Xiaomi is gunning for the title of best Android phone 2021, and with the Mi 11 Ultra, it might have a pretty strong chance. The handset boasts a 6.8in OLED with a resolution of 1440 x 3200 pixels, and a refresh rate of 120Hz. A high refresh rate means less blur – which is especially handy during fast-moving action scenes or gaming.
It also has a tiny 1.1in AMOLED screen on the back which can show notification alerts. Or you can use it to frame selfies with the main cameras.
The phone boasts a triple camera setup, offering a 50MP main camera, 48MP ultra-wide and 48MP telephoto (5x optical, 120x digital zoom) lens. And on the front? A 20MP selfie snapper.
The internal specs are just as impressive. We’re talking Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 888 chipset, 12GB of RAM, and a 5000mAh battery that supports 67W wired and wireless charging. The Mi 11 Pro can also juice up your other devices – just place them on the back and let the wireless charging tech do its thing.
Budget a little tighter? Xiaomi also launched a cut-price smartphone called the Xiaomi Mi 11 5G Lite at the same event. This offers a 6.55in AMOLED screen with an FHD+ resolution of 1080 x 2400 pixels. Despite being more affordable, it still offers 5G connectivity, and the 90Hz refresh rate is still better than a lot of pricier rivals (iPhones, we’re looking at you).
Camera-wise, it has a 64MP main, 8MP ultra-wide and 5MP telemacro lens (the latter is for up-close pictures). It too has a 20MP front-facer.
It’s the first phone with the Qualcomm 780G processor, and comes with either 6GB or 8GB of RAM. The 4250mAh battery has 22W wired charging.
Both phones should go on sale next month, joining the Mi 11 (which was announced in January but only went on sale recently). We’re still awaiting pricing details.
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Xiaomi has announced its latest flagship, the Mi 11 Ultra. It’s based on the excellent new Mi 11, but has a more advanced camera system — including a second screen housed inside the camera bump.
The Mi 11 Ultra has three cameras on the back: a 1/1.12-inch 50-megapixel main sensor, a 48-megapixel ultrawide, and a 48-megapixel 5x periscope telephoto. Those sensors should be upgrades across the board when compared to the regular Mi 11, which had a smaller 108-megapixel main sensor, a 13-megapixel ultrawide, and a 5-megapixel macro camera.
The camera bump dominates the top portion of the Mi 11 Ultra, and its secondary screen is the reason why. It’s a 1.1-inch 126 x 294 OLED display with a peak brightness of 450 nits and a power-saving mode. Xiaomi says it can be used as a selfie viewfinder, an always-on display, or a way to check notification alerts when the phone is face-down.
Rear display demonstrated for selfies.Image: Xiaomi
The specs are otherwise similar to the regular Mi 11. There’s a 6.8-inch 120Hz 1440p OLED display, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor, 12GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage. The battery has been boosted to 5,000mAh and is now capable of being fast-charged at 67W both wirelessly and with a cable.
Xiaomi is also launching a cut-down version of the Mi 11 called the Mi 11 Lite 5G. It looks similar to the regular Mi 11 but it’s more of a mid-range device. It’s the first phone to launch with the new Snapdragon 780 processor that Qualcomm announced last week, for example. The emphasis is on its slim and light design — it’s just 6.81mm thick.
Elsewhere you’ll find a 6.55-inch 1080p 90Hz OLED display, which is smaller, slower, and lower-resolution than that of the Mi 11. The triple-camera system includes a 64-megapixel primary sensor, an 8-megapixel ultrawide, and a 5-megapixel macro. The battery is also a little smaller at 4,250mAh, though you do at least get a headphone jack with the Mi 11 Lite, unlike the Mi 11.
Xiaomi hasn’t provided pricing or release details for the Mi 11 Ultra and the Mi 11 Lite just yet — stay tuned.
Images of Samsung’s unannounced Tab A7 Lite tablet have leaked, courtesy of Evan Blass on Voice. The images show a decidedly budget-looking device, with a single rear camera and no flash. Internally the tablet is said to be running a modest MediaTek Helio P22T processor paired with 3GB of RAM and a 5,100 mAh battery.
The Tab A7 Lite is one of two “Lite” tablets Samsung is expected to launch in June, if a February leak from WalkingCat is to be believed. The other is the Galaxy Tab S7 Lite, which features a bigger 12.4-inch display compared to 8.7-inches on the A7 Lite, according to WalkingCat. GalaxyClub.nl previously reported the S7 Lite may be available with 5G or Wi-Fi-only connectivity, and that it could be powered by a Snapdragon 750G processor with 4GB of RAM. Available colors are said to include pink, green, black, and silver.
The two Lite tablets follow their full-fat counterparts from last year. Both the Tab S7 and the Tab A7 benefited from great displays and speakers, making them excellent for general media consumption. While neither were as well-suited to productivity tasks, that might not matter for the upcoming tablets if they’re priced affordably enough.
(Pocket-lint) – The line between Oppo and OnePlus may be blurring at the management level, and when it comes to launching smartphones in their homeland in China, but when it comes to delivering flagships in western markets, they still take different approaches to things.
For the start of 2021, Oppo delivered the Find X3 Pro as its standout performer while OnePlus has launched the OnePlus 9 Pro. The two phones both offer top notch specs and performance, but with the prices driving higher this year, how do you choose between them? Should you spend more on the Oppo or is the 9 Pro good enough?
Design
Oppo: 163.6 x 74 x 8.3mm – 193g
OnePlus: 163.2 x 73.6 x 8.7 mm – 197g
Oppo: Gloss Black, Blue and White colours
OnePlus: Morning Mist (silver), Forest Green and Stellar Black colours
Both: Aluminium and Corning Gorilla Glass 5 construction – IP68 water/dust resistant
There was a time when Oppo and OnePlus flagships looked very similar to each other, but with the latest range, that’s no longer true. Of course, from the front they both look almost identical, given they have the same sized skinny-bezeled display and a hole-punch camera in the left corner. Turn them over however, and there’s no way anyone’s confusing these two.
Oppo’s latest premium phone is unlike anything else on the market. The glass curving up to the camera housing is all part of the same glass that makes up the rest of the phone’s rear. That means you get an attractive, seamless look and feel. Plus that matte frosted glass on the blue model makes it feel super soft.
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OnePlus has taken a vastly different approach, placing its cameras in a rectangle protrusion which is attractive in its own right. Each lens is surrounded by a metal ring, making them stand out visually, while the camera housing is colour matched to whatever the colour of the phone is.
Despite both being large phones, the Oppo is noticeably slimmer in the hand, and it feels more nimble and lightweight in the palm than the OnePlus does. Technically, there’s not a lot of difference in measurements, but holding the two yields very different feels.
Both have metal and glass construction and both are water and dust resistant up to IP68 rating, so which ever one you go for, it should survive being caught in the rain or dropped in a basin full of water.
The one area these two phones really are identical is in the display used on the front. Both have exactly the same 6.7-inch LTPO AMOLED display capable of reaching refresh rates up to 120Hz and a peak brightness of 1300 nits.
Maximum resolution for the both is set at QuadHD+ or, specifically, 1440 x 3216 pixels which gives it a density of 525 pixels per inch. That means they’re among the brightest, sharpest and smoothest displays currently available on any phone.
Both use an adaptive frame rate technology too, so that means if you’re looking at a still or slow-moving page, they adapt to the frame rate needed for that page. In the process, that means less power is wasted refreshing the display and as a result, it uses less battery.
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Both feature Always On ambient displays too, although Oppo gives you more available style options to choose from. Plus, you get the ability to design and customise your very own.
