All-in-one Raspberry Pi handhelds are really cool—some of the best Raspberry Pi projects we’ve come across are just simple, PC rigs with built-in keyboards. But this one, created by a maker known on Twitter as Sulfuroid, takes the cake and stretches wide across the plate. It has a small, tablet-like size complete with a built-in keyboard and super-wide LCD screen.
The project requires a custom PCB which we just got the first glimpse of today. It’s used to connect the Pi to critical components like the screen and keyboard. The board will work with both Raspberry Pi 3 or Raspberry Pi 4 modules and is intended to support a wide 1920 x 480 LCD screen.
The great looking keyboard will use mechanical keys driven by an Atmega32u4 chip, presumably acting as a USB HID device. In the prototype images shared for the project, the keys appeared to have a minimal, flat design.
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Sulfuroid knows that makers need to tinker and assures GPIO and USB access is available both internally and externally. This makes it possible to prototype projects and connect peripherals via GPIO. An internal USB port would provide expansion possibilities such as USB boot devices and USB 4G / LTE modems.
There are plans to sell these in the future once testing is complete. Follow Sulfuroid on Twitter for more details and future updates.
(Pocket-lint) – Apple announced the iPhone 11, 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max in September 2019. They were then succeeded by the iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max in September 2020.
If you’re in the market for a new iPhone but you don’t want the latest models, you’re in the right place.
The iPhone 11 sits above the iPhone XR and is still available to buy from Apple alongside the iPhone 12 models. The iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max took the place of the iPhone XS and XS Max, but while all are discontinued through Apple, you might be able to get hold of them elsewhere.
Here is how the three 2019 iPhones compare to help you work out which is the right one for you.
You can also read our separate features on how the iPhone 11 compares to the iPhone XR and how the iPhone 11 Pro models compare to the iPhone XS models.
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What’s the same across the iPhone 11 series?
Processor
No 3D Touch
Storage options
Software
The Apple iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max all run on the same processor, like the iPhone XR, XS and XS Max.
For 2019, that processor was the A13 Bionic chip with a third-generation neural engine (it’s also in the iPhone SE (2020)). The three models also come in the same storage capacities – 64GB, 256GB and 512GB – none of which have microSD.
None of the devices have 3D Touch on board, with all opting for Haptic Touch like the iPhone XR and the iPhone 12 models, but all offer True Tone technology and a wide colour gamut.
All three models also come with an improved front camera compared to their predecessors offering a 12-megapixel lens, next-generation Smart HDR for photos and Portrait Mode, as well as Portrait Lighting.
Face ID is on board all three models (as you would expect) and it too was improved compared to older models with more angles supported. All models launched on iOS 13, but they would now support iOS 14, delivering the same user experience and the same new features.
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What’s different between the iPhone 11 series?
Whilst the three iPhone 11s share numerous similarities – including power, software and a similar (though not identical) design, there are a few differences to consider before you make your choice.
Camera capabilities
iPhone 11: Dual camera
iPhone 11 Pro: Triple camera
iPhone 11 Pro Max: Triple camera
One of the main differences between the iPhone 11 series is their camera capabilities. The iPhone 11 comes with a dual camera, while the iPhone 11 Pro models come with a triple rear camera.
The iPhone 11 has dual 12-megapixel ultra-wide and wide cameras with the ultra-wide lens offering an aperture of f/2.4, while the wide lens has an aperture of f/1.8. The iPhone 11 Pro models have a triple 12-megapixel sensor setup, with the same two lenses as the iPhone 11, along with a telephoto lens offering an aperture of f/2.0.
All models have Night Mode, Auto Adjustments, Portrait mode with advanced bokeh and Depth Control, Portrait Lighting with six effects and next-generation Smart HDR for photos. The Night Mode is very good, offering much better low light capabilities across all three devices.
The iPhone 11 has 2x optical zoom out, digital zoom up to 5x, while the iPhone 11 Pro models have 2x optical zoom in, 2x optical zoom out and 10x digital zoom. The optical zoom out refers to the ultra-wide-angle lens, allowing you to get more in the shot. Only the Pro models have 2x optical zoom in thanks to the third telephoto lens. The Pro models also have dual optical image stabilisation, while the iPhone 11 has standard optical image stabilisation.
Apple iPhone 11 Pro cameras explained: Why three and what does each do?
iPhone 11 Pro Max: 6.5-inch, OLED, HDR, 2688 x 1242, True Tone, Haptic Touch, 800nits
Display sizes differ between the three iPhone 11 models, as they did for 2018’s iPhone XR, XS and XS Max and resolutions differ too with the iPhone 11 offering a pixel density of 326ppi and the iPhone 11 Pro models offering pixel densities of 458ppi. The 11 Pro models are also brighter. You’ll notice this difference if you’re looking at the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro models side-by-side but otherwise, the iPhone 11’s display will be more than sufficient for most users.
The iPhone 11 Pro has a 5.8-inch screen like the iPhone XS, the iPhone 11 has a 6.1-inch screen like the iPhone XR and the iPhone 11 Pro Max has a 6.5-inch display like the iPhone XS Max.
The Pro models also have OLED displays like their predecessors, allowing for punchier colours and blacker blacks than the iPhone 11 and its LCD screen, but again, this is only really noticeable if you place the devices together. The Pro models do have HDR support though, which the iPhone 11 does not, meaning you’ll see less detail on the standard iPhone when watching HDR-compatible content.
All models have True Tone technology and Haptic Touch.
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Physical footprint
iPhone 11 Pro: 144 x 71.4 x 8.1mm, 188g
iPhone 11: 150.9 x 75.7 x 8.3mm, 194g
iPhone 11 Pro Max: 158 x 77.8 x 8.1mm, 226g
As with the display sizes, the physical footprint between the three 2019 iPhones differs.
The iPhone 11 Pro is the smallest and lightest, followed by the iPhone 11 and then the iPhone 11 Pro Max. With the frosted glass finished on the iPhone 11 Pro models though, the iPhone 11 Pro Max doesn’t look as big as the iPhone XS Max did. It’s an optical illusion of course, but for those that wanted the larger model but thought it looked to big in 2018, you might find yourself thinking differently here.
The iPhone 11 is a great in-between device in terms of size though.
Design
iPhone 11: Dual camera, aluminium frame
iPhone 11 Pro models: Triple camera, stainless steel frame
While the design is similar across the three 2019 iPhones, with all offering a notch on the front at the top of the display, there are differences on the rears, as well as material choice.
The iPhone 11 Pro models have a square camera housing with three camera lenses, while the iPhone 11 has a dual camera. All models have an IP68 water and dust resistance rating, but the Pro models can be submerged up to four-metres for 30 minutes, while the iPhone 11 can only be submerged up to two-metres for 30 minutes.
