Name: iPhone 16 Ultra could launch in 2024
Uploaded: 2023-02-06T16:12:27.000+05:30
Duration: T00M34S
Channel: Editorji News Desk
Description: Apple could finally launch an "Ultra" iPhone with a periscope zoom camera in 2024.

Qualcomm's Snapdragon C platform brings AI features, long battery life, and Windows on Arm to affordable laptops starting around $300.

Qualcomm Snapdragon C Platform Brings AI To Budget PCs

<h3>Qualcomm's Snapdragon C platform aims to bring AI-powered Windows laptops to the budget segment, making smart computing more accessible than ever.</h3>

Qualcomm has announced its new Snapdragon C Platform ahead of Computex 2026, and it looks like the company is coming after the budget laptop segment in a big way. Sitting below the Snapdragon X and X2 series, the new chip is designed for affordable Windows laptops priced starting for as low as $300 or roughly the ₹35,000 price mark in India. That puts it in direct competition with Chromebooks and entry-level Windows machines that often struggle with performance.
The interesting bit is that Qualcomm is bringing AI hardware to this price segment. The Snapdragon C platform comes with a dedicated Neural Processing Unit (NPU) for local AI tasks, something that has mostly been limited to more expensive laptops so far. However, Qualcomm has confirmed that these chips will not qualify for Microsoft's Copilot+ PC programme, given CoPilot+&rsquo;s stringent requirements. How does that translate into the spec sheet, will be interesting to see.
<h2>Snapdragon C is built for everyday users</h2>
Despite the name, Qualcomm says the "C" in Snapdragon C stands for "Compute," not "Cheap." The platform is aimed at students, families, and small businesses that need an affordable laptop for everyday tasks without sacrificing battery life.
Unlike the Snapdragon X and X2 chips, which use Qualcomm's custom Oryon architecture, Snapdragon C goes in a different direction. It uses a customised version of Qualcomm's Kryo architecture, a design that has powered many smartphones and tablets over the years.
The chip uses a mix of performance and efficiency cores, a setup commonly found in mobile devices. Qualcomm says this should help deliver long battery life while keeping power consumption and heat levels under control. It could also allow manufacturers to build thinner and even fanless laptops.
<h2>AI is finally coming to budget laptops</h2>
One of the biggest talking points here is AI. Over the past year, AI-powered PCs have become a major focus for the industry, but most of them have been positioned in the premium segment.
With Snapdragon C, Qualcomm wants to bring some of those AI capabilities to more affordable machines. The chip includes a dedicated NPU for on-device AI processing, although Qualcomm has not revealed its performance rating yet.
It won't be powerful enough for Copilot+ branding, but it should still be able to handle several AI-powered Windows 11 features. In fact, the first Snapdragon C laptop spotted so far, an upcoming Acer device, already includes a dedicated Copilot key on the keyboard.
<h2>Qualcomm is taking a page from Apple and Google</h2>
The move comes at a time when more companies are looking at smartphone-style chips for laptops. Apple recently grabbed attention with the MacBook Neo, a more affordable Mac powered by the same A18 Pro chip found in recent iPhones. Qualcomm's decision to adapt its mobile-focused Kryo architecture for laptops feels like a similar play.
The platform could also play a role in Google's upcoming Googlebooks initiative, which is expected to bring Android and AI-focused experiences together in a new category of budget-friendly devices.
For now, Acer, HP, and Lenovo have confirmed plans to launch Snapdragon C-powered laptops. Exact specifications, pricing, and release dates are still under wraps, with Qualcomm expected to share more details during its Computex 2026 keynote.

The Realme Buds Air8 Pro delivers flagship-grade sound, powerful ANC, crystal-clear calls and excellent battery life at ₹6,999.

Realme Buds Air8 Pro Review: Best Premium TWS Under ₹7,000?

With dual-DAC audio, strong ANC, excellent call quality and 50-hour battery life, the Realme Buds Air8 Pro punches above its price.

The Realme Buds Air8 Pro combines flagship-grade sound, effective ANC, excellent call quality and massive battery life, making it one of the strongest premium TWS options under ₹7,000.

The Realme Buds Air Pro series is well known for offering high-end features at accessible prices. Now, the new Realme Buds Air8 Pro look to push those limits directly into premium territory. At ₹6,999, these earbuds try to shake up the mid-range market by delivering top-tier capabilities usually found only on flagship models.
With a dual-driver setup, separate dual-DAC hardware tuning, and smart bone-conduction call tech, the specifications look incredible. However, paper specs do not always mean a perfect real-world performance. I used the Master Black version as my main daily pair for a week, testing them during hectic subway commutes, heavy workouts, and focused music sessions to see if they actually live up to the hype.
<h2>Design &amp; Comfort</h2>
The <a title="Realme Buds Air 7 Pro Review: Premium Sound, Killer Looks, Budget Price" href="https://www.editorji.com/tech-news/gadget-review/realme-buds-air-7-pro-review-premium-sound-killer-looks-budget-price-1749725394345" target="_blank">Realme Buds Air</a>8 Pro makes it obvious right away that this lineup is growing up. They have finally dropped the plasticky, budget vibe of the older generations for something that actually feels premium. To get here, Realme brought back industrial designer Naoto Fukasawa to shape the look of the case and the buds.
The charging case swaps out the old all-matte styling for a mix of textures. The main body stays matte, but the top has this flat, "plateau-style" lid with a shiny, mirror-like finish and a tiny logo. Testing the Master Black version, I really liked the contrast&mdash;it gives the whole package a very clean, stealthy look.
For the physical layout, you get a Type-C port right on the top edge of the case. The reset button is hidden inside, sitting right between the two earpieces.
The buds themselves are incredibly light. They match the case by dropping a glossy, reflective strip right down the stems against a matte housing. Shape-wise, they fit the ear canal naturally and block out a good amount of noise on their own. I wore them for three or four hours straight during long writing stints and honestly forgot they were even in. They do not budge during fast outdoor runs or sweaty workouts either.
An IP55 rating means rain and sweat are not an issue. Do not jump into a pool with them, but they handled humid afternoons and accidental splashes without breaking a sweat.
The big catch is that all that gloss comes with a headache. The shiny lid and stems collect fingerprints the second you touch them, so you are constantly wiping them down. Even worse, despite being pretty careful, those glossy parts picked up fine micro-scratches within just a few days, which definitely hurts that premium vibe over time.
<h2>Audio Quality</h2>
The internal speaker configuration is where the Buds Air8 Pro actually leave competitors behind. After more than six years of playing and analyzing music, I always lean on my own ears instead of trusting a spreadsheet or digital benchmark score.
If you pay close attention to your music, you know great wireless buds need to pick up the easily missed details. I am always listening for quiet guitar riffs tucked into a bridge, a synth note panned hard to one side, or the precise stereo spacing that gives a track its atmosphere. Plenty of options at this price try to impress you by forcing a heavy, fake bass boost that just muddies everything else. The Buds Air8 Pro skip that trap, focusing on a clean, balanced output that preserves the true character of the track.
Realme does this using what they call a Premier Coaxial Dual-DAC Driver System. It combines an 11mm dynamic woofer for low-end kick with a 6mm micro-planar tweeter for crisp high frequencies. Crucially, each driver has its own dedicated DAC chip to keep frequency tuning independent and sharp. For high-res wireless playback, the buds use the LHDC 5.0 codec, supporting 24-bit/192kHz streaming at bitrates up to 1Mbps.
I threw a chaotic mix of genres at these to see how they handle different setups. Listening to old classics like Hemant Kumar&rsquo;s Jaane Woh Kaise or Lata Mangeshkar&rsquo;s Lag Ja Gale, the vocals stayed incredibly crisp and forward, capturing the raw performance without sounding hollow or distant. The distinct left-to-right instrument panning on the remastered version of The Beatles' Hey Jude came through with a genuinely wide sense of space.
Switching to modern hip-hop like Divine's Azadi, Khatta Flow by Kr$na and Seedhe Maut, or Kendrick Lamar's Not Like Us, the 11mm woofer dropped a tight, punchy low-end groove that never bled into the mid-range. Even with dense, instrument-heavy arrangements like Coke Studio's Paar Channa De or Afreen Afreen, the overall separation held firm, keeping the percussion layers and traditional strings from merging into a single blur.
If you like tweaking your audio balance, you can open the Realme Link app to dial in custom EQ profiles. The sub-bass can occasionally feel slightly loose on exceptionally busy tracks, but that is a tiny detail only sound purists will catch. For a standard consumer earbud, the sheer clarity here punches well above the price tag.
<h2>ANC &amp; Call Quality</h2>
The specs sheet for the Buds Air8 Pro claims an impressive 55dB ultra-depth noise cancellation and a 5000Hz wide bandwidth. When you actually turn ANC on, it immediately wraps you in a thick blanket of silence. Taking these on regular metro commutes and through chaotic, packed markets, they easily isolated my environment by drowning out low-frequency engine rumbles and heavy traffic hums.
It does not create a total vacuum, though. In real-world conditions, I would say it cuts out about 70 to 75 percent of ambient noise. Sharper, sudden sounds like mechanical keyboard clacks or crinkling paper manage to slip through, even if they are heavily muffled. While it is perfect for locking into a playlist or focusing on a task, I felt a noticeable "cabin pressure" or ear fatigue after using the ANC for a few hours straight. Because of this, I would not advise keeping any ANC earbuds in for too long. You also have to change modes yourself using the stems or the companion app, since there is no smart, automatic switching based on your environment.
The real win here is the call quality. Realme packed three microphones into each earbud alongside a dedicated Voice Processing Unit that uses bone conduction to pick up jaw vibrations. I tested this by calling a friend who usually hates the audio quality of whatever review units I am testing. I dialed him right from the middle of a roaring metro crowd, and he was completely stunned by the clarity. He literally told me it sounded like I was sitting in a quiet office. Even so, the actual texture of the voice still has some room for improvement. Realme promises a 90dB drop in background clutter and handles wind up to 10m/s. Whether I was down in a subway station, walking outdoors, or gaming in a quiet room, my voice stayed perfectly forward and clear.
<h2>Connectivity, Controls, and AI Features</h2>
On the connectivity front, the Buds Air8 Pro run on the Bluetooth 6.1 standard, maintaining a steady connection anywhere within a ten-meter radius. Syncing is instant thanks to Google Fast Pair. The ability to link three devices at once is incredibly handy, allowing you to hop your audio between a phone, tablet, and laptop without going through the pairing process every single time. It handles standard SBC and AAC codecs, alongside high-res LHDC 5.0 streaming.
You will need the Realme Link app to manage everything. Testing the buds alongside a <a title="Realme 16T 5G Review: Battery anxiety officially cancelled " href="https://www.editorji.com/tech-news/gadget-review/realme-16t-5g-review-battery-anxiety-officially-cancelled-1779439487282" target="_blank">Realme phone</a> really highlights how tight the brand's ecosystem has become. The app opens up deep customization, from personalized EQ settings to remapping touch inputs. The stems respond well to taps and slides for on-the-fly adjustments like changing volume, though a quick double-tap can occasionally misfire if you are in a rush.
The automated features work without a hitch. Smart wear detection stops your media the second you pull a bud out, and you can even set them to pick up phone calls automatically when you lift an earpiece from the case. Realme also rolled out its NEXTAI features in the app. The standard voice assistant takes care of basic queries, but it still feels a bit half-baked, occasionally scrambling words or misinterpreting commands.
The standout feature is definitely the built-in AI Translator. It supports over 30 languages, and the live, face-to-face translation modes translate conversations with impressive accuracy. Lastly, a dedicated Game Mode targets mobile players. Realme claims a low 45ms latency, and while I cannot measure the exact milliseconds, in-game sound effects and action stay perfectly in sync.
<h2>Battery &amp; Charging</h2>
Realme advertises an all-week battery capacity with these earbuds, and my real-world testing proves that claim is pretty accurate for day-to-day use. With the charging case included, you get a massive 50 hours of total playback in normal mode, which easily beats the typical industry standard.
Of course, mileage depends entirely on your setup. If you leave ANC off and stick to the standard AAC codec, the individual buds deliver an impressive 12 hours of continuous music. Turning on full active noise cancellation drops that single-charge longevity down to six hours. If you want top-tier audio quality and switch to high-res streaming via the LHDC codec with active noise cancellation enabled, the battery drains much faster, capping out at about five hours on a single charge and 20 hours total with the case.
The Type-C charging speed is where the setup becomes incredibly convenient. I never bothered to time how long a full zero-to-hundred charge takes because the battery never actually died on me. Plugging the case in for just ten to fifteen minutes provided more than enough power to survive an entire workday, including a boring two-and-a-half-hour commute. For a pair of wireless earbuds, that is practically all you can ask for.
<h2>Final Verdict: Should You Buy It?</h2>
Priced at ₹6,999, the Realme Buds Air8 Pro move away from the budget category and step right into the competitive mid-range market. Luckily, the actual hardware performance completely backs up the higher cost. The coaxial dual-driver configuration and separate DACs deliver a remarkably clean, detailed soundstage that anyone who listens closely to music will appreciate.
The shiny, high-gloss details definitely attract smudges and tiny scratches over time, but that is a small cosmetic issue compared to the excellent performance underneath. Thanks to bone-conduction technology for crystal-clear calls, a huge 50-hour total battery capacity, and fast charging that saves you in a rush, they make a fantastic daily companion. If you want high-end sound separation and powerful noise blocking without spending over ten thousand rupees, these are highly recommended.

The Oppo Find X9 Ultra combines dual periscope cameras, a massive 7050mAh battery, Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, and stunning Hasselblad-tuned photography into one seriously powerful flagship.

Oppo Find X9 Ultra Review: The Most Exciting Camera Flagship of 2026

With dual periscope zoom lenses, a giant 7050mAh battery, Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, and cinematic Hasselblad-tuned cameras, the Oppo Find X9 Ultra delivers one of the best flagship experiences of 2026.

The Oppo Find X9 Ultra delivers stunning Hasselblad-tuned cameras, flagship-grade performance, insane battery life, and one of the most exciting Android experiences of 2026.

Top-tier smartphones have started to feel a bit boring and stale this year. We all know the drill by now: the exact same flat edges, the identical oversized camera bumps, generic AI marketing talk, and pictures that look a bit too artificial. Most premium devices are practically interchangeable at this point, but the Oppo Find X9 Ultra actually stands out from the crowd.
This is Oppo's direct challenge to the Vivo X300 Ultra, but the strategy here is totally different. Vivo wanted you to mess around with extra modular gear and clip-on lens attachments to get the best shot. Oppo, on the other hand, figured a true flagship should give you maximum performance straight out of your pocket without the extra gimmicks.
I have been using the Find X9 Ultra as my main device for over two weeks now, and I think Oppo made the right call. It is a massive phone, it feels incredibly heavy, and that Rs 1,69,999 price tag will absolutely make your eyes water. But Oppo clearly had one goal in mind: build an absolute beast of a camera phone without cutting corners on the rest of the flagship experience. They got incredibly close.
<h2>Oppo Find X9 Ultra Review: Design &amp; Build</h2>
The massive camera housing on the <a title="Oppo Find X9 Pro Review: Massive Battery, Pro Cameras, Big Price &mdash; Worth It?" href="https://www.editorji.com/tech-news/gadget-review/oppo-find-x9-pro-review-massive-battery-pro-cameras-big-price-worth-it-1763717438502" target="_blank">Oppo Find X9</a> Ultra grabs your attention immediately, but the real story is how this thing feels in your hand. I have been testing a steady stream of slick, glass-backed flagships lately, so switching to the Tundra Umber version was a massive surprise. The textured vegan leather back feels incredibly soft and grippy. Instead of sliding around, the phone stays firmly planted in your palm, which is a massive relief given how large the hardware actually is.
Make no mistake, this is a hefty device. It weighs 235 grams and measures 9.1mm thick, putting it right in the same size bracket as rival heavyweights like the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra and iPhone 17 Pro Max. The Vivo X300 Ultra is slightly thinner but carries a bit more weight. Still, Oppo nailed the ergonomics here. The balance is spot on, and that textured rear panel saves your wrists during long periods of doomscrolling or shooting. Oppo also ditched the curved edges for a flat screen and an industrial aluminium frame, making the daily experience feel much cleaner and more precise.
Over on the back, Oppo embraces the camera-centric look rather than trying to downplay it. The main housing is round, but the lenses inside sit in a sharp hexagonal layout that catches the light nicely. A clean metal bar cuts across the lower half of the back panel, balancing out the look so the top doesn't visually overpower the rest of the chassis.
The layout isn't entirely perfect. Because the camera housing extends quite low on the back, my index finger kept brushing against the glass elements when I held it naturally. You will also have to deal with a lot of wobbles if you type while your phone is resting on a desk.
The physical controls are where things get fun. The dedicated shutter button is easily one of my favourite features. It is pressure-sensitive, letting you zoom smoothly just by sliding a finger across it, which beats tapping a screen any day. One press pulls up the camera, and a double-tap snaps the photo. On the opposite frame, the customizable Snap Key handles shortcuts nicely.
The durability is rock-solid too. You get a rare combo of IP66, IP68, and IP69 ratings alongside Gorilla Glass Victus 2 up front, so you can toss it into a bag without stressing. Every single piece of this hardware feels like it serves a clear purpose.
<h2>Oppo Find X9 Ultra Review: Display &amp; Audio Quality</h2>
For the display you are looking at a massive 6.82-inch LTPO AMOLED panel running at 3168 x 1440, and honestly, the sharpness is spectacular. Fine print and dense photos look incredibly clean. They are hyping up a 144Hz refresh rate this generation, but don't expect to see that all the time. For normal apps and swiping around, the software locks things at 120Hz and aggressively scales down to 1Hz when you stop scrolling to save your battery. That full 144Hz speed is pretty much exclusive to a handful of supported games.
The overall panel quality is top-tier. Colours feel vibrant without hitting that fake, glowing look some competitors love, and the viewing angles are perfect. If you work outdoors, the 1800 nits in HBM, or high brightness mode handles direct noon sunlight without a struggle, while HDR peak brightness pushes up to 3600 nits. Dolby Vision and HDR10+ content look incredible here.
Late-night users will appreciate the 2160Hz PWM dimming, which keeps screen flicker from giving you a headache in the dark. The ultrasonic fingerprint sensor underneath is incredibly fast too. Setup takes seconds since you just glide your thumb around the glass instead of tapping repeatedly.
As for the sound, the built-in stereo speakers get plenty loud. Vocals stay perfectly intelligible when gaming or watching videos, and there is a surprising amount of lower-end thump so music never feels hollow.
<h2>Oppo Find X9 Ultra Review: Performance &amp; Benchmarks</h2>
Oppo threw in the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset, backed it up with 12GB RAM, and gave you 512GB of UFS 4.1 storage. Yes, those are massive numbers, but the real magic is how well Oppo has optimised the software. Everything just flies. You can jump between a dozen heavy apps without a single hint of lag, and mobile games run beautifully.
The cooling setup is what actually impressed me during testing. I looped the 3DMark Wild Life Extreme stress test to see where it would choke, and the phone topped out at 43 degrees Celsius. That is a fantastic result when you realise the <a title="Vivo X300 Ultra Review: This Flagship Is Basically a Mirrorless Camera" href="https://www.editorji.com/tech-news/gadget-review/vivo-x300-ultra-review-this-flagship-is-basically-a-mirrorless-camera-1778668885531" target="_blank">Vivo X300 Ultra</a> runs noticeably hotter under the same heavy load. The stability settled right around 69 per cent, which is perfectly normal behaviour for this generation of chips.
If you care about synthetic benchmark scores, it is basically a tie between the two flagships. The Oppo scores slightly higher on AnTuTu and Geekbench multi-core runs, while the Vivo takes a tiny win in single-core metrics. Honestly, you will never notice a difference outside of a lab because both feel lightning fast. The glass around that massive camera module does get a bit warm if you shoot 4K video for twenty minutes, but it never throttles or stutters. Also, the typing experience is excellent. The X-axis vibration motor gives you these crisp, tiny taps that make texting incredibly satisfying.
<h2>Oppo Find X9 Ultra Review: Battery Life &amp; Charging</h2>
Oppo did something crazy with the Find X9 Ultra by packing a massive 7,050mAh silicon-carbon battery inside. It is easily the biggest cell you can get on an Ultra flagship right now, and the real-world performance is ridiculous. Even during long days packed with heavy camera use, active GPS maps, 5G data, and streaming audio, this phone refuses to die before bedtime. If you are a light user, hitting two full days of juice is entirely possible.
They talk up a custom PowerCore Battery Management Chip to justify the efficiency, but the main takeaway is simply that the stamina rules. For charging, Oppo bundles a 100W SuperVOOC brick in the box. A complete zero to 100 per cent charge takes roughly 45 minutes. That might look a bit slower on a spec sheet compared to rival brands, but remember you are filling a significantly larger tank here, so the actual real-world difference is completely unnoticeable.
Generic USB-PD chargers will still juice this thing up at 55W speeds, which actually beats out what most flagships can do with their official chargers. You also get 50W wireless charging speeds, though Oppo did skip out on Qi2 magnetic alignment this year.
<h2>Oppo Find X9 Ultra Review: Camera Test</h2>
Let&rsquo;s be real, the only reason you are even considering this phone is that massive, unapologetic camera bump on the back. After shooting with it relentlessly, I am just going to say it: Oppo has put together what might be the most fun and versatile camera system on any phone right now.
The spec sheet is frankly ridiculous. You get a massive 200MP main camera, another 200MP shooter locked at a 3x zoom for portraits, a 50MP ultrawide with autofocus, and a second periscope lens hitting a native 10x optical zoom. It sounds like pure marketing overkill, but the actual shooting experience is incredibly seamless.
The best part about this setup is that your photos do not look like they came from a smartphone. Most flagships lately are obsessed with hyper-realistic, clinical sharpness, which just makes images look flat, cold, and boring. Oppo went a totally different route. The processing here has an actual artistic character without looking fake. Colours are rich, the contrast is deep and punchy, and the images feel cinematic right out of the gallery. Hasselblad's tuning adds this gorgeous warmth that makes you want to keep clicking.
The main 200MP sensor is an absolute beast. It handles difficult lighting without breaking a sweat, highlights stay under control, and the details are incredibly clean. I love how it handles harsh afternoon sun because it finds a beautiful middle ground instead of blowing out the sky or turning shadows into pure black. Even the ultrawide stands out because the built-in autofocus lets you capture close-up macro shots that are actually sharp.
But the zoom lenses are why you buy this phone. That 3x portrait lens quickly became my absolute default camera. Portraits look incredible because the larger sensor creates a beautiful, natural background blur before the software portrait tricks even kick in. Compared to the Vivo X300 Ultra, which goes for a very flat and natural look, the Oppo shoots portraits with much brighter tones and heavier contrast.
The 10x optical zoom is just as wild. Usually, pushing a phone past 5x zoom gives you a muddy mess unless the lighting is perfect. The X9 Ultra completely surprised me here. The 10x shots are genuinely sharp and usable every day for street photography or distant architecture. Plus, the sensor is large enough that images do not fall apart into noise when you step indoors.
Video is just as solid. Switching lenses while recording is perfectly smooth, and you can shoot 4K Dolby Vision across every single lens. If you want total control, the Master Mode lets you tweak ISO, white balance, and RAW settings manually. Oppo did not build a scientifically perfect camera phone here. They built one that takes beautiful, moody photos, and honestly, that is way better.
<h2>Oppo Find X9 Ultra Review: Software &amp; AI</h2>
Oppo is shipping the Find X9 Ultra with ColorOS 16 built on top of Android 16, and honestly, this is easily the most refined software experience they have ever delivered. The system animations feel incredibly fluid, and jumping between active apps is completely seamless. To be frank, compared to the Vivo X300 Ultra and its highly convoluted OriginOS 6 setup, ColorOS 16 is much cleaner and way easier to live with on a daily basis.
Now, Oppo definitely copied a few homework assignments here. Their new Live Space notification layout is clearly inspired by Apple's Dynamic Island. There is also a massive focus on translucent menus, chasing that trendy liquid glass aesthetic everyone loves right now. Still, I do appreciate that it stays out of your face.
The embedded AI features also remain blessedly quiet until you ask for them. The audio recorder transcribes conversations and labels different speakers in real time, Mind Space automatically files away your screenshots, and you get quick text summarisation throughout the system. It is mostly invisible utility, which is exactly how software should be.
They also fixed the camera interface, using swipe gestures to hide advanced settings so your viewfinder stays clean. On the lockscreen, notifications now collapse into tiny, tidy capsules, and full-screen album art looks brilliant.
As for updates, Oppo is promising five major Android platform updates and six years of security patches. It is not class-leading anymore, but it is more than enough coverage for most people.
<h2>Oppo Find X9 Ultra Review: Verdict</h2>
The Oppo Find X9 Ultra feels like the absolute peak of the giant Ultra phone trend. Oppo clearly had no interest in creating a subtle or minimalist flagship. Instead, they went completely over the top, packing in a massive battery, a giant camera module, dual periscope lenses, and incredibly fast charging. They wanted a no-compromise camera phone, and honestly, they pulled it off.
What stands out most is how balanced the actual phone feels despite all that heavy hardware. The cameras are obviously the headline story, but the rest of the device holds its own. The battery life is top-tier, the display looks beautiful, thermals stay completely under control, and ColorOS is finally clean enough that it does not ruin the experience.
Oppo's distinctive image processing will not please everyone since it favours a contrast-heavy, moody look over the flatter profiles from Google or Vivo. But after shooting hundreds of pictures, the conclusion is obvious: these photos just look incredibly exciting.
The phone isn't perfect. The massive camera bump gets in the way of your fingers and the update schedule lags slightly behind Samsung. But none of those complaints matters when you look at the bigger picture. The Find X9 Ultra manages to make using a flagship smartphone feel genuinely fun again, and that is a massive achievement.

