If you opened your phone this morning to see a Twitter app update, you might have been excited — and then confused — to see an advertisement for Twitter Spaces, the audio chat rooms that the social network recently launched to compete with the similar Clubhouse app. “Introducing Spaces,” the iOS update says, promising that “Now you can Tweet and Talk.”
But while you won’t actually find the ability to create a new Space unless you’re one of a select few, the company now says it’s planning to launch Spaces to everyone next month.
The iOS update note.Screenshot by The Verge
Amusingly, we overheard the news in a Twitter Space itself, hosted by the company. Twitter’s plans aren’t set in stone, but the gist is that they’re trying to get the product into a state where anyone can host a Twitter Space starting in April. April is the goal. In the meanwhile, users on both iOS and Android can both join and talk in existing Spaces.
Twitter Spaces are just one of an array of new features the typically feature-resistant company has announced in the past few months, and we’ve got a wide-ranging interview with Twitter product head Kayvon Beykpour where he discusses the whole set, including the company’s Snap and Instagram-like disappearing Twitter Fleets, and Super Follows where you can pay to subscribe to extra Twitter content from your favorite creators — a business which reminds us of platforms like Substack and OnlyFans.
(Pocket-lint) – The ROG Phone 3 was revealed in July 2020 and it was October 2020 before that device spread its wings across the globe and landed in the US. It never reached some regions like the UK.
The ROG Phone 5 arrives pretty soon after, promising more versions, wider availability and a whole host of updates.
So what’s changed and if you’ve recently nabbed the ROG Phone 3, are you really missing out?
Release date and price
ROG Phone 5:
8/128: €799
12/256: €899
16/256: €999
ROG Phone 5 Pro: €1199
ROG Phone 5 Ultimate: €1299
ROG Phone 3:
8/128GB ‘Strix Edition’: €799
12/256GB: €999
16/512GB: €1,099
As we said, the ROG Phone 3 was available in China and India in July 2020 and eventually made its way to the US in October 2020, but international availability has never been great.
Although the ROG Phone 3 started at the same price as the ROG Phone 5, the step-up versions of the ROG Phone 5 are cheaper than they were for the ROG Phone 3. The 12/256 ROG Phone 5 is likely to be the most popular, and it’s €100 cheaper than the ROG Phone 3 was at launch.
However, the ROG Phone 5 adds the Pro and Ultimate versions providing those top prices, so it’s more expensive overall for those more advanced models, although the Ultimate comes with a complete box of extras.
The ROG Phone 5 is expected to be available in March, the Pro in April and the Ultimate in May 2021.
Design
ROG Phone 5: 173 x 77 x 9.9mm, 239g
ROG Phone 3: 171 x 78 x 9.9mm, 240g
The design of the ROG Phone 3 and the 5 is broadly similar. As the measurements reveal, these phones are closely matched in terms of size and weight – even through the ROG Phone 5 has a slightly larger display.
The shape and positioning of the cameras is similar, although the ROG Phone 5 is slightly more angular, while there’s an interesting change on the rear of the phone.
The ROG Phone 3 offered an RGB logo on the rear. There’s a similar RGB logo on the rear of the ROG Phone 5, but it’s now a dot display, to give it some retro charm, while also having two RGB zones for colour combinations – so it’s more dynamic.
The ROG Phone 5 goes further with the Pro and Ultimate versions, offering the ROG Vision display on the rear which can display animations and custom graphics, so it has a lot more to offer in terms of customisation.
While the standard ROG Phone 5 comes in black – like the ROG Phone 3 – the Ultimate edition comes in white.
All these phones have Air Triggers on the top, but the ROG Phone 5 Pro and Ultimate offers two more touch zones on the rear you can customise as game controls. The ROG Phone 5 also supports programmable gestures to further aid your gaming, as well as packing in a 3.5mm headphone socket!
Overall, while looking similar, the ROG Phone 5 has a lot more to offer on the design alone, but it’s a refinement – you can still see that these phones are related.
Display
ROG Phone 5: 6.78-inch AMOLED, 2448 x 1080 resolution, 144Hz
ROG Phone 3: 6.59-inch AMOLED, 2340 x 1080 resolution, 144Hz
The display on the ROG Phone 3 is very similar to the ROG Phone 5, supporting that 144Hz refresh rate and with a similar size and resolution.
But you’ll notice that the ROG Phone 5 gives you a little more display space in a phone that’s pretty much the same size as it was before, which is a win in our books.
When it comes to the hardware, there’s been a fairly big switch up to the internals. Both phones sit on the top Qualcomm Snapdragon hardware for the year that they were launched. That gives the ROG Phone 5 and inherent advantage because it’s going to be more powerful.
But there’s a big design change on the interior too. While the overall battery capacity is the same on both phones – 6,000mAh – on the ROG Phone 5 this is split into two cells which means Asus can be more flexible with the design and also support 65W charging – a big jump over the 30W charging of the ROG Phone 3.
Splitting the battery means that the SoC – system on chip, the brains of the phone – can now sit in the centre of the ROG Phone 5, rather than off to the side where it was previously. Sound familiar? Yes, that’s exactly what the Legion Phone Duel offered too.
That is better for cooling, as the clip-on fan accessory can sit right over the part producing most of the heat. The slight downside might be that you feel the warmth with your fingertips, rather than just with one hand. Still, it’s likely to be an improvement for the better for the ROG Phone 5.
Both phones offer a range of RAM options, partly tied to the storage and in both cases this is used to leverage price. There’s actually not a huge difference here – both go up to 512GB storage – but to get that version on the ROG Phone 5, you’re looking at the Ultimate which also has 18GB of RAM.
Yep, we’re struggling to see that as anything other than a numbers game and we suspect most will be happy with the 12/256GB version – which is the model that’s actually €100 cheaper in the ROG Phone 5 and the ROG Phone 3 launch prices.
There’s also a small change on the side of the phone, switching the accessory port to a pogo pin system rather than a USB C, so now it’s clearer what you have to plug your charging cable into on the ROG Phone 5.
There’s actually no change here. According to Asus there’s no difference in the cameras so you can expect the same performance.
Conclusions
It’s easy after a quick look through what’s on offer that the ROG Phone 5 has things stacked in its favour, which is to be expected being the newer device.
But there are some important fundamentals here: the display on both is similar, both have top quality Qualcomm hardware and options for big RAM, as well as custom gaming features, so the day-to-day experience between the two is probably not going to be that big.
But given that you seem to be getting a lot more for your money on the ROG Phone 5, with more options to choose from an wider availability, it seems like the one to choose.
Asus is going big with its latest gaming phones. The ROG Phone 5 lineup will start shipping this month across the globe, costing 799 euros (around $950) for the base configuration with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of fast UFS 3.1 storage. Every configuration has a 6.78-inch FHD+ OLED screen with a 144Hz refresh rate and a 300Hz touch sampling rate. Also, the headphone jack has made a comeback after being absent from the ROG Phone 3, this time with a quad DAC in tow for hi-res audio. (In case you’re wondering where the ROG Phone 4 went, Asus skipped over the number four, like OnePlus did, due to its similarities with the word “death” in some Asian languages.)
