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Little Chilli LA-M1 outshines other QRD-based quad-core budget phones, we go hands-on
Spotted outside the auditorium at Qualcomm's China QRD (Qualcomm Reference Design) Summit earlier today were a handful of -- surprise, surprise -- QRD-based smartphones from China, several of which featured the Cortex-A5-based quad-core MSM8x25Q announced back in September. The usual suspects were there in the quad-core lot: Yulong had its Coolpad 5890 (EVDO) and Coolpad 7268 (UMTS), along with Hisense's U958 (UMTS) and Tianyu's K-Touch U86 (UMTS). These all fall within the so-called "¥1,000 ($160) phone" category and yet they are also gifted with a second SIM slot. But what really got our attention was Beidou's Little Chilli LA-M1, which also does dual-SIM (UMTS) but packs an OGS gapless IPS display, while the others came with an LCD panel of obviously lesser quality. Read on to learn more about this mysterious phone, as well as checking out our hands-on photos of the other aforementioned quad-core QRD phones.
Tianyu K-Touch Treasure V8 hands-on at Mobile World Congress 2012 (video)
Ever heard of Tianyu? You probably haven't, but that's why the Chinese manufacturer left most of the heavy PR lifting for its ICS-equipped, quad-core phone to NVIDIA at this year's Mobile World Congress 2012. Details on this Tegra 3-based Android handset are admittedly scarce for the time being, but from what we were able to glean, the 4.3-incher should be able to hold its own in the high-end smartphone market. Aside from an 8 megapixel shooter with single LED flash on its back and the aforementioned CPU clocked at 1.5GHz, there's not much else to divulge spec-wise.In terms of build, the design is a mixed bag. From afar, the Treasure V8 appears sleek and even (dare we say it?) sexy, but once the unit's in hand, you'll notice the cheapness of the glossy, white plastic enclosure. A metal trim borders the device lending to the mix of high and low quality materials used in its construction, but actually makes the phone uncomfortable to hold. The screen also tapers in towards the edges, leaving a ridge to form that's unpleasant in the hand. It doesn't appear that this is the final build of the product and it could even wind up becoming sleeker as it approaches an indeterminate launch, so there's room for improvement. Of course, pricing and availability for China are also unknowns, but we have a feeling that could very well be resolved in the coming weeks. Check out the gallery below and head on past the break for a brief video tour.
The TIANYU B832: don't even think of stealing it
We already knew China's TIANYU was perfectly capable of re-executing a Nokia design, but it turns out the company has at least a couple industrial design folks kicking around in house, too. Then again, we suppose the B832 could be a rip of something and we're just not making the connection yet (in which case, we say "good job, folks"). Whatever -- either way, the glossy black candybar packs a decent punch with a QVGA display, 2 megapixel cam, microSD expansion, and TV out. In the event the B832's 14mm thick form catches the eye of a bandit, it can be programmed to send out a text message once the SIM is swapped (a la Samsung's Hero) and remotely disabled. Of course, you're phone's already gone at that point, so it's a bit of a Pyrrhic victory if you ask us.[Via Gearfuse]
Features on the cheap: TIANYU's A699
Never heard of TIANYU? That makes two of us, but that doesn't mean we can't love the Chinese manufacturer's new touchscreen-enabled candybar just the same. The 220 x 176 display is subpar, the 1.3 megapixel cam perfectly average, and the 64MB of internal memory with microSD expansion merely ho-hum, but the integrated FM radio, A2DP, and touchscreen with Chinese character recognition are pretty nifty. And let's be honest: at $1280 HKD (about $165 USD) for the 13.5 millimeter candybar on the street, it's probably hard to go wrong.[Thanks, lionsense]
