Xiaomi’s Mi 5S launch is next week so expect lots of leaks and new details up till the day before the launch.
Today a MIUI fan running a beta version of MIUI 8 on his Xiaomi Mi 5 found a menu called 3D Touch hidden in the settings option. The setting was turned off by default and can be switched on at will but knowing that the Mi 5 doesn’t support 3D Touch, turning it on won’t make any difference.
The first leak on the Xiaomi Mi 5s mentioned that it will feature a pressure sensitive display, so since this feature is already hidden in MIUI it means that the rumour may be true after-all.
The 3D Touch function on the iPhone allows you to do a lot of things such as peek at information without opening the app itself, or presenting new options just by holding on the app icon for longer similar to when you right-click on your computer.
There are plenty of smartphones out there and a lot of them are great. Some of those phones are true flagships and others are even called flagship killers. Meet the Nubia Z11, the phone that has all the flagship grade specs and killer looks. Learn more in our full review.
The phone ships in quite a premium box as most of the Nubia phones. Inside of it, you can find a fast charger, USB C cable, SIM ejector pin, micro USB to USB C adapter and a pair of earphones that actually have a decent sound quality.
Nubia Z11 Review: SPECS
Display
5.5″ 1080 x 1920 pixels, LCD (~403 ppi pixel density)
One of the key selling points of the Nubia Z11 is its 5.5” true bezel-less display. In fact, the phone has 81% screen-to-body ratio, which is one of the best in the business.
Speaking of that display, we have a sharp, vibrant and bright 1080p panel that also has a decent sunlight legibility and it is covered with the Gorilla Glass 3.
The Z11 comes with interactive edge gestures. For example, you can quickly swipe through the recent apps or quickly access a different desktop.
An 8MP shooter is here for selfies and just below it there are nicely backlit capacitive buttons that can be customized, and you can adjust the brightness of them.
Also, the home button serves as a pulsing notification light, which is pretty cool.
As far as the main camera, we have a pretty powerful setup that includes a 16MP Sony sensor, f/2.0 aperture, OIS and dual tone dual-LED flash. The fingerprint sensor works fine and you can unlock your phone straight from the standby mode.
The loudspeaker quality is great. The sound is balanced, there is a decent amount of depth and even a little bit of bass. You can also tweak the audio settings with the Dolby Atmos Surround Sound system.
The sound quality via the headset jack is great too and that is thanks to the built-in Hi-Fi audio chip.
The buttons are made of metal and they have a great tactile feedback.
It’s great that we have the IR blaster to control devices like TVs.
Nubia Z11 Review: HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE
When it comes to hardware, the Nubia Z11 is a true flagship smartphone. It sports a Snapdragon 820 chip, 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage, which is also expandable via the microSD card slot.
If you are willing to pay extra $100, you can get a super sexy-looking black and gold version that comes with 6GB of RAM.
As expected, I didn’t have any issues when I played 3D games on the highest graphics settings. Also, the phone did not overheat at all.
Nubia Z11 Review: BENCHMARKS
Nubia Z11 Review: USER INTERFACE
The phone ships with the Nubia UI 4.0, which is built on top of Android 6.0. It is quite a heavy skin and there are so many built-in features and customization options to talk about.
Just to name a few, the split-screen mode allows you to run two apps side by side. Also, you can adjust the display settings, customize the breathing light and capacitive buttons and use a few screen gestures that work great.
Even though there is no app tray and there are some features that you may not use, I love the simplistic look of the UI. Also, the phone has been fast and I didn’t have any hiccups or lag.
Nubia Z11 Review: CAMERA
The camera app can take pictures very fast and there are quite a few shooting modes to choose from. For example, you can adjust the camera settings in the pro mode or play with the “camera-family” apps. One of my favorites is the clone mode that works pretty well.
Nubia Z11 Review: IMAGE QUALITY
The daylight images taken with the 16MP camera look great. The pictures are sharp, there is a ton of detail, the colors look natural. Also, the dynamic range adjustment is good most of the time.
The indoor shots look good too but we can see a little bit more noise and less detail.
The low-light camera performance is kind of a mixed bag but we need to consider the fact that the phone runs on a very early international software build. You can definitely get some good-looking night photos but you may also get some pictures with quite a bit of noise and low amount of detail. I’m pretty sure we will see a software update to fix that.
The 4k video quality is pretty good and the footage looks quite sharp. The continuous auto-focus adjustment is graceful but it could be a little bit faster. The slow-motion video quality is not very impressive as there could be more detail. See the video review for video samples.
