The Truth behind Android Benchmarks' Scores

The Beginning : How it all started

Even yesterday, an allegedly Snapdragon S800 Mi3 leaked out on Antutu and there was a lot of talking surrounding the low score and a few theories quickly attached to it.
Cheating in benchmarking has always been the most popular sport in the PC world. We were just hoping it wouldn't becoming one so fast so soon in Android. The first one caught was the Samsung Galaxy 4 in late June via a post at Beyond3D from @AndreF.
Lately, Samsung, has been caught doing it again with the Note 3. This time, it was Arstechnicawhich spotted it.
Samsung took most of the heat, but what about others manufacturers ?

Xiaomi Mi3 64GB just got approved by Chinese Officials

While Xiaomi has successfully launched their latest flagship, the Mi3 in China, the success was achieved despite the lack of the 64 GB version.

Xiaomi Mi3 S800 Spotted on Antutu

The long awaited International S800 based Xiaomi Mi3 is finally (unofficially) showing off its face. While Tegra 4 based version is enjoying its time and selling quite well, no news so far towards its twin brother, the WCDMA supported version.
We wrote an article explaining the delay.

Breaking News : Xiaomi HongMi (Red Rice) WCDMA is OFFICIALLY launching on November, 5th !

Yesterday, we just talked about a commentary from Lei Jun, CEO of Xiaomi. Today, he went even farther, much farther.

CEO of Xiaomi announces that HongMi (Red Rice) is indeed coming

It is been quite a while since the last appearance of the Xiaomi HongMi in the news. Our last report talked about Chinese officials giving their approval to a HongMi WCDMA release.

It's Sunday : Photo of the Week 08, Xiaomi Mi3 Tegra 4 in action

This photo has been taken by my Xiaomi Mi2S.

So, I am halfway through my Xiaomi Mi3 Tegra 4 Review which will be published within the next 24h. So stay tuned to our blog or our Youtube channel.

We have already done the unboxing of the Mi3.

Another BIRD enters the arena

Bird is a small Chinese Tech Company which has just unveiled 2 new devices :
- Bird Snapdragon XL powered by an 8 Core MediaTek MT6592 SoC
- Bird Snapdragon HD destined to compete against the Xiaomi HongMi

There is absolutely no link whatsoever between Bird and Qualcomm despite using the name "Snapdragon".

Here is our First Official Unboxing Video of the Xiaomi Mi3 (Tegra 4)

Unfortunately, this is not the Snapdragon S800 version but the different versions should have the same content in their boxes. We will publish an In Depth Review in a few days.

MIUIandroid has published the MIUI Bible

MIUI is one the greatest Android ROM out there. It comes with so many options included, full customization, etc... but we often forget that MIUI packs so many useful utilities app tools like Backup, Updater, Anti Virus, Mi Cloud, Transfer, etc...

New iPads, what will change in the Chinese Tablets market

While the 10 inch tablets market is quite done for, meaning that the standards have been out for a bit now, people are still waiting towards the growing 7-8 inch market.

Watch Yesterday Apple's Keynote announcing new iPads

                            

If you missed yesterday's announcements, here is the catch up Youtube video.

Apple iPad Mini 2 and iPad Air are now Official

iPad 5 uses the same 9.7" 1536 x 2048 pixels 264 ppi Retina Display as the iPad 4 and sports the A7 chip found also in the iPhone 5S.

T-Win is set to launch two 7.8 mm thin devices

The next T-Win devices should look like a lot Huawei Ascend P6 design but it they will be waterproof and offer NFC support on top the beautiful chassis.

CyanogenMod will offer 2 sets of ROMs in the future

During last Android BBQ, CyanogenMod Inc, the newly born firm announces it will offer 2 sets of ROMs in the upcoming Cyanogen Installer App which is beta test right now.

Next 100 000 Xiaomi Mi3 will be ready for order Tomorrow in China

After the first 100 000 Xiaomi Mi3 batch sold in 86 seconds, Xiaomi will offer another 100 000 Mi3 started tomorrow noon local time.

It's Sunday : Photo of the Week 07, Paris : La Seine by Night

This photo has been taken by my Xiaomi Mi2S.

Apple iPhone 5S Slow Motion doesn't capture 720p Video

After all the hype around the so called Slow Motion video mode, it is time to see what it is worth.

