Author: chris eilers

Xiaomi Mi5 Pro and Huawei P9 (4GB RAM version) are the latest flagships of their companies, which are also two of the biggest smartphone manufacturers in China. However, if you want us to pick out the best model, it will be…

Huawei or Xiaomi?

They’re flagships of their own companies, so no doubt they are equipped with gorgeous designs and high-end hardware. In today’s comparison, we would like to skip the appearance battle and look at their excellent specifications closely. First of all, let’s see what Xiaomi Mi5 Pro specs and Huawei P9 specs have in common. They’ve got very similar Full HD displays (though, in fact the P9’s is a bit bigger than the other’s – 5.2 inches and 5.15 inches, respectively), 4GB RAM, 3,000mAh batteries, dual SIMs, fingerprint scanners, USB Type C ports, and Android 6.0 Marshmallow OS (with different UIs on top – MIUI 7.0 and Emotion UI 4.1).

As for differences, there are some major points you need to note. The P9 is powered by a HiSilicon Kirin 955 (quad-core 2.5GHz + quad-core 1.8GHz) chip, 64GB ROM (expandable up to 128GB), a dual 12MP rear camera and an 8MP front-facing snapper. Meanwhile, the Mi5 Pro packs a Snapdragon 820 (dual-core 2.15GHz + dual-core 1.6GHz) processor, 128GB ROM (non-expandable), a combo of 16MP main plus 4MP selfie shooter, and Quick Charge 3.0 (83% in 30 minutes) which can help the machine get back on track much faster than its rival.

By looking at the above features, we think Huawei P9 has more advantages than the Xiaomi’s product when it comes to chipset, ROM capacity, primary cam, and maybe selfies. Therefore, we would like to vote Huawei P9 the winner. How about you?

Huawei P9 vs Xiaomi Mi5: Price and availability

At Xiaomi Mi5 launch, the Xiaomi Mi5 Pro price was announced to be 2,699 Yuan or $415. That is actually a pretty cost for such a strong device. On the other hand, Huawei P9 price for the 4GB RAM is about $740, kind of much higher than the Mi. Well, at this point, we have to admit that Xiaomi Mi5 Pro can be better for most consumers, especially those who want a smartphone with affordable price, beautiful design and powerful hardware. What do you think?

In some previous posts, we have mentioned that more curved-display devices will be coming this year. And the Xiaomi Mi5s below can be one of them…

Xiaomi Mi5s to come with curved display, 3D Touch, dual camera and…

Many pieces of news have informed us that Samsung will no longer be the only company to produce edge smartphones in 2016. Many Chinese firms will join the race and we also expect one from Xiaomi. According to some sources, the flagship Mi5 will have a new variant called Xiaomi Mi5s. Design-wise, according to MochaRQ,  an insider, the Mi5s will probably carry a curved display, but not on both sides. It can be more like Samsung Galaxy Note edge.

Besides that, the upcoming handset has also been claimed to sport a slightly different screen size compared to the original Xiaomi Mi5, perhaps 5.5 inches. Additionally, Xiaomi Mi5s specs will include some new features such as 3D Touch, Ultrasonic Fingerprint Sensor and a dual-lens camera.Those specifications will surely bring users better experience, but we also hope to see some more advanced things like Quad HD resolution, 6GB RAM, and big battery.

So, they are the main points about Xiaomi Mi5s we’ve spotted recently. Though, the manufacturer has not confirmed anything yet. However, we assume that Xiaomi won’t miss a chance to impress people in general and their fans in particular. Do you agree?

Xiaomi Mi5s price and availability

Apart from Xiaomi Mi5s appearance and hardware, the source also gave us a hint on Xiaomi Mi5s release date. It can be some time in August, which means maybe the machine will compete directly with an Apple iPhone, or a Samsung Galaxy model (the Note), or both. In terms of Xiaomi Mi5s price, there is no word made for that, yet $400 can be an ideal tag. Do you agree?

