The weekend is here and it is time to get the cash out again as we look at the top tech and accessories that are on discount right now. From wireless chargers to hoverboards, lots of exciting tech is available at a reduced price on Gearbest right now, and iGyaan brings you the pick of the lot!
Tochic Qi Wireless Charger
Wireless charging will soon become a norm in smartphones. While premium smartphones as of now, have features like wireless charging, there are rumours that more smartphone makers will implement wireless charging in their flagship and mid-range smartphones. The Tochic Qi wireless charger is available at US $10.99 and it has fast charging enabled. This is a great deal for a fast wireless charger!
Wireless seems to be the future of technology. When the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus were launched without a headphone jack, it was predicted that this would be the end of the beloved headphone jack. Over the past year, more smartphone makers have decided to go the wireless route. The QCY wireless earbuds are truly wireless earphones and are priced at US $39.99 which is a great deal.
Hoverboards are a lot of fun. The Hiwheel Q3 Hoverboard has a 36V 4400mAh battery and nice LED lights for greater visibility if you are riding at night.
Smartphones have slowly become the primary mode of media consumption as well as gaming. As smartphones become more competent hardware wise, more people will start gaming on them primarily. That is where a gamepad comes into play. It gives a better alternative to touch controls and because it is just a regular sized controller, people can carry it with them everywhere. The MOCUTE Bluetooth gamepad is available for US $11 and is an ideal gamepad for anyone looking to start gaming on their smartphones more regularly.
Techies would understand the importance of a good backpack. This backpack has a lot of space, an outlet for a USB cable to charge your device and looks good. It is priced at US $ 36 right now and looks like a steal!
When Google launched the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL back in October, the company talked up their device’s AI capabilities. Apple, when it launched the iPhone 8, 8 Plus and the iPhone X also talked about the AI capabilities present in its A11 Bionic chipset. The two big names in the smartphone industry set the trend of machine learning taking centre stage at a smartphone launch and companies like Huawei have followed suit since then.
LG has been going through a bit of a rebranding/rehashing of its flagship smartphone lineup lately. And it is now confirmed that the LG G7 won’t see an early release that its predecessors have seen over the years. Instead, LG will launch a refreshed version of the LG V30 at the upcoming MWC 2018 scheduled to take place from the 26th of February. This version of the LG V30 will have enhanced AI capabilities.
The device will have new technologies and functions and could carry an odd name for a smartphone, V30+?. This name kind of resembles a math formula and it’ll be interesting to get to know the logic behind this moniker. That is, if LG devices to go with this particular name. The reports suggest the smartphone will be a product of the partnership between LG and Google with Google Assistant-based AI functions.
The LG V30+ has glass on the back
So far, we have seen different implementations of AI from different smartphone makers. If LG goes the Google route, it will be interesting to see if the LG V30+? will focus a lot on music. Since the Pixel 2 phones have the Now Playing feature, the LG V30+? could implement that feature, and along with its superior HiFi Quad DAC, the smartphone could be a music-oriented version of the 2017 flagship from LG.
Pixel 2
Google also uses a lot of machine learning for its camera and has the best photography camera on the market right now. But, it seems highly improbable if the LG V30+? will come with such advanced machine learning capabilities that could potentially match up with the Pixel 2 devices. However, a tight integration of Google Assistant within the LG UI is a possibility or even a stock OS running LG V30+? could be announced.
OnePlus recently launched the OnePlus 5T Lava Red edition in India. The new colour will only be available in the 8GB RAM variant and is priced at Rs. 37999, just like the regular Midnight Black colour variant. It goes on sale at 12 noon on the 20th of January via Amazon, oneplus.in, Croma stores and OnePlus experience zones in Bangalore, Mumbai and Delhi NCR.
With smartphones becoming increasingly similar as far as hardware as is concerned, smartphone makers need to find a way to differentiate their product from the rest of offerings in the market. And it appears that a “special edition” Red colour variant is the next big differentiator, that companies have identified. The Lava Red isn’t the only special edition smartphone the company has launched in India, back in December, the OnePlus 5T Star Wars edition was launched at a price of Rs. 38999.
