I must say that Xiaomi 12S Pro has the least number of changes in the 12S series. If I were to review every part as I have done in the past, it would be almost the same as the Xiaomi 12 Pro review, and that would be pointless. So, for this review, we will only look at the two biggest changes to the 12S Pro: the processor and Leica color profile.

The 12S Pro has an important upgrade: the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1. It’s already proven in our Xiaomi 12S Ultra review how powerful the 8+ Gen 1 is with the TSMC 4nm process. But even with the same processor, performance can vary from this model to the other, and the Xiaomi 12S Pro and Ultra are good examples of this. The 12S Pro seems to be more aggressively tuned, as seen in the BenchMark results. And even without the new cooling system, the CPU Throttling Test scores were excellent.

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Looking at the Genshin Impact, it is true that the 12S Pro has a higher average FPS. But you can also see from the line graph that it has a more fluctuating frame rate and you can feel the lag in the game. But compared to the 12 Pro’s performance, the average frame rate is higher, and lagging issues have been fixed. So if you were to ask me if the 12S Pro is good for gaming, my answer would be yes. Other than some gaming phones, it’ll be hard to find a regular phone with better performance than this one.

All three camera sensors remain the same, but the 12S Pro has Leica color science! Although we discussed Leica’s color science in the 12S Ultra review, the Pro’s Leica colors don’t seem the same as the Ultra version. Especially in the Leica Authentic mode, although the contrast is also improved, the change is not obvious in most scenes compared to Leica Vibrant mode. We tried to find out why and comparing to the 12S Ultra sample, we could easily find that the Vignetting was not as obvious as the 12S Ultra. So the Pro version does not look as “Leica” as the Ultra.

You can check out the full-sized samples here.

So compared to the Xiaomi 12 Pro, Leica Color Science should have a clear advantage, right? But the fact is that in most scenes in Leica Vibrant mode, the difference between them is slight. They are almost identical except for the 12S Pro white balance, which is slightly bluish, probably due to the Leica style. When it comes to scenes with complex light sources, if not looking at the watermark, I can’t tell which one is 12 Pro and which one is 12S Pro. Let’s put it this way, I guess Leica didn’t interfere too much with this mode, it’s entirely Xiaomi’s original color style.

The 12S Pro sample in Leica Authentic mode does have more contrast than the 12 Pro, but it’s not like something produced by AI algorithm as the 12S Ultra, it’s more like a filter. Because I used Photoshop to add a little contrast and Vignetting and the results are pretty much the same thing. So after many sample comparisons, I found that the 12S Pro doesn’t do Leica color as well as the 12S Ultra, or at least it doesn’t improve much compared to the 12 Pro. If you want to see the review other than color, you can go to our Xiaomi 12 Pro review, the 12S Pro is almost the same. We’ve already talked a lot about the details of the three lenses in that video, so we won’t go into it again.

The Leica watermark can now be added in the albums APP, and there are quite a few styles. It seems that Leica is still very strict about adding its own watermark. If the photo is not taken by 12S Pro, the watermark can’t be added in the album APP.

The video capability is unchanged from the previous generation because there is no help from Leica, just like the 12S Ultra. The footage is very stable, the main camera supports 8K 24fps, ultra-wide, and telephoto cameras support 4k 60fps. The front camera supports up to 1080P 60fps, but it seems that the front camera performance in the current system is not very stable, the exposure will be high or low sometimes, and the performance is not as good as 12 Pro.

Although it can’t take pictures as well as the 12S Ultra, it is not as light and compact as the 12S. But on the other hand, it takes better pictures than the 12S, it’s lighter than the 12S Ultra, and looks more like a phone than a camera.

So the reason to buy the 12S Pro is: It’s the balanced version among the 12S series. Everything about it is average, with no amazing parts, but with no shortcomings. Even the price is just right. It doesn’t change much compared to the Xiaomi 12 Pro, but the experience has been significantly leveled up by the 8+ processor. I’m sure it will be one of the best phones for most people this year.

* Please Note: When you buy something using the links in our articles, we may earn a small commission at no cost to you.

The post Xiaomi 12S Pro Review: Balance is its biggest selling point appeared first on Gizmochina.

Last year’s Redmi K40 Gaming Edition was equipped with a Dimensity 1200 processor, which discouraged hardcore gamers from the device. But finally, this year, Redmi decided to give the Redmi K50 Gaming Edition the most powerful Qualcomm chip.

So has Redmi made a real gaming phone? Let’s find out.

REDMI K50 Gaming Edition REVIEW – Design and Display

The one we have in our hands is the silver model. Like last year, it is called K50 Gaming Edition, but the design doesn’t feel very “Gaming”. The metal frame with the AG frosted glass back feels similar to last year’s K40 Gaming Edition. The lens module has been changed from an oval to a rounded rectangle.

