Every Friday, The Verge publishes our flagship podcast, The Vergecast, where co-hosts Nilay Patel and Dieter Bohn discuss the week in tech news with the reporters and editors covering the biggest stories.
In this episode, the show is split into three sections. First, Nilay and Dieter talk to Verge senior editor Tom Warren about this week in Microsoft: leaks of the Windows 11 UI, announcements from E3 2021, and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella doubling as the company’s chairman.
Windows 11 leak reveals new UI, Start menu, and more
Microsoft Teams’ new front row layout arrives later this year
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella now doubles as the company’s chairman
Microsoft announces Xbox TV app and its own xCloud …
Microsoft is bringing next-gen Xbox games to the Xbox One with xCloud
Even the Xbox app has stories now
The Xbox Series X mini fridge will be available this holiday season
Microsoft Flight Simulator is landing on Xbox Series X / S consoles on July 27th
The best trailers of E3 2021
In section two of the show, Verge politics reporter Makena Kelly returns to explain the continuing push by the US government to enact antitrust legislation on tech monopolies — this week, five new bills were introduced and the Senate confirmed a new commissioner of the FTC.
Tech antitrust pioneer Lina Khan will officially lead the FTC
How Republicans and Democrats are gearing up to fight tech monopolies
House lawmakers introduce five bipartisan bills to unwind tech monopolies
Senate bill would make it easier to cancel a subscription online after a free trial
In part 3, Verge managing editor Alex Cranz joins in to chat about this week in gadgets and Google — the company is adding end-to-end encryption to their Messages app, Sonos officially announced their picture frame speaker, and Telsa’s Model S Plaid made its big debut.
Google’s first retail store opens this week
Google adds E2E RCS encryption to Messages, emoji mashup suggests, and more for Android
Google Workspace and Google Chat are officially available to everybody
Honor confirms Google’s apps will return to its phones with new 50 series
Beats Studio Buds review: big ambition, imperfect execution
Ikea and Sonos announce picture frame speaker, coming July 15th for $199
Watch the debut of Tesla Model S Plaid, the ‘quickest production car ever made’
The Realme GT lays claim to OnePlus’ ‘flagship killer’ mantle
Oppo’s rollable concept phone is pure potential lacking polish
You can listen to the full discussion here or in your preferred podcast player.
(Pocket-lint) – It’s probably no surprise that the Realme GT’s international reveal happened just one day after the OnePlus Nord CE hit the headlines. Because, while the GT isn’t a direct competitor – it’s actually more powerful than OnePlus’ more budget offering – it’s certainly a handset that wants to lead the young brand’s charge on OnePlus’ ongoing dominance in the alt-flagship space.
It’s even pulled the same old-hat promotional tagline – “flagship killer” – which is rather cheeky. But that gives Realme a platform upon which to stand. It is a bit cheeky. It has previously released phones with eye-slapping phrases plastered on them – we lambasted the Realme 8 Pro for its ‘Dare To Leap’ slogan. It’s that bit different, that bit of fun.
With the Realme GT the company is looking to enter the fast lane – the ‘Grand Tourer’ name reference name says it all really – for this alt-flagship has top-tier Qualcomm processing power, a more grown-up looking vegan leather finish than earlier Realme devices, and arrives at a price point that could make you pay attention to this brand over better-established products such as, say, a Moto G100 or Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite.
Design & Display
6.43-inch AMOLED panel, 1080 x 2400 resolution, 120Hz refresh rate
Colours: Racing Yellow, Dashing Silver, Dashing Blue
Dimensions: 156 x 73 x 9.1mm / Weight: 186g
Finishes: Vegan leather or glass back
In-display fingerprint scanner
With phones often gigantic slabs these days, it’s rather refreshing to hold onto the Realme GT – because it’s sensibly proportioned, not too thick even in its vegan leather finish, and is on the right side the 200g weight barrier (a limit that we’ve pretty much decided to impose having handled the all too heavy Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra).
Motorola’s new Moto G9 Plus is a stunner of a phone – find out why, right here
By Pocket-lint Promotion
·
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That the volume control buttons are on the opposite side to the Realme GT’s power button – a rarity in most Android phones – is something you might not immediately love, but we stuck with it and it’s actually a sensible layout. Taking one-handed screengrabs is easier, as one beneficial example.
But it’s not the layout that’ll first catch your attention. It is, but of course, that bright yellow rear – which Realme calls ‘Racing Yellow’, keeping in theme with that GT name. It’s a bold, bright finish, almost like an exemplary Pantone shade card for what a true yellow should represent.
That it’s vegan leather is another standout point, but less for its apparent environmental kudos – although there’s an argument that processes for this material aren’t actually Thunberg pleasing – and more for its tactile quality. It’s nice and grippy. It doesn’t become smeared in heaps of fingerprints. It looks consistent – and the black stripe down from the integrated cameras panel helps to soften the look.
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Why, then, Realme has decided to (literally) stick its logo onto the rear is a big question. This silvered stick-on will inevitably fall off over time – not that we’ve actively been picking at it. Maybe that’d be for the better though – we’re not fans of any brand sticking big logos onto its phones. Motorola used to, before realising it looks much better to be subtle. Still, Realme ought to deboss or emboss for added chic.
Flip the phone over to its front and the Realme GT houses a 6.43-inch AMOLED panel, delivering a screen that’s capable of deep blacks and strong colours. Sadly, however, its auto-brightness adjustment is so shy that you’ll often end up squinting at the dulled screen trying to find the manual brightness slider. At maximum brightness it can remain visible in outdoor sunlight though. At lowest brightness there’s some ‘black crush’ to visuals, which is fairly common – an issue other Oppo phones present (Realme is effectively under the same umbrella as that brand).
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Interestingly this panel has some top-end features, such as a 120Hz refresh rate, to keep visuals extra smooth and easy on the eyes. You needn’t have the 120 refreshes per second active for the sake of battery life, though, as a 60Hz option is found within the menus – which is on by default anyway. In terms of resolution the Full HD+ span of pixels over the 20:9 aspect ratio panel delivers ample detail – these days you don’t really want or need much more, as it rarely enhances apps and mostly just squeezes the battery life.
Performance & Battery
Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 platform, 8GB/12GB RAM
Realme UI (v2.0) software over Google Android 11 OS
4,500mAh battery capacity, 65W fast-charging
Stainless steel cooling system
5G connectivity
That the Realme GT can cope with a 120Hz refresh rate is no surprise given its top-end hardware under the hood. There’s a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor, paired with 8GB or 12GB RAM (there are two variants, we have the lower spec 8GB model in for review).
Pocket-lint
It’s this “my processing power’s bigger than yours” angle that will garner the GT a lot of attention – especially for its asking price. And so it should, for this Realme performs really well whether you’re casually navigating between pages and apps, or digging deep into a gaming session.
Other than when recharging it doesn’t overheat either, which is impressive in the context of a faux leather-backed device with such a strong performance engine running things. The stainless steel cooling system designed within must be part of the reason for the apparent well-managed heat dissipation.
With mixed use we’ve found the GT’s battery life to be perfectly acceptable. Long days will see you finish close to the 20 per cent mark, after around 18 hours, but that includes some gaming so we think that’s pretty good innings. Besides, with a 65W fast-charging capability – no wireless to be found here – topping it up is speedy. It can even learn your typical charging pattern as to not refill the battery too quickly, which will help with long-term battery health.
We suspect the GT could last longer if various settings were activated to throttle the experience. But we’re glad that’s not the case. So often we hit a wall with, say, a Xiaomi phone because its software default controls the way in which apps respond – often causing notification issues or delays. Realme doesn’t have that issue; its Realme UI (version 2.0 here) is effectively a rework of Oppo’s ColorOS, which we’ve found in recent iterations to be generally pleasing.
