Problems faced by AUO, a manufacturer of display panels, and NEG, a manufacturer of glasses, may limit the availability of displays in the coming months.
The corona crisis has caused significant problems in the availability of several components and equipment over the past year. This time, however, the nasty news is due to the forces of nature, which have wreaked havoc, at least in the manufacture of screens.
According to DigiTimes, Paul Peng, CEO of panel manufacturer AU Optronics, has confirmed that the earthquake that hit Taiwan last week has affected the company’s production. Exact figures on the losses are not available, but Peng said the company took a few hours to clean up and repair the damage from the quake before production could be restarted. AUO manufactures hundreds of thousands of LCD panels every day and has already been able to return to normal production.
Perhaps the most significant damage from the earthquake also affected Nippei Electric Glass’s Shiga-Takatsuki production plant, which is closely related to the displays. The quake is said to have caused a five-hour outage at the plant and damaged production equipment. NEG owns about 10% of the world’s display glass manufacturing and, according to Peng, AUO, it could take up to 3-4 months for production to return to normal. The display glasses manufactured by NEG are used by several manufacturers, but the company has a particularly warm relationship with LG through the joint venture.
Oppo unveiled the A53 5G in China today, and while the name implies that this is just an A53 with 5G support, if the Reno series has taught us anything, is that things are never that simple.
The Oppo A53 5G is powered by MediaTek’s Dimensity 720 chipset, which brings that sweet 5G support, but also provides a general performance boost compared to the measly Snapdragon 460 inside both the A53 and the A53s. The 5G model comes with 4GB or 6GB of RAM and 128GB of non-expandable storage.
Its screen is a 6.5″ 1080×2400 LCD, higher-res than the panels in the non-5G A53/A53s. It has 90 Hz refresh rate and 120 Hz touch sampling rate, full sRGB coverage, and 480-nit typical brightness.
On the rear there’s a 16 MP f/2.2 main camera, a 2 MP f/2.4 macro snapper, and a 2 MP depth sensor. The main shooter’s resolution is another upgrade. The selfie camera is 8 MP f/2.0.
Weirdly enough the battery capacity is a downgrade from the other A53 models, standing at just 4,040 mAh (compared to 5,000 mAh). Charging is 10W. The phone has a 3.5mm headphone jack, a side-mounted fingerprint sensor (embedded in the power button), as well as dual-SIM support. It runs Android 10 with ColorOS 7.2 on top. It measures 162.2 x 75 x 7.9 mm, and weighs 175g.
It is priced from CNY 1,299, which at the current exchange rates means about $198 or €162. Don’t worry, though – if it ever launches outside of China, those prices will definitely grow, as they always do when smartphones make the journey from China to anywhere else.
In recent weeks, all leading PC makers have complained about the tight supply of LCD panels due to shortages of components and complicated logistics. As it turns out, the situation might get worse in the coming weeks and months due to an earthquake in Taiwan and a power outage in Japan, eventually resulting in higher prices at retail.
Some LCD Panel Production Lost at AUO
(Image credit: AUO)
Last week an earthquake struck Taiwan. This isn’t an extraordinary event for the country, but it does have repercussions. AU Optronics (AUO), one of the leading makers of LCD panels, said this week that some of its production lines had been impacted by the quake, and it had taken it “at least a few hours” to clean up and repair them before resuming operations. Some of the output was lost because of the disaster, reports DigiTimes, citing Paul Peng, the chairman of AU Optronics.
Mr. Peng did not quantify the company’s losses, but AUO makes hundreds of thousands of LCD panels every day, so the earthquake will clearly impact the supply of display panels. Back in November, AUO produced 10.81 million large-sized panels for LCD TVs, desktops, and notebooks as well as 9.35 million small-and-medium-sized panels. AUO says it has now resumed normal operations.
It is noteworthy that foundries and memory makers immediately suspended operations when the earthquake started, then quickly resumed after it ended. According to TrendForce, semiconductor companies have not reported substantial damage to their fab buildings and production tools.
Power Outage in Japan Disrupts Supply of Glass Substrates
On November 10, a power outage in Takatsuki, Japan, disrupted operations at Nippon Electric Glass’s Shiga-Takatsuki plant that manufactures glass substrates for flat-panel displays. The outage lasted for five hours and damaged some of NEG’s production equipment, the company revealed in its statement.
(Image credit: LG)
NEG owns about 10% of the world’s glass substrate manufacturing capacity and supplies glass substrates for LCD panels to numerous panel makers, according to the chairman of AUO. Consequently, NEG’s production problems will impact the whole market as customers that buy from NEG will have to source components from other suppliers.
While NEG said it did not expect any major damages to its production equipment, Paul Peng pointed out that it might take at least three to four months for NEG to resume normal operations, which means that its supplies will be constrained until late Q1 or early Q2 2021. NEG has yet to confirm this information.
Nippon Electric Glass is not the primary supplier of glass substrates to AUO and Innolux, so they will not be severely affected by NEG’s potential supply disruptions. Meanwhile, NEG is a close partner of LG Display (the two companies even run a joint venture together), so the South Korean company may be affected more significantly.
LCD Panels: Things Get More Complicated
Previously PC makers complained about shortages of components like T-con boards and driver ICs, which drove display costs up. With extra disruptions in shipments of panels and glass substrates, the situation will only get worse and the supply chain will become even more convoluted.
