HTC Malaysia launches the new One M8

This evening, HTC Malaysia officially launches the long awaiting One M8. It is a replacement for the One M7 and the new facelit promises alot to consumer.

HTC One M8 Key Specification :

• 5.0 inches Super LCD 3 screen with 1080 x 1920 of resolution
• 2.5 GHz quad core Qualcomm MSM8974AB Snapdragon 801 processor with Krait 400
• Andreno 330 GPU
• 2GB RAM
• 16 GB internal memory with microSD slot
• Dual 4 MP Ultrapixel camera with dual-LED (dual tone) flash
• 5MP front facing camera
• 2600 mAh battery
• Android 4.4.2 Kit Kat with Sense 6
• 146.4 x 70.6 x 9.4 mm
• 160 g

Like most company flagship phone, the One M8 is upgrade of One M7. Bigger screen, faster processor, microSD slot and camera as well. Of course, the new design now is much better than the predecessor. It is more metal now, rounded edge and feel slimmer. Personally, it is one of the beautiful crafted phone that I'll appreciate it. The HTC One M8 also come with new Sense 6 which bring alot improvement. One of the coolest new features brought by the updated package is Motion Launch, which lets you quickly open the camera or unlock the phone while the screen is off. Picking up the One (M8) in landscape mode and pressing the volume button will launch the camera. There's double tap or slide up from the bottom to wake the phone. While locked you can pick up the phone in portrait mode and swipe left on its screen to launch the widget panel or right for BlinkFeed.

Check out my quick hands on video on the HTC One M8 that focused most on the new camera features.

Eventhough it is still the same 4MP Ultrapixel camera, HTC introduces the secondary camera at the back which uses to capture depth information. HTC calls this Duo Camera. It mimics the stereoscopic abilities of the human eye - two independent lenses able to calculate the relative distance of the subjects in an image. HTC's dual camera setup enables cool effects such as selective focus (shallow depth of field) and post-shot refocusing. Unfortunately the editing has limitation where only auto mode and without flash images taken by the camera can proceed the editing. The optical image stabilization of the original One is now gone, and the One (M8) will rely solely on digital stabilization. Similarly to Apple, HTC has improved the flash of the smartphone by using a two toned one - one cold and one warm LED, which can help the smartphone produce more accurate color tones in low-light conditions. HTC also claims the One (M8) can focus in just 0.3s. If that's not enough for you, HTC is generous enough to packed the front facing camera with 5 Megapixel for selfie lover.

As I mentioned earlier, I love the design and material used in the HTC One M8. Personally, I still prefer the rough surface on One M7 since the One M8 surface pretty smooth as if it feel like plastic. It is no surprise that the UI and animation transition everything is smooth since Sense UI has been tone down since Sense 5. I still hate the fact the camera still 4MP since I am very much a pixel peep guy. However, I can assured that HTC One M8 camera works as advertise. It is quick in focus, great for low light capture as well and a tones of fun processing mode to be use. Overall, it is really a beauty plus functionality phone, one of the kind phone at the moment and it is for people who dare to change, to try and to explore the possibility using this phone. So once again, HTC did it!

The HTC One comes with a variety of accessories like the Flip Case, Double Dip case (each in three colors), Dot View case (showing you alarms, events, calls, battery, weather and more in a colorful dotted way) and more. The HTC One is available today with RRP RM 2,399.

Oppo Malaysia officially launches Oppo Find 7 & Find 7a

Few months down the road, I believe Oppo is no longer a strange name in Malaysia Market. Recently, they have been really aggressive in penetrating Malaysia market and I am pretty sure they'll give a major smart phone brand a pretty good competition. This evening, Oppo Malaysia officially unveiled their latest flagship smartphone, Oppo Find 7 & Find 7a. Here are the specification for both flagship phone.