Cameras
Triple rear camera system:
Main (26mm): 64-megapixel, f/1.8 aperture, Sony IMX682 sensor, 0.8µm pixel size
Given the phone’s price point its camera setup is the one area to expect some compromise. Realme has gone down the “triple camera” route – but, really, it’s a main camera paired with ultra-wide that show their worth, while the low-resolution close-up macro camera isn’t even worth including in our view. It’s a trap so many makers have fallen into – to oversell their cameras.
Anyway, that’s not to say expect bad things all across the board. As a straightforward point-and-shoot camera the main 64-megapixel sensor – which uses six-in-one processing to deliver 12-megapixel results by default – is capable enough. For sharing snaps on socials and so forth it’ll deliver the goods.
That said, however, it’s not the most refined in terms of processing. Where detail lacks – subject edges such as buildings, or busier areas such as trees and shrubs – there’s oversharpening, often to the detriment of realism. Colour also can look as though it’s been washed over with a blue filter, while contrast is a bit punchier than needed.
Pocket-lint
: Main cameraMain camera
Then there’s the wide-angle camera. Results from this aren’t consistent with the main lens – the colour looks different, for example – while detail lacks, and optically speaking it’s not particularly great. The benefit of having the wide camera is, of course, that it’s wide; that you can fit more into a shot, even if the edges are blurred and the contrast pushes image noise into greater visibility. You can compare the main camera and the wide camera – including 100 per cent zoom-in for each shot – in the gallery above.
The Realme GT might have wide-angle covered, but it doesn’t really cater for zoom. Well, it depends how you look at it. The camera app does offer 2x and 5x as part of the controls, but we’d strongly suggest avoiding using these as it’s nothing more than digital zoom. Given that the main sensor is 64-megapixels, however, the 2x ought to be better than it is. The 5x really pushes beyond what’s acceptable, with soft and unimpressive results. You can see the zoom stages from wide to main to 2x to 5x in the gallery below:
Pocket-lint
: Ultra-wide (16mm)Ultra-wide (16mm)
So while the zoom is one to avoid and the wide-angle isn’t great, the GT’s main camera is passable. It recognises backlighting to boost high dynamic range (HDR). It’s managed pretty well in low-light conditions, too, so if you’re shooting indoors at night then it can still focus and present enough detail – as we found out in a basement distillery at Edinburgh Gin.
That’s the long and the short of it: there’s not really much that’s “GT” about this Realme’s cameras. A “Pro” version might be able to rectify that – but it’d also come at cost, given the list price of camera components. And, really, that’s not the point of this phone. The GT is all about flagship performance for the day to day, not top-tier cameras – if you want that then you’ll have to pay out a lot more cash elsewhere.
Verdict
From its striking yellow-colour vegan leather finish, to its impressive performance thanks to Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 888 platform, the Realme GT is an impressive alt-flagship – but one that will depend on its eye-catching asking price to lure in a fan base.
As we said up top, this Realme has arrived at a time when OnePlus is no longer, well, “being OnePlus” – i.e. delivering flagship devices for considerably less cash. In that sense, then, the GT slots into the space that OnePlus once occupied in its earlier days, a tactic that’s as measured as it is a bit cheeky.
No, the GT doesn’t offer the greatest of cameras, its auto-brightness is shy to activate, and as a brand name it might not yet resonate with the masses.
But it’s hard to not see the GT’s specification for what it is: more powerful than a Motorola equivalent, such as the G100; and more software consistent than a Xiaomi device, such as the Mi 11 Lite.
In that sense, then, the Realme GT sure does enter the alt-flagship fast lane, overtaking some of the big competition that are also jostling for pole position.
Also consider
Pocket-lint
Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G
We love the Xiaomi’s colour finish and slender build – it’s a great alternative to the current glut of massive flagship phones. That said, it’s less powerful and the software brings its share of irks.
Read our review
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Pocket-lint
Moto G100
It’s about the same price, but with a slightly lower-spec processor, equally so-so cameras, but a more established brand name and near flawless software.
(Pocket-lint) – OnePlus has be on something of an exploratory journey over the past 12 months or so. Rather than delivering one or two phones at a time and launching them both globally, it took a more regional approach.
That meant while some markets got the original Nord, others – like the US – didn’t, then OnePlus followed up with various models to suit different territories. It even continued this approach with the OnePlus 9 series, offering a 9R in India, but nowhere else.
This is pretty standard practice for most manufacturers, but wasn’t for OnePlus. At least, not until now. But obviously this transition to being a ‘proper’ smartphone manufacturer is working, because it’s back again with another Nord: the Nord CE 5G.
Plastic fantastic
Dimensions: 159.2 x 73.5 x 7.9mm / Weight: 170g
No official waterproofing
3.5mm headphone port
Blue Void, Charcoal Ink and Silver Ray colours
For a while there’s been this sense that when building a good smartphone, you have to start with the right materials. It had to be aluminium or steel and glass. Using plastic was as good as writing ‘cheap trash’ over the back of the phone in capital letters. But things have changed, thanks in part to the efforts of Samsung.
Pocket-lint
With its Galaxy Note 20, S20 FE and this years S21, it showed you can use plastic materials in a way that doesn’t detract from the look and feel of the phone. OnePlus has taken the same approach with the Nord CE. Our unit in Blue Void has a lovely frosted/matte finish to it that’s very reminiscent of the Samsung approach, and we like it a lot.
It has an eye-catching blue finish with just the slightest splash of purple up the edges. There are two other safer colours in Charcoal Ink (Black-ish grey) and Silver Ray.
Being a frosted/matte finished plastic does have its advantages too. Firstly, it’s not at all slippery. So it’s not hard to keep a hold of one-handed, and it’s not likely to just randomly slide off the arm of your sofa. Secondly, it not as likely to crack or turn into tiny shards when it’s dropped or banged against something. It’s a very practical choice.
Also, it just feels, well, nice.
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That’s not the only practical choice made by OnePlus with the Nord CE. It’s both slimmer and lighter than the first Nord, so it doesn’t feel like a huge phone in your hand. It’s not exactly compact, but it’s easy to hold and comfortable enough to use. And it has a 3.5mm socket for wired headphones and headsets.
One choice that might not go down so well with long-time OnePlus fans is the removal of the alert switch. For years this simple slider button on the side has set the company’s phones apart from rivals, offering an easy tactile way to switch your phone to silent or vibrate. Apparently, that’s not considered ‘Core’ enough to make it on to a ‘Core Edition’ OnePlus phone.
In case you were wondering: yes, that’s what CE stands for.
Other core design choices include: not having a physical fingerprint sensor. Instead, there’s an in-display one so there’s nothing on the back, breaking up that glorious matte blue surface. The camera housing is a pretty basic pull-shaped protrusion and the display has just the one hole punched through it for a single camera.
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Sadly, one last feature not deemed essential to a Core Edition phone is a subtle haptic motor for feedback. That means, with it enabled, keyboard taps are accompanied by a nasty feeling buzz, rather than a subtle tap. We quickly switched it off.
Display and software
6.43-inch AMOLED 90Hz display
1080 x 2400 resolution
OxygenOS 11
Screen resolutions haven’t changed much in recent years with most smartphones opting for some version of full HD. This particular flavour is 1080 x 2400, which is the same as on most other OnePlus phones. That means it’s plenty sharp enough for day-to-day tasks with individual pixels imperceptible.
