T3 India

smartphones

Review: Oppo F21s Pro

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Price: ₹22,999

The wait for 5G services is finally over after a long period of anticipation. Phone companies including Oppo have been testing the waters with 5G phones for a long time. Oppo’s latest comes in both 4G and 5G variants. However, we received the Oppo F21s Pro in 4G version.

The Oppo F21s Pro has a plain, clean, no-nonsense design, just like the previous F-series devices with a matte-finished back and side band. The camera platform is metal, which offers some protection to the lens. The chrome finish on the camera bump and a red dot of one of the sensors somewhat breaks the monotony in design. The front camera has a punch hole design. Both the surfaces are protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5 panels. The phone is offered in Dawnlight Gold and Starlight Black colourways. The F21s Pro is a lightweight device. The display appeared bright and sharp in our experience. Fingerprint and facial recognition worked flawlessly, and the interface was quite smooth to navigate.

The phone uses the 6nm Snapdragon 680 octa-core CPU along with Adreno 610 GPU. It offers 8GB LPDDR4x RAM and 128GB onboard UFS2.2 storage. The F21s Pro uses ColorOS 12.1 based on Android 12. The phone houses a 6.43-inch FHD+ (2400 x 1080) AMOLED display that provides up to 90 Hz refresh rate and a peak touch sampling rate of 180Hz. A 95 percent DCI-P3 gamut coverage ensures that the monitor displays a wide range of colours. The Oppo F21s Pro is a mid-level phone, and it is not expected to offer the best in performance. However, the device proved powerful enough for everyday tasks including action games with medium graphics. You may experience some lag in heavy games, but that is expected from a device of this specs.

The smartphone uses a triple camera system at the rear. The main camera is a 64-megapixel unit with f/1.7 aperture. The other two are 2-megapixel modules for Macro and Monochrome. There is no telephoto or wide-angle camera. The front camera uses a 32-megapixel sensor. The camera allows up to Full HD (1080p) videos at 30 fps. The main camera helps you capture beautiful images in good lighting conditions especially outdoors, but the lack of optical zoom or wide-angle lens limits its utility. Low-light images are noisy. The most interesting camera feature is the Microlens mode, which allows you to observe and capture microscopic details in a subject and provides some interesting perspectives. It lets you zoom into dust particles and moulds for up to 30x magnification. It is challenging to keep the subject in focus with the extremely shallow depth-of-field, but the ‘orbit light’ around the depth lens switches on and keeps the subject perfectly illuminated for a shake-free image.

The Oppo F21s Pro is powered by a 4,500 mAh battery and supports 33W Supervooc fast charging. The device supports dual SIM and includes a dedicated MicroSD memory card slot in the card tray. Coming to multimedia, the device offers good visuals combined with powerful audio. However, we have been quite unhappy with the lack of stereo speakers in the previous Oppo devices, and this device doesn’t change it. The phone houses a 3.5mm audio jack.

Rating

WE’RE IMPRESSED Decent design, good camera, microlens, price

WE’D IMPROVE 5G support, stereo speakers

THE LAST WORD The Oppo F21s Pro offers some credible performance and imaging capability for the price, but the lack of 5G support spoils its chance in the market. We would have liked to review the 5G variant of the F21s if we had a choice, but since we did not get a chance to experience it, we cannot comment on its performance.

Realme Unveils Budget-friendly Smartphone

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Realme has introduced a new addition to its entry-level C series family with the realme C35, an entry-level smartphone.

Commenting on the launch, Madhav Sheth, CEO Realme India, VP, Realme, and President, Realme International Business Group said, “We are thrilled to unveil the newest member of our C series smartphones as we continue our quest to become the world’s most popular smartphone brand. Realme’s entry-level C series has received a staggering response from our users and expanded to a family of 32 million users globally. Our newest member in the series is a new all-rounder in this segment, offering a remarkable combination of performance, camera and design in the entry-level segment, and we are confident that the Realme C35 will help us take this segment much further.”

