News & Reviews:   Huawei P8

No surprises yesterday as Samsung launched their latest and greatest addition to the Galaxy A range of smartphones, the Samsung Galaxy A8 for RM1888. Featuring a mix of midrange and flagship tech specs and functions such as a fingerprint sensor, 16MP ISOCELL rear camera, 5MP wide f/1.9 aperture front camera (yep, the one from the Galaxy S6 series) and a midrange 2GB of RAM. Our first impressions of Samsung's thinnest smartphone (5.9mm at it's thinnest point) is that it certainly feels premium and not as large as the 5.7-inch display might suggest. According to Samsung, this is because of even thinner bezels than before while keeping the size compact. Check out our tech spec comparisons below but feel free to use our tech spec comparison tool to compare the Galaxy A8 against any smartphone you can think of. In any case, the Samsung Galaxy A8 is available in black, gold and white at all authorized stores. As part of the launch festivities, Samsung had Juliana Evans as their brand ambassador on hand to give away autographs.

The HTC One E9+ was recently launched here in Malaysia for RM1899. Available for purchase in Gold Sepia and Classic Rose Gold, the HTC One E9+ is currently on sale at authorized resellers. Tech specs and features look to be the similar as the asian release with a few exceptions which include a Mediatek Helio X10, 3GB RAM, 32GB storage expandable via microSD card, 5.5-inch 1440 x 2560 pixel resolution LCD display, a 20MP rear camera, 4MP UltraPixel front camera, and a 2800mAh battery backed by Android 5.0 (Lollipop) with HTC Sense UI 7.0. Similar to the HTC One E9 the One E9+ has 3GB RAM, a 20MP rear camera and a higher-end 2K or quad HD display. The design is also different in that the One E9+ uses a plastic back with glossy finish. Standout features include HTC Boom Sound and up to 2TB microSD (for when they actually exist), support for flac audio and dual nano SIM 4G LTE. 

Most flagship smartphones these days feature a premium full metal unibody chassis or frame with classy looks and a price tag around at least RM2K or more. They usually come with excellent design, one-of-a-kind features and top-notch tech specs. In terms of features alone, the P8 is no exception with a unique 13MP RGBW rear camera and more. The Huawei P8 aims to deliver all of the above except for the pricing as it is currently available here in Malaysia for just RM1799. Does it actually deliver flagship features, design and performance for a midrange price tag? We find out for sure in our full review of the Huawei P8 below.

Huawei recently announced its sales earnings for H1 2015 with a marked 30% increase year-on-year resulting in 175.9 billion CNY (RM107.9 billion). While many of these earnings come from the enterprise side of their busines it should be noted that their consumer smartphone business have done exceedingly well with the Huawei Mate 7 and P8 both doing well. Work and investments continue to focus on 4G networks while laying the foundation for future expansion. Check out what Huawei had to say about these achievements below.

"In the first half of 2015, Huawei achieved stable and healthy growth in all of its three business segments. In the enterprise business, our innovative products and solutions have laid the foundation for building strong competitiveness and been widely recognized by customers, and we have started to experience accelerated growth. Thanks to the extensive application of our cloud computing, storage, agile network, and other flagship products and solutions in the smart city, finance, education, and ISP markets in and outside of China, our growth in the enterprise business began to pick up in the first half of this year. Huawei's mid-range and high-end smartphones, Mate7 and P8 in particular, as well as Honor-branded phones, have made solid progress, helping us guarantee quality and sustainable growth in the consumer business. With Huawei's well-balanced, worldwide presence, we are confident that we will maintain effective growth and steady and healthy development in all business segments in 2015." Meng Wanzhou, Huawei's Chief Financial Officer 

Samsung Malaysia Electronics have sent out their invitations for the launch of the Samsung Galaxy A8 and it appears that it will arrive in Malaysia on 30 July 2015. Previous reports have the Galaxy A8 as the thinnest Samsung smartphone to date at 5.9mm thin at it's thinnest point. It will have a full metal frame like it's other Samsung Galaxy A siblings but also come with flagship features like a 16MP ISOCELL rear camera, 5MP wide f/1.9 aperture front camera, fingerprint sensor and 5.7-inch full HD Super AMOLED display. No official pricing details have been revealed yet, but early rumours indicate that it could go for RM1888. While we wait for the launch next week, why don't you take a look at the tech spec comparisons of the Samsung Galaxy A8 below using our Tech spec comparisons tool.

• Samsung Galaxy A8 vs Samsung Galaxy A7 vs Samsung Galaxy A5
• Samsung Galaxy A8 vs Huawei Honor 7 vs Meizu MX5
• Samsung Galaxy A8 vs Huawei P8 vs OPPO R7 Plus

Have something else in mind? Try out your Samsung Galaxy A8 tech spec comparison with our Tech spec comparison tool.

