Last year, Vivo released the Xplay 5 Elite as the first 6GB RAM smartphone in the world. Just before the year ran out, we saw other manufacturers including Samsung, Huawei, OnePlus, and Xiaomi release their own smartphones with 6GB RAM. Now the race is on for 8GB RAM smartphones. The big question is do we really need such a large RAM on our smartphones? A Huawei executive doesn’t think we do.
The Huawei executive took to his Weibo page (@HW Lao Shi) to express his opinion on phones with large RAMs. According to him, 4GB of RAM is enough for a phone to run smoothly. He says tests have shown that Huawei phones with 4GB of RAM (paired with the Kirin 960) perform better over time compared to the competition with 6GB of RAM. The key, is actually in the optimization of the operating system and he cites an example with how iOS doesn’t need a large RAM to run smoothly.
He goes on to say that the competition between manufacturers to release phones with the largest RAM can be likened to the nuclear arms race between USA and USSR during the Cold War.
The days of exploding smartphones seem far from over and the latest victim is a student in North China Conservancy and Hydropower University whose Samsung Galaxy S7 exploded right on her bed today. This is coming just days after a Samsung Galaxy S7 was reported to have exploded in a car cup holder.
The incident occurred in the female dormitory of the university while the students were still sleeping. According to the source who happens to be a roommate of the victim, the Galaxy S7 in question was bought in September last year, less than half a year ago. It wasn’t stated, though, if the phone was charging when the incident happened. The explosion which seems to have emanated from the battery left the beddings in flame and charred.
Already, Samsung’s customer service department in China has been informed and the incident is under investigation to ascertain the circumstance surrounding the blast and the likely cause. But it is apt that we are reminded to always keep our smartphones far from our sleeping area, perhaps on a nightstand, whenever we are going to bed. You can check out more images of the charred Galaxy S7 from down below.
Xiaomi smart home Weibo official page has published a series of posters meant to publicize its next launch event as well as the expected product. Xiaomi is renowned not just as a smartphone maker but as a brand whose tentacles spread into other smart home categories. The fact is that most of the non-smartphone products are manufactured by subsidiary brands with Xiaomi providing the platform and financing coming in through crowdfunding.
In this case, what we can gather from the posters and the accompanying teasers is that the 67th Smart home product is likely a Coffee making machine and would be unveiled on March 7. Launching a Coffee maker at this point is no doubt a smart move, considering the rapid growth rate of consumption of coffee drink. According to an analytical report, coffee saw retail volume sales of 3% to reach 65,000 tons in 2016. This was mainly due to a rising consumer interest in the coffee culture in China in 2016, leading to a rise in coffee consumption.
The Xiaomi Coffee machine would, thus, come in handy in helping owners brew quality coffees right in their homes. Small coffee shops and cafés in retail may also find the Coffee machine useful in meeting up with spiraling demands, especially among young consumers.
The Smart home product would be launched on March 7 at 10.00am.
A leakster had revealed in January that Google is allegedly testing on few prototypes of cheaper “Pixel 2B” smartphone that would release alongside or sometime after Pixel 2’s release. However, Google’s Senior Vice President for Hardware, Rick Osterloh had confirmed in the previous week that Google will not be releasing a budget-friendly Pixel smartphone. The original leakster is now back with newer information that reveals that the search engine is indeed working on a budget phone, but it won’t be releasing with Google Pixel branding.
In a recent interview Osterloh said that Pixel 2 would continue to “stay premium” and he added that there will no cheaper variant of Pixel smartphone. The search engine would let other manufacturers to release lower priced smartphones.
The tipster that spilled beans on the alleged “Pixel 2B” claimed that the same team that is working on Pixel 2 is also building a budget smartphone that will be targeted towards developing markets. He has speculated that it may be an Android One smartphone.
As he had said in January, he maintains that the mysterious budget phone is built alongside Pixel 2. It will be sold outside the U.S. If Google is really working on a budget phone with lower hardware specs, it seems that Osterloh was being careful with his words.
