Is this what the promising LG Rollable will look like? Read here about the expectations and latest developments regarding LG’s rollable smartphone.
For months there has been talk about the rollable smartphone from LG Electronics that is under development. The interest in this device has been aroused in part by LG itself, which has shown various teasers of this unique and futuristic mobile phone throughout the past year. The LG Rollable will be introduced in 2021, the South Korean manufacturer announced during the CES fair at the beginning of this year. The company has now registered numerous patents for various smartphone designs with a retractable screen.
In February this year, LetsGoDigital reported on a patent from LG Electronics for a rollable smartphone with a second screen on the back. Based on the images in that patent, graphic designer TS Designer has made various 3D product renders to better visualize this unique phone model. The device is shown in three trendy colors: silver, green and purple.
Due to the unique form factor, no folding line is visible with this device. In its most compact form, part of the retractable screen is stored in the housing. The curved display provides an extra futuristic look. With a simple push of a button, the roll-out process can be initiated, after which the screen increases in size by approximately 40%. The roll-up display is supported by a frame, which can be extended thanks to a rail system.
LG has applied a second screen on the back. It’s quite a large screen with an elongated notch on the right for the triple camera with flash. The camera system looks a lot like the one from the LG Wing, which was LG’s first ‘Explorer Project’ smartphone. The LG Rollable should become the second device within this series.
As LG also fitted a display on the back, it can serve as a viewfinder while taking selfies. This eliminates the need to implement a front camera. With the Rollable that LG showed earlier this year, there was also no notch or punch-hole camera visible. It is therefore not inconceivable that the LG Rollable also has a second display on the back.
To display the patented LG Rollable smartphone in all its glory, TS Designer has made the following video animation, in which the rolling process is extensively demonstrated.
Previous rumors have shown that the LG Rollable will most likely incorporate a 6.8-inch display that can be pulled out to a 7.4-inch screen. The roll-up display is manufactured in collaboration with the Chinese display manufacturer BOE.
Last week, the LG Rollable (model number LM-R910N) received the Bluetooth SIG certificate, XDA Developers reported. The Bluetooth 5.2 certificate mentions a “end product”, which indicates that LG’s rollable smartphone is ready to enter the market. Initially it seemed the intention that the device would be introduced in March. Last month, however, it already became clear that we still have to be patient until September. At least if nothing intervenes…
There are serious doubts about the future of LG’s mobile division. Continued negative business results seem to be reason for LG to stop its smartphone production altogether. The company has been looking for a buyer for some time now. As there was not much progress in the negotiations for a possible takeover, LG intends to officially announce next month that it will stop producing LG smartphones, The Korea Herald reported last week.
LG Electronics has not yet responded, so nothing has been confirmed yet. Officially, the LG Rollable is still on the schedule for 2021. After the smartphone received the Bluetooth certificate in mid-March, many thought that the rollable smartphone would be officially announced within a few months. There’s a real chance however that the LG Rollable will never be released after all.
The company may see an opportunity to use the knowledge gained for rollable display technology for smartphones from other manufacturers. After all, the display division will continue to exist. LG is not the only manufacturer that sees a future in rollable phones. TCL already showed a prototype a year ago and Oppo introduced the Oppo x 2021 at the end of last year. However, both Chinese manufacturers have no intention to actually release these rollable devices. In addition, it is known Samsung also has a retractable Galaxy phone in development, the same goes for Xiaomi.
Speaking of Samsung, this South Korean manufacturer appears to be planning to release its first dual foldable phone in late 2021. Also a futuristic model that can be folded twice. This gives the user an even larger display surface when folded out, with a pleasant standard screen ratio of 16:9 or 18:9. All in all, there will be plenty of innovative smartphone models to follow. In the coming period, more will undoubtedly become clear about the future of LG’s mobile division and the now market-ready rollable smartphone.
Note to editors :The concept renders in this publication are created in corporation with graphic designer TS Designer. The presented product images are for illustrative purposes only. The images are copyright protected. Feel free to use the pictures on your own website, please be so respectful to include a source link into your publication.
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.
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The Realme 8 Pro is a good, inexpensive Android phone that you probably shouldn’t buy right now — at least if you’re in the US. But it’s also a preview of positive things to come to the midrange class, especially in terms of camera hardware. I have seen the future of smartphone imaging around the $400 price point, and it is good.
If you’re not familiar, Realme is a Chinese company that started off as a sub-brand of Oppo; like OnePlus, it was founded by a former Oppo vice president. Its phones are sold in China, India, and Europe. Although, you can technically buy a global version of the phone and use it in the US, but we wouldn’t recommend it. It’s not compatible with many of the 4G bands we use in the states, so coverage won’t be great.
The 8 Pro uses a relatively new 108-megapixel Samsung sensor. It’s the same pixel count as the main camera in the Galaxy S21 Ultra, but a different, smaller chip designed for budget-friendlier phones. As in the S21 Ultra, the point of this technology isn’t to take 108-megapixel images (though you can do that if you want). It’s to combine information from groups of pixels to create a better optimized 12-megapixel final image.
There are other reasons to like the Realme 8 Pro. Considering its £279 (about $380) price, performance is very good, owing to a strong combination in its Snapdragon 720G processor and 6GB of RAM. Battery life is healthy and the phone supports 50W fast wired charging. Depending on how you feel about inspirational corporate branding, I guess the “DARE TO LEAP” printed on the back of the phone could be a plus (not my thing, personally).
But the camera impressed me the most, and it’s a component that will likely make its way into many more midrange phones sold around the globe. Let’s take a closer look.
The 8 Pro offers standard wide and ultrawide cameras, plus macro and depth-sensing modules.
Realme 8 Pro camera
In case you need a reminder at any point of how many pixels the main camera offers, you can simply look at the back of the phone where you’ll find “108 MP QUAD CAMERA” etched on the camera bump. Specifically, it’s Samsung’s 1/1.52-inch Isocell HM2 sensor coupled with an f/1.9 lens.
Unfortunately, there’s no optical image stabilization here, but maybe owing to the image processing tricks this high-res sensor can pull off, I didn’t notice a significant number of blurry shots that OIS might have corrected. Other rear cameras include an 8-megapixel ultrawide, 2-megapixel macro, and a 2-megapixel depth-sensing camera. There’s a 16-megapixel selfie camera on the front.
The main camera is able to do a couple of interesting things. In bright daylight, it can use all 108 million pixels individually, using different pixels to capture your scene at multiple exposure levels at once, and combining the information into a 12-megapixel final image. In low light, the camera switches things up and uses binning to combine pixels into groups of nine, effectively turning relatively small individual pixels — 0.7μm to be precise — into much larger 2.1μm sized pixels, which helps produce less noisy images.
Photos in bright light look good as expected. There’s an impressive amount of detail captured, though some overzealous sharpening is evident if you zoom in to 100 percent. Colors are a bit too saturated for my liking; there’s no amount of lawn fertilizer in the world that would make my yard look as green as the 8 Pro thinks it is. It seems more prone to this oversaturation with landscapes and is thankfully less aggressive with portrait mode photos. Portrait mode photos look good, and I appreciate that the camera doesn’t crop in when switching to this mode.
Taken with ultrawide
Taken with ultrawide
Taken with night mode
Taken with ultrawide
Dim indoor lighting and low light are where phone cameras typically struggle, but the 8 Pro turns in an impressive performance in these conditions. In moderate lighting, images are surprisingly detailed and show little noise. The camera’s night mode will bring out even more detail, though it does apply a distracting amount of sharpening and contrast.
I had, frankly, low expectations for the 8 Pro’s digital 3x zoom, but I’m pleased to report that it’s much better than I feared. In good light and even moderate indoor lighting, images show a lot of detail and I’m hard-pressed to find the unpleasant artifacts that usually appear in digitally zoomed images.
The camera isn’t just cropping in on a 108-megapixel image, either. Comparing them side by side at 100 percent, a photo taken with 3x digital zoom shows more detail and looks less noisy than a crop of a 108-megapixel image. The Samsung HM2’s pixel binning powers are being put to work here, too, and the result is digital zoom that is actually worth your time.
There’s not as much exciting news to report about the 8 Pro’s other cameras; they do just fine. The ultrawide is prone to some subtle but unpleasant color shifts: white balance can skew too warm and blue skies sometimes look a little gray. The macro camera is a low-resolution sensor that is little more than a gimmick, and the selfie camera thankfully avoids over-smoothing faces at its default setting. All fair for a phone at this price.
The 8 Pro’s processor and RAM combination are more than sufficient for everyday tasks and scrolling.Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge
Realme 8 Pro performance and screen
Outside of cameras, the Realme 8 Pro is a thoroughly capable midrange phone. Battery life is sufficient to get through a day of moderate to heavy use and the aforementioned processor / RAM combo handles day-to-day app scrolling and tasks with ease. The 6.4-inch 1080p OLED with standard 60Hz refresh rate is fine but nothing special, and I had to fight with auto brightness insisting on making the screen too dim on a couple of occasions.
There’s the flashy branding on the rear of the device, which is either your kind of thing or not. The Realme 8 Pro doesn’t support 5G at all, which is something to consider if you’re in the UK and thinking of buying the phone.
My biggest gripe, though, is with the optical in-display fingerprint sensor. I’d say at least a third of the time when I unlocked the phone it required more than one try to read my finger. A couple of times — both outside in bright daylight — it gave up and had me enter my PIN instead. If this was going to be my forever phone, I’d probably skip the fingerprint sensor and just stick with a PIN, personally.
The Realme 8 Pro is the kind of midrange phone that we don’t see very often in the US: great performance and decent all-around specs combined with an excellent camera, all for what would equate to a sub-$400 price.
Phones that meet this description are surprisingly scarce stateside; in fact, its closest equivalent is probably the Pixel 4A, which we’ve recommended as the best low-cost Android phone essentially since it became available last summer. The 8 Pro goes a step beyond the 4A in some respects by offering an ultrawide rear camera and fast charging. If it came down to it, though, we’d probably still favor the Pixel for its very good device support and excellent lone rear camera.
If you live in the UK and you don’t care much about class-leading display specs and the lack of 5G doesn’t bother you, the 8 Pro has a camera and a processor that will keep up for many years to come. For the rest of us, the 8 Pro is (hopefully) a sign of good camera hardware coming our way soon.
The LG V30.Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
The US smartphone market just got more boring
If you’re reading this on a phone, chances are, LG didn’t make it. The Korean tech giant has been losing money and market share with its smartphone division for years, so it wasn’t a surprise when it finally announced plans to pull the plug today. You could be forgiven for shrugging.
But LG deserves to be remembered as more than just an also-ran. Its phones were rarely big hits, much less often the kind of polished product we’d ever recommend to most over its competitors. Despite this, LG did introduce several features and innovations that the phone world would be worse off without. The company was the first to put ultrawide cameras on its phones, for example, and it pioneered the kind of all-screen, no-button smartphone designs that dominate the market today.
And particularly in the US, where Android competition is extremely low, the loss of LG will only further entrench the Apple-Samsung duopoly at the high end. LG is the third-biggest phone vendor in the US, with roughly 10 percent of market share, although much of that was midrange prepaid devices sold through carrier stores. LG might not have been at the top of your smartphone shopping list, but if you live in the US, that list just got a lot more boring.
The LG Velvet in its Dual Screen case.Photo by Sam Byford / The Verge
LG did have some claim to being a tastemaker in the pre-smartphone world. Its Chocolate and enV phones were stylish devices that helped LG expand its brand recognition around the world. But after the iPhone and Android changed everything, LG struggled to adapt. I’m duty-bound here to mention the original LG Prada, which had a capacitive touchscreen and was technically announced just before the iPhone, but its true legacy is mostly people pointing that out in online comments.
