Huawei Honor 8 Said To Come With Wireless Charging & Double Glass Design

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May 18, 2016

Despite its late entry into the smartphone industry, Huawei has managed to get a good share of the market in the past few years. This has been mainly driven by the company’s own R&D division as well as promotion of its smartphones internationally. Recently, this Chinese giant announced two new smartphones in the market, namely the Huawei P9 which is the premium top-end series and then, the Huawei Honor V8 flagships which comes with a larger 2K display at an affordable price point.

But this isn’t the end of Huawei’s smartphone lineup this year, as it is said that the company will release the Honor 8 flagship later in 2016. Now, more details about the company’s upcoming device have been revealed by the analyst Pan Jiutang from China.

He reveals that the Honor V8 will come with wireless charging feature. This information comes at a time when there are reports that the 2017 iPhone models will feature contact-less wireless charging technology. Apple seems to be hiring specialists in this field which should indicate the company’s intention of implementing this technology in the future iPhone models.

The analyst also stressed that Huawei seems to be ahead of Apple in terms of implementing features. For example, the company first released the 3D Touch (Force Touch) enabled smartphone, the Huawei Mate S last year. Then we saw that the iPhone 6S models came with 3D Touch as well. This year, the company unveiled two new smartphone lineups with dual cameras, a feature which we expect to see on the new iPhone 7 series. And now, this rumoured wireless charging feature along with dual glass design could first be seen on the Honor 8 flagship before it debuts on the iPhone 8 models next year. Since the analyst has compared Honor 8’s tech to the recent rumours about iPhone’s contact-less charging, we could be seeing a similar feature on board the new device.

Of course, nothing is confirmed yet. Given that two new flagship models were announced in the last four weeks, we don’t expect the Honor 8 to be announced anytime soon. So, let’s wait for more concrete details to come up.

Finally! Android Based Nokia Smartphones Are Coming

By

Joel Joseph

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May 18, 2016

I am sure that majority of the readers here, had one or even multiple Nokia branded smartphones in the past. This isn’t surprising since Nokia was once the king of the smartphone market. However, the last decade wasn’t too good for the company, with losses increasing and its decision to stick with Microsoft’s Windows platform leading to its ultimate demise. We’ve all dreamed about an Android based Nokia smartphone in the past, with Finnish company’s solid hardware and design and Google’s open source platform. While we haven’t really seen a real Nokia based Android smartphone in the past, this is soon going to change.

After the establishment of the new ‘Nokia Technologies’ company, we have heard multiple times that it wasn’t going to enter the smartphone market directly. There wasn’t much information in the past about its plans for this market, but now, things have become a lot clearer.

We are definitely going to see Nokia Android smartphones in the coming months.

Nokia Technologies revealed today that it has given exclusive global license to HMD Global, a startup company based out of its own home country of Finland. This means that HMD Global can now manufacture smartphones as well as tablets bearing the Nokia brand name. In return, Nokia Technologies gets royalty for using its name. The company also has conditionally agreed to acquire rights to use the Nokia name from Microsoft.

nokia concept image 1 — nokia android concept image

At the same time, Microsoft is selling its feature phone business to FIH Mobile, a subsidiary of Foxconn for $350 million. The deal is expected to close by the second half of 2016. And guess what, FIH and HMD Global have entered into a collaborative deal which gives full operational control of sales, marketing and distribution of Nokia branded smartphones globally.

So, it looks like finally things have come together to revive Nokia’s smartphone business. The company also confirms that Nokia smartphones and tablets will be based on Android, which is what we wanted from the start.

In case you are wondering, Nokia Technologies will have a seat on the board of HMD Global to ensure that the quality and reputation of Nokia’s name is maintained. Given that HMD Global is founded by ex-Nokia employees, we can expect great design on the upcoming Nokia branded smartphones. The company also confirmed that ex-Nokia executive and current head of Microsoft’s Mobile Division Business for Greater Asia, Middle East and Africa, Arto Nummela will be the CEO of HMD.