The Realme 16T 5G delivers insane 3-day battery life, IP69K durability, solid cameras, and reliable performance, but compromises on display sharpness.

Realme 16T 5G Review: 8,000mAh Battery Beast With IP69K Durability & 3-Day Backup

With an 8,000mAh battery, IP69K durability, and solid cameras, the Realme 16T 5G is built for endurance-first users.

The Realme 16T 5G delivers exceptional 3-day battery life, rugged IP69K durability, and solid cameras, though its HD+ display and gaming limits hold it back.

Realme is leaning hard into massive power cells to fix our daily battery anxiety, but this latest release is more than just a big stat meant to win a specs argument. The Realme 16T 5G forms its whole identity around a giant 8,000mAh battery capacity.
After using it heavily for a week as my main device, I can tell you the endurance is incredible. However, once you get past that monster power cell, you find a really interesting mix of features that might catch you off guard.
With the current smartphone market serving up some truly chaotic pricing structures, does this marathon runner do enough to prove it belongs in your pocket? Here&rsquo;s my take on the Realme 16T 5G.
<h2>Unboxing &amp; Design</h2>
Realme bucks the trend of the "accessory-free" trend by actually putting useful things in the box. Instead of using the environment as an excuse to skimp, they include all the essentials. You get a clear protective case, a SIM tool, a Type-A to Type-C cable, and a 45W charging brick.
On paper, an 8000mAh battery sounds like a recipe for a massive brick. You expect a heavy power bank that happens to run Android, but the physical design tells a completely different story. It measures just 8.88mm thick. Yes, you will notice the 224-gram weight in your hand, and nobody would call this device light. However, for a power cell this massive, the ergonomics are spectacular. The flat frame and excellent balance mean it never feels clumsy during single-handed use. It just feels solid.
The Starlight Black version has a classy matte texture that looks far more expensive than its actual retail price. It handles light gracefully, shifting shades without looking loud. If black feels too boring, you can grab the Starlight Red or Aurora Green options instead.
Up top, the aluminum alloy camera module adds great scratch defense and a high-end feel. The major annoyance here is how quickly the rear panel picks up oily smudges. It is a total fingerprint magnet, so keeping that bundled case on is highly recommended.
The physical buttons crowd the right side, giving you the volume controls and a fast power-button fingerprint scanner. The left side is completely bare, leaving the bottom to house the Type-C port, mic, SIM tray, and a lone mono speaker.
The real triumph is how tough this chassis is. Realme went all out, landing IP66, IP68, IP69, and industrial-grade IP69K certifications for water and dust resistance. Paired with MIL-STD-810H military drop testing, this thing is a literal tank that handles rough drops and deep spills without breaking.
<h2>Display</h2>
Realme went big with a 6.8-inch display on the 16T 5G. While the sheer size is great for streaming videos, you are immediately greeted by thick bezels and a pretty chunky bottom chin. It is a visual dead giveaway that you are holding a budget phone.
The real surprise comes when you step outdoors. Realme advertises a peak brightness of 1200 nits, and it actually holds up under harsh sunlight. You will not find yourself squinting at text messages or struggling with Google Maps on a bright day. They also threw in DC dimming, which is a nice touch for saving your eyes from fatigue during late-night scrolling.
The catch is the resolution. Stretching a basic HD+ resolution over a massive 6.8-inch panel is a big compromise. At a meager 254 PPI, everything lacks sharpness. Text has a slight fuzz to it, app icons look soft around the edges, and high-res images lose their crisp detail. Honestly, even for a budget device, a Full HD+ panel should have been the standard here.
Then there is the refresh rate. The box boasts a 144Hz refresh rate, but the reality is honestly hilarious. That ultra-smooth 144Hz is entirely restricted to just three basic system tools: the Calculator, the Voice Recorder, and the Compass. For everything that actually matters, like your Twitter feed, web browsers, and the home screen, the phone drops right back down to basic speeds.
If you can laugh off that weird software restriction, the screen is perfectly fine for basic entertainment. YouTube and Netflix stream without issues, though you can forget about HDR support. Just remember to plug in some earbuds or use wireless headphones, because that built-in mono speaker will not do your movies any favors.
<h2>Camera</h2>
Realme went with a 50MP Sony IMX852 main camera and a 2MP depth sensor on the back.
Daylight performance is an easy win. The main sensor captures plenty of detail, keeps skin tones looking realistic, and handles tricky lighting with a balanced dynamic range. It easily competes with anything else in this price bracket.
Portrait mode is where things get interesting. Most budget phones turn faces into smooth plastic dolls. Realme actually avoids that wax-work look, keeping natural skin textures visible while using its software to balance highlights and shadows. The edge detection isn't flawless, though. It still misses a few spots around the hair.
At night, the camera is fine for quick social media posts, but the images lose sharpness quickly. The software also tends to overcompensate by aggressively boosting colors in low light, which makes night shots look a bit fake.
The best part of the design is a weird little physical feature. There is a tiny selfie mirror built right into the camera housing, just like we saw on the standard <a title="Realme 16 5G Review: Endurance Meets Everyday Use" href="https://www.editorji.com/tech-news/gadget-review/realme-16-5g-review-endurance-meets-everyday-use-1775124066780" target="_blank">Realme 16</a>. It sounds like a total gimmick, but it works perfectly as an analog viewfinder. It means you can easily frame up a shot and use the high-quality 50MP rear camera instead of shooting blindly. You can even trigger the shutter just by waving your hand at the glass.
That mirror is crucial because the actual 16MP front camera is just average. It is fine for basic video calls, but it cannot match the depth, color, or detail of the main rear sensor.
For video, both sides max out at 1080p at 30fps. It is nothing to write home about, but it works for casual clips. The rear video stabilization is decent. You will see some minor jitters here and there, but the footage is clean enough for daily social media use.
<h2>Performance</h2>
Let&rsquo;s be real about what this phone can actually do. If you want a serious gaming machine, look elsewhere. The Realme 16T 5G runs on a MediaTek Dimensity 6300 chip. It is a processor built strictly to save battery and keep things cool, not to break speed records.
For the benchmark crowd, it pulls around 6.1 lakhs on AnTuTu. Over on Geekbench 6, it scores 733 in single-core and 1,813 in multi-core testing.
In the real world, daily performance is perfectly fine. Swiping through Realme UI 7.0 feels snappy, apps load up fast, and jumping between standard daily apps happens without any annoying lag.
You only find the limits when you push the hardware with heavy gaming. Titles like BGMI, Free Fire, or Call of Duty start out strong at 60 FPS. Testing showed that the first hour stays completely smooth. Keep playing past that point, though, and you will definitely notice frame drops starting to creep in.
On the plus side, heat management is excellent. The massive internal vapor chamber does a great job moving warmth away, so the back panel never gets uncomfortably hot in your hands.
<h2>Software, UI/UX &amp; AI Features</h2>
The Realme 16T 5G runs Realme UI 7.0 right from the start. The software looks clean and polished, highlighting new visual tweaks like Ice Cube Icons and a blurred Misty Glass Control Centre. Animations glide along nicely, scrolling remains stable, and the entire interface feels much tighter than older iterations.
Of course, being a budget device means dealing with pre-installed bloatware. You will need to dedicate about ten minutes to uninstalling the unwanted apps if you want a clean setup.
When it comes to longevity, Realme takes care of you by promising 3 years of Android operating system upgrades alongside 4 years of security patches for this phone.
The phone is also packed with some handy productivity features, including AI Popout, AI Instant Clip, and AI StyleMe. It is impressive to see brands in 2026 trickling down these premium artificial intelligence capabilities to phones that do not cost a fortune.
<h2>Battery &amp; Charging</h2>
This section is where the Realme 16T 5G makes its biggest statement. The entire device centers around a massive 8,000mAh Titan Battery. Realme is clearly obsessed with extreme endurance right now, pushing giant capacities into the market just like they did with the 10,001mAh cell on the <a title="Realme P4 Power 5G Review:29 Hours later, it still wouldn&rsquo;t die" href="https://www.editorji.com/tech-news/gadget-review/realme-p4-power-5g-review-29-hours-later-it-still-wouldn-t-die-1769672775457" target="_blank">Realme P4 Power</a>.
After a week of throwing everything at this phone &mdash; hours of YouTube streaming, heavy GPS mapping, camera sessions, and gaming &mdash; I completely stopped worrying about the battery percentage. The marketing calls this a three-day phone, and honestly, that is accurate. Average users can easily coast through three full days on a single charge without rationing their usage.
The phone refuses to give up even when you hit the final 5%. Turning on the Ultra Saving Mode cuts background tasks to the absolute bone to keep the phone alive on standby. Realme claims that final sliver of power can stretch up to 45 hours on standby with the screen off, which is wild.
Realme is also promising a 7-year battery health guarantee, claiming the cell will retain over 80% of its original capacity across seven years. Because the battery is so large, you simply plug it in less often. Fewer charging cycles mean the chemical aging process slows down dramatically.
When you do need to top up, the bundled 45W charging brick holds its own. A quick five-minute plug in the morning gives you a 7% boost, which buys you a few hours of standby. It takes about 48 minutes to hit 50%, and a full zero-to-hundred charge wraps up in a little over an hour and fifteen minutes. Honestly, for a battery of this scale, that is a great result.
You also get an All-Scenario Bypass Charging feature in the software to keep the phone cool by sending power straight to the motherboard. Plus, the wired reverse charging support means you can use a Type-C cable to turn the phone into a functional power bank for your wireless earbuds or a friend's dying device.
<h2>Price and availability</h2>
The Realme 16T has been launched at ₹29,999 for the 6 + 128 GB variant. But, you can also get this at ₹26,999 with some launch offers.&nbsp;
<h2>Final Verdict: Should You Buy It?</h2>
The Realme 16T 5G hits its main target perfectly. If you are constantly stressing over low battery or need a tough device that can handle the elements, it really has no direct competition.
Just keep in mind that it will not satisfy power users or anyone who demands a premium, razor-sharp screen.
For a budget phone, you are getting insane three-day battery life, serious IP69K water resistance, and great daytime portraits thanks to that clever rear mirror. The price is a little high for the overall specs, but it remains a solid value.
If you can live with the basic display and software limits, it is a very easy choice. It makes total sense for students on a budget or older relatives who just want a reliable phone that never dies.

The Oppo Find X9s brings strong cameras, smooth performance, ColorOS 16, and a huge battery. But is it worth ₹79,999? We find out.

Oppo Find X9s Review: The Balanced Flagship?

The Oppo Find X9s focuses on balance, bringing a strong set of cameras, polished software, premium design, and an excellent battery life.

