Hong Kong’s iPhone grey market cashes in on the 6s
Whenever a new iPhone launches in Hong Kong, local folks would seize the opportunity to make a quick profit from the grey market. They would get their brand new phones from either Apple or local carriers, and then sell them off to specialists who would later offer bulk orders to mainland Chinese buyers. The quicker they act, the more cash they get. The iPhone 6s and 6s Plus are no exception. This morning, I was the first customer to pick up my 128GB rose gold 6s Plus from a carrier store (the shop assistants even took a photo to mark the occasion), but I quickly sold it for HK$10,000 or about US$1,290 at the Sincere Podium mobile phone mall just around the corner. That’s roughly a US$250 profit based on the device’s local price, which isn’t bad at all.
In general, such iPhone opportunists prefer getting their devices directly from Apple, as they can then walk out of the Apple stores with the packaging still shrink-wrapped. On the contrary, getting an iPhone from carriers would require in-store activation, which would give grey market specialists an excuse to lower their offer; not to mention that you’d also have to buy a cellular plan to go with the device. Had I been able to up my 6s Plus from Apple instead, I would have gotten an extra US$65 for the intact shrink-wrap. I did try placing an order on Apple’s website two weeks ago, but as usual, it was near impossible to load due to heavy traffic. Clearly, many want in on the easy money.
Inside the shop that bought my brand new iPhone 6s Plus.
Hong Kong’s active iPhone grey market is largely fueled by the fact that mainland China imposes an import tax on foreign consumer goods, whereas Hong Kong doesn’t. In the case of the iPhone, China’s prices cost about 15 to 17 percent more than their Hong Kong counterparts, which is why smugglers do their best to dodge the so-called “Apple tax” at the Hong Kong-Shenzhen border. Of course, some eventually get caught because of their hilariously poor attempts. The more professional smugglers hide their goods inside vans, trucks and even boats, but even they get caught once in a while.
On launch day, the iPhone grey market trade-in prices may fluctuate by the minute, depending on the demand from mainland China and the number of units already received. Those specialists would use WeChat or make quick phone calls to check with whoever is in charge of their operation. After a quick observation in Mongkok and around the Apple Store in Kowloon Tong this morning, it’s clear that the new rose gold color is definitely a hit, though the trade-in prices are still much lower than what the iPhone 6 saw at launch last year.
Business is good for this street vendor in Mongkok.
According to ePrice, the first round of iPhone 6 Plus managed to rake in a profit of between a whopping US$1,110 to US$1,290 per unit in the grey market, which is a stark contrast to the measly US$250 I made with the 6s Plus today. The smaller 6s took a hit as well, making just US$90 instead of US$340 with the iPhone 6 last year; and that’s if you were even lucky enough to sell yours before the specialists stopped accepting the 6s. In Mongkok, crowds formed around some of the street vendors, mostly because they were waiting for the specialists to start accepting the 6s or the 16GB 6s Plus again.
The lower demand this time round comes as no surprise. Unlike last year, this time both Hong Kong and mainland China are on the list of first wave launch markets. And judging by the availability status on the earlier pre-order pages, Apple has allocated plenty of stock to mainland China, so it’s just a matter of whether the folks over there mind paying the slight premium. If it was Apple’s intention to cull the iPhone grey market, then it’s safe to say that it won this round.
iPhone 6s teardown confirms smaller battery, heftier display
The launch of a new iPhone means the iFixit team also has something new to take apart. This year, the team’s teardown efforts have confirmed that the iPhone 6s sports a 1715 mAh battery that’s comparably smaller to the previous generation’s (1810 mAh). As we mentioned in the past, it’s most likely to make sure that the phone isn’t that much bulkier than its predecessor despite the addition of a Taptic engine (the silver component below the battery above) and a heftier display. The whole display assembly is apparently thicker than before and is 15 grams heavier at 60 grams, due to the extra capacitive sensors that enable 3D Touch. iFixit has also taken a closer look at the device’s other components, including its more pixel-rich cameras and two microphones, giving it a decent repairability score of 7 out of 10. By the way, if you’re wondering, the rose gold iPhone comes with screws colored to match.
Source: iFixit
Samsung and Oculus to bring a new and cheaper Gear VR to market
When Samsung showed off the Gear VR with the Galaxy Note 4 last year, I was pretty excited at the prospect of haveing a VR headset that was built in conjunction with Oculus. Then I saw the price tag and thought, “Nah, I can live without it.” Apparently that was the case for many people because now Samsung has announced that they will bring a newer and cheaper version of the Gear VR to the masses.