The lightning-shaped flash and the RGB lights around the lens have also been retained from the Redmi K40 Gaming Edition. However, the RGB light only lights up when you receive a message or when charging, which means it can’t light up during gameplay. This is very un-Gaming.

There’s also no headphone jack, which is something gamers would expect. The difference with the other phones is that it has an extra microphone port on the side. Of course, there are also the Xiaomi family’s exclusive physical shoulder buttons, which we’ll talk more about later. The IR blaster power of Redmi K50 Gaming has been improved, which can be used to remotely control devices up to 10 meters away. If you liked last year’s K40 Gaming Edition. I am sure you’ll love this year’s K50 Gaming Edition too.

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Although the screen used in this year’s Redmi K50 Gaming Edition is from the same screen maker as last year’s, and the specs on paper are similar. But I have to compliment the screen. You don’t get the problem of rainbow lines when you tilt the screen. The Adaptive Colors option has been added. And it adopts 1920Hz high-frequency PWM dimming, this dimming method can take into account the color accuracy and eye protection. That means you can say goodbye to DC dimming.

The screen protection glass has also been upgraded from the fifth-generation Corning Gorilla Glass to Corning Victus Glass. This screen is very good for gaming phones. Although the bezel is a little wider all around compared to the Redmi K40 Gaming Edition, the thicker bezel on the gaming phone prevents accidental touches. And it looks like its four sides are equal in width, so once you get used to it, you’ll think it’s still a beautiful screen.

REDMI K50 Gaming Edition REVIEW – Performance and Benchmarks

The Redmi K50 Gaming Edition finally uses the most powerful mobile chip in the Android camp at the moment, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1.

Although it is said that even with the performance mode on, the scores on the various benchmarks are not as high as expected and even worse than some non-gaming phones. And unfortunately, the 3DMark stress test still cannot be completed successfully. So we did the CPU Throttling Test.

Compared to the Xiaomi 12 Pro, it’s hard to say who performs better. Of course, scores don’t tell the whole story. The gaming experience is the only way to judge a good or bad gaming phone, and the Redmi K50 Gaming Edition adds a very large X-axis linear motor for a good gaming experience. This motor gives quick and very powerful feedback and is really comparable to the motor of an iPhone. The experience is very good at typing and gaming. As for the upgraded shoulder buttons mentioned earlier. As with the K40 Gaming, it’s the same switch that allows the magnets to pop up the shoulder buttons.

In fact, it feels like there is no difference in the experience of the previous generation’s shoulder buttons. And it’s a shame that there are only a few customization functions, and they cannot be used in non-gaming apps, nor can they be used as a camera shutter button. But there is no denying that the physical buttons are more comfortable to press in gaming than the touch buttons of other non-gaming models. Compared to the Xiaomi 12 Pro Game Space, only the UI has changed. There are no changes in functionality. To hold down the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, the Redmi K50 Gaming Edition has been custom-built with two special VC heat sinks using hexagonal boron nitride and graphene. That’s a lot of money for a heat sink.

PUBG Mobile Gaming

Let’s get straight to the gaming performance of the Redmi K50 Gaming Edition. While a game like PUBG Mobile doesn’t have the slightest frame drop with 90FPS mode on, the maximum temperature doesn’t exceed 40 degrees Celsius.

Genshin Impact

The Genshin Impact, on the other hand, did not surprise us with its performance. The average frame rate is not as high as the Xiaomi 12 Pro and the stability is not as good as the OnePlus 10 Pro. The overall performance was moderate.

Brightride

Brightridge is not much different from the other two and even has a worse average frame rate. But the temperature was kept at 48 degrees Celsius. To be honest, although the Redmi K50 Gaming looks like a gaming phone, it plays like a normal flagship phone. Only the gaming temperature was well controlled, the gaming frame rate wasn’t as good as it should be. Given the cooling design of this phone, it should be able to perform better in terms of gaming. I can only hope for a better gaming experience later on with a system update.

REDMI K50G REVIEW – Cameras

No one should expect much from the Redmi K50 Gaming Edition in terms of photography. But in fact, it’s not as bad as one might expect. Even though it doesn’t use the same glass lens as last year’s K40 Gaming Edition for its main camera, it performs very well most of the time.

Especially at night, the performance was surprisingly good. There are some photos that aren’t even that much worse than the Mi 11 Ultra. Apart from the poorer image quality at the edges of the ultra-wide-angle camera shots, its camera performance is generally satisfactory. The main camera supports video recording at up to 4k 60fps and is full spec with EIS. Ultra-wide support up to 1080P 30fps. As for the Flicker Sensor, it does allow you to reduce the color ripple on the screen when shooting. But it doesn’t do much for recording video. When the frequency of the lights doesn’t match, there will still be the problem of flickering lights.

