I should be done with the review in about 2 weeks, but we have several phone reviews nearing completion, so I'm not sure where it will fit in the queue.
What's up with Chinese phone reviews being more frequent than those from other markets? No one reviewed the Moto phones, only one Sony phone was covered in any depth. AT stop, you're better than this bargain bin Chinese trash.
Anandtech needs to replace it's slow/late writers theirs a difference in taking time to do a good through review on new stuff and being moths late. If you take more then a month to get a review out you shouldn't get important reviews. I expect we'll see a full RX 480 review in time for Vega to ship with the way things have gone down hill and jumped off a cliff when it comes to timely reviews ever since they got sold.
Wow, racist one here! (Either that or a eurocentrist one, either way)
I'm more interested in the phone no one else is reviewing because everyone else already reviewed those other phones. I'd rather see these reviews of different phones.
Oh Christ. I am not racist, how dare you accuse someone like that.
China is very important for global trade, etc etc. I get all that. But riddle me a single innovation by a Chinese OEM. They take the idea of what other OEMs invent, drop it to bargain basement price (with a quality compromise somewhere along the way), and sell it off. They don't invent jack, they just cram more and more needless hardware in device in a manner of a pissing contest between their own kind. AT is known for in-depth coverage of new and innovative hardware. Chinese OEMs do not fit that bill.
Not racist either, but I too would like to see more Euro/NA friendly phones reviewed, given this is an English-language site and likely read more by the West than the East.
That said, this seems like a really cool phone and I'm glad it was reviewed. If it had North American LTE support I'd buy two.
I dunno whether any Chinese phone OEM has truly innovated, I guess that might largely depend on where you fall on the whole Taiwan thing, but you're casting some pretty big generalisations for which the term isn't wholly unwarranted... Chinese OEM in other markets have definitely come up with novel ideas. /shrug HTC was building phones for a lot of people long before the smartphone went mainstream too...
Chinese OEM Innovation, example: " The use of a curved glass back cover is also awesome and Xiaomi is actually the first OEM to do this to my knowledge. It’s definitely slippery, but the in-hand feel is really much better than the traditional angular glass phones like the Xperia Z line. The fact that Samsung is following here by doing the same for the Note 5 probably says something about just how far Xiaomi has come since their first smartphone."
I agree with some points about Chinese OEMs here, but their focus on audio has put Western OEMs to shame. Meizu MX4 Pro had fantastic headphone output which could drive almost anything well (along with this Pro 5, has nearly 2V out of the jack - astonishing). Having said that, they did launch it as 'Retina Sound' :P
Also the S6 (and S6 Edge) were released a couple of months after the Mi Note IIRC.
How is the phrase "Chinese phone" racist? He is referring to the many Chinese manufacturers that make phones. Now if he said "I dont like phones made by Chinese people" that would be racist... But no-one said anything like that.
Not liking phones made by chinese people is perfectly fine, as well as not liking them in general. Who said you have to like everybody? Your (((gender studies professor)))?
No-one said you have to like everybody, but not liking a whole group of people based on their race is kind of the definition of racism... But again, no-one above said anything racist.
A few reasons: 1) AnandTech has a global audience and we're trying to be more inclusive.
2) The Chinese OEMs are becoming increasingly relevant. Huawei is the third largest smartphone company by volume, for example.
3) Not all of the Chinese phones are bad.
4) Coincidence. Between a bevy of new device announcements and new relationships with companies, we received a windfall of devices from Chinese OEMs this spring. Also, some of our reviews are behind schedule (you may have noticed :), which jumbles the publishing order.
Will you continue to see reviews of devices from China? Yes. But we're not going to forget our readers in the US.
Meizu is one of the best Chinese odms out there, with impeccable build quality and nice little innovations like the multifunctional home button that recognizes a tap as well as is mechanically click able.
Love the fact that AT is doing more reviews of Chinese phones. Quite a few of Europeans are starting to import directly from China.
The beloved iPhone is also fully manufactured in China as well so readers would do well not to raise non existent quality issues.
What's the point of reviewing phones that doesn't support North American LTE bands properly? This is a North American review site, after all. Band 7 and 38 are sparingly used in some spots in Canada, and 41 is only used on Sprint in the US. The rest are useless in NA.
