Qualcomm trolls MediaTek’s octa-core tech with not-so-subtle video

Posted on 29/08/2013 by Richard Lai

When MediaTek announced that it would be producing true eight-core mobile processors later this year, we knew it was only a matter of time before its main rival Qualcomm chimed in. As illustrated by a set of guitar amplifiers, the San Diego gang explains that while they rebuild their CPU cores for each generation (the latest architectures being Krait 300 and Krait 400), they claim that "Our Competitor" -- which is labeled with the same font and colors as MediaTek's logo -- simply "chooses to duplicate the same old cores" based on ARM's slower Cortex-A7 architecture. That said, it's worth a reminder that Qualcomm's cheaper Snapdragon 400 range also uses Cortex-A7.

Later on in the video, Qualcomm uses a Guitar Hero-like visualization to compare the performance difference, as well as show how octa-core is overrated for most apps. Apparently only 17 out of the top 20 Android apps in China use two cores at most, hence the bare fretboard for the octa-core side. The Snapdragon side, meanwhile, combs through a denser bunch of apps at a higher speed. Of course, there's bound to be some bias here, so only time will tell how close to reality this argument is. Until then, enjoy the cheeky clip after the break.

Filed under: Misc, Mobile

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Sony Xperia C S39h is company’s first MediaTek device, does the dual-SIM trick

Posted on 25/06/2013 by Richard Lai

There's no denying that MediaTek is becoming mainstream these days, to the point that even Sony finally decided to join the party. The manufacturer's first attempt in this space is the Xperia C (S39h), a 5-inch qHD phone with dual-SIM capability (WCDMA and GSM) destined for China Unicom, and it'll come in either black, white or purple. Like many flagship devices from Chinese brands these days, the handset packs a quad-core MediaTek MT6589 SoC, along with an 8-megapixel camera -- Exmor R, specifically -- with voice shutter function. On top of the hardware, users in China will also have access to 3 million tracks from local music content provider Duomi. There's no price or date just yet, so we'll be keeping an eye out for further announcements.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Sony

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China’s LeTV debuts ‘Super TV’ X60, throws in a quad-core S4 Prime chip

Posted on 09/05/2013 by Richard Lai

Quad-core smart TVs? Move over, Samsung and Haier, because another company's now joining the party. At a press event in Beijing yesterday, Chinese video content provider LeTV announced its first TV series dubbed "Super TV." Despite the cheesy name, there are a handful of big names behind it: Kai-Fu Lee's Innovation Works, Qualcomm, Foxconn and Sharp. The last two aren't surprising considering Foxconn's parent company, Hon Hai, is an investor of Sharp as well as LeTV. It's also worth noting, though, that Hon Hai already has a deal with RadioShack to make and sell a 60-inch TV, the RS60-V1, in China since January.

The flagship X60 (pictured above at GMIC Beijing) features an aluminum alloy body that encases Sharp's 10th-generation 60-inch 1080p panel -- as featured on the RadioShack TV -- with 120Hz 3D, on top of a 1.7GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4 Prime MPQ8064 (with 2GB of RAM and Adreno 320 graphics), dual-band WiFi and S/PDIF optical output. You can also add an optional 2.4GHz gyroscopic remote control and a PrimeSense motion sensor just for giggles. But most importantly, LeTV now streams over 2,000 TV apps as well as some 90,000 TV episodes and 5,000 movies for free (LeTV claims to own the rights to 95 percent of the video content). So, the ¥6,999 or $1,140 price tag seems a steal for the X60. There will also be a 39-inch 1080p (likely 2D only), dual-core S40 model priced at ¥1,999 or about $330, and both TVs will be available by the end of June.

Gallery: LeTV Super TV X60 and S40

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD

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Via: Engadget Chinese

Source: LeTV

Little Chilli LA-M1 outshines other QRD-based quad-core budget phones, we go hands-on

Posted on 23/01/2013 by Richard Lai

Spotted outside the auditorium at Qualcomm's China QRD (Qualcomm Reference Design) Summit earlier today were a handful of -- surprise, surprise -- QRD-based smartphones from China, several of which featured the Cortex-A5-based quad-core MSM8x25Q announced back in September. The usual suspects were there in the quad-core lot: Yulong had its Coolpad 5890 (EVDO) and Coolpad 7268 (UMTS), along with Hisense's U958 (UMTS) and Tianyu's K-Touch U86 (UMTS). These all fall within the so-called "¥1,000 ($160) phone" category and yet they are also gifted with a second SIM slot. But what really got our attention was Beidou's Little Chilli LA-M1, which also does dual-SIM (UMTS) but packs an OGS gapless IPS display, while the others came with an LCD panel of obviously lesser quality. Read on to learn more about this mysterious phone, as well as checking out our hands-on photos of the other aforementioned quad-core QRD phones.

