Enhanced photography and better selfies. These are what the OPPO Reno3 and OPPO Reno3 Pro promise to bring to Singapore.

The OPPO Reno 3 Pro has a 6.4-inch Full HD+ AMOLED panel with an in-display fingerprint sensor for authentication and a pill-shaped cut-out for the front cameras. This is the world’s first phone to have a 44-megapixel selfie camera coupled with a 2-megapixel depth sensor for the bokeh effect.

Powering the phone is a MediaTek Helio P95 processor with 8GB of RAM and up to 256GB internal storage. Other features include support for gaming HDR, low display latency, and AR Avatar.

On the back, the Reno3 Pro sports a 64-megapixel primary lens, a 13-megapixel telephoto lens, a 2-megapixel mono lens, and an 8-megapixel wide-angle lens. OPPO says it can produce images of up to 108-megapixel and allows up to 20x digital zoom.

It has a 4025mAh battery that supports 30W VOOC fast charging. The brand claims it can charge from nada to 50 percent in just 20 minutes. The phone runs ColorOS 7 that’s based on Android 10.

Meanwhile, the OPPO Reno3 48MP main shooter, an 8MP ultra-wide angle lens, a 13MP telephoto lens, and a 2MP monochrome sensor. The camera comes with the OPPO Reno’s signature 5X hybrid zoom — It’s 2X optical and the rest is digital.

Pricing and availability

The Reno3 and Reno3 Pro will be available for pre-order from April 1-9 on the OPPO Shopee Flagship Store, and will be available in Singapore starting April 10.

The Reno3 (8GB/128GB) will retail for SG$ 549 at launch. It will be available in Midnight Black and Sky White Its pre-order price is SG$ 499 with a pair of free OPPO Enco Q1 (worth SG$ 179) as a pre-order gift.

The Reno3 Pro (8GB/256GB) will retail for SG$ 749 with a pair of free OPPO Enco Wireless Buds worth S$189 as a pre-order gift. It will come in Aurora Blue and Midnight Black.

Singapore will soon open-source (open up) a smartphone technology that helps track citizens’ encounters with Coronavirus carriers. Called TraceTogether, it’s developed by the government to prevent community-spread of the fatal virus that has killed thousands worldwide.

The government is urging citizens to run so that if they encounter a Coronavirus carrier, it’s easier to trace who else may have been exposed to the virus. Why run? Because that plunges your chances of contracting the virus since the encounter will barely be a second. Not to forget, it’s an excellent way to exercise. This way, health authorities are in a better position to detect, treat, and quarantine affected patients.

To reserve a user’s privacy, Singapore’s app is opt-in and doesn’t track users through space, instead, it records who you have encountered. If you come across someone who was exposed, the app will exchange four essential bits of information — a timestamp, Bluetooth signal strength, the phone’s model, and a temporary identifier or device nickname.

On the other end, If a user has diagnosed positive, they enable the health authorities to access their app data to identify people who had close contact with the infected individual.

Addressing privacy concerns, the government has assured that the user’s data is never accessed and all their personal details remain safe. If you’re still paranoid, you can simply check the app settings to confirm whether the app has access to your files, contacts, and other essential hardware.

Now, Singapore is ready to share their app and its back-end technology with the whole world.

From Israel to South Korea to China, governments around the world are using technology to track the Coronavirus outbreak as they race to stem its spread. In China, government-installed CCTV cameras pointed towards the apartment door of those under a 14-day quarantine to ensure they don’t leave.

Germany hopes to launch a similar smartphone app within weeks to help trace Coronavirus infections. Even they’ve shown interest in replicating the Singaporean model. And now that the technology is freely available, it’ll be easier for countries to adopt and adapt than to start from zero.

The Indian government has also launched an app called Corona Kavach (literally meaning Corona Shield) to track individuals by their smartphone locations and curb the community spread of Coronavirus. It’s built on the same concept that Singapore’s government has worked on. But, it’s still in beta. With a population of 1.3 billion and one of the worst healthcare systems, the country is highly vulnerable to the virus. Again, the government promises data privacy.

