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Lightinthebox Euro 2016 Giveaway Competition

Online mall, Lightinthebox, has also joined the list of corporations running Euro 2016 giveaways and are offering wonderful gifts for winners.

The rules are pretty straightforward. All you have to do is correctly predict the winner on the campaign’s facebook  page and you stand a chance to win an Alcatel Bluetooth Speaker or an Alcatel Flash Plus 2.

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For the duration of the competition, the Alcaltel Flash Plus 2 also gets a price cut to $179.99 from $244.39.

The Flash Plus 2 isn’t really different from most midrange phones in the market now. It has got a 5.5” FHD screen, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of ROM, runs Android Marshmallow, sports a fingerprint scanner (home button style), 13MP rear camera and 5MP front shooter, dual SIM slots, and a 3000mAh battery with flash charge. SoC is the MTK Helio P10.

Bluboo Anniversary Sales: $9.99 Snap Up Ended, Price Cuts Still Available

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Bluboo  started their anniversary sales yesterday and offered customers the chance to purchase any of their devices for $9.99. But we all know these snap up deals never last as they are usually gone in a few minutes. However, while $9.99 does sound like a great price to buy any android phone now, customers can still purchase any of the devices at a reduced price from now till 1st of July.

The Maya is available for $69.99; the Xtouch for $129.99, X9 for $119.99; Bluboo Picasso and Xfire 2 for $64.99; and the UWatch for $28.99.

To purchase any of the above devices, head to Bluboo’s page here.

 

Elephone Euro 2016 Competition: Elephone S3 and Coupons up for Grabs

Elephone is running a competition from 17 – 23 of June for the Euro 2016 Football Tournament and will be giving out units of the Elephone S3, $35 coupons, and $10 coupons to winners and losers. You see everyone gets to win something.

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The rules are actually pretty simple. First, you’ll need to register on Elephone’s website to be eligible to enter for the competition. Then you can proceed to predict which of the teams will win at the finals or predict the winner of any of the round games.

If your guess is right for any of the round games, you win a $35 coupon but if your prediction is wrong, you get a $10 coupon. However, if the match ends in a draw you still get a $35 coupon.

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Elephone will however randomly select only 3 winners who correctly predict the winner of the tournament to go home with a unit of the Elephone S3.

The Elephone S3 is a bezel-less phone with a 5.2″ FHD screen, an all-metal build, 3GB of RAM, 16GB of ROM, dual SIM slots, and a 2100mAh battery with fast charge.

Umi London: The Toughest Dual-Protection Smartphone

Umi is ticking off the major cities in Europe with the naming of their phones. We already have the Umi Rome and now the next stop is Umi London.

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The name is not the only thing exciting about the phone. Umi is touting the new phone as the toughest dual protection smartphone.

Umi says the London can survive a drop from a height of 6 meters with the Umi London protector and a drop of 1.5 meters without any protection. Thanks to a unique technology called DG Twin Shield. The technology which is developed by Umi uses a combination of glass and a 3M double-coated foam tape which absorbs the shock and prevents the phone from damage when it falls.

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Umi London will have a 5” HD screen, 1GB of RAM, 8GB ROM, an 8MP rear camera, 2MP font facing camera, run Android Marshmallow 6.0, and be powered by a 2050mAh battery. SoC is a MTK6580 processor clocked at 1.3GHz. the phone is priced at $69.99.

Chinese manufacturers definitely have a thing for European cities. What city do you think will be next? Let’s see your guesses in the comment box below.

OnePlus 3 & Accessories Now In Stock On OPPOMART

OnePlus 3 has already started selling internationally, and OPPOMART has also listed this device up for sale. The OnePlus 3 is currently in stock on the website and ships in 48 hours. The retailer also informs us that the OP3 units sold run OxygenOS and come with Google Play services with support for future updates. Along with the smartphone, OPPOMART also lists a few accessories for the device up for sale.

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The accessories include tempered glass protectors, flip cover cases, silicone cases as well as a style swap cover. You can read more about the listing from the link down below.