Finally, Huawei P9 launch has happened after so many days of waiting. Its other variants were also unveiled with many interesting things. Check them out now!

Huawei P9 and P9 Plus: Beautiful and Powerful

So, the latest flagship Huawei P9 was officially introduced on April 6, but not in China. Actually, it was announced at a dedicated event in London together with the variant Huawei P9 Plus (not Huawei P9 Max we heard before). They share the same design language, only except for the size. Specifically, Huawei equips the phones with “diamond-cut edges”, curved-edge glass on the front and aerospace-class aluminum on the back. In general, both of them are stunning.

Spec-wise, Huawei P9 comes with a 5.2-inch Full HD IPS LCD screen, a 3,000mAh battery, a Kirin 955 octa-core (quad-core 2.5GHz + quad-core 1.8GHz) chipset, and two versions over RAM and ROM capacity: 3GB + 32GB (expandable) and 4GB + 64GB (expandable). And as we know, its key feature is the dual camera setup which is co-developed with German optics specialist Leica. There are two 12MP sensors on the back (“one capturing color, the other seeing only black and white”). Additionally, the P9’s secondary snapper is capable of 8 megapixels, also pretty good for selfies.

As for Huawei P9 Plus specs, there is a bigger display measuring 5.5 inches with an AMOLED panel, Full HD resolution, and Press Touch (like 3D Touch tech). Besides, the device has just one 4GB + 64GB option for consumers, a larger batt – 3,400mAh to be specific, supporting dual-IC Rapid Charge (providing 6 hours of talk time for a 10-minute charge), and stereo speakers. Apart from those major points, the rest are similar to Huawei P9 specs.

Huawei P9 and P9 Plus prices and availability

Costs are also revealed at the event. Huawei P9 price is €599 (~$683) for the 3GB RAM version and €649 (~$740) for the 4GB RAM ver, going on sale from April 16 in 29 countries in Europe and the Middle East first. Meanwhile, Huawei P9 Plus price is higher, €749 (~$855), and will hit the stores on May 20, 2016. Let’s wait and see!

Recently, the world has been stirred up a lot due to the Apple’s battle with the FBI over a federal order to unlock a mass shooter’s iPhone. Accordingly, the company refused to do so because of privacy and security issue. But, three guys in a small office in Mountain View, California, have made such a big debate kinda small…

WhatsApp came up with Encryption for a Billion People

Lately, the enigmatic founders of WhatsApp, consisting of Brian Acton and Jan Koum, together with a high-minded coder and cryptographer claimed that they added “end-to-end encryption to every form of communication on its service.” In other words, if you use the latest version of WhatsApp, no matter how many people there are and no matter what phone the app is running on, the service will protect all messages, phone calls, photos, and videos you sent or received through the app.

Furthermore, they’re sure that no WhatsApp’s employee can read the data sent through their network if the end-to-end encryption is in place, not even WhatsApp’s employees can read the data that’s sent across its network. As a result, WhatsApp would have no way to comply with the court order if they were in a case similar to the Apple’s. Though, they also have their own prob to deal with.

Like Apple, WhatsApp is delaying a discussion with the federal government about an issue related to a billion devices. Back to 2014, WhatsApp encrypted a part of their network, and since then, the service has been used for criminal actions. One of the newest cases is that “a wiretap order ran into WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption”, so the Justice Department was considering a court case against the firm, according to The New York Times. The JD raised a question: What do you do when a company creates an encryption system that makes it impossible for court-authorized search warrants to be executed? Well, we feel hard to answer it. You?

