Today, Lenovo Group Vice President Chang Cheng announced the long awaited ZUI 4.0 update for the company’s ZUK series smartphones, including ZUK Z2 Pro, Z2 and ZUK Edge.

He announced that the company will roll out ZUI 4.0 for the ZUK Z2 Pro and ZUK Z2 by the end of this week for beta testing while the same update for the ZUK Edge will start rolling out next week.

Earlier this year, in March, during the Lenovo S5 launch event, Chang Cheng had announced that the company’s newly updated ZUI 4.0 will start rolling out in July. However, the update got delayed and was finally rolled out with Lenovo Z5 in August.

The devices that are compatible with the company’s new ZUI 4.0 update include Lenovo S5, Lenovo K5, K5 Play, Moto Z-series 2018, Moto Z2 Play, and ZUK devices which includes ZUK Edge, ZUK Z2 Pro, and ZUK Z2.

The ZUI 4.0 comes with support for U-touch 4.0 features and full-screen gestures. It also introduces a brand-new function of artificial intelligence-based voice assistance. The company has added a feature called Game Line Network Acceleration that is aimed at providing faster gaming experience.

Read More: Lenovo S5 Pro stunning camera samples released as launch draws near

Further, the update has been optimised to provide faster and better user experience as well as to reduce the power consumption of the system and improve stability.

(Source)

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A few weeks ago, ZUK released the ZUI 3.5 update for the ZUK Z2 Pro. The update brought Android 8.0 Oreo to the device along with some other features and bug fixes. Now the update is rolling out to owners of the ZUK Z2 and ZUK Edge.

The ZUK Z2 originally launched with Android 6.0 Marshmallow but has now gotten two major OS upgrades. The Snapdragon 820-powered device is one of the few phones ZUK released in its short duration as a smartphone manufacturer.

The ZUK Edge on the other hand ran Android Nougat out of the box. It is however unknown if this will be the final update for the Snapdragon 821 device or if it will get updated to Android P.

READ MORE: Honor 8 Pro and Honor 9 Receive Android Oreo in The UK & India

ZUI 3.5 brings a revamped notification system, a new U-Health app, and a redesigned phone dialer and SMS interface. It also comes with the new features found in Android Oreo.

(Source)

The post ZUI 3.5 Update Brings Android 8.0 Oreo To ZUK Z2 and ZUK Edge appeared first on Gizmochina.

Last year a Lenovo-backed company released a ZUK Z2 – a phone that had a great design and killers specs. Right now you can get this phone for just about $180 and it seems to be one of the best phones for the price since it has a Snapdragon 820 chip, 4GB of RAM and a lot more! Learn more in our ZUK Z2 review after 1 year.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0KVJ_ogfEs[/embedyt]

Check out Lenovo’s deal page

ZUK Z2 Review: UNBOXING

The phone ships with all the usual stuff that includes the USB C cable, a fast charger, SIM ejector pin and some paperwork.

ZUK Z2 Review: SPECS

ZUK Z2 Review: DESIGN and DISPLAY

As far as design goes, it has changed quite a bit if we compare it to the ZUK Z1.

Now we have a rather compact phone, which uses a very high quality and sturdy metal frame around the device. I love the fact that all the buttons and a dual SIM card tray are on the right and all other stuff is on the bottom. Thus, other sides of the phone look clean.

The sound quality from the loudspeaker is pretty good but nothing we haven’t heard from similarly priced phones.

Also, we have Gorilla Glass 4 on the front and rear. A great thing is that the phone has some sort of anti-fingerprint coating and it does its job very well.

We have a 5” 1080p display, which is nice and sharp but it could be slightly brighter for a better sunlight legibility.

An 8MP shooter is here for selfies along with a notification LED light on the top.

On the bottom, we have just one physical home button but it has tons of features. First of all, you can physically press it and it takes you home. Also, you can tap it and it acts as a back button or swipe it from left to right if you e.g. want to access your recent apps. Also, the button is highly customizable and you can assign different tasks. I have to say that this is one of the best home button implementations I’ve ever seen.

Last but not least we have a fingerprint scanner, which is accurate and it reads a fingerprint straight from the standby mode.

On the back, we have a 13MP shooter with f/2.2 aperture and a single LED flash.

Overall, the phone is well-built, it feels nice in the hand and it sports some flagship-worthy materials in the construction.

ZUK Z2 Review: HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE

ZUK Z2 still sports some flagship-grade specs. It has a Snapdragon 820 chip, 4GB of RAM and 64GB of on-board storage without the microSD card slot.

As you may have guessed, the phone can handle anything you throw at it without a sweat. All the games ran almost perfectly on the highest graphics. However, the phone does quite warm on the top portion of the device but there are no overheating warnings or anything that could impair the performance.

ZUK Z2 Review: USER INTERFACE

When it comes to the user interface, there are two different versions. The one I reviewed like 8 months ago shipped with the Chinese ROM that had quite a bit of bloatware and no Google services. The one I have ships with the fully de-bloated ZUI rom, that is built on top of Android 6.0.

First of all, I love that the UI looks clean and it is fast and fluid. Also, there are some extra features and customization options. Besides the ability to do a lot of stuff just by swiping on the home button, you can swipe from the bottom to open up quick settings toggles, which are highly customizable too.

It would be great to have the Android 7 on this ROM but honestly, I really love it and so far it looks a lot better than the Chinese ROM.

ZUK Z2 Review: CAMERA

When it comes to the camera, we have a few shooting modes but there is no manual mode to take a full control of the images you take. Also, there are some basic settings to play with. In addition, the phone can take pictures very fast, which is probably the most important aspect for most users. Finally, the device triggers HDR mode automatically.

ZUK Z2 Review: IMAGE QUALITY

ZUK Z2 can take some nice looking daylight images with a good amount of detail, accurate looking colors and sharpness.

The camera starts struggling in lower-lit situations as the images have quite a lot of noise and less detail. Still, you can get some usable images out of this phone.

The 4k video looks really good for a $180 phone. However, the footage could have less noise and compression, and the green color of the grass looks oversaturated. See a video review for a video sample.

An 8MP selfie snapper can take some decent looking selfies for social media needs.

Overall, ZUK Z2 does not have a perfect camera but it is definitely one of the better cameras in a $300 phone.

ZUK Z2 Review: CONNECTIVITY

I didn’t have any connectivity issues with the phone as the signal reception was good and the call quality was decent. Also, the Wifi worked fine and the GPS was accurate.

ZUK Z2 Review: BATTERY LIFE

The ZUK Z2 ships with 3500mAh built-in battery and it performs great.

I could constantly get over 5 hours of screen-on time on a mixed use, which involved using the camera, browsing the web, a bit of gaming and so on.

The phone ships with a fast charger and I was able to fully charge the phone in 1 hour and 30 mins.

ZUK Z2 Review: CONCLUSIONS

So, there you have it, ZUK Z2 after the buzz. With the recent price drops, I honestly believe that this is one of the best phones you can buy. Sure, it has a few shortcomings to consider but given the fact that it has really powerful internals, great and compact design, the ZUK Z2 is a fantastic offering for about $180.

The post ZUK Z2 Review after 1 year – The Best Budget Smartphone for $180? appeared first on Gizmochina.

Usually when a new phone model is set for release, previous models usually get a price cut. However, that’s not the case for Lenovo’s ZUK Z2 smartphone. There is no news of a ZUK Z3 but the ZUK Z2 has been getting price cuts for months now.

If you are in search of a new phone, you might want to give the ZUK Z2 a chance. It is powered by the Snapdragon 820 processor, a still powerful chip even after two successors. Jingdong Mall currently has the 4GB RAM + 64GB ROM variant for just ¥1199 ($175). You read that right. Less than $200 will get you the ZUK Z2. It’s important to note that the price cut is limited to the white variant only

READ MORE: Lenovo ZUK Z1 joins The Nougat Train, Gets Android Nougat-Based ZUI 2.5 Stable Version

The phone has some other interesting features other than its low price, and more than ample storage and RAM. It is compact with just a 5-inch FHD display and packs a 3500mAh battery with support for fast charging. It packs a 13MP f/2.2 rear camera with a LED flash and an 8MP front facing camera. Lenovo has also released a new update for the phone based on Android Nougat. So what more are you waiting for? Head over to the site now and grab the deal.

The post ZUK Z2 4GB+64GB Gets Price Cut on Jingdong Mall, Now ¥1199 ($175) appeared first on Gizmochina.

Popular benchmarking site, Antutu has released a list of the most popular android smartphones. The figures are generated by a sort of counter that records the number of individual devices of a particular phone that checks into the Antutu database. Only one manufacturer gets multiple appearance on the list, and that’s Xiaomi.

Not only is Xiaomi the most popular brand, its Xiaomi Mi 5 phone is number one on the list with 115,132. The Mi 5 is still a very popular device even though it already has two successors, the Xiaomi Mi 5s and the Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus (which both appear on the list). The reason why it is still popular can be narrowed down to its price. The Mi 5 is currently priced at under $300 for both its 32GB and 64GB variants. Pair that with its capable Snapdragon 820 SoC, its 4-axis main camera, and its compact size. Its no surprise why this phone is loved by many.

Next on the list is the OnePlus 3T with 83,458. The OnePlus 3T is also another device that balances price and performance. It sports the Snapdragon 821 processor, a 5.5” FHD display, 6GB of RAM and a 3400mAh battery with support for Dash Charge, OnePlus’s fast charging technology and one of the fastest on the planet now.

Closing the top 3 is another Xiaomi phone, the Mi 5s. This is another Snapdragon 821 phone and one that is priced under $300. The Mi 5s is followed by its dual-camera variant, the Mi 5S Plus.

READ MORE: Snapdragon 660 AnTuTu Benchmark Scores Leaked: Great Performance for a Mid-Ranger

Lenovo’s ZUK Z2 phone is the 5th most popular phone. The ZUK Z2 is actually the cheapest Snapdragon 820 phone money can buy but is not as popular as the Mi 5. Samsung makes an appearance with its Galaxy S7 Edge at number 6.

The Redmi Note 3 is the fourth Xiaomi phone on the list and sits at the seventh position. OPPO’s R9s is also on the list and sits ahead of Huawei’s only appearance, the Mate 9. Xiaomi closes the list with its Redmi Note 4.

