Author: Chris Eilers

Meizu M2 went official!!

When OnePlus Two is doing storms over the internet lately, we have another super exciting news coming from Chinese producer. Meizu M2, a smaller and even more affordable version of the popular Meizu M2 Note was freshly launched today, just hours ago.

The Meizu M2 shares some similar specs with the M1, which was launched earlier in 2015. The M2 has a longer body with a physical home button and comes with an extra color option of grey.

Other details we know about the Meizu M2 for now include:

– 5.0” display and Android 5.1 Lollipop

– A unibody  polycarbonate unit ~> which means non removable battery

– Mediatek processor, quad-core MT6735

– 2GB of RAM

– Beautiful 13MP main camera and 5MP front shooter

– 2,5000 mAH battery

– 16GB ROM and 128GB SD card support

By the launch time, the Meizu M2 is priced at 559 Yuan. This means Meizu M2 price in PH is only PHP 4,100. This makes the device fits perfectly in our sub 5K budget smartphone category. However, whether the phone goes to international markets or not is still a mystery now.

Did any one of you have the Meizu M1 or M2 Note? If yes, we appreciate any sharing on your personal experience!

With the unleash of Oneplus Two and soon to be Samsung Galaxy Note 5, we can find that higher end smart phones are more likely to be equipped with larger RAM. Moreover, nowadays it seems that more and more smart phones are likely to sport a QHD display. For example, even Sony unveiled its Sony Xperia Z4v on a Quad HD screen. Below we introduce our list of smart phones that have both 4GB RAM and a Quad HD screen for your preference.

Popular phones that sports a 4GB RAM & Quad HD display

1. Xiaomi mi Note pro

This 5.7 inch smart phone is a product from Xiaomi. Xiaomi Mi Note Pro display is a Quad HD with the resolution of
1440 x 2560 pixels ( which is around 515 ppi pixel density). Apart from that, Xiaomi Mi Note Pro specs are awesome with not only its 4GB RAM, but an amazing 64GB internal memory. No microSD card slot though.

2. ZTE Axon

ZTE has just announced the Axon recently and it is a good phone considering its specs. ZTE Axon display is 5.5 inch Quad HD, and it has great statistics for its hardware. The Pro version has Snapdragon 810 chipset, 32GB internal storage along with 4GB RAM.

3. Samsung Galaxy Note 5

And here comes the big Note 5. Creating a lot of hot discussion recently, Samsung Galaxy Note 5 runs on a new Exynos 7422 chipset and sport 4GB RAM. Together with its 5.7 inch Quad HD, Samsung Galaxy Note 5 specs can help it be on top of any list.

4. LG G4 Pro

Another rumoured smart phone that is expected to be announced this Q3, LG G4 Pro display is said to be a Quad HD 5.8 inch screen. Moreover, information circulating the internet suggests that it will sport 4GB RAM on two variants : 32/64 GB. However, the most interesting specs may be LG G4 Pro camera, since it is said to be 27MP.

Price Pony readers, these are all great phones with good specs. Which one will you choose?

Sony Xperia C4, recently out in the Philippines, is a great smart phones for photo shooting and selfie, thanks to Sony’s great camera. Not too long after its release in Philippines, it seems that Sony will be releasing another one their C series, that is Sony Xperia C5 Ultra. There are some leaked photos of this device from some user manual.

Sony Xperia C4 is a very great phone for those who loves taking photos.

And in this photo is Sony Xperia C5 Ultra camera

The photo shows that Sony Xperia C5 Ultra is a bezel free smart phone. Moreover, the photo above shows that the device will have a large front facing camera with LED flash. This indicates something with higher quality about the phone’s front camera. Maybe like the C4, Sony Xperia C5 Ultra camera can be lower in resolution in the front than its main, but still has significant photo features and special effects.

The left and right side of Sony Xperia C5 Ultra indicate it is bezel less

All the buttons are presented in the user manual.