Honor 5A Received Over 11.29 Million Registrations For Its First Flash Sale In China

Honor 5A is a well specced entry level handset and there was no doubt that the phone was going to get pretty good response from customers in China. And guess what, it really did get all the attention it deserved. The company revealed today that the phone recieved over 11.79 million bookings by the end of June 16 for the first flash sale. This includes booking on the company’s own store, JD.com and QQ wallet. The first flash sale for Honor 5A was earlier today at 10:08 am. However, the company is reportedly selling the device tomorrow morning as well via its official store and JD.com store. The China Mobile version of the Honor 5A was available for 699 Yuan ($106) while the Full Network supported model retailed for 799 Yuan ($121).

honor 5a bookings

Like mentioned above, the Honor 5A is a pretty good handset. It is powered the Snapdragon 617 octa-core processor inside and comes with 2GB RAM and 16GB of storage. There is a 5.5-inch display with 720p resolution. At the back, you get a 13MP camera while up front you have an 8MP shooter. The battery is also pretty decent, measuring 3100mAh in capacity. Other features of the device include a BOX sound champer, metallic built, 8.45mm body, 168 grams weight and multiple color options including white and gold.

Overall, a great handset priced at just $106. What do you think?

 

Mould Used For Xiaomi’s Laptop Leaked, Trial Production Underway

Although the internet was filled with rumors and leaks about Xiaomi’s first laptop in the past few months, recently, the rumors have died down. However, earlier today, we spotted a leaked picture of a mould which was reportedly used to make the company’s first laptop computer. It was revealed that the mould was used for the first trial production of the Xiaomi laptop. The Mi logo on the mould hints that this was indeed used for making the body of the new laptop from the company.

xiaomi laptop mould leak

According to the previous leaks, the Xiaomi laptop will come with a metal built and will look similar to Apple’s Macbook range. In fact, it is said that the company aims to take on Apple’s Macbook by offering a great design and powerful specs at a much lesser price tag. There have been several reports about the laptop’s pricing, but it is expected to start at around 3000 Yuan ($455).

Recent rumor states that the new Xiaomi laptop will go on sale in Summer this year. This is later than the original planned release date, which was scheduled for Q1 2016. There should be two variants of the device, one with a 12.5-inch display and another with a 15-inch display. Inside, it should be running on the Windows 10 platform. If the pricing is indeed $455, then supply chain sources predict Xiaomi will to ship around 1 million units of its new laptop in a year. Safer predictions can be made only after the official specs and pricing of the handset is revealed.

So, what do you think? If the Mi laptop is priced at just $455, would you consider it over existing established players like Dell, Lenovo or HP?

 

 

OPPO, Vivo, Huawei & Gionee Among The Top 6 Phone Companies In China In May

Chinese market research firm, Sino recently published its new report about the smartphone market share in China for the month of May. The report gives us some interesting insight about the market in China and the market share held by smartphone giants in the region. One major highlight of the report was that the Chinese companies, OPPO, Vivo, Huawei and Gionee (yes, it made it to this list), who are also known together as “Jinhua OV” (where Jinhua is for Gionee and Huawei, while OV is for OPPO and Vivo) did pretty well in May.

may smartphone market share china

All the above mentioned Chinese companies have made it to the top 6 list of smartphone makers according to market share in the month of May. The other two are none other than Apple and Samsung. However, both the companies have lost some market share in the period. OPPO was yet again one of the top-performing smartphone companies in May in China. It sold around 5.310 million units during this period, much higher than any other company, with a share of 15.3%. Right below OPPO, was Vivo with sales of around 4.220 mil in May and market share of 12.1%. Apple and Huawei are right behind Vivo with a difference of around 500K between each place. Surprisingly, even Gionee has made it to this list, shipping 1.711 million units in May.

The overall sales of smartphones were strong in May. Sino reports that Chinese market saw total sales of 34.74 million units, an increase of around 12.2% as compared to April. Domestic brands did particularly well during this period, increasing its contribution to 82.1% in May.

