The past few months have been quite productive for the Chinese smartphone company, Xiaomi. Recently, we have come across plenty of posters, leaks as well as renders claiming/ hoping to be the next Xiaomi flagship and today, we have one more poster to add to the list, thanks to the leaks from Weibo.
This time around its a bezel less (almost), large and a powerful smartphone that can be seen showing off the Xiaomi ‘Mi’ branding on top. Ofcouse, this is not a real picture, just a poster, but the render came out quite good, almost as good as what Xiaomi fans worldwide would like their next flagship to look like.
The smartphone in the picture claims to be the Xiaomi Mi4S, the successor to the current Xiaomi Mi4 flagship. While the picture does not give out any concrete details about the possible specs of the phone, what it says is that the new Mi4S is a beast of a smartphone. The poster says that the phone comes with the fastest processor, thinnest bezels, best display and the most powerful camera in the world. Of course, its hard to define what’s the best in this varied and competitive market, so we can’t really predict the specs with accuracy. Also, this could be a fan made poster too.
However, in case you have been following news about Xiaomi recently, there were two leaked phones which claimed to be the Xiaomi Mi5. The phone in the poster looks exactly like these two models. So, this could be the real deal, but it is too early to come to a conclusion. The earlier leaks said that the Mi5 would come with a Snapdragon 805 processor with 3GB RAM, 5.5-5.7 inch display and 4G LTE support. The poster says that it has the world’s best camera but the leaked info said nothing about the rear and front camera sensors on the phone. So, even though some say there will be a 20.7MP sensor on board, we still aren’t sure about what kind of camera tech would the new flagship feature.
Overall, the leaks have created a very nice picture of the Xiaomi Mi4s and hence, it would be interesting to see what exactly comes out true from these leaks when Xiaomi actually reveals the new phone.
Meanwhile, a new Xiaomi Redmi 1S model is expected to be announced tomorrow with dual LTE support. The phone will reportedly feature a 4.7-inch 720p display with 4G LTE and an 8MP rear camera. You can check out more details here.
We recently reviewed the UWatch U8 Pro smartwatch which is one of the cheapest smartwatches currently available in the market. However, if you are looking for something more fancy, you might want to take a look at the all new No.1 G2.
No.1 has a lot of smartphones under its belt, most of which are clones of famous flagships. But given the recent surge in the demand for smartwatches, this Chinese manufacturer decided to try out its luck in the smartwatch category. Like its recent smartphone releases, this one too is a clone of a famous flagship smartwatch, the Samsung Gear watch. So, you get the same looks and design as the Gear smartwatch, which on the other hand makes it look a lot more posh and premium than other offerings in this range.
We have a lot to say about this new smartwatch, so, without wasting any more of your time, lets take a look at the No.1 G2 smartwatch review.
No.1 G2 UNBOXING
Even though you can purchase the No.1 G2 for less than $100, the overall package looked quite premium and well built. The smartwatch came in a white box with all the features listed on top of the box with colorful icons. As you can see in the pictures below, the box looked quite sturdy. So unlike many other Chinese companies, its good to see that the company has taken special care of the package.
The watch itself was placed in a white pillow like cushion to prevent any scratches while transportation. Given that its a smartwatch, you don’t get many things inside the box. Inside it, we got the 350 mAh battery which came separate from the watch. It had some charge when we installed and tried to power on the device but you’ll have to charge it for a few hours before you go ahead and test it. There’s also a microUSB cable inside for charging and transferring data to and from the device.
DESIGN
Given that No.1 has taken inspiration from the Galaxy Gear smartwatch for this particular device, you know exactly how it looks and feels. Because, despite its low price tag the company has made sure that the watch is made from quality materials. The construction is sturdy and solid, thereby matching its premium looks.
As you can see in the pictures, the face is made out of metal, while the rubber bands are made of good quality rubber. And if you ever feel that you need to change these bands, you can do that too with ease. The highlight of the G2’s built is the onboard sapphire glass. Yes, the same tough Sapphire glass display that is reportedly better than the current Gorilla Glass generations.
And for those longing for a different look, the G2 is available in three different colors namely silver, gold and grey. All of them looks good but we have a feeling many would go for the gold finish.
HARDWARE
Here are some key specifications about the device.
The No.1 G2 smartwatch is powered by a MT2502A processor with 128M + 32M memory configuration. It has a 1.54-inch TFT screen with a resolution of 240 x 240. While this isn’t the biggest smartwatch displays that we have seen recently, it is still big enough to allow easy touch inputs and on screen notifications. Like mentioned above, the front is protected by Sapphire Glass, so you don’t have to worry about scratches on the display.
