Realme recently launched the Realme 9 Pro and the Realme 9 Pro Plus in India, and according to recent rumors, the company might be looking to expand its smart television portfolio in the country.
In a recent MySmartPrice report, tipster Mukul Sharma has revealed that the Chinese manufacturer has a new smart TV in the pipeline for the Indian market. While the tipster doesn’t mention any specific date, he has hinted that we can expect the new TV to launch in a couple of months i.e March-April.
The upcoming Realme smart TV will also come with a Realme Smart TV Bluetooth voice remote, which will be in black color option. Other than this, no information on the smart TV is available as of yet. But with the inclusion of Bluetooth voice remort, we can expect the smart TV to support voice assistants like Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa.
It will also be interesting to see the price point at which this upcoming TV is introduced by the company as Realme currently offers smart TVs ranging from 32-inch HD TV to 55-inch SLED 4K smart TV.
The company released the TV Neo 32” back in September 2021, which is an aggressively priced TV at Rs. 14,999 ($200). However, it lacks a lot of features that are present in other smart TVs in that segment like Android TV OS and Bluetooth connectivity. So if the upcoming smart TV is to be priced in the sub-20K segment, hopefully, the brand will include these essential features this time around.
POCO has scheduled to launch the POCO M4 Pro 4G on February 28 in India and Europe. Before its debuts, the Indian Twitter handle of the company has started teasing the phone’s highlights. Last time, we learned some key details about the display and features, and now, the company has revealed the phone’s design and colors.
POCO revealed the design of the upcoming POCO M4 Pro 4G and the device looks to have a similar camera island as the 5G model. However, the camera module is a bit tweaked. It has the main sensors at the top and two other sensors at the bottom. It also has an LED flash beside the lenses. If we zoom in, we get to learn that it has the rumored 64MP primary lens. And if we go by the leaks, the other two sensors will be an 8MP lens and a 2MP unit.
Apart from the rear camera design, it also has a plan back with a Paperlike back texture. It seems to have a matte finish with less reflective color shades. Speaking of the colors, the company revealed that the device will arrive in three colors namely, POCO Yellow, Cool Blue, and Power Black.
Moving to the front, the phone has a punch-hole display, which will be a SuperAMOLED panel with 1000 nits of peak brightness. It will have a 6.43-inch FHD+ resolution and a refresh rate of 90Hz. The display will also have a DCI-P3 color gamut and a contrast ratio of 4500000:1.
Apart from this, the smartphone will be lighter weighing only 179.5 grams, and have an IP53 rating. It will have Widevine L1 support for streaming Ful-HD content and will boot on POCO launcher 2.0 based on Android OS. It will be powered by MediaTek Helio G96 SoC paired with LPDDR4x RAM and UFS 2.1 internal storage. It will house a 5,000mAh battery with support for 33W fast charging technology.
Honda is entering the EV scooter segment with its all-new Honda Activa E. In an interview with ET Auto, Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India President, Atsushi Ogata, confirmed an HMSI EV product debut in the country. But the lunch is not expected in India until 2023.
Honda Activa 6G
The electric scooter is said to come with battery swapping technology, which will be a convenient option for buyers to replace a discharged battery with a charged battery at swap stations and to charge the battery at home. Consumers will have two options: they will be able to swap their dead batteries with charged ones through either a subscription model or a nominal fee or the user can also buy back up a battery pack that can be charged and replaced when the installed one gets discharged.
Earlier this year, Bounce also launched the Bounce Infinity E1 electric scooter which became India’s first swappable battery electric scooter. The company has also introduced a similar subscription-based battery swapping system dubbed ‘battery as a service.’
In that accord, the upcoming Honda Activa E will be a direct competitor to the Bounce Infinity E1 along with other major electric scooters in India like the Ola S1, Bajaj Chetak, Ather 450X, and Hero Electric scooters.
This may also prove to be the right time to enter the EV market for Honda as battery prices are coming down and central and state governments announced incentives to encourage a faster transition to e-mobility, industry stakeholders also said that the potential of conversion is high as this time as 21 million two-wheelers were sold before the outbreak of the pandemic in FY19.
