As reported earlier, Xiaomi has officially announced that “Max” will be launched in Beijing on May 10, at the National Conference Center. There will be other highlights too apart from Xiaomi’s first phablet, in this conference. Going by the preparations, it seems Mi is really excited about this product launch.
Mi Max comes equipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor clocked at 1.8 GHz. Although there are rumours that Mi has developed a custom processor called “Rifle” and may use the same in Max. However, we would prefer to wait and see if that is at all true. The phone will feature 2GB RAM and 16GB internal memory along with a 16MP rear camera and a 5MP front camera. The device is running Android Marshmallow 6.0.1 and houses a 6.4″screen . We strongly feel that Max will be priced at 1799 yuan or $275, whats your thought on the pricing ?
After the release of the Huawei P9 flagship with dual cameras, the Chinese giant is all set to announce another new series of smartphone called as the Honor V8. Given that the phone is from the Honor lineup, this should be much more affordable than the former series. The company has already confirmed that the phone will launch on May 10, and now, more details about the Honor V8 have cropped up online, thanks to its TENAA listing.
So, there will be two different versions of the device, KNT-AL10 and KNT-AL20, with the former being the low-end version and the latter, the high-end better-specced model. One of the biggest difference between the two devices is the screen resolution. For the first time, a Huawei flagship smartphone will use 2K Quad HD resolution display. On the other hand, the AL10 version comes with 1080p resolution. This information doesn’t come as a surprise as just last week, we had reported that Huawei CEO, Richard Yu said that 2K displays were a possibility on upcoming Huawei phones. But, what’s surprising is that the company has decided to use a 2K screen on the Honor lineup instead of the much more powerful Huawei P9 series. Both the versions come with a 5.7-inch display.
Honor V8 low ver 02
Honor V8 high 01
honor v8 high 02
Moving on, in terms of the looks, both the models look identical. So, the difference is just in the specs. The overall design looks premium, with the body made out of metal and the front covered by 2.5D glass with the Honor logo just below the display. The phone will be quite thin, measuring just 7.75mm and weighing about 170 grams.
Coming to the specs, the Honor V8 low-end model will come with a 2.3GHz octa-core processor which should be the Kirin 950 along with 4GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage. The high-end version will feature a 2.5GHz octa-core chip (should be Kirin 955) with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. Both models run on Android 6.0 Marshmallow version and come with MicroSD card slot. Also, like revealed in the teasers, the Honor V8 phones comes with 12MP dual camera setup at the back. You’ll also find a dual tone flash and Laser Autofocus to aid the rear camera. Up front, there will be a single 8MP sensor. The battery is also pretty decent, with a capacity of 3400mAh.
From the specs and the design, the Honor V8 is turning out to be a pretty good flagship. Given that it’s placed in the Honor lineup, we can expect the price to be affordable as well. The Honor 7 retailed for around $300 and with these specs on board, we can expect the V8 to be announced for a slightly higher figure, maybe around $350? We will have to wait for a few more days to get official details, so till then, stay tuned.
Meizu is one of those Chinese manufacturers, which produces some great yet affordable smartphones and the M3 Note is one of their latest offerings. It is pretty cheap, it has an all-metal unibody design and some great specs. This is Linus, learn more in the full review.
16GB (expandable via microSD card slot up to 128GB)
Meizu M3 Note Review: DESIGN and DISPLAY
I’m really impressed with the design and all-metal build. The phone is very comfortable to hold in the hand but it may be a bit slippery as most aluminium phones.
The M3 Note is quite huge due to its 5.5” 1080p display, which is sharp, vibrant and you can adjust colour temperature to your liking in the settings menu. The only shortcoming is that it could be slightly brighter for outdoor use.
We have a 5MP snapper along with the LED notification light on the top.
On the bottom there is only one button but it has quite a few features. Firstly, it can be physically pressed as it acts as a home button. Also, it has a touchpad and it is a feature that I love and miss on some other phones. E.g. you can simply tap they key and it acts as a back button. Last but definitely not least, we have a fingerprint scanner, which is fast, accurate but it does not work straight from the standby mode. That means that you have to physically press it to wake the screen up and then use your fingerprint to unlock the device. A really cool feature that you can use your fingerprint for other purposes, e.g. you can lock certain apps.
A 13MP camera with dual-tone dual LED flash is on the back and we have plastic top and bottom parts for antennas.
The buttons are nice and tactile, and they do not rattle at all.
However, a hybrid dual-SIM or microSD card tray does rattle quite a bit.
