Exclusive: OnePlus 3 Production Could Be Halted, Likely To Make Way For A New Model

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Oct 10, 2016

For the past few days, we have been reporting about the shortage in stock of the OnePlus 3 flagship. The company seems to be having a hard time keeping up with the demand for its brand new device, and users are reporting delivery times exceed four to five weeks! Given that this phone has been in the market since June, such late delivery period is simply unacceptable.

However, the company seems to be working on a solution to this problem. According to one of our supply chain sources, OnePlus is actually going to stop the production of the current OnePlus 3 flagship. He reveals that this move is necessary to make way for a new model, probably going to be called as the OnePlus 3S (or maybe the OnePlus 3 Plus, we are not sure at the moment). Further, he adds that gray version is already out of stock and only the gold version is available right now.

So, why would the company release a new model when the OnePlus 3 is still one of the best value for money phones in the market? Well, he says that the company plans to change the CPU inside, most likely use the newer and faster Snapdragon 821. Further, another reason for releasing a new model could be to shift from AMOLED to LCD panels, as AMOLED supply shortage seems to be one of the big reasons why OnePlus 3 is unable to keep up the production in tune to the demand.

OnePlus CEO had earlier said that the company wants to focus on just one smartphone this year. But given the supply shortage, it’s possible that the company releases the new OnePlus 3S model and scraps the old one, to make sure that the demand is met timely.

We are not 100% sure about this information, but since it comes from a trusted supply chain source, it’s likely that this information is true. Unfortunately, our source didn’t reveal when the company plans to release this new handset. We will try to get more details soon. Till then, stay tuned to gizmochina for more updates.

New iPhone 7 Explodes in Man’s Face While Shooting a Video

By

Habeeb Onawole

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Oct 10, 2016

It seems the curse of the exploding phones has spread to Apple. A man who reportedly bought a new iPhone 7 was injured shortly afterwards while he was recording a video with it. According to the man, the phone reportedly disintegrated sending glass flying across his face and causing one of his fingers on his right hand to swell.

While the case of the iPhone 7 is not as rampant as that of Samsung’s Note 7 replacements (up to 5 in just a week), this is just as important because the safety of consumers is paramount.

The man was said to have called Apple’s after sales support who then told him they were not authorised to handle such a case but proceeded to forward the complaint to the headquarters. The man didn’t state where he bought the phone from, however the case is currently under investigation.

Here’s the video about the incident (in Chinese), in case you want to check out.

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Huawei Honor 6X To Launch October 18, Press Invite Out!

By

Jed John Ikoba

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Oct 10, 2016

Barely two weeks after the Huawei Honor 6X hit TENAA for the second time revealing the render of the device, Huawei has started sending out press renders for the launch of the mid-range device. According to the poster, the Honor 6X would be unveiled on October 18 which is just close by.

We have already gotten a great deal of the specs of the device from its appearance on TENAA, spotted twice. According to the TENAA listing, the Huawei Honor 6X sports a 5.5-inch 1080pixel display and is powered by a Kirin 650 chipset along with 3GB of RAM. The device also features 32GB of internal storage and crams a 3340mAh battery under its hood. The main highlight of the Honor 6X should be the dual cameras at the rear the device is coming with comprising a 12MP primary sensor and a 2MP secondary camera. The device also features an 8MP front-facing camera for selfie snapshots.

In addition, the Huawei Honor 6X is said to come with support for all network operators in China and in terms of the price tag, the device is said to come in very cheap.

Samsung China Reveals Teaser For ‘The Next Big Thing’, Likely For the Galaxy C9 Phablet

By

Joel Joseph

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Oct 10, 2016

After temporarily stopping the production of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7, it looks like the company is keen to turn its focus on other devices. Earlier today, Samsung’s Chinese Galaxy account on Weibo revealed a new teaser, “the next big thing is coming”. While the teaser does not reveal the identity of the upcoming smartphone, it looks like Samsung could be hinting the release of the rumored Galaxy C9 smartphone soon.

The teaser also tells us a bit about the device “seamless, with great accuracy.” And then there’s a glimpse of the back of the device with curved corners. Considering the timing of the launch, as well as the words “the next big thing is coming”, it’s likely that the upcoming device is none other than the Galaxy C9 phablet.

