We know our readers love large battery smartphones. Cubot recently unveiled its large battery phone, the Cubot H1 with a massive 5200mAh battery last month. With such a large battery on board, the phone can also be used as a power bank. In fact, we have extensively covered the features of this device in our previous article. You can check that out for more details.
For a limited period, the Cubot H1 is being sold for just $129. Usually, the same phone retails for more than $140, so we thought this might turn out to be a good deal for our readers.
The phone looks good, performs well and the battery will easily last for a couple of days. A great package for the price.
Elephone have today sent of promotional video of both the Elephone M1 & M2 Business handsets.
The phones will be on Pre sale in October, full prices have not yet been made official but they have told me that they will be holding flash sales for both handsets.
The flash sale pricing will be $119.99 for the Elephone M1 Business phone and $149.99 for the Elephone M2 Business phone.
Check out the videos below and let me know what you think of the new Elephone M1 and M2 Business handsets, the pricing on the flash sales looks really competitive and if they improvements in build on the Elephone Trunk are indicative of Elephones newer handsets, we could well be seeing the return to form of the brand.
It was announced on an official Weibo micro blog that Ramos will be launching a new device called Mos1 MAX as their first smartphone. The micro blog stated that Ramos has achieved packing a large and long life battery inside a very slim device. Remember, Ramos Mos1 which was announced back in July? The phone came with a 3050mAh battery and this seems to be a Max version of the flagship.
A new leak also conspicuously revealed a battery capacity of 6xxxmAh, suggesting that the device will be equipped with at least 6000mAh large-capacity battery. The figures indicating the capacity on the back of the battery are redacted, but one can see the they begin with 6 and that the manufacturer is BYD. In addition, there are other users’ leaks suggesting that the MOS 1 MAX’s battery has a nominal voltage 3.85V and peak voltage 4.4V. Previously, another Chinese brand – Innos Yi Luo has launched a 6000mAh battery on their D6000 smartphone. It was the world’s largest battery capacity in a mobile phone at that time. It is not yet known whether Ramos has gone beyond this.
The Mos1 MAX is expected to resemble the iPhone 6 in shape but with a slim 7.6mm overall thickness. The screen also might be extra-large with a possible size of 6 inches. The device is expected to be available in stores in October.
The speaker comes in a plain box and the contents include the documentation, AUX and Micro USB cables, and the QR code card to quickly download the proprietary app.
Ovevo Z1 Bluetooth Speaker Review: DESIGN
When it comes to design, this is a one very tiny speaker that is very compact. Despite its small footprint, it has a lamp with a full range RGB LED light but I will get back to it a bit later.
The lampshade part is made of some kind of frosted plastic and it feels nice. The top part sports a stainless steel touch control pad.
The bottom part is made of quality matt plastic and one side there is a mic for handsfree calling and on the other there is a micro USB port along with the AUX input for non-bluetooth devices.
The bottom part is where you can find most of the controls, which include play/pause, skip tracks and volume up/down buttons. Also, there is a Bluetooth LED light and the whole bottom part has a nice rubber material, so the speaker stays firmly on the surface you put it on.
Overall, the built quality is really good.
Ovevo Z1 Bluetooth Speaker Review: FEATURES
PLEASE SEE A VIDEO REVIEW FOR THE WALKTHROUGH OF THE FEATURES OF THE APP
The Ovevo Z1 Bluetooth speaker can be controlled using the controls on the bottom of the device or using the touch pad on top of the speaker. However, if you want to take a full manual control, I suggest you downloading the app, which unleashes a lot of extra features.
First of all, you can control the brightness setting, turn on/off the light and once you enter the colour light mode you can choose from tons of different colours. Also, you can choose from other effects like flashing, pulsing, candle and rainbow.
Other features include the music player and the speaker will flash to the rhythm of the music you play. Also, you can use different timers to turn on and off the light or music automatically, or use the Ovevo Z1 speaker as an alarm clock.
PLEASE SEE A VIDEO REVIEW FOR THE WALKTHROUGH OF THE FEATURES OF THE APP
Ovevo Z1 Bluetooth Speaker Review: SOUND QUALITY
Allright, as far as the sound quality, it is really good for the size of the speaker. It may not replace a party boombox but you will be surprised how loud it can play. Also, it produces a really good amount of bass. I even suggest you reducing the bass on your phone’s equaliser setting as the speaker starts moving on the table that it may sound that it makes some crackling noises at the but it’s not true. It is just a one powerful tiny speaker. Well, I heard some cracking noises when playing certain songs but it was at the highest volume setting and bass along with the treble pumped up.
