Just earlier today, Huawei confirmed the launch of the Mate 8 flagship on November 26. The phone is supposed to come with pretty high-end specs, and in particular, we are all excited to see the performance of the Kirin 950 chipset that will power the flagship.
Just a few hours after the confirmation of the launch, we have got a glimpse of how the Huawei Mate 8 might look like. Like the predecessor i.e. the Mate 7, the upcoming Mate 8 is also expected to feature an all metal build. The Mate 7 was praised for its premium looks and from this image, we feel that the new flagship could also turn out to be quite the looker. Another thing highlighted by the image is the round fingerprint sensor at the back. The Mate 7 had a square one. The sensor is located just below the rear camera.
Elephone have just sent over the Elephone 4k teaser image above and are asking what we think their push in to the 4K era could hold? will it be an ultra HD TV, a really high resolution Smartphone?, perhaps a Virtual Reality Headset or maybe even something else?
To me I would say your money would be safely bet on an Ultra HD tv, or possibly a 4K TV streaming box, for now we will just have to wait and see what Elephone have in store for us next.
What are your thoughts on the subject? please leave your comments below.
16GB (expandable via microSD card slot up to 64GB)
Umi eMax mini Review: UNBOXING
UMI eMax mini comes in a typical for UMI box and the contents include a OnePlus style USB cable, power plug and instruction manuals.
Umi eMax mini Review: DESIGN
When it comes to the design of the phone, Umi eMax mini is a very compact phone due to it’s 5” display. Also, the phone is very lightweight and it sports all plastic build.
On the front we have an 8MP camera, a sensor light, earpiece and notification LED.
On the bottom we can find three capacitive keys and back and multitasking buttons have a nice backlight.
The backplate is made of textured plastic, it feels nice to the touch and helps with the grip.
As far as optics, we have a 13MP snapper with a single LED flash.
On the right we have a volume rocker and a power key.
On the top there is a headset jack and on the bottom we have a mic, USB port and the speaker grill.
The backplate is removable, where you can find an embedded generous 3050mAh battery, 2 SIM card slots and the microSD card slot.
Overall, the phone looks and feels very well made and high quality despite using mainly plastic in its build. I have to say I kind of like it.
Umi eMax mini Review: DISPLAY
The 5” display on the Umi eMax mini is of a 1080p variety and it is sharp, bright and a great panel to look at overall. The only shortcoming would be that it doesn’t have the best sunlight visibility but it’s still visible outdoors.
Umi eMax mini Review: UI
The phone runs on Android 5.0 Lollipop, which is not the newest version but I don’t think it’s a big issue. The UI is clean and you are getting a pretty much stock Android experience except for the fact that Umi redesigned some icons.
I am actually happy that Umi didn’t add any of those useless gesture controls and left only one we mostly use – double tap to wake. It is mostly working great but it happened a few times that it worked only from the second time.
As far as the overall smoothness of the UI, I can say mostly positive things. Everything’s running nice and fast even with quite a few apps running in the background.
Umi eMax mini Review: BENCHMARKS
1 of 9
Umi eMax mini Review: HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE
Umi eMax mini comes with a pretty decent hardware package. It includes an octa-core Snapdragon 615 chip with the clock speeds of 1.5GHz, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of expandable storage.
The 3D games performance is actually great. The graphics look good and there were just a few minor skipped frames but there is nothing worth complaining about.
Most importantly, there are no overheating issues when gaming.
Umi eMax mini Review: MULTIMEDIA
When it comes to the multimedia consumption, the HD content looks great on a nice and sharp display and even the loudspeaker is loud and pretty good too despite lacking just a little bit of depth.
The sound via earphones is decent too.
Umi eMax mini Review: CAMERA
Umi eMax mini comes with a nicely designed camera app with some shootings modes and settings to play with. They even included a manual mode, which is a nice addition for a budget phone.
Both focus time and the shutter speed have improved siginificantly over the previous Umi phones I’ve tested.
Umi eMax mini Review: IMAGE QUALITY
When it comes to the actual quality of the images, I would say that it is one of the best Umi phones yet.
With plenty of light, the images tend to look great with a good amount of details and colour reproduction is mostly good. However, the dynamic range is not always correct.
In the lower lit situations, you may see the softer focus, less details and more noise.