ASUS Zenfone 3 Model Pops Up On AnTuTu, Features Snapdragon 820 & 23MP Camera

By

Joel Joseph

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May 18, 2016

ASUS has been relatively quiet when it comes to its flagship ZenFone series. While we first expected to meet the new handset as early as January this year, now, it is said that there should be at least three new models that are going to be announced in June at Computex in Taiwan. The event kicks off on May 31 and goes on till June 4 and ASUS has a tradition of unveiling interesting products at this event.

Asus Zenfone 3

So, what can we expect from the new ZenFone series?

We know that the new ZenFone 3 series won’t be coming with Intel chips this year, which opens up the possibility of Snapdragon series processors. Now, the first ZenFone 3 model seems to have been spotted on the benchmarking website, AnTuTu revealing key specs of the device. The model is called as the ASUS Z016D. The company is aiming the top-end segment with this device, using the new Snapdragon 820 chipset inside with Adreno 530 GPU. For memory, the phone comes with 4GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage. At the back, you get a massive 23MP rear camera sensor, while up front, there will be an 8MP shooter. The display size is unknown but the resolution will be FHD 1920 x 1080p. As for software, the phone will be running on Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow version.

ASUS Zenfone 3 AnTuTu

Along with the specs details, AnTuTu also revealed that the new ZenFone 3 model scores around 135,000 points on AnTuTu, which is a great. This puts the device in direct competition with other top-end flagships like Xiaomi Mi 5, Galaxy S7 and HTC 10.

The company has already confirmed the release of the new models at Computex 2016. You can check out the teaser video from down below.

No Moto X Models This Year, Welcome Moto Z Series!

By

Joel Joseph

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May 18, 2016

According to the latest reports, Motorola is going to make some changes in the naming of its upcoming flagship smartphone lineup. Traditionally, the company has been selling its top-end models under the banner of Moto X series, but now, it is said that this Lenovo owned company is all set to change its name this year. Instead of calling the new smartphone as the Motorola Moto X, the company seems to be rooting for the name Moto Z series in 2016.

So, is it just a change in name or will we see a whole new design and features on the Moto Z series?

Well, at this moment, we don’t have sufficient information to answer this question. Design wise, there may be a few changes, but the basic theme of the new Moto Z series is going to be similar. It is said that Motorola is working on two flagship smartphones this year, code named Vertex and Vector Thin. The latter will be a much more premium smartphone, and could be called as the Moto Z Style. This would make Vertex, the Moto Z Play model.

The report also reveals that the company would gently change the names of the Verizon branded versions in US as well. So, the new Moto Z series will probably end up being called as the Moto Z Play Droid Edition. And the premium accessories that have been rumoured to be sold separately would be called as MotoMods.

These details are yet to be confirmed, but we will know more about it early next month. After releasing three new handsets in the Moto G series yesterday, the company will reportedly reveal the new series on June 9.

(source)

ZTE Axon 7 Will Come With Dual Speakers & Advanced Hi-Fi Audio Chip From AKM

By

Joel Joseph

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May 17, 2016

ZTE Axon 7 smartphone is all set to be announced on May 26, which is just a week away. The company’s executives have already started to reveal a few details about the device, like a top-end Sharp screen with 2K resolution, and a brand new screw-less design. Now, the executives have revealed a new feature on the Axon 7 — advanced Hi-Fi sound quality with dual speakers.

ZTE had already hinted that audio was going to be the highlight of the upcoming Axon 7 in the invitations sent last week. The invites also came with a brief music clip with the theme “Theatre Sound and More”. So, there is no doubt that the company has put in a lot of efforts to improve the audio output on the device.

Now, ZTE’s Mobile Devices CEO, Adam Zeng reveals a few more details about the Axon 7. He said on Weibo that the company invited a team of conservatory professors to help and advise them in the development of the phone’s audio. In fact, ZTE’s Deputy Head of Strategy & Marketing, Dr Lv Qianhao recently posted a picture of two professors from the Xian Conservatory of Music. There’s no doubt that these two professors were given an early preview of Axon 7’s audio capability. Dr. Lv reveals that their comments have been positive so far.

New reports have even said that ZTE has opened a new lab to design the sound of mobile devices. The company’s own research in this field and with the use of AKM’s latest audio chipset technology, we can expect the Axon 7 to deliver a great audio experience. It is said that the phone will feature the 32 bit AK4961 advanced DSP Codec from AKM.

