OnePlus Nord CE 6 and Poco X8 Pro are two upper mid-range smartphones targeting users who want flagship-style features without flagship pricing. While the Nord CE 6 focuses heavily on battery life, smooth display performance, and practical everyday usability, the Poco X8 Pro pushes harder on raw performance, premium design, and multimedia capabilities. Both devices bring powerful hardware, fast charging, and AMOLED displays, but they take very different approaches in terms of overall user experience and value.

Major Features:

Design and Display

Build and Feel

The OnePlus Nord CE 6 focuses on endurance and durability with IP68/IP69K protection, MIL-STD-810H certification, and a clean, minimalist design. It feels more practical for users who prioritize long-term reliability and heavy everyday use. The large battery makes it slightly bulkier, but the sturdy construction gives it a reassuring flagship-like character.

The Poco X8 Pro, meanwhile, feels more premium in hand thanks to its aluminum frame and Gorilla Glass 7i protection. The slimmer bezels and refined finish make it appear more modern and stylish. It leans toward users who want a sleek flagship-inspired experience without crossing into premium pricing territory.

Display Quality

The Nord CE 6 offers a 6.78-inch AMOLED panel with a smoother 144Hz refresh rate and extremely high PWM dimming, making scrolling and gaming feel exceptionally fluid. The display looks vibrant, and the added refresh rate advantage is noticeable during fast-paced usage.

The Poco X8 Pro counters with Dolby Vision, HDR10+, deeper color tuning, and brighter high-brightness mode performance. While it uses a 120Hz panel, the display quality feels more cinematic and polished for streaming content.

Verdict

The OnePlus Nord CE 6 feels better suited for gamers and users who value smoothness and battery-focused practicality. The Poco X8 Pro delivers a more premium multimedia experience with richer visuals and a more refined overall design.

Specifications Including Battery

Performance

The OnePlus Nord CE 6 runs on the Snapdragon 7s Gen 4 paired with UFS 3.1 storage. Daily performance is fast and stable, and the software optimization should appeal to users who prefer consistency over aggressive benchmark numbers. Gaming performance is solid, though it is clearly positioned below flagship-level chipsets.

The Poco X8 Pro takes a more performance-driven approach with the Dimensity 8500 Ultra and faster UFS 4.1 storage. App loading, multitasking, and gaming performance are noticeably stronger here. The chipset feels more future-ready, especially for demanding games and heavy long-term usage.

Battery and Charging

Battery life is where the Nord CE 6 stands out. The huge 8000mAh battery can comfortably stretch into two days for moderate users, and the 80W charging still keeps refill times respectable. Bypass charging also makes it attractive for long gaming sessions.

The Poco X8 Pro uses a smaller 6500mAh battery but compensates with faster 100W charging. It feels more balanced for users who prefer quick top-ups rather than extreme endurance.

Verdict

The Poco X8 Pro wins on raw performance and storage technology, making it the stronger power-user device. The Nord CE 6, however, delivers exceptional battery life that feels hard to ignore in daily use.

Camera

Main and Secondary Lenses

The OnePlus Nord CE 6 uses a 50MP primary sensor with OIS, but the secondary camera setup is relatively basic. In daylight, photos should look clean with balanced colors and reliable dynamic range. The camera experience appears tuned for consistency rather than versatility. Video stabilization is also dependable for casual creators.

The Poco X8 Pro offers a stronger overall camera package with a brighter main sensor and an additional 8MP ultrawide lens. The larger sensor helps in low-light photography, while the ultrawide camera adds flexibility for landscapes and group shots. HDR10+ video support and 4K 60fps recording also give it a more flagship-style camera experience.

Selfie Camera

The Nord CE 6 gains an advantage with its 32MP selfie camera capable of 4K video recording. Selfies should retain better detail and sharper facial textures, especially for social media creators.

The Poco X8 Pro’s 20MP front camera is decent for everyday use, but it feels less premium compared to the OnePlus offering.

