Xiaomi‘s co-founder/ VP Li Wanqiang, yesterday at the Geek Park Innovation conference revealed some more details about the company’s upcoming product which is definitely the Mi 6. The VP hinted that his company will release a surprise in March this year. Though he left off short of naming the surprise product, it is likely he was talking about the Mi 6.
The Xiaomi Mi 6 is expected to bring in some surprises in its specs lineup, according to previous rumors. The Xioami VP also seem to suggest that even the price would follow the Xiaomi tradition, which pitches it in the region of 1,999 yuan. Now, more details about the Mi 6 have been leaked online, stating among other things that the device will have a metal body, will continue the Underglass Ultrasonic fingerprint sensor featured on the Mi 5S. The source also hinted that because production of the smartphone has not been concluded, a February release is likely not feasible.
In addition, the Mi 6 flagship is said to have an upgrade in its camera but the new sensor model is not yet disclosed. It is however said to be far better than the Sony IMX378 sensor. The display is also said to have two versions; one is a straight or flat screen display, while the other is a curved display. While the straight screen version will be priced around 1999 yuan, the curved screen version will fall around 2499 yuan. Another gladsome news, and it better be true, is that there will be adequate supply of the device when it launches.
Furthermore, the Xiaomi Mi 6 is said to come equipped with the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chipset which would be backed by 4GB of RAM on the straight screen version and 6GB of RAM on the curved screen verson. Both versions will cram 3,000mAh battery under the hood and would run Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box. There is also two storage versions of 128Gb and 256GB respectively.
LG has been consistently revealing features of its upcoming flagship that is speculated to launch as LG G6. LG has teased in a video that it will bring some of the most desired features on its next flagship. Fresh information suggest that it will be equipped with heat pipes that the will prevent its battery from overheating at high temperatures.
LG has confirmed that it has employed heat pipes made up of copper that can dissipate the internal heat. It is the same technology that is used in the batteries of PCs and notebooks that decreases the internal temperature by 6 to 10 percent. Moreover, LG has been designed the G6 in such a way that the internal components that heat up remain as far apart as possible to prevent the concentration of heat at one place.
An LG official has said that, “We are conducting battery heat exposure tests to a temperature 15 percent higher than the temperature set by the international standards of the US and Europe.” He also added that the company is carrying various kinds of vigorous tests on the battery such as using a sharp nail to pierce and dropping a heavy object on it from a high place.
Concept design of radiant heat and heat pipe (LG Electronics)
Related: LG Confirms That The LG G6 Won’t Be Modular
Even though Samsung is yet to officially confirm on the main reason behind the explosion of Galaxy Note 7 handsets, early speculations have suggested there may have been some problem with the battery of the device. Now that LG has confirmed that there won’t be overheating problems on its next flagship, it seems that it aims to achieving more sales by letting the customers to know that the LG G6 is safer device.
LG has confirmed in its recently released teaser video that its forthcoming flagship will be more reliable as it will come with features like larger display, waterproof design and amazing camera. Speculations are rife that it will feature a 5.7-inch quad HD+ display that offers a resolution of 1,440 x 2,880 pixels together with an aspect ratio of 9:18 and pixel count of 564 ppi.
It is expected to be powered by Snapdragon 835 chipset and 4 GB or 6 GB of RAM. It is expected to be the first LG smartphone to come with waterproof chassis. The South Korean company has also confirmed that it won’t be using the modular design that was introduced on LG G5 indicating that the LG G6 may not feature a removeable battery.
LG G6 is expected to get unveiled at the MWC (Mobile World Congress) 2017 event in February. It is expected to be available for purchase by March 10 which also indicates that LG is aiming to launch its LG G6 flagship a month ahead of Samsung Galaxy S8’s launch in April.
Huawei is known for producing some high-quality phones for a low price. Their Honor 6x is one of the newest models and it has received a lot of media coverage lately. You can now get it from lightinthebox.com for $205.99, which sounds like a pretty good deal considering the overall package you get with this device.
The phone sports an all-metal design like most of the phones these days. One of the key selling points is the dual-camera setup that sports a one 12MP sensor and one 2MP shooter that captures depth information for those DSLR-like bokeh shots.
When it comes to the specs, the Honor 6x is a pretty powerful phone. It sports an octa-core HiSilicon Kirin 655 chip (4×2.1 GHz Cortex-A53 & 4×1.7 GHz Cortex-A53), Mali-T830MP2 GPU and 3GB of RAM. Also, there is 32GB of internal storage that can be further expanded via the microSD card slot (up to 256 GB (uses SIM 2 slot)). The 5.5″ 1080p display makes it a standard-sized smartphone.
