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posi莽茫o do galo no campeonato brasileiroAnother attractive smartphone from OPPO, but we鈥檙e going to learn if beauty is more than skin deep.OPPO is well established in the smartphone market for making some unique, memorable and highly innovative smartphones. The brand has been responsible for the excelling Find range of flagships, the innovative N series of camera phones and more recently the 鈥楻鈥 series.The current range-topper in the OPPO R series are the R11s and R11s Plus. OPPO has been kind enough to send over the R11s for me to test and review, but before we get to that we should take a look at this beauty in the flesh.While we tend to receive either the black, white or gold versions of phones to review I鈥檓 pretty happy that OPPO decided to give me the red version of this phone. If the red isn鈥檛 to your liking then you can always choose from either champagne or black.The red version of the R11s is also the perfect variant to show off OPPO鈥檚 Starry sky screen design feature. Basically a method of blending the red colour of the body into the edges of the display itself.Of course the screen 18:9 panel just like all top of the line smartphones that are launching. For the R11s OPPO is using a 6.01 inch AMOLED panel (the larger R11s Plus has a 6.43 inch display) with a FHD+ 2160 x 1080 resolution. It鈥檚 early days yet, but so far the screen looks every bit as good as it sounds.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramDespite the large djogo online jogo online jogo online jogo onlineisplay, the overall size of the OPPO R11s has a compact size that is more like a previous generation 5.5-inch phone. The actual dimensions are 155.1 x 75.5 x 7.1mm with a weight of just 153g.OPPO uses many of the same internal hardware components across both the R11s and R11s Plus. What this means is both phones have the same 64GB internal memory, the option to use a micro SD card and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 chipset.Both phones also boast OPPO鈥檚 class-leading VOOC fast charging system, which in the case of the R11s, can give the 3205mAh battery 2 hours of talk time after only 5 minutes of charging! The charging is so fast you can actually watch the % grow!Another area the R11s shares with the R11s Plus is the camera hardware. The specifications are super impressive with the dual rear cameras module running both a 20 megapixel + 16 megapixel combo with dual F1.7 apertures, This promises fast and accurate daylight processing and stunning low-light/night shots, but we鈥檒l have to test this to see if the promise lives up to performance.IF you鈥檙e a fan of selfies then you鈥檒l love the fact that OPPO has given the R11s a 20 megapixel front camera and that the camera app has all the latest beautification features ready to go. My review R11s comes with the international version of Colour OS 3.2 meaning that it has the full suite of language options built-in plus all Google Services are installed out of the box.

Another attractive smartphone from OPPO, but we鈥檙e going to learn if beauty is more than skin deep.OPPO is well established in the smartphone market for making some unique, memorable and highly innovative smartphones. The brand has been responsible for the excelling Find range of flagships, the innovative N series of camera phones and more recently the 鈥楻鈥 series.The current range-topper in the OPPO R series are the R11s and R11s Plus. OPPO has been kind enough to send over the R11s for me to test and review, but before we get to that we should take a look at this beauty in the flesh.While we tend to receive either the black, white or gold versions of phones to review I鈥檓 pretty happy that OPPO decided to give me the red version of this phone. If the red isn鈥檛 to your liking then you can always choose from either champagne or black.The red version of the R11s is also the perfect variant to show off OPPO鈥檚 Starry sky screen design feature. Basically a method of blending the red colour of the body into the edges of the display itself.Of course the screen 18:9 panel just like all top of the line smartphones that are launching. For the R11s OPPO is using a 6.01 inch AMOLED panel (the larger R11s Plus has a 6.43 inch display) with a FHD+ 2160 x 1080 resolution. It鈥檚 early days yet, but so far the screen looks every bit as good as it sounds.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramDespite the large display, the overall size of the OPPO R11s has a compact size that is more like a previous generation 5.5-inch phone. The actual dimensions are 155.1 x 75.5 x 7.1mm with a weight of just 153g.OPPO uses many of the same internal hardware components across both the R11s and R11s Plus. What this means is both phones have the same 64GB internal memory, the option to use a micro SD card and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 chipset.Both phones also boast OPPO鈥檚 class-leading VOOC fast charging system, which in the case of the R11s, can give the 3205mAh battery 2 hours of talk time after only 5 minutes of charging! The charging is so fast you can actually watch the % grow!Another area the R11s shares with the R11s Plus is the camera hardware. The specifications are super impressive with the dual rear cameras module running both a 20 megapixel + 16 megapixel combo with dual F1.7 apertures, This promises fast and accurate daylight processing and stunning low-light/night shots, but we鈥檒l have to test this to see if the promise lives up to performance.IF you鈥檙e a fan of selfies then you鈥檒l love the fact that OPPO has given the R11s a 20 megapixel front camera and that the camera app has all the latest beautification features ready to go. My review R11s comes with the international version of Colour OS 3.2 meaning that it has the full suite of language options built-in plus all Google Services are installed out of the box.I鈥檝e never been a fanboy of any smartphone or laptop company as I review so many devices on a regular basis, but my relationship with Chuwi devices is as close as it gets. Ever since my first Chuwi device, the Chuwi Vi10, their products have been consistently good, and many of them great also.Chuwi Lapbook Air ReviewThis is without a doubt the finest laptop Chuwi has ever made, and they have created a perfectly balanced laptop that is sure to satisfy everybody looking at an Apollo Lake device. A metal chassis, abundance of ports, and a great screen is just half of what the Lapbook Air offers. However, it has a massive flaw, and that would be the price. The Lapbook Air commands a huge premium over the similarly performing Chuwi Lapbook 14.1 which admittedly doesn鈥檛 have as many accoutrements as this Air, but is good where it counts. Let鈥檚 see what Chuwi has done.Chuwi’s BestChuwi Lapbook Air SpecificationsProcessorIntel Apollo Lake N3450Display14.1″ 1920×1080 Glossy LCD DisplayRAM8GBStorage128GB SSDOperating SystemWindows 10Cameras5MP CameraBattery10,000mAhPhysical Dimensions32.92 x 22.05 x 2.05 cm, 1.74 kgBig thanks to Gearbest for providing this review unit.Chuwi Lapbook Air HardwareThis Chuwi laptop is worthy of the 鈥淎ir鈥 moniker. With a body made of handsome, aircraft grade aluminum, the Air cuts a very nice figure. The chromed, chamfered edges shimmer prettily with the matte body providing a striking contrast (you can tell I鈥檓 gushing at this point).We are given an excellent array of ports, two full size USB ports, a headphone jack (rarer and rarer nowadays), microSD card slot, and a full size HDMI port. Full size HDMI ports on these ultraportable laptops have been life savers on many occasions (on my Xiaomi Air 12) and I salute Chuwi for including one here. If I were to complain about port selection, it would be the lack of a USB-C port (or a microUSB port). I wish companies like Chuwi would not only include these ports but use USB-C for charging instead of regular DC ports.Opening up the laptop, I鈥檓 greeted by black bezels around the screen. These black bezels are not exactly large or unsightly, but they aren鈥檛 tiny either. The Chuwi Lapbook 14.1 had very thin side bezels, why couldn鈥檛 the Chuwi Lapbook Air? Nevertheless, the bezels while not huge are not as small as they could be either.The keyboard here provides adequate travel and adequate feedback when depressed, I was able to type very easily on this laptop. Its backlit as well, but the backlighting is somewhat uneven, making it look slightly cheap. However, the backlighting does come in very useful in dark situations. I do have one complaint, and that would be the pressure required to depress the power button. It鈥檚 the exact same as the other keys, meaning that you will definitely press it by mistake, putting the computer to sleep. I would have much preferred a power key that required significantly more pressure to press than this did.The trackpad here is excellent, very accurate, multi-finger gestures are nice and smooth, it looks like Chinese manufacturers are quickly catching up to their bigger competitors in terms of multi-finger gesture software. Left and right clicks require quite a bit of effort to press, thus I usually rely on a light tap to activate the capacitive click instead of a physical one.The trackpad surface is also unnaturally sticky, to the point of interfering with an otherwise normal finger slide. Wiping it down with a cloth does wear down the surface coating somewhat.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramExquisiteChuwi Lapbook Air DisplayThe 14.1鈥 IPS LCD is glossy, which makes it a pleasure to look at. Colours popped out of the screen and colour saturation was more than satisfactory also. Text looked crisp from regular laptop viewing distances and viewing angles are similarly good. Maximum brightness isn鈥檛 great though, maxing out at 250 nits, not bright enough even in shade outdoors.Chuwi Lapbook Air AudioThe speakers are decidedly the weakest part of the laptop. Audio volume is adequate but not loud, and audio quality involves fairly average treble, below average bass, and less than crystal clear differentiation. Its definitely useable in every day life to watch movies or Youtube, but your phone most likely has better speakers than this for listening to music.Chuwi Lapbook Air BatteryBattery life on the laptop is fairly characteristic for Apollo Lake laptops, the typical 10,000mAh battery can power the laptop for about 6 hours of web browsing if using Chrome and about 8 hours using Microsoft Edge. Understandably, this is at lower brightness levels, turn the brightness up or play a game and battery life will take a nosedive. While this isn鈥檛 ideal battery life, its not out of the ordinary for laptops utilizing the Apollo Lake chipset.Average battery lifeChuwi Lapbook Air Software & PerformanceWe have activated Windows 10 on the laptop and this is installed on a 128GB eMMC. eMMC drives aren鈥檛 the fastest, and this Sandisk eMMC is not the fastest eMMC drive on the market today. I did see slight lag here and there that I didn’t otherwise see on a faster eMMC, but you can still do many聽 basic things with ease, web browsing in Chrome, email, word etc. I was able to do some photo editing and basic video editing on this laptop but its not recommended as video editing is slow. Gaming performance is also typical of Apollo Lake devices, it struggled with 720p DOTA2, outputting 25-30FPS. Civilization 6 at 1080p was reduced to 10-15FPS, basically a slideshow at this point. This is definitely not a gaming laptop but you can run some older and lighter games on this laptop, Stardew Valley runs beautifully. The laptop does get quite warm during gaming and benchmarks, but the internal temperatures never got high enough to throttle the processor.Chuwi Lapbook Air ConnectivityChuwi has installed a dual band WiFi chip inside the laptop which was able to provide some very fast internet speeds, I experienced no issues with speed or range during my testing at all, standing with the best laptops in terms of connectivity. Bluetooth works well with all my devices also.Chuwi Lapbook Air VerdictUnfortunately, I still have to give this Lapbook Air a solid 鈥渄on鈥檛 buy鈥? Even though Chuwi has slam dunked this Lapbook Air, making this pretty much the best Apollo Lake laptop available on the market today, the price is still too high. Selling for a rather exorbitant $379.99 USD, this laptop is not worth the money when a no sale Chuwi Lapbook 14.1鈥 costs $250 and a Jumper EZBook 3 Pro costs $240. Sure, these two latter laptops are worse than the Chuwi Lapbook Air, but not $100 worse. However, bring that price down to $300 or even $330 and the Lapbook Air turns into a solid buy. Buy the Chuwi Lapbook AirThe Breakdown 4.3 8.6 Realmes first try at an affordable camera phone is a success. Without the 108MP camera, we have a normal, balanced mid-range smartphone. With the huge lens, Realme 8 Pro becomes an excellent tool to record your daily life, family and travels. Performace 8.6 Camera 8.6 Battery 8.6 Specifications 8.6 Design 8.6 Pros 108MP camera, 3X lossless zoom, Display, Battery, Charging, Realme UI 2.0 Cons 60Hz display, No water protection,Old SoC,No stereo speakers Realme is moving on, with their ongoing struggle to take a market piece in the mid-range section from Redmi and it looks as if they’re doing an excellent job. The subsidiary of OPPO has proven to be one of the top companies in the planet in growth rate and one of the few that were not affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Their secret? VFM devices. We have all seen this strategy before but Realme has a hidden ace on its sleeve.The company does an amazing job bringing uniquely designed smartphones and tries to localize the software to the market. The design is now the top sale point of the company and is going all through their products. Realme 8 Pro聽is this year’s sequel of a very successful line and we got the phone for a full review.As usual at the mid-range price category we expected a slight increase in specs plus the artistic note we mentioned above. The smartphone does much more since it carries an impressive 108MP camera sensor in a quad camera setup! Sadly, to keep the price at same level with last years Realme 7 Pro, 8 Pro has downgraded some of the other parts. The company advertises a lot of the phone’s camera abilities and we are curious to see if the camera spec bump is worth it.Realme 8 Pro review – Specifications Dimensions: 160.6 x 73.9 x聽8.1聽mmWeight: 176gMaterial: front – glass panel, frame – hard plastic, back panel – plastic.Display: Super AMOLED 6.4 FHD+ (1080 x 2400), 411ppi, 3% screen-to-body ratio, 20:9 ratio, DCI-P3, 1000 nits max brightness,CPU: Qualcomm SM7125 Snapdragon 720G (8 nm), Octa-core (2×2.3 GHz Kryo 465 Gold & 6×1.8 GHz Kryo 465 Silver)GPU: Adreno 618RAM+ROM: 128GB 6GB RAM, 128GB 8GB RAM, UFS 2.1, microSDXC (dedicated slot)Battery: Li-Po 4500 mAh, Fast charging 50WConnectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot, HSPA 42.2/5.76 Mbps, LTE-A2G: GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 – SIM 1 & SIM 2WCDMA: Bands 1/5/8LTE FDD: Bands 1/3/5/7/8/20/28LTE TDD: Bands 38/40/41Biometrics: Under display Fingerprint Sensor, Face UnlockMain Camera: Quad Camera, LED flash, HDR, panoramaSamsung GW1 Sensor, 108 MP, f/1.9, 26mm (wide), 1/1.52″, 0.7碌m, PDAF8 MP, f/2.3, 119藲, 16mm (ultrawide), 1/4.0″, 1.12碌m2 MP, f/2.4, (macro), 2 MP, f/2.4, (depth)Selfie Camera: 16 MP, f/2.5, (wide), 1/3.0″, 1.0碌m, HDR, panoramaVideo: 1080p@30/120fps, gyro-EISSelfie Video: 1080p@30fps, gyro-EIS螔luetooth:5.0, A2DP, LEGPS: dual-band A-GPS, GLONASS, BDSPorts: USB Type-C, 3.5mm jackSound: 24-bit/192kHz audioSensors: NFC, accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compassColors: Infinite Blue, Infinite Black, Punk Black, Illuminating YellowSoftware: Android 11, Realme UI 2.0First lookThe handset arrives inside the usual striking yellow box with a huge font announcing the model. The bottom part has the smartphones specifications, a huge sticker advertises Google compatibility ( a hint to Huaweis inability? ) and another sticker has specific smartphone and production details. The Realme 8 Pro in our hands is the 8/128 GB version at Infinite Black color. There are some interesting details in the last sticker, for example we learn that this phone was produced on 10th of March.Inside the box we can see the normal sum for most of the smartphones this price range:Realme 8 Pro smartphoneUSB-C to USB-A data transfer / charging cableSuperVOOC 65W wall chargerSIM tray ejection pinUser manual, Quick GuideSilicone soft caseA plastic screen protection film is pre-installed on the phone. The huge wall charger comes in white colour and it provides up to 65W of power, a bit more than the 50W the phone can use. The charging cable is quite chubby and works along the charger to provide the flash charge. The silicone soft case is very nice with extensions to protect the camera and the corners. The corners of the phone are not easy to place inside the case but the extra protection is worth the effort spent.Realme 8 Pro – DesignSince the days of Reame X, Realme has invested a lot of money and attention to the exterior and has managed to design some of the best looking phones in the market.The front is simple with minimal bezels in three sides and a wider chin. There is a hole on the top of the display for the selfie-cam – one of the smallest in the market. The display itself is flat and big. Over the display there’s a wide hidden horizontal line for the earphone, perfectly designed to listen to your caller without having to center a smaller earpiece to your ear. There is no second speaker in the phone or notification light as we had seen in the Realme 7 Pro. There is nothing else in the front. On the left side we can see the tray where 2 SIM cards and an SD card fit. On the right side near the top there’s a volume button and under it a smaller power/lock button. The two buttons are exceptionally made without rattling. There are no visible bands because the smartphone sides are made of plastic. The top has a noise-canceling microphone. The bottom has a 3.5mm audio jack, a second noise-canceling microphone, a USB-C port and the speaker grille. Build qualityThe back panel is amazing! The smartphone has an amazing greyish black, sandblasted texture. There is a huge logo on the right side Dare to leap in big font and capital letters and the contrast of materials has the effect to show it intensively. While the glossy area is a smutz magnet, the rest of the panel is smutz-free. The camera is on the top left with 4 lenses visible in a square pattern and under them a flash LED and the logo 108 MP quad camera.The main sensor is on the top left, not visible from the others except from close distance. My opinion is that Realme should have a different pattern where the main 108MP and the main selling point of the phone is clearly visible and the rest smaller sensors are around it. The sand-blast texture and the logo makes a very beautify device and clearly Realme is focusing on the artistic / presentation of the devices.The phone is thinner than the previous generations and feels light and compact. Remember we mentioned that the phone has backgraded the materials in order to keep its price low. The major part is the water-repellent coating. So you will not find any protection internally – you can understand this from the SIM tray, because there is no rubber seal. So guys, be carefull with water and in heavy rain.HardwareThe display originates from Realme 7 Pro. An excellent Super AMOLED panel, there was simply no reason to change it. The resolution is FHD+, it has only 60Hz refresh rate and the protection of it is unknown. Please buy a tempered glass for it as soon as possible. We can find the usual from Realme in the mid-category but the absence of 90Hz support is weird. Maybe the company was afraid that the energy consumption would not be worth it. The panel is bright, but not one of the brightest around, so if you use it externally in summers sun, you will need some shading. Colors and angles of view are very good. Generally this is a good panel for all usages. A SoC that worksSnapdragon 720G SoC has not changed from Realme 7 Pro either. Guess what. It was the SoC of Realme 6 Pro too. A three year old processor? It is not bad, but we would like something better in the area. We can also find Adreno 618 for graphics and UFS2.1 for storage. The smartphone comes with 6/128 GB and 8/128 GB variants. We really dont follow the logic for an older SoC. Is this a result of the markets abundance of microchips due to the pandemic or this is an internal recipe to keep the prices low?聽 Benchmarking shows that Realme 8 Pro is on par with other phones in the category.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramThere is no lag or heating issues but at the same price we can find more powerful phones. Clearly one has to choose between photography or gaming. In the case of the latter, it is better to look at another model from the company. 8 Pro has a single loudspeaker unlike 7 Pro – another drawback. Sound in calls and video-calls is ok but nothing to brag about. Connectivity is excellent. Full signal in call conditions. Bluetooth is ok too – I 鈥榲e used the smartphone with my wireless headphones daily without interruptions. GPS is instantaneous.In-depth detailsThere are two ways to unlock 8 Pro. Face unlock is very fast. There is no IR light for unlocking during the night, so in total darkness this method does not work. A minimal light source is enough, even the display from your notebook, to unlock the device with your face shape. Please remember that this is not the safest method to unlock your phone so it is not advised usage outside your usual premises. The other way is the in-display fingerprint reader.Be careful here, you must do a good setup else the scanner is not working properly, as it did in my case. I deleted all data and entered my fingerprints again and the result was a very accurate and extremely fast process. The in-display sensor will meet your needs in all day usage – most of us wear masks – and it is very secure. My opinion is to use it and disable Face Unlock for the reasons I explained above.SoftwareIt has passed a lot of time since I saw Realme UI聽 first edition on Realme X2 Pro and into these months, the job done on the skin is amazing. Realme UI 2.0 has not only matured but is over the latest Android 11 version thus providing an excellent experience for old and novice users.The customisation – in many ways looks like OxygenOS from the “sister” company OnePlus – it’s rich with many features, always-on display themes, skin themes, icons, dark mode tones that guarantee that you will not get bored of the phone. Android 11 gimmicks like floating windows are there along with the extra security added in this version. The launcher is good – reminds us of other good launchers like POCO launcher and the notification shade is full with options and versatility. Settings menu has a plethora of options but keeps itself minimal in view as to not tire the user. Similar to Samsungs phones there is a sidebar with custom options and shortcuts. In house applications are ok and I personally loved the Kids Mode for obvious reasons. Speed and animations are fast and in no case the phone stalled or seemed to slow down. Excellent job from Realme – a very promised product seems to rise up to the world of Android skins!Realme 8 Pro – CameraThe 108MP sensor is the main selling point of this smartphone and follows the steps of Xiaomi that did the same – she was the first also to add immersive imaging sensors to mid-rangers with Mi Note 10 Pro. Remembering the review of that pioneer and our experience of mid-range SoC trying to handle hyper-large sensors, we were curious to see if there were stuttering or heating issues. Samsung’s ISOCELL HM2 is the star of the quad camera and the object of our curiosity. HM2 uses 9-to-3 pixel binning and can do up to 3x lossless zoom. The latter works by cropping 12MP photos that the 108MP sensor produces.Camera softwareExtra software assist like: zoom clarification, astrophotography, time shift and tilt shift and a pack of portrait filters. The 12MP photos in daylight are simply amazing, proving that the large sencor recipe is excellent under all scenarios – the light absorbed by the sensor provides quality in colors and details. A detailed eye will see some noise in bright colored objects, we hope this will be fixed with a future software update.AI produced pictures look better in my opinion – a postcard look, like Huawei used to offer – so please give it a try. The 108MP shot is huge in size, takes a lot of time, details are more than you need and the result is a bit noisy.Try only the normal shot, the 108MP is for publicity reasons. Zooming is x3 and x5. X3 shots are amazing, following the normal shots in quality. We are very impressed here! X5 shots are magnified x3 optical zoom pic and not a digital one. The results were very good and we liked this technique. Night pictures are ok, better than most phones in the area and are much improved with AI on. Night mode is excellent, it takes some detail off but the result is a bright quality picture.Realme 8 Pro Sample photos A 8MP ultra wide sensor is standing next to the 108MP star of the show. The results day or night are mediocre – looks like Realme spent all of her efforts and money to the 108MP. While AI does not help at all, night mode makes ultra wide pics viewable and always use this mode for the purpose.Two other 2MP sensors exist – they were put there for the Quad-Camera logo that sells phones to people and in our opinion as with most of them in the market they should not be there at all. The first one is a macro lens with 4cm focus, the result was unsatisfactory in all shots. The other one is a depth sensor for bokeh effects. It provides some assistance to the main 108MP shooter that does all the work. Portraits are excellent but we don’t know if and how much this 2MP offers to the results. Selfies are good – the 16MP sensor and the software work together to offer bright images with very good color.聽Similar to the photography is the video. The main 108MP sensor can record up to 4K and along with the ultra wide camera, the video is assisted by EIS (Electronic stabilization). The 4K video is really really good! Zooming is possible but not without losses. EIS is added only in 1080p, there is an improvement in stability but the quality suffers a bit. Night results are the same in most ways. Realme did manage to bring a camera phone to the market, but keep in mind that it is basically a single and not a quad camera. 108MP sensor is amazing in video and photography, and the small issues found, we hope that Realme will fix and learn from them.Realme 8 – Battery Realme 8 Pro is similar to 7 Pr. The battery and its main energy drainers (display and SoC) are the same and as a result the time the smartphone is open is almost the same to the minute. With 8 hours SOT it is a phone that will need charging every second day with normal usage. With games and heavy usage you will have to charge it at the end of day. The huge 65W charger is not topping up at the smartphone, since it only provides support for 50W charge. That is another downgrade from 7 Pro. Realme 8 Pro is still ultra fast charging with 0 % to 100% in 45 minutes. A ten minute charge is enough for 30% up in capacity, an excellent number for when you are in a hurry. Basically with 30 minutes in day scenarios ( 10% to 90% ) the phone is charged saving you time and effort. Realme 8 Pro review – ConclusionRealmes first try at an affordable camera phone is a success. Without the 108MP camera, we have a normal, balanced mid-range smartphone. With the huge lens, Realme 8 Pro becomes an excellent tool to record your daily life, family and travels. In all this device is solid if you love photography and video. What if you dont love photography and video? Well the downgrade from the previous generation is obvious – SOC, charging, water protection, sound, all have suffered. We believe that this is another phone in Realmes portfolio, with the 7 Pro and 8 Pro existing together in the same market, focusing on all around usage and photography respectively.Looking outside the company, Xiaomi is the main opponent with POCO X3 Pro and F3 being in all parts better in the same price, except the quality of the 108MP camera. The final decision is yours, depending on whether you love photography, but on this price and competition it is difficult to support this device, however maybe a lesser price could help here.聽 We will wait to see what Realmes plans are for the future.Pros108MP camera3X lossless zoomDisplayBatteryChargingRealme UI 2.0The Breakdown 4.3 8.6 Realmes first try at an affordable camera phone is a success. Without the 108MP camera, we have a normal, balanced mid-range smartphone. With the huge lens, Realme 8 Pro becomes an excellent tool to record your daily life, family and travels. Performace 8.6 Camera 8.6 Battery 8.6 Specifications 8.6 Design 8.6 Pros 108MP camera, 3X lossless zoom, Display, Battery, Charging, Realme UI 2.0 Cons 60Hz display, No water protection,Old SoC,No stereo speakers Realme is moving on, with their ongoing struggle to take a market piece in the mid-range section from Redmi and it looks as if they’re doing an excellent job. The subsidiary of OPPO has proven to be one of the top companies in the planet in growth rate and one of the few that were not affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Their secret? VFM devices. We have all seen this strategy before but Realme has a hidden ace on its sleeve.The company does an amazing job bringing uniquely designed smartphones and tries to localize the software to the market. The design is now the top sale point of the company and is going all through their products. Realme 8 Pro聽is this year’s sequel of a very successful line and we got the phone for a full review.As usual at the mid-range price category we expected a slight increase in specs plus the artistic note we mentioned above. The smartphone does much more since it carries an impressive 108MP camera sensor in a quad camera setup! Sadly, to keep the price at same level with last years Realme 7 Pro, 8 Pro has downgraded some of the other parts. The company advertises a lot of the phone’s camera abilities and we are curious to see if the camera spec bump is worth it.Realme 8 Pro review – Specifications Dimensions: 160.6 x 73.9 x聽8.1聽mmWeight: 176gMaterial: front – glass panel, frame – hard plastic, back panel – plastic.Display: Super AMOLED 6.4 FHD+ (1080 x 2400), 411ppi, 3% screen-to-body ratio, 20:9 ratio, DCI-P3, 1000 nits max brightness,CPU: Qualcomm SM7125 Snapdragon 720G (8 nm), Octa-core (2×2.3 GHz Kryo 465 Gold & 6×1.8 GHz Kryo 465 Silver)GPU: Adreno 618RAM+ROM: 128GB 6GB RAM, 128GB 8GB RAM, UFS 2.1, microSDXC (dedicated slot)Battery: Li-Po 4500 mAh, Fast charging 50WConnectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot, HSPA 42.2/5.76 Mbps, LTE-A2G: GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 – SIM 1 & SIM 2WCDMA: Bands 1/5/8LTE FDD: Bands 1/3/5/7/8/20/28LTE TDD: Bands 38/40/41Biometrics: Under display Fingerprint Sensor, Face UnlockMain Camera: Quad Camera, LED flash, HDR, panoramaSamsung GW1 Sensor, 108 MP, f/1.9, 26mm (wide), 1/1.52″, 0.7碌m, PDAF8 MP, f/2.3, 119藲, 16mm (ultrawide), 1/4.0″, 1.12碌m2 MP, f/2.4, (macro), 2 MP, f/2.4, (depth)Selfie Camera: 16 MP, f/2.5, (wide), 1/3.0″, 1.0碌m, HDR, panoramaVideo: 1080p@30/120fps, gyro-EISSelfie Video: 1080p@30fps, gyro-EIS螔luetooth:5.0, A2DP, LEGPS: dual-band A-GPS, GLONASS, BDSPorts: USB Type-C, 3.5mm jackSound: 24-bit/192kHz audioSensors: NFC, accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compassColors: Infinite Blue, Infinite Black, Punk Black, Illuminating YellowSoftware: Android 11, Realme UI 2.0First lookThe handset arrives inside the usual striking yellow box with a huge font announcing the model. The bottom part has the smartphones specifications, a huge sticker advertises Google compatibility ( a hint to Huaweis inability? ) and another sticker has specific smartphone and production details. The Realme 8 Pro in our hands is the 8/128 GB version at Infinite Black color. There are some interesting details in the last sticker, for example we learn that this phone was produced on 10th of March.Inside the box we can see the normal sum for most of the smartphones this price range:Realme 8 Pro smartphoneUSB-C to USB-A data transfer / charging cableSuperVOOC 65W wall chargerSIM tray ejection pinUser manual, Quick GuideSilicone soft caseA plastic screen protection film is pre-installed on the phone. The huge wall charger comes in white colour and it provides up to 65W of power, a bit more than the 50W the phone can use. The charging cable is quite chubby and works along the charger to provide the flash charge. The silicone soft case is very nice with extensions to protect the camera and the corners. The corners of the phone are not easy to place inside the case but the extra protection is worth the effort spent.Realme 8 Pro – DesignSince the days of Reame X, Realme has invested a lot of money and attention to the exterior and has managed to design some of the best looking phones in the market.The front is simple with minimal bezels in three sides and a wider chin. There is a hole on the top of the display for the selfie-cam – one of the smallest in the market. The display itself is flat and big. Over the display there’s a wide hidden horizontal line for the earphone, perfectly designed to listen to your caller without having to center a smaller earpiece to your ear. There is no second speaker in the phone or notification light as we had seen in the Realme 7 Pro. There is nothing else in the front. On the left side we can see the tray where 2 SIM cards and an SD card fit. On the right side near the top there’s a volume button and under it a smaller power/lock button. The two buttons are exceptionally made without rattling. There are no visible bands because the smartphone sides are made of plastic. The top has a noise-canceling microphone. The bottom has a 3.5mm audio jack, a second noise-canceling microphone, a USB-C port and the speaker grille. Build qualityThe back panel is amazing! The smartphone has an amazing greyish black, sandblasted texture. There is a huge logo on the right side Dare to leap in big font and capital letters and the contrast of materials has the effect to show it intensively. While the glossy area is a smutz magnet, the rest of the panel is smutz-free. The camera is on the top left with 4 lenses visible in a square pattern and under them a flash LED and the logo 108 MP quad camera.The main sensor is on the top left, not visible from the others except from close distance. My opinion is that Realme should have a different pattern where the main 108MP and the main selling point of the phone is clearly visible and the rest smaller sensors are around it. The sand-blast texture and the logo makes a very beautify device and clearly Realme is focusing on the artistic / presentation of the devices.The phone is thinner than the previous generations and feels light and compact. Remember we mentioned that the phone has backgraded the materials in order to keep its price low. The major part is the water-repellent coating. So you will not find any protection internally – you can understand this from the SIM tray, because there is no rubber seal. So guys, be carefull with water and in heavy rain.HardwareThe display originates from Realme 7 Pro. An excellent Super AMOLED panel, there was simply no reason to change it. The resolution is FHD+, it has only 60Hz refresh rate and the protection of it is unknown. Please buy a tempered glass for it as soon as possible. We can find the usual from Realme in the mid-category but the absence of 90Hz support is weird. Maybe the company was afraid that the energy consumption would not be worth it. The panel is bright, but not one of the brightest around, so if you use it externally in summers sun, you will need some shading. Colors and angles of view are very good. Generally this is a good panel for all usages. A SoC that worksSnapdragon 720G SoC has not changed from Realme 7 Pro either. Guess what. It was the SoC of Realme 6 Pro too. A three year old processor? It is not bad, but we would like something better in the area. We can also find Adreno 618 for graphics and UFS2.1 for storage. The smartphone comes with 6/128 GB and 8/128 GB variants. We really dont follow the logic for an older SoC. Is this a result of the markets abundance of microchips due to the pandemic or this is an internal recipe to keep the prices low?聽 Benchmarking shows that Realme 8 Pro is on par with other phones in the category.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramThere is no lag or heating issues but at the same price we can find more powerful phones. Clearly one has to choose between photography or gaming. In the case of the latter, it is better to look at another model from the company. 8 Pro has a single loudspeaker unlike 7 Pro – another drawback. Sound in calls and video-calls is ok but nothing to brag about. Connectivity is excellent. Full signal in call conditions. Bluetooth is ok too – I 鈥榲e used the smartphone with my wireless headphones daily without interruptions. GPS is instantaneous.In-depth detailsThere are two ways to unlock 8 Pro. Face unlock is very fast. There is no IR light for unlocking during the night, so in total darkness this method does not work. A minimal light source is enough, even the display from your notebook, to unlock the device with your face shape. Please remember that this is not the safest method to unlock your phone so it is not advised usage outside your usual premises. The other way is the in-display fingerprint reader.Be careful here, you must do a good setup else the scanner is not working properly, as it did in my case. I deleted all data and entered my fingerprints again and the result was a very accurate and extremely fast process. The in-display sensor will meet your needs in all day usage – most of us wear masks – and it is very secure. My opinion is to use it and disable Face Unlock for the reasons I explained above.SoftwareIt has passed a lot of time since I saw Realme UI聽 first edition on Realme X2 Pro and into these months, the job done on the skin is amazing. Realme UI 2.0 has not only matured but is over the latest Android 11 version thus providing an excellent experience for old and novice users.The customisation – in many ways looks like OxygenOS from the “sister” company OnePlus – it’s rich with many features, always-on display themes, skin themes, icons, dark mode tones that guarantee that you will not get bored of the phone. Android 11 gimmicks like floating windows are there along with the extra security added in this version. The launcher is good – reminds us of other good launchers like POCO launcher and the notification shade is full with options and versatility. Settings menu has a plethora of options but keeps itself minimal in view as to not tire the user. Similar to Samsungs phones there is a sidebar with custom options and shortcuts. In house applications are ok and I personally loved the Kids Mode for obvious reasons. Speed and animations are fast and in no case the phone stalled or seemed to slow down. Excellent job from Realme – a very promised product seems to rise up to the world of Android skins!Realme 8 Pro – CameraThe 108MP sensor is the main selling point of this smartphone and follows the steps of Xiaomi that did the same – she was the first also to add immersive imaging sensors to mid-rangers with Mi Note 10 Pro. Remembering the review of that pioneer and our experience of mid-range SoC trying to handle hyper-large sensors, we were curious to see if there were stuttering or heating issues. Samsung’s ISOCELL HM2 is the star of the quad camera and the object of our curiosity. HM2 uses 9-to-3 pixel binning and can do up to 3x lossless zoom. The latter works by cropping 12MP photos that the 108MP sensor produces.Camera softwareExtra software assist like: zoom clarification, astrophotography, time shift and tilt shift and a pack of portrait filters. The 12MP photos in daylight are simply amazing, proving that the large sencor recipe is excellent under all scenarios – the light absorbed by the sensor provides quality in colors and details. A detailed eye will see some noise in bright colored objects, we hope this will be fixed with a future software update.AI produced pictures look better in my opinion – a postcard look, like Huawei used to offer – so please give it a try. The 108MP shot is huge in size, takes a lot of time, details are more than you need and the result is a bit noisy.Try only the normal shot, the 108MP is for publicity reasons. Zooming is x3 and x5. X3 shots are amazing, following the normal shots in quality. We are very impressed here! X5 shots are magnified x3 optical zoom pic and not a digital one. The results were very good and we liked this technique. Night pictures are ok, better than most phones in the area and are much improved with AI on. Night mode is excellent, it takes some detail off but the result is a bright quality picture.Realme 8 Pro Sample photos A 8MP ultra wide sensor is standing next to the 108MP star of the show. The results day or night are mediocre – looks like Realme spent all of her efforts and money to the 108MP. While AI does not help at all, night mode makes ultra wide pics viewable and always use this mode for the purpose.Two other 2MP sensors exist – they were put there for the Quad-Camera logo that sells phones to people and in our opinion as with most of them in the market they should not be there at all. The first one is a macro lens with 4cm focus, the result was unsatisfactory in all shots. The other one is a depth sensor for bokeh effects. It provides some assistance to the main 108MP shooter that does all the work. Portraits are excellent but we don’t know if and how much this 2MP offers to the results. Selfies are good – the 16MP sensor and the software work together to offer bright images with very good color.聽Similar to the photography is the video. The main 108MP sensor can record up to 4K and along with the ultra wide camera, the video is assisted by EIS (Electronic stabilization). The 4K video is really really good! Zooming is possible but not without losses. EIS is added only in 1080p, there is an improvement in stability but the quality suffers a bit. Night results are the same in most ways. Realme did manage to bring a camera phone to the market, but keep in mind that it is basically a single and not a quad camera. 108MP sensor is amazing in video and photography, and the small issues found, we hope that Realme will fix and learn from them.Realme 8 – Battery Realme 8 Pro is similar to 7 Pr. The battery and its main energy drainers (display and SoC) are the same and as a result the time the smartphone is open is almost the same to the minute. With 8 hours SOT it is a phone that will need charging every second day with normal usage. With games and heavy usage you will have to charge it at the end of day. The huge 65W charger is not topping up at the smartphone, since it only provides support for 50W charge. That is another downgrade from 7 Pro. Realme 8 Pro is still ultra fast charging with 0 % to 100% in 45 minutes. A ten minute charge is enough for 30% up in capacity, an excellent number for when you are in a hurry. Basically with 30 minutes in day scenarios ( 10% to 90% ) the phone is charged saving you time and effort. Realme 8 Pro review – ConclusionRealmes first try at an affordable camera phone is a success. Without the 108MP camera, we have a normal, balanced mid-range smartphone. With the huge lens, Realme 8 Pro becomes an excellent tool to record your daily life, family and travels. In all this device is solid if you love photography and video. What if you dont love photography and video? Well the downgrade from the previous generation is obvious – SOC, charging, water protection, sound, all have suffered. We believe that this is another phone in Realmes portfolio, with the 7 Pro and 8 Pro existing together in the same market, focusing on all around usage and photography respectively.Looking outside the company, Xiaomi is the main opponent with POCO X3 Pro and F3 being in all parts better in the same price, except the quality of the 108MP camera. The final decision is yours, depending on whether you love photography, but on this price and competition it is difficult to support this device, however maybe a lesser price could help here.聽 We will wait to see what Realmes plans are for the future.Pros108MP camera3X lossless zoomDisplayBatteryChargingRealme UI 2.0The Breakdown Oukitel WP10 is a true monster, providing 5G connectivity to your outdoor activities for as much as possible! No other rugged device performs as a media streamer and this is something that has its significance. In any case, the only negative is the weight but, still, this is what you get for a smartphone with a 8000mAh battery and full military standards protection. Durability – 95% Performance – 80% Battery life – 90% Camera – 80% Display – 81% Rugged smartphones have evolved. Every year, we see many characteristics coming from normal smartphones to this specific category. 2020 was the year marked by the arrival of 5G chipsets and – as expected, a well-known -to us China lovers- company took the brave step to include one in a rugged smartphone. This company is Oukitel, a Chinese firm that specializes in rugged smartphone sales globally. By bringing a 5G SoC to a rugged device (Oukitel WP10), the Chinese company practically opened a new category of outdoor smartphones, phones that have the ability to provide amazing speeds for streaming – hoping of course that there is support in their country.Streaming means media consumption. 5G streaming is the reason why all the 2020 phones have a huge display and a big battery. Oukitel followed the same path and the result is a phone that combines two worlds. The first is to create the strongest (most durable) possible phone for your outdoor activities. The second is a phone that uses 5G to stream music, TV series and films or allow you to play your favourite online games.Learn more about OukitelFurthermore this smartphone is modular – it has pogo pins to attach Oukitels variety of modules like some other phones we’ve seen during the past couple of years. So, jets see how WP-10 managed to carry on its special characteristics from our two week long review of the device. Oukitel WP10 – SpecificationsProtection: IP68 & IP69K & MIL-STD-810G, Waterproof & Dust-proof & ShockproofDimensions: 83.4 x 178 x 17.6 mmWeight: 380 gSoC: MediaTek Dimensity 800 (MT6873)CPU: 4x 2.0 GHz Cortex-A76, 4x 2.0 GHz Cortex-A55, Cores: 8GPU: ARM Mali-G57 MP4, Cores: 4RAM: 8 GB, 1866 MHz, LPDDR4xStorage: 128 GB, UFS 2.1Display: 6.67″ FHD+ Hole-Punch Display, IPS, 1080 x 2340 pixels, 24 bit, 386 ppBattery: 8000 mAh, Li-Polymer, 18W chargingOS: Android 10Camera:48MP Quad AI Camera Sony IMX582 Exmor RS, f/2.0, 0.80渭m, 1/2.2513MP Wide Angle CameraMP Depth,2MP Macro16MP Selfie Camera, f/2.2SIM card: Nano-SIMWiFi: a, b, g, n, n 5GHz, ac, Dual band, Wi-Fi Hotspot, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi DisplayConnectivity: Dual 5G Modes, NSA&SA, Dual SIM Cards, 2.3Gbp/s Download, 2.5Gbp/s Upload, FDD: B1/2/3/4/5/7/8/12/13/17/18/19/20/25/26/28A/28B/66, TDD: B34/B38/B39/B40/B41, 5G: N1/3/5/8/20/28/38/41/77/78/79USB: 2.0, USB Type-CBluetooth: 5.0Positioning: GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, GalileoSensors: Proximity, Light, Accelerometer, Compass,Gyroscope, Barometer, FingerprintFeatures – Polycarbonate Body Design, Loudspeaker, Computer Sync, OTA Sync, OTG Support, Host, NFC Support, Tethering, Face IDFirst unboxingOukitel’s W10 comes with a big black retail box that has an impressive hard / mat texture. Its weird how these smaller companies have superior boxes than the top companies in the industry. Perhaps this is a tactic to get more sales – and I surely like it. Opening the wide box we can see the smartphone on the left side and the extras on the right. The phone has a protective sticker that advertises the main characteristics of the smartphone – another sales tactic for shop presentation.The price for Oukitel WP10 from 29th March to 2nd April will be $374.99. You can buy it in the link below:Buy it hereThe extras include a user guide, a guarantee leaflet, a wall charger, a USB-C to USB-A cable and a USB-C to 3.5mm headphone jack adapter. Since the iPhone 12 release, with its retail box lacking a charger, many companies have decided to remove their wall chargers. We are very happy to see a 3.5mm adapter in the offer. There is no SIM pin because the SIM card is removable manually using your finger nail. From what you can understand, the package comes fully stocked, like a weapon ready to go off 馃槈 Oukitel WP10 – DesignWP10 is not a device that chooses to hide. Its a beast of a phone and has the looks to show it. The massive display has bezels from hard plastic, with the rim up a millimeter to protect the display. This is an excellent idea to protect the display panel when the phone is looking down. The top of the screen is protected by an extra plastic film – used in most of the phones these days – to protect from key scratches etc. The top of the display has a hole for the selfie camera. Over it, we find the microphone in an horizontal bar. On top there’s a yellow wide cosmetic line – a similar one exists under the display. When turning the phone sideways to play a game, they look really nice, a pleasant touch in the looks of the phone.The 4 corners of the all around metal chassis are hardened with more plastic, as to protect the smartphone from falls. The right side of the chassis has the volume buttons (having + and – symbols on), the power button ( being textured, to feel it easily in the dark) and the fingerprint sensor. In the lower part, half hidden, is the SIM card tray. You can remove it by hand and add 2 SIM cards. The left side of the Oukitel WP10 has two buttons.OUKITEL WP10 reviewThe first is a bit protruding and has the PTT engraving (push-to-talk services) typed on. The second is almost not protruding from the body, but is painted in bright orange and has the word SOS on. The top has a small hole, used for canceling external sound. A second small hole is placed in the lower part (another sound cancelling microphone), along with a wide plastic tap that hides the USB-C port. Small details like silver screws in the chassis add pleasantly to the whole “manly” design.The back part of the Oukitel WP10 is made from hardened plastic, with a lot of details adding to the rugged looks. On top there is another orange cosmetic horizontal line.聽 There is no wide line in the lower part, a plastic holder exists there as a rope / cord holder. You can tie the smartphone on your uniform or bag. You can hang the phone from your neck, but we dont advise it, because the smartphone is rather heavy and youll get tired.Camera specificsThe top left has a quad聽 camera installation, in a modern design that does not fit the phone’s whole design.聽 Surely it adds a bit of elegance, but looks rather strange at this beast of a phone. We can see the big lenses, two smaller and a LED flash. The words 48MP AI Camera advertise the camera’s abilities. The center of the panel has vertical deep lines and NFC written in the center of the. The lines remind me… of a car tire, and surely are there to increase friction in case of muddy or wet hands. The lower part has the logo of the OEM in silver, an IP-68 reminder and an area with pogo pins. On the left of them we can see a huge speaker. Minor details like orange lines and silver screws complete the design.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramThe smartphone looks good with all the minor details and the weird premium camera installation. We said the word beast in the beginning of the WP10 description and we mean it. At 178 x 83.4 x 17.6 mm it’s simply huge. The weight is almost three times heavier than my backup iPhone 7, at 380g! It is the heaviest smartphone weve reviewed by far with a battery and display found usually in small tablets. I like the phone – the handling is good but i would prefer the weight to be lesser.Oukitel WP10 – Hardware and Software聽WP10 has certificates to ensure maximum durability (IP68, IP69K, MIL-STD-810G). It packs an IPS panel with FHD+ resolution. Brightness is its main disadvantage as I had to create a shadow with my hand under mid-day bright sun in order to view the display. Colors are ok, viewing angles too – nothing out of the normal. The panel has a Corning Gorilla glass protection (unknown model). If you are the type that carries around a smartphone along with keys in the same pocket, buy an extra tempered glass.The driver behind this smartphone is the MediaTek Dimensity 800. This is a SoC designed on minimizing power consumption. You can play games and run some intensive applications, but this is not a power house. There is 8GB of RAM to help with and 128GB of storage, out of which 110GB available to the user. Performance is not great considering the SoC. I don’t have any clear results on the CPU performance because Geekbench fails to run on all Dimensity 800 chipsets to this date. I had no issues playing some non intensive games in my spare time and I saw videos etc. Based in power conservation, Dimensity 800 is a good daily driver but it is not for games or multitasking.OUKITEL WP10 reviewSound is good but not very loud. There are some distortions when in maximum volume. Calls and video calls are clear to hear. An important factor for people that spend time outside is the connectivity. Call quality is excellent and the signal is strong at all times. There is support for multiple band support around the world.GPS is perfect at all times.On the right side of the phone, is where the biometric fingerprint sensor is placed. It takes a while to set your fingerprints and it is not working as fast as i would want.聽 Face unlock works perfectly and is faster but it’s not as safe as the fingerprint sensor so use it carefully. Vibration is mediocre. The massive 8000 mAh battery is more than enough to keep the smartphone open for 3-4 days with heavy usage (maps etc). Battery is charging slowly though at 18W and needs 3 hours to return to 100%. The WP10 runs on Android 10. I was surprised when the smartphone updated with OTA to a new build, something I have never seen in another rugged phone. I always press on this. Rugged smartphone users are not second category clients and they have all rights to get the nominal of two major updates and three years of security updates.The version of Android is almost stock without any advertisements, along with a few extras, like the SOS button setup, a game mode, tools app for outdoor usage, a system manager, a child app (that is a new in the rugged phones category) along with an Easy Launcher. Navigation in the UI is fast. No issues were found. I used the smartphone with the stock Android gestures with ease.Camera featuresAs usual with rugged smartphones, photography and video are not the areas to look for. While the main quad camera looks amazing the results are not different from any smartphone in the category we reviewed during the last six months.The main sensor is Sony IMX582. It’s a 48MP sensor that can be found in Redmi Note 10 5G, Redmi K40,聽 Galaxy A51 etc. Added is a 13MP sensor for ultra wide angle shots and 2 small sensors for depth and macro shots. The main sensor has x2 optical zoom. In the display panel – inside the hole – we can find a 16-megapixel selfie camera. Main sensor can achieve good quality daily pictures, but still they could be better with some software updates. Details and colors are ok. Ultra wide camera is good and so is 2X zoom. Macro shots are nice and so is portrait mode.. Selfies are not bad either!Low light shots are ok, Night Shot saves the game with a really nice outcome considering we’re talking about a rugged phone like the Oukitel WP10. Video is good but there is no EIS or OIS, so a good result is achieved only with a tripod.This is a nice outcome for the Oukitel WP10 and I must say that adding 48MP sensors and proper software has increased the overall quality of phones in the middle price range and we are happy to see this trend coming to the outdoor smartphone category. However, if you’re in the market for some of the best camera phones around, have a look here.ConclusionOukitel WP10 is a true monster, providing 5G connectivity to your outdoor activities for as much as possible! No other rugged device performs as a media streamer and this is something that has its significance. 5G and the huge display and battery, provide the means to spend your off time enjoyably. In any case, the only negative is the weight but, still, this is what you get for a smartphone with a 8000mAh battery and full military standards protection. 

