Month: March 2022

Just a few days after its global launch, Samsung’s Galaxy A53 5G is now hitting India. The pre-order period starts today while open sales and first deliveries tip-off on March 25. The baseline 6GB RAM and 128GB storage trim will sell for INR 34,999 while the 8/128GB model will go for INR 35,999. Potential buyers get an INR 3,000 cashback on ICICI bank credit cards and an additional INR 2,000 via the Samsung Shop App.

Galaxy A53 5G in White, Light Blue, Orange and Awesome Black

Galaxy A53 comes with a 6. 5-inch Super AMOLED with FHD+ resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate. The phone gets a 64MP main cam with OIS joined by a 12MP ultrawide module and two 5MP units for macro shots and depth data. There’s a 32MP selfie cam tucked in the punch hole cutout upfront. The phone is packing Samsung’s latest Exynos 1280 midrange chipset and a 5,000mAh battery with 25W charging. Galaxy A53 5G comes in Light Blue, Awesome Black, White and Orange colors.

Oppo just launched a new entry-level smartphone for the Indian market. The phone is called Oppo A16e and has a Mediatek Helio P22 chipset, one camera on the back, and an HD+ screen.

It also comes with a relatively big 4,230 mAh battery and Color OS11. 1, based on Android 11.

The 6. 52″ LCD has a waterdrop notch for the 5MP f/2. 4 selfie camera. The main shooter sits alone at the back with a 13MP sensor, f/2. 2 lens and an LED flash.

Sadly, the phone has a micro USB port for charging, but at least Oppo included a 3. 5 mm audio jack.

The Oppo A16e is listed in Black, Blue, and White colors. Price and availability are yet to be announced.

Source

Huawei launched its first smartphone with a 108MP main camera last week in China with the nova 9 SE and we now get official confirmation for its global rollout. Huawei Spain has listed the device up for reservations with a EUR349 retail price. The pre-sale period is live until March 27 and buyers who deposit EUR10 will get a EUR50 discount from the final price. The phone is available in black and blue color options and will gradually expand to more markets.

Huawei nova 9 SE in black and blue

Huawei nova 9 SE bears a similar look to the vanilla nova 9 though with several key spec differences in terms of specs. You get a larger 6. 78-inch display though it’s an LCD and refreshes at 90Hz compared to the 6. 57-inch 120Hz OLED on the nova 9.

Huawei nova 9 SE

The major upgrade comes around the back with the 108MP 1/1. 52″ main camera sensor. The phone also gets an 8MP ultrawide snapper and two 2MP modules for macro and depth data. The selfie cam on the 9 SE is down to 16MP. Huawei went with the 4G-only version of the Snapdragon 680chipset at the helm. The battery department is headlined by a 4,000 mAh cell with 66W charging.

Source (in Spanish)

vivo will ditch the NEX series to make way for the X lineup, a new leak reveals. Today, the first smartphone was unveiled at the Chinese company’s store. We’re talking about the vivo X Note which will come with a 7″ screen, and it will be a Samsung E5 AMOLED panel with QHD+ resolution.

The listing revealed the phone will come with the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, which is hardly a surprise. It is good to see vivo will implement its 3D ultrasonic big fingerprint area sensor which was a breakthrough solution in the iQOO 8 Pro. Sadly, it is not available in the global iQOO 9 series, but a return of the feature is always good news.

We can also see 12GB RAM and 512GB storage, and leaksters from China said there will be a more affordable alternative with 256GB storage.

The main camera on the back will have a Samsung S5KGN1 sensor with 50MP resolution. It is the same sensor as in the vivo X70 Pro+ and the Google Pixel 6 Pro – both of which yield tremendous photos.

The battery capacity is reportedly 5,000 mAh with 80W fast-charging support.

vivo X Note on the company website

The vivo X Note is expected to arrive next month. However, it is not clear if the device will be sold outside of the country. This is what we hope to discover.

Source (in Chinese) | Via

Samsung dominates our trending charts this week. The Galaxy A Series, which was unveiled just in time for the holidays, is a big hit with users. The Galaxy A33 became the most popular phone in our database, follwed by the Galaxy A53.

Last week’s leader, the Apple iPhone SE (2022), completed the rostrum, while the third new A series phone, the Galaxy A73, took fourth position.

The Galaxy S22 Ultra makes it four Smasung phones in the top 5 as the Xiaomi 12 Pro stands in sixth.

We then have a Redmi Note 11 pair with the vanilla model ahead of the Pro+ top version.

Samsung Galaxy A52s sits in ninth, while the iPhone 13 Pro Max rounds up the top 10. That leaves no room for the Poco X4 Pro, Redmi Note 11 Pro, Galaxy S22 and the Apple iPad Air, which were part of last week’s top 10.

It’s finally here – the Galaxy S22 has arrived at the office and we can start work on its review. The smallest S22 flagship took its sweet time this year. It’s been plagued by delays in many markets across Europe and some impatient readers have even gone down the conspiracy route – we’ve heard that we’ve purposefully forgone an S22 review, but the truth is the Samsung store just took this long to ship our unit.

