XiaoMi Mi 3 soon to be announced ?

Xiaomi.com just published this photo on their facebook account.

Can it be the next XiaoMi Mi 3 smartphone or a tablet ?

MediaTek unveils the MTK8135 Quad-Core new SoC

More details are in about the taiwanese semis company. The next quad-core chip will combine two sets of dual-core processors based on Arm Cortex A15 and Cortex A7 with the big.Little technology.
This SoC will be destined to equip mid range devices unlike MediaTek's Octo-Core chip which should go the high end market.

This new Quad-Core chip comes with the next generation of Imagination Technologies GPU, the Power VR SGX 6 series which is said to be four times more powerful than the 5x series.

MediaTek will overtake Qualcomm in 2014

According to Digitimes, Qualcomm will likely give up its crown of top chip maker.
MediaTek is known for their mid end SoC (System on Chip) which have been chosen largely by Chinese Makers (iOcean x7, Umi X2, GooPhone, ainol, etc...) with models such as the MTK6589 and MTK6589T.

But their upcoming high end Octo Core MTK6592 is said to rival the Gods themselves ! Ahem... not exactly, it will only rival the S800 of Qualcomm which is already good enough. In this leaked image, the latest chip score around 30 000 on AnTuTu.

Imagine this power available to everyone at a very affordable prices. Here are some official documents by MediaTek.

Game Selection 01 by PhonAsia : Summer Holidays Season

I used to be a (big) gamer. Still am on my high end PC.

Using a smartphone for about 4 years now and a tablet for half this time, I found that the best combination for me is a mixture of 1 or 2 big games and several small games.

First things first, let's start with some big games that I'm enjoying right now. Prices are indicated in Euros since my account is.

Big Games 

Might & Magic : Clash of Heroes (3.99 €)

New Samsung Galaxy S4 S800 more powerful than ever ?

I just came across this chart (it must be 3D mark benchmark) and the Samsung Galaxy S4 is blowing the competition away.

Is that a good strategy ? Yes, it will keep Samsung in the battle betwenn high ends devices (up coming iPhone 5S, Xiaomi Mi 3) but how the early adopter of the SG4 would react ? If they got upset, would they wait until summer in order to buy their Galaxy 5 next year ?
At such a high entry price ($/€ 600), I would be angry at Samsung blowing instead of supporting of full year a so told flagship.

My advice ? I would buy a XiaoMi Mi 3 and a Mi 4 next year. It's cheaper and it won't be underpowered even by the top dog that Samsung is.

Useful Tips 01 : New Features in Google Maps Beta !

A few days ago, Google proposed me to test their new Android apps (Chrome & Maps).
I didn't pay any attention at first.

I am using Chrome everyday for at least one hour I think. So far, I didn't notice aynything new.

Today, I had to plan a business travel, so I used Google Maps App. What was my surprise when I noticed a great improvement regardind options routes.

The app offered me 3 choices of routes and I could compare them lenght wise, avering time wise and traffic wise (by selecting the routes and looking at the traffic through the specific layer). I would have appreciated that some amount of the info traffic would be already displayed during the choices.

You have further options as well (clicking the route options) : avoiding highways or/and tolls

Google just unveiled the Nexus 7 II, Android 4.3 and a surprise

The Google conference just ended and while the Nexus 7 and Android 4.3 weren't any surprise for anyone, it is always good that those got confirmed.

The new Nexus 7 will indeed sports a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro (same chip inside the XiaoMi Mi 2 available since December 2012), 2 GB RM, 16/32 GB Storage, NFC, HDMI output (which the original Nexus 7 lacks), Wireless charging and 1920x1200 magnificent display (highest ppi in tablet's world).
There will also be a LTE version but a single one for the 4 majors US carriers (CDMA and GSM) which means, this time around, worldwide, everyone should benefit from it.

Android 4.3 features regarding managing the multi accounts introduced with Android 4.2.
The main user can now control what apps others restricted accounts have access but also what they have access within the apps (like only already paid content, so they can't purchase in-app stuff).

The surprise is the Chromecast, a hdmi key than can broadcast to your tv Youtube, Netflix and music (from the App google music) streams

What does "Mini" stand for ?

Motorola just announced their new Droid line up which includes the Motorola Droid Mini. The Smartphone sports a 4.3 HD Super AMOLED display (supposedly without a PenTile Matrix), a 10 MP and a dual core still unknow SoC clocked at 1.7 GHz.

Previously this year, Samsung and HTC unveiled their "Mini" versions of their flagships as well and they were both sized with a 4.3 inches display as well.
It's a larger version of the 2012 "Mini" standard defined essentially by the Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini.

As the flagships' screen size is going up, so are the Mini versions as well. But maybe for the first year, I got a little worried about increased bezel's sizes. And it is not like we are done yet, LG is announcing a Optimis G2 with 5.2", even the phablets are dangerously nearing the 7 inches Tablet size as Sony is preparing to launch their Xperia Ultra with a 6.4 inches display.

I guess people are ready for the next level but I can't help to feel that we are close to a break point to some of the andience (to a quite important extent).

Why buy a Chinese Smartphone or Tablet ?

I just wanted to share my 2 cents on the subjet.

According to WSJ, smartphone upgrades is slowing down in the USA as the wow factor fades. The number dropped by 9% on a YoY (year on year) comparison. The main reason is the fact that big software innovations are rather rare these days.

When I am thinking about it, I do feel like people are right about those upgrades choices. Let's ride with me for a moment.
We buy a product for several reasons. Some of us are hardware driven, others "cool attitude" (not criticizing it !) driven but it is clear that at some level, software is considered more or less heavily. Then why should we keep paying $600 + for a iPhone 5 or a Samsung Galaxy S4 when obviously the product in its enterity does not support the price ?

