Kickstarted Pebble Time review

Almost three years after its predecessor took Kickstarter by storm, the Pebble Time crashes the smartwatch scene with an even louder bang. The newcomer became the most successful Kickstarter project to date only a few days after its launch and ended up with more than $20 million in funding.

Of course, three years is a hell of a long time in the tech industry, and the Pebble Time arrives in a totally different landscape compared to its trailblazing predecessor. An Apple Watch backed by a monstrous marketing budget and an army of Android Wear devices are as serious a competition to face as it gets.

To face its competitors, the Pebble Time comes with a color screen, voice control, and a brand new OS. It is also the most water-resistant smartwatch available at the moment. See the device's full list of key features below.

Key features

• 1.25" 64-color LCD e-paper display with memory-in-pixel technology and LED backlight; 168 x 144 pixels (182ppi); curved Gorilla Glass 3; superb sunlight legibility and power efficiency;
• ARM Cortex-M4 CPU; 256KB of RAM; 16MB of storage
• 3D accelerometer; compass; ambient light sensor
• Built-in microphone for voice replies
• Pebble OS with support for actionable notifications (Android only)
• Samsung-made 150mAh battery, a week worth of battery life
• Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity
• 40.5 x 37.5 x 9.5mm; 42.5 grams with standard silicone band easily replaceable, standard 22mm band
• 30m water resistance

Main disadvantages

• The display lags behind the competition in terms of colors, resolution, and performance indoors
• iOS device functionality lags behind the one for Android
• Limited app ecosystem (at least for the time being)
• Plasticky construction, though there is a Pebble Time Steel on the way

With a color screen and more capable hardware, the Pebble Time is unsurprisingly a massive upgrade over the first generation. The new model has also retained the key features that made the original Pebble such a success, headed by mind-blowing battery life and ease of use.

Despite being an update over its predecessor in terms of design and hardware however, the Pebble Time lags behind the Apple Watch and the Android Wear army on this instance. Competing smartwatches from Apple and Google look more stylish and boast better screens, internals, and app ecosystems, thus meaning that the Time will have to rely on ease of use and battery life to gain followers.

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A trip down memory lane GSMArena.com turns 15

Taking a trip down memory lane

Remember the times when the most exciting feature of your new phone was the number of pre-installed ringtones? Or the times when we measured storage by the number of entries the phonebook would take? Or the times we judged display quality by the color of the backlight and the number of lines it had? Well, we do. And if you do too, you sure gonna enjoy the video showcase that we've come up with in order to celebrate the 15th birthday of GSMArena.com.

It may sound strange to the younger ones among us, but there were times not so long ago when you could literally take the battery off one model and put it on another from the same manufacturer and it would be a perfect fit.

These were times when mobile accessories were extended batteries and snap-on external camera modules; times when we had to punch in manually notes just to get a new phone ringtone. There were times when we only had a fixed number of games in our phones and these were not much prettier than the mixture of straight lines and rectangular shapes they were drawn by.

It was in 1983 that Motorola came up with the first truly portable commercial mobile phone, the Motorola DynaTAC 8000X. It was a symbol of a new way of communicating and doing business and it was absurdly expensive. And thus it became a status symbol.

The phones that came out in the following twenty or so years were no different, meaning we still regarded them as status symbols. With prices of mobile telephony and the corresponding terminals remaining high through most of the 90s, the mobile phones of these years were often objects of unfulfilled longing and had a soul-binding appeal that only elusive, out-of-reach objects of desire could have.

Phones back served a limited set of purposes and yet we didn’t approach them with the utilitarian mindset we have today. They weren’t just tools for us. Their distinct designs and the limited choice of models meant owning a phone created an emotional attachment - a bond, if you will - that you can hardly get with an everyday object today. It's this bond with our mobile phones that inspired the creating of GSMArena.com in the first place.

Today we live in a disposable-everything culture and while the advancements in technology make it exciting times to live in, seeing the faces of these chaps - the Nokias, and Siemenses, Motorolas and the Ericssons of old - we will always going get that sweet-and-sour memory in the back of our heads.

Indeed, most of them look like they've seen better times, but meticulously collecting all of these phones can be nothing but a labor of love. We’ll be more than happy if by showing you this collection we get you some of those sweet memories.

Thanks to Momchil Nechev - Maxx for sharing his collection with us and our readers. Don't miss the great interview with have with him what it's like to collect old phones.

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Huawei P8 review

The Huawei P8 is the proud successor to the Huawei Ascend P7, although the company seems a little apprehensive about admitting it. The Chinese manufacturer hasn't quite settled on a naming convention, dropping the Ascend moniker in this iteration.

Huawei can honestly take pride in the aesthetics of its recent creations even if the naming continuity isn't quite ironed out yet. Visually, there is no doubt that the Huawei P8 follows the gorgeous Ascend P7 and the Ascend P6, and has even managed to refine that exterior.

The metal case and the slim profile carry across a distinctly premium feel. The P8 is quite an impressive package but so is its price, especially on international markets.

As usual, Huawei uses an in-house HiSilicon Kirin chipset and this approach can swing both ways. Ending up as the odd one out is definitely a gamble, especially away from China and we are quite keen to see how the P8 fends for itself away from home, against serial hardware and big-brand domination.