The Pro models also have a textured matte glass and stainless steel design, while the iPhone 11 is made form aluminium and standard glass. In the flesh, the Pro models are really beautiful, especially in the green and gold colour options. They look more premium than the iPhone 11 but this is something you will only notice when they are next to each other. Otherwise, the iPhone 11 is a lovely, solid device in its own right.
Battery capacities
iPhone 11: Up to 17-hours, wireless charging
iPhone 11 Pro: Up to 18-hours, wireless charging
iPhone 11 Pro Max: Up to 20-hours, wireless charging
Batteries were claimed to have improved for the 2019 iPhone models when they first launched, and while Apple doesn’t detail specific capacities, they did improve in our experience. The iPhone 11 is said to last up to 17 hours, while the iPhone 11 Pro is said to last up to 18 hours and the iPhone 11 Pro Max is said to last up to 20 hours.
We were really impressed with the battery life of 2019 devices though during our testing. Both the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Max will see you through a day and evening without a problem in our experience.
All three models offer wireless charging but none have reverse wireless charging on board. All three models are also fast-charge capable, but only the Pro models come with 18W fast chargers in the box.
Colour options
iPhone 11: 6 colours
iPhone 11 Pro models: 3 colours
Colour options vary between the standard iPhone 11 and the iPhone 11 Pro models.
The iPhone 11 was available in Purple, Yellow, Green, Black, White and Product(RED) when it first arrived. They were more muted than they were for the iPhone XR and lovely as a result.
The iPhone 11 Pro models were available in Midnight Green, Silver, Space Grey and Gold. The Midnight Green and Gold are fabulous and really stand out, especially with the matte rear.
iPhone 11 colours: All the iPhone 11 and 11 Pro colours available
Price
iPhone 11: From $699/£729
iPhone 11 Pro models: From $999/£1049
Pricing between the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro models unsurprisingly differs.
The iPhone 11 started at $699/£729 when it first launched, the iPhone Pro started at $999/£1049 and the iPhone Pro Max started at $1099/£1149. As mentioned, only the iPhone 11 is available through Apple now, and it is cheaper, but you might still find the 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max at a good price elsewhere now they have been succeeded.
Conclusion
The Apple iPhone 11 is the cheaper option of the three 2019 iPhones and it’s great value. For many, it will be the one to buy from this trio of handsets.
The iPhone 11 Pro models offer some great features, specifically camera capabilities, design materials and better displays, but they are also particularly pricey compared to the standard iPhone 11.
The iPhone 11 offers more colours than the Pro models, even if it isn’t as premium in design, it sits in the middle in terms of size and while it misses out on a couple of features compared to the Pro models, such as optical zoom in terms of camera and a punchier display, it still offers a great camera with Night Mode and brilliant results.
Following the TicWatch Pro 3, Mobvoi has announced the TicWatch Pro S, a smartwatch that carries over some of the hallmark TicWatch features like a “Dual Display” that layers an always-on LCD over an AMOLED screen for longer battery life, and some custom health apps, for a slightly more affordable $259.99 price. But the older internals of the device might not make it so appetizing.
The TicWatch Pro S costs $40 less than the Pro 3, but that price comes with pretty big tradeoffs. First and foremost, an old processor. As we highlighted in our review, the more expensive TicWatch Pro 3 has a new Snapdragon 4100 that brings more processing power and battery efficiency to address some long-standing Wear OS issues. But the TicWatch Pro S makes do with an old Snapdragon 2100 instead, a processor that’s been kicking around Wear OS devices since at least 2016.
The TicWatch Pro S is thicker than the Pro 3 and only 2mm narrower.Image: Mobvoi
And while the TicWatch Pro S is actually very slightly thicker than the Pro 3 (12.6mm vs 12.2mm) and only slightly narrower (45mm wide vs 47mm), it’s also saddled with a smaller battery. In comparison to the Pro 3’s 577mAh battery, the Pro S only has 415mAh to spare. In another circumstance it might be a negligible difference, but when battery life was an area in need of improvement for most Wear OS watches, it shouldn’t be ignored.
The TicWatch Pro 3 is large for most wrists and not much larger than the TicWatch Pro S.Photo by Dieter Bohn / The Verge
The slight change in size also doesn’t seem like it would make a big difference for anyone who would find the TicWatch Pro 3 too big.
The TicWatch Pro S’s always-on display option is neat and might provide more battery life than your average Wear OS device, but if the insides of a Wear OS watch from five years prior are powering it, it might be worth it to pause and reconsider how much that extra $40 is worth to you.
The TicWatch Pro S is available today in the US, UK, and Europe for $259.99 from Mobvoi’s site and Amazon.
(Pocket-lint) – It seems kinda mad that we’ve arrived here, but the Moto G is now up to number 10. It’s no surprise though: as the G series is Motorola’s most successful range and it has consistently delivered great value, simple and reliable phones.
But for 2021, the numbering and naming system has changed – the lower the number, the lower down it sits in the ranks. Therefore the G10 is the entry-level affordable phone in a series that’s long looked a bit crowded.
That causes a bit of a self-administered issue for the Moto G10, however, as it’s no longer the default choice in the range. Why? Because for a little extra money the Moto G30 also exists.
Design
Dimensions: 165.2 x 75.7 x 9.2mm / Weight: 200g
Finishes: Aurora Gray, Iridescent Pearl
Rear positioned fingerprint scanner
Glass front, ribbed plastic back
3.5mm headphone port
Single loudspeaker
microSD expansion
Moto G design has never been all that fancy or premium, which makes sense for a budget phone. Some corners need cutting to get it down to the right price. This generation Motorola has taken on something of an unusual finish with its ribbed back panel (it’s still better-looking than the G30’s odd colour choices though).
That wave pattern you see isn’t just a visual thing, it has texture too. It’s a little weird to begin with, but the texture has its merits. It definitely makes it feel less likely to slip out of your hand, and you’ll never find it randomly slipping off a surface like a completely glossy glass back might.
That’s not the only practical decision made here either. Unlike some more expensive phones, the Moto G10 is equipped with everything you could need. That means you get a 3.5mm headphone port at the top for plugging in your hands-free buds, or wired headphones.
There’s also a microSD card slot for expanding the storage. You might find that useful if you like to keep a physical copy of all your own media offline. And if you have have the 64GB phone, you may just find you fill up the internal storage quite quickly.
So what else is there? Well, you’ll find three buttons up the right side. One is the usual power button, and there’s the volume rocker switch, but then curiously there’s also an additional button which – when pressed – will launch Google Assistant. Which is fine, but we can’t imagine it’s used by most people all that much.
