Realme 9 Pro+ Free Fire Limited Edition unboxing and hands-on
This is the Realme 9 Pro+ Free Fire Limited Edition. It’s an 8/128GB Realme 9 Pro+ in a special Free Fire-themed colorway.
If you don’t know what Free Fire is, it’s a popular survival shooter mobile game, available for Android and iOS.
The unboxing experience is way nicer than on the regular Realme 9 Pro+. You still get the usual items – a 65W SuperDart charger and a 6.5A-rated USB-C-to-A cable, but you also receive a Free Fire map, a SIM ejection tool styled like a knife, Realme, and Free Fire stickers, and the phone, which itself has a unique color.
You get a special collectible that you can claim with its unique code by going to the Free Fire armory in-game.
The Realme 9 Pro+ normally comes in a Sunrise Blue color that changes its hues depending on the light it receives, and the Free Fire Limited Edition version does the same. It has a more tactical pattern layout and its shine is more subdued. In most cases you won’t even notice that it’s special – it needs a strong light source to show its green and purple hues.
The default theme of the phone is also Free Fire-inspired with uniquely-designed wallpapers, a special icon pack, and naturally, Free Fire preinstalled.
Otherwise, you’re looking at a Realme 9 Pro+ with a 6.4-inch 1080x2400px Super AMOLED display, capable of 90Hz refresh rate, Android 12, and Realme UI 3.0, a MediaTek Dimensity 920 processor, 8GB of RAM, and a 4,500mAh battery.
Camera-wise there’s a triple-setup on the rear with a 50MP wide camera, 8MP ultrawide, and a 2MP macro. Upfront, there’s a 16MP selfie camera.
A Realme 9 Pro+ by a different name
We already have a detailed written and video review of the Realme 9 Pro+. We liked the excellent display, praised the outstanding battery life and zippy charging, found the main camera good in all light, and the chipset capable of solid gaming.
It has been over a week since the announcement and we finally have a price for the Samsung Galaxy M53 – EUR520 normal price, but there will be a special EUR50 discount until May 2. The phone will be available on Samsung.com, Amazon Spain and PC Componentes on Monday.
Europe isn’t getting the Galaxy A73, which is the closest to the M53 in the A-series. The Galaxy A53 is smaller (6. 5″ vs. 6. 7″) and lacks the 108MP main camera of the other two. However, it does have some advantages over the M-phone and is cheaper at EUR450 (in Spain). For reference, the Galaxy A52s was EUR340 on Samsung.com (now out of stock), but can still be found for a bit less on other stores. There’s also the M52 at EUR320 and the M33 at EUR360.
Samsung Galaxy M53 5G in Blue, Green and Brown
In last week’s poll many showed some interest in the Galaxy M53, contingent on a competitive price. Do you think EUR470 is competitive? What about EUR520?
Quite a few people believe that the Galaxy A73 and A53 are better than the M53 and we suspect that the price will push fence-sitters towards an A-series model. These are better than an M-series model.
Well, the A-series get better software support – 4 OS updates and 5 years of security patches, while the M-series are only getting 3 OS updates and 4 years of patches. This is still a better Android phone than many others, but it does mean that an older Galaxy A phone can be used as a replacement for a M-series smartphone.
Other complaints that we saw in the comments is that Samsung removed the OIS from the 108MP camera, even though the A73 had it. The A-series models are also rated for IP67 dust and water resistance, the M53 has no official resistance rating. The Galaxy M51 stood out with a massive 7,000 mAh battery, but the M52 and M53 went down to 5,000 mAh – that massive battery was a real plus for some.
Maybe Samsung will bring the Galaxy A73 over to Europe later on. Maybe the Galaxy M53 will be cheaper in other regions. These are only possibilities.
Have you changed your mind about the Samsung Galaxy M53?
