Realme Buds Q2s will launch on March 3, design and key highlights revealed

By

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Mar 1, 2022

A few days back, the Realme Buds Q2s were spotted on a certification site and its renders were also leaked. Now, Realme itself has revealed the design of the upcoming Buds Q2s and has confirmed the China launch.

The Realme Buds Q2s will be released on March 3 at 2 PM China time. The poster confirms a few key highlights of the buds. The Realme Buds Q2s will have a long battery life, meaning that it could have an improved battery over the existing Q2. Furthermore, it will come with Dolby Atmos support and feature a “Space capsule” design.

In the poster, we get to see the Paper Green color variant. For starters, the earbuds’ renders were leaked previously that revealed all three colors. So apart from the Paper Green color, the buds will also have Night Black and Paper White shades.

Other than this, the previous IECEE certification confirmed that the capsule-looking charging case of the Buds Q2s will houses a 400mAh battery. On the other hand, the earbuds pack a 40mAh cell. As per the listing, it has the model number RMA2110.

Apart from this, the pricing of the earbuds was also leaked. Although the Chinese launch date of the Buds is revealed, the leaked pricing is for the global markets. The Realme Buds Q2s will launch in both European and Indian markets. It will carry a price of around EUR 29(~$33) in Europe and Rs. 2,000(~$27) in India. We expect the buds to come at a similar price in the Chinese market.

RELATED:

Xiaomi 12 series official poster leaked; confirms March 15 global launch

By

Pranav Sawant

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Mar 1, 2022

Xiaomi’s latest flagship number series i.e. the Xiaomi 12 series was introduced in December 2021 in China. Since then, Xiaomi fans are awaiting for its global release. Yesteraday, a leak revealed that Xiaomi will finally launch the Xiaomi 12 series globally in mid March this year. Now, a new leak states the same timeline for the series’ global launch.

As per a leak yesterday, the Xiaomi 12 series will launch launch on March 15 in the global market. Now, AndroidPlanet, a Dutch publication, has shared an official-looking poster of the Xiaomi 12 series that confirms the global launch date.

The poster says “Master every scene”, and mentions, “Xiaomi 12 Series, the anser to all”. This confirms that the series is finally coming to the global market. As per the poster, the series is indeed launching on March 15 at 8 PM GMT.

It is yet unknown whether the full series, including three phones, would be released or just a few select models. As of now, there’s no official confirmation on the same, so it remains to be seen.

Coming to the specs, the Xiaomi 12 global models have been spotted multiple times on certification sites. All are expected to have the same internals as the the models launched in China. The Xiaomi 12 and 12 Pro will be powerd by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC, while the Xiaomi 12X will have the Snapdragon 870 chipset.

The top of the line Xiaomi 12 Pro will come with a 6.73-inch LTPO AMOLED panel with 120Hz refresh rate screen and 120Hz refresh rate. It will have a 50MP triple camera system at the rear and a 32MP selfie snapper. Just like the Chinese variant, it is expected to pack a 5,000mAh cell with a 120W wired and 50W wired fast charging technology.

RELATED:

Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 3 Chromebook unveiled with 11-inch 2K display, Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 SoC, and more

By

Sudarshan Ravichandran

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Mar 1, 2022

Lenovo announced multiple computers at MWC (Mobile World Congress) 2022. Three of them are Chromebooks, namely IdeaPad Flex 5i Chromebook, IdeaPad Flex 3i Chromebook, and IdeaPad Duet 3 Chromebook. We have already covered the first two convertible laptops. Hence, in this article, we take a look at the latter, which is a detachable tablet.

Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 3 Chromebook Specifications and Features

The newly announced IdeaPad Duet 3 Chromebook by Lenovo is a toned-down version of the IdeaPad Duet 5 Chromebook from late last year. The latest model arrives with a smaller LCD screen as opposed to an OLED panel, dual stereo speakers instead of quad, and lower battery life despite sporting the same chipset.

