OnePlus 3 Preview: Design, Specs, Pricing, Availability & More

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Jun 14, 2016

OnePlus 3 is coming and the launch is today! It is one of the most anticipated smartphones of 2016, and we have been hearing about this particular flagship for the past few months. In fact, as the launch is coming near, we have a very good idea as to what to expect from the new flagship, thanks to the various leaked renders, real life images and TENAA listings. So, let’s take a look at the expected features, specs, pricing and other details of the upcoming OnePlus 3.

OnePlus 3 Design:

OnePlus One was a pretty good looking device and so was the OnePlus 2. Then late last year, the company released the OnePlus X with glass body and premium design for the mid-range market, taking the design to a new level. So, the company has pretty big shoes to fill with the OnePlus 3. Everyone is expecting a new design and something that will look premium and will be good to hold.

oneplus 3 render promo — image source: Evleaks

And from the renders we have seen lately, the company seems to have followed the same route as most other smartphone makers, using an all metal body on the new OnePlus 3. From the front, the design has a very similar appearance as the OnePlus 2, which is not really a bad thing since we loved OP2’s design. However, at the back, the OnePlus 3 seems to have taken inspiration from HTC One M9. Now, for most, this is a pretty good design, with visible antenna lines and a large sensor. But in my personal opinion, OnePlus could have done much better, as this design will always remind us of the good old HTC flagship. Nevertheless, the design looks polished and if you are able to get over the HTC feel, the overall design is good enough for a premium flagship smartphone.

OnePlus 3 Specs:

We have heard about the specs of the OnePlus 3 from so many sources in the past few months. Luckily, most of them, paint a very similar picture. The flagship phone will come with the mighty Snapdragon 820 quad-core chipset inside, which shouldn’t be surprising that most of the powerful flagships of 2016 are currently powered by this Qualcomm chip. As for the display, you should find a 5.5-inch 1080p panel on the device.

Coming to the memory, our own sources have revealed that the OnePlus 3 will come in two variants, one with 4GB RAM + 32GB of storage and another with 6GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. But we believe there could be two other variants, namely 4GB RAM + 64GB storage and 6GB + 128GB storage. So, in all, there could be four different variants of the device. Recent rumors also seem to conform to these specs, so it’s likely that we will see these four variants at launch.

From the reports we have seen in the past as well as the phone’s TENAA listing, the OnePlus 3 should come with a 16MP sensor at the back. Unfortunately, we didn’t see a laser focus in the renders before, so we aren’t sure whether it will make it to the device this year. Also, details about the sensor inside have been scarce till now.

But don’t be disappointed, we have seen a lot of camera samples from the OnePlus 3 in the past one month, to give us a good idea of the sensor’s capability. And from what we can see, the phone has managed to capture some pretty good images. Low light photos also have been decent. All the camera samples from the OnePlus 3 are added below.

We also have seen a couple of samples from the phone’s front camera. It should be an 8MP shooter. You can check out those images from down below.

As for the software, the OnePlus 3 international model should come with OxygenOS 3.0 based on Android Marshmallow while the Chinese variant should feature HydrogenOS based on the same Android version. The phone’s battery is said to be 3000mAh which is decent, but we should either see Quick Charge 3.0 or OPPO’s VOOC fast charging tech inside, which should speed up the process of charging the phone to 100%. There have been rumors about the company’s own Dash charge tech as well, but nothing is confirmed so far.

Like the OnePlus 2, the new OnePlus 3 handset should come with a fingerprint sensor incorporated in the home button placed right up front. We hope the company has improved the sensor inside, as there were a few reports about fingerprint sensor related issues with the previous generation OP2.

The phone should get standard connectivity features such as dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 4G LTE support, dual-SIM card slots, and even NFC. However, there was a new report which said that OP3 won’t feature NFC, but we can’t be sure of that.

OnePlus 3 Pricing:

Our sources have revealed that the OnePlus 3 should start at 1999 Yuan which is just $306. This will be for the 4GB RAM version, and the 6GB RAM version should retail somewhere around $380. While we are yet to confirm these figures, earlier today, an advertisement, which was most likely posted by mistake in a daily newspaper in India kind of confirmed the 6GB RAM pricing of the OnePlus 3, at least in India. The phone will retail for 27999 INR which comes to $416. So, we expect the official price for the 6GB RAM model should be more or less around this figure, which would be great. Now, some of you may argue that there’s the 6GB RAM smartphone, Le Max 2 that retail for less than $400. But considering that OnePlus is sold internationally in almost all major markets, if the pricing is anywhere close to the above-mentioned figure, it would be great.

OnePlus 3 Availability:

This time around, OnePlus has decided to ditch the boring old invite system. So, fans can purchase the device from the moment of announcement. In fact, the company has even revealed when the OnePlus 3 will go on sale in different time zones. Here’s the list.

Open sales will start at:
June 14 15:00 EDT New York time
June 14 12:00 PDT San Francisco time
June 14 20:00 BST London Time
June 15 03:00 HKT Hongkong Time
June 15 12:30 IST New Delhi Time

Finally, for all those who want to watch the event, which is going to start in around four hours from now, can check out this article. It contains the event start times in different time zones as well as a few other details about the launch of the OnePlus 3.

