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Samsung has postponed Galaxy Fold launch events in China
The $2,000 Galaxy Fold is already off to a bumpy start no thanks to some broken review units (ours is fine, by the way), and though the April 26th launch in the US remains unaffected, folks on the other side of the world aren't as lucky. Over the weekend, Samsung announced that it has postponed the press events in Hong Kong and Shanghai, which were originally scheduled for April 23rd and 24th i.e. this coming Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively.
Google Pixel 3 XL hands-on in Hong Kong -- three days early
With some smartphones, it seems inevitable that the closer the launch date, the more leaky they get. Google's upcoming Pixel 3 series -- due to launch in New York next Tuesday -- is no exception, and I'm speaking as someone who had just gotten up close and personal with a Pixel 3 XL earlier today. I borrowed the phone from Hong Kong mobile shop WahPhone Digital, which is actually offering this fully-boxed device for a mere HK$15,880 or around US$2,030. Ouch.
Xiaomi's Hong Kong IPO expected to raise at least $10 billion
Xiaomi's interest in listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange hasn't exactly been a well-kept secret, and following months of speculation, the time has finally arrived. Today, the Chinese smartphone maker filed its initial public offering documents, and according to Bloomberg's sources, this IPO is expected to raise "at least $10 billion." This would make it the world's largest IPO since Alibaba listed for $25 billion in New York back in 2014. Furthermore, Bloomberg said Xiaomi may see a valuation of "as high as $100 billion," which is about one-ninth of Apple's.
Orii smart ring turns your fingertip into a Bluetooth earpiece
While modern Bluetooth earpieces are more compact than ever, chances are you'll still need to leave at least one stuck in your ear. This can get uncomfortable over time, not to mention the dorkiness that's been haunting this form factor since day one. Hong Kong startup Origami Labs thinks it has an alternative solution to this problem: why not repackage the Bluetooth earpiece as a ring, and then use bone conduction to transmit audio to the fingertip? That's the basic concept behind the Orii smart ring.
You can still buy the Note 7 in Hong Kong, but you shouldn't
Hong Kong's Sincere Podium is home to all manner of mobile devices -- be it second-hand phones, imported handsets (mainly from Japan and Korea), spare parts and even prototypes once in a while. This time, the mall appears to be the last place in the city -- if not the world -- to still be openly selling the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 despite the worldwide recall. Over the weekend, I came across a shop with a glass cabinet full of boxes for the 64GB Note 7, with a bright sticker on one of them saying "Samsung Note 7 dealer goods: special offer" in Chinese. I didn't think much of it and simply tweeted a couple of photos, only to be surprised by the posts' traction over the last two days.
Move It puts a smart mini gym in your room
Eons ago, I used to go to the gym several times a week, but nowadays I can give you hundreds of reasons for why I no longer do so. Meanwhile, my beer belly is slowly engulfing my belt, and that's never a good sign (I really should have joined the Engadget Fitness Challenge). This is pretty much the kind of scenario that Hong Kong's Eggplant Technologies is targeting with its Move It smart fitness apparatus, which has just launched on Indiegogo ahead of its August shipment. In a nutshell, this is a four-in-one compact gym kit that you can leave in one corner of your home, and it comes with a mobile app that not only coaches you, but also lets you meet and challenge other fellow Move It users around the world.
Two major visual effects studios join forces for VR push
Digital Domain, the visual effects studios that brought you feature films like the Transformers series, the X-Men series, Iron Man 3 and Her, has announced that it's acquiring an 85 percent stake in Hong Kong's Post Production Company Limited and its parent company for HK$135 million (about US$17.3 million), in order to make a big push in virtual reality. This is obviously a big deal for both parties: Post Production has been involved in many major Chinese movies, TV ads, music videos and even a cooking show hosted by the company's founder, Nicholas Tse, who also happens to be a local pop artist and actor. Digital Domain CEO Daniel Seah put it best by calling Post Production "the Digital Domain of China," and he added that Tse will stay on to run that part of the business.
Tesla wants a factory in China, and fast
Ahead of his participation in a Hong Kong technology forum tomorrow, the ever so busy Elon Musk has managed to take some time out to give us an update on how Tesla's doing in Greater China. Without revealing specific sales figures, the CEO told Engadget that his company is now "doing reasonably well" in Mainland China despite the earlier hiccup, and he aims to lock down manufacturing plans -- finding a local partner and a location for the plant -- for the local market by middle of this year. As with most other foreign auto makers who do business in China, this key strategy is to waive the high import duties charged by the local government, as well as to access other local incentives for EVs. Until then, Musk said there's no further news to share on that end.
