Tag: apple

The new Apple iPhone 6S launch has been the hottest news during these past couple days with new features and the unchanged battery life.

With the impressive features that Apple has always come up with and also with the unchanged battery life that would last users an entire day, would there be a weak spot for this new line-up?

Surprisingly, this question was answered by Sony, who tweeted a question: “Hey Siri, what about the battery life?”and provided a link on how to switch to Sony from iOS, it seems that Sony might have just found the sore spot for the new Apple iPhone 6S line-up.  Sony claimed that their new Sony Xperia Z5 line-up provides users with 2 days worth of battery and that’s something the Iphone 6S is not capable of.

Not only Sony has been boasting about their new line-up, but also Samsung is attacking the Apple’s new product. Samsung has been tweeting about its latest Samsung Galaxy S6 line-up and how similar it is between the Apple iPhone 6S specs and the Samsung’s products. These companies have always been competing over their products every time new products release.

In general, different products and line-ups have their strong features as well as sore spots, as in the case with the Apple iPhone 6S battery life, but what are your opinions? Which phone would you prefer using? The ones with cooler features that might require more charges or the ones with less features but might last you an entire day or two? Which would be beneficial for you as a user?

At the moment, whenever there is a new smartphone released on the market, all the manufacturers mention the quick charging function they equipped their devices with. So, the question is:

Which one has the most impressive speed in the quick charging test? 

Can you guess?

According to the tech page Tom’s Guide, they has just examined some smartphones’ quick charging ability. They consist of ASUS ZenFone 2, Samsung Galaxy S6, Google Nexus 6, Motorola Droid Turbo, Apple iPhone 6, LG G4 và OnePlus 2. We can see that those are famous and amazing phones from big firms. Then, if they have good results, it will make their brand more popular and convincing. Don’t you think?

In this test, the examiners have some fixed time points which are 5 minutes, 15 minutes, and 30 minutes. Besides, they also check the charging ability when the batteries of the above machines want to reach 80% and 100%.

In case of getting 100% of batt, we’ve got results as the following: Samsung Galaxy S6 takes 1 hour and 22 minutes, LG G4 1 hour and 36 minutes, Droid Turbo 1 hour and 47 minutes, Nexus 6 1 hour and 49 minutes, ZenFone 2 1 hour and 49 minutes, OnePlus 2 2 hours and 10 minutes and finally iPhone 6 1 hour and 49 minutes. It is obvious that the Samsung’s product does the best and iPhone 6 is the worst.

For more information about this exam, you can check out the pictures below which record much detailed numbers that may get you interested.

When placing the interface of Xiaomi MIUI 6 and iOS 7 side by side, we cannot deny that Xiaomi (China) took much of ‘inspiration’ from Apple.

Chinese company Xiaomi smartphone “famous” for borrowing Apple’s design from the past. Not only the hardware, operating system, the latest version MIUI6, also mercilessly alike the iOS 7.

MIUI 6 is the mobile OS for Xiaomi Mi 4 smartphone, while the Mi4 is quite similar to the iPhone 5. This version possesses flat design, focus mostly in the simplicity and the color is also similar to iOS 7 iPhone. Indeed, when looking at the new operating system of the phone company from China, we can easily recognize it.

When placing the interface of Xiaomi MIUI 6 and iOS 7 side by side, we cannot deny that Xiaomi (China) took much of ‘inspiration’ from Apple. Here are some examples that show can give you the clearer comparision (MIUI 6 left, iOS 7 right):

Lock screen

Home screen

Calendar application

Compass application

The website introduces products

Setup and installation (iOS left)

According to the latest data from Strategy Analytics, Apple has surpassed Microsoft in mobile phones sales at the end of last quarter, and become the second largest mobile phones company in worldwide. Its sales include both of smartphones and feature phones.
According to statistical data, the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus sales rose 35% compared to Q2 2014. In the last quarter, Apple sold 47.5 million also smartphones and currently occupies 11% of the market phones globally.

Sales of mobile phones and a global market share of the companies.

Meanwhile, Samsung has become the leader with 20.5% market share, despite a reduction of 2.2% in the last quarter. That is the result of difficult business of Samsung in recent times, the two flagship Galaxy S6 and S6 edge recently launched are not attractive enough for users. However, with total sales of mobile phones is still high, so it helps Samsung maintain its first position.

Some other notable features of Strategy Analytics, Microsoft’s market share is significantly reduced. In Q2 2014, the software giant still held at second place with production line of Nokia handsets. Then in Q2 2015, Microsoft only holds 4th position.
Meanwhile, Apple climbed to second place in the list, their products are only smartphone, and without the feature form models.

