A Chinese man by the name Mr. Zhang has taken Xiaomi to court over the company’s failure to release an update that unlocks the full function of the NFC chip in his phone.
Mr Zhang had earlier purchased a Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus after reading on the company’s website that a stable MIUI update that will bring the full features of NFC such as the use of bus cards and bank cards will be released in late October.
Now that we are already half way into November, no update has been released yet and Mr Zhang isn’t happy. After writing to the company to table his complaint, he requested for a refund and compensation which the company has failed to respond to. He has therefore decided to file a suit against the phone manufacturer.
The suit is valid due to the consumer protection act which can hold businesses accountable for actions which can be deemed unfair to consumers. While the case is still pending, the court will most likely rule in favour of the plaintiff as the statement on the website led him to purchase the device in the first place.
Earlier today, Huawei held the Chinese launch of the Huawei Mate 9 and Mate 9 Pro in Shanghai. But those were not the only devices launched, as in a move similar to what Xiaomi did during the Mi Note 2 launch, the company announced its own VR glasses called Huawei VR.
The Huawei VR is not entirely new as it surfaced earlier this year at the Huawei P9 launch. It kind of looks like a white Galaxy VR with straps that go over and around the head, touch controls on the side, and a focus ring on the top.
The Huawei VR has a 360° field of view, 2K support, and sound synchronization. The glasses will work with 5.5” devices such as the Huawei Mate 9 Pro, Mate 9 Porsche Design, and Huawei P9 Plus. There is no mention of it working with the 5.2” Huawei P9 but the prototype displayed earlier this year worked with the P9. So you might want to confirm that before buying.
Huawei says they already have close to 5000+ free movies, hundreds of panoramic videos and a number of games that you can watch and play on the Huawei VR. The Huawei VR is priced at ¥599 ($88) and should be available for purchase anytime soon.
No one envisaged Huawei still had a surprise up its sleeves regarding the Mate 9 variants. Well, not until the Huawei Mate 9 was unveiled in China today and it came along with an all new Mate 9 Pro variant together with the Mate 9 Porsche Design. The Huawei Mate 9 Pro follows suit in having almost similar specs with the Mate 9 Porsche Design and also a sleek beautiful design.
Here is an array of amazing hands-on images of the Mate 9 Pro, so you’ll have a close glimpse of the device in these stunning images captured from different angles. You might think this is the Mate 9 Porsche Design we have on display here but it is not. The Huawei Mate 9 Pro looks as beautiful as the Mate 9 Porsche Design but lacks the Porsche branding engraved on the screen of the Mate 9 Porsche Design. The device also comes in four color variants namely amber gold, rose gold, silver and gray.
The Huawei Mate 9 Pro comes with a 5.5-inch curved flexible display with the resolution bumped up to 2K and the fingerprint placed on the front. So here you have it, a Huawei smartphone with front mounted fingerprint sensor. The device has an all metal body with fine finishing at the front but at the rear the body seems to take some brushed metal look.
The Mate 9 Pro retains the dual camera setup at the rear of same 20MP + 12MP sensors combo. But since the fingerprint sensor is at the home button, there is no rear fingerprint sensor. In addition, the Mate 9 Pro also has on the inside a Kirin 960 processor as well as two storage versions of 4GB + 64GB and 6GB + 128GB respectively, a 4000mAh battery with fast charge support and lots more offerings.
As the device is beautiful on the outside, so also is the interface as the Mate 9 Pro runs EMUI 5.0 based on Android 7.0 Nougat out-of-the-box.
The Hauwei Mate 9 Pro starts at 4699 Yuan ($687) for the 4GB + 64GB and goes up to 5299 Yuan ($775) for the 6GB + 128GB version. The device is already on sale in China.
Quite a number of people are of the opinion that the next Meizu flagship will have a Samsung Exynos processor since their falling out with Qualcomm hasn’t yet been resolved. It appears that won’t be the case as a Weibo post from an industry analyst says otherwise.
The post which was made by @MochaSocialistWorker mentions that Meizu’s next flagship will use a Helio X30 processor. The Helio X30 chip was announced in September, and the deca-core chipset clocked at 2.8GHz is currently the most powerful SoC from the chip manufacturer and the first to be built on a 10nm TSMC process.
