Design and Hardware

The OnePlus Pad 2 is technically the third tablet to come out of the OnePlus design studio, they had the original pad that launched around the same sort of time last year and then came the Pad Go which I reviewed on the site right here. What OnePlus has done here is to take what they learned from feedback on both of these devices and then build it into the new Pad 2 as a result we do have some notable changes to the hardware

I have already covered the hardware in an unboxing video which can be found just below or if you want to read the article then take some time to do so now.

I was very impressed with the hardware of the Pad 2 but I want to just focus on a few of the significant parts that lept out at me. In addition I will also be looking at some of the optional extras that I was lucky enough to be provided with as this unit was given to me very kindly by OnePlus for review.

(Disclaimer: The thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own and have not been influenced by OnePlus who will not be given a preview of this review before it’s published. I have not been paid for this review, however, the items in the review have been provided at no cost to me.)

First things first is the size of the Pad 2, it has grown slightly from an 11″ screen to a 12.1″ screen now and this comes with some benefits to the rest of the design. By having a slightly bigger screen size the Pad 2 can now fit a massive battery (9150mAH) and it can also accommodate a better cooling system which in turn means a more powerful chipset. The size increase does of course have some downsides too though. It now has a bigger footprint than the previous design and this can be shown here by comparing this to the smaller Pad Go. The pad is also slightly thicker than the Pad Go and it is also a tad heavier as well. None of these aspects are really issues for me as I find that the size is a great size for a tablet and it is really nice to use for both work and play.

Coming onto play the next thing I want to highlight is the display on the Pad 2 as this is a great display as I mentioned above it is 12.1″ diagonal but it has an aspect ratio of 7:5 which makes it great for content viewing. It is also sporting a resolution of 3000 by 2120 with a PPI of 303. The panel will output anywhere between 30Hz and all the way up to 144Hz with various stops in between. It will also offer up to 900nits HBM but in normal conditions will go up to 600nits. All of this comes from an LCD panel which OnePlus is calling a Readfit display. Now I don’t want to gloss over the LED display part here as I was actually genuinely surprised that the panel was LCD after I got my first look at it. Had I not been told by the rep from OnePlus I would have assumed that this was an OLED display. It is a great display and one I have enjoyed using to consume content a lot I have also really enjoyed working on this display as well it is clear and vivid and the aspect ratio is really conducive to multitasking but more on that later…

Next up is the sound stage provided by the Pad 2. This is very good and more than enough for watching movies, YouTube and listening to music. The Pad 2 packs in six speakers to give a great range of sound and as the tablet is not a bit wider we get great distance between the individual drivers so we are able to get more of a stereo effect. In addition to the speakers’ physical setup, OnePlus has also sprinkled in some magic in the form of OReality Audio. This is the company’s take on what Dolby has been doing for years and offers you some preset sound settings some of which can be customised.

I have been using the Music mode whilst I am writing this review on the tablet now and I have been quite happy with my tunes blasting out. That being said you cannot always use your device with the speakers blaring out for everyone to hear or endure! This brings another nice feature that we are now seeing across OnePlus’s portfolio which is of course Spatial audio on Bluetooth headphones. Thankfully I have a pair of OnePlus Nord Buds 3 Pro which I have been able to use alongside the Pad2 and this creates a great audio experience when you use an app that supports this feature. I have used this setup on Disney+ whilst on an overnight trip and it was great.

That about sums up the key external point of design and hardware that I wanted to highlight. However, as suggested above there is a lot more going on inside the OnePlus Pad 2!

So the first internal feature I want to talk about is the chipset. OnePlus has been able to cram a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SOC into the Pad 2, bringing a lot of power to the table. I am not going to go into the performance of the chip as I don’t do benchmarking here, what I will say is that I have used a few devices with the 8 Gen 3 chipset and this is by far the biggest to date. This is relevant as the inbuilt graphic has to drive a bigger display than on a phone. the good news is that the Adreno 750 GPU is more than capable of the task and provides crystal-clear images regardless of what you are trying to do. I have already mentioned it is great for watching movies and videos. It is also a great platform for some light gaming, while handheld but it comes into its own when used with a controller setup like shown below.

The next bit I want to cover is the battery. As I have already mentioned the battery has a little bit more space due to the bigger chassis however it has not increased in size over the original Oneplus Pad. The battery is still a 9150mAh size and will charge at up to 67W when using a SuperVooc charger from OnePlus. I don’t have the appropriately sized SupperVooc charger to test the charging speed but I have been using a GAN charger and the Pad 2 will charge very fast allowing me to get from 0 to 100% in just under 1hr 30 mins. If using a OnePlus charging brick then the officially measured time is 81 minutes according to their own internal testing.

While this isn’t an amazing step up from the OG Pad it is nice to see that it hasn’t gone down and that the charging speed remains consistent. I am also really happy that you can leave this device to sleep for a really long time and pick it up again knowing that you should have some power left. This was one of the features I liked about the Pad Go in my review. Also of note is that there is no significant heat build-up within the tablet when it’s charging. The one thing that I would like to pick fault with is the location of the charging port. While having it mounted on the die is not by any means the worst place it does mean that handheld gaming is not really a viable option when charging. This must have been a designer-based decision for the inclusion of the optional keyboard accessory. It is not a bad thing but just something I would like to mention.

The next thing and indeed the last is the build quality of the tablet. The Pad 2 is built very well with no indication of torsional twisting or flexing when it is held in one hand. The rounded-off edges of the case make it a joy to hold. the texture of the Aluminium body is grippy and not an absolute fingerprint magnet either. Whilst the bezels on the front are larger than some people would like they are useful being that size as it stops accidental screen touches when you are holding it.

If I had one complaint, I would have to say that this is not a light tablet especially when you include the optional accessories. The tablet feels very similar in weight to my Macbook Air Pro when I am carrying it around. Its bare weight is 584g but once you add the Smart keyboard case then you are including another 800g. Include the Stylo 2 at a tiny 1 gram and you are carrying a total of 1.385 kg, my MacBook Pro weighs in at 1.6kg. Dont get me wrong I like the reassuring heft to it but this is worth bearing in mind for those looking to purchase.

So that brings me nicely onto the optional accessories that can be purchased (or can be free depending on offers). First up and I think this one is an essential extra, is the Smart Keyboard case. This is a two-in-one affair and it allows for the tablet to be used as a laptop replacement to a degree. it comes in two parts the first is the keyboard itself which is one of the best typing experiences I have had on a tablet keyboard case. the keys are well spaced and they have a solid feel to them. They have just enough travel to keep most people happy. It is a relatively standard layout but it now has an extra row that has been added to the top in the form of shortcut keys. this was not present in the previous version. the actual keyboard base is solid as well and this can be used with relative ease when on the lap. However, that is not the only way it can be used, as inside the Smart Keyboard is a hidden battery and some Bluetooth connectivity. This means that you can also use this as a removable keyboard separate from the tablet. So if you are on a Plane, train or automobile and you need to get some work done then you can remove the keyboard from the tablet and then have just the keyboard on your lap and the tablet screen positioned somewhere else. This is very convenient when I have been writing this review as I have been doing the majority of this on the Pad 2 itself, in either my office or my recliner in my lounge. In the latter setup, I will have the screen on a separate piece of furniture and the keyboard on my lap as this is the most comfortable position for me to use it.

Another thing that has grown from the previous folio-style keyboard is the trackpad. This is now a massive 8640mm surface area which is a significant increase in size. It is bigger than my Pixel Fold in its folded state! Now if I am being entirely honest, I had some issues with the trackpad on my device. So much so that it required a new one to be sent from OnePlus, for some reason on the first trackpad, I got there was no discernable click from the trackpad and this created all sorts of problems effectively rendering it useless.

Fortunately, after some email exchanges with OnePlus Tech support, I was sent a replacement unit and the issue was solved. I have asked some other reviewers who received their devices at the same time as me and they have had no similar issues so it may have just been a glitch on mine. As you would expect you can use the trackpad for all the normal gestures and swipes that you would expect and it does have a nice feel and responsive click to it. It also does not get in the way too much when I have been typing and I haven’t had issues with accidental presses with my palm.

There is another feature on the keyboard which the eagle-eyed would have seen from the pictures. In the bottom right-hand corner, there is an NFC logo. This is to indicate the position where you can hold your OnePlus phone to initiate a wireless connection between the Pad2 and the Phone allowing you to screen share your phone and also take control of the phone on the Pad 2. It also allows you to access content from the phone’s storage and shares the Mobile data connection. I will cover this a bit more in the software section of the review as it is mostly software-based.

I mentioned that the Smart Keyboard was a 2 in 1 accessory. This is because the standing element of the keyboard is a completely separate component to the keyboard. The stand is a panel that has a central hinge going across it at the halfway point. This hinge will allow you to fold the backplate into various different positions.

The top half of the panel contains several magnets that align with magnets in the back of the Pad 2. This is how the back panel attaches and also how the panel supports the weight of the tablet. This setup allows for a large range of angles to be achieved when you are using the stand and the keyboard together. I have found that you can have the set-up as shown in the image below and this is the most conducive for typing and still being able to use the last accessory the Stylo 2.

The Stylo 2 is OnePlus’s take on a Stylus for its tablet lineup. As far as I am aware it will only work on Pad 2 as there was a different Stylo for the original Pad. The Stylo 2 will not work on the OnePlus Open internal display as far as I have been advised. I have not had the chance to test this so your mileage may vary. The Stylo 2 has got an internal battery that will recharge wirelessly when you “dock” the Stylo 2 on the top right-hand edge of the screen.
The Stylo 2 will also detect up to 16,000 levels of pressure to allow you to get the pressure of the screen just right when drawing and writing. When writing the Stylo 2 will vibrate ever so slightly to recreate the feel of using a pencil on paper. It can also be used as a laser pointer when being used in conjunction with a presentation. For the most part I have been using the Stylo 2 as a mouse-style device as I find that I can get a slightly higher level of accuracy with it.

I have tried to do some drawing with it but I am by no means an artist so I decided to skip this test. One thing I did like is that I was able to use the Stylo to take notes with the screen off. previously this has been something I have only found on Samsung kit so it is a nice feature to see here. How much I would use this in my day-to-day life is still up for debate.

Normally I would now go into the camera section of a review but, I am not going to give it much time here as let’s be honest no one will use the camera for taking photos as you don’t want to be that person.

The rear camera is a 13MP sensor which will record video at up to 4K at 30fps. It also has EIS on board as well if you really want to use it for photos/video when moving. Here are some pictures from the rear camera for your viewing pleasure.

Not too shabby I am sure you would agree but not something I would use to capture photos with unless I had no other option.

What is more important and will be vastly more useful is the front-facing camera which is an 8MP sensor that will record at up to 1080p 30fps and also includes EIS. The front camera is also used for Face Unlock but this is just regular 2D Face Unlock not the depth-sensing 3D version. This does mean that it doesn’t pick up a lot of the time which is a bit annoying. Facial recognition is the only biometric unlock option here as there is no fingerprint sensor. I do feel that this is a bit of a miss but for most people, it won’t bother them.

I also included a few images from the front camera as well as a quick video clip to show what video calls would be like.

Really if you want to get photos onto your pad 2 the best way is to take them on another device and then transfer them either through the OneTouch Transmission option (taping the NFC point on the keyboard if you have it) or using nearby share.

Now moving to the software lets see what makes Pad 2 tick under the shiny hardware skin.

Software

The software is very what we have to come to know from OnePlus. We have got Android 14 on board with Oxygen OS 14.1 UI over the top. As far as UI’s go this is one of the better ones especially as OnePlus has brought the excellent Open Canvas elements across from the OnePlus Open.

Open Canvas makes multitasking on a large-scale device like a foldable or a tablet a much more fluid and enjoyable experience. It allows you to expand the useable desktop space virtually by having windows that can be slid out of sight until needed. It also supports the normal Split screen functions that you would expect but has the added benefit of having up to 3 active apps at any one time.

I have included a few screenshots below so you can get an idea of what it looks like.

As you can see you can have the apps appear as 3 normal size apps side by side and you can switch between them as above. Pinching in with 4 fingers on the screen will give you an overview mode as well.

Or you can have one full-screen app with the others sitting just below the main app but still easily accessible.

What I found really cool is that if you are using something like YouTube then it will continue playback while you can be using another app. The only time I couldn’t get this to work was when I had two apps trying to play media at the same time which is understandable. i have found this really useful whilst writing this review as it has allowed me to have the OnePlus page open for reference and the WordPress app running alongside it in addition to having my Gmail app open as well. You can also fully interact with the apps even when they are in the overview view which is awesome to see.

Here is a quick screen recording of the app switching in action.

Pretty sweet I think.

However, there are other quite cool software tricks in the OnePlus Pad 2, I am of course talking about the previously mentioned OneTouch Transmission function. This allows you to use the NFC on the Smart Keyboard to initiate a screen-sharing mode on the Pad 2 with a compatible OnePlus Phone. However, screen sharing is just one fo the things that it can do. Once the process has started and the phone is being displayed on your Pad 2 you can then use the Pad 2 to control every aspect of your phone in a window. You can use this “phone ” to interact with any of your apps and even use it to make calls and share the data connection with the Pad 2. I’ll be honest this last one I was never able to get to work probably due to an error on my part but the functionality is there. I was however able to use it to transfer files from the phone to the tablet which was extremely useful during the course of this review.

I am sure this can also be done without the use of the Smart Keyboard but it is not going to be as smooth an operation as it would be just tapping the NFC point on the keyboard to initiate it.

Here is what the Phone looks like when shared with the Pad 2.

Other than these two features you have got a fairly regular Android 14 tablet and all the goodness that comes from that along with the weaknesses. Android as an OS has never fully embraced the tablet form factor as much as the likes of iPadOS which is a shame as there are some very good tablets on the market now including this one. if Google is serious about large format devices and making Android into a multiplatform OS then they need to get more apps designed with Tablets in mind. There are still too many apps that just scale up to be a big phone UI on a tablet which gives the user a poor experience. being an Androdi tablet user for many years and now a foldable user I have learned to live with these issues but it is not enticing for newcomers.

There is however one major omission from the OnePlus Pad 2 software suite and this is a “desktop mode”. We have seen the likes of Honor, Samsung and Huawei (even after the Google Mobile Services ban) implement their own version of a desktop mode for use when you have a keyboard connected to your tablet and it can make things a lot more useable for power users. Again I have learned how to navigate around the pitfalls of Android on Tablets and things like Open Canvas certainly go a long way to help with this but the key phrase in that sentence is “learned”. A new user shouldn’t have to learn how to do these things it should be intuitive. The Chromebook experience can run on the same processor as the ones we have on tablets and it would be awesome to see this being implemented on tablets that have the powerful enough chipsets to do it. The OnePlus Pad 2 is certainly one of these devices. However, I have gone a bit off-topic, back to what we do have today.

The use of AI in the software is not something that has been missed by the Pad 2 and it is as present here as it was on the Oneplus Nord 4 that I recently reviewed. You have got the same SmartSidebar as found on the phone and this allows quick access to tools depending on what app you are in and also to multitasking. AI Eraser is present in the Photos App and is effective at doing so.

You also have AI doing its thing in the Notes app where it will allow you to carry out a voice recording whilst the Pad2 will transcribe what is said into Notes for you to use later as required. Currently, this is limited to English and Chinese only. there are more AI features to come in the form of AI Toolbox in Q4. How much of this will be used in the day-to-day I can’t be sure but at least we know it is already here or coming soon. Before we leave AI though I am sad to see that OnePlus has not embraced what Google has made available in the form of Circle to Search and Googles other goodies like Live Translate and Generative Wallpapers or example. to be fair a lot of Googles new AI features are limited to Samsung and Pixel devices at the time of writing so it is not surprising that we have not seen them on a OnePlus device yet.

Overall despite my early rant about the state of Android on tablets (which to be fair is not the fault of OEM’s like Oneplus), I am very happy with the software that I am presented with on the OnePlus pad2 and it has been a joy to use it for the past few months.
Conclusion

So it has come to the time where I need to gather my thoughts and try to answer the question I posed at the beginning of this review. IS the OnePlus Pad 2 a suitable laptop replacement?
Quick answer No it is not.
Long answer yes but with caveats and a learning time.

I dont think that the OnePlus Pad 2 can replace your laptop outright for all your needs especially if you use any pro tools at all. But then the same can be said of things like Chromebooks, or the latest laptops to feature Snapdragon chipsets in them. If you are not someone who needs programs (I deliberately called them that) and can make do with Apps then the OnePlus Pad 2 may work for you just as well as some of the lighter computing alternatives i.e. Chromebooks. I have been able to get a lot of the reviews for both the Pad 2 and the Nord 4 written on the Pad 2. It has been my lighter-weight travelling computer when I have been away from home and I have even used it for a bit of gaming on the side. The OnePlus pad2 is a powerful and productive mobile computer that could potentially fill the needs of a lot of people over a laptop and it is also a significantly cheaper cost.

However with all that being said, there is another threat looming for tablets and that is the emerging foldable market for me that is where I will be planting my flag into moving forward as it gives me my dream two-in-one device which ticks the vast majority of the boxes for what a tablet used to do especially as I lent towards the smaller tablet like the Nexus 7 and the iPad Mini, My Pixel 9 Pro Fold is the same size as these when unfolded and is a phone size when folded.

It is incredibly expensive though and if money is an important factor then a separate tablet like the OnePlus Pad 2 and high-end mid-ranger like the excellent OnePlus Nord 4 would be worth looking into.

Just remember that this combination even with the accessories is less than the cost of a folding phone and some may say more practical…..

Check out the OnePlus Pad 2 on the OnePlus website now for the latest offers

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I have already covered the hardware extensively in my unboxing post that went out the day the phone was announced. If you missed this or want to refresh your memory then I would recommend checking it out.

So now that you are all caught up let’s dive into the key features that distinguish this phone from the masses.

Hardware

There are some elements of this phone that I feel I need to highlight in the hardware department as they not only separate the phone for the wealth of midrange devices on the market but they also make this phone unique in the industry for the moment.

The first one I want to talk about is of course the materials that have been used to make the phone.

The phone is unique in this first aspect as it is (at least at the time of release) the only 5G-enabled smartphone that has a metal back panel which has been made possible by the use of a new antenna design.

This makes for a phone that has stood up well over the last month or so while it has been getting used. I have in fact suffered from the fate that every phone user fears. I dropped the phone when working on a server rack and it fell from the middle of the rack so about 3 to 4 feet onto a concrete floor. Now if this had been my Pixel 8 Pro then this would have potentially been a disaster as it hit the floor quite hard on one of the corners, not only that but it hit a few different levels on the way down. I am certain it would have broken the screen on the Pixel and done significant damage to the back. I dread to think what I would have done to my Pixel Fold!

The Nord 4 though came out of the ordeal relatively unscathed. It had a few dents and one significant indent on the upper left-hand corner which can be seen in the image below.

The next aspect of the hardware is the new antenna design I mentioned above. Now whilst this is not visible as it is under that glorious metal body it works very well. It is claimed that the design actually allows the casing to be utilised as a means to boost signal strength. Whilst I can’t actually test I’m this for certain I have found that I do get better signal strength than the Pixel devices I regularly use as my daily drivers. It also seems to be quicker to regain the signal when I do lose it which is something that OnePlus were very keen to talk about at their press event.

Next up is the display, this display is very very good and gets plenty bright in direct sunlight with a maximum brightness of 2150 nits when using auto brightness. It was perfectly usable under the glaringly bright Greek sunshine and when using it with sunglasses on everything was still perfectly legible.

I have not been able to test the touch response when the screen is wet as was shown in the keynote by a friend of the site JP. I do not doubt that this tech works but I will be honest I have not needed to test this yet as it has not rained very much in the last month. I also don’t want to deliberately put the phone in that scenario despite the IP rating that the phone has of IP65. The one thing I can say is that it works with sweaty fingers absolutely fine but it can get a bit slippery when things get sweaty!

Another hardware plus is the way that the phone feels in the hand. I just love how slim this device is. I also love the squared-off edges and the confidence that the metal construction offers when in the hand. The phone just feels well-built without feeling like a tank(which it is as seen above). When you pick it up and the back is cold you appreciate the feeling of the cold back. However, when it is being used intensively this can be a negative as it can get a bit hot especially when the camera is being used a lot. I did also find that the phone will absorb the ambient heat very quickly and it can take a bit of time to cool down. Whilst this made things a bit toasty I was not experiencing any significant drop in performance during these times, it’s just harder to hold on too! I have to say that back in the UK, I have not had these issues but then again I have not been pushing the phone with continuous camera use etc.

The phone’s speakers are also surprisingly good and more than adequate for playing YouTube clips and listening to podcasts. I have predominantly been using the phone with OnePlus Nord Buds 3 Pro though but when I have not had them to hand I have been very impressed. The speaker setup is your traditional bottom-firing loudspeaker with a front-facing earpiece. Whilst it is not as advanced as some setups it works well and there is okay separation on both channels.

That brings me into the alert slider which is a very handy feature and one that I love to see. Whilst it is no longer a unique feature to OnePlus as it has now been seen in some form on other devices (Vivo X Fold 3 Pro), it is something that I think every phone should have and credit to OnePlus for keeping it there as it is so easy to use to quickly change your sound profiles. It also makes for a great thing to fidget with!

Moving away from the hardware to the area always blurs the line between the performance.

Performance

A lot of this is driven by the hardware and I don’t follow the use of benchmarks as I prefer to experience the way the phone works day to day and gauge it on that.

In terms of battery life for me at least this is easily a two-day phone in my normal use case. If I was really hammering it then I could get the Nord 4 to dip below 20% before bedtime but that was very rare.

In terms of daily performance and app opening speed, I have not found there to be any real issues here at all as the apps work exactly as expected with no slowness that I could perceive especially when I have compared this to the likes of my Pixel devices and other phones that I have around me at the moment. I have been able to test it using the GPS for sustained periods and it was perfectly adequate for this even when using it on battery.

The ability of the phone to hold multiple apps open in RAM is very impressive which is again hardly surprising given that the phone comes with 16GB of RAM in the version I have. Even if you were to go for the version with 12GB of RAM, I don’t think you would ever be left wanting more as the Oxygen OS is very good at keeping on top of RAM demands. I was able to keep more than enough apps open in the background without them reloading for my normal use. I think the most I had open at one time that I was able to count was 40+ after which I stopped counting! This included a mix of games, streaming services, weather, maps and heavy hitters like Google Photos. So I think it is fair to say that you can have a substantial app load out if required. The RAM extends to more than just that though as it is a core component of the ability to multitask. Whilst this is not something I tend to do much on slab phones you can of course take advantage of some split-screen action if you want to. An example of this is shown below where I have had the Calendar app and the Booking .com app open at the same time. You have the apps sit one on top of the other as you would expect and you can also swap the app’s position by tapping the three dots in the middle. Whilst I have stated this is not something I tend to use on slab-style phones (I use it a lot on tablets and folding phones) it is helpful to have and to know that the phone can cope with it.

So we have covered the battery and multitasking the other big areas are gaming performance and heat build-up. Let’s cover the heat first.

This is one area where I have found that the phone did present some issues. I do want to add some context here though. I was predominantly using this phone in ambient temperatures of more than 30 degrees while I was doing the majority of my camera testing as I was away from the UK at the time. When I was using the camera intensively I did find that the phone was getting a tad warm. Now whilst this is not unusual for phones to get hot when using the camera it got uncomfortably warm. It was not only while I was using the camera though. I was finding that even using the phone for web browsing and doom scrolling on social media it was getting a bit toasty. The good news is that when I have been back here in the UK I have not had the same level of heat build-up, however, if I am being totally honest I have not been using the camera as intensively either. I think the issue is that the metal casing of the phone effectively becomes the phone’s heat sink and is being used to dissipate the heat. This can cause it to be uncomfortable. Don’t get me wrong I have experienced similar heat build-up on other devices (mainly my Pixel Fold), but I was just wanting to make you aware that if you are in a warmer climate than the UK then you may see this issue yourself.

That leads me to performance. I did not have the occasion to do any gaming testing whilst I was on holiday but if I have been using it for some light gaming in the evening since I returned from holiday and in the games I tested the max frame rates were being reached with ease and the phone did remain reasonably cool during longer sessions as well. I was playing Asphalt Unite for about 20 mins without any significant overheating and the games were running on max settings throughout.

It looks like the new Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 chip and the associated Adreno graphics are well-suited for this level of device. To be honest these days you will be hard-pressed to find a modern chipset that struggles with much of what can be done in terms of gaming performance on Android. Until we start seeing the Triple AAA games that Apple are introducing to the iPad/iPhone then we won’t need to worry about gaming chops yet.

Next up is the software.

Software

I have already indicated that the phone is running a skin over the Android core and this is called Oxygen OS. The version is 14.1 and the underlying Android version is Android 14. OnePlus has promised updates for the phone’s core OS for 4 versions of Android and security updates for 6 years Whilst this is not the same level as we are now starting to see from Samsung and Google this will take your devices up to Android 18 which is pretty good going. To be honest, by that stage, the phone will probably need to be replaced due to component wear and tear. That being said another claim being made is that the battery will maintain its peak health for 4 years as well due to the Battery Health Engine. OnePlus has also tested under TUV Rheinland conditions that the Software will remain fluent for up to 6 years. This is all part of OnePlus’s Fast and Smooth promise, only time will tell how long this will stay true but the fact that they have backing on the test performed by TUV Rheinland gives me some hope for the accuracy of the claims.

In terms of the software being Fast and Smooth now, I have to say I have not had any reason to find any fault with it. I do like what OnePlus has been able to do with the Oxygen OS UI. Now for those of you who read my reviews often you will know that this is not my normal stance on UI’s and normally I find them to be bloated and annoying. Now don’t get me wrong there is of course some bloat and app duplication here it wouldn’t be a UI from a Chinese manufacturer without it.

Apart from the apps shown in the screenshot above there is not too much other bloat that has been forced onto the device. There are also a few apps that I didn’t end up relegating to the folders of shame as they have actually proved to be useful. An example of this is the new Photos app from OnePlus. This now allows you to pull your images in from Google Photos (my go-to app for images) and view them within the app. In addition to this, it is also where some of the phone’s new AI features are hiding. So we have two new additions to the photos app.

AI Best Face is the first one and this will allow you to correct images from a photo where some of the subjects have perhaps blinked or have their eyes closed. This is an app that sounds like it was made for me and my family as I am constantly having to retake photos of my wife and son when they have their eyes closed or they have blinked at just the wrong moment. Unfortunately, it is an app I have been unable to use as it requires three faces to be seen in the photo for it to work its magic. I guess I just need to get some more friends to be able to test this. I just wanted to add that I have also never been able to use this feature on my Pixel devices either so this is not an issue specifically with OnePlus. Here are some sample images of what should happen.

Next up is AI Clear Face, this will allow again in a groufie image to improve the image by removing blur from the faces in that image. Again this is something I have not been able to test for real as I don’t take many “groufies” but here are some examples again to allow you to see what it looks like.

The last thing that AI will do in the photos app is AI Eraser, which will allow you to remove photo bombers and unwanted actions of an image, it will then fill that missing section with a fresh background to match the rest of the image.

Now this is something I was very keen to try on my photos from my holiday but I was stymied by the phone. So it turns out that AI Eraser will not work on PRO XDR images which is what the camera will default to using to take photos. This meant that whenever I tried to use AI Eraser on an image I had taken it wouldn’t let me unless I had remembered to turn Pro XDR off which needed to be done every time I took a photo! This was very annoying and it meant that I just didn’t edit the photos until I got home and did the edits on my Pixel. The good news is that this now seems to have been resolved since a software update as I am now able to use AI Eraser on any image I wish to.

Pretty impressive I am sure you agree. That is not all the AI will do though as it has a few more tricks up its sleeve but these two are some of the most visible ones. The AI will also allow you to summarize audio recordings from the Recorder App capturing the key points from that recording and transcribing them for future use. This is called the AI Audio Summary.

Another trick is an AI Article Summary which will scan a webpage pull out the relevant and important details from the page and present it in an easier-to-read format.

Next up in the AI arsenal is AI Smart Cutout, You can simply press and hold on an item from an image and it will allow you to use that section of the image somewhere else. For example, I could extract the watch from this image and use it in a document such as a review article!

This is a pretty neat feature and one that I think I may use more going forward.

There is one other big feature that I will mention now even though this is not a phone-based feature it uses the phone. If you are lucky enough to also have a OnePlus Pad or Pad 2 then you can set up a wireless connection between the two devices and drag and drop items between the phone and tablet. This allows for very quick and easy file transfers from one device to the other. It is so easy and quick it is exactly what I just did to move the files above from my phone to the tablet just now.

This is all part of the greater OnePlus Ecosystem and allows the software of different devices to share the same architecture behind the scenes. It is something that Apple and Samsung have been doing for a long time and I am pleased to see that OnePlus have joined the party.

In terms of other things that the software has you have the usual features of a floating sidebar which will house some of your AI functions and this changes depending on what app you are using. This is an example of AI Writer from the Gmail app

You also have the other normal features expected for a OnePlus Android 14 device, such as screen off gestures and Air gestures neither of which I have or intend to ever use as I just don’t find them helpful, with the notable exception of double tap to wake. Honestly, I just thought this was a standard OnePlus feature and couldn’t understand why it didn’t work until I turned it on in the settings menu!

I am quite impressed with the software of the OnePlus Nord 4 so much that I have been jumping in between this and my Pixel Fold almost daily as I really like how it works and feels to use daily.

Next up is the camera

Camera

The camera system on the OnePlus Nord 4 is a relatively simple affair as we have two rear cameras and one front-facing camera. The rear-facing units comprise a 50 MP Sony LYTIA Camera as the main camera which is supported by an 8MP Sony Camera. The front camera is an unbranded 16MP sensor.

In terms of specs these are as follows

Rear Cameras:

•  50 MP Sony LYTIA Camera, f/1.8, 24mm (wide), 1/1.56″, 1.0µm, multi-directional PDAF, OIS
• 8 MP, f/2.2, 112˚ (ultrawide), 1/4.0″, 1.12µm

Front camera

• 16 MP, f/2.4, 24mm (wide), 1.0µm

Both cameras can support a wide variety of shooting modes and both will record at up to 1080p at 30fps if you want higher than that you will need to use the main rear camera which can go up to 4k at 60fps.

I have found that in good lighting conditions, the camera produces some very good images as shown below.

The video is also pretty darn good as well

Here are some close-up shots showing its close-up skills

When things get dark it becomes a little bit tougher for the sensor but it still works remarkably well all things considered. you do start to lose a little bit of detail but the below images were taken in a very dark environment so the camera has down well to pick up what it could.

As for Selfies I have included one with Portrait mode on and with it on at the strongest aperture settings and one without any modes on just normal camera settings.

Here is some low light video as well

You can see that there was some slight distortion there from motion blur but again not too bad a result.

You can see that the portrait mode is quite effective at blurring the background out without messing with the lines of my face too much. It has clipped a few of the extraneous hairs from my very messy bear which may be seen as a good thing to some.

Overall if your expectations are for a good point-and-shoot and you are not going to be using it too much in low light then the Camera setup will be fine for you however if you want a higher-performance camera then I would look at the like of the similarly priced Pixel 7A as it will include the use of Google Advanced Camera Algorithms for in my opinion the best camera experience that is available at the moment.

That wraps my review all that is left now is to draw some conclusions.

Conclusions

First and foremost this is a damn good phone and were I not a specs whore and addicted to Folding phones then I would be more than happy to daily drive this phone. It is solid it is nice hold and is well made. The software has some very nice features and touches and works very well with the rest of the OnePlus ecosystem. There is just enough sprinkling of AI on board to keep it relevant but most of it can be ignored if you want to and from what I can see all of it is included in the price no extra subs are required (unlike Google).

Is it the best value for your money though given its current asking price of £429 for the 12GB RAM and 256GB storage version or£479 for the 16GB RAM and 512GB storage version? Yes if you want the OnePlus experience and all that comes with that, SuperVooc charging at 100w, inter-device connectivity with OnePlus Pad/Pad 2/Go the Alert Slider and the only metal unibody 5G phone currently on the market.

However, if none of these things bother you then, there are other potentially cheaper options available. I am not going to list them here but I have mentioned one in the article above.

If you haven’t considered a OnePlus Nord 4 then it is a phone that is worth taking a look at as I have been very pleased with it and there are always some good deals to be had at the Oneplus website. For example, you can currently get the phone for the prices above which is £50 off RRP and you can choose from either a OnePlus SuperVooc 100W charger or Sandstone Case for free.

Check out the OnePlus Nord 4 at the link here

The post OnePlus Nord 4 – Review – The metal midrange king? is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

Honor has come in strong with their new devices in the Honor 200 series. I have been lucky enough to have the opportunity to use the Honor 200 Pro for the past few weeks and it is now time to start the Review process so without further ado let’s get right into it.
I have already covered a hardware tor and comparison in my Unboxing post.

Hardware
before we get into the individual specs for the device it is time that we pull up a specs list for the phone,

Specs

It is a pretty impressive specs list for a non-flagship tier device. I do however want to single out a few key points on the hardware for further review.

Battery

This is the first thing I wanted to highlight as what Honor is currently doing with its battery technology is incredible. They are managing to squeeze bigger batteries into smaller spaces through the use of their first-generation 5200mAh Silicon-carbon. Not only will this be enough to get you through a full days usage, but it is also capable of recharging very quickly when used with the 100W wired charger. If you are not a fan of wired charging then you are still covered as the Honor 200 Pro can also be charged wirelessly at up to 66W again with the correct wireless charging stand.

I have been able to get through at least a full day of using the phone without the need to charge it up but I have to emphasise this is now the case for most phones I use as a daily device as I am very light on phone use during the day due to the demands of my day job.

Display

The next section I wanted to discuss was the display. Honer seems to be one of the few mainstream OEMs that are still using the curved style display on the edges of the screen. This practice has now been dropped by Google Samsung and OnePlus (at least they have with their Nord 4 devices anyway). I am a fan of the flattened screen edges as it means that you can use it right up to the edge of the display without having to worry about your finger not registering your tap. It also makes fitting a screen protector on the display easier. The screen does come fitted with a screen protector out of the factory and while I would normally remove this in favour of a glass one, that has not been the case here due to the curved edges. It is very hard to find a good quality glass screen protector for curved displays.

Before I leave the display I do want to give a nod to the dual camera array and the associated cut-out that this creates. It has been once again very carefully used for the Magic Capsule function we first saw on the Magic 6 Pro. I know this is a rip-off of Apple’s similar tech but I like it and the fact that it is still offering some limited functions such as media playback info etc.

Back Panel

The next one is a bit strange but I am just loving the back panel for this Honor 200 Pro. I have the Moonlight White variant here and it is glorious to look at however I was lucky enough to see the Ocean Cyan one in person and that is the one I would personally buy with my own money were I going to buy one. I love the texture of the back panel as it gives just the right amount of roughness to provide grip without feeling like sandpaper. The way it catches the light at various different angles, it almost has a mother-of-pearl sheen to it. Added to the fact that the materials used are conducive to allowing wireless charging through the panel, you can see that a lot of engineering has gone into the development of the back panels and this is something I appreciate.

Rear Camera

I am not going to go into the camera software here but I do quickly want to talk about the hardware and more importantly the layout of the cameras within the module. The three cameras used on the Honor 200 Pro are all high-end cameras in their own right. However, when they have been combined in the array in just the correct way allowing for the focal lengths to meet up correctly is one of the key aspects being utilised in the Studio Harcourt software algorithms to allow this phone to produce some stunning portrait shots.

What Honor has had to do is arrange the cameras in a very specific pattern to allow them all to work in harmony. Starting at the top camera we have a 50MP Portrait Main Camera with the following specs:

-1/1.3-inch H9000 ultra-large sensor
-OIS
-4-in-1 with equivalent 2.4 μm large pixel
-2-in-1 motor with 8-wire SMA AF + OIS
-f/1.9 aperture
-7P Lens

Below this is the 50MP Telephoto Camera
-HONOR x Sony IMX856 ultra-large sensor
-2.5x optical zoom
-up to 50x digital zoom
-OIS
-f/2.4 aperture

Finally on the bottom is the 12MP Ultra Wide and Macro Camera
-2-in-1 with wide angle & macro lens
-112° ultra-wide angle
-2.5cm ultra-short focus

All of these cameras work harmoniously with the AI-based algorithms learnt by Honor analysing Studio Harcourt photos in their thousands. using machine learning the AI then learned how to use the individual cameras to create the perfect portraits for three distinct camera modes Harcourt Vibrant, Harcourt Colour and Harcourt Classic.

Each mode has its character and subtlety about the produced image. I will delve into these images further in the camera section of the review though.

Air Gesture

Another camera-driven function is one that I had skimmed over initially but having now set it up I can genuinely see how it would be useful for me. The ability to use your phone via air gesture for basic navigation is very cool albeit a bit gimmicky. This uses the front-facing cameras (yes there are two) to construct a rough 3D image of your hand and the phone can then interpret certain gestures to allow tasks like scrolling up or down or switching a page in an ebook. You can also use it to go through your images in the Honor Gallery app if you use this.

An elegant feature to have but not an everyday one I think.

The above things are the key highlights for me in terms of the hardware that you can see and interact with however I do also want to quickly mention the Chip that is being used to power this portrait shooting phone. Inside the phone we have a Snapdragon 8s Gen 3, this is the first time I have had the chance to use one of these chips and I am impressed. To the average user, you would not know that this is any different from the flagship chip in the form of the 8 Gen 3. I myself would have struggled to tell you of any significant differences. The key difference between the two chips is that the 8s is dialled back a bit from the 8 and that it uses a slightly slower CPU clock speed of 3000Mhz in the 8s Gen 3 vs 3300Mhz in the 8 Gen 3.

What this means in reality is that the phone is slightly slower across the board and if you are using it for graphically intensive activities such as gaming or video rendering then you will notice a slight drop in performance over its more powerful brethren. In the testing i performed i saw no such issue but hen i am also not the biggest gamer in the world so it is hardly surprising that I didn’t notice anything. (ED Note I have also used the latest SD 7 Gen 3 in the OnePlus Nord 4 and saw no significant issues there either).

In summary, unless you are trying to edit hours worth of 4K video and doing hours of AAA gaming without taking any breaks then you will not have any problem with this phone in terms of processing power at all. That takes me nicely to the next section which is the performance

Performance

Measuring the performance of a phone means many different things to different people. For me, I like to gauge it by a few metrics. How long can I use it before I have to charge? How warm does it get in normal usage? Are my calls clear and crisp? Can I use the phone on my normal day without compromising on anything?

As you can see these are quite subjective, particularly the last one. A typical day for me means that the phone comes off an overnight charge and will then be used for a combination of email and social media. I will normally also add in a bit of light web browsing. I then head out for work and for the most part, the phone will be sat in the van and unused save for notifications that are pushed through to whatever smart watch I am using (currently a Garmin Epix 2). At lunch there will normally be about a half hour of light YouTube use in a layby or car park in the middle of nowhere so the mobile signal is sometimes sketchy.

In the afternoon it goes back into its dormant state while I finish the rest of the day off. During the main parts of the day, it is rare for me to get or indeed make any calls but it can occasionally happen. I also sometimes use the phone for SatNav but this will be via wired Android Auto so it is charging anyway. In the evening it will be again used for surfing the web more social scrolling and YouTube (over Wifi). It is not unusual for me to end the day with more than 50% battery in most phones these days. I will then rinse and repeat this cycle for the next day until at the end of that day I will then need to charge my device up.

The TLDR version is I am a light user 99% of the time. When I attend a press event that changes to an intensive user I can normally chew through a full charge before dinner time!!

So with that in mind am I able to use the Honor 200 Pro without compromising my normal day, Absolutely yes I am, the phone will get me through a normal day of use with plenty left in the tank and I have been known to stretch this out to two full days especially when working. I was recently on holiday and even then I was able to get a full day’s usage out of it and that was whilst using it for a lot of photos, videos and sat nav use even with the ambient temps being in the 30 deg+ ranges.

That brings me to the next performance concern. Will it overheat and become too hot to handle? I am pleased to say that even whilst using it as a sat nav and roaming the phone was never a temperature where I would call it uncomfortable. Slippy yes, but not uncomfortable! I was able to capture the photographic delights of the Lindos Acropolis in Rhodes without any issue which is more than can be said for my son who gave up once we had climbed to the top and missed the best view of the pillars.

In answer to my final question as I have already mentioned I have been able to get through a normal day with the phone lasting over 16 hrs sometimes with no real issues. If you wish to find out more about the battery drain and how it compares to other devices then please watch this video by Ben from Lover of Tech as he is best at what he does for battery testing vids. Also if you like this sort of testing then give Ben a Like and Subscribe as I am sure he would appreciate it.

That concludes my performance assessment of the Honor 200 Pro. This is a phone that will perform perfectly adequately in all but the most extreme of conditions. I am hardly surprised given the components that have been utilised on the device as they are all sitting just below the flagship tier and they are certainly premium components.

Camera
What Honor has done with the 200 Pro is truly an exemplary example of what can be done when AI and machine learning are applied correctly. The use of machine learning to analyse the Studio Harcourt process. Capturing unique and classical style portraiture has taken what is capable of AI to another level
As a result, the end user is now able to utilise, the three Studio Harcourt photography modes available, by the toggle in the camera settings. To emulate what can be done by a DSLR camera.

How you enable this mode is extremely simple. Enter the camera, select portrait and then select the Studio Harcourt mode that you require You then point and shoot and the AI will work its magic in the background to help create a unique style of portrait shots that previously would have taken some real skill to create.

I am extremely impressed with the portrait shots that this camera has been able to catch.

However, This camera is more than just a portrait shooter. For close-up photos, the macro mode works to a satisfactory level. And for anything under 10 times zoom you can get good photographs. With good colour representation and accuracy.

Unfortunately, once you go beyond 10 times, things get messy and the digital cropping. Unfortunately, as a negative effect. The further away zoomed shots. This is shown in the photograph of the cathedral here in Milan where I have tried to zoom in on the Statute at the very top and all I was able to get was a bit of a blurry mess.

In terms of video quality, I have captured a few shots of video. You can see the results for yourself these were unusual for me to capture in portrait as opposed to landscape. But I think, I guess the message across Overall, I have been pretty pleased with the camera performance.

And, I think this will serve as a good camera for the intended Market which is in my opinion is 20 to 30 somethings. Who are interested in using their photography for the likes of social media and some vlogging capabilities. This is again, showcased by the fact that you have the Dual video functionality built into the camera as has been the case with every Honor number series device since the Honor 70 was released a few years ago.

Here are some shots that I have taken with the camera over the last few weeks on my travel both to Milan and Rhodes.

Software
In terms of software. The Honor 200 Pro is very similar to what we have seen before from the likes of the Honor Magic 6 Pro S and also the previous, the preceding Honor devices, Honor Magic UI is a middling skin, it isn’t too aggressive but it also does add certain functionalities.
One thing I do, find slightly annoying that it does add is there is a lot of app duplication here which, Creates an unnecessary deluge of apps.

I have enclosed a screenshot below showing the amount of pre-installed apps that come from the factory. These can all be deleted, but it is annoying that you have to do that.

In terms of AI Honor has enabled some AI functionality. However, there is a distinct lack of Google’s inbuilt AI functions.

On this phone. For example, there is no Circle to Search which is something that I do tend to use when I’m using my Pixel devices most days and The recording to notes function of Google’s recorder app on Pixel devices is another function that I am missing. However, that being said, If you are comfortable using Honors UI, then there will be no drastic changes here.

Some people have criticised Honor in the past for having a cartoon-like element to their user interface. But, That is something that I think is just being super critical. The interface is pleasing to the eye and it can be themed via the owner theme store. And there is a good selection of free themes in there if you don’t want to pay for them.

For the most part, Honor has improved their UI over the years. But, I would still like to see less bloatware and app duplication than we are seeing here. I think that will create a much cleaner and more user-friendly experience overall.

