About Lenovo Tech World 16, modular sm artphones and destiny Motorola, WWDC oddities and the benefits of stickers and emoji, rumors about Samsung's new clamshell and announcements Meizu, One Plus and Xiaomi …
Lenovo Tech World 16
For many, this event has become one of the most anticipated events of the year. It is not surprising – in fact, it was not so much about the presentation of a specific phone, but about fate Motorola. And we still remember this company with warmth, even if all this warmth is not in a hurry to convert into real sales.
This state of affairs can be partly explained by the fact that Motorola was absent from our market for a very long time. For many, the Moto brand is primarily associated with the 'warm tube' smartphones of a bygone era: the stunning Razr clamshells, the unforgettable MotoRokr series and other bright and unusual devices. And in Lenovo they also deliberately pressed on nostalgia, recalling the golden years of this great company.
For the same reason, the company's smartphones were hardly perceived as modern and high-tech solutions, standing on the same shelf with flagships Apple or Samsung. And in fact, this is very disappointing, because even in the era Android Motorola did a lot of interesting things. Experiments with design and materials, new technologies, a sensitive approach to both flagship and budget models – many articles and reviews have been written about all this, but most buyers do not care about them. When it comes to buying a device, most people always prefer those brands that they often see in the hands of people around them. And on the contrary, he is slightly suspicious of brands that are not really represented anywhere.
Maybe for this reason, Lenovo decided to use their own name in the lineup, emphasizing that we are talking about a well-known, popular and promising company, and not about some ghost brand that has disappeared from the horizon many years ago. I don’t presume to judge whether this is correct or not, but the fact that Motorola will soon no longer even have a name is practically a fact.
The eternal argument of brand fans: a brand is just words, the main thing is that people have remained the same, which means that the old company still lives on. At the same time, every time I remember the story of Nokia, which continues to live in the heads of especially stubborn fans to this day. And some of them mean Foxconn by this word, some – Microsoft, and some – very distant relatives like Jolla.
In fact, the takeover Motorola resembles the conquest of one people by another, which often happened in antiquity. Often, the winners treated the injured party quite humanely, not allowing robberies and looting, without imposing an exorbitant tribute and in general practically not touching. The main condition was only one – to learn the language of the victors, start worshiping their gods and celebrate the most important holidays. Given the popular alternatives at the time, it all seemed like a trifle. Only after one or two generations from the tribe that lost the war, in fact, there was nothing left at all, it was completely absorbed by the winner, forever losing its history, culture and native language.
Lenovo Moto Z Force turned out to be a kind, but rather interesting smartphone. I will not undertake now to judge his prospects, but he is not nearly as bad as it might seem to those commentators who were not imbued with his appearance. It's just that Motorola it has a rather indirect relationship, no matter how many old-school engineers had a hand in its development. These people already spoke the language anyway Lenovo, which is evident from the design of the device. Moreover, the word 'design' here should be understood not as the abstract beauty of the case, but the choice and arrangement of control elements, ergonomics, modular structure, the standard race for the thickness of the case for the Chinese, stylistic solutions, the implementation of replaceable panels and other similar things. This is a typical Chinese approach and has very little to do with style Motorola.
Lenovo Tech World 16. Moto Z, Moto Z Force and motomods 
Once again about Lenovo Moto Z Force
It is worth dwelling on the system of modules separately. Most of those who did not fall into a stupor at the sight of photos of a smartphone still predicted its collapse as soon as they heard the word 'modules'. Arguments were used that all these design phones are needed only by 'geeks', that in the 21st century even computers are bought ready-made, and not assembled from components, and that any sane person will buy something that works great already' from boxes', and so on.
And everything would be fine if it weren't for one 'but' – both LG G5 and Lenovo Moto Z are not modular smartphones at all. A modular smartphone (in the original sense of the word) is Google Ara, which can really be assembled from a bunch of different modules. Although, even there, you will not be allowed to change the main components. Smartphones LG and Moto are quite 'one-piece' devices that work out of the box no worse than any other phone, tablet, TV or laptop. The modular system concerns only accessories that can be connected to the body, like a mouse to a laptop, a keyboard to a tablet, or a flash to a camera. And this is not a complication, but a simplification.