Honda’s previous partner Hero is also set to release its new EV scooter next month, introducing more competition in the developing Indian EV market.
A couple of weeks ago, detailed spec sheets of the upcoming Honor Magic 4 series smartphones were leaked giving us an idea of what to expect on the Feb 28th launch event.
Now, details about the Honor Magic 4 and Magic 4 Pro have leaked once again through a MySmartPrice report in collaboration with tipster Ishan Agarwal.
Honor Magic 4 Pro specs and features
According to the tipster, the Honor Magic 4 Pro will come with a 6.81-inch OLED Full HD+ display with an in-display fingerprint scanner and support for 3D face unlock. The device will rock the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC.
For photography, the premium smartphone is said to have a 50MP f/1.8 main camera, a 50MP ultra-wide camera with f/2.2 aperture, and a 64MP telephoto lens with f/3.5, optical image stabilization, and up to 100x periscope zoom. On the front, it’ll offer a 12MP ultra-wide camera with an f/2.4 aperture.
The phone will house a 4,600mAh battery with support for 100W fast charging and 50W wireless charging. On the software front, the handset will run on Magic UI 6.0 based on Android 12. Other features include support for DTS:X Ultra Sound, 215 gram, and 163.6×74.7×9.15mm dimension.
Honor Magic 4 Pro specs and features
The vanilla variant will also have a 6.81-inch OLED Full HD+ screen and the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC under the hood.
The camera setup on the Honor Magic 4 is said to consist of a 50MP main (f/1.8), 50MP ultra-wide (f/2.2), and an 8MP telephoto lens with f/3.4, OIS, and up to 50x zoom. For selfies, we get a 12MP snapper which will likely have an ultrawide lens. The vanilla Magic 4 gets a larger 4,800mAh battery, however, it will only support 66W fast charging.
Other features include Magic UI 6.0 based on Android 12, DTS:X Ultra Sound, 200-gram weight, and 163.6×74.5×8.8mm dimension. No news about the RAM and storage capacities of the Honor Magic 4 Pro have appeared yet, however, a previous leak has revealed that the phones will come with LPDDR5 RAM and UFS 3.1 storage. From the spec sheet, we know that the devices will debut in the premium segment, therefore, we can expect them to come with up to 12GB RAM and 256GB storage.
With the launch just around the corner, we are sure to get more info on the upcoming Honor Magic 4 series, so stay tuned.
The MWC could not be held physically in the years 2020 and 2021 due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. However, in 2022, the pandemic concerns have relatively been slowing down and GSMA had great news that the world’s largest technology convention, Mobile World Congress, MWC 2022 will be held physically once again in Barcelona, Spain on February 28, 2022. This great news comes 2 years after its hiatus since 2019!
However, 2022 has its fair share of global issues to tackle, as of February 24, 2022, the Ukraine-Russian conflict has developed into an all-out war, with Russia first invading Ukraine. As condemnation towards the Russian leaders in charge of the war, many European countries have imposed sanctions and banned Russia from participating in global events such as the Eurovision Song Contest and the F1 Grand Prix.
And today, GSMA is the latest organisation added to the list of organisations against the Russian invasion of Ukraine, as GSMA has officially announced that Russia is banned from joining MWC 2022 and its other related events this year.
Here’s the excerpt that GSMA has posted on its website:
“The GSMA strongly condemns the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The situation is fast-moving, and we understand that various governments are considering broader sanctions against Russia. In light of this emerging situation and considering the tragic loss of life, MWC seems immaterial under the circumstances. MWC is a unifying event with a vision to convene the mobile ecosystem to progress ways and means that connectivity can ensure people, industry, and society thrive.
The GSMA follows all government sanctions and policies resulting from this situation. There will be no Russian Pavilion at MWC 2022. Security for the event is constantly reviewed and adjusted as information emerges.”
In solidarity and support of the sanctions against Russia, GSMA has officially confirmed it has also blacklisted several Russian companies participating in the event along with other GSMA-related events. GSMA has no plans of delaying MWC 2022. Instead, GSMA views the congress as “a unifying event” that can bring countries that brings the people, industry and society as a whole to progress.