Main Camera

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Ultra-Wide Camera

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Did you see the JBL logo and the speakers that look like the grille? The Redmi K50 Gaming Edition is on par with the Xiaomi 12 Pro in terms of speakers and also uses four-unit speakers. Two speakers are responsible for the high-frequency part of the sound, and the remaining two are responsible for the low-frequency part. It’s a stunning device to play music on, so let’s give it a try.

REDMI K50 Gaming Edition REVIEW – Charging & Battery Life

The charger is included in the box. The Type-C charging cable is L-shaped and is longer than the ones given with other phones.

Charging power is 120W. Five minutes to charge 43%, ten minutes to charge 71% in, and only 19 minutes to fully charge. Thanks to the excellent heat dissipation design, the K50 Gaming Edition also has improved charging speed while playing games.

With the same 120W charging power, the Xiaomi 12 Pro can only be charged to 19% in five minutes while playing the game, but the K50 Gaming Edition can be charged to 33%. The battery capacity is not quite 5000mAh, but it’s not small either.

Tiktok and online videos both consume 6% and the three games consume 9%, 15%, and 15% respectively. While the Redmi K50 Gaming does consume quite a bit of power, considering this has 120w of charging power and the ability to charge while playing is also very fast. I am able to live with that.

REDMI K50 Gaming Edition REVIEW – Verdict

To conclude, the Redmi K50 Gaming Edition is indeed better than last year, with significant improvements in all aspects. It doesn’t quite live up to our expectations in terms of gaming, but its performance is average for Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 phones this year. It is also very good in terms of audio and video.

Apart from the camera, which is weak in its price range, there are no other obvious shortcomings. This year, it is also finally possible to use GMS without any problems. I can recommend this phone to everyone, except for those who like to take very high-quality pictures and for those who hate its design.

The post Redmi K50 Gaming Edition Review: A Regular Phone with a Focus on Gaming appeared first on Gizmochina.

After the confirmation of the existence of a Xiaomi 12 Ultra, the device is now officially into the next stage of the flagship release life cycle: leaks and rumours. And this new leak is regarding the processor powering the Xiaomi 12 Ultra, which is rumoured to be the upcoming Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1+.

The news comes from the popular Chinese leakster, Digital Chat Station on Weibo. In the Weibo post, they mention that the Xiaomi L2S, model number 2206122SC, is sporting the unannounced Qualcomm SM8475 chipset under the hood. The leaker also reveals that the launch date of the device is happening in Q3 2022.

For those unaware, in an earlier leak, the Xiaomi L2S was spotted to be the Xiaomi 12 Ultra in the IMEI database and the Qualcomm SM8475 chipset is the successor to the Qualcomm SM8450(or more commonly known as the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor). The Qualcomm SM8475 is rumoured to be called the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1+, and it is expected to be manufactured under TSMC’s 4nm process this time instead of Samsung’s 4nm node.

This leak serves as a welcome surprise to those who were holding off buying the Xiaomi 12 and 12 Pro and decided to wait for the Xiaomi 12 Ultra instead. To elaborate, the reviews of the Xiaomi 12 and 12 Pro were all-around positive. Whether it be the cameras, the displays or the audio experience, both the phones had it all. However, both phones have a major Achilles’ Heel that could not be solved via a software update, which is the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip powering both devices.

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip was prone to overheating, battery drain issues, and even thermal throttling on many devices such as the Xiaomi 12, 12 Pro, Motorola Edge X30, and the Realme GT 2 Pro. Many attributed the shortcomings of the chip to the reason of being fabbed under Samsung LSI’s 4nm process. This is because previous Qualcomm flagship chipsets like the Snapdragon 870, Snapdragon 865, and Snapdragon 855 didn’t exhibit these issues as strongly as the 8 Gen 1, as all 3 of them were fabbed under TSMC. 

And with ever-increasing complaints from both phone manufacturers and consumers, Qualcomm is reportedly going back to TSMC for its Snapdragon 8 Gen 1+ chipset, and it will be fabbed on TSMC’s latest 4nm process which claims to bring better thermals, better power efficiency and better performance than its predecessor.

RELATED:

• Xiaomi 12 Ultra’s Existence Confirmed in Xiaomi’s IMEI Database, Here are the Details Revealed via The Listing
• Here is the List of Xiaomi Devices Eligible for Android 13
• Xiaomi partners YouTube to offer free YouTube Premium on select devices
• Redmi K50G Gaming Flagship Unboxing and Hands-on: Believe it or not, it’s a Gaming Phone!

(Source, Via)

The post Xiaomi 12 Ultra to carry the TSMC Qualcomm 4nm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1+, based on insider reports appeared first on Gizmochina.

