Category: Cell Phone

OnePlus appears to be doubling down on its commitment to release more reasonably-priced smartphones after promising to do so earlier this year. Android Central reports that there is a fourth OnePlus Nord-branded device in the works. Dubbed as the OnePlus Nord SE, it will probably be released in Q1 2021, right around the time the OnePlus 9 makes its debut.

For all intents and purposes, the OnePlus Nord SE is a budget device. However, it offers some exciting upgrade over its predecessor, support for 65W fast charging being one of them. It gets a slightly larger 4,500mAh battery too. Little more is known about the OnePlus Nord SE, other than the fact that it will come with an AMOLED panel. Unlike the OnePlus Nord N10 5G and N10, the OnePlus Nord SE will be sold in India- a critical market that OnePlus has been hyperfocused on for years. It will gradually make its way to the EU, but not the U.S.

As the OnePlus Nord SE’s name somewhat suggests, it will likely bear the same ~US$400 price tag as the original. We can also expect to see some upgrades in the cameras and SoC, and it’ll be interesting to see what OnePlus has in store for us. The chances of OnePlus reusing the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G on the OnePlus Nord SE seem somewhat low. Perhaps it will run a yet-to-be-announced Qualcomm chip or even MediaTek silicon. After did, OnePlus did mull on befitting the original OnePlus Nord with a MediaTek Dimensity 1000 for a long time before switching to team Qualcomm.

The Moto G 5G is finally here, having been leaked in its entirety earlier this week. Effectively the cheaper answer to the Moto G 5G Plus, the Moto G 5G has a Snapdragon 750G chipset, along with 4 GB or 6 GB of RAM and 64 GB or 128 GB of flash storage. Motorola has paired these components with a 5,000 mAh, which should last up to 2 days of normal use.

Also on board is a 6.7-inch display that sports a punch-hole for a front-facing camera, and a 21:9 aspect ratio. The panel also has a 90 Hz refresh rate and a resolution of 1080 x 2,520 pixels, which yields a pixel density of 409 PPI. The display has rather slim bezels too, although the bottom bezel is noticeably thicker than the other three.

Motorola has equipped the Moto G 5G with a 48 MP primary camera, an 8 MP ultra-wide-angle lens, a 2 MP macro sensor. The device can also charge at up to 20 W and is IP52 certified. Motorola has included a 3.5 mm jack too and will ship the device with Android 10.

The Motorola Moto G 5G will start at €299. However, Motorola will release the device in Asian, Latin American and Middle Eastern markets first in the next weeks, before embarking on a European release.

Much like Xiaomi, Samsung has a dizzying amount of smartphones out on the market. However, the company’s naming scheme is a lot easier to follow. Galaxy S phones are top-of-the-line flagships, Galaxy A devices serve as mid-ranger and upper-mid-rangers, and Galaxy M phones as budget options. There is now a Galaxy M62 in the works, and one of its specifications is somewhat antithetical to that of a smartphone that falls under the Galaxy M tag.

Sammobile heard from its sources that the mysterious Galaxy M62 could allegedly offer up to 256GB of storage. That is the highest ever in a Galaxy M series phone. Even the high-end Galaxy A phones’ storage capacities max out at 128GB, much like the Galaxy M62’s predecessor- the Galaxy M51. Many would consider 256GB of storage on a ‘budget’ smartphone counterintuitive. It is almost always more economical to buy an entry-level variant and top the storage up with a micro SD card.

Other Galaxy M62-related information is scarce at this point. It shouldn’t be too long before the rumor mill churns out some information about the device. Considering that it is numbered higher than the Galaxy M51, we can expect the Galaxy M62 to run marginally better hardware, maybe even the Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G. That, combined with the Galaxy M series’ monstrous battery capacity, should make it an attractive buy in the face of similarly-specced offerings from Xiaomi, Realme, and others.

The Redmi Note series has produced some well-received affordable phones in 2020 thus far. Now, the prominent tipster Digital Chat Station claims to have material pointing to a new variant with a premium 120Hz refresh rate spec for its LCD display. However, confusingly, this phone is not to be the rumored Note 10 or X, but…another Note 9.

This putative device will also have AdaptiveSync for its display, which means it can also use refresh rate modes of 30, 48, 50, 60 or 90Hz, potentially on the fly depending on the content reproduced. The “new Note 9” may have a 4800mAh battery to power this feature.

This putative Ultra-level Note 9 is also slated for a typical brightness of 450 nits, as well as third-gen Sunlight and Reading modes. It may also have Corning Gorilla Glass 5 to protect this new display. Then again, Digital Chat Station did not mention anything about a 108MP main camera, even given the rumored scope for this spec in a new Xiaomi device that may well be this one.

Vivo has set its next Developer Conference for November 19, 2020. It is now rumored to unveil a successor for the X50 premium smartphone line at this event, not to mention a whole new operating system. According to a recent leak, it is to be called OriginOS and will be improved compared to the company’s existing Funtouch OS, an Android skin based on version 11 at the latest.

The prolific leaker Digital Chat Station claims to have an interesting new detail on this new software to divulge. Apparently, the X60 will be able to run either it or Android at the user’s whim.This could be interpreted to mean that OriginOS is in fact an entirely discrete in-house product, like Huawei’s HarmonyOS, and, moreover, supports dual-booting.

However, it is much more likely that its substantially altered UI and that of a more standard Android nature will be interchangeable at the touch of the software button mentioned in this new leak. Therefore, it may be as much like a custom launcher as anything. In other OriginOS news, Vivo has reportedly also got it running on older devices that include the iQOO Pro, 3 and Neo3 smartphones.

Roland Quandt claims that HMD Global has some nostalgia up its sleeve. Writing on Twitter and WinFuture, Quandt states that the company plans to revive the Nokia 6300 and Nokia 8000, following the successes of re-launching the Nokia 3310 and Nokia 8110 4G.

The two reborn classics will support 4G LTE, according to Quandt, so they should also support other modern connectivity like Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. If the Nokia 6300 and Nokia 8000 are anything like the Nokia 8110 4G, then they should run KaiOS, a fork of Firefox OS. KaiOS is also open-source and has spawned custom ROMs, such as GerdaOS.

Quandt expects HMD Global to unveil the Nokia 6300 and Nokia 8000, rebranded as the Nokia 6300 4G and Nokia 8000 4G, within the next few weeks. The two devices should launch with popular apps installed, like Facebook, WhatsApp, Google Maps, YouTube and Twitter, among others. We would expect HMD Global to have improved the Nokia 6300 and Nokia 8000 in a few areas, but new 4G models should retain the charm of the original models.

Nokia has developed a habit of allegedly developing flagship phones and then canning them for nebulous reasons. Now, it may have a new one in the works, which may be aimed at a launch in 2021. This 10 PureView has come up in rumors before, albeit without many additional details.

Now, NokiaPowerUser says it has heard from its sources that the phone is set to rock the Snapdragon 875 SoC. This would probably make it a Nokia flagship in 2021. Then again, it is also slated not to launch until the second half of the year, by which time slightly newer chipsets and devices based on them might have emerged.

However, none of them is likely to make another claim the blog is making for the 10 PureView, which is that it will have a display made with “sapphire glass”. OEMs have not offered this spec since the HTC U Ultra special edition in 2017. (Not that it did that company a lot of good in the end.)

NokiaPowerUser also claims the phone will have the “multi-lens” Zeiss-branded camera system for which its series is known. However, it does not know how much the phone might cost on its putative launch. In addition, the manufacturer itself is yet to acknowledge this new leak.