Verdict

The Poco X8 Pro is the stronger all-around camera phone thanks to its more versatile rear setup and superior video capabilities. The Nord CE 6 still holds appeal for users who prioritize sharper selfies and reliable front-camera recording quality.

Pricing

The OnePlus Nord CE 6 is expected to launch around $330 / ₹30,000, while the Poco X8 Pro sits slightly higher at roughly $375 / ₹35,000. The pricing gap is noticeable but not massive, considering the hardware differences between the two devices.

At its price, the Nord CE 6 feels aggressively positioned for buyers who mainly want long battery life, smooth display performance, and dependable software. The value proposition becomes even stronger for users who spend long hours gaming or streaming without wanting to constantly recharge.

The Poco X8 Pro justifies its higher price with a more premium build, stronger chipset, faster storage, improved multimedia features, and a more versatile camera system. It feels closer to a flagship killer than a typical upper mid-range phone. The extra spending makes sense for buyers looking for longevity in performance and features.

Verdict

The Nord CE 6 offers stronger value for battery-focused and practical buyers. The Poco X8 Pro costs more, but the upgrades in performance, display technology, and camera versatility make the premium feel justified.

Disclaimer:
Prices are approximate and may vary based on country, region, launch timing, and applicable taxes. Always check whether the listed price is for a China unit or a global/international variant when purchasing.

Conclusion

OnePlus Nord CE 6 stands out mainly because of its massive 8000mAh battery, 144Hz AMOLED display, and gaming-friendly bypass charging support. It feels designed for endurance users who want fewer compromises in battery life while still getting modern flagship-inspired features. The cleaner OnePlus software approach may also appeal to users who prefer a less aggressive UI experience.

The Poco X8 Pro focuses more on delivering a balanced near-flagship package. The Dimensity 8500 Ultra chipset, UFS 4.1 storage, Dolby Vision support, aluminum frame, and ultrawide camera collectively make it feel more complete. It delivers stronger multimedia and gaming capabilities while maintaining competitive pricing.

Both phones clearly target different priorities despite sitting in a similar segment. One leans heavily into battery life and smoothness, while the other pushes performance and premium features.

Verdict

OnePlus Nord CE 6 is the smarter choice for users who value battery endurance and practical everyday reliability above everything else. The Poco X8 Pro is the better overall smartphone for performance enthusiasts, multimedia users, and buyers wanting a more premium experience without entering flagship pricing territory.

Disclaimer: This comparison is based on the specifications provided and is intended for general informational purposes. Actual performance, camera results, battery life, and overall experience may vary depending on real-world usage, software updates, and individual preferences.

Read More:

• Motorola Edge 70 Pro vs Redmi Note 15 Pro+: Which Mid-Range Phone Is Better
• OPPO Find X9 Ultra vs Honor Magic8 Pro Comparison: Camera, Battery & Performance
• Vivo X300 Ultra vs Sony Xperia 1 VIII: Battery, Camera, Display & Performance Compared

The post OnePlus Nord CE 6 vs Poco X8 Pro: Which One Offers Better Value for Money? appeared first on Gizmochina.

The X100 Ultra, Vivo’s most powerful phone so far, also comes at the latest time among all flagship phone brands. In a few months, Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 will be released soon, and by then the phones with 8 Gen 3 will be outdated to some extent. What made Vivo so confident to do it this way? We tried and tested its power, especially the camera capacity. Now I’m sure that the phone is powerful enough to please almost everyone.

Here’s an enticing deal for tech enthusiasts: Get VIVO X100 Ultra at a special presale price of $100 off! Simply use the coupon code “GX100” to avail of this discount. This offer is only valid until May 29th, 2024.

Telephoto Camera

Like the Pro version, the X100 Ultra is housing triple lenses with different focal lengths, which is different from the four focal lengths used by Xiaomi and OPPO. What’s different from the Pro is that the sensors of the three cameras have various upgrades respectively. In particular, the telephoto camera is the best telephoto camera available on a phone and it is also the X100 Ultra’s main selling point.

