Ulefone Future Flash Deal On Wednesday At $199.99, Limited Units Offered

By

-

May 2, 2016

If you have been keeping track of the Chinese smartphone market, you would know that Ulefone has announced the Ulefone Future bezel-less smartphone. The phone will be offered for sale for a price tag of $239.99, however, a limited number of lucky customers can get this device for even less, for an amazing price tag of $199.99.

Ulefone has informed us that there will be 2000 units available for purchase during the flash sale on May 4, i.e. Wednesday. The flash sale will start at GMT +8 17:00 and will continue till all the 2000 units are sold out. One tip, the company says that more number of units will be offered on Aliexpress during the flash sale than standalone websites, so you may have a better chance of bagging the phone from there.

Now, there is a good chance that you might not be able to get hold of one of the units of the Ulefone Future during the Flash sale on May 4. Even then, don’t be disappointed. The bezel-less device can still be yours for a slightly higher price tag of $239.99. For this price, you get some additional accessories, 7 in total, instead of just USB Type-C cable offered alongside the device during the flash sale on Wednesday.

As for the specs, the Ulefone Future comes with a 5.5-inch FHD bezel-less display, with a side mounted fingerprint sensor, Helio P10 chipset, 4GB RAM, 32GB of ROM, 16MP Samsung sensor, USB Type-C and a 3000mAh battery with 9V / 2V ~ 3A fast charging.

Pre-sale link:

http://ulefone.com/page-future-presale.html

Since this is a yet to be released device, Ulefone has also released a number of pictures of the Ulefone Future as well as videos for consumers to check out the device before purchase. You can see them all from down below.

New video:

Introducing the Ulefone Future:

Meizu Pro 6 Could Have a “Lite” Version With 3GB RAM

By

Joel Joseph

-

May 2, 2016

Meizu surprised us all last month by unveiling not one, but three new handsets. After keeping quiet for the initial three months of the year, the company decided it was time to update all of the three major lineups in April, namely Meizu M3, Meizu M3 Note and Meizu Pro 6. While these three phones are already announced, there could be more. We have heard rumors about the Meizu MX6 launching sometime in the second half of this year and now, thanks to a Geekbench listing, it looks like there is a possibility of a Meizu Pro 6 Lite version as well.

The Geekbench listing reveals that there is a slightly toned down Meizu Pro 6 variant, with 3GB RAM on board. In case you remember, the Pro 6 flagship is the first phone in the market to run on the new Helio X25 chipset which is an overclocked and faster version of the X20. While we would expect the toned downed version to feature the slower Helio X20 chip, it looks like the phone has the same MT6795T i.e. Helio X25.

The scores are pretty amazing, with the model scoring 2061 in the single-core test and an impressive 6691 in the multi-core test. Both the test scores are better than the original Pro 6’s score, which gets only around 1800 in the single-core and 6200-6300 in the multi-core test.

However, we are not quite sure whether this would end up being announced as the listing is of March 22, which is way before the Pro 6 was officially announced. It is possible that this is a prototype model that was being tested before launch. So, we better wait for some more concrete details about the device.

Xiaomi Max New Render Surfaces, Should Come With A Metal Body

By

Joel Joseph

-

May 2, 2016

Next week, on May 10, Xiaomi will officially announce the Xiaomi Max phablet, the company’s first phone that will feature a 6-inch+ display. We have been hearing a lot about the device in the past few days, including the specs and the features of the device, and now, a new alleged render of the phone has surfaced online.

The new Xiaomi Max phablet is said to come with a 6.4-inch display. This would make it a true phablet, which means it will be quite big. The new render does give us an idea about the form factor of the device, along with some other details. It looks like the Max will be designed a bit different than the Mi 5, abandoning the front facing fingerprint sensor embedded in the home button. Instead, there will be three capacitive keys. This could actually be a good sign, since for such a large device, home button isn’t the ideal fingerprint location. Also, on top, you can see that the placement of the sensors are quite symmetrical, as revealed by earlier leaks.

The frame of the phone is made out of metal and from the antenna lines seen near the bottom of the back cover, it looks like the device will feature a metal body. This could be a necessary move by the company since we saw earlier in a stress test video, Xiaomi didn’t last long under pressure. So, for a phablet of this size, metal would be ideal to keep it sturdy and strong.

