A new Huawei phone has been spotted on TENAA. The device whose model number is NCE-TL10 is listed as having an OLED display.
Design wise, the Huawei phone looks like the Redmi Note 3 but without the speaker grille at the back. There is a single camera, a fingerprint scanner, and Huawei and China Mobile’s logo at the back. The front sports big bezels and appears to be using on-screen buttons since there is Huawei’s branding where capacitive buttons should be.
The spec sheet says the phone has a 5-inch 720p display, 3GB of RAM, 16GB of storage and a MicroSD card slot that accepts up to 128GB cards.
The rear camera on this new device is a 13MP sensor with LED flash, and up front there is a 5MP shooter. And just like the Redmi Note 3, it also comes with a 4000mAh battery. The processor is unspecified but is an octa-core chip clocked at 1.5GHz. The phone has dual SIM slots and has Android 6.0 Marshmallow pre-installed.
The Chinese smartphone market continues to get more saturated and competitive as jostle for smartphone components is said to have created a supply gap. A good number of the OEMs get their supplies from the same components suppliers both in China and Taiwan and in this sort of situation, orders sometimes get out of hand with the suppliers slow to deliver. This is said to have prompted some players in the industry such as Huawei, Xiaomi, Vivo, and LeEco to adopt a more conservative approach towards placing orders with upstream component suppliers., according to sources from Taiwan’s handset supply chain.
This much was disclosed by sources from Taiwan’s handset supply chain, who also hinted that there is a backlog of orders which are yet to be delivered, dating back to as far as the fourth quarter of 2016. This is said to have prompted some smartphone manufacturers to delay the launch of new models from Q1 2017 to Q2, 2017.
A saturated smartphone market often lead to a reduction in the unit price of models in order to keep it competitive among brands of similar specs. This sort of strategy may be unconnected to the low-profit margin declared by Huawei in 2016 despite shipping a record 139 million smartphone units last year. The company is now set to consolidate its handset team in order to reduce operating costs, according to inside source. Xiaomi and LeEco were forced to announce price increases for some of their models recently in order to shore up their earnings. But unfortunately, the hike in price resulted in a reduction in sales, thus they are said to have also adopted conservative measures in placing orders for components.
If the top-end smartphone vendors could the least be affected by this, then the second-tier verndors wold be the worse hit. Rising components prices and reduction in demands are some of the challenges they’ll have to tackle this year. There are speculations already that the Chinese smartphone shipments would fall below 100 million units in Q1 2017, a huge drop from the 130 million recorded in Q4 2017.
Huawei‘s autonomous Honor brand announced the Honor V9 in China at the tail end of February with a special flagship look. The device recently went up on sales clutching a price tag starting at 2599 Yuan ($377) for the base version. There are now indications the Honor V9 would debut in Europe under a different moniker.
According to a Twitter tipster, the Honor V9 would likely be launched in Europe as the Honor 8 Pro on April 5. Already, Huawei has sent out invites for a launch event billed for April 5 but the company didn’t explicitly state the device that would launch on that day. The tipster tips, though, that the V9 would come in gold, blue and black variants, likely omitting the sleek red variant seen in China.
Honor V9 (also to be known as Honor 8 Pro?) going international on April 5th 2017 – in gold, blue and black. This just went out to journos. pic.twitter.com/ys9wgqx9E6
Should this turn out to be true, it sure wouldn’t take a thing out of the Honor V9 which is a true flagship with lots of stunning features. Like the words of English poet, William Shakespeare, “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet”.
As a reminder, the Honor V9 or Honor 8 Pro packs a powerful Kirin 960 chip inside a 5.7-inch QHD LCD screen. The processor is backed by 4GB RAM on some models and 6GB of RAM on the top models. There is the option of a 64GB or 128GB storage version to choose from. The V9 also sports a 12 MP + 12 MP f/2.2 dual cameras on the back (one sensor is monochrome ) with laser autofocus, LED flash, and 4K video capture. This isn’t a Leica branded shooter, but it is still a decent setup.
Xiaomi’s Redmi Note lineup has been very popular both in China and internationally. The Redmi Note 4x is the upgrade to the Redmi Note 4 and it sports great specs, fantastic build quality and it costs less than $170. Learn more in the full Gizmochina’s review.
Inside the box, you can find a charger, some paperwork, SIM ejector pin and USB cable.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 Review: DESIGN and DISPLAY
The front of the phone looks just like previous Note-series devices. We have a sharp and bright 5.5” 1080p LCD display. In fact, it looks even better than a great display found on the Redmi Note 4.