The post Ten Most Popular Android Phones on Antutu in February: Xiaomi Getting All The Love appeared first on Gizmochina.

If you own a ZUK Z2 Pro you should look forward to receiving the Android Nougat update today as some owners have started receiving it.

The Lenovo owned company had announced last month that it was planning a Nougat update for the ZUK Z2 Pro and ZUK Z1. The update was scheduled to start rolling out before the beginning of the Spring Festival next week. And true to their words, the update has started already.

The update comes as a ZUI 2.5.335 update based on Android Nougat. It will bring new features, security patches and bug fixes. The changelog is listed below:

• System optimization or system stability
• System security patches
• Split screen experience
• Fix system silent problem
• Repair off screen after a period of time to open the screen, WeChat “network connection is not available” problem
• Repair specific scenarios even accidental loud speaker problem
• Repair the occasional system color reversal problem
• A small tool to optimize the file manager performance
• Some basic Android Nougat changes

The post Android Nougat Update for ZUK Z2 Pro Already Rolling Out appeared first on Gizmochina.

Popular benchmarking site, Antutu has released a list of the top 10 smartphones according to the major regions. The list is formed from a statistics of phones benchmarked from that region and not from a sales standpoint. The data was recorded starting from the first day of the year up until the 31st of December, 2016.

China Mainland

The results from the Chinese Mainland see Xiaomi clinching the top two spots with the Mi 5 and Redmi Note 3. Third spot goes to the LeEco Le 2 and Samsung’s S7 Edge comes in at number 4. Other phones that make the list include the Huawei Mate 8, Meizu MX5, ZUK Z2 and Le Max 2.

Taiwan

Taiwan’s list is quite different as it has phones made by company’s from the small island nation. Asus’s Zenfone 2 is at the top of the list with 6.56% and is followed by the Redmi Note 3 with 5.03%. Third and fourth spots are occupied by the Galaxy Note 5 and the HTC 10. The Galaxy S7 Edge and Galaxy Note 4 are right behind them. ASUS and HTC still make it to the list with the Zenfone 3 and HTC One M8 and Sony comes in at number 9 and 10 with the Xperia Z5 Premium and Xperia Z3.

Hong Kong

The Antutu results for Hong Kong has Samsung’s Galaxy S7 Edge taking the lead and the Redmi Note 3 coming in second. LG’s V10 comes in third position and is followed by the Galaxy S7. Samsung’s popularity doesn’t end there as right after the Galaxy S7 is the Galaxy Note 5, the Galaxy Note 4, the Galaxy A9 (2016), and the Galaxy Note 3 closing the list.

United States

In the United States, Samsung shows it is still the boss by having six of its devices on the list. The Nexus 6P is also on the Antutu list, coming in at number 5 and followed by the Redmi Note 3 and Nexus 6. The appearance of the Redmi Note 3 on the list is quite a surprise since Xiaomi has not launched any of its phones in North America.

India

The Indian market has become a very important one for Chinese manufacturers as the competition in their home market gets tougher. One company that has invested greatly in the Indian market is Xiaomi and its investment has paid off greatly. The list is headed by the Redmi Note 3 and includes other devices like the Redmi Note 2, Mi4c, Mi5, Mi4, and Mi 4i. Asus Zenfone 2 and Samsung’s S7 Edge also make it to the list.

Global

Ending it is the Antutu global list which has the Redmi Note 3 heading it. Xiaomi also gets the second spot with the Mi5 and Samsung’s S7 Edge and S6 hold the third and fourth position. LeEco’s Le 2 and the Zenfone 2 also makes it to the list.

READ MORE: Latest Android Distribution Numbers: Froyo Dies, Lollipop Still Tops

The results show that even though the popularity of Chinese phones continues to increase and more people keep purchasing them for their affordable price, the major markets are still controlled by the big brands like Samsung who rake in a lot of money in these regions due to their high profit margins.

(source)

The post Antutu’s Top 10 Smartphones in Each Region appeared first on Gizmochina.

Last year ZUK, which is a Lenovo-backed company, released a rather compelling Z2 model, which had some pretty powerful internals and a nice design. Right now the prices have dropped significantly and you can get it for just  $185.89 from lightinthebox.com, which sound like a pretty good deal.

ZUK Z2: SPECS

ZUK Z2 is a rather compact phone, which uses a very high quality and sturdy metal frame around the device. I love the fact that all the buttons and a dual SIM card tray are on the right and all other stuff is on the bottom. Thus, other sides of the phone look clean.

Also, we have Gorilla Glass 4 on the front and rear. A great thing is that the phone has some sort of anti-fingerprint coating and it does its job very well.

The ZUK Z2 is one of the rare phones that has just a 5″ display (1080p resolution). It’s worth mentioning that it is covered with the Gorilla Glass 3 for scratch resistance.

ZUK Z2 sports some powerful internals that includes a Snapdragon 820 chip, 4GB of RAM and 64GB of on-board storage without the microSD card slot. Sure, there are some slightly more powerful smartphones out there but this combo of specs can handle anything you throw at this phone, whether it would graphically demanding 3D games or just scrolling through the user interface.

You can now get the ZUK Z2 for just  $185.89 from lightinthebox.com, which sound like a pretty good deal, considering the overall package it offers. In fact, the ZUK Z2 is definitely one of the most powerful phones you can get at this price point.

The post The Most Powerful Phone for the Price? Get the ZUK Z2 for $185.89! appeared first on Gizmochina.

The ZUK Z2 and ZUK Z2 Pro were launched six months ago and both phones have gone through price cut after price cut making them one of the cheapest Snapdragon 820 phones in the market right now.

It appears the Lenovo-owned company isn’t done slashing the price on their flagships as they have announced that the Z2 duo will now sell at a reduced price starting today the 7th, up till the 13th of December.

The AMOLED sporting ZUK Z2 Pro with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of built-in storage gets a ¥600 (~$87) price slash and now sells for ¥2099 ($~305) or you can pick up the 4GB + 64GB model which sells for ¥1999 (~$290).

If you prefer the smaller-sized ZUK Z2, the 4GB + 64GB variant has been slashed down by ¥400 (~$58) and now sells for ¥1399 (~$203).

The sweetest deal is the base version of the ZUK Z2 which has 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage but whose price makes it qualify for the ¥1000 flagship. For the period of the sales, the phone will sell for ¥1099 (~$160) after getting a ¥500(~$73) price cut.

READ MORE: New Image Shows The ZUK Edge in Black and White with Thin Bezels

The Snapdragon 820 chip in each of these phones makes it a good purchase. You also get Quick Charge 3.0, USB Type C 3.1, and an audio jack.

The post ZUK Slashes Price of The ZUK Z2 Line: Becomes Cheapest SD 820 Phones Money Can Buy appeared first on Gizmochina.

The Lenovo ZUK Z2 was launched about five months back with a price tag that made the phone to become reputed as one of the cheapest Snapdragon 820-powered device, going for as low as 1799 Yuan for the 4GB RAM version. Recently, a white-only 3GB RAM version of the ZUK Z2 was released, dubbed ZUK Z2 Rio Edition apparently because of the Rio 2016 Olympic themed wallpapers inside. The 3GB RAM version started at 1599 Yuan ($240) and was even touted as the cheapest Snapdragon 820 smartphone ever. The price was later reduced to 1299 Yuan ($191).

That acclaimed cheap price has even gone further lower, as the Lenovo ZUK Z2 has now seen another price slash. Right now, the 3GB + 32GB version is now offered on Lenovo’s official website for 1149 Yuan ($169) with coupon. That is a huge 450 Yuan drop for a flagship device. This new price tag is even lower than the price tag of its predecessor, the ZUK Z1 which is being offered recently on Everbuying for $173.99.

The price reduction was also noticed to have been effected on popular online mall Jingdong (JD.com) where the 3GB RAM version of the ZUK Z2 is now being offered for 1199 Yuan($177). As a reminder, here are the specifications of the ZUK Z2 version in question.

Read More: ZUI 2.0 brings One Click Overclocking to Lenovo ZUK Z2

ZUK Z2 3GB +32GB Version specifications

• 5-inch (1920 x 1080 pixels) Full HD LTPS 2.5D curved glass display
• 2.15GHz Quad-Core Snapdragon 820 processor with Adreno 530 GPU
• 3GB RAM with 32GB internal storage
• Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) with ZUI 2.0
• 13MP rear camera with LED Flash, f/ 2.2, 5P lens, ISOCELL sensor, PDAF, CAF dual-mode focus, EIS
• 8MP front-facing camera with 1.4μm pixel size, f/2.0 aperture, 78.9-degree wide viewing angle
• Dual (nano) SIMs
• Fingerprint scanner
• Dimensions: 141.65×68.88×8.45mm; Weight: 149g
• 4G LTE with VoLTE, WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4/5 GHz), Bluetooth 4.1, GPS, USB 2.0 Type-C
• 3500mAh battery with Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0

The post Lenovo ZUK Z2 Now Up For 1,149 Yuan ($169)- Cheapest SD 820 Phone? appeared first on Gizmochina.

How about Snapdragon 821 for 299$ ? Or a very well build smartphone with Helio X20 + 4GB Ram for 200 $ ? Yes this price range is where the fun begins, where competition brings us to amazing phones for every taste out there  and shows us how much more interesting the future of the smartphones might be.

So let’s begin..