In addition, the Huawei Honor 6x runs on the Android 6.0 Marshmallow and it is planned to be upgraded to Android 7.0 (Nougat). Finally, the non-removable 3340 mAh battery will keep the lights on for a long time.
The Essential modular phone we said was being made by Android co-founder Andy Rubin might have been staring us in the face for almost a month now but we just didn’t know.
Remember the Snapdragon 835 Geekbench results we posted a few weeks ago? Chances are that the device used for the test is the upcoming Essential phone. Currently going by the name Essential FIH-PM1, the device has 4GB of RAM, runs Android 7.0 Nougat, and has a Snapdragon 835 SoC clocked at 1.90GHz.
Is this the Essential Modular Phone?
If it turns out that it is indeed the phone, then one of our questions from yesterday is already answered: the Essential phone will run Android OS. Though some folks are expecting a different OS entirely from the company, we think the decision to go with Android is better.
First, we already know the world is not ready for a new mobile operating system. Some of the popular ones are dead like Blackberry OS and Firefox OS or nearly dead already like Windows Phone, leaving us with just Android and iOS.
Second, it is going to be hard work building a new OS from the scratch and finding developers to create apps for it. The best bet will be to use a sort of emulator that lets you install Android apps, and we all know how that went with Blackberry OS 10.
So why not just stick to Android from the onset and save yourself the fate of a failed OS or a great device killed by a failed OS.
Chinese smartphone maker cum internet giant LeEco may have just gotten a much needed lifeline which could save the company from practically hitting an iceberg in the troubled waters it is sailing currently. The lifeline comes in the form of a new round of investment from Chinese property developing firm Sunac China Holdings, estimated to be worth 15.04 billion yuan ($2.18 billion USD).
LeEco’s CEO Jia Yueting had last year hinted that the company was facing some challenges financially, occasioned by the rapid pace with which the company tried to expand, both on the domestic plane and internationally. There were signs also that the company did drop some of its staffs and just last December, it was almost prevented from showing EPL matches live by the right holder after defaulting in its payment schedule. This latest financial lease of life comes in form of series of investments spread across LeEco’s numerous holdings.
Sunac Real Estate announced that it plans to invest 6.04 billion yuan in LeEco’s Leshi Internet Information and Technology Corp Beijing by acquiring an 8.61 percent stake. The investor also plans to invest 1.05 billion yuan in LeEco’s film production company, Leshi Pictures, by acquiring a 15 percent stake, and pay another 7.95 billion yuan ($1.15 billion) for a 33.5 percent stake in Leshi Internet’s subsidiary Leshi Zhixin, known for its smart Internet TVs. The real estate company also hopes to collaborate with LeEco in areas such as intelligent hardware, real estate, and smart homes. It also pointed at industrial real estate as an area for greater cooperation between both companies.
This, no doubt, will offer LeEco some breathe of fresh air as the funds will likely help solve some of its financial difficulties. The investment will be of benefit to us all, because now the company can concentrate in developing innovative products such as smartphones, film services, sports, and its driverless electric vehicles.
Umi has released quite a lot of phones last year and the Umi Plus was a pretty decent phone for the price. This year the company released an upgraded Umi Plus E with 6GB of RAM, Helio P20 chip and a lot more. Learn more in the full review.
The phone ships with all the usual items that come with any device. It’s worth mentioning that you get a fast charger out of the box.
Umi Plus E Review: DESIGN and DISPLAY
When it comes to the design, we are looking at the all-metal phone (except for the top and bottom parts for antennas).
The build quality has actually improved over the regular Umi Plus. Now I don’t have any complaints as the buttons do not rattle. Well, the only thing that some users may not like is the sharp edges on the backplate. Also, the backplate attracts fingerprints and smudges very easily, which is unusual to metal surfaces.
We have a 5.5” 1080p display, which is pretty sharp, vibrant and it is a nice panel overall.
A nice touch is a customizable LED notification light, which sits next to the 5MP camera, and navigation buttons. You can choose between the on-screen keys and the capacitive keys, and change the position of them.
I love the fact that physical home button can be just tapped as it serves as a back key. Also, it has a fingerprint scanner. It is quite accurate but sometimes the display may light up a bit slower if you unlock the phone straight from the standby mode. A customizable shortcut button is a pretty nice idea but it would have been nice if it worked from the standby mode.
