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  • schrodingersbutterfly - Wednesday, March 7, 2018 - link

    Was the demo unit using an oled panel? Did you come across any of those china oleds? Wonder how's the quality.
  • SetiroN - Wednesday, March 7, 2018 - link

    Stunner my arse.

    It's literally just another of the dime-a-dozen notched chinaphones.
  • Retycint - Wednesday, March 7, 2018 - link

    The two are not mutually exclusive, mind you. Just because it is a notched China phone doesn't mean it can't look good as well.
  • 1_rick - Wednesday, March 7, 2018 - link

    Look again at the top corner--especially the left one. It sure looks like they're just ignoring that the pixels in outside the curve don't exist. I would expect that icon to be pushed to the right.

    I'd like to see how this looks with a status bar full of icons. I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out they went into the notch instead of flowing around it.

    Reviewers are going to whine about tiny bezels until the screen wraps around to the back of the phone.
  • 1_rick - Wednesday, March 7, 2018 - link

    Ugh, I just clicked one of the pics to get a larger view and I was right. The "AM" of the clock is cut off. FAIL.

    Add two more icons--not unreasonable at all, say a BT one and an alarm indicator--and I fully expect them to be, as I said, eaten by the notch instead of pushed to the left of it.
  • sturmen - Wednesday, March 7, 2018 - link

    The article is very clear this is a hardware demo, not a software one, and Ulefone knows there is work to do there.

    "The software on the units was super buggy and barely booted, crashing in chrome, showing just how early in the cycle these devices are. We were told that there will be some software adjustments to take account of the notch, as the OS was clearly just ignoring it at this point. The rounded corners also cause some overlap for the display, which will have to be optimized for."
  • 1_rick - Wednesday, March 7, 2018 - link

    Ah, missed that. Well, it'll be interesting to see how good a job they do. That notch takes up a HUGE amount of real estate. Heaven help people with lots of icons up there (note that Essential's notch is tiny).
  • Cellar Door - Wednesday, March 7, 2018 - link

    You just checked all the check-marks of an annoying troll. Barges in, after only reading the title and picture captions. Then proceeds to inform the world how much smarter he is then literally everyone(including all the engineers that worked on the product).

    I hope you learned something today.
  • peevee - Thursday, March 8, 2018 - link

    "The "AM" of the clock is cut off. "

    Oh HORROR.
    Normal people use 24h clock anyway.
  • NXTwoThou - Wednesday, March 7, 2018 - link

    Android P Developer Preview just got pushed out today that has notch support.
  • BobSwi - Wednesday, March 7, 2018 - link

    with malware backdoors to boot
  • Hurr Durr - Wednesday, March 7, 2018 - link

    What`s the difference with murrican malware backdoors?
  • 69369369 - Thursday, March 8, 2018 - link

    He likes being rammed in the @$$ by the NSA
  • peevee - Thursday, March 8, 2018 - link

    Chinese actually exist not just in your mind.
  • The_Assimilator - Wednesday, March 7, 2018 - link

    The best thing about Ulefone is that they use rock stock standard Android, so you get none of the preinstalled crapware or "alternative" UIs that other manufacturers believe you need. They also ship relatively up-to-date versions of Android with even their entry-level products, whereas the bigger manufacturers force you to fork out for more expensive models (and features you don't want or need) in order to get anything newer than Android 5.1. And unlike some of the other Chinese manufacturers, Ulefone's devices have (so far) been clean of any spyware/adware.
  • BobSwi - Wednesday, March 7, 2018 - link

    Wrong, literally any search with Ulefone Android and Malware shows many reports of malware found.
    You all get googly eyes over specs when you should be thinking about security, a shame really.
  • MrSpadge - Wednesday, March 7, 2018 - link

    Are you talking about search hits for malware, which you can surely find for any device, or preinstalled malware?
  • GreenMeters - Wednesday, March 7, 2018 - link

    Good in that we need to see companies push back in to real phablet territory; 6.7" looks perfectly usable as a phone. But even as someone who doesn't mind reasonable bezels and "chins", the noticeable black line around the bottom of the screen, the contrasting color base with then another, third color true bottom bezel, looks terrible. No double chins, please.