Vernee Apollo Lite

209 $

Display: 5.5 inch FHD 1920x1080p Sharp IGZO

CPU: MTK Helio X20

RAM: 4GB LPDDR 3

ROM: 32GB eMMC 5.1 (up to 128GB)

Rear Camera: 16.0MP Samsung S5K3P3 sensor, 6P lens, ISOCELL , RWB

Front Camera: 5.0MP Samsung S5K5E2 sensor

Battery: 3180mAH Li-polymer

OS: Android 6.0 out of the box (Vernee OS, CM)

Features: Type-C port (supports Type-C earphone, 3.5mm jack retained), Pump Express 3.0 quick charging (5 minutes charging = 1 hour calling), LED notification, Metal unibody, 0.1s fingerprint ID (ISP smart chip, smart key), OTG, Gyro, E-compass,（2.4G/5G）WIFI, Dual SIM Dual standby / SIM + SD card, Open Kernel Code

Dimensions : 15.20 x 7.60 x 0.90 cm, 178g

GSM: 850/900/1800/1900MHz; WCDMA: 850/900/1900/2100MHz, FDD LTE: B1/B3/B7/B20

This one is a real champ for this price. I had the chance to review one of the “gray” Apollo Lite myself and I must say, build quality is top-notch, one of the best colors on a metal body smartphone. 5.5″ Sharp IGZO screen is amazing, Helio X20 is enough almost for every duty including games. Speaking of MediaTek Helio X20 and X25 series, I think there is no need to spend money for Helio P10 based smartphones anymore (might be exceptions of course, personal taste for example), why ? Please check the picture below :

I have Apollo Lite for almost a week and it had 2 OTA updates in this time, this shows us that Vernee is serious about rom business too, this is an important topic as you all may agree. Paying for hardware is something but paying for good ROM is more important in most cases. Well optimized software that can use all the hardware features without any problems is very precious. So if you have around 200$ to send for a new series smartphone, Vernee Apollo Lite won’t disappoint you.

Full review : http://www.gizmochina.com/2016/08/07/vernee-apollo-lite-review-one-pleasant-surprise/

Coolpad Cool1

209$  3GB/32GB, 225$  4GB/32GB, 259$ 4GB/64GB

Display: 5.5 inch FHD 1920x1080p 450nit

CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 Octa Core

RAM: 3GB/4GB

ROM: 32GB/64GB

Rear Camera: Dual 2 x 13.0MP back camera, Camera Maximum resolution: 4160×3120, Camera maximum recording capacity: 4K / 1080P @ 30fps, Slow recording capacity: 720P @ 120fps, F2.0 large aperture, PDAF, ball-type closed-loop motor, quick focus, Color temperature flash, back-illuminated CMOS

Front Camera: 8.0MP, F2.2 large aperture, 80 ° super wide-angle lens

Battery: 4060mAh Li-polymer

OS: EUI 5.6 base on Android M OS

Features: Type-C port, OTG, Gyroscope, NXP smart PA TFA9897, AAC Speaker BOX, LED notification, Fingerprint recognition, Infrared remote control.

Dimensions : 152 x 74.8 x 8.2 mm, 167g

GSM: 850/900/1800/1900MHz; WCDMA: 850/900/1900/2100MHz, FDD LTE: B1/B3/B5/B7/B8

New kid in town from the marriage of LeEco and Coolpad, the Cool1. With the experience of Coolpad in camera department, this new model is trying to give customers Dual Camera setup for an affordable price powered from Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 octa-core CPU. Design is better than LeEco series for my taste, seems more compact with round corners and very good metal construction body. I wish they had a color option like Apollo Lite’s gray or even matte black. 4060mAh battery will help you to carry your Cool1 at least whole day with heavy usage without worrying about power. Cool1’s dual camera setup is like that we have seen on Huawei P9 before, one is RGB camera, second shoots only black&white. The result is better low light performance, sharper images and unique effects of course.

As for Rom department, we know LeEco takes this seriously and software updates mostly are coming in right time.

Xiaomi Redmi Pro

224$ 3GB/32GB, 254$ 3GB/64GB, 300$ 4GB/128GB

Display: 5.5 inch FHD 1920x1080p LTPS-AMOLED

CPU: Mediatek MT6797T Helio X25 | MT6797 Helio X20 Deca-core 2.5 GHz – Exclusive edition | 2.3 GHz – High edition |  2.1 GHz – Standard edition

RAM: 3GB/4GB

ROM: 32GB/64GB/128GB

Rear Camera: Dual Setup, 13 MP Sony sensor and 5 MP Samsung sensor

Front Camera: 5MP, f/2.0 lens

Battery: 4050mAh Li-polymer

OS: Android 6.0 – Marshmallow

Features: Finger print sensor under home key front, OLED screen, TYPE-C connector, metal unibody, microSD – upto 256 GB.

Dimensions : 151.5 x 76.2 x 8.2 mm, 174 g

GSM: 850/900/1800/1900MHz; WCDMA: 850/900/1900/2100MHz, FDD LTE: B1/B3/B7

Xiaomi version of affordable Dual Camera setup and first metal unibody metal body model of the maker, the new Redmi Pro. The contender of Cool1 in this price range with rear dual cameras. If you like front replaced finger print sensor more, if you like deep blacks more (who doesn’t ?), if you don’t mind about the maker of the CPU, i’m saying that because there still many people who just buy Qualcomm processor  based phones, then Redmi Pro is your choice. This phone uses MediaTek’s high-end line (until X30/X35 comes to market) Helio X20 and X25, both as an option. Both are equal or better CPU’s then Qualcomm’s 652. Rest is like always,  taste. As for rom/software support Xiaomi is way in front of every maker, has world’s biggest forum support behind. If you want to buy high end model with X25 + 4GB Ram + 128GB Rom, this will cost you 300$ and there you might consider other alternatives too. Base model seems most logical as Redmi Pro offers SD card slot for storage upgrade. Dual camera setup differs from Cool1’s, Redmi Pro’s setup has 2 RGB (color) cameras, main is 13MP, second “depth” camera is 5MP.

Full review : http://www.gizmochina.com/2016/08/29/xiaomi-redmi-pro-review/

LeEco Le 2 Pro

229$

Display: 5.5 inch FHD 1920x1080p 

CPU: Mediatek MT6797T Helio X25

RAM: 4GB

ROM: 32GB

Rear Camera: 21 MP, f/2.0, phase detection autofocus, dual-LED (dual tone) flash, 1/2.4″ sensor size

Front Camera: 8.0MP, F2.2 large aperture

Battery: 3000mAh Li-polymer

OS: EUI 5.6 base on Android M OS

Dimensions : 15.60 x 7.80 x 0.75 cm, 185gr

GSM: 850/900/1800/1900MHz; WCDMA: 850/900/1900/2100MHz, FDD LTE: B1/B3/B7

Complete package with 4GB Ram, 32GB Rom, very good workmanship/quality, plus powerful engine with Helio X25. LeEco Le 2 Pro is naturally in our list. Beeing developer friendly, bootloader  can be unlocked with a simple fastboot command, not only this model, talking about every LeEco models, has many custom ROMs online, LeEco community is growing among power users.

Full review : http://www.gizmochina.com/2016/05/10/leeco-le-2-review/ .

Nubia Z11 Mini

239$

Display: 5.0 inch FHD 1920x1080p 

CPU: Qualcomm MSM8952 Snapdragon 617 (Octa-core (4×1.2 GHz Cortex-A53 & 4×1.5 GHz Cortex-A53))

RAM: 3GB

ROM: 64GB, microSD up to 256 GB

Rear Camera: 16 MP, f/2.0, 1/2.8″ sensor size, 1.12 µm pixel size, geo-tagging, touch focus, face/smile detection, panorama, HDR

Front Camera: 8 MP, f/2.4, 1.4 µm pixel size, 1080p

Battery: 2800mAh Li-polymer

OS: Android OS, v5.1.1 (Lollipop)

Dimensions : 141.4 x 70 x 8 mm , 138gr

GSM 850/900/1800/1900, WCDMA 850/900/1900/2100;  TD-LTE B38/39/40/41; FDD-LTE B1/3/7

What do you want from a smartphone these days ? Picture (camera) quality and very good sound output are enough for you ? You want these specs in a very good looking 5″ screen phone right ? Then go grab a Nubia Z11 Mini and all done. The little brother of Z11 family shares same 4-axis OIS Sony IMX298 sensor with its big brother Z11 and Xiaomi’s Mi5, flagship grade camera performance, both pictures and videos (4K). For music lovers AKM’s latest audio chipset is onboard too. Being a former DJ myself, I always test audio outputs of smartphones in first place. Nubia’s powerful and clean sound output been always my favorite and Z11 Mini carries this tag too.  You love taking many pictures and videos and listen to music, this means you need storage too, 64GB onboard + microSD up to 256 GB are more than enough. Build quality of Z11 Mini is one of the best in the market, worldwide. Rom updates ? This is where ZTE comes behind its competitors, usually slow. Had mobile data bug in Z9 series, I hope they will take more care with new Z11 models.

Qiku 360 N4S

239$

Display: 5.5 inch FHD 1920x1080p 

CPU: MTK Helio X20

RAM: 4GB

ROM: 32GB, microSD up to 128 GB

Rear Camera: 16 MP, f/2.0, ISOCELL, PDAF, geo-tagging, touch focus, face/smile detection, panorama, HDR

Front Camera: 8 MP, f/2.0

Battery: 5000 mAh Li-polymer

OS: Android 6 Marshmallow

Dimensions : 151.3×74.6×8.35mm, 169gr

GSM: 850/900/1800/1900MHz; WCDMA: 850/900/1900/2100MHz, FDD LTE: 1800/2100/2600MHz

Take Nubia and Meizu, mix them, you get 360 N4S design. Full metal body, 2.5D glass on top, high build quality. Put a Helio X20 CPU with 4GB Ram and 32GB Rom (microSD up to 128 GB) in it and power all these elements with a 5000 mAh battery (biggest capacity in our list, higher than Mi Max, coming next). How does it sound ? Price should be normally a bit lower, but this phone is very hard to find, so if you want an alternative you need to pay 239$ for this beast. Cameras look very good on paper. An infrared remote control is a bonus too. 360 N4S runs its own OS, 360 OS 2.0.

