Xiaomi announces Mi 4s in China

Just minutes before the launch of the new Mi 5, Xiaomi also took the wraps off the new Mi 4s.

Xiaomi Mi 4s

The Mi 4s seems somewhat like the successor to last year’s Mi 4i, with its slim design and impressive but not too impressive spec sheet. It looks like it will slot somewhere between the existing Mi 4 and the upcoming Mi 5.

The Mi 4s has a glass panel on the front and back, sandwiching the metal frame in the middle. On the front is a 5-inch 1920×1080 resolution display, which keeps the dimensions to a reasonable 139.26 x 70.76 x 7.8mm and the phone weighs just 133g.

Inside, there is a new Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 chipset with 3GB of RAM and 64GB of storage space. On the back is a 13 megapixel camera with PDAF and two-tone LED flash. There’s also a fingerprint sensor.

Connectivity-wise, the phone supports 4G+ with VoLTE and USB Type-C. The phone runs on MIUI 7 on top of Android. It is powered by a 3260mAh battery with Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0 support.

The 64GB model is priced at 1699 Chinese Yuan ($260). It will be available in black, white, gold, and…

from GSMArena.com – Latest articles http://ift.tt/21eT8AM
via IFTTT

PlayStation VR press event set for next month, invites sent out

Sony has sent out press invites for a PlayStation VR event which will be held next month – March 15 to be precise. The invitation says the event will begin with a presentation on the headset followed by hands-on demo of the device.

There’s still no information on when the headset will go on sale. If you recall, GameStop CEO Paul Raines, said in a recent interview that they “will launch the Sony product this fall.” However, we expect the launch to be inline with the “first half of 2016” release time-frame already promised by Sony.

As for the price, the PlayStation VR was spotted listed on the websites of three different Swiss online retailers last month, carrying price tags in the range of CHF 499 – CHF 552.45, or $500 – $555 at current exchange…

from GSMArena.com – Latest articles http://ift.tt/1QbwWgF
via IFTTT

Xiaomi could announce Mi 4S alongside Mi 5 today

Xiaomi is all set to unveil its Mi 5 flagship today in China. If you recall, there have been rumors that the company could announce another device at the event. Looks like now we have some idea on what that device would be.

A leaked poster from Chinese retailer Suning reveals the Xiaomi Mi 4S, and reports say this would be the second device that will be unveiled at the event.

The leak also reveals some of the Mi 4S’ specs. It is powered by a Snapdragon 808 chipset and sports a 5-inch full HD display. The handset features a 13MP rear camera with Phase Detection Auto Focus (PDAF) and dual LED flash, as well as a fingerprint sensor at the back.

Needless to say, none of this has been officially confirmed. But that won’t take long as the event is set to begin…

from GSMArena.com – Latest articles http://ift.tt/1TESBmZ
via IFTTT

Meizu Pro 5 mini won’t see the light of day

For those who were looking forward to the mini variant of the Meizu Pro 5 smartphone, there is some bad news: the 4.7-inch device won’t see the light of day. This was confirmed by the Chinese company’s founder and CEO Huang Zhang on Weibo.

The reason cited was that the recent earthquake in Taiwan has adversely affected their supply, and most of their inventory has been damaged. Hanging on to the Pro 5 mini would have delayed the device beyond acceptable limits so they decided to ditch the project altogether.

Zhang said the company will now focus on the Pro 6 flagship instead. So we now know that a Pro 5 successor is in the…

from GSMArena.com – Latest articles http://ift.tt/21eEZDY
via IFTTT

MWC 2016: Samsung’s Galaxy S6 edge and Gear S2 bag best smartphone and connected device awards

The Samsung Galaxy S6 edge smartphone – which is the predecessor to the South Korean company’s newest Galaxy S7 edge flagship – has won the “Best Smartphone 2015” at this year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Not only this, the tech giant’s Gear S2 smartwatch – which comes in standard, 3G, Classic, and now Classic 3G variants – was named “Best Connected Consumer Electronic Device” in the Best Mobile Handsets & Devices category.

“We are honored to be recognized for our industry-leading technology,” said DJ Koh, President of Mobile Communications at Samsung Electronics. “At Samsung we remain committed to providing mobile devices that are inspired by consumers and always underpinned by a focus on progress and…

from GSMArena.com – Latest articles http://ift.tt/1OtOT7S
via IFTTT

Watch the Xiaomi Mi 5 launch event here

One of the eagerly-anticipated debuts at MWC 2016 comes courtesy of Xiaomi in the Mi 5 flagship. The Chinese giant has been enjoying high domestic and international interest, especially over the last year and, this time around, the company’s VP Hugo Barra has decided to dive head-on into one of the industry’s major events where he will be hosting the global launch of the Xaiomi Mi 5.