We have been hearing about this particular smartphone, which is probably Chinese exclusive, for the past few weeks. The phone is said to come with a massive 6-inch 1080p display with Snapdragon 652 octa-core chipset inside. What makes this phone interesting is the 6GB of RAM inside, as revealed by the recent Geekbench listing. Other expected features of the device include 16MP cameras on the front as well as the back and Android 6 out of the box.

Considering the issue with the Galaxy Note 7 and the lack of a 6GB RAM phone from the company yet, the Galaxy C9 will be an important smartphone for the company. At 6-inches, it a bit bigger than the Note 7 and specs wise, with Snapdragon 652 inside, it is not nearly as powerful as the Note 7, however, the company could potentially market the C9 as a cheaper alternative to the Note 7. I personally wouldn’t mind having an S Pen with this 6-inch phablet.

No official release dates are out yet, but expect more details soon.

3C Certification Reveals Details of Meizu Pro 6S

By

Habeeb Onawole

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Oct 10, 2016

An image of a certificate issued by China Compulsory Certification reveals the details of the upcoming Meizu flagship, the Pro 6S. The certificate which mentions Meizu Technology Co. Ltd as the applicant and manufacturer also lists the factory handling the production as Langfang Ultrafine Communications Technology Co., Ltd.

The certificate includes a phone with model number M570Q-S. Since the Pro 6’s model number is M570Q, this new device is most probably the Meizu Pro 6S.

The certificate also shows the charge supported by the phone: there’s 5V 2A, 8V 3A, and 12V 2A. This means the Pro 6S will also support Meizu’s mCharge 3.0 (24W) technology.

The Meizu Pro 6S is expected to launch later this month with a Mediatek Helio P20 chip clocked at 2.3GHz, a Mali T880MP2 GPU, and a 5.2 inches display.

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Samsung Halts Production of Galaxy Note 7 After Reports Of Replacement Units Exploding

By

Joel Joseph

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Oct 9, 2016

After an amazing first half of 2016, Samsung seems to be in a lot of trouble recently. The flagship device of the second half of 2016, the Galaxy Note 7 has been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons and with the company recalling nearly 2.5 million Note 7 units for replacing a faulty battery, we would have thought the worst is over.

However, recently, reports about even replacement Galaxy Note 7 units exploding have surfaced online, which makes this issue even more serious. As a result, the Korean news agency, Yonhap reports that Samsung has temporarily halted the production of the Galaxy Note 7 units. This comes just after US and Australian carriers decided to stop selling replacement Note 7 units to its customers.

Samsung had said in a previous statement that the Note 7 explosions were caused by faulty batteries supplied by the company’s battery subsidiary. However, now that even the replacement units are said to be exploding, it looks like halting the production as well as sales of the Note 7 units is the best decision for the company right now.

If you are using a Note 7 in the US, carriers like Verizon and AT&T are offering different models and even refunds if you want to turn in your Samsung flagship.

Looks like the best option for the company right now is to kill off the Note 7 and limit its reputation damage. What it could do is focus on the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S8 flagship and make sure it’s not affected by this issue. Further, the company could even prepone the release of the Note 8 flagship next year. But at this moment, we will have to wait and watch how the company tackles this difficult situation.

Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 830 Chips (MSM8998) Spotted on Zauba

By

Jed John Ikoba

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Oct 9, 2016

Qualcomm’s next generation Snapdragon 830 chipset has been in the news quite frequently lately, with recent rumors alleging that Samsung would manufacture the chip on Qualcomm’s behalf. Seems, though the chip has gone up into production because it has been listed on India’s import/export tracking website, Zauba with model number MSM8998.

The Zauba listing for the Snapdragon 830 showed the device, listed as MSM8998, made several entries into India from September 12 to October 6 with a total of 80 units delivered to the Asian country, apparently for testing. The devices were listed to have originated from the US.

Zauba is notorious for sparing very little detail about the shipments but this one is generous enough to give us the idea that the prototype device with which the chip ships features 4GB of LPDDR4 RAM as well as 64GB of built-in storage. The value of each chip and prototype device shipped into India by Qualcomm was put at 102,641 Rupees (around $1,541).