The device is equipped with a 50MP AI Triple Camera and includes a primary camera with a 50MP image sensor with a wide area and an f/1.8 large aperture, a Macro Lens, a B&W lens and an 8MP Selfie camera with Sony Sensor. It features a new right-angle bezel design that is 8.1 mm thick and weighs 189 g. The smartphone is equipped with Unisoc T616 powerful processor, scoring 230,726 on AnTuTu benchmarks. It is an octa-core 12nm processor that clocks up to 2.0 GHz and adopts Cortex A75 structure. It also comes with a First FHD 6.6-inches screen in the Realme C series, 5000 mAh battery which can be charged with an 18W Type-C Quick Charge that comes in the box. It also comes with an instant fingerprint sensor and TÜV Rheinland High-Reliability Certification. According to the company, this is the first smartphone in the C series to include Dynamic RAM Expansion(DRE) technology.

The smartphone will be available in two storage variants, 4GB+64GB priced at INR 11,999 and 4GB+128GB priced at INR 12,999 and will be available in two colours, i.e. Glowing Black and Glowing Green. It is expected to go on sale starting March 12, on realme.com, Flipkart.com and mainline channels.

Poco Expands M-series Lineup with M4 Pro 5G

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Poco has launched its mid-range powerhouse, the Poco M4 Pro 5G, powered by the 5G-ready MediaTek Dimensity 810 processor. The device features up to 8GB of RAM along with Turbo RAM capability extending the device RAM up to 11GB, providing an enhanced and superfast multitasking experience. Packing higher performance with 33W MMT fast charging and a large 2-day 5000mAh battery, Poco M4 Pro 5G is a go-to device for users seeking the best of everything.

Commenting on the launch, Anuj Sharma, Country Director, Poco India said, “A future-ready device, Poco M4 Pro 5G is backed by an efficient performance combination of MediaTek Dimensity 810 chipset, aggressive gaming capabilities, and improved camera performance. Catering to today’s smartphone users, Poco M4 Pro 5G manages to pack a media consumption focused DCI-P3 90Hz Smart Display along with Dual Stereo speakers. We are happy to take this leap with the Poco M4 Pro 5G as it is a perfect combination of exciting future-ready features and affordable pricing.”

Poco M4 Pro 5G promises to deliver serious power with the MediaTek Dimensity 810 chipset. Built on a 6nm node architecture, this chipset makes Poco M4 Pro 5G a true power-efficient device. Adding on to a lag-free performance and enhanced visuals, this chipset comes equipped with two Cortex-A76 cores that run at 2.4GHz and six ARM Cortex-A55 efficiency cores that run at 2.0GHz along with a contemporary ARM Mali-G57 graphics card at 1068MHz.

Featuring a Game Turbo mode, Poco M4 Pro marks an immersive gaming experience with improved graphics and network optimisation. Gaming performance is further enhanced with the immersive and clear dual speaker setup. Taking the gaming level a notch higher, Poco’s X-liner motor offers a haptic touch-like response that vibrates in reaction to in-game actions. Also, now, consumers can trick their opponents with various voices during gaming with the Voice Changer feature in the Game Turbo mode.

For the ones who are always on the go, Poco M4 Pro 5G takes multitasking with much ease. Its UFS 2.2 technology offers 139% faster write speeds than UFS 2.1, and the integrated 5G modem supports dual 5G calls for future-proofed connectivity.

Featuring a 90Hz 6.6” FHD+ display coupled with a 240Hz touch sampling rate, Poco M4 Pro 5G visuals are a treat to the eyes. Catering to battery efficiency, the display featuring Smart Refresh Rate automatically adapts to 90Hz, 60Hz, and 50Hz to suit the streaming content. The display is further equipped with a wide colour gamut that supports DCI-P3 that brings a true-to-life detailed and clear visual experience. Readability under bright sunlight is also no issue, thanks to the Sunlight Display 2.0 feature.

Debuting Poco’s 2022 design philosophy, its Power Black, Cool Blue, and Poco Yellow colours make the device look premium, fresh, and unique in its skin. It comes with a blazing fast side-mounted fingerprint sensor power button, 3.5mm Hi-res Audio jack and IR Blaster, making it a complete package.