“Samsung has been at the forefront of delivering mobile experiences and ‘Gear VR Innovator Edition’ launched last year was no exception,” said JK Shin, CEO and President of IT & Mobile Division, Samsung Electronics. “We see virtual reality as the next computing platform, and we are thrilled to partner with Oculus on Gear VR to set the standard for mobile VR and bring this revolutionary product to consumers.”
The new Gear VR will be priced at $99 starting this fall. It will also be compatible with more phones. It will work with the Note 5, Galaxy S6 edge+, S6 and S6 edge.
The Gear VR has also been put on a diet as it is 22% lighter than its predecessor. They also improved the touchpad to provide better control.
Samsung Gear VR Product Specifications |
|
|---|---|
| Dimension / Weight | 201.9 x 116.4 x 92.6 mm / 310g |
| Sensor | Accelerator, Gyrometer, Proximity(Mount/Unmount Detection) |
| FOV *Field of View |
96 degrees |
| IPD Coverage | 54 ~ 70 mm (Fixed Lenses) |
| Color | Frost White |
| Compatibility | microUSB connection to the Galaxy Note 5, S6 edge+, S6, S6 edge |
What do you think? Does the new lower price point make you want to buy one?
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CHOETECH Iron Stand wireless charger 3-coil charging pad (Review)
CHOETECH’s Iron Stand wireless charger is perfect for those of you who love wireless charging. Many new phones in 2015 are compatible with Qi wireless charging, but manufacturers have yet to include a wireless charger with your compatible devices. Why they have yet to include wireless chargers is beyond me, since phones like the Samsung S6
and Note 5 have the feature built into the phones. Instead they still give users a charger with a microUSB cable that is needed to charge the device.
Wireless chargers from manufacturers can cost over 75 dollars, and if you’re a savvy shopper, you look to sites like Androidguys to provide reviews on third party accessories to get the most bang for your buck.
CHOETECH Iron Stand wireless charger build and usage
The CHOETECH Iron Stand wireless charger is built out of what feels like aluminum, or another lightweight metal or metal alloy. It stands just an inch shorter than my Samsung Note 5 and is just slightly wider. It is solid and as the name suggests, it is strong as “Iron”. There are four LED lights to indicate that it is charging your Qi compatible device and a mirror finish in the front giving this charger a very premium design.
As much as I hate to admit, it looks perfect next to my Apple wireless keyboard and trackpad. Apple has won many design awards and CHOETECH’s Iron Stand wireless charger looks great on my desk.
Within the wireless charger, CHOETECH included three charging coils to give you trouble-free charging that disk style chargers can cause. The disk or flat style wireless chargers are typically much smaller than the device it charges meaning the device needs perfect placement. With the CHOETECH Iron Stand wireless charger you can charge your device at any angle and in landscape or portrait mode. As you can see in my pictures, I am watching a movie while typing on my laptop.
The wireless charger powers up my Note 5 as I type this review and watch a movie in the background. I don’t have to plug my phone into a microUSB cable and I have the device in the perfect angle for viewing. It is my favorite wireless charger to date. CHOETECH put the customer in mind when they designed and built the Iron Stand wireless charger.
Also a top priority for CHOETECH is their reputation. With the charger CHOETECH offers an 18-month warranty, which is six months longer than typical. They promise to charge your device with technology to prevent overheating and overcharging.
Product Specifications :
| Input : | DC 5V, 1.5A to 2.1A |
| Output : | 5V 1A(max) |
| Conversion : | >70% |
| Charging Distance : | 0-5mm |
| Dimensions : | 3.2×5.2×4.1inches |
| Frequency : | 110~205KHz |
| Cable Length : | 1.2m |
| Product Weight : | 172g |
What I liked
- Build quality
- Metal build
- 3-coil charging system for charging at any angle
- Compatible with all Qi enabled devices like the Nexus 6, Galaxy Note 5, Galaxy S6 etc.
- Included 2-amp charging plug
- Price
What I didn’t like
- That I only have one and I need to buy another for my office and lab at work
Summary
For less than $40, the CHOETECH Iron Stand wireless charger offers a premium design and build for your Qi enabled devices. A stand is much easier to use than a flat charging pad and has converted me into a stand lover. It is especially useful for those times you want to watch a movie or TV show while it charges. Simply set on the charger and stop worrying about trying to plug that little microUSB cable into your device.
If you want to pick up a CHOETECH Iron Stand wireless charger hit the link below. Please let me know if you order one and tell me how you like it. I hope you found this review helpful.
Amazon.com or check it out at CHOETECH.