Xiaomi Mi Max

219$ 3GB/32GB Snapdragon 650, 259$ 3GB/64GB Snapdragon 652

Display: 6.44-inch, full HD (1920×1080 pixels)

CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 650/652

RAM: 3GB

ROM: 32GB/64GB, microSD up to 128 GB

Rear Camera: 16 MP, f/2.0, phase detection autofocus, dual-LED (dual tone) flash

Front Camera: 5 MP, f/2.0

Battery: 4850 mAh Li-polymer

OS: MIUI 8 based on Android 6.0 OS

Dimensions : 173.1 x 88.3 x 7.5 mm, 203gr

GSM: 850/900/1800/1900MHz, WCDMA: 850/900/1900/2100MHz, LTE-FDD: 1800/2100/2600MHz (B1/B3/B7)

I love big screen ! I always did, and now I’m using a Mi Max as my daily phone (first time using a Xiaomi), 3GB/64GB with Snapdragon 652 CPU, bought it for 259$ and I must say worth every penny. If you like big screen phones too, there is nowhere else to look, with 4850 mAh huge battery Mi Max will suit your needs in a quality metal body, having everything including infrared remote control and a good camera (good for my taste, can shoot good pictures in dark room with dual flash). Audio quality is surprisingly very good too. I tested Mi Note Pro’s ES9018 DAC last week, Mi Max’s output is nothing less, high output with clean sound. This big fellow is made for multimedia for sure.

Full review : http://www.gizmochina.com/2016/06/12/xiaomi-mi-max-review-lot-xiaomi/

LeEco Le Max 2

239$

Display: 5.7 inch 2560×1440 Pixel

CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 64bit, Quad Core, 2.15GHz

RAM: 4GB

ROM: 32GB

Rear Camera: 21MP 6P, f/2.0 for 4K video

Front Camera: 1.4μm 8MP f/2.2

Battery: 3100 mAh Li-polymer

OS: eUI Android 6.0 OS

Dimensions : 15.68 x 7.76 x 0.80 cm, 185gr

GSM: 850/900/1800/1900MHz; WCDMA: 850/900/1900/2100MHz, FDD LTE: B1/2/3/4/5/7/8/12/17/20/25/26

Wellcome to the first league, talking about CPU and GPU power. Are you an Antutu freak too ? Then you should start from here.

Quote : ” Do we need so much power in our cell phones ? Can software follow this hardware power ? These are only phones, ok smart phones with operating systems in it, but what are we doing with them when its about CPU power ? Using 10 applications same time ? Playing 2-3 power hungry games same time ? Not enough..? We need somehow take this power out of these little gadgets to our desktops and push their limits with much more options like creating. After then, this “race” about making more and more powerful CPU’s for phones can come to a logical state. And when those days come, every one of us will use just one ARM powered PC for every computer based job, our Qualcomm’s, MediaTek’s or Fusion’s…”

130K is the minimum score of Snapdragon 820, best CPU that Qualcomm has made till now (+821). And you can grab it just for 239$ thanks to LeEco. The only phone in our list that has a 2K screen in 5.7″ size, if you care about that, this is your only choice, a good one indeed. Lossless audio over Type-C, excellent build quality, awful color options

Full review : http://www.gizmochina.com/2016/05/28/leeco-le-max-2-review-beauty-meets-power/

ZUK Z2

259$ (4GB Ram)

Display: 5-inch, 1080p Full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels)

CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 64bit, Quad Core, 2.15GHz

RAM: 4GB

ROM: 64GB

Rear Camera: 13 Megapixel, Samsung ISOCELL sensor, f/2.2

Front Camera: 8MP

Battery: 3500 mAh Li-polymer

OS: ZUI 2.0 base on Android 6.0 OS

Dimensions : 141.65mm x68.88 mmx8.45mm, 149gr

GSM: 850/900/1800/1900MHz , WCDMA: Bands: 850/900/1900/2100MHz, LTE FDD: 1/2/3/4/5/7/8

And the fun continues. Ok you want Snapdragon 820 but 5.7″ screen is too big for you ( Le Max 2 ), how about a 5″ in a matte black metal frame ( my favorite ) and front finger print scanner ? And a bigger battery compared 3500mAh to 3100 mAh ? + 32GB more storage for 20$ more ? Here is your phone, ZUK Z2 from Lenovo. Still no official multilanguage ROM from the maker, but there are custom ZUI based ROMs supporting your language, or even CM14 Android 7 if you are familiar with flashing ROMs ( if you are not we will help you with our guides for sure ). It’s good to have community behind a model and Zuk Z2 does that. Best 5″ that 259$ can buy for sure.

Full review : http://www.gizmochina.com/2016/06/27/zuk-z2-review-beautiful-fast/

Xiaomi Mi5

269 $

Display: 5.15 inches, 1080p Full HD 

CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 64bit, Quad Core, 1.8GHz

RAM: 3GB

ROM: 32GB

Rear Camera: 16 MP, f/2.0, 1/2.8″ sensor size, 1.12 µm pixel size, geo-tagging, touch focus, face/smile detection, panorama, HDR

Front Camera: 4 MP, f/2.0 – , 1/3″ sensor size, 2µm pixel size, 1080p@30fps

Battery: 3000 mAh Li-polymer

OS: MIUI 8 Android 6.0 – Marshmallow

Dimensions : 144.6 x 69.2 x 7.3 mm, 129g

GSM: 850/900/1800/1900MHz, WCDMA: 850/900/1900/2100MHz, LTE-FDD: 1800/2100/2600MHz (B1/B3/B7)

Famous Xiaomi Mi5, love the black version (especially with the ceramic back). Talking of color, new Mi 5s models don’t have black as color option, why Chinese phone makers don’t use black in every model, I will never understand that. Support of MIUI community, the power of Snapdragon 820 and one of the best cameras in the market, Sony IMX298. If you are a Xiaomi fan you probably get this one under 300$, it surely deserves this money. But I must remind you this version has only 3GB Ram and Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 clocked at 1.8Ghz, not at 2.15 like others, will you feel it as less performance in daily use ? No, you will not, only less Antutu score that’s all, but why Xiaomi reduces clock speed ? To make higher models more attractive ? But it does not. Just make all the clock speeds same and the ram to 4GB in all Mi5 models, it will be easier to sell.

Full review : http://www.gizmochina.com/2016/03/13/xiaomi-mi5-review-beast-smartphone/

LeEco Le Pro 3

299$

Display: 5.5 inches, 1080p Full HD 

CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 64bit, Quad Core, 2.35GHz

RAM: 4GB

ROM: 32GB

Rear Camera: 16 Megapixel, Sony IMX298, PDAF, F2.0, 1/2.8″ sensor size, 1.12 µm pixel size

Front Camera: 8 MP, f/2.2, 1.4 µm pixel size, 1080p

Battery: 4070 mAh Li-polymer

OS: eUI Android 6.0 OS

Dimensions : 151.4×73.9×7.5mm, 175g

GSM: 850/900/1800/1900MHz; WCDMA: 850/900/1900/2100MHz, FDD LTE: B1/2/3/4/5/7/8/12/17/20/25/26

Our final model and most powerful model as CPU and GPU power because it has a Snapdragon 821 onboard. Higher clocks of 820 give us about 20K more Antutu score. But, like I always say, scores are not the first key point when you want to buy a smartphone. Talking about LeEco Le Pro 3 it’s not just CPU power, the new model of the firm finally has one of the best cameras, Sony IMX298, finally has enough battery power 4070 mAh, much better comparing to Le Max 2’s 3100 Mah, 2.5D glass on top, which gives a much better look and feel, a new brushed metal body and all this in 7.5mm thickness, for just 299$ ! Many of you may say so why bother to make a list, this one is  a real bargain for this price, who would anyone buy a Mi5 for 269$ if you can buy this beast for 30$ more ? I agree with you, speaking of science, of course, rest is, like we always say, taste and budget (and better software optimizations)….

Every phone in our list is on par or even better (price/performance ratio) then famous phone makers like Samsung, iPhone, HTC, Sony or LG. I don’t count Google’s new Pixel line, nonsense costs for that ugly HTC made phones. So why pay 600$-900$ if we can buy almost same quality and absolute android freedom for 1/3 – 1/4 the price ?

Please don’t forget to check our new compare tool for full specs of phones at Gizmochina (phones are still being added to our database): http://www.gizmochina.com/compare/?pos=97354-99299-97579

The post Smartphone Buyers Guide: Best Value For Money Chinese SmartPhones $200-$300 appeared first on Gizmochina.

ZUK Z2 is an amazing smartphone and despite being launched back a while back, it is still one of the best value for money smartphones running Snapdragon 820. Xiaomi Mi5 is another value packed contender. So, when you hear that the ZUK Z2 is coming to India, fans definitely have a good reason to rejoice. However, ZUK Z2 will come to India under the Lenovo brand name, with its name called as the Lenovo Z2 Plus.

Sometimes, the storm within is just too strong.
Sometimes, waiting is just not an option! #FastForward pic.twitter.com/HnkNyjYy4i

— Lenovo India (@Lenovo_in) August 31, 2016

The company started teasing the Lenovo Z2 Plus yesterday and today, it has revealed another teaser for fans. Unfortunately, the teaser is far from interesting, with the focus being on the words, “Get Ready to Fast Forward”. We still don’t have a date nor the specs for the Indian version, but we expect it to be almost the same as the ZUK Z2 model launched in China.

If priced right, the Lenovo Z2 Plus could turn out to be quite popular in India. Considering the pricing in China, the Z2 Plus should retail under $300 in India as well. Hopefully, more details will be revealed in the next few days.

Meanwhile, check out our review of the ZUK Z2 from here.

The post SD820 Powered ZUK Z2 Coming to India as Lenovo Z2 Plus, New Teaser Released appeared first on Gizmochina.

Lenovo today announced the developer open beta ROM for its ZUK range of devices based on Android Marshmallow 6.0.1. The system update will have new ZUI for the ZUK phones and long screen shots apart from other important features. Additionally, ZUK Z2 will also receive exclusive one-button overclocking function which was promised at the launch of ZUK Z2.

Overheating is another pain point in smartphones. With ZUI 2.0, as announced at the time of launch, Lenovo has added a feature that will identify apps that cause overheating accurately and control the app, resulting in no overheating of the device.

The highlight of this update is the much awaited and talked about feature, one click overclocking . This will allow users to overclock the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor clocked at 2.15 Ghz to be overclocked till 2.30 GHz giving the already powerful processor an instant performance boost when needed.

Lenovo additionally has also started a ZUK ZUI 2.0 beta program where beta users will receive a push notification of system updates. ZUK Z2 Pro, ZUK Z2 and ZUK Z1 will begin to receive the final version update ZUI 2.0 upgrade notification by this month itself.