After those last years, people were really swept off their feet with Apple and Android on the other hand. But lately, it is been slower, much slower. Maybe because it is hard to maintain a such high level of innovations or motivation when you are thinking about the minds behind iOS and Android.

At the same time, in the hardware department, the evolution has never been so ferocious, manufacturers and semi-conductors labs are still trying to figure out how to use at full speed an ARM Cortex A15 core (don't get me started on the nVidia Shield) and Intel is finally starting to show up.
The world of mobile hardware will know a cataclysm soon enough when Intel will collide at its best with x86 CPU against ARM based SoC with different set of instructions. Who would win ? That will be a battle for the ages that every one should watch that battle and acting accordingly.

But for the moment, Chinese products are at their best. Chinese are using the best hardware available and are mainly based on the Open Source OS, Android. If Samsung or HTC (or any other manufacturer for this matter) cannot propose a compelling alternative, there is really no reason as to why buy those overpriced products and not only the top end ones.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 is a beast but it sports the exact same SoC as the Xiaomi Mi 2S which has a smaller screen AND a smaller resolution which should put our favorite Chinese brand ahead while it is easily $200 cheaper.
Now, even when we turn our interest towards mid end products for an everyday use, it is even more disrespectful for the customer.
Those same brands are calling their mid range devices "Mini" promising that only the size (which is not Mini !) changed but they downsized every component.

The Samsung Galaxy 4 Mini got a qHD display which is ridiculous in 2013 and while the Krait based dual core is really good, they put the Adreno 305 instead of the 320 which is much better.
The HTC One Mini (which is not small at all) is slightly better by putting a better HD screen.
Thhose 2 phones will easily be sold at around $500.

Meanwhile, we have smartphones like XiaoMi Mi 2A which sports an HD screen and the Adreno 320 GPU and it is proposed at less than $300 in our store.

I don't think that customers should pay overpriced hardware pieces in a global world as we live in today. We know how those pieces cost and it is not that damn expensive !
The only way to send a message to those manufacturers is to stop buying their overpriced products.
Mark my words, if Samsung was to offer a Samsung Galaxy S5 at less than $400, I will be the first one to buy it.

Tutorial 03 : How to install others Languages on XiaoMi Mi 2A & Mi 2S

Out of the box, Xiaomi phones, there are only Chinese (traditional & simplified) and Engllish are available as languages.

If you want to add others languages (German, Dutch, etc...), you need to install another ROM.
The available languages are : English, Chinese, Polish, Russian, Ukrainian, Slovak, Czech, French, Hungarian, Danish, Dutch, German, Greek, Spanish, Italian, Arabic, Norwegian, Hebrew, Vietnamese, Korean, Indonesian, Portuguese and Turkey.

PhonAsia will guide you step by step through this operation.

Tutorial 02 : How to change the language with your XiaoMi MI 2A & Mi 2S

This tutorial concerns, in fact, every device powered with the MIUI rom and espcially those who had inadvertently chosen the Chinese Language and don't know anymore how to switch back to their desired language.

Tutorial 01 : How to Change the Language in Android

It is usually done in 3 steps regardless of your Android version.

XiaoMi Mi 2 & Mi 2S Comparison

I was browsing the web and I found this "In depth comparison" posted on miuiandroid between the new king among chinese phones, the Xiaomi Mi 2S and its predecessor.

It is really well written and it got a lot of insighful information.

http://miuiandroid.com/community/threads/in-depth-comparison-xiaomi-mi-2-mi-2s.21383/

The Mi 2S is an upgrade from the Mi 2 and got the new chip S600 also but there are a lots of others changes that aren't as obvious as this one. I invite you to read this comparison made by a Mi 2S user.

You can find the Mi 2S in our store for less than 400 USD : http://www.phonasia.com/en/xiaomi/112-xiaomi-mi-two-mi2-quad-core-1632-go.html

ZTE Nubia Z5 Mini : Available Next Week on our store www.phonasia.com

We hear that the latest device of ZTE, the Nubia Z5 Mini will hit our shores no later than next week.

Let us remind you what a amazing phone this one will be. It sports a Quad Core Snapdragon S4 Pro (the same one as its big brother, the ZTE Nubia Z5), 2 GB ram, 16 GB Storage which you can expand through a Micro SD card up to 32 GB, 2300 mAh battary and it comes with latest version of Android Jelly Bean 4.2.2.

It supports a large range of networks : WCDMA, TD-SCDMA and CDMA2000. So everyone should be safe to use this new beast.

As far as the camera goes, it will come ready with primary one of 13 MP version and a F2.2 aperture size. The front facing one will only "have" 5MP (!).

We should propose it around something like 350 USD. The best deal you can get is always on www.phonasia.com

Source : sina

Best Price on the XiaoMi Mi 2A

We got the best price on the very popular XiaoMi Mi 2A :

It is currently listed at only 299 USD ! You can't get any better deal than this one :
- 4.5 HD Display
- Dual Core at 1.5 GHz
- 16 GB storage
- MIUI rom running on Android Jelly Bean 4.1.1

Like George Clooney would say : "what else ?""

Check this out on our website : http://www.phonasia.com/fr/xiaomi/26-xiaomi-mi-2a.html

Welcome to PhonAsia !

Let's get ready to party in our website www.phonasia.com which is specialized in Chinese smartphones such as the pretigious brand Xiaomi and its top dog phone : the Xiaomi Mi 2S.