Galaxy - Page 11 of 62

Samsung is bringing its lowest-cost 5G phones to the US

Until now, we’ve known almost everything about Samsung’s newest Galaxy A-series phones (which were announced recently at the company’s Unpacked event) except for a couple of key details: which models would be sold in the US and for how much. That’s the announcement Samsung made today, with three low-cost 5G phones leading the way.

The Galaxy A52 5G, A42 5G, and A32 5G will all go on sale in the US later this week, with the sub-$300 A32 clocking in as Samsung’s lowest-cost 5G model to date. They’ll each ship loaded with Android 11 and with charging bricks included in the box. Also arriving Stateside soon: the entry-level Galaxy A12 and A02s, each costing under $200.

Samsung Galaxy A-series US pricing

Model	Price	Availability
Model	Price	Availability
Galaxy A52 5G	$499	April 9th
Galaxy A42 5G	$399	April 8th
Galaxy A32 5G	$279	April 9th
Galaxy A12	$179	April 9th
Galaxy A02s	$109	April 29th

Pricing and availability for Galaxy A models coming to the US in 2021.

The A52 5G is the highest specced A-series model US customers will see this year; the A72, which was unveiled at the same Unpacked event, is missing from today’s list. The A52 5G follows up on last year’s solid A51 model and includes a 6.5-inch OLED with 120Hz refresh rate, a Snapdragon 750G processor, IP67 water resistance rating, and a 4,500mAh battery.

The Samsung Galaxy A52 5G features a stabilized main camera, IP67 weather resistance, and a 120Hz screen.

Its camera hardware is also a step up from the other models in this bunch, including a 64-megapixel main camera with optical image stabilization. The A52 5G supports sub-6GHz 5G only (no mmWave), and like the other two 5G models, it supports C-band frequencies at a hardware level. It will be sold with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage for $499 starting on April 9th.

The A42 5G supports sub-6GHz and mmWave 5G.

Photo: Samsung

The A42 5G is the only model of the bunch to support mmWave 5G in addition to sub-6GHz. It also features a 6.6-inch OLED with standard 60Hz refresh rate, and like the A52 5G, it will use a Snapdragon 750G chipset. The A42 5G features a 48-megapixel main camera and doesn’t include an IP rating. It will include 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage and is going on sale for $399 starting on April 8th.

The Galaxy A32 5G is Samsung’s least expensive 5G model to date.

Photo: Samsung

Samsung’s Galaxy A32 5G skips out on quite a few features in order to hit its low price point. It includes an LCD rather than OLED — a 6.6-inch panel with 90Hz refresh rate — and uses a MediaTek 720 processor rather than a Snapdragon chipset. It will include 4GB of RAM and a skimpy 64GB of storage, thankfully expandable by microSD. It will sell for $279 starting on April 9th.

The A12 offers a 6.5-inch LCD.

Photo: Samsung

Rounding out the set are the LTE-only, budget-oriented A12 and A02s, each featuring a 6.5-inch LCD with standard refresh rate and a 5,000mAh battery. The A12 gets a 16-megapixel main camera and a 5-megapixel ultrawide and will offer 3GB of RAM. The A02s includes a 13-megapixel main camera without the ultrawide and offers just 2GB of RAM.

Both phones will ship with Android 10 and (thankfully) offer storage expansion via microSD; with just 32GB of built-in storage each, some extra space will be a necessity. The Galaxy A12 will sell for $179 starting on April 9th; the Galaxy A02s will cost $109.99 and arrive on April 29th.

All of these A-series devices will be sold unlocked by Samsung, though the company could only confirm that the A52 5G would be available this way on April 9th; all others would be coming at some point later this spring.

Samsung’s latest budget phones ask: is refresh rate more important than resolution?

If you had to choose: would you choose a sharper screen on your smartphone, or a smoother-scrolling one? This year, budget phone buyers may be asking themselves that question: the OnePlus Nord N100, Moto G50, and the new Samsung Galaxy F12 and M12 all refresh their screens 90 times per second (which is good!) but with a lower-than-optimal screen resolution of 720p. That’s the same resolution as a Galaxy Nexus from 2011.

Compared to your average iPhone, that’s a paltry number of pixels. Since the iPhone 4 debuted in 2010, every Apple handset has offered at least 326 pixels per inch (PPI), enough so you can’t make out those individual pixels with the naked eye at typical viewing distances. (The marketing term is “retina display.”) Here, the PPI would be more like 270.

And yet Apple has never offered an iPhone with a high-refresh-rate screen, which we’ve often found to be one of the most desirable features on high-end and mid-range smartphones since it makes everything you do (not just games) feel much smoother. (Apple might make it happen later this year.)

But the Galaxy F12 and M12, the OnePlus and Moto all show that high-refresh doesn’t need to be a high-end feature at all, or even a $300 one like we recently saw with the OnePlus Nord N10 5G. The Samsung phones in particular cost under $150 each, as long as you’re willing to sacrifice pixels to get there.

In other ways, the 9,999-rupee handsets seem like they might be decent picks too: they’re based on the same basic platform as the Galaxy A12 and its four-camera array, but with a larger 6,000mAh battery that dwarfs many others on the market. You get a sidemounted fingerprint sensor. Just note while its 8nm Exynos 850 processor might sound shiny and new, it’s not comparable with Qualcomm’s recent 800-series Snapdragon chips. It’s closer to 2019’s Snapdragon 665 in performance.

It’s not clear whether either of these phones will come to the US quite yet. The OnePlus Nord N100 already has, and the G50 launched in Europe late last month.

LG had few smartphone hits, but it’ll still be missed

The LG V30.

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

The US smartphone market just got more boring

If you’re reading this on a phone, chances are, LG didn’t make it. The Korean tech giant has been losing money and market share with its smartphone division for years, so it wasn’t a surprise when it finally announced plans to pull the plug today. You could be forgiven for shrugging.

But LG deserves to be remembered as more than just an also-ran. Its phones were rarely big hits, much less often the kind of polished product we’d ever recommend to most over its competitors. Despite this, LG did introduce several features and innovations that the phone world would be worse off without. The company was the first to put ultrawide cameras on its phones, for example, and it pioneered the kind of all-screen, no-button smartphone designs that dominate the market today.