    Add to that an SoC from chronic GPL violator Mediatek, the stupid notch, and no head phone jack... just more Chinese junk.
  • Plumplum - Wednesday, March 7, 2018 - link

    Releasing sources is OEM's job, not Vendor's one.

    You can find sources for devices with nearly all Mediatek's soc...
    Sources include code from others vendors (touchscreen, cameras, gyroscope, fingerprint scanner), that's why it's OEM's job!
    M.A.D. Team developpe custom 8.1 for mt6735,6737, 6750, 6752, 6753, Helio X20 devices from sources.
    Some brands release sources, others don't. That's all.
    For exemple Sony release sources.
    An others exemple, Google released source on their few Android One devices equiped with Mediatek's.
    Nokia doesn't released sources for Nokia 3...but they doesn't released sources for Nokia 8 equiped with Qualcomm's
    Is any courthouse said that Mediatek is guilty of GPL violation?

    You must compare brands that use soc.
    On one side, brands like Ulefone...on the others, brands like HTC.
    They haven't the same development team!

    You must ask why major brands don't use Mediatek's and choose :
    - SD410 instead mt6732 which if far far far better
    - SD615 instead mt6752 which is far better...
    Is it Linked to the fact that many courthouses said Qualcomm abuse of dominance?
    You should get informations about Standard Essential Patents and how they should be used fairly (and aren't according to judgements)

    You should Ask you why that most benefits of Qualcomm Comes from patents and not from soc's sales.

    Raise the price of essential patents that OEM must buy them without any choice to reduce price of soc? Is that fair?

    You must ask why Intel, NVIDIA, Texas instruments, St-microelectronics suit 4g market...
    And why there isn't any Qualcomm soc in TV or TV box that don't need CDMA/LTE patents to work.
    Or why the only high-end soc used are made by companies that do both soc and smartphones (Samsung, Huawei...)
    All these facts let me think that there is a huge problem of unfair competition with CDMA/lte
  • GreenMeters - Wednesday, March 7, 2018 - link

    Mediatek is releasing product based on modified GPL code, they are obligated to provide freely the code containing those modifications.
  • Plumplum - Thursday, March 8, 2018 - link

    Ok then you get the code of the soc.
    Will you be able to build a Rom with it? The answer if No!

    There's code for devices that include most of Mediatek's soc here :
    https://github.com/MediatekAndroidDevelopers
    If M.A.D. provide you their sources, it's because OEM provide them sources officielles stock rom. If OEM provide sources, it's because Mediatek give them.

    On this list you have Jiayu S3, based on mt6752, released with Android 4.4, updated to Android 8.1.
    With the same soc, you have for exemple Elephone P7000, released with Android 5.0, get custom 5.1 on which fingerprint scanner doesn't work, nothing more...sources from mt6752 on Jiayu aren't enough to release better Rom on Elephone.
    If Jiayu released, why Elephone doesn't?
    Some of these OEM are simple factories without developpers. They Ask others companies to make Rom. These companies Ask for money to update Rom and keep sources...sometime they even add malwares.
    It's right, it's difficult to find sources for devices that use Mediatek's but they exist for few OEM for devices with nearly all Mediatek's soc
  • Violet Giraffe - Tuesday, March 13, 2018 - link

    GPL is a poisonous license that obstructs progress. Luckily, it's not that popular.
  • zodiacfml - Wednesday, March 7, 2018 - link

    Zenfone 5 is already shipping. However, I'm not impressed as I still prefer the design in the Mi Mix or Sharp bezelless phone. We're now in 2018 and still no one has the courage to copy the design. I rarely use the phone for calls and the front camera. I hope to see another manufacturer take on the Mi Mix with update hardware
  • jjj - Wednesday, March 7, 2018 - link

    If you have any upper or lower bezel, it's insane to have a notch.
    If you don't have any bezel, pop-up or flip cameras are the way to go as they don't ruin the display.