After the 5.7-inch Pixel 4 and the 6.3-inch Pixel 4 XL, Google now takes a step backward: The Pixel 5 uses a 6-inch OLED display with an FHD+ resolution of 2340 x 1080 pixels. In addition, there are 8 GB of RAM, 128 GB internal storage, and the Snapdragon 765G mid-range SoC with an integrated 5G communication module.

Although with its mid-range SoC, the Pixel cannot really compete against the high-end competitors, it still offers more than sufficient performance for everyday tasks. Its 4080-mAh battery is also suitable for everyday use, ensuring a very long battery life for the smartphone.

Android 11 and a very good dual camera system

The Pixel 5 already runs Android 11. In addition there is the promise from Google that the Pixel 5 will be provided with updates of the Android operating system and security patches for at least 3 years. The 3-year time frame starts with the introduction of the Pixel 5 into the Google Store USA, which was in mid-October.

Even though the Pixel 5 only has a dual camera system with a 12.2 MP resolution, it plays among the top as far as image quality is concerned, which is traditionally one of the strengths of the Google Pixel series. The Pixel 5 not only takes very good pictures in daylight, but the results are still impressive in bad light conditions. As in the Pixel 4 XL before, there is again an Astro Photo mode for hobby astronomers. 

However, the Pixel 5 is also not free of faults. For example, we missed the option for storage expansion or a more current WiFi module – the Pixel 5 is limited to the slightly aged WiFi 5 (WLAN 802.11ac). And with its stereo speakers, one of which is hidden below the display, the Pixel 5 also does not impress either, since the sound is very thin.

Motorola has a new smartphone in the works, reputedly codenamed Kiev. While the device has been rumoured for a while, XDA Developers and u/kutlay1653 on Reddit have revealed multiple details, including a hands-on photo. According to the former, Motorola will launch the device as the Moto G 5G; a slimmed-down version of the Moto G 5G Plus that Motorola launched earlier this year.

The Moto G 5G will rely on the Snapdragon 750G, Qualcomm’s new mid-range gaming SoC, along with 6 GB of RAM. Additionally, the device will be available with 128 GB of storage and a 6.66-inch display. According to Mishaal Rahman of XDA Developers, the screen will have a 60 Hz refresh rate and a resolution of 2,400 x 1,080 pixels. There will also be a punch-hole for a 16 MP camera, which will be complemented by a 48 MP Samsung GM1 primary camera, an 8 MP Samsung S5K4H7 telephoto lens and a 2 MP OmniVision OV02B10 macro lens.

A 5,000 mAh battery will be powering the Moto G 5G, too. Motorola is expected to release the device on Verizon in the US, but there will be four models: XT2113-1, XT2113-2, XT2113-3 and XT2113-5. A release date or pricing remains unknown for the time being, though.

Honor may be one of the last smartphone brands to launch new premium devices in 2020. It is now slated to debut the follow-ups to its V30 and V30 Pro in the last month of this year. The prolific leaker Teme (@RODENT450 on Twitter) now asserts that at least 1 of their successors will have a 6.72-inch display with an up-to-date 120Hz refresh rate.

Then again, the tipster never mentioned whether this possibly advantageous panel is to be LCD or some form of OLED. In addition, this screen is apparently to be of the curved variety, an often polarizing aspect of smartphone design.

Besides this, the Honor V40s are also now projected to come with the same 66W SuperCharge power brick introduced with Huawei’s Mate 40 series, not to mention 40W wireless charging.

Furthermore, the series may get this lines’ new Kirin 9000 flagship (if beleaguered) SoC. However, it may only be for the Plus (or V40+) variant, whereas the vanilla model may rock the MediaTek Dimensity 1000+ instead.

The Honor V40 series is also now believed to retain their predecessors’ dual punch-hole selfie cameras. On the opposite side, Teme predicts a 50MP main shooter in a triple- to quad-lens arrangement.

The extent of the new details on the upcoming flagships end there. All in all, they suggest that (as noted by @RODENT450), Honor plans to unveil a contender to its own parent’s new top-end models not so long from now.