iPhone killer. The whole truth about the Chinese iPhone “killers” from Xiaomi, LeEco, Meizu and OnePlus. Owners' opinion. Let's be honest - this is not an iPhone

Xiaomi Mi 8, which is discussed in the review, has excellent characteristics and a very reasonable price. The review describes in detail what awaits the buyer.

Xiaomi Mi 8 copied the style of the iPhone X, like many manufacturers. The dimensions of Mi 8 are comparable to devices with conventional 5.5-5.7-inch screens. The “notch” contains not only the front camera, but also an LED for missed events, an infrared emitter and an infrared scanner, which is needed for face unlocking, as well as the usual proximity sensors and automatic brightness adjustment.

The back side is covered with protective glass. The camera lenses look like you know who. Xiaomi did not rely only on face unlocking and equipped the smartphone with a fingerprint scanner. By the way, the smartphone is available in four colors: blue, gold, white and black.

The frame is made of aluminum, so the flagship does not feel cheap in your hands, and besides, it is not fluffy (175 grams). In terms of assembly, everything is fine, except for a small gap between the back glass and the frame. The only connectors are USB Type-C. One multimedia speaker. Speaking doesn't help him.

The screen diagonal is 6.21 inches and uses an AMOLED matrix with a resolution of 2248×1080 pixels. Aspect ratio 18.7:9. There is an oleophobic coating. It behaves perfectly in the sun, fading just a little. The brightness is adjustable from 1.3 to 433 cd/m², and the contrast is maximum, since it is an AMOLED matrix. There are many screen settings that can help you customize color reproduction. An Always on mode has appeared, which constantly displays the time, date, and missed notifications. The manufacturer indicates that the display was initially calibrated according to the DCI-P3 standard.

Xiaomi Mi 8 is equipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor. The amount of RAM is 6 GB (LPDDR4x), and the user memory is 64/128/256 GB (UFS 2.1), there is no slot for memory cards.

The wireless interfaces have everything you need: NFC, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 5.0 and GPS. There is no infrared port for controlling household appliances. There are no problems with mobile network reception. For now, Mi 8 runs MIUI 9.5 and Android 8.1.0.

Autonomy

The capacity of the built-in battery is 3400 mAh. Support for Qualcomm Quick Charge 4+ is declared, but a Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 charger is included. In the PCMark Work 2.0 battery life test at 200 cd/m², the operating time was 8 hours 38 minutes—an average result.

Cameras

Xiaomi Mi 8 received two main cameras with 12 megapixel sensors (Sony IMX363, f/1.8, with four-axis image stabilization and Samsung S5K3M3, f/2.4). AI mode (artificial intelligence mode) is supported, there is automatic HDR, 2x magnification (due to the use of the second module), portrait mode and manual mode, in which you can not only adjust white balance, focal length, shutter speed (up to 16 seconds), ISO, but also a camera module (wide-angle or with a telephoto lens).

In most cases, the camera produces good results; only in the dark or in very difficult conditions, in some pictures the incorrect operation of the noise reduction is noticeable. DxOMark rated the smartphone cameras at 99 points (photo 105, video 88). Portrait mode works well, but the blur is not realistic.

Video recording is possible in 4K resolution, but there is virtually no stabilization. One interesting thing is the ability to record video in 720p/1080p resolution at 120/240 fps.

I had a very budget phone in my hands. It costs less than a hundred dollars, runs on the latest Android and has all the characteristics of advanced smartphones.

Does this even happen? Let's figure it out.

1 You may have never heard of the BQ Mobile brand, but they have already released several phone models, some of them very nice. The brand has Russian roots and Chinese hands. I tested the new BQ Strike model, and the name can be translated as “strike”, or it can also be translated as “strike”.

2 Who should he “hit”? Obviously unaffordable; the phone retails for 5 thousand rubles. While competitors from the segment of budget Android devices will be one and a half to two times more expensive. Returning to the title, let me remind you that at one time all new smartphones with good characteristics were called “iPhone killers”.

3 What do we have here? A five-inch IPS screen, a quad-core processor, two cameras (13 megapixel main and 5 megapixel front), a gigabyte of RAM and 8 gigabytes of device memory, expandable up to 32 gigabytes using an external card. And two SIM cards!

4 The phone is quite light and thin. Outwardly, they are all similar now.

5 I got a strict black model, but BQ’s main “trick” is to make bright phones. Look what colors they come in.

6 In addition to the handset itself, the kit includes a charger, instructions and headphones. Minimalism. The battery is in the box separately.