This new information definitely makes us want to check out the real audio performance of the Axon 7. For that we won’t have to wait too long. The phone will be officially announced on May 26 and soon we will get more details about its special features.

Meanwhile, you can check out the possible specs of the Axon 7 from here.

Xiaomi’s Supply Problem Could Be Solved Soon, Lei Jun Takes Charge

By

Joel Joseph

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May 17, 2016

Xiaomi makes some of the best value for money smartphones that we have seen in the market lately, but the company has one major drawback, inadequate supply of its products. Many of the new smartphone launches from the company are hard to get even in China, which means most of the desired consumers are left disappointed. But looks like the company is taking appropriate measures to change this.

In an internal letter sent by Xiaomi’s CEO Lei Jun, he has stated that from now onwards, he will personally be responsible for the phone supply chain of Xiaomi. The existing supply chain head, Zhou Guangping will now take care of the technology research department of the company. Now that the CEO himself is going to take care of the supply of Xiaomi smartphones, it looks like this issue has been given due attention. And this change should positively affect the company. If the supply improves, the sales will improve and everyone is happy end of the day. It was an urgent matter and we hope it will solved real soon.

So, what do you think? If Lei Jun, the CEO himself is in charge of the supply of the company’s smartphones, will we be seeing a significant improvement in the overall availability of Xiaomi products?

In case you are wondering, yesterday, we reported that Xiaomi is manufacturing around 700,000 units of the Mi 5 per month, lower than Huawei Mate 8’s 900,000 and OPPO R9’s 2 million per month figure.

Huawei Sold Over 208,000 Units Of the Honor V8 In The First Flash Sale

By

Joel Joseph

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May 17, 2016

On the same day that Xiaomi announced the Xiaomi Mi Max phablet, Huawei announced their affordable flagship smartphone, the Honor V8. The phone came with similar specs and design as the Huawei P9 series, but at a much lesser price tag, making it a good option for buyers who are in the lookout for a cheap yet powerful flagship. What’s more, the phone is large, featuring a 5.7-inch display and you get a variant that has 2K resolution as well. So, overall, despite its Honor branding, the phone is quite powerful.

The first batch of Honor V8 went for sale in the flash sale today and the phone was immediately sold out. The company has now revealed that it sold a huge number of units today, 208,000 in total which means the phone has been well received by customers in China. While this is a great achievement for the Honor series, if you remember, even the OPPO R9 flagship lineup received a similar kind of response from consumers. We saw that OPPO managed to sell around 180,000 units of the R9 in the first day of launch, but that was through both online and offline channels. In four days, this number reached to an impressive 400,000.

In case you are wondering, the next flash sale for the Honor V8 is going to be on May 24 at 10 AM in China.

The Honor V8 comes with a similar 12MP dual camera setup as the Huawei P9 series, but without the Leica branding. We have compared these two devices in detail to see why P9 is costlier despite both phones having same specs. You can read more about this comparison from here.

Xiaomi Mi Max Teardown Reveals It’s Easy To Repair

By

Joel Joseph

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May 17, 2016

Xiaomi announced the company’s first phablet smartphone, the Xiaomi Mi Max aka Xiaomi Max on May 10 and like most other Xiaomi products, the demand for the device was quite impressive. The company received over 10 million registrations for the first flash sale of the device, which shows the popularity of the device in the home country of China. Now that the phone is announced, the Mi Max has received the teardown treatment. The teardown comes directly via IT168 who is known for tearing down famous smartphones (even the Mi 5) in China.

Like most other Xiaomi smartphones, the Xiaomi Mi Max was easily taken apart. The entire process reportedly didn’t take that long, which means this metal + plastic smartphone can be repaired with ease, in case you come across any issues. The teardown also reveals that the majority of the back surface is taken up by the mighty 4850mAh battery underneath. You can check out all the teardown pictures from down below.

