China Android Malware Alert

Android smartphone shipped with spyware

Chinese Android smartphone comes with malware pre-installed

This is not good.

And yes, I do know my country’s NSA intercepts packages and plant their own spyware on them. I’m against that too.

Xiaomi MiPad: Third Review, New Videos

IT168 has a review [Google English].

Pipo P8 Uses Huawei UltraStick

As usual, Charbax gets the good stuff.

He has the founder of Pipo give a tour of that company’s latest products.

The Latest In The Onda Windows Upgrade Fiasco

Update, Friday June 20 2014: Onda has reversed course: Onda Re-Announces V819i Windows Upgrade, Onda To Release V975i Windows Upgrade.

This Weibo communique, which had been pinned to the top of their page, is no longer there:

It’s now Tuesday of the following week. The Chinese tech press have reported nothing and Onda has not said anything else.

When something changes, I’ll post.

Previously here:

Onda Releases “Official” V819i Windows Upgrade
UNOFFICIAL Onda Windows Upgrade
Onda’s Windows Upgrade Cancellation: It Gets Weirder
Onda Cancels Their Android Tablet Windows Upgrade!

Teclast P98 3G Gets A Review

Take note: This is the P98 3G, not the X98 3G. The X98 has a 64-bit Intel Atom CPU that can use Windows 8. The P98 has an octa-core MediaTek 8392 and is Android-only.

ATTENTION: This is the same CPU as the CUBE Talk9X. If you’ve been thinking of buying that tablet, you should especially read this review!

The review is at PC Online [Google Translate].

The New Plague: “Appointment Sales”

Xiaomi pioneered that kind of marketing because as a small start-up they had no other choice.

Now this is beginning to spread.

We’ve seen it with the OnePlus One phone.

Then CUBE jumped in for the Talk9x tablet (and is doing it again for the white version).

Now Vido is doing it for a new seven-inch Android tablet [Google Translate].

iFive Mini 4: More Official Details

The 5Fans forum now has a board just for the upcoming Rockchip 3288-based iFive Mini 4 [Google Translate].

And the first post gives some details of the new model [Google Translate]:

• The back camera will indeed be upgraded from 5MP to 8MP

• It will have WiFi a/c (MIMO?)

• The back will still be all-metal

• No release date yet; software being debugged

Previously here:

iFive Mini 4 Specs Released
iFive Mini 4 Teased
iFive Mini 4: New Information
Rockchip 3288-Based Retina-Class iFive Mini 3! [Updated: Mini 4!]

Windows 8 Tablet For US$112

Wei Yan is a company I’ve never heard of (it seems neither has most of the Chinese tech press!).

Noted: Lenovo Versus Ramos

I want to note this here so it doesn’t get lost in Bookmarks.

Lenovo will fight based on price, contradicting what I thought major brands will do.

They’ve temporarily put the Miix 2 Windows 8 tablet on sale for 1,499 locally — the same price as the Ramos i8 Pro Windows 8 tablet [Google Translate]!

This is like a human being stepping on an ant.

On the other hand, people will expect the Miix 2 to always be available for 1,499.

Once a price is dropped to match an “inferior” product, it tells people the product really isn’t worth more.