I have wanted to get my hands on the RedMagic 9 Pro since I first saw it up for release at the end of last year. During my time at MWC 24 earlier this year, I was able to get a chance to get some hands-on time with the RedMagic 9 Pro and this confirmed that I wanted to find out more. After some exchanging of emails, I now have said phone in my possession and it is time to review it. So without further delay let’s dive into the review below.

Design

Here is a brief unboxing video showcasing the phone.

This is one of the biggest things when it comes to a gaming phone and the RedMagic 9 Pro (hereafter referred to as the 9 Pro). The phone has some very specific gaming cues. Time to take the tour around the device starting from the top edge.

On the top of the device, we find one of the side-firing speakers along with an IR blaster for controlling IR-equipped devices. In addition to this is something that is a bit of a rarity these days, a 3.5mm headset jack is sitting up there on the top. We also find one of the pinhole mics and some of the many antenna line breaks.

Moving around the right-hand side we have a lot going on so let’s go from the edges in. On the edges, we have the RGB shoulder trigger buttons which can be configured within games. The RGB lighting can be set in different modes from the software which we will cover more later on. The trigger buttons support up to 520hz touch detection making them very responsive for use in games. Next, we have one end of the fan channel, I believe this is the exhaust vent but I could be wrong. Next, we have the volume rocker switch which has good feedback and is distinctive when compared to the sleep/wake/power switch. The next thing here is again a hint at the gaming focus of this phone as we have a dedicated home mode slider switch. by moving this switch towards to power key then the phone will enter into its gaming mode where you have all the toggles from various software-led functions. I will cover these more later in the gaming section of this review. The last thing of note here is the presence of another pinhole mic.

On the bottom edge of the phone is another one of the side-firing speakers another pinhole microphone and the USB 3.2, Type-C with DisplayPort functionality, for plugging into an external display. This port will also support fascharing if you use the correct charger and the phone will charge at up to 80W giving a pretty good 0 to full charge time of under 35 minutes. We also have a dual SIM card slot.

Moving around to the left-hand side of the phone apart from the usual antenna break we have got the other end for the fan channel which I think is the intake end.

On the rear, we have got a fair amount of things going on alongside some graphical exuberance In the top right-hand corner we have a reference to this being the 9th Generation of RedMagic phones with a 09 that will illuminate when the phone is in gaming mode. Coming down from his but sticking to the right-hand side we have the “Win More Games” text written on the rear panel with the Redmagic Logo at the very bottom right. On the left-hand side at the bottom edge, there is again some text outing the phone brand name REDMAGIC and then as you move up the phone there are more text references this time under the camera array we have Ice Cooling System written around the middle section. above this is where things get a bit more interesting. we have what looks to be three camera modules in a vertical stack, however, this is not the case. The bottom of the stack is a very small but powerful fan. This fan will spin at a speed of up to 22,000 RPM and is fully customisable with RGB as well fitting into the gaming phone vibe very nicely. The fan can be quite loud when it is operating at max capacity but in normal use, it is barely audible over the background noise.. I have got is set to be one most of the time. I will hear it ramp up to full speed if I have it fast charging but otherwise it will just spin away pulling cold air through the cooling chamber for me.

Above the fan, we have two camera sensors which are both 50mp sensors one being an ultra-wide and the other being the normal aspect ratio. I believe that the lower of the two cameras has also got an OIS which is a first for a camera on a RedMagic gaming phone. Both cameras feature a 7-element lens and the sensors are from Samsung manufacturer. But that is not all as we also have an additional 2MP sensor off to the side sitting below the dual LED flash. This camera is there to pick up the macro shots duties as you would expect in this sort of set-up. Above the 2MP Macro camera is a Dul LED flash light which will also pull double duty as a torch if required.

A few things to note about the back cover is that this is incredibly slippy despite there being a texture to the glass panel which means that unless this is on a flat surface it will slip off things and make its way to the ground a lot. There is a clip-on shard plastic case included in the box but this does little to negate these inevitable tumbles. You can also buy an additional case from the RedMagic store but I cannot see this helping this situation much further. I have combated this by purchasing a skin for the rear panel which provide just enough grip to stop is sliding away from me all the time.

Moving around the the front of the phone is where we have the display along with the camera but we will come back to that in a moment. The display itself is really large and the panel under the Corning Gorilla Glass 5 surface is maxed out as much as possible. The screen is a 6.8 inches FHD+ panel and it is of the AMOLED variety. It has a brightness of up to 1600nits with a colour accuracy of △E＜1. The Screen-to-body ratio is 93.7% which is one of the highest I have used recently, and it has a resolution of 2480 x 1116 with a PPI of 400. The panel has a refresh rate of up to 120 hz (this can be adjusted in software). There are a couple more gaming-specific stats as well that I need to share and these are that the Instant touch sampling rate is 2,000Hz, with an overall sampling rate of up to 960Hz multitouch. I presume that these are meant to indicate that it will pick up on detections of input a lot quicker in fast-paced games.

Well, that concludes our tour of the device’s exterior. But as with all phones, we also need to investigate what is under the skin of the phone, in the hardware section.

Hardware

Firstly here is a specs table as there is lot of stuff going on here.

I am going to focus on the aspects that will take this from a regular phone to begin a gaming hone as all the other hardware is very commonly seen on most high-end phones these days, there are however some exceptions to this which I will cover later on in my review.

• Cooling system

As this is a gaming phone let’s start with the cooling system as this is the real headline grabber for this phone. As you can see from the specs sheet above the 9 Pro has got quite an elaborate system in place for cooling which is a combination of both heat dissipation foils and thermal pastes and active cooling via the cooling fan itself. The fan is a very small component as it is smaller than the diameter of a 5-pence coin. That being said it is very intricately built as it has 59 0.1mm fan blades that are capable of up to 22,000rpm to pull air into the cooling duct. As you will be able to imagine this cooling duct is where the main heat dissipation happens with the components that are generating the heat being located close to the cooling duct. The image below shows the various elements in more detail.

You can see from the above image that the Snapdarogn 8 Gen 3 Chip is located on the underside of the cooling channel to give the optimum exposure to the airflow being managed by the fan. In addition to this, there is an extensive area of thermally conductive material on the midframe to help stop any heat coming through the display from the motherboard. All of this means that the *gen 3 Chip can run at higher temp fro longer meaning that it can push more calculations through. This in turn will mean faster processing of files, quicker video rendering and most importantly for buyers of this phone a better gaming experience with higher frame rates being provided in the game with more fluid motion characteristics etc. There is however one very minor downside to this and that is that when you have got the fan cranked up to max it is audible.

I have recorded this small clip to give you an idea of the difference between the fan on and off. I was using the phone plugged in whilst playing Asphalt 9 in the mode called Diablo Mode which is when everything it maxed out and the processor and GPU are both running at full power.

OnePlus has now made its second entry into the tablet market after the relative success of the OnePlus Pad released last year. This time they have decided to release a slightly cheaper variant which lacks some of the features that you would consider as “Pro” add-ons. The new tablet is called the OnePlus Pad Go, the reason for this will become more clear below.

Let’s take a look at the design of this device below.

Design

As always with a device tour we will start on the top edge of the device and to avoid confusion I am going to be  orienting the tablet in landscape mode as that is what is suggested as its normal use mode by the camera positioning.