LTE band 1(2100), 3(1800), 7(2600), 38(2600), 39(1900), 40(2300), 41(2500)
It really bothers me how essentially no reviews ever talk about LTE band support.
I don't think the writers are all in NA, and they're all over the map so I dunno if you can say the site is l is based in any particular place anymore... I do remember reading requests for Chinese phone reviews for quite a while before they started doing them. I don't care one way or the other...
"What's the point of reviewing phones that doesn't support North American LTE bands properly?"
See my answer above.
Speaking for myself (and I believe AnandTech in general), I always list band support for region specific devices. I usually will not for phones such as the iPhone or Samsung's Galaxy phones, because they are sold around the world and with all the different region/carrier models, band support is much less of an issue.
AnandTech is an English review site, not an North American one. NA readership accounts for less than half of total traffic.
As the European mobile editor here I find such comments absolutely disappointing as such unfounded views are very much a core problem of why sometimes vendors are not willing to source devices as they see AT not as the "target market" even though we get plenty of comments requesting us to review these devices. And in the end, the last point is what matters, there absolutely is demand for us to review these devices and Chinese vendors are becoming more and more important both in terms of market-share but also in terms of innovation and product quality.
We will actually increase coverage of vendors such as Xiaomi or Meizu whose devices are focused on Asian markets because there is absolutely demand and interest in them.
Just registered to say this - thank you :) We all wait for reviews of various brands as they are also getting popular across the globe. Those who don't want to read these reviews, they can easily read something else which they find interesting.
Yup, personally I don't care much for these reviews (unless the devices are more readily available in the USA) but I don't mind them either (the audio part here was very interesting!) AND I DO remember reading requests for Meizu/Xiaomi/etc reviews for a long long time in the comments section of older reviews... I've no doubt Andrei is right as far as the existing demand for this content.
I have no problems with phones targeting different markets being reviewed. In fact as someone from Australia, I like that AT seems to be less NA focused recently.
Can I just ask that reviews list the LTE bands supported clearly in the spec table? It really is as important as storage or camera spec, at least. I know which bands my carrier uses, so if the LTE bands are listed, I'd know if the phone is useful for me or not. Sometimes finding exactly the LTE bands that some of these Chinese phones support is not at all east.
At least most Chinese phones support band 3, which is common to all the major carriers here in Australia. Makes them much more attractive for us than for US buyers. Many also support Band 40, which is used by Optus. Support for Bands 5 and 28 is rare though, so we tend not to get the fastest available service on Chinese handsets.
I agree with you %100. Anandtech doesn't review %20 of available phones, why would they review phones incompatible with North American LTE? Cover us first, then cover the in-compatible phones with a big warning. America comes first. That's the truth.
BTW to all AT editors, can you include comments using Facebook/Twitter/Google/Disqus etc., I have been reading for years, yet never wanted to create a seperate account for commenting.
I say keep up the reviews of these Chinese phones! As has been pointed out, just because they're not brought to the US doesn't mean they're not available elsewhere. Also, consider that while AnandTech does put out the most thorough reviews, finding good ones one the newest Galaxy isn't hard. You can also walk into a store and test it yourself. For the rarer phones like Xiaomi, unless you can travel to China and read Chinese, you may not even know what the actual specs (including LTE bands) are before you buy it from some random seller.
Why would you review this but not the HTC 10 considering availability? Can you at least do an audio comparison between the two for calls and music on the phone speaker and music performance on headphones? Or have you guys dismissed HTC as a "has-been" and have written them off? I know they aren't Apple or anything, but dayum...
I used to come to AnandTech first for reviews, but those are days long gone it seems.
I would like to see a htc ten review as well. It has some interesting features as well, and feel free to skip over the cpu/gpu benches. These are easily available elsewhere. And given the limited review resources, shouldn't devices that aren't near replacement be prioritised?
How is OS support for these phones? Do they have frequent Android updates? I purchased a Chinese tablet in the recent past, and support was pretty bad. The only real source of support was a forum. Are you going to be stuck on whatever version of Android comes with the phone when you buy it?
Once in a blue moon, they might get an update. Generally not an OTA, you have to flash them manually. Even then, count yourself lucky if you get them.