Ovevo Z1 Bluetooth Speaker Review: CONCLUSIONS
The Ovevo Z1 Bluetooth speaker is a one tiny yet powerful speaker that sounds great for its size and it has a full range RGB LED that can be controlled either using the touchpad on the speaker or via the app. However, the touchpad functionality was a little of a disappointment. You can’t actually understand how it works. For instance, it changes the colours once you tap it but sometimes the light just turns off automatically or changes the colour immediately. A positive thing is that controlling the lamp via the app doesn’t have these issues.
I could get around 4.5-5 hours of playback time, which is not really impressive but I guess it’s okay considering how tiny the speaker is. However, the playback time reduces to around 3 hours if you keep the light on all the time.
The device costs $25 and I believe it is reasonable considering the whole package you are getting. If you want a compact yet good sounding speaker with a customisable LED light and some more features like different light modes, alarm clock and so on, the Ovevo Z1 may be for you. If you need something that it is more powerful but does not have the extra features, there are also some other good options (e.g. Xiaomi Aluminum Bluetooth speaker) in this price range out there.
Zeaplus has just announced a new smartwatch in the market, the Zeaplus Watch K18. This is yet another round smartwatch from the company, but it looks better as it is designed to look more like the LG G Watch R.
While we are yet to do a complete review of the new Zeaplus Watch, we got our hands on the first unit of the smartwatch. We have some great pictures of the watch for you down below. The overall built feels great, the design is better than other low cost watches and the fact that it runs on Android 4.4 OS called as the ZOS, instead of Android Wear makes it kind of unique.
As for the specs, the K18 will come with a 1.2GHz Mediatek processor underneath with 512MB RAM and 4GB of storage. There will be a 1.4-inch AMOLED display up front with 400 x 400 pixel resolution. The watch supports GPS, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi and will come in Black, Gold and Silver colors.
The Zeaplus Watch K18 comes with a lot of features such as a heart rate sensor, pedometer to track your steps and daily routine, barometer, alarm clock and weather app. Its actually comes with a SIM card slot, so you can make and receive calls and messages too. You also get some good looking watch faces on the watch, some of which you can see in the pictures. We are yet to do an extensive review of the new watch, but for now it looks promising.
We will post the full review in the coming days, but till then, check out the hands-on pictures that we have added down below.
Now that the Xiaomi Mi4C is officially announced and out of the picture, all our heads are turned towards the next product launch from Xiaomi. Unless the company plans to unveil a new lineup, the next smartphone launch should very well be of the Xiaomi Mi5. Its been more than a year since we first saw the Mi4 flagship and it is expected that the company will announce its next generation version sometime before the end of this year.
Earlier leaked Mi5 render
We have already heard a lot about this upcoming handset, most of them claiming that it will come with Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 820 chipset on board. Earlier today, another leak seems to build on these speculations, by revealing most of the configuration of the device.
According to leaksfly, the Xiaomi Mi5 will come with the Snapdragon 820 on board. It will be the first smartphone in the market with this chip on board. We have already heard that the Mi5 will debut the new Qualcomm chipset, so lets wait and see if that’s the case. As for the display, there will be a 5.2-inch 1080p FHD screen. The phone will come with 4GB of RAM and 16GB / 32GB internal storage. At the back, you can expect a 16MP camera, while up front, there should be an 8MP shooter. Other features include Hi-Fi audio chip and Android 5.1.1 OS. Unfortunately, the leak didn’t say anything about the pricing of the device, but given Xiaomi’s track record, it should definitely be competitive. You can expect a launch sometime in November.
The contents of this USB hub include the documentation and the power plug as this USB hub has an independent power source for the devices, which need a stable power supply.
Also, the company added a velcro sticker, so you can attach the hub to the table.
1byone 7 Port USB HUB Review: DESIGN
This USB hub has 7 very fast USB 3.0 ports and one of them can be used for fast charging.
The device is very well made and it sports all-aluminium design, which kind of reminds Apple’s design language. Also, it has a little LED, which lights up when the device is connected to the computer or to the supplied power cord. It is a very high quality product and the overall built quality screams premium.
However, there are some shortcomings. For some reason, there is no soft pad on the bottom of the device, so you may scratch the surface of the table. Also, because of that, the USB hub will be sliding on most of the surfaces easily.