As for that fingerprint sensor on the back, usually we laud the appearance of physical scanners because they’re fast and reliable, but that’s not the case with this one. Most times it would take two or three goes before a successful scan, meaning it was often quicker just to type in the multi-digit PIN instead.
The G10’s front is pretty standard too, with its relatively skinny bezel up the sides and the dewdrop-style notch at the top of the display, barely cutting into the available screen real-estate. And while there’s only one loud speaker, placed on the bottom edge, the speaker grille is long enough that we didn’t find it was all that easy to completely block, meaning you can hear it whether you hold the phone in portrait or landscape.
Display
6.5-inch IPS LCD display
720 x 1600 resolution
269 pixels per inch
60Hz refresh rate
Android 11
On to that display and – as with most affordable phones – this one uses a long aspect ratio HD+ resolution panel. That means, specifically, it’s IPS LCD and has 720 x 1600 pixels spread across that 6.5-inch diagonal.
Pocket-lint
Obviously that means it’s not super sharp, but it’s adequate for daily use and won’t leave you squinting. In fact, it’s pleasant enough when inside and watching movies, gaming and browsing the web. It’s not the most vivid panel around though – its dynamic range does suffer, but that’s almost to be expected from an LCD screen on a cheap smartphone such as this.
The one place we did notice it struggle the most was outside in daylight. Trying to frame shots with the camera to shoot in sunlight was difficult. We could barely see what was on the screen, even with the brightness cranked right up.
Performance and battery
Snapdragon 460 processor, 4GB RAM
64GB or 128GB storage
5000mAh battery
If what you’re after in a phone is really solid battery life, we’re happy to report the G10 delivers that – by the bucket load. Even in a phone with a high-end flagship processor and a top-of-the-line display, a 5,000mah capacity battery would be generous. So stick it in a phone with a low power chip and only a HD resolution panel, and you get one of the longest-lasting phones on the market.
Pocket-lint
In testing we’d often get to the end of a second day and still have some juice left over, even after using it for testing the camera and playing a couple of hours of games each day. For most people we think this is a genuine two-day phone. You’ll never have to worry about it dying during the day if you’ve taken it off charge in the morning. It’s pretty epic.
Moto also takes care of battery life long-term too. It has a couple of different tools in the battery settings designed to get the most out of the battery for as long as you own the phone.
Optimised charging learns your usual charging pattern and then using that can predict when you need the battery to be fully charged. So if that is at 7am when your alarm goes off, it’ll charge all the way up to 80 percent, and hang there until it needs to charge the final 20 per cent, in time for you to wake up.
There’s also overcharge protection. So if you’re a really light user and have a habit of just leaving your phone plugged in costantly for days at a time, it will limit the charge to 80 per cent if your phone has been plugged in continuously for three days.
Pocket-lint
Being 5,000mAh does mean charging times are a little slow, especially with the charging speeds maxing out at 10W. So it’s definitely one to plug in at night while you sleep. Thankfully, you’ll probably only have to do it once every other night.
As for general performance, this is where the G10 slips up against its slightly more expensive sibling, the G30. The Snapdragon 400 series processor inside isn’t unusable by any means, but it does feel quite slow and laggy a lot of the time. Loading web pages, or backing up photos to Google Photos, seems to take longer than it should, while animations in the general interface appear quite stuttery.
In fact, Google Photos did – on a couple of occasions – just hang and crash, and then failed to upload our photos to the cloud. On a similar note, there were a couple of occasions where a chosen game would just freeze and crash too. It wasn’t just Google Photos getting up to these shenanigans.
The G30 just seems more reliable day-to-day in that regard, which is why we’d recommend that over this phone. It’s not that the G30 is super smooth and fast all the time, it just didn’t leave us hanging as much. Still, for most tasks, the G10 is fine, if unremarkable.
Best smartphones 2021 rated: The top mobile phones available to buy today
By Chris Hall
·
Pocket-lint
As for software, that’s the usual Moto style of having an almost Google Android stock experience with a couple of added extras from Moto. That means all your default apps are Google’s, and you get fun gestures like swiping down on the fingerprint sensor to get your notifications, or a chopping motion to switch on the flashlight.
As for camera quality, the quad system is lead by a 48-megapixel primary camera, which is joined by an 8MP ultra-wide, and pair of low-resolution depth and macro sensors.
Stick to the main sensor and you’ll be mostly fine. In good daylight pictures will be sharp, colourful and feature decent depth. It’s not flagship level, naturally, but it’s good enough for social media use.
The ultra-wide is just ok. It often struggles to focus though, and often leaves colours looking unnatural, completely different to the main sensor.
The macro lens can be useful for close-ups at times, but results are not consistent, and being a low resolution sensor means details aren’t that great either.
So the G10 is yet another case of a budget phone having more cameras than it knows what to do with. Ignore the depth, macro and wide-angle and you’ve got a solid main camera – but that’s hardly selling itself to the “quad camera” standard, is it?
Verdict
The G10 might be the first entry-level Moto G we don’t unequivocally recommend as an easy purchase. There’s nothing wrong with it, per se – indeed, the battery life, software and practical design make it more than good enough for most people – but there’s the Moto G30 to consider.
Our experience with the G30 was just better, especially when it comes down to daily performance, so if you can afford the little extra then we’d recommend opting for that one.
With all that said, the Moto G10 offers great battery life, so if you don’t need anything too taxing then it’s still a decent option considering its asking price.
Also consider
Pocket-lint
Moto G30
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If you have the ability to stump up a little more cash, the G30 is the more sensible choice in Moto’s new G-series range. It has a smoother overall experience and is still great value for money.
Read the review
Pocket-lint
Redmi Note 10 Pro
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Few phones at this price point are as accomplished as the Redmi Note 10 Pro. It’s more expensive than the G10, but it’s more than worth it, if you can cope with inferior software.
Aya, a startup behind the industry’s first crowdfunded handheld Windows 10-based game console, has begun its Indiegogo campaign. The start of the campaign was postponed earlier due to components shortages, but now Aya thinks that the market situation is right to start the company’s crowdfunding campaign. To be the first to get the Aya Neo, one must pay as much as $789 via the Indiegogo crowdfunding platform, reports Liliputing.
The Aya Neo uses the AMD Ryzen 5 4500U system-on-chip produced using TSMC’s N7 fabrication process (7 nm-class). This APU has six cores running at 2.30 GHz/4.0 GHz along with with the Radeon Vega 6 graphics unit (384 SPs), 16GB of memory, and 1TB of PCIe/NVMe storage. The AMD system-on-chip is cooled down using a proprietary cooling system with to copper heat pipes and a fan.
