Volvo to debut Ride Pilot autonomous driving feature in California later this year

By

-

Jan 6, 2022

During CES 2022, Volvo has announced that the company will debut its Ride Pilot, an autonomous driving feature in California by the middle of this year. Once the feature has been approved for use on highways, it will be offered to customers.

The company says that the Ride Pilot feature will be offered to customers as a paid add-on for a new electric SUV that it plans to announce later this year. The feature is also planned to be released in other markets.

For creating Ride Pilot, Volvo worked with Zenseact and LiDAR developer Luminar. The feature is currently being tested in Sweden. Volvo says that Ride Pilot utilizes a Luminar Iris LiDAR sensor complemented by eight cameras, 16 ultrasonic sensors, and five radars to enable the software to judge depth.

The company also says that it will push out continuous over-the-air updates to ensure the feature is safe to use. Martin Kristensson, Head of AD and Mobility at Volvo, said: “When we say self-driving, we mean self-driving. So this will be a feature or function where the car is actually responsible for the driving so you will not need to keep your hands on the steering wheel and you will not need to keep your eyes off the road.”

Ride Pilot is described as a hands-off, eyes-off system, which means that a driver will be free to do other things when the system is activated. This is different from existing self-driving systems which require constant monitoring from the driver.

RELATED:

MIUI 13 stable update live for Mi 11 Ultra/Pro, Redmi K40 Pro/Pro+, MIX 4

By

Sudarshan Ravichandran

-

Jan 6, 2022

Xiaomi has started rolling out MIUI 13 stable update for the first batch of eligible devices in China. The latest version of MIUI also brings along Android 12 for these smartphones and tablets. After Mi 11, Xiaomi Pad 5 series, and Redmi K40, the update is being seeded out for the rest of the original Mi 11 and Redmi K40 family, in addition to Xiaomi MIX 4.

The Chinese tech giant Xiaomi has recently begun to roll out MIUI stable update based on Android 12 for the following phones in its home country.

Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
- MIUI 13 Stable: V13.0.5.0.SKACNXM
- Region: China
Xiaomi Mi 11 Pro
- MIUI 13 Stable: V13.0.5.0.SKACNXM
- Region: China
Xiaomi MIX 4
- MIUI 13 Stable: V13.0.2.0.SKMCNXM
- Region: China
Redmi K40 Pro+
- MIUI 13 Stable: V13.0.5.0.SKKCNXM
- Region: China
Redmi K40 Pro
- MIUI 13 Stable: V13.0.5.0.SKKCNXM
- Region: China

Just like the previous devices, the newest update for the aforementioned handsets is only live for the beta testers. If these early adopters don’t face any issues, then the software will be rolled out to the general public by the end of January as scheduled.

We expect the international rollout to begin sometime later in Q1 2022. For the uninitiated, the Mi 11 Pro and the Xiaomi MIX 4 are not sold outside mainland China. On the other hand, the Redmi K40 Pro+ is known as Mi 11X Pro in India and Mi 11i elsewhere.

Xiaomi 11i series launched in India with Dimensity 920 5G and 120W Hypercharge support

By

Zohaib Ahmed

-

Jan 6, 2022

Xiaomi had lifted the curtains on the Redmi Note 11 series in China in October 2021. And given its compelling specs, it wasn’t surprising when the company managed to sell 500,000 units within an hour. While the devices are yet to make it globally, Indian users waiting to get their hands and on them will now finally be able to do so.

A product launch announcing the Xiaomi 11i 5G and Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge 5G was held on Thursday. While both come with nearly the same specifications, there is a key difference in their charging capabilities — just like the naming scheme implies. The Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge 5G supports the ultrafast 120W charging standard while the Xiaomi 11i opts for a less zealous 67W rating.

However, there is another major difference — the Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge features a 4500mAh battery, which is a tad smaller than the 5160mAh packed into the Xiaomi 11i. Also included are 34 charging and battery safety features, spanning the entire charging path from the charger to the circuit to the battery.

Other than this, you get MediaTek Dimensity 920 on both of the models, which in terms of benchmarks scores only around 30% lower than the flagship Dimensity 1200 chip. The display is a 6.67” 120Hz FHD+ AMOLED with a peak brightness of 1200nits. It is protected by Gorilla Glass 5. For audio, you get dual symmetrical stereo speakers with Dolby.

Moving on to the optics department, both the 11i and 11i Hypercharge again come with identical camera specifications with a triple camera setup at the rear. It is comprised of a 108MP (1/1.52″) primary shooter, complemented by an 8MP ultrawide angle lens and a 2MP macro lens. Upfront, there is a 16MP selfie camera with an aperture of f/2.45, housed within a centrally aligned punch hole.

Speaking of design, the Xiaomi 11i series adopts a boxier body with flat edges. The back panel is made of AG glass with a matte finish. Both phones have the same thickness at 8.3mm but the HyperCharge model is lighter at 204g than the vanilla model’s 207g. The bezels surrounding the screen are slim enough, although the chin does have a bit of a height. The fingerprint is present on the side and the 3.5mm headphone jack is retained.