To recap, the Xiaomi Mi Max comes with a large 6.4-inch FHD 1080p display with 3GB / 4GB RAM and 32GB / 64GB storage options. You also get the option to choose between Snapdragon 652 and Snapdragon 650 chipsets. At the back, the phone comes with a 16MP rear camera, while up front, you get a 5MP shooter. The phone runs on Android 6.0 Marshmallow with MIUI 8, and comes with a 4850mAh battery inside a 7.5mm body.

The World’s First Wearable Laser Projector Is Here & Its Pretty Cool

By

Joel Joseph

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May 17, 2016

There’s no doubt that wearables are one of the hottest items right now, with every tech manufacturer trying to bring out their own version of the gadget. Now, a new tech startup from China, ASU has come with a unique gadget in the segment, called as the ASU Cast One Smartwatch. What makes this smartwatch really interesting is that it is the world’s first wearable laser projector watch. In simple words, it comes with a laser projector inbuilt which allows you to project anything from movies, games, texts, videos etc directly on any surface like your hand, wall, floor or table. You can even watch online videos in 720p resolution using this smartwatch.

So how is this made possible?

ASU is reportedly using the world’s smallest laser projector optical module and its projection size ranges from 2-inches to a maximum of 60-inches. It provides a resolution of 1280 x 600 pixels and supports up to 720p video playback. The projection will be done via the right side of the device and the best projection distance is between 1.5 cm to 2 cm. The company states that the projection technology used in the Cast One is much superior to the traditional DLP projectors.

Inside this wearable, you get a quad-core Qualcomm APQ8026 processor with 768MB of RAM, 4GB of ROM and Android 5.1 operating system. You can connect to the smartphone for answering calls, checking notifications etc or directly connect to the Wi-Fi network. But it needs to be connected to the companion smartphone for advanced functions. It comes with a 740mAh battery but we aren’t sure how long it can project on a single charge.

The new wearable was announced in China today. The company has listed the Cast One wearable on sale for a price tag of 2999 Yuan ($459).

Pretty expensive, but definitely cool!

Moto G4 & G4 Plus Officially Announced: Features 5.5-inch FHD Display, SD617 & More

By

Joel Joseph

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May 17, 2016

With the recent onslaught of Chinese smartphone in the market, the basic definition of budget smartphones have changed. But even before their entry, we knew one particular smartphone lineup that was popular among budget users, namely Motorola’s Moto G series. The phone featured decent specs for a price tag of around $200 which made it an instant hit among buyers.

But things have changed in recent times and Motorola will have to step up their game if they want to maintain their name in the market. And now, this Lenovo owned company is back again to make a mark in the market, with not one, but two new Moto G generation smartphones, namely the Moto G4 and the Moto G4 Plus.

Both the phones have similar looks, feature a textured back and round corners with a pill shaped camera module at the back. These two devices come with a 5.5-inch 1080p display protected by Corning’s Gorilla Glass 3 and the octa-core Snapdragon 617 chipset inside. You also get a 3000mAh battery on board which reportedly provides up to 6 hours of battery life in just 15 minutes of charging, thanks to the company’s Turbo charging technology.

Camera is where the similarity ends. The Moto G4 model features a 13MP Sensor with f/2.2 aperture and dual tone LED flash. Up front, there will be an 84-degree wide angle camera. As for the Moto G4 Plus model, you get an upgraded 16MP OV sensor with f/2.0 aperture and 1.3um sized pixels. To aid the camera, you get PDAF and Laser Autofocus. You also get manual controls on the software side. The front camera remains the same as the G4.

Another major difference between the two models is the presence of a fingerprint sensor on board the Moto G4 Plus. You can clearly see the sensor and the physical home button on the front of the device.

Both the models run on Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow version out of the box with the company’s Pure UI on top. So, you should get access to some Moto specific features such as Moto Display on both the devices. Other features include 4G LTE support, MicroSD expansion and dual SIM dual standby on 4G / 3G.

As for the pricing, the Moto G4 Plus with 16GB ROM and 2GB RAM will retail for Rs. 13,499 in India ($202) and the 3GB RAM and 32GB ROM version will sell for Rs. 14,499 ($217). Both these variants will be sold exclusively via Amazon later today.

At the moment, we haven’t got any details on the pricing of the Moto G4 model, but it is said that the phone will be available next month.

So what are your thoughts on the two new phones from Motorola?

