Meizu Pro 5 Receives Flyme 5 Beta Update Finally

By

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Nov 15, 2015

Back in September, Meizu revealed its new Flyme 5 OS alongside the Meizu Pro 5 flagship. Surprisingly, the new version was not immediately available for the Pro 5 handset. Instead, it was first released for the Meizu MX5 as the company said that it required a few more weeks until the OS could be tuned to the hardware of the Pro 5. Now, after nearly two months of waiting, Meizu has finally released the Flyme 5 Beta version for the device. This means, Pro 5 users can now install the new Flyme version on their newly bought flagships.

You can now download and install the open beta version of the Flyme 5 OS on your Meizu Pro 5 flagship. Let me remind you, this is not the stable version, so you won’t be getting it via the OTA update. So, if you are interested in flashing this new version, you will have to do it manually. Or else, wait for a few weeks more until the company releases the final version for all users.

Flyme 5.0 comes with a lot of new functionality and design changes. Apart from the split screen function and card taskbar, the company has also paid special attention to the phone’s camera UI. Now, you have a number of new shooting options such as slow motion, GIF, voice photographs etc.

Although we have yet to test the new Flyme 5 personally, it looks like a great improvement from the previous version. So, if you have the Pro 5 and want to test out the new version, you can download and flash it via the link given below.

Meizu Pro 5 Flyme 5 Beta Version Download

VINSIC Alien 20000mAh Ultra-slim Power Bank Review

By

Linus

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Nov 15, 2015

We all have smartphones and all sorts of different gadgets, and most of them are pretty power-hungry. Vinsic has a power bank that may help keep the lights on for a long time as it has 20000mAh cell inside. Find out more in our full review.

The Vinsic power bank comes in a simple packaging and all you are getting is the USB cable and some documentation.

Naturally, it is not that easy to produce such a big capacity external battery in a small footprint and the solution by Vinsic is a clear example. I would say it is about 3 times larger than the popular Xiaomi power bank, which has the capacity of 10400mAh.

On the other hand, one of the selling points of this device is it thinness of 12mm. On the top side we have two USB ports – one capable of 2.1A of output and another of just 1.0A of output.

On of the key features is that there is an LCD display with the integrated touch panel and it shows the the amount of power left in power bank.

As far as design, we have all-metal unibody aluminium shell, which makes this external battery look and feel premium. Also, the device is very well constructed.

The Vinsic power bank performed well during our testings as any other high quality external battery. It charges other devices quite fast but we wished both ports were capable of at least 2A of output.

CONCLUSIONS

So here it is, the Vinsic Alien 20000mAh Ultra-slim Power Bank. First of all, it has a great design, a premium all-metal shell and top-notch build quality. Also, it performed well during our testing period with different gadgets, which included smartphones, mp3 player and another power bank.

However, one of the key disadvantages is the size. We indeed appreciate that the power bank is slim but we would actually prefer it to be thicker but smaller.

Also, the addition of two USB ports is great but only one if capable of providing decent speeds of 2.0A while another is stuck at 1.0A.

Finally, although you are getting a premium packaging, the Vinsic Alien 20000mAh ultra-slim power bank is not exactly cheap as it retails just below $50. Well, it is not the most expensive external battery out there but we’ve seen some cheaper alternatives made by Chinese competitors.

Please visit the official Vinsic website.

Buy Vinsic Alien 20000mAh ultra-slim power bank from Amazon US

Lenovo ZUK Z1 Review: Ferrari Speeds?

By

Linus

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Nov 13, 2015

ZUK is a new comer to the smartphone game – the affordable yet great ZUK Z1. If you haven’t heard of it, ZUK is a start-up, which is backed by the Chinese electronics giant Lenovo. Find out if it is a great smartphone in our full review.

We wanted to say thanks to Coolicool for sending Lenovo ZUK Z1 for a review. Gizmochina readers are getting a special $20 or $30 discount. Grab a discount code at the end of the article!

Lenovo ZUK Z1 Review: VIDEO

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFLyhVVaoyo[/embedyt]

Lenovo ZUK Z1 Review: UNBOXING

The phone comes in a neat quality packaging and all the contents, which include the neatly folded USB-Type C charging cable, USB brick and instruction manuals are packed in separate boxes.

Lenovo ZUK Z1 Review: DESIGN

When it comes to the design, the ZUK Z1 is not a small phone as it sports a 5.5” display. However, the bezels on the top and bottom parts make this phone slightly taller than e.g. OnePlus 2.

Still, the phone is manageable with one hand due to rounded corners and it sits very comfortably in the hand.

I have both white and grey models and the differences are, of course in colours, which are different on all sides of the phone. A more significant difference is that the white model has a glossy plastic finish, which attracts smudges and I’m not a huge fan of it.