Color options of the Xiaomi 11i series include Camo Green, Pacific Pearl, Purple Mist, and Stealth Black.

Xiaomi 11i is launched in two variants — 6GB+128GB at INR 24,999 and 8GB+128 GB at INR 26,999. Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge is launched in two variants — 6GB + 128GB at INR 26,999 and 8GB + 128GB at INR 28,999.

Both phones will be up for grabs through Mi.com, Flipkart.com, Mi Home, Mi Studio, and authorized retail partners starting January 12th.

RELATED:

A new Samsung 45W PD charger is coming for Galaxy S22 Ultra, Galaxy S22+

By

Sudarshan Ravichandran

-

Jan 6, 2022

Samsung is expected to debut the Galaxy S22 series in February. Ahead of that, the official charger meant for these upcoming smartphones has emerged in an image. Let’s check out what the picture has to say.

Popular tipster Rolan Quandt has shared an image showcasing the retail box of a forthcoming Samsung charger. As per the picture, the product will be officially called ‘45W PD Power Adapter’.

The name of the charger confirms the support for USB PD (Power Delivery). We believe that it may be compatible with PPS (Programmable Power Supply) as well.

Further, the image reveals that the power adapter will have a compact design and a single USB Type-C port. It will also ship with a 1.8m 5A USB Type-C to Type-C cable.

For the unaware, the current-gen 45W charger from Samsung bears model number EP-TA845XBNG and ships with a shorter 1m USB cable. This power adapter only works with the Galaxy Note10+ and Galaxy Tab S7+ at its true potential. That’s because no other Samsung smartphone or tablet has support for 45W fast charging.

The yet-to-release Galaxy S22+ and Galaxy S22 Ultra are said to arrive with 45W fast charging support. This new charger will reportedly fill the batteries of these phones from 0% to 70% in 30 minutes.

ASUS Zenbook 17 FOLD and Zenbook 14 OLED laptops unveiled at CES 2022

By

Jeet

-

Jan 6, 2022

Many computer manufacturers have announced their new devices and among them is ASUS which has announced its latest ZenBook 14 2022 lineup at the CES 2022. The company has announced two new models — ASUS ZenBook 14 OLED and ASUS ZenBook 17 Fold.

ASUS ZenBook 14 OLED

The ASUS ZenBook 14 OLED features a 14-inch OLED display that offers a screen resolution of 2880 x 1800 pixels, a 16:10 aspect ratio, 550-nit brightness, DCI-P3 color gamut, a 90Hz refresh rate, and a 0.2ms response time.

It is offered in separate versions powered by the latest processors from Intel and AMD. The devices powered by the Intel 12th generation Core H-series chips pack DDR5 RAM while the models with AMD Ryzen come with DDR4x RAM.

They come with up to 1TB PCIe storage and there’s also an extra M.2 slot available for further expanding the storage capacity. There are several ports, including two USB-C connections, a single USB-A port, HDMI 2.0, a headphone jack, and a microSD card slot.

For connectivity, it comes with WiFi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2 support. In the models powered by the Intel CPU, the two USB-C ports will offer Thunderbolt 4 connectivity. The device packs a 75Whr battery.

As of now, the company has not announced the pricing details for the ZenBook 14 OLED but ASUS has promised to share more information when the device go on sale sometime around the second half of the year.

ASUS ZenBook 17 Fold

We have seen several smartphones with a foldable display and even laptops adopted the same. Now, ASUS is joining the list with the launch of its ZenBook 17 Fold which comes with a foldable OLED screen.

When the device is fully opened, it offers a 17.3-inch OLED display with QHD screen resolution of 2560 x 1920 pixels, a 4:3 aspect ratio, 100% DCI-P3 color gamut, 0.2ms response time, and a 90 Hz refresh rate with Dolby Vision support.

Upon partially folding the device and positioning the keyboard on the bottom half, the device can effectively be used as a 12.5-inch laptop with Full HD screen resolution.

The company has not revealed the chip that is powering the device and has just said that it is powered by “the latest Intel CPU” with integrated graphics. As for memory, it packs up to 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 1TB NVMe M.2 SSD storage.

For connectivity, the device supports Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2 but coming to ports, there’s only Thunderbolt 4 USB-C port and a 3.5mm combo audio jack. The device also has Dolby Atmos quad-speaker system and everything is powered by a 75Wh capacity battery.

ASUS has not revealed the pricing details for the ZenBook 17 Fold but the device could get launched around Computex in May this year.

RELATED:

Meizu has scheduled a launch event for January 12

By

Sudarshan Ravichandran

-

Jan 6, 2022

Meizu no longer has a presence in international markets. However, the company continues to introduce new products in its home market China. Earlier today, the firm announced that it will be holding its first launch event of 2022 next week.

Meizu has scheduled a launch event in China for January 12. The conference will kickstart at 2:30 PM (GMT+8). Interested fans of the company can live stream the event on the firm’s official social media handles on Weibo and others.

