About how Japanese smartphones with moisture protection appeared, the fate of smartphones Amazon, leaks about new devices BlackBerry and HTC and plans Xiaomi.
It's no secret that the most interesting events of this week will take place during IFA 2015. During the exhibition, a section dedicated to it with reports, reviews and other articles appeared on the MR website. There is no point in retelling them in the digest, so the issue will be shorter than usual.
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All articles from IFA 2015 |
Remember the old anecdote about the secretary whose 'coffee cup rack' was broken and the sysadmin who had to change the drive on her computer? Moreover, they say that this is not an anecdote at all, but a very real case from life. Or you can recall the same Coca-Cola, which was created as a drug. Many things are used by us in a completely different way from the way their creator intended. Moreover, it often does not even occur to us.
Much has been said about the benefits of moisture protection in modern smartphones. And about how convenient it is to wash such a smartphone under running water, and how great it is not to be afraid to use it in the rain, and about what an amazing thing underwater photography is. Moreover, almost no one paid attention to the fact that most of these devices are for some reason produced in Japan.
Recently, Panasonic representatives talked about how and why this function appeared in smartphones initially. It turns out that no rain has anything to do with it – it's just that many Japanese girls prefer not to part with their smartphones even in the shower, which led to an impressive number of devices flooded with water and drowned while bathing.
Japanese mobile electronics makers such as Sharp, Sony, Panasonic, Fujitsu, and others had to worry about finding a solution to this problem. It is in this way that protection against water appeared in Japanese smartphones, and everything else is an attempt to somehow explain the meaning of moisture protection to European buyers who are somehow not used to washing with phones.
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Companies, like people, also do not always understand the meaning of this or that idea. But they look at things even easier – since such an approach was useful to a competitor, then it will suit them. First you need to copy, and only then figure out what it is and why it is needed.
For Xiaomi, one of the prime role models is Samsung. This is the number one competitor, from whom you first need to adopt all the best, and then be sure to try to get around on a bend. And somewhere such copying is justified, but somewhere not.
Samsung is clearly betting heavily on curved displays, which is clearly evident from their current lineup. And the classic SGS6 and even Note 5 are now on the sidelines, the main focus is on the Edge series. Of course, Xiaomi all this could not but interest. According to rumors, the company is already working hard on a similar smartphone with a very original and unusual name Xiaomi Mi Edge. As the name implies, the main distinguishing feature of the smartphone will be a curved display, reminiscent of the latest Samsung devices.
As for the technical specifications, it is assumed that the smartphone will receive a 2K display manufactured by Sharp, a Snapdragon 808 processor, 3-4GB of RAM and a 16MP camera. The expected cost of the smartphone is $ 400 or 2,500 yuan.
However, so far this is all nothing more than rumors.
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In addition, Xiaomi are planning to develop their own processor model. Or rather, even two: the budget version will be used in the series Redmi, and the more expensive one – in smartphones of the middle price segment. As for the flagships, it is still planned to release them on Qualcomm.
I will not undertake to evaluate this decision from an economic point of view, but let me remind you that for the same Samsung on this front for a long time everything was not very smooth. Considering that the same devices were produced by the Korean giant both on Exynos and Qualcomm, it was not difficult to compare them. And this comparison was not in favor of its own chipset.
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While Xiaomi is looking at Apple and Samsung, many other Chinese companies continue to look up to it. For example, the same Meizu.
Unlike many other companies Xiaomi, he tries to be in time everywhere and everywhere, dealing not only with smartphones and tablets, but also with a lot of other equipment, from air fresheners to scales. Apparently, the devices turn out to be quite good, and the price for them is traditionally pleasant. But let's be frank – if you want to find analogs (perhaps even from the same plant), it won't be a big deal, and if you remove the logo Xiaomi from these devices, they will immediately get lost in the crowd of competitors. Apple is commonly referred to as a 'one product company', hinting that in the event of a hypothetical crash iPhone no iPad and Watch will save the company. For Xiaomi the situation here is even worse – in case of problems with the line of smartphones, all the rest of their products will turn not even into a pumpkin, but into some kind of unknown Chinese vegetable, which is not worth trying.
Nevertheless, in Meizu they believe that this is the right way, and they also begin to produce 'non-core' equipment. For example, a proprietary router that promises to be something in between Xiaomi Mi Wi-Fi Router and Apple Time Capsule.
Details are not yet known, but it is assumed that the main focus will be on data backup and work with smart home devices.
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Sometimes an attempt to conquer several different markets at once is really successful. There is no need to go far for examples – the same Samsung produces a bunch of everything, from refrigerators to watches, and it feels great. But it often happens differently – the attempts of companies to do not their own business cause only bewilderment among buyers and lead to only losses. Moreover, sometimes it does not depend at all on the quality of the product itself.
This is exactly the story that happened with the smartphone Amazon Fire. It turned out to be interesting, with a number of unique 'chips' and even a decent list of specially adapted software, like 3D games. But it was received very coolly by the buyers. According to WSJ, Amazon plans to fire the team of engineers developing this smartphone, and this may negatively affect a number of other “iron” projects of the company.
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If for some companies the release of smartphones is just a side business, for others it is a guarantee of their existence. Even if Amazon is unacceptable for them, even when their prospects in this market are rather vague, they will stick to it until the end.
In recent years, BlackBerry has not been doing as well as before, but the company does not intend to give up. Rumors about the Android BB smartphone have been circulating for a long time, but many fans of the brand continue to claim that nothing like this can happen. And that BlackBerry on Android is no longer BlackBerry, but an ordinary 'Chinese' with a logo stuck on it.
It's too early to judge the quality of the new smartphone, but the very fact of its existence is almost beyond doubt. Recently, a new portion of his photographs leaked to the network, this time in fairly good quality.