The night shots are okay for a budget phone but we have quite a lot of grain in the images. However, I’ve seen some worse performers in this price range.
A selfie camera is pretty good too and it also has a fast shutter speed.
As far as video, the phone can capture some decent looking footage. Well, it is not the sharpest out there but definitely more than usable. See video review for a sample.
Umi eMax mini Review: CONNECTIVITY
All the connectivity options are actually working great and I had no issues with GPS, Bluetooth, wifi or call quality.
Umi eMax mini Review: BATTERY LIFE
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When it comes to the battery life, Umi eMax mini is a good performer too. I could get up to 5 hours of screen-on time with both light and heavy use, and both with the auto and max brightness.
Umi eMax mini Review: CONCLUSIONS
So there you have, the Umi eMax mini. I have to say that this is a pretty good phone overall and I was happy to use it during my testing period.
For less than $150 you are getting a simple but neat design and great build quality, a sharp and bright 5” display, almost stock looking UI, good gaming performance, decent camera and a good battery life.
One minor complaint would be that double tap to wake feature works only from the second time when you pick up the phone from the standby mode.
Other than that, I have to say that Umi really stepped up their game with this model and the eMax mini is a really good offering in this price range. I will leave a product link in the description below the video if you want to check it out.
After their initial release which saw some of the required Elephone P8000 Source Code released a few months ago, Elephone have today released the full Elephone P8000 Source Code required for devs to build their own roms, hopefully stable Marshmallow roms or properly ported existing roms such as Cyanogen CM12.1 etc to the P8000.
One thing that has let Elephone down a little in the past and not won them any favours has been the bugginess of their roms, often requiring fixes to the fixes to get things working as they should, now is the chance for these things to be put right and with hope make Elephone see how important a dev community could be to the success of their forthcoming handsets such as the Vowney and the P9000 and force their hand to release the code for these phones as well.
The Elephone P8000 Source Code can be found on github here
To those of you that like to dabble with your phones or the more hardcore rom devs out there, I say let the fun begin and lets see what you can create.
Many phone users are now demanding more battery life from their handsets, we have seen ultra slim handsets come and go but the growing trend is for increased battery life at the expense of a few extra mm of width.
Oukitel have today sent over a video of the new OUKITEL K6000, the Oukitel K6000 features 9V/2A quick charge technology to allow the 6000mAh battery to fully charge in under 2 hours.
For the video they have also set up two OUKITEL K6000’s one is charged using their new 9V/2A charger, whilst the other is charged up using a standard iPhone 5v/1A charger.
The video gives a good comparison of the differences of standard charging vs flash charging, with the new system appearing to be around 3 times quicker.
Oukitel state that the battery in the K6000 is a 6000mAh unit, this is a lot of charge for a handset, hopefully unlike some other china based phone manufacturers this will be a true reflection of the actual amount of charge the phone can hold.
It the 6000mAh capacity does prove to be true and the charge times shown in the video are correct it should make for a phone that will give a lot of usage between its ultra quick charges.
Please check out the video for the Oukitel K6000 featuring 9V/2A quick charge and as always any questions or comments can be left below.
Its been a long time since we have heard any official information about a new Vivo device. The latest we heard was a couple of leaked images which was reportedly of the upcoming Vivo XPlay 5S flagship. Now, it looks like we will soon see the device since Vivo has released a new teaser on Weibo.
Since this is the first teaser, the company did not give out much details about the new device. All it says in the title is that its a new product and its coming soon. However, there is a very good chance that this is for the Vivo XPlay 5S flagship that we have been hearing about recently. Moreover, the teaser says that it will be fast. This could be hinting at a faster processor like Snapdragon, or a faster camera. Well, we don’t know exactly what it means right now but we will get more information on November 4.
According to the leaked specs, the Vivo XPlay 5S will come with Snapdragon 820 processor, 5.5-inch 4K display. 4GB RAM and 64GB of storage. As you can see, this could turn out to be a high-end device.
Since Vivo has promised to reveal more details on November 4, its best to wait for a couple of days more to get some official information about the device.
As predicted, OnePlus announced another smartphone a few days back, the OnePlus X. The phone is targeted at those users who don’t want to spend as much as $350 but still want a smooth smartphone experience. So, the company is offering a new option which looks good, has good specs and gives you a near flagship experience.