Conclusion

The Honor 200 Pro is a great device that has focused heavily on it’s camera skills, which is a good thing as it does work very well as. Camera particularly in close quarters. That being said it is by no means a one trick pony as it is a component phone for gaming and never let me down on the performance side of things. Whilst it is not quite flagship tier, it is so close that it is actually difficult to class it’s position in the brands lineup.

I see it this way, if you want the top of the line flagship specs then you have the Honor Magic 6 Pro which is a great phone from the limited time I had with it. However if you don’t need the top of the line in terms of specs and want to focus on the camera and particularly portraits then the Honor 200 Pro is a solid buy.

Just remember that the Ocean Cyan one looks the best!

You can buy the Honor 200 Pro from the Honor store right now for £599 but make sure to check for discounts as these appear regularly.

The post Honor 200 Pro, The portrait master, does it meet the hype? – Review is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

Good Points:-

• Amazing Battery Life
• USB Type C charging
• Waterproof IPX 7 Rating
• 360 Suround Sound
• Stereo Paring of 2 devices
• Bluetooth 5.3
• Waterproof

Bad Points:-

• No 3.5mm aux cable included in the box.
• Only one colour available

The Tribit Stormbox 2 takes all the good points of the original Stormbox and improves them even further , for example USB Type C charging and more powerful at 34 Watts, it comes, 360° sound, and  the ability to pair 2 storm box speakers together to give you that full room stereo surround sound.

In the box, you get a simple user manual. The USB type A to type C charging cable and the speaker itself,  Taking a look at the speaker itself. This is definitely a simple but nice looking speaker,It’s not too heavy, but does have a good heft to it, which is always a good thing.

There are 3 very large buttons on the front meaning you can easily control your music with them. be it play pause track forward track back or volume up-and-down.  All around the speaker is a fabric mesh material, which gives the Stormbox a premium feel in the hand.

Round the back  is where you have all your buttons power button Bluetooth button X based button, which is basically a base boost, and then you have your link, button so you can connect more than one speaker. Lower down down you have a waterproof flap and inside of this, you have your Auxiliary port and USB C charging port

Diving into the audio specifications The Stormbox 2 has a total of 34 W,  it has 248 mm full range drivers as well as 2 passive radiators one on the top and one on the bottom  they’re encased in a rubber shock system, that easily handles all the vibrations as you crank up the volume.

There is a slight Ark on the base, so when you’re listing into it, you could place it on its side, or upright as well and it’s not going to interfere with the bottom radiator. As far as connectivity goes this has Bluetooth 5.3 which compared to older Bluetooth versions, will give you better range, better battery life and better quality, according to the specs, this also has up to 150 feet of range.

those two channels on both ends vibrate quite a bit to give the bass response and the “oomph” that you feel as it pushes the air about. Yes, it’s good, yes it’s fun to experience, but there’s also a crisp treble and detailed mid response too. It’s a great all-rounder.

You can control the StormBox 2 via the Tribit app, which enhances your listening experience. While you can’t turn the speaker on remotely, the app offers equalizer presets, including ‘Audiobook,’ ‘Classical,’ ‘Rock,’ and ‘Jazz.’ Additionally, you can customize the EQ and toggle the ‘XBass’ mode on or off.

The StormBox 2 lives up to its self-proclaimed portability. It’s easily held in one hand, lightweight, and won’t take up much space in your bag or backpack. As for water-resistance, it’s rated IPX7, which means it’s more than sufficient for protection against water. However, it hasn’t been specifically tested against dust, hence the “X” in IPX7.

The speaker also  allows you to take calls using its built-in microphone, whether you’re at home or on the go. While the clarity might be better when using your phone or computer alone, having this feature is a bonus, especially considering its price point. As for design, although it shares similarities with the original StormBox, the upgraded feel—thanks to the fabric and indented buttons—gives it a more premium vibe compared to its plasticky predecessor.

The sound from this speaker was better than a normal speaker of the same size. The bass was really good, and the battery life was better than expected. It’s a great design and you can also get a couple of these and daisy chain them together to enjoy an amplified sound.

The Stormbox 2 is available from Amazon UK for £62.99 or Tribit Direct for $67.99 

Conclusion:-

It sounds great, it’s really easy to use and navigate, plus it’s a solid and well-built product which did really well in our tests. I liked how rugged but how sleek it looked, and it’s a really good product for the price.

The post Tribit Stormbox 2 – Bluetooth Speaker – Review is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

The first is the unboxing of the OnePlus Pad 2 along with the OnePlus Smart Keyboard and the OnePlus Stylo 2.

This is the successor to the OnePlus Pad which came out last year and at the time of writing is the most powerful Android tablet on the market with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip powering it. Alongside this chip we have got 256 GB of Storage and 12 GB of RAM.

It has a very crisp and vibrant screen with 3K resolution from a 12.1″ diagonal LCD panel that is capable of up to 900 nits in brightness. The tablet follows a similar design to last years however now comes in a more toned down Slate gray colour way. We still have the centrally mounted 13 MP rear camera when the device is being held in landscape. This is very much the way the tablet is designed to be used which is also reinforced by the fact that the front facing 8MP camera is situated in the middle of the top edge of the device.

The OnePlus Smart keyboard is significantly different in design to the previous gen as it now has an extra row of tools along the top room of the keyboard and it has a bigger track pad area. One other major improvement is the fact that you can use the keyboard when it is not physically connected to the device via a Bluetooth connection. This is very useful as you can set the tablet up in a standing position using the magnetically attached back stand, which can fold to a variety of angles from near vertical to almost flat allowing a good range of adjustability. I am actually using the Smart Keyboard to write this article whilst on holiday in Rhodes! This combination of the OnePlus Smart Keyboard and the powerful Pad 2 does make it possible for this to be the “laptop replacement for mobile work” that I have been looking for since I had to give up Xperia Z4 Tablet many years ago due to it no longer being supported by updates.

The last piece of the tablet based kit is the OnePlus Stylo 2, which as the name suggests is the stylus based input for the Pad 2 and it is very good from the limited use I have given it so far. I have found that the accuracy of the pen on the screen is very good and when I have used it for writing notes the tracking works very well with the accompaniment of some audible feedback that makes it sound like you are writing on paper. There is also just enough resistance on the display so that it feels like you are getting some feedback. The Stylo 2 is capable of detecting up to 16000 levels of pressure which is more than I could ever discern!

All of this makes for a really easy to use mobile workstation, there are of course limitations but I will cover this more in the full review as for now this is merely a first impressions post.
OnePlus Watch 2R and the OnePlus Nord Buds 3 Pro.

Next up we have got the OnePlus Watch 2R and the OnePlus Nord Buds 3 Pro.

This video is a combo of the two in one as they are accessories but they do deserve some airtime in their own right.

OnePlus Watch 2R

This is the update to the extremely well received OnePlus Watch 2 which I previously reviewed for the site and was very impressed with. Again this is not going to be a full review but I have got an unboxing video below for your viewing pleasure.

In the above video I unbox both the Watch 2R and the OnePlus Nord Buds 3 Pro I have been using the Watch 2R as my daily watch since the moment I unboxed it and as I mentioned above I am currently on Holiday in Rhodes and this has been performing extremely well during this time. I have been putting it through its paces and testing the water resistance which has been awesome. I have not been particularly kind to the watch as I have been using it in the sea and in swimming pools and it has barely skipped a beat.

I have still got some further testing to do before I form my final review thoughts. I will try and test it up against my Garmin Epix 2 that I have been driving daily for the past month or so. This will give me a true idea of its accuracy in terms of health metrics but so far I have been very impressed with the overall package.

Next up and last but by no means least are the new OnePlus Nord Buds 3 Pro

OnePlus Nord Buds 3 Pro

These have been in use a lot since I received them as they have been my headphones of choice for my trip.

They are comfortable and provide very good and adequate noise cancellation and can wear them for a sustained period of time which makes them amazing for traveling.

Yes they are a bit more basic in terms of functionality than the Google Pixel Buds Pro that I normally rely on exclusively but it is entirely possible that these may end up being my go to earphones for the future.

iF you want to find about any more about any of the specs or prices for the above products then please check out the OnePlus website.

I have included a gallery of some other pictures of the devices below if you want a closer look at them.

OnePlus Pad 2

OnePlus Watch 2R

OnePlus Nord Buds 3 Pro

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

Honor has worked alongside Studio Harcourt utilising the power of AI to analyse thousands of photographs to “learn” how to use some of the pillars of of the Studio Harcourt process to allow your phone to capture the very best portrait images with ease. Having experienced this in a relatively controlled environment, I was very keen to get the phone into a normal atmosphere to allow me to really use it in anger. 

So without further ado let’s look at the phone in all its glory.

Hands-on video

Display

The display measures 6.78″ and is a Quad-Curved Floating AMOLED display covered in Aluminosilicate glass for protection. This screen is purportedly as tough as Gorilla Glass and Honor is claiming that the glass is extremely scratch-resistant. The screen has a resolution of  FHD+ 2700×1224 and an aspect ratio of 19.85:9. The screen will also output up to 4000 nits during peak brightness whilst watching HDR content. It has a colour gamut of DCI-P3 and its Delta E is 0.27. Lastly, it has a refresh rate of 120Hz and is DXI Gold mark certified.

Before I move away from the screen one last thing for those of you who are sensitive to PWM. The 200 Pro screen has a PWM frequency of 3840Hz which has been flicker-free certified by TUV Rheinland

On the top of the phone, we can find a couple of different things. The most prominent thing here is the upward-firing speaker grill which allows the sound to be pushed out to the side when you are using the phone for gaming, music or video viewing. The good news is it does really help and is not just a gimmick. Next to this, we have a a good old Honor favourite in the form of the IR blaster allowing you to control various IR compatible kit. Next to this is one of the various pinhole mics around the phone.

On the right-hand side of the phone is where we find the power/sleep/wake button, which as is the norm now can be doubled up as an assistant button. The volume rocker sits above this. The buttons are positioned in a way that they fall under the right-hand thumb nicely, it is a bit more awkward if you are left-handed though but this is quite normal in the phone world unfortunately.

On the bottom of the phone, we have got the USB Type-C port which will support USB 2.0 and more importantly up to HONOR 100W SuperCharge with a compatible charger (not included in the box, but currently being included as a gift when you buy the phone from Honor direct). We also have the downward firing speaker which like the one on the top of the phone works well. on the other side, we find another pinhole microphone and the Micro SD card slot which has a waterproof gasket on the inside to aid with the IP rating of the phone.

The left-hand side is void of anything at all not even an antenna break line. An interesting note here is that there are no visible antenna lines on the frame exterior which is nice to see and a nice nod to design simplicity.

On the back, we have a very pretty design which is inspired by the moonlight on the Moonlight White version we have here. On the Ocean Blue version, the phone has a wavelike pattern which resembles a meandering coastline. The final colour version is simple called Black to represent simple serenity. We have also got the camera module which contains three camera elements including a 50MP Portrait Main Camera, a 50MP Telephoto Camera, a 50MP Portrait Selfie Camera. net tot his is a dual-lens flash module. The camera module’s shape has been inspired by Guadi’s Cass Mila of Barcelona.

In terms of the profile below is the Honor 200 Pro being compared to the Google Pixel 8 Pro. You can see that the phone is very slim (8.2mm excluding camera bump) This is accentuated by the use of the curved screen and it makes for a comfortable feel in the hand. However, this curved edge screen does also have its downside mainly in that it can make the phone feel like it is going to slip out your hand. There is a reason why we are seeing a trend back towards flat screens again.

Again another comparison here with my Pixel 8 Pro which is on the right. you can see that the Honor 200 Pro is marginally narrower. It is also interesting to see the scaling of the displays at work here both these phones have their scaling and font size at their lowest settings. More on this in the main review though.

I have also added a Samsung device here in the form of the Galaxy A 34 to give a bit more of an idea of sizing.

So that covers my hand-on and unboxing of the phone. I have not included any of the in-box items as this is a review device and typically they don’t come with included accessories however I can confirm that the following items will be included in the box.

1. Phone (Built-in battery) x 1

2. Type-C Cable x 1 (Europe is C2C, other regions are A2C)

3. Quick Start Guide x 1

4. Eject Tool x 1

5. Warranty Card x 1*

6. TP protective film (Attached on the phone before delivery) x 1

The Honor 200 Pro is currently available to buy from the Honor Store. If you want to pick one of these devices up then you can currently get one for £599.99 (down from £699.99) and this will include the HONOR Earbuds X6 and HONOR SuperCharge Power Adapter (Max 100W) for free. Honor will also stand by their screen quality by offering a free 1-year screen replacement policy with a one-time use.

The post Honor 200 Pro – Unboxing is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

In the current mobile tech environment where we have got standard smartphones with displays of bigger than 6 1/2 inches screen size and we also now have the newer book-style folding devices like the Honor Magic V2  and Pixel Fold, do we still need tablets and if so what is there purpose? So this is something I have been wrestling with for quite some time whilst I have been using the Pad Go

I have been fortunate enough to use some of the latest and greatest phones from a variety of manufacturers including the Honor, Google, Samsung and indeed OnePlus. I have used their normal candy bar-style devices and their book-style folding devices. I have been very happy with those devices and in the case of the folding style devices they have become a dual purpose device for me as they can act as phones and tablets simply by unfolding the device. For me, I thought that ticked the boxes for what I would need from a tablet. However just before this review period started I sold my Pixel Fold and I changed to a Pixel 8 Pro. This in turn meant that I did not have that dual functionality device anymore. My timing couldn’t have been better because the Pad Go arrived the day after I made the switch. This meant that for a significant cost saving, I now had a phone and a tablet albeit as two separate devices. Now the true test would be whether will I use them in the same sort of way I used my Pixel Fold.

Typically when I was out and about I would use the Pixel Fold in closed mode and I would limit myself to relatively basic phone functions, quickly skimming emails, on-the-go gaming and some very light media content in the form of either YouTube tube or music playback. When I needed to get more stuff done this is when I would typically unfold the device, for example, if I needed to respond to an email with more than a few lines, if I was editing an image I had taken, reading a PDF or watching a video of more than 10 minutes in length. All of these things I had identified as “tablet mode” tasks. These tasks were simpler on a larger screen and being able to have two apps open at the same time was advantageous. An example is when I was renewing my car insurance as I could be on a live chat at the same time as searching for price comparisons in a web browser.

So now that we have had some background on my uses for a tablet let’s see if the Pad Go can tick the boxes and see if it will work as part of a two-device mobile setup for me. Firstly let’s recap the hardware tour from the unboxing.

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 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 have 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 514 hours 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.

Software

A key area for this tablet to be used in the way I am looking to use it is the ability of the device to work for the “tablet tasks” that I have identified above. the first of these that is important for me is long-form email. I have found that when typing up longer emails in the landscape orientation the keyboard spacing does prove to be a little bit of a stretch for me to thumb type. That being said though if the tablet is supported then I can type reasonably efficiently but it is far from ideal. This is where a keyboard attachment would have been advantageous for me. If I use the tablet in portrait then I can get on a bit better when thumb-typing as the keyboard is a bit more condensed but this is true of all tablets not just the Pad Go. Image editing is another area where having the bigger screen provides for a better experience and this was true for the Pad Go, particularly taking advantage of the fact that Google Photos has been enabled for tablet mode when using the in-built edit function. I can still see the full image and the tools easily as the tooling appears on the right-hand side of the image in a list view as shown in the image below.

Split Screen mode is something I have found to be very useful when using a folding device and I have been trying to use it as effectively on the pad go as well and for the most part it does work just as well. Using the split screen to reference something whilst working in a different app is extremely useful and productive. I will be going to Rhodes in the summer and have been able to do some sightseeing planning on the tablet by using the split screen. Whilst I could easily do this on my Pixel 8 Pro having the ability to have two apps open side by side does make this much easier especially when I want to show this to someone else as the device size is more conducive to doing so.

Media playback is another huge aspect of the tablet experience and I have been using this a lot for that function. I was away doing some training for my new job and having the pad Go with me during this time was a big advantage as I was able to stream Netflix on a screen that was big enough to be enjoyable for long durations in the evening instead of having to make do with watching the in-room TV  which was showing mostly football and reality TV rubbish. Again this is something that could be done on either my phone or Macbook but the Pad Go made the process easier and more flexible as I could take the Pad Go with me if I wanted to indulge in my viewing in the bar or the beer garden. What would have been useful in this scenario is a stand which I don’t have for review but there is one available from the OnePlus Store.

An area where I was hoping that I would be able to use the extra screen real estate was in the writing of this review but unfortunately, as the Pad Go does not have an attachable keyboard cover like the OnePlus Pad this was not a successful endeavour. Unfortunately, the keyboard takes up too much of the screen real estate to be used in this mode and this was enough to stop me from trying to get the review written up on the Pad Go. Admittedly I could have used a Bluetooth keyboard but the lack of a stand and and mouse made this prohibitive to me and it was more practical to use my laptop for this. The hardware deficiency is not the only issue here as this has been an issue with Android and if I recall correctly iPad tablets for some time so the Pad Go is not to blame here. This is one of the reasons I moved to a Chome-based solution the last time I had a tablet. While it is certainly possible to create content using a word processor and then copy this into our chosen platform (WordPress) it is not as fluid as it could or should be.

One nice surprise that I did get when doing this review was that the tablet was updated to Android 14 which is great to see as normally these cheaper tablets get left behind in terms of updates to the core OS. At the time of writing the Pad Go is on Android 14 and the Google Play system update is on the 1 May 2024.

Which is not too bad given that is the same as my Redmagic 9 Pro is, (my Pixel 8 Pro is on the latest beta version of Android 15 so the Google Play System update is a bit out of whack).

The Multitasking is smooth and you can choose to use an app in Picture in Picture mode if you wish as well as the split screen shown mode above.

So overall the Pad Go software is exactly what I was expecting it to be for a mid-range Android tablet. It does not have the extra hardware to support the possibility of being laptop replacement but it does have the benefits of the bigger size which makes it great for web browsing and media consumption whilst travelling or away from home (or just when you are kicked out of the living room).

Gaming is another thing that I have used Tablets for in the past and did use my Pixel Fold for and the Pad Go is perfectly adept at the medium-weight games that I have be playing recently The refresh rate is adequate for all but most intensive games and the brightness is okay for indoor gaming but you will struggle outside under direct sunlight. I tested the Pad Go by playing Asphalt 9 and Grand Mountain and both were fine. I do find that the hardware is a bit too big for my liking and i couldn’t get my Stadia Contoller to pair with the Pad Go correctly but I was still able to get by. It will not replace a dedicated gaming console or handheld by any means but the same can be said for any mid-range Android tablet that is over 10″ in size. I have found that the best-sized device for gaming is around 7″ to 8″ and it seems that the industry is in agreement with me as this is the screen size of the Steamdeck and the Nintendo Switch console.

There is also the Games app which is very useful for configuring your gameplay settings and keeping track of your games on the device.

Next up is the camera,

I will be honest the camera is an addition that I have never really looked to use on a tablet. They are not the best device to take photos with due to their size. However I have taken a few sample shots here to showcase what it can do and it is not terrible but still, the rear camera is for me largely superfluous. Video can be recorded at 1080p and 720p at 30fps as well. Although as you can see from the results below I probably wouldn’t bother if I were you!

The front camera on the other hand is more useful as it will allow the user to use the tablet for video calls etc. It is also not too bad for selfies but i feel that the video call experience has been what has been prioritised here. The camera will record at 1080p or 720p at 30fps. I have enclosed a sample of the video at 1080p below and a couple of static shots as well one with middling bokeh and one without any.

Conclusion

That about finishes up the review so we just now need to wrap things up.

The need for a standalone tablet is in my opinion coming towards an end. I can fill the need for a tablet and a phone in one device now as I have been bitten by the foldable bug in a big way. At the time of writing this, I have just re-bought my Pixel Fold back from the person I sold it to a few weeks ago.  However, not everyone is on board with the foldable phone concept and I can see where it would be useful to have a separate device like the OnePlus Pad Go as a secondary device for use around the house when travelling etc. This is where the Pad Go fits into a use case and it does so very well. However, this is not by any means a high-end device, which is fine as it is not meant to be. if you are looking for a laptop replacement then I would advise looking for a tablet like the OnePlus Pad with a keyboard or any of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 lineup (although be prepared to pay more for these).

I am glad I have had the opportunity to review the OnePlus Pad Go as it has answered a question for me that I had been pondering. Do I need (as someone who uses a folding phone) a standalone tablet? For me, the answer is no but that is because my phone will perform as one and I am happy with the compromises that foldable phones entail. if you prefer your phone to be non-folding but want the extra real estate sometimes then the OnePlus Pad Go would be a very good addition to your kit.

If you want to pick up the Oneplus Pad Go you can do so by going to the OnePlus website where you can get one for £269 and it will come with a free Folio case worth £39.99 included. You can also look at the bigger brother the OnePlus pad which has the option of Stylus use and an attachable keyboard as well.

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

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.

Hopefully, that will demonstrate my point, Please be aware though that this was an extreme scenario and the fan is not normally quite as noticeable during normal gaming use, it would be easily cancelled out with a pair of headphones or by the sound from the game itself, I only bring this up to be thorough. next up we have the shoulder triggers which are a standout feature of the 9 Pro.

• Shoulder trigger buttons,

Unlike some gaming phones that offer generic shoulder buttons, the  9 Pro’s triggers are built for serious gamers. You can map specific in-game actions to each trigger, giving you more control over your gameplay. Imagine using them for aiming and firing in shooters, or activating abilities and spells in MOBA games – all while keeping your thumbs free for movement and other on-screen controls. This frees up valuable screen space and allows for more natural and intuitive control schemes. The 9 Pro doesn’t just offer basic buttons; these triggers boast high accuracy and a satisfying tactile response. This means your in-game actions will register precisely when you press the triggers, minimizing any lag or missed inputs. Not everyone has the same finger pressure. The 9 Pro understands this and allows you to fine-tune the sensitivity of the triggers. This way, you can set them to activate exactly when you want them to, reducing accidental presses during intense gaming moments. The shoulder triggers benefit from the phone’s incredibly high touch sampling rate of 520Hz. This translates to near-instantaneous responses when you press the triggers, further enhancing the feeling of precise control and minimizing any perceivable delay between your action and the in-game response. You can also have the buttons pull double duty as they will work as notifications LEDS when you get an event you need to be notified about.

The 9 Pro’s shoulder triggers are more than just buttons; they’re customizable tools designed to give you a significant edge in mobile gaming by providing a more precise and responsive control experience.

• Display

Mobile gamers will likely be impressed by the 9 Pro’s display, which boasts a combination of features designed to deliver an exceptional gaming experience. The phone’s large 6.8-inch AMOLED screen offers ample space to enjoy even the most visually complex games, while the sharp 2480 x 1160 resolution ensures crisp and detailed visuals. Unlike some displays that use LCD technology, AMOLED displays are known for their rich colours and deep blacks, creating a more immersive and vibrant gaming atmosphere. However, the true strength of the 9 Pro for gaming lies in its refresh rate and touch response. The 120Hz refresh rate means the screen refreshes the image 120 times per second, resulting in noticeably smoother visuals. This is a significant advantage in fast-paced games like shooters or racing titles, where every frame counts and a smooth refresh rate can give you a competitive edge. To complement the high refresh rate, the 9 Pro boasts an incredibly responsive touch screen with a 2000Hz instant touch sampling rate and a 960Hz average touch sampling rate. In layman’s terms, this means the phone can recognize your touch commands near-instantaneously, minimizing input lag. With minimal delay between your touch and the corresponding action on screen, you can react faster and more precisely in-game. Further enhancing the immersive experience is the phone’s under-display camera. Unlike some phones with notches or punch-holes that intrude on the viewing area, the 9 Pro keeps the display uninterrupted. This allows you to enjoy a truly fullscreen view without any obstructions while gaming, maximizing your immersion in your game, although in reality I barely noticed the camera on my other phones so this would not be a major difference to me based on my experience. Brightness is another crucial factor for mobile gamers, and the 9 Pro appears well-suited for various lighting conditions. While exact specifications may vary, some sources claim the screen can reach a remarkable 1600 nits in HDR mode. This means you can comfortably play games outdoors on a bright day or in a dimly lit room without compromising on the visuals. The 9 Pro’s display presents a compelling option for gamers seeking a large, clear, smooth, and responsive experience with minimal distractions. The phone’s combination of a high-resolution AMOLED display, a fast refresh rate, an ultra-responsive touch screen, and an under-display camera creates a feature set specifically tailored to enhance your mobile gaming experience.

• Processor

The 9 Pro’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor throws down the gauntlet for smooth and visually impressive mobile gaming. This cutting-edge chip boasts significant performance improvements over its predecessors, translating to noticeably smoother gameplay in even the most graphically demanding titles. This translates to a competitive edge, especially in fast-paced games where split-second reactions are the difference between victory and defeat. Unlike some phones that struggle to maintain peak performance during extended gaming sessions, the 9 Pro takes a different approach. Its robust cooling system specifically addresses this concern by preventing the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 from throttling. This ensures you can enjoy uninterrupted gameplay with consistent frame rates, allowing you to focus on the game and not on thermal limitations. The benefits of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 extend beyond raw power. It works in perfect harmony with the 9 Pro’s 120Hz display. By enabling the phone to render graphics at high frame rates that match the display’s refresh rate, the processor unlocks the display’s full potential. This translates to a buttery smooth and graphically immersive gaming experience, making every in-game action feel incredibly responsive. Imagine perfectly rendered explosions and lightning-fast character movements coming to life with minimal lag – that’s the kind of visual fidelity the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and 120Hz display combination can deliver. But the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 isn’t just about brute force. It boasts some exciting features that cater specifically to mobile gamers. One such feature is the Snapdragon Game Super Resolution. This technology can upscale the visuals of mobile games to an impressive near-8K quality when connected to a high-resolution monitor through RedMagic Studio. This takes mobile gaming visuals to a whole new level, offering an unprecedented level of detail and sharpness that can further deepen your immersion in the game world. Imagine playing your favourite mobile games on a large monitor with visuals that rival high-end consoles – that’s the potential of Snapdragon Game Super Resolution.

It’s important to consider some potential trade-offs, however. Powerful processors like the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 can drain battery life faster. While the 9 Pro packs a large battery of 6500mAh, extended high-performance gaming sessions might require more frequent charging to keep you powered up throughout the day. Additionally, not all games may be fully optimized to leverage the full potential of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 just yet. However, this is likely to change over time as both game developers and Qualcomm release updates that improve compatibility and performance for this cutting-edge mobile chipset. With ongoing optimization, the  9 Pro with its Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor has the potential to be a future-proof option for mobile gamers who prioritize smooth performance, high frame rates, and support for innovative features.

Camera

The 9 Pro might be a gaming powerhouse, but it doesn’t neglect to capture those winning moments. Let’s delve into what this phone can do in the camera department, A triple-camera system graces the back, with the 50MP main sensor taking the lead. This Samsung GN5 sensor with an f/1.9 aperture excels in bright environments, ensuring crisp and vibrant photos – perfect for commemorating victories, adventures, or casual hangouts. A big upgrade from previous models is the 50MP ultrawide camera with an f/2.2 aperture (courtesy of a Samsung JN1 sensor). Now you can capture those sprawling landscapes or ensure everyone fits in for epic group selfies. Rounding out the trio is a 2MP macro camera for those interesting close-up textures or tiny objects begging to be photographed. The 9 Pro shines when it comes to daylight photography. The main sensor delivers sharp images with accurate colours, making it ideal for outdoor gaming sessions or sightseeing. However, low-light performance might be a bit of a challenge. Photos might show more noise (grain) and reduced details in darker environments. If low-light prowess is a priority, you might want to explore other options. Just like most smartphones, the 9 Pro uses digital zoom to magnify images. Remember, excessive zooming can significantly reduce image quality and introduce blur. Sticking to the phone’s native zoom range will ensure sharper results. The phone boasts a near bezel-less look thanks to the under-display selfie camera. While convenient for casual selfies or video calls, the under-display technology might not deliver the same level of detail and sharpness as the rear cameras – a trade-off for the sleek design.

Overall, the RedMagic 9 Pro’s camera prioritizes usability over professional-grade photography. It delivers good image quality in well-lit conditions and offers versatility with the ultrawide and macro options. If you’re a gamer who wants a phone that captures everyday moments without needing the best low-light camera, the RedMagic 9 Pro is a capable choice. But serious mobile photographers might crave a phone with more advanced camera features.

Here are some sample shots that I have taken on the camera to give you an idea of what the camera can do.

All in all in daylight the shots are pretty good. 

here si a sample of the video recording (this was recorded at 1080p at 60fps but has been downsampled to allow it to be shared via WordPress)

There is a fair bit of camera wobble going on here as I don’t think the stabilization is the best but as you can see I was walking while shooting this clip.

Finally here are some samples of how the camera performs in low light

Software

The 9 Pro avoids cluttering the user interface with unnecessary software, keeping things clean. However, it caters to gamers with a dedicated gaming mode activated by a red slider on the phone’s side. This gaming mode provides a central hub to customize and fine-tune various settings to optimize your gaming experience. I have included some shots of the gaming mode UI below to give you an idea of what it can do. 

One of the options that you can get when you get the 9Pro is the Shadow Blade 2 gamepad (pictured below), however, I was not able to get one of these sent out as part of the review kit so I sadly don’t have one. I do however have the next best thing which is the GameSir Galileo G8. This actually the exact same unit as the Shadow Blade 2. When you combine the two you can then get a similar experience to something like the Razer Edge Wifi however this is more powerful due to the better chipset

Shadow Blade 2 Gamepad

The inclusion of the gamepad made this such an interesting prospect for me when I first tried this, at MWC back in February. Now whilst the Galileo G8 is not completely set up correctly to work with the 9 Pro out of the box I have found that for the most part, it will work with the games I have been testing it with. I have got some pictures below to show you what it look like below.

The above picture shows that the 9 Pro is in gaming mode, which is activated primarily by the toggle switch on the side of the unit. Within the is software you can change various different settings for your in game experience. I have found that using “Diablo Mode” gives you all the power when you need it. However, that being said I have not been able to find a game that runs at anything higher than 60FPS yet. In this Game suite, you can also set up specific details for a game. So for example, if I wanted my game to run on the Highest performance then I can set this up on a per-game basis by editing the “Cube” settings for that game. I can also change the way the game will looking by changing the “show” mode which will change how the colours are displayed in the game which may help with the gameplay experience.

The in-game menu is accessible via a double swipe in the top right or left-hand corner. The menu on the left-hand side is all the various Plugins that you can enforce on the games if you wish too. On the right-hand side, you have other controls such as turning on the RGB LED effects, blocking calls during gaming etc. It is fairly intuitive and easy to use the right-hand menu but the one for the plug-ins can be adjusted in more detail if required, if you were a gamer and you really wanted to take advantage of the extra tools then I am sure that there would be plenty to dig into here. I have only really looked over it but I have not delved much further than that.

other than the Gaming mode we are presented with a very clean version of Android 14 albeit with the Redmagic UI on top of it. I like how they have not messed around too much with the UI apart from the increased icon size which is all too common on anything other than a Pixel these days. In terms of updates I have not had a firmware update since I received the phone however I have had a Play systems update which is currently on the March 24 version, however, the Security update is still on October 23 so this is not great but I have seen worse. I don’t know how often and frequently these updates will be delivered to the phone as it tends to be the case that instead of issuing an update the phone is superseded by the next model version. Whether this will be the case with the 9 Pro only time will tell.

Conclusion

So should you buy a RedMagic 9 Pro? Well, that really depends on where your priorities lie. if you want what is one of the most powerful phones on the market for gaming currently then for the bang for your money then I would say this is a good option, especially when you factor price into the mix. For a starting price of £579.00 as reviewed, you are not going to find another Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 powered phone for anything close to that price. to get the same sort of footprint you would need to consider something like the ROG Phone 8 which is currently retailing for £949.00 for the equivalent spec.

If the camera is the main focus for you then I would recommend looking elsewhere as this is not the best camera on the market, dont get me wrong it is good again when factoring in the price but there are better options out there the recently launched Pixel 8a would actually be a better alternative for near the same price (£559) for the 256GB version. 

If you want the best of both worlds, then maybe consider one of the Samsung Galaxy S 24 Line up as they give great gaming performance and are also backed by some fantastic support from Samsung regarding software updates. they will also offer a good enough gaming experience.

You may also wish to look into the sister brand for this phone which is Nubia (they are both operated by ZTE) as they have a very compelling camera-focused version of the Redmagic 9 Pro in the form of the Nubia Z60 Ultra but this adds a couple of hundred pounds to the asking price for the better optics.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with the RedMagic 9 Pro but for now I am going to be hanging it up for my daily driver and returning to my Pixel 8 Pro, I may however dig it back out for some gaming sessions when i want that customisable gaming experience to hand.

The post RedMagic 9 Pro – Review is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

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.

I am of course talking about the recently announced OnePlus Watch 2, which I have had the pleasure of using for the last few weeks. OnePlus launched this device with a smallish off-site event at MWC in February and I have been eager to get my muggy mits on one since they announced it. They had one big headline claim that this was a Wear OS smartwatch that could last for 4 days without having to recharge it! This proved to be very intriguing to me and I had to get one.

Now before the arrival of the OnePlus Watch 2, I had been using my faithful and reliable Pixel Watch 2 (Wifi). I was able to normally stretch the battery to this out to 2 days with light use. My use case is very light as I only really have the watch as a way of monitoring my steps during the day and my sleep at night. I also have notification coming through from my normal daily which is my Pixel Fold. I was not using always on display and I did not have other always on display active. I also ran a very dark theme which extended the battery as best as it could. I feel that is important to cover this as it will give you a metric of what can be reasonably expected for my usage case.

Normally for a review, I will split it up into two different posts the first of which will be an unboxing with some very quick first impressions. However, I was so keen to get the watch on my wrist and start using it that I skipped this step and started using it immediately. I have now shot a brief tour of the device for you to enjoy along with the box contents which you can see below.

Design

The watch has a nice good-looking design and mixes the nuances of being subtle but also has a decent-sized screen for me without appearing too much. There is some clear inspiration for the OnePlus phone lines of late in particular the OnePlus 11, OnePlus 12 and OnePlus Open

In terms of size, it is on the large size with a screen measuring 1.43″ which is significantly larger than my Pixel Watch 2 which came in at 1.2″ Now while 0.2″ doesn’t sound much it makes a big difference when it comes to actually using the screen more on this later though.

The screen is also significantly tougher than the Pixel Watch 2 as it is made of sapphire crystal glass instead of the Gorilla Glas 5 used on the Pixel Watch 2 Bezels on both watches are bigger than what I would have liked especially when compared with the best from Samsung however this is something i can get along with without too many issues.

I am a bit torn on the next design choice as on both the Pixel Watch 2 and the OnePlus Watch 2 there is no raised physical bezel on the screen which is great for the look and the design of the watches as it makes a smooth uninterrupted surface which is great to interact with using your fingers. However it does mean that the first thing to come into contact with a surface is glass, and as a great man has said many times “Glass is glass and glass breaks” (Thanks Zak @jerryrigeverything). The lack of the raised bezel does however mean it is less bulky allowing you to slide a shirt sleeve over the top of the watch which is very welcome when you are breaking out the formal wear.

The OnePlus Watch 2 comes in two different colour ways which have appropriate coloured straps alongside the different watch body colours. I have got a Radient Steel version here which comes with a green fluroelastomer band. The other colour  Black Steel will come with a Black version of the same strap. The strap is plenty comfortable and is easily swappable with a standard 22m strap thanks to the universal strap lugs being used.

On the controls side we have got two side-mounted buttons one of which looks like it should have been a rotating crown but is not functional. A lot of talk has been made about why this was used but not enabled in the software as we have crowns on other watches that are used for navigating the software. OnePlus states that by having it as a free spinning crown the chances of it breaking are reduced. A lot of my contemporaries are also speculating that this will be a feature that is opened up by software in the future. I have not seen any evidence for this so I remain undecided, personally, it is not something I ever used much on my Pixel Watch 2 so it doesn’t bother me. Out of the box, this crown/button is set up as the home button with a long press activating Google Assistant. The second lower button is for Power on a long press and other functions. It can be configured in the watch menu under Controls. I have mine set for one press to open the most recently used app and two will open the Sleep mode.

On the back of the watch, we have of course the sensor array which hides a multitude of sensors for health tracking shenanigans. The sensors are made up of an optical heart rate sensor and an optical pulse oximeter. It is also where we will find the Pogo Pins for charging the watch which is a bit disappointing to see as it means that this is a proprietary charger. This is again no different from the Pixel Watch 2 which also now uses Pogo Pins for charging which I discovered at my cost whilst I was out at MWC as my watch ran out of charge on the second morning of the trip. of course, I didn’t have my charger and due to the lack of wireless charging I was left unable to recharge my watch despite having multiple devices capable of delivering reverse wireless charge. In fairness to the Pixel Watch 2, I would have had the same issue with charging the OnePlus Watch 2 but based upon my usage to date I wouldn’t have needed to as the battery would have run out!

The only other thing of note down here is the speaker which is more than loud enough for notifications and the occasional if embarrassing hands-free call when you trigger it by accident!

Other items included with the watch are the obligatory OnePlus charging cable albeit not in OnePlus Red, we also have the removable charging puck which of course has the Pogo Pins as previously mentioned. On one side it has a USB Type C input capable of supporting OnePlus 7.5W VOOC Fast Charging, which means that when it comes to charging the watch, it is done quickly from zero to full in under 60 mins!

I do like the idea of the removable sharing puck/base as it means that I don’t have to unplug the whole cable which is normally wrapped around or secured to my bedside table or desk in some elaborate way. With the puck, I can pick it up and throw it in my bag or pocket as I head out for work and then plug it back in when I need it to any USB Type C Cable.

That about wraps up the design of the watch and now it is time to do a deep dive into the hardware of the watch which is where things get really interesting.

Specs comparison vs Pixel Watch 2

Hardware

So why is this more interesting than any other Wear OS 4.0 Smartwatch currently on the market? Well, it is very simple this watch has two brains, however, it goes further than that. The watch is capable of using both these brains as and when needed and it does so seamlessly. This is the key difference and what separates this from other long-life Android smartwatches like the TicWatch Pro 3 G Ultra GPS that I used to have and the newer TicWatch Pro 5 from Mobvoi.

So the Mobvoi watches used to allow you to have the option of a low power mode which will effectively run the watch like a non-smart watch. This did help to stretch out the watch’s battery life but the switching was not the greatest experience and it made for a laggy UI (based on My Experience of TicWatch Pro 3 Ultra GPS).

The OnePlus Watch 2 use the new Snapdragon W5 Gen 1 when it is working on parts of the UI that require Wear OS 4.0 to function. i.e. if using 3rd party apps like Spotify Strava etc. However, in normal operational mode, it will run RTOS (Real Time OS) for simpler tasks such as health tracking processes etc. This means that you will be effectively running 2 OS platforms in the same container. Now for this to work Google have needed to address the way Wear OS works and this is the first watch to have this new system in place.

If I am being honest based on my experience so far this is the way forward as it works really well. If I didn’t know what was going on and I was new to smartwatches I would assume this is how they all work. I have yet to come across anything in using the watch that has slowed down or lagged. I can run the watch the way I want to with the features I want in place and I can use a more complex watch screen without having to worry about the battery life.

Coming back to battery life this is powered by a 500 mah battery which has as you would expect from the above two estimated longevities. In Smart Mode (how I have been using it) you can expect anything up to 100hrs ( have achieved this). In Power Saving mode you can expect up to 12 days of runtime, however, this mode will lose the Wear OS features as it relies solely on RTOS.  There is also of course the Heavy Smart mode and this is when you are using the watch with all the bells and whistles on ie using Always on Display, and a Third-party watch face. If you are interested in the differences in the power modes as they are defined by OnePlus then check out these images below.

I liken the way the watch works to a Hybrid Car which will work on battery power when it is just trundling along in town but then when you hit the accelerator and ask for more power you get the petrol engine kick in. You don’t notice the difference in terms of the driving as it just transitions between the power units for you with the only difference being you can hear the engine working when the power is applied.

I think this is a great way to solve the problem of the short battery life for Android-powered smartwatches and I am excited to see where this can be taken and developed in the future. It is perfect of course not but in terms of the underlying hardware experience it is great now we just need the software to match.

Software

This is really what is going to make or break the Dual-Engine Architecture and I am happy to say for the most part it does work well, however, this is new software on a new system so it will of course come with some teething issues. These limitations come from the low-powered RTOS as this is essentially a “dumb OS” in the simplest possible terms. What I mean about that is that any third-party apps needs to run on the Wear OS side of the architecture. This brings some limitations to the watch.

An example is that I wanted to run the same watch face that I run on my Pixel Watch 2 and I was advised that doing so will dramatically reduce battery life. Okay fine, I will run an RTOS one, if I want to use Google Fit for complications on a watch face then I again get the warning message saying reduced battery life.

Now, whilst this is by no means a deal breaker you can just accept that the running of the Wear OS app will require more power. I would like to see a low-power alternative natively created by Google as they will hopefully offer a better alternative to those offered by RTOS. What we end up with is a bit of a hodgepodge of health and fitness readings which contradict each other.

If I am being honest this is one of the reasons why I ended up moving to the Pixel Watch 2 as I can use my Google Fit apps with no real problem. Now dont get me wrong Google has not got this 100% correct either as they also have Fitbit which is also active and only offered as a trial version for the full features, which some could say is worse. In an ideal world, we would have a version of Google Fit Lite that could run on a low-power custom Tensor chipset. Sadly though we don’t have that yet, this is the next best thing we have.

I have been using the Oneplus Watch 2 to track watch to track my steps with both the RTOS Step counter and the Google Fit step counter running as well and the results from a recent walk are shown below.

Unfortunately, as you can see there is a difference between the total on both services. As to which one is wrong, I don’t know but I have grown to rely on Google Fits tracking over a bunch of different smartwatches in the past so I am inclined to stick with Google here.

The main feature of the RTOS operating system is of course the Health Tracking service OHealth here is a video of the overview app on the watch.

It is much more than the actual watch software as OHealth is the companion app. for the phone. Without the OHealth App, you will not actually be able to pair the phone watch with the phone. This is very similar to the likes of the latest Samsung Watch as you need to use the Samsung Wear app to set one for the new generation watches. You have to use this watch for pulling data from the watch along with setting all your functions on the watch up. I have included some screenshots below for the OHealth App so you can check it out.

This is what things look like on the phone but on the smartwatch, as you saw above it is much simpler.

Overall in terms of the software I am left a bit torn as I want to love the OnePlus Watch 2 and I do really like the hardware but there are just some things about the software that annoy me a bit too much for my liking. There are also some features that I have grown accustomed to with my Pixel Watch  2 which would be missed, The main one being something that will not really affect the normal user but for me is nearly enough to be a deal breaker. I am talking about the ability to transfer the watch from one phone to another without having to complete a full reset of the phone.

At the moment if you want to move from one phone to another then the only way to do that is to delete the pairing of the other phone with the watch and then set the pairing again on the phone which loses all your settings and also any OHealth fitness data that had been accumulated. This feature is a core feature of Wear OS 4 and it should be present. I can only presume that it is missing due to the complicated setup of the RTOS being active all the time and Wear OS then sitting beside it. Hopefully, this is something that Google and OnePlus will keep working on it!

Just one final note before I move on the OnePlus Watch 2 will only run on Android as you cannot get the OHealth app currently on iOS, who knows if this will change in the future but it is something to be aware of if you are using an iOS device.

That pretty much concluded my thoughts about the OnePlus Watch 2 software.

Conclusion

I really do think that the OnePlus Watch 2 is the smartwatch to usher in the next-gen of Android Wear OS that uses this new Dual-Engine Architecture. There will as always be work that needs to be done to iron out the kinks which have come out on the OnePlus Watch 2. I do feel that Google and OnePlus are good partners in this development as Google can work out the issues on a device that essentially isn’t part of their own hardware lineup with little risk if it were to go wrong. OnePlus however benefit by having Google’s expertise in the Wear OS field whilst also getting the tech nerds like me all buzzing about their newest wearable.

