Ulefone is a Chinese smartphone brand that was making smartphones for other companies for quite some time. However, they decided that they want to enter the smartphone business on their own.It seems that the entry has been quite a success so far, especially with its Ulefone Be Pro budget-friendly device, which has taken some design inspirations from the OnePlus One and has become very popular in its category.
The main specs of the device include 5.5 inch 720p resolution display, MTK6732 64-bit Quad Core CPU, which is clocked at 1.5GHz. Also, it is backed up with the Mali T760 GPU, 2 GB of Ram, 16 GB of expandable storage. Moreover, there is a 13mp and 8mp camera combo on back and on the front of the device respectively.
However, we never judge the device by the raw specs, but see how it performs in real life scenarios. Please check out our in-depth video review of the Ulefone Be Pro:
About a week back, we had reported that Samsung Galaxy S6 cases had made it to the Chinese retailer OPPOMART. Now, it looks like HTC One M9 cases too have been listed on the site just a day before the official launch.
There are around 9 different cases for the M9 listed online. Of course, since the device has not been officially announced all of those are still out of stock. But after tomorrow’s announcement, we expect more retailers to stock up such cases for the flagship device.
There are a number of cases as well as a tempered glass screen protector on the website. The cases range from simple, transparent TPU ones to rugged protective cases. There’s even a leather flip case listed.
Interestingly, we have not yet found any cases for its larger variant, the HTC One M9 Plus which is expected to be 5.5-inches. However, we may see cases for the device soon as the release date nears.
There were a few pictures of the HTC One M9 on OPPOMART and it looks a lot like the recently leaked ones. As for the tech specs, the phone is said to come with the latest Snapdragon 810 processor with 3GB RAM and 32GB / 64GB / 128GB storage options. The rear camera will be replaced by a traditional 20MP one and the 4MP ultrapixel cam will most likely end up as the front shooter for the device. There will be a 5-inch display up front with a resolution of 1920 x 1080p. Finally, the phone is expected to run on Android 5.0 KitKat with Sense 7 UI and will probably come with a 2840 mAh battery.
Of course, these are the rumored specs of the device but we don’t have to wait too long for official news. HTC has scheduled an event for tomorrow morning at MWC, Barcelona where it will announce the M9 and the M9 Plus. Luckily, the company will stream the entire event online, so check out their YouTube link from here for watching it live.
Just yesterday we reported that Google is in talks with a Chinese manufacturer to release a Nexus device this year. The source revealed that a domestic manufacturer was all set to announce a Nexus phone later in 2015.
Now, the same source from Weibo reveals that there will be two different Nexus devices this year. One will be made by the chosen Chinese company and the other will be made by LG. If this is the case, then its very likely that the one from the Chinese company could be the affordable variant of the phone. On the other hand, the LG made Nexus could be like this year’s Nexus 6, loaded with the best tech specs in the market but at a very high price. So, finally, Nexus fans may get two phone choices in 2015.
Another interesting point revealed by the source is the processor that will be used by the OEM inside the new Nexus device. The source said that it didn’t know whether the manufacturer would use its own SoC or go with a Qualcomm one on the next Nexus.
While it doesn’t reveal the name of the OEM, this gives us a very good idea as to which OEM could be the next Nexus maker. Huawei has its own Hisilcon Kirin processor lineup, which the company has been using in its phones for quite some time now. So, we believe, Huawei could be responsible for manufacturing one of the Nexus phones this year.
If this turns out to be true, it won’t really be surprising given that the company has proved its expertise in the field by releasing phones like the Huawei Ascend Mate 7 and even the affordable Honor 6 Plus with dual cameras. So, if the next Nexus has to be powerful and good looking, Huawei could turn out to be a good option.
Anyways, remember that this not official news. Neither Google or any Chinese OEM has confirmed plans for a Nexus release this year, so make sure you take this news with a pinch of salt.
If Google is indeed considering a Chinese OEM, which one do you think would be perfect for making the next Nexus device?
Design is one of the most important aspects of a product and to find out the best in the industry, you have the prestigious German iF Design award. This is one of the highest ranking awards that you can get in the industry and naturally those who are selected in the final round are some of the best designed products in the market.
For over 60 years, The iF DESIGN AWARD has been recognized the world over as a label of design excellence. And among the list of finalist this year, there was an interesting smartphone powered by Ali Yun OS.
The Ali YunOS concept machine sported a very unique look with a sleek design. The highlight of the device was its navigation wheel at one side along with a silver breathing light which gives the phone a very cool look. Specs wise, the phone was expected to feature a 5-inch Full HD display and a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor with fingerprint recognition.
