SAMSUNG GALAXY S7 EDGE
Until the GALAXY S7 EDGE came along, the Galaxy S7 Edge had top-billing in Samsung's 2016 smartphone lineup - and rightly so. As a larger, curvier version of the regular Galaxy S7, the S7 Edge is immensely more attractive than its flat little brother, and it also has a much bigger battery, giving it more stamina over the course of a day.
It's still a great phone even with the Note 7's release (it also hasn't been recalled either), and for many the S7 Edge will be the better choice due to its lower price and lack of stylus. It also has plenty in common with the Note 7, as they both share the same processor, camera and screen resolution. Besides, the Note 7's 5.7in screen is only 0.2in bigger than the S7 Edge, which is hardly going to revolutionise the way you play games or watch your iPlayer downloads on the commute home.
Instead, you're more likely to notice the difference if you compare the S7 Edge with the regular S7, which only has a 5.1in display. Here, the S7 Edge's enlarged screen size finally puts some much-needed distance between each handset to help make it feel like a more obvious upgrade over its flat sibling.
Before we delve into the nitty gritty, it's worth mentioning about the upcoming iPhone 7 unveiling. We'll get our first look at Apple's latest iPhone at an announcement event at 6PM on 7 September, which will surely be the S7 Edge's newest rival. Whether or not it will have a curved display in retaliation remains to be seen, but it might be worth holding out on your smartphone purchase until after Apple show off their newest handset.
2.LG G5
They all said it couldn't be done. There was simply no way you could have a smartphone with a full metal unibody and an interchangeable battery – it just wasn't possible. HTC hasn't managed it with the HTC 10, and even Samsung couldn't bring it back for the GALAXY S7 and S7 EDGE. And yet, here we have the LG G5, a smartphone with a gorgeous aluminium unibody and a fully removable, user-replaceable battery.
How has LG achieved such a feat of technical wizardry? The key lies in a
small button on the left hand side of the handset. Press this, and you'll quickly notice that the whole lower section of the phone beneath the main display has just become a little looser, revealing the ingenious master stroke of the G5's design. For unlike other flagship smartphones you'll see this year, the LG G5 is an altogether different kind of handseT.
ONEPLUS 3
Despite being only as old as a human toddler, oneplus has come a long way in a very short time. It's generated enough buzz the world over to make it one of the most eagerly tracked smartphone makers in the world. And it's done all of this with a roster that now has a total of four smartphones. How has OnePlus done all of this, you ask? By striking at your value-for-money chords. The company offers its trademark flagship smartphone experience at prices that are decidedly nowhere near flagship-level.
Although its phones have managed to attract the attention of many smartphone buyers in the last two years, they haven't been quite the 'flagship killers' that they were touted to be. The onepluse offered great performance but fell short in the design, battery and camera departments. With the oneplusee2, there were bugs in the software and fingerprint sensor, amongst other quirks. The onepluse x is still the company's most affordable phone, but we had some issues with build quality and the camera. And above all, the cursed invite system made it difficult to buy any OnePlus device until well after all hype around these phones had died down.
It turns out OnePlus has been listening to us. The company recently announced the end of its highly criticised invite system, and has now launched the phone that it hopes will take it into a new future of easy availability of its affordable flagships, the Rs. 27,999 onepluse 3. On paper, this phone is an absolute beast, and appears to have what it takes to challenge the set conventions of flagship pricing. However, it faces tough competition from another smartphone that has already succeeded in defying.
HTC 10
HTC has gone from being an OEM for the likes of DELL andHP to producing some of the finest and most iconic Android smartphones of the last five years under its own banner. It's also recently diversified its business into the virtual reality space with HTC VIVA TECH CORP.
However, the profitability of the company's smartphone business has been a sore subject for some time, and RECENT REPORT SUGGEST things are still not quite right. Despite this, HTC continues to churn out smartphones and just a couple of months ago, it launched not one, but EVEN NEW in India.
Our focus for today is the company's flagship for 2016, called the HTC 10. Unlike LG and samsung which had an early start with their flagships, HTC thought it best to be fashionably late to the party. Will this strategy pay off? Our initial impression of the phone were pretty positive, and it's now time to put it to the test.
