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Xiaomi launches the MIJIA Zero-Cold Water Gas Water Heater S1

Xiaomi has launched the MIJIA Zero Cold Water Gas Water Heater in CHina. The water heater is touted to be the brand’s first zero-cold water gas water heater. It carries a starting price of 2,399 yuan (~$376) but is now on pre-sale for 1999 yuan (~$313) on Xiaomi Mall.MIJIA Zero Cold Water Gas Water Heater S1

The major selling point of the product is that owners won’t need to wait for the water in the tan to get hot as it provides instant hot water. The device has an 18L and it preheats the water, including that in the pipe. This ensures the flow of hot water when the shower is turned on. The heater equally features a ±0.5℃ precision control constant temperature system.

The installation of the portable gadget won’t require homeowners to change the pipes that will supply hot water. Also, it can be installed with or without the return pipe. The water heater uses the DC variable frequency water pump and different boosting modes can be selected according to the water demand.

The water heater is equipped with 3 major temperature control elements, providing real-time sensing of water temperature changes. Also, water and air are adjusted in equal proportion. The temperature difference is accurately controlled at 0.5″C thus preventing sudden changes in water temperature during switching on and off. MIJIA Zero Cold Water Gas Water Heater S1

Thanks to the segmented fire control, the heating temperature control is more precise. When the water temperature demand is low, the low firepower is automatically used, and the water temperature can be set as low as 35°C. When the hot water demand is high, it automatically switches to high firepower to meet the demand. The device supports four bathing modes, including adult wash (43℃), comfortable wash (41℃), children wash (39℃), and kitchen use (36℃).

The MIJIA Zero Cold Water Gas Water Heater S1 also supports the interconnection of various devices in the entire house, linking smart door locks, human sensors, and other devices to customize the bathing scene you want.

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Realme GT 2 Pro image samples reveal a highly capable camera setup

Earlier today, Realme revealed the key specifications regarding their upcoming Realme GT 2 Pro’s triple camera setup. And now, the brand has released photo samples taken by the GT 2 Pro to give us an idea of what to expect from the device in photographic capabilities.

The Realme GT 2 Pro will feature a triple camera setup. The device is revealed to have a 50-megapixel Sony IMX766 sensor with OIS anti-shake functionality. The GT 2 Pro features a 50-megapixel ultrawide sensor which offers an industry-first 150-degree of field-of-view.

Realme GT 2 Pro ultrawide sample

The ultra-wide samples showcase an excellent image quality with the center and edges of the images retaining excellent details and sharpness. The color intensity also appears to be accurate, delivering a natural-looking picture.

Realme GT 2 Pro fisheye mode sample

Next up, we have a sample of the fisheye mode of the ultra-wide. This is the first time this feature has been included in a smartphone and produces an ultra-long depth of field effect for creative photography.

Realme GT 2 Pro microscope samples

The third sample provided by the Realme is of the device’s 2-megapixel microscope camera. The image features the details of the condensed salt in the Gobi Desert. The microscope lens captures objects that cannot be seen by the naked eye.

Additionally, Digital Chat Station has revealed that the Realme GT2 Pro’s microscope lens has upgraded its depth of field by 4 times and the object distance by nearly 2 times. He added that it can detect skin to reveal its quality and water content.

The Realme GT 2 Pro along with the realme GT 2 is expected to debut in China on January 4, 2022. Based on the leaks and rumors, the Realme GT 2 Pro is expected to feature a 6.7-inch QHD+ 120Hz AMOLED display, a 32-megapixel front-facing camera, Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, up to 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM, up to 1TB of UFS 3.1 storage, and 65W fast charging support.

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Tomb Raider Trilogy is FREE to claim on Epic Games Store right now!

The Epic Games Store 15 game giveaway which commenced in the spirit of the holiday season has now reached its climax, and the company has ended it with a bang. The latest addition to the free giveaway is the Tomb Raider trilogy.

The trilogy features the reboot games of the famous Tomb Raider saga and includes the Tomb Raider game of the year edition, Rise of the Tomb Raider, and the latest addition to the franchise, Shadow of the Tomb Raider.

