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.
Valued at a record 3 trillion USD in the market, Apple‘s market cap is higher than the GDP of India, a country with a population reaching 1.5 billion within the next few years. Only four countries in the world now have a higher GDP than Apple’s market cap – the United States, China, Japan, and Germany.
With that in mind, Apple is planning to continue its market dominance and expand its smartphone business into further uncharted territory for the company, the lower mid-range smartphone market. Rumours within the industry reveal that Apple may be planning to launch the next 2022 iteration of its iPhone SE starting from only USD $300.
The news comes from Investor’s Business Daily. The report claims that Loop Capital Markets analyst John Donovan said he’s heard rumours that the new 5G-supported iPhone SE 3 (2022) could start at $300. This news comes as a surprise because the current 4G iPhone SE 2 (2020) model starts at $399, and the iPhone SE 3 is rumoured to feature a better processor, 5G support and better battery life than its predecessor.
For comparison, for double the price of $300, at $599, you can only buy Apple‘s cheapest 5G smartphone available, the iPhone 12 Mini and Apple’s second-generation 5G smartphones, the iPhone 13 series, starts at $699.
But why is Apple planning to venture into the under $300 category of smartphones? The report quoted that JPMorgan analysts in December 2021 speculated that Apple wanted its new iPhone to spur a wave of switchers from Android smartphones. The move has the potential to lure some of the nearly 1.4 billion value-conscious minded users of low to midrange Android phones to switch and about 300 million users of older model iPhones to upgrade, the investment bank said in a report to clients.
As for the specifications of the iPhone SE 3 (2022), it is expected that the new iPhone SE is sporting the 5G Apple A15 Bionic chipset found on the latest iPhone 13 series. Design-wise the iPhone SE 3 (2022) will retain the same design as its predecessor with a glass front and back with an aluminium chassis, and the signature Touch ID on the home button located on the chin of the device.
The iPhone SE 3(2022) is expected to launch at Apple’s annual Spring Launch Event. Apple has not officially revealed the date of the event yet but speculations and leaks point to March 8, 2022 as the day when the event starts.
Back in early May of 2021, Taiwanese company Asus had revealed that it will be postponing the launch of the Asus Zenfone 8 in India due to COVID-19 concerns. After 9 long months of waiting, Asus has finally revealed the official launch date of the Asus 8Z, a rebranded variant of the Asus Zenfone 8 sold globally, on February 28th, 2022 at 12 PM IST.
The news comes from Asus India’s Twitter account. The announcement post reveals that the event will include a special appearance from India’s IronMan, Milind Soman, to headline and introduce the Asus 8Z to fans in India. He calls the Asus 8Z device to be “Big On Performance, Compact in Size.”
The teaser doesn’t mention any other details, but since the Asus 8Z is a renamed version of the Zenfone 8 sold globally, here are the highlights of the Asus 8Z you should know.
The Asus 8Z will feature a 5.92-inch AMOLED screen with a punch hole at the top left corner and FHD+ resolution. The display has a 120Hz refresh rate, a Pixelworks chip, HDR10+, and is protected by Corning’s Gorilla Glass Victus. Powering the device is a Snapdragon 888 processor paired with LPDDR5 RAM and UFS 3.1 storage.
The compact flagship sports a dual-camera setup at the rear of which the main camera is a 64MP Sony IMX686 sensor teaming up with a 12MP ultrawide angle camera that can also shoot macro pictures. For selfies, there is a 12MP Sony IMX363 camera.
The Asus 8Z packs a 4000mAh battery with support for 30W fast charging. There is an audio jack at the top of the device, stereo speakers, Cirrus Logic amplifiers, and Dirac HD sound technology. The phone also comes with NFC, Wi-Fi 6E, dual SIM support, and an in-display fingerprint scanner.
The Asus 8Z runs Android 11 out of the box, and as of February 2022, has an eligible stable update to Android 12 from the company. The device also features an IP68 water and dust resistance rating to keep the internals safe from rain or winds.
Back in September 2021, Oppo launched the Oppo Watch Free in the Chinese market. The smartwatch recently got released in the Indian market. And now, the smart wearable has finally been made available to European customers.