Thanks to Qualcomm’s update of its Snapdragon chipset, we saw brands queuing up to launch their flagship phones in the new year. Ever since 8 Gen 1 chipset debuted on Motorola Edge X30 in December, we’ve experienced and reviewed 4 models powered by this latest chip. But none of them really surprised us with their performance.

And today we have one more model for you, the iQOO 9 Pro. So let’s check whether the phone is able to stand out from the 8Gen 1 flagship crowd.

Obviously, iQOO has shifted its product strategy from gaming preference to a more common-flagship design. Especially on the latest 9 Pro, the specs seem to be more balanced with the phone coming with more features that we only see on the premium smartphone models. The iQOO 9 Pro adopts a completely new rear design with a triple camera setup housed inside a wide camera island almost covering the upper half of the rear panel.

iQOO 9 Pro Review: Design & Display

This time the 9 Pro comes in just two variants, an Orange leather-like version and the BMW Motosport edition in my hand. 

The new design makes it probably the most recognizable model among all the latest flagships. 

In addition to the triple camera setup at the left, the wide camera island is made up of a large piece of aluminum plate underneath the slightly-smaller glass cover.  

This design is not only for better looks, but also works as a key part of the cooling system. The aluminum plate could effectively transfer heat inside, while the glass cover could block the perceivable heat when holding the phone. 

Later I will show you how effective the cooling solution performs in our gaming test. 

The Motosport edition still includes the iconic BMW three-color stripes running from the upper part down to the bottom of the rear panel. 

The phone weighs about 204g and is 8.8mm thick, which is a bit bulky like the OnePlus 10 Pro. The front face is covering a 6.78-inch 1440p Samsung E5 display, featuring up to 120Hz refresh rate with adaptive support of LTPO. The iQoo 9 Pro features an Ultrasonic ID sensor, which offers fingertips a much larger recognizable area. It’s the best reader that I’ve ever experienced on a phone. Compared to those optical readers, adding a fingerprint becomes so quick that you only need to press the display once for a few seconds, and it allows you to have a larger unlocking area. 

The display is definitely one of the best panels for a phone in 2022. The new level-less adaptive refresh rate feels good as I barely feel the change in smoothness when activating this feature. And the 1440P E5 panel doesn’t let you down over color presentation and fineness.   

iQoo claims that the new technology would bring a longer battery life. However, by far the phone didn’t really offer good battery performance. And it seems that the updated software drains the power a bit too quickly. 

iQOO 9 Pro Review: OceanOS is unique

However, I still wanna talk more about the Origin OS Ocean, which is probably the most special mobile OS based on the Android platform. The Origin OS Ocean looks so different from the others with the brand-new UI design. It has a bold and avant-garde graphic style applying bright colors and fine interactive details. Users can customize their lock and home screen in detail, including adjusting dynamic effects, icon style, and wide options of built-in kits for the home screen. But to be honest, it’s hard to say whether these fancy features improve efficiency in use since it can get complicated for fresh users, and especially, this customized OS is mainly optimized for Chinese users right now. There are still some minor issues with the system language that are not perfectly adapted. 

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But the good news is that the OS for China version has wide support for system languages beyond Chinese and English. 

Another strange point of the new system is that I cannot find updated options for most built-in apps in the official app store. I have to enter each app’s setting to check whether there’s an updated version available. 

Anyway, apart from the features shared by Android 12, the overall design of the new OS is fresh and innovative, which makes me still excited to see how it will perform when coming on a global model. 

iQOO 9 Pro Review: Performance & Gaming

Now let’s check its performance with the new 8Gen 1 chip. Well, its results in benchmarks look great. It achieved over 1200 for single-core, 3800 for multi-core in Geekbench 5’s CPU test. In the Antutu Benchmark, the overall result ran up to 1020000, which is also the best score that we got from an Android phone. 

In 3DMark, it achieved in the 9700s range in the wildlife graphic test, which is also close to the best result we tested at 20℃. Then to access its performance under heavy load, we ran the stress test in 3DMark, it also achieved the best stability that we’ve tested with 8Gen1. Considering that some 888 and 8Gen1 models couldn’t even finish the test due to heating issue, the 55℃ for front face and 49 for rear cover is still reasonable for a 8Gen1 model. And it’s also likely to be the highest temperature that we can access on the phone. Even in our gaming test, we never recorded such a high temperature on the phone. This likely means that the benchmark should be in the phone’s performance whitelist.

In PUBG Mobile, the iQoo 9 Pro’s framerate could stay extremely stable at 60fps. While for 30-min gaming in Genshin Impact, the average framerate of 54.4 is also the best result that we got on all 8Gen1 models, though the phone got throttled down a bit after the first 5 minutes. Good news is that the phone shows pretty good cooling effect and suppresses the max temperature to below 46 and 42℃ at the front and back ,respectively. 

