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 The company adds that as compared to the newer chips like the Helio P10 and the Helio X20, the MT6753 seems a bit outdated, however, the company decided to stick with this chip because of its stable quality and reliability making it the ideal choice for phones with high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.
Smartphones have come a long way in the past few years, from being a brick-like electronic gadget for the sole purpose of making and receiving phone calls, to a device that can potentially replace computers.
Almost every part of the new age phone has seen some kind of upgrade for a better experience, but I am sure many would agree that battery life is still one of the biggest issues among smartphones today. Of course, there are large battery phones, but sometimes even they don’t as last long as you want.
Then, there’s the option of a powerbank, which almost all heavy smartphone users seem to resort to nowadays. But that may not be ideal for many, given that you have to carry an additional gadget around (which weighs a bit) and then there’s the possibility you forget to bring one in your bag or worse, you forget to charge the powerbank itself. For people, who always seem to be struggling with their smartphone’s battery life, AnkerBox seems to have come up with a solution.
ankerbox
We have seen Chinese companies come up with some innovative ideas in the past, but this one’s unique. AnkerBox aims to provide charging-as-a-service. Yes, you heard it right, this company thinks that providing a charging station for your smartphone at a small cost is a great idea. It’s literally renting the charging for your smartphone.
So how does it work? Well, AnkerBox (a subsidiary company of Anker) will install its AnkerBox Charging stations (filled with many 6700mAh Anker powerbanks) in prime locations like malls, stores, cafes etc, where you can go and charge your phone. The idea is simple, you install the special app for this service and go ahead and rent a powerbank on the Ankerbox. You can get up to 30 minutes of free charging for your phone. But if you want more charge, you can take one of the many Anker powerbanks in the Ankerbox for a rent of $1.99 per day. If you want to go a step further, you can keep the powerbank for yourself, by paying $30. Pretty neat, right?
This idea could potentially solve the problem of dead batteries on smartphones when you are out, but its success really depends on how well consumers find it useful.
Initially, AnkerBoxes will be installed in over 200 gyms, bars, stores in the city of Seattle. For now, there’s no information about availability in other cities/ countries. But if it works well, expect such boxes to come to your favorite bars and stores.
So, what do you think? Does it sound like a good idea to you?
ZTE seems to be working on a new flagship smartphone, most likely the ZTE Axon 2. Recently, a new model from the company, namely the ZTE A2017 was spotted on the benchmarking website GFXBench revealing the specs of the device. However, at that time, we couldn’t see the performance of the phone. Now, the same phone has been spotted on the AnTuTu benchmarking revealing specs as well as the performance of the device.
According to the AnTuTu benchmark of the A2017, the phone comes with the powerful quad-core Snapdragon 820 chip inside with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage. The display sports a resolution of 2K, and it will most likely be a 5.5-inch panel. At the back, there will be a 20MP (most likely 21MP) sensor while on the front, there will be an 8MP camera sensor. As for software, it will run on Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow.
These are some pretty great specs and are in line with what we saw on the GFXBench a few days back. With SD820 and 4GB RAM on board, the phone managed to score an amazing 140,086 points on the AnTuTu benchmark. This is even better than the scores posted by Xiaomi Mi 5 and Galaxy S7.
axon_mini_1
Overall, this looks like a powerful flagship in the making. While all we have is the model number, i.e. A2017, it’s possible that this is the Axon 2. The first generation ZTE Axon was a great flagship (check out our review from here | Axon Mini Review) and with these specs, the upcoming phone seems like a powerful device as well. One of the plus points of the Axon series is its pricing and we hope that ZTE can price its upcoming products competitively.
Anyways, stay tuned for more details. If ZTE plans to release this device anytime soon, we are surely going to hear more about it in the coming days.
Xiaomi officially announced the Xiaomi Redmi 3 Pro smartphone during the company’s press conference yesterday. The Pro version will be an updated model in the low-end Redmi lineup, with the biggest upgrade being the fingerprint sensor. The design of the phone, especially with the fingerprint sensor, reminds us of a smaller variant of the Redmi Note 3.
Just a day after the launch of the device, the Redmi 3 Pro is available to purchase on OPPOMART. The phone is now up for pre-order on the website for a price tag of $169.99. Considering the official price tag of the phone is 899 Yuan ($139), this price isn’t too bad.