Oppo Find 7 Key specification :

• 5.5 inches IPS LCD display with 1440 x 2560 pixels resolution
• 2.5 GHz Quad-core Qualcomm MSM8974AC Snapdragon 801 Krait 400
• Adreno 330
• 3 GB RAM
• 32GB internal memory with microSD slot
• 13 MP back facing camera with dual-LED flash
• 5 MP front facing camera
• 171 gram
• 152.6 x 75 x 9.2 mm
• Android 4.3 (Jelly Bean)
• 3000 mAh

Oppo Find 7a Key specification :

• 5.5 inches IPS LCD display with 1080 x 1920 pixels resolution
• 2.3 GHz Quad-core Qualcomm MSM8974AB Snapdragon 801 Krait 400
• Adreno 330
• 2 GB RAM
• 16GB internal memory with microSD slot
• 13 MP back facing camera with dual-LED flash
• 5 MP front facing camera
• 170 gram
• 152.6 x 75 x 9.2 mm
• Android 4.3 (Jelly Bean)
• 2800 mAh

* From left : Find 7 and Find 7a *

* Back design for both Find 7 and 7a *

Obviously there are nothing changes in terms of physical design and also measurement in between Find 7 and Find 7a. The only difference would be the screen resolution, processor speed, RAM, internal memory and also smaller battery capacity. I guess it is a great alternate for those who those who felt the higher spec abit overkill for them :) Personally, I can't tell the difference in QHD and FHD display. You seriously need a superhuman eye to distinguish it.

* Chen Lu - Brand Manager Oppo Malaysia *

* Candice Liu, Assistant CEO Oppo Malaysia *

* William Fang, CEO Oppo *

Check out my hands on video!

Like most latest smartphone in current market, Oppo Find 7/7a packed with latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor together with Andreno 330 GPU. Pair with 3GB or 2GB RAM, your experiences with the phone and multitasking will be smooth sail. Not to mention, the chipset supported LTE.

Both Find 7 also equipped with the Pure Image 2.0, an image processing that enchances images taken by the 13 megapixel camera. The back facing camera is built with six physical lenses, the latest Sony Stacked CMOS IMX214 sensor and f/2 aperture which obviously good for lowlight. I am surprise Oppo Find 7 and 7a included RAW file option as well. Pure RAW shooter gonna be enjoy! One of the worth mentioned camera features in both Find 7 is the "Ultra-HD" mode. Ultra-HD mode combine ten photos at the back end with just one press of a buttonto create images perfect for high quality print. In other words, it created a 50 megapixel image! It is pretty cool if you ask me!

Here are some sample photos taken by the camera using back facing camera and also the Ultra HD mode. Click the link for full res ya!

Ultra HD Mode

Also the 4K Ultra HD video recording!

One of the innovation worth praising on Oppo find 7 is the newly developed VOOC fast charging technology that easily shortens charging time, boosting the phone's battery life to 75% within 30 minutes. If you're worried the charging rate is too fast and it might damage the phone, don't worry! This rapid charging tech has a safety feature made up of five layers of thermal protective coating that prevents overheating while charging. So it is safe!

Oppo also partnered with MaxxAudio's in their latest Find 7 to enchant the dynamic range and frequency of the phone speakers. I am not sure how well it does if against big player such as HTC One M8 and also Sony Xperia Z2, but for me Oppo Find 7/7a speaker is loud enough and clear.

The Find 7a is officially available at all outlet at price RM 1598 while the Find 7 will be selling at price RM 1998 and will be available in Malaysia nationwide end of June.

Personally I love what Oppo did on their Find 7/7a. Nothing wow on the physical design but I love black most for sure since it has Carbon Fibre pattern design on it. 5.5 inch might sound too big but it actually fit my palm since it share the similar width with my Xperia Z1. Nice IPS display by providing most natural color but the QHD display seem unnecessary for me. The 13 megapixel back facing camera are capable to delivered what it should and Ultra HD mode is interesting too. I wouldn't hesitate using that mode or landscape shooting. Not to mentioned, with RAW I can do more wonder in photography using Find 7/7a! The only things I dislike is the ColorOS UI itself. It is too cartoonish and coloful to my liking. Of course, there are theme store provided by Oppo itself. I guess I can live with it or I'll just use other launcher :P

Hopefully I can request a review unit and able to provide full review. Who know, it might change my mind on the ColorOS UI and grow love on it?

Ninetology U9Z1 VS Sony Xperia Z Ultra

I rarely do comparison when come to electronic stuffs. Everything has pros and cons and difference user has difference preference. Well, I am given chance to review this both phones and here, I am telling you which is better and why. For individual review, click on Sony Xperia Z Ultra Review and Ninetology U9Z1 Review.

For starter, lets begin with the spec. Assuming bigger, faster, thinner and lighter is better.

