A new computer market is opening in Taipei, SynTrend’s is a multistory building which houses a variety of geeky shops including a concept store from Intel.

Opening a pop up shop isn’t new for Intel, but it looks like Intel’s Concept store has found a semi permanent home.  So if you’re in town chances are you’re going to be able to check out the latest Intel based products.  Not only will you be able to check out products that have just hit the street’s you’re going to be able to check out some of their technology demo’s which show case what they’re working on for future products.

At IDF in Shenzhen we got to check out the Crane and Claw game based on Intel’s Real Sense, it looks like we’ve got one here where shoppers can try their luck at winning a some plush toys.

The other big draw is the three display gaming system where you can sit in the cockpit of a race car and feel like you’re actually sinking into your seat around the tight corners of the race track.

Our favorite demo has to be the light table that uses an IR blaster to show and control various types of content. On top of all this when you dig right into it you’ll see the TV is powered by an Intel Compute stick, the 3D printer is sitting unsuspectingly beside programs where you can create your own avatar’s using Real Sense technology.  And if you’re not too over whelmed out of the corner of your eye you’ll see SMS BioSport headphones that monitor your heart rate sitting beside the Mica bracelet a wearable for Women.

If you’re wondering what the rest of the building looks like here are some shots from the SynTrend Computer Market. It’s right beside the old computer market but it’s much more formidable, it looks a lot like a spaceship.  It’s also chalk full of shops packed with gadgets.  ASUS has a shop which has an entire showcase of prototypes of the Zenwatch and Vivowatch.  You get so much more of an immersive gadget shopping experience that you would in the West…don’t be jealous…just get over here.

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HTC has launched a new device that most people reading this won’t have the chance to buy.  The HTC One M9+ is a larger variation on the One M9 that’s only going to be sold in Asia and after going hands on, I have to say, it’s a real shame.

The HTC One M9+ is part midrange phone part premium handset, it’s build is 100% luxury but under the hood it’s running a MediaTek Helio X10 processor at 2.2Ghz with 3GB of RAM. This is a 64 bit SOC that isn’t going to be taking on the Snapdragon 810 or 808, but it’s not a slouch in terms of over all performance.

The biggest difference between the M9 and M9+ is the display which is a larger 5.2 inches and sporting a 2K (1440 x 2560) resolution.  The other big visual difference is that on the the rear we’ve got a 20MP camera with a secondary depth sensing shooter. Think the M8 and M9 had a love child with slightly better camera performance.  On the front we have a 4MP Ultra Pixel Camera, we test both out in the challenging lighting conditions at the Taipei launch of the Smartphone.  The conditions were’n’t exactly ideal, both photos were noisy but the rear camera showed decent detail, though was pretty slow to respond.  When you put it up against the competition, it’s hard to see that the M9 or M9+ are in the same flagship class since the G4 and S6 have such banging camera’s.

One thing we expected to be a little bigger was the battery which is 2840mAh, with the slightly larger display and 2K display we would have liked to see something over 3000.  The other flaw that still plagues the One series is that on screen buttons which add to the over all length of the device, we would like to see the buttons beside the logo on the front of the handset.  What we can’t fault at all is the inclusion of the finger print sensor, we thought that should have made it onto the One M9.

The HTC One M9+ measures 150.99 x 71.99 x 9.61mm and weighs in at 168 grams. It comes sporting 4G/LTE Bluetooth 4.1, DLNA, HDMI MHL 2.0, NFC, CIR, MicroUSB 2.0 and BoomSound with Dolby Audio.

Event Sugar High!! :D

With the two tone metal finish we can see why the HTC One M9+ is carrying such an expensive price tag at 23,900NT ($780USD).  We do expect that the price will drop but one thing is clear, MediaTek is officially in a very high-end device with a luxury price tag to match.

So…What do you guys think? Should they have done a global launch? Would you pick up with larger versions of the M9 with a finger print reader?