(Image credit: Aya Neo)
The console has a 7-inch IPS LCD touch-enabled display along with analog sticks, a D-pad, and other game-specific buttons. The Aya Neo exceeds expectations with regard to connectivity, which includes Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5, stereo speakers, a 3.5-mm audio output, and three USB Type-C ports.
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While a 7-inch x86 Windows-based PC seems impressive, the Aya Neo has its peculiarities. In particular, the console uses a six-year-old Polar/Vega GCN 1.4 graphics architecture that first came to life in the form of the Radeon RX 470 GPU in early 2016. AMD and game developers support this architecture for now, but only time will tell for how long this architecture will be supported given the fact that AMD is promoting its RDNA/RDNA2 GPUs and it is the RDNA2 architecture that powers both new generation game consoles, the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox One X/S series.
In any case, without any doubts the Aya Neo is an interesting device from engineering and gaming performance standpoints.
The PS5 and Xbox Series X aren’t the only new consoles on the gaming scene. They could soon be joined by a new Nintendo Switch – an updated version of Nintendo’s bestselling console.
Sources have told Bloomberg all about the new console. That includes details on its screen, which is said to be bigger than that of the existing switch and OLED to boot, plus a possible release date and some of its capabilities.
So should Sony and Microsoft be worried? What can we expect from a new Switch? And when might you be able to buy one? We’ve rounded up all the rumours below.
Find PS5 stock and where to buy
Or check our Xbox Series X stock update
OLED Nintendo Switch: screen
First things first: the screen. This is said to be the headline feature of the new console, and a real step up on what’s currently on offer.
For starters, it’s bigger than the current model. According to Bloomberg, the new Switch will have a 7-inch display, which would be bigger than the current Switch’s 6.2-inch screen, and the Switch Lite’s 5.5-inch display.
But not only will it be bigger, it should be a lot better, too. That’s because it will use OLED technology, instead of the LCD used in the current Switch. OLED stands for organic light-emitting diode, and is used in some of the best TVs around – see our round-up of the best OLED TVs to see how stunning the tech can be. It makes for true black levels, because each individual pixel can turned off instead of emitting an approximation of black as with LCD screens (which usually look closer to grey). Add stunningly bright whites and that makes for superb contrast levels.
OLED screens are also more energy efficient, which could result in longer battery life. That will be a really big draw for a console that doubles as a portable.
Sources say that Samsung will manufacture the OLED screen. Samsung already supplies OLED displays to high-end smartphones such as the Apple iPhone 12 and Samsung Galaxy S21, but the new Switch’s will be a bit different. Instead of being slightly flexible like those smartphone screens, the one used in the new Switch will be rigid. Samsung is thought to be starting mass production of the 7-inch panels in June, with initial supply put at a million a month. They will start shipping to assemblers around July.
OLED Nintendo Switch: 4K and HDR
(Image credit: Nintendo)
According to the report, the next Switch will also be capable of 4K resolution. That doesn’t mean the screen itself will be 4K (reportedly it will be 720p HD), but that you can hook it up to a 4K TV and play games in Ultra HD resolution.
That would be a big boon for developers and games alike. The former – and probably some of the latter – have expressed frustration at the huge difference between the picture quality on the portable screen and that blown up to the size of a big-screen TV.
Will games be true native 4K though? That seems unlikely. It’s more likely that Nintendo will take the more efficient path and render games in HD – these could then be upscaled when outputted to a 4K TV.
Perhaps the great potential lies in HDR. This stands for high dynamic range – it’s a technology borrowed from photography, which increases the difference between the light and dark parts of the picture, with more gradual steps in between. It results in a punchier and more lifelike image with more depth and better colours.
The vast majority of OLED displays have HDR, and the new Switch’s could well count itself among them. That would make games look more engaging and exciting.
And it might not just be new games that benefit from this. Older titles could get some kind of upconversion similar to the Xbox Series X’s Auto HDR. This uses machine learning to add HDR to games that were designed with only standard dynamic range in mind. So the new Switch could breathe some new life into your current games library. Fingers crossed.
OLED Nintendo Switch: other possible features
So what other features could Nintendo add to a new Switch?
The PS5 and Xbox Series X have HDMI 2.1, which brings more advanced features such as 4K@120Hz, Auto Low-latency Mode (ALLM) and Variable Refresh Rate (VRR), but we don’t expect the Nintendo Switch 2 to follow suit. 4K@120Hz and VRR are technically tricky features that feel unnecessary for the kind of games produced for Nintendo consoles, and the simpler ALLM could be added without the need for an expensive HDMI 2.1 socket.
As previously mentioned, HDR is very likely to make an appearance, seeing how common it is on OLED screen and what a striking difference it would make for games in terms of looks.
Other next-gen consoles have extra audio-visual features such as Dolby Atmos and/or DTS:X, but it’s unlikely Nintendo will add these to the new Switch. From reports so far, it sounds like more of a refresh than a full-blown overhaul of the console, so we expect that 5.1 sound is going to be the best available. Fingers crossed Nintendo at least adds Dolby Digital 5.1 support on top of the standard PCM format of the original Switch, as this increases compatibility with soundbars and the like.
OLED Nintendo Switch: release date
(Image credit: Nintendo)
The OLED-toting Nintendo Switch is rumoured to launch “in time for the holidays”. That usually means autumn/fall time, to give plenty of time to build awareness before the manic Christmas shopping season gets into full swing.
OLED Nintendo Switch: name
What will the next Switch be called? At four years old, the original Nintendo Switch is around the middle of its life cycle, so calling the new version the Nintendo Switch 2 would seem a bit hasty. Rather, odds are that Nintendo will opt for something that sells the upgraded abilities without positioning it as a completely new proposition. Nintendo Switch Pro, maybe.
Pro is a popular moniker in the worlds of smartphones, tablets and laptops, used by the likes of Apple and Samsung to indicate more power than the standard version. So it’s very possible that Nintendo will adopt the same tack.
OLED Nintendo Switch: the experts speak
As you can imagine, rumours of a new Nintendo console have been big news in the gaming and business worlds. The Switch is now four years old, and its successor, the Switch Lite, is getting on for two years old now. Industry watchers weren’t expecting a new Nintendo console this year, but given the demand for Sony and Microsoft’s new games machines, a new Switch makes perfect sense.
Bloomberg quoted one expert who spelled out the benefits of OLED tech for Nintendo.
“The OLED panel will consume less battery, offer higher contrast and possibly faster response time when compared to the Switch’s current liquid-crystal display,” said Yoshio Tamura, co-founder of display consultancy DSCC.
Bloomberg‘s own analysts said the new console could prolong the lifespan of the current Switch considerably.