The game combines action-adventure, exploration, and survival mechanics and gives the players control of the series lead character Lara Croft. The trilogy features different geographical settings starting with Lara Croft being trapped on the shrouded island of Yamatai off the coast of Japan, to the harsh Siberian tundra hiding an immortal secret in Rise of the Tomb Raider, and finally to the mountainous landscape of Peru to uncover a cataclysmic power in Shadow of the Tomb Raider.

The Trilogy promises dozens of hours of breathtaking exploration, challenging puzzle-solving, and survival combat with Lara as she becomes the Tomb Raider she was destined to become.

The giveaway is currently live and will go on till January 7th, 2022. So players have till then to claim the three games for free from the Epic Games Store. Epic has offered a larger window for their final game compared to their previous giveaways this holiday season, so claim yours now!

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Samsung’s Exynos 2200 flagship chipset will be announced on January 11, 2022

Earlier this month, Qualcomm announced the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC, while MediaTek launched its Dimensity 9000 flagship chipset. These chipsets will be seen in flagship phones next year, and in fact, some newly launched phones are already using the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC. Now, it seems like it’s Samsung’s turn as today, it has officially revealed that its next Exynos processor dubbed Exynos 2200 will be announced in early January 2022.

Samsung Exynos 2200 Release Date and Specs 

Samsung

The Exynos 2200, Samsung’s in-house processor for flagship phones will be announced on January 11, 2022. The company has teased the new chipset with the hashtag #PlaytimeIsOver hinting at its performance. But unfortunately, the company has not revealed any explicit details about the processor.

What we know is that the company won’t be using a 4nm process like the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, but it may have the same 5nm process as seen in the Exynos 2100. This time around, the new Exynos 2200 will drive graphics from AMD’s RDNA2 GPU which is seen in PC and consoles. That said, it will come with impressive features like ray-tracing and variable rate shading.

The Exynos 2200 will be an octa-core chipset with one Cortex-X2 CPU core, three Cortex-A710 CPU cores, and four Cortex-A510 CPU cores. It is also expected to have an improved 5G modem, better image signal processing, and enhanced  AI processing.

It is evident that the Exynos 2200 will be in the upcoming Samsung flagships like the Galaxy S22, Galaxy S22+, and Galaxy S22 Ultra in some markets. The rest of the markets including India and China will get the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 powered  Galaxy S22 units.

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MIUI TV Enterprise Edition released for Businesses in China

Xiaomi on Wednesday released custom skins for all of its devices. The company updated the MIUI 12.5 with the new MIUI 13 custom skin for phones, launched the MIUI 13 Pad OS for Tablets, MIUI Watch and MIUI Home for the smartwatches & smart home gadgets. Interestingly, the company also released the all-new MIUI TV Enterprise Edition for Businesses in China. Let’s have a look at the new business-centric UI’s features and release timeline.

MIUI TV Enterprise Edition

The MIUI TV Enterprise Edition comes with a bucketful of features for the television displays at business meetings. Xiaomi claims that with MIUI TV Enterprise Edition, the presentations carried out at the seminars would be a convenient task.

As for the features, the MIUI 13 comes with pre-built rich enterprise templates. It also supports mobile phone uploads, meaning that one can easily have control over what’s being presented on the screen. With phones, users can also manage and play movies, videos, and TV shows.

MIUI TV Enterprise Edition

The MIUI TV Enterprise Edition also comes with a guest Wi-Fi feature where visitors in the meeting can easily surface the web on the guest network. The new user interface will work seamlessly with the Xiaomi Paipai.

Regarding its support & release plans, the MIUI TV Enterprise Edition will arrive on the first batch of TVs like the Redmi MAX TV 86-inch(in January 2022) and Redmi Max TV 98-inch( in March 2022). The second phase of the release plan will start from April 2022 and will include Mi TV ES55, 65, 75 2022 models and Redmi Smart TV X55, 65, 75 2022 models.

