Barely three weeks after unveiling the first Exynos 9 Series processor, the Exynos 8895, the processor has been spotted on benchmark website GeekBench database. The Samsung Exynos 8895 chip is built on the 10nm process, meaning more power efficiency and less heat generation.
Samsung SM-G955F (Exynos 8995)
The Exynos 8895 was seen onboard a Samsung new smartphone on Geekbench which carries the model number SM-G955F which is likely a version of the Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus. Recall that the Galaxy S8 Plus fired up by a Snapdragon 835 chip appeared on Geekbench with a similar SM-G955U model number. The device is clearly shown to be powered by an Exynos 8995 chipset backed by 4GB of RAM. On the single core test, the smartphone scored 1978 points while on the multi-core test it polled a total of 6375 points.
Snapdragon 835 vs Exynos 8995
When compared with the Qualcomm MSM8998 which is SD 835, the MSM8998 performed better both on the single core and multi-core tests but the difference is not too significant. Another factor that may account for the slight difference may be the higher 1.90GHz clock frequency at which the SD 835 ran.
Kirin 960 vs Exynos 8995
Also when the test score is pitched against the Geekbench score of Huawei Kirin 960 chipset, the result also reveal a slight difference. This time around, the Exynos 8995 performed better on the single core test but the Kirin 960 fared better on the multi-core test score. But then, there is no doubt the three flagship processors fall in the same category.
The Exynos 8895 chip brings a number of improvements such as a 27% increase in performance and a 40% decrease in power consumption. The SoC uses a combination of four second-gen custom CPU cores and four Cortex-A53 cores and also features a Mali-G71 MP20 GPU. The improvements are clearly evident when the Geekbench score of the previous generation Exynos 8990 chip is compared to the Exynos 8995.
Xiaomi has left us with a herculean task of figuring out how the heck a fighter jet is linked with its upcoming Mi TV product. Just yesterday, Xiaomi released a teaser which points to the launch of a new product looking like a new Mi TV scheduled to take place on March 21. The first teaser was that of a child decked in a Super man attire seemingly heading for the sky.
If the first teaser points at a smaller Mi TV with a lesser price and cool functions, we are not sure what to make of the fighter jet teaser. The teaser which is entirely in Chinese also has a question which translates as,”What do you want to send a Fighter jet?”. Perhaps, an indication of the speed of the processor the TV would use or the effectiveness of the product. There are even suggestions that the product is perhaps a video game but that is unlikely because it is shared on the official Xiaomi Mi TV Weibo account. In addition, there are feelers that the product is likely the Xiaomi Mi TV 4A with a slightly reduced 43-inch display from the 65 inches the top model of the Mi TV 4 uses. The product appeared on Xiaomi’s flagship store on Lynx ahead of March 21.
The new Mi TV product is open for pre-order already and each pre-order comes with an offer of 100 Yuan off the final price when buying. We’ll get to know the entire details on March 21. Keep a date.
ZTE’s elite brand Nubia has always reserved the Z-series for its flagship models but today Nubia official website in a strange manner teased an unannounced Nubia Z17 smartphone which sports a sleek design. As usual, Nubia’s smartphones come with spectacular designs that are always beauties to behold.
The Z17 doesn’t disappoint either, despite not really falling into the flagship cadre. But that isn’t the most spectacular thing about the teased smartphone. What stands out the most on the device is the mammoth 5,000mAh battery touted to be inside the smartphone which is sure going to keep the lights on for a long time. The device features a metal body which would likely be available in black and gold colors.
Specs wise, the Nubia Z17 sports a 5.5-inch LCD display with a resolution 1920 x 1080 pixels. The smartphone is powered by a mid-range MediaTek Helio P10 chipset backed by 3GB of RAM. This is a clear indication that the smartphone is a budget smartphone but some will be disappointed the phone isn’t having a Snapdragon chip. Further, the Z17 comes with 64GB of internal storage which can be expanded up to 128GB via microSD card.
On the camera department, the Z17 features a 13MP rear camera with 5P lenses, f/2.2 aperture and 3D noise reduction, LED flash and more. The phone also comes with dual SIM/ dual standby support and there is a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor.
The teaser also went further to include the price of the Nubia Z17 which is listed as 2699 Yuan ($390). The smartphone is quite pricey for an Helio P10-powered smartphone but then, it’s not been officially launched and could be withdrawn from the website any moment. Nubia has scheduled a launch event for March 21 and the company was initially billed to launch the Z17 Mini on that day. Perhaps, the Z17 would be officially unveiled also.
