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ViewSonic V55 to become the World’s First Phone with Iris Recognition Technology

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ViewSonic is not a company known for its smartphones. In fact, its small attempt at the smartphone market with its ViewPad range has been less than impressive. However, the company is not giving up so easily. It is said that ViewSonic is developing a brand new smartphone which will have something that will put even fingerprint sensors to shame.

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The ViewSonic V55 smartphone is said to have the next generation Iris recognition technology, which will essentially scan your unique random eye patterns for biometric identification. Just like fingerprint, everyone’s iris patterns are unique which makes iris recognition a very secured mode of identification. So, with this technology, only the owner of the device, whose iris patterns are recorded pre-recorded can unlock and access information from the smartphone. This makes third party information access practically impossible.

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The ViewSonic V55 will have an Iris scanner on the top right corner of the phone. Unlike fingerprint sensors which are always exposed, this Iris scanner will be hidden from view. When the user wants to unlock the phone via Iris recognition, he or she will have to slide the small piece concealing the scanner. When they slide it open, a light will turn on indicating that the iris scanner has been activated.

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The user can not only unlock the phone using this scanner but also protect files and folders inside the device. The scanner can also secure important files that lie inside it, so even if a third party has unlocked the phone, getting that information would be extremely hard with this additional security. To access those information protected by the Iris recognition sensor, just scan your eye into the sensor and the information will be unlocked. It is said that the Iris recognition tech can be used for a number of additional authentication functions, but we’ll probably hear more about that at its official announcement.

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Apart from the Iris sensor, the ViewSonic V55 smartphone will also come with a number of interesting lenses that can be fitted on to the phone’s camera. The user can mount different types of lenses on the rear camera like fish-eye, Macro, wide-angle etc to achieve unique results, not possible with an ordinary smartphone camera. We have already seen smartphone cases which bring this functionality to the phone, but the V55 has this inbuilt!

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Even the specifications of the phone are high end. The ViewSonic V55 will reportedly come with a 64-bit Snapdragon 410 quad-core processor clocked at 1.4GHz with 2GB RAM and 16GB/ 32GB ROM options onboard. It will have Adreno 306 GPU for stellar graphic performance. On the front, there will be a 5.5-inch OGS 1920 x 1080p display. At the back, there will be a 13MP Sony camera which like we mentioned above, takes external lenses too. It will also support 4G LTE networks for high speed browsing.

The phone looks like its made of plastic with a metal frame surrounding it. The bezels are extremely thin and overall, the device looks well built and premium. As of now, we don’t know the battery capacity but we do hope that its large given the Iris sensor and the 4G LTE support which can drain a lot of power from the phone.

ViewSonic was reportedly planning to launch the device by the end of the year, but given that its almost 2015, we expect it to be sometime in January. The company has not released a price as of now, but it has to be aggressive to compete with other smartphones with better specs.

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Meanwhile, check out the teaser video of the ViewSonic V55 showing off the Iris recognition technology and the external lens support features.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGnZUvUEMn0&feature=youtu.be

Xiaomi to Release Dual 4G LTE Edition Redmi 1s at 4th January

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Xiaomi teased there will be a big thing happened with tencent and today Xiaomi claimed in their Weibo that Xiaomiwill release a new product along with Tencent through QQ space  at 4th January and the phone will be on sale at January . The new product is the long waited new edition of Redmi 1s.

According to the specifications on TENAA, the new Dual 4G LTE Edition Redmi 1s will be powered with Qualcomm’s 64 bit Snapdragon 410, have 4.7 inch 720p display, 1GB RAM, 8GB ROM, 2 megapixel front facing camera and 8 megapixel back camera, 2200mAh battery, running Android 4.4 based MIUI 6.0. This new Redmi 1s supports GSM, WCDMA, TD LTE, and LTE FDD networks. It has 2 SIM card slots, and both of the SIM card slots supports 4G LTE.

According to TENNA’s picture, its weight is 134g and some improvements must have been done with the texture and the bezels are thinner than last edition of Redmi 1s, the screen is also like an OGS screen, everything are pretty much better. But there are already a lot of phones in the market with this kind of  specifications and with more and more new competitors like Dazen and Meizu, how much will this phone will be priced at?

Meanwhile, the next generation Xiaomi Mi smartphone was also leaked recently. According to the leak, the phone features extremely thin bezels. There will also be a black edition model, which was revealed a day before. Moreover, it is said that the flagship will top end specifications like a 2K resolution display, 3GB RAM, 4G LTE support etc. Also, the screen size will be increased from 5-inches to 5.5-5.7 inches in the upcoming flagship.

Unfortunately, apart from the leaked images, there is nothing too concrete about the device. The Xiaomi Mi5 is yet to hit TENAA or crop up on any benchmark websites, so for now, let’s hope that Xiaomi has something exciting to show at CES 2015.

The Best Designed Chinese Smartphones of 2014

As some of our readers are in the uproar of Christmas holidays and counting the last days of 2014, we have decided to show you one of the most beautiful devices, which have been designed by the Chinese manufacturers.

In today’s era of smartphones, both major and minor manufacturers try to make the devices as powerful as possible. They also try to produce the smartphones with as many features as possible. The question has been always open to a debate, do we always need that powerhouse of specs and features? Well, it depends on what we plan to do with our smart devices and some people need that while some do not. On the other hand, it does not really matter what kind of user you are since the first thing you are going to notice on the smartphone is its external beauty and feel in the hand.

It is quite evident that sometimes the mere design just makes us want the device. If it is very well made with the nice shapes and edges, great choice of materials and other things, we may be more tolerant to some of its shortcomings.

Having said that, we must agree that in the past several years more and more manufacturers started paying more attention to the design, build quality and choice of materials used. It definitely applies to both well established Western as well as Chinese manufacturers. However, in such a variety of devices it may be hard to choose from. Let’s take a look at some of our favourite Chinese devices of 2014, which have the best looks (we do not stress the particular order of the devices since the design is dependent on personal opinion).

