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realme 6i and realme Band: pricing, availability in the Philippines

Compelling features at great prices

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realme Philippines is launching the successor to the popular realme 5 series in the country. The Realme 6 series will build on the features that made its predecessor popular among many. The first device in the series — realme 6i — is coming soon to the Philippines with pre-orders starting soon.

realme 6i is the successor of the highly-popular Realme 5 smartphone.  This time around, the company brought some improvements to the specs that matter to most consumers.

For example, the camera has some massive improvements in tow this year. It still has a quad-camera setup from its predecessor. What’s new is the setup: it now has a 48MP wide-angle + 8MP ultra-wide-angle + 8MP macro + 2MP depth sensor on the back. This should allow for better images with more details and higher resolutions.

The front camera’s got some boost too. realme 6i now has a 16MP up front, which is a 3MP bump from last year.

This time around, Mediatek’s Helio G80 powers the device, providing a 35% performance boost from realme 5’s Snapdragon 665. It comes with either 3GB or 4GB of RAM for a fluid experience. Storage still comes at an option of 64GB or 128GB, which is expandable with a MicroSD card. The device comes with realme UI based on Android 10, so users can expect goodies such as system-wide Dark Mode here.

While the battery from the realme 6i remains unchanged at 5,000 mAh, the company is throwing an 18Wh charger so users can fully charge the device in under an hour. realme is finally putting a USB-C port on this device, which is becoming much more common nowadays.

The display of this device remains at 1600 x 720 resolution. The company could have switched to an OLED panel this year, but they have to cut some corners in order for this device to remain competitive in its target segment. Still, the display should be enough for most users.

These features are all packed in a smartphone with an improved finish and design. The design of Realme 6i is helmed by Naoto Fukusawa, who is also behind the realme X Series Master Edition.

realme Band is coming too

realme is also bringing its first smart band — realme Band — in the country. It packs a decent 0.96 LCD display and 24/7 heart-rate monitoring. There are 9 exercises which the band can track. Sleep times and quality can also be tracked with the band.

realme Band offers customization options with personalized watch faces and smart notifications. Users can link their band with their smartphones through the realme Link app. The charging of the band is done directly on the device.

Pricing and availability

realme 6i comes in two configurations. The 3 + 64 GB starts at PhP 7,990, while the 4 +128 GB starts at PhP 9,990. Both configurations are available in either White Milk or Green Tea color.

Meanwhile, realme Band is available in three colors: yellow, green, and black. It retails at PhP 1,990 with a special introductory price of PhP 990.

Those who wanted to purchase these devices may do so on Lazada. realme is holding a flash sale for both devices on May 23 and May 26, so keep an eye out for realme’s Lazada page.

Finance

HONOR, Fidesmo partner for contactless payments across Europe, Middle East

Enabling contactless payments on the HONOR Watch 6

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HONOR and Fidesmo have partnered to launch contactless payments across Europe and the Middle East on the HONOR Watch 6.

Powered by Fidesmo Pay, the integration enables users to connect an existing Mastercard or Visa card to their watch and complete contactless transactions directly from the wearable device.

This brings Fidesmo’s network of over 900 banks and financial institutions to HONOR’s customers. Users can connect an existing card to the HONOR Watch 6 instantly through the HONOR Health App, which installs a unique token directly onto the watch.

Acting as a secure reference to the payment method, this token allows customers to pay without storing their actual payment details on the device. Once installed, users can tap the watch at any
contactless terminal to pay, just as they would with a card or phone.

HONOR joins a group of device partners that already includes Swatch, Polar, and Mondaine as Fidesmo continues to build momentum across categories.

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Entertainment

Max vs 100 will feature Max Verstappen race against 100 go-karters

The live event will stream at midnight on September 17.

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As a child, one of my favorite thought experiments is to imagine who would win in a fight between my favorite characters at the time and a number of other random beings. For example, will Superman prevail against 100 Magnetos? Those are the ways I kept my young mind occupied. Now, as a former child, I still do the same thing but with more realistic people, like imagining if Steph Curry can win against 100 high schoolers. This week, ESPN and Disney+ are making one of those imaginary fights real: Formula 1 legend Max Verstappen versus 100 go-karters.

In an upcoming live event streaming exclusively on Disney+, Max vs 100 will pit the four-time world champion against 100 go-karters from everywhere in pop culture. This gaggle of 100 will include popular content creators such as Twitch streamer ExtraEmily, car photographer Larry Chen, and NBA shooting coach Chris Matthews.

All 101 drivers will race around one of the most iconic tracks in Formula 1 history, Silverstone in England. The track will be reconfigured to match the special race.

Of course, this is more than just a parade of go-karts. Max Verstappen will start at the back of the grid, meaning he has to overtake all 100 racers to win. Now, the Dutch driver is no stranger to winning from the back. In 2024, he won the Sao Paulo Grand Prix despite starting from P17 (out of 20 racers). Max vs 100, though familiar for the driver, presents a different challenge. Can he overtake 100 times to win the race?

Max vs 100 will stream live through Disney+ on September 17, 12:00am PHT.

SEE ALSO: Disney+ is moving to a global app experience

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Apps

Apple’s best feature to cure motion sickness is finally on Android

Google copies a good page from Apple’s playbook.

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As an Android user, I’ve been jealous of iPhone users for a while now, but it’s not for the reason you might think. See, I’m ridiculously prone to motion sickness when I’m not driving. So, when I discovered that Apple has a software-based cure called Vehicle Motion Cues, I wanted it immediately. Now, Android does have third-party apps that do the same thing, but they’re not as good as a fully native version. Well, those dark, nauseating days are about to come to an end. Android 17 is finally getting a similar tool called Motion assist.

Before that, let’s rewind for a bit. What do these features do? How can they cure motion sickness?

Whenever you open Vehicle Motion Cues or Motion assist, the interface spawns a series of dots on the screen. These dots respond to movement. For example, if the vehicle turns to the left, the dots also go to the left, mimicking the movement. Without cues like this, the stationary nature of the screen clashes with our brain’s perception of movement. The disparity creates that feeling of nausea. Basically, our eyes are desperately trying to focus on the static screen, but our brains are telling us that we should be seeing motion. Having moving dots reorients our brain and places the phone inside our perception of movement.

Now, you can enable the same feature on your Android 17 device through Settings > All services > Motion assist under Personal & device safety. You can also set it so that the feature turns on automatically when the phone detects that you’re in a moving vehicle. Finally, you can also tweak the shape, color, and opacity of these dots.

Android 17’s Motion assist is rolling out now to compatible devices.

SEE ALSO: These are the best Android 17 features (if you hate AI)

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