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What's a phone? The Surface Duo breaks our definitions
Is this a new category, and do we need to see it as one?
Microsoft's been teasing the Surface Duo for the last year, and it's finally here — well, available for pre-order, anyway. But the entire time we've been talking about it, it's been difficult to pin down what exactly the Surface Duo is. Intuitively, we want to call it a phone. It's kinda phone-sized when folded up, it runs an operating system some phones do, and you can do phone stuff on it. But is it really a phone? Have we reached the Apple "What's a computer?" moment when it comes to phones?
Xiaomi is already off to a good start for 2017. The Mi 6 was unveiled a month ago, and now the Chinese manufacturer is back with a successor to last year's Mi Max. Pushing the limits of what one could call a "phone," the Mi Max 2 packs in a massive screen with a huge battery to match. And since this is Xiaomi we're talking about here, affordability is also part of the package.
T-Mobile has announced that LG's latest phablet, the G Stylo 3 Plus, is available on the network from today. The phablet is a Samsung Galaxy Note competitor of sorts, albeit at a much lower price point, as it sports a massive 5.7" display and also includes a stylus.
Acer has launched three Android smartphones at IFA—the Iconia Talk S, the Liquid Z6, and the Liquid Z6 Plus. All of them are more budget-oriented, but they're quite different from each other.
If you're in the market for a phablet with an amazing selfie cam (God, I hate myself for using those terms), you'd better check out the Sony Xperia XA Ultra. The 16MP camera up front has a higher resolution than most smartphone rear-facing cameras do. Now, you can pick one up on Amazon for under $300 with a free 64GB Sony microSD card.The XA Ultra (which I'll be referring to as the Ultra from now on) is a very strange Xperia. It's got a 6-inch 1080p display, almost no side bezels, a MediaTek processor, an OIS-equipped 16MP front-facing camera with flash, a 21MP rear-facing camera (with no OIS, oddly), a tiny 2700mAh battery, and no water resistance.But if selfies are your life, the Ultra is probably one of the best phones you can get. You get nice, high-res photos with less blur and more functionality at night, and a huge display to view them on. In addition, you can use the included 64GB microSD card to store more of those magnificent pictures of yourself.Currently, only the Lime Gold model is available, and there's no Prime shipping. However, considering that the Ultra retails for 9.99 (and is currently 9.99 on Amazon), this is a pretty nice deal. Keep in mind is that this listing does include a US warranty.Source: Amazon
Back at Mobile World Congress in February, LG announced a bevy of mid range devices. Among them were the LG G Stylo, a 5.7-inch phablet with a stylus, and the humble 4.5-inch LG Leon. After the announcement of the LG G4 today, T-Mobile added product pages for both of these handsets and it would appear they are preparing to refresh their entire LG product lineup.
Huawei's Steel-Clad P8 And Enormous 6.8" P8max Announced For 30 Countries, Not Including The US
Chinese smartphone maker Huawei, which has quietly become the third-largest on the planet, has a new flagship to show off. Two of them, in fact: the 5.2-inch Huawei P8 and the absolutely enormous 6.8-inch P8max. Both have been announced for a launch in "more than 30 countries," including China, Columbia, France, Germany, Mexico, Spain, South Africa, Turkey, UAE, and the United Kingdom. As usual, Huawei doesn't seem interested in selling its high-end offerings in the United States.
Do you need a great unlocked phone for under $200? Do you want one that's bigger than the ones Motorola offers in that price range? Then you'd be hard-pressed to find a better candidate than the BLU Studio 6.0 HD. While the phone's specs are decidedly low-end, the $189 retail price makes it an awesome deal for those who are cash strapped, or heck, just those who don't want to spend $600 or more on a Galaxy Note. Amazon's Gold Box daily deal portal has sliced that price even more, offering the Studio 6.0 for a ridiculous 9.99.