Anyone who cares about security and wanting a phone that gets prompt security updates and is supported for a reasonable amount of time should only look at the iPhone or the Nexus. And buy them outright.
"The other four phones in this roundup all have OIS and lower resolution sensors. The Mate 8 uses a 16MP Sony IMX298 Exmor RS sensor, while the iPhone 6s Plus, Nexus 6P, and Galaxy S7 all use different 12MP Sony sensors."
I had to keep going over that that to make sure I wasn't misreading. I'm fairly certain the Nexus 6P doesn't have OIS...
I almost thought Anandtech will finally include audio measurements on their phone reviews... Not really a fan of subjectively describing the sound of DACs and amps.
There's a place for both IMO, numbers will never tell the whole story when it comes to audio gear, at least not until we get a lot better at measuring things AND interpreting measurements. Review sites like Innerfidelity have proven this time and again IMO...
FWIW AT did include audio measurements for a brief stint when they had some loaner gear, but they don't have access to it anymore and even if they did not every smartphone reviewer would... It's definitely something I'd love to see but the logistics seem tough to figure out.
I would love to read AnandTechs detailed and rigorous full review of the HTC 10 as well but I still like to see these Chinese smartphones reviews as well. Just because I can't buy them except if I import them dosent mean that are a very important part of the competition
Thanks for the review Matt, waiting for Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 and and Mi5. Also try to get the samples for LeEco Le Max2 and LeEco Le2.
We are getting all these interesting phones here in India at awesome prices and need a good English review site and you already know you have a sizable Indian readership. Besides, These companies are launching in new markets every few months, so the readership for these devices will only increase in the future.
Another more or less baffling phone review from AnandTech. Not that it isn't slightly interesting to read about uncommon devices and new configurations of known hardware, but given that AT is still missing reviews of all current high end phones save the G5 and the latest iPhone, this is an odd one.
Especially given that this device - as stated in the review - won't be very relevant outside of China due to lack of LTE support, this makes me wonder if AT is under some sort of pressure to grow their reader base in China/eastern Asia.
Sure, S7 reviews are a dime a dozen, but none with the technical knowledge and depth of AT reviews. I also get that most AT editors work part time alongside other, time-consuming engagements (like studies), but that's not really an excuse for ever-increasing lateness. If your current editors are overworked, hire more.
I really don't mind that anandtech's reviews are late, because they're more in depth than any other reviews. Display and colors are SO important to a smartphone, but NO ONE ELSE seems to recognise it and test it as well as Anandtech (not even the manufacturers) ! That's what keeps me coming here. I only wish that the breadth of reviews were greater (i.e. more smartphones)
Most of these Chinese phones are excellent, but you have to look at the LTE bands. Many are not compatible with North American LTE. From what I can directly check, this phone is NOT compatible with north american LTE network.
Honestly who cares about all these phones? None of them will get updated past one update at most. And they still lag and have garbage collection hiccups while scrolling. Android is such a pain in the neck OS.
Thank you for your excellent reviews. Yes, they are selective and sporadic, but hey - better these than nothing.
If I may suggest something:
- consider having the same phones in each comparison chart (having model A appear in performance and missing in battery life does not make for easy comparison)
- This year and next year will be the year of the chinese mega-phones: LeEco, Oppo, Vivo, Meizu, etc.
You will get c. all the performance and very modifiable ROMs for c. 50% of the price compared to Apple, Samsung, LG, etc.
Review more of those and you'll get plenty of interested viewers/readers/ad impressions.
Nice phone, terrible price. With the days of carrier subsidies behind us, fewer and fewer people will fork out $500+ for a phone (see iPhone SE). The idea that they will choose, at this price range, to go with a company that doesn't provide security or OS updates means only a fool would choose this over the many excellent options out there. I like the nand, I like the CPU, but at that price, I don't see how they will sell well globally.
https://logicielespiongratuitblog.wordpress.com/20... Dans un rapport, un père assistait à une réunion sur le suicide chez les adolescents aux États-Unis a vu l'un des autres parents pop up comme un ami potentiel le lendemain.
Great review on a under reported market. Most likely due to how many models can't be sold outside of China due to copyright issues when not in their home market.
