First impressions: Xiaomi Mi 4

 Xiaomi, the company known for its value-for-money smartphones like Mi 3, Redmi 1S and Redmi Note, has finally unveiled its 2014 flagship phone, Mi 4 in the Indian market. Although, the launch comes more than six months after the phone's China debut, the Mi 4 boasts of high-end hardware and modern software when compared to other options available at the same price.

We spent some time with the Mi 4 at the launch event and here are our first impressions of the device...

Unlike the Xiaomi Mi 3, which looks more tall and rectangular, the Mi 4 has rounded corners that create a softer aura. You can't help but notice the design's similarity with the iPhone 5/5S, mainly due to its solid stainless steel frame and chamfered edges. The latter give the phone a very premium look, which is missing in devices such as the Huawei Honor 6 or Lenovo Vibe X2, that are priced similarly. The frame also makes the Mi 4 a solidly built device.

The front of the phone (in White colour) houses a 5-inch full-HD (1920x1080p) JDI/Sharp display that comes with Corning OGS (One Glass Solution) for protection against scratches. The display has high colour saturation so colours look more vivid and good to look at. However, colour rendering is not accurate which means that colours don't look natural.The display offers wide viewing angles and is one of the brightest ones we've seen. The under-sun legibility was also good though the panel is slightly reflective. Touch response was excellent and made the phone more responsive.

The capacitive touch navigation keys are placed right below the display, backlit in white. The sensor array and the 8MP front camera sensor are placed above the display alongside the earpiece.

The volume rocker and power keys are made of metal and are located at the right edge while the sim card tray that houses a micro-sim is at the left edge. The buttons are responsive and offer decent tactile feedback.

The bottom edge houses the micro-USB port and a speaker grill while the 3.5mm headset jack and Infrared port sit at the top. There are two antenna bands on the top and bottom edges as well.

The back of the phone sports a slightly rounded plastic back cover with grating pattern design, which is essentially a diamond-style texture. The 13MP rear camera and LED flash are also placed at the back. The back looks slightly glossy and smudges easily though the smudges are not very visible unless you hold the phone under light.



Xiaomi Mi 4 is powered by a 2.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 quad-core processor, Adreno 330 GPU and 3GB RAM. Xiaomi has launched the 16GB internal storage variant of the phone and users get a little more than 12GB after setting it up. There's no external media slot, which is a downer.

In our brief use, we did not experience any lag or stutter while navigating the home screens, opening and switching between apps, browsing and taking pictures. The single-sim phone also features FM radio but unlike Mi 3, it doesn't offer NFC connectivity.

Also, worth pointing out is that the Mi 4 is not 4G-enabled. Xiaomi executives said the engineers had difficulty incorporating dual-mode 4G (TD LTE+FDD LTE) antenna in the phone as Indian cities will have 4G networks running on both bands. Also, during the initial developmental stages of the phone, the spectrum situation in India was unclear, the company elaborated.

Xiaomi Mi 4 runs MIUI 6, a new version of the company's operating system, based on Android 4.4 KitKat. The new OS boasts of a flatter design, smoother transition effects, better multitasking and notifications interfaces and gestures, among other features. We'll have a detailed look at MIUI 6 in our full review.



As mentioned above, the Mi 4 sports an 8MP front camera and a 13MP Sony stacked CMOS camera. We did not experience any shutter lag and pictures shot in good lighting conditions looked good. We'll need to spend more time with the phone's camera before giving a verdict.

The phone comes with a 3080mAh battery and according to Xiaomi, the battery would last one and a half day with normal usage and will offer quick charging, reaching 60% charge in an hour's time.



At Rs 19,999, the Xiaomi Mi 4 appears to be a great value-for-money device packing in high-end hardware in a well designed form factor. However, it will face fierce competition from the likes of OnePlus One, Lenovo Vibe X2 and Huawei Honor 6, which are priced similarly. The lack of 4G and limited storage space appear to be the major areas of concern but we'll take the Mi 4 through its paces before giving our final verdict.