And particularly in the US, where Android competition is extremely low, the loss of LG will only further entrench the Apple-Samsung duopoly at the high end. LG is the third-biggest phone vendor in the US, with roughly 10 percent of market share, although much of that was midrange prepaid devices sold through carrier stores. LG might not have been at the top of your smartphone shopping list, but if you live in the US, that list just got a lot more boring.

The LG Velvet in its Dual Screen case.

Photo by Sam Byford / The Verge

LG did have some claim to being a tastemaker in the pre-smartphone world. Its Chocolate and enV phones were stylish devices that helped LG expand its brand recognition around the world. But after the iPhone and Android changed everything, LG struggled to adapt. I’m duty-bound here to mention the original LG Prada, which had a capacitive touchscreen and was technically announced just before the iPhone, but its true legacy is mostly people pointing that out in online comments.

LG’s early Android phones weren’t impressive. The 2011 Nitro HD, for example, was its first splashy flagship device in a long time, but it was saddled with outdated, clunky software and poor battery life. Its successor, the Optimus G, represented a degree of refinement, and by the time the G2 came along in 2012, LG’s new G-series was a fairly credible alternative to the likes of Samsung or HTC. The G2 was one of the first flagship smartphones to attempt to cut down on bezel size, for example, and LG made on-screen buttons a core part of its design long before most others.

It was also around this time that LG found a new partner in Google, releasing two Nexus phones in a row. The 2012 Nexus 4 was built around the guts of the Optimus G, and it had its fans despite its crippling lack of LTE, weak battery life, and unimpressive camera. The next year’s Nexus 5 found an even stronger cult following despite it too having a poor camera and bad battery life. (The red version did look great, and the $349 price didn’t hurt.)

The modular LG G5.

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

LG’s mobile division kept on ticking on, turning out respectable phones like the G3 and G4 without ever really challenging Samsung. The software was still a heavy-handed customization of Android, and LG continued to lag behind peers with its pace of updates, but the hardware was solid. It was the 2016 G5 where things really started to fall apart. Designed around a series of swappable modular accessories called “Friends,” the phone flopped, and LG quickly pretended it never happened. Suffice it to say that if you bought a camera grip or a DAC Hi-Fi audio accessory for your G5, it wouldn’t be able to make Friends with 2017’s G6.

It’s unfortunate that LG focused on gimmicks with the G5 because that phone did introduce one new feature that would become ubiquitous in the smartphone market years later: the ultrawide camera. Ultrawides on smartphones let people capture pictures that were previously restricted to camera gearheads, and it’s hard to imagine buying a new phone without one today. But it took a long time for other phone makers to figure out the utility; Apple introduced its first in 2019, for example.

The V20, released the same year as the G5, had another unique feature that would become a hallmark of the company’s phones for years: an honest-to-God headphone jack in the year that Apple decided to ditch it. And not just any headphone jack — one that worked with a built-in quad DAC designed to boost sound quality and appeal to audiophiles. Did this sell many phones? Well, no. But it became a hallmark of LG’s high-end devices ever since, providing an option for wired headphone enthusiasts who despaired as other phone makers followed Apple’s lead one by one.

The LG G6.

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

The 2017 G6 got the G-series back on track. It was the first major smartphone released with a now-familiar taller aspect ratio, with an even stronger focus on eliminating bezels than ever before. Of course, not many people noticed as Samsung followed immediately with the similar but sleeker Galaxy S8 and its “Infinity Display.” Later that year, LG released the V30, which had a completely new (and very nice) design, but it’s always going to be a hard sell when your most differentiated feature is your (also very nice) haptics system.

From here on out, LG’s flagship phones mostly blurred into one. The G7 was a pretty good facsimile of an iPhone X, even winning an Editor’s Choice designation from Verge editor Dan Seifert. The V40 pioneered the now-common triple-camera setup. The G8X came with a dual-screen case that, in hindsight, Microsoft’s Surface Duo really didn’t improve much upon a year later. But all of these phones looked basically identical to each other, and none of their key features were viewed as much more than gimmicks at the time.

For every good idea LG had, there’d be something pointless like the G8’s vein-sensing “Hand ID” unlock. Despite the company making a big announcement about a new Software Upgrade Center to increase the pace of Android updates, nothing changed. And in the face of Samsung’s unstoppable marketing machine, LG’s best attempt at a brand identity was to add “ThinQ” to the name of each flagship phone.

The LG Wing.

Photo by Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge

In its final year, LG’s mobile division did move to address its problems. The Explorer Project was intended to produce more innovative designs, like the beautiful but underpowered Velvet and the oddball dual-screen Wing. At CES this year, the company announced a Rollable concept phone that it said it planned to take to market.

That’ll never happen now, and it’s hard to say it’s a huge loss with companies like Oppo and TCL likely to pick up the slack with their own versions. But in the context of the US phone market, there’s going to be fewer choices, and whoever ends up accounting for LG’s lost market share is unlikely to be as creative a replacement.

LG’s phones were rarely, if ever, the best available, but the company did make a significant impact on the smartphone world at large. With its mobile division’s demise, the US market becomes even more homogenous.

New trailers: Black Widow, Rick and Morty, and more

Hi, it’s Jay, and I’m holding down the fort for Kim today, which means I get to do a trailer roundup. I apparently picked a good week to take this responsibility, as there were a lot of good trailers to pick from — it seems like media companies are gearing up for a big year in movies and TV shows.

Let’s get right into it.

Black Widow

My wife and I spent the first part of this year watching the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe, and as we got further along, we couldn’t believe that Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow didn’t have her own movie yet. So as you might expect, we’re very excited to see Black Widow, especially after the new trailer that came out on Saturday.

Black Widow will debut on July 9th in theaters and on Disney Plus as a $30 Premiere Access title.

The Suicide Squad

Speaking of superhero films (or in this case, I guess antiheroes), Warner Bros. released a second trailer for The Suicide Squad less than a week after debuting the first one. The film, helmed by Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn, is packed with an all-star cast, including Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, Idris Elba as Bloodsport, and even Sylvester Stallone as a giant CGI shark-man named King Shark.

The Suicide Squad premieres in theaters and on HBO Max on August 6th.