Coming to Europe, the smartwatch will pack a 1.64-inch AMOLED display with a 280 x 456 resolution, DCI-P3 color gamut, and a 326 PPI pixel density. The rectangular display is housed in a frame made of polycarbonate and fiber while the underside is covered in a material made of nylon plastic (PA) and fiber. Attached to the watch are silicone straps with a leather texture which OPPO claims are breathable and comfortable to wear during sleep.
The fitness tracker can track more than 100 sports modes including cricket, skipping, archery, skiing, volleyball, kayaking, and badminton. However, only four sports can be automatically tracked and they are running, walking, rowing (machine), and ellipticals. There is even a built-in trainer for running.
Other than sports mode, the OPPO Watch Free also comes with a SpO2 sensor for blood oxygen monitoring and a heart rate monitor that will warn users when the heart rate is too high or too low. There is also sleep tracking, snoring detection, music playback control and notifications, and call alerts.
The smart wearable has a 230mAh battery that will provide up to 14 days of usage. It also supports fast charging as OPPO claims a quick 5-minute charge will provide enough charge to last a day. It connects via Bluetooth 5.0 and it is compatible with Android devices running Android 6.0 and later as well as devices running iOS 10.0 and later.
Currently, Oppo has made the Watch Free available in two colors for European customers namely Black and Cream. The Oppo Watch Free will retail for €99 in the Eurozone and £89 in the UK. Oppo will begin selling the smartwatch on March 24.
Samsung is guarding up to launch their upcoming mid-range offering dubbed the Samsung Galaxy A53 5G. The phone has had many leaks up until now hinting at its specs and design. And now, renders of the smartphone have surfaced yet again showcasing its design and color variants.
The renders of the Galaxy A53 5G have previously leaked in White and Black, but this time around, WinFuture has provided a better look at the rumored Orange and Blue color options.
Samsung Galaxy A53 5G renders Blue
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Image via Winfuture
Image via Winfuture
Image via Winfuture
Samsung Galaxy A53 5G renders Orange
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Image via Winfuture
Image via Winfuture
Image via Winfuture
These new renders are consistent with the previous renders that surfaced online a while back. The phone still appears to have a pretty similar design compared to the Galaxy A52. The only noticeable difference from the current-gen smartphone is the camera island which has a much smoother-looking protrusion from the pack panel this time around.
The colors on the device also look clean with a blue variant being noticeably lighter in tone compared to the light blue of the A52. The orange variant of the smartphone is also light in tone, making it appear more Peach color than the traditional orange.
Samsung Galaxy A53 5G specs (rumored)
So far, the upcoming Galaxy A53 5G is said to have a 6.52-inch FHD+ 120Hz AMOLED display with a maximum refresh rate of 120Hz.
The device will come equipped with an unreleased Samsung midrange SoC dubbed the Exynos 1200. The SoC will have two high-performance cores clocked at 2.4 GHz and six cores with a maximum clock speed of 2.0 GHz. The CPU is supported by the Mali G68 GPU for graphics. The device will come in two ram variants, 6GB and 8GB. It is also touted to at least have 128GB of internal storage which can be further expanded by up to 1TB with a microSD card.
The device is said to house a 5000mAh battery with 25W charging support. The rear quad-camera setup will likely have a 64MP primary sensor, a 12MP ultrawide lens, a 5MP macro, and a 5MP depth sensor.
The Souncore Liberty3 Pro is the latest flagship offering by Anker from their Liberty TWS earbuds lineup, as per a teaser by the company. It is set for unveiling in India by April 2022 and it features Soundcore’s proprietary ACAA 2.0 technology. The ACAA 2.0 technology is an exclusive coaxial dual driver technology patented by Soundcore and allows for the delivery of high-quality sound.
The patented ACAA 2.0 technology enables the device to output both high and low-frequency sound directly into the user’s ear without interfering with each other. The earbuds support Bluetooth 5.2 and will be capable of streaming high-resolution audio. The Personalized noise canceling technology present in the Soundcore Liberty3 will be accentuated by the Fusion Comfort Fit technology. According to Soundcore, the ACAA 2.0 technology provides a 360-degree sound field with surging bass and transparent treble.
