Back in 2016, Microsoft began working with Qualcomm to get Windows 10 working on ARM chipsets. This resulted in a number of Qualcomm Snapdragon powered laptops, but there is still more work to be done to drum up developer support. To tackle this, Microsoft and Qualcomm are teaming up again to release ARM64 mini-PCs for developers.
These new ARM/Windows based PCs will utilise Snapdragon processors and according to Miguel Nunes, Qualcomm’s Senior Director of Product Management, these will provide “an affordable alternative” to other consumer-oriented devices. One such device is the Microsoft Surface Pro X, one of the few systems developers can buy to test their ARM64 apps. This laptop/tablet hybrid costs $999 and up, making it a much more expensive investment.
This also links back to another announcement from Microsoft last year. In 2020, Microsoft began bringing x64 emulation to Windows on ARM, allowing developers to build 64-bit applications and run them without compiling for ARM-based devices.
As reported by The Verge, Microsoft and Qualcomm will be sharing more information about its development kits during Build 2021 ahead of a release later this summer.
KitGuru Says: We should hear more on technical specifications later today during Microsoft’s Build conference.
Asus’ ROG Phone 5 is now available in the US from its official store, with a price tag of $999.99. It’s Asus’ latest maxed-out gaming phone, with all of the top-notch specifications: a Snapdragon 888 Plus, 144Hz display, front-facing speakers, and a massive 6,000mAh battery.
Asus says the Ultimate and Pro versions of the phone will be available later this year. We reviewed the Ultimate in March and found that it was a good phone that went a little — okay, maybe a lot — overboard with its specs. The vanilla version available for sale today, though, is perhaps a bit more reasonable: it “only” has 16GB of RAM (as opposed to the Ultimate’s 18GB), has half the storage (256GB instead of 512GB), and features an RGB logo on the back instead of an entire OLED screen.
The other thing the regular version is missing is the extra touch-sensitive buttons that provide an alternative to touchscreen controls (though it does still have two of the ultrasonic sensors).
For those who want more buttons, though, there’s always the gamepad bundle or the AeroActive Cooler 5 accessory, which has two buttons built in. They do cost extra — with the gamepad bundle coming in at $40 more than just the phone and the cooler costing $70 — but that’s still likely going to be way less than shelling out for the Ultimate version.
Microsoft has teamed up with Qualcomm to create a Windows on ARM-based dev kit for developers. The miniature PC will be sold at the Microsoft Store this summer, and is designed to be more affordable to encourage developers to create ARM64 apps for Snapdragon-based PCs.
Until now, developers have had to purchase devices like the Surface Pro X to fully test their ARM64 apps on Windows. That’s a costly exercise for developers, particularly when the Surface Pro X retails from $999 and up. While Microsoft and Qualcomm haven’t put a price on this new dev kit, there are promises it will be more affordable than what developers can buy today.
The Surface Pro X was one of only a few options for devs previously.Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
“This developer kit provides an affordable alternative to other consumer and commercial devices,” says Miguel Nunes, senior director of product management at Qualcomm. “With the smaller desktop configuration, this kit gives developers more flexibility than notebook options, and at a lower price point.”
The announcement of the dev kit comes just as Qualcomm reveals its second-generation Snapdragon 7c ARM-powered processor. It’s designed for entry-level Windows PCs and Chromebooks, with a clock speed bump over the original.
This dev kit will also help developers test Microsoft’s new x64 app emulation for Windows on ARM. This went into testing for Windows in December, and allows users to run 64-bit apps that haven’t been compiled for ARM-based devices yet. The emulation layer will bring a whole host of app compatibility to Windows on ARM once it’s fully available to end users.
Microsoft and Qualcomm are promising to reveal more about this dev kit during Build 2021 today, at a session entitled “What’s new for Windows desktop application developers.”
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE (Fan Edition) could be officially launching soon according to a new German product page spotted by WinFuture. The tablet appears to be a renamed version of the previously leaked “Galaxy Tab S7 Plus Lite” that first made the rounds in March 2021. The Galaxy Tab S7 FE is the first Fan Edition of one of Samsung’s tablets, a tweaked version of the earlier iPad Pro-inspired 12.4-inch Tab S7 Plus.
While the Tab S7 FE shares the same 12.4-inch screen size as the older Tab S7 Plus, it appears to be using a TFT LCD display, like the 11-inch Tab S7, rather than the OLED found in the Tab S7 Plus. Another cost-saving measure is found in the processor: the Tab S7 FE has a Snapdragon 750G octa-core processor and 4GB of RAM. For storage, the tablet comes with 64GB of UFS memory, which is partially used by the device’s One UI skinned version of Android 11, and expandable with a microSD card. The Tab S7 FE hangs on to the optional 5G support of its more expensive siblings.
Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S7 Fan Edition with optional S Pen stylus.Image: Samsung
If you happen to be a tablet photographer, the Tab S7 FE includes an 8-megapixel back camera and a 5-megapixel front camera. In a plus for anyone who’s complained about camera orientation on the iPad Pro, the Tab S7 FE’s front-facing camera is in landscape orientation, perfect for long Zoom calls. To get the device through those long calls, the FE has a 10,090mAh battery, which Samsung claims should last up to 12 hours on LTE (oddly, no estimate is given for 5G), and 13 hours specifically for video playback.
The silver Galaxy Tab S7 FE with S Pen stylus.
Image: Samsung
The black Galaxy Tab S7 FE.
Image: Samsung
The FE can come with an optional S Pen for note-taking tricks like converting handwriting to text. The tablet also has Samsung DeX, which can add Windows-esque interface elements like a taskbar, window-ing, and a “Start menu” automatically when you attach a keyboard. Whether any of those tablet features can elevate the FE into a true productivity device for you is harder to say. We found the Tab S7 and S7 Plus to still work best for simpler tablet tasks like video watching and web browsing rather a whole day of work. Nothing about the Fan Edition suggests that will be different.
The Galaxy Tab S7 Fan Edition currently isn’t for sale in Germany (you can sign up to be notified when it’s available) and is priced at €649 (approximately $792) for either the silver or black version. That’s less than the typical price of a base Galaxy Tab S7 in Germany (€698) and for the larger screen size of a €979 S7 Plus. Should the Tab S7 FE come to the US, it will likely cost less than the rough conversion of the German price to US dollars. We’ve reached out to Samsung and will update if we hear back.
WinFuture says Samsung has other colors and models with different specs in the works as well. We’ll keep an eye out for an official announcement in the future.
Qualcomm has announced a second-generation Snapdragon 7c Arm-powered processor that’s designed to be used inside entry-level Windows PCs and Chromebooks. The biggest change to the Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 (the official name) appears to be a clock speed bump, which Anandtech reports is a jump from 2.4GHz to 2.55GHz. And like the original Snapdragon 7c, it offers integrated LTE connectivity so you can connect to cellular networks, and Qualcomm promises it will support “multi-day battery life.”