It’s AMOLED too, which means it’s a pretty punchy panel with vibrant colours and deep blacks. In its default ‘vivid’ mode the screen often over eggs the colours a bit, but with this being a OnePlus phone running OxygenOS, you get to customise its balance quite lot. Switching to ‘sRGB’ mode balances things out a lot more, but does make it a bit less exciting.
Pocket-lint
The 90Hz refresh rate ensure that when you touch the screen, or swipe at something in the interface, the response is immediate and smooth. It doesn’t reach the heights of the OnePlus 9 Pro’s 120Hz, and doesn’t feature the advanced adaptive refresh rate tech that adapts it to the content, but it’s impressively fluid and smooth for a mid-ranger.
That’s not the only element where you just about get the hint this isn’t a top tier panel.
For instance, despite being AMOLED, when the screen’s off (or black) it’s not quite as dark as the black frame around the panel, so you don’t get that blending effect, you can see where the bezel stops and the screen starts. There’s also a slight colour shift when you look at a white screen from different angles.
Just for a little perspective though, the fact we’re picking up on such non-issues as a slight negative shows two things: how competitive the mid-range market has become recently and how good this phone is for the money OnePlus is asking for it.
Part of the joy of OnePlus phones over the years is the customisation on offer from the OxygenOS software. We’ve already mentioned the ability to calibrate the screen to your exact liking, but there are also modes like Reading Mode which turns the screen monochrome for when you load up your favourite e-book app.
There’s not much new to report from a software side with the Nord CE. It’s the same as the software found in the OnePlus 9 series and OnePlus 8T that came before it. It’s OxygenOS 11 based on Android 11, which represented a major redesign when it first launched.
While OnePlus was often seen as a manufacturer offering a stock-like Android experience with lots of customisation choices, it no longer feels that way. Oppo’s ColourOS offers far more customisation of elements like the fingerprint scanner animation, always-on display, icon styles and shapes. OxygenOS by comparison feels quite stripped back and bare.
This does help it retain that feeling of ‘essentialism’ though. It has everything you need, presented in a clean and clutter free way. There aren’t any unecessary apps pre-loaded, and even core parts of the experience like phone, messages and software updates are now powered by Google’s own apps, rather than OnePlus’ own design.
Power and performance
Qualcomm Snapdragon 750G processor (8nm)
6GB, 8GB or 12GB RAM – 128GB or 256GB storage
4500mAh battery
30W fast charging
Where the Core Edition OnePlus Nord gets it right is the feeling of speed and fluidity under your fingertips. A big part of that, as mentioned, is down to the high refresh rate of the screen and the software. OnePlus has always done a great job of optimising its software animations to feel speedy.
That performance transitions well into games and apps too. Using it daily as a main phone, it never left us in any real need of more, despite ‘only’ having Snapdragon 750G. It’s not a top-tier platform, but just like the Snapdragon 765G that appeared in the first Nord, this one gets the job done without any trouble.
Playing Mario Kart Tour was a hassle-free and smooth experience, as was browsing the web, scrolling through Twitter and any other app we came across in our day-to-day phone usage.
Pocket-lint
Similarly, the 4500mAh battery inside is more than strong enough to cope with the most demanding of days. For the most part, with light usage, we’d finish the day with something like 40 per cent of the battery left over. That’s with the usual hour or so of web browsing and social media, plus a chunk of gaming.
Once empty it fills up quickly, as is typical OnePlus style. It uses a 30W wired charger, which OnePlus has clunkily named ‘Warp Charge 30T Plus’. In actual fact, it’s almost the same as Warp Charge 30T, in that it can fill 70 per cent of the battery in abut half an hour. It’s been a mainstay feature for OnePlus phones for many years and something of a lifesaver when you’ve forgotten to charge your phone or when it drains unexpectedly.
Cameras
Triple rear camera system:
64MP primary camera
8MP ultra-wide (119-degree)
2MP monochrome sensor
4K recording at 30fps
16MP selfie
Ah, OnePlus and cameras. It seems to be an age-old complaint of OnePlus phones having a not-quite-good-enough camera system. They’ve definitely improved the quality over the past couple of years, there’s no denying that, and for the most part the primary snapper on the Nord CE is decent.
Pocket-lint
You’ll get sharp photos with good colours and depth of field from the 64-megapixel sensor. It pixel bins down to 16-megapixel images automatically, so isn’t using all 64 million of those pixels individually. Not unless you enable it.
It has all the camera features you’d expect too. It’ll take portrait shots with excessive background blur, night mode shots, panoramas, timelapses, slow motion video and even has a ‘pro’ mode for adjusting ISO, white balance and shutter speed manually yourself.
There is one major weakness we’ve encoutered on the Nord CE’s primary lens however, and that’s focus distance. It really, really doesn’t like focusing on anything closer than about 13 or 14cm, which means close up shots of flowers, bugs, berries and the like are near-on impossible. You can see examples that would normally be simple shots, impossible because it refused to focus.
The only solution is either taking the photo from further away and cropping the photo in edit, or using the 2x zoom function to zoom in digitally when taking the photo.
We don’t expect super macro skills from an affordable mid-range necessarily, but we do expect it to at least handle close up focusing a bit better than this.
Without being too cricital though, having the 2x zoom and the seperate ultra-wide lens means you get enough versatility in shooting to make it useful in most situations. There’s a variety in focal lengths, but we do question the decision to put such a visually distinct different between them.
What we mean by that is there’s a noticeable drop in quality when switching from the main to the ultra-wide. Images lose some crispness, and appear visually more contrast heavy and darker, losing a lot of vibrancy in the colours while adding more noise, even in daylight. At times it also adds a hyper-real element to the colours where they just seem unnaturally saturated. It’s not the most consistent of cameras.
As for the third camera, that’s just a low resolution black and white sensor to act as a backup to the other two, bringing in some more light data.
Motorola’s new Moto G9 Plus is a stunner of a phone – find out why, right here
By Pocket-lint Promotion
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On the front, the selfie camera is decent enough with OnePlus’ HDR capability shining when it comes to balancing out heavy backlighting behind you when snapping pictures of yourself. So even if the sky and clouds look too bright to get a decent shot of your face, the system does well to make sure that it’s not over-exposed and washed out.
Verdict
OnePlus Nord ‘Core Edition’ is something of an unusual phone in its position. The first OnePlus Nord in itself was supposed to represent the core essentials of OnePlus phones. Stripped down, but without real compromise. So in essence, the OnePlus Nord CE is a Core Edition of a Core Edition phone. But that’s perhaps overthinking it a bit.
What really matters is that for the money you’re getting a phone without any significant flaws. It’s fast and responsive, is well-designed, has a good camera and a good screen. It’s comfortably one of the best phones in its price bracket.
We question the removal of the alert slider though. It was one of the few remaining fixtures that helped OnePlus phones stand out from its competition. Without it, it feels like OnePlus is doing more blending in with the environment. It’s transitioned away from standout phone maker, to just another phone maker and the CE is the culmination of that effort.
Alternatives to consider
Pocket-lint
OnePlus Nord
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The original Nord is still here, and still packs a punch. It’s fast, fluid, smooth and has a more premium glass back, slightly more powerful processor and is now discounted because it’s a bit older.
Read the review
Pocket-lint
Redmi Note 10 Pro
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The Redmi Note 10 Pro is one of 2021’s best value smartphones. It boasts similar specs and capabilities to the Nord CE, but is cheaper. Crucially, it has a bigger battery, bigger display and is water resistant.
Google may have shied away from a Pixel Watch, but a Pixel Fold still very much seems to be on the way — following a leak last August that revealed the company was planning to release its first folding Pixel phone in late 2021, Korean industry site TheElec is now reporting that Samsung will begin production of folding OLED panels this October for Google, Vivo and Xiaomi’s upcoming folding phones, all of which will reportedly be revealed late this year.
