Xiaomi Mi 5

 
Considering the powerful specs the Xiaomi Mi 5 is unbeatable, it is equipped with Snapdragon 820 for just a $305 smartphone. However the software is not that spectacular but for the price, it's a steal. Xiaomi pride itself with giving very good specs at low prices. The Xiaomi Mi 5 is powered by the new Snapdragon 820 processor and is equipped with a USB Type-C port. You could buy two of these for the price of a Galaxy S7 or LG G5.

The smartphone design is a bit ordinary, it has a glass with a metal band around the sides. It also has a home button/fingerprint reader on the front with capacitive touch buttons on either side.

the Xiaomi Mi 5 measures 144.6 x 69.2 x 7.3 mm and weights 139 grams, the casing is made of metal and the back is slightly curved on the right and left sides. It comes with IPS LCD display that supports a resolution of 1920×1080 pixels at 428 ppi protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 4. It has an Adreno 530 graphics card. Battery is non-removable 3000 mAh.

 Xiaomi on AMAZON

Quick Specs of XIAOMI MI 5:
SCREEN    1920×1080 5.1" (428ppi) LCD
OS    Android 6.0 Marshmallow with MIUI 7
CPU    Quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 820
Standard: (two 1.8GHz Kryo cores and two 1.6 GHz Kyro cores)
Pro: (two 2.15GHz Kryo cores and two 1.6 GHz Kyro cores)
RAM Standard: 3GB
  Plus: 3GB
  Pro: 4GB
GPU Standard: 510MHz Adreno 530
Plus: 624MHz Adreno 530
Pro: 624MHz Adreno 530
STORAGE    Standard: 32GB
Plus: 64GB
Pro: 128GB
NETWORKING    Dual band 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.2, GPS, NFC
BANDS    GSM/EDGE: 850/900/1800/1900MHz
UMTS/WCDMA: B1/2/5/8
TD-SCDMA: B34/39
LTE (FDD): B1/3/7
LTE (TDD): B38/39/40/41
PORTS    USB Type C, 3.5mm headphone jack
CAMERA    16MP rear camera with phase detection autofocus and OIS, 4MP front camera
SIZE    144.6 x 69.2 x 7.3 mm (5.69 x 2.72 x 0.29 in)
WEIGHT    129g (4.55 oz.)
BATTERY    3000mAh
STARTING PRICE    Standard: $305 unlocked
Plus: RMB 2299 $353 unlocked
Pro: RMB 2699 $415 unlocked
OTHER: quick charging, IR blaster, notification LED

Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 review: Really Good For the Price

SPECIFICATIONS:

- 5.5-inch (1920 x 1080 pixels) HD IPS Capacitive Touchscreen LCD, 16M colors
- Snapdragon 650 hexa core 1.4 GHz
- Android 5.1 (Lollipop) OS
- 2/3GB RAM
- 16/32GB storage equipped with micro SD slot (up to 32GB cards)
- 16MP f2.0 rear camera with PDAF and dual LED flash, 5MP f2.0 front camera
- WiFi ac, BT4.1
- LTE (VoLTE capable)
- IR emitter
- FM
- A-GPS
- 4,000mAh battery
- Dual Sim Support  
- weight at 164 grams

PRICE: $254.94 on Amazon Xiaomi Redmi Note 3

Usually the Redmi line is Xiaomi's lower end smartphones while the "Mi" series is for higher end phones. However, the the Redmi Note 3 has transcend that notion. The Redmi Note 3 look, feels and performs like a premium device. The great thing about it, you'll not be paying for a premium device. For the price the features of this phone is just awesome. It has infrared emitter, call recording, and a lot of software interface that's included.

The power-horse is Snapdragon 650 processor hexa core SoC, just imagine the performance it can give you. Qualcomm Snapdragon 650 chipset is really impressive, performance is comparable to Qualcomm’s last generation hex-core Snapdragon 808.

It can record UHD 4K videos with a third-party app. The display is 5.5inch fullHD IPS LCD with pixel density of 401ppi. The pictures look natural and it has a good viewing angles.

It has Sunlight Display technology too which is seen from their Mi4/Mi4i line. Sunlight Display makes adjustments to the display at a pixel level so that you see a balanced image in bright outdoors.

Call quality on the Redmi Note 3 is excellent and the earpiece speaker is sufficiently loud even outdoors.

The device is equipped with 16MP rear camera and a 5MP front-facing camera. The camera at the back has phase-detect auto-focus function which is really good in bright environment, however it doesn't do well in low light.

Samsung Galaxy S7

Samsung Galaxy S7 is the company's 2016 flagship smartphone it will be the successor of the very popular Galaxy S6. The new smartphone has a new and very classy design that has a combination of metal and glass. Underneath is a very powerful and very fast Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor, Quad-core 2.6 GHz Mongoose + quad-core 1.6 GHz Cortex-A53.

The device is water and dust resistant, it has IP68 rating against water and dirt. It can withstand about 30 minutes of being fully submerged in 1.5 meters of water.

The great news about this phone is that they bring back the expansion memory card slot which is absent in their Galaxy S6. The Galaxy S7 now supports memory cards up to 200GB in capacity.