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OnePlus 10 Pro (NE2210) with 12GB RAM appears on GeekBench

OnePlus may launch its next-gen flagship in no distant time and so it is hardly a surprise that the device is getting benchmarked and certified on multiple platforms. But then, we get to see the key features that the flagship model is expected to come with. The OnePlus 10 Pro has now been certified on GeekBench.OnePlus 10 Pro Render Leak

The Geekbench appearance comes not too long after the model made an appearance on China 3C quality certification platform showing the device will come with 80W fast charging support. The device hits Geekbench with the model number NE2210 which is similar to that of the 3C website. OnePlus 10 Pro

The listing shows the device will have 12 GB RAM and will run on the Android 12 operating system. The phone will be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset. The device obtained a single-core score of 976 and a multi-core score of 3,469. The score is lower than the OnePlus 9 and 9 Pro scores but the likely explanation is that this model may not have been optimized for the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. It is also possible that the company may have underclocked the device in order to preserve the battery life.

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ASUS ROG Flow Z13 tablet launch date announced, claims to be the most powerful gaming tablet yet

At the start of November, we reported on leaks indicating that ASUS might be planning to launch a new notebook that will be the successor to the ROG Flow X13. Now, a new leak has surfaced revealing that the device might actually be a tablet.

Image

According to the tweet by ROG Global, the upcoming ASUS tablet dubbed the ROG Flow Z13 is slated to launch on January 4th at 11 AM PST. The announcement comes with a poster that claims that the device will be the world’s most powerful gaming tablet.

The teaser image posted by ASUS appears to confirm that the tablet will have an XG Mobile connector. The presence of the XG Mobile connector confirms that the upcoming device will support the external eGPU (external GPU) from the Taiwanese PC maker. This external GPU is called the XG Mobile that could boost the gaming performance of the thin and light convertible tablet. Apart from just gaming, the eGPU also acts as a USB dock that offered a number of ports.

ASUS ROG Flow Z13

Additionally, the presence of XG Mobile connector also means that the tablet is Windows-based and will target the same market Microsoft Surface Pro 8 does, which are powerful 2-in-1 convertibles.

Since the tablet is a spiritual successor of the ASUS ROG Flow X13, it is expected to come featuring the upcoming AMD Ryzen 6000 series APUs. The Ryzen 6000 series APUs feature Zen 3 CPU and RDNA 2 GPU architectures with significant improvements in the Vega iGPU department. The APUs are expected to perform on par with Nvidia’s GTX 1050 Ti and ever deliver an experience close to the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650.

As mentioned in the poster, the device will be released on January 4th i.e. CES 2022. So stay tuned as we will be covering the launch event.

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OriginOS Ocean public beta builds rolled out to 13 vivo and iQOO devices

A total of 13 models from both vivo and iQOO got updated to public beta versions of OceanOS Ocean today in China. The rollout comes following the commencement of beta recruitment for the same earlier in December.

The devices are part of the first batch of the models eligible for the update. Among these, the vivo devices are X70 Pro+, X70 Pro, X70, X60 Pro+, X60t Pro+, X60 Pro, X60 curved screen, S10 Pro, and S10. And from the iQOO camp, we have iQOO 8 Pro, iQOO 8, and iQOO 7.

originOS Ocean first beta batch

Next in line will be the second batch set to get OriginOS Ocean public beta builds in January 2022. The non-Pro variants of the vivo X60 series along with multiple other devices are a part of it. The second and third batch rollouts will commence from February and April 2022, respectively. All in all, all models released in the last two years can be upgraded to the new OS.

Coming to the update itself, OriginOS Ocean is undoubtedly a major upgrade over OriginOS 1.0 and comes with a number of UI changes and new features for both vivo and iQOO devices. For starters, there is a new Walkman music player that can be brought up from any screen. Multiple apps including the Dialer and Cameras have also been re-designed. But it’s the Android skin’s lock screen that stands out the most, coming with a very unique UI that offers cards for several commonly-used functions.

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BOE 6th Gen Flexible AMOLED production line enters mass production phase

Earlier this week, BOE announced that its 6th generation of flexible AMOLED production line has just entered mass production. The site for the advanced display technology facility is situated in the southwestern city of Chongqing, China.