A selfie camera can take some great looking pictures in daylight and even in lower-lit situations. Also, 1080p video quality is not the best but it will be definitely good enough for social media.
The phone comes with a hybrid dual-SIM card tray, which can take either 2 SIMs or 1 SIM and the microSD card.
The call quality, signal reception, GPS, Wifi and all other connectivity options work just fine.
In fact, you can use the dual-antenna system to boost the signal reception quality if you need to.
Nubia Z11 Review: BATTERY LIFE
Nubia Z11 sports a 3000mAh battery and with my usage, I could get 1.5 days out of it. If I used the phone very intensively with the max. brightness display setting, I needed to charge the phone in the late evening.
When it comes to charging, the phone supports Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 3.0 tech that allows you to fully charge the phone in just 1 hour.
Nubia Z11 Review: CONCLUSIONS
Nubia Z11 is a great all-around flagship smartphone that looks just gorgeous.
Its bezel-less display is sharp and vibrant and the edge features allow you to increase productivity if you get used to using them.
The phone can handle anything you throw at it whether it would be heavy gaming or just scrolling through the user interface, which has a ton of features.
Also, the Nubia Z11 has great audio quality, good battery life and the device is very well-built.
Both cameras are very good too if you tend to take pictures in broad daylight since the low-light camera performance is kind of a mixed bag. You can definitely get some good looking night photos but sometimes you may feel disappointed with grainy pictures. Hopefully, Nubia will improve that with the future software updates.
All in all, Nubia Z11 is a very solid phone and the inconsistent low-light camera performance may be the only shortcoming at the moment.The price of 499 EUR (International model) may sound a little steep for some but the phone brings a lot to the table and it is still a lot cheaper than the mainstream flagships. On the other hand, you can get the Chinese version of Nubia Z11 for just over $400 via the third-party resellers and that makes the Nubia Z11 one of the best phones in its price range.
LeEco officially announced the Le Pro 3 flagship an hour back, and now, the company has given out the official pricing of all the models!
The Le Pro 3 with Snapdragon 821, 6GB RAM and 64GB storage will retail at just 1999 Yuan ($300)!
There’s a cheaper model as well, the 4GB RAM + 32GB variant retails for just 1799 Yuan ($270)!
And if you want something that’s a bit more powerful, you have the special editions: 4GB + 64GB and 6GB + 128GB models.
The SD821 + 4GB RAM + 64GB ROM model retails for 2499 Yuan ($375), while the SD821 + 6GB RAM + 128GB model retails for 2999 Yuan ($450). Now, if you are wondering why these two models are costlier than its other counterparts, then it is because they are special editions with special video content. LeEco just revealed more details about these editions, called “Zhang Yimou” Edition, named after the popular Chinese Movie director. These two special editions will be themed after the upcoming movie, “Great Wall” featuring Matt Damon. Special content include exclusive behind the scene videos of the movies as well as movie themes and wallpapers along with a leather flip case and retail box based on the movie.
The Le Pro 3 will be up for reservations starting today at 5PM in China and the phone will go on sale on September 28 at 10:00 AM.
Like always, LeEco has surprised us all with the pricing of the Le Pro 3 flagship. Snapdragon 821 at just 1799 Yuan is just amazing. Even OnePlus 3 with 6GB RAM and 64GB ROM retails at 2499 Yuan, and on the other hand, the Le Pro 3 with the same memory combination retails for just 1999 Yuan ($300).
If you want to read all about the specs of the device, check out our launch article.
So, what do you think about LeEco’s pricing of the Le Pro 3 flagship?
When Apple announced the new iPhone 7 two weeks ago, quite a number of folks were excited about the new jet black colour. The jet black iPhone 7/ 7 Plus is beautiful, there is no doubt about that, but it has got its own flaws. It scratches easily and is a fingerprint magnet. Apple is aware about the latter, so they put up a warning on their website in a tiny font they know a lot of us are going to ignore because of the size before units started shipping out.
The statement has been reproduced for you to read:
The high-gloss finish of the jet black iPhone 7 is achieved through a precision nine-step anodization and polishing process. Its surface is equally as hard as other anodized Apple products; however, its high shine may show fine micro-abrasions with use. If you are concerned about this, we suggest you use one of the many cases available to protect your iPhone.
Apple says it may show fine micro-abrasions with use. Looking at the following tweets from owners of the jet black iPhone 7, the scratches are worse than Apple mildly put it.
