Chinese Tech

OnePlus has unveiled its new range of smart TVs for the Indian market. The OnePlus TV Y costs INR 49,999 (US$670) and comes with a 55-inch 4K-ready HDR 10 screen, MEMC, and OnePlus' in-house Gamma Colour Magic chip. The OnePlus TV U retail at INR 22,999 (US$307) and INR 12,999 (US$173) for the 43-inch 1080p and the 32-inch 720p versions, respectively.

The Lynwo BT01 is a cheap smartwatch that still packs plenty of features. The device, which retails for under US$20, is IP68 certified and supports GPS route tracking. There is even a heart rate monitor to complement the smartwatch's 1.3-inch IPS touchscreen display.

The stable MIUI 12 update has arrived for the Xiaomi Redmi K20 Pro and Mi 9T Pro in India. The update, which is arriving as an OTA download, is live now. A corresponding OS upgrade has reached the Redmi Note 9 and Redmi 10X 4G too.

Honor has launched a pair of new Dimensity 800-powered phones today (July 2, 2020). Despite this, the 2 phones are quite different, particularly in terms of their displays. The 30 Youth Edition has a 6.5-inch 90 hertz (Hz) panel, whereas that of the X10 Max exceeds 7 inches. Both devices can be pre-ordered today.

Xiaomi has officially launched its first OLED TV in the form of the 65-inch Mi TV Master Series set, which will be sold at a price of 12,999 yuan (US$1,840) in the company’s domestic market. The smart TV is bursting with gaming-friendly features and offers a 120 Hz panel with a 1 ms response time. MIUI for TV and a MediaTek processor are also onboard.

Apple copies from the Far East have a long tradition. The current RedmiBook 16 from Xiaomi is another reincarnation of the MacBook, in this case the current 16-inch version. Nevertheless, the package appears extremely attractive: A matt IPS display, Type-C charging, AMD Ryzen 5 4500U and 512 GB SSD storage at a price point of less than 700 Euros (~$788).

Xiaomi has issued an important warning about the Redmi Note 8 Pro in regard to the current MIUI 12 global stable beta update rollout. The Chinese OEM is concerned that Redmi Note 8 Pro owners who are not part of the Mi Pilot program may damage their smartphones by installing the MIUI 12 update via another unofficial route.

Previous information indicated that the Redmi Note 8 would get the Android 10 update with MIUI 12 shortly. That may be in doubt now, however, as word from the Mi Forums claims the MIUI 12 update for the Redmi Note 8T—essentially a Redmi Note 8 for certain markets—is months away.

There has been another reference to a Xiaomi Mi Band 5 Pro activity tracker discovered recently. A Pro variant of the wearable was already rumored due to it being mentioned in app code, and now it has been spotted again as “Kongming Pro” in a settings screenshot. The Mi Band 5 was released in June.

Poco's next phone will be the Poco M2 Pro. The company seems to be continuing the trend of offering rebadged Redmi phones in its lineup, and new information indicates that the Poco M2 Pro, slated for a July 7 launch, may just be a rebadged Redmi Note 9 Pro.

Initial pre-orders for the OnePlus Nord went live today, the first of three pre-order events hosted by OnePlus. Fans of the company do not seem too happy about how quickly units were snapped up though, with stock levels apparently having been exhausted in under a minute. The Snapdragon 765G, 5G connectivity and a flagship-level camera for under US$500 has been confirmed too.

Xiaomi has released a new XiaoAI Portable Speaker via Youpin that can also be ordered from Banggood for international customers. The mini Bluetooth speaker has a power rating of 2 W and is being offered to domestic shoppers for 49 yuan (US$7). The Xiaomi XiaoAI Portable Speaker with virtual assistant is priced at US$19.99 at Banggood.

The release of MIUI 12 for the Mi 9T Pro, Mi 9T, Mi 9, Redmi K20 and Redmi K20 Pro is "now starting to kick in", according to Xiaomi. The statement, tweeted to its hundreds of thousands of followers on Twitter, appears to signal that the company may be ready to start issuing MIUI 12 to other devices like the Redmi Note 7, Redmi Note 8 Pro and Pocophone F1 too.

Two separate sources have confirmed that a Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G SoC will power the upcoming OnePlus Nord. The first one is OnePlus' co-founder Carl Pei, and the other is Qualcomm. The phone will be released in India on July 10th.

Just how good is the "gimbal" camera system in the Vivo X50 Pro? Well, a hands-on review of the device has shown it to be competitive with flagships like the Apple iPhone 11 Pro, Huawei P40 Pro Plus and Google Pixel 4, which is quite the coup for Vivo. However, the "gimbal" camera system is not as revolutionary as Vivo has claimed it to be.

The stable MIUI 12 update has landed for the global version of the Xiaomi Mi 9. The update follows equivalent OS upgrades for the Chinese and EU editions of the device.