We still have a regular micro USB port, which sits next to the loudspeaker. Speaking of which, it is pretty good but the sound could have more depth. However, the main issue is that sometimes it starts crackling at the highest volume setting.
Overall, I’m really happy with the design and the way the M3 Note is built except for the rattling SIM card tray.
Meizu M3 Note Review: HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE
Our review unit has a quad-core Mediatek 6755 Helio P10 chip with the max. clock speeds of 1.8GHz, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of expandable storage.
To be honest, this is the first Helio P10-powered phone we are reviewing and I have to say that I was not impressed by its performance.
Asphalt 8 is one of the most versatile tests to check phones’ abilities and the M3 Note does not perform well. Firstly, I made sure that the phone is set to performance mode and tried playing the game on the highest graphics setting. The performance was horrible. There was a lot of lag, stutter and it was practically impossible to play the game.
Then I switched the graphics to medium, things have gotten a lot better but still, there were quite a few skipped frames.
Meizu M3 Note Review: BENCHMARKS
Meizu M3 Note Review: USER INTERFACE
Meizu M3 Note ships with the FlyMe OS 5.1, which is built on top of Android 5.1.
If you are familiar with the FlyMe OS, you will feel right at home. There is no app tray but there are some neat features. For example, you can swipe down anywhere on the screen to open up the notification shade. Swiping up brings a search bar. If you swipe from the bottom, you will open up your recent apps and this is one of my favorite features.
We have a bunch of other features, plenty of customization options, various tweaks and settings to play with. Just to name a few, you can use choose from a variety of themes, use gesture controls, which work fine and so on.
However, you have to keep in mind that the Chinese version of the phone ships with some bloatware, you would need to flash Google services manually and there are no multi-languages.
On the other hand, the FlymeOS runs fast and fluid, I didn’t have a single hiccup and it may be may be a personal preference but I really enjoyed using it on a daily basis.
Meizu M3 Note Review: CAMERA
The camera app is simple, easy to use and it is fast to take pictures. You have a few shooting modes, including a manual mode, and some settings to play with.
When it comes to the daylight image quality, it is pretty good and you can get some nice looking pictures with a decent amount of detail, natural looking colors and even pretty accurate dynamic range.
However, the quality decreases in lower-lit situations. You may still get some very good looking images but there will be a bit more noise and slightly less detail. Still, the image quality is pretty good for the phone this cheap.
The night camera performance is kind of a letdown. It is not the worst I’ve seen but I expected a bit more from this phone. The images are not bright enough, there is a low amount of detail and a lot of noise.
The selfie camera is pretty good and you will be able to take some decent looking selfies with it.
As for 1080p video, the quality is actually pretty good. Sure, the footage could look a bit sharper but the biggest downside is that the camera does not have continuous auto-focus feature.
Meizu M3 Note Review: CONNECTIVITY
As you may have expected, Meizu M3 Note has no connectivity issues. In fact, I was really curious how the Helio P10 works when using the GPS and I can assure you that it is very accurate.
Meizu M3 Note Review: BATTERY LIFE
We’ve come to the battery life and it is great. A 4100mAh unit allows you to use the phone for at least a few days depending on the usage. I could constantly get over 6 or even 7 hours of screen-on time on a mixed use.
Meizu M3 Note Review: CONCLUSIONS
So, there you have it, the Meizu M3 Note. The device is well built, it has a nice metal design, the display is sharp and vibrant, the UI has tons of features and it works fast.
Also, the camera can take some good looking daylight images, the battery life is great and the fingerprint scanner is fast and accurate.
However, the Helio P10 chip does not handle 3D games at the highest graphics settings the way we expected. Well, at least on the M3 Note.
Also, you have to know that the fingerprint sensor does not work straight from the standby mode, the device ships with some Chinese bloatware, the low-light camera performance does not impress and the SIM card tray rattles quite a bit.
All in all, Meizu M3 Note is still a great offering for the price and it can be highly recommended for those who don’t mind a few shortcomings.
Meizu will be officially releasing the Meizu M3 soon. However, apart from its official price, everything has been leaked right from configuration to HD images of the device.
From the real images once can make out Meizu M3’s basic design easily. Its design has been derived from Meizu M2, It has the same 2.5D glass screen, a fingerprint sensor housed in the rectangular home button as spotted on TENAA website.
The back panel of the device is made of polycarbonate material. On the bottom of the device, one can see the speaker grill on either side of USB type-C charging interface, which ideally should also allow fast charge technology.
