(Pocket-lint) – The OnePlus 8 Pro was one of 2020’s best phones, offering flagship specs and premium design at cheaper price than the likes of Samsung’s Galaxy S20 range.
While both series of phones are a little older now, they still make great purchase options purely because you can now get them cheaper than they were at launch.
So how does the OnePlus 8 Pro compare to Samsung’s top-of-the-range Galaxy S20 Ultra and Galaxy S20+? Here are the specifications up against each other.
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Design
OnePlus 8 Pro: 165.3 x 74.4 x 8.5mm, 199g
Samsung S20+: 161.9 x 73.7 x 7.8mm, 186g
Samsung S20 Ultra: 166.9 x 76 x 8.8mm, 220g
The OnePlus 8 Pro, Samsung Galaxy S20+ and Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra all offer premium designs with metal cores and glass rears, though OnePlus offers matte options, while Samsung offers gloss only. The frosted glass is both lovely to look at, and does a better job of resisting smudges from fingerprint grease.
The Samsung S20+ and S20 Ultra both have punch hole cameras centralised at the top of their displays, while the OnePlus 8 Pro has a punch hole camera positioned in the top left corner of its display.
On the back, the OnePlus 8 Pro has a slightly neater design with a pill-shaped vertical camera housing positioned in the middle, while the Samsung Galaxy S20+ and S20 Ultra both have more prominent rectangular camera housings in the top left corner of their rears.
Size wise, the OnePlus sits right in the middle of the two Samsung phones. It’s a little wider and thicker than the S20+, but narrower and thinner than the S20 Ultra. That means, in the hand, the S20+ is slightly more comfortable, but in truth all phones are pretty big.
All devices being compared here offer IP68 water and dust resistance and they all have in-display fingerprint sensors. So there’s a lot of parity here. In terms of build and looks, you’re not getting a less premium device by going with OnePlus.
Display
OnePlus 8 Pro: 6.78-inch, Quad HD+, 120Hz
Samsung S20+: 6.7-inch, Quad HD+, 120Hz
Samsung S20 Ultra: 6.9-inch, Quad HD+, 120Hz
The OnePlus 8 Pro has a 6.78-inch display with a Quad HD+ resolution offering a pixel density of 513ppi. It offers an aspect ratio of 19.8:9 and a refresh rate of 120Hz.
The Samsung Galaxy S20+ has a 6.7-inch display with a Quad HD+ resolution and 525ppi, putting it at a similar size to the OnePlus 8 Pro, while the Ultra is larger at 6.9-inches. It too has a Quad HD+ resolution though, with a pixel density of 511ppi.
While both Galaxy devices have 120Hz refresh rate displays – just like OnePlus – Samsung currently only allows you to have it switched on if the resolution is set to full HD+. That means you have to choose between sharpness, and fast animations. OnePlus allows you to have both switched on at the same time, without compromise.
Still, despite this, all three displays are truly excellent and easily the best currently available on any smartphone. They’re sharp, vibrant and responsive.
All devices being compared in this feature have a AMOLED panel and offer HDR10+ support.
The camera department is perhaps the area these devices differ the most.
The OnePlus 8 Pro has a quad rear camera, made up of a 48-megapixel main sensor, 8-megapixel telephoto sensor, 48-megapixel ultra-wide angle sensor and a 5-megapixel colour filter sensor. There’s a dual LED flash and a range of features including Video HDR, Smart Pet Capture mode and 3x hybrid zoom.
The Samsung Galaxy S20+ has a quad rear camera too, made up of a 12-megapixel main sensor, 64-megapixel telephoto sensor, 12-megapixel ultra wide sensor and a Depth Vision time of flight sensor.
The Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra meanwhile, has a 108-megapixel main sensor, 48-megapixel telephoto sensor, which is a 10x hybrid optic periscope lens, 12-megapixel ultra wide sensor and a DepthVision sensor.
Despite having the impressive-sounding 100x Space Zoom, in our testing, we had a few issues with the S20 Ultra’s camera. Apart from that ultra-zoom being not much more than a gimmick at its extreme focal lengths, there were other problems with focussing on items up close. The S20+ may have the less jaw-dropping spec sheet here, but it gave us fewer issues overall and performs well. As does OnePlus.
The 8 Pro’s primary and ultra-wide cameras are excellent, and the zoom is useful, even if the colours and detail don’t quite match up with the other two main cameras. As for that colour filter camera, that’s a little weird and lets you be creative, but doesn’t offer anything distinctly wortwhile.
The OnePlus 8 Pro runs on the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 processor with a choice of 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage or 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. There is no microSD support for further storage expansion.
The Samsung Galaxy S20+ and S20 Ultra both run on either the Exynos 990 or Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 processor, depending on the region. Both have 12GB of RAM as standard but the Ultra also comes in a 16GB option. There are various storage options, with 128GB, 256GB and 512GB models available, all of which offer microSD storage expansion up to 1TB.
In terms of everyday speed and performance, the OnePlus and Samsung phones will all offer you a speedy, responsive experience. We didn’t notice any significant difference between the three. It’s no surprise really given the similar specifications and power available in all of them.
In terms of battery capacities, the OnePlus 8 Pro has a 4510mAh battery, the Samsung Galaxy S20+ has a 4500mAh battery and the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra has a 5000mAh battery. IN testing, the OnePlus was the one that’s likely to last a little bit longer, but again, there’s not a huge amount in it. Samsung has really upped its battery longevity game this year.
The one place you will notice a difference is in charging speeds. With its 30W wireless charging, OnePlus will refill much quicker on its charging stand than either of the Samsung phones will while wireless charging.
All three also offer reverse wireless charging too, so you can top up your wireless charging compatible earphones or smartwatch from any of the phones.
All three devices being compared here are 5G enabled.
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Conclusion
The OnePlus 8 Pro sits in the middle of both the Samsung Galaxy S20+ and the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra but it is quite a bit cheaper than both models, coming in around the same price as the standard Galaxy S20 instead.
There’s plenty of similarities between the three devices too, despite the price difference. All have large displays, premium designs, powerful hardware and good software experiences, albeit different.
You get microSD support on the Samsung devices, along with some interesting camera functionality, especially on the S20 Ultra, but you pay more for these attributes – a lot more in the case of the Ultra – so the decision between these handsets will come down to your budget and what features matter to you most.
On the whole, we don’t think you’ll be losing a whole lot at all in real daily performance and capabilities by going with the OnePlus 8 Pro instead of either of these two Samsung phones.
If you had read my review of the Thermaltake W1 Wireless keyboard, you knew this was coming. Well, this keyboard actually came before the W1 Wireless keyboard but ended up taking a backseat owing to a lot of embargo releases in the middle. The ARGENT series is new from Thermaltake, with the company having introduced a new lineup of peripherals at CES, including this keyboard, mice, headset, mousepads, and even a desk. With the ARGENT series, Thermaltake wants to showcase the best it can do with peripherals, and heralds in the flagship lineup for 2021 and years to come. Before putting these claims to the test, let’s thank Thermaltake for sending the review sample to TechPowerUp!
The ARGENT K5, a full-size keyboard, is the first keyboard entry to this lineup. There are plenty of extra buttons, as well as a wheel on the right the company claims is inspired by automobile knob designs. The design is also quite different from the usual, with an indented step past the alphanumeric section, which also brings with it a color change for contrast with the silver elsewhere. The image above also hints at side lighting, on top of what is no doubt per-key RGB lighting. We will go through all these features and more in this review that begins with a look at the specifications in the table below.
Specifications
Thermaltake ARGENT K5 RGB Keyboard
Layout:
Full-size form factor in a US ANSI layout, other languages supported based on your region
Material:
Aluminium frame, ABS plastic case, and keycaps
Macro Support:
Yes
Weight (total):
1.46 kg/3.22 lbs.
Wrist Rest:
Yes, detachable
Anti-ghosting:
Full N-Key rollover USB
Media Keys:
Dedicated volume wheel and playback buttons
Dimensions:
161 (L) x 465 (W) x 46 (H) mm
Cable Length:
6 ft/1.8 m
Software:
Yes
Switch Type:
Choice of Cherry MX Blue or Speed (Silver) RGB mechanical switch
Yesterday brought the momentous news that Google and Samsung will merge together their Wear OS and Tizen-based smartwatch platforms into a single operating system. The new software is currently being referred to as Wear, but that name could change as we get closer to the first devices that will ship with it.
The unified platform is intended to give Android smartwatches a huge boost and much simpler strategy. It will also allow developers to create apps and widgets for a single OS instead of splitting their efforts between Wear OS and Tizen. A lot of this is spelled out in more detail in the below video, but let’s also focus on the big highlights.
It’s going to be faster than Wear OS
Speed and responsiveness were one of the major talking points when Google and Samsung made this announcement during the I/O 2021 keynote. The companies are claiming that apps open up to 30 percent faster than they currently do on Wear OS. Google also promises “smooth user interface animations and motion,” which hasn’t always been a strength of Wear OS.
Battery life will be a step up, too
Samsung’s smartwatches were already routinely outlasting Wear OS products, so this doesn’t come as a surprise. The company is lending Google some hardware expertise to ensure better stamina. “Samsung implemented our best technology to provide optimized performances, and advanced sensor batching and low power display technology to ensure an efficient and long-lasting battery,” Samsung’sJanghyun Yoon wrote after Tuesday’s news. Google’s Bjorn Kilburn said customers can expect “handy optimizations like the ability to run the heart rate sensor continuously during the day, track your sleep overnight and still have battery for the next day.”
The next Samsung Galaxy Watch will run Wear
Samsung has confirmed that its next smartwatch — and all others in the pipeline — will run the unified Wear platform. But the company made sure to note that it will bring over some of its popular hardware elements, like the rotating bezel mechanism.