BOE Display

According to a PanDaily report, the known Chinese display maker is planning on expanding its flexible displays portfolio. The cutting edge production line will join other manufacturing sites in Chengdu and Mianyang. During the mass production ceremony, BOE President, Liu Xiaodong stated that “In the current information and digital age, new application markets such as smart mobile terminals, smart wearable devices, and smart connected cars are showing explosive growth trends. This is increasing the demand for high end display technologies such as flexible displays.”

As of right now, the company already has 6 key projects operating in Chongqing, with the latest 6th generation flexible AMOLED production line being one of them. It even has its 8.5 generation of TFT LCD panel line and the BOE Chongqing Smart System Innovation Center in the region as well. All of these facilities combined are estimated to include around 86 billion Yuan (roughly 13.5 billion US Dollars) in terms of investment.

BOE

Furthermore, the latest 6th gen flexible AMOLED production line covers a massive area of 970,000 square meters. This facility is also independently designed and developed by BOE, with the panels being produced set to target small and medium sized high end display markets. In other words, we can expect to see the new flexible panels in a number of new consumer electronic products sometime next year.

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OPPO Reno 10x Zoom gets January 2022 security update a month earlier than expected

Remember when the smartphone industry was suddenly obsessed with how much the rear cameras could zoom in? We saw flagship devices from Xiaomi and Samsung with crazy camera setups capable of zooming in a hundred times, and boy did the duo brag about it. OPPO had done its own bit during the time, hopping onto the bandwagon with a phone dedicated to making stuff appear bigger — and such was the dedication that it even had ‘Zoom’ in its name.

OPPO Reno 10x Zoom Featured

We are talking about the OPPO Reno 10x Zoom that did exactly what its name implied — zoom in ten times — 5x optical followed by 10x hybrid. And if that wasn’t enough, the device even had a rather unconventional, tipsy slide-out mechanism for the selfie camera, all in all, making it a pretty unique offering.

Point is, it would have sucked if OPPO would’ve abandoned such a memorable phone since it’s now almost a couple of years old. There indeed are not-to-be-named Android OEMs guilty of doing so, but that’s not the case with our OPPO.

Not only has it made it the Reno 10x Zoom eligible to an impressive 4 years of security updates but also seems exceptionally quick in rolling them out.

oppo reno 10x zoom january 2022 update

The OPPO Reno 10x Zoom has just received the January 2022 security update in December itself, making it one of the first phones, if not the very first, to get it (via BongGeek). The update changelog doesn’t say much other than notifying about the security patch version, but needless to say, it’s all quite impressive.

The update comes at a time when OPPO is already rolling out ColorOS 12 based on Android 12 for its devices — something that the OPPO Reno 10x Zoom is thankfully eligible for. According to the official ColorOS 12 beta timeline, the phone is scheduled to get it in the first half of 2022.

OPPO has undoubtedly been killing it when it comes to updates and we hope to see more of the good stuff in the future.

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Samsung & LG are expecting to see the highest ever sales in 2022

Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics are expecting to see a great performance in 2022, with both companies projected to see the highest ever sales since their establishment this year.

Samsung

According to an ETNews report, Samsung is forecasted to bring 75.26 trillion KRW (roughly $63 billion) in sales and 15.07 trillion KRW (roughly $12 billion) in operating profit in the fourth quarter of this year. In other words, the South Korean tech giant’s sales surpassed the third quarter of this year, while also marking an increase of 67 percent over the same period last year. Furthermore, the company is forecasted to earn 278.67 trillion KRW (roughly $234 billion) annually in 2022, which is its highest ever revenue that even crosses its 2018 earnings,

During this year, the company’s operating profits are expected to hit 52.83 trillion KRW (roughly $44 billion), which is also the highest since 2018. The news also arrives amid an explosive demand for semiconductors. Daishin Securities researcher, Soo-bin Lee stated that “Samsung Electronics is expected to enter the upcycle of DRAM memory semiconductors in the new year,” while another researcher, Yu-mi Cha, said that “The situation of automotive semiconductor parts shortage will improve after the first half of the year.”