In the specs department, the Redmi 3 Pro doesn’t disappoint. Apart from the fingerprint sensor at the back of the device, the Redmi 3 Pro comes with larger memory modules. The model features 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage, an upgrade from 2GB + 16GB on the standard Redmi 3 model. Further, the storage is expandable up to 128GB via MicroSD.
The display remains the same as before, a 5-inch 720p screen. As for the processor, you get Snapdragon 616 octa-core chip under the hood. Other features of the phone include a 13MP rear camera, 5MP front facing shooter, 4G LTE support, dual SIM dual standby and a large 4100mAh battery. Finally, for software, the phone runs on MIUI 7 based on Android 5.1.
At the moment, the phone is available in gray, gold and silver colors on Oppomart. You can check out more details about the device from the link given below.
Vernee’s two smartphones, namely the high-end Vernee Apollo with 6GB RAM and the mid-range Vernee Thor have been making the news recently. The second device, i.e. the Thor is confirmed to retail for an affordable price tag of $129.99 with MT6753 octa-core chip on board.
Now, Vernee has just revealed to us that the Thor has been FIDO certified, which opens up the possibility of fingerprint payments using the device. The FIDO (Fast Identity Online) Alliance was formed way back in 2012 to change the nature of authentication by developing a mechanism that was open and scalable, in order to potentially replace the need for passwords. Given that the Thor is now FIDO-enabled, the phone could be potentially used to make payments secured by its fingerprint sensor.
Apart from this, the Vernee Thor features pretty decent specs. The phone comes with the MT6753 octa-core chip with 3GB RAM and 16GB of eMMC 5.0 storage. There will be a 5-inch on cell display on board and a 2800mAh battery at the back with 5V 2A Quick Charging. As for the optics, the phone features a 13MP rear-facing camera and a 5MP front-facing shooter.
All this inside a compact body with is coated with a special black rubber paint to improve grip. The company will officially release the device in April, which will be its first smartphone in 2016.
Apart from the Thor, there’s the Vernee Apollo that we are all excited for. The phone will reportedly feature the Helio X20 deca-core chip with a whopping 6GB of RAM on board. The Apollo is rumored to feature pretty exciting hardware and you will be able to purchase the phone for around $399.99, which is not at all a bad deal.
We know that LeEco will release the Le 2 flagship sometime in the coming weeks, most likely in April. Thanks to the numerous leaks that have been making rounds for the past few days, we already know a lot about the phone. It is said that the flagship will come in two variants, the higher-end model powered by Snapdragon 652 and another one powered by Helio X25.
While LeEco executives have confirmed a new phone launch, now, the Senior Vice President of the company, Feng Xing has just revealed a new sample photograph take from the upcoming Le 2 smartphone. Although the image seems to be cropped (resolution of 2730 x 2048), from what we can see, the color reproduction and details have come out very well. But of course, we can’t really judge the camera performance of the device in just one picture. So, let’s wait for more samples.
As for the specs, apart from the CPU variants, expect the rest of the specs to be more or less the same. The phone will reportedly come with 3GB of RAM, 5.5-inch 1080p display, an 8MP front camera and a 16MP rear facing shooter.
Previously there were rumors that the Le 2 will come with Snapdragon 820 under the hood. This would have been great, but it was doubtful whether it would be feasable for the company. Now, with Snapdragon 652 octa-core chip inside, the company could keep the price pretty competitive, under 1999 Yuan ($310).
Another confusion is the leaked Le 2 version with Helio X25 chip. Meizu had confirmed earlier that the X25 would be exclusive to the Pro 6 at least for a few months. So, it remains to be seen whether Le 2 comes with recently announced Helio X25 or the slower X20 version.
Huawei is all set to announce the Huawei P9 flagship on April 6. The company has confirmed via recent teasers that the phone will come with a dual camera setup. However, that’s not just the marquee feature of the device as we expect pretty powerful hardware inside the device.