The most notable changes from the last generation are exclusive to some even more expensive configurations, the ROG Phone 5 Pro and Ultimate (which I published a review of) that release in April for 1,199 euros (approximately $1,420) and in May for 1,299 euros (about $1,583), respectively. Both of these models have double the storage and more RAM (starting at 16GB in the Pro and going all the way up to 18GB in the Ultimate); come in limited edition colors; and have two additional ultrasonic touch sensors than the standard model, located near where your ring fingers might rest while holding the phone in landscape mode. You’ll also get a case and a clip-on AeroActive Cooler 5 fan attachment with purchase with either the Pro or Ultimate phone (which adds two more buttons attached to the fan.)
The new Asus gaming phones aren’t huge departures from their predecessors, though the hardware and software are more refined. I reviewed the ROG Phone 5 Ultimate, and while it delivers on its promises to be a spec and feature juggernaut in some clever ways, paying $1,580 for it seems steep. Even the $950 base configuration isn’t what I’d consider affordable.
The Ultimate and Pro include “ROG Vision,” a feature that pushes premade or custom text or graphics to its rear-facing OLED screen. It’s a spin on Asus’ “Anime Matrix” effect used in the Zephyrus G14 gaming laptop, allowing you to personalize your phone if you want. The standard ROG Phone 5 simply has a backlit ROG logo, which some might find to be just enough pizazz.
I go into all of the features in the review. But if you’re just passing by and want to know all about the specs, I’ve attached a handy table just for you.
Asus ROG Phone 5 lineup specs
Comparison
ROG Phone 5 Ultimate
ROG Phone 5 Pro
ROG Phone 5
Comparison
ROG Phone 5 Ultimate
ROG Phone 5 Pro
ROG Phone 5
Colors
Matte white
Glossy black
Phantom black or Storm white
Price
1,299 Euros (approx. $1,583)
1,199 Euros (approx. $1,420)
Starts at 799 Euros (approx. $950)
Processor
Snapdragon 888
*
*
OS
Android 11 with ROG UI
*
*
Display
6.78-inch 2448 x 1080 OLED with 144Hz refresh rate
*
*
RAM
18GB LPDDR5
16GB LPDDR5
8GB,12GB or 16GB LPDDR5
Storage
512GB UFS 3.1
*
256GB UFS 3.1
Extra touch sensors
Yes
*
No
Rear-facing cameras
64-megapixel with F/1.8 aperture, 13-megapixel 125-degree ultra-wide with F/2.4 aperture, and a 5-megapixel macro lens with F/2.0
*
*
Front-facing camera
24-megapixel with F/2.45 aperture
*
*
ROG Vision support
Yes, monochromatic
Yes, color
No
Battery
6,000mAh
*
*
Included charger
65W
*
*
Dimensions
172.8 x 77.2 x 10.29 mm
*
*
Weight
238 grams
*
*
Connectivity
LTE and sub-6GHz 5G on AT&T and T-Mobile, Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2
Amazon appears to have reached the “late-prototype stage” in the creation of its secretive home robot codenamed Vesta, claims a new report from Insider. The device has been under development for around four years and now has more than 800 employees working on it, says the publication. If the robot launches, it will be one of Amazon’s biggest and most ambitious new products, in the mold of the Echo, Kindle, and Fire Phone.
Indeed, it’s comparisons to the latter device, Amazon’s failed smartphone project, that seems to be concerning some of those involved in Vesta’s development. “People are very skeptical — we’re worried it could turn into another Fire Phone,” one of six anonymous sources cited by Insider as “directly involved in the project” told the publication.
Vesta is reported to have a built-in screen like some of Amazon’s recent Alexa devices. Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge
As with any unannounced device of this scale, there is an abundance of unanswered questions and uncertain details. The basic premise, though, is that Vesta will be an Amazon Echo on wheels: a voice-activated assistant that can navigate your home, respond to your commands, and interface with other smart home devices.
Insider’s report contains a number of intriguing and speculative details, including the suggestion that the device is the size of “two small cats” — about 10 to 13 inches wide (your conversion may vary depending on your cats). The robot will reportedly be equipped with a screen, microphone, and several cameras. Additional features could include sensors for monitoring temperature, humidity, and air quality; a “small compartment” for carrying objects; and a “waist-high retractable pole with a camera” which could be combined with machine vision tech to help users find items around their house like keys and wallets.
Amazon owned-Ring announced a home surveillance drone last year. Image: Ring
Vesta, which is named after the Roman goddess of the hearth, shows Amazon’s ongoing drive to embed its products in the heart of customers’ homes. Over the years, the company has launched a number of devices attempting to extend its reach into kitchens and bedrooms, from the discontinued Dash Wand, which allowed users to order grocery products by scanning barcodes, to the Always Home Cam, a mini-drone announced last year by Amazon-owned Ring that provides mobile surveillance around the house.
Insider says Amazon has been developing Vesta as a “top priority,” but that early sales projections are modest. “Amazon could initially launch it as a limited invite-only product, similar to what it did with its fitness band Halo, according to these people,” says the publication. This could prevent the company from squandering resources on unsold-inventory. Even mobile robots won’t get up and sell themselves.
Sonos has just announced a new Bluetooth portable speaker. The Roam is only the firm’s second-ever, following the 2019-launched Sonos Move and marking another break away from its traditional at-home Sonos system. It’s smaller and consequently more portable than Move – cheaper, too. And it’s shaping up to be a real challenger to the best Bluetooth speakers around.
But what does it bring to the already crowded Bluetooth speaker market? And how does it compare to its larger, pricier sibling?
Sonos Roam is official – and the cheapest, smartest Sonos speaker yet
Sonos Roam vs Sonos Move: price
The Sonos Roam is essentially a smaller, more portable Move and so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that it’s more affordable. The Roam costs £159 ($169, AU$279, €179), making it the cheapest Sonos speaker ever (apart from those made in collaboration with IKEA), sitting below the slightly pricier Sonos One SL. That’s also in the ballpark of many of the best Bluetooth speakers around, although for its size (albeit not feature set) there are plenty around asking half that price.
The six-times-the-size Move costs more than twice that at £399 ($399, AU$649), so yes, there’s quite a difference in cost. This might rule the Move out for people’s some budgets, but it’s still worth knowing what you’re getting (or not getting) if you choose either one.
Sonos: everything you need to know
Sonos Roam vs Sonos Move: design
(Image credit: Sonos)
As soon as you clap eyes on it, you’ll see the Roam is a very different beast to the Move. It’s triangular, for a start, like a Toblerone. And it’s a lot smaller – six times smaller in fact, measuring just 16.8 x 6.2 x 6cm. That’s smaller than a water bottle. Naturally, it’s lighter, too, tipping the scales at 430g.
The comparative specs for the Move are dimensions of 24 x 16 x 12.6cm and a weight of 3kg.