The Huawei Mediapad M2 has appeared before in France but recently it got it's official launching, which means we could soon see it coming here to Malaysia. Tech specs and features are surprisingly similar to the Huawei P8, with a premium metal body, Kirin 930 processor and 3GB of RAM. While there is already a 6.8-inch display Huawei P8 Max, the Mediapad M2 packs in an 8-inch full HD display instead. The Mediapad M2 does decrease the camera specs though but even then, you don't often see an 8MP rear camera and 5MP front camera on a tablet. Design-wise, the Mediapad M8 is 7.88mm thin but the overall flat and thin design with curvy corners remains the same. Features also include 4G LTE connectivity and dual 1W speakers with Harmon Kardon Clari-Fi audio technology while a 4800 mAh battery keeps the lights on. No Malaysia release dates yet, but we expect the Mediapad X2 to arrive first. Pricing for the Huawei Mediapad M2 start at 1588 CNY (RM972) for the 16GB WiFi only version, 1888 CNY (RM1155) for the 16GB 4G LTE versions and 2288 CNY (RM1400) for the 64GB 4G LTE version.

OnePlus continues to drop the OnePlus 2 teasers as it heads towards the 27 July 2015 unveil date. Previously we reported on its Snapdragon 810 processor and fingerprint scanner but now a tweet from Pete Lau, CEO of OnePlus reveals that the OnePlus 2 will be priced "under 450 USD". While this could mean the OnePlus 2 gets priced at $499.99 (RM1717) it is a significant step up in pricing from the original OnePlus One which started from $299 (RM1141). This could be caused by other OnePlus 2 features like a full metal frame and USB Type C port but if it does reach $449.99 it isn't a "flagship killer" anymore as it essentially becomes a flagship smartphone itself. The recent Huawei P8 flagship smartphone was priced at RM1799 and other similar flagship level smartphones are also being priced around this point as well.

Announced at around the same time, the Huawei Honor 7 and Meizu MX5 share a number of similar features such as an all metal body, more than 5-inch sized full HD display, fingerprint scanner and 20MP rear cameras. Neither are currently available here in Malaysia yet but at 1800 CNY (RM1081) the Meizu MX5 is priced lower than Honor 7 which is going for 1999 CNY (RM1214). The Honor 7 is more compact due to its 5.2-inch display but the Meizu MX5 is thinner at 7.6mm and lighter at 149g despite the larger 5.5-inch display. Both come packing with the latest 64-bit processors, the Honor 7 with a HiSilicon Kirin 935 while the Meizu MX5 comes with a MediaTek MT6795 Helio processor.

The Honor 7 ups the Meizu MX5 with an 8MP front camera but the MX5 has a slightly higher 20.7MP rear camera compared to the 20MP rear camera on the Honor 7. The Honor 7 rear camera uses phase detection autofocus while the Meizu MX5 uses a laser autofocus. Which autofocus is better? Well, the debate on that still hasn't quieted down yet, especially if Huawei uses newer algorithms and sensors like in the Samsung Galaxy S6 which also uses phase detection autofocus. So far, there are still no details yet on which will be coming to Malaysia first, but both have a presence here so we would say in the coming months. For the full comparison check out our Huawei Honor 7 vs Meizu MX5 tech specs comparison tool. Check out our other comparisons in this article or take a spin with our phone comparison tool yourself.

Huawei have officially announced their Honor 7 smartphone today and like the Honor 6 Plus before it, it comes with a host of flagship features for a very affordable price tag. Finally going upwards from the previous Honor design, the Honor 7 offers a full metal unibody frame and backplate complete with a fingerprint scanner like the Huawei Mate 7. Breaking free of previous restrictions it is also the first Honor smartphone to come with a 20MP rear camera which also comes with phase detection auto-focus, dual tone LED flash and a sapphire protective glass layer. Tech specs include a 64-bit 2.2GHz octa-core Kirin 935 processor, 3GB RAM, 5.2-inch FHD display, 8MP front camera, 3100 mAh battery, fast charging and Android 5.0 Lollipop. Pricing is surprisingly affordable with the single SIM 4G LTE version with 16GB storage going for 1999 CNY (RM1214), the dual SIM 4G LTE version for 2199 CNY (RM1335) and the dual SIM 4G LTE version with 64GB storage going for 2499 CNY (RM1517). No Malaysia release dates or pricing details yet but Honor Malaysia should be bringing it in soon. A lot of other features are also available such as more complete voice commands like the speech awareness on the Huawei P8, while the premium design should make the Honor 7 even more of a value-beating device here in Malaysia.

Vivo Malaysia recently launched their new Vivo X5Pro smartphone for RM1599. Featuring a full metal frame and 2.5D curved glass on the front and back the X5Pro also comes with a 13MP f2.0 camera with phase detection autofocus and sapphire lens. Other stand-out features include dedicated HiFi audio with a Cirrus Logic DAC AK4375 audio chip but like the previous Vivo X5Max, this is only discernible with headphones. Other tech specs include a 64-bit 1.5GHz octa-core Snapdragon 615 processor, dual SIM 4G LTE support, 2GB RAM, 16GB storage, 5.2-inch FHD super AMOLED display, 8MP front camera and 2450 mAh battery. It will run Android 5.0 Lollipop right out of the box with vivo's FunTouch OS 2.1 and is available at all authorized dealers in Malaysia.