Gallery: Beidou Little Chilli LA-M1 hands-on

Here's a little background: Little Chilli is Beidou's fairly new brand that attempts to follow Xiaomi's online retail model, but without supplying a heavily customized version of Android like MIUI. Most of its earlier models didn't really stand out as they carried almost the same set of components used by other budget phones; but that was until Beidou and ZTE announced their ¥999, Tegra 3-based U950, followed by the Little Chilli Q1 which was officially launched four days ago. The latter went on sale yesterday and the first batch of 20,000 units promptly sold out -- not a surprise since it comes with Tegra 3 and a 4.7-inch 720p IPS display for just ¥999 as well.

Giving the Q1's recent availability, you could say the timing of the LA-M1's announcement today wasn't ideal, which is likely why Beidou has yet to mention the price and availability for its newer phone, but we did hear mentions of a sub-¥1,000 on the show floor. That would be pretty decent for the specs we know so far: 4.5-inch 800 x 480 IPS gapless display, MSM8225Q quad-core chip, dual-SIM support, an eight-megapixel main camera (which produced reasonably good photos, from what we could see), a two-megapixel front-facing camera, and Baidu cloud service integration with 15GB of storage for life, plus another 15GB free for one year. No word on battery size nor battery life yet, but our guess is that neither should disappoint.

While it isn't exactly the most handsome phone on the planet, the M1 that we got to touch actually felt pretty solid, and it ran the native Android 4.1 quite smoothly. So given the choice (and assuming they cost the same), it's either the M1 with its dual-SIM capability but qHD display, or the Q1 with the 720p display but with just one SIM slot. Regardless, Beidou could be well on its way to become the new Xiaomi (sans the software part), though only time can tell whether it has the reliability and after-sale service to prove it. If not, there's still plenty of opportunity for others -- Qualcomm's already completed over 170 QRD-based projects, with about 100 more in the pipeline. Watch out, MediaTek!

Gallery: Coolpad 5890 and 7268 hands-on

Gallery: Hisense U958 hands-on

Gallery: K-Touch U86 hands-on

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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ZTE Grand S gets a fat sister: a V987 with 5-inch 720p display, 1.2GHz quad-core chip

Posted on 16/01/2013 by Richard Lai

It was only a matter of time before ZTE came out with another device that would use the same design language as its much anticipated Grand S, so we weren't at all surprised when this sister device popped up on the Chinese regulatory database. Like the aforementioned flagship, this upcoming V987 also sports a 5-inch gapless display, except it is capped at a 720p resolution. Naturally, the rest of the phone is built with a smaller budget in mind: the 13-megapixel camera is sized down to eight megapixels, and the original 1.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro is replaced by an unknown 1.2GHz quad-core chip (hopefully the MediaTek MT6589). That said, there's dual-SIM support (WCDMA plus GSM) and a removable 2,500mAh battery -- much bigger than the Grand S' built-in 1,780mAh cell -- here, so it'll be interesting to see how well the V987 will outsell the Grand S.

Gallery: ZTE Grand S gets a sister: a V987 with 5-inch 720p display, 1.2GHz quad-core chip

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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Source: TENAA

Nubia Z5 unveiled in China with quad-core chip, 5-inch 1080p display and 7.6mm thickness

Posted on 26/12/2012 by Richard Lai

Much like many Chinese smartphone brands these days, ZTE sub-brand Nubia had prematurely given away the main selling points of its Z5 ahead of its Beijing launch today, but there were still some surprises. As you probably already know, here's yet another five-inch 1080p Android phone featuring Qualcomm's 1.5GHz quad-core APQ8064, 2GB RAM and 32GB of internal storage, along with a 13-megapixel F2.2 main camera (with five-element optics by Konica Minolta, plus separate touch focus and touch exposure in the app) and a two-megapixel front-facing camera. For multimedia consumption, the Z5 supports WiFi Display and MHL output should you wish to beam content to a larger screen; whereas on the audio side you are spoiled with either Yamaha or Dolby Digital Plus. But wait, there's more!

