FIIL Carat Wireless Earphones with Activity Tracker Review

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Dec 3, 2016

OnePlus’ latest flagship is the OnePlus 3T and after launching in all the major markets, it finally made its way to India yesterday. However, the device won’t go on sale till the 14th of this month.

The OnePlus 3T won’t be sold on the official OnePlus 3T store but will be an Amazon India Exclusive. The phone will be priced at Rs.29,999 for the 6GB+64GB version and Rs.34,999 for the 6GB+128GB variant. If you have an Amazon Prime Subscription, you also get an early access sale on the 12th of December between 2 to 3 pm.

OnePlus India is also running a promo called the 3T December Dash where three OnePlus 3T units will be available for grabs every week. You also rake up points which can be used to grab OnePlus accessories and branded items like cases for the OnePlus 2 and OnePlus 3, car chargers, OnePlus branded T-shirts, OnePlus bags, and even the new OnePlus Bullets Earphones at a price of just Rs.1. All you have to do is complete the challenge and share the link. Once a friend completes the challenge via your shared link, you get a point. Once you have enough points, they can be used to redeem any of the above items for just a rupee. oneplus-3t

Apple and Samsung’s OLED Display Agreement Forces Huawei and OPPO to Make Their Own Panels

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Dec 3, 2016

We reported a few weeks ago that one of the next iPhone 8 models was going to feature an OLED display. It seems it has been confirmed as a recent agreement between Apple and Samsung for the supply of OLED displays is going to affect other phone manufacturers who look to Samsung for their OLED screens.

Even though Samsung and Apple usual drag each other to court, they are still business partners. The Korean giant has supplied Apple with the chips for its phones, save for the A10 which is present in the iPhone 7. Since Apple is going OLED next year, its looking at Samsung who is sort of the king when it comes to OLED displays to make the supply.

It is reported that the agreement will see Samsung supply Apple with 100 million panels. This huge demand will leave next to nothing for other companies who need OLED displays such as Vivo who’s recently announced Vivo XPlay 6 uses a Super AMOLED display.

In order to not be at the mercy of Samsung, the-top selling Chinese manufacturers are teaming up to get their OLED displays from other sources.

The news is that OPPO, Vivo, and Huawei are investing in Royole Corporation which is an OLED screen manufacturer known for making the world’s thinnest flexible display back in 2014. The investment will see the company scale up its production over the next couple of years.

Meizu Pro 5 Gets A Price Slash on Lynx

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https://www.facebook.com/Mgcool.fans/

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Dec 3, 2016

The Meizu Pro 5 was released in Q4 2015. It has a 5.7” AMOLED Full HD display, 3GB/4GB RAM, sports an Exynos 7420 processor and a 21MP primary camera. When it launched Meizu even ran a promo where you could swap your OnePlus 2 for a brand new Pro 5.

meizu-pro5-unboxing-06

Over the past couple of months following the launch of the Meizu Pro 6, the Pro 5 has had its prices slashed from its initial tags of ¥2799 ($438) and ¥3099 ($485) for the 3GB+32GB and 4GB+64GB variant respectively. Right now, it has even gotten a lot cheaper (the 3GB variant though).

Lynx currently has the 3GB model for just ¥1699 ($248) which is a lot lesser than the ¥2199 ($320) price tag its wearing on Meizu’s official website. Meizu Pro 5

Although you get less RAM, you can still expand the storage as the Meizu Pro 5 supports up to 256GB SD cards. The phone also has dual SIM slots (nano-only), a 5MP front facing camera, USB Type-C, and a 3050mAh battery with Quick Charge 2.0 support.

The specs are not bad at all and one good thing is that the Pro 5 will also get updated to Flyme 6.

MGCOOL Releases An Introduction Video of MGCOOL Band 2

By

Shine Wong

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Dec 3, 2016

Today, MGCOOL releases the introduction video of MGCOOL Band 2 Wireless Activity + Sleep Wristband. MGCOOL Band 2 is one of the wristbands on the market to sync with Bluetooth 4.0 – which means more flexibility when you’re on the go and want to check your stats. By combining its high performance wireless connected devices with a comfortable and compact wristband, MGCOOL plans to offer a fashionable wristband tracker option.