We have seen some P9 variants on the AnTuTu benchmarking app before, and now, a new variant of the P9, which is most likely one of the top-end models in the series been spotted on the app. The new model EVA-AL10 will come with the new Kirin 955 chipset and 4GB of RAM. We had heard rumors about Kirin 955 chip with slightly upgraded CPU frequency powering the new flagship, but this is the first time we are seeing the performance of the chip.
Other specs of the device, as revealed by AnTuTu are 64GB internal storage, 1080p screen resolution and dual 13MP rear cameras. Up front, there will be an 8MP selfie camera. As for software, the phone will be running on the new Android 6.0 Marshmallow version.
With these specs on board, the Huawei P9 managed to post a score of around 96,000 on AnTuTu. Given that the Kirin 950 could score only around 85K on the same app, the Kirin 955 does look like an upgrade. When directly compared to the newly announced deca-core Helio X25’s performance, its only slightly slower. In the previous benchmark listing, X25 scored around 100,0000.
However, when we compare the score with chips such as Exynos 8890 and Snapdragon 820, Kirin 955 is still a good 30K below their scores. But then, benchmarks only tell part of the story, so we better wait and test out the real life performance of the handset once released.
Stay tuned to gizmochina for more updates in the coming days to the launch.
The Bluetooth earphones market is pretty busy but we found the Syllable A6 necklace style sports earphones to be unique, great sounding and affordable. Learn more in the full review.
UNBOXING
The earphones come in a nice looking box and the contents of it include some instruction manuals, a tangle-free USB cable for charging and the headset itself. Unfortunately, there are no extra earbuds included.
DESIGN, FEATURES AND FUNCTIONALITY
As for design, we are looking a a very light necklace-type headset.
You need wrap it around your neck and use a magnetic clip to lock it.
Once you do that, the earphones are very close to your ears preventing any cables from tangling up.
A really cool design feature is that the control part (you can skip tracks, adjust volume, play/pause or answer the call) is right in front of you. I found it really convenient to reach it when I was jogging.
The earphones themselves (they are made of rubberised plastic) are just about the size of any regular (non-Bluetooth earphones) and that is a huge advantage.
I’ve tested a lot of different Bluetooth headsets and I found a lot of them to be heavy and falling out of the ears easily. It is not happening with these ones as the Bluetooth module is actually not in the earphones themselves but in the magnetic hasp part.
Overall, I love the design of this headset. The only thing that I didn’t like is that the cable is really thin and may break easier than thicker cables.
TEST NOTES AND SOUND QUALITY
I didn’t have any issues with pairing the headset with my phone. Also, the Bluetooth connectivity and range are fine.
As far as call quality, it is good and I had no complaints from my friends I talked to via this headset.
As for the sound quality, the Syllable A6 sound pretty well. While these are not the best sounding earphones I’ve tested, the sound is crisp and clean. Also, there is a decent amount of bass but I would love to hear a bit more of it. However, the volume output could be slightly louder.
The battery life could be better, to be honest. I managed to get less than 3 hours of music playback out of this headset. That means that you would need to charge it quite a lot of you do a lot of exercising during the week.
CONCLUSIONS
The Syllable A6 Bluetooth headset is a pretty good choice if you are in the market of affordable (under $22) sports earphones.
I love the design of the headset and the fact that it is very light, and it is really comfortable to wear. Also, the sound quality is good for the price of this headset.
However, the volume output could be louder and the battery life could be better.
All in all, Syllable A6 Bluetooth headset is a great choice for the price despite a few shortcomings.
A couple of days back, we came across some interesting news that the Meizu Pro 6 flagship may not come with 3D Touch like feature. Given that in the past few months, pressure sensitive display seemed to be one of the highlights of the device, this news came as a surprise.
Usually, the company or its executives do not comment on rumors, but in the case of Meizu, we have seen some surprises. This time, it was Meizu’s VP, Li Nan who confirmed that the Pro 6 flagship will come with a pressure sensitive display.
He further added that the Pro 6 will support multi-stage pressure sensitive display which will ensure better touch experience. Also, the feature will support third party menus pictures, url previews and so on. He also revealed an image to further confirm the presence of the feature on the device. And the image shows that the feature would be similar to Apple’s 3D Touch.
Previously, it was reported that the company decided to cancel pressure sensitive display on the upcoming flagship because it was too difficult to implement it to a level similar to Apple’s 3D Touch. However, it looks like that’s not an issue anymore.