Earlier rumors had speculated that the Qualcomm Snapdragon 830 processor will use the 10nm FinFET process and Kyro 200 architecture, sporting an Adreno 540 GPU, X16 baseband which is allegedly capable of download speed of up to 980Mbps and has LPDDR4X memory and 4K × 2K / 60fps video recording, dual lifting performance and functionality. There are also rumors that the next gen chip may not be called Snapdragon 830 but SD 835 instead and would feature first onboard some versions of the Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Edge billed for release in February 2017.

(source)

Huawei Nova Version (CAZ-AL10) with 4GB RAM Launched

By

Jed John Ikoba

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Oct 9, 2016

Huawei had unveiled the Nova and Nova Plus range of smartphones at IFA Berlin 2016 with both models boasting of mid-range specs. Also both smartphones were billed to enter into the market globally this October but before that will happen, Huawei has now launched a 4GB RAM version of the Huawei Nova (CAZ-AL10) yesterday in China.

The Huawei Nova earlier released comes in silver, gray or gold color variants, adorning a beautiful design and just like the Nova Plus, was launched with just 3GB RAM onboard. The launch of a 4GB RAM variant, even before the device hits store shelves could be seen as a major tweaking to give the mid-range device more competitiveness. Apart from the RAM upgrade, the new version of the Huawei Nova (CAZ-AL10) now comes with support for LTE-A carrier aggregation on supported Chinese carriers, having the ability to deliver download speed of up to 300Mbps. In addition, the device comes in white and black color variants only which clearly distinguishes it from the 3GB RAM version. The device is already up for purchase in China.

To recall, the Huawei Nova sports a 5-inch IPS display with 1080 pixel resolution and is powered by an Octa-core 2GHz Snapdragon 625 processor, with 32GB of built-in storage which can be expanded further than that via microSD up to 128GB. There’s also a beautifully designed 12MP main camera at the rear with LED flash and f/2.2 aperture, and an 8MP selfie camera with f/2.0 aperture up front.

Furthermore, the Huawei Nova runs on Huawei’s custom Emotion UI 4.1 (EMUI 4.1) based on Android 6.0 Marshmallow bringing along several of Huawei’s UI features, like slow-motion modes, light painting, time-lapse. Huawei also updated the night display feature that filters blue light from the screen. There is also a 3,020mAh battery inside the device which Huawei claims drains so slowly that it can last for two days of consistent usage. Added to all these include a fingerprint sensor, USB Type-C data transfer and charging port, Cat 6 LTE radio, dual-SIM slots etc.

GizmoChina Weekly: Top Stories From Past Week (Oct 2 – Oct 8)

By

Joel Joseph

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Oct 9, 2016

Last week wasn’t as busy as usual, mainly because of the National Day holidays in China. Still there were a few interesting articles that we reported during the period, with the major focus on upcoming phones like Xiaomi Mi Note 2 and OPPO R9S. Google was busy the previous week, all thanks to the two new Pixel phone launches. There was a story on the Mate 9 as well. Sharp also made the headlines past week, all thanks to its 1000 ppi display and the Corner R concept bezel-less phone.

In case you missed out on the hot stories from last week, they are given below. We also reviewed a few interesting products, including the Xiaomi Yeelight strip. Note that the top reviews are posted after the top news articles.

Sharp Unveils Corner R Smartphone with Stunning Curved Bezel-less Display

iPhone 7 and Leica M9-P Slug it Out in Camera Battle

Google Pixel and Pixel XL Official: Premium Phones With SD821, Powerful Cameras & Daydream Ready

Xiaomi Mi Note 2 Prototype Surfaces, Curved Display Likely!

Huawei Mate 9 Rumours: 20MP & 12MP Dual Leica Cameras and 50% Charge in 5 Minutes

Apple A10X Chip’s Benchmark Score Leaks, Reveals Incredible Performance

Elephone’s New Smartphone Will Flaunt Curved Display & Ceramic Back Cover

OPPO R9s Launches on October 19: First to Feature Sony IMX398 Sensor

The following were the top reviews of last week:

Xiaomi Yeelight Smart Light Strip Review! It is Awesome!