Lenovo says that the IdeaPad Duet 3 Chromebook is the successor of the original IdeaPad Duet Chromebook. It features the iconic dual-tone finish, which is found on almost all Lenovo tablets. It measures only 7.90mm in thickness and comes in two colors, such as Storm Grey and Misty Blue.

Just like its predecessor, the new tablet will also ship with a folio case and a detachable keyboard. In some markets, it will be also bundled with a stylus, while in others customers will have to purchase it separately.

The product flaunts an 11-inch LCD panel with a resolution of 2K pixels and a 5:3 aspect ratio. It is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 SoC coupled with 4GB/8GB LPDDR4x RAM and 64GB/128GB/256GB eMMC storage.

Unsurprisingly, it boots Chrome OS. But interestingly, it comes pre-loaded with Android Studio for Android app development For the unaware, this is a resource-hungry application and we are not sure how well the ARM-based chip will be able to handle it.

The detachable offers multiple connectivity options like dual-band WiFi 5, Bluetooth 5.1, 2 x USB 3.0 Gen 1 (Type-C), and a pogo pin connector for the official keyboard accessory. Other features include dual stereo speakers, an 8MP rear camera, a 5MP front-facing camera, up to 12-hour battery life, and 45W fast charging.

Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 3 Chromebook Price and Availability

The Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 3 will start at €349 (including VAT) in EMEA. It will be available starting May. We expect the device to reach other markets as well.

OnePlus Nord 3 with 150W fast charging, Dimensity 8100 SoC rumored to launch soon

By

Sudhanshu

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Mar 1, 2022

Yesterday at MWC 2022, OPPO unveiled their new 150W fast charging tech which the brand stated will first debut on a OnePlus smartphone scheduled to launch in Q2 2022 i.e. between April and June. Now, reports have surfaced hint that this upcoming smartphone is the OnePlus Nord 3.

An AndroidCentral report has revealed that the upcoming OnePlus Nord 3 will come supporting OPPO’s 150W fast charging and will be based on the Realme GT Neo 3. Another report from PriceBaba in collaboration with known tipster Mukul Sharma has revealed that the upcoming OnePlus Nord 3 will launch in the Indian market around the end of May or early June. These reports fall in line with a recent forum post made by OnePlus CEO Pete Lau who stated that “We will debut first on a OnePlus smartphone in the second quarter of 2022.” So we are looking at a possible Q2 end launch for the Nord 3.

OnePlus Nord 2 5G all colors — OnePlus Nord 2 5G

As far as the charging capabilities are concerned, OPPO revealed at MWC 2022 event that the 150W SuperVOOC charging can completely charge a phone with a 4,500mAh battery in just 15 minutes. In addition, it takes only 5 minutes to charge a 4,500mAh battery from 1 percent to 50 percent. The company also revealed that the tech comes packaged with the OPPO Battery Health Engine which manages the battery optimally resulting in just 20% battery degradation after 1600 charge cycles of 0-100%.

OnePlus Nord 3 specifications (rumored)

Now for the specifications of the Nord 3, an earlier report revealed a mystery OnePlus device which is now believed to be the OnePlus Nord 3. According to the specs leak, it will come with a 6.7-inch Full-HD+ OLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate. The device will likely have a centered positioned punch-hole for the selfie camera.

It could be powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 8100 processor with four Cortex-A78 cores. The chipset will support LDDR5 RAM and UFS 3.1 storage. The rear side of the phone will be equipped with a 50-megapixel Sony IMX766 main camera and will draw power from a 4,500mAh battery. It will have a 150W fast charging support and is likely to boot Android 12 OS.

RELATED:

Samsung tops Europe smartphone market in 2021, while Realme sees impressive growth

By

Sean

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Mar 1, 2022

We had recently reported on Samsung taking the throne in the LATAM (Latin American) smartphone market. And now, a new report has revealed that the brand has even topped the handset market in Europe in 2021.

