[CES 2017] LG officially announces 4 new K 2017 series smartphones and Stylus 3

LG has officially unveiled bunch of new smartphones at CES 2017. The list include 4 new K 2017 series smartphones including LG K10, LG K8, LG K4 and LG K3, along with LG Stylus 3 (or LG Stylo 3) phablet. All these devices come with mid-range specifications.

Out of the four K series smartphones, LG K10 and K8 are worth talking as both these devices come with Android 7.0 Nougat out-of-the-box.

Talking of LG Stylus 3, the device comes with stylus pen following its predecessors. The pen of Stylus 3 has been improved and now comes with a 1.8mm diameter fiber-tip to provide the feel and feedback of an actual pen when writing on the screen.

You can read complete specifications of each of the device below:

[CES 2017] Coolpad Conjr with 5-inch display, 3GB RAM, Marshmallow announced for $180

Coolpad has officially announced a new budget Android smartphone at ongoing CES 2017. Dubbed as Coolpad Conjr, the smartphone comes with metal unibody design and features mid-range specifications, but with a lower-end processor.

Coolpad Americas, the US subsidiary of Coolpad has launched the Coolpad Conjr smartphone in the US. The device is company's first unlocked smartphone to launch in the country and will work with US GSM carriers like AT&T, T-Mobile and US Cellular. Coolpad has priced the smartphone $179.99 and is available for pre-order at Newegg and Amazon in Iron Grey color option.

On the specifications front, Coolpad Conjr comes with a 5-inch HD IPS LCD display with 2.5D curved glass, metal profile and 70.6% screen-to-body ratio, and has fingerprint scanner placed on back of the device beneath the camera module.

[CES 2017] ZTE Blade V8 with dual-rear cameras, 3D shooting, Nougat announced

ZTE is not yet done with the phone announcements at CES 2017. After announcing ZTE Hawkeye and ZTE Blade V8 Pro, ZTE has now officially announced a lower-end variant of the Blade V8 Pro smartphone, called the ZTE Blade V8. The announcement of Blade V8 was quite expected, considering that the Pro variant of the device was already official.

ZTE Blade V8 is a mid-range Android smartphone with great camera features and amazing design. ZTE is targeting the Blade V8 at younger crowd. The smartphone will be available in 4 stylish colors to choose from: Rose Gold, Silver, Dark Grey and Champagne Gold.

According to ZTE, the Blade V8 will be released in Russia and Japan by February 2017, followed by Germany, Spain and China by March 2017.

Physically, the device comes with diamond-cut metallic body equipped with 2.5D curved-edge glass. On the front we have a fingerprint scanner with volume rockers and power button on the right side. The SIM slot sits on the left and the speakers are on the bottom of the device with USB Type-C port in-between them.

Also Read: [CES 2017] ZTE Blade V8 Pro with 5.5" display, dual 13MP rear cameras announced for $229.98

The key feature of Blade V8 is dual-rear cameras which is capable of taking Bokeh photos and 3D-shooting. The configuration of rear cameras are 13MP primary + 2MP secondary which is used for detecting depth and distance of the surrounding to produce special effects like blur backgrounds (bokeh effect).

[CES 2017] Bezel-less White Mi Mix & Frameless Mi TV 4 with 4.9mm slim frame official

Xiaomi Mi Mix

Back in October 2016, Xiaomi had announced its concept smartphone called the Xiaomi Mi Mix. The Mi Mix smartphone comes with bezel-less display with 91.3% screen-to-body ratio. Being a concept smartphone, Xiaomi was still able to sell the device in limited quantities in China, as it was consumer ready. The device is China-exclusive and as-of-now is only available in black color option. 

At ongoing CES 2017, Xiaomi officially took the wraps off the White version of the phone. According to Xiaomi, the White version of Mi Mix will have similar ceramic body as the Black version. Honestly speaking, the device looks gorgeous in white coating as well 😍

Like the black version, the White Mi Mix will be exclusively sold in China. The device will go on sale in the country later this year. Xiaomi had already confirmed that it has no plans to bring Mi Mix smartphone in India anytime soon.

[CES 2017] ZTE Hawkeye with eye-tracking & self-adhesive case announced for Kickstarter

Along with ZTE Blade V8 Pro, the Chinese manufacturer has also announced another smartphone at CES 2017 called the ZTE Hawkeye. This smartphone from ZTE is a completely crowdsourced phone. The device name "Hawkeye" was selected from over 540 community submissions under project name CSX.

According to ZTE, the phone is currently in development phase and is expected to ship later this year in September. ZTE has started a Kickstarter campaign of Hawkeye with goal of $500,000 pledges. The device is currently available for preorder on Kickstarter for $199.

