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With a 12.1-inch 2.8K display, mature design, stylus support and smarter multitasking on OxygenOS 16, the OnePlus Pad Go 2 delivers a major upgrade. Here's our initial impression of OnePlus' latest budget tablet.

OnePlus Pad Go 2 first impressions: Updates that really add up

OnePlus Pad Go 2 First Look: larger display, more polish, but does it work?

<h3>OnePlus Pad Go 2 brings a bigger display, cleaner design, smarter tablet software, stylus support and solid battery. A meaningful jump in OnePlus&rsquo; tablet lineup.</h3>

OnePlus has been experimenting with the tablet segment for a while, but the Pad Go 2 finally feels like a product built with purpose. The screen is bigger, the software finally treats the display properly, and stylus support has arrived. This is a clear upgrade instead of another safe refresh.
<h2>OnePlus Pad Go 2 Unboxing: Clean, Predictable, Very OnePlus</h2>
The unboxing feels exactly like what you expect from OnePlus. The red and white box is neat and minimal and everything inside is arranged with the same familiar discipline. You get the Pad Go 2 in the 8 GB and 256 GB Wi Fi trim, a 45 W SuperVOOC charger, a Type A to Type C cable and the usual stack of papers nobody touches. There is still no stylus inside. OnePlus finally supports one, but you will need to pay extra. That is just the current state of accessories.
<h2>OnePlus Pad Go 2 Design: Cleaner, Softer, Grown Up</h2>
The first Pad Go had personality but it was loud. The Pad Go 2 feels calmer and more mature. The frame has a smoother flow, the back looks cleaner and the overall shape feels easier on the eyes. Shadow Black is the safe option, while Lavender Drift has a soft pastel vibe that looks surprisingly premium. It is light, balanced and does not give off budget tablet energy.
<h2>OnePlus Pad Go 2 Display: This Is the Real Upgrade</h2>
The jump to a 12.1 inch 2.8K panel changes the experience right away. The extra size gives video, apps and even the UI more breathing room. If you thought the old Pad Go&rsquo;s display was fine, this one quickly shows you how much you were compromising.
<h2>OnePlus Pad Go 2 Software: Not an Afterthought</h2>
OxygenOS 16 on Android 16 finally feels like it knows it is running on a tablet. The highlight here is Open Canvas. It lets you move apps around, keep windows floating and use split screen without fighting with the layout. It feels like proper tablet software rather than a stretched phone interface.
<h2>Stylus Support: Finally Here, But&hellip;</h2>
The Pad Go 2 can work with the OnePlus Stylo, so writing notes, sketching and marking documents is all supported. The catch is simple. The stylus does not come in the box. If productivity is your plan, add that extra cost to your budget.
<h2>OnePlus Pad Go 2 Connectivity: Here&rsquo;s the Annoying Bit</h2>
OnePlus has added 5G, but there is a condition. Only the 256 GB Shadow Black variant gets it. If you want Lavender Drift with cellular support, there is no option, which feels unnecessarily restrictive.
<h2>OnePlus Pad Go 2 Performance &amp; Battery: Everyday Comfort</h2>
The tablet runs on the Dimensity 7300 Ultra with 8 GB RAM. It delivers the kind of performance you expect from a mid range tablet and stays consistent in regular use. The 10,050 mAh battery is a strong addition and comfortably supports long streaming sessions or casual gaming without effort.
<h2>OnePlus Pad Go 2: A Tablet With Intent</h2>
The Pad Go 2 gives the impression of a product that has genuinely grown. The bigger screen, improved multitasking, cleaner design, stylus support and optional 5G come together nicely. It feels like an Android tablet that knows its place and is confident in it.
Pricing arrives on December 17 and if OnePlus keeps it under twenty thousand rupees, this could easily become one of the few Android tablets people buy for more than basic online classes. A full review with stylus testing, battery torture and some questionable drawings is on the way.

Nothing Phone 3a Community Edition brings bold co-created design and rare collectability. See why this fan-built release stands out. Read the full story.

Nothing Phone 3a Community Edition ASMR Unboxing & First Look

Nothing Phone 3a Community Edition ASMR Unboxing & First Look: For the fans, by the fans

A bold, fan-built version of the Nothing Phone 3a, the Phone 3 Community Edition is proper looker with it's translucent design, limited stock and a playful new accessory

When brands claim to &ldquo;co-create&rdquo; with their users, it usually means picking a colour or voting on a wallpaper. Nothing&rsquo;s Phone 3a Community Edition is the rare case where the company actually hands over the steering wheel. What began in March as an open call for fans, designers and developers turned into a full-blown, nine-month experiment where the community shaped the personality of the device from the ground up. On paper, it is a limited-edition run. In reality, it is a design project that escaped the usual marketing filter.
The result is strange in the best way. Playful, nostalgic and intentionally off-centre, it feels like someone took the Nothing design playbook and added scribbles, memories and bold colour notes.
<h2>Unboxing the Nothing Phone 3a Community Edition</h2>
The moment you pick it up, the difference is obvious. The box arrives in a turquoise sleeve with almost no branding. Pull it off and a minimal white box appears, carrying soft embossed outlines that echo the internals of the phone. It is very Nothing, but with a slightly more handcrafted vibe. The phone sits wrapped in paper instead of plastic, a small reminder of the brand&rsquo;s sustainability-first choices.
Inside, the essentials stay familiar. A USB-C to USB-C cable, paperwork, and the signature glass-bead SIM ejector tool slotted neatly in place. But the real moment happens when you lift the phone out of the tray.
The translucent turquoise back might be the boldest design Nothing has shipped to date. The matte finish throws you straight back into the early-2000s era of curious transparent gadgets. It has an emotional pull without crossing into kitsch. It feels like an object with history rather than a product chasing nostalgia for effect. The pops of colour around the body only sharpen that feeling. A soft pink ring sits around the flash, the rear mic picks up a bright yellow accent and the essential key switches to glossy pink. None of this exists on the regular Phone 3a. This device is built for people who like personality to be visible from a distance.
Alongside the phone, Nothing is introducing a new accessory for 2025 called Dice. It fits right into their minimal universe. All six sides have numbers styled in the brand&rsquo;s Ndot 55 font, giving a classic object a clean, digital twist. Ambrogio Tacconi and Louis Aymonod from Reveland created the concept and refined it with Nothing&rsquo;s internal team.
<h2>Why this edition feels different</h2>
The overarching theme, Translucent Memories, comes from London-based industrial designer Emre Kayganaci. The idea was to bring back the curiosity that older transparent tech used to trigger. Because the visual direction and detailing were shaped by contributors instead of a boardroom, the phone ends up feeling more expressive than anything Nothing usually ships. The core identity stays untouched. The glyph interface works exactly like the standard Phone 3a. What changes is the attitude.
<h2>Specs, price and how to grab one for yourself</h2>
The Community Edition uses the same hardware as the regular Phone 3a and comes only in the 12 GB RAM and 256 GB storage option. Production is capped at 1,000 units globally. In India, it is priced at ₹28,999 and will be available only through a one-day offline drop on 13 December 2025 at 33&amp;Brew, Prestige Technostar, Doddanakundi Industrial Area 2, Phase 1, Brookefield, Bengaluru between 2 PM and 6 PM IST.

Sony PlayStation dominated Comic Con Delhi with packed PS5 gameplay zones, exclusive discounts, merch drops, and the high-stakes India Cup finale featuring a ₹4,00,000 prize pool.

Comic Con Delhi 2025: Sony PlayStation Leads the Floor

Sony PlayStation dominated Comic Con Delhi with packed PS5 gameplay zones, exclusive discounts, merch drops, and the high-stakes India Cup finale featuring a ₹4,00,000 prize pool.

Among all Comic Con city editions, Delhi still operates like the headline act.
It&rsquo;s the biggest crowd, the densest lineup of pop-culture exhibitors, and the place where brands roll out the polished, show-ready experience first.
If Comic Con Bengaluru is energetic and Mumbai is stylish, Delhi is simply the benchmark &mdash; the edition that sets expectations for the rest of the country.
Walking into Comic Con Delhi means crossing from the unstructured city logic into a curated chaos where gaming setups, anime art stores, Funko walls, manga kiosks, collectibles, and indie artists all share the same floor with equal visibility.
It&rsquo;s not just fandom gathering &mdash; it&rsquo;s commerce, community, and cultural data in one hall.
<h2>Sony PlayStation&rsquo;s Presence in Delhi Hits Different</h2>
At Delhi, Sony PlayStation isn&rsquo;t competing for attention &mdash; it naturally gets it.
The booth sits at a high-flow corridor where most major brands aim to land but rarely do with this level of consistency. The PS5 stations stay booked, but never bottlenecked. You get your slot, you play, you move &mdash; the design is clearly intentional.
No themed theatrics, no stunt installation, no &ldquo;please take a photo here&rdquo; obligation.Just hardware, access, titles ready to run, and a clean booth layout that respects the pace of Comic Con Delhi rather than fighting it.
<h2>Interaction That Feels Controlled, Not Loud</h2>
Comic Con Delhi is inherently high-decibel &mdash; stage cues, cosplay parades, influencer meetups, panel audio, celebrity drops. What makes PlayStation stand out is understated control.
You game without commentary blaring in your ear You queue without being herded. You participate without needing to shout over PA systems
And when giveaways happen &mdash; quizzes, winner calls, merch drops &mdash; it&rsquo;s done at tempo, not volume.
<h2>Retail with Intent, Not FOMO</h2>
DT Zone brings the PS ecosystem into one physical lane:
<ul>
<li>PS5 consoles</li>
<li>Ghost of Yotei plates + controller</li>
<li>Controller discounts</li>
<li>Select PS5 titles going up to half off</li>
<li>A Delhi-only PS5 price cut during the event</li>
</ul>
No aggressive pitch, no &ldquo;grab it now before someone else does&rdquo; undertone. You evaluate tech, you check pricing, you buy because you&rsquo;re convinced &mdash; not cornered.
<h2>Delhi Is Also the Finals Arena</h2>
The India Cup finale being staged here is not coincidence &mdash; Delhi Comic Con provides the right audience density and the right competitive ambience.
December 6&ndash;7 turns the PlayStation booth into a performance zone:
<ul>
<li>Live matches</li>
<li>Real-time crowd reactions</li>
<li>₹4,00,000 prize pool</li>
<li>The 2025 champion crowned inside Delhi&rsquo;s biggest fandom event</li>
</ul>
What started as a focused EA FC competition is now part of the annual circuit of Comic Con Delhi programming. The city didn&rsquo;t just absorb the tournament &mdash; it made it a repeatable headline fixture.
<h2>Why Delhi Matters More Than the Rest</h2>
Comic Con Delhi continues to be where:
<ul>
<li>Pop culture brands test scale</li>
<li>Gaming finds high-intent footfall</li>
<li>Merch sells without coaxing</li>
<li>Fandom shows purchasing power, not just dressing up</li>
</ul>
PlayStation didn&rsquo;t need banners, light rigs, or celebrity walk-ins. It needed Delhi &mdash; the largest, loudest, most willing audience for gaming in India &mdash; and it showed up with precision instead of noise.

Unboxing the OnePlus 15 — the first smartphone with Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. See the box contents, new Sand Storm design, OxygenOS 16 features, and early camera samples before the full review.

OnePlus 15 Unboxing – India’s First Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 Phone!

<h2>Unboxing the OnePlus 15 &mdash; the first phone with Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. We check out the box contents, new Sand Storm design, IP69K durability, and early camera samples before the full review drops.</h2>

The OnePlus 15 launches in India on November 13 and it&rsquo;s already grabbing attention for being the first phone powered by Qualcomm&rsquo;s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5.
OnePlus has been teasing the device for a while, and the big headline feature is that massive 7,300mAh battery &mdash; that&rsquo;s around 21 percent larger than what we got on the OnePlus 13. We&rsquo;ve had early access to the device, so before the full review drops, here&rsquo;s a quick unboxing and first look at what&rsquo;s new.
<h2>Inside the Box</h2>
Here&rsquo;s what you get in the box: a 120W SuperVOOC fast charger, the classic red USB-A to USB-C cable, a color-matched soft case, SIM ejector tool, all the paperwork, and the OnePlus Red Cable Club card. Simple, complete, and very OnePlus.
<h2>OnePlus 15: Design and Build</h2>
The OnePlus 15 comes in three colors: Infinite Black, Sand Storm, and Ultra Violet. We have the Sand Storm version here &mdash; inspired by natural sand dunes with a matte texture that feels premium and hides fingerprints really well.
This year, OnePlus has added IP68, IP69, and IP69K ratings, giving the phone better protection from dust, water, and even high-pressure sprays. You&rsquo;ll also notice the new flat front and back paired with a matte frame for a cleaner, industrial look. One big change: the iconic alert slider is gone.
Instead, we get the new Plus Key, similar to what we saw on the OnePlus 13S. It lets you capture what&rsquo;s on your screen or save snippets directly to Mind Space for later. The OnePlus 15 doesn&rsquo;t just look different from the OnePlus 12 or 13, it feels different too &mdash; more solid, more refined, and more minimal.
<h2>OnePlus 15: Camera Changes</h2>
If you&rsquo;ve noticed, the Hasselblad branding is missing. That&rsquo;s because OnePlus has officially ended its eight-year partnership with Hasselblad. So, the camera system here is entirely OnePlus&rsquo;s own. We&rsquo;ve shot a few quick samples in different lighting conditions, and they look promising so far, but we&rsquo;ll need to dive deeper to really see what&rsquo;s changed. (Check the video for camera samples)
<h2>OnePlus 15: Performance</h2>
Under the hood, the OnePlus 15 runs on the new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 &mdash; the same chip that&rsquo;s setting benchmark records right now. According to reports, in tests like AnTuTu, it&rsquo;s been hitting between 3.4 and 3.8 million points, so we&rsquo;re expecting top-tier speed for gaming, multitasking, and heavy use.&nbsp;
<h2>OnePlus 15: Software &ndash; OxygenOS 16</h2>
This is the first phone to launch with OxygenOS 16 out of the box, based on Android 16. We&rsquo;ve already tried this version on the OnePlus 13S, and it&rsquo;s a big step up. Animations feel faster and smoother, and there&rsquo;s a lot more customization across the lock screen and home screen.
OxygenOS 16 also brings new AI features like Mind Space, which sorts your screenshots and notes automatically. It even works with Google Gemini now, so you can search through your saved content. Plus, there are new AI editing tools in the gallery that help clean up photos with one tap.
<h2>Early Thoughts</h2>
Overall, the OnePlus 15 is shaping up to be a complete flagship.&nbsp; We&rsquo;ll be testing it in depth over the next few days &mdash; especially the cameras and gaming performance &mdash; so stay tuned for the full review.

The ROG Xbox Ally is built for take-anywhere play, with a comfortable grip, a smooth 120Hz display, and enough power to carry your PC and Xbox library on the move.

Asus ROG Xbox Ally review:

Asus ROG Xbox Ally review: For the ultimate portable gaming experience

Built for gaming away from the desk, the ROG Xbox Ally blends console-like comfort with a smooth 120Hz display and practical performance for everyday play.

Handheld gaming has been slowly finding its feet again, and the Asus ROG Xbox Ally feels like a product that understands the assignment. It isn&rsquo;t trying to take over from your main gaming laptop or console, and it doesn&rsquo;t chase the title of &ldquo;strongest handheld on the planet.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Instead, the point here is simple: make your existing game library feel easier to access, more comfortable to play, and a lot more fun to carry around. And honestly, it succeeds more often than it fails.
Calling it an Xbox is a stretch. It&rsquo;s better described as a compact Windows machine that just happens to play really nicely with both your Xbox and PC titles. The design choices show that someone actually thought about how people hold and use these things; the ergonomics are quite good, the hardware is capable, and the experience feels well-rounded when everything is running the way it should.
Is it flawless? No. There are quirks, some rough edges, and certain moments where you&rsquo;ll be reminded that Windows wasn&rsquo;t built with handhelds in mind. But as a portable gaming companion for people who like playing on the move, the ROG Xbox Ally has more than enough charm to make you seriously consider it.
<h2>Design and in-hand feel</h2>
The first thing that stood out to me about the ROG Xbox Ally is how naturally it sits in the hand. Asus has clearly leaned into that familiar Xbox controller shape, and it pays off. If you&rsquo;ve ever held an Xbox pad, your fingers will know where to go before you even think about it. The grips flare and curve in a way that lets your hands relax instead of clench, and that makes longer play sessions genuinely easier on the wrists. The display also tilts forward ever so slightly. It&rsquo;s a tiny detail, but over a couple of hours of steady play, it keeps your posture from feeling tense or hunched.
The button layout follows the classic Xbox-controller&rsquo;s template: ABXY buttons, triggers, D-pad, and two analogue sticks. The buttons have a satisfying, confident click, and the hall-effect triggers feel smooth and precise. The thumbsticks, though, are where I wish Asus had gone the extra step. At this price, hall-effect sticks would have been the obvious durability win, so it&rsquo;s a small miss. The two rear macro paddles are practical and easy to map, and the haptics feel unexpectedly put-together for a handheld of this size.
Since it&rsquo;s an ROG device, so yes, there&rsquo;s RGB. But it&rsquo;s not screaming for attention. It&rsquo;s subtle, customisable, and actually adds a touch of personality rather than noise. The real surprise, though, is the audio. The front-firing speakers are loud, clear, and frankly better than what I&rsquo;ve heard in a lot of mid-range gaming laptops. Dolby Atmos improves things further, especially if you switch to headphones. The built-in mic won&rsquo;t impress anyone, but it gets the job done for quick party chats.
Connectivity is flexible too: a 3.5mm jack, two USB-C ports with DisplayPort, and a microSD slot. And if you want to use it docked like a mini PC, that&rsquo;s absolutely an option.
<h2>Display and viewing experience</h2>
The ROG Xbox Ally comes with a 7-inch Full HD IPS panel running at 120Hz, and for handheld gaming, it hits a very comfortable sweet spot. The size feels just right. It&rsquo;s compact enough that the device stays easy to hold for long stretches, but still large enough that games don&rsquo;t feel cramped or visually cluttered. I do wish this was an OLED panel, because that extra depth in blacks and contrast would have taken the experience up a notch. But even without that, what&rsquo;s here holds up well enough that the absence doesn&rsquo;t feel like a deal-breaker.
The resolution works well for this screen size. Text, UI elements, and textures appear sharp, and the higher refresh rate makes everything feel smoother, from navigating through menus to fast-paced gameplay. Colour performance is better than I expected. With full sRGB and good Adobe RGB coverage, things look lively without that artificial, boosted look some handheld displays tend to lean towards. Shadows and darker scenes retain clarity instead of turning into muddy patches.
Brightness indoors feels solid, though the glossy surface can be reflective if you&rsquo;re near strong light or trying to play outside. It&rsquo;s manageable, but noticeable. The Gorilla Glass Victus helps with durability, so dropping it into a bag without a case doesn&rsquo;t feel nerve-wracking.
Where the display really shines is motion. The 120Hz refresh combined with FreeSync Premium keeps gameplay smooth even when frame rates dip. Whether a game was coasting at 60FPS or hovering around the 40s in heavier titles, the overall motion stayed clean and controlled, which goes a long way in handheld play.
<h2>Performance and real-world gaming</h2>
The ROG Xbox Ally runs on AMD&rsquo;s Ryzen Z2 APU, which pairs older Zen 2 CPU cores with RDNA 2 graphics. On a spec sheet, that doesn&rsquo;t exactly scream cutting-edge, and I went into testing with fairly measured expectations. This isn&rsquo;t trying to compete with a dedicated gaming laptop. But once I actually started playing, the performance felt a lot better than what the raw numbers suggest.
The biggest advantage here is that the hardware and display resolution are well matched. You&rsquo;re not forcing a tiny chip to push unrealistic pixel counts. The device comes with 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM and a 512GB PCIe 4.0 SSD, so in theory, loading speeds should be snappy. In practice, lighter and indie titles load fast, while heavier AAA games can take a bit longer to get going. Once they&rsquo;re up, though, the experience smooths out and feels surprisingly steady.
At 1080p with medium to low settings, most modern games are perfectly playable, and the experience is closer to console-like than I expected. If you switch down to 720p, performance jumps in a noticeable way, and honestly, on a 7-inch screen, the drop in sharpness is barely something you register mid-game. It&rsquo;s a very practical trade-off.
Forza Horizon 5, for instance, looks vibrant and runs fluidly, and it feels right at home on this device. Even something heavier like Black Myth: Wukong is enjoyable as long as you don&rsquo;t chase ultra settings. Keep expectations grounded and settings sensible, and the Ally holds up remarkably well.
So the conclusion is pretty simple: the Ally performs best when you play to its strengths instead of trying to brute-force performance. Dial your settings realistically, and it gives you a consistently smooth, genuinely enjoyable handheld gaming experience.
<h2>Software and overall user experience</h2>
The software side of the ROG Xbox Ally is honestly where I was most pleasantly surprised. When you turn it on, it doesn&rsquo;t just dump you into a regular Windows desktop. Instead, it boots into a clean, full-screen Xbox-style launcher that immediately makes it feel like a proper console rather than a shrunken-down PC. The interface is simple, controller-friendly, and gives the device a full gamer-y vibe, right out of the box.
As long as you're living inside the Xbox ecosystem, the experience stays smooth and console-like. It launches games quickly, keeps navigation simple, and everything feels unified. The moment you step outside that space though, the Windows reality shows up.&nbsp;
Opening Steam, Epic, or Ubisoft Connect brings back the usual PC friction: logins, update prompts, background windows, and the occasional stubborn error pop-up. It&rsquo;s not frustrating enough to ruin the experience, but it&rsquo;s a reminder that this is still Windows, just wearing a nicer jacket.
There&rsquo;s also a quirk with switching environments. Holding the Xbox button lets you view open apps or jump over to the traditional Windows desktop, which is great if you want to use it like a mini PC for a bit.&nbsp;
But switching back to the full-screen Xbox interface isn't as smooth. Performance can dip unless you restart the device entirely, so it's easier to commit to one mode per session.
The saving grace here is Armoury Crate. It&rsquo;s integrated cleanly and actually feels useful rather than like bloatware.&nbsp;
I used it constantly to change performance modes, adjust RGB, tweak fan curves, or lock frame rates per game. It&rsquo;s quick to access mid-play, which genuinely matters when you&rsquo;re trying to get the best balance of performance, heat, and battery life on the fly.
<h2>Battery life and charging</h2>
Battery performance on the ROG Xbox Ally really comes down to what you&rsquo;re playing and the performance profile you choose. The 60Wh cell is actually pretty decent for something this compact, and when I stuck to lighter or less GPU-heavy games, I was able to get a pretty decent hours of playtime without thinking about the battery too much.
The moment you jump into heavier hitters like Black Myth: Wukong, the story changes. In those cases, I was getting roughly an hour and a half before needing to recharge, which honestly feels in line with what this hardware can realistically deliver.&nbsp;
In one of my sessions with Skillsong, the battery dipped by around 20% in an hour, which matched this general trend. Higher brightness, Bluetooth headphones, and RGB lighting all nudge the drain a bit faster.
The 65W charger does soften the blow. A quick top-up during a break can get you back in the game without waiting too long. It&rsquo;s not built for continuous marathon play, but with a bit of performance tuning, the battery is workable.
<h2>Verdict</h2>
The Asus ROG Xbox Ally isn&rsquo;t trying to replace your main gaming setup, and going in with that expectation makes all the difference. For around ₹69,990, what you&rsquo;re paying for is the freedom to take your existing library with you and play comfortably wherever you are, not chase raw, desktop-level performance.&nbsp;
If sheer power matters most, a proper gaming laptop or tower is still the better call. And if you&rsquo;re looking to save money, the Steam Deck remains a reliable option, even if its hardware is starting to feel a little dated now.
What makes the Ally stand out is its balance. It&rsquo;s genuinely comfortable to hold, the display works great for handheld gaming, the speakers are surprisingly strong, and the performance feels better than the specs would have you believe. If you&rsquo;ve been wanting a portable gaming buddy that&rsquo;s simply enjoyable to use, this one&rsquo;s easy to like.