Gionee Elife S5.1 :Review

Design
If you want a great looking smartphone under Rs 20,000, look no further. Gionee Elife S5.1 is easily the most beautiful affordable smartphone you can find in the market today, even beating the layered Lenovo Vibe X2, which has a unique look of its own. The smartphone uses premium materials like glass and metal, with no hint of cheap plastic. The edges are more curved than chamefered, so there is very little chance of chipping.



On an individual level, it is easy to mistake the Gionee Elife S5.1 for iPhone 6, as it shares much of its looks with the latest Apple smartphone. The gold coloured version of the Gionee model is strikingly similar to the new iPhone as the edges emulate the new Apple design to a surprising degree, down to the white coloured plastic inserts. On the other hand, the rear panel of the Gionee smartphone, covered by glass, resembles the design language introduced by Sony two years ago with Xperia Z. The glass on the front and the back are protected by Gorilla Glass 3.

But it's not just the design that wins it accolades, as Gionee Elife S5.1's overall profile is worth talking about. At less than 100grams, it is the lightest smartphone in the market; it is lighter than any iPhone, Samsung Galaxy or any other model you can find today. Holding it in the hand is a delight! It's practically weightless compared to other smartphones in the market today. And, of course, it's just 5.1mm thick.



Overall, Gionee Elife S5.1 is certainly a looker, and this was validated by the number of enquiries we received about it not only in the office but also in public places. The number of people asking us about the smartphone beats the enquiries we usually receive for any other smartphone by miles.

Display



Gionee Elife S5.1 has a 5-inch HD (720x1280p) display, with slightly over 300 pixels per inch. Now, this is not pixel density or even what Lenovo Vibe X2 and Huawei Honor 6 offer, but the colour saturation is able to mask over any potential pixilation and we were able to enjoy movies on the phone without a hitch.

The display uses an AMOLED panel, meaning saturated colours but without any hint of oversaturation; however, you cannot change the colour temperature. The viewing angles and brightness levels are as good as you will get on any smartphone at this price range. The text and videos appear sharp,

Frankly, there is nothing to not like about Gionee Elife S5.1's screen, as it easily matches what the best phones under Rs 20,000 offer.

Hardware
Gionee Elife S5.1 is powered by a 1.7GHz octa-core MediaTek MT6592 processor and comes with 16GB storage; in order to keep the phone thin and light, Gionee has scrapped the microSD card slot, so you don't have the option of storage expansion. The phone has 1GB RAM and 2,050mAh, 8MP rear camera and 5MP selfie shooter, along with the usual connectivity options (2G, 3G, Wi-Fi, GPS, microUSB 2.0 and Bluetooth 4.0).

Software
The software of Gionee Elife S5.1 still needs some work before it can be called perfect. The Android 4.4 (KitKat)-based Amigo 2.0 skin is way, way different from Google's stock software. You don't have an app drawer and all apps by default are downloaded on the homescreens, something we have seen in a few other smartphones as well. There are three pre-loaded themes and a large number of pre-installed apps; you can uninstall the apps and download more themes.

The main problem we encountered with Gionee Elife S5.1's software is with the task switcher, which appears when you long press the Options button below the screen. If you are operating an app and want to switch to another by long-pressing Options key, the phone won't let you. Instead, you press the Home key first (which takes you to the homescreen) and then long-press the Options key. It is a cumbersome process that needs to be fixed as soon as possible, as it hampers the user experience.

The notification panel has a whole screen dedicated to toggles (accessed by a swipe to the left once the notifications appear). All your usual toggles appear there, barring the flashlight. You can download a flashlight app of course, but you can't place it among the toggles. Then the one-touch button that lets you control the screen timeout is faulty. It gives three options: 15 seconds, 30 second and 1 minute, but it reverts to 15 seconds automatically even if you select either of the two other timeout options.

We also don't really like the fact that Gionee's Amigo 2.0 software changes the app icon, which takes away any app's default look and replaces it with the look designed for the theme use you are using on the phone.