This is where we can find the volume up and down buttons on the far left edge the next noticeable thing is the pinhole microphone that will be brought into function when the front camera is being used. on either end of the top edge, there are two antenna bands for the inbuilt connections.

Moving around to the right-hand side we will then find that there are two of the 4  speakers, nestling inside these you will find another pinhole microphone next to the USB type C port. This port does not support Display Out, unfortunately, but given the price point and target demographic, this is hardly surprising.

Moving around to the bottom of the tablet there is nothing to see here which makes holding the device in the landscape orientation comfortable.

Continuing to the right-hand side we can see that we have got the other two speakers but this time they are flanking a Nano SIM/microSD card slot. This allows the tablet to support LTE bands for full;l phone and data duties if you wish to use it as a phone! You can also expand the storage by up to 1TB via the Micro SD card slot. You can also find the sleep-wake/power button on this side. This is simply just a button there is no fingerprint reading going on here.

Around the back we have the Camera module that is mounted on the upper third of the device in a shinier section of the back cover, presumable this is where the twin Mint naming comes from. Incidentally, this colour is the only variant you can get in the UK and it matches up with a lot of the other OnePlus devices of late. The camera itself is an 8MP sensor which has EIS and will support 1080P/720P video recording at 30FPS.

Going around the front finally we got the 11.35″2.4K screen which has a pixel density of 260PPI, and a refresh rate of 90Hz. The screen is reasonably bright at 400 nits with a contrast ratio of 1500:1 and a colour gamut of 96% NTSC. As is the case on most devices these days the screen is set up for Eyecare as well meaning that it will automatically adjust in lower light settings to limit Blue light and adjust colour temperatures to suit the available lighting in your viewing environment. It is a TÜV Rheinland Certified Full Care Display. Very good to know especially if this is a purchase being considered for younger users.

Also at the very top of the display is where we find the 8MP front-facing camera.

Thickness comparison with RedMagic 9 Pro gaming phone

Overall I really do like the aesthetics of the design and the way the tablet feels in the hand. it is comfortable to hold due to the 7.5mm bezels surrounding the devices and the 7.:5 aspect ratio of the display means it is not too wide for a 11.35″ screen size. I can find that I can interact with the tablet easily enough but typing is a bit easier using the thumbs when in portrait mod. it is light enough to hold in one hand while poking at the screen with the other hand which is great if you’re doing a quick search for something to watch or listen to. It is also pretty useful for games as well as I found with a quick session of Asphalt 9. As I mentioned earlier the device has a quad-speaker setup which creates a very good sound stage. I was more than happy to have this playing music in the background as I was working on writing this review.

Hardware

The outside may be good to look at but none of that makes any difference unless the internal hardware is any good. thankfully we have got some pretty good-looking kit inside. bear in mind that this is by no means a flagship-grade tablet so the expectations need to be aligned to that. To start with we have got a MediaTek Helio G99 CPU powering the tablet. This is an octa-core CPU built on the 6 NM process it has 2x Arm Cortex-A76 up to 2.2GHz and  6x Arm Cortex-A55 up to 2.0GHz and is paired with an Arm Mali-G57 MC2. We also have 8GB of LPDDR4X and 128b GB of UFS 2.2 storage which will give a reasonably fast read and write speed but is not anything groundbreaking, more than adequate for streaming media and some light gaming. As I mentioned above the device has a SIM card slot and this is down to the CPIU being able to support 4G for both calls and data. Alongside that, you have the usual WIFI 5 and 2.4Ghz available frequencies and Bluetooth 5.2. Lastly, we have got support for GPS (L1), BEIDOU (B1I), GLONASS (G1), GALILEO (E1), and WLAN positioning. All in all, this is some pretty good spec for the price and is comparable with tablets from other players like Honor in the form of the Honor Pad 9u

We also have a standard suite of sensors that you would expect to see in an entry-level tablet; a Geomagnetic sensor, Light sensor, Acceleration sensor, Gyroscope, and Hall sensor.

I am pretty pleased with the hardware and especially happy to see that this device carries a battery with 8000mAh in it that is also capable of charging at 33W SUPERVOOC with the appropriate power supply unit (not included). This will allow for use for at least two days but it also supports a standby time of 514gours according to OnePlus, which works out as just under 21.5 days. This is an important metric for a tablet as you tend not to use it constantly all day long. You will use it for a quick look at something or maybe to catch a TV Show watch a film etc. Having the ability to shut the screen off and then come back to it and still have some charge a few days later is a very useful feature.

The screen is plenty bright enough for use inside but it does struggle when in direct sunlight outside due to that max brightness of 400 nits. however, at this price point, you will struggle to find a much brighter screen. As you would also expect there is a lot of reflection in very bright conditions, however, I have yet to use a tablet that doesn’t suffer from this issue so I can let it slide.

In terms of the hardware that is all I have at the moment for initial first impressions as I need to spend d a bit more time with it but I am impressed with things so far.

As I have only been using the device for a short period I have been unable to draw any conclusions about the software yet but I am happy to say that it all looks pretty good so far. There has been a lot of development on the adaptation of Oxygen Os to accommodate the larger display and the tablet is better for it. I would have appreciated it if the device was running Android 14 but it is currently still on Android, With that being said though the tablet did receive a security update a few days ago bringing it up to March 2024 for security patches which is okay. it will be interesting to see if they can get this more aligned with Android in terms of the OS platform as we are not that far away from Android 15 being launched by Google. I have an older Oneplus Nord CE 3 Lite that is running more up-to-date software than the PadGo so it should be possible for them to push through the update to keep at least near relevance regarding the the core OS.

So for the moment that is all I have got for the OnePlus Pad Go and my brief time with the device.

if you are interested in picking one of them up for yourself or a family member it is definitely worth considering it, especially as at the moment OnePlus is giving a £30 discount on its RRP which is normally £299. You can pick one up from the OnePlus website for £269.00 from this link.

I will continue to run this device and will follow this up with a full review after a bit more time with the device during which I will be trying to use it for some gaming and also more consumption of media. Check back in with me in a few weeks for some more.

The post OnePlus Pad Go – Unboxing is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

So the day has come when I can share the unboxing of the new to the UK market, Honor Magic V2 5G. I have a little spoiler for you though, I am impressed by this foldable’s hardware very impressed!

So let’s get into the video for you then.

As you can hopefully see from above I am enjoying the hardware on this folding phone it is so much sleeker than any other folding phone I have used before and I have used most of them! I currently use a Pixel Fold as my main phone (when I am not doing reviews) and this is quite a significant step on from what the Pixel Fold offers in terms of design. I still can’t wrap my head around how they have managed to get this phone so slim (more on that later) especially when you think that it has got a 5000mah Silicon Carbon battery inside! The battery isn’t the only great spec inside the Magic Fold V2, we also have a Qualcomm® Snapdragon® 8th Gen 2 as the processor and this is backed up with 16 GB of RAM and 512 GB of Storage and this is the only option. Of course, the phone has all the other goodies that you would expect to see on this type of phone for Connectivity specs:-

• Bluetooth 5.3, BLE, SBC, AAC, LDAC, APTX, APTX HD
• USB Type-C, USB 3.1 Gen1, DP1.2
• 2.4GHz：802.11 b/g/n/ax/be, MIMO
• 5GHz：802.11 a/n/ac/ax/be, MIM
• Support NFC, eSIM
• Wraparound antenna

Rear Camera Module

The camera array is pretty impressive with a triple header setup with the following details:-
Triple Rear Camera
• 50MP Ultra Wide Camera (f/2.0)
• 50MP Wide Camera (f/1.9) 8, OIS
• 20MP Telephoto Lens Camera (f/2.4), OIS

Around the front we have got two cameras there are two screens
• 16MP Wide Camera (f/2.2) (Interior screen)
• 16MP Wide Camera (f/2.2) (Exterior screen)

The rear cameras will support videos at 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60fps, gyro-EIS, HDR10+
Whilst the front will support up to 4K@30fps. These front cameras will also support a basic face unlock.

