GIGABYTE has announced the global launch of its next-generation gaming laptops: the GAMING A16 PRO and GAMING A18, expanding its 2025 GAMING Series lineup. Both models feature up to NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 Laptop GPUs, GIGABYTE’s GiMATE AI Agent, and more than 12 hours of battery life.

Design and Cooling

The GAMING A16 PRO weighs around 2.3 kg and is under 20 mm thick. It uses the WINDFORCE Infinity EX cooling system, which includes a Frost Fan with 158 asymmetric blades that helps maintain up to 115W GPU power while keeping temperatures low. The laptop also features a 180° lay-flat hinge.
The GAMING A18 weighs about 2.8 kg with a 20 mm profile. It uses a surround-vent cooling system for stable thermal control during long gaming or editing sessions.

Display and Audio

Both laptops use WQXGA 165Hz displays with a 3ms response time for sharp visuals. The A16 PRO has a 16-inch 16:10 screen with 2560×1600 resolution, sRGB 100% color coverage, and 400 nits brightness. The A18 offers an 18-inch panel with up to DCI-P3 100% color accuracy and 300 nits brightness. Dolby Atmos audio and dual 2W speakers provide a more immersive sound experience. The keyboard has been redesigned with 1.7mm key travel and larger keycaps for improved comfort.

Performance and AI Features

The GAMING A16 PRO uses Intel Core 7 240H processors and up to RTX 5080 GPUs, while the GAMING A18 runs on AMD Ryzen 7 260 CPUs with up to RTX 5060 GPUs. Storage options go up to 4TB PCIe NVMe SSD, and both models support up to 64GB DDR5 or LPDDR5x memory depending on configuration. Pricing and availability will vary by region.

The GAMING A16 PRO and A18 are built for gaming, AI workloads, and creative tasks. They support NVIDIA DLSS 4, NVIDIA Studio, and NVIDIA NIM microservices for faster rendering and smoother visuals. GiMATE, GIGABYTE’s built-in AI Agent, lets users control system settings, cooling, and privacy using simple voice commands through a “Press and Speak” button. Both models include a MUX Switch that allows users to toggle between integrated and dedicated graphics for higher frame rates or better battery life.

Battery, Connectivity, and Availability

Both laptops have 76Wh Li-Polymer batteries with Type-C PD 3.0 fast charging support. Connectivity includes Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2, HDMI 2.1, Gigabit LAN, and USB-A and USB-C ports. Each has a 1080p IR webcam, a built-in array microphone, and Dolby Atmos audio.

Pricing & availability

Sales of the GAMING A16 PRO and GAMING A18 laptops may differ by region and depend on the launch timelines set by local retailers and e-tailers. Gigabyte has not officially revealed the pricing of these laptops yet.

For more daily updates, please visit our News Section.

Tech enthusiast? Get the latest news first! Follow our Telegram channel and subscribe to our free newsletter for your daily tech fix!

(Source)

The post GIGABYTE Launches GAMING A16 PRO and A18 Laptops with RTX 5080 Graphics and 12-Hour Battery Life appeared first on Gizmochina.

We have been seeing cases of YouTube accounts getting hacked over the past few years and today, we’ve been a victim of a very similar hack that happened with others.

Earlier today, our YouTube account was hacked, which eventually led to our account being banned. This happened last night when most of our team was sleeping, but luckily one of us managed to get a few screenshots for proof. But by the time we changed our password, the damage was done and YouTube banned our account.

We had 2FA (Two Factor Authentication) enabled on our YouTube channel and there are no traces of any managing accounts being hacked either. So we are still investigating how hackers managed to hack into our channel.

That said, we apologize if you were tricked by one of the videos that you saw on our channel earlier today. The hackers used a strategy very similar to what we have seen before. They started a live stream crypto fundraising with Elon Musk in the video. They also added a bunch of crypto-related fundraisers to our channel, again with Elon Musk in the thumbnail.

We don’t think these videos were up for long, but the damage was already done. Our YouTube account was banned and years of our hard work on this channel is now at risk.

As many of you may have noticed, we’ve been putting a lot of effort into our channel recently, trying to bring detailed reviews and comparisons about smartphones and other devices. So it’s extremely saddening to see we are now at risk of losing our hard work because of a random hack.

We are currently in talks with YouTube to reinstate our account, but we don’t know how long will it take. YouTube’s support is known to be pretty slow to process these requests, but we hope that our account gets reinstated soon so that we can continue to make videos for you guys.

Finally, I wish YouTube could fix its system to avoid these hacks. As I have seen in many cases before, even 2FA hasn’t been able to stop YouTube accounts from being hacked. Clearly, YouTube needs to make significant changes in the login system to ensure our accounts are safe. Most YouTubers put all their life into their channels, spending days making a single video. So it’s extremely disappointing that hackers are able to gain access to this on a regular basis.

That said, I’m looking forward to getting access to our account and making videos again. We have a lot of interesting videos in the pipeline, but unfortunately, we have no idea how long we’ll have to wait to get our account reinstated. Hopefully, it’ll be soon.

Thanks for being a part of Gizmochina, and we are looking forward to posting more videos via YouTube in the coming days. Till then, please continue to read Gizmochina.com and stay tuned for more updates related to our YouTube channel.

The post Our YOUTUBE Channel got HACKED appeared first on Gizmochina.

The first half of 2021 has come to an end. We saw some interesting smartphones in this time period, and it’s the time of the year to round up our best smartphone picks among all the launches in the past few months.

After careful consideration of the phones launched in the first half of 2021, these were our favorites in each category.

• BEST PREMIUM SMARTPHONE 2021 – Mi 11 Ultra

• BEST FLAGSHIP SMARTPHONE of 2021 – Mi 11

• BEST FLAGSHIP KILLER SMARTPHONE 2021 – Realme GT 

• BEST CAMERA FLAGSHIP SMARTPHONE 2021 – Mi 11 Ultra

• BEST GAMING FLAGSHIP SMARTPHONE of 2021 – Asus ROG Phone 5

• BEST CHEAP 5G SMARTPHONE 2021 – NORD CE 5G

• BEST MID-RANGE SMARTPHONE 2021 – Redmi Note 10 Pro (Global)

• BEST BUDGET SMARTPHONE 2021 – POCO M3

You can read more about why we think the above smartphones are the best in their categories at our Gizmochina Awards page here.

The post Here are our Best Smartphones of 2021 so far – Gizmochina Awards appeared first on Gizmochina.

Gizmochina along with Realme is conducting Realme 8 smartphone as a giveaway gift to a lucky reader. Like always, you just have to follow the steps mentioned on the Gleam widget to get a chance to win these amazing gifts.

Realme 8 and Realme 8 Pro first impression:

How to enter this giveaway? Just follow this step:

First, watch this review video, and subscribe to Gizmochina’s Youtube channel.

The winner will be posted on Gizmochina’s twitter and Gizmochina’s Facebook, so please follow us on Twitter and Facebook, so that you don’t miss the winner announcement.

Terms & Conditions:

1. The giveaway is an international giveaway.
2. We are not responsible for lost shipments.
3. We are not responsible for any duties, import taxes that you may incur.
4. We reserve all rights to make any changes to this giveaway.
5. The prize will be shipped in a month when the giveaway ends.

Just follow the steps mentioned in the Gleam widget to participate in the giveaway.

Once again, good luck.

Giveaway: Win A Realme 8 Smartphone

Related: Realme GT 5G phone review.

Update: Congratulations to MARIO AVOLIO from Italy for being the winner of this Realme 8 smartphone giveaway. Please contact us by email for shipping: admin[@]gizmochina.com.

The post Giveaway: Win a Realme 8 Phone appeared first on Gizmochina.

Xiaomi has taken to Twitter to release a poster announcing the launch date of the next-generation Redmi Note 9 series model. The Redmi Note 9 was left out when the company took the wraps off the Redmi Note 9 Pro, Note 9 Pro Max and later the Note 9s. The poster hints that the Redmi Note 9 will be announced in an online event that would hold on April 30 and will begin at 20:00 GMT +8.

The legend of #RedmiNoteSeries continues!

Get ready to meet the newest members of #RedmiNote9Series as well as other great Xiaomi products! #NoMiWithoutYou pic.twitter.com/iWpxwDgCWm

— Xiaomi (@Xiaomi) April 24, 2020

The Redmi Note 9 is expected to launch in China as Redmi 10X. The model was recently certified by China’s telecom’s regulatory agency TENAA, giving us a glimpse of the design and some ideas of the specs.