On the top we have a widely customisable LED light as you can choose any colour you want and assign it to different scenarios. Also, we have a generous 8MP selfie snapper.

On the bottom, there is a very tactile home button, which doubles as a fingerprint scanner and it is blazing fast. Literally, it is one of the faster fingerprint readers I’ve ever tested and it is super accurate. The setup process is very fast too. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work straight from the standby mode.

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Next to the home button we have two backlit capacitive keys and if you don’t like them, you can always choose the on-screen ones and you can customise them the way you want.

The backplate is made of matt plastic and it is nice to the touch. As far as optics, we have a 13MP Sony camera, which is also optically stabilised and it has a dual LED flash.

The phone is surrounded by a metal frame and on the right there is a volume rocker and a power key, on the left we have a dual nano SIM tray, on the bottom there is a speaker grill and the mic, and finally, on the top there is a headset jack.

Overall, the ZUK Z1 is a very well constructed device and I am completely satisfied with the build quality.

Lenovo ZUK Z1 Review: DISPLAY

The 5.5” 1080 display is very pleasing to look at. It is bright, crispy and sharp, it has great colour reproduction and good viewing angles. Also, the visibility under direct sunlight is pretty good.

Lenovo ZUK Z1 Review: UI

When it comes to the UI, the ZUK Z1 runs on the well-known Cyanogen Mod 12.1, which is built on top of Android 5.1.

In short, the UI just flies through everything. If you want a long story, let’s begin.

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Basically, the Cyanogen mod has preserved the looks of the stock Android but it has a lot of neat little features and plenty of tweaks and customisation options, which are very useful and it gives a lot of freedom to the user.

There are familiar gesture controls but we have only those we actually use and they work as advertised. Also, you can assign different tasks to particular buttons, customise LED light, tweak the display density and so on. There are just so many tweaks and just to name a few, you can double click on the notification bar to turn off the display or you can adjust the brightness without even going to the brightness settings.

Overall, despite having lots of tweaks and customisation options, the UI on the ZUK Z1 is super fast, fluid and responsive, and to be honest, this is definitely on of the fastest UIs on any phone I’ve ever reviewed.

Lenovo ZUK Z1 Review: BENCHMARKS

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Lenovo ZUK Z1 Review: HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE

When it comes to the processing power, the ZUK Z1 is no slouch either as it uses a quad-core Snapdragon 801 with the 2.5Ghz clock speed, 3GB of RAM and whopping 64GB of internal storage as a base model.

Some may say Snapdragon 801 is already an old chip and yes, it has already shown its age due to the mainstream transition to the 64-bit chips. However, everyone will agree that this is still a very powerful processor that can easily handle almost anything you throw at it.

Asphalt 8 runs like a champ, there are no hiccucps whatsoever and even the graphics look almost identical to any of the newest top shelf processors.

Finally, there were no overheating issues.

Lenovo ZUK Z1 Review: MULTIMEDIA

When it comes to the multimedia consumption, the HD content looks nice on a brilliant and vibrant display and you are also getting a pretty good loudspeaker. Well, it could have a bit more depth but still, the sound that is coming out is not bad at all considering the price category of this phone.

Lenovo ZUK Z1 Review: CAMERA

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When it comes to the camera, we have a dedicated Cyanogen camera app, which has a fast shutter speed, nice clean design and it is very responsive.

You have some settings to play with and you can adjust some basic stuff or customise the app e.g. with button assignments.

Also, there are some shooting modes and they can be easily changed by swiping anywhere on the screen.

Lenovo ZUK Z1 Review: IMAGE QUALITY

The 13MP camera on the back is capable of producing some nice looking images with a good amount of details, decent colour reproduction and contrast.

The dynamic range is usually good but it is not always accurate. Also, you may get a softer focus on the corners of some images.

When it comes to the night images, they are not very impressive but not bad overall. The level of details is significantly lower and there is plenty of noise. Well, this is common to most of the phones in this price range anyway.

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As far as selfies go, the 8MP snapper is pretty good and it will definitely do the trick for social media but if there is not enough lighting, you may sometimes get a bit blurry image.

When it comes to the 1080P video recording, it is not bad but not great either. There is a decent amount of details but the footage looks shaky and a bit choppy despite the fact that the phone has OIS. See the video review for a video sample.

Full resolution camera samples coming soon (again…. technical issues).

Lenovo ZUK Z1 Review: CONNECTIVITY

As far as connectivity, everything works just fine as I had no issues with the call quality, signal reception, Wifi or GPS.

Lenovo ZUK Z1 Review: BATTERY LIFE

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The battery life is one of my favourite parts of the ZUK Z1. The phone has a 4100mAh battery with fast charging capabilities and it performs very well.