(Image credit: LG)
The chairman of AU Optronics did not reveal his expectations concerning prices of LCD panels and displays in the coming months. Still, it is evident that shortages usually lead to price hikes. The only question is how significant the hikes will be.
The Chinese giant has launched another cheap smartphone on the market with good value for money. Actually we already know the smartphone in question, that’s why
by Lorenzo Tirotta published 17 December 2020 , at 13: 31 in the Telephony channel Redmi Xiaomi
The family expands Redmi Note 9 , which caused a lot of talk this year thanks to its surprising success. Xiaomi officially launches the Redmi Note 9 Power , a low-cost smartphone from the well-known sub-brand Redmi. It is actually a smartphone that we already know and again has very little. Redmi Note 9 Power is none other than the Redmi Note 9 4G launched in China last month with just the addition of a 2MP macro camera. From the technical characteristics reported and the very affordable price, Redmi Note 9 Power could turn out to be a surprise for the global low-medium market .
Battery of 6. 000 mAh and Snapdragon 662
Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Power is equipped with a SoC Snapdragon 662 together with Adreno GPU 610. The smartphone is equipped with 4GB of RAM and two denominations 64 / 128 GB of external memory, expandable via microSD up to 512 GB. The display is a unit of 6, 53 inch LCD with resolution Full-HD + protected by Gorilla Glass 3 technology. On the back there is a quad cam , formed by a main one from 48 MP , a wide angle from 8 MP , one depth sensor from 2MP and finally a macro module 2MP which distinguishes it from the Chinese version . The selfie cam from 8 MP is embedded inside a drop notch on the display. The battery has a large capacity of 6. 000 mAh and supports fast charging up 18 W (Type-C).
Redmi Note 9 Power features a fingerprint sensor mounted on the side, and it is possible to unlock the smartphone also through face recognition. Among other peculiarities we note the 3.5 mm jack, the stereo speaker and protection against splashes and dust On board the smartphone we find the Android version 10 with the MIUI 12 .
Price and availability
The variant from 64 GB of the Redmi Note 9 Power has a price of INR 10. 999, approximately 120 euro . Just add 11 euro , for the version of 128 GB of memory. The device will be on sale from 23 December in India , in the colors Red, Green, Blue and Black.
The Aorus Liquid Cooler 360 offers solid overall cooling performance, lower noise levels and a handsome 60mm LCD face with customizable display options. But a premium price and the need to manage a pair of software applications won’t appeal to everyone.
For
Very nice LCD display
Strong cooling performance
Quieter operation than competition
Against
Requires two applications to manage lighting, PWM curves and custom LCD image
Expensive
Features and Cooler Specifications
Gigabyte’s Aorus line of products have always leaned heavily on RGB lighting and aesthetics, while still aiming to deliver the pinnacle of PC performance. And as the brands pinnacle CPU AIO cooling option, the Aorus Liquid Cooler 360 aligns with this vision, bringing good cooling performance in a quiet package with a flashy customizable LCD screen atop the pump. It’s not cheap at $265, but those willing to pay extra for some internal flair without sacrificing performance should find it appealing. Just be aware that managing the pump, fans and the screen requires some software juggling.
The Aorus Liquid Cooler 360 ships with mounting hardware for most common Intel CPU sockets as well as AMD’s AM4 and Threadripper, making use of interchangeable mounting brackets and a universal backplate. A large syringe of Aorus-branded thermal compound is also included, even though the Aorus 360 also comes with a pre-applied patch on the copper baseplate.
The Aurus Liquid Cooler 360 is covered by a 3-year Gigabyte warranty.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The Aorus 360 encases the pump unit within an aluminum housing, capped with an offset face ring, resting atop a 60mm LCD display. Tubing makes its way in and out of the pump by means of a pair of rotating, 90° fittings, while the tubing is fully sleeved with braided black nylon.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Providing power to the Aorus Liquid Cooler 360 via 12v SATA brings the pump and 60mm LCD to life. The active display is managed via software UI from the 9-pin USB motherboard header and displays system statistics, animated graphics and custom images as chosen from the Aorus Engine and RGB Fusion software.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The Aorus Engine app can be used for the Aorus Liquid Cooler 360’s desktop software control for pump and fan RPM control via configured curves, as well allowing some customization for text and display data.
For example, when setting up our ‘Toms Hardware’ custom text, we had to define text within the Aorus Engine UI. But then to apply the text and color scheme we had to launch the RGB Fusion UI to adjust, select and apply the text.
One thing to note is that the apostrophe (as well as some other characters) do not seem to be a viable for use in the Aorus software UI, while the lack of integration between Aorus Engine and RGB Fusion software solutions creates a bit of disorganization and disjointed software management compared with other AIO solutions.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The base of the Aorus 360 features a ringed-tooth retention system for the interchangeable mounting plates. and the copper base plate comes with a pre-applied patch of thermal compound.