Although the focal length has been shifted from 100mm to 85mm, it’s actually a good adjustment for this phone. Because the zoom between 23mm and 100mm on the Pro version is digitally cropped, the range is so wide that the drop in image quality is more noticeable. Now the X100 Ultra’s 85mm telephoto camera will fix that a bit.

So how great is this telephoto camera? The answer is superb, so good that I’m willing to give it the title of world’s best. 200MP HP9 with the In-sensor-zoom feature, plus Vivo’s AI algorithms will make you become a sniper without a problem. Can you believe this is a 600mm or 26x zoomed-in photo? You must know that it only has a 3.7x optical zoom (check it out in the review video).

The over-sharpening is also not very noticeable like before. As you can see, the pet’s fur is presented naturally. The sensor area is bigger, and you no longer need the main camera to crop the image when there is insufficient lighting at night.

All in all, I am very satisfied with this camera. But of course, nothing is perfect. For example, the unstable white balance issue is still there without been fixed. But other than that, it’s hard to pick any other flaws with this camera.

Macro mode

It’s no surprise that a telephoto camera can take macro photos, but what happens when the macro function catches up with the best telephoto phone camera in the world? It’s getting me addicted.

The ultra-high pixel count and large sensor bring high image quality like never before. I’ve never seen such great macro photos shot on a smartphone. It has driven me a lot to take a photo of any subject in macro mode that is close to me.

Take a look at this photo with two flies in it, can you see them? Let’s take a closer look at it in macro mode.

I apologize for interrupting their sweet time, but, hey, look at the image quality. You can even see the hairs on the legs. This is unbelievable! The other bug doesn’t seem to have found its mate yet, staying there thinking about its life. This is the X100 Ultra, a phone that can shoot insect documentaries.

The only thing I would complain about is the shallow depth of field, sometimes I don’t want to blur out the background, but there’s nothing I can do about it, this is physics after all. Fortunately, shallow depth of field is a good thing most of the time, so it’s not a big deal. Being both a telescope and a microscope, no one should disagree with me when I say it’s the world’s number one telephoto camera for smartphones now, right?

Color Mode

The X100 Ultra still has three color modes: Vivid is characterized by bright and vivid colors, Textured is characterized by low exposure, high contrast, and noticeable vignetting, and ZEISS Natural is closer to Vivid, but with lower contrast and a cooler white balance.

Each of the three modes has its own use scenario: if recording daily life, such as taking photos of food and portraits, the Vivid mode is the best.

If you want to create your own photography, or shoot neon lights at night, try using Textured mode. Because Vivid’s HDR effect is too strong, it doesn’t look as good as Textured mode’s.

When the first two modes don’t work well, it’s time for ZEISS Natural mode to take over, most of the time it takes decent photos easily. It actually has a fourth color mode tucked away somewhere else. What it is and where it is, we’ll show you later.

Main Camera

Let’s talk about the main camera. In terms of image quality, there is no significant difference between the main camera of the Ultra and the Pro. I mean the Pro’s main camera is already at the top of its game, the Ultra doesn’t surprise us much. Or maybe the telephoto cameras have surprised us so much that it seems like the main camera is less of an improvement.

Compared to taking photos, the main camera will be a bigger improvement in video recording. Instead of using the same physical variable aperture design as HUAWEI and Xiaomi, the X100 Ultra has added a gimbal-like anti-shake structure. So the stability of the footage will be improved a lot, and obviously, it’s much better than any other Android phone when recording at night.

All cameras can be switched in Dolby Vision mode at will, whether they’re recording or not, which is something other Android phones can’t do. The ultra wide-angle camera is a bit less competent than the other two cameras though. It’s the only one that can’t record 4K 120fps video specs. I also found a problem that I’m not sure if it’s a bug or not: its 4K 60fps preview is without EIS and looks very shaky. But when you go to the albums, you’ll see that the footage is actually very stable. It’s quite strange that I’ve never seen before.