According to a Strategy Analytics report, the South Korean tech giant continued to dominate the region, while Apple took the second spot. Although, Realme made an impressive entry into the market’s top 5 spots and saw a whopping 500 percent growth as well. This made it the fastest growing brand in the Europe for the year 2021. During this same period, Samsung retained its throne with a sizeable 29 percent market share in Europe. While the company was still No. 1 in the region, it saw a decline of 1 percent year on year.

Meanwhile, Apple saw an 11 percent growth year on year, with its market share being 23 percent last year. The third place was taken by the Chinese smartphone brand, Xiaomi, which had a 20 percent market share, but saw an noticeable 33 percent growth year on year in 2021. The fourth place went to Oppo, which had a meager 5 percent market share in 2021 but saw a 77 percent growth over the previous year.

Thus, Realme had the most impressive performance in terms of just growth. It had an even smaller 3 percent market share but was able to take the fifth spot thanks to its 500 percent growth over 2020. The company has seen similar growth rates in other regions as well. Strategy Analytics believes that its aggressive pricing and diverse portfolio helped it grow at such a high pace.

RELATED:

Samsung Galaxy S22 series drop test shows that it’s less durable than iPhone 13

By

Sean

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Mar 1, 2022

The Samsung Galaxy S22 series was just put through a drop test and the results were surprising. In a new video from Allstate on YouTube we can see the entire lineup of Galaxy S22 smartphones are less durable than the iPhone 13.

Looking at the video, the South Korean tech giant’s latest and great smartphones were put through a drop test to determine their durability by dropping them on their front, back, and sides to see the levels of damage. Talking about the face drop first, the Galaxy S22, Galaxy S22+, and Galaxy S22 Ultra shattered on the very first six feet drop test on the sidewalk. Notably, two out of the three models were completely unusable due to the drop test.

In comparison, the Apple iPhone 13 series were also tested by Allstate back in September 2021 and saw generally better results overall. For the face drop test, the iPhone 13 survived the drop with just minor damages and only cracked by the second face drop. Arriving at the back drop test, the Galaxy S22 series all had their rear panels completely shatter, but worked fine otherwise. Although, using them with bare hands was difficult since it had broken glass shards. On the other hand, the iPhone 13 models survived two drops with only minor cracks along the camera and the corner.

These results were replicated in the side drop tests as well, especially considering the Galaxy S22 Ultra has a curved display. Apart from the iPhone 13 being more durable overall, the Galaxy were also more prone to damage than Samsung’s last generation Galaxy S21 series as well. As per Allstate Protection Plan vice president Jason Siciliano, the design upgrades in the S22 and S22 Ultra have “resulted in durability downgrades when compared to their Galaxy S21 predecessors.”

RELATED:

MediaTek Dimensity 8000, 8100, 1300 chips announced with support for up to 200MP cameras

By

Zohaib Ahmed

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Mar 1, 2022

MediaTek today expanded its processor lineup with three new chips — Dimensity 8100, Dimensity 8000, and Dimensity 1300 — and a range of devices powered by the trio will be launched throughout the first and second quarters of 2022.

While the specifications of the Dimensity 8000 and Dimensity 8100 had already been leaked, the Dimensity 1300 comes as a surprise. The chip, which was earlier tipped to be featured on the OnePlus Nord 2T, is built with TSMC’s 6nm process and has an eight-core CPU, including a 3GHz Cortex-A78 super-large core, three Cortex A-78 large cores, and four Cortex A-55 efficiency cores.

In addition, Dimensity 1300 is also equipped with 9-core Mali-G77 GPU, APU 3.0, and HyperEngine 5.0 game engine.

Next up, we got the Dimensity 8000 series comprised of the Dimensity 8000 and Dimensity 8100. The Dimensity 8100 integrates four premium Cortex-A78 cores clocked at 2.85GHz, and the Dimensity 8000 has four Cortex-A78 cores operating at up to 2.75GHz. Both chips use Mali-G610 MC6 GPU with MediaTek’s HyperEngine 5.0 gaming technologies for graphics. Up to 200MP cameras and 4K60 HDR10+ videography is also supported.