The post ZUI 2.0 brings One Click Overclocking to Lenovo ZUK Z2 appeared first on Gizmochina.

ZUK Z2 is one of the cheapest Snapdragon 820 powered smartphones in the market right now, which also makes it one of our favorite phones of the year. The phone is highly popular in China, and it got over 6 million registrations for the first flash sale a few weeks back. However, if you are someone who wanted to purchase the device online in China, you might have to wait for a couple of days for your order to be shipped.

The Senior Vice President of the Lenovo Group, Chen Xudong has just confirmed that Lenovo’s plant in Wuhan, China has been shut down due to floods and more than 2000 employees in this factory were transported to a safer location on Wednesday morning. What this also means is that the ZUK Z2 will face temporary shortages in supply, at least on the online stores in the country.

But the phone seems to be available at some offline Suning and Lenovo outlets. Hence Mr. Xudong has asked customers to check out these stores for purchasing the device.

READ MORE: ZUK Z2 REVIEW: Cheap Snapdragon Beast

We hope this doesn’t affect the supply of the ZUK Z2 smartphones being sold by online retailers internationally.

The post Floods in China cause temporary online supply shortage of ZUK Z2 appeared first on Gizmochina.

Last year ZUK, which is a Lenovo-backed company, released a rather compelling Z1 model. This year, we have the Z2, a phone, which costs just above $300 but it has some killer specs. Learn more in our full review.

Thanks to Oppomart for sending ZUK Z2 for a review

Get $30 OFF with a COUPON CODE: ZUKZ230

ZUK Z2 Review: VIDEO

ZUK Z2 Review: UNBOXING

The phone ships with all the usual stuff that includes the USB C cable, a fast charger, SIM ejector pin and some paperwork.

ZUK Z2 Review: SPECS

ZUK Z2 Review: DESIGN and DISPLAY

As far as design goes, it has changed quite a bit if we compare it to the ZUK Z1.

Now we have a rather compact phone, which uses a very high quality and sturdy metal frame around the device. I love  the fact that all the buttons and a dual SIM card tray are on the right and all other stuff is on the bottom. Thus, other sides of the phone look clean.

The sound quality from the loudspeaker is pretty good but nothing we haven’t heard from similarly priced phones.

Also, we have Gorilla Glass 4 on the front and rear. A great thing is that the phone has some sort of anti-fingerprint coating and it does its job very well.

We have a 5” 1080p display, which is nice and sharp but it could be slightly brighter for a better sunlight legibility.

An 8MP shooter is here for selfies along with a notification LED light on the top.

On the bottom, we have just one physical home button but it has tons of features. First of all, you can physically press it and it takes you home. Also, you can tap it and it acts as a back button or swipe it from left to right if you e.g. want to access your recent apps. Also, the button is highly customizable and you can assign different tasks. I have to say that this is one of the best home button implementations I’ve ever seen.

Last but not least we have a fingerprint scanner, which is accurate and it reads a fingerprint straight from the standby mode.

On the back, we have a 13MP shooter with f/2.2 aperture and a single LED flash.

Overall, the phone is well-built, it feels nice in the hand and it sports some flagship-worthy materials in the construction.

ZUK Z2 Review: HARDWARE, PERFORMANCE, BENCHMARKS

ZUK Z2 sports some flagship-grade specs. It has a Snapdragon 820 chip, 4GB of RAM and 64GB of on-board storage without the microSD card slot.

As you may have guessed, the phone can handle anything you throw at it without a sweat. All the games ran almost perfectly on the highest graphics. However, the phone does quite warm on the top portion of the device but there are no overheating warnings or anything that could impair the performance.

ZUK Z2 Review: USER INTERFACE

As for UI, our Chinese review unit ships with a highly customized ZUI, which is built on top of Android 6.0. As it has become usual to the Chinese implementations of Android, there is no app tray, the icons are redesigned and there are tons of features, tweaks and customization options.

Just to name a few, you can swipe from the bottom to open up quick settings toggles, which are highly customizable. Also, you can select from a variety of fonts, skins or use the integrated fitness tracking app, which I found to be pretty accurate at least when it comes to counting steps.

Most importantly, the user interface runs fast and fluid and the only shortcoming is that the phone ships without Google services pre-installed but it took me just a few minutes to install it manually. Keep in mind that resellers usually install Google services and multi-languages for you, so you don’t need to deal with that yourself.

ZUK Z2 Review: CAMERA

When it comes to the camera, we have a few shooting modes but there is no manual mode to take a full control of the images you take. Also, there are some basic settings to play with. In addition, the phone can take pictures very fast, which is probably the most important aspect for most users. Finally, the device triggers HDR mode automatically.

ZUK Z2 Review: IMAGE QUALITY

ZUK Z2 can take some nice looking daylight images with a good amount of detail, accurate looking colors and sharpness.

The camera starts struggling in lower-lit situations as the images have quite a lot of noise and less detail. Still, you can get some usable images out of this phone.

The 4k video looks really good for a $300 phone. However, the footage could have less noise and compression, and the green color of the grass looks oversaturated. See a video review for a video sample.

An 8MP selfie snapper can take some decent looking selfies for social media needs.

Overall, ZUK Z2 does not have a perfect camera but it is definitely one of the better cameras in a $300 phone.

ZUK Z2 Review: CONNECTIVITY

I didn’t have any connectivity issues with the phone as the signal reception was good and the call quality was decent. Also, the Wifi worked fine and the GPS was accurate.

ZUK Z2 Review: BATTERY LIFE

The ZUK Z2 ships with 3500mAh built-in battery and it performs great.

I could constantly get over 5 hours of screen-on time on a mixed use, which involved using camera, browsing the web, a bit of gaming and so on.

The phone ships with a fast charger and I was able to fully charge the phone in 1 hour and 30 mins.

ZUK Z2 Review: CONCLUSIONS

So, there you have it, ZUK Z2. The device costs just over $300 and this is actually one of the best deals at the moment.

The phone sports a familiar but nice looking design with excellent build quality and the device is very compact due to its 5” display.

Also, this phone is very powerful and it can easily handle all the latest games. In addition, the UI runs fast, the phone has 64GB of storage as standard and the camera is pretty good.

However, the display brightness could be higher to assure a better sunlight legibility. Also, the low-light camera performance could be better.

All in all, ZUK Z2 is a great phone. In fact, it is definitely one of the best offerings for the price and it does not have any major shortcomings that could be a deal-breaker.

The post ZUK Z2 Review – Beautiful and Fast appeared first on Gizmochina.

Last year, the Lenovo backed ZUK entered the market with its brand new ZUK Z1 smartphone. The phone ran the old Snapdragon 801 flagship but it turned out to be quite a successful device, launching in a number of countries internationally, including recently in India. But for a young company, it was necessary to have a great OS, and hence, it partnered up with Cyanogen for using Cyanogen OS on its new device. Given the popularity of Cyanogen, it turned out to be a good decision, since it promised timely updates and new features on the ZUK Z1.

Now, the company has updated the Z series with two new smartphones, the ZUK Z2 and the ZUK Z2 Pro. Both these devices are running the company’s own ZUI 1.9 version out of the box, but that’s for the Chinese version. We haven’t yet heard anything about the international variants of these devices, nor any comments about the OS that will power them. It’s possible that ZUK continues to use Cyanogen OS for their international variants, but the company just launched a ZUI Android website and the site is available in English as well as Chinese. What’s even more interesting is that that the official ZUK forums have threads talking about overseas ROM support. Of course, this doesn’t in any way confirm that ZUK has ditched Cyanogen, but it shows that ZUK is invested in its own OS.

We have seen OnePlus switch to their own OxygenOS (HydrogenOS in China) for its new devices last year and it’s possible that ZUK follows the same route this year. At this moment, nothing is official, and we will have to wait for an official statement from the company to throw some more light on the company’s plans for its international models.

Meanwhile, let’s know if you think it would be a good idea for ZUK to switch to its own OS for international variants as well, instead of Cyanogen.

(via)

The post Could ZUK Ditch Cyanogen OS For International ZUK Z2 Variants? appeared first on Gizmochina.

Lenovo’s sub-brand ZUK was established last year to attract the younger generation crowd who would like to have the best specs at the best price. ZUK Z1 managed to capture all of our attention and with the ZUK Z2 Pro and ZUK Z2 models, the company has pretty much established that it is here to take on the market. The ZUK Z2 in particular, is an important flagship for the company as it takes on Xiaomi’s mighty Mi5. What makes ZUK Z2 interesting is that it’s cheaper than the Mi 5, yet comes with a faster clocked Snapdragon 820 processor @ 2.15GHz as well as 4GB of RAM on board. This gave the Z2 an edge over the few months old Mi5. Check out our full comparison with Xiaomi Mi5 from here.

The ZUK Z2 is quite popular in China at the moment, and within three days the company managed to get over 6 million registrations for the first flash sale that is going to be held tomorrow morning. Given that this is a major flagship, we managed to get an early sample of the ZUK Z2. Unfortunately, we didn’t get the time for a full-fledged unboxing or review of the device, but those videos should come up soon.

What we do bring today is a preview video of the ZUK Z2 in action. In case, you were wondering how the ZUK Z2 looked in real life, and performed, this video should give you a basic idea about the phone. Check out this 5-incher from down below.  Also, you can currently pre-order the ZUK Z2 from OPPOMART for $329. TThe phone starts shipping from June 20 and will come with google play services pre-installed on the device.

The post ZUK Z2 Hands On Preview (Video) appeared first on Gizmochina.

Smartphones are a big deal in China, with almost everyone looking to get hold of the latest flagship in the market. We have seen Xiaomi phones getting millions of registrations for the flash sales of their flagship models, and looks like ZUK is joining the party as well. ZUK has just revealed that it has received over 6 million registrations for the first sale of ZUK Z2 smartphone in China. This is actually not that surprising given that the device is priced at 1799 Yuan ($273) and it is one of the cheapest Snapdragon 820 powered smartphones that you can buy right now! What’s even more impressive is that the company got so many registrations in just three days, and there are still three days left for the first sale.

ZUK Z2 will officially go on sale in the country on June 7 at 10:00 AM. I sure hope ZUK has prepared enough units to fulfill the immense demand for the new handset.