Although there is no specific pricing information for the Liberty3 Pro in India, it is sold in other jurisdictions like the US and UK for the equivalent of $169.99. It is unclear whether Soundcore will retain the current international price or scale it down below the Rs. 12,866 equivalent. We’ll keep tabs on Soundcore for new details ahead of the April 2022 arrival of the Liberty3 Pro in India.
The iQOO 9 Pro which is just days old in the international market, is receiving its first software update which comes with its February 2022 security patch and bug fixes. The firmware version requires a download of 428MB and is aimed at a slew of enhancements for the iQOO 9 Pro.
The iQOO 9 Pro was unveiled in India just days back and the new firmware will optimize the smartphone’s compatibility with Bluetooth devices as well as network adaptability in some regions of the global market. The first units of the iQOO 9 Pro will be available in India by March 2, 2022, and only models with designation I2022 are covered by the software update. So the likely thing is that users will get the update prompt when they have completed the setup processes for their new devices.
There are a few fundamental departures between the iQOO 9 Pro global edition and the Chinese model. Importantly, the global model runs on Android 12-based Funtouch OS 12 unlike the Origin OS in the Chinese model. It however has much of the specs of the original Chinese model.
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The iQOO 9 Pro has two memory configurations in India namely the 8GB/128GB and 12GB/256GB RAM/ internal storage combinations. The iQOO 9 Pro uses the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset which is a premium SoC also deployed in some other flagship models. The price of the iQOO 9 Pro in India is between Rs. 64,990 ($865) and Rs. 69,990 ($930).
Samsung has just recently announced the Galaxy S22 series. It is the company’s latest flagship smartphone, and now, it is receiving its first software update as customers that pre-ordered that devices have started receiving the new phones.
For those unaware, the South Korean tech giant’s latest premium handsets have seen record breaking pre-orders in various regions across the globe. With the Galaxy S22 series arriving at customers doorsteps, the company has rolled out a new firmware update to the Galaxy S22, Galaxy S22+, and the Galaxy S22 Ultra. This firmware version is S90xEXXU1AVB3 and is currently rolling out in Afghanistan and Egypt.
Furthermore, additional nations will probably start receiving this update over the next couple of days as well. In a few countries, the latest smartphones may even ship with the new February 2022 update out of the box. According to the company, the new software update brings the February 2022 security patch along with over 60 fixes for the privacy and security vulnerabilities that are found in Galaxy smartphones.
In other words, if you already have a Galaxy S22 model and are in one of the aforementioned countries, you can check if you have received the new update. To check this, you can simply go to Settings > Software Update, once here, you can hit Download and install if you’ve received the update.
Samsung announced theGalaxy S22 series earlier this month at the Galaxy Unpacked 2022 event. Out of all three phones, the Galaxy S22 Ultra offers the best mobile technology from the South Korean tech giant. One of the key features of this premium slab smartphone is its bright display. Turns out the screen material used by the company is from last year.
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra
A report by The Elec says that the OLED material set on the Galaxy S22 Ultra is the same as the one found on Galaxy S21. It is officially called M11. Despite that, it offers a better peak brightness level of 1,750 nits.
Usually, Samsung Electronics introduces new OLED material set on the Galaxy S series. The company has been doing this from the Galaxy S10 series to Galaxy S21 Ultra. For the first time, it has broken this streak.
Samsung Display display uses M series of material sets for the OLED panels, which it supplies to Samsung Electronics and Apple. For those unaware, an OLED material set consists of red, green and blue pixels’ dopant, host, as well as prime.
The publication’s sources suggest that Samsung may have opted for an older tech to control the cost, and therefore, focus more on the shipments on the Galaxy S22 series when compared to the Galaxy S21 and the Galaxy S20 series. So far, the pre-order numbers are positive from multiple regions.