MGCOOL Band 2 is more than a just fitness tracker. Still, it has the common features like other fitness trackers,tracking your activity and sleep. The new smart band tracks steps taken, distance travelled, and calories burned, bulking up your workout and motivating you to achieve your daily fitness goals. Besides, it caculates your heart rate every moment that makes you have a scentific excericise and helps make fitness part of your everyday lifestyle. It also tracks how long and how well you sleep, allowing you to learn how to sleep better.

The wristband is slim, stylish, made of environmental material, comfortable to wear all day. Its compact design and black colour make it fit for all styles. Under the IPX7 designation, the MGCOOL Band 2 will be able to withstand immersion in water up to 1 meter for up to 30 minutes. This means that a session in the shower, getting caught in the rain, or washing your hands will not cause damage. 80 mAh rechargeable Li battery enable it a longer working time.

MGCOOL uses Bluetooth 4.0 to sync your data automatically to iOS devices(7.0 and above) and Android devices (4.0 and above). Your smartphone becomes your dashboard, giving you access to MGCOOL’s rich graphs and tools like camera and music control, incoming call and text notification, Whatsapp and facebook messenge notification.

MGCOOL Band 2 ($19.99) is available on Geekbuying . As for the companion APP, you can scan the QR code on the manul or download on APP store or Google Play.

More about MGCOOL:

https://twitter.com/MgcoolOfficial

http://www.mgcool.cc/

Gree Phone Featuring Snapdragon 835 Chip Rumored As Underway

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Dec 2, 2016

Qualcomm just announced the Snapdragon 835 chip and it wasn’t surprising that the Samsung Galaxy S8 is said to be the first device to use the new system-on-chip. It also wasn’t surprising either that Xiaomi’s next flagship is rumored to be the first domestic device in China to use the chip. What is coming out as a surprise is that Gree, a relatively less known electronics manufacturer will use the SD 835 chip on its next Gree phone.

Well-known industry analyst, Pan Jiutang, made the disclosure that the company is working on a Snapdragon 835 project which is underway. The analyst made this known in a Weibo post while disclosing that the Chinese company was in the process of releasing a 5.5-inch smaller version of the Gree Phone 2 which hit the market sometime in May this year with a 6-inch display.

The Gree Phone 2 came with a Snapdragon 820 chip on board as well as 4GB of RAM, 64GB of internal storage, an 8MP front camera and 16MP rear camera setup. The Gree Phone 2 was priced around 3,300 Yuan so we expect the next flagship with SD 835 to be way more. That won’t be anytime soon, though, as the Galaxy S8 which would be the first to have the SD 835 SoC won’t drop until next year.

Unknown Gionee Phone With 3GB RAM, Large Battery Hits TENAA

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Dec 2, 2016

A relatively unknown Gionee phone has appeared on TENAA where it received certification. The device is identified with the model number GN5005 and features a specs line-up that places it in a mid-range category but the design is spectacular because it resembles the Huawei P8, especially at the rear.

On the design, the device uses a symmetrical design and also has a home screen button which would likely also function as the fingerprint sensor because there is none at the rear. The device also features multi-tasking button as well as a back button on either side of the home screen button. At the rear, there is a black strip at the upper edge where the rear camera lies. The strip makes the device resemble the Huawei P8.

The TENAA data reveals the device sports a 5-inch display with 720 pixels resolution. The Gionee phone is powered by a 1.25GHz Quad-core processor, backed by 3GB of RAM and there is 16GB of internal storage on the device. On the camera end, the Gionee GN5005 device sports an 8MP rear camera as well as a 5MP front-facing camera for selfies.

In addition, the device runs on Android 6.0 Marshmallow OS out-of-the-box and also packs a large 4,000mAh built-in battery inside. There is also full network support on the phone.

Meizu M5 Note Appears on Jingdong with 1099 Yuan ($159) Price Tag Ahead of Launch

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http://www.gearbest.com/action-cameras-sport-dv-accessories/pp_437123.html?wid=11

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Dec 2, 2016

In the space of one week, Meizu will be holding two press conferences and would in the long run release up to three or more devices. The Chinese tech giant took the wraps off the Meizu X and Pro 6 Plus earlier this week, while the M5 Note is expected next week perhaps along with the rumored Meizu H1 smartband.