Huawei Digital Energy Technology on Thursday announced a patent for “an electric vehicle drive system and electric vehicle” showing a new drive system.
The patent carries publication number CN114083977A (via IT Home) and was filed back in September 2021 but went public yesterday. It shows a motor, an engine, a connecting component, and a differential with tweaks to improve the driving flexibility of an EV while also improving its mileage.
The drive system has also been explained in brief therein and includes the following components:
a first motor, a second motor, an engine, a first connection assembly, a second connection assembly, a third connection assembly, a first differential, and a second differential
the engine is connected to the first electric motor through the first connection assembly, and is connected to the first differential through the second connection assembly and/or the first connection assembly
the first motor is connected with the first differential through the second connection assembly
the second motor is connected to the second differential through the third connection assembly
the first differential is used to connect with the first drive axle, and the first drive axle drives the first side wheel
the second differential is used to connect with the second drive axle, which drives the second side wheel
Samsung yesterday announced that the Galaxy S22 series and Galaxy Tab S8 series will be available in select markets from February 25. These include Europe, North America, and Korea initially but will soon add other markets too.
Preorders of both the Galaxy S22 series and the Galaxy Tab S8 series within the first week exceeded any other Samsung smartphone and tablet to date, the company also revealed. Galaxy S22 series preorders were twice those of the Galaxy S21 series, with the Galaxy S22 Ultra accounting for 60% of sales.
Likewise, preorders of the Galaxy Tab S8 series more than doubled preorder numbers for the Galaxy Tab S7 series, with one in two orders being that of the Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra.
The Samsung Galaxy S22 Series is comprised of the Galaxy S22 and S22+ that come with glass backs, ditching plastic ones from last year’s models, along with improvements across the board. The Galaxy S22 Ultra, meanwhile, marks the return of the Note series, featuring an S Pen and the iconic boxy design.
The Galaxy Tab S8 series is available in three models—Tab S8, S8+, and the first-ever, Tab S8 Ultra. All of them offer improved multi-tasking performance and greatly enhanced ecosystem features.
Last year, the first clues about vivo’s very first foldable smartphone began trickling in, following which it was revealed that the device will be sold as part of the brand’s experimental NEX series. And today, a tipster has hinted the phone will actually be called vivo NEX X Fold and will be sold alongside a NEX X Note.
Both devices will be flagships as is customary with the NEX series. While the vivo NEX X Fold will be a “high-end folding screen flagship,” the vivo NEX X Note will be a “7-inch large-screen business flagship,” according to Digital Chat Station.
Not much is known about the upcoming duo, but since the NEX X Note got a ‘Note’ in its name and has an unusually large display, it is possible that it will come with an S Pen-like stylus pen.
As for the vivo NEX X Fold, a tipster had earlier revealed that its battery will be sized 4,600mAh with support for up to 80W fast charging. While not the fastest around, it still beats every other foldable phone in the market right now. Take the OPPO Find N, for example, whose 4,500mAh battery can ‘only’ be topped up at 33W.
Aside from the NEX series, vivo is also gearing to launch its next flagship smartphone series. Dubbed vivo X80, the series may be comprised of four X80 models — vivo X80 SE, X80, X80 Pro, and X80 Pro+.
realme emerged as the fastest-growing smartphone brand in Europe last year with an astonishing annual growth rate of 548%, the latest report released by Strategy Analytics has shown.
The Chinese brand ranked top throughout 2021 in terms of growth despite making an entrance in the continent only in 2019. Its smartphone shipments grew by 500% and 548% in Q4 2021 and full-year 2021, respectively.
However, there were subtle differences between regions — in Central and Eastern Europe, realme grew by 643% year-on-year, while in Western Europe, it grew by 416% year-on-year in 2021.