Nothing’s open-ear earbuds are bold, breathable, and made for runners — but do they sound as good as they look? Read our review.

Nothing Ear (open) Review: Brilliantly designed, but a niche experience

<h2>Tried the Nothing Ear (open) for a week &mdash; stylish, airy, and surprisingly clear. But they&rsquo;re not for everyone. Here&rsquo;s why.</h2>

Although I have had some experience with open-ear headphones, I wasn't sure what to expect from a pair of open-ear earbuds like the Nothing Ear (open), simply because they are nothing like I have ever seen before.
In the past I have done reviews for traditional in-ear or over-ear audio products, so I know what to expect from them. For the <a title="Nothing Phone 3a Lite First Impressions: Lite in name only" href="https://www.editorji.com/tech-news/mobiles/nothing-phone-3a-lite-first-impressions-lite-in-name-only-1761742925943" target="_blank">Nothing</a> Ear (open) I went in with a clean slate.
Now, I&rsquo;ve always had a bit of a hit-and-miss experience with earbuds and how they fit, mostly because I have small ears. But I still gave them a fair shot, especially because these are made for athletes, not for those who casually enjoy music, often while sitting in a metro, or while working. After using them for a week, I can say this: they&rsquo;re bold, interesting, and quite unlike anything else, but not without their fair share of flaws.
<h2>Design: Classic Nothing</h2>
Let&rsquo;s start with the design because that&rsquo;s where my first impression got complicated.
The Nothing Ear (open) comes in a sleek, pill-shaped case that feels premium to hold but is also larger than it looks in photos. It&rsquo;ll fit in your jeans pocket, but definitely not that tiny coin pocket. The plastic build feels sturdy enough, though the lid for my unit was slightly loose which made the buds rattle a bit when I would spin the case like a fidget spinner, which, to be honest, I did quite a few times. It&rsquo;s oddly satisfying.
The earbuds themselves carry <a title="Realme 15 Pro Review ft. OnePlus Nord CE 5 &amp; Nothing Phone 3a: One mid-ranger to rule them all!cc" href="https://www.editorji.com/tech-news/realme-15-pro-review-ft-oneplus-nord-ce-5-nothing-phone-3a-one-mid-ranger-to-rule-them-all-1753372808953" target="_blank">Nothing&rsquo;s</a> signature transparent design, continuing with that &ldquo;tech-showcase&rdquo; aesthetic that the brand has made its own. They&rsquo;re extremely lightweight at just 8.1 grams, so you barely feel them when you wear them.
But here&rsquo;s where my small-ear problem kicks in. These buds just didn&rsquo;t fit my ears perfectly, no matter what I did. They did stay and never fell off during my tests. But it was never a snug fit. In this open design, the buds sit in your outer ear instead of being pushed inside the canal. Because of this, when you workout, they are comfortable and good for your safety.
So, when I went for my morning jog, I could hear the ambient noise, people talking, traffic noise. Basically, it feels open and natural.
I also tried taking them to the gym, but that wasn&rsquo;t such a great idea. I couldn&rsquo;t block out my gym&rsquo;s loud and weird music, and since these don&rsquo;t have ANC, I had to switch to my ANC earbuds.
If you&rsquo;re someone who likes listening to your own playlist in your gym, these aren&rsquo;t meant for you.
The IP54 rating for both the buds and the case is reassuring though, so sweat or rain won&rsquo;t cause trouble.
<h2>App Experience: The Nothing X App Brings True Power</h2>
If you buy these, don&rsquo;t forget to download the Nothing X app, cause that&rsquo;s where you can customise them.
It gives you control over pinch gestures, lets you activate low-latency gaming mode, and even allows you to assign ChatGPT as your voice assistant. But the highlight for me was the 8-band customisable EQ. I changed the frequencies according to my taste, and it genuinely makes a difference.
There are presets for &ldquo;More Bass,&rdquo; &ldquo;More Treble,&rdquo; &ldquo;Balanced,&rdquo; &amp; &ldquo;Voice&rdquo;, but the advanced EQ lets you fine-tune the sound exactly how you like. It&rsquo;s a great feature for those who care about audio personalisation.
The pinch controls themselves work well, single pinch for play/pause, double for skipping tracks, and triple for going back. But I didn&rsquo;t find the volume control to be very convenient. You have to pinch and hold the buds to change the volume, which happens at a very slow pace. I found this to be a bit annoying.
<h2>Connectivity and Mic: Modern and Reliable</h2>
Connectivity is rock solid. You get Bluetooth 5.3, SBC &amp; AAC codec support, Google Fast Pair, Microsoft Swift Pair, low lag mode for gaming and even dual device connection, so switching between your laptop and phone is seamless.
For calls, the Nothing Ear (open) uses two microphones on each of the earbuds. In quiet enviroments, the audio captured by the buds sounds clear and natural, but in crowded environments, a lot of ambient noise creeps in. Still, it's perfectly serviceable for everyday calls or quick meetings.
<h2>Sound: Natural Clarity, Limited punch</h2>
Now, for the most important part of any earbuds review: the sound quality. Let me start with one thing: the <a title="Nothing Ear (2) review: A worthy sequel" href="https://www.editorji.com/tech-news/gadget-review/nothing-ear-2-review-a-worthy-sequel-1680158937144" target="_blank">Nothing</a> Ear (open) isn&rsquo;t trying to replace your ANC earbuds or studio monitors. These are built not for immersion but to let users be aware of their surroundings. The drivers sit in front of your ear canal, creating an airy, spacious sound.
The mid-range is where these shine; vocals sound crisp and forward, instruments are nicely separated, and the overall tonality feels open. This makes podcasts, acoustic music, and live recordings sound great.
The treble is detailed and brings sparkle to the mix without being sharp, though at higher volumes, you can get a hissing sound.
The bass, however, is where these buds struggle. Even after cranking up the bass with the &ldquo;More Bass&rdquo; preset, the low-end lacks the punch that in-ear earbuds or over-ear headphones deliver. You can still hear the beat, but just not feel it.
This open sound signature works beautifully in quiet or outdoor settings, like morning runs or cycling, where you want situational awareness. But in noisy environments, the experience takes a hit. Since there&rsquo;s no isolation, external sounds often overpower the music, and you end up increasing the volume just to compensate.
It&rsquo;s not bad, just context-dependent. Think of it as a &ldquo;hear-your-surroundings&rdquo; companion, not a &ldquo;get-lost-in-your-playlist&rdquo; pair.
<h2>Battery: As Solid As It Gets</h2>
Nothing claims that you&rsquo;ll get 8 hours of playback on a single charge and up to 30 hours with the case. In my testing, though, I got around 6 hours of music playback, which I would say is pretty solid for a pair of earbuds.
The charging is also quick, and 10 minutes of charging will give you 10 hours of music playback.
<h2>Verdict</h2>
After a week with the <a title="Epic Performance Test! iQOO Z9s Pro vs OnePlus Nord CE 4 vs Nothing Phone 2a Plus" href="https://www.editorji.com/tech-news/mobiles/iqoo-z9s-pro-vs-oneplus-nord-ce-4-vs-nothing-phone-2a-plus-full-performance-test-1725354984496" target="_blank">Nothing</a> Ear (open), I walked away both impressed and frustrated. Impressed, because Nothing clearly knows how to build striking products that push boundaries. The design feels bold, the app integration is thoughtful, and the sound clarity in the mids is genuinely enjoyable.
But I was also a little frustrated with the Ear (open), because the fit didn&rsquo;t work for me. The keyword in that sentence was &ldquo;me&rdquo;, which is to say they might me great for you.
The open nature of the design limits where and how you can enjoy them. They&rsquo;re great for runners or people who need to stay alert while enjoying their music. But if you want a strong bass, a tight seal, these just won&rsquo;t cut it.
If you're looking for earbuds that are ultra-lightweight, and have a futuristic design, the Nothing Ear (Open) will surprise you. But if you want an immersive audio experience, you will be better off looking somewhere else.

Oppo Find X9 Pro delivers refinement over reinvention with a 200MP lens, 7500mAh battery, and a stunning OLED display.

Oppo Find X9 Pro First Impressions: The New 200MP Camera King!

<h2>Oppo Find X9 Pro combines elegance, 200MP camera power, and a massive 7500mAh battery in a design that feels refined, balanced, and effortlessly premium.</h2>

Oppo&rsquo;s new Find X9 Pro isn&rsquo;t trying to shock you with bold experiments or wild gimmicks. It&rsquo;s doing something rarer &mdash; chasing balance. From the first grip, you can tell Oppo&rsquo;s focus this year isn&rsquo;t reinvention, it&rsquo;s refinement.
Everything about this phone feels calm, deliberate, and premium. The design looks familiar, the display is stunning, and that new 200MP telephoto lens instantly stands out. After spending some time with it, here&rsquo;s why the Find X9 Pro might be Oppo&rsquo;s most mature flagship yet.
<h2>Oppo Find X9 Pro Design: Quiet Confidence</h2>
The <a title="Oppo Find X8 Pro Review: India's First Phone With Dimensity 9400; Check Pros &amp; Cons" href="https://www.editorji.com/tech-news/gadget-review/oppo-find-x8-pro-review-india-s-first-phone-with-dimensity-9400-check-pros-cons-1732174463752" target="_blank">Oppo Find</a> X9 Pro doesn&rsquo;t beg for attention. It earns it quietly. At first glance, the design feels understated, but hold it for a few minutes and the details start to reveal themselves. The symmetry, the curve of the glass, even the weight distribution &mdash; everything feels intentional. For a phone with a 7,500mAh battery, the balance is impressive. It measures 8.25mm thick, but it never feels bulky. It&rsquo;s one of those large phones that simply sits right in your hand.
The aluminum frame and glass back sound standard, but Oppo&rsquo;s subtle curves make a huge difference. The edges glide into your palm rather than digging in, unlike the boxier iPhone design. The Find X9 Pro feels soft yet solid, refined without being flashy.
<h2>Oppo Find X9 Pro Camera Design: Familiar but Bold</h2>
The camera module dominates the back, and it&rsquo;s not pretending to be subtle. Oppo has swapped last year&rsquo;s circular layout for a new &ldquo;squircle&rdquo; design that&rsquo;s strikingly similar to recent OnePlus phones. The resemblance is hard to ignore, but the execution feels a bit more elegant here.
The Hasselblad branding is still present &mdash; a quiet statement that Oppo isn&rsquo;t done with that partnership. It adds credibility, especially in colour calibration and overall tone accuracy. A few functional touches also stand out. The Quick Button, a physical shutter key, makes snapping photos instant. The Plus Key is customisable for shortcuts, and there&rsquo;s even an IR blaster up top &mdash; something you rarely see on flagships anymore.
The overall build feels sturdy and confident. And with IP66, IP68, and IP69 protection, the Find X9 Pro isn&rsquo;t just good-looking; it&rsquo;s built to survive anything short of a downpour.
<h2>Oppo Find X9 Pro Display: Pure Flagship Energy</h2>
Up front, the 6.78-inch LTPO OLED display steals the show. The bezels are just 1.15mm, giving it an immersive, near-borderless appearance. It&rsquo;s a 1.5K panel with 120Hz adaptive refresh rate, so everything from scrolling to gaming feels fast and fluid.
Brightness hits 1800 nits typical and peaks at 3600 nits, making it one of the brightest displays out there. Support for Dolby Vision, HDR10+, and HDR Vivid ensures everything you watch pops with colour and contrast.
Oppo&rsquo;s new 3D ultrasonic fingerprint scanner is faster and more accurate than before, even with wet hands. And the screen&rsquo;s protected by Gorilla Glass Victus 2, keeping it safe from everyday drops and scratches.
<h2>Oppo Find X9 Pro Cameras: The 200MP Statement</h2>
Oppo&rsquo;s partnership with <a title="Vivo X200 FE vs Oppo Reno 14 Pro vs Samsung Galaxy S25 FE: The ultimate camera test" href="https://www.editorji.com/tech-news/mobiles/vivo-x200-fe-vs-reno-14-pro-vs-s25-fe-the-ultimate-camera-test-1759300685064" target="_blank">Hasselblad</a> continues to pay off here. The Find X9 Pro&rsquo;s triple-camera setup includes a 50MP main sensor, a 50MP ultrawide, and a headline 200MP periscope telephoto with 3x optical zoom.
That 200MP lens isn&rsquo;t just a marketing trick. It&rsquo;s sharp, stabilised, and versatile enough to shoot crisp portraits or zoom up to 6x without losing detail. You can even push it to 120x digital zoom, but the sweet spot remains between 3x and 6x.
The main Sony LYT-828 sensor captures rich, realistic colours, even in mixed lighting. The ultrawide holds up well too, with minimal distortion and excellent edge detail. The periscope also doubles as a macro lens, letting you capture tiny textures and close-ups with surprising clarity.
Oppo has also brought back the Hasselblad XPan mode, which shoots in a cinematic film ratio with vintage colour profiles. It&rsquo;s one of those creative modes that makes you want to step outside and actually shoot something.
Video performance is equally strong. Both the main and telephoto cameras record 4K at 120fps, while Ultra Steady mode delivers smooth 4K at 60fps. On the front, the 50MP selfie camera captures natural tones without that overdone beauty filter look.
<h2>Oppo Find X9 Pro Battery: Big, Smart, and Reliable</h2>
<a title="Oppo K13 Turbo and K13 Turbo Pro Review: Can cooling fans really change the game?" href="https://www.editorji.com/tech-news/oppo-k13-turbo-and-k13-turbo-pro-review-can-cooling-fans-really-change-the-game-1756542279350" target="_blank">Oppo</a> has gone big on endurance. The 7,500mAh silicon-carbon battery easily lasts through a heavy day of use. Charging is equally fast &mdash; 80W SUPERVOOC wired and 50W AIRVOOC wireless.
Even after a day of shooting, streaming, and multitasking, the Find X9 Pro still had plenty left in the tank. It&rsquo;s not just big capacity; it&rsquo;s smart power management.
<h2>Oppo Find X9 Pro Performance: Cool and Collected</h2>
Under the hood, the Find X9 Pro runs on MediaTek&rsquo;s Dimensity 9500 &mdash; a serious powerhouse with improved AI, graphics, and thermal efficiency. Paired with 16GB LPDDR5X RAM and 512GB UFS 4.1 storage, it flies through multitasking and gaming without breaking a sweat.
It scores over 3.46 million on AnTuTu, placing it comfortably among 2025&rsquo;s top Android performers. What&rsquo;s more impressive is how cool it stays. Oppo&rsquo;s new vapor chamber cooling system, now 33.7% larger, keeps temperatures in check even under load.
The new ColorOS 16 feels mature and fluid. Animations are smooth, transitions feel polished, and the AI enhancements make everyday use a bit faster.
<h2>Oppo Find X9 Pro Verdict: Refinement Over Reinvention</h2>
After using the Oppo Find X9 Pro, it&rsquo;s clear this isn&rsquo;t a phone chasing headlines &mdash; it&rsquo;s chasing polish. The design feels mature, the display is flawless, and the cameras finally give Oppo a distinct advantage again.
Add that massive battery, stable software, and efficient performance, and you have a flagship that feels thoughtfully complete. Oppo hasn&rsquo;t reinvented anything here &mdash; it&rsquo;s just perfected almost everything that matters.
If first impressions are any indication, the Find X9 Pro might be the most balanced flagship of 2025.

The Asus ROG Xbox Ally & Ally X bring console-level power to handheld gaming, with Ryzen chips, 120Hz display, and up to 80Wh battery.

Asus ROG Xbox Ally & Ally X first impressions

Asus ROG Ally X and Xbox Ally first impressions: Handheld gaming just got serious

Asus brings true console-grade performance to handheld gaming with the ROG Xbox Ally and Ally X, complete with Ryzen power and premium design.

Handheld gaming has officially levelled up, and this time it&rsquo;s Asus who&rsquo;s setting the tone for the next big thing in portable gaming. They have launched the ROG Xbox Ally and the ROG Ally X portable gaming handhelds. Both devices promise the kind of performance you&rsquo;d normally expect from a full-fledged Xbox gaming console, or a Windows gaming PC, but, this time, packed neatly into a body that fits right in your hands.
<h2>A proper gaming PC in your hands</h2>
Asus&rsquo; ROG XBox Ally series isn&rsquo;t just another attempt at portable gaming. It has the distinction of being the world&rsquo;s first Windows-based handheld designed that delivers a genuine Xbox-like console gaming experience. And because it's made by Asus, you also get a full-fledged PC in your palms.&nbsp;
What this means is that apart from all the features and gaming services that you get from an Xbox console, you can also stream games from Xbox Cloud Gaming, play from platforms like Steam and Epic Games. And if you want a proper, all-out gaming experience with insanely high refresh rates at an insanely high resolution you can even hook it up to an external GPU for desktop-level power. Basically, this is a proper gaming computer that&rsquo;s smaller than a laptop, which you can carry anywhere.
<h2>Built like an Xbox, with ROG flair</h2>
The design is where Asus clearly had some fun. The contoured hand grip instantly gives off Xbox vibes, and are slightly angled for a more natural and comfortable position for long gaming sessions.&nbsp;
The micro ROG patterns and Xbox-inspired detailing on the handles look stylish, but they also help with grip.
The ROG Ally X adds an extra layer of realism thanks to those impulse triggers that come with built-in vibration motors. This basically means that every shot, crash, or explosion can literally be felt in your hands. It&rsquo;s a level of feedback that makes gaming far more engaging, especially in racing or shooting titles.
<h2>Stunning display with great audio</h2>
Both, the ROG Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X come with a pretty solid 7-inch Full HD display which supports 120Hz refresh rate. The Display delivers some pretty sharp and stunning images. And because the panels have a pretty quick response time of 7ms, you are in for a world of joy when gaming on this thing.&nbsp;
Whether you&rsquo;re playing something like Forza Horizon 5 or Baldur&rsquo;s Gate 3, the experience feels surprisingly close to gaming on a console or a powerful laptop.
For audio front, both get a dual-speaker system with Smart Amp technology. They also support Dolby Atmos. Now, they might not get as loud as a laptop, but for a handheld, they do get pretty loud, which makes things like explosions, gunshots, and background music seem more immersive than you&rsquo;d expect from something this small.
<h2>Slick performance</h2>
The hardware powering both the handheld consoles is actually pretty impressive. The ROG Xbox Ally is powered by AMD&rsquo;s Ryzen Z2 A processor, while the Ally X gets a beefier Ryzen Z2 Extreme chip.&nbsp;
For RAM and storage, the Xbox Ally X offers up to 24GB LPDDR5 RAM and 1TB PCIe Gen 4 storage, whereas the non-X variant tops out at 16GB LPDDR5 RAM and 512GB PCIe Gen 4 storage. You can, of course, expand these with your own SSDs.
Keeping things cool is a redesigned vapour chamber cooling system that keeps temperatures under control, even during extended gaming sessions. What&rsquo;s more is that Asus claims that the vapour chamber works well no matter how you hold the handheld, even upside-down.
From the limited time we spent with the devices, both models handled some pretty demanding titles effortlessly; smooth frame rates, no visible lag, and zero heating issues. Asus seems to have nailed the performance balance here, and that too, in such a small footprint.
<h2>Bigger battery, longer sessions</h2>
Most handheld gaming devices are not exactly known to have great battery lives. The ROG ROG Xbox Ally and the Ally X, though, do a pretty solid job here, at least in terms of capacity.
The regular ROG Xbox Ally comes with a 60Wh battery, which is respectable. But the ROG Xbox Ally X turns things up to 11 and gets an 80Wh battery. This should promise much longer gaming sessions without having to constantly reach for a charger.
<h2>Pricing and first impressions</h2>
The ROG Xbox Ally is priced at ₹69,900, while the ROG Ally X comes in at ₹1,14,900. Just in case you&rsquo;re confused between the two, here&rsquo;s how you pick one. The standard model is great for people new to handheld gaming. It&rsquo;s pretty affordable, powerful, and easy to get into.&nbsp;
The Ally X, however, is purely for those who want nothing but the best in gaming experience, top-notch performance and a longer battery life.
Asus have pulled off something remarkable. The ROG Xbox Ally series brings the power of PC gaming, the convenience of a console, and the portability of a handheld together, all in one pretty neat and portable package. Handheld gaming might just have found its new gold standard.

The OnePlus 15R is no longer the safe R-series pick. OnePlus shifts focus to performance, gaming, durability and battery life with a clear new direction.