The camera has an improved low light capability, the sensor is bigger than the previous one. It also has 3000 mAh battery, which is huge. It is also VR ready, the  Galaxy Gear VR headset will be compatible with the Galaxy S7. The smartphone runs on Android OS, v6.0 (Marshmallow) operating system. Internal storage is 32 GB or 64 GB and it has 4GB of RAM. Screen size is 5.1 inches.

Samsung Galaxy S7 32GB Factory Unlocked $796.89   

LG G5 Unique Flagship Smartphone

LG G5 is a flagship Android smartphone that is fully revolutionized from its predecessor. It is built with a metal body and has a 2,800 mAh removable battery. The LG G5 has a 5.3-inch IPS display with high pixel density of 554 ppi. With that amount of pixel it can give the user an incredibly vibrant and colorful view. 

It is equipped with dual rear cameras, 16-MP camera and 8-MP camera with a wide 135 degree lens that allows you to take more detailed photos. Both of them come with autofocus and Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) features. It has CAM Plus which is a special camera accessory designed to deliver a comfortable grip and convenient control of a DSLR.

The 8-MP secondary camera performs brilliantly in taking high quality selfies.

The smartphone has Hi-Fi Plus with B&O Play which transforms the G5 into a Hi-Fi audio player that supports 32-bit 384 KHz high-definition audio files for listening to your favorite music.

It is powered by a quad-core 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor with 4GB of RAM and runs Android 6.0 Marshmallow.



LG G5 Case, Spigen® [Rugged Armor] Resilient [Black] Ultimate protection $13.99

LG Unveiled Stylus 2 smartphone Runs on Android Marshmallow

South Korean electronics company LG unveiled their new smartphone Stylus 2 ahead of the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2016 that will take place in Barcelona, Spain next week. The LG Stylus 2 will replace the G4 Stylus and it will be released in the Korean market in titan, white and brown color options.

The new smartphone LG Stylus 2 features a 5.7-inch HD display with 1280x720 pixels resolution and runs on Android 6.0 Marshmallow OS. Under the hood, it is powered by a 1.2 GHz quad-core processor paired wtih 1.5GB of RAM and 16GB ROM that can be expanded using a microSD card. It sports a 13MP camera with LED flash and an 8MP front camera for selfies and video calling. The power juice is 3,000 mAh battery. Its connectivity options include 4G, LTE, 3G, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, and an optional NFC.

The unit comes with a Stylus pen with nano-coated tip that the company said is more accuate compared to rubber tipped pen. The Pen Pop feature shows a pop-up menu when the stylus is removed to provide Pop Memo and Pop Scanner. There is also a Pen Keeper where you can put your pen when not using it. You will get a pop-up message if the Stylus bay is empty.

The new model weighs 145 grams, 20 grams less than the G4 Stylus, and is only 7.4 millimeters thick.

Budget Laptop: Acer Chromebook R11

Acer Chromebook R11 is a budget laptop that is convertible from clam-shell mode to tablet mode. It is called 2-in-1. It has 360-degree hinge and 11.6-inch touch screen. It also comes in colorful display, long battery life and a keyboard. It's very compact and mobile, it weighs just 3.5 pounds. 

The exterior has a matte finish for easy grip. The display is good for its class at 1080p HD screen. The battery life on the R11 was also fairly impressive, it can get you up to 9 hours battery life on normal usage.

This is a Chrome based laptop so you can't run video games, Photoshop, or other programs that are not browser-based. This laptop is for user who use them for social media (Facebook, Twitter), word processing, Netflix, YouTube, Ebooks, online news, etc.

The R11 is powered with 2GB of RAM and run on an Intel Celeron N3150 processor.

This is a really good convertible Chromebook with good display, great storage at 32GB, touchscreen, and a long battery life.


Acer Convertible Chromebook R11, 11.6-inch HD Touchscreen Notebook, White $279.99 on Amazon

Here are the quick specs of the R11:

• Intel Celeron N3150 1.6 GHz (2 MB Cache)
• Google Chrome OS
• 11.6-inch HD Touchscreen, Intel HD Graphics
• 2GB DDR3L Onboard Memory
• 32GB Internal Storage
• WIFI  802.11ac
• SD card slot
• USB 2.0,  USB 3.0,  HDMI
• size  11.6 x 8.03 x .76 inches
• 2.7 pounds 
• Premium Aluminum Top Cover, Chrome, Up to 10-hour

ASUS ZenFone Zoom $399 in the US

Asus is a Taiwanese electronics company headquartered in Beitou District, Taipei, Taiwan. The company will be bringing their "ASUS ZenFone Zoom" to the United States. With the "ASUS ZenFone Zoom" they have shifted their focus on people who are into photography.

The ASUS ZenFone Zoom was introduced during last year’s CES. It will be available in the US market on February for $399.

Here are the expected specification of ASUS ZenFone Zoom:

- 5.5" 1080p display touchscreen
- Corning Gorilla Glass 4
- 2.3 GHz quad-core CPU Intel processor
- RAM 4GB
- battery unit 3,000mAh.
- 64GB model or 128GB model
- 13MP Main camera Panasonic sensor, with 3x optical zoom f/2.7-f/4.8 aperture, dual-LED flash, laser autofocus
- 5 MP front-facing camera
- Android 5.0 Lollipop
- 4G LTE support



ASUS ZenFone Zoom Amazon