As for the camera, we have a 13MP Samsung shooter with a dual tone dual-LED flash.
The loudspeaker sound quality is now better than the Umi Plus but it is still kind of mediocre. I would love to hear some more rich tones.
The sound quality via the headset jack is pretty good for the price of the phone and that is thanks to the built-in Hi-Fi audio chip.
Umi Plus E Review: HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE
As far as the specs go, the Umi Plus E is just a beast. It has an octa-core Mediatek Helio P20 chip with the clock speeds of 2.3GHz, whopping 6GB of RAM and 64GB of expandable storage.
The gaming performance is great. I played some games like Asphalt 8, Nova 3 on the highest graphics and the Umi Plus E handles them absolutely fine. Also, I didn’t notice any overheating issues even after 30 mins of gaming.
Umi Plus E Review: USER INTERFACE
The Umi Plus E ships with the pretty much stock-looking Android 6.0.
There are not too many features to talk about except for those I have already mentioned (customizable navigation bar and LED notification light). Most importantly, the Umi Plus E is fast on the daily basis and you can keep a lot of apps opened thanks to 6GB of RAM. Finally, I didn’t have any issues with the phone’s daily performance no matter what I did with it and that is really impressive.
Umi Plus E Review: BENCHMARKS
Umi Plus E Review: IMAGE QUALITY
IT IS HIGHLY-RECOMMENDED TO DOWNLOAD FULL RESOLUTION CAMERA SAMPLES TO SEE THE ACTUAL IMAGE QUALITY. THE PICTURES UPLOADED ON THE WEBSITE ARE 50% SMALLER IN RESOLUTION.
The camera department is where the Umi Plus E could be better. Keep in mind that I tested the phone on a cloudy day but it’s winter time… You can get some decent-looking photos and I see an improvement over some previous Umi phones. However, the daylight images could have more detail and sharpness. Also, the colors look a bit washed out in some of the shots, the dynamic range and white balance adjustment is not always accurate.
The low-light camera performance is not so great either even for a $200 phone. The images lack in detail, there is a lot of noise and a visible purple tint in most of the shots.
The selfie camera is okay and it will do the trick for social media. However, I would love to see some more sharpness and detail in the photos.
When it comes to video, the footage does not really look good. You can now shoot in 4k resolution but it looks like just an upscaled 1080p video. The major problems here are the aggressive color and auto-exposure shifting. Also, the footage could look sharper and there could be less noise.
When it comes to connectivity, the Umi Plus E performs great. I didn’t have any issues with the GPS accuracy, Wifi or call quality.
Umi Plus E Review: BATTERY LIFE
When it comes to battery, Umi Plus E is a great performer as it ships with a beefy 4000mAh unit. I could get over 6 hours of screen-on time on a daily use, which is a great result. Also, the phone ships with the fast charger and I was able to fully charge the phone in around 1:30 mins.
Umi Plus E Review: CONCLUSIONS
Umi Plus E is another phone from China that aims to deliver a lot of value for about $230. It definitely succeeds in a lot of ways.
The Umi Plus E is a really powerful phone and that translates to a great day-to-day and gaming performance.
Also, the device has a nice and sharp display, the user interface is simple and fast, the phone is nicely designed and uses premium materials in the construction.In addition, the battery life is great and you can charge it up fast.
On the other hand, the camera still remains the weakest point of the Umi smartphone. While it is not terrible, we have some strong competitors that produce better quality images and videos.
At the end of the day, Umi Plus E is probably the best Umi smartphone I’ve tested and it seems like a very solid phone for the price if you don’t mind just an average camera performance.
Less than a month ago we reported that the Honor 8 was going to get its Nougat update by February; a statement made by Huawei itself. Judging from the info from Huawei Japan, the update will start rolling out as from Monday, 16th of January.
Like any other update, this will also be rolled out in stages, so if you do not get the update on Monday, you should receive it in the following days as long as you are in Japan.
Honor 8 owners in North America might have to still wait till February for their update though. The update comes in at a whooping 1.97GB which is pretty heavy to be honest. Honor Japan advises that you back up your data and have at least 50% battery available before you commence the update.
For those who do not know who Andy Rubin is, the following lines should serve as a crash course. Andy Rubin is the co-founder of Android Inc., and after Google acquired it he served as Senior VP of Mobile and Digital Content up until 2013 when he left to head Google’s robotics division. After leaving the search giant in 2014, he set up Playground Global, an incubator for funding startups involved in manufacturing hardware devices.