LG’s early Android phones weren’t impressive. The 2011 Nitro HD, for example, was its first splashy flagship device in a long time, but it was saddled with outdated, clunky software and poor battery life. Its successor, the Optimus G, represented a degree of refinement, and by the time the G2 came along in 2012, LG’s new G-series was a fairly credible alternative to the likes of Samsung or HTC. The G2 was one of the first flagship smartphones to attempt to cut down on bezel size, for example, and LG made on-screen buttons a core part of its design long before most others.
It was also around this time that LG found a new partner in Google, releasing two Nexus phones in a row. The 2012 Nexus 4 was built around the guts of the Optimus G, and it had its fans despite its crippling lack of LTE, weak battery life, and unimpressive camera. The next year’s Nexus 5 found an even stronger cult following despite it too having a poor camera and bad battery life. (The red version did look great, and the $349 price didn’t hurt.)
The modular LG G5.Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
LG’s mobile division kept on ticking on, turning out respectable phones like the G3 and G4 without ever really challenging Samsung. The software was still a heavy-handed customization of Android, and LG continued to lag behind peers with its pace of updates, but the hardware was solid. It was the 2016 G5 where things really started to fall apart. Designed around a series of swappable modular accessories called “Friends,” the phone flopped, and LG quickly pretended it never happened. Suffice it to say that if you bought a camera grip or a DAC Hi-Fi audio accessory for your G5, it wouldn’t be able to make Friends with 2017’s G6.
It’s unfortunate that LG focused on gimmicks with the G5 because that phone did introduce one new feature that would become ubiquitous in the smartphone market years later: the ultrawide camera. Ultrawides on smartphones let people capture pictures that were previously restricted to camera gearheads, and it’s hard to imagine buying a new phone without one today. But it took a long time for other phone makers to figure out the utility; Apple introduced its first in 2019, for example.
The V20, released the same year as the G5, had another unique feature that would become a hallmark of the company’s phones for years: an honest-to-God headphone jack in the year that Apple decided to ditch it. And not just any headphone jack — one that worked with a built-in quad DAC designed to boost sound quality and appeal to audiophiles. Did this sell many phones? Well, no. But it became a hallmark of LG’s high-end devices ever since, providing an option for wired headphone enthusiasts who despaired as other phone makers followed Apple’s lead one by one.
The LG G6.Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge
The 2017 G6 got the G-series back on track. It was the first major smartphone released with a now-familiar taller aspect ratio, with an even stronger focus on eliminating bezels than ever before. Of course, not many people noticed as Samsung followed immediately with the similar but sleeker Galaxy S8 and its “Infinity Display.” Later that year, LG released the V30, which had a completely new (and very nice) design, but it’s always going to be a hard sell when your most differentiated feature is your (also very nice) haptics system.
From here on out, LG’s flagship phones mostly blurred into one. The G7 was a pretty good facsimile of an iPhone X, even winning an Editor’s Choice designation from Verge editor Dan Seifert. The V40 pioneered the now-common triple-camera setup. The G8X came with a dual-screen case that, in hindsight, Microsoft’s Surface Duo really didn’t improve much upon a year later. But all of these phones looked basically identical to each other, and none of their key features were viewed as much more than gimmicks at the time.
For every good idea LG had, there’d be something pointless like the G8’s vein-sensing “Hand ID” unlock. Despite the company making a big announcement about a new Software Upgrade Center to increase the pace of Android updates, nothing changed. And in the face of Samsung’s unstoppable marketing machine, LG’s best attempt at a brand identity was to add “ThinQ” to the name of each flagship phone.
The LG Wing.Photo by Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge
In its final year, LG’s mobile division did move to address its problems. The Explorer Project was intended to produce more innovative designs, like the beautiful but underpowered Velvet and the oddball dual-screen Wing. At CES this year, the company announced a Rollable concept phone that it said it planned to take to market.
That’ll never happen now, and it’s hard to say it’s a huge loss with companies like Oppo and TCL likely to pick up the slack with their own versions. But in the context of the US phone market, there’s going to be fewer choices, and whoever ends up accounting for LG’s lost market share is unlikely to be as creative a replacement.
LG’s phones were rarely, if ever, the best available, but the company did make a significant impact on the smartphone world at large. With its mobile division’s demise, the US market becomes even more homogenous.
(Pocket-lint) – The line between Oppo and OnePlus may be blurring at the management level, and when it comes to launching smartphones in their homeland in China, but when it comes to delivering flagships in western markets, they still take different approaches to things.
For the start of 2021, Oppo delivered the Find X3 Pro as its standout performer while OnePlus has launched the OnePlus 9 Pro. The two phones both offer top notch specs and performance, but with the prices driving higher this year, how do you choose between them? Should you spend more on the Oppo or is the 9 Pro good enough?
Design
Oppo: 163.6 x 74 x 8.3mm – 193g
OnePlus: 163.2 x 73.6 x 8.7 mm – 197g
Oppo: Gloss Black, Blue and White colours
OnePlus: Morning Mist (silver), Forest Green and Stellar Black colours
Both: Aluminium and Corning Gorilla Glass 5 construction – IP68 water/dust resistant
There was a time when Oppo and OnePlus flagships looked very similar to each other, but with the latest range, that’s no longer true. Of course, from the front they both look almost identical, given they have the same sized skinny-bezeled display and a hole-punch camera in the left corner. Turn them over however, and there’s no way anyone’s confusing these two.
Oppo’s latest premium phone is unlike anything else on the market. The glass curving up to the camera housing is all part of the same glass that makes up the rest of the phone’s rear. That means you get an attractive, seamless look and feel. Plus that matte frosted glass on the blue model makes it feel super soft.
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OnePlus has taken a vastly different approach, placing its cameras in a rectangle protrusion which is attractive in its own right. Each lens is surrounded by a metal ring, making them stand out visually, while the camera housing is colour matched to whatever the colour of the phone is.
Despite both being large phones, the Oppo is noticeably slimmer in the hand, and it feels more nimble and lightweight in the palm than the OnePlus does. Technically, there’s not a lot of difference in measurements, but holding the two yields very different feels.
Both have metal and glass construction and both are water and dust resistant up to IP68 rating, so which ever one you go for, it should survive being caught in the rain or dropped in a basin full of water.
The one area these two phones really are identical is in the display used on the front. Both have exactly the same 6.7-inch LTPO AMOLED display capable of reaching refresh rates up to 120Hz and a peak brightness of 1300 nits.
Maximum resolution for the both is set at QuadHD+ or, specifically, 1440 x 3216 pixels which gives it a density of 525 pixels per inch. That means they’re among the brightest, sharpest and smoothest displays currently available on any phone.
Both use an adaptive frame rate technology too, so that means if you’re looking at a still or slow-moving page, they adapt to the frame rate needed for that page. In the process, that means less power is wasted refreshing the display and as a result, it uses less battery.
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Both feature Always On ambient displays too, although Oppo gives you more available style options to choose from. Plus, you get the ability to design and customise your very own.
OnePlus used to be the customisation champion with Oxygen OS, but Oppo has pulled ahead in this department offering more wallpapers that take advantage of the fluid, smooth display and giving you more fingerprint animation options.
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Both sets of software let you enable various display features like a comfort tone that adapts the white balance based on your current ambient lighting, plus the ability to schedule night modes and kill blue light.
We experienced some quirks with Oppo’s notification system during the review however, where the OnePlus didn’t seem to suffer with as much inconsistency here.
Hardware and performance
Both: Snapdragon 888 processor
Oppo: 8GB/256GB or 12GB/256GB RAM/storage
OnePlus: 8GB/128GB or 12GB/256GB RAM/storage
Both: 4500mAh battery (2x 2250mAh)
Oppo: 65W Super VOOC 2.0 wired and 30W Air VOOC wireless charging
OnePlus: 65W Warp Charge wired and 50W Warp Wireless charging
Like its displays there are some clear similarities when looking at the internals of the two phones. Namely: they both have the Snapdragon 888 processor inside keeping everything ticking over smoothly.
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They both even use the same speedy LPDDR5 RAM and UFS 3.1 storage, so that means that not only do your apps and games all run smoothly, but downloads and installations are quick too. Especially if you happen to live in a 5G area and can download over 5G.
What’s interesting here is that while batteries are the same size (4500mAh), we had slightly better battery life with the Oppo. No doubt, this is in part down to its pretty aggressive background task management. Still, sometimes we were able to get through two full days with the Find X3 Pro, where the OnePlus 9 Pro was a couple of hours short of making that mark.
Despite that, both will easily get you through a full day even if you’re someone who’s on the move constantly, listening to music, making calls and catching a few Pokemon on your travels.
With both being part of the same tech family, you often find similar charging technology in the companies’ devices and it’s no different here. Both use a proprietary flash charging system that can reach up to 65W speeds.
What’s different here is the OnePlus’ phone will retain those speeds for longer and can charge a battery from 1-100 per cent in under 30 minutes. The Find X3 Pro will take a few minutes longer to do the same, but in truth, both charge really quickly.
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It’s in wireless charging where the OnePlus 9 Pro has the clear advantage. Its Warp Charge 50 Wireless can give you a full battery in 43 minutes using the bespoke wireless charging stand while Oppo’s 30W charge will take noticeably longer (around an hour).
In our experience, it’s in the camera department where you notice the biggest differences between the two phones. Both have high quality wide and ultrawide cameras, but Oppo opted to put the same 50-megapixel sensor on both, giving consistent results between them. Both give colour rich, detailed and warm shots.
The OnePlus 9 Pro we found quite inconsistent at times, offering photos that looked cool and blue from the primary and warmer shots like the Oppo from its ultrawide.
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Both phones have a telephoto zoom lens and although the Oppo only goes up to 2x optical, we found it delivered higher quality results than the OnePlus’ 3.3x optical zoom lens. It was sharper and delivered relatively decent images up to 5x where the OnePlus lost a lot of detail and went quite mushy at times even at its lowest zoom.
Add to that the fact that the Oppo also delivered sharper, better looking images in its night mode vs. OnePlus Nightscape mode and it’s clear that the Find X3 Pro is the much better camera experience overal.
That’s without mentioning the gimmicky Micro lens which lets you get really close into objects and see right into their contruction at an almost microscope-like level. It’s fun to play with, but hard to get sharp in-focus shots from.
Pricing and availability
Oppo: From £1099
OnePlus: From £829
It’s no surprise to see OnePlus’ latest premium model cheaper than the Oppo alternative, however, to see the company’s phones getting so expensive in recent years must be difficult for some of its early fans. With prices starting at £829 in the UK, it’s as expensive as some big-name flagship phones, but still comes in cheaper than phones that are similar in terms of specs and features.
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Oppo’s phone is a flagship device at a flagship price, and creeps over the £1000 barrier just as Samsung and Apple have done in recent years. It sees itself as a true flagship that doesn’t need a discounted price to persuade people to see value in its offering.
Conclusion
Ultimately there are likely only a couple of things that will sway you one way or the other on these two phones. A major factor will likely be the price. Oppo’s top tier phone is more expensive than OnePlus’, and looking at the spec sheet there may not be enough difference between them to warrant that extra money.
With that said, given the more consistent and excellent performance of the cameras on the Oppo, and the more refined design – particularly on the matte blue model – we think that’s extra money worth spending if you’re happy to pony up the extra cash.
(Pocket-lint) – Motorola’s Moto G100 marks a big occasion for the brand. Why? Because it’s a G series phone with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 processor inside. That, on the face of it, contradicts what a G series is supposed to be all about: affordability. Which, in turn, would typically mean entry-level specification – not a high-end processor such as this.
