Xiaomi Mi 4 review

The flagship Xiaomi Mi 4's design borrows liberally from Apple's iPhone, but it also possesses plenty of features that let it stand on its own, chief of which are its powerful hardware.

The Mi 4's is a steal no matter how you look at it. Its unlocked price in China is 1,999RMB (which converts to $320, £190, or AU$345) for the 16GB model, and 2,499RMB (which converts to $400, £235, or AU$430) for the 64GB.

The Mi 4 is limited to China right now, though we expect Xiaomi to soon sell the phone in other markets it currently serves, such as Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, India and the Philippines. Other countries will have to rely on importers.

Also, while the phone will eventually come with 4G capability that works outside China, a revised 4G model isn't due until the end of the year. If you choose to import the phone before then, your Mi 4 will operate only on 3G networks.

Design, display and specs

At first glance, the Xiaomi Mi 4 bears a striking resemblance to the design of the iPhone -- especially the stainless steel banding around the sides. The company has obviously owes a good deal to Apple, and the white plastic inserts in the frame are definitely familiar.

If you look at the front speaker too, you can see another place where the Mi 4's designers got their visual cues. That said, there are distinctly different elements that make the Xiaomi Mi 4 design's unique.The rear is plastic, but you can remove it with a suction cup and swap in a different design. Xiaomi has covers ranging from wood to something that resembles marble.

I quite like the feel of the phone. It sits comfortably in my hand, though the edges of the steel frame can are a little sharp. Despite the glossy plastic backing, the handset has quite a premium feel to it thanks to this metal edging. The power and volume rockers are on the right, and are easy to reach without any strenuous finger stretching.

The phone is powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 801 processor, clocked at 2.5GHz. That's similar to what you'll find in other high-end flagships, so no surprises here. Other specs include 3GB RAM and either 16GB or 64GB of onboard storage, but there's no microSD for expandability. Knowing Xiaomi's usual modus operandi, it's likely that only the 16GB version will retail outside of China.

The phone comes with a 3,080mAh battery, but the bad news is that it's not removable even if you manage to get the back cover off.

The Mi 4 has a 5-inch display with a full HD resolution (1,920x1,080 pixels). According to Xiaomi, it has acolor gamut accuracy of 84 percent, 17 percent higher than the Iphone 5s. I'm no expert on judging color accuracy, but I can tell you its colors look vibrant and lively and the screen is bright enough to use outdoors in bright sunlight.

As a high-end device, the Mi 4 comes with all the usual connectivity options, such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0. 4G is only available on the China Mobile network (TDD-LTE), which unfortunately does not work in most other countries that use the FDD-LTE standard. An FDD-LTE model is due at the end of the year, and possibly earlier.

Software features

The Mi 4 runs Android 4.4.2 (KitKat) but with the company's own MIUI skin. Xiaomi has made substantial tweaks to the Android operating system and MIUI has a whole suite of features you don't normally see on Android.

For one, instead of an app drawer, MIUI puts every app on the home screen just like iOS. While I would prefer my screens to be less cluttered with apps (especially if you have a lot), those switching over from Apple will find this a more simple transition.

One of the best things about MIUI is the ability to customize how it looks. You can easily load up the Themes app to switch things around. There are a whole bunch of free and paid themes you can download, and if you're feeling particularly fruit-flavoured, there's also the option to download an iOS 7skin that even has the background parallax effect.

Camera

One of the best things about the Mi 4 is its camera. The shutter is snappy and MIUI has built-in manual controls that let you adjust exposure and shutter speeds. If you don't need that, the default auto mode is good enough as well.

In my tests, the phone was capable of taking really good pictures even in low-light conditions. I'm really pretty impressed with it, especially when I used manual controls to shoot fireworks.

Performance

As you'd expect from a high-end device, the Mi 4 delivered slick performance comparable to other top-notch mobiles.

Interestingly, when I started the Quadrant benchmark, the phone asked if I wanted to use a high-performance mode or stick to the current balanced mode. It scored 24,055 in high-performance and 15,954 in balanced. On LinPack it obtained a blazing 901.961 MFLOPs over 0.19 seconds.

Call quality

Calls came through crisp and clear, and the person on the other end reported no issues either. The speaker volume feels just about right. While it isn't the loudest, you likely won't be missing any calls while the phone is in your pocket.

Battery life

In normal use, the 3,080mAh battery managed to last a day and a half, though I suspect with the LTE model, this should fall to a day. We're still testing the battery life with our CNET Labs Video app, so check back later for the official result.

Screen Shot of MI4

Pricing is currently unavailable.

Windows 9 Preview Could Be Free for Everyone

Microsoft is planning to launch a technical preview of Windows 9 sometime next month in early October in order to provide users with an early glimpse at the next version of the operating system.

Now, in an update to the original story, Microsoft watcher Mary Jo Foley adds, again via unofficial sources, that the Windows 9 technical preview will be “public and available to all those interested,” which means that Redmond won’t offer the download only to developers and testers.

What’s more interesting, however, is that this could also be an indication that Windows 9 preview could be offered free of charge to everyone, even though it’s not yet clear whether Microsoft wishes to include any trial period or not.

Based on the information we have at this point, it appears that this isn’t the case, as Microsoft reportedly wants to keep the original testing build running on all computers and deliver frequent updates as it advances with development work.

The company thus wants to avoid releasing new builds for download every once in a while and ship new features and optimizations via Windows Update, just like it’s the case with existing Windows versions already available to customers.