The iPhone 5S does deliver slow motion 720p video at but the trick resides in its recording which is not set at 720p despite the new A7 chip.
Here is how it is done.

Plants vs Zombies 2 quietly hits Android. Available now on the Play Store

After being an iOS exclusive game allegedly largely paid by Apple to keep the game on its own OS for as long as possible, EA released the game yesterday without any comments or press release.

It his so quietly the Play Store that almost nobody is talking about it. Anyway, for the awaiting fans of the series, here is your reward : Plants vs Zombies 2.

Nexus 5 appears on the Google Play Store at $349. First Official Photo as well ?

The much anticipated Nexus 5 is nearing its launch and has been spotted on the Play Store at $349. The former working link is dead now. The official description from Google goes as this :

"Capture the everyday and the epic in fresh new ways. Starting at $349"

Clear Leaked Photos of the upcoming Vivo Xplay 3S 2K HD

Vivo Xplay 3S is showing off again. Those leaked photos reveals the new rotative Camera which will rotate side to side (so less angle than OPPO N1).

OPPO N1 will launch on October, 25th in China

OPPO N1 finally unveils the launching date, according to the Chinese firm Weibo account, it is going to be on October, 25th. After the presentation, we were eager to know when the flagship would hit the market.

It's Thursday : Weekly App Review 03, Ducktales : Scrooge's Loot

This week, we are going to review a freenium game : Ducktales : Scrooge's Loot

Let's open with the official trailer.

Android Kitkat 4.4 would bring a new UI to the Play Store

Have you used some of Google recent apps ? Play Book, Maps, Gmail, Youtube ? All of them feature a left slide drawer which bring options. It seems the Play Store might get it too but only with the upcoming upgrade of Android, Kitkat 4.4.

In Depth Size Comparison : OPPO N1 vs Samsung Galaxy Note 3

A lot of concerns have raised after OPPO N1's official presentation because it is indeed very big. It is not only that the smartphone packs a 5.9 inch FHD display which is a bit bigger than Samsung Galaxy Note 3's one but the overall bezel got supersized due to the rotative camera.

Faea F2S is now available at PhonAsia.com

The Faea F2S is mid range smartphone with the usual specs that you can find : Quad Core at 1.5 GHz, 5 inch FHD, 1 GB RAM, 16 GB of storage expandable through a Micro SD, 13 MP Camera and a 2300 mAh battery.

You can buy the Faea F2S now for $269.99 at PhonAsia.com.

Newman unveils its line up : 3 Octo-Cores Smartphones

Newman is getting serious about the high end market and aims to take a one of the top position out there.

THL Monkey King 2 Octo Cores caught as well in a leaked photo

Oddly enough, a few minutes after the ZOPO Octo Cores leak, the upcoming Monkey King 2 shows itself in the same fashion spy photo.

Zopo Octo Core flagship caught on a spy shot

It seems that the MT6592 is quite ready. We see more and more leaks of future 8 cores smartphones these days.

Umi officially presents the Octo Core Umi X2S

During a Hong Kong event, the new Umi X2S has been presented and was right there on the Umi booth. The X2S takes after the X2's design with some small changes like the redesign of the home button but it comes in 8 cores flavor.

Vivo Xplay 2 will officially be named Xplay 3S

The news came during the night on Vivo's Weibo account, the Chinese company will name their next flaship, Xplay 3S.
Vivo also explained itself saying that there are way too many new features that they have to skip the name Xplay 2 and the firm released a few teasing photos to back up their claim which is that the new Xplay 3S would be the "King of Android".

Coming with a Qualcomm Snapdragon S800. This is almost a sure thing. The Xplay comes with a Snapdragon S600, the S800 would be the obvious way to go and to this date, there is no other SoC which is clocked at 2.3 GHz.

Leather Flip Cover for Xiaomi Mi3 now ready for order at PhonAsia.com

This might be the best official cover ever to be offered by a manufacturer. Now they all do it, Apple, Samsung, LG but while they rank from being sub-par (Apple) to average good, no others manufacturer but Xiaomi has addressed the need to keep the smartphone standing.
On top of that, Xiaomi doesn't offer another sub-par cover to increase the price of its leather one. There is only leather.

Anyway, when the Mi3 Snapdragon S800 launches (only black version at first), you can also buy this perfectly matching cover which is available now for $22.99 at PhonAsia.com.