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.
Get tailor-made headphone audio with this little device
Audio snobs may already be boasting their high-end audio equipment, be it portable headphone amps or a special chip inside their smartphones, but these are no good if your ears have slight hearing loss. Even if you deem your ears to be pitch perfect, chances are your left and right ears have different sensitivity to certain frequencies. The solution? A startup in Hong Kong has come up with a little device called Aumeo, which lets you fine-tune your headphones according to your ears' hearing sensitivity. This author has tried it, and the result was pleasantly surprising.
Quick Charge 2.0 is coming to USB charging stations
Isn't it annoying when some smartphones boast Quick Charge 2.0 but only come with a regular USB charger? Given the option, we'd rather spend the money on something more practical, like a multi-port USB charging station that supports Quick Charge. And yes, we managed to stumble upon one at Computex, courtesy of Hong Kong's Magic-Pro. The Power Station Super 4 comes with -- you guessed it -- four USB ports, two of which can automatically switch to either 9V or 12V for faster charging on compatible devices, while the third port offers the common 5V/2.4A output, and the last one does 5V/3A as the company anticipates a new wave of tablets that can take the higher current. Better yet, the hub comes with a car charger and a Quick Charge 2.0-friendly micro-USB data cable, so not bad at all for a $65 package. Expect this to hit the markets at around the end of this month.
Hugo Barra on why Xiaomi is against microSD cards in phones
If you were to compare iOS and Android, the latter's storage expansion option via microSD -- up to a whopping 200GB these days -- is often regarded as an advantage, though not all devices come with such offer. For instance, while HTC and LG have made the microSD slot a standard feature on their recent flagship devices, Samsung oddly decided to remove it from its Galaxy S6 series (ironically, the company has just announced new microSD cards). Xiaomi, on the other hand, seems to be on the fence: its flagship line has long ditched the microSD slot after its first-gen device, yet its affordable Redmi line uses said feature as a selling point. It's as if Xiaomi is contradicting itself, but Hugo Barra, the company's Vice President of International, gave us a more definitive answer after launching the Mi 4i in Hong Kong.
Casio's 'Kawaii Selfie by Mirror Cam' is exactly what it says it is
Casio's camera division isn't afraid to admit that it's cashing in on the selfie hype big time, but for those who aren't willing to shell out over $1,200 for the EX-TR50, there's now a much more affordable option. The "Kawaii Selfie by Mirror Cam" aka Exilim MR1 costs about $330 in Hong Kong and is rather self-explanatory: Its 14-megapixel module is hidden right behind a curved mirror for the convenience of taking selfies, with the trade-off being you get a hilariously slow f/5 aperture due to the light reflection (and that little LED flash really won't help much in the dark). As for the "kawaii" part, you can use the software to enhance your skin tone plus smoothness, and you can even see a live preview on the screen (which obviously isn't so useful when taking those selfies).
Meizu's Hong Kong store opens today, teases mainland Chinese fans with lower MX price
As per Meizu's usual elusive ways, this morning the company quietly opened its Hong Kong flagship store -- the first-ever official Meizu shop outside mainland China. And like its mainland counterparts, we're told that the new shop will be offering the MX Android handset on January 1st as well but with one significant difference: due to the lower local tax, the 16GB MX will be priced at just HK$3,099 (US$398), which is much lower than the CN¥2,999 (US$470) price in mainland. Great, looks like we'll be expecting some lines in the heart of Mongkok in about two weeks' time. %Gallery-141868%
Sony Ericsson's elusive Nozomi shows up in Hong Kong, still glowing nicely
It was only about a month ago when we first came across some clear shots of Sony Ericsson's upcoming Nozomi (aka LT26i), and now it looks like someone in Hong Kong has also gotten hold of this pretty Android phone. HKEPC's forum leakster, who claims to have received this image from a friend, doesn't actually reveal much here (not even a codename), but he or she does confirm that a dual-core chip and a 720p LCD are packed within -- this matches what we heard from the previous leak. Furthermore, we're told that a Hong Kong carrier is already testing this device, so don't be surprised if it pops up in the market within the next month or two.