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80 Comments
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Pissedoffyouth - Friday, June 24, 2016 - link
Could you perhaps do a review of the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3, Matt? This is a good reviewMatt Humrick - Friday, June 24, 2016 - link
I'm actually working on a dual review of the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 and Meizu M3 note right now :)ETA-Asker - Saturday, June 25, 2016 - link
ETA on RN3 review pleaseMatt Humrick - Saturday, June 25, 2016 - link
I should be done with the review in about 2 weeks, but we have several phone reviews nearing completion, so I'm not sure where it will fit in the queue.Chillin1248 - Sunday, June 26, 2016 - link
I was literally about to push the buy button the RN3 till I saw this comment. I am eagerly awaiting the review to decide.Please check by the way regarding the camera issues and the overheating issues (especially while charging) that are going around the web. Thanks!
iBend - Sunday, July 10, 2016 - link
or just wait for RN4..its rumored to use SD652, but maybe its still 3-4 months away
zeeBomb - Friday, June 24, 2016 - link
HOLY CRAP! A MEIZU PRO5 REVIEW, A REVIEW I ASKED ANDREI MONTHS AGO!ANANDTECH DELIVERS!
leexgx - Tuesday, June 28, 2016 - link
4G is not 3G (DC-HSPA+ is not a new network) just mobile operators in the USA got there way to name it thatGuppy_ - Friday, June 24, 2016 - link
Wow, never thought i'd see a meizu pro 5 review on anandtech. heck I even joined just to comment!What made you decide to do the review?
Also, since the meizu is audio focused, how bout a comparison versus other smartphones in that same sense?
kspirit - Friday, June 24, 2016 - link
What's up with Chinese phone reviews being more frequent than those from other markets? No one reviewed the Moto phones, only one Sony phone was covered in any depth. AT stop, you're better than this bargain bin Chinese trash.retrospooty - Friday, June 24, 2016 - link
Anandtech will probably review the new 2016 Moto phones ... in 2017 ... Q4 LOL :PSunLord - Friday, June 24, 2016 - link
Anandtech needs to replace it's slow/late writers theirs a difference in taking time to do a good through review on new stuff and being moths late. If you take more then a month to get a review out you shouldn't get important reviews. I expect we'll see a full RX 480 review in time for Vega to ship with the way things have gone down hill and jumped off a cliff when it comes to timely reviews ever since they got sold.kspirit - Friday, June 24, 2016 - link
@retrospooty HA! true.invinciblegod - Friday, June 24, 2016 - link
Wow, racist one here! (Either that or a eurocentrist one, either way)I'm more interested in the phone no one else is reviewing because everyone else already reviewed those other phones. I'd rather see these reviews of different phones.
kspirit - Friday, June 24, 2016 - link
Oh Christ. I am not racist, how dare you accuse someone like that.China is very important for global trade, etc etc. I get all that. But riddle me a single innovation by a Chinese OEM. They take the idea of what other OEMs invent, drop it to bargain basement price (with a quality compromise somewhere along the way), and sell it off. They don't invent jack, they just cram more and more needless hardware in device in a manner of a pissing contest between their own kind. AT is known for in-depth coverage of new and innovative hardware. Chinese OEMs do not fit that bill.
kaidenshi - Friday, June 24, 2016 - link
Not racist either, but I too would like to see more Euro/NA friendly phones reviewed, given this is an English-language site and likely read more by the West than the East.That said, this seems like a really cool phone and I'm glad it was reviewed. If it had North American LTE support I'd buy two.
Impulses - Saturday, June 25, 2016 - link
I dunno whether any Chinese phone OEM has truly innovated, I guess that might largely depend on where you fall on the whole Taiwan thing, but you're casting some pretty big generalisations for which the term isn't wholly unwarranted... Chinese OEM in other markets have definitely come up with novel ideas. /shrug HTC was building phones for a lot of people long before the smartphone went mainstream too...fuicharles - Saturday, June 25, 2016 - link
Chinese OEM Innovation, example:" The use of a curved glass back cover is also awesome and Xiaomi is actually the first OEM to do this to my knowledge. It’s definitely slippery, but the in-hand feel is really much better than the traditional angular glass phones like the Xperia Z line. The fact that Samsung is following here by doing the same for the Note 5 probably says something about just how far Xiaomi has come since their first smartphone."