OnePlus used to be the customisation champion with Oxygen OS, but Oppo has pulled ahead in this department offering more wallpapers that take advantage of the fluid, smooth display and giving you more fingerprint animation options.
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Both sets of software let you enable various display features like a comfort tone that adapts the white balance based on your current ambient lighting, plus the ability to schedule night modes and kill blue light.
We experienced some quirks with Oppo’s notification system during the review however, where the OnePlus didn’t seem to suffer with as much inconsistency here.
Hardware and performance
Both: Snapdragon 888 processor
Oppo: 8GB/256GB or 12GB/256GB RAM/storage
OnePlus: 8GB/128GB or 12GB/256GB RAM/storage
Both: 4500mAh battery (2x 2250mAh)
Oppo: 65W Super VOOC 2.0 wired and 30W Air VOOC wireless charging
OnePlus: 65W Warp Charge wired and 50W Warp Wireless charging
Like its displays there are some clear similarities when looking at the internals of the two phones. Namely: they both have the Snapdragon 888 processor inside keeping everything ticking over smoothly.
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They both even use the same speedy LPDDR5 RAM and UFS 3.1 storage, so that means that not only do your apps and games all run smoothly, but downloads and installations are quick too. Especially if you happen to live in a 5G area and can download over 5G.
What’s interesting here is that while batteries are the same size (4500mAh), we had slightly better battery life with the Oppo. No doubt, this is in part down to its pretty aggressive background task management. Still, sometimes we were able to get through two full days with the Find X3 Pro, where the OnePlus 9 Pro was a couple of hours short of making that mark.
Despite that, both will easily get you through a full day even if you’re someone who’s on the move constantly, listening to music, making calls and catching a few Pokemon on your travels.
With both being part of the same tech family, you often find similar charging technology in the companies’ devices and it’s no different here. Both use a proprietary flash charging system that can reach up to 65W speeds.
What’s different here is the OnePlus’ phone will retain those speeds for longer and can charge a battery from 1-100 per cent in under 30 minutes. The Find X3 Pro will take a few minutes longer to do the same, but in truth, both charge really quickly.
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It’s in wireless charging where the OnePlus 9 Pro has the clear advantage. Its Warp Charge 50 Wireless can give you a full battery in 43 minutes using the bespoke wireless charging stand while Oppo’s 30W charge will take noticeably longer (around an hour).
In our experience, it’s in the camera department where you notice the biggest differences between the two phones. Both have high quality wide and ultrawide cameras, but Oppo opted to put the same 50-megapixel sensor on both, giving consistent results between them. Both give colour rich, detailed and warm shots.
The OnePlus 9 Pro we found quite inconsistent at times, offering photos that looked cool and blue from the primary and warmer shots like the Oppo from its ultrawide.
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Both phones have a telephoto zoom lens and although the Oppo only goes up to 2x optical, we found it delivered higher quality results than the OnePlus’ 3.3x optical zoom lens. It was sharper and delivered relatively decent images up to 5x where the OnePlus lost a lot of detail and went quite mushy at times even at its lowest zoom.
Add to that the fact that the Oppo also delivered sharper, better looking images in its night mode vs. OnePlus Nightscape mode and it’s clear that the Find X3 Pro is the much better camera experience overal.
That’s without mentioning the gimmicky Micro lens which lets you get really close into objects and see right into their contruction at an almost microscope-like level. It’s fun to play with, but hard to get sharp in-focus shots from.
Pricing and availability
Oppo: From £1099
OnePlus: From £829
It’s no surprise to see OnePlus’ latest premium model cheaper than the Oppo alternative, however, to see the company’s phones getting so expensive in recent years must be difficult for some of its early fans. With prices starting at £829 in the UK, it’s as expensive as some big-name flagship phones, but still comes in cheaper than phones that are similar in terms of specs and features.
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Oppo’s phone is a flagship device at a flagship price, and creeps over the £1000 barrier just as Samsung and Apple have done in recent years. It sees itself as a true flagship that doesn’t need a discounted price to persuade people to see value in its offering.
Conclusion
Ultimately there are likely only a couple of things that will sway you one way or the other on these two phones. A major factor will likely be the price. Oppo’s top tier phone is more expensive than OnePlus’, and looking at the spec sheet there may not be enough difference between them to warrant that extra money.
With that said, given the more consistent and excellent performance of the cameras on the Oppo, and the more refined design – particularly on the matte blue model – we think that’s extra money worth spending if you’re happy to pony up the extra cash.
Motorola has unveiled the G100 and G50, two midrange phones headed first for European and Latin American markets. Both offer displays with fast 90Hz refresh rates for smooth scrolling and animations, 5G connectivity, and they embrace Motorola’s ethos of “more battery, more better” with huge 5,000mAh cells.
The higher-end G100 is poised to compete with the likes of the Google Pixel 4A 5G with a Snapdragon 870 5G processor, 8GB of RAM, and a dual wide / ultrawide selfie camera for €499.99 (~$587). The G50, on the other hand, looks like a respectable, budget-friendlier device — its faster refresh rate, 6.5-inch screen is still a bit rare at its €229.99 (~$269) price.
The Motorola G100 offers a large 6.7-inch 1080p LCD. Its 8GB of RAM is accompanied by 128GB of storage, which is expandable thanks to a MicroSD card slot. Support for sub-6GHz 5G frequencies is included, as is Wi-Fi 6. The G100 features a main 64-megapixel camera (lacking optical stabilization, sadly) complemented by a 16-megapixel ultrawide that doubles as a macro camera, complete with a built-in ring flash.
Two selfie cameras are offered — an approach Google took with the Pixel 3 and subsequently abandoned — with a 16-megapixel wide and 8-megapixel ultrawide. Up to 6K / 30p video recording is possible with the main rear camera, and the rear ultrawide can capture 4K / 30p clips — something found on many flagships but isn’t too common in this upper midrange class.
The Motorola G50 uses a slightly smaller (but still, you know, large) 6.5-inch 720p screen. It includes a slower Snapdragon 480 chipset with 4GB of RAM and 64 or 128GB of storage (thankfully, there’s a microSD slot here, too). The rear triple-camera array is mostly just a 48-megapixel standard wide camera; the accompanying 5-megapixel macro and 2-megapixel depth sensor don’t offer a whole lot of practical use. If none of that sounds too compelling, consider that the European pricing equates to well under $300. If the device were to make it to the US, it would be well-equipped to compete at that price.
There’s no confirmation just now if and when these phones will be sold in the US, but we’ll be keeping an eye out for them. In the meantime, the G100 goes on sale in European and Latin American markets today, while the G50 will arrive in “selected European markets” in the coming weeks.
Vivo has announced its latest international flagship phones, the X60 series. The highest-end model is the X60 Pro Plus, which is coming first to India, while the X60 and X60 Pro are also launching in the UK and several other markets. Vivo previously launched the X60 series in China but with substantially different specs to these new global models.
Vivo’s main focus with the X60 series is the cameras. The company has started a new partnership with Zeiss that it says includes the use of T* optical coating and swirly bokeh simulation based on the lens maker’s classic Biotar design. These kinds of collaborations tend to be more marketing hype than genuine selling points, but the X60 Pro Plus’ formidable camera bump at least looks the part.
Whether Zeiss had anything to do with it or not, the X60 Pro Plus has some impressively versatile camera hardware. Its quad-camera setup consists of a 50-megapixel Samsung GN1 primary sensor, a 48-megapixel ultrawide with Vivo’s gimbal-style stabilization, a 32-megapixel 2x telephoto, and an 8-megapixel 5x periscope telephoto, as well as a 32-megapixel selfie camera. We’ll have to see how the system performs in practice.