The device appeared bearing the model number M2003J15SC. It is listed as having a 6.43-inch IPS LCD display with an FHD+ resolution of 1080 x 2340 pixels. The device is 8.9mm thick and weighs just 198g. It equally comes with a 4,920mAh battery.

EDITOR’S PICK: Xiaomi’s Aqara officially unveils its range of smart home products in the US

In terms of the design, the front and rear designs are similar to those of the Note 9 Pro with a few modifications. First, the device packs a punch-hole located at the upper-left corner as against a centrally placed one. Also, there is a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor just underneath the quad-camera setup. Recall that the Note 9 Pro models feature a side-mounted fingerprint sensor.

The mobile phone is said to pack a 2.0GHz Octa-core MediaTek Helio G85 chipset. The device will have 4GB, 6GB and 8GB RAM versions as well as 32GB, 64GB and 128GB internal storage options. For photography, there is a 48MP main sensor and a 13MP selfie shooter. It will run on Android 10 OS which will definitely have the MIUI custom overlay. we can say if it will have the latest MIUI 12 which will drop a few days earlier.

The Redmi Note 9 is expected to be available in Sky Blue, Green and White colours.

UP NEXT: iQOO Neo3 launched with Snapdragon 865 & 144Hz display

The post Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 (Redmi 10X) launching on April 30, launch invite out! appeared first on Gizmochina.

OPPO has been on a launch spree lately which has seen several new models released. The Find X2 Lite, Find X2 Neo, OPPO A52, A92s, A12 were all announced in different markets within the past few days. The company isn’t stopping as the OPPO A72 has now been announced.

The OPPO A72 is a sibling of the A52 that has been launched in China. It features a similar 6.5-inch display with FHD+ resolution of 2340 x 1080pixels. The A72 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 chipset paired with 4GB of RAM. This is similar to the A52 but while the A52 has 64GB storage onboard, OPPO A72 comes with 128GB of internal storage. Both are expandable via MicroSD slots.

EDITOR’S PICK: Here are the Top Snapdragon 855+ Smartphones with the Best Resale value in China

The camera aspect is another area where the two models differ. The A72 features a Quad-camera setup at the rear just like the A52 but the sensors are slightly different. The A72 setup consists of a 48MP main sensor teaming up with an 8MP ultrawide camera, a 2MP macro lens and a 2MP depth sensor. For selfies, there is a 16MP sensor. This is an upgrade over the A52 which has a smaller 12MP main sensor and an 8MP selfie sensor.

Further, the OPPO A72 features a side-mounted fingerprint sensor and a 3.5mm jack on the bottom. The device gets its power supply from a 5,000mAh battery and supports 18W fast charge. Both models run the latest Android 10-based Color OS 7.1.

The OPPO A72 is expected to be sold in Europe alongside the A52. The prices are not known but the A52 was launched with a retail price of 1,600 yuan in China ( around €210). We expect the prices to be slightly higher due to taxes and other expenses.

UP NEXT: Xiaomi teases new Air Conditioner, features soft Natural Breeze and Fresh airflow

(source)

The post OPPO A72 with Snapdragon 665, 128GB expandable storage launched appeared first on Gizmochina.

Huawei has released a poster on Weibo which confirmed the MatePad will be launched on April 23. The company had earlier fixed the Nova 7 series launch for that same date meaning more than one product will be unveiled on that day.

Huawei MatePad is projected to focus on basic education functions and will also be the first learning tablet in the Mate series just as the MatePad Pro was the first tablet in the Mate series. The official promotional posters and earlier leaks show the MatePad will feature three main selling points. The first is an exclusive education feature. It will also have a 2K eye protection full-screen and a Kirin 810 chipset onboard. The tablet will also feature support for the M-Pen stylus used on the MatePad Pro. There will also be a rear camera and LED flash.

The MatePad was recently listed on VMall and Jingdong (JD.com) for pre-order. The tablet is equipped with a 10.4-inch IPS LCD panel having a resolution of 1200 x 200 pixels. The Kirin 810 chipset onboard is paired with up to 6 GB of RAM and the slate comes with built-in storage of up to 128 GB. In addition, Huawei MatePad has a built-in self-developed dedicated education centre. This function is for student groups or will cover the required courses for students of different ages to help students efficiently complete their learning goals.

UP NEXT: HiSense F50 5G debuts with Unisoc chip for 2,199 Yuan (~$310) in China

(via)

The post Huawei MatePad officially confirmed to launch on April 23 appeared first on Gizmochina.

OPPO earlier today silently launched the OPPO A92s in China. The OPPO Find X2 Lite has now gotten the same treatment as it has been officially unveiled in Portugal and is now listed in the brand’s local website.

OPPO Find X2 Lite Design, Specs & Features

The OPPO Find X2 Lite has been in the rumour mills no sooner after the Find X2 was launched last month. The device features a 6.4-inch OLED screen with FHD+ resolution and 20:9 aspect ratio. The screen supports 60Hz refresh rate. The display is protected by a Corning Gorilla Glass 5 overlay and is embedded with an under-display fingerprint sensor. With the OLED display, the screen is clearly visible, even in bright sunlight. The maximum brightness in daily operation is 600nit. The device has a lightweight build, weighing just about 180g with a thickness of just 7.96mm.

OPPO Find X2 Lite 5G is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 765 processor which brings SA/NSA dual-mode 5G connectivity onboard. The processor is paired with 8GB of RAM and there is 128GB internal storage. We expect other lower memory options to be made available. The device features an exclusive wrap antenna design that smartly adjusts according to the user’s position to obtain the best possible signal. Thus, there won’t be signal blocks or loss of connectivity especially during gaming as a result of how the phone is held.

Further, the Find X2 Lite comes with Smart 5G feature which switches seamlessly between 4G and 5G based on the network available and the available bandwidth. This helps to regulate the phone’s power consumption and is said to increase battery life by up to 30%.

For photography, the device houses a 32MP selfie shooter with f/2.0 aperture housed inside the waterdrop notch. At the rear, there is a quad-camera setup which consists of a 48 megapixels main camera with f/1.7 aperture. There is also an 8 megapixels wide-angle + macro lens, 2 megapixels monochrome lens and a 2 megapixels Retro-style portrait lens. Here are some samples.

The mid-range model gets its juice from a decent 4025mAh battery. The device comes with VOOC 4.0 fast charging technology which delivers 50% battery power in 20 minutes between charge. It runs on Android 10-based Color 7 OS with several impressive features.

OPPO Find X2 Lite Pricing & Availability

The Find X2 Lite will retail for 500 Euros in Europe but OPPO is yet to release the availability details. The phone will be available in two colour options – Pearl White whose inspiration comes from the calm and mysterious sky and Moonlight Black inspired by the deep night sky.

UP NEXT: Lenovo ThinkBook Plus dual-screen Laptop now on reservation

(source)

The post OPPO Find X2 Lite 5G Official with a 6.4″ Waterdrop screen, SD 765 & more appeared first on Gizmochina.

Xiaomi‘s independent Redmi brand recently launched the Redmi Note 9 Pro and Not 9 Pro Max. The Redmi Note 9S was later launched in other markets with similar specs as the Note 9 Pro. No mention has been made of the Redmi Note 9 since then but a TENAA listing for the model has emerged suggesting that the brand may take the wraps off the model soon.

The device hits TENAA with the model number Redmi M2003J15SC. A model bearing this same model number had earlier appeared on China’s 3C website. The TENAA listing reveals the specifications as well as the images of the device.

The Redmi Note 9 is listed to feature a 6.43-inch IPS LCD display with an FHD+ resolution of 1080 x 2340 pixels. The device is 8.9mm thick and weighs just 198g. The device equally comes with a 4,920mAh battery.

The front and rear designs are similar to those of the Note 9 Pro with a few modifications. First, the device packs a punch-hole located at the upper-left corner as against a centrally placed one. Also, there is a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor just underneath the quad-camera setup. Recall that the Redmi Note 9 Pro models feature a side-mounted fingerprint sensor.

The Redmi Note 9 is listed to pack a 2.0GHz processor which is possibly a MediaTek Helio G8O chipset. The device will have 4GB, 6GB and 8GB RAM versions as well as 32GB, 64GB and 128GB internal storage options. For photography, there is a 48MP main sensor and a 13MP selfie shooter. It will run on Android 10 OS which will definitely have the MIUI custom overlay.

UP NEXT: Realme Narzo 10 and Narzo 10A confirmed to launch in India on April 21

(source)

The post Redmi Note 9 with 6.53″ FHD+ display, rear fingerprint certified by TENAA appeared first on Gizmochina.