Meizu M3 measures 141.5 × 69.5 × 8.3 (mm) and weighs around 130.69 g. It will come in white, blue, grey, pink, gold colour options. The battery capacity of Meizu M3 has been upgraded to 2800mAh compared to 2500 mAh on Meizu M2.
Antutu benchmark leak shows a benchmark score of 39,000 and it also states that Meizu M3 has a Mediatek 6755 processor, 2GB RAM and 16GB ROM. It will have a screen resolution of 720P, a 13 MP rear camera and a 5 MP front camera. The phone is running on Flyme 5.1.3.0 on top of Android 5.1
Apart from the upgrade in battery department and processor, the biggest upgrade from Meizu M2 is on the network side. Meizu M3 will support full 4G Netcom and LTE Cat. 6 and supports dual sim standby. Also, it is rumoured that this device will be sold at 599 Yuan, then it is definitely a steal deal.
Today afternoon, in the annual conference, held in Jinan, Mi CEO Lei Jun, used an app called Mi Live to initiate the broadcast. In the process, Lei Jun accidentally leaked 2 heavily anticipated Mi products, the Mi Max, and second generation Mi Band.
Lei Jun later stated that the biggest phone in the history of Mi will be released on May 10th. It is said that in addition to screen large (expected 6.4 inches), the battery capacity will be a pleasantly surprising factor.
Earlier, Mi’s official a/c on Weibo, shared a real image of the device which only revealed, the top front corner of the device was visible. What we could make out of the image were the symmetrical design and the missing Mi logo.
In addition to Mi Max , Mi band II also appeared for the first time, it is likely to be released along with Mi Max. Live shots of the event show up ll reveal Lei Jun wearing the smart band on the left hand, the new Mi band comes with a screen and can display time. Next to the screen there is a button-like design, we are pretty unsure of its functionality at the moment.
It also needs to be noted that Mi has developed custom processor named “Rifle” and it is supposed to be launched along with other Mi products, next month. Mi Max is supposed to be carrying the “rifle” processor, however, let’s wait till the launch of the processor to assess the performance and applications.
Elephone S3 Reservation event will start from the 12th of April and run through till the 27th of April
No actual price for the phone has been given yet but Elephone have given a clue to the price by putting $1?9.99 on their post.
What do you think the question mark will be replaced with? I am guessing they will be fairly agrressive as they normally are with their pre-sale pricing.
Personally I would like to see Elephone put the S3 up for pre-sale around the $140-$160 price point, as this would put it in a great position to compete with other mid range handsets.
The S3 comes with a 2.5d Bezel-less 5.2 inches display, with an 83% screen to body ratio making it look very premium.
The phone has an all metal chassis and curved back to help make the body feel even more sturdy and comfortable in the hand.
With the great screen to body ratio and the curvaceous design, this should be a phone that looks as good as it feels in the hand.
As far as specs go the phone features a Mediatek Octa-Core MT6753 clocked at 1.3Ghz and will come with 3gb of ram and 16gb of rom (expandable with up to 128gb micro SD) and will run Android 6.0 out of the box.
Whilst the specs for the CPU and memory configurations are not exactly cutting edge, the phone should certainly have the looks and style to compete favourably with phones like the Redmi Note 3.
You can register here for the Elephone S3 Reservation event hopefully if the price is competitive, this could be one of the best looking mid range handsets of 2016.
Please feel free to leave comments and questions below
Samsung Galaxy S7/Edge have been successful phones this year, much to the envy of their competitors. Samsung does not want to let this opportunity go waste. Thus, the Note 6 becomes a highly anticipated product.
Off late there have been a lot of rumours about Samsung Note 6, doing rounds. If we go by them, then this phone is supposed to come with 6GB RAM, along with Snapdragon 823 (MSM8996 Pro) processor. It is also rumoured that select models of Note 6 may carry the same processor as S7 Edge.
The Note 6 will have the model number SM-N930. The screen will be 5.77-inches with a 1440 x 2560 QHD resolution. The phablet, as has been rumored, will carry 6GB of RAM with 32GB of native storage.
Today afternoon, @ice universe, the man who often leaks details about Samsung smartphones on Weibo, revealed about the processor on the device “Samsung Note 6 to have the MSM8996 Pro (Snapdragon 823).”
One the contrary, this leak shows a different processor. As per this, the Samsung Exynos 8890 processor powers the device.