Then we ran another game, Nimian Legends, under its highest graphics at 2K resolution, which probably is the heaviest game that we can play on mobile phone. After the first 5 minutes, the performance got throttled down more and the framerate remained at 40.3 fps, which is not so impressive compared to what we tested in Genshin Impact. But the result is almost the same as what we tested on OnePlus 10 Pro and Xiaomi 12 Pro. 

And the thermal performance is still good with a max temperature at below 46℃. 

By far iQoo is the only brand that uses an independent display chip to bring a smoother game experience with high framerate and low power consumption. In supported games, it can access up to 120fps or 90fps framerate through frame interpolation, ignoring in-game framerate limits. 

It sounds great, right? 

Well, unfortunately, I’m sorry to tell you that it doesn’t work outside of China at this point. Because by far it only supports 16 games, and all of them are China versions. Although we saw the Genshin Impact in the supported list, there’s still no trigger to activate the frame rate interpolation in the international version of Genshin Impact that we downloaded from the Google Play store. It’s disappointing though, we still want to show you how it works in supported games. For example, In the Chinese version of Genshin Impact, before entering the game, you have to switch the display resolution to the 1080P option since it doesn’t support 1440P display resolution.

There’re two modes in frame interpolation. Either access the 120fps gaming experience with the Framerate-Boost option on, or play the game at 90fps with the Optimize-power-consumption mode. With support of the display chip, it only requires GPU to render 60fps to have the 120fps gaming, and render 45fps to have the 90fps gaming. At the same time, the interpolation modes would slightly increase operational delay. Anyway, I really enjoy playing Genshin Impact at such high framerate, but all we can do is wait for the brand open the feature to more games and especially the global market. 

Hey iQoo, you have to do something, alright? 

iQOO 9 Pro Review: Cameras

Like most flagships coming this year, the iQoo 9 Pro also features a triple camera setup including a 50MP primary lens with Vivo’s Gimbal stabilization, a 2.5x 16MP telephoto lens and another 50MP 150° ultra-wide-angle lens supporting fisheye mode. We’ve seen the same wide-angle lens on the Realme GT 2 Pro and the OnePlus 10 Pro. However, it’s not so impressive. 

Okay let’s look at some camera samples. Under good lighting conditions, the samples shot on the three cams look good with bright colors and natural aperture. But when meeting high-contrast scenes, the imaging is not so stable and sometimes the fringing issue shared by all the three lenses could be annoying when you check the pictures on a bigger display. The wide-angle lens supports fisheye mode though we couldn’t get good distortion correction at 0.6x shooting. And there’s a bug on the 2.5x telephoto camera. We couldn’t get a true portrait-mode photo with it.

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When it comes to night scene, the samples shot on the three cameras look a bit dull and lack detail. Especially for the wide-angle lens, the night samples even couldn’t capture red colors correctly. And when it comes to extremely low-light condition, the 2.5x telephoto camera wasn’t even activated. Instead, all the zoom pictures were shot on the main lens.

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The most impressive feature of the phone’s cameras is the Gimbal stabilization technology. It still offers the best stability for mobile phones similar to what we saw on the Vivo X60 and X70 series. 

Anyway, I think iQoo still need to do a lot more work on fixing their camera software. I believe the phone can do much better than what we have here. 

iQOO 9 Pro Review: Battery Life & Charging

The phone could be fully charged within 20mins with the included 120W charger, and it also supports 50W wireless charging with 10W reverse wireless charging. While its battery life is not as impressive as the charging solution, the latest software probably is the reason behind this. 

iQOO 9 Pro Review: Verdict

So that’s all we want to share about the iQoo 9 Pro. Actually at the beginning we’re pretty excited to review the phone. The phone’s gaming performance really stood out from the 8Gen1 crowd. However, by far the software doesn’t really offer delightful experience for daily use and photography.

So among the five 8Gen1 flagships, which one has convinced you? Or are you not impressed by anyone?

The post iQOO 9 Pro Review: Excellent first impression but fails to shine as a flagship appeared first on Gizmochina.

We’ve talked a lot about the Snapdragon 8 Gen1 chipset in our preview video right after launch. Now the chip has finally come to our office inside the Motorola Edge X30, so let’s find out whether the new chip can rebuild the reputation of the Snapdragon flagship series. 

We’ll try to test the chip by putting it through a number of benchmark tests, starting with Geekbench 5. 

VIDEO

Snapdragon 8 Gen1 – Geekbench 5

After checking the results of the Geekbench 5 CPU test, you would find that there’s almost no performance improvement compared to the 888 chipset.

We got a score of 1200 for the single-core test, and 3700 for the multi-core test at a temperature of 10℃. While at 20℃, the multi-core result came down to 3500. It seems that the CPU performance might easily be influenced by the temperature.

But at the same time, note that the Geekbench 5 may not have got an update to adapt to the new chipset, and considering the software developed by Motorola is still an early version, the result might be not able to accurately reflect the improvement of 8 Gen1’s performance. 

