Lenovo‘s elite brand ZUK is set to push update ushering in Android 7.0 Nougat to two of its smartphones which are the ZUK Z2 and Z2 Pro. According to a Weibo post by Lenovo’s VP, both the ZUK Z2 and ZUK Z2 Pro will receive update to ZUI 2.5, which will be based on Android 7.0 Nougat.
The Lenovo ZUK Z2 was announced around May last year and it came running ZUI 2.0 based on Android 6.0 Marshmallow. The ZUK Z2 Pro was announced earlier on in March 2016 but packs similar UI and operating system. The ZUI 2.5 is perhaps a new upgrade of the ZUI 2.0 which was available earlier on.
The update is billed to bring in lots of cool features like an optimized system stability, security patch, optimization of split screen experience, and so on.
When the Nokia 6 launched, it was said that the phone will remain a China exclusive. It seems that will be changing as two new variants have been certified by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG).
The devices have model numbers TA-1000 and TA-1003 and are described as the Nokia 6. Rumor has it that the Nokia 6 might be heading to India as well and may be priced at Rs.9,999 (~$150) but new info says it will still be priced at about $250.
The new models might probably be global variants of the phone with the same or slightly different specs. We can’t confirm now until more details are released.
It is a known fact that Xiaomi is facing financial deficit due to the poor performance it posted last year. It is also not a secret that the tech giant is planning a foray into the highly lucrative US market. Because of the financial implications of such venture, rumors were rife that the Chinese company is planning a fundraiser to help finance its entry into the US market.
This rumor has however, been debunked by Xiaomi’s Chief Financial Officer Shou Zi Chew in an interview with the Wall Street Journal at CES in Las Vegas. According to the company executive, Xiaomi doesn’t need to raise funds in order to respond to the loss of market shares to competitors. He hinted that the company is still very robust financially with a very healthy cash balance. He, however, refused to disclose specifics on how robust the cash balance is.
Xiaomi had been one of the high fliers since it opened its doors, even topping the Chinese smartphone market in 2014. However, several factors such as unavailability of its smartphones and using a single sales channel led to the company losing some of its market shares to competitors like OPPO, Vivo, and Huawei. The company is repositioning by adopting multiple sales channels and also targeting markets outside of China in a bid to recover lost grounds. It is yet to be seen if the company can recover but there is no doubt they are capable of doing that, with the avalanche of innovative products in their arsenal such as the Mi Mix and Mi TV 4 unveiled at CES 2017.
Foldable phones have been in the making for years but it seems Samsung finally has one ready to hit the market this year. Reports have it that the company has switched from its initial design of a fold-in bendable screen to one that folds outwards so that owners will not need to unfold the phone just to check notifications.
A Korean media outlet says that a device with such a display should be ready to hit markets in the third quarter of the year if it is eventually greenlighted as the company has to consider things like demand and profitability and as well sort out the political issues it is facing.
Details of the new phone leaked says the display can be unrolled into a 7-inch tablet. That means since it folds outwards, you will have a sort of two-sided display phone probably of in-equal halves judging from the images, which when unfolded becomes a larger device. So of you want to watch a video or read a book or do something that basically gets better with a larger screen estate, all you have to do is unfold the screen.
The Galaxy Note 7 was pulled off the market after a second spate of explosions started with the replacement units. Samsung, in a statement released on Tuesday says over 96% of all Galaxy Note 7 phones have been returned since the recall began last year.
Samsung had released the Galaxy Note 7 in August to critical acclaim only for things to go south when reports of some devices bursting up in flames started to circulate. Samsung decided to issue a recall after carrying out an inspection of the phones. Replacements were later sent back to those who had returned their phones. But that was not the end of Samsung’s woes as the replacement units still kept having issues.
Things got so bad when a Galaxy Note 7 exploded on a Southwest Airlines flight and the Federal Aviation Authority had to ban the phone from flights.
Samsung had to issue another recall and eventually kill the Note 7 but it wasn’t easy getting people to part with the phone as some felt since they didn’t have any issue with their phone, they should not have to return it. To solve the issue, the company had to roll out an update that disabled the phone from charging.
Apple will ditch the traditional CNC machining process for a more refined stainless steel forging process for its next generation iPhone 8 flagship that would be launched later this year. There have been rumors that the iPhone 8 will not come with an all-metal unibody like its predecessors but would adopt an all-glass body just like Samsung’s latest flagships. That doesn’t remove the fact that the frame would be made of metal, but the type of metal wasn’t revealed.