The rest of the X60 Pro Plus’ spec sheet is suitably flagship-level. It has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor and comes in a single blue vegan leather model with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. The display is a 6.56-inch 1080p OLED panel with a 120Hz refresh rate. The battery is 4,200mAh and fast-charges at up to 55W, though unfortunately (as is universally the case for Vivo) there’s no wireless charging.
The X60 and X60 Pro step down to a triple-camera system with a 48-megapixel main sensor, a 13-megapixel ultrawide, and a 13-megapixel 2x telephoto. They both use a Snapdragon 870 processor, which is paired with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage on the X60 Pro and 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage on the X60.
The X60 Pro Plus will cost Rs. 69,990 (~$960) in India, while the X60 Pro is Rs. 49,990 (~$690) and the X60 is Rs. 41,990 (~$580). Preorders begin today and the phones will be available on April 2nd. Details on the release in Europe and other markets will be announced later.
Qualcomm has announced its latest 7-series processor, the Snapdragon 780G, which trickles down features from the company’s flagship Snapdragon 888 chipset, while still offering manufacturers (and, by extension, consumers) a more affordable phone.
The 780G takes the new top slot in the 7-series lineup, replacing the 765G / 768G (the latter being largely a frequency-boosted version of the former). Obviously, there’s the usual boost in performance: the 780G features Qualcomm’s Kryo 670 CPU, which the company says offers a 40 percent boost in performance, and a new Adreno 642 GPU for up to 50 percent faster graphics compared to the 765 model.
But the 780G also enables some new functionality, like the Spectra 570 triple ISP (image signal processor), which, like the Snapdragon 888, allows for phones to capture three simultaneous photo or video feeds at the same time.
And like the Snapdragon 888, the Snapdragon 780G features Qualcomm’s sixth-generation AI engine running on a new Hexagon 770 processor, which can perform 12 trillion operations per second (TOPS) — twice that of its predecessor, even if it still pales in comparison to the 26 TOPS that the Snapdragon 888 offers. It also features the second-gen Sensing Hub that Qualcomm debuted on its flagship chipset.
Lastly, the 780G has improved connectivity features, with an integrated Snapdragon X53 5G modem that promises up to 3.3Gbps speeds on Sub-6 GHz 5G networks. And like its pricier sibling, the 780G adds support for Wi-Fi 6E, meaning phones with the new chip will be able to take advantage of the fastest Wi-Fi speeds around as well as Bluetooth 5.2.
The first phones with the Snapdragon 780G are expected to release in the second quarter of 2021.
(Pocket-lint) – The Oculus Quest 2 is an updated version of Oculus’ wireless virtual reality headset, but what makes it different to the original?
Buy the Oculus Quest 2
Well, there are a number of both aesthetic and technical changes that make the Quest 2 worth considering. It might well be a brilliant purchase for those looking to get into VR or a potential upgrade option for current Quest owners. Read on to find on what’s different.
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Oculus Quest 2 – new white finish, cloth/material straps with updated tightening system, flip-up visor, three IPD levels
The original Oculus Quest was one of our favourite VR headsets, with an excellent lightweight design and surprisingly capable hardware making it a viable alternative to much more expensive PC VR headsets. Without the need for an accompanying gaming PC or laptop, it made a lot of sense to buy and now has been improved upon in the Quest 2.
Quest 2 stands out from the original thanks to a bold white design versus the original black and grey theme. It features much more than a colour change though.
The Quest 2 has a new head strap design which makes it easier to adjust and offers a more comfortable fit. It’s also designed to be more accessible and easier to use too.
Where the original Quest had a manual IPD slider, the Quest 2 now has a system which lets you move the lenses into three different preset positions – 58mm (setting 1), 63mm (setting 2) and 68mm (setting 3). Oculus says this design is intended to be simplified and that most users will find one of the three settings is perfect for them, removing the hassle of measuring your IPD and adjusting the levels in a granular manner.
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Quest 2 has changed in other ways too. It’s 10 per cent lighter than the Quest (just 503g) and features a new and improved faceplate design that appears to let less light in while you’re gaming, resulting in a much more immersive experience. The visor also now has the ability to be flipped up slightly out of the way if you need to look at the world around you without taking the headset off.
Both the Quest and Quest 2 sport some impressive integrated, rear-firing speakers built into the strap and deliver the sound right into your ears without the fuss of extra wires from the headphones. The Quest 2 offers nifty positional audio and both headsets also have microphones to capture your voice for multiplayer experiences.
These speakers do lead to a little bit of sound bleed though, so if you need a more private experience then you’ll be pleased to hear there’s the option to use a 3.5mm headset or headphones instead.
Alongside the various aesthetic and comfort changes, the Oculus Quest 2 has been given a boost in power and specs versus the original VR headset.
Quest 2 uses the latest and greatest Qualcomm system, with 50 per cent more RAM designed to help power the improved visuals and give game developers more power to play with.
The entry-level version of each headset has 64GB of internal storage for your games, but now Oculus has added significantly more storage with the Quest 2 also available with a 256GB option. The price has come down too, with that more storage-rich version costing the same as the smallest version of the original Quest.
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The extra power in the Quest 2 will hopefully give developers more freedom when developing games, while also enabling users to get even more enjoyment out of Oculus Link as well.
Both Oculus Quest and Quest 2 offer hand-tracking capabilities. This has been an experimental option with the Quest for some time, but is shipping as standard in the Quest 2.
Oculus Link has also come out of beta and is more readily available with Quest 2. Meaning it’s much much easier to connect it to your PC and play PC VR games from the Oculus store or via Steam if you so wish.
What is Oculus Link and how do you use it to play even more VR games?
The Quest 2 also supports a 90Hz refresh rate (and 120Hz in some cases), as well as other clever things like calorie tracking too.
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Visuals
Oculus Quest – OLED display with 72Hz refresh rate and 1600 x 1440 pixels per eye
Oculus Quest 2 – Fast-switch LCD panel with 1832 x 1920 per eye 72Hz at launch; 90Hz support to come
Alongside the extra power under the hood, the Oculus Quest 2 has also been improved in the display department. The headset now offers 50 per cent more pixels than Quest. That’s close to 2K resolution per eye and it also comes with the promise of a faster refresh rate, which leads to a smoother and more enjoyable experience.
Where the Oculus Quest managed 72Hz refresh rate, the Oculus Quest 2 is apparently capable of 120Hz.
The 90Hz refresh rate option was rolled out a while back and needs developers to unlock it for their games in order to work, but it does mean the promise of better experiences alongside improved visuals thanks to the extra pixel count.
The Quest 2 continues to offer the Passthrough+ view which allows you to see the world around you using the inside-out tracking cameras and the intelligent guardian boundary play space system. This was available on the first Quest and is just as good on the newer device, making it easy to re-orient yourself or see the real-world without having to take the headset off.
This is nicely designed so you can simply double-tap on the side of the headset to activate it. This means you can quickly and fairly clearly see the world around you in an instant without needing to take the headset off.
As you’d expect, when it comes to games, the Quest 2 supports the same games as the original Quest, meaning you now have access to well over 200 games. Thanks to Oculus Link you can also play many more PC virtual reality games too if you have the right equipment.
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Controllers and battery life
Improved battery life
The controllers for Quest 2 have had some slight design changes. The new design is inspired by a mix of the original controllers and those on the Oculus Rift S. You’ll note a familiar shape and style, but the Quest 2 controllers have a slightly larger space at the top with more room for your thumb to move about and access the buttons and thumbstick.