7 The removable battery is a big plus, although many manufacturers have abandoned it.

8 More expensive phones, by the way, have a strange point: in their “dual-SIM” devices you often have to choose either a second SIM card or an external flash drive. There are three slots, everything will fit.

9 The battery is not very capacious, only 2000 mAh, but remember that the sixth iPhone has only 1800.

10 The headphones are ordinary, I can’t say anything about them.

11 The power connector is located unusually, at the top of the phone.

12 Even though this is a budget device, the build quality is good. The phone is partly aluminum.

14 Now let's go through the menu. The latest version of Android 6 Marshmallow is installed here, and of course, everything is highly customizable. By default, the desktop is filled with a bunch of shortcuts with applications, but it turned out that these are just placeholders - they can be easily removed from the screen and replaced with the necessary programs and games.

15 Two SIM cards work simultaneously, you can choose which one will make calls and which one will “knock” on the Internet.

16 Inexpensive phones are often purchased by older people, so the ability to choose a very large font size is very useful. Yes, after installing the system, the user is left with only 4 gigabytes of memory; if you plan to store a lot of photos or music, a flash drive will come in handy. The phone supports cards up to 32 GB.

17 There is a built-in radio that works when you connect headphones (they are needed like an antenna, you can listen through the speaker). Songs are downloaded to the phone’s memory “on a cord”, for many this is a joy after iTunes.

18 The built-in photo editor allows you to slightly retouch your selfie, remove wrinkles and all that, but the result looks strange.

19 And here is the original photo taken with a 5-megapixel front camera.

20 With the main camera the phone takes pictures like this.

The BQ Strike smartphone is pleasant to use, although sometimes brooding. It does not pretend to compete with more “top-end” models; in terms of hardware, they will, of course, overtake it. At the same time, functionally it has exactly the same capabilities - take photos and videos, listen to music, read books, use the Internet. So this is one of the most attractive devices on the market in terms of price and quality.

Today you won’t surprise anyone with a good Chinese smartphone. For the last three years, when you sit down to write a review of the next flagship from the Middle Kingdom, you experience the greatest problems with the introduction. Again, to say that the inscription “Made in China” is no longer synonymous with low quality? Should I once again retell the path of Chinese companies that managed to make truly amazing devices at half the price of famous flagships in such a short time?

Nevertheless, both are true. Chinese smartphones are not preparing to enter the big league, they are already there, and more and more people understand this every month. Xiaomi Mi6- the new flagship of the “most beloved company by geeks” is another proof of this.

You can't tell it from the photographs, but Mi6- one of the most beautiful smartphones of our time. Similarity with iPhone, which catches the eye in the photographs, is not felt so strongly in reality. It's all because of attention to detail: last year I praised Mi5 for the design, but this year the Chinese have gone even further. The quality of assembly and workmanship is impressive: the smartphone feels very solid, well-built, and tightly built. The flimsy aluminum frame of last year's model, which could be damaged with a fingernail if you applied enough force, went to waste. Instead there is steel polished to a shine, shining in the sun even in black. The back surface is still glass, still easily soiled and prone to scratches, but it doesn’t seem fragile at all. Perhaps this is an illusion caused by increased weight. If so, then I am glad to be deceived: the feeling that you are holding an expensive thing in your hands arises immediately, as soon as you take it out Mi6 out of the box - and does not let go even after a couple of weeks.

Of course, to the level of stunning Galaxy S8 Xiaomi fell far short: the frames on top and bottom say hello to 2015, the aspect ratio is still 16:9, and the buttons are somewhat loose, but the overall impression, both visual and tactile, is one of the strongest points Mi6.

The display doesn't let you down either. Nowadays, a good screen can be found even in public sector phones for 7 thousand rubles, not to mention flagships, but the matrix also has its share of praises Mi6 deserves it. I especially liked the color rendition: deep black, natural white, very high maximum brightness and very low minimum brightness. The character of the screen here is most similar to the one installed in iPhone 7- but it has the best IPS matrix for today. Oh yes, black stripes around the screen that irritated many owners of previous flagships Xiaomi, not here.

Mi6- this is the flagship Xiaomi, and therefore the “hardware” here is the very best. QualcommSnapdragon 835(he, for example, works in the American version Galaxy S8) is the best thing in the world right now Android, and he is inferior only to A10 Fusion everything is the same iPhone 7 Plus. Anyway, it works Mi6 very fast: smooth animations, instant page loading in the browser, 60 frames in all existing 3D games. This is a level close to GooglePixel- and this is a big compliment. The Chinese did not mind the RAM - in Mi6 there are six gigabytes of it at once. Excess? If so, then it’s in the “it can’t get any worse” category.

