Samsung
Galaxy A3, A5, A7 (2016)
Evolution, which so long ago whispering fashion fans Samsung took place — from now on, A-series went on an annual release cycle and got the original indication of the year in the index (i.e., correct the spelling of the name of the model looks like Samsung Galaxy A36). If we do not take into account these specialist marketing jungle, choose the smartphone came out quite a decent buy: Samsung even spent on the development of corporate processors for glass-metal Galaxy, wanted to keep Russian prices are reasonable (by the standards of the leading brand).
Samsung Galaxy A3 and A5 (2016)
The advantages of the model:
- new Galaxy A3 — vanishing representative of modern and squalid cell phones with a diagonal of less than 5 inches
- Galaxy A5 externally — faceted luxury version of the S6, inside — prompt middling with OCTA core CPU
- Galaxy A7 — the same story as with A5, but at 5.5 inches and with an additional GB of RAM
The availability and sale date:
available in Russia from January 2016
Competitors:
Huawei P8 Lite, LG G4S, the ASUS ZenFone 2
Price:
Galaxy A3 — 19 thousand rubles
Galaxy A5 — 25 thousand rubles
Galaxy A7 — 30 thousand rubles
Detailed information:
Fashion became practical. Review smartphone Samsung Galaxy A3 and A5 (2016)
If earlier the main justification A-series was the phrase “but they are beautiful”, now smartphones look competitive even without expensive design, with the speed of their order, and A5 and A7 support all of the bells and whistles, which we have previously seen only from the flagships (optical stabilization in the camera, quick charging, etc.). In General, “beautiful” is a bit “smarter”, and this can only be welcome.
Galaxy A8 (2015)
“The Japanese guys, poorly versed in technology, will sell me them not the actual model on new year’s eve,” I thought to myself Samsung and announced in Japan… old Galaxy old with the new A8 processor Exynos 5433 (originally from Galaxy Note 4) instead of the less powerful Snapdragon 615.
“A-VIII” in Russia was not sold and, in the foreseeable future, will not be sold, so just look at what smartphones are manufactured by Samsung “over the hill” and decide for themselves whether to regret their absence on the Russian market.
Samsung Galaxy A8
The advantages of the model:
- the third largest (after Note and edge+) Samsung phablet with 5.7-inch display. In this case Full HD
- originating from the processor Galaxy Note 4 — not flagship, but still cool
- extremely small thickness — 5.9 mm, and are “smeared” over large battery capacity as much as 3000 mAh
- body using metal
The availability and sale date:
available in Japan from January 2016
Competitors:
Sony Xperia Ultra C5, Meizu Pro 5
Price:
not declared
Detailed information:
Samsung introduced Galaxy updated A8 in Japan
Update outdated smartphone using outdated CPU when in January around the world will spin advertising A new series with a new design… well, it’s at least ridiculous solution. On the other hand, Japanese retail have been faster (and metal!) variant Galaxy Note 4 is one smartphone will like.
Galaxy A9 (2016)
The flagship A-series 2016 model year, too, in Russia are not expected. And in vain — 6-inch “Lopatina” is also in demand by buyers, and to give such a class of devices at the mercy of the Chinese, it would be imprudent. However, it is possible that such a smartphone would be “not understood” by the Russians.
Samsung Galaxy A9
The advantages of the model:
- Full HD display with six inch Super AMOLED, of course
- Snapdragon processor 652 — a very intriguing, almost flagship, the “right” cosmedent
- 3 GB of RAM and TouchWiz for a bit to frolic enough
- beautiful glass and metal body with two different colors
The availability and sale date:
available in China from the first quarter of 2015
Competitors:
Huawei Mate 8, the Lenovo VIBE Z2 Pro
Price:
not declared
Detailed information:
6-inch Samsung Galaxy A9 presents officially
In principle, the competitors are not many, so expect good will Samsung and the Russian debut of the big flagship A-series.
HTC
One X9
Know who this legendary producer? This is the one whose greatness and potential is considered as conclusive in respect of past and future products. HTC such — everyone knows that the Taiwanese major financial problems, debts and everything, and on the contrary, is credited with “space” characteristics of the alleged novelties of the company. In fact, the company surprises its fans with performances of smartphones, exclusively in the smaller side. Geeks, of course, indignant, but A9 One sold amazingly well and actually became the engine of the company’s sales in November, therefore, the opinion of the connoisseurs of gigabytes and megapixels in this situation can be neglected.