“Secrecy for a billion people” 

We can easily see that both Apple and three WhatsApp guys share the same opinion, or “Silicon Valley’s standard belief”, in online privacy. Maybe the government also needs to carefully think about something much bigger than a locked iPhone. That is “secrecy for a billion people.” (Source)

If you want to play heavy games, maybe it is time to find a handset equipped with strong hardware like the following ones. They are all powered by 4GB RAM and…

1. Vivo V3 Max

Vivo V3 Max has just been launched together with its sibling Vivo V3. However, the Max version is higher-end and totally able to run heavy game apps you want. Spec-wise, the phone sports a Snapdragon 652 (quad-core 1.8GHz + quad-core 1.4GHz) processor, a fingerprint scanner, a 5.5-inch Full HD screen, 4GB of RAM, and 32GB of ROM (expandable up to 128GB).

As for camera, the main one is capable of 13 megapixels and the selfie snapper is 8 megapixels. Under the hood, a 3,000mAh battery is in charge of fueling the whole machine. Vivo V3 Max price is 23,980 INR or $362 for those who feel like purchasing one.

The excellent budget Meizu M3 Note  has finally been launched. Check out what specifications it sports and how much it costs!

Meizu M3 Note – New competitive budget-friendly smartphone

Like what we heard before, Meizu held an unveiling event in Beijing on April 6, 2016 and the official Meizu M3 Note launch also happened there. As we know, Meizu M3 Note is the next member of the company’s M Note line-up which is well-known for containing quality budget handsets. Design-wise, we notice that the new device features a 6000 series aluminum unibody, curved sides, rear antenna lines, and a physical home button equipped with a fingerprint sensor underneath.

In general, it gives a more premium feeling than the previous machines. But what about its hardware? Don’t worry! It is strong enough to do anything you want thanks to boasting a 5.5-inch Full HD display, a MediaTek Helio P10 (quad-core 1.8GHz + quad-core 1.0GHz) chip, and two choices over RAM and ROM capacity: 2GB + 16GB and 3GB + 32GB. As for photography, you can use either its 13MP main or 5MP secondary shooter to take pictures.

In addition to Meizu M3 Note specs, there are also a dual SIM, LTE as well as VoLTE network, a spacious 4,000mAh battery, and Flyme UI based on Android 5.1 Lollipop OS on board to help run the phone. Overall, we have nothing to complain about the M3 Note’s inside and outside. So, one final issue we concern: price and availability.

Meizu M3 Note price and availability

Meizu M3 Note price is pretty attractive. It costs 799 Yuan or $125 for the 2GB RAM version and 999 Yuan or $155 for the 3GB RAM. We’re sure this Meizu’s product can compete strongly with many other mid-rangers on the shelves now. Then, let’s wait until April 11, 2016 when the M3 Note is officially available in China and perhaps in international markets soon.

Until now, there are a lot of Android phones available on the shelves. But, if you want to know which ones are truly good in terms of designs, hardware, and fame, check out the following list! 

1. Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 edge

Showing up at MWC 2016, Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 edge received much positive feedback from the crowd. Spec-wise, the Galaxy S7 owns a 5.1-inch Super AMOLED QHD screen, TouchWiz UI based on Android 6.0 Marshmallow OS, a Snapdragon 820/Exynos 8890 chip, 32/64GB ROM (+ 200GB), and 4GB RAM. In addition to Samsung Galaxy S7 specs, there are a combo of 12MP primary plus 5MP secondary shooter to take picture and a 3,000mAh battery to fuel the handset.

For Samsung Galaxy S7 edge specs, there are not many differences, but you should note that the edge version comes with a larger display measuring 5.5 inches and curved edges for sure. Besides, its batt is also bigger when capable of 3,600mAh. Other its features are the same as the Galaxy S7.

Well, we just heard about Samsung’s foldable smartphone which is a pretty impressive idea. And now, it may be Xiaomi’s turn to show you something unique as well: Xiaomi Mi Pad transformer!

Xiaomi Mi Pad transformer – From Mi Pad to Decepticon and vice versa

Back to the time when Hasbro – a global company “committed to Creating the World’s Best Play Experiences”, created the Transformers franchise, it was, and still is, so famous as well as loved by a lot of people. Maybe that has inspired Xiaomi and then they decided to work with Hasbro to produce Xiaomi Mi Pad transformer, or Mi Pad Decepticon to be more specific. On the other hand, we assume it is a special idea the firm dedicates to their consumers to celebrate its 6th birthday on April 6, 2016.