The overall dimensions of the device comes out to 36.9 x 58.4 x 10 mm which is quite decent for a smartwatch. There is a 350 mAh battery inside, which is once again standard when you compare with other competitors like LG G Watch or Moto 360. You can charge it via the provided MicroUSB port on the watch.
There is an inbuilt speaker, microphone, antenna and a vibration motor to support the various functions on the device. No.1 has also incorporated a number of sensors like Heart Rate monitor and pedometer which sets it apart from other cheap offerings in the market. However, they don’t usually work that great, but more on that later. The watch is IP67 compliant which means its water proof. So, dipping it in water for a few minutes or even wearing it in rain won’t any harm to the watch.
PERFORMANCE
Usually, setting up a Bluetooth enabled device is pretty tiresome. Either the phone doesn’t recognize the new device or the phone just doesn’t connect at all. But with the No.1 G2 smartwatch, things were pretty smooth. The company has provided a QR code which when you scan it on your phone, will take you to the Mediatek Smart Device app. After downloading and installing the app, you can access various features directly from this app. For example, you can install apps on your smartwatch from this companion app. To load them, you’ll see an install button inside, which will instantly download and install them on to your smartwatch. Pretty neat right? Further, you can install new watch faces, check and install software and much more from this companion app.
Once, you are connected, you get access to a number of nifty features on the watch. The highlight is probably its ability to take phone calls. The integrated microphone and the speaker does well in maintaining the call quality. So, even if the phone is somewhere else, you can take calls and talk to the person on the other end. However, remember that the watch does not feature a SIM card slot and a Bluetooth connection to a cellular active smartphone is necessary to make and receive calls.
Another important feature of the device is its inbuilt 2MP camera. The sensor managed to surprise us all in terms of clarity and color reproduction, but still it can never replace your traditional camera or even a smartphone camera. So, its just good enough for a few shots in day light every once in a while. But more on that later.
The overall UI is good and responsive, however its not completely based on Android. The inbuilt heart rate monitor gives mixed results. Sometimes, the sensor works pretty well and the results are accurate, but sometimes, it may not function properly so you cannot rely totally on the phone’s heart rate monitor. The pedometer worked fine, so no problems there. It calculated the calories burnt as well as displayed the workout information pretty accurately. Moreover, it can count the number of steps taken as well as your speed.
The No.1 G2 can display text messages from your phone to its screen and you can then choose from a number of templates for reply. Even whatsapp messages are supported but you may face some problems with the app’s graphics. But overall, you can use the smartwatch for your basic networking needs too.
As for music, you can’t download anything on the watch. But it has a dedicated music player which can stream music directly from your smartphone to your smartwatch. You can then listen to music on the built-in speakers but if you are a headphones fan, you’ll be better off playing music on your smartphone itself, as the watch doesn’t feature a headphone jack.
There are a lot of other special functions as well, for example, there’s a remote camera app which makes your smartwatch act as a remote viewfinder for your phone’s camera. So, you can click pictures remotely from this watch. Moreover, if you go beyond a certain distance, around 10 meters, the watch will automatically start beeping alerting you that your connected smartphone is more than 10 meters away. A great feature especially if you are the kind of person who tends to forget smartphones at different places.There’s a voice recorder app too which records voice through its inbuilt microphone.
Like most other smartwatches out there, you can even track your sleeping patterns which will help you analyze ways in which you can increase the quality of your sleep time. There’s an infrared port as well which can control a number of appliances at your home.
On average, you get about a day’s usage on the device with a Bluetooth connection. This includes regular notifications and other usage throughout the day. And when you are not connected to a phone via Bluetooth, this increases up to two to three days. So, the battery life is at par with other smartwatches that we have seen lately.
The No.1 G2 features a special power saving function as well which turns the display into grey scale when there is limited charge on the device. Moreover, with the provided MicroUSB charging port, you can charge the device using the same charger as your smartphone.
CAMERA
Readers are always interested in the camera quality of any device and even though this is a smartwatch, we feel there are people who will be curious about its low res 2MP camera. Like we mentioned above, this 2MP camera sensor managed to impress us, especially in day light photos.
It may not be as good or clear as regular smartphone cameras, but still its good enough for clicking casual shots or even spy shots of your friends and family. The color reproduction is pretty good as well exposure. You get some noise in the images, but given the low res sensor, you can’t expect much.
Anyways, we have added a few samples down below from this 2MP camera for your reference.
