Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 launched with integrated X60 5G modem, better NPU, faster ISP, and more

Fans and enthusiasts have been waiting with bated breath for Qualcomm’s flagship SoC that will power most 2021 flagship smartphones. Standard naming conventions dictated that it would be called the Qualcomm Snapdragon 875. However, Qualcomm has somewhat of a surprise in store for us. The chipmaker has just announced that it will be called the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 instead. While the name might seem a bit off, it makes sense, considering that the digits are considered lucky in some cultures.

Earlier leaks told us that the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 would reuse its predecessor’s 1+3+4 core configuration. We should know more about it soon, as Qualcomm hasn’t divulged any information about the chip’s innards. However, we know for sure that the chipset will come with Qualcomm’s shiny new X60 5G modem that will support both sub-6GHz and mmWave networks. Other 5G-related features include support for both standalone and non-standalone (SA and NSA) networks, multiple SIM cards, and more.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 also comes with a new AI engine that can perform up to 26 trillion operations per second (TOPS). It will go a long way towards improving a heap of camera-centric features like AI-driven portrait mode, colour correction, and more. The new NPU will undoubtedly help OEMs fine-tune on-device optimization features, such as optimizing battery usage, adjusting screen refresh rate, etc.

On the GPU side of things, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 is expected to run the Adreno 660 (tentative) GPU. Its specifics, much like the chip’s core configuration, will be revealed later. However, Qualcomm claims that the Snapdragon 888’s image signal processor (ISP) is up to 35% faster than its predecessor. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 will power a host of 2021 flagships from companies like OnePlus, ASUS, Sony, Realme, Oppo, Vivo and more. The chipset is expected to debut alongside the Xiaomi Mi 11, which may be launched soon.

Cambridge Audio launches new Melomania Touch earbuds with up to 50 hours battery life

Cambridge Audio has announced its next pair of TWS earbuds, but they are not true successors to the Melomania 1 that we reviewed earlier this year. The company will continue to sell the Melomania 1, but the earbuds will become the entry-level option to the Melomania Touch. As the name suggests, the Melomania Touch has touch controls instead of the buttons that Cambridge Audio included in the Melomania 1, although the changes do not end there.

The Melomania Touch also has 7 mm drivers, which are larger than the 5.7 mm ones found in the Melomania 1. Additionally, battery life has been increased from 36 hours to 50 hours. The earbuds themselves still last up to 9 hours, but the charging case of the Melomania Touch packs a larger battery than the one that the Melomania 1 has. The Melomania Touch also supports USB Type-C charging, which is an upgrade in itself from the micro USB charging of the Melomania 1. According to Cambridge Audio, the Melomania Touch can go from 0% to 100% charge in two hours.

There is no IP rating with the Melomania Touch, which is a shame. However, Cambridge Audio has developed the Melomania app, that is compatible with Android and iOS devices. According to the company, the app has customisable EQ settings, a Transparency Mode and an option for finding your earphones. The app can deliver firmware updates to the Melomania Touch, also. Moreover, the app features High Performance Audio Mode, which Cambridge Audio claims uses ‘hi-fi grade amplification technology’. The earbuds also support Bluetooth 5.0, along with the Qualcomm aptX and AAC codecs.

The Melomania Touch will be available to purchase in Europe, the UK and the US from January 1 2021 for €139.95, £129.95 and US$149.95, respectively. Cambridge has produced black and white versions of the Melomania Touch too, giving people a bit of choice. 

Leaked prices suggest that custom NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti will be absurdly expensive

The GeForce RTX 3060 Ti may be the cheapest RTX 30 series card, at least until it releases the RTX 3050 and RTX 3060, but custom cards will not reflect the price of the Founders Edition card. NVIDIA states that the Founders Edition will cost £369, €399 and US$399 when it launches tomorrow, making it significantly cheaper than the likes of the RTX 3070 and RTX 3080. However, leaked prices of custom RTX 3060 Ti cards are significantly higher than any of those prices.

According to listings on Dateks, NVIDIA’s board partners will charge anywhere from €484 to €664 for custom versions of the RTX 3060 Ti. These do not appear to be placeholders either, so most RTX 3060 Ti cards will cost between 20% and 66% more than the Founders Edition at launch. Prices will undoubtedly fall over time, but the scarce volumes of Founders Edition stock that NVIDIA releases makes its MSRPs somewhat meaningless when its partners ignore them.