While the pump unit of the Aorus Liquid Cooler 360 acts as a centralized management hub for the cooler and its fans, this also requires a bit of spaghetti cabling in order to do so. SATA power, aRGB splitter, PWM headers and 9-pin USB must have cabling extend from the side of the pump housing. So get ready to do some creative cable routing / hiding.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The Aorus Liquid Cooler 360 utilizes a common 360mm aluminum radiator, similar to most other large AIOs.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The Power Logic 120mm dual ball bearing fans used by the Aorus 360 are rated up to 2500 RPM and 59.25 CFM. Fan speed control is available via 4-pin PWM headers while aRGB 3-pin (5v) lighting is interfaced through Aorus’ custom socket control.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The base of the Aorus Liquid Cooler 360 is very evenly milled and does not show any backlighting peeking between the copper plate and a steel rule. This should allow for neutral CPU IHS mating during cooler mounting.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The Aorus 360 does, in fact, mount really well on our Intel Core i9-10850K and shows even dispersal of Arctic MX-4 thermal compound after proper tensioning, thermal break-in and load testing.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The mounting system of the Aorus 360 uses the common 4-post mounting offsets, similar to most other AIOs, with a set of knurled, Phillips head thumbscrews.
While the 90-degree fittings and all cabling are located in the same location, the combination of all wiring and tubing will certainly require extra cable management.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Installation of the Aorus Liquid Cooler 360 requires support for 360mm radiators, but is easily installed if your case supports coolers of this size.
(Pocket-lint) – Lenovo makes several of the very best laptops that sit under the four-figure mark. And this, the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7, is probably the one you should buy.
Sure, the MacBook Air is a more exciting prospect, and even more powerful. But the Yoga Slim 7 is actually one of the best reasons not to buy a MacBook in 2021. Oh, and we should probably mention it’s hundreds cheaper too.
Its build quality is superb, it almost certainly has more power than you need, its screen is excellent in most respects, and the AMD version (as reviewed here) can even handle some recent-ish games well enough.
Lenovo once again gives us a masterclass on how to make a world-class laptop for under a grand. There’s very little reason to spend any more unless you need an ultra-high-resolution screen.
Design
Dimensions: 320.6mm x 208mm x 14.9mm
1.4kg claimed weight (1.326kg measured)
Finishes: Slate Grey / Orchid Purple
Aluminium shell design
High-end laptops are an odd category. Sometimes when you spend more to jump up a league, you end up with a laptop that feels less expensive. A lot of the most pricey ones use magnesium alloys rather than primarily aluminium ones: lighter but less metallic to the touch.
The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7’s case panels are aluminium. It leads to weight of 1.3kg rather than, well, a couple of hundred grammes less, but you get the same lovely cool-to-the-touch feel as a MacBook.
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The screen is stiff, the keyboard doesn’t bow under the pressure of your fingers, and it’s a classy-looking laptop in a minimalistic sort of way.
This isn’t quite the device you might expect given that it’s part of the Yoga series, though. The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7’s screen folds open to 180 degrees, not a hybrid-style 360 degrees, and it does not have a touchscreen.
It’s definitely a laptop, not a lifestyle gadget that thinks it can replace an iPad. Lenovo has its eyes on MacBook Air buyers, thus some of the core stats are similar. The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 is 16mm thick, just like an Air, and the weight is more-or-less the same too.
Display
14-inch IPS panel, 300 nits birghtness
1920 x 1080 pixel resolution
No touchscreen control
The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 has a 14-inch IPS LCD screen. It’s here we see this laptop start to move away from one that costs hundreds more – but less so than you might guess.
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This is a 1080p screen, which means you’ll see slight pixellation in small fonts. Lenovo does make a 4K version, but this doesn’t seem to be sold as widely as the Full HD Yoga 7 Slim.
In almost every other respect, though, we have no complaints. It actually outperforms Lenovo’s own claims in some areas.
For example, Lenovo says the 1080p Yoga 7 Slim reaches 300-nit brightness. But it actually hits 385 nits by our measure. That extra headroom makes the display look clearer outdoors, and it also has a reflection-reducing matte finish. When you have some high-end laptops touting 500 nits as some kind of untouchable achievement, it shows just how well set this laptop is.
Lenovo says the screen’s colour matches the sRGB colour standard, the old industry standard for monitors and printers. But its colour coverage is actually 20 per cent richer than that by our measure.
Sure, a MacBook Air or Dell XPS 13 has deeper colour still, but you only need to worry about that if you’ll colour grade video or do other pro imaging work. The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7’s colour looks well-saturated to our eyes.
Part of that eyeball-pleasing effect is thanks to the display’s great contrast: it’s 1762:1 at max brightness, which is an excellent result for an LCD screen. Blacks don’t look washed out and grey.
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All it really lacks in this class is the slick presentation you get from a glass-topped glossy screen. The screen image of a glossy display can seem to “pop” more than a matte one like this, and the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 has a plastic top layer with a slightly raised surround.
However, this is more a result of the decision to use a matte finish than a way for Lenovo to save a few pennies when making the Yoga Slim 7.
Keyboard & Touchpad
2-level white LED backlight
NUMPAD-free chiclet keyboard
Wide aspect textured glass trackpad
Want some more proof Lenovo isn’t cost-cutting on the sly? The Yoga Slim 7 has a mid-size textured glass touchpad.
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This laptop sits right at the border where we tend to see manufacturers switch from using relatively cheap plastic pads to fancier glass ones. Seeing textured glass in a laptop range that starts at this price is by no means a given though.
The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 ‘pad also has zero pre-click wobble, and nice’n’firm clicker feedback. We also saw zero driver or sensitivity issues, which often makes us disable tap-based button response in Windows 10.
In short: this is one of the best pads you’ll see in this class.
The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7’s keyboard is less remarkable, but still does the job perfectly well. Key travel is limited, much less than Lenovo’s famously deep ThinkPad laptops, but the actuation feedback is good.