OnePlus 15R Review: Performance-first R-series reboot

The OnePlus 15R drops the safe-pick image and leans into performance, gaming, durability and battery life with a clear identity shift.

The OnePlus 15R drops the safe-pick image and leans into performance, gaming, durability and battery life with a clear identity shift.

After the hugely popular launch of the OnePlus 15, OnePlus has now shifted focus to the R series with the OnePlus 15R. Traditionally, the R model has always been the safe pick in the lineup. It is usually the phone most people gravitate towards because it offers almost everything a flagship does, just without the flagship price tag.
This year, though, that familiar story feels different to me. The OnePlus 15R does not feel like a sensible compromise anymore. Instead, it feels like a phone that is actively trying to carve out its own space. That shift also mirrors what I see as a broader change in OnePlus&rsquo; strategy. The brand seems far less interested in chasing camera bragging rights and much more focused on performance and gaming.
I mean, how often do you see a phone priced around ₹45,000 confidently talking about 165Hz gaming?
I have been using the OnePlus 15R for close to two weeks now, and one thing is clear to me. OnePlus wants this phone to be taken seriously. The younger sibling is finally stepping out of the shadows and building an identity of its own.
<h2>OnePlus 15R Review: Design and build quality</h2>
The OnePlus 15R felt solid the moment I picked it up. There is a clear sense of weight and sturdiness that you do not always get at this price. The flat glass sandwich design looks clean and simple, and more importantly, it feels premium in the hand. Nothing about the phone feels flimsy or cheaply put together.
My Mint Breeze unit weighs around 219 grams and is about 8.3mm thick, but that weight is handled really well. It feels dense, but not uncomfortable. There is a nice balance to the phone that makes it feel expensive, almost brick-like in a good way. It is not light, but it never feels awkward or top-heavy either. I could use it for long stretches without the weight becoming annoying.
The Silk Glass finish adds a lot to the overall feel. It is smooth to the touch and has a subtle shine that looks especially good on the Mint Breeze colour. The lighter shade also does a great job of hiding fingerprints, which meant the phone stayed looking clean even after hours of use. The aluminium alloy frame around the edges feels cool and sturdy, and every time I picked the phone up, it reminded me that this is a well-built device.
Where the OnePlus 15R genuinely surprised me was durability. OnePlus has packed in IP66, IP68, IP69, and even IP69K ratings here. That kind of protection is usually seen on rugged phones, not sleek ones like this. On top of that, you get Corning Gorilla Glass 7i on the front, which only adds to the confidence.
All of this together made me feel like I do not have to baby the 15R. It feels like a phone that can handle daily drops, splashes, and rough use without stressing me out, while still looking and feeling premium.
<h2>OnePlus 15R Review: Display and speakers</h2>
Living with the OnePlus 15R, it did not take long for the display to show me what this phone is really about. The 6.8-inch 1.5K AMOLED panel looks excellent in day-to-day use. Even with a screen this large, I never once felt like sharpness was an issue. Text looks crisp, UI elements stay clean, and videos have that dense, high-quality look you expect from a good AMOLED display.
Colours are punchy without going overboard, which I appreciated. Nothing looks unnaturally saturated. HDR10+ support also makes a clear difference when I am streaming content on Netflix or watching YouTube videos. Highlights pop more, darker scenes hold detail better, and overall, it just feels like a screen meant for long viewing sessions.
The headline feature here, at least for me, is the 165Hz refresh rate. Now, to be clear, you do not get 165Hz everywhere. Regular usage like scrolling and app switching is capped at 120Hz. But once you jump into supported games, the difference is obvious straight away.&nbsp;
Animations feel noticeably smoother, touch response feels faster, and the display really leans into the 15R&rsquo;s gaming-first identity. Brightness is another strong point. With peak brightness going up to around 1800 nits (HBM), I had no issues using the phone outdoors, and HDR content looks bright and impactful.
That said, this is an LTPS panel and not LTPO. Personally, I would have liked to see LTPO here, especially since the 15R is being pitched as a serious flagship alternative. Adaptive refresh rates would have made the experience feel more complete and efficient.
One area where the 15R genuinely impressed me is the ultrasonic in-display fingerprint sensor. It is placed exactly where my thumb naturally rests and works incredibly fast. Even with slightly wet or dirty fingers, it unlocked reliably, and it feels more secure than the usual optical sensors.
The stereo speakers get very loud and are clear enough for videos and casual gaming. However, they lack depth and can sound a bit tinny at higher volumes. They are good, but not standout.
<h2>OnePlus 15R Review: Performance &amp; Gaming</h2>
Performance is where OnePlus has decided to go all in this year. This feels like the R series doing what it has always done best, but with a much sharper focus. The phone is powered by Qualcomm&rsquo;s Snapdragon 8 Gen 5, which sits just below the absolute top-tier chip. In real-world use though, it already feels properly flagship-grade to me.
Day-to-day performance is effortless. Apps open instantly, multitasking feels smooth, and I never ran into random stutters or slowdowns. Everything feels fast and consistent, whether I am jumping between apps, scrolling through social media, or using the camera. It is the kind of smoothness that fades into the background because nothing ever feels like it is holding you back.
Things get even more impressive once I started pushing the phone harder. The combination of LPDDR5X Ultra RAM and UFS 4.1 storage really shows its strength during heavier tasks. You might not notice a big difference during casual use, but under load, the 15R stays just as responsive and calm. Exporting large video files, downloading big games with huge assets, and transferring long 4K clips all felt quick and hassle-free.
In benchmarks, the numbers line up with that experience. My unit scored around 2.92 million on AnTuTu, which is exactly where a phone in this class should be. On Geekbench, I saw a single-core score of 2862 and a multi-core score of 9531, showing strong CPU performance for both short bursts and sustained workloads. In the 3DMark Wild Life Extreme stress test, the phone held around 72 percent stability, which translated into reliable performance during longer gaming sessions.
OnePlus has also added some smart supporting hardware this time. There is a dedicated Touch Response Chip, and it genuinely makes a difference. Touch inputs feel quicker and more precise, especially while gaming. The new G2 Wi-Fi chip also helps with network stability, and during my testing, online games and high-quality streams felt consistently stable.
Gaming is clearly a priority on the 15R. With support for up to 165Hz in select titles and a large vapour chamber paired with aerogel insulation and graphite layers, the phone manages heat well even during long sessions. It feels fast, stable, and built to keep up.
<h2>OnePlus 15R Review: Software, UI and AI</h2>
The OnePlus 15R runs OxygenOS 16 based on Android 16, and from the moment I started using it, the software felt like a strong point. OxygenOS continues to be one of my favourite Android skins, mainly because it keeps things clean without feeling boring. Animations are smooth, transitions feel fluid, and the overall UI never feels cluttered or overwhelming.
What I really appreciate is how OnePlus handles customisation. There is a lot you can tweak here, from icons and animations to layouts and system behaviour, but it never feels like too much.&nbsp;
You can personalise the phone to your liking while the core experience stays simple and easy to understand. Day to day, everything feels fast, consistent, and predictable, which honestly matters more than flashy features.
AI is clearly a bigger focus this year, but thankfully it does not feel shoved in your face. The standout for me is Plus Mind. It is one of those rare AI features that actually fits into regular use instead of feeling like a demo feature added for marketing slides. I found myself using it naturally, which is usually a good sign that something has been done right. It feels helpful without being intrusive, and that balance is not easy to get right.
Long-term support is another big win for the OnePlus 15R. OnePlus is promising four Android version updates along with six years of security patches. That is reassuring, especially if you plan to hold on to your phone for a few years. Starting out on OxygenOS 16 also gives it a longer update runway, which adds to the overall value.
Taken as a whole, the software experience on the OnePlus 15R feels mature, polished, and well thought out. It is fast, clean, and backed by solid update support, which makes it easy to live with every single day.
<h2>OnePlus 15R Review: Cameras</h2>
The camera setup on the OnePlus 15R is where I could most clearly see OnePlus changing its priorities. This phone is using the new DetailMax Engine, which is the brand&rsquo;s updated image pipeline. I have already seen this system perform really well on the OnePlus 15, so on paper, it is not a weak foundation at all. But once I started using the 15R cameras regularly, it became clear to me that something important from the older R-series formula is missing.
Starting with the main camera, daylight performance is mostly dependable. Photos generally look clean, with decent detail and colours that stay fairly natural. That said, I did notice a tendency to underexpose shots, especially in scenes with tricky lighting where highlights and shadows are fighting for attention. It is not a dealbreaker by any means, but it does mean I often had to tap and adjust exposure to get the shot I wanted.
Low-light performance, surprisingly, is one of the stronger parts of this setup. The main sensor holds up well once the lights go down. Images look controlled, noise is kept in check, and the processing does not go overboard. It is not class-leading, but it is reliable enough that I felt comfortable pulling the phone out at night.
The limitations become obvious as soon as you move beyond the main camera. The ultrawide is easily the weakest link here. The 8MP sensor delivers acceptable colours in good lighting, but detail is soft and low-light performance drops off quickly. It is fine for the occasional wide shot, but it is not something I found myself trusting or using often.
Zoom performance is another area where compromises show. At 2X, the phone simply crops into the main sensor, and detail falls apart faster than I would like. Tighter framing feels unreliable, especially when compared to older R-series phones.
This is where the biggest downgrade becomes clear. The OnePlus 15R switches to a dual-camera setup and drops the dedicated 50MP telephoto lens that the OnePlus 13R had. That missing lens is felt immediately. Portraits and zoomed shots lack the flexibility and consistency that I was used to from previous R-series devices. Portrait mode itself is hit or miss. When it works, the background blur looks nice, but edge detection can be inconsistent.
Selfies are a bright spot. The 32MP front camera handles skin tones and textures well, and portrait selfies, in particular, look pleasing. Video performance is more mixed. Shooting 4K at 120fps sounds great on paper, but colours and stabilisation feel like they need more tuning.
Overall, the cameras on the OnePlus 15R are competent and functional, but they are not exciting. They get the job done, but they are clearly not the reason to buy this phone.
<h2>OnePlus 15R Review: Battery &amp; Charging</h2>
Battery life is easily one of the OnePlus 15R&rsquo;s biggest strengths, and honestly, one of its cleanest wins. With a massive 7400mAh battery, it just keeps going. In fact, this is the biggest battery OnePlus has ever put into one of its phones.
During my testing, I comfortably got two full days of use without any stress, and this was with genuinely heavy usage. That included running benchmarks, shooting plenty of camera samples, watching videos, gaming, and handling everyday tasks. Even with all of that, the battery drain stayed steady and predictable, with no sudden drops or surprises.
Efficiency plays a big role here. The newer chipset clearly helps, because despite the large display and high refresh rate, the phone never felt power-hungry. Based on my experience, I am confident that with lighter usage, getting close to three days on a single charge is very realistic.
Charging speeds are solid too. The 15R supports 80W fast charging and, despite the huge battery, it goes from empty to full in under an hour and fifteen minutes. That feels like a fair trade-off for this level of endurance.
<h2>Verdict: Is the OnePlus 15R worth your money?&nbsp;</h2>
After using the OnePlus 15R for nearly two weeks, one thing stood out very quickly. This phone is no longer playing the role of the safe, default R-series option. It feels confident about what it wants to be, and that confidence shows in everyday use.
OnePlus has clearly prioritised performance, gaming, durability, and battery life this time, and those choices pay off. The display works brilliantly for both streaming and high-refresh-rate gaming, performance remains smooth and dependable under load, and the battery life is genuinely exceptional. It is the kind of phone you stop worrying about once you start using it.
Where the 15R stumbles is the camera setup. The absence of a dedicated telephoto lens is noticeable, and while the cameras are consistent and usable, they lack flexibility and excitement. If photography is your main focus, this would not be my personal recommendation.
However, if you want a tough phone with excellent endurance and reliable performance that encourages heavy use, the OnePlus 15R delivers exactly that.

Tech

Lenovo Legion 27Q10 packs a 240Hz QHD IPS panel, fast response times and strong colours. Is this the best gaming monitor under ₹20,000?

Lenovo Legion 27Q10 Review: Hardcore Gaming Under ₹20K

The Lenovo Legion 27Q10 delivers a rare mix of 240Hz QHD gaming, strong colours and clean design under ₹20,000, making it one of the most complete gaming monitors you can buy.

Budget gaming monitors are a dime a dozen right now, but in my book, most of them are not real gaming monitors. They usually top out at 165Hz or 180Hz, and even when they do hit those numbers, the compromises show up instantly. Poor response times, washed-out colours, inconsistent overdrive tuning. On paper they look fast, but in actual gameplay, they fall apart.
The Lenovo Legion 27Q10 does not follow that script.
Ignore the convoluted naming for a second, because what Lenovo has done here is genuinely impressive. The Legion 27Q10 is one of the most hardcore gaming monitors you can buy for under ₹20,000, and yet it looks stealthy enough to blend into an office setup without drawing attention. No RGB. No flashy curves. Just raw performance packed into a surprisingly understated design.
I have been using the 27Q10 as my primary monitor for gaming, work, and media consumption, and this is one of those rare budget products that feels far more expensive than it actually is.
<h2>Design and setup: understated, functional, and refreshingly mature</h2>
Setting up the Legion 27Q10 is a straightforward, no-nonsense process. Inside the box, you get a large hexagonal base, a VESA-mounted arm, a full-size DisplayPort cable, and the power cable. Everything you need to get started is included, and Lenovo deserves credit for not cutting corners here.
The arm attaches to the monitor using four thumb screws that are included in the box. It is quick, tool-free, and sturdy. More importantly, because the monitor uses a standard VESA mount, you are not forced to use Lenovo&rsquo;s stand at all. If you already have a monitor arm or want to free up desk space, you can mount it however you like without any fuss.
Design-wise, there is something brutally simple about the Legion 27Q10 that I genuinely love. This is a flat panel with a flat design through and through. No curves on the front. No curves on the back. Despite being a gaming monitor, it would not look out of place on an office desk or a creator workstation.
This is not a thin monitor by any stretch, and Lenovo is not trying to pretend that it is. Around the back, there is a protruding strip that houses the ports, ventilation cut-outs, and mounting points. It gives the monitor a slightly industrial feel, but nothing excessive.
Even though the monitor clearly belongs to Lenovo&rsquo;s Legion gaming lineup, there is zero RGB lighting here. Personally, I prefer it this way. It keeps the setup clean and avoids that overdone gamer aesthetic that a lot of monitors in this category lean into.
The stand itself has a neat cable-routing cut-out that makes managing cables much easier. It is a small detail, but one that makes a real difference once everything is connected.
In terms of ergonomics, the Legion 27Q10 is excellent. You get tilt, swivel, height adjustment, and even pivot support. You can rotate the monitor vertically if you want to use it for coding, reading, or productivity workflows, which is a nice bonus at this price.
From the front, the monitor looks mostly edge-less, although there is a thicker bottom chin that houses the Legion logo. Branding elsewhere is minimal, which again fits the understated theme. The side and top bezels are thin, though not invisible. That is pretty standard for gaming monitors in this segment.
I do wish Lenovo had gone with a joystick-style control for the OSD instead of physical buttons at the bottom right. The buttons are clearly labelled, but navigating menus with them is still slower than it needs to be.
Thankfully, Lenovo&rsquo;s Artery software exists. Once installed, you can bypass the on-screen display entirely and control settings directly from your PC. It is intuitive, functional, and genuinely useful.
Overall, the Legion 27Q10 scores very well in design. It is minimal, practical, and well-thought-out, especially if you want something that does not scream &ldquo;gaming monitor&rdquo; the moment you walk into the room.
<h2>Ports and connectivity: functional, but conservative</h2>
Port selection on the Legion 27Q10 is functional but conservative. You get two HDMI 2.1 ports, one DisplayPort 1.4, a three-pronged power connector, a 3.5mm audio out, and a Kensington lock slot.
If you want to unlock the monitor&rsquo;s full potential, meaning the full 240Hz refresh rate and the fastest response times, you should absolutely connect it using DisplayPort. That is the only way to get everything this panel has to offer.
If you are planning to use the monitor with a Mac, PlayStation 5, or Xbox, the HDMI ports work just fine, but you will be limited to 144Hz. That is still perfectly usable, but it is worth keeping in mind.
For the price, the port selection is acceptable, but I do wish Lenovo had pushed things a little further. A USB-C port with DisplayPort support or even a couple of USB-A ports for accessories would have elevated this monitor significantly.
There are also no built-in speakers here, which is not surprising but still worth noting. You will need external speakers or headphones.
<h2>Display and panel performance: where the 27Q10 truly shines</h2>
This is where the Legion 27Q10 really starts to shine.
You are looking at a 27-inch IPS LCD panel with a QHD resolution of 2560 x 1440. For this screen size, that resolution is spot on. Everything looks sharp, crisp, and well-defined.
Text clarity is excellent, whether you are reading articles, writing documents, or coding. Media consumption looks great, and games benefit massively from the extra sharpness over Full HD.
Lenovo rates the panel at a typical brightness of 300 nits, which is slightly higher than what many monitors in this price range offer. I did not test peak brightness formally, but in a well-lit room, the screen had no trouble staying bright and legible.
The headline feature here is the 240Hz refresh rate, which makes a massive difference in fast-paced competitive games like CS:GO and Valorant. Motion looks fluid, tracking feels more precise, and once you get used to it, it is very hard to go back to lower refresh rates.
The monitor supports AMD FreeSync Premium and VESA Adaptive Sync, which helps eliminate screen tearing and stutter when paired with a compatible GPU.
Lenovo also includes multiple MPRT modes that can push the pixel response time down to as low as 0.5ms. For a monitor under ₹20,000, that is seriously impressive. Ghosting is minimal, motion clarity is strong, and fast transitions hold up extremely well.
Colour performance is another area where the Legion 27Q10 overdelivers. Even though this is an 8-bit panel, it covers 99 percent of the sRGB colour space and around 90 percent of DCI-P3. For a high-refresh-rate gaming monitor, that is borderline ridiculous.
Out of the box, the monitor comes factory calibrated, and Lenovo claims a colour accuracy of Delta E less than 2. In practical terms, this means you can start using it for colour-sensitive tasks like photo or video editing without immediately needing calibration.
Viewing angles are excellent, thanks to the IPS panel. Lenovo rates them at 178 degrees, and in real-world use, colours and contrast remain consistent even when viewing the screen from the side. This makes the monitor great for shared gaming sessions or couch gaming with a console.
<h2>Verdict: a benchmark for budget gaming monitors</h2>
At ₹19,999, the Lenovo Legion 27Q10 is an incredibly compelling purchase.
It quietly proves that budget gaming monitors do not have to feel compromised. You get a sharp QHD IPS panel, a genuinely useful 240Hz refresh rate, fast response times, and colour performance that comfortably punches above its price bracket.
Yes, there are alternatives from Samsung and LG at similar prices, but they all make compromises somewhere. Some settle for lower refresh rates. Others sacrifice colour performance. None of them hit the same balance that the Legion 27Q10 manages to achieve.
What really stands out is how well-rounded the package feels. This is not a monitor built purely to look good on a spec sheet. It works just as well for competitive gaming as it does for everyday productivity and light content creation.
The minimal design, excellent ergonomics, and VESA flexibility make it easy to fit into almost any setup. The port selection could have been more ambitious, and the lack of USB connectivity or speakers does sting a little, but these are not deal-breakers.
If you want a serious gaming monitor under ₹20,000 that does not scream gamer and still delivers top-tier fundamentals where it actually matters, the Lenovo Legion 27Q10 is easily one of the strongest value-for-money options in its class.

The Poco C85 delivers a 120Hz display, massive 6,000mAh battery, IP64 rating, and refreshed design. Performance and software lag, but it’s a solid budget option under ₹15,000.

Poco C85 Review: Big Display, Long Battery, Mixed Performance

Poco C85 packs a big 120Hz display, long battery life, and a refreshed design at a budget price — but performance and software compromises remain.

POCO C85: Poco C85: A budget win with a few trade-offs

The Poco C85 offers a smooth 120Hz display, long-lasting 6,000mAh battery, and refreshed design at a budget price. Performance and software need polish, but for under ₹15,000, it delivers solid everyday value.

