LeEco isn’t holding back when it comes to drumming up hype for their upcoming phone, the LeEco Pro 3. The company released a poster yesterday teasing the small capacity batteries in the new iPhones. Today, they’ve released another image taking aim at the lack of fast charging in Apple’s new release.
The LeEco Le Max 2 supports Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 2.0 and uses a 24W high power charger for it’s 3100mAh battery. Both versions of the Le Pro 3 will feature batteries with higher capacities than that of the Le Max 2 (4070mAh and 5000mAh). So it’s a no-brainer that they should support fast charge (most likely Quick Charge 3.0) as well.
The LeEco Le Pro 3 will launch on the 21st of September and is already shaping up to be one of the best devices of the year. Users will be able to choose either a 6GB+64GB version with a 16MP rear camera and an 8MP front facing camera or the industry’s first 8GB RAM phone which has 256GB of storage, dual 13 megapixel cameras on the rear, and a 16MP camera in front. Both units will sport Qualcomm’s newest SD 821 chip and will be priced between $314 and $449.
If you feel you don’t need all those specs, the LeEco Le Max 2 is one of the best value for money flagships right now. It has a 2K display, uses a snapdragon 820 chip, has a 21MP rear camera with OIS and PDAF, NFC, and a fingerprint scanner. The icing on the cake is that it sells for less than $270 for the 4GB RAM version with 32GB of built-in storage.
Samsung is alleged to be working on an Exynos 8895 chipset which would use the 10nm process and run at a maximum power of just 5 watts. Now, a new rumor out of China alleges that the expected Exynos 8895 chip will feature improvements in image processing by up to between 70% and 80% and is capable of reaching a clock speed of up to 3.0GHz. That is a whole lot of processing speed.
The Exynos 8895 chip if actually manufactured on the 10nm process would be Samsung’s first chip manufactured on that level and also Samsung’s first to run at a max power draw of just 5 watts. This could improve processing speed to a lightning bolt level and at the same time the device won’t get too hot.
The Exynos 8895 found a worthy rival in Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 830 chips which would likely hit the market next year, also manufactured on the 10nm process. Already, the Exynos 8895 is alleged to have hit Geekbench, pulling an amazing score of 2301 for the single-core and 7019 for multi-core tests.
We are already getting rumors of an early debut for next year’s Galaxy S8 and S8 Edge flagships due to the Note 7’s mishap. The model numbers of the duo have been leaked, meaning they are already in the works and it is believed they would launch spotting the Exynos 8895. It is only then we can determine the true power of Samsung’s next-gen chip.
The use of dual cameras in smartphones is not new, many brands including Huawei, Xiaomi, LG and of late Apple as well as others have adopted the technology but yet the trend seems to be growing large by the day. Qualcomm has unveiled it latest dual camera system which they called Clear Sight. The dual camera technology was developed mainly to promote the upgraded photo quality photo on offer, working with its own set of systems. The Clear Sight technology is touted to simulate human vision, thus giving users amazing picture quality.
The Qualcomm Clear Sight dual cameras are similar in dynamics to Huawei P9’s Leica dual cameras in the kind of sensors they use. The both use one camera sensor, while the other is a black and white sensor as well as packing powerful optimization software. The dual camera lenses can thus simultaneously capture two different images and stitch them in real time. The advantage of this process is that the black and white filters behind the lens can accommodate more light, resulting in sharper picture output, with reduced image noise and increase focusing speed. Images captured with this system produces a special bokeh effect where the background images are blurred, with the main target clearly captured.
This technology is different from that Apple infused into the iPhone 7 Plus, in that the dual cameras on the 7 Plus cannot work at the same time because one of the lenses is to produce wide angle view of up to 140 degrees, and the second lens is to zoom in.
The Clear Sight dual camera system can work well powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 820 and 821 processors. Before now, we had gotten wind of an impending flagship phone launch by Xiaomi, equipped with Snapdragon 821 processor, and dual cameras. It is possible that the expected Xiaomi phone may adopt this technology or something similar.
Xiaomi has disclosed via the Mi community’s official Weibo page, that a new device would be released from its stable on September 21 which is just a week away. Although no other detail was revealed in the post, the teased photo announcing the date contained certain clues which give us an idea of what we should be expecting.
The number 100 is shown to be written on the teased and at the same time, the three digits which make up 100 are designed to look like different types of connectivity ports that would be on the USB. One of the ports resembles the USB Type-C interface which is an indication the Powerbank will likely feature a USB Type-C port. In addition, there is the drawing of the USB 2.0 port as well as another that looks like that of a typical charging port or data port.
Basically, the expected device would likely come with a line-up that includes the three ports, meaning it might be able to charge more than one device at the same time. this would require a large battery capacity, and the largest of Xiaomi’s Mi Powerbank boasts of a 20,000mAh battery capacity. It is possible that the expected power pack would get a notch in its battery capacity.
OPPO holds the title of second largest manufacturer in China for H1 2016 and they are holding on to that spot as tightly as possible. The company launched the best-selling selfie-focused R9 earlier this year and even made a special FC Barcelona Edition. It seems they will be launching another camera-centric phone soon judging from the specs of a phone that showed up at TENAA for its certification.
This new device is the OPPO A59s. It shares design similarities to other OPPO phones which have been criticised for aping the iPhone 6s.