Rick and Morty season 5

I’m just going to be totally honest here: despite Rick and Morty being a constant thing on the internet and also being something that looks totally up my alley, I have never seen a single episode and know basically nothing about it. But if you’ve been looking forward to season five, an official trailer hit this week. The new season premieres on Adult Swim on June 20th.

Star Wars: The Bad Batch

Star Wars: The Bad Batch is a new animated series heading to Disney Plus. “Members of Bad Batch—a unique squad of clones who vary genetically from their brothers in the Clone Army—each possess a singular exceptional skill that makes them extraordinarily effective soldiers and a formidable crew,” according to Disney. It’s executive produced by Dave Filoni, who also executive produced The Clone Wars, Rebels, and the The Mandalorian.

Star Wars: The Bad Batch debuts May 4th (aka Star Wars Day).

Shadow and Bone

Shadow and Bone is a new Netflix series based on the hit young adult novel trilogy. “Dark forces conspire against orphan mapmaker Alina Starkov when she unleashes an extraordinary power that could change the fate of her war-torn world,” according to a description by Netflix. I actually just got the first book in the series from the library, and I’m looking forward to reading it ahead of Shadow and Bone’s premiere on April 23rd.

Yasuke

Yasuke is a new Neflix anime that’s based on a true story of a Black samurai from the 16th century. The main character is voiced by LaKeith Stanfield (Atlanta, Judas and the Black Messiah) and the show has a soundtrack from Flying Lotus. It debuts on Netflix on April 29th.

Space Jam: A New Legacy

Warner Bros. debuted the first trailer to Space Jam’s long-awaited sequel on Saturday. Space Jam: A New Legacy stars LeBron James and the classic Looney Tunes characters, but will also include appearances from iconic Warner Bros. characters like the Iron Giant, King Kong, and even Fred Flintstone. (Warner Bros. multiverse incoming, I guess.)

Space Jam: A New Legacy premieres in theaters and on HBO Max on July 16th. (And if you were wondering: the old-school 1996 Space Jam website lives on.)

Google’s next Pixels will reportedly switch to a custom in-house GS101 processor

Google’s next Pixel flagship — the presumably named “Pixel 6” — will reportedly feature a Google-designed GS101 “Whitechapel” SoC (system on a chip), a first for the company, as reported by 9to5Google and XDA-Developers.

9to5Google’s report claims Google is working on two phones that will feature the Arm-based GS101 — presumed to be a flagship device to succeed last year’s Pixel 5 and a Pixel 4A 5G follow-up.

XDA’s report, meanwhile, goes into further detail on the new SoC, claiming the GS101 chips will feature a “three cluster setup with a TPU (Tensor Processing Unit)” for machine learning applications. (For reference, Qualcomm’s own flagship Snapdragon 888 uses Arm’s Cortex-X1 / Cortex-A78 / Cortex-A55 as a triple cluster CPU setup.) Additionally, the new SoC may feature an integrated security chip, similar to the Titan M.

The idea of Google making a custom TPU or security chip isn’t new: Google has previously made TPUs for servers and the Pixel 4’s Neural Core, along with the discrete Titan M chip on its current phones. But the custom-designed GS101 would presumably allow the company to integrate those features on a deeper level.

Rumors of the Whitechapel chips have circulated since last year when Axios reported that Google was looking to develop its own in-house chips for use in Pixel and Chromebook devices. That report claimed the company would be optimizing its chip for Google’s machine learning technology — something the XDA report corroborates. The GS101 chip for the 2021 Pixel lineup would be the first fruits of the Whitechapel project, although Axios’ original report noted that Chromebook chips weren’t expected until further in the future.

9to5Google’s report also includes references to a “Slider” codename tied to the new device, which it says is also connected to Samsung’s Exynos SoCs (which the company uses on Galaxy smartphone devices outside the US). Samsung’s involvement on the manufacturing side — which Axios also reported last year — would make sense, as one of the largest manufacturers of smartphone semiconductors.

The idea of Google-designed chips is a compelling one. Apple has long touted its tightly integrated software and hardware stack as a key part of how its iPhones, iPads, and now, its Mac computers are able to run so well — a key part of which is the company’s custom-designed A-series and M-series chips.

Google — and almost every other Android manufacturer, save Samsung and Huawei — doesn’t have that advantage. It instead relies on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chips, which dominate the Android marketplace in the US. Oftentimes, an Android device lives or dies on how well its manufacturer is able to synergize Qualcomm’s chips, Google’s software, and its own hardware designs. Similarly, the fact that, at their core, almost every Android device runs on the same chipset and the same software makes it difficult for any one model to stand out.

But a Google-designed GS101 chip brings a tantalizing promise: that Google could bring an Apple-like boost in speed, performance, and battery life to Android (and specifically, its Pixel lineup) with a similar level of control over the hardware design, software, and processor. It’s an intriguing idea — assuming Google can pull it off.

That said, building a smartphone processor at the level of Apple or Qualcomm isn’t easy. While both companies use Arm as a common base, they’ve spent years refining those basic building blocks with customizations to suit their needs. Apple has been using custom designs in its processors since the 2012’s A6 design (as opposed to previous models that used licensed CPU designs from Arm itself). Qualcomm takes a similar approach in its modern processors, using custom Kryo cores that are semi-customized versions of Arm’s base Cortex designs.

It might take Google a few generations to fine-tune its Pixel chips. But if Google can actually deliver on a proper customized chip that’s built from the ground up to be specifically designed for Android’s software and the Pixel’s hardware, it could be the key to transforming the Pixel line from a sideshow to a true smartphone powerhouse.

Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 2 foldable phone just got $200 cheaper

Samsung is dropping the price of its ultra-premium Galaxy Z Fold 2 5G by $200, bringing the foldable smartphone down to $1,799.99 compared to its initial $1,999.99 launch MRSP. Even after the price cut, the Z Fold 2 5G will still cost you more than flagships from pretty much all of Samsung’s competitors, but it’s perhaps the best folding phone yet — and it certainly offers functionality that traditional handsets can’t match.

The new lower price is available for the unlocked model as well as carrier versions of the Z Fold 2 5G from Verizon and AT&T. Remember that Samsung is also now giving buyers of the Galaxy Z Fold 2 and Z Flip 5G an extended 100-day return policy. That’s a show of confidence in this wave of foldables after the original Galaxy Fold got off to an infamously rocky start. Things got much better with the Z Fold 2 5G, which exudes quality that comes much closer to matching its cost.

