While we are still waiting for Xiaomi to release its own smartwatch, a company called Huami is releasing its own smartwatch on August 30. Some of you might not be familiar with the company, so we’ll give a brief history lecture.
Xiaomi’s popular Mi Band was the result of a partnership between Xiaomi and Huaheng Electronic Technology. The partnership resulted in Huami Technology (Huaheng + Xiaomi) with Huaheng providing manufacturing expertise and Xiaomi providing financial backing.
Following the success of the Mi Band, Huami launched a new watch called the Amazefit. The ceramic watch was backed by other investors other than Xiaomi like Bayan Capital, Sequoia Capital, and Morningside Capital. Now Huami is releasing a new smartwatch come 30th of August.
After the CEO, Hua Huang, posted on Weibo about the upcoming smartwatch, Xiaomi’s official spokesman responded to the post by saying that this is not Xiaomi’s watch but a Huami watch. While Xiaomi is truly working on a smartwatch, based on rumours and leaks, it is also said to launch this month as well but won’t have a low price tag.
We had reported earlier on that the Moto Z will likely pop in China sometime in Septemberand that is about to happen. Lenovo has sent out invitations to a news conference billed for September 6 where the Chinese edition of the Moto Z will be officially released. This was officially announced today by Lenovo’s Mobile Business Group co-President, Chen Xudong on Weibo.
The potential release of the Moto Z in China is coming two months after the Moto Z and Z Force were released in the international market. The China version of the Moto Z, which may likely be launched alongside the Mot Z Force, is said to comepre-loaded with the One UI which is actually Lenovo’s Vibe UI 3.0 based on Android 6.0 Marshmallow. This interface will be exclusive to devices shipping to China so may not feature the Google Play Store but rather sport what appears to be a Chinese app store on the home screen.
The Moto Z is reputed to be the world’s thinnest flagship with a 5.2mm thickness. The Moto Z and Z Force both come with 5.5-inch AMOLED display with 2k resolution and powered by the Snapdragon 820 chipset. The both devices also feature 4GB RAM and two memory sizes of 32GB and 64GB respectively.
However, the Moto Z and Moto Z Force differ in the camera specs and battery capacity. While the Moto Z comes with a 13MP main camera and 8MP front-facing camera setup, the Z Force features a large 21MP main camera and 8MP camera up front. Both cameras are said to feature OIS and laser focus.
The Moto Z Force will also feature a 3500mAh battery with Turbo fast charge which delivers up to 50% charge is just 15 minutes. The Moto Z on the other hand, comes with a 2600mAh battery. Both versions also come with the MotoMods magnetic technology inside but only the Z Force will feature a Shatter-Shield on top of its display to protect against screen damage.
As for the price of the flagship devices, the Moto Z is said to likely start at 2998 yuan ($448), whereas the Moto Z Force is rumored to carry a price tag of about 5288 yuan ($790).
Teclast has been known for making some pretty good cheap Android Tablets. The X98 Plus II is one of their latest offerings and it brings quite a lot of value to the table for less than $150. Learn more in our full review.
The tablet ships with a charging brick, which has the power output of 2.5A, some paperwork and USB OTG cable. In addition to the regular micro USB cable, Teclast included a proprietary cable for fast charging.
Bluetooth, micro HDMI, DC, micro USB, microSD, 3.5mm headset jack
Battery
7.800 mAh (non-removable)
Dimensions
250x165x8mm / 583g
OS
Android 5.1
Storage
32GB (expandable via microSD card slot up to 64GB)
Teclast X98 Plus II Review: DESIGN and DISPLAY
The Teclast tablet sports a 9.7” display, which makes the tablet similar to the iPad Air in terms of the size.
Speaking of the display, we have a 2048×1536 IPS LCD panel, which is sharp and has a decent colour reproduction. However, the display is a little bit reflective if you use the tablet outdoors.
Just above the display, there is a 2MP selfie camera. The tablet has only on-screen navigation buttons like many other cheap tablets.
The tablet sports a metal backplate, which adds a little bit of a premium look and feel. It has a somewhat textured coating and thus, it does not attract fingerprints so easily.
