Latest launched smàrtphones February 2018 - AndroTechHacks
LG V30
LG V30 is an Android phablet manufactured by LG Electronics. It was unveiled on 31 August 2017, as the successor to the LG V20. It ditches the secondary display introduced by the V10 for a "floating bar" which has nearly the same functions as the second display. It still features quad DACs for improved audio.
The phone was first teased on 3 August 2017, in a press release from LG, showing the bottom half of the FullVision display. On August 7, press invitations were sent out featuring the words "Lights. Camera. Action.". Video teasers were later released, advertising the phone's display, audio and camera capabilities.
Specifications
Hardware
The LG V30 features a 6.0-inch P-OLED FullVision Display, with an 18:9 aspect ratio, manufactured by LG Display. Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 SoC, coupled with 4 GB RAM. The V30 has 64 GB of internal storage, while the V30+ has 128 GB, which is expandable via microSD card. This is also the first LG smartphone to feature an OLED display.
The LG V30 has a dual-lens camera setup, like most smartphones released in 2017, with a 16-megapixel main sensor, with a 71° field of view, and a 13-megapixel wide angle sensor, with a 120° field of view. However, the main camera also features a wider-than-usual f/1.6 aperture and a 10-bit HDR sensor (both a first in the world of smartphone cameras). The 10-bit HDR image sensor is capable of capturing nearly 1,070,000,000 different colors, which is about 211% more colors than an 8-bit image sensor. The main sensor has optical image stabilization, which corrects motion blur in photos and videos, but there is no OIS on the wide angle lens.
Software
The V30 ships with Android 7.1.2 "Nougat" with LG's custom skin, LG UX.
Reception
While the V30's screen has been criticized by some for its relative lack of color saturation, it has received praise for having one of the most mature dual-camera systems available. Construction of the V30 consists of a Gorilla Glass 5 front and rear plate sandwiching an aluminum body.
LG has also been praised for their commitment to audio quality, retaining the headphone jack even as other premium smartphones have removed it, and including multiple audio sensors for input and a 32-bit Quad-DAC (Digital Analog Converter) for output.
The phone has been criticized for the huge amount of bloatware LG puts on carrier branded devices.
Xiomi Mi Mix 2
Xiaomi Mi MIX 2 is an Android phablet manufactured by Xiaomi. It was first announced and released in China in September 2017 and later was launched in India at an event in Delhi on 10 October 2017. It is the successor to the Xiaomi Mi MIX. The ceramic body was designed by Philippe Starck.
Hardware
The Mi MIX 2 is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor, with either 6 or 8 GB LPDDR4X RAM. It has a 5.99 inches (152 mm) 1080p IPS LCD display, and features a 4-axis OIS camera system. Storage options include 64, 128 or 256 GB in China, but only 128 GB in India. The handset features a fingerprint scanner on the rear, and a front camera on the lower bezel. It features a 3,400 mAh battery with a USB-C reversible connector which supports Quick Charge 3.0. It also has a four-sided curved ceramic body. It does not feature a 3.5mm headphone jack and comes with a USB-C to 3.5mm headphone jack adapter provided in the box.
Software
It comes with Android 7.1.1 "Nougat" with Xiaomi's MIUI 9 custom skin pre-installed.
Reception
In August 2017, it was awarded the IDEA Gold Award for its design.
In reviews, the general feedback was favorable, with critics praising the more accessible elements of it over the original Mi Mix such as worldwide LTE bands, a lower price than the original Mi Mix, a smaller display and a traditional earpiece speaker to replace the piezoelectric speaker in the original Mi Mix.
Sony Xperia XZ Premium
The Sony Xperia XZ Premium is an Android smartphone manufactured and marketed by Sony. Part of the Xperia X series, the device was announced to the public along with the Xperia XZs at the annual Mobile World Congress in February 2017. Pre-orders for the Xperia XZ Premium started in Europe on 22 May 2017.The device went on sale in the UK on 2 June 2017 and in the US on 19 June 2017. It serves as the spiritual successor of the Xperia Z5 Premium and is Sony's latest flagship after the Xperia XZ.
The device's highlight features are a 4K HDR ultra high resolution display and its capability of capturing super slow-motion videos at 960 frames per second.
Design and Build
The Xperia XZ Premium refines the Xperia XZ's "Loop Surface" design. Called "Glass Loop Surface", it consists of a nylon side frame, metal top and bottom edges that together make up the chassis of the phone, and scratch-resistant front and back glass panels made of Corning's Gorilla Glass 5. The top and bottom part of the chassis are flat and diamond-cut along the edge to form a reflective facet. The front of the phone consists of dual front-firing stereo speakers, one on the top bezel and the other on the bottom bezel, along with a 13 MP front camera, ambient light sensor, proximity sensor and notification LED.
The Xperia XZ Premium's dimensions are 156 mm (6.1 in) in height, with a width of 77 mm (3.0 in) and a depth of 7.9 mm (0.31 in) and weighs approximately 195 g (6.9 oz). It has an IP rating of IP68, making it dust proof and water resistant for over 1.5 meters and 30 minutes under water. The device also features a fingerprint sensor embedded into the power button that can be used to unlock the phone and secure it from unauthorized access. This feature, however, is disabled on units sold in the US.
