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Oct 20, 2016

Xiaomi Mi Note 2 release is just a few days away and the phone already seems to have been listed on the popular reseller, Oppomart. It has become a tradition for the seller to list phones before its official release and this time, we have a render as well as probable specifications of the smartphone.

The Xiaomi Mi Note 2, according to OPPOMART, will come with a 5.7-inch 2K curved display with Snapdragon 821 on board and 4GB / 6GB RAM options. The listing further adds that the phone will support 37 bands from all over the world, which is something we reported earlier and will feature dual 16MP Sony cameras at the back and 16MP sensor up front. Also, the website reveals that the phone will be priced at $499, but don’t get too excited, as nothing is official yet.

We can’t be sure of the authenticity of these specifications, but it’s pretty much what recent rumors and leaks have said about the Xiaomi Mi Note 2. Only after the company makes the flagship official on October 25 can we confirm its specs for sure.

Till then stay tuned for more updates.

Kodak launches Ektra Android Phone with a 21MP Camera

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Oct 20, 2016

Decades ago, memories were saved using products from American photography company, Kodak. The company’s tagline ”Kodak moment” even made into common lexicon to refer to personal events like the birth of a child or weddings that needed to be recorded for future reference. The company later filed for bankruptcy protection after years of struggling in the photography business due in part to their late entry into digital photography. Now out of bankruptcy, the company has launched a smartphone called Ektra which coincides with the 75th anniversary of the Ektra brand.

The Ektra is a camera first before a phone. Sporting a 21MP f/2.0 main shooter with Kodak non-reflective coating, optical image stabilisation, 4K recording, PDAF, and HDR. The Ektra does pack a punch.

The phone’s viewfinder is even designed like a DSLR and features a bunch of familiar presets like portrait mode, smart auto, manual mode, sports, macro, landscape, and Bokeh. Kodak says the DSLR dial even has haptic feedback. The camera’s manual mode allows the user adjust shutter speed and ISO rating. Up front, there is a 13MP shooter for selfies.

Kodak also bundles the phone with a couple of photography apps like Google’s Snapseed for editing your pictures.

Now to what makes it a phone. The Ektra is fitted with a 5” FHD display with Gorilla Glass protection, runs Android 6.0 Marshmallow, has a Helio X20 processor clocked at 2.3GHz, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of storage which is expandable via a micro SD card slot because you need all the space you can get to put all those awesome photos. There is a 3000mAh battery under the hood and a USB type-C port.

The phone looks well made. There is gorilla glass on the steel-rimmed lens as well and the back is covered with leather with the Kodak logo engraved on it, that curves up to the lower part of the front. It also appears to have a dedicated camera button sitting on the right side of the phone along the silver frame that runs around it.

Huawei Enjoy 6 with 3GB RAM, 4000mAh Battery Likely Coming October 27

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Oct 20, 2016

Not long after releasing the Huawei Nova in China, as well as launching the dual-camera packing Honor 6X and just fresh out of the unveiling of the HiSilicon Kirin 960 chipset, Huawei is set to release another smartphone but this time a budget device. What was likely the Huawei Enjoy 6 was spotted on TENAA a couple of months back revealing some of its specs and now perhaps the device will be hitting the market come October 27.

According to a poster spotted on Huawei fan club’s Weibo page, Huawei would hold a conference on October 27 and to that end the Huawei fan club was recruiting volunteers for the conference. Huawei is yet to officially reveal an October 27 conference but the poster also teased the device coming on October 27 as one for the youth with a stylish appearance, and gave the idea of a durable battery. The device is also touted on the poster as coming with cutting-edge technology.

Words have it that the device expected on that day is likely the Huawei Enjoy 6 which is an upgrade of last year’s Enjoy 5S. Huawei has been silent about the device since it was sighted on TENAA a few months back.

According to the TENAA record, the Enjoy 6 would sport a 5-inch 720p OLED display and would be powered by a 1.5GHz Octa-core processor. The device also packs a 3GB RAM and 16GB internal storage space under its hood which may likely be expandable. On the camera aspect, a listing of 13MP rear camera unit and 5MP front facing camera was recorded. The device is also shown to run on Android 6.0 Marshmallow operating system out-of-the-box.

