning. As was expected, the flagship device only opened for few seconds before it was listed as sold out on Xiaomi official web store, Mi Home. The device was also listed as sold out on the other platforms.
For some reasons, Xiaomi announced not too long before the sales date that only the Black variant of the Mi 6 would be available on this first flash sale. True to its word, the device was only available in Black but buyers had the option of choosing between the 6GB + 64B and 6GB + 128GB storage versions which to buy.
We do not know when the Snapdragon 835 powered flagship device would go on its next flash sale but we expect the cycle to keep repeating itself, at least for some time to come until Xiaomi makes enough stock available to meet the demand for the device. However, the Mi 6 can be gotten from third-party resellers who are likely going to offer it at a price that is a little higher than the official price.
After the launch of the Mi 6, industry analyst Pan Jiutang had hinted that the Xiaomi Mi 6 Plus would be launched in about two months time from now. But a new rumour has appeared in the Chinese social media that alleges that the Mi 6 Plus has been scrapped entirely by Xiaomi.
The implication of this latest rumour is that this year’s Mi 6-series would only be made up of one model. Well, maybe Xiaomi will continue with the line next year. The post which appeared in a group discussion also reveals that the Mi Note 3 would instead be released in the third quarter of this year. This is actually an affirmation of the earlier rumour of a Q3 launch for the Mi 6 Plus shared on Weibo and which we reported but this latest rumour pegged the launch precisely in September.
Before the Mi 6 was launched, the Mi 6 Plus was rumoured to come with a full display screen similar to the Mi Mix but surprisingly Xiaomi never mentioned anything about a Mi 6 Plus. Fans who were holding on to Pan Jiutang’s prediction that the Mi 6 Plus may find this disappointing. But then, it’s still a rumour as Xiaomi is yet to confirm or deny anything concerning the Mi 6 Plus.
OPPO was expected to launch the OPPO F3 and OPPO F3 Plus smartphones together. However, the company chose to launch only the OPPO F3 Plus in the previous month in India. In the previous week, the Chinese firm confirmed that the OPPO F3 would be launching on May 4 in the country. The specifications of the OPPO F3 has now surfaced and the rumor mill has also revealed a leaked video of the phone. Also, the alleged phone has also been benchmarked on GFXBench and Geekbench.
OPPO F3 Specifications
A 5.5-inch full HD screen flanked with Gorilla Glass 5 will be present on the OPPO F3. Even though the previous rumors have stated that it would be powered by Snapdragon 653 SoC, new information which can be confirmed through GFXBench and Geekbench listings suggest that the MediaTek MT6750T will be available under the hood of the phone.
The MediaTek chip will be coupled with 4 GB of RAM. The native storage of the phone will be 64 GB and it will be featuring a microSD slot. Previous rumors had stated that the OPPO F3 has 32 GB native storage.
The OPPO F3 would be running on Android 6.0 Marshmallow OS flavored with Color OS 3.0. Like the F3 Plus, it would be featuring a 16-megapixel + 8-megapixel dual front-facing cameras. The rear will house a 13-megapixel shooter. It would be featuring a 3,200 mAh battery. It measures 153.3 x 75.2 x 7.3mm and its weight is 153 grams.
Oppo F3 Leaked Video
A short 10-second video has surfaced on the YouTube channel of Slash Leaks to reveal the alleged OPPO F3:
An OPPO device with model number Oppo CPH1609 has appeared on GFXBench. As mentioned above, it reveals the presence of MediaTek MT6750T SoC. The GFXBench listing suggest that the smartphone may not feature NFC connectivity. The alleged handset with same model number has also been spotted on Geekbench. Both listings show that the chipset has a 1.5 GHz octa-core processor. On Geekbench, the alleged OPPO F3 has recorded a score of 763 in the single-core test. In multi-core test, it has scored 2,793.
Leaked information coming from past few months have revealed that the Google is working on its upcoming smartphones Pixel 2 (codenamed as Walleye) and Pixel XL 2 (codenamed as Muskie). Rumors have it that there is a third device under works which is codenamed as Taimen. It may or may not belong to the Pixel 2 family. These flagship phones have been spotted to be powered by the Snapdragon 835 chipset. New code commits in the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) suggest that Google may launch its Pixel 2 smartphones earlier this year.
It has been found that one of the Google engineers named David Zeuthen has access to a physical handset of Pixel 2 as he was able to perform a manual test on Walleye device. This suggests that Google may be testing the prototypes of Pixel 2 and is testing it with the basic future Android code.
