Xiaomi Mi3 vs Mi2S vs Mi2A vs Red Rice (HongMi) : Photo Shootout Full Comparison

Welcome to the most impressive Photo comparison between all the Xiaomi Devices.

Summary : 
1) Outdoors: Park Scene

2) Outdoors : Macro Photos

3) Indoors : Good Light Conditions

4) Indoors : Low Light Conditions

5) Indoors : Very Low Light Conditions

6) Indoors : Pitch Black Conditions

2013 Christmas Guide : Best Chinese Smartphones

Welcome to our 2013 Christmas Guide. It has been a full year with several big flagships from different manufacturers especially Xiaomi and Meizu : Mi2S, Mi2A, Red Rice, MX2, MX3. So which one should you buy ? Here is your answer.

Summary :
1) Entry Level Smartphones
2) Mid Range Smartphones
3) High End Smartphones

Xiaomi RED RICE (HongMi) WCDMA : In Depth Review

Summary :

1) Introduction

2) Design

3) Display

4) Software

5) Benchmarks

6) Camera

7) Speakerphone & Battery Life

8) Conclusion

Buy Xiaomi Red Rice WCDMA at PhonAsia.com.

MediaTek Octa Core MT6592 vs Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 : This is 2014 !

MediaTek presented its "True Octa Core" back in July and now, it is nearing its launch with several manufacturers set to release devices in the coming hours/days : ZOPO ZP998 (November, 21st), Coolpad Grand View 4 (November, 20th), Mlais MX69 Pro (November, 20th), Green Orange NX (November, 21st).

A few hours ago, MediaTek finally gave us the final specs of the upcoming MT6592 and earlier today, Qualcomm presented the Snapdragon 805 which will be coming next year.

In Depth Comparison Review : Xiaomi Mi3 vs Xiaomi Mi2S

Summary :

1) Introduction

2) Design

3) Display

4) Software

5) Benchmarks

6) Camera

7) Speakerphones & Battery Life

8) Conclusion

Official Xiaomi Mi3 Tegra 4 In-Depth Full Review (Video available)

Summary

01) Introduction
02) Design and Handling
03) 5 Inch Full HD Display
04) ROM MIUI V5
05) Web Browsing
06) Camera & Photos
07) Benchmarks
08) GPS
09) Keyboard
10) Call Quality & Battery Life
11) Conclusion

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 ?

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.

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.

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.

It's Thursday : App Review of the Week 02, Tower of Saviors

Welcome to our second In Depth Review of the week : Tower of Saviors (Free)

It's Thursday : Welcome to our App Review 01, FIFA 14

PhonAsia blog is changing its usual Thursday formula. Instead of an app selection, we will offer an in-depth app review (often a game) instead.
Like Jerry Maguire would say : "Fewer clients, more attention" (he did get fired for saying that).

With this new format, we feel like we can provide much more quality and we notice more often that it should be, those in-depth review are lacking when it comes to Mobile Apps especially regarding Android. All we can find, it is lists of apps with 2 lines of description.
Maybe it is time for something different. Anyway, if there is an app that you would like me to review, please let me know by leaving a comment or contacting me through social media.


Our very first In Depth Game Review : FIFA 14 (Freenium)

Apple just unveiled its iPhone 5C and 5S, so what ?

Let me get this straight, there is absolutely nothing new worth reporting about Apple's new devices.
Yes, the new iPhone 5S has a slow motion video and a fingerprints identification feature called "Touch ID", but that is all.

But, we are not an Apple specialized blog, so we will not detail the Apple's keynote (it has already been covered enough by the entire web). We witnessed a few years ago how Apple changed the phone industry setting new standards by which every manufacturer had to follow and uphold in order to be successful. Those who did not respect the new rules have taken a serious financial hit, have disappeared by now or are being bought by bigger companies : Nokia, HTC, LG, Motorola, Sony, BlackBerry, Palm, etc...

So we were very eager to discover what Apple was preparing for the Chinese market, according to Apple CEO, Tim Cook, China becomes the main goal after losing significant market shares during the last 12 months.

There were so many analysts betting that Apple would take the crown in 2014 with the release of the iPhone 5C.
Well, we cannot feel more let down by Apple when we learn that the "C" does not only stand for "cheap" (build wise) but "costly" as well and very costly. Prices are official, Chinese Apple website offers the iPhone 5C 16 GB at en entry price of RMB 4488 (~$735), the 32 GB can be bought for RMB 5288 (~$865).

Basically, the iPhone 5C is an iPhone 5 with a plastic case instead of the metal premium build. The iPhone 5 was no longer on par with the best 2013 phones like the XiaoMi 2S. How come Apple dares to offers an under iPhone 5, named 5C for cheap and costly model (not only colorful like Apple wants to advertise) at such a high price ? It got nothing against the mid end Chinese market.

Not even talking about the mid end market, there is also an issue towards people who are willing to spend big money for their Apple device, The iPhone 5S 16 GB cost only 17% more than the 5C offering way more than 17% more power.

The iPhone 5C is a shameful deal which no one should ever take.

The iPhone 5S is slightly better but is still off the mark regarding high end market. With the iPhone 5, Apple clearly abandoned the hardware race. Given its past and the Apple iOS, the firm could rest for a year, but that is about it. The year is up and there is nothing new hardware wise and even worst, software wise, it is just catching up with Android.

As of today, Apple has nothing over Android or Chinese manufacturer. You can buy 2.5 XiaoMi Mi 3 for 1 iPhone 5S, do you think the difference of cost is justified ? We do not.

Huge battery as the next trend in smartphones industry ?

Sometimes, it is funny how things are coming and going. When we got feature phones, we wanted them to become smaller and smaller.
When we got smartphones, we took the opposite direction quite quickly, the phones got bigger but we also wanted them to be good looking, fashion. It is a trend initiated by Apple and every others manufacturers followed and phones became thinner.

As phones reached the limit of thickness, now it is time for upgrading battery. A few years back, having a 1500 mAh battery, it was considered to be big. Nowadays, 2000 mAh is the minimum amount and you will need to monitor your phone usage in order to last the day especially if you have a 5 inch smartphone.

But things are evolving and are looking good so far. Big batteries are coming out and they already reached the 3000 mAh limit (this amount of energy last me 2 days with the XiaoMi Mi 2S) but it doesn't seem to stop there and we are looking to the 4000 mAh threshold.

The Boway U5 might be the first one to get to a Tablet like battery (the Nexus 7 has a 4000 mAh battery).
What's gonna be next ? We will be there for sure.

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.

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