Unfortunately, this is just a concept machine and its highly unlikely that the phone will ever see the light of the day. Still, its good to see that this YunOS concept phone made it to the final round of such a prestigious award. Over 53 countries had entered the competition in a number of different categories. An expert panel of 53 jury were present to decide the winners of the iF Design Award 2015.
So what do you think about the phone. Does it look good?
In the past few months, we came across several reports that said Meizu was planning to release an Ubuntu Edition of its Meizu Mx4 flagship smartphone. Finally, yesterday, the company released a teaser poster for the Meizu MX4 Ubuntu Edition confirming the previous reports. The company revealed that it would showcase the device at MWC 2015 to be held in Barcelona, Spain.
Today, the company released further details about the phone. Meizu revealed that it would be present at MWC at Hall 8.1 – App Planet Stand 8.1G41. So, those who will be present at the event can check out the device at the above mentioned booth.
Yesterday, the company confirmed that there will be three different variants of the device namely Flyme OS, YunOS and Ubuntu OS. We have already seen the Flyme OS and Alibaba’s YunOS powered variants and now we can finally take a look at the new Ubuntu OS powered MX4.
Ubuntu is quite different than iOS or Android OS. It uses a concept called ‘Scopes’ for navigating through various features. So, instead of relying on apps for different functions, you can just swipe through different scopes to get to the required feature. Its pretty interesting, however, apart from the BQ Aquarius E4.5 Ubuntu Edition, there isn’t any Ubuntu powered phones available in the market at the moment.
Meizu had previously shown off the Ubuntu powered Meizu MX4, however the device didn’t receive much attention. So, it would be interesting to see whether fans like the new Ubuntu OS and are willing to go with this OS instead of the traditional Android powered Flyme Version.
Mediatek has been gaining some ground lately with many established manufacturers going with their low cost yet powerful processors. In fact, just a few hours back, we reported that the new Sony Xperia E4G will use Mediatek’s MT6732 quad-core SoC.
A few weeks back, the product roadmap for Mediatek was leaked and in that image we saw an interesting processor which was going to be announced in Q4 2015. The image revealed that the SoC will be built on the advanced 20nm process and support LTE networks. Looks like the rumored processor could be the upgraded version of the MT6795, the upcoming MT6796.
It is said that the MT6796 will be an octa-core 64-bit processor which will support high speed 4G LTE Cat. 6 networks. This will allow download speeds up to 300 Mbps. Naturally, the processor will be targeted at the high end market.
The current MT6795 processor is built on a 28nm process and has just entered mass production. It is said that many domestic as well as international OEMs have decided to incorporate this high end processors in their devices, but we have not yet seen any major releases from these manufacturers.
However, since the SoC has entered mass production and a major tech event is just around the corner, we may see some MT6795 powered smartphones at MWC 2015. Back in January, we saw a variant of HTC One M9 in the benchmark tests using this new Mediatek SoC, and if its true, then we could see the device in action at the event in Barcelona.
Anyways, lets wait and watch whether we’ll see some Mediatek powered smartphones at MWC this year.
Japan’s Panasonic have already launched Eluga series, “Elegance for A New Generation” as they call it. Now in the Eluga series comes a new Smartphone the Eluga U2. It has spotted on benchmarking site couple of times. Every manufacture has started to produce their 64 Bit phone,it s now the turn of Panasonic
Eluga U2 is the successor of Eluga U , U2 comes with a 64 Bit Snapdragon 410 processor , 5 ” HD IPS Display with measurements of 141.5*71*7.95 weighs about 130 gms. It features 13 MP rear and 5 MP front cam, 4G LTE, 2500 mAh battery & Android Lolipop out of the box.
According to benchmarks it sports updated processor, but 1 GB of Ram and 8Gb of Internal.This benchmark may be of pre production product. There also rumors of Dual sim variant & pricing is said to be 254$
A few weeks back, Sony officially unveiled its latest budget offering, the Xperia E4. While the device had decent specifications, it did not have 4G LTE connectivity which disappointed a lot of users. Now, it looks like the company has two more devices in this lineup, namely the Xperia E4G and the Xperia E4G Dual which adds more features to the earlier model.
Like the name suggests, the phone will bring high speed 4G LTE connectivity to the low end segment. However, that isn’t the only difference between the regular version and these models. The new Sony phones will be powered by a 64-bit MT6732 quad-core processor clocked at 1.5Ghz which will give it a better performance as compared to the earlier version. The Xperia E4 came with the old MT6582 quad-core processor.
There’s a 4.7-inch screen up front which is slightly smaller than the 5-inch 3G model but it features the same qHD 960 x 540 pixel resolution. There will be 1GB of RAM onboard with 8GB internal storage. At the back, there will be a 5MP front facing shooter, while up front, you will get a 2MP camera.The design remains more or less the same, so you get a scratch proof display, textured back panel and curved edges.