Last year Samsung release the Note 5 a bit early to hog the limelight against iPhone 6s, this year Samsung may repeat the strategy to block iPhone 7/Plus by releasing the Note 6 early. Let us wait and watch if these are 2 separate devices that will be launched, however, 6GB ram is confirmed
Huawei’s Honor is going to release their first flagship phone, Huawei Honor V8 this year, and it will come with dual cameras.
A few e-commerce sites have gone ahead and listed the device with full specifications and to be honest, the specifications and the images posted there, look very similar to the details already leaked out.
Although there is some variance in the description of a couple of the sites as one of the mentions that the V8 has 5.2” screen while the other one states that it will come with a 5.5-inch screen. Rest all the specifications remain the same.
It will be equipped with a 2.0GHz Kirin 950 processor and dual 12MP rear cameras. Huawei P9 also is coming with the same pair of cameras, however if you just remove Lecia certification, camera features should be exactly the same in both the devices.
The front-facing camera on the Huawei V8 is an 8 million pixel shooter, it comes with a 3000mAh battery and dual SIM card connectivity. The device is 6.95mm thick, weighing around 144g and runs on Android system 6.0 with Huawei’s EMUI on top.
The Huawei V8 will come in two variants 3GB RAM/32G ROM and 4G RAM/64G ROM (LPDDR4 1866MHz memory and eMMC 5.0 storage) and the price will be starting at $399 or 2590 yuan. As far as the accuracy of this leak is concerned, we will have to wait till the May 10 launch
We saw a white version of the device listed on one of the websites and it looked beautiful. It is built with a three-stage design, the middle is metal, and the front panel is covered with 2.5D glass with a bezel-less screen.
Vernee recently came into the limelight for its 6GB RAM smartphone, the Vernee Apollo. Since the reveal of the device, we have seen a few more flagships featuring 6GB RAM, making things even more competitive. But apart from the Apollo, the company has another smartphone in the pipeline, the Vernee Apollo Lite version which will feature slightly toned down specs for a cheaper price tag of $199.99. Today, Vernee has released more details about the phone’s battery.
Vernee reveals that the Apollo Lite will come with a 3180mAh battery which is pretty much standard among flagship these days. What’s more, the phone will come with Mediatek’s Pump express 3.0 fast charging feature which the company claims charges the phone from 0 to 75% in under 30 minutes.
The company also reveals that the phone comes with a brushed metal unibody design to make sure that it looks premium. Further the specs ensure that the phone will be quite competitive in today’s market.
To recap, the Vernee Apollo Lite comes with the Helio X20 deca-core chip under the hood with a 5.5-inch FHD arch display. Inside, you get 4GB of RAM and and 32GB of internal storage as standard. At the back, you have a 16MP camera, while on the front, there will be a 5MP shooter. Finally, the phone will run on the latest Android 6.0 Marshmallow OS out of the box. Other features of the phone include dual SIM, 4G LTE, compass, Gyroscope and USB Type-C port.
As you can see, despite its “Lite” name, the specs are pretty powerful. The company will officially unveil the device in May for $199.99. So stay tuned for more details in the coming weeks.
UMi seems to be doing things right this year, releasing some pretty good handsets in the market. UMi Touch can definitely be considered one of the best mid-rangers from the company this year, and the company now wants to know that the phone is as beautiful on the inside as it looks on the outside.
As you can see in the teardown video above, which the company released recently UMi seems to have done a good job with the inside of the device. Check out the video above for the complete teardown of the device.
The UMi Touch comes in a full metal unibody design with CNC cutting edge. The phone features a front facing fingerprint sensor, embedded into the home button. There will be three color options on this metal body, gold, silver and dark grey. Inside, you get a large 4000mAh battery which should be enough for a couple of days. This is fitted inside a slim 8.5mm body.
Inside, the phone features the MT6753 octa-core processor with Mali-T720 GPU. Up front, you get a 5.5-inch 1080p display. At the back, the phone comes with a 13MP camera with Sony IMX328 camera sensor, while up front, you get a 5MP shooter.
Xiaomi is all set to announce a new smartphone in its phablet lineup called as the Xiaomi Max. The company has been teasing about this phone for the past few days, but now, we have the first real life image of the Xiaomi Max. We can only see a part of the front of the Max, however, it looks like the earlier leaked front panel of the device was indeed of the new Xiaomi phablet.
From the new image, we can see that the company is going to use a symmetrical front design. The sensors are placed on the either side of the ear piece and looks much better than the previous placement of the sensors. This also kind of confirms that the earlier leaked front panel, which had the same design is indeed of the Xiaomi Max. I have added the panel down below, and you would immediately see the similarity.
