We have just 4 days to the launch of the OnePlus 3 and CEO Pete Lau aka Liu Zuohu has decided to whet our appetite by posting a night shot of the OnePlus 3. We’ve been getting a steady stream of camera samples of the OnePlus 3 and this is probably not going to be the last.
The picture is an outdoor one of a fireworks show and it does look impressive. The color reproduction is good, noise reduction is great, and we can see the blacks are well reproduced.
The OnePlus 3 is going to sport a 5.5″ FHD screen; 4GB or 6GB of RAM and possibly multiple ROM configurations (32GB, 64GB, and 128GB); a Snapdragon 820 processor; 16MP rear camera capable of shooting in 4k and 8MP for selfies; NFC, fingerprint scanner; and a 3000mAh battery. Pricing is said to start at 1999 Yuan.
OnePlus 3 official release date is approaching and I was one of the lucky ones that managed to get the OnePlus Loop VR headset for free. Well, I just needed to pay the shipping fee of 7 EUR, to be precise. I spent some time with it and here is my full review.
Inside in the box you are getting the headset itself, some paperwork, a cleaning cloth and a head strap.
OnePlus VRHeadset Review: DESIGN and FEATURES
The very first thing that is going to impress you is the build quality. I’m not sure what will be the retails price of it but I presume it will be around $30.
The headset uses high-quality plastic, rubber, foam and other materials and the device does not look cheap at all.
The one and only thing that you can control is the distance between your eyes. I was disappointed that you cannot control the distance between the phone and your eyes. Also, you have to know that this is a passive headset, meaning that there are no control buttons.
I am not going to talk too much what you can do with any basic VR headset but you can check out the video of the Blitzwolf VR headset review for that.
In order to start using the VR headset, you have to slide your phone in and for this review I used the Samsung Galaxy S7 edge. There is some foam and rubber inside the sliding part and it kept my phone secure. Well, this review would have been completely different otherwise.
When it comes to any VR headset, one of the key aspects is comfort. Unfortunately, the OnePlus headset fails in this department.
I may sound a little subjective, or my nose has a weird shape, or my head has a weird shape… I don’t know… but the main issue is that there is no cushion on the nose part and it is really uncomfortable. You can partly solve this issue by sliding the headset up to your forehead but it may slide back.
OnePlus VRHeadset Review: CONCLUSIONS
I can’t complain much about the OnePlus VR headset since I got it for free. In fact, I love a great build quality and a choice of materials. However, you cannot adjust the distance between the phone and your eyes.
Also, I didn’t find the headset to be comfortable to wear. I’m not sure for how much OnePlus is going to sell it but I have reviewed some other cheap options that may not have that great build quality of the OnePlus VR headset, but they are more comfortable to wear.
It has become a habit for us to giveaway popular smartphones to our readers. Just recently the Vernee Thor giveaway ended and now, we are back with another super popular device that I am sure many would like to win — the new Le 2 smartphone. This particular device gets a lot of ticks on a regular smartphone buyer’s check list and hence, it’s no surprise that the phone has received a lot of well-deserved attention.
Hence,
To recap, the Le 2 comes with a beautiful 5.5-inch 1080p display with the deca-core Helio X20 chipset inside. There will be 3GB of RAM on board and 32GB of internal storage. At the back, the phone comes with a 16MP rear camera, while up front, you get an 8MP shooter. Finally, you have a decent 3000mAh battery on board, which should give you at least a day’s usage.
Overall, the Le 2 is a pretty good smartphone in its segment. I am sure most of our readers would love to win this device. Since the unit for giveaway is provided by LeTVMart, we would like to thank them for making this possible. Do check out their website as they sell all LeEco smartphones and provides free express international shipping.
For the past few weeks, we have been consistently bombarded with leaks and rumors about Moto Z flagship. Now, the rebranded Moto Z family is official and it’s everything we expected it to be. There will be two models in the series, namely the Moto Z and the Moto Z Force. There are two major highlights of these devices. First of all, they don’t come with a standard 3.5mm headphone jack. So, you have to use USB Type-C port for listening to music. Secondly, they come with a special 16 pin connector at the back for “MotoMods”. We’ll talk about them in detail soon, but before that let’s look at the specs of the two devices.