Mediatek has worked hard on this chip and ironed out most of the issues that have plagued their previous processors such as the GPU. The new chip will also support up to 8GB of RAM and UFS 2.1 storage.
According to @MochaSocialistWorker, the decision to not use Samsung’s processor is as a result of product schedule delays. The company has also been asked to pay a fine to Qualcomm which will set it back a bit before their working relationship can continue.
After the grand release of the Mate 9 and the Mate 9 Porsche Design back in Europe a few days back, now it was time for Huawei to release its new models in its home country, China. However apart from releasing the above-mentioned devices, the tech giant also unveiled a China-exclusive model, the Huawei Mate 9 Pro at the event today.
Since two of the models were already released internationally, you must already be familiar with their design and specs. As for the Mate 9 Pro, take it as a Mate 9 Porsche Design variant, without the Porsche branding to inflate the price.
Here are the key differences between the three models.
The Huawei Mate 9 comes with a 5.9-inch Super AMOLED display with 1080p resolution and a rear placed fingerprint sensor. There are six color options for this standard model including mocha gold, champagne gold, silver moonlight, ceramic white, gray sky and bright black.
Huawei Mate 9 Pro
The Huawei Mate 9 Pro on the other hand, comes with a 5.5-inch curved flexible display with the resolution bumped up to 2K and the fingerprint placed on the front. There are four color options for the Pro variant namely amber gold, rose gold, silver and gray.
Finally, the Mate 9 Porsche design version comes with a unique look, as explained in our international launch coverage, featuring a 5.5-inch flexible 2K display, 7.5mm thin body, and front facing fingerprint sensor. This particular limited edition is only available in black color.
While there were some differences, the basic hardware seems to be the same on all the three devices. They are powered by Huawei’s latest chip, the Kirin 960 octa-core processor with Mali-G71 GPU with support for Vulkan graphics standards. These phones support Huawei Pay and also come with chip level built-in security features. There’s a large 4000mAh battery common to the three models with SuperCharge fast charging that promises quick charging times thanks to 3.5-5V / 5A charging standards. They also support Cat. 12 LTE speeds.
The camera is definitely the highlight of the Mate series, and all three have a 20MP monochrome + 12MP color sensor dual camera module at the back. Other camera features include 2x zoom, Laser Focus, OIS, and dual LED flash. Up front, there’s an 8MP f/1.9 aperture shooter. Coming to the software, the three models will run on Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box based on EMUI 5.0 interface.
As for the pricing, the Huawei Mate 9 4GB + 32GB version is priced at 3399 Yuan ($497), 4GB + 64GB version is priced at 3899 Yuan ($570), and 6GB + 128GB version is priced at 4499 Yuan ($658).
The Mate 9 Pro starts at 4699 Yuan ($687) for the 4GB + 64GB and goes up to 5299 Yuan ($775) for the 6GB + 128GB version.
The Huawei Mate 9 Porsche Design version is priced at 8999 Yuan ($1316) with 6GB + 128GB.
The Mate 9 and Mate 9 Pro will go on sale via major retailers in China from today i.e. November 14. The Mate 9 Porsche Design limited edition model will go on sale on December 15.
Less than 48 hours after the Meizu M5 Note was spotted on Geekbench thus revealing some of its spec, the device has again appeared on popular benchmark website AnTuTu. The AnTuTu listing throws more light on the specifications the M5 Note would feature, at least some more light.
According to the AnTuTu listing, the Meizu M5 Note features a 080 pixels display which may likely be 5.5 inches in size (cannot be less than the M5’s 5.2-inch display). The device is also listed as packing a MediaTek Helio P10 (MT6755M) processor, along with the Mali-T860 GPU, supported by 3GB of RAM as well as 32GB of internal storage. The device is also listed as running Android Marshmallow 6.0 out-of-the-box.
The M5 Note isn’t programmed to disappoint on the camera end, sporting 13MP rear camera as well as a 5MP front-facing camera for selfies. The Meizu M5 Note is said to have skipped bearing the M4 Note which ordinarily it should, considering that the last Note Meizu released was the M3 Note (pictured). This is because of the Chinese superstitious belief which associates the number 4 with bad luck.