The Breakdown 4.4 8.8 The Baseus Working Station Type-C HUB offers top notch build quality, beautiful design, a plethora of ports and perhaps my favorite: 3 HDMI ports for all of you out there who want to take your PC/laptop to the next level. Quality 8.8 Performance 8.8 Value for money 8.8 Appearance 8.8 And while technology seems to be progressing, it seems that most of us are left with even fewer ports in our extra light/slim ultrabooks! Isn’t it true? Most laptops/ultrabooks now provide just 1 Thunderbolt/USB-C port for ALL our needs, aiming to reduce the thickness to a mere milimeters if that’s possible! As a result, more and more companies create their own hubs ranging from a mere dollars to several hundrend dollars depending on how deep our pocket really is. Baseus is no stranger to us – you know them as much as we do and most of you love their VFM products. The Baseus Working Station Type-C HUB is a true beast – both in size and its capabilities – and it packs 17 ports to connect our peripherals while keeping the host device charged and provides convenient connectivity for an expanded workspace.It comes Plug and play ready, so it doesnt require any software, drivers or complicated installation process. Lets take a look at how it performs.Baseus Working Station Type-C HUB – Main specsName: Baseus Working Station Three-Screen Multifunctional Type-C HUB AdapterMaterial: aluminum alloySize: 80mm*86mm*162mmInterface: Type-CPD (input) +Type-C (output) +USB2.0*2+4K HD*3+DC Power Supply*1+RJ45*1+SD+TF*1+USB 3.0*3+ Type-C+3.5mm Audio JackType-C PD input: 100W4K HD: supports 4K@30HZ HD DisplayRJ45: Gigabit network speed, wired network connection, network connection for computers, tablets and mobile phonesUSB3.0*3: high-speed read and write data of flash disk, downward compatible with USB2.0 and USB1.1USB2.0*2: high-speed read and write data of flash disk, downward compatible with USB1.1SD/TF: Maximum 2T data reading is supported (simultaneous reading not supported, card inserted first is preferentially read)3.5mm Audio jack: Supports input and outputType-C*2: Supports reading from Type-C flash disk (Type-C audio output not supported)HUB static power consumption: 2WMain package:The box packaging containing the Baseus 17-in-1 USB-C Hub is huge and nicely designed as you may agree. It comes with everything we would like in order to easily connect our laptop/Mac Mini/Ultrabook to our accessories, such as a USB-C to USB-C for connecting the hub with our notebook, along with three plug adapters for UK, EU, and US socket types respectively.Main characteristics:Features 3 HDMI 4K, Ethernet, Type-C PD, Type-C PC, DC power, SD&TF Card Reader, 3.5mm Audio, 2 Type-C ports, 3 USB3.0 and 2 USB2.0, USB-C port with power delivery to host with the equipped USB-C to USB-C cable. Portable design, Plug, and Play.Triple Display Flexibility – Triple display modes Boost your efficiency 3 times. Supports resolutions up to 4K(3840*2160)@60Hz with a single HDMI display, 4K(3840*2160)@30Hz if two HDMI displays, and 1080P if three HDMI displays are attached. Baseus dock enhanced productivity and entertainment options with high-speed connectivity and support for Ultra HD 4K displays. 醿︶儲醿OTE: For Apple computer user (MAC OSmac os), displays are Mirror mode only.醿︶儲醿table Connection & Transmission – Three 3. 0 USB ports support transmission speed rates of up to 5 Gbps, connect to your smart phone, tablet and hard drive for effortless data transfer. Two USB2.0 ports to support more stable connection with keyboard and mouse; Built in SD and TF slots for easy access to files from universal SD and Micro SD Memory Card; 1000Mbps Ethernet port (supports 10/100/1000Mbps speeds)ensures a more stable and faster network connection.Compatible with laptops and smart devices with USB C port : Google Chromebook Pixel, Google PixelBook Pen, Dell XPS13/15, G3/G5/G7, HP Pavlion x2, Lenovo, Apple MacBook, Apple MacBook Pro, Apple MacBook Air, and many other Multifunctional Type C laptops. Also compatible with the cell phone (DP Alt Mode): Samsung Galaxy Note S10/plus, S9/plus, S8/plus, and Huawei high-end series.Built-in newest VL817 master chip ensures the normal operation of 17 ports and provides over-current, over-voltage, over-temperature triple protection to ensure safety. We offer 1-Year Warranty, 45-Day money back and lifetime technical support.Please feel free to contact us.About more detail,please check with product desperation.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramBuild quality:The Baseus Working Station Type-C HUB is made from a solid piece of aluminum and can be positioned vertically on a removable stand to save space or even horizontally if you have any space to spare. The aluminum base of the hub holds it tight in place while powering other devices or offering a vast array of connectivity options. It’s quite heavy but still easy to put it inside any PC carrying bag.After almost 2 weeks of everyday use, I have to admit that it covered my needs, offering decent transfer speeds, good quality and reliability when needed.Every day performanceSo what can we find on this huge USB hub?聽On the front, starting from top to bottom, you have a SD card slot, microSD card slot, 3x USB 3.0 Type-A ports, 2x USB 3.0 Type-C ports, and a 3.5 mm audio combo jack. Be warned that only one card reader can be used at one time – but still its nice to have the ability to choose.Going to the back of the device we can also find: 聽a USB-C PD port for connecting a USB-C PD charger, a USB-C PD port for connecting to a computer, 2x USB 2.0 Type-A ports, 3x HDMI ports, a DC jack for powering the hub (it needs some juice doesn’t it?) and a Gigabit Ethernet RJ45 port. Note that the Baseus Working Station Type-C HUB supports up to 100 Watt of USB-C PD so you won’t have any problem charging fast any type of device.With this hub-giant any user can enjoy high definition display on up to 3 additional monitors (as long as your hardware can cope with them). To be more precise the device comes with normal HDMI 1080p support on all 3 ports. If you want some more, you can get 4K@60Hz output on one HDMI, and 4K@30Hz on 2 more ports with no problems. In my setup I connected it to a QHD@60Hz monitor and a FHD@60Hz monitor at the same time with no issues at all.Baseus Working Station Type-C hub – Our verdict:The Breakdown 4.4 8.8 The Baseus Working Station Type-C HUB offers top notch build quality, beautiful design, a plethora of ports and perhaps my favorite: 3 HDMI ports for all of you out there who want to take your PC/laptop to the next level. Quality 8.8 Performance 8.8 Value for money 8.8 Appearance 8.8 And while technology seems to be progressing, it seems that most of us are left with even fewer ports in our extra light/slim ultrabooks! Isn’t it true? Most laptops/ultrabooks now provide just 1 Thunderbolt/USB-C port for ALL our needs, aiming to reduce the thickness to a mere milimeters if that’s possible! As a result, more and more companies create their own hubs ranging from a mere dollars to several hundrend dollars depending on how deep our pocket really is. Baseus is no stranger to us – you know them as much as we do and most of you love their VFM products. The Baseus Working Station Type-C HUB is a true beast – both in size and its capabilities – and it packs 17 ports to connect our peripherals while keeping the host device charged and provides convenient connectivity for an expanded workspace.It comes Plug and play ready, so it doesnt require any software, drivers or complicated installation process. Lets take a look at how it performs.Baseus Working Station Type-C HUB – Main specsName: Baseus Working Station Three-Screen Multifunctional Type-C HUB AdapterMaterial: aluminum alloySize: 80mm*86mm*162mmInterface: Type-CPD (input) +Type-C (output) +USB2.0*2+4K HD*3+DC Power Supply*1+RJ45*1+SD+TF*1+USB 3.0*3+ Type-C+3.5mm Audio JackType-C PD input: 100W4K HD: supports 4K@30HZ HD DisplayRJ45: Gigabit network speed, wired network connection, network connection for computers, tablets and mobile phonesUSB3.0*3: high-speed read and write data of flash disk, downward compatible with USB2.0 and USB1.1USB2.0*2: high-speed read and write data of flash disk, downward compatible with USB1.1SD/TF: Maximum 2T data reading is supported (simultaneous reading not supported, card inserted first is preferentially read)3.5mm Audio jack: Supports input and outputType-C*2: Supports reading from Type-C flash disk (Type-C audio output not supported)HUB static power consumption: 2WMain package:The box packaging containing the Baseus 17-in-1 USB-C Hub is huge and nicely designed as you may agree. It comes with everything we would like in order to easily connect our laptop/Mac Mini/Ultrabook to our accessories, such as a USB-C to USB-C for connecting the hub with our notebook, along with three plug adapters for UK, EU, and US socket types respectively.Main characteristics:Features 3 HDMI 4K, Ethernet, Type-C PD, Type-C PC, DC power, SD&TF Card Reader, 3.5mm Audio, 2 Type-C ports, 3 USB3.0 and 2 USB2.0, USB-C port with power delivery to host with the equipped USB-C to USB-C cable. Portable design, Plug, and Play.Triple Display Flexibility – Triple display modes Boost your efficiency 3 times. Supports resolutions up to 4K(3840*2160)@60Hz with a single HDMI display, 4K(3840*2160)@30Hz if two HDMI displays, and 1080P if three HDMI displays are attached. Baseus dock enhanced productivity and entertainment options with high-speed connectivity and support for Ultra HD 4K displays. 醿︶儲醿OTE: For Apple computer user (MAC OSmac os), displays are Mirror mode only.醿︶儲醿table Connection & Transmission – Three 3. 0 USB ports support transmission speed rates of up to 5 Gbps, connect to your smart phone, tablet and hard drive for effortless data transfer. Two USB2.0 ports to support more stable connection with keyboard and mouse; Built in SD and TF slots for easy access to files from universal SD and Micro SD Memory Card; 1000Mbps Ethernet port (supports 10/100/1000Mbps speeds)ensures a more stable and faster network connection.Compatible with laptops and smart devices with USB C port : Google Chromebook Pixel, Google PixelBook Pen, Dell XPS13/15, G3/G5/G7, HP Pavlion x2, Lenovo, Apple MacBook, Apple MacBook Pro, Apple MacBook Air, and many other Multifunctional Type C laptops. Also compatible with the cell phone (DP Alt Mode): Samsung Galaxy Note S10/plus, S9/plus, S8/plus, and Huawei high-end series.Built-in newest VL817 master chip ensures the normal operation of 17 ports and provides over-current, over-voltage, over-temperature triple protection to ensure safety. We offer 1-Year Warranty, 45-Day money back and lifetime technical support.Please feel free to contact us.About more detail,please check with product desperation.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramBuild quality:The Baseus Working Station Type-C HUB is made from a solid piece of aluminum and can be positioned vertically on a removable stand to save space or even horizontally if you have any space to spare. The aluminum base of the hub holds it tight in place while powering other devices or offering a vast array of connectivity options. It’s quite heavy but still easy to put it inside any PC carrying bag.After almost 2 weeks of everyday use, I have to admit that it covered my needs, offering decent transfer speeds, good quality and reliability when needed.Every day performanceSo what can we find on this huge USB hub?聽On the front, starting from top to bottom, you have a SD card slot, microSD card slot, 3x USB 3.0 Type-A ports, 2x USB 3.0 Type-C ports, and a 3.5 mm audio combo jack. Be warned that only one card reader can be used at one time – but still its nice to have the ability to choose.Going to the back of the device we can also find: 聽a USB-C PD port for connecting a USB-C PD charger, a USB-C PD port for connecting to a computer, 2x USB 2.0 Type-A ports, 3x HDMI ports, a DC jack for powering the hub (it needs some juice doesn’t it?) and a Gigabit Ethernet RJ45 port. Note that the Baseus Working Station Type-C HUB supports up to 100 Watt of USB-C PD so you won’t have any problem charging fast any type of device.With this hub-giant any user can enjoy high definition display on up to 3 additional monitors (as long as your hardware can cope with them). To be more precise the device comes with normal HDMI 1080p support on all 3 ports. If you want some more, you can get 4K@60Hz output on one HDMI, and 4K@30Hz on 2 more ports with no problems. In my setup I connected it to a QHD@60Hz monitor and a FHD@60Hz monitor at the same time with no issues at all.Baseus Working Station Type-C hub – Our verdict:I have to be honest, I’m a guy who doesn’t use Bluetooth headsets/earbuds/headphones in his everyday life. I don’t find them to be comfortable for once, but I also tend to always bring my phone to my ear every time it rings – and perhaps that’s not the smartest thing I could do.I also hate cords and having huge headphones protruding from my head so all of the above have led me to a life of solitude – as far as 螔luetooth聽headsets/earbuds/ headphones are concerned. That’s why when I got this small beauty called聽Wavefun Micro Mini Earbud, I wasn’t THAT “hyped” to do a review –聽 I admit it. Alas I was mistaken… and that’s the reason why:Wavefun Micro Mini Earbud: basic packageWAVEFUN Micro Mini Bluetooth EarpieceMagnetic USB Charging DockWhite Color Gift BoxS/M/L Black Ear TipsEnglish User ManualIt’s really easy to activate and connect your phone to the聽Wavefun Micro Mini Earbud the first time you receive its package. Just turn it on by pressing continuously the first (protruding) button until the notification LED in the middle pulses in red-blue color – indicating that it’s waiting to pair with your smartphone. Go to the Bluetooth Settings of your device, locate the WAVEFUN Micro device and select it. That’s all, pairing complete 馃檪Wavefun Micro Mini Earbud: main featuresMINI & LIGHT WEIGHT: It’s surely one of the smallest earbuds on the market, weighing only 3,9 gr. while providing exceptional ease of use and portability. Its dimensions are聽3.5 x 2.4 x 1.1 inches making it REALLY easy to misplace or even lose it, so try to be careful where you place it when you’re not using it.聽In fact I did manage to misplace it for a couple of days, but I finally remembered that I had placed it inside my trouser’s pocket once. And thankfully my wife hadn’t put it yet in the washing machine.COMFORT & SECURE FIT IN EITHER EAR: It’s ergonomically-designed and in its basic package you will find 3 different sized ear plugs, that ensure a great snug and secure fit in your ear, no matter which one you prefer: left or right.聽It fits exceptionally in the ear. It doesn’t move at all, and you can easily use it while running, walking, cycling or whatever you do that needs excessive body movement. Trust me, as long as you choose the right ear plug, you won’t have any issue with its fit in your ear.聽Very good SOUND quality: It’s excellent for everyday phone calls, with impressive maximum volume, enabling you to use it even in crowded areas, or while you’re in a busy street, or in a room full of people talking. The caller will NOT complain about the clarity of your voice, but you won’t complain either about the volume of each phone call.聽It’s louder than other budget Bluetooth earbuds that are available in the market, providing a decent communication experience for the average user.聽Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramIf you want to listen to music on the other hand (why would anyone would use a single earbud for music?) then you won’t be impressed. It’s Bluetooth 4.1 compatible and uses a聽CSR8610 chip for audio, providing decent treble and non-existent bass obviously. Don’t get me wrong, you can enjoy your favorite songs from your phone if you want, but surely there are way better stereo headsets and headphones in the market that provide excellent music quality.聽Note also that it has voice notifications like 芦Power On/Power Off, Phone Connected, Phone Disconnected etc).You’re gonna love its MAGNETIC USB CHARGER: It’s really easy to charge it using it, just by connecting it to any available USB port: on your PC, laptop, on a power outlet with an adaptor, directly from a power bank etc.聽You only have to place the Earbud close to the hole of its charger and instantly the magnets there will attract it with significant strength, making sure it doesn’t slip. A red indicator light shines when it’s charging and it goes off when charging is complete 馃槈 It’s that simple.It takes approximately 1 hour to fully charge it, enabling you to talk for almost 5 hours straight before it needs to be recharged. Alternatively you can keep it in stand by mode for several days (80 hours or so), depending the use of course.DUAL BUTTONS, for easy Siri/Google Assistant support: Given its REALLY small size, one would think that there would be no space for extra buttons etc. Fortunately this is NOT the case here, as the聽Wavefun Micro Mini Earbud comes with two buttons: one for the typical聽answer/end and play /Pause functions and a second to reduce volume and skip songs.聽It’s also compatible with most Smartphone Assistants such as Siri (iOS), Google Assistant (Generic Android), Bixby (Samsung) etc. You can easily activate it by聽holding the main button for 2 seconds.聽Given its current price, I really cannot find something negative to tell about this gem that could possibly change the way I have been using smartphones all my life :p And that’s making me use a Bluetooth headset/Earbud during the everyday use of my smartphone.聽Just make sure you always know where you put it, and that you don’t misplace it (like I did). I know there are several other similar gadgets out there (at the same price range) but all I can say for this specific is that it SURELY is worth its money.聽

Smartisan is not an old company. Founded in May 2012, theyve released less than 10 phones to date mostly in the Chinese market. The phone in question is the Smartisan Nut Pro 2, a very promising smartphone with a promising price tag. In addition audiophiles, this is most likely the best phone loudspeaker you can buy on the market today, more details in the audio section below.Smartisan Nut Pro 2 ReviewPersonally, the Snapdragon 660 processor is the perfect mix of power and battery efficiency for me, and Ive used three of them to date, the Xiaomi Mi Note 3, the Elephone U Pro, and the Smartisan Nut Pro 2. Ive praised the Mi Note 3 as a great but overpriced device (but is frequently on sale), and its objectively the best phone out of these three. That being said, the Smartisan Nut Pro 2 comes close, very close, and heres why.Very PromisingSmartisan Nut Pro 2 SpecificationsProcessorSnapdragon 660 Octacore ProcessorDisplay5.99 2160×1080 IPS LCDRAM3/4/6GBStorage32/64/128/256GB eMMCOperating SystemAndroid 7.1 NougatCameras12MP IMX386 with OIS, 20MP FrontBattery3,500mAhPhysical Dimensions15.44 x 7.34 x 0.74 cm, 156gSmartisan Nut Pro 2 HardwareIve never been a fan of glass phones, but lately my daily drivers have all been glass, and the Smartisan Nut Pro 2 is my latest daily driver with a glass back. That being said, the phone is very well made and unbelievably light. Combine the featherweight 156g and perfect weight distribution and the Nut Pro 2 feels like slippery, light Styrofoam in your hand.This thing is solid, a metal band keeping the guts of the phone firmly in place, and dropping this on a wooden floor yielded absolutely no scratches, just my heart hitting the floor in fear. While I like the design of the phone, fairly boxy, and a dual tone black/bronze colour scheme, the boxiness does make the phone feel larger than say the curved Mi Note 3 or stunning Elephone U Pro, but it does have fairly minimal bezels.A lack of a headphone jack could be a dealbreaker for some.Insanely LightSmartisan Nut Pro 2 DisplayIm probably going to get a bunch of crap for saying this, but Ill go ahead and say it anyway. The Smartisan Nut Pro 2s LCD display is THE best LCD display Ive ever seen. The primary driver for my love of the display is the insanely high contrast, higher than any LCD display Ive ever seen (that includes the majors like Samsung, Apple, LG, Sony). In fact its good enough that moving from an AMOLED display to this LCD isnt a major transition in terms of colour saturation (I like oversaturated colours if you noticed).Max brightness tops out around 550 nits which allows for easy sunlight legibility, and touch sensitivity is excellent, easily useable with cloth gloves.I do have one complaint, and the auto brightness is very aggressive. In pretty much 98% of situations, the brightness could be lowered by a good 20% and still be more than bright enough for use. Thats a lot of battery needlessly wasted.Smartisan Nut Pro 2 AudioIll get less crap for saying this than my adulation of the display, but the speakers here are the best phone speakers Ive never heard by far.While the Galaxy S9 might have the best speakers yet in a Samsung phone, the Smartisan Nut Pro 2 still surpasses the S9 and every other phone Ive heard comfortably.Where the Nut Pro 2 excels is audio quality. No matter what kind of audio youre playing, an action movie like the Avengers, a conversation filled TV show, or any kind of music, the Smartisan has a rich, vibrant body that not only provides copious amounts of bass but is clear and undistorted at the same time. While other phones might deliver similar volumes and clarity, they lack the rich, vibrant body the Smartisan has. Even youtube videos without bass heavy tracks give comfortable amounts of low frequencies that emulate the real sound a lot better than toher devices.Where the audio diverges a little bit is the bass output. Its a lot more punchy and deep than any other smartphone Ive used (except the Razer phone), however the Smartisan outputs more of a natural, non-fatiguing bass without being muddy. Its not as deep or rich as the Google Home or Apple Homepod, but its a cell phone for crying out loud.One area where the Smartisan might not match up to the Galaxy S9 or the iPhone X would be volume, but even within this supposed downside is a ray of sunshine. Sure, the S9 or the X are louder, but at the very top end of the S9/iPhone Xs speaker volumes, you can hear the speakers are slightly unbalanced, with mids and highs slightly overpowering the bass which results in slightly harsher sound quality. The Smartisan at its maximum volume sounds just as natural as it would at low volume, no change in the balance or power of each set of frequencies.Quick edit to discuss the ZTE Axon 7, I have used it and while the ZTE is able to output much heavier bass and has incredible stereo separation compared to the Smartisan Nut Pro 2, the bass on the Axon 7 is muddier than the Smartisan and the audio output on the Axon 7 is generally less crystal clear or natural than the Smartisan, hard to believe, I know.Smartisan Nut Pro 2 BatteryIve seen slightly better battery life out of other Snapdragon 660 phones than the Smartisan Nut Pro 2, specifically the Xiaomi Mi Note 3. I can still get 10 hours of screen on time easily on the Smartisan, but the standby battery drain is higher than Ive seen on other devices and I hope Smartisan fixes it as soon as possible, because battery drain during smartphone use is actually fairly reasonable, even doing things like Youtube, gaming, or taking photos.Dont forget the auto brightness is fairly aggressive, so youre losing a good 5-10% (estimate) off the top of the battery life also.Batterys GoodSmartisan Nut Pro 2 Software & PerformanceThe phone I obtained came with a reseller custom ROM with Google Services stuffed into the ROM, resulting in frequent freezing, copious amounts of lag, and the inability to update. I had to perform a deepflash operation to get the stock ROM back onto the phone but once it was on, I was quite satisfied.The Smartisan comes with Android 7.1 Nougat with no promises from Smartisan updating to Android 8.0 Oreo.Smartisans UI is a direct skin of the skeumorphic design language of the iPhone 4 era, with the settings menu a direct copy of iOS. Whether you like it or not is personal opinion, but I suspect many people reading this would probably dislike it.Smartisan has added three major features to Android, namely Big Bang, One Touch, and Idea Pills. Big Bang is basically Google Translate baked into the phone that allows you to translate almost anything including photos, while Idea Pills is in essence a quick note taking app that allows one to quickly take text notes or voice messages to capture fleeting inspiration. There is a dedicated Idea Pills hardware button that allows one to access the function easily, and unfortunately this button cannot be remapped to something else.One Touch is the only function that I personally find the most useful and fairly innovative. Activating One Touch (by hardware combo or swiping from a phone corner) shrinks to screen down to allow for very quick and intuitive copy and pasting between apps, something I do use occasionally.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramThe Smartisan UI is very polished and fast and while I do find launching apps on this phone a smidge slower than the Mi Note 3s MIUI9, its still very well polished and bug free.Multitasking on my 6GB unit was flawless, and gaming on the phone was perfect also, the phone got warm after about 30 minutes of gaming.The fingerprint sensor is fast and very accurate even with ripped or wet fingers, and face unlock is slightly slower than other phones but is good enough to use on a daily basis, even at night with minimal lighting.Smartisan Nut Pro 2 ConnectivityThe Smartisan Nut Pro 2 supports a rather unorthodox assortment of LTE bands, namely 1,2,3,4,5,7,8.Users in Canada will be pleased as the Nut Pro 2 is fully supported on Rogers, Bell and any subsidiaries that use these two networks, but Telus users will have to pass.Its a little more complicated in the USA, but suffice it to say that you will get 3G connecitivity on all the carriers (that are not CDMA) but 4G doesnt work on all of them.Sprint is completely incompatible with the Smartisan while AT&T and Verizon do use bands 2,4,5, however these 3 bands are not the carriers main bands and thus you wont get 4G connectivity in large swathes of the states. Buy the Smartisan Nut Pro 2The only carrier which is compatible with the Smartisan is T-Mobile. T-Mo uses band 4 and 12 as their main network bands with band 4 being more widespread than band 12. This means that the Smartisan will work on T-Mobile in certain cities.This phone will also work for any European users, but in a rather unconventional move this phone does not support LTE Band 20, just bands 3 and 7. It will still work, but do be careful.WiFi reception, Bluetooth reception, and GPS performance are all excellent. The 256GB version of this phone supports NFC while the phones with smaller storage capacities don’t. I installed Android Pay on this phone to check if it worked, and it looks like it does.Smartisan Nut Pro 2 CameraThe Smartisan Nut Pro 2 utilizes the IMX386 sensor with OIS (Optical Image Stabilization) which results in very good photos in daylight. Detail in these photos is excellent, and in all actuality I believe the sharpening algorithm used by Smartisan is slightly better than Xiaomis Mi Note 3, zooming into each photo as far as you can yields fairly aliased edges, something that the Mi Note 3 cant quite match.However, where the Smartisan does fall behind is colour reproduction. While the colours in photos are generally pretty accurate, they arent as pretty or deeply saturated the same way the Mi Note 3 does. Colours do look a little drab unless youre taking a photo of something exceptionally colourful. This seems to me to be a software decision as opposed to a lack of optimization, as the colours are generally fairly true to life without being oversaturated.HDR mode works very well in high dynamic range environments but washes the photos out in photos where HDR is not needed.The bokeh mode here is quite stellar. While there is no option to adjust bokeh while youre taking the photo, you can adjust it after the fact which in my opinion is a better option. The foreground/background separation is quite good and the edges are fairly separated, however the camera does make mistakes sometimes and will occasionally put a small part of the foreground into the background.Low light performance is decent also as the OIS helps keep the phone steady to avoid introducing blur into the photo and to keep the shutter open longer. While you do get some noise and grain in each low light photo, its not a horrible amount.The front facing camera is surprisingly good quality. With a high 20MP count, photos taken with this front camera are actually a lot better than rear cameras on many phones below $150. Great detail, decent colour reproduction, and fairly good dynamic range. It is capable of taking decent 1080p video as well.The rear facing camera is capable of filming 4K video at a 4:3 aspect ratio without stabilization, and a cropped 16:9 aspect ratio with stabilization on.The stabilization on the phone is unreal. Filming my dog while walking produced a video that looked like it was filmed using a gimbal, and even a full tilt sprint yielded very useable footage. The video is cropped somewhat (by 10-15%) so you do lose out on some pixels with stabilization on, and for the vast majority of people, its worth it.The video quality is very sharp brimming with detail as long as there is not a lot of movement in the video. Once you do introduce movement, you get a lot of ugly artifacting which looks to me to be a software issue and the 4K video looks a lot more like noisy 1080p.Smartisan Nut Pro 2 Camera Gallery Smartisan Nut Pro 2 VerdictThe Nut Pro 2 is a stellar phone by almost all measures of the word. It hits all the important checkboxes, a well built body, incredible display and speakers, good battery life and performance, and a great camera. However, there are a couple of items that could be dealbreakers depending on your preferences.First of all, its glass, and glass phone haters need not apply (ironically its my daily driver). The software is a direct copy of 2014 iOS and is locked down in strange places, and finally the video camera starts artifacting if too much motion is introduced.While these issues can be deal breakers, they are a small price to pay for such a great device. I recommend purchasing the 32/64GB version of this phone as that seems to be the best bang for your buck, starting at just $315USD at various retailers, youre not going to find a much better phone than this. Buy the Smartisan Nut Pro 2Smartisan is not an old company. Founded in May 2012, theyve released less than 10 phones to date mostly in the Chinese market. The phone in question is the Smartisan Nut Pro 2, a very promising smartphone with a promising price tag. In addition audiophiles, this is most likely the best phone loudspeaker you can buy on the market today, more details in the audio section below.Smartisan Nut Pro 2 ReviewPersonally, the Snapdragon 660 processor is the perfect mix of power and battery efficiency for me, and Ive used three of them to date, the Xiaomi Mi Note 3, the Elephone U Pro, and the Smartisan Nut Pro 2. Ive praised the Mi Note 3 as a great but overpriced device (but is frequently on sale), and its objectively the best phone out of these three. That being said, the Smartisan Nut Pro 2 comes close, very close, and heres why.Very PromisingSmartisan Nut Pro 2 SpecificationsProcessorSnapdragon 660 Octacore ProcessorDisplay5.99 2160×1080 IPS LCDRAM3/4/6GBStorage32/64/128/256GB eMMCOperating SystemAndroid 7.1 NougatCameras12MP IMX386 with OIS, 20MP FrontBattery3,500mAhPhysical Dimensions15.44 x 7.34 x 0.74 cm, 156gSmartisan Nut Pro 2 HardwareIve never been a fan of glass phones, but lately my daily drivers have all been glass, and the Smartisan Nut Pro 2 is my latest daily driver with a glass back. That being said, the phone is very well made and unbelievably light. Combine the featherweight 156g and perfect weight distribution and the Nut Pro 2 feels like slippery, light Styrofoam in your hand.This thing is solid, a metal band keeping the guts of the phone firmly in place, and dropping this on a wooden floor yielded absolutely no scratches, just my heart hitting the floor in fear. While I like the design of the phone, fairly boxy, and a dual tone black/bronze colour scheme, the boxiness does make the phone feel larger than say the curved Mi Note 3 or stunning Elephone U Pro, but it does have fairly minimal bezels.A lack of a headphone jack could be a dealbreaker for some.Insanely LightSmartisan Nut Pro 2 DisplayIm probably going to get a bunch of crap for saying this, but Ill go ahead and say it anyway. The Smartisan Nut Pro 2s LCD display is THE best LCD display Ive ever seen. The primary driver for my love of the display is the insanely high contrast, higher than any LCD display Ive ever seen (that includes the majors like Samsung, Apple, LG, Sony). In fact its good enough that moving from an AMOLED display to this LCD isnt a major transition in terms of colour saturation (I like oversaturated colours if you noticed).Max brightness tops out around 550 nits which allows for easy sunlight legibility, and touch sensitivity is excellent, easily useable with cloth gloves.I do have one complaint, and the auto brightness is very aggressive. In pretty much 98% of situations, the brightness could be lowered by a good 20% and still be more than bright enough for use. Thats a lot of battery needlessly wasted.Smartisan Nut Pro 2 AudioIll get less crap for saying this than my adulation of the display, but the speakers here are the best phone speakers Ive never heard by far.While the Galaxy S9 might have the best speakers yet in a Samsung phone, the Smartisan Nut Pro 2 still surpasses the S9 and every other phone Ive heard comfortably.Where the Nut Pro 2 excels is audio quality. No matter what kind of audio youre playing, an action movie like the Avengers, a conversation filled TV show, or any kind of music, the Smartisan has a rich, vibrant body that not only provides copious amounts of bass but is clear and undistorted at the same time. While other phones might deliver similar volumes and clarity, they lack the rich, vibrant body the Smartisan has. Even youtube videos without bass heavy tracks give comfortable amounts of low frequencies that emulate the real sound a lot better than toher devices.Where the audio diverges a little bit is the bass output. Its a lot more punchy and deep than any other smartphone Ive used (except the Razer phone), however the Smartisan outputs more of a natural, non-fatiguing bass without being muddy. Its not as deep or rich as the Google Home or Apple Homepod, but its a cell phone for crying out loud.One area where the Smartisan might not match up to the Galaxy S9 or the iPhone X would be volume, but even within this supposed downside is a ray of sunshine. Sure, the S9 or the X are louder, but at the very top end of the S9/iPhone Xs speaker volumes, you can hear the speakers are slightly unbalanced, with mids and highs slightly overpowering the bass which results in slightly harsher sound quality. The Smartisan at its maximum volume sounds just as natural as it would at low volume, no change in the balance or power of each set of frequencies.Quick edit to discuss the ZTE Axon 7, I have used it and while the ZTE is able to output much heavier bass and has incredible stereo separation compared to the Smartisan Nut Pro 2, the bass on the Axon 7 is muddier than the Smartisan and the audio output on the Axon 7 is generally less crystal clear or natural than the Smartisan, hard to believe, I know.Smartisan Nut Pro 2 BatteryIve seen slightly better battery life out of other Snapdragon 660 phones than the Smartisan Nut Pro 2, specifically the Xiaomi Mi Note 3. I can still get 10 hours of screen on time easily on the Smartisan, but the standby battery drain is higher than Ive seen on other devices and I hope Smartisan fixes it as soon as possible, because battery drain during smartphone use is actually fairly reasonable, even doing things like Youtube, gaming, or taking photos.Dont forget the auto brightness is fairly aggressive, so youre losing a good 5-10% (estimate) off the top of the battery life also.Batterys GoodSmartisan Nut Pro 2 Software & PerformanceThe phone I obtained came with a reseller custom ROM with Google Services stuffed into the ROM, resulting in frequent freezing, copious amounts of lag, and the inability to update. I had to perform a deepflash operation to get the stock ROM back onto the phone but once it was on, I was quite satisfied.The Smartisan comes with Android 7.1 Nougat with no promises from Smartisan updating to Android 8.0 Oreo.Smartisans UI is a direct skin of the skeumorphic design language of the iPhone 4 era, with the settings menu a direct copy of iOS. Whether you like it or not is personal opinion, but I suspect many people reading this would probably dislike it.Smartisan has added three major features to Android, namely Big Bang, One Touch, and Idea Pills. Big Bang is basically Google Translate baked into the phone that allows you to translate almost anything including photos, while Idea Pills is in essence a quick note taking app that allows one to quickly take text notes or voice messages to capture fleeting inspiration. There is a dedicated Idea Pills hardware button that allows one to access the function easily, and unfortunately this button cannot be remapped to something else.One Touch is the only function that I personally find the most useful and fairly innovative. Activating One Touch (by hardware combo or swiping from a phone corner) shrinks to screen down to allow for very quick and intuitive copy and pasting between apps, something I do use occasionally.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramThe Smartisan UI is very polished and fast and while I do find launching apps on this phone a smidge slower than the Mi Note 3s MIUI9, its still very well polished and bug free.Multitasking on my 6GB unit was flawless, and gaming on the phone was perfect also, the phone got warm after about 30 minutes of gaming.The fingerprint sensor is fast and very accurate even with ripped or wet fingers, and face unlock is slightly slower than other phones but is good enough to use on a daily basis, even at night with minimal lighting.Smartisan Nut Pro 2 ConnectivityThe Smartisan Nut Pro 2 supports a rather unorthodox assortment of LTE bands, namely 1,2,3,4,5,7,8.Users in Canada will be pleased as the Nut Pro 2 is fully supported on Rogers, Bell and any subsidiaries that use these two networks, but Telus users will have to pass.Its a little more complicated in the USA, but suffice it to say that you will get 3G connecitivity on all the carriers (that are not CDMA) but 4G doesnt work on all of them.Sprint is completely incompatible with the Smartisan while AT&T and Verizon do use bands 2,4,5, however these 3 bands are not the carriers main bands and thus you wont get 4G connectivity in large swathes of the states. Buy the Smartisan Nut Pro 2The only carrier which is compatible with the Smartisan is T-Mobile. T-Mo uses band 4 and 12 as their main network bands with band 4 being more widespread than band 12. This means that the Smartisan will work on T-Mobile in certain cities.This phone will also work for any European users, but in a rather unconventional move this phone does not support LTE Band 20, just bands 3 and 7. It will still work, but do be careful.WiFi reception, Bluetooth reception, and GPS performance are all excellent. The 256GB version of this phone supports NFC while the phones with smaller storage capacities don’t. I installed Android Pay on this phone to check if it worked, and it looks like it does.Smartisan Nut Pro 2 CameraThe Smartisan Nut Pro 2 utilizes the IMX386 sensor with OIS (Optical Image Stabilization) which results in very good photos in daylight. Detail in these photos is excellent, and in all actuality I believe the sharpening algorithm used by Smartisan is slightly better than Xiaomis Mi Note 3, zooming into each photo as far as you can yields fairly aliased edges, something that the Mi Note 3 cant quite match.However, where the Smartisan does fall behind is colour reproduction. While the colours in photos are generally pretty accurate, they arent as pretty or deeply saturated the same way the Mi Note 3 does. Colours do look a little drab unless youre taking a photo of something exceptionally colourful. This seems to me to be a software decision as opposed to a lack of optimization, as the colours are generally fairly true to life without being oversaturated.HDR mode works very well in high dynamic range environments but washes the photos out in photos where HDR is not needed.The bokeh mode here is quite stellar. While there is no option to adjust bokeh while youre taking the photo, you can adjust it after the fact which in my opinion is a better option. The foreground/background separation is quite good and the edges are fairly separated, however the camera does make mistakes sometimes and will occasionally put a small part of the foreground into the background.Low light performance is decent also as the OIS helps keep the phone steady to avoid introducing blur into the photo and to keep the shutter open longer. While you do get some noise and grain in each low light photo, its not a horrible amount.The front facing camera is surprisingly good quality. With a high 20MP count, photos taken with this front camera are actually a lot better than rear cameras on many phones below $150. Great detail, decent colour reproduction, and fairly good dynamic range. It is capable of taking decent 1080p video as well.The rear facing camera is capable of filming 4K video at a 4:3 aspect ratio without stabilization, and a cropped 16:9 aspect ratio with stabilization on.The stabilization on the phone is unreal. Filming my dog while walking produced a video that looked like it was filmed using a gimbal, and even a full tilt sprint yielded very useable footage. The video is cropped somewhat (by 10-15%) so you do lose out on some pixels with stabilization on, and for the vast majority of people, its worth it.The video quality is very sharp brimming with detail as long as there is not a lot of movement in the video. Once you do introduce movement, you get a lot of ugly artifacting which looks to me to be a software issue and the 4K video looks a lot more like noisy 1080p.Smartisan Nut Pro 2 Camera Gallery Smartisan Nut Pro 2 VerdictThe Nut Pro 2 is a stellar phone by almost all measures of the word. It hits all the important checkboxes, a well built body, incredible display and speakers, good battery life and performance, and a great camera. However, there are a couple of items that could be dealbreakers depending on your preferences.First of all, its glass, and glass phone haters need not apply (ironically its my daily driver). The software is a direct copy of 2014 iOS and is locked down in strange places, and finally the video camera starts artifacting if too much motion is introduced.While these issues can be deal breakers, they are a small price to pay for such a great device. I recommend purchasing the 32/64GB version of this phone as that seems to be the best bang for your buck, starting at just $315USD at various retailers, youre not going to find a much better phone than this. Buy the Smartisan Nut Pro 2This is one of those reviews where you read how bad of a trainwreck it is, and after you read it, let me know if this changes your perspective on Chuwi.Chuwi Hi9 ReviewI was honestly pretty excited for the Chuwi Hi9 as I was looking for a great 8.4 tablet for media consumption as my Xiaomi 3:2 Mipad 3 was getting on my nerves in certain situations.However, a major issue coupled with a myriad other smaller problems prevent this from being a seller even on firesale.WreckedChuwi Hi9 SpecificationsProcessorMTK8173 Octacore ProcessorDisplay8.4 2560×1600 IPS LCDRAM4GBStorage64GB eMMCOperating SystemAndroid 6.0 MarshmallowCameras8MP Camera, 2MP FrontBattery5,000mAhPhysical Dimensions21.60 x 12.80 x 0.70 cm, 373gChuwi Hi9 HardwareThe build quality was promising. It was made of matte plastic which is one of my favourite materials for use in a tablet or phone. It has that nice rubbery feeling that is pleasing to touch and unfortunately picks up fingerprints also. However, this thing creaks louder than an old man with arthritis. Grab both ends of the tablet and twist it lightly and it creaks to no end. It feels very cheaply made and unfortunately is cheaply made also.Promotional pictures suggested a tablet with minimal bezels, but they are far from that. While the bezels are not hideously massive, they are quite different from what the promo pictures suggested, with fairly sizeable side bezels and a large and bottom bezel. This is definitely not a beautiful device.There is a microUSB slot and a microSD card slot included up top also.Creaks like an old manChuwi Hi9 DisplayThe display is pretty much the only good part of this device, a pretty good quality LCD display with a high resolution of 2560×1600. I have to say that the display looks very good, reading comics and watching content is an absolute pleasure. With the 16:10 aspect ratio, letterboxing is minimal on TV shows and less severe on movies. In my opinion, 16:10 is the best aspect ratio for reading manga/comics as well. Maximum brightness tops out around 400 nits, not bad, and can be used barely in sunlight. However, this is where we encounter the first major problem, the touch sensitivity is very bad. Ive reviewed many tablets and the sensitivity is one of the worse ones around, dragging your finger across the screen without enough force will cause the screen to stop registering your finger, and it honestly hampers the overall experience quite a bit. My feeling is that Chuwi tried cutting costs by using a smaller touch module than was required, causing sensitivity to be rather bad.Chuwi Hi9 AudioAudio quality is barely average, quality is generally very hollow and tinny with a lack of bass. In addition, you do get distortion at max volume which is a bit disappointing.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramChuwi Hi9 BatteryThe 5000mAh battery gives an average of about 5 hours of screen on time which is nowhere near enough for any serious tablet user. The culprit here would be twofold, the Mediatek CPU not being power efficient and a lack of power optimization, which means that the battery is not utilized to its full capacity.Batterys no goodChuwi Hi9 Software & PerformanceApart from the poor touch performance, the software on the Hi9 doesnt fare well either. We see here Android 7.1 Nougat and slightly laggy performance most likely due to the high resolution of 2560×1600. Swiping between home screens and accessing the notifications tray has some slight lag that isnt present in other tablets like the Mi Pad 3, however launching apps is fairly fast and multitasking isnt a problem either.Playing intense games at smooth framerates was difficult due to the high resolution, however less intense games ran quite well. The tablet did get fairly warm during gaming but never got burning hot.Chuwi Hi9 ConnectivityThe WiFi performance is a dealbreaker here. WiFi speeds top out around 10 feet (3m) away from the router, but any farther than that (5-10m) and WiFi speeds drop by at least half and latency (ping) shoots through the roof. Once you move closer to the 12m range (or add walls inbetween) and WiFi just stops working. Its quite ridiculous how bad the WiFi reception is on the Chuwi Hi9, and it doesnt look like software updates are going to do anything. Both cameras are fairly low quality that is to be expected from tablets in general.Chuwi Hi9 VerdictThe Chuwi Hi9 is promising on paper only as Chuwis execution is rather poor. Dismal WiFi reception coupled with lacking touch sensitivity makes this a solid dont buy for anyone looking for a tablet.While the display is fairly nice, other minor problems like creaky build quality and subpar battery life hamper the already crippled tablet to the point of no return. Hopefully Chuwi pulls its pants up for the next tablet, the Chuwi Hi9 Air. Buy the Chuwi Hi9This is one of those reviews where you read how bad of a trainwreck it is, and after you read it, let me know if this changes your perspective on Chuwi.Chuwi Hi9 ReviewI was honestly pretty excited for the Chuwi Hi9 as I was looking for a great 8.4 tablet for media consumption as my Xiaomi 3:2 Mipad 3 was getting on my nerves in certain situations.However, a major issue coupled with a myriad other smaller problems prevent this from being a seller even on firesale.WreckedChuwi Hi9 SpecificationsProcessorMTK8173 Octacore ProcessorDisplay8.4 2560×1600 IPS LCDRAM4GBStorage64GB eMMCOperating SystemAndroid 6.0 MarshmallowCameras8MP Camera, 2MP FrontBattery5,000mAhPhysical Dimensions21.60 x 12.80 x 0.70 cm, 373gChuwi Hi9 HardwareThe build quality was promising. It was made of matte plastic which is one of my favourite materials for use in a tablet or phone. It has that nice rubbery feeling that is pleasing to touch and unfortunately picks up fingerprints also. However, this thing creaks louder than an old man with arthritis. Grab both ends of the tablet and twist it lightly and it creaks to no end. It feels very cheaply made and unfortunately is cheaply made also.Promotional pictures suggested a tablet with minimal bezels, but they are far from that. While the bezels are not hideously massive, they are quite different from what the promo pictures suggested, with fairly sizeable side bezels and a large and bottom bezel. This is definitely not a beautiful device.There is a microUSB slot and a microSD card slot included up top also.Creaks like an old manChuwi Hi9 DisplayThe display is pretty much the only good part of this device, a pretty good quality LCD display with a high resolution of 2560×1600. I have to say that the display looks very good, reading comics and watching content is an absolute pleasure. With the 16:10 aspect ratio, letterboxing is minimal on TV shows and less severe on movies. In my opinion, 16:10 is the best aspect ratio for reading manga/comics as well. Maximum brightness tops out around 400 nits, not bad, and can be used barely in sunlight. However, this is where we encounter the first major problem, the touch sensitivity is very bad. Ive reviewed many tablets and the sensitivity is one of the worse ones around, dragging your finger across the screen without enough force will cause the screen to stop registering your finger, and it honestly hampers the overall experience quite a bit. My feeling is that Chuwi tried cutting costs by using a smaller touch module than was required, causing sensitivity to be rather bad.Chuwi Hi9 AudioAudio quality is barely average, quality is generally very hollow and tinny with a lack of bass. In addition, you do get distortion at max volume which is a bit disappointing.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramChuwi Hi9 BatteryThe 5000mAh battery gives an average of about 5 hours of screen on time which is nowhere near enough for any serious tablet user. The culprit here would be twofold, the Mediatek CPU not being power efficient and a lack of power optimization, which means that the battery is not utilized to its full capacity.Batterys no goodChuwi Hi9 Software & PerformanceApart from the poor touch performance, the software on the Hi9 doesnt fare well either. We see here Android 7.1 Nougat and slightly laggy performance most likely due to the high resolution of 2560×1600. Swiping between home screens and accessing the notifications tray has some slight lag that isnt present in other tablets like the Mi Pad 3, however launching apps is fairly fast and multitasking isnt a problem either.Playing intense games at smooth framerates was difficult due to the high resolution, however less intense games ran quite well. The tablet did get fairly warm during gaming but never got burning hot.Chuwi Hi9 ConnectivityThe WiFi performance is a dealbreaker here. WiFi speeds top out around 10 feet (3m) away from the router, but any farther than that (5-10m) and WiFi speeds drop by at least half and latency (ping) shoots through the roof. Once you move closer to the 12m range (or add walls inbetween) and WiFi just stops working. Its quite ridiculous how bad the WiFi reception is on the Chuwi Hi9, and it doesnt look like software updates are going to do anything. Both cameras are fairly low quality that is to be expected from tablets in general.Chuwi Hi9 VerdictThe Chuwi Hi9 is promising on paper only as Chuwis execution is rather poor. Dismal WiFi reception coupled with lacking touch sensitivity makes this a solid dont buy for anyone looking for a tablet.While the display is fairly nice, other minor problems like creaky build quality and subpar battery life hamper the already crippled tablet to the point of no return. Hopefully Chuwi pulls its pants up for the next tablet, the Chuwi Hi9 Air. Buy the Chuwi Hi9