Here’s what the camera island on the upcoming vivo X80 Pro+ looks like
The upcoming vivo X80 family has been leaking left and right lately. Though mostly offering alleged specs details on the X80, X80 Pro and X80 Pro+ trio, we expect to launch later this month. We have had almost no actual sightings of these devices, though, and just a few hints at their design, like the recent singular image of the vivo X80 published on the Google Play Console.
vivo X80 series leaked poster
Today brings a rather blurry but very official-looking photo of what appears to be a banner for the vivo x80 series. Particularly one focusing on the camera prowess of the upcoming phones. Logic dictates that the device actually pictured on the image is the flagship vivo X80 Pro+.
It seems to have a truly massive camera island, seemingly made up of a circular part actually housing most of the camera hardware, sitting on top of a big rectangular “slab”, which has a camera in its bottom left corner too. The latter could be a horizontally spanning periscope-style Telephoto that has collapsed. There might even be a tiny display on the right side of the camera island? This wouldn’t be the first.
As far as we currently know, the x80 Pro+ is expected to feature a 50 MP main (ISOCELL GN1), a 48 MP ultra-wide (IMX598), and a pair of 50 MP cameras (JN1 + JN2), likely to telephoto duty. So at least the total count checks out. The phone is also expected to have the custom vivo V1 camera ISP, which the text on the poster seems to mention as well. Along with something about a custom camera setup and perhaps a custom lens as well. We can’t quite get the translation right.
Looking at the rest of the markings on the poster, we can extract some additional clues to the potential X80 Pro+ camera setup that don’t necessarily correlate well with the above-rumored specs. The writing suggests that the main camera will have a 1/1. 3″ sensor, whereas f/3. 4 sounds like an aperture for a periscope telephoto. Both of these match up nicely with cameras on the existing vivo X70 Pro+. The Samsung GN5 sensor also seems to be mentioned, alongside its 1/. 157″ size. Make of that what you will.
Geekbench result from vivo X80 Pro+ (V2145)
We don’t really know much else about the X80 Pro+ as of yet, but rumors suggest a large 6. 78″ QHD+ AMOLED display, a 120 Hz LTPO 2 panel and naturally the flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset.
The Realme Q5 series is expected to drop very soon on April 20. Even though that date is right around the corner, there is still a lot of mystery shrouding the Realme Q5 line. We aren’t even sure how many devices there will be. Though, we do know of a Pro model, which recently leaked in full and perhaps there will be a Realme Q5i as well. Naturally, a vanilla Realme Q5 is kind of a given, and it recently passed through TENAA and 3C for certification.
Realme Q5 TENAA photos
As its official model goes, the RMX3478 is a 164. 3 x 75. 6 x 8. 5mm phone that tips the scale at 195 grams. Color options include Black Day, Peak Blue, and Aurora. It has a 6. 59-inch, FullHD+ (1080 x 2412 pixels) LCD display. Also housed inside that body is a 4,980 mAh (likely marketed as 5,000 mAh) battery with 65W fast-charging support and a charger in the box as per the TENAA listing.
Realme Q5 TENAA listing
TENAA does not explicitly provide a chipset model but does note that the Realme Q5 has an octa-core 2. 2GHz processor. It could potentially be the Snapdragon 695 5G. It is paired with either 6GB, 8GB or 12GB of RAM, depending on your configuration of choice. Storage tiers include 128GB or 256GB. There are three cameras on the back – a 50MP main unit and two supplementary 2MP one – likely a depth sensor and macro cam. The selfie cam is a 16MP snapper.
The Realme Q5 has a 3. 5mm audio jack and a capacitive fingerprint reader/power button combo. It boots Android 12 with Realme UI 3.0 out of the box. No word on pricing yet.
OnePlus Nord CE 2 Lite 5G is coming to India on April 28
An unannounced OnePlus Nord CE 2 Lite 5G (try saying that three times in a row) is now listed on Amazon India with some details in tow. In no particular order, these include a 5,000 mAh battery and 33W SUPERVOOC fast charging and a look at what is likely the “signature” color option – Blue Tide.
The listing also reveals that the phone will apparently be unveiled on April 28, but prior to that, OnePlus will share more detail regarding the camera setup on April 19 and what seems like some detail about the display and particularly its refresh rate on April 23. We still find teaser videos to be a bit snarky, but this is the state of the market.