And the smudges……
But since Apple has already put up a warning and suggested you use a case for a phone that sells for so much, they have absolved themselves of blame. So the decision to purchase a phone that scratches so easily lies with the buyer.
What I think Apple should have done is used a glass back and given it an oleophobic coating. People are paying a lot for the device already. But that’s too late now and owners will have no option than to purchase a case to protect their phones.
LeEco has been making the headlines for the past few weeks, all thanks to its new flagship, the Le Pro 3. Today, the company has officially taken the wraps off the device and the phone is just as powerful as we thought it would be. The phone comes with the brand new Snapdragon 821 chipset, making it the first Chinese flagship to feature this chip along with 6GB RAM and other powerful configuration.
DESIGN:
The Le Pro 3 is made out of premium metal which accounts for 98% of the body and features brushed metal finish. The phone measures just 7.5mm in thickness! It’s really impressive that the company managed to limit the thickness to this level, as it features a large 4070mAh battery inside! When compared to competitors like Redmi Note 3 (8.2mm) and Mate 8 (7.9mm) who feature such large batteries, this is clearly a great achievement for the company.
There is the ‘Le’ logo on the front (you can see it in the image down below) with a breathing light, which is patented by the company. Further, there is no 3.5mm headphone jack on the phone, like the earlier released Le Max 2 and Le 2 models. So, you have the USB Type-C based CDLA standard.
The Le Pro 3 comes in four color options, Silver, Gray, Rose Gold and Gold.
SPECS:
As mentioned above, the Le Pro 3 features the super fast Snapdragon 821 chipset, which was announced recently by Qualcomm. This will be a slightly faster version of the already powerful Snapdragon 820 chipset and the ASUS ZenFone Deluxe Special Edition is the only other phone in the market to feature this chipset. The chip will be clocked at up to 2.35GHz and the Adreno 530 GPU inside will clock at 653MHz.
There will be four memory variants (UFS 2.0) of the Le Pro 3 and unfortunately, there is no 8GB RAM model as previous rumors stated. So, the four variants are as follows: 4GB RAM + 32GB ROM, 4GB RAM + 64GB ROM, 6GB RAM + 64GB ROM and 6GB RAM + 128GB ROM.
As for the display, the phone features a 5.5-inch 1080p IPS LCD panel. You also get 2.5D arc glass on top of the display. The camera at the back comes with a 16MP sensor featuring 0.1s PDAF, Increased Sharpness, Intelligent Beauty Mode, Gender Recognition etc while up front, there is an 8MP shooter. So, this is basically standard flagship smartphone specs of 2016.
The battery on the device is large, making sure that the Le Pro 3 will easily last for more than a day. The phone comes with a 4070mAh battery with 24W QC 2.0 fast charging technology. The company revealed in the conference that the phone can charge up to 2000mAh in just 30 mins, which means almost 50% charge in just half an hour. Further, it said that the battery is extremely durable — 500 charges still retains 90% of capacity.
Like other LeEco models, you have a fingerprint sensor at the back.
As for connectivity, the Le Pro 3 comes with dual SIM dual standby, dual antenna Wi-Fi MIMO with maximum transfer speeds of up to 866 Mbps. 3x CA helps it achieve up to 600MBbps speed on 4G LTE networks. There are dual speakers present on the device with a maximum 93dB volume.
Finally, for software, the phone comes with EUI 5.8 based on Android Marshmallow.
The below video is in Chinese, but you can get a first look at the device.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLmzm6WpdTc
PRICE:
The Le Pro 3 will start at just 1799 Yuan ($270) for the 4GB RAM + 32GB model. The 6GB RAM + 64GB model retails at 1999 Yuan ($300) which is amazing. There are two other variants as well, and they are costlier because they come loaded with special content. The latter are called the ‘Zhang Yimou’ special editions, named after the popular Chinese film director and come with special content from the upcoming movie, Great Wall featuring Matt Damon. These special edition models are priced as follows: 4GB RAM + 64GB ROM will retail at $2499 Yuan ($375) while the 6GB RAM + 128GB model will retail at 2999 Yuan ($450).
These are amazing prices for the specs that you get! The Le Pro 3 will go on sale on September 28 at 10AM, and reservations start today at 5PM.
Asus is a well-known brand for both computer and smartphone enthusiasts. Indeed, the company has produced quite a few affordable yet great phones. We came across one of them – Asus X550. It is a device that has great specs and design, and it can be yours for just $119.99. Keep reading to find the coupon code at the end of the article.