I could get almost 7 hours of screen-on time with a light use and the stand-by time was just brilliant.

Naturally, the screen-on time reduces if you do some more intensive tasks but still, I am very happy with the overall battery performance.

Lenovo ZUK Z1 Review: CONCLUSIONS

So, there you have it, the ZUK Z1 by Lenovo. It is a great phone for a lot of reasons, no matter if you look at it like at any other device or a phone that was built by a start-up.

It all starts with a plain yet good looking design and solid construction, and a vibrant display.

Also, you are getting a well implemented UI, which is blazing fast. In addition, the processing power lets you enjoying even the most demanding games, 64GB of internal storage is more than enough to store some good looking images shot by the camera or store lots of songs that sound pretty good via the loudspeaker. Lastly, a generous battery will keep the lights on for a long time.

However, if you are very serious about the night photography or a good video recording is a feature that you can’t live without, the ZUK Z1 is not the best performer out there.

All in all, despite a few shortcomings that can actually be fixed with the future software updates, the Lenovo ZUK Z1 is a really good device for the price of just above $300.

Gizmochina readers are getting some generous discounts for the ZUK Z1 when buying from both China and EU warehouses!

Buy Lenovo ZUK Z1 from Coolicool with $30 OFF from China warehouse using a COUPON CODE: CICZUK

Buy Lenovo ZUK Z1 from Coolicool with $20 OFF from EU warehouse using a COUPON CODE: EUZUK

iPhone 6S Plus vs OUKITEL U7 Pro

By

shanos

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Nov 13, 2015

We have today received a video from Oukitel showing the iPhone 6S Plus vs OUKITEL U7 Pro.

Surprisingly the blatantly iPhone 6S Plus influenced $69.99 (£46) Oukitel U7 Pro stands up quite well in the test, especially when you consider the pocket money price/performance ratio.

In the video Oukitel ask if you think the styling is similar to that of Apples iPhone 6S Plus, I would say the answer is pretty obvious to this, although the lack off visible plastic lines on the rear shell might suggest that it is plastic rather than metal, as the lines found on iPhones are their to allow the ariels to function through the metal rear casing.

Oukitel also show off gaming on the U7 Pro, if you consider the processor and the price of just $69.99, I would say it looks like its doing a great job keeping up with the graphically intensive driving game, however the iPhone does not appear to be running the game at full speed, this could be to do with the chosen car, as it seems a bit odd given the power of the processor under the hood of the iPhone 6S Plus that it would run this slowly, a better comparison would be to have both games running the same car on the same track.

Oukitel have also highlighted the Wi-Fi download speeds of the U7 Pro, something that appears a lot quicker than the iPhone 6S.

Personally I would like to run the tests independently to prove that things are as they seem, Oukitel if your listening I would welcome a test sample of the Oukitel U7 Pro to do an unbiased iPhone 6S Plus vs OUKITEL U7 Pro head to head.

You can check out the video for the iPhone 6 vs OUKITEL U7 Pro below and let us know what you think in the comments below.

Regards Shanos

The Oukitel U7 Pro can be pre-ordered here for just $69.99 (£46)

original article posted on gadgetz.tv

A Closer Look At The All Metal UMi Iron Pro Flagship That Costs $149.99

By

Joel Joseph

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Nov 13, 2015

UMi unveiled the second generation version of the popular Iron flagship called as the UMi Iron Pro a few weeks back. The phone retains a similar design as the previous generation but brings some additional upgrades. One of the highlights of the device is its all metal body, which is made out of a single piece of magnesium and aluminum alloy. The CNC finish and curved edges gives the smartphone a premium look, despite its sub-$170 pricing.

The phone looks like a complete package, featuring the much loved metal body, powerful specs and an affordable pricing. To recap, the phone comes with the MT6753 octa-core chip which powers most mid-range flagships in the market right now. There’s 3GB of RAM on board and 16GB of expandable internal storage. At the front, there’s a large 5.5-inch FHD 1080p display.

While these are great specs by itself, what really sets the UMi Iron Pro apart from the crowd is the inclusion of biometric security features. You have Eyeprint ID as well as a fingerprint sensor to ensure that your data is safe. This is an essential feature in a smartphone since most users have lots of personal data stores on their devices and it becomes necessary to protect them from strangers.

At the back, there’s a 13MP Sony IMX214 camera with dual LED color temperature flash. Up front, you have an OV camera which also comes with an LED flash, making it a great phone for selfie lovers. Finally, a 3000mAh battery, USB Type-C reversible port and Android 5.1 Lollipop OS makes sure that the phone is up to date.

Its a great phone if you are looking for something under $180. There are a lot of promotions going on websites like Coolicool where you can get the device as low as $149.99

In fact, if you buy the device in the next one hour, you can get it for just $149.99. Later, the Iron Pro will be available for $179.99. So, if you were planning to get a phone, this might be the right time!