The first device with the chip is set to arrive “this summer,” Qualcomm said in a press release, and Lenovo has already promised to release new devices using the 7c Gen 2 “later this year.”
More chipmakers are increasingly making Arm-based chips, which promise better performance and power efficiency. The first Snapdragon 7c was only used in a handful of Chromebooks, so we’ll have to see if this new chip offers enough to get more device-makers on board, but Lenovo’s commitment to make devices with the chip this year is a promising sign.
Qualcomm is also going up against Apple and its powerful M1 chip, which you can now find in MacBook Airs, MacBook Pros, Mac Minis, iMacs, and iPad Pros. Those devices are all more expensive than the type of machine the Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 is targeted for, however, and it’s possible Qualcomm’s new chip could bring some of the benefits of Arm-based processors to lower-cost (and non-Apple) devices.
Lenovo’s Tab P11 Pro is the company’s top-tier Android tablet. With an 11-inch OLED screen, quad speakers, and snap-on keyboard, it’s meant to go head to head with Samsung’s Tab S7 and Apple’s iPad Air. But while the Tab P11 Pro is excellent for watching movies — that OLED screen and the Dolby Atmos speakers are quite nice — it’s considerably less impressive when you attempt to use it for productivity.
Pricing for the Tab P11 Pro is aggressive, particularly when you add up everything you get. The list price for a base model with 128GB of storage and 4GB of RAM is $499.99, but thanks to Lenovo’s frequent discounts, you can buy one for $375 right now. The model I’ve been testing has 6GB of RAM and comes with a detachable keyboard and active stylus pen in the box. That one’s list price is $599.99, but it’s currently discounted to $460 on Lenovo’s site.
Considering the similarly sized iPad Air starts at $599 before you add a pen or keyboard to it, the Lenovo has a lot of value on its side. No matter which model you opt for, you get the same 11-inch 2560 x 1600 OLED screen; Qualcomm Snapdragon 730G processor; quad JBL speakers with Dolby Atmos tuning; 128GB of storage with the ability to expand it with a microSD card; and premium aluminum unibody design.
The screen and speakers are really the stars of the show here. The OLED panel is not as bright as you can get on an iPad, so it isn’t as good in direct sunlight. But in almost every other scenario, including outdoors in the shade, it looks fantastic. Colors are rich, blacks are deep and inky, and the resolution is sharp. It provides a great experience for watching movies or any video, really.
The P11 Pro’s OLED screen looks great, and the quad speakers sound fantastic.
Similarly, the quad speakers are loud, punchy, and immersive. The Tab P11 Pro’s speakers outclass the iPad Air’s dual speakers and easily hang with the excellent sound system on Apple’s higher-end iPad Pro. Unfortunately, Lenovo is taking the same route as Apple and omitting a headphone jack, so you have the option of using a USB-C dongle (not included) or wireless headphones for personal audio.
Combined, the OLED screen and quad speakers provide the best movie-watching experience on a tablet anywhere near this price. To get something better, you’re going to have to pay a lot more money.
But Lenovo isn’t pitching this as just a couch potato tablet — it’s following Apple and Samsung’s lead in presenting the P11 Pro as a tablet that you can also get work done on. And that’s where the P11 Pro falls on its face.
Starting with the keyboard and pen accessories that are included with the top-end bundle, there’s as much to dislike as there is to like. The snap-on keyboard has a nice fabric cover and comes in two pieces: a back cover with a built-in kickstand that attaches via magnets and the keyboard itself that communicates with the tablet through pogo pins on the bottom edge of the P11 Pro. It’s a similar design to what Samsung uses on the Tab S7 line, and I like the flexibility it affords. I can use just the back cover to prop the tablet up for movie watching without having to have the keyboard in the way all the time. It’s great to have this flexibility when you’re using the tablet on a cramped airplane tray table.
Unfortunately, the typing experience on the keyboard itself leaves a bit to be desired. The layout is as cramped as expected with an 11-inch tablet, and there’s no backlighting available. The trackpad is small and has palm rejection issues — even just using the keyboard to write this relatively short draft was an exercise in patience, as my cursor would randomly jump around any time my left hand brushed against the trackpad as I typed. There’s also very little software support; I can’t adjust the scrolling direction on the trackpad as I can do with a laptop or other tablets.
The bundled stylus is nice to have, but it, too, falls behind the competition. It has many levels of pressure sensitivity, and it writes smoothly enough for my basic note-taking needs. But it doesn’t charge on the back or side of the tablet like Apple or Samsung’s pens (you instead need to plug it in via a USB-C port on its end), and there’s nowhere to safely store it on the tablet. Lenovo includes a rubbery holster for the pen that you’re supposed to stick to the back of the P11’s case with adhesive. But the adhesive is weak, and the pen holder falls off very easily. It all just feels like an afterthought.
Similarly, the software support for the pen is weak. Lenovo includes the Squid notes app (the basic free version, not the full version) for jotting down notes, and you can download many other options from the Play Store. But the pen doesn’t integrate into the system like it does on Apple or Samsung tablets. You can’t use the pen to take quick notes from the lock screen or easily capture screenshots and mark them up like you can on the iPad Air or Tab S7.
The P11 Pro’s “productivity mode” leaves a lot to be desired.
When you attach the keyboard to the tablet, Lenovo’s custom productivity mode launches. This is designed to provide a desktop-like interface, similar to Samsung’s DeX feature. But it’s a mess: few apps can be launched full-screen with it, and every app opens in a tiny, windowed box that you have to resize each time. I was able to successfully create a split-screen between a Google Doc and another window, such as Slack or the browser. But in general, the productivity mode feels like a tacked-on afterthought, just like the pen, and really isn’t a great experience.
Elsewhere, the software is standard Android (version 10; there’s no update to Android 11 as of the date of this review, though the P11 Pro does have the latest security patch available), which works best when you’re watching a full-screen video or playing a game, and doesn’t have as many tablet-oriented apps as iPadOS. The Snapdragon 730 processor isn’t as powerful as you get in Apple or Samsung’s tablets, but it’s not really a bottleneck here. You’ll be limited by the lack of tablet-optimized apps way before you hit the performance ceiling of the chip.
In all, the Tab P11 Pro is the tablet to get if you are looking for an excellent movie watching experience and don’t want to spend more than $400. You won’t find a better display or speakers for this price. I’d personally skip the pen and keyboard bundle entirely (even though that does mean you give up the handy back cover and its kickstand) and just use this tablet for what it does best: entertainment.
In an attempt to get more developers to build software for Windows 10 on Arm, Qualcomm is debuting a Snapdragon Developer Kit. The company announced the small desktop PC today ahead of Microsoft’s Build developer conference.