The phone sports a classic Asus’ design language that includes a metal chassis and textured elements on the front and rear of the device.
One of the key selling points of the Asus X550 is the specs. We have an octa-core Snapdragon 615 chip with the max. clock speeds of 1.5GHz, 3GB of RAM and 16GB of storage, which can be further expanded via the microSD card slot.
Also, the phone sports a 5.5″ 1080p display with a great screen-to-body ratio.
Speaking of display, it is quite rare to see a hand-print recognition feature on a budget phone like this. We are not sure how practical it is but hey, this is a feature that makes the Asus X500 stand out.
We have a 13MP camera with a single LED flash on the back and 8MP camera on the front. Having tested quite a few phones made by Asus, we believe that the X500 is one of the best in class.
In fact, the phone can take 50MP pictures, which are made by stitching a few 13MP photos.
Finally, the phone has a 3030mAh battery that keeps the lights on.
Asus X550 sounds like a pretty good deal for us, especially once you can get it for less than $120 with a free shipping from Everbuying. In case you are interested in this phone, make sure you use the COUPON CODE EBGSJ9IU at the checkout to claim your discount and buy the phone for just $119.99.
Xiaomi is all set to announce the Xiaomi Mi 5S flagship on September 27. While we know that this is a top-end device, new rumors state that there could be a smaller version of the Mi 5S featuring a 4-inch display. It is said that the ‘S’ in the Mi 5S could also stand for ‘Small’, further adding to the rumors about a small screen flagship device from the Chinese company.
What’s more, a new image alleged to be of the smaller Xiaomi Mi 5S variant also cropped up online. Like the Xiaomi Mi5, this particular device is also seen to sport an oblong home button up front. We can even see the Mi logo on the top left corner, revealing the identity of its manufacturer. Further, the leak said that the phone will feature NFC and will support Xiaomi Mi Pay, which was announced about a month back. This rumor is in line with the report we heard yesterday about the Mi 5S supporting Mi Pay and Bus cards in China.
As for the Xiaomi Mi 5S regular edition, expect the phone to feature Snapdragon 821 chipset inside with 6GB RAM and 256GB UFS 2.0 memory. Another highlighted feature of the phone should be the “Under Glass” Ultrasonic Fingerprint sensor. Other rumored features include 16MP f/1.8 aperture lens, 4-axis image stabilization, PDAF and 3490mAh battery.
Soon, these specs will be confirmed by the company, so stay tuned.
There’s another rumor going around which states that the second product to be announced in the September 27 conference is going to be a new Xiaomi Mi TV 3S model. We can’t be sure of this right now, but hopefully, teasers this week could confirm the launch.
Meanwhile, let us know what you think about a possible 4-inch Mi 5S model? Does small screen flagships still attract your attention?
Just days after clearing TENAA, Taiwan-based smartphone and PC maker, ASUS has officially unveiled its Zenfone 3 smartphone models in China. The Zenfone 3 models include the ASUS Zenfone 3, Zenfone 3 Deluxe having both SD 820 and SD 821 versions, and Zenfone 3 Ultra.
Top of the pack is the ASUS Zenfone 3 Deluxe, the world’s first smartphone to feature the Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 chipset. The Zenfone 3 Deluxe equally features a design where the antenna bands are hidden with a premium all-metal build.
Along with the Snapdragon 821 chips, the ASUS Zenfone 3 Deluxe sports a 5.7-inch Super AMOLED display, 6GB of RAM, and a mammoth 256GB of built-in storage. Obviously, there is no need for an SD card. There is also a cool 23MP Sony IMX318 rear camera with OIS, laser auto-focus, RBG color sensor calibration. The rear camera is protected by sapphire glass and an 8MP front-facing selfie shooter completes the set up.
The Zenfone 3 Deluxe also comes with an SD 820 version with 3GB RAM and 32GB of internal storage but both versions run Android Marshmallow with ASUS Zen UI 3.0 on top. The device also features a fingerprint scanner, dual-SIM slots, and a 3000mAh battery with QC 3.0 Support among others.
The Zenfone 3 Ultra is the largest of the lot, with a 6.8-inch display having a resolution of 1080 pixels. The big Zenfone 3 Ultra also comes with a big 4,600mAh battery that supports fast charging with Quick Charge 3.0. The Zenfone 3 Ultra is powered by an Octa-core Snapdragon 652 SoC accompanied by 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage on board which can be expanded up to 128GB. On the camera end, the ASUS Zenfone 3 Ultra packs a 23-megapixel primary camera on the rear and a 8-megapixel front shooter for selfies.