The Meizu M5 Note is rumored to come in two versions, M5 Note and M5 Note Metal and their prices have been leaked as well. While the M5 Note is said to be priced around 999 Yuan, the M5 Note Metal comes in at around 1,099 Yuan.

The earlier rumored price tags may be incorrect, though, as the M5 Note has been spotted listed on popular Chinese e-commerce website Jingdong (JD.com) with a price tag of 1,099 Yuan (around $159.52). The listing also detailed that the device would go on sale on December 8. This Jingdong-listed price is also not certain as the web page also contains a clause that the release price would take precedence over this one.

MGCOOL Released New Waterproof Case For Panoramic Camera

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Shine Wong

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Dec 2, 2016

Today, MGCOOL launched their first military-grade waterproof case for their panoramic camera.

Applied with imported high strength PC plastic materials, it is more durable in the case of guaranteed waterproof Shell through the professional design.

With IPx8 waterproof level , it can resist the impact of the 30 – meter diving. But also this waterproof case ensured the low temperature resistance capability, it can easily cope whether it is waterproof and dustproof .

Same with previous generations waterproof case, it uses the white design too.

Use the generalized standard , it supports extensible rich accessories, such as the self-timer lever, tripod ETC.

Users who purchased MGCOOL 360 camera before can buy this quality and cheap waterproof shell on our third-party platform.

With MGCOOL’s first 360-degree panoramic motion camera, allows you to more fun underwater panoramic view of the world.

Purchase MGCOOL 360 camera waterptoof case:

Learn more about MGCOOL 360 camera waterptoof case:

https://www.facebook.com/Mgcool.fans/

https://twitter.com/MgcoolOfficial

Meizu Splitting the Meizu & Blue Charm Brand Just Like Huawei & Honor?

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Dec 1, 2016

There are rumors that Meizu is planning to split the Meizu brand from the Blue charm brand, turning both into two separate Meizu sub-brands. Just few days back, the company released two smartphones under both sub-brands, the Meizu X also called Charm Blue X, as well as the Meizu Pro 6 Plus. The company is also expected to announce the Blue Charm Note 5 or M5 Note and M5 Metal on December 6.

According to several sources, the December 6 conference will not only see the company releasing the M5 Note and M5 Metal, but also announce the splitting of the Blue Charm from the Meizu brand. Both would exist as sub-brands and would be independent of each other just the way Huawei separated its elitist Honor sub-brand from the Huawei brand.

In this regard, what is said to be a conversation on WeChat by some of Meizu’s officials containing statements that seem to disclose the separation of the brand names. W are just four days away from December 6, so we’ll wait to see if there is going to be an official statement or not.

AnTuTu Releases Top 10 Flagship Smartphones In November: Snapdragon 821 Dominates

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Joel Joseph

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Dec 1, 2016

AnTuTu has a tradition of releasing the list of top smartphones benchmarked on its app. We have been covering the top 10 list for the past few months and just now, AnTuTu has released the top 10 flagship smartphones in terms of performance for the month of November. Given that we have seen a couple of new Chinese flagships released in this period, there is no surprise that the list has a few changes.

The Xiaomi Mi Note 2 and the Huawei Mate 9 are the two new additions to the list. Of course, there was the OnePlus 3T launch, as well as the Meizu Pro 6 Plus launch, but we will see them added to this list only in the month of December. This is because this list is compiled by calculating the average scores with data from at least 2000 models. So, despite the Mi Note 2 launching in October, it only made it to the list in November. Similarly, the data for the Xiaomi Mi Mix is still inadequate to be included in this list.

In terms of performance, Apple’s iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus are still on top. The best Android flagship is still the LeEco Le Pro 3, which is a steal at its sub-$350 price tag. The Pro 3 is followed by Mi 5S Plus and Smartisan M1L. The next two in the list are the new additions in November, namely the Xiaomi Mi Note 2 with an average score of 148,352 and the Huawei Mate 9 following close behind with an average score of 146,942. You can read our review of the Xiaomi Mi Note 2 from here.

antutu-top-10-android-nov — Android Rankings

Seeing the Mate 9 in this list clearly shows how much Huawei’s Hisilicon chips have progressed in the past couple of years. AnTutu also noted that Huawei recently removed the temperature control restrictions on the Mate 9’s Kirin 960 via a new update which helped the chip inside to unleash its full GPU potential, helping it improve its overall scores.

