It’s not everyday you have confirmation of upcoming from smartphones from a source such as Qualcomm. The company inadvertently announced that a few yet-to-be-announced phones will be running on their Snapdragon 865 platform.
We already know that the Snapdragon 865 would be powering most of the year’s flagships including the recently announced Xperia 1 II, Samsung Galaxy S20 series and the Mi 10 series. However, in their release, the company unveiled a whole lot more including ASUS new flagships: the Zenfone 7 and the ROG Phone III; Lenovo’s Legion Gaming Phone, OPPO’s Find X2, Sharp’s AQUOS R5G, the Redmi K30 Pro, realme X50 Pro and Nubia’s Red Magic 5G.
The company notes that since its announcement of the Snapdragon 865 Mobile platform in December 2019, more than 70 designs have utilised the SD865. Some of which have yet to be released. In addition, the company boasted more 1,750 designs which have been based on the Snapdragon 8-series mobile platforms. Keep in mind, that they are mentioning 8-series and not the 865. This would include the Snapdragon 855. 855+ and its predecessors or possible unannounced successor.
So, we’re waiting with bated breath now as we now know about 16 devices are making its way to market with the Snapdragon 865 and possible 5G connectivity. These devices could possibly include Samsung’s Note20 series and even o
Just nine months after the release of their flagship phone and four different products after that, the Chinese manufacturer known for their value-for-money smartphones, Xiaomi is already launching a new flagship phone for the year 2020. New year; new flagship, am I right? Just like all flagships, the device carries the latest top-of-the-line processor – the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865.
Source: Xiaomi
XIaomi’s Mi 10 Series are the first devices in the year 2020 to pack Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 865 processor with 5G capabilities. Overall clock speed has increased (obviously), but clock speed is so yesterday. 5G on the other hand is the latest buzz. The new Octa-core processor though has a maximum clock speed of 2.84GHz; a 25% increase of performance in both CPU and GPU compared to last year’s Qualcomm Snapdragon 855. It is also supposed to consume less power; specifically 35% less power than its predecessor.
With great power comes great responsibility picture quality. Xiaomi is stepping up its game with a quad camera system with a 108-Megapixel main camera in both the Mi 10 and Mi 10 Pro. But that is all the similarities between the cameras of both devices in the series. On the Mi 10, you get a 13-Megapixel Ultra-Wide lens, a 2-Megapixel Macro lens, and another 2-Megapixel depth sensor.
The Mi 10 Pro on the other hand come with a better 8-Megapixel telephoto lens, a 12-Megapixel 50mm portrait lens (technically also a 2x optical zoom telephoto lens), a 20-Megapixel Ultra-Wide lens. Thanks to the insane 108-Megapixel camera and the new super powerful System on a Chip (SoC) both devices are able to capture 8K (7,680 x 4,320 pixels) videos. Using the 8K video you are also able to capture clear 33MP (technically 8K resolution anyway) photos while recording.
Source: Xiaomi
While most of the fancy features are reserved for the main camera. The selfie camera is not neglected. It shoots at a decent 20-Megapixel. Still that is 12-Megapixel less than the Xiaomi Mi Note 10. The camera is nestled in the punch hole at the top left of the display, not the usual tear-drop style taht we are used to like in the Xiaomi Mi Note 10 Pro.
Speaking of cameras, you need a display to view the photos that you take with the super powerful cameras. The Xiaomi Mi 10 comes with the usual curved Full HD+ AMOLED curved DotDisplay measuring in at 6.67-inch compared; bigger than the 6.47-inch of the Mi Note 10. While you lose out on ppi counts, the device makes up for it in its 90Hz refresh rate for a super smooth navigation experience. 60Hz feels sluggish when you put it next to the Xiaomi Mi 10 series devices. The AMOLED DotDisplay also boast some of the best colour accuracy in the market with ΔE<1.1.
Watching movies is a joy with the highly advanced and fast display. Dual stereo speakers on the Mi 10 series devices helps boost the immersive experience. Unfortunately though the Xiaomi Mi 10 will not ship with a 3.5mm jack. Rather, you get a 3.5mm jack dongle in the box. That kind of sucks.