Next is the ASUSZenfone 3 with a 5.5-inch Full-HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) display. Recall that there is a low-end Zenfone 3 version with SD 430 chips, 5.2-inch display unveiled in India but this version of the Zenfone 3 is powered by the Snapdragon 652 SoC with 4GB of RAM. The phone packs 64GB of internal storage that can be expanded via microSD card. As far as the cameras are concerned, the Asus ZenFone 3 packs a 16-megapixel primary camera on the rear and a 8-megapixel front shooter for selfies and is powered by a 3000mAh battery.
The top-end Zenfone 3 Deluxe with SD 821 chips seems to be priced at 4,999 Yuan (around $750), while the one with SD 820 is priced at 3299 Yuan ($495). The Zenfone 3 Ultra carries a price tag of 3999 Yuan in China ($600) and finally the Zenfone 3 starts at 2699 Yuan ($405)
The last we heard, officially, OnePlus was updating its HydrogenOS for the OnePlus 3 to a new version which is yet to even roll out. But right now, some guys at XDA forum have gifted users the opportunity to get a feel of the Android 7.0 Nougat based on CyanogenMod 14 ROM also called CM14 on their OnePlus 3.
This new CM14 ROM for the OnePlus 3 obviously isn’t for everybody but those who before now enjoy playing around with the CyanogenMod on their smartphones. If you think you have an idea what this is, you can as well hop on the adventure train. The software is still in beta stage, though, so there are some few bugs here and there.
However, the CM 14 ROM is touted to boot well, fingerprint scanner, mobile data, DPI selector, Audio, GPS, and perhaps NFC all work well on the unofficial ROM. Other features like Google Play application installing, Bluetooth, DASH charge, Alert Slider and calling also work. Only the camera have been noticed for now not to work and the bug is being worked on.
For the others who just like me, know nothing about playing around with CyanogenMod ROM, just keep an eye on the XDA forum for a stable version that’ll offer you Android N on your beloved OnePlus 3. For now, this version is not suitable for everyday use just yet. Meanwhile if you’re interested, you can download the ROM fromhere.
LeEco’s CEO Jia Yueting has confirmed that the launch of the snapdragon 821 Le Pro 3 is tomorrow which means the phone will indeed be the first Snapdragon 821 device released in China.
In his weibo post, the CEO says the LeEco Pro 3 will be the world’s first widely available snapdragon 821 phone. You might think that should go to ASUS with their Zenfone 3 Deluxe but not at all, as the phone is still only available in Taiwan for now.
In preparation for the launch, the phone’s Geekbench scores have surfaced online with the same model number (LEX720) as the Le 2s Pro whose Antutu score showed up 3 weeks ago. The results showed it was uploaded yesterday at about 5:26 pm.
The phone scores 1865 points on the single-core test and 4452 on the multi-core test. Other details revealed by the benchmarking site confirms the use of a Snapdragon 821 processor clocked at 2.19 GHz and 6GB of RAM. It will also come with Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow out of the box.
Previous reports mention that the company will launch an 8GB RAM version of the LeEco Pro 3 with 256GB of built-in storage. The 6GB RAM version will have 64GB of ROM. LeEco is known for not including SD card slots in their phones just like Google and Apple does with their devices. So if you are going to settle for the 64GB version of the Pro 3, I think that should still be enough.
HTC has also officially released the HTC Desire 10 Lifestyle and Desire 10 Pro smartphones after a protracted romance with rumors and leaks, thus putting the rumor mill to rest. The Desire 10 Pro packs a specs line-up that places it high above its Desire 10 Lifestyle counterpart but both smartphones come in Stone Black, Polar White, Royal Blue and Valentine Lux color variants.
On the specs bench, the HTC Desire 10 Pro comes with a 5.5-inch Full HD IPS 1080 pixel display with Gorilla Glass protection., The smartphone is powered by a MediaTek Helio P10 processor accompanied by a 4GB RAM as well as an expansive 64GB of internal storage which can as well be expanded up to 2TB via microSD card. There’s also a second version with 3GB RAM and 32GB of built-in storage.
HTC Desire 10 Pro
The HTC Desire 10 Pro goes pro with its camera, packing a 20MP main camera at its rear with f/2.2 aperture, laser autofocus and dual-LED flash. Even selfies are designed to be spotless with a 13MP sensor calling the shots on the front camera. You may not need a selfie stick to take a group selfie with this one because there’s a a 150-degree panorama mode for group shots.