Nubia Z11 Flagship To Be Unveiled On June 28 In Beijing

By

Joel Joseph

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Jun 14, 2016

Nubia seems to be busy this month. The company first unveiled the Nubia Z11 Max phablet with an impressive screen to body ratio at the start of June. Now, the company is preparing to launch yet another product by the end of this month and it’s none other than the anticipated Nubia Z11 flagship. We have been hearing about this device at regular intervals in the past few months and now, finally, we have an official date when the phone will be released. The Z11 launch event will be held at the famous Beijing National Convention Center on June 28.

The company released a poster for the release of the new handset, and unsurprisingly, it features a picture of Cristiano Ronaldo. However, like the Nubia Z11 Max unveiling, don’t expect C. Ronaldo to be present at the event, since he will be currently busy with Euro 2016.

Nubia Z11 Front Panel 01 — Nubia Z11 Front Panel leaked

While Nubia is yet to officially start teasing the features of the new Nubia Z11, we already know most of the details about the device, thanks to its TENAA certification earlier. The phone will come with a bezel-less design, much like its predecessor. We can clearly see the design on the image of the front on TENAA. As for the specs, the phone will come with the Snapdragon 820 chipset under the hood clocked at 2.15GHz with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage. We still don’t know whether there will be a 6GB RAM version, but we haven’t seen this high-end model on TENAA yet. Up front, it will sport a 5.5-inch 1080p bezel-less display. TENAA failed to give out the camera specs of the device, but considering the sensors on Nubia Z11 Max and Mini models, we can expect to see a 16MP shooter at the back and an 8MP sensor up front. The battery is expected to be around 2900mAh, since the phone’s thickness is said to be limited to 7.75mm.

Now that Nubia has confirmed the launch event, we can expect a lot more information about the device in the next few days.

More OnePlus 3 Images Leak Out Hours Before Launch

By

Joel Joseph

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Jun 14, 2016

OnePlus is officially going to announce the new OnePlus 3 flagship later today internationally via the Loop VR app. While we all are excitedly waiting for the new handset to be unveiled, more images of the OnePlus 3 flagship have just been leaked out on Weibo. It looks like until the phone is official, such leaks would make it to us.

Given that we have seen the handset in real life in the past couple of weeks, the new leak actually offers us not much in addition to what we already know. However, the OnePlus 3 model leaked today seems to be the international model as it runs on the OxygenOS 3.0 version based on Android 6.0.1. The OnePlus 3 models in China run on Hydrogen OS. Other than that, we can see that this is the black version, with HTC like back design and an oval front facing fingerprint. If you remember, yesterday, we had seen the silver variant of the device. Anyway, check out the newly leaked images from down below.

OnePlus will be unveiling the device today, so it’s just a matter of a few hours until we get official details. In case you are confused about the timing of the launch event in your local time zone and from where to watch it, check out this article, wherein we have compiled the launch times in international time zones as well as the link to the Loop VR app.

OnePlus 3 specs are going to be quite powerful, including Snapdragon 820 and 4GB / 6GB RAM options. Pricing is said to start at 1999 Yuan which comes to nearly $305, which would be aggressive. But these are rumored figures and the official prices will be confirmed later today. Stay tuned for details.

Vivo Teases the new Vivo X7 Flagship, Made For Selfie Lovers

By

Joel Joseph

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Jun 13, 2016

Since almost all major smartphone makers are busy announcing new devices in the market, and it’s been a couple of months since we saw a powerful handset from the Chinese company, Vivo, it is now all set to join the party this month by announcing a new smartphone, the Vivo X7. The company has already started teasing the device, and today, it revealed one important specification of the new device, namely the front camera.

Vivo reveals that the Vivo X7 will come with a powerful 16MP camera that will reportedly illuminate your beauty. While the company did not officially confirm whether there will be front facing flash on the device, from the image above, it looks like there will be one up front as well. So, this phone will naturally be targeted at selfie lovers who want a powerful sensor with front facing flash.

These days, manufacturers tend to focus on the front facing cameras on their smartphones. We know OPPO R9 comes with a powerful 16MP shooter up front and then, yesterday, the lesser known Meitu released the new Meitu M6 model which comes with a much larger 21MP sensor. So, Vivo seems to be joining the likes of these smartphone manufacturers who give importance to the front facing shooter as well.

Unfortunately, at this moment, the company is yet to reveal any more details about the Vivo X7. But Vivo has a tradition of releasing a number of key details about its upcoming handsets before the official unveiling. So, we expect to hear a lot more information about the Vivo X7 in the coming days. Stay tuned to gizmochina for more updates.

Xiaomi Reveals Redmi 3S With Snapdragon 430 & 4100mAh battery

By

Joel Joseph

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Jun 13, 2016

We have been seeing several variants of the Xiaomi Redmi 3 in the past couple of weeks. Now, Xiaomi has officially taken the wraps off the new device, and it is confirmed that the phone will be called as the Redmi 3S. The new model uses the Snapdragon 430 octa-core processor clocked at 1.4GHz instead of the Snapdragon 616 chipset found inside the previous Redmi 3 models. Rest of the specs and design seem to be similar to the earlier models.

So, the new Redmi 3S will come with a metal body with a fingerprint sensor located at the back. There will be three color options, gold, silver with white front and gray with black front. As for the specs, the Redmi 3S will come in two memory variants, 2GB RAM + 16GB storage and 3GB RAM + 32GB storage. The storage is further expandable up to 128GB via a hybrid MicroSD card slot.

