Vivo’s V-series has been a top-seller for a few years and the brand has positioned it perfectly in the midrange segment. The brand unveiled the phone in India today and it’ll be going up against the Redmi Note 8 Pro, Realme XT, and Nokia 7.2.

The phone’s unique selling point is its quad-camera setup on the rear, a punch-hole camera on the front, and 4500mAh battery. It’s elder sibling — the Vivo V17 Pro, has already been launched in the Philippines and we expect it to come to India soon.

On the front is a 6.4-inch AMOLED display with better screen-to-body ratio thanks to a punch-hole cutout. Other additions include a blue-light filter and a wide color gamut.

Powering the phone is a Snapdragon 675 processor with 8GB RAM and 128GB internal storage. Similar to other phones in the segment, it also gets a microSD card slot and dual SIM support.

The rear sports a quad-camera setup consisting of a 48-megapixel primary lens, an 8-megapixel wide-angle sensor, a 2-megapixel macro lens, and a 2-megapixel depth sensor. The punch-hole cutout houses a 32-megapixel selfie camera. Night mode is now supported on the front as well as the rear and other additions include AR stickers and portrait mode.

Backing these internals is a 4500mAh battery with Vivo’s proprietary dual-engine fast charge technology. For gaming, a dedicated mode has been provided that optimises the system and controls heating.

The phone is priced at INR 22,990 (US$ 320) and will be available for purchase from December 17 via all major online as well as offline retailers.

OnePlus 8 Lite could be in the works if we are to believe a few leaked renders. The CAD-based renders of the OnePlus 8 Lite have been leaked by popular leakster OnLeaks and suggest the company could launch a more affordable offering soon.

We expect the OnePlus 8 and 8 Pro to launch in Q2 2020 and they could be accompanied by the 8 Lite. It can be a substitute for Samsung’s S10e, a smaller phone that doesn’t cost as much as the flagships.

The OnePlus 8 Lite appears to be a serious deviation from the typical OnePlus design, moving the camera bump back to the corner. The phone doesn’t have any headphone jack but it comes with a USB-C port and a speaker grille. But, it may have an under-screen fingerprint scanner, translating into an OLED display.

When it comes to the internal specs, it’s not clear exactly how it might differentiate itself from the standard offering.

OnePlus is now a well-established brand and controls quite a huge chunk of the premium market in countries like India. Within a short span of time, it has managed to challenge Samsung’s status quo and sometimes even Apple.

The brand has been focused on making premium flagships for a few years and recently also expanded to TVs. OnePlus X was the first and last midrange phone from OnePlus and the top management has been quite vocal about not going down the path again.

However, changing times require changing strategies. The S10e has received a phenomenal response and a midrange price will make it easier for users to purchase the phone.

The Philippines is enjoying a fruitful year at the 2019 Southeast Asian Games. At the time of this writing, the country has 114 gold medals, breaking its former record of 112 gold medals from the 2005 event. Among the current accolades, however, one victory stands out — the Mobile Legends crown.

In a classic underdog tale, the Philippine team, Sibol Mobile Legends, defeated the Indonesian team by a narrow 3-2 victory.

Coached by Changrok Im, the Philippine team is composed of Kenneth Jiane “Kenji” Villa, Karl Gabriel “KarlTzy” Nepomuceno, Carlito “Ribo” Ribo, Jeniel “Haze” Bata-anon, Angelo Kyle “Pheww” Arcangel, Allan Sancio “Lusty” Castromayor, and Jason Rafael “Jay” Torculas. On the other side, the Indonesia team is filled by medaled champions from Southeast Asian and global tournaments — a veritable dream team.

Of note, the Philippines ended up in a lower bracket in the preliminary group stages, finishing only second to rivalling Indonesia in Group B.

The best-of-five match-up started with an emphatic win from Sibol, headlined by a flank play from Villa. From the onset, Sibol had the momentum going forward.

However, the next two games belonged to Indonesia, including an emphatic game 2 win and a comeback game 3 nail-biter. The rivaling team seemingly regained its champion form.

Unfortunately for the visitors, Sibol blew the game wide open, stealing a crucial game 4 to setup a decider in game 5. In that fourth outing, Indonesia surprisingly allowed the Philippine team to run Esmeralda, Nepomuceno’s ace hero. Naturally, Nepomuceno wreaked havoc, taking kill after kill.

After failing to complete the beating, Indonesia collapsed in the fifth and final frame, granting the Philippines the dominant win and the first esports medal for the country in the 2019 SEA Games.

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