Smartisan is scheduled to hold a conference this Spring where they would release a high-end smartphone. Ahead of that, two new Smartisan smartphone models are shown to have received 3C certification in China. The models go by the model numbers OD103 and OD105.
A look at the certification data reveals that the two Smartisan models come with support for 18W fast charge and entire network support. As is known, the 3C certification details are usually scanty and this case isn’t different. The
We are not sure which series the new smartphones fall into, perhaps the T-series, but Smartisan CEO had earlier hinted that the company’s upcoming smartphone will use the same sleek design as well as round home button similar to those of Apple iPhones which the Smartisan M1 and M1L featured. Smartisan stunned the smartphone world by releasing the M1 and M1L powered by Snapdragon 821 chips, we wouldn’t expect anything less from these upcoming smartphones which would likely be separated by their display sizes. It is also too early to look at the prospects of the phones coming with SD 835 as that is unlikely. There are indications the company would hold a news conference in April where they are expected to release the two smartphones.
Xiaomi is known for producing all sorts of gadgets that offer great value for money. Besides smartphones, the company makes other means of communication – walkie-talkies. In fact, you can get them at the discounted price of just $54.88 from lightinthebox.com.
One of the key features of any gadget is the battery life and Xiaomi is known for doing it right on their smartphones. The walkie-talkies offer 8 days of standby time and 17 hours of normal use, which will be more than enough for the weekend-long hiking trip.
Another cool feature is that you can simply share your location with the press of the button and your friends will be able to track it on the smartphone app. Also, the Xiaomi walkie-talkies have the built-in FM radio tuner.
The Xiaomi walkie-talkies have a pretty good signal reception range, which is about 10km in sea level environment and about 6km in the urban area.
Finally, the device has the feature that allows you to quickly form the team of the member with just a click of the button.
You can now get the Xiaomi walkie-talkies at a very low price of just $54.88 from lightinthebox.com, which sounds like a great deal considering the Xiaomi’s history of high-quality communication devices.
Whenever there is a roll call of smartphone makers with highly innovative designs on their phones, Xiaomi should rank among the elite. Indeed the Chinese smartphone giant has again come up with another stunning design, this time on the upcoming Mi 6. What is said to be renders of the Xiaomi Mi 6 has appeared online, perhaps giving us our first glimpse of the much-touted Mi 6.
Xiaomi Mi 6
The images seem to be of the ceramic variant as well as a gray-coloured version of the Xiaomi flagship and they are images of the device captured from the front and rear view. On the whole, the images resemble those of the Mi Note 2, bringing to mind earlier rumor that the Mi 6 would get a design similar to the Mi Note 2. Where there is a noticeable difference is that the Mi 6 seems to use a flat screen display as against the curved edge spec the Mi Note 2. Despite not being a curved display, the design is one with an ultra-thin bezel and high screen-to-body ratio.
At the rear, the device packs a dual rear camera setup which is tilted to the left corner of the device. There is a LED flash by the side of the camera but there is visibly no rear fingerprint scanner. Perhaps, the physical home button up front will have the fingerprint scanner.
The Mi 6 is said to come with SD835, 8GB of RAM, likely on the top-end model and three storage versions of 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB. The top end model uses a premium 3D ceramic design. The rear camera is listed as packing a SONY IMX400 sensor with support for 5-axis optical image stabilization. Finally, the likely prices of the different versions were also listed as follows; 1999 yuan ($289) of 64GB version, 2299 yuan ($332) for the 128GB version, while the 256GB version carries a price tag of 2899 yuan ($419).
Earlier in this month, Huawei had released a patch to resolve the arbitrary memory read/write vulnerability issue on Huawei Mate 9 and Mate 9 Pro. Now, the Chinese firm has come across a vulnerability on Huawei P9 Plus that makes it possible for the hackers to access its vibrator service to cause the system to crash.
Huawei has also fixed the issue on P9 Plus by releasing the B386 software update. However, before the update was released, the vibrator service of the smartphone had a Denial of Service (DoS) vulnerability (assigned as CVE ID: CEV-2017-2731) because of a lack in checking parameters. It could allow hackers to use a malicious app installed on the P9 Plus to send a parameter to the vibrator service of the phone to cause the phone to freeze.