But, no, the G100 is all about change. It’s the phone to say, “hey, you don’t need that big, expensive flagship when you can have this for half the price”. Which might sound like an echo of, say, what OnePlus has been shouting from the rooftops with its Nord model, as one example.
Yet the Moto G100 feels genuinely different. Having recently reviewed a glut of Chinese-borne phones – such as the Poco X3 Pro, the Redmi Note 10 Pro – where sub-flagship affordability is the key selling point, the lighter touch of the Motorola software feels simply refreshing.
So what gives? Well, the G100 can’t pretend to have the biggest, fanciest cameras. Because it doesn’t. It’s not got a Hasselblad partnership like OnePlus. It’s not got a Zeiss partnership like Vivo. But, you know what, we don’t care – because the Moto G100 is a half-price flagship that adds up to oh so much more.
Curiously the G100 has already been released elsewhere in the world: it’s called the Edge S in China. Which, um, makes absolutely no sense to us – as we thought the ‘Edge’ series was all about having a curved screen edge.
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The G100 does not have a curved screen, it’s flat, so there’s nothing ‘edge’ about it. It’s also an IPS LCD panel, not an AMOLED one, so you might not call it ‘cutting edge’ either.
That said, it sits perfectly well in a device like this a you don’t really lose out on brightness or resolution at this level. Plus the IPS part of the tech means viewing angles are good without causing colours to skew. Speaking of which: the colours – available in natural, boosted and saturated configurations within the settings – hold up really well, delivering realistic rather than ridiculous hues.
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The only thing that we’re a little less keen about with this panel is the surface’s coating, which is a little more reflective than some. Oh, and the double punch-hole camera is, well, exactly that: two holes burning into the corner of the screen that are more distracting than just the one (but at least it’s not a giant pill-shaped hole).
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Flip the G100 over and, what’s this, a finish that’s actually fun? Hurrah. After the dodgy palette of the Moto G30, it’s good to see that the colour palette people at Motorola have got their mojo back. This model pictured is called ‘Iridescent Sky’, because it looks like one of those pink/blue spring-time sunsets we suppose.
That finish is good at hiding how fingerprints catch on the surface, too, because they are there aplenty – we’ve just been cautious when photographing the handset. It’s easy to wipe clean, though, as the surface is nice and smooth – even the ‘batwing’ Motorola symbol on the rear is holographic-like in appearance, not debossed or textured onto the surface.
That the Moto logo lives on the rear and doesn’t serve a function hints at the fingerprint scanner’s location too: it’s found within the power button on the side of the phone, foregoing the in-display option. Much as we like the display-based sign-in, this fingerprint scanner is a decent operator. And there’s face unlock available too.
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Keeping with being a G series handset, the G100 also features a 3.5mm headphone jack and microSD card expansion slot. Good to see it’s not forgotten its roots.
While the G100 supports such legacy features as card expansion and wired headphones, in other departments it’s very much all about embracing the future. There’s no sloppy Wi-Fi connection, as you’ll suffer in the lower-down-the-ranks G10. The 128GB storage is reasonably generous, but it’s UFS 3.1 to ensure fast read/write access for best performance.
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But above all else, the big sell of this phone is the Qualcomm platform at its heart. Here it’s the Snapdragon 870 – which, while part of the 800 series, isn’t the very, very top-end processor, it’s only a whisker away. Which is to say: it’s mighty fast, a step up from many of those using 700 series processors, and if you want to dabble in a bit (or a lot) of gaming then it’s a really good choice.
That’s one of the things about the Moto G100: it’s kind-of like a budget gaming phone. Things will run super smooth thanks to the processor, the fast RAM, but also the smooth 90Hz refresh rate of the display. No, you won’t see that bump in refresh affecting everything all of the time – plus you’ll need to activate it within the settings, as it’s off by default – but it’s a good place for a phone such as this to exist.
Even plugging away at games for hours at a time doesn’t cause too much trouble where battery is concerned. The 5,000mAh cell is a big part of the reason for the G100’s above average weight, but it’s a great capacity to have at your fingertips. We’ve seen its drain be very linear – around 30 per cent every 8 hours – even with an hour of gaming thrown in during such a time-frame.
Given the capability of the processor, the screen refresh rate, and the presence of 5G (we’ve been outside of such networks for this review though), that’s really solid performance.
As we’d alluded to before, the software in the Moto G100 is lovely to use. It’s close to stock Google Android, with a single Moto app to control gestures, themes/styles, display notifications, and gaming controls (such as do not disturb). You don’t have to dabble in the Moto app, indeed you could entirely ignore it. But what’s particularly great about the software is that it doesn’t need lots of tinkering, it just works – and without glitches, such as the notification delays issue with our Xiaomi Mi 11.
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There’s another sideline part of the G100 puzzle too: it’s the first Motorola phone to be compatible with the company’s Ready For system. Which is a bit like ‘Moto DeX’ if you’re familiar with Samsung’s desktop-based DeX system. We’re not going to dig deep into the system for this review as, frankly, we don’t think it’s the core appeal of why people will buy a G100. It’s a niche extension option, complete with a camera dock that may have its uses instead of a Facebook Portal, but that’s as much as we can say right now.
Whereas many flagships make a big song and dance about their camera arrangements, the G100 doesn’t really earn the right to do so. That’s the thing about top-end devices these days – so much of the cost comes from additional lenses, co-engineering partnerships, and so forth. The G100, on the other hand, keeps things fairly simple.
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: Main cameraMain camera
Well, kind-of simple. The claim of “quad camera” on the rear is nonsense as that apparently includes both a depth sensor and time-of-flight sensor, which would more or less do the same thing – both are there to ultimately make up the numbers as if “quad” is better than “triple”, even if it isn’t due to lack of core, usable lenses.
Anyway, let’s focus on what is here: a usable main camera and less commendable wide-angle one. There’s a gallery above showing how the two compare, and the quality drop-off from the wide-angle option is quite significant.
The main lens is 64-megapixels, using a four-in-one processing method to output at 16-megapixels total – although the processing is often heavy handed, oversharpens and can’t discern detail in all situations (the daylight country scene below being one such example – the trees are all blocky and indistinguishable, if you look at the 100 per cent crop).
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: Main cameraMain camera
Where subjects are a little closer to camera – but not too close as it struggles to focus and the macro mode is poor (avoid this when prompted) – there’s more ability to resolve detail from a scene. Whether a dim-lit puzzle board or the fur of a toy bear, there’s enough detail to tick the main camera’s “usable” box.
But we touched upon this at the very beginning: if you don’t want the biggest and fanciest of cameras then the G100 does the job. Not the best job, but it gets by. And with features such as HDR (high dynamic range) to balance out shadows and highlights, various shooting modes, and the hardware to capture without delay, there’s enough to keep this camera setup from being the very baseline of entry-level kit for 2021.
Verdict
The Moto G100 is a shake-up for the G series, bringing performance levels not before seen in this line-up. While that might be a little perplexing on the face of it – especially as it’s not a G series device in China, it’s the Edge S, muddying the naming convention further – it’s a rather refreshing take in a section of the market where there’s not a tonne of great options.
If you’re willing to forego the usual camera hype and pizzazz that top-end flagships tend to promise – as there’s really very little of that here – and having a high-end processor and performance potential is high up your roster, then the Moto G100 is a strong sell. It’s got the software right – which, in our opinion, can’t be said of the Xiaomi MIUI and Oppo ColorOS competition – the visuals tight, and performance is at peak height.
That’s the Moto G100 in a nutshell: a budget gaming-capable phone that foregoes the AMOLED screen hype and camera cost implications to deliver a half-price near-flagship that, in use, adds up to oh so much more.
Also consider
Pocket-lint
OnePlus Nord
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Also 5G capable, with a 90Hz refresh screen, but a little less power and, therefore, a little lower asking price. If every penny counts then it’s a savvy alternative.
(Pocket-lint) – OnePlus started off as that limited, small batch phone-maker that only insiders knew about, before growing into a proper big-time brand. And yet, despite being available through proper partner carriers and in real stores, it’s still not a company you’d consider hugely mainstream. It certainly doesn’t have that mindshare that Apple and Samsung have enjoyed for years.
Counting all the ‘T’ versions, however, we’re now into the 13th generation OnePlus flagship. And in all of those generations it’s always nailed the speed, performance and fluidity. The cameras, however, have always raised questions, never quite delivering to the same degree as the competition. To try and conquer this final frontier OnePlus has brought in some outside help from a partnership with Hasselblad.
So does the OnePlus 9 Pro, Hasselblad riposte at the ready, succeed in flying us to the moon and back?
So shiny
Finishes: Morning Mist, Forest Green, Stellar Black
Dimensions: 163.2 x 73.6 x 8.7mm / Weight: 197g
IP68 water- and dust-resistant rating
Stereo speakers
OnePlus has three different finishes for the OnePlus 9 Pro. We’ve been using the silver coloured Morning Mist version, which is oh so shiny. At least, the bottom third of the back is. It’s reflective enough that you can see your face in it (which also makes photographing it a real pain – not that this would be a concern to 99 per cent of the people who buy one).
This reflective surface subtly gradients into a more misty, foggy look at the top. The surface of the glass on the outside is glossy and slippery, so attracts fingerprints like nobody’s business. All in all meaning you may just want to use the case, or pick up the frosted glass Forest Green variant instead.
Still, there’s plenty to like about the 9 Pro’s design. For one, the camera housing has a look about it that says the designers really cared about how it turned out. It’s not just a characterless rectangle stuck onto the back. It’s colour-matched to the back and each of the two main cameras has a metallic ring around the lens, making it stand out against the background. It’ll certainly make it stand out from the crowd.
The rest of the design is very familiar for anyone who’s used a OnePlus phone over the past year. The glass curves on the back towards the edges, making an otherwise quite large phone feel a bit more comfortable than it would if it were completely flat and square.
It’s not the lightest phone around, but in its size category, squeezing in below 200 grams is a good thing. It makes it perfectly bearable to use day in day out. Plus, all the buttons being within easy thumb reach means there’s not too much over-stretching going on to locate the alert slider or the volume rocker.
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While we’re on the subject of practicality, the Pro has IP68 rating against water and dust ingress. So when this slippery fish does inevitably slip out of your hand into a sink full of water, it won’t get damaged (well, not from the water anyway!).
Unlike the standard ‘non-Pro’ version, the OnePlus 9 Pro doesn’t have a completely flat panel, but the curves on the screen are definitely smaller than in previous iterations. That does mean the phone feels a bit chunkier than 7 Pro from two years ago, but it means it’s less prone to accidental touches. Plus, the bezels are really skinny, giving an almost edge-to-edge screen with only a neat little selfie camera punching its way through the top corner.
Display and software
6.7-inch AMOLED display
QHD+ resolution (1440 x 3216 pixels; 525ppi)
Adaptive frame rate up to 120Hz
Oxygen OS 11 (over Android 11)
It’s not just in physical button placement where OnePlus has attempted to make its large phone comfortable to use. The software, Oxygen OS, went through a massive refresh for its Android 11-based version – which first launched on the OnePlus 8T. This update didn’t just radically change the entire look and feel of the previously Google stock-like experience, it was designed so that the bits you need to reach with your thumb are easy to get to. Buttons and controls are shifted down, so you don’t have to awkwardly stretch across to the top corner.
The thing that works against this somewhat is that OnePlus has fewer of its own apps than it used to. It’s gone all-in with Google, so apps like Messages and the Phone app are Google; similarly, as we saw with the 8T in 2020, the Shelf that used to live on the left of the Home Screen has been replaced by Google’s Discover feed.
None of these moves are bad, as Google’s Discover is far more useful and more relevant than Shelf. That in itself hasn’t disappeared completely, though, as you can get to it by swiping down on the Home Screen. It could be useful for things like getting quick access to favourite contacts, or remembering where you parked the car. We didn’t find it all that useful, so we just changed the setting so that a swipe on the Home Screen dropped down notifications instead.
As for the screen, it’s one of the best available on the market. It’s a 6.7-inch AMOLED panel that has a top refresh rate of 120Hz, meaning it cycles through 120 refreshes per second to give the sense of smoothness.
Like Samsung’s latest flagships – the Galaxy S21 Ultra at the top of the stack – the OnePlus also has adaptive refresh rate capabilities. Here, however it can go all the way down to just 1Hz when it detects a static page, which will help save battery life. It also means it’s pretty much identical to the screen on the Oppo Find X3 Pro.
It’s really bright and vivid, and – once you’ve enabled its maximum sharpness within the settings – it’s crisp to the eyes too. One clever little feature actually enables you to toggle on a battery saver mode when you choose the QHD+ resolution, which means the screen can switch to a lower resolution if it’s appropriate to do so.
As usual, there are plenty of additional features, such as the ability to tune the appearance to your preferences: be that dark mode for night time, comfort tone for automatically adjusting the white balance based on the ambient light, or reading mode for, um, you guessed it, reading.
On the whole, it’s a mighty fine display. Colours pop, bright areas are almost searing, and animations are smooth. There’s perhaps a bit too much contrast, while auto-brightness dims the output a bit much – as to not retain balance of highlights, shadows and colours – but most of the time we were impressed by it.
For those who want it there’s plenty of customisability too. The display settings menu lets you adjust the overall look of the screen, making it more or less vibrant and adjusting colours and white balance.
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So to the all-important cameras. Both the primary and ultra-wide cameras use high-end Sony sensors – which is OnePlus showing off that it’s sourcing the best core kit for the job. For the most part, these sensors deliver good pictures.
The primary sensor looks like it’s had the most love from Hasselblad’s partnership, delivering natural-looking colours with good detail. Likewise, the ultra-wide sensor can take great pictures – and that’s no surprise given it’s the same sensor used by the Oppo Find X3 Pro in both of its two main cameras.
In good light you’ll get sharp mostly noise-free pictures, while the freeform ultra-wide lens will ensure you don’t get lots of curving and distortion at the edges. In fact, it’s very level and doesn’t suffer from that fish-eye effect you sometimes see from such lenses. It’s not as good in low-light situations as the primary sensor, neither is perfect once light levels drop. You’ll start to see image noise introduced when it gets a bit darker, particularly in greys and blues in any shadows.
The only inescapable problem isn’t with either camera individually. It’s when you compare them to each other. At some points it looks like results are from two different phones. Not in terms of angle of view, as that’s inevitable, but with the final aesthetic. The ultra-wide often boosts warmth and saturation to give a really vivid (almost more orange feel), while the primary lens delivers a more neutral, cooler image where blues are more standout.
You can see this difference when switching to Macro mode – which automatically switches to the ultra-wide sensor to perform the close-up shot – as well as when you shoot at night time using the Nightscape mode.
Nighstscape mode seems to have improved from previous generations of OnePlus phones, though, with the 9 Pro able to draw in decent light. We did sometimes struggle to get results looking sharp though, with finer details and edges blurring – not an out-of-focus blur, more like a motion blur as if the camera’s optical stabilisation can’t quite compensate for hand-shake enough.
It wasn’t the only time the phone’s camera struggled with detail either. Using the telephoto zoom lens – which is 3.3x that of the main camera, and can reach up to 30x digitally – we found that detail simply lacked. It’s not a great optical zoom.
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: Ultra-wideUltra-wide
If you scroll through the gallery above – which cycles through the cameras at ultra-wide, 1x, 3.3x, 5x, 10x and 30x – you’ll see how the tree branches in the 3.3x shot turn into a weird-looking mush. And once you zoom past 3.3x the detail becomes increasingly ropey with the images at the top end looking more like an oil painting than a photograph.
As for macro mode, that’s pretty strong in good light. Details are sharp and in-focus, while the background blur adds depth and doesn’t suffer from unnatural and nauseating bokeh like some dedicated macro lenses do. That’s likely down to the fact the OnePlus 9 Pro is using the ultra-wide sensor, rather than have a poor low-resolution macro camera.
On the whole, then, the 9 Pro’s cameras are a bit of a mixed bag. It performs well, but the difference in colour balance between the primary and ultra-wide is confusing, especially given OnePlus’ insistence on using Hasselblad’s ‘strict’ tuning standards. The optical zoom lens is quite poor when it comes to detail, and night mode suffers a little with motion blur.
The primary lens is great for the most part, but we’d just love to see that consistency between the different lenses. It’d turn this system into one that truly competes with the market leaders. The hardware is obviously there, we just need to see attention to detail on balance still.
Speed, I am speed
Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 platform, 5G connectivity
RAM: 8GB/12GB LPDDR5
Storage: 128GB/256GB (UFS3.1)
4,500mAh battery (2x 2250mAh cells)
Warp Charge 65T flash charging (1-100% in 28 minutes)
Warp Charge 50 wireless charging (1-100% in 43 minutes)
If there’s one thing you can virtually guarantee from OnePlus when it comes to its flagship phones: they’re all fast and fluid. For years the company has used whichever is Qualcomm’s latest top-tier processor. For 2021 that’s the Snapdragon 888.
In all areas, the OnePlus 9 Pro performs like a proper flagship should. It’s fast and smooth, loading any games and apps without stopping to think about it. We had no instances of stutter or delay. Part of that is also down to the screen’s refresh rate, but also its touch sampling rate – which can read your fingers taps and swipes at a rate of 240 times per second. The animation on screen responds virtually immediately, making it feel nimble and instant.
Even simple and mundane tasks like refreshing a Twitter feed or loading a web page is hassle-free. Plus, if you live in an area with 5G signal, you get that goodness too, for speedy cellular downloads.
During our testing there were moments where – after an hour or so of gaming – the phone became a little warm, but it didn’t feel uncomfortable. That’s likely down to having an efficient vapour chamber and graphite-based cooling system inside, making this the most non-gamer gamer phone on the market.
As for battery life, with the screen cranked up to its highest resolution and frame rate settings, the 4500mAh capacity is more than capable of pushing through a full day. Even on quieter ones, however, we never quite got the sense it’d make it through two full days.
On our heavier days with a three or more hours of screen time, we got to bed with somewhere around the 30 per cent mark left over. Here’s the thing though: battery anxiety is never an issue because when it comes to charging few phones compare to the OnePlus 9 Pro.
If you use the included 65W wired charger, you can get the battery from dead to 100 per cent in just 28 minutes. That’s a full charge in less than half an hour, which is mind-boggling. Plug the phone in for 10 minutes and that’ll provide enough to get you through a good few hours.
But there’s more: it charges fast wirelessly too. Using OnePlus’ latest Warp Charge Wireless stand (an optional extra, at your expense), you can get a full charge in 43 minutes. Of course, if it’s by your bed and you charge overnight you don’t need those speeds, but it can be programmed to go into bedtime mode which charges slower and, crucially, quieter. The fan it uses to keep itself cool during the faster charging speeds is shut off to allow you to get to sleep.
The Warp Charge Wireless is so quick that we’d often just leave the 9 Pro off charge at night, then put it on the stand while getting ready in the morning. It’s a bit of a game-changer.
It’s worth noting that – even though it charges quickly – OnePlus has kept its battery optimisation features in play, which ensure the device’s battery isn’t harmed by such speedy refills. It learns your charging routine and does the first chunk of charging quickly, before leaving it and then finishing the charge right before you wake up in the morning – which is good for battery health and longevity over an extended period of time.
Verdict
The OnePlus 9 Pro attemps to address the series’ historically biggest issue: the cameras. However, even with support from Hasselblad, it still doesn’t quite hit the mark in that regard. But the core of the phone impresses, with fast wireless charging a truly brilliant feature, and the display being top notch too.
While it’s possible to get great photos from the 9 Pro’s cameras, the imbalance of colour between the two main sensors – with photos often looking like they’ve come from two different phones – and the poor results from the telephoto zoom just don’t quite add up to what we’d expect. More hassle than Hasselblad, eh?
It’s also worth pointing out that the 9 Pro’s price has crept higher still, edging ever closer to the four-figure mark and, in so doing, sitting closer to other premium flagship competitors. That does mean it’s still more affordable than some of the other top tier phones out there, but it’s no longer the instant buy the series once was.
Overall, the OnePlus 9 Pro continues to deliver on the series’ well-established strengths. Its fast and fluid, has a cracking screen, mind-boggling impressive fast-charging, and all for a price that undercuts the established elite. But it continues the series’ ongoing weaknesses too, as those cameras still just aren’t class-leading.
Also consider
Oppo Find X3 Pro
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In a lot of ways, the Oppo is very similar to the 9 Pro, offering similar hardware in terms of screen, battery size, charging and processing power. Where it differs is with a more consistent camera experience and a more refined designed.
Read our review
Samsung Galaxy S21+
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Pricing isn’t all that much between Samsung’s S21+ and OnePlus’ latest top tier phone. It may have a plastic back, but its performance is strong in all the important ways. The cameras are a tad disappointing however.
(Pocket-lint) – It’s safe to say OnePlus has been on something of a journey over the past few years. It lifted itself out of that initial ‘plucky upstart’ role and started to become a real smartphone company.
It’s gone from being a company that launched one or two new phones a year to launching six phones in 2020, with varying specs and at different price tiers. In 2021 that output glut looks set to continue – and it starts with the OnePlus 9.
Design
Dimensions: 160 x 74.2 x 8.7mm / Weight: 192 grams
Finish options: Winter Mist, Arctic Sky, Astral Black
3D Corning Gorilla Glass back
Dual stereo speakers
Look at the camera housing and you’ll see an evolution of design when you compare the OnePlus 9 to its most recent predecessors: the OnePlus 8T and OnePlus 8. The 9’s two main cameras have very deliberate metallic ring around them, while the camera housing has been designed to colour-match the rest of the phone’s rear panel.
It’s a classy and minimalist look, now with the addition of a Hasselblad logo. Because, yep, OnePlus is all about a camera partnership with this new series.
It’s in the rest of the build where we’ve seen OnePlus move backwards compared to its previous models though. The 9’s frame is made from a similar shiny plastic to what we first saw on the OnePlus Nord. Or, as OnePlus calls it: “fibreglass infused polymer”. Thankfully, the back is covered in Corning Gorilla Glass for protection.
It’s not the slimmest or lightest phone around either, certainly feeling thicker than previous models, but that’s almost certainly down to the move towards a flat screen. Rather than have those curved edges on both sides of the phone, it only has them on one side, so you lose that more sleek effect. Still, the OnePlus 9 feels noticeably chunkier than the 8T – another flat-screened model – which was thicker than the OnePlus 8 before it.
Of course, there are real benefits to having a flatter screen. There’s very little chance you’ll suffer from accidental touches, because it doesn’t curve around the edges, so that makes the phone a bit easier to use.
Our own review unit is the Winter Mist model, which has a light purple colour, with the rear featuring a gradient refraction effect. That means the bottom part of the phone is really glossy and reflective, but the top is more frosted and gradients between these two finishes. We think some people will like it, but we prefer the softer fully frosted look of some of the blue Arctic Sky model. It’s also a bit of a fingerprint magnet, which diminishes the overall finish effect.
There are all the usual OnePlus buttons and ports though. That means the volume rocker is within easy reach on the left side, with the alert slider switch on the right near the power/sleep button. The dual nano SIM tray is on the bottom edge near the USB-C port and the bottom-firing loudspeaker – which joins with a speaker near the earpiece to form stereo sound that’s boosted by Dolby Atmos tech.