The FCC has confirmed that the Oppo Watch is almost ready to hit global audiences. The smartwatch, which has already been released in China, has a Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 2500 processor, 1 GB of RAM and 8 GB of storage. The smartwatch will be available in two sizes and has built-in LTE, along with support for GPS and NFC.

After sending out stable MIUI 12 updates to its premium phones, Xiaomi has now set its sights towards the mid-range. MIUI 12 is now in the second round of seeding, beginning with the Redmi Note 8 Pro—which has now received a limited global beta build with the designation "MIUI 12.0.0.4 QGGMIXM".

The Xiaomi TV Master Series has only just been announced, with a 65-inch 120 Hz OLED making up the range so far. Now some specs for the upcoming smart TV have been leaked by a Xiaomi manager on Weibo. The Xiaomi TV Master will apparently offer users HDMI 2.1, MEMC image-smoothing technology, variable refresh rate (VRR), and much more.

Xiaomi has published the pilot testers that have been selected to receive MIUI 12 Global Stable beta updates for Round 2 of the company's release schedule. The Redmi Note 7, Redmi Note 8 Pro and Poco F1 are eligible for the stable beta updates.

Xiaomi has delivered another update for the Redmi 7A, this time upgrading Indian handsets to Android 10. However, while the entry-level handset should soon be upgraded to MIUI 12, this latest update does not deliver on that.

OnePlus has confirmed the name, tentative pricing and pre-order dates for its next smartphone. Called the OnePlus Nord instead of the OnePlus Lite or OnePlus Z, the device will be available to pre-order in limited quantities from tomorrow. Pitched at under US$500, the OnePlus Nord should cost at least US$200 less than OnePlus 8.

Two new devices with what could be model numbers from the OEM OPPO have emerged on Geekbench 4. They both have 4GB of RAM, run Android 10 and have a heretofore-unseen code-name associated with their processing platform: bengal. Could this, then, be a brand-new upcoming SoC?

The Realme C1 is the company's latest affordable smartphone that costs RM 429 ($100). It comes with a MediaTek Helio G35 SoC, a 5,000mAh battery, two rear cameras, and a micro USB port. The phone is up for sale in Malaysia and is expected to make its way to other markets in the coming weeks.

Stable MIUI 12 updates for the Mi 10 and Mi 10 Pro have already arrived for Chinese versions of Xiaomi's latest flagships. The same cannot be said in other countries though, as some people would have discovered today.

The Redmi K30 duo was launched six months ago, which means it's about time we got a successor to the phones. New information has now surfaced about the upcoming Redmi K40, with notable takeaways including battery capacity, display design/features, and main camera specifications.

Xiaomi Malaysia has just listed the Redmi 9A and Redmi 9C on its official Facebook page. Both phones come with a MediaTek Helio SoC, 5,000mAh battery that can be charged at 10W, a 6.5-inch HD+ screen, and a paltry 2GB of RAM. The Redmi 9A is priced at RM 359 ($83), while the latter costs RM 429 ($100)

Xiaomi has now started rolling out Android 10 to its last-gen Redmi series, beginning with the Redmi 8 in China. The Android 10 update for the Redmi 8 is based on MIUI 11 and carries the build number "MIUI 11.0.1.0 QCNCNXM". It weighs 2.0 GB and doubles up as the June security patch.

Xiaomi is now selling a flashy go-kart in the form of the Ninebot Number 9 Gokart Pro. The vehicle can reach speeds of up to 23 mph (37 km/h) and features 4x 8 W speakers and dynamic-cornering capability. The designer of the 8,998-yuan (US$1,270) Gokart Pro, Ninebot, is a Xiaomi-backed firm that owns Segway Inc.

Xiaomi's recent 98-inch Redmi Smart TV Max seems to have been a commercial success, and the company is set to follow it up with yet another TV. This TV, branded as the "Xiaomi TV Master Series" will sit at the very top of Xiaomi's TV hierarchy, and will take on the rest of the world with a 65-inch OLED 120 Hz display.

The Indian government has banned 59 Chinese-origin apps in the country. Some of the banned apps include TikTok, Share It, UC Browser, WeChat, Mobile Legends, UC Browser, and Club Factory. The directive also instructs Google and Apple 24 hours to take the apps off their respective platforms.

Over the past few weeks, Xiaomi has been sending out beta stable MIUI 12 updates to its premium phones. The company has finally taken the MIUI 12 rollout to the next stage, however, by beginning the full stable rollout to those phones, including the Mi 9, Mi 10, Redmi K30, and the rest of the gang.

More compact than the GPD Win Max, One-Notebook's OneGx1 is now up for pre-order in both 4G and 5G variants, but it doesn't come cheap: the US$839 model only sports WiFi, 8 GB of memory, and 256 GB of internal storage, and the price goes as high as US$1,318 for the 5G + 16 GB + 512 GB model.