Samsung

Similarly, South Korea’s LG is also expecting record performance this year. Its overall sales and operating profits is projected to hit 19.67 trillion KRW (roughly $16 billion) and 831.3 billion KRW (roughly $700 million) respectively. However, while the company saw record high revenue, its operating profits were lower than the first quarter of this year. Despite this, the brand is projected to hit 73.70 trillion KRW (roughly $62 billion) in annual sales for the first time in its history while its annual operating profit is expected to hit the record high of 4 trillion KRW (roughly $3 billion).

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Samsung Galaxy S21 FE cases leaked by company itself and they’re quite a visual treat

The Galaxy S21 FE launch is almost upon us and Samsung has been expectedly hyping up the device ahead of its release. A new ‘leak’ now from the company itself reveals the complete list of official case accessories you will soon be able to slap onto your brand new S21 FE.

Details about all of the case models, which total 15, along with their images have been uploaded to Samsung’s Hungarian portal (via GalaxyVilaga, SamMobile). These 15 are divided into 5 categories, of which two are transparent (regular transparent and transparent standing case). The other three models have a solid design and come in a variety of colors to match the phone.

All of the models appear to be made of silicon, with the regular Silicone case being available in black, lavender, olive, red, and white color options. It is joined by the Galaxy S21 FE Smart Clear View case will be available in black, lavender, olive, and white – yep, no red this time.

Lastly, there is the Galaxy S21 FE Thin Strap, which just as its name implies, will feature a hand strap at the rear. While the case itself looks to be transparent, there are multiple color options for its hand strap, namely navy blue, yellow, orange, and lime green.

All in all, the color options offered for the cases appear to correspond to the colors the Galaxy S21 FE will be coming in — black, lavender, olive, and white. The options seem to be fewer than last year’s S20 FE that came in 6 colors, unless if Samsung’s planning on a surprise with the launch, which sadly doesn’t seem to be the case.

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Samsung Bugzzy could be a Chrome OS detachable tablet

Samsung is not a big name in the PC industry. But the company is known for its laptops in certain parts of the world. Apart from Windows, it also sells computers with Chrome OS pre-installed. According to new findings, the company is working on a mysterious Chrome OS product.

Samsung Galaxy Chromebook Go Featured A
Samsung Galaxy Chromebook Go

A report by Chrome Unboxed (via SamMobile) reveals that Samsung is readying a Chrome OS device codenamed Bugzzy. Unfortunately, only a few details are known about this product.

First and foremost, it will be powered by an Intel Jasper Laker processor. Based on this, we can expect it to be a budget model like the already available Galaxy Chromebook Go, which is codenamed Sasuke.

Secondly, the device might sport a display with a resolution of 2560 x 1600 pixels. This particular screen resolution is clearly high for a Chromebook with the aforementioned chipset. Hence, it probably won’t have this display resolution.

Last and most importantly, the upcoming Samsung Bugzzy could be a detachable tablet. If this happens to be true, then it will compete against the likes of Lenovo Chromebook Duet 5 and ASUS Chromebook Detachable CM3. Also, it will be the only one among the competition with X86 silicon instead of ARM.

Having said that, we expect to learn more about this Chrome OS product from Samsung before its official launch in the near future.

 

 

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Huawei to partner with SMIC to build new fab plant in China: Report

Huawei is apparently planning to build a new fab manufacturing plant in China. The new site will be built in partnership with SMIC (Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp) and will cost tens of billions of dollars.

Huawei

The news arrives from Media reports in China, which claim that the smartphone and telecommunications based giant will be setting up a new fab site in Shenzhen. For those unaware, SMIC is China’s largest wafer fab and contract chipmaker. Thus, Huawei will leverage SMIC’s expertise in semiconductor production technology along with its own chip designing capabilities. Notably, the brand also sought TSMC‘s supply chain for cooperation to help grow its semiconductor proficiency via funding.