The company is calling the Moto Z, the thinnest flagship in the market right now. The phone features an all-metal body that measures just 5.19mm in thickness, which is really thin. But it doesn’t look like this thickness includes the protruding camera of the device. The company has also limited the weight of the device to just 136 grams. The stainless steel + aluminum body also gets nano waterproof coating so that the phone is protected from splashes.
As for the specs, the Moto Z comes with a 5.5-inch 2K display with the mighty Snapdragon 820 quad-core chipset under the hood. There will be 4GB of RAM inside with 32GB / 64GB storage options and MicroSD expansion up to 2TB! At the back, the Moto Z comes with a 13MP sensor with f/1.8 aperture, OIS and Laser Focus. There’s dual tone flash as well. Up front, you get a 5MP wide angle sensor with its own flash. Like the Moto G4 Plus, the phone comes with a front facing fingerprint sensor. Inside, you have a 2600mAh battery with Turbo Charge technology that gives you about 8 hours of battery life with 15 minutes of charging.
Next up, is the Moto Z Force. Looks wise, they both have the same design. But specs are upgraded than the Moto Z. The phone also features a slightly thicker 7mm metal body and weighs 163 grams. The screen up front remains the same as the Moto Z, i.e. 5.5-inch 2k resolution panel, but Motorola has added Moto Shattershield to ensure greater protection to the display.
As for the specs, the basic configuration remains the same. But the camera has been upgraded to 21MP and the battery capacity is also increased to 3500mAh which the company claims is good enough for 40 hours of battery life.
Now, coming to the main highlight of the conference, the Moto Z family gets the MotoMods accessories. These accessories can connect to the phone using the 16 pin connector at the back. These nifty add ons can be used to add new functionality to the device. For example, there are different MotoMods available like JBL Soundboost Music module, projector module, battery module and other ones in wood and leather finish. Unlike the LG G5, these are magnetic attachments which stick to the back. So, no need to take out the battery as in the case of the G5.
The Moto Z family will debut in US this summer. The company has also revealed that the devices will make it to UK, Europe and internationally in September. Unfortuantely, we have no information on the pricing of these handsets yet.
Xioami MiBand 2 is the successor to the widely accepted first generation MiBand and Mi Band 1S, and it seems Xiaomi is replicating that success with their new fitness tracker as there is a scarcity that has caused retailers to list it for insanely high prices.
The new fitness tracker which has an OLED screen is supposed to sell for 149 Yuan ($22), but the unavailability of retailers to restock has led them listing it for up to 229 Yuan ($35). Taobao and other e-commerce sites have complained about the scarcity which has affected delivery time. Even JD.com, which has a strong partnership with Xiaomi started selling the Mi Band 2 at 169 Yuan (around $26), higher than the official price, which surprised many users in China.
Remember how the company had to delay the release of the device due to production issues? It looks like still it’s not being mass-produced to meet the high demand. Hopefully, things will be better soon.
The Xiaomi MiBand 2 has an IP67 water and dust resistance certification, an optical heart rate sensor, and a 70mAh battery.
Selfie sticks may not be the newest invention in the tech world but we came across the Blitzwolf selfie stick that sports a great build quality, has a lot of features and it is affordable. Learn more in our full review.
BlitzWolf Ultimate 4 Button Bluetooth Selfie Stick Review: UNBOXING
A selfie stick comes with a carbine, USB cable for charging and some instruction manuals.
BlitzWolf Ultimate 4 Button Bluetooth Selfie Stick Review: DESIGN and FEATURES
When it comes to the design, the selfie stick is well made. It uses aluminum and quality plastic in the construction.
One of the key features is that the selfie stick connects to your phone via Bluetooth and it can control your phone’s camera to take pictures. The buttons allow you to take a picture, switch cameras on the phone, zoom in or zoom out.
On the side we have a charging port as well as power on/off switch.
A rubber handle makes the stick very comfortable to hold. On the bottom, we have a mount screw.
I’ve tested this selfie stick with the Samsung Galaxy S7 edge and it works fine for selfie camera but other features do not work.
Thus, you have to download a Blitzwolf Shutter app to make all the buttons on a selfie stick work. The interface of the app is very simple. Also, all the buttons on a selfie stick work absolutely fine using the app. The only shortcoming is that the app does not allow to use the 4k video recording feature of the back camera.
BlitzWolf Ultimate 4 Button Bluetooth Selfie Stick Review: CONCLUSIONS
Selfie sticks are definitely not the newest invention in the tech industry but if you are looking for one, the Blitzwolf product will not disappoint.
