iPhone SE: Probably the most boring iPhone ever released

This is not actually a surprising move. It has been predicted that Apple would come out with a 4-inch iPhone this year, although details on the specifications on the device is as usual shrouded. They have been many rumours though as with every iPhone but I would have to say this is the least exciting iPhone I have ever experienced.  Here is the iPhone SE

No your eyes are not deceiving you, and I’m also not trying to trick you. This is the new iPhone SE. Yes it looks exactly like the 5/5S, except if you’re using the latest colour addition, the Rose gold and the writings SE on the back.

Words to describe the SE: Safe, boring. One word to describe Apple: Lazy? Some have argued that this is an excellent strategic business move by Apple, they can save on R&D cost while clearing their old stocks. I would still say that they are a lazy bump. Why you asked? Here’s a picture of a custom iPhone 5/5S housing that can be found in certain shops in our country. The name of the shop is ChamoGadget, do pay them a visit if you need to repair your iPhones/iPads and they also provide custom housing replacements.

Yes, third party manufacturers have come out with iPhone 6 Mini housing for the 5/5S. If they can, don’t tell me Apple can’t. At least in terms of design you’ll be getting something different, albeit without needing too much inspiration but still you get something new.

Enough of me ranting on the design, lets talk specs! As this is considered an upgrade of the 5S, that will be the iPhone that I will be comparing it with. Internally the iPhone SE is actually an iPhone 6S embedded into the body of a 5/5S. Yes, you’ll be getting the same high-end latest processor by Apple (A9) with 2GB of RAM (versus 1GB in the 5S) alongside their 12MP iSight camera as well but that is where the similarity ends. The battery in the  SE is also slightly bigger than the one found in the 5S, 1642mAh vs 1560mAh. 

The screen still maintains the same resolution and the Touch ID is still the same. Colours are the same except for the new Rose Gold.

Overall a solid 4-inch smartphone that has some serious processing power and an excellent camera but the thing that still would not make me recommend the phone to someone would be the price. 

Even though Apple opted to use an older design with same display, mostly same components the price can be considered as closing to the high-end market.

For the 16GB model, you’ll have to fork out  RM1,949  while the 64GB (which you should get this one over 16GB if you are really intent in getting one) will cost you RM2,449. Oh and note that there is not 32GB option, cause well Apple want you to buy the more expensive and higher profit margin 64GB. More expensive than some other flagship smartphones (Huawei P9, Huawei Mate 8) and only slightly cheaper than the current best smartphone in the world, the Galaxy S7. 

For me, it’s just not worth it. At that price you could be getting the highest variant of the Xiaomi Mi 5 for example that should deliver the same processing power. But the choice is still in your hands, it’s a controversial issue but I personally would not recommend this even though it’s “the world’s most powerful 4-inch smartphone” as quoted by Apple. 

Maybe if one day they decide to drop the price a little bit more.

Source: Apple Malaysia, Digital Trends

Huawei P9 with Leica-branded Dual-lens

Update: It’s now priced at RM2,099 This for me is quite an affordable price for an excellent high-end, flagship level smartphone. 

After impressing the tech world with the camera quality of the Nexus 6P, Huawei has started to receive due global recognition as a smartphone producer.  Following on to that, Huawei has released an update to their main smartphone line, presenting the Huawei P9. What’s special about this smartphone? Well apparently it has two cameras. Not interesting enough? Well get this, it’s certified by Leica.

Before dwelling deeper into the cameras let’s get rid of the other “non-interesting” features about this phone. The smartphone measures 145 x 70.9 x 6.9 mm making it quite thin. Another plus for it is for the fact that it doesn’t have any eye-disturbing camera bumps. The cameras at the back are enclosed in a black rectangle, similar to the Nexus 6P. Below that you’ll find a fingerprint scanner. Following other flagship smartphones, it has an aluminium unibody which makes it look even nicer. The device is quite light as well, weighing in at only 144 grams.