As far as Google’s upcoming smartphones with alleged Pixel 2 and Pixel XL 2 monikers are concerned, both phones are slated to release in October this year. These smartphones are expected to arrive with IP68 certified chassis.
Previous rumors have stated that the search engine giant is testing Pixel 2 with custom chipset and SoCs from other brands. However, speculations are rife that it would be running on Snapdragon 835. The Pixel 2 is also pegged to come with an improved camera that may support advanced dim light photography. Compared to the original Pixel smartphone that came with a pricing of $649, its successor is rumored to be $50 costlier.
The rumor mill has revealed several leaked photos of Samsung Galaxy S8 in the past few months. Now, a new video clip showcases the alleged Galaxy S8. The device in the video appears to the upcoming Samsung flagship smartphone that have been spotted in the leaked photos.
The video clip by Slashleaks lasts only for 5 seconds, but it does reveal the front and rear sides of the alleged S8. It appears quite sleek with the back featuring the LED flash, camera and fingerprint reader. There is no physical Home button on the front.
The black colored variant Galaxy S8 that can be seen in the video seems to be a under production unit as it carries a label with texts like CONFIDENTIAL (Unauthorized use prohibited), No photo allowed, Not For Sale, and Do not leak info. The rear also contains logos for Samsung and Galaxy S8.
The Galaxy S8 is expected to come with a huge dual-edge curved display of 5.8 inches. However, the device shown in the video is not turned on. Hence, nothing much can be understood about the display from the short 5-seconds video except. Rumors have it that the recently trademarked “Infinity Display” moniker by Samsung will be the name given to display that will come on Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus (aka Galaxy S8+). The larger sibling is expected to feature 6.2-inch dual-edge curved screen.
The Galaxy S8 with model number of SM-G950U was recently spotted on Geekbench benchmarking platform running on Android 7.1 Nougat, 1.9 GHz Snapdragon 835 and 4 GB of RAM. It is expected to feature 3,000 mAh battery. Its single-core and multi-core are 1916 and 6011.
The S8+ was also spotted on Geekbench running on same software, chipset and RAM. It is pegged to come with 3,500 mAh battery. It scored 1929 on single-core test and 6084 on multi-core test.
Despite the fact that the demand for wearables have been consistently dropping, International Data Corporation’s (IDC) survey for the last quarter of 2016 has revealed Fitbit is leading the market share of the wearables industry. Xiaomi is on the second spot followed by Apple on the third.
In Q4 2015, Fitbit had a market share of 29 percent as it shipped 8.4 million unit. However, in Q4 2016, its market share decreased to 19.2 percent as it shipped fewer devices (6.5 million). Fitbit has been mainly concentrating on selling its devices in the U.S., a market that has huge number of wearables from well-known and lesser known brands.
Xiaomi shipped 2.6 million wearables and had a market share of 9.1 percent in Q4 2015. However, in Q4 2016, it increased its shipments to 5.2 million and gained a market share of 15.2 percent. It has only increased its shipments, but also has been selling its wearables at attractive low prices. Even though the market share of Xiaomi is increasing at a faster pace, its wearables are mainly famous in China as it has not done much to popularize its wearables in international markets.
Apple that holds the third sport as it had shipped 4.1 million units in Q4 2015 and it held a market share of 14.2 percent. By Q4 2016, it decreased its slightly increased its shipment to 4.6 million. However, its market share dropped to 13.6 percent. The Q4 2016 has been Apple’s best quarter ever when it comes to market share in wearables market as it released a low-priced version of Apple Watch 2 with GPS.
Garmin came fourth with a shipment of 2.1 million wearables and a market share of 6.2 percent in Q4 2016. In the same quarter in 2015, it shipped 2.2 million units and had reached a higher market share of 7.6 percent. Samsung is on the fifth position in the wearables market. In Q4 2016, it shipped 1.9 million wearables whereas in Q4 2015, it shipped 1.4 million units. As far its market share is concerned, it had a market share of 4.7 percent in Q4 2015, but it increased to 5.6 percent in Q4 2016.