Ultra-wide Camera

The ultra-wide camera is the most common of the three. Although the hardware has been upgraded, the improvement in image quality is not very significant. We won’t go into too much detail, but you’ll see how great it is when you look at the sample photos.

Portraits

Portraits have always been a strength of Vivo’s phone. Skin tones are accurate and there are various beauty effects as well. The X100 Ultra’s selfie camera has been enhanced quite a lot. In addition to having autofocus, there’s also 4K 60fps video recording. This should be good news for Vloggers.

AI is also used in portrait mode, such as the AI Visual feature. It converts your portraits to be like you took them in four different seasons. Though you can find out it doesn’t convert perfectly by zooming in. We use it for fun anyway, so don’t take it too seriously.

Camera experience

Vivo has also put a lot of effort into the camera experience this time. For example, it puts several commonly-used focal lengths in the same button. Sometimes it’s hard to use the dial to adjust to the focal length I want, and it’s really easier and faster to tap to switch.

Another example is that to emphasize the X100 Ultra’s status as a photography flagship, Vivo has designed a new mode for it: the Humanistic Street Photography Camera Mode. Simply put, it’s another Pro mode, but more retro.

In this mode, you can easily adjust various parameters and use various presets. It also has the DISP mode of the Pro cameras, it even allows you to customize the style of the shutter button. There’s a new color mode here, black and white mode. Just like the name says, it enables you to take black-and-white photos. I don’t know why ultra-wide cameras aren’t allowed to use this mode, which really confuses me.

One interesting point is that the default color style for this mode is Textured and HDR is off by default. It’s clear that Vivo wanted this modern and powerful camera phone to turn into a retro camera, making it possible to take highly stylized photos. If you buy that camera grip, then this is the most powerful “old camera” ever.

Here’s an old problem that hasn’t been fixed yet. I really wish Vivo would let me choose the metering preference. Every time the X100 Ultra detects a face, it raises exposure, which sometimes makes me so mad.

Display

The display upgrade on the X100 Ultra is not huge. Although the resolution has been improved, the panel has been replaced with Samsung’s E7 material. Peak brightness hasn’t improved though, and the PWM dimming has gone from 2160Hz on the Pro version to 1440Hz. viewing angles have gotten worse too.

Actually, I can live with all these, what I can’t live with is the fact that its screen form factor is still the same as it was a few years ago. You know, a lot of phones these days have straight screens or curved screens with four equal-width bezels. They’re all very pretty and functional. The X100 Ultra just looks very outdated in front of them. Vivo didn’t put much thought into the screen.

Performance

Similarly, since Qualcomm hasn’t released Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 yet, the X100 Ultra’s processor has to be Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. Just… We’ve tested thousands of 8 Gen 3 phones now, and the X100 Ultra just isn’t anything special. It’s good, and it’s in line with the performance we’d expect from a photography flagship phone. After all, you wouldn’t expect this kind of phone to still have a very aggressive strategy over performance, right?

Design, Battery & Charging

The X100 Ultra keeps the design of the X100 family. There aren’t too many noticeable changes other than the camera module being bigger once again. There’s only one thing I can say about the X100 Ultra’s design: what’s going on with the fake camera? Putting the Zeiss logo here would look better to me.

There are only three colorways for the Ultra version, and all of them are much more subtle than the Pro version. Especially the Titanium color we have here, the glass back looks metallic and is my favorite of the three colorways. Otherwise you can actually still think of it as the X100 Pro with satellite communication.

The weight is slightly increased but acceptable. The bad news is that: the charging power is lower, both wired and wireless. And that wireless charging coil has moved down because the camera module is too big, so not all wireless charging docks fit it well. The good news is that the semi-solid state battery gives the X100 Ultra a little more battery capacity, and it won’t shut down automatically and should perform well in cold conditions. And the high-power PPS charging is still here, with great charging compatibility.

All in all, most of the X100 Ultra’s features are similar to the Pro version, which is great, but nothing more.