No further details about the smartphone is known at the moment but the specs listed shows we should be expecting a budget price tag on the smartphone whenever it goes official. This could be Huawei’s answer to the low-end segment dominated by Xiaomi’s Redmi and Meizu’s Blue Charm phones.

We’ll have to wait till the device is unveiled on October 27 to know the price.

LG Launches LG V34 isai Beat in Japan: Waterproof & Smaller Version of V20

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Oct 20, 2016

The LG V20 is unanimously agreed to be the best phone from LG this year. A successor to the LG V10 from last year, the new phone keeps some of the features we love from the V10, brings in some new ones, and drops some like water resistance.

So instead of releasing another version of the phone and slamming the name ”Active” or something close to that like their Korean counterpart is known for, they give it a smaller screen, include water-resistance, raise the number to 34, call it the LG V34 isai Beat and make it a Japan exclusive.

The LG V34 isai Beat (LG V34 for short) is just as good as the V20. It sports a 5.2” display instead of 5.7” and still keeps the secondary one, has 4GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, Snapdragon 820, and Android 7.0 Nougat. The dual rear cameras on the back are the same, it still has the quad-DAC setup, dual-FoV front camera and the Bang&Olufsen branding. LG has however reduced the battery to 3000mAh.

The ingress protection level for the new phone is said to be 67 making it possible to be inserted in 1m of water for up to 30 minutes.

New Leak Clearly Reveals the Xiaomi Mi Note 2 With Dual Curved Display

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Oct 20, 2016

Xiaomi Mi Note 2 is all set to meet us on October 25 and the company has already confirmed that it will be a curved screen phone, making it the first such Xiaomi handset. Now, new images of the Xiaomi Mi Note 2 has cropped up online and it reveals a look similar to the recently discontinued Samsung Galaxy Note 7.

While we cannot make out most of the features of the Mi Note 2 in these new images, it does confirm a dual curved display on board. The phone looks large, so it should be featuring a 5.7-inch display as earlier rumored. We can even see the back of the device, confirming its black color, however, there isn’t any camera module, at least not visible in the images. So, from the back, it just looks like a black slab.

According to recent rumors, the Mi Note 2 will feature Snapdragon 821 chipset with a 5.7-inch curved AMOLED display supplied by LG. Other notable features of the device will be dual cameras and ultrasonic fingerprint sensor as seen on the Mi 5S. Pricing should be costly, anything upwards of 4000 Yuan ($600).

We wait for teasers from Xiaomi in the coming days, confirming some of the features of the flagship before launch.

LeEco LeSEE Pro Electric Car Launched in US (Pictures)

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Oct 20, 2016

LeEco is making sure its entrance into the United States is grand and is seeing to that with the unveiling of series of innovative products at a go. The latest product unveiled is the eco-friendly LeSEE Pro autonomous(self-driving) electric car which joins the Le Pro 3, Le S3 smartphones as well as the 85-inch uMax85 4K TV which were also unveiled at the event held San Francisco yesterday.

The LeSEE concept car was first unveiled at the Beijing Auto Show last April but LeEco says the LeSEE Pro is more intelligent and more connected than the original concept car. Make no mistake, the LeSEE Pro isn’t a concept car even though it looks like one. However, LeEco didn’t reveal the cost of the car, production plan and other important details, saving those details for later perhaps.

The electric car comes as a self-driving car and one that can make use of a driver at the same time. The steering wheel is capable of retracting into the dashboard when it is in autonomous or self-driving mode, thus creating room for the driver to relax and enjoy LeEco’s streaming entertainment contents. LeEco says the LeSEE is not only a car but is an ecosystem for mobile connectivity.

The car also features an exterior light display that shifts between five different colors to signal what drive mode its in. According to LeEco, depending on the color the car will inform drivers and pedestrians when the vehicle is driving autonomously, sees a hazard, is charging, or is car-share ready.

