Tag Archives: mediatek

Oppo R819 review: a slim, long-lasting smartphone that faces tough odds

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Oppo R819 review: a slim, long-lasting smartphone that faces tough odds

It's easy to think that Chinese smartphone makers are thriving solely on sales of ultra-cheap devices, but that's only partly true. In many cases, they're striking careful balances between features and pricing -- handsets like the Vivo X3 tout sleek designs and big screens, but their modest processing power keeps costs in check. Oppo wants to bring that high-value philosophy to the rest of the world through the international version of the R819. For $349, it's an exceptionally thin phone with perks you don't always get at this price, including dual SIM slots and better support for custom firmware. However, it faces stiff competition from new rivals like the Moto G and Nexus 5. Is the R819 still worth buying when it's not the fastest or cheapest in the pack? That's what we're here to find out.%Gallery-slideshow121950%

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MediaTek launches world’s first true octa-core mobile chip, first devices due end of year

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Qualcomm's nightmare has finally come true. Earlier today, MediaTek officially introduced the world's first true octa-core mobile processor, MT6592, and the first devices to feature it are expected to arrive as soon as end of year. This 28nm chip packs eight low-power Cortex-A7 cores, and courtesy of the Heterogeneous Multi-Processing use model on top of ARM's big.LITTLE architecture, all eight cores can operate simultaneously -- at up to between 1.7GHz and 2GHz, depending on the bin.

MediaTek pointed that Chrome can already make use of all eight cores, and likewise with some map apps, video players plus multi-window function. According to the company's figures, the MT6592 manages to beat what appears to be the quad-core Snapdragon 800 in benchmarks, power consumption (as low as 40 percent) and temperature. You can see the full detail in this article's gallery. %Gallery-slideshow122456%

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LG G Pro Lite is a middle-range phablet with a stylus pen

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Just as we were about to think that all product launches are done for the week, LG surprised us by announcing the LG Optimus G Pro Lite earlier today. Although the phone isn't really a flagship...

Alcatel ONE TOUCH Fierce and TOUCH Evolve launches via T-Mobile

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French mobile phone manufacturer, Alcatel, has announced two new phones in the U.S. through T-Mobile. The new phones, said to be budget-friendly, will be coming to the U.S. next month. Enter the...

Kogan debuts second Agora smartphone: 5-inch 720p display, 1.2GHz quad-core CPU, Jelly Bean, $189

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DNP Kogan outs next Agora smartphone 5inch 720p display, 12GHz quadcore CPU, Jelly Bean, $189

Kogan's Agora brand may not drive techies wild like Galaxies or iThings do, but its motto is clear: try to deliver reasonable hardware at the lowest possible price. The company's first bid for a piece of the smartphone pie launched earlier this year, and today we're learning of its sequel. Design-wise, this second Agora handset is a little curvier than the last, with a soft key replacing its predecessor's physical home button. A 5-inch, 720p IPS LCD display occupies the face, and inside we're looking at a 1.2GHz quad-core MT6589 Mediatek SoC (Cortex-A7), 1GB of RAM and 4 gigs of internal storage, expandable with up to 32GB cards of the microSD variety. It runs Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean, hosts two SIM slots, an 8-megapixel main camera, 2-megapixel front-facer, 2,000mAh removable battery and 3G (850 / 1900 / 2100), WiFi (802.11b/g/n) and Bluetooth 4.0 antennae.

Most importantly, it costs $189, £149 or 199 Aussie dollars -- it's up for order now at the relevant source links and is expected to ship to the US, Australia, the UK and other European countries, as well as a couple of Asian markets starting October 3rd. We're hoping to get a review unit through soon, so keep an eye out over the coming weeks for our impressions. In our opinion, anything that rings up at under $200 is worth a fair trial.

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Source: Kogan (UK), (Aus), (US & elsewhere)

Facebook, Qualcomm and Ericsson Issued White Paper on Internet.org Efficiency

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Over 5 billion individuals across the globe still do not have an Internet connection. Internet.org funding parties, spearheaded by Facebook, are looking for ways to employ the latest technology in an...