Summarize

The Vivo X100 Ultra is a good phone, but not good enough. It has one of the top camera systems in the world, but unfortunately, it was released too late. Since this year’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 4’s will be released earlier than last year’s 8 Gen 3’s, right away you’ll be able to buy an 8 Gen 4 phone.

I don’t know how many more people will buy an 8 Gen 3 phone for that camera at that time. But if you just don’t care what happens in the future, you just want a phone that takes the best pictures right now, then the X100 Ultra does give you what you want.

The post vivo X100 Ultra Full Review: From Micro to Macro, Capture Every Moment in the World appeared first on Gizmochina.

Information about the Blackview BV9900 was leaked in early November and until this week no more news were available. That was until 3 days ago that the Chinese manufacturer would launch the new flagship on December 6th. So, here we are today and the BV9900 is live bringing amazing photography to rugged phones.

The phone’s killer feature is its quad camera setup on the back that sports a Sony® 48MP main sensor. But that’s not what makes it a flagship. On the inside lies the MediaTek Helio P90 AI SoC bundled with 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 256GB of fast UFS 2.1 storage. In addition, it breaks the trend of huge displays and comes with a compact 5.84’’ FHD+ screen with waterdrop notch and Gorilla Glass 5 on top. Also, it supports global network bands and can function in temperatures as low as -30℃.

The Blackview BV9900 is officially launched and it will go in global sale on December 23rd exclusively on Aliexpress for just $329.99! On the same day, the first business and sport smartwatch of the company, BV-SW02, will also be available for purchase. You can add the BV9900 and the smartwatch to your cart now to be ready when the sale starts. Lastly, you can participate in the global Giveaway of 10 units of Blackview BV9900 here!

The post Blackview BV9900: the indestructible camera-phone just went live! appeared first on Gizmochina.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTnwYth3yoM[/embedyt]

Price & target

Xiaomi has built a good reputation in global budget phone market largely due to the success of the series A. The latest model of series A, Xiaomi Mi A3, was officially announced on July 17 in Europe for a starting price of 249 euros. However, for those who are familiar with Xiaomi latest products, it is not exactly a new model. The specs of Xiaomi Mi A3 is completely the same as the Xiaomi CC9e, which was released this month earlier. For software setups, the Xiaomi A3 runs the Android One, while the Xiaomi CC9e runs the MIUI. Due to different regional marketing, the twins have diverse missions. The CC9e is targeting the young who especially require high camera performance but with a budget price. The A3 more shoulders the mission to continue the global success of the A series in the budget segment.

The Xiaomi A3 is a Mi9-appearance smartphone featuring the Snapdragon 665 processor, 48MP triple rear cameras, 32MP front camera, and a large 4030mAh battery. The great camera performance is the main highlight, which is never seen on other budget models. And it’s also the first model of A series to have an in-screen fingerprint sensor. The 720P display could be the most disappointing department. So will it please the consumers with outstanding pros and cons?

The CC9e and A3 is the simplified version of the CC9, reserving the same triple cameras and front camera. As for the global CC9, Xiaomi probably renames it as the Xiaomi A3 Pro. So, if you are more interested in the Xiaomi CC9 or the A3 Pro, please check our review video last week.

Appearance

The appearance is nothing surprising as we learned that it continues the Mi9-design and CC9-design. So, we briefly compare the main details between the Xiaomi A3 and CC9:

1. The same color options as the CC9, White Lover, Blue Planet, Dark prince.
2. The same rear setups: Triple cameras are at the upper left, and the Xiaomi test logo is aligned vertically down the cameras.
3. A waterdrop notch with the same 32MP selfie camera.
4. Size is smaller than the CC9e due to the smaller display size, 6.08-inch 720p AMOLED display.
5. It feels a bit thinner and lighter, weighs 173g. The phone size provides a good handling experience.
6. Unfortunately, due to the budget pricing, A3 has a 6mm chin down the display, which is almost the most distinct change of the appearance here.

