A $600 Xiaomi phone coming this year

Known for offering specs-heavy devices at affordable rates, Xiaomi is planning to launch an expensive phone this year. The handset's price will be around RMB 4,000, which translates into $600 at current exchange rates.

Xiaomi co-founder Liwan Jiang made the revelation. He, however, stressed that despite its high price point, the device will still offer more value for money. Sadly, there's currently nothing known about the phone, although rumors say it could be an Mi Note 2 variant sporting a dual curved screen.

Via

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LG unveils X5 and X Skin mid-rangers

LG's X series is a constant source of surprises. The company unveiled two new devices, the LG X5 and the LG X Skin. Both newcomers are fairly similar to the LG X Power, except in size and battery capacity.

                                            LG X5 (left) • LG X Power (center) • LG X Skin (right)

LG X5

This is the first to break away from the LG X [word] naming pattern of the series.

The X5 has a bigger 5.5" screen with 720p resolution. The new phone is thinner and very slightly lighter than the X Power, 7.2mm and 133g (vs. 139g). You do lose a lot in the battery capacity, 2,800mAh (vs. 4,100mAh).

                                                     
                                                                      LG X5

The LG X5 is powered by a modest quad-core processor (1.3GHz) with 2GB of RAM and 16GB storage (there's a microSD card slot) It runs Android 6.0 Marshmallow. The camera is the same as the X Power camera - 13MP/1080p. All three phones have 5MP selfie cameras.

Both the LG X5 and the X Power are headed to Korean shelves later this week in White and Indigo Black for KRW 200,000 ($175/€155).

LG X Skin

This one has a 5" screen and is the thinnest and lightest of the three by far - 6.9mm and 122g. It too runs Android 6.0 Marshmallow on a 1.3GHz quad-core processor but has a bit less RAM (1.5GB). As you can expect, the battery is smaller - 2,100mAh.

                                                
                                                                   LG X Skin

The LG X Skin also has a lower resolution camera - 8MP - despite being the priciest of the three, KRW 231,000 ($200/€180).

Source (in Korean)

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Slide shows iPhone 7 will have wireless charging and waterproofing

Rumors about the iPhone are like fishermen's stories - they grow bolder and grander as time goes on. A photo of a presentation slide lists the highlights of the upcoming phone.

The slide shows an iPhone 7 Pro (dual cameras) but is labeled iPhone 7 Plus. That aside, the phone will run iOS 10 (obviously) and will lack a headphone jack ( a rumor that has been confirmed and denied several times by unofficial sources).

It will allegedly have wireless charging and will be water resistant. Those are two things that Apple hasn't touched, while they are becoming more and more common on Android phones.

This isn't the first time we've heard of a waterproof iPhone 7 with wireless charging, but we're still not ready to believe it. Next thing you know, people will start talking about a microSD slot.

Source

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OnePlus 3's price goes up to £329 in the UK starting next Monday

The inevitable has happened - starting next Monday, July 11, the OnePlus 3 will get a price increase in the UK as a consequence of the free-falling pound, itself a result of Britain's choice to exit the European Union. It's not a substantial increase, £20 to be precise, bumping the number up to £329.

The move was to be expected, after all OnePlus itself informed that the company was contemplating an increase last Wednesday, and it's not like the British currency has regained any of its former strength since.

With the tight margins OnePlus has to be facing by offering a flagship-grade product at upper midrange price, the company's decision seems to make sense. On the other hand, one must ask just how important of a market the UK is to OnePlus, how many handsets it would sell there, and whether the negative publicity of a price increase is worth it. We're sure it was a tough call.

Source

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