“The release of a more premium version of Nintendo’s Switch console with an OLED display and support for 4K graphics for the holiday 2021 selling season could drive the company’s sales above consensus for the fiscal year ending March 2022 and extend the life cycle of the Switch platform for many more years,” said analysts Matthew Kanterman and Nathan Naidu.
Other experts agreed with the rumoured launch date. “If they’re making the products from June – we’re hearing they’re going to start shipping in July, that even a September launch should be possible,” Ross Young, co-founder and CEO of Display Supply Chain Consultants, told Tom’s Guide. “Given the time lag from panel shipment to device production, and then device production to retail, it could be September, October.”
OLED Nintendo Switch vs PS5 and Xbox Series X
With the launch of the PS5 and Xbox Series X at the end of last year, Nintendo has a fight on its hands. Both consoles are much more powerful than the Switch. So does Nintendo stand a chance?
Yes indeed. Its consoles have never been about pure power, more about fun and innovative ways to play. And the sales reflect this. To date, the Switch and Switch Lite have sold over 79 million units. That makes Switch the second-best-selling console in Nintendo history, beaten only by the original Wii. It also compares well with sales of the PS4 and Xbox One, which stand at 114 million and 48 million respectively. The Switch only launched in 2017, remember, whereas Sony and Microsoft’s previous consoles landed four years earlier, in 2013.
A new Switch won’t beat the new PlayStation or Xbox in terms of graphics or processing power, and chances are it won’t be a better one-stop shop for all your streaming and media needs. But the crucial thing is, it won’t try to. As ever, Nintendo is playing its own game. And it seems to be doing pretty well so far.
MORE:
Read the full report: New Nintendo Switch incoming with OLED, 4K
Next-gen face-off! PS5 vs Xbox Series X: which is better?
Sony consoles duke it out: PS5 vs PS5 Digital Edition: which should you buy?
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For the past month, I’ve been testing the two most powerful Wear OS watches you can buy: the TicWatch Pro 3 from Mobvoi and the Fossil Gen 5 LTE. They’re not spec-for-spec identical, but they do share a basic shape: big, chunky, round, and black. If you’re using Android and want a smartwatch, they’re at the top of a persistently tiny list of top-flight smartwatches.
Despite Wear OS’s reputation, both watches are perfectly competent and can do the basics of what many people want out of a smartwatch. Both also offer what I’d characterize as acceptable battery life: a full day most of the time, two at a stretch. The TicWatch can actually go much longer, thanks to a clever second screen layered on top of the first one.
But Wear OS does have that reputation: for years, watches that ran it have been slow, ran out of battery life quickly, and suffered from a tiny ecosystem of apps. Some of those problems have been solved, but that doesn’t mean that these watches (or, honestly, any smartwatch available to Android owners) lives up to the polish and features iPhone users can get with the Apple Watch.
The Apple Watch comparison isn’t really useful for Android users — it’s not and probably never will be an option. Instead, let’s just look at these two watches on their own terms.
The Mobvoi TicWatch 3 Pro
TicWatch Pro 3 review
At $299.99, the TicWatch Pro 3 is not an impulse buy. But the price is about right for what Mobvoi has created. It has pushed the limits of what Wear OS can do in two ways.
First, it has crammed the best technology it could get for a Wear OS device in here. One big differentiator for the TicWatch Pro 3 is that it is the only watch using Qualcomm’s latest smartwatch processor, the Snapdragon 4100. (More from Motorola and possibly OnePlus have been rumored to be coming this year.)
That processor makes the watch faster than other Wear OS devices — though it still can sometimes feel a step behind both Samsung’s Tizen-based watches and even Fitbits. It also accounts for some of the TicWatch’s battery life, which I’ve found can last two and even three days with all the bells and whistles turned on.
The second thing Mobvoi has done to push Wear OS is add a bunch of bells and whistles to make up for the platform’s missing features. The main thing it’s done is put an LCD panel on top of the regular OLED screen. This allows the TicWatch to go into a low power mode when it’s on standby and a super-low power mode when you need it to last for more than a few days on a charge.
Wear OS powers its fitness offerings with Google Fit, which has seen a few updates but is very far behind Apple’s fitness offerings. Mobvoi can’t fix that, but it has tried to fill in the gaps with its own suite of fitness apps on the watch. It even includes a blood oxygen sensor — though it’s no more accurate than the norm for smartwatches, which isn’t very good.
However, using them requires you to place a large amount of trust in Mobvoi the company — as the watch makes perfectly clear when you try to launch these apps, there’s no way to do that without sharing a bunch of information with Mobvoi. I applaud the transparency, but that still wasn’t enough to make me comfortable with it.
One thing to keep in mind with the TicWatch Pro 3: its aesthetics. It’s unapologetically a big, chunky watch. I don’t have huge wrists and it absolutely feels dominated by this thing. It is “honest” in its design, at least, in that it isn’t trying to look like a fancier watch than it is — right on down to the matte plastic lugs that hold the replaceable straps in place. I also wish it had a rotating crown for scrolling.
I ended up using the TicWatch Pro 3 like a bog standard Wear OS watch in the end, turning off its extra screen and sticking to Google Fit for fitness data. It absolutely did the job, but at $299 I think most people would be better off considering other options.
There is only one spec that the TicWatch lacks: LTE. For that, you’ll need to buy the Fossil.
The Fossil Gen 5 LTE
Fossil Gen 5 LTE review
I reviewed the original Fossil Gen 5 smartwatch in 2019, and I called it the “best of a Wear OS situation.” I think that (dubious) honor now goes to the TicWatch Pro 3, but if you need LTE, the $349 Fossil Gen 5 is one of two options you’ve got on Android (the other is Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 3 LTE).
Fortunately, the Fossil Gen 5 is essentially unchanged by the addition of LTE. If you’re willing to pay your carrier the extra monthly charges to turn it on, using the Gen 5 with LTE felt virtually the same as using it with Wi-Fi or Bluetooth.
Even battery life didn’t seem to be a problem. I did notice the watch was more likely to hit two full days with LTE turned off, but I usually didn’t manage to drain it in a single day even when using mostly LTE. Sadly, Fossil also feels as though it needs to make up for Wear OS’s shortcomings by keeping its entirely too complicated battery saver features. A watch should never require users to dig into granular radio toggles.
It does still use the older Snapdragon 3100 processor, though it didn’t feel particularly slow as a result. Aesthetically, it’s very slightly different from the regular Fossil Gen 5 Carlyle that I own and it’s not that much smaller than the TicWatch, but subtle differences make it look just a little more premium.
All in all, if you must have an LTE smartwatch and you use Android, this is your best option if you really prefer Wear OS to Tizen. If you’re agnostic, I think the Galaxy Watch 3 with LTE is probably a better choice.
