Yesterday, we saw many tech websites report that Meizu may collaborate with Nokia for manufacturing and releasing smartphones outside of China. The reports said that the Nokia could be designing the colors, hardware as well as the software to suit westerner preferences.
However, it looks like the news is false. Earlier today, Meizu’s VP of Science and Technology, Li Nan said that the company has no plans to collaborate with Nokia or any other company. The primary reason was that their factories are over capacity right now and the company doesn’t have time to work with other OEMs like Nokia.
The VP added that Meizu has sold over 1 million smartphones in the month of December and their production capacity is at its limit, thanks to the strong demand for top notch products like Meizu Mx4, MX4 Pro and even the recently announced Meizu M1 Note.
So even though we would have liked to see Meizu and Nokia collaborate for an international version of the Meizu MX4, that probably isn’t going to happen anytime soon.
Onda may not be a manufacturer that comes to your mind when think of tablets, but this time around the company has something interesting to offer. That is a V919 tablet. One of the greatest highlights of this aluminium slate is that it can dual boot either on Android 4.4 Kitkat or on Windows 8.1. That is definitely a key selling point of the device as it has at least two categories of the consumers in mind: those, who seek mainly media consumption and those, who look for some for productivity that can be done on Windows environment. We do not claim that Android is not productive, but still, a lot of people are just used to doing their office work on Microsoft’s operating system. It all sounds like a great idea, but can Onda V919 deliver? Is it worth your attention? Let us take a look at this Onda V919 review.
24.0 x 17.0 x 0.8 cm / 9.4 x 6.7 x 0.3 inches / 0.496 kg
OS
Android 4.4, Windows 8.1
Storage
64GB (can be expanded up to 128GB via Micro SD)
As far as the specs go we can say that it has quite a good pack to offer.
Design
Onda V919 is on the left, the iPad Air is on the right.
As you can see from the above pics, the Onda V919 has taken a lot of inspiration from the Apple iPad, that is why we choose to do a little visuals comparison. We cannot say that the Onda tablet is a complete clone of the iPad, but it does look extremely similar. Well, even well established brands are not afraid of making almost identical products, so “that’s all right”.
As we can see, Onda V919 is made out of aluminium material, which always adds that premium look and feel. On the front of the device we can see a 9.7 inch 2048×1536 IPS screen, which spots the same resolution as the iPad Air. Also, there is a front facing shooter, which has 2mp of resolution. What is more, there a home button. This time, it is not exactly the same as Apple’s device, but it reminds us a bit of the Meizu’s or Nubia’s implementation.
If we flip the device upside down, we can see that there is a white plastic cover, which can be removed. There you can find a two slots. One of them is Micro SD (up to 128GB) and another is Micro SIM slot, which has GSM and 3G connectivity (GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900MHz, WCDMA 850/1900/2100MHz).
What is more, there is a 5mp camera on the back along with the company’s branding and some certification marks. On the bottom, there are two stereo speakers along with the Micro USB port for charging and syncing. On the top, there is a 3.5mm headphone jack, which is placed on almost the same position as iPad.
On the right side of the device there are volume up/down buttons along with the power on/off switch.
Overall, the built quality is very good. It is on par with the Apple’s offering in the tablet portfolio, which is a good thing.
Performance
We decided to put the Onda V919 through some benchmarking tests. Let us take a look how it performed.
We usually do not judge the devices by its performance on the benchmarking apps, but this time the tablet showed pretty good performance. It is not on par with the latest and greatest flagships, but still it should be enough for day to day tasks, handling video and games.
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If you really care about benchmarking and it is important where your device stands in the rankings, here are some more tests we went through:
What we care more is the real life performance. The device comes with a lot of apps pre-installed, which some of them should be considered bloatware. Happily, all the unwanted apps can be uninstalled or blocked via the autostart manager app. Thus, it would help reaching max performance by freeing up some CPU and RAM memory.
We were really excited to start by checking out the dialler app, which lets you call to the other users using GSM or 3G networks. Honestly, we believe it should be possible to use the calling function on all the tablets that are available the market. Still, the majority of them is not capable of doing that for some mysterious reasons.
We have to say that calling function works well on the device. Well, kind of. One can look like a a bit crazy putting the 9.7 inches device near the ear, which covers the whole head. Indeed, it is not designed to use it that way. Therefore, we have tested it through the embedded speakerphone function and it worked quite well. Also, it is possible to use it via bluetooth earphones and the call quality including voice clarity were good.
Another thing we have tried out it the 1080p video playback. As expected, the tablet did not have any issues handling that and the playback was silky smooth. Moreover, skipping forward or backward is really easy by just swiping anywhere on the playing movie. This is a great function started by the MX player and then later implemented by other manufacturers, including Onda.
Finally, we tried other tasks like browsing the web, installing apps. One of them was World of Warcraft game. We played it for quite a while and we can say that everything run smoothly. All in all, you should have no issues with its performance whatsoever.
