There is no denying that curved screen smartphones are the new trend in the market, and several known Chinese makers including Xiaomi have already released a curved screen flagship in the market. But Xiaomi isn’t a company that’s usually happy with just one flagship. So, could it be possible that Xiaomi has another curved screen smartphone in the works? At least that’s what a newly leaked image indicates.
Weibo is the hub of leaks, and the latest leak is said to reveal an unannounced curved Xiaomi smartphone. Now, the company already has two flagships with amazing displays — the Xiaomi Mi Mix and the Xiaomi Mi Note 2. But this one’s a bit different. We just get a glimpse of the alleged phone, but that’s enough to reveal a different style of curved display used on the device.
curved like the LG G Flex
The image shows that the phone is running MIUI and comes with a curve near the center, much like the LG G Flex. Now, if you remember, the Mi Note 2’s curved display is supplied by LG, so having a phone with a similar display as LG’s old G Flex isn’t entirely out of the picture. But given that the design didn’t really work out well for LG, it remains to be seen whether Xiaomi will experiment with the same design again.
Of course, before you get too excited, I would like to add that there is no conclusive evidence to say this is indeed a new smartphone from Xiaomi. So, we better wait for more details.
Samsung has officially launched a new Black Pearl color variant of its Galaxy S7 Edge flagship phone. The Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge Black Pearl variant comes as the seventh color variant of the popular Galaxy series device. It is the third color added to the lineup after the release of the Galaxy S7 Edge earlier this year and it brings to seven (7) the tally of color variants now available on the S7 Edge.
The Black Pearl color variant has a glossy outlook which radiates quality and luxury and will only be available on the top-end 128GB storage version. The color gives the device a stylish, sleek look and it covers the entire device, including the edges. The color even adds depth to the S7 Edge’s glass design.
The Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge is now available in White Pearl, Black Onyx, Gold Platinum, Silver Titanium, Blue Coral, Pink Gold and the latest Black Pearl color. The Black Pearl version will be available in select market from December 9 but Samsung didn’t mention the specific market. However, rumor has it that Samsung’s home country, South Korea is one of the market the version will be available in. Also, the Black Pearl version is already listed on the official Samsung Lynx flagship store in China with a hefty price tag of 6288 Yuan ($911). This is an indication that the Chinese market will join the select market where it will be sold.
The Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge has come to be Samsung’s hottest smartphones presently, occasioned by the disappointing outingof the Galaxy note 7 which was supposed to take over the baton. The S7 Edge is set to be replaced, though, with the Galaxy S8 which is rumored to debut in March next year with an all-screen display without bezels and physical home button just like the Xiaomi Mi Mix.
There are indications that Samsung is planning to use an all-screen display on its next generation flagship, the Galaxy S8, billed for release early 2017. According to the source, the South Korean tech giant plans to scrap the inclusion of a physical home button on the device and instead settle for a virtual button.
The use of an all-screen display became popular this year following the release of the Xiaomi Mi Mix but the Galaxy S8 is also touted to come with a curved screen display which would be without display bezels at the sides of the screen. The bezel-less display will afford users a more robust viewing experience and coupled with the fact that Samsung uses AMOLED displays, the display is expected to be spot-on. There will also likely be a virtual home button in the absence of the physical one and it will be embedded under the glass at the bottom edge.
Galaxy S7
Earlier rumor had hinted at the use of curved displays on both Galaxy S8 versions and this latest rumor seems to tally with that. According to the sources who wished to remain anonymous, the phones will come with wraparound displays using organic light-emitting diode technology.
Xiaomi Mi Mix
There are suggestions also that the Samsung Galaxy S8 may not drop in March next year as speculated, but the release date may likely be shifted to April. The reason given was that the company wants to ensure it comes out with a device that had undergone multiple security checks so as to avoid the sort of incidence that trailed the defunct Galaxy Note 7.
In addition, the changes in the display screen won’t affect the screen sizes as the device is also tipped to feature the same size as the previous Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge models. As usual, some models would ship with Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 835 chip while others would sport Samsung’s Exynos processor. There might also not be dual cameras due to high cost according to a source. The Galaxy S8 will also come with AI-enabled features which is said to be different from those already in the market and would also likely have an upgraded digital assistant that will use voice commands to send text messages, make phone calls and provide daily appointment scheduling.