Display
6.55-inch AMOLED panel
Full HD+ resolution (2400 x 1080 pixels; 402ppi)
120Hz refresh rate
OnePlus has focused on having lightweight and fast software for years. Its latest iteration of Oxygen OS is no different, and the display is primed and ready to take full advantage of that fluidity too.
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The AMOLED screen on the front of the OnePlus 9 isn’t quite as sharp as that of the 9 Pro, but with a pixel density over 400 pixels-per-inch it should be sharp enough for most content you’d want to watch.
What’s more, with a refresh rate peak of 120Hz, it can keep up with any fast frame-rate gaming. OnePlus says it has improved the colour accuracy and the automatic brightness adjustment too – the result of adding in two ambient light sensors, while the brightness has more than 8000 different levels to enable smoother adjustment.
Like Apple’s True Tone, there’s a Comfort Tone feature that adjusts the colour temperature of the display to match your environment, which should be handy when reading ebooks on a white screen, making it seem a bit more like a paper surface.
Brightness itself shouldn’t be a problem either. With a peak of up to 1100nits and HDR10+ certification you should find a very attractive, vivid and bright panel. Of course, we need a bit more time to test it thoroughly, but all early indicators are good.
Hardware and performance
Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 platform
128GB/256GB UFS 3.1 storage
8GB/12GB LPDDR5 RAM
4,500mAh battery capacity
Warp Charge 65W charging
15W Qi wireless charging
With a top OnePlus flagship you know one thing for certain: you’ll always get the latest, most powerful mobile processor. That means the Snapdragon 888 platform for the 9 series, along with suitably quick LPDDR5 RAM and UFS 3.1 storage.
What that means in daily use is that, not only will your apps and games load quickly, but any downloads and installs will be fast too. That’s helped further by 5G support, presuming you’re in an area with 5G coverage, for speedy and low-latency connectivity.
All this power needs cooling for efficiency. For the OnePlus 9 there’s something called the OnePlus Cool Play system. Essentially, the manufacturer has made the vapour chambers larger and added more layers of graphite and copper to dissipate heat when you’re powering your most demanding games.
We’ve not yet experienced a OnePlus phone that under-delivers on speed and performance, so we don’t expect the OnePlus 9 will be any different. Our first few days of use have been pretty much plain sailing.
Regarding the battery and it’s really the charging that sells this phone. You may remember OnePlus saying in the past that it didn’t want to use wireless charging until it was as fast and convenient as its fast wired system. Well, for the non-Pro model in the OnePlus 9 family, it turns out it’s forgotten all about that.
The regular OnePlus 9 does have wireless charging, but it’s not blindingly fast. Instead, it uses a fairly standard 15W Qi-compatible wireless charging. That means it’s nowhere near as quick as the new Warp Charge 65T wired charging capability which can keep those 65W speeds pumping for longer and give you a full charge in under 30 minutes.
Cameras
Triple camera system with Hasselblad tuning:
Main: 48-megapixel, f/1.8 aperture, Sony IMX689 sensor
Ultra-wide: 50MP, f/2.2, SonyIMX766 sensor
Mono: 2MP
Front-facing camera: 16-megapixel
Video: 8K30p / 4K120p
OnePlus has listened to its critics over the past few years and says it’s finally delivering a flagship level camera experience. That’s thanks in part to its new collaboration with Hasselblad, to help tune the image processing to strict standards, ensuring your pictures should come out looking great.
It’s not just that tuning that’s changed though. The regular OnePlus 9 features the same main camera sensor found in the OnePlus 8 Pro from 2020, and has the same sensor in the ultra-wide as found in the excellent (and more expensive) Oppo Find X3 Pro.
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By Chris Hall
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Those two are joined by a low-res monochrome sensor for extra light detail, but that’s it. No macro lens or gimmicky chroma filter camera in sight this time.
What’s more, the video recording capability can reach the heights of 8K resolution at 30fps or – perhaps more impressively – can capture 4K up to 120fps, which should enable some fantastically sharp slow-motion video.
Hasselblad’s partnership has led to some other more inconsequential features, like the orange colour of the shutter button, and a leaf shutter sound when you press it. However, where you’ll see the biggest influence is in the ‘Pro’ camera mode.
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The user interface has been designed to look like one developed by Hasselblad for some of its cameras. This includes a focus peaking feature that will highlight in-focus areas in orange when you’re using the manual focus.
First Impressions
The OnePlus 9 design may not have wowed us that much, but this company knows its users are all about getting the best performance out of every area of its phones.
So if cutting corners and adding in a plastic frame means being able to stick two flagship cameras on the back, add wireless charging, a capacious battery, and market-leading speed, then we think that’s a compromise worth making.
We can’t quite get out of our heads that the OnePlus 9 is similar to the much cheaper Nord in some respects, and that might still be worth considering, but on the whole – from the spec conscious – this latest OnePlus looks like it will deliver an experience much closer to its Pro-labelled sibling this year.
Also consider
Pocket-lint
OnePlus Nord
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If you’re all about price then the last-gen affordable OnePlus model is a sensible option.
OnePlus has released its new batch of phones, the OnePlus 9 and the 9 Pro. As is the tradition with OnePlus, the phones are equipped with the latest high-end Snapdragon chips and are priced lower than most of the competition.
Both phones also include charging features that Apple and Samsung don’t match: they wirelessly charge at a super-fast 50W and can charge at 65W over wired charging. They also both have Hasselblad’s camera tuning and software.
The OnePlus 9 and 9 Pro are very similar, but there are a few differences to watch out for:
The Pro has a bigger screen
The Pro includes a telephoto camera and mmWave 5G
The unlocked and T-Mobile versions of the Pro have IP68 certification — only the T-Mobile version of the regular phone is IP68 certified
The Pro includes “Hyper Touch” where it polls for finger input at 360Hz
At retail prices, the regular OnePlus 9 is $70 cheaper than Samsung’s regular Galaxy S21 and $100 cheaper than the iPhone 12. Both of those phones include mmWave and IP68 water resistance. But if those aren’t features you care about, it may be worth the savings to you.
The 9 Pro can’t quite match the all-out specs and features of the Galaxy S21 Ultra, but it’s also priced well below it, too. For fun, we also threw in Oppo’s latest flagship phone, which isn’t available for purchase in the US but is pretty similar to the Pro.
It’s taken years, but OnePlus is finally getting in the smartwatch game with the newly announced OnePlus Watch, starting at $159. The new watch (as was revealed last week) has a round design that looks similar to a regular wristwatch, instead of the oblong rectangle popularized by the Apple Watch and its imitators, like the Oppo Watch.
The case itself is stainless steel, measures 46mm, and features two buttons on the side (one of which features the OnePlus logo). It’ll be available in two colors: silver and black. The display is a 1.39-inch OLED panel at 326ppi, with sapphire glass.
The watch will also feature a version of OnePlus’ Warp Charge system (promising a week of battery life off a 20-minute charge). OnePlus promises that the watch should last up to two weeks on a single charge or up to one week for heavier users.
Specs-wise, the OnePlus Watch features 1GB of RAM, 4GB of internal storage, and integrated speakers. Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS are all built in, but there’s no cellular option. If you want connectivity on the watch, you’ll have to be connected to a nearby phone.
Image: OnePlus
Fitness is also a big part of the OnePlus Watch. It’ll offer over 110 workout modes, offer built-in GPS, and feature IP68 water and dust resistance. Additionally, the OnePlus Watch features internal storage for music, which allows users to store up to 500 songs to listen to over their Bluetooth headphones when out on a run, even if they don’t have their phone with them. The OnePlus Watch can also automatically detect and track workouts as well as monitor sleep, stress, blood oxygen saturation, and heart rate.
OnePlus isn’t using Wear OS for the OnePlus Watch, though. As the company had announced before the event, it’ll use RTOS-style software setup (similar to companies like Fitbit), with a companion app that will allow it to connect to your phone to receive calls and notifications. (An iOS app for Apple users is promised for the future, too.)
That means things like app selection and custom watchfaces will be largely limited to whatever OnePlus can build in-house — so no third-party apps, at least for now. That said, to start, there’ll be dozens of watchface options to choose from (with additional customization choices to add more style options), so users will have some flexibility.
The OnePlus Watch can also be connected to a OnePlus TV (where available), allowing it to be used as a remote. And if you happen to fall asleep when you’re watching TV on OnePlus’ set, the watch can automatically turn off the TV after it detects that you’ve fallen asleep.
Image: OnePlus
The company also announced a limited edition model made out of a cobalt alloy, which it says is twice as hard as stainless steel. OnePlus says that the Cobalt Limited Edition will be “coming soon,” but the company isn’t providing a price yet.
The OnePlus Watch will start at $159 and will be available starting on April 14th from OnePlus’ website.
OnePlus is switching to ColorOS, the variant of Android used by Oppo smartphones, for its new OnePlus 9 series in China. The move was announced on OnePlus’ forums by Gary C, the product lead on OxygenOS, which is what OnePlus phones use in the rest of the world.
“As a global technology company, we always look for ways to address the different usage habits and preferences among our users worldwide,” Gary C says. “We truly believe this customized new operating system will bring our Chinese users a software experience that is better suited to their liking.”
This doesn’t change anything for the global OnePlus 9 series that’s set to be unveiled in full tomorrow — it’ll still run OxygenOS. But it does appear to spell the end for HydrogenOS, which is the China-specific version of Android that OnePlus had previously been using for all of its phones that shipped in the mainland.
ColorOS is already used by a lot more people in China than HydrogenOS; Oppo recently became the biggest smartphone brand in its home country for the first time. I’m using it full-time right now as I review Oppo’s new Find X3 Pro flagship (pictured above), and I generally find it to be sleek and performant. There’s no denying that HydrogenOS (and OxygenOS) provide a more minimalist experience, though — if that’s your thing.
Oppo and OnePlus are both owned by Chinese conglomerate BBK Electronics, sharing a supply chain and often critical technology. Realme, another BBK brand, also used ColorOS at first before developing its own software called Realme UI. The companies tend to publicly downplay the connection between themselves, but OnePlus deciding to use Oppo’s software outright is one of the more conspicuous examples of collaboration to date.
Apple is developing an inwardly folding smartphone with a clamshell design. Read all about the expected iPhone Flip and its possible design here.
Since Samsung released the Galaxy Fold foldable smartphone in 2019, many are wondering when Apple will introduce its first folding phone. But we still have to be patient. Various sources have indicated that the first foldable iPhone will arrive at the earliest in 2022. Nevertheless, it seems that more and more details about this device are becoming known.
The form factor appears to have been determined by now. It will be a flip phone, or a clamshell device, comparable to the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip and the Motorola Razr. Based on all the rumors, graphic designer Technizo Concept has made a series of 3D renders of the expected iPhone Flip in collaboration with LetsGoDigital.
It is not the first time that LetsGoDigital shows 3D renders of an iPhone with a clamshell design. In 2019, we showed a foldable iPhone, based on a patent awarded by the American manufacturer. In the meantime, information about Apple’s plans has emerged from various sources in the supply chain.
The first foldable iPhone will probably use a flexible display panel from Samsung. It seems to be an OLED screen, although mini LED could be a possibility too. For the product renders, we have assumed that Apple will maintain the notch, but reduce it, just as with the iPhone 12s / iPhone 13 models expected later this year.
For the design of the camera system we have chosen for a similar triple camera set-up as that of the iPhone 12 Pro (Max). By the time the Flip comes out, this is of course no longer the newest or most advanced camera system from Apple. Nevertheless, the focus of the iPhone Flip will not be so much on the camera system – after all, this was not the case with the RAZR and Z Flip either.
It is in line with expectations that Apple will also integrate a cover display. No information is yet known about the size of this screen. To design the renders, we opted for a relatively small display, with the same dimensions as the camera system. In terms of size, this screen is slightly larger than that of the Samsung Z Flip and slightly smaller than that of the Motorola RAZR.