Via Strategy Analytics
The company also managed to squeeze into the top 5 brands for the first time last year and is now only topped by Apple, Samsung, Xiaomi, and OPPO (in terms of market share). In Western Europe, realme rose from 13th place in Q4 2020 to 5th place in Q4 2021. And similarly, in Central and Eastern Europe, the company rose from 13th place in Q4 2020 to 4th place in Q4 2021.
Strategy Analytics believes that the right marketing strategy, diverse product portfolio, competitive product specifications, and aggressive pricing together were the driving force behind realme achieving such rapid growth.
The BBK Electronics subsidiary had only this month officially announced its penetration into the top 5 ranking in Western Europe, citing Counterpoint Research figures.
A developer was able to boot Windows 11 ARM on the Android-running Xiaomi Pad 5 earlier in November 2021. And fast forward to now, another dev has taken advantage of the previous project and has seemingly made some improvements to get it running better. While a couple of kinks still remain to be ironed out, that hasn’t stopped them from running Geekbench on the tablet and flexing its scores.
The Xiaomi Pad 5 running Win11 ARM64 has managed to score 465 and 1,992 points in the single-core and multi-core tests respectively. This is well under the tablet’s 780 and 2800 scores when it’s running stock software but is still a start nevertheless.
The developer behind the feat goes by the username @PaluRookie on Weibo (via IT Home) and has said that there’s currently a problem with the PEPs (Platform Extension Plug-ins) driver. The GPU is also non-functional due to its driver being missing, but we hope that to see both issues resolved soon.
The entire thing appears to make use of the WOA (Windows on ARM) project — a community initiative to get newer versions of Windows to work on older Lumia and new Android devices since the OS no longer supports mobile phones. It was earlier based on Windows 10 for ARM, but with better ARM support on Windows 11, devs are now rushing to get more mobile devices to run the desktop OS.
Researchers at the Chemnitz University of Technology have presented the world’s smallest battery to date as an application-oriented prototype and it shows “encouraging energy storage performance at the sub-square-millimeter scale.” Sized as tiny as a grain of dust, it can already power the world’s smallest computer chips for about ten hours.
The battery has been developed for smart dust applications, which are basically tiny microelectronic devices — an example being biocompatible sensor systems.
To date, micro-battery solutions either outputted too low power, had limitations concerning the usage environment, or were simply not small enough. But the new battery solution can eliminate these shortcomings.
To achieve it, the research team employed the same process that’s used by Tesla to manufacture batteries on a large scale for its electric cars. A “Swiss-roll” or “micro origami” procedure is used to create a product compatible with existing chip manufacturing technologies while being capable of producing high output.
Specifically, the battery’s size is under 1mm² with a minimum energy density of 100 microwatt hours per square centimeter, but it can still be integrated on a chip.
The tech obviously has not been developed with smartphones in mind so to dream about the next iPhone with a dust-sized battery unit would be a stretch. Still, researchers hope to see its deployment into micro- and nanosensors in areas like IoT, miniaturized medical implants, micro-robotic systems, and ultra-flexible electronics.
The Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2022 is scheduled to kickstart on February 28. However, we won’t be witnessing the launch of multiple smartphones from popular brands. That’s because most of them have already announced their latest models in the last few days. The only major new handsets that are planned to go official at MWC are the HONOR Magic4 series and Lenovo Y90 (aka Lenovo Legion Phone 3).
Other than the aforementioned devices, the rest of them are making their way to new markets like India and Europe. Finally, there will also be a launch of a China-exclusive realme phone.
The ASUS 8Z (aka Zenfone 8) is finally heading to India on February 28 after a long-delayed launch. The compact flagship Android smartphone was unveiled back in May 2021.
The key highlights of this device include a 5.9-inch FHD+ 120HZ AMOLED display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 888, 64MP (wide) + 12MP (ultra-wide) dual-camera setup, 12MP selfie camera, in-screen fingerprint sensor, dual stereo speakers, 3.5mm headphone jack, 4,000mAh battery, and 30W fast charging.
The launch event will be streamed at 12 PM on the official YouTube channel of ASUS India.