The list also clearly shows that Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 821 chipset rules the Android flagship market.

Yet More Details About the Huawei Concept Phone Emerge

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Dec 1, 2016

It’s been in the news for a while now that Huawei will release its own concept smartphone sometime this month. That was being treated as a rumor but it seems to have gotten confirmation from a reliable source. Chief Scientist at Huawei-owned Watt Laboratory, Dr Li Yangxing may just have confirmed the existence of the concept machine when he was announcing the breakthrough Huawei has made in Graphene-Assisted battery technology. The scientist added that the battery has been commercialized and Huawei plans to announce a phone with the super-quick charge function by late December.

This stance was re-echoed by analyst Pan Jiutang who also added that the device would feature fast-charging technology. The well-known industry analyst had earlier hinted that the concept phone would feature Samsung’s customized four curved screen and would be equipped with a number of sensors as well as capable of achieving artificial intelligence.

In addition, the Huawei concept phone is said to come without physical cameras at the front and rear, fingerprint sensor, no visible physical capacitive keys, neither is there any visible speakers, headphone jack or any other physical feature except the curved screen. This is likely because the Huawei concept phone would come with a set of peripherals such as headsets, smart band or watch, external camera and even implant device. It is also rumored that Huawei would likely manufacture just the concept phones while the other peripheral devices would be manufactured by third parties.

We can say for sure if these details about external peripherals are true but we now know we should be expecting a spectacular device from Huawei any moment from now. Also that the device would likley have a large curved display as well as a large batter with super fast charging technology.

FIIL Carat Pro Wireless Earbuds Revealed: Audio Coaching, Voice Commands, Heart Rate Sensing & More

By

Joel Joseph

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Dec 1, 2016

FIIL,a startup backed by the popular Chinese rockstar, Wang Feng has just released a brand new Wireless earbuds for fitness enthusiasts, the FIIL Carat Pro. The earbuds are specially designed for those who would like to maximize their fitness regime with the help of advanced technology. The earbuds will soon be listed on kickstarter and aims to raise $50,000 in the next 40 days.

Today, there are hundreds of good wireless earbuds available in the market, so what makes the FIIL Carat Pro special? Well, it’s the focus on maximizing the user’s fitness goals. There are many features that make these earbuds special. For example, it boasts of real-time audio coaching and heart rate monitoring.

The FIIL Carat Pro earbuds make use of the PerformTek Precision biometrics technology. Hence, the tracking of various data by the device, like heart rate, step count, calories etc should be quite accurate. The one touch sport button is also something that helps organize your workout. A Single press of the button will tell you the exact step count, heart rate, duration, speed and other essential data of your exercise regime. Double press the same sport button and the earbuds will start collecting a new round of data. Just double press the button again to end the workout.

Another highlight of the Carat Pro is that it doesn’t have to rely on a smartphone to play songs. The earbuds can store up to 4GB of songs, which should come to around 1000 tracks in MP3, WAV, FLAC or AAC formats. The earbuds accept voice commands, so just asking it to “play Roar by Katy Perry” will be enough to start the song. Further, you can control the volume as well as tracks via the provided buttons. You can accept calls via the same buttons as well. If you are connected via Bluetooth, you can even stream via apps like Spotify.

Carat Pro’s highlight feature is the patented Speed Dependent Sound Technology (SDS). The tech basically speeds up and slows down the sound effects according to the intensity of your workout. For example, if you are working hard, the Carat Pro will automatically pump up the music and similarly, dial the music down when you are relaxing. There’s a special FIIL+ app as well which helps you to choose between different workout modes like running, yoga, biking etc for accurate tracking.

As for the battery life, the FIIL Carat Pro can run for nine hours in the local mode and up to six hours on Bluetooth mode in a single charge. It takes about an hour and a half to charge it back to 100%.

It will be up for pre-order at $59 soon. Check out this link for more details.