Presently, he has a new company called Essential Products Inc.; a company focused on making consumer hardware products. Essential Products Inc. has plans to launch a number of their products soon, one of which is a high-end smartphone that will have ‘‘the ability to gain new hardware features over time’’. Not only will the phone be taking a stab at modularity, it is also said to have a large bezel-less display.
The exciting part is actually the modular feature of the phone. According to the description provided, the phone will have a proprietary magnetic connector that serves as a way to charge the phone and also works as a way of expanding the phone’s functionality. So we might be looking at hardware add-ons that attach to the charging port.
Although the company is working on a spherical camera module that shoots high resolution 360° images, the phone will support modules from third parties too.
A prototype of the phone is said to have a display that is bigger than that of the iPhone 7 Plus but has a smaller form factor thanks to its lack of bezels. A similar design can be seen in the Xiaomi Mi MIX. The large display and small size is not the only way the device is similar to Xiaomi’s phone, as it is said to also have a ceramic back. There is also a chance that the display might be pressure sensitive.
Qualcomm first announced the Snapdragon 835 SoC about two months ago. The new chip is being built on a 10nm process just like Mediatek’s Helio X30. Folowing the announcement, Qualcomm posted that more details about the new chip will be revealed at the 2017 edition of the Consumer Electronic Show (CES).
What better way to show off your new chip than in a reference phone? So that’s what Qualcomm did. They put up a phone with 6GB of RAM, a 24MP rear camera with OIS and EIS, dual front facing speakers, and a 12MP front camera with the Snapdragon 835 under the hood. Pretty impressive specs for a phone, right?
Some folks however got ahead of themselves and said the device is actually Nokia’s yet-to-be announced flagship phone called the Nokia 8. The rumour has actually caused a lot of buzz that Qualcomm has had to put out an official statement about it.
According to the company’s spokeswoman Catherine Baker, the phones at CES are not Nokia phones but are the same reference design phones it uses every year to showcase its latest chip. An excerpt of the letter is pasted below:
We do not disclose details of our reference design. We’ve seen a few stories rumoring what we demonstrated in our CES booth to be a Nokia device, those reports are not accurate, our 835 demos were on our own reference design devices which we use to demo our Snapdragon SOC’s every year.”-Catherine Baker, spokeswoman, Qualcomm
Now that the chip maker has cleared the air on that, we are left in the dark about the Nokia 8. Will it have the same impressive specs as Qualcomm’s reference phones or will it be toned down? Our guess is as good as yours.
The Mi Mix is said to be difficult to produce, that we know, but what we didn’t know is the level of difficulty. Xiaomi‘s CEO has just given us an idea of how difficult it is for the Xiaomi Mi Mix concept phone to be mass produce by disclosing that the company has only managed to mass produced 100,000 units of the flagship so far.
The CEO hinted this while fielding questions during the Geek Park Innovation conference held recently in China. The tech giant’s henchman spoke of several issues concerning the future of the smartphone industry and other and as usual, the Mi Mix was expected in the discussion. While explaining the reason for the scarcity of the concept device, the CEO admitted that the output is poor most especially because of the process involved in producing the ceramic glass body which the device features.
The Xiaomi executive also gave his take on foldable smartphones which he thinks isn’t the future of the smartphone industry and that smartphones with full-screen displays could be the next high-end item to compete for in the industry very soon.
The Xiaomi Mi Mix is hardly available for purchase, with the stock running out at quick intervals during flash sales. There is no likelihood that the production will be shored up anytime soon as the company seems to be focusing on reviving the ailing brand by launching more sleeker smartphones and concentrating its strategies to help rake in more revenue this year.
HTC U Ultra and HTC U Play smartphones have been officially unveiled. Here all the official images of their color variants along with details on pre-orders, pricing and availability.
HTC U Ultra and HTC U Play Design and Color Variants
The HTC U Ultra and U Play smartphones have their metallic chassis is sandwiched between Gorilla Glass 5 sheets on both sides. The 3D contoured glass design that is described as “liquid surface” by the Taiwanese company allows both smartphones to boast distinctive reflective design.
To achieve it, HTC has adopted a new process of bonding multiple layers of colors to the glass to reflect light beautifully. However, the glossy design seems to attract fingerprints easily.
The HTC U Ultra and U Play are available in vibrant colors like Brilliant Black, Ice White, Sapphire Blue and Cosmetic Pink. The HTC U Ultra comes in 64 GB and 128 GB storage variants, but the latter one is a luxurious model that features the ultra-hard sapphire glass for its display.