Key features

• Optional Dual Sim
• 5.2" 1080p IPS-NEO LCD (424 ppi) capacitive touchscreen with Gorilla Glass 3
• Huawei HiSilicon Kirin 930 chipset - quad-core 2GHz Cortex-A53 & quad-core 1.5GHz Cortex-A53, Mali-T628 MP4 GPU; 3GB of RAM;
• 13MP autofocus camera with dual-tone LED flash, RBGW sensor and F/2.0 aperture, 1080p video recording, some unique camera modes such as Light Trails and Light Painting
• 8MP front-facing camera, 1080p video recording, selfie panorama mode
• Android OS v5.0 Lollipop with Emotion UI 3.1
• 16GB/64GB of built-in storage; microSD card slot, doubling as a secondary SIM slot on the Dual SIM model
• Cat. 6 LTE (300Mbps); Dual-band Wi-Fi b/g/n; Bluetooth 4.1; GPS/GLONASS/BeiDou (BDS); FM radio; NFC; microUSB port with USB On-The-Go
• Active noise cancellation with a dedicated mic
• Optional special screen film can add capacitive buttons to the front of the device
• 2680mAh battery

Main disadvantages

• No 4K video recording
• No Wi-Fi ac support
• Non-removable battery
• No quick charging or wireless charging support
• No enhanced resistance to water or dust

The Huawei P8's refined exterior is actually quite sturdy, a testament to Huawei's expertise in making premium-quality handsets. No compromises have been made in this department and Huawei offers amazing build quality in the high-end segment.

We're not quite certain that the brand's name however is easily associated with the premium segment - at least in Europe, but phones such as the Ascend Mate7, the Ascend P7 and the P8 that we currently have here are definitely steps in the right direction.

    
Huawei P8 press images

Huawei's custom chipsets have also failed to deliver high-end performance in the past so that's one thing we'll certainly watch closely. The HiSilicon Kirin 930 chipset seems to match the competition's chipsets architecture but only proper benchmarking will tell whether its performance matches the Huawei P8 steep price tag.

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A balancing act Asus Zenfone 2 review

World domination was surely on the mind of at least one top exec over at Asus headquarters, when the crew gathered to outline the Zenfone 2 game plan. The smartphone will be sold globally, and the stores in a few lucky countries already have their shelves well stocked. The company is aiming to sell 30 million phones this year, with the Zenfone 2 being a chief contributor to that number.

Update, June 11: After spending some quality time with the top-of-the-line Asus ZenFone 2 with Intel Atom Z3580 SoC and 4GB of RAM, we added its benchmark scoresto the performance page of the review.

We have also updated the camera section on the original Zenfone 2 2GB, which we reviewed, after installing a new software V2.17.40.12, which considerably improved image quality.

Now, Asus doesn't make it easy on the prospective buyer as they offer the Zenfone 2 in a number of model variants - a range of devices under one and the same name. The entry-level ZE500CL comes with a five-inch 720 display, Intel Atom Z2560 chipset with its quad-core processor clocked at 1.6GHz, and 2GB of RAM. The ZE550ML ups the screen size to 5.5 inches, while keeping the HD resolution. The processor inside the Atom Z3560 ticks at 1.8GHz, and RAM is the same.

Then there's the ZE551ML, which sports a 5.5-inch diagonal and a FullHD resolution. Even the ZE551ML moniker wouldn't tell you what's packed inside, as there's a version with the same Atom Z3560 and 2GB of RAM and a top model, sporting an Atom Z3580 with specs going all the way up to 2.3GHz and 4GB of RAM.

To give Asus credit, probably not all models will be available on all markets and that may settle it for you, depending on where you live. The one we have at the office is the ZE551ML with the lower-specced hardware, meaning an Atom Z3560 and 2 gigs of RAM.

With that confusion cleared up, we're now moving to the task at hand.

Key features

• 5.5-inch IPS capacity touchscreen with 1080p resolution and 403ppi density, Gorilla Glass 3 protection
• Intel Atom Z3560 chipset with a 1.8GHz quad-core processor, PowerVR G6430 GPU
• 2GB of RAM, 16GB of storage and a microSD slot for further expansion
• Dual-SIM, Dual Call capability
• LTE Cat.4, NFC, Bluetooth; GPS with A-GPS, GLONASS
• Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi hotspot; microUSB 2.0 port, MHL, USB host
• 13MP main camera with dual-LED dual-tone LED flash, 1080p@30fps video recording; 5MP front camera
• 3,000mAh battery, fast charging to 60% in 40 minutes
• Android 5.0 Lollipop out of the box with Asus ZenUI overlay
• Nice build quality, sleek looking back cover

Main disadvantages

• No 2160p video recording
• Non-removable battery despite the removable back cover
• Rather large and hefty
• Zenfone 2 has a confusing naming convention - not only are there several of them, but ZE551ML comes in two hardware versions

The Zenfone 2 ZE551ML is also a looker, sporting a plastic back, which emulates brushed steel, and does so quite successfully. Our unit is dressed in Glamor Red but multiple color options are available to please a wider target audience.

     
Asus Zenfone 2 official photos

What all that adds up to is a proficient package, positioned in the upper midrange. At a price point around the $220 mark, it's also a compelling offer, hard to say no to. You could opt for the faster processor and double the RAM, and that would set you back around $280, still a bargain. Mind you, those are the numbers valid for most of Asia, while European figures are noticeably higher with the top model priced at €299 for a limited time, after which the price will become €349.

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