The post HTC One M9+ Hands On with a Camera Test appeared first on Mobile Geeks.

SynTrend is Taipei’s new multistory computer market and ASUS has a new shop which let’s you go hands on with their entire line up of products.

ASUS shops are nothing new, but this one is particularly lush, it’s got a section to check out, tablets, laptops, 2-in-1’s, Gaming Rigs and a wall of cases that I wish everyone had access to.  The most asked question I always get about devices is where people can buy official cases.  I suggest Amazon, but even that massive globally shipping online shop has nothing on this store.

Why I decided to write this piece is the behind the scenes Zenwatch exhibit they included in the store.  If you’re lucky enough to attend a trade show, you’re likely to have seen this. But your average Joe isn’t only going to have seen photos…like the ones I’m posting here.  If you’re in Taipei and you want to check it out for your self, you should. A look a prototypes is sure to get the Geek in all of us a little overly excited.

This is just one shop, there are floors and floors of gadgets and gizmos which is sure to keep anyone occupied for hours … and a Geek for days! Here are some photos of the new computer market and below that is a walk through of the Intel concept store that is in the same building.

Check out the Concept Store photos and full walk through here.

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In Beijing by the Olympic Park Oppo announced the R7 a midrange wonder that we went hands on with today.

The Oppo R7 comes with a 5 inch AMOLED display that has a resolution of 1080 x 1920 which gives it a Pixel Per Inch (PPI) of 441.  Under the hood we’ve got a Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 running at 1.7GHz with 3GB of RAM along side an Adreno 405 GPU and is a 64 bit SOC.

Oppo has taken sometime to focus in on the industrial design on the handset, it look a lot like an R5 but what we’ve got is a much more refined feeling handset.  Oppo has taken lead from the handle of a violin, it’s been improved upon for centuries and has a substantial purposeful in hand.  Oppo is hoping some of this highend feeling is reflected in their new handset…and after an hour or two playing around with it…I’d have to agree.

Jpeg

In terms of storage it’s got 16GB with a MicroSD card slot that’s good up to 128GB. It’s camera is 13MP on the rear with LED flashd and a generous 8MP on the front.  The camera’s sample photos were stunning and we’ve got a new ISOCELL which allows you to take photos in just 0.7 seconds. Oppo is looking to decrease the amount of blurry shots in your life.Being a solid mid range offering it comes with LTE and is dual SIM with dual stand by support.

Running Android 5.0 Oppo is upgrading Color OS from 2.0 to 2.1 which will eliminate crashes and speed up the over all UI experience.

The Oppo R7 will cost you 2499 CYN or $400USD and will be available on JD.com on May 21st and should be shipping around June 10th.

The post Oppo R7 Hands On Photos & Video – Thinner & Better? appeared first on Mobile Geeks.

No 1 has released their most well built handset to day with the S6i which is a Samsung Galaxy S6 clone.  We take a look at the S6i and put it head to head against the real deal.  The No1 S6i will cost you $119 and the Galaxy S6 costs $635, you can buy FIVE No 1 handsets for the price of just one Galaxy S6.  Let’s take a look at what you aren’t getting when you go for the budget look a like.

Before we dive into the comparison, we want to preface this with the legacy of clone comparison we’ve done of No 1 smarpthones. We’ve checked out the S5 clone and looked at how it stacks up, we’ve also scrutinized the Note 4 copy cat. No 1 has fixed the hardware issues that gave away their budget pricing and clone status.  They don’t pretend to be Samsung Galaxy devices, they carry the No 1 band name, but if they did try … I think that they’d fool a lot of people.

If you just want to watch our video review, we’ve got it for you here.

Hardware – Sporting The Same in Hand Feel

The Samsung Galaxy S6 is a gorgeous device and carry’s with it the top hardware available on a Smartphone to date.  The physical dimensions of the the handset are identical, if you didn’t see the No 1 brand you’d think that it was in fact a Galaxy S6, the tell tale sign on the previous generations was the buttons, they just didn’t feel solid.