On the top, there are all the ports that include a headset jack, DC power input, HDMI and micro USB ports, and the microSD card slot.
As far as camera, we only have a 2MP shooter.
The loudspeakers sit on the back and I was not blown away be the quality of sound as it lacks depth and balance. On the other hand, most of the cheap tablets have mediocre sounding speakers.
All the buttons are on the right side of the tablet. Although they feel a bit plasticky, the buttons have a good tactile feedback.
Overall, the tablet is well-built and the addition of metal in its construction, makes it look even a bit more expensive than it is.
Teclast X98 Plus II Review: BENCHMARKS
Teclast X98 Plus II Review: HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE
The tablet has really good specs for the price. It sports a quad-core Intel Cherry Trail Z8300 chip with the max. clock speeds of 1.8GHz, 2GB of RAM and 32GB of expandable storage.
I am very impressed with the way this tablet handles 3D games given the fact that the device has to push a lot of pixels.
Games like Asphalt 8, Modern Combat 5 run absolutely fine on the highest graphics. The tablet gets just a little warm but this fact does not alter the performance even after 40 mins of intensive gaming.
Teclast X98 Plus II Review: USER INTERFACE
The downside of the Teclast tablet is that it runs on the outdated Android 5.1. On the other hand, the device runs fast and fluid on the daily basis.
We have a pretty much stock-looking Android interface and there are not many added features to talk about. However, I was disappointed that the tablet ships with some Chinese bloatware. Also, the OTA updater app does not seem to work for some reason.
Teclast X98 Plus II Review: CAMERAS
Both cameras on this tablet are quite terrible. I understand the fact that there aren’t too many people who use their tablets for taking pictures with the back camera but I want to see a better front facing cameras even on the cheapest tablets.
You may get some usable photos with this tablet but the image quality will not impress you.
Teclast X98 Plus II Review: CONNECTIVITY
I have the Wifi-only version of the tablet and I don’t have major complaints about connectivity. However, the Wifi range could be slightly better.
Teclast X98 Plus II Review: BATTERY LIFE
The tablet sports a generous 7800mAh battery that performs quite well.
I could get over 5 hours of screen-on time when I used the device for browsing the web, playing a few 3D games and running benchmarks, so I would say that the battery life is pretty good.
Teclast X98 Plus II Review: CONCLUSIONS
The Teclast X98 Plus II is a good tablet for less than $150.
It has a nice and sharp display, although it could be a bit less reflective when using outdoors. Also, the device is fast whether you just browse the web or even play some graphically intensive games. Other great features include a good build quality and great battery life.
However, you have to know that the tablet ships with a few pre-installed Chinese bloatware apps, the loudspeakers are far from the best and the cameras will definitely not impress you (like on any other cheap Chinese tablet).
At the end of the day, the Teclast X98 Plus II is still a great cheap China tablet for the price. Sure, it has some shortcomings that are common to most of these cheap tablets but in general, it definitely has more pros than cons.
Currently, Banggood has a generous $30 OFF Coupon: 82abff, which makes the Teclast X98 Plus II tablet a rather compelling offering at the price of just $120.
Xiaomi is scheduled to launch another product in its crowfunding platform into the market on August 23 at 10am and the product is said to likely be a steam iron.
Xiaomi has not come out to expressly confirm it is releasing a steam iron though. The teasers surrounding the product appears to be somewhat confusing. While the product is said to have the capability killing bacteria on the surface using ultraviolet light, thus giving the impression of an additional product for sterilization against mites.
The likely product may not be produced by Xiaomi but Xiaomi’s crowdfunding platforms act as an avenue for some Chinese manufacturers to sell their products.
Of course, we are not entirely sure what exactly the new crowd-funded product is going to be but whatever product it is, it will be unveiled on August 23.
The expected Meizu Pro 7 flagship has previously been leaked as coming equipped with Samsung Exynos 8890 chipset but latest rumors hint at two versions of the device popping.
