China’s Xiaomi challenges iPhone 6 Plus with new flagship Mi Note

BEIJING — China’s Xiaomi Inc staked its claim to Apple Inc’s crown on Thursday as the world’s third-biggest smartphone maker and most valuable tech start-up unveiled the flagship Mi Note, its challenger to Apple’s iPhone 6 Plus.

Chief Executive Lei Jun introduced the Mi Note in Beijing with a breakdown of the large-screen phone’s technical features, with multiple comparisons to Apple’s equivalent. At 2299 yuan (244 pounds) for a model with 16 gigabytes of memory, the Mi Note will retail for almost two-thirds less than the iPhone 6 Plus.

Just three years after Xiaomi sold its first smartphone, a $1.1 billion round of fundraising announced in December valued the firm at $45 billion. The privately held company has risen to become the world’s No. 3 smartphone maker and is challenging Apple and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd as well as domestic rivals such as Huawei Technologies Co Ltd.

Xiaomi takes efforts to play down comparisons with Cupertino, California-based Apple, though it is commonly called the ‘Apple of China’.

“The Mi Note is shorter, thinner and lighter than the iPhone,” Lei told his audience of thousands gathered in the north of China’s capital.

Lei wore a light-blue shirt, eschewing his previously favoured black top, jeans and sneakers, reminiscent of Apple founder Steve Jobs’ trademark black turtleneck and jeans.

“Xiaomi is an innovative start-up company, with a short history,” said Lei. The company has been frequently criticised for allegedly copying other tech companies, most notably Apple. “In 10 years we will have tens of thousands of patents.”

Lei also laid out Xiaomi’s strategy to connect its smartphones with Xiaomi-branded home appliances, allowing phone users to remotely control washing machines, air purifiers and surveillance cameras.

“In five to 10 years all devices will become smart devices,” he said. “If every smart device and every device at home can be seamlessly connected to the cloud, what could our life be like? It would be beautiful and easy.”

Xiaomi weathered a decline in overall smartphone sales in China last year to see revenue more than double to $11.99 billion from 2013.

The company sold more than 61 million handsets in 2014, up 227 percent from a year earlier. In China, the world’s biggest smartphone market, overall sales fell 8 percent, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

On Monday, Reuters exclusively reported that Lei and Facebook Inc CEO Mark Zuckerberg discussed a potential investment by Facebook in China’s top smartphone maker ahead of last month’s fundraising, but a deal never materialized.

source: interaksyon.com

Apple iPhone rollout marred by ‘bendgate,’ dropped cell service

SAN FRANCISCO — Two new Apple products hit speed bumps on Wednesday: iPhone 6 Plus buyers discovered their phones can bend when placed in back pockets, and the company pulled its latest mobile operating system after reports of dropped cellular service.

“Bendgate,” as the problem has already been dubbed on social media sites, is a reminder of 2010′s “antennagate,” when iPhone 4 users reported a design flaw that caused dropped calls.

Apple did not comment on the bending-phone reports. But it did announce that it was investigating reports of an issue with an update of its iOS 8 operating system and in the meantime had pulled the version designated 8.0.1.

The bendable-phone situation might prove particularly troubling for those who wear skinny jeans, according to reports on Facebook and Twitter. The phrase “Your pants are too tight for your phone” has already received hundreds of mentions.

Some say the device, which has a lightweight aluminum shell, is more malleable than expected, but that might fall short of a design flaw, according to analysts.

Overall, evaluators seem flummoxed.

“A ‘bendability test’ hasn’t been part of our breakability testing to date because up until this week we’ve never seen a phone thin enough to make this a potential issue,” said a spokesman at SquareTrade.

SquareTrade, which provides warranties to iPhone users, said it planned more tests later on Wednesday.

Reports on the quirk first surfaced on Unbox Therapy, a gadget-review show on YouTube.

Brandwatch, a company that tracks and analyzes data from social media sites, said only a small number of people tweeted about the “bend” in the days leading up to Sept. 22. But after the release of the YouTube video, which had racked up over 6 million views by midday Wednesday, Twitter mentions of the “bend” had skyrocketed to 75,000.

Tweets are flying about the “bend in your pocket,” the challenge of wearing “tight pants,” and that the iPhone 6 Plus bends “with bare hands,” said Brandwatch spokeswoman Dinah Alobeid.

Another key topic, she said, is a comparison with the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 phone, which has nearly 4,500 mentions.

Apple spokespeople did not immediately respond to requests for comment, but at least one rival smartphone maker jumped at the chance to weigh in.

“I would challenge you guys to bend our Passport,” John Chen, Blackberry’s chief executive officer, said on Wednesday at an event in Toronto to unveil its newest phone.