In addition, the HUB is designed in that way that it simply needs to be used with a velcro sticker. Otherwise, it will fall down to either side depending where you connect the USB device. While it’s not a deal breaker but it may be an issue for some.
1byone 7 Port USB HUB Review: CONCLUSIONS
At the end of the day, the 1byone 7 port USB hub is a great way to increase the amount of the USB ports on your computer, especially if you use a notebook with 1 or 2 USB ports like I do.
It has a great Apple inspired design, build quality and premium choice of materials. Also, all the ports are working fine and the ability to connect it to the external power source is a great addition.
However, you need to consider a few shortcomings mentioned previously and decide if they are important to you.
Finally, the price. This gadget costs $30 on Amazon and at first I thought it was a bit overpriced. Yes, you can find some cheaper alternatives but if you want a premium all-metal design, this is a price you have to pay for most of the manufacturers.
Teclast announced a new tablet, the X98 Air III. In a move I don’t really understand the X98 Air III is another 9.7″ tablet with the a lower clocked Z3735F 1.8Ghz Atom Bay Trail with a revised shell around it. The rest of the specs are the same as the X98 Air series, 32GB eMMC, 2GB of Ram, BT 4, microsd slot. 2MP front and 5MP rear camera. And only Android 5.0, no dual boot Windows 10 / Android here. I think it’s time to move on from Bay Trail tablets, this should be a Cherry Trail X5 Z8300 at least.
It will retail for only 699 yuan in China which is around $110. So it’s a dirt cheap for a 9.7″ retina tablet, but that’s about it. This is a really interesting and a bold move on the part of Teclast. It again is very interesting to me as the X98 Pro and Air II/ Air 3G have Android already. Teclast has to really give additional functionality that the Air II doesn’t already offer. It would be very interesting device to get my hands on. If you guys are interested, we at GizmoChina will try to get a unit for review.
iMacwear is known for their rugged smartwatches and smartwatch phones. Now they have come out with something very unexpected. A mechanical smartwatch which is equipped with 5ATM protection.
The inspiration for the smartwatch is very clear, however, the implementation is inspired. While, not the best that we’ve encountered, very unique indeed.
iMacwear promises 30-days standby time, so you can say goodbye to ‘charge everyday watches’. The watch is also equipped with Citizen Wicca movement pointers, which will help with fitness tracking and sleep tracking. The Unix watch features a High Carbon Aviation Case for better Bluetooth connection with your smartphone. Support for the most popular smartphone operating systems, Android and iOS makes the device even sweeter.
Talking about the main features of the Unix include, Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy connection, Call Notifications, SMS Notifications, Fitness and sleep tracking. Activity tracking with interaction, as well as sleep monitoring, for an all rounded fitness functionality.
The iMacwear Unix Smartwatch uses a Sony CR2430 battery for 30 days of standby. An out of the world build with top-notch engineering for the mechanical dial of the smartwatch. The screen is protected by a Sapphire Crystal screen, with Anti-Scratch and Water resistance.
Who is the iMacwear Unix for? It’s primary market is Divers and sports persons, however, at the given price, it would be an awesome deal for anyone really. If you do want to get one for yourself, you can do so from GeekBuying.com for just $78.99
Divoom Aurabulb Smart Bluetooth Music Lamp Speaker: UNBOXING
This is actually the second product made by Divoom I am checking out and I can say that they ship their items in a premium packaging, and the Aurabulb is no exception.
All you are getting is the micro USB cable, AUX cable and some documentation.
Divoom Aurabulb Smart Bluetooth Music Lamp Speaker: DESIGN AND FEATURES
Allright, so the Aurabulb is not your regular Bluetooth speaker as it has a lot more to offer. It comes in a shape of a huge light bulb, which is made of rubber and the bottom part is made of quality metal mesh material.
It has the rubberised control buttons, which include the power key, volume up/down, which also allow to skip tracks, play/pause button an the light key.
On the back side we have a micro USB charging port and the AUX input for non-Bluetooth devices.
The bottom is made of rubber, so the speaker doesn’t slide on the table.
If you don’t like the light bulb idea, you can easily take the rubber bulb part off and the speaker looks kind of nice without it. There is a light under the plastic and on the top there is a dedicated subwoofer.
Divoom Aurabulb Smart Bluetooth Music Lamp Speaker: FUNCTIONALITY
The Divoom Aurabulb is a really cool speaker as it has a full range RGB LED and you can adjust the colours, brightness of it and choose from a variety of different colour modes. Also, you can do it in a couple of ways. You may choose from the preset ones by pressing a light button on the speaker or you can download a free app either for Android or iOS to take a full manual control and get a lot more features.