Side profile, Unfolded

As for the rest of the visible hardware, we have the power keys on the right side when the phone is unfolded and the volume rocker on the left.This is quite a nice setup for both folded and unfolded use cases. When the phone is unfolded the buttons are not in your way and it is easy to develop a muscle memory to find where the buttons are. When the phone is closed the buttons are then sitting above each other but they are still easily defined by the separation from the buttons being on either half of the phone.

Power and Volume key placement

External 6.79″ Display

Coming to the screens which is what you came here for these are both very good quality screens with the outer being a 6.43″ display with a screen-to-body ratio of 91.2%. the PPI is 402 and the resolution is 2376 x 1060 which is a nice 20:9 ratio and more akin to a normal phone. The screen will go up to 2500nits in terms of brightness which is plenty to see on the dreak days of January! It is protected with Nanocrystal Glass which is good to see but would have preferred to see some G0rilla Glass Victus here. There is also factory fitted screen protector which is removable but I have kept mine in place for the time being.

Internal 7.96″ display

The inner display consists of a 7.92′ panel with a screen-to-body ratio of 90.4%. The PPI is the same 402 with a resolution of 2344x 2156 which means a near square 9.78:9 ratio. The interior screen is not quite as bright at 1600 nits, but if I am out and about I have found that I am less likely to open the display up so this lower brightness is fine on a foldable for me. There is no glass screen protector here but you do get a very well-fitted plastic screen protector covering the Ultra Thin glass underneath. This one should not be removed but if you buy one early enough then you can get at least 6 months of Honor Care included to repair the screen if needed for free!

That leads me to the hinge the real crux of the folding phone, this is very easy to describe. It is smooth with a nice flick at the end of the opening motion. there is enough tension for the phone to be kept open at a variety of angles but not quite as many as my Pixel Fold. It will stay open at angles up to about 150 degrees before the flick closes, this is an improvement over the previous Magic Vs. When closing the hinge will snap closed once you get past approx 15 degrees and it is a satisfying snap at that. When closed the two halves sit flush to each other like all good folding phones do now.

Bottom showing USB Type C 3.1 port, Speaker and Sim tray

Something I was very keen to see is how the hinges affected the screen crease and I am extremely pleased to say that this is a vast improvement over what I have become used to in the Pixel Fold and the likes of any of the Galaxy Z Fold line up. It is very near to being invisible and it is barely noticeable when you are viewing the inner display. In terms of the feel you will notice it but your finger does not feel like it drops into a canyon when crossing the crease area, which is a great feeling.

Top view showing Speaker, IR blaster and mic

Vegan Leather back view

That about wraps up the main things that make this phone what it is apart from one of the headliners the dimensions! Normally I don’t get too excited by these measurements but you can feel the difference. In terms of when the phone is folded, this phone is 156.7mm high, 74.1 mm wide and 9.9mm thin. When it is unfolded the height remains the same but the width goes out to 145.1mm and the depth becomes 4.7mm (excluding the camera bump)! To say this phone is thin is an understatement. When the phone is folded up it has about the same 3D footprint as the likes of a regular 6.5″ screen slab phone but it is still thinner than most. When you unfold it then the slimness goes to a different level and it is truly remarkable. However, the great news is even with this thinness the phone does not feel fragile which was a surprise. Honestly, if you compare this phone to the likes of the Galaxy Z Fold 4 and 5 it feels like the fatter cousin! I nearly forgot the other important figure for this phone which is the weight or the lack of it. The phone in its Vegan leather version is only 231g (the glass-backed version is 237g) My Pixel Fold is the right fat boy in comparison!

So in terms of the hardware and initial unboxing experience, I have been very impressed by the Honor Magic V2 5G and it matches up to the hype I have been seeing for the last 6 months since I first saw it being released in China. However, hardware alone does not make the phone and I will be reporting back on the software in my full review once I have used it for a bit more time.

All that remains now is to let you know that if you want your own Honor Magic V2 5G then you can buy one now from Honor directly at the hihonor.com/uk website and they have got some launch offers that can reduce the price to £1199.99 via vouchers from the full RRP of £1699.99, if you act fast then you will get a bundled Bang & Olufsen Beocom Portal headset via redemption that are worth £399!

Pre-orders are open now and shipping can be as soon as the beginning of next week.

The post Honor Magic V2 5G- Unboxing is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

The Strong 1200 4G+ Router ensures a high-speed, cable-free, secure internet experience for anywhere without an internet connection.

Features of the Strong 1200 4G+ Router include:

• Up to 300 Mbps download speeds
• Dual-band Wi-Fi
• Four Gigabit Ethernet ports
• Two detachable external 4G+ LTE antennas
• WPS button for easy setup
• Full PIN code management for 4G+ LTE connection
• Works with any size of SIM card
• WPA/WPA2 for the highest level of Wi-Fi security

Strong, a leading provider of networking and connectivity solutions, is excited to announce the release of the Strong 1200 4G+ Router. This versatile and high-performance router delivers seamless internet access using 3G or 4G SIM cards, making it ideal for locations where traditional ADSL broadband is unavailable.

The Strong 1200 4G+ Router ensures a reliable and high-speed internet experience for a wide range of applications, including streaming video, gaming, and online work. It can be used almost anywhere, from homes and offices to RVs and boats.

The Strong 1200 4G+ Router is ideal for those that struggle with a low-speed or interrupted Internet connection at home, or simply require internet in other locations such as garden offices, holiday homes, campervans, caravans or anywhere to work remotely. Essentially anywhere where power is available, and with good network coverage. Users can simply insert a SIM card from any operator and once connected to its Wi-Fi, immediately enjoy a fast Internet connection at speeds up to 300 Mbit/s (network dependent.) Thanks to a couple of SIM card adapters included in the package, users can fit any SIM size, ensuring compatibility with their preferred mobile network provider.

The Strong 1200 4G+ router also offers fantastic flexibility with dual-band wireless connectivity from both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands, providing faster speeds and reduced interference for smoother online activities. The device’s Wi-Fi can also be connected to via any Wi-Fi device, at speeds up to 300 Mbit/s and any wired devices such as a computer, Smart TV, game console or set-top-box can be connected via one of the 4 available Ethernet ports in the back of the router.

Robust security is also a strong point of this router, as it provides advanced encryption options, including WPA/WPA2 and WPA/WPA2-PSK, to keep the user’s network and data secure.

Hopefully we will get a device in for a full review.