Gionee Elife S5.1's software, despite all its faults, is still usable, even though it gets a little bit of getting used to.
Performance
When you are competing with the likes of Huawei Honor 6 and Lenovo Vibe X2, you better come all guns blazing. Well, Gionee Elfie S5.1 doesn't come strapped to the boot with the top hardware, but it does well enough to hold its own amid tough competition.

The Amigo 2.0 OS, despite needing polish, is pretty light and supports the octa-core processor and 1GB RAM so well that the smartphone does not lag at all, though closing apps that you don't much would help the performance. Sure, it's not the snappiest performers in this range, but it is easily among the faster ones. Spending over a week, we did not notice even a hint of lag even though 1GB RAM had us worried for a while (hey, Huawei Honor 6 has 3GB RAM at the same price).

The 2,050mAh battery was also a cause of concern for us when we started the review, but that also turned out be unfounded. Even with the screen at full brightness and 3G/Wi-Fi turned on, the software ensures that the battery is conserved as much as possible, and you can eke out a full day of battery life with moderate usage. It will last you 8-10 hours even if you stream videos a lot or use it actively for several hours.

Gionee Elife S5.1's multimedia performance is a mixed bag. You get a very good screen that offers great colours and no pixilation, but the loudspeaker audio dampens the experience a little. The audio is okay at best, never truly capturing the accurate tone; we also noticed some distortion at high volumes, which is pretty common in sub-Rs 20,000 smartphones.

The calling experience is good, with no dropped calls. It also latches on to the network signal so you can get at least 2G internet if accessing 3G is a problem in certain areas.

Though the smartphone comes with 16GB internal storage, nearly 6GB is reserved for system files, leaving you with approximately 10GB to store all your data as there is no provision for storage expansion.

Camera



The camera performance of Gionee Elife S5.1 is good. The colours and contrast levels are optimum, so you get nice looking photos, but you lose out on the finer details in many photos taken with this phone. This is due to the glazed look that appears when the phone tries to reduce noise, thus taking a toll on the overall image quality.

However, photos taken in areas with sufficient sunlight appear very, very good. Images shot in overcast wintery conditions also appear okay, such as the one below:



The default camera app is sufficiently well-stocked, but misses out on filters; for filters, you need to open the pre-loaded Charm Cam app.

First impressions: Lenovo A6000, the cheapest 4G phone

Lenovo A6000 doesn’t look very different from other Android smartphones available at this price.

NEW DELHI: Lenovo has finally announced the India pricing and availability details for its much awaited low-cost 4G smartphone, A6000.

At Rs 6,999, it is the cheapest 4G phone available in the Indian market and packs in a lot of features, giving competition to the likes of the Xiaomi Redmi 1S and Asus ZenFone 4. We spent some time with the phone at Lenovo's launch event in New Delhi and here are our initial thoughts...

Lenovo A6000 doesn't look very different from other Android smartphones available at this price. It essentially sports the same rectangular form factor combined with rounded corners and a plastic shell, which we've seen in phones such as the Redmi 1S.



If you want your phone to stand out from the rest of the crowd, you can swap the phone's black back panel and choose a red or white one. The back panels will be available separately. Other than that, the phone has a very utilitarian design.

The phone is pleasantly lightweight which makes it easy to lug around.

The front of the phone features a 5-inch IPS HD (720x1920p) display which offers good viewing angles and vibrant colours. We found the touch response to be slightly erratic but we're not sure if it was limited to the demo unit.

The three capacitive touch navigation buttons are placed right below the display and were pretty responsive. A 2MP front-facing camera is placed right above the display next to the earpiece.

The right edge of the phone houses the volume rocker and power keys. Both of the keys offer good tactile feedback and were responsive. The left and bottom edges are barren while the top sports the 3.5mm headset jack as well as the micro-USB port.

The back cover wraps around the front panel and hides the 2300mAh battery (removable), two micro sim card slots and a microSD card slot. The back panel sports a matte finish and offers a good grip. The 8MP camera lens and LED flash are placed towards the upper portion of the back.



