Chinese Tech

The Android phone-maker OPPO had previously teased its new camera-tech breakthrough: 10x lossless zoom, facilitated by a prism and an extra series of lenses that can fit into a typical phone chassis. The OEM's vice president has announced that it is prepared to mass-produce these components. This should start by about June 2019.

Zotac has unveiled a new modified graphics card to its line-up: The Zotac Gaming GeForce RTX 2080 Ti ArcticStorm. The Nvidia GeForce 2080 Ti-based GPU comes with a preinstalled ArcticStorm waterblock as part of a liquid cooling solution. The new card also comes with configurable lighting zones and can be fine-tuned with Zotac’s FireStorm utility software.

MyDrivers has reported that Xiaomi intends to announce a crowdfunding project for a new product: a smart sports watch. This device will apparently support real-time GPS tracking, so that a user can generate and maintain maps of their fitness-related activities (e.g. runing routes and so on).

The Realme 2 Pro is a phone directed at the younger market in a number of countries, including India. Here, the 2 Pro is available at Rs. 1000 (about US$14) less than usual. However, its better-spec'd SKUs are currently out of stock.

According to a review by Android Authority, the Honor View 20's main camera setup can provide excellent low-light performance, realistic colors, great image stabilization, as well as "amazing detail" but also lacks in the HDR area and its selfie shooter can be improved. The conclusion is that the View 20 beats the Huawei Mate 20 Pro.

Xiaomi is now known as one of the very few Android OEMs who have released the most modern take on the slider phone. However, it also appears as though it wants to get into the pop-up camera game as well. A company executive has hinted that this may be the case should demand for that kind of device remain high.

The Pocophone F1 has been lauded for the high price to performance ratio it brings to the table. Sadly, Xiaomi's high-value magnum opus isn't sold officially in the US. ZTE's Nubia is now offering something almost as good, and it's actually available in the US.

According to new reports, Huawei's upcoming flagships, the P30 and P30 Pro will feature 1080p displays. Both devices are expected to have some impressive specifications sheets, and the listed display resolutions are somewhat disappointing.

Xiaomi has published pictures of the Mi 9 flagship smartphone on its community pages in three different colors. There’s the regulatory black, a shimmering blue, and a color that has already received several different descriptions and seems to offer a dash of purple and a smattering of pink. Xiaomi has asked tweeters to retweet its post if the latter color offers “major unicorn vibes.”

A report from CNET mentions that TCL Corporation could be busy working on up to five different foldable devices. It seems two of the devices are tablets, two are smartphones, and one appears to be a combination of a smartphone, smartwatch, and bracelet. The Chinese company is apparently planning to release a foldable device in 2020.

Xiaomi UK has revealed the full details of the Mi 9’s rear-facing triple camera setup. There will be a 48 MP main camera, a 12 MP telephoto camera, and a 16 MP wide-angle camera. The OEM tweeted a few photographs that had been taken with the Mi 9 AI triple cameras, and there’s no denying the results do look impressive.

It has been anticipated that the OPPO R17 would be replaced by the R19, a phone that may have a punch-hole selfie camera, in 2019. However, the vice president of the Android OEM, Shen Yiren, has taken to Weibo to disrupt this line of speculation.

Vivo's IQOO sub-brand is rumored to be dedicated to premium foldable devices. The leaked renders posted on Weibo show a outwards-folding device with very thin bezels. The unfolded state will get a display with a ratio close to 1:1, while the folded state will practically turn the device into a smartphone with front and rear screens.

According to IceUniverse, Xiaomi has announced that the release of its next flagship, the Mi 9, will take place on February 20. However, the event at which a similarly-tiered device, the Galaxy S10, will be unveiled on the same day by Samsung. This shows what could be considered a great amount of ambition on Xiaomi's part, at best.

The native dark mode in the latest MIUI 10 beta covers most areas of the operating system — Phone, Contacts, Gallery, Screen recorder, Updater, Messaging — as well as the notification shade, volume slider, and the Recents menu. Xiaomi confirmed a month ago that MIUI 11 is in the works, so the stable MIUI 10 with dark mode should come out soon.

SamMobile has reportedly spotted security updates for the Samsung Galaxy S6, which should bring its patch level up to January 2019. This is not hugely unusual, except for the fact that this phone is now nearly 4 years old. It joins a very short list of devices this age to still receive official software support from its OEM.

A new report from the NBD Group shows that smartwatch sales in the US increased by 51% from November 2017 to November 2018. Wear OS only accounted for a maximum of 12% of all of these wearables sold. The rest of the sales were those from the top 3 in this market: Apple, Fitbit and Samsung.

