News

realme GT unveiled in realme’s first ever global launch

Announced during realme’s first global launch

Published

June 15, 2021

Rodneil Quiteles

realme picked the best theme — speed — as they launched the first in their GT series: the realme GT. Announced in the company’s first ever global launch, the realme GT is packed with flagship specs that promises a fast and smooth performance.

Grand Tourers design

Keeping in line with the speed theme, realme says the realme GT’s design is based on the concept of grand tourers (GT) sports cars. These road machines were made for high speed, long-distance driving. They’re also known to come with high performance and luxury features. Just with this, it’s clear the market that the new flagship is aimed at.

realme has always been pretty fancy with their design. For the realme GT, they’re offering a glass covered design with a 3D light reflecting pattern. There’s also a vegan-leather covered version with a repeated acceleration symbol.

The glass version comes in two colors — Dashing Silver and Dashing Blue. They come with a series of shooting arrow patterns on the back of the phone, symbolizing speed and dynamism.

Meanwhile, the vegan leather edition is available in a rare Racing Yellow, staying true to the brand’s colors. It’s the first one with a dual-tone leather design which is indeed quite unique.

Made to be fast

Powering the device is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888. It’s the same chip found on some of the best flagship Android smartphones released in 2021 so far. Flanking it are an LPDDR5 RAM and UFS 3.1 storage. Configurations vary per variant. We’ll go more in detail in the pricing section.

We’ve experience some minor heating problems with other Snapdragon 888 devices. realme mitigates this with a new generation stainless steel VC cooling system. It optimizes the phone’s heat dissipation structure. realme says this showed a 50 percent increase in cooling efficiency.

Inside the realme GT is a 4,500mAh battery with support for 65W SuperDart charging. A feature that’s set to get you from zero to 100 percent in just 35 minutes.

Elsewhere on the realme GT

It has a 6.43 inch AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and a 360Hz touch sampling rate — something mobile gamers might be particular to. Being a flagship, it also naturally has support for 5G and Wi-Fi 6.

It’s also equipped with a 64MP triple camera system with the usual features like portrait mode as well as a brand new night portrait mode. Like most flagships, there’s also AI assist so you can point, shoot, and post to your heart’s content.

The realme GT has Dolby Atmos Dual Stereo speakers, Hi-Res Audio, and a 3.5mm audio jack with low latency and low interference charge. Lastly, it’s one of the first devices to come with Android 12 Beta 1. Later this year, it will be updated to the new realme UI.

Price and availability

The realme GT is now available for purchase in selected countries, including Poland, Spain, Russia and Thailand. Additional markets to follow.

Pricing are as follows:

12GB+256GB realme GT — EUR 599
Early bird sale for EUR 499 to all consumers during Amazon Prime Day starting June 21.

8GB+128GB realme GT — EUR 449
Early bird sale for EUR 369 on AliExpress.

News

The iPhone 18 might sell out for an unexpected reason

The ongoing shortage might play a part in the phone selling out earlier than expected.

Published

August 7, 2026

Luigi Leonardo

An iPhone selling out is not news. Because of how popular the phones are, it’s within the realm of probability that Apple runs out of stock at some point. According to a new report, this year won’t be any different… but it’s for an entirely different reason.

First reported by analyst Tim Culpan, Apple is reportedly struggling to meet its demand for semiconductors for the iPhone 18 and the foldable iPhone. The ongoing memory shortage is cutting off Apple’s ability to deliver the required supply of smartphones in a timely fashion. The report even claims that TSMC, which helps produce the iPhone, is sitting on a shipment of processors, worth US$ 1 billion, that don’t have memory chips.

Now, Apple is still confident that it can weather the launch. However, if the shortage persists, the iPhone 18 generation will likely sell out much more quickly than expected.

It’s an interesting time for Apple to experience such a shortage. It’s been heavily rumored that the company will launch its very first foldable phone next month, creating a new market for the brand. Apple definitely wants this attempt to succeed after the tepid response to its last new product, the Vision Pro.

News

These “smart” glasses just sold out in under a week

DuckDuckGo touts that these glasses have zero AI, zero cameras, and an infinite battery life.

Published

August 7, 2026

Luigi Leonardo

Smart glasses are in a weird place right now. While a chunk of the population views them as cool and innovative, another significant chunk sees them as a privacy nightmare. If you’re in the latter group but want to see what life is like on the former, DuckDuckGo has a new product: a pair of anti-surveillance glasses with no camera or AI, otherwise known as just normal sunglasses.

If it’s not obvious, yes, it’s a troll product. DuckDuckGo is a search engine famously known for pushing privacy as a priority, opposing Google’s penchant for advertising and AI. Now, the search engine is taking on the smart glasses market.

Partnering with Knockaround, DuckDuckGo released the Paso Robles, a pair of sunglasses touted as having zero cameras, an always-offline mode, and a battery life of infinity.

It’s a statement piece. The rims have a logo mark, similar to the Meta’s glasses. The packaging also states that the glasses are “designed to block the sun, not send data to the cloud.”

Now, if you want a pair, they cost only US$ 35, as opposed to Meta’s US$ 299 price tag, but they are already sold out.

Which says quite a bit about today’s sentiment against AI and for privacy. Of course, to be fair, DuckDuckGo’s supply is certainly less than Meta’s stock for their smart glasses. It does, however, prove that the sentiment is there.

As of now, the world is slowly realizing that unimpeded smart glasses aren’t such a good idea, leading to people concerned about their privacy. In fact, some states have already started banning the technology in certain public spaces.

News

Google will force Android users to use Gemini next month

Google Assistant will be retired as well.

Published

August 6, 2026

Luigi Leonardo

What is Google’s voice assistant called? Technically, there are two possible answers: Google Assistant and Gemini. Despite Google’s push for Gemini, the ubiquitous Google Assistant is still a common option for most users. However, the company will soon take that choice away as the voice assistant will retire in favor of Gemini.

First reported by 9to5Google, Google has sent emails to users, declaring that Google Assistant will no longer be an option for Android users starting September 4. On that date, the company will slowly roll out an update to get rid of the assistant’s availability on device.

Google also makes it clear that Gemini will be “the assistant experience on Android” moving forward. If you’re used to Google Assistant to help you with handsfree use, you’ll have only one option soon. This also affects other peripherals including smartwatches and audio accessories.

Of course, there are a few exceptions. Devices that can’t support an AI-powered assistant like Gemini are mercifully spared of the forced transition. Likewise, devices in countries that don’t support the AI assistant are also saved.

Despite the tepid reception of AI today, Google remains adamant about pushing Gemini to more users, regardless of whether they want it or not. In fact, a forced move like this will likely inflate the numbers that more devices are using Google’s AI software than ever before, while conveniently hiding the fact that most users never really had much of a choice.