Google hasn’t exactly kept its folding phone ambitions a secret; in 2019, it published patent applications for its own folding screens and admitted it had been prototyping them for quite some time, telling CNET that it didn’t have “a clear use case yet.” But now, it appears Google has a foldable, codename “Passport,” that could be nearly ready to announce. 9to5Google even spotted a new reference to it last month in Android 12’s code, alongside other codenames believed to be the upcoming Pixel 6 and Pixel 5a 5G. TheElec says it’ll have a single 7.6-inch panel that folds inward, while Vivo’s upcoming phone will have a 8-inch main screen and a 6.5-inch outer display. It didn’t mention the size of the new Xiaomi phone’s screen.
It’s not clear whether a Pixel Fold would actually come with a display designed by Google itself, though it’s possible; Samsung acts as a contract manufacturer for many other companies, producing some of Apple’s homegrown processors. Either way, one portion of the screen’s sandwich may still largely belong to Samsung itself: ETNews reports that Samsung will supply its proprietary ultra-thin cover glass (which is technically made by German manufacturer Schott) to other smartphone manufacturers, and Google is expected to use it.
Xiaomi already announced a folding phone earlier this year, the Mi Mix Fold, but it sounds like it’ll have a second one. TheElec also reports Oppo will be delaying a new foldable phone to 2022, with a 7.1-inch main screen and a smaller one between 1.5 and 2 inches diagonally.
The Realme GT, Realme’s Snapdragon 888-equipped flagship phone, is coming to Europe and will sell for €549 (about $670) for a model with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, according to the company’s website. The price makes it among the cheapest Snapdragon 888 devices available to date, if not the cheapest. Xiaomi’s excellent-value Mi 11 started at €749 (~$910) for an 8GB / 128GB model, for comparison.
Realme says the GT will ship to Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Portugal, though the device isn’t currently available to actually order. It’s not clear which other European markets it’ll be available in when it does launch.
Realme announced the Chinese version of the GT in March. It started at 2,799 yuan there for the 8GB / 128GB model, or about $440 at current exchange rates. Madhav Sheth, CEO of Realme’s Indian and European business, confirmed last week that the GT would get a global launch — a performance-focused flagship model in June and a camera-focused flagship model in July.
The GT series will be a part of realme’s new flagship focusing on high-performance and image, respectively. This will not only allow us to achieve technological breakthroughs but will also keep us ahead of the market.
— Madhav Max 5G (@MadhavSheth1) June 3, 2021
It’s not quite clear yet how those models will differ in Europe spec-wise, but the Chinese version of the GT had a 64-megapixel primary camera with an 8-megapixel ultrawide and a 2-megapixel macro sensor, so there’s certainly room for improvement on the camera flagship. Elsewhere, the GT has a 6.43-inch 120Hz OLED display, up to 12GB of RAM, and a 4,500mAh battery with 65W fast charging.
Realme started out as a sub-brand of Oppo focused on the Indian market but quickly turned into a major force in its own right and is now focusing on capturing Europe with more premium devices. The launch of the GT follows last year’s €499 X3 Superzoom, which had a Snapdragon 855+ and a periscope telephoto lens.
Xiaomi has shown off its latest fast charging tech demo, and consequently is claiming the new world records for both wired and wireless charging speeds. Using a modified Mi 11 Pro with a 4,000mAh battery, Xiaomi says it’s able to fully charge the phone in 8 minutes over a 200W wired “HyperCharge” system, or in 15 minutes with 120W wireless charging.
Charging speeds are a frequent battleground for Chinese smartphone companies, who often release demonstrations of breakthroughs that may or may not show up in final products. Two years ago, for example, Xiaomi announced a 100W system that could charge a 4,000mAh battery in 17 minutes, while last year’s Mi 10 Ultra filled up in 23 minutes at 120W — though it did have a bigger 4,500mAh battery.
Oppo is another leader in this field, with its VOOC technology forming the basis of OnePlus’ Dash and Warp fast charging systems. Last year it demonstrated a 4,000mAh-in-20-minutes 125W system, though that was more than a year after Xiaomi’s supposedly faster 100W announcement, and the excellent current flagship Find X3 Pro charges at “only” 65W.
You can see Xiaomi’s latest effort here:
Progress is always welcome, and the thought of being able to fully charge a phone in eight minutes is certainly appealing. It’s worth noting, though, that these fast-charge systems always require proprietary chargers and cables, so they’ll mostly be used at home rather than in the emergency situations where they might be most useful. Ultimately, any given phone’s ability to make it through the day on its own juice will continue to be the more important factor for a while.
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There are plenty of buying guides for figuring out the best phone to buy at a given time, across a wide variety of prices. We have two of them, in fact. But if you’re a dyed-in-the-wool phone enthusiast, you don’t need a guide that’s going to give you the best rational recommendation. You need something that’s going to help you scratch your new gadget itch in the most satisfying way.
I’m here for you because, well, I’m one of you. This is the internet’s premiere buying guide for phone enthusiasts. We’re not going to focus on practical, rational choices, nor are we going to concern ourselves with budgets. These are the dream phones, the ones you buy not as a utilitarian tool, but for the fun of playing with a new piece of tech that you’ll probably sell or trade in for a loss in six months. I’m not even going to single out a specific model that you should buy, because you’re likely buying a new phone every year (or maybe more!) anyway. This is all about throwing caution to the wind, diving deep into a hobby, and buying something you don’t need but absolutely want. Budgets be damned.
Grab your cargo shorts, we’re going shopping.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 5GPhoto by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge
1. Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 5G
The best folding phone because you know you need one in your collection
Folding phones are the future, right? You can’t call yourself a Real Phone Enthusiast without one in your life. Hands down, the best folding phone you can buy right now is Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 2 5G. It’s got everything you might want from a modern smartphone, but it also opens up into a tablet-sized screen that lets you put more than one app side-by-side or look at a giant version of Google Maps. It’s easy to justify because you can tell yourself that you will get SO MUCH WORK done on it, right after you finish watching that YouTube video. Promise.
The Fold 2 costs more than most laptops, you have to baby it, and there’s a really good chance the screen will crack or break on you even if you are careful, but that’s just the price you have to pay to be on the bleeding edge.
Apple iPhone 12 MiniPhoto by Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge
2. Apple iPhone 12 Mini
The best iPhone for when you’re double-fisting an Android phone
Look, I know that you know that everyone in the world has an iPhone and it’s the farthest thing from an “interesting” phone. But at the same time, it’s hard to ignore what Apple’s doing, and really, iMessage and the Apple Watch are pretty great. Lots of people carry an iPhone alongside an Android phone, and you could be one of them.
The best iPhone for doing this is the iPhone 12 Mini. It does everything its bigger siblings can do, but it can easily fit in a secondary pocket and isn’t a burden to carry around. The battery life is kinda lousy, but who cares, that’s why you have a second phone on you anyway, right?
The Asus ROG Phone 5 Ultimate comes with a clip-on fan and has 18GB of RAM.Photo by Cameron Faulkner / The Verge
3. Asus ROG Phone 5 Ultimate
The best phone for seeing what this “gaming phone” trend is all about
Gaming phones are so hot right now (unless they’ve got a great cooling system) — it seems like a new model is released every three months. You can’t call yourself a true phone enthusiast without being up on this trend, and the best one to dip your toes into it with is the Asus ROG Phone 5 Ultimate.
The ROG Phone 5 Ultimate has a ton of features that can make any mobile accomplisher swoon. A massive battery. A ridiculously high refresh screen. An OLED screen on the back you can customize to show whatever you want. A bunch of accessories to make gaming better. 18GB of RAM! How could you not buy this phone?
