Month: September 2020

Xiaomi has released MIUI 12 to the Redmi Note 9S, Redmi Note 9 Pro and Mi Mix 3 5G. The latter had already received the OS upgrade on the European branch of MIUI, but the new update is the first for global handsets. The update may bring MIUI 12 to more owners of the Mi Mix 3 5G, but Xiaomi continues to palm the device off with Android 9.0 Pie. In fact, the Mi Mix 3 5G is one of the few smartphones to receive Android 9.0 Pie builds of MIUI 12.

It is worth bearing in mind that the update, called V12.0.1.0.PEMMIXM, is currently a Beta Stable build. This means that Xiaomi is pushing V12.0.1.0.PEMMIXM to select devices to rule out any last bugs before it issues it to all handsets. However, you should be able to install it manually via the link below through recovery mode.

Similarly, a Beta Stable build of MIUI 12 is available for the Redmi Note 9S and Redmi Note 9 Pro. V12.0.1.0.QJWINXM can be downloaded manually but only for devices that been enrolled on the Indian branch of MIUI. V12.0.1.0.QJWINXM is based on Android 10 for reference, unlike V12.0.1.0.PEMMIXM for the Mi Mix 3 5G. The inaugural MIUI 12 update for the Redmi Note 9S and Redmi Note 9 Pro should denote the beginning of MIUI 12 upgrades for other branches of MIUI. These should include the global, European, Russian and Turkish branches, although it has been months since Xiaomi upgraded the Redmi Note 9S in the latter region.

Xiaomi will suspend MIUI 12 beta development between September 30 and October 12, according to Piunikaweb. The news follows the announcement that the company has begun testing Android 11 on a bunch of new devices. These include the likes of the Redmi K20 and Redmi K30, which have already received MIUI 12.

Apparently, the reason for the suspension lies with the timing of China’s National Day holiday period this year. According to a post on the Xiaomi & MIUI News Telegram channel, Xiaomi will release test builds over September 28 and September 29, but these will then be ceased until October 12. Additionally, the company will not release any beta builds from September 30 until October 9.

Piunikaweb claims that this suspension of development builds will ‘highly impact the pace’ of the third round of MIUI 12 updates. Albeit only a restriction on the Chinese branch of MIUI, all test and beta builds of MIUI 12 start in China, so a pause on development in China effectively halts Xiaomi’s progress elsewhere.

An Xperia Play 2 prototype has surfaced on Alibaba’s second-hand marketplace, Idle Fish. Sony Ericsson released the Xperia Play in 2011 to good reviews, but the company never announced a follow-up. The main selling point of the Xperia Play was its slide-out gamepad, which was considered a vast improvement over the Nokia N-Gage that came out eight years prior.

The prototype looks more refined than its predecessor. The listing shows that the device has shoulder buttons, along with a 3D button. We doubt it will ever become clear what the latter would have been used for, but it may have been similar to the stereoscopic effect that the 3DS achieved. Little else is known about the Xperia Play 2 prototype. However, the Sony Ericsson label is a giveaway that the device dates from 2011, prior to when Sony absorbed the Ericsson brand.

In our opinion, a device like the Xperia Play 2 could sell well today, particularly if it could tap into PlayStation Now or Xbox Game Streaming. Likewise, a PlayStation-inspired smartphone could prove successful, although the inclusion of capacitive analog sticks may make the device tough to use in some games. In some ways, the Xperia Play was ahead of its time, especially considering the rise of dual-screen and foldable smartphones. Sadly, it seems that Sony has no plans to release another smartphone like the Xperia Play, but we would not put it past LG to do so with its Explorer Project, which has already born fruit with the Wing.

Even though Sony sells a lot of image sensors, which are used in many premium smartphones, the photo quality of Xperia smartphones has always been lagging behind the competition. Last year, Sony released the Xperia 5 and Xperia 1 with the Cinema Pro application, which can be used to create professional videos. This year, Sony released Xperia 1 II with the Photo Pro app for professional photographers. 

The Photo Pro app brings features found in Sony’s Alpha cameras to the Xperia 1 II. It produces better photographs than the standard camera app in auto mode and offers a great deal of adjustments.

In additional to professional camera software, the Sony Xperia 1 II offers good hardware. However, other smartphones with identical hardware manage to achieve a higher level of performance. There is also an IP65/68 certification. All in all, Sony delivers a solid overall package, but not a remarkable one.

The SD card reader is also very slower and the battery life of the Sony Xperia 1 II is very disappointing, even though it has a 4000 battery. In our Wi-Fi test the Sony smartphone lasts less than 8 hours. However, it achieves a battery runtime of more than 13 hours in our video test, in which the Wi-Fi module is disabled.

Those who decide to buy the 1200-Euro Xperia 1 II should do so, because of its professional camera software. Read our full review to learn what else the Sony smartphone has to offer.

An earlier leak suggested that Apple is planning on releasing the world’s first-ever ‘mini’ iPhone this year. We can expect it to be priced at the US$500 mark, making it an ideal entry-level iPhone. The bigger question here is, will it run the A14 Bionic. The rumor mill seems to agree for the most part, but one leaker paints a different picture.

Sources have told Twitter user MauriQHD that Apple is working on a mid-range chip (tentatively) called the B14. It is expected to make its debut alongside the iPhone 12 Mini and future iPhone SE devices. In all likelihood, the so-called B14 could very well be an underclocked A14 Bionic that focuses on efficiency rather than raw power. Several users accused Apple of underclocking the iPhone SE 2020’s A13 Bionic. While its Geekbench score suggests otherwise, the existence of toned-down Apple silicon is both a good and a bad thing.