Now You Can Purchase LeEco Smartphones Internationally From Letvmart.com

By

Joel Joseph

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May 17, 2016

After its entry into the smartphone market last year, LeEco has left no stone unturned to market and promote its smartphones. In fact, the company has quickly built a huge fan following in China and this year in India as well. Its products offer tremendous value for money, which is why we have seen a lot of LeEco phones being sold internationally. While there are a few websites like OPPOStyle who ship OPPO smartphones worldwide, now, a new e-tailer has come up online, called Letvmart to sell LeEco smartphones internationally. Given that LeEco operates officially only in China and India, such retailers come in handy if you want your phone to be shipped worldwide, especially in Europe.

We had a talk with the guys over at Letvmart and they seem to have an understanding with the company to sell LeEco smartphones online. The reseller reveals that they want to make Letvmart the one-stop destination for international LeEco customers. Since LeEco operates officially in India and China, this particular retailer won’t be selling phones in these two regions. Instead, the main focus is to cater to the market in Europe and other regions.

This seems like a legit unofficial retailer for LeEco phones and if you are interested, do check out their website from here. For now, it looks like the pricing is in line with other online resellers for Chinese smartphones.

UMi Super: Discover the artistry in craftmanship

By

Shine Wong

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May 17, 2016

Since our first mobile phone, we have continued exploring new metal processing technologies and breaking limits. For the UMi Super, we chose lighter and solider magnalium alloy used for aircraft. After more than 100 strict processes including CNC cutting and carving, PBT nano-molding, 360-degree polishing, 3D abrasive blasting and multi-color anodizing, we scaled new heights and proudly present the unique UMi Super.

Polished Perfection

Polishing the metal body of the UMi Super takes more than you would think. It is polished after coating, and coated after polishing. This process is repeated five times, and takes more than 40 hours to complete. This is costly, but it’s the only way to ensure a perfectly uniform coloring on the metal body of the UMi Super!

Metal in the making

Despite its resilience, manufacturing the metal back cover is a delicate process. We perfected the color and touch of aluminum by sandblasting both the inner and outer sides of the back cover. This detailed process refines the edges and rims with a polished shine.

165° Palm Arc Design

Friendly curved to fit in your hand

Curved all around the edges, UMi Super has a seamless, comfortable grip that feels natural in your hand.

The best size of 4000mAh yet

UMi Super uses the latest battery technology from SONY supplier to fit an extra 26% capacity without any excess bulk. Thoughtful engineering design such as the compact circuit board and indented inner back cover maximize room for more battery.

New OnePlus 3 Renders Pop Up, Much Better Looking Than Before

By

Joel Joseph

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May 17, 2016

Despite no official confirmation from the company yet, we seem to be inching closer to the launch of the new flagship model from OnePlus, which should most likely be called as the OnePlus 3. We have already seen renders of the new flagship before, and the company seems to have taken inspiration from both Meizu for the front home button and HTC for the back’s design. But all those renders looked ugly and they weren’t something that we would have liked the new OP3 to look like.

Now, Evan Blass aka evleaks has revealed a new promo image of the upcoming OnePlus 3 flagship and turns out, the phone isn’t as bad looking as we thought earlier. But there is definitely a familiarity in the phone’s design. The back looks like its inspired from HTC’s design philosophy, while the front has a feel of the OnePlus 2 with a physical home button that’s inspired from Meizu’s Blue Charm series. To be honest, in this render, the all metal back and the sleek body looks quite good. In fact, this makes us want to see more of the device, which hopefully we will, in the coming days.

Similar to the previous renders, this particular image confirms a toggle switch on the left side along with the volume keys. The power button is located on the right. All the ports seem to be at the bottom, including USB Type-C and 3.5mm headphone jack along with the speakers and microphone openings.

OnePlus 3 real image 04 — oneplus 3 old leak

Well, evleaks not only revealed this new promo image, but also stated that the upcoming phone was going to come with AMOLED display and a 3000mAh battery. This contradicts earlier rumours which said that the phone would come with a 3500mAh battery with fast charging.