Within a few days of launch, the OnePlus X is now available to purchase at Giztop. The guys over at the website has just informed us that the OnePlus X is in stock and will ship within 24 hours. This is the 3GB version of the Onyx OnePlus X.
The OnePlus X comes with pretty great specs. The phone is powered by the Snapdragon 801 chipset clocked at 2.3GHz with 3GB RAM, 16GB ROM, a 13MP rear camera with PDAF and a 5MP front facing shooter. It comes with a 5-inch compact 1080p FHD display and a 2520mAh battery. As for the software, the phone runs on OxygenOS based on Android 5.1.
Apart from the specs, the phone’s highlight is its looks. OnePlus has paid special attention to the phone’s external appearance, with metal plus glass design.
Check out the listing page on giztop for more information.
Looks like the time has come for both the Kirin 950 and the Mate 8 flagship to launch. Earlier today, Huawei posted a new teaser via its official Weibo page with the giant number 8 in the center, confirming that the Mate 8 will come on November 26. While, the poster says nothing about the Kirin 950 chipset, Chengdong had said that the flagship will feature high-end chipset which means it could debut along with this device.
It is said that the self-developed Kirin 950 chip will feature quad Cortex A72 and quad Cortex A53 Cores clocked at 2.4GHz. There will be Mali-T880 GPU on board with i7 co-processor, Tensilica Hi-fi Audio DSP and Cat. 10 LTE connectivity. The performance is said to be better than both, Samsung Exynos 7420 and Qualcomm Snapdragon 820.
The Huawei Mate is said to be a very powerful device. It is expected to come with a 6-inch 2.5D Force Touch Display with two versions, the standard edition with 3GB RAM and 32GB ROM and the high-end edition with 4GB RAM and 64GB ROM. There will be 20MP camera at the back and an 8MP shooter up front. The phone will feature all metal design like the Mate S and will come with a large battery to support the high-end specs.
The release of the Mate S will definitely confuse the buyers to some extent. Its quite close to the Mate S flagship that was announced just a couple of months back. However, considering the specifications, we can say that the Mate 8 is kind of the higher end variant of the Mate S with a larger display and a faster processor.
Anyways, since the Mate 8 launch is still about three weeks away, we are sure to see some more information about the device. So, stay tuned.
If you have been confused about which smartphone to buy on a budget, you might be happy to know that Xiaomi has just cut down the price tag of the Xiaomi Mi 4 flagship. Starting November 1, the flagship will be available for sale for just 1299 Yuan which comes to around $205, almost $30 OFF the regular price.
This is sure to make things even more confusing to you, since the Mi4 is definitely a good buy at this price. While in China both the devices (Mi4 and the Mi4C) now retail for the same price tag (what was Xiaomi thinking!), if you are out to purchase the device from a third party, following this price cut, the Mi4 will be cheaper. So, you now you can get the Mi4 at just $229 which turns out to be a good deal considering the specifications of the phone.
To compare with the Mi 4C, the Mi4 comes with the trusted Snapdragon 801 chipset with 2GB RAM, 16GB of storage and a good looking design with a metal frame. The camera, battery life are all at par with flagship which makes this phone a steal at this price.
If it was a few months earlier, this would have been an easy decision. But now, with the Meizu Metal and the LeTV 1S, you might have a hard time deciding which one to go for this holiday season. In case you are concerned about the price tag, then Mi 4 should definitely be somewhere near the top of your list.
Anyways, if you are interested, the Mi 4 is already available at the reduced price tag of $229. You can check out the device from here.
Mixcder ShareMe 7 Bluetooth Headphones Review: VIDEO
Mixcder ShareMe 7 Bluetooth Headphones Review: UNBOXING
The headphones come in a neat box and all you’re getting is the micro USB cable for charging, AUX cable as you can also use these headphones with non-Bluetooth devices and some instruction manuals.
Mixcder ShareMe 7 Bluetooth Headphones Review: DESIGN
I have two pairs of headphones that come in different colours. They are made of plastic and soft faux leather on the inside. The headphones don’t look super expensive but they don’t look cheap either.
On the right headphone we have a volume rocker, power key and the aux output, so you can use them as non-bluetooth headphones as you wish.