ZTE Hawkeye - Download

The two key features of Hawkeye is eye-tracking (similar to Samsung's Smart Stay feature) and self-adhesive case.

Talking of each of them in detail, the eye tracking feature will detect motion using front-facing camera on the phone. This will allow users to scroll through pages and navigate left and right in applications using movement of eyes. Voice command can be used to navigate between pages. This will give a complete hands-free user experience.

On the other hand, self-adhesive case gives the ability to stick the phone on most vertical surfaces, resisting the forces of gravity. 

[CES 2017] ZTE Blade V8 Pro with 5.5" display, dual 13MP rear cameras announced for $229.98

At ongoing CES 2017, ZTE has officially announced a new mid-range Android smartphone under its Blade series called the ZTE Blade V8 Pro. ZTE smartphones are popular for offering great features at affordable price. The Blade V8 Pro follows the same legacy.

The key feature of Blade V8 Pro is its dual 13MP rear camera. ZTE has priced the V8 Pro at $229.98 in the United States. The device is now available for pre-order from Amazon, B&H, Newegg and zteusa.com in Black Diamond color option.

ZTE Blade V8 Pro - Download

ZTE Blade V8 Pro is a mid-range device featuring a 5.5-inch Full HD display with 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection. Powering the device is 2GHz octa-core 14nm Snapdragon 625 processor with Adreno 506 GPU and 3GB RAM. The device runs on Android 6.0 Marshmallow out-of-the-box, with no word on whether or not it will be updated to Nougat.

Talking of physical appearance, the Blade V8 Pro measures 156 x 77 x 9.1 mm and weighs 185g. The device hosts a physical home button on the front which doubles as a fingerprint scanner.

Also, the V8 Pro comes with hybrid dual-SIM support, allowing users to use either two SIM cards or one SIM and a microSD card.

[CES 2017] Asus ZenFone AR with TriCam system, 8GB RAM officially announced (Spec Sheet)

Asus ZenFone AR - Download

Update: Complete specification sheet added at the end of the post.

Earlier: Along with Asus ZenFone 3 Zoom, Asus has also officially announced the world's first AR and VR ready smartphone, the Asus ZenFone AR. The ZenFone AR was leaked earlier this week and at Zennovation 2017 event at CES, Asus officially took the wraps off the device and has shared detailed information of the same.

Asus ZenFone AR, as reported earlier, is the first smartphone to come with support for both Tango — Google’s mobile Augmented Reality platform and Daydream — Google’s Android-based VR platform.

The ZenFone AR is the world’s first Tango-enabled smartphone to be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor and is also world's first smartphone to come with whooping 8GB of RAM. The first Tango-phone, Lenovo Phab 2 Pro runs on Snapdragon 652 processor and has 4GB RAM.

According to Asus, the ZenFone AR will be released in the Q2 of 2017 in Black color option with premium leather finish. Pricing and market availability details are yet to be disclosed.

Asus ZenFone AR - Download

The ZenFone AR comes with Asus TriCam System which include a 23MP primary camera, a Motion Tracking camera and a Depth Sensing camera, all arranged at the back of the device in odd format. These cameras together can perform motion tracking, area learning and depth perception needed for Tango to create 3D images of the surrounding.

The 23MP primary camera comes with dual-tone LED Flash, Sony IMX318 sensor, 92MP Super Resolution, Asus TriTech, PDAF, f/2.0 aperture, 4-axis OIS, 3-axis EIS and 2nd gen Laser AF. On the front we have 8MP PixelMaster camera with f/2.0 aperture and 85˚ wide-angle lens for HD and Lowlight selfie. 

For performing AR and VR tasks, the ZenFone AR is powered by optimized version of 2.3GHz Quad-core 14nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor with Adreno 530 GPU for Tango and 8GB of RAM. For thermal management, Asus has included a "advanced vapor cooling system" on the ZenFone AR. 

Also Read: [CES 2017] Asus ZenFone 3 Zoom with dual-rear camera, 5,000mAh battery officially announced

Asus ZenFone AR - Download

Other specifications include a 5.7-inch WQHD Super AMOLED display with 2560 x 1440 resolution, Corning Gorilla Glass 4, NTSC dynamic contrast and 79% screen to body ratio, 3,300mAh battery with Quick Charge 3.0, 32GB to 256GB internal storage options with UFS 2.0 and support for microSD card upto 128GB (via Hybrid dual-SIM slot), and run on Android 7.0 Nougat with Asus ZenUI 3.0.