The flagship smartphone race has become incredibly intense, particularly on the Android side of things. Brands are no longer just competing on raw performance or camera specs. The goal now is to create a phone that feels premium in every possible way, whether that&rsquo;s design, battery life, software smoothness, or long-term usability. With the Find X9s, Oppo seems less interested in showing off and more focused on refining the overall experience.
What impressed me most during my time with the phone was not one headline-grabbing feature, but the way everything comes together so naturally. The hardware feels elegant, the display is sharp and immersive, the Hasselblad-backed cameras are reliable across different situations, and ColorOS 16 feels mature and polished throughout daily use.
While some rivals may offer bigger numbers or more aggressive specifications, the Find X9s succeeds by feeling consistently refined. It delivers the kind of balanced flagship experience that simply works without demanding attention all the time.
<h2>Oppo Find X9s Pricing: How much does it cost?</h2>
The Oppo Find X9s has arrived in India with a starting price of Rs 79,999 for the 12GB RAM and 256GB storage variant. Buyers looking for more storage can opt for the 512GB version, which has been priced at Rs 89,999. With this pricing, Oppo is clearly positioning the Find X9s in the premium flagship segment, where it goes up against devices from Samsung, Vivo, and OnePlus.
Oppo has also confirmed that the Find X9s series will officially go on sale starting May 30. The smartphone is expected to be available through major online platforms as well as authorised retail stores across the country.
<h2>Oppo Find X9s Design: A flagship design that feels polished</h2>
The Oppo Find X9s instantly feels like a proper premium flagship the moment you pick it up. Oppo has gone with a flat-frame, flat-panel design this year, but thankfully, the edges are gently rounded, so the phone never digs into your hand during longer use. It feels sleek, modern, and surprisingly comfortable despite being a large flagship device.
The matte glass back has a soft, smooth texture that feels refined in hand, while the aluminium frame gives the phone a sturdy and premium finish. At 7.99mm thick and weighing 202 grams, the Find X9s manages to strike a nice balance between solid build quality and everyday comfort. It never felt too heavy or awkward during my usage.
One feature I genuinely ended up liking was the new Snap Key. Oppo allows you to customise it for different shortcuts like opening the camera, turning on the flashlight, taking screenshots, or accessing Plus Mind tools. I mostly used it for productivity shortcuts, and over time, it became something I relied on more than expected.
I&rsquo;m also a fan of Oppo&rsquo;s squircle-style camera module. It looks cleaner and more elegant compared to the oversized circular modules we&rsquo;ve been seeing lately, while still giving the phone a strong flagship identity.
On the durability front, Oppo has packed in IP66, IP68, and IP69 ratings, along with SGS five-star drop protection, making the Find X9s feel properly built for long-term use.
<h2>Oppo Find X9s Display: A panel built for content lovers</h2>
The Oppo Find X9s features a 6.59-inch 120Hz display, and I genuinely enjoyed using this panel throughout my time with the phone. The 1.5K resolution keeps everything looking crisp and detailed, whether you&rsquo;re endlessly scrolling through Instagram, reading articles, gaming, or binge-watching videos late into the night.
Even though Oppo uses an LTPS panel instead of LTPO here, the overall experience still feels smooth and premium in daily use. Animations are fluid, touch response feels snappy, and I never found myself missing LTPO during regular usage. Brightness is another major highlight. The panel reaches up to 1800 nits in High Brightness Mode, while local peak brightness goes all the way up to 3600 nits. Outdoor visibility under Delhi&rsquo;s unforgiving afternoon sun never became an issue.
What stood out to me most was the colour tuning. The display supports 10-bit colours and Dolby Vision, including Dolby Vision playback on Netflix, which makes movies and HDR videos look rich, vibrant, and immersive without going overboard on saturation. Whether it was YouTube, Netflix, or casual gaming, the Find X9s delivered a genuinely enjoyable multimedia experience.
The ultrasonic fingerprint scanner embedded under the display also works brilliantly. It&rsquo;s quick, reliable, and unlocks the phone almost instantly.
Oppo&rsquo;s stereo speakers are equally solid. Audio gets loud enough, vocals sound clean, and there&rsquo;s enough depth to make gaming, videos, and music enjoyable, even if the bass could still use a little more punch.
<h2>Oppo Find X9s Cameras: One of Oppo&rsquo;s best camera systems yet</h2>
The cameras are easily the biggest highlight of the Oppo Find X9s, and after using the phone extensively, I can confidently say Oppo has built a seriously impressive camera setup here. The Find X9s packs a triple 50MP system featuring a main camera, telephoto lens, and ultrawide shooter, all backed by Hasselblad tuning. And honestly, the difference is immediately noticeable.
In daylight, the phone captures excellent photos with plenty of detail, strong dynamic range, and colours that look rich without becoming overly saturated. I really liked how balanced Oppo&rsquo;s image processing feels this time. The photos look polished and social-media ready, but still natural enough to avoid that fake HDR-heavy look some flagships struggle with.
The telephoto camera is another standout. Sharpness remains consistently impressive even at higher zoom levels, while colour consistency between lenses is handled brilliantly. Oppo also avoids aggressive over-processing, which helps preserve texture and detail in zoom shots.
The ultrawide camera performs surprisingly well too. Details remain sharp, colours stay balanced, and the overall image quality holds up nicely even in tricky lighting conditions. In low light, the Find X9s continues to impress with controlled highlights, good sharpness, and clean-looking images without excessive noise reduction.
Portraits are another strong area for the phone. Edge detection is clean, skin tones look natural, and the background blur has a smooth, polished flagship-like quality to it.
For videos, the Find X9s supports up to 4K 60fps recording with Dolby Vision support. Stabilisation is excellent, colours look cinematic, and footage overall feels refined and consistent. I still would have liked to see 8K recording at this price point, though.
Even the 32MP selfie camera does a solid job, producing balanced selfies with natural skin tones and accurate exposure.
<h2>Oppo Find X9s Performance: Smooth, reliable, and built for gaming</h2>
The Oppo Find X9s is powered by the Dimensity 9500s chipset, paired with 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM and up to 512GB of UFS 4.1 storage. While there are a few phones in this segment that post slightly higher benchmark scores, I never once felt the Find X9s was lacking in real-world performance.
Day-to-day usage feels properly flagship-grade. Apps open quickly, multitasking remains smooth, and the overall experience stays consistently fluid even during heavier workloads. Whether I was editing photos, jumping between multiple apps, or handling demanding tasks, the phone remained fast and responsive throughout.
Gaming performance also ended up being better than I expected. Most games comfortably run around the 90FPS mark, but enabling AI frame interpolation pushes supported titles up to 120FPS, which noticeably improves smoothness during gameplay. More importantly, thermal management is genuinely solid here. Even during extended gaming sessions, the Find X9s only became slightly warm and never reached the point of feeling uncomfortable or heavily throttled.
Sure, benchmark-focused users may notice some competitors scoring higher in apps like Antutu, Geekbench, or 3DMark, but honestly, the real-world experience still feels extremely polished and flagship-like.
Connectivity is also very future-ready. Oppo includes support for WiFi 7, NFC, eSIM functionality, and Bluetooth 6.1, which is newer than what many rivals currently offer. The only thing that feels a little outdated is the USB 2.0 Type-C port, especially considering the premium pricing of the phone.
<h2>Oppo Find X9s Review: ColorOS 16 finally feels truly refined</h2>
The Oppo Find X9s runs on ColorOS 16, and honestly, this feels like one of Oppo&rsquo;s cleanest and most polished software experiences yet. The UI feels fluid, animations are consistently smooth, and the entire system has a lively responsiveness that makes daily usage genuinely enjoyable.
Oppo also gives you plenty of room for customisation. From lock screen styles and icon packs to animations and interface tweaks, there&rsquo;s a lot you can personalise without the software ever feeling messy or overloaded.
The biggest highlight, though, is the AI integration. Features like AI Mind Pilot actually feel useful instead of existing purely for marketing buzzwords. What makes it interesting is how intelligently the system routes tasks between different AI models depending on what you&rsquo;re trying to do. During my usage, it felt quick, smart, and surprisingly practical.
The Luminous Rendering Engine also deserves mention because it keeps the overall UI experience feeling consistently smooth and polished. Combined with the deeper Hasselblad integration inside the camera app, the entire software experience feels cohesive and properly flagship-grade.
For long-term support, Oppo is promising 5 years of Android updates alongside 6 years of security patches, which definitely adds strong long-term value to the Find X9s.
<h2>Oppo Find X9s Battery: Excellent battery life for power users</h2>
The Oppo Find X9s packs a huge 7,025mAh battery, and the battery life genuinely impressed me during daily use. Even with fairly heavy usage involving gaming, camera sessions, social media, streaming, and navigation, the phone comfortably lasted through an entire day without giving me battery anxiety. Oppo has managed to strike a really nice balance between endurance and overall usability here.
Charging speeds are solid as well. The phone supports 80W SuperVOOC fast charging, which takes it from 0 to 100 percent in roughly 55 to 60 minutes. It may not be the absolute fastest charging solution in this segment, but it still feels quick enough for most users. Oppo also includes reverse wired charging support for accessories, which is always a handy addition.
<h2>Oppo Find X9s Verdict: Worth the money?</h2>
The Oppo Find X9s feels like Oppo is finally perfecting its entry level flagship formula. Instead of relying on one flashy gimmick or headline-grabbing feature, the phone focuses on delivering a balanced experience across almost every area, with cameras clearly taking centre stage.
After spending time with the device, I genuinely enjoyed using it as a daily driver. The design feels premium yet comfortable, the display is vibrant and immersive, and the camera system is easily one of the strongest parts of the entire experience. Hasselblad&rsquo;s tuning gives photos a more natural and refined look, while both the telephoto and ultrawide cameras remain consistently reliable across different lighting conditions. Video quality is excellent too, although 8K recording support would have made the package feel even more complete at this price.
Performance may not dominate every benchmark chart, but in actual usage, the Find X9s feels extremely fast, fluid, and dependable. Gaming performance is solid, thermal management is impressive, and ColorOS 16 ended up being one of the biggest surprises for me. Features like AI Mind Pilot actually feel practical instead of existing purely as AI marketing filler.
Battery life is another massive strength. The large 7,025mAh battery comfortably powers through a full day of heavy usage without any stress.
Overall, the Oppo Find X9s feels like a polished, camera-focused flagship for people who want a premium experience without dealing with major compromises.

The Kenstar Tallde 105 BLDC Cooler combines powerful airflow, honeycomb cooling pads, and low power consumption into a surprisingly practical solution for Delhi summers. Here’s how it performed after real-world use.

Kenstar Tallde 105 BLDC Cooler Review: The Appliance That Made Delhi Summer Slightly Less Hostile

The Kenstar Tallde 105 BLDC Cooler delivers strong airflow, low power consumption, and practical everyday usability for Delhi summers. It won&rsquo;t replace an AC, but for large ventilated spaces, it&rsquo;s an efficient and surprisingly modern cooling alternative.

For the last few years, my relationship with Delhi summers has been almost entirely dependent on air conditioners. Once temperatures cross 40 degrees, survival in this city starts feeling less like &ldquo;summer&rdquo; and more like an endurance event sponsored by the sun itself.
The walls stay warm deep into the night, ceiling fans begin circulating air that feels suspiciously oven-adjacent, and stepping outside in the afternoon feels like somebody left the Earth too close to a tandoor.
The problem is that once you get used to air conditioning, it quietly becomes a financial hostage situation.
Last summer, my electricity bill climbed high enough that I started doing mental math every single time I reached for the AC remote. I&rsquo;d switch it off for an hour, immediately regret my decision, switch it back on, and then spend the rest of the evening pretending not to think about the meter spinning downstairs.
So this year, I wanted to try something different. Not because I expected a cooler to outperform an air conditioner, but because I was curious whether coolers had finally evolved beyond the loud plastic boxes I remembered from childhood summers.
That&rsquo;s how the Kenstar Tallde 105 BLDC Cooler entered my house. Priced at ₹21,290, it sits in an interesting spot where it&rsquo;s clearly more premium than the average neighborhood cooler, but still dramatically cheaper to buy and run than installing another air conditioner.
And after spending over a week with it during some particularly unpleasant Delhi heat, I&rsquo;ve come away thinking this cooler understands Indian summers better than many air conditioners do.
<h2>The Height Looks Excessive Until You Actually Use It</h2>
The first thing anybody notices about the Tallde is its size. This is not a subtle appliance. Standing at nearly 4.7 feet tall, it immediately dominates whichever corner of the room you place it in. When I first wheeled it into my living room, it honestly looked more like a portable appliance from a sci-fi movie than a traditional desert cooler.
At first, I assumed the height was mostly a design gimmick. A way to make the product look more premium or visually distinct from standard coolers. But after a few days of using it, I realized the vertical design solves one of the oldest problems with desert coolers.
Most coolers blow air far too low. You place them in a room, turn them on, and the airflow ends up cooling your coffee table more effectively than your body. The Kenstar&rsquo;s elevated fan changes that completely. Whether I was sitting at my desk editing videos or lying down on the couch in the evening, the airflow actually reached me properly instead of disappearing into furniture.
That difference sounds minor on paper, but in daily use it changes how effective the cooler feels. Rather than creating a vague sense of coolness somewhere in the room, the Tallde constantly reminds you that it&rsquo;s working.
The design itself is fairly clean as well. The white body with black accents keeps it from looking too industrial, and while nobody is going to mistake this for minimalist Scandinavian furniture, it doesn&rsquo;t visually ruin the room either. That matters more than people think because coolers tend to become semi-permanent summer residents in Indian homes.
Even though the cooler is tall, the footprint is surprisingly manageable. It fits neatly into corners without swallowing huge amounts of floor space, which became especially important in my apartment where every square foot already has a job.
<h2>The BLDC Motor Is Why This Cooler Exists</h2>
The biggest selling point of the Tallde isn&rsquo;t actually the airflow or the water tank. It&rsquo;s the BLDC motor.
Normally, motor specifications are the sort of thing people ignore entirely while buying appliances. Most of us just want to know whether the thing cools properly and whether it&rsquo;ll survive more than two summers. But after using this cooler, I genuinely think the BLDC setup is what makes the entire experience practical.
Traditional desert coolers in this category usually consume somewhere around 200 to 250 watts of electricity. The Tallde is rated at 145 watts, which might not sound revolutionary until you remember how long coolers tend to run during Indian summers.
This isn&rsquo;t an appliance you switch on for twenty minutes. During peak Delhi heat, coolers become all-day companions. They run through afternoons, evenings, and often entire nights. Over time, that lower power consumption starts making a noticeable difference.
I found myself using it far more freely than I use my AC because there wasn&rsquo;t that constant low-level guilt sitting in the back of my mind. With air conditioners, every extra hour quietly feels expensive. With the Tallde, I could leave it running through long stretches of the day without mentally calculating my next electricity bill.
The lower power draw also creates another huge advantage for Indian households: inverter support.
Delhi power cuts during summer feel almost inevitable at this point, especially during storms or peak evening loads. During one outage, the cooler continued running comfortably on my home inverter while the AC sat uselessly on the wall pretending to be modern art.
That single moment made the BLDC motor feel genuinely valuable rather than just marketing terminology.
<h2>I Used It Wrong on Day One</h2>
My first experience with the cooler was terrible. That&rsquo;s entirely my fault.
I placed it inside a closed bedroom, shut all the windows, turned on cooling mode, and expected it to behave like an air conditioner. Instead, within an hour, the room started feeling humid and slightly sticky. The airflow was strong, but the environment itself became uncomfortable.
Then I remembered how evaporative cooling actually works.
Desert coolers need ventilation. They aren&rsquo;t designed for sealed rooms. Once I opened windows and allowed proper cross ventilation, the entire experience changed almost immediately.
Suddenly the airflow felt fresher. The room stopped feeling damp. The cooler started behaving the way it was supposed to.
This is probably the most important thing to understand before buying any desert cooler, including this one. If you expect AC-style cooling inside a tightly sealed room, you&rsquo;ll probably end up disappointed. But if you use it in a properly ventilated environment, especially in dry North Indian heat, the Tallde becomes extremely effective.
I eventually shifted it closer to my dining area where airflow across the house was better, and that&rsquo;s where the cooler really started shining.
<h2>The Airflow Is Aggressively Good</h2>
Kenstar claims an air throw of up to 50 feet, and while I didn&rsquo;t walk around my house with scientific measuring equipment trying to verify marketing numbers, the airflow is undeniably strong.
Even at medium settings, the cooler pushes air across large rooms comfortably. At higher speeds, it starts feeling like somebody opened a wind tunnel inside your house.
The motorized swing helps distribute air evenly rather than concentrating it in one direction, and the large fan combined with the cooler&rsquo;s height creates airflow that actually travels through the room instead of collapsing a few feet away.
What surprised me most was how quickly the airflow changes the perception of heat. The room temperature itself may not plummet dramatically the way it would with an AC, but your body starts feeling cooler almost instantly because of the sheer amount of moving air.
A huge part of why the Tallde manages to feel effective in Delhi&rsquo;s dry heat comes down to the three-side honeycomb cooling pads. Compared to the thinner grass-style cooling material you&rsquo;d find in older coolers, these pads retain water far more consistently, which helps maintain stable airflow even after hours of continuous use.
During the hottest part of the afternoon, I noticed the cooler didn&rsquo;t suddenly start throwing warm air the way cheaper coolers often do once the water circulation settles. The airflow stayed surprisingly consistent, especially when the cooler had proper ventilation around it.
The honeycomb design also feels sturdier overall, with none of the sagging or uneven wet patches I&rsquo;ve seen in older desert coolers over time. It gives the entire cooling system a more dependable feel, particularly during long summer days where the cooler ends up running almost continuously.
There&rsquo;s also an ice chamber at the top, which I immediately tested because adding ice to coolers is practically embedded in Indian DNA at this point.
And yes, it works. The airflow becomes noticeably cooler for a while, especially if the water inside the tank was already heating up after hours of operation. It&rsquo;s not a dramatic transformation, but it does give the cooler an extra edge during especially brutal afternoons.
<h2>Living With It Every Day</h2>
One of the most underrated aspects of this cooler is the 105-liter water tank.
Smaller coolers constantly demand attention. You fill them, forget about them for a few hours, and suddenly they&rsquo;re empty again. The Tallde feels far less needy. A full tank comfortably lasted me through overnight use and large portions of the next day.
That convenience matters more than spec sheets make it seem.
During Delhi summers, the last thing anybody wants is to keep refilling water tanks multiple times a day while sweating through their T-shirt. The large capacity makes the cooler feel reliable in a very practical sense. You switch it on and largely stop thinking about it.
There&rsquo;s also a water level indicator on the front, which saves you from awkwardly checking the tank manually every few hours.
The wheels at the bottom deserve credit too. Once filled, the cooler becomes extremely heavy, but the castors are smooth enough that moving it around flat surfaces doesn&rsquo;t feel like a gym workout. I could shift it between rooms without much trouble, though uneven thresholds still require a bit of caution.
The controls on the top panel are also surprisingly modern for a desert cooler. The Tallde uses a touch-based control panel that feels clean and intuitive in daily use. Everything from fan speed and cooling mode to swing controls and timer settings is accessible directly from the top, and the buttons respond reliably without needing multiple taps.
I especially liked that the panel remains easy to use even in dim lighting at night, where some appliances suddenly turn into a guessing game of random button pressing. The touch controls also give the cooler a more contemporary feel overall, like something designed for modern apartments rather than an appliance that simply exists to fight heat.
You also get seven fan speeds, which initially sounded excessive until I actually started using them. Lower settings work well during evenings when you just want softer airflow in the background, while the higher levels are genuinely powerful enough to cool larger spaces quickly.
The remote also ended up being far more useful than I expected. On most coolers, remotes feel like an afterthought with mushy buttons and questionable responsiveness, but the Tallde&rsquo;s remote worked reliably from across the room during my testing. That became especially useful at night because once the cooler starts pulling down the heat in the room, the last thing you want to do is get up repeatedly to tweak fan speeds or swing settings.
I often found myself lowering the fan speed gradually through the evening without leaving the couch, which sounds lazy until you experience Delhi heat after a long day outside.
<h2>It&rsquo;s Loud. But Also&hellip; Every Cooler Is Loud.</h2>
There&rsquo;s really no avoiding this conversation. At higher fan speeds, the Tallde is noisy.
Not unbearably noisy, but definitely noticeable. If you&rsquo;re watching television, taking calls, or trying to work in complete silence, you&rsquo;ll probably reduce the speed slightly.
That said, the sound becomes much easier to tolerate once you understand what the cooler is actually doing. Moving this much air naturally creates noise. And compared to older desert coolers I&rsquo;ve used, the Tallde still sounds more controlled and less mechanically chaotic.
Lower and medium settings are far more comfortable for continuous use, especially at night.
Personally, after a couple of days, the sound simply merged into the normal audio landscape of Delhi living. Between traffic outside, ceiling fans, pressure cookers, barking dogs, and distant wedding processions that somehow operate year-round, the cooler didn&rsquo;t feel unusually intrusive.
<h2>Maintenance Is Part of the Deal</h2>
Unlike air conditioners, desert coolers expect some participation from the user.
You&rsquo;ll eventually need to clean the tank, especially if you&rsquo;re using hard water. The honeycomb pads will collect mineral deposits over time, and regular maintenance is necessary to keep airflow and cooling performance consistent. In Delhi, where hard water is practically a personality trait, mineral buildup feels less like a possibility and more like an inevitability after prolonged use.
Thankfully, the Tallde includes a dust filter net that helps prevent larger particles from getting trapped inside the honeycomb pads. In a city like Delhi where dust behaves almost like weather, that feature becomes surprisingly useful because it helps keep the pads cleaner for longer periods.
One thing new buyers should know is that the cooler does produce a noticeable smell during the first couple of days of operation. It&rsquo;s the typical new-cooling-pad smell that most coolers have. Thankfully, it fades away fairly quickly.
<h2>Verdict: Should You Buy it?</h2>
The Kenstar Tallde 105 BLDC Cooler doesn&rsquo;t replace an air conditioner. And honestly, I think judging it through that lens completely misses the point.
What it does instead is offer something far more practical for Indian summers: meaningful cooling with dramatically lower power consumption.
For large ventilated rooms, living spaces, balconies, terraces, and semi-open environments, it works extremely well. The elevated airflow genuinely improves comfort, the giant water tank reduces daily hassle, and the BLDC motor makes long-term usage far easier on electricity bills.
Most importantly, it feels designed around real Indian usage conditions rather than laboratory scenarios. It handles long operating hours well, works during power cuts through an inverter, and delivers airflow strong enough to survive Delhi afternoons without immediately forcing you back to the AC remote.
After spending time with it, I realized something surprising. I didn&rsquo;t actually need air conditioning all the time. Sometimes what I really wanted was strong, continuous, properly directed airflow that could make unbearable heat feel manageable again.
And that&rsquo;s exactly what the Tallde delivers.

The Vivo X300 Ultra delivers mirrorless-style cameras, flagship power, strong battery life and premium design. See if it is worth ₹1,59,999.

Vivo X300 Ultra Review: A True Camera Flagship

The Vivo X300 Ultra is a full-blown camera-first flagship with superb imaging, strong performance, excellent battery life and a steep ₹1,59,999 price.