Poco&rsquo;s C series is known for offering some pretty powerful and specs in the budget category, and the Poco C85 largely sticks to that formula. It has a refreshed design over the previous generations a slightly larger display, a better IP rating, and a noticeably bigger battery. I&rsquo;ve been using the purple variant for the past three days, and while the formula feels familiar, a few surprises along the way genuinely caught me off guard, especially when you consider that the C85 starts at ₹11,999. Here&rsquo;s what I made of the C85.
<h2>Design: A tidier look&nbsp;</h2>
Poco C85 gets a proper grooming this year with a new, refreshed design. The camera bump has been changed from a circular camera module to a square camera module, tucked into the top left corner. The protruding camera is so subtle that the phone won&rsquo;t wobble. Another impressive thing is the dual-toned design on the rear, with the bold Poco branding, which gives it some personality for sure.&nbsp;
It comes in 3 color variants: green, black, and purple, the variant that we tested. Despite its 205g weight, carrying the phone is easy and doesn&rsquo;t feel heavy at all. And, the 7.99mm frame sits comfortably in the hand. Since the frames are flat, they give a good grip and a good in-hand feel as well. The only downside I feel is the back made of plastic, but because it&rsquo;s a budget phone, that&rsquo;s totally acceptable.&nbsp;
You get basics right: a USB Type-C 2.0 charging port, a 3.5mm jack, and a nano speaker grille. And speaking of speakers, you get mono speakers on the C85. This would have been fine, but competitors like Moto G57 Power comes with stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos, so Poco could step up in this arena. There is a power button towards the right side, along with volume rockers, and a hybrid nano SIM tray along with microSD card support.&nbsp;
<h2>Display: Bigger and better&nbsp;</h2>
The Poco C85 gets a 6.9-inch HD+ IPS LCD, slightly bigger than the 6.8-inch display of the Poco C75. The 120Hz refresh rate is the real star of the show, which makes navigating the UI pretty smooth, mostly switching between 60Hz and 120Hz.&nbsp;
Colour reproduction is decent, sharp enough for everyday viewing, though not calibrated for accuracy. Netflix lacks HDR support, although YouTube streams at 1080p without issue. But, overall, you will enjoy watching content on the phone despite the IPS LCD panel. It is a fairly lit display that features a 660-nit typical and 810 HBM, upgraded from the 450-nit typical and 600-nit HBM on C75.&nbsp;
Moving on to the protection, you get an IP64 rating, which means it&rsquo;s pretty sorted against water droplets and dust. The side-mounted fingerprint sensor is snappy, and the haptics are surprisingly refined for this segment.
<h2>Performance &amp; Software Experience: Scope for improvement&nbsp;</h2>
Under the hood, Poco C85 packs a Mediatek Helio G81 Ultra processor with three RAM options: 4GB, 6GB, and 8GB RAM. For storage, there are 128GB and 256GB.&nbsp; The chipset isn&rsquo;t meant for gaming, and benchmarks echo that. It scored 574,456 on AnTuTu, with Geekbench posting 731 (single-core) and 1,972 (multi-core). These numbers may not be that impressive, but for the price range, they are pretty consistent.&nbsp;
In real-world usage, I played Genshin Impact for 30 minutes, thrice on the phone; it was not as smooth as I would expect, but it wasn&rsquo;t bad either, and there were no heating issues as such, and no lags either, which is what people usually complain about. The only issue I faced was that the app loading was slightly slower than I expected. However, it is not a gaming phone, so I would give this a pass.&nbsp;
Moving on to the software, the Poco C85 ships with HyperOS 2.0 based on Android 15. Personally, I am not a HyperOS fan; it looks outdated and slightly cluttered because of the UI. However, you can choose between the app drawer and the classic option and change fonts, icons, etc, to mitigate that to an extent. There is bloatware, but it can be uninstalled. But you also get some useful preinstalled apps like Gemini and Netflix, so I don&rsquo;t mind that. Overall though, the software experience can be definitely be improved.&nbsp; You get 2 years of OS updates and 4 years of security updates which is great for the price segment.&nbsp;
<h2>Battery: Easily a one-day powerhouse&nbsp;</h2>
The Poco C85 packs a massive 6000mAh battery with 33W charging support; there is also 10W PD charging support. Talking about the usage, I have used the phone rigorously for 2 days, and the battery lasts more than a day on a single charge easily.&nbsp; Coming to the charging speed, Poco claims that it can charge 51 per cent in 30 minutes, and it&rsquo;s true. I put the phone on charge, and it was pulled up to 53 per cent charged in 30-35 minutes. To get fully charged, it took around 2 hours. All in all, the battery works pretty decently and lasts you for a good enough time on a single charge.&nbsp;
<h2>Cameras: Definitely Instagram-worthy&nbsp;</h2>
There is a 50MP camera on the rear and another camera on the rear. You also get an 8MP selfie camera at the front. The daylight pictures from the main camera are pretty good for the price range. The pictures are bright, detailed, and Instagram-worthy.&nbsp; The skin tones are slightly saturated, and it's the same issue I faced with both portraits and selfies. Talking of portraits: you get natural-looking, detailed portraits; detection is okayish. The separation between foreground and background is decent too. The same goes for selfies as well; the skin tone is saturated, and it looks washed off. Low-light pictures are fine, too, except for the visible noise around the light in the pictures.&nbsp;
For video, you can shoot on 1080p at 30FPS from both front and back camera.&nbsp; But this, being an entry-level budget phone, obviously doesn&rsquo;t match up to flagships or mid-rangers for that matter. Having said that, for the price, you&rsquo;re getting a pretty decent set of optics that gets the job done.&nbsp;
<h2>Verdict: A decent budget buy with a few caveats</h2>
The Poco C85 delivers good value under a 15k price tag. You get a bright 120Hz display, solid battery life, IP64 resistance, reliable connectivity, and a design refresh that genuinely makes a difference. It even handles casual photography decently. OS updates and security updates offered are decent too. Where it needs work is performance and software refinement. The chipset is pretty serviceable for its segment, but HyperOS still feels behind the curve. There&rsquo;s also no NFC&mdash;a feature increasingly common in this segment. If you&rsquo;re on a strict budget, the Poco C85 is absolutely worth considering, especially as a meaningful upgrade over the C75. But if you can stretch your spending a bit, the Motorola G57 Power remains a stronger all-rounder for roughly the same price bracket.&nbsp;

Redmi 15C 5G review after real-world use. A 6.9-inch 120Hz display, 6,000mAh battery, Dimensity 6300 performance, camera results, software experience, and whether it’s worth buying at ₹12,499.

Redmi 15C 5G Review: Big Display, Massive Battery, Sensible Budget Choice

Our in-depth Redmi 15C 5G review covers design, display quality, real-life performance, camera results, battery life, and how it compares with rivals like Poco, Samsung, and iQOO in the ₹15K segment.

Redmi 15C 5G Review: A Practical Budget Phone Built for Battery and Screen

The Redmi 15C 5G focuses on the basics with a huge 6.9-inch 120Hz display, strong 6,000mAh battery life, and reliable everyday performance. It&rsquo;s best suited for casual users, students, and long content consumption.

As 2025 winds down, the budget smartphone space feels familiar. Nothing major is changing anymore, and most brands seem content with polishing what they already have.&nbsp;
Xiaomi&rsquo;s new Redmi 15C 5G enters this exact kind of market, not trying to reinvent anything, just trying to get the basics right for people who don&rsquo;t want to spend too much.
The phone&rsquo;s priorities are clear the moment you look at its spec sheet. There&rsquo;s a big 6.9-inch 120Hz display and a 6,000mAh battery. That makes it pretty much clear as to who it&rsquo;s meant for.
If your day is filled with YouTube, online classes, casual gaming or just long scrolling sessions, this is the crowd Xiaomi is speaking to. But, of course we all know specs on paper don&rsquo;t always match real life. A phone can look great on the company's website and still feel a bit off when you actually start using it.
&nbsp;And with a starting price of ₹12,499, the Redmi 15C is stepping straight into a segment crowded with options that include the Poco C85, Samsung Galaxy M17, Oppo K13x and iQOO Z10x.&nbsp;
That&rsquo;s why I used the Redmi 15C 5G in normal, everyday situations to see what it&rsquo;s actually like and whether it makes more sense than what the competition is offering. In this review, let&rsquo;s go &nbsp;over everything I noticed from display, design, speed, processor to the cameras, the battery and much more.
<h2>Unboxing &amp; Design</h2>
The Redmi 15C 5G comes in straightforward packaging that <a title="Xiaomi 15 Review &amp; Comparison with iPhone 16e!" href="https://www.editorji.com/tech-news/gadget-review/xiaomi-15-review-comparison-with-iphone-16e-1743076579187" target="_blank">Xiaomi</a> has stuck to for years. It&rsquo;s nothing flashy, just a clean white box with everything you actually need. Inside, you&rsquo;ll find the phone itself, a 33W charger worth ₹1,999, USB-A to Type-C cable, the SIM ejector tool, the usual paperwork and, thankfully, a clear silicone case that does the job till you pick out something better.
My review unit is the 6GB/128GB model in the Dusk Purple finish, and this colour deserves a mention. Budget phones often lean into loud gradients to stand out, but this was different. It has a soft, almost evening-sky tone with a matte surface that doesn&rsquo;t turn into a smudge magnet the moment you touch it. It looks subtle and is a decent looking colour for a phone in this price bracket.
Even with the big 6,000mAh battery, the phone doesn&rsquo;t feel as heavy as the specs suggest. At around 211 grams, it&rsquo;s not light, but the weight is well balanced and the 8.2mm thickness stops it from feeling bulky. The flat plastic frame and the square-rounded camera module keep things clean and modern. It doesn&rsquo;t shout for attention, but it looks neat and feels more expensive than it actually is
You get a side-mounted fingerprint sensor. It&rsquo;s not as seamless as an in-display one, but it&rsquo;s quick and reliable. I&rsquo;m also really glad to see a proper 3.5mm headphone jack, plus an IP64 rating for basic dust protection and the occasional splash. The SIM tray gives you three slots too, two for SIM cards and one dedicated slot for a microSD card..
The phone also comes in two other colour variations, Moonlight Blue and Midnight Black, both of which are quite understated. Regardless of the colour you pick, the 15C feels reassuringly solid in hand, none of that hollow, plasticky flex you sometimes get with budget devices. It&rsquo;s a simple design, sure, but it&rsquo;s done with care.
<h2>Display</h2>
The moment you pick Redmi 15C 5G up, that 6.9-inch display is the only thing your eyes notice. It&rsquo;s almost funny how big it feels at first, especially if you&rsquo;re coming from something remotely compact. For watching videos or just scrolling through an endless social feed late at night, it&rsquo;s actually great. The sheer size pulls you in before you even think about the specs.
What helps the experience a lot is the 120Hz refresh rate. On a phone in this price range, that&rsquo;s not something expected. The smoothness really shows the moment you start swiping around and it hides the fact that the processor isn&rsquo;t exactly a powerhouse.&nbsp;
But, of course, the big display also exposes the compromises. Xiaomi is still using a 720p IPS LCD panel, and stretching that across so much real estate means you lose out on crispness. Not unusable by any means, but if you&rsquo;re picky about screen sharpness, you&rsquo;ll notice it right away. For casual YouTube binges or reels, though, the lower resolution is much less obvious. Plus, that waterdrop notch feels old-school, the bezels are chunky, and the chin is hard to ignore.
Colour-wise, it looks decent indoors. Bright enough, reasonably punchy, nothing that makes you stop and stare but nothing offensive either. Outside is where the screen starts to struggle. Even though the specs claim around 810 nits, direct sunlight still wins. I found myself tipping the phone around or squinting just to read a message, something you&rsquo;ll want to keep in mind if you&rsquo;re outdoors a lot.
When you put everything together, this is very much a &ldquo;big screen first, everything else later&rdquo; kind of setup. But, if your priority is to watch content or playing light games or just want as much screen as possible for your money, the 15C makes sense. If you care more about text sharpness or outdoor visibility, it&rsquo;s probably not going to impress you.
<h2>Cameras</h2>
The Redmi 15C 5G&rsquo;s camera setup is pretty much the story of most budget phones today: there&rsquo;s one camera that actually matters, and then there&rsquo;s another one sitting beside it mostly for looks.&nbsp;
Xiaomi lists it as a dual-camera system, but once you start shooting with it, you realise you&rsquo;re essentially using a single 50MP Samsung JN1 sensor. The smaller secondary lens is just a depth sensor.&nbsp;
When the lighting is good, though, the main camera does a pretty decent job. The daylight samples turned out better than I expected from a phone at this price. The wide f/1.8 aperture helps create a light natural blur as well. In one of the plant shots, the leaves stay sharp while the background softens in a surprisingly pleasing way.
&nbsp;Xiaomi&rsquo;s colour tuning leans towards slightly boosted and warmer, so greens and yellows look more lively than real life, but honestly, it works. It gives the pictures a bit of pop without needing edits.
The Wolverine figurine photo, for example, showed tiny bits of dust on the armour, and the close-up of the coffee beans had that gritty detail you don&rsquo;t usually get from cheaper sensors.
Portrait mode is where that &ldquo;extra&rdquo; depth sensor actually contributes. The separation around the subject&rsquo;s shoulders and hair, especially in the outdoor shots with the brown sweatshirt didn&rsquo;t look sloppy or cut-out-ish. It&rsquo;s not flawless, but unless you&rsquo;re zooming in and hunting for errors, it looks clean enough for Instagram posts or profile photos.
Zooming, however, is where reality catches up. There&rsquo;s no optical zoom at all. Everything after 1x is purely digital cropping. The 2x shot of the pigeon was still okay, but beyond that, the quality nosedives. The 10x metro station photo is a perfect example. It just turns into mush, almost like the phone applied a watercolour filter without asking.
The 8MP selfie camera is serviceable. Indoors, it handled skin tones decently and didn&rsquo;t go overboard with smoothing, which is nice. In uneven lighting, though, especially with a bright window, it struggles. The exposure jumps around, trying to balance everything, and sometimes leaves your face looking washed out.
Video recording is capped at 1080p 30fps, and here&rsquo;s where the budget constraints are most obvious. With no OIS, every small movement gets recorded. Even walking slowly produces jittery footage. Electronic stabilisation does try to help, but it can only do so much when the underlying hardware isn&rsquo;t built for steady capture.
So yes, the Redmi 15C&rsquo;s camera experience is exactly what it claims to be: a very straightforward, no-effects, no-fuss point-and-shoot setup. It&rsquo;s great for daytime snaps, portraits look nicer than expected, and colours are tuned for quick sharing. Just don&rsquo;t expect it to magically handle zoom, night scenes, and stable video,
<h2>Performance</h2>
The Redmi 15C 5G runs on MediaTek&rsquo;s Dimensity 6300, which has quietly become the &ldquo;default&rdquo; chip for most entry-level 5G phones these days. It&rsquo;s not a processor you buy for bragging rights, but for everyday stuff and it does the job without fuss.
I went through the usual routine, messaging, Instagram, some multitasking with YouTube in the background, and honestly, nothing felt slow enough to draw attention to the hardware.
The benchmark numbers were better than expected. AnTuTu came back with around 578042, which is noticeably better than what I&rsquo;ve seen on other 6300-powered phones. Of course, numbers only tell you how the phone behaves when everything is ideal. The moment you try pushing it with heavier games, the budget roots start showing.
The UI feels smooth because of the 120Hz refresh rate, but games themselves don&rsquo;t really use that. Most titles I tried ran at 60FPS or less, and that&rsquo;s fine for casual games.&nbsp;
But fire up BGMI or Call of Duty Mobile and the cracks start to show. The opening match is fine, but stick around longer and performance starts wobbling. Frames dip, inputs feel a step behind, and those micro-stutters always seem to arrive at the worst possible moment.
Heat also becomes part of the conversation. After about 20 minutes of back-to-back gameplay, the area around the camera module developed noticeable warmth.
Could Xiaomi have gone with a more powerful chip? Sure. But that would have meant giving something else up. And when you look at who this phone is really built for, the choice adds up. If you&rsquo;re a student, a casual gamer, or someone who just wants a big screen for streaming without spending much, the Dimensity 6300 gets the job done. Push it harder, though, and power users will find its ceiling pretty fast
<h2>UI/UX &amp; Software</h2>
The Redmi 15C 5G runs <a title="OxygenOS 16 Review: OnePlus sets the benchmark on how smartphones should do AI" href="https://www.editorji.com/tech-news/mobiles/oxygenos-16-review-oneplus-sets-the-benchmark-on-how-smartphones-should-do-ai-1760628833515" target="_blank">Android</a> 15 with Xiaomi&rsquo;s HyperOS 2, and on paper, the update promise is pretty much decent for the price. You also get two years of Android updates and four years of security patches.
In daily use, HyperOS 2 feels smooth and responsive. Animations are fluid, navigation is quick, and the 120Hz display helps the interface feel faster than the hardware suggests. Basic tasks like switching apps, pulling down notifications, or launching the camera happen without friction.
That said, this is still Xiaomi software and a budget phone. So, yes bloatwares come complimentary. You'll find tons of unnecessary preinstalled apps that you&rsquo;re never gonna use, &nbsp;and occasional ads in system areas, depending on your region. Well, most of it can be disabled, but it does take a few minutes of cleanup. But, once that&rsquo;s done, the user experience is stable, feature-rich, and works fine for everyday users, even if it&rsquo;s not the cleanest Android skin around.
<h2>Battery &amp; Charging</h2>
Battery life is where the phone really starts to make sense as a daily phone.The 6,000mAh unit sounds impressive on paper, but more importantly, it delivers in actual use. While using the phone over several days, the battery drain never felt aggressive. Even on heavier days with constant scrolling and YouTube playing in the background, I&rsquo;d still end the day with enough charge left to not worry about plugging it in immediately.&nbsp;
Xiaomi claims about two days of backup on a single charge and honestly on lighter days, getting close to that felt very realistic. Even with heavier use like gaming you can expect at least a full day of backup.
Charging speeds are sensible rather than flashy. Xiaomi includes a 33W charger, and in my testing, a full charge from 0 to 100% took nearly about 67 minutes. That&rsquo;s perfectly acceptable for a battery this large. The initial charging phase is noticeably quicker too, which lines up with Xiaomi&rsquo;s claim of 50% in under 30 minutes.
<h2>Final Verdict: Should you buy it?</h2>
After using the Redmi 15C 5G for a couple of weeks, it becomes fairly obvious what Xiaomi was aiming for here. This phone isn&rsquo;t chasing spec-sheet bragging rights or benchmark trophies. It&rsquo;s built to be steady and predictable.
For the money, the pairing of a massive 6.9-inch display and a 6,000mAh battery feels spot on. It suits days filled with videos, online classes, reading, or endless scrolling without constantly worrying about the charger.
&nbsp;Everyday performance is perfectly serviceable, the software feels calmer once you clear out some of the bloat, and the camera holds its own in good lighting. That makes it an easy recommendation for students, casual users, or as a gift for parents or grandparents who want something simple and long-lasting.
If gaming, heavy multitasking, or camera-first content is high on your list, this isn&rsquo;t the phone to buy. But if what you care about is battery life, a big screen, and hassle-free daily use, the Redmi 15C sticks to its brief and delivers.

Samsung Galaxy M17 delivers an AMOLED display, 50MP OIS camera, all-day battery, and Android 15 with six years of updates. A reliable budget phone under ₹15,000 focused on durability, smooth performance and long-term value.

Samsung Galaxy M17 5G Review: Best Budget Samsung Phone Under ₹15,000?

Samsung Galaxy M17 delivers an AMOLED display, 50MP OIS camera, all-day battery, and Android 15 with six years of updates. A reliable budget phone under ₹15,000 focused on durability, smooth performance and long-term value.

