Tizen-powered Samsung Z2 to officially launch on August 23

As an update to the budget-friendly Z1 that was announced early last year, Samsung is set to launch its successor — the Z2. Just like the previous model, it would run on Tizen OS along with entry level specs.

samsung-z2

The confirmation came from a media invite by Samsung India and although they didn’t really confirm what device they will launch, Phonearena is certain that it’s “definitely a Tizen event,” where they will show off the new Z2.

As for the specs, there have been leaks that surfaced before which suggest an affordable smartphone with a 4-inch AMOLED display with 800 x 480 resolution, quad-core processor at 1.5GHz, 1GB of RAM, 8GB of expandable storage, 5MP rear camera, VGA front camera, and LTE connectivity.

A leaked video also shows more of its features:

Since the previous Z1 was priced under $100, do expect that the upcoming handset will have a similar asking price once it makes its official introduction.

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The post Tizen-powered Samsung Z2 to officially launch on August 23 appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines Tech News & Reviews.

Cherry Mobile Alpha Prime 7 Quick Review

Early this month, Cherry Mobile has announced a new affordable device that runs Windows 10 on a 7-inch tablet. Will the sub-Php5k Alpha Prime 7 be a good contender in the budget tablet category? Find out in this quick review.

Design and Construction

The Alpha Prime 7’s name isn’t a random number the company just implemented on the tablet. The number 7 stands for its display size (in inches) that’s fitted with a 1024 x 600 resolution. It has noticeable bezels with the top and bottom having extra space for holding the device in landscape mode. The device has on-screen buttons namely Back, Home, and Find which directly searches both the web and Windows.

cherry-mobile-alpha-prime-7-review-philippines-1

The back is made entirely of plastic which is segmented by black panels at the top and bottom. The material feels a bit cheap and tapping the case has that hollow sound that doesn’t add any premium value to it.

cherry-mobile-alpha-prime-7-review-philippines-4

Additionally, it has a 5-megapixel rear camera that’s accompanied by a single LED flash. The shooter is accented with a chrome trimming that blends well with the silver panel that dominates the rear.

cherry-mobile-alpha-prime-7-review-philippines-2

On its upper right side is where all the physical buttons are lined up. Here we have the power/lock screen button right below the volume rocker.

cherry-mobile-alpha-prime-7-review-philippines-8

Meanwhile, you’ll discover the ports and slots at the top of the device. The microUSB port and audio jack are here as well as the slots for SIM and microSD for expanding the storage. As seen on the photo, the last two are covered using a plastic flap to protect against unwanted ejection.

cherry-mobile-alpha-prime-7-review-philippines-6

The speaker grille is located at the lower right corner and is shaped like the signal strength you see on common mobile devices.

cherry-mobile-alpha-prime-7-review-philippines-3

Overall, we’re no fans of its build quality but for its asking price, you can’t really expect much. At 260 grams, it has a bit of heft to it but the general plastic implementation helped take some weight off of the tablet. Hold feel is pretty much the same as other 7-inchers and the slanting sides help it sit nicely on the hands.

OS, Apps, and UI

The Alpha Prime 7 runs Windows 10 Mobile operating system which could be a bit confusing especially to those that are used to operating iOS/Android devices. Here, the live tiles seen on its desktop counterpart are present as well as other pre-loaded apps like Skype, Word, OneNote, and Outlook.

cherry-mobile-alpha-prime-7-review-philippines-windows

cherry-mobile-alpha-prime-7-review-philippines-ui

Out of the box, the system software occupies around 2.5GB out of the usable 7.28GB storage which could only hold a few movies and audio playlists. Good thing there’s a memory expansion slot up top so you can put more content into the tablet. Browsing through its UI, we would say that jumping from one app to the other was fluid but the time it takes opening the apps isn’t as fast as we’d like them to be.