Xiaomi’s Redmi smartphones have been one of the most successful budget devices out there. The Redmi 4 Prime is one of the latest offerings and it costs just $160 but it has a premium design and great specs. But is it really worth the price? Learn more in the full Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime review. Also, make sure to check out the coupon code for the discount at the end of the article.
The phone ships with all the usual stuff that comes with most of the phones. No extras included.
Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime Review: DESIGN and DISPLAY
When it comes to the design, the Redmi 4 is definitely one of the best-looking and the most premium budget phones you can get. It’s made of metal, it sits nicely in the hand and its buttons are nice and tactile.
The phone is compact due to its 5” 1080p display, which is just great. It is sharp, bright and definitely one of the better panels you can find on a budget phone.
We have a 5MP shooter and notification LED light, which can be highly customizable.
Unfortunately, the capacitive buttons are not backlit.
On the back, we have a 13MP shooter with f/2.2 aperture and a dual-LED flash. As usual to Xiaomi phones, the fingerprint scanner is fast, accurate and it allows you to unlock the device straight from the standby mode.
It’s great that we have the IR blaster to control devices like TVs. The sound quality via the headset jack is great. No distortions, rich and balanced sound and great volume output.
The loudspeaker quality is very good for a cheap phone like this.
Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime Review: HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE
I have the higher-end Redmi 4 Prime that has an octa-core Snapdragon 625 chip, 32GB of storage and 3GB of RAM.
You can also opt in for the slightly cheaper Redmi 4 model with Snapdragon 430 chip, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of expandable storage.
The 3D gaming performance is great. There is no stutter at all and almost no skipped frames. Also, the graphics look good and the phone does not have any overheating issues.
Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime Review: BENCHMARKS
Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime Review: USER INTERFACE
The Xiaomi Redmi 4 ships with the Android 6.0-based MIUI 8 that we have already seen on many Xiaomi phones. As usual, we have a ton of customization options, various settings, tweaks and little features to make the phone look your own.
Some of the cool features include a baked-in theming engine, where you can choose from a lot of themes, fonts, wallpapers and so on.
Also, you can go to the so-called second space, which is as Xiaomi says “like having two devices” at the same time. In other words, it is like having two accounts on the same phone.
Finally, the phone is pretty fast and fluid on the daily basis and I didn’t see any lag of stutter.
Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime 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.
When it comes to the image quality it is good yet not great.
The Redmi 4 can take some good-looking daylight photos with a decent amount of detail, nice colour reproduction and sharpness. The dynamic range adjustment is not always perfect but the HDR does an okay job bringing the detail back to the shadows.
The image quality is not as good in lower-lit situations. Most of the shots look soft, there is a low amount of detail and the colours look washed out.
The night image quality is even worse. I don’t really want to say that “we may see a software update to improve the quality” but as of now, the photos don’t look good.
The selfie images will look okay on social media but in general, they could have more detail and sharpness.
The 1080p video looks pretty good for a cheap phone. A few complaints would be that the continuous auto-focus is a little jumpy and the footage may look a little shaky as there is no video stabilization built-in.
As most of the Xiaomi phones, the Redmi 4 ships with a dual SIM card tray that also doubles as a microSD card slot.
The call quality is okay, GPS is very accurate and in general, I didn’t have any issues when it comes to connectivity.
Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime Review: BATTERY LIFE
The battery life can be summarized in a few words – one of the best on the market.
The 4100mAh unit will easily get you 2 days of heavy usage or even 4 days of lighter use, which is just an insane result. Seriously, it is very hard to kill this battery! In case you need to recharge it, the phone supports fast battery charging feature but it does not ship with the fast charger. I was able to fully charge the phone in about 2 hours with the supplied charger.
Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime Review: CONCLUSIONS
The Xiaomi Redmi 4 is yet another great budget device on the market. In fact, it is one of the best you can get at this price point but it doesn’t mean it is a perfect phone.