Mind you, the announcement is global, but judging from the company’s track record, availability for the handset probably won’t be.

The event is set for later today February 24 at 9:00 CET and you can follow along using the live stream below.

As for the Xiaomi Mi5, it is still shrouded in a lot of mystery, mainly concerning all its alleged variants. The most recent leak suggested it would have two versions. The base model is expected to have a 5.2″ 2K (1440×2560) IPS display and should run on Snapdragon 820 chip with
4GB of RAM. The rest of the specs include a 16MP rear snapper and a front 8MP selfie shooter.

Another new feature is expected to be the fingerprint reader in the home button on the front.

Tune back in when the event kicks off to see how close these rumors came to the real…

from GSMArena.com – Latest articles http://ift.tt/1LaHYG3
via IFTTT

No Xperia Z6, X series to replace Z series, Sony confirms

While we were expecting to see as many as five of them, Sony has confirmed that there won’t be any Xperia Z6 at all. The confirmation came in the form of a Facebook comment by the German arm of the Japanese company.

In addition, the company also revealed that the new Xperia X series of smartphones – which was announced at the ongoing MWC in Barcelona – will replace the Z series. “A Z6 will not exist. The new X series is under a modified concept that meets the needs of our users even more accessible,” the Google translated version of the comment read.

So, what does this mean. Well, going by what all Sony has confirmed, it’d be safe to assume that the the new SD820-powered Xperia X Performance is Sony’s flagship for the year. The other two phones that the company unveiled at MWC are the Xperia X and XA.

Source 1 2 |…

from GSMArena.com – Latest articles http://ift.tt/1mWqodg
via IFTTT

Quick demo video reveals HoloLens Start Menu and navigation

A tutorial video of the Actiongram App has been posted to YouTube and shows a basic demo with the HoloLens including a view of the Start Menu and basic navigation of the Actiongram app.

If you’ve never seen it before, HoloLens a pretty interesting way of literally introducing PC elements into your physical environment and these are among the first leaks toward a semi to fully-finished Start Menu.

The Start Menu in the short clip shows a top cluster with status information like Wi-Fi connection signal, time, and volume. Cortana makes an appearance right above Microsoft’s Live Tiles and two shortcuts perhaps to take photo or video.

This same top cluster makes its way to the All Apps window and to navigate between apps, the user is required to point up or down onto a scrolling bar.

Check out the YouTube video below to see the quick demo of the what the Holo Lens can do.

Source |…

from GSMArena.com – Latest articles http://ift.tt/1Ty3TbE
via IFTTT

Xiaomi skyrocketed number of wearables sold in 2015

Xiaomi has shown the most growth in the wearables business, growing a full 951% from the year before. It achieved this feat by selling very low priced wearable tech in China. For example, the Mi Band Pulse only costs $13 and capable of continuous heart rate monitoring.

Apple has yet to officially announce an accurate number of Apple Watch units sold, even in its financial reports. The IDC has put out numbers for the year and for the last quarter of 2015 as to who were the best performing wearables companies worldwide by number of units sold.

For Q4 and including the past Holiday Season, Apple placed 2nd in the number of units sold in the quarter with 4.1 million Apple Watches sold worldwide. Fitbit sold the best amount of wearables at 8.1 million in just Q4 and a total of 20 million units for the whole year.

This is Apple’s first fiscal year selling Apple Watches and it has already snagged the top 3 spot worldwide for the entire year. Apple will keep improving more and more, but Xiaomi’s ultra-low price point could potentially slide them to the top of the list in the next couple of years or so.

Source |…

from GSMArena.com – Latest articles http://ift.tt/1WHEzza
via IFTTT

Viber 5.8 update for iOS, 3D Touch and iPad Split View support

For those of you using Viber on an iOS device, you’ll be happy to hear that the free message and calling app is being updated to version 5.8 which brings support for 3D Touch, Split and Slide views on iPad.

Also new is the ability to view all photos shared in a single conversation and the ability to see which friends have read or liked your messages in a group chat. The app’s search function has also been updated to yield better results.

Viber is a free messaging and calling app that allows users from all over the world to share images, videos and audio clips with each other for absolutely no charge. The VoIP service launched in December 2010 and is available cross-platform on various mobile software and PC OSes including Linux, Windows and MAC OS.

Source |…

from GSMArena.com – Latest articles http://ift.tt/1KIGmDx
via IFTTT