HOMTOM HT5 come with a Corning Gorilla Glass screen that even a dart cannot pierce

By

-

Oct 20, 2015

In previous articles, we have talked about many HOMTOM HT5 features such as the powerful 4250 mAh battery which can last for up to 5 days based on average use, or 2 days of heavy use, with up to 60 hours of talking time and 30 days standby time. The artful design features Ebony and Black Apricot Wood cases and the ultra-slim, ergonomically shaped body is only 9.8mm thick. Not to mention, the smart wake up gesture controls and HotKnot wireless transfer technology.

This time we would like to introduce the latest Corning Gorilla Glass screen that the HOMTOM HT5 is using. How tough is it? The screen has improved strength and durability and is up to three times more damage resistant than other screens. This type of Native Damage Resistance is a unique feature of Gorilla Glass. Something that Corning Glass is able to provide due to a special proprietary glass composition that is better able to resist the deep scratches that cause other glass to break.
Whether you accidentally drop it, or put into a bag with sharp objects, the HOMTOM HT5 screen will not be damaged.

The stunning Corning Gorilla Glass screen feels smooth and precise and is scratchproof, super durable and wear resistant. The HOMTOM HT5 will never leave you heart-broken because of a broken screen.

For more information, please check:
www.homtom.cc
https://www.facebook.com/homtomchina

OnePlus X GiveAway: Win A Free OnePlus X Smartphone From GizmoChina

By

Joel Joseph

-

Oct 20, 2015

Back in August, we gave away the OnePlus 2 Flagship Killer to one of our lucky fans. Now, we are back with another giveaway, and this time around, its yet another OnePlus smartphone! Its usually quite hard to get hold of a OnePlus device and this is a good opportunity for our readers to win one for free!

Although the OnePlus X hasn’t been released yet, the company is all set to announce the device on October 27. The phone is shaping up to be quite good, with either Snapdragon 801 chipset clocked at 2GHz or Helio X10 under the hood. There should be 3GB of RAM on board with at least 16GB of storage. The display will be of 5-inches (quite compact for one handed use) with FHD 1080p resolution. At the back, you can expect a 13MP Sony camera while up front, there should be a 5MP shooter. It should run on the latest version of OxygenOS based on Android 5.1.

As you can see, this phone is ideal for those who like compact 5-inch devices. And you can win one for free by participating in this giveaway.

Entering the contest is quite easy with the gleam widget. Only for one entry — i.e. subscribing to our newsletter, you will have to do it externally, via the subscribe button on the right sidebar of the website. Rest all of the entries can be completed within the widget.

The OnePlus X GiveAway contest starts today and will go on till November 5. There are a number of ways you can participate in the giveaway. And there are entries that you can make to earn extra points every day too.

The final winner will be selected at random, so everyone gets a fair chance. What’s more, you can increase your chances of being picked as the winner by increasing your entries for the contest.

Remember, you need to make these entries via Gleam widget, so that your entries are officially recorded.

Please share this giveaway as much as possible, in order to earn extra points and to make it successful. A successful giveaway would encourage us to giveaway more such amazing products to our readers.

Also, a special thanks to our partner, Giztop for making this possible. Do check out their website for all the latest flagship smartphones in the market. The site promises zero shipping and customs charges for most countries.

We hope all of you participate in this giveaway and make it big. All the BEST!

ONEPLUS X GIVEAWAY POWERED BY GIZTOP

OnePlus X GiveAway

Meizu takes a dig at OnePlus, Offers To Swap Your OnePlus 2 For A Meizu Pro 5!

By

Joel Joseph

-

Oct 20, 2015

If you have been following the tech world, you would have come across an interesting campaign from OnePlus called as #TakeTheEdgeOff. Under this campaign, Samsung Galaxy Note 5, Galaxy S6, S6 edge, and S6 edge+ users could swap their smartphones for a brand new OnePlus 2. While this sounded like an absurd deal, given that these phones are much costlier than the OnePlus 2, Meizu is here to give OnePlus a taste of their own medicine.

Yesterday evening, Meizu kicked off a campaign wherein OnePlus 2 users could swap their smartphones for a brand new Meizu Pro 5 flagship. If you consider the specifications of the Pro 5, this actually turns out to be a pretty good deal! Well, to make things even more competitive, Meizu’s campaign has the hashtag #TurnTheHeatOff. In case you remember, OnePlus’s own campaign was called #TakeTheEdgeOFF!

From the hashtag, it looks like the company wants users to swap to a Meizu Pro 5 to get over the heating problems associated with the Snapdragon 810 chipset under the hood. There seems to be limited units available for the swap and according to the page, the lucky winners will be announced via e-mails later this week.

Meizu is yet to reveal details about this campaign like what happens to the OnePlus 2s that they receive, do they donate it or do they use it for some other purpose? Also, its not yet known when and how the actual swap will take place. We hope to get more details pretty soon as the campaign comes to an end.