On Monday, Apple said it had shipped 10 million units of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus since it began selling the phone on Friday.

Apple stock edged down 89 cents, or 0.87 percent to $101.75 on the Nasdaq on Wednesday.

source: interaksyon.com

iPhone comes out of a ‘bygone era’, reviewers hail bigger handset

Bigger is better and Apple Inc has finally realized that and given iPhone users a product that may be low on novelty but high on improvements, reviewers wrote.

Most reviewers say that the iPhone 6 is the best smartphone available or “ever made”, while the 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus has been described as a “phablet” that will give competition to Samsung Electronics Co Ltd’s Galaxy S line of ‘big’ Android phones.

“I think it’s a terrific phone. In my view, it’s the best smartphone on the market, when you combine its hardware, all-new operating system, and the Apple ecosystem whose doors it opens,” Walt Mossberg wrote of the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 in the tech blog Re/code.

Geoffrey Fowler, who reviewed the phones for the Wall Street Journal, said Apple has “successfully addressed its size deficiency.”

Mossberg said the increase in the screen size is a “catch-up” feature. But it is seen as a welcome change by Fowler, who said the iPhone “felt stuck in a bygone era called 2012″ before the launch of the bigger phones.

New York Times reviewer Molly Wood appreciated the new “thinner, flatter and more rounded shapes” of both the phones. But she pointed out that the sleek look comes at the cost of the phones feeling “slippery”. (nyti.ms/1woWs9r)

The improvements made to the operating system – the iOS 8 software, and that to the camera were given a thumbs up by reviewers across the board. However, most believed that Apple could have done more to enhance the battery life of the phones.

Joshua Topolski, who reviewed the phones for Bloomberg, said they were faster than their predecessors.

“Apple will tell you that these are the fastest mobile devices it’s ever made, and it wouldn’t be lying. These phones scream,” Topolski wrote.

The new iPhone 6 goes on sale on Sept. 19 in the United States.

source: interaksyon.com

Apple unveils two big-screen iPhones, smartwatch‎

Apple unveiled on Tuesday (Wednesday in Manila) two new versions of the iPhone, boosting the screen size of the iconic smartphone to 4.7 and 5.5 inches.

Unveiling the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, Apple chief Tim Cook said the company was launching “the biggest advancement in the history of iPhones.”

Apple senior vice president Phil Schiller, speaking in Cupertino, California, said the new iPhones were “simply stunning” with polarized glass displays and bodies that are “thinner than ever before.”

“These are the best phones ever made,” Schiller said, as he described the new devices at a major set-piece event streamed live online.

The new iPhone 6 will start at the same price of existing iPhones at $199 for US customers while the iPhone 6 Plus will be at $299 with a two-year contract.

Schiller said the devices would be available in at least 115 countries by the end of the year.

Apple will cut the price of existing iPhone 5S and 5C with the launch.

Apple’s move, expanding the latest iPhone with a four-inch screen, comes as consumers are switching to handsets with bigger displays to watch videos and browse the Internet.

Observers say the timing is right for Apple to introduce a generation of iPhone 6 models with screen sizes stretched to tap into users’ love for “phablets” that combine the features of smartphones and tablets.

Apple chief Tim Cook said, “it’s the best iPhone ever.”

Apple straps computing to wrist with Watch

Apple also unveiled a smartwatch dubbed simply “Watch.”

“Apple Watch is the most personal device we have ever created,” Apple chief executive Tim Cook said while announcing the hotly-anticipated move into wearable computing.

The watch comes in two sizes and an array of choices of interchangeable, fashionable bands. Cook introduced Apple Watch with the “one more thing” introduction that was a trademark of iconic Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.

“It is the next chapter in Apple’s story,” Cook said of the first new product category to be entered by the company since the death of Jobs in 2011.

“We invented intimate ways to connect and communicate directly from your wrist; it works seamlessly with iPhone and it is also a comprehensive health and fitness device.”

Apple has been working on Watch for a long time, and didn’t just shrink the iPhone and strap it to the wrist, Cook told a rapt audience in a performing arts center in Silicon Valley where Jobs introduced the Macintosh computer 30 years ago.

While Apple Watch has touch-screen capabilities, many controls were designed into a “digital crown” button to avoid fingers from blocking screens.

Sensors on the Watch can detect a wearer’s pulse, and the devices tap into motion sensing features in iPhones to provide a “comprehensive picture of activity” and get help working toward fitness goals, according to Apple senior vice president of design Jonathan Ive.

Applications for Watch including map software that guides people to destinations with gentle “taps” on the wrist.

source: interaksyon.com