Samsung&rsquo;s latest entry in the sub-₹15,000 category, the Galaxy M17 5G, lands at a starting price of ₹12,999, a bracket that&rsquo;s increasingly cutthroat in India.
What sets the phone apart on paper are a couple of surprisingly premium touches: Corning Gorilla Glass Victus protection, OIS on the primary camera, and Samsung&rsquo;s bold commitment of up to six years of software support.
In a market dominated by aggressive spec-pushers such as Vivo, Poco, Infinix, and Motorola, Samsung&rsquo;s approach feels noticeably different.
Instead of chasing benchmark glory, the M17 leans into durability, stability, and long-term updates, traits usually reserved for higher-tier Galaxy hardware.
Underneath that polished positioning sits the familiar Exynos 1330. It is not new by any definition and has already appeared in multiple budget Samsung launches.
Considering how tightly contested the ₹10,000 to ₹15,000 slab is, this raises immediate questions around performance sustainability, thermals, and gaming headroom.
So, where does the Galaxy M17 5G stand in actual day-to-day use? Does the long update promise balance out the older silicon, and can Samsung keep up with rivals pushing fresher hardware at similar prices?
We spent time testing the M17 to find out. Here&rsquo;s how Samsung&rsquo;s latest budget Galaxy holds up in the real world and whether it earns a recommendation.&nbsp;
<h2>Samsung Galaxy M17 Design: Practical Build With Premium Protection</h2>
Samsung does not chase theatrics with the Galaxy M17&rsquo;s design. The phone arrives in a simple plastic build that focuses on practicality and comfort.
At 192g and 7.5mm thick, it sits on the lighter and slimmer end of the budget segment, which immediately helps with day-long usability.
The rounded frame makes the device easy to grip, and the softened corners prevent any pressure points during extended use.
The back panel stays understated, with the pill-shaped camera housing being the only element that stands out. It creates a slight wobble when the phone is placed face up on a desk, although the rest of the surface remains clean with minimal smudging.
Samsung keeps the layout familiar. The volume buttons feel reassuringly tactile, and the power key houses a responsive fingerprint reader that registers inputs without hesitation.
What truly elevates the hardware story is not the finish or the weight but the protection on the front. The Galaxy M17 uses Corning Gorilla Glass Victus, a material typically seen on far more expensive devices in Samsung&rsquo;s lineup.&nbsp;
After several weeks of daily use without a case, the display has managed to stay free of scratches. The frame and rear panel have also held up well, indicating Samsung did not compromise durability even while targeting an affordable price bracket.
<h2>Samsung Galaxy M17 Display: Calm, Balanced and Easy on the Eyes</h2>
Samsung positions the 6.7-inch FHD+ Super AMOLED panel as the visual centerpiece of the Galaxy M17, and it mostly lives up to that role.
Colours stay within a natural range instead of leaning into heavy saturation, and contrast feels steady through everyday use. The tuning avoids the exaggerated pop often found in budget OLED panels, which actually helps during longer viewing sessions.
Indoor brightness is handled well, while outdoor visibility only begins to struggle under direct sunlight. For typical use such as scrolling, watching short videos or browsing streaming apps, the display focuses on clarity and comfort rather than high-impact visuals.
The panel is capped at 90Hz. It keeps the interface smooth during basic navigation, and there are no distracting stutters or frame drops. Samsung seems to prioritise efficiency and battery stability instead of chasing higher refresh numbers.
The overall structure of the display is familiar for the segment. A waterdrop notch sits at the top and a noticeable chin anchors the bottom. Neither element is surprising for this price, although both remind you that this is an M-series device.
Audio plays a small but meaningful role in the viewing experience. The single bottom speaker offers clear vocal output and maintains composure at higher volume levels. It does not aim for stereo depth, but it avoids the thin, hollow sound that some budget phones fall into.
One omission stands out. Always On Display is missing, despite the presence of an AMOLED panel. It appears to be a deliberate cost decision rather than a limitation of the hardware.
<h2>Samsung Galaxy M17 Cameras: Strong Primary Shooter, Functional Secondary Lenses</h2>
The Galaxy M17 offers a respectable camera system for the price. The 50MP primary sensor with OIS does most of the heavy lifting, supported by a 5MP ultra-wide lens and a 2MP macro unit.&nbsp;
OIS is the standout here. It stabilises handheld shots effectively, reduces shake when capturing street scenes or moving subjects, and keeps low-light shutter drag from becoming unusable.
In daytime conditions, the main camera produces images that feel well judged. Colours stay grounded rather than leaning into saturation, and detail retention is steady across landscapes and close subjects.&nbsp;
The ultra-wide camera is serviceable but clearly secondary. It holds up in daylight with acceptable dynamic range, yet finer edges show softness and texture fading as you move toward the corners. Once lighting drops, noise becomes more obvious, and shadow areas lose control.
The macro lens remains more of a checkbox feature. It can capture close-ups with decent clarity under bright light, but focus discipline is narrow and results vary when lighting isn&rsquo;t ideal.
On the front, the 13MP selfie camera keeps things mostly neutral. Exposure is balanced, though skin tones sometimes shift warmer in indoor environments. Social-ready shots don&rsquo;t need much editing, and background separation in portrait mode is handled with reasonable accuracy for the price tier.
Video tops out at 1080p at 30fps. Stabilisation benefits directly from OIS, giving the M17 an edge in movement-heavy clips like walking shots or quick pans. Colour consistency between lenses isn&rsquo;t perfect, but the main sensor remains the preferred pick for both clarity and motion control.
<h2>Samsung Galaxy M17 Software: Long-Term Support Becomes the Story</h2>
Samsung leans heavily on software as the defining pillar of the Galaxy M17. The device ships with Android 15 running One UI 7, and the interface feels surprisingly polished for a phone in this price bracket.
Animations stay consistent, menus don&rsquo;t lag, and familiar Samsung flourishes make the experience feel more premium than the hardware suggests.
One UI 7 bundles in several features that were previously limited to higher-end Galaxy models. Circle to Search is integrated natively and works just as smoothly here, and tools like Now Bar, Voicemail shortcuts and Samsung&rsquo;s latest accessibility additions give the interface a modern feel without overwhelming users with options.
There is some preloaded bloatware at setup &mdash; a mix of partner apps and region-specific utilities &mdash; but the majority can be uninstalled. Once cleared, the interface settles into a clean, lightweight layout.
Where Samsung truly breaks from the budget norm is with its update commitment. The Galaxy M17 is promised six generations of OS upgrades and six years of security updates, a level of support usually seen only in flagship categories.
In a segment where most phones age out in two years, this is a meaningful advantage for anyone looking to keep their device long-term.
Samsung also brings a solid security stack. Knox Vault is present for hardware-level protection, and Samsung Wallet pairs neatly with the phone&rsquo;s NFC support for tap-and-pay transactions.
Features such as Voice Focus help with clearer call quality, and select Gemini-powered AI tools round out the package for those who want on-device assistance.
<h2>Samsung Galaxy M17 Performance: Steady for Daily Use, Modest for Gaming</h2>
Samsung relies on the Exynos 1330 to power the Galaxy M17, a chipset that isn&rsquo;t new but remains competent for everyday workloads. In regular use &mdash; messaging, social apps, browsing, payments, camera switching &mdash; the phone moves with enough pace to feel dependable.
App launches are predictable, multitasking is handled without drama and general responsiveness stays intact. There are occasional stutters during heavier transitions or when multiple background processes stack up, but nothing that interrupts day-to-day usability.
The chip runs cool under normal pressure, and even extended screen-on time or longer social media sessions don&rsquo;t push temperatures into uncomfortable territory.
As expected, gaming is where limits surface. Casual titles run smoothly, while graphics-heavy games need reduced settings to maintain stability. The M17 isn&rsquo;t aimed at competitive mobile gaming, but it manages light entertainment without issue.
Samsung offers configurations up to 8GB RAM and 128GB storage, which should meet the needs of most users in this segment.
A 256GB variant would have been welcome, but the hybrid SIM slot offers some flexibility. Users who need more space can add a microSD card, though doing so means giving up the second SIM.
<h2>Samsung Galaxy M17 Battery: Reliable All-Day Endurance</h2>
Battery performance is one of the Galaxy M17&rsquo;s most dependable traits. The 5,000mAh pack consistently delivers a full day of mixed use that includes calls, messaging, social apps, streaming, light gaming and camera activity.
There is usually enough charge left at night to avoid any last-minute top-ups. Even on heavier days, the phone rarely drops into low-battery panic territory.
Charging speeds are modest. The phone supports 25W wired charging, and with a PD adapter, the M17 reached around 80 percent in roughly 75 minutes. This is not particularly fast by current standards, but it is steady and does not introduce noticeable heat.
Samsung does not include a charger in the box, so users will need to rely on an existing adapter or purchase one separately.
<h2>Samsung Galaxy M17 Verdict: A Long-Term Bet That Plays to Stability</h2>
The Galaxy M17 5G is not the flashiest phone in its segment, but it delivers where it counts. The durable build, Victus protection, clean AMOLED display, reliable battery life and OIS-backed main camera give it a stronger foundation than most budget competitors.&nbsp;
Samsung&rsquo;s six-year software promise is the real differentiator and makes this device far more future-ready than anything else at this price.
The Exynos 1330 keeps daily performance smooth, although heavier gaming and demanding apps show its limits. The ultra-wide and macro cameras feel basic, and the missing Always On Display is a reminder of cost trimming.
Even with these drawbacks, the M17 succeeds as a dependable everyday phone. It prioritises stability, longevity and a polished user experience over aggressive specs.
If you want a budget device that will age well and stay consistent over the years, the Galaxy M17 is one of the strongest options available.
&nbsp;
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OnePlus 15R brings Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 power, a 7,400mAh battery and IP69K durability. A first look at how the R-series is changing.

OnePlus 15R first look: OnePlus redefines the R-series

<h3>The OnePlus 15R feels less like a budget favourite and more like a full-blown performance phone, with Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 power, a massive battery, and flagship-grade durability.</h3>

The OnePlus 15R is finally in the house, and I&rsquo;ll be honest, this is the phone I&rsquo;ve been looking forward to testing the most. If you&rsquo;ve followed OnePlus for a while, you already know why. The R-series has always been that sweet middle ground where OnePlus packs in near-flagship hardware without making you seriously rethink your spending choices.
Over the years, it&rsquo;s almost become a pattern. The R model ends up being the phone most regular buyers gravitate towards because it delivers around 90 per cent of the flagship experience without the flagship tax. But this year, something feels different. The OnePlus 15R doesn&rsquo;t feel like it&rsquo;s just trying to be the sensible alternative anymore. Even at first glance, it&rsquo;s clear that OnePlus wants this phone to be taken seriously, not as a trimmed-down version of the OnePlus 15, but as a product with its own identity.
Before getting into how it feels to use, here&rsquo;s a quick look at what you get inside the box. The retail package includes the OnePlus 15R in Mint Breeze, an 80W SuperVOOC charger, a USB Type-A to Type-C cable, a protective case, a SIM ejector tool, and the usual quick guide. It&rsquo;s a familiar OnePlus unboxing, but still reassuring to see the fast charger included.
<h2>Design and durability</h2>
Design-wise, the OnePlus 15R sticks to a flat-edged look, and honestly, I&rsquo;m glad it does. The Mint Breeze colour really stands out in person without looking flashy. It has a calm, premium finish that works well under different lighting. If green isn&rsquo;t your thing, there&rsquo;s a Charcoal Black option that looks more understated, and a Violet variant for those who want something more expressive.
The phone has a smooth matte back, a solid metal frame, and a square camera module with two lenses sitting neatly inside. It&rsquo;s clean, symmetrical, and doesn&rsquo;t try too hard. What impressed me more than the aesthetics, though, is the durability. The OnePlus 15R comes with IP66, IP68, IP69, and even IP69K ratings. That&rsquo;s the same level of protection you get on the OnePlus 15. It covers everything from dust resistance and water immersion to high-pressure water jets, which is frankly overkill for most people, but reassuring nonetheless.
<h2>Performance and the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5</h2>
This is where things get genuinely exciting. The OnePlus 15R is officially the world&rsquo;s first smartphone powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5. OnePlus says it worked closely with Qualcomm to tune this chip, and based on early usage, I&rsquo;m expecting meaningful gains in efficiency and sustained performance.
Using it reminded me of the early days of OnePlus, when the brand would squeeze absurd performance out of mid-range hardware. The difference this time is that they&rsquo;re doing it with Qualcomm&rsquo;s second-best processor. The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 still sits at the top, but the 8 Gen 5 already feels plenty flagship in everyday use.
On top of that, you get a dedicated Touch Response Chip and a new G2 Wi-Fi chip. Both are meant to improve touch latency and network stability. This should make a real difference for gamers, streamers, and anyone who spends unhealthy amounts of time scrolling through Instagram Reels. The phone supports 120FPS gameplay in supported titles and uses a 165Hz display panel, which is the same one found on the OnePlus 15.
<h2>Cameras and software</h2>
Flip the phone over and you&rsquo;ll notice a dual-camera setup, and no Hasselblad branding in sight. That&rsquo;s because OnePlus is shifting to its own in-house imaging pipeline called the DetailMax Engine. This is a clear change in direction for the R-series.
What that means in practice is that photos from the 15R have a slightly different character compared to previous models. Whether that turns out to be a genuine upgrade or just a different look will only become clear with proper testing, but early samples give a decent sense of where OnePlus is headed.
One feature that immediately stood out to me is 4K video recording at 120FPS. That&rsquo;s something you usually see reserved for premium flagships, not R-series phones. Content creators are going to love having that option.
On the software side, the phone runs OxygenOS 16, and all of OnePlus&rsquo;s new AI features are built in. The one I&rsquo;m personally happiest about is Plus Mind, which has quietly become one of my favourite additions on recent OnePlus phones. It&rsquo;s actually useful and doesn&rsquo;t feel like an AI checkbox feature.
<h2>Battery life and charging</h2>
Now here&rsquo;s where things get really interesting. The regular OnePlus 15 packs a 7,300mAh battery, but the 15R bumps that up to 7,400mAh. On paper, that difference looks small, but battery life isn&rsquo;t just about capacity. Efficiency plays a huge role.
With the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 onboard, I&rsquo;m expecting better endurance than last year&rsquo;s R model and possibly even an edge over the OnePlus 15. OnePlus says this is the biggest battery they&rsquo;ve ever put in a phone, and that alone tells you what kind of users they&rsquo;re targeting this time. This phone is clearly built for people who push their devices hard.
The company even describes the 15R as &ldquo;built to play and never, ever stop&rdquo;, and that sets expectations pretty clearly.
<h2>Pricing and launch</h2>
Pricing for the OnePlus 15R will be revealed on December 17, when the phone officially launches in India. If OnePlus sticks to its usual aggressive pricing strategy, this could easily become the go-to option for a massive chunk of buyers.
The phone is expected to sit below the OnePlus 15, which starts at ₹72,999, with reports suggesting a price point around ₹45,000. After spending some time with it, the OnePlus 15R feels like OnePlus trying to re-establish the R-series as the smart buy. A full review is coming soon, with proper gaming tests, battery numbers, thermal results, and a lot more real-world data.

Realme P4x combines a premium build, 144Hz LCD screen, Dimensity 7400-Ultra performance, and a huge 7000mAh battery for long runtime.

Realme P4x Review: Premium design, dependable performance, but is it worth?

Realme P4x Review: Budget performer with a beast of a battery

<h3>Realme P4x delivers strong battery life, steady performance, a premium feel, and a 144Hz LCD display that confuses a little.</h3>

Realme has launched the P4x in a segment that is overtly saturated and brands, in order to stand out, experiment quite a bit. This one though, one feels a little different. It looks simplistic, but far more premium than its price suggests, leans heavily on battery endurance, and delivers surprisingly steady performance for everyday use and mid-tier gaming, especially for a device that starts at ₹15,499.
On top of that you get a 144Hz display which is pretty rare even in the mid-range segment. But then, Realme decided to use an LCD panel for that.
During the two weeks I was testing the P4x, the device kept swinging between impressive value and soome head-scratching decisions, that Realme has taken with this one.&nbsp;
I take a closer look at where the P4x &nbsp;shines, where it stumbles, and whether it actually deserves your money.
<h2>Realme P4x Review: Design</h2>
The first thing that hit me when I picked up the Realme P4x was how closely it resembles the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7, especially that raised pill-shaped camera island. Testing the Matte Silver variant only amplified the d&eacute;j&agrave; vu.
At this price, brands usually try something quirky with materials, but Realme has gone with a mostly polycarbonate body and very flat panels. Honestly, it works. The phone looks far more premium than its materials suggest, and the matte finish on this Silver unit handles fingerprints and grime exceptionally well. It adds a calm, clean vibe that feels intentional rather than cost-cutting.
The downside is that those flat polycarbonate sides and sharper edges make the phone slippery. If you have smaller hands, it becomes even trickier to grip securely. Using a case is pretty much non-negotiable, and Realme thankfully includes a TPU one in the box.
Despite the plastic build, the Realme P4x weighs 208 grams and feels surprisingly dense, almost brick-like in a reassuring way. Its 8.39 mm thickness contributes to that solid, sturdy feel. What doesn&rsquo;t feel as sturdy are the bezels. They&rsquo;re thick by 2025 standards, especially the bottom chin, but at this price, it&rsquo;s hard to complain too much.
In terms of protection, you get an IP64 rating, which is acceptable for the segment, though some rivals do offer better. What&rsquo;s odd is Realme staying quiet about the front glass. Online reports suggest a KK panel instead of Corning protection, which is an unusual place to cut costs.
Everything else sits where it should: power and volume buttons on the right, USB-C port, hybrid SIM tray and speaker grille at the bottom.
For a phone starting at ₹15,999, the Realme P4x looks and feels far more premium than most competitors in its bracket.
<h2>Realme P4x Review: Display &amp; Speakers</h2>
The display is where the Realme P4x starts getting a little puzzling. On the surface, a Full HD panel at this price is perfectly acceptable, even for the top-end variant. Things get complicated when you see Realme has gone with an IPS LCD panel. For the base model, that&rsquo;s fine. For the price of the top-end variant, things feel a bit murky, because competitors do offer AMOLED displays at that price.
Then comes the strangest part of the entire setup: the refresh rate. Yes, technically, the phone supports 144Hz, but the phone doesn&rsquo;t really use it. During my tests, the only apps that consistently hit 144Hz were the calculator and the voice recorder, which absolutely must have ultra-fast refresh rates, obviously.&nbsp;
Jokes aside, the fact that even navigating the UI doesn&rsquo;t trigger 144Hz is genuinely disappointing. It feels like wasted potential rather than a meaningful feature.
In day-to-day use, the display is still pretty good actually. Text and images look sharp enough for casual viewing, and the colours hold up well for an LCD. You don&rsquo;t get the punch, contrast or depth you&rsquo;d expect from AMOLED, but that&rsquo;s the nature of the panel.&nbsp;
Brightness is also limited. The screen tops out at 1000 nits (HBM), which is fine indoors but starts struggling under strong sunlight. I often found myself hunting for shade just to see what was on the screen.
As for the speakers, Realme does give you a stereo setup, which is a win at this price. The performance, though, is average. They get loud, but there&rsquo;s no real richness or tonal character. They&rsquo;re perfectly serviceable for reels, shorts or the quick YouTube scroll, but for movies or long OTT sessions, they sound a bit flat.
<h2>Realme P4x Review: Performance</h2>
The Realme P4x runs on the MediaTek Dimensity 7400-Ultra, and the performance story is a mixed but mostly positive one. The base variant starts with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of UFS 3.1 storage, and goes up to 8GB of RAM with a generous 256GB of storage.&nbsp;
Realme&rsquo;s decision to use UFS 3.1 instead of the usual UFS 2.2 at this price deserves real credit. You also have the option to use a microSD card and expand your storage. What doesn&rsquo;t earn the same applause is starting the RAM at 6GB in 2025.&nbsp;
In everyday use, though, the P4x holds its own. Apps open quickly, animations stay smooth, and the UI feels surprisingly responsive for a phone in this segment. Across my testing period, I didn&rsquo;t run into stutters, dropped frames, or any noticeable slowdowns. It behaves exactly the way a budget device should behave, but not always does.
Budget phones rarely deliver impressive benchmark scores, and the P4x doesn&rsquo;t suddenly break that pattern. We still ran the usual set just to see what would happen, and the results were more than acceptable for the price. In fact, in Antutu, our unit managed to outscore what Realme claims about the P4x in their own marketing materials.
Gaming is where things get a little more interesting. The P4x has a 144Hz display, but none of the popular mobile titles like BGMI or Call of Duty Mobile touch that number. They don&rsquo;t even hit 120FPS. Both max out at 90FPS, and even then, the display refuses to switch to 120Hz during gameplay. It&rsquo;s an odd limitation that makes the 144Hz spec feel more decorative than practical.
Despite this, the actual gaming experience was solid. During my sessions with BGMI and CoD:M, frame rates stayed consistently between 87&ndash;90FPS for over half an hour. Thermal performance was also surprisingly controlled. The device warmed up during long sessions and during benchmarks, but never to an uncomfortable or alarming level. Realme credits this to using the largest vapour chamber in its segment.
Overall, the P4x delivers steady, reliable performance with a cooling system that genuinely works, even if the 144Hz story still feels unfinished.
<h2>Realme P4x Review: Cameras</h2>
Phones in this price bracket almost always compromise on cameras, and the P4x follows the same pattern. At first glance, the rear module looks like a triple-camera setup, but you actually get just two cameras: a 50MP main sensor and a 2MP secondary unit that exists purely for symmetry. It adds nothing to image quality and is essentially wasted space.
The 50MP main camera did a good job for me in bright, outdoor conditions. Colours looked mostly accurate, details came through well, and the images felt reliable. I did notice the processing getting a bit overeager at times, especially with textures and fine patterns, but nothing deal-breaking.
At 2X, the weaknesses show immediately. I lost a lot of detail, and while the colours were still okay, the images were just about good enough for casual use. Nothing more.
Low-light shots were acceptable as long as I kept expectations realistic. Noise definitely creeps in, especially in dim indoor scenes, and shadows tend to get mushy. But honestly, this is the standard story for phones in this price band.
The 8MP selfie camera felt like a downgrade when I compared it to what competitors offer. Even so, the selfies I took looked fairly natural. Skin tones were handled well, though textures were noticeably smoothed out and overall sharpness wasn&rsquo;t great.
For video, I could shoot up to 4K 30fps, which is impressive at this price. Colours and dynamic range were solid, but without OIS, stability definitely suffers.
<h2>Realme P4x Review: Software and UI</h2>
The Realme P4x runs Android 15 with Realme UI 6 on top, and Realme has sprinkled AI features all over the place. I spotted them inside the Gallery, Notes, Sound Recorder, Camera, and even in system-wide tools like AI Smart Loop. There are also plenty of lock-screen customisation options, plus a Live Alerts feature that behaves a lot like Apple&rsquo;s Dynamic Island.
That said, I&rsquo;m still not a big fan of Realme UI 6 on budget phones. The interface looks dated and a bit clunky, and the amount of bloatware continues to be a major pain point. What bothered me even more were the constant, unnecessary notifications that kept popping up throughout the day. It all adds to an experience that feels unnecessarily noisy.
For software support, Realme promises two years of OS updates and three years of security patches. It doesn&rsquo;t sound like much, but it&rsquo;s standard for this price segment.
<h2>Realme P4x Review: Battery &amp; Charging</h2>
Battery life is &nbsp;is easily one of the P4x&rsquo;s strongest areas. The 7000mAh battery is massive, and because the phone uses a fairly light SoC along with an FHD+ LCD panel, the system never really demands too much power. In my testing, I was consistently getting two full days of use without even thinking about a charger. If you&rsquo;re smart with it, you can even push it to three.
My screen-on time usually sat between 8 hours 30 minutes and 9 hours on a single charge, which is seriously impressive for a phone at this price.
Charging is handled through 45W wired fast charging, and Realme thankfully includes a 45W charger in the box. Now, 45W isn&rsquo;t blazing fast by today&rsquo;s standards, but given the huge 7000mAh capacity, I wasn&rsquo;t expecting miracles anyway. From zero to full, it took me around an hour and a half, which felt reasonable considering the size of the battery.
<h2>Realme P4x Review: Verdict</h2>
The Realme P4x isn&rsquo;t your typical budget phone &mdash; it feels like it&rsquo;s aiming just a bit higher. Performance is where it really shows off, consistently hitting 90FPS in BGMI and CoD:M, and handling daily tasks without any stutters. The cameras won&rsquo;t blow you away, but they&rsquo;re more than dependable for what you&rsquo;re paying.
But then the phone makes a few odd choices. The biggest one is the 144Hz display. What&rsquo;s the point of having it when barely any pre-installed apps &mdash; or even the most popular games &mdash; can't take advantage of it? It feels like a spec added for the sheet rather than real-world use.
What complicates things further is the competition. The P4x starts at ₹15,499 for the base 6GB variant. For just a little more money, the Nothing Phone 3a Lite gives you a better display and a better gaming experience. Even Realme&rsquo;s own P4 is a very capable alternative.
That said, if you want a phone that looks premium, feels great in the hand, lasts multiple days on a charge, and you don&rsquo;t mind an LCD panel, the P4x still stands as a solid option for the price.

Realme Watch 5 review: 1.97" AMOLED, built-in GPS, Bluetooth calling, IP68 and up to 16 days battery. Find out if the ₹3,999 introductory price makes it the best budget smartwatch.

Realme Watch 5 First Look: Made in India Manufacturing Tour

Go behind the scenes of the Realme Watch 5 and see how the smartwatch is built under the Make in India initiative. From assembly lines to final finishing, here’s a closer look at the factory producing Realme’s latest wearable.

