Meizu has confirmed that it will announce the Meizu M3 Note mid-ranger on April 6. Despite that, we seem to be getting a steady stream of leaks about the Meizu Pro 6 flagship which should debut only in the next couple of months. Thanks to a render released by the company’s VP, Li Nan, we got to know about the unique antenna lines on the device. Now, for the first time, the real-life image of the front of the Pro 6 has been leaked.
One of the first things you’ll notice is the lack of visible bezels. The company seems to have trimmed down the bezel size on the sides to a considerable extent, at least, that’s what we can see from the image. However, like most phones, the Pro 6 might have some black borders on the sides, which unfortunately, we can’t confirm yet. Another thing we can see is the presence of what looks like 2.5D glass as well as the mBack home button, which should most likely feature a fingerprint sensor.
The back of the device was already leaked, and this could be the same phone that we saw in the earlier images. The Pro 6 will reportedly feature an updated design with rounder corners and a compact form factor. Like mentioned above, the antenna lines are a bit different on the device. Also, it seems that the phone will come with a ring flash along with Laser Autofocus in between.
Moving to the specs, the Pro 6 flagship is confirmed to come with a pressure sensitive display as well as the new Helio X25 deca-core chipset. Other unconfirmed features of the phone include an all metal design, 4GB of RAM, 21MP rear camera, dual SIM card slots and Android 6.0 Marshmallow OS with flyme UI on top.
Chinese companies are known to release smartphone with unique names. In fact, many of them have very unusual brand names. Now, the smartphone manufacturer Cubot will release a new smartphone and it’s called the Dinosaur. Yes, the phone will be called as the Dinosaur, most likely because it features a massive battery. The phone will come with a 4150mAh battery on board to make sure that it will last long.
Despite its unique name, the phone looks like any other regular smartphone in the market. This includes a plastic body with a textured back. Judging from the specs and the pricing, the company seems to be targeting the entry level segment. So, large battery smartphone lovers who are on a budget can definitely take a look at this device.
Coming to the specs of the phone, the Cubot Dinosaur will feature the MT6735A quad-core chip clocked at 1.3GHz. What’s really interesting is that the company has decided to include 3GB of RAM inside along with 16GB of internal storage. As for the display, the Dinosaur will feature a 5.5-inch 720p IPS capacitive screen. Also, in case you are wondering, the phone does support MicroSD card expansion, up to 32GB.
Like mentioned above, the battery underneath is large, measuring 4150mAh in capacity. It’s removable, which is an added plus. With this battery inside, you can use the phone as a powerbank as well. Also, the phone measures just 8.8mm in thickness. At the back, there will be a 13MP interpolated camera, while up front, there will be a 5MP shooter. Other features of the phone include 4G LTE support, dual SIM dual standby, HotKnot, USB OTG and Android 6.0 Marshmallow OS out of the box.
So, this looks like an entry level handset with a large battery. It should be cheap, but the official price tag has not yet been revealed. The phone will meet us in April. Check out the official Cubot website for details.
Vernee Thor has been making the new for the past few days, thanks to its impressive design and mid-range specifications. Although the company came into the spotlight for its Apollo smartphone, which was revealed a few week back, the Thor will be the first one to go on sale.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0pb_2RVO4w
Now that the Vernee Thor is finally up for pre-order on multiple websites, the company decided to showcase the device in a video released recently. The phone features a body with baby skin black rubber paint to give it a different look and better grip as compared to other smartphones.
At $119.99, the Thor features a good design. The phone features a 5-inch display panel with 2.5D glass on top. The screen is coated with a special anti-fingerprint oil. The power and the volume buttons are located on the left side of the device. At the back, the phone has a fingerprint sensor, camera sensor and a LED flash. You will also find the Vernee branding on the back cover. The video also reveals that apart from black, the Thor will also come in a grey shade.
Coming to the specs, the Vernee Thor will sport the tried and tested MT6753 octa-core processor that powered many mid-range flagships last year. There will be 3GB RAM and 16GB of storage on board along with the option to increase the storage to up to 128GB via MicroSD. As for the display, it comes with a 5-inch on-cell LCD panel with 720p resolution and Gorilla Glass 3.
At the back, the Thor will come with a 13MP shooter with f/2.0 aperture while up front, you get a 5MP Front facing sensor. You will also get a fingerprint sensor which can unlock the device in just 0.1 seconds. To top things off, you get the latest Android 6.0 Marshmallow version on the device, right out of the box.
The phone is already on pre-sale, and you can check out the links below for more details.