As for the Pro 5, it features the powerful Exynos 7420 with 3GB/ 4GB RAM options and 21MP/ 5MP cameras. Overall a great deal we would say. So, if you are not happy with your OnePlus 2, this might be a good opportunity to swap your phone for something better without costing you a penny. Just head over to their Facebook page and fill out a form to participate in the campaign.

What do you think about this campaign? Would you trade your OnePlus 2 for a Meizu Pro 5?

LeTV 2 To Feature Faster Fingerprint Sensor, Superior Camera & 2K Display

By

Joel Joseph

-

Oct 20, 2015

LeTV CEO has been revealing a lot about the upcoming LeTV 2 flagship smartphone that is scheduled to debut at the company’s October 27 event. The first teaser of the event revealed that the company was directly competing with the Apple’s iPhone series. Now a series of new teasers have revealed more details about the upcoming device, most of which takes a dig at Apple’s iPhone series.

The first teaser boasts of the new fingerprint sensor on the LeTV 2 model. The image says that the LeTV 2’s fingerprint sensor will be better than Apple’s Touch ID. You can check out the teaser from down below.

Even in the camera department, the new LeTV model is supposedly better than the iPhone series, specifically the iPhone 6S. The teaser says that the upcoming LeTV phone will feature superior camera for faster shooting and better low light pictures as compared to the iPhone 6S.

Finally, the third teaser compares the Retina display on the iPhones to the better display on the LeTV 2. The teaser states that 1080p display has become standard on flagships, with Apple’s Retina display still considered as one of the best. But LeTV will take things to a better level with its display which we are expecting to be 2K. Remember the giant LeTV Max with 2K display and sapphire glass? Well, this new model could take some specs from the Max model.

As the CEO is counting down the day until the launch event with new features revealed everyday, we can expect something about its processor in the next one week. Rumors have said that the phone will feature the new Snapdragon 820 chipset, but we still need confirmation from the company. So, we better wait for more such teasers in the coming days.

Meizu Metal Most Likely To Be Priced At 1299 Yuan!

By

Joel Joseph

-

Oct 20, 2015

We have been hearing and also seeing a lot of Meizu Metal in the past couple of weeks. The phone is all set to debut tomorrow, i.e. October 21 and will run on Alibaba’s Ali YunOS based on Android platform. The phone is said to be quite a looker, thanks to its all metal design (with magnesium alloy body) and metallic color scheme. The specs are also quite impressive for the price segment that it is targeted.

The latest leak about the Meizu Metal smartphone has revealed the pricing of the device. While previous rumors said that the phone could be priced below 1000 Yuan ($157), a leaked image reveals that the pricing could be set at 1299 Yuan for the 16GB model. That comes to around $200, which is quite aggressive.

While the company is yet to confirm the official price tag of the device, Meizu VP, Li Nan had earlier hinted that the pricing would be between 1000 Yuan and 1500 Yuan. So, its quite likely that the starting price of the 16GB model could be 1299 Yuan. Moreover, the specifications are also quite impressive to make sure that the phone gives tough competition to the likes of the Xiaomi Redmi Note 2.

According to the TENAA listing, the Meizu Metal smartphone will come with a 2GHz octa-core chip, the MT6795 Helio X10. There will be 2GB of RAM on board along with 16GB of storage. The front features a 2.5D glass 5.5-inch FHD display with a 5MP camera on top. As for the back, you can expect a 13MP shooter with PDAF. Like the recent Meizu smartphones, the Meizu Metal too is expected to come with the mBack home button with different gestures available along with fingerprint sensor incorporated into the device. Finally, the phone will run on Ali YunOS instead of Meizu’s Flyme UI.

Overall, the device does capture our attention with good specs and a refreshing metal design. Moreover, the phone will come in six different color options like blue, grey, white, pink and gold. Now, we just have to wait for its official release on October 21.

So, do you like the new Meizu metal? Would you pick this over the Redmi Note 2. You can also check out the leaked video of the device in action alongside the Honor 7.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 vs. Meizu M2 Note Camera Comparison. Be the Judge

By

Linus

-

Oct 20, 2015

A lot of you guys are looking for a decent budget phone but most of them usually have one common flaw – poor camera. However, there are devices that have decent cameras according to their price.

We are going to compare cameras of two one of the best budget phones of the year – Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 and the Meizu M2 Note.

Both devices come with 13MP shooters on the back and 5MP selfie snappers, and they are also capable of shooting up to 1080P video.

The full comparison review of these phones is coming up, where I’m going to say my opinion which phone has a better camera but this time around please let me know in the comments section below this what you guys think.

On the left side there will always be the Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 and on the right the Meizu M2 Note, and if the image takes the full screen the Redmi Note 2 always comes first, so you don’t get mixed up. Also, I will leave download links in the description for original format of the images.

