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Flash Plus 2 is an exciting sub-$200 phone from the brand formerly known as Alcatel

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When I hear the word Alcatel, I get flashbacks from the very late nineties, when apart from the likes of Nokia and Motorola, it too made cellphones. I can still remember the first Alcatel One Touch, a larger and rounder Nokia 5110 look-a-like.

Almost 20 years later, Alcatel is staging a comeback. Over the last few years the company has generated a reasonable amount of interest in its Flash line – budget smartphones with reasonably good specs.

But despite its rich past, this week, mother company TCL announced it was dropping the Alcatel branding from Flash phones and creating Flash as an independent brand. Albert Wong, general manager of Flash 3C tells GadgetMatch the moves was inspired by Flash’s younger demographic. “We found actually the people who buy online are much younger. They have a different behavior.”

The first new Flash smartphone is the Flash Plus 2, announced this week. At under $200, its probably one of the most interesting phones this year. Sure, it doesn’t offer anything innovative, but the Flash Plus 2 offers features and specs that not even all midrange smartphones offer.

Alcatel-Flash-Plus-2

A 5.5-inch, 1080p display fronts the user, while an octa-core Helio P10 chipset from MediaTek takes care of everything else from computing to running Android Marshmallow. The Flash Plus 2 is available with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of expandable storage, or you can get it with 3GB of RAM and 32GB storage. It also The Flash Plus 2 is also equipped with a 3,000mAh battery, a 13-megapixel rear camera, and a 5-megapixel front-facer that offers a Beauty mode for photos and video (yes, video!).

Of course, the design choices that led to the Flash Plus 2 are equally noteworthy. The phone goes metal, with chamfered edges and a curved back that gets a brushed finish for a premium look and feel. As far as sub-$200 phones go, it’s also among the few that has a fingerprint sensor for added security and more.

It’s this disruption that Flash hopes will be the key to its success. We’ve been impressed many times this year by manufacturers offering great midrange smartphones, but with its competitive price point, the Flash Plus 2 is in a league of its own in the segment.

Like many up-and-comers, Flash is focused on building its community of users and offering its phones exclusive via online partners. “The most important thing for us is to satisfy our consumers.”

According to Wong, many new features of the Flash Plus 2 came from understanding user pain points, like the phone’s front-facing flash and its dedicated micro SD card slot. The community will also have a say in color options for its upcoming replaceable metallic casings for the Flash Plus 2.

Available in silver and gold paint jobs, the Flash Plus 2 will debut later this month across Southeast Asia, including Malaysian, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines.

Flash executives tell GadgetMatch they believe APAC is one of the biggest open markets for mobile phones, where they can skip operators and resellers and sell directly to consumers. The company also promises to offer higher-end products later this year.

[irp posts=”2875″ name=”Flash Plus 2 review”]

News

OPPO Find X9 series are now live in China

Global launch to follow on October 28

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Just days after vivo’s widely-anticipated X300 series, its sister brand OPPO releases the Find X9 series. It’s their latest line of flagships for 2025.

Flagship Find

The OPPO Find X9 and Find X9 Pro are the next line of smartphones equipped with MediaTek’s latest Dimensity 9500 SoC based on a powerful and power-efficient 3nm process.

Much like its closest cousins, the base and Pro models of the Find X9 differ in certain aspects.

First and foremost, the Pro has the bigger 6.78-inch display. Meanwhile, the vanilla variant has a “more compact” 6.59-inch.

OPPO says though that both units boast an ultra-thin 1.15mm symmetrical bezels on all sides.

Moreover, battery capacities are also different.

The Find X9 has 7025mAh while the Find X9 Pro possess a larger 7500mAh battery.

These phones are expected to run the all-new ColorOS 16 with primary focus on silky-smooth animation, as well as smarter AI feats, seamless connectivity between PCs, Macs, and other accessories, as well as band overall user experience.

Hasselblad Legacy

Different from what OnePlus is doing, OPPO continues to strengthen its partnership with the renowned Swedish camera-maker Hasselblad.