The 2300 mAh battery should be able to provide up to 12 hours of talktime and this can be further extended using Sony’s Ultra Stamina battery saving mode. Finally, the phone will run on Android 4.4.4 KitKat OS out of the box.
Sony will release the device in April this year for a price tag of 129 Euros which comes to around $144. That’s a decent price for a Sony device with such specs.
Anyways, do you like this entry level Xperia E4G? Or would you prefer the Redmi 2 over this?
Htc today launched the new Desire 626 series. Even though the design is similiar to their flagship models its is a midranger. It comes with both China mobile & Unicom Variant. It comes with Android 4.4 & HTC Sense UI
The phone measures 146.9*70.9*8.19 mm, 5” inch HD screen, 13 MP Rear & 5 MP front cam,It comes with 1 Gb Ram & 16 GB of internal memory. It sports Mediatek 6752 1.7Ghz octa core processor probably China mobile version while the Snap dragon 410 1.2 Ghz will be a Unicom one.
The phone is available for sale here. It Listed for 1499 Yuan (272$). Its available in 4 colors.Orange, Light purple, Blue Magic & Elegant White.
Do you guys Remember The Brand VAIO.?? Sony sold this brand & its PC business to Japan Industrial Partners (JIP) to solely concentrate on their mobiles and tablets.
There is always news floating around through leaks and benchmarks there is a phone in making under the brand Vaio. Apparently the company has announced now the new phone Model number JCI VA-10J will be launched on March 12.
According to benchmark the phone comes with 5” HD display, snapdragon 410 processor, 2gb Ram and 16Gb of internal memory, 13 MP rear with HDR, FULL HD video recording and 5 MP front cam. It comes with Android 5.0. Its touted that the device may make an appearance in MCW too.
Just yesterday, Motorola announced the second generation model of its best selling Moto E smartphone in US. At the time of the launch, the company stated that it would soon be available in over 40 countries in Asia, Europe, Latin America and North America. While it did announce details about the phone’s release in US, the company revealed very little about its plans for other countries.
Now, it looks like, we have some more details about the India launch of Moto E 2015. A new poster on Flipkart, which is the country’s most popular e-commerce website as well as the exclusive seller of Motorola phones, reveals that the phone will be available for sale in India for Rs. 6999.
In case you are wondering, this is for the 3G model which will be made available worldwide. There’s a 4G model as well, but it will be limited to US, at least for the moment.
The Moto E 2015 comes with a Snapdragon 410 quad-core processor clocked at 1.2Ghz with 1GB RAM on board. The screen size has been aptly increased from 4.3-inches to 4.5-inch in the new model. However, the resolution remains the same at 960 x 540 pixels. The internal storage has now been increased to 8GB and the dual SIM card and MicroSD slots have been shifted to the side. One of the biggest selling points of the device is its Android 5.0 Lollipop OS out of the box, which will definitely set it apart from other low end offerings.
The current Moto E sells at Rs. 5999, so the new model is only a slightly costlier. Given the upgrades, the phone looks like a good deal at the given price. No details of the release date of the device have been revealed, but expect more information soon.
Things have changed drastically for Chinese smartphone companies in the past few years. They have evolved to manufacture products that are in line with the international companies. As a result, we have seen companies like Xiaomi, Huawei and even OnePlus grow pretty quickly.
The latest Nexus smartphone was from the former Google company, Motorola. Even the Nexus 9 tablet was manufactured by HTC, taking over the reins from ASUS, who manufactured the older Nexus 7 model. Now, it looks like Google could go with a new company again, this time a Chinese manufacturer for its next Nexus.
The news comes via Weibo which states that Google has gone with a Chinese phone maker for the release of a new Nexus device for the second half of this year. While the source fails to reveal the name of the company, we do have a few guesses, given that right now there are many good Chinese companies in the market.
Lenovo, Xiaomi, Huawei and even ZTE could be the next OEM to partner with Google. Lenovo’s recent acquisition of Motorola gives it an edge and hence, there’s a very good chance that the source is hinting at this company. However, without Motorola, Lenovo has very little expertise in the smartphone segment and its smartphones aren’t as popular as the ones from Xiaomi or even Huawei.
Anyways, if this is indeed true, then we will definitely hear more about the company in the coming months. The source slates a announcement in the second half of the year, which means there’s still plenty of time.
However, till that time, unless we hear an official announcement from the company or its officials, we can’t really confirm the news. We will be keeping a close eye on Weibo for any further updates.
Huawei may not be releasing its flagship smartphones like Huawei P8 or even the successor to the Ascend Mate 7. However, that doesn’t mean that the company won’t show off a new product at MWC. The company earlier released a series of teasers which said that “Next Is Here”. It didn’t take much time to figure out that the teaser could be for the upcoming Huawei smartwatch. And now, the company has released a new teaser video which once again could be for the Huawei smartwatch.
The video uploaded on Youku comes with the title, “You can’t imagine your world can be like this”(translated). This Chinese giant is definitely on to something and we have a fair idea as to what it could be.
The company had confirmed last month that it was readying a smartwatch this year. And latest rumors said that the watch was quite good. While we still have no clue about the features of the upcoming watch, the teaser does make us want to believe that Hauwei may have a great feature up its sleeve on the new watch.
We don’t know what it could be, but we hope that its something to do with battery. One of the biggest drawbacks of smartwatches these days is battery life and at this juncture, its very hard to imagine a smartwatch with good specs and display to have a good battery life. So, did Huawei solve this big problem?
Well, we don’t have to wait too long to get to know that since the company will announce the new product on 1st March 2015. We also expect the Huawei X2 to debut at the event. The device is said to come with a 7-inch 1920 x 1200 resolution display, Huawei Hisilicon Kirin 925 processor with 3GB RAM and 5500 mAh battery.The price could be anywhere around 1999 Yuan, which comes to around $320.
We recently came to know that Gionee was going to announce the slimmest smartphone in the market at MWC 2015. The device is said to be the Gionee Elife S7 which would feature a 4.6mm thin body. Now, it looks like the S7 won’t be the only smartphone that will be debuting at MWC this year. Along with a range of anticipated flagships like Galaxy S6 and HTC One M9, Gionee will also unveil a new device, the Gionee Elife E8 with high end specs.
Thanks to a recent leak, we know almost everything about the upcoming smartphone. The specs sheet reveals a powerful 2.2Ghz octa-core processor (probably a Mediatek SoC). The highlight of the device is its 4GB RAM, which should make sure that the phone runs very smoothly. There will be 32GB / 64GB internal storage options along with a MicroSD card slot which can take cards up to 128GB in size.
The screen is rumored to be around 5.7-6 inches in size with Corning’s Gorilla Glass 3 protection, making it as large as the Galaxy Note 4. For camera, you can expect powerful 18MP rear snapper and a 10MP front shooter.
Interestingly, the leak shows that the phone could be around 10mm thick which is quite the opposite of what Gionee is trying with its Gionee S7. Other features include Android 5.0 Lollipop, 4G LTE connectivity and 3000 mAh battery.
While the specs look really good, there are some things which doesn’t add up. First of all, the thickness is said to be around 10mm and the battery will be just average at 3000 mAh, so why would a large screen phone be so thick? Moreover, Gionee is usually known for its super slim phones and if this is a flagship model, it would be logical to make the phone slim too. So, unless there’s like a hidden feature which requires a large body (camera sensor perhaps?), it doesn’t make sense for the phone to be so thick.
But even if we decide to believe this info, there’s still doubt about the authenticity of the leak. The picture says the phone will be 5G compatible and may also run on Android Milkshake. There’s nothing concrete about the leak. So, its best to take this news with a pinch of salt and wait till MWC, which is just a few days away to see what Gionee has in store for us fans at the event.
Xiaomi India has posted in its facebook page that Mi4 16 gb model will give away its registration model and enter in to an open sale model. I guess this is in the backdrop of muted response that Mi4 16 gb received in its previous sales.
Also, #Mi4 16GB will be available on @Flipkart from Feb 26th – No registration required!
Make no mistake Mi4 is pretty good device, But with Lack of 4g and Micro SD card slot, the 16gb version had few takers. Given that there are other cheaper options such as Oneplus One and Honor Holly 6. There is also consensus between Bloggers and fans MI4 was priced a tad higher which made it loose its appeal.
Meizu announced the Meizu M1 smartphone last month to directly take on the Redmi 2 and Huawei Honor Holly in the budget segment. Even before the release of the handset, we saw three different versions of the device in a leaked picture. Now, Meizu has just made the second version available for pre-order.
The regular version will run on Android 4.4.4 KitKat along with the company’s own Flyme 4.0 UI on top. In this edition, the Meizu M1 will run on Alibaba’s own YunOS for smartphones. This is not the first time we are seeing a YunOS powered Meizu device (MX4 also had this edition) and after buying a large stake in the company, we don’t think this will be the last one too.
Apart from the OS underneath, there is practically no difference between the Android Flyme edition and the YunOS edition. A previous leaked had shown the three editions in action and the AnTuTu benchmark for all the three models were almost the same. So, we kind of knew that there will be no change in specs or even the design in this new edition. Fortunately, the pricing too is the same as the regular edition i.e. 699 Yuan.
The YunOS Meizu M1 was available for pre-order from yesterday and it will go on sale starting March 2nd.