Moreover, all this has been on the market for many years. In addition, the Samsung Galaxy S3 could buy a branded flipper case, which was installed instead of the back cover. For many smartphones HTC, it was possible to order a battery directly in the official online store, which also replaced the back cover (the smartphone became twice as thick, but also lived an order of magnitude longer). For iPhone in general there are a bunch of very different accessories, starting with the same 'mounted' optics for the camera and other similar things. And until all this was called the terrible word 'modular smartphone', none of the buyers had any complaints.
In addition to smartphones from the Moto line, the company Lenovo has demonstrated several interesting solutions for growth. First, there are prototypes of foldable devices – a foldable tablet and a flexible smartphone.
And secondly, the first commercial smartphone Project Tango called Lenovo Phab 2 Pro was officially presented.
At the moment there is no special practical sense in this device, it is more a demonstration of capabilities than something else. In this respect, the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro is reminiscent of the Galaxy Round or the first LG G Flex, which were also not so much a commercial device as a demonstration of new technologies.
Lenovo Tech World 16. Lenovo PHAB 2 Pro (Tango) and other 'phablets'
WWDC 2016
In general, the whole event can be described in one word – strange. Moreover, the point here is not what exactly was shown on it, but how exactly it was done. In the way of presenting the material, accents and the audience for which it was all designed.
WWDC 2016 – iOS 10, macOS and other news
From a technical point of view, WWDC is a conference for developers, that is, roughly speaking, a kind of analogue of Google I \ O. For ordinary buyers, far from software development and not interested in all this internal cuisine, such events are not intended initially. In the same way, make-up conferences or professional camera presentations are not meant for most moviegoers.
Both Android and iOS are not so much operating systems as they are huge ecosystems. And without additional content in the form of a bunch of programs, games and services that are created and supported by third-party developers, they will resemble a bare skeleton without meat and muscles. Coming up with some interesting 'feature' for Apple and Google is only half the battle, you also need to convey its meaning to partners, explain how, why and why it should be used, and so on. Moreover, it is highly desirable to do this in advance, and not just confront the fact during the presentation of the new flagship.
All the more unexpected was the fact that this year the WWDC conference turned into a kind of political event, for which software developers were by no means the main contingent. Although formally all the words spoken from the stage were intended exclusively for them, in fact, the audience sitting in the hall played the role of a screen, and each statement had its own subtext. It was work for the public, and a public that was very far from software development.
I don’t know how things actually stand with this, but I have a strong feeling that inside Apple there has been a certain rethinking of values. And at the same time, the place that the company should occupy in the minds of buyers.
For a very long time, the brand Apple was considered not just a guarantee of quality, but a promise of an ideal. Apple technology has always been expensive, but the question of what exactly it is necessary to pay so much for here did not arise among users. The technique Apple 'just worked' – but it worked so perfectly that even the very thought of going into the settings section and tweaking something there seemed like blasphemy … at least in this vein about her usually the main target audience responded. The idea of exchanging it for something else was perceived as an offer to change from a cool foreign car to a VAZ-2107, even if it was of the same model year.
Moreover, in certain circles iPhone was the same obligatory accessory as a tie, an expensive suit or a Swiss watch. Not just a status item, but part of the image, an indicator of taste. With all this, iPhone was often called the most democratic phone, hinting that it can be seen in the hands of both a top manager and a student. And the fact that the price of this “democratic phone” often bit hard, did not change the situation at all. For the right to join the magic Apple and get into this imaginary elite club, people without objection took loans and spent money put on vacation. In half of the world iPhone he headed the lists of the most cherished and long-awaited gifts, in terms of emotional charge he simply had no equal.
And then something happened that could not have happened – the magic Apple suffered the same fate as the magic of Sony Style. You can argue to the point of hoarseness about the power of Jobs's charm and the professionalism of Tim Cook, you can try to justify everything with the global crisis and the pragmatism that has awakened in buyers … But in fact, everything is much more banal – the effect of novelty is not eternal. There is no global difference between the flagships on Android and iOS now. Everywhere there are approximately the same features, approximately the same applications and games, approximately the same services. The quality is also about the same level, the times when the screen or camera iPhone were the standard are irrevocably gone. And it was then that it turned out that the number of lovers of 'apple technology', as well as connoisseurs of 'real Japanese quality', although very large, but not infinite. And Apple, like any other company, I want to continue to show confident growth.