Along with the reduced price, Samsung is introducing a referral program for Galaxy Z owners. If you already own one of Samsung’s latest folding phones and have sold someone else on buying in, you can give them a referral code that’ll save them $100 off their purchase and earn you $100 in credit at Samsung’s online store.

Vergecast: WWDC rumors, Clubhouse competition, and the cookiepocalypse

Every Friday, The Verge publishes our flagship podcast, The Vergecast, where co-hosts Nilay Patel and Dieter Bohn discuss the week in tech news with the reporters and editors covering the biggest stories.

This week, Nilay and Dieter talk with Verge deputy editor Dan Seifert about this week’s rumors about the next big Apple product announcements after invites were sent out for the company’s annual WWDC event, which will again be virtual-only. After more AR headset leaks, the crew also discusses whether Apple has the bandwidth to support all of its product categories, especially with the Apple TV left alone for some time.

Later in the show, senior reporter Ashley Carman joins to discuss her coverage of social audio platform Clubhouse. Recently, we’ve seen a rise in potential competition in the social audio space from already-established platforms like LinkedIn, Slack, and Spotify. Ashley analyzes whether there is a winner-takes-all scenario or a more segmented space dedicated to genres of content.

There’s a whole lot more in the show — like Dieter’s explanation of the “cookiepocalypse” brought by Google Chrome’s changes to ad tracking on the browser — so listen to the full discussion here or on your preferred podcast player to hear it all.

Sony will announce its next Xperia phone on April 14th

Sony has, in a very low-key way, just announced that its upcoming Xperia event will be on April 14th (via Droid Life). The news comes from the Xperia YouTube channel’s banner, where it lays out that there will be a new product announcement happening at 4:30PM Japan Standard Time — that’s 3:30AM EST, or 12:30AM PT (if you feel like burning the midnight oil to watch live).

The banner gives no real hints as to what will be announced, but there have been a few rumors floating around — one about a new flagship, the Xperia 1 III, and one about the return of the Xperia Compact, which could end up being an Android answer to the iPhone Mini.

Image: Sony

It’s worth noting that there are other rumors that mention new versions of the Xperia 5 and 10, leaving out the Compact entirely. But pretty much every rumor indicates that we’ll see a new entry in the flagship Xperia 1 line. Leaks indicate that the 1 III will have a periscope zoom lens, and Techradar recently published what could be the full specs. It’s mostly what’s expected from a flagship Android phone: Snapdragon 888, 12GB of memory, 5G, and a 4K 120Hz screen.

It’s probably a safe bet that if there’s only one phone being announced (which is hinted at by the singular “product” in the image from Sony), the Xperia 1 III would be it — the 1 line seems to be on a yearly cycle. The Compact is much more of a wildcard — the last time Sony released a “Compact” branded phone was in 2018, though it does use the word to market the Xperia 5 II, with its 6.1-inch screen, which is around the same size as an iPhone 12 Pro or Galaxy S21. The rumors for a 2021 version of the Compact say that it’ll have a 5.5-inch display, which is only a tiny bit bigger than the screen on an iPhone Mini.

Both potential phones are rumored to come with headphone jacks. As for what we’ll actually see on the day, only time will tell — but thankfully there’s not much of it left.

Samsung’s first UWB tracker, the SmartTag Plus, appears to be nearly here

Samsung announced its Galaxy SmartTag line of item trackers in January, and at the time, it said the premium SmartTag Plus, which has ultra-wideband (UWB) technology that enables more precise tracking of an item in relationship to you than Bluetooth does, would be releasing later this year. Now, though, there are some clues that the SmartTag Plus could be coming out soon, possibly as early as April 12th.

Perhaps the most telling hint pointing to the SmartTag Plus’ imminent arrival is that retailer B&H Photo already has the black model of the device available for preorder, with an “expected availability” of April 12th. Here’s a link to the B&H listing if you want to try to preorder a SmartTag Plus for yourself. But since Samsung hasn’t shared this date itself just yet, it’s possible B&H could shift this expected date if it’s not accurate.

Image: B&H Photo

The upcoming item tracker also appeared in Federal Communications Commission filings made public on Wednesday. That can be an indication that a product will be available for sale in the near future, but it’s no guarantee.

Samsung isn’t the only company interested in UWB tech. Apple has long been rumored to be working on a UWB-equipped item tracker of its own, supposedly called AirTags, and Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said in January that Apple plans to release them this year. Tile is also reportedly preparing its own item tracker with UWB, too.

Apple has also built its U1 chip that enables UWB into the iPhone 11 and 12 series and even the Apple Watch Series 6, but so far, it hasn’t used the technology for much except for more a precise AirDrop. The U1 chip will also let BMW iX owners wirelessly unlock their cars when the vehicle is released later this year in Europe.

Samsung created a whole Hulu series that’s sponcon for the Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G

Samsung wants you to know its new phone, the Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G, is good at capturing photos. Maybe you could outwardly tell from its five image sensors, including four on the back, that the company takes mobile photography seriously. But if not, you now have an entire Hulu series to watch in which the S21 Ultra 5G is the main character.

The company announced today it’s created a branded Hulu show called Exposure where up-and-coming photographers compete in challenges to be crowned “America’s best mobile photographer.” The show will debut on April 26th, and it entirely centers on the S21 Ultra 5G; it’s the only device contestants will use to capture their images. This is Samsung’s best attempt at showing off its phone in less of a commercial format — although, in reality, this show is an extended commercial.

Branded content is nothing new for TV. But typically, these partnerships are more covert. Maybe the device someone uses is a specific phone that they mention aloud, or the hosts of a show drive a specific car that lingers on the screen for a second longer than expected. Exposure is, instead, a full-out admittance from Samsung that it is so invested in making sure people know about its camera technology that it’s willing to spend money on an entire series.

For what it’s worth, Verge reviewer Dieter Bohn said the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G’s cameras did live up to the hype when he reviewed the device in January. “The camera system on the Galaxy S21 Ultra is the best I’ve used on any Android phone and is extremely competitive with the iPhone 12 Pro Max,” he wrote.