One of the biggest criticisms of the Move is that its bulk and heft pushes the definitions of portability. Whereas the majority of Bluetooth speakers are designed to be tossed in a bag and taken to the park, picnic, pool or beach (just as the Roam is), the Move is more of a home speaker that can be moved from room to room or into the garden.
In light of its ultra-portable, outdoor-friendly design, the Roam also more resistant to the elements than the Move. It’s IP67-rated, meaning it can be completely submerged in three feet of water for up to 30 minutes. It’s completely impervious to dust, too. The Move is only IP56-rated, which means it’s only protected from ‘harmful dust’ and ‘strong water jets from all directions’.
The names of both devices are quite apt, then: the Move is intended to be moved from room to room, and the Roam to be taken with you on your wider travels.
Which Sonos speaker should you buy?
Sonos Roam vs Sonos Move: features
While the Roam is a very different proposition to the Move, it does share some of the same traits. For example, it also has both Bluetooth and wi-fi connectivity, so you can stream tunes to it offline from a phone or tablet, or over the internet using a service like Spotify or Tidal, like the rest of the Sonos speaker range. Wi-fi also means it can work as part of a Sonos multi-room system (as the Move can too); it’s as much a member of the family as every other speaker, also controlled by the Sonos S2 app.
Like the Move, the Roam has a rechargeable battery, and despite its much smaller size, it manages to match the Move’s 10-hour run time. In that context it’s impressive, although note that (not-so-fruitfully-featured) Bluetooth speakers do often offer longer battery lives.
To juice it up, the Roam comes with a USB-C cable (but not a power adaptor). Sonos has also launched a $49 dedicated wireless charging base that the Roam clips onto using magnets, although Roam is compatible with any Qi wireless charger.
The Move also has a USB-C cable, with a charging base that comes in the box. Its battery is also swappable, should you need to replace it (it will be a lot cheaper than buying a whole new speaker). Sonos hasn’t yet mentioned such functionality with the Roam, but as the consumer tech world is moving towards more sustainability, we wouldn’t be surprised if it was an option for Roam – if its design even allows for it.
Also like the Move, the Roam has voice control via Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant, as well as Apple’s AirPlay 2. Neither the Move nor Roam can work as a home cinema surround with the Sonos Arc, Playbar, Playbase, Beam or Sub – that remains the job of the One SL and IKEA speakers.
Right, so that’s enough similarities; let us tell you how the two devices differ.
The first new feature the Roam offers is the automatic switching between wi-fi and Bluetooth connectivity and connected devices. That means when you leave the house it can connect to a Bluetooth device without you having to initiate pairing. You don’t have to do anything, in fact. Just grab it and go.
‘Sonos Swap’ is also new and exclusive to the Roam. This lets you ‘hand off’ whatever music the Roam is playing to another Sonos speaker (the nearest to it) by long-pressing its play/pause button. So if you come home from a long afternoon’s picnicking you can seamlessly swap what’s playing to your home system. Neat. (It’s also a feature we’re expecting to work with the highly anticipated Sonos wireless headphones, due later this year.)
Auto TruePlay is on board, too – and introduces improvements over the version that launched with the Move. For the uninitiated, this is automatic calibration technology that uses the speaker’s microphones to measure the frequency response of its surroundings and adjust sound accordingly, whenever it detects being placed in a new location. Move the speaker from a bookshelf to a coffee table, say, and it’ll recalibrate its sound to its new surroundings to give you the best audio possible. This tech was first seen in the Move, but the Roam moves it along by letting it work in a Bluetooth domain as well as a network one. This feature is coming to the Move via a firmware update.
Ultimately, while there’s plenty familiar about the Roam, there’s plenty new too. And it could be the smartest Bluetooth speaker of its size ever made.
Sonos Roam vs Sonos Move: sound
(Image credit: Future)
Of course, for all the bells and whistles, a speaker sinks or swims by its sound quality. The Sonos Move managed to impress us in this area, with a sonic profile similar to the excellent Sonos One: think weighty, full-bodied audio, with a tonality that’s nicely even-handed and not bereft of solid, deep bass.
The Move’s ample size gives it plenty of scale and space – put it at the centre of your garden party, and you won’t be disappointed. But volume never comes at the expense of quality – the audio stays composed even when pushed to the limit of what’s socially acceptable. You can expect similar sonic satisfaction from Bluetooth playback too.
But while we’ve pored over the features and design of the Sonos Roam, we haven’t given it a through going over in our test rooms yet – watch. this. space – so we can’t comment on its sound quality. Sonos speakers are renowned for their sonic competitiveness – the company’s reputation is not only built on seamless integration and user experience but also performance – so we’re expecting big things, even from a relatively small package.
While we don’t expect the Roam to match the much bigger Move’s scale of sound, our expectations regarding pound-per-performance value are high. If we get the same Sonos sonic character but just smaller in scale and lighter on bass, the Roam shouldn’t have anything to worry about.
Not that the Roam will have an easy time of it; competition is fierce where the Roam is positioned. To make its mark, it’ll have to compare to the likes of the JBL Flip 5 (currently number one in our list of best Bluetooth speakers), Bang & Olufsen Beosound A1 (2nd Gen), Audio Pro Addon C3, and UE Megablast. No mean feat, although the Roam’s extra and Sonos-centric features will have to be accounted for.
All of these best-in-class portable Bluetooth speakers are superb options from established players in the market, and each of these manufacturers has a lot of experience of making such devices. Sonos is a big name in multi-room audio, but portable products are a different kettle of fish.
We’ll have a full review for you as soon as we can.
Sonos Roam vs Sonos Move: early verdict
On paper, the Roam looks like a great device, addressing the criticisms of the Move by being more portable and cheaper. It shouldn’t exactly undermine the Move, though, as the two are quite different propositions: the Roam is a proper portable for taking out with you and by design will have its sonic limitations, while the Move is a Sonos speaker you can take to the garden or another room and get a decent scale of excellent sound from.
The great thing about the Sonos ecosystem is that consumers, and especially Sonos loyals, may well have valid reason to choose both.
MORE:
Check out the best waterproof speakers for your pool party
Staying in? You want the best computer speakers money can buy
Sonos has just unveiled its cheapest and most portable speaker yet. The new Sonos Roam, which you might already have been acquainted with courtesy of several pre-launch leaks, is the company’s answer to the likes of the JBL Flip 5 and Ultimate Ears Boom 3 portable Bluetooth speakers. But while it shares the same goal in offering an easily transportable, durable way to play music on the go, it naturally boasts some unique, Sonos-centric features that make it stand out from the crowd.
You can predominantly think of the Sonos Roam as a miniature, more affordable Sonos Move, which arrived in late 2019 as the company’s first ‘portable’ speaker. (Here’s how the two Sonos Bluetooth speakers compare.) Like its hybrid sibling, the new Roam has both Bluetooth and wi-fi connectivity, allowing owners to simply pair it with a phone or tablet over the former, or tap into the wide world of music streaming and/or use it within a wider Sonos system.