Sit back, relax and enjoy it! Please like this video if you liked it and subscribe to the channel as it really helps. You can also download the original format images and video and you will find the links in the description below the video.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 vs. M2 Note Camera Comparison: VIDEO

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yl-azZFDkm8[/embedyt]

Buy Xiaomi Redmi Note 2

Buy Meizu M2 Note

Also, please check out our Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 Review and Meizu M2 Note review.

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpPOTiapj1U[/embedyt]

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yh-WeftK5Eo[/embedyt]

HTC CEO Claims HTC One A9 Is Strong Enough to Replace iPhone 6S

By

Joel Joseph

-

Oct 19, 2015

Since the past few years, HTC has been struggling to keep up with other competitors in the smartphone industry. In fact, due to the unimpressive performance of the company in the last few quarters, Cher Wang replaced Peter Chou as the CEO of the company earlier this year.

We have seen a few positive changes in the company’s smartphone strategy but is it enough to compete with other players in the market? HTC’s latest smartphone is the HTC One A9 and we all have great expectations from the device.

But it looks like HTC is shamelessly copying the design of the iPhone 6S to stay competitive in this market. As you can see from the pictures in the post, the HTC One A9 looks exactly like the iPhone 6S. Even the color scheme is similar to the iPhone’s.

What’s more, according to a new report, Cher Wang has sent out an internal letter to the employees of HTC stating that the One A9 is a perfect balance of beauty, performance and simplicity and is strong enough to replace iPhone 6S.

Moreover, she adds that HTC has identified majority of its problems which led to the decline in revenues, one of which includes external marketing. Therefore, in the letter, she asks her employees to become ambassadors of their own products.

As for the specs of the device, they are not quite what you expect from a 3000 Yuan+ ($480) device. The HTC One A9 is said to come with Snapdragon 617 octa-core chip with 3GB RAM and 32GB of storage. There will be a 5-inch FHD display on board and a 13MP rear camera. Up front, there will be a 4MP shooter. The battery is a bit disappointing, at just 2150mAh capacity. However, you do get the latest Android 6.0 version on board.

But we still have to get these specs confirmed by HTC, which shouldn’t take long since the event is in a few hours.

We have a big GIVEAWAY Tomorrow! Guess What?

By

Joel Joseph

-

Oct 19, 2015

If you are a frequent visitor of GizmoChina, you would know that we giveaway a lot of exciting stuff to our fans. Almost every month there’s something new to giveaway. In fact, there’s giveaway going on right now, you can participate in that from this link.

One of the biggest giveaways we have had till now was the OnePlus 2. And we saw tremendous response from our fans all around the world.

Now, we are back with another big giveaway. Its a smartphone that we all have been waiting for quite some time. And its going to be launched pretty soon.

Can you guess which phone we are talking about? We will reveal the big giveaway tomorrow, so stay tuned to GizmoChina for the next 24 hours!

The Metal Honor 5X Spotted In A Video Before Release

By

Joel Joseph

-

Oct 19, 2015

Huawei announced the Honor 5X Play on October 10. However, the main launch of this month is going to be the Honor 5X with an all metal design. The phone is scheduled to be announced on October 27 and will reportedly revolutionize the sub-1000 Yuan market (appox. $157). Now, the same phone has been spotted in a video revealing most of the specifications and the design of the device.

Although the upcoming device bears the name Honor, the styling is quite different than the existing models in the range. First of all, the Honor 5X will come with an all metal body. Further, you can spot a fingerprint sensor at the back, which is not usually found on phones that cost less than $160.

As for the specs, the Honor 5X will reportedly come with a 5.5-inch FHD 1080p display with Snapdragon 615 octa-core chip under the hood. There should be 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage on board, but we feel there will be a 2GB RAM base variant as well. At the back, you can expect a 13MP camera while up front, there will be a 5MP shooter. The phone will reportedly run on Android 5.1.1 out of the box.

You can check out the video from down below.

Well, these are pretty good specs for a $157 smartphone and will further intensify the competition in the lower mid-range segment. We hope to get more information about the device in the coming days.

Buy Cubot X16 At Just $139.99 For A Limited Period

By

Joel Joseph

-

Oct 19, 2015

Cubot has been releasing some good looking devices in the past few months. The latest release from the company is the new Cubot X16 smartphone, which comes with pretty good looks in a super slim body. The device just measures 6.2mm thickness, making it one of the cheapest slim devices in the market right now. The phone comes with ZINC alloy frame making the slim body durable as well.

As for the display, you get a 5-inch JDI FHD 1080p diplay on the front, which translates into pixel density of 441 ppi and 90% NTSC Color Gamut. Despite not having Gorilla Glass protection, the Cubot X16’s display is quite durable against scratches and breakage. The phone features MT6735A (better than MT6735) and 2GB of RAM and 16GB of expandable (upto 32GB) internal storage.