As for the specs, the Xiaomi Max phablet is expected to come in two variants, one with 2GB RAM + 16GB ROM and another with 3GB RAM + 32GB ROM. There should be the hexa-core Snapdragon 650 chipset inside. Also, the screen size is expected to be of 6.4-inches with 1080p resolution.

The company will officially announce the device along with the new MIUI 8 OS on May 10. So, stay tuned for more details.

Huawei CEO: 2K Displays Are Unnecessary & Barely Enough For VR

By

Joel Joseph

-

May 2, 2016

Since last year, Huawei’s CEO Richard Yu has been pretty outspoken on the use of 2K displays on smartphones. He stated earlier that it was unnecessary for manufacturers to use such high-resolution displays on their flagship models, since a regular consumer won’t be able to distinguish between a 1080p panel and a 2K panel. But recently, he revealed that Huawei was going to release 2K resolution smartphones this year, which came as a surprise. Through his Weibo account, he did explain the change in his decision. He revealed that such high-resolution screens were necessary for VR, which is why the company will launch 2K phones in 2016.

So, is Richard Yu now a fan of 2K display smartphones?

Not exactly. In fact, recently, he further explained why 2K screen is not necessary for smartphone displays. He revealed that 2K screen on a screen of size 6.5-inches or less would not make much sense since the human eye won’t be able to distinguish the difference between 2K and 1080p. So, using such high-resolution screen would just be a gimmick and wouldn’t add any real value to the device in terms of display experience. Further, a high-resolution screen also means more power consumption, which is bad for the battery life of the device.

So, at the time Honor V8 hit TENAA, I was wondering why Huawei decided to use the high-resolution 2K screen on the Honor series and not on the Huawei P9 flagship models. Now we know why. Richard added that the only reason Honor series gets a 2K phone is because of the need to keep up with the latest tech advancements, mainly VR. And because Huawei didn’t want any gimmicks on the flagship Huawei P9 series, the company decided to stick with 1080p resolution. So, it looks like only the Honor series will be getting 2K screens for now.

He also said earlier that Huawei has perfected 2K display technology. While he didn’t reveal what he meant by this statement back then, later on, he explained that the Kirin 950 chipset and its GPU was powerful enough to power a 2K resolution screen. Further, the chip is not only powerful but also efficient, making sure that the battery life was decent as well.

But if you are thinking that 2K display smartphones are the perfect companion for VR headsets, then you are wrong. If you have ever tried VR, you would immediately realize that even in 2K, the images look a bit pixelated. This is because the resolution is split between your two eyes and the actual image you see is much bigger than the smartphone screen size. So, although 2K might be okay for VR, it is definitely not the best option out there.

This brings us to the question, so is 4K resolution screen the solution to this problem? Possibly, but then imagine the power consumption by the panel, which would make existing batteries run out in just a few hours, which is not acceptable. So, for now, 2K seems to be the logical solution for VR, but expect things to change in the months to come.

Samsung Galaxy Note 6 : New Rumor reveals 256GB ROM, 5.8-inch Display & More

By

Jitendra Soni

-

May 2, 2016

After the success of S7, Samsung will be releasing its next generation large screen device Galaxy Note 6. This will be launched in August 2016 around the launch of its main competitor flagship device Apple iPhone 7.

Samsung Galaxy Note 6’s configuration were leaked out again on Weibo. While we knew some of the configurations, few of them were heard for the first time. First of all, Note 6 will be powered by a 5.8-inch screen (5.77 inches, to be precise), and the resolution should also be 2K. It will have a Qualcomm Snapdragon 823 processor is an upgraded version of the current processor Snapdragon 820 found in all the current flagships. There are talks about the another version of the Note 6 which will house the latest Exynos processor.

Continuing the trend of latest flagships, like Vivo Xplay5 and LeMax 2, Note 6 will indeed have a 6GB ram. This device will be supported by Samsung’s DRAM production line, hence production capacity and supply should not be any problem.

Going by the leaks, Note 6 will have 256GB internal memory. We are not sure if it will support extendable memory. However, with 256GB already in your device, we don’t think anybody will ever need to extend it further.

Battery life should also not be a problem on galaxy Note 6 as a 4200 mAH battery will power the device and will come with fast charge support. S7’s award-winning IP68 waterproof and dustproof technology will be extended to Note 6 as well, and underwater operation certainly will not be an issue.