It is a red OnePlus 5T. It looks and feels exactly the same as the Midnight Black variant except it is red in colour. The smartphone has the same matte finish on the back which makes it a bit slippery to hold but, otherwise it’s a very sturdy phone. Depending on which side you’re on, you’ll be happy or sad to know that OnePlus has retained the black colour for the front of the smartphone, something that a lot of people wanted in the Product Red iPhone 7 and 7 Plus.
The power button, volume rockers and the fingerprint sensor are also red in colour with the black OnePlus logo providing a bit of contrast on the back. There is a small camera bump on the back which means that the OnePlus 5T doesn’t lay flat on a surface which may bug a few people while others won’t even notice it. The headphone jack, USB C port and the single bottom firing speaker reside on the bottom of the smartphone.
We also unboxed the Xiaomi Mi A1 red colour variant and similar to the regular Mi A1, it has a metal build with a matte finish. The red colour dominates the back of the device and just like OnePlus, the company has retained the black colour for the front of the smartphone which compliments the red colour really well. The specifications remain the same as well for the red coloured Xiaomi Mi A1.
Just like it was for the OnePlus 5T Star Wars Edition, the specifications remain the same for the OnePlus 5T Lava Red.
The OnePlus 5T has a 6-inch Full Optic AMOLED display with a 2160 x 1080 px resolution, 401ppi and an 80.5% screen to body ratio.
Under the hood, the OnePlus 5T has the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chipset, a 2.4GHz octa-core processor, 8GB of RAM, 128GB of onboard storage which cannot be expanded. Due to thin bezels, there is no place for a home button and the fingerprint sensor has now been shifted to the back of the phone and is placed right above OnePlus logo.
Powering the device is a 3300 mAh battery which supports OnePlus’ DashCharge technology. The OnePlus 5T also features facial recognition for unlocking the device. The alert slider retains its place at the top left side of the phone which can be used to switch between different modes of notification alerts.
The OnePlus 5T runs stock Android 7.1.1 Nougat with customisability options thanks to the Oxygen OS on top. The update to Android 8.0 Oreo update is coming soon on the OnePlus 5T as the beta testing has already begun.
One big change in the OnePlus 5T is in the camera department. Unlike the OnePlus 5, the OnePlus 5T no longer has a secondary telephoto lens at the back. Instead, OnePlus has decided to focus on the device’s low-light photography capabilities. The cameras do not have OIS and OnePlus has decided to go for EIS on the dual camera setup at the back. The device has a 16MP camera with an f/1.7 aperture coupled with a 20MP sensor with the same f/1.7 aperture and field of view, ie no optical zoom. On the front is a 16MP camera with an f/2.0 aperture.
The OnePlus 5T continues to be a strong offering in the sub-40K category with its flagship-like specifications and a modern design. With a new colour to the fore, it gives consumers an extra option to look at and for some people, a red colour variant is the ultimate deal maker.
A lot of consumers globally know Xiaomi as a smartphone maker but, the company’s smartphone lineup barely represents its prowess. One look at Xiaomi’s Mainland China website is enough for someone to realise that Xiaomi makes much more than just smartphones. It has smart home products, crazy electronic scooters and televisions as well.
The latest addition to Xiaomi’s list of products other than smartphones is the new Mi TV 4A. The Mi TV 4A offers a 4K display and is priced at US $375 (Rs. 23000 approx.).
The 50 inch Xiaomi Mi TV 4A comes with a 4K UHD display with a 3840 x 2160 resolution and a 178-degree viewing angle. The TV has a refresh rate of 60Hz and it also offers support for HDR10+ HLG. The device has a “frameless design” and incorporates Mi TV Bar with 10 speakers, 2 wireless rear satellite speakers, and a subwoofer. It also comes with Dolby Atmos audio technology.
Interestingly, the trend of AI and machine learning is bleeding into the television industry as well, it seems. The Xiaomi Mi TV 4A comes with AI support and can make recommendations. It has a UI called PatchWall and is based on Android OS which allows for content curation based on recommendations. The TV also has speech recognition and voice control, but, since it is only available in China as of now, it doesn’t work with the English language.
Under the hood, the TV is powered by a 64-bit Amlogic L962 chipset with four 1.5GHz Cortex-A53 cores along with 2GB of RAM and 8GB of onboard storage. As for connectivity, the Xiaomi Mi TV 4A has Wi-Fi ac, Bluetooth 4.2, three HDMI ports, two USB ports, AV in, Ethernet port, and S/PDIF audio output. There is also the new Xiaomi remote for controlling the TV which has infrared as well Bluetooth connectivity options.
