Month: March 2022

Our long-awaited Samsung Galaxy S22 written review was published recently and now it’s time for the video breakdown of the smallest S22 member. Angie is here to give you a guided tour of the key features as well as how the phone fared in our proprietary tests.

It’s hard to find a more well-equipped flagship smartphone that is comfortably usable with one hand and the Galaxy S22 is one of the few options on the Android side. You get a bright and punchy 6. 1-inch Dynamic AMOLED with up to 982 nits peak brightness and a variable refresh rate that ranges from 24 to 120Hz. Galaxy S22 brings a premium dual-glass design protected by Gorilla Victus+ on both ends and an aluminum frame in the middle. It’s also IP-68 water and dust resistant and has a dual speaker array with Dolby Atmos.

Our review unit shipped with Samsung’s 4nm Exynos 2200 chipset which performed among the best flagships out now though we did notice some thermal throttling in heavier tasks like 3D gaming. The battery endurance here is non-inspiring to say the least with an 85-hour endurance rating in our tests.

The camera setup here is directly carried over from the Galaxy S22+ meaning a 50MP main cam, 12 MP ultrawide snapper and a 10MP telephoto module with 3x optical zoom. Daylight shots from all three sensors look great and leave little to be desired as do night-time snaps. Video recording on all three sensors performed admirably as well even in low light at up to 8K resolution on the main sensor.

Samsung has gotten us used to issuing a myriad software updates left and right back when it released One UI 4 based on Android 12, but months have passed and now the new shiny thing is One UI 4. 1, introduced with the S22 series. This Korean firm has issued many updates to its latest skins for older devices. Today, we have two additional.

We’re talking about the Galaxy S20 FE 5G and the original Galaxy Fold. The S20 FE 5G is currently receiving the update to One UI 4. 1 in Poland, but should make it to other European countries soon. The new firmware version is labeled G781BXXU4FVC2, and it includes the March 2022 security patch, which fixes over 50 vulnerabilities. This one is recommended to be installed immediately, it’s obvious.

Samsung Galaxy S20 FE

The original Galaxy Fold from 2019 is also being graced with a One UI 4. 1 update, which is now available in France for the 4G model and the UK for the 5G iteration of the phone. The new build number is F90xxXXU6HVC6, where “xx” varies according to which model you have. Like in the case of the Galaxy S20 FE, for the original Fold too the new software should expand to other European countries in the following days and weeks.

If you have any of these three phone models (S20 FE 5G, Fold 4G, or Fold 5G), and are in one of the aforementioned countries, you can of course manually check for the new update by going to Settings > Software update, in case you haven’t received a notification about it yet.

Source 1 | Source 2

We recently launched ArenaEV and are always improving it. We are launching our first feature today, the Real world Range tool. This will assist you in making your decision about EV purchases by showing how far an EV can travel on one charge.

There is no simple answer to that since the range depends on the driving conditions. This is where the new tool comes in – it allows you to set the driving speed and ambient temperature (plus an option for cars with a heat pump) and it calculates the distance you can travel before you deplete the battery based on a proprietary physics model.

Here’s a live demonstration of the tool :

The tool does not work with AMP. Switch to our mobile site to try it out!

You can read the detailed explanation on ArenaEV.com. In short, speed has the biggest impact on range – an EV can go a lot further at city speeds than at highway speeds. We have built the site to serve those using metric units as well as those using the imperial system, so don’t forget to hit the cogwheel icon to set up your preferences.

The second biggest factor that determines how far you can go is temperature. In cold conditions, the car must keep its passengers warm and its battery charged. Some models have a heat pump, which helps to reduce the car’s power consumption in cold weather.

Our proprietary physics model uses WLTP/EPA range ratings and real world tests as a basis, but can calculate range even for conditions that weren’t tested. This is why the tool is available only for select models and drivetrains – you can see the full list here. We are working on adding more models and will rapidly expand its coverage in the coming days and weeks.

We need your assistance. Are you a driver of one of these cars? If yes, we’d love to hear about how your experience compares to the results from the range tool – you can leave a comment here or over at the ArenaEV post. We appreciate your feedback!