Dual camera is a major trend in mobile photography, and Xiaomi We didn’t miss this moment. IN Mi6 two modules, both 12 megapixels, and the same as in iPhone 7 Plus, with different focal lengths. Hence the “optical” zoom function and portrait mode. IN Mi5 the camera was at most “very good”, and in Mi6 the situation has not changed. The smartphone takes good pictures - but no more. Sometimes sharpness drops at the edges of pictures, noise reduction works too actively at night, and in portrait mode the bokeh effect almost always extends to hair and the edges of clothes. You are unlikely to be disappointed with the “six” camera, but, unfortunately, it cannot be called a flagship.

Works Mi6 on the seventh Android, from which it is traditional for Xiaomi only horns and legs remained. Shell MIUI 8- not for everyone, and you can find different reviews about it. Personally, I rather like it (the main thing is to choose the most neutral design theme), but problems with it sometimes happen. My colleague, for example, complained about regular crashes and reboots - but this problem passed me by. It’s only a shame that I thoroughly “shoveled” Android, programmers Xiaomi forgot about several useful system functions. For example, here you cannot quickly switch to the previous application by double-clicking the multitasking button.

The best part is that such joys cost only 30 thousand rubles. And this comes with an official guarantee, and not on the “gray market” (where, however, you can buy a smartphone even cheaper).

Main competitor XiaomiMi6- beautiful HuaweiHonor 9. On the side of the latter are more successful cameras and an interesting glare coating on the body, Mi6 It wins in speed, build quality and design.

This may not be the best smartphone today and not a killer iPhone“, but it’s definitely the best option to finally get acquainted with Chinese smartphones and understand that, by and large, they are in no way inferior to famous flagships.

Has Lenovo gone crazy? What about making money from clients? What nonsense? If I had bought such a smartphone for my son right away, I would have saved a lot of money. He has already broken about 10 smartphones, from expensive to cheap. The record was with Asus, he dropped it on the first day and the glass shattered. It costs half the price to replace a smartphone; it’s easier to throw it away. So, Lenovo is returning the legendary Motorola brand to Russia, but not just returning, but turning to face the buyer - an unbreakable screen, waterproof and with fast charging in 15 minutes to 8 hours of work.
For what? Don't they need profit?

Here, for example, is how much it costs to replace an iPhone screen. Holy crap 30,000 rubles, just for glass... Screw you to hell... with such prices.

The first devices presented on the Russian market will be the Moto X (Play, Style, Force) and Moto G series smartphones.
See the characteristics yourself

The new products run the latest version of Android Lollipop OS (further OS updates are planned), are equipped with Qualcomm processors, capacious batteries, and have waterproof cases. The screens of the new smartphones are protected by Corning® Gorilla® Glass 3 and share a common design element: an oblong platform on the back panel, which houses the main camera, dual LED flash that allows precise control of color temperature (CCT), and a logo. In Moto X series models, the main 21-megapixel camera has an instant response and shoots without delay (ZSL).

The 3630 mAh battery provides battery life for two days and supports fast charging (8 hours of use in 15 minutes of recharging). The Moto X Play has a water-repellent nano-coating that protects against water droplets and splashes.

The main camera with a resolution of 21 MP is equipped with phase detection autofocus (PDAF) and is capable of shooting 4K video at 30 frames per second. Supports work with two SIM cards. The 3000 mAh battery lasts for a whole day with active use. The Turbo Power fast charging function provides up to 10 hours of battery life in 15 minutes.

The Moto X Force's display features Moto's exclusive ShatterShield system, a five-layer system that absorbs shock and prevents cracking and chipping. The body of the smartphone is lined with ballistic nylon.

And now the prices.
Moto smartphones will be available on the Russian market from March 2016: on March 1, sales will begin in stores of the Megafon, Euroset, and Svyaznoy chains, and in mid-March in other retail chains.
Moto G - priced at 16,990 rubles,
Moto X Play - priced at 29,990 rubles,
Moto X Style - priced at 39,990 rubles,
Moto X Force - priced at 49,990 rubles.

Throughout the presentation, the smartphone was floating in the aquarium, they took it out and continued to work...

Now my wife only has this smartphone) So as not to give a new one for every holiday