Its portability is mostly defined by two things: a form that is smaller than a water bottle (16.8 x 6.2 x 6cm), weighs less than a pound (or 430g if you’re more metric-oriented), is IP67-rated for complete water and dust resistance (it can be immersed in three feet of water for up to 30 minutes), and has a built-in rechargeable battery that offers 10 hours of music playback (or can last 10 days in an automatic sleep mode).
On that note, the Sonos Roam comes with a USB-C charging cable (although not a power adapter) and is compatible with standard Qi wireless chargers. Sonos is also launching its own charging base ($49, £tbc), to which the Roam snaps magnetically.
Sonos Roam vs Sonos Move: how Sonos’ Bluetooth speakers compare
(Image credit: Sonos)
The Roam supports Bluetooth 5.0 for connection to a phone, tablet or any other Bluetooth-toting music player, but while that’s often the limit of a Bluetooth speaker’s connectivity, aside from perhaps a 3.5mm input, the Roam can also connect to a home network, opening up at-home accessibility to streaming services such as Spotify, Amazon Music and Tidal, as well as voice control via Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. AirPlay 2 is available when connected to wi-fi, too, as is control via the Sonos S2 app.
To that end, the Roam has a few Sonos-centric tricks up its sleeve. Firstly, the Roam can automatically switch between wi-fi and Bluetooth connectivity and connected devices, so when you leave the house it can connect to a Bluetooth device without the owner having to initiate pairing, and vice versa. You “just grab it and go,” as a Sonos representative said in the media briefing.
(Image credit: Sonos)
Then there’s the all-new Sonos Swap feature, which lets owners hand off whatever music the Roam is playing to the nearest Sonos speaker by long-pressing the play/pause button. Neat. (It’s something we thought might debut in the highly anticipated Sonos wireless headphones, expected later this year.)
Auto TruePlay – the automatic calibration technology that uses the speaker’s microphones to measure the frequency response of its surroundings and adjust sound accordingly, whenever it detects being placed in a new location – is on board following its debut in the Move, too. This time, however, it can work in a Bluetooth domain as well as a network one – functionality that’s also now available for the Move via a new software update.
(Image credit: Sonos)
Sonos has confirmed that the Roam can’t be used as a surround speaker with the company’s Beam or Arc soundbars, though, leaving that job to the Sonos One SL and Sonos IKEA speakers.
Of course, while the Roam enters the market as perhaps the smartest and best connected Bluetooth speaker of its size and price, it will need to sound good to seal a favourable fate. Handling the sonic duties is a custom-designed racetrack woofer and tweeter pairing, driven by two Class H amplifiers and with an adjustable EQ output.
And that’s all, folks. The Sonos Roam is priced £159 ($169, AU$279, €179), making it the most affordable Sonos speaker yet (if you discount the Sonos IKEA collaborative models), undercutting the One SL by the price of a round of drinks.
The Roam is available to pre-order now, with shipping beginning on 20th April.
MORE:
Sonos wireless headphones: release date, rumours, and all of the news
Google is marking 10 years of Chromebooks by unveiling new features for Chrome OS today. The biggest addition is a new Phone Hub feature that connects an Android phone to a Chromebook. It allows Chrome OS users to respond to texts, check a phone’s battery life, enable its Wi-Fi hotspot, and locate a device easily.
Phone Hub is packed into a taskbar widget that even expands to show you recent Chrome tabs that you have been browsing on your phone. It looks like it will be a super useful feature for Android and Chromebook owners. Google is also enabling its Wi-Fi Sync feature on more devices, allowing you to connect to Wi-Fi networks you’ve already configured and used on your Android phone and other Chrome OS devices.
Chrome OS gets an AirDrop competitor.Image: Google
Another significant addition to Chrome OS is Nearby Share between Chromebooks and other Android and Chrome OS devices. Much like AirDrop, Nearby Share will let people send and receive files between devices. Google says this will arrive in Chrome OS in the coming months, finally providing its laptop OS with a full AirDrop competitor.
Elsewhere, Google is also adding in a new Screen Capture tool into the Quick Settings menu in Chrome OS. Like the name implies, this will let you record your screen or take screenshots and access them quickly in a “Tote” space from the Chrome OS Shelf.
The Clipboard is also being improved in Chrome OS, allowing you to save five recent items to paste elsewhere without switching windows. The Launcher Key will provide access to this updated clipboard experience. Quick Answers is another new addition, which lets you right-click a word in Chrome OS to get a definition, translation, or unit conversion. It’s very similar to what exists in macOS today.
Google is even improving the virtual desktops feature of Chrome OS — Desks. When you reboot a Chromebook, it will now restore all windows to their correct virtual desktops, and you can also right-click at the top of an open window to send apps to a different virtual desktops.
Chrome OS’s clipboard feature is getting a history feature.Image: Google
Most of these new Chrome OS additions are clearly playing catch-up to what already exists on Windows and macOS, but they’re welcome additions for those relying on Chrome OS every day. Google first launched a range of Chromebooks back in 2011 in a partnership with Samsung and Acer. There are now Chromebooks from every major PC maker, and Google is promising that 50 new Chromebooks will launch during 2021.
At 26.5 grams and the size of my thumb, Insta360’s latest action camera, the Go 2, looks like an oversized Tic Tac with an eyeball. It’s the second generation in the Go lineup, which is Insta360’s only non-360-degree camera line. Where the first-generation Go left a lot to be desired, particularly in the image quality department, the $299 Go 2 comes with a new charging case, larger sensor, and improved image quality, making a strong case for a mobile-first action camera.
The case has a 1/4-inch thread for support mounting and a USB-C port for charging.
The most noticeable changes to this tiny camera come in the hardware department. The Go 2’s camera component has a new removable lens cover and less slippery matte plastic housing. The case plays a more active role in the use of the camera, becoming a tripod, remote, external battery, and charger all in one. It is slightly larger than the AirPods Pro case and has a 1/4-inch thread for support mounting and a USB-C port for charging. The standalone camera can run for 30 minutes on a single charge or 150 minutes while in the case.
While the case is not waterproof, the Go 2’s camera is IPX8 water resistant for use up to 13 feet underwater. In the box, Insta360 also includes three camera mounts: a pivot stand, a hat brim clip, and a pendant for wearing around your neck. All of these mounts utilize a magnet to keep the Go 2 attached to them.
Three camera mounts are included in the box: a pivot stand, a hat brim clip, and a pendant for wearing around your neck.
The use of the case as more than just a place to store the camera is one of my favorite innovations in the Go 2. All of the mounts, remotes, and other accessories you have to end up buying for an action camera really add up. So it’s great to see essential features, such as a tripod, being built into the camera’s hardware.
More important than hardware, though, is image quality. With many smartphone cameras producing sharp, stabilized 4K 60fps video and punchy, crisp photos, it’s absolutely necessary for dedicated cameras outside of our phones to up the game. The POV ultrawide look of the Go 2’s video and the unique mounting abilities allow me to create video different enough that I could see myself carrying the Go 2 around in addition to my phone. I simply cannot produce a point-of-view angle, like that of the Go 2, with my smartphone’s camera.