OnePlus Nord CE 2 Lite 5G banners and details
Anyway, the OnePlus Nord CE 2 Lite 5G looks suspiciously similar to the Realme 9 Pro+ with just some minor tweaks to its finish. These similarities may not be as obvious as it seems based on a leak. That source claims the Nord CE 2 Lite 5G will have a 6. 59-inch, FullHD+ display. Notably larger than Realme 9 Pro+. Also, a Snapdragon 695 chipset with 6GB or 8GB of RAM and 128GB or 256GB of storage. There will allegedly be a 64MP main shooter at the helm with two 2MP supplementary snappers and a 16MP one for selfies.
You can already sign up to be notified by Amazon for availability on the OnePlus Nord CE 2 Lite 5G, and we’ll be sure to keep an eye out for any updates and additional info as well.
8 tabletop RPGs for Bridgerton and Our Flag Means Death fans
Period fiction is enjoying a pop culture moment, whether fans are hanging on the intrigue among the queen’s le bon ton in Bridgerton or clamoring on social media for a second season of Our Flag Means Death. As old as fiction written, our desire to read stories about Regency England or the Golden Age of Piracy is. We can now approach these stories both at the table and between the pages in a book.
Portrayal of tabletop RPGs often tie them to swords and sorcery, ignoring a rich vein of titles whose purview stretches the breadth of human history. These games take alternative rule sets, such as Vincent and Meguey Baker’s Mobile Frame Zero: Firebrands and Alex Robert’s For the Queen, and channel through them passionate explorations of the more buttoned-up cultures of times past — largely so players can subvert those norms in interesting and “scandalous” ways.
Much like popular TV shows, tabletop RPGs with period themes allow you to reframe the history. The tabletop RPGs don’t overlook the ugly racism that has permeated our history, but rather create an environment for stories featuring more diverse and queer characters, while retaining the period’s stylistic and aesthetic markers. This can be liberating, as well as enjoyable, and below are several tabletop RPGs tailored for just such an occasion.
Good Society: A Jane Austen RPG
Image: Raven Warner/Storybrewers Roleplaying
Storybrewers‘ game of romance, rivals, and social intrigue has been the gold standard of Regency role-play since its release in 2018. It heavily draws from Austen’s novels, as the title suggests. Like Austen protagonists, players must navigate English gentry’s thorny gardens while searching — or staunchly avoiding — love.
Player characters in Good Society trade both rumors with their social betters and wistful glances with their heart’s desires. Monologue tokens and powerful resolve allow players to control the story in crucial moments. They can skewer a rival’s reputation, or create the perfect secret rendezvous. The collaborative RPG animates Austen’s story with enough verve and confidence to last for several sessions.
Those wishing to spend a brief night of their own among the ton can use Virtues & Scandals, which condenses all the machinations of the queen’s social court into a single page of rules. This is a hack of John Harper’s (Blades in the Dark) Lasers & Feelings, which means characters only have two stats: virtue and scandal. The former is based on their upbringing and poise, and the latter can seduce and deceive. Players choose to play with them. The person running the game only needs to ad-lib a scenario and then fill the ton with juicy gossip, courtesy of The Rag, before setting the group loose in a playground of high society and low morals.
The high seas are anathema to courts and royalty, but it still holds plenty of potential for relationship drama. Ocean Tides lets three players explore the fraught connections between naval officers, pirates, and mermaids using the role-play minigame structure from Mobile Frame Zero: Firebrands. Rather than a traditional narrative, these minigames provide windows into important (and intimate) moments that create an emotional arc when strung together. This game is short and intense. It’s great for groups who want to dive right into the depths.
Ocean Tides is explicitly romantic, but ends in tragedy. The three characters are far removed from any authority to correct their impulses. This leaves them open to the possibility of falling for desires that they may not be able to admit.
Dueling Fops of Vindamere
If you spent the entire runtime of Bridgerton wishing someone would pull out a dueling saber and lob a challenge at the foot of some upstart, Dueling Fops of Vindamere might be the perfect game. A decidedly tongue-in-cheek take on the social season, it provides a stage for fencing instructors to court their beloved and prepare for an end-of-year tournament built from a table of prompts and dice-based challenges. Vindamere is a city where love can be won or lost with a single blade.