The phone sports a 5-inch 720p display and a 5MP f/2.2 front facing camera. At the back, the device features a 13MP shooter with f/2.0 aperture, HDR, PDAF and 1080p full HD recording. Like the previous generation Redmi models, Xiaomi Redmi 3S is using a large 4100mAh battery on board with 5V 2A fast charging. With the efficient chipset and display, you should easily get around a couple of days of usage with this battery. The phone also comes with an infrared port which can be used to control various applications inside your home. Other features include MIUI 7 based on Android Lollipop, Wi-Fi 2.4GHz, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS, 4G LTE and dual SIM dual standby.

Like always, Xiaomi has priced the new handset aggressively. The Redmi 3S 2GB RAM + 16GB ROM edition starts at 699 Yuan ($106), and you will have to shell out 899 Yuan ($136) for the 3GB RAM + 32GB of storage. The phone will go on sale on May 16 at 10:00 AM from the company’s official store, Lynx store, JD.com and Suning.com.

When & Where To Watch The OnePlus 3 Launch Event Live Today?

By

Joel Joseph

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Jun 13, 2016

After months of waiting, OnePlus will officially unveil the new OnePlus 3 flagship globally via the company’s Loop VR app. Like last year, OnePlus is continuing with the tradition of announcing the device in virtual reality, but this time, instead of the OnePlus office, the company is going to release the new device at its Loop Virtual Space Station.

Less than 12 hours are remaining for the event, and the company even has a dedicated Loop page with a countdown timer for the start of the event. You can check out the page from here. Also, in case you are wondering, check out the table below to see the exact time when the Loop VR event kicks off in your local time. Make sure you download and install the Loop app from OnePlus before the event. While the company recommends using a VR headset for watching the event, it’s not necessary to have a headset. Check out the app for more details.

San Francisco, USA – 9:30 PDT, June 14 (Tuesday)
New York, USA – 12:30 EDT, June 14 (Tuesday)
Ottawa, Canada – 12:30 EDT, June 14 (Tuesday)
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – 13:30 BRT, June 14 (Tuesday)
London, UK – 17:30 BST, June 14 (Tuesday)
Paris/ Berlin / Barcelona / Amsterdam, EU – 18:30 CEST, June 14 (Tuesday)
Moscow, Russia – 19:30 MSK, June 14 (Tuesday)
Abu Dhabi, UAE – 20:30 GST, June 14 (Tuesday)
Islamabad, Pakistan – 21:30 PKT, June 14 (Tuesday)
New Delhi, India – 22:00 IST, June 14 (Tuesday)
Jakarta, Indonesia – 23:30 WIB, June 14 (Tuesday)
Beijing / Taipei / Hong Kong / Singapore – 00:30 CST/ HKT, June 15 (Wednesday)
Seoul / Tokyo – 1:30 KST/ JST, June 15 (Wednesday)
Canberra, Australia – 2:30 AEDT, June 15 (Wednesday)
Wellington, NZ – 4:30 NZST, June 15 (Wednesday)

Well, this was about the launch event. But if you have any questions about purchasing the OnePlus 3 handset during the launch event, there’s a very detailed post on the OnePlus forums which you can check out from here.

Here are the timings when the phone goes on sale.

Open sales will start at:
June 14 15:00 EDT New York time
June 14 12:00 PDT San Francisco time
June 14 20:00 BST London Time
June 15 03:00 HKT Hongkong Time
June 15 12:30 IST New Delhi Time

$100 OFF Huawei P9 On OPPOMART This Week

By

Joel Joseph

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Jun 13, 2016

If you have been putting off the purchase of a brand new Huawei P9 flagship, now might be a good time to take a look at this device again. Let’s get real, the phone’s quite expensive and with resellers charging an additional premium over its original price, you end up having to pay a lot more for the device. Initially, the Huawei P9 was being sold by retailers for around $600 and more, which was a lot to pay, however, now, OPPOMART has reduced the price tag of the P9 by $100. So, you can get the 3GB RAM + 32GB ROM version of the device for just $499. The $100 OFF promotion most likely ends this weekend, so anyone who wishes to purchase this device at this price, make sure you do it before the promotion ends.

So, what do you get for $500? You get 12MP dual cameras equipped Huawei P9 in three different color options namely grey, silver and gold. As many of you already know, these dual cameras are co-engineered and certified by Leica and the reviews of the phone’s camera have been quite positive so far. So, the camera alone could be one of the major reasons for getting this model. Up front, the phone features an 8MP shooter.

Apart from the impressive setup at the back, the Huawei P9 comes with a 5.2-inch 1080p display with Huawei’s own flagship Kirin 955 octa-core processor inside clocked at 2.5GHz. There are 3GB + 32GB and 4GB + 64GB options, but for the latter version, you will have to shell out $100 more. The phone is pretty thin as well, measuring just about 7mm in thickness. Inside this body, the company has provided a 3000mAh battery which should be good enough for a day.

You can check out more details about the Huawei P9 listing on OPPOMART from down below.

Important Elephone P9000 Edge Details Revealed: CPU, RAM, Camera & Pricing

By

Joel Joseph

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Jun 13, 2016

It seems like a long time since we first heard about the Elephone P9000 Edge smartphone. We have been waiting for this particular device for the past few months, and up till now, we only have been hearing tid bits about the device. A few days back, we came up with some of the specs of the Eleephone P9000 Edge model and now, we have a few more pictures as well as details about the device.