Both controllers use a single AA battery, but the Quest 2 controllers have been redesigned with less internal tracking LEDs to improve battery life. Oculus claims this means the Quest 2 controllers work four times longer than the original Quest controllers, without compromise of tracking capabilities.
The Quest 2 also has numerous intelligent battery management systems in place to maximise battery life both in the headset and the controllers. This includes settings to send the Quest 2 to sleep when it’s not in use and a nifty system which automatically turns controllers on when you put the headset on and pick them up.
Still, like the Quest, the Quest 2 can only manage between two and three hours of use before it needs charging. Both headsets are charged via a USB-C cable and the Quest 2 can reach full charge in around 2.5 hours.
Conclusion
We thought a lot of the Oculus Quest when we first reviewed it and we have a lot of good things to say about the Oculus Quest 2 for similar reasons. Both headsets are surprisingly capable considering they don’t need a PC to run, with impressive tracking, excellent visuals and a great line-up of games to play too.
Quest 2 features some nice enhancements in terms of visuals, power under the hood and a stylish design too. If you already own a Quest, you might find the changes aren’t quite enough to warrant the upgrade.
If you’re new to VR then the Quest 2 is a no-brainer though. It’s more affordable than the Quest was when it launched and offers a fantastic experience complete with hand tracking, wire-free VR gaming, superb visuals and much more besides. With recent software updates it’s just got better and better.
(Pocket-lint) – Motorola’s Moto G100 marks a big occasion for the brand. Why? Because it’s a G series phone with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 processor inside. That, on the face of it, contradicts what a G series is supposed to be all about: affordability. Which, in turn, would typically mean entry-level specification – not a high-end processor such as this.
But, no, the G100 is all about change. It’s the phone to say, “hey, you don’t need that big, expensive flagship when you can have this for half the price”. Which might sound like an echo of, say, what OnePlus has been shouting from the rooftops with its Nord model, as one example.
Yet the Moto G100 feels genuinely different. Having recently reviewed a glut of Chinese-borne phones – such as the Poco X3 Pro, the Redmi Note 10 Pro – where sub-flagship affordability is the key selling point, the lighter touch of the Motorola software feels simply refreshing.
So what gives? Well, the G100 can’t pretend to have the biggest, fanciest cameras. Because it doesn’t. It’s not got a Hasselblad partnership like OnePlus. It’s not got a Zeiss partnership like Vivo. But, you know what, we don’t care – because the Moto G100 is a half-price flagship that adds up to oh so much more.
Curiously the G100 has already been released elsewhere in the world: it’s called the Edge S in China. Which, um, makes absolutely no sense to us – as we thought the ‘Edge’ series was all about having a curved screen edge.
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The G100 does not have a curved screen, it’s flat, so there’s nothing ‘edge’ about it. It’s also an IPS LCD panel, not an AMOLED one, so you might not call it ‘cutting edge’ either.
That said, it sits perfectly well in a device like this a you don’t really lose out on brightness or resolution at this level. Plus the IPS part of the tech means viewing angles are good without causing colours to skew. Speaking of which: the colours – available in natural, boosted and saturated configurations within the settings – hold up really well, delivering realistic rather than ridiculous hues.
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The only thing that we’re a little less keen about with this panel is the surface’s coating, which is a little more reflective than some. Oh, and the double punch-hole camera is, well, exactly that: two holes burning into the corner of the screen that are more distracting than just the one (but at least it’s not a giant pill-shaped hole).
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Flip the G100 over and, what’s this, a finish that’s actually fun? Hurrah. After the dodgy palette of the Moto G30, it’s good to see that the colour palette people at Motorola have got their mojo back. This model pictured is called ‘Iridescent Sky’, because it looks like one of those pink/blue spring-time sunsets we suppose.
That finish is good at hiding how fingerprints catch on the surface, too, because they are there aplenty – we’ve just been cautious when photographing the handset. It’s easy to wipe clean, though, as the surface is nice and smooth – even the ‘batwing’ Motorola symbol on the rear is holographic-like in appearance, not debossed or textured onto the surface.
That the Moto logo lives on the rear and doesn’t serve a function hints at the fingerprint scanner’s location too: it’s found within the power button on the side of the phone, foregoing the in-display option. Much as we like the display-based sign-in, this fingerprint scanner is a decent operator. And there’s face unlock available too.
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Keeping with being a G series handset, the G100 also features a 3.5mm headphone jack and microSD card expansion slot. Good to see it’s not forgotten its roots.
While the G100 supports such legacy features as card expansion and wired headphones, in other departments it’s very much all about embracing the future. There’s no sloppy Wi-Fi connection, as you’ll suffer in the lower-down-the-ranks G10. The 128GB storage is reasonably generous, but it’s UFS 3.1 to ensure fast read/write access for best performance.
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But above all else, the big sell of this phone is the Qualcomm platform at its heart. Here it’s the Snapdragon 870 – which, while part of the 800 series, isn’t the very, very top-end processor, it’s only a whisker away. Which is to say: it’s mighty fast, a step up from many of those using 700 series processors, and if you want to dabble in a bit (or a lot) of gaming then it’s a really good choice.
That’s one of the things about the Moto G100: it’s kind-of like a budget gaming phone. Things will run super smooth thanks to the processor, the fast RAM, but also the smooth 90Hz refresh rate of the display. No, you won’t see that bump in refresh affecting everything all of the time – plus you’ll need to activate it within the settings, as it’s off by default – but it’s a good place for a phone such as this to exist.
Even plugging away at games for hours at a time doesn’t cause too much trouble where battery is concerned. The 5,000mAh cell is a big part of the reason for the G100’s above average weight, but it’s a great capacity to have at your fingertips. We’ve seen its drain be very linear – around 30 per cent every 8 hours – even with an hour of gaming thrown in during such a time-frame.
Given the capability of the processor, the screen refresh rate, and the presence of 5G (we’ve been outside of such networks for this review though), that’s really solid performance.
As we’d alluded to before, the software in the Moto G100 is lovely to use. It’s close to stock Google Android, with a single Moto app to control gestures, themes/styles, display notifications, and gaming controls (such as do not disturb). You don’t have to dabble in the Moto app, indeed you could entirely ignore it. But what’s particularly great about the software is that it doesn’t need lots of tinkering, it just works – and without glitches, such as the notification delays issue with our Xiaomi Mi 11.
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There’s another sideline part of the G100 puzzle too: it’s the first Motorola phone to be compatible with the company’s Ready For system. Which is a bit like ‘Moto DeX’ if you’re familiar with Samsung’s desktop-based DeX system. We’re not going to dig deep into the system for this review as, frankly, we don’t think it’s the core appeal of why people will buy a G100. It’s a niche extension option, complete with a camera dock that may have its uses instead of a Facebook Portal, but that’s as much as we can say right now.
Whereas many flagships make a big song and dance about their camera arrangements, the G100 doesn’t really earn the right to do so. That’s the thing about top-end devices these days – so much of the cost comes from additional lenses, co-engineering partnerships, and so forth. The G100, on the other hand, keeps things fairly simple.
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: Main cameraMain camera
Well, kind-of simple. The claim of “quad camera” on the rear is nonsense as that apparently includes both a depth sensor and time-of-flight sensor, which would more or less do the same thing – both are there to ultimately make up the numbers as if “quad” is better than “triple”, even if it isn’t due to lack of core, usable lenses.
Anyway, let’s focus on what is here: a usable main camera and less commendable wide-angle one. There’s a gallery above showing how the two compare, and the quality drop-off from the wide-angle option is quite significant.