The device has a top-notch built quality and nice design, the internal hardware components assure a good UI and gaming performance and the camera can take decent daylight pictures. Also, the battery life is just insanely good.
However, even at this price point, we want to see the backlit capacitive keys and a better low-light camera performance. Finally, the phone does not ship with the fast charger.
At the end of the day, the Xiaomi Redmi 4 is still one of the best budget phones you can buy at the moment but make sure to consider if the previously mentioned shortcomings are important to you or not.
Xiaomi today released a teaser on Weibo that seems to tease the launch of an unknown, unnamed new product which is billed to go official on December 12, another popular sales day in China. We do not know exactly what the product is, but the teased poster contained what looks like a car’s tire tracks as well as other clues.
Xiaomi’s CEO Lei Jun had last year categorically stated that the company has no plans for an electric car in the next five years. In addition, the official Weibo post hinted that the product isn’t likely an electric car. But then, all the clues on the poster point to an electric car / bike. This isn’t the first time talks of a Mi electric car is coming out, Xiaomi had been rumored to be working on an electric car named Mistla since 2014.
The poster contained likely features of the electric car such as E-ABS (electronic anti-lock braking system), cruise control, perforated brake discs, integrated die-casting motor and so on. All these are features of a car, not necessarily an electric car, though. So, it’s likely an electric bike. However, we’ll wait to see what it turns out to be. December 12 is the launch date.
The recently launched Meizu M5 Note officially went up for sales in Jingdong (JD.com) and the results were phenomenal. In just 21 seconds, the number of units sold had surpassed the one million mark and is still on the rise.
The M5 Note came in four distinct colors of star gray, moonlight silver, champagne gold and glacier blue, all attractive. As if that wasn’t enough, the device launched clutching a pocket-friendly price tag for all three memory versions. The Meizu M5 Note starts at just 899 Yuan ($130) for the 3GB + 16GB model, 999 Yuan ($146) for the 3GB + 32GB model while the 4GB + 64GB model retails for 1499 Yuan ($218).
For these price tags, Meizu is gifting buyers a solidly designed and sleek device sporting a 5.5-inch 1080p display and powered by a MediaTek Helio P10 chip. There is also a large 4,000mAh battery on all models as well as a 13MP rear camera with PDAF, and a 5MP front camera. The device comes with dual SIM / dual standby support in addition to full netcom support.
Huawei announced yesterday that its Honor Magic concept phone is scheduled to launch next week Friday, 16th of December. The phone is said to bring new innovative features and a design that will probably disrupt the mobile phone world. It will however come with a price, and a heavy one at that, literally speaking.
According to analyst, Pan Jiutang, the Honor Magic is going to be pretty expensive. He mentioned it in a Weibo post where he stated other features of the phone like it being small and having a good grip; and the specs not being mind-blowing probably due to the fact that it has been in the works for a while. So we should expect a phone with specifications that are already available in the market.
To sum it up, the Honor Magic is a phone that doesn’t go beyond the 5.5-inch size, probably has specs found in last year’s flagships, and still pretty expensive. Even with the cons, the Honor Magic will definitely be sold-out in a short while. As long as they get the design right and it has a couple of tricks up its sleeve, it still sounds like a winner to me.
Intel processors are synonymous with Windows PCs. For years the company has maintained a stronghold in the PC market but it seems things are about to change as Qualcomm just announced today that it will be working with Windows to release computers with Snapdragon processors starting next year. Surprising news, right?
The announcement was made this morning at Microsoft’s Windows Hardware Engineering Community (WinHEC) event. The partnership will see the first set of computers shipping with the new Snapdragon 835 processor next year. The processor is fully compatible with the Windows 10 ecosystem and will enable hardware developers create next generation device for factors, providing mobility to cloud computing. You will also be able to run x86 Win32 and universal Windows apps including MS Office, Adobe Photoshop, and Windows 10 games.
Qualcomm’s processors will bring features like Gigabit LTE connectivity, advanced multimedia support, machine learning, and superior hardware security features (ultrasonic fingerprint scanners?), and all this will not get in the way of making devices that are thin, fanless, and have superb battery life.