The interface of the app is easy to use and here you can choose from tons of different colours and adjust the brightness or simply turn off the light. Also, you can select different modes of the light like flashing, pulse or rainbow effects. In each mode you man manually select colours and I think it is pretty cool.
Also, you can simply shake your device to change colours and that another fun part of this speaker.
In addition, the app has a music player but if you don’t like it, you can simply use your phone’s player.
There is also a sleep timer and the alarm clock and you can choose from different pre-loaded scenes to help you fall asleep or wake up in the morning.
PLEASE SEE A VIDEO REVIEW FOR A FULL APP WALKTHROUGH
Divoom Aurabulb Smart Bluetooth Music Lamp Speaker: SOUND QUALITY
I have to say that I am really impressed with the sound quality this tiny speaker can produce. For the size of the speaker, the sound has a good amount of depth, the mids and highs sound pretty good. Also, the bass is really powerful and the speaker is even having a hard time sitting on the table at the highest volume setting.
Speaking of which, I was impressed that the speaker didn’t make any crackling noises when playing music at the maximum volume. And yeah, the speaker is very loud.
Overall, I am really happy with the sound quality and the volume output the Aurabulb can produce.
Divoom Aurabulb Smart Bluetooth Music Lamp Speaker: CONCLUSIONS
Overall, the Divoom Aurabulb is a great product considering the feature set you are getting, a great build quality, awesome sound and volume output.
Also, this is not another Bluetooth speaker with some basic functionality as you can use the Aurabulb in a lot of different ways.
I could get about 5 hours of music playback, which is not really impressive but not the worst either considering the size of this gadget. A good thing is that the Bluetooth range has no issues at all.
However, the handsfree feature is not the best out there. Well, you can still make a conversation but the voice could sound more clearly.
Also, the price of $50 maybe a little bit too steep for some and I would say it could cost around $10 less. Still, you are getting a lot of extra features for the price and I don’t see major shortcomings that could be a deal breaker
Mixcder, an audio-first company has created, what could possibly be the best wireless earphones for sports; The earbuds dubbed ‘Basso’ is what we will be taking a look at today.
First, let’s check out the box, and what’s inside it. The box looks like a re-cycled Xiaomi-type brown box, which is pretty straight forward.
Inside the box we have the Earphones themselves, extra ear gels for different sizes and comfort needs, a carrying case, and finally, the user guide.
The specs of the headset are:
Model
Basso
Bluetooth Version
4.1
Supported protocols
A2DP, AVRCP, HSP, HFP
Weight
18 Grams
Frequency range
2.402-2.48 GHz
Bluetooth Distance
10 Meters
Charging duration
1-2 Hours
Use time
4-5 Hours
Standby Time
About ~100 Hours
Operating environment Temperature
-20 to 60 Celsius
Storage Temperature
-40 to 70 Celsius
Price
$25.99
The headset checks all marks for a sports headset, light weight, long lasting battery, and durable. The Basso headset is very flexible. Its cable is made of a very strong material.
Most of all the headset has a very unique formfitting ear mold which feels very comfortable to wear when exercising, or when running. The headset holds on pretty well, and there will be no sense of them falling out.
The Noise Cancellation on the Basso headphones is very good as they go very deep into the ear. Since the ear support material is very flexible, it’s bends to give the perfect fit for best listening and isolation experience.
The headphones do also have in-line control buttons, which are multi-functional. You can answer and end calls, control music, control volume. This in-line module also houses a Micro-USB port for charging the headset. Since it uses the widely-adapted Micro-USB standard, it’s very convenient. This module is where the Mic also resides.
The control module is probably the heaviest component of the headset, something that I haven’t seen with other wireless earphones that I have used. The battery is probably housed in this casing, since it is where the charging port is. Mixcder has included a clip on the earphones, which is also probably to clip the control module to your shirt so that it doesn’t pull on the earphones.
Sound: Not ‘Bass’ heavy
If you’re a person who listens to a lot of bass heavy electronic or hip-hop music, this headset is not for you. Everything that I played on the Basso wireless headset, has been very well defined. I mostly listen to EDM, House, Classical, Acoustic, and Lyric songs, and everything I listened to on this headset was very crisp and clear, all the highs, mids, and the lows are very well defined and clear.