It will let Apple make headway into the hypercompetitive mid-range smartphone market, which is essential to capture audiences in several regions like India. However, one of the iPhone SE 2020’s key selling points was that it allowed users to get an A13 Bionic-powered for as little as US$400. Regardless of the silicon used, cheaper Apple phones will be universally welcomed by fans and enthusiasts alike.

The Motorola Edge is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G variant of the company’s new Edge range. It aims to strike a balance between premium design and performance while occupying a more affordable price point than Snapdragon 865-powered handsets like its own Edge+. For many people, it could be all the smartphone you need.

Intro:

The Motorola Edge is Motorola’s sub-premium mid-range handset. It sits below the more expensive and more powerful Motorola Edge+ that is designed to compete with Android flagships like the Samsung Galaxy S20. The Motorola Edge is targeted at that next tier of handsets down range including devices such as the LG Velvet. Like the LG Velvet, the Motorola Edge is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G but features high-end looks and finish. If you’re getting sick of coughing up top dollar for high-end smartphones, the Motorola Edge could be what you’re looking for.

The Hardware:

The Motorola Edge centers on a 6.7-inch 2340×1080 FHD+ OLED display with a 90 Hz refresh rate. Although not 120 Hz as is the case on some top-tier Android flagships, this is still a noticeable step up from 60 Hz panels, particularly when scrolling through apps like Twitter, Facebook or a webpage. It also supports HDR10+ content and, when combined with its relatively powerful stereo speakers, makes for an excellent content viewing experience regardless of price. Its dramatic waterfall display with almost 90° curvature looks futuristic and has excellent touch rejection and we didn’t experience any undesired touch inputs during use.

The Motorola Edge keeps things ticking along nicely with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G mated to 6 GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 128 GB of expandable storage. The Snapdragon 765G, fabricated on a 7 nm process, combines two high-performance Arm Cortex-A76-based cores with four high-efficiency Arm Cortex-A55 cores, which gives more than adequate performance for everyday use and multitasking. Its Adreno 620 GPU is not quite as competitive but will be more than adequate for most 3D games, if not delivering the high frame rates possible on competitive e-sports titles like Fortnite or COD.

This is all kept juiced by a large 4,500 mAh battery that is the same size as Samsung has packed into its flagship Galaxy Note20 Ultra flagship. Motorola claims up to two days charge on it, which is backed up by a 15 W quick charger. While you won’t see that sort of battery life with heavy use, you will certainly get a full day out of it. As a cheaper device, it unsurprisingly skips wireless charging which is hard to begrudge. 

The Cameras:

The Motorola Edge uses a very competent triple rear camera set-up supplemented by a time-of-flight sensor. The main rear camera is a 64 MP module with f/1.8 aperture and quad-pixel binning for an effective pixel size of 1.6 µm, which goes a long way to capturing more light (but also potentially more producing more image noise). Its ultra-wide angle and macro vision camera uses a 16 MP module and has an f/2.2 aperture and a 117-degree field of view. The telephoto shooter uses an 8 MP sensor with f/2.4 aperture and supports 2 x high-res optical zoom and 10x digital zoom. 

As you can see from the photos embedded below, the Motorola Edge produces high-quality photos. In addition to RAW photo support, it also offers a Night Vision mode and modes for long exposure shots. It is a versatile camera setup that will keep most users quite happy and even those who want to dig deeper into photo processing with applications like Photoshop. When you look at how much more you need to pay for a Snapdragon 865-powered flagship device with better camera optics (including Motorola’s own Edge+), you are still getting a more than acceptable overall imaging result for much less.

The Operating System and Usability:

The Motorola Edge comes preinstalled with Android 10 and we are using the most recent update that includes the August 1 security patch. Motorola’s Android skin is called My UX, but it is in all respects a stock Android device, which is a massive plus in our view. In our recent experience with the Exynos 990-powered Galaxy Note20 Ultra and the Snapdragon 865-powered Oppo Find X2 Pro, which both feature relatively heavily customized Android skins, system lag in certain apps was noticeable at times. By comparison, the bloatware-free My UX running on the Motorola Edge feels much smoother and delivers a more consistent software experience. At the same time, My UX gives users the opportunity to tap right into the customization features built into Android 10 to make it your own should you want to customize it further.

Conclusion:

This new class of Snapdragon 765-powered Android handsets like the Motorola Edge provides a genuine alternative to high-end Android flagship smartphones. One of the key advantages that the Motorola Edge offers over its competition is a near stock Android OS that offers an almost flawless Android user experience as a result. In all other key areas it also delivers thanks to its excellent display, its high-quality audio experience and its very good cameras. It also offers a contemporary design with looks that would easily pass for something much more expensive. It might not offer absolute top shelf performance, but it is more than good enough across all departments that it poses a serious question about the value of paying more for a Snapdragon 865-powered handset.

Android 11 has already arrived for some handsets, but the Xperia 5 II has joined the Xperia 1 II in being launched on Google’s previous OS. Sony is yet to announce plans to upgrade either device to Android 11, although AndroidNext apparently has inside information on proceedings. According to the Japanese website, Android 11 will arrive on the Xperia 1 II and Xperia 5 II when the latter officially launches, which is not until October.

However, the Xperia 5 II arrives in the US on December 4, so it remains to be seen whether these Android 11 upgrades will be timed regionally. Alternatively, Sony may have a day one upgrade ready for US customers who pre-order the Xperia 5 II.

OEMs have been shipping smartphone with older versions of Android for years, possibly to avoid providing prolonged software support. AndroidNext also claims that Sony will deliver three OS upgrades to the Xperia 5 II though, as we reported earlier this month. The Xperia 1 II will also receive three OS upgrades, which would be a rarity save for Pixel and OnePlus devices.

If you are interested in the Xperia 5 II, then we have published a list of prices, along with pre-order and launch dates. It is worth checking out our coverage on the device’s specifications too, if you have not already done so.