Oukitel is one of many China-based smartphone OEMs and during the past few years has managed to launch some really interesting devices that boast impressive standby times and all-in-all decent聽performance. However this time, they decided to go with the “notch” flow and managed to be one of the first Android OEM’s that designed their own version of an iPhone – X clone, called Oukitel U18.The device is surely something you won’t forget about the first time you see its display, when this impressive notch pops out from the top of the panel. It’s the first of its kind in the U Series and quite possibly one of the most interesting iPhone X clones out there.Our little friend here packs a聽4,000mAh battery inside, providing impressive stand by/talk time results that you will surely enjoy, but it’s still low priced (just $159) and has decent everyday performance, with no problems or mishaps.Let’s have a closer look on what this affordable device can do, OK?Solid Build and the notch stands outOukitel U18 review – Technical specsThe Oukitel U18 packs聽a 5,85-inch 720p (1512 x 720) display which is extremely tough (up to 9H hardness), being able to withstand more than 800MPa of stress value. It’s equipped with Mediatek’s聽MT6750T SoC, paired with a Mali-T860 MP2 GPU, 4GB of RAM as well as 64GB of internal storage (it’s NOT expandable unfortunately) for apps, games, and media. On its back we can find a dual camera setup with a 13-megapixel snapper (16-megapixel interpolated) +5MP secondary lens, along with a LED flash next to it. There’s also an 8-megapixel shooter (for… typical selfie shots I am afraid) available up front.This is one of the first iPhone X clones as we foretold you, and it runs on Android 7.0 Nougat – with no way of knowing yet if it will get some Oreo upgrades. It’s not stock Android, no, but it’s really close to pure Android, as Oukitel has managed to add just some of their very own features (mostly gestures), a typical, light-weight launcher and a (not that impressive) icon theme.Oukitel U18 main Features:Display:聽5.85 inch 1512 x 720 pixels HD+ screenCPU:聽MTK6750T Octa Core 1.5GHzSystem:聽Android 7.0Storage:聽4GB RAM + 64GB ROMCameras:聽13.0MP + 5.0MP ( SW 16.0MP + 5.0MP )聽dual back cameras and聽8.0MP ( SW 13.0MP )聽front cameraNetworks:聽2G: GSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz –聽3G: WCDMA 900/2100MHz –聽4G: FDD-LTE B1/B3/B7/B8/B20Hardware And Build qualityLet’s start with the “elephant” in the room OK? The first thing you notice when this phone appears in front of you (out of its box) is the notch that’s placed on the top of the display. It’s almost half the panel in width and聽 -in it- you will find the selfie camera, a proximity sensor along with the speaker.聽I have to admit that when you lookthis U18 model from upfront you get the feeling that it is indeed a decent iPhone X clone. The display however is not as impressive as the OLED panel that the iPhone has, but it still does the job I guess. It has a resolution of just聽1512 x 720 pixels (HD+), a size of 5,85 inches with 21:9 ratio and a really impressive brightness even in broad daylight.聽If you’ve had an Oukitel smartphone in the past, then you’d probably know that they’re almost all bulky devices. The same thing applies to the Oukitel U18 model I’m afraid, as it weighs 213 grams and it’s approximately 10mm thick. However these numbers feel normal on this type of phones – specifically the ones with large batteries like most Oukitel smartphones. This one packs a 4000 mAh battery so it’s more or less expected to be this heavy, but it’s also really durable with an extremely solid build. It’s made out of metal and some parts plastic, in case you were wondering.聽Oukitel decided to create a number of videos recently, in order to promote this device, and pretty much every one of them boasted about its battery life and the notch of course. Here’s one of them just for… the fun of it:In everyday use, the Oukitel U18 may be heavy but still, there’s a reason one will choose this phone isn’t there? It has a small footprint thanks to its 21:9 aspect ratio display, so it can easily fit into most pockets, or allow for one handed use with impressive performance (for a budget Android smartphone that is).Oh, let’s not forget that there’s a fingerprint scanner placed at the back of the device, providing quite fast fingerprint recognition with almost 90% success rate. You can use it to lock applications, unlock the phone and it can “read” fingerprints in 360 degrees.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramConnectivity/Call performanceConnectivity/Call performance is聽one of the most important (and deciding) factors for me, when I test a phone. How good it sounds, what type of signal reception it has and how well its speaker works. The Oukitel U18 did quite well in this test by my standards.聽The phone call quality was satisfactory, but nothing that is worth bragging about. I was able to call others and receive calls on this device without any issues, with quite good sound quality and volume.I found its speaker to be “rough” I guess, with loud “noise” when ringtones were played back, but nothing that could disappoint me I guess. I have to say that the microphone was quite solid and the overall connectivity via both data and Wi-Fi networks was consistent. I didnt experience any problems with 3G/4G or Wi-Fi during my tests, all web pages/social networks were easily accessible via WiFi but the signal strength when I was a bit far from my router dropped quite easily.I didn’t face any disconnections thankfully but the WiFi range drops rapidly after 10-12 meters walk from the WiFi router. The 4G speeds were average, with good reception wherever I went, zero dropped calls/connections and a decent all in all performance.Battery consumptionWell here’s where this phone (and most Oukitel devices) does a decent job! One of the main selling points of the Oukitel U18 is its battery life, and for a good reason. It comes with 4000 mAh capacity, but the Android 7.0 operating system is beautifully optimized to offer great standby and talk times, that will surely – SURELY – satisfy you.The Oukitel U18 can stay away from its charger for almost 2 days if you use it wisely, and offers good stand by times when you put it to rest. I “pushed” the device as much as I could:聽I played some games, browsed the internet, did tons of messaging and YouTube, phone calls as well but it just went from 74% to 49% by the end of the first day, confirming that it’s a decent “energy” phone. In any case, I know you will ask yourselves, so here it is:quite bezel-less, with decent battery times but… that’s all there’s to expect. Camera: not the iPhone-X clone you’d hope forFirst of all: don’t choose the phones of this category (devices with large batteries) purely for their imaging features. It’s not where they’re good at, and they know it. You should know it too. So the Oukitel U18 confirms all of the above and proves to be an average camera phone equipped with a dual camera setup on its back, equipped with a 13-megapixel snapper (16-megapixel interpolated) + a 5MP secondary lens, along with a LED flash next to it.Its main camera can shoot decent photos in good lighting conditions (the colors could be better overall), but it tends to provide somewhat colder images than it should. When the light isnt that good, however, it doesnt perform that well, as expected with most Chinese smartphones in this category and price range. It can also shoot FHD (1080p) videos at 25 fps, with average quality and some high contrast issues. There are also several other settings and modes such as FaceBeauty Shot, HDR, Blur, Mono, Panorama, PRO (allows the user to make his own adjustments manually) etc.[flickr_set id=”72157664477382347″]There’s also a LED flash placed next to the main camera. It manages to light up the images, but it doesn’t do what it should: it basically ruins selfies, letting them turn out unnatural and youll probably opt not to use flash, at least in most situations.聽The same goes for the 8MP selfie camera that’s placed in front, inside the notch obviously.聽The images lack details and are nothing to brag about, thats for sure, but it will do more than a good job if you shoot selfies from time to time, and the same goes for video calls via Skype etc.Operating System – Nougat insideThe Oukitel U18 runs on Android 7.0.1 Nougat with a simple icon theme and a typical lockscreen made by the Chinese company, so it’s not “pure” Android, but it’s really “lightweight” and easy to move around in the menus. Oukitel uses their own launcher with some special effects, desktop settings for those of you who love to tweak a bit their phones and includes a set of Gesture Options.聽You can, for example, double tap the capacitive home button in order to wake up the device, and you can do the same in order to lock it. All of these gestures can be disabled in settings by the way. As far as the notification shade, settings and a number of other parts of the software are concerned, this is stock Android 7.0 Nougat. It’s one of the reasons Oukitel U18 manages to perform as it should, and its definitely a huge “plus” for this smartphone.So, is it worth it?Oukitel is surely one of the decent聽manufacturers if you’re in the market for an affordable device with solid battery life. This one goes a step further and tries to take advantage of this whole “notch frenzy”, providing a smartphone that – when you look its front side- is very similar to the iPhone X, with a semi-bezel less display, a notch and a decent price.聽I must say that this model from Oukitel was quite decent in its battery performance -even though its 4000 mAh capacity is NOT the largest in the market today. However, it performs well in average – everyday use, and most novice or semi-experienced Android users will enjoy it – no doubt about it. After all its price nowadays (approximately 159$) is great for those who have limited budget to spend on a phone.It really looks like UMiDiGi is on a streak these past months, releasing a new flagship phone every now and then, before the old one has even reached the hands of consumers. But with so many competitors in the market, the OEM Chinese company is trying to upgrade the smartphones it produces, by adding many more features to the new ones. Compared with smartphones of any other brands present in the market,聽UMIDIGI S2 Lite聽is a beautiful, affordable smartphone and comes with really interesting features.Enter the UMiDiGi S2 Lite, the latest in the onslaught of UMiDiGi devices, this time coming in bright red.UMiDiGi S2 Lite聽ReviewIn terms of overall appearance, body build and form, the UMIDIGI S2 Lite takes resemblance from its predecessors, the S2 and S2 Pro. Actually, theres a 99% chance you would fail at differentiating the three devices on the basis of looks if placed side by side. It weighs approximately 186 gr. (thanks to its massive 5100 mAh battery) and its size is聽158 x 74,8 x 8,8 mm. This means that it’s really thin for a phone with such a large battery- and this is good, believe me.The UMiDIGI S2 Lite has its main dual camera on the rear and a fingerprint sensor right below them. On the front, there is neither no capacitive button nor home button. The devices frontal is almost empty. Only the screen, selfie camera and secondary earpiece play occupancy.UMiDiGi S2 Lite聽SpecificationsDisplay:聽5.99 inch 1440 x 720 pixels Capacitive 5 points screenCPU:聽MTK6750T Octa Core 1.5GHzSystem:聽Android 7.0Storage:聽4GB RAM + 32GB ROMCameras:聽16.0MP + 5.0MP聽dual back cameras and聽5.0MP聽front cameraSensors:聽Gravity Sensor, Ambient Light Sensor, Proximity Sensor, E-compassFeatures:聽GPSBluetooth:聽4.0SIM Card:聽dual SIM dual standby, 2 x nano SIM card and 1 TF card can be inserted at the same timeNetworks:聽2G: GSM B2/B3/B5/B8 –聽3G: WCDMA B1/B2/B5/B8 –聽4G: FDD-LTE B1/B3/B7/B8/B20Big thanks to UMiDiGi for providing this review unit. You can buy one here 馃檪UMiDiGi S2 Lite聽Build QualityThe screen is a聽5.99-inches IPS panel, with a HD+ resolution of 720 x 1440 pixels. The display comes with 2.5D curved glass with a聽268.78 PPI pixel density, equipped with Cornings Gorilla Glass system for screen protection.The bright, chili red colour of this phone really sold me. I pride myself on being immune to colour choice, but man has this red really sold me. Lets ignore the eye catching color for a moment, the build quality here is good but… not excellent. It looks and feels like every previous UMiDiGi phone all the way back to the UMi Super which isnt totally a bad thing. The phone is fairly easy to hold, but not as easy as a five-incher, the thinness does make it feel very small though.The metal body is well made, the metal feels a bit thin on the back and tolerances are generally sharp with one possible exception; the camera module. Im not sure if this is a quality control issue or a design choice, but the dual camera module is about a half a millimeter off center (up and down). This does not affect the functionality or performance of the phone in any way.聽UMIDIGI S2 Lite DisplayThe S2 Lite has a rear camera on its back with a finger sensor below it. It has no home button or menu bottom in the front. As we mentioned earlier, the screen size is 5.99 inches and has HD resolution of 720 x 1440 pixels. The display has 2.5D curved glass and Corning Gorilla Glass 4 protection.This display does have a slightly blue/purple tint that is almost unnoticeable in real life but does show quite noticeably on camera. Max brightness tops out around 400 nits which is quite respectable for such a panel, and is also quite easily viewable under direct sunlight. Touch sensitivity is excellent and Gorilla Glass 4 provides scratch protection and a smooth surface to swipe on.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramUMIDIGI S2 Lite BatteryThe combination of the 5100mAh battery, IPS display, and the聽MTK6750T SoC should provide great battery life. And while that holds mostly true, I believe its battery life could definitely be better. I managed to get approximately 6,3 hours of screen on time with ease, ending the day with 20% left. This consisted of about 2 hours of YouTube, about an hour of gaming, 2 hours of local video playback, and about 4 hours of Bluetooth music in addition to all the miscellaneous items I performed such as Whatsapp, texting, FaceBook etc.The one area where UMiDiGi has to improve on is the standby battery drain. I was getting a guaranteed 1% battery drain every hour, with it jumping up to 1.5% sometimes. This has to be solved if possible through software. Charging the phone through USB-C took me about 2.5 hours without using a MediaTek PumpExpress charger.UMIDIGI S2 Lite SoftwareWe have Android 7.0 Nougat running inside the phone, and I must say that UMiDiGis software optimization has taken a step up again over the older models, with this phone feeling even smoother when moving between home screens, going into settings etc. Launching lots of apps at the same time, on the other hand, is a more ponderous process with the MTK6750T chipset struggling (a bit) to keep up with our needs, with 4GB of RAM being all this phone needs. Not an overkill (like having 6GB), but also not 3GB (which is not enough anymore). The MTK6750T doesnt affect gaming, it’s able to play all the games at 720p without issue, Modern combat, Asphalt, lighter games such as Super Mario Run ran without a hitch, even when I was recording the screen at the same time. The phone gets warm on its back side but never gets burning hot. I also ran a malware scan and didnt find anything. The fingerprint sensor is very accurate and works with wet fingerprints, but it’s quite slow.UMIDIGI S2 Lite Connectivity Reception on this phone is great. The device comes with full 4G support (LTE: FDD B1 2100MHz,FDD B20 800MHz,FDD B3 1800MHz,FDD B7 2600MHz,FDD B8 900MHz), it offers very good connectivity inside large cities, with no dropped calls or problems during communication. WiFi speeds are great, an 800MB file takes 4 minutes (on fast WiFi that is), and Bluetooth range is good also. I used the GPS to navigate to work, and it was fairly accurate and fast. There is no NFC so you cannot use Android Pay. UMIDIGI S2 Lite CameraThe camera is the weakest part of the phone, I am afraid. While I hesitate to call the entire camera bad, the photos dont come out amazing either. In normal mode, detail is not bad as long as you keep your phone relatively still, the phone snaps photos pretty quickly so you dont have to be a statue forever.Colour reproduction ranges from OK to great, with colour sometimes being rather average and showing great saturation and vividness other times. HDR mode, on the other hand, should be left disabled at all times, well almost all times. The HDR mode is way too aggressive, trying to equalize bright and dark spots when they arent that far apart in the first place. You have to leave it off unless there are extremely obvious bright and dark spots, e.g. taking a picture of the sun. In those cases, the aggressive HDR does its job well.Moving on to Bokeh mode, which I see more and more as a gimmick, it adds Bokeh in a very unnatural circle, and not only that the overall quality of the photo is lowered as well. There is also a pro photo mode that works quite well and uses very convenient sliders to change the camera settings. The front facing camera is rather average also.[flickr_set id=”72157693447901825″]Now for the video. The camera app seems to lag behind real life by about 陆 a second. Now a camera lagging behind real life slightly is normal, but 陆 a second is reserved for low-end cameras, not in a $170 device. In addition, the video recording is weirdly laggy, almost like the video is recording normally for a second, then slow for the next. Overall, these items make for an unpleasant video experience, and is really a downside to this phone.UMiDiGi S2 Lite聽VerdictHands down, this is a very beautiful – and affordable mid-ranger in the market. It is indeed a “Lite” variant of a very powerful smartphone (UMIDIGI S2) but still remains quite impressive in everyday use, with a complete package, decent performance but simply adequate camera.This S2 Lite at $169 is surely one of the phones one should pay attention to, especially if the design of a phone is high on your “plus” list. It offers impressive battery life with a 5100 mAh battery, very good built quality, decent display (nothing much) and an adequate chipset with 4GB of RAM for decent everyday use. Buy the UMIDIGI S2 Lite from Gearbest

It really looks like UMiDiGi is on a streak these past months, releasing a new flagship phone every now and then, before the old one has even reached the hands of consumers. But with so many competitors in the market, the OEM Chinese company is trying to upgrade the smartphones it produces, by adding many more features to the new ones. Compared with smartphones of any other brands present in the market,聽UMIDIGI S2 Lite聽is a beautiful, affordable smartphone and comes with really interesting features.Enter the UMiDiGi S2 Lite, the latest in the onslaught of UMiDiGi devices, this time coming in bright red.UMiDiGi S2 Lite聽ReviewIn terms of overall appearance, body build and form, the UMIDIGI S2 Lite takes resemblance from its predecessors, the S2 and S2 Pro. Actually, theres a 99% chance you would fail at differentiating the three devices on the basis of looks if placed side by side. It weighs approximately 186 gr. (thanks to its massive 5100 mAh battery) and its size is聽158 x 74,8 x 8,8 mm. This means that it’s really thin for a phone with such a large battery- and this is good, believe me.The UMiDIGI S2 Lite has its main dual camera on the rear and a fingerprint sensor right below them. On the front, there is neither no capacitive button nor home button. The devices frontal is almost empty. Only the screen, selfie camera and secondary earpiece play occupancy.UMiDiGi S2 Lite聽SpecificationsDisplay:聽5.99 inch 1440 x 720 pixels Capacitive 5 points screenCPU:聽MTK6750T Octa Core 1.5GHzSystem:聽Android 7.0Storage:聽4GB RAM + 32GB ROMCameras:聽16.0MP + 5.0MP聽dual back cameras and聽5.0MP聽front cameraSensors:聽Gravity Sensor, Ambient Light Sensor, Proximity Sensor, E-compassFeatures:聽GPSBluetooth:聽4.0SIM Card:聽dual SIM dual standby, 2 x nano SIM card and 1 TF card can be inserted at the same timeNetworks:聽2G: GSM B2/B3/B5/B8 –聽3G: WCDMA B1/B2/B5/B8 –聽4G: FDD-LTE B1/B3/B7/B8/B20Big thanks to UMiDiGi for providing this review unit. You can buy one here 馃檪UMiDiGi S2 Lite聽Build QualityThe screen is a聽5.99-inches IPS panel, with a HD+ resolution of 720 x 1440 pixels. The display comes with 2.5D curved glass with a聽268.78 PPI pixel density, equipped with Cornings Gorilla Glass system for screen protection.The bright, chili red colour of this phone really sold me. I pride myself on being immune to colour choice, but man has this red really sold me. Lets ignore the eye catching color for a moment, the build quality here is good but… not excellent. It looks and feels like every previous UMiDiGi phone all the way back to the UMi Super which isnt totally a bad thing. The phone is fairly easy to hold, but not as easy as a five-incher, the thinness does make it feel very small though.The metal body is well made, the metal feels a bit thin on the back and tolerances are generally sharp with one possible exception; the camera module. Im not sure if this is a quality control issue or a design choice, but the dual camera module is about a half a millimeter off center (up and down). This does not affect the functionality or performance of the phone in any way.聽UMIDIGI S2 Lite DisplayThe S2 Lite has a rear camera on its back with a finger sensor below it. It has no home button or menu bottom in the front. As we mentioned earlier, the screen size is 5.99 inches and has HD resolution of 720 x 1440 pixels. The display has 2.5D curved glass and Corning Gorilla Glass 4 protection.This display does have a slightly blue/purple tint that is almost unnoticeable in real life but does show quite noticeably on camera. Max brightness tops out around 400 nits which is quite respectable for such a panel, and is also quite easily viewable under direct sunlight. Touch sensitivity is excellent and Gorilla Glass 4 provides scratch protection and a smooth surface to swipe on.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramUMIDIGI S2 Lite BatteryThe combination of the 5100mAh battery, IPS display, and the聽MTK6750T SoC should provide great battery life. And while that holds mostly true, I believe its battery life could definitely be better. I managed to get approximately 6,3 hours of screen on time with ease, ending the day with 20% left. This consisted of about 2 hours of YouTube, about an hour of gaming, 2 hours of local video playback, and about 4 hours of Bluetooth music in addition to all the miscellaneous items I performed such as Whatsapp, texting, FaceBook etc.The one area where UMiDiGi has to improve on is the standby battery drain. I was getting a guaranteed 1% battery drain every hour, with it jumping up to 1.5% sometimes. This has to be solved if possible through software. Charging the phone through USB-C took me about 2.5 hours without using a MediaTek PumpExpress charger.UMIDIGI S2 Lite SoftwareWe have Android 7.0 Nougat running inside the phone, and I must say that UMiDiGis software optimization has taken a step up again over the older models, with this phone feeling even smoother when moving between home screens, going into settings etc. Launching lots of apps at the same time, on the other hand, is a more ponderous process with the MTK6750T chipset struggling (a bit) to keep up with our needs, with 4GB of RAM being all this phone needs. Not an overkill (like having 6GB), but also not 3GB (which is not enough anymore). The MTK6750T doesnt affect gaming, it’s able to play all the games at 720p without issue, Modern combat, Asphalt, lighter games such as Super Mario Run ran without a hitch, even when I was recording the screen at the same time. The phone gets warm on its back side but never gets burning hot. I also ran a malware scan and didnt find anything. The fingerprint sensor is very accurate and works with wet fingerprints, but it’s quite slow.UMIDIGI S2 Lite Connectivity Reception on this phone is great. The device comes with full 4G support (LTE: FDD B1 2100MHz,FDD B20 800MHz,FDD B3 1800MHz,FDD B7 2600MHz,FDD B8 900MHz), it offers very good connectivity inside large cities, with no dropped calls or problems during communication. WiFi speeds are great, an 800MB file takes 4 minutes (on fast WiFi that is), and Bluetooth range is good also. I used the GPS to navigate to work, and it was fairly accurate and fast. There is no NFC so you cannot use Android Pay. UMIDIGI S2 Lite CameraThe camera is the weakest part of the phone, I am afraid. While I hesitate to call the entire camera bad, the photos dont come out amazing either. In normal mode, detail is not bad as long as you keep your phone relatively still, the phone snaps photos pretty quickly so you dont have to be a statue forever.Colour reproduction ranges from OK to great, with colour sometimes being rather average and showing great saturation and vividness other times. HDR mode, on the other hand, should be left disabled at all times, well almost all times. The HDR mode is way too aggressive, trying to equalize bright and dark spots when they arent that far apart in the first place. You have to leave it off unless there are extremely obvious bright and dark spots, e.g. taking a picture of the sun. In those cases, the aggressive HDR does its job well.Moving on to Bokeh mode, which I see more and more as a gimmick, it adds Bokeh in a very unnatural circle, and not only that the overall quality of the photo is lowered as well. There is also a pro photo mode that works quite well and uses very convenient sliders to change the camera settings. The front facing camera is rather average also.[flickr_set id=”72157693447901825″]Now for the video. The camera app seems to lag behind real life by about 陆 a second. Now a camera lagging behind real life slightly is normal, but 陆 a second is reserved for low-end cameras, not in a $170 device. In addition, the video recording is weirdly laggy, almost like the video is recording normally for a second, then slow for the next. Overall, these items make for an unpleasant video experience, and is really a downside to this phone.UMiDiGi S2 Lite聽VerdictHands down, this is a very beautiful – and affordable mid-ranger in the market. It is indeed a “Lite” variant of a very powerful smartphone (UMIDIGI S2) but still remains quite impressive in everyday use, with a complete package, decent performance but simply adequate camera.This S2 Lite at $169 is surely one of the phones one should pay attention to, especially if the design of a phone is high on your “plus” list. It offers impressive battery life with a 5100 mAh battery, very good built quality, decent display (nothing much) and an adequate chipset with 4GB of RAM for decent everyday use. Buy the UMIDIGI S2 Lite from GearbestIve just received my Elephone U Pro and Im so impressed with it that Im already considering making it my daily driver without fully testing it. Thats obviously a fools errand, as further testing will reveal flaws in a device, no matter how good the first impressions are.Elephone聽U ProElephone was founded in 2014 with many ups and downs. Gizchina veterans will remember the P3000, P7000, P9000 fondly, while keeping in mind the missteps that Elephone has made, and Elephone’s first Snapdragon release carries many implications. Not only is it expensive to negotiate with Qualcomm for their Snapdragon processors, but it is also expensive to use, and the Elephone U Pro is a perfect example of that.Starting at $450, this is the most expensive phone Elephone has ever produced by a long shot, and the Qualcomm chipset is only part of that.Amazing on PaperElephone U Pro SpecificationsProcessorQualcomm Snapdragon 660 ProcessorDisplay6.0 2160×1080 AMOLED displayRAM4/6GBStorage64/128GB eMMCOperating SystemAndroid 8.0 OreoCameras13MP Camera, 5MP FrontBattery3,500mAhPhysical Dimensions15.4 x 7.2 x 0.84 cm, 166gBig thanks to Gearbest for providing this review unit.Elephone U Pro UnboxingThe unboxing experience is rather ordinary, a regular box with sparse accessories. The phone itself holds promise, but the packaging and accessories are rather mundane.Ordinary Unboxing ExperienceElephone U Pro PhoneThe phone feels decent, but not amazing. Many flagships from other manufacturers like UMiDiGi and Ulefone will take down the build quality here by a mile. The frame is made of metal, the front sports Gorilla Glass 5, but the back is most likely plastic as a metal cover would interfere with wireless charging. There is no headphone jack as is the trend nowadays, and we have a USB-C port also.How the phone looks is a completely different story. Its curved on the back and the front and it looks absolutely gorgeous. Anybody not eyes deep in Chinese Tech would instantly think this was a Galaxy S8 (barring the logo on the back of course) and with good reason. It resembles its Samsung namesake almost completely.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramThe bezels are slim, the screen is curved beautifully, as Elephone takes its design aesthetics to the next step (albeit copied).Elephone U Pro SoftwareElephone has mentioned that it took them almost 300 days to bring this phone to market, due to the many challenges they faced, and getting Oreo on this phone is certainly one of them. General use is fairly fast and fluid, not as fast as the Oneplus 5T, but fast enough. I get the strange feeling that the animations are built completely for speed with little to no thought given to fluidity, which gives some animations the feeling of choppiness.Face unlock and the fingerprint sensor are both adequate but fall far behind even the Mi Note 3 in terms of speed, and the vibration engine feels a tiny bit weird.Elephone U Pro First ImpressionsAs you could probably tell, I’m trying pretty hard to nitpick problems with the Elephone U Pro here, and at first glance there really aren’t many. When I use a Xiaomi phone, I know I can expect a certain level of quality, however with Elephone, no such level can be expected. Elephone has sometimes failed me and sometimes gone far beyond my expectations, and I sincerely hope its the latter. Stay tuned for my full review coming up very soon. Buy the Elephone U ProElephone U Pro VideoIve just received my Elephone U Pro and Im so impressed with it that Im already considering making it my daily driver without fully testing it. Thats obviously a fools errand, as further testing will reveal flaws in a device, no matter how good the first impressions are.Elephone聽U ProElephone was founded in 2014 with many ups and downs. Gizchina veterans will remember the P3000, P7000, P9000 fondly, while keeping in mind the missteps that Elephone has made, and Elephone’s first Snapdragon release carries many implications. Not only is it expensive to negotiate with Qualcomm for their Snapdragon processors, but it is also expensive to use, and the Elephone U Pro is a perfect example of that.Starting at $450, this is the most expensive phone Elephone has ever produced by a long shot, and the Qualcomm chipset is only part of that.Amazing on PaperElephone U Pro SpecificationsProcessorQualcomm Snapdragon 660 ProcessorDisplay6.0 2160×1080 AMOLED displayRAM4/6GBStorage64/128GB eMMCOperating SystemAndroid 8.0 OreoCameras13MP Camera, 5MP FrontBattery3,500mAhPhysical Dimensions15.4 x 7.2 x 0.84 cm, 166gBig thanks to Gearbest for providing this review unit.Elephone U Pro UnboxingThe unboxing experience is rather ordinary, a regular box with sparse accessories. The phone itself holds promise, but the packaging and accessories are rather mundane.Ordinary Unboxing ExperienceElephone U Pro PhoneThe phone feels decent, but not amazing. Many flagships from other manufacturers like UMiDiGi and Ulefone will take down the build quality here by a mile. The frame is made of metal, the front sports Gorilla Glass 5, but the back is most likely plastic as a metal cover would interfere with wireless charging. There is no headphone jack as is the trend nowadays, and we have a USB-C port also.How the phone looks is a completely different story. Its curved on the back and the front and it looks absolutely gorgeous. Anybody not eyes deep in Chinese Tech would instantly think this was a Galaxy S8 (barring the logo on the back of course) and with good reason. It resembles its Samsung namesake almost completely.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramThe bezels are slim, the screen is curved beautifully, as Elephone takes its design aesthetics to the next step (albeit copied).Elephone U Pro SoftwareElephone has mentioned that it took them almost 300 days to bring this phone to market, due to the many challenges they faced, and getting Oreo on this phone is certainly one of them. General use is fairly fast and fluid, not as fast as the Oneplus 5T, but fast enough. I get the strange feeling that the animations are built completely for speed with little to no thought given to fluidity, which gives some animations the feeling of choppiness.Face unlock and the fingerprint sensor are both adequate but fall far behind even the Mi Note 3 in terms of speed, and the vibration engine feels a tiny bit weird.Elephone U Pro First ImpressionsAs you could probably tell, I’m trying pretty hard to nitpick problems with the Elephone U Pro here, and at first glance there really aren’t many. When I use a Xiaomi phone, I know I can expect a certain level of quality, however with Elephone, no such level can be expected. Elephone has sometimes failed me and sometimes gone far beyond my expectations, and I sincerely hope its the latter. Stay tuned for my full review coming up very soon. Buy the Elephone U ProElephone U Pro VideoWelcome to the era of “slim” huge battery smartphones聽guys! We have one of them to show you today, but I think this specific device has more to say about its performance than others. Meet Blackview P6000, a phone that boasts a huge battery inside but still has the looks to impress some of the most demanding users.Blackview promotes this model as one of their “huge” battery smartphones but at the same time a device that boasts a noteworthy design, along with decent performance in everyday use.聽With a well-built design and many great features, this smartphone is perfect for those who are looking for a durable phone, with more demanding features at a… quite hefty price unfortunately.聽聽So if you’re ready to go by its increased weight (at 236 gr.) then you won’t have any problem spotting its awesome design, the impressive built quality and obviously its huge 6180 mAh battery that can surely offer more than 2 full days of heavy usage!Enough said lets have a look at this Blackview P6000 review.IMPRESSIVE battery performanceBlackview P6000 鈥 Technical specificationsDisplay:聽5.5 inch 1920 x 1080 pixels IPS screenCPU:聽MTK6757CD Octa Core 2.6GHzSystem:聽Android 7.1.1Storage:聽6GB RAM + 64GB ROMCameras:聽8.0MP front and 21.0MP + 0.3MP dual rear cameras聽Sensors:聽Gravity Sensor, Gyroscope, Geomagnetic SensorFeatures:聽GPS, GlonassBluetooth:聽4.1SIM Card:聽dual SIM dual standby, 2 Nano SIM cardsNetworks:聽2G: GSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz – 3G: WCDMA 900/2100MHz – 4G: FDD-LTE B1/B3/B7/B8/B20Blackview P6000 review: Design and general appearanceI have to be honest, I loved the basic design of the Blackview P6000 – especially its blue glossy back that is probably one of the best looking I’ve seen during the past years.聽It’s no doubt, an elegant device and if you’re interested to know more, you will be glad to know it’s available in black and blue color versions. Its dimensions are聽154 x 76 x 9.8 mm (LxWxH) but due to its massive 6180 mAh battery it weighs approximately 236 gr. This means it can provide a relatively slim body with a relatively good handling experience. I have to admit that one of the outstanding features of the Blackview P6000 is surely its 5.5-inch display with 1920 x 1080 pixels resolution, offering really crisp menus. It provides exceptional response times, along with 2.5D curved glass on top.The inclusion of Gorilla Glass 3 means that it will be quite a bit less prone to damage than smartphones it competes with. However, it isnt the most modern display either since it still features a square display ratio compared to even some more budget-friendly handsets 鈥 at 16:9. Color saturation appears natural and touch interactions are rapid and responsive.聽Blackview has equipped the P6000 with the adaptive display software many users have come to expect from a modern smartphone. That means brightness can be set to auto-adapt to keep things visible and save battery, font sizes and overall display size can be adjusted as needed to keep everything reading clearly. The colors of the display may be rather washed, but the images are crisp, with good viewing angles and a fully responsive panel if I may add.聽All in all a decent display 鈥 especially for a smartphone on this price range.聽There’s a home button placed in front that houses the fingerprint scanner. If you look just above, you will find 4 on display keys on the lower side of the display, that work as planned and allow for complete operation of the device.聽On the top of the screen, there’s a selfie camera, a speaker and a LED flash.Note that the back side of the device is made of glossy material and some parts plastic, that surely create an impressive design all in all but it comes with… a twist. This means that it may look beautiful but it turns out to be a fingerprint magnet, leaving fingerprint marks all over the place.聽You can also find two cameras at the back side and a dual LED flash, that offers the necessary light during night for some typical photos.The fingerprint scanner can unlock the phone in less than 0.1 second with almost 98% success rate. It can basically store up to 5 different fingerprints and can recognize them all from 360 degrees, something thats a standard nowadays.聽The P6000 does support the 3.5mm earphone port and this is something that will probably put a smile to the face of all those of you out there who prefer to use their own classy old fashioned headphones. The charging port is available at the bottom of the smartphone and a microphone hole is placed next to the dual cameras at the back. So overall the buttons and other features are perfectly placed.聽Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramHardware & PerformanceIn terms of performance, the聽Blackview P6000 comes with the MediaTek MT6757 processor operating at a high frequency of 2.6 GHz. It packs 6GB RAM and 64GB ROM, providing聽high-end gaming and multitasking a fast and smooth experience.聽I opened many apps, switched between them, watched videos, played a game (GT聽Racing聽2) and the performance is buttery smooth. Nothing felt sluggish, and there was no significant lag. Oh and if youre into checking benchmark results, then you should know that the Blackview P6000 scored 78286聽points in AntuTu along with an exceptional GPS reception. I didnt have any issues with GPS related apps since it uses most of the available satellites every time. It could be connected to more I guess, in order to offer even better results when scanning for our location. Moreover, the storage can be expandable up to 128 GB with the use of microSD card. For the graphics, it has the Mali T880 GPU that can surely cope with most of your gaming tastes, even if you’re a demanding user. OK, it’s not a flagship model, but it will surely be able to offer decent gaming performance with most titles available in the Play Store. The operating system of the Blackview P6000 is Android 7.1 Nougat. It can also be upgraded to higher Android Oreo but the Chinese manufacturer hasn’t disclosed yet when (and if) this will happen. Rumors say that the update could arrive to the owners of the phone by Spring – it remains to be seen. Moreover, you can also find the attractive features such as ambient light sensor, gravity sensor, proximity sensor, and so on. With a battery backup of 6180 mAh, the Blackview P6000 doesnt need any power bank or repeated charging at all. You wont have to worry about the power going down while playing games, watching videos and doing stuff on it. In fact, Blackview P6000 smartphone is your best partner while traveling as it doesnt strangle you by showing reduced battery level during such odd circumstances.Blackview P6000 review: Android software and UI performanceIf you like pimped user interfaces, then you will surely gonna love the Blackview P6000 in terms of UI and software. The device comes with its own UI (based on AOSP Android 7.1.1) which is surprisingly solid, fast and easy to use.聽That means that, aside from a few basic Google and essential AOSP apps, the phone doesnt come with any bloatware to speak of. In fact, the only application that probably wouldnt be expected with a stock version of Android is the included Compass app.Blackview however has managed to add some features of their own choosing to the device such as several customization options like System Motion, Gestures control and the ability to lock apps with the fingerprint scanner which is common these days.聽Double tapping the home screen or a long-press on the same can be set to perform custom actions. The same can be done with the power button, with a double tap capable of launching the camera application and a long-press 鈥 when the screen is turned off 鈥 being custom-assignable. Gesture navigation through the fingerprint scanner is also available.Dual camera performanceIf you’re interested in the imaging features of the device, then this might seem awkward, but it didn’t manage to impress us. The rear camera is a dual-sensor setup of聽a primary camera built on Sonys IMX230 Exmor RS sensor platform with an f/2.0 aperture and a secondary 0.3-megapixel, 2.25渭m GalaxyCore GC0310 sensor for phase detection and other dual-sensor features. There’a also a dual tone LED flash next to them, along with several typical settings for聽autofocus, digital zoom, face detection, HDR mode, manual adjustments mode, a dozen or more real-time filters, and the ability to shoot continuous photos 鈥 as well as having the capability to shoot RAW images via a settings toggle.It can take decent photos, but they are generally whitewashed. Even with HDR mode, the quality of the photos is not any better.聽Note that one camera is used for creating the bokeh effect and other will capture the image with quite good portrait photos and decent performance in low light conditions.Both cameras have independent vision processing unit, which enables background blurring in real time. It also allows you to choose where to focus (touch focus) and where to blur, with the ability to adjust the intensity of blurring, too. Video recording of the device isn’t something that can surely impress us either I am afraid.聽聽Theres no optical image stabilization to be found on Blackviews P6000, no slo-mo capability but at least video recording is shot at 30fps.Have a look at some of our聽sample photos,聽taken from the dual camera of the Blackview P6000. Just click the gallery below:[flickr_set id=”72157691704821341″]Battery consumptionThe Blackview P6000 is equipped with a 6180mAh battery that surely trumps any other competitor in the market, offering awesome battery life that can reach up to 2 days of full usage with no issues at all. The device comes with an energy efficient processor and generally it performs well, working great in cooperation with the Android Nougat interface in order to block access to battery “hungry” apps, reduce energy consumption when possible and all those little things that make our lives easier when using a smartphone.It’s battery tests were impressive and lead to a whopping 7 hours of screen-on time, even with a full (hard core) usage. During our tests we managed to reduce its battery capacity to 59% (from 100%) after almost 13 hours (!) of typical tasks聽simultaneously, such as listening to music, gaming, editing documents, browsing and others.Note also that – according to Blackview- the P6000 comes with Quick Charge 2.0 support and charges at 12V/2A. However this didn’t appear to be true, as it takes a little bit over 3 hours to fully charge this 6180 mAh battery.Thankfully however there is no overheating when there’s continuous charging or prolonged gaming in extreme conditions. Blackview did a good job on this and the phone feels safe to use even though we’re holding a massive 6180 mAh battery in our hands.Conclusion 鈥 Our opinionA Beautiful, huge battery phoneI really enjoyed this small beauty from Blackview, I have to admit. Given the fact that it’s considered to be technically a mid-range smartphone, it surely doesn’t act like one. It boasts an impressive design, a huge battery that transforms it into a power machine with more than 40 hours of usage, a full HD display with decent ppi, great brightness during daylight and a quite impressive chipset for mid-range users.It packs聽6GB RAM + 64GB ROM聽that surely result in excellent multi-tasking and storage capabilities, not to mention that it also packs a microSD slot (up to 128GB). It currently costs 249$ and I guess this is something that one has to take into consideration.聽

Welcome to the era of “slim” huge battery smartphones聽guys! We have one of them to show you today, but I think this specific device has more to say about its performance than others. Meet Blackview P6000, a phone that boasts a huge battery inside but still has the looks to impress some of the most demanding users.Blackview promotes this model as one of their “huge” battery smartphones but at the same time a device that boasts a noteworthy design, along with decent performance in everyday use.聽With a well-built design and many great features, this smartphone is perfect for those who are looking for a durable phone, with more demanding features at a… quite hefty price unfortunately.聽聽So if you’re ready to go by its increased weight (at 236 gr.) then you won’t have any problem spotting its awesome design, the impressive built quality and obviously its huge 6180 mAh battery that can surely offer more than 2 full days of heavy usage!Enough said lets have a look at this Blackview P6000 review.IMPRESSIVE battery performanceBlackview P6000 鈥 Technical specificationsDisplay:聽5.5 inch 1920 x 1080 pixels IPS screenCPU:聽MTK6757CD Octa Core 2.6GHzSystem:聽Android 7.1.1Storage:聽6GB RAM + 64GB ROMCameras:聽8.0MP front and 21.0MP + 0.3MP dual rear cameras聽Sensors:聽Gravity Sensor, Gyroscope, Geomagnetic SensorFeatures:聽GPS, GlonassBluetooth:聽4.1SIM Card:聽dual SIM dual standby, 2 Nano SIM cardsNetworks:聽2G: GSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz – 3G: WCDMA 900/2100MHz – 4G: FDD-LTE B1/B3/B7/B8/B20Blackview P6000 review: Design and general appearanceI have to be honest, I loved the basic design of the Blackview P6000 – especially its blue glossy back that is probably one of the best looking I’ve seen during the past years.聽It’s no doubt, an elegant device and if you’re interested to know more, you will be glad to know it’s available in black and blue color versions. Its dimensions are聽154 x 76 x 9.8 mm (LxWxH) but due to its massive 6180 mAh battery it weighs approximately 236 gr. This means it can provide a relatively slim body with a relatively good handling experience. I have to admit that one of the outstanding features of the Blackview P6000 is surely its 5.5-inch display with 1920 x 1080 pixels resolution, offering really crisp menus. It provides exceptional response times, along with 2.5D curved glass on top.The inclusion of Gorilla Glass 3 means that it will be quite a bit less prone to damage than smartphones it competes with. However, it isnt the most modern display either since it still features a square display ratio compared to even some more budget-friendly handsets 鈥 at 16:9. Color saturation appears natural and touch interactions are rapid and responsive.聽Blackview has equipped the P6000 with the adaptive display software many users have come to expect from a modern smartphone. That means brightness can be set to auto-adapt to keep things visible and save battery, font sizes and overall display size can be adjusted as needed to keep everything reading clearly. The colors of the display may be rather washed, but the images are crisp, with good viewing angles and a fully responsive panel if I may add.聽All in all a decent display 鈥 especially for a smartphone on this price range.聽There’s a home button placed in front that houses the fingerprint scanner. If you look just above, you will find 4 on display keys on the lower side of the display, that work as planned and allow for complete operation of the device.聽On the top of the screen, there’s a selfie camera, a speaker and a LED flash.Note that the back side of the device is made of glossy material and some parts plastic, that surely create an impressive design all in all but it comes with… a twist. This means that it may look beautiful but it turns out to be a fingerprint magnet, leaving fingerprint marks all over the place.聽You can also find two cameras at the back side and a dual LED flash, that offers the necessary light during night for some typical photos.The fingerprint scanner can unlock the phone in less than 0.1 second with almost 98% success rate. It can basically store up to 5 different fingerprints and can recognize them all from 360 degrees, something thats a standard nowadays.聽The P6000 does support the 3.5mm earphone port and this is something that will probably put a smile to the face of all those of you out there who prefer to use their own classy old fashioned headphones. The charging port is available at the bottom of the smartphone and a microphone hole is placed next to the dual cameras at the back. So overall the buttons and other features are perfectly placed.聽Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramHardware & PerformanceIn terms of performance, the聽Blackview P6000 comes with the MediaTek MT6757 processor operating at a high frequency of 2.6 GHz. It packs 6GB RAM and 64GB ROM, providing聽high-end gaming and multitasking a fast and smooth experience.聽I opened many apps, switched between them, watched videos, played a game (GT聽Racing聽2) and the performance is buttery smooth. Nothing felt sluggish, and there was no significant lag. Oh and if youre into checking benchmark results, then you should know that the Blackview P6000 scored 78286聽points in AntuTu along with an exceptional GPS reception. I didnt have any issues with GPS related apps since it uses most of the available satellites every time. It could be connected to more I guess, in order to offer even better results when scanning for our location. Moreover, the storage can be expandable up to 128 GB with the use of microSD card. For the graphics, it has the Mali T880 GPU that can surely cope with most of your gaming tastes, even if you’re a demanding user. OK, it’s not a flagship model, but it will surely be able to offer decent gaming performance with most titles available in the Play Store. The operating system of the Blackview P6000 is Android 7.1 Nougat. It can also be upgraded to higher Android Oreo but the Chinese manufacturer hasn’t disclosed yet when (and if) this will happen. Rumors say that the update could arrive to the owners of the phone by Spring – it remains to be seen. Moreover, you can also find the attractive features such as ambient light sensor, gravity sensor, proximity sensor, and so on. With a battery backup of 6180 mAh, the Blackview P6000 doesnt need any power bank or repeated charging at all. You wont have to worry about the power going down while playing games, watching videos and doing stuff on it. In fact, Blackview P6000 smartphone is your best partner while traveling as it doesnt strangle you by showing reduced battery level during such odd circumstances.Blackview P6000 review: Android software and UI performanceIf you like pimped user interfaces, then you will surely gonna love the Blackview P6000 in terms of UI and software. The device comes with its own UI (based on AOSP Android 7.1.1) which is surprisingly solid, fast and easy to use.聽That means that, aside from a few basic Google and essential AOSP apps, the phone doesnt come with any bloatware to speak of. In fact, the only application that probably wouldnt be expected with a stock version of Android is the included Compass app.Blackview however has managed to add some features of their own choosing to the device such as several customization options like System Motion, Gestures control and the ability to lock apps with the fingerprint scanner which is common these days.聽Double tapping the home screen or a long-press on the same can be set to perform custom actions. The same can be done with the power button, with a double tap capable of launching the camera application and a long-press 鈥 when the screen is turned off 鈥 being custom-assignable. Gesture navigation through the fingerprint scanner is also available.Dual camera performanceIf you’re interested in the imaging features of the device, then this might seem awkward, but it didn’t manage to impress us. The rear camera is a dual-sensor setup of聽a primary camera built on Sonys IMX230 Exmor RS sensor platform with an f/2.0 aperture and a secondary 0.3-megapixel, 2.25渭m GalaxyCore GC0310 sensor for phase detection and other dual-sensor features. There’a also a dual tone LED flash next to them, along with several typical settings for聽autofocus, digital zoom, face detection, HDR mode, manual adjustments mode, a dozen or more real-time filters, and the ability to shoot continuous photos 鈥 as well as having the capability to shoot RAW images via a settings toggle.It can take decent photos, but they are generally whitewashed. Even with HDR mode, the quality of the photos is not any better.聽Note that one camera is used for creating the bokeh effect and other will capture the image with quite good portrait photos and decent performance in low light conditions.Both cameras have independent vision processing unit, which enables background blurring in real time. It also allows you to choose where to focus (touch focus) and where to blur, with the ability to adjust the intensity of blurring, too. Video recording of the device isn’t something that can surely impress us either I am afraid.聽聽Theres no optical image stabilization to be found on Blackviews P6000, no slo-mo capability but at least video recording is shot at 30fps.Have a look at some of our聽sample photos,聽taken from the dual camera of the Blackview P6000. Just click the gallery below:[flickr_set id=”72157691704821341″]Battery consumptionThe Blackview P6000 is equipped with a 6180mAh battery that surely trumps any other competitor in the market, offering awesome battery life that can reach up to 2 days of full usage with no issues at all. The device comes with an energy efficient processor and generally it performs well, working great in cooperation with the Android Nougat interface in order to block access to battery “hungry” apps, reduce energy consumption when possible and all those little things that make our lives easier when using a smartphone.It’s battery tests were impressive and lead to a whopping 7 hours of screen-on time, even with a full (hard core) usage. During our tests we managed to reduce its battery capacity to 59% (from 100%) after almost 13 hours (!) of typical tasks聽simultaneously, such as listening to music, gaming, editing documents, browsing and others.Note also that – according to Blackview- the P6000 comes with Quick Charge 2.0 support and charges at 12V/2A. However this didn’t appear to be true, as it takes a little bit over 3 hours to fully charge this 6180 mAh battery.Thankfully however there is no overheating when there’s continuous charging or prolonged gaming in extreme conditions. Blackview did a good job on this and the phone feels safe to use even though we’re holding a massive 6180 mAh battery in our hands.Conclusion 鈥 Our opinionA Beautiful, huge battery phoneI really enjoyed this small beauty from Blackview, I have to admit. Given the fact that it’s considered to be technically a mid-range smartphone, it surely doesn’t act like one. It boasts an impressive design, a huge battery that transforms it into a power machine with more than 40 hours of usage, a full HD display with decent ppi, great brightness during daylight and a quite impressive chipset for mid-range users.It packs聽6GB RAM + 64GB ROM聽that surely result in excellent multi-tasking and storage capabilities, not to mention that it also packs a microSD slot (up to 128GB). It currently costs 249$ and I guess this is something that one has to take into consideration.聽If you have an active lifestyle, owning a smartwatch is mandatory. Usually, people who dont like to sit tight and are feeling adventurous, cant rely on smartphones that drainage quickly, are way bigger in comparison to wearables, can be damaged easily, and cost more. In all these cases, they should look for a reliable smartwatch. Today we are going to talk about the worlds first 4G-enabled Android smartwatch. The Microwear H5 has been announced recently, but it managed to win many customers hearts. Of course, there are a few drawbacks as well. So well try to be as impersonal as possible. But one thing is clear 鈥 the H5 can compete with many popular smartwatches even without any effort.Microwear H5 DesignThe box is black with no logo and product name. The only printing we can see on it is 鈥楽mart Wear. The packaging is black, while the phrase is silver. Inside the box, we can find only the smartwatch and a USB cable to charge it like an ordinary Android phone. So, on one hand, the manufacturer comes in with the minimum accessories and a simple packaging, but on the other, we are dealing with a $100 smartwatch. I mean we used to see some product details and manufacturer information on the box. As for the box content, wed like to find some instructions or user manuals, because those who pay such a money want to learn about everything coming with a product.First, we have to say this is not a waterproof product. Though we used to see many smartwatches available on the market come with an IP67 rate, the manufacturer has decided not to certify this device. But there are some reasons for that. And honestly, we accept Microwears decision because the H5 doesnt look like other wearables. As we can see, there is a micro USB interface put on the left side. And though it affects the waterproofness, it is way comfortable for using because you can plug your phones cable and charge it. Thus no additional accessory is needed like the fancy attachable magnetic units.Another thing we like, the Microwear H5 also uses a new technology by placing the nano-Sim card slot on the right upper corner of the back. As you remember, the previous models require a complete back cover removal to insert the card. But as its selling point is the 4G support, the company decided to make it easier to use. There is a special cover that should be removed to insert the card. Actually, its opened easily with a little effort, and can be placed back in the same way. The only problem we had was related to the SIM card removal. Although we guess you wont insert/remove frequently SIM cards.The manufacturer has placed the speaker on the left upper corner with an ambition phrase of 鈥?D Sound. We dont think you will be using it for listening music. So the quality is quite sufficient for calling.A rectangular button to turn on/off the phone as well as to unlock is placed on the right side. It supports a few modes: Long press for power on/off, short press to return to standby interface, short press again for screen off, short press to brighten when the screen is off.It also comes with a camera. But what we dont like is the angle it is placed at. Actually, it is placed at 45 degrees, that simply means when you hold your hand or the smartwatch in front of your face, the camera wont capture your face. So it turns out, the Microwear H5 is packed with a 2MP camera (interpolated to 5MP) and it comes with a stylish look, but it is useless in most cases. This is the biggest shortcoming of this device.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramAt last, the Microwear H5 sports a 1.54-inch screen with a resolution of 240×240 pixel and uses a TFT display technology. This is a really good screen providing a great viewing performance. Its responsive and we didnt face any lags during the testing.The chassis is made of a stainless steel, thats why the smartwatch weighs around 70 grams. The straps are made of TPU. It also has CE and RoSH certifications.Microwear H5 Hardware and PerformanceThe Microwear H5 is packed with an MT6737 quad-core processor. It uses 4 ARM Cortex-A53 cores clocked at 1.3GHz. This chip is mainly used on low-end smartphones. So its appearance on the H5 promises a smartphone-level experience. Apart from the chip, it is packed with a 1GB of RAM and 8GB of ROM. At last, there is a 600mAh battery that provides a few days of a normal use. It will take about 180 minutes to fully charge.Though this is a 4G-enabled smartwatch, it wont work on all bands. The H5 supports GSM 2G call and networks, WCDMA 3G networks, FDD 4G, TDD 4G networks, but it does not support CDMA 2G call or networks. Though we couldnt test it for 4G connectivity, the 3G performance was quite stable and acceptable.Microwear H5 SoftwareThe smartwatch runs on Fun OS based on Android 6.0. This is not the latest version, but you wont find many smartwatches running on a higher version. Plus, Android 6.0 differs from Android 5.0 a lot. And FunOS comes with many customizations. So it turns out the Microwear H5 runs on Googles operating system and gets the most goodies it offers, but thanks to customization of FunOS you get a quite new UI experience. Actually, it works like other smartwatches UIs, but due to the good hardware and highly responsive screen, its easy and pleasant to interact with the H5.This smartwatch comes with many functions. So lets get acquainted with the most of them.First, long press the standby dial, slip right and left to select the watch face you want, and tap to confirm.Swipe down to access the status bar. We have three pages. The first one shows the remaining battery power, the cellular connection type, the data connection (on/off), and WiFi connection. The second page comes with a feature to wake screen on wrist raise, notifications, SOS, and flight mode. The third page contains other four icons to set a vibration, sound off, and a normal ringing. There is also an icon to display your running apps, Bluetooth, and overall display brightness/sleep time.Swipe up to access up to 7 functions. As we are dealing with a sports watch, there are fitness apps for all purposes: Compass/Sleep Monitor/Pedometer/Heart Rate/Weather/Air pressure/Altitude.A right swipe will bring everything on fitness including Walking, Outdoor run, Indoor run, Mountain climbing, Cross country, Half Marathon, Full Marathon, Ride, Sports History, and Sports Settings.Swipe left to enter the menu. There is Clock (Stopwatch, Alarm, and Timer), Communication (Phone, Messaging, and Contacts), Browser, Tools (Calculator and Calendar), Style (change the way it displays the icons), Watch management (Download and File manager, Audio Center (Sound record and Music), Multimedia (Gallery and Videos), Play store to download other compatible apps, etc. One of the most noteworthy features is the USB Tethering that turns your smartwatch into a Wi-Fi modem that provides Wi-Fi connectivity via a USB cable.ConclusionIf you have an active lifestyle, owning a smartwatch is mandatory. Usually, people who dont like to sit tight and are feeling adventurous, cant rely on smartphones that drainage quickly, are way bigger in comparison to wearables, can be damaged easily, and cost more. In all these cases, they should look for a reliable smartwatch. Today we are going to talk about the worlds first 4G-enabled Android smartwatch. The Microwear H5 has been announced recently, but it managed to win many customers hearts. Of course, there are a few drawbacks as well. So well try to be as impersonal as possible. But one thing is clear 鈥 the H5 can compete with many popular smartwatches even without any effort.Microwear H5 DesignThe box is black with no logo and product name. The only printing we can see on it is 鈥楽mart Wear. The packaging is black, while the phrase is silver. Inside the box, we can find only the smartwatch and a USB cable to charge it like an ordinary Android phone. So, on one hand, the manufacturer comes in with the minimum accessories and a simple packaging, but on the other, we are dealing with a $100 smartwatch. I mean we used to see some product details and manufacturer information on the box. As for the box content, wed like to find some instructions or user manuals, because those who pay such a money want to learn about everything coming with a product.First, we have to say this is not a waterproof product. Though we used to see many smartwatches available on the market come with an IP67 rate, the manufacturer has decided not to certify this device. But there are some reasons for that. And honestly, we accept Microwears decision because the H5 doesnt look like other wearables. As we can see, there is a micro USB interface put on the left side. And though it affects the waterproofness, it is way comfortable for using because you can plug your phones cable and charge it. Thus no additional accessory is needed like the fancy attachable magnetic units.Another thing we like, the Microwear H5 also uses a new technology by placing the nano-Sim card slot on the right upper corner of the back. As you remember, the previous models require a complete back cover removal to insert the card. But as its selling point is the 4G support, the company decided to make it easier to use. There is a special cover that should be removed to insert the card. Actually, its opened easily with a little effort, and can be placed back in the same way. The only problem we had was related to the SIM card removal. Although we guess you wont insert/remove frequently SIM cards.The manufacturer has placed the speaker on the left upper corner with an ambition phrase of 鈥?D Sound. We dont think you will be using it for listening music. So the quality is quite sufficient for calling.A rectangular button to turn on/off the phone as well as to unlock is placed on the right side. It supports a few modes: Long press for power on/off, short press to return to standby interface, short press again for screen off, short press to brighten when the screen is off.It also comes with a camera. But what we dont like is the angle it is placed at. Actually, it is placed at 45 degrees, that simply means when you hold your hand or the smartwatch in front of your face, the camera wont capture your face. So it turns out, the Microwear H5 is packed with a 2MP camera (interpolated to 5MP) and it comes with a stylish look, but it is useless in most cases. This is the biggest shortcoming of this device.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramAt last, the Microwear H5 sports a 1.54-inch screen with a resolution of 240×240 pixel and uses a TFT display technology. This is a really good screen providing a great viewing performance. Its responsive and we didnt face any lags during the testing.The chassis is made of a stainless steel, thats why the smartwatch weighs around 70 grams. The straps are made of TPU. It also has CE and RoSH certifications.Microwear H5 Hardware and PerformanceThe Microwear H5 is packed with an MT6737 quad-core processor. It uses 4 ARM Cortex-A53 cores clocked at 1.3GHz. This chip is mainly used on low-end smartphones. So its appearance on the H5 promises a smartphone-level experience. Apart from the chip, it is packed with a 1GB of RAM and 8GB of ROM. At last, there is a 600mAh battery that provides a few days of a normal use. It will take about 180 minutes to fully charge.Though this is a 4G-enabled smartwatch, it wont work on all bands. The H5 supports GSM 2G call and networks, WCDMA 3G networks, FDD 4G, TDD 4G networks, but it does not support CDMA 2G call or networks. Though we couldnt test it for 4G connectivity, the 3G performance was quite stable and acceptable.Microwear H5 SoftwareThe smartwatch runs on Fun OS based on Android 6.0. This is not the latest version, but you wont find many smartwatches running on a higher version. Plus, Android 6.0 differs from Android 5.0 a lot. And FunOS comes with many customizations. So it turns out the Microwear H5 runs on Googles operating system and gets the most goodies it offers, but thanks to customization of FunOS you get a quite new UI experience. Actually, it works like other smartwatches UIs, but due to the good hardware and highly responsive screen, its easy and pleasant to interact with the H5.This smartwatch comes with many functions. So lets get acquainted with the most of them.First, long press the standby dial, slip right and left to select the watch face you want, and tap to confirm.Swipe down to access the status bar. We have three pages. The first one shows the remaining battery power, the cellular connection type, the data connection (on/off), and WiFi connection. The second page comes with a feature to wake screen on wrist raise, notifications, SOS, and flight mode. The third page contains other four icons to set a vibration, sound off, and a normal ringing. There is also an icon to display your running apps, Bluetooth, and overall display brightness/sleep time.Swipe up to access up to 7 functions. As we are dealing with a sports watch, there are fitness apps for all purposes: Compass/Sleep Monitor/Pedometer/Heart Rate/Weather/Air pressure/Altitude.A right swipe will bring everything on fitness including Walking, Outdoor run, Indoor run, Mountain climbing, Cross country, Half Marathon, Full Marathon, Ride, Sports History, and Sports Settings.Swipe left to enter the menu. There is Clock (Stopwatch, Alarm, and Timer), Communication (Phone, Messaging, and Contacts), Browser, Tools (Calculator and Calendar), Style (change the way it displays the icons), Watch management (Download and File manager, Audio Center (Sound record and Music), Multimedia (Gallery and Videos), Play store to download other compatible apps, etc. One of the most noteworthy features is the USB Tethering that turns your smartwatch into a Wi-Fi modem that provides Wi-Fi connectivity via a USB cable.ConclusionThe Maze Alpha X is the most promising bezel-less phone Ive used to date. Good battery life, well optimized software, and a great screen are still let down by one critical part of the phone that many other Chinese companies also fail to get right.Maze Alpha X ReviewMaze is a very new company and their very first phone (Maze Blade) had massive bezels and a mirror like finish, their second phone (Maze Alpha) was quite a good device, and now they are trying their luck with the Maze Alpha X. The phone isnt packed to the brim with great specifications, Maze has chosen instead to use midrange parts in the phone, Helio P25 processor, 6GB of RAM, and a 3900mAh battery. Will this phone be an even bigger hit than the older Maze Alpha? Spoiler alert: It wont, but what part of the phone is the huge letdown?So Close to PerfectMaze Alpha X SpecificationsProcessorMTK6757 Helio P25 Octacore ProcessorDisplay6.0 2160×1080 IPS LCDRAM6GBStorage64GB eMMCOperating SystemAndroid 7.0 NougatCameras13MP Camera, 5MP FrontBattery3,900mAhPhysical Dimensions15.64 x 7.46 x 0.81 cm, 209gBig thanks to Gearbest for providing this review unit.Maze Alpha X HardwareJust like the older Maze Alpha, the Maze Alpha X has a glass front, a glass back, and a metal band running around it. To be honest I really dont like glass phones anymore because they are not only slippery but they are fragile as well, its so easy to crack the glass back on this phone. There isnt even a case included for this phone either so you have to get your own. Something else to note is that this phone is very heavy most likely because of the glass front and back and the metal band, definitely not the lightest phone out there.The bezels on the front of the phone are respectable, there are some very decently small side bezels and an OK top bezel, and the bottom bezel is surprisingly small, its definitely not as big as the older Maze Alpha, the bottom bezel contains the fingerprint sensor and the selfie camera that does take photos up your nose, but it doesnt affect me too much.There is one weird issue, the USB-C port is deep enough that about 30% of my USB-C cables dont work, but the other 70% longer cables work. I think the port here is a tad deep. The USB-C cable included in the box does work nicely though.Well Built, but glass though…Maze Alpha X DisplayThe display on the Maze Alpha X is a 2160×1080 resolution on a 6 display and the screen is quite gorgeous. It is a great LCD display that is very crisp and pretty to look at. If you have some nice colourful photos like Ive got here, you can see how saturated and deep the colours are and the photos just look amazing. The display does look a bit dramatic compared to other phones, to explain a bit more I mean that the display has that dark, thunderstorm dramatic kind of look that is not present in other devices.The maximum brightness hits about 450-500 nits which is good enough so that you can see it in bright sunlight, but its still not as visible as AMOLED displays.Finally, the touchscreen is Gorilla Glass 5 and the back glass is Gorilla Glass 4 which means you dont need to worry about it scratching, but you do need to worry about it smashing.Maze Alpha X AudioThe Maze Alpha X has decent audio, the maximum volume with the volume enhancer off is pretty average, its definitely not loud enough to listen to in super loud environments. Although there is a lack of bass as with many other Chinese phones, I found the speaker to be more than adequate for most users.Maze Alpha X BatteryNow battery life, after using the Ulefone Power 3 and the Vernee X, I have to readjust my perspective on battery life again. The Maze Alpha X was able to get around 5 hours of screen on time over 3 days of standby, I have to say that the standby battery life is very good most of the time, I lost 3% overnight, however if you left a few apps open without killing the process (Antutu, Asphalt, Viki/Rakuten) I lost 3% in an hour. So far Ive only encountered massive standby battery drain with the three apps mentioned above, any other app left open doesnt drain battery like this. My use was moderate to heavy use, some Reddit, taking photos, Youtube, gaming, and benchmarks, this was definitely a good mix of use so its pretty representative of the use you might get, might be a bit more or less depending on how strong the cell towers are around you. I would say 7-8 hours of screen on time is definitely pretty possible on this phone, however dont forget the original Maze Alpha with the same battery, processor and bigger screen could get 9-10 hours easily, so more software optimization is needed.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramBatterys not badMaze Alpha X Software & PerformanceMaze did an excellent job optimizing the software, its super fluid and smooth, and when navigating the UI its actually in some cases faster and smoother than any of my Xiaomi MIUI phones and almost on par with the Xiaomi Mi A1. Its so nice to be able to navigate the phone so effortlessly and fluidly with no stutters. There are virtual buttons that you can hide, and you can actually use the phone without virtual buttons, short tap on the home button is back, and long press is home. However, this is where my first issue comes in. The home button is not responsive at all, you have to tap very hard on the button to get any sort of feedback which makes the experience so much worse.Launching apps is fairly quick, keeping up with the most well optimized Helio P20 series chips and sometimes beating them, this Maze Alpha X creeps close to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 in terms of app launching speeds which is a testament to Mazes software optimization. Multi-tasking is great as there is plenty of RAM to go around.Gaming wasnt a problem either, I could play many intense games like Asphalt Rally Racing, Mortal Kombat, and Modern Combat (by the way, did the game NOVA disappear from the Play Store?) without slowdowns. Graphic settings had to be turned down in a couple of games but FPS stayed steady.The fingerprint sensor is accurate but fairly slow, it looks like Maze didnt spend a lot of time optimizing or carefully selecting a good fingerprint sensor, seeing how its slow and unresponsive.Maze Alpha X ConnectivityLTE reception was average and so was the speed. I didnt see anything outstanding with the radio performance here. WiFi reception was average also, with speeds dropping off noticeably (but not significantly) once I moved about 30 feet away from my router. Bluetooth works fine, and GPS was slow to lock and jumped around a bit.Maze Alpha X CameraThe camera on the Maze Alpha X is not great. Maze actually did a decent job hiding the copious amounts of noise if you dont zoom in too far, but you still see it under certain conditions. In great lighting conditions the noise is fairly well hidden from the naked eye, especially on the phone screen. Place it on a 24 monitor and you have to look closely to see the noise. However, once the sun disappears in any way, shape or form, Maze cant stop the noise from taking over the photos. You can see the noise easily on a computer screen and it gets exponentially worse as lighting gets darker.However, with all that being said, I was able to take one absolutely great photo of my dog in overcast conditions, lots of detail, great colour reproduction, and nice contrast. However, the background is still quite noisy. This leads me to believe that the cameras problem is software, not hardware, since I was able to take such a great photo.The front facing camera is average here. Video quality maxes out at 1080p and it suffers from the same problem the photos do, the noise. Its very visible if lighting is not absolutely optimum.Maze Alpha X Camera Gallery Maze Alpha X VerdictMaze nailed every aspect of the Alpha X except for the camera. My dislike of the phone material (glass) is personal opinion and there are many who love it, the display, battery life, and performance are all great, but the camera is very weak. However, I am led to believe that the problem is software since I was able to take one good photo. However at this point, the Maze Alpha X is a no go, and I do not recommend you buy it over the Ulefone Power 3. However, as always, check out the Redmi 5 Plus before you do anything as that still represents the best value to performance of any midrange device. Buy the Maze Alpha X