A standalone Google Maps app will do turn-by-turn directions
In a report from Wired, we learned that there are plans for a Google Maps app on Wear that features “a new user interface that will also work even if your phone is not with you.” That hints at cellular data support on the new unified platform.
Spotify and YouTube Music apps will support offline downloads
Spotify already allows owners of Samsung smartwatches to download songs for offline listening, and now that same convenience will be extended to Wear. That’s one thing Spotify for the Apple Watch still doesn’t do.
Google also confirmed that YouTube Music will be available on Wear. Like Spotify, it’ll include full support for offline listening.
Fitbit activity tracking will be built into the platform
Having completed its acquisition of Fitbit at the start of this year, Google will now integrate some of the brand’s health and activity tracking features into Wear. Future premium Fitbit wearables will also run the unified platform.
Device makers will be able to customize the look and feel
Google tried to emphasize on Tuesday that this platform isn’t just intended for itself and Samsung. “All device makers will be able to add a customized user experience on top of the platform,” Kilburn said. That’s going to prove important if Google wants to keep companies like Garmin on board with the new platform. And we can’t forget about the many traditional watchmakers — Fossil, Citizen, TAG Heuer, and others — that have gotten behind Wear OS in recent years in the absence of a flagship smartwatch from Google.
Apps should be faster and easier to develop with new APIs
Wear’s apps will use the latest Android development techniques like Jetpack and Kotlin to help reach the best possible performance. Google is also promising to make life easier for app makers with new APIs that cover Tiles, health services, watchfaces, complications, and more. And an activity indicator will show when certain functions are running in the background.
Some Wear OS smartwatches might get upgraded to Wear
There aren’t any firm promises yet, but Google at least didn’t outright say existing products won’t be updated to the new OS. The company told 9to5Google, “we will have more updates to share on timelines once the new version launches later this year.”
Samsung will not update Galaxy Watch models to Wear
Samsung will not be updating its Galaxy Watch line to Wear, but says it has no intention of leaving its current customers in the dust once it starts releasing Wear hardware. “For customers who already own the Tizen OS based Galaxy smartwatches, we are continuing to provide at least three years of software support after the product launch,” the company said Tuesday. However, it seems plausible there will be more than a few features and new Wear tricks that will never make their way to older Galaxy smartwatches.
Samsung will bring over its watchface designer tool
Some people out there really care about having a good watchface selection on a pricey smartwatch. Google and Samsung are promising a wide mix of styles, and Samsung told Wired its design tool — and many of the company’s own signature watchfaces — will be available on Wear.
The unknowns
Google and Samsung shared a decent chunk of information on day one, but we’re still left without answers to a few important questions. We should learn more details over the summer as we head into fall hardware season.
When will the first Wear smartwatch be available?
Is the underlying operating system closer to Wear OS or closer to Tizen? (Considering that developers will be using Android tools to build apps, it seems like the former.)
Will there be required helper apps like some of Samsung’s watches have needed?
Is Wear going to continue offering some semblance of iOS support?
What’s going to happen to Samsung Pay and Bixby? Are they both goners on the wrist?
Qualcomm has announced a new 700-series chipset for mobile devices: the Snapdragon 778G 5G. It will start appearing in premium midrange phones from manufacturers including Motorola, Xiaomi, Realme, Honor, Oppo, and iQOO in the next few months, bringing with it some video capture and AI capabilities borrowed from the Snapdragon 888, the current chipset of choice for flagship Android phones. The company has also made a couple of other announcements today designed to get 5G connectivity into more tech.
The Snapdragon 778G offers three image-signal processors, or ISPs — a feature Qualcomm touted in its flagship 888 chipset, and also appears in the higher-end 780G. This makes it possible to capture photos and video from three different cameras at once. You can easily switch between different cameras’ video feeds during recording ala Samsung’s director view on the Snapdragon 888-powered S21 series.
The processor also supports cameras with staggered HDR sensors like the 50-megapixel chip in the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra for better HDR video recording. The 778G also includes some improvements for more GPU-efficient mobile gaming, and things like better noise suppression and camera experiences on video calls. Both mmWave and sub-6GHz 5G are supported, as well as Wi-Fi 6.
In “more 5G in more places” news, Qualcomm is also making M.2 reference designs available for current OEM customers of its X65 and X62 5G modems. This makes it easier for laptop, desktop, gaming, and IoT manufacturers to incorporate 5G connectivity into their products. The company is also debuting a new X65 5G modem, which Qualcomm says is more energy efficient and offers wider support of mmWave frequencies. It will start appearing in commercial mobile devices later this year, the company says.
Spotify’s product lead for cars and wearables teased an exciting new feature coming to Wear devices during Google’s Developer Keynote on Tuesday: the ability for the streaming services’ 356 million users to download music directly to their watch, and listen to it at times when they don’t want to carry their phone (via XDA Developers). The feature isn’t included in the redesign that was just released, but Spotify says that it’s currently in the works.
The announcement came alongside Google’s reveal that it would be merging Wear OS with Samsung’s Tizen. During Tuesday’s I/O keynote, Google promised that the updated OS would bring faster performance and longer battery life, which are currently still issues for Wear OS watches.
The YouTube Music app is also getting an update, which will similarly add the ability to download music directly to Wear devices, allowing users to listen without a phone nearby.
YouTube Music will also support downloads. Image: Google
Google’s smartwatch OS has lagged behind Apple’s in many ways, including offline music listening. The Apple Watch has been able to play songs downloaded through Apple Music when away from a phone for years, and it got to the point where Google decided to release its YouTube Music app for the Apple Watch before its own Wear OS. When Gizmodo put out an article last November on how listen to music phone-free on smartwatches, its Wear OS recommendation was more or less an app that acted as an MP3 player, requiring the transfer of local files that you already own.
Since the shutdown of Google Play Music, Wear OS users haven’t had many options for offline music. But now, Google’s Wear watches could potentially even leapfrog the Apple Watch when it comes to offline Spotify playback — to get your Spotify on an Apple Watch without carrying around your phone, you currently need an active internet connection to stream it to one of Apple’s pricier cellular Apple Watch models, a feature added late last year. Some other watches have had offline Spotify playback in the past, though, like Garmin’s flagship Forerunner sports watches and some Samsung Galaxy wearables.
You can check out the Spotify and YouTube Music app reveals for yourself in Google’s Wear-specific session from I/O. The YouTube Music announcement starts at 2:38, and the Spotify demo starts at 12:50 in the video below.
The Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5 is so good that it makes us wonder why Dell didn’t team up with AMD on a laptop sooner.
For
+ Strong gaming performance
+ Excellent productivity performance
+ Unique chassis
+ Not too costly for it power
Against
– Internals run hot
– Middling audio
– Bad webcam
It’s been 14 years since Alienware’s used an AMD CPU in one of its laptops, but AMD’s recent Ryzen processors have proven to be powerhouses that have generated a strong gamer fanbase. It also doesn’t hurt that AMD-based laptops have frequently undercut Intel in price. Point being, times have changed and now Team Red can easily compete with the best gaming laptops that Intel has to offer.
So it makes sense that Alienware’s finally been granted permission to board Dell’s UFO. And with the Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5, it’s getting a first class treatment.
Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5 Specifications
CPU
AMD Ryzen 7 5800H
Graphics
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 6GB GDDR6, 1,702 MHz Boost Clock, 125 W Total Graphics Power
Memory
16GB DDR4-3200
Storage
512GB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD
Display
15.6 inch, 1920 x 1080, 165Hz, IPS
Networking
802.11ax Killer Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2
Ports
USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 x 3, HDMI 2.1, USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 x 1 (DisplayPort), RJ-45 Ethernet, 3.5mm combination headphone/microphone port
Camera
720p
Battery
86 WHr
Power Adapter
240W
Operating System
Windows 10 Home
Dimensions(WxDxH)
14.02 x 10.73 x 0.9 inches (356.2 x 275.2 x 22.85 mm)
Weight
5.34 pounds (2.42 kg)
Price (as configured)
$1,649
Design of the Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5
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Unlike other recent Alienware laptops, the m15 R5 Ryzen Edition only comes in black. The “lunar light” white isn’t an option here. Still, it’s a bold design that puts the emphasis on the laptop’s build quality rather than on decoration, and it pays off. The m15 R5 feels sturdy in the hand and its smooth edges give it a unique premium flare. It’s not too plain, since lighting options for the Alienware logo on the lid plus a circular LED strip along the back rim add a touch of flair. On that note, the stylized “15” on the lid is stylish, though it can look a bit much like a “13” from the wrong angle.
Hexagonal vents that sit above the keyboard and along the back also give the m15 R5 a bit of functional decoration and help make up for the small and well hidden side vents. The keyboard on this model has four-zone RGB, but it can be a little dim in well-lit areas.
This laptop veers on the large and heavy end for systems with an RTX 3060. At 14.02 x 10.73 x 0.9 inches large and 5.34 pounds heavy, it’s generally bulkier than the Asus TUF Dash F15 we reviewed, which has a mobile RTX 3070 and is 14.17 x 9.92 x 0.78 inches large and weighs 4.41 pounds. The Acer Predator Triton 300 SE, which manages to fit a mobile RTX 3060 into a 14 inch device, is also especially impressive next to the m15 R5. Granted, both of those use lower-power processors designed for thinner machines. Specifically, the Acer is 12.7 x 8.97 x .70 inches large and weighs 3.75 pounds.
The Alienware m15 R4, which has a 10th gen 45W Intel Core i7 processor and an RTX 3070, is 14.19 x 10.86 x 0.78 inches large and weighs 5.25 pounds. That leaves it not as bulky as the m15 Ryzen Edition R5, but about as heavy.
Port selection is varied, although distribution differs from my usual preferences. The left side of the laptop only has the Ethernet port and the 3.5mm headphone/microphone jack, which is a shame as that’s where I typically like to connect my mouse. The back of the laptop has a few more connections, including the DC-in, an HDMI 2.1 port, a USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A port and a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C port that also supports DisplayPort. The right side of the laptop has two additional USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports.