We just want to note that we do not stress the particular order and price of the devices in this article as the design is a subject to a personal taste and preferences.

IUNI U2

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More design pictures in the gallery below:

We know that the first thing you are going to think is the fact that Iuni U2 (released back in March) is not the newest flagship by the manufacturer as the U3 was already released quite some time ago. However, it is one of the most unique devices out there. The key selling point is all aluminium unibody design, which covers all the device expect for the stripes on the back for better reception and sides of the device. Also, there is two speakers on the bottom, making it stereo sound capable smartphone. In addition to the more tradition black and silver, it also comes in quite unusual, yet good looking green colour. What is more, the IUNI U2 being at 136.9 x 65 x 10.2mm/5.38 x 2.56 x 0.40 inch and packing 4.7 inch Full-HD (469PPI) display is a very compact smartphone according to today’s standards. Furthermore, the device is no slouch on the specs either. It packs a bit outdated, but still capable Snapdragon 800 chip, clocked at 2.2GHz, Adreno 330 (450MHz), 16/32 GB of internal storage (not expandable), 3 GB of Ram, 16.0MP back camera with f/2.2 aperture, 4.0MP front camera with f/2.0 aperture (this is the same UltraPixel sensor used by the HTC One M7) and other features like Bluetooth 4.0, GPS etc.

When the device was presented, many people said that IUNI took a lot of inspiration from the HTC One M7, which is probably was one of the best designed devices at that time. Indeed, there are a few similarities like aluminium unibody, but the end product does have unique design features.

Vivo X5 Max

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Some more pictures of this beauty in the gallery:

We jump right into the recently announced Vivo device. The company likes announcing some interesting devices, which have some of the world’s “firsts”. They did that once they released XPlay 3s, which was the first smartphone with the 2k display. Also, the company set the bar for extremely thin devices with the X3S model.

Right now Vivo takes the crown again with the new champion of thinness in the smartphone industry. The manufacturer managed to shrink the device down to a whopping 4.75mm thickness breaking through the industrial limits. What is more, they have used a fairly unusual, yet innovative way of initialling 90% of the inner components on one side of the device, which have thickness of only 1.77mm.

The X5Max is no slouch on the specs either. It does not offer the flagship grade chip, but packs a reasonable an octa-core Snapdragon 615 with the 4 cores clocked at 1.7 GHz (Cortex-A53) and another 4 cores clocked at 1.0 GHz (Cortex-A53). In addition, the device has Adreno 405 GPU, packs 5.5 inches Full-HD Super Amoled display (401 PPI), 2 GB of Ram, 16 GB of expandable storage (indeed, Vivo even managed to install a dual SIM card slots, one being a Micro SIM, while another doubles as nano SIM/Micro SD slots), 13mp Sony IMX214 Sensor on the back (Vivo says the device will deliver the quality images, which will be close to the Vivo Xshot!), 5mp shooter at the front, GPS, Bluetooth 4.0, 3.5mm headphone jack (it is a great achievement considering the thickness of the device and remembering the Oppo R5, which failed to do that), the Hi-Fi 2.0 (upgraded Hi-Fi audio components). All of this goodness is packed in a beautiful stainless steel body, where the Funtouch OS 2.0, based on Android 4.4.4 KitKat is running the show.

Oppo N3

Oppo is one of the companies, which tries to innovate in certain aspects of smartphone technology. Last year, the manufacturer introduced the N1, which had some innovative features like 206° swivelling camera, O-Touch panel on the back, great looking design and other stuff.

This year, Oppo took one step further. The company upgraded all these features and added some new ones by introducing the N3.

As we can see from the above pictures, the N3 offers a unique design with the most important aspect beign a 206 degrees rotating camera, which packs a 16mp OmniVision sensor, dual-LED flash and integrated motorized system powered by quality German engineering – the company named Schneider Kreuznach. In addition to this, the entire shell of the device is made out of premium quality polycarbonate and air craft grade aluminium. One more beautiful design element is the upgraded skyline notification light on the bottom of the screen. This time, it has a transparent design and provides a futuristic look.

As far as specs go, the device offers some mid 2014 grade flagship specs, which include 5.5 inches Full-HD screen with the Gorilla Glass 3, Snapdragon 801 chip with 4 cores clocked at 2.3 GHz, Adreno 330 GPU, 2 GB of Ram, 32 GB of expandable storage (via Micro SD card up to 128 GB), dual SIM card slot, finger print scanner on the back, GPS, Bluetooth 4.0 and other features.

Meizu MX4 Pro

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The Meizu MX4 is definitely one of the top flagships of 2014 as it offers to of the line specs. But let us start by the design first. First, some may think that it has some inspiration from Apple and Samsung, but still, the company has something to offer on its own. It comes without a surprise that the device is very sturdy and beautifully crafted, which is ensured by an aluminium frame wrapped around the smartphone. In addition to this, the device packs a beautiful 5.5 inches 2K screen with extremely small bezels, which becomes a signature element of Meizu’s design. What is more, the bottom of the device is equipped with a finger print sensor, which is both handy for certain tasks and adds some great details to the design.

As we have already mentioned, the Meizu MX4 Pro is a beast of the specs, which include an amazingly high resolution 5.5-inch 2K (2560 x 1536) screen, which is even a bit higher than regular 2k screens, and it is also covered by the Gorilla Glass 3. Also, the device is being run by a powerful 20nm Samsung Exynos 5430 octa-core processor (Quad-core 2 GHz Cortex-A15 & quad-core 1.5 GHz Cortex-A7), Mali-T628 GPU, has a 3350 mAh battery and has 3GB of RAM. In addition, it comes in 16, 32 or 64 GB storage flavours, which, however, cannot be further expanded via the Micro SD card slot. Also, it has a fingerprint sensor, which is installed in the square home button, 20.7mp rear-facing camera with a 1/2.3-inch CMOS sensor (the same sensor that is being used in Sony Xperia series devices), 5mp front facing snapper, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, Hifi audio chips.