The F11 Pro was recently confirmed in an official teaser video posted on OPPO's Twitter account. The short teaser also mentions the inclusion of a 48 MP main camera. Other rumored specs for OPPO's upcoming flagship include a Snapdragon 855 SoC coupled with 6 GB of RAM and 64 / 128 GB of storage, a 6.5-inch IPS display and a 32 MP selfie cam with pop-up design.

The Mi 9 is Xiaomi's most likely candidate for the OEM's next flagship. It may improve on its predecessor with triple cameras and a more up-to-date front panel. SlashLeaks has posted not 1 but 3 new pages on this subject today (February 13, 2019).

Released a few months ago, the LiteOS-driven Huawei Watch GT is now finally available for purchase in the US. Listed by Amazon for a regular price of US$199.99, this smart wearable will start shipping on February 19. Its specs and features include continuous heart rate monitoring, built-in GPS, sleep tracking, and more.

Despite its critical and commercial failure, the PlayStation Classic may be an attractive retro gaming device, especially given Walmart's latest price cut. The PlayStation Classic can be found at Walmart for a mere $40, 60% less than its original retail price. Additionally, those willing to hack or modify their PlayStation Classic may find the mini-console to be a suitable emulation box.

The Xiaomi M365 electric scooters is popular with ride-sharing companies such as Bird in the US. They can hire out such vehicles online thanks to the ability to remotely lock rental units as and when they need to. The research group Zimperium has claimed to be able to hi-jack this mechanism due to vulnerabilities found in Xiaomi's Bluetooth authentication procedure for the M365.

Chinese brand UMIDIGI is back with the S3 Pro, a handset that sports a generous 6.3-inch display with waterdrop notch and a main camera setup that combines a 48 MP Sony camera with a 12 MP shooter for bokeh effects. Early Indiegogo backers can get this MediaTek Helio P70-driven phablet for just US$269 and shipments should begin next month.

ZTE's sub-brand Nubia came out of the blue with a teaser for a flexible smartphone that will be unveiled at MWC 2019. Unfortunately, the "Flex Your Life" headline doesn't say much. While this can suggest something different than a foldable handset, most major brands are expected to unveil such a device later this month in Barcelona.

Most major Chinese smartphone brands also have successful sub-brands: Huawei has Honor, Oppo's Realme is just one year old but already doing great, Xiaomi's POCO is also quite popular, and now the time has come for Vivo to create its own sub-brand. iQOO is now an official brand and the first smartphones to carry its name are expected to arrive pretty soon.

LetsGoDigital has published some fantastic artistic renders of Xiaomi’s upcoming foldable device, which could end up being called the Xiaomi Dual Flex, the Xiaomi MIX Flex, or something completely different. The device in the renders certainly catches the eye with its sophisticated look and somewhat slender profile. But the images also show a facet of the foldable that could end up bothering some users.

The OEM OnePlus had previously announced that it would release a 5G phone this year. Today (February 11, 2019), the company has apparently released a confirmation that this device would feature at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) this year. It will showcase the device at Qualcomm's booth during the event.

While the global smartphone market is slowing down, the volume of smartphone sales in India continues to grow and it soon might leave the US behind. According to Canalys, Xiaomi shipped 41 million handsets in 2018 — 29.9 percent of the Indian market, up from 25.7 million and 20.6 percent during the previous year.

A patent for a Xiaomi smartphone with a full-screen display that extends halfway down the device’s edges has been spotted by LetsGoDigital. The same publication has crafted impressive renders of an elegant-looking smartphone based on the drawings included in the patent. Little additional information is offered in the patent filing.

Everything was normal until our glass display suddenly cracked. If you're planning on getting a cheap Android from a Chinese OEM, then hopefully you won't be unlucky as we are. We're just glad that nothing caught on fire.

The OPPO K1 is now available on the Indian market. This phone may compete with others such as the Redmi Note 7, as it has many specs in common with this device, but also has an in-display fingerprint reader. The K1 is exclusive to Flipkart, which sells it for about US$237.

Zack Nelson of JerryRigEverything has done it again and disassembled another smartphone, this time the Vivo NEX Dual Display. The teardown is not without its issues though.

Some live photos of the upcoming Vivo V15 Pro have been published by MySmartPrice, along with a very brief hands-on video. The Chinese manufacturer has provided the upcoming V15 smartphones with still uncommon pop-up selfie cameras, and the video shows the Pro version with a unique black and red gradient finish on the rear cover.

