Author: chris eilers

The Vernee Apollo hasn’t cool off yet. And now its mini variant -the Vernee Apollo Lite -shows up and brings that heat back again. Even though it is a scale-down version, this phone still owns some amazing specs.

The Vernee Apollo Lite with “insane” specs

Vernee is a newcomer of smartphone market in China. It’s a fresh and young start-up in. Yet it still can earn itself a certain spot in this market. And it even gained some spotlight. It released the first smartphone lately – the Vernee Thor. However, until the Vernee Apollo, did Vernee make a real impression. This feature rich smartphone is considered as the flagship of this brand. It’s expected to appear in this July.

And now, this company is following the steps of the other brands. It decided to make a slightly scale-down version of its flagship-the Vernee Apollo Lite. Despite being the mini variant of the Apollo, this Vernee Apollot Lite specs are still incredibly powerful. The smartphone has a metal unibody with a slight curve on back. When the Apollo comes with a Quad HD resolution, this Lite will have a 5.5-inch Full HD (1920x1080p) display.

The phone is gonna be powered by a deca-core Helio X20 (aka MTK6797) processor. It will run on Android 6.0 Marshmallow (with the Vernee OS on top). There is also a 4GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage, and you can extend it with a microSD card. It features a 16MP on the rear camera. And this camera come in a square shape, unlike circular shape on the Apollo. You can also find a front-facing 5MP snapper. The phone sports a 3810mAh battery life with a Pump Express 3.0 quick charging, and an USB Type-C connector.

 The Appolo Lite price and availability

With those powerful specs, the Vernee Apollo Lite price is only about $200. That is insane, right? With this price, this smartphone will likely become the most affordable smartphone featuring a Helio X20 processor. We’re expecting that the Vernee Apollo Lite release date will be in May. Besides Apollo Lite, the company is also said to be presented the Thor Lite. This phone might be launched in the next few weeks.

If you are wondering what 4GB RAM smartphones can give you best experience in playing games, check out the following list to find the most suitable handset for yourself!

1. YU YUTOPIA

Design-wise, YU Yutopia sports an all-metal unibody with an aircraft grade aluminium. It looks sleek and stylish in general. On the back, the device has a saturn-ring design camera and much bigger than its predecessors. It’s very interesting, but in fact, some people do not think it’s elegant enough. How about you?

About YU Yutopia specs, it owns an octa-core Snapdragon 810 chip, a 5.2-inch Quad HD display, 4GB RAM, and 32GB of internal memory (expandable up to 128GB). Well, those specifications are definitely good for playing games. Besides, this YU’s model also boasts Cyanogen 12.1 based on Android 5.1.1 Lollipop OS, a fingerprint scanner, a dual SIM, a decent 3,000mAh battery with Quick Charge 2.0 tech (60% in 30 minutes), and a combo of 21MP primary + 8MP selfie camera.

Huawei Mate 9 has been said to be in the works and expected to be the first 6GB RAM smartphone of the company. Besides, it’ll also boast a Kirin 960 chip, LTE Cat.12 support and a 20MP dual rear camera. So, if you wonder what handsets can be its rivals, check out the following list immediately!

1. Lenovo ZUK Z2 Pro

First of all, we need to mention Lenovo ZUK Z2 Pro, which is also equipped with 6GB RAM. However, other Lenovo ZUK Z2 Pro specs are quite different, but still worth being considered as a strong competitor of the Huawei Mate 9. Speaking specifically, there are a 5.2-inch Full HD AMOLED display, 4G LTE + VoLTE support, a Snapdragon 820 chip set, a 3,100mAh battery supported by Quick Charge 3.0 technology, Android Marshmallow OS, and 128GB of internal storage on board to help run the whole machine.

Talking about its cameras, the main one is capable of 13 megapixels with ISOCELL sensor, f/1.8, 4K video recording, plus PDAF, and the secondary snapper is 8 megapixels. The 6GB RAM ZUK Z2 Pro price is 2,699 Yuan, or $416, for those who want to purchase it.