Meizu M3 Note will release alongside the Huawei P9 series on April 6. Despite being just an entry level mid-range smartphone from Meizu, the M3 Note is going to sport an upgraded design with powerful specification to take on competitors like the Xiaomi Mi 4C and the Mi 4S. Now, thanks to a leaked poster, we have the pricing of the device.
According to a new poster leaked online yesterday, the upcoming Meizu M3 Note will start at 1099 Yuan ($170) for the 16GB version. So, we can expect progressive pricing for larger storage variants like the 32GB and maybe even a 64GB (although unlikely).
When compared to the previous version, namely the Meizu M2 Note, the phone starts at 100 Yuan higher. The M2 Note’s 32GB version retailed at 999 Yuan ($154), while this poster shows that the 16GB version will start at a higher price. We still have no idea whether the phone will come with a MicroSD slot, but considering the M2 had one, we can expect a hybrid (SIM2 Slot for MicroSD) on the phone.
So what will you get at this price? According to previous information, the Meizu M3 Note will come with an upgraded all metal body (confirmed via official teaser) abandoning its polycarbonate design. As for the specs, the M3 Note will feature the Helio P10 MT6755M processor with Mali-T860 GPU. There will be two versions, one with 2GB RAM + 16GB storage and the other with 3GB RAM + 32GB storage.
The screen is expected to be of 5.5-inches with 1080p resolution. At the back, there should be a 13MP camera while up front, a 5MP shooter. The phone will come with a 3500mAh battery and fingerprint sensor embedded into its front placed home button. For software, the M3 Note is reportedly coming with Android 5.1 out of the box. And yes, it will feature dual SIM dual standby as confirmed by a previous screenshot. However, it will most likely be a hybrid one (MicroSD / SIM2).
So, for $170, do you think the Meizu M3 Note is a good buy?
This weekend was a busy one for Huawei fans. There were at least three different leaks on the internet of the upcoming Huawei P9 family, including pictures, specs and even release date (sale date) of the device. Since a lot of information were leaked in the past two days, here’s a summary of the additional details we came to know about the phone.
Huawei P9 Leaked Picture (Leica Branding):
This weekend, we saw an HD rendering of the upcoming Huawei P9 smartphone which clearly revealed the Leica branding at the back. The company as well as earlier leaks have already confirmed that the phone will come with dual cameras with lens from Leica, so this isn’t a surprise. The picture reveals that the phone will feature the SUMMARIT H 1: 2.2/ 27 ASPH lens from Leica.
Further, we can see dual LED flash as well as Laser Autofocus besides the dual camera setup. It is said that the setup will come with breakthrough technology and that it will be the second generation dual camera tech from the company (first was used in the Honor 6 Plus). Further, we can see a textured metal back as well as the fingerprint sensor.
Leica Certification:
Another important piece of information that we received in the past two days is that the lens on board could be certified from Leica. According to an industry insider, since Leica doesn’t make smartphone camera lens, Huawei could possibly obtain a certification from Leica for its Huawei P9 range. It could work similar to Nokia’s Carl Zeiss lens certification. Further, it is said that the dual camera setup for Huawei P9 comes from China’s leading Sunny Optical Technology, which is one of the best in the country.
Huawei P9 Specs, Pricing & Sale:
Another leak, showing off an official Huawei document confirms the presence of four different variants of the Huawei P9. So, there will be a standard version of Huawei P9 along with, P9 Lite, P9 Max and P9 Plus (high version). The phone will reportedly go on sale on April 16, ten days after being officially released.
The Huawei P9 is said to come with a 5.2-inch 1080p display with the standard version featuring Kirin 950, 3GB RAM, 32GB storage and the P9 Plus version coming with Kirin 955, 4GB RAM, 64GB / 128GB options with Android Marshmallow on board.
Coming to the pricing, it is said that the P9 Max will retail for 4088 Yuan ($631), while the Plus for 3688 Yuan ($569). The standard edition will sell for 3088 Yuan ($477) and the P9 Lite version for 1888 Yuan ($291).
The earphones market is flooded with a variety of different options. I’ve tested quite a few earphones over the time but I was really impressed by Symphonized NRG 2.0. They are handcrafted from natural wood, they sound great and the cost just $25. Learn more in the full review.
It all starts with a great presentation. Everything is packed neatly and the contents of the box include the headset itself, some extra earbuds, a clip, some documentation and a really cool carrying pouch.
Symphonized NRG 2.0 Earphones Review: DESIGN
The main highlight of this headset is that the earbuds are made of natural wood to assure a great sound quality and exceptional looks.
The wood housing is really strong and it doesn’t seem to break anytime soon.