The car is said to have arrived the exhibition ground right from London where it is being used for the filming of “Transformer 5” and according to news from China LeSEE Pro mass production will likely commence soon. LeEco is reported to have partnered with the government of Zhejiang province in China to establish an assembly plant worth nearly $ 20 billion.

LeEco also revealed another interesting information during the event that the Faraday Future electric car project that it is bankrolling would unveil its first car at CES next year and as is the case with the LeSEE Pro, the car would be production ready and not just a concept.

How Does The Kirin 960 Compare Against The Kirin 950?

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Oct 20, 2016

Huawei launched their most powerful chip, the Kirin 960, yesterday. Offering huge improvements in some areas and small ones in others. It’s no doubt an upgrade. It even has the highest multi-core test score on GeekBench 4.0, besting Apple’s A10, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 821, and Samsung’s Exynos 8890, but how does it fair against the older Kirin 950?

Like the Kirin 960, the Kirin 950 is also an octa-core chip but uses 4 cortex A72 cores clocked at 2.3GHz whereas the 960 uses the new A73 cores clocked at 2.4GHz, although the Kirin 955 is still the highest clocked processor from Huawei at 2.5GHz.

According to ARM, ”the Cortex-A73 delivers 30% more performance than current Cortex-A72 core devices and can even be clocked as high as 2.8GHz”.

The GPU is another place where there is a huge difference. Huawei has replaced the Mali-T380 GPU in the 950 with a Mali-G71MP8 in the 960 but left the clock speed at 900MHz. But because the new GPU has more cores and uses a new architecture, it offers a 180% increase in performance and a 20% increase in energy efficiency.

Coming to memory, both chips support LPDDR4 but the Kirin 960 offers faster performance due to the support for a higher frequency (LPDDR4-1800 against LPDDR4-1333 of the Kirin 950).

The Kirin 960 also sets the codec bar high by being the first to support 2160p 60fps HEVC HD decoding whereas the Kirin 950 can’t go past 30fps.

Other changes include the support for UFS 2.1 storage as against eMMC 5.0 4K video recording, 4x Carrier Aggregation, and 4×4 MIMO.

Only Gionee & a Couple Other Chinese Brands Will Exceed 15% Shipment Growth in 2017 Predicts Digitimes Research

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Oct 20, 2016

Unlike the earlier notion, where in smartphone manufacturers were aggressively selling their devices online, the trend is slowly but definitely shifting towards the offline markets. Time and again, we have seen companies like OPPO, Vivo and Gionee take the lead in the domestic Chinese market, all thanks to its strong offline sales channels.

Now, Digitimes Research predicts that only Gionee, OPPO, and Vivo will achieve total shipment growth upwards of 15% in the 2017 global smartphone market. Given that these three companies have invested a lot in the offline market, the research goes on to show how important offline sales are for a smartphone company. For example, in China, Gionee has reportedly over 100K sales points, more than 70K special areas and over three hundred sales counters. The company exports to over 40 countries and has relationships with 8 national telecom carriers.

The research firm, Sino reports that the share of Apple, Samsung and other global brands in China declined to 13.3% in August this year as compared to 21% last year. In contrast, the share of Chinese smartphone companies in China increased from 79% to 86.7% during the same period, all thanks to the increased efforts in the offline sales channels.

As established markets saturate, the demand for smartphones in the future will come from emerging markets in South Asia, Southeast Asia, South America, Africa and similar regions. These markets are important for companies because more functional phone users are now upgrading to smartphones and offline retail outlets will play an important role in their growth. These Chinese companies could have an upper hand in these regions owing to their experience with the offline market. Even companies like Xiaomi, who was once focused only on online sales is slowly expanding its reach into the offline market as well.

Meizu TV Box in The Works, Priced at 299 Yuan ($44)

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Oct 20, 2016

A recent post by a Weibo user mentions that Meizu will be entering the cord-cutting business by releasing their own TV box. The post which is actually a screenshot of a conversation between an insider and another individual even includes the possible pricing of the device.