For a little over two weeks, the Vivo X300 Ultra became my primary phone, and honestly, it did not take long for me to figure out what Vivo was aiming for here. The first time I started shooting photos and videos with it, one thing became immediately obvious: this is a phone built almost entirely around the camera experience.
Over the past few years, Vivo has slowly turned itself into one of the biggest players in smartphone photography. While other brands chased flashy AI tricks and raw performance numbers, Vivo consistently focused on imaging, and the results have shown. Its X-series phones regularly delivered some of the best camera systems on any smartphone. The frustrating part, at least for Indian buyers, was that the Ultra models never officially made it here. We usually got the standard and Pro variants, while the real camera monsters stayed limited to China.
That finally changes with the X300 Ultra. Vivo has now brought its top-tier flagship to India alongside the X300 FE, entering a space already packed with serious competition like the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra and Xiaomi 17 Ultra, with the Oppo Find X9 Ultra expected soon. In 2026, though, calling a phone &ldquo;Ultra&rdquo; is no longer enough. Every brand is chasing the same dream of building the ultimate flagship.
Which also makes Vivo&rsquo;s pricing strategy pretty bold. At ₹1,59,999, the X300 Ultra costs even more than the iPhone 17 Pro Max and Galaxy S26 Ultra, two phones most buyers instantly associate with the premium segment.
So what exactly makes the X300 Ultra stand out?
For me, the answer comes down almost entirely to the cameras.
Of course, the phone delivers everything else you would expect from a modern flagship too. But unlike most rivals that try balancing everything equally, the X300 Ultra feels like a device designed around photography first, with the rest of the hardware supporting that vision. The bigger question is whether Vivo&rsquo;s camera-first approach is enough to justify that massive asking price.
<h2>Vivo X300 Ultra Review: Cameras</h2>
Talking about the Vivo X300 Ultra almost automatically means starting with the cameras first. Everything else about this phone feels like it exists to support Vivo&rsquo;s imaging ambitions, and after using it extensively, this easily feels like one of the most serious camera systems on any smartphone right now.
The hardware itself is loaded. Vivo is using a 200MP Sony LYT-901 main sensor with gimbal stabilisation, alongside a 200MP Samsung ISOCELL HPB periscope telephoto camera with an 85mm focal length, 3.7x optical zoom, OIS, and an f/2.7 aperture. The ultrawide camera uses a 50MP Sony LYT-818 sensor with a 14mm focal length, dual-pixel autofocus, OIS, and a 116-degree field of view. Up front, there is a 50MP selfie camera with autofocus.
What immediately changes the feel of the main camera is Vivo&rsquo;s decision to use a tighter 35mm focal length instead of the typical 24mm look most smartphones rely on. Photos end up looking far more natural and cinematic, especially for portraits, food shots, and street photography.
On paper, Vivo has slightly narrowed the aperture to f/1.9 this year, and pixel sizes are also smaller. But in actual usage, the large 1/1.12-inch sensor still delivers excellent detail, strong dynamic range, and surprisingly reliable motion handling.
Vivo&rsquo;s colour science continues to be one of the best in the business. Images look cinematic without becoming overly sharpened or aggressively HDR-heavy. Colours are slightly richer than reality, especially greens and reds, but the processing usually makes photos look more vibrant rather than fake.
The standout camera here is easily the 85mm telephoto sensor. Zoom shots remain impressively detailed even at longer ranges, while the gimbal stabilisation genuinely helps reduce shaky results. I also ended up using the telephoto camera heavily for macro photography. Instead of relying on the dedicated Super Macro mode, the 7.4x telephoto zoom produced cleaner close-up shots with better subject separation and more comfortable framing distances.
Portrait mode is excellent too, and this is one of the few phones where the Zeiss branding actually feels meaningful. Edge detection is clean, skin tones mostly stay natural, and the background blur looks softer and more camera-like than what most phones manage.
The ultrawide camera is surprisingly strong as well. Vivo is using a massive sensor here, and unlike most ultrawide cameras that feel noticeably weaker than the primary sensor, this one stays consistently sharp with strong low-light performance and well-controlled distortion.
What impressed me most overall was the consistency between all three rear cameras. Switching between the main, telephoto, and ultrawide rarely feels jarring because colours and exposure remain cohesive across lenses. The only time I noticed slight differences was in lower light, where the ultrawide and telephoto cameras became slightly more prone to motion blur with fast-moving subjects.
Video has clearly become a huge focus this year too. The X300 Ultra supports 4K 120fps Dolby Vision recording across all rear cameras, while the selfie camera supports 4K 60fps Dolby Vision recording. You also get 10-bit LOG recording, LUT support, and extensive manual controls in Pro Video mode. Most casual users may never touch these features, but their presence makes it clear Vivo is targeting serious creators alongside regular users.
The 50MP selfie camera is excellent too. Selfies come out detailed, autofocus works reliably, and skin tones mostly stay natural. Vivo still adds a slightly warm tone to faces sometimes, but overall, the results look clean and pleasing.
<h2>Vivo X300 Ultra Review: Design</h2>
The first thing that stood out to me about the Vivo X300 Ultra was just how massive and substantial it feels in the hand. This is unapologetically a big flagship, and that gigantic camera module on the back makes the phone feel slightly top-heavy during one-handed use.
Thankfully, Vivo has still paid attention to ergonomics. The aluminium frame uses softly curved edges, which makes the phone more comfortable to hold compared to some aggressively flat-sided rivals. The matte finish on the frame also helps with grip while keeping fingerprint smudges under control.
The rear design looks premium without feeling overly flashy. Vivo has used a clean two-tone glass finish, and in this Victory Green colourway, the upper section leans heavily into the camera-inspired aesthetic while the lower half stays far more minimal. It gives the phone a distinct identity without looking excessive.
The camera module itself is enormous, but because it sits centrally, the phone surprisingly does not wobble much when placed on a table. My only minor complaint is that the module sits low enough for my index finger to occasionally brush against the housing and sometimes even the lenses while adjusting my grip.
You also get an IP69 rating, so the X300 Ultra can comfortably handle water immersion as well as high-pressure water exposure.
<h2>Vivo X300 Ultra Review: Display</h2>
The Vivo X300 Ultra features a massive 6.82-inch LTPO AMOLED display that can show over 1 billion colours, and gets a 144Hz refresh rate. We also get Dolby Vision, HDR10+, HDR Vivid, and 2160Hz PWM dimming.
In daily use, this is easily one of the best smartphone displays I have used in a long time. The panel looks incredibly sharp, colours appear vibrant without feeling artificially boosted, and the slim bezels make the entire front feel almost edge-to-edge. Watching HDR content, gaming, and even regular scrolling simply feels fantastic on this screen.
The adaptive LTPO refresh rate can intelligently scale between 1Hz and 144Hz depending on the task, helping the phone stay smooth while also managing battery life efficiently. Animations feel fluid throughout the interface, and high-refresh-rate gaming feels especially responsive.
Brightness is another area where the X300 Ultra performs exceptionally well. With 1,800 nits of high brightness mode output and a claimed peak brightness of 4500 nits, outdoor visibility remains excellent even under harsh sunlight.
One thing worth noting is that the phone does not run at full QHD+ resolution by default. Vivo dynamically adjusts resolution depending on usage to balance performance and battery life. Honestly though, the default setting already looks more than sharp enough in everyday use.
The ultrasonic fingerprint scanner also deserves credit. It is quick, reliable, and positioned comfortably for natural unlocking.
<h2>Vivo X300 Ultra Review: Performance</h2>
The Vivo X300 Ultra is powered by Qualcomm&rsquo;s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, which is currently the chipset powering most serious Android flagships. Vivo has also paired it with its custom VS1+ imaging chip, giving the phone an absurd amount of processing power for both photography and everyday performance.
The variant I tested came with 16GB LPDDR5X Ultra RAM and 512GB UFS 4.1 storage, and the overall experience feels incredibly fast. App launches are instant, multitasking feels effortless, and large file transfers happen ridiculously quickly.
The benchmark numbers reflect that too. The phone scored over 3.8 million on AnTuTu, while Geekbench 6 delivered 3595 in single-core and 10,302 in multi-core tests. More importantly, those numbers translate into genuinely smooth real-world performance. The phone never really feels like it is struggling, regardless of what you throw at it.
Gaming performance is excellent as well. BGMI and COD: Mobile both support 120fps gameplay, while Genshin Impact runs at up to 60fps. Thermals are handled fairly well too. During the demanding 3DMark Wild Life Extreme stress test, temperatures rose from roughly 36&deg;C to 51&deg;C, which is not unusual for a benchmark this heavy.
In regular usage, the phone stays mostly under control. It does get noticeably warm during long outdoor camera sessions, especially while recording high-resolution video, but Vivo&rsquo;s large vapour chamber cooling system helps bring temperatures down reasonably quickly afterwards.
The stereo speakers are excellent too. They get impressively loud, stay clear at high volumes, and offer strong stereo separation while gaming or watching videos.
<h2>Vivo X300 Ultra Battery Life: Big battery, fast charging</h2>
The X300 Ultra packs a huge 6600mAh battery, and thankfully, Vivo hasn&rsquo;t built a camera monster that constantly lives next to a charger. Battery life here is genuinely dependable.
On lighter days with mostly messaging, browsing, music streaming, and some casual photography, the phone can comfortably spill into a second day. But even during heavier usage involving gaming, long camera sessions, and navigation, I never really found myself stressing about battery life before the end of the day.
That said, this is still a phone designed for power users, and once you start pushing all the high-end hardware simultaneously, the battery does begin to move. Shooting a lot of 4K video, especially at higher frame rates, using the camera outdoors at max brightness, or gaming for long stretches, definitely drains it faster.&nbsp;
What I like is that the battery performance feels predictable. Some flagship phones randomly nosedive once the camera gets involved, but the X300 Ultra remains fairly consistent even during intensive use.&nbsp;
Charging is predictably fast too. The phone supports 100W wired charging and 40W wireless charging, and with Vivo&rsquo;s bundled adapter, the speeds are seriously quick for a battery this large. Around 20 minutes gets you close to 50%, while half an hour takes it comfortably past 70%. For a 6600mAh battery, that&rsquo;s honestly kind of ridiculous.
<h2>Vivo X300 Ultra Review: Software</h2>
The Vivo X300 Ultra runs OriginOS 6 based on Android 16, and honestly, Vivo&rsquo;s software experience has improved massively over the past few years. At this point, it is genuinely difficult to complain about how polished the overall experience feels.
What I like most about OriginOS is that it manages to feel playful and feature-rich without becoming overwhelming. There are customisation options almost everywhere, including lock screen layouts, icon styles, animations, wallpapers, and multitasking tools, but the interface still feels organised instead of turning into visual chaos.
Vivo has also added several genuinely useful AI and smart features. The live screen translation works surprisingly well, the recorder app&rsquo;s transcription tool is extremely handy during meetings or interviews, and the AI summary feature saves time when dealing with long notes. Even Origin Island, which initially sounds gimmicky, becomes genuinely useful once you start dragging screenshots, files, and content between apps regularly.
The experience is not completely perfect, though. There are still a few pre-installed apps that most users will probably uninstall immediately, along with the occasional App Store notification that feels unnecessary on a flagship phone at this price.
On the bright side, Vivo is promising 5 years of Android updates alongside 7 years of security patches, which is exactly the kind of long-term support expected from a premium flagship in 2026.
<h2>Vivo X300 Ultra Review: Verdict</h2>
The Vivo X300 Ultra does not feel like another flagship chasing attention with flashy AI features and oversized spec sheets. This is a phone that has been very clearly built around the camera experience first. The consistency between sensors, the cinematic colour science, the incredible telephoto system, and the sheer flexibility for both photography and video make this one of the most capable camera phones available right now.
What impressed me even more is that the rest of the phone still holds up extremely well. The display is excellent, performance is ridiculously fast, battery life remains dependable, and OriginOS feels far more refined than older Vivo software ever did.
Of course, the X300 Ultra is not flawless. That enormous camera module makes the phone feel heavy during daily use, and the occasional pre-installed app still feels unnecessary at this price point. The phone also gets noticeably warm during long outdoor camera sessions, especially while recording high-resolution video.
Then there is the pricing. At ₹1,59,999, Vivo is entering territory dominated by phones like the iPhone 17 Pro Max and Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra, which is never an easy comparison.
But if smartphone photography and videography matter more to you than almost anything else, the X300 Ultra absolutely belongs in that conversation. In many ways, this might be Vivo&rsquo;s strongest camera flagship yet.

The OnePlus Nord CE6 Lite packs a massive 7,000mAh battery, 144Hz display, Dimensity 7400 chip, and clean OxygenOS experience under ₹25,000.

OnePlus Nord CE6 Lite Review: Best Budget Battery Phone Under ₹25,000?

With a huge 7,000mAh battery, smooth 144Hz display, clean OxygenOS, and strong everyday performance, the OnePlus Nord CE6 Lite feels like one of the smartest budget phones of 2026.

The OnePlus Nord CE6 Lite delivers a massive 7,000mAh battery, smooth 144Hz display, solid gaming performance, and clean OxygenOS, making it one of the smartest budget phones under ₹25,000.

Finding a solid phone under ₹25,000 in 2026 is becoming a bit of a nightmare. With the constant price hikes in the smartphone industry, things have become a little messy. And of the options that are actually available at that price point, there honestly isn&rsquo;t much to write about.&nbsp;
The OnePlus Nord CE6 Lite, though, seems to challenge that belief.&nbsp;
Starting at ₹20,999 for the 6GB + 128GB model, OnePlus basically decided to go all-in on two things with this one: a crazy battery life and a build that can actually take a beating.
With OnePlus throwing in a massive 7,000mAh battery in there, it feels like they chose to focus on what people actually care about. It is fast, lasts surprisingly long, and doesn't feel like a compromised budget device at all, at least as far as the in-hand feel is concerned.
This is probably the most practical budget phone I have tested in a while. Here is why the Lite might actually be the smarter pick this year.
<h2>Nord CE6 Lite: Unboxing and Design</h2>
OnePlus is staying the course with the Nord unboxing. You still get the full setup here. The signature blue and black box still holds everything you actually need &mdash; a 45W power brick, that iconic red cable, and a protective case right in the box.&nbsp;
There is even a screen protector pre-applied. It is just a basic plastic film, so you will likely want to swap it for tempered glass at some point, but it is nice to have that protection from day one.
The case they included is just a standard, clear one. It is a little basic, but it works fine until you decide to buy something more personalised. The phone itself looks and feels much more premium than you would expect for the price. It is built out of high-quality plastic, but the matte finish is excellent.&nbsp;
It does a great job of hiding oily smudges and fingerprints, so the phone stays looking fresh even after a long day of use. Despite the plastic build, it feels dense and well-assembled. It definitely doesn't feel like a cheap toy.
If you look at the back, the pill-shaped camera layout definitely has some <a title="Realme P4x Review: Budget performer with a beast of a battery" href="https://www.editorji.com/tech-news/gadget-review/realme-p4x-review-budget-performer-with-a-beast-of-a-battery-1765358964468" target="_blank">Realme P4x </a>vibes. OnePlus kept the controls simple by putting all the buttons on the right side. The power button also acts as your fingerprint sensor, and it reacts quickly when you tap it.&nbsp;
With a massive 7,000mAh battery tucked inside, the device is slightly on the thicker side, but just 8.5mm. It weighs 208g, so it has a solid, reassuring heft without being a literal brick in your pocket.
In terms of durability, the Nord CE6 Lite offers an IP64 rating, which is pretty solid for keeping out dust and surviving accidental splashes. But the MIL-STD-810H certification is the bigger deal. That military-grade drop protection means this phone is built to handle the kind of drops and tumbles that happen in the real world. For a budget-friendly device, it is a surprisingly tough piece of hardware.
<h2>Nord CE6 Lite Review: Display</h2>
OnePlus has made a bold move by bringing a 144Hz refresh rate to the <a title="Nord CE6 Review: Big Batteries, Smarter AI, and Better Display" href="https://www.editorji.com/tech-news/gadget-review/nord-ce6-review-big-batteries-smarter-ai-and-better-display-1778158589065" target="_blank">Nord CE6 </a>Lite. It is a segment-leading feature that makes every scroll and animation feel incredibly fluid. While navigating the UI, the scrolling feels remarkably smooth, though the actual viewing experience reflects its budget-friendly positioning.
The Nord CE6 Lite uses a 6.72-inch LCD panel. Yes, the Lite series no longer features an AMOLED in this budget. As I said, welcome to the AI era.&nbsp;
The bezels here are a constant reminder that this is a budget phone, especially when you look at that noticeable chin at the bottom of the screen. While the display is quite punchy for an LCD, it lacks the deep blacks found on more expensive AMOLED screens. You get HDR support for YouTube playback, but Netflix is limited to standard dynamic range.&nbsp;
But, in terms of content consumption, the display does a pretty decent job. During my time with the phone, I never faced any issues, whether I was watching a movie or scrolling through random social feeds. It&rsquo;s not the kind of experience that you would probably get on an AMOLED, but it&rsquo;s decent enough for the price tag.
As for brightness, its peak brightness hits 1000 nits in HBM, which is bright enough for most daily use cases but struggles a bit more than premium panels when used in direct, harsh sunlight.
Durability and usability are big focus areas here as well. The screen features a specialised touch technology that maintains 97% touch accuracy even with wet hands. This ensures you can still reply to texts or navigate the phone with sweaty fingers without the sensor going haywire.&nbsp;
For a phone in this price bracket, having that level of reliability in difficult conditions is a significant addition that most people will actually appreciate during daily use.
<h2>Nord CE6 Lite Review: Performance</h2>
The processor of the Nord CE6 Lite actually turned out to be the biggest surprise of this entire review. We get the MediaTek Dimensity 7400, and for storage, you get up to 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage, whereas RAM tops out at 8GB. OnePlus hasn&rsquo;t exactly shared what kind of RAM we have in this. Still, we get to see a massive jump in power, especially compared to other current phones at this price.&nbsp;
I ran the usual benchmarks and saw an AnTuTu score of 999,565, while Geekbench 6 pulled in 1077 for single-core and 2978 for multi-core. Seeing that kind of speed at this price is pretty rare.&nbsp;
It makes the UI feel much smoother than I expected for a budget device, so daily tasks feel pretty much effortless.
Gaming was another area where it punched above its weight, hitting a solid 90 FPS in BGMI and COD Mobile. It isn't perfect, though.&nbsp;
I did catch a few small stutters during those long marathon sessions. It also gets a bit warm after a while; after two hours of playing, I could definitely feel the heat against my palms. It clearly doesn't have the high-end cooling tech you get on the more expensive models.
Still, you have to remember this chip isn't built for pro-level gaming. Even with a bit of heat under heavy load, it offers a very snappy experience for most people. If you just want a fast phone for multitasking and casual gaming that won't break the bank, this is a huge step up.
<h2>Nord CE6 Lite Review: Camera</h2>
The camera setup on the Nord CE6 Lite is a bit of a mixed bag. OnePlus decided to stick with the same basic configuration we have seen before, featuring a main 50MP sensor and a 2MP depth lens. I was really hoping they would finally add an ultrawide this year for some much-needed versatility, but instead, we are still stuck with a pretty limited dual-camera layout.
That said, the primary camera actually does a solid job of keeping colours looking natural. It doesn't over-saturate things like a lot of other budget phones tend to do. If you&rsquo;re just posting to social media, your portraits will look decent enough, even if they aren't going to win any awards.&nbsp;
A surprising highlight here is that the Lite actually supports 4K video on the rear camera. You don't always see a lot of phones at this price point doing that, so it is a nice feature for anyone who records a lot of clips.
Flip the phone over and you are dealing with an 8MP selfie shooter. While it's a step down from the 16MP on the previous OnePlus Nord CE4 Lite, it works fine for quick snaps or video calls, but the lack of a high-res sensor is pretty obvious if you try to crop in.&nbsp;
Most of the heavy lifting is handled by the software processing.&nbsp;
Still, the main 50MP sensor is reliable enough to make this a decent daily driver for the average person. It is a very basic, no-frills camera package that just focuses on getting the essentials right.
Nord CE6 Lite Review: Software, UI/UX &amp; AI Features The Nord CE6 Lite is hitting the market with OxygenOS 16 right out of the box, running on top of Android 16. It is that classic OnePlus experience: incredibly fast, smooth, and thankfully stripped of the bloatware that usually clutters up budget phones.&nbsp;
The interface feels high-end, making app switching feel almost instant during daily use. It is great to see this level of polish on a device that doesn't cost a fortune.
The AI features here are surprisingly practical. The AI Creative Tools do some heavy lifting; AI Eraser is perfect for getting rid of photobombers in your snaps, while AI Detail Boost can actually save those low-res shots that would normally be useless.
Google Gemini is also baked into the system as a daily assistant, and I found Circle to Search to be one of the most useful additions for quickly figuring out what is in my social media feeds.&nbsp;
Beyond those, the phone is packed with several other AI tools that feel genuinely useful for anyone living in today&rsquo;s digital world. It is clear that OnePlus is finally taking AI seriously, even for their budget devices, and not just for their more expensive, premium offerings. They are making it a standard part of the OnePlus experience, even for their more affordable models.
<h2>Nord CE6 Lite Review: Battery and Charging</h2>
The battery on the Nord CE6 Lite is easily the biggest reason to buy it. That 7,000mAh battery is massive for the price, and it&rsquo;s also a huge jump from the 5,500mAh cell in the previous generation. I put it through my usual daily routine, and it easily lasted almost two full days before I had to even think about a charger.&nbsp;
The 10W reverse charging is also a clever touch. I actually used it to jumpstart my dead earbuds while I was on the move, so for basic power ups you can easily count the Nord CE6 Lite on as your charging buddy.
It uses a 45W SUPERVOOC charger when you finally run out of juice. It would have been nice if OnePlus stuck to the 80W chargers that previous Nord and Nord Lite devices came with.
Still, the phone charges pretty quick. It takes about an hour and a half to hit a full charge, which is fine since it beats out most other phones in this bracket anyway. Just ten minutes on the plug gave me enough power to get through a workday.
You also get Bypass Charging with it. It is great for gaming because the phone pulls power from the wall instead of the battery while you play. This keeps the heat down and stops the battery from wearing out too fast. If you hate constantly worrying about your battery percentage, this thing is the new benchmark for budget phones.
<h2>Nord CE6 Lite Review: Verdict</h2>
The Nord CE6 Lite is probably the most balanced budget phone I&rsquo;ve handled this year, one that costs roughly ₹20,000. It doesn't bother with flashy features that don't work. Instead, OnePlus has covered most of the practical essentials that you&rsquo;d probably demand on a budget device.
Sure, there are certain trade-offs; losing the AMOLED screen is a bummer if you&rsquo;re a big movie buff. But for most of regular users, that 7,000mAh battery is a fair trade. You&rsquo;re getting a clean, fast UI without any of the junk apps that usually ruin budget phones.&nbsp;
At ₹20,999, it&rsquo;s just a solid, dependable tool that isn't going to die on you by lunchtime. If you just want a phone that stays alive and doesn't lag, this is easily the smartest pick in its price range.