Meizu MX4

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It is a little brother of the abovementioned MX4 Pro. The regular MX4 has almost identical, but a bit smaller body, which is beautifully crafted and has a premium look. With the screen size of somewhat extra-ordinary size of 5.36 inches, Meizu managed to keep the device compact by cutting down the side, top and bottom bezels to the extreme. We can also say that the bezels add some killer looks to the design. If we continue with the specs, we should always keep in mind that “little brother” thing, but it still has a lot to offer like a Mediatek MT6595 chipset (with the 4 A17 cores clocked at 2.2GHz and another 4 A7 cores clocked at 1.7GHz), which manages to run even the most graphic intense games without a sweat, 2GB of Ram, the same Sony 20.7mpx IMX220 Exmor RS sensor at the back, Sony 2mpx IMX208 sensor at the front, 3100 mAh battery, great audio performance and some other great features.

Xiaomi Mi4

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The company like Xiaomi does not need any further introduction as it has become well-known both in China and internationally. This device is once again a proof how Chinese manufactures manage to squeeze in the best hardware into a beautifully designed and reasonably priced package.

The Mi4 takes some inspiration from certain companies as far as design, but it offers very well-thought design, which combines an eye pleasing look and precise craftsmanship. The main accent of the design is the metal frame, which goes all around the phone. It definitely adds a premium look and feel to the device. Furthermore, it has all metal buttons with a nice tactile response. In addition, the Mi4 has machine drilled speaker at the bottom.

If we take a look at the specs, it is a great flagship device. It starts with the Full-HD display, which has “only” 5 inches of size, making the Mi4 one of the most pocket friendly devices. The Xiaomi continues to impress to add one of top of the line chips – Snapdragon 801, with the 4 cores clocked at 2.5 GHz, 3 GB of Ram, Adreno 330 GPU, a juicy non-removable 3080 mAh battery, Sony 13mpx IMX214 camera with very fast F/1.8 aperture at the back and very good front facing 8mpx Sony shooter at the front. In addition, it has all the basic connectivity as you would expect from any flagship device like Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, GPS, Glonass and more. The same like both Meizu MX4 Pro and MX4, however, it lacks the MicroSD card slot and removable battery.

OnePlus One

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OnePlus has made known itself by introducing a “flagship killer” device, the controversial invite system and marketing campaign. If we put all this aside we see a cheap, yet well-made device. It is made out of a polycarbonate body, which comes in white and black colours.  It has a great shape and is comfortable to hold in a hand despite relatively huge footprint of the device.

What is more, the device packs some serious punch for a killer price tag. That includes Snapdragon 5.5 inches Full-HD JDI display, 801 chip, clocked at 2.5 GHz, 3 GB of Ram, Adreno 330 GPU, a great non-removable 3100 mAh battery, Sony 13mpx IMX214 Camera with a good F/2.0 aperture at the back and great front facing 5mpx Sony shooter at the front. In addition, it has all the basic connectivity as you would expect from any flagship device like Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, GPS, Glonass and more.

Lenovo Vibe Z2 Pro (K920)

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Lenovo, one of the largest smartphone manufacturers in the world, offers a very attractive and well-made device – Vibe Z2 Pro (K920). The key element of the design is that the whole device has a metal housing, which adds a solid look and feel. In addition, some of the parts of the design include screws, which add some some industrial spirit. Furthermore, the smartphone is quite thin at 7.7mm, which is always a good thing. Moreover, the device packs a massive 6 inches display, but the Lenovo managed to cut the bezels to a great level as the dimensions of the Vibe Z2 Pro are left at 156 x 81.3 x 7.7 mm (6.14 x 3.20 x 0.30 inches). The camera, however, is a bit bulky, but it should not be a deal breaker for many consumers.

In addition to all the beauty of the design, the device offers some flagship grade specs. It has a Snapdragon 801 chip, with the 4 cores clocked at 2.5 GHz, 3 GB of Ram, 32 GB of storage (non-expandable, however), Adreno 330 GPU, a juicy non-removable Li-Po 4000 mAh battery, 16mp ISOCELL camera with OIS made by Samsung on the back, a reasonable 5mp shooter on the front, Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, GPS, Glonass and other features.

Huawei Ascend Mate 7

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The Huawei went premium, when they introduced their new all-metal phablet – the Mate 7. We think that this device shows a shift towards being a premium smartphone maker, which is able to offer good looking quality devices for a great price. Indeed, the Huawei already launched some nice looking smartphones in the past, but we believe that the Mate 7 is one step further in terms of the materials used.

The device packs a 6 inches Full-HD display, covered by Gorilla Glass 3, which sits in quite compact body due to cut down bezels from each side. Also, the smartphone is powered by HiSilicon Kirin K925 octa-core processor, which has 4 1.8 GHz Cortex-A15 cores and 4 1.3 GHz Cortex-A7 cores. Furthermore, it has a Mali-T628 GPU, 16/32 GB of expandable storage, 2/3 GB of Ram, dual SIM card slots, where one of them also acts as a Micro SD card slot, non-removable Li-Po 4100 mAh battery, GPS, Bluetooth and other features you would expect from a flagship device.

To sum up, we can see that the Chinese manufacturers can produce both great looking and well made devices, which also pack some top of the line specifications. We are happy to see that more and more manufacturers are following this trend. Thus, we expect to see some new offerings by the smartphone makers in 2015.

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Meizu M1 Note up for pre-order on Oppomart

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Meizu recently announced the Meizu M1 Note, the first device in its Blue Charm lineup last week. The phone came with impressive specs with an iPhone 5C like design at a very affordable price tag. While the M1 Note went out of stock for pre-order on its officially website within hours after the the company started accepting orders, those who missed the chance can now pre-order it online via Oppomart.

