Chinese mobile smartphone maker, ZTE appears to have entered a partnership with luxury brand Tonino Lamborghini if a set of recent photographs showcasing a mysterious handset is to be believed.
Later Edit: According to Tonino Lamborghini, the phone is called the Alpha One and was launched in Asia not so long ago. So we’ve updated the article to reflect this information:
Luxury accessory maker, Tonino Lamborghini partnered up with DASAN Networks – a global IT device and networking equipment company to produce the Alpha One smartphone.
It’s not the first time Tonino Lamborghini and smartphones have been thrown in the same sentence together. Back in 2015, Tonino Lamborghini – son of founder Ferruccio Lamborghini – showcased the luxury 88 Tauri Android smartphone during CES in Las Vegas.
The device boasted stitched leather finish and a gold-plated stainless steel surrounding the phone, as well as a 5-inch display with 1920 x 1080 resolution, a Snapdragon 801 chipset, 32GB of storage and a 20-megapixel camera on the back. It also came with a huge $6,000 price-tag attached to it.
But we’re here to talk about the new Alpha One – which is a pretty unique device itself. It’s built from the same “stronger than titanium” liquid metal used in supercars. It also includes high-quality Italian leather with gold stitching.
As for specs, the Alpha One carries a 5.5-inch display with QHD resolution (2560 x 1440) and Gorilla Glass 4 protection. On the inside, there’s an older Snapdragon 820 breathing life into the device, alongside 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage (expandable via microSD card slot to 128GB).
The luxury product also takes advantage of the services of a main 20-megapixel camera with f/1.8 with optical image stabilization and an 8-megapixel selfie camera. The Alpha One puts an emphasis on audio too, by including a dual Hi-Fi chipset for 32-bit Hi-Fi playback and Dolby Atmos and stereo speaker.
The phone relies on 3,250 mAh battery and runs a customized version of Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box.
The good news is that it’s a bit less expensive than the 88 Tauri. Early bird customers can pre-order the device for $2,500 from the official TL website. If you order now you’ll be able to get the Alpha One by the end of June (express delivery worldwide available).
Earlier this month, Huawei’s sub-brand Honor unveiled the Honor 9 in China, the successor of the popular Honor 8 of last year.
The Honor 9 arrives with pretty spectacular specs and a sleek 3G glass and metal bezel design that creates a subtle metal aurora, which earned it the name of “Light Catcher”.
Well today at press conference in Berlin, Honor launched the new product (and related accessories) on the global market. For starters, the Honor 9 will be available for purchase in early July in Europe including Germany, France, Spain, and Italy starting from €449.99. In the UK, the phone will cost £379.99 SIM-free.
No word on when we can expect the phone to land in the US, but third-party retailers like Amazon will probably offer it at some point.
In case you don’t remember, the Honor 9 comes with a 5.15-inch display with fullHD resolution (1920 x 1080) and octa-core Kirin 960 processor at 2.4GHz. In France and Italy (UK gets 4GB/64GB), the phone will arrive with a 6GB/128GB of storage configuration (with microSD card slot included for memory expansion up to 256GB).
Perhaps the main attraction on the Honor 9 is the dual camera setup which includes a 20-megapixel monochrome sensor and a 12-megapixel RGB sensor with f/2.2 aperture, phase detection autofocus, and two-tone LED flash. Honor promises users will be able to take great pictures even in low lighting environments. The phone includes a Portrait mode complete with bokeh effect.
While in China, the phone will offer the services of Huawei Pay, it doesn’t look like the European variant will have it onboard – at least not at launch.
Another selling point of the Honor 9 is audio. Taking advantage of the Huawei Histen 3D sound technology, the Honor 9 owners will be able to enjoy virtual surround through their earphones in three modes – near, front and wide. Honor also partnered up with Monster for the Honor Purity equalizer which enables the new product to reproduce high-def audio with unmatched clarity.
The device is powered by a 3,200 mAh battery (with Huawei’s own 9V/2A quick charging) which should be able to sustain up to 12 hours of local video playing. We should note the phone retains the 3.5mm headphone jack and ships with Android 7.0 Nougat with EMUI 5.1 on top.