2. POCO X4 Pro 5G and POCO M4 Pro
POCO X4 Pro 5G
POCO has confirmed to launch the POCO X4 Pro 5G and POCO M4 Pro on February 28. The duo will be announced by the ‘Global’ wing of the brand at 8 PM GMT+8. This event will be followed by a conference by the ‘Indian’ division of the brand for POCO M4 Pro at 7 PM IST. The events will be streamed on their respective official YouTube channels.
As far as features are concerned, the upcoming POCO X4 Pro 5G and POCO M4 Pro are nothing but tweaked versions of the international Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G and Redmi Note 11S. Apart from minor changes, they are also expected to cost lower
3. HONOR Magic4 Series
HONOR Magic3
HONOR scheduled its February 28th MWC 2022 event at the end of January itself. Over the days with multiple teasers, the brand recently confirmed that it will be debuting the HONOR Magic4 series at this conference. The live stream will begin at 1 PM CET on the official YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter handles of the company.
Like its predecessor, the HONOR Magic4 series is rumored to include three models, namely HONOR Magic4, HONOR Magic4 Pro, and HONOR Magic4 Pro+. All three of them are said to offer high-end specs and will likely carry premium price tags. You can learn more about their leaked specifications in detail from here.
4. realme GT2 Series
realme GT2 Pro
The realme GT series consisting of realme GT2 and realme GT2 Pro will be announced for international markets on February 28. The launch event will be streamed from 10 AM UTC+1 on the official YouTube and Twitter handles of the company.
Talking about features, these handsets are expected to be the same as the models released in China in January. The vanilla and pro variants are rumored to start at €539 and €789 respectively.
Apart from phones, realme has also confirmed to announce the world’s fastest smartphone charging tech at this conference. Recently, we exclusively reported that this technology could be based on 200W.
5. Lenovo Legion Y90
Lenovo Legion Y90
We have been hearing about Legion Y90, a gaming smartphone Lenovo, for months. The company recently confirmed to debut this handset in China on February 28. It will be accompanied by a gaming tablet called Legion Y700. The conference will be streamed on Weibo and other local video platforms from 7 PM CST.
Lenovo is also expected to announce the Legion Y90 as Legion Phone 3 for international markets at MWC 2022. Unfortunately, we do not know for sure when this announcement will happen. Anyway, we cannot rule out the possibility of the same day.
Talking about specs, you can learn all about them from here as the company had already revealed everything officially.
6. realme V25
The realme V25 is scheduled to launch in China on March 3. The conference for the handset will be live-streamed from 2 PM CST on Weibo and other video platforms.
According to reports, the upcoming realme V25 is expected to be a tweaked version of realme 9 Pro. It is said to come with features like a 6.58-inch 120Hz display (LCD), Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 SoC, 64MP + 2MP + 2MP triple camera setup, 16MP selfie camera, realme UI 3.0 based on Android 12, 5,000mAh battery, 33W fast charging, 8.5mm thickness, and 195g weight.
Faraday Future has now unveiled its production-intent FF 91 luxury electric vehicle (EV) stressing that it is the first true luxury EV. The event was done at the company’s Hanford, California production facility. This is a pre-production model which bears close semblance to Faraday Future’s electric crossover model that was announced in 2017 but could not meet up the production timeline since 2018.
Faraday Future states the FF 91 production-intent version features several production-spec components and several units will be produced in the coming months for testing, validation, and final certification of the EV. The company is optimistic that the FF 91 could begin commercial production before the turn of the year, preferably early Q3, 2022. The company through its Vice President of Manufacturing, Matt Tall notes that being able to get a production-intent model of the FF 81 is a milestone in the company’s pursuit of delivering the premium luxury EV within its specified timeline.
The FF 91 runs on the Variable Platform Architecture with a stated driving range of 608km from its 130kWh battery. The tri-motor all-wheel-drive system of the FF 91 features rear torque vectoring and a combined output of 783kW. The FF 91 could therefore accelerate from 0 to 96km/h in 2.39 seconds. The interior of the FF 91 has multiple displays up to 11 and a cumulative viewing length of about 100 inches. The interior also features zero-gravity seats, a super-fast internet connection, and an expansive rear seat area for added comfort.