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This is a relatively fast and light-feeling keyboard. It has a two-level backlight as well, and we switched it on more than usual. The key lettering contrast drops off when there’s a light pointing directly at the keyboard as the keys and surround are a metallic grey, with less contrast in their colour than some.
At a glance you’d guess there’s no fingerprint scanner here. But the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 does have one built into the power button on the side.
Apple macOS 11 Big Sur: All the key new Mac features explored
Performance & Speakers
2x 2W speakers with Dolby Atmos DSP
Ryzen 7 4700U CPU with Vega 8 graphics
8GB DDR4X RAM
Lenovo makes both Intel and AMD versions of the Yoga 7 Slim. Our review model is an AMD one with a Ryzen 7 4700U, 8GB RAM and a 512GB SSD.
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This setup is not quite as powerful as a MacBook Air’s M1 processor, but it is better than the 10th Generation Intel Core i5 or i7 you might find in another model. You can get a Core i7 CPU version of this same laptop for a mite more, but we’d stick with AMD.
While the Intel offers better performance in single-core apps, the AMD has twice the number of cores, at eight. And while this is a low-voltage processor made for slim and light laptops, it is punchy.
Windows 10 runs like a dream on the Yoga 7 Slim. This is helped by the very fast SSD, which reads data at a shade under 3500MB/s. Once again: no budget-related cuts here.
The Yoga 7 Slim’s Ryzen 7 4700U also has better built-in graphics than anything on the Intel side (bar the latest 11th Generation chipsets with the “Xe” GPU). You may not get a full gaming laptop experience here, but given it slots into a slim and light case we’re pretty happy.
You can play Skyrim at Ultra graphics, 1080p resolution, and see frame rates that hop between 30fps and 40fps depending on what’s on-screen. Subnautica runs well at 1080p, Low graphics. You lose out on some of the more atmospheric visual effects at this setting, but the game still looks good.
The Witcher 3 is more of a challenge, but is still playable. Stick to 900p resolution and you can play at Low settings, 30ps, comfortably, or at Medium if you can live with some dips to the 20fps range when you get into combat or walk around cities.
A laptop with an Nvidia MX450 graphics card, like the HP Envy 13, will run games better. It’s 50-100 per cent more powerful, depending on context. But the results from the Yoga 7 Slim are still much better than those of a vanilla 10th Gen Intel laptop.
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The Yoga 7 Slim also has respectable speakers, with some caveats to note. There are drivers to each side of the keyboard, in those obvious hole-pocked grilles.
While not quite MacBook-grade, the sound does have some real mid-range output and good volume. But much of that comes from the Dolby Atmos digital signal processing.
Atmos is traditionally a way to add height channels to a mix, whether with real speakers or virtual ones. But in laptops this software’s main effect is to max-out the performance of little drivers.
You hear it in full effect in the Lenovo Yoga 7 Slim, as the speakers sound weak, quiet and thin with Dolby Atmos disabled. Switched on the audio does tend to sound manipulated, which is a combination of the processing’s effect on the soundstage and that the laptop’s drivers are being pushed to their limits when volume is near full. Still, the result remains more powerful than that of some laptops in this price band.
Connections & Webcam
720p webcam with IR for login
1x HDMI, 2x USB-C (1x with DisplayPort)
Connections on laptops are a bit like headphone jacks on phones. Spend more and you often end up with fewer ports. The Yoga 7 Slim has plenty for our needs. You get two USB-C – the standard outlay for an ultra-pricey laptop – plus a stack of “older” connections.
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There’s a full-size HDMI, two USB 3.2 ports, a microSD card slot, and a headphone jack. It’s only missing connectors that frankly don’t belong on a laptop like this in 2020, such as an Ethernet port and VGA connector.
We like that Lenovo recognises not everyone who buys a Yoga 7 Slim will have switched entirely to USB-C peripherals.
That said, the webcam doesn’t get the same attention. It’s a 720p camera with a soft, dull image. You can use the camera to login, because there’s a Windows Hello-compatible IR camera by its side. This is used to recognise your face regardless of the light level. The webcam itself doesn’t hold up so well in low light.
Battery Life
60.4Wh battery
65/95W charging (65W adapter included)
Charging over USB-C
Lenovo makes a massive statement about the Yoga 7 Slim’s battery, that it can last up to 17.5 hours. We were fully prepared to do our usual spiel about how manufacturers test their laptops’ batteries with benchmarks from the 1970s, using screen settings so dim you can’t even see the display. And then, well, we did some testing of our own.
Five hours of 1080p streamed YouTube at 60 per cent brightness only saw the charge level drop to 70 per cent, suggesting a total runtime of about 16 hours 40 minutes.
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That seemed almost unbelievably long, so we tried playing The Witcher 3 until the battery died. The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7’s brightness was maxed and we minimised graphics settings and resolution, to increase the load on the CPU while still using 100 per cent of the GPU’s power. We started at 4:58pm, it died at 6:47pm. A shade under two hours: better than the vast majority of gaming laptops but then again the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 doesn’t have a dedicated power-hungry GPU.
We like to rely as much on real-world use as possible for our reviews at Pocket-lint. But the Lenovo Yoga 7 Slim’s battery really caught our interest, so we put it through some more battery benchmarks.