The wearables market is transforming as the basic devices that came with lesser features like tracking footsteps are now coming with multiple health and fitness tracking features such as heart rate monitor, sleep tracking and so on. The first-generation smartwatches came with basic fitness tracking capabilities. However, newer models are not only aimed towards providing health and fitness features, but also function as standalone devices as they support LTE connectivity.
At present, the competition is not very fierce among companies in the wearables market even though vendors are releasing products with numerous features. The Q4 2016 results suggest that Xiaomi is fast gaining the market share and it may dethrone Fitbit to gain the number one spot. Fitbit that acquired Pebble for $23 million is expected to release a health-centric smartwatch later this year to retain its numero uno spot. Withings brand of health-centric smart devices has been rebranded as Nokia devices. The Finnish company too is expected to take on wearables market leaders in this year.
Xiaomi releases at least one product every week via their Mijia crowdfunded platform. It is important to mention that a number of these products are released by other companies that have a partnership with Xiaomi. Sometimes it is hard keeping track of all these products and we tend to miss out on some. This post contains our favorite ones released over the past couple of months and some we didn’t cover but still think are pretty cool.
Xiaomi Mijia Partners
Populele
The Populele is Xiaomi’s take on the musical instrument called a Ukelulele. The Populele is not just a musical instrument but a smart one at that. It has a companion app that teaches a novice how to play the Populele and become good at it in just five minutes. The Populele itself has in-laid LEDs that light up when a key on the app is pushed. The Populele costs just ¥399 (~$58) and will ship at the end of March.
Smart Rear-view Mirror
Most modern cars now come with a parking assistance system that is a combination of a camera that captures what is behind you and a display that shows what the camera sees. The live-feed can either be displayed on a monitor embedded in the dashboard or in the rear view mirror. This product belongs to the second category. However, it does more than just help you to park. There is forward collision warning, lane departure warning, and preceding vehicle starting. The Xiaomi smart rear view mirror is available for ¥999 (~$145).
Xiaomi Selfie Stick/Tripod
This is one of my favorite Xiaomi products. This is a selfie stick and tripod in one device. It’s not the first of its kind as Huawei launched something similar earlier this year.
Selfie sticks are not as popular as they were a few years ago but we will all agree that quite a large number of people are now into video content creation. You do not need an expensive camera rig to begin making your own videos as a phone with a good camera will do the job, but you can improve the quality of your videos if you own a tripod and not have to deal with stabilization issues. I like to think of this as a tripod that doubles as a selfie stick and not the other way round. For just about $13, you can have this 2-in-1 product.
Turok Steinhardt Sunglasses
Xiaomi is not new to glasses as this is their second one in a span of two months. They announced the Roidmi Glasses with anti-UV protection back in January and now they have followed it up with the Turok Steinhardt Sunglasses that also filters out ultraviolet rays. The difference is in the looks. While the Roidmi has a formal appearance, the Turok Steinhardt is for casual or semi-formal occasions. So it doesn’t hurt to own a pair of both.
A few days ago, it ws reported that LeEco India had laid off a large percentage of its staff. The lay off was interpreted as a sign that the company would soon be leaving one of the major smartphone markets in Asia. The company has however issued a statement saying otherwise.
Although the Chinese manufacturer didn’t dispute the layoff, but it says it has no plans to leave as “India is one of the most strategic markets for LeEco”. It even added that it is preparing for the launch of its next generation TV in the country.
A company representative also revealed to Reuters that there are 80 employees at the moment, down from about 350 at the end of last year.
LeEco’s woes started when the content of a memo written by CEO, Jia Yueting was made public. The memo warned of an impending cash crunch caused by a rapid expansion at an “unprecedented rate”.
A former employee who also spoke to Reuters said he had resigned after six months because the letter left him discouraged. The unnamed ex-employee said “I joined the company in mid 2016, and there were a lot of promised projects in the pipeline. The projects were all stalled and that got me worried”.