Although the website is named Oppomart, you can practically buy any device of Chinese make from this e-commerce website. The Meizu M1 Note was spotted listed on this website earlier today for a price tag of $249. While this is more than the actual $160 price tag of the M1 Note, we often see resellers charge a premium price for a hot product, especially when it is very hard to purchase. As a result, even at $249, if someone really wants to buy the device, the M1 Note still turns out to be a very capable phone at this price.

Once you place an order for the phone, Oppomart will start shipping your product one week from now. We expect very high demand for this new Meizu device, hence make sure you hurry up your order. The Meizu M1 Note is available in five different colors namely Blue, Green, White, Yellow and Pink.

Coming to the specifications, the Meizu M1 Note will sport a 5.5-inch Full HD 1080p display and will be powered by the 64-bit 1.7GHz octa-core MT6752 processor with 2GB RAM. There will be 16GB on board storage which unfortunately will not be expandable. At the back will be a 13MP camera sensor capable of recording 1080p videos and slo-mo videos at 120fps. While up front, there will be a 5MP shooter. The phone will support features such as dual band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS + Glonass navigation and 4G LTE. Finally, a 3140 mAh battery will power all these features, which is quite decent for a device of this size.

Head over to the oppomart website to pre-order the all new Meizu M1 Note.

Black Edition Xiaomi Mi5 Leaked?

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People are reporting  that Xiaomi will launch the Xiaomi Mi5 at CES 2015, and we had seen a Possible Xiaomi Mi5 white edition leak picture before, and today we found the possible Black Edition Xiaomi Mi5. The picture was spotted on Weibo shows a phone similar in appearance to the current Xiaomi Mi4, and it even has the Xiaomi logo and MIUI.

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Xiaomi’s Mi4 lead is a 5-inch telephone, But the gadget in this picture is a much bigger cell phone perhaps measuring between 5.5-inch and as much larger between 5.7-inch. We can see that the general look of Mi4 is held by this secret phone.  We can see from the picture that this phone has a very thin bezel, almost as thin as the earlier leaked black edition. But since it’s black, we can’t see the receiver, light sensor, camera and Xiaomi’s logo very clearly.
Rumors belive that this phone will run a 2k dispaly and pack a Snapdragon 805 with no less than 3gb RAM and offer 4G LTE. So is this the genuine Xiaomi Mi5 that is supposed to be shown at CES, or is this an artificially made picture from xiaomi mi4? What do you think about it after knowing some of its features?

Xiaomi Mi5 may not likely to be powered with snapdragon 810 cause Samsung Galaxy Note 4 S-LTE had taken it as the first one that powered with it!

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The Budget Hi-Fi Lenovo K5 Smartphone Leaks

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In the last month of 2014, one of the leaders of PC and smartphone world, launched the first “Internet” phone – Lenovo K3, which was priced at an amazingly low 599 Yuan. That device had some music-centric aspects, but did not go too deep into hardware sound accelerations like Vivo or Meizu with their devices.

This time around it seems to be a bit different story as the company is ready to introduce a budget Hi-Fi device for music lovers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8l0oO–RMc&feature=youtu.be

According to the short clip, which was shot in Lenovo sound labs, Lenovo is putting a lot of effort to manufacture the Hi-Fi smartphone for a budget-friendly price. The company works hard to offer a consumer the best audio experience by integrating the hardware and software into their new Lenovo K5 device.

It seems to be a pretty great offering by the company as they are trying to catch up with the recent trend of Hi-Fi goodies packed in the smartphones, which was first started by the Hi-End smartphone manufacturer Vivo.

However, we are not aware of any other specs of this upcoming device. Still, we believe it would pack quite reasonable hardware for the price point. In the end, we think that the K5 device by the Lenovo will be a great addition to their already huge smartphone portfolio.

Antutu Website Discloses Amazing Specs of the HTC Hima(M9)

HTC has set a new bar in the Android world by introducing the devices like the One M7 and One M8, which both had stunning all metal body design, top-notch specs and great, yet simple user interface.

This time around, we are waiting for a new true flagship device from the company, because it has been a while since they released their last flagship One M8. It seems that the new top seller will be a heck of the device as the benchmarking system Antutu disclosed quite a lot of specs.

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As we can see from the above mentioned specs, the new HTC, which has a codename HTC Hima(M9) will be a true powerhouse. It uses a top of the line Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 chip, clocked at up to 2.0GHz, Adreno 430 graphics processor, 3GB of Ram memory, 5 inches 1080P screen, 13mp front camera and 20.7 million-pixel rear camera (most likely Sony made), Android 5.0.1 with new HTC Sense skin on top of it.

We can say a few points about the upcoming device from the HTC. First, the good thing is that they are finally ditching the poorly received 4mp Ultra Pixel camera, which was a major drawback from the M8 device. We are happy to see a huge improvement in the camera department.

Secondly, staying with the 1080P screen may not sound a pretty good idea if the HTC want to have best of the best device in 2015. However, the necessity of Quad HD displays will always be a matter of discussion.

Xiaomi laptop leaked online with Intel processor, 16GB RAM and $480 price tag

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Xiaomi has quickly become the fourth largest smartphone manufacturer in the world. But apart from phones, the company also has other products in its portfolio like tablet, Router and TV Box. Looks like there will be one more addition to the portfolio as the latest leak suggests at a possible Xiaomi MI laptop in works.

This is not the first time we are hearing about a Xiaomi Notebook as in the past few m0nths, there have been plenty of speculations about the company entering the PC industry as a part of its next strategy. But today, we have something more conclusive, some pictures of the upcoming notebook as well as its configuration.

 

Some photos of the Xiaomi Notebook cropped up online today. As you can see in the pictures, the device looks exactly like Apple’s Macbook Air except for the logo on the front and the back. Below the display is the bright orange ‘MI’ branding and at the back too there is a silver ‘MI’ logo. The laptop also features a special orange colored function button that can take custom functions from the user.