On a phone, the camera’s 9-megapixel photos are crisp, full of contrast, and highly saturated without looking unrealistic. Put that image on a desktop, and it begins to look a bit grainy, where the sensor’s lower megapixel count begins to show, but the image is certainly usable.
Although the Go 2’s video resolution maxes out at 1440p and 50fps, the 120-degree field of view and saturated color science creates an image far more unique than what you get from a phone’s camera. When viewed on a small screen, the video is sharp and smooth with bright colors and lots of contrast. I was impressed with just how true to life the footage looked in perfect lighting conditions, but when I brought it over to the large screen on my laptop, the footage did look a bit noisier. I also wish video taken at night had less grain and noise. The amount of smoothing applied to low-light images doesn’t help either. Insta360 is not alone here: this is a problem even in the more expensive, robust action cameras such as the GoPro Hero 9. It is absolutely a problem I would like to see these companies spend more time fixing. (I’ve been using a pre-production unit in my testing, but Insta360 did not indicate to me that it was going to change anything when it comes to features or performance on the final version.)
There are four preset field-of-view options in the Go 2’s Pro Video mode that range from narrow to ultrawide. Despite the options, I typically just used the ultrawide view and reframed in the Go 2’s mobile app. The camera also utilizes a built-in 6-axis gyroscope along with Insta360’s FlowState stabilization algorithm for horizontal leveling, no matter the camera’s orientation, which produces extremely stable video without a crop to your image. I continue to be impressed with the stability GoPro, DJI, and Insta360 have been able to achieve in their action cameras, and the Go 2 is no exception.
Video Samples from the Insta360 Go 2.
Operating the Go 2 is a unique experience that takes a bit of getting used to. Like the first generation, there are no visible buttons on the camera component. To operate the camera, outside of its case, you push down on the Insta360 logo located under the lens, which then creates a vibration to signal it has been pressed. From powered off, a single press will start recording basic video, a double press takes a photo, and a one-second press will power the camera on to a ready state. If the camera is already on, a single press will start and stop FlowState stabilized video, a double press will begin a Hyperlapse timelapse video, and a two-second press will put the camera to sleep.
Like using touch controls on wireless earbuds, or any tech without a screen, there is a learning curve. It took me about three sessions to know what the LED light indications and different vibrations meant. I felt a lot more comfortable using the Go 2 in its case where its small black-and-white screen displayed which mode the camera was in, what resolution it was filming at, and how much storage was left on the 32GB of internal memory.
Insta360’s mobile app can also be used to control the camera via Wi-Fi and display a live view from the camera. The app also has capable editing software that allows for reframing, trimming, and exporting of clips. A Flashcut feature uses AI editing tools to trim and stitch clips from the Go 2 into flashy edits with punchy music and over-the-top transitions, such as screen wipes and quick zooms. It’s very fun to play with but a bit loud for my taste. For someone not familiar with video editing, this could be very useful though.
The Go 2 is available starting today for $299. For a company deeply focused on mobile-first editing for posting to social accounts, the Insta360 Go 2 makes perfect sense: a small portable camera whose footage will likely never make it to a desktop-editing software or a screen larger than a phone. To my knowledge, there isn’t a smaller camera on the market that can shoot 120 degrees with this level of stabilization or this quality, which looks great on the device you’re likely to view it on: your phone.
And for the mobile-first vlogger or avid social media user, that image quality is more than enough, the camera is small enough to mount anywhere, and its lack of confusing controls is perfect for the person who wouldn’t exactly know what to do with lots of options anyway. But for me, I’m most excited to see the bump in image quality. The better image processing and a larger sensor have allowed this camera to take a huge leap forward, even if, on paper, the difference is only going from 1080p to 1440p. This is starting to feel like a camera I might feel comfortable trusting with my more daring moments in a size that won’t feel too big to carry around.
(Pocket-lint) – Samsung introduced three different models of the Galaxy S20 in 2020. The models reflected an upgrade of the regular S10, the S10+ and the S10 5G, called the Galaxy S20, S20+ and S20 Ultra.
Here’s a look at how these phones stack up to help you work out which one might be the right one for you.
squirrel_widget_184581
What’s the same?
Overall look and feel
120Hz Infinity-O display
Core Exynos/Snapdragon hardware and RAM
The Galaxy S20 devices all have a similar overall design with metal core and glass front and back, sporting a central punch hole camera in the display and minimal bezels. All the devices have this Infinity-O display, with curved edges.
Samsung has also put a 120Hz display in all these phones, although naturally, the sizes are all different. That 120Hz display only runs at 1080p however, rather than the full 1440p resolution, which is 60Hz.
On the rear of all the devices is a pronounced camera bump – there’s not even an attempt to blend in the cameras, they are designed to stand out on this generation of phones.
They all have the same core hardware too, either the Samsung Exynos 990 or the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865, depending on the region you buy it in. This comes with 12GB RAM as standard across all three devices, but the Ultra offers a step-up to 16GB.
And that’s about where the similarities end.
What’s different?
Outside of those outlined details, these phones differ in many ways, seeing each slip into a different position. Here’s what’s different.
Build and dimensions
Samsung Galaxy S20: 151.7 x 69.1 x 7.9mm, 163g
Samsung Galaxy S20+: 161.9 x 73.7 x 7.8mm, 186g
Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra: 166.9 x 76 x 8.8mm, 220g
A glance over the dimensions shows the range of sizes these phones come in. While the overall build quality and look of the phones is the same, physically there’s a big range of size options – some 15mm in height.
That is almost the same as the size difference between the Galaxy S21 models released in 2021, which basically update all the S20 models. Generally, however, these phones are bigger than older models, but with smaller bezels. There’s also a healthy difference in weight and this mostly comes down to the battery and the amount of glass used in the build.
squirrel_widget_184580
Display
Samsung Galaxy S20: 6.2-inch, 120Hz
Samsung Galaxy S20+: 6.7-inch, 120Hz
Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra: 6.9-inch, 120Hz
The Galaxy S20 comes in at 6.2-inches as the smallest of the bunch, running up to a massive 6.9-inches on the S20 Ultra – which makes it a big phone. The Galaxy S20+ sits in the middle at 6.7-inches.
These displays are all AMOLED and they all offer a 120Hz refresh rate – although you’ll only get that refresh rate at Full HD+ and not the highest Quad HD+ resolution. (Full HD+ is the default most Samsung phones, with Quad HD+ an option you have to turn on.) In reality, the only difference is size, because they are all equally capable.
Battery
Samsung Galaxy S20: 4000mAh
Samsung Galaxy S20+: 4500mAh
Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra: 5000mAh
The Galaxy S20 has a 4000mAh battery, while the S20+ has a 4500mAh cell and the S20 Ultra has a 5000mAh battery.
The S20 Ultra sounds like it has a huge battery, but we’ve found the demand on the battery to be quite high, especially when using the camera, so it’s worth reading through reviews to get a full picture of the battery life.