Surface Temperature Test
As devices can handle more and more intensive tasks, most of them tend to heat up after some time. We ran through a test to see how this tablet performs.
What we did in our testing is we ran 1 hour of 1080p video. As you can see, after 1 hour the device didn’t even reach the normal temperature of human body, which is quite a great achievement knowing the fact that metal usually gets warm very quickly (as it was with the HTC One M7 and M8). We like what we are seeing here.
Camera
The Onda V919 tablet is equipped with the 5mp camera on the back, which should be enough for the tablet. We never expect tablets to perform as good as smartphones, but still, it is good to have a spare reasonably performing camera around. We took a few camera samples:
During the daylight, the tablet can capture some pretty good looking pics, which have quite a lot of detail. However, the white balance and colour reproduction is definitely not the best we have seen so far. In the end, we are not using a tablet as our main shooter.
Battery
The device has a hefty 7000mAh battery inside, which is said to last you 7 hours of video playing time. Therefore, as we have already made a video playback test, we did it again. Well, we should say that the device shut down itself after about 6.5 hours of playing while the screen brightness was set to 50%. We are quite happy about that.
Final Words
In this day and age it is usual that many manufacturers can easily “get” some inspiration from others. We are not judging whether it is right or wrong, but we may say it lacks originality. Still, however, there is a lot to like about this tablet and we say that it is one of the better choices in its price range. What we really liked is a great choice of materials and build quality. We did say that it is on par with Apple’s devices. Well, sort of. However, we still believe that Apple has perfected the precision craftsmanship and there is still a room for improvement for other manufacturers. What is more, the specs, which are packed inside this tablet enables it to run everything smoothly and without a hitch. Moreover, we were glad that it does not heat up too much and we were pleased with the camera experience and performance overall. In addition, we were happy about the battery life as the video playback test showed that the real life performance is nearly the same as it has been declared by the company. Finally, what we really like about the Onda V919 tablet is its price point. The tablet falls under the category of $180. If you are interested in this device, you can buy Onda V919 tablet from Gearbest for as low as $177.
We’re biased when we say the Meizu MX4 is a killer phone, with amazing hardware and design, but you cannot ignore it when some of the best tech sites in the world also say the Meizu MX4 is an amazing device! Here are our top 5 best Meizu MX4 reviews from the web!
Meizu shocked the tech world with the launch of the Meizu MX4. A phone which all new alloy chassis, beautiful display and stunningly good Mediatek MT6595 octacore processor (making the MX4 the most powerful phone on Antutu for 2014!).
Since September plenty of tech sites from around the world have handled the Meizu MX4, made reviews and come to their own conclusions for Meizu’s amazing mid-range device. Here are our pick of top 5 best Meizu MX4 reviews:
GSMArena Meizu MX4 Review: “The Meizu MX4 makes a great first impression and has no trouble keeping it up”
Chinese products are often regarded inferior in quality and specs. However, the past few years have totally changed the way we look at cheap Chinese products. Even start up companies have proved that they can manufacture items which are at par as compared to products from other international manufacturers that too at a very affordable cost.
No.1 G2 is one such product that managed to surprise by its built quality. The device retails for less than $70, yet sports premium design comparable to even those smartwatches which cost more than $350.
So, we decided to check out what makes those products so costly and a product like No.1 G2 so cheap. The best example in the price difference is the upcoming Apple Watch. This particular smartwatch will retail for more than $350, so we thought its best to compare these two to check out the similarities and differences! Moreover, given that owning / wearing a smartwatch is a growing trend, its always best to analyze your options.
No.1 G2 vs Apple Watch
DESIGN:
Like always, we start off with the design. Both the devices are well built and use premium materials in their workman ship and both are square shaped. The No.1 G2 sports a steel body with a strong metal texture giving it a rich look despite its cheap price while the Apple Watch has a traditional design. In fact, when we first saw the Apple Watch in pictures, we were disappointment. Apple products are usually known for the extremely well built design, but nothing about the Apple Watch looked unique. We expected a lot more.
Personally, we feel that the No.1 G2 looks a lot better in terms of design, but we leave that up to you. We know there are people who love Apple’s plain design and we respect that. So, its up to you to decide which one you like.
FUNCTIONALITY:
Apple watch comes with a digital crown for carrying out the various functions on the device. On the other hand, No.1 G2 comes with a traditional home button.
We have to agree that the digital crown is a very unique concept in the recently evolved smartwatch industry and for that the company gets special points in this category. The No.1 G2’s home button looks pretty good too, just a bit traditional. However, we feel that the placement of the home button is perfect for daily use. Its easy to operate and the phone starts up with just a touch of a button.