Display

The Sony Xperia Z Ultra definitely had advantages in terms of spec compare with the Ninetology U9Z1. The Z Ultra had bigger screen, beautiful Triluminos display with full HD resolution though people tend to said the 1080p and 720p won't have much difference. Well maybe yes maybe no. Here sample photos of comparison in terms of screen.

Processor, RAM and ROM

The Z Ultra gain advantage by equipping fastest processor at the moment, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 which running on cortex-A15 while the Ninetology U9Z1 using Mediatek mt6589 that features cortex-A7. Both quad core but definitely in real life Z Ultra will perform much better when come to heavy application and gaming. Not to mention 2GB RAM onboard help multitask smooth sailing. Xperia Z Ultra also come with expendable microSD slot.

Physical Design & Built Quality

With omnibalance design, Sony Xperia Z Ultra is made with 2 glasses on front and back with aluminium frame on side. It is definitely feel solid on hand especially the weight is a bit heavier than Ninetology U9Z1. Not to mention it is one of the slimmest full HD display smartphone with 6.5mm thickness. Meanwhile, I said before that Ninetology U9Z1 easily been mistaken as Samsung phone from front while back resemble alot HTC Sensation XL. The Ninetology back casing was built with aluminium too. I won't deny that the U9Z1 feel solid on hand too. Realistically, it is more practical to have Ninetology U9Z1 due to size and able to hold it with one hand than the giant size Z Ultra. But who can resist the sexy beast? :P


Camera

This is the part where Sony really did poorly. Megapixels is not everything but what Sony always lack on their smartphone is the better image processing hardware. The details easily get smudge and not sharp. No doubt Ninetology U9Z1 image is sharper (too much sharpening! and look abit artificial) and look much better than the Z Ultra.

Sony Xperia Z Ultra ISO Test (100% crop)

Ninetology U9Z1 ISO Test (100% crop)

Well not until when come to indoor shooting where the U9Z1 white balance tend to screw up and show warm color. Sony still manage to retain the neutral white balance but not the best too. Ninetology U9Z1 had advantages too on 5MP front camera to compare with Sony Xperia Z Ultra 2MP only. Unfortunately the front lens is fixed focus in the U9Z1. For more photos, click on Sony Xperia Z Ultra Review and Ninetology U9Z1 Review.

Video Playback and Speaker

Here I did a video for both phone. Personally, it is much better experience viewing on Sony Xperia Z Ultra due to the size and also Triluminos display.

Extra Features

The Sony Xperia Z Ultra is waterproof smartphone rated IP58. The Ninetology U9Z1 came with wireless charging features.

Battery Life

The Z Ultra has larger battery life than the U9Z1. However both has come to the point where it can easily achieve SOT around 5-6 hours. It is pretty impressive for both devices. However Sony Xperia Z Ultra came with remarkable Stamina Mode that extended the battery life during stand by.

User Interface (UI) and Android Version

 

Both run Android Jelly Bean 4.2. Sony Xperia Z Ultra skinned with their very own Timescape UI while the U9Z1 is running vanilla Android with minor customization. Naturally, Sony Xperia Z Ultra provided more software features such as Walkman, Play Station and more eye candy themes while vanilla Android is just plain. Nothing much to shout.

Price

Not surprising, with impressive spec came with high price. Sony Xperia Z Ultra is one of the top notch smartphone when come to performance and the RRP fixed at RM 2,299. The U9Z1 is more on budget concious phone that come with high performance, if it is last year flagship that priced at RM 1,199. It is almost 50% cheaper than Sony Xperia Z Ultra.

Verdict

Both are very capable phone for your daily usage. Of course, if performances is much more important to you, Sony Xperia Z Ultra will be better choices. If budget is one of the reason to constrain, I have no reason to say why not Ninetology U9Z1?

Ninetology U9Z1 will have direct competitor such as Google Nexus 4, Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3, Samsung Galaxy S3, HTC Desire 600, Huawei Ascend P6, Huawei Ascend Mate, Alcatel One Touch Idol X and many mores. Sony Xperia Z Ultra will be facing current latest flagship such as Samsung Galaxy S4, Samsung Galaxy Note III, Sony Xperia Z1, HTC One and mores.

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In the same time, I also joined Ninetology's Wall of Pledge, the first initiative aiming to get the Malaysian online community to pledge for the support of Responsible Blogging 2013. By blogging ethically and responsibly, bloggers are able to build a good reputation and readers are able to gain accurate information about products. To know more about this campaign, just visit http://on.fb.me/10UNzoG.