At a price of just over Rs. 23000, the Xiaomi Mi TV 4A appears to be an excellent product. Sadly, as is a lot of other great Xiaomi products, this will remain a China-exclusive
LG’s flagship smartphone lineup’s future might be a bit hazy right now but, the company still believes that it has a strong foothold in the budget segment. That is, in its native market. LG was expected to launch the LG G7 at either the CES 2018 or MWC 2018 but, it looks like the anticipated smartphone is quite a few months away from launch. A recent report claimed that the LG CEO has instructed his team to rework on the LG G7 and come up with a completely rehashed version of the flagship device.
While the flagship smartphone plans seem awry for LG, the budget segment is consistently being targeted. The company has now launched the ruggedly built LG X4+ in its native market for a price of US $280 (Rs. 17000 approx.).
The LG X4+ has a 5.3-inch IPS display with a 1280 x 720 px resolution. It has an aluminium unibody design which has become a norm for budget devices nowadays. The LG X4+ has a design reminiscent of 2016 mid-rangers as the industry moves toward a “thin bezels and tall display design.”
Under the hood, the LG X4+ is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 chipset, Adreno 308 GPU for graphics, 2GB of RAM and 32GB of onboard storage. It is worth noting that the storage will be expandable via a microSD card. The LG X4+ has built-in Hi-Fi DAC (digital-analogue converter) which LG claims, will offer good sound quality.
The fingerprint sensor is placed on the back of the device, it is, however, not clear whether it also acts a lock and unlock button like some of LG’s other devices. LG has also introduced a feature called Finger Touch that will enable users to take selfies and screenshots by pressing the fingerprint sensor. The LG X4+ carries MIL-STD 810G rating and it’s certified in six categories including impact, vibration, high temperature, low temperature, thermal shock, and humidity.
The device is powered by a 3000 mAh battery and it runs Android 7 Nougat out of the box. It is baffling to see OEMs still launching smartphones with old software, irrespective of the price point.
The LG X4+ has a 13MP rear-facing camera and on the front is a 5MP sensor.
At a price of RS. 17,000 the LG X4+ is better off staying away from the Indian market. If LG were to launch this device in India, it’ll have to priced at around Rs. 10000 for it to even have a chance of competing. At this price point, not a lot of people look for ruggedness in their phones, it is more about the performance and with Snapdragon 425 chipset powering it, a price of Rs. 15000 or thereabouts would be too much.
The budget segment of the Indian smartphone market is becoming increasingly congested. Brands like Xiaomi, Nokia, Motorola are consistently launching stellar smartphones and Honor has recently launched the Honor 7Xand Honor 9 Lite in the price bracket as well. Samsung is planning to take over the segment it once used to rule, and the Galaxy On7 Prime is one of the smartphones that the company will launch in this price bracket.
The Samsung Galaxy On7 Prime is priced at Rs 12990 for the 3GB RAM variant and Rs. 14990 for the 4GB RAM variant. The smartphone will be sold exclusively via Amazon and will go on sale on the 20th of January during the Amazon Prime Sale.
So, does the Galaxy On7 Prime hold any weight against the budget heavyweights like the Honor 7X or the Xiaomi Mi A1? Let’s unbox the device and find out!
Samsung Galaxy On7 Prime
Documentations
Sim Ejector Tool
Wall Charger
Micro USB Cable
First Impressions
The Samsung Galaxy On7 Prime has the standard 5.5 inch display with a metallic body. On the front is the standard physical home button which also houses the fingerprint sensor, along with two touch capacitive buttons for navigation. The device is not the sleekest to hold especially considering devices like the Honor 9 Lite or Honor 7X that possess a bigger screen in a similarly sized body.
Specifications
The Samsung Galaxy On7 Prime has a 5.5-inch display with a 1920 x 1080 px resolution.
Under the hood, the Galaxy On7 Prime will have the Exynos 7870 chipset, a 1.6GHz processor, and Mali-T830 MP1 GPU. The smartphone will be available in two variants, one with 3GB RAM and 32GB of onboard storage and the other with 4GB RAM and 64GB of onboard storage which will be expandable up to 256GB via a microSD card.
The Galaxy On7 Prime will be powered by a 3300 mAh battery. The physical home button on the front will house the fingerprint sensor as well.