6GB of RAM for your laptop is good but for your phone is wonderful! Today, we will bring to the 6GB smartphones which will be launched soon in 2016. Let’s see what will they look like?

1. Xiaomi Mi 6

As you know, the Xiaomi Mi 5 has been launched in February 2016 with 5.15-inch FullHD display, 4GB of RAM and other strong specs . In 216, we will see many smartphones come with 6GB of RAM as Asus Zenfone 3, IUNI U4, ViVo Xplay 5, …So, we have a strong base to believe that Xiaomi Mi 6 will come soon in this year with 6GB of RAM.

As a recent leak, the phone will have a metal unibody.  As for Xiaomi Mi 6 specs, the machine is expected to come with 2.7 Ghz, Qualcomm SnapDragon 823, 128 GB of ROM and 6GB of RAM. Besides, you may love the Xiaomi Mi 6 screen with 4K screen and 4096 x 2160p resolution. Wao! If you are looking for Xiaomi Mi 6 camera specs, you may be satisfied with 23MP on the back and 7MP on the front. About Xiaomi Mi 6 battery, the phone may pack 3000 battery. The innovative feature of Xiaomi Mi 6 comes from its eye scanner that replaces Fingerprint Scanner. Xiaomi Mi6 Price will not be a really cheap price, around $ 399.

Asus Zenfone 3 is coming! Oops, it’s not Zenfone 3! It is Asus Zenfone 3 series. Asus just started a teaser about the series with an impressive name: Zenvolution. This video has a tagline saying “Get ready to redefine clarity, desirable detail, and unlimited viewing area.” So, just get ready for them because they will show up on 30 May.

Asus Zenfone 3 series: Clarity, Desire and Unlimited

In the teaser, Asus is bringing the Zenphone line back with the Asus Zenfone 3 series. 3 smartphone of the series were presented with the taglines: Clarity, Desire and Unlimited. They’re the ASUS ZenFone 3, ZenFone 3 Deluxe and ZenFone 3 Max. The 3 Max is expected to be the best seller of the group. And this time, this smartphone line will show up with out the Intel chipsets. 90% of the ZenFone 3 line will be powered by Qualcomm , and 10% remain is with MediaTek.

Recently, Antutu (AnTuTu is one of the most popular benchmark apps for Android phone) has posted some specs of a new smartphone called Asus Z016D. This smartphone is rumored to be one of the Zenfone 3 series. According to video teaser, this Zenfone 3 series launch is so close, on 30 May in Taipei. This means that this smartphone specs which appeared on Antutu is nearly official.

This phone will be powered by a Snapdragon 820 chipset with a GPU Adreno 530. It features a 1920 x 1080 display and runs on Android 6.0.1. This version isn’t set new RAM records. So there will be a 4GB of RAM and 32GB of inbuilt storage, but you can expand via a SD card. This phone is gonna give you a better performance with a 23MP on the rear camera. It also sports an 8MP front-facing snapper.

Asus Zenfone 3 series release date and price

We’re waiting for the next generation of Zenfone smartphone. And Asus blew our minds with the Asus Zenfone 3 series. In an earlier report, Jerry Shen – Asus CEO – said that Asus will probaly compete with Huawei and Oppo in the Chinese market. He also suggested that the 3 upcoming versions of ZenFone 3 release date will be in June. And they’re gonna aim to the mid-range segment. So we’re expecting that the price of this series will be between $250 to $370.

On 16 May, Apple released the latest software update – iOS 9.3.2 – to fix a iOS bug on Apple software system. However, after an hour, there was a bug in iOS 9.3.2 that bricked iPad Pro and make the Apple users feel angry…

iOS bug from iOS 9.3.2 bricked iPad Pro 9.7

From many comments on Twitter and Apple Support Communities, the new iOS 9.3.2 comes with a heavy iOS bug that makes their iPad Pro became…crazy. For solving that problem, Apple sent the message ” Error 56″, which guides the users to connect their device to iTunes. However, that even made the problem become more serious. As a result, the iPad Pro is locked and forced reboot again and again while nothing changes.