It sports a great design, build quality and it has a lot of buttons to control your selfie game. Also, the battery seems to last forever. I could not kill it in a few weeks and it will probably last for days to come.
The phone cradle is of a great quality too. It kept my Galaxy s7 edge in place fine. Well, if it didn’t, this review would be completely different.
All in all, Blitzwolf selfie stick is a great product that does not cost a lot. You can get it for less than $17 and it is a great value for the money if you are in the market of selfie sticks.
Chinese smartphones have come a long way in the past couple of years. This year, we saw at least three new smartphones from China featuring a whopping 6GB of RAM on board along with other powerful specs. And it’s no surprise that these smartphones along with other 4GB RAM phones powered by Snapdragon 820 chip dominate the top 10 smartphone list for the month of May released by AnTuTu.
On top lies the Vivo XPlay Lite, which was the first 6GB RAM smartphone in the market. The phone managed to top the list with a score of 138,706 points. Next up lies the Le Max 2 with 138K points and then the ZUK Z2 Pro scoring 136,853 points on average. Like mentioned above, these three phones feature 6GB of RAM on board with the mighty Snapdragon 820 chip. The next two phones, namely the Xiaomi Mi5 and the Galaxy S7 Edge also score well, which isn’t surprising given that they have the same Snapdragon 820 chip inside but with 4GB of RAM. We don’t see much difference in the performance of 6GB and 4GB RAM phones here, mainly because, AnTuTu gives more importance to the CPU and GPU, rather than RAM.
Then, there are the two iPhone models, the iPhone 6S and iPhone SE, both featuring Apple’s top-end A9 chips. Even they manage to score above 130K on the benchmark test, showing the power capability of the chip inside. The last three in the list are LG G5 with Snapdragon 820, Meizu Pro 6 with Helio X25 chip (overclocked Helio X20) and finally, Honor V8 with Kirin 955m. Given that Huawei’s device has made it to the list, it shows that Kirin chipsets have finally improved their performance in comparison to its competition.
OnePlus has a tradition of hyping its flagship device before launch. This year is no exception, with the company promoting the upcoming OnePlus 3 in full spirit. We know that the OnePlus 3 will have several pop-up events in major cities around the world wherein you can purchase the device. We also know that the phone went for sale in limited quantities in China (shipping on June 15) for $450. Well, hardly anyone got hold of the unit in China since it was reportedly sold out in a second.
We also have seen a few camera samples taken by the company CEO. But now, OnePlus’s official twitter account has shared some wonderful images taken from the OnePlus 3. From the images, it looks like the phone’s been travelling, which is good, because we get to see some great shots from the device. Unfortunately, they aren’t full size, so we can’t judge the real quality until we get the original samples. However, from what we can see, the pictures have very good amount of detail and the color reproduction is good as well. We also saw an image of night time firework, which reveals good amount of light and hardly any noise. Check out the four samples from down below.
The phone is expected to come with a 16MP sensor at the back and an 8MP shooter up front. Not much details about the device’s camera are available yet, but the official announcement on June 14 should confirm additional details about the sensor inside.
Last year, the Lenovo backed ZUK entered the market with its brand new ZUK Z1 smartphone. The phone ran the old Snapdragon 801 flagship but it turned out to be quite a successful device, launching in a number of countries internationally, including recently in India. But for a young company, it was necessary to have a great OS, and hence, it partnered up with Cyanogen for using Cyanogen OS on its new device. Given the popularity of Cyanogen, it turned out to be a good decision, since it promised timely updates and new features on the ZUK Z1.
Now, the company has updated the Z series with two new smartphones, the ZUK Z2 and the ZUK Z2 Pro. Both these devices are running the company’s own ZUI 1.9 version out of the box, but that’s for the Chinese version. We haven’t yet heard anything about the international variants of these devices, nor any comments about the OS that will power them. It’s possible that ZUK continues to use Cyanogen OS for their international variants, but the company just launched a ZUI Android website and the site is available in English as well as Chinese. What’s even more interesting is that that the official ZUK forums have threads talking about overseas ROM support. Of course, this doesn’t in any way confirm that ZUK has ditched Cyanogen, but it shows that ZUK is invested in its own OS.
We have seen OnePlus switch to their own OxygenOS (HydrogenOS in China) for its new devices last year and it’s possible that ZUK follows the same route this year. At this moment, nothing is official, and we will have to wait for an official statement from the company to throw some more light on the company’s plans for its international models.