The new bezel-less model from Elephone is confirmed to come with the Helio X25 chipset, which is the overclocked version of the deca-core Helio X20. From benchmarks, we have seen that this chip is quite powerful for an everyday flagship. Up front, the phone will feature a bezel-less 5.7-inch JDI display with 2K resolution. The company is also using an all metal design on the device, so metal lovers will definitely be happy to hear this.

Apart from this, the Elephone P9000 Edge will come with speakers with ACC tech, which produces a similar effect as the iPhone 6S and the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge. Further, the company seems to have given due importance to the camera at the back. The phone is said to come with dual cameras, with variable apertures and quick focus. The definition of photos will be reportedly improved by around 30%. Also, users will be able to choose a focal point after the image has been taken. There will be dual tone flash as well. Finally, the phone will come with a fingerprint enabled home button up front.

As for the versions, the P9000 Edge is supposed to come in at least two variants, one with 4GB RAM and 32GB storage and another with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage. Pricing is said to start at $250 for one of the versions, which should most likely be for the 4GB RAM version.

So, what do you think about these specs? Despite its late entry, do you think the P9000 Edge is a phone that can get your attention?

OnePlus 3 Real Images Leaked Just Before Launch

By

Joel Joseph

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Jun 13, 2016

OnePlus is all set to announce the new OnePlus 3 flagship tomorrow internationally and in China on June 15. The phone is one of the most anticipated flagships of 2016, expected to take on rivals such as Xiaomi Mi5, ZUK Z2 Pro and Le Max 2. Now, two new images of the OnePlus 3 have just been spotted in the wild, giving us a final look at the new flagship before its launch tomorrow.

These images conform to the images that we saw earlier. So, the phone has the Meizu like oval home button and 2.5D glass front. As for the back, you get an HTC like design with a square camera sensor. The phone comes in an all metal built, just like predicted earlier. In fact these images doesn’t add much information, as we already knew these details from the previous leaks. But it does give us a good look at the phone in real life.

The OnePlus 3 will come with the Snapdragon 820 chipset under the hood with 4GB / 6GB RAM options and 32GB /64GB ROM options. The combination of the RAM and ROM variants should take the total number of variants of the device at least up to 4. As for the display, the phone is said to feature a 5.5-inch 1080p panel. At the back, the OnePlus 3 will reportedly come with a 16MP sensor, while up front, there should be an 8MP camera. The battery should also be decent, of 3000mAh, but according to previous rumors, it should feature VOOC fast charging technology from OPPO.

Since most of the details are already known to us, all we have to do is wait for the company’s announcement tomorrow to make the phone official. Stay tuned to gizmochina for more details.

Meizu Announces New Router for 199 Yuan

By

Habeeb Onawole

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Jun 13, 2016

In addition to the M3S launched today, Meizu also anounced a new router. The router is an upgrade to last year’s hockey puck-design Meizu Mini and Mini Pro Compact Wireless Routers. The new router is said to feature 4 antennas (2 built-in and 2 external), support for 802.11ac Dual Band Gigabit Wi- Fi, and has a coverage area of 200 square meters.

The Meizu router is priced at 199 Yuan ($30) but buyers who purchase it alongside the M3S will get a 40 Yuan discount. It will be available for purchase on JD Mall and Meizu’s official website on the 20th of June.

Will Meizu’s new router be able to compete with Xiaomi’s Mini Mi Router as the latter sells for less?

Meitu M6 Announced In China With Massive 21MP Cameras On Front As Well Back

By

Joel Joseph

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Jun 13, 2016

Meitu is not a very famous Chinese manufacturer, however, the company does have a few interesting smartphones under its belt like the Meitu V4 which it announced back in 2015. Now, the company is back with two new devices, namely the Meitu V4S and Meitu M6. Both these smartphones give high importance to selfies, as they come with 21MP cameras on the front as well as the back. This means you will be able to take spotless selfies better than most other smartphones in the market.

Design wise, the Meitu M6 comes with a unique design. Unlike the traditional rectangular form used by most smartphones, the M6 comes with a hexagonal design, which sets it apart from other offerings in the market. Since the camera is the most important highlight of the device, let’s talk about them first.

Both the Meitu M6 and V4S comes with a 21MP Sony IMX230 cameras at the back as well as the front. Further, to improve the images captured from the camera, the company has used Fujitsu Milbeaut professional image processing chip, with M-Face recognition and M-Color advanced color technology. These should ensure that the images turn out well. The phone also comes with an independent Hi-Fi audio chip inside.

As for the other specs which are common on both the devices, they include Helio P10 octa-core chip clocked at 2GHz, 3GB of RAM and a 5-inch 1080p display. The M6 comes with 64GB internal storage while the V4S comes with 128GB as standard. Also, the battery inside the Meitu M6 is slightly bigger, featuring 2940mAh capacity, while the Meitu V4S comes with 2650mAh capacity.

Coming to the pricing, the Meitu M6 starts at 2399 Yuan ($364) for the standard edition and goes up to 2599 Yuan ($394) for the HelloKitty Special Edition. As for the Meitu V4S, the standard model starts at 3499 Yuan ($531) and Elegant edition goes up to 4399 Yuan ($667).