Since the original Pixel and Pixel XL phones were launched in October 2016, they are still new devices. However, new finding indicates that successor devices may be almost ready with Google and the testing process has already begun. Also, Google has already released the first Android O Developer Preview in the previous month which hints that the company is also prepping the Android 8.0 alongside the upcoming 2017 Pixel smartphones. This indicates that there is a possibility that Google may announce its Pixel smartphones early this year.
Samsung is pegged to announce its upcoming Galaxy Note 8 in August or September. Apple is rumored to follow its launch pattern for announcing the rumored iPhone 7S, iPhone 7S Plus and iPhone 8 in September. Google is struggling to meet the demand of first-generation Pixel phones as customers are unable to purchase theme easily. Hence, Google may not want to clash the release of its Pixel 2 and Pixel XL 2 with the forthcoming Samsung and Apple flagships.
Moreover, when Rick Osterloh, the Senior Vice President for Hardware with Google was asked about the Pixel 2 release date, he said that, “There is an annual rhythm in the industry. So, you can count on us to follow it.” This suggest that Google may stick to announcing the second-generation Google Pixel phones in October this year.
Even though the Google Pixel and Pixel XL phones are sold with “made by Google” tagline, but they were assembled by HTC. Since the Taiwanese company has signed a two-year manufacturing deal with Google, the upcoming Pixel phones are expected to be assembled by the same company.
When Xiaomi announced on MIUI Forum that the MIUI 8 China Developer ROM 7.4.20 has been released, the company noted that the update for the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4X was suspended because they were working on MIUI based on Android 7.0 for the device. They also hinted that update for Redmi 3S/3X, Redmi 4X was delayed due to stability test.
The company has indeed been working on the MIUI 8 based on Android 7.0 Nougat and it has been in developer ROM which those running the Global ROM have been able to download for a while now. But the China developer ROM was said to have been in Close Dev all these while and that has now been concluded. The Open Dev ROM, MIUI 8 7.4.27 beta which is based on Android 7.0 Nougat is now available for the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4X and other models. Redmi Note 4X users running the Close Dev ROM can get the update via OTA, while those using the latest MIUI China Developer ROM will get MIUI 8 OTA update notifications on their phones. Alternatively, they can click ‘Updater’ app to check for updates. Of course, if you are doing this, don’t forget to backup data before upgrading.
On the other hand, if you’re using MIUI 8 China stable ROM or other older versions, you’ll need to flash your device before you can get this update. In case you don’t know which version you are using, if you got your Redmi Note 4X brand new and you’re in China, chances are that your device is running the MIUI China Stable ROM and you can only access this Android N based MIUI update if you flash your device to the developer ROM. Of course, you shouldn’t attempt flashing your phone if you don’t know how to because you could brick or boot loop the device.
The MIUI 8 version 7.4.27 Beta brings such features like weather, wind, air quality forecast for next 48 hours, location-based 2-hours minutely rain forecasts. It also brings support for daily data plans and fixes long time CPU occupation when not using weather app. You can learn more by visiting the source link below (MIUI Forum).
Sources have revealed that Xiaomi’s new flagship, the Mi 6 won’t be launching in India. The news comes from India Today.
You might be wondering why Xiaomi decided not to launch the Mi 6 seeing as India is its second most important market. Most of Xiaomi’s phones launched in India have been limited to the Redmi series. However, Xiaomi still makes sure to release one flagship per year in the country. Last year’s model was the Mi 5 but didn’t record much sales as the OnePlus 3 gained an upper hand due to its larger RAM and storage.
Former Xiaomi VP, Hugo Barra is even credited as saying “it was a mistake not bringing the 64 gig Xiaomi Mi 5 to India.”. He said the company shouldn’t have worried about the pricing and should have launched the Mi 5 Prime in India. Xiaomi’s reason for not bringing more flagships is because they will be too expensive to sell in India and for a company that is treading carefully in a relatively new market, it would not want to take such risks. The Mi 5 is the only Xiaomi phone sold in India that is not made in India.
Importation tax and advertising costs are part of the factors that will affect the price of any flagship brought into the country. The Mi 5 currently sells for Rs 22,999 on Flipkart, that’s about $360. You can purchase the Mi 5s (64GB model) for more or less the same price from a store like Giztop.
The Xiaomi Mi 6 will go on sale tomorrow. From the look of things, it is bound to be in short supply for a while. If you are even able to get your hands on a unit, you will probably be paying a lot more than you should. The price from third party resellers falls between $450 and $470 depending on the storage. That is a lot compared to the ~$421 official price for the 128GB model and ~$363 price for the 64GB variant.
The Mi 6 is one of the few Snapdragon 835-powered smartphones announced so far but not everyone is crazy about the new processor. There are other powerful phones in the market that will handle whatever you throw at them. Some sell for less than the Mi 6 and some even have features missing on Xiaomi’s new flagship. Plus you can get any one of these smartphones without breaking a sweat.