Meanwhile, let’s know if you think it would be a good idea for ZUK to switch to its own OS for international variants as well, instead of Cyanogen.
Despite its entry into the smartphone market only around early 2016, Vernee has managed to get our attention by releasing affordable smartphones with pretty good specs. The Vernee Thor turned out to be quite a decent performer, priced at just $99.99 after discounts. Now, the company is back with its upper mid-range device, the Vernee Apollo Lite. This particular phone is much more powerful than the Thor and looks wise, its all-metal body makes sure that it will turn a few heads.
Now, the Vernee Apollo Lite is up for pre-order via various resellers and OPPOMART has just informed us that the retailer will be selling the phone at $30 OFF the official price tag. This means, now you can pre-order the device for just $200, which is an amazing deal, considering the specs of the device. Just use the Coupon Code: APOL30 while ordering the device.
The phone comes with the Helio X20 deca-core chipset clocked at 2GHz, which is quite powerful for its price range. You further get 4GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage, which is further expandable up to 128GB via MicroSD. Up front, the phone has a 5.5-inch Sharp’s IGZO display with 450 nits of brightness and Gorilla Glass 3 protection. Then there’s a 3180mAh battery with fast charging, USB Type-C port with support for lossless digital music (you get a 3.5mm headphone jack as well) and a fast fingerprint sensor. At the back, the phone features a 16MP Samsung ISOCELL 3P3 sensor with 6P lens and dual tone flash while up front, you get a f/2.0 5MP shooter. Finally, you get the latest Android 6.0 with Vernee OS. If you are looking for reasons to buy the new device, check out this article which almost covers all the features of the Apollo Lite.
Gionee is not a new name to those familiar with android. They have actually got a large following in China and India and are the OEM for American phone company, BLU. The S6 Pro is their upcoming device.
Towards the end of last year, Gionee released the all-metal Gionee S6 which by its specs can be classified as a mid-range device. With the new announcement, Gionee thinks it’s time the phone got an upgrade.
The S6 Pro will be wearing Gionee’s new logo and based on information on TENAA, while it will be getting an FHD AMOLED screen compared to the original S6 which has a 720p screen, it will retain the same 5.5″ screen size. RAM has been bumped up to 4GB and ROM will come in 32GB or 64GB variants. Gionee hasn’t settled on what SoC will be used but we might see the phone sporting a Snapdragon 652 or a Mediatek Helio P10. There is going to be a 13MP camera on the back which is slightly protruding and an 8MP front facing camera for those wonderful selfies.
The phone is fuelled by a 3130mAh battery and will come with Android Marshmallow with Gionee’s Amigo OS overlay. The S6 Pro will have 4G LTE and is expected to feature a USB Type-C port. Gionee has released teasers for the phone which confirms that the S6 Pro will launch on the 13th of June.
From the pictures, we can see that Gionee has ditched the capacitive buttons on the original S6 in favor of a physical home key which will also house a fingerprint scanner. Pricing still remains unknown.
After releasing the popular ZOPO Speed 8 flagship smartphone, the company started teasing a couple of handsets. However, then it looked as if ZOPO was busy with its Speed 8 flagship as we didn’t hear anything new from the company recently. Now, the company has just informed us that ZOPO is all set to release not one, but three new smartphones in the market, within the next 30 days. These phones will range from the budget segment to the mid-range segment, mainly because, the ZOPO Speed 8 is probably going to be the company’s (top-end) flagship for a few more months.
All the three models will be from the company’s youth-oriented Color range, and their names will be as follows: Color C3, Color F2 and Color F5. While ZOPO didn’t really give out specifications of any of these three devices, it said that these phones will have some of the best premium features expected from smartphones in 2016. In case you aren’t clear about these premium features, the following excerpt from the company’s release should give you some idea.
“A trio of low to mid range devices being developed featuring many of the best premium features expected from smartphones in 2016 – capable batteries, fingerprint scanners, HD displays, sophisticated designs with metal finishing, good cameras and extremely competitive pricing, among other standard features”
Well, we can expect to hear more about these three devices in the near future. Meanwhile, the company informs us that the ZOPO Speed 8 is sold out at the moment, and all those customers who ordered the device have already received it or will get it soon. The company also promised future updates for its flagship device.