If LeEco isn’t going anywhere, it is still evident that it has scaled back on its operations massively. The small team on ground is probably just for the sake of product releases like its smart TVs, bluetooth speakers, and headphones.
Xiaomi has already announced that it will be releasing a follow up version to its popular concept phone from last year, the Xiaomi Mi MIX. The new device is currently called the Mi MIX 2 and will see French designer, Philippe Starck return as lead industrial designer.
Today, we have gotten info on some new features the phone may come with. According to the source, Xiaomi is expected to switch up the screen to a curved AMOLED display that covers up to 93% of the front of the device. The original Mi MIX has a 6.4-inch LCD screen that covers just 91.3% of the front part. If the new screen will cover a larger area, that means the bezel will be thinner.
The source also says the Mi MIX 2 will still retain the ceramic body design and and bone conduction audio technology. We also get a clarification on the fingerprint scanner which will now be in front. Previous report had said it will be embedded underneath the display itself but according to the source, the scanner will be positioned just below the display.
The battle line is drawn, but this is no Shuai jiao contest, neither is it your favorite Wrestlemania or Boxing bout. Instead, this a comparison of the speed of the fast charging technologies featured on the smartphones of the top five global smartphone companies. In case you’ve forgotten, Samsung, Apple, Huawei, OPPO and Vivo occupy the top 5 spots in terms of mobile phone shipments globally for 2016. While Samsung, Apple and Huawei had built formidable reputations for themselves over the years, OPPO rode on the back of its VOOC fast charge technology on the OPPO R9 to help shore up its sales, the result of which is still being felt today. Fellow Chinese co-traveller Vivo also has fast charging technologies which is one of its main selling points.
So, the fast charging feature onboard the Samsung Galaxy C9 Pro, Huawei Mate 9, OPPO R9 Plus and Vivo X9 Plus are put to test, all at the same time and the same battery level (0%) to determine which one actually charges faster. To set the records straight, the Galaxy C9 Pro, Mate 9, R9 Plus and X9 Plus, all have 4,000mAh battery capacity, while the iPhone 7 Plus comes with a 2910mAh battery. We must also point out that the iPhone 7 Plus doesn’t come with fast charging support but then, it is one of the top selling and most expensive smartphones so it squares up against the others.
After 5 minutes of charge (results pictured above), OPPO R9S Plus was able to attain 8% battery capacity while the Huawei Mate 9 got 10%, the highest level of the lot. The Apple iPhone 7 Plus was just at 4%, the Samsung Galaxy C9 Pro at 7% and the Vivo X9 Plus surprisingly was at 9%.
In 30 minutes (results pictured above), the Huawei Mate 9 with its innovative fast charging technology was well ahead at 56%, the R9 Plus and Vivo X9 Plus was trailing at 49% apiece, the Galaxy C9 Pro at 36% and finally the iPhone 7 Plus was only at 19%.
In 60 minutes (results pictured above), the Mate 9 and R9 Plus were both at 89% while the X9 Plus had gotten to 86%. The Samsung galaxy C9 Pro was trailing at 68% and then the iPhone 7 Plus at 38%. Obviously, Apple iPhones don’t come with fast charge support and that really has no effect on sales, but it sure would have made a lot of difference to add that to their selling points.
At 90 minutes (results pictured above), only the Huawei Mate 9 had attained full 100% charge, an applaudable feat. The OPPO R9 Plus was very close by at 98% of charge, the Vivo X9 Plus was also at 98% while the Galaxy C9 Pro was at 95%. The iPhone 7 Plus was still lagging behind at 57% even when it had a smaller battery capacity.
The test allowed the charge time to extend to 150 minutes and in that time as shown above, the Mate 9 and R9 Plus had stopped charging. The Vivo X9 Plus and Galaxy C9 Pro had also reached 100% in 150 minutes, while the Phone 7 Plus was only at 69%.
The test had to be stretched to 190 minutes (pictured above), that is 3 hours and 10 minutes before the iPhone 7 Plus charged up to 100%. That is quite slow, but with an efficient Apple A10 chip onboard, the battery isn’t expected to drain as fast as the others.