HMD Global Oy Officially Unveiled As the New Home of Nokia-Branded Phones

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Dec 1, 2016

It is official, HMD Global Oy is now the new owner of the Nokia brand name and the company has the license to release Nokia-branded phones for the next ten (10) years. This was contained in a press released made public earlier today by the Finnish company.

According to the release, the license is a global one that spans the entire world with the exception of only Japan. The license gives HMD the exclusive right to use the Nokia brand name on mobile phones and tablets for the period of the license. The press release also disclosed that Nokia will get royalty payments from HMD for every Nokia branded phone and tablet sold and the royalty covers both brand and intellectual property rights.

This announcement is coming less than six months after the Finnish company was revealed to have signed a strategic licensing agreement with Nokia to have the rights to release Nokia branded phones for the next decade. The announcement then, could be an indication that the company is ready to kick-start the release of smartphones and tablets that would signal the grand entry of the Nokia brand into the market under HMD’s leadership.

The company has hired a couple of former Nokia Execs in its bid to re-jig the ailing giant which still has a large follower-ship worldwide. HMD global Oy is expected to unveil its first Nokia-branded phones at MWC 2017. The expected phones have appeared in leaks recently, better recalled as Nokia D1C and latest rumor hints at the existence of two variants of the device. The company is also expected to release feature phones, tablets and a host of other products in due course.

via

Huawei Achieves Breakthrough in Graphene-Assisted Battery Technology

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Download full resolution camera samples

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Dec 1, 2016

We’ve seen technology evolve at an exponential rate in the last couple of years. Our electronics have better screens, faster and more powerful processors, and larger memories; but one component that has seen little or no growth is the battery. It’s not like they are not working to develop better batteries, it is just that there are quite a number of challenges faced by manufacturers. However things are starting to look good as Huawei has made a breakthrough in making better batteries.

The breakthrough was achieved by Watt Laboratory, an organization under Huawei’s Central Research Institute. The announcement was made at the 57th Battery Symposium which took place in Japan. The lab was able to create a new type of li-ion battery that uses graphene-based heat resistant technologies to remain functional at a temperature of 60°C (10°C higher than previous limits) and also doubles the life-span of the battery.

The Chief Scientist of Watt Laboratory, Dr Yangxing Li said they were able to achieve the above results due to three major technologies:

The use of a special additive in the electrolytes that removes trace water and prevents the electrolyte from evaporating at high temperatures.
The use of modified large-crystal NMC materials for the cathode, hence improving the therma stability of the cathode power.
The use of graphene which allows for more efficient cooling of the Li-ion battery.

In Doctor Li’s words ”We have performed charging and discharging tests in a high-temperature environment. The tests show that when working parameters are the same, the graphene-assisted high-temperature Li-ion battery is 5°C cooler than ordinary Li-ion batteries. Over 70% of the graphene battery’s capacity is left after it is recharged 2,000 times at a temperature of 60°C. Less than 13% of its capacity is lost after being kept in a 60°C environment for 200 days.”

Huawei says the new development will help reshape the storage systems of communication base stations. Outdoor base stations in High temperature regions powered by the new batteries can have their lifespan increased by more than four years. The batteries can also be used by electric vehicles and will provide a higher mileage per charge compared to current technology. They can also be used by drones which often generate heat.

At last year’s battery symposium, the tech giant unveiled its quick charge technology which charged a 3000mAh battery up to 48% in just 5-minutes. Dr. Li says the battery has been commercialized and they plan to announce a phone with the super-quick charge function by late December.

Am I the only one who thinks this might be the Huawei Mate S2?

Source: Huawei.com

Xiaomi Mi Note 2 Review – Another Beast from Xiaomi

By

Linus

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Dec 1, 2016

Xiaomi Mi Note 2 – the latest flagship made by the company and one of the best-looking and powerful phones on the market right now. But are the awesome looks and the bleeding-edge specs make the smartphone great? Learn more in the full Xiaomi Mi Note 2 review.

Thanks to Oppomart for sending the Xiaomi Mi Note 2 for a review.

Buy Xiaomi Mi Note 2

Xiaomi Mi Note 2 Review: VIDEO REVIEW

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjAJT12liYk[/embedyt]

Xiaomi Mi Note 2 Review: UNBOXING

The phone ships in quite a simple box and inside of it, you can find all the usual stuff. No extras included.