The phone is made out of metal, and has the camera sensor and LED flash at the top left corner just before the upper antenna line. There is the OPPO brand name sitting a few millimetres from the middle, a little text, and the lower antenna line. Nothing we have not seen before.
The OPPO A59s is equipped with 4GB of RAM, 32GB of built-in storage, a 16MP front-facing camera, and a 13MP rear camera. OPPO says there is a memory card slot for storage expansion, a 2980mAh battery, and a 64-bit 8-core processor clocked at 1.5GHz (probably the MT6750).
The phone will weigh 160 grams and will have a thickness of 7.38 mm. The phone’s fingerprint scanner will definitely be placed in front, doubling as a home button.
Unless you are living under a rock, I’m sure you must have heard about the spate of exploding phones happening in recent times. The phone suffering from this is the Galaxy Note 7 and Samsung has issued a compulsory recall. Xiaomi seems to have caught the exploding bug as reports say there have been 2 cases of Xiaomi phones exploding this month.
The first incident involved the large screen phablet, the Mi Max, which exploded while it was charging. The phone was said to be charged with the official travel charger before it exploded and damaged a part of the house.
Xiaomi Mi Max
The second case involved a Mi 4c that exploded while sitting in the back pocket of its owner. The man suffered 3rd degree burns as a result of the explosion. Both phones were said to have been purchased from Xiaomi’s official online store.
While Samsung has issued an official statement faulting an issue with the battery of the Note 7, Xiaomi has not made public the result of their findings. The incident has affected 3 different Xiaomi phones already which means it can happen to any other Xiaomi phone as well. Let’s hope the company issues an official statement before another incident occurs.
LeEco has a conference scheduled for September 21, which is exactly a week from now. The event will hold in Beijing and will see the company launch their new flagship device, the LeEco Pro 3.
In the spirit of the launch, a new poster for the event has been released on weibo, and apart from reminding us of the date, LeEco has gone further by dissing Apple’s recently launched iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus.
The poster mocks Apple’s statement that says the iPhone 7 Plus offers an extra hour of battery life over previous models. There is also an image of a battery squashing an apple with blood splattered around on the poster.
Part of the highlights of the upcoming phone is the new battery and in a leak from yesterday, we know there will be two versions of the Le Pro 3. One will have a battery capacity of 4070 mAh, and a higher-end version will have a larger 5000 mAh battery. If we compare these two battery sizes to that of the iPhone 7 (1960 mAh) and the iPhone 7 Plus (2900 mAh), LeEco sure has the bragging rights.
The Le Pro 3 will launch with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 821 processor and will have two versions: a base model with 6GB of RAM and 64GB of ROM, and a high-end version that will be the first phone to launch with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of built-in storage.
When the news for a particular phone starts coming in frequently, we usually hope the launch isn’t too far off. Earlier today, we reported that the Xiaomi Mi 5s which is the upgraded version of the original Mi 5 will feature an ultrasonic fingerprint scanner inserted beneath the front glass.
Some of us might be wondering how that will work, so we’ve gotten an image that explains it better.
As you can see, there’s no physical button up front, just place your already registered fingerprint scanner and your phone unlocks. Very discreet, right?
Smartphone makers seem intent on starting a new trend of ditching the physical home key entirely, instead using a virtual one embedded on the display. This trend found its place in the iPhone 7 and now we have information that Xiaomi is including that on the expected Mi 5s flagship. This was exposed by Kevin Wang, Director of electronics research in China for IHS Technology, on a Weibo post that the Mi 5s will feature fingerprint recognition technology but that the sensor is hidden under the display with no physical button to press.
It is said that the technology is known as ultrasonic fingerprint technology, developed by Qualcomm and Xiaomi is pioneering this one in the Chinese phone industry. The fingerprint sensors would still work even when your hands are wet. This should be the main talking point of the Mi 5s and it seem to tow the line of the iPhone 7’s latest fingerprint technology.
The Mi 5S had earlier appeared on AnTuTu managing to pull a total score of about 150K points. The device was listed as coming with a Snapdragon 821 processor alongside an Andreno 531 GPU and Android 6.0 Marshmallow OS. Of course the OS will be embellished with MIUI 8. Aside the few AnTuTu details, the Mi 5s is said to sport a 5.15-inch display with 1080p resolution. There are no information yet about the camera but it is expected to see an improvement over the Mi 5’s camera sensors.
Apple iPhone 7 was released with some new innovations like the lightning connector which now plays the role of a charger and that of the 3.5mm audio jack that have been removed. There is also a virtual home button replacing the traditional home buttons that previous iPhones had featured. Now, early details have emerged that Apple is planning even more innovations on the iPhone 8 which would launch next year when Apple marks the 10th anniversary of its iPhone’s debut.
The new details which confirms earlier rumors were embedded inside a review of the new iPhone 7 done by a writer at New York Times. According to the reviewer, Apple is very much likely to continue manufacturing iPhiones without the 3.5mm headphone jacks. The writer also disclosed in the article that next year’s iPhones will have a full-screen face with the virtual button built directly into the display. The source of this information was from two insiders at Apple, who don’t to be quoted because the information about the product are supposed to still be private.