Buy UMi Iron Pro At Just $149.99 [Limited Time Offer]

Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 Pro Hits TENAA, Confirms Metal Body With Fingerprint ID

By

Joel Joseph

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Nov 12, 2015

We have been hearing a lot about the upcoming Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 Pro version, mainly because it is rumored to be the first Xiaomi smartphone to feature fingerprint ID as well as all metal design. While until now, we had no concrete proof for these rumors (except for a leaked image), now thanks to a TENAA listing we can confirm these features.

According to the image that we spotted on TENAA, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 Pro will come with the same design that we saw in the leaked image back in October. So, you have a smooth metal body at the back, along with a fingerprint sensor right below the rear camera. Between these two sensors, we can see dual LED flash as well.

The front features a traditional Xiaomi design with capactive buttons and a camera sensor right on top. The display is said to be a 5.5-inch panel with FHD resolution, same one as the Redmi Note 2.

The phone will feature the same specs as the Redmi Note 2, so it will sport the MT6795 Helio X10 under the hood clocked at 2.0GHz with 2GB RAM (3GB RAM version a possibility), 16GB storage, 13MP rear camera, 5MP front facing shooter and a 3060mAh battery. Given its metal design, the phone will measure 149.98 × 75.96 × 8.75 mm (slightly thicker than 8.25mm Note 2) and will weigh a bit more than the regular version at 165 grams. It will run on Android 5.0.1 Lollipop OS.

Since it features the same specs as the original version, the new Redmi Note 2 Pro is said to be priced at around 1099 Yuan which comes to just $172. Not a bad deal with MT6795, fingerprint ID and 2GB RAM on board.

We expect the phone to release pretty soon, so stay tuned to gizmochina in the coming days for more details.

Elephone QQ concept phone

By

shanos

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Nov 12, 2015

Elephone’s design house never seem to be standing still for too long, we see constant new models and product lines being turned out by the Shenzhen based phone maker.

Today we received images for a new Elephone QQ concept phone, production of the phone has not yet been confirmed, not much is known about the hardware specifications, we also do not know which consumer group Elephone would aim the Elephone QQ concept phone at, however what the images do show is a new styling direction from Elephone.

I am not quite sure what too make of it, its certainly very different to their standard designs and has a certain futuristic charm, but I think it could do with a bit more finessing and fettling before being launched as a finished product.

The design is a very bold statement and looks futuristic, but it does look a little plasticky when compared to their other current and future phones, this could be down to it being a design concept that has not been finished in the final choice of materials or to the quality that a released product would be, either way the design will most likely cause much debate, as they say in England its very much a Marmite thing (you will either love it or hate it).

Is this a phone that Elephone should consider putting in to full production? what do you think? would you like to own a phone like this? perhaps Elephone will listen to constructive feedback on the Elephone QQ concept phone and we can help to mould its future.

Please leave comments and questions below

Regards Shanos

Original article posted on gadgetz.tv

Xiaomi Mi 5 Will Use Snapdragon 820 Asserts Kevin Wang From IHS

By

Joel Joseph

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Nov 12, 2015

A couple of days back, we heard that there were some issues between Xiaomi and Qualcomm regarding royalties. This sparked speculations that Xiaomi may switch to Mediatek for its upcoming Xiaomi Mi 5 flagship. However, earlier today, Kevin Wang from iSuppli stressed that Xiaomi will stick with Qualcomm for its new release and that the Mi 5 will feature none other than Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 CPU.

The speculations about trouble between Xiaomi and Qualcomm increased when Zhu Shan-gzu, the COO of Mediatek said in an interview that Xiaomi refused to pay royalties to Qualcomm, due to which the company’s profits for the quarter were down.

However, Kevin Wang said on his official Weibo page that Xiaomi’s relationship with Qualcomm is still very close. This chip maker was one of the first investors in Xiaomi and ever since had a close relationship with each other. All the major smartphones released by Xiaomi have been powered by Qualcomm. Plus, a couple of months ago, Xiaomi hired former Qualcomm China’s President Wang Xiang.

Kevin asserted that Xiaomi has no 3G or 4G patents. So, there’s no way that Xiaomi has defaulted on Qualcomm’s royalties. Finally, he states that Xiaomi Mi 5 will surely be powered by Snapdragon 820 CPU from Qualcomm.

Well, Kevin Wang is the IHS Research Director of China and if he says that the Mi 5 will feature Snapdragon 820, then it most likely will! So, now that we are kind of sure of the chip, we just have to see when we will meet this new flagship from Xiaomi. Expected launch is in December, but we need an official confirmation from the company to be sure.