In terms of screen, like the S7, Samsung is likely to continue with the same tradition of 2 variants, one with a curved screen, dubbed as the edge, other with a plain surface. But for the exact specifications, we will have to wait till the launch date nears.

Xiaomi Mi Band 2 With Display Spotted In A Newly Leaked Real Life Image

By

Joel Joseph

-

May 1, 2016

Last year, Xiaomi updated its wearable lineup with the Mi Band 1S which was a gentle upgrade to the earlier generation model, adding a heart rate sensor on board. Now, the company is reportedly all set to launch the Xiaomi Mi Band 2 model next week on May 10. We had already seen the Mi Band 2 on the hands of the company CEO, Lei Jun, a few weeks back. Now, new real life image of the wearable has been leaked, revealing more information about the upcoming device.

From this image, it looks like Xiaomi is going with the same design as the previous generation models. So, the actual wearable unit will be removable from its band. This also means we can expect a lot of color and band style options for the upcoming device. Further, as revealed in previous reports, we can see that the new Mi Band 2 will come with a display on board. Earlier generation models came with indicator lights but it showed limited information. A majority of the details were revealed via the companion Mi Fit app connected to the smartphone. But that may change with the new generation, thanks to the display.

Also, it is said that the new model will retail for the same price as the previous generation Mi Band 1S. So, we can expect the Mi Band 2 to start at around 99 Yuan which comes to just $16. If true, this would turn out to be a great cheap wearable option for fitness enthusiasts, with a display as well as a heart rate sensor on board.

The company is expected to unveil the new Mi Band 2 alongside the Xiaomi Mi Max phablet on May 10.

OnePlus 3 Could Be Priced At 1999 Yuan ($310), Rumored To Come In Two Versions

By

Joel Joseph

-

May 1, 2016

We all know that the OnePlus 3 flagship will be coming real soon. In fact, just recently we saw the first possible camera sample from the device, shared directly by CEO, Pete Lau. Now, we have received exclusive information about the upcoming flagship, thanks to an employee within the company.

One of the most important details leaked today is the pricing. Our source tells us that the OnePlus 3 will be priced at 1999 Yuan or $310. This price should be for the base variant of the device, and would make it cheaper than the OnePlus 2’s price at launch ($329).

The source also reveals that the OnePlus 3 will come in two variants, a standard one which will feature Snapdragon 820, 4GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. In addition to this, there would be a high-end variant as well, featuring the same Snapdragon 820 chip but with 6GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage. The second version would naturally be priced higher than the standard version, but at present, we have no information about the same.

Earlier rumors have said that the phone will be announced around May 18 and will go on sale sometime early June. There were a lot many details revealed by that leak, about which you can read from here.

So, if the information from the employee turns out to be true, we would be getting another Snapdragon 820 smartphone at $310. This means another flagship to take on the Xiaomi Mi5!

UMi Super, 6GB RAM, Type-C Audio standard, under 300$

By

Shine Wong

-

Apr 30, 2016

If you haven’t heard about UMi Super, this is a new phone UMi trying very hard to make it lives up to Super. Previously it’s rumored will be a dual-camera phone with Bezel-less Super AMOLED screen. Sounds superb right.

This is not yet. Today our insider sent us another super leak.

Rumor UMi is promoting USB Type-C for their Super’s audio standard and a ultra fast charging technology. Furthermore this Super phone might come with 6GB RAM pricing around 300$.

What CPU does this UMi Super use that can support 6GB RAM? I guess we all know the answer – the famous Qualcomm Snapdragon 820. Speaking of Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset, UMi released their first snapdragon phone back in late summer of 2015, UMi eMAX mini, which you can find it on Amazon for $150 . It was the creature between TCL and UMi. Seems like their marriage hasn’t end yet. Are they working close together again on their Super child?

What will be next?

Poll: Will you pay 300$ for a 6GB RAM phone?

Huawei CEO Says They Have Perfected 2K Screen Technology

By

Joel Joseph

-

Apr 28, 2016

Last year, Huawei CEO Richard Yu had made fun of rival Chinese smartphone makers like Xiaomi and Meizu for using 2K displays. He had said that such high resolution on a smartphone display was unnecessary and adversely affected the battery life of the phone. But recently, in a weibo post, he revealed that Huawei smartphone will soon come equipped with Quad HD displays. And a couple of days back, we saw on TENAA that the upcoming Huawei Honor V8 was going to be the first Huawei smartphone with a 2K display.