The cable is really nice too and most importantly, it is tangle-free.
The controller has a built-in mic for hands-free calling and the call quality is exceptionally great and people I spoke to via this mic didn’t even notice that I was using a hands-free headset.
The controller has only one button. It can play/pause the music if you press it once and skip tracks back and forth if you press it twice or 3 times, respectively. Unfortunately, you cannot control volume output.
The 3.5mm headset jack is actually gold-plated to prevent any sound leakages. My complaint about the jack is that it is quite huge in comparison to some other headset jacks I’ve seen.
As for sound quality, these are simply one of the best budget earphones I’ve ever heard. The sound is crisp and clear, there is a huge amount of bass and the volume output is loud. Overall, I’m really impressed with the sound quality and having tested a bunch of budget earphones, these are definitely one of the better ones.
Symphonized NRG 2.0 Earphones Review: CONCLUSIONS
The Symphonized earphones are quite a unique product if we consider a low price and overall package.
They are hand-crafted from natural wood, the sound quality is one of the best in class, the mic quality is very good and the headset comes with a tangle-free cable.
However, the headset jack could be slightly smaller and although I like the one button controller design, I would love to have the ability to control the volume output too.
All in all, the Symphonized NRG 2.0 is a great headset despite a few shortcomings. In fact, it is an awesome product considering the overall quality, the fact that is hand-made of wood and the low price tag.
Now that the Ulefone Vienna is officially announced and is up for pre-order via various retailers, our focus is turned towards the bezel-less offering from the company, namely the Ulefone Future. We have been hearing a lot about the device in the past few weeks, in fact we also saw the device in action at MWC 2016. Now, the company has revealed more details about the upcoming flagship.
First of all, the company reveals that there will be a high-end variant of the Ulefone Future that would come with the deca-core Helio X20 chipset. However, given that the chipset is not yet readily available, this particular version will be released later. Also, considering the high-end targeting, the phone will ship with 128GB of internal storage.
Other specs of the phone will be similar to the standard bezel-less edition. So, you can expect 4GB of RAM on board. The screen resolution will be bumped up to 2K. At the back, there should be a 20MP CMOS sensor. No other specs details were revealed at present.
Along with these two editions, there would be another Ulefone Future edition, which will feature less powerful specs. The phone will abandon the bezel-less display, in favor of a regular screen but with narrow bezels. Inside, you can expect the same Helio P10 processor along with 4GB RAM. However, the camera sensor will be less powerful and the storage on board will be reduced as well. With this version, the company is looking to target the affordable smartphone segment, as it will retail for a cheaper price tag than the standard and high-end editions.
Now, coming to the standard edition, Ulefone Future will come with a 1080p 5.5-inch bezel-less display, with a 16MP rear Samsung camera, side mounted fingerprint sensor, Helio P10 octa-core chip and 4GB of RAM.
The company has confirmed that the standard edition will launch in April. The date is not yet fixed, but stay tuned for more details. You can check out the company’s official website from here.
Huawei has been aggressively investing in its smartphone division the last few years. The investments seem to be bearing fruit for the company as last year, it recorded an annual revenue growth of an impressive 37%. This is Huawei’s biggest annual growth in the past seven years i.e. since 2008. The company recorded a revenue of RMB 395 billion ($61.10 billion).
Coming to the net profit, the company posted a total net profit of RMB 36.9 billion, up from RMB 27.9 billion in 2014. This marks a 32% increase in the net profit. Even in the shipments deparment, Huawei did pretty well. Last year, the company reported that it managed to sell over 109 million phones, which was quite impressive. Now, it adds that shipments in 2015 were 44% higher than that of the previous year.
Although most of you may know Huawei as a smartphone manufacturer, 59% of the company’s revenue came from the company’s telecom business. Adoption of 4G in prime regions like China has been primarily responsible for the company growth in this segment. The company’s enterprise business which builds private networks also saw a growth of 43.8%.
In case you are wondering, Huawei spend around 15% of its gross revenue in R&D. The company’s increased focus in the consumer electronic businessness helped it grow by a whopping 73%. As for this year’s revenue’s Huawei expects a growth of over 23%, up from $61 billion to $75 billion.
Things are looking good for the Chinese giant. In fact, Huawei’s CEO Richard Yu aims to surpass Apple and Samsung in the smartphone market in the next five years. Of course, that’s a long way ahead, but considering the company’s growth in the segment, things could get heated up in the top-end smartphone market soon.
Huawei has time and again stressed that it will not fight with other Chinese manufacturers over low-cost smartphone market share. Instead the company is looking to compete with the likes of Samsung and Apple, in the premium smartphone market.