Now, latest rumors are saying that the Apple flagship will have as its frame, a stainless steel body. The rumor is said to have emanated from “sources within the upstream supply chain. If it turns out to be true, it will mark a big departure from what we have become accustomed to on successive Apple iPhones. This isn’t the first Apple iPhone to use a Stainless steel body, though, as the iPhone 4 used stainless steel on its chassis. The stainless steel chassis is said to be supplied by Foxconn and Jabil, two companies who did supply the one used by the iPhone 4.
The new stainless steel material doesn’t only bring in a new t0 the iPhone 8 design, it will somehow lower the cost of production as it is said to be 30%-50% cheaper than the aluminum unibody- CNC machining process. Whether this reduction in production cost will lead to reduction in the iPhone 8’s price is unknown. It may not affect the price anyway, because the iPhone 8 is rumored to have a curved AMOLED display on one of its models which is way more expensive than LCDs.
HMD Global launched its first Nokia android smartphone a few days ago since it took over the license to release phones under the brand name. The new phone called the Nokia 6 has received a not-so-friendly welcome due to its use of the Snapdragon 430 SoC which apart from being old is also not as powerful as other mid-range chips and therefore doesn’t justify the high price Nokia is asking for the phone.
Earlier today, the company (HMD) held a meeting in China where it hinted at a new phone launching at MWC 2017. The hint came as part of a slide used during the meeting and loosely translates to ‘See (you) at MWC 2017, February 26’.
While HMD did not explicitly mention that the phone launching will have a snapdragon 835 processor, the company had issued a statement in the past when asked about a Snapdragon 835 phone that the new high-end chip had just been released and it will need some time to prepare, and will make the announcement when the time is right. It appears that today’s meeting was the right time.
It was also mentioned at the meeting that the Nokia 6 will go on sale at 10:00 am on the 19th of January and will be sold exclusively by Jingdong. It is reported that HMD and Jingdong have signed a 5-year agreement giving the latter exclusive marketing rights in China.
Google‘s monthly Android platform distribution chart has just been updated and it shows some promising results. One of the good news is that Google’s first mobile OS, Android 2.2 Froyo launched in May 2010 is almost extinct, as it is not listed on the chart. What this means is that the maiden Google OS is presently installed in less than 0.1% of devices globally.
Apparently, some persons are still stuck in the past as Google’s earlier second and third gen operating system, Gingerbread and Ice Cream Sandwich still posted 1.0% and 1.1% in the distribution chart. The figures are declining, though, as they were both at 1.2% in December.
Amdroid 5.1 Lolipop still tops the chart with a total of 33.3% on the distribution chart, this is closely followed by Android Marshmallow with 29.6%. Android KitKat comes in at the third position with 22.6%, while Android Jelly Bean completes the top 4 with 11.6%. Google’s latest mobile OS, Android 7.0 Nougat is still at its lowest ebb, with a 0.7% distribution figure four months after it was released. That figure is expected to spike this year anyway, as more and more Android smartphones adopt or get upgrades to Android Nougat.
Yesterday, Meizu hosted the media to an interview session which had the company’s President and Vice-President as the guest. During the interview, the company talked about its 2016 market performance, revealing that it did record a total figure of 22 million units in smartphone sales last year. This is said to be an encouraging figure as it represented a 10 % growth from its 2015 sales record, despite declining growth in the smartphone market.
The Meizu officials also talked about other pertinent issues like the Qualcomm patent agreement signed recently and its 2017 product plan. Unfortunately, the company has stated that despite the settlement with Qualcomm, we may still not see a Meizu flagship this year with a Qualcomm chip onboard, as the Meizu flagships for 2017 will likely still use MediaTek MTK chips. As earlier reported when the Meizu product plan leaked, the brand will likely have a Snapdragon-powered Meizu smartphone in the fourth quarter of the year, around December to be specific. It was also revealed that Meizu’s Flyme OS has got over 50 million users presently.
Despite the no-show of a Snapdragon-powered Meizu flagship, the settlement is of immense importance because it will allow the company to enter more foreign markets without fear of patent infringement. 2 million of its 22 million units sold last year, was from markets outside China. That figure has the potential to rise further this year. Also, the company hinted at a gradual increase in prices of its smartphones this year, occasioned by an increase in prices of raw materials. Meizu is known for its moderate price tags on its smartphones and it won’t ridiculous if there is a slight adjustments in its price tags on subsequent smartphones.