The S20 and the S20+ seem to fair better. These aren’t the most efficient phones in their segment, but we’ve found the Galaxy S20+ and S20 to cope a little better with demand than the Ultra.
The big difference in these devices is pushed through the cameras. Firstly, the makeup of the Galaxy S20 and the S20+ are broadly the same – apart from the addition of the time-of-flight sensor in the S20+ – which makes little real difference.
The main cameras are the same – a new 12-megapixel sensor with massive 1.8µm pixels – while both have a 64-megapixel “telephoto” camera. In general, these cameras all perform well, although the telephoto isn’t as sharp out at 10x zoom as the Ultra is. Beyond that, quality starts to drop off on both rapidly.
The setup of the Galaxy S20 Ultra camera is almost completely different. The only thing in common on these cameras is the 12-megapixel ultra-wide angle, with the S20 Ultra sporting a 108-megapixel sensor for the main camera. This is paired with a 48-megapixel telephoto, which is a 10x hybrid optic periscope lens. That combination gives 100x zoom, although that’s mostly a gimmick, as photos at 100x zoom look poor.
Which is the best camera? The S20 Ultra is the best performer for zoom, certainly. But in normal shooting, the S20 and S20+ main camera will often be sharper and richer than the S20 Ultra’s pixel-combined 12-megapixel images. The S20 Ultra, of course, can capture more detail in 108-megapixel mode, but for most, the S20 and S20+ main camera might give better results.
squirrel_widget_184610
Prices
S20 Ultra: £1199, $1399.99 (at launch)
S20+: £999, $1199.99 (at launch)
S20: £799 (4G), £899 (5G), $999 (5G) (at launch)
There’s a big difference in the prices of these handsets and that’s broadly reflected in the screen size, but the core power for these phones is pretty much the same. The S20 Ultra is obviously a huge price and it might be that the Galaxy S20+ falls better into your price range for the performance and the features that it offers.
The Galaxy S20 comes in at a cheaper price because it comes as a 4G phone. The models and prices will obviously vary across regions and since launch, prices have dropped significantly, meaning these models are cheaper than the Galaxy S21 models that replaced them.
Conclusion
Samsung’s line-up of Galaxy S20 devices looks to cover all bases. The core experience of these phones will be similar – similar feel, the same software and with the same core hardware, all perform to a similar level.
All have great displays, with the Galaxy S20+ likely to be the sweet spot in terms of size and balance of features. The camera performance is variable, although the S20 Ultra has a natural advantage when it comes to zoom performance.
Ultimately, the S20 Ultra offers a huge amount, but comes at a high cost. We suspect that for those wanting a larger device, the Galaxy S20+ will be all the phone they want.
It’s worth considering, however, that the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE offers similar performance to the Galaxy S20+, but offers better value for money, so might also be worth considering.
Samsung Galaxy S21+ vs S20 FE vs Galaxy S20+: What’s the difference?
(Pocket-lint) – It seems kinda mad that we’ve arrived here, but the Moto G is now up to number 10. It’s no surprise though: as the G series is Motorola’s most successful range and it has consistently delivered great value, simple and reliable phones.
But for 2021, the numbering and naming system has changed – the lower the number, the lower down it sits in the ranks. Therefore the G10 is the entry-level affordable phone in a series that’s long looked a bit crowded.
That causes a bit of a self-administered issue for the Moto G10, however, as it’s no longer the default choice in the range. Why? Because for a little extra money the Moto G30 also exists.
Design
Dimensions: 165.2 x 75.7 x 9.2mm / Weight: 200g
Finishes: Aurora Gray, Iridescent Pearl
Rear positioned fingerprint scanner
Glass front, ribbed plastic back
3.5mm headphone port
Single loudspeaker
microSD expansion
Moto G design has never been all that fancy or premium, which makes sense for a budget phone. Some corners need cutting to get it down to the right price. This generation Motorola has taken on something of an unusual finish with its ribbed back panel (it’s still better-looking than the G30’s odd colour choices though).
That wave pattern you see isn’t just a visual thing, it has texture too. It’s a little weird to begin with, but the texture has its merits. It definitely makes it feel less likely to slip out of your hand, and you’ll never find it randomly slipping off a surface like a completely glossy glass back might.
That’s not the only practical decision made here either. Unlike some more expensive phones, the Moto G10 is equipped with everything you could need. That means you get a 3.5mm headphone port at the top for plugging in your hands-free buds, or wired headphones.
There’s also a microSD card slot for expanding the storage. You might find that useful if you like to keep a physical copy of all your own media offline. And if you have have the 64GB phone, you may just find you fill up the internal storage quite quickly.
So what else is there? Well, you’ll find three buttons up the right side. One is the usual power button, and there’s the volume rocker switch, but then curiously there’s also an additional button which – when pressed – will launch Google Assistant. Which is fine, but we can’t imagine it’s used by most people all that much.
As for that fingerprint sensor on the back, usually we laud the appearance of physical scanners because they’re fast and reliable, but that’s not the case with this one. Most times it would take two or three goes before a successful scan, meaning it was often quicker just to type in the multi-digit PIN instead.
The G10’s front is pretty standard too, with its relatively skinny bezel up the sides and the dewdrop-style notch at the top of the display, barely cutting into the available screen real-estate. And while there’s only one loud speaker, placed on the bottom edge, the speaker grille is long enough that we didn’t find it was all that easy to completely block, meaning you can hear it whether you hold the phone in portrait or landscape.
Display
6.5-inch IPS LCD display
720 x 1600 resolution
269 pixels per inch
60Hz refresh rate
Android 11
On to that display and – as with most affordable phones – this one uses a long aspect ratio HD+ resolution panel. That means, specifically, it’s IPS LCD and has 720 x 1600 pixels spread across that 6.5-inch diagonal.
Pocket-lint
Obviously that means it’s not super sharp, but it’s adequate for daily use and won’t leave you squinting. In fact, it’s pleasant enough when inside and watching movies, gaming and browsing the web. It’s not the most vivid panel around though – its dynamic range does suffer, but that’s almost to be expected from an LCD screen on a cheap smartphone such as this.
The one place we did notice it struggle the most was outside in daylight. Trying to frame shots with the camera to shoot in sunlight was difficult. We could barely see what was on the screen, even with the brightness cranked right up.
Performance and battery
Snapdragon 460 processor, 4GB RAM
64GB or 128GB storage
5000mAh battery
If what you’re after in a phone is really solid battery life, we’re happy to report the G10 delivers that – by the bucket load. Even in a phone with a high-end flagship processor and a top-of-the-line display, a 5,000mah capacity battery would be generous. So stick it in a phone with a low power chip and only a HD resolution panel, and you get one of the longest-lasting phones on the market.
Pocket-lint
In testing we’d often get to the end of a second day and still have some juice left over, even after using it for testing the camera and playing a couple of hours of games each day. For most people we think this is a genuine two-day phone. You’ll never have to worry about it dying during the day if you’ve taken it off charge in the morning. It’s pretty epic.
Moto also takes care of battery life long-term too. It has a couple of different tools in the battery settings designed to get the most out of the battery for as long as you own the phone.