So, its really hard to say which one has the best button. On one hand, the digital crown looks cool, but then users will have a little bit of learning curve and will have to go out of the way to get used to it. The No.1 G2 probably is the easier one to use, although with a more traditional design.
Here, we may have to give Apple Watch some extra points, but still we don’t think that the crown is practical enough to charge almost 5-6 times more than the No.1 G2!
CONNECTIVITY:
This is the biggest drawback of the Apple Watch. Like all Apple devices, the Apple Watch will only work when you have an Apple device. Yes, the watch only works with iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6, iPhone 5C, iPhone 5S and iPhone 5. So, if you happen to use any other device, the watch is practically useless. Either you will have to change the watch or change your phone into an Apple device, which we feel is a big limitation on the device.
On the other hand, the No.1 G2 practically works with around 98% of smartphones available in the market as it connects to Android as well as iOS platforms. This makes the No.1 G2 available to a wider audience than the Apple Watch, which we feel is a requirement when we evaluate a product.
FEATURES:
When you are ready to pay $350 for a smartwatch, you expect a lot of new features and function to play with as compared to other cheap offerings. Unfortunately, like the design, the Apple Watch disappoints.
Almost all of the functions can be performed by the cheap No.1 G2. So, you can remotely control your camera, set alarm clock, check weather, use stopwatch, synchronize contacts, check call history and even receive calls on the device. There’s a pedometer, notifications alert via vibrations and more more fitness related functions, all available on both the devices.
The Apple Watch may have the edge when it comes to Apple Pay and customizability. However, Apple Pay is limited to US, which makes it useless in other countries and customizability has its own extra price! Moreover, the cheaper No.1 G2 even has some extra features like infrared remote control and smart home functions not available on the Apple Watch.
As you can see, when it comes to features, the Apple Watch isn’t what you would expect it to be. In fact, the No.1 G2 comes out as the winner here by having almost the same functions at a much cheaper price tag.
PRICING AND AVAILABILITY:
Guess what, the Apple Watch is still not available to purchase. Yes, even if you are ready to shell out $350 of your hard earned cash, you won’t be able to buy it since Apple has not yet made it available. So, you can either wait for a few more months (March release expected) or just go out and buy the No.1 G2 which is currently available for sale at just $66.
When you are paying as much as $350, you expect beautiful design and features, which unfortunately you don’t get on the new Apple Watch. So, for us, its easy to pick out a winner in this battle – the No.1 G2, but like our title says, we leave it up to you to decide which ones the best.
There has been some talks already about the successor devices of still hot selling iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. Those talks involve the anticipated specs.
The latest just announced leak by @leakfly suggest that both upcoming successor devices by Apple will finally feature 2GB of LDDR4 type RAM memory. That is the double amount to what we are already used to seeing on Apple devices. It seems that Apple is ready to increase the memory on their devices.
Yet, it will be one more “as twice as fast” announcement on the stage as Apple will definitely announce the upgraded chip inside, which will again be a “major step” since last generation.
The Meizu has been on the News lately. Some new rumours and leaks suggest that the company has the Meizu M1 Mini in its pipeline. We have just seen a purported device, which showed up in yellow colour, but this time around, the picture reveals the full portfolio of colours as the latest leak by the @leaksfly on the twitter account suggest.
Yes, it is designed for the colourful and you probably know what we mean by saying that as the device takes a lot of inspiration from the particular device made by Apple. Still, the device is expected to come in a variety of colours, which include red, orange/yellow, purple and violet. At least what this animated picture tells us.
The Meizu M1 Mini is expected to be released in about one week time and it said that it will feature a 4.7-inch display. That should make it a direct competitor – the Xiaomi Redmi 2. What is more, the camera should be at least 13mp and feature a single LED flash. Moreover, it should be a very compact device considering not only its relatively small display, but also the trend set by Meizu of extremely thin bezels. Why cannot wait till the release time of the device and provide you with the hands-on pictures and first impressions of the device once it is released!
Elephone is one of those Chinese smartphone makers that can offer a great bang for the buck. Back in December, the company teased the P6000 device as being one of the firsts to come with a Android 5.0 preinstalled out of the box.
At that time, the manufacturer wanted to join the big guys game like Google Nexus 6 and offer the latest and greatest by Google.
However, as you will see later in this review, the manufacturer used a little trick, as it currently ships with the Android 4.4 Kitkat. Still, the company promises to update their OS as soon as February, which is really fast especially if we consider some other companies, which are very slow with the OS updates.
Right now, when the device is released, we take it for a spin for a full review. Let us start by checking out the specs.
144.5 x 71.6 x 8.9 mm / 5.69 x 2.82 x 0.35 inch / 0.165 kg
OS
Android 4.4 kitkat
Storage
16GB + sd card (up to 64GB)
Design
As you can see from the pics above, the device is made out of plastic material. Still, the overall build quality of quite good. On the front of the device you can see the capacitive buttons (the round home button is lit). If we take a look at the top, there is a 2mp camera, speaker grill and sensor light.