On the left, there is a micro USB port and the mic for hands-free calling but I have to say that this feature is far from the best as the call quality does not impress.
Overall, I am pretty happy with the design and build quality of these headphones.
Mixcder ShareMe 7 Bluetooth Headphones Review: SOUND QUALITY
When it comes to the volume output, the headphones are quite loud. As far as the actual quality of the sound, they are pretty damn good considering the price of under $40.
The sound is balanced, there is a reasonable amount of highs and mids, and the amount of bass is really impressive.
The key feature is that you can play music on two sets of headphones simultaneously and it works fine. The setup is pretty easy too as you just need to press and hold the power key and both pairs of headphones pair automatically.
Mixcder ShareMe 7 Bluetooth Headphones Review: CONCLUSIONS
The Mixcder ShareMe 7 Bluetooth headphones are nothing you haven’t seen before but for the price of $40, you are getting the headphones that have a quality sound, decent amount of volume output and a great battery life as I was able to achieve around 16 hours on a single charge.
Also, the Bluetooth range is absolutely perfect and the ability to play the same content on two sets of headphones is what makes them standout.
However, although I said the build quality is good but it is not perfect. The plastic material on the headphone speakers feels a little bit cheap.
Also, you can see a visible cable… which doesn’t add any premium looks.
Another shortcoming would be that the call quality is not stellar. Well, it’s not a disaster but people on the other end asked me where I’m calling from immediately.
All in all, the Mixcder ShareMe 7 Bluetooth headphones are pretty good if you don’t mind a few shortcomings and I will leave a link in the description below the video if you want to check them out.
We read all of your comments and were happy to see so many entries. Many of you pointed out the favorite features of the device, and we are glad that so many people like the Bluboo Xtouch.
But among all of the entries, we felt Sushilkumar did a great job saying why he loved the device. As a result, we decided to pick him as the winner.
In case you didn’t win this time, don’t worry! If you are a loyal follower of gizmochina, you would know that there are a lot more giveaways coming, which is yet another chance for one of you to win. So, stay tuned.
As for SushilKumar, make sure you check your e-mail. We will contact you very soon!
As you know we love to giveaway products. We already have a OnePlus X Giveaway running which I am sure that you have already participated. Now, we have one more product to giveaway. This time its the Bluboo XTouch flagship which has been one of the popular products that’s currently being talked about by users worldwide. Since many of you are interested in this value for money flagship product, we thought why not giveaway a unit to our readers.
So, Gizmochina in partnership with Bluboo will be giving away a BLUBOO XTouch flagships to one of our readers. This giveaway is a bit different than the ones you are used to, as we will not be using the gleam widget here. Instead, things get a bit more easier since all you have to do is comment and share this post with your friends. That’s it. Well, the exact details on participation in the giveaway is given as below.
Rules
1. Like Bluboo Facebook page and Gizmochina Facebook page
2. Leave your comment about the favorite selling points of Bluboo Xtouch below this article.
3. Share this campaign page to at least 3 of yours friends.
4. Campaign time: Oct – 30 – 2015 to Nov- 6 – 2015
5, We will contact the winner to ship the prize (1 Bluboo Xtouch) in 3 days.
See, its very simple to participate in the giveaway. Make sure that you complete all these steps to be eligible for the giveaway. The phone features great specs to price ratio which is why its getting so much attention lately. So, this is a good chance for you to bag one Bluboo Xtouch flagship for free.
Also, there is a campaign going on currently wherein you can get the Bluboo flagship for just $99.99 if you can post a detailed review of the device. You can read all about the campaign from the official page Bluboo.com.cn
Here are the highlighted features of the Bluboo Xtouch flagship.
1. 5.0 inch JDI, FHD 1920x1080p, IPS, OGS screen
2. 8.0mp OV front camera, 13.0mp SONY IMX214 OIS rear camera , F/2.0 aperture
Its been quite a while since we have heard about a new flagship from Vivo. Rivals like OPPO, Huawei, LeTV have all announced multiple flagships this year, but we are yet to see a new product from the company that can compete with today’s high end smartphones. Although Vivo is has not yet revealed anything officially about its new flagship, most probably the Vivo XPlay 5S, earlier today a new set of images along with possible specifications of the device were leaked online.
