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Showing posts from May, 2017

Asus outs two new Zenpad 10 tablets too

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Asus outs two new Zenpad 10 tablets too 30 MAY 2017 Like every year, Asus is very busy these days with Computex, because the trade show is its biggest venue for product launches. And sure enough, the company has introduced many new devices this time around too, but the focus of its announcements have been laptops, PCs, and the likes. No smartphones got official on this occasion, as for tablets so far we've only had  one new model  quietly being unveiled - the  Zenpad 3S 8.0 . Or so we thought. It turns out that the Taiwanese company couldn't help launching two additional slates, but in a similarly subdued manner. They are both new Zenpad 10 variations, imaginatively called Z301MFL and Z301ML. They both look the same and share most specs. Let's start with the Z301MFL, which is the higher-end of the duo. It sports a 10.1-inch 1,920x1,200 touchscreen, a 5 MP rear camera, a 2 MP front camera, two front-facing speakers, a USB Type-C port, a 3.5mm headset jack, a m...

Huawei launches the MediaPad M3 Lite 10

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Huawei launches the MediaPad M3 Lite 10 31 MAY 2017 Huawei keeps expanding its MediaPad portfolio of tablets. The latest addition is the mid-range MediaPad M3 Lite 10 with an attractively slim 7.1 mm profile. The device also has four Harman/Kardon speakers for better audio experience. The 10.1” IPS display has 1920 x 1200 resolution. The M3 Lite runs on a Snapdragon 435 chipset with octa-core CPU and on Android Nougat with Huawei's in-house EMUI 5.1. The device has three RAM + storage options: 3 GB + 16 GB, 3 GB + 32 GB and 4 GB + 64 GB. The MediaPad M3 10 Lite has two 8 MP cameras - one on the front and one on the back. It is powered by a 6,600 mAh battery and also has a fingerprint scanner, implemented in the Home button. All versions come with LTE Cat4 availability and Wi-Fi 11ac support. The MediaPad M3 Lite 10 comes with microUSB 2.0 instead of the more modern USB-C. The slate is sold in either Gold, Space Gray or White color but we are yet to hear from Huawei abo...
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OnePlus 3 and 3T will be updated to Android O, CEO confirms 31 MAY 2017 Now that the  OnePlus 5  is about to launch, you may be wondering what that means for its two predecessors from last year, the  3  and the  3T , in terms of software support. The  OnePlus 3 was discontinued  when the 3T became official, and the 3T itself is now  living its last days of availability , at least  in some markets . The Chinese company has already promised to keep supporting the two, software-wise, but up until today we didn't get anything more specific than that. It is now time to relax if you own a OnePlus 3 or 3T and care about major Android updates. OnePlus CEO Pete Lau has just confirmed that both models are in fact going to receive upgrades to Android O, the next version of the OS that should be out in late summer for Pixel and Nexus devices. As you'd expect at this early point, Lau hasn't made any promises regarding when the two phones fr...

BlackBerry KEYone review:

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BlackBerry KEYone review:  BlackBerry was an iconic name in the smartphone world in the Americas during the late-2000s. In 2010, we recall our peers having colorful discussions on social media about whether they should go with a BlackBerry or iPhone. During this time, BlackBerry was still a huge contender in the United States; every carrier had at least two BlackBerry models and Android was more of an afterthought. Now tables have turned. Fast forward to January 2017 - TCL and BlackBerry teased the media with a, then codenamed, BlackBerry Mercury (which, we think sounds much cooler than "KEYone") and didn't tell us anything else about it until more than a month later in late-February at the MWC. Needless to say, the device was widely acclaimed, though we still need to put it through its paces to see how it compares to late-2015's BlackBerry Priv, which didn't do as well as anticipated due in part to a high retail price at launch and the Priv's exclu...

Xiaomi Mi 6 review: Social climber

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Introduction Seven years in the making. That's what Xiaomi says and you can feel the pride of a job well done. Is it arrogance? Maybe. And it may be surprising but not completely unfounded. A five-inch screen in a hot, curved metal-and-glass body. A dual camera with 2x optical zoom. A Snapdragon 835. The Xiaomi Mi 6 has many virtues and well... modesty isn't one of them. The 6th generation comes packed with premium features, as if Xiaomi is trying to pick a fight with every contemporary flagship. The latest Snapdragon 835 chipset may as well have been the only option - no other would've suited their best phone yet. To be fair, Xiaomi did well to refine the series design and even added splash resistance. The dual 12MP camera with a telephoto lens and portrait photography is Xiaomi's take on what seems to be the latest fad in phones. All of these - at the expense of an audio jack. If Apple can get away with it... What did we say about modesty? Now, being a mix...

HTC U11 vs. Samsung Galaxy S8+: Pixel Duel

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Introduction In this follow-up to the  pick-a-flagship shootout  from the weekend we take a close look at the HTC U11 - the prominent absentee in that three-way contest. And since we couldn't gather them all on the same continent at the same time, it will be just the HTC U11 vs. the Samsung Galaxy S8, represented in this case by its plus-sized version. We'll be keeping it brief, though - just the image quality. You'll need to wait a little for the in-depth review of the U11 for the other stuff. It's not without sound reasoning, this particular comparison - looking at the numbers, the HTC U11's camera has a lot in common with the one Samsung fits in its top models. A 12MP sensor with 1.4µm pixels and f/1.7 aperture lens with optical stabilization used to very precisely identify the Galaxy S7 and S8's primary shooters, but no more - the U11's specsheet reads the same. HTC calls its focusing tech UltraSpeed Autofocus and by the looks of it that'...