We can expect the device any time before the 12.12 sales period which Meizu may have been targeting with the device. We look forward to seeing the first render of the M5 Note, we’re sure that would be available soon.
Xiaomi makes a plethora of products already but that is not stopping them from adding more. Latest leaks shows that the company’s newest project is now 3D printing as images of a Xiaomi 3D printer have surfaced online.
The Xiaomi 3D printer is made of plastic and has a small capacity which hints at an affordable price tag. It will most likely be aimed at those who want to try 3D printing for the first time or for those who want a low-cost 3D printer in their homes.
No technical details have been leaked so there are still a lot of unknowns about this printer and how it compares to those from other manufacturers.
I have been using the Zeblaze Blitz Smartwatch for the past few days and during this period, I realized that this is possibly one of better smartwatches out there in the market today that costs less than $100.
Read on my Zeblaze Blitz smartwatch review to see whether this sports watch is made for you or not.
Before that, I would like to thank Gearbest for sending this unit for review. You can purchase the Blitz at $79.99 on the website.
The video above pretty much sums up the Zeblaze Blitz Review, but if you want to read more, check out the written review below.
DESIGN:
Design wise, the Blitz is a very good looking smartwatch. The round face gives it a more natural look and the body reveals it is meant to be a sports smartwatch. The watch is mainly made out of plastic, but its pretty good quality, so I am happy with the built. You have markings around the display which also gives it a nice sporty touch. The sides are plastic as well, but it seems to have some kind of rubber coating. I haven’t put this watch to scratch test, but I have been wearing it for the past few weeks, even while riding my motorcycle, and so far, no significant scratches.
The backplate is made out of metal, and is removable, thereby revealing the SIM card slot inside. Like most watches these days, you have a screwdriver provided along with additional four screws in the box itself. The silicone strap is pretty decent, and does not feel cheap.
DISPLAY:
The display is one of the best features of the Zeblaze Blitz. It comes with a 1.33-inch 360 x 360 pixel resolution screen, which is pretty good for a cheap smartwatch. Add Corning Gorilla Glass 3 on top of it and you get a great display experience. On most days, keeping the display level to medium suffices, even when you are out. In case you are under direct sunlight, you may have to bump it up to max to make sure everything is visible on the screen.
And yes, there’s definitely Gorilla Glass on top as there were a couple of occasions when my wrist hit the wall and I was worried that the display was going to be scratched. But luckily, the display turned out to be just fine and I am happy that it had Gorilla Glass protecting it. Except for a very minor (almost invisible) scratch, the display is still perfect. I don’t remember how I got that scratch, but note that I am not a super careful user when it comes to gadgets.
HARDWARE:
With MT6580 quad-core chip inside and 512MB RAM, the watch performs very well. Apps opened up quickly (for a watch) and I hardly any encountered lag while breezing through the UI. So, it won’t disappoint in terms of its performance.
You have less than 2GB of ROM out of the 4GB inside, after apps and Android OS.
There is a 2MP camera on board as well, and to be honest, it’s pretty good for a watch cam. You can capture pictures as well as videos using the watch and though the images are a bit grainy sometimes, on most occasions, it’s good enough.
Thanks to the provided loud speaker, the Blitz manages to play music pretty well. It’s loud enough on most occasions, which is pretty good, considering this is a smartwatch.
Even the GPS on board worked very well in tracking my location. I was surprised to see it work this well, and in fact, in a few instances, I managed to use the maps on the Blitz while riding my motorcycle. It’s much easier and better than checking your phone often for maps.
INTERFACE:
The interface of the Blitz is simple and works very well. The transitions are smooth and fast and I hardly encountered any lag. You have a couple of theme options as well as options to change the app drawer style. As for the watch faces, there are 25-30 different watch faces and out of them, I personally found at least a couple of faces to be very good looking. A new update has added some more faces as well.
You can even install Google launcher or other launchers on the watch, but remember that this software itself seems to be a launcher on Android. So, you lose the watch face and other watch specific interface if you mess with it. So, my advice would be to stick with the stock launcher.
The standard launcher puts the watch face in the center. On the left lies the notifications menu, and on the right is the app drawer. On the top is the status menu and to its right lies the quick settings panel. Further to the right from the top shows you the number of steps taken in a day. From the watch face, go down and you will find the weather status. In my opinion, the overall UI is clean and functions well, which is good.
