News
POCO F3 now official, a flagship phone with a midrange price tag
AKA Redmi K40
The POCO F1 was a legendary phone that kickstarted a new segment called “affordable flagship.” After a year-long sabbatical, the brand has made a quick recovery in 2020 and is now all set to launch its third top-notch offering. Dubbed the POCO F3, it has many expectations to meet.
It’s obvious that the phone doesn’t have a very lucrative price like the POCO F1 due to the ongoing semiconductor shortage and the final cost of incorporating a flagship chipset. However, POCO has achieved a midrange price stag that offers maximum bang for the buck.
The POCO F3 sports a 6.7-inch AMOLED display with Full HD+ resolution, a 120Hz refresh rate, HDR 10+ support, and a peak brightness of 1300 nits. The display, as well as the back, is wrapped in Gorilla Glass 5.
Powering the phone is a Snapdragon 870 processor with Adreno 650 GPU, up to 8GB LPDDR5 RAM, and 256GB UFS 3.1 storage. The fingerprint scanner is located on the side, and it runs on MIUI 12, based on Android 11, out-of-the-box. It’s clear that POCO is focusing on performance and intends to continue the POCO F1 legacy.
The brand stressed on its LiquidCool Technology 1.0 Plus, allowing the device to deliver sustained peak performance. It also has 5G connectivity and WiFi 6 support, making it a solid future-proof phone.
On the back are a 48-megapixel primary camera, an 8-megapixel wide-angle lens, and a 5-megapixel macro sensor. There’s an in-display 20-megapixel front camera that’s located in a punch-hole cut-out.
Backing these internals is a 4520mAh battery with 33W fast charging. Xiaomi claims it can fully charge the phone in 52 minutes. It doesn’t have a 3.5mm headphone jack, which it covers up by Dolby Atmos support and dual physical speakers.
Pricing and availability
Philippines
- 6GB+128GB — PhP 17,990
- 8GB+256GB — PhP 20,990
Color options include Arctic White, Night Black, and Deep Ocean Blue, and sales are exclusive to Lazada. If the POCO F3 is ordered on March 27, an early bird discount will be applicable of PhP 2,000 on both variants.
Global
- 6GB+128GB — EUR 349 (early bird price — EUR 299)
- 8GB+256GB — EUR 399 (early bird price — EUR 349)
Nothing goes together more than a Chinese smartphone brand and the relentless pursuit for a bigger battery. For years, Chinese brands have engaged in a war for this particular component. Now, the latest salvo has been fired. Honor is reportedly working on a phone with a gigantic 14000mAh battery.
Today, the biggest battery capacity you can find on an Honor phone is 11000mAh. The Honor X80 Pro Max already offers a battery that can last you more than a single day. At this point, it’s certainly more than enough for our daily needs.
According to Digital Chat Station on Weibo, a smartphone brand is currently working on a 14000mAh battery. Though the leak does not explicitly pinpoint Honor, the emoji used (a wolf) is historically used to imply the Chinese brand in Weibo parlance.
A 14000mAh is just absurdly huge. With a battery larger than some powerbanks, battery anxiety becomes moot. It’s bordering on “can we bring this on a plane” territory.
As with all rumored features, the next question is when this battery will arrive on a consumer-ready device. Given how serious the battery wars are for the Chinese market, it’s only a matter of time.
SEE ALSO: HONOR continues APAC expansion, to launch 600 series in Taiwan
Yesterday, Nothing officially teased the Phone (4b), an all-new line positioned below the Phone (4a) series. At the time, the teaser revealed nothing but the design of the upcoming phone. However, ahead of its July 7 launch, the Phone (4b) suddenly appeared on Geekbench, spoiling a few of its mysterious specs.
According to the listing, the Phone (4b) will run the SM6650, more popularly known as the Snapdragon 6 Gen 4. It’s a modestly powered processor built for the budget to midrange segments of the performance spectrum. Having this processor does confirm that the phone belongs to the step below the Phone (4a), bringing affordability to a name other than CMF.
Besides the processor, the new phone will come with an Adreno 810 GPU and 8GB of RAM. Inside, it will ship with Android 16 out of the box, but this will likely be upgradeable to Android 17 later this year.
It’s already confirmed that the Phone (4b) will be quite the looker. The phone will slightly depart from the design philosophy of the Phone (4a) series. Though it will still have a sizable rear island, the camera setup will just be a small vertical strip on the top-left corner. Additionally, the lighting element typical of all Nothing phones will be a small horizontal strip on the bottom-right corner.
Thankfully, the wait for more specs won’t be long. Nothing has confirmed that the phone’s launch is set for July 7.
News
Polaroid says, enjoy the beach before AI ruins it
“We know what we stand to lose if we don’t protect it.”
Tongue-in-cheek marketing is a soothing balm for a world where false promises are more often advertised. But, what happens when those tongue-in-cheek jokes strike a nerve and make you think, “maybe this isn’t a joke anymore”? Polaroid, a huge proponent of analog technology, has put up such a billboard to enjoy the beach “before the data centers drink it all up.”
Right in front of Coney Island (and right in time for summer), Polaroid has a simple message: “Go jump in the water before the data centers drink it all up.”
Though funny by itself, the message plays on an ongoing fear that today’s data centers, built for AI, have such a high water requirement that each query takes up gallons every time. This is, of course, slightly hyperbolic, but data centers are indeed exerting a lot of pressure on their area’s resources. They take a lot of water for cooling and electricity to keep open.
In a statement, Polaroid says that they’re not anti-digital. Rather, “we know we have to live alongside it, but we’re deeply pro-human and know what humanity gives us. And we know what we stand to lose if we don’t protect it. That’s a fight worth fighting,” says Polaroid’s creative director Patricia Varella, via LBB.
Now, this isn’t a completely altruistic ad. It’s still advertising the new Go Generation 3. Still, if you’re looking for a product to go alongside today’s shifting sentiments against AI, a Polaroid might be it.
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