Mike Adams Live: February 2016

Monday, February 22, 2016

Gionee unveils all-metallic S8 with 16MP camera, 4GB RAM

At Mobile World Congress, Gionee has unveiled its flagship for 2016, the S8. The phone offers an all-metallic design, which the vendor calls "loop full-metal design."

As for the hardware on offer, the Gionee S8 features a 5.5-inch Full HD AMOLED display, MediaTek's octa-core Helio P10 SoC, 4GB of RAM, 64GB internal memory, 16MP camera with PDAF as well as a laser autofocus system, LTE Category 6 connectivity, and a 3000mAh battery with fast charge. The home button at the front houses a fingerprint sensor.

Gionee's offering Force Touch, with functionality similar to what you'll find on the iPhone 6s. The feature works with Gionee's stock apps at launch, and the vendor is working to increase functionality over the coming months.

The S8 is also the first phone to run Gionee's latest OS, Amigo 3.2, based on Marshmallow. The vendor's global SIM roaming service, which made its debut with the Marathon M5 Plus, is now baked into the OS.

The camera app's navigation has been simplified, giving you quick access to filters and shooting modes. There's OCR as well, with any scanned text automatically converted to a document. The S8 is also adding filters to videos, offering seven different filters with live preview at launch. You also get a video editor to quickly tweak your videos directly from the device.

The Gionee S8 is priced at 449 Euro, with the device set to go on sale from the end of March. It is certainly interesting to see the vendor make the switch to an all-metallic chassis, as well as Marshmallow on the software side of things. We'll have more to share on Gionee's flagship in the coming weeks and months, so stay tuned.

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ZTE Blade V7 and V7 Lite hands-on from MWC 2016

ZTE's bringing Marshmallow, metal and a few key features to its low end.

ZTE's new Blade V7 and V7 Lite are focused on bringing a nicer experience to the low end, and we've had a chance to use them for a bit here at MWC 2016. With either phone you get 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage, as well as a 1080p display. The relatively large screens, metal build and a few key features definitely put these in the low-end, but aspirational category at prices of $249 and $189, respectively.

First up, the Blade V7, which is the higher-end of the two. While we unfortunately weren't able to get our hands on the fancy gold model shown off in the press images, the black one wasn't too shabby itself. The first thing that surprised us was how nicely the front glass curved into the metal body and how tight the tolerances were — not always a given at the lower price points. And while this is a pretty monolithic and basic design, we're glad the money was spent on materials rather than unnecessary flair.

ZTE has made the move to Android 6.0 on these phones (and at this point, the January security update) and aside from some new icons and a few additional features has left this basically stock, which has historically been hit-or-miss with the manufacturer. The software seems quick on the Blade V7, as you'd expect with a device that doesn't have much on it. Interesting the V7 Lite, at least in the models on display here, had a software build with a differently-skinned notification shade that showed a bit more of the ZTE design we love to loathe.

Onto the Blade V7 Lite, which as its name would suggest is a bit lower on the spectrum. Interestingly it shares the same design and materials with the primary V7 model, though it cuts out in a few key areas for price concerns. The biggest changes are the move to a lower-end MediaTek quad-core processor, and a drop in screen size to 5-inches from 5.2. The cameras also shift a bit, where the V7 Lite drops the rear camera resolution to 8MP, but boosts the front camera to 8MP and adds a selfie flash.

Interestingly, the Blade V7 Lite includes a one-touch fingerprint sensor on the back, which is something that the higher-end V7 doesn't have. ZTE hopes to use this as a huge differentiator in this price category, but it's odd to think that it wouldn't also include it on the higher-end model that costs some 30 percent more.

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First look: Sony Xperia Ear + Xperia Eye Concept

Sony is extending its Xperia line beyond smartphones and tablets, with the announcement of four new connected devices at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

The first two are the more traditional of the group: The Xperia Eye is a Moto Hint-style Bluetooth earpiece that reads back notifications and reminders. And the Xperia Eye is a small connected camera designed to attach to your clothes or other objects.

The Xperia Eye and Ear devices on the show floor today in Barcelona weren't functional — and the Eye is remains a "Concept" for the moment — but we can give you a quick look at early hardware for both. Read on for a first look at the Sony Xperia Ear and Xperia Eye.

Sony Xperia Ear

As well as being a notification reader, the Xperia Ear is can tell you the weather and remind you about upcoming appointments. It's also always listening for voice commands so you can navigate, dictate messages and search the web, all through a Bluetooth connection to your smartphone. Expect to hear more about the Ear as it approaches release this summer.

MORE: Sony announces the Xperia Ear, Eye, Agent and Projector at MWC

Sony Xperia Eye

The Xperia Eye is best thought of as a smaller-scale action cam, designed to capture everyday moments with its spherical 360-degree lens. It also uses Sony's face detection algorithms to focus automatically, and is designed to be clipped onto clothing or attached to other objects. As it's a "Concept," there are no further tech details available at the time of writing, nor word of any release date.

NOW READ: Sony Xperia X + X Performance hands-on

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This is what the LG G5 could have been

(But it's probably a good thing it's not.)

Smartphones go through a lot of stages before they're finally birthed. And a good number of those stages — much like most of us at one point or another in our lives — are filled with awkward moments. Odd lumps and bumps in what now is a smooth, svelte specimen of a man. We're talking about someone other than me, obviously — but we're also talking about the LG G5. LG brought with it to Barcelona a sampling of the prototypes that came before it — a rare look into the actual production and design pains of a smartphone.

Maybe curves didn't quite make the cut. Maybe lines were off and finishes not quite perfect. Or maybe they were just bad ideas to begin with.

In any event, it's a cool look at where the LG G5 came from.