We also have nicely backlit capacitive buttons and a highly customizable notification LED light.
The Note 4x is made of metal and it definitely feels premium but I was disappointed that the top and bottom parts of the backplate are made of plastic not like on the all-metal Note 4.
We have a 13MP shooter on the back, which is coupled with the dual-LED flash. Xiaomi phones are known for great fingerprint scanners and the Redmi Note 4x is no exception. You can unlock your phone very quickly straight from the standby mode.
The buttons feel nice and tactile, and we have some extra features like the IR blaster to control devices like TVs.
Xiaomi decided to stick with the micro USB port on this phone, which is not a deal-breaker but I would prefer the USB-C.
As for loudspeaker, I would say it is pretty good as on most of the Xiaomi phones. However, there is a little bit of distortion going on at the highest volume settings. The sound quality via the headset jack is pretty good too.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4x Review: HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE
I have a standard edition of Xiaomi Redmi Note 4x that sports an octa-core Snapdragon 625 chip with the max. clock speeds of 2.0GHz, 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage, which is also expandable via the microSD card slot. If you are willing to pay extra, you can get a 64GB model with 4GB of RAM.
The gaming performance is great and the Snapdragon 625 chip does not heat up so quickly. Games like Asphalt 8 run fine on the highest graphics with just a few skipped frames but that didn’t bother me at all.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4x Review: BENCHMARKS
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4x Review: USER INTERFACE
When it comes to the user interface, the Redmi Note 4x ships with the MIUI 8, which uses Android 6.0 as a foundation. My review unit ships with the global ROM that has Google Play services pre-installed and Chinese bloatware removed.
I love how fast the phone is on the daily basis even after installing quite a few apps. So far, the phone has been working fine and I didn’t have any lag.
As usual, there are plenty of customization options Xiaomi phones have been famous for. Just to name a few, you can adjust display settings, choose from a variety of themes, customize the capacitive buttons or change the colors of the LED notification light. If you want to customize the phone even further, there are a lot more other features to play with.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4x Review: CAMERA
We have a familiar camera app that allows you to take pictures very fast. You can also play with some basic shooting modes and settings. E.g. you can adjust some image properties using the manual mode.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4x Review: IMAGE QUALITY
For a $170 phone, the pictures taken with the Redmi Note 4X look quite nice and there is a good amount of detail in most of the daylight shots. However, there were a few pictures with softer focus and inaccurate-looking colors.
When it comes to the low-light photography, the Redmi Note 4x is a pretty good performer. Sure, you can’t expect wonders from a $170 phone but the images are one of the best in class. In fact, I see the improvement over the Redmi Note 4, meaning that the Xiaomi finally improved its noise reduction algorithms.
The video quality is pretty good but it could definitely have more detail and look sharper.
As for selfie camera, a 5MP shooter can produce quite good selfies that will be more than enough for social media Unfortunately, the stock camera app allows you to shoot only in 720p with the front facing camera. On the other hand, the quality of the footage is pretty good and the sound recording quality is decent for a cheap phone.
The phone comes with a hybrid dual-SIM card tray, which can take either 2 SIMs or 1 SIM and the microSD card.
As for connectivity, everything has been working fine. I didn’t have any issues with Wifi that works fine on both 2.4 and 5GHz bands. Also, the GPS has been very accurate and finally, the call quality along with the signal reception have been great.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4x Review: BATTERY LIFE
A huge 4100mAh battery has been phenomenal. I could use the phone for 2 days easily even with some heavy usage. That translates to over 7 hours of screen-on time. You can achieve even better results if you are going to use the phone just for the basic stuff.
Although the Snapdragon 625 supports Quick Charge 3.0 technology for fast charging, Xiaomi does not include the fast charger in the box and it takes about 2.5h to fully charge the phone.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4x Review: CONCLUSIONS
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4x is yet another budget offering by the Chinese giant and I have to say that it is a great phone for the price of $170.
The device sports a very good built quality and it uses metal in the construction. Also, we have one of the best-in-class displays, feature-rich user interface and the phone can handle 3D games quite well. In addition, the battery life is fantastic. Finally, the camera can take some pretty good pictures.
A few minor shortcomings would be that the phone still uses the micro USB charging port, not the USB-C port. Also, the phone does not ship with the fast charger and finally, the top and bottom parts of the backplate are made of plastic, which is kind of a downgrade from the Redmi Note 4.