Faraday Future says the FF 91 will reset customer expectations with an unparalleled experience for both the driver and passengers. As per the company’s claims that the FF 91 will be the first true luxury EV, that could be a marketing strategy, as there are currently some premium luxury EVs from Mercedes, BMW, Tesla, and Audi, to mention a few of the heavy hitters in the luxury EV segment.
A tipster has provided key specifications of MediaTek’s upcoming Dimensity 8100 chipset and speculates that the chip could debut next month on a Redmi device. The Weibo tipster goes by the identity Digital Chat Station and says the Dimensity 8100 will have four Cortex-A78 cores that could peak at 2.85GHz together with four Cortex-A55 cores running at 2.0GHz.
There are some doubts as to the actual GPU specification between G610 MC5 and G510 MC6. The Dimensity 8100 is built through TSMC’s 5nm manufacturing process with support for both LDDR5 memory and UFS 3.1 storage. Digital Chat Station also provided some performance data of the Dimensity 8100 that indicates that it could square up nicely with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 888 SoC which debuted last year.
The performance results and the overall specs sheet point to the likelihood that the Dimensity 8100 is a chip for mid-range smartphones but could be on the higher reaches of the segment. Although there are no ways of establishing the authenticity of the leak at this time, the released details attune and follow a similar trajectory with that of the Dimensity 8000 benchmarks which surfaced days back. In addition, it is unclear whether indeed the chip will debut on a Redmi smartphone and the name of the specified smartphone.
Back in December 2021, Bounce announced the Infinity E1 in the Indian market as the country’s first swappable battery electric scooter. The electric scooter was on pre-booking after its launch with the actual product yet to hit the market. Now, Bounce has announced that it will start test rides in 7 different cities in the Indian market.
Bounce has revealed that the electric scooter will be finally available in the market for a test ride. In fact, it is already available for test rides in Banglore as per its February 24 schedule.
It will be followed by the schedule in Delhi NCR on March 4 and Kochi a few days later, on March 10. Starting from March 15, the electric scooter will be available for test rides in other Major cities like Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, and Chennai. The company is also expected to include other cities soon.
In case you pre-booked the scooter or want to try it out by taking a test ride, you can visit the company’s official website. Also, the company is said to allot delivery schedules for all the buyers of the Infinity E1. The company will also be offering the electric scooter in financing options soon.
The Bounce Infinity is priced at Rs. 68,999(~$919) for the electric scooter along with the battery. It costs Rs. 45,099(~$600) for the model without the battery. For that price, the electric scooter offers a range of 85 kilometers on a single charge. It is IP67 rated and has 12-inch wheels.
Swiss smartwatch maker Garmin is considering a more improved approach to solar charging of its smartwatches as shown from a recent patent connected to the company. There is a growing trend in the smartwatch market that has seen several manufacturers unveil smart wearables with solar charging functionality and improved outdoor visibility. This offers extended battery life for the smartwatches and there are some high-end solar-charging models with record-setting battery lives. Garmin has registered a new smartwatch OLED display patent that points to the direction of longer battery life while improving the OLED display experience.
The patent document indicates that Garmin is pursuing such technology in its OLED display that allows the company to use energy-collecting display modules to charge future Garmin watches. The photovoltaic cells will be scattered around the OLED display subpixels. Garmin has a few smartwatches that deploy solar charging via the memory in pixel (MIP) displays, but the new OLED display solar charging technology should outperform the MIP approach. The new patent technology, when operational, could offer a higher refresh rate and improved visibility in direct sunlight.
There are bright implications when the new OLED display patent transits into a full-blown proprietary technology by Garmin. Current Garmin smartwatches with solar charging could be improved significantly and newer, more efficient models will also be released. However, there are no further details about the stage of the patent and the progress of the development of the technology.
Although the Apple MagSafe battery pack was a great product when it was released, subsequent reviews of the device illuminated some important drawbacks. The issues are related to the capacity, connectivity, and also pricing. The observed shortcomings of the Apple MagSafe battery pack may have led to the development of several similar MagSafe battery packs from other manufacturers.
