Shanghai’s Quality department recently tested out the air purifiers in the region, which included the Air Purifiers from Xiaomi. The department reportedly tested out a batch of 36 Air Purifiers, out of which only four of the products failed the test. Interestingly, Xiaomi’s Mi Air Purifier turned out to be one of the four products which didn’t pass the test.
Although this meant that most of the air purifiers were fine, the presence of a popular product from Xiaomi in the list was really surprising. However, soon, Xiaomi released a statement in response to this test report, claiming that their air purifier CADR level efficiency was in line with A level standards. According to the official company listing, the Mi air purifier has a CADR (clean air delivery rate) value of 406m3/h which is pretty decent.
Now, it has come to light that Xiaomi’s air purifiers that were subjected to the department’s test only managed score a CADR value of 346m3/h.
But the company claims that all Xiaomi purifiers use the same functional units and components and such a vast difference between the claimed value and the sample value is not possible. And after some further talks, it was reported that the sample unit under test was not using the high-speed mode on the device, which is why the score was so less. As a result, Xiaomi has urged the Shanghai Quality department to retake the test.
Although the report may have shocked Mi Air purifier users, from the proceedings of the incident, it looks like a proper retest may pass the product.
ZOPO has been teasing its upcoming ZOPO Speed 8 flagship smartphone for the past couple of weeks. We have seen a couple of renders of the device, thanks to the previous teasers. The company has also confirmed that the phone will be one of the first smartphones to feature Helio X20 chipset onboard. Now, we have got the glimpse of the first image of this Chinese flagship and the company seems to have made some design changes as compared to its previous generation.
The teaser shows that the ZOPO Speed 8 features round corners and a metal frame. You can also see a speaker grill just below the logo. Although unconfirmed for now, from the port located at the bottom, it looks like the Speed 8 will feature the USB Type-C reversible port. From this image, it’s hard to say anything more about the device at the moment.
However, according to earlier reports, the phone is going to be quite powerful, thanks to Helio X20 MT6797 onboard. Previously, we have seen the image of the phone’s back which confirms the presence of a fingerprint sensor.
Also, we can see that the camera sensor protrudes a bit from the body, which could mean that the Speed 8 comes with a thin body. There’s even dual tone LED flash just below the sensor.
Finally, the company has also confirmed that the phone will feature a large 3600mAh battery. It’s not the biggest battery we have seen on a flagship, but it’s still large enough to easily power a device for a day or two.
As for the release, we will meet the Speed 8 at MWC 2016 in February. The company adds that its brand ambassador, Jorge Lorenzo will be present at their booth.
Last year, Xiaomi had said that it aimed to sell about 100 million smartphones in just 12 months. Unfortunately, the company fell short of this target, reportedly selling less than 75 million units. But looks like this year, Xiaomi is all set to achieve this target. First it unveiled the revolutionary Redmi 3 budget smartphone with Snapdragon 616 chipset on board. Now, the company has released a special Qualcomm Snapdragon-powered variant of the existing Redmi Note 3 mid-ranger. Both these smartphones are being offered at killer prices!
The announcement came as a surprise since the Redmi Note 3 by itself was a pretty good value for money device. But this particular version comes with the brand new Snapdragon 650 processor (earlier known as Snapdragon 618) which will be much more powerful than the Helio X10 chip found inside the previous version. It features 2x Cortex A72 cores and 4x Cortex A53 cores, along with Adreano 510 GPU. What’s even more interesting is that the company has decided to price it at just 999 Yuan which comes to around $156. This makes it one of the cheapest 650 powered mid-range smartphones available in the market right now.
The base variant comes with the same 2GB + 16GB internal storage option as before, but there’s a higher-end version as well which features 3GB RAM and 32GB of internal storage. Expect it to be a few hundred Yuans higher than base price of 999 Yuan. As for the display, you have a 5.5-inch FHD 1080p screen up front.
Other notable features of the new Redmi Note 3 include support for entire network, VoLTE, 4G+ network, Sunlight Display and 4050mAh battery. As for the camera, you get an upgraded 16MP rear camera sensor with 0.1s ultra-fast PDAF (Phase Detection Auto Focus). Up front, you have a 5MP shooter.
There seems to be no difference in the design of the two models. So, its basically a better version of the Redmi Note 3 but at the same price.
So, what do you think about the Redmi Note 3 with Snapdragon 650? Do you think with such releases, Xiaomi can achieve its 100 million smartphone sales target in 2016?
