OnePlus to introduce Hydrogen OS 11 on August 10

OnePlus is already preparing its next OS version, and its first reveal will take place on August 10 at 2 PM. It will come with new visual components, new functional features and what the company calls “brand-new interactive concept”, which we suppose has to do with better ways of using the notifications. The big caveat is the announcement is made on Weibo - the Chinese social media, meaning OnePlus will introduce Hydrogen 11 - it should be like Oxygen 11 but without Google services and some local market personalization. The good news is that the company is clearly working on its...

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Oppo Watch hands-on review

Introduction On Friday, Oppo announced that it will release its Watch to global markets. The Oppo Watch (which even sounds like 'Apple Watch' in addition to being very close to it designwise) is the Chinese phone maker's first Wear OS smartwatch. The Chinese variant runs a modified version of Android 8.1, but the global variant has a couple of key differences. The first is the inclusion of the Snapdragon 3100 Wear platform, which is almost two years old at this point, but is the fastest chipset available for wearables from Qualcomm. In contrast, the Chinese version of the Watch runs...

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Week 31 in review: Galaxy M31s, Reno4 duo debut alongside Black Shark 3S and Red Magic 5S

Week 31 brought us a bunch of new phones, starting with the Samsung Galaxy M31s. The new leader of the Korean company's lower mid-range lineup comes with a 6.5” AMOLED, quad cameras and 6,000 mAh battery. Oppo made a couple of major announcements itself with the Reno4 and Reno4 Pro. Red Magic and Black Shark gaming brands also unveiled their latest flagships with the 5S and 3S, rounding up a pretty exciting lineup of new phones. Qualcomm had an announcement of its own - Quick Charge 5 and while it can't be seen on any phone just yet, it's certainly something to look forward...

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OnePlus Bullets Wireless Z vs Oppo Enco M31

The Bullets Wireless Z are OnePlus' pair of neckband-style Bluetooth wireless earbuds that were launched alongside the OnePlus 8 series. They are a cheaper version of the company's Bullets Wireless 2, with reduced material quality and driver count but in exchange offered a tremendously improved battery life. When I reviewed them a couple of months ago, I called them the best product in their price category. Then last month I reviewed the Oppo Enco M31, and things changed a bit. The M31 have the same form factor as the Bullets Wireless Z but didn't quite promise the same battery...

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Top 10 trending phones of week 31

Week 31 was as turbulent as the one before it with new announcements causing big movements in our trending chart. One of the newly unveiled phones - the Samsung Galaxy M31s was above all, shooting straight to the top, knocking the OnePlus Nord down to second. Another newly unveiled phone completes the podium with the Black Shark 3S getting the bronze medal. The upcoming Redmi K30 Ultra featured in a couple of major leaks, which got enough attention to get the fourth place as the Redmi Note 9 Pro slid down to fifth. In sixth we have the Oppo Reno4, which surprisingly replaced the...

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Weekly poll: is the new Oppo Reno4 Pro any good?

Today we want to talk about four phones - the Oppo Reno4 Pro and Reno3 Pro. No, we didn't count wrong, there's four of them. Part of the problem is that Oppo releases different-specced models for the Chinese market and if that's all there was, we wouldn't have an issue. But there's some overlap. Let's start with the global Oppo Reno4 Pro which was announced this week. It has a 6.5" AMOLED display (1080p+ resolution), which impresses with its 90Hz refresh rate and 1,100 nits peak brightness. Also, the 4,000 mAh battery charges at a whopping 65W - 5 minutes of charging is all you need for 4...

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Flashback: the Sony Ericsson K800 was as versatile as James Bond and the first Cyber-shot phone

The Sony Ericsson K800 was a phone with many faces. From one angle it looked like a Cyber-shot digital camera, from another like a phone, look at the left side and you’ll see a button for the music player, inside was a capable graphics chip for 3D gaming. It was released in mid-2006 and became the first Sony Ericsson phone to officially sport the Cyber-shot logo. It deserved it too, as the 3.2 MP camera on its back was among the best mobile shooters of the time. It was covered up with a sliding lens cover that automatically launched the camera when opened. The phone really did look...

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