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Samsung opened a new huge office in Silicon Valley
Samsung’s moving to the cool neighborhood. In a big way. It’s just cut the (presumably giant, blue) ribbon on a new campus that houses 700 employees, with enough capacity to reach 2,000 of ’em. Mere miles from Apple’s own HQ, the facility signifies Samsung’s increased efforts to mix in the same circles as locally established tech giants, including Google and Facebook — and hopefully further stoke those innovation fires. Samsung has been in the area since 1983, but the new center will help the world’s second biggest chipmaker to complement how well it’s dominated memory. (It’ll also be closer to its renovated chipmaking complex in Austin.) The campus unifies Samsung’s until-now scattered Valley presence: work on R&D in semiconductors, LEDs, and displays will all go down in the same place, as well as support staff from areas like sales and marketing — which likely means even more people looking to live in the Bay area.
Source: Samsung
Samsung expands to Silicon Valley with new semiconductor headquarters
While Samsung’s smartphone and tablet business is waning, its component division is doing as well as ever. The company is celebrating this success by opening up a new headquarters for their semiconductor production right in the middle of Silicon Valley.
This new HQ is over 1.1 million square feet and can hold up to 700 employees, blending marketing, sales, and support teams together under one roof. It’s an ambitious but effective move for Samsung, but considering how well their chip business has been lately, it’s a smart decision.
Samsung is obviously working to stay ahead of the curve with their typical consumer electronics business, but expect to see some new things happening in their component market, too.
source: SamMobile
Come comment on this article: Samsung expands to Silicon Valley with new semiconductor headquarters
iPhone 6s Teardown: 1715 mAh Battery, Taptic Engine X-Ray, 3D Touch Display
iFixit is in the process of taking apart the brand new iPhone 6s. While the internals aren’t arranged too differently from the iPhone 6, there are some major visual differences worth noting. These include the new Taptic Engine, a smaller battery and the 3D Touch display.
The most instantly recognizable difference is the smaller battery. While Apple’s 3D Touch video previously confirmed that the iPhone 6s would carry a 1715 mAh batter, which is smaller than the iPhone 6’s 1810 mAh battery, iFixit’s teardown provides further confirmation.
Another major visual difference comes in the presence of the new Taptic Engine, which takes up a large amount of space below the battery and is likely to account for the smaller size of the iPhone 6s’ battery. iFixit blasted the Taptic Engine with x-rays, providing a peek into the oscillating mechanism under the aluminum shell.
The new 3D Touch display weighs 60 grams, making it 15 grams heavier than the iPhone 6’s display. Much of the weight comes from the additional capacitive sensors Apple installed into the display backlight. Additional changes to the display include a reduction in cables and a slightly different LCD plate design. Other than that, iFixit notes the 3D Touch display and previous displays “seem pretty similar”.
iFixit’s iPhone 6s teardown is ongoing and this post will be updated if significant discoveries are made.
Adobe Unveils Photoshop and Premiere Elements 14 for Mac
Adobe today released new versions of Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements, its lower-cost photo and video editing software aimed at consumers. In this year’s update, both Photoshop Elements 14 and Premiere Elements 14 have gained several new features and refinements to existing tools, making it easier than ever to use Adobe’s software for improving photos and videos.
Photoshop Elements 14, Adobe’s image editing software, has gained tools for removing camera shake and for removing haze. Adobe first introduced haze removing tools with its 2015 Creative Cloud update, and has now brought that capability to Photoshop Elements 14. While the haze removal tool is useful for improving the look of outdoor shots, it can also be used to clean up old photos and improve the lighting in backlit shots.
Adobe’s shake removing tool introduces auto shake reduction. It’s able to analyze a photo and fix it to remove blur caused by camera movement, with tools for fine tuning the final look of the image.
In addition to these two new tools, Adobe has also included new capabilities for several existing features. Guided Edits, the built-in tutorial tool in Photoshop Elements has been updated with new options that walk customers through adding motion blur and resizing photos to specific frame sizes. Guided Edits also include new before and after effects to make it clearer what each one does.
There are enhanced auto correct tools that provide five correction options after subject, color, composition, and lighting for each image have been analyzed, and there are much improved tools for selecting fine details in like hair and pet fur in a photo.
Facial recognition capabilities have been improved and faces are now recognized faster and more accurately, and there’s a map that shows where photos with GPS included were taken.
Premiere Elements 14, Adobe’s video editing software, now includes support for importing and editing 4K video from a range of different cameras, which is this year’s biggest addition. As with Photoshop Elements 14, Premiere Elements 14 has gained improved Guided Edits for adding dramatic effects to videos.