The Desire 10 Pro also has a fingerprint sensor mounted on its back which also controls the camera aside unlocking the device and under its hood there is a 3,000mAh battery with support for fast charge keeping the lights on. There is a whole lot of connectivity options available on the device such as Wi-Fi a/b/g/n (but no ac), Bluetooth v4.2, NFC, AGPS + GLONASS and Cat. 6 LTE. The Desire 10 Pro has a dimension of 156.5 x 76 x 7.9mm, weighing in at 165g.
HTC Desire 10 Lifestyle
HTC Desire 10 Lifestyle
The Desire 10 Lifestyle features a 5.5-inch HD Super LCD display with Corning Gorilla Glass protection and resolution of1280 x 720 pixels. The smartphone is powered by a Snapdragon 400 processor with Adreno 305 GPU and on the memory aspect it comes with two variants, one holding 3GB of RAM and 32GB built-in storage and a second one with 2GB RAM and 16GB built-in storage. Both variants can be notched higher up to 2TB via microSD.
On the software angle, the HTC Desire 10 Lifestyle runs on Android Marshmallow 6.0 with HTC Sense UI on top. It also features a 13-megapixel rear camera with LED Flash, f/2.2 aperture and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera with f/2.8 aperture. There is a 2700mAh battery providing the power and the device comes with Dual-SIM support. Available connectivity options include 4G LTE, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS and GLONASS. The device also launches with HTC BoomSound technology with 24-bit Hi-Res audio certification and Dolby Audio enhancement. It measures 156.9 x 76.9 x 7.7mm and weights 155 grams.
The Desire 10 Lifestyle will be available in the UK and other markets starting today for £249 (about $324, 2160 Yuan) for the 3GB RAM + 32GB ROM version, while the Desire 10 Pro will arrive in next month for a yet to be determined price. HTC has hinted that it would sell the smartphones globally, but their availability in the US is still to be decided.
Xiaomi will launch a new phone come September 27 and it is no secret that it’s the Xiaomi Mi 5S. Some of the details already leaked include a 3D touch display, an under-glass ultrasonic fingerprint scanner, Snapdragon 821, and 6GB of RAM. New details emerging today mentions that the Mi 5S will also get a NFC chip and support for bus card and bank card payments.
Xiaomi announced its own form of mobile payment last month called MI Pay. It will allow users store card details on their phone and allow them make payments at supported terminals. The payment platform already supports seven banks with an additional six to be added later this month. However, the supported banks are Chinese banks.
Huawei has officially launched its MediaPad M3 tablet in China. The MediaPad M3 was first announced at the IFA 2016 in Berlin but is yet to go on sale globally but now Huawei has unveiled its latest tablet in its home country for the first time.
One of the main highlight of the Huawei MediaPad M3 is the audio system which uses an independent DAC chip and dual stereo speakers certified by renowned brand, Harman Kardon. The tablet comes with an 8.4-inch display having a very fine resolution of 2560 x 1600 pixels. There is also a fingerprint sensor on the tablet located under the home screen button on the device which also wears a beautiful all-metal design.
Powering the device is a Kirin 950 chipset, complemented by a 4GB RAM, while there are three storage variants of 32GB, 64GB and a top-most model with 128GB of built-in storage. All versions feature options for expansion of the storages up to a further 128GB.
For the lovers of mobile photography, the Huawei MediaPad M3 sports an 8MP rear-facing camera unit unfortunately, without LED flash and up front there is equally an 8MP selfie shooter. In addition, the tablet comes running Android 6.0-based EMUI 4.1 and rocks a 5,100mAh battery.
As for the price, the Wi-Fi version of the Huawei Mediapad tablet with 32GB starts at 1888 Yuan($284), while that with 64GB storage is priced at 2288 Yuan ($344), and the 64GB version costs 2688 Yuan ($404). On the other hand, the LTE version with 32GB and 64GB are priced the same at 2388 Yuan ($359) while the top-end model with 64GB storage starts at 2688 Yuan ($404). Huawei is already accepting registrations for the device and the tablet will officially go on sale on September 26.
It is official already. October 4 is Pixel Day. Earlier today, Google uploaded a video on their Youtube channel which confirms an event slated for October 4. The video entitled Google: Oct 4 is a 30-second clip that is filled with quadrilaterals or let’s say one quadrilateral that morphs into various forms.