It’s been a long time since we have been waiting for the Xiaomi Mi 5 flagship. Naturally, there have been many leaks, and rumors about the device and the frequency has only been increasing as we near the launch, which should be sometime around February 20. Now, the online retailer Gearbest, has just listed the Xiaomi Mi 5 on its website, revealing most of its specifications.
While we are unsure whether the specifications will turn out to be true, they are in line with what we have heard from the rumors in the past few months. So, according to the website, the Mi 5 will come with Snapdragon 820 quad-core chipset clocked at 1.8GHz. It is said that the display will be a 5.2-inch panel with Corning Gorilla Glass 4 protection. The display will also be adorned by 2.5D glass. As for the memory, the phone will have 4GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage. Like we saw in the earlier renders, the phone has a fingerprint sensor as well, which is most likely on the front home button.
At the back, there is a 16MP camera with 6 element lens and f/2.2 aperture. Up front, you will find an 8MP camera. The phone also features NFC according to this listing, not a surprise given that we have already seen leaks supporting this claim. As for the software, the phone runs on Android 5.1 with MIUI 7 on top. Personally, I feel this would be disappointing if true, as we would expect the latest Android 6.0 Marshmallow version on a 2016 flagship. Finally, for battery, the listing says that the Mi 5 comes with a 3600mAh capacity lithium-ion polymer battery.
The release is said to be on February 20, according to the latest information. Foxconn employees are reportedly working overtime to manufacture enough stock of the Xiaomi Mi 5 by the time of launch.
As for the pricing, Gearbest has listed the phone for $625.80which a pretty hefty price for a Xiaomi flagship. CEO Lei Jun had earlier hinted that the company will be releasing a 3000 Yuan ($455) smartphone this year. So, we can expect the official price of the Mi 5 to be around this figure, and not as much as $650. That’s probably the third party retailer pricing.
But for now, we can’t be sure of these specs or even the pricing. So, we better wait for more information.
Just a day after Xiaomi released its Redmi 3 budget smartphone, Lenovo unveiled its brand new Lemon 3 smartphone. There’s no doubt from the timing of the launch or the pricing that this new phone is targeted to compete directly with the Redmi 3. Although the two phones have almost similar specs, they do have some differences to make sure that it will be a pretty hard decision to choose between the two.
So, let’s take a look at the Xiaomi Redmi 3 vs Lenovo Lemon 3 comparison.
DESIGN
Both the Lenovo Lemon 3 and the Xiaomi Redmi 3 feature metal body. While the Lenovo handset comes in a traditional back design, Xiaomi model has a plaid design pattern at the back, which some may like. For others, Xiaomi also offers a plain design variant.
The Redmi 3 comes in three colors namely, silver, gray and gold. On the other hand, the Lenovo Lemon 3 comes in just silver color.
The Lemon 3 is slightly thinner than the Redmi 3 measuring 7.99mm. But I am sure many won’t mind the additional 0.5mm thickness on the Redmi 3 owing to its large battery onboard.
When it comes to design, it’s always going to be a personal preference. So, we will leave it to you to decide which one looks better in the Xiaomi Redmi 3 vs Lenovo Lemon 3 design comparison.
CPU & MEMORY
If we told you that $100 phones would feature Snapdragon 615 processor a couple of months back, you may not have believed us. However, this is exactly what’s happening now. Both the Xiaomi Redmi 3 and the Lenovo Lemon 3 comes with the latest mid-range chipset from Qualcomm, namely the octa-core Snapdragon 616. With 2GB of RAM on board, you no longer have to worry about sluggish performance on budget smartphones.
Both the devices feature 16GB of base storage which is further expandable via MicroSD.
DISPLAY
While both the devices come with a 5-inch compact display, the Lenovo Lemon 3 has an edge over the Redmi 3, thanks to its full HD 1920 x 1080p resolution screen. This translates into a pixel density of 440 ppi, which means the screen is going to look much clearer than the Xiaomi model. On the other hand, the Redmi 3 will feature just HD resolution screen, translating into a pixel density of 294 ppi.
CAMERA
Quite frankly, it’s hard to decide which phone will have the better camera until we get our hands on the devices. But on paper, the Xiaomi might have an edge with a 13MP rear camera sensor and PDAF that focuses in just 0.1 seconds. Even the Lemon 3 comes with a 13MP shooter, but it lacks PDAF (since the company hasn’t officially mentioned it as a feature).
As for the front camera, both the devices feature a 5MP shooter.
BATTERY
One of the major differences between the two devices can be found in the battery department. The Xiaomi Redmi 3 comes with one of the largest battery in its segment with a total capacity of 4100mAh. On the other hand, the Lenovo Lemon 3 comes with a 2750mAh battery.