Gaming Performance on the Alienware M15 Ryzen Edition R5
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Our review configuration of the Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5 came equipped with an 8-core, 16-thread Ryzen R7 5800H CPU and an RTX 3060 laptop GPU. It’s the first time we’ve tested a 45W CPU with an RTX 3060 and, to that end, we’ve decided to compare it to one 35W laptop with an RTX 3070 CPU, the Asus TUF Dash F15 with an Intel Core i7-11370H, and one 35W laptop with an RTX 3060 GPU, the Acer Predator Triton 300 SE with an Intel Core i7-11375H. We’ve also thrown the Alienware m15 R4 into the mix, which has a 45W 10th gen Intel CPU and an admittedly more powerful RTX 3070, plus a significantly higher price tag than any other competitor even on its cheapest configuration (the thing starts at $2,149).
I played Control on the Alienware laptop for a half hour to get a personal feel for gaming on the system. I tended to fall between 60 – 70 fps at high settings throughout, and turning ray tracing on using its high preset dropped that to 30 – 40 fps. The fans are certainly noticeable but aren’t ear-splitting, and the laptop neither got hot-to-the-touch nor did it spray hot air on my hands.
In Shadow of the Tomb Raider’s benchmark running at highest settings, the m15 Ryzen Edition R5’s CPU seemed to do it a favor, as its 73 fps average only barely fell behind the m15 R4’s 77 fps average. The Acer laptop was next in line with 61 fps, while the Asus laptop was significantly behind all other options at 54 fps.
Scores were a bit more even in Far Cry: New Dawn’s benchmark running at ultra settings. While the m15 R4 hit 91 fps, everything else was in the 70s. The m15 Ryzen Edition R5 had an average of 79 fps, while the Asus scored 74 fps and the Acer reached 73 fps.
The m15 Ryzen Edition R5 fell to third place in the Grand Theft Auto V benchmark running at very high settings, where it hit an 82 fps average and the Asus laptop achieved an 87 fps average. The Acer laptop was significantly behind at 72 fps, while the m15 R4 was significantly ahead at 108 fps.
Red Dead Redemption 2’s benchmark running at medium settings saw the m15 Ryzen Edition R5 once again stay in third place, though by a more significant margin this time. The R5 achieved a 53 fps average, while the Asus led with 61 fps score. The Acer was once again behind at 48 fps, while the m15 R4 stayed ahead at 69 fps.
We also ran the Alienware M15 R5 Ryzen Edition through the Metro Exodus RTX benchmark 15 times in a row to test how well it holds up to a sustained heavy load. During this benchmark, it hit an average 56 fps. The CPU ran at an average 3.63-GHz clock speed while the GPU ran at an average clock speed of 1.82 GHz. The CPU’s average temperature was 90.36 degrees Celsius (194.65 degrees Fahrenheit) and the GPU’s average temperature was 82.02 degrees Celsius (179.64 degrees Fahrenheit).
Productivity Performance for the Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5
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While Alienware is a gaming brand, the use of a 45W AMD chip does open the Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5 up to high productivity potential.
On Geekbench 5, which is a synthetic test for tracking general PC performance, the m15 Ryzen Edition R5 hit 1,427 points on single-core tests and 7,288 points on multi-core tests. While its single core score was on the lower end when compared to the Asus TUF Dash F15’s 1,576 points and the Acer Predator Triton 300 SE’s 1,483 points, the Alienware blew those laptops away on multi-core scores. The Asus’ multi-core score was 5,185, while the Acer’s multi-core score was 5,234.
The Alienware m15 R4 was a bit more even with its AMD cousin, scoring 1,209 on single-core Geekbench 5 tests and 7,636 on the program’s multi-core benchmarks.
Unfortunately, the m15 Ryzen Edition R5 couldn’t maintain that momentum for our 25GB file transfer benchmark. Here, it transferred files at a 874.14 MBps speed, while the Asus hit 1,052.03 MBps and the Acer reached 993.13 MBps. The m15 R5 hit speeds of 1137.34 MBps.
The m15 Ryzen Edition R5 was the fastest contender in our Handbrake video encoding test, though, where we track how long it takes a computer to transcode a video down from 4K to FHD. The m15 Ryzen Edition R5 completed this task in 7:05, while the Asus took 10:41 and the Acer was even slower at 11:36. The m15 R5 almost caught up to its AMD cousin with a time of 7:07.
Display for the Alienware M15 R5 Ryzen Edition
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Our configuration for the Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5 came with a 15.6 inch 1920 x 1080 IPS display with a 165Hz refresh rate. While it boasted impressive gaming performance and strong benchmark results, it still proved problematic for viewing content.
I watched the trailers for Nomandland and Black Widow on the m15 Ryzen Edition R5, where I found the blacks to be shallow and the viewing angles to be restrictive. In my office during the daytime, I couldn’t easily see the screen’s picture unless I was sitting directly in front of it. Turning my lights off and closing my curtain only extended viewing angles to about 30 degrees. Glare also proved to be an issue in the light, although turning lights off did fix this problem.
Colors were bright enough to pop occasionally but not consistently, with bolder tones like reds and whites holding up better than more subdued ones. Here, Black Widow came across a bit more vividly than the naturalistic style of Nomadland, so this screen might be better suited for more colorful, heavily produced films.
Our testing put the m15 Ryzen Edition R4’s color range above its closest competitors, the Asus TUF Dash F15 and Acer Predator Triton 300 SE, though not by much. With an 87.3 DCI-P3 color gamut, it’s only slightly ahead of the Asus’ 80.6% DCI-P3 score. The TUF Dash F15 had a starker difference, with a 78.5% DCI-P3 color gamut.
Our brightness testing saw the Alienware pull a more solid lead. With an average of 328 nits, it easily surpassed the Acer’s 292 nits and the Asus’ 265 nits.
The Alienware m15 R4 blew all of these systems out of the water, although the OLED screen our configuration had makes the comparison more than a bit unfair. Its DCI-P3 gamut registered at 150% while its average brightness was 460.2 nits.
To test the m15 Ryzen Edition R5’’s 165Hz screen, I also played Overwatch on it. Here, I had a much more pleasant experience than I did when watching movie trailers. The game’s bright colors appeared quite vivid and the fast refresh rate was perfectly able to keep up with the 165 fps I was hitting on Ultra settings.
Keyboard and Touchpad on the Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5
The Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5 configuration we received has a 4-zone RGB membrane keyboard, though other configurations do offer mechanical switches made in collaboration with Cherry. You can currently get that upgrade for an additional $98.
The membrane nature of this keyboard didn’t mean it wasn’t impressive, though. Keys have a noticeable resistance when pressed and 1.7mm of key travel gives you plenty of tactile feedback. I consistently scored around 83 words per minute on the 10fastfingers.com typing test, which is impressive as my average is usually around 75 wpm.
In an unusual choice, the Alienware’s audio control keys sit on the keyboard’s furthest right row rather than being mapped to the Fn row as secondary functions. Instead, the Page Up and Page Down keys that would normally be found there are secondary functions on the arrow keys.
The 4.1 x 2.4-inch touchpad doesn’t fare as well. While it has precision drivers and is perfectly smooth when scrolling with one finger, I felt too much friction when using multi-touch gestures to pull them off comfortably or consistently. For instance, when trying to switch apps with a three-fingered swipe, I would frequently accidentally pinch zoom instead.
Audio on the Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5
The Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5 has two bottom firing speakers that are loud with surprisingly decent bass, but tend to get tinny on higher notes.
I tested the m15 Ryzen Edition R5’s audio by listening to Save Your Tears by The Weeknd, which easily filled up my whole two bedroom apartment with sound. I was also surprised to be able to hear the strum of the song’s bass guitar, as it’s not uncommon for other laptops to either cut it out, make it quiet, or give it a more synth-like quality. Unfortunately, higher notes suffered from tinniness and echo.
Upgradeability of the Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5
The Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5 is easy to open and has plenty of user customizability. Just unscrew the four screws closest to the back of the laptop, then loosen the four screws on the front (we used a PH0 Phillips Head bit).
Gently pry the case off, and you’ll see the networking card, two swappable DIMMs of RAM, the M.2 SSD and a second, open M.2 SSD slot (if you don’t buy the laptop with dual SSDs).
The only tradeoff here is that the SSDs are in a smaller, less common M.2 2230 form factor (most are 2280) , so you’ll probably need to buy a specialized drive for this laptop.
Battery Life on the Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5 is a power hog, with half the non-gaming battery life of the RTX 3060 and RTX 3070 35W laptops we tested it against. This shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise, since it also has a 45W CPU, but don’t expect to be able to spend too much time away from an outlet.
In our non-gaming battery test, which continually streams video, browses the web and runs OpenGL tests over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness, the M15 Ryzen Edition R5 held on for 3:29. That’s about 3 hours less time than we got out of both the Asus TUF Dash F15, which had a 6:32 battery life, and the Acer Predator Triton 300 SE, which lasted for 6:40.
The Alienware m15 R5, with its 45W Intel chip, also had a shorter battery life than our 35W laptops, though it was slightly longer than the m15 Ryzen Edition R5’s. It lasted 4:01 on our non-gaming test.
Heat on the Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5
The Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5’s surface temperature was impressively cool during non-gaming use but could get toasty in select areas during our gaming benchmarks. For our tests, we measured its temperature both after 15 minutes of streaming video and during the sixth consecutive run of the Metro: Exodus extreme benchmark.
The laptop’s touchpad proved coolest during the video test, registering 81.1 degrees Fahrenheit. This was only slightly behind the center of the keyboard’s temperature, as the typer hit 85.5 degrees Fahrenheit in between the G and H keys. The bottom of the laptop was warmer, hitting 90.9 degrees, although the center-left of the display hinge is where it was hottest, registering 101.1 degrees Fahrenheit.
