12.11.2015

Elephone 12 12 sale get handsets for just $12.12

PHONES

Elephone will be running a series of Pre-Christmas Elephone 12 12 sales, the first will be on the 12th of December followed by a second sale running from the 16th to the 18th of December.

Elephone will have a range of phones up for grabs at just $12.12, which is up to 180$ off
The available handsets will include the P8000, M2，P6000 Pro，S2/S2 Plus and more.

This will be a very busy promotion, so make sure you head over early and see if you can grab a bargain or two.

Please leave comments and questions below.

Regards Shane

KÚLA DEEPER 3d parts on the way to Iceland for final assembly

For those of you looking to get in to 3D photography or film making, the news that the KÚLA DEEPER 3d is nearly ready could be the best Christmas present you get this year.

You know its getting close when you receive a shot of the final production packaging.

The KÚLA DEEPER 3D costs just $179.00 (£118) fits on to a standard Ø77mm lens thread (adapters are available from KÚLA to fit other diameter lenses), and uses a combination of high quality optical mirrors reflecting around 95% of the light to supply a perfectly positioned split image to your DSLR sensor.

We received the following from news from Kúla today regarding the Kúla Deeper

The final parts are on the way to Iceland where we will assemble, pack and start shipping the products. We are doing our best to deliver KÚLA DEEPER 3d before the holidays.

Those of you who have already pre-ordered KÚLA DEEPER 3d and changed residence, please update your address by sending an email to address@kula3d.com, using the email you used for your order. Kickstarter backers can simply update their address on Kickstarter.

For those of you that do not own or have access to a DSLR, Kúla have also been working on a version that will work with smartphones, the Kúla Bebe.

News regarding the KÚLA BEBE

Kúla Bebe costs just $79 (£52) with production starting at the beginning of January.

Some of the accessories are already in Iceland and the plan is to deliver in February.

If you are interested in 3D or know someone that is, the KÚLA DEEPER 3d would make an amazing Christmas present, make sure you head over to the Kúla website, if your quick you can still get one of the very first release units.

7.30.2015

More Renders of ZUK Z1 were shared

Yesterday more renders of ZUK Z1 were shared.One of them shows the supported 4G/3G/2G bands of ZUK Z1.

Lenovo Zuk Z1 будет стоить около 370

7.29.2015

ZUK Z1 will be launched in China and abroad at same time

According to Phonearena and Gsmarena,the world’s first Android Type-C USB 3.0 Smartphone ZUK Z1 will probably be pre-installed CyanogenMod OS for abroad market while ZUI for Chinese users. And the launchs for both markets will also probably be at same time.

We already know that ZUK Z1 will possibly feature Snapdragon 810,3GB RAM,over 4000mAh battery.Meanwhile,ZUK Z1 will also support dual 4G SIM card,which is a really exciting news.
http://www.bestchinaoffer.com/

What We Know About Zuk Z1: The New Chinese Smartphone Ready to Hit the Market

The new Chinese startup, Zuk, backed by Lenovo and Qihoo 360 is planning to launch a smartphone, with their own own Cyanogen OS, android alternative technology. Apart from this, the phone promises to have great specs and a low price.

Zuk Z1 is a Lenovo-backed smartphone with Cyanogen OS

It looks like OnePlus is about to get some serious competition. The ambitious Chinese startup Zuk plans to launch a high-end smartphone with Cyanogen OS in the second half of this year.

Zuk will not just be one of the countless smartphone makers in China. The company is backed by the tech giant Lenovo and the Chinese software company 360. The latter has reportedly committed $409 million in the venture alone, thus meaning that Zuk means serious business.

There is no word on the specs of the Zuk Z1 for the time being. All we know is that the device will feature a large battery and a fingerprint scanner in addition to the Cyanogen OS.

Source (in Chinese) | Via

ZUK Z1 the killer of the ‘2016 flagship killer’?

Will the ZUK Z1 be the killer of the ‘2016 flagship killer’?

Now that OnePlus have played their hand with the launch of the 2, we have a better idea of what others will need to do to compete, not just on features but also price.

