Xiaomi Redmi Note Review - The Best Budget "Phablet"?

Xiaomi Redmi Note Review - The Best Budget "Phablet"?

Let's take another look at the Redmi Note from Xiaomi in this video... It is the 3G variant of the Redmi Note that we see in this video... There are 2 variants of th...

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ZTE Star 1

Знакомство с ZTE Star 1

Наш сайт: http://mobile-review.com/ Наш твиттер: https://twitter.com/mobilreview Наш ВК: http://vk.com/mobilereviewcom Наш FB: https://www.f...

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The R5 - Does it SMASH?

The R5 - Does it SMASH?

We've had the questions, now here's the real deal. Our R5? See for yourself. http://bit.ly/OPPO-R5.

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Oppo N3 unboxing

Oppo N3 unboxing

Sit back and watch our Oppo N3 unboxing, an unboxing which we're sure will offer you a great experience should you buy this N3, or any other Oppo phone for that matt... Related:GroupBuy SEO Tools

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This Indonesian online camera store doesn’t actually sell cameras

Ironically, the Indonesian ecommerce site PlazaKamera features everything related to cameras, including studio flashes, tripods, selfie sticks, and GoPros, but not the cameras themselves. According to the site’s founder and CEO Rico Satria Chandra, the logic is that camera accessories are faster-moving goods than actual cameras and lenses. This means that photo and film fanatics are more likely to replace these items several times over the course of their lives, whereas the decision to buy an expensive SLR or video camera generally only comes once or twice. In short, he describes PlazaKamera as one of Indonesia’s online superstores for photo and video accessories.

“Indonesia is a pretty untapped market. There’s basically nobody else doing this particular concept,” explains Chandra. “Originally, when I started this business, I was running it as an online shop on [the online forum] Kaskus and I sold all kinds of things. But I found that I really liked the price elasticity of the camera market, so I decided to specialize.”

Today, Chandra runs PlazaKamera’s 14-person team out of Surabaya, and is bold enough to say that PlazaKamera is the fastest growing camera-related ecommerce site in Indonesia. Rosari Soendjoto, PlazaKamera’s chief marketing officer, says the startup’s mission is to bring itself into the archipelago’s mainstream ecommerce market. Soendjoto believes that Indonesians have a strong photo and video infatuation, and as such, the local market for camera accessories is seeing an upward consumption trend.

With a range of products that includes body attachments, batteries, light diffusers, light tents, microphones, remotes, dollies, LCD monitors, and every kind of bag a director or photographer could think of, Chandra says PlazaKamera occupies an extremely specialized niche where dedicated hobbyists are brand-loyal and willing to spend on a regular basis.​

See: This tiny Tokyo startup wants to challenge Instagram and Vine with real-time video editing​

Soendjoto claims that the only form of marketing expense PlazaKamera takes on each month is US$100 on Google AdWords. Chandra says that from this minimal marketing effort, PlazaKamera is now seeing between 50,000 and 60,000 visitors on average per month. 40 percent of them are return visitors while 60 percent are newcomers, says Chandra, and the average purchase amount on the site is roughly Rp 600,000 (US$49). Soendjoto and Chandra claim that PlazaKamera is currently profitable, and has been pulling in Rp 1 billion (US$81,000) on average per month since late 2012.

Soendjoto and Chandra refer to PlazaKamera as a true ecommerce company; one which holds the physical inventory of the goods it sells. Chandra started the business out of his friend’s garage in Surabaya with a mere US$700 in 2009, and in 2012, he launched PlazaKamera.com. Currently, he classifies PlazaKamera as strictly a business-to-business and business-to-consumer website, but with the right partners he thinks he can diversify PlazaKamera’s business model.

Chandra and Soendjoto agree that their closest competitors are brick-and-mortar shops like Oktagon, Sinar Bahagia and Toko Camzone, all of which also have their own online presences for selling their products. Depending on how one looks at the market, PlazaKamera’s indirect competitors could also include more mainstream names like Bhinneka orLazada Indonesia.

“We don’t believe in competition. Instead, we believe in collaboration,” says Soendjoto. “We see many potential partnerships with these guys and opportunities to equip them. We want to create mutual benefits for everyone in our space.”

How and why Ericsson just banned Xiaomi from selling phones in India

Chinese phone maker Xiaomi has been slapped with an injunction from a high court in India, which bans the sale of Xiaomi phones in the country.

