We continue to sit at home. Although restrictions in Russia are gradually beginning to be lifted, they operate in different regions in different ways. In Moscow, for example, they still have not canceled digital passes for moving around the city, but since June 1 they have been allowed to walk, however, only according to the schedule and in compliance with certain norms: you must go for a walk in a mask, no more than 2 km from the house and be sure to observe social distance. The system for the walks of Muscovites was made, it seems, in a hurry, on the basis of 2GIS, and it works somehow.

Last week, Sberbank finally turned on the fast payment system for its customers. By default, it is not active for everyone, so you need to go into the jungle of the Sberbank Online application menu to activate it. But it turned out to be not so easy to turn on the SBP, which gave rise to other banks to hook Sberbank.

And we continue to accept entries for the competition on the occasion of the second anniversary of Saturday Coffee, so you have every chance to compete for the new smartphone Huawei P40 lite E. The details of the competition are in the last issue.

Xiaomi products for Russia

On Thursday, Xiaomi held a local online presentation of its new products. So, the flagship Mi 10, a smartphone with a 6.67 “AMOLED screen, top-end Qualcomm Snapdragon 865, fast RAM and permanent memory, support for 5G, Wi-Fi 6, fast wired and wireless charging and, of course, a main camera with a 108 MP module, is going to Russia. … In general, a full-fledged flagship of the beginning of 2020. The only thing that confuses me is the design, which is very similar to that of the simpler model – Mi Note 10. The device will go on sale on June 11 at a price of 69 rubles, and there will be only one modification with a memory capacity of 990/8 GB, but in three colors. Yes, you can, of course, say that 256 thousand for Xiaomi is expensive, but the games are over, the Chinese manufacturer, having increased its market share, will no longer dump, so the company’s flagships are reaching a new price level.

The second novelty is a slightly simplified version of the Mi Note 10 model, which came to our market at the end of last year. The new smartphone Mi Note 10 Lite received a simpler camera, but it costs 7 rubles cheaper than its older brother, so there is something to think about. We’ve released a big comparison of the older and younger models on our website, read:

Also in June, sales of Redmi Note 9 and Note 9 Pro smartphones will start, which were recently presented at a global presentation. These models are a logical continuation of last year’s successful smartphones Redmi Note 8 and 8 Pro. New items offer many functions for relatively little money, so Redmi Note 9 will cost 16 and 990 rubles in our market, depending on the modification (18/990 GB and 3/64 GB), and the “Pro” version was estimated at 4 rubles. A little earlier, even before the global announcement of “nines”, the Redmi Note 128S model was brought to the market on Qualcomm Snapdragon 23G with a memory capacity of 990/9 GB, a main camera with a 720 MP module and for some reason without NFC, although it is in Redmi Note 6 and Note 128 Pro. We already have a review of the Redmi Note 48S, read:

An unexpected announcement at the local presentation was the premiere of the Mi Smart Band 4 smart bracelet with NFC support. The local Xiaomi office agreed with Mastercard, which allowed us to bring this product to our market. The bracelet has all the functions that are available in the regular version of Mi Band 4, but in addition to this it allows contactless payment, which is convenient given the long battery life of the device and its small size, which a smart watch cannot boast of. Mi Smart Band 4 NFC will go on sale on June 16 at a price of 3 rubles. A review of the regular version of the bracelet has already been published on our website:

Last year, Xiaomi launched three models of its TVs, which became instant hits. Now the company brings to us two more models, more precisely, one model Xiaomi Mi TV 4S with screen sizes of 50 and 65 ”. The first option will certainly be very successful, as it will cost 27 rubles, but there are some doubts about the success of the 990 ”model, which will hit the shelves at a price of 65 rubles. To keep you informed of what a TV from Xiaomi is, I suggest you read our review of the Mi TV 49 ”:

In general, the presentation turned out to be rich, and the novelties and their prices were interesting. In the wake of the presentation, a detailed material came out, read it if you missed it:

Honor’s flagship

In addition to Xiaomi, the Honor brand also held its online presentation on Thursday. The company presented the flagship smartphone Honor 30 Pro +, this is a slightly simplified version of the Huawei P40 Pro, as well as the Honor 30. The Honor 30 Pro + turned out to be powerful, with a good camera and a nice design. The only thing that confused many was the large HONOR inscription on the back of the device, but, in my opinion, it looks harmonious, and the brand has dabbled in this way before, only it applied the name not to the case, but to branded covers. The flagship device will cost 54 rubles in Russia, and the simple version of the Honor 990 was estimated at 30 and 34 rubles, depending on the modification. We have already released a detailed review of the Honor 990 Pro +, read to understand what the flagship smartphone of this brand is:

I would like to point out a slightly different point voiced at the presentation. You know that the Chinese company Huawei and their Honor brand have come under US sanctions and have lost access to the Play Store and Google services. For this reason, the company decided to develop its own AppGallery application store, which is similar to the Google Play Store. But with the services, the Chinese manufacturer decided to act differently, they did not introduce only their own solutions, but are looking for partners in local markets. For example, Google Pay in Russia replaced the Wallet application from domestic developers, and at the presentation, Honor announced that contactless payments would be available to all Sberbank cardholders, since the company entered into a partnership agreement with the largest Russian bank. As a replacement for Google’s voice assistant, Honor will use Alice from Yandex, which will be integrated into the system. Such decisions look like a logical step, friendship with Sberbank allows the Chinese manufacturer to attract a huge army of bank customers to its products, and in the current environment, when choosing a new smartphone, they will no longer be deterred by the lack of Google Pay in Honor, as there is an alternative from their bank. And Alisa is already a well-known voice assistant in Russia, thanks to integration into almost all Yandex products, so for our compatriots she may even be more convenient than the American counterpart.

Nokia 1.3 went on sale

HND Global has started selling a budget smartphone Nokia 1.3 in Russia. The device is equipped with a 5.7 ”display with HD + resolution, is powered by a Qualcomm 215 processor, is equipped with 1 GB of RAM, 16 GB of permanent and 8 MP main camera. The device has a removable 3000 mAh battery. The smartphone is running Android 10 version Go and will receive an update to the 11th version. The cost of new items in Russia is 5 rubles.

I think the device will face a difficult fate in our market, since on the shelves for 6 rubles you can find last year’s budget models from other manufacturers, but with the best hardware. The only thing that can push the user to buy a Nokia 000 smartphone is pure Android, albeit in the Go version, as well as guaranteed system updates, including an update to the next OS version.

And last week we published an interesting material on that old, still Finnish company Nokia, read:

BMW unveils new 5-Series and 6-Series GT

In fact, this is a restyling of existing models, BMW slightly refreshed the exterior of the cars and put new optics, the pattern of LED running lights was changed again. New adaptive LED headlights are already included in the base, and optional laser headlights and taillights with a three-dimensional effect are available. Also, a new multimedia complex was installed in the base, running under the BMW 7.0 operating system with advanced navigation, and the size of the base display was increased. Enhanced capabilities of intelligent driver assistants have also become available.

The GT has added Active Steering more efficient when maneuvering at low speeds as standard, rear axle air suspension with automatic leveling, and an optional Executive Drive with active roll control is available.

Overall, this is a logical update to existing models. The 5th series, popular in Russia, will now start at 3 rubles, which is slightly more expensive than the Audi A470, but quite a bit cheaper than the Mercedes Benz E-class, prices for which start at 000 rubles. Prices for the not very popular 6-series GT will start from 3 rubles.

We already have a test of the new Audi A6, which will compete in the market with the new BMW 5 Series, read:

Hyundai reveals the exterior of the new Santa Fe

Korean automaker Hyundai released the first image of the new Santa Fe this week. The crossover image shows a slightly modified radiator grille and an updated headlight assembly. In the current generation, Santa Fe comes with a three-tier unit: on top are daytime running lights, below are the main headlights, and even below are fog lights. Apparently, in the new generation of SUVs, the Koreans moved the headlights to their traditional place on top, and lowered the daytime running lights, on the contrary, lower.

And on our website a test of the current generation of the Hyundai Santa Fe crossover has already been published, you can read it if you missed it:

Datsun leaves Russia

On Thursday, representatives of the Datsun brand officially announced the withdrawal of the brand from the Russian market. Car production in Russia will end by the end of this year, and deliveries to dealers will continue until March 2021. Retail sales will continue until dealers sell all vehicles from the warehouse. According to AUTOSTAT, at the end of 2019, the Datsun brand even managed to enter the TOP-10 of the best-selling cars of Japanese brands. The Datsun on-DO model was acquired by 19 of our compatriots, which allowed the brand to take the 500th line in the ranking.

Last year we already talked about the Datsun car, then we had a mi-DO model on the test, you can refresh your memory:

… and dessert

The launch of Elon Musk’s first private manned spacecraft, Crew Dragon, has been postponed due to weather, SpaceX is to bring two astronauts aboard the ISS. This is the first manned flight for the United States since 2011. A new attempt will take place on May 30th.

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