“MediaTek’s big bet on 5G dramatically expanded its global smartphone SoC volumes in the mid-tier, and the Dimensity 9000 is opening up the flagship market,” said Avi Greengart, President of market advisory firm Techsponential. “With the Dimensity 8000, MediaTek is giving smartphone vendors more options to balance performance and pricing while still offering flagship level gaming and AI capabilities.”

RELATED:

Realme GT Neo3 to debut as first Dimensity 8100 phone

By

Anvinraj Valiyathara

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Mar 1, 2022

At the MWC 2022, MediaTek has unveiled the Dimensity 8100 and Dimensity 8000 chipsets. A couple of smartphone OEMs from China such as Redmi, Realme, Vivo, and OnePlus are said to be working on Dimensity 8100 powered smartphones. Today, Realme China’s CMO Xu Qi confirmed that the upcoming Realme GT Neo3 will be equipped with D8100 SoC.

The machine-translated text of Xu Qi’s Weibo post reads, “Realme will be the first to carry the Dimensity 8100 chip.” This indicates that the GT Neo3 may debut as the world’s first smartphone powered by the D8100 chip. The 5nm chip has 4 x Cortex-A78 CPU cores working a 2.85GHz, 4 x Cortex-A55 CPU, Mali G-610 MC6 GPU, LPPDR5, UFS 3.1 storage, sub-6GHz 5G, Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3, and up to 200MP camera.

The Realme GT Neo3 is also confirmed to carry support for 150W UltraDart charging. The performance of the D8100 is said to be on par with the Snapdragon 888. Hence, the GT Neo3 is expected to offer an impressive gaming experience.

The GT Neo3 is expected to arrive in two battery variants. The model that will carry support for 150W UltraDart charging is likely to pack a 4,500mAh dual-cell battery. The other variant that is expected to support 80W fast charging may house a 5,000mAh dual-cell battery. The other specs are likely to remain same on both models.

The smartphone will come equipped with a 6.7-inch OLED display with a central punch-hole The screen will offer a Full HD+ resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate. The device will be equipped with up o 12 GB of RAM and up to 256 GB of native storage.

For photography, it will feature a 16-megapixel front camera and a 50-megapixel (main, with OIS) + 8-megapixel + 2-megapixel triple camera unit. It will come with other features such as Realme UI 3.0 flavoured Android 12 OS and an in-screen fingerprint scanner.

RELATED:

Telecoms offer free calls & waive roaming chargers in Ukraine due to ongoing crisis

By

Sean

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Mar 1, 2022

With Ukraine facing an invasion, dozens of telecom operators have are providing free international calls to the region and are even waiving off roaming charging with the country to help people in the nation amid the ongoing crisis.

Notably, telecom operators include Deutsche Telekom, AT&T, Vodafone, Orange, Telefonica, Telia Company, A1 Telekom Austria Group, Telenor, Proximus, KPN, Vodafone, Vivacom, TIM Telecom Italia, Altice Portugal and Swisscom. Furthermore, some of these companies are even providing offers that include SIM cards to refugees in neighboring nations, offering free Wi-Fi in refugee camps. The firms have even activated the “SMS Donation” function to help organizations aiding the refugees and are including Ukrainian channels in the IPTV packages for free.

US Telecom group AT&T had also announced last month that its US consumer and business customers will be eligible for unlimited long distance calls to Ukraine till the 7th of March 2022. On the other hand, Verizon announced that it will be waiving roaming charges for calls from residential landline and consumer or business wireless phones to and from Ukraine till March 10. It is even removing costs for voice and text based roaming charges for customers in the country. Overall, the telecom operators that are providing these temporary offers are from both sides of the Atlantic and seek to help people in Ukraine amid the Russian invasion.

RELATED:

Redmi Note 11E 5G announced with an OPPO-inspired rear design

By

Zohaib Ahmed

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Mar 1, 2022

Xiaomi yesterday launched the Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G as the Redmi Note 11E Pro in China as the fifth addition to the lineup in the country. But that didn’t appear to be enough for the company as it today announced a vanilla variant of the model. Called the Redmi Note 11E 5G, the phone has been revealed to go on sale starting March 18.