According to this leak, the Vivo XPlay 5S will feature very high-end specifications. It is said that the phone will come with an all metal body with a display like the Galaxy S6 Edge, curved on both the sides. The back is also a bit curved which should help in the ergonomics since its going to be a big flagship. The display size is expected to be 6-inches with a massive resolution of 4K, competing with the likes of the Xperia Z5.
Other specs are also expected to be high-end. Under the hood, the phone should come with Snapdragon 820 with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. There should be a 21MP camera at the back, along with a fingerprint sensor right below it. You can see the sensor below the camera unit in the renders above. Up front, you can expect a 12MP camera. The XPlay 5S is rumored to feature a large 4000mAh battery to power these high-end specs.
Along with these images, another set of alleged images of the XPlay 5S were leaked recently showing off a slightly different design. This particular phone had an all metal body with laser autofocus, color temperature flash and fingerprint ID at the back. Unfortunately, this leak doesn’t say anything about the specifications of the device.
We can’t really confirm which one is the real deal until Vivo comes out and announces the device. However, as of now, the company has not announced any plans for the same. So looks like we will have to wait for some more time until we can get official information about this beast.
A couple of days back, Bluboo released a drop test video of its brand new Bluboo XTouch flagship smartphone. Now, the company has just released another video, this time showing that the phone’s screen is tough enough to take a blow from the hammer.
Well, if you are expecting the company to hit the screen with the hammer, then you will be disappointed. However, instead of directly hitting the screen, what these guys did was to put a slab of concrete on top of the display and hit the slab hard enough to break it. This may not be comparable to getting hit by a hammer, but then in real life, such a situation will hardly ever happen. So, breaking a slab with the screen below it would give us a good indication of whether the phone’s screen is good enough to survive a few hits. And this particular video shows that it can do that pretty easily.
This is mainly due to the fact that the Bluboo XTouch uses the Corning’s Gorilla Glass 3 screen on top which is hard and scratch resistant. According to the company, their initial tests showed that the basic 2.5D glass on top of the phone was not enough to prevent easy breakage. As a result, a couple of days back, Bluboo decided to use a thickened Gorilla Glass 3 panel (0.5mm thicker than traditional GG panels) on the device to make the phone sturdier.
The end result is a phone that can take a few hits and hence, you won’t have to worry about damaging it in your everyday usage. Of course, that doesn’t mean its unbreakable, so we won’t advise you to try out any of these tests carried out here, unless you are okay with the possibility of your screen breaking.
Cubot X16 is the new 5-inch compact smartphone from the company which comes with MT6735A processor on board. While we have seen better chips in this price range, even this should be enough for your everyday needs.
Since there are a number of phones in the market with similar specs and a similar price range, Cubot is trying to distinguish its X16 with the help of a number of interesting gesture features. For example, you can double tap to unlock the device. When you double tap on the screen which is off, it will automatically wake up without the need to press the power button.
There are other gestures too, for example, when you pinch in with three fingers, the phone will take a screenshot of the screen. This can come in handy if you are used to taking a lot of screenshots on your device.
Other gesture features are also pretty much standard. For example, you can move your hand over the sensor on top to change the picture while browsing the gallery. The phone can detect if its in your pocket or hand. So, if your power button gets pressed by mistake while the phone was in the pocket, the sensors will make sure that screen remains off.
Specs of the Cubot X16 are decent for its price, you get a FHD 5.0-inch display with MT6735A and 2GB + 16GB memory. At the back, there’s a 16MP camera with f/2.0 aperture and an 8MP front facing shooter. Other features include Android 5.1, HotKnot, 2500mAh battery and FDD-LTE 800/1800/2100/2600MHz connectivity. You get all this for $154.
For the past few weeks, we have been seeing rumors and leaks about the upcoming UMi Iron Pro flagship. Earlier today, the company decided to officially unveil the device. The UMi Iron Pro comes with pretty great specs, all for just $179.99. UMi has particularly focused on the security on the device, incorporating three different security features to make sure that the phone’s data is always secure.
The UMi Iron Pro features the MT6753 octa-core processor clocked at 1.3GHz, which powers most mid-range flagships in the market right now. There will be 3GB of RAM on board which is enough for your everyday multi-tasking needs. For storage, you get 16GB ROM further expandable via MicroSD, thanks to the hybrid dual SIM Card / MicroSD slot. As for the display, the Iron Pro comes with a 5.5-inch FHD screen, the same one as seen on its previous generation.