Carry Case
The carry case provided with the Basso headphones is very good. In fact, it’s very similar to what popular brands include with their headphones. The case is very rugged, strong, and will provide protection for the headphones when travelling, and leave some extra room for some memory cards, USB drives, and almost anything and everything that you can fit into it. It also has a carabiner whtich you can use to hang to your backpack, your belt, etc.
Should you buy it?
YES! A big yes. No matter which genre of music you listen to, this headset does the job, and it does it well. If you only want a “bass heavy” experience, this is probably not for you. I listen to a lot of bass heavy music, and I am very well pleased with the performance of the Mixcder Basso wireless sports headset, and I would recommend you give them a shot as well, especially since, they are available on an all-time low price of $25.99 from Amazon.com, from the regular price of $69.99.
Elephone has launched its latest 3G smartphone, the MT6572W Dual Core 3G GPS Mini Phone. This phone is an improvement of its predecessor such as Kitkat 4.4 OS, stronger body, longer battery life, high resolution screen, and so on. The white color body gives the phone an executive look.
The Elephone MT6572W comes with a strong body with smooth rounded corners and edges. The finishing is matte finish with non-grease coating. The volume control is located on left hand side and the power button is located on the right side of the phone for easy operation. It also has a 3.5mm audio out port, through which you can enjoy listening to your favorite songs.The phone is light weight and slim and features a 2.45 inch TFT display with capacitive touch screen and 240 x 432 pixels. On the rear side, you have the 2.0 MP camera with LED flash light, capable of taking clear photographs even at low lights. The front side has 0.3 MP camera for taking selfies. You can also take excellent quality videos through the cameras.
Elephone MT6572W comes with the dual core processor MTK6572W which can clock speed more than 1.0GHz, thereby enabling you do multitasking at the same time without any lagging. The inbuilt 512 MB RAM in combination with the dual core processor makes the experience of using this smart phone a pleasure. This comes with an inbuilt 4 GB inbuilt ROM, for storing lots and lots of data. The phone also comes with an extended storage slot, which can house a 32 GB micro SD card. It also features 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0 and GPS.
Elephone MT6572W comes with inbuilt 50 languages, so the phone is ready to be shipped worldwide. The battery that comes with this Elephone MT6572W, is powerful 550mAh battery, which has enough juice to make the phone usage for long periods without charging.
Elephone are soon to be joining the many other Chinese companies that have jumped on the smart watch bandwagon, many of the watches from other companies have concentrated on providing heart rate and sedentary monitoring capabilities as well as bluetooth call notification and the ability to use the watch as a Mic/speaker.
Whilst these watches have generally been fairly cheap, they have also been sadly lacking Google’s Android Wear platform, this has left them with only basic apps and no real chance of being more than they are.
With the ELE Watch, the first Android Wear smartwatch from Elephone, they are jumping in to the ring with the big boys such as Motorolla, Lg and samsung and to some extent Apple.
Style wise the ELE watch looks fairly attractive and has a 1.5″ 320 x 320 multi touch screen (The Motorola has a 1.56′ 320 x 290 multitouch screen ), unlike the round watches seen from Motorola, the Ele Watch has a full face screen (not flat tyre for this phone), the case looks to be made of stainless steel as does the strap.
On board the phone you will find 512m of ram and 4gb of ram this is the same as found on the Motorola, which should prove to be more than adequate for a smartwatch.
The phone has also been tested and rated at IP67 dust and water resistant and has built in GPS.
Hopefully when launched, this will be the catalyst that sees other China phone/watch companies embrace Android Wear and drive prices down and quality/features up.
What do you think? are you ready for some Android Wear love? or will you be holding out for an Apple Watch?
Cubot has made an alliance with Cheetah Mobile to further develop their existence in the European market. Cheetah is the developer of popular mobile apps like Clean Master, Battery doctor and CM Browser. Cheetah’s Clean Master software has 20 million loyal users in Europe, and Cheetah was officially listed in the New York Stock Exchange in August 2014 as CMCM.
The Cubot Cheetah alliance is expected to go fully operational by pre-installing the Clean Master app on Cubot’s new smartphone X15 in the near future. This will be the first collaboration between the two parties to establish a long term business relations. And Cubot also has a certain influence on the European mobile phone market. Especially in Germany, Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom, Cubot has an important market hold in local consumers with very good reputation.
Making Clean Master a core product in the X15 is expected to bring strategic business results from its worldwide acceptance. According to internationally renowned mobile application analytics company Distimo Statistics, Cheetah’s clean up master ranked first in 62 countries on the Google Play tool chart in June 2014. As of August 18, 2014, Clean Master has been rated 4.7 from more than 13 million user reviews in Google Play. This score is more than what Google Maps, Facebook and other highest rated apps have achieved.