Xiaomi Mi Note 2 Review: DESIGN and DISPLAY

I have to admit that this is one of the most beautiful smartphones Xiaomi has ever made. We have a curved glass on the front and rear, a high-quality metal trim and tactile metal buttons.

We have a gorgeous 5.7” 1080p Amoled panel, which offers deep blacks, punchy colors and it is plenty sharp for everyday use. The bezels are quite visible but I’m okay with that. As usual, Xiaomi did not officially confirm the type of protective glass it used for this phone.

We have the usual highly customizable and backlit capacitive buttons, and a super fast and accurate fingerprint scanner. Keep in mind that you have to physically press the home button to use the fingerprint sensor but the unlocking process is just seamless and it works 10/10 times.

On the top, we have a highly customizable LED notification light and the upgraded 8MP camera with f/2.0 aperture and autofocus.

I’ve never been a huge fan of glass-made phones but I have to say that the Mi Note 2 has a somewhat oleophobic coating that does a pretty good job preventing from fingerprints and smudges.

We have a powerful 22.5MP camera with f/2.0 aperture and a dual tone dual-LED flash but there is no OIS.

Xiaomi brought the IR blaster back to this phone, which is great, so you can control devices like TVs. The sound quality via the headset jack is just excellent.

Same can be said about the loudspeaker. The sound is balanced, rich and it gives you some sort of surround sound effect that a lot of phones lack.

Xiaomi Mi Note 2 Review: HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE

When it comes to hardware, you can be rest assured that you will have all the latest and greatest specs packed into this phone.

My review unit ships with the Snapdragon 821 chip, 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage, which is, however, not expandable. If you are willing to pay more, you can go for the high-end model that has 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage.

As expected, 3D gaming performance is excellent and the whole gaming experience is just great thanks to the large display and a great loudspeaker. Finally, the phone does not have any overheating issues.

Xiaomi Mi Note 2 Review: BENCHMARKS

Xiaomi Mi Note 2 Review: USER INTERFACE

The Xiaomi Mi Note 2 ships with the Android 6.0-based MIUI 8 that we have already seen on other 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.

However, you have to know that the Chinese version of the phone comes with quite a few bloatware apps that may be annoying. A great thing is that you can easily remove most of them.

Finally, I’m fairly impressed with how fast the Mi Note 2 is despite having all those features. The phone is fast, fluid and I didn’t have any hiccups or lag.

Xiaomi Mi Note 2 Review: CAMERA

The camera app allows you to take pictures extremely fast. As usual to Xiaomi phones, there are a few shooting modes and settings to play with.

Xiaomi Mi Note 2 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.

In theory, 22.5MP should give you a lot of detail and the Mi Note 2’s camera does produce very detailed photos that look sharp and the colors are natural. Also, the camera handles the dynamic range and contrast pretty well but it tends to underexpose the scenery more often than not.

Most of the indoor and macro shots were taken in very poor lighting. The phone can take some good-looking photos but as usual, the noise levels get quite high in lower-lit situations.

As for night camera performance, it is just average. Well, it is not bad but I would love the software to kick in to brighten up the scene as right now the images look dark. Also, the level of noise could be a lot lower.

As for selfie shooter, it can take some nice and detailed photos.

The 4K video is good but not great. The footage is quite sharp, the auto-exposure and continuous autofocus work fine and the colors look natural. However, there are quite a few video artefacts going on and overall the footage could look sharper if we compare it to some of the mainstream flagships like the Samsung Galaxy S7 edge. The electronic image stabilization (EIS) uses the gyroscope sensor and this combo does a pretty good job reducing the shakiness.

The 1080p video looks quite good but obviously, there is less detail than in 4k footage. The 1080p selfie video looks pretty good and it will be more than enough for the video chats. See the video review for video samples.

Xiaomi Mi Note 2 Review: CONNECTIVITY

When it comes to connectivity, the Mi Note 2 has you covered. It has an international 4G LTE support that assures a fast internet speed, good signal reception and a great call quality.

Also, Wifi, GPS work absolutely fine. In addition, there is NFC onboard.

The only complaint would be that there is no microSD card slot but you get 2 SIM card slots as any other Xiaomi phone.

