MANILA,
Philippines – You may not have heard of Chinese smartphone startup
OnePlus, but don’t discount it – especially if you’re after a top-end
phone for way less than Apple’s or Samsung’s $750 flagship.
Now on its third iteration, the OnePlus 3 could
potentially be the flagship killer its makers have been hoping for since
their initial release. At least from a technical standpoint, with all
the impressive specs thrown at this model, it should be more powerful
than any phone Apple or Samsung has built so far.
And with a very attractive $399 price tag, it’s likely to appeal to a broader demographic.
The specs sheet reads like that of a current upmarket
phone: 5.5-inch AMOLED display (albeit at 1080p resolution); home button
doubling as a fingerprint reader; 16- and 8-megapixel rear and front
cameras; Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 chip; 6GB of RAM to go along with 64GB
of non-expandable flash storage; USB Type-C port with fast-charging
support for the 3,000mAh fixed battery (over 60-percent capacity from a
30-minute charge); and Android 6.0 Marshmallow.
The front of the phone is identical to its predecessor,
while the screen is covered in Gorilla Glass 4. The rear panel is made
of aluminum, which comes in a gray or gold paint job, and is sleeker
this time around. It should be easier to handle as well, thanks to its
more rounded design.
But perhaps the most encouraging news of all is that you
won’t have to deal with OnePlus’ invite system nonsense this year. You
can simply ignore the hype, and head to the company’s website to
purchase the OnePlus 3 today. But if you’d rather see the hardware first
before throwing money at it, you’ll be able to buy the phone offline at
select locations in New York, Paris, London, Berlin, Mumbai, New Delhi,
and Bangalore.
Can Microsoft’s ‘most powerful console ever’ really play games at 4k?
E3 2016 saw the launch of a new Xbox One console that
should give Sony’s PlayStation 4 a run for its money. Gaming’s biggest
show also saw the soft unveiling of what is perhaps the most ambitious
Xbox yet, a gaming beast which gobs more speed and graphics power than
the machine Microsoft is shipping to stores this August. It certainly
will be capable of more things than playing videos at super-sharp 4K
resolution.
When Xbox Project Scorpio debuts in 2017, it is said to
do 4K gaming and play nicely with high-end VR gear. If all falls into
place, it will shake the very bedrock of the gaming industry and
drastically change the landscape for years to come. And you’d find my
rather newly acquired gaming PC up for sale on eBay.
Here’s the thing, though: Despite all the firepower
Project Scorpio promises to bring – six teraflops of processing power is
a massive upgrade over the Xbox One’s one teraflop – rendering games at
native 4K is a big ask for any rig, even if you factor the fact that it
will probably run a lighter, more streamlined operating system. For
perspective, consider Nvidia’s best graphics card on the market today,
the GTX 1080, which pumps out nine teraflops.
You’d think it wouldn’t break a sweat pushing graphics
to the 4K range, but you’d be wrong; as early reviews have shown, the
GTX 1080 misses the mark occasionally. The bottom line, as Eurogamer
says, is that “6TF [teraflops] of GPU power isn’t enough to power a
convincing 4K experience.” But hey, we’re still a long way from 2017,
and a lot of things could change between now and then. (Don’t discount
the wizards, I mean, engineers, at Redmond.)
But suppose Microsoft does come through with a product
worthy of the hype, at what price will Project Scorpio sell to the
public? It definitely won’t come cheap.
Remember the GTX 1080 card I was referring to earlier?
The reference version is priced at a whopping $700. I can only imagine
how expensive a console that fully supports 4K will cost. Pricing for
the Xbox One S starts at $300, and goes as high as $400 for the model
with 2TB of storage. It’s not hard to imagine Project Scorpio retailing
for twice the price of its predecessor, what with all its impressive
capabilities.
Sony’s Xperia X smartphones are coming to more markets soon
After announcing its new smartphone line in Barcelona
last February, Sony is finally making good on its promise of rolling out
its Xperia X smartphones across the globe. Following a May release in
the UK, the Xperia X and XA are coming to the Philippines in mid-July.
The Xperia X and XA will retail for P29,990 and P13,990 respectively.
The Xperia X replaces Sony’s premium Xperia Z line of
smartphones, signaling a shift in focus away from a more affluent user
base Sony has been catering to for the longest time. And that’s
important to note, because the midrange is shaping up to be the most
important battleground for smartphone makers.
Of the phone’s many new features, its 23 camera is
supposed to be a main highlight, so we thought we’d post a few. Are they
impressive enough to justify Sony’s pricing? Let us know by visiting GadgetMatch.com and leaving us a comment.