The question is: should you upgrade if you already have the Redmi Note 4. I would say no, since this phone is just an incremental upgrade. However, if you are in the market for a solid budget-friendly phone, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4x should be definitely on your list as it is an easy buying recommendation for the price of under $170.
Meizu rounded up 2016 in style with the unexpected release of the Meizu Pro 6 Plus powered by an octa-core Samsung Exynos 8890 chip. The Pro 6 Plus launch was the icing on the cake for Meizu who had been on the receiving end of series of backlash from fans for the consistent use of MediaTek SoCs on almost all the smartphones released last year. Meizu recorded a huge profit margin last year but that perhaps didn’t assuage the fans.
If the Meizu Pro 6 Plus did put a smile on the faces of fans, the availability of the smartphone was another stumbling block. However, the Pro 6 Plus seems to have become available in large stock on Jingdong (JD.com) and even with some price reduction. A number of third-party retailers have put up the Pro 6 Plus for sale. The Pro 6 Plus was launched with two storage versions, one with 64GB of storage and another with 128GB of storage but the 128GB variant is still out of stock.
The Meizu Pro 6 Plus 4GB + 64GB version is listed with a price tag of 2999 Yuan ( around $434). and in some stores, there are price reductions taking the price down to 2799 Yuan ($405). The Pro 6 Plus came in Champagne Gold, Deep gray and Moonlight silver color variants but seems only the Champagne Gold variant is available.
AnTuTu has released a rundown of the top 10 smartphones which provided the most value for money as at February 28, 2017. The ranking is based on the prices of the smartphones between February 1 and February 28, but this is restricted to Chinese brands.
When compared to the data obtained in the past two months, the recent data is said to have witnessed a decline in the overall cost-effective ratio. This means consumers got less value for their money from the smartphones which topped the chart in February than they did in the previous two months.
The price ratio is based on the average AnTuTu score of the smartphone divided by its current price. The current price used is the smartphone’s price listed on Jingdong. Also, smartphones usually come in 16GB, 32GB, 64GB and 128GB versions. Since the price of a model depends on its specific storage version, the storage version which made it up into the list is specifically stated.
Top on the list is the Lenovo ZUK Z2 (3GB + 32GB version) which is equipped with Snapdragon 820 processor and is currently priced at 1199 Yuan. This price tag makes it the cheapest flagship and arguably offers the best value for your money. The ZUK Z2 is closely followed by the LeEco Le Max 2 (4GB + 32GB) which seems to have gotten a price reduction in February. The third position is occupied by the LeEco Le 2 (3GB + 32GB) which is priced at 999 Yuan. Another LeEco smartphone also comes in at the fourth position, this time the LeEco Le Pro 3 (4GB + 32GB) which clutches a 1899 Yuan price tag. The Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (3GB + 64GB) with a price tag of 1199 Yuan also made it into the list at the tenth spot.
The Lenovo ZUK Z2 Pro (4GB + 64GB) enters at the eighth spot as a new entrant. The ZUK Z2 Pro is powered by a Snapdragon 820 chip and a 1899 Yuan price tag. The rest of the top 10 is made up of the Cool 1 Dual, Xiaomi Mi 5S, Mi 5 and the Meizu Metal.
It’s turning out the next Meizu product online should be the elusive Meizu Pro 7 which we have been expecting since last year. The Pro 7 would be followed by the Meizu S which is expected to hit store shelves in June. Ahead of that schedule, a Meizu smartphone suspected to be the Meizu S has appeared on Weibo.
The device simply identified as M714Y appears to have gotten radio transmission approval with the various bands it features listed. Apart from the avalanche of radio frequencies listed on the approval sheet, no other useful detail of the phone in question is given. But it is unlikely this would be a Qualcomm chip-powered Meizu device because Meizu isn’t expected to use a Qualcomm chip just yet, despite its settlement with Qualcomm.
However, if we want to dissect the model number M714Y, the letter “Y” at the end is an indication the device would run on YunOS so it is not likely a flagship, definitely not the Pro 7. The most likely smartphone is the little known Meizu S which appeared on the leaked product schedule as launching in June this year. The schedule indicates the Meizu S would pack a MediaTek Helio P25 chip which is an upgraded Helio P20 version, meaning it is a mid-range smartphone. We’ll wait and see how this pans out in the long run.