Asus ROG Phone 5
$1,000
Prices taken at time of publishing.
The Asus ROG Phone 5 is the quintessential example of a modern gaming phone. It has over-the-top specs, lots of gaming accessories, and a head-turning design.
$1,000
at Asus
The Samsung Galaxy Note 20 UltraPhoto by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge
4. Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra
The best phone for pretending you’re going to use a stylus
Writing on a phone screen with a pen is so cool! It feels futuristic and is just so natural. At least, it is for the first week until you forget about it and it never leaves the little garage built into the side of the phone again.
If you’ve been telling yourself that little “I’m gonna be a stylus person” lie, you need a phone that supports one and it’s hard to see buying anything other than Samsung’s Galaxy Note 20. It’s got a low latency S Pen, a bunch of software features that can utilize the stylus, and all of the other bells and whistles of a modern smartphone, which means it works quite well long after you’ve forgotten about the stylus.
The Google Pixel 4A
5. Google Pixel 4A
The best phone for messing around with the Android 12 beta
Okay, I said I wasn’t going to recommend anything rational in this guide, but this is perhaps the recommendation that makes the most sense: if you want to mess around with the Android 12 beta but don’t want to install it on your main phone, you should just buy a Google Pixel 4A. It’s only $350 (that’s just $20 more than it costs to fix a broken screen on an iPhone 12 Pro Max) and can work with Google’s latest and greatest software even before it’s released to the public.
You know the Android betas are going to be messy — battery life is going to be bad, there will be lots of bugs, certain apps might not work correctly — so you don’t want to put it on a device you actually need to rely on. Once the beta period is over, the Pixel 4A is a great device for experimenting with the aftermarket ROM world. Get a Pixel 4A and flash those ROMs to your heart’s content.
The Microsoft Surface DuoPhoto by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge
6. Microsoft Surface Duo
The best phone for making people go “Whoa, is that a phone?”
As a phone enthusiast, you already know this harsh truth: the Microsoft Surface Duo is not a good phone. It has an old processor. The camera is worse than any iPhone of the past five years. The battery life is decidedly Not Great. It gets hot doing simple tasks. There are SO MANY software bugs. It’s got a generation-old version of Android. It doesn’t even support wireless charging or NFC payments! Oh yeah, and there’s that questionable build quality to worry about.
But there’s something undeniably cool about the Surface Duo, like it’s a device from the future coming here to bless us in the early 21st century. It’s so thin, it has two screens, the hinge is incredibly neat. Open it up in public and you’re sure to get someone to ask “wow, is that a phone?” which we all know is the ultimate goal here. You can then show them all of its cool features, right after it’s done rebooting itself for the fifth time that day.
Apple iPhone 12 Pro MaxPhoto by Becca Farsace / The Verge
7. Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max
The best phone for telling yourself that you don’t need an actual camera
For years now we’ve been told that phone cameras are so good that you don’t need an actual camera. The iPhone 12 Pro Max might be the best example of that yet. It’s got a bigger sensor! It’s got three focal lengths! It can shoot video in Dolby Vision HDR!
At the end of the day, it’s still a phone camera and can’t really hold a candle to the image quality or creative control you get with a larger mirrorless camera. But hey, it’s fun to live in that lie and you can totally see the difference between the 12 Pro Max images and other phones. When you blow them up on a big screen. And zoom in.
Oppo Find X3 ProPhoto by Sam Byford / The Verge
8. Oppo Find X3 Pro
The best phone for saying “you can’t get this in the US”
Perhaps the ultimate phone flex is pulling a phone out of your pocket that nobody else is going to have. If you’re in the US, the Oppo Find X3 Pro is that phone. It’s got features you can’t get on any American phone and a design you won’t see everywhere, like a microscope camera and softly rounded camera bump. Sure, it won’t really work great on the cellular networks here, importing it is an expensive hassle, and you won’t have any warranty whatsoever. But just think of the envy on your friends’ faces when you tell them they can’t have this phone.
Oppo Find X3 Pro
$1,178
Prices taken at time of publishing.
Oppo’s Find X3 Pro is the company’s latest flagship and it’s not sold in the US. It has a unique camera system and head-turning design that you won’t see on American phones.
$1,178
at Amazon
OnePlus 9 ProPhoto by Becca Farsace / The Verge
9. OnePlus 9 Pro
The best phone for when you realize that Pixel phones aren’t great, but you don’t want a Samsung either
Google’s Pixel phones have such great software and then… mediocre everything else. Samsung phones have incredible hardware but are laden with heavy software and actual ads inside of the stock apps. The OnePlus 9 Pro splits that difference — it has software that’s similar to Google’s on hardware that’s virtually a Samsung with a different logo on it.
The 9 Pro is just what the phone enthusiast ordered: a high-end, bells-and-whistles device with All Of The Specs but none of the cruft.
Samsung Galaxy Z FlipPhoto by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge
10. Samsung Z Flip 5G
The best weekend phone for when you’re “disconnecting”
Here comes the weekend, with all of its promises of relaxation and enjoyment. You don’t need a phone that’s going to make you more productive, you need something that’s going to slip into your pocket and won’t distract you with a colorful display unless you absolutely need it to.
The Z Flip 5G is this phone. You can flip it closed to ignore it and then pop it open and have a full smartphone inside, complete with every feature you get on non-flippy phones. You’re making a compromise without really making a compromise, because we all know that you had no intention of actually disconnecting for the weekend.
Smart device and audio specialist Oppo is today launching two new additions – the Enco Air true wireless earbuds and an Oppo 46mm wi-fi smartwatch.
The Chinese brand has expanded its wireless headphone offering to include the Oppo Enco Air earbuds, which promise to combine “lightning-fast Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity with an ergonomic and lightweight design” – a design that’s clearly aimed squarely at the best AirPods alternative market but with a clever translucent-lidded case (so you’ll always know they’re actually in there).
(Image credit: Oppo)
The Oppo Enco Air earbuds come with a Vocal Enhancement mode as standard. Under the bonnet there’s a 12mm dynamic driver with dedicated bass duct in tow, thus promising deep bass and clear highs, plus a dynamic, real-time algorithm to adjust signal – which should allow those voices to stand out from the instrumental.
In terms of stamina, Oppo says the earbuds feature a battery with fast charging that allows up to four hours play from the buds on just a single, 10-minute charge – that is efficient – and 24 hours of total battery life.
Aside from the audio tech, the Enco Air earbuds have also been thoughtfully designed for comfort. The company says that the design (weighing in at only 4g per earpiece) has been user-tested on over 400 different ear shapes to ensure a perfect fit for all customers. This, combined with an IPX4 splash-resistance rating, makes them an interesting budget proposition on paper.
(Image credit: Oppo)
The Oppo 46mm Smart Watch, powered with Wear OS by Google, features a 1.9 inch AMOLED display plus the full suite of Google apps and services – including Google Pay and Google Maps. The AI watch-face design can synchronise to match any outfit thanks to the HeyTap Health app and, with a wide range of wrist strap colours available, it’s never been easier to switch styles. Regarding the frame, Oppo says the 46mm WiFi Watch has been sculpted in a 6,000 series aluminium alloy and is available in a Black finish.
Through Google FitTM1, the wearable enables access to reams of tracked exercises in addition to its key, wrist-based five-minute workouts with voice coaching. With a summer out of lockdown on the horizon, Oppo promises its 46mm WiFi Watch will take the sting out of training and help keep you fit on-the-move. For those out from morning until night, the Watch VOOC Flash Charging allows users to build up 16 hours of power from just one, 15-minute fast charge too.