One user on Twitter complained to Apple Support “Please fix your IPad Pro software update! Your incompetence just BRICKED MY IPAD PRO!”  and from the other person:” Software update bricked my new iPad pro. Restore will not help. Great job idiots. I will never buy again!”. You can see the problem made Apple’s users feel angry. If Apple want to keep their profit, they have to clear up all problem and doesn’t let it repeat again.

 

How to repair iOS bug 9.3.2

You need to check and make sure there are no problems with third-party security software. Besides, you have to consider whether USB cable, the tablet and the network are all reliable or not and then, try to restore the iPad Pro again. If the error message still appears, contact team support of Apple. In addition, you could erase the iOS 9.3.2 and wait for updated version-iOS 9.3.3. That’s is our personal opinion. If you have a better way, please share with us!

It seems like cheating in school is a really serious problem in Iraq that the Government has to apply such a strong measure to stop it. 

Let’s take a look at the situation

According to data from DYN Research, Iraq has been shutting down the country’s entire internet repeatedly to prevent students from cheating on their exams. The internet access was blocked for 3 hours on Saturday, Sunday and Monday morning this week, from 5AM to 8AM local time. In Iraq, education is only up to sixth grade. Students who fail on exam will be expelled from school. Student’s study result is substantial to their prospect and life-long, that explains why students are highly motivated to get high grade or pass the exam at least-and to cheat.

According to Education Ministry spokeswoman Hadeel al-Ameri, people who try to leak the questions will be arrested by Security departments. ”And there were few people in the Education Ministry who used to leak these questions”, al-Ameri said. The extreme measures are a bid to ensure that some of the country’s 600,000 primary school students could not access answers purchased ahead of national standardized tests, al-Ameri said.”We asked the Communications Ministry to shut off Internet services because we knew that some students — those who are lazy — started to use the Internet trying to get answers,” she added.

There were a Facebook group called “Leaking the Final Central Exams Question 2015” running by some anomymous administrators. Lots of students know and “buy” their exam question and answer from this group. A 16 years old student from Baghdad described how she was sent exam answers last year after joining this group: “They sent me three accurate lists of questions that came in the exams — chemistry, physics and Islamic studies,” she said. “The rest five exams they sent me only three questions out of the six questions.” The price for each of her exams was 20 Iraqi dinars (around $18). Though the result wasn’t good as expected, she said that she would still cheat in the future as long as she have a chance to do it.

Another measure for Iraq?

Though cheating is always student’s favorite thing and they always find a way to do it. But is it too dramatic to shut down the country’s entire internet? Yes of course the Iraq government could use another measure like banning mobile phones or installing jammer to prevent students from accessing leaked exam answers via Internet. But then somebody said “how about just shutting down the Internet?”, and here we go.

Just have your eye on Acer, because Acer gaming smartphone is coming back. Last year, the Predator 6 which is a smartphone for gaming was presented. But until now, it still haven’t released. This year, Acer again announced that they’re focusing on another gaming smartphone.

Acer gaming smartphone for gamerholic

Nowadays, people usually use their smartphones for gaming. Carrying those smartphone almost everywhere, they can play offline games whenever they want. Now, they can even enjoy this more with a new smartphone of Acer. This Acer gaming smartphone is gonna be launched to server this market this year. This smartphone will give users an amazing gaming experience.

According to the Chinese newspaper Commercial Times, Acer is developing a new smartphone specifically designed for gaming. This is not the first time they orient their products on this feature. Last year, they presented this lineup with the smartphone Predator 6 and the tablet Predator 8. And last month is the Predator 17X laptop and the Predator G1 desktop. This Acer gaming smartphone launch is reported to be on the Q4, 2016.