On the left side of the handset, there is nothing, except smooth glossy plastic. On the right side, there are volume rocker as well as power on/off buttons. On the top of the device there is a 3.5mm headphone jack. On the bottom you can see a Micro USB port for charging/syncing.
If we flip the device, you can find a 13mp camera along with the single LED flash. Also, there is an Elephone logo along with the single speaker.
What is more, you can take the back cover off and access the battery, which has a capacity of 2700mAh and is replaceable. Also, there are two SIM card slots (one being capable of GSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz and WCDMA 900/2100MHz and another capable of FDD-LTE 800/1800/2100/2600MHz) and the Micro SD card slot for memory expansion (up to 64GB).
Display
If we take a look at the screen, we have a 5 inches IPS LCD screen, which has a resolution of 720p. It is not a Full HD screen, but we are still happy to see how it performs. It is crisp, vivid, colour reproduction is great and viewing angles are superb.
Performance
The Elephone P6000 runs a MTK6732 64-bit Quad Core, 1.5GHz chip inside, which really performs well in real life scenarios. It can achieve a score of over 30000 in Antutu benchmarking system as well. What is more, the device is backed up by 2 GB of Ram memory. Also, it has 16 GB of internal storage, which can be expanded via Micro SD card. All of this is being run by the Android 4.4 Kitkat. As you can see, the Elephone did not release the Android 5.0 device out of the box, but it has promised to update their OS as soon as possible (they say that the firmware will be available in February).
We have decided to check how the device performs, when it needs to perform some more graphic intensive tasks like Riptide GP 2 and some other games.
What we can say that the Elephone P6000 can run all these games smoothly and without any lags or skipped frames. It is quite impressive for such a budget friendly device. However, the device tends to heat up a bit, but it is usual for all devices. Still, the temperature level is passable.
As you can imagine, day to day tasks like running throughout the different screens or menus can be done without any issues. Honestly, it the operating system just flies! Kudos to Android 4.4, processing power inside the device and some great software implementations by Elephone.
We have also checked out some other functionality like GPS, Bluetooth, USB OTG, proximity sensors etc. We did not encounter with any issues whatsoever. The GPS lock speed was great. It looks like the GPS issues with Mediatek chips is a matter of the past.
Camera
The device packs a 13mp camera. We are not aware of the sensor make, but we presume that it may be Sony IMX214. The camera interface is pretty simple. You can choose from a variety of options, which include standard, landscape, sports, panorama modes. Also, there are some settings like changing the resolution, self timer, ISO sensitivity, continuous auto-focus etc. All in all, the interface is simple and fast.
What is more, taking pictures and focusing is very fast. That can be also said about shooting videos.
Allright, that’s enough about the specs, but what about the image quality. Lets take a look!
We have to say that the daylight shots are stunning. We took them during the cloudy day, which sometimes can be a challenge for some devices. Here you can see that the detail level is very good, the colour reproduction is very natural. The device does not have any issues with the white balance or saturation. As you can see, the 13mp shooter even captured the clouds in great looking colours.
The night shot is not as good as the daylight one, but it can still capture some details. Of course, it comes with quite a lot of noise, but we are pretty sure that most of devices could not deliver a better night photo.
As you can see from the pics above, the indoors photos turn out to be pretty good. They spot platy of detail, colours are try to life and the noise level are kept to normal.
Overall, we are very happy with the Elephone’s P6000 camera, which can take pictures very fast, the detail level both outside and inside is very good, noise level are kept at minimum. What it more, colour reproduction seems to be very natural, which very really like. Finally, the device has no issues with the white balance or saturation in auto-mode, which an average consumer usually uses.
Battery
We can say that the battery life is really good. While doing some daily tasks, which include a little bit of everything like browsing the web, checking emails, Facebook, watching some Youtube and gaming, you can go through a full day of usage. Also, in case the battery dies, you can always replace it by removing the back cover.
Final Words
Overal, we like what we are seeing here. The Elephone P6000 delivers to the fullest for the amazingly low $169.99 price tag. It has a great and sturdy design with a great built quality. Also, it comes with dual SIM card slots as well as Micro SD card slot for more flexibility. In addition, the battery, which also proved to be a great performer, can be hot-swapped in case it dies after some heavy usage. Furthermore, we like the display, which has great colour reproduction, awesome viewing angles and sunlight legibility. Also, we loved the camera, which managed to perform well both in daylight and indoors scenarios. In addition, for such a price point you get all the connectivity you need on the go, which includes Wifi, Bluetooth, GPS and last but not least the 4G connectivity, which has the FDD-LTE 800/1800/2100/2600MHz bands. All in all, we can definitely recommend to buy Elephone P6000 from Gearbest.com to get it for as low as $115.99.