The OtterBox MagSafe battery pack is the latest device that measures up squarely against Apple’s and it seems it is standing shoulders above the Apple MagSafe battery pack on many fronts. The new battery pack for iPhones and other devices comes with a better capacity, a more affordable price, and more compatible features. The OtterBox MagSafe wireless power bank offers charging options of 5,000 mAh ($69.99) and 3,000 mAh ($49.95).
The OtterBox MagSafe power bank has double-sided magnets that allow the battery to sandwich itself between a compatible charging case and a dock, thus charging both the phone and the charging pack simultaneously. The OtterBox MagSafe pack is compatible with any iPhone or iPhone case with MagSafe charging. The USB-C port also allows the device to function as an external battery for other smartphones or similar devices. Wireless 5W Qi charging is also possible with the OtterBox MagSafe battery pack.
It however remains to be seen how an Apple-centric market will react to this cheaper but non-Apple product which could upend the dominance of the Apple MagSafe battery pack which is priced at around $99.
Sony has just released its Walkman NW-WM1ZM2 and NW-WM1AM2 which are pocket-sized hi-fi devices that highlight the first Walkman models of the 1980s. The new Sony Walkman models promise ultra-high fidelity audio at a pretty affordable price. The two models rekindle the spirit of the iconic Walkman models that held sway when smartphones were still a dream.
The Sony Walkman was a popular audio tool before digital music devices became a norm and the WM-20, as well as a few other models, were more identifiable among the crowd. The WM-20 was more compact than the other Sony Walkman models when it was released in 1983 it was provided a great audio experience and was also beautiful and compact. Some of the iconic Walkman models were still pulling their weights when the first digital products were launched by Sony in 1999.
Sony’s first digital and compact audio device was the Sony Network Walkman and the evolution has been quite outstanding to this day with the launch of the latest products. Sony has had to grapple with the popularity of Apple’s iPods even up to this moment, but it continues to hold its own in some ways.
The two new premium music players, the Sony NW-WM1ZM2 and NW-WM1AM2 come with some distinct designs that target a specific niche in the market. They come with some catchy colors to excite the attention of Walkman audiophiles and connoisseurs. Sony also says that the material used for the two products is high-quality and durable, as well as provides the clear and powerful bass notes delivered by the products. The ZM2 is the flagship model among the two and offers 256GB of onboard storage as compared to 128GB for the AM2. It also comes with a better mix of components and the needed pricing edge to go with its premium standard.
The Sony NW-WM1ZM2 is priced at £3,350 ($4,484) while the NW-WM1AM2 will cost £1,300 ($1,740) in the United Kingdom. It is unclear whether the current valuation of the products, especially the ZM2 is competitive in the market. However, the two products remain iconic models that may form part of the collection for Walkman buffs.
Samsung Galaxy S22 and Xiaomi 12 Pro are the most compact flagships released in 2022. But if you want something more because you need a bigger battery and display, then you have to move your attention to their advanced versions: the Xiaomi 12 Pro and the Samsung Galaxy Galaxy S22 Plus. This year the fight is very hard because these two devices come with specs sheets that can be considered exactly at the same level. That is the reason why it is important to analyze every aspect before making a choice. It is the goal of this comparison between their specifications.
Xiaomi 12 Pro vs Samsung Galaxy S22 Plus
Xiaomi 12 Pro
Samsung Galaxy S22 Plus
DIMENSIONS AND WEIGHT
163.6 x 74.6 x 8.2 mm,
204 g
157.4 x 75.8 x 7.6 mm,
195 g
DISPLAY
6.73 inches, 1440 x 3200 pixels (Quad HD+), AMOLED
I personally love the design of the Xiaomi 12 Pro because it comes with a curved screen, but if you do not mind having a curved screen, then you might like the Samsung Galaxy S22 Plus more due to various reasons. First of all, it is more compact, it is thinner, and even lighter than its rival. Just like the Xiaomi 12 Pro, it is built with a glass back and an aluminum frame, but its glass back is protected by the stronger Gorilla Glass Victus Plus protection and the phone is waterproof and dustproof with the IP68 certification. Last but not least, its design is original and trendy and its camera module is not inspired by iPhones at all, unlike most of the flagships out there.