Now, Richard Yu reveals more information about his decision to go with 2K display this year. He revealed earlier today that 2K display technology brings a lot of problems like heat, high power consumption, decline in life etc. Many manufacturers used this technology in advance at the cost of the experience of the user. But now, he states that Huawei has perfected 2K screen technology. Another good reason for using 2K display is that it is a perfect fit for VR.

So, now, it makes sense to use 2K screens on smartphones. We have seen many companies going back from 2K to 1080p on their flagship phones due to the disadvantages associated with such high-resolution displays. But we will have to wait and see Huawei’s take on 2K displays and how better are they as compared to current competitors in the market.

Interestingly, the Huawei P9 series doesn’t have a model with a 2K screen. Instead, the Honor V8, which is supposed to be the affordable flagship lineup will get such a high-resolution variant. Another highlight of the V8 series is going to be the dual cameras at the back, but it is said that the setup is without the Leica certification.

The company will unveil the series on May 10, the same day as the release of the Xiaomi Max, Mi Band 2 and MIUI 8. So, things are going to be exciting for us Chinese phone lovers on that day.

Huawei Kirin 650 In Detail: CPU, GPU & More

By

Joel Joseph

-

Apr 28, 2016

Earlier today, Huawei announced the Honor 5C affordable mid-ranger at an event in Beijing, China. The phone comes at an amazing price tag of just $138, which is pretty impressive. But along with this phone, the company also debuted the new Kirin 650 chipset, which will be the direct successor to the Kirin 620 chip which powered low-end devices of last year. Given that Huawei has come a long way as a smartphone chip maker, it’s time to look at what the Kirin 650 offers to us as consumers.

Kirin

First of all, the major highlight of the new chip is that it is manufactured on an much more efficent node than competitors. The Huawei Kirin 650 is built on the 16nm FinFET plus process from TSMC, which is much better than the 28nm process used by rivals such as Helio X10 and even Snapdragon 616.

As for the specs of the chip, it comes with ARM’s big.LITTLE architecture with 4 x Cortex A53 cores clocked at 2.0GHz and 4 x Cortex A53 cores clocked at 1.7GHz. Even in the GPU department, there’s an upgrade as compared to the previous generation. Now, it is using the Mali T830 MP2 dual-core GPU which is a big upgrade from last year’s Kirin 620. How big you ask? The company claims that in the CPU department, the new gen chip sees an improvement of 60% while in the GPU department, you’ll find 100% increase in performance.

The chip also comes with the i5 co-processor which aids the CPU in various tasks. The co-processor is low power consuming, and hence, handles some specific tasks much more efficiently. Then there’s the company’s self-developed ISP which helps adjust dynamic range and supports hybrid technology focus which reportedly helps take better pictures with your smartphone.

In addition, the Kirin 650 also comes with its own HiSEE security solution which helps in mobile payments, call encryption etc. It also features the new wireless chip Hi1102 which supports infrared, FM, GPS, Compass etc. So, it comes with standard connectivity features supported by most chips these days.

Despite its mid-range placement, Kirin 650 is still one of the important chips for the company now. This is because the chip comes with support for a wide number of networks, in other words, full netcom support. It should support all three major networks in China. Company reveals that the chip will come with support for TD-LTE / FDD-LTE / TD-SDCMA / WCDMA / GSM and even CDMA networks. Further, you get Cat. 7 LTE support with speeds of up to 300 Mbps. Then, there’s VoLTE support as well.

honor 5c 024

Interestingly, the Huawei 5C powered by this Kirin 650 chip actually doesn’t come with full netcom support. This came as a surprise given that the chip was capable, yet the phone was not provided support for the additional networks. Later, an analyst from China revealed that this was due to the need for software optimizations. He said that full netcom support could be added with just an update to the baseband in the future.

So, it looks like this will be the chip that will drive the low-end and mid-range segment of the company. We can expect the still unannounced Huawei P9 Lite to become the second phone with this chip on board.

In the recent leaked benchmark test of the Kirin 650, the chip scores lower than Helio X10, which was a bit disappointing. But let’s wait for some real life performance and benchmark tests of the chipset to make conclusions about this newly released SoC.