Even before the release of the iPhone 7, rumors about the iPhone 8 having an edge-to-edge display had been in the open but coming from inside sources, this may likely be a confirmation that the iPhone 8 might take a leap from its predecessors in design and features. The iPhone 8 is also earlier rumored to see a transition by Apple from LCD to OLED displays said to be supplied by Samsung. The front camera and fingerprint sensor / home button will be embedded on the display, and a more faster A11 chip which would bolt faster than the blazing A10 chipset is also touted.
The iPhone 8 will likely drop in the fall of 2017 and that’s a long time away from now. Enough time for us to get more juicy details about the next Apple flagship and perhaps see some sort of revolution in the phone industry, with rival competitors trying to catch up and even overtake Apple on these innovations.
The Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 was launched 3 weeks ago. The phone sports a 5.5” FHD display like the Note 3, it also comes in two RAM+ROM variants (2GB+16GB and 3GB+64GB).
Apart from the storage option doubled in the 3GB RAM version, the other major change in the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 is the Mediatek Helio X20 SoC.
Most people speculated that Xiaomi will launch another version with a Snapdragon 652 processor, just like they launched a snapdragon 650 version of the Redmi Note 3, which originally came with a Helio X10 chip. But analyst, Pan Jiutang says that will not be happening.
So for those of you who have been staving off the purchase of a Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 because you are expecting a snapdragon version, Mr Jiutang says your wish will not be fulfilled so you better pick up the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 now.
If Xiaomi truly doesn’t launch a snapdragon version of the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4, that doesn’t mean they won’t do so for the Xiaomi Redmi Pro, which in my opinion needs a snapdragon version more than the former.
The iPhone 7 was released last week and one of the many features highlighted during the launch is Apple’s new A10 Fusion chip which is touted as offering a 40% increase in performance over the A9 chip in the iPhone 6s and 120 times faster than the chip on the original iPhone.
The A10 Fusion processor is the first quad-core chip manufactured by the company. It is made up of two high performance cores and two low-performance cores.
A weibo user, @i, decided to confirm Apple’s claims and put the iPhone 7 through a web app performance test, and below are the screenshots of his results.
The test was carried out using Jetstream v1.1 and the results were compared alongside those of the iPhone 6s Plus, a Samsung Galaxy S7 with a SD 820 chip, a S7 Edge with Samsung’s Exynos 8890, and a Samsung S6 Edge.
The iPhone 7 scored 169.14 points and is followed by the iPhone 6s Plus with a score of 115.18. The S7 with a Snapdragon 820 managed to pull in a measly 36.9 points.
Gizmochina has increased its efforts to deliver quick and latest Chinese smartphone news to our readers. However, our audience is not just based of English-speaking readers and we understand this. Given that a lot of our readers come from Russia, we have now launched our Gizmochina Russia sister website. It’s been a couple of weeks since the website was launched and we are currently delivering all the top Chinese news in Russian consistently on the website.
If you are a Russian visitor and want to read the latest Chinese news in Russian, please check out our sister website for all the latest news.
In case you missed, LeEco has officially announced the Le 2 and Le Max 2 in Russia and they are priced pretty aggresively. You can read all about that here (in Russian).
Remember the Xiaomi Yi action camera? Of course, some persons will still remember the gadget because of its cheap price tag on top cool features. Xiaomi first unveiled the XiaoYi (Yi Technology) action camera for surveillance and security purposes last year under its crowdfunding platform. Thereafter an upgraded version was released earlier this yearwith a massive 4K resolution. It has been reported that a new model of the action camera will likely launch on September 19. A teaser to that effect has been spotted.
According to the leak source, the expected camera was developed in conjunction with former Fujitsu experts and will use M43 frame and Panasonic CMOS sensor which would aid the interchangeable lenses.
There isn’t much information other than these about the anticipated launch event or the new Yi Action camera but it is expected that aside the new innovations, the next Yi cam is expected to consolidate on the current version which has a 4K capable lens, while continuing the tradition of cheap price tag.
As a reminder, the Yi 4k action camera crams a Sony IMX377 sensor and also uses the US Ambarella A9SE75 processor with Broadcom BCM43340 dual-band chip. Other features include a Bosch BMI160 si-ais gyro sensor, with seven high definition optical glass lenses, and 330PPI gorilla retina touchscreen. The device packs an ATL professional custom 1400mAh battery which can provide up to two hours of 4K / 30-frame film recording level. The Small Ants motion camera also supports 157-degree wide-angle camera, 5G WiFi connectivity and has a variety of professional level camera and video mode. Despite all these specs, the 4K camera started at 1199 Yuan ($180) via crowdfunding.
The Nexus 6P was the phone that kick-started Google’s high pricing and it seems the Pixel XL is taking things a bit higher, that’s if the leak is true.
Android Police editor, David Ruddock posted on twitter over the weekend that a rumour flying around says the Pixel XL will cost $649. Although he’s not sure if that is the price for the 32GB version or 128GB model. A preceding tweet already mentioned that there will only be two storage options i.e. 32GB and 128GB.
If it turns out that the price is for the 32GB version, it will still be in the price range of flagships from other manufacturers like Samsung and Apple. If the price is for the 128GB version, it will be no different from the launch price of the Nexus 6P 128GB version.
Google is expected to launch the Pixel and Pixel XL at an event slated for October 4, but we might be getting more leaks before then. The new phones are also expected to come with Android 7.1 Nougat and a new launcher called the Pixel Launcher. There are also rumours that the search giant plans to revive the 7” tablet line this year with one made by Huawei.