SEE ALSO: How to disinfect your tech from the coronavirus | Coronavirus porn is trending on Pornhub | Here’s how Facebook is trying to fight coronavirus

As general rules, the CDC or The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention listed these to help with preventing the spread of COVID-19:

• Stay home when sick
• Cover coughs and sneezes
• Frequently wash hands with soap and water
• Clean frequently touched surfaces

Coronavirus: Where to donate

Singapore will be the first country in Asia to launch its latest flagship Huawei P40 Series. The series consists of three phones — the P40, P40 Pro, and P40 Pro+. The P40 Pro+ isn’t coming until June but the other two are ready to hit stores starting April 4, 2020.

The focus of the P40 series, much like the rest of the P-series phones, is photography. As such, all P40 phones are equipped with the 50MP f/1.9 RYYB Ultra Vision Wide lens — the largest sensor on a smartphone camera in the market today.

But the setup for each one is different.

Huawei also has a brand new focusing tech. They say the P40 series phones have eight focus points per pixel. This makes it easier for the phone to quickly focus on the subject even if it’s moving.

The optical zoom that was one of the main highlights of the P30 series is still here with optical zoom differing from each phone. The P40 has up to 3x zoom, the P40 Pro up to 5x, and the P40 Pro+ up to 10x.

Visionary Performance

Powering all phones is the company’s proprietary Kirin 990 5G processor. Other carry over features that have been improved are as follows:

• In-display fingerprint sensor — Now 30 percent larger and is supposed to be faster with new unlock patterns to choose from.
• 40W wireless charging — The wireless charger doesn’t come with the device but this should be one of the fastest wireless charging tech available right now.
• Face unlock — Again supposed to be faster and now with an IR sensor on the pro models

The Huawei P40 series is still running Android 10 with EMUI 10 on top. If you’ve been following the news at all, Huawei is in a bit of a pickle against the US government, as such they are going all in on Huawei Mobile Services or HMS.

If you’re worried about the app situation, the AppGallery is slowly but surely adding apps that most of us use. The company is also working on AppSearch inside AppGallery to bring more apps to Huawei phones.

There are also a new transport and ride-hailing apps on the AppGallery. Huawei partnered with taxi operator ComfortDelGro and ride-hailing companies such as TADA and RYDE to provide users with convenient transport services.

Curved on all sides,

Huawei has also kept its curved displays. Even doubling down on it by adding curves at the top and bottom. We’re still unsure how that helps in day-to-day use, but it’s there and hey, it looks good.

The P40 and P40 Pro are still made with glass but now with a matte finish. However, for the P40 Pro+, the company opted to go with ceramic just to mix things up. Here’s everything else that’s different.

Pricing and availability

The Huawei P40 and P40 Pro will be available in Silver Frost, Deep Sea Blue, and Blush Gold. Customers who will buy either of the two will get exclusive Prestige Care services:

• One year door-to-door repair pick-up and delivery service
• Two-year warranty coverage
• Three months screen insurance, terms and conditions apply

Pre-order period for the P40 series is from March 27 to April 3 and the phones, as mentioned earlier, will hit stores on April 4, 2020.

The Huawei P40 will retail for SG$ 1,048. Pre-order freebies are worth a total of SG$ 296: Huawei Freebuds 3 and a Smart View case. Meanwhile, the Huawei P40 Pro will retail for SG$  1,448 with pre-order freebies worth  a total of SG$ 562: Huawei Watch GT 2 Elite Edition, Huawei SuperCharge 27W wireless charger, Huawei SuperCharge wireless car charger, and a Smart View Flip cover.

Interested buyers can pre-order from the following official channels:

Telco operators:

• M1
• Singtel
• Starhub

Consumer electronic stores:

• Best Denki
• Challenger
• COURTS
• Harvey Norman
• Sprintcass

Huawei official online stores:

• Lazada
• Shopee

Watch our Hands-On video.