Pre-Sale Of The Bezel-less Ulefone Future Kick Off From May 4 At Just $199.99

By

Joel Joseph

-

Apr 28, 2016

Smartphone manfuacturers seems to be obsessed about screen bezels. We have seen a few bezel-less smartphones from Chinese companies like Nubia, but now local smartphone makers like Ulefone are also invested in this technology. We have been hearing about the company’s first bezel-less smartphone, namely the Ulefone Future since MWC 2016, and now, the phone will finally go on pre-sale from May 4.

As a part of the initial promotion of the handset, the company will be offering the Ulefone Future for just $199.99, instead of the original price tag of $249.99. This is a good $70 discount from the earlier revealed price tag, making it quite an attractive option. However, this price is only for a limited number of units.

The company informs us that 2000 units of the Ulefone Future will be made available for sale on May 4 at 5PM (GMT +8) via 10 different partner stores of the company simultaneously. After the flash sale is over, the phone will be available for purchase for a slightly higher price tag of $239.99 until the pre-sale period is over i.e. May 25. This price includes the various accessories that the company will be providing along with your purchase, like 9V 2~3A fast charger, USB Type-C cable, USB Type-C to MicroUSB adapter, TPU case, screen protector, and dust plug. In case you are wondering, the orders placed during the flash sale at $199.99 will only come with the USB Type-C cable for accessories.

Coming to the specs of the phone, the Ulefone Future will come a bezel-less 5.5-inch display with the Helio P10 octa-core chip inside and 4GB of RAM. There will be 32GB of storage on board, a side mounted fingerprint scanner, 16MP Samsung S5K3P3 rear camera sensor with PDAF and dual tone LED flash and a 3000mAh battery with 9V 2A~3A fast charge. As for software, the phone runs on Android 6.0.

There will be two colors available to choose from, grey and golden.

Pre-sale link: http://ulefone.com/page-future-presale.html
Future page: http://ulefone.com/products/future/features.html

Huawei Mate 9 Rumored To Come With 20MP Dual Camera Setup

By

Joel Joseph

-

Apr 28, 2016

In the past few years, Huawei has invested a lot in its smartphone division. The company sold over 100 million phones in 2015 alone and is all set to best this figure by a considerable margin this year. This month itself, Huawei released two new devices, namely the high-end Huawei P9 flagship and the mid-range affordable Huawei 5C. But there are many other phones to come like the Huawei Honor V8 and even the mighty Mate 9. While technically, it has been just a few months since the current generation Mate 8 started selling, rumors about the next gen model have already started to come in.

huawei-mate-8-specs-leaked-02

Yesterday, Pan Jiutang revealed some of the possible specs of the Huawei Kirin 960 chipset. Along with that information, he further added that Huawei’s Mate 9 flagship will feature this chip inside, most likely making it the first in the market. The upcoming Kirin 960 is expected to be much better than Kirin 950, featuring the still unannounced ARM’s Artemis cores and an octa-core architecture.

Along with this information, he also revealed that Huawei Mate 9 could come with 20MP dual rear cameras. As we know, the company is not new to the concept of dual cameras, with the most recent flagship Huawei P9 featuring 12MP dual cameras certified by Leica. While the source didn’t reveal whether the setup on the Mate 9 will also be certified by Leica, it’s possible, since Huawei seems to be invested heavily in this partnership with the legendary lens maker.

The Kirin 960 chip is also expected to upgrade the baseband to support Cat. 12 LTE speeds as well as CDMA networks. So, it could become the first true full netcom chipset from the company. Even the GPU is expected to be upgraded to an octa-core setup, which would definitely boost the graphics performance of the chip.

So, it looks like the Mate 9 is going to be a powerful flagship. Considering the usual release period of the company, we can expect the Mate 9 to meet us sometime late 2016.

Oppo and Vivo Surpass Xiaomi and Lenovo in the Global Smartphone Sales For Q1 2016

By

Jitendra Soni

-

Apr 28, 2016

According to the IDC Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker for the first quarter of 2016, Oppo and Vivo have tipped off Xiaomi and Lenovo from the top 5 smartphone vendors in Q1 2016. Samsung, Apple, and Huawei remain at the top 3 positions. Overall, there were 334.9 million smartphones shipped worldwide in the first quarter of 2016, IDC said.