OnePlus Nord CE6 delivers an 8000mAh battery, rugged IP69 durability, smooth 144Hz AMOLED display, strong gaming performance, and practical AI features.

OnePlus Nord CE6 Review: 8000mAh Battery, 144Hz AMOLED & AI Features

Massive battery, rugged build, smooth 144Hz display, and practical AI make the Nord CE6 stand out.

OnePlus Nord CE6 combines a massive 8000mAh battery, rugged durability, smooth 144Hz AMOLED display, strong gaming performance, and practical AI features into a reliable mid-range package.

Finally, the OnePlus Nord CE6 is out from behind the curtain, and this time, OnePlus is doing something different. Instead of the usual minor spec bumps, the Nord CE6 feels like a tool built for the actual world. It starts at ₹29,999 for the 8GB/128GB model, and honestly, it is a huge pivot away from those fragile mid-rangers that always feel like a compromise. It feels like a direct answer for anyone who wants a reliable, high-end experience without draining their bank account.
By doubling down on a massive battery and a build that can actually take a beating, this phone is moving into much more specialized territory. I have spent the last week pushing this thing to its absolute limit to see if these rugged upgrades are actually worth the cash or if the trade-offs are just too much to live with every day. It is a bold move for a brand that usually focuses on speed alone.
<h2>OnePlus Nord CE6 Review: Unboxing &amp; Design</h2>
OnePlus is staying consistent with the unboxing of the Nord CE6, and honestly, that is great news for buyers. While most brands are busy stripping chargers and cases out of the box to save money, OnePlus still includes the full kit. You get that signature blue and black box, and inside, everything you actually need is right there.&nbsp;
There is a solid protective case, the famous red cable, and an 80W SUPERVOOC adapter. It is such a relief to not have to buy a brick separately. They even put a screen protector on for you, though it is just a basic plastic film that you will probably want to swap for tempered glass eventually.
The whole package feels way more complete than what you get from most competitors. Instead of those cheap, clear cases that turn yellow and look gross after a few weeks, you get an opaque one that actually feels premium. It makes the hardware feel substantial the moment you pull it out.
When you actually get the <a title="OnePlus Nord 6 Review: The new endurance king that almost has it all" href="https://www.editorji.com/tech-news/gadget-review/oneplus-nord-6-review-the-new-endurance-king-that-almost-has-it-all-1775570208573" target="_blank">Nord</a> CE6 in your hand, it looks and feels like it belongs in a higher price bracket. The back has this smooth matte texture that is fantastic at hiding oily smudges and fingerprints. Even though the frame and back are plastic, the finish is so good it looks exactly like glass. The build is tight and doesn't have that hollow, cheap sound when you tap on it.
The design has definitely shifted toward a more "pro" aesthetic. The camera island is now a square, which looks a lot like the OnePlus 15 flagship. It gives the phone a more serious vibe than the older, more playful Nord designs. They kept things simple with all the buttons on the right side, and they have a nice, clicky response. Plus, the fingerprint sensor is under the glass, which keeps the front looking modern and clean. Interestingly, there is no Plus Key to be found here.
Even with a massive battery inside, the phone stays fairly thin at 8.55mm. It isn't a featherweight, but it doesn't feel bulky either. At 215g, it has a reassuring heft that makes it feel like it can actually survive a drop. The biggest highlight is the ruggedness. With IP66, IP68, and even IP69K ratings, this thing is a tank. It can handle high-pressure water jets and has military-grade toughness, so it is clearly built to take a beating.
<h2>OnePlus Nord CE6 Review: Display</h2>
OnePlus really went all out on the screen here. Honestly, seeing a 144Hz refresh rate on a Nord is a huge win. It is a big deal for a mid-range phone because it makes every single swipe feel incredibly smooth. You really notice that extra speed when you are flicking through a long Instagram feed or jumping between apps. It just gives the whole interface a much more expensive, snappy feel that you don't always get at this price.
The actual panel is a 6.78-inch 1.5K AMOLED, and it looks fantastic. One thing I caught immediately was how much thinner the bezels are this time around. They look way more symmetrical than last year, which really helps you get lost in a video. The colors are punchy but they don't look fake, and since it supports HDR on Netflix, it is a great little device for catching up on shows.
I also took it out into the bright Delhi sun and it held up surprisingly well. You get 1800 nits of peak HBM brightness, so I wasn't constantly hunting for a shadow just to read a WhatsApp message. It stays perfectly readable even under direct light. Plus, the in-display fingerprint sensor is a nice touch. It reacts fast and feels a lot more modern than those side-mounted scanners we usually see in this segment.
Then there is the toughness. They used Crystal Guard Glass to keep it safe from scratches, but the Aqua Touch 2.0 is what actually saved me. It basically means you can still use the screen if your hands are sweaty or if it starts drizzling. The display doesn't freak out or register random ghost touches when it gets wet. When you mix that kind of ruggedness with the 144Hz speed, this screen is very hard to beat.
<h2>OnePlus Nord CE6 Review: Performance</h2>
I&rsquo;ll be totally honest, the performance here really caught me off guard. OnePlus made a pretty weird choice by going with a dual-chip setup, pairing the Snapdragon 7s Gen 4 with something they call a Touch Reflex Chip. I know some spec-heads are going to complain about them ditching the old Dimensity 8350, but in my hands, this thing felt incredibly quick. I spent the week jumping between heavy apps and multitasking, and it was just liquid smooth. Everything opens the second you hit the icon, which is that snappy feel people want from this brand.
I ran some benchmarks to see how it handles actual pressure. It hit over 1.1 million on AnTuTu and the Geekbench 6 scores were just as solid. But stats aside, the phone simply doesn't stutter when you are pushing it. When I loaded up BGMI and COD Mobile, it stayed locked at a steady 90 FPS. It felt so stable that I&rsquo;m betting we will see 120 FPS support via an update soon. That dedicated touch chip actually seems to help keep the lag down during competitive play.
The cooling was the biggest surprise for me. Even after an hour of grinding, the device only got a little bit warm. I didn't see any of that annoying thermal throttling where the frame rate suddenly tanks to save the hardware. Whether you are editing a quick video or in a long gaming marathon, the Nord CE6 just keeps up. It is a reliable, fast experience that finally makes a mid-range chip feel like a flagship.
<h2>OnePlus Nord CE6 Review: Camera</h2>
The camera situation on the Nord CE6 is honestly a bit of a mystery. I was pretty floored when I realized OnePlus swapped out the ultrawide lens for a 2MP depth sensor. It feels like a big step backward in terms of what you can actually do with the camera, even though that main 50MP sensor is actually quite impressive. It is hard to justify trading a functional lens for a placeholder, but I suppose these are the kind of compromises we have to expect as phone prices keep climbing.
That main camera does a great job, to be fair. My shots around town had plenty of crisp detail, and the dual-axis OIS is a huge help if your hands aren't perfectly steady. But when you switch to video, the limitation comes back because you are capped at 4K at 30fps. Losing the 60fps option that older Nords had feels like a weird move for 2026. I ended up just using 1080p at 60fps most of the time to avoid that jittery look.
At least the color science is on point.<a title="OnePlus Pad 4 Review: This Might Be the Android Tablet to Beat" href="https://www.editorji.com/tech-news/gadget-review/oneplus-pad-4-review-this-might-be-the-android-tablet-to-beat-1777537959030" target="_blank"> OnePlus</a> kept the saturation in check, so your photos look realistic instead of looking like a neon cartoon. The portraits are okay for social media, but that 2MP sensor isn't doing much work. The real highlight is the 32MP selfie camera. Having autofocus on the front is a total game changer at this price. It keeps your face sharp in every shot and even records in 4K. It is a fantastic front setup, but I still really wish I had that ultrawide for landscapes.
<h2>OnePlus Nord CE6 Review: Software, UI/UX &amp; AI Features</h2>
The software on the Nord CE6 is exactly what I was looking for. It runs OxygenOS 16 on Android 16, and the whole thing is just fast and remarkably clean. You don't get that bloated, heavy feel that usually kills mid-range phones.&nbsp;
Instead, the UI feels high-end and jumping between big apps is basically instant. But the real headline is the long-term support. OnePlus is promising six years of longevity. Knowing a phone at this price will stay smooth and secure until 2032 is a massive win for anyone who hates upgrading every two years.
The AI stuff here actually feels useful for once. Having Google Gemini as a built-in assistant really changes your daily workflow. And Circle to Search is one of those features I ended up using way more than I expected just to identify stuff in my feed without closing apps.&nbsp;
On the photo side, the AI Eraser and Detail Boost tools are genuinely handy for fixing up a ruined shot or sharpening something that looked a bit soft. It is clear that OnePlus is making AI a core part of the system rather than just a gimmick. It feels like a natural part of the phone.
<h2>OnePlus Nord CE6 Review: Battery and Charging</h2>
OnePlus has really moved the goalposts this year with the battery performance on the Nord CE6. I have been using it as my main device for a week now, and that 8000mAh cell is just incredible. In my actual daily use, I was consistently getting through two full days without needing a plug. It is a weird but great feeling to stop worrying about your charger until the second night rolls around.
The 27W reverse charging is another feature that actually turned out to be useful. I ended up using the phone like a portable power bank to juice up my earbuds while I was out and about. It is one of those things you might ignore at first but really appreciate when you are in a pinch. When the phone finally does hit zero, the 80W SUPERVOOC brick gets that massive tank back to full in about an hour.
Gamers are also going to love the Bypass Charging mode. It lets the phone draw power straight from the wall instead of the battery while you play, which keeps the heat down and saves the battery health in the long run. If you are someone who deals with constant low battery anxiety, the Nord CE6 has basically set a new benchmark. It is a total powerhouse that makes you wonder why every other mid-range phone isn't built this way.
<h2>Verdict: Should you buy it?</h2>
Choosing a phone is getting harder as prices keep climbing. We aren&rsquo;t seeing the same crazy value that older Nords used to offer, but the Nord CE6 still feels like it has that original DNA, even if it costs a bit more now.
It is a rugged tool for anyone who is sick of fragile glass and hunting for a plug by lunchtime. If your job keeps you outside or you just play games for hours, that 8000mAh battery and the tough build are genuine lifesavers. They make the price feel justified.
Yes, losing the ultrawide lens hurts, but the rest of the cameras are fine for daily shots. What you are really buying is a phone that survives a monsoon and lasts two days. If you want something fast and indestructible, this is a great deal. Photographers will hate the lack of lenses, but for anyone else, it is the ultimate "no-anxiety" phone.

The Vivo X300 FE combines ZEISS cameras, flagship-grade performance, slim design, and massive battery life in a surprisingly balanced package.

Vivo X300 FE Review: Small Phone, Big Flagship Energy

<h3 data-start="589" data-end="740">The Vivo X300 FE feels like the sweet spot of Vivo&rsquo;s X-series, balancing cameras, battery life, and usability surprisingly well.</h3>
&nbsp;

Over the past few years, Vivo has been on a serious roll with its X-series phones. Devices like the Vivo X300 and X300 Pro came across as polished, dependable flagships when I tested them, combining strong cameras, solid day-to-day performance, and battery life that comfortably survived heavy usage. That formula has clearly carried over to the Vivo X300 FE as well. On paper, it promises the same premium X-series experience, but in a package that is supposed to feel slightly more accessible.
The problem is, the pricing places the X300 FE in a slightly confusing position. Starting at ₹70,000 for the base 12GB+256GB unit, the X300 FE lands dangerously close to the standard X300, while also competing against the newer X200T, which is still very fresh in the market.
After using the X300 FE for around 10 days, I think I finally understand exactly where this phone fits into Vivo&rsquo;s lineup.
<h2>Vivo X300 FE: Pricing and availability</h2>
The Vivo X300 FE is priced at ₹79,999 for the 12GB RAM and 256GB storage variant. If you need more storage, the 12GB RAM and 512GB version sits higher in the lineup at ₹89,999.
Vivo is also selling the telephoto extender kit separately for ₹15,999, while the additional accessory bundle costs another ₹3,999. If you pick up the complete photography setup along with the 12GB + 256GB variant, the total comes to ₹95,997 after a ₹4,000 discount on the bundle.
The Vivo X300 FE will officially go on sale starting 14th May 2026.
<h2>Vivo X300 FE Review: Design and build quality</h2>
Vivo has played it fairly safe with the design language of its recent X-series phones, especially around the cameras. That changes with the X300 FE. The moment I picked it up, the biggest difference was impossible to miss. Instead of the oversized circular camera setup seen on the X300 Pro and Ultra, Vivo has switched to a much slimmer pill-shaped module that stretches horizontally across the back. It looks cleaner, more modern, and honestly, far less aggressive. The ZEISS branding, flash, and triple-camera setup are tucked neatly into the module without making the rear panel feel cluttered.
More importantly, the slimmer camera housing changes how the phone feels during actual use. The X300 FE does not have that heavy-top sensation some flagship camera phones suffer from. Compared to the regular X300, the balance feels better distributed, which made the phone noticeably more comfortable during long usage sessions.
Despite the redesign, Vivo has not cut corners elsewhere. The X300 FE still feels every bit like a premium flagship. The aluminium frame keeps the chassis rigid, while the matte glass finish on the rear adds grip and resists smudges surprisingly well. At 191 grams and just under 8mm thick, the phone manages to feel sleek without becoming fragile or overly thin.
I also liked the size. The 6.31-inch display sits in a sweet spot where the phone feels manageable without looking small. Reaching across the screen never felt awkward, and one-handed use was far easier than on most modern flagships.
The Lilac Purple finish on my unit gives the phone a younger, more playful vibe, though Vivo also offers subtler Urban Olive and Noir Black variants. Around the front, the slim bezels and flat panel help keep the design sharp and symmetrical. Vivo has also packed in almost every modern connectivity feature you would expect, including Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6.0, NFC, eSIM support, an IR blaster, and USB Type-C.
<h2>Vivo X300 FE Review: Display and audio</h2>
The display on the Vivo X300 FE ended up surprising me more than I expected. On paper, the specs already look solid, but once I started using the phone daily, it became clear that Vivo has tuned this panel really well. The device comes with a 6.31-inch AMOLED display featuring a 120Hz refresh rate and a resolution of 2640x1216 or about 1.5K. At 460PPI, it's noticeably sharp. Text looks cleaner, fine details stand out more, and high-resolution videos simply feel more refined.
What I appreciated most, though, was the colour reproduction. Vivo&rsquo;s ZEISS Master Color Display tuning avoids the usual trap of making everything look unnaturally vibrant. Instead, colours appear more controlled and realistic. Skin tones look accurate, HDR videos feel balanced, and photos do not get that exaggerated contrast-heavy treatment many AMOLED panels tend to push.
The panel also supports the P3 wide colour gamut along with HDR10+ playback on streaming platforms like Netflix, so movies and shows look punchy without feeling overprocessed. Vivo has also included 2160Hz high-frequency PWM dimming, which genuinely helps during late-night usage. I noticed far less eye fatigue during long scrolling sessions in dim environments.
Brightness has been excellent too. In regular outdoor conditions, the panel comfortably pushes close to 1800 nits in high brightness mode, which kept visibility perfectly manageable even under aggressive sunlight. HDR highlights can climb all the way up to 5000 nits, allowing bright scenes and reflections in supported content to pop without affecting the darker areas of the image.
The LTPO technology dynamically adjusts the refresh rate depending on what you are doing, which helps balance smoothness and battery efficiency nicely. Vivo has also equipped the phone with an ultrasonic in-display fingerprint scanner, and throughout my usage, it remained consistently fast and accurate.
As for audio, the stereo speakers are clean and sufficiently loud for videos, gaming, and casual content consumption. They do not have the deep, room-filling sound signature of the X300 Pro, but for a phone this size, the speaker setup still performs well.
<h2>Vivo X300 FE Review: Cameras</h2>
Cameras have consistently been one of Vivo&rsquo;s biggest strengths, especially across the X-series lineup, and the X300 FE definitely feels like it belongs in that family. After using the phone extensively, I came away feeling that Vivo has focused less on flashy tricks and more on building a camera system that feels dependable across different situations.
The hardware itself is interesting. The phone packs a 50MP Sony IMX921 primary sensor, paired with a 50MP Sony IMX882 telephoto camera and an 8MP ultrawide shooter. At first glance, the ultrawide sensor does feel slightly underwhelming on paper, especially when the rest of the setup looks considerably more premium. But once I started using the cameras properly, the overall tuning and consistency mattered far more than the raw numbers.
The main camera is easily the backbone of the experience. Vivo&rsquo;s ZEISS partnership continues to pay off here because the image processing feels restrained in a good way. Instead of pushing unrealistic saturation or over-sharpening everything, the X300 FE focuses on cleaner, more natural-looking results. In daylight, the phone is incredibly reliable. Photos consistently came out detailed, exposure handling was balanced, and highlights were controlled nicely without crushing darker areas of the frame. It is the kind of camera setup where you can quickly pull out the phone, tap the shutter, and trust that the shot will look good.
The telephoto camera ended up being my favourite part of the entire setup. The 50MP IMX882 sensor paired with OIS gives the X300 FE far more flexibility than most phones in this category. Vivo&rsquo;s AI True Clarity Engine also plays a role here, helping preserve details when zooming into distant subjects. Whether I was shooting buildings, street scenes, or random details far away, the phone retained a surprising amount of clarity without making images look artificially processed.
I also tried Vivo&rsquo;s Telephoto Extender Gen 2 kit, and honestly, it is more useful than I expected it to be. The attachment extends the focal length to roughly 200mm, allowing you to capture distant subjects with noticeably better reach. More importantly, it does not simply magnify the image digitally. Details in structures, signs, and textures remain much cleaner and more readable compared to standard zoom crops. The overall image quality still holds together surprisingly well at longer distances, which makes the setup genuinely fun to experiment with.
The ultrawide camera is clearly the weakest sensor in the system, but it is not unusable by any means. The 8MP sensor cannot match the sharpness or dynamic range of the main and telephoto cameras, though for casual landscape shots, group photos, or social media uploads, it still performs adequately.
Low-light photography is another area where the X300 FE performs confidently. The primary sensor manages highlights well while still retaining shadow details, which helps photos look cleaner and more natural at night. Noise control is decent too, and Vivo avoids going overboard with aggressive night processing.
Portraits are especially strong here. Vivo includes ZEISS multifocal portrait options ranging from 23mm all the way to 100mm, and that flexibility genuinely changes how you can frame your shots. Some focal lengths work better for environmental portraits, while others create tighter, more dramatic compositions. It makes the camera system feel more versatile rather than locked into one particular look.
Video capabilities are equally comprehensive. The X300 FE supports 4K recording at 60fps, along with 4K at 120fps and even 8K at 30fps for users who want extra flexibility while shooting. Stabilisation is solid, and the phone feels perfectly capable for casual content creation or vlogging.
On the front, Vivo has added a 50MP selfie camera with autofocus support, which is always a major plus. Selfies look sharp, skin tones remain natural, and autofocus helps keep things consistently crisp during both photos and video calls.
After spending time with the X300 FE, I think Vivo has delivered a camera system that feels balanced and mature. The ultrawide camera may not be class-leading, but the combination of a strong main sensor, an excellent telephoto camera, reliable image processing, and ZEISS-backed tuning makes this one of the more enjoyable compact flagship cameras I have used recently.
<h2>Vivo X300 FE Review: Performance</h2>
Performance was one of the areas I was most interested in testing on the Vivo X300 FE, mainly because compact phones sometimes struggle to sustain flagship-level power over longer sessions. Thankfully, that is not really the case here. The phone runs on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chipset, and throughout my time using it, the experience felt consistently fast and polished.
Vivo has paired the chip with LPDDR5X Ultra RAM and UFS 4.1 storage, and the difference is immediately noticeable in daily usage. Apps launch almost instantly, multitasking feels seamless, and heavier tasks like editing photos or transferring large video files happen without any frustrating delays. Even after loading the phone up with multiple apps running in the background, I rarely noticed slowdowns or stutters.
Benchmark performance is solid too. I recorded AnTuTu scores hovering around the 2.7 million mark, which comfortably places the X300 FE in flagship territory. While some larger phones may score slightly higher, the important part is that the real-world performance genuinely matches the numbers.
Gaming performance ended up being particularly impressive. I spent long sessions playing BGMI and Call of Duty Mobile at 120FPS, and frame rates stayed remarkably stable throughout. Vivo&rsquo;s vapour chamber cooling system deserves credit here because the phone manages heat surprisingly well for its size. Even during longer gaming runs, temperatures remained controlled, and I never noticed major thermal throttling affecting gameplay.
Overall, the X300 FE feels every bit like a proper flagship performer. It delivers speed, stability, and sustained performance without sacrificing comfort or portability.
<h2>Vivo X300 FE Review: Software and AI</h2>
The Vivo X300 FE runs OriginOS 6 based on Android 16, and after using it daily, I found the software experience surprisingly polished. Vivo has clearly focused on making the interface feel fluid without stuffing it with unnecessary clutter. Animations are smooth, app transitions feel consistent, and the overall UI responds quickly no matter what I was doing.
One thing I genuinely liked was the amount of customisation available. OriginOS gives you plenty of ways to make the phone feel personal without turning the settings menu into a maze. I spent quite a bit of time changing lock screen layouts, experimenting with Text Vibe styles, and setting up widgets in a way that actually suited my workflow. Dynamic wallpapers and smaller visual tweaks also help the interface feel more alive over time.
AI features are deeply integrated, especially around the camera experience. Tools like AI Erase, AI Reflection Erase, and AI Photo Enhance turned out to be far more practical than I initially expected. I regularly used them to clean up distracting objects, improve lighting, or sharpen details in photos without needing a separate editing app. Features like AI Magic Move and AI Image Expander also make edits feel quick and approachable rather than overly technical.
Vivo&rsquo;s AI True Clarity Engine quietly works in the background too, improving textures, colours, and fine details across different scenes.
Outside photography, features like Origin Island, Drag &amp; Go, and Shake &amp; Share make multitasking and file sharing feel smooth and intuitive. Vivo is also promising 5 years of Android updates and 7 years of security patches, which adds a reassuring layer of long-term value.
<h2>Vivo X300 FE Review: Battery and charging</h2>
Battery life has easily been one of the strongest parts of my experience with the Vivo X300 FE. Despite the relatively compact form factor, Vivo has managed to fit in a huge 6500mAh battery, and the endurance you get from it is genuinely excellent. Even on heavier days involving camera use, navigation, social media, and a lot of YouTube streaming, the phone comfortably lasted me an entire day without triggering battery anxiety.
On more demanding usage days, I was consistently getting over 7 hours of screen-on time, which is impressive for a flagship device in this size category.
Charging speeds are solid too. The 90W FlashCharge support gets the battery topped up quickly, making short charging sessions genuinely useful. Vivo has also included 40W wireless charging, which adds a nice layer of convenience for everyday use.
<h2>Vivo X300 FE Review: Verdict</h2>
The more time I spent with the Vivo X300 FE, the more this phone started making sense to me. It is not trying to be the most extreme device in the X-series lineup. Instead, it focuses on delivering a flagship experience that feels easier to live with every single day.
For me, the biggest strength here is the balance Vivo has managed to achieve. The phone feels slimmer and more comfortable to carry around than the X300, yet somehow feels more premium in the hand than the X200T. That sweet spot between portability and flagship feel is something Vivo has nailed surprisingly well.
The rest of the experience follows the same philosophy. The display looks crisp and natural, performance stays consistently fast no matter what I threw at it, and the cameras, especially the primary and telephoto sensors, remain dependable across different situations. Add to that the excellent battery life, and the X300 FE becomes a very easy phone to rely on daily.
My only hesitation comes down to pricing. Since it lands so close to the X300, the decision becomes harder if value is the priority.
Even so, if you are specifically looking for a compact flagship that still feels unmistakably like an X-series phone, the X300 FE holds its ground very well.