Ericsson, one of the world’s biggest telecommunications equipment providers and holder of many vital patents that allow smartphones to connect to mobile networks, is behind the injunction. The Swedish mobile heavyweight alleges Xiaomi infringed on its patents.

Ericsson told TechCrunch that it has spent three years attempting to engage Xiaomi, but to no avail. After Xiaomi allegedly refused to respond, Ericsson filed for the injunction, forcing Xiaomi into negotiations. Ericsson demands Xiaomi pay royalties for the relevant patents on products that connect to 2G (GSM), EDGE, and 3G networks.

Indian authorities have reportedly been dispatched to Xiaomi’s offices in India to assure the rules of the injunction are not broken, namely selling or importing more phones. The injunction did not specify which models are affected.

A Xiaomi representative sent the following statement to Tech in Asia, saying it has not yet heard from the court:

We haven’t received an official notice from the Delhi High Court. However, our legal team is currently evaluating the situation based on the information we have.
India is a very important market for Xiaomi and we will respond promptly as needed and in full compliance with Indian laws. Moreover, we are open to working with Ericsson to resolve this matter amicably.
​

On shaky footing


Ericsson has mounted similar litigation against other phone makers, including Micromax, Gionee, and Intex, according to SpicyIP, which originally broke the news. But the court seems to have expedited the case against Xiaomi due to the company’s alleged refusal to respond to Ericsson’s complaints.

However, SpicyIP notes that the law under which the injunction was granted is questionable. The international TRIPS Rules from 2007 only applies to copyrights and trademarks, not patents. That means the law might be overstepping its mandate.

Secondly, according to Indian law, SpicyIP says a lower district court must decide the case, and a high court can only get involved if there is a counterclaim. Therefore, the high court is not in conformance with the law by granting the initial injunction.


See: No, Huawei and ZTE did not accuse Xiaomi of patent infringement

In India, Ericsson has the high ground


Ericsson’s claim that it has been trying to engage Xiaomi for the past three years means this conflict began long before Xiaomi ever entered India, or any country outside of China for that matter. Xiaomi’s first-ever phone was launched just over three years ago, in August 2011.

Chinese smartphones typically operate on one of two types of networks: the local standard used by the country’s biggest carrier, China Mobile (TD-SCDMA and TD-LTE) or the international standards used by China Unicom and China Telecom (WCDMA, CDMA2000, and FDD-LTE). Ericsson’s beef is with Xiaomi phones’ use of the latter, which most Indian carriers also use.

But China has been notoriously protective of its domestic tech companies, which have gotten away with failure to pay royalties in the form of licensing fees in the past. Notably, chipset maker Qualcomm suffered a serious hit to its earnings after several phone makers using its chips refused to shell out. Chinese authorities then accused Qualcomm of price gouging, and the firm is now under investigation for breaking anti-monopoly and antitrust regulations.

So China doesn’t seem to be an ideal battleground for companies like Qualcomm and Ericsson to take on domestic phone manufacturers. However, now that Xiaomi is moving beyond China’s borders into countries like India, it’s much more vulnerable. Every country Xiaomi enters presents a new opportunity for Ericsson to sue, and India is a huge market that Xiaomi badly wants a piece of.

As we’ve noted before, Xiaomi has a relatively minuscule amount of intellectual property in its patent portfolio compared to other phone makers of its size. These disputes are often settled through cross-licensing agreements – wherein Xiaomi would allow Ericsson access to its patents – but if Xiaomi doesn’t have enough IP that Ericsson wants, it would have to pay out of pocket or go to court.

Earlier this month, Xiaomi, Kingsoft, and a handful of other Chinese tech companies set up a US$35 million investment fund to develop new IP.

Last month, a company controlled by Xiaomi struck a deal with Chinese chipset maker Leadcore, but it isn’t clear if Xiaomi received any patents in the transaction. Leadcore makes the 3G and 4G chipsets using the Chinese TD standard, which is growing more popular around the world.

Xiaomi aims to sell 60 million smartphones across seven countries in Asia this year, and it has big plans to expand to many more countries – including Latin America – next year.

(Source: SpicyIP)

Spotify for journalism? This app wants to tackle the fragmented news market

The way we consume news in today’s generation has changed in a way we couldn’t possibly imagine. Lately, our consumption habits seem to revolve around our smartphones. Fewer and fewer people are subscribing to newspapers and instead are opting for RSS feeds, picking up news from Twitter, or flipping through apps like Cir.ca or Flipboard. However, there’s still a lot of quality content in newspapers that doesn’t make its way to the internet, content that a lot of people are missing out on.

The underlying reason people don’t read newspapers anymore is simple; there’s so much free media out there, so people don’t want to pay for it. Inkl, an Australian startup, believes it has a solution. Its answer comes in the form of a mobile platform that curates content from major news outlets and provides it all in one place. “Inkl makes high-quality journalism easy and affordable for readers to access” says Gautam Mishra, CEO of Inkl.

See: The News Lens, a Taiwanese media startup, wants to move the island away from gutter journalism​

Mishra, a former director of strategy at Fairfax Media, states that paywalls that companies like Fairfax have in place are only converting around two percent of readers into paying customers. “The question is, what to do with that 98 percent”. The site currently has seven publishers on board: The Guardian (UK, US and Australian editions), The Sydney Morning Herald, South China Morning Post, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, The Washington Post and Indian business publication Livemint.It’s available to all countries outside the US. The startup plans to launch soon in America.

There are currently two ways of accessing Inkl, via a monthly subscription of AUD$15 (USD$12.40) per month or a pay as-you-go fee of 10 cents per article.

Inkl aims to address the fact that news is a form of media that has yet to adopt a global subscription solution, like with Netflix or Spotify. It’s something that may be hard to achieve as not only would it be a challenge to get people to pay for media in the first place, but also to sign up more news outlets and convince them of the value of this kind of bundled system.

We asked Inkl’s VP of marketing, Helen McMurdo, what they were doing to entice publishers, and she believes that they’ve got it figured out. “Because Inkl pays publishers every time a reader views one of their articles, publishers who partner with inkl are able to earn 50 to 100 times as much per page impression as most publishers earn for mobile advertising.”

However, Inkl isn’t the only company attempting to be the “Spotify for journalism.” Dutch startup Blendle, which is backed by the New York Times, allows users to purchase articles for prices that start from 10 euro cents for short stories and 80 euro cents for longer features.

“Blendle is a great business, and potentially more of a complement than a competitor. Because while Blendle focuses on print products and magazine-style content, we focus on providing the latest breaking news articles and investigations in an environment that is tailor-made for mobile devices.” says McMurdo.

Inkl is available to access via the website on any mobile device, with an iOS and Android app on the way.

This post Spotify for journalism? This app wants to tackle the fragmented news market appeared first on Tech in Asia.

In Indonesia, you can now purchase Android apps on Google Play with carrier billing

It’s still always a hassle when you want to monetize your Android apps in Indonesia. The country only has 8 million credit card owners – that’s just 3.2 percent of the entire population – and the biggest Android app store in the archipelago is Google Play, which only accepted credit cards for payment. But that’s all changed this week, with local telco Indosat announcing that it is now providing direct carrier billing to its users to buy apps from the Play store.

The telco says that it will gradually roll out the carrier billing payment scheme over the next week, so not all users will be able to purchase Android apps using Indosat credit just yet. Users can do this by setting up the “payment options” inside the Google Play store and choosing “enable Indosat billing”.


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Also Read:8 Best To-do List Apps for Your iOS Device to Make Your Work DoneNote that all payments via Indosat will charge users an additional 10 percent VAT over the displayed price on Google Play. So you’ll be paying US$1.10 if you’re buying an app or in-app purchase priced at one buck.

The rest of Google Play’s system works as usual. You can still get a refund on a purchased app even when you pay using Indosat credit.

Indosat has 54.3 million subscribers. Last year, the company revealed that it has only 1.6 million Android users out of its eight million smartphone users. Although the total subscribers number hasn’t increased significantly in the past year, there’s a good chance that a large number of feature phone users have since upgraded to Android smartphones.

Indosat is the first telco in Indonesia to implement carrier billing in Google Play. There are other third-party app stores in the country, such as XL Axiata’s Gudang Aplikasi, Telkomsel and SingTel’s WePlay, Baidu’s MoboMarket, and Altermyth’s Nampol.

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The Windows Phone Store and BlackBerry World allow users to pay via direct billing from various telcos in Indonesia.

How and why Ericsson just banned Xiaomi from selling phones in India

Chinese phone maker Xiaomi has been slapped with an injunction from a high court in India, which bans the sale of Xiaomi phones in the country.

Ericsson, one of the world’s biggest telecommunications equipment providers and holder of many vital patents that allow smartphones to connect to mobile networks, is behind the injunction. The Swedish mobile heavyweight alleges Xiaomi infringed on its patents.

Ericsson told TechCrunch that it has spent three years attempting to engage Xiaomi, but to no avail. After Xiaomi allegedly refused to respond, Ericsson filed for the injunction, forcing Xiaomi into negotiations. Ericsson demands Xiaomi pay royalties for the relevant patents on products that connect to 2G (GSM), EDGE, and 3G networks.

Indian authorities have reportedly been dispatched to Xiaomi’s offices in India to assure the rules of the injunction are not broken, namely selling or importing more phones. The injunction did not specify which models are affected.

A Xiaomi representative sent the following statement to Tech in Asia, saying it has not yet heard from the court:

We haven’t received an official notice from the Delhi High Court. However, our legal team is currently evaluating the situation based on the information we have.
India is a very important market for Xiaomi and we will respond promptly as needed and in full compliance with Indian laws. Moreover, we are open to working with Ericsson to resolve this matter amicably.
​

On shaky footing


Ericsson has mounted similar litigation against other phone makers, including Micromax, Gionee, and Intex, according to SpicyIP, which originally broke the news. But the court seems to have expedited the case against Xiaomi due to the company’s alleged refusal to respond to Ericsson’s complaints.

However, SpicyIP notes that the law under which the injunction was granted is questionable. The international TRIPS Rules from 2007 only applies to copyrights and trademarks, not patents. That means the law might be overstepping its mandate.

Secondly, according to Indian law, SpicyIP says a lower district court must decide the case, and a high court can only get involved if there is a counterclaim. Therefore, the high court is not in conformance with the law by granting the initial injunction.


See: No, Huawei and ZTE did not accuse Xiaomi of patent infringement

In India, Ericsson has the high ground


Ericsson’s claim that it has been trying to engage Xiaomi for the past three years means this conflict began long before Xiaomi ever entered India, or any country outside of China for that matter. Xiaomi’s first-ever phone was launched just over three years ago, in August 2011.

Chinese smartphones typically operate on one of two types of networks: the local standard used by the country’s biggest carrier, China Mobile (TD-SCDMA and TD-LTE) or the international standards used by China Unicom and China Telecom (WCDMA, CDMA2000, and FDD-LTE). Ericsson’s beef is with Xiaomi phones’ use of the latter, which most Indian carriers also use.

But China has been notoriously protective of its domestic tech companies, which have gotten away with failure to pay royalties in the form of licensing fees in the past. Notably, chipset maker Qualcomm suffered a serious hit to its earnings after several phone makers using its chips refused to shell out. Chinese authorities then accused Qualcomm of price gouging, and the firm is now under investigation for breaking anti-monopoly and antitrust regulations.

So China doesn’t seem to be an ideal battleground for companies like Qualcomm and Ericsson to take on domestic phone manufacturers. However, now that Xiaomi is moving beyond China’s borders into countries like India, it’s much more vulnerable. Every country Xiaomi enters presents a new opportunity for Ericsson to sue, and India is a huge market that Xiaomi badly wants a piece of.

As we’ve noted before, Xiaomi has a relatively minuscule amount of intellectual property in its patent portfolio compared to other phone makers of its size. These disputes are often settled through cross-licensing agreements – wherein Xiaomi would allow Ericsson access to its patents – but if Xiaomi doesn’t have enough IP that Ericsson wants, it would have to pay out of pocket or go to court.

Earlier this month, Xiaomi, Kingsoft, and a handful of other Chinese tech companies set up a US$35 million investment fund to develop new IP.

Last month, a company controlled by Xiaomi struck a deal with Chinese chipset maker Leadcore, but it isn’t clear if Xiaomi received any patents in the transaction. Leadcore makes the 3G and 4G chipsets using the Chinese TD standard, which is growing more popular around the world.

Xiaomi aims to sell 60 million smartphones across seven countries in Asia this year, and it has big plans to expand to many more countries – including Latin America – next year.

(Source: SpicyIP)

Minix NEO X8-H Plus (Amlogic S812-H) REVIEW

Minix recently upgraded their flagship 4K model with the latest Amlogic S812-Hquad-core processor. The new Minix NEO X8-H Plus is now one of the most powerful Android media players and brings faster network connectivity and improved media performance.