Meanwhile, a smartphone named Xiaomi Gemini was recently spotted on Geekbench, which could be the Mi 5 flagship. You can read more about that from here.

Ecoo E06 Hands-on

By

shanos

-

Nov 12, 2015

Ecoo E06 Hands-on video

Elephone have this morning sent over a new video showing the Ecoo E06 Hands-on, as many of you are now aware Ecoo is the Sub brand of Elephone.

The E06 will be one of the first mobile phones to enter the market equipped with a Mediatek Helio‬ P10 ‪chipset‬ one of the latest from the manufacturer that will also be fitted in Elephones own P9000 bezel-less handset, the use of the Helio P10 should certainly give the Ecoo E06 a decent turn of speed and a good amount of bang for the buck.

Elephone have said that the phone will be released with Android Marshmallow 6.0 out of the box, another thing that should help to put this phone on the radar,however the hands on video is currently featuring the previous version Android Lollipop 5.1 running on the phone.

Check out the Ecoo E06 hands-on video and let me know what you think, personally I think its a good looking device and the screen looks really bright and vivid.

Regards Shanos

Original article posted on gadgetz.tv

Samsung Exynos 8890 Chip Is Official, All Set To Take On Snapdragon 820

By

Joel Joseph

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Nov 11, 2015

Just a couple of days after Qualcomm officially unveiled the Snapdragon 820 CPU, Samsung has released its own big gun, the all new Samsung Exynos 8890 chip that will power the company’s upcoming flagships in 2016.

The Exynos 8890 CPU will be built on the same 14nm LPP process as the 820. Unlike the Snapdragon 820, the new Exynos chip feature eight cores, with four Mongoose cores clocked at 2.3GHz and four Cortex A53 cores clocked at 1.56GHz. As for GPU, you will find the latest Mali-T880 for the best graphics performance. Although its yet to be confirmed, but it is said that the Mongoose cores can be overclocked to 2.5GHz and Cortex A53 cores up to 2.2GHz further driving the overall performance. Samsung claims that the new Exynos 8890 chip is 30 percent faster than its previous generation and up to 10 percent more power efficient.

Like the Kirin 950 chip, the Exynos 8890 also uses the Mali-T880 GPU however, its MP12 and not MP4. So, GPU performance of the 8 series octa will be much better than competitors thanks to its 12-core GPU. Further, it supports CAT. 12/ 13 LTE standards which promises download speeds up to 600Mbps.

With the octa-core big.LITTLE architecture, the Exynos 8890 looks like the better CPU as compared to the recently announced quad-core Snapdragon 820 and Kirin 950. But we will have to wait and see the real life performance of each CPU before making any serious judgments.

Mediatek Helio X30 Specs Leaked, New Cortex A35 Cores Included

By

Joel Joseph

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Nov 11, 2015

Mediatek reshuffled its lineup earlier this year, by launching a brand new SoC series for the high-end segment called as the Helio series. We have already seen the Helio X10 chipset which powers a lot of mid-range and high-end devices and we will soon meet the Helio X20, the world’s first deca-core smartphone CPU.

But it looks like even before the mass release of the Helio X20 CPU, details about its next generation version, the Helio X30 chip has leaked out. According to the latest report, the Helio X30 will feature a similar cluster design as the X20, but with new CPU cores.

According to this new leak, the Helio X30 chip will feature quad Cortex A72 cores clocked at 2.5GHz, dual Cortex A72 cores clocked at 2.0GHz, dual Cortex A53 Cores clocked at 1.5GHz and dual Cortex A35 Cores clocked at 1.0 GHz. So, end of the day, the upcoming chip is also expected to feature deca-core setup like X20.

This comes at a time when we are increasingly seeing chip makers reduce the cores on their SoCs. For example, Qualcomm has reduced the number of cores from eight-cores in Snapdragon 810 to quad-cores in the latest Snapdragon 820 chip. Even Apple’s A9X chip is just a dual-core SoC. But looks like Mediatek will continue using its special cluster design for its upcoming chips.

We have not yet seen the Helio X20 chip in action yet. Its the world’s first chip with a tri-cluster design and it will be interesting to see how well it performs in real life. Whether the use of three different cores, totaling to 10 cores helps it beat rivals like Exynos is something we will have to wait and watch.

Xiaomi Mi 5 Will Probably Feature Fingerprint Sensor On The Front

By

Joel Joseph

-

Nov 11, 2015

Despite other manufacturers freely incorporating fingerprint sensor on their mid-range and high-end devices this year, Xiaomi is yet to release such a device. The Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 Pro is expected to be the company’s first smartphone with fingerprint sensor at the back. The phone will reportedly be launched before the end of this month. But we are most concerned about the second Xiaomi device to feature a fingerprint sensor, most likely the Xiaomi Mi 5 flagship.