No other details about the specs of the OnePlus were leaked today, but earlier rumours have given us a very good idea about the phone’s configuration. The OnePlus 3 is said to come in two different variants, one with 4GB RAM and another with 6GB RAM. Most of the specs were revealed in an earlier major leak, which you can read from here.

Meanwhile, let us know what you think about this new design of the OnePlus 3?

(Source)

Moto G4 Plus Box Leak Reveals Everything About The Phone Before Launch

By

Joel Joseph

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May 16, 2016

Motorola is expected to announce the brand new Moto G4 and Moto G4 Plus smartphones at two separate events in Mexico and India later today. Despite the event being just a few hours away, leaks are continuing to come in about the upcoming devices. The latest leak comes in the way of a Moto G4 box, which basically confirms the name, design as well as specifications of the device. From the written material at the back, it looks this leak comes from Mexico.

So, first let’s look at the design revealed by the box. It is in line with the previous leaks, with curved corners and a physical square home button with fingerprint just below the display. The name is also confirmed, so like expected, it will be called as the Moto G4 Plus. Coming to the back, the phone features the standard ‘M’ Moto logo on the back panel, along with the pill shaped camera module, which includes dual tone flash and laser autofocus along with a 16MP sensor.

Thanks to today’s leak, even the specs were confirmed. The Moto G4 Plus will come with a 5.5-inch 1080p display powered by an octo-core processor with 2GB of RAM on board and 32GB of internal storage. At the back, you will find a 16MP camera sensor with PDAF and laser autofocus while up front, there will be a 5MP shooter. Under the hood, the phone comes with 3000mAh battery with Turbo Charging. Other features include Android Marshmallow out of the box, 4G LTE support, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

Pricing is still a mystery as it is yet to be confirmed, but official details should be announced in the next few hours. As you already know, there’s another variant, the Moto G4 which should be an less powerful and affordable than the G4 Plus. Both the smartphones are expected to be announced later today, so stay tuned for details.

Xiaomi Mi 5’s Production Volume Is Way Lower than OPPO R9

By

Joel Joseph

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May 16, 2016

Its been almost two months since Xiaomi announced the Mi 5 flagship in China, but it looks like the production of this flagship device is still not in required volume quantities. We had seen that there were millions of registrations for the first flash sale of the Mi 5 and since then, constantly the phone has been sold out within a few seconds in the flash sales conducted by the company. While Xiaomi didn’t reveal the exact number of units made available for sale in each flash sale, we knew it wasn’t that much considering how fast they were all sold out.

Now, IHS research director, Kevin Wang has just revealed a few details about the volume production of the three major flagships in the market, namely Xiaomi Mi 5, Huawei Mate 8 and OPPO R9. First up, he reveals that Xiaomi Mi 5’s current production capacity is around 700,000 per month, which is low considering the huge demand for the device. So, it looks like the company still has to increase the total production to satisfy the demand. But increasing production won’t be that easy since the phone is powered by Snapdragon 820 chipset and there are lots of new flagships in the market that run on this chip. So, if the production of Mi 5 has to be boosted, the supply of SD820 chips also have to be increased.

But having your own chipset inside your flagship smartphone doesn’t help that much either. For example, the Huawei Mate 8 flagship which was announced last year has a volume production capacity of around 900,000, which although is higher than the Mi 5, but not by a big margin.

But what’s really the star of the market is the OPPO R9, which reportedly has a production capacity of nearly 2 million every month. That’s nearly three times the capacity of Mi 5. We knew the phone was received well and was selling well in the home market of China, but producing 2 million units a month is really an achievement. And guess what, the phone is powered by a Mediatek MT6755 Helio P10 chip inside.

Meizu Officially Enters the US Market With Gravity – A Semi-Transparent Wireless Speaker

By

Joel Joseph

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May 16, 2016

Chinese smartphone maker Meizu has officially entered the US market, but the company’s first product in the region is not going to be something that it’s popular for — smartphones, instead, the company is launching a brand new wireless speaker called as Gravity. While Meizu is a popular brand in China, out of its home country, the company is yet to make a big name. This could be a good opportunity for Meizu to show off what it’s capable of in the international markets.