Insta 360 4K – A Premium 360 Camera Review

Blackview A8 Max Review – A Nice $80 Phone

Oukitel U7 Plus Review

We also published a smartphone buyers guide for the month of October for phones priced between $200-$300. You can check that out from below.

Smartphone Buyers Guide: Best Value For Money Chinese SmartPhones $200-$300

New Xiaomi Phone Leaked: 3GB RAM, 64GB Storage, & All-Metal Body

By

Habeeb Onawole

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Oct 9, 2016

Just a few weeks after the launch of the Xiaomi Mi 5s and Mi 5s Plus, pictures of a new Xiaomi phone have leaked online. The new phone which features an all-metal black body is said to be a new Redmi phone, though some say it might be the Xiaomi Mi 5c.

The front of the phone is fitted with a 2.5D glass and appears to feature the same fingerprint groove as the Mi 5s which means it may come with an ultrasonic fingerprint scanner.

The back has a dual tone black coating with the top part that houses the camera, LED flash, and the antenna; and the lower part, having a darker shade of black compared to the rest of the body. .The camera is placed at the top left corner of the phone beside the flash. The phone keeps the power button and volume rocker on the left like all the new Xiaomi phones.

One of the images leaked includes the about phone section of the phone. There’s 3GB of RAM on board, 64GB of storage, and an octa-core processor clocked at 2.2GHz. It’s also running Android Marshmallow 6.0 based on MIUI 8. The funny thing about the image is the security patch which is dated December 2015 which is pretty old. The page also lists that the phone supports VoLTE.

The images were posted on Weibo by a user whose account name translates to @jumping cute tiger with an accompanying text saying it’s a new Redmi phone with a Mediatek Helio P20 chip and 3GB of RAM priced like the Mi 5s.

The base version of the Xiaomi Mi 5s starts at 1999 Yuan ($300) and features a Snapdragon 821 processor. No one will pick a phone with a Helio P20 phone over a Snapdragon 821 phone selling at the same price. So we want to believe that price is just a wild guess.

Analyst Says Due to AMOLED Display Shortage Affecting OnePlus 3, Buyers Better Wait for OnePlus 3S

By

Habeeb Onawole

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Oct 9, 2016

The OnePlus 3 is starting to run out of stock and the blame has been put on a shortage of AMOLED displays. The issue as affected many phones with OLED displays. OPPO for example has another version of the OPPO R9 that uses a LCD display. This was done to prevent the phone from being out of stock.

According to analyst, Pan Jiutang, he thinks since the OnePlus 3 is running out of stock due to low supply of AMOLED displays, buyers should rather wait for a new phone called the OnePlus 3S. It appears the OnePlus 3S will have a LCD display and hence wouldn’t suffer from supply issues.

pan-jiutang-oneplus-3s-comment

While the info hasn’t been confirmed yet, we can’t rule out the possibility of that happening as a shortage will cause buyers to consider other options.

Another source, Liuzuo Hu, had earlier reported on the release of a phone called the OnePlus 3S but the question is if the only change coming to the phone is the change in display. OnePlus may decide to also include the new Snapdragon 821 processor and retain all the other features.

Until OnePlus confirms this, please take this with a grain of salt.

Huawei Mate 9 Rumours: 20MP & 12MP Dual Leica Cameras and 50% Charge in 5 Minutes

By

Habeeb Onawole

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Oct 9, 2016

The Huawei Mate 9 is one of the most anticipated phones from Huawei before the year runs out and for several weeks now we’ve been getting tons of leaks. Today is no different, as new details of the flagship emerge.

The main detail consumers want to know about is the dual camera setup on the Mate 9. A previous leak revealed that the phone will feature 20MP dual cameras supplied by Leica, but the latest leak says it will be a 20MP and 12MP combo. This means that it’s either the official poster leaked online in the article is a fake or this new detail isn’t true as well. The info which was posted on Weibo also mentions that the front shooter will be an 8 megapixel sensor.