According to new rumors, the fingerprint sensor on the Xiaomi Mi 5 will be located up front. The person who revealed this information adds that Mi 5 will feature Qualcomm’s latest Ultrasound 3D Fingerprint scanning technology. So, front would be the ideal location to place the sensor instead of the back, where users won’t be able to see it.

On the other hand, he says that for low end and budget devices, the fingerprint sensor would still be located at the back. Well, the Redmi Note 2 Pro leak that we saw a few weeks back had the sensor on the back. Its basically the same as the Redmi Note 2 with the addition of an all metal body and fingerprint sensor.

As for the specs of the Mi 5, it is said that the phone will feature the newly announced Snapdragon 820 chipset with 4GB of RAM, 16MP camera, 5.2-inch 1080p display and 3000mAh+ battery. As for the pricing, you can expect it to retail around $314. The Mi 5 is expected to meet us sometime before December end this year.

Ultimate Best Chinese Smartphones 2015 Camera Comparison

By

Linus

-

Nov 11, 2015

Ultimate Best Chinese Smartphones 2015 Camera Comparison: VIDEO

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQaVwqn-5vA[/embedyt]

Camera is definitely one of the most important features on smartphones. A lot of Chinese manufacturers stepped up their game in the optics department. However, how do they stack up against each other? This is a 6-way camera comparison between the OnePlus 2, ZTE Axon Elite, Letv Le 1 Pro, Meizu MX5, vivo Xshot and the only non-Chinese flagship – Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge.

The full comparison review of the first 4 Chinese flagships is coming soon but this time around I want you to be the judge and let me know what you guys think in the comment section below the video.

Before we dive in to the actual comparison, let’s compare the camera specs of each device.

The OnePlus 2 uses a 13MP Omnivision (OV13860) sensor with f/2.0 aperture, OIS, singe tone dual LED flash and laser-assited auto-focus system.

The ZTE Axon went with the 13MP Sony IMX214 sensor and ZTE implemented a brighter f/1.8 aperture, single tone dual LED flash and OIS. In addition, there is an extra 2MP sensor, which is designed to collect depth information.

Letv Le 1 Pro uses the same Sony IMX214 13MP sensor but it has f/2.0 aperture with OIS and dual tone dual LED flash. Just bare in mind that the current Le 1 Pro unit I have runs on the unofficial international ROM, which, however, performs worse than the Chinese one.

The Meizu MX5 has a 21MP sensor made by Sony (IMX220) and it is the same camera module that has been used on the Sony Xperia phones for years. It has an f/2.2 aperture, dual tone dual LED flash and laser-aided auto-focus system.

Next up in the camera battle is the old vivo Xshot. Although it was released quite a while ago, it was made as a camera-centric device. The Xshot uses the Sony IMX214 sensor with f/1.8 aperture, dual tone dual LED flash and OIS.

Last but not least I included the Samsung Galaxy S6 edge in the comparison since it has one of the best if not the best camera on any Android phone today. My review unit has a 16MP Sony IMX240 sensor (Samsung ships their Galaxy S6/S6 Edge with either Sony or Samsung sensor) with f/1.9 aperture, single tone LED flash and OIS.

Right now sit back, relax and don’t forget to like the video, comment, subscribe and see you in the full 4-way comparison review where I’m gonna say best camera choice.

DOWNLOAD LINKS FOR ALL FULL RESOLUTION CAMERA SAMPLES ARE COMING SOON (currently I’m in the location with the super slow internet….)

Elephone S1 for just $70?

By

shanos

-

Nov 11, 2015

Elephone S1 for just $70?

Is the Elephone S1 for just $70 a complete bargain or is it too little tech for 2015’s consumers? coming off the back of the moderately successful S2 and S2 phones, Elephone are about to add 2 new models to the S series phones, the S1 and S1 Plus.

The Elephone S1 will come with a 5 inch screen whilst the S1 Plus will come with a 5.5-inch screen, resolution for the screens is as yet unconfirmed but for this price I think the best we can hope for is a 720p unit.

Styling wise the handset renders for the S1 look very good, featuring glass rear panels and chamfered metal chassis, hopefully they will launch with Corning Gorilla Glass like the latest versions of the S2 and S2 plus.

Judging by the renders its safe to say that Elephone are aiming for a premium styling, at budget pricing.

In order to keep the price down so low some sacrifices will need to be made, the inclusion of the lower end quad core Mediatek MT6580 chip, is one such compromise, unless Elephone couple it to a separate LTE modem the S1 and S1 Plus will be strictly 3g handsets.

I guess the type of people looking at a phones with a price tag as low as $70 (£46), may still on a 3G data plan rather than a more costly 4G LTE plan.