HTC U Ultra Brilliant Black
HTC U Ultra Ice White
HTC U Ultra Sapphire Blue
HTC U Ultra Cosmetic Pink
HTC U Play Brilliant Black
HTC U Play Ice White
HTC U Play Sapphire Blue
HTC U Play Cosmetic Pink
Related: HTC 11 Canceled? Company to Release 6 to 7 Smartphones in 2017
HTC U Ultra, U Play Pre-orders, Pricing and Availability
The 64 GB HTC U Ultra costs $749 whereas the 128 GB variant is priced at $910. HTC has already started receiving pre-orders for the 64 GB model from Jan. 12 on htc.com. It will start shipping the orders from mid-March.
As of this writing, the Cosmetic Pink variant is unavailable in the U.S. Also, the 128 GB HTC U Ultra pre-orders will start on a later date. Both the smartphones are currently sold unlocked in the U.S. These models support AT&T and T-Mobile GSM networks.
The 32 GB and 64 GB models of HTC U Play will available in the market by Q1 2017. The 32 GB HTC U Play is priced at $440. However, the pricing of 64 GB model is currently unavailable.
HTC U Ultra, U Play Specs At a Glance
The HTC U Ultra has a 5.7-inch quad HD LCD5 screen and a secondary display of 2.05 inches that supports a resolution of 160 x 1,040 pixels. Other features include Snapdragon 821 SoC, 4 GB of RAM, 64 GB and 128 GB storage models, hybrid SIM microSD slot OIS enabled 12-megapixel rear shooter, 16-megapixel selfie snapper, Android 7.0 Nougat, USB Type-C port, fingerprint scanner and 3,000 mAh battery.
The HTC U Play has a 5.2-inch Super LCD5 full HD screen, a MediaTek Helio P10 SoC, 3 GB RAM / 32 GB storage, 4 GB RAM / 64 GB storage, hybrid SIM microSD slot, OIS enabled 16-megapixel camera, 16-megapixel front-facing camera, Android 6.0 Marshmallow, USB Type-C port, fingering scanner and 2.500 mAh battery. Both smartphones lack 3.5 mm audio jack.
Nokia 6 is proving to be a potentially successful smartphone, even when it is yet to go on sale. The phone was recently announced in China and immediately went up for pre-orders or registration or reservations, whichever you choose to call it. The reservations were reported yesterday to have surpassed 230,000 persons in just 24 hours after it opened for reservations in Jingdong (JD.com).
The latest report from that end says that the figure has almost doubled, as it is reported to be in the tune of over 420,000 persons in just two days. Surprisingly, there is up to four days left before the device goes up on its first flash sales, so the figure may even pass 1 million persons. As stated earlier, there are two categories in the registration. There is a zero yuan reservation and another one which required those making reservations to pay a 66 yuan price with a membership benefit attached. The free reservation package has so far seen 411,470 persons indicating interest in that package., up from 229,000 a day ago. The 66 yuan category has also risen to 9,211 persons but it is no longer available any more. Only the zero yuan registration is still open on Jingdong presently.
Of course, this total figure is expected to rise further in the next few days and bear in mind that the device will go on sale starting from January 19. So, there is still four clear days left for those who are still interested in participating in the reservations for its first flash sale. We must point out that not all of the registrations will translate into actual sales.
The Nokia 6 is a sleek smartphone that comes with a modest specs lineup inside but what makes it a hot, wave-making smartphone is perhaps its sleek but rugged build, as well as durability. It is strong enough to crack a walnut shell even with the screen, so we expect a durable device which could last for ages. The 1699 yun price tag isn’t too much also.
A new survey by US-based Boston Consulting Group (BCG) has placed two of China’s tech companies Xiaomi and Huawei among the world’s top 50 most innovative companies in 2016. According to the survey, Apple, Google, Tesla, Microsoft, Amazon and Netflix all occupy the top six spots in the annual poll and previous reports show Apple is topping the list for the 11th straight year running.
Apple seems to sit atop the list of innovative companies because of the huge amount it spends on research and development (R & D), with $10 million reported to have been expended in R&D for Apple’s last fiscal year which ended on September 24, 2016. Also, Google sits in the second position due to its huge investment in research and development of its workforce.
Coming to China, the country’s most innovative tech company Xiaomi made it into the list at number 35, beating the likes of Dell, Honda, Intel, and even fellow compatriot Huawei. The company last year, came out with a number of innovative gadgets, the most spectacular being the Mi Mix with its bezel-less display. Apart from being innovative on its own, Xiaomi had been helping smaller startups gain recognition by giving them their platform to launch their products. Huawei on its part, sits at number 46 as one of the most innovative companies last year, Huawei also unveiled a number of new smartphones last year bringing on board, some innovative features as well.