From the graph based on the fast charge test results, the Huawei Mate 9 with the steepest curve has the most efficient fast charge technology. This is followed by the OPPO R9 Plus and its VOOC fast charge technology. OPPO and Vivo are from the same parent company, so it is no surprise that the Vivo X9 Plus has almost similar charge pattern. The Galaxy C9 Pro followed closely and finally the iPhone 7 Plus came quite a distance behind the quartet.
The original Yotaphone was released in 2013 as the first smartphone in the world with 2 screens. It had a 4.3-inch 720p primary display and a second always-on 4.3-inch grayscale screen on the back. It was followed by a second generation model that had a larger 5.0-inch 1080p screen on one side and a second 4.7-inch grayscale screen on the other hand.
The Yotaphone 2 was supposed to be followed by a cheaper version called the Yotaphone 2C but that didn’t happen. They also had to cancel a North American release of the Yotaphone 2 in 2015. Just before the end of 2015, the Russian company announced that it was partnering with ZTE to release the Yotaphone 3 in Q1 2016. Up until this moment, the device hasn’t been released.
Most folks would have already given up on the device, but a response on the official Instagram page says the Yotaphone 3 is still in development. No details of the upcoming product were revealed but if fans of the brand have to wait this long, we believe it should be worth the wait.
AnTuTu’s top 10 list of best-performing smartphones in various categories have been released and it covers smartphone brands from around the world and the domestic Chinese brand. The chart is based on the average performance of the smartphones in benchmark tests and the list contains a few new entrants but on the whole several others retain their position. Benchmark test performance is predicated mostly on the processor the smartphone packs and in this case, the Snapdragon 821 continues to dominate.
Of course, there are no major surprises as we are yet to see a chipset which squares up to the Apple A10 chip. Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 835 chip and Samsung’s Exynos 8895 would likely trump the Apple flagship chip but they are yet to find their way into smartphones, at least not anyone in the market.
On the overall performance, the Apple iPhone 7 Plus powered by the A10 chip maintain its top position for several months running now. It is closely followed by the iPhone 7 which has a slightly lower clock speed on its chip than the 7 Plus. The iPhone 7 Plus also happens to be Apple’s most powerful smartphone at present. At the number 3 position is the Snapdragon 821-powered OnePlus 3T and at number four is the SD 821-powered LeEco Le Pro 3. Smartisan released the Hammer M1L late last year with a Snapdragon 821 chip inside and it occupies the fifth spot.
The 6th to 10th position is occupied by Lenovo ZUK Edge, OnePlus 3, Xiaomi Mi 5S Plus, Mi 5S and Mi Note 2 in that order. It is worthy of note that all five smartphones are powered by the Snapdragon 821 but with different clock frequency, hence the varying AnTuTu benchmark score. On the whole, only the Apple iPhone 7 Plus and iPhone 7 use a different chipset other than Snapdragon 821 processor.
All eight smartphones are Chinese brands and so occupy the top eight spot in the top 10 domestic brands category. The remaining two slots are occupied by the Xiaomi Mi 5 and Vivo Xplay 6 respectively. Both the Mi 5 and XPlay 6 are powered by the Snapdragon 820 chipset. As a parting shot, it is noticed that none of Samsung’s smartphones made it up the ladder into the top 10 and that is a curious scenario. Do you know why? Drop it off in the comment section if you do.
Xiaomi launched its Meter Walkie Talkie yesterday with a cheap price tag and some features, top of which is an 8-day standby time. Here are some hands-on images of the Xiaomi Walkie Talkie captured from different angles.
As stated, the walkie talkie offers up to 8 days of standby time but that comes down to 17 hours of consistent use. There is also an FM Radio on the walkie talkie. The walkie-talkie is suitable for two-way communication in urban centres, in the wild and several locations and works fine within a range of 10km apart and also has GPS functionality. It has a UHF frequency range of 403-470MHz, and VHF frequency range of 136-174MHz and automatically filter out noise and interference signals while in use.