The latest rumor is that the new Meizu flagship will have two versions in terms of display type. While one of the versions will come with a curved display screen, the other version will have a flat display screen. This set up is similar to those of Samsung’s Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge. The two versions said to have Samsung’s Super AMOLED display with 2K resolution.
Also, in other specs, the two versions of the Meizu Pro 7 flagship are said to differ in the memory configurations. One version is said to have 4GB RAM alongside 32GB of built-in storage space, while the other version has 6GB RAM with 64GB of onboard storage. All versions will have a battery capacity of 3500mAh with wireless charging option available and a 12MP main camera sensor at the rear.
The Meizu Pro 7 flagship is said to drop on September 13 but sources have hinted also of a possible October outing for the smartphone, without giving a specific date in October. As for the price, the 4GB RAM version is rumored to have a price tag of 2799 Yuan($420), while the higher 6GB RAM version costs 3099 Yuan ($465) but the price has not been officially confirmed by Meizu so we wouldn’t know for sure.
Weibo user @KJuma has posted an image of Mi Note 2 that has dual curved 3D glasses. This version however has 6GB of RAM and 128GB of built-in storage. It also features a Snapdragon 821 SoC, a 5.5” OLED display, a home button/fingerprint scanner and dual cameras.
It’s not every day that we take a look at projectors but we came across the one made by Excelvan. It costs $$111.99, it runs on Android and it has a brightness output of 1500 lumens. Learn more in our full review.
Excelvan LED3018 Portable LED Projector Review: UNBOXING
In the box, you can find a power cable and power brick, a video and audio cable, some paperwork and a remote control.
Excelvan LED3018 Portable LED Projector Review: DESIGN and FEATURES
The projector is made entirely of plastic as most of the projectors.
On the top, we have the control buttons and the focusing knob as the projector does not support auto-focus feature.
The lens come with a protective cover. The projector has a maximum brightness output of 1500 lumens and the resolution of 640×480. The LED lamp itself has 60W of power output and the lifespan of 20.000 hours, which should be enough for a long time.
Also, the device can project the image up to 96”.
The keystone correction is a great addition to have.
The projector has the built-in speakers but they are quite terrible and you will probably end up connecting an external audio device.
Speaking of connectivity, the device has plenty of options. You can insert a USB flash drive, microSD card, connect the device to the ethernet port or to the TV using HDMI port and so on.
On the bottom, there are silicone pads to prevent the projector from sliding on the table and the mounting screw, in case you want to mount the device on the ceiling.
Excelvan LED3018 Portable LED Projector Review: FUNCTIONALITY
Once you power the projector on, you have to go through a very simple setup process. Once you’ve done that, everything is pretty simple and straightforward since the device runs on the Android 4.2. Sure, the OS may sound outdated but it is more than enough for a device as a projector.
There are some settings to play with just like on any Android-based device. Also, the projector comes with a few pre-installed apps but you can either delete them or download some new ones from the Play Store.
Excelvan LED3018 Portable LED Projector Review: IMAGE QUALITY
For a $$111.99 projector, the image quality is pretty good, it is just hard to show that on camera. However, the resolution of the projected image is just 640×480, which is not HD, so bear that in mind. On the other hand, the projector is pretty bright as it has 1500 lumens of brightness output.
My biggest complaint is that the image lacks edge to edge sharpness as the corners seem to be a bit blurry.
Excelvan LED3018 Portable LED Projector Review: TEST NOTES
I didn’t have major issues with the projector but there are a few complaints. Besides a very bad external speaker, the projector is pretty loud as the ventilators work all the time. Also, both the projector and the power brick get quite warm.
Excelvan LED3018 Portable LED Projector Review: CONCLUSIONS
Excelvan LED3018 Portable LED Projector has quite a lot of features, many connectivity options and pretty good performance for the price of $$111.99.
However, you should not expect a perfect device at this price point and the Excelvan projector is no exception. The lack of edge to edge sharpness of the projected image, poor loudspeaker quality and loudness when the projector is working may be common to most of projectors in this price range but they have to be considered before making a purchase.