Sometimes, a pirate RPG needs to be loudly, openly queer and Bro, Is It Gay To Dock? dutifully fulfills that need. What else could you use to describe the group of drunkies that lust after the legend buccaneer, who saved their lives from certain death. It’s that episode of Our Flag Means Death where the crew of The Revenge fall over themselves to assist Blackbeard and earn his favor, but your weekly group gets to do the lusting.
It’s the perfect example of how tabletop games can excel simply by offering a framework and rules to live out very specific fantasies. The fan response to David Jenkins’ nautical romcom — including a bevy of fan art of Taika Waititi and Rhys Darby’s characters — revealed an audience clamoring for more salty, smoldering romance.
A subgenre of tabletop RPGs skip the 200-page book in favor of prompt-based games that let players reveal an emergent setting by collaboratively answering questions. All Hands On Deck uses a deck to create a story about a ship and its crew, as well as the bonds that unite them.
All Hands on Decksessions can steer in any direction, following the whims and interests of its players. By the end, the group will have a web of connections between sailors as well as the history and intention of the vessel they crew. These results might become the basis for a whole campaign in another setting or remain as a series of “maybes” and “maybes”.
This steampunk-flavored adventure game, another John Harper joint, is a bit of an outlier on this list. Broader and crunchier, where the rest rely on freeform role-play and distinct settings, Lady Blackbird deserves to be included if only to be an on-ramp for the curious-but-hesitant.
It wouldn’t be a list of indie tabletop RPGs without a call to step outside the systems that dominate this hobby, and the story of Lady Blackbird’s flight from an arranged marriage towards her lover, the pirate king Uriah Flint, deserves a chance to woo your table with swashbuckling and style.
The strongest thread in Our Flag means Death ‘s passionate fan community is its celebration of the gay love that blossomed between Edward Teach (left) and Stede Bonnett (right), over the course the season. This queering of a real historical figure is the exact subject of Together We Write Private Cathedrals, an epistolary game played by writing letters between two players in the role of lovers whose affections are condemned by society.
Depending on the roll of a die, the contents of a letter might be masked in euphemism or else outright censored, destroyed or hidden by the hands of your forebears. This game serves as a reminder of how history is written and is also a reminder to keep an eye out for love stories that have been omitted by their pen.
Together We Write Private Cathedrals isavailable on Itch.io
The OnePlus Ace is already headed to China. The company confirmed the new phone will launch on April 21 and even shared a few official renders. Now, the Ace also made an appearance in an official live stream, offering a “real life” look at the intriguing new device.
OnePlus Ace in live stream
If the screenshots from the live stream are to be believed, the OnePlus Ace launch event will be held at 19:00 local time on April 24 and OnePlus seems to also be running a pre-reservation program of some sorts, which mentions a Bluetooth speaker and a free video platform membership. We can’t quite make out all of the details, but it also seems that there might be an early-bird price for pre-orders on the Ace too.
OnePlus Ace in live photos
Anyway, these images don’t really show anything about the OnePlus Ace that the official renders haven’t already. The OnePlus Ace looks a lot like the OnePlus 10R but is still very much distinct. Its flat sides, combined with bold yet still rounded edges, give it a unique look of its own. We have already seen both color options of the device and know that the OnePlus Ace has a USB Type-C port, as expected, a bottom-firing speaker and also what looks like an IR blaster on the top. Notably missing, however, is the signature OnePlus alert slider.
OnePlus Ace
Neither the official teaser renders nor the live stream actually showed the front and display on the OnePlus Ace for one reason or another. A separate leak from a while back does show the front of a unit inside a thick case to hide its design.
OnePlus Ace with 150W charging
As we were writing the article, though, a short video of a working OnePlus Ace also popped-up online. It confirms the overall design, as well as the layout on the front.