Lenovo’s battery is actually quite decent for its size and price segment, but then when directly compared to the Redmi 3’s super large battery, it no competition.
CONNECTIVITY & SOFTWARE
You have all the usual features on both the devices like dual SIM dual standby, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 4G LTE support and so on. However, Lenovo Lemon 3 gets a slight edge here in the speaker department thanks to its Dolby Atmos technology. It seems to be the same tech that is found inside the company’s K4 Note mid-ranger.
As for the software, both the phones run on Android 5.1 with the respective skins from their manufacturers.
PRICING
Lenovo has matched Xiaomi when it comes to the pricing of the Lemon 3. So, both the Redmi 3 and Lemon 3 smartphones retail for a price tag of just 699 Yuan which comes to around $106. This makes them some of the best value for money devices that we have seen in the market lately.
Surely, budget smartphones never looked this good!
CONCLUSION
Xiaomi Redmi 3 vs Lenovo Lemon 3
As you can see in the comparison, there are a few areas where both the phones differ. For example, if you are looking for a better screen, Lemon 3 is naturally your better choice. But if you want an exceptional battery life, then look no further than the Redmi 3. Another big difference is the Dolby Atmos speakers on the Lenovo model, which is not found on the Redmi 3. But then, the latter comes with PDAF that focuses in 0.1 seconds, which is great for photography lovers.
So, it really boils down to what feature you want the most and which one are you ready to sacrifice. There is no doubt that both are exceptional smartphones! So, its always going to be a hard decision choosing between the two.
Anyways, we would like to know which smartphone would you pick between the Xiaomi Redmi 3 vs Lenovo Lemon 3. Also, do you have any better/ similar smartphones that you think can beat/ compete with these two?
Though Ulefone Power is well sold now, it will not guarantee Ulefone a bright prospect in 2016, because the flagship that leads the fleet must be something new. For the moment, Ulefone Future seems to be the very device the company needs for the future.
Ulefone Future will be more inspiring than anything Ulefone has created. It has a face without bezel between display and the left/right edges, so it will be slimmer than most 5.5-inch devices such as iPhone 6 Plus. You can’t find a volume rocker on its frame because there will be an invisible volume rocker for touch. Its fingerprint scanner will neither sits on the front side nor on the rear, because it will be located on the right edge. The Future will be Ulefone’s first metal uni-body device. And it will come with both Android 6.0 and CyanogenMod.
Inside, there will be MTK6755 2GHz octa-core 64-bit chipset, 4GB RAM, and 32GB storage. Definitely, it will be Ulefone’s flagship device in 2016.
We can see from the official video that UlefoneH has actually been making the bezel-less phone and since Ulefone need to reserve some marketing energy in the beginning of the year, the launch of new flagship may not be far away.
Huawei announced the Kirin 950 chipset late last year. The chip featured the powerful Cortex A72 cores, making it one of the fastest available SoCs of its time. However, since then, we have come across pretty good chips like Snapdragon 820 and Exynos 8890 which are likely to beat 950 in terms of performance. In fact, in the previous Geekbench tests, Mate 8 powered by Kirin 950 couldn’t cross the 2000 mark in the single-core test.
But looks like there will be a special high-end version of the chip. Today, an “unKnown HUAWEI” device was spotted on the benchmarking website, Geekbench, with significant performance improvements. The device managed to score more than 2000 points in the single-core test.
Even in the multi-core test, the device managed to score 7239 points which is better than the deca-core Helio x20 (leaked score). The specifications of the processor inside the device is similar to Kirin 950 with four Cortex A72 cores and Cortex A53 cores clocked at 1.8GHz.
Helio X20 Geekbench
So, this could be a special high-end edition of the Kirin 950, probably Kirin 955. However, increasing the frequncy of each cores inside may not be the ideal solution. For example, with increased frequency, we wouldn’t want the device to overheat. So, it would be interesting to see where Huawei plans to use this high-end version.
Just yesterday, we reported that the Helio P10 octa-core chip will end up in more than 100 different smartphones. Since then, we have seen a couple of phones with this chip inside, first being the Gionee W909. Now, it looks like another smartphone with Helio P10 has just been spotted as Lenovo K52t38 aka Lenovo K5 Note has just passed through TENAA.
The Lenovo K5 Note will feature an octa-core chip clocked at 1.8GHz. It’s most likely the new Helio P10 processor. Along with this chip, the phone comes with 2GB of RAM onboard and 16GB of internal storage. The storage is further expandable up to 32GB via MicroSD card slot.