Xiaomi’s Vice President, Hugo Barra, in an interview with CNBC, has revealed that the company is working on a more sophisticated headset. The Mi VR Play is Xiaomi’s first VR headset and it improves upon existing entry level VR headsets by offering a more comfortable hardware. A more sophisticated version might be similar to what HTC offers with the Vive, Facebook’s Oculus Rift or Samsung’s Gear VR.
Launched about 2 weeks ago, the headset is similar to Google’s cardboard but uses zippers instead of velcro to hold the phone in place and is covered with lycra to offer more comfort. It has support for phones with screen sizes between 4.7 – 5.7 inches.
When he was asked about the success of VR in terms of projected sales, Mr. Barra said the company recorded 1 million registered buyers for the Mi VR Play in the first 8 hours the site was opened.
Other information disclosed says Xiaomi’s plan is to be an open content platform for VR in China. The company already has a number of startups making videos and games for the VR platform. So even if you are not using Xiaomi’s VR headset, you’ll still have to use their software platform to get content.
Some Chinese manufacturers are known for comparing their phones against major brands in the market. Most times the phone they usually compare their phone against is usually Apple’s iPhone, comparing the camera, display, or battery life. This time it’s Umi comparing the Umi Max’s battery against that of the iPhone 6s.
Two days ago, Umi uploaded a video on Youtube of two women; one using the Umi Max and the other using an iPhone 6s and put them through a 5-hour battery test.
The test covered chatting (15 mins), camera usage (15 mins), web browsing (30 mins), E-book reading (30 mins), offline video watching (30 mins), phone calls (30 mins), gaming (30 minutes), music (1 hr), and instagram ming (1 hr).
Umi says at the end of the test, the Umi Max still had 45% of charge left while the iPhone 6s’ battery level was at 35%. Both phones had full charges before the test.
While the Umi Max clearly wins, it’s important to mention some important specs of both phones. The Max has a 4000 mAh battery, a 5.5” FHD screen, 3GB of RAM, and a Helio P10 SoC while the iPhone 6s has a 1715 mAh battery, a 4.7” 1334 x 750 screen, 2GB of RAM, and Apple’s A9 processor.
With less than half of the Umi Max’s battery, I don’t think the 6s did badly even though it has a smaller screen with a lower resolution.
We wanted to take a look at a few smart lighting solutions made by SingHong. They have a pretty cool smart LED light string, which is mainly designed for outdoor use and a smart lightbulb. Learn more in our review. Also, make sure to check out the discount coupon codes at the end of this review.
The LED string comes with some screws, in case you want to attach it to the stairs, some paperwork and a power cord.
The lightbulb comes just with some paperwork.
The setup of the LED string is pretty straightforward. All you have to do is connect all the cables, power the LED string up and you are good to go.
SingHong Smart LED Lighting Review: FEATURES
Basically, the Singhong LED string is like any other smart LED solution but it is designed for outdoor use. It has IP-65 rating, meaning that it is waterproof, so you can just leave it outdoors.
Also, both the string and LED light bulb are controlled with your smartphone using a proprietary app and Bluetooth connectivity.
Within the app, you can change the colours, adjust the brightness or colour temperature, set the turn on/off schedules, set the timer and so on.
Also, you choose from a variety of different scenes, which look pretty cool. Finally, the light can flash along with the rhythm of the music.
SingHong Smart LED Lighting Review: CONCLUSIONS
The LED string costs almost $40 and the light bulb costs $14. Sure, there may some other smart lighting solutions in the market but since the ones made by SingHong have been working fine so far and here were no connectivity or other issues, these products can be recommended to buy.
Xiaomi fans in the United States have been waiting for a while now to see the Chinese giant officially start selling their products in the North American country. In an interview with Bloomberg, the company’s vice president, Hugo Barra explains their plans.
Good News
There is a product launching in October. Some of you may already know the product marking the company’s debut in the US, but for those who don’t, I’ll bring you up to speed.
