Category: CES 2016

Chinese manufacture Huawei has become a dominant player in the global Android phone market but has struggled to gain traction here in the United States.  That has changed a little bit with the launch of the Huawei built Nexus 6P and the company is looking to capitalize on that success.  2016 the company is planning on making a significant push into the US market and it will be lead by their new 6″ phablet device, the Mate 8.

The Mate 8 was announced last month in China but yesterday at CES 2016 it was announced it was going global.  It mighty impressive specs that make it a true flagship device for the company.  While it won’t launch immediately here in the US – it will be in Europe, South America and Asia first before it hits the US and UK – it will be here by the end of the 1st quarter.  To start, it has a 6″ Full HD 1080p display, is powered by the Huawei Kirin 950 Octa-Core processor running at 2.3Ghz and has an ARM Cortex A72 co-processor running at 1.5Ghz.  It will come in two variants as far as RAM and storage are concerned.  The base model will come with 3GB or RAM and 32GB of storage while the upper end will have 4GB of RAM and 64GB of Storage.  Interestingly, the upper end model will also support dual SIMs while the base model will be single SIM.

Honor, the budget conscious subsidiary of Huawei, has announced their arrive into the US market in a big way.  Their first phone to launch here, the Honor 5X, is a 5.5″ unibody design and is only $199.99 right now at Amazon.  The phone will start shipping on January 31st but pre-orders are being taken now.  For the price, you get an impressive phone.

To start, the Honor 5X has a 5.5″ 1920 x 1080 Full HD display that is powered by 1.5Ghz Snapdragon 615 Octa-Core processor.  It has 2GB of RAM, 16GB of Storage and can be expanded up to 128GB thanks to a MicroSD card slot.  It has a 3000 mAh battery, a 13MP rear camera and 5MP front camera.  Here in the US it will support LTE Bands 2, 4, 5, 12 and 17 and WCDMA bands 1,2,4,5 which means that it will work on any carrier here at some level.  Be sure to refer to my guide on LTE bands for more details on carriers here in the US and their LTE bands.

Honor 5X – Available January 31, 2016 – Pre-Order for $199.99 from Amazon

Acer has kicked off CES 2016 by announcing a refresh of their 11″ Chromebook.  The new 11.6″ Chromebook will be available in February and will start at just $179.99 for the 2GB RAM/16GB Storage model.  Sporting 9 hours of battery life and a Nano-imprinted pattern for a premium look, this new Chromebook is designed for portability with a weight of just under 2.5lbs.

“Acer’s position in the Chromebook market is unparalleled because we offer the range of Chromebook products that our customers want – including larger 15-inch displays and convertible models,” said Jerry Kao, president of Acer Notebook Business Group. “We know what our customers want most in a Chromebook are the attributes that complement the mobile lifestyle – great performance and a portable design at an excellent value – all this can be found in the Chromebook 11.”

I for one am looking forward to seeing this new unit as a potential replacement for my current Acer C670 Chromebook.  Based on the the information in the Press Release, I think this could be a great budget friendly Chromebook for a lot of users.