News | AIVAnet

Nov

Huawei Mate 9 preview: Big deal

Huawei pulls out all the stops for its new flagship — with refreshed, Nougat-based software, a gigantic battery and a sharp new dual camera setup.

Huawei phones have shown slow, steady signs of improvement over the past six months. You only need to compare the generally decent P9 Plus to the utter mess that was the P8 to see important progress being made across the board. And yet one asterisk has remained next to every Huawei review here on Android Central: The software, in general, has been pretty gross. Early on in 2015, some features were straight up broken. Even in recent products like the P9, key Android features like the notification area were implemented in way that looked bad and broke compatibility with a bunch of apps.

As good as the hardware was, the company’s EMUI software has been the biggest reason for folks in the West to not buy a Huawei phone — a constant for as long as we’ve been reviewing them.

For a long time, software was the biggest reason not to buy a Huawei phone — but that’s about to change.

For over a year we’ve been hearing on the grapevine that big software changes are coming, and now they’re finally here. The new EMUI version 5 — based on Android 7.0 Nougat — ships on Huawei’s latest flagship phone, the Mate 9. It’s an enormously important upgrade that walks back some of EMUI’s more egregious customizations, bringing it closer to Google’s vision of Android, while setting a fresh design direction for the company. At the same time, Huawei promises under-the-hood optimizations to improve battery life and stop the phone getting slower over time.

But the Mate 9 is about way more than software alone. It’s the launch platform for the company’s speedy new Kirin 960 processor. It’s got a new, improved dual-camera setup developed in co-operation with Leica. And as a big-screened phone, it packs a proportionately massive battery, allowing it to take on the mantle of previous Mates as a champion of longevity.

And all of that adds up to a phone that’s kind of a big deal.

If you’ve been following Huawei’s design story for the past year, the outside of the Mate 9 will be immediately recognizable, with plenty of Mate 8 and Mate S DNA to be seen. For the uninitiated, it’s this design that many other Chinese phone makers are riffing on these days, including OnePlus and, more recently, LeEco.

So you can check off the following: Slightly curved metal unibody. Chamfers front and back. Tapered “2.5D” glass. Gracefully hidden antenna lines. Fingerprint sensor. Slight camera hump.

The worst thing you could say about the Mate 9’s design is that it’s safe and just a little bit generic. There’s nothing here that looks drastically different to the last couple of Mate phones. Instead, Huawei has worked on slimming down the phone in all directions, giving you a 5.9-inch display in a phone with the footprint of many 5.7-inchers. (In fact, the overall size is barely any bigger than the 5.5-inch iPhone 7 Plus.)

This is a big phone, but not as big as you might be expecting.

This is still a big phone. (A big Big Phone. Capital B, captial P.) But it’s nowhere near as comically oversized as a 5.9-inch handset could’ve been. Nor is using it one-handed a total impossibility, though you’ll need some manual dexterity to juggle it around. And while it may lack the head-turning quality of a Galaxy S7 edge, it’s an attractive phone that feels good in the hand, with just enough heft to not feel insubstantial.

The display itself is a 1080p IPS LCD, which is fine, but perhaps the biggest hardware compromise in this device. After three years of Full HD Mate phones, it’s surely time to take the plunge and go 2K — yet the main Mate 9 model sticks with this tried and true resolution. Nevertheless, there are surely battery and performance benefits involved with sticking to a lower screen res, and it’s not like 373 pixels per inch looks horrible. In fact, the Mate 9’s display excels in other metrics like brightness and color vibrancy.

Huawei’s already using the GPU rumored to be coming to the Galaxy S8.

One area that certainly isn’t standing still is the processor. The Mate 9 runs Huawei’s brand new Kirin 960 CPU, which boasts a few important breakthroughs. It’s the first smartphone to use ARM’s Cortex-A73 cores, an improvement upon the earlier A72 design in terms of both performance and efficiency. Kirin 960 pairs four of these A73s with four energy-efficient Cortex-A53 cores for less demanding tasks. Also a big deal: The new ARM Mali-G71 8-core GPU, offering up to 180% improved graphics performance compared to the GPU used in the Kirin 950. Throw into the mix Vulkan graphics support for improved gaming performance (and fewer pixels to push on a 1080p panel) and you’re looking at a serious amount of graphical potential. (In fact, the Mali-G71 is the GPU rumored to appear in the Galaxy S8 next year.)