Evidence is also mounting that the OnePlus 10R headed to India will either be the same device as the OnePlus Ace or at least share most of its design ad specs, with just a few tweaks like a rumored MAX version of the Dimensity 8100 chipset.
Speaking of leaks, an older one claims that the OnePlus Ace will borrow many of its specs from the Realme GT Neo3. Meaning you’ll get the Dimensity 8100 SoC, 6.7″ 120Hz FullHD+ AMOLED screen, 50MP primary camera with OIS, and a 4,500 mAh battery with 150W charging.
The Dimensity 8100 chipset bit is mostly confirmed already thanks to a GeekBench leak for a OnePlus PGKM10 said to be the OnePlus Ace.
The OnePlus 10 Pro launched in China in January began its global rollout last month. The smartphone is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC, boots Android 12, and packs a 6. 7″ QHD+ 120Hz LTPO2 Fluid AMOLED screen protected by Gorilla Glass Victus.
The OnePlus 10 Pro’s department consists of a 32MP selfie shooter on the front, with the camera system on the back comprising 48MP primary, 50MP ultrawide, and 8MP telephoto units. We also have color calibration from Hasselblad.
Fueling the entire package is a 5,000 mAh battery with 80W wired charging, but in North America, it goes only up to 65W. However, the smartphone supports 50W wireless charging in all regions.
All that sounds good, but is the OnePlus 10 Pro worth buying? We put the smartphone through its paces to answer that question and detailed our findings in our in-depth written review. But if you want a video tour instead, Ricky’s got you covered as he walks you through the OnePlus 10 Pro’s performance in under 10 minutes. You can watch it below.
Micromax In 2c headed to India by the end of April or in early May
Micromax is working tirelessly to make a comeback and has already launched four to five new products each quarter. It already launched 1-series devices like the Micromax In 1, the In Note 1 and In 1b and more recently the higher end In Note 2. We already know the company has a 2-series as well, with at least a 2b and 2c model. In fact, the In 2b was already announced back in July last year.
Exclusive : Micromax IN 2C launching later this month or in early May, 2022. #Micromax#IN#MicromaxIN
As per an industry insider, the Micromax In 2c is about to join its sibling later this month or failing that – early next month. The source also reaffirms that the in 2c will be rocking an Unisoc chipset. This information was revealed by GeekBench in June 2013. The In 2c is expected to run the same Unisoc T610 as the In 2b. Said chip offers performance pretty much in line with the MediaTek Helio G80 and is a huge upgrade over the Helio G35 found inside the Micromax In 1b in terms of single-core performance.
Unfortunately, we don’t really know more about the specs on the In 2c. We can assume that it will be quite similar to its 2b sibling though, which is rocking a 6. 52″ HD+ LCD, 64GB of expandable storage, 4GB or 6GB of RAM, depending on the variant, a 5,000 mAh battery with 10W charging via a Type-C port, a 3. 5mm jack and a 13MP, plus two 2MP main and 5MP selfie camera setup. The In 2b is a 4G phone with dual-SIM, dual VoLTE and dual-standby support, as well as VoWIFI.
We do know that Micromax is also planning at least one affordable 5G smartphone and the In 2c will not be it since the Unisoc T610 and its modem lack that capability. So, there is still more on the horizon from Micromax.
Motorola Moto G50 is receiving Android 12 stable update
The Motorola Moto G200 5G received the Android 12 stable update a few days ago, and now it’s the Moto G50’s turn to get a taste of the latest version of Android.
The update comes with firmware version S1RF32. 27-25 and brings new UI and features to the smartphone. But, do note that the update is seeding only in the UK right now for model XT2137-1-DS. And we are talking about the Snapdragon 480-powered version here, not the one with Dimensity 700 SoC at the helm, which is called the Moto G50 5G.
Motorola Moto G50
The Snapdragon 480 variant also supports 5G connectivity, but Motorola decided to not use the 5G label in the phone’s name.
That said, if you live in the UK and haven’t got an update notification on your Moto G50 yet, you can check for it manually by navigating to your smartphone’s Settings menu. And if you own any other Motorola smartphone, you can head this way to see if it’s eligible for the Android 12 upgrade.
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