Honor first unveiled the Honor 9X and 9X Pro in China in July last year. The company then took the wraps off the smartphones in India this January. As early as February this year, there have been several rumours and leaked details of an upcoming Honor 9X Lite. Honor has now officially unveiled the Honor 9X Lite in Finland.

Honor 9X Lite Specs & Features

The Honor 9X Lite is a lighter version of the 9X models and bears several similarities with the Honor 8X that was released last year. The smartphone packs an expansive 6.5-inch FullView FHD+ display with a resolution of 2340 x 1080 pixels. The display adopts a notch design with a 19:5:9 aspect ratio. There is also a 2.5D curved glass on top to protect the screen from scratches. The Honor 9X Lite is powered by an Octa-Core Kirin 710 chipset paired with 4GB of RAM and there is a single 128GB of internal storage listed. The storage can be expanded via a microSD card.

EDITOR’S PICK: Xiaomi’s Aqara officially unveils its range of smart home products in the US

At the rear, the Honor 9X Lite packs a dual-camera setup housed in a rectangular module aligned vertically at the top left corner of the back panel. The rear sensors include a 48MP main sensor and a 2MP depth sensor. At the front, the device houses a 16MP front camera inside the notch. The 9X Lite has a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor for unlocking the device.

For interface, the mobile phone runs on Android 9 Pie-based EMUI 9. Keeping the lights on is a decent 3750mAh battery with support for 10W charging. The phone comes with a USB Type-C fast-charging port. It utilises dual-SIM slots both accepting only nano-SIM cards. Other features onboard includes dual 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 ac (2.4GHz / 5GHz), Bluetooth 4.2, and GPS + GLONASS. Finally, the Honor 9X Lite comes with a dimension of 160.4×76.6×7.8mm and weighs 175g.

Honor 9X Lite Pricing and Availability

The Honor 9X Lite will be available in Midnight Black and Emerald Green colour variants. The device is priced at 199 Euros (~$215) and is available on Honor’s Finland website.This will also likely be the price for the entire Europe. Pre-orders for the Finnish market will commence on April 30. Honor is offering buyers who register their purchase before June 30 the Honor Band 5. The Chinese brand is yet to reveal when the phone will be available in other markets.

UP NEXT: POCO F2 and Mi Note 10 Lite likely to debut in May

The post Honor 9X Lite with 6.5″ FHD+ display launched: Specifications & Price appeared first on Gizmochina.

The tablet Android market has experienced a serious downturn in recent years which has seen many OEMs drastically reduce their product catalogue. The Korean giant has kept faith with its tablet business but in a somewhat uninspiring manner. We recall how the company launched the LTE-enabled Galaxy Tab A 8.4 (2020) with little to no fanfare. Again Samsung has gone official with the Galaxy Tab S6 Lite without much publicity. The tablet is now officially listed on Samsung Indonesia’s official website.

Before now, the tablet has featured in several leaks revealing the renders and specs. It has even been reportedly listed by several carriers and e-retailers including in South Korea. Thus, there is little left to the imagination but this official listing confirms the hardware and software details. Here we go.

The Galaxy Tab S6 Lite features a 10.4-inch display with a decent WUXGA+ resolution of 2000 x 1200 pixels. The tablet is powered by an Octa-core processor whose identity wasn’t revealed on the website. However, it is believed to be either the Exynos 9610 or 9611 chipsets. The processor is paired with 4GB of RAM while there are 64 GB or 128 GB of internal storage variants available. The internal storage is expandable via a microSD slot.

The tablet comes with an S-pen stylus just like its sibling. It equally packs dual speakers with AKG and Dolby Atmos enhancements, a 3.5mm headphone jack, USB Type-C port. For photography, there is an 8MP rear-facing camera and 5MP selfie shooter. It comes pre-installed with Android 10-based One UI 2.

Further, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite packs a mammoth 7040mAh battery which supports up to 13 hours of continuous video playback between charges. Despite the huge battery, the tablet is just 7mm thick and weighs 467 grams.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite Pricing and availability

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite comes in Oxford Gray, Angora Blue, and Chiffon Pink colour options. Earlier listing on B&H which was later pulled down shows the tablet will retail for $350 for the 64GB Wi-Fi-only variant and $420 for the 128GB Wi-Fi-only variant. There is no word yet on when it will go on sale.

UP NEXT: Kirin 985 announced: 7nm process, 5G performance upgrade & more!

(source)

The post Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite goes official: S Pen, 10.4″ display, 7,040mAh battery appeared first on Gizmochina.

Huawei has announced a new flagship Hisilicon Kirin chipset. The Kirin 985 processor is yet another 5G processor, bringing the total number of 5G SoCs under Huawei’s belt to three. The other two SoCs are the flagship Kirin 990 5G and the mid-range Kirin 820 5G announced recently.

The new Kirin 985 is a flagship processor but isn’t as powerful as the Kirin 990 5G SoC. It is manufactured using TSMC’s 7nm process and integrates a single-chip 5G baseband solution without a plug-in. It supports 2G / 3G / 4G / 5G network standards and NSA / SA 5G dual-modes. The theoretical maximum downlink rate is 1277Mbps and the uplink rate is 173Mbps. In comparison with the Snapdragon 865 processor integrated with Snapdragon X55 modem, the downlink rate is said to be about 40% faster while the uplink rate is about 75% faster.

The new processor is said to be specifically optimized for high-speed scenarios. For example, at a speed of 90 km/h, the downlink rate and uplink rate can still reach 589Mbps and 63Mbps respectively. These are 31% and 37% faster than the downlink and uplink rates of the Snapdragon X55-integrated Snapdragon 865 chipset.

EDITOR’S PICK: The best smartwatches of April 2020

Furthermore, the Kirn 985 processor has high energy efficiency. Huawei claims that the power consumption under 5G heavy load and light load scenarios is only 504mA and 291mA respectively. Also, the Chinese company claims that the energy efficiency ratio is about 1.5 times that of the Snapdragon X55-integrated Snapdragon 865 chipset.

In terms of the architecture, the Kirin 985 integrates an Octa-core CPU, which is made up of a single large core, three medium cores, and four small cores. Although Huawei didn’t announce details of the cores, the AI benchmark listing has shown that the Kirin 985 features a single Cortex-A76 core clocked at 2.58GHz and three Cortex-A76 cores with clocking frequencies of 2.4GHz each. There are also four Cortex-A55 cores with lower clock frequency of 1.84GHz. It also integrates an octa-core Mali-G77 GPU as well as a dual-core NPU AI unit and ISP 5.0 image unit, similar to what is found on the Kirin 990.

According to the official announcement, Kirin 985 is sufficient for 5G network performance, dual-SIM 5G use. The processor also features 5G anti-jamming capability, 5G low latency, 5G energy efficiency, and 5G high-speed scene performance.

The Honor 30 Standard Edition which was announced today happens to be the first smartphone powered by the Kirin 990 processor. The higher Honor 30 Pro and 30 Pro+ both utilise a Kirin 990 SoC. Huawei is also tipped to use the chipset on the Nova 7.

UP NEXT: Honor confirms the Kirin 985 SoC, features and AI benchmark ranking revealed!

The post Kirin 985 announced: 7nm process, 5G performance upgrade & more! appeared first on Gizmochina.

Gizmochina is expanding its presence in India and we are looking for a couple of full-time news writers based in Navi Mumbai, India. We already have a team that’s spread across the globe and would like the two new writers to supplement our news coverage team.

Important points to note: 

• You should be based in Mumbai, India and will be required to travel to our office from Monday – Friday.
• You should be familiar with the Chinese and Indian smartphone scene. We prefer candidates who have prior knowledge about Chinese tech companies like Xiaomi, Meizu, Huawei, OPPO, Vivo, and so on.
• This will be a full-time paid writing position and we expect you to deliver quick and high-quality news stories every day.

If you think you are a fit for this position, please APPLY via this GOOGLE FORM.

The post Gizmochina is Hiring a full time News Writer in India appeared first on Gizmochina.

We are pleased to announce that we have launched a new app for Gizmochina readers on the Google Play store. The Gizmochina App is a simple app to keep you updated on everything that’s happening in the Chinese smartphone and tech industry. It’s light, fast, and features all of the articles that are published on our official website.

We have kept the UI basic and user-friendly to give you a pleasant reading experience. However, please note that the app is still in beta, which means you might come across minor bugs here and there. In case you do encounter any bugs, please send a mail to admin@gizmochina.com and we’ll do our best to fix them in the next update.

Also, note that all Gizmochina App users have the opportunity to win a Realme 5 Pro smartphone. In case you haven’t entered our giveaway, feel free to do it now from here.