With the new Galaxy On7 Prime, Samsung has also introduced Samsung Mall. The company has tied up with Amazon, Jabong, Shopclues and Tata CLiQ to provide buying links to products that a user might be interested in, from within the Samsung user interface.
The Galaxy On7 Prime will have a 13MP with an f/1.9 aperture on the front and back along with rear-facing LED flash.
The smartphone will be sold exclusively via Amazon and will go on sale on the 20th of January during the Amazon Prime Sale. Interested users can register for the device by clicking here.
Honor launched the Honor View10 globally on the 4th of December in London. It was subsequently announced that India will be one of the first few markets to get the device and at an impressive price of Rs. 29999, the Honor View10 went on sale from the 8th of January. The Honor View10 is the only smartphone in its price bracket that has such an emphasis on AI, something that is touted to be the future of smartphones.
Out of the box, the Honor View10 had facial recognition which had a few nifty implications such as notifications preview but, there was no Face Unlock. However, with the new update that Honor has started seeding for all the Honor View10 devices, the Face Unlock feature will now be active. This means that apart from the Apple iPhone X and the OnePlus 5T, the Honor View10 is also a smartphone with a proprietary facial recognition security system.
To enable Face Unlock, a user needs to first enrol their face by accusing facial recognition feature in the settings menu. Unlike the iPhone X, a user doesn’t need to rotate their face as the phone figures out the positioning between the face and the phone and adjusts the direction accordingly.
Apart from the impressive new Face Unlock feature, there are lots of new updates that revolve around the device’s AI capabilities. In the new update, there are features like AI motion detection in the front and rear camera, AI Zoom, Super-resolution imaging, and Smart Tips. Smart Tips features include knuckle gestures, smart assistance, wide aperture photos, and QR code scanning.
In the front camera, there is a feature called Change Background. It does exactly what the name suggests, before clicking a picture, a user can select from a set of effects as the background. It is worth noting that this feature is only available in the front cameras for now.
The update has started seeding and is scheduled to reach all devices by the 24th of January. You can check for the update by going to Settings < System < System update.
Razer, one of the most popular gaming accessories maker surprised everyone by launching a smartphone in late-2017. The eponymous device was marketed as a smartphone for gamers with high-end specifications. One of the most interesting aspects of the Razer Phone was its display. The phone from Razer is the only smartphone to have a 120Hz refresh rate (iPad Pro is a tablet and also has the 120Hz refresh rate).
It looks like the Razer Phone was not just a one-off experiment by Razer as a report claims that the company is planning to launch the Razer Phone 2 (tentatively named) in September. This means that an IFA 2018 announcement is likely. The “company insider” also claims that Project Linda, a concept showcased by Razer at CES 2018 could also make its way to the market along with the new smartphone.
Project Linda is a concept that Razer revealed at CES 2018, wherein the Razer Phone powers the whole laptop. It is a laptop shell with a cutout for the Razer Phone in place of a trackpad. Once the phone is placed inside the cutout, a USB C pin connect the laptop case to the Razer phone. Once connected, the laptop uses the smartphone’s hardware to function and the phone’s display turns into a trackpad. Everyone who covered this concept talked about the Razer Phone’s speakers being enough to produce sound out of a laptop which means that the laptop case does not have any speakers built into it.
While the concept is very interesting, everyone thought that this would remain a concept only, just like a lot of other concept products found in CES. However, Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan teased on Twitter that it could be a consumer-ready product soon.
Considering that project Linda took about 2-3 months, and the design work only took about one of those months to be ready, it is possible that Razer feels the concept is ready to be turned into a product.
2018 smartphones will have thinner bezels than the ones we saw in 2017. Smartphones in 2019 will have even thinner bezels and slowly but surely, smartphone makers will get rid of all the bezels and start making devices with “all screen no bezels” design. That begs the question, where will all the sensors and most importantly, the front facing or cameras go? Xiaomi tried a new position for the front-facing camera in the bottom bezel but, as we said, future smartphones could get rid of all the bezels.
A new Samsung patent has been unearthed, and it reveals a future where front facing camera or cameras will be placed under the display. This patent pushed everything under the display including the earpiece, the proximity and ambient light sensors. While this patent seems futuristic, the way the bezels are being trimmed down and some company’s decisions to place all the necessary hardware in a notch not coming off as an ideal solution, an in-display camera could very well be real in the near future.
