Flashback: remembering the best Tegra-powered phones, tablets and "others"

Nvidia is in the process of acquiring ARM, which made us think of the time when the company, which is best known for its GPUs, was actually a major player in the smartphone market. Here are Tegra chipsets' greatest hits. Two of the first Tegra-powered phones were the Microsoft Kin One and Two, which we've covered in a previous Flashback. Unfortunately, that chipset proved quite under-powered for the kind of UI that Microsoft wanted to run. But that was an early single-core chip. Microsoft Kin One • Microsoft Kin Two The Tegra 2 brought us the first dual core smartphone, the LG...

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Huawei P Smart 2021 in for review

The latest arrival to our office is the Huawei P Smart 2021 smartphone, also sold at some markets as Huawei Y7a. It is an entry-level smartphone that lacks Google services, but brings other promising features like a 48MP camera, a massive battery with fast charging support, and a 6.67” screen with Full HD+ resolution. The retail box of the phone consists of a Huawei SuperCharger that lets you top the phone at up to 22.5W. The technology was initially introduced with the company flagships and it is good to see it trickle to the lower echelons. We have to go through our usual battery...

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Weekly poll results: the Huawei Mate 40 Pro can do well, but it might take a sweet pre-order bundle

Last week’s poll shows that Huawei’s new phones can stand on their own feet, even without the Google software ecosystem. However, there are several factors that will impact how the new models will perform in the market place. We gave the Huawei Mate 40 Pro its own poll as this one will first get a global release – units will be available in Europe next month. About 20% of voters are ready to grab one as soon as local stores open sales. Slightly more people are interested, but think that the €1,200 price tag is too steep. There’s still time before pre-orders kick in, so maybe Huawei will...

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Hot take: OnePlus Nord N10 5G and N100

OnePlus isn't what it used to be - as the market changes the company evolves to try and adapt better. Its phones slowly turned from flagship killers to actual premium flagship phones. Sure, they are still undercutting many of the competition based on MSRP, but store prices are usually close enough so as not to make a difference. And while OnePlus matches the competition in the display and design and its software is a favorite to many it often fails to impress with camera quality. However, we are not here to talk about flagships. Instead we will focus on the just launched Nord series -...

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Motorola Moto G 5G pops-up online, running a Snapdragon 750G 5G chipset

When Motorola announced the rhythmically-named Moto G 5G Plus back in July, it was pretty apparent that a vanilla Moto G 5G should eventually follow. Now we seem to have the scoop on a Moto device, codenamed “Kiev”, allegedly coming to market as the Moto G 5G. The original source on this is somewhat sketchy. But seems to mostly check out. Motorola Moto G 5G leaked shot Apparently the Moto G 5G will be based on the new Snapdragon 750G chipset – a promising part that offers 5G support, including mmWave and AI noise suppression at a budget price point. The exciting silicon already...

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Samsung highlights some of the new One UI 3.0 Android 11 features

One UI 3.0 builds are well into public beta at this point. Galaxy S20 family devices in both the US and Germany, signed-up for the program are already running test Android 11, One UI 3.0 ROMs and in a more-recent development, so are US Note20 units. A new page has now gone up on the company’s official Malaysian website, highlighting some of the major new additions and changes in One UI 3.0. Probably the biggest news on there, however, is in the small print below the images, that promises a November launch for One UI 3.0. Samsung is yet to officially unveil a list of supported...

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Micromax In 1A phone teased in video ahead of launch

Micromax is making a return to the India smartphone market, with a launch already set for November 3. We are still a bit short on hardware specifics and even the exact models of the upcoming In phones are not officially confirmed. However, most rumors seem to point at a pair of devices, allegedly called the Micromax In 1 and In 1A. One with a Mediatek Helio G35 chipset and the other with a G85 one. Beyond all of the official teasers, at least one of the new phones has now popped-up in the wild, in an first-look YouTube video, featuring Micromax co-founder Rahul Sharma. Mr. Sharma...

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Google Pixel 5 teardown video offers a bit more context for the screen gap issue

Google’s latest and greatest Pixel 5 has started to slowly make its way onto the market, with first impressions and reviews from media and the community already revealing some issues with the device. Pixel-related hardware issues have pretty-much turned into an industry meme at this point, with basically every generation getting heat in one way or another. Call it a self-fulfilling prophecy if you want, but the Pixel 5 didn’t manage to break the cycle. Reports of screen gap issues have started popping-up here and there. What better way to actually take a closer look at what is...

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Apple iPhone 12 Pro in for review

Our review of the iPhone 12 is already up, but we've also been spending some quality time with the more premium iPhone 12 Pro. But while the review team is still doing its thing here go a few early thoughts. The iPhone 12 Pro certainly makes a better first impression than the iPhone 12. For starters the frame isn't aluminum but stainless steel. It feels better too and it's shinier. The rear glass is nicer to touch too, thanks to its matte finish (the regular 12 gets a shiny one). Finally the iPhone 12 Pro gains 25 grams on the regular 12, making it feel denser and more...

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