So, what do you think? Do you see Huawei posing a threat to companies like Samsung and Apple in the future.
Meanwhile, the company will unveil its brand new premium smartphone lineup, the Huawei P9 series on April 6. Read more about that from here.
We have seen manufacturers announce more than one flagships within a year. However, these days, the trend seems to be at least three to four flagships in a year. Vivo seems to be following this trend, as soon after announcing the powerful Vivo XPlay 5, the company has now released the Vivo X6S and X6S Plus smartphones.
Both the models have a traditional Vivo design, featuring a body made out of metal and slim form factor. To be honest, from the renders, the phone’s bezels look quite thick, but let’s hope that in real life it’s slimmer. The back features a fingerprint sensor as well.
Both the phones feature a metal body with three color options namely gold, rose gold and silver. Both models come with a 1080p display with different screen sizes. But before we see their differences, let’s take a look at what they have in common. Both have the Snapdragon 652 chipset inside with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage. Up front, they have 8MP cameras. Other features include fast charge (twin charging like XPlay 5), Hi-Fi audio, 4G LTE network and fingerprint recognition.
Now coming to the differences, the first major one is the display size. The Vivo X6S comes with a smaller 5.2-inch display while the X6S Plus features a larger 5.7-inch panel. Both have 1080p resolutions. The camera on the X6S is just 13MP while the Plus variant has a 16MP shooter. Also, the latter features a larger battery of 3000mAh as opposed to 2400mAh on the former.
The Vivo X6S is priced at 2598 Yuan while the X6S Plus at 2998 Yuan. The phone will go on sale on April 5 at 10 AM in China.
So, what do you think? Any of these models interest you?
You can check out the images of the newly announced devices from down below.
Back when Ulefone compared its Hi-Fi equipped Vienna to another Hi-Fi device, namely Vivo X5 Play we saw that the phone could keep up with the latter to some extent. However, the test was not thorough or professional enough to check out the true audio output of the smartphone. At that time, Ulefone had promised to release a new video with better testing equipments. Staying true to their promise, the company has just released a new video showing off the Hi-Fi capability of the Vienna in different environments.
The company reportedly used professional equipments to conduct this test, HiVi M200MKII speakers and recorded everything using Sony PCM-D100 high-resolution personal audio recorded. Ulefone performed the test using 7 different soundtracks, with parameters for test including treble, bass, vocals, positioning, sound field, stereo separation and flexibility with music styles.
You can check out the video from down below.
Inside, the Vienna comes with the NXP Smart Audio PA audio processor with 2HZ- 20KHz frequency response, 109db SNR and 0.01% THD. Ulefone will also be recommending high-quality earphones and speakers to go with its new Hi-Fi device.
Currently, the Ulefone Vienna is available for pre-order for a price tag of $169.99. Retailers will also be sending out a mystery gift worth $10 along with their orders. The pre-sale is already underway and will end on April 12. You can expect orders to start shipping from April 15.
Coming to the specs of the Vienna, it comes with MT6753 chip inside with 3GB of RAM, 32GB storage, a 5.5-inch 2.5D Glass 1080p display, 3250mAh battery, and Panasonic 13MP rear camera. You also get a fingerprint sensor at the back. The phone is up for pre-order in four different colors namely white, black, grey and pink.
Meizu will be releasing its M3 Note budget smartphone on April 6. There’s another event from the company in April, on 12th, but we are not quite sure what’s its related to.
For the past few days, the internet has been filled with rumors and leaks about the upcoming M3 Note. And today, we have a look at the upcoming mid-ranger for the first time, that too alongside the Pro 6 flagship that could meet us a few weeks later.
First of all, before you get confused, the Meizu Pro 6 handset is on the left which is in black and the Meizu M3 Note lies on the right. You may have got confused because the earlier Pro 6 leaks had shown off the device in silver, but this ones in black.
Moving on, it looks like the Pro 6 will have a smaller display as compared to the M3 Note. The Meizu’s Blue Charm Note series have always come with a 5.5-inch 1080p display. We expect the company to continue this tradition with the new update as well. So, this picture could be a good indication that the Pro 6 will come with a smaller display, somewhere around 5.2-inches, which seem to be the sweet spot among flagships nowadays.
The M3 Note features an all metal body with standard antenna lines on top and bottom. On the other hand, the Pro 6 comes with the unique antenna line, similar to the rumored iPhone 7 design. To be honest, the new M3 Note’s design seems to be in line with Meizu’s premium Pro 5 handset, which is not really a bad thing. However, given its similarity, we will have to wait and see whether the company decides to change the design on the MX6 too to make it more unique and premium. MX6 is also rumored to come sometime in the next few weeks.
