Xiaomi's new Mi 5 offers flagship hardware at an affordable price

 
Xiaomi is once again proving that you do not need to spend a lot of money to get your hands on a flagship smartphone. Its new Mi 5, which is the successor to the popular Mi 4, offers top of the line hardware for just over $300.
 
Mi 5 offers just about anything you could want in a flagship smartphone. It makes you wonder whether it is worth ponying up for a similar device from LG or Samsung, which costs at least twice as much.
 
The only place where Mi 5 falls short compared to the competition is in the display department. Its 5.15-inch screen has a resolution of "just" 1,080 by 1,920, which is not as impressive as the 1,440 by 2,560 resolution that some of its rivals have.
 
That, however, might work in its favor, because typically higher-resolution displays come with a performance penalty, in terms of both battery life and graphics performance. Most people may not notice the difference in pixel density, but they will most certainly appreciate a few more hours of battery life, for instance.
 
Inside, there is a 1.8 GHz or 2.15 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor paired with 3 GB or 4 GB of RAM, depending on the configuration. The base model, which costs around $306, ships with the lower specs, but the mid-range and high-end Mi 5 versions get paired with the faster processor and most RAM. Powering it all is a 3,000 mAh battery, which supports Qualcomm's Quick Charge 3.0 technology.
 
The mid-range version offers 64 GB of internal storage and costs around $351, while the top of the line model has 128 GB of internal storage and can be had for around $458. The larger difference in price likely comes from the choice of back cover, which in the latter case is ceramic as opposed to glass.
 
In the imaging department, Mi 5 offers a 16 MP camera on the back with four-axis image stabilization and phase-detection autofocus. There is support for 4K video, of course. On the front, it has a 4 MP shooter.
 
Xiaomi points out that there is NFC on board, as well as UFS 2.0 storage, 4G LTE+ cellular connectivity, which enables speeds of up to 600 Mbps, VoLTE, and a fingerprint sensor, which is embedded in the home button under the screen. On top of this, there is also a microSD card slot. It comes in at 144.55 x 69.2 x 7.25 mm and 129 g.
 
Mi 5 runs Xiaomi's MIUI skin, atop of Android 6.0 Marshmallow. If you are not familiar with Xiaomi's interpretation of Android, it is a bit over the top overall as it tries to be closer to how iOS looks and works. That is probably the only thing that will be polarizing about Mi 5.
 
Xiaomi will offer Mi 5 in China first, but there is a very good chance that it will be made available in other markets as well, if its predecessor's availability is of any indication.
 
~ Mihăiță Bamburic

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Samsung starts rolling out Android 6.0 Marshmallow for Galaxy S6

Android 6.0 Marshmallow has reached only a small number of Android users since its debut in early-October of last year. Google's latest numbers place it at just 1.2 percent distribution share. Aside from a limited number of handsets that arrive with Marshmallow on board, the other reason why Android 6.0 has such a small reach is the fact that upgrades are only available for very few popular handsets.
 
Samsung is now changing that, as today it announces that the much-awaited Android 6.0 Marshmallow update has finally started to roll out, with its Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge flagships being the first devices to get it.
 
Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge are among the handful of devices that Samsung has confirmed as getting the Android 6.0 Marshmallow software update. Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 edge Plus are also on this list, but it is not clear when they will receive the same treatment. Same goes for flagships that arrived in 2014, like Galaxy S5.
 
As is usually the case with major updates, it can take months before the Android 6.0 Marshmallow update is available for all Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge units. Some markets and mobile operators will get it sooner than others; there is no official timetable at this point, and I doubt there will be one. So, basically, it will be available when it will be available.
 
If you want to learn more about what Android 6.0 Marshmallow brings to the table for Samsung devices, check out this article. Samsung specifically mentions "the enhanced edge screen and new edge screen features", which make "[Galaxy S6 edge] faster and more convenient than ever" as a change that Galaxy S6 edge users can expect to see.
 
~ Mihăiță Bamburic

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Android 6.0 Marshmallow update brings Adblock Plus to Samsung phones and tablets

Earlier today we learned that a new API is bringing adblocking to Samsung's own mobile webbrowser. Adblock Fast was the first to take advantage of the new option and now, hot on its heels, comes the big guns -- Adblock Plus.

Today Samsung is rolling out an Android 6.0 Marshmallow update and once this has been installed, Adblock Plus can also be installed. The extension brings content blocking capabilities to Samsung's own web browser, but you'll have to jump through the relevant hoops to gain the privacy and bandwidth preserving capabilities.