Wear OS watches
As I’ve been harping on for three years now, every smartwatch for Android involves some kind of compromise.
Samsung watches need a lot more apps and require you to install a lot of extra stuff on your phone to get them working.
Fitbits are great for fitness but not so great at integrating into Android. There’s also the not-so-little matter about the company now being owned by Google’s hardware division. The future of the entire Fitbit ecosystem is sort of up in the air right now.
And honestly, the future of Wear OS is also up in the air. There’s little movement lately in app support and though Google has done a decent enough job keeping the OS from falling into utter decay, it hasn’t done much more than that. It’s overdue for an overhaul.
There are likely more Wear OS watches coming that might be worth waiting for, but the Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 remains the best option for traditional smartwatch stuff. At the end of the day, it’s difficult to recommend anybody spend three or four hundred dollars to get on board the rudderless Wear OS boat.
Both the TicWatch Pro 3 and the Fossil Gen 5 LTE are good enough smartwatches for what they are. It’s just that what they are is the best of an old platform with a questionable future.
Rumors about a long-desired upgrade to the Nintendo Switch have been swirling for some time, and this week, Bloomberg reported that this fabled new Switch might actually be coming soon.
This upgraded Switch will apparently have a 7-inch 720p OLED screen that can output 4K graphics when connected to a TV, according to the report. An OLED screen would be a major upgrade from the Switch and Switch Lite’s LCD, likely providing deeper colors and darker blacks. And the 4K output would be a big jump, too; right now, the current Switch tops out at a 1080p resolution when hooked up to a TV.
But a lot of us here at The Verge still like our existing Switches quite a bit, even those of us with the launch model that debuted four years ago this week. The changes we’re clamoring for aren’t necessarily an OLED screen or additional performance. (In fact, it might be annoying if additional horsepower led to Switch Pro-exclusive games like when Nintendo introduced the New Nintendo 3DS.) And while more battery life would always be appreciated, we’re mostly hoping it just doesn’t dip below the bar Nintendo set with the Switch v2 revision.
Here’s our list.
Photo by James Bareham / The Verge
Better Joy-Cons (and more colors)
The Switch’s Joy-Con controllers, while a creative design that offers more ways to play the console and a handy way to get two controllers in every box, have notoriously unreliable thumbsticks, with many users reporting joystick drift issues over time. Nintendo has said little about what appears to be a widespread problem, but the company did implement a free repair policy in 2019 for users having issues. Nintendo also didn’t use the launches of the Switch Lite and the second revision of the current Switch to fix drift issues, so they’re still ongoing — this could be another chance for Nintendo to make it right.
Other changes could simply make the Joy-Cons better controllers. Putting a real D-pad on the left Joy-Con, similar to the D-pad on the Nintendo Switch Lite, might make playing platformers and fighting games a lot easier than mashing the left Joy-Con’s current four-button design. Slightly bigger shoulder triggers could make the Switch easier to hold in your hands. And I’d really like more colors — perhaps Nintendo could offer an Xbox Design Lab-like way to deck out my Switch and its Joy-Cons when I buy it?
Bluetooth headphone support
Using Bluetooth headphones with your Switch is surprisingly hard: you’ve got to buy and plug a third-party Bluetooth adapter into the headphone jack, the console’s USB-C port, or the Switch’s docking station. (Even though the Joy-Cons use Bluetooth, the Switch has never come with Bluetooth audio support.)
The demand for Bluetooth audio was so strong a whole cottage industry of third-party adapters has sprung up — just search “Nintendo Switch Bluetooth adapter” on Amazon to see some of the many offerings available. But even if you buy, most of these dongles awkwardly stick out of the console’s USB-C port, requiring you to remove them to charge, and some feel like they could snap off if you aren’t looking out.
A Switch with native support for Bluetooth headphones might be particularly nice for playing in bed, no extra dongle or wired earbuds required.
A Quick Resume-like feature
We’ve really liked Quick Resume on the Xbox Series X / S, which lets you swap between games without having to boot them from scratch before getting back to where you left off. We think the Switch would really benefit from a similar feature, especially since it has so many games that you can jump into for a few minutes at a time. Imagine hopping from a visit to your friend’s Animal Crossing island to a Hades run to a quick bout in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, all without having to wait for the games to cold boot each time — sounds great, right?
One Verge editor would also really, really like not to have to find a save point in his JRPG every time their partner wants to tidy up their Animal Crossing island.
Photo by James Bareham / The Verge
A better kickstand
The current Switch’s kickstand seemed like a good idea at first, but in practice, it isn’t quite as useful as we had hoped. It’s small, unstable, only clicks into one angle, and, terrifyingly, snaps off rather easily (though it’s easy to put back on). That means the kickstand works best on flat and still surfaces at only one angle — which hasn’t been all that great for many situations where we’ve actually wanted to stand up the Switch, like on an airplane or in the backseat of a car.
One thing many of us really want is for Nintendo to fix this with a bigger, Microsoft Surface-style kickstand. Not only would that make the console much more stable stood up, but it could also be adjusted to many different viewing angles, which could be really handy for things like backseat Mario Kart races.
Photo by James Bareham / The Verge
Glass screen and smaller bezels
The current Switch has a plastic screen that scratches very easily — many Verge staffers have immediately slapped inexpensive tempered glass screen protectors on their consoles to avoid permanent scuffs. A lot of us are hoping Nintendo adds a glass screen to this new model that’s more scratch-resistant so we don’t need to add our own.
A bigger screen hopefully means that we’ll see smaller bezels, too, which would give the console a more premium feel. The current Switch has giant black bezels that reveal just how much space could still be filled by screen. And if you’ve used the Nintendo Switch Lite, while it has a smaller screen, the bezels also aren’t as prominent, which makes the Lite’s screen’s smaller size less obvious.
Photo by James Bareham / The Verge
An upgraded dock
The Switch’s current dock works well enough — it gives the Switch a place to charge and helps the console connect to the TV — but we’d like it more if it was smaller, had magnets to make the Switch just a bit more secure, and a built-in Ethernet port, since plugging in a USB-A to Ethernet adapter to get wired internet is a clunky solution.
A good name
Nintendo isn’t exactly known for easy-to-remember hardware names. This is the company that signified an entirely new console generation with the letter U, released a handheld called the New Nintendo 2DS XL, and released a smaller version of the Switch that can’t actually “switch” at all.