Analysts forecast strong growth of smartphone and feature phone’s decline from now to 2020.

The Chinese manufacturers also has strong growth. Huawei ranked as third place with 7% of the global market. The new flagship of Huawei’s Mate 7 received a lot of positive reviews.
Xiaomi after very strong growth in the last 18 months, is now showing signs of going down again and stood at fifth rank with 4.6% market share.
Analysts also predict strong growth of smartphones from now until 2020. Then, feature phones will decline, but do not disappear. Besides, China will still be the  most powerful growth in the market.

Is it because Apple is running out of ideas for their new products in the future?

It is said that Apple will bring changes to their iPhone handset in terms of design every 2 years, and Apple iPhone 7 may not be an exception. Recently, Apple has submitted a patent application USPTO (United States Patent and Trademark Office), proposing a flexible, curved display similar to the edge on Samsung Galaxy S6 edge or S6 edge Plus just launched this month.

Those edge parts are likely to have a range of various functions, including displaying necessary information (like time, weather, etc.). Besides, they will also act as virtual buttons, allowing users to switch between different modes, adjust sound volume, and so on. Moreover, the traditional home button on Apple iPhone may even be replaced with another one on the edge.

There is one example shown to illustrate what people can do with the functions on the edges. If you are listening to music, the edge of the iPhone can display a list of songs, artists or albums, and all you have to do is to scroll through.

According to some sources, Apple will probably release up to 2 devices next year, one of which will come with the standard edges for traditional users and the other will own the curved edges like what we see on Samsung Galaxy S6 edge and S6 edge Plus. 

In conclusion, Apple still has not confirmed anything. However, if this concept is coming true, it will be a big challenge for Apple since they will have to make people “forget” Samsung edge phones whenever mentioning the curved screen. Anyhow, we should be looking forward to Apple iPhone 6S this year first. There is a long period of time before iPhone 7  gets announced. Let’s wait and see!

So, looking at the following concepts of iPhone 7, what do you think?

Have you ever wondered how long your smartphone can “survive”? I mean how many months or years do you usually use one phone for?

So, we have found an interesting report about this issue in Korea, a country where smartphone market develops very fast. We notice that most consumers there use a phone for just 1 year and 2 months and then replace it with another.

Specifically, Korea Information Society Development Institute (KISDI) has conducted a survey with 10,172 people more than 6 years old and 9,413 people (92.4%) said that they had a mobile phone. When the participants were classified in to groups by age, it was reported that Korean teens would change their phone every 10 months. That is the shortest period of time for a “smartphone‘s lifespan”. Those between the teenage age and 40s switched to a new model after 14 – 17 months. People in the 50s made it longer with 21 months, 60s and 70s bought a new one every 29 months and 34 months, respectively.

Another case is basing on the brand. Apple users replaced their old phones after 15 months, while Samsung and LG users did it after 14 months and 13 months, respectively.

Well, what do you think about the results? Somehow we think that many new handsets have been introduced these days maybe due to the large number of demands for changing phones. Yet, who knows? Maybe it is because so many good devices equipped with strong specs and beautiful designs are available now that people just cannot resist them. Anyhow, 1 year and 2 months to use a mobile seems kind of short since a typical one can last for more than 2 years.

How about you, Malaysia? How long have you been using yours and will you change it soon?

According to TrendForce, Samsung has been the number one for shipments in the Q2 of 2015 all over the world. Its market share accounts for 26.8% and the strong sales of Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 edge definitely play important roles in that success.

The second to Samsung is Apple with 16.4% market share thanks to the sales of Apple iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. The differences between 26.8% for Samsung and 16.4% for Apple is quite remarkable. Many people can say that Samsung is making better business at the moment.

As for Chinese smartphone area, Huawei is leading the game with a market share of 7.6% in total and 18.3% among Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) in China. Moreover, Huawei is anticipated to get about 100 million shipped units in 2015. On the other hand, if mentioning Chinese devices, we cannot forget Xiaomi. They also did a great job as well and even better than Lenovo in terms of Chinese OEMs and LG in terms of international companies.

Anyhow, above all the figures and ranking we have been talking about, TrendForce estimates that the shipments is likely to decrease this year in comparison with last year. One thing to explain the situation is that the demands for smartphones are weakening. Also, the global economics is not so good for the rest of the year that can partly affect lots of kinds of companies in the world.

During the recent quarter of iPhone, it may have a disappointing sales numbers. Nevertheless, the company seeks to give proof that iPhone still has powerful wave of demand to ride.