This is the copy from the Summary by Joshua Ho of Anandtech when review the Xiaomi Mi Note - http://www.anandtech.com/show/9386/the-xiaomi-mi-n...
By the Ways, Huawei Kirin SOC are very successfully recently.
theduckofdeath - Sunday, June 26, 2016 - link
The Galaxy S6 edge had a curved glass back as well, to match the curved front. I guess Joshua jsut didn't think that one though long enough.theduckofdeath - Sunday, June 26, 2016 - link
*The Galaxy S6 edge had a curved glass back as well, to match the curved front. I guess Joshua just didn't think that one through long enough.(Would it be too much asked to get a comment section with a simple edit button like every other site in the world has? :D )
austinsguitar - Sunday, June 26, 2016 - link
:dasfletch - Monday, June 27, 2016 - link
I agree with some points about Chinese OEMs here, but their focus on audio has put Western OEMs to shame. Meizu MX4 Pro had fantastic headphone output which could drive almost anything well (along with this Pro 5, has nearly 2V out of the jack - astonishing). Having said that, they did launch it as 'Retina Sound' :PAlso the S6 (and S6 Edge) were released a couple of months after the Mi Note IIRC.
yoghibawono - Wednesday, July 13, 2016 - link
curved back of Xiaomi Mi Note actually came first. It's considered the first curved phone before popularized by samsung.retrospooty - Friday, June 24, 2016 - link
How is the phrase "Chinese phone" racist? He is referring to the many Chinese manufacturers that make phones. Now if he said "I dont like phones made by Chinese people" that would be racist... But no-one said anything like that.zeeBomb - Friday, June 24, 2016 - link
No point saying Chinese phone cuz parts gets fabricated into assembly by all OEMs.Michael Bay - Saturday, June 25, 2016 - link
Not liking phones made by chinese people is perfectly fine, as well as not liking them in general.Who said you have to like everybody? Your (((gender studies professor)))?
retrospooty - Monday, June 27, 2016 - link
No-one said you have to like everybody, but not liking a whole group of people based on their race is kind of the definition of racism... But again, no-one above said anything racist.xthetenth - Tuesday, June 28, 2016 - link
Oh hey it's the triple parens thing from someone discussing racism. Niiiiiiiiice.Michael Bay - Saturday, June 25, 2016 - link
>chinese phones are boring trash>DAS RAYCISSSS
All leftists will be quatered soon. ^_^
xthetenth - Tuesday, June 28, 2016 - link
Oh, oh wow. Look at the ickle alt-righter who can't even spell his own death threats.Matt Humrick - Friday, June 24, 2016 - link
A few reasons:1) AnandTech has a global audience and we're trying to be more inclusive.
2) The Chinese OEMs are becoming increasingly relevant. Huawei is the third largest smartphone company by volume, for example.
3) Not all of the Chinese phones are bad.
4) Coincidence. Between a bevy of new device announcements and new relationships with companies, we received a windfall of devices from Chinese OEMs this spring. Also, some of our reviews are behind schedule (you may have noticed :), which jumbles the publishing order.
Will you continue to see reviews of devices from China? Yes. But we're not going to forget our readers in the US.
LiverpoolFC5903 - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link
Meizu is one of the best Chinese odms out there, with impeccable build quality and nice little innovations like the multifunctional home button that recognizes a tap as well as is mechanically click able.Love the fact that AT is doing more reviews of Chinese phones. Quite a few of Europeans are starting to import directly from China.
The beloved iPhone is also fully manufactured in China as well so readers would do well not to raise non existent quality issues.
justaway2 - Friday, June 24, 2016 - link
What's the point of reviewing phones that doesn't support North American LTE bands properly? This is a North American review site, after all. Band 7 and 38 are sparingly used in some spots in Canada, and 41 is only used on Sprint in the US. The rest are useless in NA.LTE band 1(2100), 3(1800), 7(2600), 38(2600), 39(1900), 40(2300), 41(2500)
It really bothers me how essentially no reviews ever talk about LTE band support.
