Cherry Mobile is really serious in improving the camera of their smartphones with the unveiling of their own Camera Lab in partnership with Samsung Electronics Device Solutions Group. or Just to give you an idea, the Samsung Electronics Device Solutions Group is the one responsible for the camera modules of smartphones.
Cherry Mobile invested on their own camera lab comprised of enhancing camera tools and top-of-the-line technology which is a first on a local brand. A series of image quality checks such as the colour accuracy, sharpness, ISO, and BSI of each handset are being tested in this laboratory and the results of each test can also be seen here.
Not only that, Cherry Mobile has a prior investment in Morpho Solutions, a software enhancement technology that helped improve the camera of their flagship lineup, the Cherry Mobile Flare S6 Series.
Cherry Mobile just proved us that they’re really serious about improving not just the hardware of their smartphones but also their software. The Cherry Mobile Flare S6 is one good example as the smartphone not only features a fingerprint scanner but it also has features including a big battery capacity and USB Type-C which can be rarely found in its price range.
This move from Cherry Mobile will surely improve the camera of their smartphones that will be arriving in the future.
The Huawei P20 Pro got the highest score in DxOMark with a score of 109, 10 points higher than the Samsung Galaxy S9+. The Huawei P20 Pro is also the company’s first smartphone to sport a triple lens rear camera with 40MP RGB Sensor, 20MP Monochrome sensor, and 8MP Telephoto lens. The smartphone can also do 5x Hybrid and JFC, the camera of the smartphone is really damn good. Check out the shots that we took last night using the Huawei P20 Pro.
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Unfortunately, we only got to try the smartphone for a few minutes and all of the shots that I took were under low light conditions. But still, we’re pretty happy with the result that we got from the Huawei P20 Pro. The triple lens camera setup of the Huawei P20 Pro is truly amazing.
Apple has just unveiled something today and it’s the refreshed iPad. The new iPad now supports Apple Pencil and it’s focused on the education market but don’t worry as any consumers can still buy this refreshed iPad.
Aside from Apple Pencil support, inside the new iPad is an A10X Processor which is technically not the fastest processor for an iOS device but that’s expected for an iPad that doesn’t belong in the iPad Pro series. The iPad also comes in 32GB or 128GB internal storage with support for LTE. And of course, it will still use a lightning connector with Touch ID sensor on the home button. Unfortunately, there’s no smart connector on this one, unlike the iPad Pro. But hey, at least you could still connect a keyboard to the tablet via Bluetooth. Lastly, the iPad is using a 9.7-inch Retina Display with the same resolution. Well, if you want to use your iPad for work, I would highly suggest getting the iPad Pro instead.
The iPad 6th Generation with support for Apple Pencil will be available in the Philippines soon and it will start at a price of Php20,900 for the 32GB/WiFi Variant.
The Huawei P20 and the P20 Pro has just been launched today but Huawei has another surprise in store for us with the Porsche Design Huawei Mate RS. I know, the name is a little bit confusing and kinda long but the Porsche Design Huawei Mate RS is the company’s latest premium smartphone.
The Porsche Design Huawei Mate RS features a Porsche Design DNA with its curves and surface, a triple lens camera system similar to the Huawei P20 Pro and an in-screen fingerprint scanner which is a first on a Huawei smartphone. Surprisingly, the smartphone still features a fingerprint at the back just below its camera. And no, this smartphone doesn’t have a notch.
Today is the day that Huawei has launched their newest smartphones — the Huawei P20 and the P20 Pro. Both smartphones are the newest flagship smartphones of the Chinese company.
Huawei P20 Specs
Octa-Core Hi-Silicon Kirin 970 NPU
5.84-inch 2244×1080 IPS Display with Notch
4GB RAM
128GB Internal Storage
12-megapixel color sensor + 20-megapixel Black & White sensor, Leica Optics, f/1.6, 2x lossless zoom
24-megapixel f/2.0 front camera with AI Light Fusion
24-megapixel f/2.0 front camera with AI Light Fusion
WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, A-GPS
Fingerprint Scanner
Android Oreo with EMUI
4000mAh Battery with Huawei SuperCharge Tech
IP67 Water and Dust Resistance
Both smartphones focus on their camera however, the Huawei P20 Pro features a triple lens camera setup comprising of a 20MP Monochrome lens, 40MP RGB Lens, and an 8MP telephoto lens while the P20 has a 12MP RGB lens and 20MP Monochrome Lens.