The Ulefone Power 3 is a pretty good phone after Ulefone updated the camera, and the Vernee X is a direct competitor, however can it top the Ulefone Power 3?Vernee X ReviewThe Vernee X is a big battery MTK phone just like the Ulefone Power 3, it has the Helio P23 processor, 6GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, and of course the massive 6200mAh battery. The Vernee X and Ulefone Power 3 are close enough in terms of performance and usage that either phone could win by a very narrow margin, let’s see if the Vernee X is worth it.Vernee’s Big Battery PhoneVernee X SpecificationsProcessorMTK6763 Helio P23 Octacore ProcessorDisplay6.0 2160×1080 IPS LCDRAM6GBStorage128GB eMMCOperating SystemAndroid 7.0 NougatCameras13MP Camera, 5MP FrontBattery6,200mAhPhysical Dimensions15.90 x 7.56 x 0.99 cm, 199gBig thanks to Gearbest for providing this review unit.Vernee X HardwareSo the phone feels very nice, in my opinion it feels a lot nicer than the Ulefone Power 3 even though both phones are made of metal. The Ulefone Power 3 has a much smoother metal back than the Vernee X, which has a very nice matte metal back and I really like the feel of the Vernee X better than the Ulefone Power 3. However, the Vernee X is the exact same size as the Ulefone Power 3, which does mean that the phone is fairly thick at 9.8mm but Vernee has curved the sides of the phone so that the phone feels thinner than it really is.Lets turn our attention to the front of the phone, when you turn the screen on, you see that there are side and top bezels. The top and bottom bezels are fairly small, theres definitely not enough room on the bottom for a fingerprint sensor or even capacitive buttons, and the top bezel is big enough for cameras, microphones etc. The side bezels though are bigger than you think, if you measure the distance of the glass from the metal to the edge of the phone, its actually quite small, however the phone continues curving outward so the bezels are bigger than they look. That being said though, these are still very small bezels for such a big phone with a huge battery.1 downside, this phone does not have a headphone jack, you have to use the included headphone to USB-C adapter to listen to music, unless you move to Bluetooth which thankfully works well. 1 upside is the included case, it is higher quality with a bumper on each corner which means you dont have to buy another case to replace this.All in all, the Vernee X has excellent build quality but it is a bit big to use in just 1 hand.Looks nice for the priceVernee X DisplayThe display on the Vernee X is a 2160×1080 resolution on a 6 display and the screen looks quite nice. Text and news articles are super crisp when you read them on the screen, and the colours are very deep and saturated, these photos look quite stunning on the Vernee X. I will say that immediately after using the Ulefone Power 3, the screen on the Vernee is a bit warmer than the Ulefone Power 3, and I do prefer cooler screens for myself personally, but this screen does look nice. Maximum brightness tops out at 400-450 nits which is adequate but not in bright sunlight, you are not going to be able to see the screen if the sun is too bright. The one downside of this display is the lack of Gorilla Glass, there isnt any mention of protective glass on the display at all.Vernee X AudioThe Vernee X has decent audio, the maximum volume with the volume enhancer off is pretty average, its definitely not loud enough to listen to in super loud environments, which actually is more important now that there is no headphone jack, but if you are not in the middle of a highway you can hear it pretty well. Audio quality is definitely decent, I really like the clarity and separation between tones coming from the speaker, however I do think that the speaker still lacks bass, it doesnt lack a lot of bass, but more would have been better.Vernee X BatteryLets talk about battery life quickly, I could get 7 hours of screen on time with 20% left, and the phone was on for almost 85 hours which is quite amazing, this was heavy use including Youtube, games, and benchmarks among other things. in fact I think the standby battery drain on the Vernee X might be slightly better than the Ulefone Power 3. That being said, battery life on this phone is so good that even if the Ulefone Power 3 is a little bit worse, doesnt really make that big a difference. It took me about 4 hours to fully charge the phone up.Batterys AmazingVernee X Software & PerformanceLets talk about the software, it runs Android 7.0 with no promises from Vernee to update to Android 8.0 Oreo anytime soon. The software optimization is good in some places and bad in other places. For example, swiping between home screens and accessing the notification center are all super fast and fluid, no problems at all. However, accessing the app drawer either by swiping or tapping on the button is quite slow, very noticeable when you want to go to the app drawer. This is very weird because everything is well optimized, except for that. Hopefully Vernee fixes it in the near future.The Helio P23 processor does a decent job at launching apps, but its still slightly slower than the Snapdragon 625 in the Xiaomi devices, but on par with other Helio P20 and Helio P23 devices like the UMiDiGI Z1 Pro and the Ulefone Power 3. Its still slower than the Maze Alpha X though. There is also a massive 128GB of storage that is pretty rare on cheap phones like these, Im usually cool with 64GB of storage, but my phone is filling up with movies and TV shows so 128GB would be appreciated. Multitasking is great with 6GB of RAM, no problems there.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramI could play pretty much anything on lower settings and there isnt much lag.The fingerprint sensor is pretty accurate but its not that fast, Im used to a lightning fast fingerprint sensor on my Xiaomi so this feels really sluggish by comparison. There is also face unlock that works well but I dont use it that much.Vernee X ConnectivitySo the Helio P23 supports VoLTE and ViLTE, but unfortunately my carrier doesnt so I couldnt test it, however I was able to get 4G LTE on my carrier in Canada and speeds are blazing fast, reception is decent also. WiFi reception is average, I do get slower speeds as I go farther away from the router but it doesnt drop like a stone like other phones. Bluetooth works, and GPS is slow to get a lock and it is fairly accurate, it does jump around a few times during navigation but its not frequent.Vernee X CameraSo I have to say that the Vernee X has so much potential, but the camera software and optimization is even worse than the Ulefone Power 3.The Vernee X can take some great photos even in unfavorable lighting conditions, this was a very overcast and cloudy day and you can see that the photo quality is actually pretty decent. if you get some OK lighting, the pictures come out very nicely and are almost on par with the Vernee Mars Pro which are honestly decent pictures and the also better than the Ulefone Power 3 even after Ulefone fixed the camera can’t take that good photos.I gotta say that Vernee did an amazing job with the HDR here. Here’s an example of a landscape, it basically brightens up the dark spot on the map while leaving everything else more or less untouched. there is one weird thing with HDR, it makes my dog look like its a photo with the Borderlands cell shaded style of artwork. Its not ugly per say, but I’m sure there will be some people who won’t like it.Low light performance is also not that bad, i was really surprised. This picture would be full of noise on other phones but here its not too noisy. There is still noise but its not that bad.However, the Vernee X has some really big problems with the software that they need to fix ASAP. autofocus takes 5 seconds before it finally focuses on something, and I’ve missed many good shots of my dog because it took forever to focus.And the another problem with the Vernee X is the front camera. First of all, the front camera can only record in 640×480 which is worse than webcams, and second, the audio and video is out of sync. The front camera software is obviously not finished and Vernee needs to fix it ASAP.Video quality is decent, there is some detail at 1080p, but autofocus again is an issue, and there is occasional hunting once you do get into focus, but its nowhere nearly as bad as the Redmi 5 Plus’ hunting around. I’m disappointed there’s no 4K support here, as the hardware is all there, all Vernee and other companies like Ulefone have to do is enable 4K support.Vernee X Camera Gallery Vernee X VerdictVernee was this close to me outright recommending this phone over the Ulefone Power 3. Its better in terms of build quality (feels a lot nicer), software is faster in general (minus the weird app drawer bug), and the camera can take great photos. However, it is let down by the app drawer bug and unfinished camera software. I have no doubt Vernee will fix it, but will they fix it in time?So what are my recommendations? You currently have two options, the Ulefone Power 3 and the Vernee X and they are around the same price. Basically, I would say get the cheaper phone, buy whichever one is on sale. However, if they are both the same price I have a different recommendation. If you cannot wait and need a phone right now, get the Ulefone Power 3. It just works while the Vernee X still has problems with the camera software. If you are able to wait, sit tight and look for news on the updates for the Vernee Xs software, and when its fixed, check the prices again and if they are the same and the Vernee X will be the better buy because it has a higher ceiling on photo quality. Buy the Vernee XRugged phones are a special category of smartphones built to fulfill the needs of professionals that work outdoors in harsh conditions and are in need of a capable device in their pocket. Their use has been advertised around thus making them an ideal solution for people that like outdoor sports or camping, work in harsh – mainly for mobiles – weather conditions or being in the military. Most of them are cheap when you compare them to the high end flagships but still remain expensive when compared to other Chinese smartphones in the market. A lot of OEM have entered the market at first with cheap products, later on with mobiles of higher quality and price. At this point companies are producing excellent rugged phones offering characteristics similar (or identical) to those found in flagship models. Blackview is one of these companies and they were kind enough to send us the BV9000 Pro, a powerful rugged phone with 5.7 inch 18:9 display and IP68 Certification.Blackview BV9000 Pro CharacteristicsOS:聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽Android 7.1CPU:聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Helio P25 MTK6757CD 64-bit octa-coreGPU:聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 ARM Mali-880-MP2 900MROM:聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 128GB, Support micro TF card up to 32GB extendedRAM:聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 6GB RAM LDDR4Display: 聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 5.7″ IPS, HD+ 720X1440 pixels, 280PPIFront Camera: 8.0MPBack Camera: 13/5MP dual camera, 1080P video recordingNetwork: 聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 GSM / WCDMA / FDD-LTEBands: 聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 2G: GSM 850/900/1800/1900, 3G: WCDMA:900/2100, 4G: FDD:B1/B3/B7/B8/B20SIM:聽聽聽 聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 2*Nano SIM Cards, Dual standbyBluetooth:聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 4.2Battery: 聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 4180mAh (Non-removable)Extras: 聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 GPS,聽聽 G-sensor, P-sensor, L-sensor, Radio Tuner, Fast Charger 12V2ASize:聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 16.2 X 8.1 X 1.34 cmWeigh: 聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 253gBasic packageWhen you first buy the device, you will find it inside a white hard paper box with the band name, the characteristics and a Designed in Italy, Made by Blackview logo. The box has dimensions 19.5 X 19.5 X 4 cm and weights 675 grams. Inside you will find:1 X Blackview BV9000 Pro in Black-Grey colour1 X Power adapter (European type)1 X USB cable1 X SIM card eject tool1 X Screen protector1 X Earphone1 X Earphone cable USB C – Micro USB1 X OTG cable1 X USB C – Micro USB Adapter1 X Manual in English, Russian, Spanish, German and French1 X Safety ringThat is the most complete package you will see in the market! The earphones, the safety ring and the USB-C to microUSB adapter are usually sold as extras to increase the small profit made from smartphones these days in China. All the accessories are in white colour.DesignThe first impression we had from this mobile phone is that it could be a piece missing from… the Batmobile or a Transformers figure. Most rugged phones are usually “ugly”, leaving design in the last place of their priorities. This is NOT the case with BV9000 Pro as the phone looks quite impressive and boasts quality. I guess… the Italian design did its thing here and I personally like it. The materials are made to withstand and you will find polycarbonate rubber “hugging” the phone thus protecting it, especially in the corners, a part that can easily crack during accidents or accidental drops, transferring the brute force on the display, breaking it as well. For a phone shielded in rubber it has similar dimensions to a 5.5 inch phone, sized at 16.2 X 8.1 X 1.34 cm, but a bit heavier at 253 grams. The device is available in 3 different variants, black-silver, black-grey and black-gold (looks like rose-gold), but the phone we had during the test was the black-grey one and -in my opinion- possibly the best color choice out of the three.The front has a 5.7 inch, 18:9 aspect ratio display, covered with Corning Gorilla Glass 5. An extra protective film is applied upon. The phone is not bezel-less but the screen manages to cover 90% of the front. There is no physical button in the lower bezel and a very small hole on the left side hides the microphone.The frame is made from aluminium and magnesium and is also protected by rubber in some parts, exposing only the middle part of each side, with screws that are visible as a design aspect. It looks industrial and good indeed. The right side has four metallic buttons: volume rocker, the power/lock button and a special key. The special key can be customized from the software to do various things or do nothing. The top frame has a water resistant cover for the SIM tray and we can find a similar cover at the lower frame protecting the USB-C charging slot. Due to the width of the rubber cover the USB-C cable has a long tip, longer than usual cables – in order to reach it. In case you forgot your charger and charging cable, other USB-C charging cables wont do the job.The back of the phone has an industrial – military design that looks nice with screws, the camera installation and the company logo available in plain sight. The 2 main cameras are positioned vertically in the top center with the LED flash on the right side and the fingerprint sensor just below – inside a metallic octagonal installation with four visible screws on each side. It looks great. Small letters on the left side of the cameras describe the two sensors.The disadvantage of gathering them all in a single part of the phone is that my finger touches the camera lenses when trying to locate the sensor. It takes some time to learn to search for the sensor so you should be ready to deal with some smudges on the camera lens, as it will take some time to find the correct way in order to reach the sensor. But let’s not focus on the bad side, there are advantages for those using this fingerprint sensor, as it can be used even we have聽wet hands!The lower part of the back panel has the brand in a silver texture with angled lines engraved on it. Under it with small black letters one can read: Designed by Blackview Assembled in China. Blackview is a Hong Kong company and probably wants you to notice that. The brand and the logo exist on another metallic installation with no screws this time. Under it you can find the world “Waterproof” written in the rubber along with six vertical lines on the sides of it.As everyone can expect from a truly rugged phone, the BV9000 Pro comes with full聽IP68 Certification, offering聽complete protection against dust and humidity. It can be immersed up to a maximum depth of 1.5m underwater for up to thirty minutes. The phone is also聽shock-proof and the screen is protected from scratches by the Corning Gorilla Glass 5. It can also withstand heat and cold in extreme conditions.There is a lot of details and a lot of work done on the exterior of the smartphone and i can only say good words for it.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramHardwareThe 5,7 inch 18:9 display is the main selling point of Blackview BV9000 Pro. It has a HD+ resolution (1440 X 720) that covers almost 90% of the front side. It can depict 16.7 million colors with a relatively poor PPI (280). However the display is bright and vivid and comes with a really high contrast. However, we have to admit that its聽resolution could be better – even though this isn’t one of the absolutely necessary features of a rugged phone.This rugged smartphone comes with an MTK6757CD chipset, also known as Helio P25. It packs an 8-core processor built on the 16nm process technology. It has 4 Cortex A53 cores working at frequency of 2.6GHz and 4 similar cores working at 1.6Ghz. It is accompanied by a dual core Mali-T880 MP2 GPU working at 900MHz. The processor is found on most middle category phones and is quite reliable, having no issues. Blackview added a whooping 6GB LPDDR4X RAM and 128GB of internal storage, that can also be expanded with a maximum of 128GB microSD card. It supports dual SIM functionality with two micro-SIMs or a micro-SIM and the aforementioned micorSD card. It also supports 4G: FDD-LTE Band 1 (2100MHz), Band 3 (1800MHz), Band 7 (2600MHz), Band 8 (900MHz), Band 20 (800MHz), 3G: WCDMA Band 1 (2100MHz), Band 8 (900MHz) and 2G: GSM Band 2 (1900MHz), Band 3 (1800MHz), Band 5 (850MHz), Band 8 (900MHz). The smartphone comes with a whole lot of sensors, such as聽NFC, Rotation Vector, Gyroscope, Geomagnetic, Proximity, Light, Gravity, Acceleration, Liner Acceleration and Direction Sensors. Bluetooth has the 4.2 Specification. Navigation supports GPS, A-GPS and Glonass,聽working fine with all the satellites being found fast and having a good precision.Compass works flawlessly as well, along with full Wifi 802.11 a/b/g/n, 2.4G/5GHz Dual-band and WiFi Hotspot support.聽Call quality is excellent and video calls are good without any issues.SoftwareThe operating system found in the smartphone is based on Android 7.1.1 but it’s not “vanilla” Android. It’s the typical Blackview – pimped ROM, that has been modified by the Chinese manufacturer in certain features. After setting up the account – a normal procedure for all phones – the user sees a blacked out skin, with metal looking icons in all system apps. Notification screen and settings are also skinned. The black look is nice and suits the external industrial look.Notification bar has all the available options someone could ask for. Except from the usual ones found in pure Android Nougat, one can find Eye protection – a functionality that dims the screen to filter blue light, QRcode – opens a qrcode scanner, and Screen Record – records the screen when touched, adding a red circle in the screen that has to be touched to stop the recording.More options exist when setting up the bar: Hotspot, Invert colors, Data saver, and Cast. When the user adds Developer Options in the Notification setup the user can also see Android Easter Egg, Show layout bounds, Profile GPU rendering and Nearby (Google Play services).Long pressing the display in the Home screen reveals the usual menu that allows access to the Wallpapers, Widgets and Settings options. Selecting the Wallpapers we see a Blackview app with options for Themes, Lock and Desktop wallpapers. Themes has only the metallic look and there is no option to download more like in Xiaomis MIUI.The device has 4 soft-keys: menu, back and home, along with the special “down” arrow symbol on the left, that’s used to remove the row from the screen. This full view is useful when in need of a larger screen and a gesture from the lower bezel up brings back the row.Inside the app launcher, you will find all the pre-installed applications from Google, along with some added from Blackview, such as Browser, a Compass, ETWS (presents alerts and has many options to show these alerts by voice, vibration and sound), a File Manager, a typical FM Radio receiver, Music, Sound Recorder, Torch and System Manager. System Manager has a menu where the user can set a Power Manager, clean Rubbish, Freeze apps, Autoboot apps, Lock apps and Auto clean. There is no bloatware, which is a nice differentiation from other Chinese ROMs. Next are the Display, Notifications, Sound, Apps, Storage, Battery and Memory. Blackview has added some touches here. Sound has an audio enhancement option that can boost the speaker volume. Battery has a Standby intelligent power saving along with Performance and power saving options. The latter has Sports and Normal mode.聽 Memory has a Background auto clean memory option that cleans up the memory a few seconds after the display turns off.There are also a lot of gesture, usability options such as:Gesture – has a single option to double click the power button to open the cameraFull Screen mode – selects the applications the can open in full screenSOS call – has settings for a SOS function as to activate calls/sms/flash for helpGesture motion – it enables multiple operations using gestures on the displayGesture Unlock – similar option to the aboveOne-handed mode – enables a smaller UI by sliding sideways on the bottom of the screenFast Capture – uses the volume buttons to fast capture screenshots or videoSplit Screen – a help screen on how to enable split screen on NougatQRCode Scan – a simple barcode scannerSmart Key – provides options for the Special Key by using one, double and long press. The options are No operation, Off screen snapshot, Start Sound recording, Open flashlight, Screenshots, Open PPT and Open SOS. (A reminder here: dont set it as an alarm when in house, office or public transportation – alarms are not funny for most people).My impressions are excellent from using the software. It is fast, it can handle multitasking and I just loved all the options provided by the BV9000 Pro. Well done Blackview!CameraThe monstrous BV9000 Pro has a really decent camera, one that allows for impressive photos during daylight, really adequate shots during night and the same goes for the videos (recorded in 3gp format). The double camera setup in the back consists of a 13MP, OV13855 main shooter and a 5MP S5K5E2 secondary telephoto lens specially-tuned for low-light conditions in a mode Blackview calls Super Night Shooting. The main camera has f / 2.0 aperture and the secondary f / 2.2. A dual LED flash helps in low light shots. The selfie shooter has a resolution of聽8MP (Sony IMX219 or Samsung S5K4H8) having an aperture of f /2.2.[flickr_set id=”72157692089333185″]The camera application is feature rich. It provides Video, Photo, Aperture, Beauty, Pan(orama), Mono(chrome) and Pro mode. It is slow when you want to move from mode to mode but if you manage to get over this drawback, it does a proper job.Each mode has its own settings. For example, if you want to shoot video, there are options for Scene mode (night, sunset, portrait, night portrait, etc), Video quality (set as FHD but 4K also exists), location, shutter sound etc.I used the aperture mode a lot. Most budget smartphones with a double camera setup create a bokeh effect using the software and blurring the background around the main object. The aperture mode here does a real job focusing and blurring the background having a setting to open-close the cameras aperture. I really enjoyed it and is one of the best portrait/bokeh setups I have seen.聽Pro mode has options to alter the white balance, ISO, focus and light. People that like to take manual pictures will appreciate the setup.Photo mode has also a filter selection like Sepia, Mon, Negative, and a typical HDR mode.Selfies have only Video, Photo, Beauty and Mono modes. The main object here is well presented but the surroundings look like it is wider and closer to the screen. It is like looking at a mirror whose angles are closer to you shaped like the inside of a spoon. The image is clear but my head looked very small over a huge chest. Some people might like this setup, but I am not one of them.BatteryBV 9000 Pro packs a Li-Pol, non-removable, 4180 mAh battery. It is a standard battery these days for a 5.5-6 inch display smartphone, and it can surely last more than 24 hours, even if you’re a heavy duty user. If you decide to go easy on the device, then you might get up to 2 days of usage before the battery level reaches 0%.There’s no need to feel bad about it however, as the device comes with聽12V/2A fast charging charger, that is able to charge the phone in -roughly- one hour, heating up at the same time the back panel of the device.Using the OTG cable you can also charge any other electronic device something very helpful when you are working or having fun outdoors.ConclusionThis is an excellent rugged phone that offers great protection, a nice modern-looking display, equipped with a聽good set of cameras. The processor, the 6GB RAM and 128GB of ROM offer a smooth everyday experience without any issues in multitasking or heavy gaming. Battery is good and the huge internal storage offers many choices in time spending when no WiFi or data connection exists.I enjoyed the many features of the UI, especially the camera application. Don’t forget that it’s a true rugged smartphone, offering an FM radio, a compass, GPS navigation, an alarm receiver and an alarm sender. It comes pre-installed with all the necessary “goodies” from Google and Blackview has added anything missing like an extra browser, a file manager, a more versatile music player, a system manager application etc.I have to admit that Blackview’s flagship model provides almost everything one would expect from a mid-range, rugged smartphone – giving a lot of credits to its聽durability, IP68 certification and sturdiness!

PISEN is once again back here with us, and this time they chose something much more portable, nice looking and… quite impressive! Meet PISEN LED Color Power II 10000 mAh, one of the smallest and lightest 10000 mAh power banks out there – and yes, it has the digital display we all loved from previous models.PISEN has a significant history in this market segment, as they managed to become a smart聽technology provider with leading global sales to over 200 million customers. For more than ten years, Pisen, known for its stable performance and user-friendly designs, has provided satisfying products for customers from 35 countries and recently they were kind enough to send us their elegant, slim power bank, known as LED Color Power II 10000 mAh that can be found available at a price of just聽23.99$.So, how did it go – apart from being a great addition to our Christmas decorations in the house, due to its bright China Red color? Let’s see!PISEN LED Color Power II 10000 mAh power bank – Technical SpecsColor: China RedWeight:聽251gCharging time:聽6~8hours with 5V-2A chargerBattery Capacity(mAh):聽5000 x 2Battery type:聽Li-polymer BatteryCapacity:聽10000mAhDimension:聽154x74x13mmOutput:聽5V=2.4A (MAX)Input聽:聽5V==2AMain featuresHigh-density lithium polymer batteries, Dual USB output.USB smart-control and charging/discharging chips, multi-layer circuit chip protection.Aluminum metal case, CNC machining and sandblasting technology ensure impeccable smoothness.With up to 2A fast charging, it intelligently adjusts power output to safely charge each connected device.Impressive capacity at a minimal sizeIts main feature is the 10,000mAh capacity, that can provide enough charging power to fully charge one iPhone 7 for almost 3 times, a Galaxy S8 flagship for more than 2 times, with fast charging support were needed.In contrast to what one would expect from such a heavy duty power bank, this聽LED Color Power II model is very easy to carry around, placing it easily inside your back pack, a suitcase, or a pocket if you must. It weighs approximately 251 gr and it’s made out of aluminum and some parts plastic. As I normally do with all my power banks (yes, I get a lot) I place them inside聽my back pack, that has an external USB port for direct charging my phone – when necessary- and this way it’s not causing any issues when travelling or walking in the city.During the holidays I used it once during a Xmas walk in the country side, placing it inside my jacket’s pocket. I have to say that it didn’t bother me at all, and I still had all the energy I need during the day.DUAL USB OUTPUTThis is something that can surely be a “lifesaver” in case of… need. It comes with Dual USB Ports (2A+1A Output), that are able to detect your device intelligently and deliver the optimal charging (Up to 2,4A Max).聽Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramThis means that if your phone supports charging up to 1A/1.5A then the聽PISEN LED Color Power II 10000mAh聽will regulate the current in order to charge the phone safely. If on the other hand there’s a device that can withstand up to 2,4A (MAX) of charging, then you will get the full charging power of the device.LCD DIGITAL DISPLAYYepp, this is a feature I really enjoyed using. The PISEN LED Color Power II 10000 mAh power bank comes with a simple LCD display, that聽shows you the remaining power in percentage – 1% accuracy minimum. You just charge it up to 100% and then you can have a decent estimate each time on how much “juice” is left inside after each charging procedure.To activate the LCD display you just have to press the power button on the side for 2 seconds. Don’t worry about energy consumption, as the back-light goes out in 15 Seconds to save energy.easy to use display, with 1% accuracyCHARGE & DISCHARGE SWITCHSo how do we turn the juice on? Juts connect the power station with your device and power supply simultaneously with the micro USB cable provided (if your phone supports it) or your own cable (Lightning or USB Type-C). When you’re done, long press the power button for 2 seconds to switch the charging & discharging mode freely.That’s all, the charging procedure will begin 馃檪COOL UNDER PRESSUREThe battery pack uses exclusive technology developed by Pisen engineers to control its temperature when charging. If high temperatures are detected then it automatically modifies power output to reduce heat. It also has a security feature that can spot any short-circuits and cut-off charging procedure for protection.聽According to the manufacturer, the PISEN LED Color Power II 10000 mAh battery charger provides over-charge, over-discharge, over-heat, over-voltage, over-current and short circuit protection. This means that in any given situation you will be protected if something might go wrong with a cable, an over-charge of your smartphone/tablet or just a mishap.Our opinionWith a starting price tag of just 23.99$聽this super slim 10000 mAh power bank from Pisen proved to be decent for its money’s worth, fulfilling completely all my charging needs for my smartphone and my ultrabook with one single charge.It takes quite sometime to charge it with a 2A charger (6-7 hours per average) but then you will be able to use it for several days with no issues. It offers impressive performance in everyday use, quite good quality build (with super-slim aluminum design) and you can find it available in three colors: gold, silver and red.You can buy the PISEN LED Color Power II 10000 mAh power bank here.In my mind, new upstarts in the smartphone market are doomed to fail or at the very best fade into obscurity. However, I鈥檓 surprised again and again, and this time by Meiigoo, a new company that has released a Galaxy S8 clone, and now have released one based on the Note 8, unsurprisingly named the 鈥淢eiigoo Note 8鈥?Meiigoo Note 8 ReviewThe Meiigoo Note 8 is a low end budget device with the looks of a Samsung Galaxy phone with minimal bezels. However, it contains the older and slower MTK6750 processor that while still respectable, shouldn鈥檛 be found in a phone like this, especially when you consider the price. Starting at $210USD without discounts, that鈥檚 an incredibly hefty price to pay for such old hardware, and this point is made particularly visible when you have a Redmi Note 4 for $170 or a Lenovo P2 for $200 (both Snapdragon 625 phones). Its currently on flash sale at Gearbest for about $160USD, a more respectable price, but one that still doesn鈥檛 scream 鈥渧alue for money鈥?Meiigoo’s second cloneMeiigoo Note 8 SpecificationsProcessorMTK6750T Octa CoreDisplay5.99鈥 2160×1080 FHD Incell IPS LCDRAM4GBStorage64GB eMMCOperating SystemAndroid 7.0 NougatCameras13MP Camera, 5MP FrontBattery3.300mAhPhysical Dimensions15.93 x 7.58 x 0.83 cm, 188gBig thanks to Gearbest for providing this review unit.Meiigoo Note 8 HardwareThere鈥檚 good and bad to be found in the Meiigoo Note 8 here. The good is that the phone is built quite rigidly, it feels fairly durable even though it has an incredibly fingerprinty glossy plastic back.And now the bad, the side bezels are not small, especially for one that touts to be a Galaxy Note 8 clone. If you are looking for a thin bezelled phone, I would point you instead to the Koolnee K1 which stands as a great example of how Chinese companies can and should reduce bezels, as the Koolnee K1 is one of the most bezelless Chinese phones I鈥檝e used (minus the Mi Mix of course).However, to put things into context, this is still a fairly compact phone when you compare this to a phone with less forward thinking industrial design such as the Redmi Note 4 or the Lenovo P2.Like all other 18:9 phones, this phone is fairly narrow, not as narrow as a 5鈥 phone, but close to what a slim 5.5鈥 phone offers. Its height is what makes the phone unwieldy, making it impossible to reach the entire screen with just one hand (unless you鈥檙e LeBron or Edward Scissorhands). I found it somewhat difficult to place in my pocket and sit at the same time as the long phone is capable of obstructing my sitting position just by virtue of its length. In that regard it feels just as bulky as a regular 16:9 6鈥 phone.The back of the phone houses the camera/fingerprint sensor in the same module that sticks out of the phone, and we have a USB-C connector at the bottom, something that should be the norm but is currently not!Decent build, big bezelsMeiigoo Note 8 DisplayMany people consider 2K to be somewhere along the lines of 2048×1536 or 2560×1440, but the technical definition of 2K is 2048×1080. This means that the Meiigoo Note 8 has a 2K In Cell display and this display looks good. Its one of the better IPS LCD displays I鈥檝e used in the past year, actually beating my Xiaomi Mi Note 3 (in terms of colour saturation) as this screen is very colourful, saturated, and contains a decent amount of contrast. The display also looks fairly sharp with roughly the same pixel density as a regular 1080p 16:9 display, which is more than enough for a 6鈥 display.The rest of the usual display stuff is average to fine, 400 nits of brightness, Gorilla Glass 3, and great touch response.Meiigoo Note 8 AudioThe speakers are average in pretty much all respects, first the volume is average, it doesn鈥檛 get too loud and does get drowned out if there is constant, loud noise. Audio quality is also average, its good enough for your basic use, average clarity, average treble, however bass never gets deep or booming enough.Meiigoo Note 8 BatteryWith a fairly small 3300mAh battery powering the older and more power hungry MTK6750 and a large 6鈥 display, I鈥檓 not expecting great battery life from this phone. Predictably, I got about 3.5 hours of screen on time before the battery meter hit 10%, consisting of web browsing, social media, and some Youtube and gaming.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramBattery enthusiasts, fanatics (aka me), and heavy users need not apply when it comes to this phone. Those with lighter everyday use won鈥檛 be disappointed here. Charging the phone takes about an hour and a half to two hours to charge.Average battery lifeMeiigoo Note 8 Software & PerformanceMany reviewers will include benchmark scores in their performance section, and while those can be an indication of how fast a phone is, my opinion is that the consumer cares most about how fast the phone feels in the interface itself because that is what you spend the most time in. The speed of navigating the phone is absolutely paramount, which is why software optimization is so important, regardless of what CPU your phone uses. The next most important thing would be the speed at which you are able to launch apps, close apps, and switch between apps, as a slight hitch is enough to give consumers pause.I鈥檓 glad to report that Meiigoo did an excellent job optimizing the interface, navigating the phone is silky smooth and feels very good. However, Meiigoo is bottlenecked when it comes to opening apps for the first time, as that is CPU dependent and the CPU is not very strong. You will see a slight pause when opening apps for the first time, but once its loaded into the RAM, it opens instantly the next time.The phone can still play the latest games on lowered settings for higher framerates.The fingerprint sensor on the back is actually fairly difficult to reach and once you do, its easy to get confused between the camera module and the fingerprint sensor. The speed and accuracy of the sensor are both average, about a 90% success rate and a slightly ponderous time period before a full unlock.Meiigoo Note 8 ConnectivityI鈥檓 quite glad to report that Meiigoo is quite strong in terms of connectivity. Where most companies are removing WCDMA network bands from their cell phones, Meiigoo has left 4 WCDMA bands in, meaning better 3G/3.5G reception in many places, especially USA and Canada.聽4G connectivity is also decent with 5 LTE network bands (as opposed to the usual 4) and I get very fast network speeds in the speedtest.WiFi and bluetooth reception are average though.GPS reception is a mixed bag, with GPS accuracy leaving more to be desired, I jumped around maybe 4-5 times during a 1 hour drive. This didn鈥檛 really challenge the directions given, but it was a bit disconcerting at times. This phone does support GLONASS, meaning all you Russians are covered with this phone.Meiigoo Note 8 CameraMoving on the camera, I’m fairly impressed with what I see. The camera can capture some good detail and colour saturation,聽 resulting in good photos in good lighting conditions, and what I was fairly impressed by was fast photography, you can capture fast moving objects without being completely horrible. However, there’s 3 areas where this camera fails, and first is HDR, this mode still washes photos out. The camera is still bad in low light, resulting in noisy and grainy photos, and third, the front facing camera is one of the worst cameras I’ve seen in a long time.Video quality is 1080p only, and its also fairly decent, some rare artifacting here and there but passable quality.Meiigoo Note 8 Camera Gallery Meiigoo Note 8 VerdictThe weakest parts of this phone are the camera and the battery, both of which could be potential dealbreakers for you if you are looking for a Galaxy clone. However, there is another issue, and that would be the size of the bezels. While the phone is fairly compact for the screen size, compare it to its namesake and you have large and unsightly bezels. This is a definitely 鈥渘o buy鈥 at $200 or over, and a tentative maybe at $160USD. Even at that price, I recommend the Koolnee K1, one of the best Samsung Galaxy S8 clones to date. Buy the Meiigoo Note 8

