Everything Google Announced at Its Pixel 6 Launch Event
Affordable Flagships: The Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro
Starting at just $600, the new Pixel 6 already looks like the best phone money can buy. It offers flagship-level performance, plus killer camera quality thanks to a new 50MP sensor and the Tensor chip’s upgraded AI capabilities. Not only that, but it includes a ton of killer features like Live Translate and a Face Unblur photo editing tool, and its voice-to-text algorithm is faster and more accurate than any other Android phone’s.
The new Pixel 6 Pro is a small-yet-significant upgrade to the Pixel 6. Starting at $900, it expands the Pixel 6’s 6.4-inch display to a cool 6.7 inches. It also supports a 120Hz refresh rate (the Pixel 6 hits 90Hz), and even has a 48MP telephoto lens.
Pixel 6 Pro also comes with a larger battery than the Pixel 6, though Google promises a 24-hour battery life from both devices. In fact, the company says you can get up to 48 hours with Extreme Battery Saver enabled, though we haven’t had a chance to test this claim.
The Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro are available for pre-order now. But I think you should scroll down and check out the Pixel Pass plan before you pull the trigger.
Goodbye Snapdragon, Hello Tensor
Google developed its own Tensor processor to replace the Snapdragon. Tensor is a revolutionary chip that takes several steps to improve AI performance on mobile systems, unlocking a ton of new features on the Pixel 6 like snappy Live Translate, faster voice-to-text, and enhanced computational photography for better photos than ever before.
Pixel Pass: The Ultimate Google Subscription Service
Pixel Pass starts at $45 a month if you want a Pixel 6, or just $55 if for the Pixel 6 Pro. Here’s everything included with Pixel Pass:
- YouTube Premium: Ad-free viewing and background play while using other apps.
- YouTube Music Premium: Ad-free, uninterrupted listening.
- Google One: Get 200GB of cloud storage across Google’s services, including Photos and Drive.
- Google Play Pass: Access hundreds of games for free with no ads.
- Preferred Care: Hassle-free device repairs and coverage for accidents.
- Google Store Discounts: Exclusive discounts on products in the Google Store.
Android 12 Rolls Out for Select Pixel Phones
Here are all the phones that can update to Android 12 today:
- Pixel 3
- Pixel 3 XL
- Pixel 3a
- Pixel 3a XL
- Pixel 4
- Pixel 4 XL
- Pixel 4a
- Pixel 4a 5G
- Pixel 5
- Pixel 5a
From Reviewgeek
Oppo K9s goes official with Snapdragon 778G, 6.59″ 120Hz LCD
Fans in China can already reserve an Oppo K9s at CNY 1,700 for the 6/128 GB phone (that converts to ($265/€230/₹20,000). The 8/128 GB model is CNY 1,900 ($300/€255/₹22,250). The retail package includes a charger, cable and a protective case. The phone will be available from November 1 (in China, there’s no word on global availability yet).
From Gsmarena
Vivo unveils T1 and T1x with 64MP cameras and big batteries
Vivo T1 is powered by a Snapdragon 778G chipset and has a 5,000 mAh battery. At the front is a 6.67″ LCD with a single punch hole that supports 120Hz refresh rate and 240Hz touch sampling rate.
Around the back it has a triple camera with a 64MP main sensor, 8MP one behind an ultrawide lens and a 2MP macro camera.
The vivo T1x is slightly cheaper and comes with a Dimensity 900 SoC. It still offers a 64MP main camera, but looses the ultrawide unit and only has a 2MP macro cam to keep it company. At the front the 8MP selfie snapper is tucked in a waterdrop notch.
The front panel is a slightly smaller 6.58” LCD but retains the 120Hz refresh rate (it also drops to 180Hz touch sampling).
There is a 5,000 mAh battery inside the T1x, and it matches the T1’s 44W fast charging, which goes from 0 to 70% in 38 minutes.
Both phones have the so-called Dynamic RAM feature that can temporarily dump some files to the storage for faster performance, and in theory, the phones can reach up to 12GB RAM.
The vivo T1 will sell in three memory configurations – 8/128 GB, 8/256 GB, 12/256 GB, in either Black or Blue colors. The three versions CNY2,199 ($345), CNY2,399 ($375) or CNY2,599 ($405), respectively.
Meanwhile, the T1x will starts at CNY1,599 ($250) and again gets three memory combos – 6/128 GB, 8/128 GB, and 8/256 GB.
From Gsmarena
Amazfit GTR 3 Pro, GTR 3, and GTS 3 debut in India
The Amazfit GTR 3 Pro, GTR 3, and GTS 3 unveiled last week have debuted in India. The GTS 3 and GTR 3 are priced at INR13,999 ($185/€160), whereas the GTR 3 Pro is priced at INR18,999 ($255/€220). The GTR 3 is offered in Thunder Black and Moonlight Grey colors, while the Pro model comes in Infinite Black and Brown Leather colors. The GTS 3, on the other hand, has three color options – Graphite Black, Terra Rosa, and Ivory White.