Additionally, the report also stated (Via HuaweiCentral) that “Recently, Huawei has come to us to help build a fab in the mainland.” It further added that the company’s primary focus at the moment is to acquire an ample amount of equipment and plant resources to reach mass production levels. So, Huawei has reached out to members of the “TSMC Alliance.” This, in turn, would help accelerate setting up its fab while also shortening the time to enter mass production.

Huawei Logo MWC 2019

Interestingly, the company is even looking for partners to promote its semiconductor production plans. As of right now, the investment amount for this major project is still unknown, although, the company is expected to receive official support as well. For those unaware, US sanctions had cut off Huawei from its primary chip supplier TSMC, so it arrives as no surprise that the company plans to build its own chip plant.

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Philips Fidelio T1 premium TWS with LDAC, ANC launched in China

After releasing two budget smartphones dubbed Philips PH1 and Philips PH2 in China, the brand has now launched a new premium pair of truly wireless earphones in the country. These earbuds are officially called Philips Fidelio T1. Let’s take a look at what they offer and how much they cost.

Philips Fidelio T1 Silver

Philips Fidelio T1 Specifications and Features

Unlike most TWS in the market, the Philips Fidelio T1 buds feature a brushed aluminum alloy casing. Also, the lid of the charging case sports a leather-like finish. The brand claims that these earphones have won Red Dot Design Award 2021 for the aforementioned specifics.

Coming to specifications, the earbuds connect with devices via Bluetooth 5.2 and they are rated IPX4 for splash resistance. The buds sport 10mm drivers, 2 noise reduction microphones, and 3 microphones for calls. Thanks to these many mics, they support both ANC (Active Noise Cancellation) and ENC (Environmental Noise Cancellation).

Philips Fidelio T1 Black

These Hi-Res-certified buds are also compatible with LDAC and aptX codecs. They can transmit bandwidth of up to 990kbps. Their frequency response range is rated at 20Hz~40kHz.

As far as endurance is concerned, they are said to last up to 13 hours and 9 hours with ANC enabled and disabled respectively. The charging case can be filled both wired via USB Type-C and wireless through Qi protocol.

Philips Fidelio T1 Silver

Last but not least, the product ships with 6 pairs of silicone ear tips and 3 pairs of sponge sleeves.

Philips Fidelio T1 Price and Availability in China

The Philips Fidelio T1 truly wireless earphones are priced at ¥2,599 ($408) in China. But for a limited time, they are being sold at ¥1,699 ($267) in the region.

They are available in black and silver color options. The black version has a black-colored leather finish, while the silver variant arrives with a brown-colored leather finish.

 

 

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Realme GT2 Pro teaser hints at a Dragon Ball Z Special Edition

The launch of the Realme GT2 series is just around the corner. But prior to its launch, the company has teased the GT2 Pro. However, this teaser is a bit more special as it hints at a limited edition in collaboration with Dragon Ball Z.

Realme

The company shared the news on its official Weibo account (a Chinese microblogging website), which teased the “realme X Dragon Ball Z” partnership. This teaser was shared in an image poster and a short video, however, the Chinese smartphone maker didn’t reveal any finer details regarding this device or showcase its design in any manner. In other words, we still have no idea what the Dragon Ball Z Special Edition might look like.

While the Realme GT2 series has already garnered anticipation, the Dragon Ball Z collab adds to the hype. For those unaware, Dragon Ball Z is a massively popular Anime series that first aired back in 1989 and ran till 2003. Before anime became a global phenomenon, the Dragon Ball series was one of the first anime that was successful in the west. This also implies that it was one of the first anime for many, which adds to the nostalgia for the upcoming Realme GT2 Pro Dragon Ball Z Special Edition.

Realme GT2 Pro

Talking about the smartphone itself, the GT2 Pro is set to house a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC. The new chip is expected to be paired with up to 12GB of RAM and 512GB of internal storage. It sports a 6.7 inch display with Quad HD+ resolution, 120Hz refresh rate, and an in display fingerprint scanner. On the rear, it is also set to house a triple camera setup with 50 megapixel + 50 megapixel + 2 megapixel sensor while the front features a 32 megapixel selfie shooter.