Samsung‘s smartphone shipments declined 0.6 percent. Galaxy S7 and S7 edge and J-series were the focus areas for Samsung. While Apple’s smartphone volumes slipped to 51.2 million units, down 16.3 percent, a first in 13 years.

Huawei has on the other hand gained from the likes of P9, Mate Series, and Nexus 6, along with entry level devices from its Honor brand. Huawei shipped 27.5 million devices with a growth of over 58 percent!

OPPO registered a growth of staggering 153.2 percent and shipped 18.5 million smartphones. OPPO’s growth has been the strongest among the top 5 smartphone makers in the world. Although OPPO is a very unfamiliar name in western countries, it derives 20 percent of its sales from overseas markets.

Vivo, which clocked 123.8 percent growth has less than 10 percent of its overall sales from markets outside China. The company shipped 14.3 million units during this time.

“Lenovo benefited with ASPs below US$150 in 2013, and Xiaomi picked up the mantle with ASPs below $200 in 2014 and 2015. Now Huawei, OPPO, and vivo, which play mainly in the sub-$250 range, are positioned for a strong 2016,” said Melissa Chau, senior research manager with IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker.

Apple also has faced a steep decline of approximately 25 percent, still it is at number 2 with an overall market share of 15 percent globally. While, Samsung’s numbers were roughly the same for the quarter of global smartphone sales.

Xiaomi Official Confirms Mi Smartwatch Launch In Second Half Of 2016

By

Joel Joseph

-

Apr 28, 2016

Along with the Xiaomi Max, we can expect to meet the Xaiomi Mi Band 2 as well as the new MIUI 8 OS at the May 10 event. However, we still haven’t received any official confirmations from the company regarding the existence or the launch of a Mi smartwatch. But that just changed today, as Liu De, the co-founder and Vice President of Xiaomi revealed at a conference in Beijing that the Mi smartwatch does exist and is ready!

He further added that the company will announce the wearable in the second half of 2016, which means sometime after May. It looks like the launch of the smartwatch has been slightly delayed as the CEO of Huami, the company which actually manufacturers the Mi Band had revealed the Mi Band as well as the Mi smartwatch will meet us in Q2 2016. After hearing Liu De’s comment today, it looks like the watch will most likely debut only after a few months.

This is the first time the company has acknowledged the existence of the Mi smartwatch. This comes just after the company released a new smartwatch for kids priced at just 299 Yuan ($46). So, it looks like the company has quite the interest in the wearable industry. Not surprising given that it’s Mi Band wearable is doing so well.

He also revealed that the company currently is not planning to release automobiles, unlike rivals such as LeEco. Instead, it is interested in products catering to the needs of short travel, so we can expect products such as electric bikes and self-balancing walking robots like Ninebot. Finally, he said that the company would focus on establishing offline outlets this year. He also gave a figure, so we can expect around 60 such outlets by the end of the year.

Given that an executive has already confirmed the existence and launch of the Mi smartwatch, we can soon expect more details about the wearable in the coming days. Meanwhile, let’s wait and see what Xiaomi has in store for us for the next Mi Band version on May 10.

Till that time, you can check out the details revealed by Huami CEO, Wang about the two wearables from here.

All Metal Honor 5C Official With 16nm Kirin 650 Chip, Priced At Just $138

By

Joel Joseph

-

Apr 28, 2016

After announcing the Huawei P9 flagships earlier this month, the company has revealed a new mid-range smartphone, the Huawei 5C in China. This particular model will succeed the Huawei Honor 4C smartphone that was released back in 2015. The phone comes with modest specs, but with an aggressive price tag of $138.

As for the design, the Honor 5C comes with an all metal body, which looks quite premium for its price. You get Honor branding on both the front as well. There’s a fingerprint sensor at the back, just below the camera. So, overall, Huawei seems to have done a good job with the phone’s design.

Coming to the specs, the Huawei Honor 5C will feature the new Kirin 650 octa-core chipset as expected. It will be built on 16nm FinFet Plus process from TSMC. Further, there is Mali-T830 MP2 GPU, with support for Cat. 6 LTE networks. The phone will sport a 5.2-inch 1080p display with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of expandable storage. There will be a 16MP rear camera with an 8MP front facing shooter. The battery is also decent, with a capacity of 3000mAh. As for the software, the phone will run on Android Marshmallow 6.0 with EMUI 4.1 on top.