Gallery: Nubia Z5 hands-on

Gallery: Nubia Z5 press event

Continue reading Nubia Z5 unveiled in China with quad-core chip, 5-inch 1080p display and 7.6mm thickness

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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Source: Nubia

Oppo Find 5 to hit more international markets in Q1 2013, adds a $569 32GB model

Posted on 25/12/2012 by Richard Lai

Ho ho ho! Even on this special day, the folks at Oppo decided to drop a bomb on its "Ofans." According to a fresh teaser on its Facebook page, not only will Oppo be offering the $499 16GB version of the quad-core, five-inch 1080p Find 5 in the US (as we already knew), but there'll also be a 32GB flavor for $569. What's more, the image also lists many additional countries: Canada, UK, Spain, Australia, Germany, France, Belgium, Malaysia, Sweden, Singapore, Finland, Greece, Denmark, New Zealand, Norway, Japan and Hong Kong. Just to be sure, we reached out to Oppo and were told that it's aiming to hit all these markets within Q1 next year; and better yet, it'll try to do that as close to the early-January China launch as possible. Sounds like the company's pushing for a global online retail channel (the blurred out URL probably indicates that it'll be a centralized website), and it'll be interesting to compare its performance to Xiaomi's more humble attempt closer to home.

Update: We've been told that this is only a partial list, so fret not if your country isn't there.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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Source: Oppo (Facebook)

Huawei’s 6.1-inch 1080p Ascend Mate flaunted by exec, leaves little surprise for CES

Posted on 23/12/2012 by Richard Lai

How big is too big? Well, that's clearly not Huawei's concern, as it's about to introduce a 6.1-inch 1080p Android phone at CES. But even two weeks (before the company's CES press day) is too much for the impatient Richard Yu, who went ahead and whipped out his beastly device in front of fans at a Huawei store in Guangzhou yesterday -- there's a video of the intimate moment after the break. According to earlier rumors, the Ascend Mate will feature a 1.8GHz HiSilicon K3V3 quad-core chip, along with a massive 4,000mAh battery, 9.9mm thickness and a price tag of just under ¥3,000 (about $480). Yu wrote on Sina Weibo saying the final specs may differ slightly, but the 43-year-old executive did add that the 361ppi display is of LTPS (low temperature polysilicon) nature. As with the Ascend W1 and the Ascend D2, all will be unveiled at CES.

[Image credit: fengse (Sina Weibo)]

Gallery: Huawei's 6.1-inch 1080p Ascend Mate flaunted by exec, leaves little surprise for CES

Continue reading Huawei's 6.1-inch 1080p Ascend Mate flaunted by exec, leaves little surprise for CES

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Source: Sina Weibo

Huawei’s Ascend W1 and D2 confirmed for CES, Richard Yu expresses worry over the latter

Posted on 18/12/2012 by Richard Lai

Huawei's first-ever Windows Phone, the Ascend W1, is no stranger to us at this point, but no one's been certain about its debut until now. After mourning his daughter's two stolen ducks on Sina Weibo, Senior Vice President Richard Yu said not only will his company formally introduce its WP8 device at CES next month, but it'll also be showing off its Android-powered Ascend D2 (pictured center and right). Interestingly, Yu also expressed concern that the D2 "Dream Phone" will be too expensive to produce due to the powerful specs: five-inch 1080p display, quad-core 1.5GHz chip (undoubtedly Huawei's very own K3V2), 13-megapixel camera and 3,000mAh battery -- all according to leaked info from an internal event from late October, as well as a recent filing in the TENAA database. Don't worry, Richard, just give us a decent price tag and we'll be all over you.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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Source: Sina Weibo, TENAA

Inevitable: Oppo Find 5 meets Xiaomi Phone 2 and Meizu MX2

Posted on 12/12/2012 by Richard Lai

With all three major Chinese phone makers now showing their quad-core cards, it's only natural for us to take a friendly portrait of their latest flagships: from left to right we have the Meizu MX2 (due December 19th), the Xiaomi Phone 2 (already out) and the freshly announced Oppo Find 5 (due January). At 8.86mm thick, the Find 5 is subtly slimmer than our two other 10.2mm-thick phones when compared visually, but the five-inch 1080p screen is clearly a winner in terms of size and pixel density -- the latter is made more obvious by the fine details on the tactfully designed icons; just too bad you won't be able to fit much 1080p video content into the 16GB built-in storage. As for aesthetics, we're currently leaning towards the Find 5 for its less obvious bezel around the glass panel, and the phone's shape is also a nice change from the usual rectangle-with-evenly-rounded-corners form factor. Still, the feel and contour of the Meizu MX2's crystal back cover gave the most comfortable grip out of the three, only to be hampered by the Flyme OS' eccentric UX. Obviously, we shall do a more detailed comparison once we have our review unit, so stay tuned.

Gallery: Inevitable: Oppo Find 5 meets Xiaomi Phone 2 and Meizu MX2