PC-testing suite PCMark 10 has a series of tests that emulate the workloads of real-world situations. We tried “modern office”, which uses some basic browsing and productivity apps punctuated by some gaps, stand-ins for your going to make a cup of tea or slacking off on your phone.
The Yoga 7 Slim lasts 20 hours 1 minute at 50 per cent screen brightness, using its CPU-throttling Battery Saver mode. This seemed ridiculous so we re-ran the test at 73 per cent brightness and took off the processor limits. It still lasted 18 hours 11 minutes.
We give in. It’s all true. The Lenovo Yoga 7 Slim lasts forever.
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Its battery is big at 60.7Wh, 17 per cent higher capacity than the latest Dell XPS 13. But the real hero here is the AMD Ryzen 4700U, which scales so well between exertion levels it starts to look more like the revolutionary Apple M1 CPU.
Charging speed is less impressive, though. It takes around 2.5 hours to charge from flat. The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 uses USB-C to charge and comes with a 65W adapter. This laptop does support a form of fast-charging, for 50 per cent juice in 30 minutes – much like a decent Android phone – but this requires Lenovo’s 95W charger (and we didn’t get one in the box).
Verdict
The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 is never going to be as renowned as the MacBook Air and Dell XPS 13, but we think it’s a better all-round buy for many. Apple charges a premium for the most comparable Air spec. The closest Dell XPS 13 config costs even more and is worse at playing games.
But it’s not all about money. The Yoga Slim 7 has a lovely aluminium casing, lots of power, lots of storage, a vibrant screen, an excellent glass trackpad, and incredibly long battery life.
Yes, we’d love the Yoga Slim 7 even more if its speakers had higher quality drivers and it had a webcam without cataracts. But would we pay hundreds more for them? Not a chance. As it is this is one of the best laptops available at this price point.
Also consider
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HP Envy 13
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Pound for pound the HP Envy 13 is probably the most alluring alternative to the Yoga. We loved the late 2019 version for its power and all-metal build, all at the right price. The 2020 update nets you much better gaming performance, thanks to an Nvidia MX450 graphics card. But the Lenovo lasts longer, has a more powerful CPU and a glass touchpad.
Read our review
Pocket-lint
MacBook Air 13
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Ok, so the MacBook Air is a more interesting laptop than the Lenovo Yoga 7, but is it a better buy? For video editing and other intensive jobs we’d buy the Air. Use M1 processor-optimised apps and performance will be better, and the battery will last far longer. However, thanks to Apple’s pricey upgrades system the Lenovo costs a stack less if you need 512GB storage rather than 256GB.
Read our review
Pocket-lint
Dell XPS 13
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The Dell is Windows laptop royalty. But if you’re into the core substance of computing it simply seems clear the Lenovo is a better buy. It’s more powerful, using multi-core optimised apps, the battery is bigger and lasts longer. The XPS 13’s benefits are all to do with design and portability. It has a smaller footprint, is 4mm thinner, and slightly lighter. You’ll have to decide if that’s worth several hundred pounds.
Xiaomi today introduced a new smartphone called Redmi 9 Power, but it’s not an entirely new smartphone. It’s a Redmi Note 9 4G launched in China last month with an additional 2MP macro camera.
This means the Redmi 9 Power has a Snapdragon 662 SoC and runs Android 10 with MIUI 12 on top. The smartphone comes with 4GB RAM on board and has two storage options – 64GB (UFS 2.1) and 128GB (UFS 2.2). But it also comes with a dedicated slot for a microSD card, allowing storage expansion by up to 512GB.
The Redmi 9 Power is built around a 6.53″ FullHD+ LCD that has a notch for the 8MP selfie camera. The back of the smartphone, which has an anti-fingerprint texture and a pattern similar to Realme C3’s, is home to a quad camera setup comprising a 48MP primary, 8MP ultrawide, 2MP depth and 2MP macro units.
Redmi 9 Power • Realme C3
The Snapdragon 662-powered smartphone comes with AI Face Unlock and a side-mounted fingerprint reader for password-less unlocking, and fueling the entire package is a 6,000 mAh battery that charges through a USB-C port at up to 18W.
Interestingly, Xiaomi has bundled a 22.5W power adapter with the box instead of 18W.
The rest of the highlights of the Redmi 9 Power include a 3.5mm headphone jack, stereo speakers, splash proofing, IR Blaster, and reverse charging support.
The Redmi 9 Power is offered in Blazing Blue, Electric Green, Fiery Red, and Might Black colors. The 64GB variant is priced at INR10,999 ($150/€120) and shelling out INR1,000 ($14/€11) more will get you double storage.
Redmi 9 Power has four color options
The smartphone will go on sale in India starting December 22 through Mi.com, Amazon.in, Mi Home, and other retail stores across the country.
vivo announced the Y30 back in May and launched a new variant in China in October, which is a rebranded Y20 available in India. Now the company has introduced the vivo Y30 Standard Edition, which is mostly based on the regular Y30 selling in China but still comes with a few twists.
For starters, the Y30 Standard Edition is powered by the Helio P35 SoC, whereas the Y30 from October has a Snapdragon 460 chipset at the helm. The second difference is the RAM amount – the regular Y30 has 8GB RAM while the Standard Edition comes with 6GB RAM onboard.