Display
If your goal is getting the best display, then opt for the Xiaomi 12 Pro. Samsung decided to put the best panel on board of the Galaxy S22 Ultra and left the vanilla Galaxy S22 and its Plus sibling behind with an inferior display. The Xiaomi 12 Pro comes with an AMOLED panel sporting a Quad HD+ resolution of 1440 x 3200 pixels, one billion colors with a 10-bit color depth, the LTPO technology enabling an adaptive refresh rate from 1 to 120 Hz, Dolby Vision, the HDR10+ certification, and an in-display fingerprint reader. The Samsung Galaxy S22 Plus lacks the LTPO technology, the 10-bit color depth and it sports a lower Full HD+ resolution of 1080 x 2340 pixels. There is only one advantage: the ultrasonic in-display fingerprint reader.
Specs & Software
The Xiaomi 12 Pro is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 mobile platform, while the Samsung Galaxy S22 Plus is fueled by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 in certain markets and by the Samsung Exynos 2200 in the remaining ones. The Exynos 2200 is actually inferior to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, even though it includes the first GPU based on AMD architecture for mobile devices. The Xiaomi 12 Pro wins the hardware comparison not only because of its chipset but also because it offers up to 12 GB of RAM, while its opponent stops at 8 GB. Naturally, being 2022 flagships, these phones are based on Android 12.
Camera
On the paper, the Xiaomi 12 Pro looks to have a superior camera department. It is the first phone to come with three 50 MP sensors on the rear side, including a 50 MP main camera with OIS, a 50 MP telephoto sensor with 2x optical zoom, and a 50 MP ultrawide lens, as well as 8K video recording. The Samsung Galaxy S22 Plus packs a 50 MP main camera with OIS, a 10 MP telephoto sensor with 3x optical zoom, and a 12 MP ultrawide sensor.
With a capacity of 4600 mAh, the Xiaomi 12 Pro has a slightly bigger battery, but this does not necessarily mean that it will have longer battery life. It also features faster charging thanks to a power of 120W for wired charging and 50W for wireless charging.
Price
The Xiaomi 12 Pro is priced at $900/€800 in its base variant (still not available in the global market), while the Samsung Galaxy S22+ sells for $999/€1050 globally. While the former provides a better display and faster charging, the latter has a waterproof body and a better build quality. Which one would you go for?
Xiaomi 12 Pro vs Samsung Galaxy S22 Plus: PRO and CONS
After launching the POCO M4 Pro 5G in India, the company is now set to bring the POCO M4 Pro 4G in India as well as in the global markets on February 28. Now, ahead of its release, the company has started teasing the phone’s key highlights.
The teasers reveal that the smartphone has a Super AMOLED panel. It will be a punch-hole screen with a peak brightness of 1000 nits. If we go by the leaks, this display will be a Full-HD+ panel sporting a 90Hz refresh rate. It will have a DCI-P3 wide color gamut.
Apart from the screen, the phone’s other highlight will be the dual speakers. The device will feature a dual stereo speaker setup. It will have a 3.5mm headphone jack and a USB Type-C port for charging. Just like other POCO phones, it also seems to have IR blaster support well.
Furthermore, POCO reveals that the smartphone will boot on the POCO launcher 2.0. It will have support for Dark Mode and won’t have any ads. The company also confirmed that the device supports L1 Widevine for Full-HD content streaming.
Other than this, the specs of the device are already known, thanks to the leaks. The POCO M4 Pro 4G is touted to be a tweaked version of the Redmi Note 11S. That being said, it will come with the MediaTek Helio G96 chipset. It will be paired with LPDDR4x RAM and UFS 2.1 internal storage.
The optics on the phone will differ over the Note 11S. It will have a 64MP + 8MP + 2MP triple camera setup. Upfront, it will have a 16MP selfie snapper. It is expected to come with a 5,000mAh battery with 33W fast charging support.
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