According to the official announcement, Meizu might not unveil its self-branded products. Instead, there will be products from the company’s sub-brands like Lipro, Pandaer, and Mblu.

Although the firm is yet to confirm it, we think that the conference could witness the launch of the first-ever Mblu-branded smartphone in years. This device is expected to go official as ‘mblu 10’ with model number M2110

TENAA has already revealed the primary specs of this 4G-only handset. It is expected to arrive with a 6.5-inch HD+ display (LCD) sporting a dewdrop notch, a 2GHz octa-core processor, a triple camera setup, a 5,000mAh battery, 10W charging, 9.3mm thickness, 201g weight. Finally, it will be available in three colors (white, green, black).

Realme 9i product page images appear to confirm specifications, features

By

Anvinraj Valiyathara

-

Jan 6, 2022

The Realme 9i is scheduled to go official on Jan. 10 in Vietnam. The rumor mill has already leaked its renders and specifications. A few days ahead of the launch, tipster Sudhanshu Ambhore has shared screenshots of a product listing of the Realme 9i. The images have once again confirmed the key features of the smartphone.

The Realme 9i has a 6.6-inch IPS LCD screen with a punch-hole design. It offers a Full HD+ resolution of 1080 x 2412 pixels, a 90Hz refresh rate, and a 180Hz touch sampling rate. The phone promises a screen-to-body ratio of 90.8 percent. It is fitted with a side-facing fingerprint scanner.

Cameras, Battery, Charging
(2/4) pic.twitter.com/7NG38TczUW

— Sudhanshu Ambhore (@Sudhanshu1414) January 6, 2022

The device features a 16-megapixel camera for capturing selfies. The rear camera setup has a 50-megapixel primary camera with an f/1.8 aperture, a 2-megapixel B&W portrait lens, and a 2-megapixel macro camera. It will come preinstalled with Realme UI 2.0 based Android 11.

The Realme 9i is powered by the 6nm Snapdragon 680 chipset. Reports have claimed that it may come with up to 8 GB of RAM depending on the market. The handset offers up to 128GB of storage. For audiophiles, the 9i has dual stereo speakers with Hi-Res Audio support.

Color options, Design
(3/4) pic.twitter.com/7Ry9IcUdXS

— Sudhanshu Ambhore (@Sudhanshu1414) January 6, 2022

A 5,000mAh battery is present under the hood of the Realme 9i. The handset will arrive with support for 33W fast charging. It will be available for purchase in two colors such as Prism Black and Prism Blue.

RELATED:

Motorola Edge 30 Pro launch timeframe tipped

By

Anvinraj Valiyathara

-

Jan 6, 2022

Last month, Motorola announced the Moto Edge X30 smartphone in China. It debuted as the world’s first phone powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. Fresh information reveals that the company is internally testing a new device called the Motorola Edge 30 Pro for Asian markets. According to tipster Mukul Sharma and 91mobiles, the Edge 30 Pro will be launching in a month or two.

It is not the first time the rumor mill has spoken about the Motorola Edge 30 Pro. The unannounced model was recently spotted with Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip, 12 GB of RAM, and Android 12 OS on the Geekbench benchmarking site. It seems that the Edge 30 Pro could be an enhanced version of the Edge X30.

The tipster claimed that the device has been approved by multiple certification platforms. The handset is also expected to land in India, but its exact moniker for the Indian market is yet to be revealed.

Moto Edge X30 specifications

The Moto Edge X30 has a 6.7-inch OLED FHD+ display that offers a 144Hz refresh rate. It has a 60-megapixel front-facing camera and a 50-megapixel (main) + 50-megapixel (ultrawide) + 2-megapixel (depth) triple camera unit. It runs on MYUI 3.0 based Android 12 OS.

The Edge X30 has Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip, up to 12 GB of LPDDR5 RAM, and 256 GB of UFS 3.1 storage. The device has a 5,000mAh battery that supports 68W fast charging.

RELATED:

Huawei MateBook X Pro 2022 goes on sale in China with a starting price of 9,299 yuan ($1,458)

By

Jeet

-

Jan 6, 2022

Huawei has shifted its focus from smartphones to other products and the company is giving more attention to its MateBook lineup of laptops. Last month, the company had announced the MateBook X Pro 2022 in the Chinese market.

Today, the Huawei MateBook X Pro 2022 laptop is finally available for purchase in China. It comes in three different configurations and can be purchased through the company’s official store on JD.com.

The base model with Core i5 processor, 16GB RAM, and 512GB SSD costs 9,499 yuan (~$1,490) but for the first sale, it is priced at 9,299 yuan (~$1458). On the other hand, the Core i7 model with 16GB RAM and 512GB, which costs 10,499 yuan (~$1,647) will be available for 10,299 yuan (~$1,615).

The Core i7, 16GB RAM, and 1TB storage model is priced at 12,499 yuan (~$1,960) but will be available at a discounted price of 12,299 (~$1,929) for the first sale in China.