Coming to the specs, leaks state that the M3 Note will come with 2GB RAM / 3GB RAM options with 16GB / 32GB storage variants. There will be Helio P10 chip inside with Android 5.1 on top.
Blackview has a couple of rugged smartphones in their lineup. Last year, the company announced the BV5000 rugged smartphone which did quite well, and now, this Chinese company is all set to update the lineup with a new model, the Blackview BV6000. The new phone will retain the rugged characteristics of the previous model, and will upgrade the specs to a great extent.
According to the latest information, the upcoming Blackview BV6000 will come with the MT6755 Helio P10 chipset under the hood clocked at 2GHz. This octa-core chip is the one which drives many mid-range flagships in the market, so it’s good to see it inside the new Blackview device. For memory, the phone will come with 3GB RAM and 32GB of internal storage. This will be further expandable up to 32GB via MicroSD.
Being a rugged smartphone, the phone will be IP68 certified, so it will be dust proof, water proof and shock proof, making it an ideal outdoor companion. Further, the phone comes with a large 4500mAh battery to make sure that it lasts more than a day easily. This should be enough given that the screen is compact, measuring 4.7-inches with 720p resolution.
The BV6000 will run on the new Android 6.0 Marshmallow version out of the box. Other features of the phone include an 18MP rear camera (could be interpolated) and an 8MP front facing shooter. It will support GPS as well as GLONASS. Finally, this is a 4G enabled smartphone with support for FDD-LTE 800/ 1800/ 2100/ 2600 bands. You also get dual SIM dual standby on the device.
The Blackview BV6000 will be announced sometime in the middle of 2016 for a pricing of less than $200. Stay tuned for more details.
Meawhile, the super cheap Blackview A8 smartphone is up for grabs via various retailers. You can purchase it from here.
Some say that virtual reality is the next big thing in mobile technology and I agree but most of the VR headsets costs quite a lot. I came accross the Blitzwolf VR headset, which costs just below $27. Stay tuned for a full review.
When it comes to the design of any VR headset, the most important thing is comfort when you actually use it.
The inner side of the headset sports a faux leather finish, which is soft and it didn’t irritate my skin at all. The elastic strap is really durable and it also has some faux leather elements to give you a bit more cushion.
In short, the Blitzwolf VR headset is comfortable to use. However, I’m not really sure if you want to use any VR headset for more than 40 mins without taking a break.
As for actual build quality, it is good but don’t expect anything fancy here. The shell is made of plastic but it does not seem to break anytime soon.
There is a magnetic clasp holding the smartphone tray. You just need to simply open it up, put your phone into the adjustable bracket, and you are good to go.
It is really important that you adjust the pupil and focal distance using the knobs on the sides and on the top of the headset. Make sure to take your time to adjust it to your eyesight to get the best VR experience.
A front cover can be easily removed, which allows you to charge you phone or if your phone tends to heat up, reduce the heat.
All in all, I’m happy with the design and build quality considering that this headset does not even cost $30. Once we have set everything up, let’s take a look at what we can actually do with the VR headset.
Blitzwolf VR Headset Review: FEATURES AND FUNCTIONALITY
If you are not familiar with the virtual reality thing, this headset allows you to watch 360 or 3D videos and gives you that immersive effect or the 1st person view.
Also, you can play a variety of different games, which are designed for VR headsets. Keep in mind that the Blitzwolf headset does not have any buttons, so you would be able to play only the simplest games. I suggest you buying a Bluetooth remote controller if you want to play more advanced games.
The experience of the VR is great and it is much more different than just watching videos on the computer’s screen or playing regular games. I have to tell you that I really enjoyed using the headset. While I’m not a gamer in general but 360 videos is the thing that I liked most.
Blitzwolf VR Headset Review: CONCLUSIONS
Virtual reality is not something that you can’t live without but it is really cool and the Blitzwolf VR headset is an affordable solution.
It has a decent design and build quality, it is comfortable to wear and it doesn’t cost a fortune.
All in all, I can definitely recommend this headset if you want to start enjoying the virtual reality games or watching videos but don’t want to break your bank.
We have been hearing a lot about the Vernee Thor smartphone, which will come with mid-range price at an affordable price of $129.99. Now, the company has announced that it will reduce the pre-order price of the Vernee Thor to $119.99. This is good news for users who were planning to purchase this mid-ranger as it is a good $10 OFF the earlier reported price.
The phone will go up for pre-order today, but we have not yet seen retailers list this device for sale for the above-mentioned price. Hopefully, the presale at this price will start soon.