If the patch was not released quickly, hackers could have used the vulnerability to create ransomware that could have made the smartphone unusable unless their demands were met. Even though the issue has been resolved, there is no confirmation on how many P9 Plus smartphones were actually hacked through the vibrator service vulnerability.
Huawei P9 Plus owners should be aware of the fact that the hackers could successfully exploit the vibrator service vulnerability only after users were tricked to install a malicious app. A simple way to avoid such a hack attack is to be careful and install only those apps that are credible.
The vulnerability for Huawei Mate 9 and Mate 9 Pro could allow hacker with root access on both devices to read and write memory data anywhere. The hackers could also initiate an arbitrary code in the TrustZone. Only Mate 9 and Mate 9 Pro that are currently running on B156 or older version are vulnerable to the attack. However, the latest firmware for these phones are enough to resolve this exploit.
In order to position its products in a better way to its customers, Qualcomm will undergo brand redesigning before it launches its next-generation products. The first change that Qualcomm wants to introduce is that it won’t be referring to Snapdragon as a processor, but as a platform.
Even though the semiconductor industry has used the word “processor” for the technology that powers advanced devices, Qualcomm says that the term is an insufficient way to describe it. It has further stated that Snapdragon is not just a processor, but a technology that comprises hardware, software and services. Since it cannot be described as a processor, Qualcomm will be calling it “Qualcomm Snapdragon Mobile Platform.”
The Snapdragon Mobile Platform will be a way to let the customers know it is not just a SoC (system-on-a-chip) that comes with CPU, GPU, DSP and integrated modem, but also includes a wide range of other technologies such as Quick Charge, DAC, Wi-Fi, fingerprint reader, and touch controllers. These technologies coupled with the SoC deliver the best user experience not only on smartphones but also on other verticals like mobile PCs, IoT and automotive.
In future, “Qualcomm Snapdragon Mobile Platform” will be only used for its premium mobile platforms. So, the low-powered Snapdragon 200 series will be referred to as “Qualcomm Mobile.” By this way, it will distinguish entry-level solutions from flagship and high-end mobile platforms. It indicates that Qualcomm wants to show that Snapdragon is a topnotch brand. The upcoming Snapdragon 835 is a premium mobile platform that can even power a full version of Windows 10 PC.
In technical sense, Qualcomm may have taken a right decision in rebranding its Snapdragon processor as it includes more technologies other than CPU and GPU. However, it may not make much of a difference to the consumers as the “Snapdragon” name is credible enough for customers to make a purchasing decision. The rebranding decision for the company can be a good way for Qualcomm to see its suite of technology to its OEMs who purchases hardware and software from it.
Xiaomi‘s upcoming flagship smartphone, the Mi 6 has all along been tipped to launch packing a Snapdragon 835 chipset onboard. The device is tipped as the first Chinese brand to use Qualcomm’s latest chipset and the launch was set for April. Perhaps the rumours didn’t take into consideration Samsung’s own demand for the Snapdragon 835 and the slow production output of the 10nm node process the SD 835 uses.
Well, there may be a shortage of the flagship SD 835 chip for a couple of months more and as a result, there are rumours emanating from China’s Weibo that Xiaomi will use a Snapdragon 821 chipset instead on the flagship Mi 6. Well, at least at the initial stage, then a Snapdragon 835 variant will be launched at a later date.
Really, we don’t know what to believe anymore. The Xiaomi Mi 6 was earlier said to use a Snapdragon 835 with reduced clock frequency because of the strain of demand by Samsung for the version with the higher clock frequency. But recently, analyst Kevin Wang assured that the Mi 6 will get enough supply of the Snapdragon 835 chipset. Also recently, there were talks of the Mi 6 launch scheduled for April getting shifted to May in order to get enough stock of the Snapdragon 835 chip after Samsung must have launched the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus.
Recall the LG G6 was launched with a Snapdragon 821 chipset in the face of the scarcity, so if Xiaomi toes the same line they won’t be the first to do so. So long the device gets a Snapdragon 835-powered version later, we’d say it isn’t a bad move. But of course, this is just a rumor and nothing is certain yet. We still haven’t got an official launch date but Xiaomi is tipped to out the Mi 6 flagship next month which is April.
Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation is one of the top foundries in the world. Based in China, with its headquarters in Shanghai, SMIC manufactures chips for Qualcomm, Broadcom and Texas Instruments. The CEO of the foundry, Tzu-Yin Chiu has announced plans to begin R&D for 7nm production later this year.