A few weeks ago, Xiaomi began rolling out a new MIUI update for its devices. The new update with version number 8.2 brings a bunch of new features and redesigns. But while other devices were getting the update, the Xiaomi Mi 5 was left out. It appears it was for good reason after-all. The Xiaomi Mi 5 has begun getting the update alongside a jump to Android 7.0 Nougat!!!
What this means for Mi 5 owners is that they are currently the only Xiaomi owners running Nougat. Apart from all the exciting new features that Nougat brings, MIUI 8.2 still comes with its own features.
There is a new security center; support for task automation IFTTT; and a new desktop assistant. Xiaomi has also included new system sounds when you take a screenshot, lock and unlock the screen, and when the device is charging; and a number of new ringtones too. There is also a redesigned notification bar.
The update is 1.3GB in size and can be manually downloaded here if you are running the China version of the ROM. Do make sure you read the guide to flashing it manually. There is no news as to when the Global version will be available but we hope it is not far off.
Xiaomi Mi 6 is expected to be the first Chinese flagship smartphone to come with Snapdragon 835 chipset. Reports hint that it will be announced in April. Three new sketches of the alleged Xiaomi Mi 6 have surfaced on Weibo to reveal its design.
The sketches suggest that the Xiaomi Mi 6 has thick bezels at the top and bottom and has slimmer ones on the left and right sides of the screen. A Home button can be seen below the display that probably houses a fingerprint sensor. The bottom side of the phone has a USB Type-C port and external speaker grills.
The rear side of the smartphone has Mi logo in the bottom half. It seems to have antenna lines running at the top and bottom. The top left corner has a dual camera module that features twin camera sensors along with LED flash. The sketch of the rear panel matches previous render of the Xiaomi Mi 6 (shown below the third sketch). .
Rumors suggest that three variants of Xiaomi Mi 6 are in works. Two variants are powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chipset. However, the first variant has quad HD resolution supporting dual-edge curved OLED display, 6 GB of RAM, 256 GB native storage, and dual rear camera.
The second variant has quad HD flat OLED display, 4 GB of RAM, 128 GB internal storage and dual rear camera. The third variant is rumored to be powered by MediaTek Helio X30 SoC and has 4 GB of RAM, 64 GB storage and dual rear camera.
Since the Galaxy S8 and S8+ are pegged to get all the initial stock of Snapdragon 835 chipset, the Xiaomi Mi 6 is rumored to get announced only after the release of Samsung’s upcoming flagship. Speculations have it that the Xiaomi Mi 6 get officially unveiled on April 16. Analysts have revealed that the Mi 6 would be arriving with a costlier price tag than its predecessor.
Vivo last week announced that it would add a Matte black color variant to the X9 which was launched last year, coming in just gold and rose gold variants. Vivo has now officially listed the Vivo X9 Matte Black version up for sale and sales is already on, with the new version still clutching the same 2798 Yuan (around $406) price tag the earlier color variants launched with. As if that isn’t enough, Vivo is also offering a Bluetooth headset along with each purchase.
On the looks, the Matte Black color variant of the X9 comes with a refreshed, premium and sleek look. The display seems to have been changed from the Super AMOLED screen on the gold and rose gold versions to a JDI display on this new color version. The thickness of the device has also seen an increase of 0.27mm but that doesn’t affect the feel of the phone as it still has a compact build.
On the specs angle, the Vivo X9 Matte Black still features a 5.5-inch Full HD display and is powered by a 2.0GHz Snapdragon 625 chip with a 4GB RAM providing some support. The X9 also comes with 64GB of internal storage and packs a built-in 3050mAh battery under its hood.
Other features include a dual selfie camera setup composed of a 20MP main sensor and an 8MP depth of field sensor. There is also a 16MP rear camera with LED flash and an AK4376 HiFi audio system. The X9 runs Vivo’s Funtouch OS 3.0 based on Android 6.0 Marshmallow.
The Huawei P10 and P10 Plus are now set to make their grand entry into the Chinese mobile phone market on March 24. Huawei officially announced that sales activities would commence today on some e-commerce platforms including Huawei Mall, Jingdong, Amazon, Tesco, VMall and several other major Chinese stores. Already, the flagships are now up for pre-orders on these platforms.
The Huawei P10 and P10 Plus were spotted on VMall and according to the information on the products pages, interested customers would need to make a deposit of 999 Yuan along with their reservations. The reservations would be open until March 24 when the P10 and P10 Plus would officially go on sale.