The MateBook X Pro 2022 from Huawei features a 14.2-inch display, which is a bit bigger compared to the 13.9-inch panel in its predecessor. It comes with a 3120 x 2080 pixels screen resolution, 90Hz refresh rate, 500nit brightness, and a P3 color gamut. The company is also claiming a 92.5 percent screen-to-body ratio and adds that the laptop uses 3D Lut professional color calibration scheme.

Under the hood, the device comes powered by Intel’s 11th generation processors. The base model is packed with a Core i5-1155G7 chipset and the other model is powered by the Core i7-1195G7 processor, coupled with 16GB RAM and up to 1TB SSD storage.

It comes with dual fans, three air inlets, and ultra-thin air-cooled VC for improving heat dissipation, which ultimately improves the device’s performance. The product uses a pressure trackpad, supports a variety of convenient gestures, including air gestures.

The laptop is also equipped with Huawei Sound 6 speakers. It is also equipped with Huawei Super Terminal that supports connecting multiple devices for data sharing. The device ships with a 90W GaN charger in the box.

RELATED:

Razer and Fossil launches limited edition Gen 6 smartwatch for $329 at CES

By

Jeet

-

Jan 6, 2022

Razer, the company known for making gaming products, has partnered with smartwatch maker Fossil to launch a special edition smartwatch which has been announced at the ongoing CES 2022.

The two companies together have announced the Razer x Fossil Gen 6 smartwatch at CES 2022. As you would expect from the device’s name, this is a themed version of the existing smartwatch running Wear OS.

This new smartwatch comes with Razer-themed green and black colored straps and packs three themed watch faces included in the software — Chroma, Text, and Analog.

Unlike the original Fossil Gen 6 smartwatch which is offered in two different sizes — 42mm and 44mm, this new version made with Razer is offered only in a single 44mm size and packs some unique interface elements.

As for the software, the device is running Google’s Wear OS 2 but similar to the original Fossil watch, there are plans to upgrade it to Wear OS 3 sometime later this year. Under the hood, it comes powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 4100 Plus chipset.

Other features on the wearable device include GPS, a heart rate sensor, an Sp02 blood oxygen sensor, and Bluetooth 5.0 LE connectivity. It will also get support for Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant.

This is a limited edition release and the two companies will only sell 1,337 units of this special edition smartwatch. It is priced at $329, a bit higher than the original product, and is set to be available for purchase from next week.

RELATED:

RedMagic 7 full specifications revealed through TENAA appearance

By

Anvinraj Valiyathara

-

Jan 6, 2022

A new Nubia device with model number NX679J has been spotted in the database of China’s TENAA certification platform. This NX679J was first spotted at the Bluetooth SIG with the RedMagic 7 moniker back in November 2021. It was certified by the 3C authority of China in December and now it is listed with its entire specs on TENAA.

RedMagic 7 specifications (rumoured)

The RedMagic 7 gaming smartphone measures 170.57 x 78.33 x 9.5mm and weighs 215 grams. It has a massive 6.8-inhc OLED screen that offers a Full HD+ resolution of 1080 x 2400 pixels. The screen is integrated with a fingerprint sensor. Unfortunately, the images of the device haven’t yet appeared in its TENAA listing.

The device is powered by an unknown 2.95GHz octa-core processor, which seems to be the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip. The device may arrive with 8 GB / 12 GB / 16 GB of RAM and storage versions like 128 GB / 256 GB / 512 GB.

The camera details of the RedMagic 7 are not clearly mentioned in the TENAA listing. It states that the device is equipped with a total of four cameras, which includes a 64-megapixel camera. Hence, it appears that RedMagic 7’s rear shell has a 64-megapixel triple camera unit.

The RedMagic 7 seemingly runs on the Android 12 OS. It has a 2,190mAh (rated value) dual-cell battery. The 3C certification of the device revealed that it may ship with a 165W charger. The RedMagic 6 came with a 5,050mAh battery that carried support for 66W fast charging. Since the RedMagic 7 is expected to arrive with a faster 165W charger, it may house a smaller battery of around 4,500mAh capacity. Lastly, the device will come in colors like green, black, red, and blue gradient.

RELATED:

Acer announces new Swift X powered by Intel’s 12th generation processor and Arc GPU

By

Jeet

-

Jan 6, 2022

Many new and updated laptops have been announced at the ongoing Consumer Electronics Show 2022, and joining the bandwagon is Acer, which has announced the updated lineup of its Swift X ultraportable laptops.

There are two Acer Swift X models, one featuring a 14-inch display and another with a 16-inch display. However, both the devices come powered by Intel’s new 12th generation processors and one of them packs Intel Arc GPU.

The 14-inch Acer Swift X features a screen resolution of 2240 x 1400 pixels while the 16-inch model comes with up to 2560 x 1600 pixels screen resolution. Both the models come with support for a 16:10 aspect ratio.

Under the hood, the devices come powered by a new 12th-generation Intel Core processor paired with the new Arc graphics processor from Intel. That is paired with up to 32GB of LPDDR5 RAM and up to 2TB SSD storage.

The 14-inch model is available with Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 3050 Ti laptop GPU or integrated graphics. Both the models run the Windows 11 operating system out-of-the-box.