LeEco had a big event in India today, wherein it launched two of its updated smartphones, namely Le Max 2 and the Le 2 in the market. This will be the second generation LeEco devices in the Indian market, and these two phones will succeed Le Max and Le 1S models which were announced a while back. Like expected, the company won’t be releasing the Le 2 Pro in the region.
LeEco has priced the Le Max 2 and Le 2 aggressively in India. The Le 2 is priced at just Rs. 11,999 which comes to just around $180. This is pretty close to the phone’s price tag in China, which comes to $170. But what’s interesting is that the Le 2 that is sold in India will be powered by the Snapdragon 652 chipset, instead of the Helio X20 that powers the Chinese variant.
Also, like we mentioned in the launch article in April as well as our review of the Le 2 and Le Max 2, both the devices don’t come with a standard 3.5mm headphone jack. Instead, the company has placed its bet on the CDLA lossless music standard that works via the USB Type-C port. You can purchase the USB Type-C headphones at Rs. 1990 which comes to around $30.
Other specs of the device remain the same. So, the Le 2 comes with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of non-expandable storage, 16MP rear camera, and 8MP front shooter. You get a 5.5-inch 1080p display on the front and inside, a 3000mAh battery. With Snapdragon 652 on board, this becomes the cheapest device with this octa-core chip. Definitely makes it a powerful handset in its price category.
Coming to the Le Max 2, the phone comes is priced at Rs. 22,999 ($345) for the 4GB RAM + 32GB version and Rs. 29,999 ($449) for the 6GB RAM + 64GB version. In case you are wondering, these prices, especially for the 6GB RAM version, are a bit higher than the Chinese pricing. In China, the Le Max 2 4GB RAM variant comes for around $324 while the 6GB RAM version retails for $386.
To recap, the Le Max 2 comes with the mighty Snapdragon 820 quad-core chip inside with a 21MP rear camera, 8MP front camera, 5.7-inch QHD display and 3100mAh battery with fast charging. Do check out our reviews of both the devices to see how they perform in real life.
Lenovo owned Motorola is expected to announce the brand new Moto Z smartphone series tomorrow. For some reason, this year’s Moto flagship range has been renamed from Moto X to Moto Z and we can expect a couple of devices to debut tomorrow. While we have been hearing about the phone for the past few weeks, now, new renders of the Moto Z have just been leaked online, revealing the phone’s back design with the 16 pin connector.
First of all, a leaked teaser reveals that the Moto Z will be thin. You can clearly see that the camera sensor will be protruding from the body. Also, there are three buttons on the right, one should be the power button and the other two should be the volume up and down keys.
Apart from this, we also have a render, which shows off the back of the new Moto Z in three colors, namely black, silver and gold. This image reveals the huge size of the camera module at the back. Further, down below, on the back panel we also see the much talked about 16 pin connector for attaching modules. Just below that should be the speaker opening.
According to the latest rumors, the 16 pin connector will be used to connect MotoMods, for adding new features to the device. While this isn’t completely a modular design, it still would be quite impressive if we could swap out different modules on the back of the phone for different functions like Hi-Fi or Video controls, similar to LG G5’s design. Hopefully, we will get to hear more about it tomorrow at the launch event.
As for the specs, like last year, this time, Motorola is expected to release two variants of the Moto Z, namely Moto Z Play and Moto Z Style. The Z Play will be the less powerful variant and should come with Snapdragon 625 octa-core chip, 5.5-inch 1080p display, 2GB / 3GB of RAM, 16GB / 32GB storage options, 7mm body, 16MP rear camera and 3500mAh battery.
Coming to the Moto Z Style, it should come with a 5.5-inch 2K display, with Snapdragon 820 chip, 3GB / 4GB RAM options, 32GB internal storage, 13MP rear camera with OIS, 2600mAh battery and a super thin 5.2mm body.
We also should see Motorola’s Project Tango device soon, which could be called as the Lenovo PHAB2 Pro. You can read more about that from here.
UPDATE: More Images Have Come Up Online, They Have Been Added In the article!
After releasing three new devices in April, Meizu is all set to announce a brand new device on June 13. Well, this smartphone isn’t going to be from a new series, instead, it is going to be yet another update in the company’s budget Blue Charm range. Out of the three phones announced in April, two were from the Blue Charm range, which would make this one, the third model in the series in a matter of a couple of months. From what we have heard, the phone is going to be called as the Meizu M3S and will come with a metal body, unlike the other two models which feature polycarbonate back.