Our gaming test saw a mild jump in temperatures in all areas except the bottom and the hinge, where numbers spiked much higher. The touchpad was 83.3 degrees Fahrenheit and the center of the keyboard was 90.9 degrees Fahrenheit. By contrast, the bottom of the laptop was now 121.5 degrees Fahrenheit and the hot zone on the hinge was now 136.1 degrees Fahrenheit.
Despite these higher numbers, though, the laptop never became too hot to touch while gaming. It did feel pleasantly warm, however.
Webcam on the Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5
The Alienware M15 R4 Ryzen Edition’s 720p webcam is, like many premium gaming laptops, a bit of an afterthought. Regardless of lighting conditions, its shots always have a blocky and fuzzy appearance. Adding light also adds a distracting halo effect to silhouettes, while dimming your surroundings will just bring down detail even further.
Software and Warranty on the Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5
The Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5 comes packed with software, although most of it serves a genuinely useful purpose.
Most of these are apps like Alienware Command Center, which lets you customize lighting and thermals as well as set up macros. Some are less useful than others — Alienware Customer Connect simply exists to get you to fill out surveys — but apps like Alienware Mobile Connect, which lets you easily mirror your phone’s screen, transfer its files or take phone calls from your laptop are definitely a standout. It might be easier to navigate these functions if they were all centralized into one hub app rather than being their own standalone programs, though. My Alienware tries to be this hub app, although it’s mostly just a redirect to Alienware Command Center with a bunch of ads on the side.
This laptop also comes with typical Windows pack-ins like Microsoft Solitaire Collection and Spotify. Its default warranty is limited to one year, although you can extend it at checkout.
Configurations for the Alienware M15 R5 Ryzen Edition
Our configuration of the Alienware M15 R5 Ryzen Edition came with an AMD Ryzen 7 5800H CPU, an RTX 3060 laptop GPU, 16GB of RAM, a 512GGB SSD and a 1920 x 1080, 165Hz display for $1,649. That actually puts it towards the lower end of what’s available.
You can upgrade this laptop’s CPU to the Ryzen 9 5900HX, which has the same thread count but boosts up to 4.6 GHz, and its GPU to an RTX 3070 laptop card. Memory options range from 8GB to 32GB, while storage options range from 256GB to 2TB. You can also add on an additional SSD with the same range of options, making for up to 4TB of total combined storage.
There’s also a 360Hz version of the FHD display available, as well as a QHD version with a 240Hz refresh rate and G-Sync support.
Perhaps the most interesting option that wasn’t included on our configuration is the mechanical keyboard, which features physical ultra low-profile switches made in collaboration with CherryMX.
These upgrades can raise your price up to $2,479, with the display and keyboard upgrades being the most costly components in Dell’s customization tool. The Cherry MX keyboard will add $98 to your price at checkout, while the QHD display costs $78. The FHD @ 360Hz display is only available on the highest preset option, which locks you into a Ryzen 9 5900HX chip and starts at $2,332.
By contrast, the low end of this laptop starts at $1,567.
Bottom Line
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5 proves that Team Red and Alienware make a strong pairing . While it’s not quite the beast that the minimum $2,149 Alienware m15 R4 is, it still manages performance that equates to and sometimes beats peers in its price range on most titles, all while rocking Alienware’s unique premium looks. At $1,649 for our configuration, it’s an easy premium choice over the $1,450 Asus TUF Dash F15. And if you prefer power over size, it’s also a better option for you than the $1,400 Acer Predator Triton 300 SE.
While it’s certainly not the most portable contender and could do with more even port distribution and stronger audio, its 45W CPU lends it just enough of an edge on power to make it a solid first step into Dell’s flagship gaming brand.
Intel is starting to get its legs again. The company, which initially had issues with its 10nm chips, has released its first eight-core, 10nm Tiger Lake-H processors that are ready for gaming and high-end productivity notebooks.
For its 10th gen chips, Intel used a 10nm process (“Ice Lake”) for ultrabooks but used a 14nm chip (“Comet Lake”) for these enthusiast machines. Now, we have time to see what Intel’s 10nm SuperFin chips can do on the high end. Like the U-series Tiger Lake chips, these use Willow Cove execution cores paired with a UHD Graphics 750 engine that’s powered by Intel’s Xe architecture.
It comes at a crucial time. AMD’s
Ryzen 5000 series
(“Cezanne,” on a 7nm process) has proven powerful and, among gamers, popular. During current hardware shortages, some of the
best gaming laptops
have been nearly impossible to find. Intel claims that it has already shipped more than 1 million of its chips to its partners and that it will come in more than eighty different laptop designs.
The 11th Gen H-series processors include Thunderbolt 4 (and
USB 4
) and Resizable Bar support, and are notably Intel’s first eight-core laptop chips that work with PCIe 4.0 SSDs. AMD’s competing Zen 3 mobile chips are still on PCIe 3.0.
A lot is riding on Tiger Lake H’s success. Intel has already called its 11th generation the “world’s best gaming laptop processors,” and now, with the help of a sample unit, we’ve had a chance to see if those claims ring true.
How We Tested Tiger Lake i9
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Our Tiger Lake-H testing was performed on an Intel-branded sample “white box” system, similar to our early testing of Tiger Lake-U and Ice Lake. This isn’t a review of the Intel Core i9-11980HK processor inside so much as a performance preview of what you can expect from upcoming systems that will be available to buy. Our full reviews will come when we see the i9-11980HK and other 11th Gen CPUs in computers that are on sale.
Intel loaned reviewers these systems with the knowledge that they are pre-production systems that aren’t necessarily representative of final systems, which may have more finished drivers.
Unlike previous Intel sample systems, this one couldn’t toggle between TDPs. Many of Intel’s 11th gen processors will be configurable by the manufacturer, ranging from 35 to 65W (the Core i9-11980HK is a 65W, overclockable processor that peaks at 110W (PL2). In HWInfo, our unit showed a PL1 of 65W and a PL2 of 109W.
We did our testing on the suite we use to test gaming laptops to get an idea of where something specced similar to this sample system might fall. We had a limited amount of time with the system, so we could only run some tests. Some, like battery life, are more important on actual systems that will be on sale than this early sample.
Intel Reference Design for Tiger Lake i9 and Competitors
The Tiger Lake-H i9 reference design came with the following specifications:
2x 512GB Phison SM280512GKBB4S-E162 PCIe Gen 4 SSD
Display
16-inch, 2560 x 1600 (16:10)
Networking
Killer Wi-Fi 6E Ax1675X
Ports
2x Thunderbolt 4, 2x USB Type-A, microSD card reader, 3.5mm headphone jack
Battery
90 WHr
Operating System
Windows 10 Pro
Yes, Intel’s sample system paired its top-end GPU with a mid-range Nvidia GPU. It’s an odd pairing on paper, but one that allows for slim systems. Intel claims that this will enable “thin enthusiast” laptops, which fall in between ultraportable notebooks with its H35 processors and the big, thick machines that include the most intensive graphics cards.
From our reviews database, we chose to compare a number of different laptops depending on the task. For gaming, we broke out the
Acer Predator Triton 300 SE
with a 35W i7-11375H and the Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5 with a Ryzen 7 5800H. Both of these also use RTX 3060 GPUs, like the reference system.
For our productivity benchmarks, we also included some other, bigger systems that may have more powerful GPUs to compare against a range of processors, including the Ryzen 9 5900HX in the
Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 G733
; the Intel Core i9-10980HK in the
Alienware m17 R4
; and the 35W Ryzen 9 5980HS in the Asus ROG Flow X13.
Acer Predator Triton 300 SE
Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5
Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 G733
Alienware m17 R4
Asus ROG Flow X13
CPU
Intel Core i7-11375H
AMD Ryzen 7 5800H
AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX
Intel Core i9-10980HK
AMD Ryzen 9 5980HS
GPU
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Max-Q, 75W TGP
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 125W TGP
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080, 130W
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080
AMD Radeon Graphics (integrated)
RAM
16GB DDR4-3200
16GB DDR4-3200
32GB DDR4-3200
32GB DDR4-2933
32GB LPDDR4x-4266
Storage
512GB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD
512GB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD
2x 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD
512GB Boot, 2TB (2 x 1TB RAID 0) SSD
1TB M.2 2230 NVMe SSD
Display
14-inch, 1920 x 1080, 144 Hz IPS
15.6 inch, 1920 x 1080, 165Hz, IPS
17.3-inch, 1920 x 1080, 360 Hz, IPS
17.3-inch, 1920 x 1080, 360 Hz
13.4-inch, 3840 x 2400, 16:10, 60 Hz, touch
And here’s how the CPUs all stack up on paper:
Cores / Threads
Process Node
Base Frequency
Max Turbo Frequency
TDP
Intel Core i9-11980HK
16-Aug
10nm SuperFin
2.6 GHz
5.0 GHz
45 – 65 W
Intel Core i9-10980HK
16-Aug
14nm
2.4 GHz
5.3 GHz
45 – 65 W
Intel Core i7-11375H
8-Apr
10nm SuperFin
3.3 GHz
5.0 GHz
28 – 35W
AMD Ryzen 7 5800H
16-Aug
7nm FinFET
3.2 GHz
4.4 GHz
35 – 54W
AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX
16-Aug
7nm FinFET
3.3 GHz
4.6 GHz
35 – 54W
AMD Ryzen 9 5980HS
16-Aug
7nm FinFET
3.0 GHz
4.8 GHz
35W
Productivity Performance of Tiger Lake i9
We started out with our productivity suite to test the Core i9-11980HK to its 10th Gen counterpart, the highest-end Intel H35 processor and a series of AMD Ryzen competitors.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
On Geekbench 5, the Tiger Lake-H system started strong, pushing the highest single-core (1,649) of the bunch and beating the next highest multi-core score by more than 1,000 points (9,254). The next closest was the AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX in the Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 G733, which also had 32GB of RAM.