Next year is a special year for Apple and its acclaimed iPhones because it will clock ten years since Apple started the iPhone production. That being so, the company had all along been tipped as planning a bigger surprise package for next year. Before now, rumors had it that the Cupertino company is working on the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus models. However, latest rumor from Japan hints at two more additional iPhone models for next year.
According to latest report in the Japanese media, Apple is preparing four iPhones for 2017. Thus, in addition to the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, the company is said to be working on two more models named, iPhone 7S and 7S Plus. The iPhone 7S and 7S Plus are both said to see slight upgrades from Apple’s present lineup, having the same shape as well as using the same aluminum body. The specifications might be upgraded in some aspect, like using the Apple A11 processor.
In addition, there is also likely to be a new red color variant in order to attract more users. The red variant will be in addition to the previous color variants like space gray, deep black, gold, rose gold and silver. The report also hints that Apple might use OLED display on only one out of the four models, which is likely the iPhone 8 Plus. The other three models would retain the LCD display Apple customarily uses, the report says.
It is also reported that the new iPhone will likely adopt double glass and metal frame design just like the iPhone 4 engraved version. The next gen Apple iPhones are also rumored to come with wireless charging support.
Xiaomi’s crowdfunding platform has a new smart home product, this time a smart durable LED lamp. Dubbed Xiaomi Yeelight LED lamp, the product comes with several features that make it stand out and is currently up for funding on the crowdfunding platform for 349 Yuan ($50).
The Xiaomi Yeelight LED lamp uses 240 color rendering index of up to 95 Lumileds / OSRAM LED lamp beads. The device comes with museum-color lighting effects with a rated power out of 28W and life expectancy of up to 25,000 hours. There is also an IP60 Dust-proof resistance to eliminate the problem of dust and insects accumulating inside the LED lamp over time.
Also, the Yeelight LED ceiling lamp features three-way dimming with full brightness of up to 2000 lumens. The lamp can go as low as 0.1 lumens and in addition, the cold and warm colors can be adjusted as well. The LED lamp comes with a Bluetooth remote control that needs to be purchased separately. The LED lamp can also be put in a moonlight mode that looks just like the moon. The lamp is also very easy to couple and dismantle in less than 5 minutes. Furthermore, it is a smart gadgets, having the capability of being controlled by smartphones via an app.
As stated, the Xiaomi Yeelight LED lamp starts at 349 Yuan ($50) via crowdfunding and participation is currently on. The device would ship on December 29.
Xiaomi’s Redmi smartphones have been one of the most successful budget devices out there. The Redmi 4 is one of the latest offerings and it costs just $130 but it has a premium design and great specs. But is it worth the price? Learn more in the full review.
The phone ships with all the usual stuff that comes with most of the phones. No extras included.
Xiaomi Redmi 4 Review: DESIGN and DISPLAY
When it comes to the design, the Redmi 4 is definitely one of the best-looking and the most premium budget phones you can get.
It’s made of metal, it sits nicely in the hand and its buttons are nice and tactile.
The phone is compact due to its 5” 720p display, which is not of the highest resolution but it is still plenty sharp for everyday use.
We have a 5MP shooter and notification LED light, which can be highly customizable. Unfortunately, the capacitive buttons are not backlit.
On the back, we have a 13MP shooter with f/2.2 aperture and a dual-LED flash.
As usual to Xiaomi phones, the fingerprint scanner is fast, accurate and it allows you to unlock the device straight from the standby mode.
It’s great that we have the IR blaster to control devices like TVs.
The loudspeaker quality is very good for a cheap phone like this.
Xiaomi Redmi 4 Review: HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE
I have the lower-end Redmi 4 that has an octa-core Snapdragon 430 chip, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of expandable storage.
You can also opt in for the slightly more expensive Redmi 4 Prime model that has a Snapdragon 625 chip, 32GB of storage and 3GB of RAM.
Even the lower-end model can handle the 3D games pretty well. I played a few games on the highest graphics and there were just some minor skipped frames. Also, the phone did not overheat.
Xiaomi Redmi 4 Review: BENCHMARKS
Xiaomi Redmi 4 Review: USER INTERFACE
The Xiaomi Redmi 4 ships with the Android 6.0-based MIUI 8 Global ROM that has Google services pre-installed and Chinese bloatware removed. As usual, we have a ton of customization options, various settings, tweaks and little features to make the phone look your own.