The slightly curved back houses the 12 UltraPixel 2 camera, laser autofocus sensor, and dual-tone LED flash. The camera lens bulges slightly from the back but there's a metal ring protecting it, and during our review period, we didn't find any scuffs or chipped paint.
We were sent just the phone for review with no accessories. In the retail box, you can expect to find a data cable, a Quick Charge 3.0 compatible adapter, and a headset.
Specifications and features
In terms of power, the HTC 10 packs in nothing but the best. We have Qualcomm's Snapdragon 820 quad-core SoC, 4GB of RAM, and 32GB or flash storage. This results in some pretty good benchmarks numbers. We got 118,856 in AnTuTu and a healthy 53fps in GFXbench. Other specifications include Category 9 LTE speeds for most Indian 4G bands, Bluetooth 4.2, NFC, dual-band Wi-Fi b/g/n/ac, USB OTG, and GPS. There is no FM radio. The phone also seems to have reverse charging which makes it act like a power bank. The option pops up when you plug in a USB device.
In terms of power, the HTC 10 packs in nothing but the best. We have Qualcomm's Snapdragon 820 quad-core SoC, 4GB of RAM, and 32GB or flash storage. This results in some pretty good benchmarks numbers. We got 118,856 in AnTuTu and a healthy 53fps in GFXbench. Other specifications include Category 9 LTE speeds for most Indian 4G bands, Bluetooth 4.2, NFC, dual-band Wi-Fi b/g/n/ac, USB OTG, and GPS. There is no FM radio. The phone also seems to have reverse charging which makes it act like a power bank. The option pops up when you plug in a USB device.
HTC's Sense user interface over Android Marshmallow is now incredibly minimalist and that's a very good thing. In fact, the company has ditched many of its own apps (Gallery, Music) in favour of Google's native ones, which makes for a lean, clutter-free inerface. Blinkfeed is still present when you swipe right from the homescreen, but it can be turned off if you never use it. It gives you news snippets from Twitter and the News Republic app, but you can also sync your calendar, Google+, LinkedIn and meal recommendations from restaurants around you.
A long press on the homescreen lets you change the screen layout from 'Classic' to something called 'Freestyle'. What this does is change the entire theme of the phone (based on what you select) and replace most of the icons with stickers. You can link the stickers to apps or simply use them for decoration. It's a fun concept but the novelty may wear off after a few days.
The Themes app lets you change the look of your phone in one go or you can individually choose an icon set, wallpaper, sounds, and fonts. The Boost+ app automatically cleans junk files to free up storage at set intervals. In addition to this, you can lock apps with your fingerprint, uninstall apps, and optimise games in order to get more battery life. You also get the usual Google apps and Zoe Video Editor which helps you create short films from your photo collection.
The Settings app contains tools to import your data from an older Android phone or iPhone; HTC Connect for streaming media to compatible devices; Motion launch gestures for accessing features when the display is off; HTC Mini+ support; and HTC BoomSound.
Performance
The HTC 10 never skipped a beat during our rigorous test period. There were a few moments when the interface would stutter, but these were few and far between. Call quality is rather excellent, with clear audio from the earpiece. We found that the phone doesn't overheat during regular use but it does get noticeably hot when using the camera.
The HTC 10 never skipped a beat during our rigorous test period. There were a few moments when the interface would stutter, but these were few and far between. Call quality is rather excellent, with clear audio from the earpiece. We found that the phone doesn't overheat during regular use but it does get noticeably hot when using the camera.
Google's Photos app has been tweaked to accommodate slow-motion videos and RAW files which the camera is capable of capturing. Audio is handled by the Play Music app and it's business as usual here. BoomSound is present and is backed by Dolby Audio. You get a dual-speaker setup, each powered by its own amplifier, but this time, the bottom speaker fires downwards instead of towards you. It still sounds great but isn't as immersive as two stereo speakers. The phone has also been designed with a high-resolution DAC which supports 24-bit audio. This lets you take full advantage of a good pair of headphones and your FLAC files.
BoomSound lets you toggle between Theatre and Music modes when using the loudspeaker, but plug in a pair of headphones and the options change. You can now toggle BoomSound on or off and enableDolby headphone effects. With it enabled, audio sounds richer and louder with tighter bass. Finally, we have Personal audio profile wizard that takes you through a series of steps in order to fine-tune frequencies based on your personal tastes, similar to Samsung's Adapt Sound feature.