During the earnings call, the CEO of Apple Tim Cook said that the company has witnessed this quarter with a record-breaking number of Android switchers ever. This means Apple is emphasizing more people from Android are switching to Iphone than they were in the past. Apple saying about this to prove that the brand is still growing.

Perhaps, when iPhone 6 and 6 Plus were released with the larger screens than the previous iPhone’s generation, it’s likely to attract those using Android. There are some analysis sources worried that, Apple might has limit to develop since the iPhone 6 has done so well. It seems like future upgrade of iPhone and its further will still on the way the get the attraction of consumers.

Even though Tim Cook said that the rate of switchers is higher than ever, he didn’t provide the specific number. He just pointed out the various strategies and the grow of iPhone’s market share. It’s convincing first-time smarphone shoppers to choose iPhone. Besides, encouraging the recent customers to keep up with the iPhone when they upgrade.

Then, this isn’t the first time that switching from Android to the iPhone was mentioned by Apple. In the last earnings call, Cook also mentioned the term “switchers” five times.

The e-SIM cards will appear, and traditional SIM cards will  no longer exist? The two companies  Apple and Samsung are in discussion with mobile carriers with the purpose to create virtual SIM.

Then, users may no longer need to swap the SIMs to switch phones, all they have to do is just interface on the device. This will be easier for the end users. This e-SIM, unlike traditional SIM cards, will allow smartphone, tablet or smartwatch users  to switch the SIM freely between networks.

GSMA CEO, Anne Bouverot, states in the report,”We have got everyone one one point, with Apple and Samsung agreeing to be part of that specification. We have been working with them and others to create an industry solution for machines and will agree a solution for consumer electronics.”

Operators expected to give their backing to the initiative include AT&T, Deutsche Telekom, Etisalat, Hutchison Whampoa, Orange, Telefónica and Vodafone.

As we can see that this is the remarkable step of Apple and Samsung to create the dominant change  in recent technology generation. It can be seen that virtual SIM can make it easier for not need to switch SIMs and carriers. However, there is a concern whether current SIM card will fit on a specific phone and the upgrades seem to be built-in and unremovable.

It’s reported that the new SIM solution is unlikely to arrive in devices until 2016. Let’s wait what the two giant tech of Apple and Samsung brand will bring to us. Hoping this will be the promising and optimistic mark for technology users.

Apple iPhone 8 concept: A work of art in the future

Ever since Apple iPhone 6 was launched on the market, artists all over the world have started creating many gorgeous concepts for upcoming iPhone generations such as iPhone 7. However, a designer called Steel Drake from Kyrgyzstan has already taken one more step further and come up with a breathtakingly beautiful concept which he refers to iPhone 8.

Apple iPhone 8 concept: The apple of my eyes

His work of art was inspired from the current iPhone 6 with some changes and adjustments to make it even more “delicious”. Moreover, looking at the pictures, the iPhone 8 concept by Steel Drake features very meticulous curves and sophisticated triple layers of metal.

The gallery below will provide every detail and angle of the phone. Have a look and enjoy this gorgeously talented masterpiece!

Smartphones:

1. Xiaomi Mi4i + Xiaomi 10,400mAh Powerbank: RM799 -> http://ow.ly/OIuTz

Xiaomi Mi4i + Mi Band: RM799 -> http://ow.ly/OIuQe

2. Lenovo A7000 + SanDisk + Sennheiser MX80 Headphone: RM625 -> http://ow.ly/OIx07

Lenovo A7000 + Back Cover + Screen Protector: RM625 -> http://ow.ly/OIAGj

3. Xiaomi Redmi 2: RM449 -> http://ow.ly/OLXiX 

4. Apple iPhone 6 16GB (Gold): RM2,399 -> http://ow.ly/OLU0T

Apple iPhone 6 16GB (Space Grey): RM2,399 -> http://ow.ly/OLUeh

5. Samsung Galaxy S6 32GB Black Sapphire: RM1,849 -> http://ow.ly/OLUiI

Samsung Galaxy S6 32GB White Pearl: RM1,849 -> http://ow.ly/OLUoC

Samsung Galaxy S6 32GB Gold Platinum: RM1,849 -> http://ow.ly/OLUF0

9. Xiaomi Xiaoyi Yi Sport Action Cam FHD Video Recorder GoPro: RM299 -> http://ow.ly/OLUVj

10. Xiaomi Mi Pad WiFi 16GB White: RM799 -> http://ow.ly/OIuOH