The Huawei P20 will be available in black, blue, & pink while the Huawei P20 Pro will be available in black, blue, and twilight which is beautiful gradient color.
The Huawei P20 4GB/64GB is priced at 649 Euros (Php42,160~) while the Huawei P20 Pro is priced at 899 Euros (Php58,401~)
Xiaomi has announced today the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S. The aesthetics of the smartphone is very similar to the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 but this time, we got a better Snapdragon 845 processor inside along with 8GB of RAM and a dual-lens camera at the back.
The dual lens camera of the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2s is comprised of a telephoto lens and also a wide-angle lens. Xiaomi is also proud to say that the smartphone has scored a 101 at DxOmark.
Xiaomi Mi Mix 2s Specs
5.99-inch Full HD+ IPS Display with 18:9 Display Aspect Ratio
Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 Processor
6GB/8GB RAM
64GB/128GB/256GB Internal Storage
12-megapixel wide-angle camera + 12-megapixel telephoto rear camera
5-megapixel front camera
Dual SIM
LTE
WiFi,Bluetooth,GPS,A-GPS
NFC
Fingerprint Scanner
Face Unlock
Wireless Charging
3400mAh Battery
Android 8 Oreo with MIUI 9
The Xiaomi Mi Mix 2s will be available in 6GB/64GB, 6GB/128GB, & 8GB/256GB and they’re priced at RMB 3299 (Php27,524~), RMB 3599 (Php30,027~), & RMB 3999 (Php33,364~) respectively
Huawei Philippines has just launched their newest smartphone in the country – the Huawei Nova 2 Lite. The smartphone is the more affordable variant in the Nova series and this smartphone packs an 18:9 display with a FullView display and also a dual-lens camera for better portrait shots.
Actually, we love the Huawei Nova 2 Lite’s battery and also its camera. If you want to read our review of the smartphone, you can check out our review at this link:
The Huawei Nova 2 Lite is now available in the Philippines for a price of Php9,990.
Huawei Nova 2 Lite Specs
Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 Processor
5.99-inch HD+ Display with 18:9 Display Aspect Ratio
Xiaomi has always been into smartphones but lately, they’ve delved into the notebook business with their Xiaomi Mi Notebook Air, Mi Notebook, and the Mi Notebook Pro. And today, Xiaomi has unveiled the Mi Gaming Laptop.
The Mi Gaming Laptop, is ugh, well, for gaming. It packs a 7th generation Intel Core i7 Processor inside, Nvidia GTX 1060 GPU or GTX 1050Ti GPU inside. It will also have an 8GB or 16GB RAM, 15.6-inch display, 128GB or 256GB SSD, 1TB HDD. The notebook is noticeably missing a numpad but it does have an RGB keyboard with 30 N-key rollover.
The Mi Gaming Laptop is priced at RMB 5999 (Php50,182~) and RMB 8999 (Php75,278~) for the i5/GTX 1050Ti variant and i7/GTX 1060 variant respectively
Mi Store Philippines has just announced on their Facebook page that the more affordable variant of Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus is arriving here in the country.
The Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus has launched a few weeks ago in the Philippines but only the 4GB/64GB was only made available in the country. But starting today, you can now get the Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus in 3GB/32GB variant.
The Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus 3GB/32GB is now available for Php8,490 while the 4GB/64GB variant remains at Php9,990.
This year, The ASUS Zenfone 5 Series has come back to its Zenfone roots. Instead of offering smartphones with gimmicky features, they opted for what the consumers want. A non-expensive smartphone with a powerful hardware inside and also a beautiful design. And today, we will review the latest smartphone and the most affordable from the ASUS Zenfone 5 Series, the ASUS Zenfone 5Q.
Design and Hardware
The ASUS Zenfone 5Q’s design reminds me of the ASUS Zenfone 4. It’s all glass on the front and the back and then there are the rounded sides of the smartphone. The smartphone isn’t really handy as this one has a flat black. I strongly suggest that you guys use a phone case for this one as it might slip in your hand.
Surely, the smartphone feels really premium to the hand because of the glass. The volume rocker and the power button are placed at the right hand of the smartphone while the fingerprint scanner is placed at the back which is accessible despite its tall build. Unfortunately, the smartphone still uses a micro USB port instead of USB Type-C. Also, there’s no fast-charging on the smartphone too.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t that satisfied with the speaker of the smartphone as it wasn’t that loud. Thankfully, there’s a headphone jack on the ASUS Zenfone 5Q. The fingerprint scanner of the smartphone works well and it was really fast however the face unlock of the smartphone is still disappointing in my use.