Cord-cutting is starting to be the main form of media consumption in households, with a number of big names and even companies known to provide cable TV service joining the train. While we assume Meizu’s TV Box will just be a way to access cord-cutting services like the way fellow phone maker Xiaomi does with its Mi Box series, we do not want to rule out a possibility of them coming out with their own exclusive content and features to stand out of the plethora of TV boxes present out there.

The Meizu TV Box has gotten its 3C certification and even lists Shenzen Skyworth Digital Technology Co. Ltd’s Bao’an foundry plant as the factory handling the manufacturing.

A few days ago, Meizu held a Flyme Conference in Shenzhen where they announced that they have been working on Flyme for TVs and tablets. The version for TV has been reported to have support for multi-windows and will connect with other devices under the Meizu Homekit Ecosystem.

Samsung Announces Industry’s First 8GB LPDDR4 DRAM For Mobile & Tablets

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Oct 19, 2016

Samsung has today officially announced the introduction of what is said to be the industry’s first 8GB LPDDR4 (low power, double data rate 4) DRAM package for mobile devices. According to the report, the 8GB mobile DRAM package uses four of its latest 16GB LPDDR4 memory chips and is manufactured using advanced 10nm-class process technology.

The 8GB LPDDR4 DRAM comes in as a powerful mobile DRAM solution which the company says will enable more capable next-generation, flagship mobile devices around the world and is suited to meet the escalating needs of devices having dual camera, 4K UHD and VR features.

Continuing, the company disclosed the new 8GB LPDDR4 operates at up to 4,266 megabits per second (Mbps), which is twice as fast as DDR4 DRAM for PCs working typically at 2,133 Mbps per pin. Assuming a 64 bit (x64) wide memory bus, this can be viewed as transmitting over 34GBs of data per second. Already, there are a number of high-end ultra-slim note PCs using 8GB of DRAM currently but Samsung’s new 8GB LPDDR4 package will help other next-generation mobile devices take full advantage of its extremely high capacity. For example, equipping tablets with 8GB of LPDDR4 will enable virtual machine operation and smoother 4K UHD video playback, popular features of many premium PCs.

In addition, the Samsung 8GB LPDDR4 DRAM provides much more efficient power consumption thanks to its use of the latest 10nm-class process technology and Samsung’s proprietary low-power circuit design. This circuit design enables the memory chip to double the capacity of the company’s 20nm-class 4GB DRAM package, while consuming approximately the same amount of power.

In terms of dimension, the 8GB LPDDR4 package comes in under 15mm x 15mm x 1.0mm, which satisfies space requirements of most new, ultra slim mobile devices. Using a DRAM package thinner than 1.0mm enables stacking the package together with UFS memory or a mobile application processor, depending on device manufacturers’ preferences, which will allow further space savings on the printed circuit board.

In August last year, Samsung introduced the industry-first 20-nanometer 12GB LPDDR4 DRAM and now after only 14 months in development, the Korean tech giant is introducing the first 10nm-class single-package solution of 8GB LPDDR4 DRAM which is expected to speed up the launch of next-generation mobile devices and tablets with even more advanced performance.

LeEco Le Pro 3 Debuts in the US, Along with Newly Introduced Le S3

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Oct 19, 2016

LeEco has unveiled its Le Pro 3 smartphone as the first of its phones to officially go on sale in the US. This was done in a news conference held in San Francisco where the Chinese company also unveiled a couple of other new products including the LeEco Le S3.

The LeEco Le Pro 3 flagship was released in China in September boasting of a powerful specs line-up yet cheap price tag. LeEco seems to be capitalizing on the cheap price tag of its Snapdragon 821-powered Le Pro 3, hoping that would appeal to the teeming US populace. The Le Pro 3 no doubt has specs that an rival other flagships in the market but the US mobile market is mostly carrier based, so it remains to be seen how LeEco would perform out there.