Snapdragon 8 Gen1 – AnTuTu benchmark

Then we tested it again on Antutu Benchmark. The overall score doesn’t exceed 1 million as we saw in leaked screenshots but remains at around 980000. And there’s a little gap between these two chips’ CPU results. And surprisingly, the old 888 chip sometimes could achieve a better multi-core performance in the benchmark. Also, we learned that the result could be better if you find a way to get a lower testing temperature, like putting it in the fridge…. Alright it sounds a bit funny. 

Geekbench 5 power output

If there is no significant improvement over the CPU performance, how about its power consumption running the benchmark? We all know that the 888 chip doesn’t have good power efficiency on most Android flagship models, and the new 8Gen1 chip was even likely to be worse. At least for now, the power output when running the Geekbench 5 is even higher than what we got on the snapdragon 888 platform. On an average, it went up to 10.5W for multi-core test and 4.0W for single-core test. 

No wonder we felt that the battery was dropping quickly during all our tests.

Snapdragon 8 Gen1 – GPU: 3DMark

The first surprise from this chipset came in the 3DMark GPU test.  

We ran it at various temperatures and then tried to figure out how much of an impact was caused by the temperature factor. At 5℃ room temperature, the Edge X30 can run up to 9900 in the first round of the test, which has exceeded the average score of the latest Apple’s A15 chipset running in the iPhone 13 Pro, which is almost 70% better than most phones powered by the 888 chipset.

And then we brought it to 15℃ room temperature. The result was down to 9700. At 25℃, we ran 3 more rounds and the scores went down to 8900. It seems that the 8 Gen 1 is pretty sensitive to temperature. And in daily use, the peak performance probably will be hard to sustain for a long time gaming or the chip might throttle down due to the heating issue. However, we’re still pretty surprised by its GPU improvement from the 888 chipset. Even when we met the heating issue, the 3DMark result still got 50% increase. 

Snapdragon 8 Gen1 – GFXBench

And let’s do another GPU test in GfxBench. The result also proved the significant improvement of the new chip’s GPU. No matter for OpenGL or Vulkan test, the 8Gen1 has performed close to what we tested on iPhone 13 Pro and ran with 60% improvement from the Snapdragon 888 of the Mi 11.

Snapdragon 8 Gen1 Gaming Performance Review

Genshin Impact – Framerate, power, heating

Now let’s test its gaming performance. It’s too easy for this chip to run games like PUBG Mobile. And there’s no perceivable heating being detected. 

But what about heavy games? We ran Genshin Impact under the highest graphics at 20℃. The result is not bad, and the gaming experience got slightly improved with a pretty high framerate in the first 15 mins.

But since the game hasn’t unlocked the 60fps limit, CPU loading only remained at around 30%, and we were probably not able to access the peak performance of the chipset. However, we still encountered the similar throttling issue found on all the 888-chipset phones. Due to high temperature and high-power consumption, the X3 large core slowed down, and the frame rate fluctuated, eventually stabling down at 54.4fps on an average. 

Further, we ran the game again to reveal its power-performance efficiency compared to the Mi 11 running the 888 chipset. We switched the framerate lock down to 30fps on both models and tried to simulate an average loading for most android games. Under such a situation, the power efficiency of the 8Gen 1’s result of 4.9 W didn’t get much better than the 888 chipset. So it looks like gamers may still need to bear the high-power consumption.

And the surface of the phone also got heated up quickly when running these heavy games. During the 30-min gaming test, the maximum surface temperature went up to around 53℃. So its power and heating performance may still be an issue for gaming, just like the 888 chipset. 

Gaming stress test: Nimian legends – Framerate, power, heating

In another game, Nimian Legends, to give it the hardest performance test, we upgraded the gaming resolution to a 2K level with the highest graphics. In the first 5 minutes, the Edge X30 powered by 8 Gen1 did deliver the excellent peak performance as we got in GPU Benchmarks, but it didn’t last long and got throttled down for the rest of the time thanks to the heating issue (46.28fps).

The highest temperature hit at 57℃ and the detected chip temperature went up to around 90℃, which is really insane. And the peak power even reached 14.1W, which is also the highest figure that we’ve tested over a phone’s power output. Eventually, the 30-min test consumed around 30% of power.  

But at the same time, one positive thing to note here is that the throttled performance is still at the level that’s close to the Mi 11’s peak performance. 

3DMARK stress test: Gaming, throttled performance, heating, stability

To prove this finding, we also performed a comparison of the 3DMark 4K wildlife stress test. We found that Mi 11 is better at maintaining a stable but lower framerate throughout the 20 loops, which protected the phone from getting over-heated, avoiding fast battery drain. While on the Edge X30, it started with an excellent result, but the performance throttled down with each round. However, just like we found in our gaming test, the new Snapdragon chip’s lowest score in the last loop is still much better than the Mi 11’s result of the first loop. Also, the X30’s surface was extremely hot at around 54℃, and it consumed nearly twice as much power as the Mi 11.