The new system was built “in collaboration with Microsoft” and will run Windows 10. While Qualcomm refers to the system as “cost-effective,” it hasn’t listed a price for the system, which will run on the Snapdragon 7c platform. It will be available for purchase in the Microsoft Store sometime this summer, and is part of an effort to have developers port software to native ARM64.
Qualcomm told members of the press that developers won’t need to return the system, an apparent dig at Apple’s Developer Transition Kits for the M1 processor, which needed to go back to the company.
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(Image credit: Qualcomm)
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(Image credit: Qualcomm)
The Snapdragon developer kit resembles an Intel NUC or Apple’s Mac Mini, in that it’s a small, low-profile desktop. Thus far, every Windows on Arm device has been a laptop, as one of Arm’s benefits is long battery life. Miguel Nunes, senior director of product management at Qualcomm said in a statement that the “developer kit provides an affordable alternative to other consumer and commercial devices. With the smaller desktop configuration, this kit gives developers more flexibility than notebook options, and at a lower price point.”
Qualcomm’s kit has a large power button on top and a sparse selection of ports, including USB Type-A and an SD card slot on the side.
In December, Microsoft started adding x64 emulation to Windows on Arm Insider Builds. But the developer kit is an attempt to kickstart more Arm-native apps. Today, Zoom is announcing an optimized version of its video conference app, which is coming this summer.
There are a number of existing native Arm apps for Windows 10, including VLC, Twitter, Firefox, Edge, Microsoft Office, Netflix, Twitter, Skype and Windows 10. But the number that will be able to be emulated when x64 hits mainstream Windows will increase significantly. Still, native apps will perform even faster.
Without information liek price and full specs, it’s hard to even surmise what kind of effect this will have with the developer community. Qualcomm is teasing that more information will be shared at a Build session entitled “What’s new for Windows desktop application developers.”
Qualcomm also announced its Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 system on a chip today for entry-level Windows PCs and Chromebooks. The company was light on details, but promised laptops using it will start at $349 and offer multi-day battery life depending on use.
Qualcomm has a new Arm processor ready for Windows and Chrome. Today, it announced the Snapdragon 7c Gen 2, aimed at laptops starting at $349, which means you probably won’t see it powering the
best Ultrabrooks and premium laptops
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The company claims that this will bring premium features to budget machines, including long battery life (Qualcomm will tell you it’s “all-day” depending on usage), quick wake from sleep, and a chassis that’s less than 15mm thick.
(Image credit: Qualcomm)
The 7c Gen 2 SoC boasts a Qualcomm Kryo 468 octa-core CPU up to 2.55 GHz, a Qualcomm Adreno GPU, a Qualcomm Spectra 255 image signal processor for 14-bit processing, a Snapdragon X15 LTE modem and up to Wi-Fi 5 (ac).
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(Image credit: Qualcomm)
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(Image credit: Qualcomm)
Notably, for both Windows and Chrome, Qualcomm hasn’t provided specific test scores, nor compared it to the original Snapdragon 7c. Instead, it has normalized performance versus Intel’s Celeron N4020 and N5030 and, on the Chrome side, the Mediatek MT8183. Unsurprisingly, the newer processor wins out. On Windows, Qualcomm claims to be up to 60% more efficient than Intel’s Celerons by dividing the PCMark 10 performance score by PCMark 10 battery life consumption. In other tests, the N5030 was more powerful.
Qualcomm is also promising other benefits, including better webcam quality thanks to its Spectra 255 image signal processor and clearer audio with Qualcomm Aqstic.
Today, Qualcomm also announced a Snapdragon development kit running Windows 10 on Arm so that developers can port apps to ARM64. That will ship this summer.
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The Kyocera DuraForce Ultra 5G is a rugged phone that doesn’t require you to give up too many modern conveniences to gain the benefits of extreme durability. It’s common for rugged phones to feature older processors and lack modern features — these phones often have specialized uses, like barcode scanning or taking payments, and more or less just need to keep working in harsh environments.
The DuraForce Ultra 5G includes both the durability of a rugged phone and modern features like 5G, wireless charging, a high-quality processor, and dual rear cameras. At $899, it’s an expensive phone — you can buy a very nice non-rugged phone for that much — but if durability is a must and you don’t want to sacrifice performance or convenient features, the DuraForce 5G is (quite literally) a solid choice.
Kyocera DuraForce Ultra 5G rugged features
Pick up the DuraForce Ultra 5G and you’ll know right away that you have a rugged device in your hands. The top and bottom of the phone are wrapped in thick plastic bumpers, the sides feature a texturized finish, and at 278g (9.8oz) it’s much heavier than your standard smartphone. The screen itself isn’t very big — just a 5.45-inch 1080p LCD panel — but the sizable bezels and thick chin make it a chunky device overall.
Despite its dimensions it’s actually easy to use one-handed, since the screen itself is relatively small. The phone will fit in a jacket pocket, but it’s too bulky for any of my jeans pockets. Haptics are aggressive, even at the “medium” default setting, which is a good thing in a phone you might be using with gloves. Otherwise, you can turn touch vibrations down to low or off.
The phone is both IP65 and IP68 rated, meaning there’s generous protection against water intrusion both from jets and immersion (up to 6.5 feet for up to 30 minutes). The DuraForce Ultra 5G meets the Military Standard 810H specifications and includes protection against vibration, blowing dust and sand, extreme temperatures, drops from five feet onto concrete, high altitudes, and plenty of other hostile conditions.
I couldn’t test it against all of those conditions, but I did subject the phone to plenty of abuse including an hourlong stay in the freezer, water immersion for 30 minutes in the kitchen sink, exposure to sand, and a drop from about five feet onto driveway asphalt. Aside from some minor scuffs acquired in the driveway test, the DuraForce Ultra 5G merely shrugged at my efforts and kept on working just fine. Kyocera does include a two-year warranty with purchase, so as long as you use the phone within the conditions it’s rated to withstand, you shouldn’t be putting your purchase at risk.
In addition to rugged features, the DuraForce Ultra 5G is just loaded with buttons. There’s a power button with embedded fingerprint sensor, three programmable keys, and a large volume rocker that’s easy to press with gloves on. I frequently pressed one of the programmable buttons accidentally when I grabbed the phone — they’re in easy reach when you’re using the phone, but that unfortunately means a lot of unintentional presses, too. These buttons do require a long press to bring up whatever shortcut function you’ve assigned to them, so a brief press won’t do anything. You can also assign any of them to “do nothing” when pressed if you’d rather not use them.
Kyocera DuraForce Ultra 5G screen, performance, and battery
Aside from the obvious difference in appearance and ergonomics, the DuraForce Ultra 5G handles pretty much the way any other Android device does. The screen looks a little low on contrast in comparison to your standard display — likely because the panel is optimized for viewability in bright sunlight. That’s probably more important to the phone’s target user than a rich multimedia viewing experience, and the panel is indeed usable even in very bright direct light.