The announcement will mean the entry of another major player in the race for 7nm chip production. Other semiconductor manufacturers that have announced 7nm production plans are TSMC and Samsung.
SMIC is reported to be working with a number of partners like Huawei and nano-electronics research institute, Imec. “The foundry is also working with many IC design service providers including Brite Semiconductor, Cadence Design Systems, Synopsys, ARM and Mentor Graphics, and is partnering with equipment and materials suppliers such as Applied Materials, Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment (AMEC), ASML, Shin-Etsu Handotai and Sumco” says CEO Chiu.
For backend, SMIC is working with Jiangshu Changjiang Electronics Technology (JCET). Both companies have set up a joint venture to provide a more complete supply chain for advanced-node manufacturing.
ZTE Axon lineup has been really popular since these phones bring a lot of value to the table. I reviewed the original Axon phone 1.5 years ago and I was really impressed with it given its price tag of about $400. Right now you can get this phone for as low as $170 and I believe this is one of the best smartphones you can buy at the moment. Learn more in our full review.
32GB (expandable via microSD card slot up to 200GB)
ZTE Axon Review: UNBOXING
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Inside the box, you can find a pair of earphones, USB cable, a power plug, instruction manuals and the SIM ejector pin, which has a nice little carrying case.
ZTE Axon Review: DESIGN and DISPLAY
Once you pick the phone up, the first impression is that the phone is premium. It is made mostly of metal, the buttons are nice and tactile and the device feels great in the hand due to rounded edges on the back.
The ZTE Axon comes with a 5.5″ 1080p display.
The panel is very sharp, vivid, has great viewing angles and good sunlight visibility. Overall, it is a very high-quality display and it is one of the best out there even if you compare it with some of the today’s flagship devices. Also, the display has a Corning Gorilla Glass 3 with the antimicrobial coating. I could not check if the antimicrobial feature really works but what I can say that it is much easier to clean the display in comparison to some other phones.
On the top side, there is what may look like a speaker grill but it turns out that it is just a design element. Inside of it, you can find just an earpiece, which is located on the right side. Underneath the earpiece, there is an 8MP front facing snapper.
The selfie camera can be also used as an iris scanner, which works pretty well in good lighting. However, I found it to be more of a gimmick since you first need to click the power button, then swipe down the display and only then let the phone scan your eyes.
On the bottom, there are 3 customizable capacitive keys, which also have a nice backlight (although they are pretty much invisible outdoors). Also, the home button serves as a pulsing notification LED light.
Underneath the capacitive buttons, you can find another grill but only the right side is where the actual speaker can be found. The sound quality is just great. It is loud and has a lot of depth and bass for a tiny speaker. In fact, this is one of the best loudspeakers you can find on any budget phone.
The back plate is made of gold aluminum material but the top and bottom parts are made of plastic. These parts sport a somewhat leather-like finish (well, it is plastic) with some fake stitching. They don’t look or feel cheap but I would prefer just all-metal design.
If we get a closer look at the top side, we can find a lot of things going on here. It all starts with the dual camera setup that includes .a 13MP Sony sensor with OIS, f/1.8 aperture and a single tone dual LED flash.
There is a dedicated2MP camera sensor, which collects depth information and it is mainly used for the bokeh shots and focus adjustments after taking the picture.
The fingerprint scanner is fast and accurate even if we compare it to today’s flagship smartphones. Also, you can unlock the phone straight from the standby mode.
The buttons are made of metal and they are tactile.
The ZTE Axon was being advertised as the “First Hi-Fi smartphone in North America” 1.5 years ago. The sound via headphones is indeed very good, which has a very loud volume output, rich tones and a lot of depth. Even today, it is undoubtedly one of the best phones for music lovers out there
Finally, on the bottom you can find a micro USB port and the main mic.
ZTE Axon Review: HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE
Even though the ZTE Axon was released quite a while, it still has great specs that include a Snapdragon 810 chip, 3GB of RAM and 32GB of expandable storage.
Graphically intensive tasks like gaming fly on the ZTE Axon and the graphics look stunning. Even today, I can say that this is a flagship-grade performance as didn’t have stutter or lag in any games I played.
The device gets warm a bit but it does not heat up to uncomfortable levels even after extended periods of gaming. It may feel a bit warmer than usual due to a natural heat dispersion on metal surfaces, though.