The leak also provides some specs. The Xiaomi laptop will be powered by the latest Intel Haswell i7-4500u processor with 2 x 8GB dual channel memory. There will be a large 15-inch 1080p display up front. The laptop is expected to run on a linux OS customized by Xiaomi. As for the price, it is said that this Xiaomi laptop will retail for somewhere around 2999 Yuan which comes to around $481.

If these specs and pictures are of the real Xiaomi notebook, then we may have a winner here. The specs and the pricing make it a value for money device, much like other Xiaomi products. So, this laptop may turn out to be a best seller like Redmi 1S and the Xiaomi Mi3.

Unfortunately, Xiaomi is yet to announce anything officially and we still don’t know whether the company is actually developing a laptop in spite of these rumors. But given that we have been hearing about such a device for a long time plus with the company expanding into newer products like the recently announced Xiaomi Air Purifier, we won’t be surprised if Xiaomi does release this notebook PC sometime later next year.

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Neo MX4, the Meizu MX4 clone up for pre-order at 799 Yuan ($128)

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Meizu MX4 is considered as one of the best Chinese smartphones of the year. Given its popularity it was only a matter of time somebody copied its design. That’s exactly what happened.

Now Neo, the company behind the consumer favorite Neo M1 has come up with a new smartphone called as the Neo MX4. As you can see, the company didn’t even bother to change the name of the MX4 clone. The Neo MX4 will look similar to the Meizu MX4 but will be much cheaper than the company flagship.

Neo MX4 2

Neo MX4 is slightly smaller than the original MX4 as it comes with just a 5-inch display instead of the 5.36-inch one found on the Meizu flagship. Also, the resolution is much lower in this model, just a 720p display instead of the 2K resolution screen on the MX4. The Neo MX4 will be powered by a 64-bit MT6732 quad-core processor clocked at 1.5GHz. There will be a 13MP camera at the back along with a 5MP shooter up front. The processor will be supported by 1GB RAM and 8GB ROM which will be further expandable via MicroSD. The phone supports TD-LTE/ TD-SCDMA and GSM networks along with dual SIM cards. There is also dual noise reduction technology as well as dual band Wi-Fi support. For software, the Neo MX4 runs on Android 4.4.4 KitKat OS. Unfortunately, there is just a 2,100 mAh battery onboard to power all these specs, which is a bit smaller than what some 5-inchers offer these days.

As you can see, the specs are nowhere near what the original Meizu MX4 offered, but it is still good enough for your everyday use. So, if you liked Meizu’s design but do not want to spend more than $150 on a device, the Neo MX4 turns out to be a good option. Its design, mid-range specs and the 799 Yuan price tag ($128) definitely makes it a good buy in this range.

 

Neo is not really a company who specializes in clones. But unlike competitors like Elephone, No.1 and Doogee, it has very limited products in its lineup. So, MX4 could prove as a valuable addition to its portfolio of devices. The Neo M1 is quite popular among buyers due to its great design and another product like the Neo MX4 would definitely help the company to attract new customers.

Also, we don’t think Meizu will mind a MX4 clone in the market given that the company itself takes inspiration from other manufacturers like Apple. The recent release of the Meizu M1 Note (Blue Charm) is the best example of this. The M1 Note copies the popular design of Apple’s iPhone 5C with even the materials and the color profile inspired from the Apple device.

The Neo MX4 is currently available for pre-order for a discounted price tag of 799 Yuan ($128) instead of the normal price of 999 Yuan ($160) on JD.com. Make sure you check out their website for more details.



  

Huawei Mediapad X2 pictures and specs leaked, features full metal body!

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Huawei Honor X1 was one of the better 7-inch phablets out there in the market. Now, the second generation model named Huawei Honor X2 has been leaked online. Huawei will reportedly launch the device at the upcoming CES 2015. So, you’ll get to see the next generation model within a year of launch of the X1 phablet, which was announced back at MWC in February.

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These pictures were earlier leaked by a website called nowhereelse.fr claiming to be the next Huawei Ascend P8. However, as you can see, the device in the pictures is too big to be the rumored 5.2-inch P8. In fact, they reveal a much bigger form factor, somewhere around 7-inches, which is exactly what this latest leak claims it to be i.e. the new Honor X2.

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From what we can see in the pictures, the Honor X2 looks like a great device. The tablet will come with a full metal body. As you can see in the pictures leaked, the back metal panel has a smooth finish, but given that this is just a component of the device, the final product will have some kind of coating over this back plate. The power button, volume rocker keys, MicroSIM slot as well as the MicroSD card slot are located on one side of the device. This isn’t surprising given that the current generation Honor X1 features all these slots/ buttons on one side too. The corners are less rounded than the earlier model, making it look like a true tablet instead of a phone. But the rest of the designs remains somewhat similar to the Honor X1.

The leak also provides us with some specs. The Honor X2 tablet phone is expected to come with the same Kirin 925 processor that we saw in recent releases. There will be 3GB RAM inside. The 7-inch display on the front comes with a resolution of 1920 x 1200 pixels. The Huawei Honor X2 tablet is a phone in the body of a tablet, so you can do regular smartphone stuff on the large screen like calling, messaging etc. The device will be unveiled at CES 2015, which is just a few days away and will reportedly retail for a price tag of 1999 Yuan, which comes to around $320.

We still don’t know many of the phone’s features like the camera, battery, internal storage or even the measurements, but given that it will be announced at CES 2015, we don’t have to wait too long for the info.

So, what do you think about this upcoming phone tablet?

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No.1 X-Men X1 ultra-rugged phone survives after a car goes over it!

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Recently there have been a lot of buzz about the upcoming ultra-rugged No.1 X-men X1 smartphone. Today, we got a glimpse of the true resistant power of the phone, when the guys over at No.1 ran a car over the device.