No 1 has delivered on the S6i and we’ve got front facing button that is very close to the original, we’ve only got a the tiniest amount of movement on it. The side buttons have a satisfying click and feel solid to use.

                                  No 1 S6i                                               Samsung Galaxy S6

We shot several photos of just the No 1 S6i and thought that we would include them here.  We also took the time to do an unboxing and hands on, if you’re looking to check that out, here is a link to the No 1 S6i Unboxing.

Display – Not Your Average $119 Display

It has one of the most stunning AMOLED display’s on the market, but what No 1 has put on to the S6i is a good quality LCD panel.  It isn’t as sharp, the color contrast isn’t as brilliant and it isn’t as bright. But the panel doesn’t turn white when you check the viewing angles and over all I’d have to say for the price it’s a sensational display.

If you check the video it’s not as easy to tell that the depth and over all clarity of the photos is superior on the Galaxy S6. This is a real testament to just how good this budget panel is.  This is only natural since the S6i has a 1280 x 720 display and the Galaxy S6 has a 2560 x 1440.

Design – Looks and Feels Identical

No 1 has gotten good at paying homage to Samsung, in hand you can tell that it’s a tad heavier but that’s because it’s got a bigger battery. Apart from that in a blind test the only other tell might be that the button on the No1 S6i is a little bit rougher.

Another difference is that it doesn’t have a finer print sensor, previous generations of clones claimed to have one, but it didn’t work.  We’re glad to see they’ve dropped the attempt.

Software – TouchWiz Look a Like?! No Problem

TouchWiz isn’t everyone’s favorite, but Samsung’s iteration on the Galaxy S6 but the preloaded programs are actually useful.  WeChat, OneDrive and of course the Google Apps but we don’t have the usual Clean Master or other apps that we would consider spam.  This is one of the first Chinese handset’s we’ve got reviewed that wasn’t chalk full of random games and other useless apps.

We do like the iteration of TouchWiz, the notification bar is identical and several of the features.  As you can see in the hands on video, the gestures aren’t the same, the S6i doesn’t come with the same level of gestures (which can be a good thing because Samsung has a tendency to put in to many.

  On interesting add on that No 1 has put in is a quick launcher, it’s not as refined as what we’ve seen on other Chinese handsets, Meizu probably has the more interesting that we’ve reviewed.  But you can see that there is quite a bit of functionality packed in, you can drop the notification bar, take a screen cap, control the volume and even turn the handset off. It’s a bit of a swiss army knife feature.

Camera – Half as Good as the Galaxy S6

 The camera is the tell tale sign that you’re looking at a budget handset, and going up against the top camera currently on the market is going to be daunting for anyone.  No 1 didn’t let us down completely and for a $119 handset, it could be a lot worse.  The great thing about the camera on the S6i is that is completely usable and can even take a half decent photo.

Taking a look at the side by side photos the S6i has a 25% narrower field of view, it doesn’t handle back light as well and detail on the photos in less than perfect situations isn’t great.

Galaxy S6 on the Top, No1 S6i on the bottom

The No 1 S6i also doesn’t come with the fancy features on the S6 like 120fps slow motion or the ability to change the shutter speed and aperture.  It’s a basic camera that takes an usable photos. The camera takes two seconds to take a photo where as the Galaxy S6 is fast, 0.7 seconds.

Performance – Rocking a MediaTek Quad Core Processor

Not everyone needs a Snapdragon 805 processor, some people want a handset that simply works, comes in at a reasonable price and looks good.  If you tweak the No 1, you might get that under it’s hood is a very respectable MediaTek quad-core processor. It’s the MT6582, clocked at 1.3Ghz with 1GB or RAM.

The Galaxy S6 smokes the No1 S6i running it’s Exynos 7420 at 1.5Ghz running 3GB of RAM.  The benchmarks aren’t even comparable the 64 bit OctaCore processor is fast and there is no UI lag.  The S6i in terms of UI is responsive is acceptable, there aren’t any major stutters but on occasion it does take a second or two longer than I would like to open up apps like email and gallery.