Below is a list of five smartphones we believe are great alternatives to the Xiaomi Mi 6.
OnePlus 3T
OnePlus 3T
The OnePlus 3T is one of the best smartphones in the market right now. It is a combination of great specs, impressive software, and affordable pricing. Just like the Mi 6, the OnePlus 3T also has 6GB of RAM and is available in the same 64GB and 128GB storage variants.
Although its display is bigger at 5.5-inches, it has Gorilla Glass 4 protection, a feature that is repeatedly missing on Xiaomi’s flagship phones. The 3T can also be updated to Android Nougat 7.1.1 and to be honest, we know Oxygen OS is a lot smoother than MIUI. Let’s not forget Dash Charge which is way faster than the QC 3.0 on the Mi 6.
For $439, you can pick up the 64GB model of the OnePlus 3T or you can wait till the 128GB model is in stock and grab it for $479.
Mi 5s Plus
Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
One of the unique selling points of the Mi 6 is the dual rear cameras, however, this isn’t Xiaomi’s first dual camera smartphone. The Redmi Pro and Mi 5S Plus are the first and second respectively.
While the Redmi Pro is no longer in production, the Mi 5s Plus still is. It won’t take bokeh pictures like the Mi 6 because it uses the monochrome + RGB format for its dual Sony IMX258 13MP cameras but you can be assured of taking sharper images.
Earlier today, Xiaomi announced a price slash for the 4GB + 64GB and 6GB RAM + 128GB variants. The former now sells for approx. $315 and the latter which has the same memory configuration as the high-end Mi 6 is priced at approx. $355. You can also grab the 3GB + 64GB model for roughly $250.
Missing out on the blue and gold color of the Xiaomi Mi 6? Then grab the case above on AliExpress and worry no more.
Xiaomi Mi MIX
Xiaomi Mi MIX
Don’t be surprised that the alternatives we are suggesting include Xiaomi phones. Xiaomi is good at providing flagship specs at a low price, so whatever we are recommending as an alternative to the Mi 6 shouldn’t put a hole in your pocket.
The Mi MIX will turn more heads than the Mi 6 and that’s because of its bezel-less display. The Mi MIX is the concept device that made it out of the factory and onto store shelves. Its 6.4-inch display is a beauty that extends to the edges of three of its four sides, giving you more screen estate while still maintaining a small footprint.
It is powered by the Snapdragon 821 processor like the other two phones above and is available with either 6GB of RAM + 256GB ROM or 4GB RAM + 128GB ROM. The former will cost you around $600 on Aliexpress while the 4GB variant can be gotten for about $550. Did I forget to mention that the Mi MIX has a ceramic body? So you don’t need to wait for the ceramic version of the Mi 6 which won’t be on sale tomorrow and will be released in limited quantities.
Honor V9
Huawei Honor V9/Honor 8 Pro
This was the first flagship of the year and a pretty device from Huawei too. The Honor V9 has a 2K display, 6GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, and dual rear cameras that takes 3D photos and offers the same performance as that of the Huawei P9 just without the Leica branding. Reviews say the low-light performance is nothing short of impressive. You also can’t go wrong with the blue and red color variants of this phone.
The Honor V9 was released internationally as the Honor 8 Pro but pricing is a bit different for both. The 6GB RAM Honor V9 will cost you between $525 to $560 on Aliexpress depending on the color while the 4GB variant sells for between $450 to $500.
The Honor 8 Pro sells for a lot more in Europe. It has 64GB of storage instead of 128GB like the Honor V9 but keeps the RAM at 6GB. Price is a whopping £474 (~$611).
Le Pro 3
LeEco Le Pro 3
The Le Pro 3 closes the list. Just like the rest of the devices above, it also has 6GB of RAM and comes with either 64GB or 128GB of storage. Powered by a Snapdragon 821 processor and 4070mAh battery, the Le Pro 3 is the only alternative that doesn’t have an audio jack like the Mi 6. However, LeEco makes up for it with its CDLA technology. The phone also comes with Dolby Atmos Audio which improves the audio quality.
The LeEco Le Pro 3 wouldn’t have made our list if not for its low price as its the only phone on this list that is not running Android Nougat or has an update planned for it.
The 6GB RAM + 64GB Le Pro 3 sells for between $315 and $350 while the 4GB RAM version with 64GB of storage is priced at about $290.
Honorable Mention: ZTE Axon 7S
The original ZTE Axon 7 was released back in June 2016 with a Snapdragon 820 processor and 4GB of RAM. It also got a Nougat update back in February that made it Google Daydream compatible. While there has been no news of a ZTE Axon 8, we were surprised when ZTE silently released a new phone a few weeks back. That phone is the ZTE Axon 7s and it gets a honorable mention on our list.