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ZHIYUN SMOOTH 5 REVIEW – A Professional Smartphone Gimbal

Have you ever been in a situation where you need a cell phone to capture relatively professional footage, but it’s hard to do it only with your phone? If you require smooth, shake-free professional footage, the least you can do is get a smartphone gimbal.

But if you browse through the various brands of cell phone gimbals, you will find that they are very difficult to help you to shoot true professional footage. That’s where the ZHIYUN SMOOTH 5 comes in, as it is designed for capturing professional cell phone video.

ZHIYUN SMOOTH 5 Review 17

We have got the SMOOTH 5 COMBO set and let’s take a look at how this gimbal performs.

In addition to the Gimbal, Tripod, and Type-C cable, there is a Fill Light and some Fill Light Filters in the package. Of course, the storage bag is also included in the COMBO set. What is the difference between Standard set and COMBO set can be seen in the following picture.

Unlike some cell phone gimbals, SMOOTH 5 is more like a camera gimbal stabilizer, both before and after folding, it comes out to be a bit bigger than other cell phone gimbals. As I said at the beginning, SMOOTH 5 is a professional cell phone gimbal, and it makes sense to have a larger size for a more stable picture and better weight capacity. The SMOOTH 5 Roll Axis Arm has a latch that allows you to quickly adjust the length of the Roll Axis Arm for balancing the gimbal, and to be compatible with more phones of different sizes and weights.

ZHIYUN SMOOTH 5 Review locking mechanism

What I can promise is that the gimbal is very stable. It will be more stable than those foldable phones gimbals in the market. And its Axis Arm changed to this side of the screen to ensure that the Arm does not block the lens. This is especially important because I’ve seen many phone’s Gimbal Roll Axis Arm enter the frame because the phone’s Ultra-wide Camera field of view is too wide. SMOOTH 5 uses the Ultra-wide Camera appropriately and it doesn’t block anything.

ZHIYUN SMOOTH 5 Review 14

Because your phone is mainly used for shooting. SMOOTH 5’s control section is very well designed in order to allow the head to control most of the functions as far away from the phone as possible.

ZHIYUN SMOOTH 5 Review 15

In addition to the Control Panel and Joystick that can be rotated, the large Focus/Zoom Control Wheel looks very professional. The wheel can be manually controlled by using ZY Cami APP, and you can switch between Focus and Zoom by clicking the button in the middle of the wheel, which is very easy to adjust and feels very good.

It has a 1/4 Threaded Hole, supports Gesture Control and Smart Follow, and can also be fitted with Magnetic Fill Light, which can be mounted forward, backward, or on the top or bottom. Whether it is vlogging or shooting video can illuminate the front of the lens. Four colors of Fill Light Filters are included to provide you with different colors of light. It can be used continuously for 25 hours with only the phone installed. SMOOTH 5 is like a combination of phone gimbal and camera gimbal, bring professional features and add ons without being too heavy. This is the advantage of SMOOTH 5.

ZY Cami APP experience is also good, but it can’t pull too much gap with other cell phone Gimbal manufacturers. For example Hitchcock zoom mode, POV mode, Smart Follow mode are available. The advantage of ZHIYUN in software is that most of the APP functions can be controlled by the Control Panel without clicking on the phone screen. Like the particularly good Smart Follow mode can be used directly by clicking the Trigger Button. This is still very convenient for us to use. It should be noted that ZY Cami APP, like most other mobile Gimbal APPs, does not support Android phones that well. Many Android phones can only record videos at 30fps with the main camera. But this is the problem of Android phone manufacturers, there is not much that cell phone gimbal manufacturers can do.

SMOOTH 5 is a cell phone gimbal that is very close to a professional camera Gimbal, with features like the rear Axis Arm structure and the large Focus/Zoom Control Wheel that are only found in professional camera gimbals. Further the Magnetic Fill Light is an extremely rare and innovative feature.

If you need a professional cell phone gimbal, I believe ZHIYUN SMOOTH 5 Gimbal Stabilizer can meet most of your needs.