The user will be automatically informed of incoming calls and notifications via the cover display. By placing the camera and the screen on one side of the folding line, it is in theory also possible to take selfies with this camera system.
Apart from the renders, Technizo Concept also made the following video in which the Apple iPhone Flip is shown from all sides in four sparkling colors: red, white, gray and gold.
When is the iPhone Flip expected?
Some time ago, the Taiwanese news medium Economic Daily News reported that Apple had several tests with the iPhone Flip successfully carried out by the Taiwanese chip manufacturer Foxconn. As part of the test, the device was opened and closed 100,000 times.
100,000x may sound like a lot, but the Samsung Z Flip’s Ultra Thin Glass has been tested to last at least 200,000x. Nevertheless, Apple seems to pay a lot of attention to the durability of the device. As a display supplier, Samsung has also been involved in the test process.
In addition, Apple wants to apply special glass technology for the foldable iPhone, which should ensure that the screen remains intact even after frequent folding. Previously, stories had been circulating that Apple wants to use special ceramic protective glass, which cannot be broken so easily. It should also reduce the crease. Ceramic Shield technology was first applied for the iPhone 12 series.
For the display test, two prototypes were used, in addition to a clamshell model, Apple also has a dual screen variant in development, comparable to the Microsoft Surface Duo. This device does not have a flexible display, but two displays with a bezel in between.
Due to this news, many assumed that an iPhone 13 Flip might be introduced in 2021. However, it did not take long before the Taiwanese website Digitimes reported that the foldable iPhone is not expected until 2022.
That may even be too early, as tech analyst Jon Prosser reported on YouTube last month that the foldable iPhone will not arrive before 2023. Furthermore, Prosser confirms that the iPhone will have an inward folding screen with a flip design. In other words, a clamshell design, comparable to the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip and the Motorola Razr.
In addition, it is mentioned in the video that the clamshell iPhone will be released in various cheerful colors. This is striking news, as it also says something about the target group of this device. Usually, Apple chooses to provide its basic models with cheerful, bright colors. While the advanced Pro models are available in predominantly dark, business tones.
Perhaps Apple will eventually also release a foldable model that unfolds into a tablet format, as a counterpart to the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 and Huawei Mate X2. Thus, the iPhone Flip will then become the cheaper version. However, this seems to be a distant future, first the focus will be on the clamshell model.
Expected clamshell smartphones in 2021
According to Prosser, the foldable iPhone will have a suggested retail price of approx. $ 1,500 USD – comparable to the price of the Samsung Z Flip and Motorola Razr. However, it still seems very early to determine a price now, after all, it is expected that it will take at least another 1.5 years before this device is officially introduced. In the meantime, a number of folding phone models will undoubtedly be introduced. In that respect, everything can change in terms of price.
One of the models that is expected this year is the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3. This folding phone is said to have a larger cover display than its predecessor. Samsung also intends to replace the dual camera with a triple camera.
Later this year, Xiaomi appears to be entering the foldable smartphone market as a newcomer, with no fewer than three different models. One of them will be a flip phone, a compact phone to carry with you. However, details about this device are still scarce.
Another Chinese smartphone manufacturer that wants to release a clamshell model this year is Oppo. Oppo’s foldable phone reportedly features a 1.5” to 2” cover display and a 7.7-inch flexible display. All in all, there are still plenty of new developments to be expected in the field of foldable phone models.
Note to editors :The product images shown in this publication are created by Technizo Concept in collaboration with LetsGoDigital. The presented 3D renders are for illustrative purposes only. This product is not for sale. The images are copyright protected. Feel free to use these renders on your own website, please be so respectful to include a source link into your publication.
(Pocket-lint) – Oppo is on the move, gaining popularity in its home market where it’s even overtaken Huawei. But it’s not just gaining at home: it’s now undoubtedly a top contender in the world of smartphones, make it the most likely challenger to Apple and Samsung’s dominance.
Oppo’s latest effort, the Find X3 Pro, is seeking to go toe-to-toe with the likes of the Galaxy S21 Ultra and iPhone 12 Pro Max, offering a big and premium flagship experience that, as we’ve found, is stunning in almost every way.
Distinctive design
Glass and metal design; curved glass around rear camera enclosure
Dimensions: 163.6 x 74.0 x 8.26mm / Weight: 193g
IP68 water and dust resistance
For the past few years we’ve seen smartphone makers all use the same tired design and – for 2021 so far – thankfully we’re seeing some new takes. Samsung kicked things off with its odd, but purposeful, camera hump in the S21 series – the one that wrapped around the edge of the phone to form a more deliberate part of the design.
Now the Find X3 Pro delivers what we think is an even more refined finish. Rather than have a separate unit for the camera, Oppo made the camera protrusion part of the same piece of glass as the rest of the phone’s back, forming this completely seamless curve. The company says it took 2000 attempts to get this right, and nearly gave up on the idea, but the effect is really unique.
The result is a lot more subtle and refined than just having a rectangle sticking out of the back fo the phone. It’s also unique, unlike anything else currently on the market. It’s really lovely to look at – and far better looking than the odd digital renders that leaked ahead of the phone’s launch – although the camera arrangement definitely has some iPhone-like vibes.
The rest of the Find X3 Pro’s back is one smooth surface with gradual curves towards the edges, while this blue model features a lovely frosted soft glass finish that’s really nice to the touch. The branding is minimal too, giving this phone a look and feel that’s highly polished and befitting of its high price tag.
It’s slimmer than its predecessor, the Oppo Find X2 Pro, too. In fact, it’s a more than a 1mm thinner than the vegan leather model of old and noticeably lighter too – although there’s no denying the Find X3 Pro is still quite a large phone. It doesn’t have the bulk or weight of the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra though.
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It’s skinny bezels all the way around on the front and nothing cuts into that display panel except for a small selfie camera punched into the top corner.
Aligning itself slightly with recent trends, the curves around the edges of the display are less extreme than we’ve seen in the past, but are very much still there. It seems the trend of ‘waterfall displays’ died before it began. Unsurprising, really, given how easy it is to perform accidental touches on those things.
Another positive is that Oppo has built in some stereo speakers, so if the phone is close enough to your face, you get that left and right channel effect while watching movies and listening to music. The loudspeaker at the bottom is definitely the louder of the two, however, and can be quite easy to cover with a hand by accident – especially during landscape gaming – leaving you with quite a quiet left channel only.
Brilliant display
6.7-inch AMOLED panel, QHD+ resolution (3216 x 1440 pixels)
120Hz refresh rate (with adaptive frame rate)
1300 nits peak brightness
ColorOS 11 (based on Android 11)
Oppo has made something of a name for itself by putting fantastic screens on its phones this past couple of years. For 2021, that’s no different. With a high-resolution and fast refresh rate panel – with adaptive refresh up to 120Hz – the Find X3 Pro delivers on that sharp and smooth experience.
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As if that wasn’t enough, it can display up to a billion colours, is HDR10+ compatible, and has a peak brightness of 1300 nits. The display spec sheet is enough to make any tech nerd’s mouth water.
But it’s not just read it and imagine stuff, it’s great in reality too. It’s bright, it’s sharp, it’s dynamic, and the colours are rich. It’s set to FHD+ resolution by default, but it’s easy enough to change to QHD within the settings and get the full effect of its sharpness (inevitably minus some battery life).
We don’t find that it over-eggs the contrast too much either, so while blacks are really deep and dark, they don’t cause the screen to feature that overly contrasty or ‘black crush’ look we sometimes found with the Find X2 Pro or OnePlus 8.
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Oppo’s ColorOS software is great in a lot of ways too. As Android skins go, it’s worked itself into the position of being one of the cleanest, most fluid and attractive options out there. It doesn’t go crazy with colourful icons and trasitions like Samsung’s One UI, and has attractive rounded corners on the notification bubbles.
It’s come a very long way since it was effectively just a clone of Apple’s iOS back in the day – before Oppo’s launch in Europe (well, relaunch). There are some quirks though. Mainly around notifications.
There doesn’t seem to be a lot of consistency in how notifications are handled. For instance, we could have a little icon showing we have a notification on the always-on display, but then there’s nothing displaying on the Lock Screen. Or there coule be a little red dot on the app icon, but nothing showing up in the status bar or notification shade when we dropped it down.
The lock screen’s inconsistency was particularly unusual. Even when we’d set notifications to wake up the phone we’d see the notification light up the lock screen, but upon picking up the phone to check again, the notification would vanish – despite being unread and still showing as an icon on the always-on display.
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All of these quirks were despite having set notifications to have the ability to show everywhere (status bar/app icon/lock screen), and despite setting our most-used apps to ignore any battery optimisations that might push them to background status or send them to sleep.
Still, there’s some other fun and good points to ColorOS, such as the Relax app to help you get to sleep at night by playing some calming ambient noise. And we like the customisation options available for the interface and the always-on display.
Performance & battery life
Snapdragon 888 processor, 12GB RAM
256GB storage, no microSD expansion
4,500mAh battery capacity
65W Super VOOC 2.0 flash charging
30W Air VOOC wireless charging
5G connectivity
As far as pure power goes, the Find X3 Pro is up there with the best of them, featuring the top-end for 2021 Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 series. Here that means the Snapdragon 888 with 12GB RAM and 256GB storage.
Load up your favourite games and the phone handles them without breaking a sweat, keeping up with fast animations and transitions. It doesn’t stutter or lag anywhere, so it really doesn’t matter what you try to do with it, it’ll handle it just fine. It didn’t even get particularly warm, even after a 30 minute gaming session.
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Battery management is similarly efficient. We struggled to drain the full battery in a single day, even at a weekend with three hours of gaming and then some camera testing we still finished the day with 30 per cent left over.
On quiter days with only a little dabbling with news sites, maybe an hour of gaming and some social media, we could easily finish the day with more than 50 per cent left at bed time. So we have no doubt this could easily be a two-day phone for light to moderate users.
Then when the battery does eventually empty, it has Oppo’s trademark flash charging technology in both wired and wireless forms. With the wired adapter, it can full refill in under 40 minutes. With the proprietary AirVOOC tech – which OnePlus also uses in its Wireless Warp Charge stand – you can fill it up pretty quickly with the wireless charger too.
Under the microscope
3-megapixel ‘Micro lens’
Where to start with the camera. Let’s go with the gimmick bit first. Because, actually, it’s rather fun.
In its quad camera system, the Find X3 Pro has a so-called ‘Micro lens’. This gives you the effect of zooming in up to 60x and has its own little LED light ring around it. That’s an essential addition because it’s for shooting really, really close-up shots, allowing you to see detail you just can’t with the naked eye.
Launch the microscope mode in the camera and a curtain goes from being just about able to see a weave pattern to being able to see the individual threads and weaves in the construction. It’s a similar effect with a weaved nylon watch strap or a clothbound book. Hold it to a screen and you’ll see the sub pixels in the panel. It’s pretty cool.
Yes, it’s a gimmick – and with a low 3-megapixel resolution – so it’s not particularly sharp, but it is fun and definitely adds a different edge to your photography.
It also takes some concentration and very steady hands. Holding the camera 1-3mm away from a subject is hard enough without the extreme magnification also making every tiny hand movement or shake exagerated.
It has a macro mode too, which thankfully isn’t handled by this low-resolution sensor. It instead uses the same sensor as the ultra-wide camera – which we’ll come to later.
What that means for photos – examples of which you can see in the gallery above – is that your images retain colour, detail and a natural blur that you generally don’t get with a seperate, low-resolution macro camera. It can get you great results, although its automatic activation can take a little while to get used to.