Moto Edge X30 Charging & battery

The Edge X30 features a 4500mAh battery and 68W fast charge. For its battery life, the phone didn’t perform well with the chipset. Here are the results of our battery test and charging test. 

Snapdragon 8 Gen1 Performance: Verdict

After all the tests we performed, we hope you’ve got an idea of how exactly the 8Gen 1 chip performs. 

But at the same time, I also want to tell you another important fact about these two chipsets: After months of optimizations, most flagships powered by the snapdragon 888 chip have used a conservative CPU strategy. On the other hand, being a very early model featuring the Snapdragon 8 Gen1, to avoid over-heating and to seek a balance with battery life, the Edge X30 has still got a lot of work to do with its software optimization. 

We do have to add that it achieved better peak performance due to the much better GPU. If you could effectively cool it down, the excellent performance can likely last for much longer. 

To conclude, the good message here is that the new snapdragon 8 chip brings an astounding GPU performance upgrade, which even catches up with Apple’s latest A15 chip. As for actual gaming, the 6MB L3 cache also provides better support to access a smoother experience in heavy games like Genshin Impact. But the bad news is that the improvement of CPU is not significant at all. And power consumption and heating are still the main issues that brands are left to deal with, and they haven’t really improved when compared to the 888 chip. 

So that’s it for today. We hope our performance review has given you a good overview of what to expect from the new Snapdragon chipset.

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The post Motorola Edge X30 with Snapdragon 8 Gen1 Performance & Gaming Review appeared first on Gizmochina.

The OPPO Find X4 series, comprised of the Find X4 and Find X4 Pro, will be released in February and March after the Chinese spring festival, although the exact date has yet to be determined.

The info comes from notable industry insider Digital Chat Station who further revealed that the two models will be powered by the latest MediaTek’s Dimensity 9000 and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processors. While the former will likely be powering the vanilla Find X4, the latter will be featured on the Pro variant.

Both models have also been revealed to stick to ordinary telephoto solutions for the cameras, without the use of any periscope technology. However, the tipster also hinted at the existence of an OPPO Find X4 Ultra/Pro+ variant that may make up for the lacking.

Lastly, it was stated under the same Weibo post that the OPPO Find X4 series may both feature 80W fast charging. OnePlus will also likely be adopting the charging tech, although some realme phones will be upgraded to ultrafast 150W charging solutions.

Recently on December 16, MediaTek held a press event for its Dimensity 9000 5G mobile platform wherein it was announced that the next-generation Find X flagship series will be launched with the Dimensity 9000 5G mobile platform for the first time.

The processor was first announced back in November and uses TSMC’s 4nm process paired with the latest Arm v9 architecture combination, making it a highly energy-efficient yet performant offering.

As for the OPPO Find X4, alleged specifications of the device have already emerged well before launch and you can check them all out from here.

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The post OPPO Find X4 to be released in February or March, Dimensity 9000 and Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 variants in the cards appeared first on Gizmochina.

Qualcomm is all set to launch its next-generation flagship smartphone chipset in a couple of days at its Tech Summit. This time, the company is also changing the naming scheme and the chipset will be called Snapdragon 8 Gen1 instead of Snapdragon 898.

Now, as per the latest report, the OnePlus 10 Pro will be among the first smartphones to come powered by this new flagship chipset. With this news, the Chinese company joins the list of Xiaomi and Motorola which are already reported to be the first to launch a device powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen1 SoC.

Unlike its predecessors, the OnePlus 10 series phones will be launched in January, at least in the Chinese market. In this scenario, it will be among the first smartphones to come powered by the upcoming Qualcomm flagship chipset.

However, the global launch of the OnePlus 10 series smartphones is set to take place in March or April, in line with the previous launches. Not just the chipset, key specifications of the device have already been leaked online.

As per the reports, the phone will feature a 6.7-inch curved Quad HD+ AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and a single punch-hole on the left side of the screen. It is expected to pack 8GB or 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 128GB or 256GB of UFS 3.1 internal storage, with support for a microSD card slot for expanding the capacity.

In the camera department, the OnePlus 10 Pro will feature a Hasselblad-branded triple-camera setup on the back consisting of a 48-megapixel wide sensor, a 50-megapixel ultra-wide-angle lens, and an 8-megapixel telephoto lens.

On the front side, the device will have a 32-megapixel front-facing snapper which is an upgrade compared to the usual 16-megapixel snapper. It is said to be running the latest Android 12 operating system with OxygenOS 12 and comes powered by a 5,000Amh battery with support for 125W fast charging.