Editorji is a popular short video news and information platform based in India. It was founded in 2018 by Vikram Chandra, one of India’s leading journalists, and has risen to prominence in the digital news space in a relatively short span of time. The platform is primarily designed for mobile devices, with applications available for Android and iOS.

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Apple could finally launch an "Ultra" iPhone with a periscope zoom camera in 2024.

iPhone 16 Ultra could launch in 2024

Apple could finally launch an "Ultra" iPhone with a periscope zoom camera in 2024.

Apple is reportedly launching a new, higher-end iPhone model in 2024, called the iPhone 16 Ultra.
<a href="https://twitter.com/markgurman/status/1622250392913338369" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Mark Gurman</a> notes that this ultra device will have more capabilities than the current pro models and will cost more than the iPhone Pro Max model.
It is expected to have a faster processor and possibly an even bigger display, as well as a port-less design.&nbsp;
Camera improvements, such as a periscope lens, may also be included on this phone.&nbsp;

The Realme Watch S5 offers a 60Hz AMOLED display, built-in GPS, Bluetooth calling, offline music playback, and up to 20 days of battery life. Read our full review to see if it's worth ₹7,999.

Realme Watch S5 Review: AMOLED Display, GPS & 20-Day Battery Life

With a bright AMOLED display, accurate GPS, offline music support, and excellent battery life, the Realme Watch S5 stands out as one of the best smartwatches under ₹8,000.

The Realme Watch S5 combines a premium circular design, bright AMOLED display, accurate GPS, offline music playback, and exceptional battery life, making it one of the strongest smartwatch options under ₹8,000.

Mid-range smartwatches usually follow a predictable, boring formula: slap on a square plastic chassis, copy a premium design, and call it a day. That is exactly why the new Realme Watch S5 feels like a massive breath of fresh air. Priced at ₹7,999, this wearable skips the usual lazy clone approach to deliver a traditional, circular timepiece aesthetic that immediately punches above its weight class.
But a sleek frame is pointless if the actual user experience is clunky. On paper, Realme is promising a stellar mix of everyday utility, niche software tricks, and a display that genuinely aims to outclass the competition. After putting it through a solid week of extensive real-world testing, including unpredictable downpours and brutal outdoor heat, here is my honest breakdown of whether this budget tracker is truly worth your money.
<h2>Design &amp; Build Quality</h2>
Realme has gone for a circular design with this one, instead of the basic squarish designs that we normally see at this price point. &nbsp;The design neatly blends clean matte borders with a polished, glossy ceramic-like top texture finish which offers a smooth, polished texture that feels premium to the touch while retaining excellent durability. I reviewed the Rock Grey colour variant, and without a doubt it feels way more premium than the price tag suggests.&nbsp;
Realme went with a triple action setup here. It features a functional rotating crown on the top right side, along with two secondary tactile buttons. These are not gimmicky at all; they make navigating the menus incredibly efficient, even when you have sweaty fingers mid-workout.
Flip it over, and you are greeted by a clean sensor array that sits flush against the skin.&nbsp;
Despite this premium look, Realme has managed to keep the actual watch body down to an impressive 11.8mm thickness.&nbsp;
Holding it in my hand, the sheer weightlessness of the thing caught me off guard. The actual watch itself is featherweight, at just 32g, and even when you attach the 22mm silica gel straps, it only reaches 49.63g on the scale. It handles daily wear just fine, but it feels a bit basic. I remember reviewing the <a title="Realme Watch 5 Review: A budget smartwatch that gets the basics right" href="https://www.editorji.com/tech-news/gadget-review/realme-watch-5-review-a-budget-smartwatch-that-gets-the-basics-right-1765360859988" target="_blank">Realme Watch 5</a> a while back, which came with a wavy textured strap. That one was not exactly luxury either, but given the budget price tag it fell under, the quality made total sense. For this model, a fabric strap would have been a much nicer touch.
As for durability, the Realme Watch S5 boasts a 5 ATM water resistance rating. While I never actually took it swimming, Delhi's wildly unpredictable weather gave me a fantastic real-world test anyway. A sweltering, sunny afternoon suddenly gave way to a massive rainstorm right in the middle of my outdoor run. I had to bolt for cover while the watch took a serious soaking from heavy rain splatters. It did not skip a beat.&nbsp;
After a solid week of rough, everyday use, the display and body are still completely scratch-free.
<h2>Display</h2>
The display panel is easily my favourite part of this watch. Realme picked a 1.43-inch circular AMOLED screen, and living with it every day has been great. The 466x466 resolution keeps text looking sharp, but the true star of the show is that 60Hz refresh rate, and the fact that the watch is actually able to push that. Most wearables at this price point do come with a 60Hz display, but they stutter like crazy when you navigate the menu. With this one, the interface is genuinely fluid. Clearing out a messy wall of notifications or tapping through apps feels fast and responsive.
Outdoor visibility completely nailed my real-world testing. The panel cranks up to an impressive 1500 nits of peak brightness. I took the watch out to the Delhi Zoo under a brutal midday sun, and I could read everything instantly without squinting or cupping my hand over the watch. I enabled the AOD the exact moment I unboxed it, and it stays perfectly clear even in direct, harsh daylight.&nbsp;
The Smart Night Vision feature is another massive win. Checking the time at 3 AM in a pitch-black bedroom will not sear your retinas, because the display automatically switches into a soft red theme that drops down to a gentle glow.
<h2>Comfort and Fit</h2>
When it comes to daily comfort, this watch absolutely nails it. It feels great right out of the box. Since the body is way lighter than your average smartwatch, it takes just a few minutes before you completely forget it is even on your wrist. It stays firmly in place too, without sliding around or wobbling when you shift into a fast sprint.
As mentioned earlier the Rock Grey version I have been wearing uses a flexible 22mm silica gel strap. It is soft, feels durable, and handles everyday wear quite nicely. My only real gripe is that sweat tends to pool underneath on hot, humid days, which can get a bit annoying.&nbsp;
Luckily, the straps are fully swappable, so you can easily pop on a fabric band later if you want. I even kept it on overnight for a couple of days, and it never felt bulky or intrusive in bed. Wear it 24/7 for steps, workouts, or sleep, and comfort won't be a problem at all, apart from the sweaty-feeling.&nbsp;
<h2>UI &amp; Companion App</h2>
Navigating the watch itself is a breezy experience. Swiping across the 60Hz AMOLED screen feels intuitive, and the app launcher is organised logically. The watch links up with your smartphone via the Realme Link app, and its dashboard acts as your central hub. It cleanly catalogues your historical health metrics, archives workout routes, and lets you manage incoming call settings. It also houses an expansive cloud store for downloading multi-functional, minimalistic, or illustrative watch faces.
You can sync them over and store a bunch directly on the device. While that sounds excellent on paper, actually setting them up gets annoying. Despite having so many options, the total lack of true customisation is a letdown. Aside from tweaking the basic colour accent or repositioning the time bar, you barely get any flexibility. On top of that, the whole data syncing process feels noticeably sluggish.
You also get four app options that you can install on the watch in addition to the Link app. Three of them are basic games, such as Tic-Tac-Toe and Beat the Gopher, but it is interesting to see that flexibility. Unlike a lot of budget wearables I have tested, where the software feels constantly clunky and frustrating to use, the interface here is refreshingly snappy. It does not try to blow you away with flashy, heavy visual animations, but it handles daily tasks without breaking a sweat, which is honestly a massive win for a budget watch.&nbsp;
<h2>Features Overview</h2>
The Realme Watch S5 comes packed with a mix of everyday and niche features that aim to elevate it past a basic, boring notification mirror. One of the standout inclusions here is the One-Touch AI Assistant. A simple press-and-hold triggers a clean, colourful voice interface that lets you bark quick commands or inquiries.
​Beyond the standard Bluetooth calling setup, you get a few unique additions like an Independent BT Intercom feature for direct local communication and a Game Guardian Mode for tailored stats during mobile gaming sessions.
​But my absolute favourite addition is the standalone offline music playback feature. It comes with a 200MB storage capacity, which means you can sync your local music files directly from your phone onto the watch. This is an absolute lifesaver if you are travelling on the metro with a weak internet connection, or if you simply want to leave your phone at home during a morning run. I actually tested this out during a short morning walk. I paired the watch directly with the Realme Buds Air8 Pro that I reviewed just a few days ago, and the audio streaming was perfectly seamless and stable, leaving me entirely hands-free.
<h2>Health Tracking Features</h2>
Realme calls its integrated sensor package the "Precision Bio-Tracking" system. It provides continuous 24/7 monitoring of your vital signs using an advanced optical array. The watch handles continuous Heart Rate monitoring, continuous Blood Oxygen (SpO2) saturation checks, and regular Stress Monitoring based on heart-rate variability.
The sleep suite is equally thorough, offering a scientific sleep analysis breakdown that tracks deep sleep, light sleep, and sleep continuity. For everyday utility, you get an Ambient Noise Guard that monitors decibel levels around you to protect your long-term hearing health, alongside integrated Women&rsquo;s Health Tracking for logging and projecting biological cycles directly within the app.
Now, if you want to know how accurate these health sensors really are, let me just give you a quick reality check. I am obviously not a doctor, and I definitely do not have clinical-grade lab gear lying around to test these data points.
​The only feature I can honestly speak for is the sleep tracker, which did a fantastic job nailing the exact times I fell asleep and woke up throughout the week.&nbsp;
But let us keep things real. At the end of the day, you should only ever treat the health numbers on any budget wearable like this as a casual daily baseline, not a real medical report.&nbsp;
<h2>Sports Modes &amp; Workouts</h2>
For fitness enthusiasts, the Watch S5 packs a whopping 110 sports modes with auto-recognition for core movements like walking, running, elliptical training, and rowing machines. But, do keep in mind, that it takes the watch a good bit of time to actually realise what you&rsquo;re doing.&nbsp;
Furthermore, the watch includes flagship-tier 5ATM water resistance (tested up to 50 meters of water pressure) along with "Wet Hand Touch" screen optimisation, meaning you can take it into the swimming pool to track your lap times.&nbsp;
Realistically, most people aren't even going to use half of these, but it&rsquo;s still nice to know that options exist.&nbsp;
<h2>GPS Performance</h2>
The built-in GPS is one of the most accurately working features of the Watch S5. You can head out for a run, walk, or cycling session without carrying your phone, and the watch will still record your route and distance properly, and by proper I mean the exact path and route you took.
For anyone who prefers outdoor workouts, this is a big plus. A lot of budget watches either skip GPS altogether or mess it up badly, this one actually does the job well enough to rely on.
You can also install maps on the watch separately through the Realme link app. While it's a nice inclusion, I won't recommend relying on it as it still requires a lot of improvement.
<h2>Battery and Charging</h2>
Battery longevity is where the <a title="Realme Pad 3 5G review: A productivity tablet that finally makes sense" href="https://www.editorji.com/tech-news/gadget-review/realme-pad-3-5g-review-a-productivity-tablet-that-finally-makes-sense-1768998783752" target="_blank">Realme </a>Watch S5 completely flexes its muscles, offering three distinct battery profiles depending on how intensely you utilize its hardware features. The massive 460mAh cell handles heavy drain exceptionally well.&nbsp;
If you go by what Realme&rsquo;s claiming, the Watch S5 offers up to 20 days of battery life. That may sound a bit unrealistic, but honestly, considering my own experience, I would not deny the claim.
Now, obviously, I have not tested it for a full 20 days yet, but it has been nearly 10 days since I first unboxed the watch for review. Even through a 10-day journey of constant exploration and extensive testing, I have never had to plug it in to charge, and it is still going strong. So, for people with normal everyday usage, I would not be surprised if they actually get to use it for the full 20 days.
Charging is handled via a proprietary magnetic charging cable included in the box, which refuels the device in about two hours. It's an uncomfortable setup but manageable.
<h2>Final Verdict: Should you buy it?</h2>
At ₹7,999, the Realme Watch S5 is an incredibly easy recommendation if you want a reliable everyday smartwatch that actually looks like a premium, classic timepiece. It completely hits it out of the park with its fluid 60Hz AMOLED screen, exceptional battery life, and surprisingly dependable built-in GPS. Little additions like local offline music storage add serious real-world value that you rarely find at this price point.
It is far from perfect, though. The slow, rigid watch face syncing process is frustrating, and the companion app needs some small optimisations. But if you can look past those minor software gripes, the fluid user interface, robust build quality, and killer display visibility make it one of the absolute best options in its segment. It is a highly practical, functional daily driver that easily justifies its price tag.

Asus ROG celebrates 20 years with the launch of the Zephyrus Duo, Zephyrus G14, Zephyrus G16, TUF Gaming A14 and ProArt PZ14 in India. Prices start at ₹1,99,990.