Some of the cool features include a baked-in theming engine, where you can choose from a lot of themes, fonts, wallpapers and so on.
Also, you can go to the so-called second space, which is as Xiaomi says “like having two devices” at the same time. In other words, it is like having two accounts on the same phone.
Finally, the phone is pretty fast and fluid on the daily basis and I didn’t see any lag of stutter.
Xiaomi Redmi 4 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.
When it comes to the image quality it is good yet not great. The Redmi 4 can take some good-looking daylight photos with a decent amount of detail, nice colour reproduction and sharpness. The dynamic range adjustment is not always perfect but the HDR does an okay job bringing the detail back to the shadows.
The image quality is not as good in lower-lit situations. Most of the shots look soft, there is a low amount of detail and the colours look washed out.
The night image quality is even worse. I don’t really want to say that “we may see a software update to improve the quality” but as of now, the photos don’t look good.
The selfie images will look okay on social media but in general, they could have more detail and sharpness.
The 1080p video looks pretty good for a cheap phone. A few complaints would be that the continuous auto-focus is a little jumpy and the footage may look a little shaky as there is no video stabilization built-in.
As most of the Xiaomi phones, the Redmi 4 ships with a dual SIM card tray that also doubles as a microSD card slot.
The call quality is okay, GPS is very accurate but I found that the Wifi download speeds are a lot slower than usual. I hope Xiaomi will address this issue with the software update.
Xiaomi Redmi 4 Review: BATTERY LIFE
The battery life can be summarized in a few words – one of the best on the market.
The 4100mAh unit will easily get you 2 days of heavy usage or even 4 days of lighter use, which is just an insane result. Seriously, it is very hard to kill this battery!
In case you need to recharge it, the phone supports fast battery charging feature but it does not ship with the fast charger. I was able to fully charge the phone in about 2 hours with the supplied charger.
Xiaomi Redmi 4 Review: CONCLUSIONS
The Xiaomi Redmi 4 is yet another great budget device on the market. In fact, it is one of the best you can get at this price point but it doesn’t mean it is a perfect phone.
The device has a top-notch built quality and nice design, the internal hardware components assure a good UI and gaming performance and the camera can take decent daylight pictures. Also, the battery life is just insanely good.
However, even at this price point, we want to see the backlit capacitive keys and a better low-light camera performance. Also, the Wifi download speeds were pretty low every time I wanted to download an app from the Play Store.
At the end of the day, the Xiaomi Redmi 4 is still one of the best budget phones you can buy at the moment but make sure to consider if the previously mentioned shortcomings are important to you or not.
LeEco is not in a pretty shape right now. The news is that the company is in massive debts following a company-wide memo where the CEO, Jia Yueting, mentioned the company’s growth expansion problem and also complained about individual work performances and redundancies.
If you have ever had to work for an organization which is facing financial difficulties or trying to restructure itself, once you hear them mention that certain positions are redundant, expect a layoff in the nearest future. They might deny it when you ask them or dismiss it as you being paranoid, but it is their way of quelling a possible panic-infused environment.
It appears a layoff is coming or has already even occurred at LeEco as an image of employees queuing up at the Human Resources center has been posted online. The rumor is that about 1400 employees have been asked to leave as a result of organizational restructuring.
The layoff will not only affect the company’s mobile sector but also its media arm. Sources say that the sports editor for LeEco Ao Ming has handed in his resignation.
News of the layoffs has affected the company’s stock, dropping by a record 9.9% to 35.01 yuan per share and picking up later to close at 35.80 Yuan per share. This morning, LeEco’s stock was suspended temporarily and the reason given by the CEO is that the suspension is due to to the company undergoing a new round of financing.
While LeEco isn’t be the first company to lay off its staff due to wrong decisions made by the higher-ups, it certainly won’t be the last. We want to believe the restructuring is one of the reasons why we have not heard anything new about their Helio X27 sporting dual-camera phone.