The main lens is 64-megapixels, using a four-in-one processing method to output at 16-megapixels total – although the processing is often heavy handed, oversharpens and can’t discern detail in all situations (the daylight country scene below being one such example – the trees are all blocky and indistinguishable, if you look at the 100 per cent crop).
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: Main cameraMain camera
Where subjects are a little closer to camera – but not too close as it struggles to focus and the macro mode is poor (avoid this when prompted) – there’s more ability to resolve detail from a scene. Whether a dim-lit puzzle board or the fur of a toy bear, there’s enough detail to tick the main camera’s “usable” box.
But we touched upon this at the very beginning: if you don’t want the biggest and fanciest of cameras then the G100 does the job. Not the best job, but it gets by. And with features such as HDR (high dynamic range) to balance out shadows and highlights, various shooting modes, and the hardware to capture without delay, there’s enough to keep this camera setup from being the very baseline of entry-level kit for 2021.
Verdict
The Moto G100 is a shake-up for the G series, bringing performance levels not before seen in this line-up. While that might be a little perplexing on the face of it – especially as it’s not a G series device in China, it’s the Edge S, muddying the naming convention further – it’s a rather refreshing take in a section of the market where there’s not a tonne of great options.
If you’re willing to forego the usual camera hype and pizzazz that top-end flagships tend to promise – as there’s really very little of that here – and having a high-end processor and performance potential is high up your roster, then the Moto G100 is a strong sell. It’s got the software right – which, in our opinion, can’t be said of the Xiaomi MIUI and Oppo ColorOS competition – the visuals tight, and performance is at peak height.
That’s the Moto G100 in a nutshell: a budget gaming-capable phone that foregoes the AMOLED screen hype and camera cost implications to deliver a half-price near-flagship that, in use, adds up to oh so much more.
Also consider
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OnePlus Nord
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Also 5G capable, with a 90Hz refresh screen, but a little less power and, therefore, a little lower asking price. If every penny counts then it’s a savvy alternative.
Sustainable smartphone manufacturer Fairphone has gotten Google’s certification for its Android 9 update for the Fairphone 2. Getting certification for a nearly three-year-old version of Android doesn’t sound that impressive until you realize that it’s running on a phone originally released five years ago when it ran Android 5. The roll-out of the software starts today, and will continue until April 18th, Fairphone says.
It’s a length of support that’s basically unheard of among Android phone manufacturers. Although Fairphone 2 owners aren’t going to be able to enjoy the latest Android 11 features, the more important thing is that they’re running a version of Android that’s still officially supported. Google’s latest Android security bulletin from this month includes multiple fixes for security issues in Android 9.
The Fairphone 2’s Android 9 update has been in the works for a while and was released in beta way back in June 2020. At the time, Fairphone outlined the challenges it had in trying to support such an old phone, including the fact that Qualcomm no longer provides support for the processor inside the device, a Snapdragon 801, which originally announced back in 2014.
“To get Google certification for Android 9 for Fairphone 2 just as we hit five years of support for the smartphone is a huge achievement for Fairphone,” says CEO of Fairphone Eva Gouwens. “In order to get certification, we had to pass approximately 477,000 Google tests.”
“We want to show the industry that this kind of thing is possible, that a smartphone doesn’t have to be discarded after 2-3 years, we can prolong it’s lifespan,” the CEO added.
The only other smartphone manufacturer that offers a similar length of support for its devices is Apple, which last year released iOS 14, its latest phone OS, for its 2015 iPhone 6S. Android manufacturers, while behind Apple, are improving. Samsung now offers four years of security updates for its recent Galaxy devices, while Google offers three years of updates for its Pixel phones, and OnePlus says it plans to release Android 11 for its 2018 OnePlus 6 and 6T.
The Fairphone 2’s update to Android 9 this long after release bodes well for the company’s long-term support of its more recent Fairphone 3 and 3 Plus phones. The company says the phones should be updated to Android 11 in the second half of this year, with “one more major Android upgrade” coming thereafter. Software support and spare parts availability is set to continue until 2024.
Yesterday’s OnePlus event covered the high-end 9 and 9 Pro, but outside of that spotlight, the company has quietly revealed a smartly specced, less-expensive model: the OnePlus 9R. CEO Pete Lau confirmed last week that the 9R was on the way and would launch in India. It’s now listed on the company’s Indian website starting at ₹39,999, which is about $550. That’s an attractive price indeed, especially considering you’ll get one useful camera feature here that the $729 OnePlus 9 doesn’t have: optical image stabilization.
The 9R doesn’t include the Hasselblad-branded cameras on the 9 and 9 Pro, which isn’t actually a big loss. The 9 and 9 Pro offer newer hardware with features like bigger pixels and a higher-res ultrawide, so you do miss out on some nice upgrades, but the Hasselblad-developed color tuning is nothing special. You do, however, get a stabilized 48-megapixel main camera, which helps reduce blur from camera shake in lower lighting conditions. It’s unfortunately missing from the 9, though it is included on the $969 OnePlus 9 Pro.
Other cameras on the 9R include a 16-megapixel ultrawide, a 5-megapixel macro, and a 2-megapixel monochrome sensor. This system is borrowed from the OnePlus 8T, which is wholly capable of good image quality, even though its macro and monochrome cameras aren’t very useful.
There’s a 6.55-inch 1080p OLED with fast 120Hz refresh rate — same as the OnePlus 9 — and a Snapdragon 870 processor with either 8GB or 12GB of RAM. It’s not quite as powerful as the top-notch 888 processor on the 9 and 9 Pro, but it should be more than adequate to keep day-to-day tasks running quickly and smoothly. The 9R is equipped with a 4,500mAh battery with 65W fast wired charging, a handy OnePlus signature feature that delivers a full charge in just under 40 minutes. Wireless charging, however, isn’t offered. Oh, and there’s 5G support, of course.
All told, it looks like a series of smart trade-offs for almost $200 less than the flagship model. Right now, the phone is only confirmed to launch in India, but we’re hopeful that it will make its way to European and North American markets. While OnePlus brought its good $300 Nord N10 5G to the US earlier this year, the midrange Nord never made it stateside. The 9R looks like an excellent candidate to fill in a wide gap between the budget N10 and the basic flagship model.
In the meantime, customers in India can preorder the 8GB RAM / 128GB version for ₹39,999 (~$550) or the 12GB RAM / 256GB model for ₹43,999 (~$600).
Officially launching in the UK today, the Realme 8 Pro is a budget device that’s one of the first to use the new Samsung ISOCELL HM2 108-megapixel sensor in its main camera. While similar high-res sensors have been more common in pricier phones like the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, this chip is designed for lower-cost devices like the 8 Pro.
This 108-megapixel chip isn’t the same one used in the S21 Ultra or even last year’s S20 Ultra. It’s a smaller sensor — 1/1.52-inch versus 1/1.33-inch — with slightly smaller 0.7μm pixels. However, it uses the same binning approach to improve light-gathering abilities by combining neighboring pixels into a less noisy 12-megapixel image.
The Realme 8 Pro offers a 6.4-inch OLED screen, a Snapdragon 720G processor with 8GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, and a 4,500mAh battery that supports 50W fast charging. The back of the device, which comes in blue and black variants, features some intense Realme branding with the company’s “Dare to Leap” slogan in large fluorescent lettering that — the company claims — glows in the dark. Realme also says the design will appeal to “a new generation of younger users,” which we’ll have to take its word for.
The 8 Pro will go on sale on March 31st in the UK for £279 (about $380).
(Pocket-lint) – 2020 was the year of the ultra-premium super phones – among other things – with more than one manufacturer now offering a big, spec monsters. They also started becoming far more expensive than previous generations of flagship.