The code for these versions are E5506 and E5553

Sim card and microSD slots

The device is expected to have a 5.5 inch Full HD display along with an octa core  MediaTek MT6752 63 bit chipset, RAM 2GB, 13MP main camera and a 5MP one. We do not know anything about Sony Xperia C5 Ultra price yet, but hopefully it will be around the same range as C4, which is around 10k most likely. From all the things we can get from these leaked images, it is no doubt that Sony Xperia C5 Ultra is a good mid range handset. Some sources stated that it will be launched in around August, so let us wait until that time to know if this is really true.

On the other hand, Sony Xperia Z5 is rumoured to be unveiled around September this year, along with the launch of the new 007 movie, Spectre.

Yesterday, Oneplus Two, one of the most anticipated smart phones of Q3 2015, got released. It created a hype over the release, and many users are interested in it. If we look on the internet, articles about Oneplus Two are all over the place. This time, PricePony shows you some of the most interesting things about Oneplus Two, more particularly, its design.

OnePlus Two is similar to OnePlus One in design. However, many users who experience using the phones during the launching conference agree that Oneplus Two is indeed beautiful.

And yes it is.

Look at it at the front

And from the back.

Instead of using a plastic frame, OnePlus Two is built with aluminium/magnesium alloy frame around the body, plus some stainless steel touches. This helps the phone look more tough, firm, and more elegant than its predecessor. Moreover, the back cover of the device can be interchanged between many versions of the StyleSwap.

Oneplus also sport the device with a 5.5 inch Full HD display with the resolution of 1080 x 1920 pixels and 401 ppi pixel density. Oneplus even stated that the screen works well under sunlight, so you will have full viewing experience. It is not a Quad HD version, but many people won’t notice the difference between FHD and QHD anyways.

Moreover, the device offers a fingerprint sensor, something that becomes quite popular nowadays. Oneplus stated that it can read faster than Apple’s fingerprint sensor. Up to 5 fingerprints can be registered.

Along with that is an alert slider, which lets you switch between notification modes. It is very convenient since you do not have to unlock the phone, go to settings or do any other things to switch them on.

On the right side of OnePlus Two’s body lie the volume buttons. The audio jack is located on the top, and the bottom has the micro grilles and USB Type C slot.

USB Type C is a special feature on OnePlus Two.

After reading all of these, do you feel like you want OnePlus Two already ? OnePlus Two will be priced at around $329 for the 16Gb version.

Samsung Galaxy Note 5 and Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge + have been trending lately as two of the hottest devices lately. Although there are a lot of specs info on Note 5 circulating the internet ever since we heard about it, it seems that many people are still very concerned about Note 5. Instead of waiting until August 13, let us take a look at how it will be under some benchmark points.

Samsung invitation to an event on August 13, when Note 5 and S6 Edge + will probably be unveiled.

Note 5 and S6 Edge + live images with a working screen can be seen here, while below are some leaked photos from an accessory manufacturer in Japan for the Galaxy Note 5.

The leaks before the actual unveiling of Samsung Galaxy Note 5

The benchmark screenshot confirms some information (at least, right now) about the Note 5. As we have known for some time, Samsung Galaxy Note 5 will likely be equipped with an Exynos  7422 chipset. Some more info we can get about Note 5 is shown in the screenshot below.

The benchmark screenshot that shows a part of Samsung Galaxy Note 5 specs

As we can see, CPU-Z shows some detailed information on some of the main devices sported on the Note 5. According to the prototype phone, 4GB RAM is also confirmed for Note 5. The device tested is a 32Gb version, though we will not know if there are any other variants. Also, let us hope that it will have a microSD slot.

Android 5.1.1 Lollipop will be the Operating System, of course. Samsung’s TouchWiz UI will be running on it and provided the interacting environment. Moreover, Samsung Galaxy Note 5 will have a 5.7-inch display with the resolution of 2560 x 1440p, thus the pixel density of 480dpi. As Samsung does upgrade its screen tech over time, it seems Note 5 will have better screen even after release too.