PS Vita's Twitter app shown off in Hong Kong, we go hands-on (video)
Here's a little souvenir for Twitter addicts eyeing the upcoming PS Vita: at today's debut event in Hong Kong, we got to see said console's Twitter app in action for the very first time, and we were also fortunate enough to get some exclusive hands-on time with Sony's in-house software. As you can see in our video after the break, the overall design feels very much in line with Twitter's standard ID: the same shade of blue, the usual tabs on the left column, slick elastic scrolling in the timelines, and support for geotagging, hash tags plus photo attachment while tweeting. No surprises here, but hey, the app worked well for us.That said, we were told that the app wasn't quite finished yet, and Sony still couldn't confirm whether this -- along with the other dedicated apps like Skype, Foursquare and Facebook -- will be ready for download by the time the Vita launches in Hong Kong on December 23rd (just a tad later than Japan's launch on the 17th). In case you're wondering, the Vita there will cost HK$2,280 (US$290) for the WiFi version and HK$2,780 (US$360) for the 3G flavor, both unsubsidized but cheaper than their Japanese counterparts. Of course, given that the console isn't region-locked, feel free to go do some shopping in Hong Kong then -- just save some for the locals, OK? Also, check out our gallery below for some close-up shots of the Vita's music and video apps.%Gallery-137220%
Harman Kardon's MAS 102 stereo has a petite profile, luxury looks and matching $999 price tag
Harman Kardon has departed from its austere design language on occasion and come up with some questionable aesthetic results, but its latest compact stereo system sports the clean and classic lines for which H/K is famed. Of course, looks aren't everything, so the MAS 102 slings songs at your skull using a two-channel 65W amp, five-inch mid bass drivers, and one-inch waveguided dome tweeters. The MAS 102 also has dual USB ports for accessing digital music and a phono input for those who prefer sourcing tunes from an old school turntable. It's not all sonic bliss, however, as an optional dock (sold separately) is needed to hook up the iDevice of your choosing. That's a glaring omission for a stereo that costs just under a grand -- but forgiving that flaw should be easy for the form-over-function crowd. More info can be found in the PR after the break.
Toshiba launches NB520 and NB500 netbooks, one with Harman Kardon sound, one without
When's the last time you said "Crank up the netbook, I love this song!" Yeah, probably never, but if you had a Toshiba mini NB520 you might -- or at least that's what Toshiba would like to envision you would do. It packs stereo Harman Kardon speakers that can crack the foundation and wake the dead with an amazing two watts each, apparently the smallest tweeters H/K has ever put on a laptop. That's paired with an Atom N550 processor, 2GB of DDR3 memory, a 250GB HDD, 10 hours of battery life, and a 10.1-inch 1024 x 600 LED-backlit display. If that's too loud or you're too old, there's also the "no frills" NB500, offering the same specs but minus the petite sound system and stepping down to an Atom N455, though doing so at a lower price. What price? That we don't know, but we'll find out when both ship in the first quarter of 2011, which starts in a month. Yikes. %Gallery-108653%
Goth Hello Kitty PMP gets a splash of Swarovski, says she hasn't sold out
Look, if there was one thing that the all black, tiny little Hello Kitty PMP was missing, it was some bling. Fear not, enticed consumers: she gets what she wants. iRiver's just unleashed a few updated versions -- basically identical to the last ones, but HK's now sporting a little more glitter. The Hello Kitty Music Player Premium DX has two versions -- one where Miss K's got a bow in her hair, and another where she's donned a flower. The 4GB PMP runs ¥9,980 (around $111) and is available in Japan now. Meow. [Thanks, Brad]
Hello Kitty gets another 12.1 meowgapixel camera to celebrate her 35th anniversary
Can you believe that Hello Kitty's turning 35? She sure does look great for her age! Surprisingly this is not the first 12.1 megapixeled Casio digicam we've seen outed to commemorate this most special of occasions -- but it certainly comes in some of the hottest pinks we've seen thus far. This limited edition, Korea-only Casio EX-Z90 boasts all the same features as the regular one -- 3X optical zoom, auto-detect and "Intelligent" autofocus -- plus those megapixels we already mentioned. Really, the biggest selling point here is the blinged up branding, and we'd assume that makes it worth the KRW 350,000 (around $300) price tag.