As you can see in the video shown below, the No.1 X-men X1 actually survives a car being rolled over it. Thanks, to its hard outer shell, the phone comes out scratch less after this feat. The company had made big claims about the device back when it announced it, but this is a real world example to show the actual strength of the No.1 X1. In the video, like you can see, the touchscreen worked perfectly fine even after the car went over it. So, its safe to assume that the phone can take a beating and it’s built to survive harsh conditions.

The X1 is certified to be rugged. Its IP68 complaint and is resistant against 7 different kinds of damages. The phone is waterproof, dustproof , pressure proof, freezeproof, Shockproof, high-temperature proof and Scratch Proof. So, you don’t have to worry about damaging your phone in whatever harsh environment that you are going to expose it.

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Even the specifications are mid-range making it different than other rugged phones which usually feature disappointing specs. On the front, there is a 5-inch display with HD resolution which has become a standard among mid-range phones these days. Inside, the phone houses a quad-core 1.3GHz MT6582 processor with 1GB RAM. At the rear is the 13MP camera sensor with LED flash while up front lies the 3MP shooter. To power all these specs, you have a very large 5,800 mAh battery inside, which the company claims provides standby times of over 50 days which is a pretty impressive claim for any smartphone. It comes with Android 4.4.2 KitKat out of the box. As for the network connectivity, it supports GSM 850/900/1800/1900m and WCDMA 850/900/2100 networks.

Clearly the specs, design as well as the 7-Proof nature of the phone makes it one of the best rugged smartphones that we have seen lately. We have not yet received an official price from the company but expect the phone to retail anywhere around $185.

For more information, check out their official website here.

So, what do you think of the device after the durability test?  Would you buy the all new No.1 X-Men X1?

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Rumors: Xiaomi Arch could be the world’s first dual curved edge phone

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Xiaomi has always been the manufacturer focused on offering the best possible features at a very affordable price tag. However, earlier today we came across a Xiaomi phone that’s very different than the current offerings from the company.

A new device claiming to be Xiaomi Arch was spotted today in a poster. The same picture further said that the device was the world’s first dual curved screen design phone in the market. According to the picture, both the sides of the display on this model is curved unlike the recently announced Samsung Galaxy Note Edge which also has a curved display edge but only on one side.

The curves will reportedly feature short cut menu’s much like the Note Edge as well as instant notifications regarding calls, messages etc. With this dual curved edge display design, the Xiaomi Arch will have much more real estate on the sides than the current Note 4 Edge.

The overall design looks pretty standard with the ‘Mi’ branding on top and the three capacitive buttons at the bottom. However, remember that this is just a poster and not the real device. Its very easy to cook up a concept like this to excite Xiaomi fans throughout the globe, but we don’t think this will ever materialize.

Samsung has spent a lot of years in research and development of its Galaxy Note Edge, which is also hard to manufacture and therefore available in limited quantities. Moreover, it retails at a very premium price given its cutting edge design and advanced features.

Xiaomi works on a very different strategy than Samsung and hence, its highly unlikely that this so called Xiaomi Arch will ever materialize into a real product.

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Still, if Xiaomi ever released a product like this, would you buy it?

 

What Is the Cheapest Way to Buy Elephone P6000?

Elephone Smartphone products have already secured a distinguished presence in the already overcrowded Smartphone market and the ‘P’ series phones are no exception. The Elephone P6000, which is scheduled to be launched in January next year, runs on Quad Core 1.5GHz processor and packs in loads of other features that would surely bring a smile on the lips of the gizmo freaks. Where on the internet are the best Elephone P6000 deals available? Where can you get the best price for Elephone P56000? Read on to find.

E-retailers offering Elephone P6000 at discounted price

Good news for gizmo freaks, a couple of mobile phone e-stores are now accepting pre-orders for the soon-to-be-launched Elephone P6000. These online dealers and retailers are a part of the extended affiliate network of Elephone, the China based manufacturer of Smartphones and state-of-the-art gadgets. These sites are now offering special pre-launch price for the much awaited Elephone P6000, which is all set to hit the stores in China, US and in a few other selected countries come January 2015. It is official now that the phone can be bought at much below the Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price, provided you order it on or before December 31st this year.

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While this is true that the much anticipated Elephone P6000 can be bought at discounted price as a part of the ongoing pre-sales offer, you can get it at an even lower price if you have a coupon code. For example, one site is offering the Elephone P6000 at a very low price ($169.99). However, if you have the coupon code EPCN, you can get the ubercool Smartphone at an even more jaw-dropping price. Can you believe that you can actually save 14 USD even on the special pre-sale price? Yes, the phone is available exclusively for buyers who have the coupon code EPCN at just $145.99. Isn’t it cool?

Just grab your coupon code: Spring15 and order!

buy elephone p6000 for $145.99 [socialpoll id=”2243002″]

Meizu MX4 Pro vs. Huawei Honor 6 Plus vs. Xiaomi Mi4 Heat Test

When it comes to smartphones there are a lot of things we consider. First, we start by the design, then we dive in to the specs. Most of us want the super-specced devices to be able to handle things like gaming, record high resolution videos and do other stuff. However, the smartphone, the same as any electronic device produces heat. The heat can be especially felt when we throw some high intensity tasks, which need more power from the device.

Right now we would like to see how one of the best Chinese smartphones can handle the heat.

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In the first picture we can see the heat test of the touch screen part while playing a quite high intensity game – Riptide GP2. As you can see, the temperature is depicted in colours and numbers in each device.

In this test the best results were shown by the Honor 6 Plus, which uses the Kirin 925 processor. Its temperature reaches the maximum of 37.6 at the bottom of the device. We believe that this is quite comfortable temperature to hold as the usual temperature of human body is 36.6 degrees in Celsium.

The second came up the Meizu MX4 Pro, which managed to heat up a bit more and reach the temperature of 42.7 degrees at the top of the device. It may start getting a bit uncomfortable.

The worst results were shown by the Xiaomi Mi4. As you can see in the first picture above, the device tends to heat up at the top of the device and reaches an uncomfortable temperature of 44.8 degrees.

