My top 5 phones of 2021 - Victor

For better or worse, we've had yet another "interesting" year. Мost things in the world are still a mess — no way around that. There is still room for positivity, though, at least as far as the mobile industry is concerned. Despite all of the ongoing supply shortages and manufacturing difficulties, the smartphone makers produced more than a few excellent devices. I've reviewed, used or otherwise experienced a fair share of devices throughout 2021, and these are just some of the ones that left an impression on me. Asus ROG Phone 5/5s Though many have and are still trying to dethrone...

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Top 20 phones of the year 2021

With 2021 nearly in the history books, it’s time for a comprehensive list of the twenty most popular phones of the past year. These were the device you searched for the most on our site and the ones that shaped how the year went by. As usual, there’s a clear-cut leader in terms of total devices on the list and it's none other than Samsung (shocker, we know). A total of four manufacturers contributed to the list this year which is one less than last year's index. Samsung’s Galaxy A-series and S-series phones piled on the hits with 9 out of 20 devices in the list, or exactly 45% of the...

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Week 52 in review: Xiaomi 12 series is here, 2021 is gone

It's time to wrap up the last week of 2021 (we have a separate series for the top stories of the entire year). Xiaomi waited until the very end of the year to announce its 12 series. The Xiaomi 12 and 12 Pro have Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipsets, while the Xiaomi 12X has a Snapdragon 870. All three have 50MP main cameras, but the 12 Pro's sensor is the largest at 1/1.28" type. The Pro also has a 100mAh bigger battery, a bigger 1440p display that's also variable refresh rate, thanks to 120Hz. All three Xiaomi 12 phones are available from December 31 in China. We're still waiting for...

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Best smartwatches of 2021

It's a wrap! The year 2021 has come to an end and with the growing smartwatch demand, we can't miss highlighting the best ones on the market. And since this is a smartwatch category, we are skipping the fitness bands and trackers. Wristwatches, in general, are a very personal thing, even more personal than smartphones in a way, so we've tried to compile a more comprehensive list instead of trying and rank the best ones. Nothing too crazy this year within the smartwatch market, though, as Wear OS and WatchOS dominate the market, especially since Samsung moved away from its own Tizen OS....

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Samsung announces the Odyssey Neo G8, the world's first 4K 240Hz monitor

Samsung today revealed three new models of its monitor lineup for 2022. All of these are slated to be officially announced during CES 2022 from 5-7 January in Las Vegas. The first of these new monitors is the Samsung Odyssey Neo G8. This is a 32-inch display with the world's first 4K 240Hz panel. It also features a 1000R curvature and Quantum Mini LED backlighting. The mini LED backlighting system uses units that are 1/40th the size of conventional LED units. With Samsung's Quantum Matrix and Quantum HDR 2000 technologies, the display can achieve up to 2000 nits of peak...

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Weekly poll: what do you think of the Xiaomi 12 series?

Last year the Xiaomi unveiled the first phone with the then new Snapdragon 888. While not quite first, the company has secured an early supply of Qualcomm’s new top chipset and has unveiled two “coming soon” models with it, plus a budget option with the SD 870. The Xiaomi 12 is smaller than its predecessors going back to the Mi 8 – the 6.28” display is a welcome departure from the 6.81” slab that was the Mi 11's display. For those that prefer a larger display, there is the Pro model. This panel is an OLED with 120Hz refresh rate, Dolby Vision and HDR10+ support and Gorilla Glass...

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My top 5 phones of 2021 - Ro

The smartphone world had a bit of an off year in 2021 with no ground-breaking technologies or designs. Howeve as a user, not a reviewer, there are a couple of smartphones that stood out. Those are the ones I'd use as daily drivers and I have a reason for each smartphone on my list. So here it is. Asus Zenfone 8 Perhaps my favorite phone this year would be Asus' Zenfone 8 - one of the few compact flagships on the market but more importantly, there are hardly any compromises relative to the size. The few issues we've had with the handset when reviewing it were offset by the competitive...

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