Looks wise, the ZUK Z2 is similar to the Z2 Pro, coming with a metal frame and glass body. The company says the 68.88mm width of the device is ideal for one hand operation. Specs-wise, the phone is really impressive, coming with Snapdragon 820, 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage as standard. The ZUI 2.0 comes with a special overclocking feature which increases the clock speed of the chipset from 2.15GHz up to 2.3GHz. At the back, there will be a 13MP rear camera with LED flash, PDAF and CAF, while up front, you get an 8MP shooter. The battery is pretty large as well, measuring 3500mAh in capacity and with Quick Charge 3.0, filling it up will be a piece of cake. You can read more about the specs of the device from here.

We will have to wait and see how many more registrations the phone gets before its first flash sale. We should get this news in the next few days.

The post ZUK Z2 Gets Over 6 Million Registrations For Its First Sale In China appeared first on Gizmochina.

Xiaomi didn’t announce the successor to the popular Xiaomi Mi4 last year. This meant that the new flagship smartphone that the company announced in 2016 had to be perfect, satisfying the needs of the millions of Xiaomi fans worldwide. In a way, Mi5 did fulfill the need for a cheap Snapdragon 820 powered flagship, offering pretty good specs for a price tag of just over $305, at least in China. While many manufacturers found it hard to match Xiaomi in terms of its cheap pricing for Snapdragon 820, ZUK came forward and made sure its new ZUK Z2 phone came out as another cheap Snapdragon 820 option. In fact, if we stop and think, the ZUK Z2 is actually meant to be the Xiaomi Mi5 killer. The company already had two ZUK Z2 Pro variants, which were only a few bucks pricier than the Mi5. But it went ahead and released the ZUK Z2, in a separate conference. This does tell us something about the company’s intention with its new device.

Since they are meant to be direct rivals, with similar specs and pricing, let’s take a look at the ZUK Z2 vs Xiaomi Mi5 comparison. We will see a lot of similarities in the design as well as the specs, but there will be a few differences as well. Let’s look at them in detail in the comparison down below.

ZUK Z2 vs Xiaomi Mi5

DESIGN:

Design wise, they are very similar looking smartphones. Both the companies decided to opt for a glass back and a metal frame on their smartphones. While ZUK Z2 features a flatter back, the Mi5 comes with a slightly curved back panel, which should help in the grip. Both have their camera modules placed on the top left corner on the back, and the front features a compact 5-inch (5.15-inch on the Mi5) display with a front home button enabled fingerprint sensor.

ZUK Z2 Measurements: 141.7 x 68.9 x 8.5 mm Weight: 149 grams

Xiaomi Mi5 Measurements: 144.6 x 69.2 x 7.3 mm Weight: 129 grams

As you can see, the measurements are almost the same, except for the thickness. Mi5 comes with a thin 7.3mm body, while the Z2 features an 8.5mm body. But there’s explanation to the increased thickness of the ZUK model, since it features a larger 3500mAh battery. On the other hand, the Mi5 comes with a 3000mAh battery. Since we are on the topic of battery, it’s important to mention that both feature Quick Charge 3.0 fast charging.

ZUK Z2 vs Xiaomi Mi5 Specs:

When it comes to the specs, both have very similar internals. Both the models are powered by Snapdragon 820 quad-core chipset. However, we are talking about the base variants, and the Xiaomi Mi5 standard version is underclocked to 1.8GHz. On the other hand, the ZUK Z2 is clocked at 2.15GHz, which can be overclocked further to 2.3GHz. So, on paper, the performance should be better than the Mi5. Then there’s the RAM on board. The base variant of the Mi5 comes with just 3GB of RAM, while the ZUK Z2 features 4GB RAM as standard. As for storage, you get 32GB on the Mi5 while the ZUK Z2 features 64GB. Both have non-expandable storages, so ZUK definitely gets a plus point in the memory department.

Coming to the display, the Xiaomi Mi5 sports a 5.15-inch 1080 IPS LCD display while the ZUK Z2 has a 5-inch IPS LCD display. But the screen to body ratio on the Mi5 is higher, 73.1 percent as compared to 70.6 percent on the Z2. It is confirmed that the Mi5 has Corning Gorilla glass 4 protection, while we are not sure about the protection on the Z2.

Coming to the camera department, the Xiaomi Mi5 seems to have an edge on paper. The phone features a 16MP rear f/2.0 shooter with 4-axis OIS, PDAF and dual LED flash. The camera has 1/2.8″ sensor size, and 1.12 µm pixel size. Coming to the ZUK Z2, it features a 13MP rear camera with f/2.2, EIS (electronic image stabilization), PDAF and CAF (Contrast Auto Focus) with LED flash. It has 1/2.6″ sensor size, and 1.34 µm pixel size. Both can capture 2K videos and slo-mo videos. Up front, the Mi5 comes with a 4MP f/2.0 camera while Z2 has an 8MP f/2.o sensor.

Other features common on both devices include dual-band Wi-Fi ac, Bluetooth 4.0, fingerprint sensor embedded into the home button and dual SIM card slots. In the connectivity department, Mi5 has NFC and Infrared but ZUK Z2 doesn’t. The battery is larger on the ZUK Z2 as mentioned above (3500mAh) as compared to Mi5’s 3000mAh. Finally, for software, the Mi5 comes with MIUI 7 based on Android 6, while ZUK Z2 features ZUI 2.0 based on Android 6.0.1.

Pricing & Availability:

When it comes to the pricing of ZUK Z2 vs Xiaomi Mi5, after the recent promotion of the device in China, the prices are almost similar. Xiaomi had announced the Mi5 at around $308 in China at the time of launch, but now, the pricing seems to have gone down. International customers can now purchase the Xiaomi Mi5 base model for just $308 and with shipping included it still is well under $350. Coming to the ZUK Z2, it has an advantage of cheaper pricing as it is priced around $273. So, even after the premium charged by retailers, the pricing should be around $300, which at present is almost the same as the Mi5. Adding express shipping should still limit the price tag to well under $350.

Availability is a different story though. Xiaomi seems to have stabilized the Mi5 stocks, and now, most retailers have the device in stock. As for the ZUK Z2, the phone is yet to go on sale, and the first sale is on June 7. Only after a few days will we know whether the Z2 is readily available for purchase in China as well as via third-party retailers.

So, that was the ZUK Z2 vs Xiaomi Mi5 comparison. It would really be hard to choose between these two devices, but if you were going to buy one, which one would it be?

We have already reviewed the Xiaomi Mi5. You can check it out from here.

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Lenovo did surprisingly well in the PC market, with the company rising to the top pretty soon after its entry. However, when it came to the smartphone market, this Chinese tech giant is struggling. Recently, it was said that the company’s acquisition of Motorola from Google wasn’t exactly successful and even outside of Motorola, the company’s own smartphone lineup hasn’t been able to make its mark in the industry.

We have seen some great phones from the company, but since it is mainly operating in the low-end and mid-range segment, the search for sales hasn’t exactly yeiled expected results or improved its image as a smartphone maker. But the company seems to be invested in this industry and it is said that in the next couple of years, it will make sure that it does well in one of the most important markets in the world, the Chinese smartphone market.

We have seen the Chinese market dominated by the likes of OPPO, Xiaomi, and Huawei, which means it’s not going to be easy for Lenovo to aggressively expand its market share in the region. What usually helps a company improve its share is aggressive pricing and looks like Lenovo is going to opt for the cost pricing strategy to take on competitors in China.

According to the Chinese media CNR, Lenovo Mobile Business Group President, Cheng Xudong said recently that the company plans to give up the race for profits by pricing its products at cost. He beleives that phones from the ZUK lineup as well as Moto lineup will help the company increase its presence in the Chinese market. And if it manages to make its mark in the super-competitive Chinese market, then Lenovo could easily take on competitors in the global market.

No wonder Lenovo priced the ZUK Z2 cheaper than the Xiaomi Mi5 at 1799 Yuan ($283)! But there’s no guarantee that a no profit strategy is going to work in the long run. We will have to wait and see how Lenovo performs in the coming years.

What are your thoughts? Can ZUK and Moto phones make Lenovo one of the top smartphone makers in China and in the world?

(Via)

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ZUK just announced its new flagship, the ZUK Z2 which is another good addition to the list of affordable flagships in the market. In fact, considering that the official price tag of the flagship is just around $279, it easily is one of the best smartphones under the $300 segment. However, considering that at present, the phone will only be sold in China (goes on sale on June 7 there), international customers will have to shell out a premium price for the device.

OPPOMART has just listed the device on its website and looks like the premium pricing is acceptable. The phone has been listed for $299, which is around $27 in addition to the original price. If this is the final price of the product, I am sure many of our readers would be happy to get one. But as of now, it is listed as out of stock and we don’t know when it will be available for pre-order/ purchase. Hopefully, pricing would remain the same as $299 for pre-order.

To recap, the ZUK Z2 comes with Snapdragon 820 chip with 4GB RAM, 64GB of storage, 13MP ISOCELL rear sensor, 8MP front shooter and a 3500mAh battery with Quick Charge 3.0. Its a pretty good looking 5-inch flagship and you can check out the listing on OPPOMART from here.

Also, read more about the new flagship from down below.

ZUK Z2 Announced With SD820 & 4GB RAM

ZUK Z2 AnTuTu Test performance

ZUK Z2 Real Camera samples

The post ZUK Z2 Listed On OPPOMART For Just $299 appeared first on Gizmochina.

ZUK Z2 turned out to be a surprisingly good flagship smartphone in the affordable segment. ZUK has competitively priced the handset at just $273 and it offers even better specs than the Xiaomi Mi 5, which costs around $308. Apart from the Snapdragon 820 chip and 4GB of RAM that comes as standard, what’s even more impressive about the device is that it can be overclocked. The regular chip runs at 2.15GHz which is standard among flagship phones, but ZUK has revealed that a setting inside the ZUI 2.0 version will allow users to increase the clock speed up to 2.3GHz, which is really impressive.

Unfortunately, the ZUK Z2 that was showed off to the media in China today didn’t come with the new version of the OS, so overclocking was missing from the device, but the company has said that a future update will bring this feature. In case you are wondering about ZUK Z2’s AnTuTu score, then we have that information as well. It looks like the performance of the handset is at par with other Snapdragon 820 powered flagships in the market. 