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In this picture we can see the same test run on each device, but the temperature is being measured at the back cover side of the device.

Again, the winner here is the Honor 6 Plus, which heats up at a reasonable 37.9 temperature. We believe it is a comfortable level of heat to handle in our hands.

The second device in this test is the MX4 Pro, which reaches 40.3 degrees.

The worst is, again, the Mi4, which heat up at what it becomes clear the weak point of the device, the top part. It reaches the temperature of 46.6 degrees, which will definitely make your hands sweat.

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The third test shows the heat produced at the touch screen area after video recording for half an hour.

The best result is shown by the Honor 6 Plus, which reached the maximum of 38.4 degrees at the bottom of the device.

The second came up the Mi4, but the temperature is significantly higher at 44.5 degrees.

The worst result was shown by the MX4 Pro by Meizu with the temperature level of 46.8 degrees. We believe that this level of heat may get quite uncomfortable to hold the device for a longer period like 30 mins.

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The last test is practically the same as the third one, but this time the heat was measured at the back of the device, where we usually hold the smartphone.

Again, the best result was shown by the Huawei Honor 6 Plus, which reaches a very reasonable temperature of 36.7 degrees.

The second is the MX4 Pro, but the temperature is almost 10 degrees higher at 45.3 degrees.

The worst is the Xiaomi Mi4 as it heats up at the very uncomfortable 47.8 degrees.

All in all, the tests have shown that the Huawei’s newest flagship device does not produce that much heat as its competitors, which is a great achievement for the company. The second place should be given to the Meizu MX4 Pro. However, this device along with the Xiaomi Mi4, which comes at the worst third place, produces significantly higher amounts of heat. It may become uncomfortable to hold the device after extensive periods of usage. Those, who really do a lot of intensive tasks like gaming or video recording should take this into consideration.

Lenovo Tab2 A7-30 voice tablet goes for sale at 999 Yuan ($160) in China

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Lenovo A7-30 low cost tablet has been quite popular among buyers, especially those who are looking for a device which can make calls too. Now, the second generation model of the device, namely the Lenovo Tab2 A7-30 voice tablet went on sale in China for an official price of 999 yuan.

Lenovo has somehow reduced the size of this new tablet as compared to the old A7-30. So, the new measurements are 191 x105x 8.9mm instead of 198 x 119.8 x 10.5 mm. As you can see, the tablet is now much smaller and compact than the older model but retains the same 7-inch display which makes it better portable and easier to hold with one hand.

As for the tech specs, the new model features a 7-inch IPS display with the same resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels. Inside, there is a MTK8382 quad-core processor clocked at 1.3GHz. This is the same processor used in the previous generation. There is 1GB RAM and 16GB internal storage. The rear camera measures 5MP while the front measures 3MP, both upgraded from the 2MP/ 0.3MP sensors found in the last model. Inside, a 3450 mAh powers all these specs.

Even though this is just an entry level tablet, it comes with over 10 gesture control features. You can even wake up the device with double tap on display. It runs on Android 4.4 KitKat OS.

As mentioned above, the Lenovo Tab2 A7-30 went on sale in China for 999 Yuan which comes to around $160. Since, first generation model was available in a number of countries worldwide, expect more details about an international release soon.

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Lumia 1020 running Ubuntu OS spotted!

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Nokia Lumia 1020 was an interesting device. It came with a very large sensor at the back, a 41MP camera which could click pictures better than most other smartphones in the market. Like all other Lumia devices, it ran Microsoft’s Windows Mobile OS.

However, looks like Lumia 1020 can run Ubuntu OS as well, atleast one of the Weibo users proved that it was possible. Team Ubuntu which is usually behind a number of leaks online, released some pictures earlier today claiming that they made their Lumia 1020 run Ubuntu.

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As you can see in the pictures added in the post, the Lumia 1020 is running on Ubuntu OS which is very similar to the desktop version that we have seen in the past few years. The menu bar is on the left, which is the same as the taskbar on Windows desktop while the settings bar is on top which has the volume level indicator, Wi-Fi as well as the settings option. If you have ever used any of the recent Ubuntu desktop releases, you would see that the OS is very similar to the one shown in the pictures.

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We still don’t know whether everything works on this Lumia 1020. It would be interesting to see how the OS handles the large 41MP sensor at the back and whether the pictures captured are of similar quality as that of the Windows running device. We hope to see more details soon.

Ubuntu for mobile isn’t a new concept. Canonical, the company behind the OS has been trying to release Ubuntu powered smartphones for the past one year, however the launch has been delayed so far. According to the latest news, the first true Ubuntu powered smartphone will release in Europe in the second week of February. This budget phone will be sold directly to customers via the Spanish carrier Bq.

For those interested in this new OS for mobile platforms, currently, there is a way to try out Ubuntu. You can install the OS on a number of Google’s Nexus devices. Some of the supported phones include the old Nexus 4, Nexus 7 2013 tablet and the Nexus 10.

 

 

 

Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 back panel and specs leaked

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Xiaomi Redmi Note is highly popular among budget phablet lovers and apparently the second generation model, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 has been leaked online. While the picture does not reveal the full body of the device, but it does show the back cover, which is a bit different than current Redmi Note model.

The camera sensor and the LED flash are located on the top left corner of the new device instead at the top center region. Moreover, the slightly large opening on top could indicate a dual LED flash instead of the single LED flash found on the current Redmi Note. the ‘Mi’ branding remains at the bottom region of the rear panel. Interestingly, we don’t see a speaker grill on the leaked panel.

As you can see, there are some measurements given on the picture too, however, it doesn’t look like they are right. The length and width are okay at 159mm and 82mm respectively, but the thickness as given on the picture — 25mm is too big. The current generation model has a width of around 9.5mm, so it’s better we ignore the dimensions given by the source for now.

