Xiaomi launches Mi5 smartphone at RMB 1999

Xiaomi has announced the launch of its flagship device, Mi 5 at the Mobile World Congress and in Beijing.The Mi5 is priced at RMB 1999 (Rs 20000 approx) for 32GB variant.

Xiaomi Mi5 smartphone features 3D glass and supports supports 4G+ network (Cat 12) and VoLTE. It is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 820 chipset and supports up to 4GB RAM and 128 GB storage. 

The Xiaomi Mi5 features a 5.15 inch full HD display. It weighs 129 gm and has 3000 mAh battery and a front fingerprint sensor. It sports a 16MP rear camera and a 4MP front facing camera. It can also shoot 4K videos as well.

It comes with two nano SIM cards. In terms of connectivity, it has Wi-fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.2, GPS with AGPS, NFC. The Xiaomi Mi5 smartphone comes with Android 6.0 Marshmallow along with the MIUI 7 OS.

The company will start selling on 1 March onwards in China. 

LeEco announces Le Max Pro sale at Mobile World Congress 2016

LeEco has announced the sale of the world's first smartphone powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 chipset-Le Max Pro on 22nd February at Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2016 in Barcelona. The new generation Superphone is priced at approximately RMB 1,999 (INR 21,000).

The device was first revealed during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2016 at Las Vegas in January. Le Max Pro, designed in state-of-the-art technology, runs on Android 6.0 Marshmallow system topped with LeEco's eUI. 

Its bezel-less, full metal unibody design out of aircraft grade aluminium makes it solid and premium. It also has the world’s first full-floating glass, which is a Sharp branded screen exclusively for LeEco.

As for the camera specs, Le Max Pro sports a 21MP rear-facing camera unit with Sony IMX230 Sensor, f/2.0 aperture, PDAF (Phase Detection Auto Focus) and dual ISP support. The 4MP unit up front is accompanied by 81.6-degree wide-angle lens with f/2.0 aperture.

As the Snapdragon 820 chipset is optimized for a perfect performance, Le Max Pro sores over 140,000 in Antutu, one of the most popular benchmarking apps on Android. The device also comes with 4GB RAM and UFS 2.0 flash storage, which is currently the fastest mobile storage technology available in the world.

OPPO Unveils World’s First SmartSensor Image Stabilization Tech at MWC

OPPO has unveiled a breakthrough SmartSensor image stabilization and Super VOOC Flash Charge technologies at Mobile World Congress 2016.

Alen, Vice-President of OPPO, Marketing Director of Mainland China Mobile Business

Super VOOC Flash Charge uses a 5V low-voltage pulse-charge algorithm, ensuring a low-temperature charge that’s safe for the battery. The all-new algorithm pairs with a customized super battery, as well as a new adapter, cable and connector made using premium, military-grade materials. Super VOOC Flash Charge supports Micro USB or type-C interfaces, in line with the global standard. 

Optical image stabilization technologies come in two types, lens-based and sensor-based, but due to the size limitations of smartphones, all previous solutions across the industry were lens-based. OPPO’s SmartSensor is the first-ever sensor-based solution for smartphones, as well as the smallest optical image stabilizer of any kind in the world!

SmartSensor improves on other solutions with a key advantage. Existing lens-based stablizers can only correct for vibrations on two axes of motions, the pitch axis and yaw axis, even though the most common type of unwanted shaking during photography actually takes place on the roll axis. SmartSensor solves this problem, allowing for image stabilization on three axes, pitch, yaw and the all-important roll. Making split-second adjustments with its comb-shaped monocrystalline silicon MEMS, SmartSensor achieves full three-axis image stabilization in a mere 15 milliseconds. 

At the same time, SmartSensor uses a voltage-driven sensor, reducing power consumption to as low as 10 milliwatts, 50 times less than the power consumption of lens-based solutions.

Meanwhile, whereas lens-based image stabilizers generally have a precion of between 3 and 5 μm, SmartSensor remains precise to a vibration of just 0.3μm. The size of a pixel is usually larger than 1 μm, meaning that SmartSensor is the world’s first pixel-level image stabilize. 

OPPO Signs 3 Year Contract With FC Barcelona

After rigorous negotiations, OPPO finally inked a three-year deal with Spanish soccer team FC Barcelona. While tie-ups between smartphone makers and football teams are nothing new, it's the first time that Chinese company Oppo has taken this route.  OPPO’s logo will be displayed at the Spanish football club’s home stadium, Camp Nou.

With Barcelona’s position as one of the world’s most recognized sports teams, this partnership is set to bring OPPO closer to the legions of fans that follow every move of the football club and its star players such as Lionel Messi and Neymar. 

FC Barcelona Chief Executive Officer Ignacio Mestre said, "We are thrilled to team up with OPPO and hope that the partnership will excite fans around the world. As a global leading smartphone brand that values artistry of design and innovation in technology, OPPO is more than at home in Barcelona."

"OPPO has been focusing heavily on overseas expansion in recent years," says OPPO CEO Tony Chen. "From the very beginning, we have positioned ourselves as a global company and our dynamic expansion strategy fully demonstrates this commitment."

OPPO had unveiled the R7 and R7 Plus smartphones last month at Beijing priced at CNY 2,499 (Rs 26,000 approx.) and CNY 2,999 (Rs 31,000 approx.) respectively.