At the back, there’s a 16MP camera (13MP interpolated) with f/2.0 aperture, 5P lens and dual LED flash. Up front, there’s a 8MP (5MP interpolated) shooter with 88 degrees wide angle lens. The phone comes with Android 5.1 out of the box with support for HotKnot, Gesture Sensing and other features. Also, thanks to MT6735 chip, it supports B1/ B3/ B7 and B20 LTE network bands. Finally, you get a decent 2500mAh battery on board to power all these specs.

You can get all these specs for a price tag of just $159.99. But for the first 200 customers, Banggood EU is offering the Cubot X16 for just $139.99. That’s $20 OFF the retail price, which makes this phone a steal as compared to its competitors. Head over to the purchase link for more information.

Buy Cubot X16 at $139.99

Umi Hammer S Review

By

Linus

-

Oct 19, 2015

It is obvious that the Chinese smartphone market is crowded with lots of cheap devices and a lot of small companies that include Umi. They have produced quite a lot of devices already but the last reviewed phone (Umi Iron) had quite a few bugs, which was a let down (they may have been fixed by now as much time has passed). This time around we are looking at another budget phone – Umi Hammer S. Is it any good? This is what we are going to find out.

Umi Hammer S Review: VIDEO

Umi Hammer S Review: SPECS

Display	5.5″ 720P (HD)
Processor	MTK6735, Quad Core, 1GHz
RAM	2GB
Camera	2MP Front/13MP
Connectivity	Bluetooth, 3G, 4G, GPS, WIFI, GSM,EDGE, GPRS, UMTS, HSPA, HSPA+; FDD-LTE B1/B3/B7/B20
Battery	3.200 mAh (removable)
Dimensions	154.2 x 77.4 x 8.5mm / 200g
OS	Android 5.1
Storage	16GB (expandable via microSD card slot up to 64GB)

Umi Hammer S Review: UNBOXING

The phone comes with usual stuff you can expect and that includes a charging brick, some documentation and last but not least the USB Type-C cable.

Umi Hammer S Review: DESIGN and DISPLAY

When it comes to the design of the phone, we are looking at the combo of metal chassis, all-glass front and a soft plastic back and it sits comfortably in the hand due to rounded corners on the back.

The Umi Hammer S comes with 5.5” 720P display, which is okay to look at indoors but it has quite a poor sunlight visibility, which is common to most of the budget phones.

A 2MP snapper, earpiece and the sensor light are on the top and 3 non-backlit capacitive buttons are on the bottom.

On the back we have a 13MP shooter with dual LED flash and right underneath it there is a fingerprint scanner.

Under the hood there is a removable 3200mAh battery, two SIM card slots and the microSD card slot.

On the right we have very clicky and responsive volume rocker and the power button.

The speaker grill is on the bottom, which sits next to the USB Type-C port.

On the top we have a headset jack and the IR blaster.

Overall, I kind of like the design and choice of materials. The build quality is great too. The Umi Hammer S is nothing you haven’t seen as far as exterior goes but there are a lot worse looking phones, in my opinion.

Umi Hammer S Review: UI

The phone runs on Android 5.1 Lolipop and you are getting a pretty much stock Android experience.

Umi changed the design of some icons and added a bit of extra functionality like gesture controls. Some of them work great while other not so great. Well, the only feature I use on all the devices is the “double click to wake”.

Although the fingerprint scanner is not the fastest I’ve seen, I am satisfied with how the it works but the setup process is a bit slower and the interface is different than other China phones I’ve tested.

All in all, the UI performance is smooth most of the times and this is what you usually get when the phone is running near stock Android build.

Umi Hammer S Review: BENCHMARKS

1 of 7

Umi Hammer S Review: PERFORMANCE

Umi Hammer S has a MTK6735 chip, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of expandable storage. This is a combo we’ve seen on a lot of Chinese phones lately but not all of them are well optimised.

Playing 3D games is possible but there is quite a lot of stutter and skipped frames, and graphics don’t look impressive.

Umi Hammer S Review: MULTIMEDIA

1 of 3

The multimedia consumption experience is on par with other similarly priced China phones. You are getting a tinny sounding loudspeaker and the sound via earphones is okay but nothing spectacular.

Umi Hammer S Review: CAMERA

The 13MP camera on the back is sometimes capable of producing okay looking images that can be used for social media. However, usually images have a poor colour reproduction, the dynamic range and exposure are usually off and some photos come out a bit blurry meaning that the shooter is having a hard time focusing.

The night images do not impress either. There is just so much noise, the level of details is poor but most importantly there is a red tint in some pictures.

img_20151016_175918 — It’s me, tired. As usual.

The 2MP selfie snapper will do the trick for social media if you tend taking selfies with plenty of light.

As far as video recording, the footage lacks in many aspects but this is what you have to expect in this price range of phones (see the sample in the video review). And yeah, the sound quality is just terrible.