It is obvious that the two companies have different scopes, because Cheetah is a leader in the Internet industry while Cubot is electronic manufacturer focusing on smart devices. Even if the two companies come from different backgrounds, this collaboration will bring a more mature and meticulous user experience to the western market of mobile phone users.
Just yesterday we covered an article about the Bluboo XFire which aimed to be the cheapest MT6735 quad-core chip powered smartphone in the world. While the company is yet to announce an official price tag for the phone, you can expect it to retail somewhere around $70 which is an excellent price for the specs that comes with the device.
While we were impressed with the chipset as well as the 2750mAh battery on the device ( at least on paper), today the company has released a few images captured using the phone’s 8MP camera. The rear camera module is made up of an 8MP OV sensor with f/2.0 aperture and 5p lens. The company reportedly invested about 3500 hours of debugging to make sure that the camera software was perfect.
All this sounds good, but is it any good in real life? Well, the company has released a set of pictures that’s directly compared with the iPhone 6. Apple iPhone cameras have always been praised for their stellar rear cameras, and comparing the phone’s images with the iPhone 6 will reveal the true capability of the camera.
From the images, we can see that the Bluboo’s camera performance turned out to be quite good. The images came out clear and sharp, with minimum noise. Of course, its not as good as the iPhone 6, but its still good as compared to competitors.
Of course, these images are directly released by the company. Hence, we would advise you not to get too excited. Many a times, the actual performance of the device turns out to be disappointing, so lets wait for an official review of the phone to see whether it lives up to our expectation.
You can check out the comparison from down below. The one on the left is the iPhone 6 sample and the one of the right is from the Bluboo Xfire.
The Zeaplus Watch K18 comes with a 1.4-inch AMOLED display with 400 x 400 pixel resolution. That’s pretty good for a compact circular smartwatch. The watch will be powered by a Mediatek chipset clocked at 1.2GHz. We still don’t know the exact model of the chip. Along with the processor, the Zeaplus Watch K18 features 512MB RAM and 4GB of internal storage.
Other interesting features of the new Zeaplus watch includes heart rate sensor, pedometer and even support for a SIM card. Yes, it comes with a SIM card slot, so you can receive calls, messages etc directly on your smartwatch once the SIM card is inserted into the device.
As we specified in the previous article, the Zeaplus Watch K18 comes with Android OS on board. This is the real Android OS optimized for wearables and not the Android Wear platform. The company is calling it the ZOS and the UI will be based on Android 4.4 Kitkat. Like our readers suggested, this may not be the first Android based smartwatch, but it will still be interesting to see how the local startup manufacturer optimizes it on the new wearable.
From the images that you can see above, the watch does look pretty good. The round face and the casing gives it a premium look. Hopefully, we will get our hands on the device real soon for review.
Xiaomi announced a lot of new products this year in various segments like smartphones, headphones, smart home products etc. While it may seem that now the company is all done for the year, the next few months are going to be even more exciting. In the smartphone lineup, Xiaomi is expected to announce its flagship model, the Xiaomi Mi5. But the announcement may not just end there, as there are other products like a new Xiaomi Mi Pad 2 as well as a Xiaomi laptop that’s coming soon.
While we wait for official details on these products, Pan Jiutang, a leading analyst from China revealed a few more details about the possible release times of these products earlier today. According to him, the Xiaomi Mi Pad 2 should definitely launch sometime before the end of this year. On the other hand, the much anticipated Xiaomi Mi5 flagship may or may not be announced this year. What’s likely to affect the release date is the mass production of the Snapdragon 820 chip. So, it looks like he expects the new model to come with Qualcomm’s latest chipset.
As for the Xiaomi Laptop, a report from a couple of days back said that the phone will enter into production soon, with the first batch of units to be shipped sometime in the first half of 2016. So, today’s comments from Jiutang only confirms this report.
We would really like to see a new flagship handset from Xiaomi this year, as recently most of the releases have focused on the low-end (Redmi Note 2) or the mid-range market (Mi4i). The only high-end smartphones that were announced this year were near the start. So, fans would love to see a new Xiaomi flagship device like the Mi5 before the end of this year. But Jiutang adds that this will depend on the supply of the Snapdragon 820. And from a previous report, it looks like first 820 powered phones will be available only by Q1 2016. So don’t keep your hopes too high.