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra
On the other hand, the Galaxy S22+ also uses the M11 material set, which is an upgrade over M10 found on the Galaxy S21+. However, the vanilla Galaxy S22 still comes with the older M10 just like its predecessor Galaxy S21.
Further, Samsung is planning to utilize the M9 material set for its mid to low-end smartphones in 2022, which is an upgrade over M8 used in 2020. The latest M12 material set is expected to debut on the next-gen foldables from Samsung and iPhone 14 series, an upgrade over M11 found on their predecessors.
Finally, Samsung Display is expected to sell OLED panels with legacy E series material set to Chinese smartphone brands at a lowered price tag.
Lenovo today announced the complete list of specifications of the Legion Y90 gaming phone and Y700 gaming tablet ahead of their launch that’s scheduled for February 28th.
The Lenovo Legion Y700 gaming tablet is equipped with the Snapdragon 870 processor, comes in 8GB+128GB/12GB+512GB configurations, and uses an 8500mm2 VC cooling plate for heat dissipation. Its LCD display is sized 8.8-inches, has a 2560*1600 resolution, and supports stuff like a 120Hz refresh rate, 500nit brightness, DC dimming, and Dolby Vision.
Its battery is sized 6550mAh and supports 45W fast charging. Interfaces include a 3.5mm headphone jack, a microSD port, and a USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-C port.
Meanwhile, the Lenovo Legion Y90 gaming phone is equipped with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor and comes in 12GB+256GB, 16GB+256GB, and 18GB+512GB+128GB configs. It keeps it cool using a VC vapor chamber and a dual cooling fan system.
The screen is a 6.9-inch E4 AMOLED screen with specs like 2460*1080 resolution, 144Hz refresh rate, up to 1300nits brightness, DC dimming, Dolby Vision, and HDR10+. The battery capacity is 5600mAh and supports 68W fast charging.
For interfacing, you get 2 USB-C ports with a peak data transfer speed of 10Gbps and support for reverse charging.
Realme’s next V-series smartphone will be the upcoming Realme V25. The company has scheduled the launch of the smartphone for March 3 in China. Ahead of its launch, the smartphone has appeared on Geekbench giving out its key details.
The Realme V25 has the model number RMX3475. The device scores 687 points in the single-core department and 2022 points in the multi-core department on the Geekbench version 5. The phone is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 5G chipset. The octa-core chipset is clocked at a base frequency of 1.80Hz.
The particular variant we’re looking at has 12GB of RAM and runs on Android 12 OS. We expect this variant to be the top-most variant and that said, there could be 8GB and 6GB of RAM variants. The phone may have 128GB of base storage.
Realme V25 Specifications
Apart from the Geekbench listing, the Realme V25’s specs were leaked previously. The Realme V25 is expected to come with a 6.58-inch LCD display with a Full-HD+ resolution. It will be a punch-hole panel.
The device will have a triple camera system at the rear with a 64MP primary lens and two 2MP sensors. These sensors could be depth and macro lenses. The smartphone will have a side-mounted fingerprint scanner for security. It will have 128GB and 256GB of storage options. The phone will pack a 5,000mAh battery and a 33W fast charging support. On top of the Android 12 OS, it is expected to run on Realme UI 3.0.
We already known that Vivo is planning on launching a new 5G smartphone in the Indian market. However, prior to its official release, the Y33s has been spotted on Geekbench, which revealed some interesting information about the upcoming handset.
Looking at the listing on the popular benchmarking website, the smartphone carried the model number V2166A. In other words, this device is the Vivo Y33s, and we had covered its leaked renders and specifications previously. The Geekbench listing also revealed that it will be powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 700 SoC, which is a 5G enabled octa core processor that has a base clock speed of 2GHz. This chip will be paired with the Mali-G57 MC2 GPU.
Furthermore, the Chinese smartphone maker’s upcoming smartphone will come with 8GB of RAM, as listed on the database. Although, the device will likely arrive in 4GB and 6GB RAM variants as well. Talking about the scores, we can see that the Vivo Y33s scored 420 points in the single core test and 1550 points in the multi core test. Unfortunately, that is all the information we have to go on at the moment but we do have some additional details from our previous reports.