That’s coupled with a base 4GB of LPDDR4 RAM.

More: Huawei Mate 9 specs

The Mate 9 will also support Google’s Daydream VR platform, though the specifics of how that’ll work aren’t clear at the moment. The phone is running Android 7.0, not 7.1 at launch, and at just 373 pixels per inch, the phone’s screen won’t offer a spectacular VR experience. We should learn more in the weeks leading up to the Mate 9’s retail launch.

Huawei has doubled down on storage performance too, moving to UFS2.1 flash memory for the 64 gigabytes of inbuilt storage. That means on paper it should be able to match or beat the latest phones from Samsung in terms of storage speeds.

Between all these hardware enhancements, you’re looking at an exceptionally speedy device, and that’s been reflected in our brief time with the Mate 9 thus far. This phone is fast. But then, all phones are fast when you first get them. And so Huawei’s focus on speed goes beyond hardware and out-of-box responsiveness, instead doubling down on maintaining performance over time through software smarts.

Huawei’s latest CPU and fastest flash storage is backed up by machine learning to make your favorite apps run faster than ever.

In fact, Huawei says it’s implemented machine learning in the way its CPU, storage and memory management works, allowing it to work out which apps you’re likely to use and when — as well as which apps need the most CPU horsepower, and which can get by without firing up the processor all the way. The company also claims it’s optimized the way data is written to and read from flash memory to improve throughput.

Stuff like this, Huawei says, can help a phone maintain performance over 18 months of use — something it’s tested using its own “artificial aging tools” while developing the Mate 9. Sure, you could just factory reset your phone every six-to-twelve months, but the fact is most people don’t. Nor, in an ideal world, should you have to.

huawei-mate-9-uk-57.jpg?itok=ttQBGr53

At a briefing in Shanghai, China, ahead of the Mate 9’s announcement, Huawei VP of Global Product Marketing, Clement Wong, described the new approach as the best of both worlds between Android and iOS — “fluid performance, but in an open platform.” With the new enhancements in the Mate 9, Wong says, Huawei can address two of the main pain points of smartphone users — slow performance that degrades over time, and poor battery life. Huawei doesn’t have the vertical integration and total ecosystem control of Apple, but supposedly it can take advantage of its homegrown CPU and firmware tuning to make up the difference.

In addition to boasting an enormous 4,000mAh battery, Huawei is also raising the bar when it comes to charging speeds, with a new “SuperCharge” standard capable of not just the run-of-the-mill 9V/2A speeds, but also 3.5-5V / 5A charging for even quicker refills. All of this is managed safely through constant communication between the phone and charger, much like Qualcomm QuickCharge.

The result, the manufacturer says, is that a 10-minute charge can get you 3.5 hours of video playback, all while charging more quickly in use than rivals, and generating less heat in the process. We’ll have to test Huawei’s assertions in our full review, but we’ve already seen the benefits of charging at higher amperages with OnePlus’s Dash Charge feature.

Mate 9 owners can also look forward to a SuperCharger wall plug and car charger included in the box. So: big battery, fast charging, and multiple charging options out of the box, which is great to see. Smartphone battery tech still has plenty of room for improvement, and Huawei appears to be leading the charge.

There’s a new, optically stabilized dual camera setup, but the jury’s out on image quality.

The same goes for photography, and in this important area Huawei has built on the solid, if unspectacular track record of the P9 series, once again with Leica co-branding. As before, there are two camera modules around the back — an optically stabilized 12-megapixel RGB color sensor, paired with a 20-megapixel monochrome sensor, both behind f/2.2 lenses. (And backed up by dual LED flash and laser autofocus.) Like the P9, the two cameras work in tandem to produce clearer shots than each would’ve been capable of individually, while Huawei’s dual ISP (image signal processor) can process both image streams simultaneously, and create simulated aperture effects in real time through the viewfinder. That’s a neat upgrade from the P9, which could only apply these effects after shooting.