Ready for prices? The Oppo Enco Air true wireless headphones are available now in a choice of white, black or light blue, for £69 (around $98 or AU$126, although those prices are unconfirmed) and the Oppo 46mm Smart Watch is also available from Oppo’s e-store or Amazon, for £279 (around $395 or AU$510).
MORE:
See our pick of the best cheap wireless earbuds under £100
Slightly stretchier budget? These are the best wireless earbuds 2021
Need noise cancelling? Here’s our summary of the best noise cancelling earbuds 2021
Qualcomm has announced a new 700-series chipset for mobile devices: the Snapdragon 778G 5G. It will start appearing in premium midrange phones from manufacturers including Motorola, Xiaomi, Realme, Honor, Oppo, and iQOO in the next few months, bringing with it some video capture and AI capabilities borrowed from the Snapdragon 888, the current chipset of choice for flagship Android phones. The company has also made a couple of other announcements today designed to get 5G connectivity into more tech.
The Snapdragon 778G offers three image-signal processors, or ISPs — a feature Qualcomm touted in its flagship 888 chipset, and also appears in the higher-end 780G. This makes it possible to capture photos and video from three different cameras at once. You can easily switch between different cameras’ video feeds during recording ala Samsung’s director view on the Snapdragon 888-powered S21 series.
The processor also supports cameras with staggered HDR sensors like the 50-megapixel chip in the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra for better HDR video recording. The 778G also includes some improvements for more GPU-efficient mobile gaming, and things like better noise suppression and camera experiences on video calls. Both mmWave and sub-6GHz 5G are supported, as well as Wi-Fi 6.
In “more 5G in more places” news, Qualcomm is also making M.2 reference designs available for current OEM customers of its X65 and X62 5G modems. This makes it easier for laptop, desktop, gaming, and IoT manufacturers to incorporate 5G connectivity into their products. The company is also debuting a new X65 5G modem, which Qualcomm says is more energy efficient and offers wider support of mmWave frequencies. It will start appearing in commercial mobile devices later this year, the company says.
Exclusive: After the Galaxy Z Fold and Galaxy Z Flip, Samsung is preparing for the introduction of its first rollable smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy Z Roll.
Ahead of the Display Week 2021 conference, Samsung Display showed its new generation OLED screens yesterday. These included an S Foldable, a Slidable and a Rollable device. So far, the display devices have only been demonstrated by Samsung’s display division. The question therefore remains when will Samsung Electronics integrate these new types of screens for the first time and what will be the name of these devices?
Today we can already unveil you the name of Samsung’s upcoming rollable smartphone, as Samsung Electronics has applied for a remarkable trademark at the European Union Intellectual Property Office.
Samsung Z Roll rollable smartphone
On May 18, 2021, Samsung Electronics filed a trademark for “Z Roll”. The application is categorized as Class 9 and comes with the following description.
Samsung Z Rolltrademark description: “Smartphones; mobile telephones; tablet computers; telecommunication apparatus; electronic pens for smartphones and tablet computers “.
Based on the name “Roll”, it is very likely that this device will have a rollable display. The “Z” seems to refer to the series, all smartphones with a folding screen are housed in the Galaxy Z series. This application shows that Samsung intends to place its rollable smartphones within the same series.
The name does not come as a complete surprise. In November last year, we already suggested that Z Roll would be a very appropriate name for Samsung’s rollable smartphone. After the Galaxy Z Fold and the Galaxy Z Flip, this time it seems to be the turn of the Samsung Galaxy Z Roll.
For the time being, it remains unclear when Samsung will announce its first smartphone with retractable display. Perhaps that we will hear more about this futuristic device in August 2021, during the Galaxy Unpacked event where the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Galaxy Z Flip 3 foldable smartphones are also expected. However, it will likely take until 2022 before the Z Roll gets released.
From the images released by Samsung Display, it can be concluded that the slidable smartphone is a regular-sized smartphone in its most compact form. In portrait mode, the screen can be pulled out to the right, after which the screen area is enlarged by approximately 30%. The extra screen part can serve, among other things, for displaying system icons or a messaging app.
Over time, LetsGoDigital has reported several times about a Samsung phone with a retractable screen. For example, in mid-2019 we already managed to track down a patent for a Samsung Galaxy smartphone that could be pulled out in width – as shown in the image below.
At the beginning of this year, we also reported on a slide smartphone from Samsung where the screen could be enlarged by about 30%. Rumors have been going on for some time about a rollable Samsung smartphone. At the beginning of 2020, a retractable Samsung Galaxy phone was already shown to a limited group of people during CES.
Samsung is not the only manufacturer that sees a future in rollable phones. For a long time it was thought that the LG Rollable would become the first slidable smartphone, however the development of this device has been discontinued now that LG Electronics has officially stopped the production of smartphones.
Oppo also showed a retractable phone last year. However, the Oppo x 2021 was just a concept, the company has indicated that it has no plans yet to actually release this device. More recently, TCL also showed a special concept of a Fold ‘n Roll smartphone. It is certainly not inconceivable that Samsung will become the very first manufacturer to actually release a rollable smartphone.
Here you can take a look at the trademark of Samsung Electronics for Z Roll.
For those wondering why the name “Samsung Electronics” is not mentioned in the PDF, it appears that Samsung simply has not paid the bill for the application yet – which is for the first time. In our system, however, the name “Samsung Electronics” immediately comes up as the rightful owner of this trademark. In addition, the application was submitted by intermediary Abril Abogados from Spain, this company has more often been responsible for filing European trademarks for the South Korean manufacturer, including for the name Samsung Z Fold.
Ilse is a Dutch journalist and joined LetsGoDigital more than 15 years ago. She is highly educated and speaks four languages. Ilse is a true tech-girl and loves to write about the future of consumer electronics. She has a special interest for smartphones, digital cameras, gaming and VR.
Google unveiled Android 12 at its opening I/O 2021 keynote, and now you can try the new update yourself as part of the first public beta. The Android 12 public beta is currently available for Google’s Pixel phones (Pixel 3 and up) and will also come to devices from OnePlus, Lenovo, Asus, Oppo, Realme, Sharp, Tecno, TCL, Vivo, Xiaomi, and ZTE. You can enroll your Pixel phone on Google’s Android beta site or find specific instructions for other supported phones on the Android Developers page.
Android 12 brings a cornucopia of new features, but the most exciting are the new visuals. Along with new animations, widgets, and a modified lock screen, Android 12 also offers theming, with the ability to change the colors used across the OS just by changing your wallpaper. Not all of the dramatic visual changes will be available in this first beta, but they should roll out over time as we get closer to release.
Google is tweaking other aspects of the Android experience as well, like notifications and quick settings. It’s also making some improvements to privacy and security, with indicators for when your phone’s camera or microphones are in use, and easier access to all of your apps’ various permissions in one dashboard. For a more in-depth look at Android 12, you can check out our full preview.
Google patent describes in detail how the search engine giant wants to implement an under-screen camera in future Google Pixel smartphones.
Smartphone manufacturers have invested heavily in reducing the bezels in recent years, in order to create a beautiful edge-to-edge display. However, this poses some challenges, in particular because there is too little space left to integrate the front camera and sensors in the bezel. Currently, a punch-hole camera system is widely used, a small hole is made in the screen to accommodate the selfie camera.
The next step is the under-screen camera, as ZTE has already implemented with the Axon 20. It is expected that several phone manufacturers will release their first smartphone with a under-screen camera this year, including Samsung, Xiaomi and Oppo. Nevertheless, this new technology is not so easy to apply, without compromising image quality. Google has come up with an ingeniously solution, according to a new patent.