The earlier leak also showed off an Ubuntu Edition too, but as of now, this particular model is not yet available for sale. It would be interesting to see how Ubuntu powered Meizu M1 performs and if it is indeed real, then we may hear more about this version in the coming weeks.
With MCW right around the corner, Chinese Smartphoners makers are gearing up to put it an show in Barcelona. Rumors and speculation are spreading around various variants of MX4.
Meizu today teased in their weibo account that MX4 will carry three variants.The three variants of MX4 will carry Flyme OS, Ubuntu & Yun os. Its expected Ubuntu variant will be launched first.
The Meizu Mx4 comes with 5.36 ” inch screen 1920*1152 pixel display, MT6595 Octacore processor, sony 20.6 MP IMX220 Exmor camera, 5 MP front cam
Earlier today Xiaomi teased us with a new product which will will Launched on 3rd march 10 am. From the teasers we can assume that the product is going to light weight and also related to Travelling.
If previous rumors are believed it is small and a product like Go pro Hero series or a better product than that. Adding to that xiaomi price tag will make this product even more attractive
We have to wait and see whether it carries 4k video recording, in built touch display and also we expect it to come with standard connectivity options like Bluetooth and Wifi etc.
No.1 is usually known for making cheap clones of famous flagship smartphones. However, this time around, the company decided to do something out of the ordinary. It first released the No.1 X1 rugged smartphone with great specs, which is something that usually is not found on a smartphone in this niche.
However, just after a few weeks of the launch of the X1, the company decided to take things to a whole new level. Meet No.1 X2, the second generation model which puts every other rugged smartphone to shame. Not only can this super strong smartphone survive anything, but it also comes with features that is considered mid-range in smartphones. This makes the No.1 X2 very attractive and those who were worried about sacrificing their entertainment needs when buying a rugged phone can finally have everything in just one phone.
We were really surprised to see No.1 offer such a great phone, so we decided to do a No.1 X2 review. We have already added a lot of new pictures of the device in our previous articles, but here, we have many more real life images along with some more details about its features and performance.
So, lets directly move on to the No.1 X2 review.
DESIGN
In the box of the No.1 X2 smartphone, you’ll find a the device itself, a charger, USB cable, manuals as well as headphones. We also got an additional screen protector for the device right inside the box.
One thing we noticed about the cable is that the MicroUSB pin is a bit longer than our traditional cable. This is because, the ports on the phone are covered and they are located more inward than traditional slots. So, you may have to take care of this cable as regular ones may not work well with the phone.
Design wise, the No.1 X2 is a great smartphone. In fact, the chrome and black color combination gives it a unique look. These types of phones are large and bulky and look like a brick. While, the X2 isn’t the thinnest of the phones around, it still is extremely thin when you compare it with other rugged phones which are around 17mm thick.
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Even with the colorful design, the bold lines at the back and the solid construction will give you an idea that this is not a regular phone. And if you don’t like the chrome color scheme, you can opt for a full black version too.
No.1 X2 is quite big for a rugged smartphone. Usually, these type of phones sport a 4.5-inch display, so as to reduce the real estate that could be damaged. However, the X2 is a true phablet with its 5.5-inch display on the front. While this increases the size of the phone, it truly can replace your smartphone as it can even fulfill your entertainment needs.
Overall, the phone does look tough and solidly built. It may not be the toughest smartphone in the market, but then, it doesn’t necessarily have to, since you get a lot of features that others rugged phones don’t offer.
Above the large display lies the receiver mesh, sensors and the front camera. Below, you’ll find three menu, back and home capacitive buttons. Coming to the back, you have the speaker grill at the bottom, IP68 Certified logo in the middle and the 13MP camera and LED flash on top. The 3.5mm headphone jack on top as well as the MicroUSB port at the bottom are covered quite well to keep away water and dust.
The back is not entirely removable, but using the tool provided in the box, you can remove a particular part to insert SIM cards and MicroSD card into the device. Since, this is a dual SIM phone, you have two card slots, one standard SIM and the other MicroSIM. The MicroSD card slot can take cards up to 32GB in size.
DISPLAY
As mentioned above, this is one of the biggest display’s we have seen on a rugged phone. Moreover, the HD Panel is quite crisp and clear. The 5.5-inch display will have a resolution of 1280 x 720p. Since No.1 X2 is a rugged phone, the phone will have Corning’s Gorilla Glass 3 protection at the front to prevent any scratches or accidental damage.
Overall, the display looks quite good. Its just like any other HD phones that you may have used, only a lot stronger and well built!
HARDWARE & PERFORMANCE
The best thing about the new No.1 X2 is the mid-range Snapdragon 410 processor inside. This makes it one of the better rugged phones out there in the market with good specs. Along with this Snapdragon chipset, there is 1GB of RAM onboard for smooth performance. To be honest, we would have loved to have 2GB RAM onboard which would have improved the performance of the device to a great extent, but even with this 1GB RAM, things are pretty smooth.