Only the color sensor has OIS (six-axis stabilization, in fact), so it’s not entirely clear how low-light performance will shake out. What we do know is that the P9 managed to produce some respectable, often surprisingly good photos with twin (unstabilized) 12MP shooters, so we’re hoping Huawei is able to raise the bar some with its latest camera setup.

It’s way too early to reach any firm conclusions on Mate 9 photo quality — we’ll need to use the phone out in the real world to see whether Huawei’s lofty claims hold true. And although it has some unique photographic tricks to its name, the Mate 9 will face tough challenges from Apple and Google, both of which have fantastic cameras in their latest handsets.

Which brings us to the software — EMUI 5.0, based upon Android 7.0 Nougat. It’s one of the most significant upgrades in the Mate 9, given Huawei’s historical weakness in this area. And on the face of it, there are lots of similarities between the old EMUI and the new release. By default, there’s still no app drawer, though this can be enabled in the settings. Huawei’s home screen still draws some pretty heavy inspiration from Apple’s iOS. The style of icons remains similar, and everything is still skinnable.

But important visual tweaks are evident throughout EMUI 5. There’s a new font, drawing on the typography of the camera partner Leica. Apps like Dialer, Messenger and Settings get a new, brighter UI. Icons are altogether less dull, looking more like they belong on a modern smartphone, and less like a throwback to a 90’s desktop OS.

At a meeting ahead of the public EMUI 5 unveiling, Huawei CMF designer Agnes Larnicol told us this is reflective of Huawei’s efforts to change its overall brand image and become lighter and more approachable through brighter colors. Similar changes, Larnicol says, were introduced to the company’s Mobile World Congress booth earlier this year. In contrast to the previous year, Huawei’s MWC 2016 booth was full of bright, white, illuminated open areas.

That’s now being reflected in the firm’s software. Which is why the new EMUI 5 introduces cleaner, more “sober” blue and white hues to Huawei’s phone UI, according to Dr. Wang Genglu, Huawei’s device software president.

The changes are more than skin deep, too. In addition to under-the-hood optimizations, Huawei has worked to reduce the number of taps it takes to reach the vast majority of features. Dr. Wang told us the vast majority of system functions — 91% — can now be accessed with three taps or less. EMUI 5’s refined animations should also give the perception of a faster UI, he adds.

But crucially for Android fans, key Android OS features like the notification shade, lock screen notifications, and recent apps menu, now work more or less exactly as they do on a Nexus or Pixel, though with slightly different fonts and colors. There’s no more weird customization for the sake of it. No more broken notifications. EMUI is now differentiated without shoving unnecessary, app-breaking changes down your throat.

What’s more, there are some genuinely intriguing new features, like the ability to use multiple accounts in social apps like WhatsApp and Facebook, and the ability to designate a biometrically-secured “privacy space.”

These are all big changes, particularly for an organization as large as Huawei — a company whose software designs have mostly catered to the Chinese market until recently.

At a briefing in Shanghai, Huawei PR Director Ada Xu told us that the company’s design efforts are divided between groups in six major cities around the world, with a team in San Francisco taking the lead on user experience. Other teams focused on different areas are based out of Paris, London, Moscow and Japan. Thus, there’s now a more global approach to design.

Bottom line: EMUI looks and works a lot better now. There’s a lot less visually unpleasant, weird stuff going on, and the move away from a highly customized notification and app-switching setup is appreciated. These changes are long overdue, but welcome all the same.

The Huawei Mate 9 is a curious mix of minor tweaks and groundbreaking changes. Some really important software improvements have been made, but this still feels like a Huawei phone. However it has that familiar feeling without the general grossness that accompanied it back in the EMUI 3 and 4 days. Stuff just works. Nothing is overtly broken. Notifications look nice. Task-switching works in the normal way! And EMUI now keeps its paws off your app icons.