During Google’s I/O 2016 conference, the search giant mentioned that some new android TV and Google cast devices will be coming to the market soon. One of those devices is Xiaomi’s Mi Box which already exists in China but runs regular android. It will be launching with the more refined Android TV in the US. The Mi box supports 60 fps 4K video decoding, HDR10, Digital Dolby Plus + DTS surround sound, HDMI 2.0a, and has a bluetooth voice remote.
You can also purchase the optional Mi Game Controller for playing supported android games. I am excited about this launch, as I have put off buying the regular version because this version will be launched with Android TV based on Android Nougat which is way better than the regular type that comes with Lollipop.
Bad News
Smartphones will be coming later. Hugo Barra says even though the US market is very important, they are still a young company and have to be stay focused with their international expansion. The technology standard in the US is very high and the market is complex, so they want to carefully plan their entry and make sure they get things right, most especially after-sales services.
While other manufacturers such as Xiaomi, Huawei, OPPO, and Vivo are opening up new stores in cities in China, OnePlus is doing the opposite. A Canadian official announced earlier today that OnePlus will be closing down their Beijing and Shanghai stores on the 22nd of August (just 2 days from now).
The reason given is that the company is trying to deploy its limited resources to where it is most needed. The Beijing store was opened less than 2 years ago on the 20th of December, 2014 and now it will be closed down.
OnePlus has only manufactured 4 phones so far but also have a number of accessories such as earphones, cases, and power banks. Their first phone, the OnePlus 1, was sold on an invite only basis at first. Their new phone, the OnePlus 3 which has been getting positive reviews doesn’t use the invite system but has been facing issues with low inventory which has led to sales being temporarily halted for a month in 24 countries (mainly in Europe). Sales are expected to resume on September 12 (Let’s pray the red variant gets released).
The M3E features a metal unibody design with nano injection molding process and anodic oxidization which gives it a very premium look. But no matter how beautiful a phone might be, that doesn’t mean it gets a free pass and escapes the touch of a screwdriver. So if you like to see what components are inside the M3E, you should read the rest of the article.
Teardown Steps
First thing you should do to start the M3E teardown is remove the SIM tray. Proceed to remove the two torx screws at the bottom of the phone. Using a rubber suction cup (placed at the lower part of the screen), gently pry open the phone to remove the rear frame from the rest of the phone. Try not to apply too much force and it will come off. The rear case houses the volume rocker rocker and power buttons and the point of contact with the motherboard. You can set aside the rear plate and move to the other part.
Proceed to remove the screws (3 in total) on the metal plate. You should also remove the screws holding the plastic surface board which is used to protect the camera modules from shocks. Remove all the screws holding the motherboard and screen together. The motherboard should come off now.
There are six additional screws at the base which hold a small plate covering the speaker module and mBack button. All the components such as the camera module, mBack button, and speaker module can be removed easily now.
We saw leaks of what looked like prototype images of the rumored Meizu Pro 7 flagship few days back on Meizu community. This same device has been leaked again on the Meizu community and this time, the images look quite real, in the hands of an operator.
The image renders shows the device sporting the curved display screen earlier rumored and even though the images look quite grainy, we were able to scoop a few details from them.
Apart from the curved display screen, the oval physical home button is also revealed, so also are the chamfered edges which alongside the curved display is likely to make the Pro 7 a good phone for one handed operations. The curved display on this leak doesn’t look over bloated but quite real.
The Meizu Pro 7 flagship had earlier on been spotted in AnTuTu with the model number Meizu_m96, listed as having a display resolution of 2560 x 1440pixels (likely 5.5-inches in size), powered by Exynos 8890 processor with Mali-T880 GPU. The processor is supported by a 4GB RAM and 32GB of internal storage. The device is also listed as having a 12MP rear facing camera with a 5MP sensor up front and boots Android 6.0 Marshmallow out-of-the-box.
There are also rumors that the Pro 7 will be released by Meizu on September 13 and the price will likely hover around 3000 Yuan ($451).
The upcoming LeEco Le 2s smartphone has again featured in a new leak online. This time around the leaked images were those of the back cover of the device in pure black.
The leaked images shows the Le 2s in all black design said to be made of metal all round. The back casing also shows the openings for the main camera sensor fused with that for the LED flash sitting and there is another opening for the fingerprint sensor which would be located just underneath the rear camera.