According to the latest information, Xiaomi is all set to announce the successor in the Xiaomi Mi Note series sometime later this month with the name Xiaomi Mi Note 2 or Mi Pro. Given that the company’s Mi Note series has always been the flagship range, we expect pretty powerful specs on the upcoming handset. However, last year’s Mi Note is still a powerful handset and despite Xiaomi stopping the sales of the device a few months back, third party retailers are still selling the device and at throwaway prices.
The Xiaomi Mi Note flagship is now being sold in China via JD.com for an amazing price tag of 899 Yuan ($135). This is very cheap and considering the specs of the handset, you will be getting great value for your money. We had recently seen the price of the Mi note go down to 1099 Yuan ($165) but this is the first time we are seeing it go down below $150.
However, note that this is the China Mobile version of the Mi Note and the China Telecom supported version still retails at $165.
To recap, the Xiaomi Mi Note comes with the Snapdragon 801 quad-core processor with 3GB of RAM on board. The camera at the back of the device is pretty good, featuring a 13MP sensor with f/2.0 and OIS. At this price, you won’t find any devices with OIS on board. Other notable specs of the Mi Note include a 5.7-inch 1080p display with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection, 3000mAh battery with QC 2.0, a slim 7mm 3D Glass body and more.
Over the past few weeks, we’ve been getting leaks of LeEco’s upcoming phone, the Le Pro 3 which is said to launch on September 21. While we expect it to come with a Snapdragon 821 chip and 6GB of RAM, it seems LeEco wants to blow our minds by going full force in the RAM department.
An image posted on Baidu earlier today mentions that the Le Pro 3 will have another version with 8GB of RAM!!! Yes, you read that right. LeEco is setting the record. The 8GB version will also feature 256GB of built-in storage, most probably UFS 2.0; dual 13 megapixel cameras on the rear and a 16 megapixel shooter in front.
Remember the large battery capacity we talked about here? It’s going into the 8GB RAM version, which makes sense as that extra 2GB of RAM will need all the juice it can get. Other features are a 5.7” 2K screen with a 2.5D curve.
The 6GB version will have a 2.5D 5.5” FHD screen, 64GB of ROM, a 16MP rear camera and an 8MP front facing shooter, Snapdragon 821, and a 4070mAh battery.
Le Pro 3 Price
The image also hints at the price range for both versions of the phone. The 8GB version is said to sell for 3x99 Yuan where x can fall between 0 to 9. So depending on the number you replace x with, the phone will cost between $463 – $599. The same method applies to the 6GB RAM version which is said to cost 2x99 Yuan which is between $314 – $449.
Meizu has been rumored to be working on another flagship device, despite the avalanche of releases we’ve seen from the phone-maker this year. Now the latest rumor takes it even further, revealing that Meizu would likely release two smartphones before the end of the year, finishing off the year in grand style.
According to industry analyst Pan Jiutang, one of the devices we may likely be seeing is the flagship Meizu Pro 7 which according to the analyst, would likely be called Meizu Pro 6s and not Pro 7. The well-known analyst also disclosed that the Meizu Pro 6s would likely be equipped with the Samsung Exyunos 8890 chipset. This rumor contrasts with earlier rumor that Meizu would be replacing the Exynos 8890 on the flagship.
Other specifications of the now Meizu Pro 6s include that the device would feature a 5.7-inch display with 2K resolution, along with a 12MP and 5MP front facing camera. On the memory lane, the Pro 6s is said to pack 4GB of RAM and 32GB of expandable internal storage.
Pro 6
Aside the rumor of a Pro 6s, the analyst also disclosed that Meizu is likely to release a second flagship before the year’s end which would be powered by the MediaTek MTK P20 processor. However, no detail about the configuration the second smartphone is known at this moment.
Meizu has a track record of releasing many devices each year but we’ll need to be on the watch to see if this latest turns out to be true. We have already seen quite a number of phones from Meizu up till this point and this number includes one or two flagship devices.
Xiaomi’s expected Mi 5S flagship has joined the list devices which have hit AnTuTu benchmark of late. Before now all we know about the Mi 5S were based on rumors. We didn’t even know for sure if the Mi 5S actually exists and is in development. However, the recent AnTuTu benchmark listing which was drawn from their database and featured on AnTuTu’s Weibo page gives us some insight into the specs line-up for the Mi 5S.
According to the listing, the Mi 5S will run on Android 6.0 Marshmallow operating system whenever it launches. The stand out feature on the leaked specs sheet should be the fact that the Mi 5S would be powered the Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor, tagging along Adreno 530 GPU. The display resolution is revealed as 1920 x 1080 pixels and the size as 5.15-inches. With these specs on board, the phone managed to score around 150K on AnTuTu.
We got nothing also about the memory, both RAM, and ROM, from the AnTuTu data but earlier leaks had disclosed that the Mi 5S will pack 6GB of RAM and 256GB of built-in storage. It is very likely, though, that there will be more than one memory versions on the smartphone. No data about the camera as well, but it is expected that the Mi 5S would pack an improved package from the Mi 5. We still don’t know when Xiaomi will release this one.