Xiaomi’s SVP had earlier said that Xiaomi Max is not just a large screen phablet, but it would be designed keeping in mind the user experience of the customer. So, it looks like there would be a few changes in the design of the device, to make it more attractive and user friendly. Judging from the size of the phone in the picture, we can say that it should be of more than 6-inches. We can also see something shining on the sides, which could hint that the phone comes with a metal frame and back. But until we see the back of the device, we can’t be sure.
Recently, we came across the alleged benchmark results of the Mi Max model and it is said that the phone could be using a custom processor made by the company. Xiaomi is expected to release the handset in May this year, so expect more details in the next couple of weeks.
We had reported a few days back that Blackview was upgrading its rugged ‘BV’ smartphone lineup with a new model soon called as the Blackview BV6000. Unlike other rugged handsets which come with mediocre hardware, Blackview has made sure that its new rugged smartphone is not just about durability but also about performance. This is why you get the latest Helio P10 octa-core chipset that powers flagships such as OPPO R9 inside the BV6000.
However, since Blackview BV6000 is basically a rugged smartphone, the company showcased the device in a unique manner at the recent Global Sources Mobile Electronics HK 2016 event. The phone is IP68 certified, so it’s waterproof, dust proof and even shock proof to some extent.
This is why the company showed the device under water in a special setup. The phone seemed to work perfectly well even inside water. You can check out the video from above.
Coming to the BV6000’s specs, apart from the MT6755 octa-core chip, the phone features 3GB of RAM and 32GB of expandable internal storage. You get Android Marshmallow inside, another plus point for the phone. At the back, you have a 13MP f/2.0 aperture OV sensor and up front, there will be a 5MP OV 85 degrees wide angle shooter. Since this is an outdoor-centric device, the company has used a large 4500mAh battery inside to make sure that it lasts for more than a day. Given the 4.7-inch HD display protected by Gorilla Glass 3, you need not worry about the battery life of the phone.
Other special features of the phone include Wi-fi, NFC, Snapshot button, SOS button, 4G LTE, dual SIM dual standby and double click to wake. The phone will be launched sometime in May 2016 for less than $200. Stay tuned for more details.
The news that Xiaomi seems to have been discreetly developing its own processor has been doing rounds for some time. The question, however, is, will the first processor they develop be a high-end processor?
As per the sources, Mi developed processor codenamed Rifle, is ready and may be used in the upcoming device, Max. A benchmark leak also confirmed the same and the benchmark score of the device is also above 110,000.
However, Mobile China Alliance (MCA) Secretary-General, Lao Yao, recently said that Mi Max won’t be using this chipset. Also, if the other leaks are to be believed, Mi is still using a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor in Mi Max and it will be a full metal 6.4” phablet, with Mi logo and fingerprint scanner located at the back. It may come with a 4GB ram and may be priced at 3000+ RMB ($462).
We also have another leak from GFXBench that confirms other specifications listed above but mentions a Qualcomm Hexa-Core processor clocked at 1.8 GHz coupled with Adreno 510 GPU and 2 GB ram along with 16 GB internal memory.
We should not be surprised if the largest phone in Mi history, Mi Max, gets released next month itself. We, definitely, are looking forward to this launch, are you ?
The battery life is one of the key features of each phone and a lot of Chinese manufacturers try to solve that issue by producing phones with huge batteries. Cubot H2 is one of them and it is an affordable solution. Learn more in a full review.
16GB (expandable via microSD card slot up to 32GB)
Cubot H2 Review: DESIGN and DISPLAY
The design of the phone is pretty simple but I was really impressed with the build quality. A sturdy metal frame goes all around the device, the buttons have a great tactile feedback and the phone is really well-made.
One of the highlights is a huge 5000mAh battery inside the phone, which results in a total weight of 230g of the device.
Cubot H2 has a 5.5” 720p display, which is pretty good for an HD panel. It is quite sharp, the colours look nice and it is quite bright.
On the front we have an 8MP shooter and a customisable LED light. However, the capacitive buttons do not have a backlight.
The back is made of textured plastic, which is actually nice to the touch. We have a 13MP camera with a dual LED flash for photos.
The loudspeaker is placed on the back and the sound quality of it is average. It is pretty loud but, as usual to all budget phones, it lacks depth and the sound is tinny.
Overall, I’m really happy with the way this phone is built and a great choice of materials.
Cubot H2 Review: HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE
When it comes to hardware, Cubot H2 sports a quad-core MTK6735 chip with the clock speed of up to 1.3GHz, 3GB of RAM and 16GB of expandable storage.