Now, new images of the Meizu M3S have been leaked online, confirming its name as well as the basic design. A couple of images of the retail box of the phone confirms that it will be called as the M3S. Further, we have some real life images as well, which shows a compact body as well as a design similar to the Meizu M3 Note that was released before. The oval physical home button is also present on this device.
As for the specs, the Meizu M3S is going to come with an octa-core chipset clocked at 1.5GHz, which should most likely be MT6750. The screen should be compact, measuring 5-inches with 720p resolution. For memory, you can expect 2GB RAM + 16GB storage and 3GB RAM + 32GB storage variants. At the back, expect the same 13MP sensor as the M3 Note, while up front, you will find a 5MP shooter. Finally, for battery, the phone features 3000mAh capacity.
More Images Were Leaked, Check them out from above
Now, you must be wondering, the specs are quite the same as the M3, then why is the company specially releasing the Meizu M3S. Well, like we saw in the image yesterday, the phone will most likely upgrade the body from polycarbonate to metal. We still have no idea if Meizu has upgraded other things on the new handset, but considering the phone is getting a separate conference, we hope that there are a few more upgrades as well.
Nubia just announced the new Nubia Z11 Max phablet earlier today in China, which puts it in direct competition with the recently released Xiaomi Mi Max phablet. Given that the top-end variant of the Xiaomi phablet is priced exactly the same as the Z11 Max, the comparison becomes a lot interesting. They both have very similar specs, including same processors, but differ in a few areas, which makes it difficult to choose which ones the best for you. So, today, we take a look at the Nubia Z11 Max vs the Xiaomi Mi Max. Let’s see which one turns out to be our pick!
Nubia Z11 Max vs Xiaomi Mi Max: Design
As always, let’s start with the design. Both the devices look beautiful with their sleek body and premium design. The Nubia Z11 Max comes with an aluminum body with 2.5D glass on both the front as well as the back. It’s typical Nubia design philosophy. Coming to the Xiaomi Mi Max, the phone also comes with an aluminum body but it only features 2.5D glass up front and not on the back.
There are three colors available for both the models, with gold being the only one common. The Nubia Z11 Max comes with white and black options, while the Mi Max has light gray and silver color options.
Coming to the dimensions and weight, they are as follows:
Z11 Max: 159.15 x 82.25 x 7.40 185 grams
Mi Max: 173.1 x 88.3 x 7.5mm 203 grams
As you can see, thanks to its smaller screen size (6-inches) and impressive screen to body ratio, Z11 Max is much smaller than the Mi Max, with a height of 159.15mm as compared to 173.1mm on the Mi Max. It’s a bit lighter as well.
Nubia Z11 Max vs Xiaomi Mi Max: Screen
Moving to the screen, the Z11 Max sports a 6-inch display with 1920 x 1080p resolution and Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection. The Xiaomi Mi Max comes with a 6.44-inch display with the same 1080p resolution but with Corning Gorilla Glass 4. The pixel density comes to 368 ppi on the Z11 Max and 342 ppi on the Mi Max model. However, both use different display technologies. The Nubia model comes with a Super AMOLED display while the Mi Max has an IPS LCD display.
Nubia Z11 Max vs Xiaomi Mi Max: Specs
Now, coming to the internals, both the models (in this comparison we are considering the top-end Mi Max version) come with Snapdragon 652 octa-core chip clocked at 1.8GHz and 4GB of RAM. However, Z11 Max has just 64GB of internal storage, while Mi Max comes with 128GB on its top-end model. Both have eMMC storages. Also, both feature MicroSD expansion slots.
Nubia smartphones are known for their camera, and on paper, the specs are quite good. The Nubia Z11 Max comes with a 16MP IMX298 sensor from Sony with closed loop motor AF, sapphire glass lens, f/2.0 aperture and PDAF. You get a bunch of advanced techs on the device like the company’s own Neovision 5.9 software, DTI pixel isolation, LTM area control, handheld Image stabilization and 3D Noise reduction. Up front, you get a f/2.4 aperture 8MP 80-degree wide angle lens. As for the Xiaomi Mi Max, you get a 16MP f/2.0 aperture sensor with PDAF, real-time camera filters (you get this on Z11 Max as well) and 5P lens. Up front, the phone features an 85-degree wide angle, f/2.0 5MP shooter. Also, in case you are wondering, both models have dual tone flash. On paper, the Z11 Max seems like the better camera model, but let’s wait for a review to check out its performance.
