Lenovo S5: Specifications, price and launch

Lenovo S5: Specifications, price and launch

Lenovo presents its new models for the mid-range of 2018. We are facing three phones with very similar characteristics and the same design. The Chinese manufacturer announces today the new Lenovo S5, Lenovo K5, and K5 Lite.

 

They have a design made of aluminum, 18:9 screens, double rear camera and a very tight price to compete in the same terrain as the Xiaomi Redmi or Huawei. They do not have any feature that we have not seen in other smartphones but in this range at the end what ends up excelling is that quality to the price of which these devices are very well endowed. Let's meet them.

 

18:9 screens in a metal body

 

The three models share the design but we will focus on the Lenovo S5, the most powerful of them and the one that will focus our attention. The mobile is available in two colors: black and red.

 

The body is manufactured in 6000 series aluminum and with a pretty stylized design. The Lenovo K5 model, which is a renewal of that Lenovo K5 that we saw two years ago, is covered by a 2.5D crystal. The three screens are 5.7-inch panels in 18:9 format, which previously equals 5.5 inches in 16:9 format, the difference being that while in the Lenovo S5 model is FullHD+, in the other two remains in HD+.

 

For power, three different processors have been chosen. The Lenovo S5 has a Snapdragon 625 that we know works very well but it starts to take a while. The Lenovo K5 opts for MediaTek, while the K5 Lite returns to Qualcomm with the Snapdragon 430. Options of 3GB and 4GB of RAM for the Lenovo S5 that also adds three storage options: 32, 64 and 128GB expandable by microSD. The chosen battery is 3,000mAh, a quantity repeated in almost all mobile phones of this price range.

 

 

Double camera and facial recognition

 

For the photographic section, we have a double rear camera with 13 megapixels and aperture f/2.2. The same configuration is repeated in the Lenovo K5 while in the Lite version the secondary camera is reduced to two megapixels to only remain as telephoto.

 

The front camera rises to 16 megapixels, has beauty mode and also will serve for facial recognition that allows you to unlock the device with our face. Lenovo opts for Android 8.0 Oreo along with its ZUI 4.0 customization layer. A very colorful software and where they have added U-Touch, gestures to move through the system.

 

Versions and price of the Lenovo S5, K5 and K5 Lite

 

The Lenovo S5 will be available in China from the end of this month of March in black and red colors. Their prices are quite competitive but as always when making the conversion we should add a small percentage to get a better idea of the price with which they would arrive outside of China. For its part, the Lenovo K5 will go on sale in mid-April from 899 Yuan and the Lenovo K5 Lite from 699 yuan.

Sam Leo

Vivo V9 Technical Features and Price

Vivo V9 Technical Features and Price

After the first rumors of last week, the new Vivo V9 was revealed in India, although the official presentation should be scheduled for next March 23. Its arrival, however, is of those who stand out, since we are talking about a medium-high-end model with a really huge display. It is obviously dominated by the iPhone X style notch.

As it is easy to guess, the notch is not the only element inspired by Apple's latest top range. The entire design is inspired by iPhone X. There are obvious similarities on both the front and back. We find a dual camera placed vertically and a fingerprint reader in the center.

The display is a large IPS from well 6.3 inches with a particular 19:9 format, while the SoC is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 626. Also worth mentioning is the 3.5 mm headphone jack and support for the latest version of Android. But pay attention to the lack of the 20 band for LTE connectivity.

For selfie and photography enthusiasts, there are plenty of camera modes on both the front and back, with support for AR stickers, facial recognition, beauty mode and more. For now, Vivo V9 is not yet available officially. The possible prices for the Indian market could be around 25,000 Rupees.

We already told you about the Xiaomi project related to its next (and first) gaming smartphone. It is trying to follow in the footsteps of Razer Phone. Today we have other news regarding Black Shark. This should be the name of the Chinese company's device, which confirms its performance nature.



The device (codenamed SKR-A0) was tested according to the well-known benchmark Geekbench. It achieved a good score of 2452 in single-core and 8452 in multi-core mode. From the details of the test, we also see some of the specific hardware that will integrate the SoC Snapdragon 845, 8 GB RAM and operating system based on Android 8.0.

At the moment, these are all the information we can bring you back. It is not clear if Xiaomi will release the smartphone under the name of Black Shark or if the latter will be the name of the brand, controlled by the same Chinese company, dedicated to its gaming smartphones. We will keep you updated on all future developments of the story.