Another first in the Poco M-series, Poco M4 Pro 5G flaunts a 50MP Primary camera sensor designed to offer an aesthetic photography experience. Offering a clear and detailed picture quality, it delivers the best colours and vibrancy in all lighting conditions. Supporting the 50MP sensor is an 8MP Ultra-wide camera that captures breathtaking detailed shots in all possibilities. Adding to the frenzy is the 16MP front camera for all the selfie lovers for clear and vivid pictures.

The camera features advanced modes such as Night Mode, Kaleidoscope, Slow motion, Time-lapse video, among others. Fueled by a 33W fast in-box charger, Poco M4 Pro 5G packs a massive 5000mAh battery to ensure the functioning of all tasks with much ease and no stress. It is powered with Middle Middle Tab (MMT) technology amping up the device’s charging speeds for a quick use case. Not only this, the Poco M4 Pro 5G gets 50% charged in just 23 minutes.

Poco M4 Pro 5G will be available on Flipkart in three storage variants: 4GB + 64GB for ₹14,999, 6GB + 128GB for ₹16,999 and 8GB + 128GB for ₹18,999.

Asus Launches ROG Phone 5s Series

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Republic of Gamers (ROG), a premium sub-brand of Asus, has announced the launch of its ROG 5s series in India. The company has introduced ROG Phone 5s and 5s Pro as the latest upgrade to its ROG Phone series.

The ROG Phone 5s series is powered by the flagship Snapdragon 888 Plus 5G Mobile Platform, featuring advanced 5G capabilities and premium Snapdragon Elite Gaming features. The processing power is complemented by up to 18 GB of fast LPDDR5 RAM. The optimised and upgraded GameCool 5 cooling system with AeroActive Cooler 5 (fan accessory bundled with ROG Phone 5s Pro only and optional for ROG Phone 5s), and the performance manager in Armory Crate ensures maximum performance is available for any gaming scenario.

Commenting at the launch, Dinesh Sharma, Business Head, Commercial PC and Smartphone, System Business Group, ASUS in India said, “We are constantly innovating and aiming to provide only the best and premium features in our Ultimate Weapons for Smartphone Gaming i.e. ROG Phone, to our ROG community. We are thrilled to launch two new additions to the ROG family – ROG Phone 5s and ROG Phone 5 Pro to upgrade the cutting-edge capabilities we offer for the mobile gaming ecosystem.”

The 144 Hz / 1 ms AMOLED display used in the ROG Phone 5s series now boasts an upgraded 360 Hz native touch-sampling rate and upgraded ultra-low 24ms touch latency for a super-smooth, seamless, and ultrafast gaming experience. Additionally, the ROG Phone 5s Pro features a colour version of the innovative ROG Vision rear matrix display, which shows customisable animations in response to a variety of system events. The AirTrigger 5 control system now supports the two rear capacitive touch sensors on ROG Phone 5s Pro, giving mobile gamers more control capabilities in their games. The ultrasonic shoulder side sensors on both models also support dual gestures, such as tap-and-slide or tap-and-swipe, for total control.

With the clock speed now up to a blistering 3 GHz, the CPU performance is designed to deliver matchless mobile processing power. ROG Phone 5s Pro also feature up to 18 GB of fast LPDDR5 RAM and 512GB of fastest UFS3.1 storage to dramatically increase the overall gaming performance. The upgraded GameCool 5 cooling system in the ROG Phone 5s series has an optimum thermal structure featuring a centred CPU with the battery split into two parts, one located on each side of the CPU. The re-shaped 3D vapour chamber and extensive graphite sheets also help to spread the heat evenly across the device to reduce heat build-up in the middle.

Now boasting an uprated 360 Hz native touch-sampling rate and uprated ultra-low 24ms touch latency, the 144 Hz / 1 ms Samsung E4 AMOLED display delivers a super-smooth gaming experience, with an ultra-low touch latency. Tuned in collaboration with leading visual-processing company Pixelworks, the supreme visuals are enhanced even further with world-beating colour accuracy, always-on HDR technology to improve non-HDR visuals, and a screen that’s protected by the toughest ever Corning Gorilla Glass Victus.