There’s also a difference in the number of rear cameras between the two Y30 models. The Y30 Standard Edition drops the 2MP macro unit and comes with a 13MP primary and 2MP depth modules. It also charges slower at up to 10W.
vivo Y30 Standard Edition • vivo Y30 launched in China in October
The rest of the specs of the Y30 Standard Edition remain the same as the Y30 launched in October, meaning you get a 6.51″ HD+ LCD, 8MP selfie camera, and a 5,000 mAh battery that draws power through a microUSB port.
The Y30 Standard Edition boots Android 10-based Funtouch OS 10.5, supports Face Unlock, and features a side-mounted fingerprint scanner. It comes with 128GB storage and has a dedicated microSD card slot for storage expansion by up to 256GB.
vivo Y30 Standard Edition comes in two colors
The vivo Y30 Standard Edition has two color options and is already available for purchase in China for CNY1,398 ($215/€175) through the company’s official site, but there’s no word on its international availability.
Gigabyte has revealed information and details about Aorus Master and Gaming OC, its custom proposals based on the projects of the Radeon RX 6800 XT and the RX 6800. Generous dimensions and important cooling systems to make the new AMD GPUs perform at their best.
by Manolo De Agostini published 16 December 2020 , at 08: 41 in the Video Cards channel Gigabyte Aorus Radeon Ships
Gigabyte presented the video cards custom based on the projects of Radeon RX 6800 XT and RX 6800 by AMD . The Taiwanese company offers two lines, Aorus and Gaming , which complement the products with reference design. As for the Aorus Master models, we have two RX 6800 XT and an RX 6800.
In both cases the cards are equipped with a huge cooling solution, capable of occupying 3.2 slots and equipped with three fans that rotate in different directions (the two external ones counterclockwise and the central one clockwise) to reduce turbulence. Under the fans is a huge radiator with multiple heatpipes and a large copper GPU contact base. The whole thing makes up the cooling design nicknamed Max-Covered .
The cards are also equipped with a backplate at the end of which we find an opening that allows the passage of air, in order to push the heat into the upper part of the case so that it is captured by the fans and expelled. Also on the back, the Aorus brand lights up and can be synchronized via Fusion RGB. To power the cards we find two 8-pin PCIe connectors .
One of the most interesting features of these proposals is the LCD screen on the side of the card which can be used for see GPU information (temperatures, frequencies, etc.) or customized at will with text, images and GIFs. As for the frequencies , the Gigabyte RX 6800 XT Aorus Master operates at 2065 MHz (Game Clock) and 2310 MHz (Boost Clock), while the RX 6800 Aorus Master is set to 1980 MHz (Game Clock) and 2190 MHz (Boost Clock).
The cards have two HDMI and two DisplayPorts, but there is also a Type C variant of the XT model that replaces a DisplayPort with a USB Type C . The RX 6800 XT Aorus Master has a US list price of 899 dollars , while the model 6800 is sold to 719 dollars .
As for the Gaming OC models, here is a Windforce 3X cooling system marked by three fans with 11 blades. Also in this case the operation is in alternating direction and there are two 8-pin PCIe connectors for power supply and an output configuration characterized by two HDMI and as many DisplayPort.
The Gigabyte RX 6800 XT Gaming OC comes with a Game Clock of 2045 MHz rising to 2285 MHz in Boost, while the RX model 6800 Gaming OC works a 1925 MHz (Game Clock) and 2155 MHz (Boost Clock). The prices indicated by Gigabyte are respectively 849 and 649 dollars .
HMD Global has just announced the debut of a new budgetary, whose price in terms of our currency is only 300 PLN You have to bear in mind that this is the starting amount and due to the fact that the Nokia C1 Plus model belongs to the lowest price range, we can expect quick reductions. While the technical specification regarding performance is not particularly attractive here, the device has several solutions that may appeal to potential customers. However, the main strength of the smartphone will not be hardware, but software. Here we find a slimmed-down version of the Green Robot, which allows you to work with the cheapest components such as 1 GB of RAM.
HMD Global introduces another budget smartphone that works based on the Android Go. We check what the user has to offer at an attractively priced Finnish brand handset.
TOP 10 Small Smartphones: Models available in 2020 of the year
At the beginning, a few words about the visual and functional qualities of the model. Well, the Nokia C1 Plus has been equipped with a modest, because only 5, 45 – an inch LCD screen with HD + resolution with proportions 18: 9. Construction with dimensions 149. 1 × 71 .2 × 8. 75 mm and weight 146 g allows you to call the smartphone handy or, if you prefer – compact. Of course, the top and bottom bezels that surround the display are quite thick, which can be irritating to many people. Remember, however, that we are talking about one of the cheapest budget planners. The backs, on the other hand, look ascetic, though elegant. We find only a 5 MP main camera with a light emitting diode.
Test of realme 7 5G and realme 7i smartphones – A successful compromise
Interestingly, the front camera for selfie photos also received a matrix with a resolution of 5 MP. A quad-core processor clocked at 1.4 GHz is responsible for the performance of the smartphone, supported by only 1 GB of DDR3 RAM. The data space is 16 GB, but we can expand it with another 128 GB when using a microSD card slot. There is an FM radio and a 3.5 mm jack audio headphone jack. The battery with a capacity of 2500 mAh can be charged using a 5V / 1A charger. As you can guess, we will not find a USB-C port here, but an old microUSB.
Huawei is set to introduce the nova 8 and nova 8 Pro smartphones on December 23. While no official specs have been teased yet an image shared by Digital Chat Station reveals the specifications of the nova 8 duo.