While we knew that OPPO, Vivo and Huawei are doing well in the smartphone industry, what’s really surprising is the rise of Gionee during this period. Looks like Gionee’s S, W and M series are doing quite well in the Chinese market.

Xiaomi Mi Max 2GB RAM Variant Spotted, Should Be Cheaper

Xiaomi Mi Max was released back in April and was an instant hit among buyers, due to its super large 6.44-inch display and an equally large battery. The phone comes in a number of variants in China, starting at 3GB RAM with different storage options and going up to 4GB of RAM. However, it looks like Xiaomi may have another variant of the Mi Max in the works, which, considering its specification, should be priced cheaper than the current base variant.

mi max 2gb ram

Recently, Xiaomi Mi Max 2GB RAM version was leaked. The screenshot further reveals that there is just 16GB of storage inside. As mentioned above, the cheapest version of the Mi Max being sold right now starts at 3GB RAM + 32GB storage, so we an expect this special low-end variant to cost even lesser than the 3GB RAM model. To remind you, the above variant sells for 1499 Yuan in China which comes to $230. So, the 2GB RAM version should ideally cost around 1299 Yuan ($198).

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As for the specs, expect the rest to be the same as the Mi Max 3GB RAM model. So, the phone should feature Snapdragon 650 chip inside with 2GB RAM, 16GB storage and MicroSD expansion slot (hybrid). You should find a large 4850mAh battery inside the slim 7.5mm body. At the back, there should be a 16MP shooter and up front, a 5MP sensor.

However, the Mi Max 2GB RAM model is still not listed on the official Mi.com website for sale. Either it could be released later, or  this particular version may not see the light of the day in China. Instead, it could be sold in India, where the company will release the handset on June 30.

Stay tuned for more details.

 

Lei Jun Responds To Criticism About MIUI’s Annoying Ads

MIUI is one of the world’s popular ROMs, and it is found inside all the Xiaomi smartphones that are sold globally. The ROM has been praised for its simple design and features, however, it also gets a fair share of criticisms, especially about the advertising policy of the company inside MIUI. If you have ever used the UI, you would notice that there are advertisements displayed in the interface. In fact, the company’s UI has been often criticized in China for putting advertisements everywhere, and some even calling it the ADUI. Yesterday evening, when Xiaomi CEO’s Lei Jun was live, a couple of questions about MIUI’s advertising issues were raised. At that time, he revealed his views regarding this issue.

lei jun

According to Lei Jun, users don’t usually hate advertising, rather, they hate the “annoying” kind of ads. This is similar to what some of the Xiaomi employees had to say about this topic earlier. Also, to be honest, we have to understand that Xiaomi makes little money from selling its smartphones, so it tries to make it up via other channels like ads in MIUI. However, Lei Jun further added that the new version of MIUI comes with a lot less ads, and if you think they are annoying, you can report it to the company.

miui 8 new lock screen

We will have to wait and see whether the company has reduced the ads on the new MIUI 8 version. It comes with a lot of new features, most of which are listed in detail in this article. The ROM is currently in open beta and soon will be released to most Xiaomi smartphones.

Do you think the ads in MIUI are annoying?

OnePlus 3 Soft Gold Version Will Only Be Available Late July

If you have been waiting for the soft gold color version of the OnePlus 3, your wait might extend for a month. The company had said that it would make this color available soon, but didn’t give an exact time frame. However, thanks to a tweet by the OnePlus 3 CEO, we now have a brief idea about its release.

oneplus 3 soft gold

According to a recent reply by OnePlus CEO to one of the tweets asking the availability of this color, he replied that OnePlus 3 soft gold version should be available sometime in the latter part of July. So, it looks like for about a month, you will be stuck with the currently available graphite color version.

oneplus 3 soft gold color

It looks like OnePlus is really limiting the number of options for the buyers. At present, there is literally just ONE variant of the OnePlus 3, and that comes in graphite gray color. You get no memory or storage versions, and just the 6GB RAM model is available for purchase to potential customers. Even in July, you will have just one additional choice, soft gold color. The company has confirmed that there won’t be a 4GB RAM model, at least, not in the near future.