From what we know so far about the ZUK Z1 it will al come with a 5,5 ” FHD display, Snapdragon processor, 3gb of ram, 64gb rom, 13mp rear camera, USB Type-c 3.0 and U-touch home button and a predicted price of $300

So how does this stack up against the OnePlus 2?

The Z1 dual LTE sims will support the following frequencies

The OnePlus 2’s Dual LTE sims support the following frequencies

The OnePlus 1 originally launched with an official version of Cyanogen, this was a move that put the phone on the map, but the relationship broke down so the 2 will now come with OnePlus’s own Oxygen Rom, a mostly stock version of Android but with a few tweaks.

The ZUK Z1 has been confirmed to be launching with a choice of two Roms an in-house developed Rom for China markets based on stock Android with Z1 adding features and tweaks and an international Rom officially based on Cyanogen.

It will be interesting to see if the Cyanogen card pays off as well for ZUK as it did for OnePlus.

As you can see the phones have a lot in common, but the Z1 does looks to have a few advantages over the OnePlus 2, but it will have to overcome the OnePlus existing user base (although this could become less of an issue if OnePlus again drop the ball with their invite system), ZUK will also have to make sure that they get their phone cooling right to prevent the Snapdragon 810 becoming a negative.

Until more information on the Z1 is confirmed and better renders/actual product photos are shown, it is not easy to make definitive decisions, we will have to wait until both are officially available before they can be pitted against each other.

Please leave comments below

Regards Shanos

ZUK FIRST MOBILE PHONE Z1: MIGHT BE EQUIPPED WITH TYPE-C INTERFACE

We got industry insider said ZUK’s first product Z1 might be equipped with epidemic Type-C interface. It supports to be inserted front and back. ZUK1 will be one of the few products that is with USB Type-C interface in the market.

USB interface and Type-C interface

Type-C interface first appeared in brand-new MacBook that Apple released this year, and this technique could replace USB to be new standardized interface. At present, rarely Chinese mobile phone factory adopts this technique. If this tiding is true, ZUK Z1 could officially become the few mobile that is with this standardized interface in China.

In ZUK brand communication meeting, ZUK share a great many of products with presented media. Based on the acquired information, ZUK Z1 equipped with U-Touch fingerprint recognition function. It not only can complete common functions like unlock and payments, but also can achieve the function returns or switching applications by touching and swiping left or right respectively. As to other hardware configuration, it will be equipped with more than a 4000mAh high capacity battery, and supports all networks and dual card dual standby, with particular reference to the dual card supporting 4G, and that is able to switch the network through software settings.

7.28.2015

ZUK fans!!!

LENOVO ANNOUNCES ZUK BRAND

Lenovo has been increasing its presence in the smartphone industry in the past couple of years. From the top PC maker, now its aiming to be one of the best smartphone makers too. In this regard, the company has unveiled a new brand in China, called as ZUK. The company claims that this will operate as an independent brand and will help them focus more on the domestic market and fight competition.

Unlike Lenovo’s smartphone division, which focuses a lot more on hardware to attract customers, ZUK will spend more time developing the software aspect of the device. Of course, this sub-brand plans to release a smartphone of its own in September this year, but as they gain popularity among users, the final aim is to make a mark in the software field.

ZUK will release its first smartphone, called as the ZUK Z1 in September later this year. The device will come with high-end specs as well as a new home grown software UI called as the ZUI. As mentioned above, this new brand aims to attract consumer attention with its innovative and fluid software rather than hardware. In fact, it is said that over the course of time, the company will lessen its focus on hardware.

Now, you must be wondering what’s the difference between ZUK and Lenovo and why did they decide to form a brand new company. Well, Lenovo is a pretty large company and it takes time to take and implement decisions. On the other hand, ZUK, being a more focused group will be able to take faster decisions operating independently.

Another difference will be the focus of the company. ZUK will spend a lot of time developing the ZUI Custom ROM for its devices, taking feedback from the users. In fact, out of the 400 employees in the company, 350 will be working on the software. The company aims to engage the heavy users giving them the best hardware and software experience. It will distinguish itself with new and innovative software features.