The screen’s protective “Sapphire Shield” remained free of scratches during my testing, but it does pick up reflections easily outside, more so than other phones with Gorilla Glass. It wasn’t enough to bother me, but someone planning to use the phone outside in bright light often might find it distracting.
The DuraForce Ultra 5G ships with Android 10; Kyocera says it will provide an update to 11, but that the timeframe is still being determined. Android 10 is fine for now, but given that Google is readying Android 12 for the public, it’s definitely a step behind. Kyocera says it will provide a minimum of two years of security updates, which is a common if not terribly generous policy.
The DuraForce Ultra 5G uses a Snapdragon 765G processor with 6GB RAM, which puts overall performance on par with a midrange phone. There’s some slight stuttering when scrolling quickly through screens with lots of images and video, and a noticeable pause after taking a photo in the camera app, but other than that it keeps up well — especially considering the lower performance bar in the rugged class.
There’s a 4,500mAh battery built into the DuraForce Ultra 5G. It’s a comparatively large battery for the class, and it got me through a full day of moderate to heavy use. The phone supports Qi wireless charging, which is uncommon among rugged phones. The phone was a little finicky on my stand-style Belkin wireless charger, but it eventually worked when set on the charger in landscape orientation.
And of course, there’s one of the DuraForce Ultra 5G’s namesake features: 5G. This model works with both widely available sub-6GHz frequencies and hard-to-find but much faster mmWave spectrum (also called Ultra Wideband by Verizon, hence the UW in the phone’s name). It’s only sold through Verizon in the US, which makes sense: the company has been pushing mmWave much harder than the other major carriers and does offer more coverage, though it’s still relatively scarce. Verizon’s 5G network is kind of lackluster overall at this point, though it will improve over the next couple of years. It’s a good feature to have on a phone you’re going to hang onto for a while, but definitely don’t buy this (or any phone, really) just for mmWave since you’ll probably have a hard time finding a signal anyway.
Kyocera DuraForce Ultra 5G camera
The DuraForce Ultra’s rear camera array consists of a 24-megapixel f/1.8 standard wide and a 16-megapixel f/2.2 ultrawide, plus a time-of-flight sensor. Around front, there’s an 8-megapixel f/2.0 selfie camera. That’s a cut above what’s offered on many rugged phones. Picture-taking likely isn’t a high priority for prospective DuraForce Ultra owners, and image quality is certainly not up to what you’d find on conventional $900 phones, but it does the job.
Taken with ultrawide camera.
Taken with ultrawide camera.
Photos in good light look fine, if a bit on the low-contrast, washed-out side. Exposure and color can shift noticeably between two images taken with the same camera at slightly different angles, and I noticed some odd misses here and there, like a blurry shot of a static subject where it looked like the camera had tried to apply too much HDR. But most of the time in bright light, photos are perfectly fine, and a cut above what I’d expect from a rugged phone.
There’s also a mode that will overlay live information on your still image or video about whatever extreme situation you happen to be in, including location, altitude, speed, and G-force. Extreme activities are generally not recommended in your second trimester of pregnancy, so I didn’t really test this out. I imagine if you’re into something like mountain biking or climbing and you want to record that kind of information with your activity, you probably have a better way of doing so already. In any case, it’s there, and it’s definitely more of a casual, fun feature than it is practical.
If you’re merely curious about living a rugged phone lifestyle, the DuraForce Ultra 5G isn’t for you. The phone’s extremely hardy specifications would be appealing to anyone who’s nervous about dropping their phone or occasionally brings their phone to rough environments like beaches or backcountry camping. If that’s you, spend your $900 on a good standard phone (many are IP68 rated) and a rugged case. You’ll get better performance, a better camera, timelier software updates — basically, a lot more for the money.
If you need a rugged phone on the job as a frontline worker, first responder, or construction worker, for example, then the DuraForce Ultra 5G makes a lot more sense — especially if it’s going to be your primary phone off the job and you’d really like some extra bells and whistles. The inclusion of 5G, wireless charging, and processing power that’s a cut above the rest of the class makes it a good tool on and off the job site.
However, $900 is an awful lot to spend on a phone, and I think that very specific kind of customer for this phone is a pretty small group. You could buy a less expensive rugged phone with more limited functionality like Kyocera’s own DuraForce model from last year and a darn good midrange phone for around the same price. You probably can’t get mmWave 5G that way, but that’s no great loss.
Still, the DuraForce Ultra 5G represents a convenient option for a particular type of person if two phones feels like too much fuss. It certainly handled everything I threw it at, and functioned well as a daily companion for more pedestrian tasks like scrolling social media and navigating trips across town. If extreme durability is a must and you don’t want to give up too much to get it, then the DuraForce Ultra 5G is a good choice.
(Pocket-lint) – The OnePlus 8 Pro was one of 2020’s best phones, offering flagship specs and premium design at cheaper price than the likes of Samsung’s Galaxy S20 range.
While both series of phones are a little older now, they still make great purchase options purely because you can now get them cheaper than they were at launch.
So how does the OnePlus 8 Pro compare to Samsung’s top-of-the-range Galaxy S20 Ultra and Galaxy S20+? Here are the specifications up against each other.
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Design
OnePlus 8 Pro: 165.3 x 74.4 x 8.5mm, 199g
Samsung S20+: 161.9 x 73.7 x 7.8mm, 186g
Samsung S20 Ultra: 166.9 x 76 x 8.8mm, 220g
The OnePlus 8 Pro, Samsung Galaxy S20+ and Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra all offer premium designs with metal cores and glass rears, though OnePlus offers matte options, while Samsung offers gloss only. The frosted glass is both lovely to look at, and does a better job of resisting smudges from fingerprint grease.
The Samsung S20+ and S20 Ultra both have punch hole cameras centralised at the top of their displays, while the OnePlus 8 Pro has a punch hole camera positioned in the top left corner of its display.
On the back, the OnePlus 8 Pro has a slightly neater design with a pill-shaped vertical camera housing positioned in the middle, while the Samsung Galaxy S20+ and S20 Ultra both have more prominent rectangular camera housings in the top left corner of their rears.
Size wise, the OnePlus sits right in the middle of the two Samsung phones. It’s a little wider and thicker than the S20+, but narrower and thinner than the S20 Ultra. That means, in the hand, the S20+ is slightly more comfortable, but in truth all phones are pretty big.
All devices being compared here offer IP68 water and dust resistance and they all have in-display fingerprint sensors. So there’s a lot of parity here. In terms of build and looks, you’re not getting a less premium device by going with OnePlus.