I suppose the real question is would I buy one for myself and should you be considering one for yourself as well?

So on the first question, Would I buy one for myself? I am very very tempted as all the little niggles bar one I could certainly live with given the massive benefit that the Dual-Engine Architecture offers me in terms of Battery life. I don’t use that much in the way of third-party apps on my smartwatch so it is one watch that I am strongly considering.

The second question I posed is for you the reader should you buy one? Well if you use a lot of third-party apps on your smartwatch then I would say that this is not the watch for you, get a Pixel Watch 2 or Galaxy Watch 6, both of these options will give you a competitive battery life with the Galaxy giving slightly more than the Pixel. If however like me battery life is one of the key factors and you can live with some of the RTOS niggles (which to be honest are minor) then grab one of the OnePlus Watch 2 and relax into knowing that you have a few days between charges instead of a few hours!

The Oneplus Watch 2 is available from  https://www.oneplus.com/uk/oneplus-watch-2 now for £299, however, keep an eye on their website and Socials as they do like to launch offers all year around.

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This is an important phone for Honor as mentioned as it is them making a statement that they want to play in the Foldable market on the global stage (the previous Magic V was a Chinese-only release) and they have come out strong and also undercut their rivals in the space in doing so. However, I do feel that whilst the hardware is something for the most part I prefer, with the exception of the hinge mechanism which is too prone to unfolding when you don’t want it to, there is still work to be done on software.

The last time around I compared the Honor Magic Vs with the only real competition which was the Galaxy  Z Fold 4. Today I will be comparing the phone primarily with the Pixel Fold which has been primarily my daily driver since it was released last summer. I have also been lucky enough to have used the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and the OnePlus Open during this time. A lot of people will wonder why I am comparing it with the Pixel Fold as there are a lot of jaded opinions from reviewers out there of the folding pixel. I however have lived with that phone for going on 6 months and I honestly think of it as one of the best book-style folding phones for the average person, especially given that you can get one for nearly half the price of the RRP if you know where to look.

With the above being said the Honor Magic V2 needs to be bringing its A-game to compete, thankfully as you will see during this review it has done just that.

Design and Hardware.

I have gone through the hardware of the Magic V2 in the course of my unboxing post which you can find here. I was very impressed with it and now having spent a bit longer with the phone my feelings toward it have not changed. This is a beautifully designed piece of hardware and other manufacturers need to take note. the screen sizes on both inner and outer displays are great and the image those screens produce is crisp and clear as you would expect from any flagship phone. However, where Honor makes a big difference is in the crease or lack thereof.

Internal Front Camera

The crease is still there but it is very barely noticeable. Now I know that you will have read this all before in previous reviews but I do mean it. When viewing the phone straight ton you will not really see it in normal use and when you move your digits around the screen then you will barely notice the small rippl that is present. When I compare it with my Pixel Fold then it is like night and day one is a small ripple akin to a wide speed bump in a housing estate whereas the other is more like a sinkhole that has gouged the road out and will swallow you whole! Okay, that’s a bit dramatic but I think you see my point.

Before I leave the verdant expanse of the screens I want to touch on smoothing else that I have not been able to test and that is the fact that we have stylus support from the Honor stylus for both screens. Now unfortunately as I said this is not something I have been able to test as I don’t have an honor Stylus and they are currently not for sale here in good old Blighty. I have confirmed though that if you source one from the distant shore so fo China then it will work after you have turned on the setting on the phone. Oh, and I should probably add it works on both displays not just the internal one. Would have been nice to have it as an optional accessory at the time of the phone’s release here but the option is there if you want it and can afford it. When I checked the Honor Stylus is currently for sale for around £150 on eBay

The other aspect of the design that I am a huge fan of is the big headline for the Magic V2, at the time of writing this the Honor Magic V2 is the thinnest book-style folding phone available worldwide. This phone when unfolded is seriously thin at 4.7mm at its thinnest point ( the camera module is a bit thicker). Even when you fold the phone into its closed position then it is still under 10mm thick. This is especially impressive given that the phone still has the hardware onboard to pack the same punch as any other foldable on the market today (in the UK at least). For manufacturers that say they can’t pack in all the features that we want into a thin form factor then honor just upened the apple cart on that. They have done this because of two major components, the hinge and the battery. Firstly the hinge is made out of Titanium which is very on trend at the moment and they have reduced the hinge thickness by 75 percent in the process of changing from the previous aluminium design. The next key element is the dual battery design which we have again come to expect from foldable now but this is a little bit different the batteries are the thinnest batteries I have ever seen or heard of. They are not much thicker than a credit card but since they are made from silicone carbon over more traditional cell construction they still pack a 5000mah punch. This goes a very long way in reducing the overall thickness of the phone. As a comparison, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 is 13.4mm folded and 6.1mm unfolded and the Pixel Fold is 12.1mm folded and 5.8 unfolded. Admittedly these phones do both have wireless charging coils but these are not really that chunky so what Honor has done is still not to be sniffed at.

Those are the main selling points regarding the design of the phone but the phone also packs some very good albeit slightly out-of-date hardware on board. So let me first address that statement. This phone was first announced in China back in July around the same time the Pixel Fold and Galaxy Z Fold 5 were announced. At that time the ship of the moment was the Snapdragon 8  Gen 2, which is what powers the Honor Magic v2, the OnePlus Open and the Z Fold 5 (the odd one out is the Pixel Fold as it is Tensor G2). So in terms of folding phones, this is bang up to date.

However, the chipset world is an ever-moving treadmill and now as January has drawn to a close and we enter 2024 things have moved on. The chipset of the moment is the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and this is what people now expect in a flagship phone being released in 2024. Now whilst I do understand where these people are coming from for the consumer the chip in the phone is not all that important as long as it does your normal phone tasks quickly and without delay. It is for this reason that I don’t care that this does not have the newest Chip and I can forgive Honor for not using the newest 8th Gen 3 in this phone. The phone is fluid and fast and it will support all the normal use apps that most people will throw at it in its lifetime. What is more important is that the phones are fluid and fast and this is more down to the software implementation than the hardware. With that being said though there is a part of the hardware that helps to keep things moving quickly and that is RAM, fortunately, the Magic V2 has a boot full of this as it comes with 16GB of it alongside 512GB of storage space for all your digital goodies.

The Magic V2 is also a bit of a champ when it comes to receiving those all-important mobile network bands signals and wifi signals as they have designed the antennas to allow for an additional 10% more reception capability than the Magic VS by using some nifty design on the antennas and the use of the Honor C1 RF enhanced chipset. I have found that I am less likely to lose my mobile signal with this than I am with some other phones I have used but it is not a massive difference. When I have been on calls the other party can hear me clearly and has not complained of me breaking up to bad signal either. In terms of my Wi-Fi signal, I have found it to be pretty much on par with my Pixel Fold which also adopts a similar antenna design layout. I have tested the Wifi in a very unscientific test later on in the review.

As for the other bits of hardware, you have all the other bits you would be looking for in a flagship in terms of Bluetooth connections more sensors that you can throw a stick at USB 3.1 with OTG support and Dsiplay out for using Honor’s Desktop UI which is serviceable but nowhere near as user friendly as Samsungs DEX implementation. You also have one feature that is not often seen on phones designed primarily for the Western markets, an IR blaster which you can use with the Hoor Smart Remote control app to control the likes of your TV or Radio etc.

I have included a spec sheet below if you want to check all the specs out in further detail otherwise onto the cameras!

The specs are pretty on par for a flagship foldable for the current generation. If you are looking for a high end flagship grade foldable and are not too bothered about Qi charging then this is a real contender.

Now onto the camera.

Camera

The camera for this phone is as you expect like the rest of the phone a high-end unit with 3 lens composed of:-
50 MP, f/1.9, (wide), PDAF, 8×8 dToF Laser AF, OIS
20 MP, f/2.4, 62mm (telephoto), PDAF, 2.5x optical zoom, OIS
50 MP, f/2.0, 13mm (ultrawide), AF

The camera supports a large variety of shooting modes including all your standard go-to options such as;-

The camera system also includes 2 of Honor’newest party pieces HONOR Falcon Camera System, which uses a combination of AI and fast lenses to capture much more detail from fast-moving subjects and HONOR AI Motion Sensing Capture which will use AI to take a picture when it detects movement in the frame which is a great feature to have when you have a built-in stand due to the folding form factor.

Video recording duties are supported at up to 4K@30/60fps (10-bit), 1080p@30/60fps, gyro-EIS, HDR10+, OIS which is pretty good going for a phone this slim again.

The rear cameras take good photos as can be seen for the sample shots here. I found the photos easy to capture and the result was pleasing to the eye.

I am no pixel peeper I just want my camera to be easy to take shots and then for me to be able to use them on things like calendars and the occasional standard-size print. Any image I have captured on the Honor Magic V2 is going to tick that box perfectly especially when they’re taken in the optimal conditions.

I include an array of samples below for you to check out for yourself below.

Here are some samples of the various Zoom levels for you to see as well.

I have not been able to put the video capture to the test mainly as I have not had anything to take a video of in these dreich and dreary months of January and February. So I can’t really comment on the video quality.

The front camera is about as expected even disabling the normal beauty mode that is ever present on phones for far eastern shores I find that there is still an aspect of manipulation within the images which some may like but I am not a huge fan of.

Check these selfies to see the results for yourself.

That about sums up my camera insights but we will be having a camera special from my colleague Ian after he has had the chance to use the camera in slightly more picturesque locations as he is taking his Honor Magic V2 to New York when he travels there in the next week or so

Next up is the software.

Software

This is an area where the Magic V2 needs to get things right. I am very pleased to say that one of the biggest annoyances that had from my time with the previous folding effort from Honor is that they have now added the App drawer back as an option to have turned on which is awesome as it was silly that it was there, to begin with. That was really one of the biggest things I was hoping that the magic v2 would bring but there are other things we need to talk about.

With its being a folding phone you need to be able to pull off Multitasking well and the Magic V2 is on par here with the Pixel Fold in that you can have two apps open in full size at the same time but if you try and push it beyond that you will get stuck very quickly. In terms of the pure ability to multitask with multiple windows, this is a weak point of both the Pixel Fold and the Honor. However, the Honor does have one party piece that the pixel does not. You can have one app as the main view and the other two will be available as 2 floating apps that you can minimise down to a mini window to essentially hide when you don’t need it. This puts the Honor on a slight level up on the Pixel Fold I would say B+ for Multitasking. If you need more multitasking windows then you might need to look at Samsung or OnePlus or a laptop/tablet/2 in1!!

There is however another way to get more Multi-tasking action though and that is, of course, to plug the phone into another display using USB Type C and you have a Desktop to meet all your multitasking dreams unless browsing the web is one of these dreams as this is, not an app that I could get to show up when I plugged into my display. Also, the icons in this mode can be a little odd looking with some of them being very pixelated. This again is a function that is not to be found on the Pixel Fold or indeed on the OnePlus Open so bonus point here for the Magic V2.

Unfortunately, the good also comes with the bad. One of the most annoying things is when you are using a non-optimised app then when you transition between folded and unfolded some apps will display weirdly. Examples of it are shown below in the Yu Life app that I use for my work and the Mewe Social app.

Another issue that we are never going to be rid of is the amount of Honor apps that come preloaded as this is something that we get with manufacturers but it is not an issue found on the Pixel Fold as that has no bloat to speak of. I counted all the apps up as I was segregating them into their own folder there are 24 apps preloaded!

Now some of these are Honors own apps and are genuinely useful such as the inbult compas. However, if wanted TikTok then I would be quite happy to add it don’t need anyone to do it on my behalf.

If I had to really pick out other issues then another one would be a particularly foldable phone-related issue. When you’re in a full-screen app ie the web browser then you don’t have the very helpful dock that I have been able to find on the other foldable that I have used. The feature is there in a form, but I had to hunt for it in the settings menu. Instead of coming up on the side it pops in from the side if you swipe in from the side and then pause it will then bring up the dock for access to all your other apps. I didn’t like the way that this worked and I found that a lot of the time I would end up going back to the app I was in which caused frustration.

I think the persistent dock on the Pixel Fold is a much more elegant solution as this mirrors your front home screen dock with the addition of a recent app icon.

That about sums up my thoughts on the key software features that I wanted to compare with the Pixel Fold. I would say that the software is on par with what Google can offer with the Honor giving a bit of an edge on the multi-tasking abilities if you can live with the app switching. I do find the ability to have two windows open at the same time handy. I did use it a few times in this mode instead of grabbing my laptop which was genuinely useful, however, I could have had the same experience on any folding phone.

Other than that the software is pretty much all of the stuff you would expect to find in an Android 13 folding phone these days. Android 14 is coming very soon and is rumoured to be arriving on the phone with a Magic UI update alongside it very soon. Hopefully, this will arrive in time for Ian to give you his thoughts as my time with the phone has come to an end and it does need to be sent back to Honor very soon.

In terms of software updates Honor has promised five years of security patches and four years of Android updates, which is aligned with both Samsung, OnePlus and Google. At the time of writing, I am on the January Security update which arrived on my phone two days ago. I am also on the latest Google Play system update as well.

Another pain point is with notifications as these don’t always come through on time which can be irritating especially if you are awaiting time-sensitive alerts. I can see a notification come not my Pixel Fold and then it can be an age for it to arrive on the Magic V2. I have allowed some apps to get them quicker but then I have to put up with the ever-present high battery drain notice coming up.

I also do not like the way that the settings shortcuts and notifications are now separated and require you to perform the gesture on a specific side of the display. I would gladly see this disappear please Honor.

So that sums up the software experience. How about other stuff well let’s give you a quick run-through.

• Sound and speakers.

These sound great and you can really feel the effect of having the separation afforded by having the speakers on either end of the phone when you are watching content in the landscape orientation. The phone produces a good sound stage for watching content, however, that being said the majority of the playback i experienced using the phone was over Bluetooth headphones which worked very well and I had few interruptions with the Bluetooth signal.

• Bluetooth and  Wifi connectivity.

I have been running the phone with my Pixel Watch 2 smartwatch for the entirety of this review period and I have had no issues with it connecting and reconnecting at all., the only thing of note was that the watch did run down a bit quicker than I have seen when it was connected to my Pixel Fold but this also happens with Samsung devices so not a fault of the Magic V2. In my car, the Bluetooth has worked great and Android Auto connected with no issue over a wired connection as sadly my car needs to use that archaic process! (ED Note 1st world issue!!)

In terms of Wifi, I have experienced brilliant Wifi connectivity all over my home and when have been at work and never found reason to fault this at all. The wraparound antenna design and HONOR C1 RF Enhanced Chipset do really work and I am glad to have had them onboard. In a very unscientific test, I was able to have my Magic V2 pick up a wifi booster on the other side of my house with a better signal strength than on my Pixel Fold with a difference of 7 dBm which is significant. Even with the router which was under 1 m away, there was a difference in Honor’s favour of 1 dBm.

• Phone signal

Again this was an area where I did not have any noticeable issues at all calls were clear and crisp and had no connection issues or issues holding a call once it had connected. I had no complaints from the other party on the call either about background noise bleed.

• Charging speed and battery life

Sadly I did not have a supper charge to test the phone’s super fast charging but I was very pleased to say that I didn’t need to worry about being able to charge at super-fast speeds as the battery life was excellent easily allowing me to get through near two days full usage. Now to be fair I can normally stretch my Pixel Fold out to the same level but I don’t open the Pixel Fold into unfolded mode as much as I was doing on the Magic V2. When I did have to charge it from a regular charger I was able to charge it with no significant issue in a couple of hours. It would have been nice to have QI charging as an option but I didn’t miss it too much.

• Gaming

I don’t have time for games any more but I will ask if Ian can give his thoughts in his follow-up review and impressions piece as he might have some time while he is on his flight stateside.

Conclusion

I am really quite keen on the Honor Magic V2 5G. The hardware is fantastic and it feels as good after a few weeks of usage as it did on day 1 when it came out of the box, The hinge is smooth and the motion is fluid the lack of crease is so nice to see and use. The screens are crisp and clear no matter what the lighting. The external display size makes this feel like a normal slab phone but you have the benefit of that extra real estate when you unfold it.

In terms of software, Honor has stepped up here and I think they have improved upon the Magic VS and I expect more will come in the update to Magic OS 8.0. Multi-tasking is more capable than the pixel fold if you want to use it but the basic of two apps on the same display works brilliantly. The Magic OS implementation has become more in line with the Android ‘Stock” feel that people think of without needing to use all the bells and whistles to get stuff done.

The cameras are great and I wasn’t ever really left lacking in terms of their performance but I am by no means an expert here.

The phone really does pack a great punch and I have thoroughly enjoyed using it. However, would I buy one? If I am being honest if it was this of Pixel Fold then I would have to pick the Pixel Fold. I can’t quite put my finger on it but I just keep getting drawn back to that phone. I have owned 3 now having sold two previously!!

However, it is not me who is looking at this phone to buy it is you the reader and if you have made it his far then you may have already decided and I wouldn’t blame you for thinking about buying one of these as they are great and particularly love design then this is the foldable phone to get at the moment. Don’t be put off by the lack of QI charging as I know one of my colleagues was as it is not a big issue especially as if you take advantage of the offer on Honor’s website you get a Supercharger included with your purchase.

If you want to get the Honor Magic V2 5G then head on over to the Honor website and pick one up now while the offers are still on as this will reduce the asking price down to as low as £1119.99 (Normal RRP is 1699.99) if you use a trade-in and subscribe to get a voucher. This makes the Honor Magic V2 5G not only the thinnest bookstyle foldable phone but one of the cheapest as well!

Be sure to keep an eye out for Ian’s camera special and follow up after he has used it on his holiday back here on Coolsmartphone.com!

The post Honor Magic V2- Review 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.

Spec’s

• Space Grey, multi-port USB-C Hub with tuck in cable design
• Charge your USB-C enabled MacBook/laptop with pass through PD charging at Max 87W
• 10cm built-in cable
• The slimmest and lightest 8-in-1 hub, easy to transport
• 1x USB-C (PD 3.0, Max 87W)
• 3x USB 3.0 (5Gb/s data transfer)
• 1x SD card reader
• 1x Micro SD (TF) card reader
• 1x HDMI (4K display)
• 1x Audio Jack (3.5mm).

In an era where our collection of devices is constantly expanding, the QDOS PowerLink COMBI emerges as a contemporary tech savior. This space grey, multi-port USB-C hub is more than just a gadget; it’s an essential tool for those reliant on digital technology. It’s a compact dynamo that pledges to de-clutter your workspace and un-complicate your connectivity requirements. Let’s delve into the realm of QDOS PowerLink COMBI and ascertain if it genuinely matches its acclaim.

Design:-

Let’s start with the visual appeal. The QDOS PowerLink COMBI’s space grey hue is not just stylish, but also adaptable, harmonizing effortlessly with a broad spectrum of devices, particularly those within the Apple ecosystem. The inclusion of a tuck-in cable design is a considerate feature, preventing your bag from becoming a jumble of wires. The hub’s slender and featherweight structure attests to its portability, making it the perfect travel accessory for today’s professional.

Connectivity and Performance:-

The PowerLink COMBI truly excels in terms of connectivity. It comes with three USB 3.1 ports, providing a rapid transfer speed of 10Gb/s, enabling you to synchronize large files in an instant. The USB-C port, equipped with PD 3.1 and a maximum output of 100W, is a game-changer for users managing power-intensive devices. This feature ensures that your MacBook or laptop remains powered, even when the hub is operational.

The addition of an HDMI port capable of 4K display output caters to the requirements of professionals and creatives who depend on high-resolution external displays for their work. Not to mention the classic 3.5mm audio jack, a cherished feature that many manufacturers have regrettably phased out.

For photographers and videographers, the SD and Micro SD card readers are a blessing, supporting data transfer speeds up to 480Mbps. Collectively, these features transform the QDOS PowerLink COMBI from a mere hub into a comprehensive command center for all your digital needs.

In Use:-

Usng the PowerLink COMBI is as straightforward as connecting and using. Its adaptability with USB-C compatible MacBooks and laptops guarantees that it serves a wide user base. The inbuilt 10cm cable is adequately long for convenient connection, yet sufficiently short to prevent mess. The hub’s capacity to charge rapidly, synchronize smoothly, and display without a hitch isn’t mere promotional rhetoric; it’s a tangible benefit that substantially elevates your technological experience.

One of the standout features of the PowerLink COMBI is its slender and lightweight design. Its portability makes it a breeze to carry around, fitting effortlessly into a laptop bag or even a pocket. For on-the-move professionals and students, this hub is a blessing, providing the advantage of numerous ports without the added heft.

Conculsion:-

To sum it up, the QDOS PowerLink COMBI is an exceptional supplement to any technological toolkit. It masterfully combines aesthetics and utility, providing substantial connectivity features in a stylish, compact design. Whether you’re a digital wanderer, a creative expert, or simply someone who values an organized workspace, this hub is tailored to cater to your requirements. Its impressive performance, user-friendly nature, and visual charm render it an indispensable device.

The ODOS Powerlink COMBI is available from QDOS and Amazon for £35 

The post QDOS PowerLink Combi 8-in-1 USB-C Hub – Review. is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

The power of mobile processors is on the rise, spearheaded by Apple’s A-series and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chips. Advancements in remote play and game streaming have breathed new life into the market for handheld mobile gaming controllers. Simply connect these controllers to your phone to enjoy a gaming experience akin to that of a Nintendo Switch or a Steam Deck.
I’ve reviewed a few GameSir controllers in the past, and now its the turn of the The GameSir G8 Galileo, The G8 is a standout choice among smartphone gaming controllers, boasting features such as adjustable joysticks, button mapping, and superior ergonomics. However, whether it’s worth investing in a smartphone gaming controller may depend on your specific needs and, crucially, the quality of your smartphone.

Good Points:-

• USB-C connection.
• Three gaming modes offer versatile compatibility.
• Pass-through USB-C and 3.5mm jacks.
• Customisable controller’s faceplate.

Bad Points:-

• The ergonomic design makes it less compact..
• Your phone’s power might be a limiting factor.
• No lightening connection for older iPhones.

The GameSir G8 Galileo, a mobile gaming controller, bears a striking resemblance to an Xbox controller with your phone positioned in the center. This design can be seen as both an advantage and a disadvantage, depending your perspective. Its ergonomic design gives it the feel of a genuine console controller, which is a plus for fans of the Xbox layout. The thicker sides are more comfortable to grip as they naturally fit the contour of your hand. Regardless of your smartphone’s size, it will accommodate it. However, it’s not the best match for high-quality foldable phones, as they need to fold downwards due to the location of the USB-C connector.

GameSir prioritised functionality over aesthetics in the design of this controller, and it’s evident. If you had suggested that the G8 Galileo was an authentic Xbox Wireless Controller based on its tactile feedback and gameplay experience, I would have been convinced. The buttons and triggers exhibited a responsive and solid feel, unlike inferior buttons which can quickly become spongy and tacky.

 

The G8 Galileo shines in its connectivity with your smartphone, utilizing a USB-C port, eliminating the need for Bluetooth pairing or constant charging. Consequently, the G8 Galileo is compatible with both iOS and Android, as long as the iOS device is equipped with a USB-C port. The highlight of the USB-C port is its ability to swivel up and down on a hinge. This allows you to disconnect your phone by lifting it straight up, without the fear of damaging the USB-C connector, simplifying the setup process.

The G8 Galileo also features pass-through ports, a crucial element in transforming it into a portable gaming hub. It includes a USB-C port for charging your phone during gameplay, facilitating extended gaming sessions. Additionally, it has a 3.5mm jack that can be utilized for earbuds, speakers, or even a comprehensive headset. The G8 Galileo combines the functionalities of a controller, charger, and 3.5mm jack, all with the low latency of a wired connection. This significantly outperforms competitors that depend on Bluetooth for one or more of these features.

It’s not often that a product surprises me upon unboxing, but the inclusion of additional joysticks certainly did. Indeed, you can easily remove the faceplate with your fingernail and replace the joystick. There’s no need for soldering or any technical expertise. It’s as straightforward as extracting the old joystick and inserting the new one. This feature, especially at an £80 price point, is quite impressive and allows for a highly personalized experience. Coupled with two supplementary buttons and the ability to customize mappings, this controller offers excellent customisation options.

The ergonomics and robust build quality of the G8 Galileo do compromise its portability. With a thickness of 2.13 inches and a length of 8.54 inches, it’s bound to occupy a significant amount of space in your bag. There are smaller phone controllers available for those who value portability. However, in my opinion, the benefits offered by the G8 Galileo more than compensate for its size.

While the G8 Galileo is impressive, it’s crucial to note that the effectiveness of this controller is contingent on the quality of your smartphone. This device enhances your gaming controls, but it doesn’t necessarily amplify your overall mobile gaming experience. In my tests, the G8 Galileo performed well across the board, but its use with my Galaxy Fold was somewhat restrictive. The smartphone had a hard time handling Fortnite, while less demanding games like Asphalt 9 and Call of Duty: Mobile fared better, allowing the Galileo G8 to truly excel. Before purchasing a gaming controller, consider the games you intend to play on your phone, as their performance requirements could significantly influence your experience.

Although I didn’t have the opportunity to test it on the G8 Galileo personally, cloud streaming could potentially be the perfect application for this controller. It allows you to enjoy top-tier games using a superior controller, without the concern of your smartphone’s performance affecting the gaming experience.

Conclusion:-
While the GameSir G8 Galileo alone can’t transform your phone into a device that surpasses a console or a high-end gaming PC, it can enhance one facet of the gaming experience and equip your smartphone with additional peripherals. Thanks to its ergonomic design and pass-through ports, the G8 Galileo can effectively convert your smartphone into a gaming hub, complete with a power source and headset connection. However, to truly reap its benefits, you’ll need a smartphone robust enough to smoothly run the mobile games you love.
The GameSir G8 is available from Amazon and GameSir for around £80

The post GameSir G8 Galileo – Review is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

Ever wondered who iQOO is? They are an independent sub-brand of vivo, a well-known smartphone manufacturer. If you’re unfamiliar with vivo, you’re not alone. They were once part of the BBK Electronics conglomerate, which also houses Oppo and OnePlus. Within this group, vivo operated as a separate entity. But now, vivo has achieved independence, and iQOO (pronounced eye-koo) is poised to become a prominent force in the smartphone market. Their focus is on producing high-performance devices that cater to both photography enthusiasts and hardcore gamers.

Irrespective of the legacy of these mobile phone brands, the iQOO 12 possesses a strong enough reputation to adorn the official BMW M Motorsport branding on its Legend edition. This collaboration demonstrates the iQOO 12’s exceptional performance and its ability to cater to the demanding standards of passionate motorsport enthusiasts.

Powered by Qualcomm’s latest third-generation Snapdragon 8 mobile platform, the iQOO 12 Pro boasts a cutting-edge 4nm TSMC process, a 1+5+2 64-bit architecture, and a Cortex-X4 ultra-core that can reach an astounding 3.3GHz clock speed. This powerful combination delivers a remarkable 30% performance boost over the previous generation Snapdragon 8, while also achieving a 20% improvement in energy efficiency. Additionally, the iQOO 12 Pro leverages LPDDR5X and UFS4.0 technologies to elevate its performance even further, forming a formidable “Iron Triangle of Performance” that sets new standards for mobile gaming and overall responsiveness.

In essence, the iQOO 12 Pro harnesses the full potential of the Snapdragon 8 mobile platform to deliver an unparalleled gaming experience, while also maintaining exceptional energy efficiency. This makes it the ideal choice for demanding mobile gamers who seek the ultimate in performance and power.

Key Features at a glance:

• 50MP main wide-angle, f/1.68, OIS, 23mm equivalent (1/1.3inch sensor)
• 50MP ultra-wide-angle, f/2.0, 15mm equivalent
• 64MP telephoto, f/2.57, 3x/70mm equivalent, OIS
• 16MP selfie camera, f/2.45, 27mm equivalent (video: 1080P only)
• 8K 30p, 4K 60/30p, Full HD 240p
• 6.78inch screen, AMOLED, 144Hz, up to 3000nits brightness
• 5000mAh battery, 120W charging
• 12/16GB RAM, 256/512GB storage options
• Android 14
• 163.2 x 75.9 x 8.1mm
• 203.7g weight.

Good Points:-

• Flat screen design.
• Amazing battery life.
• 120W Fast charger included in the box.
• Deicated gaming mode.
• Dual Stereo speakers.
• IR Blaster.
• Claimed 3 yrs of OS updates, and updates4 yrs of security updates.
• 6.78 inch screen, 144Hz, with 517PPI

Bad Points:-

• Quite a bit of bloat.
• Very slippery without the case.
• Annoying app notifications from the V App Store.
• Camera bump seems larger than necessary.
• Lots of recommended app pop ups.

Whats In The Box.

The phone, SIM tool, some BMW performance leaflets a Clear TPU case a 120w charging brick, and cable.

Design:-

In terms of aesthetics, the iQOO 12 Pro embraces a range of captivating color schemes to suit diverse preferences. The classic “Legendary Edition” exudes a timeless elegance with its gleaming white enamel textured glass back. This premium finish not only enhances the phone’s aesthetic appeal but also provides a comfortable and secure grip. The iconic BMW M Motorsport branding has been subtly incorporated into the design, adding a touch of motorsport flair without compromising the phone’s sleekness.

The iQOO 12 Pro’s vibrant and immersive display takes center stage, featuring a groundbreaking 6.78-inch E7 AMOLED panel. This cutting-edge display boasts a stunning resolution of 3200 x 1440 pixels, translating to a pixel density of 517 PPI, ensuring exceptional clarity and detail. Whether you’re engrossed in an intense gaming session or captivated by a visually captivating movie, the iQOO 12 Pro’s display delivers an unparalleled visual experience. To further enhance the visual feast, the display supports a blazing-fast 144Hz refresh rate, ensuring smooth and fluid transitions between scenes, whether scrolling through web pages or navigating through demanding applications. This rapid refresh rate also elevates the gaming experience, eliminating stutters and tearing for a truly responsive and immersive gameplay experience.

The in-screen fingerprint reader works well, and the phone offers rapid charging at 120W. However, the lack of wireless charging is a little bit of a shame. There’s an always-on AMOLED display with a fast refresh rate of 144Hz; which will be great for the gamers out there. The phone has an IP64 rating, which should mean it’ll survive a light rain shower.

On the top of the device is one of the stereo speakers, the IR blaster and microphone, on the right is the volume rocker and power button, the left hand side is clear, and along the bottom is the sim tray, usb type-c port, second speaker and another microphone.

In Use.

Once unboxed and set up, a few things immediately struck me about the IQOO 12 Pro, the device does have a lot of bloat pre installed, like Hot apps folder, that has 12 recommended apps, Hot Games folder with 12 recommended games. Doubling up of apps was present as well eg 2 App Stores, 2 messaging apps, imanger the same as device care. That said they were all easily dealt with and removed.

The device is possibly one of the most slippery (est) phones I’ve ever used, those who remember the Nexus 5 ( a device that could slide off a perfectly flat table) well the IQOO 12 is right up there, thankfully the included TPU case deals with this, and keeps the devices aesthetics.

It was then on to setting up the face unlock and under screen fingerprint reader, the face unlock is not as secure as Apple’s offering, but the IQOO 12 Pro unlocks loads quicker than my iPhone, the face unlock was so quick that the device was unlocked before, I had even a chance to use the fingerprint unlock, on the point of fingerprint unlock again this was blistering fast.

Then it was on to the screen, the 6.78-inch 144Hz 1.5K flat panel display on the iQOO 12 is of excellent quality in terms of colour accuracy, brightness, and sharpness, featuring a 1.5K resolution screen, with a 517PPI compared the iPhone 15 pro at 460PPI and the S23 Ultra’s screen coming in at 500PPI, what does this mean, well the screen is gorgeous to look at and use with smooth and silky scrolling. The display, which supports HDR video streaming on platforms like Netflix and Prime Video. Additionally, it is a high refresh rate panel with up to a 144Hz refresh rate and support for LPTO technology, which can lower the screen refresh rate to as low as 1Hz to reduce power consumption—an advantageous feature for users who utilise always-on display.

Once i’d loaded up all the relevant Google accounts. It was on to using the device, The first thing I’ve got to say is this thing absolutely flies, with absolutely no lag at all. flicking between apps opening and closing processes, there is no stuttering, this will be down to the snapdragon Gen. 3 chip and the oodles of Ram available. Then I enabled what IQOO are dubbing Monster Mode which basically ramps everything up to 10

One thing I did notice, though, was that the developer options were already enabled, thus, meaning the device was slightly not as secure as others straight out of the box.

The IQOO 12 Pro runs Android 14 with Funtouch OS running over the top, it has 16GB of RAM which can be dynamically extended to by up to another 16GB, the device also comes with 512GB of storage.

In the first couple of days the device received 3 software updates, but the Android security update was sitting at the 1st November.

Despite the device having a very South East Asian influence it was pleasant suprise to see the Google Feed on the far left of the home screen.

There is a version of Samsung’s edge panel, ( something I use a lot on my S23 Ultra ) named smart side bar, but I found it more of a quick launch panel rather than the full edge panel experience that said I used it to give a more uncluttered home screen.

Gaming with the Q1 Chip.

As well as packing the very latest flagship-grade mobile processor, memory, and storage, iQOO debuts Supercomputing Chip Q1, a customized display chip that offers Game Super Resolution, Game Super Frame Rate and Game Display Enhancement – features that radically enhance the mobile gaming experience.

With one touch users can activate Game Super Resolution, boosting image contrast and overall clarity through enhanced edge sharpness of graphical characters. Users can enable Game Super Frame Rate to experience mobile gaming at incredible high frame rates of up to 144 FPS. While many mobile games cap frame rates at 60 FPS or 90 FPS, peaking at 120 FPS, Super Frame Rate uses frame interpolation to provide users with smooth 144 FPS gaming, matching the native 144Hz display refresh rate to reduce tearing and stuttering on even the most demanding games.

iQOO 12 uses an LTPO AMOLED display that can dynamically switch between high and low refresh rates. This lowers power consumption by reducing refresh rates when a static image is displayed, while allowing refresh rates to be pushed to the maximum to provide the ultimate viewing experience when watching movies or playing games.

To give gamers a physically immersive experience, iQOO 12 packs a Large X-Axis Linear Motor that produces accurate haptic feedback triggers during gameplay. In terms of audio, iQOO 12 uses a Symmetrical Dual Stereo Speaker design that gives gamers directional cues in first-person-shooter games, making gunshots and footsteps more pronounced and clearer during gameplay. During audio playback, users can enjoy incredible instrument separation, with a large 1.2cc speaker chamber providing improved bass frequencies.

To keep things calm during extended gaming sessions, iQOO 12 uses a Four-Zone Cooling System that ensures a comfortable in-hand experience in key contact areas. A 6K Vapor Chamber ensures rapid and effective heat dissipation from the CPU, with heat buildup further reduced with a Low temperature sensitivity design and a specialized Under-Display Graphite Cooling Film that mitigates hot spot

What does all this mean in the real world, firstly let me say I am by no means a full on mobile gamer, but that said I do have Call Of Duty Mobile installed in all my devices, so I had to install it on IQOO 12 Pro as well.

I had all the settings ramped up there max and the game played fluidly with no dropped frames, stutter or glitches, that said it certainly didn’t make me any better of a player.

The IQOO 12 Pro’s gaming mode gives you loads of settings, ranging from Battery Saver Mode, Balanced, and Monster Mode (ramp everything up to 10). You also have the options to enable motion control, gaming resolution, block notifications and reject calls., all to enhance the game play.

Camera

Flagship smartphones have become increasingly standardized in their triple camera setups, leading manufacturers to seek innovative ways to differentiate themselves. Samsung’s Galaxy S22 and S23 Ultra series stand out with a fourth telephoto camera featuring an impressive 10x optical zoom. Google, on the other hand, emphasizes computational photography and AI-powered features to simplify capturing specific shots.

The iQOO 12 deviates from the norm with a 50MP ultra-wide-angle camera, a 50MP main camera, and a unique 64MP 3x telephoto macro lens, similar to the one found on the Xiaomi 13 Pro. It also boasts an Astrography mode, which iQOO claims can capture the majestic Milky Way. While testing under clear skies has not been possible yet, the iQOO 12 offers a unique AR Planetarium feature that virtually overlays constellations onto your night sky photos, while preserving the original unedited image of the stars. This fusion of technology and creativity makes the iQOO 12 a standout in the smartphone camera landscape.

The problem with reviewing a camera in the UK in December is there isn’t always the best light, but the IQOO 12 Pro’s camera was still able to snap some decent shots.

A snap of the moon up there with the S23 Ultra.

Indoor night shot with flash.

Indoor night shot no flash

Frost on the trees.

Zoom in to the Teddy

The camera app is filled with different modes, ranging from the standard modes Night, Portrait, Video, Pro Mode etc. but then there is High Resolution, Pano, Ultra HD Document, Slow Mo, Time Lapse, Long Exposure, Super moon, Astro, Tilt Shift, and Fisheye.

 Some Astro shots, where the Star map is overlayed the final picture.

Battery Life

The iQOO 12 Pro’s robust battery life is assured by its hefty 5100mAh power source, augmented by a revolutionary graphite stack reconfiguration technology that seamlessly blends high capacity with lightning-fast charging capabilities. This innovative approach surpasses its predecessor’s endurance, ensuring extended usage throughout your demanding days. Although the iQOO 12 Pro’s 120W flash charger may seem like a minor inconvenience, it delivers exceptional charging speeds that cater to everyday needs. Additionally, a 50W wireless flash charger provides flexibility for those who prefer wireless charging. With these versatile charging options, the iQOO 12 Pro caters to diverse charging preferences and ensures your device remains powered up when you need it most.

The IQOO 12 was easily lasting me a full day of heavy use, and with moderate use I was getting 2 days out of it. That said when plugged into the included 120W charger and cable the device went from 0 to 100% in a eye watering 31mins, although charging at those speeds everyday won’t be the best for battery longevity.

Conclusion:-

The iQOO 12 Pro doesn’t look like what we call a “gaming phone”. As the title says, it has a powerful performance but looks so elegant. It’s similar to the Xiaomi 14 Pro, with photography first, and performance second. Whereas the iQOO 12 Pro is all about gaming and then the photos are pretty good too. Which one to choose depends on whether you prefer photography or gaming

I absolutely loved my time with the IQOO 12, once I had sorted the extra apps and bloatware out, it was a joy to use, in fact in some aspects better than my S23 Ultra. The device did seem snappier and I would say that the camera was a good 90% of Samsung’s offering.

It’s a shame that this device may well get overlooked by the main players in the Android world, but this clearly should not be the case, if you want a change from the mainstream the IQOO 12 Pro is well worth considering. It’s currently available here in the UK from Wondamobile for £669

The post IQOO 12 review is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

To say that this is a”tech’ chair is a stretch but it does have some cool features that make it a great spot for me to get work done. The X2 is of the armchair style and comes delivered in four different parts. The chair does require some minimal self-assembly but it is completely toolless which is nice. After I had unpacked the two massive boxes in which the chair was delivered I was able to get the chair put together in about 10 minutes.

The first section which occupies one entire box is the base and this has all of the electrical and mechanical components of the chair on board. It is by far the heaviest part of the chair which is where you want the weight to be located. The seat base itself is a width of 45cm across and 54 cm in depth This is plenty big enough for even the most ample of bottom size! The seat height is 49cm which is par for the course when compared to normal recliners and you can easily put your feet flat on the ground without any discomfort.

The next step for the assembly is to add the armrests which slide easily into two rails on either side of the base section. This is probably the trickiest part of the assembly as the padding makes it a bit tricky to line up the rails. hover once the rails are aligned then you simply push them down and they are solid. Once the ar rest are on the the overall width of the chair increases to 89cm. The top of the armrests have a good wide amount of padding which equals 22cm width on either side. The armrests are wide and they are flat enough to rest a phone on without it risking a death plummet to the floor. On the right-hand side of the armrest is where we find a bit of hidden tech alongside the controls for the recline option. I will cover the recline function more later on.

In between the two recline buttons is a USB Type a port which will work as a charging port for various USB devices. The port will output when charging my Pixel Fold at 1310 mA peak which is fine for a nice slow charging rate to keep the strain on my battery down to a minimum. It also means that I am able to charge other USB gadgets like my Vape or Bluetooth speakers etc. The charging port is capable of delivering higher power when needed for example when i plugged in my wife’s Realme 8 Pro which can charge much faster than my Pixel Fold was able to get a third more power 1570mA which is due to the phone having the better charging rate.

When I use a base voltage of 4.5v as the charging voltage for both devices we get a charge rate of 7.06W for the Realme and 5.89W for my Pixle Fold. This explains why when I tried to charge my MacBook Pro I was unable to get the laptop to charge as it detected the power from the USB being too low.

All of this power is being transferred via the inbuilt circuits that are routed internally and are very easy to connect together. The main power supply for the chair is from a UK (market-dependent) three-pin plug that connects to a small power brick via a standard two-pin connector which will provide at 58W.

This power will be split between the motors to drive the reclining mechanism and the USB port with the majority of the power going to the motor as and when it is requested.

As you can see the power brick and cables can be hidden away quite easily behind the back of the chair which has a velcro flap that will drop down to cover this section when access is not required any further.

As for the next assembly step, it is just a case of lining up the guides for the back rest with the tangs that are poking out from the base section and pushing the mi to place and there you have it a fully assembled Flexipsot X2 recliner.

So How does the recliner mechanism work? It is a motor-driven multiple linkage design which will control the various moveable components of the chair. A simple press of the button will allow that footrest to start to move out from its resting position to around 110 degrees. for its resting point. At this point, the base of the vahri will have moved a few centimetres forward. From this point onwards the backrest will start to recline. You can hear an audible change in the motor and drive mechanism when the change between the footrest rising and the backrest reclining happens. If you keep the button pressed then the backrest will continue to recline un tl it reaches its limit which is 142 degrees of recline. This position is also known as the “Zero Gravity” positioning. it is a bit too far back for any work to be done. However, it is quite a nice position for getting a bit of cat-napping done I have actually fallen asleep in this reclined position during the past week on more than one occasion!

 The reclining motion is very smooth and quiet as well. it is very easy to find your preferred position and this is aided by a neat little trick on the footrest which I have not encountered before with other reclining chairs that I have used. Under the footrest, there are springs on either side of the base plate that are linked to the linkages. These springs act as a kind of damper that will allow the footrest to have two positions. If the recline is initiated when there wi weight on the footrest it will remain locked into the lower position, however, once that weight has been removed the footrest will “spring” into the higher position which is required for the aforementioned Zero Gravity position. I prefer to drop position as this will allow my feet to be at just the right angle where my feet are comfortable. I find that once it goes into the high position I start to get pins and needles in my feet. Your experience may vary on this and will entirely depend on your own physical make-up.

I feel that the linkages or going to be solid and will work well for a decent amount of time. I have had another recliner sofa that uses a similar style of linkage and indeed motor system however this has been manufactured to a much lower quality. The links on the X2 mechanism are all solid in feel and there are no strange noises or clicking and grinding audible in use. The same can’t be said for my sofa which feels a lot ropier in it working as fluidity of recline motion. All of this is backed up by a 5-year warranty for the chair from Flexispot. 

Here are some images of the dimensions below;

So that is a description of the mechanics and the assembly of the chair. However, how does it feel in use?

I have found that the chair is supportive in a variety of positions, my favourite position is where the backrest is about 10% reclined and the footrest is fully raised. This allows me to have my laptop rest on my lap in a comfortable position for typing without too much load upon my legs. Another one of my favoured positions is actually with my legs crossed up on the chair base which is deep enough to this. If I wish to just rest then I will recline the char back further and go back to nearly 50% of the full recline to allow me to still see the TV or read comfortably. This will still give me plenty of support for my back and due to the angle to the footrest, my legs are also supported well. I have sat in this position for several hours in the evening and I have not had any sore spots I dont need any extra pillows or cushions as I have on other chairs.