HTC One X9
The advantages of the model:
- Full HD 5.5 inches diagonally — not a luxury but shirpotreba display in new smartphones
- 13 megapixels, optical stabilization (video did not twitch, and was easier to shoot on the move) and two-tone flash (to persons not zapechatlelas blue or yellow when shooting at night)
- “The flagship CPU for the poor” — MediaTek MT6795T
- metal case, new design
The availability and sale date:
available in China from December 2015
Competitors:
Samsung Galaxy A7, M2 Meizu Note
Price:
from $370 (~ 27 000) in the Chinese market
Detailed information:
HTC introduced One X9 in China
For the Chinese the new product is suitable as a local substitute of the smartphone Huawei Honor (cheap and cheerful, because), in other countries, the pricing may be less humane, but at least HTC went away from the multi-year design-citation One M7-8, and such trends are encouraging.
ASUS
ZenFone Zoom
To tired to repeat that smartphones ASUS — amazing inherently. If the model of the previous generation ZenFone differ markedly among themselves in size and structurally, it is derived on the basis of the ZenFone 2 Taiwanese spawn in a frenzy of quantities and in the best traditions of tuning street racers.
And because buyers do not resent such vigor ASUS — ZenFone each type finds its buyer. The newest and seems the most time-consuming variation of the Taiwanese flagship became the ZenFone Zoom — a smartphone with surprisingly clever optics in the camera and even more cool features than the original ZenFone 2 ZE551ML.
ASUS ZenFone Zoom
The advantages of the model:
- luxury 13-megapixel camera with triple zoom lens (read: no loss of quality), laser auto focus (quick aim the object), double flash and optical image stabilization
- 4 GB of RAM and overclocked to the limit Quad core Intel Atom Z3590 — with the Galaxy S6 or the iPhone 6s can not be compared, but still very good
- 64 or 128 GB of memory to choose
The availability and sale date:
available in Taiwan from December 2015
Competitors:
Samsung Galaxy K Zoom, Lenovo VIBE Shot
Price:
from $430 (~ 32 thousand rubles)
Detailed information:
Asus launches ZenFone Zoom with optical zoom, a year after announcement
ASUS for a long time could not translate into production models that were able to demonstrate in the prototype a year ago, but kamerafon came out really charismatic and, at least, the most interesting representative of the dimensionless line of ZenFone in 2015. It is a pity that when the battery capacity of 3000 mAh and 1080p display have the autonomy of a smartphone, most likely, will be ugly. Buy brand powerbank ZenPower!
Fairphone 2
Modular smartphones smoothly transform from the exhibition of specimens in commercially available gadgets, and the long-term dream of enthusiasts to replace certain outdated/damaged component of your mobile phone. The second model Fairphone in this regard is very good: armed with a screwdriver, the smartphone can replace almost any item in the home. And this model already went on sale!
Fairphone 2
The advantages of the model:
- unsurpassed maintainability (the highest score for a thought out design from the experts iFixit)
- a clearer display in the former smartphone — bought and replaced. A better camera — bought and replaced. And so on. And old components can be sold
- not flagship, but not mediocre features “at launch” — Snapdragon 801, Full HD, 2 GB of RAM
- some nonsense about “ethical” and “friendly to nature and man” production cell phone
The availability and sale date:
available in Europe from December 2015
Competitors:
Google Project Ara, RePhone
Price:
525 Euro (~ 42 thousand)
Detailed information:
Ethical smartphone Fairphone modular 2 is launched
Today, when almost all of us have been involved in a pursuit of new smartphones every few years, modular gadgets seem like something exotic and little demand, but this design is much better represents the device of the future than the next bent the heck of it screen.
Oukitel
K4000 Pro
Shelf in solid smartphone has arrived — the Chinese created the smartphone, the screen of which it is possible to hammer in nails. Something similar earlier introduced Motorola, however, all extreme crash test of the U.S. smartphone was limited to smartphones fall from a height. But Oukitel went further and tested a multilayer coating of the display in more severe conditions.
Oukitel K4000 Pro
The advantages of the model:
- toughened glass with the thickness of 1.1 mm ( very much) on the display
- the battery capacity of 4600 mAh order
- 2 GB of RAM (solid)
The availability and sale date:
in the Chinese retail since Q1 of 2016
Competitors:
Motorola Droid Turbo
Price:
not declared
The rest of the hardware on the smartphone is quite ordinary — Quad platform MediaTek MT6735P (version with reduced frequency), 16GB internal storage and three hours to charge the battery from zero to 100%. Android 5.1 update to 6.0. And let boards in the videos look too skinny to repeat this trick with your smartphone being in full confidence that the screen will survive, no one will undertake, and it means that the Chinese reached their goal.