Huawei also reveals the phone features fingerprint 2.0 standard, which can unlock the device in just 0.5 seconds. It also supports fingerprint payments, something that will come in handy soon since Huawei Pay has been launched in China.

There’s another version of the phone, dual 4G variant one that retails for 999 Yuan ($154). So, what are your thoughts on this cheap phone from Huawei?

OnePlus 3 First Camera Sample Revealed, Looks So Good!

By

Jitendra Soni

-

Apr 28, 2016

Off late Chinese Smartphone industry has matured to a great extent. The configuration and quality of devices can easily be compared to flagships of major global brands. Every device that comes out has top notch hardware, however, what these phones lack in, if at all, is the quality research that goes into creating a perfect device.

Over the period of time and after gaining experience in the market brands like, Xiaomi, Huawei etc. have started innovating. For Instance, Mi 5 has an incredible 4-axis image stabilisation technology which produces amazingly stable videos and images even if the device is highly mobile. Huawei P9 is a dual camera phone with Lecia certification!! The Meizu PRO 6 is not far behind, as the phone is equipped with ten ring flash at the back. These sort of innovative products come with experience and these three, Mi, Meizu and Huawei are leading in innovation.

Another young brand that is quietly innovating and is trying to come up with a really good all-round device is OnePlus. Yesterday evening, OnePlus CEO, Liu Zuohu aka Pete Lau posted a photo on his microblogging a/c with a caption “Park”. On first look, one may simply ignore this as a random shot. But if you closely see the image, then you realise that it is captured with a mobile device. Now relate the same with the upcoming OnePlus 3 for a moment and everything falls in place.

This image has near perfect Depth of Field or Bokeh Effect, the details captured, colour reproduction is worth noticing. Is Liu Zuohu trying to hint that the highlight of “OnePlus 3” will be its camera? Prior to this post as well we know that OnePlus is working on its next flagship which is most likely to be launched in May, thus his post becomes very relevant.

What we already know about OnePlus 3 is that it will have Snapdragon 820 processor, 4GB ram along with 64GB internal storage. It may come with 2 memory option, like its predecessors. It will have an 8MP front and 16 MP rear camera and will support full NetCom. Other features may include a fingerprint sensor and fast charge. But for the price will OnePlus still continue with around $300 for the OnePlus 3 ?

Exclusive: New Moto G4 Cases Leaked, Confirms Vertical Camera Setup & Square Home Button

By

Joel Joseph

-

Apr 27, 2016

Every once in a while, our sources send us information about upcoming smartphones. Today, we have received some pictures of the cases of the upcoming Moto G4 handset. These images conform with the earlier leaked design of the handset.

So, what can we take from these leaked cases for the Moto G4? First of all, it looks like the company will incorporate a square physical home button on the device. Previous leaks have from leaksters such as NWE have already shown us this unique design in images, so it doesn’t come as a surprise. Another interesting thing revealed by these cases is the camera setup at the back. Traditionally, smartphone manufacturers prefer placing the camera sensor and the flash horizontally at the back. However, this time around, the company has arranged the sensor and flash in a vertical setup. Also, from the image, it looks like the power and volume buttons are placed on the right side of the device. The headphone jack would be on top, right in the center.

According to previous rumors, there will be two versions in the Moto G lineup this year, namely the Moto G4 and the Moto G4 Plus. Both the handsets are said to come with a 5.5-inch display which would be interesting since the current generation Moto G handset features a much more compact 5-inch screen. Other specs of the Moto G4 include 13MP rear camera and 16GB of internal storage. The G4 Plus is said to come with the same sized screen but with a better 16MP rear shooter.

No more specs information about the two handsets are available yet. But, the CEO had hinted back at the ZUK Z2 Pro launch that we will meet a new Moto G handset on June 9, and it’s quite possible that it will be the Moto G4 and G4 Plus phones.

Xiaomi Rumored To Release More Variants Of the Mi 5, Including One With Dual Cameras

By

Joel Joseph

-

Apr 27, 2016

Recently, Xiaomi released two new versions of the Mi 5 flagship, namely Mi 5 Gold Edition and Mi 5 Pro White Edition with a glass body. However, it looks like Xiaomi might have many more Mi 5 versions in the coming months. According to the latest rumors from China, the company seems to be preparing a number of special colors as well as materials for the device.