The smartphone will apparently sport a 6.51 inch display with HD+ resolution and offer 60Hz refresh rate. Under the hood, a large 5,000mAh battery pack will power the device, which also supports 18W fast charging as well. On the rear, it will feature a 13 megapixel primary camera and a 2 megapixel depth sensor. The front will reportedly have an 8 megapixel sensor for selfies. Vivo Y33s will run on Android 12 out of the box with the company’s Origin OS custom skin. So stick around for more updates.
Samsung has quite an A Series-packed couple of months incoming, with a number of devices on the way. While most of them are mid-rangers, the company is also keen on refreshing its entry-level lineup, and today launched the Samsung Galaxy A03 in India for a starting price of Rs 10,499.
The Samsung Galaxy A03 comes with a 6.5-inch TFT display with an HD+ 720 x 1600 resolution. Under the hood, there is the UNISOC T606 octa-core processor with a maximum clock speed of 1.6GHz. The chip is supported by up to 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage, which can be expanded thanks to the presence of a microSD card slot.
For photography, there’s a dual-camera setup at the rear comprised of a 48MP primary sensor and a 2MP depth sensor. Selfies will be handled by the 5MP front camera that comes with image enhancing features like Beauty Mode, Smart Selfie Angle, and Live Focus.
The device’s battery is sized 5,000mAh and since there’s no mention of the charging speed, it is most likely 10W only as is the case with most entry-level Samsung devices.
On the software front, you get One UI 3.1 Core out of the box, which is based on Android 11. There’s support for Dolby Atmos too, although it’s limited to headsets alone.
You get the Samsung Galaxy A03 in three color options, namely Black, Blue, and Red. The base variant of the device with a 3GB+32GB config costs Rs 10,499, while the 4GB+64GB config will set you back by Rs 11,999. Purchase can be made through Samsung.com, retail stores, and leading online portals.
OnePlus recently released the first OxygenOS 12 Open Beta update for the OnePlus 9R users outside China, and now, the company has rolled out the Android 12 based OS for the OnePlus 8 series devices, specifically the OnePlus 8, 8 Pro, and the OnePlus 8T.
OnePlus 8 Pro
Anyone can install the update without the need for registration. All they have to do is download the required file and install it from Settings > System > System Updates > Top Right Icon > Local Upgrade.
Since its beta release, OnePlus warns of bugs. The brand says that some third-party apps may not function properly and the clock might be missing the dial display when the AOD feature is on.
If not satisfied with the beta update, users can roll back to the stable channel. Though the process is similar, it will wipe the phone’s internal storage.
OnePlus 8, 8 Pro, 8T OxygenOS 12 Open Beta 1 Official Changelog
System
Optimized desktop icons with improved textures, by using a design inspired by brand-new materials and uniting lights and layers
Dark mode
Dark mode now supports three adjustable levels, bringing a more personalized and comfortable user experience
Shelf
New additional style options for Cards, making data contents more visual and easier to read
Newly added Earphone Control Card with Bluetooth earphone one-click adjustment
Newly added access to OnePlus Scout in Shelf, allowing you to search multiple contents on your phone, including Apps, Settings, Media Data, etc
Newly added OnePlus Watch Card in Shelf, to easily glance at your health stats
Work-Life Balance
Work-Life Balance feature is now available to all users, allowing you to effortlessly switch between Work and Life mode via quick settings
WLB 2.0 now supports automatic Work/Life mode switching, based on specific locations, Wi-Fi network, and time, also bringing customized App notification profiles according to the personalization
Gallery
Gallery now allows you to switch between different layouts with a two-finger pinch gesture, intelligently recognizing the best-quality pictures, and cropping the thumbnail based on the content, making the gallery layout more pleasing
Canvas AOD
Canvas AOD brings you new diverse styles of lines and colors, for a more personalized lock screen experience with inspiring visuals
Newly added multiple brushes and strokes and support for color adjustment
Optimized software algorithm and improved face recognition to better identify the features and skin color of different figures
To know more about the update, or download the OxygenOS 12 Open Beta, OnePlus 8 & 8 Pro users can follow this link. If you own a OnePlus 8T, you can click this link to get to the Open Beta download page.