These Exposure contestants will likely capture quality images. You just have to be okay with the fact that you’re watching content that Samsung approves and wants you to see.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 vs Xiaomi Mi Mix Fold vs Huawei Mate X2: What’s the difference?

(Pocket-lint) – Huawei’s second generation of its foldable smartphone comes in the form of the Mate X2, while Xiaomi’s foldable phone is called the Mi Mix Fold.

Both follow a similar design to the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold series after Huawei changed the format of the folding device from its predecessor – the Mate X and Xs- moving from a foldable display on the outside, to an inward folding display.

If you’re in the market for a vertically folding smartphone, here is how the Xiaomi Mi Mix Fold, Huawei Mate X2 and the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 compare.

Design

Mi Mix Fold: 173.3 x 133.4 x 7.6mm unfolded / 173.3 x 69.8mm x 17.2mm folded / 317g (Black) 332g (ceramic)
Mate X2: 161.8 x 145.8 x 4.4-8.2mm unfolded / 161.8 x 74.6 x 13.6-14.7mm folded / 295g
Z Fold 2: 159.2 x 128.2 x 6.9mm unfolded / 159.2 x 68 x 16.8mm folded / 282g

The Xiaomi Mi Mix Fold has a vertical folding display in a book-style design, like the Huawei Mate X2 and Galaxy Z Fold 2. It comes with a glass or special edition ceramic back and there is a prominent camera housing in the top left corner. There’s a metal frame, large display and a single punch hole camera in the top right corner when folded.

When unfolded, the Mi Mix Fold has an 8.01-inch display and a precision based hinge. There is a small gap when folded though, like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2. It comes in Black or Special Edition Ceramic finishes.

The Huawei Mate X2 meanwhile, also features a vertical folding display. There’s a glass rear with a prominent rectangular camera housing in the top left corner, a metal frame and a full display with dual cut-out cameras on the front when folded.

When unfolded, the Mate X2 has a large 8-inch screen. The hinge is multi-dimensional, creating a water dropped-shaped cavity for the display when the phone is folded, allowing for no gap at all when shut, resulting in a different design to the Mi Mix Fold and Galaxy Z Fold 2. There’s also a wedge-like design that is just 4.4mm at the slimmest point. It comes in White, Black, Crystal Blue and Crystal Pink colours.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 has a similar form to the Huawei Mate X2 and Xiaomi Mi Mix Fold in that it offers a vertical fold in a book-style design. It too has a glass rear, with a rectangular camera housing in the top left corner, as well as a metal frame. Like the Mi Mix Fold, it has a single, punch hole camera on the front when folded but it is centralised rather than positioned to the right.

When unfolded, the Galaxy Z Fold 2 has a slightly smaller 7.6-inch display than the Huawei Mate X2 and Xiaomi Mi Mix Fold. It’s hinge allows for multiple viewing angles but there is a slight gap at the fold of the device when folded. It comes in Mystic Bronze and Mystic Black colours.

Display

Mi Mix Fold: 8.01-inch unfolded, 6.5-inch folded, OLED, 90Hz refresh rate
Mate X2: 8-inch unfolded, 6.45-inch folded, 8-inch unfolded, OLED, 90Hz refresh rate
Z Fold 2: 7.6-inch unfolded, 6.23-inch folded, OLED, 120Hz refresh rate

The Xiaomi Mi Mix Fold has a 6.5-inch AMOLED display with a resolution of 2520 x 840 resolution and a pixel density of 409ppi on the front when folded. It has a 27:9 screen ratio and a 90Hz refresh rate. There’s a punch hole camera in the top right, and the bezels are slightly larger than the Huawei and Samsung alternatives.

When unfolded, the Mi Mix Fold has a 8.01-inch display WQHD+ resolution, 1 billion colours and a 4:3 aspect ratio. It has a 60Hz refresh rate.

The Huawei Mate X2 has a 6.45-inch OLED display with resolution of 2700 x 1160 and a pixel density of 456ppi on the front when folded, making it fractionally smaller than the Mi Mix Fold, though with slimmer bezels. It features a 21:9 aspect ratio and a 90Hz refresh rate. As mentioned above, the X2 has dual punch-hole front cameras in the top left of the display.

When unfolded, the Mate X2 has an 8-inch OLED display with a 2480 x 2200 resolution, which results in a pixel density of 413ppi. The unfolded display has a ratio of 8:7.1. It too has a 90Hz refresh rate.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 has a 6.23-inch external display, making it slightly smaller than the Mate X2 and Mi Mix Fold. It too is an AMOLED panel and it offers a resolution of 2260 x 816 pixels and an aspect ratio of 25:9.

When unfolded, the Galaxy Z Fold 2 has an internal display of 7.6-inches – which is the smallest of the three devices being compared here. It’s Dynamic AMOLED and it has a 2208 x 1768 pixel resolution, resulting in a pixel density of 372ppi. It also has a 120Hz refresh rate and supports HDR10+.

Cameras

Mi Mix Fold: Triple rear camera (108MP + Liquid Lens 8MP + 13MP), 20MP front
Mate X2: Quad rear camera (50MP+16MP+12MP+8MP), 16MP front
Z Fold 2: Triple rear (12MP+12MP+12MP), 10MP front

The Xiaomi Mi Mix Fold has three lenses on its rear, with a 108-megapixel main sensor with 2.1µm pixels and a 7P lens, along with a 13-megapixel ultra wide angle lens with a 123-degree field of view.

There is also an 8-megapixel liquid lens on the rear that uses the principle of human eye bionics and a special chip created by Xiaomi to change the radius of curvature of the spherical surface. It allows the one lens to cover two functions, enabling 3x optical zoom, up to 30x digital and a minimum focus distance of 3cm. The front camera on the Mix Mix Fold is a 20-megapixel snapper.

The Huawei Mate X2 has a quad camera on the rear, which features Leica technology, like Huawei’s other flagship smartphones. The camera setup includes a 50-megapixel main sensor, 16-megapixel ultra-wide angle sensor, 12-megapixel telephoto sensor, and an 8-megapixel SuperZoom sensor.