For the gaming smartphone, one of the most essential features is the battery life. So the battery of this phone is expected to be 6000mAh. The phone might be powered by a 10-core MediaTek processor and run on Android 5.1 Lollipop. It could have 4GB of RAM and 64GB  of inbuilt storage, but you can expand it via SD card. This gaming smartphone may probably feature a 6.1-inch display Full HD. The rear camera will be 16MP and the front shooter is gonna be 8MP.

Acer gaming smartphone price

Acer intends to launch 5 smartphones of this year. And this gaming smartphone could be launched the earliest in October. According to Citing ST Liew- president of Acer, the Acer gaming smartphone would be on the range from $499 to $599. If you’re a game-addicted person, you might not want to miss this phone.

Nokia is coming back. Nokia has been going for a long journey. It came from the most worldwide mobile phone brand to the one who sold a whole cellphone business to Microsoft, and now it’s returning. With the Nokia C1 – the new Android phone, Nokia is expected to gain back its position this business.

Nokia is coming back: it’s time

Nokia used to be the most popular name when we talked about phones. This brand dominated in the phone market for more than 14 years. Even after the appearance of iPhone and Android smartphones, Nokia still proved itself was the favorite brand. Everything was on track, until 2010. This year and the next 3 years, they’d been through a huge crisis. There were a huge losses of their revenue, about €4.1 billion at this time. And Nokia had to lay off 24,500 employees by the end of 2013. It couldn’t keep peace with its rivals. So Nokia decided to sell the whole phone business to Microsoft and found the other business field to focus on.

Since the acquisition happened, Nokia has been involved in a lot of business. It acquired Alcatel-Lucent (for better networking), manufactured a VR camera for film making, even bought a French health tracker start-up. It’s having an ambitious to be a powerhouse in many fields. And now, Nokia is said to have intention of re-entering the cellphone market. Nokia used to nail it on the phone division. And now, Nokia is coming back to this field. Because the non-compete clause with Microsoft will expire at the end of 2015. (the non-compete clause  prevented Nokia from releasing phone under the Nokia brand).

Despite the non-compete clause, Nokia was still able to launch its Nokia 1 tablet. And Nokia did that by licensing the N1 to Foxconn. This time, however, Nokia is coming back and releasing a smartphone by its own. And this smartphone is an Android phone. Something that the company had missed for a decades. The Nokia C1 is expected to bring the Nokia name back to the mobile phone world. This handset could be the opening for Nokia’s journey on earning the market share from its rivals.

Nokia C1: the opening of Nokia’s journey

This C1 might be powered by an Intel Atom chipset and Android 6.0 Marshmallow. There will be 2GB of RAM along with 32GB of internal storage. The device will feature a 5-inch display Full HD along with 3000 mAh battery life. The phone will likely have an 8MP camera on the rear with auto-focus mode as well as LED flash. It could also sport a 5MP front-facing snapper and a Micro USB port. This Nokia C1 release date is expected to be on September, 2016. The Nokia C1 price is expected to be about $194.

Thumbs up for Windows 10 mobiles, it’s better late then never. 

A touch away from securing your phone!

Good news for all Windows phone fan who miss that finger rolling action on their phone. According to WinHEC presentation by Microsoft this week, fingerprint scanner will be integrated into future Windows 10 Mobile update which is scheduled for 2016 summer, probably in July. It is more likely now that the next Windows 10 Mobile flagships will start identifying you via your fingerprints, instead of iris scanner function that current Lumia generation sports. Iris scanner, we will miss you and your accuracy, but your inconvenience just won’t do.

In fact, this addition function to Windows phone should not be much of a surprise. Given how most of our phones already got fingerprint scanner, this strategic decision from Microsoft is just logical. The iris scanner just didn’t add enough attraction and momentum to distinct Windows phones from all its competitors. Sometime being different pay off, but not this time. The question was only when, after the fingerprint sensor was spotted on the recent HP Elite x3.

