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An Anonymous source recently gave us some hands-on time with the upcoming ASUS ZenFone Zoom earlier dated for a December 2015 release here in Malaysia. Our first impressions of the ZenFone Zoom is that while it retains features of the ZenFone series (concentric circles, etc.) it doesn't look like any ZenFone we've seen so far, in a very good way. 

The Huawei Honor 5X has been officially announced in China to succeed the Honor 4X. There are two versions for the Honor 5X, with the 2GB RAM version retailing for RMB 999 (RM 668.50), while a 3GB RAM version will go for RMB 1399 (RM 940.77). For an entry level to mid-range priced phone such as this, the tech specs and features are actually quite solid as they include a:-

• Snapdragon 616 chip, with a 64-bit quad-core 1.7 GHz Cortex A53 and quad-core 1.2 GHz A53 cores, plus Adreno 405 GPU
• 2GB RAM / 3GB RAM
• 16GB internal storage with a microSD card slot
• 5.5-inch 1080p display
• 13MP main camera (dual LED flash) and a 5MP at the front
• features Fingerprint sensor, 4G LTE Dual Sim
• Android 5.1.1
• 3000 mAh battery

Nowadays, Android smartphones are getting scratch, dust and water-resistant materials on. While the Apple iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus did become more durable and better protected against some accidental water splash, quite a few people have done some tests to prove that the latest iPhones are still not up there with some of the other high-end and waterproof Android models.  

YouTube video tech blogger, Zach Straley glued all 10 iPhone models on a backboard and submerged them into a bucket of water to see which one lasted the longest. After some duration of time, the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus passed out to their older predecessor ...

Next week on 3 November 2015, Xiaomi will be having a launch event in KL announcing their latest product for Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Hugo Barra, the Vice President of Xiaomi Global will make an appearance and be a spokesperson revealing the new Xiaomi producct. The latest product is most likely to be the Xiaomi Redmi Note 2, the tech specs are:-

• MediaTek Octa-Core Helio X10 processor
• 2GB RAM
• 16GB storage with expandable storage
• 5.5-inch display with full HD
• 13MP main camera and a front facing 5MP camera
• Dual-SIM slot
• 4G LTE
• Android 5.0
• 3060 mAh battery (removable)

The MIUI 7 Global Stable Build has finally arrived in Malaysia, and today I’ll be reviewing the changes with the Xiaomi Redmi 2. The MIUI 7 is based on Android Lollipop patch so expect some nice improvement from it, here-we-go. 

Note - It's been said that the over-the-air (OTA) download is not 100% ready yet, so for now head over to this site to download the MIUI 7 manually. 

According to Weibo, the upcoming OnePlus X will cost RMB 1699 (RM1143.61). Of course, that price is for China only and it may vary when it goes international. Tech specs listed in the Chinese website include a:-

• Qualcomm's Snapdragon 801 SoC
• 3GB RAM
• 16 or 32GB storage 
• 5-inch 1080p touchscreen
• 13MP main camera and 5MP front camera

The latest Oppo Neo smartphone, the Oppo Neo 7 has been announced and it packs some useful features. From its main website, the tech specs includes:-

• Quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 processor
• 1GB RAM
• 16GB internal memory, and a microSD card support
• 5-inch display with 540 x 960 resolution
• 142.7 x 71.7 x 7.55 mm 
• 8MP main camera and 5MP camera on the front (with flash)
• Quick Scan, Homescreen Management and Lockscreen Magazine
• 4G LTE connectivity
• Dual Sim support
• Android 5.1, ColourOS 2.1
• 2420 mAh battery

Samsung just can’t seem to catch a break, as previously reported that the Samsung Galaxy On5 and On7 are official. Now it seems there’s another rumour floating around in the Internet revealing the Samsung Galaxy A3 and Samsung Galaxy A7’s successors, coded SM-A310 (possibly the A3’s successor) and the SM-A710 (A7’s) is speculated to be in the works.

Digging through the information, here are the tech specs for the SM-A310 and SM-A710 respectively:-

• SM-A310
• Exynos 7580 SoC, quad-core 1.5GHz CPU and the Mali-T720 GPU
• 1.5GB RAM
• 16GB storage
• 4.7-inch display with 720 x 1280 resolution
• 13MP main camera and 5MP at the front
• Android 5.1.1

• SM-A710
• Snapdragon 615, octa-core 1.5GHz CPU and the Adreno 405 GPU
• 3GB of RAM 
• 16GB storage
• 5.5-inch display with 1080 x 1920 resolution
• 13MP main camera and 5MP front camera
• Android 5.1.1

It has been speculated that a low-end version of the Lenovo Vibe X3 will be released and called the Lenovo vibe X3 Lite. As usual, there’s no official price tag and Malaysia release date. But here’s what we got on the rumoured tech specs:-

• Octa-core 1.3GHz CPU
• 2GB RAM
• 16GB storage
• 5.5-inch display with 1080 x 1920 resolution
• 13MP rear camera and a front-facing 5MP camera
• features 4G LTE connectivity, a fingerprint scanner
• Android 5.1.1
• 3300 mAh battery

The ASUS ZenFone 3 is an upcoming new ZenFone smartphone and it is expected to be released next year. It has also been confirmed by ASUS CEO Jonney Shih that the ZenFone 3 will be equipped with the USB Type-C port.

“I think Type-C is the way to go, frankly speaking. You will see the answer when you see the ZenFone 3." Jonney Shih, ASUS CEO

Currently there are no speculated tech specs or Malaysia release dates for the ZenFone 3, but it is assumed that it will include high-end, mid-range and low-end smartphones like the current ZenFone 2 series.