The shape starts as the rectangle search bar and slowly transforms into a vertical rectangle similar to the form factor of a phone. During the transformation you can make out the shape of a Nexus 7 and a Nexus 9.
The video’s description mentions a link (google.com/tenfour). If you decide to check it out, you see a shorter clip of the video in gif format and a space for entering your e-mail to get notifications. What you see afterwards is the basis for our second article. A gif of various pictures which I presume to be taken with one or both of the new Pixel phones.
Karalux is a Vietnam-based firm specialising in customisation and gold-plating of high-end gifts and supercars. Over the years the company has gold-plated a bunch of phones such as the Galaxy Note 4, Galaxy Note 5, and iPhone 6, 6s, and 6s Plus. Now they are offering the same treatment to the newly released iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus.
If you own the new iPhone already, the company will coat it in 24-karat gold for you or black gold if your unit is the black or plain black. They say the whole process will take up to 8 hours and the surface will have a nano-coating to protect the phone from wear. The apple logo on the back will also be diamond-encrusted.
If you also want, Karalux will engrave a text or an image on your phone. So all you lovebirds out there can have your partner’s name engraved on your phone or on their phone if you intend to give them as a gift.
After the success of the OPPO R9 spurred by its fast charging feature, it is hardly surprising that OPPO’s expected R9S is planning to come with even more fast charging capability. The OPPO R9S was rumored to drop on September 12 but that’s come and gone and nothing happened.
However, a new leak has emerged from China’s Weibo platform about the expected OPPO R9S. It is now rumored that the OPPO R9S will now drop sometime in October and that the new smartphone will feature on the camera end, image stabilization technology powered by a new OPPO SmartSensor. Apart from that the phone will feature the company’s new ultra-fast Super VOOC fast charging technology, which would give the device the capacity to deliver up to 10 hours of talk time with just 5 minutes charge time.
Furthermore, as had earlier been leaked, the OPPO R9S is likely to get a new design without visible antenna band and this design concept comes in a way that signal isn’t affected. We’ll get to see more of that when the smartphone pops.
The R9S had also cleared TENAA not too long ago, posting a device retaining the same 5.5-inch 1080p display with the R9. There is also a 16MP front camera and a 13MP main camera, dual-SIM/ dual standby feature, entire network support and a 2850mAh battery. However, the R9S will be seeing a shift on the processor end, sporting a Snapdragon 625 chipset as against the Helio P10 on the R9.
Xiaomi had last week sent out a press invite of an event holding on September 21. The poster contained a teaser of what should be a power bank to be released on the said date even thought it wasn’t explicitly stated on the press invite. Now it has been confirmed by no less a person than Lei Jun, Xiaomi’s CEO that a new power bank is in the works and this he did via a Weibo post. The CEO hinted about the release of a Xiaomi Mobile power 2 soon and even shared a photo of what the expected power bank looks like.
One product from Xiaomi which has acquired worldwide admiration, even from those who don’t like Xiaomi smartphones, is the Xiaomi powerbank. In just around two years of its first release, the Xiaomi powerbank have gone on to rake in over 20 million units in sales. Presently, Xiaomi has different power banks with capacities ranging from 5000mAh, 10,000mAh to 20,000mAh.
The picture shared by Lei Jun only reveals a 10000mAh power bank and that’s nothing higher in capacity from what we have seen from his company in the past. However, this one is billed to provide a lot more features than its predecessors. There is a USB Type-C interface and a USB charging output interface and this comes with support for two-way fast charging and perhaps more. We’ll have to wait till September 21 when it would be officially unveiled to know the other features on offer and if its going be so much more for less, talking about the price. The 10000mAh Mi Powerbank Pro with quite similar features, released earlier on, started at just 149 Yuan which comes to around $22-$23.
I came across the Umi London, which is a $69 phone, it has decent specs and it sports a very good build quality. In fact, it may be the most premium-looking super cheap Android smartphone we have tested so far. Learn more in our full review.
The device ships with all the usual stuff you would expect to come with any smartphone.
Umi London Review: DESIGN and DISPLAY
The very first thing you are going to notice is that the device has a fantastic build quality for the phone this cheap.
It uses a solid metal frame, tactile metal buttons and rounded edges that definitely help with the grip.
The phone has a 5” 720p display, which may not sport the highest resolution but it is sharp enough for the daily use.
The capacitive buttons are not backlit but we have a notification LED light that most of the cheap phones lack.