The antenna is detachable, sitting at the top end of the device, side-by-side with the volume nob. Just under the display are some set of buttons which includes the frequency selector and other functions. It features a USB type charging port, so the regular Android phone charger should be able to charge the gadget. In all, the design is minimalistic but then, it is just a walkie-talkie, not a smartphone.
The Xiaomi WalkieTalkie comes in white and black color options. It will go on sale on March 3 via Xiaomi Mall, Xiaomi home, Jingdong, Lynx and Suning, all at the same time (0.00 hour) with a cheap price tag of 249 Yuan ($36). You can check out more images of the walkie talkie from down below.
Huawei announced its unique smartphone, the Huawei Honor Magic back in December 2016. This was a pretty different flagship from the numerous offerings available in the market, mainly because of its smart personalized features to enhance the overall user experience.
Naturally, the company showcased its innovative device at CES 2017 and the same was up for display at MWC 2017 as well. We got a chance to play around with this unique handset and here are our Huawei Honor Magic Hands on images and impressions.
The Huawei Honor Magic comes with a unique design that is curved on all the eight sides. So, the phone is curved both on the front as well as the back, boasting of perfect symmetry in design. This helps in making the grip more comfortable and with the premium 3D glass used on the device, the Honor Magic felt great in our hands.
While the phone looks great from the outside, what’s really the highlight of the Huawei Honor Magic is its software personalizations. There are a lot of interesting features embedded right into the device to offer a much better UI experience. For example, there’s a DeepThink feature that will reveal relevant data based on the information on the webpage. All you have to do is long-press the home button to activate this feature. Then there’s the Facecode Intelligent Recognition which recognizes your face to reveal messages on screen. Only those faces pre-registered on the device will be able to view the messages.
Another interesting feature is the WiseScreen Sensor Magic Intelligent sensor which uses the front infrared sensor as well as the sensors inbuilt into the device to unlock and activate the screen if it recognizes you as the person picking up the phone.
Along with the impressive software features, the Huawei Honor Magic comes with pretty decent specs as well. The phone boasts of a 5.09-inch display with 2K resolution. The phone is powered by Kirin 950 chipset under the hood and comes with a home button up front that accepts multiple gestures. The rear camera on the phone is pretty good, featuring dual 12MP sensors with f/2.2, 1.4um pixels and 6P lens with dual tone flash. Up front, there is an 8MP f/2.0 selfie shooter. Full Honor Magic specs here.
As for connectivity, the Huawei Honor Magic comes with standard USB port, 3.5mm headphone jack as well as SIM card slot at the bottom of the phone. The power button and volume buttons are all located on the right while the left side is clean.
Check out the Huawei Honor Magic Hands on images from below:
There are unconfirmed reports from South Korea that Samsung has started mass producing the Galaxy S8 units in its factory in Vietnam as it hopes to sell more than 10 million units of the smartphone. The Samsung Galaxy S8 is Samsung’s next big thing which it hopes to use to get over the loss accrued from the discontinuation and recall of the Galaxy Note 7. The company is ensuring it dots its Is and crosses its Ts in order to deliver a phenomenal smartphone which would take the market by storm.
The report on South Korea’s Naver Publication says Samsung intends to produce 4.7 million Galaxy S8 series smartphones in March and another 7.8 million units in April. This combines for a total of 12.5 million units which would be available in the first month of availability of the Galaxy S8. Reason being that Samsung aims to put it up for sales immediately after the March 29th announcement event.
The Samsung Galaxy S8 comes in two variants, one having a 5.8-inch display and another known as Galaxy S8+ with a larger 6.2-inch display. Both versions will be powered by Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 835 chipset. Even though Samsung is intent on aggressively marketing the next-gen flagship, it hasn’t officially revealed the figures it hoped to produce or when sales would commence. This latest report could just be mere speculations but then, you never can tell, it may just be accurate. The Galaxy S8 would drop on March 29.
Although Lenovo’s Yoga laptop series is much more popular among customers, the new Lenovo Miix 320 is actually a worthy convertible made for people on a budget. Before we move on to its specs, note that the convertible is available for just $200, which is great given that this comes from a notable brand like Lenovo.
