Batterie Store Blog

LG overhauled its Android skin with LG UX 9.0, which it based on Android 10, but the company has not been forthcoming about when it will release a successor. To date, the South Korean company has offered no timescales for delivering Android 11, unlike most other Android OEMs. Even Samsung has commenced beta testing of its Android 11-based OS update, for example.

However, Max Weinbach has revealed that LG is working on Android 11, after all. According to Weinbach, LG is testing the new OS on at least the V60 ThinQ, which it released in March. Sadly, Weinbach has not offered any details about Android 11 on the V60 ThinQ, save for some information about test and release keys.

It should come as no surprise to see Android 11 in development for the V60 ThinQ though, considering that it launched on Android 10. It is unclear when LG will deploy Android 11, but we doubt that the OS will reach most LG smartphones until mid-2021, at best.

Samsung unveiled the Galaxy A51 in December 2019, which it followed with a 5G variant in April. So, the South Korean company should be on the verge of releasing a successor, since it usually leaves about a year between smartphone refreshes. Late last month, a leaked suggested that Samsung had started developing firmware for the Galaxy A52 5G, and now the device has popped up on Geekbench. 

Spotted by Abhishek Yadav and Galaxy Club, the Galaxy A52 5G has been benchmarked as the SM-A526B, the same codename seen in last month’s firmware development leak. According to Galaxy Club, the SM-A526B has an Adreno 619 GPU and two CPU cores that can reach 2.2 GHz. Based on this information, it would seem that Samsung has chosen Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 750G for the Galaxy A52, which also features an octa-core Kyro 570 CPU and an X52 5G built on an 8 nm process.

Additionally, Geekbench reveals that the Galaxy A52 is being tested on Android 11, or One UI 3.0 as Samsung calls it. The benchmarking website confirms the presence of 6 GB of RAM too, which would be a 2 GB upgrade on the Galaxy A51.

Some new information about the Redmi K40 has been provided by Digital Chat Station in regard to the type of display the upcoming affordable flagship-killer will have. For starters, apparently it will be a flat screen that will be used, so those not keen on the ever-present curved displays found in many current smartphones can breathe a sigh of relief here.

Along with featuring some straight edges on its screen, the Redmi K40 will offer a refresh rate of 120 Hz. The regular Redmi K30 could also manage up to 120 Hz while the Redmi K30 Pro had to settle for a 60 Hz refresh rate to save the battery life. So while the Redmi K40 supposedly trumps the Redmi K30 Pro here, how is it an improvement over the regular K30 model if they both support 120 Hz?

Well, according to the same source, the Redmi K40 will sport an OLED panel, whereas the Redmi K30 had to make do with an LCD panel. The Redmi K30 Pro has an AMOLED screen, so it seems that Xiaomi has decided to take the best parts of the Redmi K30 series and deliver them with the Redmi K40: 120 Hz OLED panel with a centered punch-hole for the selfie camera. It’s a potentially bright start for the next iteration, which is rumored to be coming with a Snapdragon 775G for the entry model and a Snapdragon 875 for the Redmi K40 Pro variant.

Nokia promised a product launch mainly addressed to its US fans today (November 9, 2020) and has delivered. However, while this announcement might have raised hopes for confirmation of the 7.3 5G or perhaps even the 9.3 PureView, what emerged is in fact a device from different earlier leaks.

It is the 8 V 5G UW, which, as prior rumors have indicated, is the 8.3 5G but specifically for Verizon. This new partnership was introduced as a considerable coup for the brand by Juho Sarvikas, its chief product officer and vice president of its North American division.

This quadruple-barrelled-name mid-ranger retains the 8.3’s Snapdragon 765G SoC; PureView rear camera with Zeiss optics and a 64MP main shooter; 6.81-inch FHD IPS display and “all-day” 4500mAh battery. However, it can also use its new carrier’s Ultra-Wideband (UW) form of mmWave 5G.

Finally, the 8 V 5G UW also distinguishes itself with a new Meteor Gray colorway. It will become available on November 12, 2020 for US$699. Nokia did not mention this in its presentation, but that price most likely means it is based on the 8.3 5G’s base 6GB RAM/64GB SKU.

Apple is capable of developing great smartphone displays, that’s always been true. Despite Apple not owning their own display manufacturing and developing displays in collaboration with Samsung, they always manage to provide some special aspects for their displays.

The iPhone 12 now features an OLED display instead of the standard LED panel. Apple probably made this choice in part in order to provide the necessary contrasts for Dolby Vision. This is a development of HDR that is also used in Hollywood movies. 

Our iPhone 12 review shows that the display has great color accuracy, is bright and can display details precisely thanks to its high resolution. That’s a real advantage for iPhone fans… isn’t it?

There is one caveat that goes along with this new technology: OLED displays don’t have background lighting that can be dimmed, which means that the entire display has to be turned on and off constantly to simulate lower brightness. This happens at a frequency of around 218 Hz on the iPhone 12, which might easily be tiring for sensitive eyes. 

The LED displays usually – if at all – only have this problem at very low levels of brightness, while the OLED displays use PWM at all levels except for maximum. There would be a solution for this: so-called DC dimming could be used to reduce the voltage of the individual OLED diodes in order to reach a lower brightness. However, it doesn’t seem like Apple is planning to bring this technology to the iPhone anytime soon.

So while users can grab themselves an iPhone 11 without any further thought, sensitive eyes or not, potential buyers of the iPhone 12 had better try out the phone’s display before taking this $900 smartphone home. 

Find out more about the display and other relevant aspects of Apple’s newest product in our detailed review of the iPhone 12.

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.