They come with two Thunderbolt 4 ports, two USB-A ports, an HDMI 2.0 port, and a fingerprint reader. The laptops are lightweight too as the company says the 14-inch model weighs 3.09 lbs, while the 16-inch model weighs 3.95 lbs.

As of now, Acer hasn’t announced pricing or availability for the new Swift X laptops, so we don’t know exactly when or at what cost you’ll be able to get your hands on them. However, the devices are expected to be available in the UK by the end of February or the start of March.

RELATED:

Samsung Flex S, Flex G, Flex Note, and Flex Slidable showcased at the CES 2022

By

Pranav Sawant

-

Jan 5, 2022

While brands like Motorola, Oppo, and Huawei have tried the foldable beat in the past, they’re still yet to catch up to what’s Samsung’s forecasting for its foldable tech. At CES 2022, Samsung has showcased a few new foldable products like the Samsung Flex S foldable, Flex G foldable, Flex Note, and the Flex Slidable.

Samsung Flex S — Image courtesy – SamMobiles

Samsung has showcased the “S” foldable and “G” foldable phones at the event. The Flex S fold is what it sounds like, the large screen would open us as a big tablet and it folds in a three-way design. As seen in the video below, when it’s unfolded, it forms the shape of the letter S.

On the other hand, the Flex G is an inward folding device. It again folds in three-way but it can be folded in such ways that the screen stays hidden, which is unlike the Flex S. It seems that the S fold design is better for large-screen devices, while the G fold is good for both the small displays and big screens.

Coming to the Samsung Flex Note, it isn’t any other Galaxy Note phone device. Rather, it is Samsung’s take on foldable notebooks and laptops.

The Flex Note has a large screen and is a two-way folding design. As simple as it sounds, it will look like a laptop, but without a keyboard, however, you can use the rest of the part of the screen as a keyboard. Not just a keyboard, it can be tweaked to work as a drawing pad or as a timeline in video editing software.

The Flex Slidable is something similar to Oppo’s X 2021, offering great space of use and more screen real estate. Samsung reveals that the display of the Flex Slidable can slide out with a press of a button and can be used as a sidebar for accessing apps directly from the home screen.

While this foldable technology appears to be quite intriguing, it may take some time to actually materialise.

RELATED:

Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 3 packs a 17-inch screen & a second 8-inch screen near the keyboard

By

Jed John Ikoba

-

Jan 5, 2022

One of the highlights of Lenovo‘s lineup of products on display during CES 2022 is the Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 3 laptop. The laptop which is in its third iteration has an 8-inch secondary display to complement its main 17-inch screen. The ThinkBook Plus Gen 3 will be available from May 2022 at a starting price of $1,399.

Lenovo moved the second panel down to the keyboard deck, transforming it to a full-color LCD. The laptop’s main screen is a 17.3 inch IPS display with 3K resolution. The 8-inch 800 x 1,280 LCD features an integrated digitizer layer and supports a stylus. The ThinkBook Plus Gen 3 runs on Windows 11 with several orientations and options available.

The transitions between the two displays could be a potential drag for the ThinkBook Plus Gen 3. There could be bugs in the ecosystem that significantly slowed down the secondary screen. The ThinkBook Plus Gen 3 has the 12th-generation Intel Core processor with 32GB of RAM and a 69 Whr battery.

Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 3 — (Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

Some of the other products showcased by Lenovo include the ThinkBook and ThinkCentre family of business-focused laptops. The ThinkBook 13x Gen 2 can work with a “Wireless Multi-Device Charging Mat” to recharge Qi-compatible devices while also powering the laptop itself. The ThinkCentre Neo lineup consists of three desktop systems for small and medium businesses.

All-electric BMW iX model with a paint job that changes colour surfaces at CES 2022

By

Jed John Ikoba

-

Jan 5, 2022

If you are a fan of Rockstar Games’ Grand Theft Auto (GTA) collection, you agree that one of the cool features that come in very handy is the ability to drive into a car paint workshop and get a new paint job when the cops are on your tail. German automaker BMW is about making that an easy job that can be accomplished with just a button. According to a recent tweet, BMW has showcased an innovative paint scheme that automatically changes between two different colors. The feature was demonstrated on the all-electric BMW iX.

Before now, BMW had reportedly confirmed that it will perform a demo of “a technology that changes the exterior color of a vehicle with the touch of a button.” The company stopped short of providing further details regarding the technology at play but a demonstration was indeed carried out. A video of the technology in action was shared by Twitter user @Out_of_Spec.

The short video provides us with a view of the iX having a dark grey color and within a split second, the color rapidly changes to white. The process was apparently activated by the man standing next to the SUV with perhaps the press of a single button. The transformation is so cool and fast that is hard to believe it isn’t a video effect of some sort.

This color changing @BMWUSA #iX is wild! It’s apparently very temperature sensitive so they have a backup in a trailer in case this one gets too hot / cold pic.twitter.com/lXG1Gw0IKY

— Out of Spec Studios (@Out_of_Spec) January 4, 2022

The technology is definitely in its infancy and will be some light years away from becoming commercial, that is if it ever does. The tipster even disclosed that the paint technology is extremely temperature-sensitive and that the carmaker has got a backup EV in the pool should the one being demoed get too hot or cold.