ZTE Axon Review: USER INTERFACE
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The ZTE Axon runs MiFavor UI 3.2, which is company’s own take on the Android 5.0.2 Lollipop. Honestly, it is really frustrating that ZTE didn’t update this phone at least to Android 6.0.
The user interface has preserved the aesthetics of the stock Android but ZTE added quite a lot of its own by offering some extra features, kind of cartoonish looking icons and tons of customization options. As usual to the Chinese phones, there is no app drawer and all the apps sit on the home screens.
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ZTE added some functionality with the gesture controls. Also, you can customize the phone by changing transition effects, accent colors and so on.
The system ROM takes a hefty amount of 7.5GB. Fortunately enough, the device comes with the microSD card slot.
Overall, I am very pleased with how the UI works even though it is based on the outdated Android 5.0. Most importantly, the phone is fast and responsive on the daily basis.
ZTE Axon: BENCHMARKS
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ZTE Axon Review: CAMERA
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The camera app is fast and responsive, and it has tons of controls, shooting modes and features. You may take pictures using the auto-mode or choose the “SLR mode” to take a full manual control of the camera. A neat feature is that you can play with the aperture number as well.
In addition, the “SLR mode” allows you to use the secondary 2MP camera sensor and change the focus point and level of it after you take the picture. I was actually really pleased with the results you can achieve with the extra camera sensor. Well, sometimes pictures may look a bit artificial but other times you can get some really nice-looking images.
ZTE Axon Review: IMAGE QUALITY
If you consider that the ZTE Axon costs just $170, the image quality is one of the best in class.The daylight images look great as they have plenty of detail, colours look nice and pictures look sharp overall. Sometimes the dynamic range can be off, though.
The images taken indoors usually look good too but with a bit less lighting, a visible noise kicks in and the amount of detail goes down significantly, like on most of the phones.
As for the low-light shots, they look prety good for such a cheap phone.
I tried to play with the bokeh effect using the “SLR mode” to see what the secondary 2MP camera sensor is capable of. What I can say is that you can get some really nice-looking images but it will not happen all the time. Sometimes some objects may look a bit artificial. Still, this is one of the best dual camera setups on any budget smartphone.
The 1080P footage looks quite good but the video may look shaky even though the phone has OIS..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQkdWmVh8D4
The 4K video looks a lot better and the quality may be the best in this price range.
There are some extra shooting modes like slow-motion video at 720p, which looks pretty good.
The selfies look pretty good and there will be enough quality for social media purposes. The 1080p selfie video looks good too. Also, the audio recording quality is excellent. Again, thanks to the two-way Hi-Fi audio chip that improves audio recording quality too.
ZTE Axon Review: CONNECTIVITY
When it comes to connectivity, the Axon phone has a hybrid dual-SIM card tray that can take either 2 SIMs or 1 SIM and the microSD card.
All the connectivity options like GPS, Bluetooth, Wifi and NFC work great. Also, the call quality is stellar as the earpiece is loud and the sound is very clear. Finally, the reception quality is very good on each of the nano-SIM card slot.
ZTE Axon Review: BATTERY LIFE
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The battery life on the ZTE Axon is good but not great. It will most likely get you through the day as you can get just below 4 hours of screen on-time if you consume a lot of multimedia, use a lot camera and play some games.
The screen-on times may increase up to 4.5 or even 5 hours if you are not doing a lot of demanding tasks.
If it happens so that you need to recharge your battery in the middle of the day, the Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 2.0 comes handy adn you will be able to fully charge the phone in about 1,5h with the supplied charger.
ZTE Axon Review: CONCLUSIONS
So, there you have it, ZTE Axon after 1.5 years. Even today, the phone looks and feels premium and it has a wonderful display. Also, the chipset may be outdated but the phone still has enough processing power to handle almost anything you throw at it.
The user interface has tons of features and it runs fine but you will be probably stuck with the Android 5.0, which is a shame to ZTE. Even though the phone looks and feels premium, I’m not a huge fan of the fake leather top and bottom parts on the back.
These are minor shortcomings considering a low price of the phone. In fact, if you consider that the phone can take really good pictures, audio quality is top notch both from the loudspeaker and via the headset jack and you even have some extra features like the iris scanner, the ZTE Axon is easy buying recommendation for the price of about $170.