The nova 8 Pro will be powered by the Kirin 985 SoC and support dual-mode 5G. It will pack a 120Hz curved screen and feature a quad camera on the back comprising a 64MP primary, 8MP ultrawide, and two 2MP units.
For selfies and video calls, the nova 8 Pro will come with a 32MP camera joined by a 16MP module for portraits.
The image shared by the source doesn’t reveal the nova 8 Pro’s battery size, but it confirms the cell will charge at up to 66W.
华为nova8系列物料参数，仅供参考。 pic.twitter.com/rnnrClwREg
— Digital Chat Station (@StationChat) December 14, 2020
The vanilla nova 8 will also have a Kirin 985 chipset at the helm and dual-mode 5G support. Its battery will charge at up to 66W, but the smartphone will sport a 90Hz OLED screen.
The nova 8 will be 7.64mm thin and have a 3D double-curved glass design. It will feature a 64MP main camera on the back joined by an 8MP ultrawide and two 2MP modules. On the front, you’ll get a 32MP selfie shooter.
The nova 8 and nova 8 Pro will both come in two memory configurations – 8GB/128GB and 8GB/256GB.
In addition to the nova 8 pair, Huawei is rumored to introduce the Enjoy 20 SE as well on December 23, which according to the source, will come with a Dimensity 700 SoC, 5,000 mAh battery with 22.5W charging, and 6.67″ FullHD+ LCD with a punch hole in the center for the 16MP selfie camera.
— Digital Chat Station (@StationChat) December 14, 2020
Around the back, the Huawei Enjoy 20 SE will pack a quad camera setup consisting of one 48MP, one 8MP, and two 2MP cameras. It will also have a side-mounted fingerprint reader for biometric authentication.
HMD Global’s novelty will be on sale in the price range of approximately 200
HMD Global has today released its new Nokia 5.4 smartphone as the successor to the 5.3 model released last March. Somewhat especially, some of the features of the device have even deteriorated compared to the predecessor model.
Equipped with a polycarbonate shell, the Nokia 5.4 has been slightly reduced in size compared to its predecessor. The main reason for this is a slight decrease 6, 20 – an inch screen whose aspect ratio has also changed slightly against the general trend , i.e. : 9: , 5: 9. Other display features have also been slightly degraded from the predecessor, as the maximum brightness has been reduced.
Inside the Nokia 5.4 is a Snapdragon 16 Snapdragon 662 system circuit, which is at least in theory slightly weaker than the Snapdragon 665 used in the predecessor model. RAM options have been slightly improved and are now 4 and 6 GB. Storage space is available for 64 and GB with memory card slot. The battery has the same capacity as its predecessor 4000 mAh and supports moderate 10 watts charging speed via USB Type-C.
The rear camera, like other recent models from the company, is housed in a round frame and there are a total of four cameras. The main camera uses a 64 megapixel sensor and is paired with a 5 megapixel ultra wide angle camera. In addition, two megapixel macro and depth cameras. The front camera in the display hole has doubled its resolution 16 megapixels.
Unfortunately, the operating system is still the old Android , but the device is still granted two Android version upgrade as well as three years of security fixes. The phone also has Android Enterprise Recommended certification. For children’s use, the phone has the HMD Global Family Link application, which allows the parent to monitor and guide the use of the phone.
64 or 128 GB of storage, microSD card slot (max. 512 GB)
LTE Cat.4 connections, Dual SIM
WiFi 802. b / g / n, BT 4.2, aptX Adaptive, GPS, Glonass, Beidou, NFC
FM radio, 3.5 mm headphone jack
Four-way camera (ZEISS optics):
48 megapixel sensor
5 megapixel sensor
2 megapixel macro camera
2 megapixel depth camera
OZO surround sound
Front camera: 16 megapixels
4000 mAh battery, USB Type-C (USB 2.0), 10 W download power
Android 10 (Android One), 2 year version updates, 3 year security patches, Enterprise Recommended
Nokia 5.4 will be available in the Nordic countries 11. from January, the colors are Polar Night (blue) and Dusk (purple). The global recommended starting price is 200 euros, but 4 & 662 will be available in Finland. The price of the GB variant will be announced later
Nokia continues its foray into the midrange segment with the Nokia 5.4 – its latest affordable entry powered by the Snapdragon 662, quad cameras and a 4,000 mAh battery. The Nokia 5.4 has a 6.39-inch IPS LCD with HD+ resolution and a punch-hole cutout for its 16MP selfie cam.
The back features a circular cutout for the 48MP primary camera which sits next to a 5MP ultrawide snapper and two 2MP sensors for macro shots and depth data. There’s a capacitive fingerprint scanner below the camera sensors.
The Snapdragon 662 is paired with 4GB RAM as standard and 64/128GB storage which is further expandable via microSD. The phone ships with Android 10 though an update to Android 11 is already in the works.
The 4,000 mAh battery charges over USB-C at 10W speeds.
Nokia 5.4 in purple and blue
The Nokia 5.4 comes in purple and blue colors and will retail for €189 in Europe. It’s coming to more markets including India, North and South America, Middle East and Africa as well as Asia.
Quadruple camera and large display are now almost standard even in the smartphone middle class, but the Nokia 5.4 still stands out from the crowd of 200 – Euro smartphones released: It comes with an update guarantee. The device, which will be available from mid-January, will be provided with monthly security patches for three years as part of the Android One program. There are also two upgrades to new Android versions. According to Nokia it starts with the upgrade to Android 11 in the first quarter 2021.