Realme Watch 5 First Look – Inside the Factory Behind Its Made-in-India Build

The Realme Watch 5 brings a larger 1.97-inch AMOLED display, better build and built-in GPS to the budget smartwatch segment.&nbsp;

The budget smartwatch market in India has been overflowing for years, but only a handful of devices genuinely manage to deliver anything meaningful. Realme&rsquo;s new Watch 5, launched today alongside the P4x 5G, tries to position itself as that rare product, one that doesn&rsquo;t just chase numbers but tries to fill the gap between a cheap fitness band and a proper smartwatch.
A big part of Realme&rsquo;s pitch this time is its manufacturing story. The Watch 5 is being built locally under the &ldquo;Make in India&rdquo; program through Optiemus Electronics.&nbsp;
It&rsquo;s a nice detail to mention, but for most buyers, the real concern is, is it a good choice, one that warrants them to spend ₹4499 of their hard-earned money?
<h2>Display and Design</h2>
Realme has clearly prioritised the screen. The Watch 5 moves up to a 1.97-inch AMOLED panel, and the difference compared to the <a title="Realme Watch S launched in India with SpO2 monitor, IP68 rating &amp; more" href="https://www.editorji.com/tech-news/gadget-review/realme-watch-3-pro-review-affordable-and-capable-1663236735073" target="_blank">Watch 3&rsquo;s</a> smaller 1.80-inch screen shows the moment it lights up.&nbsp;
Colours have more punch, the blacks actually look like they should, and the screen just feels sharper overall, definitely better than what you usually see in this price range.
Realme has pushed the brightness up to 600 nits as well, which helps a lot outdoors, the screen stays readable instead of fading out under direct sunlight.
The build also deserves a mention. The Watch 5 feels more solid in the hand than most budget wearables, with a sturdiness that gives it a slightly more premium character than the price tag would suggest.
The rotating aluminium crown isn&rsquo;t just for show either; it actually works for scrolling and navigating through menus, which is more intuitive than swiping endlessly on a small screen. A 60Hz refresh adds on to the smooth experience.
The front glass is a flat 2D panel protected by Panda Glass, nothing luxurious, but good enough for day-to-day scuffs. And since Realme has opted for standard 22mm straps, switching to leather, nylon or metal bands later is easy.
<h2>Fitness Tracking and Connectivity</h2>
The built-in GPS is a serious highlight here. This means you can finally leave your phone behind and still get accurate route tracking in a budget watch.
It&rsquo;s obviously not trying to replace a high-end marathon watch, but for daily runs, that freedom is a game-changer.&nbsp;
You also get Bluetooth calling, the mic has also got a noise reduction.&nbsp;
For health tracking, the watch covers the essentials: heart rate, SpO2 readings, stress levels and sleep analysis.&nbsp;
Women&rsquo;s health tracking options are also available. Realme&rsquo;s companion app now supports 108 sports modes.
<h2>Battery and Durability</h2>
A 460mAh battery powers the Watch 5, and <a title="Realme Watch S launched in India with SpO2 monitor, IP68 rating &amp; more" href="https://www.editorji.com/story/realme-watch-s-launched-in-india-with-spo2-monitor-ip68-rating-more-1608715188953" target="_blank">Realme</a> claims up to 16 days of regular use. There&rsquo;s also a stripped-down &ldquo;Light Mode&rdquo; that pushes the battery closer to 20 days for those who mainly use the basics.
The IP68 rating means the watch can handle sweat, rain and accidental splashes without stress. It's not meant for deep swimming or high-pressure water, but for everyday use, it&rsquo;s well protected.
<h2>Price and Availability</h2>
Realme has priced the Watch 5 at Rs 4,499, with a limited introductory price of Rs 3,999. It will be available in Titanium Black, Titanium Silver, Light Blue and Sun Orange starting December 10 at 12 PM through Flipkart, Realme&rsquo;s official site and offline stores.

Mobiles

Vivo X300 and X300 Pro bring a big camera upgrade, sleeker design, and a new imaging NPU. See how the 2025 flagships evolve. Explore the lineup now.

Vivo X300 and X300 Pro hands-on: Design and camera jump

Vivo X300 & X300 Pro Hands-On: Still the camera king?

Vivo X300 series brings flatter designs, premium finishes, and major camera upgrades powered by Zeiss optics and a boosted imaging NPU.

The Vivo X300 and Vivo X300 Pro are finally here, and if you are planning to pick up a premium flagship this year, these two are definitely phones worth paying attention to. The series officially launches on December 2, but we got early access to both models to take a closer look at what Vivo is doing in this new generation.
The X-series has built its entire identity around photography. Last year&rsquo;s X200 Pro set a remarkably high bar for imaging, so the big question this year is simple. How is Vivo evolving the formula with the X300 lineup, and can these phones push things forward once again? There is plenty happening across both models, so let&rsquo;s break it all down.
<h2>Vivo X300 Pro &amp; X300 Hands-on:&nbsp;Design</h2>
At first glance, both the X300 and X300 Pro feel familiar in the best possible way. You get the huge circular camera module on the back, a premium finish, and the same high-end design language Vivo has refined over the last few generations. But once you look closer, you start noticing subtle but meaningful updates that make the X300 series feel more modern and polished.
The most obvious change is the flatness of the design. Both the front and back panels are noticeably flatter than before, creating a cleaner aesthetic and a more contemporary flagship feel. The phones are slimmer as well, which improves the in-hand comfort considerably. This small shift alone gives the series a more refined identity that separates it from the slightly more curved approach of the X200 lineup.
Size is the big differentiator between the two phones. The X300 Pro sits in the same zone as most full-size flagship devices, but Vivo has shaped it well enough to remain comfortable to use. The regular X300 is where things get interesting. It is noticeably smaller, and anyone who prefers compact phones will immediately feel the difference. It almost feels like a successor to the Vivo X200 FE, but with a far more premium finish and a much larger camera module.
When you place the X300 and X200 FE side by side, you can clearly see how Vivo has refined the compact flagship formula. The X300 is slightly thinner, has nearly the same footprint as the previous compact model, and steps into a more premium tier with cleaner glass, a flatter design, and more metallic accents. The X200 FE felt modest and balanced, while the X300 feels more grown-up.
A new addition on the X300 Pro is the multi-function button on the side. It behaves exactly like the Action Button on the iPhone. You can assign it to shortcuts, and it is genuinely useful for quick tasks like triggering the camera or enabling specific modes. For people who love customisation, this button adds a surprising layer of convenience.
Build quality on both phones is exactly what you expect from a premium flagship. The frames are metal, the bodies feel solid, and the moment you pick either phone up you get that satisfying sense of density and craftsmanship. The edges are rounded enough to avoid digging into your palm and the overall grip is very comfortable. Both the X300 and X300 Pro use 3D curved glass on the back that blends seamlessly into the camera housing.
The Phantom Black variants we tested come with a matte, frosted back that not only looks elegant but also avoids fingerprint smudges. The camera housing is a big deal visually. The X300 Pro has a noticeably thicker module because of the more complex optical elements inside. It also gets a ribbed metal ring around the lens array which does not serve a functional purpose but definitely adds a more distinct, premium look.
<h2>Vivo X300 Pro &amp; X300 Hands-on:&nbsp;Cameras</h2>
Now let&rsquo;s talk about the main reason people buy Vivo&rsquo;s X-series. The cameras are where these phones truly try to stand out, and the X300 series continues to rely heavily on Vivo&rsquo;s long-running partnership with Zeiss.
The more premium X300 Pro brings some seriously stacked hardware. It features a 200MP APO telephoto lens with OIS, a 50MP ultra-wide, and a 50MP main camera with gimbal-grade stabilisation. The setup is versatile and powerful, and the samples we shot show clear improvements in detail, stability, and colour accuracy. You can check out the samples and let us know what you think in the comments.
The X300 Pro can shoot up to 8K at 30 frames per second with surprisingly stable footage even when shot handheld. It also offers Dolby Vision colour recording at 4K 60, something creators who upload to social platforms will really appreciate. On the front, you get a 50MP selfie camera with autofocus, delivering crisp detail and excellent skin tones.
The regular X300 takes a slightly different route. Its main highlight is the 200MP primary sensor with OIS, paired with a 50MP ultra-wide and a 50MP telephoto. The hardware is simpler compared to the Pro, but the early samples look promising. Vivo&rsquo;s processing and Zeiss tuning play a big role in ensuring consistency across both models.
For video, the X300 tops out at 4K 120 frames per second with reliable stabilisation. The front camera is the same 50MP autofocus unit found on the Pro model, so selfie performance remains nearly identical on both phones.
We will have a complete camera verdict in the full review once we test the devices across more lighting conditions and scenarios, but early impressions are definitely strong.
<h2>Vivo X300 Pro &amp; X300 Hands-on: Hardware and Software</h2>
Under the hood, both phones run on a special variant of the Dimensity 9500 that features a new imaging NPU defined specifically by Vivo. This results in a significant performance jump. GPU performance is up by 33 percent, single-core CPU performance rises by 32 percent, and NPU performance gets a massive 111 percent uplift.
The chipset is built on TSMC&rsquo;s third-generation 3 nm process, which naturally results in top-tier efficiency. But the real gains show up in imaging. Both the X300 and X300 Pro use Vivo&rsquo;s V3+ Imaging chip to enhance photo and video quality. The X300 Pro takes things further by using the Pro Imaging Chip VS1 alongside the V3+ chip. Think of it as an extra layer of processing sauce that refines details, reduces noise, and improves dynamic range.
On the software side, Vivo has moved on from Funtouch OS and introduced OriginOS 6. The UI is cleaner, faster, and more fluid. You get translucent panels, layered shadows, and smoother animations. There are new engines for performance optimisation, visual responsiveness, and a wide range of lock screen customisations.
There is still a lot left to test, including benchmarks, gaming performance, thermal behaviour, and battery endurance. The deeper analysis will be available soon.

Hands-on iQOO 15 camera review: triple 50MP setup (IMX921 + IMX882), periscope 3x zoom, superb low-light shots and 4K/60fps video — ahead of India launch.

iQOO 15 Camera Hands-On: Triple 50MP Cameras, Periscope Zoom

We tested the iQOO 15’s triple-50MP cameras and periscope telephoto — from daylight detail and 100x hybrid zoom to surprisingly strong low-light and portrait performance. Read our hands-on verdict.

iQOO 15 Camera Hands-On: How good is the Photo Quality?

The iQOO 15 combines Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 power with a triple 50MP camera setup, delivering exceptional detail, color accuracy, and low-light shots&mdash;making it a true flagship contender in smartphone photography.

Although the iQOO 15 was already launched in China last month, the successor to the powerful iQOO 13 is set to drop in India on November 26.
Now historically, iQOO has been more of a performance orie nted smartphone maker and has not really paid that much attention to its cameras. Well, with the 15 series, they hope to change that perception.
Now, along with top-notch performance, they have also tried to go all-out with their cameras as well. But has it worked?
I experienced the phone before its Indian release, and it&rsquo;s quite clear that <a href="https://www.editorji.com/tech-news/mobiles/iqoo-z10r-review-in-5-simple-points-what-you-need-to-know-1753349773828" target="_blank">iQOO</a> has done some sort of an engineering wizardry with their cameras this time around.&nbsp;
It features a triple camera setup at the back and comes with a 50MP main camera with Sony IMX921 sensor, a 50MP periscope 3x telephoto camera with a Sony IMX882 sensor and OIS, and a 50MP ultra wide camera.
And this being an offering from iQOO, it packs insane performance thanks to an all new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5.
We take a deep dive into the cameras of the iQOO 15 and see how it fares.&nbsp;
<h2>The 50MP Main Camera</h2>
The 50MP main camera (23mm, f/1.88) actually sets the tone for the entire camera system on this phone. The level of detail it pulls is insane and genuinely surprising. The camera perfectly balances light, even in intense, harsh sunlight, preventing the sky from blowing out and keeping shadows well under control.&nbsp;
For instance, in a shot panned directly towards the sky (like a hanging house model), details remain sharp and not excessively shadowy.
This is a massive improvement over older iQOO models that sometimes had the tendency to oversaturate colours to make up for poor contrast. With the iQOO 15, the colors are rich.&nbsp;
<h2>The 50MP Ultrawide Camera</h2>
The 50MP ultrawide (15mm, f/2.1) camera is a massive step up from previous iQOO models, benefiting significantly from its high resolution and the new sensor. The 15mm lens delivers true flagship consistency, with superb dynamic range and excellent color signature matching the main sensor. While distortion correction is top-tier, a minor area for refinement is observed in complex low-light scenes, where there is a subtle, yet discernible, increase in digital noise when compared directly to the Main lens. Overall, it is a highly useful and powerful lens.
<h2>The 50MP 3X Telephoto</h2>
This phone really hits its stride when you move beyond the main lens, mixing crops from the main sensor with the dedicated periscope telephoto, which goes up to 100x magnification. Although the sweet spot is typically around 20-30x
The sample images genuinely demonstrate the phone's capabilities. The first image, shot at 165mm focal length, captures multiple subjects in the mid-distance. By zooming further to around 666mm the camera isolates the single pigeon, maintaining a recognizable texture on the bird and bricks despite the extreme zoom.
<h2>Portrait Mode</h2>
The Portrait Mode performs exceptionally well. It captures images with stunning depth and detail. It also has an 85mm lens option included in this section, for the perfect portrait capture. By offering versatility and professional results, it maintains good subject separation, and the colors are vibrant which looks naturally stunning.
<h2>From the Main Sensor</h2>
For tighter headshots, the 2x portrait crop is pretty solid. The camera does a pretty impressive job with edge detection, creating a beautiful, natural-looking separation from the background without weird halos or fuzzy hair. The depth of field is shallow and looks very smooth and creamy, which really helps the subject pop out.
Colours are again, very impressive, and the camera handles yellow tones really well, and balances it out beautifully.
<h2>From the 3X Tele Sensor</h2>
Portraits with the dedicated 3X optical telephoto camera are simply insane; in our example, one can easily see the texture on a watch face or the weave of a shirt's fabric without any mushiness. It also captures the skin tone perfectly balanced, without going overboard with the colours.
I also liked the perspective compression at this focal length. Seasoned photographers who have used a proper, full-frame DSLR or mirrorless camera will see how natural-looking it is. It also makes people look flattering, something previous iQOO <a href="https://www.editorji.com/tech-news/mobiles/samsung-galaxy-s24-vs-oneplus-12-in-depth-2024-flagship-comparison-check-specs-prices-and-more-1701340237455" target="_blank">flagships</a>, which often skimped on a proper optical telephoto.
Even when pushed to the 100mm setting, the detail held up way better than expected, maintaining clarity and ultra-depth behind the subject in portrait shots.&nbsp;
Although there is some room for improvement in the colour section here, sometimes in exposed lighting conditions the color vibrance acts differently and seems unnatural, this is a testament to the applause-worthy processing engine, which makes this hybrid zoom genuinely useful.
<h2>Low-Light Performance</h2>
&nbsp;If the daylight shots were impressive, the low-light performance is what really sells the flagship status.
In this photograph of the couple in their cocktail outfits, the phone pulled in a remarkable amount of light in what was a challenging scene with only a couple of fairy lights as a source. It handled this perfectly, blurring those lights into a soft, ethereal bokeh while maintaining texture and detail in the black suits and sequined dress in the foreground. Skin tones stayed true, even under the tricky, warm ambient lights.
Similarly in the cat&rsquo;s image, taken in minimal to practically no light) I was totally blown away. It captured a crisp image with no colour distortion. Of course, in such an extremely low-light condition, the camera takes a second or two to capture the image, but the processing is pretty much instantaneous.
<h2>The Front-Facing Camera</h2>
The 32MP front camera is again glorious, especially when challenged by harsh lighting. In a series of selfies with the sun blazing directly on the subject, the iQOO 15&rsquo;s HDR instantly kicked in to make sure the face was properly lit and not a distracting silhouette. You get natural-looking detail on skin and clothing, steering clear of that artificial, overly-smoothed "beauty filter" look that ruins so many selfies.
<h2>Capturing Action: Video Performance</h2>
In today's world where everybody wants to be a content creator, video capabilities of a phone truly are kingmakers, and iQOO 15 does not disappoint here .
You can shoot up to 8K on the main camera, but the 4K@60fps available on both the main and telephoto cameras yields seriously smooth results.&nbsp;
The video quality itself is impressive, holding onto detail perfectly, especially challenging conditions. Crucially, its dynamic range is also solid, balancing the light so the bright sky doesn't get completely washed out, and you don't lose all the detail in the shadows.&nbsp;
Normal stabilisation on the main camera is pretty solid since it uses OIS. That said, if you engage the special ultra-stabilization mode, I feel there&rsquo;s a little room for improvement there.
<h2>iQOO becomes a serious contender</h2>
The iQOO 15 shows that iQOO is no longer content with having one of the most bang for the buck devices in the performance category; it wants a similar crown in terms of cameras too, and is willing to pursue it pretty aggressively.
The consistency is what wins here; all three rear camera systems share the same excellent color science and image quality, which is a huge accomplishment.&nbsp;
The new periscope lens is a genuine powerhouse, and the night modes prove that iQOO has finally figured out how to use computational photography to create art, not just pump the brightness up. For me, this camera system is a whole new experience and easily the most exciting part of the entire iQOO 15 package.&nbsp;

OnePlus unveiled its new OP Gaming Core, Performance Tri-Chip, and OP FPS Max in Singapore, setting the stage for the OnePlus 15 India launch on November 13

OnePlus unveils new gaming tech OP Gaming Core ahead of OnePlus 15 launch

OnePlus shows off next-gen gaming tech at Singapore ahead of OnePlus 15 launch

At its Singapore showcase, OnePlus revealed the OP Gaming Core, Performance Tri-Chip, and OP FPS Max, a new gaming system built for the upcoming OnePlus 15 series.

OnePlus is all set for the global launch of the OnePlus 15 in Singapore this week, and we at Editorji are on the ground at the event, where the smartphone giant showcased its next big leap in smartphone gaming.
Ahead of the global launch, OnePlus revealed an all-new gaming architecture designed specifically for the upcoming OnePlus 15 series, and we got to experience it first-hand. Now, this new gaming tech isn&rsquo;t just about pushing higher frame rates; it&rsquo;s about rethinking how performance, power efficiency, and touch response work together to make gaming on a phone feel seamless.
The new gaming setup, known as OP Gaming Core, comes with a powerful Performance Tri-Chip system and a high-frame-rate feature called OP FPS Max, and it operates at the chip level to make gameplay smoother, faster, and more stable than ever. And yes, all of this will debut with the OnePlus 15 lineup, set to launch in India on November 13.
<h2>What&rsquo;s with the new OP Gaming Core in the upcoming OnePlus 15?</h2>
At the heart of all this new gaming feature is OP Gaming Core, OnePlus&rsquo;s new game-focused system architecture. It basically acts as a smart scheduler, deciding which parts of the processor handle which gaming tasks, all in real time. The company says this helps reduce CPU instructions by up to 22%, lowering system load and keeping the frame rate steady even during high-pressure gameplay.
But the big story here isn&rsquo;t just numbers. It&rsquo;s how this whole architecture coordinates across the CPU, GPU, and display pipeline. OnePlus has also upgraded its graphics system with HyperRendering, which boosts per-frame rendering efficiency by around 80%. The result? Faster frame processing, minimal latency, and improved battery efficiency, &nbsp;all without turning your phone into a mini heater.
<h2>What exactly does the Performance Tri-Chip?</h2>
Think of this as OnePlus building a mini gaming rig inside your phone. The new Performance Tri-Chip setup combines three chips working together:
A Performance Chip, tied to Qualcomm&rsquo;s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor, handles heavy-duty performance and optimises resource allocation through the new Gaming Core.
A Touch Response Chip, which takes over touch processing from the main SoC, supports up to 3,200Hz instantaneous touch sampling and 330Hz continuous sampling which means quicker, more accurate touch recognition.
And finally, a Wi-Fi Chip G2 that manages connectivity through SmartLink algorithms, keeping your connection stable even when signal strength drops.
In short, OnePlus wants lag, stutter, and dropped frames to be a thing of the past.
<h2>How does OP FPS Max change gaming?</h2>
Now comes the flashiest part of this entire new system, the OP FPS Max. This is OnePlus&rsquo;s way of pushing high-frame-rate gaming to the next level. It combines the new Gaming Core, display tuning, GPU rendering tweaks, and touch improvements to deliver 165fps gameplay on supported titles.
Yup, 165 frames per second on a phone display. OnePlus claims this setup doesn&rsquo;t just focus on raw frame output but also on consistent frame pacing, ensuring smoother motion and better input response during long gaming sessions. The company says this is achieved while maintaining thermal efficiency and power stability, meaning you can game longer without cooking your hands or draining your battery in an hour.
During our hands-on session at the Singapore event, games ran with impressive smoothness and low latency, even during frame-heavy scenes. The display and touch response felt almost console-like, which is an early sign that OnePlus&rsquo;s new architecture isn&rsquo;t just marketing speak.
<h2>When is OnePlus 15 launching in India?</h2>
The first phones to feature all this new tech will be the OnePlus 15 and OnePlus 15 Pro, launching in India on November 13. Both will come equipped with the full OP Gaming Core suite, the Performance Tri-Chip hardware, and the OP FPS Max display optimisations out of the box.
OnePlus says this is part of its bigger plan to position the 15 series as its most gamer-focused flagship lineup yet, not just in terms of raw power but also in sustained performance and gameplay comfort.
If the early demo in Singapore is anything to go by, mobile gaming on the OnePlus 15 might finally feel like something truly next-gen, not just another spec upgrade.

Nothing’s new 3a Lite brings Nothing's signature design and subtle flair to the mid-range segment. Early impressions say that it’s Lite only by name.

Nothing Phone 3a Lite First Impressions: Lite in name only

Nothing’s new 3a Lite brings signature design, smooth performance, and subtle flair to the mid-range. Early impressions say that it’s Lite only by name.

Nothing&rsquo;s new 3a Lite feels premium despite its tag. A stunning AMOLED screen, subtle Glyph light, and reliable power make a strong early impression.