My wife has also used it on occasion when she has been unable to sleep at night and apart from her noting the footrest can be a bit too high when in the fully reclined position, she was very comfortable. She found that the backrest was particularly comfortable when fully reclined and she was able to sleep better on the chair than the bed.

Overall I am very happy with the Flexispot X2 recliner. I have found it to be very well built and the construction from the manufacturing is very good. the faux leather finish is a nice feeling to the touch and hopefully will last the true test of time over the years, if it doesn’t then I would like to think that the 5-year warranty will be able to address this if it were needed. As I mentioned above this isn’t really a tech chair but it does allow me to take advantage of the use of my tech in comfort and also allows me to relax when I am not working.

If I had two minor issues with the char then they are both relatively simple to resolve as well. The first issue is with the colour, I would like to see this recliner offered in other colours as at the time of writing this, the Flexispot X2 recliner is only available in White. it would be great if this were to be offered in other colours, to fit in with other decors.

The second issue relates to the sprung footrest, Whilst I find this to be a really nice feature I would like the ability of the spring action to be disabled. it is fine for me as I can push the footrest back down however the mechanism is a little bit too strong for my wife to push down. if this could be locked in one position then it would be great for her as she wouldn’t have the issue with getting that pins and needles feeling when she is fully reclined.

At @£499 for the chair, it is a bit pricey but in my opinion, it is worth it and when compared to other single-seat powered recliners on the market it is the same sort of market segment as the higher-end options from the likes of LazyBoy Winchester Power Recliner Chair which retails at £1375.00 but will sometime be on sale for just under £1000.

If you wish to upgrade your seating situation and you want to know more about the Flexispot X2 recliner then you can grab on from their website now.

The post Flexispot X2 Power Reciliner – Review is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

I want to get this out of the way first and foremost this is not a phone that is going to be high on people’s wish list along with the likes of the Samsung Galaxy lineup, the iPhone range or Google’s Pixel devices. this is a phone that is built for a reason, and that reason is to be tough and durable. It is unashamedly butch but under that tough exterior is it any good. In a word yes. it is good but good and great have a big space between them and this is where I feel his phone sits in between good and great. I come into this phone off the back of the review for the ONeplus Nord 3 CE Lite, which given the bang for your buck is a great phone for the right buyer the CAT S75 will also be great for the right buyer but not for the mainstream masses. 

Design and Hardware

What Bullitt has done here is create a good phone with some extra heavy-duty padding to toughen things up. in doing so they have created a phone that is chunky and solid which I do like despite my feeling like I need a weapons licence to carry it in public! Not once have dealt even the slightest bit concerned about throwing this in my pocket while I have been out mountain biking with my son or capturing photos of historic places with the rest of my family. I even felt comfortable handing the phone over to my 10-year-old to take some pictures while we had a look around some old palaces.

The build quality gives a reassurance that if you were to drop this then it would be fine and you can just dust it off and crack on with the rest of your day. I had the opportunity to use the CAT S75 in the rain as well where it performed perfectly thanks to the incredibly high IP68 and IP69K rating which stems from the tough soft-touch rear body which envelops the internal structure of the phone like an antimicrobial security blanket. When it gets dirty it goes in the sink and I wash it as if I was washing a plate or glass!

If you haven’t taken the time to go over my unboxing article on the phone I would strongly encourage you to do so as it gives my thoughts on the hardware and a tour of the device.

There is of course one other big selling point of this phone and that is the integration of  MediaTek’s state-of-the-art NTN (non-terrestrial network) chip that enables direct connectivity to geostationary satellites above the earth making it possible to send a message or make an SOS assistance request. Thi is different tot he system that Apple use as they have to use propriety satellites where as the CAT S75 should in theory use any satellite that can be found by the phone. I have spent some time trying to test this out I have had mixed results, which you can see in more detail below. I was only trying to use the satellite messaging service as I didn’t need the tracking ability or the SOS function during my time with the phone. This seems as good a time as any to remind you that these services are extras and they will require that you use the specialised sim that is provided with the phone in one of the sim card slots.

Another little gem that I discovered during my testing was that the phone does actually have built-in Wireless charging which I had missed during my unboxing which is a nice feature to have as I do use this function a lot. However, I have to say that I had mixed results actually getting the phone to share wirelessly. I was unable to use the Wireless charger built into my desk which works for pretty much any other wireless charge-enabled device that I have ever tried on it. I was also unable to get it to work on my Pixel Stand 2 charger as the coil on the charge and the one in the rear of the phone just would line up. I was however able to get it to work on my old Samsung fast wireless charger and an unbranded pad that I have next to my bed. You may find that mileage will vary using this feature.

That concludes the design and hardware part let’s look into how this chunky boy performs now.

Performance

The performance of the CAT S75 is perfectly adequate for a phone that is being used as a daily driver and I have not found much in the way of things that will trip it up it is pretty swift at moving through apps and loading up games and streaming services. I have not had problems with having multiple apps running in the background and the phone stays cool.

This is not going to be an out-and-out gaming beast and the likes of Shenjen Impact will not be the smoothest experience on the higher settings however given that is not my type of gaming I went ahead and fired up F1 Mobile Racing instead. On my Pixel 7 Pro this game runs fluidly with minimal frame dropping or stuttering. when I loaded it up on the CAT S75 it felt a bit more sluggish and I am quite certain that the graphics detail was not as good in terms of the track textures and details. I did try and check what level of graphics it was running at and I was unable to see this information. I did also try running another of my favourite games Grand Mountain Adventure and this ran smoothly for the most part apart from when you switched between the game and the Mini Map the were some distinct slowdowns. I can only put this down to the level of detail that is shown on the mini-map and then the phone needs to catch up on the rendering which would explain the short lag. Again this is not something I have ever noticed on my Pixel 7 Pro.

In terms of the longevity of the battery on the phone, the large 5000 mAH battery presented no problem in my daily use which consists of checking emails, mixed messaging across various channels including social media, some light camera use and approx an hour o sat nav and media streaming via Bluetooth when driving to and from work. On top of this, I am also using it a lot for web browsing as I am currently planning a trip abroad next week. I have been able to get through a normal day like this with no need to worry about when my battery will run out as the phone will gently sip power during the day and by the time I call it a night I will easily have double figures in the battery percentage icon. I have on some days been able to stretch the phone out to last up to two days but by the end of the second day, it is normally screaming out for a recharge. It will take a recharge fairly fast either via the wireless charging I mentioned above or via the USB Type C port which will allow the phone to pull in power at 15 watts which is not that fastest by any means but more than adequate for an overnight charge.

I have been trying to use the phone while I have been out trying to enjoy the sunshine when we have had and I have found that the screen is somewhat lacking in terms of the brightness. I prefer to use dark mode for my UI and this means that the brightness needs to be high in order for me to read text on the screen in bright conditions. Now because the backlight levels of this screen are not that high I do struggle to use the phone in any sort of sunshine when outdoors. I feel that this is a big weakness for a phone intended to be used in an outdoor environment. It had been my plan to take the phone on holiday to Turkey to test the underwater photography aspect but as I was going to be in the mids of a Europe-wide heatwave that wasn’t gonna work! I have found that the phone is great inside but under very bright outdoor conditions it just didn’t work for me.

Software

The software of the CAT S75 is where the phone has a chance to differentiate itself, however, I have to say rather thankfully they have not fiddled too much with the stock Android UI and I do like this however before you Pixel UI fans start jumping for joy there are some things that are missing here from the UI that I have found annoying in day to day use. it is also on a version of Android that is now nearly 2 years out of date.  Bullitt has stated that they will; be updating the phone to Android 14 but we don’t have any sort of time frame on when that will be I expect that it will be at some point next year, especially as the phone is running on a relatively unknown chipset (The MediaTek Dimensity D930 octa-core 2.2GHz) that will require custom coding to make it work with the updates before they can release firmware revisions. The good news is hope to see Android 13 before the winter however again this is not confirmed so only time will tell on that front.

I have grown used to some of the tweaks that have been enabled in the UI on Android 13 and these are not present on the CAT S75 which is a shame. For example, there is no ability to allow for the customisation of default icons in either the settings or the home screen menu which is a feature that I really like using as it allows me to personalise my phone a little bit more.

The homescreen setting menu

I have not been able to find a way to remove the recent apps option from the app drawer as well I really don’t like that function as it is just duplicating the existing app menu so is not needed.

App drawer with search function

The whole phone just feels like it is missing the little extras and tweaks that I have become used to when using the more flagship-grade phones that I normally use. Even when I compare it to the OnePlus Nord CE3 Lite I feel myself being left wanting on certain aspects of the software.

Dont get me wrong the phone offers all the things you need from a phone and for normal users or for those rallying on the phone as a tool this will be great as long as they keep the phone updated with all the security patches.

Old security update

At the time of writing this, the phone is on 1st May 2023 in terms of security patches hopefully they will be adding a more up-to-date one soon as this will give businesses the peace of mind to invest in getting these devices for their field workers which I feel is a target market for these phones. I know that when I used to work in the field as an engineer, I would have been much happier using one of these over the iPhone 7 that I was issued as that was not really useable in the rain at all which we have a lot of in the winter in this country and the “glove mode” would have also been very useful as well.

The difference between the sensitivity is all software driven in “glove mode” and it does seem to offer a marginal improvement when I tested it with some random woolly gloves I found but it would be fine with the typical style nitrile gloves that I used to have to wear.

So all in all the software is good but it does not come with some of the niceties that are found in more consumer-based phones which is hardly surprising. As a company phone admin, I would be more than happy rolling these out to my engineers as there is not much they can do to screw things up in terms of the settings as they are simply not there! I presume it would also be very simple to implement some sort of management tool on these devices for companies to use via an app linked to a back-end solution. Ironically this is a speciality of the sister phone to the CAT S75 the Motorola Defy 2 as that is being built for Motorola Mobility Solutions who are widely regarded as experts in this area.

I do like the fact that some of the “Pixel” features that I have grown to love are still here, for example, the location of the search widget being at the bottom as can be seen on the home screens and that this continues to be available regardless of the screen you are on.

Correct Google Search bar placement

I am also a fan of the UI scaling as the icons are not too big and the text size is a good scale even when dialled down to the lowest setting. I have been really annoyed in the past by most non-Pixel and Nexus phones for the fact that the icon and text size is too big due to the limits implemented by scaling this is a big win for me. So with that, I can happily say that I am pleased with the look of the software and the way they have implemented the look of things. So without further ado let’s look into the camera and how it performs.

Camera

This was one of the areas I was not expecting to be anything special and my expectation for the most part were met. As an experiment, I gave the phone to my son while we took some time to explore some very old buildings in London on a family trip recently. Now if the camera was kept perfectly steady and till the results were not too bad but as soon as movement is brought in things start looking a bit dodgey.

I have included some examples below the 1st batches are taken with the phone being for the most part stable

Here are some of the more blurry shots 

Finally here are some Zoom samples for you to check out

While this is by o means a bad camera it is also not a great camera, I feel that again when the target audience is considered then it works but I wouldn’t want to rely on this as my main shooter either. This is again another reason why I decided to not take this on holiday as my Pixel 7 pro was much more up to the task of taking photos that I want to keep forever.

As for the selfie camera, this is more than adequate for basic use and has the ability to shoot with adjustable Bokeh which is a nice touch that is actually executed reasonably well!

Something that I did notice when I was playing around with the camera modes is that the front camera will not allow night mode to be used which is a bit strange and something I have not seen before on other devices I have compared it to.

Now it’s time to look at night mode now first up is with night mode on and you can see that while the light levels are good as the sensor does well to capture the available light it is a bit of a grainy mess.

It is a much better result than if you shoot without night mode on as seen below,

Another feature that i would find useful for the target audience at least I would have found it useful in my previous role in the field, is of course Super Macro mode.

You can see that when Super Macro is on the detail in the foreground is a lot crisper but it drops out as you get deeper into the shot, however, it does look like there is some noise being picked up by the 2MP macro camera which is a shame but it will be fine for taking an image of stuff that you want to get that close too.

Finally, I captured this quick video of my shortlived ownership of a Pixel Fold and it is not too shabby

The camera software is in itself fairly easy to use and it does have some extra modes as well arguably the most interesting of these modes for me is the Underwater Mode, which I regrettably was unable to use in anger. There is a rather helpful tutorial that will take you through some of the controls on the UI.

So in conclusion for the camera, it is serviceable but nothing to right home about but again I draw you back to the target market piece again which is those who are using the phone as a tool. In a push, you will be able to get some good shots out of it but once you start getting close up or things get dark then it starts going sideways.

Time to wrap things up then.

Conclusion

This phone has very clearly been designed for a target-specific market and also one with a very specialist set of needs. If I am to look at both of these sectors of the mobile user markets then it keeps bringing me back to the same two groups. people who use their phones outdoors and people who use their phones as work tools. Now the neat thing is that these two market segments are actually looking for a phone that ticks quite a lot of the same boxes. It needs to be tough, it needs to last a long time, it has to do the basics well and it has to be simple to use.

The CAT S75 in my mind ticks all of these boxes and then it adds the extras that will really appeal to outdoor users as well with the enhanced tracking functions and offline SMS services. however with the see all requiring extra costs, I think the amount of users that will be buying the phone specifically for those functions is somewhat niche. Now to be fair this is not the first ruggedised phone we have seen but it is one of the better-specified ones and the fact that the software is relatively unencumbered is a nice bonus. The only other widely available ruggedised phone I was able to find while doing this review in person was a Samsung Galaxy XCover Pro  which is actually no longer available but it has much weaker specs and is a much older model. It can still be bought but I wouldn’t recommend it unless you are looking to buy a phone that is now 4 years old and will be reaching the end of its update cycle in terms of software support. The only other option is the sister phone the Motorola Defy 2 but if you are based in the UkKi don’t think you can get one yet as they are only showing as being available via preorders with no indication of pricing.

So if you want a well specced hardcore phone that will allow you to use your device outdoors or on the work site then the CAT S75 get my recommendation with some caveats regarding the screen brightness and camera quality. But at the price of £499.00 from the CAT phones website then it is well worth getting

The post Cat S75 – Review is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

Now that your eyes have been sufficiently seared by the beauty within that glorious white box let’s talk specs….

Specs

So that is the specs taken care of let’s have a quick look around the device to see the hardy beats in all its glory.

Staring up front is where we can find the 6.6″ LCD IPS panel which is made of Gorilla Glass Victus at 0.8 mm thickness to ensure that is scratch and impact-resistant. it will also work with gloves if you enable Glove Mode in the settings and can be used with wet fingers! The screen will refresh at up to 120hz and this can be set on at all times, reduced to 60hz or set to adaptive mode which will automatically adjust depending on what is being done on the device. 

Also to be found on the front of the phone is the front-facing 8MP camera which is located in an old-style teardrop and is in the bezel around the screen. The bezels by the way are huge and this is deliberate and is most likely been done in this way to help against the screen breaking if dropped but I also suspect that it may be to do with the aforementioned glove mode.

Tucked into the section just above the camera is the earpiece which is also built into that top bezel as well this sounds crisp and clear and I have not had any issues hearing people during calls. 

Moving around to the right-hand side we can find the strangely placed buttons. This is one of the first phones I have used in quite some time where the power key is placed above the volume rocker. This requires some finger gymnastics to find the power key on what is already quite a tall phone. the good news is that this can mostly be negated buy the “lift-to-wake” feature that is present in the phone’s settings and also by using the fingerprint reader on the back. Both the volume rocker and the power buttons do have a solid feel and are responsive when pressed. They are not metal though but they do feel sturdy which is a theme throughout the phone.

On the base of the phone, we can find a USB Type C port that is flanked by what looks to be a dual speaker but in reality, this is a single-speaker affair. The grill on the right of the USB port is the speaker and the other side most likely is hiding a mic array under the grill. Although I cannot see the water ingress protection for myself I expect these apertures to all have gaskets on them internally.

Continuing around to the left-hand side is where the programmable key is hiding along with the only port that will allow access to the internals of the phone the Sim/SD card slot. The programmable button like the other on the right of the phone is again solid but this time has the added benefit of being ribbed for ease of location as this can be used for a Zello Push To Talk (PTT) button or just for any other functions which can be configured in software.

The Combo Sim/SD card tray is quite deeply recessed inside the phone and is a toolless style the flap that covers this is a reassuringly solid feeling and when closed creates a tight seal. I am a little concerned that it could be flipped open with relative ease but I am sure that this has been thought about in design and I wouldn’t be surprised if the internal sections of this compartment are all coated in a waterproofing agent.

Finishing our tour of the sides we come to the top of the phone which house the SOS button in a deep red, which is again ribbed for ease of location but this time it is recessed into the phone’s casing so that it is level to prevent accidental activation. Next to this is the only visible Mic hole on the phone.

Around the back, we have got a fairly clean panel with the exceptions being the camera array and the fingerprint reader. the fingerprint reader is nicely positioned where your index finger would naturally fall so it is easy to use and a good size for me but if you have bigger/wider fingers it may be problematic for you. It responds quickly and seems to be pretty accurate with a very low failure rate from my testing at least.

The camera array is housed in a single slightly raised bump that is on the rear right corner of the phone in a very similar position that Samsung tend to place their cameras. In the array, we have got a 50MP Main Camera (f/1.8), 8MP Wide angle camera and a 2MP macro featuring underwater mode. Below this, we have got a very bright dual LED Flash which works really well as a torch as well if you need it too.

That concludes the tour of the phone.

I have been able to get some limited use out of the phone since it arrived on my doorstep on Monday but I have got plans to take it with me mountain biking this weekend to give it a bit more of a test. This is one of the areas where Bullitt and CAt intend for this style of the phone to be used so I will be putting it through its paces as best as I can over the next few days.

I am normally quite gentle on the phone I am lent for review as i don’t want to break them and be asked to pay for the damages! However in this case I am going to be a bit rough with the phone as it is a tough phone after all so within the realms of relative sense I will be tough on this phone over my testing period. I may even be able to get some underwater photography use out of this if I am allowed to keep it for my trip to Turkey later this month! It then the north sea may have to suffice instead not that you will be able to see much in there!!

If you are interested in picking up a tough phone from CAT or more specifically the CAT s75 then you can do so from the CAT phones store now for £549. If however, you prefer your phones with Motorola branding then you can also pick this phone up as the Motorola Mobility made Defy 2 although I think this is limited to America’s at this time.

As a small treat here is a link to the app satellite messaging app working as it should, not as I tried to demo unsuccessfully in the video above!!

The post CAT S75 by Bullitt – Unboxing is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

I have to say that I am glad I took the time to give these earphone’s some decent use as I am very pleased with them. Normally I use AirPods 3’s as my go-to headphones regardless of the device I am using at the time as they seem to be one of the better-fitting styles of earphones. I generally don’t get on with headphones with Eartips on them as they don’t sit well in my ears. So let’s see more about the design of the Oneplus Nord Buds 2

Design

The Nords Buds 2 like its fellow namesake from the phone line up is a step down for the higher-end devices and it does mean that some of the fancier bits of the design seen on the pro series of devices are lost here. However, that is possibly what makes them a touch more appealing to me. They are not trying to be fancy and glitzy, they are trying to just have enough space on board for all elements of the earbud. They have managed to cram a lot of that elements in but I will come back to that soon in the hardware piece.

So this time around we have got some flat and chunky stems for the buds which include a small aperture at the bottom for a microphone. Further up at the top of the stem is where you will find a touch-sensitive button which is there to allow the input of tap commands. Sitting on the top of the stem’s upper edge is again another microphone which I presume is part of the noise-cancellation/transparancy technology on board.

Moving around to the main body we can see that this is about an average size for this style of earbud end there are some indications of what is inside this section. There is a small mesh grill which looks like it is an opening to let air into the earbud. flanking either side of this aperture you find two metal disks that look like they are contacts for the charging dock. What is notably absent is a skin contact sensor that would allow the earbud to detect when the device has been removed from your ears. This in turn would trigger an action to pause the playback of the media being consumed.

Finally, the buds taper down to a narrow section which is where the ear tip is fitted and this is the component that will actually sit just inside your outer ear canal and provides the seal to help with that passive noise cancellation. It is slightly oval in shape and has a fine mesh grill to cover it to stop the ingress of dirt and other debris. As for the Eartips themselves you get them in pairs of course with Small, Medium, and Large as you would expect to see. I really do like that tips have got some extra debris guards built into them as this stops stuff getting onto the mesh of the actual Earbuds which is a nightmare to keep clean.

I do like the design of these buds a lot and if I had to bring them into fault in one way it would be that they are a bit chunky. Whilst this is not an issue in normal use I have found that if I was wanting to use them at night when I went to bed they were a bit unpleasant when used with the earbud resting on the pillow. it felt like the Earbud was being pushed into my ear which did cause some discomfort.

The other component of the Nord Buds 2 is the charging/carry case. Again like the Buds, this is a slight step down from the likes of the Pro line up i n that we don’t have wireless charging on board but it has everything else you would expect to see on a charging case. On the front of the case is where you can see the status LED which will display different states depending on the charge level of the buds.

On the rear, you have got your USB Type C Port which allows charging of the earbuds. next to this is the power and pairing mode key. On the inside, we see some nicely sculpted cavities for the Earbud to reside in and right at the base of these cavities is where the pogo pins for charging sit. I also feel that this is a small magnet on either side of the midline of the case that will hold the earbuds in place and help “pull” them into their correct position. You get a reassuring clunk when you are putting the earbuds in the case. it is not a too dissimilar feeling to what Apple do with the new MagSafe cable on the newer Mac laptop lines.

All in the design of the OnePlus Buds 2 is very pleasing and they feel like a good quality product. OnePlus has also used Eco-friendly materials in the charging case that embraces elements of the cosmos into the design to convey the power and the strong bass of the Earbuds. What that marketing speak means is that there are some white flecks in the design of the finish of the charging case on the bottom half!

Hardware

As I have previously alluded to in the above section the amount of stuff that has been fitted into the OnePlus Nord Buds 2 is impressive. The main attraction is of course the massive 12.4mm driver which has been used to allow the Earbuds to have a higher quality bass experience. Alongside that, you have a titanium-layered diaphragm to improve the stiffness of the sounds for clearer audio. Moving away from the physical hardware to the control circuitry this is a dual-core processor that is used to control all the functionality including the Active noise cancellation which can be used in either ANC mode for maximum noise dampening or transparency mode which will allow the outside sounds in meaning that you can hear enough from the outside world to allow for you to hear someone who may be trying to speak to you or perhaps, more importantly, a passing vehicle. All this time you are still getting good crisp sounds with minimal interruption.

As an experiment, I am wearing the earbuds while typing this review and I am not able to actually hear the clicking of the keys of the keyboard while I am typing with ANC mode on. When I turn the ANC off then I can hear the bottoming out of the keystroke even with some music at a moderate volume. The difference between the modes is enough to be noticeable but no more than that.

In terms of the batteries that are to be found in the buds, we have got a battery that will give up to 5 hours of usage without the charging case or 27 hours of use if they are being topped up from the case, this is with ANC on. If you turn ANC off then these times will increase to 7 hours for the buds alone and 36 hours when used with the case. I have used the earbuds for taking calls on my laptop at work and I found that this figure seemed to be pretty accurate as I had to switch out from using the buds after about 5 hrs from a full charge in the case.

When it comes to pairing this is done quickly and easily as I have tested this on both a Windows and Mac laptop and had no issues, I have also used the earbuds on a variety of phones including the Oneplus Nord CE 3 Lite. When you had the Buds Setup with that phone in particular you are able to get the use of a Dirac Audio  Tuner when listening to music and when watching movies you get the benefit of Dolby Atmos for Mobile. On My Pixel 7 Pro, there was no Dolby support but I was able to do some tweaking with the software.

One last little treat before we move to the software section is that the Nord Buds 2 are rated with an IP rating of IP55 so even in the sweatiest of workouts in the great outdoors you should not be presented with any issue in usage. Just don’t take them sm=wimming as that would not be covered by this rating level!

Software

It always feels a bit strange talking about software for earbuds but this is a part of the experience now so let’s dive in. As is the case with the OnePlus Buds Pro 2 that I reviewed previously when the Nord buds 2 are paired to a OnePlus device that has been recently released then you will get an inbuilt UI accessible from the phone Bluetooth settings menu that will allow you to tweak the setting of the Earbuds in terms of what the various taps will do and how they will sound. For anyone who is not using a OnePlus device or an older OnePlus device, this is available via an app called HeyMelody. This app will allow you to control the same aspects of your earbuds. I have included a few self-explanatory screenshots below so you can see what functions you have in the app.

There is one software-based feature that is not present on the Nord Buds 2 which will be a differentiator between these and the Pro range. We don’t have the ability to use Spatial Adio on these earbuds as it is not su[pprted by the software or indeed the internal hardware. For me, this is a non-issue as I can honestly say I didn’t miss it and I possibly even prefer to not have it. As far as things go Android is not really pushing the Spatial audio experience that hard at the moment and if they are then you need specific hardware on both the phone and the earbud to support it in certain apps. So not a big deal but I thought it was worthy of a mention.

One last thing if you are using this with a OnePlus device that is running Oxygen OS that is a little easter egg. The Nord Buds 2 encourage you to customise the Popup that will appear on your phone when the buds are activated when you open the case. it is indicated by an animation on the case and an emoji on the phone. I did not spend much time on this so the one I had was the stock one which was not very exciting but I thought I would add it here in case you wished to know.  Editor Note I was unable to change the customization despite having the latest Firmware on the Earbuds so your mileage may vary

The Nord Buds 2 will pair very quickly with Oxygen OS phones via the pop-up notification once this shows up then within 2 seconds of you pressing the button on the rear of the case it should be paired which is nice if you frequently have to repair your earbuds, although I can’t see why you would have to do this frequently.

Performance

I found that in most circumstances the OnePlus Nord Buds 2 were really good and provided a clear and crisp sound if in some instances a bit base-heavy. I found them enjoyable to wear and when listening to music they sounded really good. I also used the to watch some videos from my phone and I was happy with the depth of the sound that was synced perfectly with the action on the screen. There were no serious issues when I was using them but as I mentioned in the very first paragraph I am not an Audiophile and I can only say what I heard in terms of the sound that was delivered to my ears. If you really want to find out more about the tones and the sound profile then you can of course do a deeper dive into these headphones from other sources but in my eyes, these are a really good performing headphones and I would be happy to replace my Airpods 3’s with them.

Conclusion

if you want an inexpensive but feature-packed pair of headphones that will work relatively seamlessly with Android devices then these will work for most people. If you have a Oneplus phone then these would be a definite recommendation as they integrate really well, in a similar way to the iPhone and the Airbuds. The sound is clear and precise and if you like a bit of extra bass then you are in for a treat. Given the current pricing and the relatively consistent deals that are offered by OnePlus then these are a good buy. The current price at the time of completing this review is £58.65 which is a nice discount on the standard RRP of £69 You can check these deals out on the OnePlus website.

Definitely worth a look and we would love to know your thought if you have picked up a pair in the comments

The post OnePlus Nord Buds 2 – Review is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

I have already taken the time to put this through it unboxing process and provided a few very brief initial first thoughts for the device, however, that was before I lived with it for any sort of time. I wanted to dig down to the very core of the Core Edition phone to find out what made it tick and now this has been done, I have a better grasp of the subject matter.

So let’s get started and see if this phone that is currently on sale for £269 at OnePlus is worth spending some of your hard-earned cash on.
Design

I have gone over this in more detail in the unboxing article I wrote when I first receive the device earlier last month. I was pretty pleased with the design of the phone as it has some very nice details. A couple of areas that stand out now having used the phone are broken down in some detail below.

-It’s a bit square… but in a good way.

I have got to day this was one of the things that struck me the most about the design of this phone when I first unboxed it and even before that when I saw the early pictures. I will go as far as say this was one of the things that made me want to review the phone, to begin with. If you have been a reader of Coolsmartphone for some time you may remember I was a big fan of the Xperia lineup of old and one of the things that I liked most about their design, which is continued into today’s phones that they are pushing out was the “blockiness” of the design. I can’t quite put my finger on it but I like this.

The Nord CE 3 is very much from the same school of thought in this regard. it has a large flat glass display a flat plastic back and flat plastic side and bottom rails making up the frame. These all appeal to me. The rails along the side and bottom are nicely textured to add a bit of grip to the exterior making it easier to hold and they are very slightly rounded off on the four corners which contribute to the comfort when it is hand. It is very similar in terms of the design that is currently being offered of the iPhone 14 lie up and this has been unchanged for what feels like forever. I do like this design choice and it fits the market segment correctly I feel.

-The buttons are split between both sides of the phone

I have found that this is a design choice that OnePlus started to follow a while ago and I like it for the most part as it means that you aren’t confused as to which button does which. So on the right-hand side, you have got the power button which also pulls double duty as a fingerprint reader. It is nicely raised enough (just about 1mm)so that it can be found with ease and has good action. The fingerprint reader is also pretty responsive too which is a nice touch. the volume buttons are then located on the left-hand side almost exactly opposite the power button. This means that unlike on my Pixel 7 Pro, I am not often pressing the volume key instead of the power key. There is however a downside which I need to mention and that is that it is very easy to accidentally take a screenshot with these buttons the way they are located which I have done several times by mistake!! it is an easy fix as you can turn the feature off in the settings which I am yet to do, whenever I remember to do it I then get sidetracked by something else.

-The back is plastic.

Now for a lot of people, this is a negative but for me and given the costs of this phone I am not too bummed out by this. I get that having a glass rear panel is nicer as the feel is better and it affords a better feel in the hand. it does however mean that the phone is inherently more fragile and if you were to drop it then the glass will break meaning an expensive repair and potential for other damage. having a plastic back means that the phone is more resistant to damage if the phone does get dropped and it is cheaper to make in the first place. So for me, this is a good decision on the material used but they did in my opinion, especially on the back colour way make a fundamental mistake. They have given the back of the phone a “Piano black” style finish which we see on a lot of car interiors these days. This is one of the most annoying finishes that they could have had as this means that the phone is constantly covered in smudges and fingerprints. if you give this to a teenager without the case this phone will look mining in a matter of seconds. It is, for this reason, I was very glad to see that OnePlus has continued to provide a free clear TPU case for the phone in the box as this was applied as soon as the initial picture had been taken and only removed if I need to photograph the back panel. If you’re choosing this phone and hate fingerprints get the Lime Green one as even if this is the same glossy finish you won’t see the fingerprints as much on that colour version.

-Camera Modules are exaggerated.

This is a bit of an odd one to me. I can see what has been done as this is the designed direction being taken for the Nord series in its 3rd generation. the camera modules on the back of the phone are pretty massive for the overall size of the phone. I can get it for the top array as that features the bigger camera but the bottom array is a bit nasty looking as it has 2 camera lenses in the same circle. This means that if you glance a the phone then you would think this has 2 rear cameras but in reality, you really only have the one which is mounted into the top circle.

I was on a video call the other day for work and happened to be doing something on my phone for password authentication and out of the blue I got a comment from one of my colleagues saying that the cameras were ridiculously big! I then felt compelled to advise him that it was only the top one that was the actual camera and the bottom one contained a depth of field sensor and the 2 MP macro lens The person who commented uses a Samsung phone that incidentally has the same 107Mp sensor on his phone and was shocked at how big they had made the housing for the camera when compared to his phone. It is not a problem in any way but just something that came up in my time with the device.

-Sim and Micro SD card support!

It has been such a long time since I have had the pleasure to use a phone that supports micro SD card expansion that I forgot all about this feature and how useful it is. I love that if I needed to I can throw in a memory card to the phone and store extra content on it. This would be great for me to take this away on a trip as it means I can throw a load of music and MP4 files onto a large SD card and then I will have a way of keeping my 10-year-old entertained on long journeys. It also means that if he was using it and it and the screen were to get broken as long as I set the camera to store photos on the external storage then he will have all those photos available to him on that memory card. Given that the phone also only comes with one storage size of 128GB having the expandable memory is a great selling point as it will allow the phone to be used for longer without the need to buy extra cloud solutions once that internal memory has been used up. I have been using the phone for a few weeks with my regular app loadout and music on the phone and I have already used 90GB of the stage so having the ability to add extra will be very useful.

of course that is only one of the use cases for the extra slot as the phone also supports a secondary sim which is a gain very useful if you are using this a travel phone as it means that you can have both your primary and secondary sim inside it at the same time. The phone has various future that will allow you to determine which SIM is used or what which can be set up easily for you to make the best use of this feature.

-3.5mm headphone jack on board.

So I defiantly did not expect to see this on such a budget-oriented device as this feature was something that was for the large part now defunct on all phones bar the Sony lineup Xperia 1 Series devices which are all £1k plus phones. I am pleased to see this is back as it was a feature I used to get better audio when I was recording videos at trade shows but it also means that if I was going to be giving this to a child I can give them headphones that they can use that won’t cost me a small fortune but will still allow a good sound experience. it also means one less thing for them to lose and let run out of power.

-SuperVooc 67W charging.

Fast charging is a must for phones these days and the Nord CE 3 has this covered with the built-in SuperVooc fast charging capability meaning that even the most demanding of users will find that they can back up to speed in no time at all. With a recharging speed of 0% to 80% in just 30 minutes you can have enough power for your day’s adventure in the time it takes you to get yourself ready whiteout having to worry about the phone not being charged. I have been using SuperVooc charging on a Realme phone that my wife uses for nearly a year now and it is a godsend as she never remembers to charge her phone so it always needs that quick boost, which SuperVooc affords.

However, it is often a cited concern that using fast charging will harm the battery or the phone which is where the SuperVooc Endurance Edition aspect of the charging protocols comes into its own. The phone and charger will use the phone’s built-in Battery Health Engine software to ensure that the phone’s battery will be kept in optimum condition so that you charge it whenever you need it and depending on your charging habits the charging speed will be adjusted. So if for example you are plugging in overnight all the time then the phone will pick up on this behaviour and it will then slow down the charging rate accordingly. If however, you are more of charge and dash style person then it will allow the phone to charge quickly and fast for the short period the phone is plugged in. This is normally a feature that is only found on flagship-grade phones so it is nice to see this on a lower specced device.

So those are some of the design features that jump out to me about the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G. The key overwhelming feeling I get from the phone is that this is a phone that does what it says on the tin but the design is only part of what allows this to happen a lot of that does what it says on the tin comes from the hardware and what is inside the phone so let’s spend a few moments going through that
Hardware

First up and following on nicely from the battery tech I have just been looking at is that this phone has a suitably large 5000mah hour battery meaning that you should in most use cases not have to worry too much about being left with a depleted battery on most days. In most of my usage, I have normally had anywhere from 30% to 40% left in my daily use cases. Now admittedly I am not a young man and I don’t spend a lot of time using social media or taking pictures as I am at work for 8 hours of the day and my phone will just be ticking over quietly in the corner. However, I do use the phone for at least 2 hrs of media playback over Bluetooth on most days while I drive to and from the office for work. I will normally have about a 1hrs use of email and then another hour of web browsing and social scrolling in the evenings throw in a few Youtube videos and that is where we are at. All of this time I have had the phone connected to a Galaxy Watch 5 Pro over Bluetooth as well for tracking steps and notification duties as well. I have not ever been worried about the phone running low on juice so far and most days I can stretch the usage out to last me up to days which is nice to have.

It is good to see this price point getting a decent size battery and coupled with the aforementioned charging speed and tech this is head and shoulders above some higher-end devices that I have tested and owned over the years.

Next up is the screen that is I would say average to good. Whilst I had no problems with its speed and fluidity of displaying content and navigating on the large 6.72″ 120Hz FHD Display I did have an issue with the brightness of the screen as I found that it was very hard to see in direct sunlight. This is partly down to the panel being an LCD and the colours being not as vibrant due to the capabilities of LCD panels by their very nature. The panel was also not a very bright panel maxing out at 680nits which when combined with my preference for dark mode does make it tricky to see when the sun comes out.

I also dont think it was being helped by the screen protector that comes pre-applied to the phone as this seems to be a dust magnet and I found myself constantly cleaning the screen down especially when I had just taken it out of my pocket to use it. I am not sure what material was used by OnePlus for the screen protector but the combination of the screen protector and TPU case meant that the phone was constantly being covered in lint and dust. I did ultimately remove the screen protector as it started to peel at the edges and the dust pick up did reduce a bit so that is some food for thought.

Under the hood the brains of the phone are in the form of the efficient energy-sipping Snapdragon 695 5G chipset that was plenty powerful for most daily tasks which I carried out on the phone it was very rare for me to see any sort of slowdowns on the phone. Again as mentioned above I don’t tend to push these phones to their max but I was able to do all I wanted to do on it with very little speed difference when compared to either my Z Fold 4 5G or my Pixel 7 Pro. The only chick was that I did occasionally notice that when I was using some apps that required large data set to be loaded this was a bit slower than on my flagship devices. I didn’t see the same when playing F1 Mobile at least not after I went through the initial loadout of the game that was as this did take a bit longer than I would have liked, but it is a big game so I will let the Nord CE 3 off for that one. I use the inbuilt gaming mode to monitor the performance of the game and I was consistently getting frames rates in the high 20s’ through the session apart from one very strange moment when the phone slowed down to single figures and everything turned into a bit of an awful laggy mess. A quick force close of the app seemed to resolve the issue and it didn’t come back even after playing for about another hour of gameplay time.

Another area where I was keen to test the phone’s performance was when I was using it with Android Auto in my car. This has been the downfall of phones that are much better specced than the Nord CE 3 in the past. I am happy to report that the phone didn’t have any problems when using Android Auto in a wired mode, Unfortunately, I was unable to test the wired functionality as my car does not support that feature but it worked fine when using it for music playback and handling voice and texts while I was on the road.

In terms of call quality, the phone delivered here calls were crisp and clear and they synced up with Bluetooth fine both on my watch and my car. In terms of the signal I was experiencing the same sort of signal that I typically get on most phones I have tested as of late in some specific areas I was able to get a better signal on the Nord CE 3 that I sometimes would get on my Pixel 7 Pro. I would say that this is another respect of having the plastic case design as it allows more of the signal to get into the phone’s antennas which unlike the Nord CE 3’s counterparts have to use signal channels creating potential weakness in the frame. This has been a problem on the OnePlus devices since the adoption of the larger camera modules on the OnePlus 10 series phones and sadly it is still evident on their 11 series. The good news is this should be the case with the Nord CE 3 and the other phones within the Nord series of devices.

So in terms of hardware and performance, the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G is great bang for its buck as long as your expectations are realistic.

A lot of the phone’s appeal comes down to the software experience that is provided by the phone and that brings me nicely to the software side
Software

The concept of the OnePlus phones, when they were originally envisioned, was to bring true flagship value to the masses at a low and affordable price point. While there have been some shifts in this ethos over the years I do feel that a lot of hose aspects still ring true in the way that the Oxygen OS 13.1 UI that sits on top of Android 13 still works. Yes, there has been a lot of merging with the parent companies Colour Os that can be found on Oppo and Realme phones but this is not necessarily a bad thing as Oxygen OS is a really good UI. It doesn’t add too much duplication and where the duplications of apps or functions do happen they are either well thought out and useful or easily sidestepped. I have been running this phone as my daily driver for quite some time during this elongated review and I have found that I was never left lacking in terms of the way the software works.

The UI allows me to set the phone up the way I want it to I have options if I want them and if I don’t then I am not forced to adopt them. An example of this is the App Drawer. I can set the phone to either have on or off as I want. I can have a swipe-down gesture brings up my notifications screen or it can bring down the OnePlus Shelf option, which is a place to keep useful widgets for quick access. Being that I am a bit of an old-school user I prefer the notifications dropdown but I have the option for either which is good to see. I do appreciate the search function in the app drawer and I have found myself using it more than once.

With all that being said, there are some minor annoyances that you do learn to live with but are not found on a device from the pixel lineup. So if I get a notification I need to tap on the small arrow icon to view it on Oxygen OS which is a bit annoying when I am trying to quickly clear my notifications. on other phones I can just pull down and as I do so all my notifications expand fully allowing me to see what I need and quickly dismiss irrelevant apps.

A lot of the OnePlus built-in apps require you to approve the Status Of Usage before you use them which is annoying but is only an issue on the first use so this is forgivable.

I did also find that the battery management was sometimes a little too persistent for my liking as I would be reminded about an app that is open in the background that I want to be open too frequently. If I want the app open then I know what it is going to do to my battery. Again this is probably something that is just me as I know what I am doing but for an inexperienced user, this would potentially prove to be useful as it will stop the phone from running unneeded programs in the background. I do feel that this is not as big of a problem as the Oxygen OS management software makes it out to be though as I normally get the same sort of battery life out of the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G as I get on my Pixel 7 Pro despite them using different chipsets screen types etc.

If you can live with these very minor issues in the software there is a lot to like about Oxygen OS 13.1 and don’t let the OG Oneplus Oxygen OS hater put you off. I have been more than happy living with the phone daily and would be more than happy to recommend this phone based on the software implementation to either my wife or my parent. I also know that my son would be more than happy with this phone as it would allow him to do everything he wants to do and more.

Just before I wrap up on the software there is one more section that I want to mention. that is of course virtual RAM. This is something that more and more phones are starting to feature and I am pleased to see that it is on board here as it does allow the phone to stretch its legs if you need that extra bit of memory for gaming or multi-app use. It is particularly useful when gaming as it allows for an option called Championship Mode

This will essentially turn your phone into a dedicated handheld when you are in a game and draws the maximum power from the phone for gaming only everything else becomes secondary. By default, the virtual RAM capacity is set as 4GB but this can be doubled if required (In my testing I have not needed to do this but it could be useful for some)

Last but not least let’s look at the camera.
Camera

This is perhaps one of the weaker aspects of the phone but going into this I was aware that the camera was not going to be amazing as we do only have one sensor to work with in reality here. The camera adopts pixel binning using a 9 in 1 ratio meaning that your 108 MP sensor will produce images of 12 MP in size which is plenty for an entry-level camera. the difference here though is as the image is being captured by a high MP sensor it can pull in more data about the subject matter and essentially capture more light. this in turn results in brighter, clearer and more natural-looking images. In addition, you do of course have you wide variety of capture modes included and some of these modes will feature an aspect of AI Assitance to tweak your settings to suit the lighting levels the subject the depth of focus etc.

You also have got 3x Lossless Zoom which is of course a digital manipulation afforded by the large sensor size but it works reasonably well as can be seen in the zoomed images below. But that is enough of me stating the facts here are some image si have captured for you to assess yourself and make your judgements.

As you can see from the images the camera is not too bad in optimum light conditions. The macro shots come out pretty well and it does a good job of keeping the subject in focus when using portrait mode (even when the subject is not a person!). This is all pretty much par for the course with any camera these days. It is when the light drops that normally things start to wrong.

I have included a few low-light shots here to show what I mean

The first of the above shots was without night mode and the second was with night mode on. As you can see there is a little bit of improvement but it is not great as we have a lot of edge blurring on the shot. To be fair to the Nord CE most phones would have struggled with this type of shot. This however is not something that would actively disuade me from this phone as these are firmly in the minority of the photos I would be intending to take with this phone. Also, the LED flash is more than bright enough to make up for the low light issue.

As for video the phone can record at up to 1080p at up to 30FPS in normal video and it will also do 720p at up to 120fps samples of which can be seen below.

Last but not least is the selfie mode which is more than good enough. it also allows for background blurring and it does a pretty good job at keep the focus on the subject whilst blurring out the background.

I am happy with the camera performance for a phone of this price point and would be more than happy to recommend this to someone who doesn’t need anything more advanced which to be fair is the vast majority of us.
Conclusion

This phone is a very good budget offering and I have enjoyed using it. If I had not become so accustomed to the high-end flagships that I can use due to this website I would be happy with this phone as one for myself. it is of course not perfect but given what you are paying it does a great job. I found it slightly irritating when I was using it in very bright sunlight due to the relatively low nit levels that the screen was able to produce. There were some things in the software that did annoy me slightly but none of these things were a deal breaker for me overall.