Apart from Huawei and Xiaomi, China has got a number of innovative tech companies, many of whom are gearing up to break the ranks and get their innovative gadgets into the hands of investors and consumers.
The latest we are getting about the Samsung Galaxy S8 is that the device will go official on April 21. The Galaxy S8 was first tipped to be launched in February during the Mobile World Congress 2017 in Barcelona, just as the Korean giant looks to shake off the thoughts of the Galaxy Note 7 mishap.
The next generation flagship had earlier been rumored as coming in April, with no specific date mentioned. Other rumors had mentioned April 17th or 18th and even April 21st. But we are still not sure how true this latest April 21 launch date is. It is getting more and more certain by the day, though, that we won’t likely be seeing the Galaxy S8 at MWC 2017. We will not rule out the possibility that Samsung may just spring out a surprise out of the blues and unveil the smartphone next month.
The Samsung Galaxy S8 will take the Galaxy series design to an entirely new level and it comes as Samsung’s first premium device after the botched Galaxy Note 7. The company is hoping the design and entire outlook of the Galaxy S8 will help completely erase the Note 7’s issues from our memories and restore any lost confidence in the brand, so they are taking their time to put together a sleek, reliable device.
The Galaxy S8 is expected with a 5.7-inch WQHD (2560 x 1440) Super AMOLED display, with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 SoC inside. The dvice is also expected to run on Android Nougat out of the box. A recent leak has revealed that the Galaxy S8 will not feature a physical home button up front but will have its fingerprint sensor mounted at the rear. If this is true, then the Galaxy S8 is unlike any of its siblings specs-wise. The rumor also states that the device will not have a dual-lens camera but rather its plus variant – Galaxy S8 Plus will adopt a dual-lens setup at the rear. The Galaxy S8 Plus is expected as a 6.2-inch phablet which would be launched alongside the Galaxy S8.
Many noted personalities have said that the smartphone industry has come to a saturation point when it comes down to innovation. That’s true to a large extent given that the most smartphones these days feature just incremental upgrades rather than something outright revolutionary. The Xiaomi Mi Mix was probably one of the most innovative smartphone products released in 2016, but even that was an incremental upgrade, achieved by reducing the bezels on the screen to a major extent — something that many companies have been trying for the past couple of years.
It is at this time that we hear about the foldable display smartphone concept from Samsung. And according to the latest reports, foldable smartphones may no longer exist as just a concept as Samsung as well as LG are said to be releasing such smartphones as early as Q3-Q4 2017. Initially, it was said that Samsung is developing a tablet-like device with a display that folds into a smartphone. But the company seems to have realized recently that folding-in smartphones are probably not the ideal way to go (since you’ll have to fold the display every time you want to use it as a phone). So, the company is now said to be working on foldable display smartphones that essentially fold outwards. So, it starts off as a smartphone and whenever required, you can open it up to convert it into a large 7-inch tablet. Pretty nifty, right?
Now, we have some pretty good looking concept renders of this foldable display smartphone. While we are not sure whether the final product from Samsung will end up looking anything close to this, it does give us a glimpse of how a smartphone which can enlarge itself into a 7-inch tablet could materialize in real life. Check out all the images below.
While a foldable smartphone sounds like an amazing concept, brining it to real life comes with its own set of technical challenges. We have seen flexible displays but a foldable smartphone requires much more than that. We will have to wait and see how Samsung tackles the rigid parts that are inside a smartphone like the circuit board. The specs on such a phone have to be top-notch and hence, it’ll be interesting to see how the company designs its first foldable display phone. Given that the company is said to roll out more than “100,000″ foldable devices in Q3 2017, it means that Samsung has already overcome these challenges.
With LG also reported to make a similar number of foldable devies by the fourth quarter, 2017 is definitely going to be an interesting year for smartphone enthusiasts.
The name “Paper watch” sounds confusing because the gadget isn’t made from paper per se, but that is the name of the smart wearable that is being developed by researchers at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Saudi Arabia. The so -called “paper watch” can perform same functions of health-monitoring and fitness tracking performed by smartwatches like the Apple Watch, Samsung Gear and it can do that at a fraction of the price.
The cheap wearable device uses flexible sensors sourced from common household items like aluminum foil and sponge which works with silicon-based chip components to create a semi-recyclable fitness device. Because the materials used are cheap, household stuff, the “paper watch” itself comes cheap.