A mix of groundbreaking changes and subtle, meaningful tweaks.

And along with all that stuff you get fantastic performance, a proper big-screened phone (while few other manufacturers are pushing past 5.5 inches), a promising camera setup and a ridiculously huge battery with super-fast charging. Between all these features, the Huawei Mate 9 is shaping up to be a very promising handset.

There are hints of disappointment though — for instance, the decision to remain at 1080p resolution in an age where 2K flagships are the norm. And the Mate 9 also lacks water resistance, a feature which comes as standard from Apple and Samsung.

We’ll need to spend some more time with the phone to tell whether it fulfills its potential, or whether Huawei still has some work to do on UX, camera, performance, or all three. That said, our early impressions of the phone are positive, and we’re looking forward to getting to know it properly.

A quick side note — there’s also a “Porsche Design” Mate 9 variant — a 5.5-inch, curved screen model that ups the storage to 256GB, the RAM to 6GB and opts for an altogether more Samsung-like aesthetic. Huawei confirmed the existence of this model in our briefings, but didn’t show the device, nor go into much detail about it. Given the track record of Huawei when it comes to wacky special editions of its phones, we’d expect this curvy Mate 9 to play second fiddle to the main device. Nevertheless, it’s there, and the company is surely hoping some of the Porsche prestige will rub off on the regular Mate 9.

We don’t have any firm information on when the Huawei Mate 9 will hit the U.S. market and in what form. Instead, Huawei’s initial push for the phone is likely to focus on Western Europe and Asia, including its home market of China. Pricing, too, remains up in the air, but expect to pay flagship-level money for what’s very much a flagship-quality phone.

In Europe in particular, where nobody — not Samsung, not LG — has a big-screened Android flagship on sale, Huawei has a golden opportunity. It has a great phone to sell, with basically no competition in the 5.7-inch-and-up category.

However well the Mate 9 fares in the market, it’s clear this phone represents an important milestone for Huawei on just about every level — particularly software and user experience. And if this is a sign of things to come, 2017 could be a very interesting year indeed.

Huawei Mate 9

Huawei P9 preview
Huawei P9 specs
The Porsche Design Mate 9 is a $1500 special edition you’ll want
All Huawei Mate 9 news
Join the discussion in the forums

Nov

Best Transit App

citymapper-seattle.jpg?itok=ENDtaIW6

For determining the easiest way to get from Point A to Point B, you’ll want to rely on Citymapper.

Best overall

Citymapper

citymapper-screenshot.jpg?itok=KpOa6tkS

See at Google Play

Citymapper is the best transit app that you can use on your Android phone, as long as you are in a supported city. When you need help traversing larger cities, like New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle or any number of international cities, that is where Citymapper comes in. The app can factor in buses, trains, subways, bikes and cabs, removing the daunting task of figuring out how to get from point A to B in the fastest or least stressful way possible.

Citymapper pulls all of this information into one place so you can check out the available options and see which is best for you. From directions that use the bus, subway, rail and even bikes, Citymapper will help you find the best place to get on the transportation method nearest you, and which stop you will want to get off. If you are one to travel into smaller cities, you may find that Citymapper doesn’t yet offer support for it. Luckily, Citymapper is always looking to expand the areas that it supports and you can easily suggest a new location to be added.

Citymapper is a free app, but you are at the mercy of the locations that they pick to support.

Bottom line: If you often find yourself in big cities that you don’t know your way around, you’ll want to make sure that Citymapper is installed on your phone and ready to go.

One more thing: As of now the number of cities that are fully supported are somewhat limited, but if you are traveling to big cities this app will serve you well.

Why Citymapper is the best

A powerful app that brings all your local transit options to one place.

Citymapper is your best bet for getting around a new city, as long as it is one of the supported cities by the app. Whether you are looking to take a train to the other side of town, or take a bus to a different section, Citymapper pulls all the data into one place. You can easily see on the map how long it will take you to get somewhere with each transportation method, allowing you to easily pick the one that best meets your needs.