Earlier leaked Mi5 render
But its not really a bad thing, as 2016 will turn out to be an eventful year for Xiaomi fans. We will most likely see the new Mi5 flagship as well as the company’s first laptop debut around the same time. It is said that the laptop will use revolutionary design, unlike its competitors, so we are all the more excited to see what the company has in store for us.
We will try to bring as much news about these new products in the coming weeks, so stay tuned.
Here on Gizmochina.com we have a lot of readers who are looking for Chinese phones not only because they love Chinese tech, but also they want to find a phone that is the best bang for the buck. Naturally, Xiaomi is the company that comes to their minds and this time around we are taking a look at the highly anticipated Xiaomi Redmi Note 2.
We wanted to thank Giztop.com for sending the Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 for a review and we suggest you visiting the Giztop product page.
The Redmi Note 2 comes in a plain box and all you are getting is the micro USB cable, a power plug and some documentation.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 Review: DESIGN
The phone has a very similar design to the previously released Xiaomi Mi4i and I suggest you checking out the Xiaomi Mi4i full review as well.
It is made of quality matt plastic and the phone is very comfortable to hold in the hand. However, the back cover makes a few wobbling noises when pressed and this tells that the Redmi Note 2 is a budget device after all. Nevertheless, it is nothing to be worried about and the build quality is good.
On the front top side we have a 5MP snapper, earpiece, proximity sensor and a highly customisable LED light.
On the bottom there are 3 capacitive keys, which also have a nice backlight.
On the back we have a 13MP shooter along with a single LED flash and on the bottom there is a speaker grill.
On the right there is a volume rocker and a power key. They have a good tactile response but feel a bit plasticky.
On the top we have a headset jack, noise cancelling mic and yeah, there is the IR blaster on the budget phone!
On the bottom there is a micro USB port and the main mic.
The backplate is easy to remove and underneath it you can find a swappable 3060Ah battery, 2 micro SIM card slots and the microSD card slot for storage expansion.
Overall, the Redmi Note 2 is a nice looking phone and it is well built device for such a low price. The only shortcoming is the small crackling noise once you press the back cover or the sides of the phone a bit harder but it is far from the deal breaker to me.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 Review: DISPLAY
The phone is not the smallest one due to its 5,5” display. I honestly believe that this is one of the best panels we’ve seen on a budget phone as the display is bright, sharp, vivid and has great viewing angles. In short, you would never think this is a cheap panel used to reduce the cost of the device.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 Review: USER INTERFACE
The phone runs on MIUI 6, which is built on top of Android 5.0 Lolipop. If you are familiar with the MIUI, it has tons of features, settings, customisation options and it is just so much different than the stock Android.
You can select from thousands of themes available online. Also, you can change wallpapers, fonts, transitions, animations and so on.
Pressing a menu key brings a recent apps tray where you can swipe them up to close or swipe down to lock.
Swiping down anywhere on the screen opens up the notifications menu and if you swipe left you go to the quick toggles menu, which is also customisable.
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Other features worth mentioning are the ability to customise the notification LED light, assign different tasks to navigation buttons, adjust the colour temperature of the screen, play with music equaliser settings, enter the one-handed mode, choose a lite mode and do so much more. There are literally tons of settings and features to play with that you will never find on the stock Android version.
A few downsides would be that MIUI is memory hungry and I usually got less than 1GB of RAM left and if I ran a few apps in the background, the amount of RAM reduced even more.
Other annoying things include that the phone came with a few pre-installed bloatware apps like speed booster and cleaner. While it may be useful for some but I don’t like any of these third-party apps but the worst thing is that you cannot simply uninstall them. Well, at least you can disable them.
In addition, I found a few apps like Google Play Store and Facebook work a bit slower than usual at times.
Overall, the MIUI is full of features and settings but I cannot say that it flies through everything once you install lots of apps and use the phone on a daily basis. Yes, it is fluid most of the times but there is occasional stutter from time to time. You can live with that but I believe the phone needs to get a software update to improve the overall user experience.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 Review: HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE
The Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 is quite a powerhouse for the price. It has a Mediatek 6795 Helio X10 chip, which has 8 cores and the clock speeds of up to 2GHz. The chip is supplemented with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of expandable storage. If you opt in for a more expensive Prime model, you will get a slightly more powerful chip (2.2 GHz) and 32GB of storage.
This combo of specs proves to be a real deal when it comes to 3D gaming as Asphalt 8 and Real Racing 3 ran almost perfectly. The graphics are not on par with flagships but still look very good. I didn’t experience stutter or lag that it is worth complaining. Overall, I am very happy with the performance.