With the camera set to its default 1x mode it’ll automatically switch to macro mode as soon as you get close to a subject. Sounds great, except it switches to the ultra-wide lens – and because that’s in a physically different position you have to then adjust and re-frame.
Our only real criticism here is that sometimes with the macro mode the background blur causes edges to appear to have a outline glow, which is kind of odd.
As for the other cameras, it’s pretty much all good here. Pictures have detail and a lot of vibrancy and life, especially when shooting in daylight. One of the best things is that both the ultra-wide and primary camera use exactly the same 50-megapixel sensor.
That means – since they make use of the same image processing tech too – that the balance of colour, dynamic range and detail between the two is pretty much identical. It helps photos taken from those two camera appear consistent, which isn’t the case on a lot of other phones.
The phone cameras seem to handle harsh lighting conditions pretty well too, balancing out highlights and shadows nicely. It’s a really reliable system.
One thing we did notice – in both daylight and night modes – is that the camera produces quite a warm colour balance. We like the look, but it isn’t necessarily the neutral and clean finish some will like. Saying that, there is a ‘Pro’ mode which will let you adjust all manner of settings, including the white balance.
There’s also a telephoto zoom camera with 2x optical zoom, 5x hybrid zoom, and up to 20x digital zoom, giving you that extra range you might want to shoot subjects further away.
Images from this camera don’t have that same quality look of the two primary cameras, but they hold up well – up to about 5x anyway. Zoom beyond that and the detail falls off quite rapidly. At 20x the picture looks quite ropey, with details somewhat jagged and blurry.
With night mode activated the phone performs well in low-light conditions too. To our surprise we found that both the primary and ultra-wide cameras perform well in night mode, drawing in a lot of light. Although, with its wider aperture, the primary is noticeably better.
We took the Find X3 Pro out to compare with the iPhone 12 and Google Pixel 5 at night and found that its images were warmer than the other two. It doesn’t seem as heavy-handed with contrast and highlights like the iPhone, but isn’t quite as realistic looking as the Pixel in our view.
Night mode doesn’t just apply to photos either. Tapping an AI enhancing button boosts the video performance at night too. This does effect the optical stabilisation a little negatively, but results in some pretty colour and hyper-realistic scenery, but it’s impressive to see the difference in really low-light situations.
Best smartphones 2021 rated: The top mobile phones available to buy today
By Chris Hall
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Verdict
When it comes to display, battery life and overall speed, the Oppo Find X3 Pro is undoubtedly one of the best flagships on the market right now – and will likely remain a strong choice throughout 2021.
While the camera does have a habit of warming up pictures’ colour balance and sometimes making them a bit oversaturated, the whole system is immensely versatile and gets great results, regardless of lighting conditions.
The only other negative relates to quirks with notifications from the ColorOS software. Otherwise it’s hard to find much fault with Oppo’s top-tier flagship.
While Oppo might not be a familiar name to everyone, the Find X3 Pro is so fantastic in nearly every way that it’ll put the brand name on the map. It simply stands out from the crowd for all the right reasons.
Also consider
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Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra
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Oppo is competiting with the big names, and Samsung’s latest ultra-premium device has a lot going for it. The screen is fab and it has a super camera system. Oh, and that Phantom Black colour is stunning too.
Read our review
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iPhone 12 Pro Max
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It’s Apple’s latest all-singing all-dancing flagship and offers many of the same hardware features. It’s a very polished experience all-round if you’re not up for Google’s Android OS.
(Pocket-lint) – Oppo announced its 2021 smartphone Find X3 series with three models to choose from: Find X3 Pro 5G, Find X3 Neo 5G and the Find X3 Lite 5G.
We’ve compared the specs of all three models to help you figure out what’s different, what’s the same and which model is the right Find for you. See what we did there.
Design
X3 Pro: 163.6 x 74 x 8.26mm, 193g
X3 Neo: 159.9 x 72.5 x 7.99mm, 184g
X3 Lite: 159.1 x 73.4 x 7.9mm, 172/180g (colour dependant)
The Find X3 series differs quite a lot in terms of design. The Find X3 Pro is the most striking of the three devices, featuring a square rear camera housing on a smooth bump, offering something different from the norm.
There’s a curved display on the front with a punch hole camera in the top left corner and overall, it’s a solid, premium looking device. It’s also IP68 rated and the only one of the three Find X3 devices to offer water and dust resistance.
The Find X3 Neo is next in the range in terms of price but it shares a similar design to the Find X3 Lite, with both offering a rectangular rear camera housing with three prominent lenses. The Neo has an additional fourth smaller square lens within the housing, while the Lite has an additional circular smaller lens.
They differ slightly from the front too. The Neo has a curved display like the X3 Pro, while the Lite has a flat display. Both come with a punch hole front camera like the X3 Pro though.
Display
X3 Pro: 6.7-inch, 3216 x 1440 (525ppi), 120Hz, HDR10+, 1300nits
X3 Neo: 6.55-inch, 2400 x 1080 (402ppi), 90Hz, HDR10+, 1100nits
X3 Lite: 6.4-inches, 2400 x 1080 (410ppi), 90Hz, 750nits
The Oppo Find X3 Pro has a 6.7-inch AMOLED display with a Quad HD+ resolution, offering a pixel density of 525ppi. It’s said to have a 1 billion colour display though, which the Neo and Lite don’t offer. It also has a 120Hz refresh rate, support for HDR 10+ and a maximum brightness of 1300nits.
The Find X3 Neo has a slightly smaller display than the Find X3 Pro at 6.55-inches, and while it sticks with OLED, it drops the resolution to Full HD+ instead of Quad HD+, offering a pixel density of 402ppi. It also has a 90Hz refresh rate instead of 120Hz, and drops the peak brightness to 1100nits, though it still supports HDR10+.
The Find X3 Lite meanwhile, has the smallest display of the three Find X3 devices at 6.4-inches. The OLED panel has a Full HD+ resolution like the Neo, though a slightly higher pixel density because of the size reduction at 410ppi. It too opts for a 90Hz refresh rate but doesn’t offer HDR10+ support and its peak brightness is 750nits.
All three of the Oppo Find X3 devices have a quad rear camera, but they are all made up of different lenses.
The flagship X3 Pro has a 50-megapixel wide angle camera with an aperture of f/1.8, optical image stabilisation and PDAF. There’s also a 50-megapixel ultra wide-angle camera with an aperture of f/2.2 and PDAF, as well as a 13-megapixel telephoto lens with a f/2.4 aperture, 5x hybrid zoom and 20x optical zoom. The fourth lens is a 3-megapixel Microlens with an f/3.0 aperture and fixed focus.
The X3 Neo has the same 50-megapixel wide angle camera as the X3 Pro and the same telephoto lens. These are paired with a 16-megapixel ultra wide-angle camera with f/2.2 aperture though, and a 2-megapixel Macro camera with f/2.4 aperture.
The X3 Lite meanwhile, has a 64-megapixel main camera with an aperture of f/1.7, an 8-megapixel ultra wide-angle camera with an aperture of f/2.2 and the same macro lens as the X2 Neo. Its fourth sensor is a 2-megapixel Mono camera with an aperture of f/2.4.
All three Find X3 devices have a 32-megapixel front camera with an aperture of f/2.4.
The Oppo Find X3 Pro runs on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chipset with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. It’s Dual-SIM, with support for eSIM and it comes with a 4500mAh battery that supports 65W fast charging and 30W wireless charging.
The Find X3 Neo runs on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 platform, with 12GB RAM and 256GB storage. It too is Dual-SIM, though doesn’t support eSIM, and it also comes with a 4500mAh battery with 65W fast charging. It doesn’t offer the 30W wireless charging support though.
The Find X3 Lite runs on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G platform, has 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. Like the Neo, it is Dual-SIM but doesn’t support eSIM and it comes with a 4300mAh battery, that also supports 65W fast charging.
The Pro and Neo both have dual stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos, while the Lite offers Dolby Atmos but not dual stereo speakers. None of the Find X3 models have microSD for storage expansion. All three are 5G.
Price
All three models in the Find X3 series will be available in the UK from 14 April.
The Oppo Find X3 Pro will start at £1099. The Oppo Find X3 Neo will start at £699. The Oppo Find X3 Lite will start at £379.
Conclusion
The Oppo Find X3 Pro offers a larger, brighter and sharper display with more colours, a more premium and different design, waterproofing, a more capable camera and more advanced hardware compared to the other two X3 models.
The X3 Neo makes a few compromises compared to the X3 Pro, but it is nearly half the price. It drops the display resolution and refresh rate, offers no waterproofing, drops to last year’s processor, doesn’t have support for eSIM or 30W wireless charging and changes up the camera specs slightly.
The X3 Lite meanwhile, makes a few more compromises on top of the Neo, but it is a third of the price of the Pro model, and almost half that of the Neo so the choice between the handsets will come down to what your budget allows and what features are most important to you.
(Pocket-lint) – Oppo announced its 2021 flagship smartphone in the Find X3 Pro, succeeding the excellent Find X2 Pro from 2020. The latest device brings an all new design and some great features, but how does it compare to the Find X2 Pro?
Here’s how the Find X3 Pro stacks up against the Find X2 Pro to help you decide whether to upgrade, or which you should buy.
Design
X3 Pro: 163.6 x 74.0 x 8.26mm, 193g
X2 Pro: 165.2 x 74.4 x 8.8mm, 217g (ceramic), 200g (vegan leather)
The Oppo Find X3 Pro has a striking design. It offers a premium build with a square rear camera housing raised on a smooth bump, for a different look to the norm. There are three large camera lenses, along with a smaller fourth lens.
A full curved display with a punch hole front camera in the top left corner dominates the front and the X3 Pro is IP68 rated for water and dust resistance. It comes in three colour options: Gloss Black, White and Blue.
The Oppo Find X2 Pro still offers a lovely design, but it isn’t quite as different from the average as the X3 Pro. There’s a more subtle rectangular camera housing on the rear in the top left corner, while the front has a curved display and a punch hole camera in the top left like the X3 Pro.
The X2 Pro is also IP68 water and dust resistant and it comes in three colour options too, but they are a little bolder: Black, Orange and Green. The black is ceramic, while the orange and green options are vegan leather.
Display
X3 Pro: 6.7-inch, OLED, 3216 x 1440, 525ppi, 120Hz, 1300nits
X2 Pro: 6.7-inch, OLED, 3168 x 1440, 513ppi, 120Hz, 1200nits
The Oppo Find X3 Pro has a 6.7-inch AMOLED display with a Quad HD+ resolution. This results in a pixel density of 525ppi. It offers a 120Hz refresh rate, support for HDR10+ and it has a maximum brightness of 1300nits.
The Oppo Find X2 Pro also has a 6.7-inch OLED display with a Quad HD+ resolution that results in a slightly lower pixel density of 513ppi. It too has a 120Hz refresh rate, support for HDR10+ and it has a maximum brightness of 1200nits.
Both displays offer 1 billion colours and as we mentioned, both are curved and both have a punch hole camera in the top left corner. The X3 Pro has a screen ratio of 92.7 per cent, while the X2 Pro has a screen ratio of 93.1 per cent.
The Oppo Find X3 Pro runs on the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor, coupled with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. There is no support for microSD.
Under the hood is a 4500mAh battery, which supports 65W fast charging and 30W wireless charging. It is a Dual-SIM device, with eSIM supported.
The Oppo Find X2 Pro meanwhile, runs on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 processor, coupled with 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. It doesn’t support microSD either.
There are two 2130mAh batteries running the X2 Pro for a combined total of 4260mAh, with 65W fast charging supported. There is no wireless charging support on the Find X2 Pro and it is a single SIM device.