Similarly, TechSpot spotted Amazon UK charging £490.18 for an MSI GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Ventus 2X OC. Like in the Eurozone, this price is over a third higher than NVIDIA will be charging for the Founders Edition card in the UK. It is a comparable story in the US, too. While the Founders Edition will be available for US$399, the cheapest custom card is US$449.99, or 12% more expensive. Based on the multiple retailer listings, custom RTX 3060 Ti cards should be orderable from tomorrow.

Realme ‘Race’ announced with Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 888 as design and specifications leak

Xiaomi may have just teased the release of the Mi 11 series following Qualcomm’s announcement of the Snapdragon 888, but Realme has a new flagship up its sleeve too. Realme has revealed little about the smartphone so far, bar that it will feature the Snapdragon 888 and that it is codenamed ‘Race’.

The company is yet to confirm when it will even announce the Race. Nonetheless, it has hinted that the device will be arriving in at least Europe and India.

Thankfully, GSMArena is onhand to fill in the blanks. According to a screenshot published by the website, the Race will launch with realmeUI V2.0, which is a custom version of Android 11. Additionally, the device will have 12 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage. A microSD card reader is seemingly out of contention for the device, though.

The same screenshot states that Realme has assigned the model number RMX2202 to the Race. With that said, a device by this model number is yet to appear on authorities like the FCC. GSMArena has also provided a supposed photo of the Realme Race, which shows quad rear-facing cameras arranged in a circular housing and a curved glass back. There are no details on the camera sensors that Realme has included in the Race, though.

OnePlus 9E: A new entry into the high-end OnePlus range billed to land alongside the OnePlus 9 and OnePlus 9 Pro next year

Plenty has already been speculated about the OnePlus 9 and OnePlus 9 Pro, from the publication of multiple renders to several benchmark appearances. However, OnePlus reputedly has a third version of the OnePlus 9 series planned. According to the usually well-informed Max Jambor, OnePlus will release a smartphone called the OnePlus 9E, a name that has not been spoken of until now.

It is currently unclear if the OnePlus 9E will be an entry into OnePlus’ flagship range or a step between the OnePlus 9 and the OnePlus Nord series. Jambor adds that ‘OnePlus is trying a similar approach to Samsung’ insofar as offering handsets across all price points.

Either way, we imagine that OnePlus will continue to reserve wireless charging and an IP rating for its ‘Pro’ smartphones, so the OnePlus 9E will probably arrive with neither of these. We would expect OnePlus to include an AMOLED panel with a high-refresh-rate though, as it is accustomed to do these days. Similarly, the OnePlus 9E is likely to feature a Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset, although which remains unclear. If the OnePlus 9E represents an expansion of the current OnePlus flagship roster, then we would expect it to have a Snapdragon 875.

On the other hand, a Snapdragon 775G may be in order if OnePlus has decided to pitch the OnePlus 9E as a step below the OnePlus 9 and OnePlus 9 Pro. Regardless, the OnePlus 9E is expected to arrive in March 2021 alongside the OnePlus 9 and OnePlus 9 Pro.

M30 Pro: An FHD tablet with LTE and a MediaTek Helio P60 chipset for US$189.99

We have reported on several Teclast devices over the years, with the company specialising in tablets. Now with the M30 Pro, Teclast has released a tablet with a MediaTek Helio P60 chipset that retails for US$189.99. Available on AliExpress, the Teclast M30 Pro also has 4 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage.

Meanwhile, the Helio P60 offers four ARM Cortex-A73 cores, four ARM Cortex-A53 cores and an ARM Mali-G72 MP3 GPU that can boost up to 850 MHz. ARM manufacturers the processor cores on a 12 nm process and the GPU cores on a 16 nm process, for reference.

These components power a 10.1-inch IPS display that resolves natively at 1,920 x 1,080 pixels in a 16:9 aspect ratio. There is also a 7,500 mAh battery, which Teclast claims can deliver up to 10 hours of battery life when streaming videos, and a microSD card reader should you need more than the allotted volume of built-in storage.

The M30 Pro has an LTE modem too, for which it has two nano SIM card slots. Additionally, Teclast has included support for A-GPS, BDS, GPS, Glonass and Galileo navigation services. The M30 Pro also has plenty of I/O, as the image below demonstrates.

Teclast ships the M30 Pro with Android 10. However, we would not necessarily hold out hope for Android 11 and beyond. The manufacturer has not promised Android 11 for the M30 Pro, at any rate.