Connectivity series include 4G VoLTE, WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac 5G / 2.4G MIMO, Bluetooth 4.2, GPS / A-GPS, USB Type-C and NFC support.

Like all Daydream-ready devices, the ZenFone AR is also compatible with Google's Daydream View headset. According to Asus, there are over 35 AR apps available on Play Store, with more coming later this year.

Additional features include fingerprint scanner and 5-magnet structure speaker driven by powerful NXP Smart AMP, for High-Res Audio and DTS virtual surround sound. This new speaker provides 140% louder sound, 42% less distortion, 4x speaker and 7.1-magnet virtual surround. 

Asus ZenFone AR Specifications

• 5.7-inch WQHD Super AMOLED display with Corning Gorilla Glass 4, 79% screen to body ratio, NTSC dynamic contrast, Tru2life tech
• 2.3GHz quad-core 14nm Snapdragon 821 processor with Adreno 530 GPU optimized for Tango
• 8GB RAM
• Android 7.0 Nougat with Zen UI 3.0
• 23MP PixelMaster rear camera with dual-tone LED flash, f/2.0 aperture, 6p Largan lens, Sony IMX318 sensor, Sapphire cover glass, 4-axis OIS, 3-axis EIS, Asus TriTech autofocus system with 0.03 instant focus, three AF systems: PDAF, 2nd Laser AF, Continous AF (subject tracking), 4K video recording
• Fisheye camera for motion tracking and Depth-sensing camera with IR projector to measure distance from real-world objects
• 8MP PixelMaster front facing camera with f/2.0 aperture, 85 degree wide angle lens, HDR / Lowlight selfie
• 32GB / 64GB / 128GB / 256GB internal storage with expandable memory upto 128GB using microSD card
• 3300mAh battery with Quick Charge 3.0
• 92MP Super Resolution mode, real time HDR, 32 seconds long exposure, selfie beautification mode, manual mode
• dual-SIM support
• Hi-res audio, 5 magnet structure speaker, DTS X for virtual 7.1 surround sound, NXP Smart AMP tech
• 4G VoLTE, WiFi 802.11ac 5G / 2.4G MiMO, Bluetooth 4.2, USB Type-C, Fingerprint scanner, GPS, NFC
• Black color with premium leather finish

Asus ZenFone AR - Download

[CES 2017] Asus ZenFone 3 Zoom with dual-rear camera, 5,000mAh battery officially announced (Spec Sheet)

Update: Specification sheet added at the end of the post.

Earlier: Asus at Zennovation 2017 held at CES has officially took the wraps of the Asus ZenFone 3 Zoom. The ZenFone 3 Zoom is successor to the year old ZenFone Zoom, which came with a camera with optical zoom capability. Following the legacy, the newly announced ZenFone 3 Zoom also comes with a camera with optical zoom, but this time with towed down camera specs for larger battery.

According to Asus, the ZenFone 3 Zoom will be available in three elegant colors including Rose Gold, Glacier Silver and Navy Black. The smartphone will be available for purchase starting February 2017. Pricing, region availability and storage configurations will be shared at a later date.

Asus ZenFone 3 Zoom - Download

Talking of Asus ZenFone 3 Zoom, the device comes with metal unibody design. The key feature of ZenFone 3 Zoom is its dual 12MP rear cameras. One 12MP sensor is used for optical zoom purpose and the other is the main camera used for photography.

The primary 12MP camera comes with dual-tone LED flash, Sony IMX362 sensor with 1.4μm pixel size, Dual Pixel Phase Detection Autofocus (PDAF), f/1.7 aperture, Laser Autofocus, 3 axis EIS, 4 axis OIS and Asus exclusive SuperPixel technology. This camera sensor comes with a 25mm wide-angle lens. 

The secondary 12MP sensor, on the other hand comes with a 59mm wide-angle lens and 2.3X optical zoom (total zoom up to 12X). The front camera also comes with Sony IMX362 sensor with 1.4μm pixel size for better low light photography.

On the front we have 13MP wide-angle camera with Sony IMX214 sensor, f/2.0 aperture, screen flash and Asus exclusive SuperPixel technology.

[CES 2017] BlackBerry Mercury, powered by Android official; more details at MWC 2017

Earlier today we saw the first press renders of upcoming BlackBerry smartphone running Android 7.0 Nougat. TCL, the company managing hardware elements of BlackBerry handsets has now made the smartphone official, not exactly.

At an event held at CES 2017, TCL showcased a prototype of its upcoming Android powered smartphone with physical QWERTY keyboard, without actually revealing any details of the device, including its name. The device in question is still referred as Mercury, even by TCL.