The Core i9-10980HK, the 10th Gen chip from Intel, was in a close third on multi-core, though in single-core other Ryzen laptops surpassed it.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The Intel sample system was also the fastest system to complete our Handbrake test, which transcodes a
4K
video to 1080p (with one caveat: we removed laptops with far more powerful GPUs, which could have some effect. If you left in the Ryzen 9 5900HX, it was faster at 6:11 in the Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 G733).
It was (unsurprisingly) significantly faster than the 35W Core i7, and also ahead of the Ryzen 7 5800H and 35W Ryzen 9 59080HS.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The Intel sample system contained a pair of 512GB Phison PCIe Gen 4 SSDs, which the Core i9-11980HK can take advantage of. It was one of the speedier laptops in our test pool, but the Asus ROG Flow X13 was actually a little bit faster in our 25GB file transfer test.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
To check stability over a longer duration, we ran Cinbench R23 for 20 runs. The cooling, which was exceptionally loud during all of the tests (and sometimes while the sample system was doing absolutely nothing) kept it stable.
It started at a high of 11,846.31 while largely settling in the 11,600 range. During the Cinebench stress test, the CPU ran at an average of 3.5 GHz and an average temperature of 85.77 degrees Celsius (186.39 degrees Fahrenheit). While the chart looks largely stable, the monitoring tool HWinfo reported that the CPU was being thermally throttled for the majority of the test. This is the downside of putting a high-wattage processor in a slim system, and also explains the constant fan noise.
Gaming and Graphics Performance of Tiger Lake i9
In this system, Intel paired its top-of-the-line mobile processor with an RTX 3060 Max-Q. It’s a questionable decision for this kind of performance preview, as our first impression didn’t give us the chance to see what happens when this chip is used with a more powerful graphics card that would take full advantage of its capabilities. So our test pool here includes other laptops with an RTX 3060, either full or
Max-Q
.
On most of the benchmarks we ran, this thin and light notebook performed almost identically to what you would expect from Intel’s 35-watt Tiger Lake H processors that were launched earlier this year. That is, at
1080p
. We also ran the tests at the laptop’s native 2560 x 1600 resolution.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
On Shadow of the Tomb Raider (highest settings), the Intel sample system ran the benchmark at 62 frames per second, within one frame of the Acer Predator Trion 300 SE with H35. The Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5 with a full RTX 3060 Max-Q won out at 73 fps.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
We saw a very similar pattern on Grand Theft Auto V (very high settings). Intel’s system matched the Acer but fell behind the Alienware. On both Shadow of the Tomb Raider and GTAV, the Intel system was still playable above 30 fps at 2560 x 1600 on the same settings.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Tiger Lake-H finally had its moment on Far Cry New Dawn (ultra settings), running at 91 fps, beating out both the Predator (73 fps) and AMD-based Alienware (79 fps) at 1080p. At native resolution, the sample system was still over 60 fps.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
But on Red Dead Redemption 2 and Borderlands 3, we were back to the same old tale, coming extremely close to the H35 laptop. On RDR 2‘s medium settings, it ran at 48 fps at 1080p and 33 fps at 2560 x 1440.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
On Borderlands 3‘s “badass” quality settings, the game ran at 56 fps at 1080p, falling about 10 frames behind the Alienware. Intel’s sample system ran the game at 37 fps at 2560 x 1600.
Lastly, we ran the Metro Exodus gauntlet that we run in our laptop review. We have laptops play through the benchmark 15 times on the RTX preset (1920 x 1080) to simulate a half-hour of gaming. Intel’s CPU ran at an average of 3.38 GHz with an average temperature of 64.71 degrees Celsius (148.48 degrees Fahrenheit). There was some throttling, but not as often as during the Cinebench R23 stress test. The GPU ran at an average of 1,188.23 MHz and 64.21 degrees Celsius (147.58 degrees Fahrenheit).
Cooling Tiger Lake i9
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Unlike with some previous early Intel samples, we were allowed to crack this one open to show it to you.
The laptop has three fans, while even most gaming laptops stick to two larger ones. That may explain the decibels. But what’s also fascinating is that the motherboard in the reference platform has been placed effectively upside down. This means that we can’t see the full cooler, including the heat pipes. That would require far more disassembly.
There are still serviceable parts, but they are connected to the edge of the board. Notably, there’s only one 512GB SSD that’s easily accessible. The other one must be on the other side of the motherboard.
Impressions of Tiger Lake i9
As always, it’s extremely difficult to get a complete picture of how high-end, Tiger Lake-H chips will run in laptops that OEMs will start selling today. Our testing was done under extremely limited time, and only used one new 11th Gen H-series chip.
To complicate things, this reference design is meant to represent a new “thin enthusiast” sector for Intel, which meant we couldn’t see how the Core i9-11980HK will perform at its best, in a thicker laptop with more elaborate cooling. Of course, every laptop is unique, so the processors may perform slightly differently based on size, cooling and other factors. We hope to be able to see a bigger, flagship gaming system with this processor for a fuller idea soon.
In productivity testing, our early benchmarks show a leap for Intel and its 10nm SuperFin process, especially in multi-core workloads. But AMD’s best, the Ryzen 9 5900HX still puts up a fight in some areas.
In gaming, we’ll really have to wait. What we now expect from finalized thin systems is that they won’t run games much differently from H35 variants unless those titles really hit the CPU hard.
As usual, the best way to truly tell is when we start testing laptops with a Tiger Lake-H that you can actually buy. As those hit our labs, we’ll see a wider variety of laptop designs and the full range of 11th Gen H-series processors.
It appears that Leica has found a new mobile camera partner, following Huawei’s sanctions-induced retreat from the international smartphone market. Sharp just announced the Aquos R6 in Japan, and its Leica-branded lens sits in front of what is now the largest camera sensor on any phone.
The 20-megapixel 1-inch sensor is similar in specs to what you’d find in Sony’s high-end RX100 compact cameras. It’s only the second 1-inch sensor ever to make its way into a smartphone, and the first to make its way into a phone from an traditional phone manufacturer — Panasonic released the Android-powered CM1 back in 2014, but it wasn’t exactly a mainstream device. The closest any current phone gets to a 1-inch sensor is Xiaomi’s new Mi 11 Ultra, which has a 1/1.12-inch component behind the lens.
The f/1.9 “Summicron” lens is also much wider than on other phones’ primary cameras, with an equivalent focal length of 19mm — that’s in ultrawide territory. Oddly, it’s the only outward-facing camera on the R6, so you’ll need to use digital zoom for more conventional focal lengths. The camera bump also houses an LED flash and a time-of-flight sensor.
The Aquos R6’s other big feature is its display, which Sharp calls a Pro IGZO OLED. It’s a 6.6-inch 2,730 x 1,260 panel with a peak brightness of 2,000 nits and a variable refresh rate of 1 to 240Hz. Most Android phones to date haven’t been able to offer OLED displays with truly variable refresh rates that adapt to content in real time — this panel sounds like the most advanced available on any phone right now.
Elsewhere the R6’s specs are standard for a 2021 flagship: a Snapdragon 888, 12GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, and a 5,000mAh battery. It’ll go on sale in June in Japan through carriers NTT Docomo and SoftBank. Pricing isn’t yet available.
(Pocket-lint) – The true wireless earphones market is getting pretty saturated these days. That means it’s becoming harder and harder for any audio company to stand out. So how does one make a pair that people will notice and care about?
Master & Dynamic’s approach for the past couple of years has been to build a pair of ‘buds that doesn’t look like the rest, while also delivering a very different, dynamic sound from the drivers. With the MW08 that continues, but the experience is a little more refined.
What came before?
Master & Dynamic launched into the true wireless market with the MW07, before following it up with the ANC-equipped MW07 Plus and sport-focused MW07 Go.
Pocket-lint
: MW07 PlusMW07 Plus
The non-Go editions were recognisable by their use of marbled acrylic. They looked like they were designed to match tortoiseshell sunglasses, but with the latest MW08 that has changed for more premium materials.
Best true wireless earbuds for wire-free Bluetooth audio
Master & Dynamic has also enhanced the MW08’s active noise-cancelling (ANC), sound quality and battery life, promising to be far better than any of the previous models.
Design
Ceramic design
9g weight per bud
IPX5 water resistance
Colour options: Black, blue, white, brown
With the MW08 it’s clear there’s a focus on design. You can’t go wrong with ceramic. It’s lovely, shiny and extremely durable.
These ‘buds are among the nicest looking we’ve tested. They’re also a little smaller than the MW07 Plus, which makes them more compact and less of an attention seeker when placed in the ears. That’s not to say they don’t still retain that M&D flavour. The shape is still that unique half-circle-half-square design – it’s just more restrained this time around.
Pocket-lint
The internal design has been tweaked too, allowing each ‘buds design to be more ergonomic than before – and so better fitting inside the ear canal. They feel secure and comfy, without the need for use any in-ear fins or grips to keep them from falling out. These ‘buds are precision designed to comfortably fit inside the ear and just stays there.
Granted, we didn’t feel the fit was so secure that we’d risk wearing these ‘buds during a run or workout, but for most instances we can’t imagine them falling out and getting lost. It’s a nice, neat, compact shape.
Open the case and show them to someone for the first time and they may just invoke comparisons to cufflinks. There’s a precision and polished look. It’s more restrained than previous models, but the quality is easy to see.
The ceramic plate is built on top of an aluminium frame – which also acts as the external antenna for strong wireless performance – and the buds sit neatly in their stainless steel case when stowed away.