The announcement also teases some of the specifications of the device. For photography, you get a dual-camera setup comprised of a 50MP primary camera and a 2MP depth sensor. Selfies are handled by a 5MP shooter at the front, housed within a waterdrop notch.

The phone supports 5G, made possible by the Dimensity 700 processor, and its display is a 90Hz 6.58″ FHD+ panel. The battery is sized 5,000mAh.

But perhaps the most interesting bit is the rear of the Redmi Note 11E 5G, which can easily be mistaken for being an OPPO offering from afar. The camera island looks quite similar to the one from the OPPO Reno7 so it’s obvious where Redmi has picked design cues from.

Anyway, you’ll need to spend about 1,199 Yuan (around $190) for the 4GB+128GB variant while the 6GB+128GB will set you back by 1,299 Yuan (around $205). Both are considerably cheaper than its Pro variant’s price of 1,699 Yuan (around $270).

RELATED:

Google Pixel 6’s selfie camera can now turn into a battery indicator using this app

By

Zohaib Ahmed

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Mar 1, 2022

If you think that the default battery indicator on your Google Pixel 6/6 Pro just isn’t slick enough, you can now replace it with another — only this one wraps around the selfie camera cut out instead of sitting tight on the right of the status bar. The “Energy Ring” app already supported a bunch of devices but the list now includes the Pixel 6 series too.

The battery ring engulfs the front camera and shows the remaining battery percentage in real-time. It’s highly configurable, allowing color codes for certain percentages. There are even a number of animations you can choose from that’ll play for as long as the phone’s on charging, and they do look kind of mesmerizing.

The app itself is free but an in-app purchase will remove ads along with unlocking three additional color configs. While its latest update added support for the Pixel 6 series, I tried the app on my Xiaomi Mi 11X and it worked flawlessly, despite the device being unmentioned on the supported list.

However, you will probably want to make some tweaks to avoid redundancy. Simply download the System UI Tuner app and head over to Android’s built-in tuner using it. Once that’s done, just turn off the battery icon from the status bar so that you rely on nothing but the battery ring.

RELATED:

Realme V25’s topmost model to feature 12GB RAM, 256GB storage

By

Anvinraj Valiyathara

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Mar 1, 2022

Realme’s V-series of smartphones are exclusively available in China. On March 3, the company will be unveiling the Realme V25 in the home market. Today, it released a new poster to reveal the RAM and storage configuration of what appears to be the topmost variant of the V25.

The Realme V25 will be available with 12 GB of RAM and 256 GB of built-in storage. The TENAA appearance of the device revealed that will be offered in lower RAM variants such as 6 GB / 8 GB and 128 GB of storage.

Reports have revealed that the Realme V25 will be a tweaked version of the Realme 9 Pro 5G, which debuted in China last month. The Realme V25 has a 64-megapixel + 8-megapixel + 2-megapixel triple camera unit, whereas the TENAA appearance of the V25 has revealed that it has a 64-megapixel + 2-megapixel + 2-megapixel triple camera unit. The rest of the specs are likely to be identical on both devices.

The Realme V25 is equipped with a 6.43-inch AMOLED FHD+ display that offers a 120Hz refresh rate. It will feature a 16-megapixel front-facing camera. The device will come preinstalled with Realme UI 3.0 based Android 12 OS.

The Snapdragon 695 mobile platform will be powered by the Realme V25. It will house a 5,000mAh battery that supports 33W fast charging. For security, it has a side-facing fingerprint scanner. At present, there is no word on the pricing of the device.

The March 3 launch event will also see the arrival of the Buds Q2s. It is expected to offer features like 30 hours of playback time and Dolby Atmos support. It will sport a green paintjob and its charging case will have a translucent lid.

RELATED:

Microsoft Windows 11 is running on almost 20% of all PCs: AdDuplex

By

Sean

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Mar 1, 2022

A new report has revealed interesting information regarding Microsoft Windows 11. The company’s latest operating system has apparently been installed in nearly 20 percent of all Windows PC across the globe.