From the products page also, it could be gathered that the Huawei P10 is available in two storage versions with one having 4GB + 64GB and another with 4GB + 128GB. It would be available in Dazzling Blue, Graphite Black, Rose Gold, Greenery, White Ceramic, Mystic Silver, or Prestige Gold. The ceramics White and green color is exclusively for the higher 4GB + 128GB model. On the other hand, the P10 Plus comes in 6GB + 128GB version as well as 6GB + 64GB storage and 6GB + 256GB emperor version. This configurations take things a lot further than the storage versions of the P10 Plus reeled out at MWC 2017. However, other specifications of the P10 and P10 Plus align with the ones we saw in Barcelona. You can read more about their specifications here.
The final price of both the Huawei P10 and P10 Plus in China is not yet announced but may likely hover around the 699 Euros (~$738) and 799 Euros (~$844) which the P10 and P10 Plus launched with in Europe.
Most Moto Mods that we have had so far are the ones that have brought new features to Moto Z. A new Moto Mod called Edge Mod brings a new kind of notification light to the phone that lights up the entire edge of the phone and thereby accentuating the appeal of Moto Z.
The Edge Mod accessory that is equipped with multiple LED lights in a wide range of colors is built by a third-party firm, the Imagine Tech. The company has created a prototype of the Edge Mod
According to the company, it is “the world’s first RGB lighting system for Moto Z phones.” When notifications arrive, the Edge Mod can light up the sides of the Moto Z in various patterns such as flow, follow, wave and fill.
The notification lights can be completely customized with different colors for calls, messages, emails, alarms, calendar events and more. The Edge Mod will be made available in two variations.
The Edge Mod will be made available in two variations.
The first one is called Edge Force (measures 152.5 x 73.2 x 5.0 mm) that with a battery of 2,000 mAh capacity. It can be used to recharge the Moto Z. It can either charge the phone when it is snapped on to it or users can set a certain percentage and it will begin or stop charging from that mark. It can alert the user when the phone needs to be charged.
The Edge Air is another variant that brings wireless charging to Moto Z. After snapping it on, the phone can be placed on a wireless charging bed. This Mod is thinner than the Edge Force as its dimensions are 152.5 x 73.2 x 3.5 mm.
There is an Edge Mod app available for Android users. Through the app, users can choose a notification, pick a color and set the desired glowing pattern. Once done, the Edge Mod will start glowing with respective colors for different kinds of alerts.
The Edge Mod has a soft finish on its durable polycarbonate build that assists in gripping the phone and it is compatible with Moto Z, Moto Z Play, Moto Z Force and their Droid versions. It will be arriving in three colors, Midnight Black, Might Silver, and Crimson Red.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CwZZ3tRBic
Imagine Tech has stated that “the final product will have a custom electronics, with LEDs going all around the edges of the module and space for a larger battery / QI receiver, unlike the prototype.’ It is now available for crowdfunding on IndieGoGo is expected to be available public by July this year, a month after the probable release of Moto Z (2017) in June.
The goal of the crowdfunding campaign is $15,000. As of today, the total amount of funds raise for Edge Mod is $30,577. The Edge Force and Edge Air Moto Mods are priced at $59 excluding shipping charges.
A leaked photo of Moto Z (2017) that surfaced recently revealed that the upcoming flagship would be arriving with few changes in its design such as redesigned fingerprint scanner and a dual-tone selfie flash. Now, an alleged image of a mysterious Moto Z model placed on a gamepad Moto Mod that has surfaced from Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2017 event is doing rounds.
The Moto Z shown in the image seems to match with the recently leaked image of the flagship. The new image also features a rectangular shaped fingerprint scanner with rounded corners. It also seems to feature a dual-tone selfie flash. Like the previous image, this one also has a “moto” logo placed above the fingerprint scanner.
During MWC 2017, Sprint had demonstrated its Gigabit-Class LTE service in collaboration with Motorola (owned by Lenovo). The press release from the carrier stated it had used a Motorola smartphone that was powered by Snapdragon 835 chipset and an integrated Snapdragon X16 LTE modem.
These are images of the Snapdragon 835 chipset powered mysterious Motorola phone. As it can be seen, the top and bottom bezels were covered probably to cover its identity.
The carrier even stated that the Motorola device that was used to display its Gigabit LTE technology is a “forthcoming flagship.” This hints that the disguised smartphone may be the Moto Z (2017). It also indicates that in this year the Moto Z (2017) would be available through multiple carriers like Sprint and Verizon in the U.S.