However, apart from limiting the options to the customers, OnePlus has done a fine job with the new OnePlus 3 flagship. It comes with the powerful Snapdragon 820 chip and has made 6GB RAM and 64GB ROM as standard. At the back, you get a 16MP Sony IMX298 sensor with OIS and EIS, while up front, you have an 8MP shooter. The 5.5-inch display up front sports 1080p resolution and comes with Gorilla Glass 4 protection. Also, the fingerprint sensor boasts of an unlock time of just 0.2 seconds. Overall, with VoLTE, NFC, 4G LTE and dual SIM connectivity, the OnePlus 3 is a wholesome phone. It is a true all rounder, doing well in most areas, which is what most consumers are looking for these days.

 

Vivo X7 Confirmed To Feature Snapdragon 652 Octa-Core Chip

For the past few days, Vivo has been teasing the upcoming Vivo X7 flagship. The company has already confirmed a few features on the device like a 16MP front-facing shooter, but at that time we were unsure about the CPU and RAM inside. Given that most smartphone manufacturers are now not shy to reveal major specs about its handsets, Vivo has just confirmed the CPU as well as RAM inside the new Vivo X7 via a new teaser.

vivo x7 specs

Earlier today, Vivo revealed via an official teaser that the Vivo X7 will feature MSM8976 chipset inside, which is the Snapdragon 652 octa-core processor. The company also confirms that the phone comes with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage. There’s also the mention of wisdom engine 2.0 which is a self-learning engine that reportedly ensures that the CPU and memory performance are top-notch via smart resource scheduling. In case you remember, wisdom engine was also present on the company’s 6GB RAM flagship, the Vivo XPlay 5.

Today’s teaser also confirms the design of the device. As expected, the phone will be quite slim and will continue using a design similar to the Vivo X6 flagship that was announced back in 2015. One major difference between the two is going to be the fingerprint sensor. The Vivo X6 had the sensor at the back, while the new X7 will sport it up front, below the display. Another thing confirmed is the color. So, it looks like the phone will come in gold along with a few other color options.

So, the Vivo X7 is turning out to be a powerful flagship. Apart from these specs, which place the phone in the upper mid-range segment, the X7 is also confirmed to sport a powerful 16MP camera up front with moonlight soft lights. This phone is naturally targeted at selfie lovers, who want a good front facing camera.

Considering its specs, and the fact that this is a Vivo device, don’t expect the phone to come for cheap. Last year’s Vivo X7 started at a price of 2500 Yuan ($380). So, expect the Vivo X7 to start around this figure too.

Oukitel C3 Review – $50 Smartphones Never Looked So Good

There are plenty of smartphones out there but usually they cost a lot. I came across Oukitel C3. It is a $50 phone that has and HD display, Android 6.0 and decent design. Learn more in our full review.

 Oukitel C3 VIDEO REVIEW:

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-GPsbYPyLw[/embedyt]

Oukitel C3 Review: UNBOXING

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The phone ships with all the usual stuff and you should not expect any extras to come with the device.

Oukitel C3 Review: DESIGN and DISPLAY

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When it comes to the design, there is nothing spectacular going on here. We don’t have any premium materials like metal but the phone is well built and it is comfortable to hold it.

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The 5” 720p display is not the best I’ve seen but it is really good for the phone this cheap. My advice would be to remove that cheap pre-installed screen protector, which distorts the view.

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We have a just a 2MP selfie shooter and non-backlit capacitive keys. You have to know that there is no notification LED light and the buttons feel a bit cheap.

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The backplate, which has a vinyl-like finish is  very nice to the touch and it does not attract fingerprints so easily. Also, it can be easily removed. Underneath it, you can find 2 SIM card slots and the microSD card slot.

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As far as optics, we have an 8MP camera and a single LED flash.

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The loudspeaker sits on the back. You can’t expect high-end sound quality out of it, but I would say this is best speaker on a $50 phone I’ve tested.