Without overclocking, the ZUK Z2 managed to score a good 136,436 points on the AnTuTu benchmark. This is pretty good for a SD820 powered device. We are now eager to see the performance increase after overclocking the chip. Hopefully, we will be able to test that once we get the device in our hands.

To recap, the ZUK Z2 comes with 64GB internal storage as standard, 3500mAh battery, 13MP ISOCELL camera sensor with PDAF + Contrast AF, 8MP front facing shooter, dual SIM dual standby and Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow. You can read all about the phone and its features from here.

It would be interesting to compare the new ZUK Z2 vs Xiaomi Mi 5. We will be bringing the comparison soon, so stay tuned!

The post ZUK Z2 First AnTuTu Benchmarks Revealed appeared first on Gizmochina.

ZUK announced its second flagship smartphone this year, namely the ZUK Z2. This will be a slightly toned down version of the Z2 Pro model, but still it packs enough punch to take on mighty rivals such as the Xiaomi Mi5. In fact, ZUK Z2 is priced cheaper that the Mi5 and at just 1799 Yuan $273, it is also faster than the base version of the Xiaomi Mi5 which comes with just 3GB of RAM. Looks like Lenovo’s ZUK is all set to take on the upper mid-range market with its new device. Read on for more details about the phone.

The company is marketing the ZUK Z2 as a small screen flagship since it comes with a 5-inch display. This is smaller than most other flagships in the market and would definitely get the attention of compact smartphone lovers. As for the design, the Z2 comes with an aluminum alloy body frame with high strength glass to improve the looks as well as body strength. It will be resistant to stains as well as abrasion. Further, the body is just 68.88mm wide which the company says is ideal for handling the phone with one hand.

Under the hood, the ZUK Z2 comes with the powerful Snapdragon 820 chipset clocked at 2.15GHz. But the phone supports overclocking of the chip up to 2.3GHz. The company reveals that the Z2 managed to get a score of over 145K on AnTuTu, which is really high. But expect the real life scores to be lower than this figure. Now, if you are worried about over heating, the company says that the alloy frame manages to dissipate heat just fine making sure that the phone’s temperature is under control. There will be 4GB of RAM on board and 64GB of internal storage as standard.

At the back, the ZUK Z2 comes with a 13MP ISOCELL sensor with 0.1s fast focus (PDAF + CAF), EIS, f/2.2 aperture and 1.32um pixel size. The phone supports slow motion recording as well. Up front, you have an 8MP shooter with beauty mode. As for the battery, you get a 3500mAh capacity one inside, which is pretty large as compared to other 5-inch competitors. With 1080p resolution and small screen size, this battery should provide at least a day of usage on the device. Further, you can charge it from 0 to 80 percent in around 100 minutes, which is pretty good.

As for the software, the ZUK Z2 comes with ZUI 2.0. The company has promised Android N update for the device and you can even flash different ROMs such as CyanogenMod, ColorOS etc on the device.

You can make reservations for the phone from today on various retailers like Zuk’s own website, Suning and Lynx. The phone will go on sale from June 7 at 10:00AM in China.

For $273, the ZUK Z2 is really a beast! It looks like Xiaomi definitely has something to worry about.

What do you think?

The post ZUK Z2 Announced With Snapdragon 820 & 4GB RAM, Priced Cheaper Than Mi5 appeared first on Gizmochina.

UPDATE: ZUK Z2 Announced! Cheaper Than Expected!

This afternoon, ZUK will officially take the wraps off its second smartphone in the past couple of months, called simply as the ZUK Z2. But before the release, a few posters of the smartphone have been leaked revealing most of the details of the device, including the specs and the design.

Looks wise, like we reported earlier, there will only be a few handful of changes between the ZUK Z2 model and the Z2 Pro that was announced last month. The camera will lie on the top left corner, instead of the center and there will be a few camera-centric features missing from this particular model. The Z2 will also be smaller, featuring a 5-inch display instead of 5.2-inch as found on the Z2 Pro. Also, it seems that the phone will initially come in two colors, black and white.

As for the specs, the ZUK Z2 will continue using Snapdragon 820 quad-core chipset as its elder sibling. Which means this model will be quite powerful as well. To support this powerful processor, the phone will come with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage.m The 5-inch display up front features 1080p resolution. At the back, you get a 13MP Samsung ISOCELL sensor with PDAF and Contrast Autofocus. The battery is quite decent as well, and with a capacity of 3500mAh, it’s larger than most other 5-inch flagships in the market right now.

As for the fingerprint sensor, the ZUK Z2 will come with UTouch 2.0, which is probably the same sensor as the Z2 Pro. This should mean that that the sensor will work even with wet hands. The new model is said to come with six special sensors. It should also support full netcom 3.0 standard. Pricing is expected to be around 1999 Yuan ($308), which, if true, will give tough competition to the Xiaomi Mi 5 flagship which starts at the same price tag.

Since the event is almost underway, we will get more details about the new ZUK Z2 phone in a couple of hours. So, stay tuned!

The post ZUK Z2 Details Leaked Before Launch, A True Xiaomi Mi 5 Competitor appeared first on Gizmochina.

ZUK CEO Chang Chen had revealed a few days back that the company was going to release a new flagship in the month of May, which would be called as the ZUK Z2. A surprise feature of the new ZUK handset was expected to be the Samsung Exynos 8890 chipset inside. However, after seeing the first teaser for the upcoming handset, we were all disappointed. The teaser showed that the phone was going to come with a Snapdragon chip inside. Then, we speculated that there could be a version which runs on Exynos 8890. But that’s probably not going to happen, given that ZUK Z2 has just passed through the TENAA certification website and it basically confirms the presence of Snapdragon 820 on board.

Before we move on to the specs, let’s take a look at the design of the handset. Not much will be different than the ZUK Z2 Pro version, except for the screen size, which is now reduced to 5-inches, instead of 5.2-inch on the Pro and the camera placement at the back, which is now on the top left corner instead of the center.

As for the specs, the ZUK Z2 model will feature the Snapdragon 820 chip clocked at 2.15GHz with two memory variants, 3GB + 32GB and 4GB + 64GB. The display will be of 5-inches with 1080p resolution. At the back, the phone will have a 13MP sensor while up front, you will find an 8MP shooter. The battery is decent, with a capacity of 3500mAh. The phone seems to be running on Android 6.0.1 version out of the box and comes with 4G LTE and dual-SIM dual standby support.

There is no mention of Exynos 8890 anywhere on TENAA, and we wonder why CEO mentioned this chip while talking about this new device. Another important question will be, how many of the unique features of the ZUK Z2 Pro will be retained by this model, which is expected to be cheaper. It is said that the phone will start at 1799 Yuan ($274).

ZUK Z2 will be officially unveiled on May 31. Stay tuned for details.

The post ZUK Z2 Passes TENAA, Features SD820 & 5-inch Display appeared first on Gizmochina.

Since the debut of the Vivo XPlay 5, the world’s first 6GB RAM smartphone, we have seen a couple of other Chinese manufacturers enter the 6GB RAM market. ZUK is one of these companies and its ZUK Z2 Pro smartphone went on sale today for an amazing price tag of 2699 Yuan which comes to just $412. This makes it one of the cheapest 6GB RAM phones in the market right now. So naturally, when the phone was made available for purchase earlier today, there were lots of buyers interested in the device.

Within a few minutes of the sale, which started at 10:00 AM today, the phone was sold out. Today, the ZUK Z2 Pro White Ceramic version was made available for buyers with 6GB RAM and 128GB internal storage. The company now reveals that this top-end version was sold out within 5 minutes. To be exact, it was out of stock in just 4 minutes and 23 seconds. Unfortunately, the company did not reveal how many total units were offered for sale today.

As for the specs, the ZUK Z2 Pro comes with the Snapdragon 820 chipset with 6GB RAM and 128GB of internal storage. The phone features a 3D glass body and comes with ultra-narrow 1.41mm bezels which makes the display stand out. There are a lot of unique features of the Z2 Pro, which you can read from here. If you are interested in the full specs and features of the device, check out our launch article from here.

RELATED: ZUK Z2 Coming This May End With A Snapdragon Chip Inside

The next flash sale is exactly a week away, i.e. on May 31 and along with this top-end model, the 4GB RAM + 64GB ROM version will also be made available for sale that day. Interestingly, ZUK is yet to reveal a price tag for this version and the company has asked its fans to guess the right price. The company will reveal the price on May 31 and those who get it right will get some discount vouchers.

The post ZUK Z2 Pro 6GB RAM Version Sold Out In Under 5 Minutes In China appeared first on Gizmochina.

A few days back, ZUK CEO Chang Cheng revealed via Weibo that he spent a day with the ZUK Z2 smartphone and Exynos 8890 inside the device felt good. Now, this should have been a confirmation that the upcoming smartphone was going to feature Samsung’s best chipset. But to make things confusing, ZUK has released the first teaser for the ZUK Z2 and guess what, it features a large Qualcomm Snapdragon logo up front. It is a clear indication that the upcoming smartphone is going to come with a Snapdragon chipset inside.

The poster also confirms a few things about the device. First of all, ZUK is marketing the phone as a small screen flagship. So unlike the ZUK Z2 Pro which comes with a 5.2-inch display, we can expect a screen lesser than 5-inches on this device. Second, the image confirms that the launch event will be on May 31 in Beijing, China.

RELATED: ZUK Z2 Pro vs Le Max 2 vs Xiaomi Mi 5

Now, coming back to the confused part, the processor inside. It is said that the Z2 could come with either Snapdragon 820 or Snapdragon 652 chipset, the second one being more likely. This is because, CEO had already teased the presence of Exynos 8890 inside the phone, which means there could be a top-end ZUK Z2 model which will come with this Samsung Exynos chip. If that’s the case, then a Snapdragon 652 octa-core chip would be a better choice for the low-end model.

As for the specs, earlier rumors have said that the phone will come with a 4.7-inch 1080p display along with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of ROM. Up front, there will be an 8MP camera while at the back, there will be a 13MP sensor. The battery is said to be large, of 4100mAh capacity, which would be great considering its size.