The main sensor has a f/1.9 aperture and OIS, the Ultra-wide sensor has a f/2.2 aperture, the telephoto sensor has a f/2.4 aperture and OIS with 3x optical zoom, while the SuperZoom sensor has a f/4.4 aperture, OIS and 10x optical zoom. The front camera is 16-megapixels wide angle with a f/2.2 aperture.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 has a triple rear camera, comprised of a 12-megapixel main camera, 12-megapixel telephoto sensor and 12-megapixel Ultra-wide sensor.

The main camera has an f/1.6 aperture, dual pixel phase-detection autofocus and OIS, the telephoto lens has an aperture of f/2.4 and OIS and the ultra-wide sensor has an aperture of f/2.2. There is also a 10-megapixel front camera.

Hardware and specs

Mi Mix Fold: Qualcomm Snapdragon 888, 5G, 12/16GB RAM, 256/512GB storage, 5020mAh
Mate X2: Kirin 9000, 5G, 8GB RAM, 256/512GB storage, 4500mAh
Z Fold 2: Qualcomm Snapdragon 865+, 5G, 12GB RAM, 256/512GB storage, 4500mAh

The Xiaomi Mi Mix Fold runs on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 888 chipset. It’s a 5G handset and it comes with 12GB of RAM and either 256GB or 512GB of storage. The Special Edition Ceramic model has 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage though.

There’s a 5020mAh battery under its hood that supports Xiaomi’s 67W fast charging. The software is MIUI 12, based on Android 10 and there features like a one click option to close down things like GPS for security, as well as a Desktop Mode with a three-finger swipe.

The Huawei Mate X2 runs on Huawei’s own 5nm Kirin 9000 platform. It too is a 5G device. It is supported by 8GB of RAM and it comes in 256GB and 512GB storage variants.

It has a 4500mAh battery under the hood that supports Huawei’s 25W SuperCharge. Huawei’s own Harmony OS can be installed over the company’s usual EMUI interface running on top of Android.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 runs on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 865 Plus chipset, supported by 12GB of RAM and it comes in 256GB and 512GB storage options.

There’s a 4500mAh battery running the Fold 2, which supports 25W wired charging, 11W wireless charging and 4.5W reverse wireless charging. It runs Android with Samsung’s One UI over the top and there are some great multi-tasking features that make great use of the screen when unfolded.

Price

Mi Mix Fold: Equivalent of £1105/$1550, China
Mate X2: Equivalent of £1985/$2785, China
Z Fold 2: £1799, $1999

The Xiaomi Mi Mix Fold costs RMB 9999, 10,999 or 12,999, starting at the equivalent of $1550 or £1105. It will be available in China from 15 April.

The Huawei Mate X2 costs RMB 17,999 or 18,999, starting at the equivalent of $2785 or £1985. It is available in China only for now.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 costs £1799 in the UK and $1999 in the US.

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Conclusion

The Xiaomi Mi Mix Fold and Huawei Mate X2 is only available in the Chinese market at the moment but while the Mate X2 is a little more expensive than the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2, the M Mix Fold is cheaper.

On a spec-by-spec comparison, these three devices are similar and while the Xiaomi Mi Mix Fold tips the scales in several areas, the other two devices have their fair share of wins too.

The Xiaomi Mi Mix Fold has larger displays both interior and exterior than both the Huawei and Samsung. It also offers the most advanced Qualcomm chipset, the largest battery of the three devices, the fastest wired charging capabilities and it has an interesting camera setup with its liquid lens.

The Mate X2 arguably has a more streamlined design, an extra camera on the rear and a wide-angle front camera. It also has only fractionally smaller displays than the Mi Mix Fold.

The Galaxy Z Fold 2 has more RAM than the Mate X2 but the same as the Mi Mix Fold. It also has a higher refresh rate on the internal display though and it offers a more user-friendly software experience, as well as supporting Google services – the latter of which the Mate X2 does not offer. The Z Fold 2 has less cameras than Huawei but the triple rear camera does offer great results.

The Samsung is more widely available than both the Mate X2 and the Mi Mix Fold so while the Mi Mix 2 and Mate X2 might win on some specification areas, you’ll need to live in China to get your hands on them for now. It’s also worth remembering the Galaxy Z Fold 3 is tipped for a July 2021 launch.

Writing by Britta O’Boyle.

The Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra’s camera bump is no moon; it’s a space station

We were warned. But as is so often the case, our feeble minds couldn’t fully grasp it until it was staring us in the face. We saw the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra’s camera bump in a pre-announcement unboxing video, so we knew what was likely in store: an absolutely massive bump with three rear-facing cameras next to a 1-inch screen. But now that the phone has officially launched and we’ve seen it from more angles, we can confirm that it is actually the Death Star of camera bumps.

What’s most striking is the bump’s unapologetic thickness. This isn’t a design that tries to minimize its appearance or meld it into other elements of the phone, a la the Galaxy S21 Ultra. Instead, it’s a major contributor to the device’s overall 8.38mm thickness. It’s practically halfway to a 2008 Sony Cybershot point-and-shoot glued to the back of your phone.

Top and bottom views of the Mi 11 Ultra’s camera bump and the phone attached to it.

Image: Xiaomi

The bump’s standout feature — that little 1-inch OLED — no doubt requires a thicker design than your average display-less array. And let’s not forget the cameras themselves, starting with a 50-megapixel wide angle with a very large 1/1.2-inch sensor that’s just a shade smaller than the 1-inch sensor you’ll find in dedicated cameras like the Sony RX100 VII. That big sensor potentially offers better light-gathering capabilities than a more conventionally sized one, especially considering it’s combined with a relatively fast f/1.95 lens.

The bump is big, but so is the main camera sensor.

Image: Xiaomi

There’s also a 48-megapixel f/2.2 ultrawide and a 48-megapixel f/4.1 periscope-style 5x optical zoom. That’s not on quite the same level as the S21 Ultra’s four rear-facing cameras (plus an autofocus sensor), but it’s still plenty of hardware to house.

The camera bump is, without question, enormous. But it’s not just big for the sake of being big, though. Its screen and uncommonly large main camera are potentially really useful. Will we ever see a more mainstream device with a camera bump this, for lack of a better term, chonky? Probably not. This 6.8-inch device is probably the best venue to debut these features since users already know they’re getting a big device. The rest of us can just marvel at what an astonishing technological feat it is. Truly more machine than man.