Alongside the info for the camera comes news of Huawei’s Supercharge Technology in the Mate 9 reported to be able to charge the phone to 50% battery capacity in only 5-minutes!!! The insanely fast charging technology was first announced last year with a video demo and the last we heard of it was when the Chinese manufacturer applied for a trademark in Europe.

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OPPO R9s Launches on October 19: First to Feature Sony IMX398 Sensor

By

Habeeb Onawole

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Oct 9, 2016

OPPO has sent out invitations for the official launch of the OPPO R9s. The invitation lists the date as the 19th of October for the release of the R9 successor.

Like its sibling, the R9s will focus on camera performance and the invitation reveals that the phone will be the first in the world to sport Sony’s new IMX398 sensor. OPPO is still keeping the details of the camera under wraps but a source says it is a 16MP dual-pixel camera combo on the front and rear with a f/1.7 aperture.

The OPPO R9s is also expected to feature Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 625 octa-core processor, a 3010mAh battery with VOOC fast charge, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage.

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Zopo Hero 2 Review

By

Linus

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Oct 9, 2016

Zopo has one budget device that is called Hero 2. It costs around $70 but it has some nice features like a metal trim and fingerprint sensor. Learn more in our full review.

Buy Zopo Hero 2

Zopo Hero 2 Review: VIDEO REVIEW

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWKfYBkcUEg[/embedyt]

Zopo Hero 2 Review: UNBOXING

In the box, you are getting all the usual stuff and some extras include a high-quality screen protector.

Zopo Hero 2 Review: DESIGN and DISPLAY

The key design elements of this phone is a metal trim and tactile metal buttons and a vinyl-like textured back cover.

In fact, the backplate can be easily removed to access a 2300mAh battery, two SIM card slots and the microSD card slot.

We have a 5.5” 720p display, which is okay but I’ve seen a bit higher quality panels even on the cheapest phones. My main concern is a slightly blueish tint.

There is no notification LED light and the capacitive buttons are not backlit but we have a front facing LED flash for night selfies. However, it is just a gimmick as it does not really help in the dark.

As for camera, we have just an 8MP shooter. The fingerprint sensor is not the fastest I’ve seen but it is pretty accurate.

The loudspeaker is like on most of the cheap phones – the sound is flat.

Zopo Hero 2 Review: HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE

The phone ships with a quad-core MTK6737 chip, 16GB of storage but it has only 1GB of RAM, which is kind of disappointing.

The 3D gaming performance is kind of a letdown. You should expect quite a bit of stutter when playing intensive games like Asphalt 8 on medium graphics.

Zopo Hero 2 Review: BENCHMARKS

Zopo Hero 2 Review: USER INTERFACE

The phone runs on Android 6.0 with a light Zopo’s skin on top of it. That means that some icons are redesigned and there are some extras features like gesture and motion controls. Some of them work great while others are kind of slow to respond.

I didn’t have any major lags or hiccups even after installing quite a few apps and I believe this is the most important thing for a cheap phone.

Zopo Hero 2 Review: IMAGE QUALITY

In general, an 8MP camera does not really impress but it is pretty good for the price of the phone. You may get some images usable for social media but don’t expect any stellar results.

Same can be said about 720p video quality.

The selfie camera is just mediocre as the images come out soft and with lots of noise.

Zopo Hero 2 Review: CONNECTIVITY

I didn’t have any connectivity issues and even the GPS lock speeds and accuracy were okay.

Zopo Hero 2 Review: BATTERY LIFE

The 2300mAh battery will get you through only if you are a light user. With my usage, I could get just around 3 hours of screen-on time, which is just an average result.

Zopo Hero 2 Review: CONCLUSIONS

Zopo Hero 2 is yet another cheap phone from China that aims to bring a lot of value to the table. It succeeds in quite a few ways as it has a decent design and build, the user interface that performs fast and the phone does not have major shortcomings.

However, the display has a bluish tint, the 3D gaming performance is mediocre, there is no notification LED light, capacitive buttons are not backlit and the battery life is just mediocre. Still, Zopo Hero 2 is a decent phone for the price but if you are in the market of cheap phones, you may also want to consider some other options available. Anyway, most of the cheap phones share the same pros and cons.