As for the display, the Lenovo K5 Note features a 5.5-inch FHD 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution screen. The camera at the back will be of 13MP while, up front, you will find an 8MP shooter. The battery is pretty large, with a capacity of 3500mAh. It should easily last you a day with these specifications. Other features include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Dual SIM dual standby and 4G LTE connectivity.
With a 3500mAh battery on board, the Lenovo K52t38 isn’t the thinnest phone around with an 8.49mm thick metal body. As for the weight, it weighs around 165 grams. You will also find a fingerprint sensor at the back of the device. Finally, for software, the phone runs on Android 5.1 Lollipop OS, most likely with Lenovo’s own skin on top.
At the moment, this is all the information we have about the Lenovo K5 Note aka Lenovo K52t38. The phone looks like an upper mid-range offering. Since it has passed through TENAA, we can expect the company to announce the device sometime soon in China.
We have seen a couple of Nubia devices in renders and leaks in the past couple of weeks. One was the rumored Nubia Z11, the successor to the Z9 and the other was the new Nubia X8 flagship. While we expected the company to announce either of the two products at the January 18 event next week, it looks like Nubia will release the Prague S model at the event.
Earlier today, the company released a new teaser poster via its official Weibo account, where it revealed that it will announce the Nubia Prague S model next week. In this regard, the company also noted that there were just five days left for the launch. So, it looks like we may not see any of above two flagships at this event.
Unfortunately, we haven’t heard anything about the new Prague S in terms of leaks or renders. All our focus has been on the Nubia X8 and the Z11 till now, so it would be interesting to see what the upcoming device brings to the table.
Prague is not Nubia’s high-end smartphone series, so we can expect something mid-range from the Prague S. To give you some perspective, the Nubia My Prague came with 5.2-inch FHD 2.5D glass display, Snapdragon 615 with 2GB/ 3GB RAM and 16GB/ 32GB storage options, 13MP rear camera, 8MP front camera, 2200mAh battery (with fast charge) and a super slim – 5.5mm thin metal body.
At this moment, we have very little information about the device. But since the company has said that it will release the device in five days, we can expect more information pretty soon.
Elephone Four Product Launch 2016 coming on the 15th
The Elephone Four Product Launch 2016 has now been given an official time and date, at 2.30pm (GMT+8) on January the 15th you will be given full details of four Elephone products.
The P9000 handsets will be shown along with full product details and specifications, hopefully including a chance to see a finalised version of the P9000 Edge, as whilst most of the phones specs are well documented having been covered as part of the recent crowd funding promotion, the P9000 Edge has yet to be seen in the wild, hopefully it can live up to the renders that have been shown previously.
Their will also be coverage of the Elephone W2 watch, from what we have seen and been told so far it will feature a stainless steel case comparable in quality to those produced by high end watch manufacturers such as Longines and Ronda, along with an internal movement used by makers like Cartier, these are certainly very bold statements to make and a lot of people will doubt them, so lets wait and see if the W2 watch lives up to them.
When it comes to features a cool looking illuminated night light, and will support smart functions such as sleep and sports monitoring, sedentary reminders, call reminders and is compatible with both IOS and Android operating systems.
Overall the design looks high end and is visually pleasing, the changeable real leather watch strap should also add to the sense of quality and give it a touch of style.
Elephone will be giving a 50% discount on the watch as part of the Elephone Four Product Launch 2016, but we will need to wait till the 15th to find out exactly what we need to do in order to take advantage of the 50% off offer and if it will be limited to a certain number of applicants.
Another handset that will be covered as part of the Elephone Four Product Launch 2016, is the M3 Business phone, it will come in two different specification levels, with the differences between versions being the camera and memory specifications.
The top of spec M3 includes a 5.5″ LG screen, USB Type-C 3.0, 21MP Sony230 camera, Android 6.0 and fingerprint scanner.
Both versions of the M3 feature Network B allowing them to be used all around the world including America.
The aviation grade aluminium body will come in a range of three colours rose gold, champagne gold and smoky grey.
As mentioned above there will be a mystery product covered at the Elephone Products Conference 2016, what do you think it will be? another handset range? perhaps a Vape unit? possibly a drone? its hard to say with Elephone as they are constantly evolving their range of products, meaning that we will have to wait for the Elephone Products Conference 2016 to find out for sure.
Elephone will be updating their official twitter, Google+, Facebook and VK accounts throughout the day, allowing you to keep up with the updates as they happen.