OnePlus has always been very good at hitting the cash-to-spec balance well with the Nord range and this is why I am normally such a big fan of it. I have recommended that some of my colleagues look to this phone as a possible replacement for their ageing phones that they are currently using as they have said that cost is a bigger factor for them than high-end specs. I feel that this is the market where the OnePlus Nord cE 3 Lite 5g shines brightest. If you are on the lookout for a phone for a gift to a family member who doesn’t need the specs to be top-end but wants to know that they have something reliable and easy to use this is defiantly one I would recommend.

In terms of its competition there are a lot of cheap but good ones in this segment b the direct competitors for me though are the Pixel 6A and the Realme 10 Pro. The Pixel 6A I currently a tad more expensive but it does bring all of the Pixel’s unique features to the party and as such this would be a bit of a step up especially if the camera was one of the main drivers for the user. The Realme 10 Pro on the other hand is essentially the same phone albeit in a different shell and with slightly different branding. The main reason why I don’t think Realme would be one I would recommend is that it is a largely unknown brand in the UK.

So there you have the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G, This is a very competent phone with a great price tag and some great specs on board. if you know someone who just needs a smartphone but doesn’t demand the best interest of specs, then this is a strong recommendation. it is also a great alternative for your normal phone if you are looking for a secondary device for work, or travel to the sketchier areas of the world. (on my recent trip to Marroco this would have been a great option over my Fold 4 as it wouldn’t have been the end of the world had I needed to replace it if it got lost /stolen etc). lastly, if you have kids who have not quite learned the value of high-end electronics and don’t take the best care of things this would be a great option for them as well.

If you are wanting to get a OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G now is a great time to buy as they currently are selling them for £269 on the OnePlus Website, they are also available on Amazon for £289.99 with next-day delivery if you have a prime account

The post OnePus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G – Review is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

This is a big launch for Honor as this is the first non-Samsung horizontal folding phone that has been launched in the UK. It is also aiming to be undercutting the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 and the recently announced Pixel Fold. if you caught the recent article that I published regarding the price for this phone you will have noted that you can get the Magic Vs for as little as £1399 as the standard RRP, however, it is highly probable that this will be subject to discounts as Honor do love to do a good discount now and again. That is a massive and significant saving over the other two options on the market at this time.

The Pixel Fold is coming in at £1849 for a matching spec and the Z Fold 4 will cost £1769 without any trade-in options on either phone. Now I know that these phones will offer things that the Magic VS cannot but the latest from Honor is by no means a slouch in any respect. I will be mainly focusing this review on the comparison with the Z Fold 4 as I have been using this as my primary phone for nearly 8 months outwith times when I have been using a review device. I have grown quite accustomed to the way I want my folding phone to work for me and things that can be improved in this area.

So I would normally go into a full tour of the device and a specs list for you at this point in the review but I am going to skip that here and suggest that you pursue the Unboxing Article that I posted back when I first received the phone earlier this month.

I will however include the specs list here again for those of you who don’t want to click over to that post above.

Design

Now that we have ticked that off it is time for a few of my thought now that I have used the phone and lived with it for a bit longer.

First thing first and this won’t be a surprise for those of you who have used foldable already is that this phone has got a fair bit of heft about it. You will notice this in your pocket when you are stowing it, not just in the weight though as the phone is thicker than a candy bar design. This is hardly surprising as the phone essentially consists of two phones held together by a hinge assembly in the middle. Whilst I have mentioned the hinge this is an area where Honor has invested a lot of time and energy in the development of the phone and as such they have managed to achieve something that Samsung has not in that this hinge is a no-gap hinge and the actual size of it is considerably smaller than that of the Z Fold 4

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The hinge is also slightly less complicated and whilst this does mean that the size is smaller it doe cause an issue when you are trying to find the correct screen angle when using it partially folded. The Z Fold 4 will be happy at most over approx 25 degrees to the full 180 degrees. This is down to the much more complex hinge design which Samsung has refined over 4 generations of development. Sadly the same cannot be said about the Magic Vs hinge as I found that it was only really happy at an opening angle between 35 degrees to about 150 degrees as the hinge does not have the same friction capabilities built into the device.

Whilst this is by no means a deal breaker for me it is something that I feel is important to know about as some people will want to use the phone at the wide end of these angles for viewing video content etc. I found it was a pain point when I was using it to read Ebooks in particular. There is however one saving grace in that the Magic Vs is very secure when it is fully closed maybe even more so than the Z Fold 4 is.

A big difference between the two devices in terms of the screen footprints both when folded or unfolded, this is most notable when the phones are closed as the Magic Vs has got the larger outer display, especially in terms of width. this makes for a nicer experience when using the phone closed as you can use it more like a regular phone. I found that I was using it more in the folded state than I was with the Z Fold 4, I really only used the screen unfolded if I was settling into a long session of browsing socials, the web or consuming media content. This feels like one of the key benefits of a folding phone and the way you interact with them but this is also where software becomes a big factor as well and I will cover that a bit later on.

Another design aspect that liked is the bundled case that I had included in my review kit as it doesn’t add any bulk to what is as I already mentioned a chunky device, this is appreciated and is a massive improvement to my Z Fold 4 which I ended up using without a case for most of the time I have had and it shows the marks due to this.

The next thing I like more than I thought I would is the positioning of the Volume buttons and the Power buttons on the different sections of the folding screens. It meant that I had a lot fewer accidental presses when I was playing games or watching videos on the phone. The Power key is in a good place for finding and using for unlocking the phone however it is set up in a strange way in the software. I found that there were a lot of occasions when I was having to use the fingerprint reader differently than on the Z Fold 4. Normally I would expect that when I put my finger on the reader it would perform a scan and then unlock the screen without the need for an actual press. I thought this must have been a setting issue so I check the settings and it was set up correctly but it was just not working as I expected, now I have got an early production unit so your mileage may vary if you get one but it is something to be aware of.

UPDATE:-Shortly after starting this review my Magic Vs received a software update that seems to have improved the behaviour of the fingerprint reader and I was not seeing the missed read of the sensor as often.

I also like the positioning of the speakers as it provides a good soundscape when watching videos as the speakers are less likely to be covered by your fingers when holding it in the landscape.

In terms of negatives I would say the main ones are the fingerprint magnet that is the rear cover, I would recommend the Blue colour version if you don’t like a smudgy rear. The offset camera lens array means that the phone will not sit flat on a surface and will rock, especially when being used in folded mode. Other than these things I genuinely do like the design of the phone and I would (barring the hinge stiffness which I identified earlier) say that it may be slightly above the Z Fold 4 in the design stakes. However, there is so much more to these two phones than design, so it is time to dig into the hardware and performance.
Hardware and Performance

So there are a few areas where the hardware of the Magic Vs is significantly different to that of the Z Fold 4. The there areas I want to specifically focus on are the Screen Tech, the Battery and Charging tech and the Camera Array.

Screen tech:

Without further ado let’s take a closer look at the screens. The external screens as we have mentioned are different in terms of size and aspect ratio but that is really the main difference. Yes, the Samsung one will get slightly brighter but in most scenarios the Magic Vs has been plenty bright enough for me. The refresh rates of both panels are the same at 120hz and they are both sufficiently high resolution for daily use. With both screens using forms of OLED tech the colours are bright and crisp on both and the blacks are inky and deep when they need to be, incendentally in terms of colour representation the same statement rings true for the internal displays on both phones. The big difference comes into play when we are talking about the internal displays as the Z Fold 4 has one or two aspects where it gets a leg up on the Magic Vs.

I will cover the more minor one first, the refresh rate of the internal display on the Magic Vs drops to a 90hz refresh rate which is not something I would really worry about and unless you have very good eyesight in normal use you will not notice this. I was only able to see a very slight difference when was scrolling a website with the phones both unfolded and them set up side by side. It shouldn’t affect your gaming either as the Honor will also push the refresh rate to the highest available setting during gaming due to the GPU Turbo X software tweaks.

The second big difference is potentially much more substantial and that is that the Magic Vs does not have a digitizer on the inner screen meaning that you will not be able to use a stylus of any kind on the inner display like you can on the Z Fold 4. Now I say that is potentially a bigger issue but for me, it is a non-issue as I can count on my fingers of one hand how many times I have actually used the SPen on the Z Fold 4 inner display. I simply don’t see this as being a useful feature and this is down to the way the stylus has been integrated with the phone. Quite simply it hasn’t been, which means it is never on me as I refuse to have it clipped onto the outside of the phone case adding even more bulk to what is already a bulky phone. I am glad that Honor did not try and copy this feature as I don’t feel it is a useful enhancement for me until that is they can actually have the SPen stowed inside the phone frame for quick and easy access like on the Note series of old. In short, if you need a folding phone that has Stylus input then buy a Z Fold series device if not then the world is going to be your oyster as you now have the Honor Magic Vs 5G and the Pixel Fold to choose from in the UK and more will come very soon trust me on that.

Battery and Charging tech:

In the simplest possible terms, this phone has the Z Fold 4 liked in terms of what the battery is and what it can do in terms of longevity and charging speed. it is however not that fully onesided as the Z Fold 4 does claw some points back here with Qi Wireless charging and reverse Wireless charging support. The batteries in both phones are split cells across both sides of the hinge as this allows for the phone to feel more balanced. I believe the split in the Magic Vs is a 50/50 split whereas with the Z Fold 4, I think there is a bit more battery in the camera half of the phone. This doesn’t really matter in terms of the use as both phones balanced excellently for weight on both halves. What it does mean as the cell sizes for the Honor are equal in capacity then it can adopt the faster charging technology to fill the bigger 5000mah total capacity battery.

The Honor will use their propriety SuperCharge charging technology to allow the Magic Vs to charge from 0 to full in under an hour as opposed to the slower charging of Z Fold 4, which can take nearly 1 hour 30 mins from my testing. Whilst this is not a big issue for me it is good to know that I can quickly top up the Magic Vs with a SuperCharge charger and it will get back up to 50% in the time it takes for me to have a quick shower before I head out for the day.

What is however a shame is that this is the only way I can get power into the phone as there is no QI charging here either fast or slow and no reverse charging for your earbuds or watches etc. This is annoying as I have become a wireless charging covert for my phones and I hate having to use wired charging as I have a wired charging stand built into my desk and on my bedside table I even have it available in my car! Fortunately, the pain of having to plug in is lessened by the fact that I can eek two days of use out of this battery without too much trouble on a normal workday. When using it more intensively that will come down to about a day and a quarter. This is however still better than on the Z Fold 4 as most days I was getting near to empty by the end of the day. So there are pros and cons in each camp but I think for me, I am in my happy place with the Wireless charging capability on the Z Fold 4 if I had to choose one over the other.

Camera array:

Again this is an area where there are differences in terms of the numbers but in reality, those differences are not that significant. That is until you come to the front camera of the inside display. So let’s address that first, on the Z Fold 4 Samsung has tried to use a hidden under-display camera to hide the camera when it is not in use this results in the camera being quite a low MP (4) and this reflects the quality of image that is produced as it is normally pretty bad. On the Magic Vs, they decided against the use of this emerging tech and went with a much more simple hole-punch camera which allows them to use a higher quality 16MP sensor that works as you expect as normal from a front-facing camera, they actually use the same senoras they use on the outer display so you will not see any difference between the two cameras. As for my thoughts, I am not going to use either normally so I don’t care about it but I do like that the one on the Z Fold 4 is kinda hidden when it is not in use.

As for the rear camera’s we have got similar triple sensor arrays on both phones with slightly different setups.

On the Z Fold 4 we have got the following;

12MP Ultra-Wide camera F1.8 aperture , 50 MP Wide-Angle camera F2.2 aperture, 10MP 3x Optical Zoom Telephoto camera F2.4 aperture

On the Magic Vs we have the following

50MP Ultra-Wide camera F2.o aperture, 54MP Main camera F1.9 aperture, 8MP 3x Optical Zoom Telephoto camera F2.4 aperture

So as you can see they have got differing numbers of megapixels but as we know the numbers don’t always paint the full picture when it comes to cameras. I have been able to get good photos from both but I will go into this is in more detail in the cameras section of the review below. What is a big difference is in terms of the way these cameras are mounted. The array on the Magic Vs is mounted in the corner in a very similar position to what we find with the Z Fold 4 but the difference is that while the lenses on the ZFold 4 are in a slim sliver, the Magic Vs has them all in one large and wide glass bump. I feel that this bump protrudes a lot more on the Magic Vs which means that the phone is more prone to rocking when laid on a flat surface in folded state. This may be exaggerated by the way that the stock case fits around the camera bumps respectively but then found the Z Fold 4 was more stable, probably due to the slightly bulkier case.

As I am writing this I had almost forgotten one fairly major difference to the hardware is the level of ingress protection of the devices as this is very different across the two phones. Neither of the phones has any official dustproof rating so this may not be one to use on your next trip to the desert but if you are planning on getting them wet then I would be concerned with the Magic Vs as it does not have any waterproofing rating whereas the Z Fold 4 is rated for IP8X which should mean that it can take a quick splash here and there. In all honesty, I wouldn’t feel 100% comfortable with taking either of these down to my local beach due to the sand….. Eurgh nasty stuff.

As for Performance, the phones are very level in terms of performance which is hardly surprising as I have got two phones which at their cores both have the same specs, Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 + Gen processor, 12GB of Ram and 512GB of storage (Z Fold 4 is available in smaller 256GB and larger 1TB sizes). They both use the Adreno 730 GU as well so the raw number crunching abilities are the same, however, this is again an area where software is a big factor so more about that later. I have been happy to use both phones as my daily driver and experienced very few issues with ever needing more oompf out of either device. The only thing I would say is that the Samsung feels a touch more refined but I am going to put this down to the software implementation as you will see there are some significant differences to be found there.
Software

I have broached this matter a few times so it is now to pool the wool back and dig into what makes these phones so different. The crux here is that the software on the Samsung is more evolved and fits better to the foldable form factor. This is quite understandable as they have had four years of developing the software for the fold whereas Honor is only in its second year of doing things for foldable phones. Normally I would say that I prefer the cleanness of the lack of modding that has been carried out to the core Android 13 software on the Magic Vs as I am normally a big fan of the pure Android UI but this is not the case here. Let me explain.

The Magic Vs has taken a simple approach to the implementation of Andriod 13 on the phone and as such there is no immediate apparent evidence that the form factor has been given much thought. An example of this is when you have taken the time to set up your home screen layout on the external display and then you open it to be a tablet-style device this app layout is exactly the same in terms of layout (see below examples).

Now those of you who are familiar with my reviews may be thinking well that is just how you like things clean and uncomplicated. However, when it comes to a tablet-style foldable form factor I want my tablet-mode home screen to reflect that I am working on a bigger canvas. My logic is if I am unfolding the screen I am doing so as I want to be reviewing the content on that bigger screen or I want to be productive, I will therefore have my main apps for these tasks at the forefront with the widgets laid out to fit into the bigger display format. When I then fold the back top phone mode I would then go back to my regular app layout for daily normal use. Now I will be the first to admit this is perhaps a behavioural trait that has been learned from using the Z Fold devices over a few generations, but I would also argue that this may have come from using tablets in the past as well.

Unfortunately, this is not the case with the Magic Vs as when you unfold the screen to enter tablet mode your app layout is exactly the same just with slightly bigger iconography. This is something that I have now learnt to live with but it is a shame that Samsung give you the option to have different home screen layouts depending on what mode you are in. I do however this is an option that comes more from Samsung One UI than from Google so I do understand. What is more concerning is that I dont see many other ways that the Ui Element s that Google has been developing for foldable have come through either. We dont have a navigation dock to allow you to quickly switch between apps, the back navigation gesture does not only work on the active app when in-app pair mode and the biggest sin of all is the lack of the App Drawer as shown in the video below!!!

This last point is in my opinion inexcusable for any Android software UI and it is especially worse on a Folding phone. Up until I was given this review unit I have always had the option on Honor devices and some others from Chinese brands as well to have either all apps on-screen iPhone style or an App Drawer. I have always been a fan of the latter and it is normally the first thing I do when setting up a phone if it isn’t on by default. I was shocked to see that this was not an option that I could see within the Ui anywhere, so I asked Honor as I thought it may be down to me having an early preview of the phone. Sadly this was not the case as I am now (to my knowledge) running release firmware and there is still no App drawer. I was advised that this was due to the UI embracing the folding nature of the device. the end result is I have an extra display screen which has all the apps that I rarely used and a folder with all of the Honor duplicate apps in there as well. It is messy and I can’t fathom why anyone would want this on an Android phone at all.

Moving away from the negative to the more positive, Once you do start using the multi-tasking it does become more intuitive use but it is nowhere near as simple as on the Z Fold 4. You can have apps open as split-screen apps and floating apps as well. you can also use Picture in Picture mode for some video playback apps. Some apps are context and fold-state aware. for example, Gmail will adopt a dual view mode like you get a on tablet when the phone is unfolded in landscape but it will revert to normal when folded. Youtube will also respond to the fold state and orientation really nicely as seen in the image below. Twitter gives you the option of opening a split screen when you click on a link whilst having your main feed open and being able to action the reply or link in the other half, this does need to be enabled under foldable settings though. Some other apps are not quite as well-honed but that is more to do with the developers than anything else.

My main takeaway from the Magic Vs is that Samsung has done a boatload of work to make the software work with the folding phone form factor as well as it does on the Z Fold 4 and Android have some catching up to do. This does concern me slightly as I have put down a preorder for the Pixel Fold and if the UI features that I like come from Samsung, is that going to be a mistake?

Only time will tell I guess but I hope with Google now have ig hardware of their own in the mix this will give the push needed for Developers to start thinking about how we can really use the real estate better. Hopefully, with the Magic Vs being on the more affordable end of the currently available foldable it will bring the tablet-style foldable form factor to a wider audience which will also increase the need for better software implementation onto these devices from Google themselves.

Here is a selection of images of the software of various apps for you to see some of the multitasking at work.

I just hope that any changes that are made to the core Android design in Android 14 are quickly rolled out to the Magic Vs as well

Last but not least we need to discuss the camera on the Magic Vs
Camera

While this is not one of the main draws for the phone as that is the giant foldable screen it still needs to perform to a reasonable degree as this would be your main on-the-go camera if you are to buy one of these phones. The good news is I have been pleased with the camera in the situations I have tried it in. I am not going to say that I have been blown away by the camera performance but it has been more than satisfactory for use day to day.

I have been happy with the various different levels of Zoom and I have found that I have not been lacking in this area it does a good job at closes up and wider shots as well and I include a few samples of this below for you to see for yourself.

The camera modes are as you would expect from Honor all here and this allows for you to get some rather interesting shots and capture on multiple camera modules at one time which is a nice feature but if I am honest it is not one I see myself eve rising and indeed I have not used it during the course of this review.

I like the UI of the camera it is straightforward to use and easy navigate, you can also customise which shortcut modes you have in your toolbar for quick changes to shooting modes. Honestly, I am not much a of pixel peeper if the pictures that are captured by the camera are useable then for the most part I am happy. I have included a selection of photos below for you to review if you want to see what the phone can produce along with a very short video clip to give it a representation of the video quality.

Here is a video clip that was shot a 1080p and 30fps but has had to be downgraded by WordPress to share here so it is now 720p and 25fps but it is still representative of what the camera can do for video work.

Next up is the obligatory selfie using the front-facing outer display camera which is the same in terms of spec as the internal one.

Pretty happy with the result but given the subject matter it was never gonna be great was it?

Finally here are a few low-light images where weaknesses for the camera start to show

This one isn’t too and as it has picked up a bit of light from the clock face and that has helped however the next one which is the other side of the room where it was darker things start to unfold pretty quickly.

Magic Vs very Low Light

You can start to see some edge blending where the phone tries to make up for the lack of clarity to try and give you a good image but it fails miserably. For context this is the same shot with some light

You can clearly see the differences here. Most phones would of course struggle in the conditions I took the same shot with my Z Fold 4 and the result was a bit better but still far from perfect as I could still see the edge blurring see below

Z Fold 4 very Low Light

I am as I mentioned above pretty happy with the result in the good lighting of the Magic Vs and as I don’t tend to venture out after dusk anymore i would normally be using the Night modes of the camera anyway so this is moot point for me.
Conclusion

So there you have it my review of the Honor Magic Fold Vs. This is an important phone for Honor as mentioned as it is them making a statement that they want to play in the Foldable market on the global stage (the previous Magic V was a Chinese-only release) and they have come out strong and also undercut their rivals in the space in doing so. However, I do feel that whilst the hardware is something for the most part I prefer, with the exception of the hinge mechanism which is too prone to unfolding when you don’t want it to, there is til work to be done on software. Honest ly this conclusion surprises me as i thought that i would prefer the implementation of the more clean Ui over what is offered by Samsungs One Ui on the Z Fold 4. I also felt that the lack of an app drawer on this phone is a big misstep and this will need to be looked into as they should at least give the user the option (i did eventually get over it though!).

Do I think it is worth the investment into getting one now given that we have just had the Pixel Fold announced and we have got the Z Fold 5 on the horizon imminently? Well, it is a simple question of how much you are willing to pay and also if you think having a non-stowable stylus is important. if you are not willing to pay but do want the stylus and don’t mind buying a refurbished unit then i would say go for the Z Fold 4 as you pick these up for less than half the original price at the moment in great condition. if you want the wider aspect ratio afforded by the front display then you have got two real options the unknown Pixel Fold which has a very phone-like width to the front display and then becomes more of a tablet when unfolded or you go with the slimmer but taller Honor Magic vs which still give you all the benefits of folding screens but in taller skinnier front screen ratio and a squarer unfolded internal display, it is also nearly £500 cheaper.

I like the Honor Magic Vs 5G but the software is a bit too compromised for me and as such I would b sticking with the Z Fold 4 for the time being but it has given me food for thought about my planned move to the Pixel Fold at the end of next month. I guess i have inadvertently become a One UI Foldable fan, which was very unexpected!!

The Honor Magic Vs 5G is available to buy now from Honor’s website and is currently retailing at £1399 with shipping of the BHlack colour sooner than the Cyan one which is the more popular and the one I would go for if I was buying one now.

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

The Murena One is a smartphone designed for people who value privacy and security above all else. It runs on/e/OS, which is a privacy-focused version of the Android 11 operating system. However, the Murena One takes privacy even further by removing many of the Google apps and services that are pre-installed on most Android phones. This means that the Murena One does not collect as much data about its users as other Android phones.

Murena is a company that has been around for a while. They previously created the operating system for the Fairphone 4, another privacy-focused smartphone. The Murena One is their first smartphone that they have created themselves. Overall, the Murena One is a good choice for people who are looking for a smartphone with strong privacy and security features. However, it is important to note that the Murena One does not have all of the same features as other Android phones. For example, it does not have access to the Google Play Store, so you will need to download apps from other sources.

Specs

Here are some of the pros and cons of the Murena One:

Pros:

• Privacy-focused: The Murena deGoogled Android smartphone is designed to protect user data and privacy, which is a major selling point for users who are concerned about online privacy.
• Open-source apps: The device comes with open-source alternatives to popular Google apps, such as OpenStreetMap, K-9 Mail, and NewPipe.
• MicroG support: The microG project allows users to use apps that rely on Google Play Services without needing a Google account or giving those apps access to their Google data.
• Hardware-based security: The Murena deGoogled Android smartphone has a number of hardware-based security features, such as a physically separated SIM card slot and a dedicated hardware key for resetting the device to factory settings.
• Two-year warranty and 14-day return policy: The device comes with a 2-year warranty and 14-day return policy, which gives users peace of mind when purchasing the device.

Cons:

• Price: The Murena deGoogled Android smartphone is priced at around €300, which is on the higher end for a mid-range smartphone.
• Compatibility issues: Since the device does not come with Google’s proprietary optimizations, some apps may run slower or have compatibility issues.
• Limited app selection: The device does not come with the Google Play Store, which means users may have to rely on third-party app stores or sideloading apps to access all of their favorite apps.
• Mid-range specs: The Murena deGoogled Android smartphone has mid-range specs, which means it may struggle with more demanding tasks such as gaming or running resource-intensive apps.
• None OLED screen,

Hardware.

The device frame and back panel are made from a glossy plastic, which I found to be a real fingerprint magnet,

it has a 6.5-inch Full HD IPS display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. Upon setting up the device the software asked to set up my fingerprints, showing the reader to be on the back of the device, but the sensor was actually on the left edge of the phone,

It is powered by a Mediatek Helio P60 processor with a clock speed of 2.2 GHz and 4 GB of RAM. The device has 128 GB of internal storage, which can be expanded up to 512 GB with a microSD card.

In terms of camera, the Murena deGoogled Android smartphone has a dual rear camera setup consisting of a 48-megapixel primary sensor and a 5-megapixel secondary sensor. The device has a 4,500 mAh battery with support for fast charging via USB-C.

Moving to the front of the phone, you’ll find a 25MP front-facing camera that’s OK for selfies. Moving around the phone, the fingerprint sensor is located on the left side, (the first time I’ve ever seen one in that location.) You’re informed it’s in the rear during setup, thus the fact that they didn’t even know where it was is red flag number one.  That said once setup I did find the reader to be both fast and reliable. The volume control and power button are located on the phone’s right side.

Another key design consideration is that this phone only has Bluetooth 4.2 and does not support 5G. The phone also includes a 4500mAh battery that will provide the user with approximately 6 hours of usage, which is unlikely to win any awards for longevity.

Software

The Murena One runs on the AOSP operating system without any Google services or apps, but it does include its own operating system called /e/OS. This means that it does not come with pre-installed apps such as Google Maps, Gmail, or YouTube. Instead, it comes with open-source alternatives such as OpenStreetMap, K-9 Mail, and NewPipe, Magic Earth, a closed-source version of Google Maps that isn’t quite as excellent as Google Maps.

What the phone allows you to do is disable location services in the phone’s settings, which will provide you more privacy. You can also set up your own free cloud account for emails and storage during the setup process. You get 1GB of free storage, but you can upgrade to 20GB for €2 per month or 2TB for €24.99 per month.

The Murena One now includes a feature called the app lounge, where you may download your favourite apps. When you enter the App Lounge, you will be asked to check in with your Google account or utilise anonymous mode. The app lounge is essentially an Aurora store, which is not illegal but also not entirely legal, Aurora store gets its content from Google servers without requiring a Google account. It was observed on some Huawei devices after the troubles with Google, and some owners felt that this was the way forward rather than simply disposing of the phone. When you go to download an app, it actually comes with a privacy score for each programme. For example, Whatsapp has an 8/10 privacy score with a list of permissions the app requires and trackers it includes.  You also get a custom-built music player that appears very similar to the Apple Music app, but you will have to transfer your music via your computer with this app.

Privacy

The Murena One is marketed as a privacy-focused device, and it comes with a number of features designed to protect user data. For example, the device comes with the microG project, an open-source reimplementation of Google’s proprietary Play Services framework. This allows users to use apps that rely on Play Services, such as Uber or Snapchat, without needing a Google account or giving those apps access to their Google data. When you slide left from the home screen, you will have access to recent apps, but it is the sophisticated privacy tracker that allows you to toggle a system-wide VPN sort of. You can block all trackers, spoof your location, and even disguise your IP address.

Performance

In terms of performance, the Murena One has a dated MediaTek Helio P60 mid-range processor, thus meaning no 5G compatibility, and 4 GB of RAM. This is sufficient for most day-to-day tasks such as browsing the web, using social media, or streaming video. However, the device may struggle with more demanding tasks such as gaming or running resource-intensive apps. Additionally, since it does not come with Google’s proprietary optimizations, some apps may run slower or have compatibility issues. I did notice a considerable slow down in the device, when it was set to maximum privacy settings. Although that said it was a nice breath of fresh air to read the local on line newspaper without a barrage on adverts and pop up videos, which normally ruin the experience, not one ad made it through to my viewing pleasure.

Price

The Murena One is priced at around €290/£250 which is on the higher end for a mid-range smartphone. However, this is justified by the device’s focus on privacy and the fact that it does not come with any pre-installed Google services or apps. Additionally, the device comes with a 2-year warranty and 14-day return policy.

Camera

The Murena one comes with a 48-megapixel rear main camera and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera. While these specs may seem modest compared to most mid-rangers, with bright light the camera can give some decent photos. Low light the camera does struggle though.

The front-facing camera is suitable for video calls and selfies, but it may not be as sharp or detailed as some of the higher-end smartphone cameras on the market.

One of the main drawbacks of the camera performance on the Murena deGoogled Android smartphone is the lack of advanced camera features and settings. The camera app is simple and straightforward, with limited customization options and no advanced manual controls.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the Murena One deGoogled Android smartphone is a unique device that is marketed towards users who prioritize online privacy and security. The Murena One is a promising concept, but it falls short in several areas. First, it is not truly de-Googled, as it still relies on Google services for some functions. Second, the phone’s security features are not as robust as they could be, as it uses outdated hardware and software. Finally, the lack of kernel sources will disappoint enthusiasts who want to customize the phone. Me, well I’ve realised that like so many others I rely too much  on Google and its services

The post Murena – deGoogled Android smartphone- Review is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

Now admittedly there have always been some sacrifices made t get the Nord series produced on a tighter budget and these are as evident as they always are on the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G (to be henceforth referred to as the Nord CE 3). I will come back to some of the ommissions that were made to get under the budget set by the designers in a moment, before that though let’s take a moment to review the unboxing video.

Here are the Specs below

The Specs

Next up is time for a tour of the device in all its glory starting of course from the top edge and working our way around the phone.

So on the top, we find that we have got a single microphone port and that is it.

Next around on the right-hand side is where we will find the power key that also doubles up as the fingerprint reader for the phone. This sits slightly proud of the edge of the body which makes it a bit easier to locate. unfortunately by the nature of it being a fingerprint reader as well as the power key, it lacks all texture meaning it can be missed easily. As a fingerprint reader, it is reasonably accurate but I have to say it is not one of the better side-mounted units I have used it is early days maybe it will improve over time.

Moving to the bottom of the phone is where we can find a speaker grill on the left and the mic hole and lo and behold a 3.5mm headphone jack! This is a rarity o phones these days and is nice to see although if I am honest I can’t see myself actually using it given the Nord Buds 2 that I also got in the box with the phone ( this is not standard as i got a demo kit for review purpose) Still nice to see that there are some phones out there that still account for this now somewhat niche requirement.

Sitting in between these is a USB Type C port that will support SuperVooc fast charging at 67W which is really nice to see and the phone does charge in a really quick timeframe which is handy given the lack of wireless charging in any way, which is understandable for the price point.

Continuing around the fourth edge we have got our combo volume rocker and sim card slot which has another uncommon trick inside. This Nano Sim card slot is also cable of receiving a second Nano Sim Card or a Micro SDcArd slot of up to 1TB! This is great news for the memory hoarders out there!

On the rear, we got our camera array which I composed of two large circular apertures the top of which contains a Samsung HM6 sensor capable of up to 108MP and has an aperture of F/1.75. The sensor sits behind a Six Element lens and although it does not have OIS it is at least supported by EIS.

Below we find that the second circle contains a 2MP depth of field sensor and 2MP Macro lens. Next to this, we find a single LED flash which is plenty bright and doubles nicely as a torch when needed.

The main feature here is the 108MP camera sensor which I have yet to test in anger but hopefully will produce serviceable results for the user without too much faffing with settings.

The back panel is made of plastic and is very very fingerprint friendly due to its glossy finish which is why I was glad to find the enclosed TPU see-through case which has a reassuringly tight fit around the phone.

Coming back the front of the phone we have a few things to mention, starting at the very top of the display is where we will find a small portal for the earpiece and the top speaker. The speakers both combine to give an average sound experience that is suitable for Youtube but if you are gaming or listening to music I would recommend that you either use some Bluetooth headphones or take advantage of the built-in 3.5mm headphone jack to get the best audio experience.

Below this earpiece is of course where we find the fourth camera on the phone and all I can say about his one is that it is a 16MP camera and that is about it as I haven’t been provided with any other details. it does of course come with all the normal features that you would find on an Android phone designed for both the Asian and Western markets ie all the retouch tools associated with Beauty Mode. Fortunately, these can be turned off to give you normalise results.

Below this is the LCD Panel which is capable of an Adaptive refresh rate between 30Hz/48Hz/50Hz/60HZ/90Hz/120Hz. In honesty though I checked this and you only have 2 options either High (120Hz Max) and Standard (60Hz Max) so maybe some creative market mumbo jumbo there. I am sure that the screen is capable of the step changes ut most users are unlikely to notice them. It is nice to see these High refresh rates filtering down to both LCD panels and cheaper devices though so nice job OnePlus.

The screen is a really nice size of the screen especially as this phone is being targeted towards a market where the screen size is an important factor as its intended audience will be using the phone more for media consumption/creation, social media and gaming than say phone calls. I have used it for a little bit and I am more than happy with the screen but then I am someone who has recently made the move to foldable which is the top of the big screen pile so what do I know? OnePlus does at least include an easy-to-use one-handed mode if you find this is required.

So that sums up the tour of the phone which from my limited experience so far is a cracker of a phone and one that I think any young (or young at heart) phone user would be more than happy with. I will of course run it as a daily device for a full review but I have to say I am presently surprised with the initial experience of the phone out of the box. I know that my son would be more than happy with it as it is sufficient for most of what he does on his mum’s phone (that he steals a lot). I also think that the more price-conscious user would be more than happy with this as a phone as it ticks a lot of boxes for a lot of people from what I have seen so far.

If you like what you have seen and want to pick up the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G for yourself then you can buy it now from OnePlus on their website for £299 and you can also get a free set of 3.5mm headphones or a Snaddtone bumper case if the include clear case is not to you liking. it is also available for the same price minus the freebies from Amazon as well if you prefer shopping there.

The post OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G – Unboxing. is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

I am lucky enough to have been given the opportunity to test one of those options and I have had my hands on the for the last week. I am talking about the Honor Magic Vs 5G. I have a preview unit of what will be landing in the UK markets very soon and I have some thoughts on it since I unboxed it a week ago. Usually, I would post my first thoughts within 24 hrs of the unboxing being done, however, this time around I was awaiting a forward update to be released before I posted. That update has now arrived so I am now happy to post my thoughts.

Now that is out of the way let’s dive into the device’s specs.

Some pretty good-looking specs but folding phones are so much more than their component parts. The key to a folding phone and also to differentiating it in terms of the way it feels is all down to the design and feel. So onto the tour of the device.

Let’s start with the hinge. there has been a lot of talk about the Hinge in the Honor Magic Vs 5G. It is rightly deserving this as the hinge from the outside edge is very small looking and it feels very strong when in use. On the inside of the hinge, we have only 4 major components instead of the predecessor’s 96 major components! That is some real evolution of design there. However, it does present a problem. i have become quite accustomed to having the hinge in a halfway open position on my Fold 4 but this is not something that is easily achieved on the Magic Vs. it will Hold the angle but it does require a bit more fiddling to get it to stay put and even then it is only a matter of time until it unfolds fully. Whilst it may not be a major issue I have grown used to having the phone in “book mode” for reading e-books at night. It’s a shame that the Magic Vs doesn’t keep its position as well. I have tried to show an example of this in the clip below.

As for the rest of the tour let’s start-up on the top bezels where we can find on one side a pinhole mic a speaker grill and then an IR blaster, which i still find weird to see on phones these days but it has long been a feature of Honor devices

Moving around we have got a staggered arrangement meant of keys with the volume rocker being on the upper of the edge and the power button/fingerprint reader being on the bottom. This staggering is actually quite clever as it means when the phone is unfolded then the volume is on the left-hand side and the power is on the right.

When you use the phone in its landscape orientation of wit the fold horizontally then the power button is on the bottom. This is true of the Fold 4 as well but on the Magic Vs, I find that the power button is not where my fingers rest naturally which means I don’t accidentally press it when gaming.

On the bottom edge, we have got a Dual sim card slot with a waterproof gasket. another speaker grill and mic and then the USB Type C Gen 3.1. This allows for the use of fast charging when used on a suitable fats charger brick and also Video and data throughput allows you to utilise a Desktop UI akin to Samsungs DEX mode.

This USB port also opens the door to using Honor’s proprietary Supercharge technology which will allow the two internal batteries to charge at up to 66W depending on the battery state and conditions. This is very useful and does go a little way to make up for the loss of lack of a QI charging could for Wireless charging, although, for a phone of this level, I would still have expected that to be on board.

Moving around the rear we have a relatively normal-looking rear panel with an overly glossy fingerprint magnet glass panel and a larger-than-life camera array. This array features 3 sensors each of the highest quality. We have got  the following

• 54MP IMX800 Main Camera (f/1.9),
• 50MP Ultra Wide & Macro Main Camera (f/2.0),
• 8MP 3X Optical Zoom Camera (f/2.4)

However, things change when the phone is unfolded as part of the back of the phone used to be the outer display which now becomes a rear panel!

Now that I have mentioned the outer display it is a panel that is nice and tall but also and importantly a little bit wide than the one found o the Fold 4. This makes for a very useable outer display and the phone can be used perfectly in the one hand via this screen. the panel has the following  specs

Size: 6.45″
Type: OLED,
HDR10+ Screen-to-body ratio: 90%
Refresh rate: up to 120Hz
Brightness: up to 1200 nits
Resolution: 2560 x 1080 pixels
Pixel density: 431 PPI

It is a very nice panel to use and for the most part when in use it feels just like a normal phone albeit a bit thicker than a normal phone. Even though there is not a massive difference in the outer screen sizes of the Fold 4 against the Magic Vs for ease of use the Magic Vs just feels that little bit better which I have to say did surprise me. The only slight negative is that the pre-fitted screen protector is quite sticky and therefore smudges and fingerprints are easily added and the finger doesn’t seem to track as smoothly as on Gorilla Glass Victus. I do like having the high refresh rate on the outer display and i feel that this is now becoming the industry standard spec for this price point and a lot lower in some cases.

Embedded into the middle of the front /outer display is a 16MP selfie camera with the following specs

16MP Camera (f/2.45),
Video: Up to 1080 × 2520 pixels,
Photo: Up to 3456 × 4608 pixels

Just above the camera is a tiny groove which acts as the earpiece for voice calls and the audio produced from this opening is very clear and is not so loud that other parties will be able to hear your conversations either.

Whilst talking about calls you may have noticed that there are a lot of antenna lines around the edge of the phone and this makes for some really good signal reception on both cellular signal and Wifi signal. I have been impressed with the quality of the signals being held on all networks that I have tested the phone on. as you would reasonably expect from a phone of this level in 2023.

Finally, the bit we are most interested in is the internal folding display. the display itself is great and i cannot fault it for the colour and the brightness levels. I can’t even fault the fact that it is only a 90hz display. However, the issue that I do have with the inner display and an area where the fold 4 still come into its own is how the internal display is used. This is more something that will be discussed in the software section of the full review but it is a big weak point for the Magic Vs. The inner display will mirror exactly what has been going on on t router display in terms of the layout of apps and the icon size.

This is a big shame as otherwise, the display is really good and I would go as far as saying that the crease is less noticeable than that of the Fold 4 and any preceding fold device from Samsung. As you can hopefully see from the image of the devices alongside each other below the crease is so much more visible in Fold 4 than it is in Magic Vs. This is down to the Magic Vs using a different folding screen method from the Fold 4 and for me, this is the better out of the two options.

Fold 4 on the left and Magic Vs on the right

We do of course have one other major difference on the internal screens and that is the selfie camera which is a cutout on the magic vs and it shares the same spec as the one on the outer display. I can’t really say that it makes a big difference when I am using the phones regarding the cutout as i would tend to have the cutout in the bottom right-hand corner when I am holding the phone in landscape so it doesn’t intrude too much when I am gaming or watching videos.

So that pretty much covers my unboxing for the Honor Magic Fold Vs 5G. Overall impressions are the hardware is in some ways better than the Fold 4, however, where it takes its hits they are hard hits.

I do prefer the feel of the slightly wider folded phone and using it in this way feels more natural than on the Fold 4, the differences in terms of hardware are not so apparent when you unfold it though as the Fold 4 uses this mode better in terms of software and that outweighs the benefits of the reduced groove in the middle of the display.

I have had a few days of use of the Magic Vs under my belt by the time I have written this and i will say that there are some big differences here and they will be what really makes or breaks this as an option for me especially as i have been living with a 4th gen product for some time now. 

I look forward to getting you the full review out to you soon.

I will also be getting an update on the pricing ad availability of the Honor Magic Vs 5G in the UK soon which I will share with you very soon. if you are thinking of getting a folding phone then watch this space as things are about to get more interesting and the Honor Magic Vs 5G is going to play a big part in that.

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

1More is known for creating headphones and earbuds that look and sound like high-end audio gear, but at a fraction of the price. The new 1More Sonoflow wireless active noise-canceling headphones continue this tradition, with a solid build quality and excellent sound at a price point that’s less than half of some of its competitors.

Here are some of the key features of the 1More Sonoflow headphones:

•  Hi-Res Audio and Hi-Res Audio Wireless certified
• 40mm DLC dynamic drivers
•  Lossless LDAC audio codec technology
• 70 hours of battery life
•  Comfortable, over-ear design
• Active noise cancellation
• Transparent mode
•  Customizable EQ via app.

Good Points:-

• Price.
• Excellent sound quality.
• Effective active noise cancellation.
• Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity.
• Built-in microphone.
• Comfortable design.
• Long battery life.
• USB Type C Charging.

Bad Points :-

• Not Waterproof
• Button layout a bit tricky.
• Weak Transparency mode
• Not as good with iPhones as with Android phones
• ANC can have a slight negative impact on sound quality

The 1More Sonoflow headphones are made of plastic and pleather, but they have a sleek and well-built appearance that is comparable to more expensive headphones from Bose or Sony. To truly tell the difference between them, you would need to have them side-by-side.

The headphones are soft and comfortable to wear, with a neutral and classic design. They are lightweight and not waterproof. The first thing you will notice about the headphones is how soft the earcups and headband are, thanks to their thick memory foam padding and supple protein leather cover.

• The earcups are made of soft, protein leather that is gentle on the skin.
• The headband is also made of soft, memory foam that provides a comfortable fit.
• The headphones are lightweight and weigh just 250g.
• The headphones are not waterproof, so they should not be used in wet or humid conditions.
• The headphones have a neutral and classic design that will look good with any outfit.

The headphones are all black, except for a red cloth lining inside each earcup. The L and R labels on the earcups help you match them to your left and right ears. These labels are also important when using the gray zip-up protective case that comes with the Sonoflow. The inside of the case has depressions for each earcup, with L and R embossed in the proper slots. When you line up the L and R on the earcups with the L and R on the case, the headphones fit snugly inside the case, which will protect them during transport. There is also a net pocket for the included USB-C to USB-A charging cable and the 3.5mm audio cable that allows you to use the Sonoflow as a wired headphone.

The controls on the SonoFlow headphones are physical buttons, which is not necessarily a bad thing. However, the buttons are very clicky and not very tactile, making them difficult to find and use. The left earcup has a USB-C port, while the right earcup has an on/off button, volume and playback controls, an ANC switch, and a 3.5mm jack for wired listening.

Over-ear headphones rarely have an IP rating, and the SonoFlow headphones are no exception. This means that they should not be used in wet or humid conditions, such as the gym or in heavy rain. The headphones are comfortable to wear for extended periods of time, and they have a good seal that blocks out ambient noise. The sound quality is excellent, with clear highs and deep bass. The noise cancellation is also very effective, and it can block out most background noise.

1More promises 70 hours of playback with active noise cancellation (ANC) turned off, and 50 hours with ANC on after a full 80-minute charge. You can get a full 5 hours of playback from a 5-minute charge. The excellent new Soundcore Space Q45, which costs £30 more, is a good comparison. The Sonoflow’s build quality is just as nice, and its case is far superior to the Q45’s, which inexplicably comes with a cheap plastic insert for positioning the headphones in the case.