Notably, this marks a small growth from 16.1 percent share that was recorded back in January 2022. In other words, the American tech giant’s Windows 11 OS has become the third largest in terms of the most used Windows version, following behind two Windows 10 versions (namely 21H2 and 21H1). AdDuplex‘s report arrives from collecting information from over 5,000 applications that use the AdDuplex v2 SDK on the Microsoft Store. Usually, surveys only take around 60,000 PCs as a sample size, which is quite small.

Meaning, this report won’t be completely accurate, although, it does offer a general observation regarding the latest Windows version’s adoption. Furthermore, it is also worth noting that the survey only covers around Windows 10 onward as well, so this data does not account for all of the other Windows OS versions. Looking at the chart shared by AdDuplex, we can see that Windows 11 is currently being used in around 19.3 percent of all Windows PCs.

On the other hand, Windows 10 version 21H2 took the second spot, since it is the update being rolled out for PCs that are not eligible for the Windows 11 due to its minimum requirements. While 20 percent isn’t a large figure, Windows 11 is still a relatively new OS, so we can expect the figure to grow higher in the coming months as well.

RELATED:

OPPO China reveals ColorOS 12 update plan for March 2022

By

Sudarshan Ravichandran

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Mar 1, 2022

OPPO is back again with an updated Android 12-based ColorOS 12 rollout timeline for the month of March 2022. As of now, the company has only announced its plans for its home country China. We expect the global schedule for the new month to follow soon. With that out of the way, let’s take a look at the latest update timeline.

According to the official announcement post on OPPO Community, 7 smartphones will join the beta program in March in China. At the same time, 14 handsets will get access to the stable release.

ColorOS 12 Beta Update Timeline China March 2022

March 15

OPPO A55 5G

March 16

OPPO A92s 5G

March 22

OPPO A93s 5G
OPPO A56 5G

March 29

OPPO Reno7 Pro 5G
OPPO Reno7 Pro 5G League of Legends Mobile Game Limited Edition
OPPO Reno7 SE 5G

ColorOS 12 Stable Update Timeline China March 2022

March 7

OPPO Reno4 Pro 5G
OPPO Reno4 Pro 5G 2020 Summer Limited Edition
OPPO Reno4 Pro 5G Artist Limited Edition
OPPO Reno4 5G

March 17

OnePlus 8
OnePlus 8 Pro
OnePlus 8T

March 24

OPPO Reno4 SE 5G
OPPO K9 Pro 5G

March 29

OPPO Find X3 Pro Photographer Edition
OPPO K7
OPPO Reno3 Pro 5G
OPPO Reno3 Pro 5G Classic Blue Limited Edition
OPPO Reno3 Vitality Edition

As always, we will be updating our readers whenever OPPO rolls out beta/stable update for the aforementioned devices. So stay tuned.

Samsung to launch Galaxy F23 in India in March under Rs 20,000 ($265)

By

Sean

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Mar 1, 2022

Samsung is apparently gearing up to launch a new smartphone in India soon. It is the Galaxy F23, which was recently spotted on the company’s official Indian website back in February. Now, a new report has revealed the possible launch timeline for the upcoming device.

According to industry sources close to the matter (Via 91Mobiles), the South Korean tech giant will reportedly be launching the upcoming device in the second week of March. For those unaware, the smartphone in question is a mid range handset that is expected to be powered by a Snapdragon 700 series 5G processor. Furthermore, the report adds that the new smartphone will likely launch in India under the 20,000 INR segment (roughly 265 US Dollars).

The chipset that runs the device might be the Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G, which could be paired with up to 6GB of RAM. Other features include Android 12 based OneUI custom skin and 5G networking support. On the front, it may sport a 6.4 inch AMOLED display that offers 120Hz refresh rate, which is quite impressive for a mid range handset. The rear will house a 48 megapixel primary camera while the front has a 13 megapixel selfie shooter.