Display
OnePlus 8 Pro: 6.78-inch, Quad HD+, 120Hz
Samsung S20+: 6.7-inch, Quad HD+, 120Hz
Samsung S20 Ultra: 6.9-inch, Quad HD+, 120Hz
The OnePlus 8 Pro has a 6.78-inch display with a Quad HD+ resolution offering a pixel density of 513ppi. It offers an aspect ratio of 19.8:9 and a refresh rate of 120Hz.
The Samsung Galaxy S20+ has a 6.7-inch display with a Quad HD+ resolution and 525ppi, putting it at a similar size to the OnePlus 8 Pro, while the Ultra is larger at 6.9-inches. It too has a Quad HD+ resolution though, with a pixel density of 511ppi.
While both Galaxy devices have 120Hz refresh rate displays – just like OnePlus – Samsung currently only allows you to have it switched on if the resolution is set to full HD+. That means you have to choose between sharpness, and fast animations. OnePlus allows you to have both switched on at the same time, without compromise.
Still, despite this, all three displays are truly excellent and easily the best currently available on any smartphone. They’re sharp, vibrant and responsive.
All devices being compared in this feature have a AMOLED panel and offer HDR10+ support.
The camera department is perhaps the area these devices differ the most.
The OnePlus 8 Pro has a quad rear camera, made up of a 48-megapixel main sensor, 8-megapixel telephoto sensor, 48-megapixel ultra-wide angle sensor and a 5-megapixel colour filter sensor. There’s a dual LED flash and a range of features including Video HDR, Smart Pet Capture mode and 3x hybrid zoom.
The Samsung Galaxy S20+ has a quad rear camera too, made up of a 12-megapixel main sensor, 64-megapixel telephoto sensor, 12-megapixel ultra wide sensor and a Depth Vision time of flight sensor.
The Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra meanwhile, has a 108-megapixel main sensor, 48-megapixel telephoto sensor, which is a 10x hybrid optic periscope lens, 12-megapixel ultra wide sensor and a DepthVision sensor.
Despite having the impressive-sounding 100x Space Zoom, in our testing, we had a few issues with the S20 Ultra’s camera. Apart from that ultra-zoom being not much more than a gimmick at its extreme focal lengths, there were other problems with focussing on items up close. The S20+ may have the less jaw-dropping spec sheet here, but it gave us fewer issues overall and performs well. As does OnePlus.
The 8 Pro’s primary and ultra-wide cameras are excellent, and the zoom is useful, even if the colours and detail don’t quite match up with the other two main cameras. As for that colour filter camera, that’s a little weird and lets you be creative, but doesn’t offer anything distinctly wortwhile.
The OnePlus 8 Pro runs on the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 processor with a choice of 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage or 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. There is no microSD support for further storage expansion.
The Samsung Galaxy S20+ and S20 Ultra both run on either the Exynos 990 or Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 processor, depending on the region. Both have 12GB of RAM as standard but the Ultra also comes in a 16GB option. There are various storage options, with 128GB, 256GB and 512GB models available, all of which offer microSD storage expansion up to 1TB.
In terms of everyday speed and performance, the OnePlus and Samsung phones will all offer you a speedy, responsive experience. We didn’t notice any significant difference between the three. It’s no surprise really given the similar specifications and power available in all of them.
In terms of battery capacities, the OnePlus 8 Pro has a 4510mAh battery, the Samsung Galaxy S20+ has a 4500mAh battery and the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra has a 5000mAh battery. IN testing, the OnePlus was the one that’s likely to last a little bit longer, but again, there’s not a huge amount in it. Samsung has really upped its battery longevity game this year.
The one place you will notice a difference is in charging speeds. With its 30W wireless charging, OnePlus will refill much quicker on its charging stand than either of the Samsung phones will while wireless charging.
All three also offer reverse wireless charging too, so you can top up your wireless charging compatible earphones or smartwatch from any of the phones.
All three devices being compared here are 5G enabled.
squirrel_widget_184581
Conclusion
The OnePlus 8 Pro sits in the middle of both the Samsung Galaxy S20+ and the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra but it is quite a bit cheaper than both models, coming in around the same price as the standard Galaxy S20 instead.
There’s plenty of similarities between the three devices too, despite the price difference. All have large displays, premium designs, powerful hardware and good software experiences, albeit different.
You get microSD support on the Samsung devices, along with some interesting camera functionality, especially on the S20 Ultra, but you pay more for these attributes – a lot more in the case of the Ultra – so the decision between these handsets will come down to your budget and what features matter to you most.
On the whole, we don’t think you’ll be losing a whole lot at all in real daily performance and capabilities by going with the OnePlus 8 Pro instead of either of these two Samsung phones.
Haptic feedback on Android phones is usually terrible, at least compared to devices that have Apple’s Taptic Engine. You know it, I know it, and a haptics company called Lofelt apparently knows it, too. Today, though, Lofelt, in partnership with Qualcomm, announced that it’s making its VTX haptic framework available to OEMs, with the hope that these manufacturers will start putting better haptics into more Android devices.
The framework will allow OEMs to utilize high-definition haptic vibration on phones running the latest Snapdragon 8-series and 7-series without any hardware tweaks. The system is “tightly integrated with Snapdragon and fully validated by Qualcomm,” according to Lofelt. While the framework is technically compatible with older phones that have a Snapdragon 7-series and 8-series chipset, it’s at the discretion of each OEM whether to add support. It seems more likely that companies will make the big effort to implement improved haptics in upcoming phones than adding it to older models. As for which newer models will feature the framework, none have been announced yet.
Ahead of this announcement, I got to actually feel the difference myself that Lofelt’s improved haptics can make on a phone through software tweaks only. The company sent over a custom Google Pixel 4 packed with demos that show off how its vibrations feel compared to the stock Android implementation (the same setup can’t be duplicated on other devices). Compared to phones designed to take full advantage of Lofelt VTX’s integration with the chipset, this Pixel 4 was running the haptics tricks through the application layer as a proof of concept.
Lofelt’s app let me feel the difference between stock Android vibrations and the company’s own — and the difference was noticeable.
Each of the demos featured a toggle that lets you switch between the stock Android vibration and Lofelt’s refined haptics, as shown in the bottom right of the picture above. One instance ran through a few scenarios in Call of Duty: Mobile. The vibrations varied in strength and duration depending on the kind of gun being shot, and I was able to feel distinct pulsations of a helicopter soaring through the sky. A demo for Asphalt 9: Legends let me feel the roar of an engine through haptics, as well as the fast, crunchy pulsing of the vibration motor when the car ran over a dirt median. Even though the Pixel 4 and earlier models don’t natively support VTX, these demos were far more expressive than standard Android phone vibrations. If you’re someone who takes mobile gaming seriously, to the point of owning something like a Razer Kishi controller, haptics could make your favorite games feel more immersive.