Display
The ASUS Zenfone 5Q has a 6.0-inch Full HD+ IPS display with rounded corners. And damn, I love the display of the smartphone. The color reproduction were really good on this one and the screen of the smartphone was just bright.
Since we have an 18:9 display on the smartphone, this one is perfect for browsing feeds on portrait mode and also on gaming on landscape mode as it offers wider view on the display. Overall, the display of the ASUS Zenfone 5Q is really good.
Software
The ASUS Zenfone 5Q that we’ve reviewed runs on Android 7.1.1 with ZenUI 4.5. The smartphone is expected to be updated soon to Android Oreo with Zen UI 5.0. Well, the smartphone does have a good UI. Yes, it isn’t vanilla but opening apps and also browsing thru your phone is snappy and smooth.
As expected, the smartphone does have some bloatware but most of the apps are just useful and don’t worry too much about it because the ASUS Zenfone 5Q does have a large 64GB storage inside.
Performance
The ASUS Zenfone 5Q’s Snapdragon 630 chipset is probably the most interesting hardware inside the smartphone. The smartphone’s chipset is powerful enough to run all games on the Play store. It also packs 4GB of RAM for multi-tasking and opening memory hog apps.
Speaking of performance, the ASUS Zenfone 5Q didn’t fail to impress me. The chipset was pretty good and it doesn’t overheat when playing 3D heavy games. I’ve played NBA 2k18 at medium settings and I was able to play the game smoothly and without problems. I’ve also tried PUBG Mobile at medium settings and I was really happy with its performance as the phone didn’t heat up that much and there were NO drastic drop in frames after a long playtime.
Thanks to its 18:9 FHD+ display and the Snapdragon 630 inside the smartphone, the ASUS Zenfone 5Q makes it one of the pretty good mid-range gaming smartphone.
Battery
The ASUS Zenfone 5Q got a 3300mAh battery inside and in my use, I was pretty happy with it as I was able to get a day of normal usage of the smartphone including some light gaming. I was able to use this smartphone for 14 hours on average use. That’s pretty good you know. It will run on a single work day for most of us.
Camera
The ASUS Zenfone 5Q got a Quad-camera setup. Two cameras on the front and two cameras at the back. The smartphone packs a wide angle lens on both sides which can be used for Wefies or group photos or taking wider shots.
Using the portrait mode of the ASUS Zenfone 5Q was good, it has really improved from last year but I noticed that all of the cameras are a hit and miss. Let’s talk about the rear cameras of the smartphone first.
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Here are the shots that I took using the selfie camera of the smartphone:
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Overall, the camera of the ASUS Zenfone 5Q is a little bit of a hit and miss. Sometimes you get a good shot, sometimes not.
Verdict
The ASUS Zenfone 5Q is the device that we’re expecting from ASUS. The smartphone got a quad-camera setup that is not just a gimmick because having a wide-angle lens camera at the back is really useful. The ASUS Zenfone 5Q also got a premium body with its glass construction on the front and back, an 18:9 FullView Display, and also powerful chipset inside. The battery wasn’t disappointing on the smartphone too.
Despite that, you should also take note of its camera is a hit and miss and also the face unlocks which is still disappointing. I do hope that ASUS can really fix those issues in the future.
Overall, the ASUS Zenfone 5Q is still a good smartphone from the Taiwanese company. If you are into mid-rangers and you want a smartphone with a good battery life, powerful performance and a sleek design then you might want to check the ASUS Zenfone 5Q.
The ASUS Zenfone 5Q doesn’t have a price yet but expect the launch and pricing of this smartphone this April 2018.
WE’RE HAVING A RAFFLE!
Yes folks, we’ll be raffling off a (1) one ZenPower Slim 6000 and also 1 VIP Seat to the #BackTo5 Launch. How? It’s easy! Just follow these steps:
Share the review article on Facebook in Public
The caption must answer “What makes them excited for the ASUS Zenfone 5Q?”
The caption must tag ASUS Philippines and Jam Online Facebook Page with the hashtags #Zenfone5Q, #WeLovePhoto, and #Backto5PH
1 winner will be chosen at random by April 3, 2018