Buy Zopo Hero 2

New Xiaomi Crowdfunding Project: Inspired by a Dragonfly

By

Habeeb Onawole

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Oct 8, 2016

Xiaomi’s Mijia has something new coming on October 11 and from the teaser image, appears to have been inspired by a dragonfly. The poster’s theme even loosely translates to ”feel the dragonfly’s eyesight”.

The image which was posted on Weibo is accompanied with a brief explanation of how the eyes of a dragonfly works. Insects generally have multifaceted eyes. The housefly for example has 6,000 eye facets but the dragonfly more than quadruples it with 30,000 eye facets. Research has shown that dragonflies have one of the most advanced eyes in the Animal kingdom allowing them to even see ultraviolet rays. A dragonfly also has a near 360° view making it difficult to catch. See the video below.

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohcDPgd1V5Y[/embedyt]

This is where the guess comes in. Some people already think Xiaomi plans to launch a new camera with a 360° panoramic view and 240 fps slow-motion capability. If we look at it another way, we can also guess that it might be a drone as well with a camera with the above features.

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Rumour: OnePlus 3 Running Out of Stock Again?

By

Habeeb Onawole

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Oct 8, 2016

The OnePlus 3 is one of the best bang for the buck phones out there. Apart from the amazing specs and great price, software support is also very good. But according to analyst Pan Jiutang, it seems the phone is suffering from low stock again.

A few months ago, OnePlus had to suspend sales in 24 countries to build up inventory. Pan Jiutang says the low stock is due to supplies of AMOLED displays running low. The Chinese Golden Week holiday which ran from 1st of October to 7th of October may probably have added to the low number of available units as production facilities would have gone on break.

This low inventory appears to have affected a store in Canada which I believe is pictured below closed.

Quite a number of people want to get their hands on the OnePlus 3. Some people have even started shopping for the holidays. And with Thanksgiving and Black Friday less than 2 months away, OnePlus better stock up on the phone pretty fast.

Featuring a 5.5” Optic AMOLED screen, a snapdragon 820 chip, 6GB of RAM, 64GB of built-in storage, 16MP rear camera, 8MP front shooter, and a 3000mAh battery (that doesn’t explode) with an amazing fast charge technology all for $400, the OnePlus 3 is hard to beat.

Update: Although it is out of stock in Oneplus official shop, but it is available at Oppomart.

Buy Oneplus 3 at Oppomart, In Stock

Nokia D1C Ran Through Antutu: Reveals More Specs

By

Habeeb Onawole

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Oct 8, 2016

Nokia’s first foray into making android smartphones didn’t go well but the company seems to be taking another shot. Now that the 2-year deal (with Microsoft) preventing the release of phones bearing the Nokia name has ended, it is not surprising for us to hear about a new Nokia phone. We first reported that the Nokia D1C was found on GeekBench last week, this time around it has made its way to Antutu.

Antutu confirms the details we saw last week on GeekBench but reveals a little more. The D1C runs Android 7.0, comes with a Snapdragon 430 processor, an Adreno 505 GPU, and has 3GB of RAM. The screen size is unknown but the resolution is 1920 x 1080.

The phone’s built-in storage is also revealed to be 32GB. We also get to know the camera configuration. There is a 13 megapixel shooter on the back and an 8 megapixel camera in front for selfies.

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OPPO Confirms OPPO R9s: Releases Teaser Image

By

Habeeb Onawole

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Oct 8, 2016

OPPO’s R9 is one of the phone maker’s best selling phones till date. The phone has sold over 7 million units since its launch this year but the company thinks it’s time to release an upgrade in form of the OPPO R9s.

OPPO posted a teaser image with a large ”S” in gold on Weibo with the tag line ”Share the Moment”. The tag line hints at the OPPO R9s being a camera-centric device just like its sibling.

The R9s is said to have gotten its National 3C certification already and is expected to launch soon in less than a month. The phone has been reported to feature a camera with a large f/1.7 aperture, a snapdragon 625 chip and will support a 5V/4A VOOC fast charge technology.

Continue

All-metal Oukitel U15 Pro is on pre-sale for just $119.99 on Everbuying.net!