The LeEco Le 2S was earlier rumored to feature a loop antenna design, with a render of the device sporting same getting exposed on XDA Forum. Even in an all black coating, the antenna band is still very visible running across the bottom edge of the back casing just as seen on the XDA Forum leak.
LeEco’s next flagship, spotted on GFXBench with model number X720 is rumored to have a September 7th launch date. If that turns out to be true, it would put to rest the stunning rumors we have been getting regarding the device sporting a monstrous 8GB RAM and having a version with Qualcomm’s latest yet-to-be-featured Snapdragon 821 chipset. We wouldn’t know the entire truth until the device pops.
Its been three months since Xiaomi released the Mi Band 2 yet the wearable device is still very difficult to come by. The Mi Band is officially sold for 149 yuan ($23) but due to scarcity the device sells for as high as 200 yuan ($30) in some online retail shops and even higher than that.
Huami, the company that produces the Mi Band had hinted at plans to double production of the Mi Band 2 two months back. Even at that, Huami’s CEO Huang Wang as well as Xiaomi’s Lei Jun expressed concerns that the increase in production still wont be enough to meet the high demand.
True to their prediction, the Mi Band 2’s production is still not meeting the demand for the intelligent wrist band despite increased production. The Mi Band 2 still tops the popularity chart of Xiaomi’s most wanted gadgets with well over 37 million persons still interested in having the wearable device.
There is good news though. Reacting on Weibo to the chart-topping performance of the popular Mi Band 2, Huami’s CEO, Huang Wang has stated that the company will double production of the Mi Band 2 again by next month. Wang admitted they had indeed doubled production as stated but due to the large volume of demand, it obviously was not enough.
Xiaomi is said to be preparing for the launch of a new product on August 25. While Redmi 4 is one likely launch candidate, it’s now being said that the Xiaomi smartwatch could be announced as well.
This news comes from the Chinese Mobile Phone League Secretary General on Weibo, who revealed that Xiaomi smartwatch will be released this month itself, but the pricing may not be very cheap. We are used to seeing Xiaomi products priced at super affordable figures and maybe, he meant to warn that the price may not be as cheap as we expect.
In case you are wondering, initially, we were expecting Xiaomi’s first watch to be priced under 999 Yuan ($150). However, after this comment, maybe we can higher our expected price tag. Xiaomi is not new to wearables, but this would indeed be its first every smartwatch. Launching a brand new product, especially its first product in the segment is never easy or cheap, so it remains to be cheap whether the upcoming Xiaomi smartwatch is priced aggressively.
Hopefully, we’ll hear about the new watch from the company in the next few days.
Pokemon Go has taken the world by storm. If you’re not already playing it, then you should be! Join in the fun and get started by downloading the app now. Before you do though, you might be asking yourself which device is going to give you the best gameplay. This all depends on what devices you have available to you but generally speaking it’s going to be your phone. Let’s analyse the options below before you get started.
Your Phone
Whether you have an iOS device or an Android operating system on your phone, you’ll be all set to download the app. However, it’s all going to depend on the sensors your phone has, how much RAM it offers and how recent your last operating system update was. Even if you have an iOS or Android device, if it’s been too long since you last updated you mightn’t be able to play until you do.
Pokémon Go for Android requires 2GB of RAM and if you didn’t already know it there’s no way to get more of it unless you purchase a new phone. As for the required software, you’ll need Android 4.4 or a more recent update. Anything older and you won’t be able to download the app from the Google Play Store.
On your iOS device, thankfully Apple makes it pretty easy to play Pokémon Go on whatever device you choose, especially your iPhone. So long as you have iOS 8.0 or newer you’ll be able to play, though all features may not be supported on older systems.
Your Tablet
Of course your phone should be your preferred method of play for Pokémon Go due to its ease of use but you can still download the app on your Apple or Android tablet if it meets the above requirements.
Unfortunately even if you meet all the software requirements, you still won’t be able to download Pokémon Go from the Google Play Store if your tablet has an Intel processor.