The Strong 1200 4G+ Router is available from Currys for £79.99

The post Strong Introduces its 1200 4G+ Router: Unleash the Power of Mobile Broadband with AC 1200 Dual-Band Connectivity is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

Experience high-quality entertainment with the compact and lightweight Dangbei Neo LED projector, featuring full HD resolution and Dolby-certified stereo speakers.

Dangbei, a leader in innovative home entertainment solutions, is today proud to announce the launch of its latest creation, the Dangbei Neo, an all-in-one mini projector with native Netflix. Officially licensed by Netflix, the DLP projector delivers 1080p FHD visuals on a screen up to 120” and immersive surround sound powered by Dolby Audio. The Neo also packs advanced features in a sleek, compact design that is sure to impress. One of the outstanding features of the Dangbei Neo is its native Netflix capability. This means that users can enjoy their favorite Netflix shows and movies without the need for any additional devices or software. With the Netflix app built into the projector, viewers can enjoy the same streaming experience they know and love, all on the big screen. With hotkeys for three popular streaming apps – Netflix, Prime Video and YouTube – navigating through their favourite’s has never been easier.

The Neo’s compact size makes it highly versatile as it can be used either at home or when traveling, and it can even fit in a backpack. Whether it’s set up at home, in the backyard or on a camping trip, the lightweight design (3.13lbs / 1.42kg) makes it easy to carry around. It can literally be used anywhere, providing there is a power outlet. If there is no internet connection nearby, the Neo can still be used due to a host of other connectivity options such as Mirrorcast.

Small, yet stunning. The Dangbei Neo, powered by DLP technology, delivers high performance with FHD 1080p image, 540 ISO lumens, HDR10 & HLG support, and about 90% coverage of the DCI-P3 color space. Movies, TV shows, games, and more come to life with an impressive projection size of up to 120-inches, and its three color temperature options allow users to customize their viewing experience. The Dangbei Neo is also a treat for the ears as well as the eyes, with its built-in Stereo 2×6W speakers and Dolby Audio certified sound, providing a truly cinematic audio-visual experience.
Also included are intelligent imaging functions enhanced by the ToF camera system, such as auto focus, auto keystone correction, intelligent screen fit, and intelligent obstacle avoidance, providing more precise adjustments and ensuring clear and sharp images regardless of the Neo’s placement.

The Dangbei Neo also features screen mirroring and content casting, Bluetooth 5.0 and 5G Wi-Fi connectivity, allowing it to connect to various devices such as laptops, tablets, smartphones, etc. It’s even eco-friendly with a lifespan of up to 30,000 hours, and in fact uses less power than most TVs, providing years of entertainment giving the user peace of mind.

To celebrate the launch, Dangbei is offering a $100 discount coupon, making the Neo only $599 on Amazon and £649 on Amazon UK  using the £50 coupon available.

The post Dangbei Launches the Neo – An All-in-One Mini Projector with Native Netflix for the Best Compact Cinema Experience. is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

So today has been a big day for OnePlus as they have been conducting their Launch event from New Delhi. Now that the event has wrapped up, we have much news to go through regarding what we saw that was expected and there were a few other teased details that have been clarified for us.

So let’s dive in for a look at what was talked about today: the big news, the phone release.

The OnePlus 11 5G.

So this phone has hardly been the best-kept release since the Chinese variety was released quite a few weeks ago. The phone is every bit as good-looking as the one that i have seen teasers of since the Chinese release. However, the beauty of this phone is not only skin deep with some serious processing power under those sleek curves. The base spec will feature 8+128GB variant at £729 and 16+256GB variant £799. These are awesome prices that will surely shale the market up upon its release on the 16th Feb when it goes on sale on the Oneplus.com website and Amazon.

Other than the awesome storage as shown above the phone features a powerful Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile platform and this brings the support of Ray tracing which is a feature normally found on Dedicated Graphics cards in large-scale Gaming PC’s and Laptops. This is a hardware-supported feature dynamic support for games that are designed to support this new feature. For those of you who are getting the phone and don’t want to have to wait to experience the effect of Ray Tracing Oneplus have you covered. By using the PhysRay app you will be able to experience what Ray tracing can do in Live wallpapers which will dynamically adapt to showcase. The two variants will both support LPDDR5X RAM for fast and efficient multitasking. In addition to that to further bolster the performance is RAm-Vita which is OnePlus’s own machine learning technology. This is a combination of CPU Bandwith acceleration, background application compression, AI Ram allocation and dedicated RAM assignment. all of this will work together to make the OnePlus 11 5G a beast when it comes to multitasking abilities. It will purportedly be able to keep 44 apps open all at the same time in the background without noticeable depreciation in the performance of apps functions.

OnePlus are also pushing the performance over time side of things by ensuring that the phone will be kept up to date for a longer time than previously seen. The Oneplus 11 5G will receive 4 major Oxygen OS updates and 5 years of security updates. This means that the phone will be able to, in theory, run Android 17 when it lands in the much further future. The phone also received a TÜV SÜD 48-month Fluency Rating A for its long-term system fluency. Essentially this is stating that the performance of the phone should not degrade over time with regular use. This is becoming more and more important in these days of awakening about sustainability.

The other big draw of the Oneplus 11 5G device is the new Hasselblad co-developed Camera array. This array composes of 3 rear cameras that can work in concert or independently of each other. These raw camera sensors are supported by specially developed Hasselblad software and image processing. At the forefront of the camera is the 50MP IMX890 sensor, with a wide dynamic range and optical image stabilisation (OIS) this is sure to capture some excellently detailed images. The large MP sensor will allow for more light to be exposed meaning a brighter and sharper image even in low light, this is also going to be true for the video performance. The Ultra-wide camera is a 115° 48MP number which a 1/2″ sensor size that allows for steller wide angle shots using the Sony IMX581 sensor. the last camera in the rear module is the Portrait lens which is backed by an IMX709 32MP camera that has been designed and optimised to capture great portraits. All of these sensors come equipped with 6 Element lenses with the main camera supporting OIS and EIS alongside PDAF + CAF autofocus technologies.

Of course, these cameras will also work for recording video as well and the video capabilities are what you would expect for a flagship-grade device. We have the following all available to us 8K video at 24 fps, 4K , 1080p and 720 video at 30/60 fps. For those who like to slow things down, you are covered as well with Super Slow Motion: 1080p video at240 fps, 720p video at 240/480 fps. Lastly, for those who like an artistic flair and don’t mind waiting then you have got Time-Lapse: 4K/1080p at 30 fps.

In addition to the standard video and camera modes, you would expect to see you also have the latest edition of TurboRaw HDR for the ultimate in HDR capture over a wide dynamic range. But it doesn’t end there as I mentioned this camera has been co-developed with Hasselblad. their input has been essential to the camera’s development and this is the 3rd year of this partnership. To mark this they are unveiling the new natural Colour Calibration with Hasselblad feature to deliver industry-leading colour science. Tie this together with a 13-channel multi-spectral sensor and light colour identification is greatly improved on the OnePlus 11 5G which should also result in this camera producing some great shots. Hasselblad has also considered the portrait shooters out there by integrating Hasselblad Portrait Mode which will give a near DSLR-like effect when used for close-up portraits. It is reported to give results similar to that of an Actual Hasselblad camera equipped with XCD 30mm and 65mm lenses. Some big claims it will be interesting to see the results in real life.