The 1More Sonoflow headphones are equipped with 40mm dynamic drivers that produce a wide frequency range of 20Hz to 20kHz. This means that they can reproduce a wide range of sounds, from deep bass to high-pitched treble. The headphones also support the AAC, LDAC, and SBC codecs, which are different ways of transmitting audio over Bluetooth. LDAC is the highest quality codec, and it can provide a more detailed and immersive listening experience.

Audio Capabilities

• 40mm dynamic drivers: These drivers are large and powerful, and they can produce a wide range of sounds. They are also very efficient, which means that they can produce a lot of sound without using a lot of power.
• Frequency range of 20Hz to 20kHz: This means that the headphones can reproduce sounds from very low bass to very high treble. This is important for getting a balanced and natural sound.
• Support for AAC, LDAC, and SBC codecs: These codecs are different ways of transmitting audio over Bluetooth. LDAC is the highest quality codec, and it can provide a more detailed and immersive listening experience.

The 1More Sonoflow headphones do not support the aptX codec, which is a common higher-quality streaming codec that is supported by Android devices but not Apple’s iOS. LDAC is a Sony-developed codec that is challenging Qualcomm’s aptX domination. It offers higher-resolution streaming than standard aptX.

Older Android phones might not support LDAC, but if you’ve bought a high-quality Android device in the last three years or so, odds are good that it supports both aptX and LDAC.
If you are looking for the best possible audio quality when streaming music over Bluetooth, you should choose headphones that support LDAC. However, if you are on a budget or if your device does not support LDAC, aptX is a good option

1More has an app for both iOS and Android. Once you have paired the Sonoflow headphones to your phone and connected it to the app, you will see an app screen that shows the current battery level, and controls that let you choose between ANC, pass-through, and off. There is a switch to turn on the high-definition codec if you are streaming high-def audio.

There is also a “Soothing Sounds” selection of 29 ambient noise options, including:
• Summer rain
• Medium fire
• Drizzle
• Thunderstorm
• Breeze
• Spring water
• Bamboo forest wind
• Snowing
• Underwater
• Outer space
• Gale
• Field
• Forest
• Waterfall
• River
• Ocean swell
• Tiny waves
• Desert
• Medium waves
• Mountain summit
• Volcano
• Jet stream
• Creek
• Flow
• Stream
• Train
• Creek
• Storm
• Downpour

These are synthesized instead of real field recordings, but they do a good job of blocking out the outside world.
The app is well-designed and easy to use. It is a great way to customize the sound of your headphones and to get the most out of them. The Sound Options panel gives you access to a dozen EQ presets, including: Default Bass booster Classical Deep Hip-hop Pop Bass reducers Acoustic Podcast Electronic Lounge Vocal booster You can also create your own custom equalization and save it for future use. The EQ presets are a great way to quickly and easily change the sound of your headphones. If you’re not sure what settings you want, you can start with the default preset and then adjust the settings to your liking. The custom equalization is a great way to create a sound that’s perfect for your ears. You can adjust the settings to emphasize the frequencies that you like and to reduce the frequencies that you don’t like. The Sound Options panel is a powerful tool that can help you get the most out of your headphones.

In Use:-

Connection & Stability:

1More has a long history of producing high-quality products with excellent signal stability. The Sonoflow headphones are no exception. They offer a stable signal even when using the LDAC codec at 900+ kbps. This is impressive, as LDAC is a high-quality codec that can require more bandwidth than other codecs.

Battery Life:

The Sonoflow headphones offer a battery life of up to 40 hours when using the LDAC codec and ANC. This is a good battery life, but it is not as good as the battery life that you can get when using other codecs, such as AAC. If you are an Apple user, you are likely to get a better battery life when using AAC.

ANC with QuietMax Technology

The Sonoflow headphones offer good passive isolation thanks to their memory foam ear cushions. They also come with QuietMax ANC technology, which is a proprietary noise cancellation technology developed by 1More. QuietMax ANC is effective at reducing a wide range of ambient noise, including traffic noise, wind noise, and the noise of a fan. In our tests, QuietMax ANC was able to reduce the noise of our full-tower desktop PC by about 35 dB. This is a significant reduction in noise, and it makes it much easier to listen to music or watch videos in noisy environments.

While the Sonoflow headphones do not offer as good an ANC experience as some of the more expensive models on the market, they still do a good job for the asking price. If you are looking for a pair of headphones with good ANC and a comfortable fit, the Sonoflow headphones are a great option.

The Transparency Mode on the Sonoflow headphones works well. It allows you to hear ambient noise so that you can be aware of your surroundings. This is a useful feature if you are using the headphones in public or if you need to be able to hear traffic or other sounds.

Overall, the Sonoflow headphones offer a good combination of features and performance. They are comfortable to wear, they have good sound quality, and they offer effective ANC. If you are looking for a pair of headphones for everyday use, the Sonoflow headphones are a great option.

Call Quality

The Sonoflow headphones are equipped with five beamforming microphones that are powered by an AI-powered algorithm. The microphones are very good at picking up your voice, even in noisy environments. They are also able to filter out background noise, such as traffic noise and human chatter. This results in clear and intelligible calls.

In my tests, I used the Sonoflow headphones for both WhatsApp calls and phone calls. I was very impressed with the call quality. My voice was clear and easy to understand, even when I was in noisy environments. The other people on the call were also able to hear me clearly.

Overall, I am very impressed with the call quality of the Sonoflow headphones. They are a great option for anyone who wants to make clear and intelligible calls, even in noisy environments.

Sound Quality

The 1More Sonoflow headphones have a slightly warm sound signature with an emphasis on the bass. The sound quality of the Sonoflow headphones is significantly better when using the LDAC codec than the AAC codec. This is because the LDAC codec is a higher-quality codec that can transmit more data, which results in better sound quality.

The Sonoflow headphones have a good bass response, with deep and round bass notes. The bass is slightly emphasized over the rest of the spectrum, which contributes to the headphones’ fun factor and makes them well-suited for a variety of genres. The midrange of the Sonoflow headphones is also good, with clear and realistic vocals and instruments. The headphones have good imaging and soundstage, making it easy to follow the instruments on stage. The instrument separation is also good, making it easy to distinguish between different instruments.

The Sonoflow headphones have a tuning that is appealing to people who are sensitive to high frequencies or who are new to high-resolution audio. These headphones are not designed for critical listening, but they are a good option for commuting or for everyday use. They are also very affordable, at only £90.

One thing to note is that activating ANC does have a slight negative impact on sound quality. With ANC on, the notes sound a little thinner and the instruments sound a little more congested. The resolution also takes a small hit. However, these sacrifices are not really noticeable in noisy environments, where the ANC will be doing its job of blocking out noise.

If you want to improve the sound quality of the Sonoflow headphones, you can try using an equalizer. I would recommend setting the equalizer to -3 dB in the mid-bass region and +2/3 dB in the upper mid and treble. This will give the headphones a more balanced sound signature.

Conclusion

Overall, the 1More Sonoflow headphones are a great value for the price. They offer a high-quality listening experience, active noise cancellation, and a comfortable design. If you have an Android phone that supports the LDAC codec and you subscribe to a high-resolution music streaming service, the 1More Sonoflow headphones are a great value, for a very reasonable price. If you have an iPhone, the Sonoflow headphones are still a good option, but you may not get the same level of performance as you would with an Android phone. If you are looking for a pair of headphones for everyday use, the Sonoflow headphones are a great option are well worth a look

The post 1 More Sonoflow Headphones – Review is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

Following on my review of the Honor Magic5 Lite I’ve been sent through the Honor Magic 5 Pro for review.

The Honor Magic5 Pro is another intriguing top cameraphone that has recently entered international markets. Its distinctive style, first rate hardware package, and intriguing camera kit will make it stand out. Additionally, it’s an ex-Huawei device with access to the whole Google suite and 5G networks.

Honor split from Huawei in 2020, and since then, it has introduced a number of handsets free of the US penalties that were placed on Huawei. For those looking for a smartphone without restrictions that is similar to the Huawei P or Mate, the top Magic range has always been a fantastic option. And the new Magic5 Pro most accurately fits that description.

With better camera specs, a brighter display, the most recent Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 CPU, and a larger battery, the Honor Magic5 Pro improves on the Honor Magic4 Pro (and Huawei Mate 50 Pro).

A sizable 6.81-inch HDR10+ OLED panel with a dynamic 120Hz refresh rate and 1312p resolution is present. It boasts a promising 12MP camera with a 3D ToF system inside the pill-shaped cutout, is covered by curved glass, and is protected by that. There is also an optical fingerprint scanner under the screen if Face ID unlock is not your thing.

As previously noted, the Magic5 Pro is equipped with the most recent Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. The most recent LPDDR5X RAM and UFS4.0 storage chips are also included. Additionally, there is the first standalone antenna architecture in the market, which is said to eliminate Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connection interference.

The rear camera configuration follows a familiar concept but should provide better performance. The 50MP camera boasts a big sensor as well as a brilliant wide-angle stabilised lens. A 50MP ultrawide camera with autofocus is also available for macro photography. The 50MP zoom camera with a 3.5x periscopic telephoto lens is possibly the most intriguing, since the big sensor should allow for up to 10x high-quality lossless zoom. Another 3D ToF system is present. The Honor Magic5 Pro runs Android 13 with the most recent EMUI-like MagicUI 7.1. It includes the entire Google infrastructure and apps, so you don’t need to worry about anything.

Specs:

• Body: 162.9×76.7×8.8mm, 219g; Glass front, glass back or eco leather back; IP68 dust/water resistant (up to 1.5m for 30 min).
• Display: 6.81″ LTPO OLED, 1B colors, 120Hz, HDR10+, 1800 nits (peak), 1312x2848px resolution, 19.54:9 aspect ratio, 460ppi.
• Chipset: Qualcomm SM8550-AB Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 (4 nm): Octa-core (1×3.2 GHz Cortex-X3 & 2×2.8 GHz Cortex-A715 & 2×2.8 GHz Cortex-A710 & 3×2.0 GHz Cortex-A510); Adreno 740.
• Memory: 256GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 12GB RAM, 512GB 12GB RAM, 512GB 16GB RAM; UFS 4.0.
• OS/Software: Android 13, MagicOS 7.1.
• Rear camera: Wide (main): 50 MP, f/1.6, 23mm, 1/1.12″ 1.4µm, multi-directional PDAF, Laser AF, OIS; Telephoto: 50 MP, f/3.0, 90mm, PDAF, OIS, 3.5x optical zoom; Ultra wide angle: 50 MP, f/2.0, 13mm, 122˚, 1/2.5″, AF; Depth: TOF 3D.
• Front camera: Wide (main): 12 MP, f/2.4, 100˚, 1.22µm; Depth: TOF 3D.
• Video capture: Rear camera: 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60fps, gyro-EIS, HDR10, 10-bit video; Front camera: 4K@30fps, 1080p@60fps.
• Battery: 5100mAh; 66W wired, 50W wireless, Reverse wireless, 5W reverse wired.
• Misc: Fingerprint reader (under display, optical); Infrared port; stereo speakers.

Good Points:-

• Premium design: The Honor Magic 5 Pro has a sleek and stylish design that is sure to turn heads. It is made of high-quality materials, including a curved glass back and a metal frame.
• Powerful processor: The Honor Magic 5 Pro is powered by the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, which makes it one of the most powerful smartphones on the market.
• Long-lasting battery: The Honor Magic 5 Pro has a large 5,000mAh battery that can easily last for two days on a single charge.
• The Honor Magic 5 Pro has a triple-lens rear camera system that takes stunning photos in any situation. The main sensor is a 50-megapixel wide-angle lens, and there is also a 50-megapixel ultra-wide-angle lens and a 64-megapixel periscope telephoto lens.
• Fast charging: The Honor Magic 5 Pro supports 66W fast charging, which means you can get a full charge in just 45 minutes.
• Wireless charging: The Honor Magic 5 Pro also supports 50W wireless charging
• IP68 water resistance: The Honor Magic 5 Pro is water resistant to a depth of 1.5 meters for up to 30 minutes, so you don’t have to worry about using it in wet conditions.
• Fingerprint sensor: The Honor Magic 5 Pro has a under screen fingerprint sensor of the optial varity which I found to fast, reliable and accurate.
• Face unlock: The Honor Magic 5 Pro also supports face unlock, which I found to easily be as fast and reliable as the offering from IOS.
• Android 13: The Honor Magic 5 Pro runs Android 13, which is the latest version of Android.
• IR Blaster ( I didnt know who much I missed one of these handy little additions) 
• Magic UI 7.1: The Honor Magic 5 Pro also has Honor’s Magic UI 6.0 skin, which is a user-friendly interface that adds some extra features to Android.

Bad Points:-

• Expensive: The Honor Magic 5 Pro is a expensive smartphone, and its a brand the masses have yet to hear of and may not want to pay a premium for
• No headphone jack: The Honor Magic 5 Pro does not have a headphone jack, so you will need to use wireless headphones or an adapter if you want to use wired headphones.
• No expandable storage: The Honor Magic 5 Pro does not have expandable storage, so you are limited to the amount of storage that comes with the phone.
• When ever you placed the phone face down it always felt like I was going to damage the camera glass
• Poor GPU stability; throttles a lot.
• So-so zoomed videos.
• 4K videos limited to 15 minutes.

Honor Magic5 Pro Unboxing:-

The Honor Magic5 Pro comes in a standard black package. The retail package includes a 66W charger, a 6A USB-A-to-C cable, and a soft transparent case.

The Magic5 Pro comes with a thin protective film that was placed at the manufacturing. I removed it because, well I just didnt like the feel of it under my fingers, it was of poor quality and a smudge magnet. However, we are confident that many individuals would appreciate having it.

Design, construction quality, and handling

The Honor Magic5 Pro is a dual-glass smartphone with a curved design, similar to the Magic4 Pro, with similar features such as the pill-shaped display cutout and the circular camera island on the back. The phone, like the previous one, is IP68-rated for dust and water protection.

The global version of Macig5 Pro is offered in Meadow Green (our colour) and Black, both with glass panels on both ends. There is also an orange eco leather back variant, but it is only available in China.

The front panel is composed of glass and has a modest arc on both sides, but the device does feel flat in the hand.  The back  features the same curvatures as the front, but the camera glass is a great showstopper here, grabbing your whole attention. Finally, the aluminium frame is thicker at the top and bottom and narrower across the left and right sides.

This matt covering on the back panel makes it feel less like glass and more like plastic. This is OK, but the panel is fully fingerprint and smudge resistant. However, don’t anticipate much of a grip. Although whenever I placed the phone rear side down it always felt like I was going to damage the camera glass.

The glossy metal frame also does not help with grip, however we must say that the Meadow Green Magic5 Pro looks stunning with its unique paintjob and matching shining frame. While there isn’t much grip (unless you use a case), the Magic5 Pro has a beautiful and recognisable appearance that is fairly likeable.

The 6.81-inch OLED screen with narrow, uniform bezels dominates the front. The 12MP selfie camera and the ToF 3D technology for face scanning are visible through a pill-shaped cut out on the upper left corner of the device.

Although the protective glass is curved, particularly along its left and right sides, the OLED panel is flat as usual underneath.

There is an under-display fingerprint scanner placed centered around the bottom of the screen. It’s quite convenient, fast, and plenty reliable. Easily as good as the one on my latest S23 Ultra, with a nice feature of being able to change the animation to one of your choosing.

The secure 3D face unlock also works as stated; once set up, it looks to be a notch faster than on the most recent iPhone models.

The last item you probably don’t see at the front is the earpiece – its outlet is exceedingly narrow, nearly undetectable – and it’s located above the screen, just before the frame. It’s worth noting that the speaker in this location has two sound outputs, one front-facing and one top-firing.

The matt back panel is a visual feast, with a camera housing jutting-out with a flat glass surface enclosed by a metal ring. The 50MP periscope zoom camera, the 50MP primary camera, and the 50MP ultrawide camera are all visible here. A single-LED flash, a flicker sensor, a multi-spectrum colour sensor (next to the flash), a microphone, and yet another ToF 3D system for depth mapping and autofocus help are also present.

The camera island is large, and while the phone will never sit flat on a table, it will not wobble due to its enormous size and support. I’ve already mentioned that the phone has an additional speaker grille at the top. The IR blaster and another microphone are also visible here.

The dual SIM tray, primary microphone, USB-C port, and second speaker are all located on the Magic5 Pro’s bottom. There is nothing on the left side of this Honor. The volume and the power/lock keys are on the right. The freestanding antenna architecture, which Honour claims is an industry first, is something you can’t see but should benefit from. The phone contains separate Bluetooth and Wi-Fi antennas located around the phone to resolve mutual interference and increase speeds and minimise latency of both types of connections.

Display:-

The Honour Magic5 Pro has a high-resolution 6.81-inch LTPO OLED screen with 10-bit colour depth, a 120Hz dynamic refresh rate, and HDR10+ support. The display appears to be identical to the Honour Magic4 Pro’s, with the pill-shaped cutout and curved protective glass, although it should be significantly brighter. The actual resolution of the OLED panel is 1312 x 2848 pixels, or 460ppi density. It features a 10-bit colour depth and can display more than a billion colours.

Honour also upgraded the high-frequency PWM dimming technology, increasing its frequency to 2,160Hz (from 1,920Hz). This should improve the experience much more in low-light conditions, and there should be no ghosting. The sole noticeable enhancement over the Honour Magic4 Pro panel is the brightness, which can reach up to 1,800 nits while viewing HDR material and 1,300 nits when displaying normal content. In comparison, the previous display had a maximum brightness of “just” 1,000 nits.

Other prominent features include a Frame Rate Booster and Video Enhancer, both of which may be enabled or disabled for any suitable programme (Netflix, YouTube).

The Frame Rate Booster does what it says: it raises the frame rate of videos by injecting a black frame between each one, resulting in 60fps videos. MEMC (Motion Estimation, Motion Compensation) is a feature present on most current televisions. We don’t enjoy utilising it since the false black frames cause blurring in fast-paced sequences, although it may be effective in making certain forms of video content appear smoother.

The Video enhancer converts non-HDR videos to HDR ones by boosting the colour and contrast, although the results aren’t spectacular. Nothing compares to the actual thing.

All this means this is a gorgeous display to look at. 

Battery:-

The Honour Magic5 Pro has a larger battery with a capacity of 5,100mAh, up from 4,600mAh on the Magic4 Pro. The phone has the latest flagship Snapdragon chipset – 8 Gen 2 – which is more powerful and efficient than the 8 Gen 1 seen in the Honour Magic4 Pro. These enhancements resulted in me being able to use the phone for 2 full days before a recharge. 

On the point of charging the Honour Magic5 Pro has 66W fast wired charging and 50W fast wireless charging capabilities. This meant I was able to charge from empty to full in just 45 mins.  Furthermore, the phone supports both reverse wired and reverse wireless charging (through settings).

A quick clip showing how fast the device charges. 

Operating System & Chipset:

Magic OS 7.1 on top of Android 13
The Honour Magic5 Pro is powered by an in-house MagicOS 7.1 operating system on top of an Android 13 core. And, unlike Huawei’s software releases, which are constrained in some way, it’s a fully working Android 13, with full support for the Google applications suite.

With version v7, Honour has rebranded its Android overlay from UI to OS in an attempt to distance itself from its Huawei EMUI roots. A lot has been shared over the years between Magic OS (or UI) and EMUI, and elements of that common past remain, so if you’ve used a reasonably recent Huawei phone, you’d be right at home, but there are distinctions. Naturally, where the two differ, the Magic Vs aligns with Honor’s latest non-bendy models, even if they may still be on prior Magic versions.

The Honour Magic5 Pro is powered by the newest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 CPU, LPDDR5X RAM, and UFS4.0 storage chips.

The SD8G2 features an octa-core processor with one primary core, four performance cores (2+2), and three efficient cores (1+2+2+3). This means that the CPU has 1×3.2GHz Cortex-X3 CPU cores, 2×2.8GHz Cortex-A715 and 2×2.8GHz Cortex-A710 CPU cores, and 3×2.0GHz Cortex-A510 CPU cores.

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset includes a Ray Tracing-capable Adreno 740 GPU. It remains to be seen whether and how this is employed in genuine mobile games in the future.

Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.2, NFC, and dual-SIM 5G are all supported by the Macig5 Pro.

Two ToF 3D systems and four cameras:

On the rear of the Honour Magic5 Pro, there are three cameras: a 50MP primary, a 50MP ultrawide, and a 50MP telephoto. An 8×8 dToF laser focusing system for autofocus and depth mapping, a single-LED flash, a flicker sensor, and a multi-spectrum colour sensor (behind the white cover adjacent to the yellow LED flash) are also included.

The Magic5 Pro comes with a 12MP front-facing camera as well as another ToF system for autofocus and depth mapping.

The primary camera is equipped with a 50MP customised 1/1.12″ sensor with 1.4m pixels. It is housed behind a brilliant 23mm f/1.6 OIS lens. It’s worth noting that, as is customary, the camera app saves cropped photographs with a focal length of 27mm.

In terms of light-gathering ability, this primary camera vastly outperforms the Magic4 Pro, which had a 1/1.56″ sensor and an f/1.8 aperture. Even better, Honour added Optical Image Stabilisation to the main camera (the Magic4 Pro does not have OIS).

The 50MP ultra wide-angle (122°) camera has autofocus and a 13mm lens with a brighter aperture – f/2.0 vs. f/2.2 on the Magic4 Pro’s UW camera.

The third camera on the back has a 50MP sensor as well, however it is paired with a 90mm f/3.0 periscopic stabilised lens. This camera appears to crop slightly as well, as it saves photographs with a focal length equivalent to 95mm.

This phone includes two cameras, one of which is capable of shooting macro photos. The ultra-wide module can do it at a distance of roughly 2.5cm, while the tele camera can do it at a distance of 30cm. The UW camera is used for closeups in the Super Macro mode.

Photo Quality.

As opposed to many other 50MP imagers, the main camera saves 12MP photographs by default rather than 12.5MP. That’s because the camera app somewhat crops the edges, which is why the actual 23mm focal length is different from the 27mm one listed in the EXIF.

In any case, these 12MP stock images are without a doubt among of the best available today from a smartphone. There is no discernible noise, an incredibly high level of detail, and a balanced sharpness. Even better, the processing is fairly advanced, and every minute detail is beautifully rendered; even random detail is well-developed, which is difficult for smaller Quad-Bayer sensors to do. All of the photo samples have excellent contrast, and the dynamic range is acceptable but not excessive. In my opinion, this is the perfect approach.

As we previously stated, these photographs are unquestionably among the best in their class, comparable to the top models from Sony and Huawei., and Samsung. Shooting at 50MP with the High-Res setting and then reducing to 12MP is one approach to get less processed photographs. The 50MP photographs are quite nice, with sufficient detail and attributes that match the usual output in terms of colours, contrast, and dynamic range. Some photographs have obvious noise, but it isn’t distracting. You won’t gain greater detail if you shoot in 50MP and then downsize to 12MP, but like we mentioned, it will appear more natural. Nonetheless, given the balanced Honour processing, 

The ultrawide camera stores 12.5MP shots by default, as it should – no cropping here. The photographs I took with the Honour Magic5 Pro are fantastic; they’re tremendously wide, with a lot of resolved detail and, once again, perfectly balanced sharpness and overall rendition. Corners are also expertly fixed. There is no obvious noise in the images, the colours are vibrant and true to life, the contrast is good, albeit somewhat lower than what the main camera provides, and the dynamic range is very broad. Overall, the ultrawide camera delivered decent performance and, once again, flagship-worthy images.

There is a distinct Super Macro mode, and it may also display as a toggle on the viewfinder if the camera app or AI (if enabled) determines that you require it. The Super Macro mode itself has 1x and 2x zoom capabilities, although we recommend avoiding the 2x option if possible because it is achieved by cropping and upscaling from the default 13mm view, which degrades overall shot quality. Closeup images taken with the ultrawide camera are particularly attractive – their centres are detailed and sharp, with developed objects that will undoubtedly reveal previously unseen details. The dynamic range remains broad, and the contrast is adequate.

The phone is described as having a zoom range of up to 100x, and I couldn’t pass up the chance to shoot some 50x and 100x zoomed shots – these are the two fixed locations when you reach the zoom bar. Those are lacking in detail, but you can nonetheless make what’s available.

Portrait mode on the Magic5 Pro has 1x and 2x (default) modes, both of which use the main camera. The default portraits are 2x zoomed, and they are solid – the subject rendition and exposure are fantastic, the separation is superb, and the bokeh appears extremely natural. Everything else, including noise reduction, colours, and dynamic range, is excellent. However, the quality is not as good because these were clipped from the main camera. It’s not a true digital zoom, but the detail and crispness aren’t up to pace with the standard photographs below. Nonetheless, these will suffice for any occasion.

Finally, let us discuss the selfie camera. The 12MP selfie camera has three FoVs, which translate to 18mm, 21mm, and 26mm in 35mm equivalent, or as the UI names them – Wide, 0.8x, and 1x. The camera always stores 12.5MP photographs, however we believe there is a higher-resolution sensor inside, most likely a 13MP one. The 18mm selfies are exceptional and noticeably broad – the resolved detail is substantial and the clarity is excellent, the subject is natural, and it is not over-processed. The photographs are noise-free, the colours are true and attractive, the contrast is strong, and the dynamic range is above average.

Photo quality in low light.

The Honour Magic5 Pro claims and offers amazing evening photography. There is also a short Night Mode, but it turns out that the default shooting mode does the same thing, and all photographs from the default output and the Night Mode output are similar. The photographs from the main camera are nicely exposed, have a lot of resolved detail, and have minimal, if any, noise. The dynamic range is amazing, and the contrast hasn’t suffered in the least. And the colour reproduction is superb, with realistic and vibrant hues.

Video recording:

The Honour Magic5 Pro’s cameras can record video in 4K resolution. Only the main and zoom cameras support 4K60. The remainder are limited to 4K30 video capture, though the front one can also capture 1080p@60fps. A annoying feature I discovered is that all 4K video capture modes are limited to 15 minutes, which is most likely due to file size and file system limitations. This would be a very discouraging barrier for video artists, vloggers. Stabilisation is provided on all cameras; the front and ultrawide utilise EIS, the primary uses OIS + EIS, and the telephoto appears to use solely OIS. Video stabilisation cannot be disabled.

The bitrate for the 4K@30 clips is 39-40Mbps. The audio is always taken in stereo with a bitrate of 250kbps, and the sound is usually free of wind and other interruptions and reasonably rich. The main camera’s 4K footage is superb, with plenty of resolved detail and excellent clarity. The colours are accurate, the contrast is good, and the dynamic range is ideal. The video is free of noise, and the processing appears to be extremely proficient.

Conclusion:-

The Honour Magic5 Pro is an extraordinarily powerful smartphone with some of the best display, speakers, chipset, cameras, and charging options on the market, all housed in a stunning and one-of-a-kind IP68-rated chassis. The camera experience was as high-end as it gets these days, with superb photo quality and natural-looking, balanced output across the board. The same can be said for the video experience, but I’ve seen a few higher-quality zoomed films on other flagships.The phone lasted me two full days of use, and when empty only took 45 mins to charge back to full.

The Honour Magic5 Pro isn’t flawless, but it’s close. The phone has a slick look, and the 2x digital zoom isn’t as lossless as on other phones ( I’m talking about phones with 1″ main cameras). The magnified movies are also subpar, and there is no 8K option. Surprisingly, all 4K videos are limited to 15 minutes, which is not ideal for video creators.

Finally, the GPU throttles a lot when running in peak performance, which is a thing you should have in mind if you consider competitive gaming. But even with these setbacks, the Honor Magic5 Pro is a solid offer with flagship specs and quality top to bottom. literally has everything and it’s not the most expensive offer on the market.

But with all that said I loved my time with the Magic5 Pro and having had the latest flagship from Samsung for past few years, I do think that the major manufacture’s have some serious competition to worry about. 

The post Honor Magic5 Pro -Review is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

It is not the time or the place to go into these issues today however as OnePlus unveiled their new Flagship yesterday in the form of the Oneplus 11 5G and I have been lucky enough to be one of the first people to be able to use one and put it through its paces. Not to be a spoiler but I am impressed with what I have seen so far, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves as there is a review to be done!!

Design

I like the overall design of the Onplus 11 5G it is not too far stretch from what they have done before and you can see the evolution of the design when it is held in comparison with its predecessors the OnePlus 10 Pro 5G and the OnePlus 10T 5G. In general, the phone feels great in the hand and has a reassuring solidity to it. I don’t feel that the phone is fragile when I use it which is very comforting to know that if I am a bit rough with it then it should come off unharmed.

I have already done a full unboxing of the phone if you have not had a chance to view that it can be found below

If however, you prefer your device tours in text form then here we go.

Starting from the top edge of the phone we have got a microphone whole and what I can only presume is a port for air circulation for the top speaker which is a forward-facing affair and doubles the earpiece. It is pretty loud and works well when used for calls resulting in a clear sound profile allowing you to hear your calls clearly.

Moving down the right-hand side I am very pleased to say that we have got a return of the much-vaunted “Alert Slider” that was noticeably absent from the OnePlus 10T 5G. it is just satisfying to use as it has always been and I am so glad that it has been added back into the phone. Below this is where you will find the sleep wake button that will also double up as a Google Assistant button if you wish it to via quick in the software settings. Apart from that and a few antenna lines there is nothing else to see here so around we go.

On the bottom of the phone, we have got the other stereo speaker which is bottom-firing but is again like its bedfellows at the top of the phone plenty loud enough for you to know the difference. next to this is the USB Type C port which is sadly only USB 2 in terms of support but it does support SUPERVOOC fast charging of up to 100w when used with the correct charger (handily included in the box).

Onto the left-hand side and this is where we will find a few more antenna lines (they are everywhere on this phone) and also the volume rocker. This is a typical OnePlus design trait and it has been common practice for a few years now. I have to say though it can be a bit annoying as I have accidentally ended up taking a screenshot when picking out the phone as this is where my fingers will naturally end up. I suppose it would stop happening once you become more familiar with it or change the screenshot function within the setting of the phone.

Around the back is where one of the main features of this phone is to be found. I am of course meaning the camera module. The entire module itself is encased in a stainless steel camera decor (bump) which stretches to the edge of the frame. The back panel itself consists of Corning Gorilla Glass 5 to protect from being scratched and gives some impact protection. However, in the colour, I have (Eternal Green) the phone is a slippy customer so some sort of case would be a wise investment.

Here are a few shots of the official Oneplus 11 5g Aramid Fibre Bumper Case that i have been testing on the phone to stop it from slipping out of my hands and off flat surfaces!

The camera module itself consists of four three different cameras:

Main Camera:-

Sensor: Sony IMX890
Sensor Size: 1/1.56″
Megapixels: 50
Pixel Size: 1.0 μm
Lens Quantity: 6P
Optical Image Stabilization: OIS
Electronic Image Stabilization: Yes
Focal Length: 24mm equivalent
Aperture: ƒ/1.8

Ultra-Wide Camera:-

Sensor: Sony IMX581
Sensor Size: 1/2″
Megapixels: 48
Lens Quantity: 6P
Aperture: ƒ/2.2
Field of View: 115°

Portrait Tele Camera:

Sensor: Sony IMX709
Sensor Size: 1/2.74″
Megapixels: 32
Lens Quantity: 6P
Aperture: ƒ/2.0

Here is a close-up of the camera module

The last thing in this module is the Duel LED flash which is very bright!

Around the front is a glorious 6.7″ Super Fuid AMOLED LPTO 3 display, that has a PPI of 525 and a resolution of 3216 by 1440 to make it QHD+. The screen has a refresh rate of between 1Hz and 120Hz depending on the content being viewed and this is something I will cover later on in my review. The aspect ratio is a very reasonable 20.1:9 which feels about right for a panel of this size. The other features of the display are that it has a response rate of up to 1000 Hz, Supports sRGB, Display P3 and has a 10-bit colour depth. as if this wasn’t enough the display supports Dolby Vision and is covered by Corning Gorilla Glass Victus. I am sure that you will agree that on paper this looks pretty impressive and i can assure you that in person none of that impressiveness is lost!

Quite a nice tidy package I am sure you will agree. Now on with the specs sheet.

Specifications

So this is a pretty banging phone on the Specs sheet alone but how is it in real-life usage and what does that hardware feel like to use? Onto the hardware section of the review and we will throw in some performance just for good measure as well!

Hardware and Performance

A pretty face does not always mean a powerful core, however, I am very pleased to advise that this could not be further from the truth with the OnePlus 11 5G. The phone as we can see from the above specs sheet is packing a very powerful heart in the form of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor and this n turn is ably assisted by 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM on my phone with the added assistance of the RAM-Vita which will allow for the allocation of extra Virtual RAm if the OS find that the phone needs that extra boost in computational power. Not only is the RAM massive and fast but the storage on offer is, in my case 256GB of UFS.40. The combination of these elements allow for very fast read and write speeds and allows up to 44 simultaneous apps to be active in the background. Now I can not imagine a scenario where I will ever need that amount of apps to be open as I tend to break out into a cold sweat when I have more than 10 apps running at the same time. It is good to know however that I had the desire to run this amount I could do so without any significant problem

Along with the massive and quick storage, we have an equally large and fast charging battery in the form of a 5000mAh two-cell battery which charges at up to 100w via the SUPERVOOC fast charging technology that has now become synonymous with devices from the Oneplus, OPPO and Realme families. If you are reading this in America please be warned however due to the difference in power standards you will only get 80w of fast charging and your charging time will be a tad slower than the advertised time of 25 minutes from 1% to 100%. The fact that this battery can charge so quickly does lessen the sting a bit of the removal of Wireless charging from the device.

This is a strange decision as it was present on both of the last two OnePlus devices in the form of the OnePlus 9 family and the OnePlus 10 family (the OnePlus 10T notwithstanding). What makes it even stranger still is that OnePlus have included wireless charging into the Oneplus Buds Pro 2 which are being sold alongside the new phone and it would have been great to have been able to utilize the reverse wireless charging feature of the phone to allow you to quickly easily top up the earbuds when on the go.

The battery and its rapid charging could be seen as a point of concern to some as this has long been the weakest link for a lot of phones in the past. So in order to counter this Oneplus has developed its Battery Health Engine. Now coming into these phone reviews as someone who deals with the concerns of battery health daily due to owning an Electric vehicle, this sounds and indeed functions in a very similar manner to what is being done on the massive multi-cell battery backs that power the EVs of today.

In essence, the BHS will allow you to continue to use the total battery capacity and obtain faster speeds for longer by the use of the Smart Battery Health Algorithm and Battery Healing Technology. The former will allow the phone to self-regulate charging speeds automatically only doing the fastest charging when the phone needs it or you demand it by overriding a setting. it can also implement an 80% limit on the battery for normal daily charging if you are not regularly using the total capacity in one session. The latter is actually down to the electrolyte formula that has been used in the battery and this will help to protect the anode and cathode in that battery for longer meaning that the cells will last longer. Now all of this is great to see on paper but the sceptic in me has been burned before with EVs and their promised performance so the fact that the BHS system and the batteries have been independently tested by TÜV Rheinland gives me some peace of mind for the long term. How long i hear you ask well over 1600 charger cycles or 4 years (based on a daily charge session) whichever comes first.

So there is a side effect that we know about when it comes to faster charging and high performance and this is our old friend heat. Now don’t get me wrong, with the current temperatures as they are in the UK I am all for my phone doubling as a hand warmer! However, this is yet another thing that will hamper the longevity of a phone so therefore it is bad joo joo. So under that smooth glossy exterior of the OnePlus 11 5G, we find it has been optimised to try and reduce that thermal afterthought as much as possible to again ensure that you are getting the maximum performance for your movie binging, gaming, video recording, editing sessions when you are on the go. I would like to introduce the Cryo-velocity VC Cooling system, which claims to be the largest ever on the OnePlus 11 Series device’s (ED note could there be others in the series coming later on….) at a 3685 mm². if you were to lay that flat then you are looking at a piece of paper in between the sizes of A4 and A3 which is pretty awesome to think is inside the phone in the form of a Vapour chamber! If all that wasn’t enough then we also have a 5673 mm² graphene mid-frame layer to add to the mix. That is a huge amount for such a small device and it is hard to imagine how they managed to get all this inside the phone so here is a visual to show it off for you.

So what does all of this mean for performance well OnePlus has always had a mantra when it comes to performance and it is Never Settle and one of the key components of that is Smooth and Fast. The Oneplus 11 ticks the boxes when it comes down to this. I loaded up a few games to try and see how they would perform in testing conditions. I am pleased to advise that during some short but intense gaming sessions, the phone stayed cool and comfortable to hold and allowed me to play with everything on maximum settings with ease. I used F1 Mobile Racing and Republique as my test games. Both of these games ran smoothly with a consistent 29-30FPS on the screen even at their highest settings.

F1 Mobile

Obviously, these are not the most demanding games that could be run on the phone but they are what i am currently playing and I found them to work absolutely perfectly. I also took the time to run a few benchmarks on the phone and the result are shown in the screenshots below.

As you can see from the benchmarks that I have completed the OnePlus 11 is getting a faster FPS consistently over the Galaxy Z Fold 4 it also seems to handle the thermals a bit better as well as this was found in the sustained load test in Wildlife Extreme Stress test on 3D Mark. In the Geekbaench test the galaxy ZFold 4 does have a slightly high single-core score but when it comes to the multicore processing the OnePlus 11 comes out on top again.

Both of these devices are extremely powerful devices and will both be more than adequate for mobile gaming and I have not seen any sluggishness when using either of them in my daily use.

So now that we have established how powerful the phone is what can it do in terms of photography? This is a key area where this phone needs to perform well and i am not going to take it easy on the phone as I am going to be pitching it up against the Pixel 7 Pro which is one of the better phones for camera performance.

Camera

So let’s look at some macro Shots first

To my eyes, the pictures are both good but there seems to be a tad more detail on the face from the shot taken on Pixel 7 Pro. Also getting the OnePlus 11 5G to go into macro mode is a bit more of a faff as it wants to jump between macro and normal modes too easily.

Some more generic shots here one of my back garden where you can’t really see a massive difference I would say that things are about equal in these two images. The second set or some inside shots of my watch and OnePlus 11 5G edges it out for me in this one as it is a more pleasing image.

The next set is of a tricky lighting condition and in this group, you can see more from the OnePlus 11 5G shot than you can in the Pixel 7 Pro.

It is very close though but in the bottom right-hand corner, you can see a bit more colour detail of the frame on the picture from the OnePlus 11 5G.

Next up is a comparison of Zoom levels taken at the standard levels of 0.6 x zoom(o.5 x zoom for the Pixel 7 Pro) 1x ,2x and 5,

Some interesting things are going on here which i am a bit surprised by Overall at the different zoom levels the OnePlus 11 5G shots are better and truer to life than that of the Pixel 7 Pro shots. if you look in particular at the colours of the window sills on the OnePlus 11 5g they remain white through all the zoom levels. When you look closer at the Pixel 7 Pro shots you can see that the window sills adopt the blueish tint from the wall colour. Overall the Oneplus 11 5G images are truer to life. However, in the Ultawide images for each phone, the Pixel 7 Pro shows the colour of the wall much better than the OnePlus 11 5G which indicates that when the Ultrawide lens is being used the OnePlus 11 5G is lacking colour reproduction.

Time for a selfie shootout

I am expecting this too again by similar in terms of the results but I will say that the process of turning all the enhancements off on the OnePlus 11 5G is a bit more involved than that of the Pixel so if you are just looking for the unenhanced image then bear this in mind.

You will see that the OnePlus 11 has got a slightly wider angle than the Pixel 7 Pro but that being said you do have the wide angle available as an option on the Pixel 7 Pro which is not a feature found on the OnePlus 11. In terms of colour, I would say that they are even, with the Oneplus 11 5G being a tad brighter when you look at the wall in the background. However, once it comes down to sharpness this is where the Pixel take a lead. When I look at a zoomed-in version of the images focusing on my beard I can see more defined hairs on the Pixel 7 Pro than on the OnePlus 11 5G.

This could be a by-product of the fact that to get a real-world image of what you actually look like you need to turn off a load of the extra AI stuff on the OnePlus 11 5G. In isolation the OnePlus 11 5Gis a perfectly adequate selfie shooter. It also does a very good job of getting portraits when you actually select that mode. There is a noticeable difference and you can adjust the depth of field focus on the portrait mode with the OnePlus 11 5Gwhich you cannot do on the Pixel 7 Pro until you have taken the image it can be edited afterwards.

So that is the end of the comparison of the images and I think it is fair to say that in most areas the OnePlus 11 5G is a good camera and it stacks up very nicely against the Pixel 7 Pro. There is however one area where the Pixel 7 Pro stands out above the OnePlus 11 5G and indeed in this reviewer’s opinion. This area i simplicity in the camera UI. As i mentioned briefly above there are a lot of different things that you can tweak and fiddle with on the OnePlus 11 5G and for me, this is actually a turn-off. I like my camera interface to be simple and I don’t want to have to faff with setting to get the image I want. If you do like using filters and tweaking settings even in the normal modes then the OnePlus is probably for you but for me i want simple and this is where the Pixel 7 Pro wins out for me and even with the choice of phones that I have is always my go-to when I need a camera I can rely on 100%.

Below i just want to share some more images of what can be achieved by the OnePlus 11 5G when you are willing to play with some of the other settings including the option for using XPAN mode which i never really fully figured out if I am honest!

So With the stills camera covered pretty extensively, I also wanted to include a little bit of Video for you just to show what the phone is capable of. This sample has been recorded at 1080p using a 30 FPS second framerate but the video will allow up to 8K and up to 24fps when in that mode. Due to the constraints of WordPress I have not been able to upload that sample and i don’t really ever see myself using it, however, it is there if you want it!

I am happy now to move on to another area where OnePlus has been scrutinised a lot recently and this is the question of Software.

Software

OnePlus phones used to be nearly unique in the relative sparseness of things that they added to the UI on their phones. But as with the inevitable march of time they have also had to change things up as time has moved forward. So over the past few years, we have seen what was once a user favourite in the form of Oxygen UI become Oxygen OS 13 in its current form. I have found that this new OS bears a remarkable similarity to an OS i have also seen on another brand of Phone in the form of a Realme device. (see Realme GT 2 5G review).

This is not surprising given that Realme and Oppo devices run Colour OS and OnePlus devices run Oxygen OS but hold on a minute those OS’s are different are they? Well dear reader this is where eth problem lies the lines between these OS’s have now blurred significantly so much so that in the far east the OnePlus 11 5G was launched with colour OS 13 instead of Oxygen OS 13 and if you were to place phones from each region next to each other you would struggle to identify the difference between them.

But what does this all mean for the user? Well in short it is actually not that bad when compared to something like One UI from Samsung or Magic UI from Honor but if you compare it to what Oxygen UI used to be then it is also not that great. I loved Oxygen UI back in the day because it was as close as you could get to having a Nexus/Pixel phone without having one of them, it was also normally significantly cheaper than the aforementioned devices as well! However, now the Oneplus Phones are no longer clean in terms of software and they have added extra features and started to duplicate apps which is not a good place to be in my book.

Dont get me wrong there are new features to Oxygen OS 13 that I like the cute Always on Display that shows either Polar bears or Coral and the effect that temperature has on them is a nice touch, I also like the gaming app that collates your game into one place and has the ability to get pop pout tools when playing a game and also block notifications. However, there is a lot of other largely useless stuff on there that just gets in the way. I dislike that I am limited to only having an app drawer that will not show more than 4 icons across.

I don’t need the duplicate apps that are present and I shouldn’t be seeing what is essentially a storefront for OnePlus every time I go into the settings screen.