HTC is holding a press event on Jan. 12. Recent leaks have claimed that the Taiwanese company will announce HTC U Ultra and U Play smartphones at the event. Speculations also indicate that HTC U Ultra will feature the marvelous camera present on Google Pixel.
At the end of 2016, rumors had revealed that the HTC U Ultra (codenamed as Ocean Note) would be sporting a rear camera with a highest DxOMark score. Newer information indicates that HTC U Ultra will be housing the same camera that is present on Google Pixel and Pixel XL. Previous speculations seem to have incorrectly stated that a dual camera setup will be available on HTC U Ultra.
DxOMark is the most trusted industry standard for measuring camera and image quality. The Google Pixel’s 12.3-megapixel camera has a highest DxOMark rating of 89.
HTC is expected to tweak the camera software on U Ultra. Hence, the image quality and camera performance will be different from what the Pixel smartphones can deliver.
The HTC U Ultra is speculated to be driven by Snapdragon 821 chipset that will be support by 4 GB of RAM. Leaked photos have revealed that it will be sporting 5.7-inch quad HD display. Like the LG V20, the U Ultra is expected to house a secondary ticker screen above the main screen along with Always-On display support.
It will be running on Android 7.0 Nougat OS. It is expected to come with a native storage of 64 GB. Previous rumors have stated that it won’t be featuring 3.5 mm audio jack. However, its USB Type-C port will support headphones connectivity. It is speculated to come with a large 4,000 mAh battery.
The HTC U Play (codenamed as HTC Alpine) is said to be a smaller edition of U Ultra. It is expected to feature a 5.2-inch full HD display. Rest of its features are expected to be similar as U Ultra.
HTC has released a new teaser for its Jan. 12 launch event. The event will be available for viewing through live stream. It will begin at 11 AM EST / 10 AM CST / 9 AM MT / 8 AM PT.
The comeback of the Nokia brand into the smartphone market is still reverberating all round the internet. The Nokia 6 itself was recently spotted on TENAA adorned in what would likely be a silver colored coating, perhaps another color variant.
On launch, Nokia announced that the device would go on its first sale in China before anywhere else. Undoubtedly, this is due to the large potential of the Chinese market with its sheer size of smartphone users, many of whom are still ardent Nokia fans. It has now emerged that HMD Global is also eying an entry into the Hong Kong market. According to the source, HMD Hong Kong has been sending out e-mails to the media that the company is organizing a team that would publicize the return of the Nokia brand to Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.
Although, it wasn’t stated whether the Nokia 6 would be launched in these markets, it isn’t feasible to publicize a smartphone company without its product, and right now the Nokia 6 is the only Nokia branded smartphone that can be used to project the brand. Meanwhile, the budget Nokia 6 would go on its first sale towards the end of January which is the period the Chiness celebrate the Spring Festival or New Year. Apparently, the device would be exclusive to Jingdong (JD.com) and is price at 1,699 yuan (around $245 USD). It is likely we’d be seeing the silver colored variant along with the black colored version when it officially goes on sale.
Xiaomi is expected to soon unleash the Redmi Note 4X that will arrive as an upgraded version of Redmi Note 4.
The Redmi Note 4 was made official in August 2016. The Redmi Note 4X is not expected to come with overhaul improvements, but with some new features that are not available on Redmi Note 4.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4X Specifications
According to a Chinese leakster, the Redmi Note 4X will be the first phone to feature Pegasus screen. The Note 4 has a rear-facing fingerprint sensor. However, the biometric security feature will come embedded under the Home button.
It will be the first smartphone to make use of Pegasus display panel. Like Redmi Note 4, the Note 4X will continue to sport a full HD display that offers a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. As far as the design is concerned, it will be sporting a metal unibody design. Here are some of the leaked photos of Redmi Note 4X:
The Snapdragon 653 chipset that features quad cores of Cortex A53 working at 1.9 GHz and quad cores of Cortex A73 running at 1.44 GHz along with Adreno 510 will be powering the Redmi Note 4X.
The Note 4 comes in two storage models. Its 16 GB and 64 GB storage variants respectively have 2 GB and 4 GB of RAM. However, the Redmi Note 4X will come in 32 GB and 64 GB storage sizes. Both the devices are expected to feature 4 GB of RAM.