The screen is a standard 5.2-inch Full HD IPS Display which outputs a maximum of 500 nits of brightness and 96% colour saturation. This Full HD display can be said as a good choice as it saves more battery. Though don’t look down on it as it gives out an impressive 423 ppi. Something worth mentioning is the fact that the bezels are very,very thin exhibiting an almost bezel less feel.

What sets Huawei smartphones from the rest is that they usually put in their own in-house processors. Some being able to beat other top processors in the market. This time the Huawei P9 comes with an octa-core Kirin 955 (which has a 16nm FinFET built), a boosted version of the Kirin 950. The power will be provided by a big 3,000 mAh battery and like the standard nowadays supports fast charging. Charging it is done through a USB Type-C port.

It runs the latest Android Marshmallow with Huawei Emotion UI 4.1 skin. Some previous Android users might be surprised when using this as it does not have an app drawer. Gestures such as knock to open, switching the placement of the on-screen buttons is also possible.


Now moving to the most anticipated aspect of all, the Leica certified dual cameras. Both are f/2.2 12MP sensors but the difference is that one of them is a monochrome sensor. Basically how they work is that one is dedicated for colour reproduction while the other is for capturing black and white details. Both lenses uses 1.25-micron Sony IMX286 sensors. A combination of this is touted to give an increase of 200% light sensitivity and 50% bump in contrast. Other than that, it has a full manual mode which includes the standard controls with the addition of control over ISO, shutter speed and exposure. The only things that I could complain on is the lack of 4K recording and OIS
The front meanwhile has a quite big 8MP camera with the standard beautification mode found on Huawei devices.






Variants available are the 3GB RAM with 32GB of storage or 4GB RAM with 64GB. It is said that there is also a dual-sim tray that can also double up as a microSD slot. You also get the latest Wifi standard AC, Bluetooth, GPS and NFC

 Source: Android Authority, Lowyat.net, Huawei,

XIAOMI MI 5: A FLAGSHIP CONTENDER AT MID-RANGE PRICE - RM1549

With possible teasers of the main flagship from Xiaomi signaling its entrance onto our shores, it’s time to take a look at Xiaomi’s next flagship, the Xiaomi Mi 5.

Launched during the Mobile World Congress (Barcelona) earlier this year. It took them some time to finally possibly bringing the device here.

Among all of the launched smartphones this year, the Mi 5 was one of the earliest to sport the latest Snapdragon 820 from Qualcomm. A quad-core high performance processor found also in the LG G5 and S7/Edge. Consumers have the option of having the 3GB RAM or 4GB RAM. Keep in mind that the 3GB models are only paired with storage of 32 and 64 GB.

The 4GB RAM is considered as the Pro edition, comes along with 128GB of internal storage.

The internal storage is now using UFC 2.0 that promises higher write and read speeds (almost double that of the standard eMMC 5.0)

The Mi 5 is has a 5.15-inch Full HD screen that doesn’t feel big as it has very thin bezels at its sides. What’s even more impressive is the fact that the smartphone now has a Premium 3D glass body that curves at the back making for quite an ergonomic hold. All these glass are coated with Gorilla Glass 4 which is said to be even more durable against drops and impacts. At the bottom front, you can see a fingerprint sensor embedded into the home button. Having tested the Redmi Note 3’s sensor, I can imagine this one being as fast if not even faster. (Apparently you can also opt for a light marble back instead of the glass body).

Some of these designs seems awfully similar, the back curves and looks like an S7 while the camera placement mimics that of the iPhone. Not that it looks bad, it actually looks stunning.

The camera is improved as well. It’s a 16MP Sony IMX298 shooter that is now equipped with 4-axis OIS, one more than the average. Expect more stable 4K recordings and better low-light photos. Best of all, the lens is now made of Sapphire, making it extremely tough to be scratched. The front camera on the other hand is a 4MP lens with a big micron that should allow more light to be captured for your selfies.