In the budget market, it’s pretty rare to have such back design, coming from the unique rear color technique and all-curved rear glass. And you don’t need to worry the glass durability because Xiaomi still uses the Corning Gorilla Glass 5 on the Xiaomi A3. The large 4030mAh battery is reserved in the A3, although it is thinner than the CC9. Considering its pricing as a budget phone, it’s definitely a surprise. The Xiaomi A3 supports both face unlock and in-screen fingerprint unlock. Though it’s not as fast as Xiaomi CC9, it won’t take you more than 1 second.

Cameras

Rear triple cameras

Another outstanding point is the camera, no matter the front or the rear combination. Yes, It does mean that you can have a flagship-level photography experience on a budget phone. As far as the cameras are concerned, the Xiaomi Mi A3 on the rear packs a SONY 48-megapixel primary camera with an f/1.79 aperture; a second 8-megapixel camera with an f/2.2 aperture and a third 2-megapixel camera with an f/2.4 aperture. It sports a 32-megapixel camera on the front for selfies, with an f/2.0 aperture. The camera combination here is the same as the Xiaomi CC9 has. The primary camera is the SONY IMX586 camera, which also can be found on Mi9 and OnePlus 7 Pro. The bad message is that all the cameras lack OIS, so it might not able to perform the stabilization as well as those flagships, can do.

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The 48MP primary camera ensures that the image reaches much detail so that you can have your second creation by cutting the image. Under low light conditions, It supports a ‘4 in 1’ big-pixel feature to help you shoot brighter photos with better detail. Under bright conditions, the Xiaomi A3 performs great with natural color reproduction and fine contrast. Its fast imaging speed is also impressive, which is useful to capture fleeting moments. Even in backlight environment, the Xiaomi A3 can also guarantee the imaging quality with a balanced exposure.

The night mode on A3 probably is the highlight of the camera performance. The general brightness got improved significantly and a balanced exposure shows better detail of both bright parts and dark parts. The dark sky has better brightness and more detail, while the bright text on the building is much clearer with correct exposure.

For the second wide-angle camera, it performs better when shooting landscape with bright conditions. The image has a good distortion correction and a strong visual sense. When we bring the wide-angle camera to low-light conditions, it got the same problem with the Xiaomi CC9, such as detail losing and shadow blurring. The third 2MP camera mainly does the depth calculation for portrait mode. With its work, we can have a natural background blurring and relatively correct edge detection for still life photography.

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Front camera

The 32MP selfie camera is another selling point of the A3. Our colleague Nadine took self-portraits and compared it with the samples of the Xiaomi CC9. She found that due to the diverse camera Apps, those additional beauty features in CC9 disappeared in the A3. The natural tone of her skin and good texture does please her especially when she zooms in to look at the facial detail. And she said that after trying it at different scenes, the A3 camera recognizes her face well no matter under what kind of extreme lighting conditions.

As Nadine mentioned, it runs a basic camera App but not the Xiaomi camera App. We have no additional camera features like Mimoji, and post-editing features as well on the Xiaomi A3, while these features are found in the Chinese version, Xiaomi CC9e. We believe that such kind of additional features can make phone photography more interesting for users.

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The main difference between the CC9e and A3 is their operating system. The Xiaomi A3 runs the latest Android One, while the CC9 runs MIUI. Android One is one of the best android original systems. It has proved its good performance on mid-range phones. No exception on the Xiaomi A3. It reaches a good fluency but laggy a bit when running most Android apps, and includes all the Google services and tools as well. And unlike the MIUI, it doesn’t require users to pay much learning cost. While the MIUI has a Chinese-language-based voice assistant, the Android One gives you a much universal one, the google assistant. So, it’s probably one important reason why you want to have a Xiaomi A3.

Drawbacks: Display

Xiaomi A3 features a 6.08-inch Super AMOLED 720 x 1560p display up front with a waterdrop notch. this 720p display definitely can be the biggest reason for you to give it up. When looking at it, the grainy experience does not please me at all. So, compared to those 1080p displays, there is nothing to praise. But due to the brand SAMSUNG of this 720p display, the A3 display still has a good display effect compared with most 720p displays. But sorry to tell you again, it’s just a 720p display.