Bluboo S8 Plus has been launched for nearly a month and so far the reception is pretty good with the feedback focusing on the very refined design and some key aspects, which brought upgrades over its predecessor. The device is a direct (budget) competitor of the other Plus-sized full display smartphones in the market, equipped with decent technical specs that allow for an impressive performance – given its current price of course.As you can understand, Bluboo S8 Plus is one of those phones one has to be… ready to use, because its main feature is the similarity it bears to the original Galaxy S8 Plus model. But if you manage to go through this issue (like I did) then you won’t have any problem spotting its design, usability, the quite impressive quality and obviously its “Infinity style” display, with 18:9 aspect ratio and decent brightness during day time.At this time, the market seems to have a distinct interest in Plus sized devices, as the Galaxy S8 Plus and Galaxy Note 8 supersized smartphones are selling like crazy, so the Chinese OEM’s (like Bluboo) rush to take advantage of this period, by launching their own supersized models, equipped with far inferior specs but a quite affordable price that could surely work as a great incentive for all those of you out there who are on a tight budget. So how did this new model do during our time together?Let鈥檚 have a look at this Bluboo S8 Plus review.HUGE DISPLAY, IMPRESSIVE DESIGNBluboo S8 Plus 鈥 Technical specificationsDisplay: SHARP 6.0鈥 HD+ 18:9 full screenCPU: MTK6750T octa-core processorGPU: Mali-T860Camera: Dual Sony rear cameras 16.0MP+3.0MPMemory: 4GB of RAM, 64GB of ROM expandable up to 256GBBody: Zn-Ti alloy frameBattery: 3600mAH lithium-ion polymer battery & fast chargeSoftware: 360 OS 2.0Others: Type C 2.0 interfaceDimensions: 15 7mm x 74 mm x 9.6 mmWeight: 203.3gBluboo S8 Plus review: Design and general appearanceWith the Bluboo S8 Plus, the company includes a slew of paperwork, as you鈥檇 expect, along with a clear TPU Case. But what鈥檚 interesting here is that Bluboo includes two USB-A to USB-C cables, as well as two headphone dongles. This is really nice to have here, in case you lose one, you still have another you can use. There鈥檚 also the wall adapter, which is an EU adapter, for those thinking about importing this to the US.聽The overall design of the phone is quite attractive. It comes with a dual-curved back panel that fits well on the metal framed with a CNC crafting. Thanks to them the device fits greatly into the hand and provides a comfortable grip. As it happens with most phones with 鈥済lossy鈥 back, the device is a pure fingerprint 鈥渕agnet鈥? attracting a lot of unnecessary smudges, so you may end up polishing it with鈥 your clothes (or a tissue) all day.The device comes with a typical – for this market-segment – display (in size and resolution) and I don’t think a lot of you are going to be… excited. Yes it comes with a聽resolution that seems really low, coming in at just 1440 by 720 pixels. That鈥檚 basically HD+聽and not a resolution we鈥檝e really seen on many 18:9 devices this year. But it is here on the Bluboo S8 Plus, and it鈥檚 not as bad as it might sound, even when stretched across 6 inches. We鈥檙e unable to see individual pixels on this display, and it does still get very bright, almost too bright in some instances. But it also gets very dim, which is a bit surprising, since this is an IPS display, and usually those panels don鈥檛 have a huge scale for brightness.聽Unfortunately I cannot say that I was impressed by its color depiction, as it provides some washed out images – especially if聽you turn the brightness up, almost to max. Remember, this is an IPS panel, so the blacks aren鈥檛 that deep and actually look more gray than black. As long as you don鈥檛 keep it at max brightness all the time, though, it should be just fine. On the other hand it has聽an 18:9 aspect ratio. This means that you will get a full screen without anything interfering with your ability to see clearly. The glass is 2.5D and curved, which allows for better grip during everyday use.One of its unique selling points is its 18:9 full display, with really small bezels on top and bottom – that look really impressive, similar (NOT the same) to the ones the Galaxy S8 Plus flagship has. The one that makes the difference is the tiny top bezel which extends the display almost all the way to the top, leaving a rather small gap for the聽speaker and camera. There’s no home button placed in front. Instead you will find three on display keys on the lower side of the display, that work as planned and allow for complete operation of the device.At the back of the device you will find the fingerprint scanner, placed just below the dual camera – at a position where you can easily touch it with your pointing finger. The scanner proves to be quite decent for what it’s worth.聽 It can unlock the phone in less than 0.1 second with almost 98% success rate. It鈥檚 not the fastest fingerprint sensor in the world, but it is pretty accurate. It only failed to recognize my finger if I had it misaligned or in a different angle then when I set it up. So definitely not a deal breaker.聽The Bluboo S8 Plus (just like its smaller sibling) comes with a vertical dual camera – a setup聽pretty common in聽phones聽nowadays with the goal of helping you take better photos. There’s also a USB Type-C port placed at the bottom, along with speaker grilles. If you’re looking for a 3.5mm audio jack then you’re out of luck. The device however comes with a USB Type-C adaptor to 3.5mm audio jack if you want to use your regular headphones.聽Hardware & PerformanceThis is an area where the Bluboo S8 Plus offers acceptable performance. It comes equipped with an octa-core processor inside from MediaTek, which packs four cores clocked at 1.5GHz and four clocked at 1GHz. So it鈥檚 not going to be the fastest device running out the door, obviously, but it does perform above average I have to say. Note however that if you have quite a few apps open, you may see some lags occasionally – which is weird given the fact that the device comes with 4GB of RAM. Please, note that it isn鈥檛 always lagging or stuttering, but it does do it from time to time. It is no problem for an amateur/average user, but if you’re a pro then you may find it a bit annoying from time to time. Oh and if you鈥檙e into checking benchmark results, this Bluboo model scored 43280 points in AntuTu聽and had average GPS reception. I didn鈥檛 have any issues with GPS related apps but it uses only a handful of the available satellites every time. It could be connected to more I guess, in order to offer even better results when scanning for our location.聽Gaming performance on the S8 Plus is also decent. Don鈥檛 expect to play some heavy duty titles on this phone, that needs a lot of graphics power to get things done. Because it鈥檚 just not going to happen, unfortunately. So if you are looking for a phone that can do some great gaming, you may want to look elsewhere. Seeing as this is a $149 smartphone, you can鈥檛 expect it to outperform those that are $700, especially when it comes to gaming.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramIf you want to know about its battery聽life, then you’ll be pleased to know it can offer up to 5 hours of active display, which translates to almost a full day’s usage. So, on normal usage (reading emails, watching videos, surfing the Web, listening to music), I can easily get a day of usage for each charge. For聽streaming聽videos at full brightness and volume, it can last for 6 hours. Depending on your usage, it will have no problem lasting for a full day.Bluboo S8 Plus聽review: Android software and UI performanceThe device comes with its own 360 OS (based on Android 7.0.1) which is surprisingly solid, fast and easy to use. However the Android version it runs on is a bit old and also the security patch it comes with (July 5th, 2017) is old also. I聽did not receive any updates during the review process, but that isn鈥檛 all that surprising since I鈥檝e only been using the device for a short time. One thing I noticed is that you cannot really use another launcher, because there’s no way to place it as default. The system always reverts back to its own launcher every time you press the (virtual) Home button. I tried to change Permissions, to make it auto start after reboot, but nothing.聽In any case, the Android 7.0 gives you more control on the smartphone and also lets you customize the phone just like any other Nougat based device. Software on the Bluboo S8 Plus is pretty decent. It鈥檚 mostly stock Android 7.0, with some changes.聽The launcher does not have an app drawer, this is common on smartphones made for the Chinese market. Bluboo does have a rather interesting page to the left of the home screen though. This shows some of your recent apps at the top, highlights, and then 鈥淗ot News鈥? It almost appears to be its own version of Google Now. Many may wonder why Bluboo even opted to create something like this, but keep in mind that the S8 Plus is being sold in China, Google is banned in China, so this is a good alternative that actually works pretty well. Since we are using this in Europe, we are seeing a good number of Europe-based news and topics on this page.聽There are a few interesting apps installed on the Bluboo S8 Plus, one is called the Freezer. This app allows you to freeze apps, and keep them from running in the background, so you can save a bit more juice.聽There鈥檚 also Quick Touch, which allows you to have a floating button on the screen 鈥 which can be dragged around the display 鈥 and it gives you quick access to a number of different shortcuts, like settings, locking the phone, opening the camera, the alarm, calculator or just going home. You can also jump to a few settings here, like WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth, Airplane mode and mode. These are also customizable, should you want to change these up a bit. Bluboo also has an app called Clone, which sounds like it could be shady, but in actuality, it is an app that you can use to move all of your content from one phone to another. So it鈥檚 actually pretty useful if you don鈥檛 want to lose any data when upgrading to a new smartphone.聽Thankfully there is no bloatware but you will find some other unnecessary apps inside (that cannot be uninstalled). The device supports all the classic Nougat features and it also has a Themes support with 5 pre installed themes for us to use. I didn’t find a way to download more however.聽Software here on the Bluboo S8 Plus is not perfect, but it鈥檒l get the job done, for sure. It鈥檚 actually pretty speedy on this smartphone, aside from the occasional stutter which we talked about in the performance section. There鈥檚 also a ton of space for apps and games, since there is 64GB of storage available here.Dual camera/Selfie camera performanceI guess we all know by now that the Bluboo S8 Plus is equipped with a Sony dual camera setup at the back composed of a 16MP main snapper and a 3MP secondary one. The secondary sensor is used to collect object and distance data and is mainly used during 鈥渂lur鈥 modes, such as Portrait. The main sensor uses phase detection autofocus and has an aperture of F/2.0. On the front, we have an 8MP selfie snapper.[flickr_set id=”72157688622130402″]View more Bluboo S8+ camera samples here (Flickr)Its main (dual) camera does have a 鈥淏okeh鈥 mode, which is… well adequate. Basically the camera will select an area in the middle of the photo to keep in focus and blur the rest of the image. It doesn鈥檛 focus on an entire subject like other smartphones do. It can take decent photos, but they are generally whitewashed. Even with HDR mode, the quality of the photos is not any better. There鈥檚 only a few modes available on this camera, otherwise, it is pretty plain. You get a video mode, photo, Beauty, Face-Cute and then Bokeh. Missing here is a manual or professional mode, which is something that should be on every camera, as it allows you to really get a good image, even if the 鈥渁uto鈥 mode is not that great 鈥 as is the case with this phone鈥檚 camera.GOOD PHOTOS during daylight, but that’s allBluboo does also allow you to adjust the aperture, going all the way to f/0.8, which is actually the lowest we鈥檝e seen, since Huawei and Honor only drop down to f/0.95. It looks good at f/0.8, but it would be better if it kept an entire subject in focus instead of just a small area.Battery consumptionThe Bluboo S8 Plus is equipped with a 3600mAh battery that offers quite impressive stand by times – especially if you decide to use it wisely.聽 During the review period, we鈥檝e been able to get through a good day without it dipping below 50%. Even with heavy usage, it鈥檚 still tough to get it below 50% in a single day. With this smartphone, you can likely squeeze out a good 6-7 hours of screen on time, without even trying too hard. It鈥檚 pretty good. And part of that is due to the incredible standby this phone has. It can go overnight and still be at 95%.Unfortunately there’s no fast charging support, so you’re basically able to charge it using 2A.聽You can get this one fully charged from 0 to 100% in about three hours though. So, it鈥檚 definitely good for charging up overnight since it does last all day anyway. If you expect to recharge your phone every night but enjoy several hours of multimedia experience, web browsing, several email messaging and social networking, then this is a phone for you, no doubt about it.Conclusion 鈥 Our opinionreally affordable galaxy s8+ clone with decent featuresBluboo’s newest flagship model may not be featured as the super wow dual camera phone that everyone should buy, but as a budget Galaxy S8+ clone with really impressive specs – given its current price tag of course which is just聽149,99$. It鈥檚 a decent dual camera phone, with acceptable photos in daylight conditions, average photos in low light conditions and鈥 average (shaky) videos. It offers however average battery consumption, good performance for an avid Android user and decent build quality.The world鈥檚 most popular smartband is considered to be the Xiaomi Mi Band 2. Its market share is about 15%. It even has outrun such beasts as Apple, Fixbit, and Samsung. But this list is going to change in the nearest future. Many manufacturers have joined the race. Huawei has launched the Honor A2, Oukitel has launched the A18, MGCOOL has introduced the Band 3, and so on. As you see, all those companies that want to compete with Xiaomi and other top brands have already managed to come with their own ultra-budget fitness trackers. Today we are going to take a closer look at one of such products coming our way from MPOW, a well-known company specialized in making headphones/speakers, phone accessories, and car accessories. The new Xiaomi Mi Band 2 rival is dubbed as the MPOW D6.MPOW D6 (1)MPOW D6 (2)MPOW D6 (3)MPOW D6 AppearanceThe MPOW D6 looks identical to other smartbands. But this doesn鈥檛 mean it has nothing to boast of in terms of appearance. Vice versa, this fitness tracker comes with a well-designed look sporting a 0.87-inch screen with a resolution of 128×32 pixels. While you may think this is a small screen, it is quite sufficient to display everything you need. There is also a touch key to interact with the smartband. Actually, it works properly without lags.On the opposite side, we can find a heart rate detector.The next difference in comparison to other models, the MPOW D6 main body is detachable. At this moment, there is only one color option (black), but most likely the manufacturer will come in with straps in various colors to meet customers鈥 needs.As you can see, there is a USB interface on the bottom, which is used for charging. All you need to do, just plug it into the computer to charge. You can also use a USB cable.The straps are made of TPU, but thanks to the high-quality material and matte surface, we have a feeling as they are made of a better material such as silicone. The clasp is made of stainless steel.MPOW D6 HardwareThis smartband is powered by the nRF52832 SoC, which is a powerful, highly flexible ultra-low power multiprotocol chip ideally suited for Bluetooth Smart apps. This processor is based on a 32-bit ARM Cortex architecture. It is paired with a 512kB ROM and 64kB RAM. The nRF52832 SoC comes with a hardware-level Bluetooth 5 support. One of the main advantages of this chip is the EasyDMA support that simply means it has s direct memory access.The MPOW D6 sports a 90mAh battery that can fully charge in 1.5 hours and keep alive for up to 15 days. However, if you are a heavy user, most likely you will charge it more frequently.MPOW BAND Features and MPOW BAND APPThe MPOW D6 smartband itself provides only a few types of features. The lock screen only shows the time when you raise your hand. A single tap on the touch key will make the smartband show the remaining power, time, and date.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramAnother tap will display pedometer results.Tap once again and it will display heart rate.It also displays the distance you have passed.And finally, it showcases how many calories you have lost during the last exercise.But agree this is not enough for a modern smartband. To increase its efficiency and make the MPOW D6 more useful the manufacturer has developed a special app named MPOW BAND. This fitness tracker is compatible with Android (higher v4.4) and iOS (higher v8.0) devices.First, you have to download and install the app. When we were reviewing this product the software version was 1.0.3. Once it鈥檚 done, you have to sign up with your email and set a password to create an account. All the data will be recorded for the user you have signed in.Next, you have to pair your smartphone with the smartband.Fill all fields with correct information. It will help the app when analyzing your data. And choose the language (although it鈥檚 in English by default).Before we go to the main features of the MPOW D6, there are some other that can be useful as well. Say, you can set alarms, decide what kind of notifications to get (Facebook, Skype, Twitter, WhatsApp, etc.), set up the sedentary reminder, and so on.As for the main features, this fitness tracker offers three of them including a pedometer, heart rate monitor, and sleep monitor.Each of them has its own section to show and analyze the data.Zopo, once the darling of the Chinese smartphone market, is back just in time for Christmas with the recently launched Zopo P5000 and it could be their best phone to date!We’ve had an early Christmas present today all the way from Shenzhen based Zopo! Yup, Zopo is still about and yes they do have a new range of smartphones, possibly the best smartphones ever to ship with the Zopo name stamp on the back!Zopo has sent me the Zopo P5000, their latest flagship phone which comes with all the hardware features that we come to expect from top of the range phones of today, plus a few nice features that actually push the P5000 in front of certain other phones on the market.As usual, I’m starting out with a quick unboxing of the Zopo P5000 and then will follow up with a full review in the coming weeks.Zopo P5000 UnboxingThe P5000 is easily the best looking Zopo phone I鈥檝e had my hands on, and in addition to that it also has the best materials, best build quality and actually features top-end hardware.In the past, Zopo has struggled to keep up with smartphone trends, but the Zopo P5000 is bang right up to date with a 5.99-inch HD+ 18:9 Full-Screen display! This is pretty big news for Zopo, but the hardware highlights don鈥檛 end there!Above that full display screen, you鈥檒l find a 16 megapixel Samsung SP3 f2.0 camera with soft LED flash. The rear has dual lens camera is made up of a 13 megapixel and 5 megapixel Sony IMX258 f2.0 sensor and beneath the attractive metal body is a huge 5000mAh battery!Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramWith a huge battery, the P5000 is slightly thicker than similar metal bodied phones, but less time on charge is more important to most users than the physical size of the phones.Sticking with modern trends, the P5000 uses a Type C USB 2.0 for charging and data transfer, which might not be as desirable as a faster connection but at least it鈥檚 more future-proof than a standard USB which we鈥檙e still seeing on some phones.As the Zopo P5000 has a full-display screen and a 85% screen coverage up front, the fingerprint scanner has had to be moved to the rear of the phone just below the dual camera lens. The fingerprint scanner lens is a little smaller than some brands, but so far it has proven to be fast and accurate.We鈥檙e also impressed to see that Zopo has shipped the P5000 with a largely stock installation of Android 7.0 and that the phone comes with Google Services and the Google Store all installed and working as they should out of the box.The stock Android installation runs smoothly thanks to 4GB Samsung DDR3 RAM and Mediatek Helio P10 1.5Ghz octacore chipset, not the most modern processor but it鈥檚 powerful enough for most uses and supports most common LTE networks too.Other details include 64GB Samsung internal memory, space for a micro SD card and dual nano SIM slots.Well, let’s begin with a small lesson on dash cams, shall we? A dash camera is a small digital video camera that mounts to the dashboard of a vehicle and records the drivers journey whenever the car is turned on and moving or on his choice. It is a crucial tool for ensuring safety on the road by assisting the police and insurance companies in case of an accident.A dash cam can help by showing speed, acceleration, time, place, direction, driver behavior and quite possibly revealing聽who was at fault during an accident. For anyone who spends a fair amount of time behind a steering wheel it’s an excellent tool in case of need. In recent years, this type of camera has seen its market share rise exponentially not only as a security measure but also as a form of leisure to record vacations or trips in new places.Manufactured in China and primarily aimed at the budget category AZDOME DAB211 Dash Camera is a good VFM product that provides many functionalities at an affordable price. I really think you’re gonna like it, so let’s go and have a look…Azdome DAB211 – Technical SpecificationsCPU: Ambrerella A12A55Sensor: Ov4689, 4MPLCD: 2,31 LTPS 16:9 non-touchLens: 150 Degree A+HD ultra wide angle, 39 Degree top to bottom adjustmentVideo Resolution: 2560X1440 30fps, 2304X1296 30fps, 1920X1080 30fps/60fpsPhoto Resolution: Max 16MPMemory Card: SD Card (Max 64GB)Power: 5V 1.5ALanguage: MultipleFeatures: Mic, Park Mode,Night vision, GPS, Over Speed Warning, ADAS, G-SensorPackage Contents:聽Dash Camera, User Manual, Cable Clips, Car Charger (x2 USB ports), Suction Mount, 3M Mount, USB Cable X2, Trim removal ToolAzdome DAB211 – UnboxingDespite its affordable price the聽DAB211 dashcam聽boasts a full package that includes the dash camera itself (obviously), a User Manual in English, cable clips, a car charger (x2 USB ports), a suction Mount, a 3M tape mount, two USB Cables (a long one for the car and a short for the pc) and a trim removal tool.聽The only thing missing from the packaging is a micro SD card, so you need to buy one as mean to store your videos. It supports cards up to 64 GB, a decent amount of storage for several hours of video.Azdome DAB211 Main featuresThe dash cam is created from durable plastic with a 2,3 inch non-touch screen in front. On the left side you can find the SDcard placement and an HD out port. On the right side you can find the microphone, the reset option, the power button and a micro usb port. The screen provides information on the present setup and turns out to be simple and easy to use, even for people with no experience.聽The dashcam comes with an internal battery so you can setup the device or see the videos / pictures without having to connect it to a charger. It supports video resolutions at 2560X1440 30fps / HDR 2560X1440 30fps, 2304X1296 30fps, 1920X1080 at 30fps/60fps with quite decent detail, during day or (sometimes) during night.聽The rest of the settings are for the Time Lapse, ADAS (Advanced Driver Alert System), Motion detection, G-Sensor, Parking mode, Split Record mode, Microphone on/off and Anti flicker mode for the display. All options are explained properly in the manual, I have to stress this. There are also options as to change the language, the time, the time zone and other relevant system settings.The camera is quite easy to set up. If you never had a dash cam before, then I suggest you take a good look at the manual since the setup is made once in the beginning before the driving and it must be made in the most correct way, in order to fit to your needs and standards. Unfortunately I did an erroneous set up at the beginning after being hasty to try it, and lost a couple of days of videos! Don’t be afraid of the English Manual, as you will see that it’s clear and very helpful, so please take some time with it. You can buy the聽Azdome DAB211 dash cam from:Aliexpress – Amazon #1 – Amazon #2Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramAfter the initial setup, the placement of the dash cam in the car was much easier. I chose the suction mount, and placed the dash cam right behind the interior rear view mirror. The charger is universal, but in my car it was to long and kept moving in close turns. So my suggestions is that if you already have a car charger for your car model (and you’re OK with it) use it instead. You won’t have any issues 馃檪Again I have to stress out: set the dash cam right. In my case, ADAS was ON as to warn in case of changing lanes and the camera was set to send a warning to protect from collision. The result was like having a siren inside my car all the time 馃檪 It would surely turn my eyes open in case i was half sleeping. Then it kept doing the same noise in a two-lanes road where cars park on the right side due to the limited parking space in Athens. In my opinion safety features tend to turn your attention elsewhere than the street it self. I just couldnt drive with the siren on. I stopped the car and turned off all safety features.聽Azdome DAB211: how to use, check videos etc.I connected the dash cam with my pc and copied the videos as to view them properly, but don’t forget that you can take also pictures turning into the pictures mode. The limitation here is that it takes only 50 photos, but if you think about it it’s not a digital camera for photos, but a dash cam with a specific purpose.During daylight the results where clear and I had no issue to read licence plates (the most important thing to look for in an accident, if the other car drives away). There is an excellent 150 degrees wide view in the front that could be also used as a vacation recording. Very good performance, very decent quality! Well done!During the聽night the image is darker than the one we can see with our own eyes – the same happens when strong sunlight falls directly on the lens. There is some flaring from strong lights like those LED headlights some modern cars use. It is functional and kept recording for a good distance in front of me but the “digital” noise in the video makes certain licence plates difficult to read. Glaring from external lighting to the windshield or the dashboard is visible also and sometimes can “blind” the dash cam but with no significant issues.The parking mode is VERY practical. When it senses vibrations it starts recording for a minute and then it turns off. Motion detection turns on and off the camera automatically when the car is moving. Sadly there is no speed camera warning system. GPS information can be seen in the company software and was mildly accurate, but perhaps the placement of my camera was wrong? I will get back to this when I have better tests to show you.Azdome DAB211 review: verdictGiven the fact that this is a very affordable dash camera, I have to admit that I was impressed. It offers good聽1440P HDR images and video that could possibly become a life saver聽in case of an accident.It provides a full package, with everything included but the SDcard. During the night the image of the recorded video is not that clear, so if you’re one of those who have to work after hours (like truck or taxi drivers for example) you will have to make some sacrifice in quality if you plan to use it. On the other hand, if you plan to use it during the day, then you’re going to get an excellent value for money product – judging from its current price of course.Well, let’s begin with a small lesson on dash cams, shall we? A dash camera is a small digital video camera that mounts to the dashboard of a vehicle and records the drivers journey whenever the car is turned on and moving or on his choice. It is a crucial tool for ensuring safety on the road by assisting the police and insurance companies in case of an accident.A dash cam can help by showing speed, acceleration, time, place, direction, driver behavior and quite possibly revealing聽who was at fault during an accident. For anyone who spends a fair amount of time behind a steering wheel it’s an excellent tool in case of need. In recent years, this type of camera has seen its market share rise exponentially not only as a security measure but also as a form of leisure to record vacations or trips in new places.Manufactured in China and primarily aimed at the budget category AZDOME DAB211 Dash Camera is a good VFM product that provides many functionalities at an affordable price. I really think you’re gonna like it, so let’s go and have a look…Azdome DAB211 – Technical SpecificationsCPU: Ambrerella A12A55Sensor: Ov4689, 4MPLCD: 2,31 LTPS 16:9 non-touchLens: 150 Degree A+HD ultra wide angle, 39 Degree top to bottom adjustmentVideo Resolution: 2560X1440 30fps, 2304X1296 30fps, 1920X1080 30fps/60fpsPhoto Resolution: Max 16MPMemory Card: SD Card (Max 64GB)Power: 5V 1.5ALanguage: MultipleFeatures: Mic, Park Mode,Night vision, GPS, Over Speed Warning, ADAS, G-SensorPackage Contents:聽Dash Camera, User Manual, Cable Clips, Car Charger (x2 USB ports), Suction Mount, 3M Mount, USB Cable X2, Trim removal ToolAzdome DAB211 – UnboxingDespite its affordable price the聽DAB211 dashcam聽boasts a full package that includes the dash camera itself (obviously), a User Manual in English, cable clips, a car charger (x2 USB ports), a suction Mount, a 3M tape mount, two USB Cables (a long one for the car and a short for the pc) and a trim removal tool.聽The only thing missing from the packaging is a micro SD card, so you need to buy one as mean to store your videos. It supports cards up to 64 GB, a decent amount of storage for several hours of video.Azdome DAB211 Main featuresThe dash cam is created from durable plastic with a 2,3 inch non-touch screen in front. On the left side you can find the SDcard placement and an HD out port. On the right side you can find the microphone, the reset option, the power button and a micro usb port. The screen provides information on the present setup and turns out to be simple and easy to use, even for people with no experience.聽The dashcam comes with an internal battery so you can setup the device or see the videos / pictures without having to connect it to a charger. It supports video resolutions at 2560X1440 30fps / HDR 2560X1440 30fps, 2304X1296 30fps, 1920X1080 at 30fps/60fps with quite decent detail, during day or (sometimes) during night.聽The rest of the settings are for the Time Lapse, ADAS (Advanced Driver Alert System), Motion detection, G-Sensor, Parking mode, Split Record mode, Microphone on/off and Anti flicker mode for the display. All options are explained properly in the manual, I have to stress this. There are also options as to change the language, the time, the time zone and other relevant system settings.The camera is quite easy to set up. If you never had a dash cam before, then I suggest you take a good look at the manual since the setup is made once in the beginning before the driving and it must be made in the most correct way, in order to fit to your needs and standards. Unfortunately I did an erroneous set up at the beginning after being hasty to try it, and lost a couple of days of videos! Don’t be afraid of the English Manual, as you will see that it’s clear and very helpful, so please take some time with it. You can buy the聽Azdome DAB211 dash cam from:Aliexpress – Amazon #1 – Amazon #2Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramAfter the initial setup, the placement of the dash cam in the car was much easier. I chose the suction mount, and placed the dash cam right behind the interior rear view mirror. The charger is universal, but in my car it was to long and kept moving in close turns. So my suggestions is that if you already have a car charger for your car model (and you’re OK with it) use it instead. You won’t have any issues 馃檪Again I have to stress out: set the dash cam right. In my case, ADAS was ON as to warn in case of changing lanes and the camera was set to send a warning to protect from collision. The result was like having a siren inside my car all the time 馃檪 It would surely turn my eyes open in case i was half sleeping. Then it kept doing the same noise in a two-lanes road where cars park on the right side due to the limited parking space in Athens. In my opinion safety features tend to turn your attention elsewhere than the street it self. I just couldnt drive with the siren on. I stopped the car and turned off all safety features.聽Azdome DAB211: how to use, check videos etc.I connected the dash cam with my pc and copied the videos as to view them properly, but don’t forget that you can take also pictures turning into the pictures mode. The limitation here is that it takes only 50 photos, but if you think about it it’s not a digital camera for photos, but a dash cam with a specific purpose.During daylight the results where clear and I had no issue to read licence plates (the most important thing to look for in an accident, if the other car drives away). There is an excellent 150 degrees wide view in the front that could be also used as a vacation recording. Very good performance, very decent quality! Well done!During the聽night the image is darker than the one we can see with our own eyes – the same happens when strong sunlight falls directly on the lens. There is some flaring from strong lights like those LED headlights some modern cars use. It is functional and kept recording for a good distance in front of me but the “digital” noise in the video makes certain licence plates difficult to read. Glaring from external lighting to the windshield or the dashboard is visible also and sometimes can “blind” the dash cam but with no significant issues.The parking mode is VERY practical. When it senses vibrations it starts recording for a minute and then it turns off. Motion detection turns on and off the camera automatically when the car is moving. Sadly there is no speed camera warning system. GPS information can be seen in the company software and was mildly accurate, but perhaps the placement of my camera was wrong? I will get back to this when I have better tests to show you.Azdome DAB211 review: verdictGiven the fact that this is a very affordable dash camera, I have to admit that I was impressed. It offers good聽1440P HDR images and video that could possibly become a life saver聽in case of an accident.It provides a full package, with everything included but the SDcard. During the night the image of the recorded video is not that clear, so if you’re one of those who have to work after hours (like truck or taxi drivers for example) you will have to make some sacrifice in quality if you plan to use it. On the other hand, if you plan to use it during the day, then you’re going to get an excellent value for money product – judging from its current price of course.T-Bao/Civiltop is a fairly new laptop manufacturer known for a couple of laptops here and there, but they are an ODM with prior laptop experience. They have released what seems like a decent price proposition, $280USD for a 15.6鈥 Apollo Lake laptop. Well its good when you don’t consider the discounts off the myriad other Apollo Lake laptops, but we’ll talk about that later.T-Bao X8S ReviewThe Apollo Lake laptop market is now filled with many options for you to choose from, ranging from great but expensive (read the Chuwi Lapbook Air) to cheap and good (Chuwi Lapbook 14.1, Jumper EZBook 3 Pro). However, these laptops are almost exclusively 14鈥 and smaller, with next to no options in the 15.6鈥 range. Enter T-Bao鈥檚 X8S, a low cost option for those who want a nice, big screen.T-Bao鈥檚 low cost optionT-Bao X8S SpecificationsProcessorIntel Apollo Lake N3450Display15.6″ 1920×1080 Glossy LCD DisplayRAM6GBStorage64GB eMMCOperating SystemWindows 10Cameras5MP CameraBattery8,000mAhPhysical Dimensions32.80 x 22.00 x 1.80 cm, 1.9 kgBig thanks to Gearbest for providing this review unit.T-Bao X8S HardwareThe body is made of hard, glossy plastic with a rough texture that is not unlikeable. The laptop tapers from back to front and the size of the laptop is incredibly small for a 15.6鈥 screen. In fact, its very close to the XPS15 which also has razor sharp bezels, meaning that the total footprint of this laptop is indeed impressive. Clocking in at 1.9kg, the X8S feels fairly heavy.We also have ports galore, two full size USB 2.0 ports and one USB 3.0 port as well as a microSD card slot for expansion. We have a micro HDMI port as well, but I wish this was a full size HDMI port instead. There sure is room to spare on the sides for full size HDMI ports AND more USB ports, maybe even a USB-C or Microusb port also.The hinge on the laptop is fairly stiff, requiring both hands to open it up. Surrounding the screen are razor thin bezels, giving the screen an illusion of floating. The keyboard here is fairly average, each keycap is made of plastic, and it has adequate travel.The trackpad is large, fairly accurate, and multi-finger gestures work fairly well.Flex cityGizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramT-Bao X8S DisplayWe have a 15.6鈥 IPS LCD with a full HD 1920×1080 resolution, and the display is quite a pleasure to look at. Its not the brightest of displays, topping out at around 250 nits, but it displays some decent colours, decently saturated, and fairly good whites, but not as deep blacks. All in all, a good screen that will do the job, just not in direct, strong sunlight.T-Bao X8S AudioThe speakers are average in pretty much all respects, first the volume is average, it doesn鈥檛 get too loud and does get drowned out if there is constant, loud noise. Audio quality is also average, its good enough for your basic use, average clarity, average treble, however bass never gets deep or booming enough.T-Bao X8S BatteryBattery life on the laptop is fairly characteristic for Apollo Lake laptops, it falls in line with other laptops in terms of minutes per mAh. However, it only has an 8000mAh battery, and combine that with a large 15.6鈥 screen and battery life is below average. I get between 5-6 hours of screen on time using Chrome, and a bit more than that using Edge. Charging up the laptop takes about 2 hours.Below average battery lifeT-Bao X8S Software & PerformanceWe have windows 10 activated and we have a fairly responsive eMMC drive which in turn makes the laptop one of the more responsive Apollo lake laptops. the 6gb of ram is good for multitasking, but the bottleneck is still the Apollo lake. gaming wise it can play some basic games, but anything intense you got to bump down to 720p for 30fps.T-Bao X8S ConnectivityIn terms of connectivity, there is no dual band WIFI but the reception and speed of the normal WIFI is actually pretty decent, Bluetooth works well, and the ports are capable of pretty fast transfer speeds.T-Bao X8S Verdict Buy the T-Bao X8SThis laptop isn鈥檛 perfect, its biggest failing would be the build quality. A large 15.6鈥 laptop made of plastic is bound to have a lot of flex, and this one does. It does have below average battery life due to its large screen and slightly inadequate battery, but the rest of the laptop is decent. The T-Bao X8S can be had for $280USD if you can鈥檛 find it on sale and at that price, there are better options, like the smaller Jumper EZBook 3 Pros which regularly can be found for $250 and below. However, this laptop was recently released and its already on sale for $209 at Geekbuying which makes it an absolute steal of a deal, especially for a 15.6鈥 laptop which is rare these days.

I guess we can all agree that 2017 is the year of the full display (18:9 ratio) smartphones. Xiaomi Mi Mix started the trend, LG carried on, Samsung Galaxy S8 pushed it forward adding a 19:8 screen ratio and now dozens of other OEM’s have followed their lead. The new combination took over the smartphone market adding a much needed touch of fresh design after a couple of years of stagnant copying of the iPhone 6.Manufacturers rushed to create new models and grab any piece of the market鈥檚 share. MHORSE is not a newcomer in the industry, but a rather shy company from China that chooses to launch specific model from time to time. This month the decided to launch one of the cheapest and most affordable bezel-less, 18:9 smartphones, named MHORSE Pure 1.It comes with a price tag less than $119 and for that money you get 4G/LTE connectivity, plus dual front and back cameras, a truly beautiful design and a fingerprint scanner!impressive quaLITY FOR ITS PRICEMHORSE Pure 1 – Technical SpecificationsCPU鈥 Quad-Core 1.5GHz ARM Cortex-A53Chipset鈥 MediaTek MT6737HGPU鈥 ARM Mali-T720 MP2 600MHz, 2-CoresCamera鈥 8 MP+2MP with Single-LED and AF Rear Camera | 5 Megapixel Front cameraMemory鈥 RAM- 3GB | ROM 32GB External Memory Support up to 128GBDisplay鈥 Screen size 5.7 inches HD+ (1440脳720 Pixels)Battery鈥 Removable 4,380 mAh Lithium-PolymerSensors-Proximity Sensor, Accelerometer, Ambient Light, Fingerprint, CompassOperating System鈥 Android 7.0 NougatI/O Interface鈥 1 x Micro SIM Card Slot,1 x Nano SIM Card Slot, microSD/TF Card Slot, Micro USB Port, 3.5mm Audio Out Port, Power Button, Volume Button, Microphone, SpeakerDimensions鈥 279 x 7.3 x 0.98 cmWeight鈥 203 GramsFeatures鈥 LTE CAT4 150 Mbps Download, HSUPA 5.76 Mbps Upload, HSDPA 21 Mbps Download, HSUPA 5.76 Mbps Upload, HSDPA 21 Mbps Download, Computer Sync, OTA Sync, Tethering, VoLTE Support, FM Radio,USB On-The-Go (OTG) Support, Fast Charging Technology, 18:9 Display Aspect Ratio.Basic packageThe box contains the basic stuff for the price range it competes in:one USB cable,a power adapter,a SIM tray ejector needle,a see-through (transparent) silicon case,a warrantyand a User鈥檚 manual in multiple languages (in big clear font).DesignThis is clearly a design focused product. You can read in the back:鈥淒esigned in Italy, Assembled in China鈥滭/p>The sample I reviewed, has the beautiful and shiny Titanium silver color in the back. The curvy panel looks like the front of the Samsung Galaxy S7 combined with the back of Xiaomi Mi 5!The front has small side bezels while larger ones existing in the top and lower part. The 5.7鈥 display comes with a typical (budget) resolution of 1440脳720 pixels (HD+), but still manages to look fine while in everyday use. The colors are vibrant and the viewing angles are great, but it seems that the black color appears washed-out some times. Also while in direct sunlight you need to create a shadow with your other hand to see the display clearly but this is something that can be expected from a really budget Android smartphone.Note also that there is no physical button in the front and the lower bezel of the display is empty. The top one, has another pair of camera lenses, a speaker offering quite decent sound quality, along with proximity and lighting sensors.聽The display has a screen protector on it, but unfortunately the way it has been applied by the company is not impressive. Air bubbles are visible and the top is angled a bit closer to the right. You just don鈥檛 pack a smartphone with 鈥淒esigned in Italy鈥 label with this screen protector application! The MHORSE Pure 1 has a metallic frame and a plastic back panel that has – surprisingly- very good quality. If you take a good look at the back side, and start from the left you can see: the double vertical placed LED flash, the double vertically placed camera and the fingerprint scanner. It was a clear design decision to place all three of them horizontally, similar to the way we can find them on the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 flagship – and this means… trouble. It thus has the same fault as Samsung鈥檚 flagship. When reaching for the scanner your finger touches the camera lenses. If you manage however not to touch the camera with the tip of your finger, then the fingerprint scanner really works and it takes about a second to unlock the screen.聽As I mentioned earlier the plastic back looks great but it will get scratched easily, so – thankfully – the accompanying case in the box will help you with that.NOT LIGHT, BUT SURELY A FUN TO PLAY WITHThe phone is not light I have to stress this. At 203.9 grams it’s surely heavy due to its metallic frame and the large battery you will find inside. Its dimensions are 15.279 x 7.3 x 0.98 cm, so it is smaller than the Xiaomi Mi A1 but surely a lot thicker, giving you the sense of a sturdy well built device. The phone is also available – beside of the Titanium silver variant聽– in black, titanium gold and blue. The blue one is a solid winner as it has a silver frame, turning the phone into a luxury 鈥渋 want to have it now鈥 object.聽Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramIn the bottom of the metallic frame there is a single speaker, a micro-USB port and a microphone. The sound of聽 the microphone is loud although it sounds distorted at maximum volume. The top has a 3.5mm headphone jack! On the right side of the frame you can find the SIM tray. You can fit two micro SIMs inside, or one SIM card along with a microSd card if you want to expand its storage. The power and volume buttons are placed at the left. I am left-handed user and until now (except LG鈥檚 back volume placement) I had to stretch my fingers or use the other hand in order to reach the volume buttons when on a call. So if you’re a right handed person (like almost 90% of the population) you might find the placement weird and uncomfortable. For us 鈥榣efties鈥 this is truly a gift. Using Pure 1 feels so natural to me. I hope more companies will follow on, using buttons on the left side for some of their models.Note also tha the phone supports OTG (On-The-Go) and fast charging features. With the first you can connect it to a huge range of peripherals and flash discs, while with the fast charging feature you can expect it to be fully charged in just under 2 hours.Specs and PerformanceThe M-Horse Pure 1 is using the entry level MTK6737 CPU that is paired with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage. The MTK6737 is a quad-core CPU clocked max at 1.3Ghz, announced at mid-2016. The accompanying ARM Mali-T720 MP2 GPU is two-cored and clocked at 650 MHz. All of the above combine normally, providing typical performance for the low-mid segment of the market, with an average Antutu score of approximately 36000. MHORSE Pure 1 is running Android 7.0, with some preinstalled apps and a small touch in the settings. The software runs properly without any issues. You will not break any records for faster app loading but at that price range this can be expected. This is a phone for light usage, and keeping that in mind, M-Horse has done a good job. I played some games, that do not need the latest Mediatek or Qualcomm SoCs to run smoothly, and I had no issues at all. Nougat gimmicks work too. You have two apps running in two windows simultaneously, you can swipe three fingers down to take screenshots etc. M-Horse has added an Intelligent 鈥渁ssist menu鈥 in the Setting menu, to control the available gestures like Double-tap to awake the screen etc. The other menu in the settings that I found really interesting is the one with the “Fingerprint” functions. By touching the sensor you can answer a call, take a photo, and play/pause the music and video players. FM Radio is included too in the application package, something that those of you who are always on the move will surely appreciate!Battery LifeThe phone has a 4380mAh non -removable battery. The results that I got from it aren鈥檛 that amazing. The battery lasted a full day with heavy use and has about 7h of SOT (screen-on time). It is not bad but M-Horse could do much better with a battery pack of almost 5000 mAhs. Perhaps the software needs a bit more tuning? I believe so…Camera performanceThe phone has 4 cameras and seems to be on par with the current flagship trend, as several small OEM manufacturers use it to attract more customers. On the front we have a dual 5MP + 2MP camera and on the back a dual 8MP + 2MP camera. The 鈥楥amera鈥 app offers Video, Photo, Beauty, Panorama and SLR modes. It has HDR and full menu in the settings. Given the budget nature of the smartphone, don鈥檛 expect much from the cameras. The pair of lower+higher resolution lenses is used to gather depth information, as to produce a 鈥榖okeh鈥 effect where the main object has a background blur effect. Bokeh here is simulated on the SLR mode but fails miserably – and it cannot compete against the rest of some under $250 smartphones that have a dual camera.[flickr_set id=”72157690415957854″]With plenty of light, the pictures are 鈥榦k鈥 and better than other same-range mobile phones. At low light conditions however, things are… not that good. The phone follows the path of all budget category phones, having a lot of digital noise and low quality results. At least, the Autofocus function is excellent for the price range, offering fast and reliable performance while in everyday use.ConclusionThe MHORSE Pure 1 has a full-view display and 4G/LTE connectivity, offering really decent value for it鈥檚 super low price (it costs 119$ at the time this review was published). If you want the pros of this phone, then you don’t have to try hard to find them: it’s the software it uses, along with 3GB RAM, 4G/LTE connectivity and a trully reliable fingerprint scanner at the back.Yes, I know that the placement of the scanner is as bad as it can get, but even Samsung failed at that. The camera is proper for the price you’re about to pay, just don鈥檛 use the SLR mode or expect any good results while in low light conditions. I have to say however that the HD+ resolution of its display was a bad choice. Considering the energy needing 5,7 inch display, the company wanted to keep the phone going on for longer times and HD stretches the battery duration a lot.As a left handed person I loved the button placement. This is a good, tight budget phone, that really looks amazing and could become an excellent gift for the Christmas period.Not particularly fond of fitness trackers, I decided to give the MGCool Band 3 a try and see if fitness trackers do make sense. With fitness trackers hitting the market a dime a dozen, the MGCool Band 3 does manage to make a stand for itself, although it does disappoint at certain levels. With the bar set by the Mi Band 2, let’s see if the MGCool Band 3 manages to keep up.MGCool Band 3 SpecificationsProcessorNRF51822Display0.66″ inch OLEDRAM256KPhysical Dimensions24.80 x 2.42 x 1.10 cm, 2.5 gramsOperating SystemProprietarySensorsHeart Rate Sensor, PedometerIP RatingIP68Battery105mAhConnectivityBluetooth 4.0MGCool Band 3 DesignThe Band 3, like many other fitness trackers, features a display for showing you calorie count, real-time heart rate, steps, and last but not the least, time. It would be a real bummer if time weren’t a part of the “watch”. The display is non-touch with a plastic casing on top which is susceptible to scratching and also reveals quite a lot of what is present underneath the casing when exposed to sunlight. The watch does not have any buttons but comes with a touch-sensitive surface located right below the rectangular display. On the back of the watch, lies the heart rate sensor along with the charging pins. The band is made of silicon with stainless steel buckles. Plus points to MGCool for using good quality silicon and buckles that do not wear easily. There are two band colors to chose from, Black and Red. The dial is fixed tight to the strap, so there is no way of changing the strap. The dial is about 4 cm long, but approximately only 1.7 x 1.5 cm is occupied by the display, which seems like a wastage of space. The watch fits snugly on my wrist, with there being instances when I actually forgot that I am wearing it, which is exactly what I was expecting from a tracker. The IP68 rating is a bonus! As far as the build quality is concerned, I have worn the watch day in and out and it got through with flying colours. More points to MGCool. Overall, the design of the Band 3 is good, although I would have loved to see more utilisation of the space on the dial.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramMGCool Band 3 PerformanceThe dial features multiple screens, first of which is the face, that displays the time and heart rate with the connection status. Long press the touch surface and it’ll take you to a menu which on tapping shows you three different watch faces to choose from, one being a cramped analog display. Tapping through the different options gets you to the heart rate, step count, distance walked, calories burnt, sleep tracker, stopwatch, find the phone, and finally the power off option.The heart rate sensor works flawlessly and provides real-time heart rate. The pedometer is adept at tracking steps and the distance covered, thus fulfilling the basic requirements of a fitness tracker. Once paired with the companion app, it vibrates and shows incoming calls and messages although there’s hardly anything that fits on that tiny screen.There is also a ‘raise the hand to view screen’ option that can be configured via the watch companion app. But the Band 3 lost some points amassed in the design and build quality section, in performance, primarily due to the badly designed companion app. The WearFit 2.0 is the watch companion app for the Band 3, and it is not the best out there. There are a few useless options like “Photograph”, which I assumed turned the watch into a Bluetooth remote for my camera, but it just opens up the camera module on the phone. It did manage to track my sleep cycle albeit with a few errors here and there. The battery life is not that great. I could squeeze out a maximum of two weeks with the ‘Raise hand to view’ option, which is less as compared to a few trackers out there.MGCool Band 3 Verdict

Not particularly fond of fitness trackers, I decided to give the MGCool Band 3 a try and see if fitness trackers do make sense. With fitness trackers hitting the market a dime a dozen, the MGCool Band 3 does manage to make a stand for itself, although it does disappoint at certain levels. With the bar set by the Mi Band 2, let’s see if the MGCool Band 3 manages to keep up.MGCool Band 3 SpecificationsProcessorNRF51822Display0.66″ inch OLEDRAM256KPhysical Dimensions24.80 x 2.42 x 1.10 cm, 2.5 gramsOperating SystemProprietarySensorsHeart Rate Sensor, PedometerIP RatingIP68Battery105mAhConnectivityBluetooth 4.0MGCool Band 3 DesignThe Band 3, like many other fitness trackers, features a display for showing you calorie count, real-time heart rate, steps, and last but not the least, time. It would be a real bummer if time weren’t a part of the “watch”. The display is non-touch with a plastic casing on top which is susceptible to scratching and also reveals quite a lot of what is present underneath the casing when exposed to sunlight. The watch does not have any buttons but comes with a touch-sensitive surface located right below the rectangular display. On the back of the watch, lies the heart rate sensor along with the charging pins. The band is made of silicon with stainless steel buckles. Plus points to MGCool for using good quality silicon and buckles that do not wear easily. There are two band colors to chose from, Black and Red. The dial is fixed tight to the strap, so there is no way of changing the strap. The dial is about 4 cm long, but approximately only 1.7 x 1.5 cm is occupied by the display, which seems like a wastage of space. The watch fits snugly on my wrist, with there being instances when I actually forgot that I am wearing it, which is exactly what I was expecting from a tracker. The IP68 rating is a bonus! As far as the build quality is concerned, I have worn the watch day in and out and it got through with flying colours. More points to MGCool. Overall, the design of the Band 3 is good, although I would have loved to see more utilisation of the space on the dial.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramMGCool Band 3 PerformanceThe dial features multiple screens, first of which is the face, that displays the time and heart rate with the connection status. Long press the touch surface and it’ll take you to a menu which on tapping shows you three different watch faces to choose from, one being a cramped analog display. Tapping through the different options gets you to the heart rate, step count, distance walked, calories burnt, sleep tracker, stopwatch, find the phone, and finally the power off option.The heart rate sensor works flawlessly and provides real-time heart rate. The pedometer is adept at tracking steps and the distance covered, thus fulfilling the basic requirements of a fitness tracker. Once paired with the companion app, it vibrates and shows incoming calls and messages although there’s hardly anything that fits on that tiny screen.There is also a ‘raise the hand to view screen’ option that can be configured via the watch companion app. But the Band 3 lost some points amassed in the design and build quality section, in performance, primarily due to the badly designed companion app. The WearFit 2.0 is the watch companion app for the Band 3, and it is not the best out there. There are a few useless options like “Photograph”, which I assumed turned the watch into a Bluetooth remote for my camera, but it just opens up the camera module on the phone. It did manage to track my sleep cycle albeit with a few errors here and there. The battery life is not that great. I could squeeze out a maximum of two weeks with the ‘Raise hand to view’ option, which is less as compared to a few trackers out there.MGCool Band 3 VerdictAnother attractive smartphone from OPPO, but we鈥檙e going to learn if beauty is more than skin deep.OPPO is well established in the smartphone market for making some unique, memorable and highly innovative smartphones. The brand has been responsible for the excelling Find range of flagships, the innovative N series of camera phones and more recently the 鈥楻鈥 series.The current range-topper in the OPPO R series are the R11s and R11s Plus. OPPO has been kind enough to send over the R11s for me to test and review, but before we get to that we should take a look at this beauty in the flesh.While we tend to receive either the black, white or gold versions of phones to review I鈥檓 pretty happy that OPPO decided to give me the red version of this phone. If the red isn鈥檛 to your liking then you can always choose from either champagne or black.The red version of the R11s is also the perfect variant to show off OPPO鈥檚 Starry sky screen design feature. Basically a method of blending the red colour of the body into the edges of the display itself.Of course the screen 18:9 panel just like all top of the line smartphones that are launching. For the R11s OPPO is using a 6.01 inch AMOLED panel (the larger R11s Plus has a 6.43 inch display) with a FHD+ 2160 x 1080 resolution. It鈥檚 early days yet, but so far the screen looks every bit as good as it sounds.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramDespite the large display, the overall size of the OPPO R11s has a compact size that is more like a previous generation 5.5-inch phone. The actual dimensions are 155.1 x 75.5 x 7.1mm with a weight of just 153g.OPPO uses many of the same internal hardware components across both the R11s and R11s Plus. What this means is both phones have the same 64GB internal memory, the option to use a micro SD card and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 chipset.Both phones also boast OPPO鈥檚 class-leading VOOC fast charging system, which in the case of the R11s, can give the 3205mAh battery 2 hours of talk time after only 5 minutes of charging! The charging is so fast you can actually watch the % grow!Another area the R11s shares with the R11s Plus is the camera hardware. The specifications are super impressive with the dual rear cameras module running both a 20 megapixel + 16 megapixel combo with dual F1.7 apertures, This promises fast and accurate daylight processing and stunning low-light/night shots, but we鈥檒l have to test this to see if the promise lives up to performance.IF you鈥檙e a fan of selfies then you鈥檒l love the fact that OPPO has given the R11s a 20 megapixel front camera and that the camera app has all the latest beautification features ready to go. My review R11s comes with the international version of Colour OS 3.2 meaning that it has the full suite of language options built-in plus all Google Services are installed out of the box.