Gionee S6 Pro Announced With Helio P10 & 4GB RAM, Starts At $300

By

Joel Joseph

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Jun 13, 2016

Gionee may not be as famous as other Chinese smartphone makers in the market like Xiaomi or Huawei, but the company does have its share of fan following in China and India. After teasing the new Gionee S6 Pro smartphone before, the company released the device earlier today in China.

The Gionee S6 Pro comes in an all aluminum and magnesium metal body that makes the phone look solid and premium. In fact, the company claims that 97% of the body is made out of metal. The device comes with a home button based fingerprint sensor, located just below the display. The fingerprint sensor can unlock the device in just 0.1 seconds. Also, when you swipe the home button, you get a shortcut bar for quickly launching apps. So, multi-tasking should be a breeze on the device. The phone is quite thin as well measuring, 153x 75.26 x 7.6mm. It is a bit more weighted than others, weighing 170 grams.

As for the specs, the Gionee S6 Pro comes with a 5.5-inch IPS LCD display with 1080p resolution and 2.5D glass on top. Under the hood, the phone features the Helio P10 (MT6755m) octa-core chip clocked at 1.8GHz with Mali-T860MP2 GPU. There will be 4GB of RAM on board and 64GB of internal storage which is further expanded up to 128GB via MicroSD. At the back, the S6 Pro comes with a 13MP rear camera with LED flash and PDAF. Up front, the phone features an 8MP shooter. Inside, you get a 3130mAh battery as well. It comes with usual connectivity features such as 4G LTE, dual SIM card slots (hybrid), VoLTE, Wi-Fi ac, Bluetooth 4.1 and USB Type-C.

Coming to the pricing, the Gionee S6 Pro will start at 1999 Yuan ($305) in China and will go on sale in Rose Gold, Gold and Silver color options.

Rumor Mill: Meizu MX6 To Launch on the 20th of June

By

Habeeb Onawole

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Jun 13, 2016

Meizu seems to be on a sort of launch spree. Following the launch of the Meizu M3S today, we have news about another launch scheduled for next week. This new device is said to be the Meizu MX6.

The info coming from a China-based tipster who goes by the name @KJuma states that the launch of the Meizu MX6 will be on the 20th of June, which is exactly a week from today.

The MX6 is expected to have a pressure sensitive FHD display (no size yet), although there’s no mention if it’ll be AMOLED like last year’s MX5 and will sport Mediatek’s Helio X20 or X25 processor.

The MX6 will purportedly have two RAM/ROM variants, viz.: 3GB RAM/32GB ROM and 4GB RAM/64GB ROM with pricing starting at 1799 Yuan ($273). There’s going to be a 20.7MP camera on the rear and an 8MP up front. Battery size is unknown but we should expect it to feature Meizu’s fast charge branded as mCharge present on its predecessor.
In addition to this leak, we also learnt that Meizu might still have one more launch scheduled for June 30, and the device is said to be the Meizu Pro 6 Plus. Let’s wait and watch if there are two more launches from the company this month.
Shouldn’t Meizu have just picked one launch date for all their devices coming out this month?

Meizu M3S With A Beautiful Metal Body & Fingerprint ID Announced For $106

By

Joel Joseph

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Jun 13, 2016

The competition in the low-end market is really getting intense with Chinese smartphone companies releasing handsets that offer much more value than the price you pay. Today, after much waiting, Meizu released a brand new device, the Meizu M3S. This particular device will be a slight upgrade as compared to the Meizu M3 that was released back in April, coming with a metal body and adding fingerprint ID as well as a couple more features in the specs department.

First of all, Meizu has upgraded the body on the Meizu M3S to metal, which makes the device look much more premium than the polycarbonate Meizu M3. The overall dimensions will remain the same as before, i.e. 141.9 x 69.9 x 8.3mm but the owing to the metal body, the weight is slightly increased to 138 grams. In comparison, the Meizu M3 weighed 132 grams, so not a big increase in this department.

Given that the phone now comes in a metal built, Meizu has also added the popular rose gold color option along with the grey, silver, and gold options. For a smartphone that costs just 699 Yuan or $106, these are some pretty great options.

Apart from upgrading the body to metal, Meizu has now incorporated a home button enabled fingerprint sensor on the Meizu M3S. The phone is using the company’s mTouch 2.1, which can be used to unlock the device with fingerprint, make payments, encrypt apps and comes with other mBack features. Another upgrade is seen in the battery department, increasing the capacity from 2870mAh to 3020mAh on the new M3S model.

Rest of the specs are the same as the Meizu M3. So, the phone comes with a 5-inch 720p display with 2.5D curved glass and Mediatek’s MT6750 octa-core processor clocked at 1.5GHz inside. There will be 2GB RAM + 16GB ROM and 3GB + 32GB ROM options which are eMMC 5.0 storages along with MicroSD expansion. Coming to the camera, the phone features a 13MP f/2.2 aperture lens at the back with color temperature flash and PDAF. Up front, you get a 5MP shooter with 4P lens, f/2.0 aperture, and FotoNation 2.0 Intelligent beautify software.

The rest of the specs are standard such as dual SIM dual standby, dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 etc. As for software, the phone runs on Flyme based on Android 5.1.

The Meizu M3S starts at 699 Yuan ($106) for the 2GB RAM + 16GB ROM version and goes up to 899 Yuan ($136) for the 3GB RAM + 32GB storage version.

Registrations for the first sale are already underway in China and the phone will go on sale via major sellers in China on June 18.