Battery Life – It will last you the Day

Even though the No 1 S6i has a bigger batter at 2800mAh compared to the 2550mAh on the Galaxy S6 it doesn’t has less battery life.  Admittedly the battery life on the Galaxy S6 isn’t great, it can drop 20% on a 45 minute commute to work. The S6i is about the same when used heavily, 10% in an hour when checking WhatsApp or Line regularly.  I would say that the Galaxy S6 will get you through the day, and the S6i will do the same. The battery does drop rather quickly when using 3G, bluetooth should be turned off since No 1 hasn’t done a good a job as Samsung as optimizing it’s 3G and connectivity processes.

Conclusion – You can buy FIVE S6i for the Price of One Galaxy S6

There is quite a difference between the Samsung Galaxy S6 and the No 1 S6i, the display isn’t as good (though the the S6i has a good quality 720p panel), the performance isn’t flagship (but for day to day use it’s acceptable), the battery life is a little less (but if you’re a light user it’ll get you through the day).

What you have to remember is that for the price tag of $119 I think you’re getting more then you’ve paid for.  Yes, you’re not getting the same features as the Galaxy S6, but you’ve got Android 5.0 and you can always download a launcher like NOVA if you’re really after a customized experience.

We’ve reviewed our share of Clones and No 1 is the maker that we’ve been most interested in keeping tabs on.  They’ve made clear improvements on their previous generation of handsets and they’ve nailed the form factor completely. The issues with below average buttons has been remedied on the S6i and they are using higher quality panels.

If you’re looking for a stylish phone on a budget and aren’t looking for the fastest flagship with the highest specification money can buy and simply want something good looking that takes a usable photo, you might want to consider the No 1 S6i.

If you’re looking to pick one up you can grab on at  on Amazon for $250 or on BuysWonder which also ships Internationally for $119.

The post Samsung Galaxy S6 vs $120 Clone the No 1 S6i – Review & Comparison appeared first on Mobile Geeks.

The first 6 months in the life of any backpack is telling, for me, either they fall apart or they’re going to last me a few years.  The rough and tumble road warrior that I am 6 months with me is actually a year with a normal user.  It’s been 8 months and today I’m at the Great Wall of China carrying my Case Logic Griffith Park backpack and I thought I’d show you the wear and tear that it’s sustained.

First off, I’d like to confirm after hiking 41.8km on “The Wall” that it is indeed Great! I trekked to the Gubeikou section which isn’t restored and it’s a bit further away from Beijing.  It took me 3 hours to get there, if I had chosen the closest section is Badaling and it’s only 1 hour from the capital.  Now I don’t know about you, but a near 42km hike in 34C (93F) with little shade apart was challenging.  So there was a lot of sweat and I have to admit that though the straps got salt stained the straps and pack padding were ideal!

The back panel of the backpack has large comfortable ridges which allow for some breathing room.  I was wearing a tank top with wide straps so at one point I became concerned that the mesh material of the strap might start to chafe. Thankfully  it did no such thing except become and mop for my fountain of sweat.  One thing I am curious about and will have to do a follow up post on is … how does it look after a wash?!  After 8 months it’s been with me to Barcelona, Oakland, Toronto and Taipei to name a few and my major complaint is that it’s got a few stains.

The top pocket which I’m never gentle on opening doesn’t have a single sign of wear, the straps haven’t started fraying with over use.  After a wash I bet it’ll match up to the glamour shots I took in my initial review. If you haven’t check that out, it’s goes over everything any even shows the slightly smaller version of the Griffith Park series.

Case Logic Griffith Park Plus Backpack (BOGP-115)

Price: $62.96

(17 customer reviews)

4 used & new available from $62.96

One thing that I should point out is that Case Logic backpacks come with a 25 year guarantee…so it’s not really that surprising that after 8 months it’s basically as good as new.