Despite its affordable pricing, the Lenovo Miix 320 comes with amazing built quality. The tablet snaps onto the keyboard dock pretty firmly thanks to its magnetic connectors. The display is pretty decent and comes with a 10.1-inch 1920 x 1200 pixel resolution screen. While the viewing angles are not great, the overall display quality is pretty good. It’s a basic convertible that offers decent productivity for people who are always on the go. The fact that the tablet weighs just 550 grams by itself and 1.02 kg with the keyboard dock makes it travel-friendly. Further, the 10-hour battery life will make sure that the Lenovo Miix 320 runs almost an entire day.
Coming to the specs, the Lenovo Miix 320 features an Intel Atom X5 processor with Intel HD graphics. The Atom processor does not instill much confidence in its processing ability, but for the company’s targeted user base — freelancers, travelers, and the ‘meeting marathoner’, this specs sheet should be enough. There’s 4GB of RAM and 128GB of eMMC memory along with dual-band Wi-Fi with optional LTE connectivity (costs more). At the back, there is a 5MP camera while up front, there is a 2MP sensor. Other features include Windows 10 with Windows Continuum support along with support for Active Pen as well.
The Lenovo Miix 320 will go on sale around April 2017 for a price tag of $199 (with keyboard dock for the non-LTE model).
Hisense is a relatively unknown brand in the smartphone industry, but the company smart TVs are quite famous worldwide. The same company has now showcased a brand new smartphone, the Hisense Rock at MWC 2017. We were present at the big tech event the past few days and came across this interesting smartphone.
One of the biggest features of the Hisense Rock is that it’s a super rugged device. You can smash it to the ground, throw it around and the phone comes out fine with barely any sign of scratches. In fact, Hisense was happy to demonstrate the rugged ability of the phone by throwing it around. This along with IP68 certification makes sure that the phone is built to last even in extreme conditions. The best thing about the phone is its looks. The Hisense Rock, despite being built like the rock, doesn’t look like a rock. The phone actually comes with a pleasant design, which is kind of rare in the super rugged smartphone category.
Specs wise, the Hisense Rock comes quite close to the Nokia 6 smartphone. So, the phone comes with the Snapdragon 430 chipset under the hood clocked at 1.4GHz with a 5.2-inch 1080p display, 3GB RAM and 32GB of internal storage. This is further expandable via MicroSD. Other features of the phone include a 3000mAh battery, Android 7 Nougat, 16MP rear camera and a 5MP front shooter. So, it is well placed in the lower mid-range category, with decent specs, much like the recently announced (globally) Nokia 6.
Check out the hands-on images of the Hisense Rock down below:
It is now certain that Xiaomi will launch a next generation version of the Mi Mix sometime this year, Lei Jun had already indicated that renowned French designer Philip Starck would still design the Mi Mix 2. More details of the Mi Mix 2 are gradually emerging and as should be expected, the device would likely be packed with lots of innovative features.
Recently, Chinese company Goodix unveiled its new in-display fingerprint technology at MWC 2017. The technology which is the first of its kind is capable of transforming a defined part of the display into a fingerprint sensor, thus removing the need for a fingerprint sensor button or a rear-mounted sensor. Later on, analyst Sun Changxu hinted that Apple would feature the in-display fingerprint technology on the iPhone 8 but before then, a domestic Chinese phone manufacturer would use the technology first.
Industry analyst, Pan Jiutang has now revealed that the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 would use the in-display fingerprint technology and also would be lauched sometime in the second half of this year. Apart from being the first smartphone from an indigenous Chinese manufacturer to use the fingerprint security feature, the Mi Mix 2 is expected to come with a screen-to-body ratio higher than the 91.3% screen-to-body ratio the Mi Mix came with. There are also likely to be a number of innovative features on the next gen flagship.