By

Linus

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Oct 7, 2016

We have reviewed quite a few phones made by Oukitel and most of them have been great devices for the price. The company is about to release a brand new U15 Pro model soon and it seems like a pretty nice-looking budget device.

First of all, the Oukitel U15 Pro is made entirely of metal and it sports a similar design to the Meizu MX5.

It claims to use the aircraft-grade aluminum. We are not sure about that since we have not tested the phone yet but at least Oukitel feels quite confident about the build quality of their new smartphone.

The phone sports pretty good specs for the price. That includes a Mediatek MTK6753 chip (1.3GHz), 3GB of RAM and 32GB of expandable storage.

Usually, cheap phones do not sport the best cameras and we do not expect any stellar results from the U15. Nevertheless, the device sports a pretty powerful setup on paper – a 16MP camera coupled with a dual LED flash.

All in all, Oukitel U15 shapes up to be a pretty nice phone for the price. The phone will retail for $139.99 when it goes on sale in November but you can now pre-order it for just $119.99 from Everbuying.net, which sounds like a pretty good deal considering the overall package of this phone.

Pre-order Oukitel U15 from Everbuying.net for just $119.99

Blackview E7 Review – A $67 Phone

By

Linus

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Oct 7, 2016

We have reviewed quite a few Blackview phones this year and the E7 is one of their latest budget offerings. The phone costs just $67, it has a decent design and more. Learn more in our full review.

Buy Blackview E7

Blackview E7 Review: VIDEO REVIEW

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBWPrxx8LlU[/embedyt]

Blackview E7 Review: UNBOXING

The phone ships with all the usual stuff and some extras include a soft TPU case and a pair of earphones.

Blackview E7 Review: DESIGN and DISPLAY

For just $67, the Blackview E7 is actually a pretty nice-looking phone. Although it does not use any premium materials like metal or glass in the construction, it is well-built.

We have a 5.5” display, which is only 720p but it is plenty sharp for the daily use. Unfortunately, we don’t have neither notification LED light nor backlit capacitive buttons.

There is only an 8MP camera on the back but we have a fingerprint sensor, which is not the fastest I’ve seen but it gets the job done.

The backplate can be easily removed to access a 2700mAh battery, two SIM card slots and the microSD card slot.

The loudspeaker is like on most of the cheap phones – the sound is flat.

Blackview E7 Review: HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE

The Blackview E7 sports some pretty good specs for the price. The phone ships with a quad-core MTK6737 chip, 16GB of storage but it has only 1GB of RAM, which is kind of disappointing.

On the other hand, the gaming performance is pretty good. You should be able to run most of the 2D games and 3D games like Asphalt 8 on the medium graphics. However, you should expect quite a bit of stutter and skipped frames.

Blackview E7 Review: BENCHMARKS

Blackview E7 Review: USER INTERFACE

The phone runs on Android 6.0 with the Blackview’s skin on top of it. That means that there is no app tray but we have a few extra features like a bunch of gesture and motion controls. Some of them work great while others are kind of slow to respond.

I didn’t have any major lags or hiccups even after installing quite a few apps and I believe this is the most important thing for a cheap phone.

Blackview E7 Review: IMAGE QUALITY

An 8MP camera does not really impress as we’ve seen some better-performing shooters on the cheap phones. Nevertheless, you may get some images usable for social media but don’t expect any stellar results.

Same can be said about 720p video quality. See a video review for the video sample.

The selfie camera is just mediocre as the images come out soft and with lots of noise.

Blackview E7 Review: CONNECTIVITY

I didn’t have any connectivity issues and even the GPS lock speeds and accuracy were okay.

Blackview E7 Review: BATTERY LIFE

The 2700mAh battery will get you through the day quite easily. With my usage, I could get around 4 hours of screen-on time, which is a decent result for a cheap phone.

Blackview E7 Review: CONCLUSIONS

The Blackview E7 is a pretty nice phone for just $67. It is pretty fast on the daily basis, it has a decent design and some extra features like a fingerprint sensor. However, it lacks premium materials in the design, it has just 1GB of RAM and it lacks notification LED light and backlit capacitive buttons. Still, the Blackview E7 is a good phone for the price but you have to consider if these shortcomings are important to you or not.

Buy Blackview E7