For Samsung, that beast was the S20 Ultra. For Huawei, the P40 Pro+ led the lineup. Unfortunate naming perhaps, but one that makes sure we know it’s not just Pro, it’s extra Pro.
With a spec sheet that reads like a tech nerds wish list, does Huawei’s all-singing all-dancing smartphone compete with the best?
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Design
S20 Ultra: 166.9 x 76 x 8.8 mm
P40 Pro+: 158.2 x 72.6 x 9 mm
Both IP68 dust/water resistant
S20 Ultra comes in grey and black glass finishes
P40 Pro+ available with white/black ceramic options
The design of a smartphone can often make or break an experience using it, and when building big, spec-heavy behemoths it’s important to make ergonomics a focus. Both Huawei and Samsung take similar approaches in this regard, with both featuring slim metal edges, and glass that curves around the sides. Styling is a little different, but the ethos is the same.
Interestingly, Samsung opted to only release two colours (or non colours) of Ultra edition: black and grey. Huawei has a few different coloured glass finishes, including white, black blue, ‘blush gold’ and ‘silver frost’ as well as ceramic options. This last finish is designed to be shiny but ultra durable. The other glass finishes are either glossy glass or matte/frosty glass. So there’s no shortage of colours or textures.
Both have quite large rectangular protrusions on the back where the camera systems are housed, both are also water and dust resistant up to IP68 certification.
With Samsung having the larger display, the phone is noticeably larger than Huawei’s.
Display
S20 Ultra: 6.9-inch AMOLED, QHD+
P40 Pro+: 6.58-inch, QHD+
S20 Ultra: 120Hz refresh
P30 Pro_: 90Hz refresh
If what you want is the biggest display possible, the Samsung is going to be the best option here. The S20 Ultra features a 6.9-inch QuadHD+ resolution panel built using one of the company’s own Dynamic AMOLED panels.
Similarly, Huawei’s phone also has a QuadHD+ resolution screen, but measuring 6.58-inches diagonally, which means technically it will appear slightly sharper because it has a similar number of pixels in a smaller space.
Both have quite high refresh rates too, with Samsung offering up to 120Hz (as long as you use it in a lower resolution mode) and Huawei offering 90Hz. It should mean they both feel fluid and fast, with no lag in the interface or gaming animations.
Both feature hole-punch cutouts in the display to make space for the front facing camera, but Samsung’s a really small singular cutout in the centre. Huawei’s has a dual-coutout placed in the left corner.
Both of the phones also have invisible in-display fingerprint sensors, but using different technologies. Huawei uses an optical scanner, which means it uses a camera to take a picture of your fingerprint, while Samsung uses ultrasonic technology which doesn’t need a light to flash, and is technically more accurate since it measures depth.
Cameras
P40 Pro+ has five cameras
S20 Ultra has four
P40 Pro+ offers 10x optical zoom
S20 Ultra has 10x hybrid optical zoom
P40 Pro+ primary sensor is 50MP
Samsung primary is 108MP
Huawei has gone all in on the cameras for the P40 Pro+. The primary camera is 50MP built on a 1/1.28-inch sensor, making it one of the largest smartphone camera sensors around for better detail, light capture and dynamic range. Samsung’s primary camera 108MP on slightly smaller 1/1.33-inch sensor.
Curiously, Huawei has gone with two optical zoom cameras for the P40 Pro. One’s a traditional 8-megapixel 3x optical zoom, the other is an 8-megapixel 10x periscope camera. Samsung has a 48-megapixel periscope zoom too, offering 10x hybrid zoom.
Of course, the both have ultra-wide cameras as well, with Huawei opting for a 40-megapixel sensor in that one, and Samsung going with 12-megapixels.
The additional sensor on both phones is a depth sensing background camera. You can’t take pictures with it, but it helps the cameras get a better understanding of depth and distances to help produce those portrait shots with blur.
Both manufacturers also have their own versions of post processing and analysing to decide which effects to apply to a particular shot. Whether that’s making skies more blue, or plants more green and so on.
Hardware and performance
Both 5G
Huawei: Kirin 990 processor
Samsung: Exynos 990 or Snapdragon 865
Huawei: 4,200mAh battery w/40W wired or wireless charging
Samsung: 5,000mAh battery w/45W wired and 15W wireless
Both these phones are about as powerful as you can get right now. Huawei uses its own custom processor called the Kirin 990 with built-in 5G capabilities. Similarly, Samsung has either the Exynos 990 or Snapdragon 865. They’re all octa-core processors built on 7nm processes.
What that means for the every day user is that the phones both feel fast and fluid and won’t struggle to launch even the most demanding games and apps.
As for battery size, Samsung clearly has the advantage here with 5,000mAh capacity compared to Huawei’s 4,200mAh. Huawei is known for its efficient battery optimisations in its software, so actually battery life will still be very good.
Charging speed is similar when you use a cabled connection. Samsung can accept 45W power to charge up quickly, although it only ships with a 25W adapter. Huawei ships with 45W, and is also able to charge wirelessly at a similar speed. Samsung’s wireless charging is much slower.
Conclusion
A big reason to choose one of these phones over the other may end up just being software. Huawei has been forced to try its own route, using the open source version of Android that doesn’t come with Play Store or Google Play Services. That means hoping your most-used apps are on the Huawei AppGallery. While it’s improving every week, not all the most popular apps are on there yet.
From a hardware perspective, Huawei’s cameras seem to offer more, especially with the extra zoom capabilities, but Samsung’s display being noticeably bigger and having a much smaller punch-hole camera means there’s less intrusion.
In the end – although the situation is improving all the time – it’s still difficult to recommend any Huawei phone without Google Play Services, and so Samsung will still give you the most complete experience, even if Huawei’s hardware is fantastic.
(Pocket-lint) – OnePlus started off as that limited, small batch phone-maker that only insiders knew about, before growing into a proper big-time brand. And yet, despite being available through proper partner carriers and in real stores, it’s still not a company you’d consider hugely mainstream. It certainly doesn’t have that mindshare that Apple and Samsung have enjoyed for years.
Counting all the ‘T’ versions, however, we’re now into the 13th generation OnePlus flagship. And in all of those generations it’s always nailed the speed, performance and fluidity. The cameras, however, have always raised questions, never quite delivering to the same degree as the competition. To try and conquer this final frontier OnePlus has brought in some outside help from a partnership with Hasselblad.
So does the OnePlus 9 Pro, Hasselblad riposte at the ready, succeed in flying us to the moon and back?
So shiny
Finishes: Morning Mist, Forest Green, Stellar Black
Dimensions: 163.2 x 73.6 x 8.7mm / Weight: 197g
IP68 water- and dust-resistant rating
Stereo speakers
OnePlus has three different finishes for the OnePlus 9 Pro. We’ve been using the silver coloured Morning Mist version, which is oh so shiny. At least, the bottom third of the back is. It’s reflective enough that you can see your face in it (which also makes photographing it a real pain – not that this would be a concern to 99 per cent of the people who buy one).
This reflective surface subtly gradients into a more misty, foggy look at the top. The surface of the glass on the outside is glossy and slippery, so attracts fingerprints like nobody’s business. All in all meaning you may just want to use the case, or pick up the frosted glass Forest Green variant instead.
Still, there’s plenty to like about the 9 Pro’s design. For one, the camera housing has a look about it that says the designers really cared about how it turned out. It’s not just a characterless rectangle stuck onto the back. It’s colour-matched to the back and each of the two main cameras has a metallic ring around the lens, making it stand out against the background. It’ll certainly make it stand out from the crowd.