To recap, the leEco Le Pro 3 features a 5.5-inch Full HD display and is powered by Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 821 processor along with 4GB of RAM as well as 64GB of built-in storage. The flagship device packs a massive 4,070mAh battery and comes with support for Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 which can deliver 33% of charge in just 20 minutes. There is a whopping 16MP rear camera on the phone which boots Android Marshmallow 6.0 out-of-the-box. The phone doesn’t feature a 3.5mm audio jack instead there is a USB Type-C port.

The Le Pro 3 carries a price tag of $399 in the United States and that’s going to be off-contract but there is an $100 discount on offer so buyers will actually pay just $299 and its not locked to any network. LeEco is also offering as an added incentive, three months of free EcoPass which provides users with up to 5TB cloud storage, unlimited photo and video storage. Users also get exclusive access to LeEco sales, and an extended warranty.

In addition to the Le Pro 3, LeEco also announced a mid-range smartphone dubbed Le S3. The LeEco Le S3 sports a 5.5-inch Full HD display as the Le Pro 3 but is powered by a Snapdragon 652 chipset which is backed by 3GB of RAM and has a modest 32GB of internal storage. The Le S3 also features a 16MP rear camera with LED flash and an 8MP front-facing camera.

Furthermore, there is a 3,000mAh battery under its hood with support for Quick Charge 3.0 as well as a fingerprint scanner at the rear. The LeEco Le S3 carries a price tag of $249 and is going to be sold alongside the Le pro 3 via LeEco’s website – www.lemall.com.

OPPO R9S Hands On: All Metal Flagship In Rose Gold Color

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OPPO R9S Launched with IMX398 f/1.7 sensor & SD625

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Oct 19, 2016

OPPO just released the OPPO R9S and R9S Plus smartphones in China. The new models come with a unique antenna design, wherein instead of a single antenna line, it is split into three super narrow lines at the back. This makes the overall design seamless and blends well with the majority of the metal body. In fact, because of this unique design, OPPO R9S is said to feature 98.8% metal in its body.

The phone comes in Gold, Rose Gold and Black color options and Sina Tech managed to get hands on with the new device. In case you are wondering how the phone looks in real life, check out the pictures of the R9S Plus from down below.

You can read our launch articles on the OPPO R9S and the R9S Plus from below.

OPPO R9S Plus Launched With IMX398, OIS and SD653

The Best Cheap Hi-Fi Phablet?

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Linus

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Oct 19, 2016

Let’s admit, very large smartphones are not for everyone but they have some advantages that other phones lack. I came across the 6.44” smartphone that you have probably not heard of. It costs just $130 but I was amazed by how much value it offers. Learn more in our full review.

Thanks to Banggood for sending Ramos MOS1 Max for a review.

Buy Ramos Mos1 Max

RAMOS MOS 1 Max Review: VIDEO REVIEW

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dq4iZUjbDAE[/embedyt]

RAMOS MOS 1 Max Review: UNBOXING

I’m talking about the Ramos MOS1 Max phone that comes in quite a premium packaging. Inside the box, you can find all the usual items that you would expect to come with any phone.

RAMOS MOS 1 Max Review: DESIGN and DISPLAY

The key aspect of this phone is its size and that is because of a huge 6.44” 1080p display, which is surprisingly great, sharp and vibrant for such a cheap phone.

Also, the phone is made almost entirely of metal (except for the top and bottom parts for antennas). The device sits nicely in the hand but you will definitely need two hands to handle it.

I love the fact that there are no moving parts whatsoever. The dual-micro SIM card tray stays firmly and buttons do not rattle, and they have a good tactile feedback.

I don’t like the fact that we have only the on-screen navigation buttons. A great thing is that there is a notification LED light, which sits next to the 8MP front-facing camera.

Usually, the loudspeakers suck on the cheap phones but I have to tell you that the Ramos Mos 1 is one of the better devices in this department.

Same can be said about the sound quality via the headset jack as the phone sports a Hi-Fi audio chip.

RAMOS MOS 1 Max Review: HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE

For the price of $130, the phone sports some pretty good specs. The device ships with an octa-core MTK6753 chip, 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage, which is, however, not expandable.