 

Apple Watch might ditch Digital Crown in favor of motion-tracking optical sensors, patent shows

Apple Watch users would swear by the Digital Crown feature that allows them to navigate the watchOS interface effortlessly without having to touch the screen. But as a patent now reveals, Apple appears to be planning on ditching the entire thing in favor of optical sensors that would be fitted right where the crown currently resides.

The report comes from Patently Apple and describes a new patent from the Cupertino-based tech giant, published recently by the US Patent & Trademark Office. It is titled “Watch with optical sensor for user input” and shows how new sensors can be used to track user input, effectively doing away with the need for the Digital Crown, and as a result, reducing the number of moving parts in the smartwatch.

apple watch motion tracking optical sensor
Image: Patently Apple

Use cases include users operating the Apple Watch through gestures and motion alone. These gestures will be registered by the optical sensor and converted into inputs to control various stuff within watchOS.

Along with reducing moving parts and lessening the need for physically touching the watch to interact with it, optical sensors can also free up space — space that can then be utilized in other, better ways such as fitting in a larger battery or even additional sensors.

Last but not least, an optical sensor also opens up possibilities for measuring various other biometrics like heart rate, respiration rate, blood oxygenation level, blood volume estimate, and blood pressure.

Do keep in mind here though that all of the above is still currently just an idea limited to paper. Apple may even be developing it but it may take a while before it actually makes its way to a consumer Watch Series model.

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Samsung saw more foldable sales in Galaxy Z Fold3 launch month than entire 2020

Samsung has just reported an interesting sales detail related to the foldable smartphone market. Apparently, the company sold more foldable handsets during the launch month of the Galaxy Z Fold3 than its entire shipments last year.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 Featured 001
Galaxy Z Fold3

 

According to an official press release (Via CNet), the South Korean tech giant shipped around four times more foldable phones in a month than its entire 2020 shipments. The sizeable jump in sales is solely attributed to the launch of the Galaxy Z Fold3 and Galaxy Z Flip3 back in August 2021. Both models here well received across the globe, which help boost foldable sales eclipse last year’s shipments a couple of times over.

For those unaware, the Galaxy Z Fold3 and Galaxy Z Flip3 are currently the latest foldable models from Samsung and arrive with various improvements over their predecessors. The former is the top end variant that costs around 1,800 US Dollars while the latter is more affordable of the two and usually retails around 999 US Dollars. While the company did not reveal any shipment figures officially, the news is in line with a previous report from Counterpoint Research, which estimated that the company will ship over 9 million foldable units in 2021.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 Featured C
Galaxy Z Flip3

This figure alone is around three times more than the overall shipments last year. Notably, the company also held dominance over the entire segment, with its foldable phone market share being around 88 percent last year. Its strong presence in the market is expected to carry over this year as well, although, newer foldable models from new rivals entering the market would likely lower this in the coming years. A recent entry in the market includes the Oppo Find N, with Huawei also recently launching its P50 Pocket folding phone as well.

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Android 12 stable rollout begins for Galaxy Tab S7, Tab S7+, Z Flip

Samsung was once known for poor software support. But it’s no longer the case with the introduction of One UI. The company is currently ahead of any other Android OEM in terms of Android 12 stable update delivery. After rolling out the One UI 4.0 stable update for the eligible Galaxy S and Galaxy Note models, the company has now started pushing the fresh system update for the Galaxy Tab S7 series alongside the original Galaxy Z Flip.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 Plus In-Hands Featured
Samsung Galaxy Tab S7+

According to SamMobile, the Android 12-based One UI 4.0 stable update is now available for Galaxy Tab S7, Galaxy Tab S7+, and Galaxy Z Flip in multiple regions. These devices were supposed to start receiving the latest software only in January 2021 in most of the regions.

This means Samsung is seeding out the update ahead of schedule, just like last year. We believe that the update rollout could have been even faster if the Google Play System issue was identified earlier.

Having said that, if you own any of the aforementioned tablets or the foldable phone, then head over to Settings > Software update > Download and install to check whether your unit has received the update.

Don’t worry if it’s still not available for your device. That’s because OTA system updates are pushed in batches. Therefore, they always take some time to reach every unit.

 

 

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