Download full-res camera samples

Umi Hammer S Review: CONNECTIVITY

As far as connectivity options go, Umi Hammer S has the 4G LTE support and the call quality is decent. Other options that include wifi and Bluetooth work fine and while GPS is not the fastest to get a position lock, it gets the job done while navigating in the streets.

Umi Hammer S Review: BATTERY LIFE

The phone comes with 3200mAh removable battery, which performed really good in Geekbench 3 battery test. The Umi Hammer S managed to achieve almost 10 hours of screen-on time with the dim feature off. That’s really impressive. For example, I remember that the Letv Le 1 Pro could barely get over 4 hours.

In real life you may not achieve the same results but the phone will definitely get you through the day and more depending on how you are going to use the device.

Umi Hammer S Review: CONCLUSIONS

So here it is, the Umi Hammer S. For the price of just over $130 you are getting a decently designed phone, which has a good build quality.

Also, Umi Hammer S has almost stock Android build and it is running smoothly most of the times.

In addition, the battery life is really good and some extra functionality like a fingerprint scanner and USB Type-C are great features for the price.

However, the processing power is not really capable of providing a decent gaming experience, the camera does not impress and the display is of a mediocre quality.

All in all, Umi Hammer S is another China phone that has its ins and outs that you have to consider before buying. It is not a bad choice for the price and in the areas that the phone is lacking it is hard to find a similarly priced phone that would be significantly better… But you may find something similar.

Buy Umi Hammer S

The Super Thin Xiaomi Mi TV 3 Is official with a stunning 60-inch 4K Panel from LG

By

Joel Joseph

-

Oct 19, 2015

Xiaomi has been teasing its upcoming Xiaomi Mi TV 3 for the past few days via its social media channels. Now the device has been finally made official. The specs and design of the new Mi TV 3 scream quality but the pricing turns out to quite agressive, making it a competitive product in the Chinese market. Xiaomi has always been one of the manufacturers which provide best value for money and the Mi TV 3 does look like a great product.

First of all, the company has used LG’s 60-inch true 4K display to make sure that it delivers one of the best visual experience. When it comes to its Mi TV range, Xiaomi has always focused on reducing its thickness. The new Mi TV 3 too is quite thin, measuring just 11.6mm at its thinnest point. That’s pretty impressive for a 60-inch TV. Well, in case you are wondering how thin it looks in real life, you can check out the picture of Lei Jun posing with the Mi TV 3. See, its really thin! So, looks wise, you are going to be impressed. It comes with a full aluminum frame with diamond patterns and double color anodized body.

The Mi TV features the MStar 6A928 4K TV processor with 8GB of storage inside. The company has upgraded the four speakers with 2.5-inch drivers. You get all these features for a price tag of just 4999 Yuan ($786)! Unfortunately, we still don’t know when Xiaomi will make the Mi TV 3 available to users in China.
And in case you are wondering, we still haven’t heard any plans from the company to release its Mi TV lineup outside its domestic market.
Meanwhile, you can check out the images of the Mi TV 3 from the gallery down below.

Mi TV 3

1 of 5

Huawei Mate 8 Flagship With Kirin 950 Chip To Enter Production Stage

By

Joel Joseph

-

Oct 19, 2015

Huawei’s CEO Yu Chengdong had earlier hinted that the company will release its Mate 8 flagship smartphone before the end of the year. This was just a few weeks after the company unveiled the Huawei Mate S smartphone with Force Touch. Now, the latest news from China states that the Huawei Mate 8 will reportedly enter production stage. It is said that Foxconn has received the Mate 8 smartphone for mass production.

This further confirms that we will see the Mate 8 pretty soon. Since Chengdong had said that the release should be before the end of the year, we can expect it sometime in December i.e. a few months after the Mate S debuted. It should be much more powerful as well, as it is said that the phone will come with the next generation version of Huawei’s Kirin chipset, namely the Kirin 950.

The Kirin 950 is expected to be much powerful than existing offerings in the market right now. Even Chengdong had said earlier that the chip is faster than MTK and Qualcomm chips. But, how powerful is it exactly? Well, the chip was spotted on Geekbench in August and it managed to beat the current leader, the Exynos 7420 pretty easily. The Kirin 950 reportedly scored 1909 in single-core and 6096 in multi-core test. That’s way higher than the powerful Exynos 7420 in both the test (1486 & 4970 respectively). So, we are all excited to see the performance of the chip in real life.

According to rumors, the Kirin 950 will come with quad-Cortex A53 and quad Cortex A72 cores with Mali-T880 GPU. Other specs include Tensilica Hi-Fi DSP, dual ISP, i7 co-processor and Cat. 10 LTE support.

You can expect the Mate 8 to be a high-end device, with a 6-inch force touch display, a large battery, 21MP camera and an all metal body.

UMI Fair Unboxing and First Impressions

By

Linus

-

Oct 18, 2015

It happened so that I have two UMI smartphones at the moment – Hammer S and Fair. I have already done the first impressions video about of the former one and this time around I wanted to share my initial thoughts about the UMI Fair – a cheap smartphone that has a fingerprint scanner.