Compared to the previous model Minix NEO X8-H powered by Amlogic S802-H processor, the new Minix NOE X8-H Plus offers the following improvements; Dual-Band Wi-Fi 802.11ac with data rates up to 433Mbps, Gigabit Ethernetand native 4K H.265/HEVC hardware decoding.

	Minix NEO X8-H	Minix NEO X8-H Plus
Release date	2014/5/27	2014/11/21
CPU	Amlogic S802-H	Amlogic S812-H
Wi-Fi	Broadcom AP6330 802.11n Dual-Band (2.4GHz/5.8GHz)	Broadcom AP6335 802.11 ac Dual-Band (2.4GHz/5.8GHz)
Ethernet	10/100Mbps	10/100/1000Mbps
H.265 Hardware Decoding	No	Yes

In The Box

Just like all the previous Minix TV box devices the Minix NEO X8-H Plus comes well protected in a strong and good looking packing box. As seen in the photo above the devices is bundled with a set of accessories including, external WiFi antenna, AC power adapter, IR remote, USB cable (for PC upgrade), HDMI cable (1m) and a micro USB OTG adapter.

One important thing to mention here is that Minix also pays attention to quality of its accessories, something that most competitors often overlook in order to cut corners. The included IR remote not only looks good but also feels better in hand, it has the right buttons in the right place and they are solid rubber buttons. The USB and HDMI cables are also made of better quality.

But maybe the most important accessory for such a powerful device is it’s power supply. Minix is producing own branded AC adapters with better quality and correct specs which results in better stability. Included is a 5V / 3000mA power adapter which is more then enough to supply the fast CPU / GPU, any external USB accessories and hard drives.

Ports and Design

The Minix NEO X8-H Plus uses the same design and ports layout as the previous model. On the right side of the device you will find the well placed Power button, 3.5mm headphone jack, MIC in, USB 2.0 port, SD card slot and microUSB OTG port.

At the back, from left we find, Recovery reset hole, HDMI 1.4b port, optical SPDIF port, two USB 2.0 ports, RJ-45 Ethernet port and the AC port.

The WiFi antenna is attached to a gold plated connector on the left side of the device.

Looking at the bottom of the device, we once again notice the focus Minix puts on small but important details. The bottom of device have four rubber feet which will better keep it in place but also creates a small gap between the underlying surface for better cooling.

Android UI and Software

Another major strength with Minix devices is focus on the software side and good support from the company for all their products. Anyone who have ever used an Android device may have noticed compatibility issues with hardware drivers and app support due to the nature of the open and defragmented Android platform. Keeping an OS up to date is not a easy task even for the biggest names in the industry.

The new Amlogic solutions introduced a new block Android UI for easier operation and navigation on TV using IR remotes navigation buttons. Minix have modified the block UI to improve the experience even further.

The device comes pre installed with the most common features and apps out of the box. First time users don’t have to send hours search which app works best with the device. Google Play is supported and give you easy access to all the millions apps in Googles store.

One of the reasons people choose an Amlogic devices over other solutions is the better support for the very popular media center app XBMC / Kodi. But even here there are sometimes some codec and playback issues, Minix keeps an eye on the XBMC / Kodi development and provides custom versions with all the latest fixes.

Support

As mentioned earlier Minix takes their customer support seriously and promises to provide long-term firmware support (18-24 months) for all their newer devices. Minix have authorized resellers in many different countries and you may even get local support if things go wrong. Minix also hosts own forum where customers can get help and leave feedback. There is also good support form other communities where developers release customs ROMs and other tweaks for Minix devices.

Final Thoughts

The main news with the latest Minix NEO X8-H Plus and the Amlogic S812-H solution is support for faster WiFi speeds, faster wired speeds and the new H.265/HEVC hardware decoding, features that maybe overkill for most users. If you are looking for a low cost Android device to watch Youtube, Netflix, HD movies and stream from your mobiles devices than there is plenty of good and cheaper options.

However if you are into the highest video resolution, at highest bitrate and 4K support the faster network speeds together with H.265/HEVC codec support will allow you to stream and decode the best image quality.

Minix NEO X8-H Plus sells for about 160USD with shipping from Gearbest and Geekbyuing.

Compared to other TV box brands and models you pay a slight premium price for a Minix device, but you also get premium quality and a more future proof product, and the extra cost will most likely pay off in the long term.

Minix NEO X8-H Plus links:

Minix product page: http://www.minix.com.hk/Products.htm
Minix NEO X8-H Plus forum: http://www.minixforum.com/forums/neo-x8-h-plus.81/