In January, the alleged Moto Z (2017) was spotted with the Snapdragon 835 SoC and 4 GB of RAM. It was found running on Android 7.1.1 Nougat OS. It is also expected to arrive with an enhanced rear camera that will be equipped with lesser but larger pixels to shoot better photos in low light conditions. It is also rumored to arrive with an iris scanner.
Also, the Moto Mods accessories that are available for the first generation Moto Z would be also expected to be compatible with the upcoming Moto Z flagship. The Moto Z (2017) is speculated to launch in June this year.
Huawei has just unveiled the new dual-camera flagship smartphone – P10. It is a premium device that has a promising camera setup, great specifications and a lot more that is packed into the all-metal body. Learn more in the full review.
The Huawei P10 ships in quite a premium box. Inside of it, you can find some paperwork, a hard plastic case, a pair of earphones, USB c cable and lastly, the fast charger.
DESIGN and DISPLAY
Once you first take the P10 out of the box, you will notice how compact it is due to the 5.1” LCD 1080p display, which is sharp, bright and it has vivid colors.
Also, the display has the latest Gorilla Glass 5 for scratch resistance. Finally, the sunlight legibility may not be the best but it is pretty good.
I love how nicely the phone sits in the hand due to rounded edges on the back and all-aluminum housing that is smooth to the touch and it does not attract fingerprints or smudges like the glass-made phones.
The brand new home button has a built-in fingerprint sensor that is very fast, accurate and it unlocks the phone straight from the standby mode. The home key has a lot of other features but more on that later on.
When it comes to the camera, the Huawei upgraded its Leica-branded dual camera system by using the latest 20MP monochrome sensor, which is mainly used to capture sharper detail. Also, there is another 12MP shooter, which is essentially used to capture colors. The camera system has the OIS, dual tone dual LED flash and finally, the cameras use f/2.2 aperture Leica lens.
As far as selfie camera, Huawei also cooperated with Leica and as a result, we have an improved 8MP selfie shooter with a bright f/1.9 aperture lens.We also havea notification LED light on the top.
The sound quality via the headset jack is great. No distortions, rich and balanced sound and great volume output. Also, I love the sound quality of the loudspeaker. The sound is balanced, rich and the volume output is very good.
SPECIFICATIONS
The Huawei P10 got a little performance upgrade and it runs on the same processor as the Huawei Mate 9. The Kirin 960 chipset is a small upgrade over the Kirin 955 found in the Huawei P9.
As we expected, it only comes with one storage option and that is 64GB, at least you don’t need to think about different models and if you need extra storage, you can further expand it via the microSD card slot up to 256GB.
The Kirin 960 uses an octa-core CPU (2.36GHz) and is supported by 4GB of RAM. If you want even more power, you should check out the Huawei P10 Plus that has 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage.
USER INTERFACE and PERFORMANCE
As most of the phones right now, it runs Android 7. But no stock Android, Huawei has included its Emotion UI 5.1 overlay on top of Android 7.
This disappoints a bit because some of the key Nougat features are missing like Google Assistant and Daydream compatibility, at least at the launch there is no sign when it will come to this phone but we may see it with the future software updates.
The software has improved a bit over the software on the P9. Also, there are some cool new features like themes of Emotion UI can now be tailored to the color of your phone. The P10 also comes with a new approach to navigating through the UI. The home button on the front is not only a fingerprint scanner, it’s also a multi-navigation button that allows you to access your multitasking menu if you swipe to the right, go back with one tap and go home by tapping and holding it.
It feels different than on P9 because the P9 had the fingerprint scanner on the back but it was quite easy to get used to using this feature. Huawei also included Quik Integration. This GoPro owned app allows you to pick photos and videos, and the app automatically edits them into a video. It’s a pretty cool feature, it works straight out of the gallery and it helps you make a social media-ready video from your latest events or parties.
The Huawei have also included predictive fingerprint tracking which will suggest the phone where your fingers will probably go next. That means if a lot of people exit an app after using it, the phone will predict that and it is able to make it work quicker. The overall user experience in the UI is good, the phone is fast, fluid and there are no hiccups.
The gaming performance is the same like on the Huawei Mate 9 and it also supports the new Vulkan API which renders game faster and with more details. All in all, games run fine and you can play the latest titles like World of Tanks with maximum graphic details. Also, the phone does not have any overheating issues.
CAMERA
The camera app has been improved and it comes with a lot of great features. As on previous Huawei phones, we have a monochrome mode, which takes pretty decent looking 20MP black and white pictures. There is also an HDR Mode, Light painting, Time-lapse mode, Slow-motion up to 120fps in 720p. There are some other modes for you to download.