If you haven’t seen the video above, I would say check it out for a complete UI overview.
FITNESS TRACKING:
This is one area where the Zeblaze Blitz managed to disappoint me. The pedometer on the watch is too sensitive and most days, even when I am sitting on the desk for the most part, the watch shows that I have crossed 10,000 steps. In comparison, on my Mi Band 2, it takes an hour of gym, a couple of hours of walk to cross the same 10,000 steps mark. So, it’s too easy on the Blitz. Things have managed to change after a new update, wherein the pedometer is not as sensitive as it was before, however, still, you’ll find the watch records around 8000-10000 easily on most days. I hope a future update solves this high sensitivity problem, as it is of little use if you are serious about tracking your steps and calories.
As for the heart rate sensor, it’s yet another disappointment. For some reason, the sensor on my Blitz didn’t recognize my heart rate on most occasions. It always said “put the sensor against your skin”, when the watch was placed on my wrist. So, it must be some kind of issue with the sensor, even though the company markets that they are using a better Samsung chip.
So, when it comes to fitness tracking, I was really disappointed with the watch. Something like the $25 Mi Band 2 is so much better when it comes tracking these things.
PHONE FEATURES:
Since the Zeblaze Blitz is a smartphone as well, it’s important to test it out whether it works well in this department. In this regard, I must say, the watch has impressed me. I managed to make a couple of calls using the watch and it was perfect. The person on the other side could hear me clearly and even I could hear him perfectly well. So, yes, you can use it as a phone.
Receiving messages was never going to be an issue, but typing one on the watch is a bit tiresome, since the keypad is too small considering the display is just of 1.33-inches. But you may get better with time, as you get used to the keypad.
You can practically install any Android app on the device, as you would do on a smartphone and apart from the small display, there shouldn’t be a big issue using these apps on the watch. Running AnTuTu on the phone was smooth as well. Apps like weather also work well.
BATTERY:
Initially, the battery life was less than impressive, but now, things are better. The battery life has definitely improved after the new update, so if you already have the device, make sure you update it. The watch lasts for more than a day with mixed usage, which is much better than before. This goes on to show that a future update could make things even better.
CONCLUSION:
The Blitz is a great watch for first time smartwatch users. It comes with many features including a SIM card slot, a good display, many watch face options and most of all, it is quite affordable as well.
Not long after Meizu went official with the Meizu M5, another device going by the name Meizu M5 Note has been spotted on benchmark site GeekBench, where it went through some testing, along the line giving us a peek at some of its specs. The device seems to be a premium version of the M5 which launched with a 5.2-inch 720 pixels display and powered by a MediaTek MT6750 chip.
According to the GeekBench data, the Meizu M5 Note features the MediaTek Helio P10 processor (MT6755) inside it. The processor which is an Octa-core CPU ran at a clock speed of 1GHz, perhaps for the test. The device is also listed as having 3GB of RAM, a tad higher than the 2GB RAM on the M5 and running Android 6.0 Marshmallow OS. On the result bench, the Meizu M5 Note polled a score of 687 points on the single-core test and 2481 points on the multi-core test.
In another related development, a device suspected to be the M5 Note has also been revealed to have received 3C (CCC) certification in China. The device is listed as M682 and this is deduced to be the M5 Note giving the fact that the M3 Note was listed with the model number M681. The CCC certificate is required on all devices that is imported, used or sold in the Chinese market and this latest listing could be an indication that the device will likely launch soon.
A Weibo post by OnePlus on its official Weibo page has somewhat confirmed the rumor that the expected OnePlus device would be called OnePlus 3T. All along no word had been gotten on the name that the device, which shares a lot of features with the OnePlus 3, would adopt. The teased post comes with the texts, “Another self, may be better for you. “T”, coming soon! # NeverSettle # “, as well as a poster containing an image of a OnePlus 3 standing before the mirror.
Although the post may not have categorically mentioned the device as OnePlus 3T but it gives us the clue that the device is a T series device. You may say perhaps it could be an entirely new name, perhaps not. The poster contains a OnePlus 3 device standing before the mirror and its reflection on the mirror is that of a device with a “T” inscribed on its display. That is another clue that the expected device is very likely named OnePlus 3T.