Camera
X3 Pro: Quad rear camera (wide angle, ultra wide angle, telephoto, Microlens), 32MP front
X2 Pro: Triple rear camera (wide angle, ultra wide angle, telephoto), 32MP front
The Oppo Find X3 Pro comes with a quad camera on the rear. This is made up of a 50-megapixel wide angle sensor (f/1.8, OIS, PDAF), a 50-megapixel ultra wide-angle sensor (f/2.2, PDAF), a 13-megapixel telephoto camera (f/2.4, 5x hybrid, 20x optical) and a 3-megapixel Microlens (f/3.0).
The Oppo Find X2 Pro has a triple rear camera. This is comprised of a 48-megapixel wide angle sensor (f/1.7, PDAF), a 48-megapixel ultra wide angle sensor (f/2.2) and a 13-megapixel periscope telephoto sensor (f/3.0, 10x hybrid).
There is a 32-megapixel front camera on board both devices. It’s worth mentioning that more megapixels, or more sensors doesn’t always mean better. You can read our separate reviews on the X3 Pro and the X2 Pro to see how their cameras perform.
Price
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The Oppo Find X3 Pro will be available in the UK from 14 April, starting at £1099.
The Oppo Find X2 Pro costs £999.
Conclusion
The Oppo Find X2 Pro is an excellent device, one of the best of 2020, and the Oppo Find X3 Pro betters it in a couple of areas, as you would expect from a succeeding device.
The Find X3 Pro has a more interesting and striking design, a more powerful processor, an interesting camera make up, wireless charging, Dual SIM, a slightly larger battery and a brighter display.
That said, the Find X2 Pro has double the storage of the X3 Pro, more exciting finish options like leather, and it still offers the same large display as the X3 Pro, with an almost identical resolution and refresh rate.
The X2 Pro is also likely to go down in price when the X3 Pro becomes available so it might be worth considering, depending on which features are most important to you.
(Pocket-lint) – If you’ve looked at Oppo’s Reno family over the years, confused at exactly where it fits, which devices are in it, and if they’re even available where you live, then fear not – you’re not alone.
Since the first Reno phone (which was released in 2019), Oppo has expanded the range considerably. Among that product family is where you’ll find a particular gem: the Reno 4 Pro.
It’s a sleek, attractive and well-proportioned, but for a mid-range device it’s arguably a little pricey. Does that affect the overall proposition? Read on…
Design
Dimensions: 159.6 x 72.5 x 7.6mm / Weight: 172g
Monogrammed design on Space Black model
All glass front and back design
When 5G first hit the scenes – and just like when 4G became a thing – phones were pretty large. Not only did phones need an extra external chip to act as the modem, but space was required for cooling, while larger batteries were required to ensure longevity.
In 2020, however, thanks to the advancement of processors that have built-in 5G modems, that changed. Samsung showed it with the S20. And Oppo – having first shown it with the Find X2 Neo – does it again with the Reno 4 Pro. It’s impressively slim and sleek for a 5G-capable device.
In fact, it’s very similar to the Find X2 Neo in terms of size, shape and build. It’s got the glass on the front and back that curves towards the edges, making it look and feel really slim. It’s narrow, too, and has really skinny bezels on the front – ensuring the screen takes up the majority of the space (around 94 per cent of it, says the spec).
Where it differs is in the styling and finish of that rear panel. There’s a new Arctic Blue model that features a frosted glass finish, but unlike most other frosted glass phones, this has been created with an Oppo-designed technique using microscopic laser etchings along the surface. This way the finished product resists scratches and fingerprint smudges.
We were sent the Space Black model which has a much more traditional black, glossy look. However, even that’s unique. There’s a rainbow effect that appears when you angle it towards light, as well as a pattern of repeating monograms spelling out ‘OP’. Because, er, Oppo. The company says this is to make the phone something of a fashion statement. We feel you’ll either love it or hate it. Opinions are definitely mixed here at Pocket-lint.
The camera housing is among one of the most attractive we’ve seen on a smartphone. It’s a simple, glossy rectangle with rounded corners that protrudes from the back with three identically sized camera rings in a neat row. It’s compact, and pleasant to look at.
To pick up and hold the phone in the hand, the Pro is just a delight. Some of the rough edges we found between the glass and metal on the Find X2 Neo aren’t an issue here. This is one slim, smooth and sumptuous mid-ranger.
Those curved edges and the slim nature of the phone do mean there’s a tendency to accidentally touch the display though. We’ve often accidentally tapped an icon in the bottom corner of the display when it pressed into the base of our thumb. Similarly, with navigation gestures enabled, we’ve also often found ourselves trying to swipe away notifications only for it to launch the ‘back’ gesture instead.
Display
6.5-inch AMOLED display, 90Hz refresh rate
FHD+ resolution (1080 x 2400 pixels)
Punch-hole selfie camera
The screen on Oppo’s top mid-range phone is AMOLED, meaning you get plenty of benefits. It’s bright (at about 500 nits peak brightness), and features deep inky blacks and vibrant colours.
It also has the added bonus of a 90Hz refresh rate, which means animations stay smoother. When you’re switching between areas in the user interface or scrolling up and down menus it helps everything seem all that much more fluid.
Heading into 2021, the Quad HD resolution display seems to be on the way out in smaller devices for the sake of battery life. And so Full HD sharpness on the Reno 4 Pro is perfectly fine – and as much as expected. It’s still virtually impossible to see any individual pixels.
For the most part this is a bright and vivid panel. We put it side-by-side with the Samsung Galaxy S21, for instance, and – set to vivid mode – the Oppo more than pulls its weight for things like Netflix watching, general interface appearance, and photo viewing. Where it struggles a little is with games, but we’ll get more into that in the performance section.
It’s not quite perfect though. The curves in the corners, for instance, don’t quite match the more square corners of the phone, while the top and bottom bezels are noticeably thicker than the sides. Both combined makes for a slightly uneven look.
Performance
Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G processor, 12GB RAM
4,000mAh battery, 65W Super VOOC 2.0 charging
256GB storage, no microSD expansion
5G connectivity
Look at the current mid-range market and you’ll see Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 700-series is the most popular. Here, it’s the same 765G chip that’s inside the OnePlus Nord and a handful of other powerful mid-rangers.
Joining it, there’s a generous 12GB RAM and 256GB storage (in the UK variant), which is more than enough to keep the most demanding apps running smoothly and ensure you have enough space to store all of your photos, music and video for entertainment on the go.
Like the Nord, we’ve not had any issues with performance. In fact, for most tasks, the Pro will feel pretty much as good as any flagship would. It’s fast and responsive, partly down to the fluidity of the display, partly down to the 765G platform being plenty powerful enough.
Loading up games isn’t quite as quick as some of the more recent top-tier phones, but the difference isn’t remarkable. Where you do notice the difference is in the graphics quality. Details that might be smooth and sharp on higher-end phones seem a little rough around the edges. Lines look a bit jagged, almost like the game won’t run at its full resolution. At least, that’s what we found while playing Mario Kart Tour.
The 4,000mAh battery on board is about standard in terms of capacity these days. But what’s not standard is Oppo’s Super VOOC 2.0 flash charging technology. This particular flavour is the 65W variant – which we’ve seen on top-tier phones like the Find X2 Pro. With an empty battery, it’ll charge from 0-66 per cent in just 15 minutes and finish its charge completely in 35 minutes. Now that’s fast!
What we’ve found in the past with phones using this tech is that it changes your charging behaviour. You no longer have to charge it overnight. You can wait until it runs almost flat, plug it in, and even 10-15 minutes is enough to get through the rest of the day.
Oppo seems to have done something rather magical with battery life too. Its standby performance is pretty remarkable. If you’re someone who isn’t glued to your phone constantly then you shouldn’t have too much trouble making the Reno 4 Pro last two days between charges. We’ve left it overnight on many an occasion, in standby, and woken to find it only having lost five per cent of its charge. Impressive.
Cameras
Triple rear camera system:
Main: 48-megapixel, f/1.7 aperture
Wide/macro: 12MP, f/2.2
Zoom (2x): 13MP, f/2.4
32MP selfie camera
4K video at 30fps
The Oppo Reno 4 Pro’s 48-megapixel main camera is joined by a 12-megapixel ultra-wide camera and a 13-megapixel 2x zoom lens. What’s interesting here is that the 12-megapixel ultra-wide is also being branded as a ‘night’ camera. A lot of that is down to the fact that Oppo has boosted its night performance, especially when shooting video.
Pocket-lint
: Macro modeMacro mode
That ultra-wide doubles (triples?) as a macro camera, too, and that means not having to rely on a dedicated low resolution sensor for close-up shots – as is so prevalent in many rivals. And you can tell: the macro shots are actually decent, retaining good colour and depth, while avoiding suffering from that nauseating swirling bokeh effect we’ve seen from some of the poorer macro solutions.
As for that third lens, that’s a 5x hybrid zoom camera, so while it’s not quite as impressive as the high-end periscope-like lenses that go up to twice that, it’s still a very versatile system. At 2x optical zoom, images retain colour, sharpness and depth, but as soon as you push it up to 5x – which is where it’s using digital zoom – things can look a little ropey. Images lose sharpness as they tend to once you switch into digital zoom.
Transitioning between the four main focal lengths is easy enough though. There’s an icon on the screen that you can tap to quickly switch between 0.6x, 1x, 2x and 5x. Or you can tap, hold and drag it to use the smoother zooming interface – as it turns into a wheel on the screen.
Pocket-lint
: Ultrawide cameraUltrawide camera
What impressed us was that – while sometimes the images came out with slightly over-exposed highlights – the balance of colour and light between the three cameras was pretty uniform. Greens and purples look the same in all three in the collection above. While they all have a little over-sharpening in the darker areas, that evenness isn’t something you typically see when using three unique sensors.
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Laser detection autofocus ensures that the camera focuses quickly and reliably even when the light levels aren’t optimal. Indoors in dim conditions we found it to focus fast, which made it quick and easy to grab the shot we were after without repeatedly tapping the screen in frustration trying to get the camera to lock on.
There are plenty of shooting modes too. Open up the More tab in the camera app and you can shoot with stickers, shoot in ‘Pro’ mode to get fine-tuned control, shoot slow-mo, time-lapse, and even scan text or use Google Lens to assess the scene for text and everyday items. It doesn’t feel overly busy with options thankfully, and the main collection of shooting modes is where most people will spend their time.
Verdict
The Oppo Reno 4 Pro’s spec sheet may make it seem like a mid-range phone at a near-flagship price, but its performance and everyday reliability makes this one genuinely good phone – regardless of the price.
The camera system is strong and consistent, offering versatility without falling into the same traps as other mid-range phones with multiple cameras on the back. This has three cameras and all of them useful and actually decent.
A perceived lack of power could put off the smartphone enthusiasts when compared to similarly priced devices, but we’ve enjoyed almost everything that the Oppo phone has to offer. The only minor criticism is graphical performance compromises when it comes to gaming.
While the Oppo is considerably more expensive than the OnePlus Nord or Google Pixel 4a, for that extra money you get a more premium design, a more versatile and powerful camera, and a stupendously fast-charging battery. The Reno 4 Pro is an impressively slim and sleek device that still has all the functionality you’d expect from a top-tier phone.
Alternatives to consider
Oppo Find X2 Neo
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It’s not exactly the same, but it features similar build and performance. The only compromises you make, really, are a poorer camera system and slower charging speeds. But it’ll save you some money as a result.
Read our review
Samsung Galaxy S20 FE
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Samsung hit all the right notes with the ‘Fan Edition’ of the S20. It’s got all the top features that matter – like a 120Hz display, flagship-spec processor, and a solid camera system. The price isn’t that much higher considering the spec bump either.
Read our review
Writing by Cam Bunton. Editing by Mike Lowe.
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