Anyway, here’s an unboxing – you get the Galaxy S22 (ours is the Mystic White), a SIM tool, and a USB cable. This year’s box is smaller, making Samsung’s carbon footprint smaller.

The biggest story about this year’s S-line flagships is the fact that the Ultra and Plus have an S Pen, and Note-distinctive designs. The vanilla and Plus are slightly smaller. You wouldn’t feel that difference with the S22+, but the Galaxy S22 is even smaller than its already tiny predecessor. It’s a difference easier felt than shown in pictures, though.

The new phone also looks identical to the old one. But it’s made of better materials – all metal and glass, no plastic on the outside. This is a refreshing change for our heads.

In other respects, the Galaxy S22 is a very close match to the S21. The biggest difference is the camera set up – the main camera is now pixel-binning 50MP sensor, while the telephoto is no longer a high-megapixel sensor to crop from – a 10MP 3x zoom, instead of a 64MP regular camera. The ultrawide appears the same 12MP sensor that’s more than capable but lacks autofocus. It’s almost a hanging offense at this point.

We have the Exynos 2200 chipset in our S22 models and we can’t really say we feel a tangible difference in the smoothness of operation. It is the top-ofthe-line Galaxy phone, with all of its speed and power.

It would be fascinating to know if the battery of the smaller size could match that of the 2021 cell phone in terms endurance.

The Samsung Galaxy may fly a bit under the radar because it’s the smallest in Samsung’s S line of flagships, but it may well be the best compact phone you can get. It simply outclasses the iPhone 13 mini and is a smaller phone than any other flagship around. The closest to the Galaxy S22 is the Xiaomi 12 and 12X, but both are slightly larger and lack a telephoto camera.

Stay tuned for our Galaxy S22 review, which will arrive by the end of the week!

The new Apple iPhone SE (2022) wasn’t going to be the most popular iPhone. However, it was received with mixed reviews, while its predecessor had some good comments. Those can be summed up as “it’s cheap” and “it’s small”. That was back in 2020, and many things have changed.

Starting with the first, the new model costs $430, $30 more than its predecessor. This is without taxes, mind you. In Europe, the new SE starts at EUR520, you can get some very capable Androids for that kind of cash. If you want to stick with Apple, an iPhone 12 mini costs around the same in some regions, unless you insist on getting it through Apple.com.

And that brings us to the second part, the iPhone SE (2022) is small, but the mini is smaller. Not to mention that the mini has a larger, sharper display, a more capable camera (including an ultrawide module) and things like MagSafe.

The iPhone 12 mini didn’t exist in early 2020 when the second SE was announced, so “small” and “cheap” were true back then. The iPhone SE (2022) arrives in a different world with new expectations.

Looking at the poll results, most people who want an iPhone want something more capable than the SE. Surprisingly, very few people want to upgrade from an older iPhone. Part of that is probably because the outdated design – we don’t mean just the looks, but having a screen that’s barely above HD resolution and a single camera is a tough sell these days, even for a “cheap” phone.

We’re not ready to write off the iPhone SE (2022) yet. The second-gen model made up a significant portion of Apple’s global sales for the second quarter of 2020 – 28%. Many buyers had upgraded from older iPhones and the new third-generation SE will not be able inspire this upgrade frenzy, according to our poll.

Also, the SE (2020) wasn’t as popular as the iPhone 11, which made up 40% of sales in that period. The 11 is still available brand new, by the way, for $500. Its chipset is a couple of generations older, so you’ll miss out on 5G connectivity.

With the iPhone 11 and 12 mini so close in price, not to mention competitive Androids, the new SE model may not reach the popularity of its predecessor – we will find out when analysts publish their findings next quarter.

Oppo introduced its new flagship series Find X5 last month. We have the Pro model of the range in review, but we now have the vanilla phone. It is a more affordable alternative to the Find X5 Pro, but it shares many of its standout features. After our initial contact, here’s what we found most impressive about the phone.

The Oppo Find X5 is a cool looking phone, and while we cannot call it small or compact, it is a lot easier to handle than the Find X5 Pro. The display diagonal is 6. 55″ with FullHD+ resolution and 120Hz refresh rate and it looks great.

Unlike the Pro that has the latest Qualcomm chipset the Find X5 has the Snapdragon 888 from last year – the one that powers the Find X3 Pro. However, it does have the new MariSilicon X NPU, that should significantly boost the image quality of its cameras.

The primary camera has the same 50MP 1/1. 56″ sensor as the X5 Pro, but has a slightly slower F/1. 8 lens and drops the sensor-shift stabilization though OIS is still present.

We do love the 80W fast charging in the Find X5, and since the battery is 4,800 mAh, we expect some super-quick speeds from 0 to 100%. There’s also 30W wireless charging and 10W reverse charging support.

The best thing about the Oppo Find X5 is that it will be available globally, unlike the Find X3. Once the review is done we’ll let you know if the EUR999 asking price makes for a great deal or if you are better off spending your money elsewhere.