Of course, take everything with a pinch of salt, but if this information is real, expect Microsoft to break the news on Windows 9 anytime soon

Samsung NX3000 Review

The Samsung NX3000 is a new entry-level mirrorless compact system camera. The plastic-bodied NX3000 features a 20.3 megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor, 3-inch flip-up LCD screen with wink-shot mode, ISO range of 100-25,600, 1080p HD movie recording, built-in Wi-Fi and Near Field Communication (NFC) connectivity, 5fps continuous shooting, 1/4000th second top shutter speed, Sweep Panoramas and Samsung’s unique i-Function lens. The Samsung NX3000 is available in White, Black and Brown and costs £350 / $529 in a kit with the new 16-50mm f3.5-5.6 Power Zoom ED OIS lens and Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5.

Ease of Use

The NX3000 employs the same 20.3 megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor as all the other NX-series cameras (apart from the NX Mini), which is around 1.5x physically larger than the Micro Four Thirds system and promises to rival the image quality of the majority of DSLRs, whilst still maintaining a small camera body that is very similar to the likes of the comparable Sony NEX, Olympus PEN, FujiFilm X and Panasonic G-series.

The all-plastic NX3000 does at least have a metal lens mount and tripod socket, very commendable considering its budget price-tag. First impressions of the NX3000 are positive, with satisfying build quality. Our review sample has a functional look with an attractive, slightly retro two-tone black and silver colourway and subtly rounded edges. There's a faux-leather textured area which covers the front of the camera, including the tactile curved handgrip, which sadly isn't very deep. The same leatherette finish extends around the right-hand flank and covers the small rear thumb panel too.

Measuring 117.4 x 65.9 x 39mm and weighing 230g without the battery fitted, the NX3000 is slightly smaller and lighter than the NX2000 that it replaces. Once again there's no viewfinder or built-in pop-up flash, and while beginners probably won't notice the lack of an EVF, being more used to holding a camera at arm's length than holding one up to their eye, they will undoubtedly miss having a flash, while the reverse is probably true for more experienced photographers.

specs

Flash is instead provided for by a supplied accessory (SEF-8, guide number of 8 meters at ISO 100) which slots into the Smart Shoe on top of the camera, which adds to the bulk of the camera and isn't as well integrated as some of its main rivals. Another accessory is the EM10 external microphone, which features adjustable levels, a built-in headphone jack and no external cabling and is commendably compatible with all the Samsung NX models, including the NX3000. Note that there is no external EVF option for the NX3000.

We tested the NX3000 with the new Samsung 16-50mm f3.5-5.6 Power Zoom ED OIS lens, which has the built-in i-Functionality, a metal mount and more crucially optical stabilisation, important as the NX system doesn't offer in-body stabilisation. It's also smaller and more compact than the 20-50mm kit lens that shipped with the NX2000. Samsung's now standard i-Function button is present and correct, an innocuous looking button on the lens barrel which when pressed activates a sub-menu of key options and allows you to change them simply by turning the focus ring. Consecutive presses of the i-Function button moves through the four available settings - shutter speed and/or aperture, ISO, exposure compensation, and white balance.

While the i-Function button does provide a quick way of accessing certain key settings, we still can't help feeling that the idea is best suited to a camera with an electronic viewfinder where you can hold it up to your eye, press the button and turn the focus ring with your left hand, and grip the  with your right. Holding the NX3000 at arm's length to view the settings while pressing the i-Function button and rotating the focus ring just seems a little cumbersome, especially when you can also use the rear controls to perform the same actions, something that we found ourselves doing by default.

HTC One Windows Phone Leaks in Press Render, Shows Premium Design

Although we got many leaks regarding the upcoming Windows Phone handset from HTC, the alleged W8, there were few photos showing the smartphone in all its beauty.

HTC One W8 is expected to be officially unveiled on August 19, probably along with other products from the Taiwanese company. Given the fact that we're so close to the official announcement, the flow of leaks seems to get bigger and bigger.

Anyway, it looks like the folks over at Neowin have just published the first clear press render of the back side HTC One W8, which, no surprise here, bears Verizon Wireless' logo on it.

While this doesn't mean that the HTC One W8 won't be available internationally, there's a high chance that this will be exclusively available in the United States through Verizon Wireless.

According to latest rumors, the One W8 will have the same hardware configuration as its Android counterpart, the One M8. Obviously, the former will ship with Windows Phone 8.1 operating system out of the box, instead of Android OS.

We reported a few days ago that the One W8 may also come with the same open bootloader of the One M8, which means that owners will theoretically flash Android OS on it, while One M8 users may install Windows Phone 8.1 on their smartphones.

However, these are just speculations that are likely to increase the hype around HTC's next Windows Phone flagship smartphone, the W8. 

Considering that Windows Phone handsets are always cheaper than their Android counterparts even though they offer the same hardware configuration, there will be lots of Google OS fans who would want to purchase a cheaper Windows Phone and install Android on it.

Which is why we believe there's only a slim chance for HTC to allow the One W8 owners to install Android OS on their devices. Anyway, let's see what other features the Windows Phone handset has to offer.

First of all, HTC One W8 is expected to come equipped with a 2.3GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor inside, an Adreno 330 graphics processing unit, and 2GB of RAM.

In addition, the smartphone will sport a 5-inch Super LCD3 capacitive touchscreen display that supports full HD (1080p) resolution and features Corning Gorilla Glass 3 coating.

On the back, the One W8 is rumored to boast an UltraPixel camera with autofocus, dual-tone LED flash, and video recording, while on the front there will be an impressive 5-megapixel camera for selfies and video calls.

As shown in the pictures, the smartphone will pack dual front speakers, as well as HTC BoomSound audio technology. There will be 32GB of storage inside the One W8, but users will also be able to further expand storage up to 128GB via microSD card slot.