The big challenge for Lofelt isn’t in proving that these sorts of immersive haptic experiences are worth building (give the Lofelt Studio app for iOS a try if you need convincing yourself). The real work is ensuring that as many phones as possible can eventually get them, and that it won’t take too much effort for developers. That’s where Lofelt’s AX (adaptive experience) signal processing tech built into VTX comes into play.
According to Lofelt, AX converts a universal haptic signal into vibrations that play to the strengths of each individual phone, taking into consideration its haptics driver, actuator hardware, and control algorithms from the manufacturer. The goal is for Android devices to catch up to Apple’s excellent Taptic Engine that’s in modern iPhones.
Older phones with the Snapdragon 7-series and 8-series can be updated as OEMs see fit, but you’ll likely find better haptics in new phones.Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
App and game developers can design advanced haptics using Lofelt Studio, which integrates with Unity, Unreal, and Xcode, and create a universal .haptic file that works across multiple devices. According to Lofelt, these files contain “universal parameters, such as whether the haptics should include smooth, continuous signals or more punchy, dynamic events.” In other words, you’ll only need to build it once, then the framework can deliver a consistent experience across different phones.
Existing games and apps running on supported Snapdragon hardware won’t be left in the dust. Lofelt claims that framework will also be able to convert the audio stream coming from an app into vibrations in real time without any hardware or coding modifications. So, you won’t necessarily need to wait for every developer to create bespoke haptics in order to start feeling some tactile enhancements with apps you already know and love.
Lofelt says that its VTX framework comes with no performance trade-offs, and that it aims to deliver better haptics “while minimizing the impact on battery and actuator.” That sounds great, and the demo I tried feels ready for deployment. But now, the wait begins for some phone manufacturers to kickstart what could be a big, positive change for Android.
Qualcomm has announced a new 700-series chipset for mobile devices: the Snapdragon 778G 5G. It will start appearing in premium midrange phones from manufacturers including Motorola, Xiaomi, Realme, Honor, Oppo, and iQOO in the next few months, bringing with it some video capture and AI capabilities borrowed from the Snapdragon 888, the current chipset of choice for flagship Android phones. The company has also made a couple of other announcements today designed to get 5G connectivity into more tech.
The Snapdragon 778G offers three image-signal processors, or ISPs — a feature Qualcomm touted in its flagship 888 chipset, and also appears in the higher-end 780G. This makes it possible to capture photos and video from three different cameras at once. You can easily switch between different cameras’ video feeds during recording ala Samsung’s director view on the Snapdragon 888-powered S21 series.
The processor also supports cameras with staggered HDR sensors like the 50-megapixel chip in the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra for better HDR video recording. The 778G also includes some improvements for more GPU-efficient mobile gaming, and things like better noise suppression and camera experiences on video calls. Both mmWave and sub-6GHz 5G are supported, as well as Wi-Fi 6.
In “more 5G in more places” news, Qualcomm is also making M.2 reference designs available for current OEM customers of its X65 and X62 5G modems. This makes it easier for laptop, desktop, gaming, and IoT manufacturers to incorporate 5G connectivity into their products. The company is also debuting a new X65 5G modem, which Qualcomm says is more energy efficient and offers wider support of mmWave frequencies. It will start appearing in commercial mobile devices later this year, the company says.
The HP Elite Folio is a long-lasting, quiet laptop/tablet combo, but it offers a middling performance for a high price.
For
+ Versatile design
+ Runs very cool and quiet
+ 3:2 Display
+ Full-sized stylus charges in keyboard
+ Long battery life
Against
– Display could be brighter
– Windows on Arm has app compatibility issues
– Middling performance
– Few ports
– Pricey
There are a few laptops that fall into what I call an “executive notebook.” These are high-end, sometimes overly designed business laptops that you rarely see the rank-and-file office worker use. The new HP Elite Folio ($1,747.20 to start, $2,063.36 as tested) seems destined, with its vegan leather exterior and high price tag, for the C-suite.
HP has gone with Windows on Arm here, which means that the laptop runs quiet and has excellent battery life. But even as Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processors get more powerful and Windows on Arm slowly improves, there are still compatibility and performance sacrifices, so it’s not always fitting for the
best ultrabooks
.
But for those who rely on a stylus for writing on-screen or want a versatile form factor for various situations, you may be able to overlook that as long as you don’t use compute-heavy software. And if you value style, of course.
Design of HP Elite Folio
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HP’s new Folio means business. Or at least, it looks like it. The HP Elite Folio is a new, more professional take
on a previous design
. This laptop isn’t clad in metal, but rather polyurethane vinyl — or, as you might call it, vegan leather. Or as I call it, “
pleather
.” Unlike the old
Spectre x360 13
, which used real leather and came in brown, this is a more subdued black.
The result is a notebook that looks a bit like a briefcase, minus the handle, of course. If it didn’t have an HP logo on the lid under some stitching, I’d expect to see an intern carrying their resume in it. There’s no place to put your thumb to easily open the laptop, so I typically found myself requiring two hands to do so, which was a pain.
With the laptop open, it looks more traditional. There’s a 13.5-inch, 1920 x 1280 display in a 3:2 aspect ratio with a surprisingly thick bezel on the top. The deck features a backlit keyboard and also includes a spot to store and charge the included HP Slim Pen. This is a page straight out of the playbook Microsoft used with the
Surface Pro X
.
But the Surface Pro X is a true 2-in-1 detachable, and the Elite Folio has a different trick up its sleeve. The screen is on a hinge, and it can be brought forward into an easel mode that covers the keyboard but leaves the touchpad clear. You can also slide it further forward to be a tablet. (You could, if you wanted, also flip the screen upside down on the back of the device and use the display to watch videos or give presentations. This isn’t listed among HP’s options, but it works.)
The laptop looks like leather, but it doesn’t feel like it. It’s soft to the touch but definitely has a plasticky feel. For those wondering, yes, I did smell the laptop. While it pulls off a leather look, it can’t match the real thing’s fragrance.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
I can’t speak to how well this will hold up over months and years of use. In the immediate sense, it did manage to pick up minor scuffs or schmutz on my desk, but I could wipe it off with a damp cloth.
Port selection is extremely minimal, with a USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C port on either side of the laptop and a 3.5mm headphone jack on the right side.
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HP’s notebook is 2.92 pounds and measures 11.75 x 9.03 x 0.63 inches. That’s similar to the Lenovo Flex 5G (2.9 pounds, 12.7 x 8.5 x 0.6 inches), a convertible 2-in-1. The Microsoft Surface Pro X is 2.4 pounds (with the keyboard attached) and 11.3 x 8.2 x 0.3 inches. An Intel-based clamshell, the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Nano, is 2 pounds and 12.7 x 8.5 x 0.6 inches.