It's not hard to find an Android tablet for less than a hundred bucks - head down to your nearest drugstore and there's a decent chance you'll see one. The trick is finding one that's worth using at that price. While most of these ultra-cheap tablets are no-name Chinese models, Lenovo just announced a pair of new 7-inchers in the A Series starting at only a single Benjamin. I guess that would make them name brand Chinese tablets, but hey, Lenovo beats whatever company is using the Polaroid license this year.
Reviewing a Nexus phone is always a daunting task. It’s one of the most important devices of the year for much of the Android community, and it represents - in theory - the very best of what Google has to offer on phones for the respective update period.
The Nexus 6 came in for a landing on my doorstep yesterday, and I've been happily exploring Google's new phablet ever since. Because I've had it for just one day, there's no way I could write anything resembling a review, so instead I thought it may be fun to do a very basic "initial impressions" post. There are a few things that immediately strike me about the device, so I'll discuss those here, with more details to come in the full review.
Chinese smartphone manufacturer ZTE still hasn't made a dent in the US market in any significant way, but it did turn heads with the ZMAX for T-Mobile, combining a big 5.7-inch screen and a spacious battery with a low price tag. The new Grand X Max, coming to budget carrier Cricket on October 10th, is even bigger and cheaper. This massive 6-inch phone will pack a beefy 3200mAh battery, all for just $199.99 without a contract.
If you've been keeping up with any tech blogs over the past couple of weeks, you know that the next Nexus phone has been a hot topic. We saw rumored specs and rumored hardware photos that only added to the confusion created back when we first reported on a possible 5.9" Nexus. Today, however, we have something special to share. We've been provided with new information about the next Nexus phone, and can confirm that it will be a 5.9" device called the Nexus 6.
We've been hearing a lot about Volantis lately, but what about the other supposed Nexus device - Shamu? Since we originally broke the story back in July (with the Information affirming Shamu's existence soon after) things have been relatively quiet, with only a benchmark test here or there popping up with alleged specs that seemed to point to a smaller device.
People seem to love gigantic screens on their phones - just ask Samsung (or Apple). And of course, plenty of customers want phones that are cheap, or at least cheaper than the flagships. And the one thing that everyone wants is longer battery life. ZTE and T-Mobile are going to try to please the intersection of these market segments with the ZMAX, a big phone with a big battery and (impressively) a small price tag.
The last Ascend Mate from Huawei was an interesting device with an affordable price point, but you had to make some sacrifices to get comfortable with that sweet phablet-y goodness. It was only 720p, had an older processor, and the storage was lacking. The newly announced Ascend Mate7 is a big phone with many fewer sacrifices.
Update: Verizon's specification page has been changed to indicate that the LG G Vista has an "HD" screen. It looks like there was an error in the original spec list. We're going to assume that means that it's a 1280x720 screen.
Huawei Begins To Sell Directly To US Consumers With The Ascend Mate 2, Now Up For Pre-Order For $299
Huawei Begins To Sell Directly To US Consumers With The Ascend Mate 2, Now Up For Pre-Order For $299
Huawei is huge in China, but their footprint in the US smartphone market is tiny, and not helped because they tend to be on the low end of any carrier lineup they do manage to snag. That ends today, as the company is now selling directly to consumers in the United States for the first time. The Ascend Mate 2, a big-screen, big-battery midrange phone, is up for pre-order on GetHuawei.com. The unlocked GSM-LTE phone is going for $299 in black and white color options.
The phablet market is exploding, and just about every manufacturer wants a piece of the oversized pie. Here at Mobile World Congress ZTE has just announced the Grand Memo II LTE, the successor to last year's Grand Memo. It ups the screen size to a full 6 inches of IPS goodness. Well, maybe goodness - they aren't saying what the resolution is just yet, just "HD," which I'll assume means 720p.
Besides the TalkBand B1, Huawei introduced three other devices in their MWC presentation - the MediaPad X1 7.0, MediaPad M1 8.0, and the Ascend G6. The first is pegged as a phone/tablet hybrid, the second just a tablet (capable of Wi-Fi calling and SMS), and the third a budget to mid-range phone.