Nothing has officially launched the Nothing Phone 3a Lite for the international market, and although it is yet to be launched in India I&rsquo;ve spent a few hours, testing and playing around with it.&nbsp;
My first takeaway is that it might be called &ldquo;Lite,&rdquo; but it doesn&rsquo;t feel like a watered-down phone at all. This is the cheapest model in Nothing&rsquo;s line-up, yet it still captures everything that makes &nbsp;a quintessentially Nothing phone. It reflects the brand&rsquo;s design DNA perfectly: thoughtful, industrial, and distinctly &ldquo;Nothing.&rdquo; Even at first glance, it&rsquo;s clear the company hasn&rsquo;t compromised where it really matters.
<h2>Design: Stripped-back but still smart</h2>
The Nothing Phone 3a Lite feels like a distilled version of the brand&rsquo;s signature look: exposed screws, that tiny red square detail, and an overall design that looks premium without shouting for attention. Nothing has gone for this &ldquo;Battery Simulation Design,&rdquo; which is basically this old-school, TV-remote battery cover looking thing. Say what you will, it does look very retro.
The build immediately stands out for something at this price. At 8.3 mm thick and weighing 199 grams, it feels solid but surprisingly light and comfortable to hold. The front and back panels use Panda Glass, while an aluminium mid-frame keeps everything sturdy. Add IP54 dust and water resistance, and you get a phone that feels ready for everyday life.
Now, about the Glyph Lights. Remember when Carl Pei said they were basically done? Well, turns out they aren&rsquo;t quite gone yet. The 3a Lite brings them back in a subtler form: a single light strip at the bottom. It&rsquo;s small, functional, and far less distracting than before, yet still retains the personality Nothing phones are known for. You still get features like Flip-to-Glyph, Camera Countdown, and notification alerts, all in a much cleaner, simplified way.
There&rsquo;s also the company&rsquo;s &ldquo;Essential Key&rdquo; and &ldquo;Essential Space&rdquo; baked into the design and software experience, but details on those are still under embargo, so more on that in our full review.
<h2>Display: Bright, bold, and anything but budget</h2>
Up front, the 3a Lite sports a 6.77-inch FHD+ AMOLED panel with a 120 Hz refresh rate and 10-bit colour support. It&rsquo;s sharp, smooth, and far better than what you&rsquo;d expect in this segment. YouTube videos pop with lively colours, and Nothing claims it&rsquo;s basically the same display used on the 3a and 3a Pro, which means the visual experience remains top notch even here.
Brightness isn&rsquo;t an issue either. The display can hit 1,300 nits outdoors and 3,000 nits peak in HDR content, which makes it comfortably usable under direct sunlight. Combined with Nothing&rsquo;s clean UI and thin bezels, it genuinely feels like a screen you&rsquo;d find on a more expensive device.
<h2>Performance and software: Reliable mid-range power</h2>
Under the hood, the Nothing Phone 3a Lite runs on MediaTek&rsquo;s Dimensity 7300 Pro chip, the same one found in the Phone 2 Pro. That&rsquo;s good news, because this chip has already proven itself as a strong mid-range performer. You can expect Antutu scores between 6 and 7 lakhs, which puts it in solid territory for everyday use and gaming alike. Paired with up to 16 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage (expandable up to 2 TB via microSD), there&rsquo;s plenty of room for multitasking and media.
On the software side, it runs Android 15 with Nothing OS 3.5 on top. Android 16 is already rolling out, so an update should follow soon. There&rsquo;s minimal bloatware, just Facebook and Instagram pre-installed, and both can be uninstalled. The promised update policy is impressive too: three years of major OS updates and six years of security patches.
<h2>Cameras</h2>
The phone features a triple-camera setup led by a 50 MP main shooter using a Samsung sensor with OIS and EIS support. This is paired with an 8 MP ultra-wide and a 2 MP macro camera, while the front gets a 16 MP selfie camera.
Because of embargo restrictions, I can&rsquo;t share image samples or verdicts yet, but what I can tell you, is that the images in day light at least look very promising. Stay tuned for our in-depth camera tests once the embargo lifts.
<h2>Battery</h2>
The Nothing Phone 3a Lite comes with a 5,000 mAh battery that supports 33 W fast charging and 5 W reverse-wired charging. I haven&rsquo;t had enough time to test it fully yet, but during my brief use, it seemed well optimised for everyday tasks. I&rsquo;ll have more to say about charging speeds and endurance once I&rsquo;ve spent more time with the phone.
<h2>Pricing: aggressive and promising</h2>
In Europe, the Nothing Phone 3a Lite starts at &euro;250 for the 8 GB + 128 GB variant, which is roughly about ₹25,000. Given Nothing&rsquo;s usual India pricing strategy, it&rsquo;s safe to expect the phone to arrive closer to ₹20,000&ndash;₹22,000 here, before any launch offers or bank discounts. At that price, it sits squarely in the mid-range sweet spot.
<h2>Early impressions: Lite in name only</h2>
After spending just a few hours with it, the Nothing Phone 3a Lite already feels like one of the most polished mid-range phones of 2025. It nails the essentials: design, display, performance, and build, while keeping the Nothing identity intact. If the cameras and software refinement hold up in the long run, this might just be the best-looking and most balanced phone you can buy around ₹20K.
Stay tuned for the full review, where I&rsquo;ll dive deeper into performance benchmarks, camera quality, and how Nothing&rsquo;s &ldquo;Essential Space&rdquo; shapes the overall experience. For now, though, my first impressions are clear: the Nothing Phone 3a Lite may be Lite in name, but definitely not in ambition.

OxygenOS 16 brings Flow Motion animations, Plus Mind AI, Mind Space, and tighter privacy controls. OnePlus just made Android smarter than ever.

OxygenOS 16 review: OnePlus’ smartest and smoothest update yet

OxygenOS 16 Review: OnePlus sets the benchmark on how smartphones should do AI

<h3>OxygenOS 16 adds Flow Motion, Plus Mind AI, Mind Space, and Private Cloud Computing, making OnePlus&rsquo; UI one of the best and Android skins in the market.</h3>

OnePlus has been doing something really interesting with OxygenOS.&nbsp;
I&rsquo;ve been using the closed beta of OxygenOS 16 on my OnePlus 13S, and I&rsquo;ll be honest, it feels like a massive jump from OxygenOS 15.&nbsp;
It&rsquo;s not just smoother; it&rsquo;s much smarter.&nbsp;
And this time, AI actually feels a lot more useful than it ever has been on a smartphone.
<h2>Major design changes</h2>
Let&rsquo;s start with the basics first. The first thing you notice about OxygenOS 16 is how buttery smooth everything is. Animations are ridiculously smooth.&nbsp;
That&rsquo;s because of OnePlus&rsquo; new Flow Motion and Parallel Processing 2.0. Fancy names, but what they do is simple:&nbsp;
When you&rsquo;re scrolling through the UI, every animation starts even before the previous one finishes. It&rsquo;s small, but it makes the whole system feel instant.
There&rsquo;s also a new design language called &ldquo;Breathe With You.&rdquo; Everything looks softer, more fluid.&nbsp;
You&rsquo;ve got Rounded corners, a light Gaussian blur, subtle lighting effects in apps like Calculator and Compass. It looks a little like Liquid Glass from iOS 26, but hey, I am not complaining.&nbsp;
There are some new customisation features too.&nbsp;
You have this new flux-themed lock screen that lets you add a ton of widgets, depth effect etc. This looks really cool.&nbsp;
On the home page, now, you can not only resize widgets, but also resize and reshape icons and folders. I&rsquo;ve made my most-used apps bigger, so my home screen looks like this neat little dashboard.&nbsp;
There&rsquo;s also a new icon theme called Flux. Basically, your app icons get a single colour palette. Looks clean, feels premium.
<h2>AI, Mind Space and Plus Mind</h2>
But the real star here is AI, especially in Plus Mind and Mind Space.
So, a quick explainer. Plus Mind is OnePlus&rsquo;s AI system.&nbsp;
Mind Space is like your smart notebook. You can dump screenshots, voice notes, etc.&nbsp;
Plus Mind will go through all of that, and if there are any actionable pieces, like adding a reminder to your Calendar, it will prompt you to save that.&nbsp;
Plus, it will generate basic summaries and keep everything organised.&nbsp;
Now, with OxygenOS 16, Plus Mind can also create folders or collections, and group screenshots and notes around similar topics.&nbsp;
For example, I&rsquo;m hosting a small party soon and have been grabbing a lot of screenshots of food items, cocktails, etc. from Instagram pages and websites using the Plus Key
All of that goes straight into Mind Space. Plus Mind will suggest that I create a collection of all these screenshots. Or, I can create a collection of my own, and Plus Mind will sort all of the screenshots that I take into these collections.&nbsp;
I can also then ask Mind Space to create a party menu for me. It goes through everything I&rsquo;d saved in that collection, pick out the right items for a menu and creates a proper shareable list.&nbsp;
No need to juggle between tabs or take notes, just my screenshots turned into an actual plan.&nbsp;
But where OnePlus has made things truly magical is by integrating Gemini with Mind Space
Let&rsquo;s say you&rsquo;re planning a two-day trip to Osaka to explore its food scene and have saved a lot of screenshots of reels, Insta posts and blogs.&nbsp;
Just ask Gemini to go inside Mind Space and plan a trip. Gemini will now go through everything you&rsquo;ve saved, analyse it and within seconds, build a full itinerary, only from the information that you have saved. How neat is that!
There are some other AI upgrades too.&nbsp;
If you&rsquo;re feeling lazy on Instagram, you can ask your AI Writer to write captions right inside the Instagram app.&nbsp;
Or when you&rsquo;re reading something long, like an article or guide, you can select the text and ask the AI Writer to turn it into a table or a mind map.&nbsp;
I used it for my mom, who&rsquo;s heading to Berlin for a work trip.&nbsp;
I fed it a travel article about the metro system, asked it to make a mind map, and it spat out a clean diagram that I could export as a JPG, PDF or even share it over as a note. That&rsquo;s super handy.
Even the Photos app gets some new AI features.&nbsp;
There&rsquo;s AI relighting, which basically adds fill light to your photos, but in a very smart way.&nbsp;
It doesn&rsquo;t just crank up brightness; it analyses the scene, fixes colour, and lets you tweak how much glow you want.
Then there&rsquo;s AI Perfect Shot. You know those moments when your eyes are half-closed or your expression&rsquo;s a bit off?&nbsp;
You can literally fix that now. OnePlus&rsquo; AI will go through your gallery and find a better face from your other pictures and swap it in. It&rsquo;s not perfect every time, but when it works, it&rsquo;s freakishly good.
OnePlus also has a new thing called AI Playlab. It&rsquo;s like a sandbox where they test experimental AI tools. One feature called &ldquo;Party Up&rdquo; can turn a single photo into a short video.&nbsp;
It's open only to a few select members in the OnePlus Community, but boy, does it look like fun!
<h2>Security and Privacy</h2>
Of course, with all this AI, the big question is privacy. OnePlus seems ready for it.&nbsp;
OxygenOS 16 brings the Private Computing Cloud, which encrypts everything using both the CPU and GPU.&nbsp;
Basically, your sensitive data stays private. Even OnePlus can&rsquo;t access it.
And if your phone ever goes missing, there&rsquo;s Plus Lock. You can remotely lock your device, and with 11 layers of encryption plus two-factor verification, your data&rsquo;s untouchable.&nbsp;
It&rsquo;s India-only for now and will roll out first on the OnePlus 15 series, but it&rsquo;s a nice security feature.
<h2>New and improved connectivity features</h2>
OnePlus has also fine-tuned how your OnePlus device connects to a PC, a Mac or an iPhone.&nbsp;
Touch-to-Connect for example, works better than ever; you can share photos and videos instantly by tapping phones together.&nbsp;
But yes, you still need to have the O+ Connect App. Even iPhone-to-OnePlus transfers are smoother and faster now.&nbsp;
OnePlus also claims that they&rsquo;re adding support for Apple Watch&nbsp;
So, now you&rsquo;ll be able to see notifications, messages, take calls, use Find My Phone and even control your Phone&rsquo;s camera from the watch
Now, I tried to use it with my Apple Watch Series 10, but for some reason, it did not work.&nbsp;
Probably because I was running the closed Beta. Still, it&rsquo;s an interesting option!
<h2>Verdict</h2>
So, what do I make of all this? Well, OxygenOS 15 was already one of the best Android skins in my book.&nbsp;
OxygenOS 16 builds on that, not by changing everything, but by polishing the experience and making AI actually useful.&nbsp;
Mind Space with Gemini is something I can see myself using every day, whether for work, travel, or random plans.
Everything about this update looks like it has huge potential, especially the AI bits.
OxygenOS 16 might just be the Android skin that finally gets the balance right, fast, clean, and genuinely smart.&nbsp;
Other smartphone makers should be taking notes.

Apple’s iPhone Air reimagines the iPhone playbook with its ultra-slim titanium build, 48MP camera, A19 Pro chip, and premium design. Here’s our first look.

iPhone Air ASMR unboxing and first look: Apple’s slimmest, most stylish iPhone yet

iPhone Air ASMR unboxing & first look: Apple’s boldest iPhone in years

<h3 data-start="41" data-end="207">Apple&rsquo;s iPhone Air is its slimmest iPhone yet with a titanium frame, A19 Pro chip, and 48MP camera, built for those who want a sleek flagship without going Pro.</h3>

Apple&rsquo;s new iPhone Air feels like a turning point for the iPhone lineup. By skipping the &ldquo;17&rdquo; name entirely, Apple clearly wants this phone to stand apart, not just as a replacement for the Plus, but as a whole new idea of what an iPhone can be. The Air is aimed at buyers who care just as much about style, weight, and refinement as they do about performance.
<h2>Unboxing: Apple&rsquo;s signature minimalism</h2>
The iPhone Air unboxing sticks to Apple&rsquo;s familiar playbook: clean, minimal, and premium. Inside the slim box, you&rsquo;ll find just the essentials: the phone itself, a USB-C cable, documents, and a SIM ejector tool. No charger, no frills, just a very &ldquo;Apple&rdquo; experience.
We also tried the new &ldquo;Shadow&rdquo; coloured iPhone Air Case with MagSafe and the dedicated MagSafe Battery Pack. Both accessories match the Air&rsquo;s clean aesthetic, arriving in simple, compact packaging that complements the phone&rsquo;s vibe.
<h2>Design and build: thinner than ever</h2>
This is where the iPhone Air really makes its mark. Measuring just 5.6 mm and weighing only 165grams, it&rsquo;s one of the slimmest, lightest iPhones ever, and you feel it the moment you pick it up.
Apple has used recycled titanium for the frame, a first for a non-Pro model, and paired it with Ceramic Shield Gen 2 up front and a frosted glass back. The Sky Blue finish we tested looks classy, resists smudges well, and is joined by Cloud White, Light Gold, and Space Black options. It&rsquo;s a phone that&rsquo;s clearly been designed to impress.
<h2>Camera and performance: simple but sharp</h2>
The iPhone Air doesn&rsquo;t try to match the Pro series&rsquo; camera setups. Instead, it uses a single 48 MP Fusion Camera housed in a new &ldquo;Camera Plateau&rdquo; design. It&rsquo;s a clean, subtle look, and Apple says it&rsquo;s tuned to deliver consistent results while keeping the phone ultra-slim.
Under the hood, the Air runs on a slightly tuned-down A19 Pro chip, which basically is the same silicon used in the iPhone 17 Pro models. So, it should deliver smooth performance for day-to-day use while remaining power-efficient, just like, the Pro models.&nbsp;
<h2>Battery and charging speed raise questions</h2>
At 3149 mAh, the battery isn&rsquo;t the biggest we&rsquo;ve seen, but Apple claims strong endurance thanks to the LTPO display and efficient chip. For heavy users, the MagSafe Battery accessory can add up to 65 percent extra charge and is designed specifically for this model. Wired charging peaks at 20 W with a compatible Power Delivery charger.
<h2>Pricing and who it&rsquo;s for</h2>
In India, the iPhone Air starts at ₹1,19,900 for 256 GB, with 512 GB and 1 TB models priced at ₹1,39,900 and ₹1,59,900.
The iPhone Air is clearly Apple&rsquo;s most design-driven iPhone in years. It&rsquo;s perfect for anyone who wants a light, stylish, premium-feeling phone but doesn&rsquo;t necessarily need all the extra cameras of a Pro. You&rsquo;re getting flagship-level performance in a more elegant package, with just a few compromises on battery size and camera versatility, which is a trade-off many will happily make for that ultra-slim feel.

A compact flagship with a 200MP camera, big 6040mAh battery, fast charging and smooth OriginOS 6. The Vivo X300 delivers more than its size suggests.

Vivo X300 Review: The compact flagship for 2025

The Vivo X300 brings a compact form factor, a powerhouse of a camera set up, strong performance and clean software. Read before you buy.

Do you usually pick a phone for its camera, its raw horsepower, or a clean, reliable software experience? With the Vivo X300, you don&rsquo;t really have to choose. This compact flagship tries to nail all three, and surprisingly, it gets pretty close.
I&rsquo;ve been using it as my main phone for the past week, and that&rsquo;s been enough to understand where it shines, where it slips a little, and what it actually feels like to use every day. The overall experience turned out to be more impressive than I expected, largely because of the hardware Vivo has packed in at a starting price of ₹75,999. It&rsquo;s a small phone, but definitely not a lightweight in what it delivers.
<h2>How does the Vivo X300&rsquo;s design come together in real use?</h2>
What caught my attention first wasn&rsquo;t the camera; that crown belonged to last year&rsquo;s X200. This time, it was the design. Vivo has shifted to a cleaner, more minimal look, and the frosted glass back lands in that sweet spot where it resists smudges without losing its premium feel. The unibody 3D glass design helps too, giving the phone a smoother, more cohesive look. I still gravitate toward the Elite Black variant, but the Mist Blue finish adds a softer, calmer vibe for anyone who prefers something understated.
The camera module also feels far more polished. The X200&rsquo;s bump was noticeably chunky and made the phone wobble on tables; the X300 still has a bump, but it blends seamlessly and keeps the phone steady on flat surfaces.
The essentials are neatly placed along the flat aluminium frame, which curves slightly at the corners for a more comfortable grip. You get the power button and volume keys on the right, plus a dual-SIM tray and USB-C 3.2 port at the bottom. Stereo speakers round out the basics.
The biggest highlight, though, is the size. At roughly 190 grams and about 7.9mm thick for the Elite Black model, the X300 feels compact in a world where flagships keep getting bulkier. With both IP68 and IP69 protection, it&rsquo;s a device that&rsquo;s genuinely easy to use and carry every day.
<h2>Is the Vivo X300&rsquo;s screen actually worth the hype?</h2>
Turn on the display and the X300 keeps the momentum going. It packs a 6.31-inch 1.5K LTPO AMOLED panel with a smooth 120Hz refresh rate, boosted by Vivo&rsquo;s Ultra Motion algorithm for noticeably fluid animations. The 10-bit screen supports HDR10+, HDR Vivid and Ultra HDR across apps like YouTube and Netflix, delivering rich but well-controlled colours with excellent overall calibration.
There&rsquo;s also a Visual Enhancement mode if you prefer a punchier look, though the default profile already feels lively without going overboard. For protection, Vivo uses SCHOTT Xensation XT Core. It isn&rsquo;t quite on the level of Gorilla Glass Victus 2, but it&rsquo;s still dependable for everyday safety.
Brightness peaks at 2000 nits globally and hits a local high of 4500 nits, making outdoor visibility solid even under harsh sunlight. The ultrasonic in-display fingerprint reader is fast, accurate and easy to trust.
<h2>How well does the Vivo X300&rsquo;s battery hold up?</h2>
The Vivo X300&rsquo;s battery life was stronger than expected. Its 6040mAh cell, combined with 90W wired and 40W wireless charging, easily carried me through a full day of heavy use &mdash; everything from long camera sessions to nonstop streaming and even intensive gaming. Only during multiple benchmark loops did it drain a bit quicker, but it still made it to the evening without stress.
On most days, I consistently got around 7&ndash;8 hours of heavy usage on a single charge. A full recharge takes roughly an hour, which feels reasonable considering the massive battery size.
<h2>How strong is the Vivo X300 when it comes to performance and gaming?</h2>
The Vivo X300 delivers performance that comfortably sits in flagship territory, even though it&rsquo;s not completely immune to occasional heat spikes. It&rsquo;s powered by the Dimensity 9500 chipset built on a 3nm process, paired with up to 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 512GB of UFS 4.1 storage. In everyday use, the phone feels fast, fluid, and consistently reliable, whether you&rsquo;re juggling multiple apps, editing photos, or zipping through social media, it never shows any hesitation.
Benchmarks back this up. The X300 scored around 3.3 million on AnTuTu with only mild warmth during the run, while Geekbench results came in at 3278 for single-core and 9825 for multi-core. These numbers place it right alongside other 2025 flagships. In a 20-minute CPU throttling test with 30 threads, the chip dipped to roughly 76 percent of its peak performance. That&rsquo;s still respectable, though the heat during this specific stress test was noticeable.
When it comes to gaming, the X300 handles titles like Call of Duty Mobile smoothly at basic settings. You&rsquo;ll feel a bit of warmth near the camera module after longer sessions, but it never becomes uncomfortable. Vivo&rsquo;s new Glacial Cooling system also kicks in effectively, helping the phone cool down faster than expected once gameplay stops.
In everyday performance, even for heavy users, the device stays cool, responsive, and stable. It&rsquo;s a dependable flagship for gaming, content creation, and everything in between.
<h2>How polished is the software experience on the Vivo X300?</h2>
The biggest upgrade on the Vivo X300 is easily the software. It runs Vivo&rsquo;s new OriginOS 6 based on Android 16, and the difference is obvious the moment you unlock the phone. The redesigned icons, smoother animations, and refreshed control centre give the interface a cleaner, more premium look. Origin Island adds an interactive layer for apps like Maps, Music, and Clock, though it still needs wider app support to reach its full potential.
What really stands out is the overall refinement. Funtouch OS often felt a bit scattered, but OriginOS 6 feels far more organised and visually consistent, even if some of the translucent elements clearly take cues from iOS 16&rsquo;s liquid-glass style.
There are genuinely useful additions as well, including phone-to-PC mirroring and cross-device note syncing. The AI suite is stacked too, with text and image generation, AI Circle for search, Gemini-powered features, and handy editing tools like object erasers and background expand options.
Vivo is also promising long-term support with 5 years of OS updates and 7 years of security patches, ensuring the X300 stays reliable well into the future.
<h2>Is the Vivo X300 the best camera phone you can buy right now?</h2>
The Vivo X300 stays true to Vivo&rsquo;s imaging-first legacy. Powered by the Dimensity 9500&rsquo;s built-in processing and supported by Vivo&rsquo;s in-house VS1 and V3+ imaging chips, the camera system produces consistently impressive photos and videos. The 200MP main sensor delivers rich, detailed shots with excellent colour accuracy and dynamic range. Skin tones look natural, and the phone handles complex lighting conditions with confidence.
The 50MP 3x periscope telephoto lens also holds up well. Colours remain consistent with the main camera, and portrait mode, especially at 100mm, looks almost DSLR-like with sharp detail, clean separation, and realistic texture. In bright conditions, results are strong, though very fine detail can occasionally dip.
The ultrawide is where the system stumbles slightly. Despite using a 50MP sensor, images sometimes appear softer and less detailed, but switching to the high-resolution mode improves sharpness noticeably. Selfies from the 50MP front camera look crisp with accurate skin texture and pleasing depth.
In low light, the main sensor performs impressively, keeping noise low and detail high. Telephoto shots soften a bit and portrait edge detection can slip around hair, but overall output remains reliable.
For video, the rear camera shoots up to 4K 120fps while the front goes up to 4K 60fps. Footage is good overall, though finer detail can waver at times, and the standard X300 misses out on Dolby Vision. Even with those drawbacks, the X300 remains one of the strongest all-round camera phones available, especially for still photography.
<h2>Is the Vivo X300 a smart buy in 2025?</h2>
After pushing the Vivo X300 through everything from heavy multitasking to camera stress tests, calling it &ldquo;good enough&rdquo; would be selling it short. Sure, the ultrawide camera needs work and parts of OriginOS 6 clearly take inspiration from elsewhere, but none of that overshadows the bigger picture.
The X300 gets the fundamentals absolutely right. Smooth, reliable performance, standout main and telephoto cameras, a premium build, strong battery life, and a compact form factor that feels almost rare in 2025&rsquo;s flagship world.
I liked the X200 last year, but the X300 makes an even stronger mark. If you want a compact flagship without compromising on core features, this one is genuinely easy to recommend.

