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Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra long-term review

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  Introduction The S21 Ultra is Samsung's second shot at an S- series Ultra flagship, and here's something interesting we figured out about the company. More often than not, it seems to have a stronger second act than its first. Think back to the first Galaxy S. It was an okay phone. The S2, though? Great phone, huge hit. The first Galaxy Fold? It had its issues. The Fold2? Much better, much easier to recommend (if you have the money). We're not saying we've spotted a trend or theme that's been elusive to everyone else, but we would be remiss not to mention the above because it so neatly ties into the S21 Ultra and its relationship to the S20 Ultra. Call the first paragraph foreshadowing, if you will, but we can just hit you with the spoiler itself - the S21 Ultra is a much better product than its predecessor was. It's more polished, more refined, and it doesn't suck at any of the smartphone fundamentals - quite the contrary, in fact. So maybe it's not f

OnePlus Nord 2 5G review

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  Floods, hurricanes, fires, the pandemic... Even if it looks like it's Ragnarök out there, it's not yet. But something with northern vibes is coming, and that's the OnePlus Nord 2. The sequel has one crystal-clear goal - to be the next flagship killer as part of the company's 'Never Settle' innovations. Let's meet the OnePlus Nord 2 5G. OnePlus already has a proper flagship lineup with the number series, and they are all alright. But Series 9 also have flagship prices. This is where the Nords and Nord 2 specifically come - to offer flagship features at a mid-range price and reclaim the lost 'flagship killer' title. The OnePlus Nord 2 5G brings a few improvements over the first Nord - faster hardware thanks to the new Dimensity 1200 chipset, a better main camera with a new Sony IMX766 sensor, dual speakers, and a larger 4,500mAh battery with faster 65W Warp Charge support. The OnePlus Nord 2 5G is offered in new cool finishes - you can choose between

Xiaomi Mi 10 and Mi 10 Pro get stable MIUI 12 update in China

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Xiaomi Mi 10 and Mi 10 Pro get stable MIUI 12 update in China Xiaomi  unveiled MIUI 12 in late April  and then got to work on checking devices off its update to-do list. The latest to get the update are  Mi 10 5G  and  Mi 10 Pro 5G  units in China. What about the rest of the world? There are  47 phones  scheduled to get MIUI 12, but only the 2019 Mi and Redmi flagships are getting it by the end of this month (e.g. the Mi 9T/Redmi K20  already got it ). The timing of the global release for phones in the Mi 10 series is still to be announced, but it’s probably not happening this month.   MIUI 12 update notification • After the update Mi 10 and 10 Pro owners in China are receiving a fairly small update, just 820 MB, which pushes their phones to MIUI v12.0.1.0. It brings tons of new animations (including Super Wallpapers), improved dark mode, new navigation gestures, privacy controls, the AI Calling feature (call transcription for hearing-impaired users) and more.

Samsung working on a Galaxy S20 Lite incoming with OneUI 2.5

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Samsung working on a Galaxy S20 Lite incoming with OneUI 2.5 At the beginning of this year, Samsung released the Galaxy S10 Lite - a slightly cheaper member of the Galaxy S10-series, which brought an interesting feature set - large flat screen and huge battery. Well, according to new information obtained by  SamMobile , the S10 Lite is getting a successor. A photo of the Galaxy S10 Lite As of now, there's not much to know about the handset except for some vague specs and model numbers. We can expect the phone to have at least 128GB of internal storage as a standard, it will run Samsung's One UI 2.5 out of the box and following the footsteps of its predecessor, it's likely that the handset will be powered by the Snapdragon 865 chipset. Not all markets will get a 5G-enabled variant. Reportedly, the global S20 Lite with model number  SM-G780  will come with and without 5G, depending on the market while a device with model number  SM-G781  intended for the US market w

Amazfit Stratos 3 smartwatch with dual OS launching in India later this month

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Amazfit Stratos 3 smartwatch with dual OS launching in India later this month After bringing the  Bip S  and T-Rex smartwatches to India, Amazfit is set to launch one more smartwatch in the country this month - the Stratos 3. Amazfit hasn't revealed the launch date of the Stratos 3 yet, but we know it will be after June 20. It will be sold through Flipkart as well as Amazfit's official Indian site. Amazfit hasn't announced the price of the Stratos 3 but it's listed on  Flipkart  for INR17,999 ($240/€210). We reached out to Amazfit for confirmation and were told the price is incorrect and that the smartwatch will be priced lower. The Stratos 3 comes with four physical buttons and sports a 1.34" circular MIP TFT transflective color touch display of 320x320-pixel resolution, which is protected by Gorilla Glass 3. Its body material comprises 316L stainless steel and zirconia ceramic bezel, while the strap is made of silicone. The Stratos 3 features a dual

Light, the designer of the Nokia 9 PureView camera, leaves the smartphone market

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Light, the designer of the Nokia 9 PureView camera, leaves the smartphone market The Nokia 9.3 PureView will not use a kooky camera setup from Light. In fact, no other phone will either as the company behind the penta-camera of the previous PureView model is pulling out of the phone business. It looks like Light is refocusing on the car industry where the superior depth perception of its cameras is a boon for self-driving vehicles. As for HMD Global, it will have to look for a new partner to develop a camera worthy of the PureView name. Rumors from January say that it’s already doing that, likely having been informed of Light’s plans earlier. In early 2019 Xiaomi also partnered with Light to develop smartphone cameras, but that never bore fruit. Sony was also a partner, but it was just looking for a venue to sell its sensors rather rather than trying to build a PureView-like phone. Speaking of the PureView, the new model has been delayed yet again. This is allegedly due to

ZTE Blade A3 Prime launches on Yahoo Mobile and Visible for $99 with removable battery

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ZTE Blade A3 Pr ZTE Blade A3 Prime launches on Yahoo Mobile and Visible for $99 with removable battery ime laes on Yahoo Mobile and Visible for $99 with removable battery The latest budget phone from ZTE is the Blade A3 Prime. It’s an entry-level smartphone with a $99 price that will be arriving to both of Verizon’s MVNO networks: Yahoo Mobile and Visible. The phone is free on Visible through the network’s SWAP program. The Blade A3 Prime is equipped with a 5.45-inch 720p screen with 18:9 aspect ratio and powered by the MediaTek Helio A22. There’s 2GB of RAM and 32GB of onboard storage with support for a microSD card. And here’s something you don’t see anymore: the phone has a removable 2,660 mAh battery.     There’s support for both face unlock and fingerprint authentication thanks to the rear-mounted fingerprint scanner. There’s also an 8MP camera on the back and dual LED flash. We’re also glad to see the USB-C charging port has finally trickled down to the entry-leve