Photo from androidcentral
Where does the company get a huge number of new users from, and even at a time when some analysts predict stagnation for the entire smartphone market? The 'status' motive has practically exhausted itself, there is no 'special elite club' around the 'apple' technology for a long time. Of course, the same Phone has a ton of advantages and a lot of fans, but the same can be said about any flagship. Attempts to come up with something fundamentally new (smart watches, smart TV, and so on) are not much more successful than competitors. Everyone who wanted to try the apple technique did it a long time ago and either stayed with it or went to competitors. As for the “defectors” from one platform to another, their number is approximately the same; these people simply do not see any fundamental difference between the flagships on Android and iOS and freely change devices. Today they switched to a new one iPhone, tomorrow they will buy a modular flagship LG or another Samsung Galaxy.
The first thing the company does is actively fight for an audience in the most promising markets. In this case, it is China, where Apple had a number of difficulties. There were so many reverences towards the Celestial Empire during WWDC that I had a strong feeling that the Chinese language has long become international, and the country itself is Apple native. I don’t know for whom this performance was played, for investors, Chinese officials or anyone else, but China was mentioned all the time.
The second point is a clear attempt to go beyond the traditional audience. Despite the laurels of a 'democratic telephone', iPhone has never been a device for teenagers and schoolchildren. They themselves, perhaps, were not against it, but only the parents were usually not eager to buy expensive flagships for their children. Of course, you could always look at models 2-3 years ago or buy a used device, but this is not particularly interesting for teenagers, who (unlike many adults) are rarely ready for such sacrifices for the sake of just one logo. The conditionally budget models iPhone, which began to appear in this line in recent years, are just an attempt to attract a younger audience. The only problem is that just releasing a cheap device is not enough for this, you also need to explain to a new audience how it surpasses solutions by Android. Which very often offer the best hardware for the same money, and from the point of view of perception, they are not particularly inferior to the 'budget' ones iPhone. All these anecdotes about 'S as a dollar' did not appear by chance, and the first pancake in the face of iPhone 5c came out lumpy.
Apple iPhone 5c. Operating experience
This is probably why the motto “Stylish, fashionable, youthful” was in the air throughout the presentation, and maximum attention was paid to all kinds of “decorations” and “ruffles”. I don’t know about those sitting in the hall, but at some point I felt like an ossified dinosaur, unable to understand the delights of modern technology. All these fonts and animations in chats, emoticons, of which there are already three times more, background effects, homemade stickers and other whistles – who and why might need it at all, and even in such an amount? And after all, it would be okay to just mention it along the way, but no, innovations in iMessage are one of the central moments of the conference, which was especially emphasized. Although I highly doubt that for the current audience of Apple technology (which is still more or less old) this is really that important. Her and current emojis are over the roof.
But the children's and teenage audience is another matter. At this age, any innovations are immediately taken into service and begin to be actively used. Moreover, these 'prettiness' become no less important criteria when choosing a smartphone than having a color screen or GPS. I doubt that all these details were so interested in the bulk of those who came to WWDC, this conference just became a mouthpiece through which they announced their intentions in Apple. And whoever needs it – he understood. Probably.
Exactly the same story with the Swift Playgrounds app, which also attracted the attention of viewers. What's the point of telling existing developers about a coding learning app? And obviously pretty childish? Well, perhaps the company thought that the children of programmers are also potential programmers, and tactfully hinted this to their parents. But most likely, the reckoning was again on adolescents who will see this information in a YouTube video or in one of the articles about WWDC. Only a few will seriously start learning programming, but everyone will have a chance to get hooked on Apple's technology, where it is so easy and quick to write programs (and then sell in the AppStore and earn a lot of money!).
If you do not pay attention to the slight oddities of the WWDC and do not look for some subtext in the conference, then on the whole everything was quite expected. iOS is overgrown with useful functions, which may not belong to the category of essentials, but are pleasant. As usual, there were tons of comments on the Internet that Android most of this has long been there. In some ways, this is true, the same example with the Photos innovations is very indicative, Google Photo has been able to do this for a hundred years. On the other hand, who said that borrowing ideas is bad?
If you start dividing all functions into 'ours' and 'others', then you can reach attempts to patent the Home button, the concept of the touch screen and desktop, the icon for displaying the charge and notifications of incoming SMS and anything else. As a result, it will be absolutely impossible to use both operating systems, which will turn out badly for all of us. And so Apple spies on Google software 'chips', and manufacturers Android smartphones in revenge recklessly copy the design iPhone. As a result, everyone is happy and it seems that in recent years they have not even had any special complaints about each other.