Google smartphone with under-display selfie camera
In mid-September 2020, Google LLC filed for a patent with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The 23-page documentation entitled “Full-screen display with sub-display camera” was released on May 6, 2021 and describes a Google Pixel smartphone with a front camera embedded under the screen.
The documentation makes mention of a Google phone with an OLED display panel. The front camera is placed under the screen. To make this possible, an extra display panel is integrated, an OLED panel with the same pixel density will be used for this.
It is not the first time that we report on the integration of a sub-display to support the under-screen camera technology. At the beginning of this year, Samsung filed a similar patent. However, Google wants to integrate this auxiliary display in a different way.
The camera sensor and lens are placed under the screen. The second screen is placed directly opposite the camera, it is located under the main screen. A prism or mirror is placed between the camera and the auxiliary display – as illustrated in the patent image above.
When the camera is not in use, the content displayed on the second screen is reflected through the prism on the main display. As soon as the camera is activated, the prism rotates in such a way that incoming light can reach the camera, enabling the user to take high-quality photo and video recordings. The optical module is shielded by a window that is about 2 to 3 mm in size, according to the documentation.
The small auxiliary display also contains three sensors. The type of sensor can be further determined, such as an ambient sensor, a proximity sensor and / or an IR sensor. The latter can be used to enable 3D face detection.
With the Google Pixel 5, Face Unlock was omitted to make way for a fingerprint sensor. Nevertheless, it was indicated at the time that Face Unlock may return in future models.
Google Pixel 7 may be first model to feature a camera under the screen
For the time being, it remains unclear when the first Google smartphone with an under-display camera will be announced. It was briefly assumed that the Google Pixel 6 (Pro), which is expected in the second half of 2021, will have such a new type of selfie camera.
Recently, however, the first product renders of this device appeared online, showing a punch-hole camera system. This may mean that we have to be patient until 2022 when the Google Pixel 7 series will be introduced.
However, there is another option. In December last year, display analyst Ross Young reported via Twitter that Google will present its first foldable smartphone in the second half of 2021. Details about this device are still very scarce, but Google may see an opportunity to equip its folding phone with this new camera technology. Just as it is expected that the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 will also have an under-display camera, this foldable phone is expected around August 2021. In any case, it doesn’t seem to be the question as to whether Google will launch an under-screen camera smartphone, but when …
Here you can take a look at the documentation of the Google smartphone with under-screen camera.
Ilse is a Dutch journalist and joined LetsGoDigital more than 15 years ago. She is highly educated and speaks four languages. Ilse is a true tech-girl and loves to write about the future of consumer electronics. She has a special interest for smartphones, digital cameras, gaming and VR.
Last week Oppo confirmed its plans to extend software support for the Find X-series to three years and now vivo is doing the same for its X-series. Models launched after July 2021 will be eligible for three major Android OS upgrades and security updates.
Featuring top of the line hardware, the X series flagship phones are built to last and we want to make sure that our customers get software support that lives up to their expectations.
We always innovate with the user in mind. With this pledge, we are making a promise to our customers that they will be able to enjoy a premium smartphone experience for an extended period and continue to benefit from the latest software features – Yujian Shi, SVP and CTO of vivo.
According to the press release vivo phones launched in the European, Australian and Indian markets are eligible for extended software support. Older X-series phones will still get regular security updates.
Vivo’s upcoming X-series flagship phones will receive three years of Android OS upgrades and security updates, the company announced today. The policy will come into force for phones launched after July 2021 in Europe, Australia, and India.
“We are making a promise to our customers that they will be able to enjoy a premium smartphone experience for an extended period and continue to benefit from the latest software features,” Vivo’s CTO and senior vice president Yujian Shi said in a statement.
With today’s announcement, Vivo is joining a small but growing group of Android manufacturers promising three years of OS updates for their flagship smartphones. Google has long had a similar policy for its Pixel phones. Last year, Samsung announced a “three generation” OS policy covering some Galaxy devices, joined by HMD in April with a promise of two years of Android OS updates and three years of security updates on its new X-series phones. Even LG said it would offer three years of Android OS updates the same week it announced it was exiting the smartphone business. This year, Samsung added that select devices would also get an additional year of security updates, for a total of four years of support.
Three years of OS updates is a big improvement over the two years that’s previously been the standard for most Android manufacturers, but in the future this could extend to as much as four years. Last December, Google and chip manufacturer Qualcomm announced they were working to make it easier for manufacturers to offer as much as four generations of Android OS and security updates, starting with devices equipped with Qualcomm’s latest flagship processor, the Snapdragon 888.
Vivo’s new policy puts it ahead of fellow BBK Electronics smartphone brands OnePlus and Oppo. As of 2018, OnePlus’s official policy has been to offer two years of Android version upgrades and three years of security updates. Meanwhile, the most recent statement we could find from Oppo (via AusDroid)says the company offers two years of security updates, and that it’s general policy is to offer two generations of Android OS updates. Today’s announcement will undoubtedly create pressure on Oppo and OnePlus to follow Vivo’s example.
These figures pale in comparison to Apple’s update history. Last year it released the latest version of iOS, version 14, on devices as old as 2015’s iPhone 6S, the fifth major update to have come to the phone.
(Pocket-lint) – Oppo has enjoyed some successes recently; with some players faltering, such as Huawei, it’s clear that Oppo is attempting to step into the vacuum that’s been left behind.
The Oppo Find X3 Pro received rave reviews as a flagship. It’s also flanked by a couple of devices that share its name: the Find X3 Neo is, basically, built on the previous year’s flagship hardware, while the cheapest of the bunch is this, the Find X3 Lite.
Despite the ‘Lite’ name, however, good performance continues, with plenty that’s enjoy in this mid-range phone.
Design & Build
Dimensions: 159.1 x 73.4 x 7.9mm / Weight: 172g
3.5mm headphone socket
If you’re a follower of Oppo phones, you might get caught off guard but the shuffle in naming convention. The Find X3 Lite effectively rivals much of what the Find X2 Neo offered, but does make a couple of sacrifices to achieve its price point.
Pocket-lint
One area that doesn’t seem to have been sacrificed, however, is the build. The Find X3 Lite is a quality device, with Gorilla Glass 5 on the front and rear to help protect against scratches, and an aluminium frame holding everything together. There’s a clear case in the box too, to keep things looking fresh.
As is often the case on affordable devices there’s a 3.5mm headphone socket. However, there’s no stereo speaker offering: it’s a mono affair, with the speaker on the bottom of the phone providing the power – and it’s easily blocked when holding the phone in landscape orientation, such as when playing games.
The Oppo Find X3 family have differing designs, so there’s no sculpted bump on the rear for the Lite’s cameras, it’s a lot more conventional – but we like the looks, especially on this Starry Black version where it’s slightly less prominent than some.
Pocket-lint
In line with the Lite name there’s no waterproofing on this model, as you’ll find elsewhere in the range.
Display
6.4-inch AMOLED panel, 2400 x 1080 resolution, 90Hz refresh
There’s a flat display on the Find X3 Lite, with minimal bezels for a smart look. A punch-hole sits in the top left-hand corner for the front camera, a convenient position for those playing games in landscape, as this corner generally is covered by your left hand, so you don’t have a hole getting in the way of your game.
It’s an AMOLED display, measuring 6.4-inches on the diagonal, with a Full HD+ resolution That’s become the average for this size and type of device, with many flagships now sticking to similar resolution for the sake of battery life.