Cameras have been a bit of sore subject for HTC's flagship devices but we can happily say that trend has been broken with the 10. It's still not the best nor is it perfect in any way, but there's been good progress. HTC is sticking to its Ultrapixel technology and now with version 2.0, we have a 12-megapixel resolution with a large pixel size of 1.55um. There's also a fairly large f/1.8 aperture, OIS, and laser autofocus. All of this comes together pretty well in delivering highly detailed and noise-free pictures. The sensor does a very good job with capturing accurate colours too.
(Tap to see full size HTC 10 camera samples)
In daylight, distant objects in landscape shots are fairly well defined although slight chromatic aberration is present. Macros tend to lack punch when you crop them but look good when viewed normally. The large aperture also gives you an excellent bokeh effect, which is handy when shooting portraits. Low-light performance is also good with little to no chroma noise ruining details in dark areas.
The camera app is lean and quick, giving you basic controls on the right and the menu for switching shooting modes on the left. The flash and Auto HDR toggles are prominently displayed for ease of use. Other than the standard shooting mode, you get Zoe camera, which captures a still and few seconds of video. There's also Panorama and Pro modes. The latter lets you manually adjust focus, shutter speed (2 to 1/8000 sec), ISO (100-3200), white balance and exposure. This mode also lets you save images as in 12-bit RAW (DNG) files.
The app, while slick and fast, could use a bit of tweaking. For instance, a warning would intermittently flash on the screen alerting us to unblock the laser autofocus sensor even when there was nothing blocking it. We sometimes had to tap the focus ring multiple times for a macro shot to make sure the subject was in focus. We also found some irregularities with the camera's light metering system. At times, in low-light, the HTC 10 would simply refuse to meter a scene properly, despite us tapping to lock focus.
On a more positive note, video recording is handled well at resolutions up to 4K. You can even toggle high-res 24-bit audio recording. You can capture hyperlapse and slow-motion videos, both of which look great.
This is the first phone to feature OIS for the front camera. It does help stabilise shots to an extent, which is helpful in low light. The 5-megapixel autofocus front camera might not seem like much but coupled with larger pixels (1.34um) and a large f/1.8 aperture, you're looking at some well-defined selfies.
Battery life
The 3000mAh battery lasted for 8 hours and 23 minutes in our video loop test, which was a bit disappointing. However, with real-world usage, we managed to easily go past a full day before needing to charge this phone. The HTC 10 supports Qualcomm's Quick Charge 3.0 which promises a 50 percent charge in just 30 minutes.
The 3000mAh battery lasted for 8 hours and 23 minutes in our video loop test, which was a bit disappointing. However, with real-world usage, we managed to easily go past a full day before needing to charge this phone. The HTC 10 supports Qualcomm's Quick Charge 3.0 which promises a 50 percent charge in just 30 minutes.
Verdict
The HTC 10 gets a proper flagship price of Rs. 52,990 which puts it right up there with the SAMSUNG GALAXY S7 and the LG G5. With such a high price, it's not unreasonable to expect perfection and the HTC 10 does deliver that on some counts, but not all. That then begs the question, does it make sense spending this kind of money for such a device when you could get a similar experience at nearly half the price? The ONEPLUS 3 has proven to be a worthy low-cost flagship this year, offering premium level performance at a price most can afford. We sincerely hope the South Korean and Taiwanese brigade re-think their next flagship offerings.
The HTC 10 gets a proper flagship price of Rs. 52,990 which puts it right up there with the SAMSUNG GALAXY S7 and the LG G5. With such a high price, it's not unreasonable to expect perfection and the HTC 10 does deliver that on some counts, but not all. That then begs the question, does it make sense spending this kind of money for such a device when you could get a similar experience at nearly half the price? The ONEPLUS 3 has proven to be a worthy low-cost flagship this year, offering premium level performance at a price most can afford. We sincerely hope the South Korean and Taiwanese brigade re-think their next flagship offerings.
Coming back to the device at hand, the HTC 10 is a beautiful, well crafted smartphone with the most powerful components available today. For a change, we can happily say that camera performance is also very good, though a notch behind the Galaxy S7 and LG G5. We also love HTC's new lean approach when it comes to software. Loyal HTC fans will pick this phone up in a heartbeat, but for everyone else, it's tough to recommend. The Samsung Galaxy S7 dominates the Android flagship space,and many other phones which cost less are good enough as well.