It seems that the update to Android Oreo for Galaxy Note 8 has finally begun. The firmware currently in the rollout carries the March patches. There should be no significant changes compared to what has already been seen on the Galaxy S8, which always adopts the Samsung Experience 9.0.

Mickey Mouse & Friends AR Emoji are now available for the new top of the range Samsung phones, right in conjunction with the launch of two smartphones on the market. To be picky there is just Mickey and Minnie at the moment. But we already dream of a future in which we can dress the clothes of Donald Duck, Pluto, Pippo and all the other famous Disney characters.

All you have to do is download a package of about 9 MB, available directly from the Galaxy S9 and S9 + camera app. Samsung has already announced that other famous movie characters such as The Incredibles, Zootropolis and Frozen will be available later.

Sam Leo

OPPO F7: the iPhone X-style Device with Notch and Camera

OPPO F7: the iPhone X-style Device with Notch and Camera

Oppo is one of the smartphone brands that did not take part in MWC 2018, which was held in Barcelona at the end of February. In fact, the company is concentrating on the announcement of a new top-of-the-range smartphone that will launch in a separate event at the end of the month. And this seems to be the reason why Oppo has not been present. The Asian company, through a tweet, has announced the launch of the next OPPO F7, dedicated to the Indian market.

The successor of the F5 introduces important innovations in terms of design. The smartphone, as can also be seen from the teaser poster, will come with a display with a notch. This is the second device with this feature, after OPPO R15. R15 Plus will be officially presented on March 12. We are not revealed anything else.

The back cover, the photographic compartment and the technical card remain in the shadows except for some clues about the ambassador chosen by the brand. It should be the famous cricket player, a very popular sport in the country - Hardik Pandya. However, the launch date should be set for March 26.

According to a report by The Economic Times, the Oppo F7 would be the upcoming smartphone. It is believed to be the successor of the Oppo F5, which was announced last year with an AI-based front camera. The report suggests that the next Oppo device could arrive with an iPhone X-style display, with the presence of the notch in the front.

By now it is quite clear that this year's watchword will be "notch". If there is still any doubt about it, the Chinese manufacturer is preparing to launch yet another smartphone with this feature, after the interesting OPPO R15. The new OPPO F7, to be launched this month in India, is shown in a promotional image that reveals the front design.



Despite the lack of details, the first information under the counter has already appeared. OPPO F7 should arrive with a 6.2-inch diagonal Full HD + display, with a 19: 9 ratio and a screen-to-body ratio of 89.09%. The selfie module should be as good as 25 megapixels, supported by AI functionality. Even if you do not have details on the onboard processor, it is rumored that it will be supported by 6 GB of RAM and an expandable memory (up to 256 GB via microSD) of 128 GB. Present a dual camera main; as for the OS, some rumors report a firmware based on Android 8.1 Oreo (obviously in the form of Color OS).

The report, citing a source says that the smartphone could come with a 6.2-inch display with an FHD + resolution and ultra-thin frames. It is said that the screen-body ratio of the smartphone is 89.09%. Even if you do not know exactly the resolution of the screen, it is clear that Oppo F7 could boast a screen resolution of about 2246x1080 pixels. Another source would have shown an image of the supposed smartphone.

The photo would highlight the presence of a huge front camera of 25 MP. This camera should arrive with different functions related to Artificial Intelligence, similar to those of the Oppo F5 and able to take exceptional selfies. In particular, it is said that the smartphone is equipped with improved real-time HDR, advanced beauty mode and AR stickers even when using the front camera.

The image also shows the presence of a 3.5mm audio jack at the bottom of the smartphone. But the report assumes that the Oppo F7 uses a MediaTek octa-core processor combined with 4 GB/6 GB of RAM and 64 GB of storage space, further expandable using a microSD card.

Sam Leo

Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ - Review, Price, Specs and Features

Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ - Review, Price, Specs and Features

It is official! And now comes the launch of the most awaited device of MWC 2018. Yes, it is Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+. There are incremental upgrades, just like what the S7 was to the S6. Nothing much to see here. Samsung Galaxy S9 moved a few things around, added a better camera, added 3D sound, put a faster processor, made the screen bezels smaller, made upgrades to Bixby, added AR Emojis and created a new color of the phone. Yes, my favorite color Coral Blue is there.