Another attractive smartphone from OPPO, but we鈥檙e going to learn if beauty is more than skin deep.OPPO is well established in the smartphone market for making some unique, memorable and highly innovative smartphones. The brand has been responsible for the excelling Find range of flagships, the innovative N series of camera phones and more recently the 鈥楻鈥 series.The current range-topper in the OPPO R series are the R11s and R11s Plus. OPPO has been kind enough to send over the R11s for me to test and review, but before we get to that we should take a look at this beauty in the flesh.While we tend to receive either the black, white or gold versions of phones to review I鈥檓 pretty happy that OPPO decided to give me the red version of this phone. If the red isn鈥檛 to your liking then you can always choose from either champagne or black.The red version of the R11s is also the perfect variant to show off OPPO鈥檚 Starry sky screen design feature. Basically a method of blending the red colour of the body into the edges of the display itself.Of course the screen 18:9 panel just like all top of the line smartphones that are launching. For the R11s OPPO is using a 6.01 inch AMOLED panel (the larger R11s Plus has a 6.43 inch display) with a FHD+ 2160 x 1080 resolution. It鈥檚 early days yet, but so far the screen looks every bit as good as it sounds.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramDespite the large display, the overall size of the OPPO R11s has a compact size that is more like a previous generation 5.5-inch phone. The actual dimensions are 155.1 x 75.5 x 7.1mm with a weight of just 153g.OPPO uses many of the same internal hardware components across both the R11s and R11s Plus. What this means is both phones have the same 64GB internal memory, the option to use a micro SD card and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 chipset.Both phones also boast OPPO鈥檚 class-leading VOOC fast charging system, which in the case of the R11s, can give the 3205mAh battery 2 hours of talk time after only 5 minutes of charging! The charging is so fast you can actually watch the % grow!Another area the R11s shares with the R11s Plus is the camera hardware. The specifications are super impressive with the dual rear cameras module running both a 20 megapixel + 16 megapixel combo with dual F1.7 apertures, This promises fast and accurate daylight processing and stunning low-light/night shots, but we鈥檒l have to test this to see if the promise lives up to performance.IF you鈥檙e a fan of selfies then you鈥檒l love the fact that OPPO has given the R11s a 20 megapixel front camera and that the camera app has all the latest beautification features ready to go. My review R11s comes with the international version of Colour OS 3.2 meaning that it has the full suite of language options built-in plus all Google Services are installed out of the box.I鈥檝e never been a fanboy of any smartphone or laptop company as I review so many devices on a regular basis, but my relationship with Chuwi devices is as close as it gets. Ever since my first Chuwi device, the Chuwi Vi10, their products have been consistently good, and many of them great also.Chuwi Lapbook Air ReviewThis is without a doubt the finest laptop Chuwi has ever made, and they have created a perfectly balanced laptop that is sure to satisfy everybody looking at an Apollo Lake device. A metal chassis, abundance of ports, and a great screen is just half of what the Lapbook Air offers. However, it has a massive flaw, and that would be the price. The Lapbook Air commands a huge premium over the similarly performing Chuwi Lapbook 14.1 which admittedly doesn鈥檛 have as many accoutrements as this Air, but is good where it counts. Let鈥檚 see what Chuwi has done.Chuwi’s BestChuwi Lapbook Air SpecificationsProcessorIntel Apollo Lake N3450Display14.1″ 1920×1080 Glossy LCD DisplayRAM8GBStorage128GB SSDOperating SystemWindows 10Cameras5MP CameraBattery10,000mAhPhysical Dimensions32.92 x 22.05 x 2.05 cm, 1.74 kgBig thanks to Gearbest for providing this review unit.Chuwi Lapbook Air HardwareThis Chuwi laptop is worthy of the 鈥淎ir鈥 moniker. With a body made of handsome, aircraft grade aluminum, the Air cuts a very nice figure. The chromed, chamfered edges shimmer prettily with the matte body providing a striking contrast (you can tell I鈥檓 gushing at this point).We are given an excellent array of ports, two full size USB ports, a headphone jack (rarer and rarer nowadays), microSD card slot, and a full size HDMI port. Full size HDMI ports on these ultraportable laptops have been life savers on many occasions (on my Xiaomi Air 12) and I salute Chuwi for including one here. If I were to complain about port selection, it would be the lack of a USB-C port (or a microUSB port). I wish companies like Chuwi would not only include these ports but use USB-C for charging instead of regular DC ports.Opening up the laptop, I鈥檓 greeted by black bezels around the screen. These black bezels are not exactly large or unsightly, but they aren鈥檛 tiny either. The Chuwi Lapbook 14.1 had very thin side bezels, why couldn鈥檛 the Chuwi Lapbook Air? Nevertheless, the bezels while not huge are not as small as they could be either.The keyboard here provides adequate travel and adequate feedback when depressed, I was able to type very easily on this laptop. Its backlit as well, but the backlighting is somewhat uneven, making it look slightly cheap. However, the backlighting does come in very useful in dark situations. I do have one complaint, and that would be the pressure required to depress the power button. It鈥檚 the exact same as the other keys, meaning that you will definitely press it by mistake, putting the computer to sleep. I would have much preferred a power key that required significantly more pressure to press than this did.The trackpad here is excellent, very accurate, multi-finger gestures are nice and smooth, it looks like Chinese manufacturers are quickly catching up to their bigger competitors in terms of multi-finger gesture software. Left and right clicks require quite a bit of effort to press, thus I usually rely on a light tap to activate the capacitive click instead of a physical one.The trackpad surface is also unnaturally sticky, to the point of interfering with an otherwise normal finger slide. Wiping it down with a cloth does wear down the surface coating somewhat.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramExquisiteChuwi Lapbook Air DisplayThe 14.1鈥 IPS LCD is glossy, which makes it a pleasure to look at. Colours popped out of the screen and colour saturation was more than satisfactory also. Text looked crisp from regular laptop viewing distances and viewing angles are similarly good. Maximum brightness isn鈥檛 great though, maxing out at 250 nits, not bright enough even in shade outdoors.Chuwi Lapbook Air AudioThe speakers are decidedly the weakest part of the laptop. Audio volume is adequate but not loud, and audio quality involves fairly average treble, below average bass, and less than crystal clear differentiation. Its definitely useable in every day life to watch movies or Youtube, but your phone most likely has better speakers than this for listening to music.Chuwi Lapbook Air BatteryBattery life on the laptop is fairly characteristic for Apollo Lake laptops, the typical 10,000mAh battery can power the laptop for about 6 hours of web browsing if using Chrome and about 8 hours using Microsoft Edge. Understandably, this is at lower brightness levels, turn the brightness up or play a game and battery life will take a nosedive. While this isn鈥檛 ideal battery life, its not out of the ordinary for laptops utilizing the Apollo Lake chipset.Average battery lifeChuwi Lapbook Air Software & PerformanceWe have activated Windows 10 on the laptop and this is installed on a 128GB eMMC. eMMC drives aren鈥檛 the fastest, and this Sandisk eMMC is not the fastest eMMC drive on the market today. I did see slight lag here and there that I didn’t otherwise see on a faster eMMC, but you can still do many聽 basic things with ease, web browsing in Chrome, email, word etc. I was able to do some photo editing and basic video editing on this laptop but its not recommended as video editing is slow. Gaming performance is also typical of Apollo Lake devices, it struggled with 720p DOTA2, outputting 25-30FPS. Civilization 6 at 1080p was reduced to 10-15FPS, basically a slideshow at this point. This is definitely not a gaming laptop but you can run some older and lighter games on this laptop, Stardew Valley runs beautifully. The laptop does get quite warm during gaming and benchmarks, but the internal temperatures never got high enough to throttle the processor.Chuwi Lapbook Air ConnectivityChuwi has installed a dual band WiFi chip inside the laptop which was able to provide some very fast internet speeds, I experienced no issues with speed or range during my testing at all, standing with the best laptops in terms of connectivity. Bluetooth works well with all my devices also.Chuwi Lapbook Air VerdictUnfortunately, I still have to give this Lapbook Air a solid 鈥渄on鈥檛 buy鈥? Even though Chuwi has slam dunked this Lapbook Air, making this pretty much the best Apollo Lake laptop available on the market today, the price is still too high. Selling for a rather exorbitant $379.99 USD, this laptop is not worth the money when a no sale Chuwi Lapbook 14.1鈥 costs $250 and a Jumper EZBook 3 Pro costs $240. Sure, these two latter laptops are worse than the Chuwi Lapbook Air, but not $100 worse. However, bring that price down to $300 or even $330 and the Lapbook Air turns into a solid buy. Buy the Chuwi Lapbook Air

The Breakdown 4.3 8.6 Realmes first try at an affordable camera phone is a success. Without the 108MP camera, we have a normal, balanced mid-range smartphone. With the huge lens, Realme 8 Pro becomes an excellent tool to record your daily life, family and travels. Performace 8.6 Camera 8.6 Battery 8.6 Specifications 8.6 Design 8.6 Pros 108MP camera, 3X lossless zoom, Display, Battery, Charging, Realme UI 2.0 Cons 60Hz display, No water protection,Old SoC,No stereo speakers Realme is moving on, with their ongoing struggle to take a market piece in the mid-range section from Redmi and it looks as if they’re doing an excellent job. The subsidiary of OPPO has proven to be one of the top companies in the planet in growth rate and one of the few that were not affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Their secret? VFM devices. We have all seen this strategy before but Realme has a hidden ace on its sleeve.The company does an amazing job bringing uniquely designed smartphones and tries to localize the software to the market. The design is now the top sale point of the company and is going all through their products. Realme 8 Pro聽is this year’s sequel of a very successful line and we got the phone for a full review.As usual at the mid-range price category we expected a slight increase in specs plus the artistic note we mentioned above. The smartphone does much more since it carries an impressive 108MP camera sensor in a quad camera setup! Sadly, to keep the price at same level with last years Realme 7 Pro, 8 Pro has downgraded some of the other parts. The company advertises a lot of the phone’s camera abilities and we are curious to see if the camera spec bump is worth it.Realme 8 Pro review – Specifications Dimensions: 160.6 x 73.9 x聽8.1聽mmWeight: 176gMaterial: front – glass panel, frame – hard plastic, back panel – plastic.Display: Super AMOLED 6.4 FHD+ (1080 x 2400), 411ppi, 3% screen-to-body ratio, 20:9 ratio, DCI-P3, 1000 nits max brightness,CPU: Qualcomm SM7125 Snapdragon 720G (8 nm), Octa-core (2×2.3 GHz Kryo 465 Gold & 6×1.8 GHz Kryo 465 Silver)GPU: Adreno 618RAM+ROM: 128GB 6GB RAM, 128GB 8GB RAM, UFS 2.1, microSDXC (dedicated slot)Battery: Li-Po 4500 mAh, Fast charging 50WConnectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot, HSPA 42.2/5.76 Mbps, LTE-A2G: GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 – SIM 1 & SIM 2WCDMA: Bands 1/5/8LTE FDD: Bands 1/3/5/7/8/20/28LTE TDD: Bands 38/40/41Biometrics: Under display Fingerprint Sensor, Face UnlockMain Camera: Quad Camera, LED flash, HDR, panoramaSamsung GW1 Sensor, 108 MP, f/1.9, 26mm (wide), 1/1.52″, 0.7碌m, PDAF8 MP, f/2.3, 119藲, 16mm (ultrawide), 1/4.0″, 1.12碌m2 MP, f/2.4, (macro), 2 MP, f/2.4, (depth)Selfie Camera: 16 MP, f/2.5, (wide), 1/3.0″, 1.0碌m, HDR, panoramaVideo: 1080p@30/120fps, gyro-EISSelfie Video: 1080p@30fps, gyro-EIS螔luetooth:5.0, A2DP, LEGPS: dual-band A-GPS, GLONASS, BDSPorts: USB Type-C, 3.5mm jackSound: 24-bit/192kHz audioSensors: NFC, accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compassColors: Infinite Blue, Infinite Black, Punk Black, Illuminating YellowSoftware: Android 11, Realme UI 2.0First lookThe handset arrives inside the usual striking yellow box with a huge font announcing the model. The bottom part has the smartphones specifications, a huge sticker advertises Google compatibility ( a hint to Huaweis inability? ) and another sticker has specific smartphone and production details. The Realme 8 Pro in our hands is the 8/128 GB version at Infinite Black color. There are some interesting details in the last sticker, for example we learn that this phone was produced on 10th of March.Inside the box we can see the normal sum for most of the smartphones this price range:Realme 8 Pro smartphoneUSB-C to USB-A data transfer / charging cableSuperVOOC 65W wall chargerSIM tray ejection pinUser manual, Quick GuideSilicone soft caseA plastic screen protection film is pre-installed on the phone. The huge wall charger comes in white colour and it provides up to 65W of power, a bit more than the 50W the phone can use. The charging cable is quite chubby and works along the charger to provide the flash charge. The silicone soft case is very nice with extensions to protect the camera and the corners. The corners of the phone are not easy to place inside the case but the extra protection is worth the effort spent.Realme 8 Pro – DesignSince the days of Reame X, Realme has invested a lot of money and attention to the exterior and has managed to design some of the best looking phones in the market.The front is simple with minimal bezels in three sides and a wider chin. There is a hole on the top of the display for the selfie-cam – one of the smallest in the market. The display itself is flat and big. Over the display there’s a wide hidden horizontal line for the earphone, perfectly designed to listen to your caller without having to center a smaller earpiece to your ear. There is no second speaker in the phone or notification light as we had seen in the Realme 7 Pro. There is nothing else in the front. On the left side we can see the tray where 2 SIM cards and an SD card fit. On the right side near the top there’s a volume button and under it a smaller power/lock button. The two buttons are exceptionally made without rattling. There are no visible bands because the smartphone sides are made of plastic. The top has a noise-canceling microphone. The bottom has a 3.5mm audio jack, a second noise-canceling microphone, a USB-C port and the speaker grille. Build qualityThe back panel is amazing! The smartphone has an amazing greyish black, sandblasted texture. There is a huge logo on the right side Dare to leap in big font and capital letters and the contrast of materials has the effect to show it intensively. While the glossy area is a smutz magnet, the rest of the panel is smutz-free. The camera is on the top left with 4 lenses visible in a square pattern and under them a flash LED and the logo 108 MP quad camera.The main sensor is on the top left, not visible from the others except from close distance. My opinion is that Realme should have a different pattern where the main 108MP and the main selling point of the phone is clearly visible and the rest smaller sensors are around it. The sand-blast texture and the logo makes a very beautify device and clearly Realme is focusing on the artistic / presentation of the devices.The phone is thinner than the previous generations and feels light and compact. Remember we mentioned that the phone has backgraded the materials in order to keep its price low. The major part is the water-repellent coating. So you will not find any protection internally – you can understand this from the SIM tray, because there is no rubber seal. So guys, be carefull with water and in heavy rain.HardwareThe display originates from Realme 7 Pro. An excellent Super AMOLED panel, there was simply no reason to change it. The resolution is FHD+, it has only 60Hz refresh rate and the protection of it is unknown. Please buy a tempered glass for it as soon as possible. We can find the usual from Realme in the mid-category but the absence of 90Hz support is weird. Maybe the company was afraid that the energy consumption would not be worth it. The panel is bright, but not one of the brightest around, so if you use it externally in summers sun, you will need some shading. Colors and angles of view are very good. Generally this is a good panel for all usages. A SoC that worksSnapdragon 720G SoC has not changed from Realme 7 Pro either. Guess what. It was the SoC of Realme 6 Pro too. A three year old processor? It is not bad, but we would like something better in the area. We can also find Adreno 618 for graphics and UFS2.1 for storage. The smartphone comes with 6/128 GB and 8/128 GB variants. We really dont follow the logic for an older SoC. Is this a result of the markets abundance of microchips due to the pandemic or this is an internal recipe to keep the prices low?聽 Benchmarking shows that Realme 8 Pro is on par with other phones in the category.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramThere is no lag or heating issues but at the same price we can find more powerful phones. Clearly one has to choose between photography or gaming. In the case of the latter, it is better to look at another model from the company. 8 Pro has a single loudspeaker unlike 7 Pro – another drawback. Sound in calls and video-calls is ok but nothing to brag about. Connectivity is excellent. Full signal in call conditions. Bluetooth is ok too – I 鈥榲e used the smartphone with my wireless headphones daily without interruptions. GPS is instantaneous.In-depth detailsThere are two ways to unlock 8 Pro. Face unlock is very fast. There is no IR light for unlocking during the night, so in total darkness this method does not work. A minimal light source is enough, even the display from your notebook, to unlock the device with your face shape. Please remember that this is not the safest method to unlock your phone so it is not advised usage outside your usual premises. The other way is the in-display fingerprint reader.Be careful here, you must do a good setup else the scanner is not working properly, as it did in my case. I deleted all data and entered my fingerprints again and the result was a very accurate and extremely fast process. The in-display sensor will meet your needs in all day usage – most of us wear masks – and it is very secure. My opinion is to use it and disable Face Unlock for the reasons I explained above.SoftwareIt has passed a lot of time since I saw Realme UI聽 first edition on Realme X2 Pro and into these months, the job done on the skin is amazing. Realme UI 2.0 has not only matured but is over the latest Android 11 version thus providing an excellent experience for old and novice users.The customisation – in many ways looks like OxygenOS from the “sister” company OnePlus – it’s rich with many features, always-on display themes, skin themes, icons, dark mode tones that guarantee that you will not get bored of the phone. Android 11 gimmicks like floating windows are there along with the extra security added in this version. The launcher is good – reminds us of other good launchers like POCO launcher and the notification shade is full with options and versatility. Settings menu has a plethora of options but keeps itself minimal in view as to not tire the user. Similar to Samsungs phones there is a sidebar with custom options and shortcuts. In house applications are ok and I personally loved the Kids Mode for obvious reasons. Speed and animations are fast and in no case the phone stalled or seemed to slow down. Excellent job from Realme – a very promised product seems to rise up to the world of Android skins!Realme 8 Pro – CameraThe 108MP sensor is the main selling point of this smartphone and follows the steps of Xiaomi that did the same – she was the first also to add immersive imaging sensors to mid-rangers with Mi Note 10 Pro. Remembering the review of that pioneer and our experience of mid-range SoC trying to handle hyper-large sensors, we were curious to see if there were stuttering or heating issues. Samsung’s ISOCELL HM2 is the star of the quad camera and the object of our curiosity. HM2 uses 9-to-3 pixel binning and can do up to 3x lossless zoom. The latter works by cropping 12MP photos that the 108MP sensor produces.Camera softwareExtra software assist like: zoom clarification, astrophotography, time shift and tilt shift and a pack of portrait filters. The 12MP photos in daylight are simply amazing, proving that the large sencor recipe is excellent under all scenarios – the light absorbed by the sensor provides quality in colors and details. A detailed eye will see some noise in bright colored objects, we hope this will be fixed with a future software update.AI produced pictures look better in my opinion – a postcard look, like Huawei used to offer – so please give it a try. The 108MP shot is huge in size, takes a lot of time, details are more than you need and the result is a bit noisy.Try only the normal shot, the 108MP is for publicity reasons. Zooming is x3 and x5. X3 shots are amazing, following the normal shots in quality. We are very impressed here! X5 shots are magnified x3 optical zoom pic and not a digital one. The results were very good and we liked this technique. Night pictures are ok, better than most phones in the area and are much improved with AI on. Night mode is excellent, it takes some detail off but the result is a bright quality picture.Realme 8 Pro Sample photos A 8MP ultra wide sensor is standing next to the 108MP star of the show. The results day or night are mediocre – looks like Realme spent all of her efforts and money to the 108MP. While AI does not help at all, night mode makes ultra wide pics viewable and always use this mode for the purpose.Two other 2MP sensors exist – they were put there for the Quad-Camera logo that sells phones to people and in our opinion as with most of them in the market they should not be there at all. The first one is a macro lens with 4cm focus, the result was unsatisfactory in all shots. The other one is a depth sensor for bokeh effects. It provides some assistance to the main 108MP shooter that does all the work. Portraits are excellent but we don’t know if and how much this 2MP offers to the results. Selfies are good – the 16MP sensor and the software work together to offer bright images with very good color.聽Similar to the photography is the video. The main 108MP sensor can record up to 4K and along with the ultra wide camera, the video is assisted by EIS (Electronic stabilization). The 4K video is really really good! Zooming is possible but not without losses. EIS is added only in 1080p, there is an improvement in stability but the quality suffers a bit. Night results are the same in most ways. Realme did manage to bring a camera phone to the market, but keep in mind that it is basically a single and not a quad camera. 108MP sensor is amazing in video and photography, and the small issues found, we hope that Realme will fix and learn from them.Realme 8 – Battery Realme 8 Pro is similar to 7 Pr. The battery and its main energy drainers (display and SoC) are the same and as a result the time the smartphone is open is almost the same to the minute. With 8 hours SOT it is a phone that will need charging every second day with normal usage. With games and heavy usage you will have to charge it at the end of day. The huge 65W charger is not topping up at the smartphone, since it only provides support for 50W charge. That is another downgrade from 7 Pro. Realme 8 Pro is still ultra fast charging with 0 % to 100% in 45 minutes. A ten minute charge is enough for 30% up in capacity, an excellent number for when you are in a hurry. Basically with 30 minutes in day scenarios ( 10% to 90% ) the phone is charged saving you time and effort. Realme 8 Pro review – ConclusionRealmes first try at an affordable camera phone is a success. Without the 108MP camera, we have a normal, balanced mid-range smartphone. With the huge lens, Realme 8 Pro becomes an excellent tool to record your daily life, family and travels. In all this device is solid if you love photography and video. What if you dont love photography and video? Well the downgrade from the previous generation is obvious – SOC, charging, water protection, sound, all have suffered. We believe that this is another phone in Realmes portfolio, with the 7 Pro and 8 Pro existing together in the same market, focusing on all around usage and photography respectively.Looking outside the company, Xiaomi is the main opponent with POCO X3 Pro and F3 being in all parts better in the same price, except the quality of the 108MP camera. The final decision is yours, depending on whether you love photography, but on this price and competition it is difficult to support this device, however maybe a lesser price could help here.聽 We will wait to see what Realmes plans are for the future.Pros108MP camera3X lossless zoomDisplayBatteryChargingRealme UI 2.0The Breakdown 4.3 8.6 Realmes first try at an affordable camera phone is a success. Without the 108MP camera, we have a normal, balanced mid-range smartphone. With the huge lens, Realme 8 Pro becomes an excellent tool to record your daily life, family and travels. Performace 8.6 Camera 8.6 Battery 8.6 Specifications 8.6 Design 8.6 Pros 108MP camera, 3X lossless zoom, Display, Battery, Charging, Realme UI 2.0 Cons 60Hz display, No water protection,Old SoC,No stereo speakers Realme is moving on, with their ongoing struggle to take a market piece in the mid-range section from Redmi and it looks as if they’re doing an excellent job. The subsidiary of OPPO has proven to be one of the top companies in the planet in growth rate and one of the few that were not affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Their secret? VFM devices. We have all seen this strategy before but Realme has a hidden ace on its sleeve.The company does an amazing job bringing uniquely designed smartphones and tries to localize the software to the market. The design is now the top sale point of the company and is going all through their products. Realme 8 Pro聽is this year’s sequel of a very successful line and we got the phone for a full review.As usual at the mid-range price category we expected a slight increase in specs plus the artistic note we mentioned above. The smartphone does much more since it carries an impressive 108MP camera sensor in a quad camera setup! Sadly, to keep the price at same level with last years Realme 7 Pro, 8 Pro has downgraded some of the other parts. The company advertises a lot of the phone’s camera abilities and we are curious to see if the camera spec bump is worth it.Realme 8 Pro review – Specifications Dimensions: 160.6 x 73.9 x聽8.1聽mmWeight: 176gMaterial: front – glass panel, frame – hard plastic, back panel – plastic.Display: Super AMOLED 6.4 FHD+ (1080 x 2400), 411ppi, 3% screen-to-body ratio, 20:9 ratio, DCI-P3, 1000 nits max brightness,CPU: Qualcomm SM7125 Snapdragon 720G (8 nm), Octa-core (2×2.3 GHz Kryo 465 Gold & 6×1.8 GHz Kryo 465 Silver)GPU: Adreno 618RAM+ROM: 128GB 6GB RAM, 128GB 8GB RAM, UFS 2.1, microSDXC (dedicated slot)Battery: Li-Po 4500 mAh, Fast charging 50WConnectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot, HSPA 42.2/5.76 Mbps, LTE-A2G: GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 – SIM 1 & SIM 2WCDMA: Bands 1/5/8LTE FDD: Bands 1/3/5/7/8/20/28LTE TDD: Bands 38/40/41Biometrics: Under display Fingerprint Sensor, Face UnlockMain Camera: Quad Camera, LED flash, HDR, panoramaSamsung GW1 Sensor, 108 MP, f/1.9, 26mm (wide), 1/1.52″, 0.7碌m, PDAF8 MP, f/2.3, 119藲, 16mm (ultrawide), 1/4.0″, 1.12碌m2 MP, f/2.4, (macro), 2 MP, f/2.4, (depth)Selfie Camera: 16 MP, f/2.5, (wide), 1/3.0″, 1.0碌m, HDR, panoramaVideo: 1080p@30/120fps, gyro-EISSelfie Video: 1080p@30fps, gyro-EIS螔luetooth:5.0, A2DP, LEGPS: dual-band A-GPS, GLONASS, BDSPorts: USB Type-C, 3.5mm jackSound: 24-bit/192kHz audioSensors: NFC, accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compassColors: Infinite Blue, Infinite Black, Punk Black, Illuminating YellowSoftware: Android 11, Realme UI 2.0First lookThe handset arrives inside the usual striking yellow box with a huge font announcing the model. The bottom part has the smartphones specifications, a huge sticker advertises Google compatibility ( a hint to Huaweis inability? ) and another sticker has specific smartphone and production details. The Realme 8 Pro in our hands is the 8/128 GB version at Infinite Black color. There are some interesting details in the last sticker, for example we learn that this phone was produced on 10th of March.Inside the box we can see the normal sum for most of the smartphones this price range:Realme 8 Pro smartphoneUSB-C to USB-A data transfer / charging cableSuperVOOC 65W wall chargerSIM tray ejection pinUser manual, Quick GuideSilicone soft caseA plastic screen protection film is pre-installed on the phone. The huge wall charger comes in white colour and it provides up to 65W of power, a bit more than the 50W the phone can use. The charging cable is quite chubby and works along the charger to provide the flash charge. The silicone soft case is very nice with extensions to protect the camera and the corners. The corners of the phone are not easy to place inside the case but the extra protection is worth the effort spent.Realme 8 Pro – DesignSince the days of Reame X, Realme has invested a lot of money and attention to the exterior and has managed to design some of the best looking phones in the market.The front is simple with minimal bezels in three sides and a wider chin. There is a hole on the top of the display for the selfie-cam – one of the smallest in the market. The display itself is flat and big. Over the display there’s a wide hidden horizontal line for the earphone, perfectly designed to listen to your caller without having to center a smaller earpiece to your ear. There is no second speaker in the phone or notification light as we had seen in the Realme 7 Pro. There is nothing else in the front. On the left side we can see the tray where 2 SIM cards and an SD card fit. On the right side near the top there’s a volume button and under it a smaller power/lock button. The two buttons are exceptionally made without rattling. There are no visible bands because the smartphone sides are made of plastic. The top has a noise-canceling microphone. The bottom has a 3.5mm audio jack, a second noise-canceling microphone, a USB-C port and the speaker grille. Build qualityThe back panel is amazing! The smartphone has an amazing greyish black, sandblasted texture. There is a huge logo on the right side Dare to leap in big font and capital letters and the contrast of materials has the effect to show it intensively. While the glossy area is a smutz magnet, the rest of the panel is smutz-free. The camera is on the top left with 4 lenses visible in a square pattern and under them a flash LED and the logo 108 MP quad camera.The main sensor is on the top left, not visible from the others except from close distance. My opinion is that Realme should have a different pattern where the main 108MP and the main selling point of the phone is clearly visible and the rest smaller sensors are around it. The sand-blast texture and the logo makes a very beautify device and clearly Realme is focusing on the artistic / presentation of the devices.The phone is thinner than the previous generations and feels light and compact. Remember we mentioned that the phone has backgraded the materials in order to keep its price low. The major part is the water-repellent coating. So you will not find any protection internally – you can understand this from the SIM tray, because there is no rubber seal. So guys, be carefull with water and in heavy rain.HardwareThe display originates from Realme 7 Pro. An excellent Super AMOLED panel, there was simply no reason to change it. The resolution is FHD+, it has only 60Hz refresh rate and the protection of it is unknown. Please buy a tempered glass for it as soon as possible. We can find the usual from Realme in the mid-category but the absence of 90Hz support is weird. Maybe the company was afraid that the energy consumption would not be worth it. The panel is bright, but not one of the brightest around, so if you use it externally in summers sun, you will need some shading. Colors and angles of view are very good. Generally this is a good panel for all usages. A SoC that worksSnapdragon 720G SoC has not changed from Realme 7 Pro either. Guess what. It was the SoC of Realme 6 Pro too. A three year old processor? It is not bad, but we would like something better in the area. We can also find Adreno 618 for graphics and UFS2.1 for storage. The smartphone comes with 6/128 GB and 8/128 GB variants. We really dont follow the logic for an older SoC. Is this a result of the markets abundance of microchips due to the pandemic or this is an internal recipe to keep the prices low?聽 Benchmarking shows that Realme 8 Pro is on par with other phones in the category.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramThere is no lag or heating issues but at the same price we can find more powerful phones. Clearly one has to choose between photography or gaming. In the case of the latter, it is better to look at another model from the company. 8 Pro has a single loudspeaker unlike 7 Pro – another drawback. Sound in calls and video-calls is ok but nothing to brag about. Connectivity is excellent. Full signal in call conditions. Bluetooth is ok too – I 鈥榲e used the smartphone with my wireless headphones daily without interruptions. GPS is instantaneous.In-depth detailsThere are two ways to unlock 8 Pro. Face unlock is very fast. There is no IR light for unlocking during the night, so in total darkness this method does not work. A minimal light source is enough, even the display from your notebook, to unlock the device with your face shape. Please remember that this is not the safest method to unlock your phone so it is not advised usage outside your usual premises. The other way is the in-display fingerprint reader.Be careful here, you must do a good setup else the scanner is not working properly, as it did in my case. I deleted all data and entered my fingerprints again and the result was a very accurate and extremely fast process. The in-display sensor will meet your needs in all day usage – most of us wear masks – and it is very secure. My opinion is to use it and disable Face Unlock for the reasons I explained above.SoftwareIt has passed a lot of time since I saw Realme UI聽 first edition on Realme X2 Pro and into these months, the job done on the skin is amazing. Realme UI 2.0 has not only matured but is over the latest Android 11 version thus providing an excellent experience for old and novice users.The customisation – in many ways looks like OxygenOS from the “sister” company OnePlus – it’s rich with many features, always-on display themes, skin themes, icons, dark mode tones that guarantee that you will not get bored of the phone. Android 11 gimmicks like floating windows are there along with the extra security added in this version. The launcher is good – reminds us of other good launchers like POCO launcher and the notification shade is full with options and versatility. Settings menu has a plethora of options but keeps itself minimal in view as to not tire the user. Similar to Samsungs phones there is a sidebar with custom options and shortcuts. In house applications are ok and I personally loved the Kids Mode for obvious reasons. Speed and animations are fast and in no case the phone stalled or seemed to slow down. Excellent job from Realme – a very promised product seems to rise up to the world of Android skins!Realme 8 Pro – CameraThe 108MP sensor is the main selling point of this smartphone and follows the steps of Xiaomi that did the same – she was the first also to add immersive imaging sensors to mid-rangers with Mi Note 10 Pro. Remembering the review of that pioneer and our experience of mid-range SoC trying to handle hyper-large sensors, we were curious to see if there were stuttering or heating issues. Samsung’s ISOCELL HM2 is the star of the quad camera and the object of our curiosity. HM2 uses 9-to-3 pixel binning and can do up to 3x lossless zoom. The latter works by cropping 12MP photos that the 108MP sensor produces.Camera softwareExtra software assist like: zoom clarification, astrophotography, time shift and tilt shift and a pack of portrait filters. The 12MP photos in daylight are simply amazing, proving that the large sencor recipe is excellent under all scenarios – the light absorbed by the sensor provides quality in colors and details. A detailed eye will see some noise in bright colored objects, we hope this will be fixed with a future software update.AI produced pictures look better in my opinion – a postcard look, like Huawei used to offer – so please give it a try. The 108MP shot is huge in size, takes a lot of time, details are more than you need and the result is a bit noisy.Try only the normal shot, the 108MP is for publicity reasons. Zooming is x3 and x5. X3 shots are amazing, following the normal shots in quality. We are very impressed here! X5 shots are magnified x3 optical zoom pic and not a digital one. The results were very good and we liked this technique. Night pictures are ok, better than most phones in the area and are much improved with AI on. Night mode is excellent, it takes some detail off but the result is a bright quality picture.Realme 8 Pro Sample photos A 8MP ultra wide sensor is standing next to the 108MP star of the show. The results day or night are mediocre – looks like Realme spent all of her efforts and money to the 108MP. While AI does not help at all, night mode makes ultra wide pics viewable and always use this mode for the purpose.Two other 2MP sensors exist – they were put there for the Quad-Camera logo that sells phones to people and in our opinion as with most of them in the market they should not be there at all. The first one is a macro lens with 4cm focus, the result was unsatisfactory in all shots. The other one is a depth sensor for bokeh effects. It provides some assistance to the main 108MP shooter that does all the work. Portraits are excellent but we don’t know if and how much this 2MP offers to the results. Selfies are good – the 16MP sensor and the software work together to offer bright images with very good color.聽Similar to the photography is the video. The main 108MP sensor can record up to 4K and along with the ultra wide camera, the video is assisted by EIS (Electronic stabilization). The 4K video is really really good! Zooming is possible but not without losses. EIS is added only in 1080p, there is an improvement in stability but the quality suffers a bit. Night results are the same in most ways. Realme did manage to bring a camera phone to the market, but keep in mind that it is basically a single and not a quad camera. 108MP sensor is amazing in video and photography, and the small issues found, we hope that Realme will fix and learn from them.Realme 8 – Battery Realme 8 Pro is similar to 7 Pr. The battery and its main energy drainers (display and SoC) are the same and as a result the time the smartphone is open is almost the same to the minute. With 8 hours SOT it is a phone that will need charging every second day with normal usage. With games and heavy usage you will have to charge it at the end of day. The huge 65W charger is not topping up at the smartphone, since it only provides support for 50W charge. That is another downgrade from 7 Pro. Realme 8 Pro is still ultra fast charging with 0 % to 100% in 45 minutes. A ten minute charge is enough for 30% up in capacity, an excellent number for when you are in a hurry. Basically with 30 minutes in day scenarios ( 10% to 90% ) the phone is charged saving you time and effort. Realme 8 Pro review – ConclusionRealmes first try at an affordable camera phone is a success. Without the 108MP camera, we have a normal, balanced mid-range smartphone. With the huge lens, Realme 8 Pro becomes an excellent tool to record your daily life, family and travels. In all this device is solid if you love photography and video. What if you dont love photography and video? Well the downgrade from the previous generation is obvious – SOC, charging, water protection, sound, all have suffered. We believe that this is another phone in Realmes portfolio, with the 7 Pro and 8 Pro existing together in the same market, focusing on all around usage and photography respectively.Looking outside the company, Xiaomi is the main opponent with POCO X3 Pro and F3 being in all parts better in the same price, except the quality of the 108MP camera. The final decision is yours, depending on whether you love photography, but on this price and competition it is difficult to support this device, however maybe a lesser price could help here.聽 We will wait to see what Realmes plans are for the future.Pros108MP camera3X lossless zoomDisplayBatteryChargingRealme UI 2.0The Breakdown Oukitel WP10 is a true monster, providing 5G connectivity to your outdoor activities for as much as possible! No other rugged device performs as a media streamer and this is something that has its significance. In any case, the only negative is the weight but, still, this is what you get for a smartphone with a 8000mAh battery and full military standards protection. Durability – 95% Performance – 80% Battery life – 90% Camera – 80% Display – 81% Rugged smartphones have evolved. Every year, we see many characteristics coming from normal smartphones to this specific category. 2020 was the year marked by the arrival of 5G chipsets and – as expected, a well-known -to us China lovers- company took the brave step to include one in a rugged smartphone. This company is Oukitel, a Chinese firm that specializes in rugged smartphone sales globally. By bringing a 5G SoC to a rugged device (Oukitel WP10), the Chinese company practically opened a new category of outdoor smartphones, phones that have the ability to provide amazing speeds for streaming – hoping of course that there is support in their country.Streaming means media consumption. 5G streaming is the reason why all the 2020 phones have a huge display and a big battery. Oukitel followed the same path and the result is a phone that combines two worlds. The first is to create the strongest (most durable) possible phone for your outdoor activities. The second is a phone that uses 5G to stream music, TV series and films or allow you to play your favourite online games.Learn more about OukitelFurthermore this smartphone is modular – it has pogo pins to attach Oukitels variety of modules like some other phones we’ve seen during the past couple of years. So, jets see how WP-10 managed to carry on its special characteristics from our two week long review of the device. Oukitel WP10 – SpecificationsProtection: IP68 & IP69K & MIL-STD-810G, Waterproof & Dust-proof & ShockproofDimensions: 83.4 x 178 x 17.6 mmWeight: 380 gSoC: MediaTek Dimensity 800 (MT6873)CPU: 4x 2.0 GHz Cortex-A76, 4x 2.0 GHz Cortex-A55, Cores: 8GPU: ARM Mali-G57 MP4, Cores: 4RAM: 8 GB, 1866 MHz, LPDDR4xStorage: 128 GB, UFS 2.1Display: 6.67″ FHD+ Hole-Punch Display, IPS, 1080 x 2340 pixels, 24 bit, 386 ppBattery: 8000 mAh, Li-Polymer, 18W chargingOS: Android 10Camera:48MP Quad AI Camera Sony IMX582 Exmor RS, f/2.0, 0.80渭m, 1/2.2513MP Wide Angle CameraMP Depth,2MP Macro16MP Selfie Camera, f/2.2SIM card: Nano-SIMWiFi: a, b, g, n, n 5GHz, ac, Dual band, Wi-Fi Hotspot, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi DisplayConnectivity: Dual 5G Modes, NSA&SA, Dual SIM Cards, 2.3Gbp/s Download, 2.5Gbp/s Upload, FDD: B1/2/3/4/5/7/8/12/13/17/18/19/20/25/26/28A/28B/66, TDD: B34/B38/B39/B40/B41, 5G: N1/3/5/8/20/28/38/41/77/78/79USB: 2.0, USB Type-CBluetooth: 5.0Positioning: GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, GalileoSensors: Proximity, Light, Accelerometer, Compass,Gyroscope, Barometer, FingerprintFeatures – Polycarbonate Body Design, Loudspeaker, Computer Sync, OTA Sync, OTG Support, Host, NFC Support, Tethering, Face IDFirst unboxingOukitel’s W10 comes with a big black retail box that has an impressive hard / mat texture. Its weird how these smaller companies have superior boxes than the top companies in the industry. Perhaps this is a tactic to get more sales – and I surely like it. Opening the wide box we can see the smartphone on the left side and the extras on the right. The phone has a protective sticker that advertises the main characteristics of the smartphone – another sales tactic for shop presentation.The price for Oukitel WP10 from 29th March to 2nd April will be $374.99. You can buy it in the link below:Buy it hereThe extras include a user guide, a guarantee leaflet, a wall charger, a USB-C to USB-A cable and a USB-C to 3.5mm headphone jack adapter. Since the iPhone 12 release, with its retail box lacking a charger, many companies have decided to remove their wall chargers. We are very happy to see a 3.5mm adapter in the offer. There is no SIM pin because the SIM card is removable manually using your finger nail. From what you can understand, the package comes fully stocked, like a weapon ready to go off 馃槈 Oukitel WP10 – DesignWP10 is not a device that chooses to hide. Its a beast of a phone and has the looks to show it. The massive display has bezels from hard plastic, with the rim up a millimeter to protect the display. This is an excellent idea to protect the display panel when the phone is looking down. The top of the screen is protected by an extra plastic film – used in most of the phones these days – to protect from key scratches etc. The top of the display has a hole for the selfie camera. Over it, we find the microphone in an horizontal bar. On top there’s a yellow wide cosmetic line – a similar one exists under the display. When turning the phone sideways to play a game, they look really nice, a pleasant touch in the looks of the phone.The 4 corners of the all around metal chassis are hardened with more plastic, as to protect the smartphone from falls. The right side of the chassis has the volume buttons (having + and – symbols on), the power button ( being textured, to feel it easily in the dark) and the fingerprint sensor. In the lower part, half hidden, is the SIM card tray. You can remove it by hand and add 2 SIM cards. The left side of the Oukitel WP10 has two buttons.OUKITEL WP10 reviewThe first is a bit protruding and has the PTT engraving (push-to-talk services) typed on. The second is almost not protruding from the body, but is painted in bright orange and has the word SOS on. The top has a small hole, used for canceling external sound. A second small hole is placed in the lower part (another sound cancelling microphone), along with a wide plastic tap that hides the USB-C port. Small details like silver screws in the chassis add pleasantly to the whole “manly” design.The back part of the Oukitel WP10 is made from hardened plastic, with a lot of details adding to the rugged looks. On top there is another orange cosmetic horizontal line.聽 There is no wide line in the lower part, a plastic holder exists there as a rope / cord holder. You can tie the smartphone on your uniform or bag. You can hang the phone from your neck, but we dont advise it, because the smartphone is rather heavy and youll get tired.Camera specificsThe top left has a quad聽 camera installation, in a modern design that does not fit the phone’s whole design.聽 Surely it adds a bit of elegance, but looks rather strange at this beast of a phone. We can see the big lenses, two smaller and a LED flash. The words 48MP AI Camera advertise the camera’s abilities. The center of the panel has vertical deep lines and NFC written in the center of the. The lines remind me… of a car tire, and surely are there to increase friction in case of muddy or wet hands. The lower part has the logo of the OEM in silver, an IP-68 reminder and an area with pogo pins. On the left of them we can see a huge speaker. Minor details like orange lines and silver screws complete the design.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramThe smartphone looks good with all the minor details and the weird premium camera installation. We said the word beast in the beginning of the WP10 description and we mean it. At 178 x 83.4 x 17.6 mm it’s simply huge. The weight is almost three times heavier than my backup iPhone 7, at 380g! It is the heaviest smartphone weve reviewed by far with a battery and display found usually in small tablets. I like the phone – the handling is good but i would prefer the weight to be lesser.Oukitel WP10 – Hardware and Software聽WP10 has certificates to ensure maximum durability (IP68, IP69K, MIL-STD-810G). It packs an IPS panel with FHD+ resolution. Brightness is its main disadvantage as I had to create a shadow with my hand under mid-day bright sun in order to view the display. Colors are ok, viewing angles too – nothing out of the normal. The panel has a Corning Gorilla glass protection (unknown model). If you are the type that carries around a smartphone along with keys in the same pocket, buy an extra tempered glass.The driver behind this smartphone is the MediaTek Dimensity 800. This is a SoC designed on minimizing power consumption. You can play games and run some intensive applications, but this is not a power house. There is 8GB of RAM to help with and 128GB of storage, out of which 110GB available to the user. Performance is not great considering the SoC. I don’t have any clear results on the CPU performance because Geekbench fails to run on all Dimensity 800 chipsets to this date. I had no issues playing some non intensive games in my spare time and I saw videos etc. Based in power conservation, Dimensity 800 is a good daily driver but it is not for games or multitasking.OUKITEL WP10 reviewSound is good but not very loud. There are some distortions when in maximum volume. Calls and video calls are clear to hear. An important factor for people that spend time outside is the connectivity. Call quality is excellent and the signal is strong at all times. There is support for multiple band support around the world.GPS is perfect at all times.On the right side of the phone, is where the biometric fingerprint sensor is placed. It takes a while to set your fingerprints and it is not working as fast as i would want.聽 Face unlock works perfectly and is faster but it’s not as safe as the fingerprint sensor so use it carefully. Vibration is mediocre. The massive 8000 mAh battery is more than enough to keep the smartphone open for 3-4 days with heavy usage (maps etc). Battery is charging slowly though at 18W and needs 3 hours to return to 100%. The WP10 runs on Android 10. I was surprised when the smartphone updated with OTA to a new build, something I have never seen in another rugged phone. I always press on this. Rugged smartphone users are not second category clients and they have all rights to get the nominal of two major updates and three years of security updates.The version of Android is almost stock without any advertisements, along with a few extras, like the SOS button setup, a game mode, tools app for outdoor usage, a system manager, a child app (that is a new in the rugged phones category) along with an Easy Launcher. Navigation in the UI is fast. No issues were found. I used the smartphone with the stock Android gestures with ease.Camera featuresAs usual with rugged smartphones, photography and video are not the areas to look for. While the main quad camera looks amazing the results are not different from any smartphone in the category we reviewed during the last six months.The main sensor is Sony IMX582. It’s a 48MP sensor that can be found in Redmi Note 10 5G, Redmi K40,聽 Galaxy A51 etc. Added is a 13MP sensor for ultra wide angle shots and 2 small sensors for depth and macro shots. The main sensor has x2 optical zoom. In the display panel – inside the hole – we can find a 16-megapixel selfie camera. Main sensor can achieve good quality daily pictures, but still they could be better with some software updates. Details and colors are ok. Ultra wide camera is good and so is 2X zoom. Macro shots are nice and so is portrait mode.. Selfies are not bad either!Low light shots are ok, Night Shot saves the game with a really nice outcome considering we’re talking about a rugged phone like the Oukitel WP10. Video is good but there is no EIS or OIS, so a good result is achieved only with a tripod.This is a nice outcome for the Oukitel WP10 and I must say that adding 48MP sensors and proper software has increased the overall quality of phones in the middle price range and we are happy to see this trend coming to the outdoor smartphone category. However, if you’re in the market for some of the best camera phones around, have a look here.ConclusionOukitel WP10 is a true monster, providing 5G connectivity to your outdoor activities for as much as possible! No other rugged device performs as a media streamer and this is something that has its significance. 5G and the huge display and battery, provide the means to spend your off time enjoyably. In any case, the only negative is the weight but, still, this is what you get for a smartphone with a 8000mAh battery and full military standards protection. The Breakdown 4.4 8.8 The Baseus Working Station Type-C HUB offers top notch build quality, beautiful design, a plethora of ports and perhaps my favorite: 3 HDMI ports for all of you out there who want to take your PC/laptop to the next level. Quality 8.8 Performance 8.8 Value for money 8.8 Appearance 8.8 And while technology seems to be progressing, it seems that most of us are left with even fewer ports in our extra light/slim ultrabooks! Isn’t it true? Most laptops/ultrabooks now provide just 1 Thunderbolt/USB-C port for ALL our needs, aiming to reduce the thickness to a mere milimeters if that’s possible! As a result, more and more companies create their own hubs ranging from a mere dollars to several hundrend dollars depending on how deep our pocket really is. Baseus is no stranger to us – you know them as much as we do and most of you love their VFM products. The Baseus Working Station Type-C HUB is a true beast – both in size and its capabilities – and it packs 17 ports to connect our peripherals while keeping the host device charged and provides convenient connectivity for an expanded workspace.It comes Plug and play ready, so it doesnt require any software, drivers or complicated installation process. Lets take a look at how it performs.Baseus Working Station Type-C HUB – Main specsName: Baseus Working Station Three-Screen Multifunctional Type-C HUB AdapterMaterial: aluminum alloySize: 80mm*86mm*162mmInterface: Type-CPD (input) +Type-C (output) +USB2.0*2+4K HD*3+DC Power Supply*1+RJ45*1+SD+TF*1+USB 3.0*3+ Type-C+3.5mm Audio JackType-C PD input: 100W4K HD: supports 4K@30HZ HD DisplayRJ45: Gigabit network speed, wired network connection, network connection for computers, tablets and mobile phonesUSB3.0*3: high-speed read and write data of flash disk, downward compatible with USB2.0 and USB1.1USB2.0*2: high-speed read and write data of flash disk, downward compatible with USB1.1SD/TF: Maximum 2T data reading is supported (simultaneous reading not supported, card inserted first is preferentially read)3.5mm Audio jack: Supports input and outputType-C*2: Supports reading from Type-C flash disk (Type-C audio output not supported)HUB static power consumption: 2WMain package:The box packaging containing the Baseus 17-in-1 USB-C Hub is huge and nicely designed as you may agree. It comes with everything we would like in order to easily connect our laptop/Mac Mini/Ultrabook to our accessories, such as a USB-C to USB-C for connecting the hub with our notebook, along with three plug adapters for UK, EU, and US socket types respectively.Main characteristics:Features 3 HDMI 4K, Ethernet, Type-C PD, Type-C PC, DC power, SD&TF Card Reader, 3.5mm Audio, 2 Type-C ports, 3 USB3.0 and 2 USB2.0, USB-C port with power delivery to host with the equipped USB-C to USB-C cable. Portable design, Plug, and Play.Triple Display Flexibility – Triple display modes Boost your efficiency 3 times. Supports resolutions up to 4K(3840*2160)@60Hz with a single HDMI display, 4K(3840*2160)@30Hz if two HDMI displays, and 1080P if three HDMI displays are attached. Baseus dock enhanced productivity and entertainment options with high-speed connectivity and support for Ultra HD 4K displays. 醿︶儲醿OTE: For Apple computer user (MAC OSmac os), displays are Mirror mode only.醿︶儲醿table Connection & Transmission – Three 3. 0 USB ports support transmission speed rates of up to 5 Gbps, connect to your smart phone, tablet and hard drive for effortless data transfer. Two USB2.0 ports to support more stable connection with keyboard and mouse; Built in SD and TF slots for easy access to files from universal SD and Micro SD Memory Card; 1000Mbps Ethernet port (supports 10/100/1000Mbps speeds)ensures a more stable and faster network connection.Compatible with laptops and smart devices with USB C port : Google Chromebook Pixel, Google PixelBook Pen, Dell XPS13/15, G3/G5/G7, HP Pavlion x2, Lenovo, Apple MacBook, Apple MacBook Pro, Apple MacBook Air, and many other Multifunctional Type C laptops. Also compatible with the cell phone (DP Alt Mode): Samsung Galaxy Note S10/plus, S9/plus, S8/plus, and Huawei high-end series.Built-in newest VL817 master chip ensures the normal operation of 17 ports and provides over-current, over-voltage, over-temperature triple protection to ensure safety. We offer 1-Year Warranty, 45-Day money back and lifetime technical support.Please feel free to contact us.About more detail,please check with product desperation.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramBuild quality:The Baseus Working Station Type-C HUB is made from a solid piece of aluminum and can be positioned vertically on a removable stand to save space or even horizontally if you have any space to spare. The aluminum base of the hub holds it tight in place while powering other devices or offering a vast array of connectivity options. It’s quite heavy but still easy to put it inside any PC carrying bag.After almost 2 weeks of everyday use, I have to admit that it covered my needs, offering decent transfer speeds, good quality and reliability when needed.Every day performanceSo what can we find on this huge USB hub?聽On the front, starting from top to bottom, you have a SD card slot, microSD card slot, 3x USB 3.0 Type-A ports, 2x USB 3.0 Type-C ports, and a 3.5 mm audio combo jack. Be warned that only one card reader can be used at one time – but still its nice to have the ability to choose.Going to the back of the device we can also find: 聽a USB-C PD port for connecting a USB-C PD charger, a USB-C PD port for connecting to a computer, 2x USB 2.0 Type-A ports, 3x HDMI ports, a DC jack for powering the hub (it needs some juice doesn’t it?) and a Gigabit Ethernet RJ45 port. Note that the Baseus Working Station Type-C HUB supports up to 100 Watt of USB-C PD so you won’t have any problem charging fast any type of device.With this hub-giant any user can enjoy high definition display on up to 3 additional monitors (as long as your hardware can cope with them). To be more precise the device comes with normal HDMI 1080p support on all 3 ports. If you want some more, you can get 4K@60Hz output on one HDMI, and 4K@30Hz on 2 more ports with no problems. In my setup I connected it to a QHD@60Hz monitor and a FHD@60Hz monitor at the same time with no issues at all.Baseus Working Station Type-C hub – Our verdict:

The Breakdown 4.4 8.8 The Baseus Working Station Type-C HUB offers top notch build quality, beautiful design, a plethora of ports and perhaps my favorite: 3 HDMI ports for all of you out there who want to take your PC/laptop to the next level. Quality 8.8 Performance 8.8 Value for money 8.8 Appearance 8.8 And while technology seems to be progressing, it seems that most of us are left with even fewer ports in our extra light/slim ultrabooks! Isn’t it true? Most laptops/ultrabooks now provide just 1 Thunderbolt/USB-C port for ALL our needs, aiming to reduce the thickness to a mere milimeters if that’s possible! As a result, more and more companies create their own hubs ranging from a mere dollars to several hundrend dollars depending on how deep our pocket really is. Baseus is no stranger to us – you know them as much as we do and most of you love their VFM products. The Baseus Working Station Type-C HUB is a true beast – both in size and its capabilities – and it packs 17 ports to connect our peripherals while keeping the host device charged and provides convenient connectivity for an expanded workspace.It comes Plug and play ready, so it doesnt require any software, drivers or complicated installation process. Lets take a look at how it performs.Baseus Working Station Type-C HUB – Main specsName: Baseus Working Station Three-Screen Multifunctional Type-C HUB AdapterMaterial: aluminum alloySize: 80mm*86mm*162mmInterface: Type-CPD (input) +Type-C (output) +USB2.0*2+4K HD*3+DC Power Supply*1+RJ45*1+SD+TF*1+USB 3.0*3+ Type-C+3.5mm Audio JackType-C PD input: 100W4K HD: supports 4K@30HZ HD DisplayRJ45: Gigabit network speed, wired network connection, network connection for computers, tablets and mobile phonesUSB3.0*3: high-speed read and write data of flash disk, downward compatible with USB2.0 and USB1.1USB2.0*2: high-speed read and write data of flash disk, downward compatible with USB1.1SD/TF: Maximum 2T data reading is supported (simultaneous reading not supported, card inserted first is preferentially read)3.5mm Audio jack: Supports input and outputType-C*2: Supports reading from Type-C flash disk (Type-C audio output not supported)HUB static power consumption: 2WMain package:The box packaging containing the Baseus 17-in-1 USB-C Hub is huge and nicely designed as you may agree. It comes with everything we would like in order to easily connect our laptop/Mac Mini/Ultrabook to our accessories, such as a USB-C to USB-C for connecting the hub with our notebook, along with three plug adapters for UK, EU, and US socket types respectively.Main characteristics:Features 3 HDMI 4K, Ethernet, Type-C PD, Type-C PC, DC power, SD&TF Card Reader, 3.5mm Audio, 2 Type-C ports, 3 USB3.0 and 2 USB2.0, USB-C port with power delivery to host with the equipped USB-C to USB-C cable. Portable design, Plug, and Play.Triple Display Flexibility – Triple display modes Boost your efficiency 3 times. Supports resolutions up to 4K(3840*2160)@60Hz with a single HDMI display, 4K(3840*2160)@30Hz if two HDMI displays, and 1080P if three HDMI displays are attached. Baseus dock enhanced productivity and entertainment options with high-speed connectivity and support for Ultra HD 4K displays. 醿︶儲醿OTE: For Apple computer user (MAC OSmac os), displays are Mirror mode only.醿︶儲醿table Connection & Transmission – Three 3. 0 USB ports support transmission speed rates of up to 5 Gbps, connect to your smart phone, tablet and hard drive for effortless data transfer. Two USB2.0 ports to support more stable connection with keyboard and mouse; Built in SD and TF slots for easy access to files from universal SD and Micro SD Memory Card; 1000Mbps Ethernet port (supports 10/100/1000Mbps speeds)ensures a more stable and faster network connection.Compatible with laptops and smart devices with USB C port : Google Chromebook Pixel, Google PixelBook Pen, Dell XPS13/15, G3/G5/G7, HP Pavlion x2, Lenovo, Apple MacBook, Apple MacBook Pro, Apple MacBook Air, and many other Multifunctional Type C laptops. Also compatible with the cell phone (DP Alt Mode): Samsung Galaxy Note S10/plus, S9/plus, S8/plus, and Huawei high-end series.Built-in newest VL817 master chip ensures the normal operation of 17 ports and provides over-current, over-voltage, over-temperature triple protection to ensure safety. We offer 1-Year Warranty, 45-Day money back and lifetime technical support.Please feel free to contact us.About more detail,please check with product desperation.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramBuild quality:The Baseus Working Station Type-C HUB is made from a solid piece of aluminum and can be positioned vertically on a removable stand to save space or even horizontally if you have any space to spare. The aluminum base of the hub holds it tight in place while powering other devices or offering a vast array of connectivity options. It’s quite heavy but still easy to put it inside any PC carrying bag.After almost 2 weeks of everyday use, I have to admit that it covered my needs, offering decent transfer speeds, good quality and reliability when needed.Every day performanceSo what can we find on this huge USB hub?聽On the front, starting from top to bottom, you have a SD card slot, microSD card slot, 3x USB 3.0 Type-A ports, 2x USB 3.0 Type-C ports, and a 3.5 mm audio combo jack. Be warned that only one card reader can be used at one time – but still its nice to have the ability to choose.Going to the back of the device we can also find: 聽a USB-C PD port for connecting a USB-C PD charger, a USB-C PD port for connecting to a computer, 2x USB 2.0 Type-A ports, 3x HDMI ports, a DC jack for powering the hub (it needs some juice doesn’t it?) and a Gigabit Ethernet RJ45 port. Note that the Baseus Working Station Type-C HUB supports up to 100 Watt of USB-C PD so you won’t have any problem charging fast any type of device.With this hub-giant any user can enjoy high definition display on up to 3 additional monitors (as long as your hardware can cope with them). To be more precise the device comes with normal HDMI 1080p support on all 3 ports. If you want some more, you can get 4K@60Hz output on one HDMI, and 4K@30Hz on 2 more ports with no problems. In my setup I connected it to a QHD@60Hz monitor and a FHD@60Hz monitor at the same time with no issues at all.Baseus Working Station Type-C hub – Our verdict:The Breakdown 4.6 9.2 The Baseus Bend Angle Type-C HUB proves to be resilient, able to support almost every type of port/slot for our iPad Pro, while being able to charge our device. Its small, lightweight and easy to install, but its also quite easy to remove if you want to be on the move. Easy buy? I say yes 馃槈 Value for mone 9.2 Quality 9.2 Performance 9.2 Usability 9.2 The world of iPad related accessories is vast – no question about it. However there are some companies that make a difference from the others because their products deliver exaclty what they’re advertised. Baseus is one of these and today’s hands on with their Bend Angle Type-C HUB with power switch, will surely give credit to our assumptions about them.As most of you may know, the specific hub is the next gen model of a previous No.6 version and it comes with improved built quality, ports with higher transfer rates and the notorious durability that most products of the Beseus lineup can offer. This specific hub is customized for the new iPad Pro (both 11 and 12.9 models), it offers 6 multifunctional extended interfaces along with 5Gbps transfer rates and 4K simultaneous screen sharing.Baseus Bend Angle Type-C HUB – Technical specs4K HD projectionUniversal Type-C device compatible (Phone, tablet, computer)5Gbps data transmission 鈥 large files upload in secondsInnovative design6-in-1 Hub converter100W PD input maxPorts: 3.5mm, type-c PD, USB 3, HDMI, TFIndependent On/Off switchCompatibility: Flash drive, card reader, digital art tablet, mouse, keyboard You can buy the Baseus Bend Angle Type-C HUB from here:Buy it here Design:Baseus Bend Angle Type-C HUB is made of aluminum and packs a stylish design with a classic deep space grey color, a little lighter than the one Apple uses. With curved angles it ensures incredible durability and heat dissipation, while being lightweight and compact to help us while on-the-go. This specific version comes with an On/Off power switch that helps us keep our device charged whenever we want. It’s ideal for business travels, work from office, home, and gaming. To be simple, it’s one single hub to rule them all, instead of all the other extra messy cables that we could use.Overall this is a great hub for all those that use their iPad Pro as a computer, because it gives us everything we need in terms of connectivity, while being slim and portable, and it attaches directly to your iPad Pro.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramPerformance:One of the great things about the Angle product line of Baseus, is exactly what their name suggests:聽 they connect on the top side of the iPad Pro, taking up only one corner of the device. This way your tablet remains as thin as possible, but still has 7 ports/slots for you to use! The Bend Angle Type-C HUB takes the iPad Pros single Type C port and gives you a considerable amount of ports in turn: HDMI port to mirror and extend the screen, MicroSD/SD reading slots in order to transfer photos, videos and data, an audio 3.5mm jack for all those music lovers out there, along with USB ports for those who want to connect a keyboard or thumb drive.Once the device is connected, the iPad Pro will show an adapter image on its top right corner, meaning that you’re ready to use it 馃槈 It easily extends the USB-C port of your laptop to 4K HDMI, 5Gbps USB 3.0 Port, TF Card Reader, fast USB-C PD charging port and 3.5mm Headphone Jack. Plug & Play, with no additional drivers or installation necessary.I connected my USB flash drive easily, streamed some movies from my microSD card directly to the Infuse app on my iPad Pro with no issues. It was also easy to connect my tablet to my 4K Samsung TV using the HDMI port 馃槈 One thing more to mention, is that the USB type-c port supports 100 watts PD fast charging the iPad so you can keep your precious charging port even though you may have everything else connected on your device.How to connect your Bend Angle Type-C HUBQuite easy if you ask me: the Baseus Bend Angle Type-C HUB comes with 3 soft pads of various thickness, enabling you to adjust the hub on the top corner of the iPad Pro if you have a case, a folio keyboard or nothing at all.Our opinion:Quite straightforward use. The Baseus Bend Angle Type-C HUB proves to be resilient, able to support almost every type of port/slot for our iPad Pro, while being able to charge our device. It transforms the single USB-C port of the iPad Pro into 6 ports simultaneously. It’s Plug and play, so no need to install any driver/software, and proves to be perfect for simultaneous use while offering outstanding performance.It’s small, lightweight and easy to install, but it’s also quite easy to remove if you want to be on the move. You don’t have to worry about hurting your iPad Pro, as the hub comes with cushions inside, that protect it.

Baseus is a China-based digital accessory brand. Owned by Shenzhen Besing Technology Co. Limited. It was founded in 2011 by He Shiyou, who is more known as “CU”. The brand specializes in smartphone spare parts, home decoration and car accessories.Baseus brand has a variety of good accessories that suits everyone’s needs, from chargers, car accessories, headphones, cables, holders, mini household appliance, game accessories and a lot more. Today, we have a review of two new and useful accessories from this brand that we have tried over the past few days, and we recommend our readers to buy them.Baseus GaN Mini Quick Charge: 65W Fast Portable 3 Port USB C Wall ChargerThe the Baseus 65W GaN Mini Quick Charge Travel Charger With Fast Portable 3 USB C ports provide a high charging speed for many devices. It’s powerful enough to fully charge your MacBook Pro in only 2 hours. The maximum power of a single C port can reach 65W. Charge up to 2 laptops or USB-C tablets, and one smartphone or other devices at the same time with a high 65W of charging power. Perfect for when youre traveling.Features:Latest Gan-Tech: GaN technology can provide the highest charging speed for 96% of devices. Baseus 65W GaN Charger is compatible with multiple fast charging protocols, including QC3.0, iPhone PD 3.0, Samsung AFC (Note10+, 20W). USB-C notebooks including Dell XPS 13 and MacBook Air, iPhone Xs Max/Xs/XR/X / 8, Samsung S10 / S10+ / Note10 and more. This store is the official flagship store of Amazon “Baseus” in the United States.Charges 3 Devices Simultaneously: Baseus 65W GaN charger type C-1 achieves a maximum output of 65W, charging USB-c devices at the highest speeds. The shared charging power of two ports can reach 63W providing the best charging for mobile devices.Compact & Portable: 90-degree collapsible plugs are easier to store and carry. A 100% compatible charger makes your business trip or vacation easy and secure.Reliable Protection: Built-in safeguards protect your devices against excessive current. The charger will run hot but is well within the scope of the standard authentication security.Product info:Input: AC 100-240V~锛?0/60Hz锛?.5A Max.Type-C1 output: DC 3.3-11V 3A锛?V 3A锛?V 3A锛?2V 3A锛?5V 3A锛?0V 3.25A Max.Type-C2 output: DC 3.3-11V 2.7A锛?V 3A锛?V 3A锛?2V 2.5A锛?5V 2A锛?0V 1.5A Max.USB output: DC 4.5V 5A锛?V 4.5A锛?V 3A锛?2V 2.5A锛?0V 1.5A Max.Type-C1+Type-C2 output: 45W+18W 63WType-C1+USB output: 45W+18W 63WType-C2+USB output: 5V 3A 15WUSB1+USB2 output: DC 5V 6A 30W Max.Type-C1+Type-C2+USB total output: 45W+15W 60W Max.Unboxing: Our experience:The Baseus 65W GaN Mini Quick Charger uses an advanced GaN tech, offers 65W USB C port with power delivery and dual fast charging PD port. Also, it has smart power distribution functions and comes with a portable design with foldable pins. Also, it supports charging up to 3 devices at the same time, which makes it one of the best chargers available in the market. The charger is available at a cheap price compared to the competition, and we recommend buying it for sure.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramBuy the Baseus 65W GaN Mini Quick Charge Travel Charger:Buy the Baseus 65W GaN Mini Quick Charge Travel ChargerBaseus 7 in 1 Type-C USB-C Hub Docking StationBaseusUSB Type C HUB Docking Station is a great office helper, a combination of a docking station and a phone holder. It adds a USB C charging port, a 4K@30Hz HDMI port, an SD/TF card reader, a USB 3.0 Ports and 2 USB 2.0 Ports to your phone, so you could easily connect many devices to it at the same time, like a computer. It offers high efficiency for business trips and office work.Features:7 In 1 Phone Holder Charger Docking Station : TF card, SD card, Type-C charging, HDMI, two USB 2.0 ports, one USB 3.0 port. A lightweight combination of a docking station and a phone holder design made of ABS + aluminum alloy, compact but essential to your working efficiency.High-speed Data Transmission: It can connect to USB flash drive, Card reader, Mouse, Gamepad, Hard disk drive and keyboard, and etc. Fast card reading, plug and read without a drive. Endless type-c power supply with 15W high power.Connection with Other Devices: Connected to a mouse and keyboard, your phone can be used as a computer and you can edit documents faster. Besides, HDMI port can mirror the phone page to a computer. Large screen projection makes office work on a mobile phone more convenient. Note: only supports 1080p and is not 4k compatible (Depends on the resolution of mobile phone video output).Highly Compatible: Compatible with Huawei Mate20/Pro, Huawei Mate10/Pro, Samsung S10/10+ and more type C devices.Portable and Burdenless for Outings: Clamshell design, easy to be stored and packed anytime and anywhere. With silicone base, it can stands firmly, no tilting.Product info:Supported ports: USB3.0*1, USB2.0*2, HDMI*1, SD*1锛孧iro SD*1, Type-C *1锛孴ype-C plug*1Type-C plug: plug into smartphonesUSB 3.0:聽5Gbps USB 2.0*2锛?80 MbpsSD/MicroSD锛 Support SD/SDHC/SDXC, SD2.0 UHS-1锛孲D and MicroSD cards, cannot read at the same timeType-C female:聽support 5V/3A(max) for chargingType-C plug: support USB 31 GN1 5GbpsUSB port output supports:聽Support a maximum of 900mA output for USB3.0, support a maximum of 500mA output for USB 2.0Supported systems: Windows 10, Android 8.0.0 and aboveUnboxing: Our experience:Baseus USB Type C HUB Docking Station is one of the best Smartphone hubs that we used so far. It offers a combination of a docking station and a phone holder. With it, you could easily connect many devices and use your smartphone as a computer. The device is available at a low cost and we really recommend buying it.The Breakdown 4.6 9.2 At the price of $169,99 it seems we can get a decent all-around tablet! It has everything I wanted for my kids and more. I did not expect stock Android experience at this amount of money or the absence of advertisements. The build is excellent and the combination of good display, SoC and sound, makes Kingpad SA10 a great choice for everyday usage. Battery life 9.2 Quality 9.2 Software 9.2 Display 9.2 Value for money 9.2 VASTKING Kingpad SA10 review: COVID-19 has locked everybody in the house this year. Life has become difficult particularly for kids that are not used to being in-house especially when they’re asked to remain indoors for months! My kids needed something to spend time on, plus a mobile device for their national education e-learning classes.I thought about buying a laptop for each, but the cost – prices for any kind of PCs have skyrocketed in Europe since last March – was too high. I tried to buy a tablet for them but the availability was minimal and the prices were again too high. Not only that, the tablets that were available and I could afford had Android 7, being the leftovers in the stock of retail stores after 6 months of Coronavirus lockdown. The solution showed itself when VASTKING sent me their own Kingpad SA10 – a device that was worth its money as you will find out.But what were my prerequisites for having a brand new affordable tablet? Well, at first it should have a display large enough for lessons and games and its quality build should be as strong as possible – kids being kids. What I also value in tablets is software. While iPads rule the market with iOS I could not spend so much money for my kids plus they could use the tablet as a shield or a Frisbee in their daily gaming. An Android tablet was my target but with Android being… Android, I checked for the last version possible. I dont value OEM updates on Android versions in the amount of money I look at so I did not want to take the chance. My tablet of choice should have Android 10 for 2 years of usage without any software issues.It seems that VASTKING Kingpad SA10 covered all my prerequisites as you see. VASTKING was an unknown firm to me but the VFM was unbeatable to pass over for a more expensive and less able tablet. So lets see what this brand new SA10 Android 10 tablet offers!VASTKING Kingpad SA10 – specificationsDisplay: 10″GPU: IMG8322CPU: Octa Core, 1.6GHzChipset: SC9863AResolution: 1920*1200Storage: 32GB (expandable by up to 128GB)RAM: 3GBOperation System: Android 10Battery: 6000 mAhAudio: Dual speakersPorts: Type C/earphone port/microSD Card SlotWIFI: 2.4Ghz and 5GhzFront Camera: 5MPRear Camera: 13MPWeight: 620gDimensions: 258mm x 150mm x 7mmPower supply: DC 5V,2ABluetooth: 5.0VASTKING Kingpad SA10 – unboxingSA10 comes in a carton box that has an image of the tablet on the top and the specifications on the bottom. Inside we can find the tablet (in silver gray for me – the other color is rose gold), the charger, the cable, a user guide in many languages and a fast set up guide. Included are two offers, one for increasing the warranty to 2 years with a simple phonecall and a free tempered glass or a protective case in case the new owner makes an honest review in one of the retail / e-shops he bought the tablet from. The tablet has a protective film on, but anyone with kids will need a case (a fat plastic one) and a tempered glass. That is a good offer!VASTKING Kingpad SA10 – Design and CharacteristicsSA10 has a 10 inch display with normal bezels in the sides but large ones in top and bottom. Bezels are needed in tablets, because this is the place where the user puts his hands to hold it. A selfie camera can be seen in the top bezel, but don’t expect to have huge likes in Instagram from it.The top part has an SDcard slot. The low part has two grilles for the speakers, a 3.5mm audio port, a USB-C port and an internal microphone, Lest side is empty, right side has the volume rocker, the lock/power button and a reset port (can be reset with the SIM card tray needle included in the package). The back panel has a single camera – in a weird top position that seems to be too left from the center. We can see the logo in the middle, and the serial number and other information in the lower part with a smaller font. The metal body has a nice finish – especially in the upper part, where a horizontal strip has a different pattern.The design is elegant and minimal while providing extra protection being all metal. The button quality is excellent and the sturdiness of SA10 is superb.The dimensions are good for the size and the weight at 620 grams is not bad for carrying around. I have ordered a case for the back seat for the car, so my kids can see videos in our journeys (if the lockdown ends soon that is鈥?. They can carry the tablet in their school backpacks when in need (at this point we have only PC classes, all notes are with paper & pencils).Buy Kingpad SA10 hereThe display is of IPS technology, with a diagonal of 10 inches and resolution of 1080p. It provides a perfect widescreen experience when it comes to ratio. Colors are fine and 1080p videos on YouTube are fun to watch. Brightness is not the best for the hot summer sun, so avoid using the tablet in intense light conditions – you will need to find a shade. Touching the display feels good 鈥 all movement is proper without any issues.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramWhat is extra, and perfect for long time usage, is the Anti-Bluelight screen. VASTKING has an in-house tech that reduces eye strain. My kids use the tablet for lessons and gaming all day without complaining about sore eyes.A massive plus is the headphone port of the tablet, as they can listen to their classes and music without annoying the grownups. In case we dont have work, kids use the built-in stereo speakers. They are loud and clear without distortions. Dont forget to lower down the alarm volume, as I had an unpleasant experience the first morning of usage.SA10 includes a 5MP selfie camera and a 13MP back camera. The first one is ok for e-classes and talking to grandparents with skype. The second one provides decent quality only in good lighting conditions. Kids use the camera to send pictures and videos to their friends. My daily usage is to take pictures of their homework and send it with Gmail to their teachers.The main SoC of the device is called Unisoc SC9863A (formerly known as Spreadtrum). Is an entry level octa core SoC with 8 ARM Cortex-A55 cores in two clusters. One performance cluster with up to 1.6 GHz and a efficiency cluster with up to 1.2 GHz. The SoC also integrates an LTE modem (TDD-LTE/FDD-LTE/TD-SCDMA/WCDMA/GGE), a PowerVR IMG8322 /GE8322 graphics card and 1080p video support. It is similar to Qualcomms Snapdragon 429. I had no issue whatsoever with the usage.SA10 has 3GB of RAM to help multitasking. Dont expect to play heavy 3D games here with top quality, but for most applications 鈥 especially for what my kids need (e-class, YouTube, games, Skype) 鈥 it is perfect.Storage is at 32GB, which is not enough for applications, pdf, photos, videos and mp3/4 files. SA10 offers an expandable storage with a SDcard to 128GB. I had one laying around and I included it immediately thus solving any future storage issues. Connectivity is excellent with the usage of my apartment’s WiFi.As I said in the beginning, the very important thing in the selection of tablets for me, is the version of Android. Not only I want it to be the latest possible version but I want it to have Google Services. SA10 runs on Android 10 and is GMS certified! That makes it future proof for 2 years at least, not mentioning the scenario where VASTKING decides to update with Android 11. In any case I am happy with what I got. Settings menu is complete with fast navigation. There are no extra applications (bloatware) or advertisements in any of the menus. Experience is stock Android 10.SA10 includes a fully functioning Google Play Store. All the applications can be installed without issues. The setup itself was easy as I synced my kids Google mail accounts from their smartphones separately and all their favorite applications and games were installed in a single night. SA10 has Google Assistant voice control. While not being used from my kids I personally like to use it to play some music or listen to a recipe when cooking for them.What is very important in tablets? Battery life of course! With a 6000mAh battery the tablet can support up to 12 hours of gaming, or 2 days of normal usage (videos, pictures, e-class, video calls). Charging is not fast but since I change it only at night I dont mind. I am very pleased with the battery life of SA10 and I believe VASTIKING should advertise this part more.聽VASTKING Kingpad SA10 鈥 conclusionAt the price of $169,99 it seems we can get a decent all-around tablet! It has everything I wanted for my kids and more. I did not expect stock Android experience at this amount of money or the absence of advertisements. The build is excellent and the combination of good display, SoC and sound, makes Kingpad SA10 a great choice for everyday usage.

The Breakdown 4.6 9.2 At the price of $169,99 it seems we can get a decent all-around tablet! It has everything I wanted for my kids and more. I did not expect stock Android experience at this amount of money or the absence of advertisements. The build is excellent and the combination of good display, SoC and sound, makes Kingpad SA10 a great choice for everyday usage. Battery life 9.2 Quality 9.2 Software 9.2 Display 9.2 Value for money 9.2 VASTKING Kingpad SA10 review: COVID-19 has locked everybody in the house this year. Life has become difficult particularly for kids that are not used to being in-house especially when they’re asked to remain indoors for months! My kids needed something to spend time on, plus a mobile device for their national education e-learning classes.I thought about buying a laptop for each, but the cost – prices for any kind of PCs have skyrocketed in Europe since last March – was too high. I tried to buy a tablet for them but the availability was minimal and the prices were again too high. Not only that, the tablets that were available and I could afford had Android 7, being the leftovers in the stock of retail stores after 6 months of Coronavirus lockdown. The solution showed itself when VASTKING sent me their own Kingpad SA10 – a device that was worth its money as you will find out.But what were my prerequisites for having a brand new affordable tablet? Well, at first it should have a display large enough for lessons and games and its quality build should be as strong as possible – kids being kids. What I also value in tablets is software. While iPads rule the market with iOS I could not spend so much money for my kids plus they could use the tablet as a shield or a Frisbee in their daily gaming. An Android tablet was my target but with Android being… Android, I checked for the last version possible. I dont value OEM updates on Android versions in the amount of money I look at so I did not want to take the chance. My tablet of choice should have Android 10 for 2 years of usage without any software issues.It seems that VASTKING Kingpad SA10 covered all my prerequisites as you see. VASTKING was an unknown firm to me but the VFM was unbeatable to pass over for a more expensive and less able tablet. So lets see what this brand new SA10 Android 10 tablet offers!VASTKING Kingpad SA10 – specificationsDisplay: 10″GPU: IMG8322CPU: Octa Core, 1.6GHzChipset: SC9863AResolution: 1920*1200Storage: 32GB (expandable by up to 128GB)RAM: 3GBOperation System: Android 10Battery: 6000 mAhAudio: Dual speakersPorts: Type C/earphone port/microSD Card SlotWIFI: 2.4Ghz and 5GhzFront Camera: 5MPRear Camera: 13MPWeight: 620gDimensions: 258mm x 150mm x 7mmPower supply: DC 5V,2ABluetooth: 5.0VASTKING Kingpad SA10 – unboxingSA10 comes in a carton box that has an image of the tablet on the top and the specifications on the bottom. Inside we can find the tablet (in silver gray for me – the other color is rose gold), the charger, the cable, a user guide in many languages and a fast set up guide. Included are two offers, one for increasing the warranty to 2 years with a simple phonecall and a free tempered glass or a protective case in case the new owner makes an honest review in one of the retail / e-shops he bought the tablet from. The tablet has a protective film on, but anyone with kids will need a case (a fat plastic one) and a tempered glass. That is a good offer!VASTKING Kingpad SA10 – Design and CharacteristicsSA10 has a 10 inch display with normal bezels in the sides but large ones in top and bottom. Bezels are needed in tablets, because this is the place where the user puts his hands to hold it. A selfie camera can be seen in the top bezel, but don’t expect to have huge likes in Instagram from it.The top part has an SDcard slot. The low part has two grilles for the speakers, a 3.5mm audio port, a USB-C port and an internal microphone, Lest side is empty, right side has the volume rocker, the lock/power button and a reset port (can be reset with the SIM card tray needle included in the package). The back panel has a single camera – in a weird top position that seems to be too left from the center. We can see the logo in the middle, and the serial number and other information in the lower part with a smaller font. The metal body has a nice finish – especially in the upper part, where a horizontal strip has a different pattern.The design is elegant and minimal while providing extra protection being all metal. The button quality is excellent and the sturdiness of SA10 is superb.The dimensions are good for the size and the weight at 620 grams is not bad for carrying around. I have ordered a case for the back seat for the car, so my kids can see videos in our journeys (if the lockdown ends soon that is鈥?. They can carry the tablet in their school backpacks when in need (at this point we have only PC classes, all notes are with paper & pencils).Buy Kingpad SA10 hereThe display is of IPS technology, with a diagonal of 10 inches and resolution of 1080p. It provides a perfect widescreen experience when it comes to ratio. Colors are fine and 1080p videos on YouTube are fun to watch. Brightness is not the best for the hot summer sun, so avoid using the tablet in intense light conditions – you will need to find a shade. Touching the display feels good 鈥 all movement is proper without any issues.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramWhat is extra, and perfect for long time usage, is the Anti-Bluelight screen. VASTKING has an in-house tech that reduces eye strain. My kids use the tablet for lessons and gaming all day without complaining about sore eyes.A massive plus is the headphone port of the tablet, as they can listen to their classes and music without annoying the grownups. In case we dont have work, kids use the built-in stereo speakers. They are loud and clear without distortions. Dont forget to lower down the alarm volume, as I had an unpleasant experience the first morning of usage.SA10 includes a 5MP selfie camera and a 13MP back camera. The first one is ok for e-classes and talking to grandparents with skype. The second one provides decent quality only in good lighting conditions. Kids use the camera to send pictures and videos to their friends. My daily usage is to take pictures of their homework and send it with Gmail to their teachers.The main SoC of the device is called Unisoc SC9863A (formerly known as Spreadtrum). Is an entry level octa core SoC with 8 ARM Cortex-A55 cores in two clusters. One performance cluster with up to 1.6 GHz and a efficiency cluster with up to 1.2 GHz. The SoC also integrates an LTE modem (TDD-LTE/FDD-LTE/TD-SCDMA/WCDMA/GGE), a PowerVR IMG8322 /GE8322 graphics card and 1080p video support. It is similar to Qualcomms Snapdragon 429. I had no issue whatsoever with the usage.SA10 has 3GB of RAM to help multitasking. Dont expect to play heavy 3D games here with top quality, but for most applications 鈥 especially for what my kids need (e-class, YouTube, games, Skype) 鈥 it is perfect.Storage is at 32GB, which is not enough for applications, pdf, photos, videos and mp3/4 files. SA10 offers an expandable storage with a SDcard to 128GB. I had one laying around and I included it immediately thus solving any future storage issues. Connectivity is excellent with the usage of my apartment’s WiFi.As I said in the beginning, the very important thing in the selection of tablets for me, is the version of Android. Not only I want it to be the latest possible version but I want it to have Google Services. SA10 runs on Android 10 and is GMS certified! That makes it future proof for 2 years at least, not mentioning the scenario where VASTKING decides to update with Android 11. In any case I am happy with what I got. Settings menu is complete with fast navigation. There are no extra applications (bloatware) or advertisements in any of the menus. Experience is stock Android 10.SA10 includes a fully functioning Google Play Store. All the applications can be installed without issues. The setup itself was easy as I synced my kids Google mail accounts from their smartphones separately and all their favorite applications and games were installed in a single night. SA10 has Google Assistant voice control. While not being used from my kids I personally like to use it to play some music or listen to a recipe when cooking for them.What is very important in tablets? Battery life of course! With a 6000mAh battery the tablet can support up to 12 hours of gaming, or 2 days of normal usage (videos, pictures, e-class, video calls). Charging is not fast but since I change it only at night I dont mind. I am very pleased with the battery life of SA10 and I believe VASTIKING should advertise this part more.聽VASTKING Kingpad SA10 鈥 conclusionAt the price of $169,99 it seems we can get a decent all-around tablet! It has everything I wanted for my kids and more. I did not expect stock Android experience at this amount of money or the absence of advertisements. The build is excellent and the combination of good display, SoC and sound, makes Kingpad SA10 a great choice for everyday usage.The Breakdown 4.6 9.1 Neobot NoMo did what it promised, it cleans my house daily and effortlessly, and I gained 30+ minutes more of personal time! Check below and see why 馃槈 Battery life 9.1 Value for money 9.1 Features 9.1 Ease of use 9.1 Roomba paved the road to mass usage of robot vacuums. Marketed as an easy alternative to the tiresome and time consuming vacuuming or perhaps the ultimate Christmass gift, the robotic vacuums have seen great sales and global usage over the past years. They are the first robots that are used massively in our households and the first devices to use WiFi as a mean to be controlled from a distance. Lots of companies provide various models that have small differences in power or design. However, they all suffer from the same disadvantage: they need to be cleaned manually, after one or more usages. Dust, hair and other particles are transferred to the garbage bin, but usually a part of them travels through the air back to our house. In our brand new Neabot NoMo review we get to see the first robot vacuum that solved this problem – plus some more 馃槈Neabot is a company that was founded in 2019 with a mission of providing every household with a better home cleaning experience. Their task is to empower their clients to spend more time on things they love and less time on daily chores. Neabot introduced its first product, Neabot NoMo robot vacuum, in May 2020 on Kickstarter. After its success on the fundraising platform, it started global sales. The difference of NoMo with the other robot vacuums, is that NoMo has a self-emptying dustbin!Neobot NoMo can be found in Gadgetplus along with its accessories.Neabot NoMo review: SpecificationsMapping / Path planningyesMapping Sensor TypeLDSHigh-Precision MapyesObjects recognition (front camera)noRecharge & ResumeyesAutomatically Docks and RechargesyesNoise Level55 dbLCD DisplaynoSide Brushes (one or two)2 pcsVoice Promptsyes 聽 Cleaning FeaturesSuction Power2700 Pa小leaning Area2153 ft2 / 200 m2Dustbin Capacity400 mlAutomatic Dirt DisposalyesWet MoppingnoBarrier-cross Height0.79 in / 20 mmHEPA FilterN/AWashable FilterN/A 聽 BatteryBattery Capacity5200 mAhRun time120 minCharging TimeN/ARated Power (Watts)N/A 聽 ControlSchedulingyesIR Remote ControlyesWi-Fi / Smartphone AppyesWi-Fi Frequency Bands2.4 GHzAmazon Alexa SupportyesGoogle Assistant SupportyesMagnetic/Optical Virtual Wallsno 聽 App FeaturesReal-time trackingyesDigital Blocked AreayesZoned cleaningyesMulti-floor mapsnoManual movement controlyesSelected Room CleaningyesNo-mop zonesN/A 聽 SensorsCarpet BoostN/AAnti-drop / Cliff SensoryesDirt DetectnoFull Bin Indicatorno Other SpecificationsRobot WeightN/ARobot Width13.78 in / 35 cmRobot Height3.86 in / 9.8 cmIn the box1x Neabot Robot Vacuum,1x Neabot Self-Emptying Dustbin, 2脳 Side Brush, 1x HEPA Filter, 2脳 Dust Bag, 1x Remote Control, 1x User Guide, 2脳 Battery AAA (For Remote Control)Warranty12 monthsDescription and UsageNoMo Robot Vacuum is composed from the typical rounded robot vacuum and a charging base that includes a dust bin. In the retail box we can also find a remote control, and user guides on how to connect the system with our mobile phone. It took some time to connect the vacuum with the wifi and my Android smartphone but after that, we were ready for first use. The charging base / dust bin had already a bag in, and the vacuum was charged enough to make a first pass and map the house.For our Neabot NoMo review, I used the vacuum in my own flat. We’re talking about an average flat that is 115 m2 large, single floored, with winter carpets on, and a number of chairs and tables. I clicked on the Clean button in the mobile app and the robot charged to the floor. The two side brushes and the roller brush below the robot, effectively extracted and vacuumed dirt, while the robot identified the carpets and boosted its suction for extracting hair and other debris from them. Neabot mapped all rooms, got tangled a bit in my pc cables but cleaned the whole flat in 45 minutes.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramWhole loota sensorsThe wall sensors let NoMo strole very closely along walls and around objects without touching them. It can easily cross obstacles like doorsills of up to 20mm, easily going through the home without hindrance, for full coverage cleaning. The robot has anti-collision sensors and soft cushion bumpers to avoid obstacles and protect your furniture. It uses a z-shaped vacuuming pattern, instead of just randomly traveling around, which tends to be a more efficient way to clean. It cleaned the whole house properly – plus corners. NeaBot NoMo uses Lidar Navigation, and Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) technologies, for mapping thus making the NoMo robot really smart on mapping and following the best possible route. It took 3-4 usages more to learn the house properly and program its path. At the fifth time of usage, the cleaning time fell to just 32 minutes.The robot vacuum has an option for heavy duty cleaning ( in case you have a pet or you dropped something in the floor) with suction power of 2700Pa. In case you drop sugar for example, you can direct the robot to clean the exact spot you want, and it will clean the localized area around it (area of of 5*5 ft / 1.6*1.6 m).After each cleaning the robot vacuum returns to the charging station / dust bin and self-cleans. It automatically transfers the dirt collected inside the robot into the bag-lined dustbin, without me having to touch the mess. Inside the robot vacuum there are filters and cleaning kit. All can be cleaned after a time of usage. The bin has a small bug – similar to the ones we can find in typical electric vacuums. The auto-sealed dust bag holds 2 to 4 weeks of dirt and debris.Neabot applicationAs you will see in this Neabot NoMo review, one area where this smart vacuum excels, is in its application. It has 5 languages (English, French, German, Spanish and Chinese), two options for units (square feet and square meters) and the ability to be updated. The first time I opened the app, it updated the firmware of the vacuum thus making a great impression on me! The app has a Schedule page where there are options about Clean and No-disturb. In the Add Cleaning Plan we can set up the time, days or every day of usage, and the option to clean all the house or specific areas. In the Add No-disturb Plan we can set up the times we dont want the vacuum to start working. This is a mean to stop any manual start from the vacuum itself, or through a voice Assistant. What is also good, is the ability to schedule cleaning per room and per hour. For example you can clean the bedrooms every two days at 11 in the morning and the kitchen two times per day after each breakfast/lunch/dinner! NoMo app: smart featuresThe app has a Smart Maps page as to add 3 types of areas: Areas for single pass clean, areas for double pass clean and areas to be prohibited. In the latter I have added my office area, as to stop the vacuum from getting tangled in the various PC cables, and the area under the kitchen table. While the vacuum can pass over carpets or cables, my kitchen table chairs have horizontal floor support that manage to tangle the vacuum in the space between two chairs.Thank god, I realized that because I got a notification in my smartphone that the vacuum was stuck! After going there, I found NoMO vacuum tangled but also powered off, so as not to disturb or waste the battery. Solving this issue was easy, as it only needed me to add the two areas and the robot vacuum avoided them since. The house is clean in less than half an hour with 30% loss of battery. Neabot claims cleaning usage up to 3.5 hours per charge for a space of about 200m虏(2150 ft虏).The application has an Empty Bin button, as to order the robot to clean in case you want to change the dust bag and want a final self-cleaning feature.Finally there is a Settings tab. In there we find settings about the Suction power at 2700pa, 1200ps or 700pa. There is an option about Dustbin Emptying Frequency to more/less options. Since I don’t have a pet, I chose 1200pa plus Less options. You will also find there some Sound Voice and Volume options – yes, the NoMo robot vacuum can announce its actions.Finally the robot has hands-free control with Google Assistant or Alexa, for those of you who use these assistants.Neabot NoMo review: ConclusionI like that the robot has a smart mapping option and returns to its base station in order to charge. What was really interesting also was the self cleaning feature, along with the fully washable filter and vacuum parts. The NoMo application is really helpful, but I wish it had more language options and I wish that for the future.The remote control and the in-vacuum buttons are good to have but without the mapping in the application there is a chance to find the vacuum tangled in cables or other objects.