Some teasers and live pictures have also been posted on the internet, showing a “Transformers Special Edition” toy able to convert from a Xiaomi’s 9.7 tablet to a gold robot warrior. That is claimed to be a toy for now, but hopefully Xiaomi and their partner can come up with a real tablet owning such an amazing capability. What do you think?

Looking at the pics, we have a feeling that Xiaomi will totally be able to draw much attention from their fans and many others. So, the next questions are that when the toy will be available and how much it can cost. Check out the part below for more information.

Xiaomi Mi Pad transformer price and availability

At the moment, it is said that the project will be financed via crowdfunding and ship to backers on May 13, 2016. As for the price, you will just have to pay 169 Yuan or about $26 to purchase one Mi Pad Decepticon. Hope that the company will also release an Autobot model in the near future. Let’s wait and see!

(Source)

Have you ever heard about Panama Papers? We can simply understand it is “a massive document leak reveals a global web of corruption and tax avoidance.” But, in order to know what is happening more clearly, you’d better check out the super cute comic by vox.com below!

Panama Papers and the “piggy banks” story

Recently, a brilliant redditor called DanGliesack has used piggy banks to make readers understand all the main and even complicated things in Panama: “foreigners setting up Panamanian shell companies to hold financial assets that obscure the identities of their real owners.” Thinking the comparison could be turned into a comic, vox.com came up with very adorable illustrations to give us the key issue of the Panama Papers scandal. Here you go!

Imagine that you want to save quarters (coins with each worth 25 cents in the U.S.), so you put them in a piggy bank and place on your closet shelf. However, your mom checks it every day to see how much money you’ve got and take them out. You don’t like that at all and decide to get another piggy bank. Then, you have two money containers in total. To “protect” the second bank, you secretly ask Johny to help keep it at his house without anyone checking up on it.

The neighborhood kids somehow know that and think it is a great idea. As a result, they bring their piggy banks to Johnny’s to hide as well. But, unfortunately, one day, Johnny’s mom finds the piggy banks and gets so angry that she calls everyone’s parents to tell them what is happening. Well, it seems like the kids will not have a good ending.

So, in real life…

The document leak is like “Johny’s mom” informing us of lotsa “kids”, or important and powerful people, being hiding their money (“piggy banks”) in Panama (“Johnny’s house”). Of course there’s gonna be many different reasons to explain their actions. Say, maybe you just do it for your privacy. Yet, there can be someone who stole money and hid it away. Anyhow, soon we’ll know who had bad purposes. Though, those who “hid their piggy banks at Johnny’s house” will still in trouble.

(Source)

Dual SIM smartphones can do you good, but a lot of handsets equipped with dual SIMs are being out there. The question is which ones are the latest and best? Here is your answer!

1. Huawei P9

Design-wise,  Huawei P9 come with “shiny chamfered edges, a rounded rectangle for the fingerprint scanner and the beautiful engineering.” It can be somewhat similar to its predecessor Huawei P8, but still a premium good-looking handset. Spec-wise, the machine will boast many modern features such as a handy 5.1-inch Full HD IPS-NEO LCD display, a Kirin 955 processor (said to be even faster than Samsung’s Exynos 7420 chip), 3/4GB of RAM paired with 32/64GB of ROM (expandable up to 128GB).

Moreover, there are also Android 6.0 Marshmallow OS, a combo of 12MP dual rear cam setup plus 8MP front-facing snapper, a dual SIM, a 3,000mAh cell, a fingerprint scanner and a USB Type-C port on board to help power the whole machine. In general, this is an excellent device and we hope to see it on April 6!

Huawei P8 and P9 are considered as two of the best flagships of Huawei. They sport many excellent specifications, but if you want to find out how the successor Huawei P9 can be compared with its predecessor P8, check out the following battle!