Specification:
Basic Information
Brand: NO.1
Type: Phablet
OS: Android 4.4
CPU: MSM8916
Cores: Quad Core, 1.3GHz
RAM: 1GB RAM
ROM: 8GB
External memory: TF card up to 32GB (not included)
Network
Wireless Connectivity: WiFi, GSM, 3G, GPS, 4G, Bluetooth
Product size: 16.63 x 8.5 x 1.47 cm / 6.54 x 3.34 x 0.58 inches
Package size: 19.0 x 11.0 x 5.0 cm / 7.47 x 4.32 x 1.97 inches
Product weight: 0.129 kg
Package weight: 0.500 kg
In our testing, we hardly experienced lag, except for instances where we had a number of apps running in the background. So, if you manage to keep apps to a limited number on the device at one time, performance should be satisfactory. Inside, you have 8GB of internal storage, of which you get 5.5GB available. So, you get plenty of space to install your favorite apps from the Google Play Store. Moreover, for your media, you can anytime transfer it to an external card (up to 32GB in size), to free up your internal storage.
Since this is a rugged phone, we tested out the GPS connectivity and surprisingly it was pretty good. Outdoors, the device locked on to the satellites pretty fast and it could quickly lock on to our location. So, you will have no problems there. Unfortunately, there’s no GLONASS support.
We also had the time to test out the speakers at the back, and surprising they were quite loud. Ofcourse, don’t expect clarity like HTC’s boom sound, but according to our testing, the sound output was above average.
In the AnTuTu benchmark testing, the device got around 19,000 points, which is decent for a rugged device. So performance was quite smooth too.
According to our game testing, the device played some games flawlessly, but some lagged a bit. For example, we had a hard time playing NOVA 3 on the phone, but real racing 3 was very smooth. So, it really depends on the optimization of the phone for the GPU, but in general, less graphics intensive games should work just fine.
The best feature of the phone is probably its FDD 4G LTE connectivity. Rugged phones usually don’t have this high speed network support and this is exactly what sets the No.1 X2 apart from other rivals.
Since, this is a rugged phone, we had to check out the overall built and rugged nature of the device. First of all, we dipped the phone in water for a while and everything worked perfectly well.
During the time of our use, we tried to handle it roughly and we couldn’t find any visible scratches on the device too. The overall built quality of the No.1 X2 was quite good. But if you go out and compare it with other costly rugged alternatives, then the plastic on the phone may not be as hard as some of the competitors, at least it feels that way.
But it doesn’t seem like the plastic will break or get scratches. So, for your everyday adventure, this phone should work perfectly fine.
BATTERY
One of the biggest highlights of the phone is its 4500 mAh battery. To keep its rugged nature, the company had to make the battery non-removable. However, we don’t think you’ll need an extra battery on your outing because according to our testing this large battery will easily last you a day with heavy gaming and entertainment usage. And if you keep things moderate, you can get up to two day’s worth battery life or even more on the device.
From our testing we could get up to 6 hours 10minutes from the device with YouTube on continuous playback. That’s very impressive given that it sports a large 5.5-inch display.
So, you won’t have to worry about battery life on the No.1 X2.
CAMERA
Camera performance was quite decent. Like most Chinese smartphones in the market with a 13MP camera, the No.1 X2 too captures good shots under ample light. However, things got a bit grainy in low light conditions. LED flash does help in very dull lighting but still we have seen 13MP cameras perform better than the one on the No.1 X2.
But there are a number of options that you can play around in the camera which may help you to capture slightly better pictures.
On the front, you get a 5MP camera, which performs quite well. Its enough to take selfies and start video calls.
Anyways, check out some of the samples below.
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SOFTWARE
The phone comes with Android 4.4 KitKat version out of the box. The best thing about No.1 X2 is that it comes with all the useful Google Apps (GAPPS) pre-loaded on the device. So, you don’t have to worry about rooting or installing these apps separately. Right from the moment you get the phone, you can install any Android apps (whether free or paid) to your device. Other google apps like GMAIL also make it to the phone.
Apart from this, there are not many customizations on the device. We feel this is a very good move by the company because stock Android UI is always good, and it makes the device much more fluid. And things were quite smooth, thanks to Snapdragon 410 and 1GB RAM.
PRICING & AVAILABILITY
No.1 X2 is available from a number of sellers at the moment. Prices start at $199 and can go up to $225, depending upon the seller.
Meanwhile, check out our post on the best Chinese online stores to buy where we review famous sellers on the basis of their popularity, background, pricing and other features.