Other specifications
Of course, you’ll also need to have an internet connection available to you, and a good one at that to make sure the game runs smoothly. Unless you’re chasing Pokémon in a capital city, you probably won’t be able to rely on Wi-Fi alone, so you’ll need to use your phone data to allow the game to work properly. Pokémon Go runs on three sensors to make the augmented reality features of the game possible. These are a compass, gyroscope and camera. Unfortunately, if your device is missing any of these, augmented reality mode may not work.
Devices that won’t work
Niantic announced before the game was out that it would not be bringing Pokémon Go to devices using Microsoft Windows Phone or Windows 10 operating systems. With just a small team behind them the developers had to focus on reaching the widest audiences. Though all hope for Windows fans isn’t totally lost just yet. A new app named PokeGo gave access to Windows users for a brief moment in time. Unfortunately the app no longer works after the most recent update but the developer has hinted that it will be returning soon.
And for those who would prefer to play the game on a Nintendo 3DS or 2DS, unfortunately Pokémon Go will not be playable on the devices. However, this autumn’s release of Pokémon Sun and Moon will have Pokémon and Nintendo fans rejoicing.
You may better know Asus as a computer brand but they also make some pretty good phones. The Asus Zenfone Pegasus 3 is the smartphone that costs just $150, it is made out of metal and it is beautiful. Learn more in our full review.
16GB (expandable via microSD card slot up to 64GB)
Asus Pegasus 3 Review: DESIGN and DISPLAY
Design is definitely one of the strong points of this device. The phone sports a metal shell, except for the plastic top and bottom parts for antennas.
I love the way the device feels in the hand due to rounded corners on the back and due to the fact that it is a rather compact phone.
We have a 5.2” display, which only has 720p resolution. Still, it is a pretty good LCD panel and it should be enough for most users. The only shortcoming is that it could have a slightly better sunlight legibility.
It’s great that the phone has a notification LED light, which sits next to the 5MP selfie shooter. However, we only have the on-screen navigation buttons that cannot be customized. Well, at least you can press the multitasking button to take a screenshot.
As for optics, we have a 13MP shooter and a single LED flash.
The fingerprint scanner is pretty accurate and it unlocks your phone straight from the standby mode. However, it is not the fastest I’ve seen, especially if you want to use it a couple of times in a row. On the other hand, if you don’t need to unlock our phone every 2 seconds, the fingerprint sensor works just fine.
The loudspeaker can get pretty loud but don’t expect very good sound quality. You can tweak the audio settings if you want but my biggest concern is that the sound gets a little distorted at the highest volume settings.
The metal-made buttons do not rattle and they have a good tactile response.
Asus Pegasus 3 Review: HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE
The $150 Asus Pegasus 3 is not going to be your next flagship device as it sports a quad-core MTK6737 chip with the max. clock speeds of 1.3GHz, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage, which can be expanded via the microSD card slot.
The 720p display means that the phone doesn’t need to push too many pixels and thus, the gaming performance is good. I played a few games on the highest graphics and there were just a few skipped frames. Finally, the phone does not have any overheating issues.
Asus Pegasus 3 Review: BENCHMARKS
Asus Pegasus 3 Review: USER INTERFACE
As for user interface performance, it is pretty good too as I didn’t have any lag or hiccups.
As for the UI itself, the phone runs on the Asus ZenUI, which is built on top of Android 6.0. It’s up to you whether you like the looks of it but you can always download a third-party launcher.
We have a few added features, customization options and pre-installed apps to play with. Just to name a few, you can turn on the blue light filter of the display or select from a variety of gesture and motion controls that work pretty well. Finally, a photo-collage app allows you to stitch a few photos if you feel creative.
Asus Pegasus 3 Review: CAMERA
The 13MP camera takes pictures fast. We have a few shooting modes but many of them require a tripod to get usable photos.
I took most of the shots using the auto-mode and the daylight picture quality is really good for a $150 phone. There is a decent amount of detail, and the images look pretty sharp. However, dynamic range adjustment is usually off.