8 Out Of Top 12 Smartphone Makers For Q1 2016 Were Chinese

By

Joel Joseph

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Jun 13, 2016

We know that Chinese companies are dominating the smartphone market recently, both in China as well as in international markets such as India. While Samsung and Apple still have the lead when it comes to the total number of smartphones shipped in the Q1 2016 and are likely to keep the lead for this year, Chinese companies like Huawei have really stepped up their game in the past couple of years to become the third largest smartphone company.

ic insights smartphone ranking q1 2016

Now, a report from the industry tracker, IC Insights throws some more light on the performance of the top 12 smartphone makers worldwide. Out of the top 12, a total of 8 were Chinese, which clearly shows that these companies are doing quite well in the smartphone industry. In fact, it would have been 9 Chinese phone makers in the list, only if Gionee sold a bit more phones. The report states that Gionee just missed the list as it shipped 4.8 million smartphones in Q1 2016 as compared to the Indian smartphone maker Micromax who shipped 5 million units in the same time period.

The report also gives us insight on the possible total shipments of the company by the end of 2016. Interestingly, 6 out of the 12 smartphone makers are going to report a growth of 6% or less (year on year). Then there’s Lenovo whose shipment is expected to fall significantly from 74 million in 2015 to 55 million in 2016, possibly registering a growth of -26%!. The rest of the five companies, which includes four Chinese and one Indian company are expected to grow at a rate of 29% or more. OPPO and Vivo are especially going to be big gainers this year, with an expected growth rate of 54% and 48% respectively. India’s Micromax is expected to grow at 74% this year, but still the total shipments would amount to around 25 million. Compared to 2015’s list, Sony, Microsoft and Coolpad are out, since they sold only 3.4 million, 2.3 million and 4 million smartphones respectively in the Q1 2016.

As for the total smartphone shipments, it is expected to grow from 1430 million to 1500 million in 2016, at 5% growth rate.

We personally expect another Chinese company to make it to the list in the coming years, namely LeEco who is slowly gaining market share in large markets such as China as well as India.

(Source)

Moto Z & Moto Z Force China Pricing Leaked

By

Joel Joseph

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Jun 12, 2016

Motorola recently announced the two major flagship smartphones in the rebranded “Moto Z” lineup, namely, the Moto Z and the Moto Z Force. Both the phones are powerful handsets but the real highlight of these devices is the modular design which allows you to add a number of functional modules at the back of the phone, like a projector module, camera module, and even a battery module. Unfortunately, at the time of the announcement of both these devices, Motorola failed to give out specific prices for its products. However, thanks to Chinese media, we might now have some clue about both the device’s pricing, at least in China.

According to reports, Lenovo’s Mobile Business Group President, Chen Xudong is said to have said that Moto Z will enter the Chinese market in September this year at a price of less than 3000 Yuan ($455). We also have specific price figures for both the devices. The Moto Z is said to start at 2998 Yuan ($455) while the Moto Z Force, with much better specs is said to retail at 5299 Yuan ($804). Remember that these pricings are not official yet, so we will have to wait for an announcement from the company to confirm it.

Coming to the specs, the Moto Z comes with Snapdragon 820 quad-core processor with 4GB RAM and 32GB / 64GB of internal storage options. This can be further expanded via MicroSD. The phone features a 5.5-inch AMOLED display with 2K resolution. At the back, the phone comes with a 13MP shooter with f/1.8 aperture, OIS, dual tone flash and Laser Focus. Up front, there’s a 5MP shooter with selfie flash. The phone is super thin measuring just 5.2mm in thickness. Inside this thin body, you get a 2600mAh battery with Motorola’s TurboPower fast charging tech.

Coming to the Moto Z Force, it comes with SD820 and same RAM + storage options as the Moto Z. The screen is also 5.5-inch with 2K but it features Motorola’s ShatterShield technology. The camera at the back is upgraded to 21MP with OIS and Laser Focus. Inside, you get a 3500mAh battery with TurboPower fast charge that charges up to 50% in 15 minutes.

Both the phones ditch the standard 3.5mm headphone jack. So, you need to use USB Type-C connected headphones. Also, they have a special 16 pin connector at the back which is used to add MotoMods to the devices.

Honor 5A Officially Announced With Snapdragon 617, Start At Just $106

By

Joel Joseph

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Jun 12, 2016

While Snapdragon 617 octa-core chip initially powered mid-range smartphones in the market, like the HTC One A9 (well, it even powers the Moto G4 Plus which costs about $224), this particular chip is now being found inside entry level handsets. Huawei’s Honor division just released a new smartphone in the market, the Honor 5A and guess what, the full network version of this handset will be powered by the octa-core Snapdragon 617 chipset clocked at 1.5GHz. But there will be other versions as well, like China Mobile and dual netcom variants which use the octa-core Huawei’s Kirin 620 chipset clocked at 1.2GHz.

Like its previous generation models, the Honor 5A is targeted at the young generation, coming in a plastic body and metal frame, and in different colors. The phone measures 154.3 x 77.1 x 8.45 and weighs 168 grams. As for the display, the device comes with a 5.5-inch screen with 720p resolution. The contrast ratio is 1000:1, with 178-degree wide viewing angles and pixel level adjustment for better screen viewability under sunlight. Further, the screen also comes with Aluminum-Silicon tempered glass, which provides protection to the display under it.