It will be arriving with 16-megapixel rear camera. There is no information available on its selfie camera. A 4,000 mAh battery with 9V / 2A fast charging support will be present inside the Redmi Note 4X. It will come with 15W charger.
The Redmi Note 4X supports FDD B5 /.8 networks which indicate that it is a 4G smartphone that will support China Unicom and China Teleco networks in the home country.
Xiaomi is rumored to have stopped the production of Redmi Note 4. The mass production of Redmi Note 4X has already started which again indicates that its release date is close at hand.
The Redmi Note 4X is expected to cost 999 Yuan ($144) for 32 GB model and 1,199 Yuan ($173) for 64 GB model.
Xiaomi posted a record 2 million units sales in India during the third quarter of 2016 and that figure was said to be the Chinese company’s highest figure in any quarter since entering the expansive India market. The company also celebrated its over half a million sales in just 72 hours during the Diwali festive period last year. Also, the company disclosed that it has sold over 2.3 million units of the Redmi Note 3 in India alone. In an apparent bid to consolidate of its numerous successes in India, Xiaomi has sent out invites to a news conference scheduled to hold on January 19 in New Delhi.
The press invite did not state the product that would be launched but it did state that the event was the 2017 Mi product launch. The company did mention on its social media page, though, that the product on display would be a Redmi smartphone.
The Redmi series have proven to be very successful for the tech company, so it is no surprise that they are planning to launch another one. The likely candidate is the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 which recently got the nod at US FCC. The Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 was launched mid-2016 as a successor to the highly successful Redmi Note 3. The Redmi Note 4 has not performed incredibly well in China but it may just perform marvelously well in the India market just like the Redmi Note 3 did. Perhaps due to the change in the processor from an Helio X20 SoC with which it appeared in India, to a Snapdragon 652 chip. As usual, the Redmi smartphones are cheap, so we expect a cheap price tag on the India version.
It appears that Apple is joining the ranks of the few manufacturers interested in AR (Augmented Reality) and it is doing so with the help of German optical company, Carl Zeiss AG.
The information stems from a social media post by Robert Scoble, a tech evangelist. In his post, he said that Apple and Carl Zeiss are working together to produce an Augmented Reality Glasses. Currently the big names invested in AR are Google (Tango) and Microsoft (Hololens) and with Apple joining the competition now, things are going to get interesting.
Microsoft AR Glasses: Hololens
While we do not want to go on arguing about which is better between AR and VR (virtual reality) as both of them have their uses, Apple CEO Tim Cook thinks AR is the future and has more potential than VR. In his words, the market for AR “is the larger of the two, probably by far”.
Last year, quite a number of manufacturers released VR Glasses. Just to mention a few: Xiaomi released the Xiaomi VR Play and the Xiaomi Mi VR Headset and Google launched its Daydream VR headset. But AR didn’t do badly either, while the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro Tango phone is the major AR device that launched last year, AR-based game Pokemon Go took the world by storm.
That Xiaomi‘s up coming Mi 6 flagship would pack a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chipset onboard seems to no longer be in doubt. The device would likely be Xiaomi’s first flagship for the year. However, the launch date for the Xiaomi Mi 6 have always been a hot topic, with rumors making the rounds that the device would be launched in February, ahead of the Galaxy S8.
To this end, industry analyst Kevin Wang had hinted earlier on that the Mi 6 will enter test production in small batches. The Mi 6 was enmeshed in the 10nm Samsung process’ delay in production but another well-known analyst @Sun Changxy had assured that the Snapdragon 835 manufacturing was going on smoothly, so the Mi 6 could be mass produced ahead of its launch without the 10nm chip posing a logjam.
Now, it has emerged that the Xiaomi Mi 6 has entered mass production and that Xiaomi has started mass producing two versions, one with LCD display and another, apparently the curved version, with OLED display. According to the leaked information, Xiaomi is still maintaining the 1,999 yuan price for the LCD version while the OLED version is still pegged at 2,499 yuan.
As revealed on previous rumors, the OLED version is likely having a curved screen and is said to look like a sized-down version of the Mi Note 2. The Xiaomi Mi 6 is also expected to continue with the underglass Ultrasonic fingerprint sensor first featured on the Mi 5S. The device is also expected with an all-metal body. Other leaked specs include the presence of two RAM versions of 4GB and 6GB respectively. The device is also tipped to feature a 20MP main camera and cram a 4,000mAh built with Qualcomm Quick Charge fast charging support.