Lenovo A6000 is powered by a 64-bit 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 processor and 1GB RAM, the phone comes with 8GB of storage space. The dual sim phone supports 4G LTE connectivity with support for both FDD 1800MHz (Band 3) and TDD 2300MHz (Band 40) in addition to other popular connectivity options including Bluetooth 4.0 and 3G. While we were not able to test 4G capabilities of the device due to the absence of a 4G network in the city, we were satisfied with the responsiveness of the phone's user interface. We did not experience any lag or stutter while launching and switching between apps.

It's worth pointing out that the phone's second sim card slot does not support 3G or 4G connectivity.



The phone runs Android 4.4 KitKat with Lenovo's Vibe UI 2.0 custom interface that supports themes and comes with Lenovo's utility apps.

The phone's default UI is devoid of an app drawer and app icons and widgets are spread across the home screens. The unified home screen-app launcher style may come across as user-friendly to people who have not used an Android phone before.

Lenovo A6000 sports an 8MP rear camera (with auto focus and LED flash) and a 2MP front facing camera. We'll have a detailed look at the phone's cameras in our full review.


With the launch of the A6000, Lenovo has reduced the entry price barrier for 4G devices, and on first look, it seems you won't need to compromise with features and performance when you choose this phone. However, we'll need to spend a few days with the phone before giving a final verdict.

Samsung launches Z1, its first Tizen phone at Rs 5,700

The phone will be available starting 14 January in white, black and wine red colours.

 Samsung has launched Z1, its first Tizen OS-powered smartphone at Rs 5,700. The phone will be available starting 14 January in white, black and wine red colours.

Samsung Z1 sports a 4-inch WVGA (480x800p) PLS display.

It is powered by a 1.2GHz A7 dual-core processor and 768MB RAM and comes with 4GB internal storage expandable up to 64GB via microSD card. It runs Tizen 2.3 OS.

The phone sports a 3.1MP rear camera with LED flash and a VGA front camera, and comes with a 1,500mAh battery with a claimed talk time of 8 hours. It supports 3G, Bluetooth 4.1, Wi-Fi and GPS connectivity options.

Oppo launches R5, its slimmest smartphone

The smartphone that measures 4.85mm in thickness, will be available for pre-booking starting January 1, 2015 onwards.

 China headquartered smart devices maker Oppo has launched R5, one of the slimmest smartphones at the moment, at Rs 29,990.

The smartphone that measures 4.85mm in thickness, will be available for pre-booking starting January 1, 2015 onwards. The phone was launched in late-October at $499.

Powered by a 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 octa core 64bit processor, Adreno 405 GPU and 2GB RAM, the phone sports a 5.2-inch full-HD AMOLED display. It comes with 16GB internal storage but doesn't feature a microSD card slot.

The phone sports a 13MP rear camera with Sony Exmor IMX214 BSI sensor and a 5MP front facing camera with 83degree wide angle lens. It runs Color OS 2.0, based on Android 4.4 and has a 2000mAh battery. The phone feature Oppo's VOOC charging technology to get a 75% charge in 30 minutes.

In terms of connectivity options, the phone features 4G LTE (including Indian 4G bands), 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 and GPS.

Op R5 also doesn't feature a 3.5mm audio jack but the company ships a USB-to-3.5mm audio adaptor with the phone.

Oppo claims that the phone's micro-arc frame is made from higher-strength stainless steel instead of the commonly used aluminium alloy to create a more rugged and durable frame.

The R5 was the world's slimmest smartphone prior to Vivo's unveiling of the X5Max, a smartphone that measures just 4.75mm in thickness.

Commenting on the launch, Tom Lu, CEO, Oppo India said, "This phone has been developed with the end user in mind. We used cutting edge manufacturing techniques to create a phone that fits perfectly into the users' hands, and that feels incredible. The frame has been forged nine times and then finished by hand to give a perfect sheen and feel. It has a quality that is not available anywhere else in the industry. The R5, like the rest of the R series delivers a truly stylish, exquisite and distinctive design and will continue to delight our customers with its innovative yet practical functions."