A downside is that the phone gets a bit warm pretty quickly but not hot that it becomes uncomfortable to hold it in the hand.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 Review: BENCHMARKS
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Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 Review: MULTIMEDIA
Consuming the full HD content on a nice looking screen is just a blast. Also, the sound that is coming out of the loudspeaker is one of the best ones that we can hear on a budget phone.
The sound via earphones is not bad either.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 Review: CAMERA
The Redmi Note 2 comes with the MIUI camera app, which is nicely designed, it has some a few shooting modes and settings to play with.
The shutter speed is very fast and this is thanks to the phase-detection auto-focus.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 Review: IMAGE QUALITY
The 13MP camera on the back is capable of producing some nice looking images for a budget phone. However, the pictures could have a little bit more resolved detail but my biggest complaint is that the dynamic range is a hit or miss and some shots came out a bit blurry.
The indoor shots have more noise and less details and it is a similar story with the night shots but it is one of the better performing phones in this price range.
Overall, the Redmi Note 2 has a decent camera for a price. While it has some issues there and there, a decent image quality and the shutter speed is what makes this phone a decent performer in this price range of phones.
The 1080P video quality is usually not impressive on cheap phones. Well, I cannot say that the Redmi Note 2 does an amazing job but it is not a disaster either and I’ve seen much worse performers. Just keep in mind that you have to have a steady hand to avoid shakiness. See a video review for the video sample.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 Review: CONNECTIVITY
The call quality is decent, Bluetooth, Wifi are working fine. Also, the GPS lock speeds are fast and the navigation is pretty accurate to use it while driving.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 Review: BATTERY LIFE
The battery life is okay but I expected a bit more. I could get a maximum of 4 hours of screen-on time but with a bit more intense use it reduced to less than 2 hours. Well, it seems that the phone takes too much energy while idling and we may want to see a software upgrade to see an improvement.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 Review: CONCLUSIONS
So there you have it, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 – a phone that has a reseller price tag of under $160.
The phone has a decent design, a brilliant screen, a feature rich MIUI operating system and good gaming performance Also, for this price you are getting a good camera with a fast shutter speed, 2 SIM card slots with the 4G LTE support, microSD card slot, a good loudspeaker, removable battery and more.
That doesn’t mean that the phone is perfect though. The MIUI still needs some polishing and I would love to see an improvement an RAM management, and the pre-installed bloatware is annoying. Also, the battery life is not the worst but it is not great either. Well, at least it is removable.
Is it worth $160 price tag? Definitely yes. Well, the Redmi Note 2 is not perfect but it is impossible to find a device in this price category that it doesn’t have any flaws. To be honest, I’ve seen a lot worse phones with a lot more disadvantages. All in all, if you are on the budget, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 is a great bang for your buck.
We wanted to thank Giztop.com for sending the Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 for a review and we suggest you visiting the Giztop product page.
Elephone are a company that have been critiscised recently due to both hardware and software issues in some of their handsets, the software side has seen various bug fixes integrated in to OTA rom updates and for the most part all software issues have been or are being fixed, however with the release of the Elephone P8000 a hardware compromise was made on 5000 of the first units to leave the factory.
The issue was due to the built in breathing notification light not being included, whilst this angered many who had purchased from the first batch of handsets, they may well get to now have the last laugh.
Elephone have released the statement below, confirming that those who purchased an Elephone P8000 that did not have the breathing notification light, will now receive a discount on the upcoming Elephone Vowney.
The Vowney is scheduled to be released around the end of October, this means that the affected P8000 users have around a month to wait, hopefully the discount offered by Elephone will be significant enough that P8000 owners can sell their phones and without too spending too much more be able to upgrade (hopefully having already spent 2/3 months enjoying their current handsets).
Official statement from Elephone regarding discounts for Elephone p8000 users affected by lack of breathing light notification
Elephone P8000, while being a competitive mid range smartphone, became a highly recognized and popular model. This budget-friendly phone offers excellent performance and outstanding 4000mAh battery capacity. We’ve received so many orders that we barely kept up with the schedule. In order to deliver the smartphones to the customers on time, we had to make a compromise. There are 5000 pieces of Elephone P8000s don’t have breathing light, and we’re sorry about the inconvenience brought to you. If your P8000 doesn’t have breathing light, you will get discounts for Elephone Vowney, which packs QHD display, 21MP camera, the most powerful MTK CPU MT6795 and 3GB RAM.
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