3D games like Asphalt 8 run fine on medium graphics butsome stutter kicks in if you set graphics to the highest level.
Cubot H2 Review: BENCHMARKS
Cubot H2 Review: UI
Cubot H2 ships with Android 5.1 but the company added some changes to it.
For example, the app tray has been removed but we have some customisation options, gesture and motion controls and so on.
The most important thing is that the phone is very fast and responsive no matter what you do with it.
We reviewed a bunch of Cubot phones and they were all fast but the H2 has never had a stutter no matter what I did. That is really impressive for a budget device like this.
Cubot H2 Review: CAMERA
The picture quality is pretty good for the phone of this price category but it is not perfect as you may have expected. When there is a lot of light, you can take some nice looking images with a decent amount of detail. However, the camera struggles with dynamic range and some images have more noise than expected.
Naturally, the quality decreases with a lower amount of lighting.
As for selfie camera, it is not bad and it will definitely do the trick for social media needs.
The video quality is mediocre as the footage could look sharper. There is a continuous auto-focus feature but it is very slow to react. See a video review for a video sample or download it from the link below.
Call quality and signal reception are good and other connectivity options work fine.
Cubot H2 Review: BATTERY LIFE
A huge battery is one of the highlights of the phone and it performs great. I usually achieved over 6 hours of screen-on time while using the phone quite intensively. I could get over 7 hours of SOT on a light usage.
Cubot H2 Review: CONCLUSIONS
Cubot H2 costs over $130 and we need to answer if it is worth the money.
First, you may want to check this phone out if you need an affordable device with a great battery life, very good build quality, buttery smooth user interface and a pretty good display.
On the other hand, the camera is pretty good but it has some shortcomings. Also, the loudspeaker quality could be better and the capacitive buttons are not backlit.
All in all, Cubot H2 is a decent offering for the price and you may want to check it out if you don’t mind a few shortcomings.
Just when we thought things couldn’t get any better, ZUK Z2 Pro came into the picture. Chinese smartphone manufacturers are really trying to beat the competition by offering powerful specs at an affordable price tag that puts other flagships to shame. Le Max 2 was a powerful flagship coming with 6GB of RAM and Snapdragon 820 for just $386. But today, after ZUK Z2 Pro was announced, it looks like an even better deal. It may be slightly costlier than the Max 2, but it comes with so many features inside, that it actually brings a lot of value to the $416 price tag.
So, let’s take a look at the three major Chinese Snapdragon 820 powered flagships in the market today.
ZUK Z2 Pro vs Le Max 2 vs Xiaomi Mi 5
We are not going to take a look at the design of the three phones because that’s going to be a personal choice. Some like the Mi 5’s design while some like the ZUK Z2 Pro better. So, we leave it up to you to decide which has the best design.
Moving on, let’s look at the specs.
SCREEN:
ZUK Z2 Pro and Xiaomi Mi 5 fall in the category of compact flagships. So, if you are in the market for a small sized device, any of these two could be your best bet. Both come with 1080p resolutions. The Z2 Pro has a 5.2-inch screen while the Mi 5 has a 5.15-inch screen. On the other hand, the Le Max 2 is made for phablet lovers coming with a massive 5.7-inch display with 2K resolution.
SPECS:
All three have Snapdragon 820 chipsets under the hood, making the comparison fair. However, I would like to note that ZUK claims that the Z2 Pro comes with the best version of Snapdragon 820, taking its performance to a 100%. While we aren’t sure how significant will be the performance difference as compared to the other two, we will have to wait for a good review to reserve our judgement.
Coming to the memory department, let’s take a look at the best versions of the three models. The Mi 5 seems a bit left out, coming with just 4GB of RAM on board. So, it has begun, I just said — “just 4GB of RAM“! This is because the other two offer even more, a whopping 6GB of RAM. Both the Z2 Pro and Le Max 2 can make this claim which is really impressive. In the storage department, Mi 5 and Z2 Pro are the real winners with a massive 128GB ROM option. The Le Max 2 comes with a maximum of 64GB, even on the 6GB RAM model.
Now, coming to the camera, the ZUK Z2 Pro features a 13MP rear shooter with f/1.8 aperture lens, 1.34 microns pixel size and pixel isolation tech. You get both OIS and EIS (electronic image stabilization) on the device. Up front, you get an 8MP 1.4micron sensor. As for the Le Max 2, you will find a 21MP Sony IMX230 sensor with OIS and PDAF. Up front, there is an 8MP sensor. Finally, on the Xiaomi Mi 5, you have a 16MP camera, with 4-axis image stabilization tech and PDAF. On the front, it will have a 4MP Ultrapixel camera.