Besides, the expected smartphone is tipped to be an upgraded version of the OnePlus 3, infused with the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 chipset clocked at 2.35GHz. The OnePlus 3T is expected to sport the same 5.5-inch 1080p Optic AMOLED display that was first seen on the OnePlus 3, though new details have emerged that it is likely that the OnePlus 3T would use LCD display due to shortage of AMOLED screen in order to fast track shipment of the device.
In addition, the device is expected to feature two memory versions with 64GB or 128GB of internal storage, but both models are expected to have 6GB of RAM. The major differences from the OnePlus 3 will include an upgrade of the processor to Snapdragon 821, while the rear camera is expected to have the Sony IMX398 sensor that can be found in the OPPO R9s and R9s Plus, as well as an increased 3,300mAh battery capacity. Also unlike the OnePlus 3, the upcoming device is expected to have Android 7.0 Nougat pre-installed. Not forgetting also that the price is said to likely come around $80 higher than the OnePlus 3, placing it around $480. The device is expected to be launched on November 15.
The Huawei Mate 9 released a few weeks ago comes in two variants: the standard edition and the curved-screen edition called the Mate 9 Porsche Design. However, we reported that Huawei is going to launch a different model in addition to the two above as a China exclusive.
This new model features the same dual-curved display but lacks the Porsche Design customization. For the sake of clarity, Huawei is calling it the Mate 9 Pro and real images of the phone have been leaked online ahead of the launch tomorrow.
The images were posted on Weibo by @Digitalcrazy and we can’t help but see how closely the front resembles that of a Samsung S7 Edge.
This unit of the Mate 9 Pro has a Champagne Gold coating and a brushed metal design on the back. The camera setup is the same as the other two models but the LED flash now sits atop the sensors and the laser focus module below it.
The antenna lines are more visible and there is a 3.5mm audio jack at the bottom. The fingerprint scanner has also been moved to the front of the phone.
The Huawei P9 is no doubt one of the best phones of the year and it has played no small role in pushing the manufacturer to the top of the list of smartphone makers in China. While there is still a good five months before the release of its successor, the Huawei P10, the specifications of the upcoming phone have been released online via a GFX benchmarking test.
The phone whose model number is LON-L29 (the Huawei P9′ model number is LON-L19) has a 5.5” Quad HD display and is powered by Huawei’s latest processor, the Kirin 960 which is clocked at 2.3GHz. The Kirin 960 is the same processor present in the recently released Huawei Mate 9. The P10 sports 6GB of RAM, 256GB of storage, and runs Android 7.0 Nougat.
There is an 11MP (12MP) camera on the rear that can shoot 4K videos and has the usual features like face detection, autofocus, and HDR. However, there is no mention of it being a dual setup. The front facing camera on the other hand is a 7MP (8MP) sensor and there is also NFC on board.
November 11th is called a Singles’ Day in China and a lot of online retailers have quite a few discounts on numerous products. Although it is just a one day holiday in the far east, most of the shops tend to “celebrate” this day for a longer time and offer some generous discounts. There are quite a lot deals at Gearbest and we wanted to share with you some of them we think are worth your attention.
We have reviewed the ZUK Z2 5 months ago but it is still quite a compelling offering. In fact, it is one of the cheapest Snapdragon 820-powered smartphones you can get at the moment. In addition to the powerful processor, the phone sports 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage that are packed in a beautiful and compact body. Learn more about the ZUK Z2 in our full review.
Some of us may have already lost the number of phones Xiaomi released this year but the Redmi Note 4 is the latest model in their budget Note lineup. It sports a premium all-metal build, great specs, feature-rich user interface and as we said in our in-depth review, if you are in the market of solid budget-friendly phones, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 should be definitely on your list as it is an easy buying recommendation.
Another great product that we have already reviewed is the Xiaomi smart LED desk lamp. At the time of our review, we said that it was the most beautiful desk LED lamp. It sports a very nice-looking minimalistic design, it has tons of features and it can be controlled via Wifi using your phone.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 may have been released quite a while ago but we still believe it is a great smartphone for the price. The Note 3 Pro is actually a more powerful model that sports a Snapdragon 650 chip, 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. All of these specs are packed into a beautiful metal shell and the phone is powered by a beefy 4000mAh battery.