The Honor 9 which also has 50-meter water resistance capability will be available in Glacier Grey, Classic Navy Blue, and Carbon Black. Customers will also be able to pick from a series of accessories including the Honor Sport Bluetooth Earphones, Honor Band 3 and Honor Monster Earphones.
Have more than one Amazon Echo around the house? Well, Amazon is gearing up to release a new feature that will allow you to use them as a connected intercom.
The feature will become available across Echo, Echo Dot, and Echo Show devices and you should expect to see it arrive within the next few days. In order to be able to use, you’ll be required to update your Alexa app.
The new option appears to be quite easy to use. You’ll need to name each room of your home which houses an Echo device and then enable the “drop-in” feature right from the Alexa app.
After which you will be able to instruct Alexa to do things like “Alexa, drop in the Kitchen Echo”. This command should immediately open up a line of communication between the nearest Alexa-enabled device and the Echo you wanted to reach.
Even better, the intercom feature is accessible even while you are away from home. Just access the Alexa app. Amazon suggests this feature comes in handy for parents or caretakers who want to check in on their kids or relatives, although more nefarious uses also come to mind.
Nevertheless, Amazon says the intercom ability was one of the most requested features for Alexa. So now the company is now giving customers what they been wanting for a while.
Back in February, T-Mobile had a promotion running which offered a free LG MiniBeam Projector with the purchase of the LG V20 or LG G5.
Well, a few months later a similar deal is once again available from the carrier. Buy an LG G6 or LG V20 and get an LG MiniBeam Projector and a B&O BEOPLAY H4 headset free of charge.
All you need to do once you acquired one of these two phones is visit this website. You’ll then need to submit the requested info including your name, date of birth, email address, telephone number and agree to the Terms and Conditions.
The LG G6
Once you’ve completed this steps, you’ll have to provide the date of your Qualifying Device purchase (date must be during the promo period, June 16 to July 5) and the IMEI. LG will also ask you to submit the phone’s purchase receipt and UPC label.
Customers should receive their gift within 6 weeks of validation. You can redeem your prize by July 15, 2017.
The LG V20
Interested customers can purchase the LG G6 from T-Mobile for $500 outright or for $20 down and $20/month for 24 months. If you’re interested in acquiring the LG V20, you can get it for $480 in full or for $0 down and $20/month for 24 months. Just remember the LG V30 is a few months from being released, so maybe you should wait for that.
If you want to take advantage of the deal, you best hurry up as the promotion will expire on July 5.
Last week was declared “OnePlus 5” week, as the company announced its latest flagship and even made the device available for purchase for a limited time. However, if you missed out on the initial push, the wait is over.
The OnePlus 5 is now available for purchase directly from the OnePlus website and is priced at either $479 or $539. For $479, you’ll be getting the Slate Gray OnePlus 5 with 6GB of RAM and 64GB of onboard storage. The pricier $539 model comes in Slate Black and is packaged with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of base storage.
OnePlus 5 Specs:
Display: 5.5-inch 1080p Optic AMOLED
Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 (Up to 2.45GHz)
RAM: 6GB/8GB LPDDR4X
Storage: 64GB/128GB UFS 2.1 2-Lane
Front Camera: 16MP
Rear Camera: 20MP + 16MP with f/2.6 and f/1.7 aperture
Battery: 3,300mAh Non-Removable w/Dash Charge
Software: Android 7.1.1 Nougat w/ OxygenOS
Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.0, NFC
Other: USB 2.0 Type-C charging port, Fingerprint Sensor, Alert Slider
The OnePlus 5 is likely to fly off of the virtual store shelves, so if you want to get one for yourself, hit the link below before they sell out. While you’re waiting for the device to ship, let us know why you decided to pick one up and if you think OnePlus did enough to dethrone the likes of Samsung from the top device in 2017.
Back in May, Andy Rubin’s new company, Essential, decided to shock the Android world by announcing a brand new phone named ‘Essential Phone‘. However, ever since that announcement, things have been fairly quiet with various details coming out here and there, but many of us still wondering when the device would launch.
While we don’t have a concrete answer regarding availability, we can assume that the day is nearing as the Essential Phone was found passing through the FCC. Much of the information revealed in the FCC filing confirms what we already knew, including the fact that the Essential Phone will be compatible with all four major US carriers.
A piece of new information, however, revealed that instead of the PH-1 model number shared on the Essential web page, the device will carry a model number of “A11”. This is nothing monumental, but worth mentioning for consistency sake.
It’s likely that a few of you forgot about the Essential Phone considering all the recent hoopla regarding the OnePlus 5. Regardless, now that you’ve been reminded, let us know what you think about the Essential Phone and if you’ll be looking to snag one for yourself once it hits the market.
With T-Mobile giving its subscribers some freebies once a week, Cricket Wireless is looking to one-up the competition. The carrier has announced its “Cricket Rewards” program, which gives subscribers points for doing simple things like “paying your bill, playing games, and checking into locations near you.”
By completing these tasks, you are rewarded points which can in-turn be used towards various items. One of the biggest benefits to accruing points is that these can actually end up saving you money on your monthly bill. Other rewards include the ability to enter a sweepstakes for a free Color Run registration, as well as getting 3 months of WWE Network for free.
The best part about Cricket Rewards is that the carrier is offering daily giveaways, with prizes such as a free Samsung Galaxy S8, or two tickets to a House of Blues concert.
And if you think that this is just some malarkey that Cricket Wireless is working up, you can earn 10,000 points off the bat, JUST for signing up. If you enroll in Cricket’s auto pay feature, you get an additional 1,000 points, and if you add another line of service, you’ll get another 10,000 points.
There are an array of different ways for you to accrue points towards some good benefits, so if you’re already a subscriber to Cricket Wireless, be sure to sign up for Cricket Rewards and start saving. This Cricket Rewards week begins today and lasts until June 30th, so act quickly. If you’ve already started, let us know how many points you’ve accrued so far and what you’re looking forward to use your points for.
It’s officially summer which means that the days are longer now than any other time in the year. Moreover, they’re warmer, too. In some places the days are much, much warmer (Sorry, Arizona!). If you’re at all like us, these long, warm days equate to more time outside and using our phones. Yes, we’re all over the revisions that have come to Pokemon Go.
If you’ve owned a phone for more than a few weeks, you know that it’s pretty tough to use your device for extended periods without reaching for a charger. Quick charge is nice and all, but we’re hoping to stay away from the wall altogether. A lot of us like to reach for portable chargers so that we can plug into something while out and about. In some instances, there’s another option: a mophie juice pack.
The mophie brand, which has been around for quite some time, continues to get bigger and better with each passing season. The last few weeks saw it releasing products for a number of key Android smartphones: Samsung Galaxy S8, Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus, and Google Pixel XL. If you own either of these phones, you’ll certainly want to pick up a mophie accessory.
We’ve spent the last month or so playing around with a number of the new products and find them to be equal parts convenient and practical. Each serves its own need but all revolve around giving your phone more power without having to find an outlet.
The juice pack (about $100 each) is both a protective case and a portable charger. By putting your phone inside you’ll have protection against minor drops, scuffs, and scrapes. Moreover, your phone benefits by having a secondary power supply. Should you get to the end of a work day and find you’re running a little lower on power, simply long-press the button on the back and the case will charge your phone’s battery.
There are a number of reasons we like having a juice pack on our device that don’t have anything to do with the power. Take the one for the Pixel XL, for example. Putting one of these on your Google device will add in wireless charging, something that doesn’t come with the Pixel XL. That’s damn convenient if you ask us.
We also like that the case passes charging through the case and into the phone. So, rather than top off the juice pack, plugging into a wall puts the power into your phone first, and then into the secondary unit. The four lights on the back signal how much battery is left in the reserve tank.
The Samsung Galaxy S8 and Google Pixel XL juice pack offer 2,950mAh of power; the Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus juice pack boasts 3,300mAh.
Charge force case & powerstation mini
The charge force case & powerstation mini is a great combo pack for customers who may have other phones in the household. While the first component is a case to protect the phone, the second piece is a portable power supply. Sold separately through mophie, the powerstation mini is an external battery. It’s small and powerful and works with any other mophie cases with charge force capabilities.
Simply stick it to the back of your phone and the magnets hold it into place. Spend a few minutes at dinner charging your device, or snap them together in your purse on the way home from work and you’ll be all set. The best part is that there are no cables to mess with.
Mophie does include one short microUSB cord in the box so that you can charge the battery up. Should you want to charge your phon, you can pass through the charge force powerstation mini, giving preferential treatment to the phone. Like other charging solutions from mophie, there are four lights to get a sense for how much juice is in the tank.
Conclusion
We’re big fans of mophie in general and always appreciate when it releases products designed specifically for our phones. Sure, a portable power bank is nice, but when you can get a protective case with battery capabilities, it’s a different experience.
We love that we don’t have to carry around a blocky power supply in the juice packs. Yes, it does take a little bit of time to get used to the thickness, but you’ll love it. The juice packs can be a little bit more slippery and smooth; they tend to pick up oils from touches rather easy. But, they do clean up nicely and can even take a little abuse in the process.
The charge force case & powerstation mini is what you’ll want to reach for if you like a little more textured (leather) case and don’t need the extra battery on a daily basis. Charge up the powerstation mini and keep it in a handy place like the car or purse and you’ll have an extra 3000mAh worth of battery on deck. Heck, even if you want to carry it around on a daily basis, it beats using something with a cable.
Finally, one of the biggest reasons to look to mophie for mobile accessories is that its products are backed by a two year warranty. That’s double what most others are willing to do provide.
The world of earbuds, and more specifically, Bluetooth earbuds, covers a spectrum of features that manufacturers try to focus in on. Fit, security, sound quality, and price are each highlighted, depending on the model in question. The big problem is normally only one of these features are or can be highlighted. Emphasizing or focusing on one feature usually forces the others to take a back seat in the real world (great sound quality buds tend to be bulky, cheap buds tend to lack great sound quality, etc).
One company currently on Kickstarter is going big in striving to excel in all these features at the same time. That company is Veosport, and their premier earbuds, the Veosport V1’s, are aiming for this very goal. Not only do the V1’s aim to be comfortable earbuds, but want to offer great (and customizable!) sound quality, and all at a very compelling price.
Unboxing
The overall packaging and unboxing is a very clean affair. The modern white square box opens to reveal a black circular bud case, surrounded by black foam. Below the foam is a short braided micro-USB charging cord (no wall charger is included) and user’s guide.
Opening the case reveals the pair of V1’s (white in my case, though black is also an option) and several packets of ear tips. The tips come in 3 styles and each style has 2-3 sizes, so finding the perfect fit becomes very easy. The case is a welcome bonus here, as a lot of buds come with pretty flimsy sack-like enclosures that offer little-to-no physical protection while in your gym bag, backpack, or elsewhere.
Build Quality & Comfort
Bendy!
The Veosport V1’s come in a very soft silicone-type of material, that appears both sturdy but still very pliable. The ear hooks continue this feeling, both being very flexible but pretty useful once looped around my ear. These buds also come with both a cord shortener (to clean up slack) and clothes clip (to keep the cord from flapping around).
The ear tips come in several styles- my favorite were the foam tips; these felt extremely secure in my ear, but also noticeably pumped up the bass levels during playback (more on this a little later).
Button Layout & Use
The V1’s come with only 3 buttons, the usual + and – buttons, and the commonly-found multi-function button. The + and – buttons are small but sufficiently raised to allow easy finding and control while active.
The multi-function button is probably my favorite feature of these earbuds. First off, it’s big; it’s a large black button molded into the side of one bud… Big style points here. But also, the satisfying way the button responds to your finger press was both noticeable and appreciated (I know I’m going gadget-geek on you here, but I think it’s a highlight when something as seemingly simple as a button click gets as much type-space as this, let alone any at all to begin with). This button is the on/off button, and also the play/pause. I’ll say it one more time, the combination of size and ‘clicky-ness’ of the V1 multi-function button makes these buds immediately climb to the top of the list in terms of ease of use.
In terms of battery life, Veosport claims up to 8 hours of use per charge. In my own unscientific testing (40 minute workouts, 2-3 times per week) I am still on my initial charge 2 weeks in. This is a whole lot better than either of my last two pairs of value-price earbuds!
Sound Quality & Price
Here’s where the Veosport V1 earbuds really want to separate themselves from the pack. But, it’s not in their sound quality out of the gate….
Let me explain- out of the box, the V1’s do seem to experience a similar fate as most other earbuds (particularly Bluetooth models): sound quality that skews either to the high tones or the bass side of the spectrum. Again, the V1’s are no different: in my opinion, while the mids and lows are really very good, the overall sound has a “closed box” effect, where the highs seem to be almost filtered out, leaving a wet-paper quality to the overall tone range. Just not bright and airy enough.
The V1’s don’t skimp on the low-frequency range, though. Particularly when I put on the foam-style ear tips, the amount of bass was very, very good. Not just loud and muddy, mind you, but good punch with very good separation at the low notes. But still, without the airy highs you need from the vocals and the instruments, it can be underwhelming at times.
Veosport aims to rectify this issue with a pairing app (unavailable at the time of writing; the iOS version is due out soon and the Android one about a month later) that allows you to change the EQ settings of the earbuds themselves, so you can tune your tunes until you acquire the sound profile you like! This is simply a fantastic idea, and Veosport should be lauded for bringing it into the market. At least trying to; they just launched their Kickstarter campaign. I really can’t wait for the app to launch to be able to mess around with my physical earbuds’ EQ.
The V1’s also have built-in noise-canceling technology, that seems to work very well. In my personal test cases, they block out ambient noise much better than my current pair of Bluetooth earbuds (that don’t have any active noise-canceling features).
Which brings us to pricing. While most higher-end Bluetooth earbuds are priced north of $100, the Veosport earbuds come in at $79. As a bonus, if you commit early via their Kickstarter, you can reserve a pair of these earbuds for as low as $49. Whether retail or via Kickstarter, I can tell you these should be a very good value in the active Bluetooth earbud market.
Conclusion
I’m really enjoying the Veosport V1 earbuds. First off, even without the pending EQ app, they are by far the most comfortable ‘active’ earbuds I’ve worn. Also given the amount of bass they naturally produce, I’m very much looking forward to tweaking the sound profile to get a more balanced output; with that I’m more than confident the sound quality will literally sing from these.
If you’d like to invest in a pair of V1 earbuds, be sure to check out both the Veosport V1 homepage here and the Kickstarter page here.
It’s been a few months since Nokia officially made its return to the smartphone game with the Nokia 6. With that device launching in China back in January, those of us here in the States have been clamoring to get our hands on the Nokia 6, and the wait is almost over.
Nokia has confirmed that the Nokia 6 will launch in the US in “early July” and will be available in either Matte Black or Silver. In the announcement, Nokia detailed the process that the company uses to manufacture the device, including the fact that it takes “55 minutes to machine the seamless Nokia 6 unibody”.
Nokia 6 Specs
5.5-inch FHD Display
Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 SoC
3GB RAM
32GB Expandable Storage
8MP Front Camera
16MP Rear Camera
3,000mAh Battery
Android Nougat
As for pricing, Nokia did think it was time to take the wraps off of what has been highly speculated for some time. When the Nokia 6 launches on Amazon next month, it will be available for just $229 which puts it right up against the likes of the Moto G5 Plus, which is also priced at $229.
What’s unknown at this time is whether there will be a cheaper version of the Nokia 6 which will give users lock-screen ads from Amazon. Let us know what you think about the Nokia 6 and if you’ll be looking to pick one up for yourself once it’s made available.
The OnePlus 5 is now available for purchase directly from 
Veosport aims to rectify this issue with a pairing app (unavailable at the time of writing; the iOS version is due out soon and the Android one about a month later) that allows you to change the EQ settings of the earbuds themselves, so you can tune your tunes until you acquire the sound profile you like! This is simply a fantastic idea, and Veosport should be lauded for bringing it into the market. At least trying to; 