Audio enhancement tools have been moved front and center in the app, making them more accessible, and motion titles have also been improved. It’s easier to manage video clips with improved organizational tools and better facial recognition to sort by people, place, and event, and both photos and videos with GPS information embedded will be displayed on a map.
Both Photoshop Elements 14 and Premiere Elements 14 for Mac and Windows can be purchased from Adobe’s website for $99.99 each. Bundles are available for $149.99, and existing users can upgrade for $79.99 for one product for $119 for the bundle.
4K Video from iPhone 6S Plus Shows Striking Advantage of Optical Image Stabilization
Last year, the iPhone 6 Plus had one camera feature the iPhone 6 did not: optical image stabilization, which automatically adjusts the camera sensor to make up for any shakiness the camera may endure. With the iPhone 6s Plus, Apple has added optical image stabilization for video as well as still images. Tonight, Giga Tech has uploaded a new video that shows off the 6s Plus’ optical image stabilization versus the iPhone 6s.
While the iPhone 6s doesn’t have optical image stabilization, it does have digital image stabilization, which is the camera’s software accounting for any shakiness. Giga Tech notes that digital image stabilization works well when the iPhone 6s is shooting in Full HD 1920×1080, but that it’s not as effective when shooting in 4K.
The video, which takes place in an old, abandoned airplane, offers a striking comparison of the two device’s video capabilities. While the iPhone 6s footage looks fine on its own, the contrast to the smoother iPhone 6s Plus footage makes its shakiness seem more pronounced.
DOOGEE HOMTOM HT6 4G phablet on sale for $139.99 at Gearbest
Obviously for $139.99 the DOOGEE HOMTOM HT6 4G phablet prices itself into the budget category. Don’t let that predetermine the performance as this smartphone is ready to be a daily driver. The HOMTOM is designed to have excellent battery life for long on-screen time which is something we have been asking the manufacturers as a feature for years now. Not only does the HOMTOM have excellent battery life but it also has PumpExpress fast charging technology which allows you to charge your device up to 75% in thirty minutes.
How does it get that great battery life with such a great price?
It comes loaded with a power efficient Mali-T720 quad core cpu, 2GB of RAM, and 16GB of on-board storage with a large 5.5 inch 1280 x 720p HD display covered in Gorilla Glass. The kicker – it comes with an incredibly large 6250mAh battery which is twice the size of Samsung’s own Note 5!
This phone is literally designed to last longer than anything you’re used to seeing. The HOMTOM is rated at seven days of average usage, or 72 hours of talk time. Yes, I said that. Go ahead and read that again. Seven days! I can’t think of a common gadget that even comes close to seven days of usage.
Most flagships come with 3000mAh batteries or smaller and can charge using Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 2.0 and get to 50% power in 15-30 minutes. If those devices had DOOGEE’s PumpExpress fast charging, they could charge to 100% in the same amount of time.
Just because DOOGEE focused on the battery does not mean this budget device made sacrifices in other areas. This phone is designed for dual sim or single sim plus a microSD card for expanding your memory. It also comes with a Sony 13MP main camera, and a 5MP front facing camera for those selfie lovers.
The HOMTOM runs the latest Android version in 5.1 with integrated gestures from DOOGEE to make things like opening apps quickly as seen in launchers such as NOVA.
Since this phone is an unlocked international device, check that it will work on your network before you make a purchase.
I don’t know how DOOGEE built this phone for $139.99, but you really can’t go wrong with the DOOGEE HOMTOM HT6 4G phablet. It is loaded to the max with specs. Get it here at Gearbest.com.
Main Features:
Display: Front Screen: 5.5 inch 1280 x 720 HD IPS Screen, gorilla glass
CPU: MTK6735 64bit Quad Core 1.0GH
GPU: Mali-T720
System: Android 5.1
RAM + ROM: 2GB RAM + 16GB ROM
Camera: Back camera 8.0MP (SW 13.0MP) with flashlight and auto focus + front camera 2.0MP (SW 5.0MP)
Features: OTG，OTA, Hotknot
Bluetooth: 4.0
Battery Capacity: Built-in 6250mAh powerful battery
Fast Charging Technology: Charge battery upto 75 percent power within 30 minutes.
GPS: Yes
SIM Card: Dual SIM dual standby, one is standard SIM, the other is Micro SIM
Network:
2G: GSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz
3G: WCDMA 900/2100MHz
4G: FDD-LTE 800/1800/2100/2600MHz
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AIVAnet 