Is it just me or are manufacturers taking updates more seriously now? In the last couple of weeks, we have seen a number of manufacturers roll out Nougat updates to their devices or announce a roll-out plan. Lenovo has joined the ranks and have announced a Nougat update for its ZUK sub-brand.
The Android 7.0 update will come in form of a new version of their ZUI OS. The new ZUI 2.5 update is scheduled to roll out before the Spring Festival which falls on January 28.
ZUK is also keeping its promise of updating its first flagship, the ZUK Z1 to Android Nougat and will be the first Snapdragon 801 phone to get updated to the latest version of Android. The ZUK Z1 will only receive an open beta version of the update though, and it will be available before the Spring Festival too.
The Vivo X9 was launched alongside the XPlay 6 and X9 Plus late last month and came with a front dual camera setup as its main highlight. We bring you both the unboxing images of the device as well as its teardown images.
Vivo did a good job in the X9’s design and that is clearly revealed in the unboxing images which shows the device from different angles. As would be recalled, the X9 uses a fused antenna design just like the iPhone 7’s which sits at the edge of the phone. The rear camera is also tilted to the left corner at the upper edge while the LED flash is located beside it. The device also features super narrow bezels at the edges around the display and comes flat at only 6.99mm thick, weighing 154g.
The X9 features a 20MP + 8MP selfie camera combination, each sitting at either side of the earpiece. There is also soft flash for illumination. There is equally a capacitive home button and it functions as the fingerprint sensor.
Aside the unboxing images, the Vivo X9 also got the teardown treatment which unveils the internals and hardware. The teardown images shows the X9 might just be easily to repair if faulty. Also, the device is revealed to pack a non-removable battery.
As a reminder, the Vivo X9 features a 5.5-inch AMOLED display with a resolution of 1080 pixels and pixel density of 401 ppi. The display is further protected with the latest Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection. The device also comes powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor supported by a modest 4GB RAM. There is also 64GB of internal storage inside the device.
As stated, the biggest feature on the X9 is obviously the front dual cameras which the device packs. The selfie cameras are composed of a 20MP Sony IMX379 main sensor and an 8MP depth of field sensor. We had earlier seen some teased sample images said to have been shot by the X9’s selfie shooter and they are not disappointing at all. Going further, there is also a 16MP rear camera with LED flash which should hold its own in being capable of delivering crisp clear photo shots.
The X9 also crams a 3,050mAh built-in battery under its hood and runs on Vivo’s custom Funtouch OS 3.0 based on Android 6.0 Marshmallow. The device also has the AK4376 HiFi audio chip onboard which is capable of delivering improved audio output.
The Vivo X9 comes in just gold and Rose gold color variants and carries an hefty price tag of 2798 Yuan ( around $406) and already on sale in China.
The ZUK Z2 and ZUK Z2 Pro were launched six months ago and both phones have gone through price cut after price cut making them one of the cheapest Snapdragon 820 phones in the market right now.
It appears the Lenovo-owned company isn’t done slashing the price on their flagships as they have announced that the Z2 duo will now sell at a reduced price starting today the 7th, up till the 13th of December.
The AMOLED sporting ZUK Z2 Pro with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of built-in storage gets a ¥600 (~$87) price slash and now sells for ¥2099 ($~305) or you can pick up the 4GB + 64GB model which sells for ¥1999 (~$290).
If you prefer the smaller-sized ZUK Z2, the 4GB + 64GB variant has been slashed down by ¥400 (~$58) and now sells for ¥1399 (~$203).
The sweetest deal is the base version of the ZUK Z2 which has 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage but whose price makes it qualify for the ¥1000 flagship. For the period of the sales, the phone will sell for ¥1099 (~$160) after getting a ¥500(~$73) price cut.
Qualcomm unveiled the Snapdragon 835, its new chip for flagship devices for next year a few weeks ago. The chip is one of the few 10nm SoCs that have been announced. While the earliest time we might see the chip in action is during CES in January, someone has uploaded results of the phone’s graphics performance on GFXBench.
It is no longer news that Qualcomm’s chips offer the best performance when it comes to graphics. Other chips may outperform them in other areas but not when it comes to graphics.