Also, it is said that Uber users may get a chance to pre-order this smartphone at an even discounted price tag of $99.99. The company is yet to reveal details about how this will work, but expect more details soon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0pb_2RVO4w
Coming to the specs, the Vernee Thor features the MT6753 octa-core chip under the hood. The company adds that as compared to the newer chips like the Helio P10 and the Helio X20, the MT6753 seems a bit outdated, however, the company decided to stick with this chip because of its stable quality and reliability making it the ideal choice for phones with high cost-performance ratio. That’s why we are seeing many low-cost mid-rangers use this chipset inside.
The phone comes with a 5-inch Oncell HD display with Gorilla Glass 3 protection. There will be 3GB of RAM and 16GB of ROM inside, further expandable up to 128GB via MicroSD. At the back, there will be a 13MP camera, while up front a 5MP Shooter. The phone features a 2800mAh battery under the hood with 5V 2A Quick Charge. For software, the Thor runs on Android 6.0 version out of the box. There will be a fingerprint sensor at the back as well.
The specs and the pricing of the phone make the Thor a value for money handset. The phone will go on presale very soon, so stay tuned for more details.
Xiaomi has officially released the Xiaomi Mi 5 flagship in India. Fans have been waiting for this beast for quite some time in the country and finally, they can get hold of one for themself. The phone will be first available for sale on April 6, which is an important day given that it’s the company’s sixth anniversary.
Interestingly, Xiaomi has decided to offer only one variant in India, namely the 3GB RAM + 32GB RAM in the country. At the launch back in China, the company had revealed three different variants of the device, a standard variant with 3GB + 16GB, 3GB + 32GB and a high-end Mi 5 Pro variant with 4GB + 64GB RAM.
Another interesting thing about this launch is that the Xiaomi Mi 5’s first flash sale will be conducted on the official website of the company, i.e. Mi.com on April 6. But the company has confirmed that the phone will be available via other e-commerce websites a few weeks later.
To recap, the Xiaomi Mi 5 3GB RAM + 32GB storage comes with the Snapdragon 820 chipset with Adreno 530 GPU. At the back, there will be a 16MP camera with 4-axis OIS and sapphire glass protection lens. Further, the phone comes with PDAF (Phase Detection Autofocus), dual LED flash and 4K video support. Up front, there will be a 4MP Ultrapixel camera with large 2-micron sensor featuring f/2.0 aperture.
The phone comes with 3000mAh battery inside a body measuring 7.25mm thickness. Mi 5 comes with the super fast Quick Charge 3.0 standard, which is 20 percent faster than the previous generation QC 2.0. The display will be of 5.15-inches with a resolution of 1080p. Other features include Wi-Fi, VoLTE, Glonass, NFC and USB Type-C port.
Xiaomi Mi 5’s India pricing is pretty close to the Chinese pricing of 2299 Yuan ($351). However, I am sure many would be disappointed to see that the Mi 5 Pro will not be released in the country, at least not at the moment.
Huawei is all set to announce the much anticipated Huawei P9 flagship smartphone series on April 6. We have been regularly hearing about the phone for the past couple of months and most of the specs have been more or less revealed. The company has sent out invites for the event to several media outlets and they once again confirm the presence of dual camera setup on the device.
The invite hints the presence of dual cameras on multiple places. First of all, we can see the usual dual circles, the ones we had seen on the previous teasers, right on top of the invite box. Then, inside, there’s a camera roll, which once again has the dual circles. So, like before, the company is stressing that the phone will focus a lot on its camera performance.
The teasers for the launch claim that the phone will “Will Change the Way You See the World”. Well, this sounds like a big claim, which we hope the company manages to keep up to. Huawei has experience with dual camera setup on a smartphone. Remember the Honor 6 Plus with its 8MP dual cameras?
According to recent reports, the new Huawei P9 will come with the second generation version of the technology that was found on the Honor 6 Plus. So, we can expect pretty good performance from the device.
Recent leaks have showed us that the Huawei P9 will come with 12MP dual rear cameras and the lens setup with be provided by Leica. We expect one unit to be a color camera while the other, a black and white one. But what kind of breakthrough technology will be achieved by this combination is something that remains to be seen.
There have been several manufacturers who have experimented with dual camera setup on their flagships. But till now, we haven’t been blown away by their performances. Maybe P9’s dual camera setup will change out opinion. Let’s wait and watch.
Recently, the specs of the top-end variants in the Huawei P9 lineup, namely the Huawei P9 Max and the P9 Plus were leaked. You can read about them from here.