VERDICT
As you can see, the No.1 G2 turns out to be a great smartwatch. In fact at this price, we can’t really find any other smartwatch which looks as premium and well built as the No.1 G2 and comes with such useful features as well. The sleep tracker, heart rate sensor, infrared port, camera as well as the calling function makes this particular device a true smartwatch worthy of appreciation.
At present, Everbuying.net is selling No.1 G2 for $77 which is a great price for a device with such features. But with a coupon from discountion.com, you can get it for just $70.98. Hence, it is a must have for those looking for their first good smartwatch!
The wait is over. We have heard a lot of talk about the new Apple smart watch in mid 2014. We patiently got our hands on the iPhone 6 and 6 plus while still waiting for the Apple smart watch. Most of us eagerly waited for an announcement from Apple, telling us when exactly(date and time), it is we would get our hands on the first smart watch by Apple.
Apple started the New Year off with big news for all its customers. The launch of its new product, the Apple smart watch. With much hype about the watch being generated since mid 2014, people are eagerly waiting to get their hands on it.
Based on information from the official website, the Apple watch will be available in the United States and Australia very early in 2015, followed by Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Switzerland, United Kingdom. The watch will be released at Mainland China and Hong Kong after , hopefully by mid-2015.
The question now being asked by loyal Apple users is the price of the much-anticipated product. It is rumoured that the Apple smart watch would cost RMB 2499 Yuan in China but in the International market, the price would be about $349.
Apart from the sleek look of the watch, Apple also provides extra interchangeable straps for the watch, and so many other cool features like the sport edition, considering this; the cost of 2499 Yuan is still possible. All of these of course are projected because Apple has not realised the cost of watch in its official website yet so we all wait patiently for the watch of the century.
After all of these have been taken into account and also the price of the iPhone how much do you think the very much-hyped Apple smart watch would cost?
Nokia has come up with it’s first Android tablet the Nokia N1 since signing it’s deal with Microsoft. It is rumoured that the Finns are working on a new phone which will run on Googles mobile operating system. The phone is called C1 and we have heard that another product similar to it has turned up.
We have also heard of a spec sheet which has an Intel-made chipset of 2GB RAM.
The Nokia C1 would contain a 5 inch display of 720p resolution and a 32GB of storage capacity. It is believed to also contain a 8MP camera connected by a 5MP one at the front of the phone.
The phone will be launched with an Android 5.0 lollipop together with Nokias Z launcher just like the N1 tablet. Since Nokia cannot manufacture devices until 2016 according to its contract with Microsoft, the phone will be manufactured by Foxconn. We do not have any information concerning when it will be available but we project Nokia will make an announcement in the early months of 2015.
The Chinese company Meizu recently announced their budget-friedly, yet great phablet – M1 Note. It is well built, has great specifications, which include 5.5-inch 1920 x 1080p resolution display, 64-bit 1.7GHz octa-core Mediatek MT6752 processor with 2GB RAM and 16/ 32GB internal storage options, 13MP camera at the back, 5MP snapper at the front, 3,140 mAh battery and more for amazingly low price in China – $160.
However, if you feel like buying this device, it may become difficult to get it if you live outside China. On the other hand, there is a solution – usually you get it through the third party resellers, which sell the devices online.
If you live in China, you may think that you could buy the smartphone from the official Meizu’s physical store, where you could have some hands-on experience with the device. However, taking into account the amazingly low price of the M1 Note and some other devices by Meizu, the manufacturer has recently announced that their newest budget-friendly smartphone will cost more in the physical stores than in online stores.
Following this announcement on Meizu’s Weibo account, the manufacturer further explains that this is due to the facts like the cost of rent, labour and utilities. Thus, all this adds up to the final price of the device and it becomes higher. The Meizu also mentioned that the manufacturers like Xiaomi, Huawei and Nubia follow the same strategy and their devices are also being sold at the higher price, so it cannot be an exception from the Meizu M1 Note.
This also explains why the price of the Meizu M1 Note will be higher through the third party resellers like Oppomart or others. However, since the customer cannot have a physical hands-on experience of the smartphone and the device is not bought directly from the company, but from a reseller, Meizu assures a couple of things:
1. All the Meizu M1 Note smartphones bought through a variety of different channels (including third party resellers) are exactly the same, with the same workmanship and quality.
2.They also enjoy the same national warranty policy of Meizu, strictly implementing the National Three-Warranty Policy.
3. Meizu will strive to enhance the capacity and increase the supply. The balance between the supply and the demand will finally allow the consumers to be able to buy cheaper Meizu phones.