Overall, Oukitel C3 does not look or feel expensive or anything but it is well-made, looks decent and it does not seem to break anytime soon.

Oukitel C3 Review: HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE

For $50, you are getting a quad-core MTK6580A CPU with the clock speeds of up 1.3GHz, 1GB of RAM and 8GB of expandable storage.

While this spec-sheet will definitely not blow your socks off, you can still enjoy some 3D games.

Asphalt 8 runs fine on medium graphics with just a few skipped frames but no lag.

Oukitel C3 Review: USER INTERFACE

The phone ships with Android 6.0 out of the box and we have some redesigned icons and added features by Oukitel.

For example, there are plenty of gesture and motion controls. As usual, I use only a couple of them and they work fine.

Most importantly, the phone runs fast and fluid most of the time. Well, I had a little bit of stutter a couple of times but nothing major.

Oukitel C3 Review: IMAGE QUALITY

You can’t expect any stellar results from the camera on the phone this cheap. In short, the image quality is not impressive but some of the shots may be usable for social media. Same can be said about a selfie shooter.

Oukitel C3 Review: CONNECTIVITY

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As for connectivity, the GPS is not the most accurate I’ve tested but it is still usable. Also, the wifi works fine and the call quality is decent.

Oukitel C3 Review: BATTERY LIFE

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The phone sports a 2000mAh battery and it performs on the average. 3 hours of screen-on time was the most I could get out of this phone on a moderate use.

Oukitel C3 Review: CONCLUSIONS

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So, there you have it, a $50 phone, Oukitel C3. This phone is designed for those who live on a very tight budget or for those, who just want a super cheap phone.

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Sure, you can’t expect anything spectacular out of this phone. Well, cheap is cheap but Oukitel C3 is one of best $50 phones on the market. It has a decent design and display, a pretty good overall performance and some extra features in the user interface.

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Obviously, both cameras do not impress and the battery life could be better.

At the end of the day, Oukitel C3 is not going to be your next flagship killer but it is well-worth a $50 price tag, despite a few shortcomings.

OPPO R9 FC Barcelona Edition With Messi, Neymar & Suarez’s Signatures Sold For $13,500

OPPO recently released the OPPO R9 FC Barcelona Edition in two colors, blue and red. The customized version looks very good and I am sure many of Barcelona fans will try their best to get hold of one of these devices. However, apart from the regular FC Barcelona edition, the company had a special OPPO R9 FC Barcelona MSN Edition in blue with the signatures of three great footballers, Messi, Neymar and Suarez. The company recently auctioned off the device on JD.com and guess what, the phone managed to fetch nearly $13,500!

oppo r9 fc barcelona MSN edition

This customized OPPO R9 FC Barcelona edition comes with an 18K gold plated team logo at the back which is reportedly crafted by hand. Further, the signatures of the above-mentioned footballers can be found on the back of the device. A lot of fans participated in the auction on JD’s website, and this customized version was finally sold for a whopping 88,914 Yuan which comes to around $13,494. That’s a lot of money for a smartphone. The starting price was 3999 Yuan ($607) and in a matter of 10 hours, after fierce competition, it was sold off for the above price.

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In case you are wondering, OPPO is not looking to make profits from this auction, instead, it will donate the money received for the phone to charity. So, it seems to be a win-win situation for all. The buyer gets a brand new OPPO R9 with FC Barcelona customizations and the signatures of Messi, Neymar and Suarez. The money goes to charity and OPPO gets its fair share of spotlight.

Meanwhile, you can check out the unboxing pictures of the FC Barcelona Edition from here.

OnePlus 3 Will Become An Unofficial Ubuntu Phone, Currently In Development

There are not a lot of Ubuntu Phones in the market today, but the folks over at UBports.com are trying to port Canonical’s Ubuntu Touch OS to as many devices as possible. Given that OnePlus 3 is one of the hot phones in the market right now, the team has confirmed that they will be bringing Ubuntu Touch to the OnePlus flagship as well. This is great news for all OnePlus fans who want to see how the OS will run on the powerful OnePlus 3.