Samsung Galaxy Tab Active 3 review: Rough and tumble

(Pocket-lint) – When a product arrives with a bag of sand and a bucket in tow for testing purposes, you know it’s not going to be just any old standard lifestyle product. But that’s exactly the point with the Samsung Galaxy Tab Active 3: it’s a rugged tablet, designed for drops, water- and dust-resistance, and being generally all-round well ‘ard.

“Oh, how very telephone engineer,” quipped one member of the Pocket-lint team. Because, really, beyond the lifestyle-looking shiny retail packaging, this tablet’s overall vision – it comes with a removable battery, people, the likes of which we haven’t seen since the dinosaurs existed, right? – is far more aligned to the workforce than our consumer norm on the test bench.

Except, in the right hands, it could stretch to appeal. Sure, plenty of current kit offers water- and dust-resistance, but that usually comes wrapped in a finish that’s prone to scratches or cracks. The Tab Active 3, on the other hand, almost wants to be abused – something that kids are supremely good at, even without meaning to be. So, buckets and spades at the ready, because this is the kind of tablet that will survive those trips to the beach.

Design & Display

8-inch PLS LCD display, 1920 x 1200 resolution, 16:10 aspect ratio
Dimensions: 213.8 x 126.8 x 9.9mm / Weight: 426g
Rugged case and stylus included
Finishes: Black only
13MP camera

Pulling the Active Tab out of its box is a little like finding a time-travel wormhole. For a brief moment “Google Nexus 7” flashed before eyes, as if it was 2013 or something (which would be a little unfair: this Galaxy Tab has an 8-inch screen, not a 7-inch one).

Pocket-lint

There’s even a protective case in the box, complete with a stylus holster and chunky stylus included (but no hard hat) – it’s all very frontline-worker out-in-the-field kind of stuff – to add reinforcement. The stylus needs a fairly stiff tug to remove it, but at least you’ll know it’s securely stowed.

All this is very befitting of purpose though. The Tab Active 3 has a trio of physical buttons integrated onto its front – so no Android softkeys here, it’s hardware instead – to navigate around the Google Android (it’s version 10, so reasonably well up to date). Whether bare handed or gloved, you’ll be fine using this tough tab.

Pocket-lint

The screen itself has large bezels to its sides, so plenty of space to hold on, which again makes it look like an older-generation product. It makes sense in context, but that’s the reality of it – it doesn’t look new or especially fancy.

Rugged Testing

IP68 dust/water resistant – to 1.5m for 30mins
MIL-STD-810H military standard
1.5m drop tested

And so to the Galaxy Tab Active 3’s main sell: its ruggedness. This is certainly fun to test, because it’s such a rarity to lob a gadget around with pure abandon, but we got to go to town on this tablet.

Pocket-lint

It survived no worries, of course, as that’s its whole purpose. Sure, you’re probably not going to bury it in sand – but you could. So whether that’s the beach or a sandpit, it wont suffer ingress and be damaged, neither will it get all scratched up.

The drop test from 1.5m high is no bother either, although we think it would actually survive more severe impacts with that case attached. It’s not designed to, in terms of the test rating – it’s military standard though – but it’ll survive unscathed, whereas a ‘normal’ glass-backed tablet just isn’t going to.

It’s a similar tale for the waterproofing: we submerged the tablet in about 15cm of water for half an hour and that was no bother for it. Indeed, we think it’d survive for far longer (especially at that depth, as the pressure isn’t exactly high). Plus it can handle, according to the ratings system, 1.5m of submersion for that half-hour period of time without drowning.

Pocket-lint

All of this is good stuff, it’s the product delivering on what it’s supposed to do. But we’ve seen plenty of more refined consumer designs with newer hardware and specs also offer much of this – there are plenty of waterproofed mobile products, for example. It’s the Tab Active 3’s hard-shell extra casing that makes it a bit more significant though.

Performance & Battery

Samsung Exynos 9810 processor, 4GB RAM
5,050mAh removable battery, 15W charging
128GB storage, microSD card expansion

It’s rare that any products have removable batteries these days, but the Tab Active 3 does. A 5,050mAh one, no less, which is fairly capacious given the overall spec, and lasts for a long work day – around 11 hours. It’s not got phone longevity, therefore, given the scale of the device – but then you can just pop in a backup battery if you need.

Pocket-lint

Under the hood the Tab Active has Samsung’s Exynos 9810 processor, meaning it’s on last-gen hardware rather than being really eye-catching and up to date. That might well mean it doesn’t run as hard or as hot as some modern day cutting-edge flagship hardware, but it also means for a pricey slate such as this that you’re not getting the greatest of potential.

Of course whether that matters will depend on just what you want to be doing with this tablet. After all, while you could watch Netflix on your lunch break, realistically we suspect this tablet will have proprietary installs for specific tasks.

Pocket-lint

Samsung Knox, the company’s security framework – which is designed to give organisations the tools to manage work devices – comes as standard. That, really, tells you most of what you need to know – this is really for work rather than one to throw at the kids.

What is the Pocket-lint daily and how do you get it for free?

By Stuart Miles
·
29 March 2021

Verdict

The more we lived with the Galaxy Active Tab 3, the more we wondered why it’s on both Samsung’s business and consumer website sections.

It’s clearly more aligned with the former, as at this price point it’s so far removed from a consumer-grade tough tablet for the kids that it won’t make sense for, well, almost anyone. We thought that might have been a good angle for such a products, but if that’s your thinking then save several hundred and pick up an Amazon tablet instead.

The fact is many consumer lifestyle products now offer some degree of rugged protection, more up-to-date designs, and as such the Active Tab 3 is therefore best left to who it’s really for: the workforce. It’s not bad by any means, it’s just kind-of retro and somewhat lost for purpose in a consumer context.

Writing by Mike Lowe.

Samsung’s Tab A7 Lite leaks with budget looks

Images of Samsung’s unannounced Tab A7 Lite tablet have leaked, courtesy of Evan Blass on Voice. The images show a decidedly budget-looking device, with a single rear camera and no flash. Internally the tablet is said to be running a modest MediaTek Helio P22T processor paired with 3GB of RAM and a 5,100 mAh battery.