XIAOMI Mi5
Xiaomi did not have a great 2015, and the company simply could not shake off its 'budget smartphone' image. Many buyers do not see Xiaomi as a truly premium contender, and with value-for-money offerings such as the new Redmi note3 getting a lot of attention, even more people see the Chinese smartphone giant as a budget specialist that is known for offering feature-filled products at low prices.
While this image has certainly helped Xiaomi sell a lot of phones, it's also made it harder for the company to make a serious impact on the premium segment in India. But 2016's second launch from the company is a clear message of its intention to take on the bigwigs. The Mi5 is Xiaomi's most expensive offering yet, and signals a break away from the "budget" image. With top-end specifications that take on the Samsung galaxy s7 review at nearly half the price, the Xiaomi Mi 5 has the potential to change the mindsets of premium buyers. We review the phone and find out if this "affordable flagship" lives up to expectations.
Look and feel
The first step to making a premium smartphone is making it look and feel like a luxury item. Xiaomi somewhat succeeded in doing that with the Redmi Note 3, and has done it again with the Mi 5. What it has also managed to do is set the two devices apart significantly, and the Mi 5 has a design and build that is patently different from the much more affordable Redmi Note 3. It feels suitably premium, and does not let its mid-range pricing affect that in any way. It's also extremely light at 129g, and you'll definitely feel the lack of heft in your hands.
The first step to making a premium smartphone is making it look and feel like a luxury item. Xiaomi somewhat succeeded in doing that with the Redmi Note 3, and has done it again with the Mi 5. What it has also managed to do is set the two devices apart significantly, and the Mi 5 has a design and build that is patently different from the much more affordable Redmi Note 3. It feels suitably premium, and does not let its mid-range pricing affect that in any way. It's also extremely light at 129g, and you'll definitely feel the lack of heft in your hands.
That said, there are definite visual similarities to Samsung's A and S ranges, particularly . The inwards-sloping sides and curved back in particular look similar, as do the physical home key at the front and narrow borders around the screen. At a quick glance, the Mi 5 appears to have absolutely no bezels at all to the left and right of the screen, but on closer inspection we found that there is in fact a hint of border, coloured black to give the impression of an edge-to-edge screen.
There's a front camera, proximity sensor, LED indicator, and earpiece at the top, while the Mi logo finds a place in the top left corner. Alongside the home key are capacitive buttons that can be customised with regards to position and function. Both buttons are backlit but are invisible until they are touched. The home button itself is also touch-sensitive when the phone is being used, which can be switched off if you choose.
The entire frame of the phone is metal, broken only by plastic antenna lines at the top and bottom. The dull finish on the metal looks excellent, and the reflective edges only add to the beauty of it. There's also a great sense of symmetry and evenness all around the phone. The power and volume buttons are on the right, the dual-SIM tray is on the left, the 3.5mm socket and infrared emitter are at the top, and the USB type-C port and grilles are at the bottom. Only the right grille actually houses a speaker, while the left grille houses the microphone, but the symmetry helps maintain the phone's aesthetics.The back of the Mi 5 is a glass panel which curves at the sides, another similarity to Samsung's high-end models. It's extremely reflective, although the surface is also a grime magnet and will need constant wiping. The top left corner has the camera and flash, while another Mi logo finds a place near the bottom. Although the back panel is not meant to be removable and has no grooves to make it possible to do so, it appears that the panel can come off easily, and slight gaps are visible at the edges. We weren't particularly fond of the white variant (our review sample), and we feel the black variant looks a lot better.
The screen of the Xiaomi Mi 5 is a 5.15-inch full-HD IPS LCD affair, with an impressive pixel density of 428 pixels-per-inch, and Corning Gorilla Glass 4 protection. Although other flagship devices sport higher-resolution 1440p screens, Xiaomi explains that in order to keep the thickness of the screen - and the overall thickness of the phone - low, it was necessary to limit resolution to full-HD. This isn't a bad thing at all, since it's suitably sharp as it is, and near-impossible to spot any flaws or apparent lack of detail.