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Mr. Gripsgard, part of the UBports team has ordered the phone and will start on the development and porting of the OS as soon as the phone arrives. Considering the top-end specifications of the device, especially the 6GB RAM on board, it would be interesting to see how the Convergence feature of Ubuntu works on the device. To remind you, “Convergence” is a pretty cool feature on the Ubuntu Touch OS, wherein you can connect your smartphone to any monitor and Ubuntu Desktop interface will load up on the screen. So, basically, your phone will transform into a desktop environment when connected to an external display.  All apps running on the phone will pop on the monitor seamlessly and even when you disconnect, the apps like music or video which was playing on the monitor will appear on the phone.

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To recap, the OnePlus 3 comes with the Snapdragon 820 chipset on board with 6GB of RAM as standard and 64GB of internal storage without a MicroSD card slot. There will be a 5.5-inch 1080p display on board and a 3000mAh battery with the company’s own Dash charging tech. At the back, the phone comes with a 16MP camera with OIS, while up front, you have an 8MP front facing shooter. If you want to read the full specs of the OnePlus 3, check out this article.

So, would you like to see Ubuntu Touch OS running on your OnePlus 3? Check out their page from here.

 

 

Vivo X7 Real Pictures Reveal A Similar Design As the OPPO R9

Earlier today, Vivo revealed a few more details about the upcoming Vivo X7 flagship. The phone will reportedly come with a fast fingerprint sensor and ultra-thin bezels on the sides. While back then, the phone was just revealed in a few renders, now, new real life images of the Vivo X7 have just popped up online. As you can see, these images don’t reveal much about the overall design, instead focuses on the fingerprint sensor that’s located on the front, right below the display.

From the renders revealed this morning, we know that the phone will come with an oval sensor right up front. It looks similar to the ones we have seen on the Meizu and OPPO smartphones. While these pictures are probably promotional materials for the phone’s fingerprint, it reveals that the Vivo X7 will come with a metal frame on a thin body. In fact, there’s no denying that the new phone looks similar to the design of the iPhone series. Also, it looks a lot like the OPPO R9 that was announced a few months back and is doing so well in China.

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According to the company, the Vivo X7 will be equipped with a fast fingerprint sensor. The phone also seems to support fingerprint-based payment methods. As for the other specs, we know for sure that the Vivo X7 will be a selfie focused smartphone, featuring a powerful 16MP sensor up front with moonlight soft flash. While the company is yet to confirm the specs inside the device, rumors state that the phone will feature 6GB of RAM on board along with the deca-core Helio X25 chip. We haven’t yet heard anything about the memory or CPU of the phone from the company, so we can’t confirm this information.

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OPPO R9’s Design

iPhone 7 Plus Still Getting Dual Cameras Treatment Reveals Insider

Yesterday we reported that Apple decided to ditch dual cameras on the upcoming iPhone 7 due to technical difficulties, however another insider has revealed that parts manufacturer, Foxconn, has been making moulds of the iPhone 7 Plus which feature dual cameras. Lens supplier, Dali, also revealed that delivery of dual lenses for the iPhone 7 Plus has not been halted.

iphone dual camera rumors

So, it looks like the earlier rumor about Apple ditching the dual lens setup could be false. Dual camera phones are part of the main features for some of this year’s flagship devices. The Huawei P9 and V8, the LG G5, and the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Note 7 all have dual cameras. News also has it that OPPO, Xiaomi, and Vivo are all working on dual camera phones. So we guess Apple doesn’t want to arrive late to the party.

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LeEco Rumored To Launch 8GB RAM Phone With Snapdragon 821 processor

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The Snapdragon 821 is the successor to the Snapdragon 820 and it’s expected to start showing up in phones by August. However a new LeEco phone showed up online today sporting the new processor. The phone which shares a lot of similarities with the LeEco Le Max 2 might possibly be an upgraded version of the flagship device.