So will you be tuning in for the Elephone Four Product Launch 2016? are you waiting to find out more about the P9000 Edge? or are you intrigued by the mystery device?
Elephone have recently tried very hard to shake off their image as a provider of good hardware with limited support, their use of higher quality components has helped as has the work they have done with software updates for older handsets.
I have personally been using my Elephone P8000 again from the 1st of January (having lost my Samsung S5) the handset has come on leaps and bounds with recent OS updates making it into the phone it should have been at launch.
If they can bring out the P9000 and M3 phones with a great rom and the attention to detail they deserve this could be the year that Elephone return to favour, if they get the software wrong however it could be hard to come back from.
Please feel free to leave comments or questions below
OPPO revealed that it will be unveiling the OPPO F1 camera-centric smartphone sometime this month. Now, it looks like Vietnam will be the first market to get the device as the phone will go on sale in the country on January 21. However, don’t worry if you are not in Vietnam, as the smartphone will soon be available in other international markets.
The OPPO F1 comes with Snapdragon 616 octa-core processor under its hood clocked at 1.7GHz. There’s 3GB of RAM on board which should be more than enough for your everyday multi-tasking. Also, you get 16GB of internal storage along with a MicroSD card slot, in case you want to expand it further. As for the display, there’s a decent 5-inch IPS panel up front with Gorilla Glass 4 protection.
At the back, you will find a 13MP camera with f/2.2 aperture and single LED flash. While we don’t know the real-life performance of this sensor, you can expect to take pretty good pictures since the focus of the F series is going to be its camera. Up front, you have an 8MP camera with f/2.0 aperture lens ideal for selfies. You get some software additions as well, like Beautify 3.0, 8 live color filters etc.
Battery is a bit of a disappointment since the phone comes with just a 2500mAh capacity one. But then, you have a pretty thin body measuring just 7.25mm in thickness. There’s 4G LTE connectivity and dual SIM dual standby support. As for software, you get Color OS 2.1 based on Android 5.1 Lollipop version.
Pricing has never been the selling point of OPPO devices, and with the OPPO F1 too, there has been no exception. The phone will go on sale in Vietnam for approximately $289. For this price, we would have wanted at least a larger battery. Also, given that there are options like the Redmi 3 that features the Snapdragon 616 chipset, it would really be interesting to see how OPPO F1 performs in different markets in the coming weeks.
ZTE’s subsidiary smartphone brand, Nubia has an official event on the 18th of this month. The company will most likely release a flagship smartphone at the event, either the rumored Nubia Z11 or the Nubia X8. While we are still unclear which one will meet us at the event, earlier today, new renders of the ZTE Nubia Z11 have emerged revealing some interesting information about the upcoming handset.
We had already seen the leaked front panel of the device a few days back. Looks like the phone in the new render sticks with the same design as the previous leak. However, at the back, we have some interesting features. First of all, you will notice that there are two cameras on top of the device. So, it looks like the Nubia Z11 will bring back the dual camera design trend to the industry.
Although there was initially a couple of flagships with such a setup, recently, most manufacturers have used a single rear camera setup on their smartphones. Since Nubia smartphone are specially known for their cameras, the company could be trying out something different in this department with the Z11.
Another feature that’s unlike previous generations is the fingerprint sensor on board. However, that’s hardly any surprise given that most flagships that have launched since the second half of 2015 have come with this feature.
Nubia dual camera setup patent
This is not the first time we are hearing about a dual camera setup from Nubia. A couple of days back, a few Weibo posts, found by mydrivers, detailed the patents filed by the company regarding a dual camera setup on a smartphone. So, this feature could really end up on the Z11.
However, at this moment, it’s hard to confirm these features, just on the basis of a couple of weak renders. We would need some more concrete information like real life images to confirm whether these renders are the real deal.
Nubia Z11 Front Panel
As for the specs, the phone is expected to come with a 5.2-inch display with 2K resolution, 4GB RAM, 128GB internal storage, Snapdragon 820 quad-core chipset, 20.7MP rear camera, 13MP front camera and Android 6.0 Marshmallow OS. The body should be metal with bezelless display and FiT technology.
If Nubia announces the Nubia Z11 on January 18, it could turn out to be the second official handset with Snapdragon 820. Stay tuned for more details.
Sata hard drive docking station is one of those gadgets that may come handy if you have your old internal HDD disk or you want to use the new internal SSD (or HDD) disk as the external one. Orico has a solution that may help you do that. Find out more in a the full review.
UNBOXING
The docking station comes in a simple yet neat looking box and the contents include the docking station itself, a power cord, USB cable and instruction manuals.
