Leaving the company of the chief designer Motorola, a fly in the ointment in a barrel of honey OnePlus 3 , rumors about the beginning of production iPhone 7, own bank Xiaomi, a couple of new features Android N and other news …
The beginning of June turned out to be surprisingly stormy, within literally a week and a half, several significant events took place and a number of interesting announcements took place. But by the middle of the month there was a lull, so the past week turned out to be quite calm.
Motorola
Many copies have been broken around the design of the new Moto devices. Someone sincerely believed that Motorola had a second wind, someone decided that the once great company had finally died. Many connoisseurs of the brand do not attach any special importance to the design of smartphones, believing that the taste of the candy does not depend on its wrapper in any way.
Apparently, among the remaining employees Motorola there is no unanimity on this issue either. Anyway, soon after the end of Lenovo Tech World 16 it became known that the chief designer of the mobile division Motorola left the company. Jim Wicks has worked for the company for 12 years, actively participated in the creation of the Moto Maker service and worked on the design of all the latest smartphones under the Moto brand. I don't know what was the real reason for his decision, but for some reason the lines of Lermontov's immortal poem come to mind. The one where 'the poet's soul could not bear' …
Chief designer of mobile division left Motorola
A photo posted by (@mobilereview) on
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OnePlus 3
The OnePlus 3 announcement could also leave behind a rather bitter aftertaste for some users. Although nothing has passed since the presentation, enthusiasts have already managed to evaluate the performance of the smartphone and compare it with the flagships of other companies.
As you remember, the smartphone received as much as 6 GB of RAM, which became one of its main 'chips'. But judging by the first tests, there is no practical benefit from the extra gigabytes yet, and there are still no more than 3-4 applications in the smartphone's memory. This behavior of the device could be attributed to problems with the first versions of the firmware, but the CEO of OnePlus has already announced that this is how it was originally intended. This is not a bug, but a special mode of RAM operation, which should lead to a gain in the battery life of the device. Anyway, in theory – given the 3,000 mAh battery, I wouldn't expect any miracles from the OnePlus 3.
Many companies have tried to flirt with the numbers of technical characteristics at one time or another, and very often it came out sideways for them. For example, I immediately recall the flagship HTC One X, which had serious problems with multitasking precisely because of an attempt to catch up and overtake Samsung in terms of the “cool” hardware. Or the first 4K screen in a Sony smartphone, which in practice supported this resolution with just a couple of built-in apps. And that's not to mention a bunch of smartphones with cameras under 20 MP, which differed from their less 'progressive' counterparts only in the worse picture quality and increased noise level.
On the other hand, do not forget that a large proportion of One Plus users are geeks who are well versed in technology. And while the CEO of the company talks about the fact that someday in the distant future developers will be able to use all 6 GB of memory to the fullest, enthusiasts have already come up with a solution themselves. They say that to disable this very 'special mode of operation of RAM', it is enough to correct one single file. Of course, only at your own peril and risk.
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Apple
Meanwhile, according to the well-known expert on leaks @OnLeaks, production of iPhone has already begun in China 7. This year Apple decided to place orders at two large factories at once – Pegatron will produce a classic model with a 4.7 “screen, and Foxconn will get the iPhone 7 Plus, whose screen will be 5.5”. The total size of all orders is 78 million smartphones.
Mass production of 4.7 “# iPhone 7 has slowly started at Pegatron factory (where the 5.5” model won't be assembled) pic.twitter.com/nZkcF19Gqs
– OnLeaks (@OnLeaks) June 18, 2016
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The next rumor is about a dark theme that many users hoped to see in iOS 10. Not a word was said about this during WWDC (it was only about tvOS), but one of the beta testers managed to find more mention of this topic in the latest firmware, but also include.
All this makes it possible to assume that in iOS 10 there really will not be a dark theme, but in the next version of the OS it will definitely appear. Especially if you remember the rumors that by 2017 Apple will switch to OLED displays, for which it all really makes some practical sense.
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Google also continues to work on a new version of its OS, periodically making changes to the Android N Developer Preview. This time, the operation of the notification bar 'curtain' has changed a bit. First, clicking on the Wi-Fi icon in the toggle bar now does not turn it off, but opens a screen with a list of available wireless networks. Some of the testers have already said that this is completely inconvenient, but as for me, everything is just completely logical. In any case, I personally have to turn Wi-Fi on and off very rarely, but I consistently touch this icon when I try to go to the list of wireless networks.
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The second point concerns the function of quick replies, when you can reply to an incoming SMS message directly from the 'curtain' of the notification panel. If earlier in the notification card there was only the 'Reply' button, which opened the chat window or applications for working with SMS, now there is a special field for entering text.
First of all, those who use several chats at a time should evaluate the innovation, now they can work with all the correspondence in a single window.
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Xiaomi
Xiaomi is one of those companies that are insanely popular in China, but are rather poorly represented outside of China. Despite the beginning of official sales of smartphones Xiaomi in our country, the name of this company will not tell the vast majority of buyers. But those who have heard about her rarely remain indifferent. Moreover, opinions here can be diametrically opposed, and sometimes there is really only one step from love to hate. Perhaps because we are talking here, first of all, about the 'geeks' who generally like to argue about the quality of a particular brand.
Analysts have been predicting the near end of this “Chinese miracle” for years, but all these years the company has continued to grow and develop. And we are talking not only about the mobile division of the company, but also about other areas, such as household appliances or even … the banking sector.
It became known this week that Xiaomi, together with a number of other well-known Chinese companies, decided to found a new bank. It was named Sichuan Hope Bank and focuses on individuals, small and medium-sized businesses, as well as the agricultural sector. The bank will start operating before the end of the year, Xiaomi will own 29.5% of its shares.
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Why a company is looking for new ways to make money is easy to understand. Competition in the smartphone market is becoming more and more acute every year, and the company has not yet had any noticeable success outside the Celestial Empire. And, nevertheless, it should be noted that at least at the moment, Xiaomi is doing more than good on the home market.
According to Phonearena, at the moment Xiaomi Mi 5 tops the list of the most popular smartphones in China, and immediately followed by another smartphone from the company – Xiaomi Redmi Note 3.
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By the way, the series Redmi recently had a kind of anniversary, during the three years of existence of this line Xiaomi 110 million devices were sold.
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