Now here are some photos from my marathon hike of China’s Great Wall!!

The post Case Logic Griffith Park – 8 Month Review from the Great Wall of China appeared first on Mobile Geeks.

Apple has packed quite a bit of functionality into the Apple Watch, but how good is the Taptic Feedback?  Nicole decided to try out Navigation using her bike in downtown Taipei for brunch. Spoiler Alert, all doesn’t go according to plan and she has to try walking instead.

Apple has set the bar when it comes to their Taptic feedback, it doesn’t vibrate loudly so the person beside you can hear it. It really is just like a tap to the wrist, a downward knocking that is next generation when comparing to anything else on the market. You can set it up so it gives you a pre-tap to the the actual tap if you’re an active person like Nicole.  Riding her bike around town is her go to method of transportation so the idea of not having to stop to pull out her phone to check and see where she’s going is ideal.

The Apple watch navigation works by issuing a steady series of 12 taps to turn right, three pairs of two taps will send you left and when you’ve reached your destination it sends you a series of fast taps. The problem with riding a bike and waiting for taps is that that the vibrations of the road made it easy to think that you’ve missed a turn. The other problem was that the taps happen right when you get to the corner, which when cycling on the often chaotic streets of Taipei is far to late.

When using the app walking it let’s you know just as you’re about to enter the intersection which is enough time.

There is no doubt that what Apple has done here is the future of navigation for wrist mounted wearables, but like the rest of the device, it just needs a little more work.

The post Apple Watch Navigation Test in Taipei – Video appeared first on Mobile Geeks.

There is no shortage of articles on the web, all talking about how the Apple watch is good, but it’s not quite there. I thought I would share with you what I missed most when I gave up my Apple Watch after wearing it for two weeks.

My wrists have been naked for years. I haven’t played with many smartwatches because most of them have been too big for my wrist.  I have spent time wearing the LG Watch Urbane running Android Wear 5.1, which finally made sense to me. The Apple Watch was the same when I put it on – I could see how it would save me from pulling out my smartphone as often as I do.

What time is it?

On my first day without using the Apple Watch, the reason I kept looking at my wrist wasn’t for notifications or to check my steps, but simply to check the time. To be honest I didn’t see that coming, but it makes total sense. The sad thing about this realization is that I could have a device with several years battery life if I went back to wearing an old school wrist watch… but what’s the fun in that?

Get off the damn chair!

The health features I found myself yearning for was the reminder to stand up and walk around after an hour of inactivity. If you’re a desk jockey like myself, it’s easy to an hour to go by and not even realize that you’ve been sedentary. The health features giving me an exercise, stand and step goal are fantastic! But, there are fitness trackers out there that do pretty much the same thing for a lot less money. Take the Xiaomi Mi Band as an example, it’s $13 and has 2 months of battery life.

Siri… friend… where are you?

If you’ve embraced the Apple Watch, you’ve gotten close to Siri as she is the most powerful app available on your wrist. The thing you have to get over when talking to Siri is, well, talking to yourself. To talk to Siri you really have to commit. There is a significant pause, so don’t repeat yourself and be confident that she heard you. As a Android user, I’ve been training with Google Now, and on Windows Phone Cortana clearly has them both beat. So even if I leave iOS i’ll still be able to talk to myself, it’s just a little different doing it with the Apple Watch. Since it’s not available in Taiwan, as an early adopter there is always the joy of showing off a little bit.

Letting my inner creep come out

When I first read about lonely people sending each other their heart beats, I thought this was really creepy.  I had one friend to play with – Doug. When we first played around with this setting it was pretty strange. Then I embraced the the creep factor and lusted after finding new people to send my heart beat to. There is an uncomfortable closeness that you feel with someone when you feel their heart beat on your wrist. The thing about being a tech blogger is that the only other people you know who have them are your peers. Suddenly you’re asking Dana Wollman over at Engadget and Michael Fisher from PocketNow to send you their heartbeats. When I saw that Jaime from PocketNow had the Apple Watch on a recent trip to Beijing, I yearned for my Apple Watch so that I could put the eep in creep with Jaime. I’m not sure if it’s a good thing that the Apple Watch unleashed my inner… freak? Regardless, when I took it off this was something that I missed.