Phablet Changhong Z9 5.5 inch now available at PhonAsia.com

The Changhong Z9 is very capable smartphone which was launched 2 days ago in China.

It packs a Quad Core MT6589T at 1.5 GHz, a 5.5 inch HD display, 1 GB RAM, 16 GB of storage expandable through a Micro SD. On top of that, the Z9 is powered by a staggering 5000 mAh while the bezel's dimensions are kept in check : 141.9 x 74.2 x 8.99 mm (5.59 x 2.92 x 0.35 inch).

It is available now for $459.99 at PhonAsia.com.

 

General 2G Network GSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz 3G Network WCDMA 900/2100MHz 4G Network N/A SIM Dual Sim

Body Dimensions 141.9 x 74.2 x 8.99 mm (5.59 x 2.92 x 0.35 inch) Weight N/A

Display Type Capacitive touchscreen with ultra-thin frame of 2.67mm, 16M colors Size 5.5" screen 720 x 1280, 267 ppi Multitouch Yes, OGS full Lamination Technology, 10 points multi-touch

Sound Alert types Vibration, MP3, WAV ringtones Loudspeaker Yes 3.5mm jack Yes

Memory Card slot No Internal 16GB + 1GB ram

Data GPRS Yes EDGE Yes Speed HSPA+ WLAN Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11 b/g/n Bluetooth Yes NFC Yes USB Yes, microUSB v2.0

Camera Primary 8 MP  Features Auto focus, digital zoom Video Yes, 1080p@30fps Secondary Yes, 1.3 MP

Features OS Android OS, v4.2 (Jelly Bean) Chipset MTK6589T CPU Quad core, 1.5GHz, Cortex A7 GPU PowerVR SGX 544 Sensors Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass Messaging SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Email Browser HTML5 Radio No GPS Yes Java Yes, via Java MIDP emulator Colors White - Alarm clock - To-do - Calculator - Memo - Mail - Google Map - Facebook - Twitter - Gmail - Google Talk - ...

Battery built-in 5000mAh Li-on battery Stand-by n/a Talk time n/a Music play n/a

Misc SAR US n/a SAR EU n/a

Samsung Galaxy Round first unboxing video

This is the unboxing of the Korean version. There are quite a few things inside : headphones, a Micro USB 3.0 cable with two batteries and a wireless charging pad.

The unboxing has been made by the Italian website Webtrek and it compares the Galaxy Round with the Note to show what a curve display bring.

Angry Birds Go! first Official Trailer

Angry Birds Go! will bring your favorites birds against the infamous pigs in a Mario Kart like game on December, 11th.
Like Mario Kart, there will be a lot of bonuses to catch on the road to win as unfairly possible as you can.

Here is the official trailer :

Latest Rumor reports about several Nexus Smartphones

Please do take this with very large pinch of salt since we can't check any of it.

According to internal source who told Android Geeks that Google would launch the most anticipated Nexus 5 alongside a Nexus 5 LTE.
Prices would be as follow :
- Nexus 4 LTE 16 GB $299
- Nexus 4 LTE 32 GB $349
- Nexus 5 LTE 16 GB $399
- Nexus 5 LTE 32 GB $449

So the entry Nexus 5 will see an increase of $50 in comparison to the Nexus 4 16 GB when it was originally released.

Source : Android Geeks

iPad 5 and iPad Mini 2 releasing date are leaked out

Apple is having a hard time keeping their secrets. Allegedly, the new iPads are set to be release on October 30th and 31st for the iPad 5 and iPad Mini 2 respectively.

The official announce should be hold on October, 22nd where the new iPads would be the stars. But this time, the new line of MacBook Pro with Haswell processors and Mac Pro would also get their share of the night.

The release dates are set to follow as this :
1) MacBook Pro 13" and 15" on October 24th and 25th
2) iPad 5 and iPad 2 Mini on October 30th and 31st
3) Mac Pro on November 15

We are eager to see how Apple will react, especially on the 7-8 inch market.

Source : MacG

Google Nexus 5 leaks again in some enough clear photos

This time the phone has been spotted in Russia. We can clearly see the device and while the photos are not stunning, they are not blurry at all.

Surprisingly, and not in a good way, the back cover seems to attract and keep very easily fingerprints. For details informations, here is our in depth recap.

Source : vk.com