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Qualcomm's Snapdragon 855+ chip is built for gaming and VR
Qualcomm is shaking up its once-a-year approach to updating its flagship mobile processor, and it could be good news for Android phone fans who crave raw performance. The chip maker has introduced an upgraded Snapdragon 855+ that wrings extra performance out of the familiar 855 design. The eight-core Kryo 485 CPU now runs at up to 2.96GHz instead of the earlier 2.84GHz, and the Adreno 640 graphics should deliver a 15 percent speed boost.
ASUS' ZenFone 6 has a flippable camera and giant battery
It's no secret that ASUS had been struggling in the smartphone world, but following the resignation of its previous CEO, the company has since shifted its focus from the masses to power users, with last year's ROG Phone already hinting at a new direction. That said, ASUS also needs to offer something that's less niche but still stands out from the crowd. This is where the new ZenFone 6 comes in: It's a flagship all-screen device with a flipping camera. It's an implementation once used by the likes of Oppo and Huawei years ago, and more recently, Samsung.
OnePlus 7 Pro review: The first true OnePlus flagship
OnePlus can be funny. Sometimes, the company reveals top-notch smartphones with minor flaws. Other times, new devices land with new features that were a flop. The 6T I reviewed earlier this year is a prime example of the latter: OnePlus' first in-display fingerprint reader wasn't very responsive, and even though I was a fan of the dewdrop-notch design, the phone's selfie camera often took blurry shots. Today, OnePlus makes another attempt, and it's more ambitious than ever. For the first time, the company is releasing two flagship models simultaneously: the OnePlus 7 and the larger OnePlus 7 Pro. I've spent the last five days living with the $749 maxed-out OnePlus 7 Pro (with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage), and yes, with its $669 base price, it's the most expensive phone ever from the company. Still, this is easily my favorite OnePlus phone to date, and if all goes well, it may even end up being my favorite smartphone of the year.
This gaming phone has a built-in cooling fan and can record 8K video
We've already seen the likes of ASUS and Black Shark offering external cooling fans for their gaming smartphones, but the folks over at Nubia reckon it's about time to stuff a fan inside a phone (I mean, what else would you expect from a company that brought back the wearable phone?). Today, the Chinese brand unveiled the Red Magic 3 which not only packs a "liquid cooling" copper heat pipe, but also an internal cooling fan. This small fan is said to run quietly but can spin up to 14,000 rpm, and it has an IP55 rating plus its own isolated chamber, so you won't have to worry about liquids and dust getting in. It's apparently good for over 30,000 hours of continuous use, though Nubia didn't specify the speed used for the test. Regardless, combining this fan with the heat pipe, the phone's heat transfer performance is apparently five times better than conventional passive cooling methods, thus ensuring a smooth gaming experience for a longer period.