Not the most exciting spy photo in the world, but this leaked image is said to be from the unannounced Meizu m1 mini, and shows off a yellow body option.
The Meizu m1 mini is the phone that we are waiting for (well that an an Ubuntu phone), and from the looks of things, and the frequency of leaks, we should be getting our first real first look at the smallest of the Meizu line-up in just over a week.
Todays spy photos shows the rear panel of the m1 mini in a yellow colour with just a single LED sim. Although on it’s own it doesn’t give us much to work with , but at least we know that the m1 mini will benefit from the same plastic unibody design as the m1 note before it.
Leaks yesterday showed that the m1 mini would come with a 4.7-inch display, on par with the one found on the Xiaomi Redmi 2. If Mezu have been able to keep the bezels down to a minimum (as they have on previous device) then the Meizu m1 mini will be a much more compact budget phone than we have seen before.
OPPO has been making the headlines for the past few days, thanks to the number of rumors and leaks that we have seen recently. But they have been mostly about the company’s upper mid-range devices and not flagships. However, a new image recently cropped up online claiming to the upcoming OPPO Find 9, which could be the company’s next flagship device.
The source reveals a phone with a large display,with the ear piece and the sensors too close to the top edge. So, the display could be covering a large portion of the device, making it nearly borderless.
The phone features a similar design profile as the Find 7, however its more flat and the display also covers a larger proportion of the overall body.
Unfortunately, there is nothing in the picture that says its the upcoming OPPO Find 9. Also, as of now, no technical specifications of the device have been leaked till now. So, as always, we will advise you to take the news with a pinch of salt.
We’ll keep you updated if any more specs details or images turn up online, but until then, its safe to assume that this news is probably fake.
Back in December, Xiaomi and Midea entered a strategic partnership to develop smart home products for the consumers. Now, first reports are coming in which says that the two companies will jointly unveil its first product, a smart Xiaomi Air Conditioner later this year.
For those who haven’t heard of Midea, it is a privately held Chinese company specializing in electronic consumer products. Xiaomi and Midea’s partnership could give birth to a new range of smart connected devices in China. In this regard, it is said that Xiaomi sent out its specialist engineers to work with Midea’s team to develop and finalize on a smart Air Conditioner.
On a traditional AC, you have to manually set the temperature, wind speed, and other functions. However, in this new range of smart ACs, everything will be automatically set according to your preset preferences and surrounding conditions. So, things like temperature, wind speed and humidity controls will be automated.
One of Midea’s lead engineers, Zhu Liang Hung said that Air Conditioner is just one part of the picture. The joint partnership will result into a number of new products including smart washing machines, air purifiers, humidifiers and even refrigerators.
Clearly, Xiaomi is advancing into newer product categories and may soon have a wide range of product portfolio under its belt.
A few days back we had revealed that OPPO is working on a giant phablet that will be around 6-inches in size. At that time, we expected it to debut alongside the full glass OPPO R1C. But the company has finally made the OPPO U3 smartphone today and its (almost) everything that we predicted it to be.
The phone was seen in pictures way before it was launched and the official images reveal the same design as seen in the previously leaked images. The U3 borrows some of its design aspects from the R1C, so you have the same diamond cut technology used on the device, but without the glass panel. Nevertheless, the phone looks pretty solid and well built.
Coming to the specifications, the OPPO U3 will come with a large 5.9-inch display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. Given the size of the display, the OPPO U3 covers almost 75% of the phone’s body. This makes it’s overall size comfortable with measurements 156.8 x 81 x 8mm despite its large size.
OPPO has made sure that the U3 boasts of a good camera. The phone comes with a 5MP front camera with wide angle lens, ideal for group selfies. Moreover, the front shooter can add professional soft fill light to make things more camera friendly. The rear camera is a Sony IMX214 sensor which can take photos up to 50MP in resolution by using interpolation. There are a ton of other camera features as well such as night mode, ultimate beauty 3.0 and slo-mo video playback at 120 fps. Unfortunately, no 4X optical zoom as rumored earlier.
The leaked pictures revealed headphones alongside the U3, which we thought hinted at some audio friendly chip for better output. Looks like we were true as the company has incorporated the AK4961 audio chip which delivers hifi audio output, so the phone will definitely attract a lot of music lovers. Finally, the device has the VOOC fast charge feature which achieves up to 75 percent charge in just 30 minutes!
OPPO U3 Rabbit's Tail case
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The company has unveiled a special case for the OPPO U3 which is called as the rabbit’s tail. This case has a white furry ball attached to its rear cover, which looks like a rabbit’s tail (hence the name!). As it is attached to the device, the cover makes it easier for the user to hold and operate the 5.9-inch U3. There are certain software specific features as well which will make it easier to use the device, even with one hand.
The company has made the device available in two colors – dark blue and white, however we still don’t know OPPO U3’s price. But expect more details soon.