We have already reviewed the new handset and love what we got for its aggressive price tag. If you are still considering whether the phone is a good choice for you, do check out our Realme 5 Pro review here!

Thank you for being a part of Gizmochina. I hope you continue to visit and support our site.

You can download the Gizmochina App from here. 

The post Download & Install the Gizmochina App & You could Win A Realme 5 Pro appeared first on Gizmochina.

Following in the footsteps of its well-received predecessors, the Mi 8 garnered huge popularity among smartphone lovers after hitting the store shelves this year in June.
If you have restlessly been waiting to buy this recently launched phone without emptying your pocket, it might interest you to know that the global version of the Mi 8 smartphone has gone up for sale carrying a lowered price tag on Giztop. There’s more for you to cheer about.

The global version of the Mi 8 smartphone would normally set you back a pretty penny on both online as well as offline stores, but you can now buy it for only $399 on Giztop. This is a big discount considering the phone usually carries a steep price tag of $439.

You can head straight to this link to check out the phone’s full specification and avail this discount before the promotion comes to an end.

In addition to offering the Mi 8 at an unbeatable price, Giztop is giving buyers an unmissable chance to get their hands on global versions of all Xiaomi-branded smartphones without breaking the bank. In order to avail the discount, all you need to do is to apply coupon code MGLOBAL at the time of checking out.
The aforesaid coupon provides an extra 3% off when applied. For the sake of an instance, the global version of the Mi Max 3 smartphone is currently available carrying a $259 price tag of Giztop, but you can use the above-mentioned coupon to save $7.77 more.

In other words, you can use the coupon to bring your grand total down to just $251.23. You can head straight to this link to check out the Xiaomi global smartphones that you can buy for a lowered price using the coupon.

The post Big Discounts On Xiaomi Global Version Phones appeared first on Gizmochina.

These days, everything comes in PDF format. We are bombarded with PDF files that we are unable to edit and when it comes to finding an app on Android or iOS to convert it into the doc format, most of the popular ones are paid. You do get some free PDF to Word convertors, but they come with multiple drawbacks, which forces us to opt for their PRO versions.

We know how important PDF to Word convertors are in our day to day lives, and that’s why we have partnered with one of the popular PDF to Word convertors in the Android and iOS market — CometDocs in order to giveaway 10 PRO version codes to our readers. So, we will select 10 winners in this giveaway to giveout one PRO code for each winner. You can choose which PRO version you want: Android or iOS.

We are keeping it really easy to win this giveaway and given that we are selecting 10 participants, you can easily be one of the lucky winners in this event!

Some of the key features of the CometDocs PDF to Word convertor app:

• No limits on file size or number of converted files
• Excellent PDF to Word conversion quality
• Scanned and complex PDFs can be converted as well
• Industry-leading OCR technology
• You can convert files from Dropbox, Box, Google Drive, OneDrive and others

You can check out the CometDoc apps in both stores:

Gizmochina’s CometDocs PFD To Word Pro Codes Giveaway

The post GizmoChina Giveaway: Free CometDocs Pro PDF to Word Convertor For Android & iOS (10 Winners!) appeared first on Gizmochina.

Dear Readers,

Christmas is the time of joy and love. May you get the best present of all: the company of people you love, good cheer, and smile.

Thanks for being a part of Gizmochina all these years and we look forward to your continued support for many years to come.

Merry Christmas. Stay Blessed!

Gizmochina Team.

The post Wishing All Of You A Merry Christmas! appeared first on Gizmochina.

The Gizmochina community is growing everyday and we have millions of readers every month from across the globe. A majority of our traffic comes from smartphone users and we feel it’s about time we give our readers a platform to talk about the smartphones they are using.

The Gizmochina Forums can be a great tool to share your reviews/ opinions about the smartphone that you are using as your daily driver. Your opinion / experience about a phone can come in useful for a fellow gizmochina reader and in this regard, we want to help you to post your review on our forums.

REVIEW & REWARD PROGRAM (RAR)

In order to push regular readers to share decent reviews of their smartphones, Gizmochina has teamed up with our store, Giztop to start the Review & Reward Program (RAR). So, we will give out a free case for every smartphone review shared on our forums, provided it follows a good review format. Once your review is posted on the forums and accepted, you can choose a case (under $20) for your smartphone on Giztop and send us a message on info@gizmochina.com or just message Shine Wong on our forums (from here) with the link to the case along with your your shipping details. We’ll take care of the rest!

To make your lives easier, we have created a format to make the review (added at the end of the post). This will help all reviews to be consistent and up to the mark. Also, make sure that all reviews are posted as a new discussion in the User Reviews category in our Forums section. You can find this category here!

I know a free case may not be a strong motivator for writing down a decent experience with your smartphone, however, note that your experience with the phone will definitely be valuable for other readers who are planning to purchase the device.

While we know not everyone can or is willing to post long, detailed reviews, we would further like to encourage great reviews on our forums by selecting the best reviews of smartphones and posting them on the Gizmochina.com website under your name. This will open up your honest opinion of the handset to millions of users worldwide, giving you a much deserved exposure. To make things even more interesting, we’ll give out a Redmi smartphone to the best review of the month on our forums.

Please note that to ensure that maximum readers benefit from this, we would like to add that only recent smartphones reviews, which are less than 6 months old will be eligible for the free case from Giztop.

You can check out the format for review from this link. Make sure to follow this review format to be eligible for the free case.

As always, if you have any suggestions or questions, you can comment down below or shoot a mail at joel@gizmochina.com.

The post Share Your Review Of Your Current Smartphone On Gizmochina & Get Rewarded! appeared first on Gizmochina.

Gizmochina is slowly growing into the top source for Chinese tech news and it’s about time we opened up a platform for our community to grow and interact with each other. The number of Chinese smartphones and its users are ever growing and today, I’m extremely happy to announce our Forums section for our community.

We have a lot of dedicated followers who visit the website every day and often they find our comments section inadequate to have a decent conversation. This is where the Gizmochina Forums come into the picture, giving our community the opportunity to talk to each other about their favorite smartphones, seek help, and even share ideas and thoughts about a particular feature or a phone.

As many of you know, our team is small, comprising of a few dedicated writers and editors. While we will try our level best to keep the forums active, you guys will have to drive the forums to make the best use of the platform. I’m personally hoping to see some of our loyal readers become moderators of the forums to keep things in check. But we are still in the process of figuring out the best way to handle the forums section for the best interest of our readers and we’ll let you know via updates in the coming days.

To kick off the launch of our forums section, which you’ll find as a dedicated link on top, we are giving away a Mi Bluetooth Speaker to one lucky Gizmochina Forum user. To Enter, all you have to do is go to our Forums page and sign up for an account. After signing up, introduce yourself in the ‘Introduction Section‘ on the Forums and you will be eligible for the giveaway. Make sure you visit and signup for the Forums via the Gleam app that powers our giveaway to ensure that your entry is logged.

Giveaway – Win a Xiaomi Bluetooth Speaker

You can introduce yourself in a few words and that’ll be considered as your participation in the giveaway. There are a few other ways to enter as well, like following our social media platforms, but they are just to increase your chances of winning the prize. Introducing yourself is compulsory, as only the user with a valid introduction on the Forums page will be eligible to win the prize.

We want to build a solid community of Chinese smartphone enthusiasts and I feel this is a good way to keep our readers rewarded for their loyalty towards the website. Also, note that we will be keeping weekly giveaways on our forums for the next few weeks so that our readers can get a chance to win a lot of interesting prizes in the coming days. So, things are going to get interesting for our readers in the coming weeks.

Further, we are talking to a few sellers to make sure that the deals section on the forum page contains the top deals of the day. So, if you are hunting for a new smartphone or looking for a cool gadget, make sure to check out if there’s any good deal on your favorite product in the dedicated deals section on our forums.

I’ll be personally checking the forums sections to answer as many questions as possible. So, if you have any questions about any phones that we are reviewing or we will review in the coming days, you can post that in the Q&A section to get answers. Moreover, I’m sure other users who are already having the device will also be happy to help you out.

Overall, I believe our new Forums section will definitely add value to our readers.

You can reach out to me at joel@gizmochina.com for any suggestions regarding the forums section. I’ll be happy to hear you out!

Or else, just head over to our Forums to have a look.

The post Introducing Gizmochina Forums: A Platform For Our Readers To Connect (BONUS GIVEAWAY) appeared first on Gizmochina.

Blackview has made quite a few budget phones over the year and the A9 Pro is one of their latest models. It has decent specs for the price of just about $90. Is it any good? Learn more in the full Blackview A9 Pro review.