The phone used for the test is unknown but from the device info we can see it has a 5.9” Quad HD display, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage, a 20MP rear camera that can record 4K videos, a 12MP selfie camera that also records 4K videos, runs Android Nougat, and most important of all, has an octa-core Snapdragon 835 SoC clocked at 2.2GHz.
The SD 835 uses an Adreno 540 GPU and its performance is compared against the Kirin 960’s ARM Mali-G71.
Some of the GPU tests include Manhattan 3.1 where the Adreno 540 scores 2571 frames (45.1 Fps) compared to the Kirin’s 1528 frames (24.6 Fps). In the Manhattan test, Qualcomm’s GPU achieves 3839 frames (61.9 Fps) against the 2090 frames (33.7 Fps) scored by Huawei’s chip. And lastly, in the T-Rex test, the SD 835 scores 6435 frames (115.2 Fps), trumping the Kirin 960’s 4059 frames (72.5 Fps).
Samsung‘s next generation Galaxy S8 flagship isn’t due until February next year during the MWC 2017 but the rumor mill is consistently agog with rumors of the device. The Samsung Galaxy S8 had earlier been tipped to feature an 8GB RAM packing version but that rumor has been debunked. The device is also rumored to use curved edge display on both the S8 and S8 Edge. Now, the latest rumor says the Galaxy S8 will feature a USB Type C interface.
The USB Type-C interface is a recent inclusion in Samsung devices, first featuring on the botched Galaxy Note 7 earlier this year. The Galaxy S8 is now rumored to also come with the USB Type-C interface which would allow support for fast charging technology as well as provide faster data transfer speeds. That should mean there won’t likely be the 3.5mm audio jack on the device.
This latest rumored feature adds up to earlier rumored ones like a 4K screen (2k screen also rumored), dual rear cameras, different versions with varying display sizes, on-screen virtual buttons without physical capacitive keys and lots more. The device is billed to be a stunner considering that Samsung is battling hard to placate fans over the furor generated by the Galaxy Note 7 technical issues.
In addition, Samsung is rumored to also return to the use of sRGB color scheme which it last used on the Samsung i900 Omnia released in 2008. This would be on its Super AMOLED display and the arrangement is said to be from Diamond Pentile. With this arrangement, at 2K resolution there would be a total of 11059200 subpixels, while the P row has only 7372800 subpixels. Since it is going to be a 2K display, it is said that there won’t likely be particles on the display. This definitely won’t be the last we’ll be hearing about the Samsung S8.
Huawei has got a big surprise lined up for us, barely a month after gifting us some real machines in the Mate 9, Mate 9 Pro and Mate 9 Porsche Design. The company is set to unveil its own concept phone dubbed Huawei Honor Magic but which we were yet to see in leaks before now. However, Huawei seems to have stylishly leaked the render of the concept phone in a teased poster announcing the scheduled December 16 launch date for the Huawei concept phone and sure, it is launching under the Honor brand.
The Huawei Honor Magic phone’s outline could be seen in the GIF image appearing out of what looks like the moon. The concept phone’s design and outline comes out pretty distinct revealing what would likely be a curved screen device on all four sides. The Huawei Mate 9 Pro features a dual curved screen display but the Concept phone will take it a tad higher by getting a curved display on all four sides.
In addition to the innovative design, the Huawei Concept phone had been revealed to feature the latest graphene-assisted battery technology that offers super fast charging. The concept device is also touted to come without any physical capacitive keys or aperture for cameras and other onboard ports and sensors but to use a peripheral device that it will connect to. We can’t be so sure about that, though.
According to the teaser, the Honor Magic launches on December 16, so we just can’t wait to see what Huawei has in store for us. As always, we’ll keep you updated on this one here on Gizmochina.
The market is full of fitness trackers but not all of them are affordable. I’ve used the Meizu Band for a few weeks now and here is the full Gizmochina’s review.
UNBOXING
The device ships in a quite a premium box and the contents include a fitness band itself, a nice magnetic charger and some paperwork.
DESIGN and FEATURES
Usually, cheap fitness trackers look and feel cheap but the Meizu Band is well-built and it is super light. Also, it is IP67-certified, meaning that you can use it in the rain, shower or elsewhere.