A long time back, the Finnish giant Nokia had announced a brand new Nokia booklet 3G laptop. At that time, the company was almost at its peak and it was only natural to expand into newer segments. However, the company didn’t do so well in the later years and it was eventually sold off to Microsoft last year.
However, Nokia is not dead. At least not yet. The company released a brand new tablet called as the Nokia N1 which has received tremendous response in China. In fact, in its second flash sale, the tablet went out of stock within minutes.
Now, a new image has cropped up online showing off a new Nokia laptop. While the source doesn’t reveal any specifications or release details of the device, it is said that the device will be soon listed for sale along with the long rumored Nokia smartphone (C1?) . Also, the device will be red in color and will sport dual OS, probably Windows and Android.
The leak just reveals a poster with three devices, a Nokia smartphone, the recent N1 tablet and a laptop. Unfortunately, that’s all that we can take from the leak. No leaked specs, features or release dates.
Also, its quite hard to believe that a new Nokia laptop is coming just on the basis of one picture. So, how much ever you may want to believe this, make sure you take this news with a pinch of salt.
We’ll keep you updated if anything more concrete comes up.
There have been some talks in Chinese blogs and forums as well as some teasers by the company itself that it will release something on January 20th that will “Vibrate and feel good”. It seems that this vibrating device is a bluetooth game controller, which carries an amazingly low price tag of just 99 Yuan in China.
The Xiaomi asserts that this device has a very ergonomic and comfortable shape whereas the shell is made of the tough material manufactured by Samsung. It is claimed that the remote controller is made using the same quality manufacturing process as Sony PS4 remote. What is more, the shell material including the the buttons is made with a heavy gamer in mind, meaning that it is scratch and sun light resistant. What is more, a special coating helps feeling comfortable even if your hand are sweating. That means that it will allow you operate the controller for hours without getting tired.
In addition, the remote has high precision arrow keys, which will let you enjoy the gaming experience to its fullest. They have a 360 degrees movement technology ensuring a uniform gap around the keys.
Also, the device spots the curved arc design, which should ensure that it is very comfortable to hold it in the hand. Further, the remote has the keys, which have a perfect touch and click response. It is said that the buttons can sense the depth of the finger pressing, precise identification of the pressure magnitude and speed. In racing games that can precisely control the brakes and throttle to bring exquisite gaming experience.
What is more, the Rocker has a 360-degree field of precision positioning, which has an accuracy of 0.172 degrees. Also, it has a shaking, center-specific anti-tampering measures of 0.5 degrees. The overall use of soft down hard two-shot injection molding, rocker cap fit the unique design of the scroll thumb curves, soft hand touch part of the texture, making the soft touch and comfortable, combined coarse grain drying surface, can effectively prevent finger slipped.
The device has a world class vibration motors inside. They have asymmetrical design, the motors are adjustable with software, which decides how the motors should work in different gaming environments like sports, racing, action and other games. Furthermore, it has one of the best built-in gravity sensors, which is made by Bosh.
Other goodies include Bluetooth 3.0, which should ensure uninterrupted gaming experience. Also, the device packs an amazing battery. It uses an intelligent power management, which turns the device into standby mode after 5 mins of idle. What it more important, the remote controller can stay up to one year in a standby mode, which is really impressive.
All in all, it seems that the Xiaomi is expanding its portfolio in a variety of ways. This time around, the gamers should be excited as the company offers a great product at an amazingly low price.
Meizu and Haier have announced a cooperation between the two companies that might spawn a collection of connected home appliances and white goods!
Meizu have already announced that their new launch will be aimed at a “Connected” life, and teasers from yesterday hinted that the company could be aiming to build a collection of smart connected devices, well today we have the actual proof.
On the official Meizu Weibo this morning, Meizu announced that it had teamed up with white goods maker Haier. Haier are a Chinese manufacturer of home appliances (washing machines, air conditionaers) and consumer electronics (TV’s, phones, tablets), who have factories across China, Asia, Europe and even the U.S.
Although the details of the cooperation are still under wraps it doesn’t need much imagination to see Haier smart products connected to a Meizu smarthome though Flyme cloud services and Meizu smartphones.
We can’t wait to see the first smart products from the Meizu and Haier collaboration, perhaps they will be on show during the January 28th launch event?
The Xiaomi has just announced their two flagship phablet devices – the Mi Note and the Mi Note Pro, which pack top notch specs, which include the almighty Snapdragon 810 64-bit chip, 2k 1440×2560 pixels screen, 4 GB of Ram, 64 GB of storage, Hi-Fi audio chip and other stuff (we are talking the Pro version here).
However, it seems that Xiaomi has something more to show for the public and two devices were not enough. Well, at least this is what Antutu database says.