Once your handset has been updated to the very latest version Marshmallow, you'll need to head over to Google Play to grab a free copy of Adblock Plus (Samsung Browser). Next you'll need to enable Adblock Plus within the browser and then choose the level of content blocking you'd like to use. For complete privacy and malware protection, you can opt to block all ads, but there's also the option of permitting Acceptable Ads -- Adblock Plus points out that this is the default setting.

Adblock Plus co-founder Till Faida says:

Adblock Plus is very excited to continue our momentum in the mobile space by solidifying a working relationship with Samsung that allows us to handle content blocking on any Samsung device. We are excited that Samsung’s mobile product offering is now including content blocking and are happy that Samsung users can find us in the Google Play Store to assist them with their ad blocking.

For now, Adblock Plus for Samsung Browser is only available for devices running Android 6.0 Marshmallow, but in March it will also be an option for Android 5.0 Lollipop users.

~ Mark Wilson

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HTC launches the One A9 with iPhone-like design and Android 6.0 software, priced at $399

 

At an event on Tuesday, HTC announced the launch of One A9, "the best HTC smartphone in years", according to the company. The handset comes with a big promise. HTC claims that it will deliver the latest version of Android to the One A9 within 15 days of its availability.
 
The metal-clad HTC One A9, which looks very similar to the iPhone, comes with a 5-inch Full HD 2.5D AMOLED display with Corning Gorilla Glass 4 protecting the screen. It is powered by a Snapdragon 617 octa-core processor with integrated X8 LTE, and offers users a choice between a 2GB or 3GB of RAM. For storage, users get to pick between 16GB and 32GB, with both variants supporting microSD card for external storage.
 
On the camera front, there’s a 13-megapixel sensor at the back with OIS, and an UltraPixel shooter on the front. The company says that the selfie camera can capture 300 percent more light than conventional smartphone cameras.
 
The company also spent several minutes explaining the audio capability of the One A9. The handset comes with HTC BoomSound integrated into the headset combined with Dolby Audio.
 
On the connectivity front, the handset comes with support for optional HTC Rapid Charger 2.0 which can offer up to 75 percent faster charging. These are just numbers without the much needed context, so we will have to check the device ourselves to see how accurate the company’s claims are.
 
The biggest attraction of the handset is its Android 6.0 Marshmallow software. It is the third handset after Google’s Nexus 6P and the Nexus 5X to ship with the latest version of Google’s mobile operating system. The company also mentioned that it would offer the latest Android software version within 15 days of its release.
 
The HTC One A9 comes in Opal Silver and Carbon Gray, Deep Garnet, and Topaz Gold color options and starts at $399 and will start shipping beginning November 2015.
 
~ Max Nottingham

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Will your Samsung Galaxy devices receive Android 6.0 Marshmallow?

 

Google will officially introduce Android 6.0 Marshmallow in a few months, if history is of any indication. And, like with every release of a new version of the operating system, one of the common questions that users will ask is whether an upgrade will be offered for their devices.
 
It is not uncommon for Android manufacturers to reveal such information following the new operating system's introduction, but, this time around, Samsung has decided to announce which Galaxy devices are set to receive an upgrade to Android 6.0 Marshmallow first. Is yours on the list?
 
Needless to say, Samsung's premium Galaxy smartphones that were announced in 2015 make the cut. That includes Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge, which were introduced at the same event in March, as well as Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 edge+, which the company unveiled earlier in August. Those who use Galaxy S6 Duos should be pleased to know that it too is among the first devices to receive Android 6.0 Marshmallow.
 
Samsung has not included its flagship smartphone from last year, Galaxy S5, in the first wave of devices to get the upgrade. Given that there is no good reason for the company not to support it further, Galaxy S5 will probably receive Samsung's attention a bit later down the road. The company is currently still dealing with the Android 5.1 Lollipop roll-out, which has yet to reach most versions of the device.
 
When it comes to the two Note flagships from 2014, Samsung includes both Galaxy Note 4 and Galaxy Note Edge on the list. Same goes for Galaxy Note 4 Duos, which is the dual-SIM version of the former phablet. These handsets are not even a year-old at the time of writing this article, as they were announced in early-September last year and officially released nearly a month after.
 
Rounding up the list are Galaxy Alpha, a smartphone introduced by Samsung about a year ago as a sort of iPhone 6 competitor, and Galaxy Tab A, an affordable slate that was introduced in April.
 
Samsung will likely expand the list of devices that will receive Android 6.0 Marshmallow in the coming months to include more popular handsets. But, as always, do not expect the software upgrades to be rolled out overnight, after Google debuts its new operating system, as these things can take a while.
 
~ Mihaita Bamburic

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