Although the processors are different for the variants, rest of the specs remain the same. So, the Honor 5A comes with 2GB of RAM on board, along with 16GB of expandable storage. At the back, the phone features a 13MP camera with 5P lens, 28mm wide angle shooting and 7cm macro. While up front, you get an 8MP front facing shooter with 4P lens, f/2.0 aperture, and blue glass filters to reduce flare. The battery capacity is also pretty decent, of 3100mAh capacity with power saving 3.0 feature that should help provide up to a day’s battery life.

The phone boasts of hardware level security which protects the device from illegal access, filters suspicious URLs and has a special anti-theft feature as well. As for the pricing, the Honor 5A is priced aggressively. The China Mobile variant starts at just 699 Yuan ($106), while the full network variant and the dual netcom variant retails for 799 Yuan ($121).

You can currently register for the first sale of the Honor 5A on June 17 at JD.com and Huawei’s own online store in China.

No.1 D6 Smartwatch Gets 7% off on Banggood: Coupon

By

Habeeb Onawole

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Jun 12, 2016

No.1 D6

The No.1 D6 Smartwatch is basically a phone crammed into a 1.63-inch screen with leather straps.

The D6 runs Android 5.1 Lollipop with a planned upgrade to Marshmallow, has a 1.63″ screen (320 x 320) covered with sapphire glass, and features 1GB of RAM and 8GB of ROM. There’s an MTK 6580 CPU under the hood and a 450mAh battery.

If you fancy a smartwatch that comes in only leather strap configuration, features a SIM slot (nano) with support for 2G and 3G networks, and sports the usual sensors found on smartwatches (heart rate, pedometer, and barometer) you might want to head to Banggood.com and apply this coupon: cupo7bg which gives you 7% off the original price.

Yeah, this isn’t as good as the deal it had last month which brought down the price by half but was limited to only 110 pieces. But a reduction is a reduction.

The No. 1 D6 does look good with its CNC machined steel frame and clasp which comes in gold, black, and silver. It’s important to mention that we don’t know how long the deal will be available for but the page says there’s a pre-order running from 8th of June – 15th of June.

Buy No.1 D6 Watch At 7% OFF (use coupon)

Xiaomi Mi Max Review – A Lot of Xiaomi!

By

Linus

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Jun 12, 2016

Xiaomi has produced quite a few devices but the Mi Max is the largest phone the company has ever made. Learn more in our full review.

Thanks to Oppomart for sending Xiaomi Mi Max for a review.

Buy Xiaomi Mi Max

Xiaomi Mi Max Review: VIDEO

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktkAj1yJbno[/embedyt] [embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihJ2KtdHj_s[/embedyt]

Xiaomi Mi Max Review: UNBOXING

The phone comes with all the usual stuff that includes some paperwork, USB cable, a charging brick and SIM ejector pin.

Xiaomi Mi Max Review: SPECS

Display	6.44″ 1080 x 1920 pixels (~342 ppi pixel density) (Full-HD)
Processor and GPU	Qualcomm MSM8956 Snapdragon 650,Quad-core 1.4 GHz Cortex-A53 & Dual-core 1.8 GHz Cortex-A72, Adreno 510 GPU
RAM	3GB
Camera	5MP Front/16MP Back
Connectivity	Bluetooth, 3G, 4G, GPS, WIFI, GSM,EDGE, GPRS, UMTS, HSPA, HSPA+, dual-SIM.
Battery	4.850 mAh (non-removable)
Dimensions	173.1 x 88.3 x 7.5 mm / 203g
OS	MIUI 7.3 (Android 6.0)
Storage	32GB (expandable via microSD card slot)

Xiaomi Mi Max Review: DESIGN and DISPLAY

IMG_1551JPG — Galaxy S7 edge, LeEco Le Max 2, Xiaomi Mi Max

The Xiaomi Mi Max is the largest phone I have ever reviewed and it is large…. I mean, really large.

We have an enormous 6.44” Gorilla Glass 4-covered 1080p display, which is actually sharp and it is pretty similar panel to the one seen on the Redmi Note 3. The only downside is that the panel could have slightly better sunlight legibility.

The capacitive buttons are backlit but the back capacitive button is not evenly backlit as the rest of the buttons.

On the top, we have a 5MP selfie shooter and customizable LED notification light.

As for design in general, we see quite a typical Xiaomi we’ve seen on other devices. We have a metal unibody design (except for the top and bottom parts) and it adds a bit of a premium look and feel.

A 16MP camera is here for picture taking and right below it, there is a fingerprint sensor. Which is fast and accurate and it works straight from the standby mode.

The buttons are on the right, they are nice and tactile.

We have a hybrid SIM card tray, which can take either 2 SIMs or 1 SIM and the microSD card.

The loudspeaker is loud and it has a pretty good sound quality.

Xiaomi decided to stick with the regular micro USB port for charging and we have some extras the IR blaster.

Overall, the Mi Max is a huge phone and it is impossible to manage it with one hand due to its large display. On the other hand, it is well-crafted and uses some premium materials in its construction.

Xiaomi Mi Max Review: BENCHMARKS

Xiaomi Mi Max Review: HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE

My review unit sports a hexa-core Snapdragon 650 chip with the max. clock speeds of 1.8GHz, 3GB of RAM and 32GB of expandable storage via the microSD card slot.

The gaming performance is great. I played a few games on the highest graphics and there were just a few minor skipped frames that are not even worth complaining about.