The 3D gaming performance is not as good as I expected as there are quite a few skipped frames even if you play Asphalt 8 on medium graphics.

On the other hand, the 2D games work just fine and the phone does not overheat.

RAMOS MOS 1 Max Review: BENCHMARKS

RAMOS MOS 1 Max Review: USER INTERFACE

What I love about this phone is that it ships with the stock Android ROM and the device is pretty fast on the daily basis, and I didn’t have any lags or hiccups. However, we have the outdated Android 5.1 version and I’m not really sure if we are going to see an update to the Android 6.0 anytime soon.

RAMOS MOS 1 Max Review: IMAGE QUALITY

As for image quality, you should not expect any stellar results from a cheap phone like this. Still, you may get some nice-looking photos that are pretty sharp and detailed. However, the camera has some issues handling the dynamic range, there could a little bit more detail in some of the shots.

The selfie camera can take images that will definitely do the trick for social media.

The video quality is just mediocre as on most of the cheap phones. See the video review for a video sample.

RAMOS MOS 1 Max Review: CONNECTIVITY

I didn’t have any connectivity issues and even the GPS lock speeds and accuracy were okay. The only downside would be that there is not 5GHz Wifi band support.

RAMOS MOS 1 Max Review: BATTERY LIFE

The battery life is one of the highlights of the Ramos phone as it ships with a beefy 6100mAh unit. I could not kill the phone in one day and I would say that you will be able to get at least 2 days of moderate usage out of this phone. Also, the phone supports a quick-charge tech and I was able to fully charge it in around 1:40 mins.

RAMOS MOS 1 Max Review: CONCLUSIONS

The MOS1 Max was the very first phone made by Ramos that I had a chance to review. I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by how much value this phone offers.

It all starts with a gorgeous 6.44” display, excellent all-metal build, great sound quality, stock Android user interface and awesome battery life.

However, the MOS1 Max is not for everyone due to its size. It is not really possible to handle the phone in one hand or even put it in the pocket but if you are watching this review, you are probably looking for a phablet.

Other shortcomings worth considering would be the lack of the microSD card slot, the outdated Android 5.1 user interface, only the on-screen navigation buttons and subpar 3D gaming performance.

Other than that, the Ramos MOS1 Max is a great offering for the price if you are looking for a super-sized phone, despite a few shortcomings.

Buy Ramos Mos1 Max

OPPO R9S Plus Official: Snapdragon 653 & Sony IMX398 f/1.7 Sensor with OIS

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Oct 19, 2016

Along with the OPPO R9S smartphone, the company also announced the OPPO R9S Plus at the conference in China this evening. As the name suggests, this particular model will be the update to the larger phablet-sized OPPO R9 Plus that was released earlier this year. The new model comes with some great upgrades but retains the essence of the device, a powerful enough processor, great camera and a large size ideal to fulfill entertainment needs.

The company has made sure that the OPPO R9S Plus is updated in the right areas. First of all, in the processor department, the phone comes with the brand new Snapdragon 653 chipset. This new chip is 10% better in terms of performance as compared to the previous generation SD652 chipset and is clocked at 1.95GHz. Even in the memory department, the company has upgraded the RAM on board to 6GB, bringing the phone at level with other flagship devices. For ROM, you get 64GB. Like the R9S, you have a MicroSD slot expandable up to 128GB.

The camera in the R9S Plus is similar to the R9S, featuring the custom Sony IMX398 16MP sensor with f/1.7 aperture. However, instead of the EIS in the R9S, this model features OIS. Other features include 4K shooting, slo-mo videos etc. Up front, you get a 16MP shooter with f/2.0 aperture.

RELATED: OPPO R9s vs OPPO R9

The phone comes with a large 4000mAh battery with VOOC fast charging tech. As for software, it runs on Color OS 3.0 based on Android 6.0.1. Other features include a dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, VoLTE, fingerprint ID etc.

The OPPO R9S Plus is priced at 3499 Yuan ($520) and will go on sale sometime in December. Expect more release details in the coming weeks.