The last device in our list is the Yotaphone 2. Obviously, it is not the newest phone on the market but even in 2016, it still looks very innovative since it has 2 displays. One display sports a conventional 1080p LCD panel and the other has the e-ink panel that is not only power-efficient (reading time up to 100 hours) but also easy on your eyes. Finally, the phone sports some decent specs for such a low price: Snapdragon 800 chip, 2GB of RAM and 32GB of storage.
Last week there was news of a bezel-less phone in Meizu’s pipeline. The phone which is expected to be Meizu’s take on the Xiaomi Mi Mix even goes further and ditches the lower bezel completely. While the general assumption is that it is a stand alone phone not associated with any of the company’s current series, a new set of leaks is saying it is the Meizu Pro 7.
Meizu has not had a very good year in the high-end smartphone category which is majorly based on their current not-so-friendly relationship with Qualcomm, but if we are to believe that these new leaked images of a bezel-less Meizu Pro 7 posted by @Kjuma on Weibo are true, then things might be taking a different turn.
The leaked images say the Meizu Pro 7 will have a 5.62” Super AMOLED screen with a 1080 x 2160 resolution which is unusual for a regular phone but not so much for a bezel-less phone. It will be available in 2 variants: one with 6GB of RAM and 64GB of storage priced at ¥2699 ($396); and another with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage priced at ¥3099 ($454).
Now you might be wondering how Meizu will fit a front facing camera on a phone with a bezel-less display, probably use a single sensor for the rear and front like the Honor 7i? Not at all.
Meizu has decided to use separate sensors for them. From the leaked images, the front 8MP camera appears to slide out of the top frame when needed while the rear camera camera sits in the middle of the phone with a LED flash below it.
The leak also shows the phone will feature an embedded fingerprint sensor which is most likely Qualcomm’s ultrasonic fingerprint technology. In addition to that, it will sport a newer version of Meizu’s fast charging technology (mCharge 4.0) which will charge the phone from 0 to 100% in 40 minutes. There is no mention of the battery capacity but the phone’s thickness is 6.5mm which is pretty thin by today’s standard so a 3000mAh battery might be the largest capacity they can fit inside the phone. It will also launch with Flyme OS 5.1.
We have not heard of Meizu working on a Nougat update for any of their phones as even quite a number of phones released by the company this year launched with Android Lollipop, so the best we might be getting is Android Marshmallow.
The Meizu Pro 7 is expected to be released on the 24th of December but will probably go on sale in 2017.
We better know Elephone as a smartphone manufacturer but the company seeks to expand its product portfolio by producing other devices too. I have been using the Elephone ELE Whisper earphones for a few weeks already. They are meant to deliver noise cancelling and Hi-Fi sound qualities on a budget (the current price is around $48). Learn more if it is truly the case in our full review.
This pair of earphones comes in quite a fancy-looking packaging. Inside of it, you can find some extra ear tips and the USB cable.
DESIGN, COMFORT, FEATURES
The earphones are made of plastic to keep the weight as low as possible. At the first glance, the shape looks kind of interesting but once you put the earbuds to your ears, they are very comfortable to wear. Make sure to choose the right ear tips to get a perfect seal.
We have a multi-functional button along with the mic. The call quality is pretty good as I didn’t have many complaints from the people I spoke on the phone.
The headset jack is covered in the aluminium shell. Some people prefer the L-shaped but I have always preferred the I-shaped ones.
One of the disadvantages is a regular rubber cable. It gets tangled up quite easily. Other than that, it is of a high quality.
SOUND QUALITY and NOISE CANCELLING
The key selling point of this headset is its noise cancelling and Hi-Fi capabilities.
You can turn on the noise cancelling feature by simply pressing the on/off switch. It is said that the built 24mAh battery would allow you to listen to music using the noise cancelling for 25 hours. I got pretty similar results.
I have to say that I was fairly impressed by the noise reduction features considering the price of this headset. You can definitely hear the difference once turn and off this feature.