We wanted to say thanks to Coolicool.com for providing us with UMI Fair for a review.

Umi Fair Unboxing: Video

My first impressions about UMI Fair is that it has a great design and good build quality for such a cheap phone. It definitely feels good in the hand and the phone is manageable in one hand due to its 5″ display.

Also, I love the metal chassis going around the device and a soft plastic back, which both give a nice feel to the touch.

As far as UI goes, so far it seems it is running smoothly but I haven’t even installed any apps on the device.

When it comes to the fingerprint scanner, which is supposed to be a star of the show here (UMI wants us to believe so), it does not seem to be working fine. As you may have seen in the video, it is not accurate enough and even the setup process is annoying. Well, I will give my final thoughts on that when the full review is ready as I have already started using the phone as my daily driver.

So here it is, the UMI Fair. If you have any questions about the device, please let me know in the comment section.

UMI Fair in pictures:

Buy UMI Fair from Coolicool

OnePlus X Photos Leaked Online, Comes With 2.5D Glass Back

By

Joel Joseph

-

Oct 18, 2015

OnePlus has an event on October 27, where it will most likely unveil its budget offering, the OnePlus X. We have already seen the device on TENAA, but now, real images of the device have been leaked online.

According to the picture leaked earlier today, the upcoming OnePlus X handset comes in white and black colors. From the image, it looks like the phone will feature 2.5D glass at the back.

As for the specs, the phone should come with a customized version of Snapdragon 801 chipset clocked at 2GHz on board with 3GB of RAM and 16GB of expandable internal storage. There should be a 5.5-inch display with FHD 1080p resolution. At the back, you can expect a 13MP Sony camera while up front, there should be a 5MP shooter. As for the battery, it should be somewhere around 2450mAh capacity.

As you can see, these specs put the phone somewhere in the upper mid-range category. But the pricing should be under $249. For the first time, OnePlus is aiming for the slim phone tag with this device as the phone will reportedly be just 6.9mm thick according to the recent TENAA listing.

Anyways, we are still a few days away from the launch. So, we could hear more about the device in the coming days. Stay tuned for more updates.

UMi Fair + VOIX Earphones Giveaway! (UMi Giveaway Month)

By

Frank Tu

-

Oct 18, 2015

UMi, continuing with the Giveaways of September, announced the giveaway for this week, and it’s the UMi Fair! The first Smartphone under $100 to have a Fingerprint reader and a 2.5D 720P screen. Wait, there’s more, UMi is also giving away a pair of VOIX Earphones! So, two winners to be chosen.

The UMi Fair is a very impressive device, being priced only under $100, the features it offers are just amazing. A Fingerprint Reader, a 2.5D 720P 5-inch display, powered by the MediaTek MTK6735. A Quad-core processor clocked at 1Ghz, and 1GB of RAM and 8GB internal storage to go with it. The cameras are also decent at 13MP on the back and 2MP on the front for those selfies. Runs on the almost latest version of Android, Android 5.1 Lollipop.

Coming to the VOIX Earphones, quite possibly you wouldn’t have even heard of the VOIX brand. It’s a small startup of UMi, to capture the audiophile market alongside the smartphones’, and these earphones are their first product to come off the production line, being priced only $20, they are quite impressive for what they are. Very nicely built, and very good sounding. If anything these headphones are better than what most other audio-first companies are offering. So, these headphones are attracting many audio enthusiasts and a lot of other people who are looking for an affordable pair of earphones that thwy can just throw in their backpack for a hiking trip.

Here’s your chance to win them for free! Click on the link below to enter and win the UMi Fair and also the VOIX Earphones! All the rules are present on the link, and anyone can enter to win. A winner will be chosen at the end of the week, for the UMi Fair, and a second winner will be chosen at the same tine for the VOIX Earphones.

UMI Halloween Giveaway_ UMI Fair
UMI Halloween Giveaway_ UMI Fair

Umi Hammer S Unboxing and First Impressions

By

Linus

-

Oct 17, 2015

I’ve been using the Umi Hammer S for around a week already but the final review is still a few days away, so I decided to give you guys my impressions about the device. This is a different kind of video that I am used to making but I hope you enjoy my live unboxing.

Umi Hammer S Unboxing and First Impressions: VIDEO

The phone comes with 5.5″ display, which makes the whole device quite huge but it sits comfortably in the hand due to rounded corners on the back.

Umi Hammer S has a metal chassis going around the device and it adds a bit of a premium touch.

Overall, the device is well made and I have some good first impressions as far as design goes.

As far as UI, we have an Android 5.1 with a light UMI skin on top of it. It is pretty much stock Android experience with some extra features like gesture controls we’ve seen on a lot of phones from China lately.

All in all, I don’t have major complaints about the phone after using it for some time. Still, I will give my final thoughts in a full review, which is coming very soon, so please stay tuned.