This case is one of the only elements that’s changed drastically from the previous versions. There’s still a polished steel option, but you also get matte black and polished dark grey ‘graphite’ options. Which one you get depends on which colour ‘buds you want: black, blue, white, brown.
Pocket-lint
More importantly, Master & Dynamic switched the lid to a new position, making it smaller, but more durable-feeling at the same time. By comparison, the large flip-open lid on the old cases feels quite flimsy now. The new case feels sturdier, while retaining its very portable size, and comes with a little carry pouch too – which you will probably need to use if you buy the polished steel version.
One thing that hasn’t changed is the tried-and-tested physical button layout. One earbud features the volume up/down buttons; the other features the multi-purpose key. That makes it simple to adjust the volume level and simple to play/pause. We prefer it to most touch-sensitive alternatives, which often trigger too easily when you want them to.
Battery life, noise cancelling, app controls
Active Noise Cancelling (ANC) and ambient modes
12 hours playtime outside case (42 hours total)
In-ear detection/auto pause
Free M&D app for control
Bluetooth 5.2 + aptX
So the design is sublime, so that usually means you compromise on performance somehow, right? Well, no, not this time.
Pocket-lint
Master & Dynamic’s latest pair of tether-free ‘buds has market-leading battery life. The manufacturer claims up to 12 hours of music playback from a fully charged pair (or 10 hours with the ANC switched on). In real-world use, you’re unlikely to get exactly those figures – we’ve been getting close but a little under – but there’s no battery anxiety here.
You can listen to music for three hours straight and barely even touch the battery. During testing we did this on a few consecutive days and didn’t manage to run out of battery, or need to plug the case in to charge it.
If you commute to work – or will be in the near future – this will comfortably get you through a work week without much trouble. With the battery in the case and battery in the ‘buds you can get up to 42 hours total, which is quite frankly astonishing.
Combine that battery performance with strong wireless performance and good quality calls and you have a set of ‘buds that’s not just pretty and well-made, but will keep up with the challenges of daily life.
Pocket-lint
In all of our testing there’s only one area that we think needs improving: the ANC. The manufacturer’s take on noise-cancelling doesn’t quite perform as well as, say, the Apple AirPods Pro or Bose QuietComfort Earbuds. That said, M&D’s implementation does make a clear difference, handily cutting out most of the noise around you – it’s just less ‘strong’ than those rivals.
We found it worked well to cut out the noise of chatter around us while listening, but walking alongside busy roads, it still let in the sound of tyres rumbling over the asphalt, for example. Granted, it made such sounds quieter, but we could still hear them. And this was with the maximum level of ANC activated.
One feature that works well is the auto-pause – which activates when the ‘buds are removed from the ears. As soon as you take one earbud out, it automatically pauses whatever you’re listening to, thanks to an optical sensor on board. Sadly, it doesn’t then automatically resume when you reinsert the ‘bud, but pressing the play/pause button once resolves that.
Pocket-lint
This is controlled in the all-new M&D Connect app, which lets you see battery level and adjust noise cancelling/ambient sound. This is also where you see if there are any firmware updates available. Sadly, there’s no equalisation (EQ) adjustment because – like any other company that has its own idea of what great sound is – it has already set that for you and doesn’t allow you to deviate from that.
Sound
11mm Beryllium drivers
There’s an unmistakeable quality about Master & Dynamic’s sound and – as the company name suggests – it’s dynamic. M&D doesn’t go for that studio clean and flat approach, or airy, breathy quality. Instead, you get lots of bass, lots of clarity and punch from the high-end, without losing the subtle details in a mix.
The end result is a sound that makes you want to get up and groove along to the bass and drums in any soundtrack. It’ll makes you want to go and listen to all your favourite songs again. It might even make you appreciate songs you didn’t think you liked before.
Saying ‘lots of bass’ often conjures up the picture of big, boomy sound that dominates the audio. In this instance, however, that’s not what it’s like at all. It’s well controlled and shaped bass that forms a big part of the sound profile, but without detracting from the impact of the vocals.
Pocket-lint
Listening to the MW08 and we often felt like the higher-frequency percussive sounds – like shakers, tambourines and hi-hats – cut through the mix somehow and form a big part of the sound. This can sometimes lead to a little sibilance on high impact sounds like forcefully annunciated Ts, Ps, and Ses in vocals, but it’s not as bad as it was in previous MW-series ‘buds.
This sound seems a bit more balanced than the company’s older ‘buds – probably because of the new 11mm drivers. These new drivers also seem incredibly responsive. Short, staccato notes are punchy and tight, whether they be pizzicato strings in an orchestral piece or just finger clicking in the background.
The other great quality of the sound is that it has a sense of space. It feels almost like being surrounded by the sound, rather than having it pumped directly into your ears from a few millimetres away. The soundstage is impressively wide, and combined with the dynamic properties of M&D’s audio it makes for an unmissable experience.
Pocket-lint
A really good example to hear all these elements is the orchestral version of Space by Biffy Clyro. There’s those clear lead vocals, and the prominent piano leading the instruments. But despite that piano, you still can clearly hear the plucked cello and bass strings in the background, while it all retains that real feel of being recorded in a big wide open space. Bowed strings then perfectly swell and drop in crescendos in the chorus, while the subtle percussion beats on somewhere in the distance. It’s sublime.
While call quality isn’t the foremost function of the MW08, they’re well-equipped with a six-mic array and offer clear calls even in slightly windy conditions. The external mics can filter out wind tearing noises, so there’s nothing to detract from any of that listening experience.
Best USB-C headphones for Android phones 2021
By Dan Grabham
·
Verdict
In a market full of plastic buds, the Master & Dynamic MW08 feel really special. The combination of ceramic, aluminium and a stainless steel case make them unlike anything else on the market.
We’ve long appreciated M&D’s unique take on sound too. It’s high-impact and exciting. It was never technically perfect, but it’s always a great fun listen. We’re glad that with the MW08 the company has retained what makes it M&D, but also focused on improving areas that make this a truly excellent product.
The 12 hour battery life is market-leading, while the ANC performance is decent enough – although not quite incredible. Plus, now the company has an app for controlling features.
The M&D MW08 is the MW series’ coming of age – and it makes pretty much every other pair of wireless earbuds seem boring by comparison.
Also consider
Pocket-lint
Bose QC Earbuds
Bose’s flagship ‘buds are fantastic, although physically large. Sound has that typical spacious and breathy Bose quality with great detail and lift in the mids giving a full and balanced sound. The noise-cancelling is stronger than the M&D too.
Read our review
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Pocket-lint
Grado GT220
Grado’s approach to the true wireless in-ears market is very focused and measured. There’s no ANC here, but you do get truly stellar sound quality and the passive noise isolation is strong enough you might not even miss the ANC anyway.
The Sony Xperia 10 III (£399) is now available to pre-order in the UK, and it comes with a tempting freebie: a pair of wireless noise-cancelling headphones from Sony’s excellent stable.
The Sony WH-CH710N (£100) are the follow-ups to the four-star WH-CH700N. They boast advanced noise-cancelling tech that automatically adjusts based on how noisy your surroundings are. And when you do want to hear what the outside world has to offer, just use the Ambient Sound pass-through mode to let in external noise.
That aside, they’re very similar to their predecessors and serve as a more wallet-friendly alternative to the premium Sony WH-1000XM4. They have the same 35-hour battery life as the 700N, Bluetooth with NFC pairing, and mirror their predecessor’s design, voice assistant button and even same colour options. But considering how good the 700N are, that’s no bad thing.
So what of the Xperia 10 III? It’s a mid-range smartphone with a 6in 1080 x 2520 OLED screen. Inside, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 690 5G chip takes care of business alongside 6GB of RAM and 128GB of expandable storage. There’s also a triple rear camera system (comprising a 12MP main snapper, 8MP ultrawide and 8MP 2x telephoto), an 8MP front-facer, and a 4500mAh battery with 30W fast charging. Android 11 comes as standard.
It won’t be quite as impressive as the company’s flagship (and much more costly) Xperia 1 II, which currently tops our list of best smartphones. But the also excellent Xperia 5 II shows that Sony can do excellent phones at (slightly) cheaper levels, so we wouldn’t bet against it offering value for money at the budget end either.
The Sony Xperia 10 III will ship on 11th June, priced £399.
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ASUS is a Taiwan-based computer hardware and electronics company founded in 1989. Back in 2014, the ROG Gladius was the first gaming mouse released by ASUS under the ROG brand. With the ROG Gladius III, ASUS both iterates on and innovates this classic design. For the Gladius III, PixArt’s flagship sensor for both wired and wireless applications, the PAW3370, is used, though customized to allow for up to 26,000 CPI. Furthermore, the Gladius III comes with second-generation hot-swappable main button switch sockets, allowing one to use both 3-pin mechanical and 5-pin Omron optical switches. By default, ROG micro switches rated for 70 million clicks are installed, but may be swapped with Omron optical switches, a set of which is included in the box. At just 76 g, the Gladius III is noticeably lighter than its predecessors without having to resort to externally visible holes. The cable is the same as on the ROG Keris, featuring a soft braid and being exceptionally flexible. Pure PTFE feet are installed by default, and a set of replacement feet is included. Lastly, the RGB lighting is fully configurable through Armoury Crate, which also provides the usual customization features along with a new function called Rapid Fire. In addition to the wired Gladius III, the Gladius III Wireless will also be released, and reviewed at a later point here on TechPowerUp.
Google’s upcoming flagship phones – the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro – could be set for a striking revamp.
Leaked renders – revealed by tech tipster Jon Prosser via his YouTube channel – show the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro with impressively thin bezels and a new ‘horizontal bar’ to the rear that appears to contain camera sensors.
Google doesn’t normally launch two flagship Pixel phones, either, so the emergence of a possible ‘Pro’ version would be new territory for the tech giant. The standard Pixel looks to have two cameras while the ‘Pro’ model appears to boast a third lens, thought to be a telephoto.