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The Redmi K50 series may very well be the most comprehensive lineup from the brand to date, and will use four different high-end processors from both Qualcomm and MediaTek. The preceding Redmi K40 series relied on three, so it’s quite clear that the lineup has been expanded.

Notable tipster @PandaIsVeryBald posted on Weibo today saying that the Redmi K50 series will be using a ‘complete range of processors’, namely the Snapdragon 870, Snapdragon 8 Gen1, Dimensity 7000, and Dimensity 9000.

While the Snapdragon 870 has been used on the Redmi K40 (Mi 11X / Poco F3) earlier, the other three chips are totally new and are yet to make it to any smartphone offering.

To recall, the Snapdragon 870 is a flagship-level chip, identical to the Snapdragon 865, but rebranded into a more affordable alternative to the top-of-the-line Snapdragon 888 chip.

The Snapdragon 8 Gen1, on the other hand, will be a true flagship processor that will supersede the current king of the hill – the Snapdragon 888. The chip was earlier touted to be called Snapdragon 898 but has now been officially given a new moniker.

Moving on to the MediaTek camp, the Dimensity 9000 will be the brand’s top-of-the-line offering and will be competing with the Snapdragon 8 Gen1. It is joined by the Dimensity 7000, which according to the latest reports has already entered the engineering stage. Its AnTuTu score was around 750,000 – higher than the Snapdragon 870 but lower than the Snapdragon 888.

Coming to the series itself, it will likely be comprised of the Redmi K50, K50 Game Edition, K50 Pro, and K50 Pro+. Of course, as always, Xiaomi will be going for different names for various regions. The Redmi K50 can be sold as the Mi 12X in India and Poco F4 in the rest of the world, if Xiaomi sticks to its current naming convention.

As for specs, the Redmi K50 Pro and Redmi K50 Pro+ models will come with high-end E5 AMOLED displays with a high refresh rate. They will also support 100W fast charging. The series is expected to go live in either February or March.

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Next-generation flagship phones equipped with the upcoming Snapdragon 898 (Snapdragon 8 Gen1) processor may come with a battery capacity starting with 4,500mAh and have at least 65W flash charging as standard.

The info comes from reliable leakster Digital Chat Station through a post on Weibo. A similar post on the platform had also revealed earlier that Qualcomm will be ditching its typical Snapdragon xxx moniker for the upcoming flagship chip in favor of ‘Snapdragon 8 Gen1’. MediaTek has already pulled something similar, renaming its Dimensity 2000 chip to Dimensity 9000.

Chinese phones, particularly those from BBK Electronics subsidiaries (OPPO, realme, OnePlus), have already started arriving with 65W charging support even in the mid-range, so it doesn’t really come as a surprise. And on top of that, companies like OPPO and Xiaomi have even begun working on tech to cross the 125W mark.

And as for 4,500mAh batteries, it comes as a necessity really, given the power-hungry processors and displays that have grown larger and smoother than ever. 120Hz displays have already become standardized in flagship phones and are known to consume much more power than 60Hz, hence the push for larger batteries.

Coming to the Snapdragon 8 Gen1 itself, or whatever you want to call it ahead of its launch, it is said to offer a 20 percent performance improvement over its predecessor. It will be featuring a prime ARM Cortex-X2 CPU core running at 3.0GHz, three Cortex-A710 based mid-cores clocked at 2.5GHz and four efficient Cortex-A510 derived cores running at 1.79GHz. Samsung’s 4nm process will be used in manufacturing it.

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Qualcomm’s much-awaited Tech Summit has been scheduled for November 30 and is set to lift the curtains on this year’s flagship processor – Snapdragon 898. Except there’s a catch. There are rumors doing rounds that the latest chip will not be called Snapdragon 898 at all, with Qualcomm changing the naming scheme and going for “Snapdragon 8 Gen1” instead, as the new name.

The info comes from a well-known tech blogger (via My Drivers) who has implied that the familiar triple-digit naming convention will be coming to an end.

Still, based on the info from the blogger, the flagship chip from Qualcomm will be retaining the ‘8’ from its older moniker, which should be enough to convey its flagship status. For those unaware, Snapdragon 8 series chips have always been the top of the line and have mostly been limited to high-end smartphones.

Coming to the Snapdragon 8 Gen1 itself, or whatever you want to call it ahead of its launch, it is said to offer a 20 percent performance improvement over its predecessor. It will be featuring a prime ARM Cortex-X2 CPU core running at 3.0GHz, three Cortex-A710 based mid-cores clocked at 2.5GHz and four efficient Cortex-A510 derived cores running at 1.79GHz.

Paired with the CPU will be the Snapdragon X65 5G modem which can theoretically offer a maximum downlink speed of 10Gbps. The graphics bit will be handled by an integrated Adreno 730 GPU.

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