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Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports Apple is readying a new way to purchase iPhones and other Apple hardware with a new subscription-based service. In essence, users will be paying a fixed fee each month and get an iPhone of their choice with free upgrades when new models are announced.

This service will be different from the current installment plans offered by Apple and carriers as it would be a set fee paid each month and not the cost of the phone divided by 12, 24 or 36 months like the installments. The iPhone subscription service will be tied to users’ existing Apple ID accounts and may also bundle free Apple Care and even Apple One services which include Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, iCloud+, Apple News+, and Apple Fitness+.

Gurman expects the new subscription service to start by the end of this year or early into 2023 with iPhones and eventually move to the rest of Apple’s hardware lineup including iPads, MacBooks and Apple Watch. No specific price was mentioned just yet with speculations ranging from $20 to $40 per month. It remains to be seen how subscription cancellations will affect the associated end costs for users.

Selling phones as a subscription-based service is not entirely new as Google already operates its Pixel Pass program in the US which lets you choose between a Pixel 6 or Pixel 6 Pro bundled with Google’s own first-party services for $45 to $55 per month.

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The renowned Digital Chat Station shared an interesting report about upcoming Sony sensor that’s being handed over to manufacturers for testing. Some speculate it’s the rumored Exmor IMX800 destined for the Xiaomi 12 Ultra.

And it seems to be in line with the stories so far – 50MP, 1/1. 1″ in size, making it the biggest in the industry and just edging Samsung’s 50MP 1/1. 12″ GN2 used in the Xiaomi 11 Ultra. The Xiaomi 12 Ultra’s cameras will retain the 50MP, 48MP and 48MP resolutions, but they might still bring a hardware upgrade.

Source (in Chinese)

A report from yesterday suggested that Apple is readying a new 15-inch MacBook Air for 2023, which seems to be in line with previous reports about such device. However, noted analyst Ming-Chi Kuo believes that while the notebook draws some similarities with the Air, it won’t be called Air.

He believes that the company will start producing the laptop in the fourth quarter of 2023 and will use the same 30W charger as the Air. This could mean that the device will indeed be part of the more budget-friendly MacBook lineup.

We can almost be certain it will not be called MacBook Pro, however, due to the tiny power supply. Then again, earlier reports point at an overhauled design that’s more in line with the Pro series.

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The vivo X Note and vivo X Fold are happening, the company confirmed today. The company posted a teaser with two devices on Weibo, stating that we will learn more Monday.

At the same time, the dedicated vivo smart product page on the Chinese social media website posted images of the vivo Pad – the company’s first tablet, which will have support for magnetic keyboard stand.

vivo X Note & X Fold teaser

The vivo Pad will also have support for a stylus, which will be the company’s first accessory of such type. Two cameras will be mounted on the slate’s back as well as an LED flash. We can see two microphones on the top/right-hand side, as well as four speakers.

The first vivo tablet

The software running on the vivo Pad’s vivo Pad, Ocean OS is the operating system. This means that the tablet will run Android beneath. Size-wise it is safe to assume the diagonal will be around 10″ to 12″, at least based on the size and looks of the keyboard.

The announcement of Monday’s launch day will be most likely. We should then see the highlights teased over the past days leading up to the event.

Source 1 * Source 2 (both in Chinese) | Via

Yesterday OnePlus confirmed the global launch for its OnePlus 10 Pro is taking place on March 31 and now the company has launched reservations for the flagship. Eager users who want to be first in line for the brand new phone can put down a $1 deposit which nets reserves them a OnePlus 10 Pro and also nets OnePlus Buds Pro wireless earphones which come as a free gift. The promo lasts until March 31. The official pricing of the phone has not yet been announced so it will be after the event that we can confirm.

In related news OnePlus 10 Pro has gone on pre-order in Nepal with a launch price of NPR 135,000 which equals to $1,106 by today’s conversion rates. Several online platforms in the country have listed the 12/256GB version of the device. As a comparison, OnePlus 10 Pro launched for the equivalent of $831 in China back in January.

Source | Via