The Axon 7s retains most of the design from the Axon 7 but is now powered by the Snapdragon 821. The RAM has been increased to 6GB and storage is 128GB.
The other major upgrade in the Axon 7s is the dual rear cameras.You still get that 20MP 1.25µm camera but it is now paired with a 12MP Sony IMX368 1µm sensor. What’s more, the Axon 7 has a microSD slot too, a feature none of the other phones on this list has and also retains the stereo speakers though they have been redesigned. The price is still unknown for now but it is expected to be around $500.
Vivo has announced a new smartphone in its V-series. The device dubbed V5S, the company surprisingly went official with this one outside China, specifically in India. The Vivo V5S comes with its own spectacular feature and that is a large pixel selfie camera.
Vivo V5S Design & Specifications
On the design aspect, the Vivo V5s adorns a metal body whose design isn’t very different from previous Vivo models. The device also packs a front-facing fingerprint sensor which is embedded under the front physical home button, while its rear camera is tilted towards the left corner of the device. It utilises a fused antenna band design with the antenna line running through the edges at the top and bottom end.
Specs wise, the V5s sports a 5.5-inch display with a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels with a 2.5D curved glass as well as Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection on top the display. You get a MediaTek MT6750 64-bt Octa-core chipset providing the firepower while the graphic is powered by a Mali T860 GPU. The processor is backed by 4GB of RAM while there is a 64GB storage on the device which is expandable. On the camera end, the V5S packs a 13MP rear camera with f/2.2 aperture, LED flash and PDAF. Here comes the big one, the Vivo V5S features a massive 20MP Sony IMX376 sensor for selfies up front with f/2.0 aperture and 5P lens. Although there is no front flash, it’ll be interesting to see how that selfie camera performs.
Going further, the smartphone runs Android 6.0 Marshmallow from the beginning with the company’s Funtouch OS 3.0 skin hovering on top. The light is kept on by a 3000mAh battery and you also get a custom AK4376 Hi-Fi audio chip as part o the offering.
Pricing & Availability – Vivo V5S
The V5S will be available in Matte Black and Crown Gold colours and carries a steep price tag of Rs. 18,990 in India (around 2000 Yuan, $296). The device will be available for purchase as from May 6 when the Matte Black variant will go on sale. The Crown Gold variant will be up for grabs as from May 20.
The Xiaomi Mi 6 was announced last week and is scheduled to go on sale tomorrow. Launched in blue, black, silver and a special ceramic edition, pricing starts at ¥2499 ($363) and goes up to ¥2999 ($435).
The Mi 6 Ceramic Edition is the most expensive and comes with 128GB of storage and priced at 2999 yuan ($435). It is sad no one will be able to get their hands on one tomorrow. Reports from early this morning say only the jet black variant will be available for purchase.
Analyst Pan Jiutang in a Weibo post said that Xiaomi’s plan was to release the ceramic edition tomorrow but issues at their factory has prompted them to postpone it. According to him, the new release date for the ceramic version should be May 10.
Gizmochina along with Doogee is conducting a Doogee X10 phone as Giveaway gift to one of our lucky readers. Like always, you just have to follow the steps mentioned on the Gleam widget to get a chance to win this amazing phone.
The Chinese manufacturer DOOGEE(www.doogee.cc) released some news about its coming smartphone recently. It is another high cost-efficient product of DOOGEE. As the world’s first smartphone carrying MT6570 chipset with 3360mAh big battery, it is featuring battery durability with an affordable price about $40. No doubt it is a killer price at middle range smartphone market.
According to the released information, DOOGEE has made every effort to get extreme power saving performance. Doogee X10 comes with a 3360mAh polymer battery, which has 16 days of standby time and 20 hours of talk time, enough for daily use. It is rare to have such a big battery coming with 5.0 inch display like Doogee X10 is, so there should be some improvements in battery dimension and industrial design in Doogee X10.
Apart from battery life, the processor carried by Doogee X10 is power-saving. As a jointly launched product by DOOGEE and MediaTek, Doogee X10 will be the first smartphone housing the MT6570 SoC. The chipset has dual cores based on the Cortex A7 architecture to reduce energy consumption, and improved by 20% in power saving than its predecessor.
More info about Doogee X10, please visit this official video:
Terms & Conditions:
1. The giveaway is an international giveaway.
2. We are not responsible for lost shipments.
3. We are not responsible for any duties, import taxes that you may incur.
4. We reserve all rights to make any changes to this giveaway.
5. The prize will ship when it is available to purchase.
Just follow the steps mentioned in the Gleam widget to participate in the giveaway.
Once again, happy new year everyone and good luck.
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