Xiaomi Mi Note 2 Review: BATTERY LIFE

The Mi Note 2 ships with a 4070mAh battery that performs quite well. I was able to get around 5 hours of screen-on time on kind of heavy usage including power penalty of 2 SIM cards, 4 Google accounts, social media accounts and so on.

The phone supports Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 3.0 tech but the supplied charger can fully charge the phone in about 1 h 45 mins, which is not the best result we’ve seen this year.

Xiaomi Mi Note 2 Review: CONCLUSIONS

The Xiaomi Mi Note 2 is a true flagship phone that just looks beautiful but it costs almost $500.

So what are you getting for this amount of money? The phone sports an excellent build quality and that curved glass on the front and rear adds quite a bit of style.

Also, powerful internals assure that the device performs very well no matter what you throw at it. If you add a feature-rich user interface, a good battery life, great sound quality, you are looking at a very compelling offering.

However, you have to know that even at this price point, the Mi Note 2’s camera struggles in low-light, the 4k video quality is not on par with the mainstream flagships and finally, there is no microSD card slot for storage expansion.

At the end of the day, the Xiaomi Mi Note 2 is still a very solid phone as it offers a lot of flagship-grade qualities but as most of the phones, it has some shortcomings that you have to consider.

Buy Xiaomi Mi Note 2

Meizu H1 Smartband Price Leaks: Costs More

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Dec 1, 2016

The Meizu H1 Smartband is expected to launch on the 6th of December alongside the Meizu M5 Note which is to be their last phone for the year. It has been reported that the smartband will be available in two versions: a standard edition and a premium edition with a flexible display expected to launch next year.

The standard edition was rumored to be priced at ¥229 ($33) but an image that surfaced online recently shows that Meizu’s smartband will sell at a much higher price of ¥499 (~$72), which is more than double the $33 price tag.

JD Mall will also be holding a Meizu sales day on the 8th of December and have listed the Meizu M5 Note as coming soon. The online shop will be the first to take stock of the new device and you can register to pre-order one.

OnePlus 3 OxygenOS Open Beta 8 Based on Android Nougat Now Out

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Dec 1, 2016

OnePlus had earlier stated that the OnePlus 3 was going to get an Android Nougat beta update by the end of November, not wanting to break their promise, they released the update shortly before the end of yesterday which was literally the end of November.

The update will bring the OnePlus 3 from Android Marshmallow up to Android Nougat. The official changelog is below:

multi-window view
a new notification design
a new settings menu
custom DPI support
notification direct reply
improved shelf customization,
status bar icon options
and quick launch for 3rd party applications.

There have also been some reported issues, which means if you can’t live with them, you would have to wait till the stable variant comes out later this month. The issues are:

Android pay not working correctly
stability and performance issues
incompatibility with TWRP, so you’ll have to use stock recovery
inability to directly downgrade back to Marshmallow builds, although the customer service team has a special build of Android M that will format your phone when you downgrade.

There is a chance that more bugs will be noticed but if you are willing to serve a greater good by helping to test out the update, please do grab the update so that you can relay your feedback to the team before the stable version is out.

The update will have to be manually downloaded and flashed via adb sideload for those already running open beta releases. Just head to the OnePlus Forum or directly to the download page. File size is 1.3GB.

Source: AndroidPolice

Lenovo VP Leaks iPhone 8 Detail: To Feature 3D Glass Back

By

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Dec 1, 2016

Next year will be the 10th year since the first iPhone was released into the market. The consensus is that, the next iPhone, which is presumed to be called iPhone 8, will be very different as a way to mark the anniversary.

Rumor has it that the next iPhone will see the return of the glass back which was last seen on the iPhone 5. Earlier today, industry analyst @Kevvin King posted on Weibo that Samsung’s next flagship will also feature a glass back. It appears the number 8 will not be the only thing mutual to both devices.

Earlier this year when the ZUK Z2 Pro was released, Lenovo’s Vice President posted on Weibo with the handle @Chang Cheng that 3D curved glass back will be the trend for the year. In a recent follow up post, he said that since no other manufacturer has used a 3D glass back like that of the ZUK Z2 Pro, we’ll have to wait for the iPhone 8 to see the design again.

MediaTek Announces Two New High-End Chips – Helio X23 & X27

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