Now let’s take a look at their batteries. The Nubia Z11 Max comes with a large 4000mAh capacity battery inside with QC 3.0, which is going to give more than a day’s battery life. On the Mi Max, things go to another level, as it comes with an even bigger 4850mAh capacity battery that should technically provide better life than the Z11 Max. But Nubia had to talk a lot about its Neopower 2.0 technology and the use of power-efficient components, so we will have to wait for a real life battery test of both the devices to see which one comes out better.
As for connectivity, you get the usual Bluetooth and dual-band Wi-Fi on both the models. Mi Max has an infrared port as well as NFC, which the Z11 Max lacks.
If you are a music lover, the Z11 Max will look a lot more attractive given that it comes with an independent Hi-Fi chip and amplifier. You also get Dolby decoder and 7.1 Dolby sound. Unfortunately, the Mi Max doesn’t feature a Hi-Fi chip. Another difference is that the Nubia model comes with USB Type-C and the Mi Max has a standard MicroUSB port. Finally, coming to the software, the Z11 Max comes with Android Lollipop based Nubia 2.9.9 software, while Mi Max gets the new Android Marshmallow with MIUI 7 on top.
Nubia Z11 Max vs Xiaomi Mi Max: Pricing
Since we are comparing the top-end variants of both the models, both are priced exactly the same i.e. at 1999 Yuan which comes to $304. The Mi Max is already available for purchase while the Nubia Z11 Max goes on sale from June 16.
As you can see in this comparison, both are pretty great devices. If you want a larger screen and battery, you can go for the Mi Max. Or else, if you want a large screen phone that isn’t very big, comes with a decent camera, battery, and Hi-Fi audio for around $300 (expect $340-$350 as its reseller pricing), then the Nubia Z11 Max turns out to be a great device.
After a few weeks of teasers and leaks, ZTE Nubia Z11 Max is finally official. The phone stays true to its name, coming with a massive 6-inch display with super slim 1.32mm bezels. The screen is clearly the highlight of the smartphone, as it covers 83.27 percent of the body, which is highly impressive. This is achieved by slimming down the bezels on all sides. Plus, the Z11 Max is a super slim device, measuring just 7.4mm in thickness. In comparison, the Xiaomi Mi Max phablet comes with a 6.4-inch screen and a body which is 7.5mm thick. Well, we’ll talk more about both these devices together at their comparison later. Now, it’s time to look at the Nubia Z11 Max in detail.
Since we already started on the phone’s display, let’s talk more about that. The phone comes with a 6-inch 1080p Super AMOLED Display protected by Gorilla Glass 3, with an impressive screen to body ratio, making it stand out among other phablets. The company has used the same NubiaArc 4.0 design philosophy as its previous devices. So the Z11 Max comes with a double sided glass design with smooth round corners. The chassis is made out of aluminum. You have three color options namely black, grey and white. Nubia smartphones are usually known for their beautiful design and slim design, and this one does not disappoint.
Coming to the internals, the ZTE Nubia Z11 Max features the flagship chip of the mid-range segment, namely the Snapdragon 652 clocked at 1.8GHz. There will be 4GB of RAM on board along with 64GB (eMMC 5.0) of internal storage. This is further expandable up to 200GB via MicroSD. You also get a fingerprint sensor at the back. The phone supports dual 4G SIM cards with VoLTE. It also comes with an independent Hi-Fi decoder chip and amplifier for enhancing the audio output.
nubia z11 max and nubia z11 mini
At the back, it features a 16MP rear camera sensor, which is the Sony IMX298, with PDAF, closed loop motor AF, f/2.0 aperture and 6P lens. The company has used its own NeoVision 5.9 Imaging software. The phone supports handheld image stabilization, 3D Noise reduction (could be useful for low light images), DTI pixel isolation technology and LTM area color control tech. Further, Nubia has added support for live filters for the camera, which means you can change filters in real time like video calling. Up front, the phone features an 8MP 1.4um pixel size camera, with support for fill light function.