August has been a busy month in Chinese smartphone market, talking about new model launches. There have been new models like Redmi Pro (end of July) and Redmi Note 4 from Xiaomi, M3E from Meizu, Cool1 from LeEco and Coolpad marriage, Q5 series from 360. More will come before the end of this year including some flagship models. There is a big war between phone makers to catch a piece of this billion $’s cake.
As the second version of our “Smartphone Buyers Guide” today we will take a look for the models that cost between 100$-200$. There are so many choices when we include old models from last year too, I mean models with old chipsets that has been updated with new series. So they will be eliminated, otherwise this list won’t end 🙂 As an example, I didn’t include Meizu M2 Note or Meizu Metal in this guide, even though both are still very good phones under 200$, because there is M3 Note out and you can buy it under 200$ too. There will be some exceptions, of course, if it’s a bargain.
Speaking of Meizu, let’s start with this makers phones under 200$.
MEIZU M3 Note
$145.89 for 2GB/16GB, $186.99 for 3GB/32GB version.
Display: 5.5 inch 1920 x 1080 ( FHD ) screen 403 PPi
CPU: Helio P10 Octa Core ARM Cortex-A53 1.8GHz x 4 + ARM Cortex-A53 1.0GHz x 4
GPU: ARM Mali T860 image processor
System: Android 5.1 ( Flyme 5.1 )
RAM + ROM: 2GB RAM + 16GB ROM / 3GB RAM + 32GB ROM. TF card up to 128GB
Camera: Rear camera 13 megapixel, Corning Gorilla 3 glass, f/2.2 aperture, 5-element lens, Continuous shooting, Panorama, PDAF auto-focus, Two-tone flash
Front camera 5 megapixel, f/2.0 aperture, 4-element lens, FotoNation 2.0, FaceAE
Bluetooth: 4.0
GPS: GPS/A-GPS/GLONASS
Sensors: Hall magnetic sensor, Gravity sensor, IR proximity sensor, Gyroscope, Ambient light sensor, Touch sensor, Digital compass
SIM Card: Dual SIM, Dual standby, Dual Micro SIM cards
Battery Capacity (mAh): 4100mAh
Network:
2G: GSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz
3G: WCDMA 850/900/1900/2100MHz
4G: FDD-LTE 1800/2100/2600MHz
Product size: 15.36 x 7.55 x 0.82 cm / 6.05 x 2.97 x 0.32 inches, 163gr
6000 Series Aluminum alloy, means you have a very solid phone in your hands. Meizu always been about “quality”and last year even its budget phones carried production quality to next step. M3 Note, powered by the octa-core 1.8GHz MediaTek Helio P10 chipset is capable of every daily needs of yours, plus more. 4100mAh battery power will be enough for heavy use whole day, for regular use 2 days. When it comes to fingerprint I’m a fan of front placement, simple idea, I want to unlock my phone to see my notifications when it’s on the desk with a simple touch, don’t want to bother to grab it and place my finger to the back of the phone. Meizu’s mTouch is one of the best in the market, combining 3 key functions in 1 and adding fingerprint sensor to it. As we know from the reviews, both cameras of M3 Note do the job for this price range, i mean they are good enough for most of users. Maybe not as good as Oppo R9 with the same chipset inside (Helio P10), but you get Meizu M3 Note for the half price.
Display: 5.0 inch 2.5D Arc 1280 x 720 HD Screen
CPU: MTK6750 1.5GHz 64bit Octa Core
System: Android 5.1
RAM + ROM: 2GB RAM + 16GB ROM / 3GB RAM + 32GB ROM. TF card up to 128GB.
Camera: 5.0MP f2.0 front camera + 13.0MP f2.2 back camera
Bluetooth: 4.0
GPS: GPS/A-GPS/GLONASS
Sensors: Gravity sensor, Proximity sensor, Gyroscope, Ambient light sensor, Electronic compass
SIM Card: Nano SIM
Battery Capacity (mAh): 3020mAh
Network:
2G: GSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz
3G: WCDMA 850/900/1900/2100MHz
4G: FDD-LTE 1800/2100/2600MHz
Product size: 14.20 x 7.00 x 0.80 cm / 5.59 x 2.76 x 0.31 inches , 142gr
5.5″ is too big for you ? Here is the little brother of M3 Note — Meizu M3S comes with 5″ HD screen, 2.5D curved glass on top of it. Again with metal body, same mTouch 2.1. A powerful CPU from the same class as Helio P10. Having said that, let’s explain this.
MTK6750 is the toned down version of the MTK6755. Features a similar setup as the MTK6755, including an 8-core 4×4 big.LITTLE configuration with Cortex-A53 CPUs. The difference is that the higher-clocked CPUs will only be set to a maximum of 1.5GHz as opposed to 2.0GHz with the MT6755 Helio P10. The typical setup of MT6750 will be [email protected] and [email protected]. GPU is the same, ARM Mali T860 MP2.
Display: 5.5-inch, 1920 x 1080 Pixel Screen with 403 PPI
CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 650 64bit 1.8GHz Hexa-Core ( 2 x A72 + 4 x A53 )
GPU: Adreno 510
System: MIUI 8
RAM + ROM: 3GB RAM + 32GB ROM
Camera: 5.0MP with f/2.0 aperture front camera + 16.0MP with 78 degree wide-angle, f/2.0 aperture back camera
Sensor: Light sensor, G-sensor, Proximity sensor, Hall Sensor, gyroscope, E-compass and fingerprint sensor
SIM Card: Dual SIM dual standby. One is Micro SIM card slot, the other is Nano card slot, which can also be used as a TF card slot.