OPPO R9S Official: Split Antenna Design, Sony IMX398 f/1.7 Camera & Snapdragon 625

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Oct 19, 2016

OPPO has been teasing its new flagship smartphone, the OPPO R9S for the past few days. And now, the company has officially taken the wraps off not one, but two new devices, namely the OPPO R9S and the OPPO R9S Plus. Both the devices are capable upgrades to the popular R9 series which has managed to sell very well in China as well as internationally under the name OPPO F1 Plus.

The basic design of the OPPO R9S remains the same as its predecessor, but it features a new split antenna design. The company had already confirmed this in one of its teasers, but now, it has revealed more details about the design. So, there are three super narrow antenna lines at the back (0.3mm wide), instead of one thick line. This makes it less visible, thereby giving the overall design a seamless look. The company says that this has also helped it to increase the proportion of metal in the phone to 98.8%. The new design is also said to improve the Wi-Fi signal, and now, the coverage is said to be better.

Coming to the specs, the OPPO R9S comes with the same 5.5-inch 1080p display, however, this time, you have the latest Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection. This should provide better resistance against drops, as much as 80% intact rate at 1.6m drop, much better than previous generations. Inside, the R9S is running the Snapdragon 625 chipset, a much better upgrade as compared to the Helio P10 chipset in the previous generation. This new chip should also ensure better GPU performance than the R9 model. As for memory, there will be 4GB RAM and 64GB of ROM.

The camera has been one of the best-selling features of the OPPO R9 and the company has made sure that it remains the same with its update. The OPPO R9S comes with the 16MP Sony IMX398 sensor, which is said to be jointly developed by OPPO and Sony. The sensor is reportedly fast and “comparable to SLR camera speeds” and comes with tailored features. The company also revealed that the pixel area is upgraded and the amount of light reaching the sensor has increased up to 2 times. Further with the help of dual-core focus, the camera can focus 40% faster than PDAF.

Even the aperture size is large, and f/1.7 aperture will ensure great low light images. Further with the help of multi-frame noise reduction technology and large aperture, low light images should be clear, with limited noise. So camera lovers should be happy with the performance of the new R9S. Up front, you get a 16MP sensor as well.

As for the software, the OPPO R9S runs on the company’s ColorOS 3.0 version. Inside, there is a decent 3010mAh battery but with VOOC fast charging, the battery shouldn’t be an issue on the device.

The OPPO R9S will go on sale on October 28 for 2799 Yuan ($416). There are three color options available, gold, rose gold and black.

The OPPO R9S Plus launch article is also up, check it out from here!

Xiaomi Mi Note 2 Features a Global Edition with 37 Frequency Bands

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Oct 19, 2016

Its been over a year since Xiaomi fans have been waiting for the Mi Note 2 and as the day roll by towards the October 25 launch, the waiting is looking by the day to be worth the while. It has been revealed that the Xiaomi Mi Note 2 would feature a “Global Edition” with up to 37 network frequency bands including those of carriers overseas. This is a huge boost for the company, meaning the device could be used anywhere in the world.

Full network support is a common feature of most smartphones yet some foreign carrier bands don’t get supported on a number of smartphones but that is not going to happen on the Mi Note 2, if the latest words from Xiaomi phone product marketing director is to be taken seriously.

According to his words, the Mi Note 2 would support 6-mode 37 frequency including CDMA1x, EVDO, and a mold count. Presently, the Xiaomi Mi 5 was reported to have come with 4G compatibility issues with some carriers in the US but with the Mi Note 2 owners who happen to travel to the US wouldn’t have to worry about compatibility issues on US carriers’ 4G network.

When compared to some Chinese top brands that ships abroad like the Huawei P9, this list of supported frequency bands is huge. Huawei P9 supports 32 frequency bands while the Mate 8 is likely 33 bands.

Full Details of Huawei Kirin 960 System-on-Chip

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Oct 19, 2016

The past few days have seen chip manufacturers announce new processors. Starting with Mediatek announcing the Helio P15, to Qualcomm launching the Snapdragon 653, 626, and 427 chipsets, and Huawei announcing the Kirin 960 earlier today. Our focus is however on the Huawei Kirin 960. Huawei has released a detailed specification list of the new processor.