BrokenCrayons - Friday, June 24, 2016 - link
This might be a surprise, but there are a lot of people on the planet that don't live in North America.justaway2 - Friday, June 24, 2016 - link
Is Anandtech not a North America-based site catering to a North American readership?There's 1.4B people living in China. Why isn't Anandtech publishing articles in Chinese?
Impulses - Friday, June 24, 2016 - link
I don't think the writers are all in NA, and they're all over the map so I dunno if you can say the site is l is based in any particular place anymore... I do remember reading requests for Chinese phone reviews for quite a while before they started doing them. I don't care one way or the other...BigLan - Friday, June 24, 2016 - link
It seems to be moving to more of a european site now rather than US based - most of the smartphone team is based in the UK iirc.Matt Humrick - Friday, June 24, 2016 - link
"What's the point of reviewing phones that doesn't support North American LTE bands properly?"See my answer above.
Speaking for myself (and I believe AnandTech in general), I always list band support for region specific devices. I usually will not for phones such as the iPhone or Samsung's Galaxy phones, because they are sold around the world and with all the different region/carrier models, band support is much less of an issue.
Andrei Frumusanu - Friday, June 24, 2016 - link
AnandTech is an English review site, not an North American one. NA readership accounts for less than half of total traffic.As the European mobile editor here I find such comments absolutely disappointing as such unfounded views are very much a core problem of why sometimes vendors are not willing to source devices as they see AT not as the "target market" even though we get plenty of comments requesting us to review these devices. And in the end, the last point is what matters, there absolutely is demand for us to review these devices and Chinese vendors are becoming more and more important both in terms of market-share but also in terms of innovation and product quality.
We will actually increase coverage of vendors such as Xiaomi or Meizu whose devices are focused on Asian markets because there is absolutely demand and interest in them.
more-or-less - Friday, June 24, 2016 - link
Just registered to say this - thank you :)We all wait for reviews of various brands as they are also getting popular across the globe. Those who don't want to read these reviews, they can easily read something else which they find interesting.
Impulses - Friday, June 24, 2016 - link
Yup, personally I don't care much for these reviews (unless the devices are more readily available in the USA) but I don't mind them either (the audio part here was very interesting!) AND I DO remember reading requests for Meizu/Xiaomi/etc reviews for a long long time in the comments section of older reviews... I've no doubt Andrei is right as far as the existing demand for this content.jimbo2779 - Friday, June 24, 2016 - link
I think it's great to see brands that are not just us centric.aryonoco - Friday, June 24, 2016 - link
Thanks Andrei.I have no problems with phones targeting different markets being reviewed. In fact as someone from Australia, I like that AT seems to be less NA focused recently.
Can I just ask that reviews list the LTE bands supported clearly in the spec table? It really is as important as storage or camera spec, at least. I know which bands my carrier uses, so if the LTE bands are listed, I'd know if the phone is useful for me or not. Sometimes finding exactly the LTE bands that some of these Chinese phones support is not at all east.
asfletch - Monday, June 27, 2016 - link
At least most Chinese phones support band 3, which is common to all the major carriers here in Australia. Makes them much more attractive for us than for US buyers. Many also support Band 40, which is used by Optus. Support for Bands 5 and 28 is rare though, so we tend not to get the fastest available service on Chinese handsets.LiverpoolFC5903 - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link
Thank you!The likes of Meizu, Xiaomi,Oppo, Vivo, Huawei, ZTE, One plus and others have a lot of good stuff to offer and at mostly great prices.
Keep doing what you are doing, love the content on here.
andychow - Sunday, June 26, 2016 - link
I agree with you %100. Anandtech doesn't review %20 of available phones, why would they review phones incompatible with North American LTE? Cover us first, then cover the in-compatible phones with a big warning. America comes first. That's the truth.more-or-less - Friday, June 24, 2016 - link
BTW to all AT editors, can you include comments using Facebook/Twitter/Google/Disqus etc., I have been reading for years, yet never wanted to create a seperate account for commenting.Impulses - Friday, June 24, 2016 - link
Disqus is annoying AF... IMO Only good part about it are email notifications, but it loads slow and doesn't look that great.Eden-K121D - Friday, June 24, 2016 - link
AnandTech is too goddamn lazy and lethargic to bring the S7 review part 2 or HTC 10 review or GTX 1080/70 reviwGeranium - Friday, June 24, 2016 - link
@AnandTech,Why you guys are putting Android benchmark and iOS benchmark in same chart? Aren't those different platform?