It's also an incredibly bright IPS screen, with a peak brightness rating of 600nits and a minimum brightness of 0.7nits, which is a significantly broader range than many other devices are capable of. The peak brightness is very useful under direct sunlight, and legibility is excellent. Black levels aren't particularly great though, and this is the only significant flaw in the phone's screen.
Specifications and software
The Xiaomi Mi 5 is the first Qualcomm Snapdragon 820-powered smartphone officially available in India, and is (at least on paper) one of the most powerful devices you can buy today, along with the Samung galaxy s7 edge. A notable change between the 820 and its predecessor the 810 is the fact that Qualcomm has decided to skip the core wars and go back to a more efficient quad-core architecture. Although the Snapdragon 820 can be clocked at up to 2.2GHz for all of its four cores, the Mi 5 has the SoC clocked at 1.8GHz for two cores and 1.3GHz for the other two.
The Xiaomi Mi 5 is the first Qualcomm Snapdragon 820-powered smartphone officially available in India, and is (at least on paper) one of the most powerful devices you can buy today, along with the Samung galaxy s7 edge. A notable change between the 820 and its predecessor the 810 is the fact that Qualcomm has decided to skip the core wars and go back to a more efficient quad-core architecture. Although the Snapdragon 820 can be clocked at up to 2.2GHz for all of its four cores, the Mi 5 has the SoC clocked at 1.8GHz for two cores and 1.3GHz for the other two.
There's also 3GB of RAM, 32GB of internal storage, support for VoLTE, NFC, an infrared emitter, and Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 compatibility. Our review unit came with a Quick Charge 3.0 charger, but we've been told that units sold in India will come with a Quick Charge 2.0-compatible charger. Charging is quick even with a 2.0-compatible charger, and you can juice the phone up in less than 90 minutes.
Apart from this, there is also Wi-Fi 802.11n/ac, Bluetooth 4.2, dual-SIM connectivity with 4G-capability on both SIM-slots, a 3000mAh non-user-replaceable battery, and a USB Type-C port for connectivity and charging. A notable weakness is the lack of expandable storage; the phone does not support adding microSD cards and you're limited to the 32GB in the phone itself. Although there are 64GB and 128GB variants of the Mi 5 in China, these aren't sold in India yet and there's no word on if or when they will be.
The Xiaomi Mi 5 comes with MIUI 7 based on Android 6.0. Android's typical look and feel is missing, since MIUI is a completely different user interface which follows its own rules of design and function. Although it's single-layered, it's fairly neat and well organised. The icons and menus have a sense of sophistication and quality in the design, and it certainly feels a lot better than the half-baked and tacky user interfaces that we've seen before from some other manufacturers. There's also the promise of regular updates to the user interface. While the UI doesn't have the same polish as stock Android, it's certainly one of the better custom ones.
Verdict
Xiaomi may be better known for its budget smartphones, but with the Mi 5 it has shown that it is more than capable of building a competent premium device as well. Although a lot of people will have problems with the price and the general idea that Xiaomi is even trying to build something premium, we feel that it's time to move on and give the company the respect it deserves. The Mi 5 is a solid effort that succeeds in giving you a flagship smartphone experience at a price that we consider excellent for a phone of this quality.
Xiaomi may be better known for its budget smartphones, but with the Mi 5 it has shown that it is more than capable of building a competent premium device as well. Although a lot of people will have problems with the price and the general idea that Xiaomi is even trying to build something premium, we feel that it's time to move on and give the company the respect it deserves. The Mi 5 is a solid effort that succeeds in giving you a flagship smartphone experience at a price that we consider excellent for a phone of this quality.
The Mi 5 gets practically everything right, with decent design, excellent performance, good camera quality and great battery life. The most severe shortcoming is that the phone does not support expandable storage and you're limited to 32GB which is the only variant currently available. The low weight may also give some the feeling that the phone isn't quite as solid and well-built as other all-metal competitors. Another big factor to consider is that Xiaomi's flash-sale model means that you might have
The only thing you really give up when choosing this phone over a much-higher-priced flagship from Samsung or another major brand is a little bit of the overall finesse and premium-level feel that they deliver, in terms of sheer material quality and craftsmanship. If you're looking for that feeling of absolute luxury and indulgence, you might have to spend more and look elsewhere. However, at Rs. 24,999, the Xiaomi Mi 5 is a fantastic smartphone for the price, and if you do manage to pick one up in the flash sales, it won't let you down.
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