The Tab A7 Lite is one of two “Lite” tablets Samsung is expected to launch in June, if a February leak from WalkingCat is to be believed. The other is the Galaxy Tab S7 Lite, which features a bigger 12.4-inch display compared to 8.7-inches on the A7 Lite, according to WalkingCat. GalaxyClub.nl previously reported the S7 Lite may be available with 5G or Wi-Fi-only connectivity, and that it could be powered by a Snapdragon 750G processor with 4GB of RAM. Available colors are said to include pink, green, black, and silver.

The two Lite tablets follow their full-fat counterparts from last year. Both the Tab S7 and the Tab A7 benefited from great displays and speakers, making them excellent for general media consumption. While neither were as well-suited to productivity tasks, that might not matter for the upcoming tablets if they’re priced affordably enough.

Bose Frames Tempo review: the specs to beat

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It’s still fair to call audio sunglasses a niche category, but with Bose offering several models, Amazon in the game, and counting recent announcements from Razer and JLab, it’s certainly a growing one. There are people out there who just aren’t particularly fond of earbuds — often because they dislike the feeling of silicone tips plugging up their ears. Open-style products like the standard AirPods and Galaxy Buds Live are one alternative, but then you still face the possibility of losing them. If you’re running on a trail or out for an intense bike ride, it’s not an insignificant risk.

For those people, I can absolutely see the appeal of the Bose Frames Tempo, which have speakers built right into their frame and will stay planted on their face no matter how strenuous outdoor activity gets. The Tempo glasses are the sportiest model of Bose’s Frames family, clearly geared at hikers, runners, cyclists, and anyone else who spends a good chunk of their time outside. Bose says they’ve also got the best sound performance of the bunch.

From the front, they look like your typical pair of Oakley, Nike, or Under Armour sunglasses. Bose is clearly going after that same market with the $250 Tempos. If you’re more fashion-forward or looking for a pair of audio sunglasses that don’t give the impression you’re in the middle of a triathlon, you’ll want to stick with the Tenor or Soprano styles of Frames. These come with black mirrored lenses in the box, but Bose also sells a couple of other pairs of $40 lenses that you can swap in to let different amounts of light pass through. The oversized temples are where it becomes more obvious that these are audio sunglasses.

But there’s a benefit to that chunky design: unlike the Tenor and Soprano Frames, which use a proprietary charger, the Tempo model has a regular USB-C connector on the left temple. Bose says the frame is made from “TR-90 nylon.” There’s not much give, but they feel rugged to me, and they’ve got an IPX4 water and sweat resistance rating, so if you get caught running or biking in the rain, they’ll survive.

The large temples are the obvious tell that these are audio sunglasses.

For the first couple of days wearing the Tempos, I felt a slight squeeze at the sides of my head that got uncomfortable. Now, I’ve got an extremely large dome — they used to have to bring out a special-sized helmet in Little League, friends — but thankfully, the fit loosened up a bit because this pressure went away by the end of the first week. The sunglasses didn’t get loose enough to where they started bobbing on my head or anything; they still felt nice and secure. (My friend Theresa, who has a normal-sized head, never mentioned any headache-inducing tightness.) Bose includes three sizes of nose tips in the box, and I found the large to be the right match. Even if my face was covered in sweat from a long run, the nose tips helped ensure the sunglasses didn’t slide around.

The frames have an IPX4 rating for water and sweat resistance.

The controls that Bose came up with are wonderfully foolproof, which is crucial when you’re trying to stay focused on other things. You swipe across the right temple to raise or lower the volume, and on the underside of that temple is a small circular button that you can press to play / pause, double-tap to skip tracks, or triple-tap to go back. In no time at all, these controls felt so natural and easy. Powering off the Frames Tempo just takes holding down the button for a few seconds. Or you can flip them over and lay them down with the top of the frame on a surface. After two seconds in that orientation, they shut off. (You can disable this in settings, but I found it really convenient and, again, natural.) Battery life is listed as eight hours, and that’s lined up with my experience so far. The sunglasses take roughly an hour to charge back to 100 percent. Bose’s mobile app lets you update the sunglasses’ firmware, but there aren’t any EQ controls or other options that adjust their performance.

The sunglasses stay firmly in place through all sorts of outdoor activities.

Describing the sound quality of audio sunglasses can be tricky. They’re nothing like headphones or earbuds since these are essentially down-firing speakers pointed at your ears. But Bose stepped up its game compared to the first-generation Frames, which I’ve tried on occasion. These have more life to them across the whole EQ range.

There’s a surprising amount of separation between vocals and instrumentation, and the Frames Tempo have a nice clarity and even-handed balance. There’s more bass than before, but this is where I think it’s most important to set reasonable expectations: the low end you get from any decent pair of in-ear buds will blow these out of the water. No contest. That said, Bose has at least reached a place where the bass no longer sounds anemic or flat, which is a legitimate improvement over the first-gen Frames. It’s there and perceptible.

Sound bleed is easily canceled out by everyday street noise, but if you’re inside with the volume turned up, people nearby will be able to tell that you’re listening to music. These are sunglasses, after all, so I imagine those situations will be few and far between. The Bluetooth connection has held stable throughout the vast majority of my time with the Frames Tempo so far. No complaints there.

Voice calls while wearing the Tempos have also been a joy. Callers say I sound nearly as good as when speaking directly into my phone, and something about taking calls with your ears totally open just feels very cool.

Bose sells additional $40 pairs of lenses that let in different amounts of light.

Even after a relatively short time using the Frames Tempo, I get this audio glasses thing. I really get it. It’s like Dieter recently wrote: “Not having to put in or take out headphones changes your relationship to audio — it’s just always available, always there when you want it.” Do I wish I could pop clear lenses into them and wear them everywhere? In theory, you bet. But this style wouldn’t really work for that, nor is it what the Tempos are meant to be at the end of the day. So I can’t knock Bose for the disappointment I feel when switching back to my normal glasses, which now seem so very primitive.

The Bose Frames Tempo let you hear the world around you with no obstructions — with a soundtrack playing over everything, while at the same time giving your ears a bit of a break compared to normal earbuds. At $250, they will be a tough sell for some. But I’ve come to realize that audio sunglasses are the exact sort of thing you won’t ever realize you needed. Until you put ‘em on — and all of a sudden, you do.

Photography by Chris Welch / The Verge