Buy Umi Hammer S

ZUK Z1 International Version To Get Cyanogen OS 13 Based On Android 6.0

By

Joel Joseph

-

Oct 16, 2015

ZUK’s co-founder Chenyu had revealed a few days back that the domestic version of the ZUK Z1 running on ZUI will be upgraded to Android 6.0 Marshmallow by March 2016. He added that the company had already started on the adaptation work of the new Android version to the device.

However, this presented another question. Will the ZUK Z1 International version too be upgraded to Android 6.0? At that time, we weren’t sure of this, but according to the latest news, the international variant will also be upgraded to Android 6.0. This particular version runs on the Cyanogen OS 12.1 based on Android 5.1.1. It is said that Cyanogen is working on the Android 6.0 based Cyanogen OS 13 and ZUK Z1 International version will be one of the first devices to get the update.

Unfortunately, at this moment, there’s very little information regarding the Cyanogen OS 13 update. But given that the Chinese variant of the device is supposed to get the update sometime after February, you can expect the same release time frame for the international variant as well.

We will keep you guys updated if more information comes up in the next few weeks.

Huawei Confirms Android 6.0 Marshmallow Update For a Bunch of Models

By

Joel Joseph

-

Oct 16, 2015

Although the probable list of models which are going to get Android 6.0 Marshmallow update from most manufacturers was leaked earlier, we need actual confirmation from each company to be sure of that information. Now, Huawei has just announced the models which will be getting the Android 6.0 Marshmallow update and there’s most of the recent models in the list.

The list of models that are confirmed to receive Android 6.0 in China are as follows: Huawei P8, Mate 7, Mate S, P8 youth edition, P8 Max, Maimang 4 (domestic variant of G8), G7 Plus and G7. In the honor series, Honor 7,7i, 6 Plus, 6, X2, 4X, and Play 4C will be upgraded to Android 6.0.

As you can see, there’s a lot of phones that are eligible for the latest Android update. The work on the adaptation of the new OS for the listed phones will begin in November.

We still don’t know whether the above listed phones are the only ones that will receive Android 6.0 in the coming months. Also, these are the models confirmed in China. There may be a few changes in the list when it comes out internationally.
So are you happy with the list? Is your phone supported?

UMi iRon Pro, an upcoming smartphone that has Three Very Unique Security Features

By

Frank Tu

-

Oct 16, 2015

The UMI IRON PRO will be the successor to the UMI IRON.
The design seems to be nearly the same. But the PRO will have USB TYPE C and also a fingerprint scanner on the rearside. And it will of course still have the notification LED on the front.

It appears that the UMi Iron Pro will look physically similar to the current Iron, but will get a single piece rear panel. The current Iron has a metal main body with plastic at the top and bottom, the Pro has a single piece. At this stage we don’t know what material it will be, but being a ‘Pro’ we hope for alloy at least.

Also on the rear we see the same camera and dual LED locations, but now there is the inclusion of a fingerprint scanner too. The UMi Iron Pro will also feature an eye scanner running of the front camera. A 5.5-inch 1920 x 1080 display is the same spec as the original, and we see the LED notification bar at the bottom of the phone has been retained. The final details we know at this stage of development are a USB Type C 2.0, 3GB RAM and Mediatek MT6753 chipset.

Overall the specs are similar to the original UMi Iron, but that chipset choice seems odd and a little misleading. The octacore MT6753 is not a high-end processor, and has a low power GPU which isn’t suitable for hardcore gaming. It’s fine for standard phones but not something a ‘Pro’ level device, for that we would like to see a Helio X10 at the very least, a P10 or X20 would have suited too.

We suppose it all boils down to price, but we feel tat UMi Iron 2 might be a more suitable name, and the UMi Iron Pro should pack a little more punch. What are your thoughts?

Source:xiaomitoday

A lot of you guys are looking for a decent budget phone but most of them usually have one common flaw – poor camera. However, there are devices that have decent cameras according to their price.

We are going to compare cameras of two one of the best budget phones of the year – Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 and the Meizu M2 Note.

Both devices come with 13MP shooters on the back and 5MP selfie snappers, and they are also capable of shooting up to 1080P video.

The full comparison review of these phones is coming up, where I’m going to say my opinion which phone has a better camera but this time around please let me know in the comments section below this what you guys think.

On the left side there will always be the Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 and on the right the Meizu M2 Note, and if the image takes the full screen the Redmi Note 2 always comes first, so you don’t get mixed up. Also, I will leave download links in the description for original format of the images.

Sit back, relax and enjoy it! Please like this video if you liked it and subscribe to the channel as it really helps. You can also download the original format images and video and you will find the links in the description below the video.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 vs. M2 Note Camera Comparison: VIDEO

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yl-azZFDkm8[/embedyt]

Also, please check out our Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 Review and Meizu M2 Note review.