Both the Z2 Pro and Le Max 2 have 3100mAh battery inside. Mi 5 comes with a 3000mAh battery. All three support Quick Charge 3.0 standard, so you can charge your phone in almost an hour. With the larger display and the 2K resolution, the Le Max 2 should be the worst performer of the lot in terms of battery, at least on paper. But let’s wait for an actual review to confirm this.
As for the fingerprint sensor, the Mi 5 comes with a traditional one. The Le Max 2 features Qualcomm’s Ultrasonic sensor, while the Z2 Pro comes with an FPS sensor which works even with wet hands.
Coming to software, all three run on Android 6 Marshmallow on their respective skins. The MIUI is the most popular one, but the EUI isn’t too bad either. What we really want to see is the ZUK 2.0 software on the new flagship as we haven’t tested it out yet to see the features of the new UI.
When it comes to the additional features, the ZUK Z2 Pro does have an edge with 10 different professional sensors including blood oxygen, UV ray and heart rate sensor. You can read more about the unique features of the Z2 Pro from here. Another thing to note is that the Le Max 2 doesn’t come with a 3.5mm headphone jack, instead uses its USB Type-C port for connecting headphones.
PRICING:
All three are priced very close to each other. The new ZUK Z2 Pro 6GB RAM + 128GB storage variant will go on sale for an amazing $416. On the other hand, the 6GB RAM + 64GB ROM version of the Le Max 2 is even cheaper at $386. The Xiaomi Mi 5 looks like the less value for money option right now, coming with 4GB RAM + 128GB ROM for $417.
So, which one of these are you going to pick? In yesterday’s comparison poll, the Le Max 2 was winning quite easily, but I have a feeling that’s going to change after Z2 Pro’s entry.
Xiaomi Mi 5 is currently one of the popular Chinese flagships in the market and even after nearly two months of its release, the phone is not yet readily available for sale. The phone is made out of a combination of glass and metal which should essentially make it sturdy. However, if you think that the phone can take some beating, then you’ll be probably disappointed to see the video down below. In a video, it was seen that the Mi 5 easily bends and even breaks given the right pressure.
The video starts off with a basic scratch test and as we can see, the phone does well in this test. Gorilla glass on both the front as well as the back does a good job of protecting the phone to a great extent. Even the metal frame on the side isn’t affected much by some scratches. Next up was the heat test in which, the phone managed to perform well. Initially, we did see a few dead pixels on the screen but as soon as the heat source was taken away, the pixels came back to life. So, no real problems in this area.
However, when it came to the bend test, it was surprising that the Xiaomi Mi 5 turned out to be so easy to break. Given the right amount of pressure, you can easily break the phone into two pieces with your bare hands. As the reviewer claims, this is because the company has used an ordinary aluminum body and not the high-grade one used by other manufacturers. Also, there is just a single frame which doesn’t help the cause. Most manufacturers use double frame design which improves the rigidity of the device.
So, what does it tell you about the phone? Well, it looks like the company might have used cost effective materials on the device. However, this isn’t necessarily a big drawback given that your phone hardly will come under such kind of pressure. So, for most users, this shouldn’t be a big worry.
Still, after seeing this video, what are your thoughts on the Mi 5’s body?
We have today recieved a video from Elephone that shows off some of the Elephone P9000’s Hidden Features, Tips and Tricks
Allowing you to get the most from your shiny new Elephone P9000 handset.
The video shows off some of the great new features that are now available thanks to Android 6 Marshmallow, as well as some of the tweaks that Elephone have added to the phones UI.
Surprisingly, ZUK Z2 Pro turned out to be a pretty powerful handset. Last year’s Z1 was not a powerhouse, instead the company offered great performance at an affordable price tag. With the Z2 Pro, the strategy is a bit different, with ZUK trying to incorporate as many high-end features inside the device as possible. In fact, in our launch article, we had mentioned that the Z2 Pro boasts of being first in a number of features.
For example, it is the first phone with a full 3D mirror body design. The phone is also the first one to feature a front camera that can detect the heart rate of a person. There are a lot more features that can be considered as cool for a flagship smartphone of 2016, so let’s look at the top key features of the new ZUK Z2 Pro flagship smartphone.
