Today’s the day – the Xiaomi Mi Note is out in Southeast Asia and to sweeten the deal, Xiaomi and 21st-century smartphone taxi service Uber have teamed up for swift delivery.
In the available regions, a Xiaomi icon will be displayed on the Uber app and tapping it will get the phone bought and sent round with a speedy Uber driver.
The level of access attackers would gain would allow access to files stored on SD cards as well as on the phone memory. Attackers could also turn your phone into a bug, remotely recording audio and video without your knowledge. Bluetooth access is also hackable via Stagefright. All versions of Android from 2.2 and up are considered vulnerable.
Rumoured specifications include a 1080p resolution display that is bigger than the Xperia C4 (5.5-inches) and feature a MediaTek MT6752 (64-bit octa-core LTE) chipset.
Huh.
The MediaTek 6752 is their competitor to the Snapdragon 615.
First, a side note: I went to three Best Buy stores. None of them had the competing house brand Insignia Rockchip 3288-based tablet on display. Surprisingly, one did have a new Insignia eight-inch tablet out with a 1280 x 800 display, for US$99. Bleh.
Second, still only one Best Buy has the Asus ZenPad S 8.0 out on display.
Now, onto the test …
The video below was done using a Lenovo Tab 2 A10. This gives an idea of what it’s like with The People of the Abyss and Foxit Mobile PDF.
It’s acceptable.
Unfortunately, that short video took almost a freakin half hour to get up to YouTube, so I wasn’t going to try more.
But I did do more testing, without even photos — because this specific Best Buy store’s WiFi really really really sucks.
Surface Japan worked with Foxit. Page renders were generally three seconds, with an unpredictable five seconds for some. I was really surprised by that speed for a PDF that gives so many tablets — even the iPad — problems.
I was finally able to successfully download the special “iOS edition” of The American Magazine. Page render time was unpredictable, with some requiring one-to-two seconds while others popped instantly. On the whole, however, I wasn’t impressed with this PDF’s handling because the iPad does it like greased lightning.
I downloaded the free version of Mantano Reader. And that was a disaster. Page render times were tooooo long. And when I made a change to display settings, the app became unresponsive and hung up the entire damn tablet. And that was withThe People of the Abyss, which is not a huge PDF or anything extraordinary.
I’d like to try Best Buy’s competing Rockchip 3288-based tablet too. But Best Buy is so screwed up these days, who knows when — or if — they’ll ever put it on display?
There have been rumors that Samsung will announce the new powerful S2 Tabs next week. They’d have to offer some breathtaking power with an AnTuTu score that crushes the Asus ZenPad S 8.0 “Plus/Pro” edition. Because I expect the Samsung to cost US$399, versus the US$299 of the Asus.
My tablet search is not over yet, but the end is in sight.
Guitar amp, and more recently headphones and portable speakers company Marshall has announced its first ever smartphone – the Marshall London.
The London has some pretty neat design ideas, such as the M button that’ll take you straight to music and the wheel-style volume dial that recalls the classic days of the cassette/CD Walkman.
For music quality Marshall has incorporated a Wolfson chipset. On the gimmick front, there’s also built-in DJ software, as well as a customisable EQ.
With its pure music focus, the other stats aren’t quite up to scratch but they’re fine for mid-range. It runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 chipset and sports a 4.7-inch IPS display.
Also onboard is 2GB of RAM and 16GB storage, thankfully expandable via microSD.
It’ll launch with Android Lollipop and sports an 8MP rear camera.
The Marshall London is available to preorder now for £399 ($620)
The new headphones from Ultrasone weigh just 146g, which makes them a good option for those looking for lightweight option.
The three-tone design incorporates a steel headband, precious metal cups and leather cushions.
They use S-Logic Plus technology for a natural sound by reducing sound pressure levels. They also pack in ULE technology, which – surely unnoticeably – shields electromagnetic fields not created by the headphones.
Driver size, dates and price are yet to be announced, but they’ll likely cost upward of $1000.