In general, cheap phones don’t take great photos in low-light. The Pegasus 3 will not impress you but it is not that bad either. You can get some okay looking shots considering the category of this phone.
The selfie camera, however, could be better. Images have quite a lot of noise and the level of detail is pretty low.
The 1080p video quality is pretty good for the class. As usual to most of the cheap phones, there is no continuous auto-focus feature. See a video review for a video sample.
When it comes to connectivity, the Asus Pegasus 3 will not disappoint you.
It comes with a dual-SIM card tray, which can take either 2 SIMs or 1 SIM and the microSD card.
The call quality and signal reception are good, the GPS is fast and accurate. The Wifi also works fine but the phone does not always reconnect to the last used Wifi network, which is kind of annoying and hopefully this will be fixed soon. Also, keep in mind that the phone does not support 5GHz connection.
Asus Pegasus 3 Review: BATTERY LIFE
One of the key highlights of the phone is a huge 4100mAh battery that performs very well. I could get almost 7 hours of screen-on on a mixed use that translates to at least 1.5 or 2 days of usage.
Also, you can use a variety of power saving options to get even better results.
However, the phone does not support quick charging feature and it takes around 4 hours to fully charge it.
Asus Pegasus 3 Review: CONCLUSIONS
The Asus Pegasus 3 is the cheapest phone from their Zenfone line and it is a pretty good phone for the price.
It is well-constructed and feels premium due to its metal build, it performs well whether you use the phone for basic tasks or gaming. Also, the phone takes great photos in daylight and it has a fantastic battery life.
On the other hand, you have to know that the phone sports only a 720p resolution display, and you can’t switch the position of on-screen navigation buttons.
Although the selfie camera may be enough for social media, the image quality does not impress. Also, there is no 5GHz Wifi support and the sometimes the phone struggles reconnecting to the last used Wifi network. Finally, the phone’s battery life may be fantastic but it does not support fast charging feature.
At the end of the day, the Asus Zenfone Pegasus 3 has a few shortcomings like most of the cheap phones but it is still a good buying option at the price of just $150.
Research firm Gartner has released its market report for the second quarter of 2016 which showed how the mobile phones brand fared in the last quarter. Overall, the report shows smartphone sales for the second quarter grew by 4.3% when compared to last year’s growth.
In the overall rankings, three Chinese smartphone makers, Huawei, Oppo and Xiaomi ranked from third to fifth in that order. Huawei maintained its third position in global sales for the second quarter of 2016 selling over 30 million smartphones during that period, representing 8.9% of the market share and a 0.9% growth for Huawei from last year’s Q2 figures.
On the other hand, OPPO continued its run of booming sales during the second quarter fueled by the success of the R9. Whereas last year the company sold a little over 8 million phones during the second quarter, it recorded a monumental figure of over 18 million.
Xiaomi’s shipments for Q2 2016 recorded the smallest growth margin of just 0.2% leaping from 4.5% in Q2 2015 to 4.7% this year. In addition, Vivo (listed as BBK) also made it into the list of top 10 brands in overall sales volume for the second quarter of 2016.
Meanwhile, Samsung was the top smartphone seller, with 76.7 million smartphones sold, compared with 72 million sold a year earlier. That increase boosted its share to 22.3%, up from 21.8%. Gartner attributed Samsung’s increased sales to have been benefited by sales of the Galaxy A and Galaxy J series of smartphones which competed well against devices from Chinese smartphone makers.
Gartner’s report also revealed Apple’s iPhone sales dropped 7.7% in the second quarter, with 44.4 million phones sold globally, down from 48 million a year earlier. This decreased Apple’s market share to 12.9%, down from 14.6% a year earlier. Even at that, Apple maintained the second position in global smartphone sales.
In all the overall smartphone sales reached 344 million, slightly higher than last year’s second quarter figures of 330 million. In terms of operating system, Android devices occupied 86% of the total market in sales, compared to 14.6% for iOS and 2.5% for Windows.
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The tablet sports a metal backplate, which adds a little bit of a premium look and feel. It has a somewhat textured coating and thus, it does not attract fingerprints so easily.