Aaight - Friday, June 24, 2016 - link
So...when is the second half of the s7 review coming out? This is getting ridiculous..Ranger1065 - Friday, June 24, 2016 - link
Anandtech is like a ship with a hole in the bottom, leaking water, and they only seem concerned with getting the ship pointed in the right direction.adriangb - Friday, June 24, 2016 - link
I say keep up the reviews of these Chinese phones! As has been pointed out, just because they're not brought to the US doesn't mean they're not available elsewhere.Also, consider that while AnandTech does put out the most thorough reviews, finding good ones one the newest Galaxy isn't hard. You can also walk into a store and test it yourself. For the rarer phones like Xiaomi, unless you can travel to China and read Chinese, you may not even know what the actual specs (including LTE bands) are before you buy it from some random seller.
justaway2 - Friday, June 24, 2016 - link
http://www.gsmarena.com/xiaomi_mi_5-6948.phpcwolf78 - Friday, June 24, 2016 - link
Why would you review this but not the HTC 10 considering availability? Can you at least do an audio comparison between the two for calls and music on the phone speaker and music performance on headphones? Or have you guys dismissed HTC as a "has-been" and have written them off? I know they aren't Apple or anything, but dayum...I used to come to AnandTech first for reviews, but those are days long gone it seems.
Zoomer - Friday, June 24, 2016 - link
I would like to see a htc ten review as well. It has some interesting features as well, and feel free to skip over the cpu/gpu benches. These are easily available elsewhere. And given the limited review resources, shouldn't devices that aren't near replacement be prioritised?Impulses - Saturday, June 25, 2016 - link
An audio comparison would be very interesting IMO since a lot of other reviewers have highly toured the HTC 10's audio output.kmmatney - Friday, June 24, 2016 - link
How is OS support for these phones? Do they have frequent Android updates? I purchased a Chinese tablet in the recent past, and support was pretty bad. The only real source of support was a forum. Are you going to be stuck on whatever version of Android comes with the phone when you buy it?aryonoco - Friday, June 24, 2016 - link
OS updates are terrible.Security updates are worse.
Once in a blue moon, they might get an update. Generally not an OTA, you have to flash them manually. Even then, count yourself lucky if you get them.
Anyone who cares about security and wanting a phone that gets prompt security updates and is supported for a reasonable amount of time should only look at the iPhone or the Nexus. And buy them outright.
Michael Bay - Wednesday, June 29, 2016 - link
>android anything>security
Azurael - Friday, June 24, 2016 - link
"The other four phones in this roundup all have OIS and lower resolution sensors. The Mate 8 uses a 16MP Sony IMX298 Exmor RS sensor, while the iPhone 6s Plus, Nexus 6P, and Galaxy S7 all use different 12MP Sony sensors."I had to keep going over that that to make sure I wasn't misreading. I'm fairly certain the Nexus 6P doesn't have OIS...
Matt Humrick - Friday, June 24, 2016 - link
You're right. The Nexus 6P does not have OIS. I've updated the paragraph in the review.Spectrophobic - Saturday, June 25, 2016 - link
I almost thought Anandtech will finally include audio measurements on their phone reviews...Not really a fan of subjectively describing the sound of DACs and amps.
Impulses - Saturday, June 25, 2016 - link
There's a place for both IMO, numbers will never tell the whole story when it comes to audio gear, at least not until we get a lot better at measuring things AND interpreting measurements. Review sites like Innerfidelity have proven this time and again IMO...FWIW AT did include audio measurements for a brief stint when they had some loaner gear, but they don't have access to it anymore and even if they did not every smartphone reviewer would... It's definitely something I'd love to see but the logistics seem tough to figure out.
paradox_cat - Saturday, June 25, 2016 - link
can we please have a HTC 10 review? I'd be interested particularly to see how the sound quality on that compares to this Meizu Pro 5Badelhas - Saturday, June 25, 2016 - link
I would love to read AnandTechs detailed and rigorous full review of the HTC 10 as well but I still like to see these Chinese smartphones reviews as well. Just because I can't buy them except if I import them dosent mean that are a very important part of the competitionBMNify - Saturday, June 25, 2016 - link
Thanks for the review Matt, waiting for Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 and and Mi5. Also try to get the samples for LeEco Le Max2 and LeEco Le2.We are getting all these interesting phones here in India at awesome prices and need a good English review site and you already know you have a sizable Indian readership. Besides, These companies are launching in new markets every few months, so the readership for these devices will only increase in the future.