Presently, the paper watch fitness tracker packs an impressive array of capabilities. It is shown to be capable of measuring body temperature, sweat levels, heart rate, and blood pressure. The soft sensor components of the device could eventually be replaced whenever they wear out, while customers keep the rigid chip and battery parts of their wearable device.
The prototype paper watch currently costs $25 USD which is quite cheap, when compared to high-end fitness trackers. But then, the more sturdy and sleek Mi Band 2 comes in even cheaper at around $19.99. The paper watch is still work in progress, though, and the inventors hope to bring down the price further as time progresses. Even though the device cannot show time presently, that is a feature they hope to include in the smart wearable. The inventors hope to spin off a company soon with the device expected later this year, but how well can this fare in an era where Chinese manufacturers are developing cheaper smart wearables with lots of functions is a question that needs to be answered. But the team hopes to target the elderly populace with its cheap product on start up.
With a population running into over a billion persons, the Chinese market is one of the markets in Asia with lots of potentials and prospects for startups and other business. The sheer size of the country means products could get sold only within the country and companies will declare profits even without shipping outside. But the Chinese smartphone brands seem to be at the forefront of making an aggressive foray into lucrative markets overseas. This they do while keeping a firm grip on their own domestic market.
A recent report by the China Academy of Information and Communication showing the statistics of phones shipped in China indicates that last year (2016), a total of 559.7 million mobile phones were shipped in China. This figure represents an 8% increase from the previous year. SUprisingly, the number of new model releases was 1,446 which is down by 3.3 % year-over-year (YOY). This then means the OEMs actually sold more of their older models and not necessarily new phones.
Of the total 559.7 million mobile phones shipped last year, local smartphone makers shipped 497.8 million units in 2016, up 16.1% YOY. The figure accounts for 88.9% of the domestic mobile phone shipments, higher than 85.0% achieved one year ago. Also, the market share of 4G and smart devices continues to grow stably. A total of 519.4 million or 92.8% of total shipments in China support 4G networks, representing a YOY increase of 18%.
According to research, the growth of the domestic smartphone market is based on the growth of local companies like OPPO and Vivo which contributed a huge role to the surge in shipments from domestic companies. OPPO and Vivo stimulated sales of their products via extensive offline retail outlets as well as using innovative designs on their smartphones. Both OPPO and Vivo were revealed to have captured the top two spots in the Chinese smartphone market, raking in 17% and 16% shares respectively in Q3 2016.
The amazing thing is that apart from capturing the domestic market, Chinese smartphone brands are rapidly expanding overseas, taking on markets in Southeast Asia, Middle East, and Africa. Last year alone, Chinese brands grabbed a chunk off the $10-billion USD Indian smartphone market by capturing 50% of the market, thus slicing off from the shares of market leaders like Samsung. The Chinese brands are even more poised to do more exploits this year. Brands like Xiaomi are restructuring to enable them to capture more of the market shares which they once controlled, so the competition will even be higher than last year.
Now that the new videos of Nokia 8 have been leaked, the device seems to be ready to launch at MWC (Mobile World Congress) 2017.
After releasing Nokia 6, a midrange smartphone, the company is expected to soon announce Nokia 8 flagship Android smartphone at next month’s MWC 2017 event. Apparently, the Nokia 8 was showcased by Qualcomm at its booth at CES (Consumer Electronics Show) 2017 last week.
The Nokia 8 flagship was not announced at CES 2017. The U.S. based chip maker is said to have prevented people from snapping pictures of Nokia 8. However, a leaked video featuring the Nokia has surfaced from CES 2017. Moreover, fresh photos of what seems to be a real Nokia 8 smartphone have surfaced.
Nokia N8 is said to be codenamed as Nokia Supreme. It is expected to come in two variants that will be respectively powered by Snapdragon 835 and Snapdragon 821. Both the variants were seen sitting beside each other at CES 2017.
A new video has surfaced from CES 2017 that shows camera comparison between Nokia 8 powered by Snapdragon 835 and its other variant running on Snapdragon 821.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPi26Ov0n7s
The Nokia 8 with SD 835 is said to be flanked with features like 6 GB of RAM, OIS and EIS 3.0 enabled 24-megapixel camera. These features indicate that this Nokia 8 will be able to shoot the smoothest video on a smartphone to date. Its SD 821 model is speculated to have 4 GB of RAM and a lesser but unknown camera.