ShenQi, founded in April 2015, is an innovative Internet company invested by Lenovo with Chang Cheng, the former Vice President of Lenovo, as the Chief Executive Officer. ShenQi mainly focuses on the industry of mobile Internet and Internet of Things (IOT) and has a talent pool of more than 400 competitive innovators from other famous Internet companies.

Video Player

Possible Parameters for ZUK Z1

– 5.5 Inch Screen, 1920*1080 Pixel
– Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 2.0GHz Octa Core
– Band: GSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz, WCDMA 850/900/1900/2100MHz, FDD-LTE B1/B3/B7, – – Support 2G & 3G & 4G LTE Network
– 3GB RAM + 32GB ROM
– 13 MP Sony Imx 214 Back Camera + 5 MP Front Camera
– Android 5.1 System
– 4150mAh battery

Spy Photo:

ZUK Z1 WILL FEATURE A TYPE-C PORT

At a media briefing in China, the CEO of ZUK showed a snapshot of features that can be expected in the upcoming Z1 smartphone. The company’s first handset will feature a USB Type-C port,just like Apple’s new Macbook.

USB Type-C and Power Delivery

USB Type-C is the new USB-IF standard that solves several challenges faced by today’s Type-A and Type-B cables and connectors. USB Type-C uses a slimmer connector (measuring only 2.4-mm in height) to allow for increasing miniaturization of consumer and industrial products. The USB Type-C standard is gaining rapid support by enabling small form-factor, easy-to-use connectors and cables with the ability to transmit multiple protocols and offer power delivery up to 100 W – a significant improvement over the 7.5 W for previous standards.

USB Type-C Highlights

– Brand new reversible connector, measuring only 2.4-mm in height
– Compliant with USB Power Delivery 2.0, providing up to 100 W
– Double the bandwidth of USB 3.0, increasing to 10 Gbps with SuperSpeed+ USB3.1
– Combines multiple protocols in a single cable, including DisplayPort™, PCIe® or Thunderbolt™

Type-C Product Families

In addition to USB Type-C,ZUK Z1 will also feature USB 3.0

(from: http://www.zuk.com/z1/sz/)

Yesterday we posted “ZUK Z1 WILL FEATURE A TYPE-C PORT“,which is an exciting news for Android devices. Today we got information on offical website(zuk.com) that ZUK Z1 will also feature USB 3.0 in addition to USB Type-C port.So far ZUK Z1 will become the world’s first smart device with both USB 3.0 and USB Type-C port.We can expect other amazing features of ZUK Z1 in the future.

What is USB 3.0?

USB 3.0 is the third major version of the Universal Serial Bus (USB) standard for interfacing computers and electronic devices. Among other improvements, USB 3.0 adds the new transfer mode SuperSpeed (SS) that can transfer data at up to 5 Gbit/s (625 MB/s), which is more than ten times faster than the USB 2.0 standard. USB 3.0 connectors are usually distinguished from their USB 2.0 counterparts by blue color-coding of the receptacles and plugs, and the initials SS.

The SuperSpeed transaction is initiated by the host making a request followed by a response from the device. The device either accepts the request or rejects it; if accepted, the device sends data or accepts data from the host. If the endpoint is halted, the device shall respond with a STALL handshake. If there is lack of buffer space or data, it responds with a Not Ready (NRDY) signal to tell the host that it is not able to process the request. When the device is ready, it will send an Endpoint Ready (ERDY) to the host which will then reschedule the transaction.

The use of unicasting and the limited multicasting of packets, combined with asynchronous notifications, enables links that are not actively passing packets to be put into reduced power states, allowing for better power management.

The “SuperSpeed” bus provides for a transfer mode at a nominal rate of 5.0 Gbit/s, in addition to the three existing transfer modes. Accounting for the encoding overhead, the raw data throughput is 4 Gbit/s, and the specification considers it reasonable to achieve 3.2 Gbit/s (0.4 GB/s or 400 MB/s) or more in practice.