One annoying thing is that the backplate is very hard to remove and I suggest using a credit card to do that. Under the hood, you can find 2 SIM card slots, microSD card slot and a removable 2050mAh battery.
The loudspeaker quality is just average as on most of the cheap phones.
Umi London Review: HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE
The Umi London sports a quad-core MTK6580 chip, 1GB of RAM and 8GB of expandable storage.
These are definitely not the flagship-grade specs but the phone is doing an okay job handling some 3D games like Asphalt 8 on the medium graphics. Well, there are quite a few skipped frames and a bit of stutter but you can still enjoy playing the game.
Umi London Review: BENCHMARKS
Umi London Review: UI
The phone ships with the stock-looking Android 6.0, which has a few added features like a bunch of different gesture and motion controls. Most of them are gimmicky to me but the ones I usually use work fine.
Sometimes it may take a bit longer to load an app or switch between different apps but in general, the user interface performance is pretty good for a $69 phone. However, you may have a little bit of random stutter if you install a lot of apps, so keep that in mind.
Umi London Review: IMAGE QUALITY
As you may have guessed, the image quality is quite terrible. Well, you may get some usable shots for social media needs but nothing more. Same can be said about the 2MP front facing shooter.
Umi London Review: CONNECTIVITY
I didn’t have any connectivity issues with this phone except for the fact the GPS lock speeds could be faster.
Umi London Review: BATTERY LIFE
The 2050mAh battery does not sound impressive on paper and the performance of it is not so great.
The phone may get you through the day only if you are a light user. I could get just over 3 hours of screen-on time.
Umi London Review: CONCLUSIONS
Umi London is yet another cheap phone from China but it has a very good build quality and it actually looks quite premium for just $69.
The phone also rocks a pretty good display and Android 6.0 with some extra features out of the box.
However, you have to know that you may have a little bit of stutter if you install a lot of apps on the phone. Also, both cameras are quite terrible, and the battery life is just average.
All in all, Umi London is a premium-looking cheap Android phone that has quite a lot to offer but it has a few shortcomings that justify a low price of the device.
Xiaomi is preparing to launch its brand new Xiaomi Mi5S smartphone on September 27, which is just a few days away. While this is great news since the Mi5S is expected to come with powerful features, it did bring up the question of Xiaomi Mi Note 2 and its existence. A previous rumor even said that the phone may no longer exist, but today, a new screenshot has emerged, which is alleged to be of the Mi Note 2 Pro flagship.
The screenshot reveals some very powerful specs on the device. It shows that the Mi Note 2 Pro comes with a quad-core 2.6GHz processor, most likely Snapdragon 821 along with massive 8GB of RAM on board. There’s even 256GB memory along with Android 7 Nougat. Overall, these specs are more powerful than any other handset in the market right now.
RELATED: Xiaomi Mi Note 2 To Be Called Xiaomi Mi Pro ?
While we can’t verify the screenshot, if this is indeed real, there is a good chance that we won’t get to see it soon. Since the Mi5S is expected to be announced later this month, releasing another flagship like the Mi Note 2 should be logically a few months later. Further, it’s still quite early to see 8GB RAM smartphones, when 6GB RAM still has to become standard among flagship phones of 2016. Of course, LeEco could release the first 8GB RAM phone, but these are all just rumors.
UMi recently unveiled the UMi Max mid-ranger which is here to take on the affordable power phones in the market right now. The phone comes with pretty good specs, including the decent Helio P10 64-bit octa-core chipset and 3GB of RAM on board.
Now, Gizmochina along with Tomtop is conducting a UMi Max Giveaway to gift a brand new device to one of our lucky readers. Like always, you just have to follow the steps mentioned on the Gleam widget to get a chance to win this amazing smartphone.
Before we take a look at the specs of the UMi Max, we would like to thank Tomtop for providing this unit for Giveaway. Do check out their website for good deals and offers on your favorite Chinese smartphones.
To recap, the UMi Max comes with a beautiful all metal body with Helio P10, 3GB RAM and 16GB of internal storage. The storage is further expandable via MicroSD, so you don’t have to worry about the limited ROM. The phone comes with a 5.5-inch 1080p display and a large 4000mAh battery on board. At the back, you have a 13MP Panasonic camera while up front, you get a 5MP shooter. Other features of the device include Hi-Fi audio, fast fingerprint sensor and Pure Android 6.0 Marshmallow OS on board. It’s a pretty good smartphone and will fulfill almost all of your basic phone needs.
Just follow the steps mentioned in the Gleam widget to participate in the giveaway.
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