At CES 2013, Samsung wowed a lot of attendants when it first showed off its flexible display technology. While a bit of that technology has made it to their flagships with the Edge suffix, we are still not close to getting a fully foldable phone.
The reason for that stems from Samsung still finding it hard producing quality foldable phones in large quantities. The smartphone giant may be applying for patents left, right, and center but the challenge is in mass production.
Samsung’s aim is to make the device very thin such that its thickness when folded doesn’t exceed 10mm. That means a thickness of about 4mm when unfolded. Samsung is also advertising the phone as a “luxurious ultra premium device”. That means it has to make use of high quality materials that are durable of which some are usually not easily bendable.
Take for example the adhesive used to attach the display to the rest of the chassis. It has to be very flexible and also durable to withstand several folding and unfolding actions. So while Samsung really wants to see foldable phones reach the market as soon as possible, it also needs to be careful to prevent releasing a device that will suffer from issues like the Galaxy Note 7.
Meizu recently reached a settlement with Qualcomm, thus bringing the lingering conflict that has seen the US chipmaker sue the Chinese phone maker in multiple lawsuits. The conflict had meant Qualcomm chips were consistently missing on Meizu smartphones for a long while now and fans of the brand yearn for a time when they would have a Qualcomm-powered Meizu smartphone.
Since the settlement with Qualcomm, there have been no official words from Meizu as to when a Snapdragon-powered Meizu phone would debut but a leaked Meizu 2017 product schedule had earlier revealed a Snapdragon 626-powered Meizu smartphone coming in December. A recent rumor had also disclosed that the Qualcomm-fired Meizu smartphone would meet with us in Q3 2017.
Meizu VP, Li Nan sort of confirmed that a Qualcomm-powered Meizu phone would launch towards the end of this year in response to a question on Weibo. The Meizu VP today hosted a Question & Answer session where he responded to questions by a fan as to when a Meizu phone with a high-end chip would launch. The VP disclosed that it takes an average of 8 months for Research and Development (R&D) for a new smartphone to get concluded and then production, certification, and other factors could see the time stretch from 8 to 12 months before the phone is launched. So, a Qualcomm-powered Meizu phone may hit the market at the end of this year. This puts paid to speculation of the expected Meizu Pro 7 sporting a Qualcomm chip but at least there is a ray of hope that we’ll finally have a Meizu phone, probably a high-end model, rocking a Qualcomm chip this year.
Samsung is sure heading for the galaxies with the rate at which new features about the Galaxy S8 surfaces. The tech giant looks intent to even overshoot the skies with the avalanche of stunning features that are already tipped to come onboard the flagship device.
The Galaxy S8 is now rumored to come with a pressure sensitive display similar to the 3D Touch technology which Apple feature on the iPhone 6S and subsequent models. According to reports carried in the Korean media, Samsung has developed an advanced pressure-sensitive display which it was claimed to have showcased to a select number of partners during MWC, 2017. The media source also disclosed that the Korean giant would feature the technology is a small form on the Galaxy S8. The pressure-sensitive technology is said to be only on the navigational home key part of the Galaxy S8.
Recall the Galaxy S8 would feature a high screen-to-body ratio with on-screen navigation pane at the bottom of the display. The full utilization of the technology would be on the Galaxy Note 8 tipped to launch later this year. This would ordinarily have elicited excitement but rather it elicits confusion because the known function of the pressure-sensitive technology which is to act as a pop-up menu, is already available on Google’s latest Android Nougat OS. Perhaps there are other innovative functions that just bringing up apps shortcuts at the tap of the home screen.
Facts (Rumors) Check
The Samsung Galaxy S8 is earlier rumored as coming with a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor which has been shown in leaked renders, sitting at the side of the rear LED flash. The device is also expected with a facial recognition technology as well as the traditional iris scanner. We also expect on the software end, the Samsung Bixby Assistant which is an AI performing similar functions like the Apple Siri, Google Assistant, Microsoft Cortana and Amazon Alexa. The button to activate the Bixby AI sits under the volume rocker. Also, the Samsung Galaxy S8 will likely feature the Edge UX as the pull tab for the interface was noticed on the right corner of the curved display as seen in a recently leaked real live render. The Edge UX is a customizable quick app launcher on which favorite and frequently used apps like contact app, and others could be added.