Up front, we have a glorious crisp and vibrant looking 6.7″ 2k 120hz SuperFluid AMOLED display that is one of the first in the industry to utilise an LPTO 3.0 display. This has been self-developed to allow energy saving and adaptive refresh rates according to what is being displayed. The screen will happily sit at 1 Hz refresh when using the Always on Display and ramp up as and when needed ie for fast-moving games. The colours look crisp and vibrant without being overbearing. On the edges is a subtle curve to the display to make the feel of the phone fit inwit the User interface’s new “Aquamorphiic design” ethos. in the top corner is where the Selfie camera is buried away and this again is quite subtle and non-intrusive with the hole punch not being too large.

Audio is something that has had a large focus from Oneplus for this phone and this ties in very nicely with another announced product from today but more on that later. We do of course have a front-facing speaker/earpiece right up at the top of the phone Which allows the phone to offer stereo speakers when used in combination with the bottom-firing unit. To help add to the immersion the speakers are being backed by Dolby Atmos in what OnPlus is calling Dual “Reality” Speakers. Fortunately, the audio effects on this phone don’t stop there as this is OnePlus’s first phone that supports Spatial Audio which i am very keen to check out in the near future. 

I have already mentioned that the phone now comes with an “Aquamorphic design” on the UI and this falls under the latest version of Oxygen os 13 which boost the AI function of the UI and will anticipate your actions as you are using the phone in effect learning what you do with the phone in your daily use and adapting to that as required. A big part of this is the Hyperboost Gaming Engine which, via a Machine learning GPa frame rate stabilisation technology will learn and adapt to your game-playing habits and techniques. I am not much of a gamer but i am keen to test these gaming claims as this seems to be not just a phone that is all about the camera.

As for the hardware this gorgeously designed phone and it must be said that although I was a little bit anxious when I saw the first picture of the camera bump on the rear I am now warming to it, especially in the glorious Eternal Green Colour which has a smooth finish and the Titan Black which leans more to the traditional Sandstone effect that OnePlus pioneered with the OnePlus 1 back in the day.

As I mentioned at the top of this post the OnePlus 11 5G will be available for sale on the 16th of Feb from 9am UK time at OnePlus.com and Amazon. The device will retail at £729 for the 8+128GB variant and £799 for the 16+256GB variant. The Emerald Green variant will be exclusively available via Amazon for the 8GB+128GB for £729. If you are looking to get one and you are preordering as well then you will also receive a free gift in the form of either a Beosound A1 2nd Gen Bang & Olufsen Speaker or a pair of OnePlus Buds Pro 2 You can sign up to be notified of preorders opening here.

For more news on the other products that were released today then check out this companion article on Coolsmartphone.com

OnePlus Launches OnePlus 11 5G in New Delhi

OnePlus 11 5G is OnePlus’ latest flagship, giving users an extremely fast and smooth experience, effortless imaging, and modern elegance design.

February 7, 2023 – Leading technology brand OnePlus today officially launched its latest smartphone, OnePlus 11 5G, at GMR Grounds, Aerocity, in New Delhi. OnePlus 11 5G comes with the fastest performance of any OnePlus smartphone to date, 3rd Generation Hasselblad Camera for Mobile, and a purposeful and modern elegance design.

“We are incredibly excited to introduce OnePlus 11 5G with our community members and partners in New Delhi,” said Pete Lau, Founder of OnePlus, Senior Vice President and Chief of Product at OPPO and OnePlus, “With an improved fast and smooth experience, effortless imaging, and modern elegance design, OnePlus 11 5G is definitely a well-rounded flagship that is competitive at its price point.”

Extreme Fast and Smooth Experience That Lasts
OnePlus 11 5G is powered by the latest Snapdragon® 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform with up to 16GB LPDDR5X RAM and up to 256GB ROM with UFS 4.0 to ensure maximum power with greater efficiency, wider bandwidth and improved read and write speeds. To further bolster performance, OnePlus 11 5G comes with RAM-Vita, OnePlus’s own machine learning technology involves CPU bandwidth acceleration, background application compression, AI RAM allocation, and dedicated RAM assignment. All of this combined means OnePlus 11 5G with 16GB RAM can keep as many as 44 applications active in the background, reducing app kills or forced restarts.

In addition, OnePlus 11 5G is the first Snapdragon® 8 Gen 2 device to be approved as Snapdragon Spaces Ready. It is the entrance for developers to bring their XR ideas to life and to explore the full potential of wearable AR.

OnePlus 11 5G has been built to provide a fast and smooth experience that lasts. As well as being the first OnePlus device that will receive four major OxygenOS updates and five years of security updates, it has also received a TÜV SÜD 48-month Fluency Rating A for its long-term system fluency. It is also certified by SGS Perceived Fluency A+ for its system fluency.

Hardware-enabled Ray Tracing
OnePlus 11 5G will also be one of the first phones to support hardware-enabled ray tracing thanks to its powerful Snapdragon® 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform. And to give users the chance to enjoy ray tracing technology on their phone, OnePlus will be offering a 3D dynamic live wallpaper app called PhysRay Wallpaper to download on their new OnePlus 11 5G. This app contains four different wallpapers called Vitality of Light, Matrix, Candyverse, and Oceanfront.

Unlike traditional static wallpaper, the PhysRay wallpapers render light in real-time, making the displayed object’s shadow, reflection and refraction more vivid and realistic. Users can slide, swipe or click on the phone to show different animation effects and achieve real-time interaction with the live wallpaper.

Fast Charging and Cryo-Velocity VC Cooling System

With support for 100W SUPERVOOC Endurance Edition, OnePlus 11 5G allows you to spend less time tethered to an outlet and more time using the device the way you want to. OnePlus 11 5G takes only 25 minutes to charge from 1% to 100% battery capacity courtesy of its 100W SUPERVOOC fast-charging technology.

To help give users peace of mind when charging, OnePlus 11 5G also features the innovative Battery Health Engine (BHE), making its charging system safer and more efficient. Meanwhile, OnePlus 11 5G also has a TÜV Rheinland Certification for Safe Charging and Usage after stringent tests including real-time temperature monitoring in all aspects of charging, drop tests, pressure and compression tests, operation in high and low temperatures, and operation in dry and humid, dusty environments.

OnePlus 11 5G also features a new Cryo-velocity VC Cooling System to remove any overheating worries during prolonged gameplay and heavy use. The cooling system has a 3685 mm2 VC area, 5673 mm3 crystalline-graphene in the mid-frame layer, and a dedicated layer of crystalline-graphene for the display to significantly increase heat dissipation capability.

Vibrant Display, Impeccable Sound

OnePlus 11 5G sports a 6.7-inch 2K 120Hz Super Fluid AMOLED Display with LTPO 3.0. LTPO 3.0 is a self-developed technology that saves energy and adapts refresh rates according to the specific use, ensuring touch response and accuracy, and power efficiency. Additionally, OnePlus 11 5G is certified by TÜV SÜD Precise Touching S Rating and SGS Low Blue Light Ex.

Furthermore, OnePlus 11 5G is one of the first Android smartphones to be transformed by Dolby Vision to elevate every mobile experience with stunning picture that brings your on-the-go entertainment to life. OnePlus 11 5G is also equipped with the Dual “Reality” Speakers and support Dolby Atmos, which takes the audio experience to a new level, both via onboard speakers or Bluetooth headphones.