Rumors have it that the camera lenses available on Nokia 8 variants are from Carl Zeiss. The ‘HRM’ text mentioned near the camera indicates both the devices may feature sensors for heart rate monitor.
Looking at the design of the Nokia 8 variants, it seems that there are physical buttons at the front and they are graced with metal unibody constructions. Both devices are said to be equipped with dual speakers.
The SD 835 and 821 models are expected to come in two storage choices of 64 GB and 128 GB. Both storage choices will also carry support for up to 256 GB of microSD expansion. Other rumored features of Nokia 8 models are 5.7-inch quad HD display, Android 7.0 Nougat OS, fingerprint sensor and LED notification lights.
The following video shows newer images of Nokia 8. Unlike the Nokia 8 models showcased at CES 2017, these fresh photos show its prototype in a plastic build. These images were shot before the smartphone was sent to CES 2017 event. The source of Total Tech has sent these Nokia 8 images from Russia which indicates the company may be manufacturing its phones in the country.
Since HTC suffered more loss in 2016, it is expected to release only 6 to 7 smartphones this year. Also, there won’t be any device named HTC 11 in 2017.
HTC’s President of Smartphone and Connected Device Business, Chialin Chang, has confirmed that this year will see only six to seven smartphones from the company. Since HTC has now released HTC U Ultra and U Play smartphones, the Taiwanese company are now expected to release four to five new smartphones by the end of 2017.
As far as HTC 11 is concerned, Chang has also said that the company’s flagship won’t release with HTC 11 moniker as rumors are stating. However, he confirmed that the Taiwanese company is working on a new flagship smartphone for 2017. However, he did not reveal any information on it.
Chang has also revealed that HTC is also working on releasing new Desire-line of smartphones that will be aimed towards who wish to buy “fun and affordable” devices. But there is no confirmation on when the company would be unveiling its next smartphone. It is expected to announce the rumored HTC One X10 at the upcoming MWC (Mobile World Congress) 2017 event that will be held in next month.
Even though 2016’s flagship smartphone, the HTC 10, is one of the best smartphones from the company, it recorded the lowest revenue figures in the past 11 years by December 2016. Since it encountered a revenue loss in the last quarter of 2016, it is likely to suffer a loss in the first quarter of 2017. If this happens, it would be the seventh continuous quarterly loss for HTC.
In the September 2016, rumors started swirling that HTC would be introducing three smartphones from its new Ocean line of smartphones by the first quarter of this year. Among the rumored Ocean smartphones such as Ocean Smart, Ocean Note, and Ocean Master, the company has now released Ocean Note as HTC U Ultra.
The Ocean Smart is said to be a basic model. There is no confirmation on whether the company released the Ocean Smart as HTC U Play because the smartphone was internally known as HTC Alpine. The HTC Ocean Master is rumored as flagship.
Speculations are rife that the HTC Ocean Master does not feature any physical buttons on its sides. It is said to be equipped with sensors on its edges that can be touched to access various functions like power, volume controllers, and camera.
If the Huawei P8 Lite was a car, then we’d have said it had gotten a face-lift but it isn’t, so its safe to say the Huawei P8 Lite has got a new edition and it adopts the moniker Huawei P8 Lite 2017 Edition. The new P8 Lite 2017 is coming as a surprise smartphone because Huawei had already launched the P9 Lite last year, which we thought was a replacement for the P8 Lite. However, the P8 Lite (2017) have surfaced in Germany sporting an entirely different design and specs lineup from its predecessor.
The Huawei P8 Lite was launched in 2015 and perhaps, Huawei is buoyed by its huge success hence the attempt to bring back another edition. The specs lineup of the P8 Lite and P8 Lite 2017 also has seen some slight changes. The P8 Lite (2017) is powered by Huawei’s latest mid-range Kirin 655 chip with an octa-core A53 processor. Powering the graphics is a Mali-T830MP2 GPU. The processor is complemented by 3GB of RAM and there is 16GB of expandable storage aboard the mid-range device.
The P8 Lite 2017 sports a 5.2-inch LTPS display with Full HD resolution.The smartphone featres a 12MP rear-facing sensor with f/2.0 aperture, as well as an 8MP front-facing camera tailored to deliver cool selfies. The latest edition also packs a large 3000mAh non-removable battery. On the software angle, teh smartphone runs on the latest Android 7.0 Nougat with EMUI 5.0 hovering on top.
The Huawei P8 Lite 2017 will be available in markets across Europe by the end of January and the smartphone carries a EUR 249 price tag. The device is available in black, white and gold color variants.
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