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The phone is said to feature 8GB of RAM (just when we are still debating if 6GB of RAM is an overkill) and will purportedly have a 25MP rear camera. Renders of the phone shows it will come in white, red (which looks cooler than rose gold by the way), and blue; feature a fingerprint scanner positioned below the camera and cost 3000 CNY ($455).

ZTE Was The Fifth Largest Smartphone Maker In Europe In Q1 2016

ZTE has increased its promotion in many regions, especially in Europe in the past few months. These promotions seem to be working as the company is now the fifth-largest smartphone maker in Europe for the first quarter of 2016. Counterpoint Technology Market Research report revealed that the company shipped a lot of smartphones in Europe early this year, bringing it to the fifth position in the region.

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“We’re very excited by our achievement in Europe, especially given that there are so many other smartphone companies that are trying to gain popularity here,” said Jacky Zhang, CEO of EMEA and APAC, ZTE Mobile Devices. “As we continue to launch premium smartphones pegged with an affordable price tag, it makes it easier for consumers to try our devices. We are thankful for the support fans have given us and we’re confident that we’ll soon rise to number four in Europe.”

ZTE seems to be focused on the European market with its mid-range and high-end smartphones. This includes the company’s ZTE Blade as well as the high-end Axon series. The ZTE Axon 7 was recently released in China and the phone is quite the beast with advanced audio capabilities. The company confirms that the Axon 7 will be announced in Europe and it’s positive about the consumer demand for the device in the region. ZTE also revealed that it sold over 30 million Blade series smartphones by the end of 2015 and European regions such as Germany, France, Spain and UK were a few of the key markets.

axon 7 flagship hands on

The company has been increasing expansion activities in Europe in the past few months, establishing cooperation with large retailers for its smartphones. The company has even co-sponsored sports teams like the German football team, Borussia Mönchengladbach. In the next one and a half years, the company aims to increase its market share in Germany to 4%. Then there’s Spain, wherein the company enjoys a share of 4.4%. To further increase brand awareness, ZTE signed with Sevilla Football Club as the official smartphone partner and even sponsored the Copa del Rey Championship. Plus, there was the ZTE Experience Tour that we reported earlier that toured across Europe showing off the company’s smartphones.

So, it looks like ZTE’s promotions to increase its brand awareness in Europe are slowly paying off.

 

 

ASUS Unveils ZenFone Pegasus 3 With 4100mAh Battery, Starts at $200

ASUS has just made another addition to the ZenFone family this year, by releasing the new Pegasus 3 smartphone. This will make it the fourth smartphone in the lineup, with the first three, namely ZenFone 3, ZenFone 3 Deluxe and ZenFone 3 Ultra being announced at the start of this month. However, unlike these three models, the Pegasus 3 is targeted the entry level market and the specifications are also toned down accordingly.

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The ZenFone Pegasus 3 comes with the same metal design as its elder siblings with the fingerprint sensor located at the back of the device. In case you remember, except for the Ultra model, the rest two models had fingerprint sensor at the back. Coming to the phone’s specs, they are going to be entry level. Inside, the phone is powered by the quad-core chipset MT6737 with either 2GB or 3GB RAM options. The screen size of 5.2-inches but the resolution is lowered to just HD i.e. 720p. As for the software, the phone runs on Android 6.0 Marshmallow with the company’s own ZenUI 3.0 on top.

The major highlights of the phone is going to be the 4100mAh battery on board. Considering the entry level specs, this large capacity battery should easily provide around a couple of days usage for the device. At the back, the phone comes with a 13MP f/2.2 camera sensor with LED flash, while up front, you get a 5MP f/2.0 shooter.

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There are four color options for the new Pegasus 3, namely silver, gray, gold and rose gold. It looks like the premium rose gold color is now being offered for entry level handsets as well. As for the pricing, the 2GB RAM + 16GB storage variant starts at 1299 Yuan ($198) while the 3GB RAM + 32GB ROM variant retails for 1499 Yuan ($227). In a market featuring Redmi Note 3, Meizu M3 Note and Le 2 with much better configuration at less than this price, it would be interesting to see how Pegasus 3 performs in the market. The phone will soon go on sale in China.