Now i know that OnePlus is not alone in the above implementations of strange add-ons to UI’s but that is what used to distinguish OnePlus from the rest of the industry they were not just putting extra bloat in for the sake of it and they kept the UI clean and streamlined. A lot of this may just be me being a bit grumpy and old-fashioned but I liked that I didn’t use to have to spend an hour removing unnecessary apps from my phone to get it to work the way I want it to. I am sure that there will be users who are new to OnePlus who have been pulled in by the Specs and the camera who will not even notice these changes from the old to the new but for me it is annoying. Dont get me wrong once i had spent some time cleaning up duplicate apps (there are not that many to be fair) and turned off the extra features that I did not want or need then I enjoyed using the phone a lot and the software is not bad at all. I just prefer things to be a bit cleaner like that what is to be found on Pixels and dare I say iPhones!

Moving on from that rant let’s get int the conclusions about this phone.

Conclusion

As i inclined at the top of this review i am impressed with what I have seen about the OnePlus 11 5G and i am happy to have had the chance to use it for the time i have been able to do so. I suppose though the real test of it is whether I would buy one with my own hard-earned cash. Well for me it is a no but where does that leave you the normal consumer? I would defiantly give this phone a look it is a great-looking and very powerful phone that comes in at an awesome price point.

Yes, there are a few things that are missing such as Wireless Charging and a full IP 68 rating but the lack of wireless charging was really a non-issue for me as the battery life is really good and the IP rating doesn’t bother me at all.

I was also very impressed by the camera as this is a massive step in the right direction from what I had seen during my last time using a Co-developed camera (OnePlus 9 series). it seems that OnePlus and Hassleblad have actually figured out what is important to people and made sure that this works for them. In all honesty, If you were to give me a batch of photos from either the Pixel 7 Pro or the OnePlus 11 5G and ask me which was which I would struggle to tell you either way.

So if you fancy a phone that is one of the most powerful currently in the market with a respectable camera and a sensible price point, then you could do a lot worse than getting a OnePlus 11 5G, and the good news is that if you do want one you can order it now from OnePlus or from Amazon right now. Prices start at £729.00, when you are there then be sure to also pick up one of their cases, as well as this, is a slippy customer, particularly in the Eternal Green colour like the one I have been testing!

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

I was keen to see if I could actually make the switch to earbuds that are of the in-ear variety and see how long I would be able to use them without them causing me any discomfort. So for this reason I have resigned my Airpods to the tech drawer for the past few weeks and I have been using the OnePlus Bud Pro 2’s exclusively for this time.

Before we get into the nitty gritty and the comfort levels etc I want to cover the design of the earphones as this will have an effect on the aforementioned comfort levels.

Design

So what can we say about the design of the OnePlus Buds Pro 2? They are after all reasonably run-of-the-mill looking earphones. If I am honest there is not much that is leaping out at me from a design perspective but there are a few subtle things that make a big difference.

Firstly I want to cover the space of the section of the bud that sits in your outer ear as this will make a big difference in the comfort levels. I like what they have done in terms of the size and more importantly the angle of it. It is in fact very similar to that of my daily drivers. This means that when the Bud is in place I don’t feel any pressure where it shouldn’t and it is snug enough to stay put. Overall they are slightly larger than Apple’s offering but in this instance, this is not a bad thing.

The next area I want to address is the most important in terms of the Bud staying place and that is the tip design. I have been struggling for years to find an in-ear earphone that sits in place properly without causing me to feel like I was either puncturing my inner ear or feeling loose. I have realised that this is predominantly down to the tip design that is used. I am very happy to report that when using the smallest size of in-ear tips these are comfortable even for long periods of time. They also stay put while not feeling like I am getting my ear probed by something! Lastly and this is a bit grim but I feel it needs to be covered they don’t seem to attract too much in the way of ear wax when they are removed. I am not sure if this is just the design or maybe my ears have got less waxy but this was always an issue with previous attempts at finding compatible earphones. An added bonus is that the tips are antibacterial to help keep things less grim.

Another area of the design I really like is the colour way. Now I have got a very nice Arbor Green colour and I love the two-tone aspect of the design but this is not just functional as the silver area is actually a Polished Iridium which offers a very smooth touch surface to make using the various touch gestures easy to do. It helps that it is also a nice match for the Eternal Green OnePlus 11 that I have to go along with these.

Last but by no means least is the case that the earphones come in which not only stores them safe and sound but is not so small that you will lose them in your bag but is lightweight and slim enough to fit in all but the skinniest of jeans coin pockets. This case is more than just a way of storing the buds as it will also allow you to recharge the earphones when they are in their sleek recesses.

Charging can be done either wirelessly via a QI charging pad or via a USB Type C cable which is thankfully included in the box! The cable is of course the standard OnePlus red cable with White USB Type A on one end and USB Type C on the other end. the charge is transferred to the Buds via pins on the inside of the case which align with the corresponding place on the Buds when they are put into the case.

There is also a handy pairing button on the front which will allow a quick and easy way to pair the Buds with devices. I was able to pair them with my Macbook Pro with no real issues at all. Another nice little touch is that the Buds are held in place by magnets meaning that they will not fall out when subjected to shaking if the lid were to remain open for some reason. While I appreciate that this is the case with most earphone cases there is a satisfying click when the magnet pulls the bud into place that I get with my Airpods.

The last touch on the case is the little LED that will show the status of the case depending on what you are doing with the case ie charging or pairing.

So all in I would say that I am impressed with the design of the earphones and things are looking up for their useability so far. However all this can be easily scuppered by the ease of use and the interactions which I will cover in its own section later on, for now, it is time to look a bit at what lies beneath the skin of these Amor green beauties. (ED note they also come in Obsidian Black).

Hardware

So the OnePlus Buds pro 2 has had a few very significant tweaks from its predecessors. they have got new driver technology in the form of a dual driver setup in each bud. This consists of an 11m and a 6mm driver that has been co-created with Dynaudio. This helps the earphone deliver deeper, fuller and more textured bass along with well-balanced and clear highs. Now I have not had the pleasure of using the OnePlus Buds Pro but I have spoken to people who have and who know their stuff and they assure me that the difference between the two is like night and day. This partnership doesn’t just extend to the physical aspects of the Buds but also features in the software but i will cover that later on.

Now having great drivers for the speakers is all well good but if you are getting rubbish signals then your experience is going to be crippled, to begin with. This is why the new Buds Pro 2 features Bluetooth 5.3 LE audio to allow for ultralow latency in the signal transmission of 54ms. This ensures that your streaming of audio to the buds remains as true to life as it can be. In my own use, i couldn’t detect any issues with there being any perceptible lag while watching a video or listening to Mp3 files.

Like most headphones of the mobile persuasion, these come with the now obligatory touch controls. these can be activated on the stalks of the buds and are smooth to action a responsive with different press combinations performing various actions. You have a certain level of customization available to you in what these actions perform and if you are lucky enough to be using these buds with a OnePlus 11 then the set-up of this is available directly via the headphones within your Bluetooth menu. I also checked this out on my OnePlus 10T 5g and i did have to use the HeyMelody app to gain access to these controls. I also tried this on my Galaxy Z Fold 4 and I got the same result.,so you shouldn’t have any noticeable issues regardless of what phone you choose to use as long as it is relatively up-to-date.

Another area that is important to users is how long the headphones will last on a charge. Especially if you are planning to use them for a long timescale. I found that a quick boost by plugging them into the case would give me up to 3 hours of listening time from a quick 10-minute of charge which was awesome to see. I have only used them for this sort of time period once and I was not disappointed by how long they lasted.

It is difficult to accurately gauge their 100% to 0% as I cannot ever see myself using the for such a long period of time in one session. If you are travelling and you are worried about them running out then rest assured that even when using the Active Noise Cancelling you should be able to get through a few days of usage when combined with the case which can easily be topped up by either wired or wireless charging. It is just a shame that the case cannot reverse the wireless charger from the back of the OnePlus 11 as it lacks the wireless coils to do this, but for users of phones with this onboard this is a very handy feature and it has helped me out a few times in the past with other phones and accessories. If you have ANC off you will be able to 39 hours of usage time via charging in the case and with ANC on you can expect figures near the 25 hours mark!

Durability is not something that I have ever really given any thought to when it comes to earphones but it should have been as these things are designed to operate in what some may consider a relatively hostile environment, the human ear. It is therefore good to know that alongside the previously mentioned antibacterial ear tips the earphones themselves are solidly built and are rated to IP 55 water resistance and the case is also IP X4 rated for dust resistance. So even when the going gets a bit hot and sweaty your auditory vibes won’t suffer.

There is one thing that I have been unable to test but is going to be available soon and this is something I didn’t expect to find in my earphones. The same sensors that are utilised for Spatial Audio which is a six-axis IMU sensor, will also be able to identify what your posture is like and read your activity levels! Unfortunately, at the time of writing this review, the feature has not been activated but I have been advised it will be rolled out shortly after launch. It will be interesting to see how this works as I am pretty sure I have terrible posture and I will be interested to see what OnePlus and the Buds Pro 2 have to say about that!

So with that let’s get the spec sheet out of the way

Software

So as you can see above we have got some cracking design and some cracking hardware but there is a third ingredient to making a good earphone and that is software. Long gone are the days that you have to have earbuds that need to be crammed into your inner ear canal to allow you to get a good audio experience this is in part thanks to Active Noise Cancellation but it is also due to the development of AI and the fact that these Buds Pro 2 have got some cleverness built into them.

So AI in earphone’s why I hear you ask well quite simply it makes things better. OnePlus in conjunction with Dynaudio have really spent time working on how these Buds sound and the soundstage that you can get from them. To do this the first hurdle was to try and eliminate as much of the background audio as they can.  This is one of the areas where AI comes in. In more primitive Noise cancelling headphones the ANC was just a passive noise filter that cancelled out some of the harsher background antics going on around you. Now thanks to the inbuilt AI processor you can customise that ANC to not just suit your environment but to suit your ear canal shape! I thought that this was a gimmick so I gave it a try and after setting up the profile from the app I found that it did make a noticeable difference to what I could hear with ANC on and with ANC off.

I used it when I was at the swimming pool at one of my son’s swimming lessons last weekend and it greatly reduced the background noise in the environment. this meant that i was able to concentrate on my music and also on watching my son swim. Another test that I have done is happening as I write this review. I am typing this up on an Apple magic keyboard and in a near-silent room and although I can hear the keystrokes they are nowhere near as clicky with ANC turned on as they are with it off. If I add a bit of music into that mix I can barely notice the sound coming from my keys with ANC activated. However, as soon as turn it back on then I can clearly hear the keys on heavy presses.

I am aware that this is not the most scientific test that I could have done but i feel that these two scenarios are real-world examples of something I would actually use the headphones for normal day-to-day usage.

If you then want to amp things up even further then you have even got a Golden Audio mode that will apply specific sound enhancements based upon a very short hearing test to tune the earbuds to your specific needs.

Another very neat feature that is ably assisted by the AI boost is the use of Spatial Audio. Now, this is something that I was only able to use on the OnePlus 11 during my review as the only other device I have access to with this feature is a Pixel & Pro which is undergoing some TLC courtesy of Google at the moment. I am going, to be honest, I have found it tricky to find anything that is optimised for Spatial Audio so I took a look at Apple music as they have been using Spatial Audio for a bit longer than Android has been.

It was a strange experience and I am not sure it was one I liked as whenever I moved my head when I had the head tracking mode enabled it would move the soundstage around. I suppose it may be something that you would get used to but at the first listen it felt like there was something wrong with the music! I think if I was playing a game where the developer had built the facility then it may be something that would enhance the experience. I will keep using it and see if I like it in the long term. It doesn’t seem to work with a free Spotify Subscription at least not as far as i can perceive. I have checked and it seems that it will work on the following apps for video Netflix, YouTube, Google TV and HBOMax. I have tried it on my OnePlus 11 and the Buds Pro 2 using Netflix and i couldn’t detect the movement in the same way as could on Apple Music, so I think a bit more optimisation may be needed.

So that is how the AI can enhance the listening experience I am definitely a fan of the enhancement made to the ANC functions and time will tell on the Spatial Audio side of things for me.

So onto the last section…..

Comfort

So for the whole time, I have been sitting at my desk and writing this review(about 2 hours so far), I have had the OnePlus Buds Pro 2 in my ears to experience the comfort of them (and to listen to some music while writing) and I have to say that I have found them to be comfortable and there is none of the soreness that I normally associate with in-ear earphones. In previous experience, I would not have been able to have this style of earphone in my ears for this long without experiencing some sort of pain. So that is a definite win for me on that front. I think it can be attributed to all of the thought that has been put into the design and hardware when designing the Buds Pro 2 and also the helpful software features.

Conclusion

I have to say i am slightly surprised but e how much i like these OnePlus Buds Pro 2 and I would go as far as saying that for me they would be worth the investment, especially when using them in a noisy environment as the ANC is superb. I am shocked that I have found a pair of in-ear style earphones that my stupid and funny-shaped ear can deal with. If like me you have been on the fence then it would be worth checking these out. Are they perfect no of course not but for those willing to spend a bit of cash and that are using an up-to-date Android device then they are great alternatives to the likes of Airpod 3’s and Samsung’s various offerings.

If you wish to pick up a pair of OnePlus Buds Pro 2 then you can order them from the OnePlus store on the 16th of Feb for the price of £179 in the UK which is on par with most of their competitors. Definitely worth a look if you are in the market and you are already a OnePlus user!!

The post OnePlus Buds Pro 2 – Review. is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

The phone has been released the specs have been shared and the press releases have all gone out what else is their to do apart from a joint unboxing.

Now due to the length of the video below which you will see is pretty well detailed and also that I have covered OnePlus 11 5G’s launch extensively in another article here. I will share the unboxing video without further fanfare.

I am really looking forward to getting the review of this phone underway and sharing my thoughts on this device but the first impression of both the phone and the earbuds is very good. I am quite surprised at how taken I was with the earbuds on my first use. As for the phone, it has been a bit of a longer burn to get used to it but I am again quite taken by it. the camera is good and I have had no real slowdowns to report so far.

So for now that is my very brief thoughts on the device on its launch day, I will be doing more content on these two devices in the coming days so please check back into Coolsmartphone.com for more on the devices. Here are a few more pictures showing its svelte design off for the time being.

Dont forget if you wish to know more about the OnePlus 11 5G and the OnePlus Buds Pro 2 then you can find out more from the OnePlus website

The post OnePlus 11 5G and OnePlus Buds Pro 2 – Unboxing is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

Good Points:-

• Comes preloaded with basic skills out of the box
• Open-source platform, works with Raspberry Pi and Arduino environments
• Multiple controllers: IR remote, desktop app, mobile appFree online curriculum, video tutorials, and online documentation readily available.

Bad Points:-

• Short battery life (only lasts one hour per charge)
• Calibration issues arise after some use
• Codecraft (custom Scratch-based programming) only works with older firmware
• Head falls off easily.

Although the idea of quadruped robots is not new, it is just as intriguing and exciting now as it was when four-legged robots first appeared a few decades ago. Even if the area of robotics has made significant strides since then, it’s crucial to keep moving forward and motivate the upcoming generation of engineers. By creating products like Bittle, which educates young robot enthusiasts how to construct and programme their creations, Petoi carries out this purpose.

A programmable robot dog named Bittle is designed for robotic novices aged 14 and older or for anyone who wants to enjoy learning about and playing with robots. Bittle, which costs £340 (assembled), is pre-programmed with a few simple behaviours like the walk and trot that students may use to get a feel for the robot’s capabilities before moving on to more advanced ones. Even if the current state of the economy may make this STEM kit look pricey, it is still rather inexpensive when compared to other quadruped products now available on the market. .

In fact, several quadruped robots with servo motors, such as the PuppyPi and Xgo Mini, sell for closer than $1,000 at retail. Petoi’s open hardware framework and open-source software platform allow for lower production costs.

In order to expand Bittle’s capabilities, investigate AI machine learning projects, or carry out numerous STEM experiments, you may additionally attach Grove sensors or add a Raspberry Pi to the open-source platform. You must buy these add-ons separately because they are not a part of the fundamental bundle. You could have trouble finding a good deal on a Raspberry Pi, let alone finding one in stock, due to the fact that they are still hard to come by.

Bittle ships in two models, a pre-assembled kit and a DIY construction kit. It comes with three color options: black and yellow, blue and yellow or red and yellow.

The pre-assembled Bittle sample device we had sent through, has the black and yellow colour scheme. Since the main body and legs were already assembled, setup was simple. Bittle was ready to use right out of the box after only snapping the head (which also arrived pre-assembled) in, adding the tail, and charging the batteries. This model is accessible to almost everyone, even younger makers (children under 14), who simply wish to play with Bittle as a regular pet toy and gain some practical experience with movement manipulation or expanding on its pre-built routines.

There are three ways you can operate your Bittle: using the IR remote control that comes with the kit, downloading the mobile app on your phone, or installing the desktop programme on your computer. The pre-assembled robot also came calibrated and pre-loaded with a set of fundamental skills, including walk, sit, stand, and trot. You may use the controller of your choosing to speed up or slow down any of these movements. My nine-year-old was eager to immediately try “Say Hi,” “Pee,” “Do pushups,” and “Play Dead,” as well as other entertaining antics.

Childrens eyes light up as they watched Bittle walk and trot around so easily. It moved quickly and with good balance as they switched the direction of its motions on the living room floor from left to right and back and forth. On carpet, though, Bittle wasn’t as graceful as it was on flat surfaces like hardwood.

Kids had a great time changing the speed of each movement, which lead them to learn about Bittle’s unique ability to flip itself back to a standing position if it tripped or fell owing to something in its path. The fact that this fail-safe manoeuvre was autonomous and appeared to be something a real pet would perform astounded them. Bittle, who is under a kilogramme and stands six inches tall, is the ideal size for children to pick up and use in various play situations.

The limited battery life of the Bittle rapidly became a problem. It turns out that an hour isn’t even close to being enough time for play and exploration. My son realised it was time to put Bittle back in for recharge when the warning light came on and he slowed down or stopped. In order to minimise the disruption to the fun and learning, it would be a good idea to buy extra batteries (available separately or as an add-on).

For those who are interested in robotics, Bittle is also available as a DIY assembly kit that ships unassembled, allowing you to gain the experience of putting the entire robot together yourself. Additionally, you’ll study wire management and circuitry. Even so, it is less expensive than the one that is prebuilt.

Legs and the main body frame are made of tough, long-lasting plastic. Parts simply snap into place thanks to a sophisticated interlocking system. If you need guidance or assistance, you can find online instructions and videos for assembly. The online handbook also includes diagrams that you can consult. You’ll need to upload code to the NyBoard and double-check that your connectors are attached to the proper circuit when assembling Bittle by hand.

The flat-end screws can be attached after calibrating. The kit includes a little screwdriver, but if you have an electric screwdriver on hand, you can use it to expedite the building process. The software should be assembled, calibrated, and uploaded in around 40 minutes.

Although our review unit did not initially need to be put together, I would say that we had the opportunity to do so in an effort to resolve certain calibration problems that arose after a significant amount of time was spent evaluating Bittle’s manoeuvrability. I had to disassemble everything, unscrew each leg, take the servos out of their sockets, and then put everything back together. Following that, we had to manually calibrate each servo motor. The kit’s calibration joint tuner was useful, but the included screwdriver proved challenging to use.

Nine modified PS1 servos are used by Bittle: two on each leg that serve as joints and one for the head. As a backup, the kits come with an extra servo.

Note: To ensure that the legs of the robot will function properly, it is crucial to position the servos correctly when assembling it. To guarantee that robot activities go well, the motors’ orientation is crucial, and the wires’ connections to the NyBoard must be correct.

NyBoard

Based on a customised Arduino board, Bittle can do a dozen cool tricks or routines thanks to pre-programmed code (for the assembled model). Although Petoi has already released version 2, our review sample came with the original iteration of the board. Bittle comes with three adaptors that you can use to charge, code, calibrate or load new firmware to the robot.

• USB
• WIFI
• Bluetooth

An IR remote control is provided with Bittle kits (battery not included). Every button displays an icon that represents a pre-programmed move you can use. After a while, our remote control stopped working, even with a new battery. On iOS or Android, download the Petoi Robot Controller App, and pair it with Bittle using Bluetooth. From here, you can upload additional capabilities, use the main control pad to interact with Bittle, or calibrate each servo.

Use the Petoi Desktop App to upload new firmware, calibrate together, and learn new compositional techniques. It works with Windows PCs and Macs. To connect to Bittle using the USB adaptor, you will need the Micro-USB dongle. We discovered that this approach is not always effective because the programme occasionally displays problems when it is unable to locate a port. We liked using Bluetooth to connect to Bittle.

Programming Bittle. 

To start coding Bittle, there are two applications available: using Codecraft (Petoi’s custom Scratch-based app) and the Petoi Desktop App. You must have OpenCat 1.0 in order to use Codecraft to programme Bittle because version 2.0 is not yet compatible with Codecraft. In order to determine what version of OpenCat is currently installed, you must first connect to your Bittle. Connect using the WiFi or Bluetooth dongle, USB adapter, or both, then launch the Petoi Desktop App. Click the Firmware Uploader button in the main menu window. You can view your OpenCat version in the following window. Using the pulldown menu option, switching between versions is simple. Simply select the necessary version, click the Upload button, and then adhere to the on-screen instructions.

To begin experimenting and developing various routines for Bittle, you can either download the Codecraft application for your PC or go online to https://ide.tinkergen.com/ and select Bittle. When finished, select Upload from the menu on the left. Bittle doesn’t start executing your script for a while. My son, who is already accustomed to using Scratch from its use at school, started playing Codecraft right away. He really appreciated watching Bittle trot to Jingle Bells while combining and looping several talents.

Conclusion:-

With a pet robot like Bittle, who wouldn’t want one? It’s cool, enjoyable, and engaging. Additionally, it’s a fantastic piece of technology that will engage young enthusiasts and hobbyists and teach them the fundamentals of robotics. It’s true that Bittle doesn’t have the friendliest appearance of any pet robots. But even that might present a significant challenge for young makers, who can use their own imagination to come up with novel ways to replicate in-person dog relationships. One concept we had was to fiddle with its head movements to give Bittle more personality and character.

In terms of value, Bittle £325 is now the more cost-effective option when compared to Xgo Mini  or PuppyPi £344 –  £765 If you or your child merely want to use Bittle as a toy for pleasure, it might seem like a high fee to pay, but the real benefit of Bittle is the education it offers. Bittle is unquestionably a valuable investment due to the practical coding experience provided by the apps, the free online coding training, and future expansion projects and experiments. not to mention the assistance of the online open-source neighbourhood.

The post Petoi Bittle – Robot Dog. – Review. is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

Besides the Apple Folio keyboard cases, I have not seen many magnetic cases, but I have to say I like the design of the Rebound Magnetic Slim Case as it hugs the iPad Pro tightly, protecting the front and back of the device while hugging the Apple Pencil securely when the cover is closed.

The Magnetic Slim Case does not protect the side of the iPad Pro as well as other cases available, but it does offer some protection as it extends slightly beyond the bezels. It will absorb small wide bumps, but will not likely protect from an edge-on drop from a significant height.

The most impressive feature of the Magnetic Slim Case comes from its ease of removal. Just unsnap it from the back of the iPad and it’s off. No fiddling with covers or prying up two interlocking pieces.

I have been using the case over the last couple of weeks, it has kept my iPad Pro light and accessible, The case is slim and feels not quite like – but really close to – Apple’s folio. And unlike that one, this ESR folio has a flap on the front to hold a pencil (it works nicely with and without one). My pencil is in a thin sleeve and it connects / charges just fine. I just needed to wiggle it a bit to get it seated correctly, and then I flip the flap over it to hold it in place. The magnets on the back cover are great. My iPad snapped right in. And when I fold the flap back, it’s held back by the magnets. Plus, there’s a thin “lip” on the cover, which makes it easy to open.  On the durability front, So far, so good, the case doesn’t use any rigid materials that might crack over time.

Because this case doesn’t “wrap around” the sides of the you do loose some edge protection but when it came to connecting a hub (as most are made for a naked ipad) the case doesn’t get in the way and the hub fitted nice and snugly.

ESR makes very good cases, and at their price, you can’t go wrong with the iPad Pro 12.9 Rebound Magnetic Slim Case for £24.99 from Amazon which is a quarter the price of the Apple offering.

Paper-Feel Magnetic Screen Protector for the 12.9 Ipad pro.

The ESR Paper-Like Screen Protector delivers on its promises. Writing or drawing on your iPad with your finger or stylus does indeed have a more paper-like feel. This screen protector gives the screen more friction so you have more control. It also protects your screen from scratches and reduces fingerprints significantly. But unlike other paper like screen protectors the ESR version attaches magnetically so you snap on to your screen when it’s time to create then take it off when you’re finished to admire your new masterpiece or catch up on your favourite show with the iPad’s glorious Liquid Retina screen clarity.

As with the Rebound case I’ve been using the screen protector for a couple of weeks now. It does look more like paper, with its matte anti-glare appearance. More importantly, it feels more like paper, especially when using a stylus. It’s very thin and adds no noticeable weight or bulk to the iPad. It doesn’t decrease the screen’s sensitivity enough for me to notice. Perhaps my favorite thing about it is that it slows down the accumulation of fingerprints. I put lotion on my hands frequently, so my iPad is usually a fingerprint-covered mess and needs to be wiped down daily. I wouldn’t say this screen protector prevents fingerprints entirely, but it certainly cuts way down on how frequently I need to clean my screen. I can go weeks without cleaning it (though perhaps I shouldn’t, for sanitary reasons anyway.) Though I wouldn’t say the ESR Paper-Like Screen Protector would prevent a dropped iPad from shattering, it certainly protects against scratches.

Due to the protector attaching magnetically I was able to attach it over the top of my fitted tempered glass screen protector giving me the best of both worlds. Also supplied is a protective enevlope which keeps the screen protector safe when not in use.

The ESR Paper like screen protector is available from the ESR website for £23.39

Conclusion:- 

These two products really do feel premium, in the hand and to be honest if they had a certain fruit logo on them you would hard pressed to tell the difference, both products are certainly worth a view now that Christmas is not that far away.

The post ESR Rebound Magnetic Case & Paper-Feel Magnetic Screen Protector for the 12.9 Ipad pro – Review is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

Lets be honest when most of us are choosing a smartphone the camera seems to be the main consideration point, but what about the actual action of shooting the photo/video ? Well this is where the ShiftCam SnapGrip is attempting to make mobile photography a richer experience. The user experience on a touchscreen does the best with what it has, but it’s not perfect, modern smartphones are thin, slippery without a case, and tactile feedback just isn’t the same as buttons.

That’s exactly the problem ShiftCam wants to solve with their SnapGrip photo kit. The leading product here is a magnetically attachable camera grip and shutter, but the whole package includes a few things to improve your shots and make photography more comfortable.

What’s in the box.

The kit comes with

• The SnapGrip.
• Snap Light.
• Snap Pod.
• Carry case.
• USB Type C Charging cable.

SnapGrip.

The SnapGrip is essentially a flat, MagSafe-compatible dock with a thick, protruding hand grip built on the right side. It measures 114mm by 82.6mm at the grip. The thinnest points of the dock are 6.4mm, and the grip is 32mm deep. This meant there was enough room on the grip for all my fingers to fit when held in a shooting position, and the depth is not too bad for a solid hold.

It weighs 140 grams which certainly gives the grip some heft, but it does hold a 3,200 mAh battery for wireless charging to keep your phone topped up for prolonged use. On the back of the grip are two rubber areas where the grip comes into contact with the rear of the phone. Otherwise, everything you see is plastic. I thought this was a little deceptive as the grip has the textured appearance of a rubber-coated grip, but it’s actually hard plastic.

The full-sized shutter button at the top of the grip is placed with a little slant for better ergonomics and the click when it’s pressed down is pretty satisfying. Next to the shutter button is a smaller circular button for turning on the SnapGrip’s Qi wireless charging.

Due to the magnetic attachment the grip can be positioned in both landscape and portrait, or even a stand.

On the backside of the grip are four super-bright LEDs to indicate the battery level, one light to show if it’s powered on, and one light to indicate Bluetooth pairing with the phone. On the bottom side of the grip is an exposed USB-C charging port. Next to that is a tiny hole for sticking a pin in there and resetting the device in case of malfunction, the kit comes with a SIM card tool in the box that fits right in there.

SnapLight.
The SnapLight features the connector magnet on one side and a small ring light on the other. Inside the ring light is a selfie mirror with slight wide-angle distortion, and the whole light is based on a hinge so that it can pull away from the mounting point and face either direction. It has an internal battery that charges through a USB-C port on the device so it can work independently from the SnapGrip. To be clear, though, while it can connect directly to an iPhone’s MagSafe on the back, it does not work as a battery pack to charge the phone.

SnapPod.
Another accessory for the SnapGrip is the SnapPod. This tabletop tripod and magnetic mount can work with the SnapGrip, the SnapLight, or by itself connecting to just the phone. When the SnapPod legs are folded, it works as a short selfie stick. It features a built-in ball head that allows for leveling the connector arm.

In Use.
I took the SnipGrip away with me, on a trip the Scottish Highlands, and thanks to the magnetic nature of the system, using the SnapGrip ecosystem is simple. I don’t imagine most people will leave these accessories attached to their phones full-time, but that’s okay because they all just snap into place when needed and pull off when done.

The magnet is at its strongest when it comes to shearing force. Trying to slide the phone off laterally against the SnapGrip is challenging to do casually, which is great. The easiest way to get the phone off the SnapGrip is to peel it from the grip side because you get some leverage off the MagSafe side where the phone overhangs. This would be how the magnets are weakest, but it’s still good enough to where I never felt the need to totally baby the kit. Yes, you’ll always need to keep in mind that it’s held together by magnets, but it’s not such a distraction that it gets in the way of enjoyment.

The SnapGrip pairs with a phone over Bluetooth and once it has been set up, the phone should remember the connection for the next time it’s on. The shutter button is mapped to the volume up button on the iPhone, so the functionality will match the characteristics of that on a per-app basis.

That means inside the Camera app, a short press in Photo mode will be a single picture, and a long hold will be a burst. When creating an Instagram Story or using Snapchat, a short press takes a photo, and a long hold records a video.

The SnapLight is probably even more useful because there’s never a shortage of needing a small portable light somewhere. The light has four power settings, and I timed it to last 30 minutes at full power. The hinge means it can sit on a flat surface and still point out horizontally, plus it can attach to anything magnetic, and it has a mirror for a quick self-check. It’s a cool gadget to keep around.

What If I’m not a Iphone User ?

Well I’m not my main device is the S22 Ultra, but thanks to the inclusion of a metal magnetic plate which I attached to a TPU case, I even purchased a case to fit the S22 Ultra with a Magsafe attachment, I was able to use the Snap Grip system absolutely fine.

Conclusion.
Yes, it is a nice addition to smartphone photography, and in use it does change your mindset in regards to shooting your photos. While a number of smartphone accessory makers rushed to build ecosystems of products based around MagSafe, there hasn’t been anything quite like the SnapGrip. The SnapGrip is available in 5 colours and is priced at £69.99 from Amazon

The post ShiftCam SnapGrip – Review is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

Specs Headset:-

• Connection Type 3.5mm
• Driver Diameter 50mm
• Impedance 32 ohms +/- 15%
• Sensitivity 118 +/- 3dB
• Frequency Response 20 Hz -20kHz

Specs Microphone :-

• Size 6.0 ,, * 2.7mm
• Sensitivity -42 +/- 3dB
• Impedance 2.2Kohsm

What’s in the box :-

• EKSA E900 Gaming Headset.
• Detachable Microphone.
• 3.5mm Audio Cable.
• Y Splitter Extension Cable.
• Carry Pouch.
• User Manual.

One of the most important things to check for when reviewing a headset especially a gaming headset is how well a headset fits. If it hurts after a few minutes, then it definitely won’t last through a short gaming session, never mind an on-line marathon.  I found that the EKSA E900 have a really comfortable fit and doesn’t exert too much pressure. The cups settled around my ears perfectly and didn’t overly pressure my ears, the cushioning is plenty comfy. I found that these headphones fitted comfortably and adjusted to my head well without feeling like they reached their limit.

During testing, I also found that the sound quality on these headphones was excellent considering that they are classed as a low cost set. Volume-wise, they can get really loud as well as really quiet, and they don’t have issues with bass or high-pitched notes. Of course, if you want super good sound quality, you’d need to pay more for a more expensive headset. But this one won’t disappoint for the cost.

I spent several hours playing online multiplayers with friends while testing this headsest. During that time, my friends were able to hear me clearly and consistently. After a while, I switched my headset with my son to see how well the sound came through from the other end. The noise cancelling works surprisingly well considering how inexpensive this headset is.

The microphone is flexible as well as detachable, I was able to move the mic away from my mouth went I needed to. And being detachable meant I also removed the mic whenever I played on my own. (Just in case my swearing at being killed every 20 seconds was broadcast far and wide.) There is also an inline volume control and mute switched fitted to the nice long cable.

In addition to the headset, you get a soft microfibre carrying bag, a Y splitter cable meaning the headset can work with a wider range of products, which is a big plus. I measured the EKSA E900 cable at over 7 feet long. This can be both a pro and a con depending on how you’re using the headset. The cable is plenty long for you to plug it into a device and then manoeuvre (insert ducking and diving like a mad man when getting carried away with some online Call Of Duty) around comfortably from your computer chair or couch. However, it can also be excessively long for some folks. There is a Velcro cable tie included on the cable, so you can wrap the excess length up and make it more manageable if necessary.

If you play music at a moderate or loud volume, people around you will definitely suffer from second-hand listening I had to turn it down quite a bit before people round me no longer heard any sound bleed coming from my head. That being said, this isn’t the kind of headset typically used in public, but if it’s just at home gaming this won’t be a problem, the shouting at the game on the other hand?

Some listeners might not be able to pick up on this or might not even care, but these headphones don’t provide the most detailed sound. Notes can come through slightly muffled or even a tad echoey. But it isn’t the worst I’ve heard. I’d just warn that if you care about sound quality that you might want to consider a more expensive option. But given how inexpensive these headphones are, the sound quality is really good.

Conclusion:-

Considering the cost, the EKSA E900 Stereo Gaming Headset are great, the headset handles a wide range from high pitches to low bass tones, and the volume doesn’t feel limiting. The simple microphone is not only bendable but also removable. And since it does an excellent job of blocking background noises, you’re more likely to be able to come through clearly for your friends to hear during online gaming sessions.

There is a decent amount of bleed when wearing the headphones, so those around you will definitely hear your music if the volume is at a moderate or high level. For that reason, I personally wouldn’t want to wear them in public. However, they do make for excellent gaming headphones for your home consoles and computers. Considering that they don’t cost very much, they’re a really good option for any gamer.

The post ESKA E900 Gaming Headset – Review is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

Honer 70 rear

Do you want a phone with a great screen great processor high capacity storage and decent memory? Do you want this phone to have a cracking camera with more video modes than you can shake a stick at as well? How nice, would it be if you get this for under £600 sim free in a sleek package with a hint of glitzy design thrown in for good measure? Sound pretty good, doesn’t it? Well luckily for you the new Honor 70 has launched recently and this phone ticks most if not all of these boxes including the cost one (if you are willing to sacrifice storage space you can get it for even cheaper!).

I have been fortunate to have been given the use of an Honor 70 for the past few weeks and I have had some time to get some thought on the device. It is that time again when I try and string together my rambling into a readable and enjoyable review for you our dear reader. So without further ado let’s jump right in with the design.
Design

I have gone through the design of this phone on my unboxing and first impressions post and also covered it a little in my launch event write-up. If, however, you didn’t catch those articles, let me review them again.

Staring at the top is where we will find the normal pinhole speaker and that is it. The top edge is at least flat which is something I do like to see as it reminds me of the Note Series (RP) from Samsung.

Moving down the right-hand side we can see the volume rocker switch that sits above the power key which will also acct as a Google Assistant key on a long press if you wish to set it up this way. You can notice how slim this phone is almost immediately as when you pick it up the skinny edges just mold into you hand. this feels really nice and it still feels durablem

Around the bottom things get a little bit busier here as we have a dual sim card slot, one of the speakers (this one is bottom-firing), another pinhole mic and the USB Type C port that Support Honor’s propriety SuperCharge tech at up to 66w in this instance. Again like up the top this is flat edge which has made capturing the glamour shots of this phone a damn site easier!

The sim card slot does have a waterproofing ring around it but this phone does not have an IP rating, unfortunately.

On the left-hand side, we are met with a barren expanse of nothingness which is fine with me as I am right-handed but could be annoying for left-handed users but then this is true of most phones on the market.

Going around to the back is where we find the gorgeous shimmery, colour-changing (it is subtle but it is there) back panel which I believe is toughened glass but at this point, I am not certain. It does feel good and it is not a fingerprint magnet which I really like.

Nestled up in the top left quarter of the phone is where we can find the twin camera setup which consists of three different camera sensors including the world’s first Sony IMX800 54MP Super Sensing Main Camera (f/1.9 aperture), a 50MP Ultra Wide & Macro Main Camera(f/2.2 aperture) and a 2MP Depth Camera (f/2.4 aperture). These cameras will also pull double duty and work video recording along with various AI tweaked and assisted modes. I am looking forward to trying them out, especially Solo Shot.

Up front, we have the Display along with a 32MP Super Clear Selfie Camera (f/2.4 aperture) hole punch camera that again will work for video and AI Assisted modes for those all-important selfies.

Above the display is the earpiece which is nestled into a minuscule gap between the edge of the frame and the screen itself.

Onto the display though. This measures in at 6.67 “diagonal and has an FHD+ 2400 x 1080 resolution with a PPI of 395 and a 20.1 aspect ratio. It will support 1.07 billion colours and it is rated for DCI-P3 with a wide colour gamut.

I have to say it looks really good and I am a fan to see that it has a variable refresh rate although this is limited to 60hz or 120hz instead of being infinitely variable like on some other devices. I also have to say that I really do like the curve to the edge of the phone. It feels really smoothly done and natural and it makes the phone feel a lot slimmer than it actually is.

This genuine a really nice and well-designed phone that looks like it should be a lot more expensive than it actually is. However, is all this glitz and glamour hiding a dark and haunting secret under the skin as they do say that beauty is only skin deep!

Hardware
Well, I am very pleased to say that in this case that beauty is much more than skin deep and I would actually have loved to have seen a teardown of this phone as the components inside are all top-notch with what you can expect for a top of the mid their phone. but that is enough of my depravity for phone internals! Let’s take a closer look at what it takes to make this phone sing!

Before I really get into this there is a small matter of the spec sheet to be dealt with.

Specs

The beating heart of this phone is nothing particularly special as it is comprised of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 778G Plus processor which is mated with the Adreno 642L GPU. This is by no means a ground-shaking paring but it is one that will serve you well and it is more than good enough for the average user. One aspect of this processor and GPU combo is that it sips power which is great to hear as the battery is not a beast by any means at 4700 mAH pack size. It does however pack punch especially when it comes to charging it up as this phone thankfully supports the inclusion of Honor’s Supercharge 66W.

I am very grateful to see this as one of the omissions on this phone is QI Wireless charging which is excusable for a phone at the price point we are looking at. The inclusion of a QI Wireless charging coil would have added some more thickness which would have ruined the design aesthetic of this phone so I can understand why it was omitted here. We are starting to see a distinct division in the market where QI Wireless charging is concerned, more and more of the mid-tier devices are not including the wireless charging option in their spec sheets. I think up to a certain price point this is acceptable but manufacturers need to tread carefully as if you don’t include it in a device that tips over the £600 price point without including Wireless charging then you are going to start to annoy people and put them off buying your phones. Fortunately, Honor is on the correct side of this price point and has gotten away with it.

The Honor Supercharger 66W charger is thankfully also included in the box, which is a very good thing as this is a propriety charging system much like the SuperVOOC system employed by Oneplus and OPPO. The vast majority of the heat from the charging process is taken up by the charger brick and it allows simultaneous charging of 2 cells within the battery with a very short call balancing program built into the final stage of the charging session. You can also stop the phone from charging as this superfast speed from within the settings for the battery, allows you to prolong the battery life of your device and reduce the strain being placed on the battery over long charge times meaning you don’t have to worry about it as the software takes care of things for you.

In terms of the memory options available, you can get the phone with only one option for RAM and that is fixed at 8GB. You can however get 2 storage capacities depending on which colours you choose. if you go with Midnight Black or Emerald Green you can get either 128GB or 256GB of onboard storage. If however you go with the Crystal Silver then you are limited to only getting the 128GB storage option. I guess if you are pretty you don’t need much space to store memories as you’re the most memorable thing in the room! *Editors note We are not quite sure what has got into Garry too much exposure to shiny things I think we get him the counselling he needs we promise!

I cannot move away from the hardware section of the review without talking about the materials used in the build of this phone. Of course, upfront, we have got a hardened (not GorillaGlass though) curved screen panel.

This then goes around to a plastic mid-frame in every smooth way with very little to indicate the transition barring a protrusion of a fraction of a millimetre that you can barely see but can feel. It doesn’t feel bad but if you look for it you can see it. Continuing around this curved body takes you to a frosted back panel which is composed of Frosted Glass. I am glad that they have used the frosted back panel as this means that the back is not a fingerprint magnet and it doesn’t turn into a smudgy mess as soon as you go near it. It would even be possible if you wished to do so to use this without the extra (and included) case that allows for increased grip as the phone is pleasantly grippy with the back panel the way it is. With the mid-frame of the phone being made of plastic, this gets away from the need to have ugly antenna bands but gives the opportunity for 360-degree coverage for the antennas built into the phone’s skinny frame.

It is a shame that there is no official IP rating on this phone but again this is a cost-saving measure as the phone does have a protective rim around the dual sim tray and I would hazard a guess that the various other apertures are suitably protected as well. There is however no official rating so now swimming with this one! I would have also liked to see a recognised brand name for the glass on the front panel as it gives reassurance to the potential buyer seeing a name they recognise on a spec sheet.

Moving on from hardware, the big reason that people are going to want to buy this phone, of course, is the camera or cameras to be more accurate.
Camera

Honor have made some big claims about the camera performance for the Honor 70 and I have been reasonably impressed with the performance of the camera for normal day to day shots. i have included a few images of these below for your review.

I have found that the camera is really true to what you see with your eyes and this is due to the new Sony IMX800 sensor board with a rated megapixel count of 54. Honor have called the camera a SuperSensing camera. The camera does draw on the AI part of the Snapdragon chipset to help with the super sensing capabilities and this does work when you are using it to take various images. For example, the picture of the Cat correctly identified that the picture was of an animal and made the various tweaks to the setting and parameters to correctly capture the cat’s features and the end result is pretty good. The same was true of the sunset and this one is a bit trickier as I am asking the sensor to accommodate an extremely bright source of light and not wash out the rest of the image, again I think it does quite a good job.

The next thing i wanted to test was the variable aperture mode to get some background blur or Bokeh. Whilst the phone does have an inbuilt bokeh mode which I did try but i wasn’t that happy with so use the adjustable aperture mode to get the effect i wanted on the two shots below.

I am happy with the result in the shots above as they give me the effect i was looking for and it was easy enough to get.

One of the other features of the camera that was another area being talked about a lot at the press event was the video functions. And I was keen to have a play. So first up is the fairly normal dual camera modes that we have seen on various different devices over the past few years. They are useful if you want to give a different perspective to your footage but I can’t see myself using them very much. If I were TicToc creator or an Instagrammer then this may be more interesting. Check these samples out below.

Here is a regular video just to give you an idea of its capabilities.

The big one that is shouting from the rooftops, it is called Solo Cut. This is a very interesting feature that is something that I have never seen before. The video will automatically track a subject that you identify from the preview screen this will track the subject as it moves across the frame. I have tried to capture its functionality for you below.