IMAGE QUALITY
When it comes to the daylight image quality, the Leica-branded dual cameras can take some nice-looking photos with a good amount of detail, great dynamic range adjustment and very accurate color reproduction. In fact, some of the pictures we took are one of the best you can get on any phone.
The night image quality on the P10 is almost the same as on the Huawei Mate 9, I just noticed that some shots are a bit higher exposed on the Mate 9 or have a higher ISO. The noise looks a bit better on the P10 which could be due to a software improvement in noise reduction.
The 4k video quality looks pretty good. The footage looks pretty sharp but there could be more detail if we compare the quality of video to some of the top tier flagship devices. My biggest concern is, however, that the phone uses H.265 video format, which is not supported by Youtube, so you would need to convert the video first.
The selfies look great. There is lots of detail, the colours look nice and the pictures will definitely do the trick for social media needs. The selfie video looks pretty sharp and detailed too, definitely more than enough for video chats and other stuff.
As far as connectivity, we didn’t have any issues at all. The signal reception and the call quality have been great, the Wifi speed and range are excellent and finally, the GPS is accurate whether you need to use it for driving or walking down the street.
BATTERY LIFE
The Huawei P10 has a 3200mAh battery that can be fully charged in about 1 h and 10 mins with the supplied fast charger.
I used the phone mostly for taking lots of pictures, checking social media, web browsing and I was able to get about 5 hours of screen-on time using a 50% brightness setting, which is a pretty good result.
CONCLUSIONS
After using the Huawei P10 since the official launch, I have to tell you that I like this phone for a lot of reasons but it doesn’t mean it is a perfect phone.
First of all, I love the design and build quality of the phone even though some may say that the looks were inspired by some other phones. Also, I love the form factor that allows me to manage the phone in one hand and scroll through the nice and sharp display.
Other things that we really love include a dual-camera setup that can take some of the best-in-class daylight images, excellent gaming and user interface performance and great battery life.
Since I always prefer stock Android, I’m not a huge fan of the cartoonish look of the Emotion UI but I appreciate all the extra features, especially the fingerprint reader gestures. Another shortcoming is that the phone uses H.265 video format, which is not supported by Youtube, so you would need to convert the video first.
All in all, the Huawei P10 is a very solid phone and it can be called a legit flagship despite a few shortcomings but given the suggested retail price of 649 EUR, this phone is really worth your attention and it is definitely one of the best for the price.
The first phones with 10nm chips such as the Snapdragon 835, Helio X30, Kirin 970, Apple A11 and Exynos 8895 are yet to arrive. TSMC is the foundry handling the production of three of these chipsets. Latest report coming in says while the production of the 10nm chips are going on, Mediatek and TSMC plan to begin trial production of a new 7nm chip with 12 cores!!!
The 10nm Helio X30 is a deca-core chip but Mediatek is going all out and making it twelve on the 7nm chipset. There is still no specific info on how the cores will be paired but the chip will be the first to feature 12 cores.
You might be wondering why Mediatek keeps increasing the number of cores on their flagship chips while other flagship processors like the Snapdragon 821 remain quad-core chips. The reason is said to be a way to maintain balance between power efficiency and performance.
The trial production is expected to begin in the second half of the year and begin mass production in 2018. Samsung has also scheduled its own 7nm mass production to begin the same time. There is also a mention of a 5nm trial production scheduled for 2019 by the Taiwanese foundry.
The Meizu Pro 6 was released in May of last year. It was the first phone to feature the top and bottom antennae design that Apple replicated on the iPhone 7. Six months later, it was followed by the Pro 6 Plus, and the month after that saw the release of the Pro 6s. A leaked schedule already told us to expect the Meizu Pro 7 in June and we have also seen a couple of leaked images and specs.
The team at DBS Designing have come up with their own renders of what the Meizu Pro 7 should look like. First, lets run through the specs.
The device sports a 5.5-inch Quad HD AMOLED display, 6GB of RAM, and either 64GB or 128GB of storage. The processor is definitely the Mediatek X30 and there is a 5000mAh battery inside too with support for Super mCharge. The main camera is a 16MP shooter and the front camera is 8MP.
For the design, they have settled for something similar to the upcoming Galaxy S8. The display is curved on both sides and the top and bottom bezels have been shrunk considerably. DBS have managed to squeeze a fingerprint scanner on the lower bezel. How comfortable that will be when it comes to real life usage remains to be seen.