Instead of experimenting new features they just cover the flaws from S8. The memory card slot is back, 3.5mm jack is back. The fingerprint scanner is positioned right. The display size and design are good. The camera is brilliant with dual aperture. There is fast wireless charging and instead of pitching their Exynos Processor they simply used Snapdragon 845.

The camera is reimagined but I am waiting for Samsung Galaxy Note 9. The main focus on the S9 phone is all about the variable aperture lens which is a really cool feature. They have literally completely redone how smartphone cameras will be going forward. Seriously, dual aperture lenses in a phone? This phone is gonna be the new standard as far as phones are concerned.

It seems like a really good low light camera. This phone camera might do just as well as a DSLR. For camera nerds, it is the first phone that lets you switch between f/1.5 or f/2.4 depending on the lighting conditions/depth of field. It is perfect to do vlogs and photography.



I think the instant camera translator will be damn useful, and with some forced creativity, the super slow motion camera will be entertaining, if not entirely useful. I love how it reads any other language that might be on a sign and it just translates it for you. But I really don't get this 'turn yourself into an emoji' mode. At least it doesn't turn you into a monkey like the iPhone.

It's $200-$300 cheaper than iPhone X, plus it's got a better camera. It doesn't have a notch at the top of the screen, and it still has a headphone jack.

If I were to upgrade I will wait for the year 2019. The benchmark scores are crazy high though. I love everything about the new phone, but the emoji mode is kinda creepy. The design is not important but the important thing is that they listen to their customers, who complained S8 having a bad camera, badly positioned finger-sensor, the absence of stereo speakers and dual camera. S9 solve all those problems.

Next year's smartphones will be the first to get 7nm chipsets, not to mention number 10 will mean the phone probably getting an overhaul. I guess there are just a few needed tweaks to a great phone. However, I honestly believe they are leading to the Galaxy Note 9 and the Galaxy X.

Sam Leo

Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro Review

Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro Review

Xiaomi announced its latest devices in the Indian market with the Redmi Note 5 and Redmi Note 5 Pro. Now, the company has announced that both the phones will be manufactured locally at its manufacturing units in Sri City, Andhra Pradesh. Redmi Note 5 is nothing but the regular Redmi 5 Plus that was launched a few months back in China.

If you compare its specs, it doesn't seem like a proper upgrade to last years Redmi Note 4. Apart from better cameras and modern design with new 18:9 display ratio, everything is more or less the same. But the icing on the cake is the pricing. Even with few minor improvements, it should hold its place. If someone is very much strict on a budget then they won't be disappointed with what is being offered.

Redmi Note 5 Pro should be the actual Redmi Note 5, but what's in the name. If adding a pro makes it better, then let it be. From design to the camera, from performance to speed, everything is bumped up to a respectable level. A flagship grade processor, faster RAM, an amazing front camera with AI capabilities and same can also be said for the back (if not the best, being Sony sensors this time) and yet again at an amazing price. But with all bells and whistles, this phone also lacks some charm, which I will be summarising in points down below.

It has an iPhone X-ish camera placement, for which most will troll Xiaomi for blatantly copying it. When they can implement portrait mode on the single front camera with the use of AI, then I really couldn't see a need for a depth-sensing 5MP camera lens at back. Because all it does is sensing depth for portrait mode, unlike the secondary lens of Mi A1, that can optically zoom-in.



The Aperture on the main lens is narrowed down to f/2.2 which isn't a good thing, with a sensor with the bigger pixel to compensate so let's see how well it does in low light. There is no Type-C. It's something that people were expecting as Type-C is future, but yet again Xiaomi did their cost-cutting & choose to stay with standard micro USB.

Considering the number of units of the pro they are going to sell, they could have sourced the USB-C ports, drivers, and cables at a negligible premium over what they would spend on microUSB system. I do not see a legit cost-cutting going on there when the price of the components is barely different.

Since there is no mention of the Android version on either of the Redmi Note 5, I suspect it to be running on Android Nougat 7.1.1. That means Android Oreo will be the last official Android update for both Redmi Note 5 and Redmi Note 5 Pro, with regular MIUI support. Don't buy the 6 Gb variant of Redmi Note 5 pro. It doesn't make any sense to pay 3000 more for more RAM, that you might not need. Settle with 4+64GB version and save your money for its accessories.

Sam Leo