April 6 is less than a week away. And as we near the launch, the phone looks at the more exciting.
Meizu hasn’t had any particular big releases in this year yet. The only new phone that we saw from the company was the Meizu Pro 5 Ubuntu edition. However, the company has a number of devices in pipeline for 2016, and Meizu’s executives have been revealing details about its upcoming phones since the past few weeks.
Meizu has confirmed that there will be a new product announcement on April 6 next week and it’s no surprise that we can expect the Meizu M3 Note to be launched at the event. Now, Meizu’s CEO Huang has revealed a new screenshot of the upcoming M3 Note revealing that the phone will come with dual SIM dual standby.
Moving on, we already know a lot about the Meizu M3 Note, thanks to the AnTuTu listing of the device. The phone will come with a slightly slower version of the Mediatek Helio P10 chipset (MT6755m) with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage. There will be a high version as well featuring 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. At the back, the phone will come a 13MP camera, while up front there will be a 5MP Shooter. Unfortunately, the listing shows that the phone will run on the old Android 5.1 lollipop version. But even if the company releases the phone with Lollipop (which would be unlikely), a Marshmallow update should be released soon after release. The screen size is unknown but the resolution will be 1080p.
Meizu executives have dubbed the M3 Note as not only their first device of the year but also the most beautiful one yet. The phone is said to feature a thin body, large battery and a beatiful design.
The official release of the phone is on April 6, the same day as Huawei P9 will meet us. And yes, in case you didn’t know, the Xiaomi Mi 5 Pro edition also goes on sale for the first time in China the same day. So, it’s definitely going to be a busy day for Chinese smartphone lovers.
A couple of days back, Xiaomi announced its cheapest fingerprint enabled smartphone, namely the Redmi 3 Pro. This will be an upgraded model to the existing Redmi 3 model which was announced back in January. The specs of the device are now similar to the specs offered by the Redmi Note series, which is why we thought it would be a good idea to pit the Redmi 3 Pro vs Redmi Note 3 Pro in this comparison. Both have slightly different specs, and are targeted at a slightly different market, however, given that the pricing of the Redmi 3 Pro has nearly reached to the level of the Note series, they can now be considered very close to each other.
So, without wasting anymore time, let’s move on to the Redmi 3 Pro vs Redmi Note 3 Pro comparison.
DESIGN:
Design wise, both are very similar looking handsets. That’s not surprising given that they fall in the same family, i.e. the Redmi series. The new Redmi 3 Pro has abandoned the plaid design that was seen on the Redmi 3 and instead features a plain metal back cover with the fingerprint sensor on board. The camera and the flash are located on the top left corner.
Coming to the Redmi Note 3 Pro version, it features a similar plain back design, with a fingerprint sensor on board. The camera and the flash are located around the top center portion. Both the models feature a metal body.
Coming to the dimensions, which is quite interesting, the Redmi 3 Pro comes with a 139.3 x 69.6 x 8.5mm body while the Note 3 Pro features a 150 x 76 x 8.7mm body. What’s interesting here is that despite having a large battery, the smaller and much more compact Redmi 3 Pro is thinner than the Note model. In case you are wondering about the weight, the Redmi 3 Pro is lighter at 144 grams as opposed to 164 grams of the Note 3 Pro.
HARDWARE:
Specs wise there are quite a few differences. The Redmi 3 Pro comes with the Snapdragon 616 octa-core chip, which comes from a series that powered mid-range smartphones. On the other hand, the Redmi Note 3 Pro is powered by the Snapdragon 650 chipset. This chip is slightly more powerful than the SD616 given that it comes with dual Cortex A72 cores. On the other hand, the SD616 is all Cortex A53 cores. Another important difference is the GPU inside, Adreno 405 on Redmi model as opposed to the faster Adreno 510 on the Redmi Note model.
Coming to the memory, the Redmi 3 Pro has just one variant, 3GB RAM + 32GB with MicroSD (hybrid slot) for up to 128GB expansion. On the other hand, the Note model has 2GB + 16GB and 3GB + 32GB variants.
For camera, the Redmi 3 Pro sports a 13MP f/2.0 sensor with PDAF and single LED flash. On the other hand, the Note 3 Pro comes with a slightly better 16MP sensor with PDAF, f/2.0 aperture, and dual tone flash. Both have 5MP front facing cameras.
Coming to the displays, the Redmi 3 Pro is much more compact sporting a 5-inch 720p screen. On the other hand, the Redmi Note 3 Pro comes with a 5.5-inch 1080p display.