Previous leaks have given us a good idea about the design and the specs of the Pro 6 flagship. The phone is supposed to come with a dual antenna design and a unique rear camera module. The phone will launch sometime in the second half of the year, with Helio X25 chip on board. Other possible specs include a 5.5-inch 1080p display, 4GB RAM, 64GB storage, 21MP rear camera with Laser Autofocus and a 5MP front facing shooter. As per the latest rumors, the pricing will be quite high, around $460.
Although Xiaomi Mi 5 was officially released back in February, it’s still hard to get hold of the device for the original price in China. This is mainly because, in the five flash sales for the Xiaomi Mi 5 in the past one month, not once did the phone last in stock for more a few minutes. Most of the times, especially the black version, was out of stock instantly.
This was naturally frustrating for a lot of fans in China who couldn’t get hold of the device via the traditional flash sale method. To solve this issue, Xiaomi’s Lei Jun revealed in the press conference yesterday that the company will significantly increase the production capacity of the Xiaomi Mi 5 in April.
The Xiaomi Mi 5 flagship comes with a lot of powerful hardware such as Snapdragon 820 and 4-axis 16MP camera which could be why the company’s production capacity has been limited till now. But this news does come as a relief to all Xiaomi fans in the market. The Stable supply of the device would ensure that the phone is available at an affordable price everywhere.
Moreover, since Xiaomi has confirmed the launch of the Mi 5 in India tomorrow i.e. March 31, there needs to be enough stock to satisfy the demands of the Indian consumers as well. Given that Xiaomi smartphones get the same kind of powerful response from Indian fans like that in China, we can expect a high demand for the phone in the country. So, stocks need to be in plenty in both the places.
To remind you, till now, only the Xiaomi Mi 5 standard editions have gone on sale in China. The Mi 5 Pro edition with a ceramic back cover, faster clocked Snapdragon 820 chip and 4GB of RAM will go on sale in China on April 6, the company’s sixth anniversary.
OPPO has been doing quite well with its first OPPO R9 smartphone selling over 180,000 units in the first day of sale. Now, the second and the larger device in the series, namely the OPPO R9 Plus will soon go on sale. The company has revealed that the phone will be available to purchase starting tomorrow in China.
The OPPO R9 Plus comes with a faster chip, larger screen and battery and a better rear camera as compared to the smaller OPPO R9 model. Instead of the Helio P10, the R9 Plus comes with the Snapdragon 652 octa-core chipset under the hood with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage. There will be a large 6-inch display on board with 1080p resolution. It also comes with a fingerprint sensor embedded into the home button up front.
On the front as well as the back, the phone will come with 16MP sensors. So, selfies would come out just perfect on the device. Further, the phablet features a large 4120mAh battery to keep the phone going all day long. It also supports VOOC fast charging to keep the charging times to the minimum. Considering the specs, the OPPO R9 Plus is ideal for phablet lovers who want a powerful selfie camera that will last the entire day.
The OPPO R9 was an instant hit in China, selling over 400,000 units of the device in just four days of launch. In fact, in many of the places in the country, the phone was out of stock. The company has acknowledged this issue and has increased production to meet the high demand. Considering the success of the R9, we can expect OPPO to stock up the R9 Plus as well before it’s official sale.
The phone will be up for order tomorrow at a price tag of 3299 Yuan which comes to around $509. Not the cheapest 6-inch phone in the market, but that hasn’t stopped fans in China buying smartphones in the past.
Ulefone recently announced its Hi-Fi equipped Ulefone Vienna smartphone. At the time of the announcement, the company had revealed that it would offer the phone at a promotional price during the pre-sale period. Many retailers have now started accepting pre-orders for the Vienna and they are at a price of $169.99 as opposed to the original price tag of $199.99.
At $169.99, the Ulefone Vienna seems like a good smartphone. This is a good $30 OFF the official price tag. Plus, during the pre-sale period, buyers get an additional mystery gift worth $10. The pre-sale started earlier today and will go on till April 12. The company has promised shipping from April 15 and will fulfill orders at normal speed.