Optimised charging learns your usual charging pattern and then using that can predict when you need the battery to be fully charged. So if that is at 7am when your alarm goes off, it’ll charge all the way up to 80 percent, and hang there until it needs to charge the final 20 per cent, in time for you to wake up.
There’s also overcharge protection. So if you’re a really light user and have a habit of just leaving your phone plugged in costantly for days at a time, it will limit the charge to 80 per cent if your phone has been plugged in continuously for three days.
Pocket-lint
Being 5,000mAh does mean charging times are a little slow, especially with the charging speeds maxing out at 10W. So it’s definitely one to plug in at night while you sleep. Thankfully, you’ll probably only have to do it once every other night.
As for general performance, this is where the G10 slips up against its slightly more expensive sibling, the G30. The Snapdragon 400 series processor inside isn’t unusable by any means, but it does feel quite slow and laggy a lot of the time. Loading web pages, or backing up photos to Google Photos, seems to take longer than it should, while animations in the general interface appear quite stuttery.
In fact, Google Photos did – on a couple of occasions – just hang and crash, and then failed to upload our photos to the cloud. On a similar note, there were a couple of occasions where a chosen game would just freeze and crash too. It wasn’t just Google Photos getting up to these shenanigans.
The G30 just seems more reliable day-to-day in that regard, which is why we’d recommend that over this phone. It’s not that the G30 is super smooth and fast all the time, it just didn’t leave us hanging as much. Still, for most tasks, the G10 is fine, if unremarkable.
Best smartphones 2021 rated: The top mobile phones available to buy today
By Chris Hall
·
Pocket-lint
As for software, that’s the usual Moto style of having an almost Google Android stock experience with a couple of added extras from Moto. That means all your default apps are Google’s, and you get fun gestures like swiping down on the fingerprint sensor to get your notifications, or a chopping motion to switch on the flashlight.
As for camera quality, the quad system is lead by a 48-megapixel primary camera, which is joined by an 8MP ultra-wide, and pair of low-resolution depth and macro sensors.
Stick to the main sensor and you’ll be mostly fine. In good daylight pictures will be sharp, colourful and feature decent depth. It’s not flagship level, naturally, but it’s good enough for social media use.
The ultra-wide is just ok. It often struggles to focus though, and often leaves colours looking unnatural, completely different to the main sensor.
The macro lens can be useful for close-ups at times, but results are not consistent, and being a low resolution sensor means details aren’t that great either.
So the G10 is yet another case of a budget phone having more cameras than it knows what to do with. Ignore the depth, macro and wide-angle and you’ve got a solid main camera – but that’s hardly selling itself to the “quad camera” standard, is it?
Verdict
The G10 might be the first entry-level Moto G we don’t unequivocally recommend as an easy purchase. There’s nothing wrong with it, per se – indeed, the battery life, software and practical design make it more than good enough for most people – but there’s the Moto G30 to consider.
Our experience with the G30 was just better, especially when it comes down to daily performance, so if you can afford the little extra then we’d recommend opting for that one.
With all that said, the Moto G10 offers great battery life, so if you don’t need anything too taxing then it’s still a decent option considering its asking price.
Also consider
Pocket-lint
Moto G30
squirrel_widget_4167552
If you have the ability to stump up a little more cash, the G30 is the more sensible choice in Moto’s new G-series range. It has a smoother overall experience and is still great value for money.
Read the review
Pocket-lint
Redmi Note 10 Pro
squirrel_widget_4261498
Few phones at this price point are as accomplished as the Redmi Note 10 Pro. It’s more expensive than the G10, but it’s more than worth it, if you can cope with inferior software.
(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.
Best smartphones 2021 rated: The top mobile phones available to buy today
By Chris Hall
·
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
squirrel_widget_261263
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
squirrel_widget_2682132
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.
Verizon 4G appears to be getting even better than its nationwide 5G network, according to new tests conducted by PCMag’s Sascha Segan. After last week’s tweet suggesting that users turn off their phone’s 5G to conserve battery life, there seems to be a multitude of reasons for Verizon customers to stick with 4G right now.
Additional spectrum is making the difference for Verizon 4G right now, and not the C-band spectrum that’s been in the news recently. This is CBRS, a set of frequencies that sits near C-band. Verizon bid $1.89 billion on CBRS licenses last year and has been putting the newly acquired spectrum to work for its 4G service in certain locations (there are likely technical reasons, which Segan explains in his post, why Verizon isn’t using this spectrum for 5G just yet).
Segan found a couple of these spots and tested CBRS-assisted 4G speeds versus 5G. With the exception of range-limited, super-fast Ultra Wideband 5G, 4G won by a landslide. In one location, 4G download speeds reached 815 Mbps, while 5G based on Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (that’s the widespread but slower variety known as DSS) only hit 358 Mbps. This was a test of just a couple of locations of course, but Segan points out that it bodes well for the kinds of improvements we can expect when C-band becomes available.
So is there any reason for someone on Verizon to keep 5G active rather than switching to 4G? Maybe, Segan tells us. “If you’re in a spot with Verizon’s ‘UWB’ millimeter-wave 5G, it’s absolutely terrific. UWB is the fastest form of 5G available today. But the DSS ‘nationwide’ 5G just isn’t providing any advantage right now. I’d say, turn it off if you can and check back in a few months to see if they’ve improved the situation.”
The silver lining, of course, is that Verizon 4G is actually good — and getting even better for some. In the long term, it’ll be the C-band spectrum that will likely make the difference for Verizon 5G. “If you’re buying a Verizon phone soon and you’re interested in future performance, make sure it has C-band,” Segan says. In the meantime, unless you live next door to an Ultra Wideband cell site, you can probably turn off 5G and rest assured that you’re getting the best network performance possible for now.
As you may have heard one or two times, we’re now roughly a year into COVID and pandemic lockdown life. To fill the void in our lives that was once occupied by social gatherings, visiting family, and breathing indoor air freely, many of us have turned to new hobbies and habits. Some of them are even healthy!
Taking a daily or, if I’m being honest, semi-daily walk is a lockdown habit that has seen me through These Unprecedented Times. I’m not alone, either — without gyms or really anywhere else to go at all, lots of us have embraced (or at times, endured) a daily walk around the neighborhood.
To be sure, it’s not always easy. I got tired of walking by the same houses and the same pieces of fossilized trash about six months in. It rains a lot where I live and that can turn an otherwise pleasant walk into a real bummer. Other days, the motivation just isn’t there and the mailbox is as far as I get. But a few tricks along the way have helped me and fellow Verge staffers stay committed to the walk ritual. Here are some techniques to keep your pandemic walk routine fresh and the apps that can help you put them into practice.
Find a new route
Footpath helps you map out new routes and gives you key information like elevation change along the way.
This year I’ve embraced the life-changing magic of hauling myself out of my own neighborhood and going on a walk somewhere else. It feels counterproductive driving somewhere to take a walk, but it really does help shake things up when I’m burned out on my usual route.