Camera

cherry-mobile-alpha-prime-7-review-philippines-camera

Equipped with a 5-megapixel main shooter, the Alpha Prime 7 takes decent shots but nothing to write home about. Details are seen when ample lighting is provided but take it indoors and you’ll notice a rather soft focus and images with digital noise populating your shots. It has HDR for better exposure and has manual settings to adjust ISO, shutter speed, white balance, exposure, and focus individually. We have some sample shots below:

cherry-mobile-alpha-prime-7-review-philippines-sample-shot4 cherry-mobile-alpha-prime-7-review-philippines-sample-shot5 cherry-mobile-alpha-prime-7-review-philippines-sample-shot3 cherry-mobile-alpha-prime-7-review-philippines-sample-shot6 cherry-mobile-alpha-prime-7-review-philippines-sample-shot1

Performance and Benchmarks

We conducted our usual benchmark tools (for Windows Mobile OS) to get an idea of the capabilities of its internals. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to run Basemark OS II since there were errors after installing the software but got AnTuTu and WP Bench to work. Below are the scores:

  • AnTuTu Benchmark v6 Beta 5 – 27,053
  • WP Bench – 232.06

After days of fiddling with it, we noticed that the touch display sometimes doesn’t register input well especially when trying to unlock the screen. It would take us about 2-4 times of swiping up before we could successfully access the device. Additionally, we experienced slight lags every now and then when trying to go back the home screen or delays when opening certain apps, as previously mentioned.

cherry-mobile-alpha-prime-7-review-philippines-benchmarks

Apart from that, typing on its keyboard was easy thanks to the big keys made possible by having a spacious screen. Playing games was also pretty amusing but don’t expect it to run graphics-heavy titles as it has limitations regarding display resolutions. Speaking of resolution, watching HD videos resulted to choppy and interrupted playback so be sure to scale down your video files before loading it unto the device.

Battery Life

With its 3200mAh non-removable battery, it resulted to 5 hours and 21 minutes of continuous playback with airplane mode activated, brightness and volume set to 50%, and battery-saving feature off. As for its normal usage, we were able to use it for an entire day with constant app updates on Wi-Fi and light gaming.

Conclusion

Cherry Mobile’s Alpha Prime 7 is indeed affordable at Php4,999. For that price, you have a timid list of specs like a quad-core processor, 1GB of RAM, and 8GB of internal storage that you can expand using an additional microSD card. The device isn’t a powerful workhorse moreso if you render productivity tasks on a daily basis, but will be enough to give to the kids for their games and some casual browsing.

cherry-mobile-alpha-prime-7-review-philippines-5

Cherry Mobile Alpha Prime 7 specifications:
7-inch 1024 x 600 capacitive touchscreen display
1.1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 210 quad-core CPU
Adreno 304 GPU
1GB RAM
8GB Internal Memory
5-megapixel rear camera
2-megapixel front facing camera
Micro SIM
4G LTE
Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n
GPS w/ A-GPS
Bluetooth 4.0
Windows 10 Mobile
3,200mAh non-removable battery
189.7 x 102.8 x 9.3mm
260g

What we liked about it: 

  • Affordable
  • Manual settings for camera

What we didn’t like:

  • Touch display sometimes doesn’t register input
  • Laggy performance every once in a while

The post Cherry Mobile Alpha Prime 7 Quick Review appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines Tech News & Reviews.

Cherry Mobile Alpha Prime 7 Quick Review

Early this month, Cherry Mobile has announced a new affordable device that runs Windows 10 on a 7-inch tablet. Will the sub-Php5k Alpha Prime 7 be a good contender in the budget tablet category? Find out in this quick review.

Design and Construction

The Alpha Prime 7’s name isn’t a random number the company just implemented on the tablet. The number 7 stands for its display size (in inches) that’s fitted with a 1024 x 600 resolution. It has noticeable bezels with the top and bottom having extra space for holding the device in landscape mode. The device has on-screen buttons namely Back, Home, and Find which directly searches both the web and Windows.

cherry-mobile-alpha-prime-7-review-philippines-1

The back is made entirely of plastic which is segmented by black panels at the top and bottom. The material feels a bit cheap and tapping the case has that hollow sound that doesn’t add any premium value to it.

cherry-mobile-alpha-prime-7-review-philippines-4

Additionally, it has a 5-megapixel rear camera that’s accompanied by a single LED flash. The shooter is accented with a chrome trimming that blends well with the silver panel that dominates the rear.