This could be the ideal small screen flagship in the market for buyers, but we will have to wait for the announcement to confirm these specs. The CEO also released a render of the upcoming flagship recently. You can read more about that from here.

Stay tuned for more details.

Meanwhile, some alleged pictures of the ZUK Z2 have been leaked in white. Check them out from below.

The post ZUK Z2 Confirmed To Release On May 31, No Exynos 8890 In Sight appeared first on Gizmochina.

Yesterday we reported that ZUK CEO, Chang Cheng revealed a new render of the upcoming ZUK Z2 smartphone. Considering that it is called simply as the Z2, we expected the phone to feature slightly toned down specs. However, it looks like the Z2 will be just as powerful as the Z2 Pro. Today, CEO revealed a very important feature of the device — the CPU inside and it’s none other than the powerful Exynos 8890 processor that powers devices like Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge.

He revealed this information in a very interesting way. On his Weibo account, the CEO posted that he spent a day with the Z2, and Exynos 8890 was good. Then, he mentioned Meizu’s Li Nan adding, “great minds think alike”. Well, Meizu has had a long-standing relationship with Samsung and its Exynos chipsets, which is probably why he tagged Li Nan. Further, if you look closely, this weibo post was made using the ZUK Z2 smartphone.

Now, we are wondering why would ZUK would release a new powerful flagship smartphone with Exynos 8890 when it already has a powerful Snapdragon 820 based ZUK Z2 Pro. In the renders, we saw that there were some differences in the camera of the ZUK Z2 as compared to the Z2 Pro and it looked as if the former had a less powerful rear camera module. But we can’t be sure of that yet. Rest of the design was almost identical to the Z2 Pro, including the rectangular physical home button and speaker grill and ports at the bottom.

Maybe, the ZUK Z2 is just another variant, giving users the option to choose between an Exynos powered processor and a Snapdragon-based one, with a few differences in specs. Unfortunately, we don’t have any more details about the Z2 at the moment. But the CEO had confirmed that the release will be in May, which means we don’t have to wait too long to get official details.

The post ZUK Z2 Will Feature Exynos 8890! Another Power Flagship Coming Soon appeared first on Gizmochina.

Chinese companies seem to be impatient when it comes to launching new smartphones. Traditionally, companies used to wait for a few months at least to launch a new model, but now, every month we are seeing new product launches from the same manufacturer. Meizu unveiled three new phones in a single month, Huawei released two flagship series models in consecutive months and now Lenovo backed ZUK is all set to release their second smartphone this year, called simply as the ZUK Z2. The previous model which was released late April was called as the ZUK Z2 Pro, so considering the name, this should be a slightly toned down version of the flagship model. The 6GB  + 128GB ROM variant of the Z2 Pro is available for sale, but there’s still no word on the 4GB + 64GB version. In fact, the company didn’t reveal any details about the pricing or availability of the second version at the time of the launch. Could ZUK rebrand this 4GB RAM model as the Z2? We aren’t sure, but read on for more details.

Design wise, there aren’t many changes. The new render reveals that the position of the camera module will be different than on the Z2 Pro. Instead of placing everything in the center, the company has positioned the camera sensor on the top left corner. Laser Autofocus seems to be absent on this device. Rest of the design, including the physical rectangular home button, speaker grill and USB port at the bottom and the buttons on the right seem to be exactly as the ZUK Z2 Pro model. In addition to this render, we also got reports that the phone will feature a 2.5D double glass design and will come with the company’s U-Touch fingerprint ID.

RELATED: 6 Unique Features of the ZUK Z2 Pro

This ZUK Z2 model will be announced this month, confirmed the company CEO. While we are unsure of the specs of the device, expect them to be upper mid-range. This should also drive down its cost as compared to the Z2 Pro model which means consumers will have another great mid-range alternative at an affordable price point.

Meanwhile, check out ZUK Z2 Pro vs Le Max 2 vs Xiaomi Mi 5 in this comparison.

The post CEO Reveals ZUK Z2 Render, New Model Coming This Month appeared first on Gizmochina.

April has been the month of the Chinese flagships. We have seen so many powerful devices in the past 21 days that it has become hard to keep a track of all the smartphones announced recently. Now, add ZUK Z2 Pro to the list as the company calls it the true flagship smartphone of this year. Why this sudden claim? Well, the phone comes with so many powerful features that it can claim to be the ‘first’ in a lot of things. For example, the phone is reportedly the first on to use a “true 3D mirror body design”. There are a bunch of other firsts, but more about that later.

First up, the phone’s design is unique because of its 3D mirror design. The 3D glass body comes with an arch design. The frame in the middle has gone through 10 processors and 260 steps to ensure durability. Further, it uses a roll cage design for addition protection.

Coming to the screen, the ZUK Z2 Pro will limit the black borders to mere 0.05mm, which is pretty impressive. There will be a Super AMOLED 5.2-inch display with 1080p resolution. Like the Le Max 2, the screen has a maximum brightness of 500 nits and minimum brightness of 1 nit.

Like mentioned above, the phone can boast of a lot of firsts, and among them being the first one to come with 10 different professional sensors. Wondering which are these 10 sensors? Here’s the list:  gravity sensor, 3-axis gyroscope, three-axis magnetic sensor, proximity sensor, ambient light sensor, heart rate, blood oxygen sensor, a pressure sensor, ultraviolet sensors, and Hall effect sensor. With the help of the company’s health app, you should be able to keep a thorough check on your body.

Under the hood, the ZUK Z2 Pro comes with the powerful Snapdragon 820. But there’s more, the company claims that this is the first phone to utilize 100% performance from the chipset. Still doubtful? Well, the company has released the AnTuTu score of the device and it gets a good 144,939 on the benchmarking test. One of the best we have seen till date.

But SD820 isn’t just the pick of the hardware. The Z2 Pro comes with a 6GB RAM version as well, joining the likes of Le Max 2 and Vivo XPlay 5 Premium. You get a large 128GB ROM on this version, making sure you never have to worry about storage. There’s another version, 4GB RAM and 64GB ROM, i.e. for those, who want to save a few hundred bucks.

Coming to the camera, there’s serious technology being used inside the Z2 Pro. The phone comes with both OIS and EIS, so dual image stabilization. There is a 13MP rear camera sensor with f/1.8 aperture, 1.34 micron pixel size and pixel isolation technology support. The rear cam supports 4K video recording. As for the front camera, you get an 8MP 1.4 micron sensor with f/2.0 and support for heartrate check. Yes, this is not a mistake, as the ZUK Z2 Pro is probably the first smartphone that can identify your heart rate using the front camera. So, next time you are with a girl for a selfie, make sure you turn this feature off, or else, she’ll know you are nervous.

Now, moving on to the fingerprint sensor, the Z2 Pro claims to be the first fingerprint-enabled phone to work with wet hands. The company has used a self-learning algorithm to ensure that recognition improves with time. You can unlock the device in just 0.1 seconds. As for the connectivity features, the phone supports USB Type-C 3.1, QC 3.0, full netcom 3.0 standard, 4G+ VoLTE, and international roaming. The phone will run on the new ZUK 2.0 system with iCloud which can backup all your data for safe restore at a later time.

Inside, you have a 3100mAh capacity battery with Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 3.0 support.

Now, coming to the most interesting part of the device, the pricing. ZUK Z1 was an affordable device and the company has priced the Z2 Pro on the same lines. The 6GB + 128GB ROM variant will go on sale for just 2699 Yuan ($416). Registrations start on April 22 from 10 AM in China. No word on the pricing of the 4GB  + 64GB ROM version yet.

So, what do you think about the phone? Will you pick the Le Max 2 or the ZUK Z2 Pro?

The post ZUK Z2 Pro Official, World’s First True Flagship With 6GB RAM & A Lot Of Powerful Features appeared first on Gizmochina.

It looks like the next few weeks are going to be pretty amazing for smartphone fans all around the world. We have already seen the innovative LG G5, Samsung Galaxy S7 and the Huawei Matebook 2-in-1 and there are a lot more announcements coming our way at MWC 2016. Further, the world’s first 6GB smartphone, Vivo XPlay 5 is all set to debut in March as well as this ZUK Z2 flagship, possibly with a rotating camera.

RELATED: ZUK Z1 REVIEW

Unfortunately, we haven’t received much news about the ZUK Z2 yet, but we can expect pretty powerful specs on the device. ZUK revealed via its official weibo page that the phone will come with innovative technology. It could be hinting at the rumored rotating camera or some other new tech. We will have to wait and see what this relatively new brand has in store for us.

Also, we hope that the ZUK Z2 is as affordable as the Z1. Since, its almost confirmed that the Z2 will launch in March, expect a lot more details about this upcoming flagship in the coming days.

The post ZUK Z2 Coming This March, Expect New Features appeared first on Gizmochina.

Since the ZUK Z1 flagship turned out to be so popular, everyone is left wondering whether we will be seeing a second generation version of the device, ZUK Z2 anytime soon. Another common question in the minds of existing ZUK users is when will the Android 6.0 update be available for them. A few hours earlier, ZUK CEO answered both of these questions.

First of all, CEO confirmed that the ZUK Z2 flagship will be meeting us only by next year. So, anyone who wished to see the rumored Snapdragon 820 powered Z2 before 2015 would be disappointed to hear this. But it does not come as a surprise given that if ZUK Z2 indeed featured Snapdragon 820, then it could only be available by next year. Unfortunately, the CEO failed to give out an exact time frame for the launch in 2016. But we are expecting it to be sometime in the first quarter.

Secondly, ZUK CEO also revealed a few details about the new ZUI version based on Android 6.0. According to him, the work on the new OS is going well and it will soon enter the closed beta stage. Releasing a new version of the OS involves a lot of aspects like modifying source code, adding manufacture specific features as well as compatibility testing. But, if everything goes well, users could get the new ZUI based Android 6.0 update for the ZUK Z1 (beta version) as soon as December end.

ZUK co-founder ChenYu had a more conservative estimate, saying that the final Android 6.0 will release by March 2016. As for the international version, the ZUK Z1 running on CyanogenMod will also be upgraded to Android 6.0, but only by early 2016.

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