While it seems likely Nintendo will just call it the “Switch Pro” or “Switch Plus” or maybe the “Super Nintendo Switch” for fun, we thought we’d also come up with a few names Nintendo can throw in the trash right now:
Nintendo Switch Max
New Nintendo Switch i XL
Nintendo Switch VII Remake Intergrade
Nintendo Switch HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue 358/2 days χ[Chi] øø™
$witch
The SwitcherU
2 Nintendo 2 Switch
Nintendo Swiitch
Nimtenbo Swantch
Nintendo Switch 3(+ months between game releases)
Swii
Netflix
The Nintendo Switch, which turned four years old this week, still doesn’t have a Netflix app. Perhaps the added potential horsepower of a 4K-enabled Switch means we’ll finally be able to watch Bridgerton.
The Redmi Note 10 Pro is the best phone of the series that Xiaomi announced on Thursday, though the naming could have been better. In India fans will find an almost identical phone under the Redmi Note 10 Pro Max name (the key difference is the removal of NFC).
Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro
The two phones are certainly similar enough that our written review applies to both. The same goes for our video review, which you can watch below.
The Note 10 Pro impresses with the value it brings on a modest budget. This €250 phone stands out with its 120 Hz AMOLED display, most phones in its price range switch to LCD in order to afford a high refresh rate. The other highlight is the 108 MP main camera that shoots flagship-level photos (though low light performance leaves something to be desired).
If you like what you see, the Redmi Note 10 Pro will become available globally on March 8 (Monday) and you’ll be able to grab one for $300/€250. India’s Redmi Note 10 Pro Max will be up on Mi.com and Amazon from March 18 (the starting price is INR 19,000 for a 6/64 GB unit).
Motorola unveiled the Moto G10 and Moto G30 last month with big screens, big batteries, and quad rear cameras. Today the company announced it will bring the Moto G30 to India on March 9 alongside a new smartphone – Moto G10 Power.
The Moto G10 Power and Moto G30 will launch in India at 12PM local time (6:30AM UTC) and will be sold through Flipkart, which reveals both smartphones will run Android 11 out of the box and come with a feature called ThinkShield.
Since the Moto G30 was introduced last month, we know it will come with Snapdragon 662 SoC, 6.5″ 90Hz HD+ LCD, and a 5,000 mAh battery with 20W charging. The smartphone will feature a 13MP selfie camera, and its rear panel will be home to a quad camera setup consisting of a 64MP primary, 8MP ultrawide, 2MP macro, and 2MP depth units.
The Moto G30 also has a fingerprint reader on its back for biometric authentication. The G30 has two memory configurations – 4GB/128GB and 6GB/128GB. But it’s unclear what amount of RAM and storage it will have in India.
The Moto G10 Power, on the other hand, is a new smartphone, but considering the “Power” moniker, we believe it will be a Moto G10 with a bigger battery and faster charging.
The image of the Moto G10 Power shared by Motorola tells us the smartphone looks similar to the vanilla G10 – a notched display with a quad camera on the back accompanied by a fingerprint scanner.
The Moto G10 has a Snapdragon 460 SoC at the helm, and it’s built around a 6.5″ HD+ LCD. It packs a 5,000 mAh battery with 10W charging and has a total of four cameras on board – an 8MP selfie shooter with a 48MP primary camera on the back joined by an 8MP ultrawide, 2MP macro, and 2MP depth modules.
XDA Senior Member kacskrz may have uncovered a complicated rebadging scheme for Xiaomi/Redmi/Poco flagships by snooping through build configurations. This is all centered around the new K40 series.
We already saw in FCC docs that the Redmi K40 will be sold as the Poco F3 globally. However, these new findings suggest that the K40 will be renamed “Xiaomi Mi 11X” for the Indian market instead of using the Poco brand.
This X-branding will carry over to the Redmi K40 Pro as well, which will be known as the Xiaomi Mi 11X Pro. Note that these are not related to the Redmi 10X and 10X Pro. Anyway, here comes a plot twist.
The top of the line Redmi K40 Pro+ will instead be dubbed the Xiaomi Mi 11i, perhaps a sequel to India’s Mi 10i (itself based on the Redmi Note 9 Pro 5G). That seems a bit fast considering that the first Mi 10i units were sold two months ago.
The Mi 10i and K40 Pro+ are not that dissimilar – both have 120 Hz displays, 108 MP cameras and 33W fast charging, but the “Mi 11i” is a huge upgrade in processing power (Snapdragon 888 vs. 750G), also the display switches from IPS LCD to Super AMOLED.
Note that the code name actually says “haydn_pro_global” – that suggests that the Mi 11i will actually be sold in the international markets, which will make things even more confusing. Also, this is the first we’re hearing of the K40 Pro+ going global (the Poco rebranding only covered the vanilla and Pro models).
Home/Component/Cooling/MSI announces MPG Coreliquid K series AIO liquid coolers
João Silva 7 hours ago Cooling, Featured Tech News
MSI’s latest addition to its CPU cooler portfolio is the MPG Coreliquid K series, featuring Asetek’s 7th generation pump design. It will also come with two radiator options – 240mm or 360mm.
Both the MSI MPG Coreliquid K240 and K360 AIO liquid coolers come with Torx Fan 4.0 fans (2x for the K240 and 3x for the K360) to cool the radiator and dissipate heat quickly. The radiator is connected to the pump-block with evaporation proof tubing made from three layers of netted plastic and a reinforced mesh exterior.
The pump-block combo features an additional 60mm fan inside to cool the VRMs heatsink, which could improve CPU stability and overclocking potential. Additionally, the pump-block combo also has a 2.4-inch screen that users can customise to display hardware information such as clock speeds, fan speeds, and GPU usage. Custom images and other widgets are also supported.
Using MSI Centre, users will be able to customise fan speeds, RGB lighting, the cooler’s LCD display and other functions. The software also lets users choose different preset modes, one of which is ‘Gaming Intelligence’ mode, which adjust fan speeds based on CPU temperature while gaming.
The MSI Coreliquid K series CPU coolers are compatible with Intel LGA 1150, 1151, 1155, 1156, 1200, 1366, 2011(-3), and 2066 as well as AMD AM4, FM2(+), FM1, AM3(+), AM2(+), TR4, and SP3. Pricing and availability has not been shared yet.
KitGuru says: What do you think of the latest AIO units from MSI? Do you like the new trend of adding LCD displays on the pump-block combo?
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Mustafa Mahmoud 1 day ago Console, Featured Tech News, Software & Gaming
For years now, there have been rumours that Nintendo is planning to release an upgraded Nintendo Switch. With the recent release of the PS5 and Xbox Series X, the power discrepancy with the Switch is more noticeable than ever. Finally it seems as though 2021 will be the year that a Switch ‘Pro’ is released, with rumours claiming it will have a 7-inch 720p OLED screen.
As reported by Bloomberg, this new Nintendo Switch will feature a 7-inch 720p OLED screen manufactured by Samsung Display. Mass production for this screen is said to begin “as early as June with an initial monthly target of just under a million units,” suggesting a release sometime during the second half of this year.