The first video is the raw footage

The second video is the Solo Cut

You can see that in the first video the tracking is not as smooth as i move across the frame as the camera was being panned and the motion is not that smooth. whereas in the second video the tracking is being handled by the SoloCut software that is actively tracking my motion across the frame and it does create a smoother panning motion. While this may not be the best demonstration of this feature it gives you an idea of what it can do. The demo we were shown at the launch event showcased a group of people where one of them was selected as the target or “Solo” and the camera tracked the movement of that “Solo” as they moved around in the frame.

Here is a demo video below that might give a better impression of it in action.

The camera is a well-rounded component of the phone and if you like taking photos and are on a budget then this is potentially going to be a key selling point for you on this phone. Solo Cut mode is something that is very interesting and I can see it being extremely useful in a concert experience or at a family get-together.

Software

Honour has been getting quite good at cleaning up their software loadout on the Android lately and this is no different on the Honor 70. The phone comes with Magic UI 6.1 loaded onto it and this is based on Android as the OS. I would have liked to have seen the phone come out with Android 13 from the get-go but as the phone’s software would have been iterated a few months ago i can understand why it is not here. The UI is fairly clean and it doesn’t have too many annoying hangups as I have observed on other devices that i have reviewed and used in the past few years. In terms of bloat, there are a few of Honor’s own apps that do replicate the core Android apps but these can very easily and quickly be disabled from the main screen after a few long presses. It only took me about 3o mins to get the phone set up how I like it. This could be sped up if you use a 3rd party launcher like Nova Launcher which can store a backup of your Home screen layout in an online space. I like to try and run the phones i test with the stock launcher and UI where I can and i was pleased to say that with the Honor 70 i have not found any need to move away from their inbuilt launcher. I would have liked to see more options for changing the iconography though as the inbuilt icon sets are a bit too cartoony for me. This is something that you use to be able to do back in the Honor<->Huawei days via the Themes app. Unfortunately, this is no longer possible and the Themes App is a bit of a waste of time now, to be honest. Even if we had the ability to use the wallpaper colour match option as introduced in Android 12 then that would have been something but this is not available to you which is a shame in my eyes.

There are a few special tweaks that Honor has made in the software that are designed to help with daily tasks and the longevity of the phone. I will go over the Longevity part first as this is a big part of this phone’s personality.

The phone will easily last me 2 days with very light use of Emails, Soical media, Youtube, Music playback from local storage and so Web browsing during the evening. At the time of my writing this review, the phone is currently on 11% and it was unplugged from a power supply the morning before. I started today with around 47% in the tank. This is pretty damn good but there is a cost to this battery performance. The AI in the snapdragon chipset works with the very aggressive battery management software within the phone to pretty much kill most background processes.

An example of this is the App I use for music playback on my device called Musicolet, I install it on every phone I use and it works really well. On my Pixel 6 Pro which is running on Android 13 it just works with no issues with playback when the screen goes to sleep etc. On the Honor 70 I noticed that I would get issues with playback when the screen went to sleep, I actually got a prompt through the app that I needed to enable it to run in the background if I wanted it to return back to normal functioning. This is a real-world example of one of the apps that i have had to tweak to work around the over-eager battery management tools employed on the phone. Whilst it is not a massive issue it is something that is worth being aware of if you are an intensive user of the phone. Fortunately, I did not have any issues with receiving any of my notifications on the phone during my time with it as this used to be something that the battery management profile would hone in with laser focus and try to kill off anything other than a stock default app from delivering notifications.

I am not sure if my next concern is strictly related to the aggressive battery tweaking but i do find that when I pair my device with Android Auto i get an issue where although the pairing goes through and my car will use Android Auto it will not allow the content of the screen to display or even be interacted with. It could be that the app has not had permission set up correctly or the phone is killing the screen streaming part of the Android Auto environment but it is somewhat annoying to see this happen as i do a lot of driving so this feature is important to me. I would like to say at this point that i have had lots of issues with Android Auto on multiple phones so this is not something i am placing on Honor here and it could very well be the car software at fault. I just felt that it is worth mentioning so you know all the gory details!

The second part of the phone’s extras come in the form of neat features like the Multi Windows dock menu that will come in from the side of the phone if you perform a swipe and hold gesture this will allow you to have some quick launch apps from any screen Within a new window or a split screen mode. While it is something I have never found myself using it is nice that it is here. Also having all the usual useful gestures like Raising to wake and flipping to mute are useful little touches that make living with the phone just that little bit easier. The inbuilt storage management tool is also pretty neat as a way to help keep you on top of your files to stop that digital hoarder in all of us.

I am pretty happy with the software overall and I have been happy using the phone in my day-to-day tasks I have found that it all performs smoothly and is a nice phone to interact with. That being said I do just wish that i was able to tweak a few more things on the UI to get it to look the way I want it to. I am potentially in the minority on this though as most people who have asked and shown the phone have liked the way it looks. I suppose that this is the curse of reviewing so many phones you will always become jaded with the first little thing that irks you. Most people who will be using this phone, will find the software a great experience and probably would not question the wrinkles I have observed because quite simply they won’t notice them. This is a sign that the software has been done right for me so well done Honor you have done a good job on your latest version of Magic UI 6.1.

There is one last big feature that Honor is keen to talk about in the Honor 70 and this is Multi-Screen collaboration. Now unfortunately as I don’t have another Honor device that I can use with this tool I can tell you that I would have loved to have had this feature in years gone by as it works really well. In essence, this will allow you to access your files and other phone functions on another screen as if you are doing things on the phone. This is in itself nothing new. What is really clever is that you can actually copy things from one device to another just like you would if you were doing it on the same device I think this is really cool and wish I could have tested it for you as part of this review but it was not meant to be. This feature will work with any of the current lineup of Honor Laptops and also the brand new Honor Pad 8 that was launched alongside the Honor 70 here is a short video demoing this tool courtesy of Honor.

Pricing

The Honor 70 as mentioned above comes in three different colours and 2 different storage varieties

For 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage in Midnight Black, Emerald Green or Crystal Silver it will be £479.99

For 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage in Midnight Black or Emerald Green it normally costs £529.99 but for the next 7 days you can get this phone £499.99

All the above prices are available now from the HiHonor store where you can also get some free HONOR Earbuds 3 Pro in Gray that are worth £169.99
Conclusion

I have been very impressed with the Honor 70 and I have been happy with my time using the phone. I think it is going to be popular with those in the market for a premium-looking midi-tier phone that doesn’t have a mid-tier price point. it does a lot of things right from the stunning design to the great cameras and smooth stutter-free performance. I have even been mostly pleased with Magic UI which has traditionally been a pain point for me.

Who would I recommend this phone to then? Honestly, this is a phone that can capture such a broad segment of the market it is difficult to say. Howver one thing i can say with certainty is that if you are a keen mobile photographer then there is a lot on this phone to be excited about and you will enjoy using its features especially if you are someone who uses a lot of social media for sharing those photos and videos that you create. Another segment is style-conscious and up-and-coming influencers as they are able to afford a phone that looks like it should be in the next tier and for the most part, it will perform in that higher their as well. Lastly, for anyone who wants their phone to look good and make a subtle but strong statement then this may be a phone worth considering as it is certainly one of the nicer-looking handsets I have seen this year especially if shiny things are your cup of tea (go for the Crystal Silver one as it is stunning)

I hope that gives you an idea of if the Honor 70 is for you, if you think it is then you can order one now from HiHonor and they will even throw in some HONOR Earbuds 3 Pro Grey for free which is a nice touch.

The post Honor 70 – Review is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

To give a little context and background we have seen the T series of phones before as a follow-up after the main lead phones have been announced for that yearly cycle. Now for some reason, this did not happen with the OnePlus 9 family last year as they had the OnePlus 9 Pro 5G and also the OnePlus 9 5G. I think that this was perhaps OnePlus testing the water. I dont think they found that this release pattern was how they wanted to work which perhaps explains why we have had the 10Pro 5G with all its Hasselblad camera polish but then there has been a spell of nothing until the launch of the 10T which comes without the camera goodness but focus more on sheer performance with a bit more of a gaming focus that we have perhaps seen before with OnePlus. This is I believe one of the reasons why we have the OnePlus 10T 5G. The other comes down to the company wanting to ensure that they stay in the realm of the press and the technology news as nothing gets you noticed as a phone launch does in the mobile tech domain, especially when your price point is as aggressive as the one that OnePlus has stuck on the 10T but more on that later on!

As is the case with all my reviews let’s start with the design and hardware.

Design

For those of you who have read the unboxing post I put out of the OnePlus 10T 5G on launch day, this will all be familiar ground, however, for everyone else, I will cover it again here.

Starting on the right-hand side where we can find the Power key, sadly no alert slider this time around! This is a real shame as it was one of the staples that differentiated the OnePlus flagships from other ones on the market and it was something I did actually use a lot when I carried the phone. Could this be an indication that OnePlus is not thinking of this device as a flagship model?

Well, I have thought about this one for some time during my time with the phone and come to the conclusion that it was a design decision that had to be made to accommodate the internals of the phone. The alert slider is actually quite a large module that needs to be fitted into the side of the phone as it is not just the physical slider that needs to be accounted for but there is also the internal mechanism to allow the slider to convert the slide action into an electrical signal for the phone to interpret. Now if you put yourself in the position of the designer who had been given a brief of cramming this phone with as much power and performance as he can you can see that any way of saving space would be looked at. I think it is for this reason that the alert slider has been given the heave-ho. Will this be a new design language we see on the next “Pro series” models in 9 or so months only time will tell but I wouldn’t be surprised if it doesn’t make a return, particularly on future “T series” devices?

Next is the base where we can see the USB Type C 2.0 charging port alongside one of the two speaker grills. Again here we can see another distinct difference in focus from the 10 Pro in that the USB Type C port has received a downgrade from 3.1 to 2.0 indicating again to me that the target audience of this phone from the designer’s viewpoint is not one that would need the capability of USB 3.1. as it is a non “Pro” device. As a side note Apple also adopted a similar policy between their Pro and Standard devices (especially in their computers) so this move is not unprecedented. 

Of course, this port does still support the propriety fast charging technology which is now called SuperVOOC. This phone will charge at 150w when used with the included 160W charging brick. The name may have changed but the technology being used is the same just with a ramp-up in terms of speed.

We also see a sim card slot here which will house 2 sims if required and does have a gasket to enhance waterproofing. We also have a large mic aperture Notice how I mentioned enhance waterproofing. Well, this was because this device does not have an IP rating, unlike its fellow family member’s as this was another area where OnePlus has been able to remove a cost from production and design development. I have not tested how resilient to water this phone is but during my time with it, I have never been concerned about the liguid ingress protection on offer. It even managed to survive having a half can of Monster spilt on it with no ill-effects as far as I can tell and that was 2 weeks ago!

Moving around to the left-hand side is where you will be able to find the volume rocker key. Not much more to say on this on apart from it give a good positive clicking action dn is easy to find after the initial first few minutes of adapting form the previous phone I had been using.

Moving around the top we have got we have got a pinhole mic and again a secondary larger mic. You will have noticed I have referred to oval shaped holes on the phone as additional mic inputs however I am yet too have had this confirmed by anyone, once I have the update I will be sure to include it here as either confirmation or correction as required.

The rear of the phone contains the camera module, which contains three different camera sensors/lenses. Firstly the primary is a 50MP Sony IMX 766 sensor with an f/1.8 aperture and a 7P lens. Next is the 8Mp f/2.2 aperture Ultra-Wide angle. Lastly, we have got a 2MP macro camera which has an effective shooting distance of 2-4cm. They are also supported by the same dual-LED “ring flash” that was to be found on the OnePus 10Pro 5G

Around the front is where we find the 6.7 ” display which has a resolution of 2412 x 1080 with a PPI of 394 and an aspect ratio of 20.1:9. The panel is a flat one and is made up of the same Fluid AMOLED that is found on the Nord 2 5G range.

It will support up to 120Hz but it will only allow three options of 60Hz, 90 and of course 120Hz. There are a load of other little features about the screen but I will cover those more in the full review.

For now, though I can say this display is a good display and I really like using it.

The last thing to mention on the top is the top speaker which hides just below the bezel and it actually sounds reasonably good given the constraints of the space it occupies certainly good enough for Zoom calls etc.

That concludes the hardware tour. Now that I have taken to going through hardware detail in a bit more detail and depth I am drawn to the similarities between this device and the Nord 2 5G as there is a lot that this very similar to that device in terms of the specs, the screen and the camera setup. Some may even be inclined to say that this is where this phone may fit as a Nord 2 Pro, above the Nord 2 and below the 10 Pro, an interesting thought but requires a bit more pondering on that one I think. 

Specifications

Hardware

This is where OnePlus is really hoping that they can draw in the specs aficionados. There are a couple of key areas where the OnePlus 10T separates itself from the masses. As normal I am going to go through these key areas as otherwise, the phone is your normal glass-fronted rectangle chock full of some very shiny hardware. So the key features I wish to talk about are.

1. Battery and charging
2. Processor
3. Back panel

So the first thing I want to cover is the battery and the charging as this is the first OnePlus device in the European market that has got the first 150w charging speed. This is down to the use of the new SuperVOOC 150W fast charging system which is a propriety system that has been developed by the OnePlus and Oppo partnership. We have already seen the SuperVOOC charging technology on some of the OPPO lineups of phones. This is a name change for the OnePlus as previously they called their charging technology was called Dart charge.

I am really happy to see that we are now starting to see these faster-charging speeds on phones however the issue I have here is that the use of the Propreit technology does limit the usefulness of the charger for powering other devices. It would be awesome if, for example, I could use the SuperVOOC 160W charger to charge my Chromebook however as the SuperVOOC 160w charger does not support Power Delivery that will not work so it means I still have to rely on my trusty Anker Mini GAn charger. As for the battery itself, this is designed to that it works as a two-cell system which will allow for faster charging as you are no longer having to cram the power into one battery. It does mean that you have to carry out some cell balancing near the end of the charging cycle. This however is all taken care of by the SuperVOOC charger and minimal heat actually gets transferred to the device when it is under charger load.

In terms of speed to recharge the phone, its advertised rate is 19 minutes to fill the 4,800 mAh battery and a day’s charger from 1o minutes of charging. These speeds are awesome and it makes up for the lack of one of the biggest convenience features of the OnePlus 10 Pro 5G device and also the preceding 9 Series. This is also a downside of the bigger battery technology and the larger heatsink as they were not able to fit in a wireless charging coil. More on this later on though when I cover the cons

Next up have the processor which is again another of the main attractions of this device. OnePlus have managed to put a Snapdragon 8+ gen 1 into the phone which means that it is packing the latest and greatest in terms of chip performance and power. insert snapdragon image here I have not got another Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 device available to draw a direct comparison against, but I can say with a certain degree of confidence that this phone is fast and it feels it in normal day-to-day use. I was never left wanting when I was trying to load apps and move through the UI. The only time i was left wanting was when I was in a weak signal area and I was being let down by the mobile network signal. This was something that did happen when I was touring the southwest coast of Wales on a recent trip. I was trying to push this phone so I tested opening multiple apps in sequence to see if I could get it to stutter at all. performed this test of the Pixel 6 Pro that I run as my daily driver as well and the results are shown in the video below.

As we can see from the video and as I expected there is some slight difference in the speed of the apps opening once a few apps are open. This will of course be affected by RAM as well, with the Pixel 6Pro having 12 GB of RAM and the OnePlus 10T having 16 GB of RAM. These differences in RAM However should not come into effect until the apps are being “reopened” For the first opening of the app the device should be essentially just working on the power of the processor with minimal support from the RAM. It also has to be stated that the Pixel 6 Pro is on Android 13 whereas the OnePlus 10T is running on Android 12 so there will, of course, be differences due to the way that these respective Operating systems deal with cache memory usage etc.

Put simply if you are looking for speed over anything else then you want a phone with the SnapDragon 8+ Gen 1 inside it which is exactly what OnePlus has delivered and just to make it extra punchy, they slathered a massive 16GB of RAM on top. That is the same amount of RAM as my Macbook Pro 14! With that being said the difference was not as marked as I expected it to be.

I also found that the phone was plenty fast enough for even my moderate gaming needs, admittedly these don’t extend much further than the odd game of World of Warships and Alto’s Odessy but the phone was slick to l0ad up the game and the UI was buttery smooth, this was no doubt helped along by the crisp 120Hz refresh rate of the screen which allowed the gameplay to be smooth and stutter-free.

Next is a bit of a weird one that I would normally not cover in the hardware section of a review but I feel that this needs to be mentioned. The back panel of the phone. it is not what most people think in that it is not made out of Toughened glass or indeed any glass. it is on the other hand made up of a type of plastic known in the “tech world as Glastic” it has some of the properties of Glass but is made out of a plastic composite.

This is a distinct departure from what we have seen before with the OnePlus Flagship lineup. While it doesn’t necessarily feel as premium it does actually bring some benefits that I feel do get overlooked by some reviews. As the material used is not as dense it does not block the radio signals in and out of the phone meaning that you will not find an antenna break line anywhere on the outside of the phone. This is also due to the outside of the frame being made of plastic as well. In theory, this should allow for a near 360-degree antenna coverage and it should be better than say the likes of the Pixel 6 Pro.

While this was true for mobile signal and Wi-fi as far as I could tell. I did find that the phone really struggled to maintain a GPS signal in some of the areas in South Wales when I driving between our cottage and the various sites we wished to visit. I also had this occur in possibly the flattest of all counties East Anglia! As such I don’t think that problem is due to not having a line of sight to the Satellites but potentially more to do with how good the GPS radio is and where it is positioned on the device. I have asked to see if fellow reviewers have had a similar experience as I did but they have not been able to confirm this or not.

Those are really for me the real differentiators between this and some of the similar phones that are being offered at these price points. There are of course two other things that need to be addressed which I do think are things that OnePlus users will miss. The first is of course the most obvious. I am of course talking about the alert slider or more accurately the lack of one. This feature has been a staple of the Oneplus Flagship lineup since the very first OnePlus One was released to the market. It was even present on the OnePlus X which was sadly the only ever version that we saw of that device. This is the 1st OnepLus device I have ever encountered without this brilliant feature and I have to say it is something that I miss.

Alert Slider we miss you!

It was not something that I used every day as I work in an environment where it is required to not have my phone ringing or pinging away constantly. Honestly, i used to use it as something that i would absent-mindedly fiddle with in my pocket more often than not but on the occasion where I did need to quickly change my alerts to loud or silent it was just great to have the facility to do so with a simple slide of the switch. I have asked for the reason for its exclusion on this phone and the cited reason was that the space it takes up is being used for seeking out the extra battery size without making the phone thicker or wider. I am not 100% that I buy this but whatever the reason it is not there it stings a bit to not have it on board as it was a genuinely useful feature that people loved, it was also something that was a big standout feature for OnePlus as it made the phones different. I do hope that they can find a way to get it back on board for the OnePlus 11T if they are going to go down that route next year.

The second big omission for me is the lack of QI Wireless charging. I feel that for a phone of this level and also this price point wireless charging is a must-have as people have now come to expect it on their devices. Again I understand from a design point of view it would have added extra bulk to the rear of the phone and it would have also added weight. However with all that being said QI Wireless charging has been a normal way of people charging phones these days with most new cars now either featuring it or at least having it as an option. This for me is an indicator that technology has moved out of the niche domain and into the mainstream as the car industry can in certain terms be quite a bit behind that of the mobile tech industry. I am aware that OnePlus, has the technology to include this even with the SuperVOOC Wireless charging technology that was seen on the OnePlus 10 pro earlier on this year so this is just a cost-saving exercise in my mind and it is one that I feel they didn’t need to do. If I am paying over £700 for a phone I expect it to be near flagship grade and this requires in my eyes at least QI Wireless charging onboard.

Finally, another commission that is not as major as the other two mentioned above is the lack of the official IP rating on the phone as again this is just something that has come to expect for this price point these days. Now I know that while the phone has not got an IP rating the phone is at least splash resistant as I mentioned earlier this test phone has had an energy drink shower!  Surely in terms of the scale that OnePlus is hoping to shift these phones, it would have not cost that much to get the official rating, so instead of scrimping next time around just send it through the testing and certification process, please!

So that wraps up my thought on the hardware side of the phone. Now it is time for the cameras!

Camera

I have seen a lot of people who have been hating the Oneplus 10T for the camera which they are stating is a massive negative on the phone. I have seen some reviewers who are actually calling out OnePlus and saying that this is now the decline of OnePlus! Now whilst I don’t necessarily agree with that extreme judgement, I am not sure that the direction Oneplus have taken with the 10T’s camera is the correct way to go. don’t get me wrong i actually think that camera setup is absolutely fine and i am very happy with the result. i mainly take a lot of wide-angle photos or landscape shots and the camera has performed really well in these scenarios of choice. During the review period, I was lucky enough to away on a “staycation” in South Wales. As such, I was able to really catch some outstanding scenes with this camera and I would like to share the with you if I can.

As you can see there is quite a good mix of various different styles of photos in the mix here and I was suitably impressed with these images and many more that I have taken in my time with the phone over the few weeks I have had use of it. 

Now, none of this should come as a surprise as the camera being used here are essentially the same as those found on the OnePlus Nord 2 5G that I reviewed near the end of last year. I really enjoyed using that camera and I have really enjoyed using this one as well. The sensors are accurate and the time between shots is quick using the software is easy and does allow you to switch into the more advanced stuff if you wish to. Now I have not had the opportunity to use the Oneplus 10 Pro 5G with all the Hasselblad software that came on that phone but I did test these features when I was using the Oneplus 9 Pro 5G and I honestly would have preferred that they were not on that phone as in my eyes all they did was add to the cost of an already expensive phone. 

I suppose what I am saying is if you like your camera relatively simple and easy to use without having to put a massive amount of thought into what you are doing then this is exactly that. If you want a pro Grade camera with enhanced functionality then consider a Oneplus 10 Pro 5G however i think you may be better served with something in the Sony Xperia lineup as they are really honing in on full-featured Cameras on their latest releases but you are paying a premium for this. I think in this vain this is why the Pixel phone lineup has also appealed to me as it is a simple and intuitive camera UI that actually takes some damn fine images.

On the video front, the camera is again absolutely serviceable without needing to be something fancy and shouty. I very rarely use the video on my phone and I will really only use it to capture footage on the rare occasion when something catches my eye. this waterfall was one of these moments.

As you can see the quality is fine for capturing these memories but it isn’t going to worry anyone in the film industry either!

As for the selfie camera well it does what it says on the tin and having the slightly wider angle lens does help when you are trying to squeeze in more than one person. See the example below.

It does the job and I was able to get some nice shots of me and my family but you will have to make do with the above!

For a phone that is not marketed with the camera at the forefront, this is a good fit for a camera in my opinion and I had no reason to question its performance when I was using it.

That pretty much covers that camera and my thoughts. Now time for the software. 

Software

This can and has broken great phones for me in the past fortunately I have found that the software on the OnePlus 10T does not fall into this category. Yes, this is Oxygen OS with a lot of influence from the sister brand Oppo’s Colour OS but I have used a lot worse when it comes to customizations. the things that made a OnePlus phone are still here and they are good. OnePlus have also been careful to not include too much bloat and associated crapware on the phone when you get it out of the box. I found that the UI was intuitive and smooth in daily tasks with barely a hiccup. The icon scaling was adequate and didn’t feel that it was too cramped when I compared it to the Pixel UI. I was only able to get a grid width of 4 icons in the app drawer, which annoyed me when I moved from my Pixel, but I got over it reasonably quickly and OnePlus is not the only offender in this respect. I have been using this alongside an Honor 70 whilst I have been doing this review and I have to say that the OnePlus scales so much better. Here are some comparison pictures of the UI’s in various different scenarios.

It is very much a case of larger icons on the Honor 70 but the smaller text on the titles at least. Fortunately, in the web browser things settle down and the scaling returns to normal as can be seen below. but when you load the same image up on the Pixel things do change quite a bit as you can see below

OnePlus 10T vs Honor 70 Website

However, if I fire up the Pixel 6 pro to the same glorious site then we see another massive change in text size see below.

OnePlus 10T vs Pixel 6 Pro website

Whilst the obvious difference between the phone’s resolution is apparent in that last image the UI does have a part to play in this as the scaling could be allowed to be tweaked further by the user to allow us to create the effect of a higher resolution screen. This is something you have been able to do in Google’s other OS for years and it can be done via developer settings so why can we not be given the option?

Anyway moving away from my pet peeves. I like the things that OnePlus have added to the UI that are nice to have, one in particular that I wish was able to be used on other devices in the form of the Zen Mode app. I find that I use this quite a lot if I have had a stressful day as it gives me a bit of time just before I turn in for the night when I can just zone out for 20 minutes or so and decompress mentally. I actually find that if I am using a different phone (which I do a lot), I will still use the OnePlus 10T to use this app.

The Games mode and app are useful to have all your gaming settings in one place and this, in turn, allows you to control the Hyperboost gaming Engine to take full advantage of the processor power and the GPU. 

It also allows you to have a constant ticker of your performance if that is the sort of thing that is important to you in gaming. You can also set up screen recording from this menu as well. I have not pushed the gaming on this phone as I am not really a big mobile gamer but I like knowing that I can play games with very high performance if I wanted too!

That pretty much closes the software of the phone for me.

Pricing

So the OnePlus 10t comes in two flavours to the UK. they vary in terms of Storage/RAM and colour so nice and simple. If you want the Moonstone Black version then you will get 8 GB RAM + 128 GB Storage for £629 from Oneplus. If you go with the colour of my unit here then you would be choosing Jade green and getting 12GB RAM + 256GB Storage for £729. if you have an older phone that you are willing to get rid of then you can also get a £100 trade-in bonus. I priced up my Pixel 6Pro 128GB and i was offered £400 trade-in value Which isn’t too shabby, however, unlike some other offerings, this value is not deducted from the purchase price and will only be credited to you after the trade-in has gone through, please read through the trade in FAQ’s before going ahead with this option.

Conclusion

So at the top of this review, I stated that the Oneplus 10T doesn’t quite fit into the market anywhere in particular and some of my fellow reviewers have been struggling to find where it fits. i think I can now give you my thoughts and I have a space for where I think this phone sits in the OnePlus stable. 

Firstly who is this phone for, I think this is a phone for those who want the raw performance of a Flagship spec chip, memory and storage but don’t have or want to spend extra on things that may be superfluous to what they need, in this a high-end camera. I  can see this being a phone that gamers would be more than happy with as it gives enough in terms of the gaming performance whilst being good in other aspects of what that sector wants. This is not a phone for the camera aficionados but that is fine as that is where the OnePlus 10 Pro 5G sits in the lineup. I think the segment that will really appreciate this phone will be those of us who are a bit too old for being wannabe social influencers but still want to have fun with their phone and demand the best in terms of the hardware that counts to them. ironically enough this is actually the segment i see that i could potentially fit into if i was actually buying the phone!

I do think that OnePlus did however make one big mistake when they launched this phone. it should not have been called the OnePlus 10T. As I mentioned at the top of the review the T has been traditionally been used as a moniker for the mid-season refresh of the existing lineup that was launched earlier that year. This phone falls into a different slot for me it falls into the space between the Oneplus flagship lineup and the excellent Nord range of phones. in that respect, I feel that this phone should have been called the OnePlus Nord 2 Pro. If that had been the case then I honestly think there would not have been as much disdain from the industry as a whole and people would have been able to see what Oneplus had been trying to do with the phone. By calling it the OnePlus 10T the industry was expecting this to be an evolution of what had come before in the form of the OnePlus 10Pro 5G which is not what this phone is about.

i will leave you to ponder this thought and on that bombshell, I will see you on the next one which is coming soon.

The post OnePlus 10T 5G – Review is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

My old Flexispot E1L Standing desk when I first set it up

The desk is massive so much so that it takes up nearly half of the room it is in. So when I was offered the opportunity to get another desk in to review in the form of the new Flexispot Q8 8 in 1 standing desk I jumped at the opportunity. It also coincides nicely with the fact that my son i going into the last few years of primary school and he was going to be needing a desk for homework and working on his Lego projects.

So out with the old and in with the new here is the new Flexispot Q8 Standing desk with Bamboo desktop.

Flexispot Q8 and BS 8 Chair

Design-wise the same basic principles are applied here as they were in the previous one. However, there is one very significant difference in the frame, the rails that stretch between the legs are no longer angled and are also not adjustable as they were on the E1L. This makes for slightly easier assembly for the frame. The feet are slightly different in that they are curved this time around and this gives it a softer feel to the desk which could very easily end up looking quite industrial.

Frame rails and cable tray

This theme is continued up into the legs which are oval in shape and feel very smooth in their movement when they are being lifted up and lowered.

Underneath the frame, we can find another very welcome feature, a cable tray and cable channel cover, to keep all those unsightly cables tucked away out of sight. It makes for a clean-looking setup on the underside.

Moving up again we now come to the desktop frame itself which is a significant difference from the E1L as the frame is screwed straight into the desk. This time there is a frame that has already been assembled and mounted to the underside of the desk.

Built-in wide drawer

The reason for this framework design is to allow it to support the desktop properly and securely. It also allows for a slide-out drawer to be built into the frame which is something I missed on the old desk. I have found the addition of a wide drawer with a good depth to it has been invaluable for storing stuff that I need during my working day. There is one other thing that is tucked into the frame and this is the control panel for raising and lowering the desk. In addition to the normal panel that I had on the E1L, rather handily this control panel also include two USB Ports one type A and one Type C.

I have not had the need to use them yet but they would be handy for quickly suing to juice up a small battery in something like a wireless mouse or pair of Bluetooth headphones. The outputs are rated at 18W for the Type A port and 45 W for the Type C, so not too shabby.

Convenient place for charging your phones

So with the availability of these two chargers on the front of the desk why have I not used them? Well, that is where the other hidden secret comes in, this is kinda part of the frame but also part of the desktop itself.

I am, of course referring to the built-in Qi wireless charging pad that sits just under the desk on the right-hand side just behind where the control panel is located.

Qi Wireless charging pad

Unfortunately, this is one of the few places where I was left a bit disappointed. This was found to be disappointingly slow. I tested the charger with my Pixel 6 Pro which is not the fastest phone in terms of wireless charging. The charge is rated for 10W but I am not convinced that this is the actual speed that is being transferred to the phone. I found that the phone was inexorably slow to take on power so much so that it is not really something I use that often.

Underside of Qi Wireless charger

I did look into whether this pad could be upgraded for a slightly faster unit and I would be very interested in trying a more powerful unit if Flexispot ever offers one.

Now onto the most important part which is of course the desk surface. This is a joy to work on and it doesn’t seem to be as easy to mark as I found with the black surface on the other desk.

The Bamboo desktop life

I really do like the way that there are subtle curves on the corners as this makes it feel a little bit more suited for the home. One side effect of the way that this desktop has been made is that it is quite thick. This did present an issue when it came to attaching my monitor arm but I was very fortunate to have had a small desk which sits to the side of the standing one that still allowed me to for the stand to be used. This has allowed me to have quite a spacious setup when everything is in place on the desktop as can be seen below.

Everyone likes a clean setup

So that pretty much covers the design and functionality of the desk, but there is one feature that I have not covered yet. It is called anti-collision and it is very important to the function of this desk. I did cover this feature in the review of the E1L as i actually ha da lower desk situated underneath the desk with that setup. It was essential that these desks did not collide as this would put the whole system under far too much strain and would potentially cause one of the two motors to fail or to strip the gears on the legs. Well, I am pleased to say that as on the E1L the tech works in exactly the same way and it works really well. Here is the video from the E1L.

Overall I am extremely happy once again as I have a great standing desk which actually fits into my workspace this time around. I have got exactly what I was looking for, it is a comfortable surface to work on the desk rises and lowers in near silence and the extras of the drawer and the extra charging ports are very much appreciated. I can’t even be too annoyed with the charging pad which is a bit slow but is nice to have on board so to speak.

If you are interested in getting a Flexispot Q8 or indeed any other desk from Flexispot then do check out their site as soon as you can as they currently offer significant discounts on their lineup of desks and office chairs. head over to Flexispot to check out their tech day offers between the 7th and the 9th of September 2022

The post Flexispot Q8 8-in-1 Standing Desk – Review is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

My old chair

So the hunt for a new chair began and I was determined that I would get something more suited to what my needs were. I had previously explored Flexispot’s standing desks in the form of the E1L L-Shaped Standing Desk and I was very impressed with it. I was aware in the back of my mind that they also offered chairs and as chance would have they had recently reached out to me regarding some newly released products. So a few days later a massive box arrived at my house with a BS8 chair inside. I was going away on holiday later that day so it ad to wait until I got back for the unpacking.

So roll on a week and as soon as I got back I was straight into the box like a kid at Christmas to see what I got! After about 15 minutes of assembly, I was greeted with a very pleasing to-the-eye Grey chair, that I was looking forward to using on my first day back at work. Now two weeks have passed and I can honestly say that they have been a very comfortable few weeks. i have been predominantly at home for the whole time and have been doing 8 to 9 hours a day in the chair. I have been comfortable and I have had no back pain at all.

Let’s go into the features of the chair a little bit further. As you would expect the chair has all the normal features that would be associated with an office chair.

Staring from the base you have a six-armed base with smooth rolling wheels. This then goes into the support pole which has a very smooth motion in the rise and lowering motion. it slides into the base plate very easily and is a toolless fit which made for an easy fit. This plate then screws into the seat base with four sturdy screws to give a secure, strong fit. The seat base then acts as a mounting point for the backrest and the arms which are very simple to screw into the seat base with three screws for each armrest and three longer ones for the backrest which is reassuring in terms of durability. These are also adjustable in terms of height but have no lateral movement at all, which is not a problem for me as they are very rarely used when I am at my desk anyway.

Also to be found on the seat base is the lever to allow for height adjustment which has an ergonomically shaped panel on it. Lift it to allow the seat to go higher and push it down to lower the seat simple and easy and the movement feels smooth.

In front of the post mount is the tension screw for the back recline. I did not see if this had any indication as to which way tightens this tension spring so I went with the old “righty tighty lefty loosey” school of thought and this seemed to work. The back will stay vertical until you lean back in the chair which ensures that you keep good posture whilst you work. If you wish to recline then you have to make a conscious effort to do so which is a good thing as it encourages you to be in the correct position when working and recline when you are relaxing.

The back rest is an interesting design in that has inbuilt lumbar support which is in this case not adjustable but very comfortable and gives a good level of support to your lower back without overextending that area. From the lumbar support, we then move further up the back rest and this is curved to line up with the natural shape of your spine.

The back panel is also a mesh fabric, which makes it breathable which is essential in the heat that we are currently in the UK at the moment especially as I don’t have the luxury of air conditioning at home. Above this, we have the built-in headrest which is great for those of us that are a little bit taller as it gives your head a nice spot in case you need that extra support. I find that like a car seat headrest I don’t really use it very much, but I am glad it is there if it takes my fancy to lean my head back.

The other thing of note about the backrest is that the whole section can be adjusted to a comfortable height by simply sliding the section up and it has a built-in ratchet track to hold it in place.

The last thing I wish to mention is the section you actually sit on. It is a fabric seat which has a significant firmness, whilst retaining a sufficient level of comfort. I have never had any pain when sitting in the chair and don’t get any numbness from sitting in place for long time frames. I am of course referring to the numb bum syndrome and this is a real thing that those who are office bound will be more than familiar with. I did find that this happened on my old chair and resulted in me adopting a lotus-esque position which became even more alarming when the recline mechanism would fail!

So overall I would say that yes I am very very pleased with the BS8 Flexi-Chair Ergonomic Office Chair and I would be more than happy to recommend it to you if you are looking for a good quality office chair that won’t break the bank. You can get one from Flexipsot right now for £299.

If you are looking to get a bit of a bargain then I would advise that you keep an eye on this link, As you will be able to get a discount of up to 27% if you buy between the 7th of September and the 9th, as these are the date’s during which Flexipsot are celebrating their 6th Anniversary. If you want to check out the offerings and also potentially win some prizes then head over now for more info. Your back and the rest of your body will thank you!!

The post Flexispot BS8 Flexi-Chair Ergonomic Office Chair – Review is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

Up until I got the first Flexispot desk I had been making so with a hodgepodge of various IKEA and other similarly cheap furniture. I was happy as I didn’t know better but it was probably a really bad setup and it definitely was not ergonomically correct for me. Since I got the Flexispot L shaped desk Flexispot Standing Desk – Review I have been lot more comfortable at work and it made me re-evaluate my office setup. One particular area of weakness was in the chair department as it was an old charger that I bought on the cheap and it needed to go.

I had checked a few places and I had not considered looking at a high-end solution like the ones offered by Flexispot. So when they asked me to test one of their BS8 office chairs I was more than happy to oblige. Now whilst I do appreciate that these are expensive chairs it is important that if you are sitting at a desk all day you are properly supported in the correct places. The good news is if you are like me and have not really considered a high-end chair which will help you work (it really does help I promise), then you are in luck.

Flexispot is hosting its anniversary sale from the 7th to the 9th of September and during this time you will be able to get up to 27% OFF 7st Sep. to 9st Sep in the FlexiSpot Tech Day 6th Anniversary Sale this can be found on their main site Flexispot.

Here you will be able to pick the awesome BS8 office chair and of course, the new Q8 standing desk which comes with a very swish-looking Bamboo top with a Wireless charging pad built in. Both of these products will have up to 27% which will help to become a more affordable alternative for you to consider as an option.

I will also be sharing my full first impressions and review of the desk and the chairs with you very soon as soon as I have written the reviews!

Please check out FlexiSpot for their sale starting on the 7th of September and let us know if you decide to pick one of their great chairs, desks, or other office kit (they even do exercise bike chair combos if that is your thing!).

The post Flexispot Anniversary sale coming soon. is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

Staring at the top is where we will find the normal pinhole speaker and that is it.

Moving down the right-hand side we can see the volume rocker switch that sits above the power key which will also acct as a Google Assistant key on a long press if you wish to set it up this way.

Around the bottom things get a little bit busier here as we have a dual sim card slot, one of the speakers (this one is bottom-firing), another pinhole mic and the USB Type C port that Support Honor’s propriety SuperCharge tech at up to 66w in this instance.

The sim card slot does have a waterproofing ring around it but this phone does not have an IP rating, unfortunately.

On the left-hand side, we are met with a barren expanse of nothingness which is fine with me as I am right-handed but could be annoying for left-handed users but then this is true of most phones on the market.

Going around to the back is where we find the gorgeous shimmery, colour-changing (it is subtle but it is there) back panel which I believe is toughened glass but at this point, I am not certain. It does feel good and it is not a fingerprint magnet which I really like. Nestlered up in the top left quarter of the phone is where we can find the twin camera setup which consists of three different camera sensors including the world’s first Sony IMX800 54MP Super Sensing Main Camera (f/1.9 aperture), a 50MP Ultra Wide & Macro Main Camera(f/2.2 aperture) and a 2MP Depth Camera (f/2.4 aperture). These cameras will also pull double duty and work video recording along with various AI tweaked and assisted modes. I am looking forward to trying them out, especially Solo Shot.

Up from the have the Display along with a 32MP Super Clear Selfie Camera (f/2.4 aperture) hole punch camera that again will work for video and AI Assisted modes for those all-important selfies. Above the display is the earpiece which is nestled into a minuscule gap between the edge of the frame and the screen itself. Onto the display though. This measures in at 6.67 “diagonal and has an FHD+ 2400 x 1080 resolution with a PPI of 395 and a 20.1 aspect ratio. It will support 1.07 billion colours and it is rated for DCI-P3  with a wide colour gamut. I have to say it looks really good and I am a fan to see that it has a variable refresh rate although this is limited to 60hz or 120hz instead of being infinitely variable like on some other devices. I also have to say that I really do like the curve to the edge of the phone. It feels really smoothly done and natural and it makes the phone feel a lot slimmer than it actually is.

here are a few more shot in comparison to the Oneplus 10T which I am just finishing the review of.

Size wise they are very similar with the Honor 70 being a bit thinner shorter and narrower. It could be said that these phones are targeting a similar market but more of that in the OnePlus 10T review!

Overall this is a nice-looking phone albeit with a few missing compromises ie no stereo speaker setup, no official IP rating and of course no headphone jack or expandable storage. however, this is also a phone with a premium feel for a mid-range price and that is very important.

I was talking to a colleague today bout this phone and he is coming from a Huawei P20 Pro, he has been looking to upgrade for a while but likes the design language of the P20 pro along with the features. Now he hasn’t even seen or held the phone yet but he is very keen to see it as soon as possible. it could very well be a potential upgrade for him as it has the features he wants for a price he wants to pay

Here is the unboxing video that I promised above for your viewing pleasure

So what is that price and how and where can I get one? If you are after the Emerald Green, Midnight Black or Crystal Silver then these can be had for £479.99 for the 128GB 8GB RAM version. If however, you demand a bit more storage then you get the Emerald Green or Midnight Black in 256GB Storage for £529.99 (currently not showing on the website).

They are currently available to preorder from HiHonor but you will get a free pair of HONOR Earbuds 3 Pro which are usually worth £169.99 if you order before the 16th of September while stocks last. Preorders deliveries will arrive by the 2nd of September. This is also when it will available to buy from other stores such as Argos, Currys, Amazon and other mobile retailers.

I will be of course using the phone as my daily driver for the next few days and will be sharing a full review as soon as possible with you right here on Coolsmartphone.

The post Honor 70 – Unboxing is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

Specs:-

• 30W Fast charging to MacBooks and laptop computers.
• Magnetic wireless charging to MagSafe iPhone12/13 Series.
• Fast charging to laptop – Charge MacBook Pro 13″ to 50% in 1 hour
• Fast charging to phone – Charge iPhone 12/13 to 80% in 1 hour.
• Fast recharging – Recharge 80% in 1 hour (by using 30W charger)
• Super Slim – 0.7″ thickness. (Li-Po 10,000mAh)
• Bluetooth device charging mode (low power Qi)

As mobile phone technology advances, the demands on their batteries increase exponentially, unfortunately battery technology is just about keeping up a pace, we’re often finding day-long battery life is sometimes still out of reach.

And that’s why we need power banks. These portable chargers can, literally, be life-savers. They can be packed away in a bag and then turned on at a moment’s notice, ready to deliver charge to a phone, tablet, laptop or smartwatch and help you see the day out.

Recently I was sent through the Excitrus portable charger the NitroCharge Pro 30W  that could deliver 30w of charging output more than enough for most smartphones including the power hungry flagships.

Size wise the NitroCharge is no bigger than a smartphone, although admittedly heavier and bulkier, the NitroCharge 30 Pro packs a 10,000mAh Li-Polymer battery into its smart grey fabric casing, and one of its killer features is its magnetic wireless charging panel.

This works perfectly with an iPhone 12, or one of the newer Magsafe devices, but it’ll also work with other wireless charging gadgets such as Android phones, earbud cases and so on.

Excitrus says the NitroCharge 30 Pro can charge a USB-C laptop or MacBook up to 50% or a smartphone up to 80% in just one hour, but cleverly, it can actually charge three devices at once. One on the wireless panel, one through the full-sized USB socket, and one through the USB-C port.

One nice feature is the ability to lower the output of the powerbank, so that devices like smartwatch and wireless ear buds can be safely charged at a lower rate.

Obviously, you can expect its on-board battery to drain very quickly if you’ve got three devices plugged in, but for a top-up on-the-go, it’s perfect for the job.

The 30w capacity is also a two-way street, so it can be charged from a compatible power supply very quickly, and you can do a pass-through charge, which is important.

The LED display is a bonus, as it gives you a read-out in percentage terms of its remaining capacity and, compared to its bigger sibling, the 30w version is a good size and weight.

There’s not a lot to dislike about the NitroCharge 30 Pro. There might be plenty of options out there if you’re in the market for a portable charger, but don’t miss this one. It’s really very good.

The NitroCharge 30 is available from Nitro’s web site for £52 a little on the expensive side, but this is a quality device well made device packed with features.

The post Excitrus NitroCharge 30 Pro charger – Review is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.