Galaxy Note 7 and Gear S3, Samsung
The main "mass" flagships of Samsung - smartphones Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge - were presented long before IFA, during a separate event. But at the exhibition they showed the Note line phablet, which traditionally arouses interest among lovers of large and high-performance smartphones.
In terms of design, the Note 7 continues the metal and glass tradition of last year's S6 and Note 5 (no 6 for marketing reasons), but this time the phablet also has curved display edges. They are not bent as much as in the S7 Edge and almost do not distort the image, but they have a dramatic effect on the Note 7's appearance. This is by far one of the most beautiful smartphones of our time: the rounded glass smoothly flows into the aluminum frame, and then into the glass back cover of the device, glinting in the sun until it hurts in the eyes.
Galaxy Note 7, Samsung © SeongJoon Cho / Bloomberg via Getty Images
There are practically no frames around the side of the screen, so despite the impressive size of the screen (5.7 inches), it feels great in the hands. He inherited all the technical stuffing of the phablet from S7 - there is the same (outstanding) camera, the same (outstanding) screen and the same powerful Exynos 8890 processor (Snapdragon 820, Qualcomm in the version for the American market).
The branded digital pen has not disappeared anywhere either: it has become sleeker and more functional - we will tell about all its capabilities in a detailed Note 7 review.
Gear S3 is a new version of Samsung smartwatches, and with it everything is not so simple. Last year's S2 were impressive in their looks: they didn't try their best to be like a traditional watch, but they didn't come across as a bulky gadget either. The new version is losing ground in this regard: both presented versions, the usual Classic and Frontier, aimed at outdoor enthusiasts, are noticeably larger and thicker than last year. This is due to the fact that the watch has a GPS-module - now navigation works even if the phone, say, is dead. On the other hand, the Gear S has turned from the category of "the most beautiful watch on the other side of the Apple Watch" into a gadget for geeks. This is especially noticeable in the example of the Frontier, which vaguely resembles G-Shock.… But the battery life has increased. In general, they have become more practical, but may turn out to be less comfortable in everyday wear - a paradox. But the Always On function has appeared: the clock display now constantly displays the time.
Both Note 7 and Gear S3 will be officially sold on the Russian market. The price of the phablet is already known - 65 thousand rubles.
© Dmitry Petrenko
Yoga Book, Lenovo
Lenovo unexpectedly showed the most interesting and memory-cutting device at the exhibition. Its Yoga Book can hardly be attributed to any particular class of devices.
Salt: Yoga Book is an Android or Windows 10 laptopwith a thin and non-detachable, fully touch panel that is a cover, a keyboard and a drawing tablet at the same time. In the "keyboard" mode, the keys and even the touchpad are illuminated on the surface of the device - the backlight intensity can be adjusted. Typing on a “keyboard without keys” is very unusual, but according to company representatives, it takes 20-30 minutes to get used to it. But the main feature of the Yoga Book is not even this: placing a regular sheet of paper on the touch surface, you can write on it with a complete pen - and everything you write will remain not only on the sheet, but also instantly displayed on the device screen. All notes and drawings will be immediately digitized and accurately stored in the laptop's memory. You can draw without a piece of paper by simply moving the pen over the touch panel - all this will appear on the screen.
1 of 3 © Dmitry Petrenko © Dmitry Petrenko © Dmitry Petrenko
Live Yoga Book makes a tremendous impression - the niche of laptops, tablets and hybrids has been around for quite some time, but nothing like it has been created until now. It took them three years to get the idea from concept stage to consumer device, Lenovo says. The result is obvious - you want to pre-order the Yoga Book right away, even realizing that half of its functions, most likely, you will never need at all. It's not just a thin and light laptop - but a completely new way of interacting with digital content, and already for that, it deserves huge praise.
The Yoga Book does not claim the laurels of the most technically advanced tablet: it has a mobile Intel processor and a good screen with Full HD-resolution. But the price is very pleasing: € 499 for the Android version and € 550 for Windows.
Nubia Z11 and Axon 7 mini, ZTE
The trend towards smaller bezels around smartphone displays has been brought to near perfection in the Nubia Z11, ZTE's bezel-less smartphone. There is no extra space around the edges of the screen, which has a beneficial effect on ergonomics: the device is very narrow, despite the large 5.5-inch screen.
Nubia Z11, ZTE © ZTE
The Z11 is a flagship, housed in a one-piece aluminum body, powered by Qualcomm 's top Snapdragon 820 processor and is equipped with 4GB of RAM. The camera sensor here is the same as that of the Xiaomi Mi5, so the smartphone should at least take very good pictures. Also encouraging are the words of ZTE that the company's engineers have significantly improved the shooting algorithm to bring the camera closer to the best on the market. The built-in DAC deserves special mention, a separate processor that significantly improves the sound quality in headphones - an infrequent guest in the world of smartphones.
In China, Nubia has been on sale for several months, while IFA announced the release of the smartphone to international markets. It will go on sale in Russia as well.
The second presented model is Axon 7 mini, a smaller version of the flagship Axon 7, which has not yet been officially presented in our country. As a reward from the older model, he received a metal case with an interesting design: the upper frames of the front panel seem to be stitched with threads, but the technical characteristics here are somewhat more modest: not such a powerful processor (Snapdragon 615 instead of Snapdragon 820), smaller screen (5.2 inches and Full HD -resolution) which, however, is unlikely to be very noticeable in everyday work.
Like the Nubia Z11, there is also a digital-to-analog converter here - the smartphone sounds really cool. Four such small gadgets were able to fill a small demo zone with sound, everything should be very good in the headphones too.
Xperia XZ and X Compact, Sony
It has become even easier to get confused in modern Sony smartphones: the two new models presented at IFA are in many ways similar to the previous flagships of the company. I saw one flagship Sony - consider it, I saw everything.
The Xperia XZ presented at IFA is somewhat different from them: rather not even visually, but tactilely. It's smoother, more rounded, and the glass that protects the screen blends seamlessly into the metal body. The new design concept is called Loop Surface: according to Sony, designers were inspired by household items when creating a smartphone. It is spoiled only by the huge bezels at the top and bottom of the 5.2-inch display.
© Dmitry Petrenko
The XZ is particularly focused on the camera: there are already four focusing methods: contrast, laser, phase and predictive. In general, in theory, it will be simply impossible to "miss" the frame and not catch it. The matrix resolution is unchanged 23 megapixels, there is a five-axis optical stabilization. In addition, Sony promises near-perfect white balance. It is not yet clear how the smartphone shoots in real conditions: the pictures taken on the test bench were not amazing, although they were very good.
The X Compact is Sony's traditional and beloved compact smartphone. The screen is 4.6 inches, traditional HD-resolution. In fact, the smartphones of the Japanese company are the only decent options for those who need a screen less than five inches. An important point - the Compact series has always received the same technical characteristics as the flagship models. The X Compact received a non-flagship Snapdragon 650 processor. But the camera moved here straight from XZ.
With ergonomics, everything is traditionally good: the smartphone is very small, fits perfectly in the hand, even despite the thick frames. All in all, if you liked Sony 's compacts, you will also like the new model.>