Pocket-lint
There’s a 90Hz refresh rate, helping to smooth out some of your scrolling content, with the option to switch back to 60Hz if you prefer – although this is fairly buried within the settings so we doubt that anyone will bother to make that change. Again, it’s a typical setting for this level of device, with an increasing number of devices over the past 12 months offering a faster refresh.
You’ll note that the touch sampling rate is 180Hz, slower than many of the top devices, and while this doesn’t matter to a lot of people, it’s one area where Oppo is keeping a tight check on things to deliver at this price point.
The display is vibrant, delivering a great palette of colours, looking great whether you’re browsing online, gaming or watching movies. It’s not the brightest display around, so it struggles a little in brighter outdoor conditions and you may have to bump the brightness up or down a little to suit the conditions you’re in.
Pocket-lint
There’s a fingerprint scanner under the display too, which provides fast unlocking and has proven generally reliable, although it only takes a little dust or water to disturb it.
Hardware and performance
Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G 5G, 8GB RAM
4,300mAh battery, 65W fast-charging
128GB storage
The hardware loadout fits with those great mid-range devices from 2020. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G found here is good solid hardware that’s delivered many great phones in the recent past. Technically, that’s now been replaced with the Snapdragon 780G, but the Find X3 Lite was launched before that hardware was available.
That’s not a huge loss: while there might be some incremental improvements to performance, you’re still getting a great device for the asking price. Indeed, the Motorola Moto G100 uses that newer hardware, but is quite a bit more expensive than the X3 Lite.
Pocket-lint
Performance wise, there’s little to complain about. We’ve been playing a full run of games on the Find X3 Lite and they play perfectly smoothly, while everything else is slick and fast. There’s not really anything in performance terms that fits with the Lite name – it’s a great experience.
There’s no microSD card support, however, so you’re looking at 128GB storage being your all.
Where Oppo is adding some excitement is with 65W charging. That’s thanks to the SuperVOOC 2.0 technology and the chunky charger that you’ll find in the box. What this means is you’ll be able to recharge the phone’s battery at blistering speed – from zero to full in around 35 minutes.
There is battery management software that will attempt to control the charging speeds to preserve battery health though, so that short time-frame isn’t always feasible. This software monitors your usage patterns and will charge the battery slowly as applicable, if you’re in the habit of charging overnight, to ensure it’ll last longer over an extended period of ownership.
Pocket-lint
However, this can be irritating at times – especially if you only have time for a short charge overnight, because the automatic system doesn’t seem to recognise the difference between you plugging it on at the normal time, or 6 hours later, meaning you can wake up with a phone that’s not charged if you don’t have the, for example, full 8 hours on the charger that you’d normally get.
We also found that this setting had a habit of turning itself back on, even when we’d turned it off. The best solution, in reality, is a short quick charge during the day and leaving your phone off the charger at night. That should work out for most people, because the battery life of the Find X3 Lite is good, easily lasting through the day, including a few hours of gaming.
Motorola’s new Moto G9 Plus is a stunner of a phone – find out why, right here
By Pocket-lint Promotion
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Cameras
Quad rear camera system:
Main: 64-megapixel, f/1.7 aperture
Ultra-wide: 8MP, f/2.4
Macro: 2MP, f/2.4
Mono: 2MP, f/2.4
Front: 32MP, f/2.4
Oppo plays the typical 2021 mid-range phone game, plastering the rear of the camera with sensors so it can claim it’s a “quad camera”. There’s the appearance of the low-resolution macro sensor – which isn’t anything to get excited about – and there’s also a 2-megapixel “mono camera”.
Pocket-lint
This mono lens notionally feeds data into the portrait system to improve its performance. Portrait is offered on the front camera from a single lens, suggesting to us that it’s simply an unnecessary feature.
The portrait performance isn’t especially good anyway, with the edge detection a little crude. The bokeh effect needs to be set at the time of taking the photo because you can’t adjust it once the picture is taken. Yes, there are options to increase the blur, but unlike the options from Samsung or Google Pixel, for example, you can’t reduce the level of the blur if you find the effect too strong.
The Lite’s front camera is reasonable: we can’t fathom why it’s a 32-megapixel sensor as that doesn’t really deliver any benefits. There’s no pixel binning, as it pumps out 32-megapixel images which just take up more storage and need more data to share. It will give you a decent shot in good conditions, but you’ll need to use the night mode in low-light as it gets noisy rather quickly in less than perfect situations.
The rear camera sees a headline 64-megapixel main, which is par for the course. This is very much about appearing to keep up with rivals than actually delivering better images – but again, it’s typical for this level of phone.
Here there is some pixel binning, with 16-megapixel images as a result by default. If you want to shoot at full 64-megapixel resolution you have the option to turn that on in normal photo mode; there’s also an Extra HD mode which oversamples to give a 108-megapixel image.
Visually, those images basically look the same (the Extra HD mode loses the AI scene optimisation), but greater resolution gives the potential to zoom and crop – although the detail is rather mushy and we can’t see anyone really wanting to do this.
With all that said, the main camera puts in a decent performance for this price of phone and you’ll get decent photos from it in most conditions. There’s no zoom, however, which is a slight limitation, only offering digital zoom.
The ultra-wide camera puts in an average performance, although we like the options this introduces from a usability perspective. However, there is a colour shift between this and the main camera, as well as blurring as you move out of the centre of the frame.
As with many phones in this price category, the Lite will probably do everything you want it to do – as well as a whole load of stuff you don’t want it to do. Just don’t fall for the “quad camera” system marketing and stick to main lens and there’s a perfectly usable single camera on the rear.
Software
Google Android 11 OS
Oppo ColorOS 11
Like many brands, Oppo goes to town customising Google’s Android operating system with its own ColorOS setup. ColorOS has seen great improvements over recent years to make it a lot more usable and approachable – and the offering on the Find X3 Lite isn’t too bad.
There isn’t too much bloat or duplication – except for photos, music, and an app to help you relax you’ll likely never use – but with Google Messages, Gboard and Chrome all in place, there’s not too much messing around needed to get to the services you want. Access to Google Discover from the home screen is welcomed too.
Pocket-lint
But beneath this, ColorOS changes the look and feel of many areas of Android 11. It gives you plenty of options for customisation, but some things fall down the cracks too.
Notifications seem to be particularly irksome: some applications have failed to deliver notifications consistently, we’ve also found that “bedtime mode” – part of the digital wellbeing suite – took about a week to figure out how to run to the schedule we gave it.
Some of these might just be teething troubles, but the experience doesn’t feel quite as slick as the software on the Samsung Galaxy A52 5G, which is a close rival to this phone.
At the same time, we’ve not found the software to get in the way: once you’re in your favourite app or game things run very much as they should.
Verdict
There’s a lot that’s interesting about the Oppo Find X3 Lite: the core hardware is solid, the display is good, and fast battery charging is a real benefit.
The niggles are also fairly minor: the over-sell on the cameras, the single speaker that’s easily blocked, and some software quirks that seem to block notifications. Despite this running on year-old hardware, it’s still a capable phone, and the Lite naming is perhaps an undersell considering how much you get for your money.
But over the past 12 months, this has emerged as the most competitive smartphone segment: there are better camera performers on this hardware (Pixel 4a 5G), there are better displays in this position (Samsung Galaxy A52 5G) and lots of options besides.
Also consider
Pocket-lint
Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
Samsung’s budget offering sits a little lower in the hardware stakes, but offers waterproofing – which is rare at this level – as well as a great 120Hz display.
Read our full review
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Pocket-lint
Redmi Note 10 Pro
Redmi offers blistering value for money, although this is a 4G model only and on slightly lower hardware – but you still get a lot of phone for your money.
Read our full review
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Writing by Chris Hall. Editing by Mike Lowe.
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