OPPO announced the OPPO Find X5 series yesterday after teasing it for the past few days. The original lineup includes three models, namely OPPO Find X5, OPPO Find X5 Pro, and OPPO Find X5 Pro Dimensity Edition. Out of these, the vanilla variant uses display panels supplied by BOE.
After the launch of the OPPO Find X5 series, BOE revealed that it exclusively provides curved OLED panels for the regular OPPO Find X5. This screen is curved on four sides and sports a punch hole at the top left corner.
As far as specs are concerned, the BOE-supplied OLED panel on the OPPO Find X5 is an LTPO flexible AMOLED screen measuring 6.55 inches diagonally. It has a resolution of 2400 x 1080 pixels (FHD+), 10-bit color depth (1.07 billion colors), and 402 PPI.
The display supports up to 120Hz refresh rate and 240Hz touch sampling rate. Talking about color gamut coverage, it can cover 97% of NTSC, 100% of DCI-P3, and 100% of sRGB.
The screen’s brightness can reach up to 1,000 nits and it has a screen-to-body ratio of 92.7%. Last but not least, it is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass Victus.
On the other hand, the OPPO Find X5 Pro and the OPPO Find X5 Pro Dimensity Edition use Samsung Display’s E4 2K AMOLED canvas with LTPO 2.0 technology. This panel is better, and therefore, it is fitted on expensive phones.
The Google Pixel 6 and Google Pixel 6 Pro have been officially confirmed to skip the Android 12L beta 3 update and will get the next release instead that’s been scheduled for March.
The information comes from a Reddit thread on r/Android_beta (via Android Police) where Pixel 6 owners inquired why their devices were not receiving the latest beta despite signing up for the program.
As a response, Google from its official Reddit account stated that “If you’re enrolling a Pixel 6 or Pixel 6 Pro that is on the latest February build SQ1D.220205.004, you will not receive an update to 12L Beta 3, but instead will receive the next upcoming beta build release in March as long as you keep your device enrolled.”
In other words, Pixel 6 series users will have to wait for the release of Android 12L beta 4 in order to get updated to the latest version.
The response can also be taken as a confirmation for a fourth beta since the official roadmap released last year showed beta release plans only until February, with an official “Final release” scheduled for some time after.
But if you simply can’t shake off the urge to jump aboard Android 12L beta 3, then you can try re-checking for the update for about five times after opting in. A Redditor says it worked for them so it’s worth a shot.
Going heavy on gaming with a launch for a Rs 12,999 phone isn’t really the wisest move, yet realme chose to do just that with the realme Narzo 50 launch event, even getting an “esports streamer” onboard to run tests. The whole thing was obviously heavily scripted but playing a pre-recorded clip instead of actually gaming on the device took things a bit too far.
Now, there’s frankly not much to hold up against the event itself which was a unique one, showing off the phone’s specs with an amusing 5-round competition. But in one of the rounds that required a quick-scope kill on Free Fire to win, realme messed up big time by trying to pass off recorded footage as actual gameplay (via RMleaks).
If you skip to 10:15 on the video for the launch, you’ll see a pause button pop up on one of the participant’s ‘gameplay’ triggered by an unwarranted touch on the screen. The interface looks to be of Google Photos, which is enough proof of the round not being the real deal.
realme’s reason for doing this remains unclear. Surely it wasn’t impossible to get a streamer to achieve a no-scope? Or did the company not have enough faith in the realme Narzo 50’s gaming abilities?
The latter seems unlikely given the final round of the event where the gameplay looked legit and lag-free. Also, Free Fire is not a demanding game at all and can run fairly well on the cheapest of post-2020 smartphones.
While there are quite some unanswered questions here, it is worth mentioning that an incident like this isn’t a first-time affair. Last year, the company was caught streaming iPhone game footage and promoting it as being from the realme Narzo 30A. The blunder was blamed on “a wrong file being accidentally sent to the producer” back then, so it would be interesting to see realme’s justification this time.
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