What do you think? in 2015 and on in to 2016 will there still a market for non 4G LTE handsets? are Elephone playing a blinder that may see them clean up at the bottom end of the market? or is it just too little power in a market full of 4G handsets?

As always please leave any comments or questions below

Regards Shanos

Original article posted at Gadgetz.tv

Vivo X6 Will Come In An All Metal Body With Atleast Three Color Options

By

Joel Joseph

-

Nov 10, 2015

Vivo has been teasing new features of the upcoming Vivo X6 flagship for the past couple of weeks. Now, the latest teaser from the company reveals a few information about the phone’s body and color options.

According to the teaser posted by Vivo earlier today, the Vivo X6 will come in an all metal body. The company has stressed that almost 98 percent of the entire body of the device has been made out of metal to give it a premium look. The body will be made out of an alloy of magnesium and aluminum to make sure that the phone is sturdy enough to avoid any bending issue. This can be a grave problem for super thin smartphones, which we expect the X6 to be.

The phone will come in at least three color options, Gold, Silver and the favorite, Rose Gold. The back will feature a smooth finish. Unfortunately, we can only see a portion of the back, so we can’t really confirm a rear placed fingerprint sensor like the one we saw yesterday.

As per the previous teasers, the Vivo X6 is confirmed to come with 4GB of RAM, a fast fingerprint sensor that supports payments as well as a fast processor. In the coming days, we expect to hear more about the device, so stay tuned!

Qualcomm Officially Unveils Snapdragon 820 With Custom Kryo Cores

By

Joel Joseph

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Nov 10, 2015

After months of teasers, Qualcomm has finally made the Snapdragon 820 chipset official. This is the next generation version of the existing Snapdragon 810 chip and the company has a lot of expectations from this new age chip.

The Snapdragon 820 will use custom Kryo cores instead of the standard ARM ones. While the company had been using custom cores for some time, in Snapdragon 810, Qualcomm decided to go with standard ARM cores. That clearly didn’t work out well for the company as its back with custom cores for its new generation version.

The 820 is a quad-core Kryo CPU which comes with the company’s Symphony System Manager, an intelligent resource management tool for Snapdragon that extends control of task scheduling and power management across the entire processor. The custom cores promises up to twice the performance as compared to the cores inside the Snapdragon 810. Also, they are going to be much more efficient, translating into better battery life. The efficient Hexagon 680 DSP should further help in increasing the battery life of the device powered by the 820 SoC.

In the GPU department, Qualcomm went with the new generation Adreno 530 which promises 40 percent improvement in graphics performance and efficiency as compared to the previous generation Adreno 430. The new chip also comes with the Spectra ISP which now supports sensors up to 28MP in size.

In the connectivity department, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 brings the latest X12 LTE modem which supports Cat. 12 download speeds (600MBps max) and Cat.13 upload speeds (150MBps). This is made possible thanks to the tri-carrier aggregation for downloads and dual-carrier aggregation for uploads. The chip is also the first commercial CPU to support the latest LTE-U technology which enables it to access LTE connections in both licensed spectrum and unlicensed spectrum. Finally, for Wi-Fi, the chip supports the 2×2 MU-MIMO 802.11ac connections.

The Snapdragon 820 chip comes with the new Quick Charge 3.0 technology which is four times faster than traditional charging methods and up to 38 percent faster than Quick Charge 2.0.

On paper, with the custom Kryo cores clocked at 2.2GHz, Adreno 530 and X12 LTE modem, the Snapdragon 820 turns out to be a powerhouse. However, we will have to wait for a couple of months at least to see its real life performance given that the first 820 powered smartphones will only meet us by early next year.

GIVEAWAY: Win A Free BlitzWolf 10400mAh Quick Charge 2.0 Power Bank

By

Joel Joseph

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Nov 10, 2015

For the past few weeks, we have given away one or sometimes even two products in a week. While most of the giveaways have been smartphones, this time around we are giving away a brand new BlitzWolf 10400mAh Quick Charge 2.0 Power Bank courtesy of Banggood.com. So, you have a chance to win this large powerbank which comes with QC 2.0 support for fast charging.

BlitzWolf 10400mAh powerbank supports Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 2.0 standard which means you can charge devices a blistering speeds of 5V/ 9V and even 12V. Moreover, if you are using a QC 2.0 charger to charge the powerbank, then it will be fully charged 75% faster than traditional chargers.

The powerbank comes with 18 months warranty and features LG batteries and an intelligent control chip from Texas Instruments.

You can check out the product link from here.