Unlike what Xiaomi did with the Mi Mix and Mi Mix 2, this patent shows a traditional placement along the top of the phone. However, if there is a camera that can see through a display, it can be placed anywhere on the display. This is, however, just in theory and whether companies will look to change the traditional placing of the front-facing camera is a question to which only time will answer.
So far, even though it is just a patent, it has hurdles that nobody has decided to solve yet. No company has built a camera so far that can be, even in theory, placed under a display. An early patent, however, suggests using a transparent OLED. With a high refresh rate, the device could flick the screen on and off and allow the camera to have a look during the inactive periods.
As good as this sounds, we are still away from the future of all screen no bezels display. With the in-display fingerprint sensor technology barely coming to the fore, it could be a while before even a prototype with this technology is demonstrated.
HMD Global is planning a grand outing for the upcoming Mobile World Congress scheduled to take place from 26th February. Recently, the company launched the Nokia 7 in China and there reports that the Nokia 9 and Nokia 1 will soon be launched as well.
Juho Sarvikas, the Chief Product Officer at HMD Global took to Twitter to announced that the company is planning something “awesome” for MWC 2018.
Sorry for radio silence. Been super busy planning #MWC2018 . Please expect it to be awesome ?
While he did not delve into details, it is possible that the company will launch its first flagship smartphone of 2018, the Nokia 9, and first-ever Android Go device, the Nokia 1. Since the company will announce the devices at MWC, it is expected that these smartphones are intended for the global market, unlike the Nokia 7, which is still a China exclusive as of now.
While there isn’t much known about the Nokia 1, a recent leak revealed two possible designs of the smartphone. Since it is an Android Go device, expect it to have entry-level specifications like 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage. The Nokia 2 was powered by the Snapdragon 212 chipset, and it’ll be interesting to see which chipset will be used inside the Nokia 1. Nokia has so far stuck to Snapdragon chipsets for its Android smartphones hence, a MediaTek chip unlikely.
There were renders of the Nokia 9 that were leaked in late-December and revealed a modern design with thin bezels. For all the bells and whistles in the Nokia 8, the smartphone did not look like a 2017 flagship smartphone especially with the likes of OnePlus 5T and Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 priced similarly in India.
The Nokia 9, however, seems likely to have an 18:9 aspect ratio and minimal bezels around the display. While there are phones with a better screen-to-body ratio, the trimmed bezels will be a welcome change for all the Nokia loyalists waiting to upgrade to the Nokia 9.
The other noticeable aspect of the phone here is the front-facing dual-camera setup. Front-facing dual cameras will be the next big industry trend and it has already started with the Samsung Galaxy A8+, Honor 9 Lite and even the HTC U11 EYEs.
According to a recent FCC filing, the Nokia 9 will have a 5.5-inch OLED display.
Under the hood, the Nokia 9 will have the Snapdragon 835 chipset and 128GB of UFS 2.1 storage.
Powering the device will be a 3250 mAh battery with 18W fast charging. The device will run Android 8.0 Oreo out of the box with very little customisations.
The listing reveals a 12 MP + 13 MP dual-camera setup at the back and a 5MP front-facing camera which could be the resolution of one of the front-facing cameras.
The Nokia 9 could be the successor to the Nokia 8, however, the presence of the Snapdragon 835 chipset is a bit disappointing. Especially since Samsung, Sony and possibly Xiaomi are planning to launch flagship devices with the Snapdragon 845 chip inside.
Sony has maintained a similar design language for its flagship smartphones ever since the launch the Xperia Z. It recently launched the Xperia XZ1which also followed a similar design language with thick bezels and rectangular block build. However, all of this might change with the upcoming Xperia XZ Pro, Sony’s first smartphone powered by the Snapdragon 845 chipset.
Sony has started sending out press invites for MWC 2018, scheduled to take place from the 26th of February to 1st of March. This is an indication that the upcoming flagship smartphone from Sony could be launched at MWC. Recent leaks have revealed a lot of key specifications about the Xperia XZ Pro.
It will have a 5.7 inch OLED display with 4K resolution, thin bezels and possibly, an 18:9 aspect ratio.
