Neo N003 to get updated MT6589T processor? Neo N003 Turbo?


By now you should all know the frustrating news that the Neo N003, aka the worlds cheapest 1080 phone, won’t launch until late June, but is there a silver lining to this delay?

Sources close to Neo have reported that the Neo N003 will receive a similar processor update as the UMi X2. What this could mean is the N003 will in fact be a N003 Turbo and will be rocking the new and improved Mediatek MT6589T SoC.

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Not only is the MT6589T a faster chip, running at 1.5Ghz rather than 1.2Ghz, it also sports a faster GPU and is rumoured to handle 1080 displays much better than the current MT6589 chip.

Although the rumours do come from sources very close to Neo we are still waiting for official confirmation.

Thanks to Tjoe for the tip.

[ Source ]
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24 Comments

  1. May 9, 2013

    Keep them coming! Surely all the MT6589 phones will have to update to stay competative which will in turn introduce further delays in availability….

  2. May 9, 2013

    i was really looking forward to purchase this phone while i was visiting china this year, but unfortunately my flight back is scheduled for 26 june.
    I wonder if more MT phones will get OTG support with later updates, the Iocean X7 is one of the better looking ones but i cant find any information if it will get OTG support.

  3. May 9, 2013

    Andi, any chance that the Jiayu G4 gets this update? I’m about to pre-order the device.

    • May 9, 2013

      I did ask them and all they said was ‘maybe’

      • Norman Zakaria
        May 9, 2013

        Ah, a very Jiayu response. Hahahahahah!

      • TerrorSpawn
        May 9, 2013

        Maybe it will go into production somewhere in december :p??? Did everyone forget that the Jiayu G6 will be released with the MT6589T!? So whats the point of releasing the Jiayu G4 with this exact same CPU. Creating competition between your own production Phones/Phablets? That wouldn’t make any sense..

        • May 9, 2013

          The updated Jiayu G3 is also being shipped with the MT6589 though

        • anony
          May 9, 2013

          Because not all people want to look like an idiot when they make a call with their phone?

      • May 9, 2013

        Wow. I don’t know whether to wait or to go for it. Any suggestions?

        • May 9, 2013

          given the feature set (if it holds), id go for it. I do, eventhough that means I have to use my ZTE Grand X In for some more time.

  4. XrainX
    May 9, 2013

    You can imagine where is Neo now with their smartphone if they announced the N003 two or three months ago and today they even don’t know what processor to use. So I can say they have nothing.
    The road of a chinese smartphone is simple: they are reading some news about a chipset, making some Photoshop smartphone, launching some… “spy” photos and receiving some sample from the real factory. And this story will be kept hot for about 4 months with some “breaking news” and another photos (fake or not) until they will receive from the real factory their order.

    In this all story, the most important thing is the price. The first thing they announce is the price even they don’t know the final cost.

    Announcing a price like 799 – 899 – 999 Yuan will keep the readers from buying another smartphone for months. But if they will say from the start the real price of it which will be about $250, people will forget their “story”.

    • Camaman
      May 9, 2013

      True,
      Sometimes they are like children! You gotta sift through the bull very carefully.

      Online sellers don’t help much. They are very secretive if the phone you are buying is a pre-order re not. And worst yet stock availability info is no where to be found in 90% of the sites.

    • May 9, 2013

      That is the way to get money to finance anything they want.

  5. May 9, 2013

    Here is my interpretation of the story: By the time, chinese phone makers announced their 1080p phones with 2 GB RAM for April/May (none of which are actually shipping yet, to my knowledge), it was clear to them, that MediaTek would produce a version of the MTK6589 which natively supports 2 GB RAM. I dont think hacking around so phones with the “regular” MTK6580 would run with this amount of RAM is not a viable solution.

    So my assumption is now, that they thought, this chip – now known as the MTK6589T – would arrive in April, most likely that could have been the announced date by MediaTek. Now, either MediaTek has finally announced the “final” release date for the MTK6589T and the phone makers have to follow.

    I wonder, if phones like the Umi X2 (MTK6589, 2 GB RAM) are ever going to be shipped and really deliver the promised specs. Im quite convinced, that the Umi X2T actually is, what was formerly called the X2.

    • May 9, 2013

      Addendum: This would also explain, why those companies said to be “changing” the chips in their announced models dont come up with a higher pricing for them.

      • XrainX
        May 9, 2013

        And now they have the “T” reason to increase the price to the correct value.

        • May 16, 2013

          Don’t believe this rumour guys! I just checked with NEO company today and they denied the news,so it’s not true!

    • May 9, 2013

      Yes, that’s correct

    • May 9, 2013

      I agree that the “Youth” or “Basic” versions with 1GB would be running the standard MT6589 and that the “Advance” or “Ultimate” 2GB versions would be doing the MT6589T with the upgraded RAM support as well.. Hopefully since I changed my N003 order to the Advanced one.

  6. sere83
    May 9, 2013

    hmm this throws a bit of a spanner in the worx, as I was under the impression the MT6589 handled 1080p displays pretty well, so doesn’t given the fact that the MT6589T handles them ‘much better’ does this mean the regular MT6589 doesnt?

    Also whats this obsession with 2Gb ram? Surely its main use is to aid in multitasking, who need to use loads of apps on their phone at once? Seem stupid to me

    • Howea
      May 9, 2013

      You are basing on RAM and display on current OS levels … Do you think it can handle when Android 5.x and improved UI becomes available?

      • May 9, 2013

        By now it seems very certain, that the next upcoming Android version will be 4.3, not 5.0. I highly doubt, that the requirements on the hardware rise for most things. I expect a few new software features that might demand a bit better hardware, but since the mTK6589 already handles Android 4.2 very well, I dont think there will be a problem.

        The really relevant question is whether the chinese phone makers, especially Neo, will deliver an update to the next Android version or not. I wonder if they and Mediatek will someday come up with proper open sourcing, so devs can do their own updates like CyanogenMod.

  7. May 10, 2013

    if reallyt wonder if we ever see a 2Gb phone..

  8. taciano alex
    May 24, 2013

    this model has the voice command, such as the Galaxy S3 or the like, and in the case of Portuguese Brazil?