cherry-mobile-alpha-prime-7-review-philippines-2

On its upper right side is where all the physical buttons are lined up. Here we have the power/lock screen button right below the volume rocker.

cherry-mobile-alpha-prime-7-review-philippines-8

Meanwhile, you’ll discover the ports and slots at the top of the device. The microUSB port and audio jack are here as well as the slots for SIM and microSD for expanding the storage. As seen on the photo, the last two are covered using a plastic flap to protect against unwanted ejection.

cherry-mobile-alpha-prime-7-review-philippines-6

The speaker grille is located at the lower right corner and is shaped like the signal strength you see on common mobile devices.

cherry-mobile-alpha-prime-7-review-philippines-3

Overall, we’re no fans of its build quality but for its asking price, you can’t really expect much. At 260 grams, it has a bit of heft to it but the general plastic implementation helped take some weight off of the tablet. Hold feel is pretty much the same as other 7-inchers and the slanting sides help it sit nicely on the hands.

OS, Apps, and UI

The Alpha Prime 7 runs Windows 10 Mobile operating system which could be a bit confusing especially to those that are used to operating iOS/Android devices. Here, the live tiles seen on its desktop counterpart are present as well as other pre-loaded apps like Skype, Word, OneNote, and Outlook.

cherry-mobile-alpha-prime-7-review-philippines-windows

cherry-mobile-alpha-prime-7-review-philippines-ui

Out of the box, the system software occupies around 2.5GB out of the usable 7.28GB storage which could only hold a few movies and audio playlists. Good thing there’s a memory expansion slot up top so you can put more content into the tablet. Browsing through its UI, we would say that jumping from one app to the other was fluid but the time it takes opening the apps isn’t as fast as we’d like them to be.

Camera

cherry-mobile-alpha-prime-7-review-philippines-camera

Equipped with a 5-megapixel main shooter, the Alpha Prime 7 takes decent shots but nothing to write home about. Details are seen when ample lighting is provided but take it indoors and you’ll notice a rather soft focus and images with digital noise populating your shots. It has HDR for better exposure and has manual settings to adjust ISO, shutter speed, white balance, exposure, and focus individually. We have some sample shots below:

cherry-mobile-alpha-prime-7-review-philippines-sample-shot4 cherry-mobile-alpha-prime-7-review-philippines-sample-shot5 cherry-mobile-alpha-prime-7-review-philippines-sample-shot3 cherry-mobile-alpha-prime-7-review-philippines-sample-shot6 cherry-mobile-alpha-prime-7-review-philippines-sample-shot1

Performance and Benchmarks

We conducted our usual benchmark tools (for Windows Mobile OS) to get an idea of the capabilities of its internals. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to run Basemark OS II since there were errors after installing the software but got AnTuTu and WP Bench to work. Below are the scores:

  • AnTuTu Benchmark v6 Beta 5 – 27,053
  • WP Bench – 232.06

After days of fiddling with it, we noticed that the touch display sometimes doesn’t register input well especially when trying to unlock the screen. It would take us about 2-4 times of swiping up before we could successfully access the device. Additionally, we experienced slight lags every now and then when trying to go back the home screen or delays when opening certain apps, as previously mentioned.

cherry-mobile-alpha-prime-7-review-philippines-benchmarks

Apart from that, typing on its keyboard was easy thanks to the big keys made possible by having a spacious screen. Playing games was also pretty amusing but don’t expect it to run graphics-heavy titles as it has limitations regarding display resolutions. Speaking of resolution, watching HD videos resulted to choppy and interrupted playback so be sure to scale down your video files before loading it unto the device.

Battery Life

With its 3200mAh non-removable battery, it resulted to 5 hours and 21 minutes of continuous playback with airplane mode activated, brightness and volume set to 50%, and battery-saving feature off. As for its normal usage, we were able to use it for an entire day with constant app updates on Wi-Fi and light gaming.