In terms of the sound quality, I do not consider myself as an audiophile but I have to say that I am very pleased with how these earphones sound. Although I would not go that far claiming that this headset reaches Hi-Fi quality and the sound is not as good as e.g. Sennheiser offerings but Elephone ELE Whisper delivers quite balanced and rich sound. If we compare this headset to some cheaper options (e.g. Xiaomi Pistons), you can definitely hear more pronounced highs and mids, and a better overall clarity.
CONCLUSIONS
Elephone ELE Whisper aims to deliver quite a lot for a low price (the current price is around $48) and it succeeds in quite a few ways. The earphones offer great sound quality for its class, they are comfortable to wear and last but not least, noise cancelling technology works quite well.
However, the earbuds are made of plastic. Aluminium housing would have added a lot more premium look and feel. Lastly, there should have been a tangle-free cable instead of a regular one.
Other than that, Elephone ELE Whisper are pretty good earphones and they offer quite a bit of value given the current price tag, despite a few shortcomings.
Jingdong.com is one of the largest 3C (computer, communications, and consumer electronics) online stores in China and yesterday they and several other stores held one of the biggest shopping festivals in the year, the Singles’ Day (Double 11) shopping event. The mall has disclosed that total sales made from the shopping event exceeded 42.5 million.
The sales which cover a wide range of items have been broken down into three major categories:
Mobile phones = 4.34 million units
Computers and office accessories = 17.28 million units
Digital cameras, tablets, ebooks, headphones, smart devices, travel tickets, and hotel bookings etc. = 20.88 million units
Jingdong says Huawei (and Honor), Xiaomi, and Apple were the three best selling phone manufacturers in the smartphone category followed by Meizu, Samsung, LeEco, 360 Mobile, Nubia, OPPO, and ZTE.
The top 10 best selling phones during the sales are the Redmi Note 3, iPhone 7, Honor 8, Redmi Note 4, Honor Play 5C, Redmi 3S, iPhone 7 Plus, Honor Play 5, iPhone 6 Plus, and Honor Play 5A. Huawei’s Honor sub-brand is no doubt enjoying massive popularity among shoppers.
For the computers and office category, Jingdong says 650,000 notebook sales were recorded with Lenovo, Dell, ASUS, ThinkPad, HP, Apple, Samsung, and Acer being the top sellers. In addition, over 570,000 monitor sales from manufacturers such as Samsung, AOC, Dell, Philips, and LG were recorded.
Storage devices (SSDs and USB flash drives) sold exceeded 2 million, while printers and projectors sold was just shy of a million units (960,000).
For the last category, the sales figure shows people are still picking up tablets as the online store sold 500,000 tablets from manufacturers like Lenovo, Apple, Microsoft, Huawei, Teclast, Samsung, CUBE, and ASUS.
Digital camera sales had Canon, Nikon, and Sony taking the lead followed by Dajiang, Fuji, GoPro, Casio, Xiaoyi, Panasonic and Olympus.
The OnePlus 3 is currently one of the best phones that perfectly balances price and quality. Running Android Marshmallow out of the box, the company is now set to update it to Android 7.0 Nougat.
OnePlus says they will be starting with a beta build of the new Android version which will be available later this month. The final release is expected to hit devices by the end of the year.
This news will help prospective buyers who have been considering purchasing the OnePlus 3 make up their minds. And with Black Friday and Cyber Monday coming soon, they should also be able to get it for less than its current selling price.
OnePlus has also confirmed that their flagship from last year, the OnePlus 2 will also be getting the Nougat update but haven’t mentioned a specific time for the update. Next year sounds like the only possible time though. Sadly the, OnePlus X (which just got Marshmallow by the way) and the OnePlus One won’t be getting updated to Nougat due to hardware requirements.
Snapdragon 820 and 821 chipsets have driven the flagship market this year, which isn’t surprising given that they are one of the fastest chips available right now. However, like all tech products, soon, the Snapdragon 821 that we say is so powerful, will be replaced by an even powerful Snapdragon 830 chipset and that should most likely happen early 2017.
Now, more details about the Snapdragon 830 chip and its Quick Charging 4.0 technology has just been revealed via a new report. The new chip is said to come with an ever faster Quick Charging technology, the fourth generation version. The Quick Charge 4.0 is said to charge smartphones at an even faster pace because it comes with 28W charging. Fudzilla states that the chip will support 5V/4.7A~5.6A, 9V/4A configurations, which if true, will make charging super fast. Further, thanks to the Intelligent Negotiation for Optimum Voltage (INOV), the technology should be able to charge large batteries, which is becoming a trend among flagships, even faster.