Blitzwolf 10400mAh QC 2.0 Powerbank

You can check out the full specs from here:

Specification:

Brand	BlitzWolf
Model	BW-P1
Capacity	10400mAh/37.44Wh
Battery Type	LG 2600mAh Li-ion Battery * 4
Input	5V/2.1A 9V/1.8A
Output	5V/2A (Universal)
	5V/2.1A 9V/1.8A 12V/1.35A (for Android QC2.0)
	5V/2.4A (for Apple)
Size	10276.821.5mm / 4.023.020.85in
Weight	270g±10g
Certification	CE,FCC,CEC,Qualcomm QC2.0

In order to participate in the giveaway, just follow the steps given in the gleam widget. The Giveaway starts today and will end on November 18.

Good Luck!

BlitzWolf 10400mAh Power Bank GiveAway

Vivo X6 With Rear Fingerprint Sensor Spotted In An Image Posted By Harper’s Bazaar Magazine

By

Joel Joseph

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Nov 10, 2015

Its no secret that Vivo X6 flagship will meet us soon. We have been hearing a lot about this upcoming device, both via official sources as well as leaks. Earlier today, the Vivo X6 was yet again spotted in an image, showing off a similar design as its predecessors but with a rear placed fingerprint sensor.

This time around, the Vivo X6 flagship was seen in an image posted by Harper’s Bazaar magazine on its official Weibo page. The image which was released early morning shows off the Vivo smartphone. The title of the image is about the backstage passes for the Victoria Secret’s Fashion Show, but we can clearly see Vivo phones besides those passes. We haven’t seen a Vivo smartphone with such a rear placed fingerprint sensor yet, which makes us believe that this is indeed the Vivo X6 flagship. Further, the image was posted using the Vivo X6 flagship. So, this could be our first official look at the device.

As for the other specs, the smartphone will feature 4GB of RAM inside with a fast fingerprint sensor that even supports fingerprint enabled payments. The company is yet to confirm other specs such as processor, internal storage as well as camera, but we can expect more details pretty soon.

As for the release, it looks like Vivo X6 will launch sometime early December. Stay tuned for more details in the coming days.

CEO Confirms ZUK Z2 Flagship Launching Next Year, Android 6.0 Coming Soon

By

Joel Joseph

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Nov 9, 2015

Since the ZUK Z1 flagship turned out to be so popular, everyone is left wondering whether we will be seeing a second generation version of the device, ZUK Z2 anytime soon. Another common question in the minds of existing ZUK users is when will the Android 6.0 update be available for them. A few hours earlier, ZUK CEO answered both of these questions.

First of all, CEO confirmed that the ZUK Z2 flagship will be meeting us only by next year. So, anyone who wished to see the rumored Snapdragon 820 powered Z2 before 2015 would be disappointed to hear this. But it does not come as a surprise given that if ZUK Z2 indeed featured Snapdragon 820, then it could only be available by next year. Unfortunately, the CEO failed to give out an exact time frame for the launch in 2016. But we are expecting it to be sometime in the first quarter.

Secondly, ZUK CEO also revealed a few details about the new ZUI version based on Android 6.0. According to him, the work on the new OS is going well and it will soon enter the closed beta stage. Releasing a new version of the OS involves a lot of aspects like modifying source code, adding manufacture specific features as well as compatibility testing. But, if everything goes well, users could get the new ZUI based Android 6.0 update for the ZUK Z1 (beta version) as soon as December end.

ZUK co-founder ChenYu had a more conservative estimate, saying that the final Android 6.0 will release by March 2016. As for the international version, the ZUK Z1 running on CyanogenMod will also be upgraded to Android 6.0, but only by early 2016.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 Price Cut Down To 699 Yuan ($110)

By

Joel Joseph

-

Nov 9, 2015

Xiaomi is on a roll this month! The company has just announced that it will start selling the popular Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 smartphone for just 699 Yuan, a direct 100 Yuan drop from the already cheap pricing. This translates into a $15 cut down in price, which essentially means, the phone now retails for just $110.

The specs to price ratio is just amazing. At $110, you will get the Helio X10 MT6795 processor with 2GB RAM and 16GB of internal storage. There will be a 5.5-inch FHD 1080p LCD display up front which offers great visibility even under direct sunlight. At the back, there’s a 13MP camera with PDAF while up front, you get a 5MP OV camera. Other specs of the Redmi Note 2 include a large 3060mAh battery, 4G LTE connectivity and an infrared port up front. Overall, a great device for $110. Hopefully, third party retailers will start offering the device for a cheaper price tag in the coming days.

In the past few days, we have seen Xiaomi aggressively cut down the price of its popular devices for the 11/11 sale day. For example, the Xiaomi Mi Pad will sell for just 1099 Yuan ($172), Mi 4C at 1299 Yuan ($204) and the enhanced Redmi 2A version with 2GB RAM at 499 Yuan ($78).

Buy Xiaomi Redmi Note 2