DESIGN
Orico docking station can take either 2.5″ or 3.5″ HDD or SSD disks. You can either insert a 2.5″ or 3.5″ disks, which is very convenient if you have lots of old disks lying around. What you have to do is simply slide the HDD drive into the mount and you are good to go. It is very easy to do it and even easier to remove the disk.
On the back we a USB 3.0 interface and DC power input.
The top is made of glossy plastic and we are not huge fans of it since it attracts dust, fingerprints and smudges very easily. Here you can find a power button and the LED light.
It lights up purple once the docking station is powered on and turns blue once you insert your HDD disk.
On the bottom of the docking station there are soft pads to prevent the device from sliding on the table.
FEATURES and FUNCTIONALITY
To start using the Orico docking station you have to connect it via USB 3.0 to your computer and power it up.
To be honest, this is a very old (made in 2009) HDD disk that I used in this review. It was lying around for quite a while and it was used in my old laptop, and I thought it was almost dead. The reason for this kind of thinking is that I replaced it with the SSD disk on my old laptop since it was working very slowly. Seriously, painfully slowly.
Once I connected the disk (320GB, SATA 3.0GB/s) to my MacBook I was pleasantly surprised that it was recognised within seconds. No drivers needed.
Another surprise was that the old HDD disk was a lot faster than using it inside the old laptop. As a matter of fact, it has become more than usable and I may start using it for backup files. All the folders and files are opening and closing fast, and the performance is great overall. Of course, it is not on par with any SSD disks but since I used this old HDD disk for 5 years on my old laptop, this is one the fastest performances of it I have seen.
CONCLUSIONS
Orico USB 3.0 SATA docking station is not something we haven’t seen before as there are plenty of other offerings out there but it offers a great quality and value.
For the price of $21.99, you are getting a well designed device that is sturdy, looks pretty nice but most importantly it performs as advertised.
All in all, it is very easy to recommend the Orico SuperSpeed USB 3.0 to SATA hard drive docking station and it is well worth the price.
Back at CES last week, Huawei showed off its thin, large-screen tablet, the Huawei Mediapad M2. The tab came with a 10-inch screen, large enough for your entertainment needs and featured a thin metal body measuring just 7.3mm in thickness. Now, Huawei has officially announced the device in China, in four different versions.
The Huawei Mediapad M2 tablet comes in two color options, namely Silver and Gold. The base version, i.e. Silver 16GB starts at 2288 Yuan ($347) for the Wi-Fi and 2688 Yuan ($408) for the LTE version. If you want a larger storage version i.e. Gold 64GB, you will have to shell out 2888 Yuan ($440) for the Wi-Fi only and 3288 Yuan ($500) for the LTE version. Not the cheapest of the tablets that we have seen lately, but it features some decent specs to justify the price.
The tablet comes with the Kirin 930 octa-core chipset with Mali-T628 MP4 GPU. There will be 2GB + 16GB and 3GB + 64GB memory variants available. At the back, you will find a 13MP primary camera, while, up front, you have a 5MP sensor for things like video calling. The battery isn’t the largest we have seen in the segment, with a capacity of 6600mAh, still, it should be good enough for a day.
Apart from the usual specs, the highlight of the tablet is the fingerprint sensor on board. You don’t usually find fingerprint ID on a tablet, so this is definitely one of its selling points. Another important feature of the device is the on board stylus. This active capacitive pen will further enhance the user experience on the device. Also, you have four 1W speakers with a separate amplifier chip to ensure the M2 satisfies your entertainment needs as well.
The tablet will go on sale in China on January 15.
Sata hard drive docking station is one of those gadgets that may come handy if you have your old internal HDD disk or you want to use the new internal SSD (or HDD) disk as the external one. Orico has a solution that may help you do that. Find out more in a the full review.
UNBOXING
The docking station comes in a simple yet neat looking box and the contents include the docking station itself, a power cord, USB cable and instruction manuals.
DESIGN
ORICO docking station is made of high quality matt plastic material, which does not fell cheap by any means.
The top is where you need to insert your SATA HDD or SSD disk. You can either insert a 2.5″ or 3.5″ disks, which is very convenient if you have lots of old disks lying around. What you have to do is simply slide the HDD drive into the mount and you are good to go. It is very easy to do it and even easier to remove the disk.
On the back we have USB 3.0 interface, DC power input and a power on/off switch.
Once you power up the docking station, the notification LED turns purple.
Once you insert the disk, the LED light turns blue meaning that the disk has been inserted correctly and it has been recognised.