    It's not only that with a notch you lose 1% of the area and maybe 4% for full screen content, but the notch is infuriating, especially in landscape and always a reminder that someone should have done better. On top of that, if you have a notch, the smarter folks won't and you lost. Then there is symmetry, it's better to avoid losing that. And ofc there is a significant part of the world that will call these phones, iPhone closes.

    People need to stop duplicating every moronic thing Apple does, grow a pair and do better.
    These folks have tortured us with home buttons for how many years now? Now they are gonna go with a notch for another 5 years. Been waiting for 0 bezels for 15 years now and they keep trying to not do what they need to do.
    What they are gonna do tomorrow with foldable displays, double the notch?
    Anyone with a notch needs to go find some other job. Competent product design is the rarest thing on plane Earth somehow.
  • xenol - Wednesday, March 7, 2018 - link

    But you need dat selfie camera.
  • A5 - Wednesday, March 7, 2018 - link

    Notches don't bother me. I'm not using the status bar for anything anyway, and losing a handful of pixels on full-screen video isn't a huge deal.
  • MrSpadge - Wednesday, March 7, 2018 - link

    I don't view the notch as lost space, but rather space gained by moving the status bar to the left & right of the notch. No need for many single-color pixels in the middle. For landscape.. well, you could simply black the "notched area" out and be fine with a classic aspect ratio.
  • serendip - Wednesday, March 7, 2018 - link

    Yes! The notch was Apple's compromise so that people wouldn't get nostril cams or, heaven forbid, have to turn the phone upside down. Android has fully virtual buttons so it's not issue to turn the phone around in any orientation. I still think the Mi Mix did it right by using a full screen and having tiny bezels.
  • warrenk81 - Wednesday, March 7, 2018 - link

    I'd love to know how it compares to any of the 2017 flagship phones. Like, idk, pixel 2s or iPhones?
  • BedfordTim - Wednesday, March 7, 2018 - link

    Why would they downgrade the final phone to a glass backed one? Given the prototype failure a better plastic would seem more appropriate.
  • boeush - Wednesday, March 7, 2018 - link

    ^^^^^ **THIS**

    Having now spent several $hundred replacing broken glass screens on my phones, I'm vehemently over the whole glass antifeature maldesign trend.

    Give me sturdy plastic or composite that can roll with the blows without shattering - and save on both weight and cost while at it!

    Let's evolve toward 21st century materials, rather than devolving toward the glass and metal of 19th-century hardware. I mean, what's next - wood and brick?
  • Hurr Durr - Wednesday, March 7, 2018 - link

    Wood and brick, glass and metal are infinitely better than your estrogen-oozing always breaking crap.
  • boeush - Friday, March 9, 2018 - link

    None of the professional-grade anti-glare monitors I've bought in the last decade had any glass in them. And no estrogen-oozing, or always breaking. What does always break, are the demented glass screens and back panels in stupidly designed modern "premium" phones. Half the people around me at any given point in time are toting around cracked-glass "smart"-phones...
  • boeush - Friday, March 9, 2018 - link

    Oh, and the "premium" unibody machined aluminum of my current phone is permanently dented in one spot because it fell and hit a Rick, and the material had no shock absorption or resiliency to it whatsoever. I'm so friggin' happy to have had the privilege of shelling out all these $hundreds for such a "premium" experience...
  • boeush - Friday, March 9, 2018 - link

    I meant to say it hit a rock. I don't go around hitting Ricks with my phone - that's something only Google's autocorrect would do...
  • 10basetom - Wednesday, March 7, 2018 - link

    Most Chinese phones are deal breakers because they don't support US 4G bands.
  • Ian Cutress - Wednesday, March 7, 2018 - link

    Perhaps it's a good thing that people live outside the US then. Ultimately not a deal breaker elsewhere.
  • Holliday75 - Wednesday, March 7, 2018 - link

    Osnap!
  • DanNeely - Wednesday, March 7, 2018 - link

    Is this using non-square pixels? If not, something isn't right in "a 2160x1080 (19:9) display" because that's an 18:9 aspect ratio. 19:9 would be 2280x1080.
  • niva - Wednesday, March 7, 2018 - link

    I continue to not be sold on the notched camera phones. I don't think the benefit of gaining some small screen real-estate around the front facing camera is worth the price of how ugly it looks. Why not continue to try to shrink the space taken up by the FF Camera and speakers. While minimizing bezels is good, some bezel is required to grip the phone. I'm becoming more keenly aware of this lately.