According to this information on Antutu database, the Xiaomi has the Note Plus version in its pipeline. As you can see from the specs, the device will come with the Android 5.0 out of the box with the MIUI skin on top of that. Also, it will pack the 8 core chip, which is most likely the Snapdragon 810, Adreno 430 GPU, 2k 1440×2560 pixels screen, 13mp camera.
From the above mentioned specs we can see that it will be almost identical device as the the Mi Note Pro. That keeps us wondering why the Xiaomi decided to release one more version of its phablet portfolio and how different it will be.
Just yesterday we saw what Mediatek had in store for us for 2015. Now, we have a new image which shows off what Qualcomm has planned for 2015. The image reveals details about the new Snapdragon 820, Snapdragon 815 and the other mid-range SoCs from the 600 series.
The most awaited processor this year is none other than the mighty Snapdragon 820! According to the leakster, this new64-bit SoC will be feature eight TS2 cores making it an octa-core beast. The leakster didn’t reveal the clock speeds. Further, this new SoC will come with Adreno 530 GPU and LPDDR4 RAM. It will support MDM9X55 LTE-A Category 10 networks and will use the advanced Samsung / GF ‘s 14nm FinFet process.
Coming to the next SoC i.e. the Snapdragon 815, it will be an octa-core SoC with four TS1i + four TS1 cores based on ARM’s big.LITTLE architecture. It will use the 20 nm process. The SoC will feature Adreno 450 and LPDDR4 RAM. It will support the high speed MDM9X55 LTE-A Cat10 network band.
The next three are mid-range offerings from Qualcomm. The Snapdragon 629 and 625 will feature eight cores with Adreno 418 GPU and LPDDR4 1600 MHz RAM. The processor will use a 20nm HKMG process by Samsung/ GF. The two along with Snapdragon 620 will support MDM9X45 LTE-A Cat. 10 networks. The Snapdragon 620 will be based on Qualcomm’s Taipan architecture with four cores clocked between 2.0 ~ 2.5 GHz. This one too will feature Adreno 418 GPU but supports the LPDDR3 933 RAM.
Finally, the Snapdragon 616 will feature eight Cortex A53 cores clocked between 1.8Ghz to 2.2Ghz. It will be built upon a 28nm HKMG process from SMIC and will feature Adreno 408 GPU and support LTE-A Cat. 6 networks.
Overall, it looks like Qualcomm has an advanced SoC lineup this year and it would be interesting to see the performance of these ultra fast processors in real life.
Although Qualcomm is the generally better known chip manufacturer, Mediatek SoCs are also gaining some popularity in the last few months. Not just Chinese and budget manufacturers, but also well known companies are using the chips made from this Chinese chip maker.
Now, a report claims that the company has a long list of releases scheduled for 2015. We recently saw the MT6752 and MT6732 64-bit SoCs from the company based on the Cortex A53 architecture. Then there is the Mediatek MT6795, the fastest of them all, running on a 64-bit Cortex A57 + Cortex 53 architecture and built upon a 28nm process. Unfortunately, even this latest processor didn’t support the ultra high speed 4G LTE Category 6 networks i.e. LTE Advanced network.
However, according to this new document, Mediatek does have a processor under development which will be built upon the 20nm process and will support this high speed Cat. 6 network which theoretically can provide download speeds of up to 300 Mbps. The report also says that the MT6795 64-bit processor has entered mass production which means, we will soon see a lot of high end smartphones using this SoC.
There are five more SoC’s that are expected to be released in the Q2 2015. The MT6753, MT6735 and the MT6735M are all built upon the Cortex A53 architecture and 28nm process. This is going to be the company’s mid-range offering but the highlight of these processors is the support for LTE+C2K networks. This means, the devices which run this processor will support CDMA networks too. The MT6753 is an octa-core processor clocked at 1.5GHz, the Mt6735 has four processors clocked at 1.5Ghz and finally the MT6735M processor also has four cores but clocked at just 1.0 GHz.
There are two other low cost SoC which are expected to hit the markets by the end of Q2/ start of Q3 2015. They are the MT6582 (quad-core clokced at 1.3GHz) and the MT6570 (Dual-core clocked at 1.3Ghz).
The upcoming MT67XX is the one which will directly compete with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 810 chipset as it also supports Cat. 6 LTE networks.
Last year Vivo unveiled the world’s thinnest smartphone, dethroning OPPO’s R5! Later, the company unveiled the Vivo X5S, in the same lineup, which also boasted of a thin profile (although at 6.3mm not as thin as the X5 Max) and upper mid-range specs.
Now, it looks like the company is all set to target the low-end budget market as a new Vivo device called as the Vivo Y27iL was spotted recently on the Chinese certification agency, TENAA. The listing reveals modest specifications, at an affordable price tag of 1000 Yuan i.e. $160.