Prosser claims to have sent real-life images of the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro to concept artist Ian Zelbo (@RendersbyIan), who created these sleek 3D renders. The renders seem to show both models with an in-display fingerprint sensor, which means Google could be finally kissing goodbye to the rear-mounted sensor.
Google has yet to officially share any info about its next-generation Pixel 6 range, but reports suggest they will get a new System-on-Chip processor that will deliver a serious bump in power over the current Pixel 5.
As for new colours, Prosser’s renders suggest the new Pixel devices will be available in at least two finishes – pastel pink and champagne gold. Rival Android leakers have claimed that the tones depicted in the renders aren’t accurate.
So, when will the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro launch? Google tends to announce its flagship handsets in September or October, but there’s talk of the company revealing the new Pixel at its I/O tech conference this year (18-20th May).
Google is also rumoured to be working on a foldable phone codenamed Passport, which it could choose to preview at the event. We’ll bring you all the key announcements from the conference as Google makes them.
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Everything you we know so far about the Google Pixel 6
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Amazon’s new second-generation Echo Buds are the company’s second crack at true wireless earbuds. They’re smaller, lighter, and more comfortable than before, and now have more effective noise cancellation. The first time around, Amazon borrowed some of Bose’s tech to help the original Echo Buds block outside noise, but version two was built completely in-house. Hands-free Alexa voice commands still get top billing, but the most compelling thing about the Echo Buds is still their aggressive price — and the solid mix of features you get in exchange.
The Echo Buds cost $99.99 or $119.99 (with wireless charging case) for a limited time, after which the prices will rise to $119 and $139.99, respectively. Not only is Amazon undercutting premium noise-canceling buds from Apple, Bose, Sony, and others, but it’s also seemingly trying to obliterate mid-range options like the Anker Liberty Air 2 Pros.
The revamped Echo Buds are 20 percent smaller in footprint and have a shortened nozzle, so they protrude from the ears a bit less. They ditch the glossy outer touchpad for a matte design (though the side facing your ear is glossy) The Amazon “smile” logo is present on both earbuds, but it’s not as obnoxious as I assumed it’d be. It’s matte and printed onto the buds instead of being embossed or given a different texture to stand out, so the logo doesn’t really call attention. Still, I’d have preferred it not to be there at all. The charging case is far more understated; there, the smile logo is on the underside — where most people are never even going to see it.
Amazon’s blatant logo is unfortunate, but doesn’t call much attention.
That case has also been downsized and is roughly 40 percent smaller than the last gen, but still carries enough juice to provide the earbuds with two full recharges. The Echo Buds last for five hours with ANC enabled, which is extremely par for the course in 2021. This stretches to 6.5 hours if you disable noise canceling and hands-free Alexa. Oh, and the case does charging LEDs right: you get separate indicators for the case’s charge and both earbuds also have their own.
Amazon includes a plethora of ear tips and wing tips to help you get a perfect fit.
Amazon has included everything but the kitchen sink to help guarantee a good seal and snug fit. There are four sizes of silicone tips in the box — S, M, L, XL — and three different pairs of optional wing tips. The ear tips are color coded, which makes it much easier to tell the different sizes apart without having to squint at them. The wing tips might prove useful if you’re going to use the Echo Buds for intense workouts, but they weren’t necessary for everyday use or outdoor runs in my ears; the reduced size of the earbuds was enough to keep them locked in place for me.
The new Echo Buds now feature a vented design to cut down on ear pressure, similar to Apple’s AirPods Pro and recent Samsung Galaxy Buds models. But the flipside of this change means if you turn off ANC in the Alexa app (or with a voice command), you’re going to hear a fair mix of ambient noise. If you want to hear more, Amazon gets credit for its passthrough mode, which nearly matches the AirPods Pro and Bose in how natural sound it sounds. If you crank it up all the way, it almost feels like superpower hearing — but there’s a very noticeable hiss at max passthrough.
Amazon claims that the second-gen Echo Buds cancel out “twice as much noise” as the original pair, and the improvements are most concentrated in lower sound frequencies — exactly what you’d want for flights or bothersome hums around the house or office. But remember that the original Echo Buds utilized Bose’s noise reduction technology, which isn’t the same as full-blown active noise cancellation. (Even at the time, Bose said it could do better.) So while Amazon is advertising significant gains over the prior model, you won’t hear any claims that it’s outperforming earbuds from Apple, Bose, Jabra, or other companies. Those are different goalposts.
And the Echo Buds objectively aren’t as effective as the AirPods Pro or Bose QuietComfort Earbuds at turning down the volume knob on the outside world. You might assume that it’s because of the vented design — but the AirPods Pro have that design trait too — so it’s really just that Amazon’s proprietary noise cancellation tech doesn’t yet measure up to the best out there. Occasionally when holding the Echo Buds in my hands, I’d hear a high-pitched whine or squeal coming out of them. This has happened with other earbuds, and Amazon tells me it’s due to an ANC-related feedback loop. Amusingly, I’m also told there’s a “squeal detection algorithm” that’s meant to suppress this. The noise is never really a bother when they’re in your ears, thankfully, but it does pop up from time to time.
The new Echo Buds are 20 percent smaller than Amazon’s first-gen earbuds.Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge
Passable ANC aside, the Echo Buds do sound good. They handily beat out the AirPods Pro at bass, which is becoming a regular occurrence at this point. Amazon says the 5.7mm drivers are “optimized for increased fidelity in bass and treble,” and they make for easy listening when you’re playing spoken word content like podcasts, audiobooks, or watching videos. All of this proves out as true when using them. The bass has ample kick and the treble is well contained and never gets earsplitting. Tracks like Lil Nas X’s “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” or Dua Lipa’s “Don’t Start Now” are perfect demonstration of what the Echo Buds are good at. I get the impression that Amazon has tuned these with modern hits in mind.
But they do lack a layer of depth and texture that you’ll find in the higher price tiers of true wireless earbuds. Acoustic-heavy tunes aren’t as warm as they could be, and tracks like Phoebe Bridgers’ “Graceland Too” don’t have as wide of a soundstage. The powerful bottom end can make up for that somewhat on songs like “Chinatown” by Bleachers, where the bassline never gets lost to the synths, vocals, and guitars.
The earbuds have a vented design to reduce ear pressure.
So even before you get to the Alexa part of the equation, the Echo Buds establish themselves as worthy contenders at a hard-to-resist price. They also offer IPX4 water and sweat resistance, and voice call quality has improved some over the first-gen buds. Audio automatically pauses when either bud is removed, and each side can be used independently. Like most earbuds (save for those from Jabra), the Echo Buds lack multipoint Bluetooth pairing. Both AAC and SBC codecs are supported. Connection stability has been rock solid in my review period so far with only the rarest blip or dropout.
But how does Amazon’s voice assistant fare? Alexa can aptly handle music requests (“play my Release Radar on Spotify”), weather checks, smart home commands, and other activities that are normally smooth sailing on Echo speakers. Amazon says “later this year” the Echo Buds will get the same VIP Filter as its Echo Frames, which lets you pick which notifications you want to hear.
But on the whole, Alexa noticeably lags behind Siri and Google Assistant at more on-the-go requests. If you ask for directions, Alexa responds that you must tap a notification on your iPhone for those directions to actually open up in Apple Maps. It’s not a huge inconvenience, and some of this — like SMS messaging being limited to Android — boils down to platform restrictions, but there are often middle steps that don’t exist if you’re making the same ask of Siri or Google Assistant. (You also must grant the Alexa app full-time location access for directions to work.) It’s nice that I can ask these earbuds where the nearest COVID-19 vaccine site is or inquire about the status of a given subway line, but these are the kind of things that I’m always going to use my phone for. Getting people to change that default behavior is no small hurdle.
There were also bugs where I didn’t expect them. When I would say, “Alexa, turn on noise canceling,” it would often respond “sorry, what device?” Apparently “noise cancellation” is the term you’ve got to use, but it seems obvious that both should get you there. This was never an issue with voice commands asking to enable or switch off passthrough mode, which worked every time.
Amazon says it has built in a number of privacy-minded features to limit how often the microphones are listening for the “Alexa” wake word. At least one of the earbuds needs to actually be in your ear for the mics to function — they’re automatically muted when both are removed — and there must be an active Bluetooth connection to your phone. You can also manually mute the mics with the Alexa app or by customizing a long-press to do that.
The Echo Buds package together a lot of good for less.
Though Amazon promotes hands-free Alexa as a flagship feature of the Echo Buds, I think it’ll be a negligible value add for some buyers: the price, comfort, and sound are still enough to make these earbuds quite enticing. You’ve also got the choice of using your phone’s native assistant instead of Alexa, which is another option for the long-press command on the outside of a bud. So at least Amazon isn’t forcing anything on you.
If you don’t have an inherent resistance towards Amazon products (and some people certainly do), the 2021 Echo Buds strike a balance of features that’s downright impressive at their selling price. They’re a considerable upgrade from the first-gen earbuds in comfort with improved noise cancellation to boot — even if it’s not close to best in class. You can do better if you’re willing to spend upwards of $50 to $70 more. If you don’t want to go that high, the Echo Buds won’t disappoint.
Leaker @momomo_us on Twitter today posted screenshots showing MSI’s website with a listing for the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, seemingly confirming the card’s existence. Since the Tweet went out, MSI has quickly fixed the listing, so you won’t find it on the website anymore.
This little hiccup seems and indicates that Nvidia’s AIB partners (like MSI) have reference and (maybe) custom cards ready for release, or will soon. In fact, we covered a rumored MSI RTX 3080 Ti Suprim X card floating around in the UAE not too long ago.
What we don’t know is when exactly Nvidia plans to unveil its new flagship GPU, or what pricing will be. All we can make are educated guesses.