The rear is not so much different from that of the Pro 6 though. The lens style is different and the LED flash is now shaped like a pill. There is a USB Type-C port on the bottom and speaker grilles flanking it on both sides.
South Korean tabloid Korea Economic Daily has carried a report that the Samsung Galaxy S8 would come with an additional bio-metric feature which would work alongside the iris scanners which the Galaxy series were known to feature. According to the report, the new feature would be a facial recognition feature which is said to unlock he phone in less than 0.01 seconds.
This latest news is coming amidst talks of Apple’s own iPhone 8 packing a similar face scanner. The feature is said to be undergoing testing with the tech giant alleged to have commenced testing of the prototypes. If it turns out to be true, it brings the number of Samsung’s biometric features expected on the Galaxy S8 to three. There is the traditional rear-mounted fingerprint sensor, as well as the iris scanner and then the latest, which is the facial recognition. The report cited a Samsung official as stating that the additional biometric feature was prompted due to the limitations of the iris scanner which is slow.
The Galaxy S8 is expected to be unveiled later this month while the sales would commence in April. A report had earlier emanated from Korea that Samsung is planning to make up to 60 million units of the device available when sales commences. We expect it to come in very pricey but then, you don’t need to sell a kidney to get one, clones of the Galaxy S8 are already coming out from China. They sure would have very affordable price tags an similar looks with the original but e can’t vouch for their features, though.
LeMaker has a new development board called the HiKey 960. The development board is actually a product borne from a partnership between Huawei and Cheng Mai Technology. However, like the previous Hikey development board, there is a LeMaker version.
The Hikey 960 is based on Huawei’s latest chip, the Kirin 960. It measures 85 x 55 mm, has an octa-core processor, a Mali G71 MP8 image processor and 3GB of RAM. There is 32GB of storage with the option to expand it via a microSD slot.
The Hikey 960 has two USB 3.0 ports, a HDMI port, a USB Type-C OTG port and a 8-18V/2A DC jack. There is support for WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n and it also boasts Bluetooth 4.1. The Hikey 960 is the successor to the Hikey 620 which was released last year and is based on the Kirin 620.
Asides the HDMI port for video output, there is a 4-lane MIPI DSI connector. For expansion, there is a PCIe Gen2 on M.2 Key connector, a 40 pin low speed expansion connector, and a 60 pin high speed expansion connector.
The Apple iPhone 8 is still a long time away from going official but the device has continued to resonate on the tech circle every now and then. The flagship will be Apple’s 10th anniversary offering and is expected to pack several innovations, both on the specs angle and on the design aspect.
Based on the rumors we get, mobile phone concept designers usually put up something which would be tailored along the line of the rumors gotten so far. In the smartphone industry, there are elements of facts in almost all rumors so it usually isn’t surprising if the concept look similar to the final design of the product. Thus, based on the rumor gotten so far about the iPhone 8, BGR joint designer Alhasan Husni has designed a concept of the iPhone 8 which could help us understand better the features the Apple flagship is expected to come with.
From the picture, the design is consistent with Apple’s design language except that this one features a curved display which is actually likely to be a 3D curved glass on top of the flat LCD display. The design conceptualizes the entire screen display the iPhone 8 is said to come with, devoid of a physical home button. The controls are entirely onscreen, well, except for the volume and power buttons.
News emanating from Taiwan, Foxconn’s base, indicate that the iPhone 8 may finally be called iPhone Edition and the changes in the design might not be too much as speculated. The device may also likely be launched later than September as it may not enter production until September. September or not, it is still a long way away so we’ll just chill.
ZTE might be dealing with a lot right now like the recent fine by the US Government and the failure of its Project CSX phone, Hawkeye. In spite of that, they have managed to release some impressive devices that cater to the mid-range category. According to a sighting on GFXBench, it appears the communications giant has another device on the way.
The new phone, listed as ZTE Z986 was spotted on the graphics benchmarking site and features some interesting specifications. The new phone is for those who want that extra screen estate as it sports a 6-inch 1080p display. There is a Snapdragon 625 processor paired with an Adreno 506 GPU, so you should be able to enjoy playing games on it too.
The ZTE Z986 has 2GB of RAM and comes with just 16GB of storage. There is just one SIM slot, so it is possible there is a dedicated microSD card slot. The phone has a 12MP camera on the rear that can record 4K videos and a 5MP shooter up front for selfies.
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