Although this is 90% confirmed, let us see how Samsung will unveil their phones on August 13.

Android and Windows Phone are two leading operating system other than iOS. Each of them has their own pros and cons that attract users to choose between phones. According to their needs, users look for their suited smart phones, either Android or Windows Phone. If you are looking for a mid range smart phone to buy, then Oppo R1K and Nokia 830 are two candidates. Both are great with good specs and affordable prices.

Oppo R1K vs Nokia Lumia 830 specs

Design

If we take a look at the two phones, we can see the clear difference that Oppo R1K has curved corners while Lumia 830 does not. The front and back of Oppo R1K has resistant glass, protecting the phone from scratch. Though both have metal frame bordering the body, Lumia 830 is more “square” with its design. Moreover, the back of Lumia 830 does not have another glass cover like Oppo R1K.

Display

The two device sport a 5 inch display with the resolution of HD 720p, IPS panel and Corning Gorilla Glass 3 for protection. Actual use proves that both phones give smooth images and sharp view. However, Lumia 830 produces warmer color and better view under sunlight.

Hardware

For power, Oppo R1K is a tad faster with its quad core 1.3GHz processor. Both are equipped with 1GB RAM and 16GB internal storage. However, the Oppo R1K does not support microSD, while Lumia 830 does.

R1K has a 2410mAh battery and Lumia 830 has a 2200mAh. The small difference does not give off anything, but Windows Phone is known for its power and smooth operation.

Camera

Now it is the most amusing part. Oppo R1K has a main 13MP camera with the resolution of  4128 x 3096 pixels and a 5MP front one. The picture quality on this phone is quite high. It can also please Selfie lovers with a lot of enhance effects on the front camera.

The Pureview 10MP camera on Lumia 830 is one amazing thing either. When taking photos, the phone lets you take one photo with flash and one without. Then it offers the slider that lets you change the flash effect on your final product. However, the 1MP front camera seems to be a disappointment if you are crazy about selfie.

That’s all about Oppo R1K and Lumia Nokia 830. What do you think about these two?

Qualcomm Snapdragon, the famous chipset for many high end Android mobiles, upgrades its products time after time. Known for being powerful with these chipsets, Qualcomm has earned its place in the market. However, as the new Snapdragon series keep getting overheating issues, this becomes a very hot topic whenever Qualcomm released a new chip.

As we all knew, there was earlier info about Snapdragon 820 facing the same overheating issues as its predecessor, Snapdragon 810. Snapdragon 810 and earlier versions’ overheating is not a new problem to Android users anymore. If you are familiar with the phones powered by these chipset, you may have experienced your device’s “hot like fire” problems whenever the CPU accelerated already.

The issue seems not to be the case on Snapdragon 820 though. Recently, an info from Kevin Wang, a researcher for  IHS Technology China, stated that Snapdragon 820 is ideal to be integrated into any device. According to Kevin Wang, this issue can be prevented by using the four custom cores and a 14nm process. Moreover, Qualcomm has claimed that the 820 chipset will not be heating like your oven. It seems we have found the solution to overheating.

It seems that Qualcomm will not be shipping any Snapdragon before December. As many mobile manufacturers have begun to develop their phones with Snapdragon 820, we will see how the famous chipset performs soon.

Oneplus Two powered by Snapdragon 810 instead

Let’s hope that Qualcomm release it as soon as possible so we can have many flagships such as Xiaomi Mi5 or Asus Zenfone Pad2 in our hands this year!

With better and better specs being featured for newly – produced smartphones, users now have more choices to fit what they need and like. However, to enjoy all the good specs and apps, a good battery is highly important. We now see smartphones with huge 4,000 mAH battery and above. However, bigger capacity doesn’t always mean longer battery life.