Staying in touch

Of course there is a host of other things that were great, but I didn’t personally need/like. Email on my wrist. I’m not really a slave to this activity and find that if I check my email too much without taking action, then I miss responding to things. Plus I get a lot of press releases and spam, so I don’t really want to have these bothering me all the time. I might have liked having Facebook messaging on my wrist, but again, I try to only do that a few times a day. Facebook is a time sucker and I don’t want to be so easily drawn in. Plus, you can’t read your Facebook messages, you can only see who sent them. I’d want to read the message and then decide if I want to pull out my phone to answer.

The one thing, in terms of messaging, that I did get into a little bit was sending voice messages. Again, you just need to commit to talking to yourself and you can’t be someone who talks in two languages. This is annoying for a lot of people I know.

Conclusion

I know there are a lot of cool things about the Apple Watch. When I have time I want to make a series about cooking with the Apple Watch. This isn’t something that I’d be willing to pay $350 for… or the cheapest price on Amazon, which is currently at $535.

I do have to give it to Apple. I never thought that they’d cause me to crave an uncomfortable sharing of bodily functions. The eerie rhythmic tapping of someone else’s heartbeat on your wrist is simply scandalous. I’m not sure if Apple meant for this to be a front of innovation, but it is. Is it worth buying an Apple Watch for? I guess it depends… how committed are you to your inner creep?

The post What I Missed When I Gave Up my Apple Watch appeared first on Mobile Geeks.

At Lenovo’s TechWorld in Beijing an innovative new smartwatch prototype was shown off with a Dual Screen and the ability to put your eye up to a second display to get a private and wide screen view.

Lenovo isn’t releasing the Magic View as a product, they are merely playing around with new ways to interact with our gadgets. The Smartwatch has a round face like the Moto 360 but it has a second screen WVGA which is actually a lens which had been used in a Smart glass like Google Glass. To see what’s on the Magic View display you have to hold it up very close to your eye.

I shot a video of it in action and even put my Zenfone 2 up to the Magic View to give you an idea of what I was looking at.

Lenovo explained that the second screen removes the physical limitations of the main screen by using optical reflections to produce a virtual image 20 times larger than the watch face. Showing off a few use cases Lenovo, demonstrated using the second display to project a bigger map, photo slideshow and even play a video.

Lenovo doesn’t think this is the future of smartwatches but they are willing to make something crazy and put it out to some testers to get feedback. I like that they’re willing to try new things and fail, this type of product increases their knowledge on ways that the human computer interface can be accessed.

What do you think? What type of variation on this do you think would actually work? Lenovo is looking for feedback, so leave a comment!

The post Lenovo Magic View: Dual Screen Smartwatch Prototype Hands On appeared first on Mobile Geeks.

Computex is right around the corner and Mobile Geeks is going to be bringing it to you live. You’ll get to experience the show the floor, hands on and watch interviews with some of the industries top executives on the ground!

Mobile Geeks is going to be live from June 2-4 bringing you all the latest news and giving you the perspective you need to make sense of what Microsoft and Intel are going to be showing off in Taipei.

Mobile Geeks will be going live on YouTube June 2-4 for 3 days starting at 9pm Taipei time. If you’re not based in Taipei here are a list of start times for your region.

Berlin – 3pm – 8pm
New York – 9am -1pm
San Fransico – 11am to 4pm

If you have anything that you’d like to see, leave us a comment below and we’ll do our best to track it down on the showfloor.

We’re also going to be at the Taipei Maker Fair May 30-31st, we’ll be showing you all the Maker Madness during the live stream as well!

The post Mobile Geeks Computex 2015 Live Stream June 2-4 appeared first on Mobile Geeks.