Huawei P9 vs Huawei P8: Design and hardware comparison

As we know, Huawei P8 launch happened last year with a good-looking appearance. Although it is simple, stylish and straightforward, P8 still gives a premium feeling for those who hold it in their hands. As for Huawei P9 design, this time the company pays much attention to detail such as “shiny chamfered edges, a rounded rectangle for the fingerprint scanner and the beautiful engineering.” Well, we cannot tell you which one is prettier since they are all pretty. We’ll let you speak your mind.

In terms of Huawei P8 specs and Huawei P9 specs, there are some major similarities and differences you need to know. First of all, both P8 and P9 sport Full HD IPS-NEO LCD displays which have very similar size (5.2 inches and 5.1 inches, respectively), dual SIMs, and 8MP front-facing cameras. For the rest, they are quite different from each other. Specifically, the P8 is powered by a Kirin 930 or a Kirin 935 chipset, 3GB of RAM, 16/64GB of internal storage (expandable up to 128GB), Android 5.0.2 Lollipop OS (upgrade to Marshmallow soon), a 13MP rear shooter, and a 2,680mAh battery. No doubt it is strong to do any task you want, but Huawei P9 is better.

It has been claimed to boast a Kirin 955 processor, said to be even faster than Samsung’s Exynos 7420 chip. Besides, other Huawei P9 specs will probably pack 3/4GB of RAM, 32/64GB of ROM (expandable up to 128GB), Android 6.0 Marshmallow OS, a 12MP dual rear cam setup, a 3,000mAh cell, a fingerprint scanner and a USB Type-C port. These features are definitely more advanced than the P8’s. Actually, this is not strange at all because Huawei P9 comes when technology has developed so much. Do you agree?

Huawei P9 vs Huawei P8: Price and available

Since the Huawei P8 release date, it has been priced around $350, a reasonable cost in our opinion. For Huawei P9 price, the device will probably be sold at about $500, but that has not been confirmed by Huawei yet. Anyway, we guess it’s okay if the P9 is more expensive than the P8, for what it can offer us is cool, don’t you think?

Lately, Samsung Galaxy S7 has been spotted in Geekbench’s database, showing up with super powerful new chip. How does it sound? 

Samsung Galaxy S7 to sport excellent deca-core Helio X20 and X25

According to what we know about Samsung smartphones, they, especially Galaxy S and Note models, are usually equipped with the company’s Exynos or Qualcomm Snapdragon chipsets, depending on the markets Samsung supplies the phones to. So far, there has been just one exception: Samsung Galaxy S6. It only has Exynos 7420 version because at the time the S6 debuted, Snapdragon 810 was so “famous” for heating issue.

This year, the S7 has got back on track, offering consumers two options: Exynos 8890 and Snapdragon 820. However, there can be more since recently Geekbench has shown two variants of the Galaxy S7 run by MediaTek chips. They are coded the same – Samsung SM-G930W8 (with G930 for the S7 and W for Canadian vers), but powered by different processors: octa-core Exynos 8890, deca-core Helio X25 and deca-core Helio X20. Besides, you should also note that the X20 Galaxy S7 will be equipped with 3GB of RAM while the others go with 4GB of RAM.

Apart from some of the phones’ specs, Geekbench also revealed their benchmark scores to be 6,416, 6,014 và 5,943 points, respectively. We can see that the difference is not much, showing that they are all strong to give you great experience. For other Samsung Galaxy S7 specs, it is very likely they are the same as the original handset.

New Samsung Galaxy S7 smartphones’ prices and availability

As for Samsung Galaxy S7 prices, we predict they will range from $670 to $700. Though, about their availability, indeed the “W” of the SM-G930W8 hints that the above Galaxy S7 machines will be shipped in Canada. Nonetheless, the manufacturer has not confirmed if those guys only go on sale in Canada. Then, we’d better wait a bit more for an official announcement from Samsung.