AllTrails is an app popular with hikers, but it’s also great for finding nearby parks and trails you may not know about, whether you’re in an urban spot or farther from the city. There’s also an active community who leave helpful tips, like whether the restrooms are a horror show or if the parking lot is a hotspot for break-ins. All of its basic features are available in the free version.
Footpath is another good tool to help identify a new route, whether it’s close to home or somewhere unfamiliar. Use the app’s detailed street map to draw roughly where you’d like to go; the app will snap your route to the nearest streets and pathways. Footpath gives you important details about the route like mileage, elevation gain / loss along the way, and even a time estimate that factors in hills so you know what you’re getting into. You can trace out the full route or draw a path to a destination you’d like to reach and the app can create a loop route back to your starting point.
The free version will help you brainstorm some new walks, but more advanced features like turn-by-turn navigation — iPhone only for now but coming to Android soon — require an Elite subscription ($23.49 annually). Alternatively, you can add Elite features to individual saved routes for a one-time fee of $1.99 each.
Make it mindful
Any therapist or Silicon Valley CEO will tell you about the benefits of meditation. My brain is too noisy for a traditional sitting-and-breathing meditation, but I find walking meditations a lot easier to get into. Calm and Headspace (each is $69 for an annual subscription) offer walking meditations of various lengths; the ones offered by Headspace are tailored to more specific circumstances, like walking in a city or just back and forth at home. There are also plenty of free options if you search YouTube or your streaming music service of choice.
Find something to tune into
Time to Walk is an Apple Fitness Plus feature.Image: Apple
Finding a bite-sized podcast to listen to during walk time is a nice bonus incentive to take a break and head out the door. NPR’s Short Wave is a quick ten-ish minutes with episodes every weekday. One of my Verge colleagues uses her walk to catch up on Gamertag Radio. Or check out an audio book from your local library with the Libby app to make walk time double up as your reading time. And for something a little more freeform, use the time to listen in on a conversation on Clubhouse or Twitter Spaces.
If you’re an Apple Fitness Plus subscriber, Time to Walk is a great option. Featured celebrities like Dolly Parton share stories, recorded as they walk in places that are meaningful to them. It’s a nice, reflective experience with a diverse range of hosts. You will need a subscription to Apple’s $79 / year fitness service and an Apple Watch, so it’s more likely to be an option if you’re already invested in those things.
Gamify it
Seek helps you identify local animals and plant life, rewarding you with badges as you observe more species.
It works on kids and it works on adults: when all else fails, turn it into a game. Tracking walks on MapMyRun or Strava can give you that extra sense of accountability and accomplishment when you get back home and tap the “finish” button. It’s a neat little trick that works on my lizard brain.
Or, do as another of my Verge colleagues does and take note of local critters and plant life with the Seek app. It uses your phone’s camera to identify plants, birds, and other kinds of fauna. Best of all, it will keep track of species you’ve indentified and award badges as you identify more. Badges!
Of course, that’s just the real-life version of the classic catch ‘em all game. Another Verge staffer uses that oldie but goodie Pokémon Go to keep her neighborhood walks interesting. If you missed its rise in popularity the first time around, here’s the gist: several years ago, Pokémon Go tricked a bunch of us into going outside to look for AR characters in real-life locations. Once you find them, you can capture them by flinging virtual pokéballs at them on your phone screen. Keep it casual and just see how many different pokémon you encounter and capture on your walk route, or seek out rarer pokémon more aggressively. It’s your world.
The OnePlus 9 will launch on 23rd March, OnePlus has confirmed. The firm has sent out invites to an online-only event that kicks off two weeks tomorrow (Tuesday) at 10am EDT, or 2pm GMT.
It has also confirmed some of the phone’s features. For starters, there will be more than one handset, as the company refers to the “OnePlus 9 Series”. 5G will come as standard on at least one of the phones, while there’s also a tie-up with camera firm Hasselblad to boost the device’s imaging ability.
Given it was just an invite, OnePlus stopped short of delivering a full spec list. Recent rumours have included a curved 1440p screen with a refresh rate of 120Hz, 45W fast charging, and reverse wireless charging.
A 120Hz refresh rate would mean better fast-moving images with less blur. High refresh rates are becoming more common in smartphones, as seen in the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S21, and rumoured for the Apple iPhone 13. They’re becoming so commonplace that Samsung is even putting them in its mid-range smartphones.
We’re expecting the OnePlus 9 range to comprise the OnePlus 9, OnePlus 9 Pro and cheaper OnePlus 9R and we’ll be sure to give you a full rundown of all their respective features on the big day.
MORE:
Read the full OnePlus 8 Pro review
These are the best smartphones for music and movies
More details have leaked around the imminent Sonos Roam Bluetooth speaker, which is due to be officially unveiled on Tuesday. Last week, The Verge published the existence of the portable product, complete with the name (Roam), an image (above), pricing ($169) and dimensions (6.5 x 2.5 x 2.5 inches). Now, the site has more to share…
The Sonos Roam will reportedly, and as expected, feature a number of Sonos-centric functions, some of which it shares with the larger, pricier Sonos Move. For example, there’s Auto Trueplay, a new version of Sonos’ automatic calibration technology that uses the speaker’s microphones to measure the frequency response of its surroundings whenever it detects being placed in a new location.
We found it effective in the Move: “During testing, we move from our soundproofed test room to a noisy office environment and outdoors. The speaker’s real-world transformation is audible, the Move never sounding out of place once it reconfigures itself.” Needless to say, then, it’d be a welcome feature in a product that’s designed to be even more nomadic.
Sonos Roam: release date, price, and all of the news
An all-new ‘Sound Swap’ feature is reportedly coming too, as we suspected it might in future Sonos products. It will supposedly allow the Roam to ‘hand off’ whatever music it’s playing to a nearby Sonos speaker simply by holding down its play/pause button. Perhaps the biggest new Sonos ecosystem integration feature, however, is its ability to connect over wi-fi and Bluetooth simultaneously, allowing owners to play a song from, say, a phone to the Roam (over Bluetooth) and then to the rest of their Sonos system (over wi-fi).
These unique selling points will no doubt help the Sonos Roam stand out from the dense crowd of Bluetooth speakers on the market.
With the Roam’s dimensions alluding to a very transportable, outdoor-friendly speaker, it comes as no surprise that it will be waterproofed. According to the newest leak it will be IP67-rated for dust and water resistance, meaning total protection from sand and from being immersed in water between 15cm and one metre for up to 30 minutes.
Finally, like the Move, the Roam won’t be able to be configured as surround speakers with the company’s Beam or Arc soundbars, leaving that job to the Sonos One SL and Sonos IKEA speakers.
So, it seems all that’s left for us is to hear the thing. Fingers crossed the Roam’s sound quality doesn’t let down what otherwise seems to be a well-featured, well-designed speaker.
MORE:
Read our Sonos Roam rumour round-up: release date, price, all of the news
Which Sonos speaker should you buy?
Because Sonos wireless headphones are (probably) next: How Sonos wireless headphones could stand out from the crowd
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