VIDEO REVIEW

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfJ7Uip57zE[/embedyt]

UNBOXING

Blackview A9 Pro ships with all the usual stuff and some extras include a screen protector, a pair of earphones and a soft TPU case.

DESIGN and DISPLAY

As far as design goes, I love that the phone is compact since it has only 5” 720p display, which may not be the sharpest out there but it is not bad for a cheap phone.

We have a quality metal trim that goes all around the device, tactile metal buttons and in general, the phone is well-built.

We have a notification LED light, which sits next to the 2MP selfie shooter.

The fingerprint scanner may not be the fastest out there but it gets the job done and it unlocks the phone straight from the standby mode. Also, the sensor has a touch panel. If you tap it, it takes you back, if you tap and hold it, you will go home. You can also switch to traditional on-screen navigation keys.

One of the key selling points of this phone is the dual-camera setup that consists of one 8MP shooter and another 0.3MP sensor.

The loudspeaker quality does not really impress like on most of the budget phones.

HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE

The phone sports okay specs for the price. The device ships with a quad-core MTK6737 chip (1.3GHz), 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage.

The gaming performance is pretty good if you play the 3D games like Asphalt 8 on medium graphics. Still, you may see a few skipped frames but nothing major. The phone gets warm pretty quickly but it does not overheat.

USER INTERFACE

The Blackview A9 Pro comes with the Android 7.0 out of the box with the proprietary skin on top of it. The skin removes the app tray and redesigns the icons whether you like it or not. The are quite a few gesture and motion controls that work quite well but some of them are quite slow to respond. You can also use a one-hand operation mode that works quite well, use a floating dock and so on.  Most importantly, the user interface performance has been smooth and fluid, no complaints here.

BENCHMARKS

IMAGE QUALITY

The Blackview A9 Pro can take decent daylight images considering this is a cheap phone. Sure, the level of detail could be higher, the dynamic range adjustment could be more accurate but in general, you can take some decent-looking daylight images.

The dual-camera setup allows you to take some good-looking pictures with bokeh effect. Sure, this is not the flagship-grade quality but the results are quite impressive for such a cheap device.

The low-light camera performance does not impress like on most of the cheap phones.

Selfie pictures will definitely do the trick for social media needs but there could slightly more detail.

The 1080p video quality is above average. Selfie video quality is again, kind of mediocre but it is possible to use the camera for video chats or other stuff.

Download full resolution camera samples

CONNECTIVITY

When it comes to connectivity, the call quality is above average, the Wifi works fine and GPS is usable for navigation although it is not the most accurate out there.

BATTERY LIFE

The 3000mAh battery performs quite well. I was able to get almost 5 hours of screen-on time, which is a good result considering the fact that I used the phone quite intensively.

CONCLUSIONS

The Blackview A9 Pro is yet another cheap phone from China that aims to deliver a lot of value for the price and it succeeds in quite a few ways.

The phone is plain-looking but it is well-built and it uses a quality metal frame, the display is great for everyday use, the user interface performance is decent and the battery life is good.

Obviously, you should consider some caveats like a poor low-light camera performance, mediocre loudspeaker and the MTK6737 chip is not designed for hardcore gamers.

At the end of the day, the Blackview A9 Pro is still a decent offering for the price but as always, make sure to consider a few shortcomings like on any other budget phone.

The post Blackview A9 Pro Review – A Decent $90 Dual-Camera Phone! appeared first on Gizmochina.

Gizmochina along with Elephone official is conducting a Elephone S7 phone as Giveaway gift to one of our lucky readers. Like always, you just have to follow the steps mentioned on the Gleam widget to get a chance to win this amazing phone.

The post Gizmochina Giveaway – Win An Elephone S7 Phone appeared first on Gizmochina.

Gizmochina along with Banggood is conducting a PiPo W1 Pro Giveaway to gift a brand new device to one of our lucky readers. Like always, you just have to follow the steps mentioned on the Gleam widget to get a chance to win this amazing Windows tablet.

PIPO W1 pro is a 2 in 1 deformation of the design of digital products. In addition to being available as a tablet, you can also use a dedicated hard shell hinge keyboard t o form a mini-notebook computer. PIPO W1 pro also supports handwriting input, with the standard electromagnetic pen, allowing you to work handy. With a 10.1 inch IPS screen, the resolution up to 1920×1200 pixel.

Just follow the steps mentioned in the Gleam widget to participate in the giveaway. Good luck!

Gizmochina Giveaway – Win A Free PIPO W1 Pro Windows Tablet

The post Gizmochina Giveaway – Win a Free PIPO W1 Pro Tablet appeared first on Gizmochina.

Gizmochina along with MGCOOL official is conducting 3 units MGCOOL Band 2 as Giveaway to gift to 3 of our lucky readers. Like always, you just have to follow the steps mentioned on the Gleam widget to get a chance to win this amazing smartphone.

MGCOOL Band 2, the wearable we presented some time ago is here and at a very competitive price too, only $18.99 on Gearbest. Here is the main features of MGCOOL Band 2:

• Bluetooth version: Bluetooth 4.0
• Waterproof: Yes
• IP rating: IPX7
• Bluetooth calling: Phone call reminder
• Messaging: Message reminder
• Health tracker: Heart rate monitor,Sleep monitor
• Remote control function: Remote Camera,Remote music
• Notification: Yes
• Notification type: Facebook,G-mail
• Other function: Alarm

Just follow the steps mentioned in the Gleam widget to participate in the giveaway. Good luck!

Gizmochina Giveaway – Win a Free MGCOOL Band 2

Update: Please sure you have visited MGCOOL official Facebook page, and Liked it. We will pick winner from who liked MGCOOL’s Facebook page. Thanks for your understanding.

Update 2: The 3 winners are picked today, they are Edmond L, Jorge P and Claudiu E. Congratulation!

The post Gizmochina Giveaway – Win A Free MGCOOL Band 2 appeared first on Gizmochina.

Gizmochina along with Umi official is conducting a Umi Diamond phone Giveaway to gift a brand new device to one of our lucky readers. Like always, you just have to follow the steps mentioned on the Gleam widget to get a chance to win this amazing smartphone.

As we know, the compact UMi Diamond is a 5″ device of HD resolution with a 2.5D glass on top. Its name is Dual T2X-1 glass and it allows it to better resist accidental bumps and scratches. In addition, the SoC is the Octa-Core MT6753 clocked at 1.5 Ghz, the RAM is 3GB and the internal storage has 16GB with support up to 128GB Micro-SD Card. Furthermore, the rear camera has an 8MP sensor and the front a 2MP one. The battery has 2.650mAh capacity with Android 6.0 Marshmallow preinstalled.

UMi Diamond vs the hard street life in this video:

Just follow the steps mentioned in the Gleam widget to participate in the giveaway. Good luck!

Gizmochina Giveaway – Win A Free Umi Diamond Phone

The post Gizmochina Giveaway – Win A Free Umi Diamond Phone appeared first on Gizmochina.

Gizmochina along with Elephone official is conducting a Elephone S7 phone Giveaway to gift a brand new device to one of our lucky readers. Like always, you just have to follow the steps mentioned on the Gleam widget to get a chance to win this amazing smartphone.

The Elephone S7 presale period is reaching its end date. In 3 days that is. And according to Elephone, the presale number is nearly reaching to 110,000 units. Elephone S7 features the deca-core Helio X20 SoC with 2GB/3GB/4GB RAM, and runs Android 6.0 system out of the box . The use of bezel-less 3D radian IN-cell FHD display and outstanding Lumia wave on the back makes it a beautiful design by all means device. Lastly, the price starts from $139.99 for the base model. If you want one too, go ahead and pre-order one from the link below.

Elephone S7 Main Features:
Display: 5.5 inch, 1920 x 1080 pixels FHD screen
CPU: MTK Helio X20
System: Android 6.0
RAM : 2GB/3GB/4GB
Camera: 13.0MP rear camera + 5.0MP front camera
Sensor: Accelerometer, Ambient Light Sensor, Gravity Sensor, Gyroscope Sensor, Proximity Sensor, Hall Sensor
SIM Card: Dual SIM dual standby, dual nano SIM cards
Feature: GPS

Just follow the steps mentioned in the Gleam widget to participate in the giveaway. Good luck!

Gizmochina Giveaway – Win A Free Elephone S7

Update: Please sure you have visited Elephone official Facebook page, and Liked it. We will pick winner from who liked Elephone’s Facebook page. Thanks for your understanding.

Update 2: The winner was picked, It’s Μάρκος Σ, from Greece. Congradulation! Elephone will send the free gift as soon as possible. Thank you all.