Note: Nano SIM card and TF card cannot be used together, because they share the same space of card slot.
Feature: GPS/ A-GPS / Glonass / Beidou
Bluetooth: 4.1
SIM Card: Dual SIM dual standby, dual Micro SIM cards
Battery Capacity (mAh): 4000
Network:
2G: GSM 900/1800/1900MHz
3G: WCDMA 850/900/1900/2100MHz; CDMA 2000: BC0
4G: FDD-LTE 1800/2100/2600MHz
Product size: 15.00 x 7.60 x 0.87 cm / 5.91 x 2.99 x 0.34 inches, 168gr
Yes, Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 will be on the market soon, but Redmi Note 3 Pro with Qualcomm Snapdragon 650 Chipset will still be most users first choice in this price range. Especially for gamers, because of the Adreno 510 GPU of course. For 5.5″ inch screen size lovers, Xiaomi’s Redmi Note series has always been very popular because of its price/performance ratio. Note 3’s 4000mAh battery will help at least one day under heavy use, more with regular use. Phone has a metal back, but its not unibody, you can take out the back metal cover, still feels nice in hand with matte finish. Has a decent 16MP camera with PDAF supporting 0.1s ultra-fast focusing + two-tone flash light. Finger print sensor is on the back that unlocks your phone in 0.3s. Redmi Note 4 will come with Helio X20 CPU as we all know, so Qualcomm fans probably won’t change their Redmi Note’s for a while.
Display: 5.0 inch 1280 x 720 HD screen
CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 Octa Core 1.4GHz / Adreno 505 GPU
System: Android 6.0
RAM + ROM: 2GB RAM + 16GB ROM / 3GB RAM + 32GB ROM
Max Storage Expansion: 128GB
Camera: Back camera 13.0MP + front camera 5.0MP
Bluetooth: 4.1
Feature: Fingerprint Scanner, GPS, A-GPS
SIM Card: Dual SIM dual standby, one is micro SIM card, the other is nano SIM card
Battery Capacity (mAh): 4100
Network:
2G: GSM 900/1800/1900MHz
3G: WCDMA 850/900/1900/2100MHz CDMA 2000 BC0
4G: FDD-LTE 1800/2100/2600MHz
Product size: 13.90 x 6.90 x 0.80 cm / 5.47 x 2.72 x 0.31 inches, 144gr
5″ Redmi 3 series was updated with a new chipset recently, powered by a Snapdragon 430 CPU and the model name became Redmi 3s. Snapdragon 430 brings us Adreno 505 GPU with. These specs made Redmi 3s the most powerful 5″ phone in this price range, made it the little brother of Redmi Note 3 Pro. Redmi 3s has an even bigger battery with 4100mAh capacity and having only HD 5″ screen, this little brother will last longer. With that battery, the Redmi 3s weighs only 144 gm, which is good. 13MP/5MP front and rear cameras and fingerprint sensor sounds as the minimum standards in phone industry lately.
Display: 6.44 inch, 1920 x 1080 Pixel 2.5D Arc Screen
CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 650 64bit 1.8GHz Hexa core
GPU: Adreno 510
System: Android 6.0 ( MIUI 7 )
RAM + ROM: 2GB RAM + 16GB ROM
Camera: 5.0MP with f/2.0 aperture front camera + 16.0MP with f/2.0 aperture back camera
Sensor: Light sensor, G-sensor, Proximity sensor, Hall Sensor, gyroscope, E-compass, Infrared, Fingerprint sensor, Accelerometer, etc.
SIM Card: Dual SIM dual standby. One is Micro SIM card slot, the other is Nano card slot, which can also be used as a TF card slot.
Note: Nano SIM card and TF card cannot be used together because they share the same space of card slot.
Feature: GPS/ A-GPS / Glonass / Beidou
Bluetooth: 4.2
Battery Capacity (mAh): 4850
Network:
2G: GSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz
3G: WCDMA 850/900/1900/2100MHz
4G: FDD-LTE 1800/2100/2600MHz
Product size: 17.30 x 8.80 x 0.60 cm / 6.81 x 3.46 x 0.24 inches, 203gr
A BIG surprise in every aspect ! You want the biggest screen size in a smartphone ? And you also want the biggest battery with it ? 6.44 inch + 4850mAh battery for under 200$. Biggest brother of the family, comes with same CPU of Redmi Note 3 Pro, Snapdragon 650, but with less Ram, 2GB for this edition. 16GB for ROM option is not very important because Mi Max has a SD card slot. If you spend much of your time looking on a mobile phone’s screen during the day, especially for media, biggest screen powered with the biggest battery for just 183$, I think this phone is a bargain for its specs.