We doubt if this feature will come out anytime soon as it looks likely to be more useful to criminals than the regular car owners. But then, with proper regulation, it would be fun changing the color of your car without visiting the auto body paint shop.

RELATED:

Realme GT 2 Pro vs Xiaomi 12 Pro: Specs Comparison

By

Michele Ingelido

-

Jan 5, 2022

Realme and Xiaomi just launched two premium flagships which might become the best-selling flagship phones of 2022. Their latest top-tier models are simply amazing and they have almost no compromises if compared to the other most expensive phones out there. This year it will be a hard fight between these two handsets, especially because they come with similar specifications. But which one is the best? We hope to answer this question through this comparison between the specifications of the Realme GT 2 Pro and the Xiaomi 12 Pro. Note that both these phones are only available in China for now, but they will expand to the global markets later in the first quarter of 2022.

Realme GT 2 Pro vs Xiaomi 12 Pro

	Realme GT 2 Pro	Xiaomi 12 Pro
DIMENSIONS AND WEIGHT	163.2 x 74.7 x 8.2 mm, 189/199 g	163.6 x 74.6 x 8.2 mm, 204 g
DISPLAY	6.7 inches, 1440 x 3216 pixels (Quad HD+), AMOLED	6.73 inches, 1440 x 3200 pixels (Quad HD+), LTPO AMOLED
PROCESSOR	Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, octa-core 3 GHz	Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, octa-core 3 GHz
MEMORY	8 GB RAM, 128 GB – 8 GB RAM, 256 GB – 12 GB RAM, 256 GB – 12 GB RAM, 512 GB	8 GB RAM, 128 GB – 8 GB RAM, 256 GB – 12 GB RAM, 256 GB
SOFTWARE	Android 12, Realme UI	Android 12, MIUI
CONNECTIVITY	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6, Bluetooth 5.2, GPS	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6, Bluetooth 5.2, GPS
CAMERA	Triple 50 + 50 + 3 MP, f/1.8 + f/2.2 + f/3.0 32 MP f/2.4 front camera	Triple 50 + 50 + 50 MP, f/1.9 + f/1.9 + f/2.2 32 MP front camera
BATTERY	5000 mAh, fast charging 65W	4600 mAh, Fast Charging 120W, Fast wireless charging 50W
ADDITIONAL FEATURES	5G, dual SIM	5G, dual SIM, reverse wireless charging

Design

With the GT 2 Pro and the vanilla version GT 2, Realme managed to create a new kind of sustainable material reducing the CO2 emissions and providing a very innovative touch & feel. Two of the color options of the Realme GT 2 Pro are made with a special bio-based polymer that resembles the tactile feedback of the paper, and the phone is designed in cooperation with the famous Japanese designer Naoto Fukasawa. Just for the materials, the Realme GT 2 Pro deserves an award for the design and it wins the design compared with the Xiaomi 12 Pro. It is also a slightly more compact and lighter phone.

Display

The displays of the Xiaomi 12 Pro and the Realme GT 2 Pro are simply amazing and they come with very similar specifications. They are AMOLED panels with the LTPO technology enabling an adaptive refresh rate from 1 to 120 Hz. They feature a Quad HD+ resolution with 1440p and they are able to show up to one billion colors with the HDR10+ certification. They also come with an in-display fingerprint scanner for authentication. Both these displays received the vote A+ after being reviewed by DisplayMate. There is still no clear winner as it is still too early to judge, but you should not notice any big difference between these two panels.

Specs & Software

The Realme GT 2 Pro and the Xiaomi 12 Pro are powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 mobile platform that is currently the best chipset by Qualcomm. It is an octa-core SoC built at 4 nm with a max frequency of 3 GHz, and it is paired with up to 12 GB of RAM. The higher-end version of the Realme GT 2 Pro wins the hardware comparison because it comes with up to 512 GB of internal storage, while Xiaomi 12 Pro stops at 256 GB; but this makes no difference in terms of performance. Realme GT 2 Pro and Xiaomi 12 Pro run Android 12 out of the box, customized by Realme UI 3.0 and MIUI 13, respectively.

Camera

While we still had no chance to thoroughly test the cameras of these two devices, the Xiaomi 12 Pro looks slightly more interesting on the paper. Both the phones come with a 50 MP main camera with OIS and a 50 MP ultrawide camera, but the Xiaomi 12 Pro is the only one to feature a telephoto sensor (with 2x optical zoom) and it is a 50 MP camera as well. The Realme GT 2 Pro replaces the telephoto camera with a 3 MP microscope camera with 40x magnification: an interesting sensor, but definitely less loved than a telephoto lens. On the other hand, the Realme GT 2 Pro has an ultrawide camera with a wider FOV: up to 150 degrees.