So here we can see that the Meizu will not sell the Note M1 device at the amazingly low price of 999 Yuan and it has its own above mentioned reasons. Therefore, this explains why the device will cost a bit more through the third party resellers. In addition to this, we need take into consideration Meizu’s statement that the devices bought outside the official channel are genuine and enjoy the same warranty by the manufacturer.
Ever wondered which is the best phone under $200? Some may tell me I am wrong, but I am sure there are plenty of readers out there who know that Elephone P3000S is currently one of the best bang for the buck smartphones that you can buy under $200. It comes with everything that a smartphone user looks for in a phone — HIGH Speed LTE connection, a powerful processor, a long lasting battery and a good operating system that can handle all these features. What’s more, you even have a fingerprint sensor to top all of these features!
After a quick research, we found out that the Elephone P3000S satisfies all of these conditions. The phone comes with a powerful octa-core MTK6592 processor clocked at 1.7GHz with 2GB RAM onboard. This configuration is more than enough to play anything that you throw at it with ease. There is 16GB storage inside, which can be further expanded up to 64GB via a MicroSD card slot. The 5-inch display up front comes with a 1280 x 720p resolution, which looks great even outdoors. As for camera, you have a 13MP rear camera with LED flash and AF, along with an 8MP shooter up front.
Elephone P3000S supports the latest 4G LTE connection which means you can take advantage of ultra-high speed browsing and downloads in your country. The support FDD LTE network frequency is as follows FDD LTE 800/1800/2100/2600MHz.
You even have a fingerprint sensor on this device to unlock and secure apps and data on your phone, which is a rare feature among phones in this price range. To top it all, the phones with a large 3,150 mAh battery which should easily give you a day’s run time, if not more with moderate usage.
As you can see, the phones turns out to be one of the best offerings below $200 and with a new coupon you can get it for even less! If you use the special coupon, you can get the phone for as less as $171.99. We have searched through a number of different websites, and finally realized that thanks to this coupon, this is the cheapest price that you’ll get this phone.
Elephone P3000S at $194 before COUPON
Traditionally, GearBest and a number of other well known retailers sell the phone for $192, but using the coupon ElephoneCN, you can buy it for just $171.99.
This comes out as the best deal at present, so make sure you take advantage of it as soon as possible. You get almost $20 off the phone with this price, which is not something that you’ll get usually.
A Finnish company named Nokia does not have the best times in their franchise since it was purchased by the American giant Microsoft. Still, the Lumia brand and the iconic Nokia design exists and we do not see any radical changes in the look of the devices in the near future.
Anyway, Microsoft is proud to carry the Lumia name of the devices and it seems that they are planning to start selling something interesting in Microsoft’s Tmall Shop in China on January 8. What it more, the key device of the launch is expected to be a gold variant of the Lumia 930, which will be known as the “Lumia Golden Ultimate Collector’s Edition” smartphone.
We are not sure about the quality of the move by Microsoft, but we have to admit that there is a separate niche for these kind of smartphones. If you do not feel that gold phones are for you, you have to wait for the CES 2015, which starts in 4 days. We are not sure what Microsoft has in its pipeline, but some refreshment in the Lumia’s lineup is expected to be unveiled.
It has been confirmed Xiaomi will Release dual 4G LTE Edition Redmi 1s at 4th January, we just recieved these photoes from an anonymous leaker saying that it’s the Redmi 1S Dual 4G. And it really looked like the one in TENAA. The all newRedmi 1S is looked smaller and lighter than Redmi 1S. It weighs just 132 grams and measures 134 mm x 67.21 mm x 9.2 mm, whereas the Redmi 1s weighs 158 grams and measures 132 mm x 69 mm x 9.9 mm.
The Xiaomi Smartphone runs on an Android 4.4.4 KitKat based MIUI 6 and features a snapdragon 410 processor (1.2 GHz). The phone comes with a 4.7 in display (720 x 1280 pixels), 4G LTE connectivity, one 8MP rear camera and one 2MP front camera, 1GB RAM and 8GB expandable built-in memory.
As a final point, the phone doesn’t have too much difference with the last generation Redmi 1S. However,4G LTE and Android 4.4 KitKat make it a frontrunner in the fiercely competitive Smartphone market of today. It has been confirmed that this dual LTE Redmi 1s will be available in lots of color versions, including black, white, red, orange, yellow, green, purple, and blue. Hopefully, we’ll hear more on this soon. So how much do you think this Redmi 1S Dual 4G be priced at?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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 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, 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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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 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 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.
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.
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?
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.
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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