The rest of the design is very familiar for anyone who’s used a OnePlus phone over the past year. The glass curves on the back towards the edges, making an otherwise quite large phone feel a bit more comfortable than it would if it were completely flat and square.
It’s not the lightest phone around, but in its size category, squeezing in below 200 grams is a good thing. It makes it perfectly bearable to use day in day out. Plus, all the buttons being within easy thumb reach means there’s not too much over-stretching going on to locate the alert slider or the volume rocker.
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While we’re on the subject of practicality, the Pro has IP68 rating against water and dust ingress. So when this slippery fish does inevitably slip out of your hand into a sink full of water, it won’t get damaged (well, not from the water anyway!).
Unlike the standard ‘non-Pro’ version, the OnePlus 9 Pro doesn’t have a completely flat panel, but the curves on the screen are definitely smaller than in previous iterations. That does mean the phone feels a bit chunkier than 7 Pro from two years ago, but it means it’s less prone to accidental touches. Plus, the bezels are really skinny, giving an almost edge-to-edge screen with only a neat little selfie camera punching its way through the top corner.
Display and software
6.7-inch AMOLED display
QHD+ resolution (1440 x 3216 pixels; 525ppi)
Adaptive frame rate up to 120Hz
Oxygen OS 11 (over Android 11)
It’s not just in physical button placement where OnePlus has attempted to make its large phone comfortable to use. The software, Oxygen OS, went through a massive refresh for its Android 11-based version – which first launched on the OnePlus 8T. This update didn’t just radically change the entire look and feel of the previously Google stock-like experience, it was designed so that the bits you need to reach with your thumb are easy to get to. Buttons and controls are shifted down, so you don’t have to awkwardly stretch across to the top corner.
The thing that works against this somewhat is that OnePlus has fewer of its own apps than it used to. It’s gone all-in with Google, so apps like Messages and the Phone app are Google; similarly, as we saw with the 8T in 2020, the Shelf that used to live on the left of the Home Screen has been replaced by Google’s Discover feed.
None of these moves are bad, as Google’s Discover is far more useful and more relevant than Shelf. That in itself hasn’t disappeared completely, though, as you can get to it by swiping down on the Home Screen. It could be useful for things like getting quick access to favourite contacts, or remembering where you parked the car. We didn’t find it all that useful, so we just changed the setting so that a swipe on the Home Screen dropped down notifications instead.
As for the screen, it’s one of the best available on the market. It’s a 6.7-inch AMOLED panel that has a top refresh rate of 120Hz, meaning it cycles through 120 refreshes per second to give the sense of smoothness.
Like Samsung’s latest flagships – the Galaxy S21 Ultra at the top of the stack – the OnePlus also has adaptive refresh rate capabilities. Here, however it can go all the way down to just 1Hz when it detects a static page, which will help save battery life. It also means it’s pretty much identical to the screen on the Oppo Find X3 Pro.
It’s really bright and vivid, and – once you’ve enabled its maximum sharpness within the settings – it’s crisp to the eyes too. One clever little feature actually enables you to toggle on a battery saver mode when you choose the QHD+ resolution, which means the screen can switch to a lower resolution if it’s appropriate to do so.
As usual, there are plenty of additional features, such as the ability to tune the appearance to your preferences: be that dark mode for night time, comfort tone for automatically adjusting the white balance based on the ambient light, or reading mode for, um, you guessed it, reading.
On the whole, it’s a mighty fine display. Colours pop, bright areas are almost searing, and animations are smooth. There’s perhaps a bit too much contrast, while auto-brightness dims the output a bit much – as to not retain balance of highlights, shadows and colours – but most of the time we were impressed by it.
For those who want it there’s plenty of customisability too. The display settings menu lets you adjust the overall look of the screen, making it more or less vibrant and adjusting colours and white balance.
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So to the all-important cameras. Both the primary and ultra-wide cameras use high-end Sony sensors – which is OnePlus showing off that it’s sourcing the best core kit for the job. For the most part, these sensors deliver good pictures.
The primary sensor looks like it’s had the most love from Hasselblad’s partnership, delivering natural-looking colours with good detail. Likewise, the ultra-wide sensor can take great pictures – and that’s no surprise given it’s the same sensor used by the Oppo Find X3 Pro in both of its two main cameras.
In good light you’ll get sharp mostly noise-free pictures, while the freeform ultra-wide lens will ensure you don’t get lots of curving and distortion at the edges. In fact, it’s very level and doesn’t suffer from that fish-eye effect you sometimes see from such lenses. It’s not as good in low-light situations as the primary sensor, neither is perfect once light levels drop. You’ll start to see image noise introduced when it gets a bit darker, particularly in greys and blues in any shadows.
The only inescapable problem isn’t with either camera individually. It’s when you compare them to each other. At some points it looks like results are from two different phones. Not in terms of angle of view, as that’s inevitable, but with the final aesthetic. The ultra-wide often boosts warmth and saturation to give a really vivid (almost more orange feel), while the primary lens delivers a more neutral, cooler image where blues are more standout.
You can see this difference when switching to Macro mode – which automatically switches to the ultra-wide sensor to perform the close-up shot – as well as when you shoot at night time using the Nightscape mode.
Nighstscape mode seems to have improved from previous generations of OnePlus phones, though, with the 9 Pro able to draw in decent light. We did sometimes struggle to get results looking sharp though, with finer details and edges blurring – not an out-of-focus blur, more like a motion blur as if the camera’s optical stabilisation can’t quite compensate for hand-shake enough.
It wasn’t the only time the phone’s camera struggled with detail either. Using the telephoto zoom lens – which is 3.3x that of the main camera, and can reach up to 30x digitally – we found that detail simply lacked. It’s not a great optical zoom.
Pocket-lint
: Ultra-wideUltra-wide
If you scroll through the gallery above – which cycles through the cameras at ultra-wide, 1x, 3.3x, 5x, 10x and 30x – you’ll see how the tree branches in the 3.3x shot turn into a weird-looking mush. And once you zoom past 3.3x the detail becomes increasingly ropey with the images at the top end looking more like an oil painting than a photograph.
As for macro mode, that’s pretty strong in good light. Details are sharp and in-focus, while the background blur adds depth and doesn’t suffer from unnatural and nauseating bokeh like some dedicated macro lenses do. That’s likely down to the fact the OnePlus 9 Pro is using the ultra-wide sensor, rather than have a poor low-resolution macro camera.
On the whole, then, the 9 Pro’s cameras are a bit of a mixed bag. It performs well, but the difference in colour balance between the primary and ultra-wide is confusing, especially given OnePlus’ insistence on using Hasselblad’s ‘strict’ tuning standards. The optical zoom lens is quite poor when it comes to detail, and night mode suffers a little with motion blur.
The primary lens is great for the most part, but we’d just love to see that consistency between the different lenses. It’d turn this system into one that truly competes with the market leaders. The hardware is obviously there, we just need to see attention to detail on balance still.
Speed, I am speed
Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 platform, 5G connectivity
RAM: 8GB/12GB LPDDR5
Storage: 128GB/256GB (UFS3.1)
4,500mAh battery (2x 2250mAh cells)
Warp Charge 65T flash charging (1-100% in 28 minutes)
Warp Charge 50 wireless charging (1-100% in 43 minutes)
If there’s one thing you can virtually guarantee from OnePlus when it comes to its flagship phones: they’re all fast and fluid. For years the company has used whichever is Qualcomm’s latest top-tier processor. For 2021 that’s the Snapdragon 888.