Asus ROG Celebrates 20 Years With New Zephyrus Duo, G14, G16, TUF A14 and ProArt PZ14 in India

<h3>Asus ROG has marked its 20th anniversary with the launch of the Zephyrus Duo, Zephyrus G14, Zephyrus G16, TUF Gaming A14 and ProArt PZ14 in India. The new lineup brings RTX 50 Series graphics, OLED displays and AI-powered performance.</h3>

Asus&nbsp;Republic of Gamers (ROG) is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, and to mark the milestone, the company has unveiled its latest premium gaming and creator-focused laptop lineup in India. Headlined by the flagship ROG Zephyrus Duo, the new portfolio also includes refreshed versions of the ROG Zephyrus G14 and G16, the TUF Gaming A14, and the creator-centric ProArt PZ14.
The new lineup brings together the latest Intel, AMD and Qualcomm processors, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 50 Series graphics, AI-powered computing capabilities, OLED displays and premium portable designs aimed at gamers, content creators and professionals.&nbsp;
Asus&nbsp;has also refreshed its Strix and Scar series, further expanding its high-performance laptop portfolio.
Leading the launch is the new ROG Zephyrus Duo, which Asus&nbsp;is positioning as its most advanced gaming and creator laptop yet. The machine features dual 16-inch 3K OLED Nebula touch displays, allowing users to run multiple applications simultaneously while gaming, streaming, editing content or working on AI-driven workflows.&nbsp;
Under the hood, the laptop can be configured with up to an Intel Core Ultra 9 Series processor and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 graphics, delivering up to 1,824 TOPS of AI performance. It also features a 320-degree hinge design with multiple usage modes, a detachable wireless keyboard, liquid-metal cooling, a tri-fan thermal system, and Dolby Atmos speakers.
The refreshed ROG Zephyrus G14 continues to focus on portability without compromising performance. Weighing just 1.5kg and measuring 1.59cm thick, the laptop features a 3K ROG Nebula HDR OLED display with 100 per cent DCI-P3 colour coverage. Asus&nbsp;has paired Intel Core Ultra Series processors with up to NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti graphics, making the G14 suitable for gaming, content creation and multitasking workloads on the move.
For users seeking a larger display, Asus&nbsp;has also updated the ROG Zephyrus G16. Despite its larger footprint, the laptop weighs only 1.95kg and packs a 90Wh battery. It features a 2.5K ROG Nebula HDR display capable of reaching up to 1,100 nits of peak brightness and is powered by Intel Core Ultra 9 processors paired with up to NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti graphics.
The creator-focused ProArt PZ14 takes a different approach. Designed as a 14-inch detachable 2-in-1, the laptop can switch between tablet and traditional laptop modes depending on the workflow. It features a 3K Asus&nbsp;Lumina Pro OLED touchscreen that is Pantone Validated and covers 100 per cent of the DCI-P3 colour gamut. Power comes from Qualcomm's Snapdragon X2 Elite processor, which delivers up to 80 TOPS of AI performance. Asus also claims up to 22 hours of battery life, while support for the Asus Pen and AI-powered creative tools is aimed at designers, artists and photographers.
Rounding out the launch is the TUF Gaming A14. Weighing 1.46kg, the laptop combines portability with gaming-focused hardware, including AMD's AI 9 465 processor and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 graphics. It also features military-grade durability certification, a 73Wh battery and an upgraded cooling system with ultra-thin 97-blade fans.
Pricing for the new lineup starts at ₹1,99,990 for the TUF Gaming A14, while the ProArt PZ14 is priced at ₹2,69,990. The refreshed Zephyrus G14 starts at ₹2,59,990, with higher-end variants reaching ₹3,69,990. The Zephyrus G16 starts at ₹4,19,990 and goes up to ₹5,09,990 depending on configuration. The flagship Zephyrus Duo is priced at ₹5,49,990 for the RTX 5070 Ti variant and ₹6,99,990 for the top-end RTX 5090 model.
Asus&nbsp;has opened pre-orders across Asus Exclusive Stores, ROG Stores, Amazon, Flipkart and authorised retail partners. Customers can also avail pre-order benefits worth up to ₹27,299 for ₹999, including a two-year warranty extension and three years of accidental damage protection. The company is also offering no-cost EMI options of up to 24 months.

The Realme P4R 5G packs a massive 8000mAh battery, Dimensity 6300 chipset, 144Hz display, and 50MP camera. Read our detailed review to find out if it's the best battery-focused phone under ₹20,000.

Realme P4R 5G Review: 8000mAh Battery Beast With 3-Day Backup

With an 8000mAh battery, 45W fast charging, military-grade durability, and a capable 50MP camera, the Realme P4R 5G prioritizes endurance above everything else. Here's our full review.

The Realme P4R 5G prioritizes battery life with its huge 8000mAh cell, delivering up to three days of usage. While the HD+ display and modest performance have limits, it's an excellent endurance-focused budget phone.

Buying a budget phone today, has started to feel like choosing between the lesser of two evils. Most brands just mix and match the same boring parts, giving you a device that can survive a tough day, but the camera experience and performance leave a lot to be desired. Not compromising on some key aspect is pretty rare at this price point. That&rsquo;s where the Realme P4R takes a slightly different approach.
Instead of trying to please everybody with a generic spec sheet, Realme picked one massive feature and ran with it, aiming squarely at people who are completely sick of carrying power banks.
It is an aggressive move, but doubling down on one specific strength always means making sacrifices somewhere else. The real question is whether those compromises break the phone or if this thing actually works as a daily driver. Let&rsquo;s find out.
<h2>Realme P4R 5G Review: Pricing</h2>
The Realme P4R starts at ₹18,999 for the base 6GB+128GB variant, with launch offers and bank offers dropping the price down to ₹16,999.
<h2>Realme P4R 5G Review: Unboxing &amp; Design</h2>
Unboxing the Realme P4R 5G is a fairly familiar ritual. It comes in the classic Realme setup: a bright yellow box packed with all the essentials. Inside, you get the standard paperwork, a transparent TPU protective case, a SIM ejector tool, a white one-metre Type-C cable, and a full-sized 45W SUPERVOOC charging brick.&nbsp;
The design looks far more premium than you would expect for the price. The back panel features a matte finish with a subtly placed Realme logo. The rectangular camera module is accented by an aluminium alloy housing that offers solid scratch resistance and a premium touch.&nbsp;
Fortunately, the back panel provides a fingerprint-resistant experience, which is a massive win, though I noticed it attracts dust quite easily. Because of that, I would suggest you put on that bundled case as soon as you take it out of the box.
I reviewed the Silver Glare variant, which sports a highly refined look. It looks metallic at first glance, but it's a plastic build. It catches the light beautifully, causing soft, shifting reflections that never look loud or tacky. If you prefer other finishes, Realme also offers Titanium Glare and Lavender Glare options.&nbsp;
When a spec sheet brags about an 8,000mAh battery, you instantly prepare yourself to lift a literal brick.&nbsp;
But, Realme managed to shave the thickness down to just 8.88mm. It does pack a noticeable heft at 224 grams. Of course, it's not light, but for a battery this size, it is genuinely impressive. Honestly, I have stopped being surprised by Realme's engineering prowess; they have truly mastered the art of packing massive cells inside slim chassis, and I appreciate that consistency.&nbsp;
The physical layout puts the volume rockers and the snappy power button, which also doubles as your side -mounted fingerprint scanner, on the right edge. The left side remains entirely flush, while the bottom frame houses the Type-C port, a microphone, the single ultra-linear mono speaker, and a hybrid SIM tray that accepts two SIMS and also lets you expand storage with a microSD card up to 2TB.&nbsp;
As for durability, the Realme P4R gets IP65 dust and water resistance, paired with an official MIL-STD-810H military-grade drop protection rating. Combined with a Panda-1681 reinforced glass up front, it handles accidental spills and drops without breaking a sweat.
<h2>Realme P4R 5G Review: Display</h2>
You get a massive 6.8-inch display panel on the Realme P4R 5G. A footprint that large is awesome for kicking back and watching videos, but the chunky 4.97mm bottom chin and 2.45mm top bezel quickly snap you back to budget reality. Still, thanks to the modern punch-hole cutout up front, the screen-to-body ratio stays at a respectable 90.4%.
The actual pain point is the resolution. Stretching a basic HD+ grid over a sprawling 6.8-inch LCD panel means making some clear sacrifices. Since the pixel density sits at just 254 PPI, the display isn&rsquo;t as sharp as I&rsquo;d like. Text can look a bit fuzzy around the edges, small app icons miss out on clean definition, and high-res photos feel soft. Still, given that the device can be picked up for as low as ₹16,999, I can give this a pass.
Surprisingly, outdoor use is where this screen changes the narrative. Realme claims a high brightness mode of 1,200 nits, and using the phone under a blazing midday sun backs up that stat completely. Reading quick texts or tracking maps outside was effortless. They also included full-brightness DC dimming, which does wonders for saving your eyes from fatigue during midnight scrolling sessions.
<a title="Realme P4 Power 5G Review:29 Hours later, it still wouldn&rsquo;t die" href="https://www.editorji.com/tech-news/gadget-review/realme-p4-power-5g-review-29-hours-later-it-still-wouldn-t-die-1769672775457" target="_blank">Realme </a>hypes a 144Hz refresh rate on the retail box, but the real-world utility is pretty amusing. That ultra-smooth fluidity only kicks in for a handful of apps where you do not even care about high frame rates, in apps like Calculator or Compass.
If you do not mind the softer resolution, it is a decent panel for daily media consumption, especially when you consider the price. Netflix streams and YouTube videos run perfectly fine, though keep in mind you will not be getting any HDR playback capabilities. Since the phone relies on a single mono speaker, just make sure to grab your Type-C headphones or wireless earbuds for a decent audio experience.
<h2>Realme P4R 5G Review: Camera</h2>
Realme opted for a clean dual-camera look on the back, which is headlined by a 50MP main sensor, while an 8MP punch-hole camera handles your selfies up front.
In bright daylight, this main shooter punches well above its weight class. Photos come out crisp, packing plenty of fine detail and a surprisingly balanced dynamic range.&nbsp;
I was also pretty pleased with the portrait mode. Where most budget-friendly phones aggressively smooth out faces until everyone looks like a plastic doll, the P4R keeps things grounded. It actually preserves real skin textures and uses its updated processing to keep highlights and shadows looking natural. That said, edge detection is a bit of a hit or miss. Every now and then, the software accidentally blurs out the actual borders of your subject, which messes up that nice background separation.
Nighttime shooting is an alright experience, but details definitely take a hit once the lights go down. Colours tend to get overly saturated in the dark, giving your nighttime shots a heavily processed, artificial vibe.&nbsp;
On the features side, the camera app is loaded with options like Street, Cinematic, Slo-Mo, Time-Lapse, Hi-Res, and a Pro mode that lets you shoot in RAW. You do lose out on dedicated optical zoom, but you can stretch the digital zoom up to 10x. It is not going to blow any photo purists away, but it drops clean, social-media-ready images without much fuss.
The 8MP selfie camera is strictly run-of-the-mill. It does the job for casual video calls, but do not expect the depth, colour accuracy, or sharpness of the rear lens.
Video options top out at 1080p at 30fps for both sides. It is nothing ground-breaking, but it works fine for catching quick memories. Even without optical image stabilisation, the rear video footage stays relatively steady. You will spot a few minor jitters here and there, but for a budget device, the clips are perfectly usable for Instagram or Snapchat.&nbsp;
<h2>Realme P4R 5G Review: Performance</h2>
Let us be completely practical about the performance. If you are looking for a hardcore gaming device, the Realme P4R 5G is not it. It runs on a MediaTek Dimensity 6300 chip. If you have been following smartphones for a while, then you would know that this octa-core processor is built to sip battery and keep heat low, not to break speed records.
While it scores modestly on synthetic benchmarks, in day-to-day use, the phone does not feel sluggish at all. Swiping around the interface is snappy, apps fire up quickly, and background multi-tasking runs without any lag, especially on the 6GB RAM variant which supports dynamic RAM expansion to pull an extra 8GB from the UFS 2.2 storage.
Gaming is where you will notice the hardware limitations. When you jump into titles like PUBG Mobile or Call of Duty: Mobile, the device maxes out at a stable 60 FPS under moderate settings, even supporting up to HDR Ultra graphics on PUBG. During my testing, the first hour of gaming went by smoothly without major stutters. However, if you push past that one-hour mark, frame drops definitely start creeping in as the chip throttles.
On the bright side, the thermals are great. It handles heat dissipation perfectly, so you will never feel any uncomfortable hot spots on the phone while using it.
All in all, for a budget phone, the performance that you get from the P4R, is pretty respectable.&nbsp;
<h2>Realme P4R 5G Review: Software and UI/UX &amp; AI features</h2>
Booting up the Realme P4R 5G for the first time reveals a simplified skin of Realme UI 7.0 running on top of Android 16. Dig a little deeper into the system settings, and you will notice it actually shares a lot of its core DNA with ColorOS 16.0. The visual layout is clean and easy on the eyes. Animations feel fluid when you jump between menus, app scrolling does not stutter, and the whole interface feels significantly faster and more stable than what the brand used to offer in its older budget lineups.
The biggest headache here is the sheer amount of junk apps waiting for you on the home screen right after setup. Realme pre-installs a ton of third-party bloatware, including popular apps like BlockBlast, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Netflix, and Spotify. If you want a perfectly clean workspace, plan on spending ten minutes manually binning them all, though it is a relief that you can fully delete almost every single one of them. On the update front, Realme offers a solid commitment by promising a minimum of 4 years of security patches and system functionality upgrades.
For on-the-go editing, the native gallery app includes a built-in AI Editor. It sits right next to the usual cropping and tuning options, allowing you to quickly clone out photobombers or touch up random images without downloading extra tools.
You also get a quirky physical addition on the back panel called the pulse light. This small RGB element is incredibly handy if you spend a lot of time in quiet work meetings. You can turn your phone face down on the desk, customize the flash patterns, and still catch urgent notification alerts without making a sound.
<h2>Realme P4R 5G Review: Battery and charging</h2>
Here comes the biggest highlight of the Realme P4R 5G. The phone centres its entire identity around an enormous 8,000mAh lithium-ion polymer battery. As I mentioned earlier, this is obviously not new for Realme anymore. They are clearly leaning hard into extreme endurance lately, consistently pushing massive capacities to market. We also saw a similar battery capacity in their previous budget lineup, the <a title="Realme 16T 5G Review: Battery anxiety officially cancelled" href="https://www.editorji.com/tech-news/gadget-review/realme-16t-5g-review-battery-anxiety-officially-cancelled-1779439487282" target="_blank">Realme 16T</a>. Honestly, the Realme P4R feels like a twin brother to that model, carrying over identical core specifications but wrapping them in a completely fresh design.
During a week of punishing daily testing, my routine packed in hours of continuous YouTube playback, heavy navigation, photo sessions, constant push notifications, and gaming. I quickly realised I could stop checking my battery percentage entirely. When Realme calls this a three-day phone, they are actually delivering it. Lighter or average users can realistically stretch a single charge across three full days without changing their habits.
Even when the battery drops to its final moments, the device stays alive efficiently. Long-term degradation has also been heavily factored in.
When you do have to charge it up, the included 45W SUPERVOOC fast-charging brick is a solid performer. It took me around 107 minutes to fill this absolute tank from 1% to 100% via wired charging. That might not be lightning quick, but, given the sheer physical size of this 8,000mAh battery, an hour and forty-five minutes for a full charge is incredibly reasonable.
Finally, you get wired reverse charging support up to 5W, letting you treat the phone like a standard power bank to charge up wireless earbuds or help out a friend with a dying device using a simple Type-C cable.
<h2>Final Verdict: Should you buy it?</h2>
Starting at ₹18,999 before offers push the price even down, the Realme P4R 5G is a pretty solid budget device that focuses on one key attribute: unyielding battery endurance. If you are a field professional, an outdoor enthusiast, or someone buy-and-forget minded who is completely spent on battery anxiety, this phone is a tank that stands in a lane of its own.&nbsp;
However, the compromises are clear as day. If you care about competitive gaming, sharp streaming visuals, or immersive stereo sound, the basic HD+ resolution, mono speaker, and modest Dimensity 6300 chip will feel limiting.&nbsp;
The stellar daylight performance of the camera, military-grade drop resistance, add genuine daily utility.
Ultimately, if you can overlook the softer screen, its absolute freedom from the wall charger makes it a wildly practical recommendation, especially at this price point.&nbsp;

The Asus Zenbook S14 pairs a gorgeous 3K OLED display, Core Ultra 9 performance and exceptional battery life in a 1.2kg body.

Asus Zenbook S14 Review: Premium OLED Laptop With Excellent Battery Life

<h3 data-start="1823" data-end="1984">A beautifully built 1.2kg ultraportable with a superb OLED display, excellent battery life and enough power to handle demanding productivity workflows with ease.</h3>