The Breakdown 4.6 9.1 Neobot NoMo did what it promised, it cleans my house daily and effortlessly, and I gained 30+ minutes more of personal time! Check below and see why 馃槈 Battery life 9.1 Value for money 9.1 Features 9.1 Ease of use 9.1 Roomba paved the road to mass usage of robot vacuums. Marketed as an easy alternative to the tiresome and time consuming vacuuming or perhaps the ultimate Christmass gift, the robotic vacuums have seen great sales and global usage over the past years. They are the first robots that are used massively in our households and the first devices to use WiFi as a mean to be controlled from a distance. Lots of companies provide various models that have small differences in power or design. However, they all suffer from the same disadvantage: they need to be cleaned manually, after one or more usages. Dust, hair and other particles are transferred to the garbage bin, but usually a part of them travels through the air back to our house. In our brand new Neabot NoMo review we get to see the first robot vacuum that solved this problem – plus some more 馃槈Neabot is a company that was founded in 2019 with a mission of providing every household with a better home cleaning experience. Their task is to empower their clients to spend more time on things they love and less time on daily chores. Neabot introduced its first product, Neabot NoMo robot vacuum, in May 2020 on Kickstarter. After its success on the fundraising platform, it started global sales. The difference of NoMo with the other robot vacuums, is that NoMo has a self-emptying dustbin!Neobot NoMo can be found in Gadgetplus along with its accessories.Neabot NoMo review: SpecificationsMapping / Path planningyesMapping Sensor TypeLDSHigh-Precision MapyesObjects recognition (front camera)noRecharge & ResumeyesAutomatically Docks and RechargesyesNoise Level55 dbLCD DisplaynoSide Brushes (one or two)2 pcsVoice Promptsyes 聽 Cleaning FeaturesSuction Power2700 Pa小leaning Area2153 ft2 / 200 m2Dustbin Capacity400 mlAutomatic Dirt DisposalyesWet MoppingnoBarrier-cross Height0.79 in / 20 mmHEPA FilterN/AWashable FilterN/A 聽 BatteryBattery Capacity5200 mAhRun time120 minCharging TimeN/ARated Power (Watts)N/A 聽 ControlSchedulingyesIR Remote ControlyesWi-Fi / Smartphone AppyesWi-Fi Frequency Bands2.4 GHzAmazon Alexa SupportyesGoogle Assistant SupportyesMagnetic/Optical Virtual Wallsno 聽 App FeaturesReal-time trackingyesDigital Blocked AreayesZoned cleaningyesMulti-floor mapsnoManual movement controlyesSelected Room CleaningyesNo-mop zonesN/A 聽 SensorsCarpet BoostN/AAnti-drop / Cliff SensoryesDirt DetectnoFull Bin Indicatorno Other SpecificationsRobot WeightN/ARobot Width13.78 in / 35 cmRobot Height3.86 in / 9.8 cmIn the box1x Neabot Robot Vacuum,1x Neabot Self-Emptying Dustbin, 2脳 Side Brush, 1x HEPA Filter, 2脳 Dust Bag, 1x Remote Control, 1x User Guide, 2脳 Battery AAA (For Remote Control)Warranty12 monthsDescription and UsageNoMo Robot Vacuum is composed from the typical rounded robot vacuum and a charging base that includes a dust bin. In the retail box we can also find a remote control, and user guides on how to connect the system with our mobile phone. It took some time to connect the vacuum with the wifi and my Android smartphone but after that, we were ready for first use. The charging base / dust bin had already a bag in, and the vacuum was charged enough to make a first pass and map the house.For our Neabot NoMo review, I used the vacuum in my own flat. We’re talking about an average flat that is 115 m2 large, single floored, with winter carpets on, and a number of chairs and tables. I clicked on the Clean button in the mobile app and the robot charged to the floor. The two side brushes and the roller brush below the robot, effectively extracted and vacuumed dirt, while the robot identified the carpets and boosted its suction for extracting hair and other debris from them. Neabot mapped all rooms, got tangled a bit in my pc cables but cleaned the whole flat in 45 minutes.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramWhole loota sensorsThe wall sensors let NoMo strole very closely along walls and around objects without touching them. It can easily cross obstacles like doorsills of up to 20mm, easily going through the home without hindrance, for full coverage cleaning. The robot has anti-collision sensors and soft cushion bumpers to avoid obstacles and protect your furniture. It uses a z-shaped vacuuming pattern, instead of just randomly traveling around, which tends to be a more efficient way to clean. It cleaned the whole house properly – plus corners. NeaBot NoMo uses Lidar Navigation, and Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) technologies, for mapping thus making the NoMo robot really smart on mapping and following the best possible route. It took 3-4 usages more to learn the house properly and program its path. At the fifth time of usage, the cleaning time fell to just 32 minutes.The robot vacuum has an option for heavy duty cleaning ( in case you have a pet or you dropped something in the floor) with suction power of 2700Pa. In case you drop sugar for example, you can direct the robot to clean the exact spot you want, and it will clean the localized area around it (area of of 5*5 ft / 1.6*1.6 m).After each cleaning the robot vacuum returns to the charging station / dust bin and self-cleans. It automatically transfers the dirt collected inside the robot into the bag-lined dustbin, without me having to touch the mess. Inside the robot vacuum there are filters and cleaning kit. All can be cleaned after a time of usage. The bin has a small bug – similar to the ones we can find in typical electric vacuums. The auto-sealed dust bag holds 2 to 4 weeks of dirt and debris.Neabot applicationAs you will see in this Neabot NoMo review, one area where this smart vacuum excels, is in its application. It has 5 languages (English, French, German, Spanish and Chinese), two options for units (square feet and square meters) and the ability to be updated. The first time I opened the app, it updated the firmware of the vacuum thus making a great impression on me! The app has a Schedule page where there are options about Clean and No-disturb. In the Add Cleaning Plan we can set up the time, days or every day of usage, and the option to clean all the house or specific areas. In the Add No-disturb Plan we can set up the times we dont want the vacuum to start working. This is a mean to stop any manual start from the vacuum itself, or through a voice Assistant. What is also good, is the ability to schedule cleaning per room and per hour. For example you can clean the bedrooms every two days at 11 in the morning and the kitchen two times per day after each breakfast/lunch/dinner! NoMo app: smart featuresThe app has a Smart Maps page as to add 3 types of areas: Areas for single pass clean, areas for double pass clean and areas to be prohibited. In the latter I have added my office area, as to stop the vacuum from getting tangled in the various PC cables, and the area under the kitchen table. While the vacuum can pass over carpets or cables, my kitchen table chairs have horizontal floor support that manage to tangle the vacuum in the space between two chairs.Thank god, I realized that because I got a notification in my smartphone that the vacuum was stuck! After going there, I found NoMO vacuum tangled but also powered off, so as not to disturb or waste the battery. Solving this issue was easy, as it only needed me to add the two areas and the robot vacuum avoided them since. The house is clean in less than half an hour with 30% loss of battery. Neabot claims cleaning usage up to 3.5 hours per charge for a space of about 200m虏(2150 ft虏).The application has an Empty Bin button, as to order the robot to clean in case you want to change the dust bag and want a final self-cleaning feature.Finally there is a Settings tab. In there we find settings about the Suction power at 2700pa, 1200ps or 700pa. There is an option about Dustbin Emptying Frequency to more/less options. Since I don’t have a pet, I chose 1200pa plus Less options. You will also find there some Sound Voice and Volume options – yes, the NoMo robot vacuum can announce its actions.Finally the robot has hands-free control with Google Assistant or Alexa, for those of you who use these assistants.Neabot NoMo review: ConclusionI like that the robot has a smart mapping option and returns to its base station in order to charge. What was really interesting also was the self cleaning feature, along with the fully washable filter and vacuum parts. The NoMo application is really helpful, but I wish it had more language options and I wish that for the future.The remote control and the in-vacuum buttons are good to have but without the mapping in the application there is a chance to find the vacuum tangled in cables or other objects.Baseus is a China-based digital accessory brand. Owned by Shenzhen Besing Technology Co. Limited. It was founded in 2011 by He Shiyou, who is more known as “CU”. The brand specializes in smartphone spare parts, home decoration and car accessories.Baseus brand has a variety of good accessories that suits everyone’s needs, from chargers, car accessories, headphones, cables, holders, mini household appliance, game accessories and a lot more. Today, we have a review of 3 new and useful accessories from this brand that we have tried over the past few days, and we recommend our readers to buy them.Baseus A2 Car Vacuum CleanerThe Baseus A2 Car Vacuum Cleaner is a compact and convenient car cleaner. This mini handheld vacuum cleaner is ideal for cleaning up waste that builds up over time in your vehicle. It fits right into your cars cup holder! It’s the perfect little companion for snack breaks and car picnics that get a little messy. The Baseus A2s design is sleek and easy to use for all those annoying nooks and crannies.Features:5000Pa suction powerWirelessSuction and blow featuresFits into the cup holderHolds 60ml of wasteType-C interfaceHEPA filter18-minute battery lifeProduct info:Brand: BaseusName: Baseus A2 Car Vacuum CleanerColor: Black, Green, WhiteSuction: 鈮?,000PaCharging time: 3~3.5hBattery capacity: 21.6WhInput: 5V/2.4A锛圡ax.锛塕ated power: 70WBattery duration: >18minNoise: <75dBCharging port: Type-C interfaceSize: 253*60mmUnboxing: Our experience:Our experience with the Baseus car vacuum cleaner was excellent, with the suction and blow feature, in addition to the perfect size, it is one of the best car vacuums available on the market. Once charged, it can do three to four uses before needing to be charged again. Given the cheap price that this vacuum cleaner is available for, we would definitely recommend it to buy.Buy the Baseus A2 Car Vacuum Cleaner:Buy the Baseus A2 Car Vacuum CleanerBaseus GaN Mini Quick Charger C+C+A 120WThe Baseus GaN Mini Quick Charger C+C+A 120W charger can provide the highest charging speed for many devices. It’s聽powerful enough to fully charge your 15.4 MacBook Pro in only 2 hours. The maximum power of a single C port can reach 100W. Charge up to 2 laptops or USB-C tablets, and one smartphone or other devices at the same time with a record-breaking 120W of charging power. Perfect for when youre traveling.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramFeatures:Latest GaN-Tech: GaN technology can provide the highest charging speed for many devices. Baseus 120W GaN Charger is compatible with multiple fast charging protocols, Support QC 3.0 iPhone PD 3.0 notebooks including MacBook Pro/Air, the fastest charge for a smartphone or tablet.High-Speed Charging: Baseus 120W GaN charger achieves a maximum output of 120W, charging your devices at the highest speeds. The charging power of the single type-c PD ports can reach 100W providing the fast charging for devices.Incredible Compatibility: Equipped with PD & QC charging protocols fast charge your 13″ MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, iPhone 11 / 11 Pro / 11 Pro Max / SE / XS Max / XS / XR / X / 8 Plus, Samsung Galaxy S20+ / S20 / S10+ / S10 / S10e, AirPods Pro, Nintendo Switch, 11″ / 12.9″ iPad Pro, iPad Air (3rd Gen), iPad mini (5th Gen), and moreReliable Protection: Built-in safeguards protect your devices against excessive current. Stable and fast charging, No high-temperature fever, Smaller and more portable, Sturdy structure, Work indicator light, Insert stable, foldable rechargeable metal sheet.Multi-port: Baseus 120W PD GaN has USB port+2 Type-C ports wall charger (100w fast charging cable included).Product info:Input: AC 100V-240V~, 50 / 60Hz, 1.5A MaxType-C1 output: 5V/3A 9V/3A 12V/3A 15V/3A 20V/5A Max. 100WType-C2 output: 5V/3A 9V/3A 12V/3A 15V/3A 20V/5A Max. 100WUSB output: 4.5V/5A 5V/4.5A 5V/3A 9V/3A 12V/2.5A 20V/1.5A Max. 30WType-C1+Typc-C2: 60W+60WType-C1+USB: 87W+24WType-C2+USB: 87W+24WType-C1+C2+USB: 60W+30W+30WTotal output: 5V/6A Max.Unboxing: Our experience:The Baseus 120W GaN Charger uses an advanced GaN tech and SiC tech, offers 100W USB C port with power delivery and dual fast charging PD port. Also, it has smart power distribution functions and comes with a portable design with foldable pins, which makes it one of the best chargers available in the market. The charger is available at a cheap price compared to the competition, and we recommend buying it for sure.Buy the Baseus GaN 120W Mini Quick Charger:Buy the Baseus GaN 120W Mini Quick ChargerBaseus Bend Angle No.7 Multifunctional Type-C Hub ConverterCustomized for the iPad Pro, this Type-C hub has six multifunctional extended interfaces, compatible with multiple devices, and supports 4K HD simultaneous screen. It comes with a high-quality alloy design and build. Also, it allows for multiple expansion possibilities of your Type-C device.Features:This multi-functional hub converter for Type-C devices features a 6-in-1 interface comprising of:USB 3.0 port x14K HD port x1TF/Micro SD port x1SD/MMC port x1USB Type-C PD port x13.5mm audio interface x1Product info:Material: Aluminum alloy + TPETechnology: CNCworking temperature: -25掳C to +45 掳CInterface: USB 3.0 External Interfaces*1, SD*1, MicroSD*1, Audio Interface*1, HDMI*1, Type-C USB*1SD/MicroSD: Compatible with SD, MicroSD, SDHC, SDXC and other memory cards, support capacity up to 2TBAudio interface: Compatible with 3.5mm audio interface audio outputHDMI: Compatible with HDMI 4K/30Hz video output, supporting HDCP1.4/2.2USB-C PD: Support 5V/9V/14.5V/20V 4.3A (max)Unboxing: Our experience:Every iPad Pro user should have this multifunctional Type-C hub, it offers a lot of possibilities for this device and makes it a lot closer to a personal computer than a tablet. This multifunctional hub is also available at a much cheaper price than the competition products.Baseus is a China-based digital accessory brand. Owned by Shenzhen Besing Technology Co. Limited. It was founded in 2011 by He Shiyou, who is more known as “CU”. The brand specializes in smartphone spare parts, home decoration and car accessories.Baseus brand has a variety of good accessories that suits everyone’s needs, from chargers, car accessories, headphones, cables, holders, mini household appliance, game accessories and a lot more. Today, we have a review of 3 new and useful accessories from this brand that we have tried over the past few days, and we recommend our readers to buy them.Baseus A2 Car Vacuum CleanerThe Baseus A2 Car Vacuum Cleaner is a compact and convenient car cleaner. This mini handheld vacuum cleaner is ideal for cleaning up waste that builds up over time in your vehicle. It fits right into your cars cup holder! It’s the perfect little companion for snack breaks and car picnics that get a little messy. The Baseus A2s design is sleek and easy to use for all those annoying nooks and crannies.Features:5000Pa suction powerWirelessSuction and blow featuresFits into the cup holderHolds 60ml of wasteType-C interfaceHEPA filter18-minute battery lifeProduct info:Brand: BaseusName: Baseus A2 Car Vacuum CleanerColor: Black, Green, WhiteSuction: 鈮?,000PaCharging time: 3~3.5hBattery capacity: 21.6WhInput: 5V/2.4A锛圡ax.锛塕ated power: 70WBattery duration: >18minNoise: <75dBCharging port: Type-C interfaceSize: 253*60mmUnboxing: Our experience:Our experience with the Baseus car vacuum cleaner was excellent, with the suction and blow feature, in addition to the perfect size, it is one of the best car vacuums available on the market. Once charged, it can do three to four uses before needing to be charged again. Given the cheap price that this vacuum cleaner is available for, we would definitely recommend it to buy.Buy the Baseus A2 Car Vacuum Cleaner:Buy the Baseus A2 Car Vacuum CleanerBaseus GaN Mini Quick Charger C+C+A 120WThe Baseus GaN Mini Quick Charger C+C+A 120W charger can provide the highest charging speed for many devices. It’s聽powerful enough to fully charge your 15.4 MacBook Pro in only 2 hours. The maximum power of a single C port can reach 100W. Charge up to 2 laptops or USB-C tablets, and one smartphone or other devices at the same time with a record-breaking 120W of charging power. Perfect for when youre traveling.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramFeatures:Latest GaN-Tech: GaN technology can provide the highest charging speed for many devices. Baseus 120W GaN Charger is compatible with multiple fast charging protocols, Support QC 3.0 iPhone PD 3.0 notebooks including MacBook Pro/Air, the fastest charge for a smartphone or tablet.High-Speed Charging: Baseus 120W GaN charger achieves a maximum output of 120W, charging your devices at the highest speeds. The charging power of the single type-c PD ports can reach 100W providing the fast charging for devices.Incredible Compatibility: Equipped with PD & QC charging protocols fast charge your 13″ MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, iPhone 11 / 11 Pro / 11 Pro Max / SE / XS Max / XS / XR / X / 8 Plus, Samsung Galaxy S20+ / S20 / S10+ / S10 / S10e, AirPods Pro, Nintendo Switch, 11″ / 12.9″ iPad Pro, iPad Air (3rd Gen), iPad mini (5th Gen), and moreReliable Protection: Built-in safeguards protect your devices against excessive current. Stable and fast charging, No high-temperature fever, Smaller and more portable, Sturdy structure, Work indicator light, Insert stable, foldable rechargeable metal sheet.Multi-port: Baseus 120W PD GaN has USB port+2 Type-C ports wall charger (100w fast charging cable included).Product info:Input: AC 100V-240V~, 50 / 60Hz, 1.5A MaxType-C1 output: 5V/3A 9V/3A 12V/3A 15V/3A 20V/5A Max. 100WType-C2 output: 5V/3A 9V/3A 12V/3A 15V/3A 20V/5A Max. 100WUSB output: 4.5V/5A 5V/4.5A 5V/3A 9V/3A 12V/2.5A 20V/1.5A Max. 30WType-C1+Typc-C2: 60W+60WType-C1+USB: 87W+24WType-C2+USB: 87W+24WType-C1+C2+USB: 60W+30W+30WTotal output: 5V/6A Max.Unboxing: Our experience:The Baseus 120W GaN Charger uses an advanced GaN tech and SiC tech, offers 100W USB C port with power delivery and dual fast charging PD port. Also, it has smart power distribution functions and comes with a portable design with foldable pins, which makes it one of the best chargers available in the market. The charger is available at a cheap price compared to the competition, and we recommend buying it for sure.Buy the Baseus GaN 120W Mini Quick Charger:Buy the Baseus GaN 120W Mini Quick ChargerBaseus Bend Angle No.7 Multifunctional Type-C Hub ConverterCustomized for the iPad Pro, this Type-C hub has six multifunctional extended interfaces, compatible with multiple devices, and supports 4K HD simultaneous screen. It comes with a high-quality alloy design and build. Also, it allows for multiple expansion possibilities of your Type-C device.Features:This multi-functional hub converter for Type-C devices features a 6-in-1 interface comprising of:USB 3.0 port x14K HD port x1TF/Micro SD port x1SD/MMC port x1USB Type-C PD port x13.5mm audio interface x1Product info:Material: Aluminum alloy + TPETechnology: CNCworking temperature: -25掳C to +45 掳CInterface: USB 3.0 External Interfaces*1, SD*1, MicroSD*1, Audio Interface*1, HDMI*1, Type-C USB*1SD/MicroSD: Compatible with SD, MicroSD, SDHC, SDXC and other memory cards, support capacity up to 2TBAudio interface: Compatible with 3.5mm audio interface audio outputHDMI: Compatible with HDMI 4K/30Hz video output, supporting HDCP1.4/2.2USB-C PD: Support 5V/9V/14.5V/20V 4.3A (max)Unboxing: Our experience:Every iPad Pro user should have this multifunctional Type-C hub, it offers a lot of possibilities for this device and makes it a lot closer to a personal computer than a tablet. This multifunctional hub is also available at a much cheaper price than the competition products.The Breakdown 3.9 7.8 The IMILAB KW66 proves to be a decent VFM device, with very good pricing for the functions it offers. It is so discreet to wear, (somewhat) waterproof and provides an intense vibration for notifications! Value for money 7.8 Battery life 7.8 Display 7.8 Application 7.8 Connectivity 7.8 IMILAB is one of the subsidiaries of Xiaomi and makes products, both under the name of the parental company and under its own brand. We have in our hands the IMILAB KW66, a smartwatch that belongs to the group of budget devices, offering satisfactory quality and some very interesting functions, while providing impeccable battery life. The KW66 smartwatch is sleek no doubt about it. It can be worn by anyone for everyday use – and it’s quite affordable compared to other similari products! So why not give it a try? Read on and find out what we think about it in our IMILAB KW66 review 馃槈Technical specificationsShape: RoundDimension: 45 围 45 围 10.8 mmWeight: 44 gColors: Black, Silver, Pink, GreenDisplay: IPSScreen Size: 1.28 InchScreen Resolution: 240 x 240 pixelsCompatible Os: Android & IOSSensors: Gravity sensor, heart rate sensorBluetooth: V5.0GPS: NoNFC: NoECG: NoMulti-sports mode: 13 Sports ModesHeart rate monitor: YesSleep Monitor: YesBlood Pressure monitor: NoWaterproof: IP68Additional Features: Sedentary reminder, Alarm, Barometer, Brightness AdjustingBattery Capacity: 340 mAhNormal Usage: 15 daysApp: GloryFitStrap: TPUBasic packagingThe retail packaging of the device is quite simple: just a white paper box with only the essentials inside. So don’t expect something special or extravagant – you’re not gonna get it. Inside the main package there are no surprises either, so you will only find the smartwatch, the magnetic cable for charging and a manual with instructions in English/Chinese. As you can see, you also need to add a USB charger from those that are left in a drawer from your older devices. The good thing here is that instructions are in English, German, French, Italian and Spanish so it will be quite easy to set it up with little – or no – fuss at all.Design and built qualityThe chassis of the Imilab KW66 is metallic, and in our review unit, in black colour. It is intended for everyday use but has the hardware and software to be used for sports activities also. You cant tell though, because some important characteristics are missing. Sport smartwatches and fitness bands have impressive colors and design. KW66 is beautiful but minimal in its design. The idea we guess, was to combine elements from both styles, with a focus on casual style. The bonus is the price. With the money you give for it, the alternatives are just simple fitness bands. KW66 on the other hand, has a nice 3D curve on its screen and a metal frame with a matte finish, to accompany you in the office or in the coffee shop.KW66 is a very discreet smartwatch. Its volume and weight are just the right ones for any man or woman. Its dimensions are 45 x 12.7 mm with a 22 mm silicone strap and a total weight of about. 54 grams, something that makes it very comfortable to wear – no matter where you are, or what you wear.The strap is black with a very firm clasp without any movement during sports. The smartwatch is resistant to dust and water as it has IP68 certification. This means that it offers fresh water resistance, for up to 1.5 m depth and half an hour full immersion. If it gets wet in salt water, alcohol, soap, soil or other substances, then it is recommended to immerse it in a bowl of tap water to remove the substances and dry it with a clean, dry cloth. Waterproofing can be affected by prolonged direct sun exposure at high temperatures, so it’s best to be careful when you use it.It has a button on the right side for on/off with a long press and “Return to Home” when you single press it. Navigation through the menu is done mainly through touch. Its screen is easy to read under almost any type of weather condition. It has 4 brightness levels that perform well in almost all situations, while the touch support is quite accurate, although the glass is not oleophobic. After a while, you need to clean the display with a soft cloth in order to have it look as clean as the first time you got it.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramWith a long tap on the main screen we can change the watchfaces (note that only are 6 saved in the memory at any given moment), but by going to the smartphone application you can create your own with a personalized image or download another one from the company’s online store (they’re all free, don’t worry). As with all watches in this category, notifications are not interactive. They are a simple update and you should open your mobile phone for further options.Vibration is very strong and there is no way you can miss any alert.In terms of connectivity, the Imilab KW66 has Bluetooth 5.0, a heart rate sensor and an accelerometer. Unfortunately there is no GPS, but at this price it is difficult to find something similar – that works OK – in other wearables. For this reason you should take advantage of the smartphone sensor. The software built into the watch is the typical we find in low-end models, with basic graphics features, without a lot of decorative elements. Through the main menu we are able to start monitoring a sport activity or our heart rate, view daily progress and sleep statistics, start a timer, view alerts and access settings.Talking about notifications, they do not overlap and we can read them individually, even if many messages arrive from the same conversation. If the message is too large, only a part of it can be viewed, and obviously we can not see the photos or hear voice messages etc. It is also possible to control the music on your mobile phone directly from the watch, but I think that’s a feature that most smartwatches share the past couple of years.Software and battery lifeIn terms of the smartphone app needed to sync, we are asked to download the GloryFit application from Play Store or App Store. You only need a little time to set up the app correctly and keep it active, in order to ensure seamless mobile and smartwatch communication. Through the app we can define our profile (gender, age, weight, height) in order to make correct measurements. Unfortunately, it is not at the level of applications like those of Xiaomi, Amazfit or Huawei. The good thing about however, is that it has attractive graphics and sufficient usability. The main screen shows us the steps, heart rate and the last sleep session, while we can find sports activities and other settings related to the functionality of the smartwatch. The setup is simple, as we are able to easily adjust the smartwatch according to our preferences. It was easy to choose from which applications we will receive notifications or not, activate the heart rate monitor 24/7 etc. It was also east to setup various goals, the sedentary reminder for getting up from the chair and more. The IMILAB KW66 can offer support for up to 13 sport activities:outdoor running,walking,rope skipping,tennis,baseball,cycling,badminton,table tennis,mountaineering,basketball,soccer,American footballand yoga.I like outdoor running and it behaves quite well. I have to say that it returned almost the same results as the Xiaomi Mi Band 4 I currently have as main smartband. The sleep measurement is good, but it somehow “adds” the time you are on the bed watching tv, reading a book or browsing GizChina and does not give precision measurements. My advice is to just activate the recording as soon as you lie down for sleep. In the morning it will display the results in the application with nice graphics.As you can easily understand, the highlight of the Imilab KW66 is its large 340 mAh battery, which guarantees excellent performance. The battery gives power for more that 27 days with light usage, 15-16 days for medium usage (as in my case) and 7 days with heart rate monitor turned on, and multiple notifications. Charging is done with the special cable that has magnetic pins – be careful not to lose the cable, I’m not sure where you will find a new one.Conclusion

Although this may not seem to be a tech-related review, I really wanted to do it the first time I laid my eyes on this beauty of a gaming chair you’re about to see. It’s called ANDA Seat Throne (Lightining version) and it’s probably one of the most extravagant gaming chairs anyone could buy for him/herself! The specific model I ordered is the one with RGB lights (!), that can be controlled via mobile app and Bluetooth technology, so as you can understand I was VERY eager to have it in my doorstep in just 6 days after the purchase 馃槈The guys behind these chairs are a successful Chinese company with a huge community of people around them, promoting their products with the best way possible: by using them like crazy!The ANDA Seat Throne (Lightining version) is perhaps the most impressive gaming chair of the portfolio, with a maximum user height of 210 cm and maximum weight of 180 kg (!), but surely it’s not the only one as you can see below:FNATIC EditionKaiserT-ProJungleDark DemonAnda Seat Throne聽Throne LightningPretty In PinkAxeThe one I got, is – hands down- their most impressive model according to my taste, a beautifully crafted gaming chair聽designed to fulfill the requirements of even the most demanding and eager gamers.Basic Package – Instruction manualThe Throne Lightning gaming chair arrived in under 6 days from UK in a massive package that weighed 35Kg (!) – that’s heavy! It was carefully packed, protecting its parts from the transport procedure and inside the large box there were all the necessary parts (along with clear instructions) on how to build it.Nothing serious there, if you have ever built an Ikea arm chair then you will be ready to go with this in under 15 minutes. It’s exceptionally well built, from stainless steel back, 5 toes with rollers and premium synthetic leather in dual colors (mine was black with RGB cables).Everyday use and level of comfortI have been using Anda Seat’s “Throne” for almost a week now and I can say for sure that it will surely cover the needs of most of the gamers out there – albeit there are some caveats. The assembling procedure is quite easy thankfully, and all parts seem to connect firmly with each other.However the 5 rollers at the bottom of the chair make a metallic noise that could prove quite annoying for some – me included. One more thing I should mention is that the main pillow that comes along with the chair and should be placed on the top – for neck support doesn’t fit as it should. I got in touch with the support of the ANDA Seat company – I MUST mention their AWESOME support/replies -and they clarified that this was a mistake on their part, and that they would send me the correct replacement ASAP.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramThis specific model assumes the design of a bucket seat and “engulfs” the user, making it practically impossible to bend your back, have aches in the waist, or near the spinal cord. It also comes with a specially designed pillow (the one with the ANDA Seat logo on it), that can be placed at the bottom, in order to support our waist. Unfortunately it doesn’t have any elastic bands, so it’s quite easy to fall off from its place. This means that some times you must be there, to put it back to its correct place – not what a gamer would like to do all the time.Even though the 5 rollers of the chair aren’t the quitest in the market, they seem to be quite durable. In this type of chairs the wheels are always the first thing that breaks, bends, stops to roll etc, but in this case they seem to be able to withstand a lot of pressure. I also hope it manages to keep up with my working style.One of the most important features of a chair of this type is the ability to adjust its height and the tilt of its back, and this is where the “Throne” really shines. It comes with two levers placed below the bottom part.The first is typical: it adjusts the height using a hydraulic suspension enabling us to use it along with higher or lower desks. The second locks/unlocks the back side of the X-Fighter so that it can tilt back if you want to rest, or locks in an upfront position – in case you wish to play your favorite PC game for… several hours. Don’t think however, that its features end here. There’s also a third lever at the right side, near the bottom part, that adjusts the angle of the inclination of the chair – from upright to… sleep mode!This gaming chair has also adjustable arm-stands: in height, orientation AND length, in order to accommodate any type of body figure: people with long/short arms, long/short hands etc.Obviously the design of this specific gaming chair is subjective. Some may like it, others may not. If you think that this is not what you prefer, you have several聽more design options (as we previously said) that could easily cover your needs.Lightning Mode – RGB LEDThe main reason I bought this chair is – obviously my home setup as you can see. I’m an avid gamer so I have turned my office into anm RGB gallore, so this specific gaming chair was everything I needed. It comes with a Bluetooth hardware at the bottom, along with a power bank slot, so that you can turn on the RGB lights whenever you want.In order to use the RGB lightning the customer must download the Lotus Lantern app (for iOS and Android), connect the cable with a powerbank (or a USB port from PC, or a USB plug) and then pair with the Bluetooth hardware that’s neatly placed below the seat.The app is quite straightforward to use: you can adjust light color, speed, brightness and create your own lightning patterns; you can also use the phone’s mic to make the lights “dance” to the music you listen. The connection is easy to create and the speed is great – however there’s one flaw. If you turn off the lights from the app, then the Bluetooth connection is terminated, so if you want to turn them on after – let’s say 2-3 hours – you have to remove and reconnect the USB cable, so that the RGB lights activate. In any case, that’s something that could be solved with a future app update – I hope. What matters is that the RGB lights work, their patterns match my Nanoleafs and Yeelights, creating an impressive environment. 馃槈Our thoughtsWe have a winner here guys, there’s no doubt about it. The Anda Seat Throne is a quality gaming chair and surely a treat every PC gamer should give to himself. It offers interesting specs, packed with a solid build – combining stainless steel, RGB lights and high quality leather. Its rollers are a bit noisy however, so this is something that one should live with.Overall it’s quite a buy for anyone who is searching for a durable gaming chair, with impressive appearance. And if you want to see it… shine (!) then turn on the RGB lights during the night!Although this may not seem to be a tech-related review, I really wanted to do it the first time I laid my eyes on this beauty of a gaming chair you’re about to see. It’s called ANDA Seat Throne (Lightining version) and it’s probably one of the most extravagant gaming chairs anyone could buy for him/herself! The specific model I ordered is the one with RGB lights (!), that can be controlled via mobile app and Bluetooth technology, so as you can understand I was VERY eager to have it in my doorstep in just 6 days after the purchase 馃槈The guys behind these chairs are a successful Chinese company with a huge community of people around them, promoting their products with the best way possible: by using them like crazy!The ANDA Seat Throne (Lightining version) is perhaps the most impressive gaming chair of the portfolio, with a maximum user height of 210 cm and maximum weight of 180 kg (!), but surely it’s not the only one as you can see below:FNATIC EditionKaiserT-ProJungleDark DemonAnda Seat Throne聽Throne LightningPretty In PinkAxeThe one I got, is – hands down- their most impressive model according to my taste, a beautifully crafted gaming chair聽designed to fulfill the requirements of even the most demanding and eager gamers.Basic Package – Instruction manualThe Throne Lightning gaming chair arrived in under 6 days from UK in a massive package that weighed 35Kg (!) – that’s heavy! It was carefully packed, protecting its parts from the transport procedure and inside the large box there were all the necessary parts (along with clear instructions) on how to build it.Nothing serious there, if you have ever built an Ikea arm chair then you will be ready to go with this in under 15 minutes. It’s exceptionally well built, from stainless steel back, 5 toes with rollers and premium synthetic leather in dual colors (mine was black with RGB cables).Everyday use and level of comfortI have been using Anda Seat’s “Throne” for almost a week now and I can say for sure that it will surely cover the needs of most of the gamers out there – albeit there are some caveats. The assembling procedure is quite easy thankfully, and all parts seem to connect firmly with each other.However the 5 rollers at the bottom of the chair make a metallic noise that could prove quite annoying for some – me included. One more thing I should mention is that the main pillow that comes along with the chair and should be placed on the top – for neck support doesn’t fit as it should. I got in touch with the support of the ANDA Seat company – I MUST mention their AWESOME support/replies -and they clarified that this was a mistake on their part, and that they would send me the correct replacement ASAP.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramThis specific model assumes the design of a bucket seat and “engulfs” the user, making it practically impossible to bend your back, have aches in the waist, or near the spinal cord. It also comes with a specially designed pillow (the one with the ANDA Seat logo on it), that can be placed at the bottom, in order to support our waist. Unfortunately it doesn’t have any elastic bands, so it’s quite easy to fall off from its place. This means that some times you must be there, to put it back to its correct place – not what a gamer would like to do all the time.Even though the 5 rollers of the chair aren’t the quitest in the market, they seem to be quite durable. In this type of chairs the wheels are always the first thing that breaks, bends, stops to roll etc, but in this case they seem to be able to withstand a lot of pressure. I also hope it manages to keep up with my working style.One of the most important features of a chair of this type is the ability to adjust its height and the tilt of its back, and this is where the “Throne” really shines. It comes with two levers placed below the bottom part.The first is typical: it adjusts the height using a hydraulic suspension enabling us to use it along with higher or lower desks. The second locks/unlocks the back side of the X-Fighter so that it can tilt back if you want to rest, or locks in an upfront position – in case you wish to play your favorite PC game for… several hours. Don’t think however, that its features end here. There’s also a third lever at the right side, near the bottom part, that adjusts the angle of the inclination of the chair – from upright to… sleep mode!This gaming chair has also adjustable arm-stands: in height, orientation AND length, in order to accommodate any type of body figure: people with long/short arms, long/short hands etc.Obviously the design of this specific gaming chair is subjective. Some may like it, others may not. If you think that this is not what you prefer, you have several聽more design options (as we previously said) that could easily cover your needs.Lightning Mode – RGB LEDThe main reason I bought this chair is – obviously my home setup as you can see. I’m an avid gamer so I have turned my office into anm RGB gallore, so this specific gaming chair was everything I needed. It comes with a Bluetooth hardware at the bottom, along with a power bank slot, so that you can turn on the RGB lights whenever you want.In order to use the RGB lightning the customer must download the Lotus Lantern app (for iOS and Android), connect the cable with a powerbank (or a USB port from PC, or a USB plug) and then pair with the Bluetooth hardware that’s neatly placed below the seat.The app is quite straightforward to use: you can adjust light color, speed, brightness and create your own lightning patterns; you can also use the phone’s mic to make the lights “dance” to the music you listen. The connection is easy to create and the speed is great – however there’s one flaw. If you turn off the lights from the app, then the Bluetooth connection is terminated, so if you want to turn them on after – let’s say 2-3 hours – you have to remove and reconnect the USB cable, so that the RGB lights activate. In any case, that’s something that could be solved with a future app update – I hope. What matters is that the RGB lights work, their patterns match my Nanoleafs and Yeelights, creating an impressive environment. 馃槈Our thoughtsWe have a winner here guys, there’s no doubt about it. The Anda Seat Throne is a quality gaming chair and surely a treat every PC gamer should give to himself. It offers interesting specs, packed with a solid build – combining stainless steel, RGB lights and high quality leather. Its rollers are a bit noisy however, so this is something that one should live with.Overall it’s quite a buy for anyone who is searching for a durable gaming chair, with impressive appearance. And if you want to see it… shine (!) then turn on the RGB lights during the night!

The Breakdown The Hohem iSteady Pro 3 is the gimbal to get for your action camera with a price tag of just $89.00. Accessories – 8.0 Design – 7.0 User Experience – 8.0 Battery Life – 9.0 Value For Money – 9.0 A few months back we reviewed a very interesting action camera that went by the name of Vantop Moment 6S. That action camera brought some impressive specs for the price, including 4K video recording capability at 60fps, a large display with a simple UI and on-board video stabilization. Now, while the stabilization was rather good, there are always some drawbacks when you go that route.We’re talking about lower frame rates supported and an additional crop of the sensor to allow for EIS to work. It could even go as far as disabling the use of some codecs (such as H.265) as it needs more resources to run EIS and it cannot handle both at the same time.So, how do you get the best possible video quality while having some silky smooth footage? Well, you already know the answer: by using a Gimbal. Today we’re going to check out the latest Hohem iSteady Pro 3, a gimbal specifically made for GoPro Hero 8/7/6/5/4/3 but that can be used with any action cameras on the market. Keep reading!Hohem iSteady Pro 3 Review: The Best Action Camera Gimbal for the MoneyHohem iSteady Pro 3: SpecsMaterial: ABS+PCWeight: 361g (battery included)Battery Capacity: 3600mAh锛?8650 Li-ion)Max camera size锛欻eight 48mm锛孴hickness 32mmRotation Angle: Pan 600掳 Roll 320掳 Tilt 320掳Payload: 150gUnboxingThe Hohem iSteady Pro 3 comes with a case, which you can use to store the gimbal when you carry it around. Something that doesn’t seem important up until you need to carry it with you and you cannot just store it in your backpack as it could get damaged or break quite easily.Either way, along with the carrying case we also get three cables. These include two smaller ones to charge the action camera while using the gimbal and a longer one to charge the gimbal itself. Additionally, Hohem also presents us with a small tripod which comes very handy when you want to shoot a time-lapse; something we don’t suggest doing handheld.Design & Build QualityAs far as design is concerned, the Hohem iSteady Pro 3 features a very ergonomic handle so that your hands don’t get tired when holding it. We also find lots of buttons and ports which bring many functionalities.Let’s start with the 1/4 inch screw hole at the bottom used to place it on the included mini tripod or any other standard tripod; but that’s quite conventional. What’s unconventional though is the other 1/4 inch screw hole on the side which can be used to screw in accessories such as microphones, LED lights and so on. So you can turn your action camera into a Run & Gun camera setup to record vlogs and whatnot on the go.Although it’s also a feature, another very interesting design perk is the WiFi module for the compatible cameras. This module allows to easily control GoPro cameras, including snapping photos and videos. The feature only works with GoPro cameras though and among them, those who already sport WiFi; thus no older cameras.Either way, the gimbal can be controlled through a total of five buttons. We have the one to turn on the gimbal, one to change modes, another to zoom in and out, a knob to move the gimbal head and a trigger in the front. This trigger can be used to activate “Sport Mode” which boasts the head movement and makes it turn must faster (you’ll see a sample in the video below).Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramFinally, we have the various USB ports to charge the gimbal and the action camera attached to it of you so desired; along with four LEDs that show the battery status.Build quality wise, it’s a solid gimbal made of the toughest plastic, so we expect it to survive most falls. Additionally, it’ll also survive some water splashes as it is IPX4 certified.User ExperienceThe Hohem iSteady Pro 3 comes with all the features you expect to find on a gimbal. You can use it in POV mode, which allows the pan, tilt and roll motors to all work at the same time. This mode is used to create a smooth moving effect around an object or a person. We then have PTF mode which will let the camera follow your pan and tilt, PF to only follow the panning and finally L mode which is used to lock the head in a direction, no matter how you move the gimbal. All the modes worked perfectly during our tests and you’ll be able to see most of them in the video below.Another feature that worked quite well is the time-lapse. Though to use this feature you first need to connect the gimbal to your smartphone through the proprietary app. Once you sync the smartphone and the Hohem iSteady Pro 3, you can then set up a time-lapse by choosing the start and end point, as well as the time it’ll take from point A to point B.Additionally, through the app you can also control the gimbal remotely. So if for some reason you need to move the action camera while being away from it, you can now do it with ease.As far as stabilization is concerned, the gimbal comes with what’s called iSteady 3.0 technology and well, it does make the video look steady. It’s probably not as smooth as a professional camera gimbal; but it definitely turns a previously unwatchable shaky footage into something enjoyable.We can check out what the video looks like with and without the gimbal; along with a preview of some of the modes.Battery LifeBattery life on the Hohem iSteady Pro 3 is really impressive. We’ve used it a couple times outside and we’re still at four out of four LEDs, in other words: at least 75% of charge. So, the 12 hours the company claims are probably real.Anyhow it’s definitely more than you need, because either your action camera will run out of storage space or out of battery before the gimbal dies. The large battery can come in handy if you want to charge the action camera while filming though.Hohem iSteady Pro 3 – ConclusionsClearly, the Hohem iSteady Pro 3 isn’t a product for everybody as you need to already own an action camera before getting it. That means that you probably already have something in mind for which you need the gimbal; do you want to record some smooth clips of your friends skateboarding or any other sports/tricks? Then yes, this is the gimbal to get with a price tag of just $89.00.The Breakdown Hohem iSteady X is one of the best Smartphone Gimbal Stabilizers available in the market, offering a really high-quality at an affordable price. DESIGN – 9.0 BUILD QUALITY – 7.0 CONTROLS – 8.5 EASE OF USE – 8.0 FUNCTIONALITIES – 7.5 Hohem Technology, a young company, has brought its gimbal stabilizer design to CES 2020. iSteady X is a very compact and lightweight gimbal designed for smartphones. According to the company, iSteady X is the world’s best handheld gimbal for a smartphone. It weighs only 249g, making it the world’s lightest device of its kind.The iSteady X is foldable for added convenience. When folded, the stabilizer, which can also act as a tripod, fits in the palm of your hand or in your pocket.聽The device has several buttons, one of which is used to switch between modes, among which there is a mode of tracking the face in the frame. The stabilizer is designed for devices weighing up to 280 g.The device has arrived to us a few days ago, and here is a summary of our experience with it.Technical specsColor: black or whiteWeight: 259gDimensions (folded): 179 x 79 x 39 mmBattery: 2000 mAh Li-Io / 3.7VAngle: swivel 320 掳, roll 320 掳, tilt: -30 掳 to 30 掳Main featuresUltra-light, Only 259G — iSteady X is the worlds lightest 3-axis palm smartphone gimbal, is as light as a mobile phone based on its size and weight 259G. The foldable design makes the palm-size gimbal able to put in small handbag and feels light to carry for female users.Selfie Stick Mode Non-stop Shooting — The Selfie Stick Mode is able to make iSteady X as a selfie stick, the specific design allows you to lock the motors with more possibilities to continue shooting and use the gimbal even it is power off.Hohem Pro App — Create cinematic videos with professional skills, by reference to multiple templates where is able to auto add transitions, music, filter and other effects just with Moment Mode.Anti-shake Algorithm System — Equipped with enhanced DC brushless motors and the iSteady 3.0 anti-shake algorithm system, iSteady X is compact but powerful to compatible with smartphone weight up to 280g.One-Click Inception Mode — Thanks to the simple control buttons and App guide, even beginners can learn to use the gimbal with few steps and just a tap on App screen, to get some cinematic video.UnboxingDesignIn the smartly packaged case, we find a fabric pouch, a USB to Type-C cable, a small wrist strap, a little paperwork, the gimbal itself and a tripod that is also included.A 3-axis gimbal for just $69? Well, it seems that Hohem knews how to manufacture a gimbal with low price and high quality. The iSteady X has a lightweight but is made of plastic. Nevertheless, it doesn’t feel too cheap and doesn’t give the impression of disintegrating into its individual parts when first used. On the gimbal itself there are several bends including corresponding counterparts, which are intended to use the gimbal as a selfie stick on the one hand and on the other hand to be able to transport the gimbal firmly locked in your pocket. When folded, it really fits easily into a pocket or a handbag.Controls As controls, we find the joystick on the front for moving the gimbal, plus a power button and the trigger. The two buttons have multiple assignments, so simply pressing the shutter release button means that a photo will be taken and double pressing it will start a video.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramThe power button is of course also used several times. Long press switches the gimbal on or off. Simple press changes between landscape or portrait view. The LEDs indicate the battery and standby status and there is a zoom rocker on the side.The respective smartphone is packed into the clamp holder and even large devices can be used with the gimbal without any problems. At first, I was afraid that there might be incorrect presses on the volume rockers of the mobile phone, but the angle of the holder fits and the buttons are not pressed.Ease of useA sticker shows how the smartphone must be placed in the holder is present. Also, if you want, you can easily screw on the tripod provided on the underside using the standardized tripod connection. So the tripod stands on straight surfaces.The iSteady X is charged via the included USB Type-C cable. The battery is in the grip of the gimbal and cannot be changed. The charge is usually sufficient for 5-8 hours of use. Since I never played around with the gimbal for 8 hours straight, I cannot confirm this.Almost everyone probably has a power bank at home anyway. This would allow you to shoot for a long time with the gimbal even on the go.Hohem Pro appThe Hohem Pro app follows. Please be careful, there is also a Hohem Gimbal app, but it was developed for other Hohem gimbals. (Android version), (iOS version).The gimbal should be activated in the app. I don’t quite understand this step, but it is required for maintenance and customer service. The setup is completed with the installation and registration in the app.I like the design of the app itself. On the home page, there are small links to videos that explain certain functions.The settings exist in the camera view after pressing the gear wheel from the left into the picture. The working mode of the gimbal can then be set here, for example. A long press on the trigger and then either 1,2,3 or 4 presses on the power button will also switch through these modes on the gimbal itself.The response time of the gimbal can also be set in several steps in the settings. Depending on the situation, the gimbal then reacts faster or slower to movements. The setting for video resolution also finds its place here and in the Hohem camera app there is also the face tracking function. FunctionalitiesFirmware updates etc. should also be enabled via the app. This is a great advantage compared to the alternatives because, for the others, the firmware updates can only be done via a PC / Mac.There are a lot of functions in the app including the Moment聽mode. Except for the zoom mode, everything worked fine. You can also use the panorama or timelapse functions.Incidentally, the design of the gimbal is arranged so that parts of the gimbal should not come into the picture even with wide-angle shots.For low-angle recordings, it is sufficient to tilt the gimbal down. Then the smartphone is automatically turned.The construction of the gimbal limits the area in which the smartphone can be tilted up or down to a few degrees. You definitely have to keep that in mind!Conclusion

The Breakdown The Amazfit Powerbuds offer great quality overall. They have a premium build, a very good audio experience, and versatility. I would have no qualms suggesting them to anyone buying under Rs 6,999. However, theyre a bit bulky because of the heart rate sensor and have an in-ear fit. If you dont need/like that, you would have to look elsewhere. Build and Design – 85% Battery – 85% Audio – 80% Software – 80% Pros Good build quality, Great audio experience, ear hooks, good battery life Cons Bulky, no wireless charging, No aptX Amazfit is a brand well known for accessories like fitness watches and fitness trackers and it does quite well in that segment. But lately, it has branched off into other more lucrative segments such as the booming and popular wireless earbuds category. And one of the companys most attention-grabbing products is the new Amazfit Powerbuds that it just launched in India a few days back. The buds are the companys first TWS offering in the Indian market even though it debuted other products at CES this year for the global audience. Amazfit sent us a review unit of the Powerbuds and we were really excited to try them out. Here are our thoughts.聽In the box:Inside the retail box, we have the buds nestled inside the case, the charger and a USB-C cable. There’s some reading material as well. The magnetic hooks also rest on the ceiling of the case.A few quick highlights worth mentioning about the Amazfit Powerbuds:Heart-rate monitoring via PPG, split ear hook design, IP55 water resistance, ENC noise reduction, and more. For more in-depth specifications, heres a link to the launch story.聽Amazfit Powerbuds: Design聽Unlike other round-shaped or circular designed earphones, the Powerbuds have an extra added module just under the main body. Thats PPG heart-rate monitor which makes the buds jut out more than others. Its an in-ear design though and Amazfit has taken care to also provide extra ear detachable magnetic hooks which is a very nice and much-needed addition. The build quality is really nice and premium as well. Each bud weighs in at 6g, while the charging case feels slightly hefty at 57g.聽 The earbuds are IP55 water and dust resistance certified, but that doesn’t extend to its charging case. So you can do workouts with it, but you can’t go swimming with the buds.In terms of fit, the default ones were good and comfortable for us, hence we didnt try the other three included tips. Most ears are covered in these four sizes and for extra precaution, the ear hooks will give good extra security. The buds get a strong grip once the hooks are added and we felt more confident running with them. Without them, not so much. However, if youre just chilling around, theres not much need to use them. Remember, every ear size and shape is different and your experience may vary. So, be sure to play around with the custom options provided. For me personally, it was a comfortable and enjoyable experience and I wore it longer than what I do for most other buds I use.聽聽Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramThe pill-shaped case also has a smooth but coarse finish to it, something I prefer a lot. And this helps it is not getting smudges and scratches. The lid, as well as the inside of the case, all feels good quality. Theres also the attention to detail with magnets sticking to the buds in the case. This prevents them from falling off accidentally when opening the lid. It has a USB-C charging port and a small LED light.聽BatteryThe battery life of the Amazfit Powerbuds is surely outstanding. It lasts well around 6.5 hrs of moderate use, some times a bit less, sometimes more. The case can further extend that to 16 more hours (with the case) giving a solid 24hrs backup. But suffice to say, we were delighted to not worry for a full work-day duration. Theres no wireless charging here though, but thats not complaining at its price point. Theres also no fast charge, so it takes time around two hours for a full top-up. Although Amazfit claims three hours of playback from a 15-minute charge. And thats pretty much it for the battery, its one of the longer-lasting earbuds out there and also one of the features I like. I havent yet tested out its stand-by battery life but will be doing so in the coming days.聽Audio and call qualityThe first thing that stands out about the Amazfit Powerbuds audio to me is its clarity and the stereo effect. At the price point, its pretty good. At full volume, theres enough thump in the bass that you wont complain either. But it doesnt muffle the mids and the lows. I found the sound signature to be balanced enough to not want to change it. Mids and lows were good as well. At those higher volumes, theres enough noise cancellation too to make you completely oblivious to the outside world. Whats even better is how you can customize the sound signature as per your liking through the apps equalizer. So, if you want better bass, that can be arranged to a certain extent. There’s no support for Hi-Res audio codecs such as aptX or LDAC though.聽The call quality is ok, nothing too great, nothing too bad either. The earbuds have a stable Bluetooth 5.0 connection that ensures you don’t get cut off in between your calls and the range is pretty decent too. The in-ear detection is good as well and it pauses the audio without much error when you take out an earbud. You can walk away from your phone up to 10 metres (even with walls in between) and it will still stay connected. I didn’t have any issues on the connectivity regard. All in all, the Amazfit Powerbuds delighted me with the music quality they offered. And the equalizer settings added some much-needed flexibility which you won’t find on many earphones at its price.Heart-rate tracking and Amazfit app The PPG heart-rate tracking features in the Powerbuds is a rarity to see under Rs 6,999.聽 But it’s only the right ear that supports it. Also, it works only in the workout mode which is activated by the smartphone. There are a few basic modes like running, cycling, and jogging. If the heart rate starts to go too high during a workout, the buds will alert you to it.聽 Considering I’ve been locked inside my home most of the time sadly, due to the current situation, I haven’t been able to test out the sensor adequately. It is to be noted that the sensor is not as accurate as ECG sensors. And I would personally prefer a smart band that can actively track stuff all the time and also have basic info at hand. Although, having the sensor in the buds is always a good addition but it would be nice if it isn’t limited to the work out mode.The Amazfit app is pretty simple and easy to set up. Once installed, it guides you through a visual guide to setup the buds and it’s quite easy. The buds themselves are quite easy to link to Bluetooth as well. I plan to test it out a bit more in the coming days and will update the review with more images and thoughts soon.Is the Amazfit Powerbuds for you?The Breakdown The Amazfit Powerbuds offer great quality overall. They have a premium build, a very good audio experience, and versatility. I would have no qualms suggesting them to anyone buying under Rs 6,999. However, theyre a bit bulky because of the heart rate sensor and have an in-ear fit. If you dont need/like that, you would have to look elsewhere. Build and Design – 85% Battery – 85% Audio – 80% Software – 80% Pros Good build quality, Great audio experience, ear hooks, good battery life Cons Bulky, no wireless charging, No aptX Amazfit is a brand well known for accessories like fitness watches and fitness trackers and it does quite well in that segment. But lately, it has branched off into other more lucrative segments such as the booming and popular wireless earbuds category. And one of the companys most attention-grabbing products is the new Amazfit Powerbuds that it just launched in India a few days back. The buds are the companys first TWS offering in the Indian market even though it debuted other products at CES this year for the global audience. Amazfit sent us a review unit of the Powerbuds and we were really excited to try them out. Here are our thoughts.聽In the box:Inside the retail box, we have the buds nestled inside the case, the charger and a USB-C cable. There’s some reading material as well. The magnetic hooks also rest on the ceiling of the case.A few quick highlights worth mentioning about the Amazfit Powerbuds:Heart-rate monitoring via PPG, split ear hook design, IP55 water resistance, ENC noise reduction, and more. For more in-depth specifications, heres a link to the launch story.聽Amazfit Powerbuds: Design聽Unlike other round-shaped or circular designed earphones, the Powerbuds have an extra added module just under the main body. Thats PPG heart-rate monitor which makes the buds jut out more than others. Its an in-ear design though and Amazfit has taken care to also provide extra ear detachable magnetic hooks which is a very nice and much-needed addition. The build quality is really nice and premium as well. Each bud weighs in at 6g, while the charging case feels slightly hefty at 57g.聽 The earbuds are IP55 water and dust resistance certified, but that doesn’t extend to its charging case. So you can do workouts with it, but you can’t go swimming with the buds.In terms of fit, the default ones were good and comfortable for us, hence we didnt try the other three included tips. Most ears are covered in these four sizes and for extra precaution, the ear hooks will give good extra security. The buds get a strong grip once the hooks are added and we felt more confident running with them. Without them, not so much. However, if youre just chilling around, theres not much need to use them. Remember, every ear size and shape is different and your experience may vary. So, be sure to play around with the custom options provided. For me personally, it was a comfortable and enjoyable experience and I wore it longer than what I do for most other buds I use.聽聽Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramThe pill-shaped case also has a smooth but coarse finish to it, something I prefer a lot. And this helps it is not getting smudges and scratches. The lid, as well as the inside of the case, all feels good quality. Theres also the attention to detail with magnets sticking to the buds in the case. This prevents them from falling off accidentally when opening the lid. It has a USB-C charging port and a small LED light.聽BatteryThe battery life of the Amazfit Powerbuds is surely outstanding. It lasts well around 6.5 hrs of moderate use, some times a bit less, sometimes more. The case can further extend that to 16 more hours (with the case) giving a solid 24hrs backup. But suffice to say, we were delighted to not worry for a full work-day duration. Theres no wireless charging here though, but thats not complaining at its price point. Theres also no fast charge, so it takes time around two hours for a full top-up. Although Amazfit claims three hours of playback from a 15-minute charge. And thats pretty much it for the battery, its one of the longer-lasting earbuds out there and also one of the features I like. I havent yet tested out its stand-by battery life but will be doing so in the coming days.聽Audio and call qualityThe first thing that stands out about the Amazfit Powerbuds audio to me is its clarity and the stereo effect. At the price point, its pretty good. At full volume, theres enough thump in the bass that you wont complain either. But it doesnt muffle the mids and the lows. I found the sound signature to be balanced enough to not want to change it. Mids and lows were good as well. At those higher volumes, theres enough noise cancellation too to make you completely oblivious to the outside world. Whats even better is how you can customize the sound signature as per your liking through the apps equalizer. So, if you want better bass, that can be arranged to a certain extent. There’s no support for Hi-Res audio codecs such as aptX or LDAC though.聽The call quality is ok, nothing too great, nothing too bad either. The earbuds have a stable Bluetooth 5.0 connection that ensures you don’t get cut off in between your calls and the range is pretty decent too. The in-ear detection is good as well and it pauses the audio without much error when you take out an earbud. You can walk away from your phone up to 10 metres (even with walls in between) and it will still stay connected. I didn’t have any issues on the connectivity regard. All in all, the Amazfit Powerbuds delighted me with the music quality they offered. And the equalizer settings added some much-needed flexibility which you won’t find on many earphones at its price.Heart-rate tracking and Amazfit app The PPG heart-rate tracking features in the Powerbuds is a rarity to see under Rs 6,999.聽 But it’s only the right ear that supports it. Also, it works only in the workout mode which is activated by the smartphone. There are a few basic modes like running, cycling, and jogging. If the heart rate starts to go too high during a workout, the buds will alert you to it.聽 Considering I’ve been locked inside my home most of the time sadly, due to the current situation, I haven’t been able to test out the sensor adequately. It is to be noted that the sensor is not as accurate as ECG sensors. And I would personally prefer a smart band that can actively track stuff all the time and also have basic info at hand. Although, having the sensor in the buds is always a good addition but it would be nice if it isn’t limited to the work out mode.The Amazfit app is pretty simple and easy to set up. Once installed, it guides you through a visual guide to setup the buds and it’s quite easy. The buds themselves are quite easy to link to Bluetooth as well. I plan to test it out a bit more in the coming days and will update the review with more images and thoughts soon.Is the Amazfit Powerbuds for you?