PC Mark Battery Test and real working time result

With PC Mark Battery Test, we are able to gather the approximated battery life each device to show the real working time of them. Here are our list of the most popular ones nowadays for you to compare and choose the best out of your interest.

You may also notice the interesting fact that regardless of the battery capacity, some 3,000 mAH flagship operates even for longer time than certain 4,000 mAH monsters. For example, the famous Lenovo K80 with 4,000 mAH used to caught so much public attention only ranked 17th out of 20. And the Alcatel Flash Plus, a mid-range device with 3,500 mAH ranked 2nd in the list. Check out the PC Mark Battery Test result

20 popular Android smartphones/tablets ranked by battery life

Huawei Honor 6 Plus

iPhone is one of the most popular mobile brand in the world. Not only it is popular, but it has more to be on top of any list as well. Therefore, iPhone has always been one hot topic in many sites and forums. Today, the concept of iPhone 7 is what will be our main interest in this article. Take part in the discussion too, Price Pony readers!

iPhone 7, as the name suggest, will be probably out next year according to the release of each generation. As soon as the concept of what iPhone 7 will look like emerges on the internet, many surprises and responses are received. Let us take a look at the concept to see what iPhone 7 will likely be.

iPhone 7 seems to be inspired from its predecessors, iPhone 4 and iPhone 4C. While iPhone 4 was released in 2010, which is 5 years ago, it is still a very popular trend. Since it always has positive comments from users, it seems the theory that iPhone 7 is based from iPhone 4 is not very far from the truth.

The iPhone 7 seems to sport a sapphire glass back/front and a flat metal frame around the device.  Moreover, an Apple10 chip will power the phone. iPhone 7 will have a Quad HD Retina screen and 16MP iSight camera. With a Quad HD integrated into iPhone, Apple fans will surely be more interested. Moreover, people say that Apple Dock will be included, which lets users wirelessly charge their phone. Connectivity to other Apple device is possible as well.

It is also said that iPhone 7 will be out with 32GB version as the original. This seems reliable since Apple is reportedly said that it will discard the 16GB version if possible. While this is all rumour, there is still hope for the next iPhone to be more gorgeous and have various special features.

A decade ago, flip phones were still the trend and many people were crazy for one. As time flies and smart phones with touch screen are more and more advanced, the appearance of flip phones lessen and lessen. However, to many people, the flip phones are still the best experience ever with a communicating device. LG, the company that hails from Korea, revives the almost dying form of mobile phones by releasing LG Gentle.

LG Gentle – Lg’s new project which targets the older customers much more reminiscent of things from the past decade – is completely an innovation. With the design of the past, LG Gentle gives many memories about the once crazed flip phones.

LG Gentle gives a very nostalgic feeling of the past

Apart from the flip design, LG Gentle also has decent specs as it is actually a smart phone. The device has a 3.2 inch display with the resolution of 320 x 480 p, which is very good considering its flip form. Snapdragon 210 quad core 1.1GHz processor and a 1GB RAM power up the device. Moreover, with 4GB internal storage and microSd support, LG Gentle is appealing enough to most people.

To give it a more realistic touch of current smart phones, Android 5. 1 Lollipop is the operating system. The user interface and app store from Google Play will keep you entertained at all times. Moreover, LG Gentle has a main camera of 3MP, no flash though, and a VGA front camera. It houses a battery of 1700mAh, which is great for a flip phone.

The phone supports 4G LTE, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS and many more. Weighing around 143g, this is perfect for a flip phone.

However, the phone is currently only available in Korea for purchase. It seems you can only get this with $120 if you live there.

Coming with a lot of rumours recently, Sony seems to want to gain more attention to its brand, which is famous for nice photo shooting features and high quality camera. Along with the elegant design and amazing waterproof or dustproof features, Sony’s camera is always ranked top on many list. However, more and more smart phones released nowadays focus on camera as well. Let us see the battle between the two selfie-focused cameras, Sony Xperia C4 and Asus Zenfone Selfie, to decide which one will be worth our attention.