Under the hood, a large 5,000mAh battery pack powers the Galaxy F23. Although, its unknown how fast the charging rate will be at the moment. Unfortunately, that is all the information we have so stay tuned for more, as we will be providing updates when additional details are available regarding this matter.

RELATED:

OxygenOS and ColorOS will remain independent, plans for unified OS axed

By

Sudarshan Ravichandran

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Mar 1, 2022

Last year, OnePlus officially merged with OPPO. With the merger, it became an independent sub-brand of the latter. The two companies also integrated the codebase of their operating systems based on Android. They even made an announcement regarding the arrival of a unified OS in the second half of 2022. But now, months later, the plans have changed. There will be no common software after all.

In an official announcement post on OnePlus Community, the brand’s CEO Pete Lau confirms that OxygenOS and ColorOS will remain independent brand properties. This decision is based on feedback from the community.

However, it will not change the fact that both these Android skins will continue to use the unified codebase. In other words, OxygenOS will live on as a layer or skin atop ColorOS for better or worse.

In the past few months, we witnessed the migration of features across the two software. We believe the same will prevail in the future as well.

The primary reason for utilizing a unified codebase is to deliver updates faster. But so far, it hasn’t come into fruition. As of now, Android 12 stable is only available for the OnePlus 9 and the OnePlus 9 Pro.

Perhaps, it will get better with the release of OxygenOS 13 later this year. Though OnePlus hasn’t revealed it, the next iteration of OxygenOS will likely be based on Android 13.

Vivo X80 series may launch in India in April: Report

By

Sean

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Mar 1, 2022

A new report has just surfaced that reveals the possible timeline for the launch of the Vivo X80 series. Apparently, the upcoming smartphone lineup will launch in India sometime in April 2022.

According to a MySmartPrice report, industry sources close to the matter have claimed that the X80 series will be announced in India next month. As of right now, the Chinese smartphone maker has yet to official reveal the launch date for the new X80 series. But while no details are available at the moment, we do have some information regarding the the Vivo X80 series based on leaked reports.

For those unaware, the brand is expected to soon announced the launch date for the X80 series in China soon, with the Indian release date following soon after. Since the Indian launch is claimed to be in April, the Chinese announcement may be set a few days ahead. The X80 series is also expected to include three models, namely X80, X80 Pro, and X80 Pro+. Being a flagship lineup, the top end model will likely feature Qualcomm’s latest and greatest Snapdragon 8 Gen1 SoC and Zeiss camera module with Vivo’s Gimbal Stabilization.

On the other hand, the lower end models may feature MediaTek’s Dimensity 9000 SoC, as per a recent benchmark listing. The benchmark platform also listed the X80 series with the model number V2186A. Another report hinted that the base model will sport a 6.56 inch LTPO AMOLED display with Full HD+ resolution. Meanwhile, the X80 Pro and X80 Pro+ may feature a 6.78 inch LTPO 2.0 E5 AMOLED panel that have FHD+ and QHD+ resolution’s respectively. All models are expected to offer 120Hz high refresh rate as well.

RELATED:

First batch of MediaTek Dimensity 8100 devices tipped, includes mystery Nord model

By

Zohaib Ahmed

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Mar 1, 2022

MediaTek Dimensity 8100 is all set to be launched today. The chip that looks to be MediaTek’s answer to Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 888 has already been speculated to be first featured on a Redmi device. But a new tip now has revealed the entire first batch of customers — and they all happen to be from China.

Tipster Yogesh Brar through a tweet today conveyed that Redmi, realme, OnePlus, vivo, and OPPO will comprise the first batch of OEMs to power their phones with the Dimensity 8100.

MediaTek Dimensity 8100 to go public today. Compares to Snapdragon 888, will be used on upper midrangers.