Read More: Xiaomi 12, Xiaomi 12 Pro, and Xiaomi 12X flagship phones officially launched

Battery

The Realme GT 2 Pro wins the battery comparison simply because it packs a bigger battery: the capacity is 5000 mAh, while Xiaomi 12 Pro has just 4600 mAh of capacity. Despite that, the thickness of these two phones is the same. While the Realme GT 2 Pro provides a longer battery life, the Xiaomi 12 Pro has faster charging speeds thanks to 120W fast charging and, unlike its rival, it even supports wireless charging with blazing speeds thanks to a power of 50W.

Price

The starting price of the Realme GT 2 Pro in China roughly translates into €460/$520, while you need at least €650/$735 for the Xiaomi 12 Pro. The Xiaomi 12 Pro is a superior device thanks to its telephoto camera, faster charging capabilities, and wireless charging, but the Realme GT 2 Pro offers a bigger battery while providing a higher value for money thanks to its affordable price. Which one would you pick?

Realme GT 2 Pro vs Xiaomi 12 Pro: PRO and CONS

Realme GT 2 Pro

PRO

Innovative materials
Ultrawide camera with 150° FOV
Bigger battery
Up to 512 GB of storage

CONS

Inferior cameras

Xiaomi 12 Pro

PRO

Amazing cameras
Faster charging
Wireless charging
IR blaster

CONS

Smaller battery

RELATED

Check the latest videos from our YouTube channel and subscribe:

Xiaomi 12 Ultra may never launch; Here’s why

By

Pranav Sawant

-

Jan 5, 2022

While Xiaomi already launched its flagship series, the Xiaomi 12 in China, it is yet to get the most powerful device in the series, the Xiaomi 12 Ultra. Rumors suggest that the phone may debut in the coming months with Leica powered cameras and flagship-grade specs. However, a new report on the Internet suggests that the Xiaomi 12 Ultra may never release.

Folks at xiaomiui came with a theory that suggests that the phone may not launch and won’t be on sale. Reportedly, Xiaomi introduced the Xiaomi 12 series in December 2021 carrying the following model numbers – L3 for Xiaomi 12 and L2 for Xiaomi 12 Pro. The L1 goes to the Xiaomi Mi Mix 5 Pro, an upcoming premium phone which is yet to launch. And, the L1A goes to the upcoming vanilla Mi Mix 5.

Xiaomi Mi 12 Ultra Concept renders — Image courtesy – LetsGoDigital

It reveals that the higher the number alongside the letter ‘L’ the higher it stands in the lineup. It further suggests that the L2 which is the Xiaomi 12 Pro is the most powerful phone in the Xiaomi 12 series, but, it shouldn’t be the case as the past rumors revealed that an even powerful phone dubbed Xiaomi 12 Ultra is incoming. But the L1 numbering which should have been reserved for the Ultra is already given to the Xiaomi Mi Mix 5 Pro, the upcoming powerful flagship.

Now, if we focus on the model numbers, Xiaomi 12 – 2201123C and Xiaomi 12 Pro – 2201122C. Here the initial two numbers ’22’ refers to the year 2022 hinting at the 2022 flagships of Xiaomi and 01 refers to the month January.

ben geskin xiaomi 12 ultra render — Credits: Ben Geskin

To corroborate, the upcoming Mi Mix 5 carries the model number 2203121AC, while the Mi Mix 5 Pro has the model number 2203121C. Again, here the 22 means the year 2022, while the 03 refers to the month of March. It goes in line with the rumored March launch of the Mi Mix 5 series.

Finally, the question arises where’s the Xiaomi 12 Ultra and why doesn’t it carry the numbering – L1? The publications suggest that it is not yet licensed and, hence reveal that the 12 Ultra may never launch.

Xiaomi 12 Ultra ❌
Xiaomi Mix 5 Pro✔️
Leica co branding pic.twitter.com/Q7a8FJwXeu

— Teme (特米)😷 (@RODENT950) January 5, 2022

In addition, a popular tipster nonverbally seems to have said that the Xiaomi 12 Ultra isn’t happening and instead the upcoming Xiaomi Mi Mix 5 Pro would take up its position. Even the L1 numbering for the Mix 5 Pro affirms it.

As per the aforementioned leaks, the Xiaomi 12 Ultra’s launch seems to be contingent. But as it doesn’t corroborate with any official statements, we’d recommend our readers to take it with a grain of salt, especially after the Xiaomi 12 Ultra’s numerous leaks which we see every day on the Internet.

RELATED:

Hisense unveils new U and A lineup of TVs with up to 4K-res and 120Hz refresh rate

By

Pranav Sawant

-

Jan 5, 2022

Chinese electronics maker Hisense launched a heap of new TV models at the CES 2022. The lineup includes premium models like the Hisense U9H, U8H, U7H, U6H and some affordable models like Hisense A7H, A6H, and A4H.

Hisense U9H

Starting with the Hisense U9H, the new TV is the top of the line model amongst the 2022 TV lineup. It comes with a 75-inch 4K display with Mini LEDs. It has a 120Hz refresh rate, 200 nits of brightness, and auto low latency mode.