All data is sent as a stream of eight-bit (one-byte) segments that are scrambled and converted into 10-bit symbols via 8b/10b encoding; this helps the receiver to decode correctly even in the presence of electromagnetic interference (EMI). Scrambling is implemented using a free-running linear feedback shift register (LFSR). The LFSR is reset whenever a COM symbol is sent or received.

Unlike previous standards, the USB 3.0 standard does not directly specify a maximum cable length, requiring only that all cables meet an electrical specification: for copper cabling with AWG 26 wires, the maximum practical length is 3 meters (9.8 ft).

ZUK Z1 to feature USB-C, Cyanogen and a huge battery

The smartphone of our dreams may be just around the corner. The upcoming ZUK Z1 is set to arrive next month with USB-C support and some killer hardware, according to the Lenovo-backed company’s CEO Chang Chen.

Chang took to Weibo on Friday morning to share a rendering of the first flagship ZUK smartphone. The picture clearly shows a USB-C port on the bottom edge of the device, flanked by a row of speaker grills on one side and what looks like a headphone jack on the other. A second image reveals plans for a press event on August 11.

The ZUK Z1 is reportedly set to pack a 5.5-inch 1080p display, 4000mAh battery, a “U-Touch” fingerprint scanner, a 13-megapixel rear camera, a Snapdragon 810 processor, 3GB of RAM and 16GB of storage. It’s also expected to ship running Cyanogen OS, suggesting it won’t just be limited to the Chinese market.

The ZUK Z1’s most exciting feature may be actually be its price. The device is apparently set to cost around $300, making it even cheaper than the current crop of budget flagship phones.
http://www.bestchinaoffer.com/

ZUK Z1 Will Launch On August 11 in Beijing

This morning, ZUK official weibo announced that it will hold a new conference on August 11, the official release ZUK Z1.

According to previous exposure information point of view, ZUK Z1 bound with more than 5.5 inches screen, equipped with Snapdragon 810 processor module supports 7 and 18-way full Netcom dual card dual standby, battery capacity up to 4000mAh or more.

In addition, ZUK Z1 will be equipped with its own patented U-Touch feature, three buttons Android phone combined into one, and fingerprint recognition is integrated in the Home key, users press the Home key while you can unlock the screen.

Meanwhile, ZUK Z1 uses a USB 3.0 standard Type-C interface that not only can significantly improve data transfer speeds, the charging current also can be improved. Although ZUK Z1 is not the first use of USB Type-C interface to mobile phones, but it is the first to support USB 3.0 standard USB Type-C cell phone in the world.

It is worth mentioning that ZUK today announced a strategic partnership with Jingdong Mall, Z1 listing will be starting at the official website and through ZUK Jingdong Mall.

Cyanogen-powered ZUK Z1 hints on a 4XXX mAh battery

The ZUK Z1 is a new entry to the mobile arena yet it’s highly anticipated because its manufacturer has been boasting about its large battery. We only had few details until this week when some details have been presented in a special event. As you all know by now, ZUK is a new phone brand backed by Lenovo. The company's first flagship smartphone will run CyanogenOS and its screen will feature a U-Touch fingerprint scanner-gesture control system that allows a new way to swipe and unlock the screen.

The presentation yesterday wasn't the official media launch but the ZUK Z1 is slowly catching our attention with the specs and its affordability. We have no idea how much exactly the phone will be but we know it won't be expensive (around $300) or just something in the mid-range category.

The ZUK Z1 is said feature a 13 megapixel rear camera, 4G/LTE connectivity, and a 4XXX mAh battery. Now that information about the battery, even if the xxx makes it a mystery, is already impressive. Obviously, it's gonna be 4000 mAh or higher which is something very powerful for a smartphone. But come to think of it, such battery is not surprising since it's backed by Lenovo. If you may remember, Lenovo has launched the P70 in India back in May, toting a 4000 mAh battery.