PCMag put some of the transit apps head to head and said:

For New York, Citymapper gave by far the best routes. It tells you which section of the train to get on for the easiest transfers, and even offers “rain safe” routes which are underground as much as possible. It had all of the oddball non-NYC Transit options in the New York metro area. Its bikeshare option (shown at left) clearly shows how many bikes are available and where to drop them off. It’s only available in 30 cities, but I found it the clearest and best routing engine for most point-to-point routes.

The beauty of Citymapper is in its simplicity: you only need to open the app from your location and tell it where you want to go, and the extensive database will take into account the various means of getting somewhere — bus, subway, tram, even walking — to determine the ideal route. It’s even smart enough to tell you when to leave to get there at a particular time, or which door to exit from to emerge from a subway closest to your location. The app is well-designed and extremely intuitive, and it functions as a replacement for Google Maps in every way but for driving directions.

Best for all locations

Google Maps

Travel-apps-google-maps-screens-00.jpg?i

See at Google Play

If you are looking for options in the most places possible, Google Maps is likely your best bet. While the other apps specialize in particular cities, Google is a bit more generic. This can be a good and bad thing at the same time. Sure, you’ll have more information at your fingertips with Google Maps, but the overall density of information may not be as high.

Once you find your location on the map, you’ll be able to pick between driving, taking a bus, train routes, walking directions and more. From the settings you’ll be able to set a time you want to leave or arrive so that you can see accurate commute options for that trip.

Bottom line: If versatility is what you are looking for, Google Maps may be your best bet. It won’t offer all the options that other apps will, but you will have support in the most cities.

One more thing: Be sure to turn the traffic option on so you are able to see where you will hit delays on your journey.

Best for offline

Transit

transit-screen.jpg?itok=spzY3ZrG

See at Google Play

Transit offers support in more than 120 cities already both in and out of the U.S. From an easy way to grab step-by-step directions to get you around a new city to real-time predictions of when the next train or bus may arrive, Transit is quite powerful. The built-in map will show you where your train is, notifications of when to get off at your stop and more so you won’t get lost in that new city.

Whether you have an internet connection or not you’ll be able to view the schedule for upcoming departures, check estimated time of arrivals (ETAs) and even request an Uber if no other method of transportation meets your needs. It has support for nearly all methods of transportation, including ferry, Uber, bus, rail, train, bike, car2go and others.

Transit is a great alternative to Citymapper and a great addition to Google Maps for those times you may need more in-depth information about getting around where you are.

Bottom line: Transit offers support for more cities than Citymapper does, but its feature set isn’t quiet as extensive.

One more thing: You’ll have great support for a list of U.S. cities, and you can also use it in many cities in Canada, Europe, and Australia.

Best to customize

Transit Directions by Moovit

moovit-screenshot.png?itok=rlJ1AIRi

See at Google Play

Transit Directions by Moovit offers support for more than 1,200 cities around the world, which is far more than many of the other apps out there. Just because it supports more cities doesn’t mean it’s the best though. The interface is a bit different than others, and some may find that it works for them and others will be turned off and go back to another option.

The features within the app are great, though. With live directions that notify you when to get off at your stop, real-time arrival information, a favorites screen to quickly access places you frequently visit and more, there is no shortage of information in the app. The Moovit widget will help you keep an eye on your favorite destinations and travel lines to make sure things are operating as normal, and you can receive a notifications for service alerts when things aren’t running as usual.

Bottom line: If the other options haven’t met your needs, Moovit may be able to slide in with the assist. It offers similar features to the others, but with support for more cities.

One more thing: Service alerts will help keep you on top of your travel, even when you aren’t looking at it with notifications of delays or other issues that will affect your travel.

Conclusion

Depending where you live or where you will be visiting, one app may work better than the others. If you are in a supported city, Citymapper is the way to go. If you aren’t in one of them, you should suggest for it to be the next supported city, and then check out one of the other options. Don’t want to have multiple apps installed to do this for you? Google Maps may be the way to go, but you may not see all your available routes this way.