OnePlus has announced the launch date of its next smartphone, and it is early than expected. Originally thought to be launching on July 10, OnePlus has confirmed that the device, possibly called the OnePlus Z, will be showcased before the month is out. The company is offering fans a choice between two names for its next smartphone, too.

Honor has officially announced that the Youth Edition of its 30-series smartphone exists, and that it has a launch date for the Chinese market. In fact, it is the same as that of the 10X Max: July 2, 2020. Both phones are rumored to have the same Dimensity 800 SoC, although they may be very different otherwise.

Is newer better? The Redmi Note 9 was launched months ago debuting with MediaTek's new Helio G85, but how does it compare to the tried and tested Snapdragon 665 on Xiaomi's last-gen Redmi Note 8? Well, the results are nuanced.

Xiaomi has officially commenced the public rollout of the MIUI 12 stable update for a number of Redmi-branded smartphones. The first devices to receive the MIUI 12 update were the Redmi K30 Pro Zoom Edition and the Redmi K30 Pro. Smartphones in both the Redmi K30 and K20 lineups have been included in the public rollout.

The OnePlus 5 and OnePlus 5T finally received the stable Android 10 update weeks ago—the third major OS update the phones have received. Sadly, though, the update seems to have broken an important feature on the phone, and owners aren't too thrilled about it.

Pixys has made a custom ROM based on Android 10 available for the Redmi Note 8 and Redmi Note 8T. Owners of these smartphones have endured a rollercoaster ride in regard to the eagerly awaited operating system update, with the official software from Google now being delayed by Xiaomi because of major bugs.

Xiaomi has announced that MIUI 12 will be hitting a wave of Redmi smartphones from tomorrow. Possibly marking the start of Round 2 of its MIUI 12 release schedule, some of the devices eligible for the OS upgrade include the Redmi Note 7, Redmi Note 7 Pro and Redmi Note 8 Pro.

OnePlus has been teasing the prices in India for three models of its upcoming affordable smart TV series. The Chinese OEM has published three figures but has omitted a single crucial digit, leaving fans to guess at the prices. The 32-inch OnePlus TV could cost ₹19,999 (US$264) or even ₹14,999 (US$198) to challenge the popular Xiaomi Mi TV lineup.

Specifications for a possible 5G variant of the Redmi Note 9 smartphone have been shared on Chinese social media. It’s rumored the device will sport an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G and boast of a 120 Hz display. However, it’s believed the Redmi Note 9 5G might end up being a China-only release.
Update: It seems one leaker was referring to the iQOO Z1x.

The alleged price for the Xiaomi Mi Smart Band 5 in Europe has allegedly leaked, and it is set at the competitive price of €39.99 (US$45). However, it appears that fans of the Xiaomi activity tracker in Europe will have to make do without NFC. The popular wearable is known as the Mi Band 5 in China and costs from 189 yuan (US$27) there.

A Huami Zepp E smartwatch has been discovered in FCC filings. Some details about the sporty wearable and a couple of images were also unearthed. Zepp is a company that makes sports-related smart accessories and was acquired by Huami, which is a Xiaomi subsidiary, in 2018. The Zepp E could be aimed at sporty types such as golfers or tennis players.

A recent edition to the Moto E series of affordable smartphones exhibited several discrepancies in our review, not the least of which was launching with Android 9.0 (Pie) in 2019. However, a new Geekbench 5 listing suggests that this issue, at least, may be resolved soon. It shows that a phone with the E6 Plus' specs, but running an updated OS.

Huawei is now sending out the EMUI 10 update to P20 Pro and Mate 10 Pro around the world. The update is rolling out to owners in the UK, rest of Europe, and South America. This means that all Mate 10 Pro and P20 Pro models should be receiving the update. Bar, of course, the North American Mate 10 Pro, BLA-A09.

According to a tipster, upcoming Snapdragon 875-equipped phones may feature 100W fast charging technology. This would enable gaming phones like the purported Xiaomi Black Shark 4 to top up their batteries in just 17 minutes.

Xiaomi's Redmi A series typically offers some of the best-selling smartphones in the world every year, and the company is set to launch the next device in the lineup. The Redmi 9A will succeed the Redmi 8A, and details of the phone have now been revealed.

A design patent for a Realme Gamepad has been leaked. The patent reveals four images of the gamepad in different colors. Although Realme has the gaming-centric X50 Pro Player Edition smartphone in its lineup, it’s expected the OEM will soon release a pure gaming smartphone. The Realme Gamepad looks just like the OPPO C1 Gamepad.

The Mi Store Philippines has leaked multiple Xiaomi products before their official unveiling. The regional store has included specifications and renders of the Mi Band 4C, Mi Smart Coffee Machine, Mi True Wireless Earphones 2 Basic and the Mi TV Stick.