A few days back, we published the best first class Chinese stores to do online shopping. However, it won’t be possible to get everything from those two stores alone. Also, there are a few sellers who have build up a reputation for good service and we believe they have great potential to turn out to be one of the best stores online. In this article, we are going to list these stores, which have shown great promise and your shopping experience will definitely be positive in most cases. The reason why we didn’t add it to the first class list is because they still have to build the kind of strong customer base and reputation as lightinthebox and dealextreme. But, that doesn’t mean they are bad and if the store has made it to this list means, you can relax and buy products from these stores too.
NOTES:
I know there must be some things that you may not understand in this post. So, I’ll explain them before you check them out.
First of all, each review has two options. First is a full version where I have given some details. However in the second option, i.e. SCORING, you can find all the relevant information in a table with their respective scores.
In the first option, which is a lot more informative, I have added some links to their deals pages as well as ALEXA + Facebook source links, in case you are interested in checking them out. You can also check out the review links from both resellerratings.com as well as trustpilot wherever available. Finally, you can even check out the different famous media websites which have covered these sellers along with their source links.
However, those who would like a concise version can skip directly to scoring to see where the seller ranks among others.
SOME TERMS EXPLAINED
Alexa Traffic Rank is a rough measure of a website’s popularity, compared with all the others out there on the internet. The lower the rank, the better.
“IN THE NEWS” means the number of news media websites that have linked to these resellers. Clearly, the more the media coverage, the better the reputation of the website. Hence, we have added that parameter too.
Finally, to those who are wondering about the scores, I have given them according to the best possible figure in each parameter. For example, those websites which have experience of 6 or more years get a score of 4-5, while those relatively new get around 3-4 points. Similarly, for contact, those websites which have live chat and are available from Monday to Saturday naturally get more points than those just available on weekdays.
Also, we need a big sample to get a proper review rating of a website, hence, I have used the average scores from resellerratings.com and Trust pilot. In case you have never heard of these websites, they are well known for reviewing e-commerce platforms. Since, I have added source links, you can check them out directly from the reviews section of each seller.
Given that reviews and media attention are very vital for an online store, I have given more points to both the parameters. So, the reviews will be out of 30 and the media coverage out of 20 points.
It took a lot of time to finally complete the research and organize everything. I hope everyone benefits from this for their online purchases.
BEST CHINA STORES ONLINE
IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR A PARTICULAR SELLER YOU CAN JUMP DIRECTLY USING THE BELOW LINKS:
Pandawill has grown to be a great e-commerce website specializing in cheap Chinese products especially electronics. Since its inception, the seller has received good response from its customers.
CHECK OUT:
FULL DETAILS
COMPANY BACKGROUND
Pandawill is one of the biggest online commercial corporations in Asia, committing itself to build a worldwide wholesale shop online. The company was originally set up in Shenzhen, China in 2009, aiming to operate the business-to-customer transactions with overseas consumers. Their brand name was originated from a favorite hollywood movie–Kung Fu Panda. Along with the rapid development of electronic business in China, Pandawill has earned itself a solid reputation for quality, reliability and professionalism in this field. Their operation capabilities cover favorable policy, instant and safe delivery, privacy protection and well-rounded customer support.
Contact information:
Tel: 86-755-83650148
Skype: Pandawillservice number: +1.646.8080692
Working Hours: Monday to Friday 24 hours support
Saturday 9:00am – 6pm EST
Address:
Fl.4-5,7 Longtang Industry Park, Liuyue, Henggang, Longgang,Shenzhen 518000, China
Import Tax & VAT Insurance available at 5% extra charge.
FREE SHIPPING
UNDER $30
STANDARD AIR MAIL
All COUNTRIES
15 to 35 days
ABOVE $30
REGISTERED AIRMAIL
United States and the UK
10 to 20 days
South America
15 to 28 days
France, Spain, Italy and Germany
8 to 15 days
Thailand or Malaysia
7 to 20 days
Other Countries
15 to 35 days
PAID SHIPPING
NO LIMIT
EXPRESS SHIPPING
All COUNTRIES
3 to 7 days
PRICING
↓ PRICES
Pandawill has very attractive prices. According to our research, the prices are almost the same as what other retailers offer and sometimes after discount, the prices turn out to be the cheapest.
The best thing about Pandawill is its reliability. Our research tells us that Pandawill customers are very much satisfied, thanks to its prompt customer support system. You get genuine and good quality products at very attractive prices which makes this particular seller quite good.The only reason that Pandawill is not included in the first class china stores list is because it was established in 2009, while the top two stores had almost 10 years of experience in the market. Still, the seller has managed to market itself as one of the top stores in China, which is commendable.