At the back, the phone comes with the Sony IMX214 13MP camera with dual LED flash. Up front, there’s a decent 8MP OV shooter ideal for selfies. Under the hood, there is a 3100mAh battery inside a 7.9mm thin body. With the battery, the phone weighs about 148 grams. Finally, there’s Android 5.1 OS running on the smartphone.
One of the highlights of the phone is the new USB Type-C port. Also, you get three security features namely Fingerprint ID, Eyeprint ID and Voice Recognition which will ensure the safety of the data inside the phone. Its really good to see a local Chinese manufacturer incorporate such security features on the device.
Overall, the UMi Iron Pro looks like a great package for just $179.99. The security features, 3GB RAM and the 3100mAh battery makes it a complete package.
Since the phone is now launched, we hope to review the device pretty soon. So, stay tuned for more updates, reviews and hands-on of the Iron Pro in the coming days.
FULL SPECS SHEET:
CPU: MediaTek MT6753 Octacore 1.3GHz
GPU: ARM Mali-T720
OS: Android Lollipop 5.1
Memory: RAM 3GB+ ROM 16GB
Screen: 5.5 inch FHD,LTPS (1920*1080pixels,403PPI)
OTG: YES
Band :GSM 900/1800/1900
WCDMA 900/1900/2100
FDD 1800/2100/2600
Video File Format: 3GP/MPEG4
Audio File Format: MP3/WAV/AMR/AWB
Camera Back: Rear 13MP Sony IMX214 with dual-flash Front: 8.0MP OV8858 camera
Elephone have launched a competition to win an M2 Business phone via their facebook page.
For a chance to win the Elephone M2 Halloween competition, simply take a picture of your cat or dog in halloween themed costume and post it to the Elephone facebook page here.
There are a few other bits in the terms and conditions to check out, but I have posted them here for you as well.
Please leave any questions, comments or pics of your halloween pets for us to check out below.
Regards Shanos
[Giveaway] Win $200 Elephone M2 – #Halloween Event
Rules
1. Like our page and Take a photo of your (or anyone else, even cats, dogs….) Halloween outfit with Elephone sign.
2. Share this post on your Facebook
3. Comment with your photo and tag 3 friends on this post.
4. The most creative people will be chosen by us and get the prize Elephone M2: http://www.elephone.hk/M2.html
Tips:
1)The photo is better taken outside(such as standing before local landmark buildings), and the written/printed/drawn word “Elephone” should be clear to see. Shooting poses are unlimited.
2) The photo should not be made by Photoshop work.
3) Photos can be submitted before Nov. 3, 2015 at 11:59PM GMT+8. Winners will be announced on Nov. 6, 2015.
4) Each person has only one chance to win,
Note: Elephone reserved the right of final explanation.
Elephone have sent over a cool Elephone M2 teardown video for the soon to be released all metal M2 business phone.As you can see there is a lot going on in that slim phone chassis.
Lets hope they get the phone out and ready for review soon.
Ever since the overheating mess created by the Snapdragon 810, Qualcomm has been under everyone’s scanner. 810 which was supposed to power major flagships this year was ignored by companies like LG due to its overheating issue and the only way for Qualcomm to improve its image was with the upcoming Snapdragon 820.
The chip is supposed to come with great specs, powered by Custom Kryo CPU making it fast as well as efficient. However, recently there have been new rumors about the chip overheating like its previous generation which is when Qualcomm decided to get some things cleared about its Snapdragon 820 chipset.
Earlier today, the company revealed via its official Weibo page that the Snapdragon 820 will be manufactured using the efficient 14nm process, similar to the one used by the Exynos 7420. Its isn’t usual for a company like Qualcomm to comment on the rumors, but given the reputation of the 810, its not surprising that it decided to dismiss them officially.
Qualcomm is rumored to supply the new generation Snapdragon 820 v2.0 to Samsung for its upcoming Galaxy S7 flagship. If Samsung is considering going back to Qualcomm, the chip must be performing well. However, even if the S7 comes with 820 on board, expect it to be limited to a certain regions only, as the new Exynos 8890 will most likely power the other variants.