The ROG Phone 5s Pro additionally features a colour version of ROG Vision, the unique rear display that highlights the ROG creative spirit. ROG Vision can display a variety of cool animations that show you whether ROG Phone 5s Pro is charging, if there’s an incoming call, whether X Mode is enabled and more. Gamers can even create custom animations to make their phone even more personal.

The GameFX audio system on ROG Phone 5s series features symmetrical 7-magnet dual speakers for truly balanced stereo sound effects and a 3.5 mm headphone jack in conjunction with a Hi-Fi grade ESS DAC. Both have been optimised via a collaboration with audio specialist Dirac, giving the ROG Phone 5s series truly impressive audio quality and a wider soundscape. In addition to the premium sounds, GameFX also delivers crystal-clear in-game sound effects and powerful aural soundscapes.

The ROG phone 5s series features multiple antennas to ensure you are always connected to the internet with maximum speed and fidelity no matter how you hold the device to game, vertically or horizontally. To also ensure you’re connected to the fastest mode of internet, the ROG Phone 5s series features the amazing HyperFusion. HyperFusion allows the ROG Phone 5s to automatically choose the fastest internet connection and for apps that allow multiple connections, Hyperfusion can also connect to both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz Wi-Fi channels at the same time, or it can combine both the Mobile data and Wi-Fi together increasing your internet connectivity speed.

The ROG Phone 5s series comes with a 64MP Flagship Sony IMX686 sensor main camera, offering you up to 8K Pro video recording, Pro mode for Photos and videos, and Superb Night mode performance. It also has a secondary 13MP camera to capture ultra-wide angles and offers a HyperSteady video-recording feature. And lastly, there’s the 5MP Macro camera for when you want incredibly close-up detail. For superior selfies, the front camera is a 24MP camera that can shoot 4K as well.

ASUS ROG Phone 5s and 5s Pro will be available from 18th February 2022 in India on Flipkart. The ROG Phone 5s 8GB / 128GB will be available at ₹49,999, ROG Phone 5s 12GB/256 GB will retail at ₹57,999 and the ROG Phone 5s Pro 18GB / 512GB will carry a price tag of ₹79,999.

Xiaomi to rebrand its premium product series from ‘Mi’ to ‘Xiaomi’

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While the corporate brand will continue to be represented by the well-known ‘Mi’ logo, Xiaomi India have today announced with an aim to unify its global presence and close the perception gap between the brand, Xiaomi’s premium ‘Mi’ series products will now be replaced with the new ‘Xiaomi’ logo.

However, ‘Redmi’ will continue with the same brand logo and the new naming convention, Xiaomi and Redmi, will be applied across both brands’ TVs, Laptops, and IoT offerings. Thus, with the new brand identity, Xiaomi plans to offer two distinct product series under the parent corporate brand – which will continue to represented by the ‘Mi’ logo, which had undergone a few changes earlier this year by adopting a softer, rounder contour on the corners of the previously square-shaped logo.

Commenting on the announcement Jaskaran Singh Kapany, Head of Marketing, Xiaomi India, said, “As a consumer-centric brand, our focus has always been on bringing new and innovative technology across segments that cater to the consumers evolving needs. We have been receiving an excellent response for our premium product range from consumers and Xiaomi fans. According to CounterPoint in May 2021, Xiaomi India captured ~14% market share in the 20K-45K category. This empowered us to push the boundaries of technology and innovation further to elevate the consumer experience.”

“Being a leading technology brand with a strong presence across the globe, our aim is to have a unified presence. With this new logo shift, we envision bridging the perception gap between our brand and products. The new Xiaomi logo will be used for our premium products that represent the pinnacle of technology and offer a premium experience. Ushering in the festive season, Xiaomi’s premium product series ‘Mi’ will be renamed to ‘Xiaomi’”, the press release mentions.  

Xiaomi aims that this new identity will propel the brand forward in the near future.