With this continuous collaboration, both the Find X9 and X9 Pro feature the Hasselblad Camera System alongside OPPO’s all-new LUMO Image Engine.

Furthermore, the Find X9 Pro offers a 200MP telephoto camera co-developed with Hasselblad — both in sensor calibration and optical design.

Additionally, these Find models also deliver exceptional video capabilities with up to 4K / 120fps Dolby Vision support as well as LOG recording with ACES support for that seamless and professional workflow.

The Find X9 series are also concert-ready with cutting-edge telephoto optimizations such as Stage Mode and AI Sound Focus.

Pricing and Availability

The OPPO Find X9 are available in three colorways: Titanium Grey, Space Black, and Velvet Red.

Meanwhile, the Find X9 Pro is being offered in two shades: Silk White and Titanium Charcoal.

In line with the China-exclusive launch, the announcement of the Find X9 series slated for global markets will be held in Barcelona, Spain on October 28th.

Mark your calendars!

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Accessories

Samsung launched a charger that’s incompatible with all its phones

None of their phones have built-in Qi2 magnets.

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In the world of wireless charging, Qi2 is where it’s at. The newer magnetic system automatically aligns the phone with the best positions to charge wirelessly. That said, it’s taking a while for most smartphones to get the charging standard. In an odder twist, Samsung, who does not currently have any native Qi2 devices, has launched its own Qi2 chargers.

In the United States, Samsung rolled out the Qi2-compatible Single Wireless Charger and Car Wireless Charger. As both their names indicate, the chargers will allow for wireless charging in a variety of situations.

Retailing for US$ 34.99, the single puck can charge by up to 25W when paired with a charging adapter (sold separately). The car charger, on the other hand, comes with its own 12V car adapter and a rotating mount. It’s very pricy, coming in at US$ 84.99.

Now, the kicker is that the chargers are compatible with Samsung’s current flagships including the Galaxy S25, the Flip7, and the Fold7. Technically, yes, these smartphones can charge using this duo. However, none of them have the built-in magnets to natively connect to the pucks. They need a separate case with a Qi2-certified magnet included.

It seems pretty scummy to offer a Qi2 charger for smartphones without the magnets built inside. On the bright side, it’s a good sign that Samsung’s upcoming smartphones, starting with the Galaxy S26 early next year, will likely offer Qi2 charging natively. (At least, we hope. Otherwise, this might be the priciest charger in recent memory.)

SEE ALSO: Samsung Galaxy S25 FE review: Closer to flagship than ever

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Apps

ChatGPT will soon allow NSFW conversations

The platform will start age-gating users in December.

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Every day, we inch closer and closer to the strange reality of Joaquin Phoenix’s Her. Today’s AI-powered chatbots have inevitably adapted to address our more carnal desires. Some, such as those offered by xAI, are even explicitly designed to only flirt with the user. Soon, ChatGPT will offer the same thing: a way for adult users to… well, be adults.

Through a post on X, OpenAI’s Sam Altman reiterated ChatGPT’s impending drive to introduce age-gating in December. Keeping younger users from the platform will open ChatGPT to more “mature” conversations. Altman specifically names “erotica” as one of the potential uses of a looser platform.

Additionally, ChatGPT is rolling out an update which will make the platform more personable and comparable to actual conversations. This includes using more emojis or talking like a friend.

The platform is also adding more safeguards when it comes to mental health issues, given that more people are using it as a makeshift therapist. Recently, Altman made sure that ChatGPT treated mental health with more delicateness. To some, especially those without such issues, the platform became more unusable. To bring back how it used to be, the platform will add better tools to detect whether the user is in “mental distress.”

Finally, OpenAI is implementing a backend solution to mental health by creating a new council of researchers and experts to accurately determine the impact of AI on mental health. Currently, it’s still unknown how much this new technology is helping (or harming) our wellbeing.

SEE ALSO: ChatGPT Go now available in the Philippines, more Asian countries

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