On the bottom of the docking station there are soft pads to prevent the device from sliding on the table.
FEATURES and FUNCTIONALITY
To start using the Orico docking station you have to connect it via USB 3.0 to your computer and power it up.
To be honest, this is a very old (made in 2009) HDD disk that I used in this review. It was lying around for quite a while and it was used in my old laptop, and I thought it was almost dead. The reason for this kind of thinking is that I replaced it with the SSD disk on my old laptop since it was working very slowly. Seriously, painfully slowly.
Once I connected the disk (320GB, SATA 3.0GB/s) to my MacBook I was pleasantly surprised that it was recognised within seconds. No drivers needed.
Another surprise was that the old HDD disk was a lot faster than using it inside the old laptop. As a matter of fact, it has become more than usable and I may start using it for backup files. All the folders and files are opening and closing fast, and the performance is great overall. Of course, it is not on par with any SSD disks but since I used this old HDD disk for 5 years on my old laptop, this is one the fastest performances of it I have seen.
CONCLUSIONS
Orico USB 3.0 SATA docking station is not something we haven’t seen before as there are plenty of other offerings out there but it offers a great quality and value.
For the price of $22.99, you are getting a well designed device that is sturdy, looks pretty nice but most importantly it performs as advertised.
It woke my old HDD disk to the second life and using it is absolutely seamless.
All in all, it is very easy to recommend the Orico SuperSpeed USB 3.0 to SATA hard drive docking station and it is well worth the price.
Mediatek has been slowly gaining market share, thanks to its low cost chip solutions. This year, the company has a couple of important chips that will end up in a number of mid-range and high-end smartphones like MT6755 Helio P10 and MT6797 Helio X20. Now, according to a new report, the mid-range Helio P10 chip might end up in more than 100 different smartphones.
The report comes via Fudzilla, who got a chance to meet Mediatek’s management and talk to them about the upcoming products in 2016. CJ (Ching-Jiang) Hsieh Vice Chairman & President of MediaTek, seems to have confirmed to the site that there will be more than 100 Helio P10 powered smartphones. So, it looks like the company’s chips have been well received by the industry.
The first batch of Helio P10 smartphones should hit the market sometime this quarter. The SoC already entered mass production in Q4 2015, so phones with the chip should start shipping very soon. There are a number of low-cost Chinese manufacturers that are expected to use the chip like Blackview, and Elephone. Even larger ones like Xiaomi and Meizu will most likely release P10 powered phones this year.
As for the much awaited, Helio X20, the executives failed to give out specific details. But according to rumors, we will see the chip first on Meizu smartphones sometime in the coming months.
Mediatek MT6755 Helio P10 chip will use TSMC’s HPC+ 28nm process. It packs a 2GHz, True Octa-core 64-bit Cortex-A53 CPU and a 700MHz, Dual-core 64-bit Mali-T860 GPU.
Blackview has just informed us that the company has decided to recall about 700 affected units of the Blackview Omega Pro flagship that were sold from November to December. The company said that an issue with the SIM card slot in the Omega Pros sold during the said period has forced them to take this decision.
The company informs us that the exact reason of recall was due to the faulty SIM card slot. The card slot on the Omega Pro smartphone was unable to read SIM cards as the sprayed paint on the slot prevented electrical conduction. As a result, the company will be recalling the units sold in the last two months, namely November and December.
In case, you are one of the affected Blackview customers, don’t worry. If you have purchased the Omega Pro from one of the authorized online stores, you can return the product for a free replacement with free shipping. Or else, you can ask the seller to ship you a free SIM card slot with free shipping.
I know many of you must be disappointed to hear the news, but it’s good to see that the company has accepted that there’s a defect and is ready for amends. If you are one of the affected users, do lets us know how the replacement process goes in the coming days.
Also, the company informs me that the Blackview Omega Pro units sold this month don’t have this problem. So, anyone who purchased the model in January need not worry.
Blackview Omega Pro is actually a great smartphone that costs under $140. The phone features 3GB RAM, 16GB storage, MT6753 octa-core chip, 13MP camera and a beautiful design with Gorilla Glass 3 protection, making it a pretty good deal.
We have an Omega Pro giveaway running right now, and you can participate in it from the link here. And don’t worry, you will get a defect free unit if you turn out to be the lucky winner!
Since the super-battery device Ulefone Power will only be shipped from January 16 and media does not have the device for review right now, Ulefone has made an official draining test in an effort to convince potential buyers.