Display and Performance
The Xperia XZ Premium is the second phone with a 4K (2160p) display, the first one being the Xperia Z5 Premium. But unlike the latter, the Xperia XZ Premium has a 4K HDR display, making it the first smartphone to feature such a display. It is HDR10 compliant, but has no Dolby Vision support. The 5.46 in (139 mm) IPS LCD screen has a pixel density of 807 ppi when rendered in 4K resolution and features Sony's TRILUMINOS display and X-Reality for mobile technology.
It is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 (MSM8998), built on 10 nmprocess technology with 8 custom Kryo 280 processors (4x 2.45 GHz and 4x 1.9 GHz), 4 GB of LPDDR4X RAM and uses the Adreno 540 for graphics rendering. The device also has an internal storage of 64 GB and comes in single-SIM and dual-SIM versions, with both featuring LTE Cat. 16 with 3x carrier aggregation, a 4x4 MIMO antenna design and a total of 8 antennas. It also has microSD card expansion of up to 256 GB (in a hybrid slot for the dual-SIM variant).
Camera
Sony debuted in the Xperia XZs and the XZ Premium the world's first 3-layer stacked image sensor with DRAM for smartphones. Known internally as Sony IMX400, the new sensor features a RAM chip sandwiched in between the sensor and control circuitry layers, serving as a large and fast buffer to where the camera can temporarily offload photos or videos without waiting to store the captured data in the internal phone storage. This enables the camera to record super slow-motion videos at 960 fps, at a steady 720p resolution. Recording at super slow motion is limited to 0.18 seconds per buffer, due to limitations.
Officially called Motion Eye, the Xperia XZ Premium has a 19 MP 1/2.3” Exmor RS for mobile sensor with a 1.22 μm pixel pitch, f/2.0 aperture and 25mm wide G Lens. It also features 4K video recording, which supports SteadyShot video stabilization alongside the standard 1080p/30fps and high-speed 1080p/60fps and a 120fps recording in 720p options. The front selfie camera has a 13 megapixel sensor (1/3.06") with 22 mm, f/2.0 lens and 90 degree wide angle lens, same as the Xperia XZ but now features SteadyShot with Intelligent Active Mode (5-axis stabilization) like on the XZs.
The Xperia XZ Premium has Sony's Triple Image Sensing technology, first introduced in the Xperia XZ and is composed of the Image sensing (CMOSsensor with PDAF), Distance sensing (Laser AF sensor) and Color sensing(RGBC-IR sensor) systems. It features a hybrid autofocus that utilizes Phase Detection (PDAF) to lock focus on a subject within 0.03 seconds, and also includes phase and contrast detection along with predictive motion tracking. Like the previous flagship, it has a laser autofocus sensor for tracking and locking focus on an object, as well as a RGBC-IR (RedGreenBlueClear-InfraRed) color sensor that assists the white balance function of the camera by providing additional data about the light conditions of the surrounding environment. It also has SteadyShot with Intelligent Auto in addition to the five-axis sensor-shiftimage stabilization first seen in the Xperia XZ.
The Motion Eye camera also has a new feature called Predictive Capture. When it detects fast-paced movement, the camera automatically captures a maximum of 4 photos before the shutter button is pressed, and lets the user select the best one afterwards. This is done without any user intervention and is possible due to the same built-in RAM chip on the image sensor used in capturing the 960 fps super slow-motion videos.
In November 2017, after receiving user feedback, a software update within the camera features menu was released, titled "Correction for image distortion".
Battery
The Xperia XZ Premium is powered by a non-removable 3230 mAh battery. Charging and data transfer is handled by a USB-C port with support for USB 3.1. It also has Qualcomm's QuickCharge 3.0 and Qnovo adaptive charging technology built-in. This allows the device to monitor the cell's electrochemical processes in real time and adjust charging parameters accordingly to minimize cell damage and extend the battery unit's lifespan. It also comes with Battery Care, a Sony proprietary feature, that controls the charging process of the phone by learning and recognizing the user's charging patterns, preventing the phone from damaging the battery's cells from excessive heat due to overcharging. For example, when charging overnight, Battery Care stops the initial charge to 90 percent and then continue charging until full where it left off the next day.
Audio and Connectivity
The Xperia XZ Premium comes with a standard 3.5 mm audio jack for plugging in wired headphones. It also has LDAC, Sony's proprietary audio coding technology, that enables the wireless transmission of High-Resolution (Hi-Res) Audio content to LDAC-compatible audio devices. Other connectivity options include Bluetooth 5 with aptX and Low Energy, NFC, dual-band Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac with 2x2 MIMO antennas, Wi-Fi Direct, MirrorLink, screen casting via Miracast, Google Cast, DLNA, GPS (with A-GPS), GLONASS, BeiDou and Galileo satellite positioning. The Xperia XZ Premium has no FM radio.
Software
The Sony Xperia XZ Premium launched with the Android 7.1.1 Nougat operating system, along with Smart Stamina battery saving modes and Sony's proprietary multimedia apps. Android 8.0.0 Oreo started rolling out in late-October 2017.
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