Beside fingerprint support, the Windows 10 Mobiles Anniversary update will update new features on desktops and mobile with error fixes. Hopefully it will remove Wi-fi Sense’s questionable password sharing feature. User will be able to download extensions on its Edge power and get real-time Web notifications. It is also expected to bring Windows Ink to let users with digital ink on apps like Microsoft Office, Bing Maps, Edge and even Sticky Notes.

It will worth the wait!

Finger-crossed we will start seeing more Windows 10 Mobile products with biometric function in the market soon. Not that there are many of them already, but hopefully the rumoured Surface Phone will be one of those. Truth to be told, pressing your finger on a scanner is just pure fun. And we all need that.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 is incoming. Yes, that’s right. While Redmi Note 3 has just released, and we still also have our eyes on Xiaomi flagship smartphone- the Mi Max, the Redmi Note 4 is here. It is said to come with dual rear lenses.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 with dual camera on the rear

Dual camera seems become the popular feature. Many big brands are in the race of presenting smartphones with this feature. In Korea, we have LG with its LG G5, X Cam and Optimus 3D. In China, Huawei is the leader of this field with Honor V8, P9, or Honor 6 Plus. And now, Xiaomi – one of the largest smartphone manufacturers in China – is reported to follow Huawei step.  Xiaomi’s new product – Xiaomi Redmi Note 4- is supposed have dual rear camera.

According to some rumors, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 will have 2 versions. One will be powered by a Helio X20 64-bit deca-core processor. And the other will sport a Helio P10 64-bit octa-core SoC. These two versions might have a 2GB/ 3 GB RAM and a 16GB/32GB of inbuilt storage. The Redmi Note 4 will have a 5.5-inch display with the resolution of 1080 x 1920 px (the same as Redmi note 2 and 3). It also might run on Android (5.1) MIUI 7 UI with a 47oomAh battery llife.

Sony Xperia XA Ultra is gonna be on sale in this July. This phone was not in Sony’s Xperia X lineup at the MWC 2016. However, this phone has just shown up as a member of this “family”. With the feature of 16MP front camera, this phone surely had a great greeting.

Sony Xperia XA Ultra : great selfies even in low light

At the MWC 2016, Sony presented the Xperia X series including Xperia X, Xperia X Performance, and Xperia XA. However, none of them are available yet. Sony Xperia XA Ultra has recently become the fourth smartphone in a new X series. Besides the familiar design from Sony (the design-wise), the Ultra has a really thin bezels, a curved glass display and a a screen size of a tablet – 6 inches. Despite the 6-inch and beautiful edge to edge display, the resolution is still the same like the other top-end handsets – 1080p.

The phone is powered by a MediaTek MT6755 (aka Helio P10) processor, and runs on Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow. It will sports a 3GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage. You can also expand the storage with the micro SD card up to 200GB. There will be a  a 2,700 mAh battery life with Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 3.0. With only 10 minutes, this fast charging can provide 5.5 hours of battery life. The Ultra won’t have waterproof mode nor USB-C which will be replace by a standard micro-USB port.

The highlighted feature of this phone is a 16MP front-facing camera. Sony equipped the low-light and optical image stabilization (OIS) capabilities for this front shooter. The front camera has an 88-degree wide-angle lens with an aperture of f./2.6. There’re also a flash and a hand shutter. This hand shutter will allows you to take a shot just by raising your hand. While the 21.5MP rear camera has an aperture of f./2.4, and it doesn’t have the OIS capabilities. In the exchange with, it will use hybrid autofocus and can capture shots in the blink of an eye.

Sony Xperia XA Ultra release date

The Ultra is the first smartphone which features a 16MP front camera on the X lineup. Although megapixels aren’t the only factor making a good camera, this 16MP front-facing camera is gonna be on the top list of all selfie lovers. With 3 colors  Black, White and Lime Gold, the Sony Xperia Ultra released date will be in July. And we’re expecting that the Ultra price will be about $300.