The ZUK Z2 Pro is the first smartphone to use a full 3D Mirror glass body. You can check out some of the pictures from above to see what is meant by this design.
The flagship phone boasts of being the first one that comes with a heart rate monitor on the front camera. So, when you are taking selfies, it can display your heart rate besides the photo. Depending upon the situation and the person you are with, the heart rate will change. The company had shown this feature during the announcement event.
ZUK claims the Z2 Pro is the first smartphone to actually come with a fingerprint sensor that will work even with wet hands. So, if you want to use the phone besides a pool or after a workout, the phone will be ready for you. The sensor unlocks in 0.1 seconds.
Now, coming to an interesting feature. The phone boasts of being the first one with over 10 professional sensors inside. Here’s the entire list of the sensors found inside the flagship: gravity sensor, 3-axis gyroscope, three-axis magnetic sensor, proximity sensor, ambient light sensor, heart rate, blood oxygen sensor, a pressure sensor, ultraviolet sensors, and Hall effect sensor.
The new flagship also boasts of being the first phone to fully utilize the power of the Snadpragon 820 chipset. With the help of optimizations, the company claims that it could utilize 100% power from the quad-core chipset, which helps it score nearly 145K on the AnTuTu benchmarking app.
You can easily sync the data on your Z2 Pro onto the iCloud. So, if you ever have to restore the contents on your device, just restore it directly from the cloud.
So, that was all the important features of the newly announced ZUK Z2 Pro. Just when we thought that the Le Max 2 with its 6GB RAM and Snapdragon 820 chipset was going to rule the market for some time, the Z2 Pro has arrived. It would be interesting to see how these two phones compare against each other. You can read more about the specs of the device from here.
A ZUK Z2 Pro vs Le Max 2 comparison article is coming your way as we speak, so stay tuned!
Lenovo today announced Zuk Z2 Pro in Beijing’ Capital Gymnasium. However, in addition to the announcement of Zuk Z2 Pro and pricing details, Lenovo revealed some information about Motorola’s upcoming device.
Yang Yuanqing, Lenovo’s CEO, said Motorola will be releasing a new device on June 9, but the model name and other details have not been revealed yet. Mr. Yang added that the new product will be nothing less than “exciting”.
Going by the recent leaks, Motorola currently seems to be working on two new devices, the Moto G4 as well as Moto G4 Plus. A leaked hands-on video of the former has already been doing rounds since a few days.
The overall design still carries the classic style of Motorola cell phones. It may come with a metal frame and a squarish fingerprint sensor housed in a home button on the front panel of the device, is the biggest change.
However, Moto G series has always been positioned for the low-end market segment, such products would hardly be regarded as “exciting”.
At CES earlier this year, Lenovo had teamed up with Google and displayed a mysterious new Project Tango project based device, which sported an augmented reality interactive 3D scene scanner. Are we about to see this device as Motorola’s new product? For a change, a launch date and time has been declared. It’s going to be an exciting time as we wait for the specific details.
In an event yesterday, a first of its kind in the Industry, LeEco, announced four products from four different segments. The company launched Mobile Phones, VR Headset, Televisions and a Car. LeEco announced Le 2, Le2 Pro and Le Max 2 at a very pocket-friendly price of 1099 yuan, 1399 yuan, and 2099 yuan, respectively.
As the press conference drew to the end, Feng Xing, President of Mobile Business at LeEco, said that at the time of joining the company in 2014 he wanted to take the mobile business from scratch to 3 Million handset sales within the first year. Within first seven months itself, they were able to sell 4 Million handsets.
Feng Xing said with at the current pace and the recent developments at LeEco, the overall mobile phone sales will soon exceed 10 million units, and this year’s goal is 15 million units sale.
He mentioned that, after seeing the performance of sales of Le 1S, channel partners trust has been strengthened and they feel that the second generation phones will sell like hot cakes. China Unicom itself sees a case of selling 6 million phones instead of 3 Million.
As per the last release yesterday, within 3 hours of the launch event 4 million people had registered for the second generation superphone’s first sale.
It is also reported that the 1st sale of the 3 recently released superphones will be held at 10:00am on April 26. However, the company is planning to sell only 1 Million phones in this sale, which means only 1 out of 4 people who registered for the sale will be lucky enough to get the device.
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We have a 5MP snapper along with the LED notification light on the top.
Today afternoon, @ice universe, the man who often leaks details about Samsung smartphones on Weibo, revealed about the processor on the device “Samsung Note 6 to have the MSM8996 Pro (Snapdragon 823).”