The post Gizmochina Giveaway – Win A Free Elephone S7 Phone appeared first on Gizmochina.

It seems that there has been a wave of super-sized smartphones from China and Cubot Max is one of them. It sports a 6” display, it has decent specs but it costs just $114. Learn more in our a full review.

Thanks t0 Efox-shop for sending Cubot Max for a review.

Cubot Max Review: VIDEO REVIEW

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGaM-gMQ4RE[/embedyt]

Cubot Max Review: UNBOXING

The phone ships with all the usual stuff and some extras include a high-quality soft TPU case.

Cubot Max Review: DESIGN and DISPLAY

The very first thing you are going to notice about this phone is that it is really huge due to its 6” display. It has only 720p resolution but it is surprisingly sharp and nice panel.

We don’t have backlit capacitive buttons but there is a notification LED light, which is a nice addition for a cheap phone like this.

The phone is made of plastic and we have a textured vinyl-like finish on the back. I can’t say that the phone looks or feels premium but it is well made.

The buttons feel nice and tactile.

The loudspeaker sits on the bottom and it is okay but as usual to the cheap phones, the sound is flat.

As for camera, we have a 13MP shooter with a single LED flash.

The backplate can be easily removed to access a 4100mAh battery, two SIM card slots and the microSD card slot.

Cubot Max Review: HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE

The Cubot Max sports some pretty good specs for the price. The phone ships with an octa-core MTK6753A chip, 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage.

The gaming performance is okay. You should be able to run most of the 2D games and 3D games on the medium graphics but you have to expect quite a bit of stutter on the highest graphics.

Cubot Max Review: BENCHMARKS

Cubot Max Review: USER INTERFACE

The Android 6.0-based user interface will give you a pretty much stock Android experience but there are some added features like a bunch of gesture and motion controls that work pretty well.

I didn’t have any major lags or hiccups even after installing quite a few apps and I believe this is the most important thing for a cheap phone.

Cubot Max Review: IMAGE QUALITY

As for image quality, the camera can take some okay-looking photos in daylight. However, most of the shots look overexposed, the dynamic range and white balance adjustment are poor and so on. Well, this is what you usually get from a cheap phone and the results get a lot worse in low-light situations.

As for selfie shooter, it will do the trick for social media but the quality of pictures is just mediocre.

The 1080p video is mediocre-looking too. See a video review for a video sample.

Cubot Max Review: CONNECTIVITY

I didn’t have any connectivity issues and even the GPS lock speeds and accuracy were okay.

Cubot Max Review: BATTERY LIFE

The 4100mAh battery performs pretty well on the daily basis. I got a full day or even 2 days of moderate usage out of this phone, which is a good result considering a large display.

Cubot Max Review: CONCLUSIONS

Cubot Max is yet another cheap Chinese phone that offers a large 6” screen and some decent specs for the price.

After using it for quite a bit of time, we have to say that a large screen is pretty fun for multimedia consumption. Also, the phone did not lag and it was fast on the daily basis.

As usual to the cheap phones, you should not expect any stellar results from the camera. Also, the phone does not sport any premium materials like metal or glass and it lacks backlit capacitive buttons but it gets most of the basics right. If you add a great battery life, the Cubot Max is a decent offering for the price of just $114.

Buy Cubot Max

The post Cubot Max Review – A Solid $114 Phablet appeared first on Gizmochina.

Last week wasn’t as busy as usual, mainly because of the National Day holidays in China. Still there were a few interesting articles that we reported during the period, with the major focus on upcoming phones like Xiaomi Mi Note 2 and OPPO R9S. Google was busy the previous week, all thanks to the two new Pixel phone launches. There was a story on the Mate 9 as well. Sharp also made the headlines past week, all thanks to its 1000 ppi display and the Corner R concept bezel-less phone.

In case you missed out on the hot stories from last week, they are given below. We also reviewed a few interesting products, including the Xiaomi Yeelight strip. Note that the top reviews are posted after the top news articles.

Sharp Unveils Corner R Smartphone with Stunning Curved Bezel-less Display

iPhone 7 and Leica M9-P Slug it Out in Camera Battle

Google Pixel and Pixel XL Official: Premium Phones With SD821, Powerful Cameras & Daydream Ready

Xiaomi Mi Note 2 Prototype Surfaces, Curved Display Likely!

Huawei Mate 9 Rumours: 20MP & 12MP Dual Leica Cameras and 50% Charge in 5 Minutes

Apple A10X Chip’s Benchmark Score Leaks, Reveals Incredible Performance

Elephone’s New Smartphone Will Flaunt Curved Display & Ceramic Back Cover

OPPO R9s Launches on October 19: First to Feature Sony IMX398 Sensor

The following were the top reviews of last week:

Xiaomi Yeelight Smart Light Strip Review! It is Awesome!

Insta 360 4K – A Premium 360 Camera Review

Blackview A8 Max Review – A Nice $80 Phone

Oukitel U7 Plus Review

We also published a smartphone buyers guide for the month of October for phones priced between $200-$300. You can check that out from below.

Smartphone Buyers Guide: Best Value For Money Chinese SmartPhones $200-$300

The post GizmoChina Weekly: Top Stories From Past Week (Oct 2 – Oct 8) appeared first on Gizmochina.

UMi recently unveiled the UMi Max mid-ranger which is here to take on the affordable power phones in the market right now. The phone comes with pretty good specs, including the decent Helio P10 64-bit octa-core chipset and 3GB of RAM on board.

Now, Gizmochina along with Tomtop is conducting a UMi Max Giveaway to gift a brand new device to one of our lucky readers. Like always, you just have to follow the steps mentioned on the Gleam widget to get a chance to win this amazing smartphone.

Before we take a look at the specs of the UMi Max, we would like to thank Tomtop for providing this unit for Giveaway. Do check out their website for good deals and offers on your favorite Chinese smartphones.

To recap, the UMi Max comes with a beautiful all metal body with Helio P10, 3GB RAM and 16GB of internal storage. The storage is further expandable via MicroSD, so you don’t have to worry about the limited ROM. The phone comes with a 5.5-inch 1080p display and a large 4000mAh battery on board. At the back, you have a 13MP Panasonic camera while up front, you get a 5MP shooter. Other features of the device include Hi-Fi audio, fast fingerprint sensor and Pure Android 6.0 Marshmallow OS on board. It’s a pretty good smartphone and will fulfill almost all of your basic phone needs.

Just follow the steps mentioned in the Gleam widget to participate in the giveaway.

All the best.
UMi Max Giveaway

The post UMi Max Giveaway: Get This Amazing Smartphone From Gizmochina appeared first on Gizmochina.

Gizmochina has increased its efforts to deliver quick and latest Chinese smartphone news to our readers. However, our audience is not just based of English-speaking readers and we understand this. Given that a lot of our readers come from Russia, we have now launched our Gizmochina Russia sister website. It’s been a couple of weeks since the website was launched and we are currently delivering all the top Chinese news in Russian consistently on the website.

If you are a Russian visitor and want to read the latest Chinese news in Russian, please check out our sister website for all the latest news.

Also, please follow our Gizmochina Russia VK page to keep yourself updated.

In case you missed, LeEco has officially announced the Le 2 and Le Max 2 in Russia and they are priced pretty aggresively. You can read all about that here (in Russian).

The post Gizmochina Russia Website Launched: Latest Chinese Phone News Now In Russian! appeared first on Gizmochina.

Xiaomi has been on the roll as they have released quite a few devices lately. The Redmi Pro is a phone that costs around $250 via the third party resellers, it has pretty good specs but most importantly, the device has dual camera setup. Learn more in our full review.

Thanks to Oppomart for sending Xiaomi Redmi Pro for a review.

Xiaomi Redmi Pro Review: VIDEO REVIEW

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-N8pvWGQmA[/embedyt]

Xiaomi Redmi Pro Review: UNBOXING

The phone ships in a usual Xiaomi box and inside of it you can find a charger, some paperwork, SIM ejector pin and USB-C cable.

Xiaomi Redmi Pro Review: SPECS

Xiaomi Redmi Pro Review: DESIGN and DISPLAY

Let me be honest with you, this phone is the most premium Redmi device I’ve ever seen. It’s made entirely of metal (even top and bottom parts are made of metal). I really love the brushed aluminum look. Even though the Redmi Pro may look a bit glossy, it does not attract fingerprints so easily.

We have nice and tactile buttons and I absolutely love the build quality of this phone.

One of the key selling points of this device is of course, its dual camera setup, which is supposed to give you a hardware-based shallow depth of field effect. The main camera has 13MP, f/2.0 aperture and PDAF. The secondary camera has 5MP.