Under the hood, the Sony Xperia XZ Pro will have the Snapdragon 845 chipset, 6GB of RAM and up to 128GB of onboard storage. The storage is expected to be expandable via a microSD card. The fingerprint sensor is expected to be housed inside the lock button on the side. Although, with the presence of an OLED display, Sony could go ahead and use a screen embedded fingerprint sensor.
The device will be powered by a 3420 mAh battery which will support QuickCharge 4.0+.
The Xperia XZ Pro will have a dual rear camera setup, with one of the cameras having an 18 MP sensor with 1.33 microns pixel size and a 12 MP sensor with 1.38 microns pixel size. On the front will be a 13 MP camera.
The Xperia XZ Pro could be the beginning of a new lineup of smartphones from Sony. So far, Sony has strayed away from experimenting with the design of its devices and with more companies adopting the bezel-less design with an 18:9 aspect ratio as the new normal, Sony might have to force the issue and launch more devices with the new design.
The Xperia XZ Pro will also be one of the most few phones to be powered by the latest and greatest Snapdragon 845 chipset, the Samsung Galaxy S9, S9+ and potentially, the Xiaomi Mi 7 are the other three devices. Sony will also enter the realm of dual-camera phones, something that has gone from being an industry trend to a norm.
The Apple iPhone X was launched in September of 2017 along with the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus. While the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus seemed, more or less, an incremental upgrade over their respective predecessors, the iPhone X represented the future of Apple’s iPhone lineup. Weeks before the launch, there were speculations that Apple would implement facial recognition technology and get rid of Touch ID altogether.
Apple did that, and it resulted in the display of the iPhone X having a cutout at the top. The notch on the iPhone X was met with a conflicting response but, one thing was clear, that the notch would be embraced by more smartphone makers in the coming months.
iPhone X
Taking “inspiration” from the iPhone X, iLA has launched its new smartphone, the iLA X. Whether the name of the smartphone “iLA Ex” or “iLA 10” is still confirmed. What is confirmed though, is the uncanny similarities between the iPhone X and the iLA X. The iLA X has a vertically placed dual camera setup at the back of the device with the LED flash placed between the two sensors. However, the company has listed the device as having a single 13MP camera along with a 5MP front-facing camera.
On the front is a 5.5 inch display with a 1280 x 640 px resolution. It has an 18:9 aspect ratio as compared to the 19.5:9 aspect ratio found on the iPhone X.
The iLA X comes in three colours, black, blush gold and silver. People planning to buy this device should keep in mind that the blush gold and silver colour variants have white bezels on the front. A few weeks before the iPhone X launch, a leaked image revealed the iPhone X with white coloured bezels. There is a reason Apple went for black bezels and the iLA X is the perfect example of why exactly.
The iLA X is powered by the MediaTek MT6737 chipset, has 3GB RAM and 32GB of onboard storage which is expandable via a microSD card. The iLA X however, has a feature that a lot of iPhone X users would’ve liked on their device, a front-facing fingerprint sensor.
The Apple iPhone X is one of the best smartphones launched in 2017 but, it also comes with a hefty price tag. The iLA X however, looks close to the real deal and costs about US $120.
Xiaomi is expected to launch the next iteration of its phablet series in mid-2018. The Xiaomi Mi Max and Mi Max 2were great devices with a huge display and battery but, it looks like the upcoming Xiaomi Mi Max 3 will concentrate on more than just media consumption.
In line with the previous leak, a new image has surfaced online which is believed to be of the Mi Max 3. While the image doesn’t reveal the front of the phone, the back of the device is clear as a day. It will have the same metal unibody build and a fingerprint sensor in the middle. However, that is not the interesting bit, as there appears to be a dual-camera setup on the back of the phone, a first for the ‘Mi Max’ series.
The image is similar to the one that was leaked a few days ago with a similar placed fingerprint sensor and cameras. However, the LED flash, is now placed to the left of the cameras as opposed to the right side in the previous image.
While the new leak doesn’t shed a lot of information on other aspects of the smartphone, we have a few key specifications of the device already, thanks to the previous leak.
The Xiaomi Mi Max 3 will sport a 6.99-inch display with an 18:9 aspect ratio.
Under the hood, according to the image, it will be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 635 chipset, have 3GB or 4GB of RAM along with 64GB or 128GB of onboard storage.
The smartphone will also be powered by a massive 5500 mAh battery. It will, in all probability, support some form quick charging, otherwise charging up a 5500 mAh battery on your primary device could be a pain.