Many smart bands today have a non-integrated body, which means you can remove it from the strap. However, Meizu is using a different approach here by using an integrated design with double component injection technology. This is probably why the Meizu band looks curvier and I am sure many will like this design. It definitely looks more stylish than some other offerings at this price.
The star of the show is an OLED display, which shows basic info like a clock, steps taken, calories burned, distance walked, heart rate and various notifications from your smartphone. You can navigate with just one capacitive button and I found it to be very simple yet convenient.
You can turn the display on by simply turning your wrist and the display will light up. I found this feature to be working just fine. The sunlight legibility could be slightly better but I’m being quite picky here. The display is fine for me and it can be seen in a broad daylight.
As for the heart rate, the embedded chip helps you track your heart beat patterns. The heart rate sensor is from AMS and it even notifies you if your rate exceeds a set maximum rate. The band will also monitor your sleep patterns and features a built-in snooze alarm which wakes you up softly.
My Samsung Galaxy S7 edge may not be the best device to compare the results with but the heart rate numbers were very similar on both devices. Also, I spent a lot of time testing if the step counter is accurate and I can say it is, and I took quite a few steps to test this feature out.
ANDROID/iOS APP
In order to take a full advantage of the Meizu Band, you have to install a Meizu Band app. Keep in mind that the app is currently in Chinese-only but an English version is just around the corner.
I had no issues with syncing the band via the Bluetoothwith my phone and within the app, you can track your fitness routines in detail. The band will also show you call and some app notifications, remind you when you need to be more active, work as an alarm clock, monitor your sleep patterns and it features a built-in snooze alarm which wakes you up softly. Once you receive any notification, the Meizu Band will gently vibrate.
TEST NOTES
After using the Meizu Band for a few weeks, I can say that it is pretty comfortable to wear and the rubber band does not irritate the skin.
BATTERY LIFE
Meizu claims that you can get 7 days of usage on a single charge with a heart rate sensor and around 15 days without using the sensor. I got pretty similar results and thus I believe that the official claims are true.
Charging the Meizu Band is also an easy process since it comes with a magnetic USB charging cable that sticks to the device.
CONCLUSIONS
After using the Meizu Band for an extensive period of time, I can honestly tell you that this is one of the best affordable fitness trackers on the market right now.
It is tiny, light, comfortable to wear, it tracks your steps and measures heart rate accurately and it has a good battery life. Also, the intuitive app unleashes even more features that are fun to use.
On the other hand, the device does not support the continuous heart rate monitoring feature and the display could be slightly brighter. However, I think it is too much to ask for such a low price.
The Meizu Band is already up for pre-order in China and will be up for grabs on December 8. Meizu has priced the band aggressively at just 229 Yuan ($31). Note that, as of now, the company has not revealed any plans for an international release.
Huawei continues to expand its range of products in the low-end market with the launch of the Huawei Enjoy 6S in China. The Huawei Enjoy 6S is reportedly launched in partnership with China Mobile. The device looks very much like the Enjoy 6 which was launched about a month ago but there seem to be a slight difference in the rear design of both Enjoy series smartphones.
Huawei Enjoy 6S
Design wise, the Enjoy 6S uses an all-metal body design with well chamfered edges that aids grip. The device also comes in three sleek colors of gold, silver and white. The Enjoy 6S is also thinner than the Enjoy 6 with a body thickness of 7.6mm as against the 7.9mm on its predecessor. At the back, the Enjoy 6S LED flash changes position from the bottom of the camera where it is located on the Enjoy 6 to the left side of the camera sensor. The camera however uses the same circular design on both device and there is a rear mounted fingerprint sensor on the phone.
Huawei enjoy 6
Talking about the hardware, the Huawei Enjoy 6S sports a 5-inch IPS display with HD resolution (720 pixels). The device is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 435 chipset clocked at 1.4GHz. The processor is backed by a 3GB RAM and there is 32GB of internal storage space onboard. Further, there is a 13MP rear camera sensor with f/2.2 aperture and a 5MP front-facing shooter on the device and keeping the lights on is a 3,020mAh battery which is a built-in cell. There is also dual SIM / dual standby as well as full network support on the device.
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