Juice is provided by a large Li-Po 3000 mAh non-removable battery.

Eventhough it's not the best, the Mi 5 did reasonably good in DxoMark's camera test with a score of DxoMark (79/100)

Other features found in the Mi 5 are NFC, Dual nano-sim, Wifi AC standard, Quick Charge 3.0, Voice over LTE (VoLTE). It also supports the latest 4G+/LTE Advanced that has theoretical download speeds of up to 600Mbps (now it all comes down to our telcos to set up the infrastructure).

The device weighs in at only 129grams btw!

The price has been confirmed to be at RM1548 for the base model.

Source: Xiaomi India, TNW, Lowyat.net, Xiaomi Malaysia

HTC 10: The flagship that HTC was supposed to launch years ago

After another quarter of loss profit, I’m starting to wonder if HTC will be here among the tops in the next 2-3 years. They have been producing amazing smartphones starting from the HTC One M7 but seemed to start slacking after it. The only thing that seemed wrong was the Ultrapixel 4MP that promises excellent camera performance especially during low light but was quick to burn out (the famous Purple tint issue, which happened to my model). The successor, One M8, had dual camera which didn’t attracted much attention while maintaining the same design language. The M9 was more like an upgrade of the M8 internally but sadly not in terms of design. There’s nothing wrong with the design, it’s just that a little bit of changes would be nice.

So will the next one be its savior? Please welcome the HTC 10. 

Look wise it has the same basic aluminum unibody design as the previous Ones, but now has a more polished curves at the back of it. Gone is the previous 20MP shooter on the M9 or the dual camera on the M8, instead we are seeing a comeback of the Ultrapixel technology. Learning from their previous mistake, this time the megapixel count gets a bump to 12MP (with OIS and f/1.8) promising excellent camera performance. With several tests done so far it has been delivering. DxOMark has rated it to be on par with the S7/Edge’s camera, that is saying a lot as they now share the top spot for the no 1 camera on a smartphone. 

The camera is situated at the back with laser autofocus and two-tone LED flash right next to it. The launch is said to be quite fast at 0.6 secs, but that remains to be tested.

The camera is also able to record 4K videos with stereo 24-bit Hi-Res audio. Perfect for live performances or concerts (which I personally don’t recommend).

The front camera is also quite impressive. It’s a 5MP camera that has rear-camera features to make it even better such as OIS (one of the first front camera to have this), f/1.8, and wide-lens. Similar to what the iPhone 6S and S7/Edge has, a front screen flash.

You won’t be finding dual Boomsound speakers on this year’s device. Though there’s a Boomsound Hi-Fi Edition speaker at the bottom, but what’s really interesting is the fact that they added an amplifier and Hi-Res Audio processing which ups your audio collection to 24-bit. In essence making them sound better. (I think you’ll need a Hi-res ear/headphones to fully optimize this feature).

Another new aspect this year would be the front home-button which incorporates a fingerprint scanner, which promises to unlock within 0.2 seconds. This is placed between the apps and back touch button.

The display is a 5.2-inch 2K (2560x1440) Super LCD stated to be 30% more colorful.

Moving on to another important aspect would be the performance. It can certainly held its own against other flagship phones as it’s equipped with the latest and greatest Qualcomm Snapdragon 820.

In terms of software, this  HTC Sense 8.0 could be one of the lightest skins on an Android flagship. Running on Android 6.0.1, they have excluded some bloatwares and has more approaches to be similar to Google’s version of Android.

The battery is big as well, a 3,000 mAh that thanks to their PowerBotics system should last you up to 2-days with normal usage. Charging it would not be a problem as the HTC is fitted with the latest USB type-C port which allows Quick Charge 3.0, charging in 30 minutes gives you up to 50% of power.

The device weighs 161grams and is also equipped with Wifi AC, Bluetooth 4.2 and NFC.

Source: HTC US, HTC Blog, VentureBeat