Effortless Imaging with the 3rd Gen Hasselblad Camera for Mobile

OnePlus 11 5G has a powerful and balanced camera setup designed to accurately record each of life’s milestones at every angle – capturing everything the eyes can see.

It is fitted with a “three-main-sensor” triple camera system. At the core of the camera setup is a 50MP IMX890 sensor, chosen particularly for capturing wide dynamic range images, with an optical image stabilizer (OIS) for steady shots. The main camera allows for more light intake and lets users capture brighter and sharper images and record videos in low-lit and backlit environments. Supplementing the main camera are a 115° 48MP ultra-wide camera, which ensures users get wide photos with absolute clarity, and an IMX709 32MP portrait lens, helping users capture stunning DSLR-like portraits.

OnePlus recently tested the portrait capabilities of the OnePlus 11 by challenging one of the UK’s best photographers to take portraits of the residents of Knoydart, the UK’s most remote village, without leaving his studio in London. Matt Porteous took control of a OnePlus 11 as it flew across the highlands of Scotland capturing unforgettable images of the Knoydart community and the heartstopping landscapes on their doorsteps. To see more, watch the YouTube video here

Additionally, OnePlus 11 5G is equipped with the latest iteration of TurboRAW HDR, OnePlus’s own algorithm for High Dynamic Range (HDR), to help to capture scenes with pristine HDR clarity of wide dynamic range.

OnePlus and Hasselblad Collaboration

The collaboration between OnePlus and Hasselblad continues with the OnePlus 11 5G. The brand new Natural Colour Calibration with Hasselblad feature on OnePlus 11 5G delivers industry-leading colour science. Moreover, a 13-channel multi-spectral sensor for light-color identification has been introduced on OnePlus 11 5G for wider spectral analysis of light.

The Hasselblad Portrait Mode helps users to easily shoot images with almost DSLR-like depth-tracking, natural bokeh, and light flare effects. Benchmarked against exacting Hasselblad optical standards to achieve portraits in perfection, the result simulates stunning professional portraits captured by an actual Hasselblad camera fitted with XCD 30mm and 65mm lenses.

Intelligent Software

OnePlus 11 5G and OxygenOS 13 also boast intuitive AI capabilities that learn from users’ habits to be able to anticipate certain actions moving forward. This includes the HyperBoost Gaming Engine, whose machine learning GPA frame rate stabilization 4.0 technology actively learns and adapts to the user’s gameplay.

With an industry-leading 1Hz AOD, OnePlus 11 5G consumes 30% less power compared with typical 30Hz AOD. This lets users access frequently opened applications, other widgets and information, while not having to worry about depleting the phone’s battery.

Modern Elegance Design

Designed specifically for those who desire to be different, OnePlus 11 5G adopts a bold, loud, confident, and shiny “modern elegance” design. It is a continuity and evolution of the OnePlus 10 Pro’s design to deliver the OnePlus classic simple, elegant, and purposeful design philosophy. OnePlus 11 5G has a K-shape curve along the camera decor which make the module more vivid with the flow of light.

OnePlus 11 5G comes In two colours – the calm Titan Black and the rousing Eternal Green, respectively inspired by the black hole in the universe and by the shades of the rainforest at dusk. Both colors are meant to bring out “rawness”.

By utilizing the Matte Frosted Glass, the Titan Black version delivers an irresistibly smooth, soft but sturdy hand-held feeling. With a multi-layering of glass, the Eternal Green version adopts the purposeful design of OnePlus to successfully combining a brand-new dusk green color and internal layering treatment. The design ensures high resistance to sweat and fingerprint stains.

With purposeful design in mind, OnePlus puts much attention in engineering every exterior piece to specifically ensure a smooth transition between the Corning® Gorilla® Glass Victus® and midframe, which improves feel-in-hand by nearly eliminating any bumps between parting lines.

Availability and Price

In the UK, the OnePlus 11 5G will go on sale on 16 February at 9AM UK time at OnePlus.com and Amazon. The device will retail at £729 for the 8+128GB variant and £799 for the 16+256GB variant. The OnePlus 11 5G Eternal Green 8GB+128GB will be available exclusively via Amazon for £729.
Plus all customers who pre-order the OnePlus 11 will receive a free gift, including a Bang & Olufsen Speaker or a pair of OnePlus Buds Pro 2. T&Cs apply.

The post OnePlus 11 5G Launch from New Delhi is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

Honor Magic 4 Pro

I was a great fan of the previous generation flagships that came out of the great behemoth that was Huawei of old when it still had a smaller scale sibling of Honor under its wing. Those days are gone and the likes of the Huawei P30 Pro got left behind in the wake of the Huawei/Google Mobile Services ban instigated by the Luminous president of yore. Well, thankfully we have moved on from those days and we now have Honor as a fully independent brand from Huawei, which brings a new spark to the company and the ability to use GMS again. we had an inkling of what Honor can do as a standalone brand in the form of the Honor 50 5G which I reviewed recently here for Coolsmartphone.

What we have here is what they can do when they are not restricted by the limitations of trying to build a mid-range phone. We have the Honor Magic 4 Pro and it harks back to the previous pro series device that I had soft spot for from my day using Huawei devices like the P30 Pro. I loved that phone and it brought some true flagship specs to the table and an awesome camera. Can the Honor Magic 4 Pro give the same feel as a flagship or is it just a fluster with its oversized camera module and fancy colour. Well, I hope to find that out over the course of this review.

So as is customary in a review let’s start by having a tour of the device.

Design

We will start at the top edge of the phone which has a Speaker grill for one of the two loudspeakers. This is tucked up in between two of the numerous Antenna break lines as the signal needs to get in and out of the device somehow! to the right of the top section are a microphone hole and a feature that is not often included in phones the IR transmitter. This is predominantly used for the Smart Remote app that is bundled with the phone, not something I played with if i am being honest as it is not a feature I need.

Honor Magic 4 Pro top

Moving around to the right-hand side of the phone is where we will find the volume rocker and just below is the power key. These are again in between more antenna lines. The power key can be set up to either have a long press bring up a Google assistant should you want with a longer press still allowing you to turn the phone off or restart the device. the buttons have positive feedback but feel that Honor missed a trick by not including any texturing on the buttons.

Honor Magic 4 Pro right hand side

Moving down to the bottom edge. is where we will find the second loudspeaker, another microphone and the dual sim tray. Hiding amongst these components is the new SuperCharge 100W charging port that is also capable of supporting display output. It takes the form of USB type C and when plugged into a display gives you the option to use a desktop-style interface along with a keyboard and mouse if you wish to. It is not as good as the offering from Samsung’s DEX offering but it is a nice feature to have on board.

Honor Magic 4 Pro base

As we move around to the left-hand side we have nothing really to speak of apart from more of the ever-prominent antenna lines. As a right-handed user, this is fine for me but left-handed users may find it a bit annoying at first.

Honor Magic 4 Pro left hand side

Next up we will take a trip to the front and the display. Which is a glorious panel measuring in at 6.81″ with a variable refresh rate of between 1Hz to 120Hz LTPO Display. It also features 1920Hz PWM Dimming for those who are sensitive to this. It makes viewing the 2848 x 1312 resolution display very enjoyable and it is a joy to interact with no noticeable lag or false inputs being found in my usage so far.