Our recent reviews demonstrated that the Huawei P Smart Plus is a worthy alternative to the P Smart 2019. The price difference between the two devices varies, but it is often minimal, so the question is, which is the better buy?

Xiaomi's new patent filings may cause a stir if they come to fruition. The company has filed several designs at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) that point towards it producing a smartphone with dual punch-hole front-facing cameras.

Get a new 128 GB OnePlus 6 for just $419 or $60 off the retail price. Other Chinese brands like Teclast, Alldocube, Voyo, Chuwi, Xiaomi, and Moto are also on sale until early next week. Coolicool specializes on offering inexpensive smartphones for customers both inside and outside of Asia.

Xiaomi sub-brand Redmi is reconsidering its marketing strategies. Up until now, Redmi has been focusing on premium mid-range phones, but it looks like Xiaomi will allow it to release flagships, as well. The Note 7 Pro is going to be released soon, and afterwards, Redmi intends to launch a value high-end handheld powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 855 SoC.

The Huawei Mate 20 series was launched with a triple rear camera associated with Leica and informed by AI. Now, a new update to EMUI has enabled this AI to extract or isolate colors from still images taken using the Mate 20 X or 20 Pro. This feature was available during video recording on the 2 phones, and now extends to their photography as well.

The upcoming Vivo V15 Pro managed to score 2,382 points in the single-core test and 6,479 multi-core points on Geekbench, where it can be found as the Vivo 1818. Running Android Pie-based software and featuring a pop-up camera, this mid-range handset is expected to hit the Indian market on February 20.

Wang Teng Thomas, Xiaomi’s product director, has written a post on Weibo indicating that a follow-up to the 2018 Black Shark Helo is on the way. The executive claimed to have seen this phone in the flesh, describing it as "too fast". However, no further details on this next-gen gaming device were discussed.

OnePlus has launched a new contest that could see the winning entry as a feature in a next-gen version of OxygenOS, the OEM's custom skin for its international Android phones. This competition is calling for entrants to find their inner software designer, and submit their ideas in the form of a full product requirements document. PMChallenge is open from now until Febrauary 22.

Although most technical details are not present in the TENAA listing, the appearance of the Moto G7 XT1965-6 model on the website of the Chinese certification authority comes with information regarding the physical dimensions of the device, its display size, and the capacity of its battery.

The Super Bowl is coming up this Sunday in the US, and all authorities from the FBI to the FAA have prepared themselves for disruptions and threats from drone pilots. No-fly zones have been set up, and new radar technology and drone interceptors will monitor the stadium.

Huawei Mobile has taken to Twitter to finally show off its upcoming foldable phone, or at least a very small part of it. However, some tweeters have responded to Huawei’s post, which is basically a promo for the company’s presence at MWC19, with some concerns over the foldable’s seemingly askew appearance.

A live photo of what is believed to be the Xiaomi Mi 9 has been posted online. The Chinese company’s product manager initially uploaded the picture to his Weibo account but then deleted it shortly afterwards. Although only a portion of the smartphone’s rear side can be seen, it has led to some details being apparently confirmed.

Droid Shout has received a tip claiming Lenovo has a new tablet in the works. The device, which is apparently called the Lenovo Tab V7, is expected to be a midrange slate that runs on Android 9 Pie straight out of the box. The latest addition to the Chinese manufacturer’s tablet line-up could be announced at MWC19.

Huawei will soon be revealing how its Mate 20 Pro smartphone and its Kirin 980 SoC fared with completing Franz Schubert’s Symphony No. 8 in B minor, D 759 – better known to the world as the Unfinished Symphony. The finished Schubert/Huawei symphony will be performed at Cadogan Hall in London on February 4.

A European Union Intellectual Property Office trademark application has been spotted by LetsGoDigital for “Pikiu”. The application was made at the end of January and comes under NICE classification 9, which includes chips and chipsets. It has been deduced that the trademark application has been made on behalf of Huawei, meaning Pikiu could be a new processor from the Chinese manufacturer.

The Intel Core i9-8950HK represents the top of the line, but users with tighter budgets can opt to get one of the variants sporting Core i5-8300H / i7-8750H / Xeon E-2176M CPUs. All models may be equipped with up to 32 GB of DDR4-2666 RAM and up to 1 TB of NVMe SSD storage, plus there is room for a 2.5-inch HDD as well. With a standard issue CPU cooler, these mini PCs will be anything but quiet.