Also, the cameras are accompanied with a dual-tone dual led flash. More on the camera features a bit later in this review.

The Redmi Pro sports a 5.5” 1080p display. In fact, this is the first Redmi phone to have the Amoled panel, which is sharp and vibrant. However, the colors may look a bit oversaturated but I’m okay with that. The sunlight legibility is not the best I’ve seen but it is pretty good and I don’t have many complaints in this regard.

As far as selfie shooter, we have a 5MP camera. Right next to it, there is a highly customizable notification LED light.

It’s nice to see backlit capacitive buttons, which can be also customized in a lot of different ways. The fingerprint scanner is embedded in a physical home button. It is fast and very accurate but it does not work straight from the standby mode meaning that you have to wake your phone up first.

The loudspeaker quality is pretty good. Sure, it is not perfect but it is definitely one of the best in this price range of phones.

One little extra feature that has started disappearing from a lot of phones is the IR blaster to control devices like TVs.

Xiaomi Redmi Pro Review: HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE

I have a standard edition of the Redmi Pro, which has a deca-core Mediatek Helio X20 chip with the max. clock speeds of 2.1GHz, 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage, which is also expandable via the microSD card slot.

If you are willing to pay extra, you can get a few model variations and the best one sports a Helio X25 chip with 4GB of RAM and whopping 128GB of storage.

The gaming performance is pretty good yet not ideal. You can enjoy most of the 3D games without any issues but there were a few skipped frames and a bit of stutter while playing Asphalt 8 on the highest graphics. Of course, changing graphics to medium solves this issue.

A great thing is that the phone does not have any overheating issues.

Xiaomi Redmi Pro Review: BENCHMARKS

Xiaomi Redmi Pro Review: USER INTERFACE

When it comes to user interface, my Redmi Pro has just been updated to MIUI 8, which is built on top of Android 6.0. There are some cool new features and design touches that differ MIUI 8 from the MIUI 7.

If you swipe down, you will open up a redesigned quick settings menu. There is no separate notification shade like it used to be. Also, the multitasking menu now has a 3D look to give you a better idea of what apps are running in the background.

A great thing is that Xiaomi finally re-organized their settings menu and you now can find everything quicker. One of the new features includes the “second space”. You can move apps, files and other information between the “first space” and the “second space” and you can easily switch between these spaces. As Xiaomi claims, this feature is like having 2 phones with different files and settings. Another new feature is the “quick ball”, which is simply a small bubble that has a few customizable shortcuts. However, I’ve never been a huge fan of any floating screens on the display.

We have some other features, customization options, various tweaks and settings Xiaomi phones are famous for. Just to name a few, you can select from a variety of themes, wallpapers, fonts and so on. Also, you can customize the LED light, assign different tasks to capacitive buttons and so on.

Finally, the MIUI 8 runs fast and fluid and I didn’t have any hiccups or lag.

Xiaomi Redmi Pro Review: CAMERA

Please watch our video review to better understand how dual-camera setup works:

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKS7wDoTG0g[/embedyt]

When it comes to the cameras, let’s start by the most interesting part. The dual-camera mode, which is called stereo mode, is simply activated by clicking a small camera button. Here you can play with the aperture number by going all the way to f/5.6 or go down to a super bright f/0.95. Also, you can change the focus area after you take the picture and apply different effects.

If you spend a little bit of time with the camera, you can get some nice photos. Of course, not all pictures will look natural but can definitely achieve some nice results. A very cool thing is that you can also adjust the aperture number during the video recording to get that shallow depth of field effect.

If you tend to take regular photos more often, the auto-mode allows you to do that pretty fast thanks to the baked-in PDAF system. The camera takes some pretty good images in daylight. The pictures tend to have a good amount of detail and sharpness. Also, the colors look natural. However, a few of the shots have a softer focus on the corners but we have to consider that the phone runs on an early software build. The biggest complaint would be the dynamic range adjustment but the HDR mode does a pretty good job.

The macro shots have a good amount of detail and they look sharp most of the time.

As for indoor photos, you can get some good looking images too. Sure, they will look grainier but the camera does an okay job with noise reduction.

The low-light camera performance is good for the price of the phone but I hope to see some improvements with the future software updates. There is quite a bit of noise and there could be more detail. Also, I noticed that there is a slight red tint if you take pictures close to the light source, e.g. street lamps.

The dual tone LED flash does a pretty good job illuminating the scene in almost pitch dark environments but the flash is a bit too warm for my taste.

Panorama photos look quite terrible due to very low-resolution. On the other hand, the auto-stitching is pretty good.

The phone can shoot videos in Full-HD. The video quality is just above average I would say. The footage could look sharper and have more detail. On the other hand, I’m happy with the way CAF works. You can also shoot slow-motion videos in 720p and the quality is not the best but it is pretty good. See the video review for video samples.

A 5MP selfie camera is able to capture some usable pictures for social media but it does not impress. Most of the images look noisy and grainy, and there is a ton of noise. The situation gets even worse in low-light.

As for selfie video, the quality of the footage is mediocre. See the video review for video samples.

Overall, the Redmi Pro has a pretty solid camera setup for the price of the phone and you can definitely get some great looking images. It is not perfect though but we may see some improvements with the future software updates.

Download full resolution camera samples

Xiaomi Redmi Pro Review: CONNECTIVITY

As far as connectivity, I didn’t have any issues with Wifi, Bluetooth, GPS or other options.

The phone comes with a dual-SIM card tray, which can take either 2 SIMs or 1 SIM and the microSD card.

Xiaomi Redmi Pro Review: BATTERY LIFE

The phone ships with the with a huge 4050mAh battery that performs very well. I could get over 6.5 hours of screen-on time on a mixed use which is a very good result.

The phone supports a fast charging feature but it does not come with the fast charger, which is a bummer. This section will be updated with the screenshots of the battery use later (currently, we are re-testing the phone’s battery life with the just released MIUI 8).

Xiaomi Redmi Pro Review: CONCLUSIONS

The Xiaomi Redmi Pro is a solid device for the price of around $250.

First of all, it just looks beautiful and the build quality is top-notch. Also, we have a sharp and vibrant display, user interface that has tons of features and a pretty good overall performance.

Also, the dual camera setup is what makes the Redmi Pro standout. Finally, the battery performance is just fantastic.

On the other hand, you have to know that the phone’s camera could be better in video recording and the selfie camera produces images that have quite a bit of noise.

Other complaints would be that the fingerprint scanner does not work straight from the standby mode and you should expect a few skipped frames when playing some 3D games on the highest graphics settings.

Other than that, the Xiaomi Redmi Pro is a great all-around device. Sure, it is not perfect but knowing the fact that Xiaomi usually fixes a lot of things with its software updates, the Redmi Pro is a good phone to buy for less than $250.

The post Xiaomi Redmi Pro Review appeared first on Gizmochina.

Hi Readers,

Thanks for being a loyal follower of Gizmochina. As part of our expansion plans, we are looking for non-English writers, specifically Russian, German, Spanish and Italian writers, who can write in native language about hot Chinese news updates.

The ideal candidate will be available for a few hours everyday to write a few articles in their native language for gizmochina’s sister sites.

If you think you are good at writing and can write well in either German, Russian, Italian or Spanish languages, then please fill out the form down below. I’ll get back to the selected candidates soon.

Thanks & Regards,

Joel

Editor-in-Chief@ Gizmochina.com.

The post We Are Looking For Non-English Writers: Russian/ German/ Spanish/ Italian appeared first on Gizmochina.

We love giving away new products to our readers. Today, we have yet another hot product to give away to one of our lucky readers and its none other than the new Xiaomi Mi Band 2. The latest Mi Band 2 version comes with a lot of upgrades including a display up front, making it a hot product in the market. Further, there are a lot of new features as well, which makes the Mi Band 2 the perfect product to giveaway.

We are giving away this product in partnership with banggood and we would like to thank the retailer for giving us a unit for this giveaway. Do check out banggood for the latest Chinese smartphones and tablets. Even the Xiaomi Mi Band 2 is available on the website which you can check out from here.

Wanna know what makes Mi Band 2 special before participating in the giveaway? Check out some of these features!

MiBand 2 has the following cool features:

• heart-rate monitor
• sleep monitor
• activity tracker
• pedometer
• resistant to scratches and fingerprint
• IP67 water, dust and sweat resistant
• can unlock your phone
• nudges you to move
• scientific self-control movement
• 20 day battery life

As always, we will be conducting the giveaway via the gleam widget. So, one random winner is selected who will get a brand new Mi Band 2 wearable courtesy of gizmochina and bang good.
Xiaomi Mi Band 2 Giveaway

The post Xiaomi Mi Band 2 GiveAway From GizmoChina & Banggood appeared first on Gizmochina.