Rumored specifications for the RTX 3080 Ti include 10,240 CUDA cores, 320 Tensor cores and 80 RT cores, as well as a potential 1,365MHz base clock and 1,666MHz boost clock.
For memory, the RTX 3080 Ti is believed to be running 12GB of GDDR6X clocked at 19Gbps. This should mean that the RTX 3080 Ti will run with a 384-bit memory bus and have 912.4 GBps of memory bandwidth.
The RTX 3080 Ti should be running off the same core as the RTX 3080 and RTX 3090, the GA102 die. But, with Nvidia refreshing its Ampere silicon to fight Ethereum miners, this core is rumored to be the GA102-225-A1 die.
The 225 numbering in the middle specifically indicates that this is newer Ampere silicon with the built-in hardware mining limiter. We don’t know how bad the mining limitations will be, but if previous Nvidia mining limiters are anything to go by, we should expect mining performance to be cut at least in half with the RTX 3080 Ti.
As for gaming performance, the RTX 3080 Ti specs should land the GPUs capabilities incredibly close to that of Nvidia’s flagship RTX 3090, making it one of the best graphics cards on the market. The reduction in CUDA core count is a measly 2.5%. For perspective, you should be able to overclock an RTX 3080 Ti beyond the performance of a stock RTX 3090 when it comes to gaming workloads; the CUDA core configurations are that similar.
However, be prepared to grab the cards as fast as you possibly can upon release if you want one. Scalpers will probably still be a problem, even with miners out of the equation.
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After a couple of generations making phones with flip-out cameras and increasingly large displays, Asus has taken the ZenFone 8 in a totally different direction: small.
The flipping camera concept lives on in the also-new ZenFone 8 Flip, but it’s no longer a standard feature across this year’s ZenFone lineup. Instead, priced at €599 (about $730), the ZenFone 8 lands in the upper-midrange class with a conventional rear camera bump and a much smaller 5.9-inch display. As a side note, final US pricing is TBD — Asus says somewhere between $599 and $799 — but it will be coming to North America, unlike last year’s model.
Rather than an attention-grabbing camera feature, the focus of this design has been to create a smaller phone that’s comfortable to use in one hand, which Asus has done without skimping on processing power or higher-end features.
It’s an Android iPhone mini, and it’s fantastic.
Asus designed the ZenFone 8 with one-handed operation in mind.
Asus ZenFone 8 screen and design
The ZenFone 8 may be small, but that hasn’t kept it from offering the latest flagship processor: a Snapdragon 888 chipset, coupled with 6, 8, or 16GB of RAM (my review unit has 16GB). I can’t find fault with this phone’s performance. It feels responsive, animations and interactions are smooth, and it keeps up with demanding use and rapid app switching. This is performance fitting of a flagship device.
The display is a 5.9-inch 1080p OLED panel with a fast 120Hz refresh rate that makes routine interactions with the phone — swiping, scrolling, animations — look much more smooth and polished than a standard 60Hz screen or even a 90Hz panel. By default, the phone will automatically switch between 120 / 90 / 60Hz depending on the application to save battery life, but you can manually select any of those three refresh rates if you prefer.
The display’s 20:9 aspect ratio was carefully considered by Asus. The company says it settled on this slightly narrower format so the phone would fit more easily into a pocket, and it does. I can’t get it all the way into a back jeans pocket, but it mostly fits. More importantly, it fits well inside a jacket pocket and doesn’t feel like it’s going to flop out if I sit down on the floor to tie my shoes. The ZenFone 8 is rated IP68 for dust protection and some water submersion.
The front panel is protected by Gorilla Glass Victus and houses an in-display fingerprint sensor, while the back uses Gorilla Glass 3 with a frosted finish that’s on the matte side of the matte / glossy spectrum. The front panel is flat, but the rear features a slight curve on the long edges for an easier fit in the hand. At 169 grams (5.9 ounces), it’s heavy for its size, and it feels surprisingly dense when you first pick it up. The phone’s frame is aluminum, giving the whole package a high-end look and feel. There’s even a headphone jack on the top edge as a treat.
The power button (an exciting shade of blue!) is well-positioned so my right thumb falls on it naturally with the phone in my hand. Same for the in-screen fingerprint sensor: the target appears to be positioned higher on the screen than usual, but that actually puts it within a comfortable reach of my thumb.
I’ll admit up front that I have a personal bias toward smaller phones, but the ZenFone 8 just feels great in my hand. I’ve spent a lot of time using big devices over the last six months, and I’ve gotten used to it. But the ZenFone 8 is the first device that feels like it was adapted to me, not something I’ve had to adapt to using.
A smaller phone means a smaller battery.
Asus ZenFone 8 battery and software
The phone’s small size makes a smaller battery a necessity — 4,000mAh in this case, much smaller than the ZenFone 6 and 7’s 5,000mAh. I felt the difference in using this phone versus a battery-for-days budget or midrange phone, but I had no problem getting through a full day of moderate use. I even left Strava running for 20 hours by accident, and the battery still had some life in it the next morning. The ZenFone 8 supports 30W wired charging with the included power adapter, which takes an empty battery to 100 percent in a bit more than an hour. Wireless charging isn’t supported, which makes the ZenFone 8 a bit of an outlier in the flagship class.
Asus offers a ton of options to help stretch day-to-day battery life as well as the overall lifespan of your battery. There are no fewer than five battery modes to optimize phone performance or battery longevity on a daily basis, and different charging modes let you set a custom charging limit or stagger charging overnight so it reaches 100 percent around the time of your alarm for better battery health. You won’t find class-leading battery capacity here, but rest assured if you need to stretch the ZenFone 8’s battery, there are plenty of options.
The ZenFone 8 ships with Android 11, and Asus says it will provide “at least” two major OS with security updates for the same timeframe. That’s on the low side of what we’d expect for a flagship phone, especially compared to Apple’s typical four- or five-year support schedule. An important note for US shoppers is that the ZenFone 8 will only work with AT&T and T-Mobile’s LTE and Sub-6GHz 5G networks; you can’t use this phone on Verizon, and there’s no support for the fast, but extremely limited, millimeter-wave 5G networks.
The ZenFone 8 offers standard wide and ultrawide rear cameras.
Asus ZenFone 8 camera
There are just two cameras on the ZenFone 8’s rear camera bump, and they are both worth your time. Rather than cram in a depth sensor, macro, or some monochrome nonsense, Asus just went with a 64-megapixel main camera with OIS and a 12-megapixel ultrawide. They’re borrowed from last year’s model, minus a telephoto camera and the flipping mechanism.
As in the ZenFone 7 Pro, the 8’s main camera produces 16-megapixel images with vibrant color and plenty of detail in good light. Images can lean a little too far into unnatural-looking territory, and some high-contrast scenes look a little too HDR-y for my liking. But overall, this camera does fine: it handles moderately low-light conditions like a dim store interior well, and Night Mode does an okay job in very low light, provided you can hold the phone still for a few seconds and your subject isn’t moving.
Ultrawide camera
Ultrawide camera
Ultrawide camera
A skin-smoothing beauty mode is on by default when you use portrait mode, and it is not good. Skin looks over-smoothed, unnaturally flat, and brightened, like your subject is wearing a couple of layers of stage makeup. Turning this off improves things significantly.
The ultrawide camera also turns in good performance. Asus calls it a “flagship” grade sensor, and while that might have been true in 2018, it’s at least a step up from the smaller, cheaper sensors often found in ultrawide cameras. Likewise, the front-facing 12-megapixel camera does fine. Beauty mode is turned off by default when you switch to the selfie camera, and thank goodness for that.
There’s no telephoto camera here, just digital zoom. On the camera shooting screen, there’s an icon to jump to a 2x 16-megapixel “lossless” digital zoom to crop in quickly, which works okay, but it isn’t much reach, and it just makes the limitations of the small sensor and lens more obvious.
On the whole, the camera system is good but not great. The lack of true optical zoom or a telephoto camera is a disappointment, but you can’t have everything on such a small device, and I’d personally take an ultrawide before a telephoto any day.
The ZenFone 8 doesn’t sacrifice a flagship experience to achieve its small form factor.
The ZenFone 8 fills a void in the Android market for a full-specced, small-sized device. The Google Pixel 4A is around the same size, but it’s decidedly a budget device with a step-down processor, plastic chassis, and fewer niceties like an IP rating or a fast-refresh screen. Aside from battery life, which is manageable, you give up very little in the way of flagship features to get the ZenFone 8’s small form factor.
You have to look to iOS for this phone’s most direct competition: the iPhone 12 mini, which it matches almost spec-for-spec from the IP rating down to the camera configuration. The 12 mini is actually a little smaller than the ZenFone 8, and when you factor in storage capacity, it’s likely to be the more expensive choice at $829 for 256GB. However, when you consider that the 12 mini will probably get a couple more years of OS and security support, it may be the better buy in the long run, if you’re flexible in your choice of operating system.
I like the ZenFone 8 a lot, but I’m not sure it’ll find a big audience, at least in the US. Apple is having trouble selling the iPhone 12 mini, and if there’s one thing Apple is good at, it’s selling phones to US customers. As much as I hate to entertain the idea, maybe we’ve gotten used to giant phones. I love how the ZenFone 8 feels in my hand and in my pocket, but I do notice how much smaller the screen and everything on it seems compared to the bigger phones I’ve used recently.
There are also a few important considerations, like the lack of compatibility with Verizon and the comparatively short support lifespan of the phone. If you need the absolute best in battery life the ZenFone 8 can’t offer that, and if you want a class-leading camera, you’ll need to look elsewhere.
All that said, the ZenFone 8 will be the right fit for a specific type of person, and I can heartily recommend it to my fellow small phone fans. You’ll get flagship-level build quality and performance quite literally in the palm of your hand.
Photography by Allison Johnson / The Verge
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