The powerful 4000 mAh battery may not be a standard yet but a number of smartphones already have it like the ASUS ZenFone 2 and the Acer Liquid X2, and of course, the Lenovo P70. ZUK Z1's entrance might be a game-changer because of its long battery life and affordable price tag. Other specs of the upcoming ZUK Z1 include a 5.5-inch screen with 1080p display, 4160 x 3120 resolution, 16GB or 32GB built-in storage, and 3GB RAM. There's a rumor going on that it might be powered by a Snapdragon 810 processor but ZUK is setting this phone at a $300 price point so that might not be true since the chipset is already pricey.

This information about the huge battery somehow gives it an edge over the OnePlus 2, its rumored rival that's also been the subject of many discussions lately in gadget town. Expect this smartphone to arrive either in August or September.
http://www.bestchinaoffer.com/

About Us-ZUK

About Us

ZUK is a sub-brand of Lenovo Group.ZUK Z1 is the first device by ZUK.

Online shop:http://www.zukshop.cc

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/pages/ZUK/1147553785271562
http://www.bestchinaoffer.com/

ZUK announces the display-mounted fingerprint sensors

Remember a few months ago when it was discovered that Apple is looking to integrate fingerprint readers in the display, somewhere between the touch panel and the display glass? Well, it turns out that another, much smaller company, claims to have beaten Apple to the punch. ZUK has just announced that it has figured out a way to embed 3D fingerprint sensors in the Corning Gorilla glass.

The technology will allow smartphone makers to significantly cut the costs involved with integrating a fingerprint reader in their handsets. For one, the need for a physical home button, the place where most smartphone-mounted fingerprint sensors currently reside, could be eliminated, although smartphone manufacturers might decide to integrate physical buttons for other purposes, such as design and functionality.

Another major advantage that fingerprint sensors that bond with the Gorilla Glass will bring to the table has to do with the space that current-generation fingerprint readers take up. As the ZUK’s fingerprint sensors will be embedded in the glass, this could save precious space, especially on smaller device form factors such as wearables.

ZUK says that its fingerprint detection technology works seamlessly even with moist, dirty, or oily fingers. Unfortunately, we’ll have to test-drive the tech for ourselves before validating that everything works as smoothly as on the Apple iPhone 6 or the Samsung Galaxy S6, smartphones that use touch-based fingerprint readers integrated in the physical home button.

At the moment, ZUK’s technology only works with Corning Gorilla Glass, and there’s no word yet on a potential expansion to compatibility with other types of display protection glass. This might seem like a limitation at first, but as fingerprint readers are usually equipped on high-end smartphones, ones that usually come with Corning Gorilla Glass anyway, this doesn’t seem to be a cause of concern.

What do you guys think of ZUK new technology? If it works as advertised, will this open the door towards more secure smartphones altogether?

ZUK’s Google Maps not only shows you where you’re going, but will now show you where you’ve been

Countless millions rely on Google Maps for turn-by-turn directions on their phone. These directions help navigate people to places where they want to go. But a new feature being added to the application, “Your Timeline,” allows users to go back and re-visit routes they’ve taken on a particular day, month or even year.

The feature will work only if you’ve opted in to have your Google Maps Location History tracked. And keep in mind that only you will be able to see your specific timeline. If there’s a part of a specific day where you’d rather not have a Google Maps route recorded for posterity, it can be edited or deleted entirely.

“Your Timeline” is available on both mobile and desktop versions of Google Maps. Since Google has already started rolling out the new feature, it might already appear on the Google Maps menu on your phone.

Sample Photos by ZUK Z1

ZUK CEO ChangCheng Shared New ZUK Z1 Official Renders

ZUK has been talked about quite a lot lately, mainly because they intend to release their very own Cyanogen OS-powered smartphone soon. That phone will be anmed as ZUK Z1, and we’ve been getting a lot of info regarding it lately. We’ve seen various rumors reporting on various aspects of this device, the company has also shared some info, and the device was certified by TENAA quite recently. ZUK’s CEO has already shared one official render with the public a couple of days ago, and he has just posted two additional ones on his official Weibo (Chinese social network) account.