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Processor & performance

Another drawback of the Xiaomi A3 is the processor. The A3 is powered by a 2GHz Snapdragon 665 processor. And according to our sources, it comes with two memory versions, 4GB RAM 64GB ROM, and 6GB RAM 128GB ROM. The model in our hands is the 4GB RAM version. Unlike the Chinese version Xiaomi CC9e, Xiaomi A3 lacks a ‘Game Turbo’ feature which can slightly optimize the gaming performance. In our 30-min gaming test with PUBG Mobile, the frame rate reached 29fps when playing under mid-graphic settings. But it also got frequent fluctuation during the test. So it won’t be a great experience when playing the PUBG Mobile on the Xiaomi A3. Though it may be the same result when playing other games requiring fast response and fluent graphics, the A3 can still run most mobile games without problems.

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Battery & charging

As we mentioned, because the Xiaomi CC9 has a big battery capacity and a 720p display, you don’t need to worry about the power durability. But it doesn’t support any fast-charging solution. Using the included 10W charger, it takes more than 2 hours to get full-charged.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I would say that it’s definitely one of the best choices in the real budget market. It has pretty fast in-screen fingerprint unlock, triple rear cameras and 32MP front camera and so on. It’s no doubt that it is going to refresh the budget market and how producers making low-price models. But, at the same time, the 720P display could be so disappointing that it makes a hash of the good reputation of the A-series. Anyway, it is undeniable that the Xiaomi A3 is going to be a powerful challenger for the title of 2019 best budget phone.

The post Xiaomi Mi A3 review: Is it a downgrade? appeared first on Gizmochina.

Blackview BV9700 Pro is the latest and greatest rugged phone from the specialized Chinese manufacturer and besides its durable characteristics and “Transformers” design, it also comes with a ton of features. It pretty much sports every phone feature available right now, including an AI camera, Night Vision Camera, Air Quality Detection, and Heart Rate Monitor. If you pride yourself as a photo enthusiast, the BV9700 Pro is worth considering as it boasts a dual Samsung AI camera setup with a 16MP front sensor with f/2.0 aperture and a rear 16MP/8MP dual camera with f/1.75 and f/2.0 apertures.

Of course, what shines the most is its AI camera. The BV9700 Pro is capable of great video shooting and awesome photos that are better than pretty much any other rugged phone on the market right now. Photos shot on BV9700 Pro are vivid and have a good dynamic range in different scenarios, including pretty accurate exposure, white balance, and fast autofocus. Besides the Night Vision Camera, it has a low-light video recording setting that automatically reduces the frame rate of the video in darker conditions to gather more light. The results are more than pleasing. Below, you can see a video demonstrating the fast autofocus, the wide dynamic range, focus tracking, and low noise.

Apart from the camera capabilities, the BV9700 Pro is mainly a top rugged phone so it sports IP68/IP69K & MIL-STD-810F certification meaning it is waterproof down to 1.5m depth for up to 30 minutes. It’s also drop-proof from 1.5m height, dustproof, shockproof, freezeproof down to -20°C, crushproof to 150kg weight, and it can shoot video and photos underwater. All that without using any special case or housing that normal smartphones need.

Blackview BV9700 Pro photo samples

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Despite all these features, the Blackview BV9700 Pro costs much less than someone would expect. Starting this month, the phone costs just $299.99 and you get a free tempered glass. You can find all the details here.

The post Blackview BV9700 Pro rugged camera phone gets 25% off, photo and video samples revealed appeared first on Gizmochina.

We have come to a stage where smartphones can essentially replace DSLRs. Be it the Huawei P30 Pro with its incredible 50X zoom or the Pixel 3 XL with its amazing low-light images, smartphones have come a really long way in the camera department. But how long have they come? Who was the first to conceptualize camera phones? We answer these questions in today’s article for Throwback Tech Thursday.

