iPhone 6 As It Is

So this $600 iphone now has a processor that's as fast as the one on a $250 Chromebook. Nice.

— Chippy is also Steve Paine (@chippy) September 22, 2014

Thunderbirds Are Wait For It

Official website

87 days from today

Want to figure out the date that is exactly eighty-seven days from now without counting?

Today is September 22, 2014 so that means that 87 days from today would be December 18, 2014.

December 18, 2014 is a Thursday. Huh?

AnTuTu 5.1X Defeats Cheating, Onda V989 Delisted

The AnTuTu folks have a post about the three main ways in which AnTuTu scores are manipulated [Google Translate].

And they call out the Onda V989 as cheating, citing the score variation between 5.1 and 5.1X is larger than any possible margin of error — 35%:

In order to maintain a fair run sub-environment, we will Futuremark peer learning, we note that a tablet: ONDA V989, standard version and X version by contrast, a difference of 35% between the two scores, but also larger than reasonable error 10% 25%, the presence of the first three irrational behavior, decided to test scores removed from the rankings. In the next time, Ann Bunny will also be a series of other similar devices to combat activities, so stay tuned!

Boldfaced emphasis in the original.

So they’ve banned the Onda V989 from the list of AnTuTu rankings!

Rockchip Discusses Memory Bandwidth

It looks like iambillbil is making an impression everywhere. He’s the one who has constantly banged the drum about memory bandwidth being a limiting factor with China tablets. Until he made it an issue people focused mainly on CPUs and their speed.

Now Rockchip must be feeling some heat because they’ve raised the issue on Weibo.

First Weibo communiqué:

Xiaomi MiBand Survives Torture Test

He microwaved it!

And did a whole bunch of other incredible things to it [Google Translate].

And it survived!

I don’t think the Apple Watch would.

Previously here:

Software Updates: Xiaomi MiBand, Teclast P98 Air
Celebrity MiBand Spotting
Xiaomi MiPad Covers, MiBand
Xiaomi MiPad: MIUI 6, MiBand
Xiaomi MiBand Laser Etching
The Xiaomi MiBand: US$13

Pipo Announces US$81 Windows Tablet

Whoosh! The prices are dropping — but the specs here aren’t improving.

The new Pipo Work-W4 is yet another “1/16” tablet with the usual specs, but this time using the Intel Bay Trail-T Z3735F. The Weibo communiqué:

The domestic price will be 499 yuan, which is about US$81.

Teclast X98 Air WiFi Tip

Teclast has published a tip that allegedly improves WiFi performance of the X98 Air. It’s unclear if this applies to the original Android version or the one flashed to Windows. The Weibo communiqué:

The Meizu Vs. Xiaomi Weibo War, Part Three

The Xiaomi forum has a post about the Weibo attack launched by Meizu adherents against Xiaomi and other phone makers [Google Translate].

Meanwhile, does anyone other than me recall the Meizu spinoff company, Bigertech, that was supposed to launch some surprising products? It had this home page:

Xiaomi Ramps Up Mi 4 Phone Production

Via Weibo communiqué:

Meanwhile, the Mi 4 is still being sold by appointment only. When will they formally announce one million have been sold?

And what about the MiPad? How many of those have been sold?

Unpredictable China

China Clamps Down on Web, Pinching Companies Like Google

As part of a broad campaign to tighten internal security, the Chinese government has draped a darker shroud over Internet communications in recent weeks, a situation that has made it more difficult for Google and its customers to do business.

Chinese exporters have struggled to place Google ads that appeal to overseas buyers. Biotechnology researchers in Beijing had trouble recalibrating a costly microscope this summer because they could not locate the online instructions to do so. And international companies have had difficulty exchanging Gmail messages among far-flung offices and setting up meetings on applications like Google Calendar.

Readers should have noticed the increase in Weibo items here since I’ve switched to using Chrome to read it. If China blocks that, Weibo items will plummet again. And if Google Translate gets blocked, most China tech site items will go away too.