Top 10 Best China Tech Products of 2013

In the year of 2013, we saw many great new tech products in China. The new app Didi Dache became popular in China; WeChat now has about 300 million users; Xiaomi 3 was launched this year and it sells even better than Apple.

Here are our selections for the top 10 China tech products of 2013.

1. Didi Dache 嘀嘀打车

In recent years it’s become more and more difficult to flag taxis in big cities like Beijing and Shanghai. And the new app called Didi Dache can effectively help you call taxis. After you setup the app on your smart phone, you can see taxis driving around you in a 3D map in real time. When you submit a voice (or text) message, it will spread your message to taxi drivers nearby, when a driver takes your order, he will give you a phone call and tell you his car plate number. Usually you will take a taxi within seconds.

2. WeChat 微信

WeChat is China’s most popular messaging app developed by Tencent. People use it as a way to send messages, photos and videos to each other. Users can “hold-to-talk” and send free walkie-talkie style messages that bypass the need for voicemail. People can “shake” their smartphone, and be connected with other users anywhere in the world who are shaking their phones at the same moment.

3.  Yu’E Bao 余额宝

Yu’E Bao or (Leftover Treasure) is an online personal finance product from Alibaba. Users can put their money into the product, which invests in funds. There’s no minimum amount, and customers can withdraw their cash anytime. Each morning, users can check their account through an app on mobile phone and finds some amount of money been adds to their account.  Yu’E Bao was an instant hit, especially among young people whose driblet savings are largely ignored by banks.

4. 4G

In December, 2013, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) issued 4G licenses to three Chinese telecom operators of China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom, marking the beginning of a new era in the country’s high-speed mobile network. However, China has only issued the licenses to operate LTE TDD networks, and not its other variant LTE FDD, a 4G standard in popular use in the U.S. MIIT said it would still need to test the LTE FDD technology before it issues the licenses.

5. HiWiFi 极路由

HiWiFi is powerful wireless smart router. With a Linux-based operating system built in, the router now runs 15 applications developed in-house. The most interesting one is called “Outbound Travel Accelerator”. With no need to set up, users can visit websites like Youtube, Facebook or Twitter in mainland China. And with HiFiWi Android and iOS apps, users can manage a router and applications through smartphone.

6. Xiaomi 3 小米3

The Xiaomi Phone 3 (or MI3) is a high-end, android smart phone developed by Xiaomi Tech. With former Google VP and top Android executive Hugo Barra joining the company, Xiaomi seems to have sealed its status as a big player in the smartphone space in just two years. The company has also launched Android-based Smart TV, Xiaomi TV Box, Xiaomi Router and other smart gadgets. Xiaomi has become one of the hottest tech companies in China.

7. Duokan Reader 多看阅读

Duokan is an e-book application that has its presence on many platforms including android, iOS and kindle. It solves a simple problem of easing the process of searching, purchasing and downloading e-books. It allows users to easily read your ePub, PDF or TXT books. With Duokan Reader you can view contents, add or remove bookmarks, take notes, adjust brightness, etc.

8. Xueqiu 雪球

Xueqiu (or Snowball) is China’s largest social site for investors. Xueqiu uses a microblog format to enable investors to share ideas with fellow investors, catch breaking news and follow their favorite stocks. It is currently available only in Chinese, but an English-language version will be released in the near future.

9. Zhihu 知乎

Zhihu (知乎) means “know everything” in Chinese. It is an interactive, online platform similar to Quora.com where anyone can post questions, with the best responses upvoted by others. Featuring high-profile Chinese entrepreneurs and public intellectuals among its users, Zhihu is increasingly providing Chinese netizens with a space for rich discussion.

10. Yinxiang Biji 印象笔记

Yinxiang Biji is Evernote’s Chinese version. The new service works with servers located in China and is supported by local staff. Yinxiang Biji offers most of the features of the original Evernote note-keeping application. Yinxiang Biji also supports payments in local Chinese currency, which Evernote hopes will make it a better source of premium subscriptions than the original Evernote service in China has been.