Anyways, with Cortex A72 cores and 14nm process, Snapdragon 820 shouldn’t technically overheat. Plus the company has assured that it will work closely with manufacturers to avoid such an issue.
The first batch of Snapdragon 820 powered phones should be out by Q1 2016, so there’s still time for them to hit the markets. Both the Xiaomi Mi 5 and the next generation LeTV Le 2 models are expected to come with this chip.
In the past few months, Elephone has stepped up its game with its Elephone P8000 and all metal M2 smartphones. The company is also expected to unveil the P9000 flagship with killer specs pretty soon. Now the company has just revealed to us that it plans to extend support for North American LTE networks on both the Elephone P8000 and upcoming Elephone 9000 flagships.
This is welcome news for North American fans since the phone is slowly becoming popular in the region. Up till now, Chinese phones usually worked only in Europe, Australia and Asian LTE networks which made the phone practically useless in case they wanted to take advantage of high-speed LTE connectivity. But it looks like there will be a specific North American LTE supported model that will be announced soon, which will work there as well.
The upcoming Elephone P9000 will come with pretty great specs, all for under $300. The phone will be bezelless and will come with Android 6.0 on board right out of the box. There are other high-end specs as well like 4GB of RAM, USB Type-C and side mounted fingerprint sensor.
Overall, the P9000 looks like a great package and with added North American LTE support, the phone will definitely have more fans in the coming months.
After a few weeks of speculations, rumors and leaks, the OnePlus X is finally official. We had received a number of information about the device well before launch and today almost everything got confirmed. So, its everything that we expected it to be. Apart from the specs, most of which we knew in advance, one surprise was in the design department. It looks like the company has put in a lot of effort in the exterior of the phone, as it will come in two premium versions, one the OnePlus X Onyx and the second version which be a limited edition, will be made out of ceramic (yes, you heard it right! CERAMIC!).
The OnePlus Onyx will be made out of glass, with a metal frame. This should give it a premium look, although we have seen a number of manufacturers use the same design on their flagships. However, the second version, i.e. the limited edition Ceramic version is going to be interesting as it comes with a real ceramic body which is scratch resistant and has a hardness of 8.5H on the Mohs scale. We don’t have much information about the Ceramic version, but we expect to hear more from the company in the coming hours. The overall body is quite slim, measuring just 6.9mm and weighs only about 138 grams.
Coming to the specifications, like we said, the OnePlus X will feature the year old Snapdragon 801 chipset. If we didn’t know about this chip earlier, this would have been a big surprise, but now we have kind of accepted it as a cooler alternative to the Snapdragon 810. They could have gone with the Snapdragon 808, but end of the day went with the 801 probably to keep the price as low as possible. Not that we are complaining since 801 was the flagship chip till last year. It still has enough punch to perform well with the given 3GB RAM on board.
As for the storage, you get 16GB internal with an option to expand via MicroSD. But like many recent phones, this SD card slot is a hybrid SIM card slot combo, so at one time, you can have just two Nano SIMs or one SIM with a MicroSD. As for the display, OnePlus has gone with the Active Matrix OLED display. Its a 5-inch panel with 1080p resolution translating into pixel density of 441 ppi.
As for the camera, the OnePlus X comes with a decent Samsuing ISOCELL 13MP rear camera with an 8MP front facing shooter. The rear camera comes with PDAF with 0.2s focus times. Videos can be shot at 1080p resolution (no 4K shooting) but interestingly you do get 720p Slo-Mo video shooting on the device. As for the battery, you get a decent 2,525 mAh capacity on board, which should be enough for a day’s usage. The software is the same old OxygenOS based on Android 5.1.
The pricing is also exactly the same as we predicted. The phone will start at $249 USD for the Onyx version, while in Europe this goes up to 269 EUR. It will go on sale from Nov 5 in Europe and Nov 19 in US. As for the Cermic Edition, only 10,000 of these limited edition models will be made and there will be a specific invite system for the same. In Europe, this edition will cost you 369 EUR.
So, this the new OnePlus X, the first 5-inch phone from the company. There’s still no Wireless Charging, Quick Charge, NFC or even OIS. But its still offers a lot for the given $249 price tag. So, what do you think about the device? Will you consider buying the limited edition Ceramic editions?
Meanwhile, the phone is already up for pre-order on giztop, so do check it out.
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