Perhaps the most anticipated feature is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor that would feature on the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus. This would be backed by 4GB of RAM, with the Galaxy S8 China Edition said to have a higher 6GB RAM version. The storage versions would likely be 64GB and 128GB. The Samsung Galaxy S8 would sport a large 5.8-inch display while the Galaxy S8 Plus is expected with a 6.2-inch display. Both flagships are expected to be officially announced at the Galaxy Unpacked event billed to hold on March 29.
Samsung and Apple are estimated to use about 70% of OLED displays produced this year. That figure is going to affect other manufacturers like Huawei who will have to cut down the percentage of its smartphone shipments sporting AMOLED displays to just 8%.
Samsung Display is one of the major OLED panel manufacturers in the world, so it is understandable that it will need all it can get. Stats says Samsung will receive 56% of displays produced this year while Apple will take delivery of 75 million units, which amounts to 14% of global OLED production in 2017.
According to the source, other OLED display manufacturers that should cover for the shortage won’t begin mass production early enough. LG Display is estimated to begin shipping its OLED display in 2018 and China’s BOE Technology Group Co.Ltd may not start shipping till 2020.
OPPO‘s upcoming F3 and F3 Plus smartphones first appeared in some of OPPO’s stores’ promotional posters in the Philippines and the device was finally officially confirmed for launch on March 23 recently. Ahead of the launch taking place next week, another leak has surfaced surrounding the F3. This time around, the retail box casing of the OPPO F3 Plus and two promotional posters for the F3 and F3 Plus have surfaced online.
The OPPO F3 Plus along with the F3 is expected to come with dual selfie cameras and the retail box confirms the existence of dual cameras on the F3. While the new feature is a standout feature, it is not coming as much of a surprise because fellow BBK subsidiary Vivo did release the Vivo V5 and V5 Plus last year with dual selfie shooters on the V5 Plus. Just that this time around, both the F3 and F3 Plus are touted as sporting dual cameras. We are not sure if only the F3 Plus will finally feature dual cameras, anyway.
Detailed specs of the OPPO F3 Plus leaked recently showing it is coming with a huge 6-inch display protected by Gorilla Glass 5 and having a resolution of 1,920 x 1,080 pixels. It is powered by a Snapdragon 653 chipset (MSM8976) with an octa-core processor, backed by 4GB of RAM. The F3 Plus comes with 64GB internal storage, expandable up to 256GB via microSD card. Other specs include a 16MP + 8MP front sensors, a 16MP single rear camera, Color OS 3.0 based on Android Marshmallow, a 4000mAh battery, dual-SIM support and 4G LTE connectivity. The OPPO F3 is expected with a smaller screen size but other details are still sketchy.
The Huawei Mate 9 was released last year with 4GB RAM and 64GB of built-in storage. Later this year, Huawei released a 6GB variant with 128GB of storage. If you head to the official website, this new model is priced at ¥4499 ($652) but you can get it for less than that on Amazon China.
For ¥3998 ($580), you can pick up this variant with an extra 2GB of RAM and double the storage space as the base version. That’s $72 less than how much you will pay on the official website. Do note that the price cut only applies to the Mocha Gold variant. All the other color variants are still pretty expensive.
Just in case you think, you have no need for the extra RAM and storage, the same seller has the 4GB + 64GB variant for ¥3696 ($534).
The Huawei Mate 9 has a 5.9-inch 108op screen, a Kirin 960 processor, a set of Leica dual-cameras on the rear (20MP+12MP) with OIS, PDAF, and laser autofocus, and there is also an 8MP shooter up front. That large display is powered by a 4000mAh battery and there is a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner too.
OPPO continues to give the R9S a new paint job, adding more options for fans to choose from. Recently, a red color variant was added to the R9S lineup and now the company has announced a fresh Green color variant of the R9S via Weibo. This brings the number of colors the R9S is available on to five which include Rose Gold, Gold, Black, Red and now Green color.
The world is going green and in getting on with the tide, OPPO joins Huawei who also added a new green paint job to the P10 range of colors. The OPPO R9S fresh green variant still retains the design of the other variants but of course, the new gives a different perspective to the device’s look. The antenna band looks almost none existent as the color scheme does a good job of masking it well.