Unlike other Meizu products like smartphones, which are financed directly by the company, it will be resorting to crowdfunding to manufacture the new Gravity wireless speakers. Given the size of the company, crowdfunding may not be necessary for a product like a wireless speaker, however, Meizu states that the company wants direct feedback from customers for its product, which is why it resorted to this method of financing. So, the company wants to test out the competitiveness of its product in a mature market like US where there are lots of wireless speaker options available.

Now, let’s take a look at why Meizu is calling its new speakers Gravity and it’s design.

If you have checked out the pictures in this article, you would know that Gravity comes with a floating design. When placed on a flat surface, at certain angles, it looks like the black speaker module floats in the air. This is made possible by using a transparent acrylic base at an off-central location. Further, on top of the speaker is a prism heads up display, which will show important track and playback information on its transparent surface. The company claims that it is the first to use a prism design on a wireless speaker. The use of a special coating called ‘Half Mirror’ makes it possible for the prism to hide the black display box inside it. The complete design of the Gravity wireless speaker was conceived by the Japanese designer, Kosho Tsuboi.

Gravity does have a unique look to it, and it is meant to be an artistic piece, in addition to being a powerful speaker. In the sound department, the company has teamed up with Dirac for getting good quality sound output from its small (size: 262mm x 58mm x 47mm) form factor. The company reportedly have used custom built speakers for Gravity with “dual passive resonance membrane” for a more vigorous low-frequency output. The amplifier is the latest 5-series chip from Texas instruments and the speakers also come with Dirac HD Sound at the hardware level.

Connecting to the speakers is easy, with the option of using the Gravity smartphone app to connect and operate the speakers via Wi-Fi. However, there is an aux port as well as Bluetooth connectivity option as alternatives. Given its design and the requirement of a power input at all times, it isn’t portable. So, naturally no batteries inside and you can’t carry it around like some other wireless speakers in the market.

As for the target market, the company is aiming the Western markets and China with this new wireless speakers. This would be the company’s first product that’s going to be sold in US. As for the pricing, the Gravity’s official price tag is going to be $249. But on Indiegogo, early backers can get it for just $169. Given that the company ships Gravity worldwide, we can expect good backing from fans around the world.

Now, coming to one another question that I am sure every US reader is going to ask. Does the company has plans to release smartphones in US? Well, at this moment, Meizu is not going to launch its phones in the region. This is because the company knows that US is a competitive and mature market and it would be hard to enter the market right now. So, at least for now, no Meizu smartphones are going to be sold officially in the region.

So, this was about the first US product from Meizu, the Gravity Wireless Speakers. If you liked what you read till now, check out their Indiegogo crowdfunding page and maybe even back the new speakers from the company.

Also, let us know what you feel about this new product.

IUNI U4 Renders & Specs Emerge: Beautiful & Powerful

By

Joel Joseph

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May 16, 2016

Chinese smartphone market is filled with manufacturers who go underground for a few months or even years and suddenly come up with a surprise handset out of the blue. IUNI is one such smartphone maker and the last smartphone from the company was released back in 2014. So, for the past two years, we haven’t heard much from the company, which was disappointing since its smartphones had both looks as well as powerful hardware. But now, it looks like we could meet a new IUNI smartphone, namely the IUNI U4 with powerful specs. We have to caution you that the leaked renders and specs seem to be made by a designer, so we are not entirely sure whether this would end up being announced this year. Anyway, let’s take a look at what IUNI U4 could look like.

First, let’s take a look at IUNI U4’s design revealed by the new renders. We can see that the phone looks quite premium in these pictures. You get a curved back and a body measuring just 7.2mm in thickness which is pretty slim even for today’s standards. The 5.2-inch display up front looks great because of the super thin bezels on the sides. There are three capacitive buttons just below the display. Further, we can see that the phone has a side mounted fingerprint sensor. Overall, design wise, the phone is beautiful.

Now coming to the specs, the IUNI U4 will come with the mighty Snapdragon 820 quad-core processor clocked at 2.15GHz. There will be two RAM and storage options, 4GB / 6GB (LPDDR4) and 64GB /128GB (UFS 2.0) storages. At the back, the phone reportedly features a 13MP Sony IMX377 sensor. Other features of the phone include side mounted fingerprint ID, IUNI OS 2.0 and a price tag of 1999 Yuan ($308) for the 4GB + 64GB version. The 6GB RAM + 128GB version is said to retail for 2499 Yuan ($382).