Honor Magic 4 Pro Display Locked

Up in the top left-hand corner is a camera cut-out that is not the smallest in the world, it does however need to be this size in order to allow for the 2 cameras that reside in it to have enough space. Under the screen, we have got a 12MP camera with f/2.4 aperture and a 100° smart wide-angle selfie. It is capable of capturing some great stills thanks to its Portrait mode and AI anti-distortion. In addition to these features, the camera will also be able to record up to 4K video. So that is the camera but there is also another sensor here which is the 3D Depth Camera which is used primarily for facial recognition with its 3D depth face unlock technology. This is nice to see after coming from a Pixel 6 Pro which has no face unlock something that I missed more than I thought I would.

While we are talking about unlocking the front of the phone also hides the fingerprint reader which is of the Ultrasonic under-display variety and I am very happy to say works like a charm as id plenty fast for quick access to your home screen from unlocked. it features Qualcomm’s 3D Sonic Sensor which is one of the many ways in which the Qualcomm chipset has raised the game with this phone.

I suppose i cannot avoid it any longer but it is time to talk about that rear. the rear is dominated by the “Eye of Muse” camera module which houses a massive 5 camera sensors of various varieties shapes and sizes.

“Eye of Muse” camera module

• 50MP Wide Camera (f/1.8)
• 50MP Ultra Wide Camera (f/2.2)
• 64MP Periscope Telephoto Camera (f/3.5, 3.5x Optical Zoom, 100x Digital Zoom, OIS)
• Flicker sensor
• 8×8 dTOF Laser Focusing System

The 64MP Periscope Telephoto Camera is capable of a massive 100x zoom which promises to provide some very interesting shooting options.. Especially when you combine them with the other two 50MP cameras one of which will allow for a Wide Angle and the other a more Normal shooting mode. The camera will use Optical Zoom for up to 3.5x magnification and then it lets the Ultra Fusion engine take care of the rest. I will go into the camera features and how it performs later on in the review.

Apart from that massive camera array that nearly takes up the top third of the phone we have not got anything else particularly notable back here.

That culminates the design tour and now it is time to talk about some of the hardware of this flagship monster!

Hardware

The Honor Magic 4 Pro is a hardware nerds wet dream when it comes to flagships at the moment. I have to admit that even I got a bit excited by the prospect of this specilicous treat. There is so much goodness in this phone that it is hard to know where to start so I am just going to do a list of the specs and take it from there.

Specs

So as you can see from the impressive specs list above the phone has got a lot to take in but I want to focus on a few of what I think are the key selling point for this phone. Processor and GPU, Battery life and charging speed and niceties (it will become clear later).

So first up the Processor and GPU.

The Honor Magic 4 Pro is powered by the very power-dense 4NM Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor with the support of MEMC chip that helps to generate the best viewing experience that the phone can. That is not all though as the phone also supports GPU Turbo X which promises to increase the speed across the entire UI with an extra boost for Gaming needs. So do the high-end headline-grabbing components actually make a difference. For the most part yes they do I did not find the phone was slow in any task. There was barely a stutter in normal use and even when I put the phone under significant pressure. I even tried to run the built-in Desktop UI when plugged into my USB Dock that was hooked up to my monitor, which was using two displays at 1080p and being controlled by a Bluetooth keyboard and a mouse running on a 2.4ghz dongle. This was me trying to push the phone to its limits and I couldn’t get it to glitch.

The only time the phone was showing any stress was when using the Camera to record 4K Video as the phone did get a bit warm but this is more than normal for flagships at the moment as we are asking for so much in terms of computational assisted photography these days.

The other area that really did impress me was the Graphics processing on the phone as it was great and watching the video, streaming content and playing games were all pulled if really well. I was able to easily play my staple games of Grand Mountain and Alto’s Oddest with no dropped frames and very good quality images. All this without the battery being nuked and draining in mere seconds. I have watched many hours of YouTube on the phone and it always remains comfortable to hold when binging on the latest Radio Controlled trucks videos (yeah it’s an issue I know).

I mentioned the MEMC assistant chip earlier and this is on board to allow the phone to dynamically adjust the frame rate when using the phone for video playback. This converts Standard Definition video to High Definition video on the fly during the playback of the aforementioned content. The MEMC will work on YouTube Netflix and Prime Video. . That is not all that the MEMC will do as it also has a Frame rate booster that will work on the video’s Frame rate in the same way as the video enhancer function. I can report that it does make a small but noticeable difference

The only area that did let me down in terms of performance was when using Android Auto, but I feel this may be more a software-based issue, however. The only reason I mention it in this section is that there may be a hardware element involved as I have had the same Android Auto version on lower specced phones and not had any issue. Oddly enough I seem to recall this being an issue on Honor 50 as well so maybe some legs to this theory.

That about concludes the Performance and GPU area, next up the battery and charging.

I actually want to mix this one up a bit and talk about the charging first as Honor has brought out the big guns to get the Honor Magic 4 Pro powered up fast and safely. The battery will charge at extremely fast speeds depending on which method of charging you go for. If you use the. Wired Supercharger that comes in the box with the phone you will get up to 100W of charging speed. This will allow a full 0 to 100% charge in under 30 mins. If you choose to use the Wireless 100W Supercharger then you will allow you to charge at 80W when using the in-box charger and will allow you to recharge 0 to 100% in just under an hour. If you wish to obtain the full 100W capability then you can use the optional 135W charger from the Honor Laptop range as this will give the higher amount of juice required, for the quicker charge.

One thing that is important to note is that I mentioned that you can recharge quickly and safely. When you are talking about rapidly charging batteries then there are a few areas of concern that can become relevant. The enemies of super-fast charging are heat build-up and battery health over time. This is something that Honor is aware of and they have put in various procedures to avoid these potential pitfalls. So how do they counter these issues, well they use two different methods. the charger in the box utilises Honor’s in-house developed Supercharging Technology to allow the heat build-up to be largely concentrated in the charging brick without passing it down the cable to the phone. The second is in the way that the charger and phone monitor charging rates to provide the optimum power usage minimising wasted energy that would normally be kicked out in terms of heat. The last thing that Honor has also realised is that you don’t need your phone to always charge at super fast speeds. So you can set it up to allow the phone to the only fast charge in certain scenarios as you dictate.

A brilliant example of this is when using the Wireless Supercharger. I tended to put my phone in this when I went to bed at night to ensure I had a fully charged phone by the morning. Now when I normally did this during the day the phone charged rapidly causing there to be some heat build up which normally occurs during Wireless charging. This in turn caused the fan on the charger to spin up which was pretty noisy.

However when it was charging it overnight I didn’t hear any noise from the fan on the charger and my phone would charge a bit slower, which isn’t a problem as I am going to sleep. now as far as I am aware I didn’t actually configure anything specific to do this apart from setting a “bedtime mode” within Digital Wellbeing. I am not sure if this influenced the charging behaviour or not but if it did then brilliant. It is also possible that this is set up from the stock software config in which case kudos to Honor for doing so as it is one less thing you the user need to worry about configuring.