Banggood is one of the best china stores online. The e-commerce site has received very positive response from its customers. They have been fairly reliable, providing very cheap prices for electronic gadgets like smartphones, tablets and other accessories.
CHECK OUT:
FULL DETAILS
COMPANY BACKGROUND
Banggood’s name is derived from the tagline, bang for the buck!
Banggood was founded in 2004, specializing in computer software research and development. Focusing on foreign trade e-commerce. From there it developed into an online retailer for almost everything you need for happy living, eating and entertaining. They have 4 offices, one in Hong Kong, one in Shenzhen,one in Hangzhou, and one in Yiwu.Banggood’s heart is in Guangzhou it is where all the Banggood magic happens, there you will find the main office housing 1000+ employees from customer service to product managers.
CONTACT INFO: Room 608 HaoQuan Building
Jichangdongmen Road #1 Jingtai Street
Baiyun District
Guangzhou
China
RANK
Banggood has recently ranked up on Alexa. ALEXA RANK 1708 (Mostly from US).
Banggood offers a lot of shipping options for its customers. There are free options as well as fast and paid ones.
Shipping options include:
Airmail and registered airmail
Priority Direct Mail
CNEMS
EMS
Expedited Shipping
PRICING
↓ PRICES
Prices are in line with what you find in reputed online stores. We have seen that most of the times, the prices are almost similar on many online stores, to keep the competition fierce.
Reviews have been fairly good of the website. Majority of the reviewers said that they were satisfied with the experience with the seller. However, there were some reviews who complained about slow shipping times. But according to our research, Bangood’s customer service did contact them for solving the problem.
OPPOMART has established itself as a reliable seller of top end Chinese goods. You get everything from Huawei, ZTE, Xiaomi to OPPO on this website at decent prices.
CHECK OUT:
FULL DETAILS
COMPANY BACKGROUND:
OPPOMART is a relative new company established last year which specializes in the sale of smartphones from well-known Chinese brands. The seller is based in China and ships to any country worldwide.
RANK:
OPPOMART ranks at 35,659 on Alexa,which is a lot lower than other sellers in the market. However, considering the fact that the website was just launched recently, its very commendable that it managed to reach to this alexa score.
OPPOMART does not offer free shipping, but it has relatively cheap shipping rates depending upon the weight of the product package.
These are the shipping options available.
Air Mail ($2.99, with tracking number, 8-15 days)
Express service (5-7 days)
PRICING:
↔ DECENT PRICING
According to our research, the pricing on OPPOMART is slightly higher than that of other websites. But the seller is fairly reliable in shipping times and product quality.
REVIEWS:
There are not many public reviews available of the website, but according to our research those who bought the device were fairly happy with the customer experience. Shipping, product quality were both good.Pricing was a bit on the higher side, but then the website offered latest mainstream products which was not easily available on other stores.
Since Oppomart was a new website, we didn’t find reviews on reseller ratings. We have scored on the basis of personal reader feedback and available public reviews.
GEEKBUYING is an established online store specializing in electronic gadgets. You will get great deals on a lot of cool gadgets here. Hence, it makes it to our best china stores online list!
CHECK OUT:
FULL DETAILS
COMPANY BACKGROUND
Geekbuying is all about making the shopping experience more fun. The seller has everything that a geek would want, all at very cheap and competitive prices.
Contact Address:
Baihua No.1 Road, Futian District, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China
90% of the customers who purchased from GeekBuying were satisfied with their shopping experience and are likely to shop again on the website. The shipping times were excellent and so was the customer support. The products shipped were of genuine and good quality.
Ever since 2005, Chinavasion has been serving wholesale and dropship customers worldwide. Chinavasion is headquartered in Hong Kong with its warehouse and logistics in the centre of the world’s electronics manufacturing hub: Shenzhen.
Contact Address:
Unit 2606,26/F, Clifford Centre, 778-784 Cheung Sha Wan Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Express shipping (courier service): DHL, FedEx, and UPS.
EMS: this option is also available for many countries
Airmail: small and light orders also be shipped very cheap. The option will appear automatically in the checkout if your goods weight is not too high.
Ship with your own courier: For bulk orders we can also arrange to make the goods available at our warehouse for your own forwarder to collect.
PRICING:
↓ CHEAP PRICING
Since this is basically a wholesale reseller, you can expect one of the cheapest prices for a product when you go out to buy it in bulk. Single unit purchase prices are in line with what we see from other retailers, however for bulk purchases, this particular website is very cheap. You’ll find the cheapest rate for an electronics product here at Chinavasion, so it is a great place for large group orders.
Our research tells us that Chinavasion has received very good reviews from customers worldwide. The number of shipping options in particular have been highlighted in reviews.Customer service too was said to answer queries promptly and politely. However, like other sellers, the few complaints were of slow shipping speeds of their orders.
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