For powering its massive battery as well as a capable camera, the company has put in a large 4000mAh battery. This coupled with Nubia’s NeoPower 2.0 technology (CEO had revealed some tidbits about this tech a few days back) promises impressive battery life. The company has not only increased the battery capacity of the device to 4000mAh, but also used power efficient hardware to boost battery life. This includes an efficient Super AMOLED display, DSP co-processor, SmartPA, closed loop motor AF etc along with 116 software optimizations. Taking all these into consideration, the Nubia Z11 Max reportedly provides up to 114 hours of music playback, 8.33 hours of navigation and 13 hours of social media apps. This basically converts into 2.82 days of regular usage and 1.76 days of heavy usage, reveals the company. And since you get Quick Charge 3.0 on the device, 10 minutes of charging can reportedly provide up to 2.5hours of HD video playback, 6 hours of talk time and 13.7 hours of battery life.
The Nubia Z11 Max runs on Nubia 3.9.9 UI based on Android Lollipop. The phone goes on sale at 1999 Yuan ($304) on June 16 at 10:00AM. The reservations for the silver colored model is already underway in China.
Since Nubia just signed Cristiano Ronaldo as the brand ambassador of the company, it is also selling a customized Nubia Z11 Max signed by C. Ronaldo on the back. Also, this edition comes with custom C. Ronaldo wallpapers along with special gifts. This particular special edition will set you back 2299 Yuan ($350) and will go on sale on June 18 at 10:00 AM.
OnePlus has ditched the invite system for their upcoming phone, the OnePlus 3. Though they announced that fans will be able to purchase units from Loop VR, news reaching us says there’ll be pop-up events in cities worldwide where people can purchase units too.
The company states on its website that there’ll be no need for people to sign up. The cities and dates are as follows:
New York: June 15, 2016.
7pm – 10 pm
Special Attendee: Carl Pei
Paris: June 15, 2016.
11 am
London: June 15, 2016.
7pm – 10 pm
Berlin: June 15, 2016.
7pm – 10 pm
Mumbai, New Delhi, and Bangalore: TBC
From the info above, we can see that there are 3 event venues in India. The reasons are not far-fetched: India has a very large OnePlus fanbase and OnePlus is trying to grab as much as they can of the Indian market.
We have more news with respect to the upcoming Meizu M3S. Real images have leaked online giving us a glimpse of what the phone really looks like and confirming the specs.
Meizu has given the M3S the all-metal unibody form but have made no attempt to cover the antenna lines which are clearly visible. Dimensions for the phone are 141.9 x 69.9 x 8.35 (mm).
Thanks to TENAA, we also know some of the specs of the phone such as the use of a 1.5GHz octa-core processor. This is most likely the MTK6750 which supports VoLTE and has CDMA and CAT-6 LTE.
The phone will have two RAM configurations: 2GB and 3GB; and will run Android Lollipop 5.1. The Meizu M3S will also feature SD card support of up to 128GB, have a 13MP rear camera, a 5MP front-facing camera, and a 3000mAh battery.
While Huawei has a solid top-end flagship lineup, the company is also present in the budget market and has some decent offerings. We had already seen the Honor 5A and Honor 5A Plus before, thanks to their TENAA listings and now, Huawei’s Honor sub-brand has released a new teaser on its Weibo page revealing that the Honor 5A will be announced on June 12.
Since we saw two models on TENAA, on June 12, the company should announce two models as well. The Honor 5A will be the smaller sibling coming with a 5-inch 720p display, on the other hand, the Honor 5A Plus will come with a 5.5-inch 720p display. Apart from the size, the phones also differ in terms of their design and placement of their camera sensors. You can check out both the phones in the images in below.
Honor 5a Plus vs Honor 5a
As for the specs, the Honor 5A will come with a 1.3GHz quad-core processor with 2GB RAM and 16GB of internal storage. At the back, there will be a 13MP camera, while up front, you get a 2MP shooter. Inside its 8.9mm body, the phone features a 2200mAh battery.
Coming to the Honor 5A Plus, TENAA reveals that the phone will come with a 1.5GHz octa-core processor with 2GB RAM and 16GB storage. At the back, you get a 13MP camera as well, but the front shooter is upgraded to an 8MP sensor. Inside its 8.45mm body, you get a 3000mAh battery.
Since Honor 5A series phones are going to be targeted at the low-end market, you can expect it to start at 699 Yuan ($106). The competition in this segment is really fierce, and yesterday, we just saw the entry of ZTE’s Blade A2 handset that comes with pretty good specs for its price. You can check out the TENAA listing of the Honor 5A and 5A Plus from here.
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