China has always been dubbed in economics as the sleeping
giant because unlike other world powers, this country has remained relatively
silent in the past few decades. But in recent years, this giant seemed to have
roused a little and has already started to make some noise in the international
community by first trying to claim sovereignty over territories from nearby
countries such as Taiwan and the Philippines.
But aside from the casual territory disputes, China is also
making some noise by strengthening its economy and increasing its influence
over the trading of different goods across the globe. One particular industry
where this presence is slowly being felt is the IT industry. And this is most
evident with the announcement of several smartphones from Chinese brands like Huawei
and ZTE.
HUAWEI
Huawei has just announced a new set of smartphones this past
four weeks. Back in mid-October rumours have circulated about the W1 – the company’s
first Windows Phone powered handset. And just yesterday, leaked shots of two
live units spread like wildfire on the Internet alongside the announcement of
the Huawei Ascend W3.
Unlike the entry level W1, the Ascend W3 will reportedly be targeting
higher income groups. For now, the specs of the W3 are still in murky water,
but so far, it is rumoured to be powered by a dual-core processor CPU, will
have at least 1 GB of RAM, an 8MP camera and 4.5-inch display.
On the other side of the fence, Android lovers were teased
with the announcement of another smartphone power house from the company – the Huawei
Honor 2. The phone will be powered by a quad-core processor clocked at 1.4Ghz
and will feature an 8MP rear camera and a 4.5-inch IPS LCD capacitive
touchscreen. The Honor 2 is already available in some parts of the world while
the two WP8 phones are scheduled to be officially unveiled at CES come January
next year.
ZTE
Another Chinese brand that’s slowly making waves in the
telco industry is ZTE. The company currently has several models of smartphones
in the Philippine market including the 4.3-inch Skate, the 3.5-inch Kis V788
and the Mimosa Mini V856.
And just yesterday, the company held a special press event
in Russia to introduce four new smartphones in their line-up that are designed
with different income groups in mind. The first on the set of four handsets is
the ZTE Grand Era (V985). It sports a 4.5-inch screen with 720p resolution, an
8MP camera and is powered
by a 1.5Ghz quad-core processor.
There’s also the 4.3-inch ZTE Grand X LTE T82. And as the
name suggests, this phone will have LTE connectivity as well as an 8MP camera ,
1GB of RAM and will run and powered by Android v4 (Ice Cream Sandwich) and a
dual-core 1.5Ghz krait processor respectively.
The ZTE V889M on the other hand will focus on the mid-level
handsets of the market segment. It will feature a smaller 4-inch screen
compared to the Grand X and Grand Era. It will also be powered by a less
powerful MTK 6577 dual-core processor and a 5MP camera at the back of the
phone.
Lastly, we have the ZTE V790, which is the budget phone
among the bunch. It will be powered by a Qualcomm 7225A chipset and will sport
a 3.5-inch display and will pack a 2 to 3 MP camera for imaging.
So there you have it everyone. By the looks of it, these two
Chinese brands are slowly making their presence felt all over the globe with
the introduction of these smartphones. It appears that ZTE and Huawei might get
bigger brands like Samsung, LG and Nokia a run for their money when it comes to
the pricing and features of their devices. However, as China-made products have
been notoriously synonymous with low quality goods, it remains a challenge to
both companies to earn the trust of Filipinos when it comes to reliability of
their products.
Nevertheless, the good thing is that this surge of new
products in the market plus the apparent stiffened competition among mobile
phone manufacturers will certainly affect the market through greater variety of
phone choices as well as reduced prices for us consumers.
So, what are your thoughts about our topic for this week?
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lifestyle stories about fashion and beauty, travel and food, gadgets and
technology and all things that we Filipinos love. Till next time! J