Current Redmi Note back panel
Current Redmi Note back panel

The same source also revealed the possible specs of the device. So, the new Redmi Note 2 is expected to come with the same 5.5-inch display as the original model but with a bumped up resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. An eight-core 64-bit processor will power the device (probably Snapdragon 615 or Mediatek 6752) along with 2GB RAM and 16GB internal storage. At the back, there will be a 13MP camera sensor while on the front, it will have a 5MP shooter. The battery is said to be above 3,000 mAh. The Redmi Note 2 will run on Android 4.4 KitKat with MIUI 6 on top.

The source reveals that the phone will be released between January 21 to January 28 2015.

While these specs are slightly better than the current Redmi Note, they might just be enough to upgrade the device yet maintain the same price tag. The current generation model came with a 5.5-inch 720p display, an eight-core processor but not 64-bit and just 8GB internal storage. These are the specs that have been bumped up in the new generation Redmi Note 2. The camera and the battery capacity which were already good on the Note have been kept the same. So, if the leaked specs does turn out to be true, we may have a winner here.

With these leaked specs, the Redmi Note 2 could prove a worthy competitor to the Meizu M1 Note (Blue Charm). Both the devices are aimed at the budget customers looking for the best experience and both have enough hardware to keep their customers excited. So, it would be interesting to see how both perform in the market at a similar price tag.

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Meanwhile, read our earlier article where Xiaomi Redmi was spotted with a fingerprint sensor.

 

 

 

 

 

Xiaomi Redmi spotted with fingerprint scanner!

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It’s unexpected to see a Redmi spotted with fingerprint scanner in this Christmas.  We can help to think if Xiaomi is going to bring the one-touch fingerprint scanner into the budget smartphone market?  But the pictures are leaked from Weibo, and the leaker said it’s Focaltech showing off their latest one-touch fingerprint scanner solution, and the Redmi with one-touch fingerprint scanner  is refitted.

The expert, Ms. Sun Changxu said that it is fairly easy to achieve the modification method by transferring from USB Interface to SPI. According to the users experience, it sounds like the fingerprint scanning speed is very fast. From seeing the published images, the solution that the producer launched is called One-touch Fingerprint Scanner. It is integrated underneath the back camera of Redmi, which is similar to the solution used on Huawei Ascend Mate 7.

Fingerprint scanner technology is becoming more and more widely use in Chinese smartphone market now, but most of them are flagships, barely any mid-range smartphones had a fingerprint scanner in it. But with more and more  fingerprint scanner companies providing more and more solutions, there must be a way to apply them on the budget smartphone market.

Lenovo P70t with a 4000mAh battery spotted in live pictures

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Just a few days back we reported that Leneovo will soon announce the Lenovo P70t with a huge 4000 mAh battery. At that time, we only had limited pictures which didn’t really show off the device completely. But today, almost a week after the report, we have four new live pictures of the device which reveal the P70t in its full glory.

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The black and white models of the device was seen online. The overall chassis is round around edges and device has a smooth finish. The rear panel is given an artificial leather finish. On the right, you have the power and the volume rocker buttons, while the left side is completely clean. On the top left corner of the back cover, you have the round camera sensor along with an LED flash and at the middle you have the Lenovo branding. There is a metal frame around the body of the device.

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As for the specifications, the phone features a 5-inch 720p OGS display. Inside, there is a 64-bit MT6732 quad-core processor with 1GB RAM and 8GB ROM. The rear camera sensor measures 13MP while the front sensor measures 5MP. The phone supports dual SIM cards on 3G, 4G LTE and GSM networks.

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But the highlight of the device, like we mentioned above is its battery. The Lenovo P70t comes with a large 4000 mAh battery which the company claims can provide standby times of over 46 days. While the phone will last for more than 2 days easily with user it’s replaceable 4000 mAh battery, its battery life is further increased by some of the tech inside the device. For example, when the user locks the phone, it automatically shuts down all the background apps. Also, when the phone is fully charged and still charging, it smartly utilizes the charge from the socket and not the battery to avoid wasting the phone’s fully charged battery.

Clearly, the Lenovo P70t is built for businessmen and other users who would never want to run out of charge. While the pricing has not been disclosed yet, we expect an announcement soon.

 

 

Alleged pictures of Xiaomi MiPad 2 reveal a 1.8GHz Intel chipset

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Xiaomi has quickly jumped up to become the fourth largest smartphone manufacturer recently. While the company’s smartphones have always been a hot topic of conversation, this time around, it is the next generation of the less known Xiaomi MiPad that was spotted in pictures.

Some images claiming to be the next Xiaomi MiPad 2 was recently spotted on Weibo and reveals some interesting specs about the upcoming Xiaomi device.

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First of all, the device looks a bit different than the existing Xiaomi MiPad. But the source claims that it has a same 7.9-inch retina display as the current generation. Moreover, the RAM stays at 2GB and there is 16GB internal storage. From the pictures, it looks like the device is running on MIUI built upon the Android 4.4.4 KitKat platform.

Coming to the interesting part, it is said that the device will have an Intel chipset clocked at an impressive 1.8GHz instead on NVIDIA’s Tegra K1. This wouldn’t be surprising given that Xiaomi was in talks with Intel for supplying SoCs for its current generation tablet. But later the company decided to go with NVIDIA. Another reason for this change could be Intel’s recent efforts to get deep into the portable devices market. The company has shown great interest in supplying chips for phones and wearables, so Xiaomi’s recent popularity might have convinced them to strike a deal.

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Unfortunately, the pictures could be fake too. There is no Mi branding on top of the leaked tablet and the overall design too is different than the current generation MiPad. Apart from MIUI, there’s no concrete evidence to prove that this is the upcoming Xiaomi MiPad 2 tablet. So, make sure you take this news with a pinch of salt.

If the device is indeed coming soon, we expect more leaks in the next few weeks, which hopefully will be more convincing. So, make sure you stay tuned to the websites for the latest updates.

[Source: Weibo]