Ninetology U9Z1 Review

If you're looking for premium looking smartphone but with low budget yet made in local, well not exactly, then you're looking for Ninetology! Over the year, Ninetology had been working hard building their own port folio in Malaysia. So for those who are still not aware of them and interested to know more, click my previous post when Ninetology launch the U9 series smartphones. Of course, here I mainly reviewing one of their latest smartphone in U9 series, the U9Z1.

To recap, here the Ninetology U9Z1 Key Specification :

• 5.7″ IPS HD display with 1280 X 720 resolution
• 1.2 GHz quad core MediaTek MT6589 chipset processor
• PowerVR SGX544 GPU
• 1GB RAM
• 16GB Internal Memory with expandable microSD
• 12MP back facing camera
• 5MP front facing camera
• 2,600 mAh
• Android 4.2
• 161 X 82.5 X 9.3 mm
• Come with Black / White colors
• Wireless Charging
• Price : RM 1,199

As usual, I will go on my review with different section.

Design & Built Quality

Earlier, I just mentioned premium isn't? When come to premium one to expect a great looking and good material to built the smartphone. Ninetology U9Z1 back housing was built by full aluminium while the front, plastic of course. On first glance, one could easily mistake it as one of the Samsung phone or the back actually resemble alot on HTC Sensation XL. Well, I don't expect much originality on design for company that lack of design or creative team. Just my assumption k?

However, I still admit it look and feel solid when you hold it when I am putting the design aside. The power button is located on right side while volume rocker on left side. On top, the 3.5mm jack phone can be found while the micro USB connector located at bottom. The speaker is placed at back like most of the phones manufacture.

The Ninetology U9Z1 come with dual sim slot and also microSD slot. The slots can be reveal once take out the top part like the picture.

Beware of putting any key or coin in your pocket with the phone as the back aluminium casing easily get scratch. I gotta praise the great IPS display in the phone.

User Interface (UI)

Nothing much to shout on the user interface. It is exactly like vanilla android (Nexus devices) with a minor custom customization by Ninetology.

It has all the features you can find in Vanilla Android Jelly Bean such as home screen widget, user control panel and the photo gallery.

Camera

The Ninetology U9Z1 come with 12mp back facing camera that also capable in recording 1080p video @ 30fps.

The camera UI is straight forward. All shooting mode is located on left side while shutter button on right. One of the mode that worth mentioning will be beauty mask which it also works on it's 5MP front facing camera. Bet alot girl gonna love this. My personal opnion, it is too smooth for my liking.

Here some photos sample of Ninetology U9Z1.

Disclaimer : All shot are captured using auto mode. No editing is done on the photos except resizing.

The U9Z1 focus speed is not impressive. It is slow and focus hunting. What worst is it couldn't focus at all during lowlight. I am force to turn on the flash to act as assist light for it focus. The white balance is not balancing at all. It tend to change from warm to cold (most of the time it'll pick warm). However on daylight and outdoor, it perform excellently eventhough the AF speed still slow.

Video & Song Playback

I have no complain watching video in Ninetology U9Z1. The IPS screen perform impressively with color look natural. Not to mention the 5.7" screen size contribute a better viewing leisure.

I am not a serious audiophile. For me, Ninetology U9Z1 perform quite well for the speaker. It is loud enough to get your attention when your phone ringing or when you're listening to song. However, I guess I am still spoiled by HTC One Boomsound.

Battery

Packed with 2600 mAh battery I can safely say the Ninetology U9Z1 can survive whole day with average usage. The SOT can easily achieved around 4-5 hours with continuous web browsing, social apps and some gaming.

Verdict

GOOD	BAD
Large 5.7" with IPS display technology Decent camera output Good battery life	No LTE Non user-replaceable battery Camera unable to focus on lowlight No ground breaking features RM1199 price tag.

It is a phone created with budget concious. But the price wasn't speak so. For me, RM 1,199 price tag is a bit too steep as consumer tend to add abit more to get others brand that already has good profile. Not to mention, there are alots more China phone Android that came with higher quality and spec but lower price tag than this. Ninetology U9Z1 definitely not the only budget phone that come with low price. You can easily grab Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3 or Huawei Ascend Mate which only cost a little bit more. Not to mention Galaxy Mega 6.3 come with LTE. I guess Ninetology need to work hard on revising their strategy and pricing.