Best overall

Citymapper

citymapper-screenshot.jpg?itok=KpOa6tkS

See at Google Play

Citymapper is a free app, but you are at the mercy of the locations that they pick to support.

Bottom line: If you often find yourself in big cities that you don’t know your way around, you’ll want to make sure that Citymapper is installed on your phone and ready to go.

One more thing: As of now the number of cities that are fully supported are somewhat limited, but if you are traveling to big cities this app will serve you well.

Nov

Hands-on: The Huawei Mate 9 starts fast and stays fast

At first glance it’s just another large-format superphone — but the Huawei Mate 9 isn’t your average phablet. It’s a smartphone meant to solve three of the biggest problems facing Android users today: bad battery life, poor camera quality and slow software performance.

Indeed, with a 4000mAh battery, a Leica-branded dual-camera assembly and a new version of EMUI built atop Android 7.0 Nougat, the Huawei Mate 9 seems poised to fill the gap Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 left in the big-smartphone space. I took a trip to China to learn more about this phone and the Kirin 960 chipset that powers it. Join MrMobile for the Huawei Mate 9 hands-on!

Get social with MrMobile!

YouTube
Le web
Twitter
Facebook
Snapchat
Instagram

Nov

Lenovo ships 14 million smartphones in Q2, Moto brand sees 40% surge

moto-z-play-hands-on-7-2.jpg?itok=hnKWaX

Lenovo has posted its financial results for the quarter ending September 30, 2016 (second fiscal quarter). The company announced a net profit of $157 million, a turnaround from the $842 million loss resulting from restructuring efforts in Q2 2015. Overall revenue was $11.2 billion, an 8% YoY decrease but an increase of 12% from the previous quarter.

Lenovo shipped 14 million phones in the quarter, resulting in a 25% increase from Q1 2015. Sales from the mobile division amounted to $2 billion, a YoY decline of 12% but an increase of 20% from the last quarter. The unit posted a loss of $156 million, an improvement from the previous quarter. Lenovo is doing particularly well in India, where it saw a 15% YoY uptick in sales. Introduction of the Lenovo Z2 Plus and the Moto Z Play should give the brand an added sales boost this quarter.

moto-z-launch.jpg?itok=OdTGpDYX

The company didn’t break out numbers from Motorola, but said that shipments were up 40% following the launch of the Moto G4 and the Moto Z. The Moto Z series crossed 1 million sales since its debut, and Lenovo is looking to sell 3 million units in the first 12 months. The tentpole feature of the Moto Z series is the Moto Mods range of magnetic add-ons, and Lenovo is looking for ways to entice developers to create more attachments. The latest move involves collaborating with crowdfunding site Indiegogo as a way to allow devs to raise money to bring their Moto Mods to life.

Nov

These are the accessories your PlayStation VR needs right now!

psvr-headphone.jpg?itok=MSVGd6fe

There’s more to owning a PlayStation VR than being Batman.

As gaming VR systems go, PlayStation VR has been a hit so far. The initial launch left many hunting for games that were out of stock for days and controllers that were out of stock for longer, but now that things have settled down and you’ve started pushing through the lineup of launch titles, it’s time to take a look at what you need to enjoy this headset long term. Outside of a fresh controller and the new PlayStation Camera, this is what you need to fully enjoy your PlayStation VR!

OnePlus ‘Gear’ now on sale until Nov 4 at 6:00 a.m. ET

Get your bags and t-shirts to go with your OnePlus phone.

Right on schedule, OnePlus has opened up the “Gear” section of its online store for a limited time to start selling some of the lifestyle products it has been selling in China for some time. This is simply a testing of the waters from OnePlus as the sale is only on for a mere 24 hours, so if you’re at all interested in these bags and t-shirts you’ll want to check out the store right away.

oneplus-gear-store-screenshot.jpg?itok=a

While the prices are a tad more expensive than expected, they’re still reasonable, with the sleek travel backpack landing at $50 and the simple travel messenger bag for the same price in two color choices. You can also go for a premium leather version of the messenger for twice the price. At $20 each the shirts aren’t cheap, then again OnePlus likely isn’t making enough to offer them much cheaper.