There’s actually quite a bit of confusion as to who released the first ever camera phone. Wikipedia states it was Samsung with its SCH-V200 that marked the entry of camera phones. However, the same article argues that the world’s true camera phone could be from Sharp. The Japanese company had released the camera-equipped J-SH04 a few months after Samsung’s SCH-V200, but with an integrated camera module. However, if you research a bit, you’ll realize that there was actually a camera phone released even before these two models (which Wikipedia had initially missed)!

The first true camera phone was actually announced by a different Japanese manufacturer, Kyocera. It was the VP-210 Visual Phone that’s the world’s first true camera phone. It was released way before the above two models, as early as 1999 in Japan. What’s even more interesting is that it had a front facing camera, similar to what we have to today for selfies. Clearly, it was a phone that was way ahead of its time! The Kyocera VP-210 came with a 2-inch color TFT display with a 110,000-pixel camera. Don’t be confused with the large pixel count, it was actually a tiny sensor with just 0.11MP. Unsurprisingly, it was expensive at $335 for ‘1999’ standards.

Now let’s look at the two models that Wikipedia claims to be the first camera phones. Samsung SCH-V200 was officially released in June 2000. On the other hand, Sharp’s J-SH04 was announced a few months later, in November 2000.

Both had cameras and could capture images, however, there was a fundamental difference between the two models. The Samsung SCH-V200 was basically a phone with a camera module attached at the back. It had a 0.35MP camera and the phone could capture 20 photos. However, in order to share a photo, you had to connect it to your computer.

On the other hand, Wikipedia claims Sharp’s J-SH04 was the first real camera phone because it had an integrated design. Samsung’s model had a half integrated design i.e. the camera module shared the same case and battery but wasn’t connected to the phone functionally. While on the Sharp J-SH04, you could share photos captured on the phone directly through the device because the camera was fully integrated. However, it’s worth noting that Sharp’s 0.11MP camera was weaker than Samsung 0.35MP one.

So, in all regards, it looks like the Kyocera VP-210 and its front-facing 0.11MP camera was the world’s first true camera phone. It all basically started with a 0.11MP sensor. Today, we are at a 48MP sensors and even 64MP camera modules on smartphones. The megapixel count is bound to increase further in the coming years. So don’t be surprised if you see 192MP camera phones in the future, after all, Qualcomm’s high-end chipsets already support such high-resolution camera modules!

UP NEXT: Nova 5 Will Come With Kirin 810!

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Panasonic has launched  its first Android-powered camera smartphone, the Lumix DMC-CM1. It will be showcased  at Photokina show  in Germany which will be conducted next week. By this Panasonic is entering to cameraphone game

The new  Lumix DMC-CM1 is a Camera centric phone and  has a 20-megapixel 1-inch MOS-type sensor with an f/2.8 Leica DC Elmarit lens and  Venus engine. It does have a mechanical shutter and a manual control ring. And even supports 4K recording.

The specs are as follows, It is equipped with  a 4.7-inch FHD (1080p) display,and  powered by a 2.3GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor alongside 2GB of RAM coupled with 16GB storage which supports Micro-SD card upto 128GB storage. The Lumix DMC-CM1 camera runs Android 4.4 KitKat out-of-the-box. It supports 4G LTE and has all standard connectivity features.

The price has not been revealed and this phone will be available in stores by end of the year. The only markets confirmed to receive the device are France and Germany as of now.

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After having introduced the new ViVo X3 as the slimmest phone in the world, Vivo is reportedly preparing a new flagship smartphone with the high megapixel camera. Following the OPPO N1, the ViVo camera-centric smartphone is also has swivel ability (not rotate but swivel–see the picture above).

It is known from an image being rendered visible as an official promo image Vivo that posted the latest mobile phones at the forum. The latest mobile phones seems to be a camera-centric phone, which offers a 20.2MP CMOS sensor, 1/1.7-inch, aperture f/2.0, and using Nikon EXPEED chip.

Unfortunately promo poster seemed to have withdrawn from the forum, but predicted that the company will unveil their latest flagship at the end of 2013. So let’s wait!

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