Asus has quietly become one of the most reliable names in the premium thin-and-light laptop space. While plenty of brands have chased the ultraportable dream, few have managed to consistently balance design, performance, battery life, and display quality as well as Asus has with its Zenbook lineup.
The Zenbook S14 continues that approach. Despite weighing just 1.2kg, it packs some serious hardware, including Intel's latest Core Ultra processors, a gorgeous 3K OLED display, a sizeable 77Wh battery, and configurations with up to 32GB of RAM. On paper, it ticks almost every box you would expect from a modern premium ultraportable.
The catch, of course, is the price. The range starts at ₹1,34,990 for the Core Ultra 5 model with 16GB RAM, while the Core Ultra 9 variant begins at ₹1,99,990. The top-end version I tested, equipped with 32GB RAM and 1TB storage, comes in at ₹2,49,990.
That raises the obvious question: is it worth the asking price?
<h2>Asus Zenbook S14 Review: Design</h2>
The Zenbook S14 makes a strong first impression, but not because of its specs sheet. What immediately caught my attention was the finish on the lid. Asus has spent years refining its Ceraluminum material, and the version used on the 2026 Zenbook S14 feels like the most polished iteration yet.
I first got a look at Ceraluminum on an Asus laptop at IFA Berlin in 2024, and even back then, it felt like something genuinely different. Two years later, the material feels even more mature. The surface has a distinctive texture that not only gives the laptop character but also does a fantastic job keeping fingerprints at bay. It adds a bit of grip too, which is always appreciated on a machine this slim.
Speaking of slim, the Zenbook S14 measures just 1.1cm thick and weighs only 1.2kg. Despite those dimensions, it never feels fragile. The chassis is impressively rigid, with very little flex anywhere on the body. It also meets the US MIL-STD 810H durability standard, which adds some reassurance for anyone carrying it around daily. The CNC-machined Ceraluminum construction plays a big role in making the laptop feel this solid.
Asus has also taken a more understated approach to the overall design. The decorative lines that once gave older Zenbook models a more artistic look have disappeared, replaced by a cleaner and more restrained aesthetic. The subtle Zenbook branding on the lid and the small Asus arrow on the trackpad are about the only visual flourishes you'll find.
One of the more interesting design details sits just above the keyboard. The geometric grille looks like part of the speaker setup, but it actually forms part of the cooling system. Underneath sits a vapour chamber that helps keep temperatures under control without adding unnecessary bulk.
The hinge deserves a mention as well. It opens to around 120 degrees, feels sturdy throughout its range of motion, and does a good job holding the display exactly where you position it. While the lid itself has a little flex, it never feels flimsy, nor does the screen wobble when you're typing.
Port selection is surprisingly good for such a thin laptop. You get USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, HDMI 2.1, a 3.5mm audio jack, and two Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports that also handle charging via the bundled 68W adapter. Wireless connectivity includes Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6.0. My only real complaints are the lack of an SD card slot and the fact that both USB-C ports sit on the left side, limiting charging flexibility.
<h2>Asus Zenbook S14 Review: Display</h2>
If there's one area where the Zenbook S14 immediately impresses, it's the display. Asus has equipped the laptop with a 14-inch 3K OLED panel, and after spending time with it, I'd easily rank it among the best displays in this category.
The specifications are excellent to begin with. You get a 2880 x 1800 resolution, a taller 16:10 aspect ratio, a smooth 120Hz refresh rate, and up to 500 nits of typical brightness, with HDR content capable of reaching 1100 nits. More importantly, the real-world experience lives up to the numbers.
Everything from colours to contrast looks fantastic. Images appear vibrant without feeling oversaturated, blacks are properly inky, and the OLED panel delivers the kind of depth that makes content look genuinely premium. The display covers 100% of the DCI-P3 colour space, is Pantone Validated, supports 1.07 billion colours, and carries VESA DisplayHDR True Black 1000 certification. The rated 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio is immediately noticeable, especially when watching movies or working with photos.
The viewing experience is equally impressive. Thanks to the slim bezels and 90% screen-to-body ratio, the display feels immersive whether you're streaming shows, watching sports, or simply browsing the web. The anti-glare coating also does a surprisingly good job reducing reflections in bright environments.
Asus has included TUV Rheinland and SGS Eye Care certifications as well, which help make extended work sessions easier on the eyes. Touch support adds another layer of versatility, and stylus compatibility will be useful for note-taking, sketching, or quick annotations.
If I had one complaint, it's that the touchscreen surface tends to pick up fingerprints rather quickly. If you're regularly interacting with the display, you'll probably find yourself reaching for a microfibre cloth more often than you'd like.
<h2>Asus Zenbook S14 Review: Keyboard &amp; Trackpad</h2>
Asus has been making some of the best laptop keyboards in the business for a while now, and the Zenbook S14 continues that trend. Despite its slim profile, the keyboard feels comfortable and easy to adapt to. In fact, I was back to my usual typing speed almost immediately, which is always a positive sign.
The chiclet-style keys offer decent travel and a reassuring amount of feedback. Key spacing is good, and although there is a slight amount of deck flex, it never became noticeable during everyday use. Naturally, the layout feels a little tighter than on a larger laptop, but that's simply the trade-off that comes with a compact 14-inch machine. Whether I was writing articles, replying to emails, or working through long documents, the keyboard remained consistently comfortable.
The trackpad is where things become a little less straightforward. The large glass surface feels smooth and responsive, and gesture navigation works flawlessly. Asus' Smart Gesture shortcuts are genuinely useful too, allowing quick control over brightness and volume.
However, the sheer size of the touchpad occasionally led to accidental touches, and I found the physical clicks lacked the crisp tactile feedback I'd have preferred.
The speakers are decent for a laptop this size. They're perfectly fine for video calls, YouTube videos, and casual streaming, but if you're watching a film or listening to music, a good pair of headphones will still provide a noticeably better experience.
<h2>Asus Zenbook S14 Review: Webcam and Speakers</h2>
One feature I genuinely expected to see on a laptop at this price point was a fingerprint scanner, but Asus has skipped it entirely. Instead, authentication is handled through Windows Hello facial recognition using the infrared webcam. Fortunately, the system works reliably and unlocks the laptop quickly.
The 1080p webcam itself is quite good. Image quality is sharp, HDR performance is handled well, and it adapts nicely to changing lighting conditions, making it more than capable for video calls and online meetings.
Asus has also added a few useful extras. Presence detection can automatically lock the laptop when you walk away and wake it when you return. The webcam can be disabled using the F10 key, although I would have preferred a physical privacy shutter for added reassurance. Studio Effects and AI noise cancellation are also available through the MyAsus app, helping improve call quality.
The speakers are surprisingly capable for such a slim machine. They deliver clear, detailed audio with a touch more bass than expected, though headphones still offer the better listening experience.
<h2>Asus Zenbook S14 Review: Performance</h2>
The Zenbook S14 I tested is powered by Intel's Core Ultra 9 386H, and for the kind of laptop this is, I never found myself wanting more performance. It may not be Intel's absolute top-tier mobile chip, but in everyday use, it feels exceptionally fast.
Everything from launching apps to editing photos in Photoshop happened without delay. I even pushed the machine with some 4K video editing, and it handled the workload comfortably. Just as importantly, thermals remained excellent throughout. Even under sustained load, the chassis stayed surprisingly cool.
Where the Zenbook S14 really shines is in multitasking. My workflow usually involves far too many browser tabs, multiple Office documents, Slack, Outlook, music streaming, Lightroom, and Photoshop running simultaneously. The laptop handled this chaotic workload effortlessly, with no noticeable slowdowns.
Helping matters are 32GB of LPDDR5X RAM and up to 1TB of storage, which make the machine feel ready for years of demanding productivity work.
The benchmark results back up the real-world experience. The laptop scored 489 and 2951 in Cinebench 2026 single-core and multi-core tests, respectively. Geekbench returned scores of 2855 and 16632. CrossMark delivered an overall score of 2150, while PCMark came in at 8340. Creative workloads were handled particularly well, with PugetBench scores of 8009 in Photoshop, 4303 in Lightroom Classic, and 27274 in DaVinci Resolve 21.
Gaming, however, isn't the Zenbook's primary focus. The integrated Intel graphics are perfectly adequate for everyday tasks and light gaming, but anyone expecting a dedicated gaming machine should look elsewhere. Cloud gaming services can help, but native gaming performance remains limited.
The platform also includes an NPU capable of 49 TOPS, allowing the Zenbook S14 to comfortably support Microsoft's Copilot+ AI features and other on-device AI workloads.
<h2>Asus Zenbook S14 Review: Battery</h2>
Battery life is easily one of the Zenbook S14's strongest features. Asus has paired a sizeable 77Wh battery with Intel's efficient Core Ultra platform, and the results are excellent. During my testing, with brightness set to around 80%, I regularly managed between 12 and 13 hours of screen-on time. Given my fairly demanding workload, that's an impressive result. Lighter users should have little trouble stretching that figure to 15 hours or more.
Charging is handled by a bundled 68W USB-C adapter, which takes the battery to roughly 50% in just over half an hour and completes a full charge in around 90 minutes. In short, this is a laptop that's genuinely comfortable to use all day without carrying a charger.
<h2>Asus Zenbook S14 Review: Conclusion</h2>
The Zenbook S14 feels like a laptop that has been carefully thought through from top to bottom. Asus has combined a premium design, a fantastic OLED display, excellent battery life, and more performance than most users will ever need into a package that weighs just 1.2kg.
What stood out to me most was how effortless the overall experience felt. The Core Ultra 9 386H paired with 32GB of RAM breezes through demanding workloads, while the 77Wh battery comfortably lasts through a full day of work. The Ceraluminum chassis feels sturdy and premium, and the display is easily one of the best you'll find on an ultraportable.
There are a few compromises. The missing SD card slot is hard to ignore, the oversized trackpad can occasionally be a little awkward, and gaming isn't really this machine's forte. The ₹2,49,990 price tag also places it firmly in premium territory.
Still, if productivity, portability, battery life, and everyday performance are your priorities, the Zenbook S14 is an easy laptop to recommend.

The Xiaomi 17T combines Leica-tuned cameras, a 50MP 5X periscope zoom lens, a stunning AMOLED display, strong performance, and excellent battery life at ₹59,999.

Xiaomi 17T Review: Leica Cameras, 5X Zoom and Flagship Features Under ₹60,000

With a Leica-tuned camera system, 50MP 5X periscope lens, gorgeous AMOLED display, and long-lasting battery, the Xiaomi 17T delivers a premium photography experience without flagship pricing.

The Xiaomi 17T prioritizes photography with its Leica-tuned cameras and 50MP 5X periscope lens, while also offering a great display, strong battery life, and dependable performance at ₹59,999.

The Xiaomi 17T arrives at a moment when smartphones that sit just below the ultra-premium tier are quietly creeping up in price with each new generation. Capabilities that once comfortably fit within a ₹60,000 budget are now being pushed further up the pricing ladder, often surfacing only on devices that cross the ₹80,000, ₹90,000, or even ₹1 lakh threshold. This makes the hunt for a genuinely premium experience, without going all the way to the top, much harder than it used to be.
The Xiaomi 17T, starting at ₹59,999, makes a strong case for itself in this context. It brings a Leica-tuned camera setup led by a 50MP 5X periscope telephoto lens, a refined design, a capable display, a sizeable 6,500mAh battery, and performance that should handle most everyday demands with ease.
After using it as a daily driver for a couple of weeks, the 17T comes across as a device built around a camera-first philosophy, rather than one purely chasing spec-sheet wins. Whether that singular focus is enough to justify its price is the real question.
<h2>Xiaomi 17T Review: Pricing</h2>
Xiaomi appears to have landed on exactly the right number with the 17T. At a time when mid-to-premium smartphones are becoming progressively harder to justify on price alone, the 17T stands out as a refreshingly well-calibrated option for what it puts on the table.
The variant I reviewed, 12GB LPDDR5X RAM paired with 256GB of UFS 4.1 storage carries a price tag of ₹59,999. Factor in the launch offers currently available, and that figure effectively drops to ₹54,999. Those who need the added breathing room of 512GB storage will be looking at ₹64,999, though introductory pricing brings that down to ₹59,999 as well.
When you consider the full picture, like the Leica-tuned optics, a proper 5X periscope telephoto, flagship-level processing power, and a substantial battery, the value proposition here is difficult to argue with. At its effective starting price, the 17T becomes one of the easier recommendations in its segment.
<h2>Xiaomi 17T Review: Design</h2>
Few phones at this price have made as immediate an impression on me as the 17T. The design conversation in this segment has largely been dominated by chunky, circular rear camera arrays, but Xiaomi has charted its own course; a compact, geometric camera block that sits flush and purposeful on the back. The result is something that looks expensive without being loud about it. The violet unit I had on hand was a head-turner, though never in a garish way.
Xiaomi has used a matte polycarbonate rear that handled daily grime far better than glossy or glass alternatives tend to. Rivals may offer glass backs around this price, but you genuinely would not notice the difference here. The build quality stays solid throughout. A flat frame with metal-like finishing and gently rounded corners rounds out a form factor that remains pleasant to grip across long periods.
At 8.2mm of thickness and a 200g weight sits in a sweet spot; heavy enough to feel like a serious piece of hardware, light enough that marathon gaming sessions, photography-heavy outings, or full days of use never leave your hand feeling strained.
Xiaomi has been thorough on the protection front too, IP68 dust and water resistance is a welcome inclusion, and Gorilla Glass 7i keeps the display from picking up unnecessary damage. A metallic housing around the cameras adds a dash of character without disrupting the overall restraint of the design.
The connectivity is also as complete as it could get: NFC, IR blaster, eSIM, Bluetooth 6.0, Wi-Fi 6E, and USB 2.0 are all on board. The optical under-display fingerprint reader delivered consistent, snappy unlocks across my entire review period.
<a title="Xiaomi 17 Ultra Review: The Camera Phone to Beat in 2026" href="https://www.editorji.com/tech-news/gadget-review/xiaomi-17-ultra-review-the-camera-phone-to-beat-in-2026-1773215036737" target="_blank">Xiaomi</a> has played this one well. The 17T gets a premium identity, holds together with confidence, and handles the basics without a single misstep.
<h2>Xiaomi 17T Review: Display</h2>
The 6.59-inch 1.5K LTPS AMOLED screen on the 17T turned out to be one of the device's most impressive attributes during my extended use. Pixel density sits at roughly 460ppi, and the sharpness on offer is immediately apparent. Text are crystal clear, images hold fine detail, and even routine tasks like scrolling through a feed feel extremely polished.
Plus, the 120Hz refresh rate keeps interactions feeling light and immediate, whether that's navigating through a fast-paced game, scrubbing through photo edits, streaming video, or just moving between apps. Nothing ever felt sluggish or stuttery.
Where the display really distinguished itself was in how it handles colour. The 12-bit panel supports upwards of 68 billion colours, and that range is genuinely perceptible when you put quality photographs or HDR content in front of it. Colour transitions are smoother, tones feel more convincing without veering into oversaturation, and the overall image quality has a naturalism that I found particularly useful when evaluating camera output and editing photos for social media.
Dolby Vision and HDR10+ support means the panel is well-equipped for streaming too. Watching the latest season of From on Prime Video was a genuinely enjoyable experience. Contrast held up well, colours stayed vivid, and bright highlights had real punch to them. Peak HDR brightness reaches 3,500 nits, and outdoor legibility holds up accordingly. Even in harsh afternoon sun, the screen remained easy to read without any squinting required.
We also get a bunch of TUV Rheinland certifications which should ensure long-term comfort, covering low blue light output, flicker-free operation, circadian-friendly display modes, and broader eye-care provisions. These rarely make headlines, but their value shows up during prolonged daily use.
The stereo speakers do a pretty solid job, though they are clearly not the main event here. For the asking price, this ranks among the strongest displays I have encountered this year. My one gripe is that Xiaomi has gone with an LTPS panel rather than LTPO. At this price, an LTPO panel would have been a welcome inclusion.
<h2>Xiaomi 17T Review: Cameras</h2>
Xiaomi has absolutely nailed the camera experience on the 17T, especially considering the prie. The centrepiece is a 50MP periscope telephoto with 5X optical zoom, the kind of hardware that typically shows up on phones costing significantly more. Having it here, at this price point, is what gives the 17T a genuine leg up on most of its competition.
The three-lens array pairs that periscope telephoto with a 50MP primary sensor and a 12MP ultrawide, with Leica's tuning applied across the board. The main camera holds its own, but the telephoto is where the 17T finds its identity.
Optically stabilised and covering a 115mm equivalent focal length, the periscope lens is the kind of hardware that changes how you actually use a phone camera. In-Sensor Zoom technology allows for what Xiaomi calls 10X optical-grade lossless zoom, and AI Ultra Zoom stretches that ceiling to 120X. Realistically, keeping things between 5X and 10X is where the results are strongest, and in that window, the output is hard to fault.
In good light, the system is a pleasure to shoot with. Detail is plentiful, dynamic range is well-managed, and colour rendering leans toward accuracy rather than impact. This is where Leica's influence is most apparent. The 17T is not trying to produce images that look immediately striking on a small screen. It is after something more considered. Controlled highlights, honest skin tones, and a tonal quality that holds up when you look more carefully. It is closer in spirit to what a dedicated camera produces than what most phones at this price deliver.
The telephoto was the lens I gravitated toward most throughout the review period. At 5X, the level of sharpness and surface detail in images is excellent. At 10X, the camera retains far more information than you might reasonably expect. Buildings, street scenes, subjects pulled from busy backgrounds, the telephoto handled all of it with a consistency that made it genuinely enjoyable to use.
Portrait shooting benefits from six selectable focal lengths running from 23mm through to 115mm, a range that provides real creative latitude. Leica's processing keeps portraits grounded, and realistic. The separation between subject and background is clean, skin tones stay accurate, and the sense of depth reads as natural rather than computed.
There is a cinematic quality to the results without any of the artificial sheen that often comes with heavily processed portrait modes. The 12MP ultrawide does not have the same resolving power as the primary sensor, but it integrates well into the system. Colour rendering stays consistent across lenses, and overall quality sits comfortably above what the specification might lead you to expect.
One unexpected highlight was telemacro shooting. The periscope lens can focus at distances as close as 30cm, and the close-up results it produces, complete with natural background falloff, make a compelling argument against the low-resolution dedicated macro sensors that still populate many smartphones at this price.
On the processing side, Xiaomi's AISP engine draws on FusionLM, ToneLM, PortraitLM, and ColorLM to handle image refinement. What matters is that the processing stays measured. Images are improved where needed, but the camera stops short of manufacturing a result that looks nothing like the scene in front of it.
Stage Mode turned out to be more than a marketing feature. Designed around concert and live event shooting, it activates automatically when the camera recognises the right conditions and is optimised specifically for 5X and 10X zoom. In the kind of challenging mixed lighting that trips up most phone cameras, it made a visible difference to image cleanliness.
Video capability extends to 4K at 60fps with HDR10+ support, and Leica Live Moment processing gives footage a more filmic character. Up front, a 32MP selfie camera delivers reliable stills and handles video calls well, though front-facing video tops out at 4K 30fps rather than 60fps.
In low light too, we get the same restrained processing philosophy. Rather than aggressively pushing exposure to make night shots look dramatic, the 17T focuses on keeping noise controlled, preserving the atmosphere of a scene, and holding colour accuracy. The results will not grab attention the way some competitors' night modes do, but they look better, natural and feel more honest. Combined with the periscope telephoto, it adds up to one of the most rewarding camera experiences available at this price.
<h2>Xiaomi 17T Review: Performance</h2>
Under the hood, the 17T runs on MediaTek's Dimensity 8500-Ultra, a 4nm chip backed by 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM and UFS 4.1 storage. The specifications fit comfortably within what this segment calls for, and day-to-day use reflects that. The phone feels as capable as those numbers imply.
Over the course of testing, the experience held up without complaint. Applications opened without hesitation, switching between tasks felt weightless, and there was no point at which the phone gave any indication of struggling. Photo editing, video recording, heavy multitasking, extended social media sessions, none of it gave the 17T any trouble worth noting.
Benchmark figures back up that real-world impression, with the device posting just over 2.02 million points on AnTuTu. There are phones in this bracket that score higher, but those gaps on paper rarely amount to anything you would actually notice in use.
That is also the right lens through which to understand what Xiaomi is doing with the 17T. This is not a phone built to top performance charts. It is a camera-focused device that happens to keep pace with more performance-oriented competition in everyday situations, and for the vast majority of users, that is entirely sufficient.
Thermal management plays a meaningful role in sustaining that experience. The 3D IceLoop cooling system does a solid job of keeping heat in check during demanding use. Extended gaming, prolonged camera sessions, and lengthy 4K recording runs all failed to push the phone into uncomfortable territory.
Gaming holds up well in practice. BGMI currently runs at up to 90fps, and given what the chipset is capable of, 120fps support through a future update would not be a surprise. Ultimately, benchmark numbers capture only a fraction of what makes a phone feel good to use over time. Assessed on that basis, the 17T earns its marks. It stays quick, smooth, and reliable across weeks of daily use, and for most people, the performance headroom here should remain relevant for years.
<h2>Xiaomi 17T Review: Software</h2>
Out of the box, the 17T ships with <a title="Xiaomi 17 Review: Is This the Best Compact Flagship of 2026?" href="https://www.editorji.com/tech-news/gadget-review/xiaomi-17-review-is-this-the-best-compact-flagship-of-2026-1773907772069" target="_blank">HyperOS 3</a>, and time spent with it makes one thing clear: Xiaomi's software has come a long way. The interface carries a tidiness and sense of organisation that earlier versions lacked, and while customisation options remain plentiful, nothing about the experience feels excessive or thrown together.
Two features stood out during regular use. HyperIsland brings a more considered approach to managing notifications and background processes, making the whole thing feel less like a chore. HyperConnect, meanwhile, is particularly valuable for anyone already invested in the Xiaomi ecosystem, knitting together phones, tablets, wearables, and other devices into something that actually functions cohesively.
Artificial intelligence gets considerable attention here. The HyperAI suite comes bundled alongside Google's Gemini, covering a broad range of productivity and smart assistance functions. The camera system draws on this further, with AI Scene Recognition, AI Ultra Zoom, and the AISP imaging engine all operating in the background to lift image quality without requiring manual input.
Through extended daily use, HyperOS 3 stayed smooth, stable, and responsive. There is a lot packed in, but the software presents itself with enough restraint that it never feels like it is competing for your attention.
On the updates front, Xiaomi is committing to four years of Android OS upgrades and six years of security patches. Some competitors have stretched those timelines further, but this remains a reasonable promise that should keep the 17T in good standing for a while yet.
<h2>Xiaomi 17T Review: Battery</h2>
Among everything the 17T gets right, battery life ranks near the top. The phone houses a 6,500mAh Silicon Carbon cell, which is not the largest capacity on the market given that several competitors have now crossed the 7,000mAh threshold, but the real-world performance tells a more nuanced story than raw numbers suggest.
On a typical day, battery anxiety simply was not part of the experience. Even during heavier use involving photography, navigation, gaming, and social media, the phone made it through from morning to night without issue. Lighter days occasionally stretched into a second day before a charge became necessary. Screen-on times of six to seven hours were a consistent outcome throughout testing.
When you do need to charge the phone, the bundled 67W HyperCharge adapter brings the battery back to full in under an hour, which is a reasonable turnaround for a cell of this size. The 17T also supports 22.5W reverse wired charging, a useful addition for topping up accessories or a second device when needed.
<h2>Xiaomi 17T Review: Verdict</h2>
The Xiaomi 17T is a phone that knows what it wants to be. Rather than spreading itself thin across every possible use case, it puts its energy into delivering a premium photography experience, and on that front, it largely delivers.
The 50MP 5X periscope telephoto is the feature that defines the device. It genuinely shifts the way you approach mobile photography, offering real optical reach that holds up under scrutiny rather than papering over the gaps with heavy digital processing. Leica's tuning keeps the output honest, detailed, and full of character. The display makes going through and editing shots a genuine pleasure, and the 6,500mAh battery is large enough to support a full day of intensive use without complaint.
There are areas where concessions have been made. BGMI is currently capped at 90fps, wireless charging is absent, the 12MP ultrawide trails the best in class, and Xiaomi's software support window is not the most generous in the segment.
That said, for anyone who puts mobile photography at the centre of what they want from a phone, the Xiaomi 17T makes a compelling case for itself at this price.

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