According to TCL, the so-called Mercury runs on slightly forked version of Android Nougat with security and business focused software provided by Blackberry, similar to ones found on the DTEK50 and the DTEK60.

BlackBerry Mercury - Download

BlackBerry DTEK70 with physical QWERTY keyboard, Android 7.0 Nougat press renders leaked

Last year was a big year for BlackBerry, as the company finally jumped into the world of Android by announcing two Android smartphones, the DTEK50 and the DTEK60.

BlackBerry had announced that it will stop designing and building smartphones and would rely on hardware partners for releasing new devices under BlackBerry brand. In December, it was official that TCL Communication will be handling all of the hardware elements of upcoming BlackBerry smartphones and BlackBerry will remain focused on software.

The company also announced that it will unveil new BlackBerry smartphone at CES 2017. Steve Cistulli, President and General Manager for TCL Communication, North America has shared couple of teaser videos of the upcoming BlackBerry smartphone.

[CES 2017] Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 with Kryo 280 CPU, Quick Charge 4.0, Adreno 540 GPU official

Qualcomm has officially took the wraps off the next-generation flagship processor at on-going CES 2017, called the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835. Qualcomm provided first look of Snapdragon 835 last year in November, but today they have shared detailed information of the same.

The Snapdragon 835 is company's first processor to be built on 10nm FinFET process technology. Being processed at 10nm tech, the overall form factor of Snapdragon 835 is 30% smaller than the Snapdragon 820. Also, the new processor is 40% energy efficient. The smaller form factor will allow manufacturers to build devices with thin profile and large battery.

Qualcomm has moved from quad-core setup to octa-core with Snapdragon 835. The processor comes with Kryo 280 CPU. The octa-core setup is based on standard big.LITTLE architecture - 4 big cores and 4 little core arrangement. Kryo 280 CPU comes with 4 performance cores clocked at 2.45GHz and 4 efficiency cores clocked at 1.95GHz.

Talking of GPU and DSP, the Snapdragon 835 comes with Adreno 540 GPU and Hexagon 682 DSP, compared to Adreno 530 GPU and Hexagon 680 DSP found on the Snapdragon 820. In terms of performance, this chipset is 27% faster than its predecessor and provides 25% faster GPU rendering as well.

On the camera front, the chipset can support upto 32MP camera or dual 16MP cameras. Other new important upgrades and features include OpenGL ES 3.2, OpenCL 2.0, Vulkan, DirectX 12, Quick Charge 4.0 (20% faster than Quick Charge 3.0 and can give 5 hours of battery life with just 5mins of charging), DayDream support, Bluetooth 5.0 with native aptX and aptX HD audio support, Spectra 180 ISP, X16 Gigabit-Class LTE modem (Cat 13 LTE) and 802.11ad multi-gigabit Wi-Fi module.

[CES 2017] Honor 6X with dual rear cameras announced for $250, launching soon in India

Honor 6X - Download

Huawei's Honor brand has officially announced a new mid-range Android smartphone with dual rear cameras. Called Honor 6X, the smartphone was originally introduced back in October 2016 as China exclusive. Today at CES 2017, Honor announced that it will be expanding the availability of the Honor 6X.

Honor 6X is the successor to highly popular Honor 5X smartphone announced last year. The smartphone comes with mid-range specifications. Honor has carry forwarded the dual-rear camera trend and has embedded the same in the 6X. The device feels like a budget friendly variant of Honor 8, launched in India last year in October for Rs. 29,999.

The device comes in three colors - Gold, Silver and Gray. It will be available in two different storage / RAM options, including 3GB RAM + 32GB storage and 4GB RAM + 64GB storage. The 3GB RAM variant Honor 6X is priced at $250, whereas the 4GB variant costs $300.

Asus ZenFone AR - 2nd Google Tango phone leaked, to be unveiled at CES 2017

World's biggest electronic show, Consumer Electronic Show (CES) 2017 is around the corner and every company is gearing themselves up for their announcements. Like every year, we are expecting huge number of manufacturers to launch their new devices including smartphones from Asus, Honor, LG and more.

Talking of Asus in-specific, the company has already announced that it will be hosting its Zennovation event on January 4th at CES 2017. Asus released a video teaser for the occasion, which did hint that Asus is planning to introduce minimum of two smartphones at CES this year.

It looks like one out two is the Asus ZenFone AR, the 2nd Google Tango Phone. The device specifics are apparently leaked by a blog post published by Qualcomm, which was actually scheduled for January 4th release.

Soon after Qualcomm post went live, well known leakster @evleaks tweeted the press render of the upcoming Asus ZenFone AR.

Asus ZenFone AR - Download