UPDATE: We are also looking for Spanish and German writers for our website.

So, if you are passionate about tech, have knowledge of Chinese smartphones and are fluent in Either Eng / Spanish / German, you can apply via the form down below. Please mention your preferred language in the form. 

Hello readers, as you all know, we have been growing consistently for the past few months. Considering the need to keep the website updated with the latest happenings in the Chinese tech industry, we are looking for a couple of writers to join our team.

Potential candidates need to have previous experience writing for a blog. It can be your own blog or someone else’s. The idea is that you need experience working with wordpress and you should know how to write well.

Another important requirement is the need for perfect English. We need someone who can write well in English, engage with the readers and have a passion for writing about technology.

Also, you need to have at least a couple of hours free every day. We don’t want writers who can’t commit a few hours in the day to write a couple of articles.

Another requirement is some basic knowledge about Chinese smartphones and companies. If you have never heard about companies like LeEco, Meizu or Doogee, you will find it hard to write for us.

If you tick these requirements, fill up this google form. We will soon contact ideal candidates for further discussion.

Regards,

Joel

The post We Are Looking To Hire Smart Writers For GizmoChina appeared first on Gizmochina.

When Gizmochina was launched a few years back, there was only one thing in mind, providing readers with the latest Chinese gadget news. Back then, there were hardly a few thousand readers. And over the course of time, the website has grown into one of the top Chinese news sites.

In the past few years, thanks to our loyal readers, we have been growing pretty quickly. But we know our website is far from perfect at the moment. And we would like your help to improve the site.

Now is the time of the Chinese New Year – The Year of the Monkey and we would like to change a few things on the website, to make it more reader-friendly as well as interesting. And given that you are our readers, we would like to hear directly from you guys about your feedback and suggestions.

We would like to know what all changes that you would like to see on gizmochina. Also, we want your suggestions on the kind of content that you would like to read on the website. We have a few ideas, but we would be happy to hear more from you guys. I promise to read each of your suggestions and try to implement them in the coming months.

You can comment below this article for your suggestions or mail to me at directly at joel.gizmochina@gmail.com. I’ll be happy to hear from our readers.

Thanks for all your support till now. I hope that we can together make gizmochina more professional and reader-friendly.

Regards,

Joel

Editor-in-Chief@Gizmochina.com

The post Gizmochina Improvements: What would you like to see? appeared first on Gizmochina.

A couple of days back, we had teased our readers about a new giveaway. We had asked everyone to guess which would phone we were going to giveaway and we saw a lot of responses on that post. There were a number of suggestions made, starting from Meizu MX5 to even LeTV One Pro. But, a majority of the comments managed to pick the right phone, the OnePlus 2.

Yes, we are going to Giveaway a brand new OnePlus 2 flagship killer smartphone. And like we said, you are definitely going to love it! We decided to giveaway OnePlus 2 for a number of reasons. First of all, it is the smartphone that we all have been waiting for the past few months. Secondly, its going to be revolutionary in terms of design as well as specs. And finally, it won’t be that easy to purchase the device (unfortunately, you still need an invite to buy OnePlus 2).

So, OnePlus 2 turns out to be the best smartphone that we can giveaway to our readers. And as promised, today is the 20th, and we are announcing the contest officially. The GizmoChina GiveAway contest starts today in just two hours and will go on till August 10. There are a number of ways you can participate in the giveaway. And there are entries that you can make to earn extra points every day too.

The final winner will be selected at random, so everyone gets a fair chance. What’s more, you can increase your chances of being picked as the winner by increasing your entries for the contest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Hu7adHZycU

OnePlus 2 Giveaway: Sponsored By Giztop

Ways To Enter The Contest:

1. Visit And Like GizmoChina Facebook Page
2. Visit And Like Giztop Facebook Page
3. Tweet The Contest Page On Twitter With Hashtag #OnePlus2GizmoGiveAway (Don’t Worry With Gleam, you can do this in a click of a button).
4. Follow GizmoChina On Twitter
5. Earn Extra Entries For Sharing This Giveaway With Your Friends On Facebook And Other Sites . (For every Friend that enters with your link, you get an additional entry )

That’s all, as you can see, you can do all of this within a minute! But it gives you a chance to win the amazing OnePlus 2 flagship killer.

Remember, you need to make these entries via Gleam widget, so that your entries are officially recorded.

Please share this giveaway as much as possible, in order to earn extra points and to make it successful. A successful giveaway would encourage us to giveaway more such amazing products to our readers.

Also, a special thanks to our partner, Giztop for making this possible. Do check out their website for all the latest flagship smartphones in the market. The site promises zero shipping and customs charges for most countries.

We hope all of you participate in this giveaway and make it big. All the BEST!

OnePlus 2 GiveAway

Meanwhile, read some of the terms and conditions of the giveaway from down below.

T&C

1. The prize will ship when it is available to purchase.
2. We will select a random winner through Gleam.
3. You must be age of majority in your Country of residence.
4. We will not be responsible for any duties, customs, or taxes that you incur in your country.

The post GizmoChina Giveaway: Win A Free OnePlus 2 appeared first on Gizmochina.

Giztop, the e-commerce site specializing in high-end smartphone and accessory sales is now the official partner of GizmoChina. So, from now onwards, we will strive to bring the best deals and offers to our customers from our partner shop.

Giztop has all the major flagships from China listed on its website. So, if you are looking to purchase any new flagship device such as the Xiaomi Mi Note Pro or the Honor 7, you can buy it directly from this shop without any worries. What’s more buyers from Europe no longer have to pay any customs taxes on the products bought from Giztop as they promised. You also get free expedited shipping for phones bought from the site.
Moreover, you can purchase these devices without fear because they have a repairing center in Europe too. This means that in case you come across some problems with your device, you can send it to the European repair center instead of sending it all the way to China. This saves a lot of time as well as money for both the buyer and the sender, which we feel is an added advantage.

Giztop will also be offering a number of deals on famous flagship smartphones in the coming weeks, which means you can take advantage of the best prices on the hottest products. Just check out their deals page for the updated offers on the latest products.
Also, as of now, the shop is offering $10 OFF on all its products sitewide for our readers. Just use the coupon: GIZM10. You can check out your favorite Chinese smartphones on the site.

We are sure with this partnership, our readers will benefit to a great extent.

The post Giztop Is Now The Official Partner Shop Of GizmoChina appeared first on Gizmochina.

In case you haven’t noticed, recently we started a gizmochina forum to engage with our readers. We receive hundreds of new comments everyday which makes it impossible to answer each one of them. As a result, we have decided to create a forum wherein users as well as authors will participate to solve any doubts or questions that you have.

So whether it is about a Chinese brand, Chinese smartphone or even about the tech world in general, our forums can be a very good place to start a healthy conversation.

Moreover, we will try to answer each one of your questions on the forums everyday.

You can see the forum banner on the right, or else check it out from here.

The post ASK us any questions through Gizmochina Chatroom at the right coner appeared first on Gizmochina.

ZTE announced low-cost mid ranger  ZMAX under T-MOBILE in USA this day. This phone is priced at $252 without contract and $10.50 monthly for 24 months with contract and will hit the stores on September 24 at $0 down payment.

This phone features  a 5.7″ LCD screen with 720P resolution, and is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 SoC (quad-core CPU) with a clock speed of 1.2GHz coupled with 2GB of RAM. 

Coming to Camera it boasts a 8MP main camera  and 1.6MP front-facing camera. ZTE ZMAX possess a hard-wearing  3,400mAh battery which provides you a battery juice for almost 2 days with normal usage. The device boots Android 4.4.2 KitKat out of the box with mostly stock UI.

The ZTE ZMax supports Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS/ A-GPS, 3G and 4G LTE connectivity options.

The other notable features are it includes a dual-microphone noise canceling and  offers Dolby DM3 audio.

Source: ZTE

The post ZTE ZMAX goes official appeared first on Gizmochina.

Yes! You heard it right the Goophone I5 world’s most anticipated iPhone 5 clone… announced before the iPhone 5, but ironically  it should release ,according to their website page (goophone.hk), this month from the 12-14. Let’s hope they are right as we have been waiting months for this android phone. The Goophone I5 is available for pre-order at www.android-sale.com for 249.99$ US a cheap price if you compare it to the actual iPhone 5 with a price tag of 699.99$US

The post Goophone I5 officially announced for release from 12.12 to 12.14 appeared first on Gizmochina.