Valantar - Saturday, June 25, 2016 - link
Another more or less baffling phone review from AnandTech. Not that it isn't slightly interesting to read about uncommon devices and new configurations of known hardware, but given that AT is still missing reviews of all current high end phones save the G5 and the latest iPhone, this is an odd one.Especially given that this device - as stated in the review - won't be very relevant outside of China due to lack of LTE support, this makes me wonder if AT is under some sort of pressure to grow their reader base in China/eastern Asia.
Sure, S7 reviews are a dime a dozen, but none with the technical knowledge and depth of AT reviews. I also get that most AT editors work part time alongside other, time-consuming engagements (like studies), but that's not really an excuse for ever-increasing lateness. If your current editors are overworked, hire more.
m0rdy - Saturday, June 25, 2016 - link
I really don't mind that anandtech's reviews are late, because they're more in depth than any other reviews. Display and colors are SO important to a smartphone, but NO ONE ELSE seems to recognise it and test it as well as Anandtech (not even the manufacturers) ! That's what keeps me coming here. I only wish that the breadth of reviews were greater (i.e. more smartphones)fuicharles - Sunday, June 26, 2016 - link
I also don't mind that anadtech review being late, given it is more in depth, but please don't be too late.theduckofdeath - Sunday, June 26, 2016 - link
The audio part looks really, really interesting. Too bad the rest of the phone doesn't get the same level of attention to detail.andychow - Sunday, June 26, 2016 - link
Most of these Chinese phones are excellent, but you have to look at the LTE bands. Many are not compatible with North American LTE. From what I can directly check, this phone is NOT compatible with north american LTE network.sonicmerlin - Sunday, June 26, 2016 - link
Honestly who cares about all these phones? None of them will get updated past one update at most. And they still lag and have garbage collection hiccups while scrolling. Android is such a pain in the neck OS.theduckofdeath - Monday, June 27, 2016 - link
Almost 90% of all smartphone buyers cares, I think? You know, the ones who buys them instead of clinging on to irrelevant one-liners from 2008. :Dhalcyon - Monday, June 27, 2016 - link
Thank you for your excellent reviews. Yes, they are selective and sporadic, but hey - better these than nothing.If I may suggest something:
- consider having the same phones in each comparison chart (having model A appear in performance and missing in battery life does not make for easy comparison)
- This year and next year will be the year of the chinese mega-phones: LeEco, Oppo, Vivo, Meizu, etc.
You will get c. all the performance and very modifiable ROMs for c. 50% of the price compared to Apple, Samsung, LG, etc.
Review more of those and you'll get plenty of interested viewers/readers/ad impressions.
fanofanand - Monday, June 27, 2016 - link
Nice phone, terrible price. With the days of carrier subsidies behind us, fewer and fewer people will fork out $500+ for a phone (see iPhone SE). The idea that they will choose, at this price range, to go with a company that doesn't provide security or OS updates means only a fool would choose this over the many excellent options out there. I like the nand, I like the CPU, but at that price, I don't see how they will sell well globally.DocRambone - Monday, June 27, 2016 - link
Hoho, Anand?, how about the Mi5 review?Kkikdjjdw - Wednesday, June 29, 2016 - link
https://logicielespiongratuitblog.wordpress.com/20...Dans un rapport, un père assistait à une réunion sur le suicide chez les adolescents aux États-Unis a vu l'un des autres parents pop up comme un ami potentiel le lendemain.
qwert - Friday, July 1, 2016 - link
Not worthy, though.darkvader75 - Monday, July 4, 2016 - link
Great review on a under reported market. Most likely due to how many models can't be sold outside of China due to copyright issues when not in their home market.