All three smartwatches are sold through Amazfit’s Indian website, but you can also buy the GTR 3 from Flipkart and the GTS 3 and GTR 3 Pro from Amazon.in. All are available for INR1,000 off till October 22.
From Gsmarena
Snapdragon 898 and Dimensity 2000 specs revealed
The Snapdragon 898 will be fabbed at Samsung using its 4nm manufacturing process and the SoC would employ an octa-core CPU that consists of a Cortex-X2-based main core clocked at 3.0 GHz along with 3x Cortex-A710-based performance cores running at 2.5 GHz. The energy-efficient Cortex-A510-based cores will be clocked at 1.79GHz while the Adreno 730 GPU will take care of the graphically-intensive workloads.
The Dimensity 2000 would feature an identical configuration but the cluster of three performance cores is said to be clocked at 2.85 GHz – considerably higher than the Snapdragon 898’s ones. The GPU is rumored to be Mali-G710 MC10. Notably, MediaTek’s flagship silicon will be based on TSMC’s 4nm manufacturing process.
From Gsmarena
Beats Fit Pro wireless earbuds tipped to launch next month
Hot on the heels of the AirPods 3, Apple is on the verge of releasing a new pair of Beats wireless earbuds.
According to a report by 9to5Mac, the Beats Fit Pro will launch in the week commencing November 1 with active noise cancellation and Apple’s H1 chip for fast pairing with the company’s devices and the ‘Hey Siri’ feature.
Right now, there’s no indication of how much they might cost, but the inclusion of the H1 chip and all the extra features that could bring means we’d expect them to cost a little more than the $149.99 / £129.99 / AU$199.95 Beats Studio Buds.
From Techradar
The Redmi Note 11 is launching at the end of October
The Redmi Note 10 isn’t that long in the tooth, debuting back in March in some parts of the world. However, Xiaomi has now confirmed that its successor, the Redmi Note 11, is landing a little over a week’s time.
In a series of teasers published to Weibo, the company detailed the phone’s launch date as well as its key design elements. For starters, you’ll need to mark October 28 on your calendars. The event kicks off at 7 PM Beijing time (7 AM ET).
As for the Redmi Note 11’s design, the phone appears to have four rear cameras in teaser shots. Also returning is a 3.5mm headphone jack, JBL speakers, and a slightly curved front display.
From Android Authority
Intel Core i9-12900K leak shows an overclocked CPU that could seriously worry AMD
Intel’s Core i9-12900K, the incoming Alder Lake flagship which could be revealed next week, has been spotted in yet another leaked benchmark, this time showing how competitive the finished product will supposedly be with rival AMD silicon.
According to the leaker who brought this CPU-Z benchmark into the spotlight, namely HXL on Twitter, this is the Core i9-12900K retail version which has been run through its paces on Bilibili, with an overclock applied across all performance cores (but not the low-power efficiency ones).
The performance cores have been overclocked to 5.2GHz, as noted (up from a default all-core boost which is supposedly 5GHz), and the results compared to the Ryzen 9 5950X. Intel’s chip – salt to hand, as ever – recorded a single-thread result of 851, compared to 648 for the Ryzen 5950X, meaning Team Blue was 31% faster here.
For multi-threaded, the 12900K managed 11,987, just edging out the Ryzen CPU which hit 11,906 (a less than 1% advantage, but still technically a win for Intel).
From Techradar
Oppo might follow Google’s lead, launch its own chipsets as soon as 2023
Custom processors are one of the biggest challenges for smartphone brands, with only Apple, Google, Samsung, and Huawei having flagship-level in-house silicon at this juncture. However, we’ve heard murmurings in the last year or two about Oppo working on custom chipsets of its own.
Now, Nikkei Asia has reported that the company is indeed developing high-end chipsets for its “premium” smartphones. Oppo plans to use these chipsets in phones launching in 2023 or 2024, two sources briefed on the topic told the outlet.
Oppo is apparently considering the use of TSMC’s 3nm design for these new chipsets. Further technical details weren’t forthcoming, but it’s a safe bet that Arm’s high-end CPU cores and GPUs will be used. The company will likely have to design parts like imaging chips and modems too, although we’ve seen Google seemingly adopt Samsung’s modem for its own in-house Tensor processor.
From Android Authority
New logo? Call itself ‘FCBK’? Bring back poking? How Facebook could rebrand
Facebook’s proposed rebrand comes at a crucial time for the company. On one hand, Mark Zuckerberg’s increasing focus on the “metaverse” seems to hint that he has ambitions far beyond simply destroying every non-Facebook industry on the planet. But at the same time, he also has to unveil this new unstoppable machine of death without scaring off too many regular Facebook users. How will he be able to manage such an impossible highwire act?
From The Guardian