Going into specifics, these panels are said to be ‘rigid panels’ which are “a cheaper but less flexible alternative to the type commonly used for high-end smartphones”. Evenso, this new display should be a noticeable upgrade over the current LCD screens used for both the regular Switch and the Switch Lite.
Aside from the display, Bloomberg reports that the console will come with 4K support when docked. What this means exactly is still unknown. It would be unreasonable to expect this new Switch to play games natively in 4K. That being said, even if this support only extends as far as scaling the UI to 4K, the jump in quality will be noticeable to those who use the system with a 4K TV.
Though this new Switch will likely still fall far behind graphically when compared to the likes of the PS5 and Series X, the upgrades mentioned by Bloomberg paint this new Switch as being a much needed upgrade regardless. It will be interesting to see when Nintendo plans to announce this upgraded system.
KitGuru says: What do you think of these details? Would you upgrade? How much do you think it will cost? Let us know down below.
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(Pocket-lint) – Xiaomi has officially launched the global Redmi Note 10 range. The naming convention is rather convoluted, however, as there are a lot of models and a shift in naming based on region.
There’s the Redmi Note 10 at the base of the range, the Redmi Note 10S above that (which, in India arrives as a larger-screen variant called the Redmi Note 10 Pro), and the Redmi Note 10 Pro above that again (which is the Redmi Note 10 Pro Max in India). There’s also a Note 10 5G model (not available in India), which feels like a total departure from the series.
Do keep this naming in mind when looking over the below, as we have run with the global naming and specification. So which of those Redmi Note 10 models is most fitting for you? Here we break down the differences between the four handsets.
Design
Note 10 & 10S: 160.5 × 74.5mm × 8.3mm / 179g
Note 10 5G: 161.8 × 75.3 × 8.9mm / 190g
Note 10 Pro: 164 × 77 × 8.1mm / 193g
All: Side-mounted fingerprint scanner
All: IP53 splashproof design
Although the design language is more-or-less mirrored across each Note 10 model – ignoring the obvious differences in physical size – there are different colour options to help different models stand out.
The main trio of Note 10 devices have an Onyx Gray option, while the Note 10 5G shifts this to Graphite Gray. As you’ll see, the 5G model is largely different from the main trio – and we’re frankly not sure why it’s been made part of the series. Here’s the full colourway breakdown per model:
Note 10 Pro: 6.67-inch AMOLED, 2400 x 1080 resolution, 120Hz
All: central punch-hole front-facing camera
Although front-on the four models look the same, with the punch-hole camera front and centre, they’re different sizes on account of different displays.
The base Note 10 and its 10S counterpart get a 6.34-inch AMOLED with 60Hz refresh rate. The Note 10 Pro bumps this size up to 6.67-inch, with a doubling of the refresh rate to 120Hz – making it the top of the bunch. The Note 10 5G is in-between those, at 6.5-inch and 90Hz.
However, the India versions – i.e. the Note 10 Pro and 10 Pro Max – both feature 6.67-inch displays with 120Hz refresh. Just to add to the confusion.
The rumour for a long time was that the Note 10 series would run on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 732 platform. That’s true – but only for the Note 10 Pro model.
Wind further down the series and the base Note 10 has a Snapdragon 678, while the 10S and 10 5G make a departure for MediaTek hardware instead.
It’s the first time we’ve seen MediaTek’s Dimensity 700 deployed, utilised for its 5G connectivity – which is, of course, only possible in the Note 10 5G model.
Elsewhere there’s a 5,000mAh battery minimum for all models, so great longevity, along with 33W fast-charging (it’s only 18W for the 5G model).
Cameras
Note 10: 48MP main, 8MP wide, 2MP macro, 2MP depth / 13MP front camera
Note 10S: 64MP main, 8MP wide, 2MP macro, 2MP depth / 13MP front camera
Note 10 5G: 48MP main, 2MP macro, 2MP depth / 8MP front camera
Note 10 Pro: 108MP main, 8MP wide, 5MP macro, 2MP depth / 16MP front camera
The main trio of devices features a quad rear camera setup with main, ultra-wide, macro and depth sensor. The Note 10 5G is the odd one out, once again, with a triple rear camera setup – as it ditches the ultra-wide.
The top-end model is the most accomplished, as its 108-megapixel main sensor and 5-megapixel telemacro – similar to what you’ll find on the Xiaomi Mi 11 – are a cut above. The 108MP lens uses a nine-in-one pixel method to produce 12-megapixel results as standard.
The other models are a mere 2-megapixels in the macro department and, we believe, lack autofocus for this particular camera too. This is typical of budget devices, but we would rather this optic was entirely absent – as, from past experience, results are poor.
You’ll see that there’s no optical zoom for any Redmi Note 10, which isn’t a surprise at this price point. But the only thing that we think is really absent is any form of optical image stabilisation – which we highlighted in our Note 10 Pro review, link below.
Conclusion
Pricing: TBC
Clearly it’s all about the Note 10 Pro – effectivly a cut-price version of the Xiaomi Mi 11, which will give it lots of appeal.
Otherwise we find Xiaomi’s choice to release so many Note 10 variants simply confusing. Not to mention the name and spec shift of these handsets in different regions. Oh, and that the 5G model is such an odd-one-out that it doesn’t belong in the series as we see it.
Brush all the other models aside and opt for the Note 10 Pro (Note 10 Pro Max in India) and Xiaomi is onto a winner here. But it really needs to sort out this naming malarkey.
Nintendo might join Sony and Microsoft in the next-gen console market sooner than expected. On Wednesday, Bloomberg reported that the company has asked Samsung to start mass production on a 7-inch OLED display meant for a new version of the Switch.
The current version of the Switch debuted in March 2017. Nintendo updated the console with a brighter display in 2019, and introduced the Nintendo Switch Lite handheld that same year, but on the whole it’s still a three-year-old console.
Yet the Switch has been the best-selling console for more than two years straight despite supply constraints resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. (It seems like practically everyone bought a Switch and Animal Crossing in early 2020.)
Bloomberg’s report indicated that Nintendo isn’t messing with success. Rather than redesigning the Switch entirely, the company is poised to introduce a model with a larger OLED display, along with the ability to output at 4K when it’s docked.
The report claimed that Samsung is set to manufacture a 7-inch OLED display; the current Switch boasts a 6.2-inch LCD display. Unfortunately it seems the relatively low 720p resolution won’t change, which will likely disappoint handheld players.
Bloomberg reported that mass production for the display is supposed to start in June with an initial goal of 1 million units per month. Nintendo will have to wait for other parts as well, of course, but this suggests a new Switch could arrive this year.
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