Conclusion

Cherry Mobile’s Alpha Prime 7 is indeed affordable at Php4,999. For that price, you have a timid list of specs like a quad-core processor, 1GB of RAM, and 8GB of internal storage that you can expand using an additional microSD card. The device isn’t a powerful workhorse moreso if you render productivity tasks on a daily basis, but will be enough to give to the kids for their games and some casual browsing.

cherry-mobile-alpha-prime-7-review-philippines-5

Cherry Mobile Alpha Prime 7 specifications:
7-inch 1024 x 600 capacitive touchscreen display
1.1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 210 quad-core CPU
Adreno 304 GPU
1GB RAM
8GB Internal Memory
5-megapixel rear camera
2-megapixel front facing camera
Micro SIM
4G LTE
Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n
GPS w/ A-GPS
Bluetooth 4.0
Windows 10 Mobile
3,200mAh non-removable battery
189.7 x 102.8 x 9.3mm
260g

What we liked about it: 

  • Affordable
  • Manual settings for camera

What we didn’t like:

  • Touch display sometimes doesn’t register input
  • Laggy performance every once in a while

The post Cherry Mobile Alpha Prime 7 Quick Review appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines Tech News & Reviews.

OPPO F1s hands-on and first impressions

OPPO has recently launched their newest selfie-centric device — the F1s. It sports a 16-megapixel front camera for your self-portrait needs as well as an all-metal body. Let’s take a closer look at the smartphone in this hands-on article. Or better yet, check out our very quick video showing the physique of the handset before reading on.

The F1s sports a 5.5-inch display with fairly slim bezels. Its resolution maxes out at 1280 x 720 making it an HD display. Also seen here is the fingerprint scanner for added security — making sure that your selfies aren’t easily accessible by just anyone. It is rounded which, together with its entire face, reminds us of some of the previous Samsung Galaxy handsets. The scanner is in between two capacitive buttons with back light when pressed.

If you still haven’t noticed, the design is pretty much like the F1 Plus so if you’ve been a fan of how the previous model looks, then you’d have no gripes with the new F1s, aesthetics-wise.

oppo-f1s-philippines-12

Up top and a bit to the left is the unassuming front camera that packs a 16-megapixel sensor. It’s been equipped with an F2.0 aperture which should help provide more than decent selfie shots.

oppo-f1s-philippines-3

The right side has the power/lock button seated next to the SIM tray. It’s easily accessible by the thumb which makes it convenient to unlock and lock even with just one hand.

oppo-f1s-philippines-2

Meanwhile, on the left is the volume rocker with separate buttons. Apart from those, the sides are embedded with chrome accents that add a bit of bling on its overall physique.

oppo-f1s-philippines-11

The rear is populated with a lower but still capable 13-megapixel camera for non-selfie shots and is accompanied by a single LED flash to use during low light situations. The company designed it to have a segmented back which is divided by the same chrome strips we see running around the device.

Its  back panel is neat with the company’s logo placed at the upper half of the handset.

oppo-f1s-philippines-8

Checking down under, we have the port for charging and transferring files. OPPO still stuck with a microUSB instead of a Type-C which is slowly becoming the trend for newly-released phones. Also situated here is the speaker grille which, during our brief time of testing its audio performance, sounded decent but nothing spectacular.

We also see here the 3.5mm port for plugging in additional headphones. It’s pretty much squeezed to the leftmost corner giving off a visually uneven setup.

oppo-f1s-philippines-4

The device generally has a curve, although minimal, that makes it sit at the hands comfortably. Although, we also thought that it’s a bit thick to hold during the short time we’ve spent on it.

oppo-f1s-philippines-9

Inside, the OPPO F1s sports an octa-core processor from MediaTek, 3GB of RAM, and 32GB of internal storage. It could support up to 128GB of expansion using an additional microSD card. The company will be lending us a unit for review so stay tuned for our verdict after a while.