Amazfit Bip U Pro to reach Europe with a SpO2 sensor and GPS for €70

It has only been a month since the Amazfit Bip U arrived, but Huami has already moved onto the Amazfit Bip U Pro. The company teased the latter in October, which was then followed by a certification published by the Bluetooth SIG earlier this month. Now, @Sudhanshu1414 has revealed that Huami will be bringing the Bip U Pro to Europe.

Apparently, Huami will charge approximately €70 for the Bip U Pro, or €10 more than the cost of the Bip U. As we reported last month, the Bip U Pro adds a microphone, a geomagnetic sensor and GPS. Sadly, there is no NFC module, as many smartwatches have.

Additionally, the Bip U Pro has a 1.43-inch that resolves at 320 x 302 pixels. Huami has built the smartwatch with a polycarbonate shell, a BioTracker 2 PPG biological optical sensor, an accelerometer and a gyroscope. Huami has included a 230 mAh battery too, which should last up to 9 days on a single charge.

Presumably, the Amazfit Bip U Pro will be available from Amazon. The smartwatch should be purchasable from Amazfit directly, too.

Galaxy A32 5G leaked: Samsung gives its midrange smartphone a new design and 5G connectivity

We may have only just reviewed the Galaxy A31, but Steve Hemmerstoffer (OnLeaks) has already revealed the design of a successor. Presumably planned for release in spring 2021, Hemmerstoffer claims that the device will be called the Galaxy A32 5G.

The renders published by Hemmerstoffer show that Samsung has made several changes from the Galaxy A31. The South Korean company has ditched the rectangular camera unit of this year’s models, for example, although the cameras on the Galaxy A32 5G are still arranged vertically. There is a fourth sensor though, which is new.

In fact, the Galaxy A32 5G resembles the LG Velvet more than it does its predecessor. The Galaxy A32 5G will have plastic back though, unlike LG’s mid-range handset. The back will also be flat. Apparently, Samsung has designed the Galaxy A32 5G with a 6.5-inch display, which pushes its dimensions to 164.2 x 76.1 x 9.1 mm.

Meanwhile, the Galaxy A32 5G will have a 3.5 mm jack too, along with a USB Type-C port and a fingerprint scanner. The latter will be integrated within the device’s power button. The chipset and battery capacity underpinning the Galaxy A32 5G remain unknown for the moment, though.

The Galaxy Z Fold3 will cost roughly as much as the Z Fold2: new leak

Some recent leaks have pointed toward the possibility that the Galaxy Z Fold series will absorb the Galaxy Note line in coming years. This is due to rumors of the “Galaxy Z Fold3” having pen support, which has been beyond its predecessors due to the fragility of their flexible AMOLED screens. However, this improvement may prove a disadvantage to some Samsung fans.

The leaker MauriQHD has posted a new tweet that could be interpreted as meaning that the Galaxy Z Fold2 and its eventual successor could launch for around the same price. Therefore, should this third-gen Fold really subsume stylus functions and features, its cost could get prohibitive for some potential customers, even if they have for example been interested in the Note line since the original N7000.

Then again, the latest indications are that there may be a final Galaxy Note 21 in 2021 after all. Perhaps it will be refreshing to move on from its form-factor after that year after all – so long as it becomes more economical, of course. In the meantime, it may be interesting to see how the ultra-thin glass (UTG) in the putative Z Fold3 works out in the presence of S Pen use after all.

Huawei is now touted to have liquid-lens technology ready for its next-gen smartphone cameras

Huawei flagship phones or phablets have built up a good reputation of setting the DxOMark standard on their launch. Now, the OEM has reportedly developed a new way of potentially staying ahead of the competition. They comprise a new form of lens that might make the camera in question quicker to focus in the future.

According to a new report in the Chinese media, it is based on an (unspecified) type of liquid that changes shape in response to changes in the voltage acting on it. This, apparently, can bring focus latencies down to the millisecond range, or closer to that of the human eye.

Should this new rumor prove accurate, it could be quite the coup for Huawei. This OEM already boasts of having the best dual 10x optical zoom on the market; improving on this with ultra-fast auto-focus could be the next big thing for the company – marketing-wise, at least.

In addition, it could make teardown videos of the future that much more interesting. They may not be too far away, as the respected leaker Digital Chat Station asserts that these “liquid lenses” are to be first paired with the upcoming Sony IMX782 sensor. It is also allegedly destined to be part of the Xiaomi Mi 11 Pro as a telephoto camera.