The Huawei Kirin 960 SoC is an octa-core processor made up of four A73 chips clocked at 2.4GHz and four A53 low-power chips clocked at 1.8GHz for its CPU. Its GPU is a Mali G-71 MP8 which offers about 180 percent increase in performance over the Kirin 950 and a 20% reduction in power consumption. It also supports Vulkan 1.0. The new chip is built on 16nm FinFET Plus process and supports UFS 2.1 storage and LPDDR4 RAM.

Real Image of LeEco’s AI Phone Leaked

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Oct 19, 2016

Today is a big day for LeEco. The company announced a couple of weeks ago that they will be officially launching in the US today, October 19, and in about 6 hours, the live-stream event will kick off. Apart from this, the company also plans to release its first Artificial Intelligence phone by the end of October. A picture of the AI Phone with CEO, Jia Yueting has surfaced online and it doesn’t look bad at all.

The phone sports which sports dual rear cameras was first thought to be the Le Pro 3 when the image of a dual camera phone from LeEco was leaked online three months ago. Following the Le Pro 3’s launch and its lack of dual rear cameras, we knew the phone was different entirely,and not until last week did we learn that it is the company’s AI phone.

Smartisan M1 and Smartisan M1L Smartphones With SD 821 Chip Released

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Oct 19, 2016

Smartisan is a Chinese phone manufacturer best known for their Smartisan OS before their phones. There were rumours recently that the company was going to be acquired by Xiaomi, but the company quickly discarded them. Yesterday the company confirmed they were still in the business of manufacturing smartphones by releasing two Snapdragon 821 devices, the Smartisan M1 and Smartisan M1L.

From the name, some of you might have guessed correctly that they have different screen sizes but that is not only where the difference lies. Below is a full list of specifications for both devices.

Smartisan M1

5.15” 1080p JDI Display (95% NTSC Colour Gamut)
Corning Gorilla Glass 4
2.35GHz Snapdragon 821 Processor
4GB LPDDR4 RAM
32GB ROM UFS 2.0
23 Megapixel Sony IMX318 Rear Camera with 4K and SloMo Recording, PDAF, OIS, and Laser AF
4MP OmniVison Front Facing Camera
Dual Nano Sim Cards
2xCA Support Carrier Aggregation
4G+, 4G, 3G (WCDMA, TD-SCDMA, EVDO) 2G (CDMA and GSM) networks supported
Bands Supported B1/ B2/ B3/ B4/ B7/ B9/ B12/ B17/ B18/ B19/ B20/ B26/ B28/ B38/ B39/ B40/ B41
Front Facing Fingerprint Scanner with support for AliPay and
Dual WiFi Bands, Bluetooth 4.1
NFC
3050mAh ATL Battery
Quick Charge 3.0 (24W)
149.36 x 71.75 x 8.22 mm
146g

Smartisan M1L

5.7” Sharp 2K Display (95% NTSC Colour Gamut)
Corning Gorilla Glass 4
2.35GHz Snapdragon 821 Processor
4GB/6GB LPDDR4 RAM
32GB/64GB ROM UFS 2.0
23 Megapixel Sony IMX318 Rear Camera with 4K and SloMo Recording, PDAF, OIS, and Laser AF
4MP OmniVison Front Facing Camera
Dual Nano Sim Cards
2xCA Support Carrier Aggregation
4G+, 4G, 3G (WCDMA, TD-SCDMA, EVDO) 2G (CDMA and GSM) networks supported
Bands Supported B1/ B2/ B3/ B4/ B7/ B9/ B12/ B17/ B18/ B19/ B20/ B26/ B28/ B38/ B39/ B40/ B41
Front Facing Fingerprint Scanner with Support for AliPay and
Dual WiFi Bands, Bluetooth 4.1
NFC
4080mAh ATL Battery
Quick Charge 3.0 (24W)
159.66 x 78.96 x 8.32 mm
175g