Display: 5.5 inch 1920 x 1080 Screen
CPU: Helio X20 MTK6797 Deca-Core
System: Android 6.0
RAM + ROM: 3GB RAM + 16GB/32GB ROM
Cameras: Front 8.0MP + Rear 16.0MP AF with flash
Bluetooth: BT4.0
SIM Card: Dual SIM dual standby. ( Dual Nano SIM cards )
Battery Capacity (mAh): 3000
Network:
2G: GSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz
3G: WCDMA 850/900/1900/2100MHz
4G: FDD-LTE 1800/2100/2600MHz
Product size: 15.11 x 7.41 x 0.77 cm / 5.95 x 2.92 x 0.3 inches, 152gr
MediaTek Helio X20 (and X25 with more CPU speed) series started to power many phones. It’s a flagship-grade CPU for sure, not the fastest yes, but little under 100K Antutu score is still something. Heli0 x20 is a deca/10-core CPU to remind you. GPU is also powerful enough, a quad-core Mali T880. This combination is better than any on the market, except flagships like Snapdragon 820 and Exynos 8890 from Samsung, but hey, we are talking about under 200$ phones here, remember.
Le 2 comes in a metal unibody, very well crafted. The screen is 5.5″ in-cell full HD IPS panel. The phone has no 3.5mm headphone jack, first in the market, you get audio from Type-C port in Hi-Fi format. Don’t worry, there is adaptor included in the box, if you still want to use your beloved headphones.
Back Camera is 16MP, supporting 4K video shooting mode, front is 8MP, both sensors are from OmniVision. They give you surprisingly good results for this price range. Only downside may be, for some, battery capacity is 3000mAh. So if you want the most powerful phone in this price range and flagship grade build quality, LeEco Le 2 is your choice.
PS: I need to say something about the colors. I’m enough of these gold, rose gold, grey or white, missed all black phones like in the old days. Matte black would be amazing on Le 2 and I think, most of you will agree. Hopefully, new models will have this options : http://www.gizmochina.com/2016/08/19/black-leeco-le-2s-back-cover-looped-antenna/
Display: 5.5 inch 1920 x 1080 FHD screen
CPU: Helio X10 Octa core 2.0GHz
System: Android 5.0
RAM + ROM: 3GB RAM + 16GB ROM
Cameras: 5.0MP front camera + 13.0MP rear camera with AF face beauty and true flash light
Bluetooth: BT4.0
Sensor: Light sensor , G-sensor , P-sensor, Hall Sensor,Proximity sensor
Navigation: GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS
SIM Card: Dual SIM dual standby. ( Dual micro SIM cards )
Battery Capacity (mAh): 3000
Network:
2G: GSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz
3G: WCDMA 850/900/1900/2100MHz
4G: LTE 1800/2100/2600MHz
Product size: 14.70 x 7.40 x 0.95 cm / 5.79 x 2.91 x 0.37 inches, 170gr
The whole success story of LeEco (LeTV) began with this model X600. Dont need finger print ? Is 16GB enough for you (for me its still enough) ? Then just grab this hero for about 117-118$ on some online stores, this will be a real bargain for you. Coming with octa-core 2.0 GHz Helio X10 chipset and 3GB of Ram has a very good configuration for this price. Screen is from Sharp, very vivid, design is very attractive even, for my taste its better looking then X500 or X620, has a style for sure. Sound output is one of the best and 3.5mm headphone jack is present. Helio X10 is last years first example of MediaTek’s Helio series and if we should compare it this years P10, X10 is still better when it comes to performance, except energy efficiency of course:
Display: 5.5 inch 1920 x 1080 FHD Screen
CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 64bit Octa Core 1.5GHz
GPU: Adreno-405
System: Android 5.1
RAM + ROM: 3GB RAM + 16GB ROM
Camera: Back camera 13.0MP with flashlight + front camera 8.0MP
Bluetooth: 4.0
Improve Touch:
To protect your privacy, avoid of personal information let out. Promise you an undistracted and safe daily life.
GPS: Yes
Sensor: Accelerometer, Proximity sensor, Light sensor, Geomagnetic sensor, Gyroscope, Hall sensor
SIM Card: Dual SIM dual standby. Dual Micro SIM
Battery Capacity (mAh): 3030
Network:
2G: GSM 900/1800/1900MHz
3G: WCDMA 850/900/1900/2100MHz
4G: FDD-LTE 1800/2100/2600MHz
Product size: 15.18 x 7.55 x 0.83 cm / 5.98 x 2.97 x 0.33 inches, 156gr
An interesting model from IT giant Asus. Does not have a finger print sensor but has a whole screen to scan your hand-print ! “Equipped with high-tech touch chip owned high capacity of information operation” says Asus. “A totally new way to protect your information”. X500 has a very attractive design and good screen to body ratio with aerial aluminum alloy. Very good cameras indeed for this price, 13MP rear and 8MP f/2.0 aperture front. Promises good low light performance. CPU is last year’s first edition octa-core from Qualcomm, Snapdragon 615, don’t expect much raw performance but it is energy efficient for sure. 3GB Ram is more than enough, you can put a SD card in it so 16GB of Rom is not a big issue. Phone is not unibody so you can change the 3030mAh battery with your second one, many still prefer this solution. 5.5″ full HD screen with 3rd gen Gorilla protection.