Get ’em while you can.

The hope is that OnePlus may see enough sales in this first testing period to keep the Gear store open permanently outside of China, adding more of the products currently available there and eventually bringing down the operating costs enough to sell a bit cheaper. The few things available now look quite nice (I actually have the backpack and it’s very well designed and constructed), and I’d like to see more of it.

After the announcement and seeing what’s offered, are you interested in picking up any OnePlus Gear? Let us know what you picked up (or passed on) in the comments!

OnePlus 3

OnePlus 3 review: Finally, all grown up
OnePlus 3 specs
OnePlus 3 vs. the flagship competition
Latest OnePlus 3 news
Discuss OnePlus 3 in the forums

OnePlus

Nov

Netflix may finally roll out offline playback, but not in the U.S.

house-of-cards-4-opx.jpg?itok=IyZzon46

Offline playback is coming to Netflix. Just not in the U.S.

Earlier this year, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said that he was “open-minded” about bringing offline playback to the service. In an interview with CNBC, Netflix COO Ted Sarandos said that the company is “looking at” enabling the feature, with initial rollout expected in countries with limited internet availability:

We have talked a lot about this over the years and our belief is that broadband and Wi-Fi become more and more ubiquitous, available in more and more places that you are, more and more minutes of the day.

Now as we’ve launched in more territories … They all have different levels of broadband speeds and Wi-Fi access. So in those countries they have adapted their behaviors to be much more of a downloading culture. So in those emerging territories it starts to become a little more interesting.

We still think for the developed world our thesis has been true but I think as we get into more and more (of the) undeveloped world and developing countries that we want to find alternatives for people to use Netflix easily.

Netflix could emulate what Google has done with YouTube, with the service allowing customers in emerging markets to take videos offline. The feature is available for YouTube Red subscribers in Australia, Mexico, New Zealand, and the United States, but anyone using the standard YouTube app in India can save videos locally for later viewing.

The move is designed to make it easier for customers to consume content even in areas with spotty connectivity, and with Netflix actively targeting emerging markets, we could see a similar option being rolled out by the service. No word on a timeframe yet, but earlier rumors suggested the feature would be available before the end of the year.

Nov

Huawei’s $1500 Porsche Design Mate 9 is a special edition you’ll really want

Alongside the “vanilla” Mate 9 — itself a beast of a phone — Huawei has unveiled a special limited edition Porsche Design version of the phone to be sold in stores throughout Europe, Asia and the Middle East starting in December.

Porsche Design already has a history of partnering with manufacturers on limited edition smartphones, though the most publicized were BlackBerrys that sought to stand apart through aesthetic alone. This time, Huawei actually has a strong foundation on which to build a special edition device, and the Porsche Design Mate 9 has a number of impressive aesthetic and performance differences to covet a glance in its direction.

pd_front%20%2B%20back.png?itok=pEmwRrcI

The main differences between the Mate 9 and its Porsche Design equivalent are on the front: instead of a 5.9-inch 1080p LCD panel, the PD model has a 5.5-inch 2560×1440 AMOLED display with curved glass, bringing the fingerprint sensor to the front, below the screen. While that is sure to entertain comparisons to the Note line, Huawei has also given the PD Mate 9 an extra two gigabytes of RAM — 6GB in total — and 256GB of storage, up from 64GB on the regular Mate 9. The rest of the spec sheet is the same with a Kirin 960 SoC, an impressive dual camera setup, and a massive 4,000mAh battery.

More: Huawei Mate 9 Preview: Big deal

The Porsche Design Mate 9 will go on sale later this year in European PD stores for €1395 (around $1550), expanding to “select” Huawei retail stores in Asia, Europe and the Middle East in January of next year.