Like mentioned above, these renders and information seem to come from a third party designer. So, we aren’t sure whether it would end up as the real deal. Hence, make sure you take this news with a pinch of salt.

So, what do you think about the phone’s designs and specs?

UMi TOUCH continue hitting the market because of the positive feedback

By

Shine Wong

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May 16, 2016

UMi TOUCH is a device with 8.5mm metal body 4000mAh battery, which continue to gain a good feedback in the users.

UMi TOUCH was designed based on the recommendation from thousands of users, who expressed on Apollo Project which features they would like to see in this smartphone.

UMi designed a device with 8.5mm metal body 4000mAh battery, front fingerprint scanner, 13-megapixel camera, 5.5-inch screen with full HD resolution, octa-core processor, 3GB RAM and the latest version of Android: Marshmallow 6.0.

Currently, UMi TOUCH at flash sale of price at just $129.99! The coupons were being quickly taken on the community. So today UMi released the second UMi code for users to continue shop at $129.99.

UMi code: Touch2udsd

Apply at here to redeem $40 coupon.

After coupon is successfully redeem, the site will pop up a window showing the coupon code as well as the shop where the code can be applied.

Xiaomi Curved Screen Smartphone Details Leaked, Launching Spring 2017?

By

Joel Joseph

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May 16, 2016

Lei Jun seems to have confirmed the development of a curved screen smartphone from the company earlier today. While this was a big news, he failed to give out further details about the device. But that didn’t stop a Weibo user from revealing the possible specs of the device.

When it comes to curved screen smartphones, Samsung is clearly the leader, having two major flagships in the market, namely the Galaxy S7 Edge and the Galaxy S6 Edge. But according to this new rumour, Xiaomi is reportedly going to use LG’s Curved Display panel on its curved screen smartphone. While the resolution of the device was not revealed, it is said the phone will feature a 5.7-inch OLED panel.

What’s more, the phone is said to come with a metal body, something that all major smartphones seem to feature these days. There will be a Snapdragon 823 chipset inside along with 6GB of RAM, and dual 12MP (or 13MP) rear cameras. As for the release date, don’t expect the phone to be launched anytime soon. It is said that LG’s Curved display panel is not yet available on a large scale, at least, in the short term. So, one can expect the phone to be released sometime in the Spring of 2017.

Well, these are just rumours for now, but there’s no doubt that curved display smartphones are going to be in plenty in the coming months. Vivo has already taken the plunge and released a dual edge curved display phone and according to earlier reports, a lot of Chinese phone makers are developing their own curved phones this year. This includes Huawei (said to be using Samsung’s panel) as well as Meizu (the curved phone was already leaked before).

There’s still plenty of time for the phone’s launch, so we can expect more details in the coming months.

Lenovo Vibe C Entry Level Phone Spotted, Priced Just $105

By

Joel Joseph

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May 16, 2016

Lenovo Vibe series is the company’s affordable smartphone lineup offering decent specs for an attractive price tag. Now, it looks like the company is all set to update this lineup with a new smartphone, namely the Lenovo Vibe C. This particular model was just spotted on the Croatian retailer website with the above mentioned name, for a price tag of $106. The website also adds that the phone will shipping for pre-ordered customers from May 18. The phone looks pretty good for its price tag, coming with a polycarbonate body in black colour.

As for the specs, considering this price tag, expect entry level hardware. So, the phone will come with a quad-core chipset under the hood with 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage further expandable up to 32GB via MicroSD. The phone sports a 5-inch IPS display with 720p resolution. You also get a 2300mAh battery inside a 8.95mm body. Don’t expect much from the rear 5MP camera and front 2MP shooter. As for software, the phone will reportedly come with Android 5.1.1 Lollipop OS out of the box and supports 4G LTE networks.

For $100, this seems like a good handset. Since most Chinese budget smartphones end up costing much more than its cheap price in China, the Lenovo Vibe C could be an alternative for consumers looking for a budget handset.

(Source)