Battery is of similar capacity and sufficiently large on both the phones. The Redmi 3 Pro has a 4100mAh battery while the Redmi Note 3 Pro comes with a 4000mAh battery. However, considering the 720p 5-inch screen and the super efficient SD616 with Cortex A53 cores, expect the battery life on the former to be much better.
Finally, both the models run on Android 5.1 with MIUI 7 on top. And yes, as mentioned above, both have fingerprint sensors.
Both the phones are priced quite near to each other. The newly announced Xiaomi Redmi 3 Pro retails at an official price tag of 899 yuan ($138). Now, the base variant of the Redmi Note 3 Pro i.e. the 2GB RAM + 16GB storage model also retails at the exact same price. The 3GB RAM + 32GB ROM variant retails for 999 Yuan ($154).
CONCLUSION:
So, both are pretty good smartphones. The Redmi 3 Pro is ideal for someone who wants a compact screen and a very long lasting battery. On the other hand, if you are looking for a larger and better display, a decent battery that will last an entire day and specs that can play almost every Android game out there, then Redmi Note 3 Pro is your best bet.
Huawei has confirmed that it will announce its new smartphone series, namely the Huawei P9 family on April 6. It’s really going to be a large family, considering that it is said there are at least four different variants in the lineup, starting with the Standard and Lite editions, to the top-end Huawei P9 Max and Plus variants. Today, we have got some new information about these high-end powerful variants.
Latest reports suggest that the Huawei P9 Max and P9 Plus smartphone will have the same specifications as revealed in the AnTuTu listing yesterday. However, the biggest different between the two will be in screen size. The P9 Plus is expected to come with a 5.2-inch 1080p display, much like the other variants, however, the P9 Max will be the biggest in the lot with a massive 6.8-inch display. Given the large screen size, the display will sport a resolution of 2K.
Another highlight of the Max version will be the presence of pressure sensitive display. Huawei has a couple of phones with Force Touch displays, so it won’t be a surprise. Other features of the Max include dual cameras with Leica lens.
Now, coming to the pricing of the P9 Max, it is said that the phone will retail for a whopping 4088 Yuan ($633) while the P9 Plus should retail for 3688 Yuan ($570). The P9 Standard edition will retail for 3088 Yuan ($477) while the P9 Lite at 1888 Yuan ($292).
To recap, yesterday’s AnTuTu listing revealed powerful hardware inside the P9 Max and Plus models. The phone will come with Kirin 955 chip (upgraded version of Kirin 950) with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage. there will be 13MP dual rear cameras with an 8MP front facing shooter. The phone was running on the new Android 6.0 Marshmallow platform.
The Huawei P9 launch event is exactly a week away. So stay tuned for more details.
The Bluetooth earphones market is pretty busy but I found the Mpow Wolverine pair of earphones to comfortable to wear, great sounding and affordable. Stay tuned for a full review.
The headset comes with some extra earbuds and ear supports, a charging cable and some instruction manuals.
DESIGN, FEATURES AND FUNCTIONALITY
For just $20, the earphones are really well made and the I like the design of them. The actual earphone part is made out of rubberised plastic and the top has a somewhat vinyl-like finish.
The earphones are not the smallest I’ve seen and therefore I highly recommend you using the ear supports or stabilisers (whatever you call them). Also, make sure to select the right size of the earbuds. Once you do that, I found that the headset is comfortable to use and it does not fall out of the ears.
Also, I love the flat tangle-free cable design and the placement of the controller. Speaking of which, it has 3 nice and tactile buttons, which allow you to skip tracks, answer the calls and so on.
TEST NOTES AND SOUND QUALITY
I didn’t have any issues with pairing the headset with my phone. Also, the Bluetooth 4.1 connectivity and range are fine.
When it comes to the sound quality, this is definitely one of the better sounding $20 Bluetooth headsets. The sound is crisp and clear, there are no distortions at the max. volume setting and there is a decent amount of bass.
As far as call quality, it is good and I had no complaints from anyone I talked to via this headset.
The battery life is surprisingly good. I could get over 6.5 hours of music playback and you simply cannot ask more from a headset this cheap.
CONCLUSIONS
Overall, I was pretty happy with this pair of Mpow earphones. Of course, you can’t expect some stellar sound quality but for $20 it is really good for the price.
Also, I love the fact that they actually stay in the ears while jogging but you have to be patient to find the right earbuds and ear stabilisers. Well, these rules apply to each and every sports headset. People are just impatient to find the right fit for their ears and they think that the headset is crap.
All in all, I can definitely recommend this pair or earphones as I didn’t find any major shortcomings. These are definitely one of the better ones I’ve tested if we talk about $20 price point.
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