In all areas, the OnePlus 9 Pro performs like a proper flagship should. It’s fast and smooth, loading any games and apps without stopping to think about it. We had no instances of stutter or delay. Part of that is also down to the screen’s refresh rate, but also its touch sampling rate – which can read your fingers taps and swipes at a rate of 240 times per second. The animation on screen responds virtually immediately, making it feel nimble and instant.
Even simple and mundane tasks like refreshing a Twitter feed or loading a web page is hassle-free. Plus, if you live in an area with 5G signal, you get that goodness too, for speedy cellular downloads.
During our testing there were moments where – after an hour or so of gaming – the phone became a little warm, but it didn’t feel uncomfortable. That’s likely down to having an efficient vapour chamber and graphite-based cooling system inside, making this the most non-gamer gamer phone on the market.
As for battery life, with the screen cranked up to its highest resolution and frame rate settings, the 4500mAh capacity is more than capable of pushing through a full day. Even on quieter ones, however, we never quite got the sense it’d make it through two full days.
On our heavier days with a three or more hours of screen time, we got to bed with somewhere around the 30 per cent mark left over. Here’s the thing though: battery anxiety is never an issue because when it comes to charging few phones compare to the OnePlus 9 Pro.
If you use the included 65W wired charger, you can get the battery from dead to 100 per cent in just 28 minutes. That’s a full charge in less than half an hour, which is mind-boggling. Plug the phone in for 10 minutes and that’ll provide enough to get you through a good few hours.
But there’s more: it charges fast wirelessly too. Using OnePlus’ latest Warp Charge Wireless stand (an optional extra, at your expense), you can get a full charge in 43 minutes. Of course, if it’s by your bed and you charge overnight you don’t need those speeds, but it can be programmed to go into bedtime mode which charges slower and, crucially, quieter. The fan it uses to keep itself cool during the faster charging speeds is shut off to allow you to get to sleep.
The Warp Charge Wireless is so quick that we’d often just leave the 9 Pro off charge at night, then put it on the stand while getting ready in the morning. It’s a bit of a game-changer.
It’s worth noting that – even though it charges quickly – OnePlus has kept its battery optimisation features in play, which ensure the device’s battery isn’t harmed by such speedy refills. It learns your charging routine and does the first chunk of charging quickly, before leaving it and then finishing the charge right before you wake up in the morning – which is good for battery health and longevity over an extended period of time.
Verdict
The OnePlus 9 Pro attemps to address the series’ historically biggest issue: the cameras. However, even with support from Hasselblad, it still doesn’t quite hit the mark in that regard. But the core of the phone impresses, with fast wireless charging a truly brilliant feature, and the display being top notch too.
While it’s possible to get great photos from the 9 Pro’s cameras, the imbalance of colour between the two main sensors – with photos often looking like they’ve come from two different phones – and the poor results from the telephoto zoom just don’t quite add up to what we’d expect. More hassle than Hasselblad, eh?
It’s also worth pointing out that the 9 Pro’s price has crept higher still, edging ever closer to the four-figure mark and, in so doing, sitting closer to other premium flagship competitors. That does mean it’s still more affordable than some of the other top tier phones out there, but it’s no longer the instant buy the series once was.
Overall, the OnePlus 9 Pro continues to deliver on the series’ well-established strengths. Its fast and fluid, has a cracking screen, mind-boggling impressive fast-charging, and all for a price that undercuts the established elite. But it continues the series’ ongoing weaknesses too, as those cameras still just aren’t class-leading.
Also consider
Oppo Find X3 Pro
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In a lot of ways, the Oppo is very similar to the 9 Pro, offering similar hardware in terms of screen, battery size, charging and processing power. Where it differs is with a more consistent camera experience and a more refined designed.
Read our review
Samsung Galaxy S21+
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Pricing isn’t all that much between Samsung’s S21+ and OnePlus’ latest top tier phone. It may have a plastic back, but its performance is strong in all the important ways. The cameras are a tad disappointing however.
The first benchmark results for Qualcomm’s 3rd Generation Snapdragon 8cx system-on-chip (SoC) for always-connected PCs has been posted to the Geekbench 5 database. The numbers show the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 beating its predecessors and even competing with Intel’s latest 11th Gen Core i7 “Tiger Lake” mobile chip in multi-threaded workloads.
Qualcomm has been fairly consistent in updating its Snapdragon 8cx family of SoCs for notebooks annually. This year, the company is expected to launch its third-generation Snapdragon 8cx chip, which is rumored to significantly change its architecture. Instead of integrating four high-performance CPU cores and four low-power ones, the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 is expected to pack eight high-performance cores working at different clock speeds, omitting low-power cores. This should improve performance, but it’s unclear whether the chip will match its predecessor’s 7W thermal envelope.
Qualcomm yet has to formally announce its Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3, but someone has already submitted test results of a Qualcomm Reference Design (QRD) platform running the new SoC to the Geekbench database, as spotted by NotebookCheck.
Just like other notebook development platforms, QRD platforms are meant for developers of hardware and software, so performance usually differs from that of retail products. Nonetheless, such platforms still tend to give a good hint of what to expect from new chips.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 Benchmarks
CPU
Single-Core
Multi-Core
Cores/Threads, uArch
Cache
Clocks
TDP
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3*
982
4,918
4C Kryo Gold+ + 4C Kryo Gold
? MB
2.69 GHz
?
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2
795
3,050
4C Kryo 495 Gold + 4C Kryo 495 Silver
? MB
3.15 GHz + 2.42 GHz
7W
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 1
725
2,884
4C Kryo 495 Gold + 4C Kryo 495 Silver
? MB
2.84 GHz + 1.80 GHz
7W
AMD Ryzen 9 5980HS
1,540
8,225
8C/16T, Zen 3
16MB
3.30 ~ 4.53 GHz
35W
AMD Ryzen 9 4900H
1,230
7,125
8C/16T, Zen 2
8MB
3.30 ~ 4.44 GHz
35~54W
Intel Core i7-1160G7
1,400
5,000
4C/8T, Willow Cove
12MB
2.10 ~ 4.40 GHz
15W
Intel Core i7-1185G7
1,550
5,600
4C/8T, Willow Cove
12MB
3.0 ~ 4.80 GHz
28W
Apple M1
1,710
7,660
4C Firestorm + 4C Icestorm
12MB + 4MB
3.20 GHz
20~24W
*Chip not confirmed by Qualcomm
The Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 showed notably higher results in single-thread workloads when compared to previous generations. It was 35% faster than the 8cx Gen 1 and 24% faster than the 8cx Gen 2. We don’t yet know the frequency of the 8cx Gen 3’s cores for sure, but it appears that the 8cx Gen 3 packs something better than Qualcomm’s Kryo 495 Gold (a custom version of Arm’s Cortex-A76).
On the other hand, the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3’s performance paled in comparison to chips from AMD and Intel competing with the best CPUs for desktops. The latest Zen 3 and Willow Core microarchitectures can run at higher clocks and consume more power. Meanwhile, Apple’s M1 beat Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 (at least in its current form) in single-threaded workloads by 74%.
When it came to performance in multi-threaded workloads, the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 clearly benefits from eight high-performance cores (albeit running at different clocks) inside. The new SoC outperformed the 8cx Gen 2 by over 60% and is on par with Intel’s four-core, eight-thread Core i7-1160G7, a 15W SoC.
The Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 tested couldn’t compete with the higher-wattage Apple M1 and AMD’s Ryzen SoCs, but systems based on Qualcomm’s 8cx platforms are not really meant to compete against higher-end machines in terms of performance.
Overall, the benchmark results show the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 demonstrating single-thread and multi-thread performance improvements in a synthetic benchmark. Of course, it remains to be seen how commercial devices based on the new SoC will stack up against rivals in real-world applications.
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