It has premium features like the Game Mode Pro, FreeSync, and variable refresh rate(VRR). It has built-in speakers tuned by Dolby Atmos. It costs a hefty $3199 and will be available this summer.

Hisense U8H and U7H

Coming to the U8H and U7H, the former TV has the Mini LEDs technology, while the latter gets the QLED panel. Both come with a 120Hz refresh rate.

There’s also the 4k resolution support, however, the brightness goes down to 1500 nits on the U8H, but we are unsure about the U7H’s brightness. Both have FreeSynce, Dolby Vision IQ, and HDR10+ support. Apart from this, there are some minor differences between the two.

The U8H comes in 55-inch, 65-inch, and 75-inch starting at $1,099. On the other hand, the U7H comes has an additional 85-inch size, with the series starting at $799. Just like the U9H, the U8H & U7H will be available in Summer.

Hisense U6H

The U6H comes in screen sizes from 50 to 75 inches and has the standard 60Hz refresh rate. It has Dolby Atmos and supports quantum dot color.

The pricing of the U6H is unknown at the moment.

Hisense A7H, A6H, and A4H

The Hisense A7H, A6H, and A4H come in screen sizes from 32 to 85 inches. The A7H and A6H have Google TV support, while the A4H boots on Android TV. The A4H is the cheapest TV this year coming in 32-inch, 40-inch, and 43-inch sizes having an FHD resolution. The series starts at $199 and will be available in spring.

RELATED:

TP-Link prototype router self-adjusts its antennas to provide best WiFi signal

By

Sudhanshu

-

Jan 5, 2022

CES 2022 has seen some strange innovations so far, and one among them is the prototype WiFi router from TP-Link dubbed the Archer AXE200 Omni router.

The Prototype router features four antennas that fold out when switched on and automatically rotate around to find and provide the best possible signal for its users. The necessity and functionality of this feature are still debatable but the router is sure to provide some amusement to customers when they move around the room and the router’s antennas follow their movements.

However, when it comes to hardware and specs, the AXE200 is no joke. The WiFi 6E enabled router features tri-band speed, with the addition of a 6Ghz band in addition to the existing 5Ghz and 2.4Ghz bands. The new WiFi 6E has latency levels of 2-6 milliseconds which enables users to use this new band for low-latency applications such as mobile AR/VR, gaming, 4k/8k video streaming, etc.

For customers looking for a convention yet powerful WiFi router, TP-Link is also launching the Archer AXE300 quad-band router, which shares the same extraterrestrial design as the Archer AXE200. The AXE300 features WiFi 6E with two (duplicate) 5GHz bands in addition to the 6Ghz and 2.4Ghz bands. The price for this device is yet to be unveiled however TP-link has stated that it will be available in the market in Q2 of 2022.

RELATED:

(Source)

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra, Galaxy S22 camera and display specs revealed

By

Pranav Sawant

-

Jan 5, 2022

Rumors are rife that we might see this year’s Samsung flagship series, the Galaxy S22 early next month. Despite getting leaked several times, Samsung is yet to tease it officially. Well before it even happens, there’s yet another leak and this time around we get to learn the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra’s camera hardware. Additionally, the display details of the vanilla S22 were also unwrapped.

XEETECHCARE affirms that the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra will borrow the design from the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra. Reportedly, the S22 Ultra will have almost the same design as the Note 20 Ultra but with some slight changes such as the tweak on the camera island.

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra Render Leak via Evan Blass

The smartphone is touted to come with a quad-camera system at the rear. It will go by a 108MP Super Clear lens with an f/1.8 aperture and OIS support. The lens is said to restrict any reflection or glares, hence the naming.

It will be accompanied by a 10MP telephoto lens with 3x zoom and f/2.4 aperture. There will be another 10MP lens with 10x zoom and an f/4.9 aperture. Lastly, there will be a 12MP ultra-wide camera with f/2.2 aperture. Upfront, it will equip a 40MP shooter with an f/2.2 aperture.

Furthermore, the leak also reveals the possible specs of the phone. The Galaxy S22 Ultra is said to come with a 6.8-inch QHD+(3080 x 1440 pixels) Dynamic AMOLED 2X screen. It will be powered by the 4nm Exynos 2200 SoC, at least for some markets.

Samsung Galaxy S22 Render Leak (Black) — Samsung Galaxy S22. Image courtesy – 91Mobiles

It will be paired with 8GB or 12GB of RAM and 128GB, 256GB, or 512GB of onboard storage. As for the battery, the phone is tipped to have a 5,000mAh cell. The S22 Ultra, just like the S21 Ultra, will also have an S-Pen support. The smartphone may come in four color variants like the Phantom White, Phantom Black, Green, and Burgundy.

Moreover, some specs for the vanilla Galaxy S22 were also revealed. The smartphone may come with a 6.1-inch FHD+(2340 X 1080 pixels) Dynamic AMOLED 2X display and have a triple rear camera system. The device could arrive in Phantom Black, Phantom White, and Green colors.

RELATED: