Meizu MX3 to Go Official in France on March 6

Chinese mobile phone maker Meizu is expected to make its MX3 smartphone official in France on March 6, and it has already started to send out invitations to a press event that will take place in Paris on that day.

The company does not unveil specifics on what will be announced at the event, but rumors on the possible arrival of the smartphone in the country as soon as this week have emerged a few times before, and the event is almost certain to be focused on this unveiling. Following the official launch in France, the Meizu MX3 is expected to become available in some other markets across Europe as well, though specific details on this have yet to be offered. The mobile phone was made official several months ago, and it can already be bought in a great deal of countries out there, in addition to China, via Lightinthebox. The handset was added to the online portal with a price tag of $429.99 (€312) for the 16GB model, while being priced at $458.99 (€332) for those who will go for the 32GB variant. Meizu has announced the device with a 5.1-inch touchscreen display that can deliver a full HD (1080 x 1800 pixels) resolution, as well as with an octa-core Exynos 5410 chipset packed inside (a quad-core 1.6 GHz Cortex-A15 CPU and a quad-core 1.2 GHz Cortex-A7 processor).

Moreover, the handset sports PowerVR SGX 544MP3 graphics, 2GB of RAM, and was also unveiled with 64GB and 128GB of internal memory options, in addition to the aforementioned two. It comes with an 8-megapixel camera on the back, with full HD video recording capabilities, as well as with a front camera for making video calls. Meizu also packed the smartphone will all the usual connectivity options, including Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.0, as well as Wi-Fi Direct and GPS receiver. The entire range of usual sensors is also available on the device. Meizu MX3 is powered by a Li-Po 2400mAh battery that can deliver up to 14 hours of talk time, and features the Flyme 3.0 platform, which is based on Google’s Android 4.2 Jelly Bean operating system.

For those out of the loop, we should note that Meizu also announced a new flavor of the device at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona last week, one that runs under Ubuntu. However, this model is only in its development phase for the time being, and it might take a while before it arrives on shelves. According to GizChina, however, chances are that Meizu will discuss more about the Ubuntu-based MX3 at the aforementioned press event in Paris. Stay tuned to learn more on the matter.

Meizu MX3
Image credits to Meizu

Meizu MX3 with Ubuntu
Image credits to Meizu

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Oppo Find 7 Reportedly Brings a 50MP Camera

Chinese mobile phone maker Oppo is gearing up for the launch of a new high-end smartphone in the form of Oppo Find 7, and it seems that it might pack it with a 50-megapixel camera on the back.

The info comes from a sample photo that was published on weibo and that is 8160 x 6120 pixels in size (it weighs 9.7MB), as GizChina has found out. The image, which can be seen in a reduced size above, clearly points at a device featuring a 50-megapixel camera, while the EXIF data attached to it mentions Oppo’s Find 7 smartphone. Give that no official confirmation on the matter has been provided as of now, we’ll take the info with a grain of salt for the time being, though it would not come too much as a surprise if the smartphone indeed included such a large camera.

After all, Nokia has already released two phones that feature 41-megapixel PureView cameras on the back, and the technology was recently said to have been opened to other mobile phone makers out there as well. Oppo has already confirmed the Find 7 with a 5.5-inch screen capable of a 2560 x 1440 pixels resolution and with a Snapdragon 801 processor inside, but it will unveil all its capabilities only on March 19, during a launch event announced for Beijing.

Oppo Find 7 camera sample
Image credits to Weibo via GizChina

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Galaxy S5 Benchmark Result Spotted with 5.2-Inch Screen, Full HD Resolution

Samsung Galaxy S5 was one of the most anticipated smartphones at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona last week, but the hardware specifications that Samsung has announced for the device were not in line with what many enthusiasts were actually expecting.

To be more precise, Samsung unveiled the new device with a 5.1-inch touchscreen display capable of delivering a full HD resolution and with a 2.5GHz quad-core processor inside, while many were dreaming of a 5.2-inch 2K screen and a 64-bit octa-core CPU. While it might seem that Samsung has scrapped plans for very high-end hardware specs inside the smartphone, it appears that things are not quite as such, and that a new flavor of Galaxy S5 might hit shelves later this year. Just as mentioned above, it would include a larger screen and a more powerful processor, and a previously spotted AnTuTu benchmark emerged online to confirm that, as PhoneArena notes. However, things are not as simple in the end, and a brand new Galaxy S5 model was spotted online over the weekend, with model number SM-G900H attached to it, and with a 5.2-inch screen. It can be seen listed on this page on the GFXBench website.

What’s confusing about it is the fact that it can deliver only a full HD (1080p) resolution. The mobile phone is also listed there with a Samsung Exynos 5 Octa (4xCortex A15 + 4xCortex A7 - ARMv7 big.LITTLE) processor inside and with the ARM Mali-T628 MP6 (hexa-core) GPU. Running under the Android 4.4.2 KitKat operating system, the Samsung SM-G900H packs a 16-megapixel camera on the back, a 2MP front camera, 2GB of RAM, and 16GB of internal memory. When looking at these specs, one immediately understands that this is not the premium version of Galaxy S5 that was long rumored to arrive on shelves this year, but a brand new favor of the flagship handset.

What’s unclear about it, however, is why Samsung would plan on launching the phone in so many variants. In the end, they might prove to be confusing to users. However, this would not be the first time that the South Korean mobile phone maker actually releases various iterations of the same device, aiming each of them at different markets out there, in an attempt to increase sales. Unfortunately, there’s no official confirmation on plans to make a similar move with the Galaxy S5 too, and we’ll have to wait for a formal announcement to learn more on the matter. Hopefully, such an unveiling will come sooner rather than later, so stay tuned.

Samsung Galaxy S5
Image credits to Samsung

Samsung Galaxy S5 at GFXBench
Image credits to GFXBench

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Google and Samsung Concerned over Microsoft’s Nokia Takeover

Microsoft is still waiting to get regulatory approval for the Nokia takeover in some large countries across the world, and the company might have to wait a little bit longer in China due to some recent comments made by Google and Samsung officials.

Representatives of the two companies are said to be discussing with the Chinese governments over their concerns that a potential deal between Nokia and Microsoft could lead to higher patent license fees, a report by Bloomberg reveals today. It turns out that officials have already contacted China’s Ministry of Commerce and asked for conditions on the deal to make sure that patents that remain with Nokia won’t be sold at a higher price, while Microsoft won’t abuse on the technologies it’s going to take over from the Finnish mobile phone maker. The $7.54 billion (€5.44 billion) deal between Microsoft and Nokia was announced in September 2013 and involves the hardware unit of the Finnish mobile phone maker, but most of the patents will remain with the company.

The EU cleared the deal in late December and the Chinese government is expected to do the same in the coming weeks, despite the concerns of Google, Samsung, and other local manufacturers. “We look forward to the date when our partners at Nokia will become members of the Microsoft family, and are pleased that the European Commission has cleared the deal without conditions,” the software giant said back in December when the EU approved the deal. Nokia is playing a key role in Microsoft’s mobile strategy, especially as the latter company continues the transition to a devices and services firm through its One Microsoft transformation plan launched by former CEO Steve Ballmer.

“We are excited and honored to be bringing Nokia’s incredible people, technologies and assets into our Microsoft family. Given our long partnership with Nokia and the many key Nokia leaders that are joining Microsoft, we anticipate a smooth transition and great execution,” Ballmer said in September when Microsoft officially announced the Nokia takeover. As part of the deal, former Nokia boss Stephen Elop is also joining Microsoft, with a recent report revealing that he’ll take over the Xbox division and will be in charge of all hardware products developed by the software giant, including the Surface tablet. Julie-Larson Green, who was until now in charge of the same unit, will become the new chief experience officer (CXO) of the Applications and Services Group.

Microsoft announced the Nokia takeover in September
Image credits to digithoughts.com

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