The first Snapdragon 820 smartphone, the Le Max Pro (although it wasn’t commercially available) was released as early as January this year. So, we could meet the first Snapdragon 830 chip as soon as January 2017. However, there was a good reason for Qualcomm to speed up the release of the 820, after the big debacle with the overheating Snapdragon 810.
This year, things are different and much more positive for the chipmaker, especially with Snapdragon 821 still fresh, powering new flagships. So, Qualcomm could release the Snapdragon 830 a bit later into 2017, rather than giving it a very early release. Well, we’ll know for sure in the next few weeks, so stay tuned for more details.
Ahead of the November 15 expected launch of the Gionee S9, more details and leaks about the flagship device have continued to come out. A recently teased poster has revealed that the Gionee S9 would feature a front soft flash which would aid the selfie camera in churning out crisp clear images. The official poster seems to be a press invite and it indeed confirms that the device would launch on November 15.
The poster also teases the fact that the Gionee S9 would sport dual cameras at the rear capable of outputting images with bokeh effect , in addition to having a fast focus. It must be pointed out that this is Gionee’s first device with dual cameras and it comes in gold and black colors.
In the same vein, real live renders of the S9 have been leaked online showing the black variant of the S9 from both front and back. The renders reveal a lot about the device both physically and also the software angle, as the user interface could be seen on the display. The device runs Android 6.0 Marshmallow out-of-the-box and that could be noticed to have gotten a little tweaking by Gionee.
The design isn’t bad either, as the device features well chamfered edges which aid holding the device. The volume keys and power button are also seated at the right side if the device. The device also has a physical home button which also double as the fingerprint scanner to unlock the device.
We don’t need to look very far to get the specs of the Gionee S9 as the device had previously made the rounds on TENAA and AnTuTu benchmark revealing the key specs. Accordingly, the S9 sports a 5.5-inch 1080p display with a 2.5D glass on top. The device is powered by a a 2.0GHz MediaTek Helio P10 processor along with 4GB of RAM. There is also a large 64GB of internal storage, a 13MP camera up front, while the rear dual cameras are made of 13MP + 5MP sensors. The device also runs Android 6.0 Marshmallow, weighs 166.5g and pack a 3,000mAh battery.
HTC has today officially announced its latest smartphone reputed to feature a super fast download speed which makes it adopt the name- HTC Bolt. The Bolt, which was unveiled in the US, is exclusive to US carrier Sprint and is touted as the fastest smartphone on Sprint’s network. To give the Bolt’s fast download an iconic outlook, the smartphone has the endorsement of Usain Bolt, the world’s fastest man.
The HTC Bolt looks a lot like last years HTC 10, adopting the same design with a little modifications here and there. The Bolt features a full-metal unibody which said to be water resistant, HTC’s first device to have such capability. The smartphone also does not have the 3.5mm audio jack, instead packing a USB Type-C headphone that can adapt their sound to your specific hearing.
The HTC Bolt features a slightly larger 5.5-inc quad HD display, making it a little bigger than the HTC 10. The device is powered by the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 SoC as found on the HTC 10 as well as packs 3GB of RAM on-board, instead of a higher and more modern Snapdragon 820 chipset and 4GB RAM. The device also features a 3,200mAh battery with support for Qualcomm’s Quck Charge 2.0 fast charging.
On the camera end, the HTC Bolt sports a 16MP (non-Ultra Pixel) rear camera with LED flash and Optical image stabilization, as well as an 8MP front-facing camera. There is also a front fingerprint sensor as well as capacitive buttons. The HTC Bolt has an IP57 water resistance capability which lets the device survive submersion in 1m depth of water fro up to 30 minutes. Also, the Bolt is already certified for Sprint’s 3×20 carrier aggregation. In addition, the Bolt runs on Android 7.0 Nougat out-of-the-box, making it the first HTC smartphone to run Google’s latest Android platform.
As for the price, the Bolt doesn’t come cheap as the device is available starting today for $600 (around 4,088 Yuan). An outrageously expensive amount for such specs, I’d say. What do you think?
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