News

Honor View 20 has a punch-hole display and 48MP camera

Honor wants to end the year with a bang!

Published

on

The year is about to end and Honor has unveiled a smartphone that incorporates everything exciting about 2018. The phone has a punch-hole display, a huge camera on the rear, very flashy design, and the heart of a beast.

The View 20 (V20 in China) is a successor of the View 10, a midrange phone that performed significantly well in the competitive market. It has been launched in China only for now, but the company has already expressed its plans to launch it globally on January 22.

It starts at CNY 2,999 (US$ 435) for the 6GB RAM option and the second variant with 8GB RAM costs CNY 3,499 (US$ 505). Pre-orders have already started and the device is expected to ship by December 28. Honor has also announced a Moschino Edition that comes with 256GB internal storage and is marked at CNY 3,999 (US$ 580).

The first thing you’ll notice about the phone is its display. Unlike the usual trend, the View 20 skips the notch in favor of a punch-hole camera. The screen has eighteen layers, but drills just two of the bottom layers to make room for the camera. It sports a 6.4-inch Full HD+ LCD display with a 91.82 percent screen-to-body ratio thanks to a smaller 4.5mm key-hole.

The brand is positioning this phone as its flagship offering for the beginning of 2019 and has embedded a class-leading Kirin 980 chipset along with 6GB or 8GB of RAM. The internal storage is the same for both options at 128GB and is expandable via a microSD card.

Sitting within that cutout is a 25-megapixel selfie shooter, but the real story sits on the back. Using a Sony IMX586 sensor, Honor says the View 20’s camera will be able to deliver photos with 48 megapixels, with lots of detail even when zoomed in. The phone is also capable of shooting 960fps slow-motion videos.

Powering the phone is a 4000mAh battery that charges via Honor’s 4.5V/5A FastCharge technology. The brand claims it can charge 55 percent of the battery within 30 minutes.

Additionally, Honor will introduce Link Turbo, which again uses AI to assess the best network connection out of Wi-Fi and cellular, based on the signal, usage, and network conditions, and switches seamlessly between them.

News

OPPO Find X9 series are now live in China

Global launch to follow on October 28

Published

on

By

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!

Continue Reading

Accessories

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

None of their phones have built-in Qi2 magnets.

Published

on

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

Continue Reading

Apps

ChatGPT will soon allow NSFW conversations

The platform will start age-gating users in December.

Published

on

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

Continue Reading

Trending