In a video on the official Ulefone Youtube, a fully-charged Ulefone Power was engaged in the draining test where 30-minute playback of a 720P online video consumed 5% of the battery, 30-minute playing of Asphalt 8 cost another 5%, and with the double-LED torch and display on for another 30 minutes, the battery drained to 86%. Draining from 30%, the battery gave similar performance. And the final 6% of power was even able to support 33 minutes of online video. The test is enough to indicate one day of immoderate heavy use. And for light use, Ulefone claims 4 days.
The video was made not without stop since Ulefone’s DSLR needs cooling, but every single step was constant, according to Ulefone, who have released both speed-up and normal speed videos.
o explain why Ulefone Power has stable battery performance, Ulefone showed us how the non-replaceable Sony li-polymer battery look like. Connected to the battery, there is a tiny circuit board which houses a devoted controller chipset to make battery have stable power input and output besides offering over-current protection. With it, Ulefone Power will be free of fast draining problem that is often caused by incorrect indication from software.
Ulefone Power is now priced at USD179.99 in presales and will recover to USD199.99 on January 18.
We have reviewed a bunch of shower/outdoors Bluetooth speakers and the Omaker M4 is definitively one of the better ones. Find out more in our full review.
Omaker M4 Bluetooth Shower Speaker Review: UNBOXING
The contents include the a micro USB cable for charging, AUX cable for non-Bluetooth devices, instruction manuals and a nice detachable handle.
Omaker M4 Bluetooth Shower Speaker Review: DESIGN and FEATURES
The selling point of the Omaker M4 speaker is its IP54 splash-proof and dust-proof rating meaning that you can use it in the shower or in the rain, or outdoors but you can’t submerge it under water. Also, the speaker is shock-proof, so it should survive some gentle drops too.
The device is really well made and it uses a high quality rubberised plastic in its construction. Also, it is sturdy, feels great in the hand but what surprised me most was the fact that is very light.
On the top we have volume up/down, which also double as skip tracks buttons, answer call and power keys.
Since the speaker is splash-proof, micro USB port for charging and aux input are covered by a flap, which is very easy to open and close.
Omaker M4 Bluetooth Shower Speaker Review: PAIRING
What’s cool about the Omaker M4 is that you can pair it very easily either using the Bluetooth or you can do it even easier using the NFC. All you have to do is to tap your NFC compatible phone to the speaker and you are good to go.
Omaker M4 Bluetooth Shower Speaker Review: SOUND QUALITY
3W of volume output doesn’t make this speaker the loudest I’ve heard but it is still very loud for its size. What is more important here is the sound quality.
Honestly, I was immediately blown away by the balanced sound, depth and the fact that there were no sound distortions even at the highest volume setting. I have to tell you that Omaker M4 is definitely one of the best speakers of this size I’ve tested.
Omaker M4 Bluetooth Shower Speaker Review: TEST NOTES
I didn’t have any Bluetooth range or connectivity issues. Also, the battery life is impressive. I could get over 10 hours of playback time while using the speaker at almost highest volume settings.
As far as the hands-free calling feature, it works pretty good too. I was able to make a clear and audible conversation and people on the other end didn’t complain at all.
Omaker M4 Bluetooth Shower Speaker Review: CONCLUSIONS
So, there you have it, Omaker M4 Bluetooth speaker. The best way to describe it: high quality sound; tiny, yet powerful.
The speaker is well made, it is very compact and super lightweight, and it has a very good battery life. Also, I’ve put it through hell while testing and I can assure you it will survive water sprays for all directions.
Finally, Omaker M4 may not be the cheapest speaker in this category at the price of $33 but it is well worth the price considering the overall package you are getting.
We do not usually make cables reviews but if you are in the market for them, you may get confused which one to choose. Many companies produce them and Omaker, which has produced a lot of great products that have become Amazon’s bestsellers, has a very high quality 3.5mm cable worth checking out. Find out more in our full review.
Omaker sells 3-packs of these cables on Amazon. What you are getting in the packaging include 3 cables, which have different length (1×6.6ft+2×3.3ft).
The cable itself is very high quality and it has gold-plated audio jacks to deliver clear and reliable sound.
In addition to this, the cable is made of quality tangle-free rubber material, which also feels nice to the touch.
We’ve tested the Omaker audio cable with several devices and it worked flawlessly. It provided outstanding audio quality and we had not complaints at all during our testing period.
Finally, Omaker audio cable is a great choice for those who are looking for high quality product if you are in the market for a 3.5mm audio cable.
Last but not least, the 3-pack of cables sounds like a good deal considering the overall package you are getting.
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