Maxthon browser to be preloaded in at least 100 million smartphones thanks to MediaTek partnership

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DNP Maxthon browser to be preloaded in at least 100 million smartphones thanks to MediaTek partnership

Though Maxthon launched its Android browser three years ago, it might not be the go-to app most users have when they get their brand new smartphone. That might change soon however, thanks to a recently announced partnership between the software company and RollTech, the value-added services arm of MediaTek, one of the world's largest mobile chipset suppliers. As a result of the collaboration, the Maxthon mobile browser will be pre-installed in more than 100 million MediaTek-based smartphones in 2014. Though we don't know yet just which devices will have the software on board, a partially released list does include manufacturers like LG, ZTE and Lenovo. It appears that the phones will likely be targeted at emerging markets, with a focus on those in Brazil, Russia, China, India and Indonesia. Combine that with features like cloud syncing and LAN file transfer, and Maxthon might just gain marketshare over that other popular Android browser.

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Qualcomm trolls MediaTek’s octa-core tech with not-so-subtle video

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Qualcomm trolls MediaTek's octacore tech with notsosubtle video

When MediaTek announced that it would be producing true eight-core mobile processors later this year, we knew it was only a matter of time before its main rival Qualcomm chimed in. As illustrated by a set of guitar amplifiers, the San Diego gang explains that while they rebuild their CPU cores for each generation (the latest architectures being Krait 300 and Krait 400), they claim that "Our Competitor" -- which is labeled with the same font and colors as MediaTek's logo -- simply "chooses to duplicate the same old cores" based on ARM's slower Cortex-A7 architecture. That said, it's worth a reminder that Qualcomm's cheaper Snapdragon 400 range also uses Cortex-A7.

Later on in the video, Qualcomm uses a Guitar Hero-like visualization to compare the performance difference, as well as show how octa-core is overrated for most apps. Apparently only 17 out of the top 20 Android apps in China use two cores at most, hence the bare fretboard for the octa-core side. The Snapdragon side, meanwhile, combs through a denser bunch of apps at a higher speed. Of course, there's bound to be some bias here, so only time will tell how close to reality this argument is. Until then, enjoy the cheeky clip after the break.

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BLU Products launches trio of Dash smartphones starting at $49

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BLU Products launches trio of new Dash smartphones starting at $49

Too thrifty to buy a $199 Nexus 4, or even a $99 Lumia 520? BLU Products has you covered with three new smartphones in its Dash range. The line starts with the Dash Jr., a 3.5-inch dual-SIM phone that costs just $49 unlocked -- cheap enough that we (almost) don't mind its single-core Spreadtrum processor, 2G-only data, 2-megapixel camera and Android 2.3. If you can afford to splurge, the Dash Music 4.0 ($99) and Dash 5.0 ($129) jump to their namesake larger screens, 3G data, dual-core MediaTek chips, higher-resolution cameras and Android 4.2. BLU expects all three Dash handsets to ship before the end of September, so penny pinchers won't have long to wait. Check out press shots of the Dash Music 4.0 and Dash 5.0 after the break.

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Source: BLU Products

Vivo X3 smartphone stuffs air gestures and high-end audio into a 5.75mm-thick shell (video)

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Vivo X3 smartphone stuffs air gestures and highend audio into a 575mmthick shell

Did you think Huawei's Ascend P6 was a slim smartphone? It has nothing on BBK's just-unveiled Vivo X3. Despite a 5-inch (if 720p) screen, an 8-megapixel rear camera, a front 5-megapixel shooter and a 1.5GHz quad-core MediaTek processor, the X3 measures a wafer-like 5.75mm thick in its blue variant. There's plenty of party tricks under the hood, too -- the Android 4.2 device has both an infrared sensor for touch-free gestures and a dedicated audio chip from ESS. It also preserves much of the better hardware from its slower and thicker X1S cousin, including the 16GB of non-expandable storage and the 2,000mAh battery. The Vivo X3 ships to China on September 1st for the same ¥2,498 ($408) as the X1S. If the device proves tempting, you can check out the Engadget Chinese hands-on; their English-language video is available after the break.

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Via: Engadget Chinese (translated)

Source: Vivo