The new Vivo Y27iL retains the traditional design of Vivo, which is actually a good thing considering its low-end specifications. So, the workmanship and other overall build quality of the device should be good. The phone is thin, and at 6.99mm, its almost the same thickness as the iPhone 6 Plus. Its also pretty light weight too and weighs just 137 grams.
Coming to the specs, the phone comes with a 4.7-inch display with HD 720p resolution. It will be powered by the Snapdragon 410 quad-core processor and will come with 1GB RAM onboard. There will be 8GB internal memory which can be further expanded via MicroSD. The rear camera will be of 8MP while the front shooter will be of 5MP.
The USP of the device is probably its LTE connectivity at such a low price tag. The Y27iL will support GSM, TD-SCDMA, TD- LTE, LTE FDD network, and dual SIM dual standby. Vivo has included the FunTouch skin on top of Android 4.4 KitKat OS.
As you can see, the phone doesn’t have anything special to attract a large number of users. Still, the price tag, Vivo’s brand name as well as LTE connectivity should be enough for the device to get some attention in this highly competitive budget smartphone segment.
Remember last month we said Lenovo was working on a 4000 mAh battery smartphone called as the Lenovo P70t? Looks like the phone will have two different variants — the new one especially targeted at people who would like to have something more powerful.
A new report suggests that the Lenovo P70t from the company’s affordable P series lineup with have a 64-bit MT6752 octa-core variant as well. Apart from the powerful processor, the company has also upgraded the RAM to 2GB instead of the 1GB that we saw earlier. This should make sure that the phone can handle everything that’s thrown at it.
The rest of the specifications remain more or less the same. So, you have a 5-inch display with a resolution of 1280 x 720p. The camera too remains the same. So, there will be a 13MP rear camera and a 5MP front shooter. As for the software, both the models run Android 4.4 KitKat version with the company’s own Vibe UI 2.0 on top. Connectivity options are pretty much standard, so you have 4G / 3G / GSM with dual SIM dual standby support.
Even with the much powerful processor, the selling point of the device remains its massive 4000 mAh battery. And that’s not the impressive part. The company managed to put in this massive battery in an 8.9mm body with a total weight of just over 149 grams. This is what makes Lenovo P70t a breakthrough machine as it proves that an average sized phone can even pack a battery as large as this one. The phone can even reverse charge other devices using an OTG connection! The standby time is a massive 40 days and a 15 minute charge would give you almost 6 hours of talktime!
The 64-bit MT6532 quad-core variant is available for sale in China in the local market for around 1399 Yuan ($225.18). This powerful Lenovo P70t is expected to retail at a much higher price tag, somewhere around 1599 Yuan ($257.18).
Just when we thought things have settled down for a few days, Xiaomi went ahead and released a new image on its official Weibo page. This hints at a possible new announcement by the company on the 20th of January 2015. The teaser image comes not from its smartphone weibo account but from its official gaming account. As always, the teaser image doesn’t reveal what the device would be.
As you can see in the image added to the post, it features three rectangles, with the title — Bigger is Better. Below, you can see the date, 20 January 2015 which is probably the launch date of the device. Given that this image comes from the company’s gaming weibo account, its very likely that this upcoming device is a gaming hardware. But that’s doesn’t help us short down the list.
Along with the image, the page said the following lines: “不管多大、一举拿下”以及“玩大的才爽” whose translation comes to “No matter how big it is, can be taken in one hand”. Now, this means the device will be large, yet compact, which is actually a contradicting statement.
We have a number of theories about the upcoming device, but aren’t sure about any. The first possible option is a new Xiaomi Mi gaming console. The largest rectangle in the picture could represent this. The words, bigger yet compact suits this possibility as consoles can be connected to your large screen HDTVs which makes the overall set up large, however, a console by itself is quite small. But there’s is one problem with this option — Xiaomi just recently unveiled the Mi Box Mini which can also run Android games. There’s even the Xiaomi Mi Box, which is a larger version of the Mini. Now, a dedicated gaming console looks like a great option, but there’s a very little chance that it is actually going to happen.
This brings us to another possibility — a gaming controller. A controller would be logical given that Xiaomi Mi Box was unveiled recently and a controller would be the perfect hardware partner for its users to play games. But this doesn’t explain the bigger is better tag line. So, we are not sure about this.
Another possibility is a gaming focused tablet. Xiaomi could rebrand its Mi Pad lineup to a gaming centric tablet or it could unveil a brand new device itself. This makes better sense and it is in line with the tagline and would be much bigger than the existing Xiaomi Mi Note and the Xiaomi Mi4 devices. It could also bring gaming directly in your hands, instead of a console + TV combination, which could be why Xiaomi hinted that its large yet can be taken in one hand.
As we mentioned earlier, these are just our speculation and we are not yet sure which one of these will be unveiled on January 20. Maybe it will be a whole new device itself, but for now, we don’t know what it is.
We expect more details about the upcoming device in the next two days, so stay tuned to our website for more updates.
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