Mi 5 Gold version featured

So, what are all the expected versions of the Xiaomi Mi 5? First up, and the one we are most interested about is the Xiaomi Mi 5 dual camera edition. While information about the setup or release date is unclear at the moment, if it turns out to be true, it would be the first dual camera smartphone from the company. Naturally, given the setup, we can expect the phone to be costlier than the current models and the specs should be similar to the Mi 5 Pro top-end edition.

Next up, is the Xiaomi Mi 5 Metal edition. This particular model should come with an all metal body instead of glass or ceramic as found on the Mi 5 and Mi 5 Pro black version respectively. So, customers would be able to choose between three different materials for the Mi 5 including the all metal one.

Xiaomi Mi5

Even there are different color options for the Mi 5. For the first time, you can choose between Mi 5 Gold and Purple colors and these models will go on sale in the next flash sale on Friday. There are Black and White versions of the device as well.

To make things easier to distinguish, the company can release these models with different names, such as Mi 5 dual or Mi 5 Metal. But at present, we don’t have concrete details about the same. What we do know is that the company is trying out different materials and colors for its flagship and we could soon see additional versions of the device.

Stay tuned for more details in the coming days. Meanwhile, check out our previous coverage on the new Gold edition of the Mi 5. I have explained the different versions there, which should help you to understand the number of variants available in the market right now.

Mi Max Price Leaked Before Launch, Quite Cheap!

By

Jitendra Soni

-

Apr 27, 2016

Mi will be officially releasing Mi Max, Mi Band 2 and MIUI8 on 10th May, we are already aware of that. What we also know is that Mi Max will have a 6.4” screen and is designed for heavy users as it will house a huge battery too. However, its price along with some important features have also been leaked now.

Sources now have revealed information more than Mi’s liking. The Mi Max will be sporting a 1080p 6.44-inches screen, equipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 650 processor. It will come with a HUGE 4500mAh battery, a fingerprint sensor at the back and will support dual SIM China Netcom. All this, priced at just 1299 CNY or USD $200!!

However, on the basis of the information received from the 3C certification centre, Mi Max, unfortunately, will not support fast charging technology. It may take up to 3.5 hours to charge its mammoth 4500mAh battery from 0-100%. However, we still feel that this price of 1299 CNY or USD $200 is very impressive.

What are your thoughts?

Helio X30 Chip Details Leaks Out:10nm Process, UFS 2.1 & Deca-Core Design

By

Joel Joseph

-

Apr 27, 2016

Today, we saw details about the Kirin 960 as well as the Snapdragon 830 chipsets. The same source also revealed some details about the upcoming Mediatek flagship chipset, namely the Helio X30. Today’s report comes via two different sources, one is a noted analyst, Pan Jiutang who also revealed details about the above two chips and another is a frequent leakster black_digital, who had previously revealed info about the X30 chip.

Helio

So, let’s see what Mediatek could have in store for us for 2016. According to the analyst, the Helio X30 chip will come with the same deca-core architecture as the X20 and X25 chips. It will be built on the 10nm manufacturing node from TSMC. But the cores will be slightly different. The chip will be a combination of the new ARM Artemis cores, Cortex A53 and Cortex A35 cores. However, the source didn’t reveal the exact number of each cores. For GPU, MediaTek Helio X30 could use PowerVR graphics which would be a good upgrade from the Mali chips. The chip would also support 8GB RAM modules revealed the source. Other possible specs include upgraded video and audio features. Finally, he revealed that the chip should score around 160,000 on the AnTuTu benchmark.

Adding to this information, Black Digital released more details on Weibo. He said that the Helio X30 should also come with quad channel LPDDR4 RAM with support for up to 8GB memory. Plus, the storage would be super fast as the chip would support UFS 2.1 standard.

ufs storage speeds

Helio X20 and X25 chips were left out from the pack of Samsung, Qualcomm and even Huawei flagship chips because they supported UFS 2.0. On the other hand, MTK chips only supported eMMC storage standard, which was clearly a let down. Looks like MTK is going to fix this issue with the new generation Helio X30.

Like mentioned above, this is not the first time we are hearing about the Helio X30. Lots of details were leaked about a month ago, and you can check out the info from our previous coverage.