OnePlus 3 and other news
It seems to me that the date of the announcement of its flagship company One Plus has not chosen very well. Subjectively, the event was somewhat lost against the background of Lenovo Tech World 16 and WWDC. On the other hand, there isn't much to tell about the smartphone.
Outwardly, the smartphone looks completely standard and resembles a cross between HTC One and Apple iPhone. It is difficult to call it a minus these days, because many other manufacturers follow exactly the same approach. And in the case of OnePlus, it was clear from the outset that all the focus would be on the hardware, and not on any special design.
The main feature of the smartphone is a bundle of 6 GB LPDDR4 RAM and a processor Qualcomm Snapdragon 820, of the small touches it is worth noting the “fast” fingerprint scanner and no less fast charging (60% in 30 minutes). The price of the smartphone in different markets ranges from $ 399 to € 399, in addition, it will have budget versions at a more attractive price.
The complete list of characteristics is as follows:
- Support for communication standards: 4G / LTE Cat.6; 3G / UMST; GSM GPRS / EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 MHz; two slots for SIM cards
- Dimensions: 152.7×74.7×7.35 mm
- Weight: 158g
- Processor: 2.2 GHz Quad Core Qualcomm Snapdragon 820
- Platform: OxygenOS, based on Android 6.0 Marshmallow
- Display: 5.5-inch, Optic AMOLED, 1920 x 1080 pixels, Corning Gorilla Glass 4
- Main camera: 16 MP (Sony IMX298), phase detection autofocus, support for 4K video shooting
- Front camera: 8 MP (Sony IMX179)
- Memory: 6 GB of RAM (LPDDR4), 64 GB of internal (UFS 2.0), slot for microSD memory card
- Communications: Wi-Fi 802.11 a / b / g / n / ac, Bluetooth v4.2, USB 2.0 Type-C, GPS / GLONASS / BeiDou, 3.5 mm audio jack
- Battery: 3000 mAh, fast charging system
- Other: Fingerprint scanner, Accelerometer, Gyroscope, Proximity and lighting sensors, Hall sensor, Electronic compass
On paper, everything looks good, but what we managed to squeeze out of this hardware in practice – you need to look. The smartphone will certainly find its buyers, but in general the offer is quite niche. In addition to the abstract coolness of iron, there is really nothing to brag about the phone, and there are not so many people who vitally need 6 GB of RAM as it might seem to someone. Moreover, it is too early to judge about real performance, stability and battery life.
Link to news
Samsung Veyron is another niche device that will not be easy to buy. According to rumors, it will be a 'clamshell' with pretty decent hardware. According to SamMobile, the smartphone will be based on the Exynos 8890 chipset, the size of RAM will be at least 3GB, and both screens will be with a diagonal of 3.9 inches and a resolution of 1280 × 720.
Most likely, the device will be sold only in Asian markets.
Link to news
Xiaomi and Meizu continue to compete in budget and mid-range segments. Both companies recently presented several affordable solutions that look pretty good on paper.
A first look at the Meizu M3s mini was recently posted on MR.
Meizu M3s mini. First glance
As for the Xiaomi Redmi 3S, this smartphone received the following characteristics:
- Support for communication standards: 4G / LTE; 3G UMTS, TD-SCDMA, CDMA EVDO; CDMA 1x, GSM GPRS / EDGE; two slots for SIM cards
- Dimensions: 139.3×69.6×8.5 mm
- Weight: 144 g
- Processor: 1.1 GHz, eight-core, Qualcomm Snapdragon 430
- Platform: MIUI 7
- Display: 5-inch, IPS, with a resolution of 1280 × 720 pixels
- Main camera: 13 MP, phase detection autofocus, backlight, support Full HD video
- Front camera: 5 MP, support Full HD video shooting
- Memory: 2 or 3 GB of RAM, 16 or 32 GB of built-in, slot for microSD memory cards (double with the second slot for SIM cards)
- Communications: Wi-Fi 802.11 b / g / n, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi Display, Bluetooth v4.1, USB, IR port, GPS
- Battery: 4100 mAh
- Other: Fingerprint scanner, Accelerometer, Gyroscope, Proximity and lighting sensors, Electronic compass
Link to news