While the front of the smartphone is not visible, it is possible that the smartphone will have an 18:9 display with thin bezels. Although this will soon be a norm for even the mid-range devices, thin bezels on such a large display might be cumbersome especially due to accidental touches. Xiaomi’s implementation will have to spot on if it goes for a modern looking bezel-less design for the Mi Max 3.
Apple recently admitted to slowing down iPhones intentionally in order to prolong the battery life of older iPhones. While Apple sees no harm in this, there is a section of iPhone consumers who are against the step and would like the control on their devices back. Apple CEO Tim Cook has shared that the next update to iOS 11 will allow users to disable battery performance throttling on their device.
In an interview, Tim Cook said the update will seed next month in a developer release before a wider public rollout:
We’re going to give people the visibility of the health of their battery so it’s very, very transparent. This hasn’t been done before.
He also says that the update will more clearly inform users when their iPhone is automatically reducing its performance in an effort to prevent unexpected shutdowns. To that, Cook says, “If you don’t want it, you can turn it off.” Although, he has conceded that this is not recommended and Apple stands by its decision to throttle the CPU performance.
Ever since the news broke out, Apple has taken steps to curb the backlash. Apple conceded that it would cut the price of an out-of-warranty battery replacement from US $79 (Rs. 5000 approx.) to US$29 (Rs. 1850 approx.) for an iPhone 6 or later.
For years, iPhone users claimed to notice a discernible system slowdown with some iOS updates. However, the issue came in the spotlight thanks to a widely circulated Reddit thread.
Following that, Geekbench founder John Poole did some performance testing on various iPhones running different versions of iOS. Poole found that Apple does, in fact, limit performance on older iPhone models with lower-capacity batteries in the interest of battery life and preventing unexpected shutdowns.
iPhone 6s
As Cook suggests, Apple is adamant that this feature is for the betterment of old iPhones. In its apology letter, the company stated:
This feature’s only intent is to prevent unexpected shutdowns so that the iPhone can still be used. Only if these variables require it, iOS will dynamically manage the maximum performance of some system components, such as the CPU and GPU in order to prevent unexpected shutdowns.
Apple currently faces multiple class action lawsuits after admitting to intentionally slowing down iPhones. One such lawsuit is filed by Stefan Bogdanovich and Dakota Speas and claims that Apple’s deliberate effort to throttle CPU performance on the iPhone amounts to “breach of contract.” It also notes that Apple’s behaviour lowers the resale value of existing iPhones and underhandedly coerces iPhone owners to upgrade to newer models.
The next iOS 11 developer beta is expected in early February, which means a public release will follow sometime in March.
The Mobile World Congress is scheduled to take place from the 26th of February to March 1st. Two of the most anticipated smartphones of 2018, the Samsung Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ are confirmed to be launching at MWC while Sony is expected to launch the Xperia XZ Pro as well. It looks like Xiaomi will also take to stage and launch its upcoming flagship device.
This screenshot from the MWC official website of Mobile World Congress confirms that Xiaomi will be attending the event as one of the exhibitors. This could mean that the company will announce its next device, which in all likelihood, will be the Xiaomi Mi 7. Lei Jun, founder of Xiaomi had previously confirmed that the Mi 7 would be unveiled during the Chinese spring season which indicates a timeline between the end of February and early March.
When Qualcomm announced the Snapdragon 845, the flagship chipset for 2918 smartphones, Xiaomi conceded that its upcoming flagship smartphone will be powered by the same chip. This was an indication towards the Xiaomi Mi 7 and if true, we could potentially witness three smartphone launches, all powered by the latest Snapdragon 845 chipset.
Recent reports regarding the design of the Xiaomi Mi 7 hinted at an important change in the design of Xiaomi flagship phones. The leaked images revealed a stellar design with nearly zero bezels around the display. While some speculated that Xiaomi will implement a screen embedded fingerprint sensor in its next flagship, the other report claimed that it will have a Face ID-like facial recognition technology.
Lei Jun recently said that the company is focussing on AI a lot. This could mean that a facial recognition technology might be coming to its next flagship, the Mi 7. Xiaomi smartphones are known to be affordable yet, have great features and design. Only time will tell whether the Mi 7 will ever make its way to India and what its price would be.