    Given that this company implemented a notch on the top for the camera, why did it choose to have such a huge bezel on the bottom of the phone? There doesn't appear to be anything there...
  • superdave643 - Wednesday, March 7, 2018 - link

    Someone's math is off. 19:9 would give 2280x1080. Some creative accounting with the upper notch might be the culprit. Nice phone anyway if it is polished when released and really has a 5000 mAh battery.
  • serendip - Wednesday, March 7, 2018 - link

    I'm a monster phablet fan but not from the likes of Ulefone, Elephone, Elephant or whatever. Software support is always an issue on Chinese Android devices other than Huawei and Xiaomi.

    Ok Xiaomi, let's make a Mi Max with a massive 18:9 screen, no notch and no bezels...
  • lucam - Thursday, March 8, 2018 - link

    When iPhone X review?
  • Quantumz0d - Thursday, March 8, 2018 - link

    A shame that 2018 has been the year of Notches. Apple did that because they couldn't pull off a better design, lack of incentive to push for be it poor taste in design or whatever.

    Android OEMs copying that is so bad. Android P has support for this.

    Why is display mutilation being top priority for everyone, 18:9, fancy curved screens, rounded corners, now this ?
  • peevee - Thursday, March 8, 2018 - link

    "MediaTek's P70 processor. Mediatek has only just announced the P60 at Mobile World Congress, so this device is essentially preannouncing the SoC. We were not able to get specific details about it, but expect it to be a 4x4 Arm Cortex A73/A53"

    Not A75/A55? And why 4x4 when it would be 4+4?
  • PeachNCream - Thursday, March 8, 2018 - link

    The notch isn't a bad idea. I sometimes poke at my phone's screen to see the time or the battery level. If that information was always on display even when I was using an otherwise full screen app, I think it'd be helpful based on how I use a phone. What bothers me about this design is the 6.7 inch screen. There's very little bezel/edge/whatever around the screen, but I don't think a device that size would be comfortable to hold or easy carry around on a daily basis. It'll get even more cumbersome with a case and glass screen protector adding a bit of thickness.
  • Rod_Serling_Lives - Saturday, March 10, 2018 - link

    You guys have became shamefully unreliable in reviewing mobile phones and you bring me this Frankenstein of an Apple knockoff. I know some people are interested, but give me something to work with.
  • X-Nemesis - Saturday, March 10, 2018 - link

    If you were to guess, how many updates will this phone see, be it security or OS updates? Maybe 1?
  • mabl4367 - Monday, March 12, 2018 - link

    The 8GB RAM I can understand but what's the 128GB ROM for? Should it be 128GB Flash perhaps?
  • mabl4367 - Tuesday, March 13, 2018 - link

    What is the 128GB ROM for? Bloatware?
  • gfieldew - Friday, March 16, 2018 - link

    How does a 2160x1080 pixel resolution display have a 19:9 aspect ratio? Am I missing something here? The display's length is exactly 2x it's width. Wouldn't that make it 18:9? Or is the notch the fly in the ointment? Someone will know the answer I suspect.
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  • Bhairava - Tuesday, March 20, 2018 - link

    Stunner? Are you serious? I find it trivial, in the front and in the back. And please...Mediatek.
  • laracraft - Monday, March 26, 2018 - link

    I'd jump at the chance to perceive what this looks like with a status bar brimming with symbols. I wouldn't be shocked on the off chance that it transformed out they went into the indent as opposed to streaming around it.

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