OPPO F1s specs:
5.5-inch HD IPS display
1.5GHz MediaTek MT6750 octa-core CPU
Mali-T860 MP2 GPU
3GB RAM
32GB internal storage
microSD up to 128GB
13MP rear camera, f/2.2 aperture
16MP front camera, f/2.0 aperture, Beautify 4.0
Dual-SIM (nano)
4G LTE
WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n
Bluetooth 4.0
GPS, A-GPS
USB OTG
Fingerprint scanner
ColorOS 3.0 (Android 5.1 Lollipop)
3,075mAh battery (non-removable)
154.5 x 76 x 7.38mm
160g
Gold, Rose Gold

The OPPO F1s is priced at Php12,990 and will be available on August 19 via OPPO Home Credit with a wide release on August 20.
 

The post OPPO F1s hands-on and first impressions appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines Tech News & Reviews.

OPPO F1s hands-on and first impressions

OPPO has recently launched their newest selfie-centric device — the F1s. It sports a 16-megapixel front camera for your self-portrait needs as well as an all-metal body. Let’s take a closer look at the smartphone in this hands-on article. Or better yet, check out our very quick video showing the physique of the handset before reading on.

The F1s sports a 5.5-inch display with fairly slim bezels. Its resolution maxes out at 1280 x 720 making it an HD display. Also seen here is the fingerprint scanner for added security — making sure that your selfies aren’t easily accessible by just anyone. It is rounded which, together with its entire face, reminds us of some of the previous Samsung Galaxy handsets. The scanner is in between two capacitive buttons with back light when pressed.

If you still haven’t noticed, the design is pretty much like the F1 Plus so if you’ve been a fan of how the previous model looks, then you’d have no gripes with the new F1s, aesthetics-wise.

oppo-f1s-philippines-12

Up top and a bit to the left is the unassuming front camera that packs a 16-megapixel sensor. It’s been equipped with an F2.0 aperture which should help provide more than decent selfie shots.

oppo-f1s-philippines-3

The right side has the power/lock button seated next to the SIM tray. It’s easily accessible by the thumb which makes it convenient to unlock and lock even with just one hand.

oppo-f1s-philippines-2

Meanwhile, on the left is the volume rocker with separate buttons. Apart from those, the sides are embedded with chrome accents that add a bit of bling on its overall physique.

oppo-f1s-philippines-11

The rear is populated with a lower but still capable 13-megapixel camera for non-selfie shots and is accompanied by a single LED flash to use during low light situations. The company designed it to have a segmented back which is divided by the same chrome strips we see running around the device.

Its  back panel is neat with the company’s logo placed at the upper half of the handset.

oppo-f1s-philippines-8

Checking down under, we have the port for charging and transferring files. OPPO still stuck with a microUSB instead of a Type-C which is slowly becoming the trend for newly-released phones. Also situated here is the speaker grille which, during our brief time of testing its audio performance, sounded decent but nothing spectacular.

We also see here the 3.5mm port for plugging in additional headphones. It’s pretty much squeezed to the leftmost corner giving off a visually uneven setup.

oppo-f1s-philippines-4

The device generally has a curve, although minimal, that makes it sit at the hands comfortably. Although, we also thought that it’s a bit thick to hold during the short time we’ve spent on it.

oppo-f1s-philippines-9

Inside, the OPPO F1s sports an octa-core processor from MediaTek, 3GB of RAM, and 32GB of internal storage. It could support up to 128GB of expansion using an additional microSD card. The company will be lending us a unit for review so stay tuned for our verdict after a while.

OPPO F1s specs:
5.5-inch HD IPS display
1.5GHz MediaTek MT6750 octa-core CPU
Mali-T860 MP2 GPU
3GB RAM
32GB internal storage
microSD up to 128GB
13MP rear camera, f/2.2 aperture
16MP front camera, f/2.0 aperture, Beautify 4.0
Dual-SIM (nano)
4G LTE
WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n
Bluetooth 4.0
GPS, A-GPS
USB OTG
Fingerprint scanner
ColorOS 3.0 (Android 5.1 Lollipop)
3,075mAh battery (non-removable)
154.5 x 76 x 7.38mm
160g
Gold, Rose Gold

The OPPO F1s is priced at Php12,990 and will be available on August 19 via OPPO Home Credit with a wide release on August 20.
 

The post OPPO F1s hands-on and first impressions appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines Tech News & Reviews.