1st batch customers include:
Redmi
Realme
OnePlus
Vivo
OPPO

Expected to be first seen on Redmi k50 Pro, followed by realme GT Neo 3, Vivo X80, OnePlus Nord…

— Yogesh Brar (@heyitsyogesh) March 1, 2022

From these, the first device models will be the Redmi K50 Pro, followed by the realme GT NEO 3, and the vivo X80. There’s even an unspecified OnePlus Nord series model onboard, although Yogesh did say that the model is internally being referred to as “Nord Pro.” But a marketing name is yet to be assigned.

Coming to the chip itself, it’s in the same league as the Snapdragon 888, with scores crossing the 800,000 mark on AnTuTu. It adopts TSMC’s 5nm manufacturing process and comprises 4x 2.85GHz Cortex-A78 cores paired with 4x 2.0GHz Cortex-A55 cores. The CPU is assisted by the Mali-G610 MC6 GPU for graphics and comes with 4MB of L3 cache. Support for LPDDR5 RAM and UFS 3.1 storage is also present.

RELATED:

TikTok will soon let you upload 10 minute long videos

By

Sean

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Mar 1, 2022

You can now upload videos that hit the 10 minute mark on TikTok. The company behind the application recently announced that it is rolling out an update that will allow users to upload videos that are up to 10 minutes long.

Notably, this is the second major change following the extension of TikTok videos from 1 minute to 3 minutes in July 2021. This change had arrived since the social media platform was seeing explosive success across the globe. Now, the company is further extending its video’s total length to up to 10 minutes, since the platform shows no signs of slowing and this change would likely help creators upload more varied content as well.

According to a spokesperson speaking to TechCrunch, “We’re always thinking about new ways to bring value to our community and enrich the TikTok experience. Last year, we introduced longer videos, giving our community more time to create and be entertained on TikTok. Today, we’re excited to start rolling out the ability to upload videos that are up to 10 minutes, which we hope would unleash even more creative possibilities for our creators around the world.”

Through this change, content creators would be able to put up longer videos for cooking demos, beauty tutorials, educational content, comedic sketches, and more. Although, the company says that the option to film videos on the app will roll out to global users over the next couple of weeks. Meaning, its still a while away before you can take advantage of the extended video limit.

RELATED:

Vivo Y33s 5G launched with Dimensity 700, 5,000mAh battery, 13MP dual cameras

By

Anvinraj Valiyathara

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Mar 1, 2022

Vivo Y33s 5G has been silently announced in China. To recall, Vivo announced the Vivo Y33s 4G edition powered by the Helio G80 chip back in August 2021. Now, it is back with a 5G variant of the device. Here is everything on the specifications, features, and pricing of the new Y-series phone for the Chinese market.

Vivo Y33s 5G specifications and features

The Vivo Y33s 5G has a 6.58-inch LCD display with a waterdrop notch design. It has a 6.51-inch IPS LCD screen that offers an HD+ resolution of 1600 x 720 pixels, a 20.07:9 aspect ratio, 269ppi pixel density, and a 60Hz refresh rate. For security, it is equipped with features like face unlock and a side-facing fingerprint scanner. The device runs on Android 12 OS with Origin OceanOS UI on top.

The Dimensity 700 chipset is present under the hood of the Vivo Y33s 5G. The handset is equipped with 4 GB / 6 GB / 8 GB of LPPDR4x RAM and 128 GB of UFS 2.1 storage. It has a 5,000mAh battery that supports 18W fast charging through USB-C.

The Y33s 5G has an 8-megapixel camera for snapping selfies. Its rear camera setup has a 13-megapixel main camera, a 2-megapixel macro camera, and an LED flash. It offers other features dual SIM support, 5G, 5.8GHz Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.1, a microSD card slot, and a 3.5mm audio jack.

Vivo Y33s 5G pricing and availability

The Vivo Y33s 5G has hit the Chinese markets in three configurations such as 4 GB RAM + 128 GB storage, 6 GB RAM + 128 GB storage, and 8 GB RAM + 128 GB storage. The former two variants are priced at 1,299 Yuan (~$206) and 1,399 Yuan (~$221). It can be bought in colors like Snow Dawn, Nebula Blue, and Fluorite Black.

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