Nokia equips the 5.4 with a 6.4 inch LCD screen that only has HD + resolution (1560 × 720 pixels). Other devices in this price range are mostly FullHD, for example the recently introduced Realme 7.
The heart of the Nokia is a processor from Qualcomm. The 5.4 is powered by a Snapdragon 662 (4 × ARM Cortex-A 73 with up to 2 GHz and 4 × ARM Cortex-A 53 with up to 1.8 GHz) including 4 GB of RAM. The 128 GByte memory can be expanded using a microSD card, and the device can also accommodate two nanoSIM cards. Thanks to the jack socket, wired headphones can also be used.
4000 mAh and 10 – Watt charging The battery holds 4000 mAh, according to Nokia a running time of two days is possible. The smartphone should be quickly charged thanks to the included 10 watt power adapter. The 5.4 cannot be charged wirelessly. The smartphone shoots photos with a quad camera. In addition to the wide-angle 48 – megapixel main camera, a 5-megapixel ultra-wide-angle and a 2-megapixel macro camera can be controlled. Another 2 megapixel lens collects depth information.
Nokia will be delivering the 5.4 from mid-January in dark blue and purple. The 200 euro expensive device comes with almost unchanged Android 10 on the market.
Forget iPhones, Galaxies, Redmis, and whatnot. Meet the hottest phone of the season – the Poco M3. Everyone’s talking about this model by the Xiaomi-backed brand, and rightfully so. It has everything needed to become a bestseller – good looks, a nice screen, excellent battery, stereo speakers, and a nice camera setup. And all these goodies come with a cheap price tag!
Poco is now an independent brand from Xiaomi though Xiaomi still manufactures everything that Poco designs. Even down to the software Poco phones run or the chargers they use – it all comes from Xiaomi, so the two brands’ independence isn’t as obvious, at least for now.
But Xiaomi or not, the Poco M3 has the typical bang for the buck spirit we’ve seen from many Xiaomi and Poco phones before. The first thing you’ll notice about the new M3 is the not-so-typical looks, and we do appreciate the grippy leather-like plastic and the unique elements like the large POCO-marked glass at the back.
We would have expected specs to be watered down a bit at this price point, but the Poco M3 seems to tick all the boxes. It has a sizeable 1080p screen with a small notch, a good chipset, all sorts of connectivity, stereo speakers, and an impressive battery with 6,000mAh capacity and fast charging. Oh, and the fast charger is included in the box.
The triple-camera on the back is probably the only feature that took a hit to keep the price this low – while it’s headlined by a high-res 48MP sensor, it omits an ultrawide cam and instead offers macro and depth shooters. There is no 4K video either, just 1080p. Then again, look at the phone’s price! We’d say this setup is still overqualified for the money you’d be paying.
Finally, the Poco M3 runs on Android 10 with MIUI 12 for Poco. There aren’t many differences from the standard MIUI12, and the phone is expected to receive the usual MIUI update treatment for the years to come.
Xiaomi Poco M3 specs at a glance:
Body: 162.3×77.3×9.6mm, 198g; Glass front (Gorilla Glass 3), plastic back, plastic frame.
Display: 6.53″ IPS LCD, 400 nits (typ), 1080x2340px resolution, 19.5:9 aspect ratio, 395ppi.
Chipset: Qualcomm SM6115 Snapdragon 662 (11 nm): Octa-core (4×2.0 GHz Kryo 260 Gold & 4×1.8 GHz Kryo 260 Silver); Adreno 610.
Memory: 64GB 4GB RAM, 128GB 4GB RAM; UFS 2.1 – 64GB 4GB RAM, UFS 2.2 – 128GB 4GB RAM; microSDXC (dedicated slot).
OS/Software: Android 10, MIUI 12.
Rear camera: Wide (main): 48 MP, f/1.8, 1/2.0″, 0.8µm, PDAF; Wide (main): 48 MP, f/1.8, 1/2.0″, 0.8µm, PDAF; Wide (main): 48 MP, f/1.8, 1/2.0″, 0.8µm, PDAF.
Front camera: 8 MP, f/2.1, (wide), 1/4.0″, 1.12µm.
Video capture: Rear camera: 1080p@30fps; Front camera: 1080p@30fps.
Battery: 6000mAh; Fast charging 18W, Reverse charging.
Misc: Fingerprint reader (side-mounted); FM radio; Infrared port; stereo speakers; 3.5mm jack.The ultrawide camera and some basic water protection are the only things missing off that spec sheet. Yet, we are talking about a quite affordable smartphone that’s jam-packed with features, and something had to give. But the Poco M3 seems to come close, really close to that.
Unboxing the Poco M3
The Poco M3 comes packed within a dark yellow box, and it’s full of goodies. The phone is inside, of course, packed with a USB cable and a 22.5W QC3 charger by Xiaomi. The Poco M3 supports 18W fast charging, so its 22.5W adapter is a bit overqualified for the job.
The paper compartment contains the SIM ejection tool, a transparent silicone case, and a screen protector. Nice!
But wait, there is more! There is one final compartment at the bottom, where you’d find three Poco bracelets – one braided and two silicone bracelets done in the Poco’s signature yellow and black hues.
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