No doubt, it is one device to look forward to, even when we are yet to see enough of the Mi Mix due to its low supply. But we have the assurance of Xiaomi’s President, Lin Bin that production of thecurrent generation Mi Mix would be shored up, so expect the flagship to become available in reasonable quantity soon.
The all new Nokia 3310 feature phone was unveiled at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2017. Soon after its launch, a well-known designer phone and accessory manufacturer, Gresso has announced a luxury feature phone called the Meridian.
The Gresso Meridian is a perfect blend of luxury and simplicity that comes in two models. The first one is Titanium Edition that is made from titanium along with a stainless-steel keyboard. It comes in three variants Meridian M1, Meridian M2 and Meridian M3. The M1 is priced at $3,000 and it has titanium body and sand-blasted borders.
The M2’s titanium chassis is coupled with hand-polished borders. It is priced at $4,000. Both variants sport titanium logos. The M3 that costs $4,500 also features titanium chassis and hand-polished borders coupled with 18k yellow gold logo.
The Black Edition is made up of 18k Gold coated with PVD coated titanium and it also comes in three models such as Meridian M4, Meridian M5 and Meridian M6. The M4 features steel keyboard and is priced at $5,000. The M5 has 9 keys made up of 18k yellow gold. It is priced at $8,500. lastly, the M6 has 21 keys made of 18k yellow gold. It the costliest variant that is priced at Rs. 9,500. All the variants come with 12 months warranty.
Related: Huawei Mate 9 Porsche Design Vs Gionee M2017: Which Luxury Phone is Worth Your Money?
It takes around 8 hours to assemble one model. Hence, the company will be manufacturing a limited edition of 999 units. The Gresso Meridian is a dual SIM phone that bears a thickness of 9.9 mm and measures 121.4 x 52.5 mm. Its weight is 125 grams.
The Gresso Meridian comes an inbuilt storage of 32 GB. For photography, it includes a 3-megapixel camera. For connectivity, it is equipped with features like GPRS, Edge, v3.0 Bluetooth and microUSB. The exact size of its battery is not known, but the technical details page of the phone says that it can offer a standby time of 375 hours and a talk time of 5.3 hours.
The most interesting phone Alcatel had to show at MWC was the AlcatelA5 LED model.
The highlight of the phone is the back panel, which can light up in a lot of different ways. Alcatel calls the Alcatel A5 LED “The world’s first interactive LED-covered smartphone”.
That means that the LED will light up when you receive all sorts of notifications e.g. phone calls, messages etc.
Also, the LEDs will light according to the music you listen to. In addition, you will be able to customize the LED lights in a lot of different ways.
Another key feature is the 5MP front-facing camera that has the LED light for night selfies.
Although the phone is made of plastic, it looks and feels great in the hand.
The key specs include a 5.2” 720P display, an octa-core Mediatek MT6753 CPU, 2GB RAM and 16GB of expandable storage. Also, the phone has an 8MP camera on the back. Finally, the device has a 2800 mAh battery.
Alcatel A5 LED
I spent just 15 mins with the device but so far it seems that the UI is clean and fast, there are no hiccups or lag.
The A5 LED will be available in Europe from May onwards for 199 EUR.
The Alcatel A3 is aimed at budget-minded users. The phone will be available in Europe from May onwards for 149 Euros.
Alcatel A3
The device is made of plastic but it has nice metal frame that goes all around the device.
The key specs include a 5.0” 720P display, a quad-core MediaTek MT6737 CPU, 1.5GB or RAM and 16GB of expandable storage. Also, the phone has a 13MP camera on the back along with the fingerprint scanner. Finally, the device has a 2460 mAh battery.
Another device that Alcatel released carries U5 model name. The Alcatel U5 will be available in Europe from May onwards for 99 Euros.
Alcatel u5
It is one of the cheapest phones the company has made and therefore, it has low-end specs like Mediatek MT6737M chip, 1GB of RAM and just 8GB of expandable storage.
Still, the phone has a textured back cover and it feels great in the hand. The user interface has preserved most of the stock Android looks and so far it seems nice and fast.
We will soon get the phones for the review, so stay to Gizmochina!
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