For you to enjoy hours of mindless video content the Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro 4,500 mAh battery and the Xiaomi Mi 10 comes with 4,780 mAh battery. The Mi 10 Pro has 50W fast charging that is able to charge from 0% to 100% in just 65 minutes; Impressive.
Source: Xiaomi
There will be three variants of the Mi 10, an 8GB RAM + 256GB storage, 12GB RAM + 256GB storage and 12GB RAM with 512GB of storage. Prices starting from RMB 3,999 that translates to about RM 2,373.
The Mi 10 Pro also has three variants starting with, 8GB RAM + 256GB storage, 12GB RAM + 256GB storage and lastly 12GB RAM + 512GB storage. Where the Mi 10 Pro starts at RMB 4,999 with roughly translates to about RM 2,966.
The foldable smartphones craze has not died down just yet. The shown concept of the Samsung Galaxy Fold that was launched late in 2019 last year gave birth to a lot more foldable smartphone concepts out there. One of the most coveted and anticipated one after the big Galaxy Fold announcement was the HUAWEI Mate X foldable smartphone which approached the folding smartphone concept differently.
So far though, there is only two known circulated foldable smartphones in the market; the Samsung Galaxy Fold and the Motorola Razr. The HUAWEI Mate X has not been seen in the market since its announcement very early in 2019. It is understandable though that they might be facing some issues with productions due to the complications on the folding mechanism.
Still, every other person out there is hailing foldable smartphones as the next big thing in smartphones in the coming years. Instead of foldable smartphones though, there is another, more sensible way of approaching smartphone designs, having the displays in front and behind the smartphone. That dual display stuff has been done by Vivo last year too, with little sales success.
Source: Xiaomi Global
What about a wraparound design then? A smartphone with a display so big and wide that it wraps around the hardware, an actual all display smartphone. Xiaomi did that with the announcement of the Xiaomi Mi Mix Alpha. They even announced that the device should be available some time in December 2019.
Unfortunately we have not seen any sign of the smartphone anywhere in the market. According to the latest report, it seems that the Xiaomi Mi Mix Alpha is now delayed indefinitely. Understandably though, making a smartphone with a wraparound display is no easy feat.
Source: Xiaomi Global
Source: Xiaomi Global
Source: Xiaomi Global
Source: Xiaomi Global
Source: Xiaomi Global
Source: Xiaomi Global
Xiaomi has been known to make great smartphones though. The Xiaomi Mi 9T and the Mi 9T Pro that came out last year was some of the best valued smartphones you can find in the market. They Mi Note 10 was also the first smartphone with a penta-lens set-up boasting more than 100MP in resolution. 2019 was a great year for Xiaomi.
We think we will see the Xiaomi Mi Mix Alpha in 2020 alongside Xiaomi’s very own foldable smartphone as well (might). There is no specific dates just yet on the official availability of the Xiaomi Mi Mix Alpha. We are hopeful though.
When you own a device from the fruity manufacturers from Cupertino, you do not get the privilege of transferring files between devices other than using AirDrop. Technically, AirDrop is a combination of using Bluetooth and WiFi Direct to drag and drop files between Apple devices. While Android devices can plainly use Bluetooth to share files, WiFi Direct between devices have been a little finicky from one Android device to another. So we are stuck to using slow Bluetooth file transfers if you use an Android device from Xiaomi and I am using one from Samsung.
Of course WiFi Direct is an option, but only if you use certain smartphones that are from the same manufacturer. This may no longer be the case though. Fast file transfers between Android devices could be made possible with the “Peer-to-Peer Transmission Alliance”. The Alliance is made to allow high-speed file transfer and sharing between devices. In that case, you get AirDrop like performance from Android devices; 20MB/S over-the-air file transfer speeds.
The only issue is that the Alliance currently consists of three manufacturers. The three manufacturers are OPPO, Vivo, and Xiaomi. Not even HUAWEI is part of that alliance, which also means that you only get fast file transfers between these three manufacturers until anyone else joins the Alliance. Still, nothing wrong with being hopeful.