HP Elite Folio Specifications
CPU
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2
Graphics
Qualcomm Adreno 690 (integrated)
Memory
16GB LPDDR4-4266 SDRAM
Storage
512GB PCIe NVMe SSD
Display
13.5-inch, 1920 x 1280 touchscreen
Networking
Qualcomm QCA639X Wi-Fi 6 Dual Band and Bluetooth 5, Qualcomm Snapdragon X20 LTE Cat 16
Ports
2x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C, 3.5mm headphone jack, nano SIM card slot
Camera
720p IR
Battery
46 WHr
Power Adapter
65 W
Operating System
Windows 10 Pro
Dimensions(WxDxH)
11.75 x 9.03 x 0.63 inches / 298.45 x 229.36 x 16 mm
Weight
2.92 pounds / 1.32 kg
Price (as configured)
$1,998.72
Windows 10 on Arm
The HP Elite Folio uses the latest Windows on Arm platform, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2. That comes with its benefits (long battery life, quiet), but in terms of performance and app compatibility, it’s certainly lacking.
To be clear, that’s the case on all Windows on Arm laptops at the moment. Apple has used Arm too on its most recent laptops with its
M1
chips, with far greater success.
Windows on Arm can run 32-bit apps, but not 64-bit apps. That functionality is coming but is currently limited to Windows Insider builds, which you’re unlikely to see in a business environment. An increasing number of apps are running natively on Windows on Arm, including Office, browsers like Edge and Firefox, and some of Adobe’s, but the rest require emulation. Others that run natively include the popular media player VLC, Netflix, Twitter, Skype, and Windows Terminal.
Perhaps the most reliable place to get apps that work on the processor, native or not, is through the Windows store, which largely filters apps that don’t work with Arm.
Productivity Performance of HP Elite Folio
Here, we’re comparing the Folio, which has an 8cx Gen 2, with two other Arm laptops, the Lenovo Flex 5G with the last-gen Snapdragon, and the Microsoft Surface Pro X with SQ1, Microsoft’s entry-level offering. We also tossed the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Nano in the mix for a business notebook using an x86 platform, namely Intel’s 11th Gen processors.
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On Geekbench 5, which measures overall system performance, the HP Elite Folio notched a single-core score of 792 and a dual-core score of 3,115. The Lenovo Flex 5G’s 729/2,923 suggest the newer chip has its advantage in multi-core workloads, though this test is run through emulation, which has to be kept in mind. The Surface Pro X isn’t in this test, as we were still running Geekbench 4 when we tested it. The ThinkPad X1 Nano’s scores were 1,473/5,155, with the test running natively.
The Elite Folio transferred 25GB of files at 666.5 MBps, faster than both the Flex 5G and ThinkPad X1 Nano. The Surface Pro X was run on an older, 5GB version of the test, and that was the slowest of the batch.
Our Handbrake test currently doesn’t run on Arm chips, though it is starting to be included in early “nightly” builds. Our Cinebench R23 stress test is also incompatible with Arm. These will change when 64-bit support becomes a finalized part of Windows 10.
Display on HP Elite Folio
I’m glad that HP went with a 3:2 display on the Elite Folio. Simply put, 3:2 is the best aspect ratio for productivity laptop displays because the extra height lets you see more content on your screen at once. This 13.5-inch touchscreen has a resolution of 1920 x 1280.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
I found the laptop to be bright enough for productivity, but when you switch to multimedia, it’s a mixed bag. In the trailer for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, the color red popped in car paint, lights and a number of outfits. But a series of dim scenes in a montage made me wish I could turn up the brightness (though the dimness made for great contrast in a scene with purple backlighting).
HP’s screen covers 70.7% of the
DCI-P3
color gamut, which is just about in line with the Surface Pro X and ThinkPad X1 Nano. The Lenovo Flex 5G was more vivid at 81.4%
The Folio was the dimmest of the bunch with an average of 390 nits. The Surface Pro X was the brightest, measuring 448 nits.
Keyboard, Touchpad and Stylus on HP Elite Folio
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HP has implemented a keyboard with 1.3mm of travel into this small device. I didn’t have any issues with travel, but when I typed, I felt that the keys were a bit too stiff. It didn’t stop me from typing quickly; I hit 110 words per minute on the 10fastfingers.com typing test. But accuracy suffered slightly.
The 4.2 x 2.6-inch touchpad uses Windows precision drivers, and with a smooth, metal surface, I found it responsive and easy to glide my fingers against. Simple navigation and more complex gestures worked on the first try. It clicks a bit louder than some other touchpads, but I can get over that.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
HP’s Slim Pen lives in a dock above the keyboard, which also keeps it charged. It’s long and flat, more like a carpenter’s pencil than your standard writing instrument. It has a rocker on the side, which can be unwieldy because of how thin the buttons are. The button on the top, however, is easy to access. That comes at the expense of using it as an eraser like the Surface Pen, however.
I found that the Elite Folio’s screen offered solid palm rejection. The Pen uses Wacom drivers and offers 4,096 degrees of pressure sensitivity. HP claims it fast charges in 30 minutes, though in my use, it’s home in the laptop meant it was always topped off.
Audio on HP Elite Folio
HP’s partnership with Bang & Olufsen on its speakers continues to bear fruit. While there’s no software to tune the speakers yourself, they sound decent considering how thin this device is.
For instance, when I listened to Chvrches’ “He Said She Said,” the crashing drums, synths melodies and vocals were loud, clear and crisp. There was, however, a distinct lack of bass, which is a problem on many laptops.
One downside, however, is that the speakers vibrate a lot, and I could feel it under my hands on the touchpad and keyboard. While this isn’t unique to this laptop, it was far more distracting on the Folio than other devices.
Upgradeability of HP Elite Folio
In theory, the HP Elite Folio is upgradeable. HP has a video showing the process:
This is aimed at service technicians, and for good reason. The design means you have to do things in a weird order, like removing the pen slot from the keyboard before opening the
chassis
.
The RAM is soldered to the motherboard, but the SSD is upgradeable. The only rub there is that to actually change out the storage, you have to remove the entire thermal system. Some enthusiasts may be comfortable with that, but for most people, that’s a step too far.
Battery Life
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The Elite Folio’s Arm processor excels in the one place you would expect it: battery life. On our test, which involves browsing the web, running OpenGL tests and streaming video over Wi-Fi, all at 150 nits, the Folio lasted for 15 hours and 21 minutes. It was outclassed only by the Lenovo Flex 5G, using a last-gen Snapdragon processor, which ran for 17:30.
Microsoft’s Surface Pro X with the SQ1 ran for 9:30, while the Intel-based ThinkPad X1 Nano lasted for 12 hours flat.
Heat on HP Elite Folio
Because we couldn’t run our Cinebench R23 workload due to compatibility issues, we took the HP Elite Folio’s skin temperatures following 15 minutes of streaming video from YouTube. The fanless system was quiet and kept very cool.
The center of the keyboard, between the G and H keys, measured 27.8 degrees Celsius (82.04 degrees Fahrenheit). The touchpad was cooler at 26 degrees Celsius (78.8 degrees Fahrenheit).
The hottest point on the bottom of the laptop measured 30.3 degrees Celsius.
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A
720p
webcam in an executive notebook after more than a year of white-collar workers have been doing their jobs from home? Excuse me?
Stills and trial video from my desk, even in good lighting, were grainy. And colors, like a blue shirt I was wearing, were overly dark.
There is a physical webcam privacy switch, which covers the camera but doesn’t cut power to the hardware like some other HP laptops. It’s very small, and you need to use your fingernail to move it in either direction.
There are also IR sensors to log in to Windows 10 with facial recognition. This worked well, with the exception that you need both the cameras and the IR sensor for this to work. If you close the privacy cover, you can’t use it to log in. That’s a choice you have to make between privacy and convenience.
HP has limited the amount of software it includes on this laptop, which is a benefit, especially on an enterprise laptop. There are no crappy antivirus software trials or ports of phone games.
The two big pieces of software are HP Pen Settings, which lets you pair the included stylus and customize its functionality; and HP QuickDrop, which lets you send files and photos across your laptop and smartphone.
HP Pen Settings has a number of clever options, including assigning commands that would be useful to go through slides or play media while giving presentations. There’s also a way to get a virtual dial on the screen when holding a button down.
While this laptop has Microsoft Office preinstalled, at least it doesn’t include links to sponsored Microsoft Store applications.
HP sells the Elite Folio with a 1-year warranty. It can be boosted to three years for an extra $75.
As of this writing, HP is selling the Elite Folio in both a ready-to-ship configuration and customizable configurations.
The quick-ship one is $1,889 with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2, 16GB of RAM and 256GB SSD, as well as an LTE modem.
We reviewed it with 16GB of RAM, a 512GB storage and an LTE modem. That runs for $2,063.36.
If you want a 1,000-nit display with HP’s Sure View privacy, that’s an extra $169. A 4G modem is $201, while a 5G modem is $444.
The base model, with Windows 10 Home instead of Pro, 8GB of RAM, 128GB SSD and no mobile connection is $1,747.20.
Prices on the Folio seem to be fluctuating on HP’s website, so they may vary after this article was published.
Bottom Line
The HP Elite Folio review has a versatile design and, if you’re into the office chair aesthetic, a fake leather exterior that fits in any office.
HP’s Slim Pen is nice, and the fact that it is full-sized and can still charge by sitting in the system is a big plus for anyone who does a lot of writing on screen. The different screen modes will also be helpful for people who use touch screens a lot.
But while relying on the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 means long battery life and quiet operation, there are a series of small sacrifices that are made, largely based on Windows on Arm and app compatibility. Some apps work, some are emulated and 64-bit apps, while coming, aren’t ready for prime time right now, without downloading a beta version of the OS. These aren’t problems unique to the Elite Folio — they’re the same on the Lenovo Flex 5G and the Microsoft Surface Pro X.
If the chassis, touch screen and functionality allowed by the display-on-a-hinge design will make your job easier, this is worth considering. But for many, an x86 business notebook, like the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Nano with an Intel processor, can run more software, do it faster, and is cheaper in some configurations.
It appears that Leica has found a new mobile camera partner, following Huawei’s sanctions-induced retreat from the international smartphone market. Sharp just announced the Aquos R6 in Japan, and its Leica-branded lens sits in front of what is now the largest camera sensor on any phone.
The 20-megapixel 1-inch sensor is similar in specs to what you’d find in Sony’s high-end RX100 compact cameras. It’s only the second 1-inch sensor ever to make its way into a smartphone, and the first to make its way into a phone from an traditional phone manufacturer — Panasonic released the Android-powered CM1 back in 2014, but it wasn’t exactly a mainstream device. The closest any current phone gets to a 1-inch sensor is Xiaomi’s new Mi 11 Ultra, which has a 1/1.12-inch component behind the lens.
The f/1.9 “Summicron” lens is also much wider than on other phones’ primary cameras, with an equivalent focal length of 19mm — that’s in ultrawide territory. Oddly, it’s the only outward-facing camera on the R6, so you’ll need to use digital zoom for more conventional focal lengths. The camera bump also houses an LED flash and a time-of-flight sensor.
The Aquos R6’s other big feature is its display, which Sharp calls a Pro IGZO OLED. It’s a 6.6-inch 2,730 x 1,260 panel with a peak brightness of 2,000 nits and a variable refresh rate of 1 to 240Hz. Most Android phones to date haven’t been able to offer OLED displays with truly variable refresh rates that adapt to content in real time — this panel sounds like the most advanced available on any phone right now.
Elsewhere the R6’s specs are standard for a 2021 flagship: a Snapdragon 888, 12GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, and a 5,000mAh battery. It’ll go on sale in June in Japan through carriers NTT Docomo and SoftBank. Pricing isn’t yet available.
The Sony Xperia 10 III (£399) is now available to pre-order in the UK, and it comes with a tempting freebie: a pair of wireless noise-cancelling headphones from Sony’s excellent stable.
The Sony WH-CH710N (£100) are the follow-ups to the four-star WH-CH700N. They boast advanced noise-cancelling tech that automatically adjusts based on how noisy your surroundings are. And when you do want to hear what the outside world has to offer, just use the Ambient Sound pass-through mode to let in external noise.
That aside, they’re very similar to their predecessors and serve as a more wallet-friendly alternative to the premium Sony WH-1000XM4. They have the same 35-hour battery life as the 700N, Bluetooth with NFC pairing, and mirror their predecessor’s design, voice assistant button and even same colour options. But considering how good the 700N are, that’s no bad thing.
So what of the Xperia 10 III? It’s a mid-range smartphone with a 6in 1080 x 2520 OLED screen. Inside, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 690 5G chip takes care of business alongside 6GB of RAM and 128GB of expandable storage. There’s also a triple rear camera system (comprising a 12MP main snapper, 8MP ultrawide and 8MP 2x telephoto), an 8MP front-facer, and a 4500mAh battery with 30W fast charging. Android 11 comes as standard.
It won’t be quite as impressive as the company’s flagship (and much more costly) Xperia 1 II, which currently tops our list of best smartphones. But the also excellent Xperia 5 II shows that Sony can do excellent phones at (slightly) cheaper levels, so we wouldn’t bet against it offering value for money at the budget end either.
The Sony Xperia 10 III will ship on 11th June, priced £399.
MORE:
These are the best smartphones for music and movies
The best noise-cancelling headphones of all styles, for all budgets
Find out how active noise-cancelling headphones work
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