Meizu today held a 2017 New Year media event in Beijing, where the company shared the statistics relating to the company’s performance last year. The most shocking of the data revealed is perhaps the news that the company achieved a total of 22 million units in smartphone sales last year.
Of this figure, overseas sales accounted for about 2 million units and these include sales in Eastern Europe where the Meizu brand seems to be popular. The company also disclosed that smartphone sales exceeded 4 million yuan a day. Last year’s double 11 sales record also was awesome, with Meizu phone sales exceeding 1.1 million units.
The company has however decided to reduce the number of news conferences it would hold this year. Instead, smartphones may sometimes be launched using live streaming events, apparently to cut cost. We’re sure no one saw this coming but if the company can achieve such feat, then their avalanche of smartphone releases each year wasn’t wasteful.
The LG G6 is already taking form in our minds with the string of leaks coming out lately. We already know that it won’t be modular, thanks to an interview by an executive of the company. We also know it will not have a removable battery. New detail revealed says the flagship will sport a display with an aspect ratio of 18:9.
The info comes from LG Display who announced today in South Korea a new phone display with Quad HD+ resolution (1440 x 2880). It also confirmed that the new display will make its way into LG’s next flagship, the LG G6.
LG G6 Render
The display is 5.7-inches and has a pixel density of 564 ppi and its unique aspect ratio will allow for an ”immersive viewing experience”. I can already imagine pairing the phone with the new LG Tone Studio Wearable Speaker.
The new display will also enhance the split-screen multi-tasking feature of Android Nougat.
ASUS released a new Zenfone Zoom over a year after the last model. The new phone called Zenfone 3 Zoom ZE553KL was announced at this year’s CES with a new design that looks like that of the iPhone 7 Plus.
During the launch, ASUS didn’t reveal a lot of details about the new phone especially the price. Yesterday at the launch of the new Pegasus 3S in Taiwan, the pricing for the Zoom 3 was revealed.
The Zenfone 3 Zoom will be available in three storage variants: a 128GB version, a 64GB version and a 32GB variant. Sadly, only the price of the 128GB version was released. The Zenfone 3 Zoom 128GB will cost ¥3699 (~$534), so the 64GB and 32GB version will definitely cost less.
There is no arguing about the fact that the Zenfone 3 Zoom will be priced higher when it launches in North America and Europe.
LeEco has joined the league of action camera manufacturers. The company just released it’s first action camera called the Liveman C1. It can be seen that LeEco is clearly on the heels of its Chinese rival, Xiaomi.
The Liveman C1 enters the action camera market as an alternative to Xiaomi’s (Yi) and GoPro’s action cams. The new camera can record 4K videos at 30fps via its 16MP sensor. The LIveman C1 has a g-sensor, a 140° field-of-view and a 1.8-inch touchscreen. You also get Wi-Fi, a SD card slot, a HDMI port and a 1050mAh battery.
Although the Liveman C1 is not waterproof, LeEco bundles it with a waterproof case that lets you shoot videos up to 40m under water. The box also contains 2 self-adhesive mounts, a USB cable for charging and a number of extensions.
Last year ZUK, which is a Lenovo-backed company, released a rather compelling Z2 model, which had some pretty powerful internals and a nice design. Right now the prices have dropped significantly and you can get it for just $185.89 from lightinthebox.com, which sound like a pretty good deal.
ZUK Z2 is a rather compact phone, which uses a very high quality and sturdy metal frame around the device. I lovethe fact that all the buttons and a dual SIM card tray are on the right and all other stuff is on the bottom. Thus, other sides of the phone look clean.
Also, we have Gorilla Glass 4 on the front and rear. A great thing is that the phone has some sort of anti-fingerprint coating and it does its job very well.
The ZUK Z2 is one of the rare phones that has just a 5″ display (1080p resolution). It’s worth mentioning that it is covered with the Gorilla Glass 3 for scratch resistance.
ZUK Z2 sports some powerful internals that includes a Snapdragon 820 chip, 4GB of RAM and 64GB of on-board storage without the microSD card slot. Sure, there are some slightly more powerful smartphones out there but this combo of specs can handle anything you throw at this phone, whether it would graphically demanding 3D games or just scrolling through the user interface.
You can now get the ZUK Z2 for just $185.89 from lightinthebox.com, which sound like a pretty good deal, considering the overall package it offers. In fact, the ZUK Z2 is definitely one of the most powerful phones you can get at this price point.
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