To recap, the Ulefone Vienna comes with the NXP Smart Audio PA chipset for Hi-Fi audio quality. The company recently released a video comparing the sound quality of the Vienna and the Vivo X5 Max. You can check that out from here. Moving on, the phone features the MTK MT6753 octa-core chip with 3GB of LPDDR3 RAM and 32GB of internal storage. At the back, there will be a 13MP Panasonic MN34172 camera sensor.
The 5.5-inch 1080p LTPS display will be supplied by Sharp. Other features include a rear placed fingerprint scanner, infrared port, 3250mAh battery, and 2.5D glass with Gorilla Glass protection. The phone will come in four colors namely white, black, grey and pink.
You can check out more details from the company’s dedicated pre-sale page for the Vienna. Or directly head over to the retailers below to pre-order the device.
Xiaomi had a busy day today, unveiling a new brand and a bunch of new products like the Mi Router 3 and the Smart Rice Cooker. In fact, if we actually take a look at the past few months, Xiaomi has regularly released/ updated its Redmi and Mi series smartphones. This brings us to the one series which seems to be forgotten at the moment and that’s none other than the Mi Note series.
However, a few hours ago, new details about the Mi Note 2 emerged, which reveals the specs as well as pricing of the device. It is said that the Xiaomi Mi Note 2 will come in a number of variants in terms of processor, storage and RAM. For example, it is said that the phone will have Snapdragon 820 as well as 823 chip versions, as well as 4GB RAM and 6GB RAM options. In terms of storage, starting at 32GB, the storage option reportedly will go up to 256GB.
To recap, this is not the first time we have heard about the Snapdragon 823 version. Analyst Pan Jiutang had revealed in February that Snapdragon 823 model number MSM8996 Pro should come with an upgraded CPU (higher clock speed?) but the baseband should be the same.
Coming back to the Mi Note 2, the phone is said to come with the same screen size, 5.7-inches with 2K resolution. There’s even the possibility of pressure sensitive display. Other rumored specs include a large 3600mAh battery with support for 18W Quick Charging, 16MP rear camera (Sony IMX 295) with OIS and a 5MP front camera. The phone should be made out of metal.
The source further reveals that the release of Snapdragon 823 will depend on its availability. Samsung Galaxy Note 6 is expected to come with this chip, and it’s possible that the Mi Note also uses this upgraded CPU for better performance.
Finally, coming to the pricing, the phone is said to retail for around 2999 Yuan which comes to $460. That’s not really a bad figure considering all the high-end hardware packed inside.
However, it’s still too early to say anything about the Mi Note 2 for sure, so we will advise you to take this rumor with a pinch of salt. If Xiaomi does intend to update the lineup, expect a release only in the second half of 2016.
Now that almost every smartphone in the block comes with a fingerprint sensor (Xiaomi announced the Redmi 3 Pro with fingerprint ID today), manufacturers are trying to improve the overall experience by using a faster sensor as well as optimizing the software for smooth unlocking. UMi’s upcoming smartphone, namely the UMi Touch has been in the news for the past few days, and it’s no surprise that the phone features a fingerprint sensor.
A few hours back, UMi demoed the fingerprint sensor on the UMi Touch and the sensor unlocked the phone quite fast. In fact, when directly compared to the iPhone 6S Plus which is said to feature a pretty good sensor, the UMi Touch managed to unlock the phone a bit faster. The company claims that the device unlocks in just 0.1 seconds, which if true is super fast.
What’s even more impressive is that the fingerprint sensor can unlock the phone even when the screen is turned off. Further, the company reveals that there is a silicone pad in between the fingerprint sensor and the screen below it to ensure that it’s protected from things like water vapor and sweat. You can set up to 4 different fingerprints at a time.
Coming to the other specs, the UMi Touch features a 5.5-inch FHD display with 2.5D glass and MT6753 octa-core processor. There will be 3GB of RAM on board and 16GB of internal storage which is further expandable via MicroSD. At the back, there will be a 13MP Sony IMX328 camera and a 4000mAh battery. The phone supports 4G LTE networks and dual SIM dual standby. As for software, the phone comes with the latest Android 6.0 Marshmallow build.
Most retailers have already started shipping the UMi Touch flagship. You can purchase the device from the links below.
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