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpPOTiapj1U[/embedyt]

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yh-WeftK5Eo[/embedyt]

Umi Hammer S Review: VIDEO

Umi Hammer S Review: SPECS

Display

5.5″ 720P (HD)

Processor

MTK6735, Quad Core, 1GHz

RAM

2GB

Camera

2MP Front/13MP

Connectivity

Bluetooth, 3G, 4G, GPS, WIFI, GSM,EDGE, GPRS, UMTS, HSPA, HSPA+; FDD-LTE B1/B3/B7/B20

Battery

3.200 mAh (removable)

Dimensions

154.2 x 77.4 x 8.5mm / 200g

OS

Android 5.1

Storage

16GB (expandable via microSD card slot up to 64GB)

Umi Hammer S Review: UNBOXING

The phone comes with usual stuff you can expect and that includes a charging brick, some documentation and last but not least the USB Type-C cable.

Umi Hammer S Review: DESIGN and DISPLAY

When it comes to the design of the phone, we are looking at the combo of metal chassis, all-glass front and a soft plastic back and it sits comfortably in the hand due to rounded corners on the back.

The Umi Hammer S comes with 5.5” 720P display, which is okay to look at indoors but it has quite a poor sunlight visibility, which is common to most of the budget phones.

A 2MP snapper, earpiece and the sensor light are on the top and 3 non-backlit capacitive buttons are on the bottom.

On the back we have a 13MP shooter with dual LED flash and right underneath it there is a fingerprint scanner.

Under the hood there is a removable 3200mAh battery, two SIM card slots and the microSD card slot.

On the right we have very clicky and responsive volume rocker and the power button.

The speaker grill is on the bottom, which sits next to the USB Type-C port.

On the top we have a headset jack and the IR blaster.

Overall, I kind of like the design and choice of materials. The build quality is great too. The Umi Hammer S is nothing you haven’t seen as far as exterior goes but there are a lot worse looking phones, in my opinion.

Umi Hammer S Review: UI

The phone runs on Android 5.1 Lolipop and you are getting a pretty much stock Android experience.

Umi changed the design of some icons and added a bit of extra functionality like gesture controls. Some of them work great while other not so great. Well, the only feature I use on all the devices is the “double click to wake”.

Although the fingerprint scanner is not the fastest I’ve seen, I am satisfied with how the it works but the setup process is a bit slower and the interface is different than other China phones I’ve tested.

All in all, the UI performance is smooth most of the times and this is what you usually get when the phone is running near stock Android build.

Umi Hammer S Review: BENCHMARKS

Umi Hammer S Review: PERFORMANCE

Umi Hammer S has a MTK6735 chip, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of expandable storage. This is a combo we’ve seen on a lot of Chinese phones lately but not all of them are well optimised.

Playing 3D games is possible but there is quite a lot of stutter and skipped frames, and graphics don’t look impressive.

Umi Hammer S Review: MULTIMEDIA

The multimedia consumption experience is on par with other similarly priced China phones. You are getting a tinny sounding loudspeaker and the sound via earphones is okay but nothing spectacular.

Umi Hammer S Review: CAMERA

The night images do not impress either. There is just so much noise, the level of details is poor but most importantly there is a red tint in some pictures.

The 2MP selfie snapper will do the trick for social media if you tend taking selfies with plenty of light.

As far as video recording, the footage lacks in many aspects but this is what you have to expect in this price range of phones (see the sample in the video review). And yeah, the sound quality is just terrible.

Umi Hammer S Review: CONNECTIVITY

As far as connectivity options go, Umi Hammer S has the 4G LTE support and the call quality is decent. Other options that include wifi and Bluetooth work fine and while GPS is not the fastest to get a position lock, it gets the job done while navigating in the streets.

Umi Hammer S Review: BATTERY LIFE

In real life you may not achieve the same results but the phone will definitely get you through the day and more depending on how you are going to use the device.

Umi Hammer S Review: CONCLUSIONS

So here it is, the Umi Hammer S. For the price of just over $130 you are getting a decently designed phone, which has a good build quality.

Also, Umi Hammer S has almost stock Android build and it is running smoothly most of the times.

In addition, the battery life is really good and some extra functionality like a fingerprint scanner and USB Type-C are great features for the price.

However, the processing power is not really capable of providing a decent gaming experience, the camera does not impress and the display is of a mediocre quality.

It happened so that I have two UMI smartphones at the moment – Hammer S and Fair. I have already done the first impressions video about of the former one and this time around I wanted to share my initial thoughts about the UMI Fair – a cheap smartphone that has a fingerprint scanner.

We wanted to say thanks to Coolicool.com for providing us with UMI Fair for a review.

Umi Fair Unboxing: Video

UMI Fair in pictures:

I’ve been using the Umi Hammer S for around a week already but the final review is still a few days away, so I decided to give you guys my impressions about the device. This is a different kind of video that I am used to making but I hope you enjoy my live unboxing.