Also, the phone does not have any overheating issues even after 30 mins of playing.

Xiaomi Mi Max Review: USER INTERFACE

As for user interface, the phone runs on MIUI 7.3, which is built on top of Android 6.0.

The UI is fast and responsive and I didn’t have a single lag. If you are familiar with the MIUI, you will feel right at home as nothing has really changed.

There is no app tray but we have quite a few customization options and tweaks to play with that help make the phone look your own. Also, you can highly customise the LED light, assign different tasks to capacitive buttons, do various tweaks and personalise the phone in a lot of different ways.

Xiaomi Mi Max Review: CAMERA

The 16MP camera produces some great looking daylight images with a good amount of resolved detail, natural looking colors and sharpness.

The low-light shots have less detail and more noise but they still look pretty good for the class.

The phone can shoot videos up to 4k resolution and the footage looks pretty good but the continuous auto-focus is jumping like crazy, so I would suggest you to turn it off in the camera settings menu. See a video review for a video sample.

A 5MP camera is not bad and it can take some good looking selfies.

Download full resolution camera samples Part 1

Download full resolution camera samples Part 2

Xiaomi Mi Max Review: CONNECTIVITY

As usual to all Xiaomi phones, I didn’t have any connectivity issues and the GPS is fast and accurate.

Xiaomi Mi Max Review: BATTERY LIFE

In order to power up a huge display, we have a large 4850 mAh battery and it performs great.

You can be rest assured that you will get a day or a couple of days out of this phone depending on the usage.

I could constantly get over 6.5 hours of screen-on time on a mixed use. Again, the battery life is always subjective.

Xiaomi Mi Max Review: CONCLUSIONS

So, there you have it, the Xiaomi Mi Max, one of the largest phones you can buy today.

We have to admit that this phone is not for everyone due to its size but I believe that this is a niche product that will find its users.

The Mi Max has a nice and sharp display, processing power that can handle most of the 3D games, fast and feature-rich user interface, great battery life and a good camera.

However, the continuous auto-focus feature in video recording is not yet optimized and we still don’t have the USB C port for charging. Also, the back capacitive button is not evenly backlit as the rest of the buttons.

All in all, the Xiaomi Mi Max is a very solid extra large smartphone. It delivers in a lot of ways and the phone does not have any major shortcomings. At the price of under $300, it is a great device that may even serve as both – a phone and a tablet.

Buy Xiaomi Mi Max

Zauba Listing of OnePlus 3 Confirms $305 Starting Price

By

Habeeb Onawole

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Jun 12, 2016

The OnePlus 3 news never ends. Information from Zauba, a website that lists Indian import and export data shows that 7200 units of the OnePlus 3 (A3003, Graphite) 64GB edition was imported for a total sum of $2.46 million after conversion from INR. We did the math and arrived at a price of $341.66 per unit.

Since the OnePlus 3 is expected to have multiple ROM versions (32GB, 64GB, 128GB), we deduced that the version above is the 4GB/64GB version. Speculations in recent weeks states that the OnePlus will have a starting price of 1999 Yuan which is approximately $305. And since the version imported has a price tag of $341, it kind of hints that the base model which will sport 4GB RAM and 32GB of ROM will cost $305.

There are some other items on the import list as well, such as cases VR kits, and even the OnePlus X. Though some of the accessories are listed as not for sale, we still decided to do the math for our wonderful readers so that you have a rough estimate of what you’ll be spending if you eventually pick up the OnePlus 3.
OnePlus Loop VR = $6
Black Apricot Case = $3
Rosewood Case = $3

After converting for the OnePlus X (Black Onyx, 3GB/16GB) we arrived at $190. This also confirms the price reduction announced a few weeks back for the OnePlus 2 and OnePlus X phones.

The OnePlus 3 is going to launch on June 14th via a VR event which will also let users purchase units for the first time over VR.

*all prices were approximated after conversion

OnePlus 3 Design:

OnePlus 3 Specs:

OnePlus 3 Pricing:

OnePlus 3 Availability:

Xiaomi Mi Max Review: VIDEO

Xiaomi Mi Max Review: UNBOXING

Xiaomi Mi Max Review: SPECS

Display

6.44″ 1080 x 1920 pixels (~342 ppi pixel density) (Full-HD)

Processor and GPU

Qualcomm MSM8956 Snapdragon 650,Quad-core 1.4 GHz Cortex-A53 & Dual-core 1.8 GHz Cortex-A72,

Adreno 510 GPU

RAM

3GB

Camera

5MP Front/16MP Back

Connectivity

Bluetooth, 3G, 4G, GPS, WIFI, GSM,EDGE, GPRS, UMTS, HSPA, HSPA+, dual-SIM.

Battery

4.850 mAh (non-removable)

Dimensions

173.1 x 88.3 x 7.5 mm / 203g

OS

MIUI 7.3 (Android 6.0)

Storage

32GB (expandable via microSD card slot)

Xiaomi Mi Max Review: DESIGN and DISPLAY

Xiaomi Mi Max Review: BENCHMARKS

Xiaomi Mi Max Review: HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE

Xiaomi Mi Max Review: USER INTERFACE

Xiaomi Mi Max Review: CAMERA

Xiaomi Mi Max Review: CONNECTIVITY

Xiaomi Mi Max Review: BATTERY LIFE

Xiaomi Mi Max Review: CONCLUSIONS