On the specs end, the device packs the same lineup as the original R9S, sporting a 5.5-inch 1080p display with the latest Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection which should provide better resistance against drops. Inside, the R9S is running the Snapdragon 625 chipset, a much better upgrade as compared to the Helio P10 chipset in the OPPO R9. As for memory, there is a 4GB RAM and 64GB of ROM setup. Further, the R9S packs a 16MP Sony IMX398 sensor at the rear, which is said to be jointly developed by OPPO and Sony. The sensor is reportedly fast and “comparable to SLR camera speeds” and comes with tailored features. There is also dual-core focus and dual LED flash onboard. The device also features a 16MP sensor up front as well. As for the software, the OPPO R9S runs on the company’s ColorOS 3.0 version. Inside, there is a decent 3010mAh battery but with VOOC fast charging, the battery shouldn’t be an issue on the device.
The OPPO R9S fresh Green color variant will be officially unveiled on March 19. The price of the new color variant is not yet known but it isn’t expected to be higher than the 2799 Yuan ($416) price tag of other variants.
Windows Mobile OS is almost dead in China! That is the damning verdict contained on Kantar WorldPanel’s latest analysis of the mobile OS market. The latest report confirms what we are already getting accustomed to, which is that the world is moving towards a two mobile OS zone controlled entirely by Google’s Android OS and Apple’s iOS. All other mobile OS as we know them are dying off gradually.
Worse hit is the Microsoft Windows OS which lost ground even in some of its stronghold. Windows OS slipped to a miserly 1.3% in the US, dropping 50% from its position last year. Italy used to be one of Windows OS’ strongest market but it dropped from its market shares last year which stood at 7.2% to 4.4% presently. Talking about China, one of the world’s largest mobile phone market, Windows Mobile OS recorded 0.1% total sales in the last three months, according to Kantar. This leaves no room for doubt that Windows for mobile is as good as dead in China. Microsoft’s Lumia phones were the main users of the Windows Mobile OS but since the demise of the brand, usage on phones has dropped drastically in China and elsewhere.
Whereas Windows Mobile is dying, Google and Apple continues to dominate the terrain with the Android OS credited with 56.4% of smartphone sales in the US where it lost 1.8% of its share of the market to the iOS. Apple’s iOS accounts for 42% of the US smartphone market rising up by 2.9% from last year. In Europe’s largest markets, including Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Spain, Google’s Android phones accounted for 74.3% of smartphone sales in the latest period, recording a slight 1.4% increase from this same period last year.Apple’s iOS on the other hand, held a 22.7% share, with iPhone 7 remaining the top-selling device in Great Britain, France, and Germany.
The dominance is also rampant in the Asian market, including where Android clearly dominates. Perhaps, a clear demonstration of this dominance is the latest Blackberry and Nokia launch which saw both companies going for the Android operating system instead of their own OS. As it stands, there is no likelihood that this dominance would end in the near future but the good thing is that we are getting the best out of Android and iOS at the moment. Things just keep on getting better ad better with each new update and we hope for more.
Yesterday, it was reported that the upcoming Google Pixel 2 and Pixel XL 2 are codenamed as Walleye and Muskie, respectively. A new report has revealed that the Google is working on another smartphone codenamed as “Taimen.” By citing multiple sources, Droid-Life has reported that Google will release a third smartphone this year, but it won’t be launch as Google Pixel series phone.
Taimen is world’s largest salmonid. It indicates that the mysterious Google smartphone would be arriving with a large display. Its screen is expected to be bigger than the screen of Google Pixel XL 2. It reminds us of the Motorola Nexus 6 from 2014 that was codenamed as Shamu. Itt came with a 6-inch screen.
Some may speculate that it may be a tablet, but sources have revealed that Taimen is a phone. It is said to be “separate” from Walleye and Muskie smartphones. Hence, it is likely that the Taimen does not belong to the Google Pixel family.
In October 2016, Android chief Hiroshi Lockheimer stated in an interview after the launch of Google Pixel and Pixel XL phones that, “I don’t want to close a door completely, but there is no plan right now to do more Nexus devices.” The first Google Nexus phone, the Nexus One was manufactured by HTC was released in 2010. The last Nexus phones, the LG Nexus 5X and Huawei Nexus 6P were launched in 2015 and in the next year Google debuted its first smartphones, Pixel and Pixel XL.
Since the rumored Taimen smartphone may not launch as a Google Pixel device, there is a possibility that it may mark the resurrection of Nexus brand. In this year, popular phones such as Galaxy S8 and LG G6 have large-sized screens with slim bezels. The mysterious non-Google Pixel may also feature a display with higher screen-to-body ratio along with thin bezels. Also, there is a possibility that it could run on Google’s new Andromeda OS
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