Display: 5.5-inch, FHD(1920×1080 pixels) Screen, the 3rd Gorilla Glass Screen
CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 615(MSM8939) 64bit Octa Core (Quad-core 1.5 GHz Cortex-A53 and quad-core 1.0 GHz Cortex-A53)
GPU: Adreno 405
System: Android 5.1(Vibe UI 2.68)
RAM + ROM: 2GB RAM + 16GB ROM
Camera: 5.0MP front camera + 13.0MP PDAF back camera with dual color flashlight and auto focus
Sensor: Accelerometer sensor, G-sensor, Proximity sensor, Electronic Compass
Bluetooth: 4.1
GPS: GPS/AGPS
SIM Card: Dual SIM dual standby, Dual Nano SIM
Battery Capacity (mAh): 5000
Network:
2G: GSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz
3G: WCDMA 800/850/1900MHz
4G: FDD-LTE 1800/2100MHz
Product size: 15.30 x 7.50 x 0.90 cm / 6.02 x 2.95 x 0.35 inches, 189gr
Biggest battery capacity in our list with 5000mAh, yes even bigger than Mi Max. Here is a complete package from Lenovo for daily (long) use. Front placed finger print sensor, 5.5″ full HD good screen with Gorilla Glass 3, 13MP PDAF rear camera with dual color flashlight, 128GB SD card expansion, and metal back build. The black color looks not bad either.
Display: 5.2 inch, FHD(1920×1080 pixels)
CPU: Hisilicon Kirin 650 64-bit octa-core
GPU: Mali T830
System: EMUI 3.1 base on Android 6.0
RAM + ROM: 2GB RAM + 16GB, support external microSD to 128GB
Camera: 13 Megapixel BSI camera, F2.0, support HDR Movie, 8-Megapixel, f/2.0 front camera
Sensor: Accelerometer sensor, G-sensor, Proximity sensor, Electronic Compass
Bluetooth: 4.1
GPS: GPS/AGPS
SIM Card: Dual SIM dual standby, Dual Nano SIM
Battery Capacity (mAh): 3000
Network: GSM: 850/900/1800/1900MHz , WCDMA: Bands: B1/B8, LTE FDD: Bands: B1/B3
Product size: 147.1mm × 73.8mm × 8.3mm, 156gr
The Kirin 650, 16nm FinFET manufacturing process (less chip size = less heat), new midrange class octa-core CPU from Huawei’s own kitchen. Clocked at 2.0GHz and holding Mali-T830 MP2 GPU in it, promises many things on paper. The iPhone 5SE killer (who cares?) Honor 5C uses this architecture.
I’m not a fan of Huawei phones, because they always cost more against what they give back to customers in the name of performance.
Honor 5C comes with 5.2″ FHD screen, may be the optimum size for many smartphone users. Does not have any protection glass. Cameras are ok on paper, build quality is: metal back on plastic body. Finger print is on the back. Onscreen keys, reduces screen size to 5″ at home screen. You get a decent performance for this price that’s for sure, the rest is kind of a taste.
Editor’s Choice (if you can find one to buy). MediaTek X20 is a very good chipset, like I stated before. Supporting it with 4GB of Ram is very future based (talking about Android versions). Plus IP67 dustproof and waterproof and a very good design (149mm for a 5.5″ is awesome), having hardware keys (big fan of this red round home key and two little tiny dots, ok the idea belongs to Nubia we all know) and not loosing from screen size in that matter is very ergonomic. 32GB Rom supported with an SD card slot. Good cameras both rear and front, 13MP rear Sony IMX258 sensor, f/2.0 aperture, PDAF, 5MP front, f/2.0 aperture. And all these specs for under 189 $ (official price is even under 150$), believe me most of us don’t need more than this in a smartphone. Downside being, you can’t find 360 N4 easily to buy, and there is upgraded version announced that has 5000mAh battery inside. If 360 manages to produce those phones in enough numbers to feed the smartphone market, can be the next succeess story from China. Their next line is worth to look if you haven’t yet : 360 Q5 & Q5 Plus.
Elephone S3
149.99 $
Display: 5.2 inch Bezel-less 2.5D Arc FHD Incell Screen
CPU: MTK6753 64bit Octa Core 1.3GHz
System: Android 6.0
RAM + ROM: 3GB RAM + 16GB ROM. TF card up to 128GB.
Camera: 5.0MP OV5670 f2.4 front camera + 13.0MP Sony IMX135 f2.2 back camera
Bluetooth: 4.0
SIM Card: Dual SIM dual standby (Micro SIM + Nano SIM)
Battery Capacity (mAh): 2100
Network:
2G: GSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz
3G: WCDMA 900/1900/2100MHz
4G: FDD-LTE 800/1800/2100/2600MHz
Product size: 14.20 x 7.05 x 0.83 cm / 5.59 x 2.78 x 0.33 inches, 145gr
I decided not to include any MediaTek MTK6753 based phone in this article (MTK6592 was the king of this class), because for a little higher budget you can get a Helio P10 or X10 even. Elephone S3 is an exception because of its bezel-less design. This phone just don’t have any bezels both sides like Nubia Z11 and has a full metal frame. It has 3GB of Ram, 16GB of Rom supported with an SD card slot. A fingerprint sensor on the back and 13MP+5MP camera configuration with not bad sensors at all. 5.2″ screen size is pocket-friendly. I think Elephone S3 is worth 150$, this is a very good looking and solid phone for sure. Not everybody knows about Antutu benchmark, there are still plenty of users who use these machines as mobile phones only, and I am one of them 🙂
For buyers just around the limit of 100$, please check our “phone buying guide under 100$” too. Pepsi P1S still is the best value for money with its 96.99$ price, having MTK6592 64-bit Octa-Core (sorry, it’s a 32-bit CPU) 1.7GHz CPU and a fingerprint scanner in a metal body of 5.5″ size.
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