Here is a sound bite from the Wireless Supercharger during a charging session. It is not the best quality as it was recorded from my phone but it will give you an idea of how loud it is,

Today Realme is bringing its latest technological breakthrough to the European market and in particular to the UK in the form of the:

• GT Neo 3 with onboard charging speeds of 150W/80W (model dependant)via wired charge
• GT Neo3T with Snapdragon 87
• GT NEO 3T Dragon Ball Z Edition

These devices bring some great new tech to the entry and mid-tier price points

Here is the press release from Realme’s launch event

Some pretty cool stuff there I am sure you would agree and it gets better as I have been lucky enough to get a device to use over the last few days which I will be sharing a full review with you shortly, but for the moment here are some shots of the Realme GT Neo 3 150W in all its glory for you to behold.

The post Realme announce the GT Neo 3 series is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

UK Network provider Three have just announced that they are removing all charges asociated with contacting people in or from the Ukraine.   Full details have not been published as yet, but the original tweet can be viewed here

The post Three removes roaming charges for Ukraine is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

Say hello to the latest value offering from realme, the 8i

Before I start, let us get the elephant out of the room – This phone is not a flagship killer, bleeding edge, top of the line or revolutionary, nor is it meant to be. What it does pack in for the price, I will come on to price later, could make even the biggest specs snob or apple fan question their recent life choices of a daily driver.

First off let’s look at what you are getting, for those of you that do like to talk figures:

• MediaTek G97 8 Core 12nm CPU
• 6GB Ram/128GB Storage or 4GB Ram /64GB Storage
• 120Hz 6.6” Display at 600 nits
• 5000mAh battery
• 18W fast charge
• Triple Camera Rear Setup
  • 50MP f/1.8
  • 2MP B&W f/2.4
  • 2MP Macro
• 16MP Hole Punch Front Camera
• Side Fingerprint Sensor / Power Button
• Dual SIM
• A Dedicated Micro SD slot giving you the choice to add up to 256GB additional storage
• All running on realme’s own Android 11 OS called realme UI 2.0

As you can see its packing a few features even the latest iPhone owner has only just recently started bragging about, however the 8i comes in at only £168/€199!

Yes, you heard right, only £168/€199 for all of that, so how is this possible?

Obviously, some compromises are being made here, but for realme’s target audience of this device, it is in no way a deal breaker.

Its sitting somewhere in the middle of the existing realme 8 line, that we covered previously.  The 8i has more user apreciable features than some of its more higher specced brothers and sisters, while at the same time having less than them.

This is where realme do tend to confuse reviewers and customers alike, by offering such a wide range of devices in one particular line, each having pros and cons over each other.

Who are realme aiming the 8i to, well to be honest anybody who needs a no-nonsense daily driver, that will handle pretty much everything your normal user wants to do, without being too ashamed to pull out in public.  I haven’t gone into the looks and build yet, but in summary you would be hard pushed, not to think this was a premium device at first glance.

Let’s look a little deeper into what you are getting and where some of the compromises are being made, to keep the price so low.

CPU

It’s running on a MediaTek Helio G96, MediaTek is a well-known and much cheaper alternative to the chips produced and used by other big names.

MediaTek chips perform almost as well as the more expensive rivals in most use cases.  During my time with the phone, even under heavy load and testing with intensive apps like PUBG and COD Mobile.  I couldn’t perceivably notice any significant drops in performance no more so compared to my own daily driver, that features a more mainstream 8 Core QUALCOMM 865.

Now the geeks among you, that know your chipsets might have clocked already that the Helio G96 although packing some pretty decent hardware specifications such as 12nm manufacturing and a Mali G57 GPU, is designed as a 4G chipset only, this is where you make another slight compromise.

No 5G connectivity, yep this is a 4G only phone in 2021, again not entirely a deal breaker if 5G is not available to you, signal or contract wise and Wi-Fi is your primary data connection.

Camera

Boasting 4 in total (3 on the rear, 1 on the front) its Megapixel count is looking good already, especially considering the primary camera boasts a whopping 50MP, the front punch hole camera can take a selfie at a very respectable 16MP.  We won’t mention the 2MP Macro or 2MP B&W units as they appear to be just adding to the cosmetic quad camera look, that’s all the rage.

I’m no David Bailly, so I rely very heavily on the camera and onboard software to make up for my artistic shortcomings, so it’s probably better for you to decide for yourself from the shots I have taken, and judge whether you think it’s any good or not.

The built in camera app in the realme ui 2.0 OS is simple to use and has the look and feel of most android camera apps.  It has all those nifty little features you will probably never use in real life, but they are included, should you feel the need to make your nose smaller and chin narrower or even make your face look unnaturally plastic, with aid of the AI Beauty features.

Screen

There is no doubt this is the star of the whole package, no compromises have been made here. Boasting specs normally only found on some of the current high end devices.

You get 6.6 inches of 120Hz goodness with a nit range from 1 to 600 allowing you to use outside or comfortably in the dark.

Browsing the web or twitter is buttery smooth, Amazon and YouTube just pop out from the screen with amazing vivid colours, separation and tones.

Sound

Featuring a single bottom firing speaker, although not brilliant, does give a nice clear mono sound with ringtones loud enough to be heard in most environments.

A 3.5mm headphone jack can also be found at the bottom of the device, should you need it.

Build

Yes, it’s plastic, but it’s a very nice plastic.  At first glance, you would be hard pushed to tell it apart from one of its glass backed, aluminum framed counterparts.

My review unit is a misty grey black, that realme call Space Black it mimics the 2 tone reflectiveness of a glass back and catches the light nicely, the sides feature a grey aluminum appearance, again making the device appear more premium.

Another version called Stellar Purple will also be available at launch.

I’m not too sure how it would hold up with daily life, scratches and chips are inevitable due to the nature of the material.

However, realme do include a clear tpu case in the box, to give you some added protection and smooth off the protruding camera lenses.

Talking of the included case, a nice touch is the little dust flaps that protect the exposed ports on the bottom of the device.

The power button on the right-hand side incorporates the fingerprint sensor, which makes turning on the screen and getting past the security lock, a simple one press operation with a high degree of accuracy.

The inbuilt 5000mAh ‘mega’ battery gives the device a nice weighty feel, that makes it feel like a more solid unit, this capacity combined with some added software power saving features, should easily last you a whole day under real world conditions, realme are claiming that you could watch 18 movies or  listen to 1200 songs on a single charge.

Charging isn’t going to be an issue, as the phone is 18w USB-C fast charging capable, with promises of a 50% charge in around 30 mins should you need a boost.  Again not incorporating some of the faster charging tech seen in other models, it’s still plenty quick enough and may even preserve the lifetime of the battery, that other rapid fast charging devices tend to suffer from.

In conclusion, a decent premium ‘looking’ budget device with a few compromises here and there, it’s been built to keep below a specific price point, but still focus on what a user will appreciate and need the most.

A screen that makes consuming internet content highly enjoyable, a camera that I personally think takes nice crisp pictures, a battery to see you through an entire day and possibly longer, and a CPU that can cope with demanding games, it’s everything a daily driver needs to be at a very reasonable price.

If this phone sounds right for you, it’s available as of today (14^th October) direct from realme or very soon on amazon for €199 / £168 – but do keep your eyes open for some special launch, flash deals that realme often run.

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