Sony Xperia C4 is a Sony representative in this article.

Asus Zenfone Selfie, the phone that heated a lot of forum upon its announcement.

Sony Xperia C4 vs Asus Zenfone Selfie specs

Design

On the first glance, we can tell right away that Sony Xperia C4 is lighter than Asus Zenfone Selfie. The C4 weighs only 147g, while Zenfone Selfie weighs around 170g. The C4 is a tad smaller and a lot thinner too, so we can feel it and has a firmer grasp on it than we will have with the Zenfone Selfie. The screen on both phones is 5.5 inches though, so clearly Xperia C4 has more advantage this round.

However, these cannot be the same with different people, so some may not feel that much different between them at all. Moreover, the C4 only has some scratch-resistant protection, while Zenfone Selfie has Corning Gorilla Glass 4.
Sony Xperia C4 is available in Black, White, and Mint color, while Asus Zenfone Selfie is available in Pure White, Chic Pink, Aqua Blue for its Taiwanese versions.

Hardware

If we focus more on hardware performance, we can see that Asus Zenfone Selfie will perform better. It has more battery power, housing 3000mAh instead of 2600mAh on C4. Moreover, Zenfone Selfie has an octa core 1.8GHz processor while C4 only has an octa core 1.7GHz. Both phones have 2GB RAM for its 16Gb internal storage.

However, Zenfone Selfie has a 32GB version with 3GB RAM. The two devices support microSD, so be free to expand your storage.

Camera & features

Now let us compare the most interesting feature on both devices. Sony Xperia C4 as well as Asus Zenfone Selfie has a 13MP main camera. However, the front camera on Sony Xperia C4 is only a 5MP one, while that on Asus Zenfone Selfie is a 13MP, which equals its main camera. Moreover, both the main and front cameras on Zenfone Selfie has dual led flash, which earn a lot of points for this device over C4.
On the other hand, Sony Xperia C4 has many camera shooting features, such as video light or continuous autofocus when recording movies. Sony Xperia C4 also has CMOS sensor, a serialshot mode, or AF tracking. It seems C4 is still fabulous considering its photo features. As expected from Sony.

Overall, both phones are great for photoshooting. While the C4 is already out in the Philippines, it is really easy to purchase one now. However, if you want to order an Asus Zenfone Selfie, you may want to wait some time for it to reach here.

Sony, the Japanese big name, has been gaining attention from all the information about its new flagship – Sony Xperia X5 – and other high end phones such as the rumour S60 and S70 news we received last week. However, it seems at least one of the devices listed above will actually come to the market this year. With the movie Spectre on the way, Sony is going to released one flagship phone soon to accompany the famous 007.

The teaser image indicates that probably Sony Xperia Z5 will be out.

Sony Xperia Z5 is what can be released due to the blurred letter before 5 in the photo. Since it is marketed as “Made for Bond”, of course the phone will be a flagship to stand out well with Bond in the movie. Given that the last flagship smart phone was Sony Xperia Z4, one could give out the name of Sony Xperia Z5 as the one that will appear in the movie.

Sony Xperia Z4, last year Sony’s flagship.

The rumoured Sony Xperia Z5, which will probably be out this September,  is said to sport a Snapdragon 820 chipset. Moreover, a 4GB RAM, fingerprint sensor and 4500mAh battery are what have been circulating the internet as well.  Interestingly, a 21MP camera will be integrated into the phone, promising another special feature. 4k video recording and HDR are also spotted on the leaks about Sony Xperia Z5.

Along with Xperia Z5, other versions called Xperia Z5 compact and Z5 Ultra will probably be out later this year too. However, Sony has confirmed none of this, so you should take note that it may or may not be true.

By the way, Spectre will be released in the US on November 6. This means we still have some more time to see if any of this come true before Bond makes an appearance with it in the movie, in front of our eyes.