Gadget Review

Nothing Phone 3a Lite delivers solid performance, clean software and a premium display, but faces strong competition from the CMF Phone 2 Pro 

Nothing Phone 3a Lite review: Strong basics, tough rivals

Nothing Phone 3a Lite nails the basics with a premium display and clean software, but its price puts it too close to the stronger the CMF Phone 2 Pro.

I&rsquo;ve been trying to make sense of the Nothing Phone 3a Lite, and it has honestly left me a little unsure. When I look at it in isolation, it feels like a genuinely good package. For ₹20,999, the overall experience holds up well, whether it is the performance, the design, or the software polish Nothing is known for.
The confusion starts the moment I compare it to the CMF Phone 2 Pro. That phone matches the 3a Lite almost part for part. The display feels the same, the software behaves the same, and the cameras on the CMF option are clearly ahead. When two products under the same larger brand start overlapping this tightly, it makes me wonder what the actual plan is.
So I am now trying to understand who the 3a Lite is really meant for and whether it genuinely deserves a spot next to a much stronger sibling.
<h2>Nothing Phone 3a Lite&rsquo;s Design: Still turning heads</h2>
The Nothing Phone 3a Lite grabbed my attention from the moment I unboxed it, which honestly didn&rsquo;t surprise me. Nothing has always had a way of making phones that stand out, and this one follows that tradition. Even if someone isn&rsquo;t familiar with the brand&rsquo;s transparent, industrial look, this design has enough visual character to make them stop and take a closer look. It carries the familiar Nothing flavour, but there is a tiny bit of novelty in the way it has been executed.
I have always seen Nothing&rsquo;s design language split opinions. Some people love the whole exposed-tech, slightly futuristic vibe, while others think it goes a bit over the top. Personally, I appreciate that the company never plays it safe. Their phones always have personality, and the 3a Lite is no exception. My white review unit highlights this even more. The exposed screws pop nicely, the small red accent draws your eye without trying too hard, and the entire back looks premium without needing to shout about it.
There is a new design detail here called the Battery Simulation layout on the rear panel. It adds a retro feel that instantly reminded me of old remote controls. It is quirky in a way that feels intentional, and I actually find it fun. At the same time, I do feel Nothing is starting to rely a little too heavily on the same visual formula. After eight phones that broadly look like variations of the same theme, I am hoping 2026 is when they attempt something riskier.
While using the phone, the build impressed me more than I expected. Its 8.3 mm thickness and 199 gram weight give it a dense, confident feel. It sits well in the hand and feels more premium than its price would suggest. The front and back both use Panda Glass, while the frame is plastic. The back picks up fingerprints faster than I would like, so for me, going without a case is not practical. Thankfully, Nothing includes a clear case in the box, which helps immediately.
There is an aluminium mid-frame on the inside that keeps everything solid and reassuring. You also get IP54 protection, which may not sound like much, but plenty of phones in this bracket skip any form of rating, so I definitely see it as a positive.
The rear camera arrangement is one area I am a little unsure about. The three lenses sit directly on the surface with no traditional camera island, which gives them a floating look. I am still deciding whether I like it or not.
And despite Carl Pei hinting at a future beyond the Glyph system, the 3a Lite still keeps it alive. There is a single Glyph strip at the bottom that handles countdowns, alerts and basic notifications. It is subtle but still gives the phone that Nothing identity.
The last design element is the Essential Key under the power button. It has a slightly curved shape, but the moment you put a case on, both buttons feel almost identical. I kept mixing them up until I eventually started checking before pressing anything.
<h2>Nothing Phone 3a Lite&rsquo;s Display: Smooth, sharp and mostly impressive</h2>
The Nothing Phone 3a Lite uses a 6.77-inch FHD+ flexible AMOLED panel, and the moment it lights up, it feels far more premium than what you usually get at this price. The screen is crisp, colours look rich without going overboard and the 120Hz refresh rate genuinely lifts the experience. Whether I am scrolling through socials or watching YouTube, everything feels fluid and clean. Nothing says this is the same panel used on the 3a and 3a Pro, and based on how refined it looks, I do not doubt that for a second.
Because this is a flexible AMOLED screen, the bezels are slim on all four sides, giving the phone a more polished look. Viewing angles hold up well, touch response feels snappy and overall, it performs at a level that reminds me of phones that cost much more. Black levels are exactly what you expect from OLED, and the colour tuning feels tasteful.
The compromises start to show once you dig deeper. This is not an LTPO panel, so the refresh rate cannot drop down to 1Hz when you enable Always On Display. That means the phone keeps running at a higher refresh rate even when it does not need to, which is not ideal for long-term battery efficiency.
Brightness is also where I noticed the first real limitation. HDR peaks are impressive at 3000 nits, but the 1300 nits outdoor brightness is just about fine. On a sunny day, the glossy glass on top makes reflections more noticeable. Nothing OS&rsquo;s high-contrast UI helps a bit, but there were still plenty of moments where I had to shift angles just to see things clearly.
Audio, unfortunately, is the biggest disappointment. A mono speaker on a phone costing over ₹15,000 in 2025 simply feels outdated. It gets loud, but it has no depth or fullness, and the bottom-firing setup gets blocked far too easily when I am holding the phone. It is passable for quick clips, but not something I would trust for long movies or gaming sessions.
<h2>Nothing Phone 3a Lite&rsquo;s Cameras: Capable, but clearly limited</h2>
The Nothing Phone 3a Lite technically arrives with three cameras, but in real-world use, only one of them truly feels meaningful. The 50MP primary sensor with EIS is the workhorse here and carries almost the entire shooting experience. The other two cameras are an 8MP ultrawide and a 2MP macro, and I will say it straight: the macro lens adds nothing of value. Even one of Nothing&rsquo;s own executives publicly criticised the industry trend of adding filler macro sensors, and this feels like exactly that kind of decision.
The main camera, thankfully, performs well enough to hold the setup together. In daylight, it captures solid detail, gets colours fairly accurate and handles dynamic range with confidence. There are times when the processing becomes a little too intense, especially in scenes with a lot going on. Some photos look slightly over-processed, but not to a point where the image becomes unusable.
At 2X zoom, which is just a crop from the main sensor, you do lose a bit of sharpness and consistency in colour. Even then, for a phone at this price, the results are acceptable and sometimes surprisingly decent. The ultrawide camera is serviceable but clearly limited by its 8MP resolution. It often produces slightly darker images, and while sharpness is fine in the centre, finer details quickly fall apart. It is usable, but it never really impresses.
Low-light photography is where things start falling apart. Both the main and ultrawide sensors struggle to control noise, and 2X zoom becomes very grainy. You can get okay results when there is enough ambient light, but once the lighting becomes challenging, noise becomes difficult to ignore.
For video, the Phone 3a Lite records up to 4K at 30fps, which is reasonable at this price. Colours look good, dynamic range is handled well and EIS keeps footage fairly steady. There is also a 1080p 120fps option for slow motion.
The 16MP selfie camera turned out to be a pleasant surprise. It delivers good detail, natural skin tones and surprisingly clean portraits. Overall, the camera system is fine for casual use, but there are clearly stronger options available if photography is your priority.
<h2>Nothing Phone 3a Lite&rsquo;s Performance: Surprisingly strong for the segment</h2>
The Nothing Phone 3a Lite runs on MediaTek&rsquo;s Dimensity 7300 Pro, the same chip used in the CMF Phone 2 Pro. Because of that, I went in expecting solid everyday performance, and the phone delivered exactly that. It feels smooth in day-to-day use, apps open quickly and moving between tasks never really slows it down.
The bigger surprise showed up in the benchmark tests. I assumed the phone would pull in a fairly standard score for this segment, but the AnTuTu result climbed to almost 9.6 lakh. That instantly got my attention, especially because the phone barely warmed up during the run. Geekbench results were just as reassuring, with 1015 for single-core and 2942 for multi-core.
My review unit came with 8GB of RAM, and Nothing also gives you the option to add virtual RAM through their RAM booster feature. Storage options include 128GB and 256GB, and there is even a microSD card slot that supports up to 2TB. It is rare to see expandable storage on phones in 2025, so I genuinely appreciate this flexibility.
I spent a fair amount of time gaming on it as well. For casual and moderately demanding titles, the experience was smooth, and BGMI ran well enough for me to play comfortably. Still, the Dimensity 7300 Pro is not built for serious competitive gaming. It cannot fully utilise the 120Hz display in heavy titles, and you will notice the limitations if you push it too far. For anyone who plays casually, though, the 3a Lite performs better than expected for the price.
<h2>Nothing Phone 3a Lite&rsquo;s software experience and UI: Clean, but some unhappy changes</h2>
My time with the Nothing Phone 3a Lite started on a slightly uneven note. It runs Nothing OS 3.5 based on Android 15, and while the interface looked familiar and clean, the first two days were not perfectly smooth.&nbsp;
Apps like Chrome and the Play Store sometimes refused to open or would shut down halfway through loading. A small update arrived almost immediately, and once I installed it, the phone settled into the stable, polished behaviour I normally expect from Nothing. Animations felt consistent again, and the UI regained that clean rhythm that has become one of the brand&rsquo;s strengths.
Nothing is said to be working on a major design overhaul for early 2026, but the 3a Lite sticks to the current blueprint. I have seen a few early hints of Nothing OS 4.0, and some of those ideas do not sit well with me yet. Lock Glimpse is the clearest example. It cycles through curated wallpapers and short pieces of content on the lockscreen, and the first thing I thought of was Glance. I have never liked the idea of turning the lockscreen into a space that seeks engagement, and while Nothing&rsquo;s approach is much more toned down right now, I hope they do not lean further into this direction.
There is also a small but noticeable shift in the amount of pre-installed apps. Facebook and Instagram now come bundled with the phone. I use both, so it does not bother me personally, and you can uninstall them without any trouble. Still, it does feel like a departure from the original promise of keeping the software as clean as possible.
Once those concerns are out of the way, the good parts shine through. Nothing OS still has one of the most cohesive visual identities in the Android world. The widgets feel polished, the menus are tidy and the stock apps have a simple, thoughtful design. I genuinely prefer their gallery app over Google Photos when I want to browse images quickly.
In terms of updates, Nothing promises three years of OS upgrades and six years of security patches. Since the phone launches with Android 15 and Android 16 is already on the horizon, this effectively means two major platform upgrades. The Essential Key, Essential Space and Essential Search continue to be genuinely useful tools and round out the experience in a practical way that I appreciate in daily use.
<h2>Nothing Phone 3a Lite&rsquo;s battery life &amp; charging: Reliable for daily use</h2>
The Nothing Phone 3a Lite&rsquo;s 5,000mAh battery has been dependable in my usual day-to-day use. I can get through a full day without worrying about charging, and even on heavy days, the phone does not leave me anxious. The 33W fast charging helps a lot, although some rivals now offer larger batteries at similar prices.
A quick 20-minute top-up gets the phone close to the halfway point, and a complete charge finishes in just under an hour. There is also 5W reverse wired charging, which I find useful for quickly powering smaller accessories when I need it.
<h2>Verdict: Does the Nothing Phone 3a Lite hold its ground?</h2>
The Nothing Phone 3a Lite is actually quite easy to appreciate. The screen feels premium, day-to-day performance is steady, and Nothing OS still delivers that clean, minimal vibe that makes the brand stand out. The cameras won&rsquo;t amaze you, but for casual photography they&rsquo;re perfectly capable. Add dependable battery life, and the fundamentals are all in place.
The problem starts when you look at the price tag.
At ₹20,999 without any launch deals, the 3a Lite walks straight into the territory of the Phone 2 Pro. And that&rsquo;s where the equation tilts. The 2 Pro simply offers a stronger overall package, especially with its better camera setup, and that naturally makes buyers think twice.
Then there&rsquo;s the India-specific angle. CMF has become a massive part of Nothing&rsquo;s strategy here, and the CMF Phone 2 Pro sits extremely close to this device in both pricing and performance &mdash; while still offering clear hardware advantages. That creates unavoidable overlap.
So the 3a Lite isn&rsquo;t a weak product. It&rsquo;s just running into competition from its own family. If someone genuinely likes Nothing&rsquo;s design language, the UI, and the overall aesthetic appeal, the 3a Lite will absolutely fit their taste. But for most buyers, it may take a strong launch offer or a very specific preference for the phone to stand out as the better pick.

iQOO 15 is a balanced 2025 flagship with a 2K 144Hz LTPO OLED display, Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, big camera upgrade and a 7000mAh battery for all-day use.

iQOO 15 Review: A Balanced 2025 Flagship That Delivers Big Time

iQOO 15 Review: A premium leap that finally puts iQOO in the top tier

<h3>The iQOO 15 delivers top-tier performance, refined design, strong cameras and a massive battery, making it one of the most balanced flagship phones you can buy in 2025.</h3>

The iQOO 15 lands at a time when &ldquo;affordable flagships&rdquo; don&rsquo;t really feel affordable anymore. For the last few years, phones like the iQOO 13, Realme GT 7 Pro and OnePlus 13 stayed safely under ₹60,000, but this generation has pushed past that ceiling, forcing brands to justify the hike in different ways. OnePlus went all-in on a 165Hz display, but the drop in resolution annoyed long-time users. iQOO, meanwhile, decided not to gamble. Instead, they took the already-solid iQOO 13 blueprint and simply polished everything that needed attention.
After using the iQOO 15 for two weeks, it&rsquo;s clear those tweaks were deliberate. The new Q3 chip is less about chasing headline FPS and more about making games look smoother and more detailed. The camera system also gets meaningful upgrades. So the real question is: does this subtle refinement strategy pay off? In many ways, it absolutely does.
<h2>iQOO 15 design check: Real upgrade or minor refinement?</h2>
The design is really where the iQOO 15 starts making its case. On spec sheets it looks like a gentle evolution of the iQOO 13, but the moment you pick it up, it feels like a completely more grown-up device. There is a noticeable jump in how premium it feels, and that caught me off guard in the best way.
I have been using the Legend White variant, which leans into a very clean, almost classy look. It is a proper glass sandwich with Schott Xensation Alpha on the front and a glass back that feels more expensive than the price suggests. The frame is metal, likely an aluminium alloy, and it ties the whole thing together with a solid, reassuring feel in the hand.
All that glass and metal does have a consequence. The iQOO 15 is not trying to be a featherweight. My unit weighs around 220 grams, and you do feel that density. However, at roughly 8.17mm thick, it never becomes awkward to hold. The flat sides and the matte finish on the back help a lot with grip, and considering there is a 7000 mAh battery inside, the phone feels surprisingly well-balanced rather than bulky.
Visually, the Legend White version keeps things minimal. It is essentially a clean white slab with shiny metallic edges and a small racing-flag strip near the bottom. If you enjoy simple, uncluttered designs, this will probably hit the spot. For me, it borders on being a little too plain, but the fact that it barely shows fingerprints is a big win.
If you want something slightly different, there is the Alpha Black version with a fibre-glass back. It shaves off a bit of weight and thickness, but the difference is subtle enough that you will only really notice it if you compare them side by side. The one I really wish was available globally is the Lingyun edition from China, with a marble-like rear panel that gives the phone a genuinely distinctive character.
iQOO&rsquo;s Monster Halo light is back as well, but it has been moved outside the camera module and now sits under the outer ring. The glow is softer and more subdued, to the point where I actually missed a few notifications because it was so faint. Interestingly, once you put on the bundled case, the light stands out a bit more.
In terms of durability, there are no real complaints. The chassis feels solid, there is no creaking or flex, and the phone carries IP68 and IP69 ratings, so dust, splashes and the occasional dunk in water should not be a problem. Overall, the iQOO 15&rsquo;s design feels more refined, more secure in the hand and noticeably more premium than I expected when I first saw it on paper.
<h2>The iQOO 15&rsquo;s display is one of the best in its segment</h2>
The moment you switch on the iQOO 15, the display makes it very obvious that this phone is aiming for top-tier territory. It uses a 6.85-inch 2K LTPO AMOLED panel with a 144Hz ceiling, and the visual quality hits you instantly. iQOO has gone with Samsung&rsquo;s M14 OLED, and the clarity and colour accuracy honestly make it feel like something straight out of a much more expensive flagship lineup.
Brightness is where this screen flexes the hardest. It can comfortably hold 2600 nits in HBM and jump all the way to 6000 nits for tiny highlights in HDR scenes. With that kind of range, HDR movies and games pop beautifully, and since this is the first iQOO model with Dolby Vision support, the contrast and tone mapping across Netflix and YouTube look extremely polished. Everyday use also benefits &mdash; everything from menus to social feeds feels crisp and punchy.
The 144Hz refresh rate is more of a bonus than a constant. You will mostly see 120Hz across the UI, but a few titles can push the full 144Hz. I tested this with BGMI and Call of Duty Mobile and both ran smoothly at higher frame rates. Because the panel is LTPO, it can drop right down to 1Hz for the Always On Display, which helps keep battery drain under control.
Another small win is the ultrasonic fingerprint sensor. It unlocks quickly, works even with slightly wet fingers and feels more dependable than the optical readers most phones still use.
Where the iQOO 15 takes a step back is audio. The stereo speakers can get reasonably loud, but they do not match the richness or low-end punch you get from bigger flagships like the iPhone 17 Pro Max or Galaxy S25 Ultra. For casual viewing, calls or background videos, they are fine; they just don&rsquo;t stand out in any way.
<h2>The iQOO 15 gets some pretty big camera upgrades</h2>
Anyone who has followed iQOO&rsquo;s flagship phones over the years knows that cameras have never been the brand&rsquo;s strongest claim. The company has usually prioritised raw performance, display technology and gaming features, while treating photography as a supporting act. With the iQOO 15, that behaviour finally changes. This is the first time I have felt the brand genuinely invest in its camera system, and the difference is visible in both hardware choices and the way the images are processed.
The camera setup looks impressive even before you take a photo. The primary sensor is a 50MP Sony IMX921 with optical stabilisation. The telephoto camera is the biggest upgrade in the entire system. It now uses a 50MP 3x periscope based on the Sony IMX882. The ultrawide camera is also a 50MP unit. On paper, it is one of the most balanced triple camera systems iQOO has ever shipped.
Real improvements only reveal themselves when you start shooting, and this is where the iQOO 15 genuinely surprised me. The main 50MP camera produces clean photographs with excellent detail and a much more natural approach to colour. Many older iQOO devices boosted saturation a little too heavily, which often made scenes look artificial. That behaviour has now been toned down. Even in a difficult situation like shooting directly into bright sunlight, the exposure stayed controlled. Skies kept their texture, highlights stayed intact and shadow areas did not collapse into muddy patches. This feels like the most confident tuning iQOO has done until now.
The ultrawide camera keeps up well. It matches the primary camera in colour tone and contrast, which helps the entire system feel more cohesive. Sharpness remains respectable and distortion correction is handled with much more care than before. Edges look straight, buildings do not lean unnaturally and the frame stays accurate. This was a clear weakness in older models, so the improvement feels meaningful.
The standout upgrade is the new 3x periscope telephoto. This is easily the most capable zoom experience iQOO has created. Images at 3x are crisp, stabilised and full of detail. The real surprise is how well the phone performs at longer focal lengths. Up to around 20x or even 30x, the results remain very usable. Even beyond that point, the phone manages to produce images with decent clarity. At 165 mm and even close to 600 mm equivalent, textures remain visible and colours stay surprisingly consistent. This is a huge jump compared to anything the brand has previously offered.
Portrait photography benefits from this stronger telephoto system. The 85 mm portrait mode offers pleasing facial compression and natural tones. The 2x portrait mode from the main sensor also performs well. Skin tones remain clean and believable. Edge detection is accurate and the separation between subject and background looks smooth. Portraits from the 3x telephoto lens feel almost cinematic. You get sharp subject detail and a soft, controlled depth effect that looks much more polished. iQOO has added new portrait style filters too. They are fun and can add some variety, even if they are not transformative features.
Low light performance shows the biggest generation-over-generation leap. The main camera brings in a significant amount of light without producing the waxy textures that many phones fall into. Skin tones remain realistic and finer details stay intact. The phone sometimes takes a moment longer to capture the frame, but the results justify the extra second. The ultrawide camera is the only area where some refinement is still needed. Noise becomes noticeable when you zoom in on night shots, although the overall output is still good enough for social media.
For video, the iQOO 15 can record in 8K at 30 fps, although most people will prefer 4K 60 fps for stability and practicality. Footage in 4K looks clean with solid dynamic range and reliable stabilisation. Motion is handled smoothly and colours look natural. It is a strong video performer for its segment.
The 32MP selfie camera performs well too. HDR is handled intelligently. Even in strong outdoor lighting, the background maintains detail while the face stays properly lit. Skin tones look authentic and not overly softened. The consistency between indoor and outdoor selfies is particularly impressive.
After spending time with the iQOO 15, it is clear that the brand has finally put serious effort into its camera system. It is not the absolute best camera phone you can buy, but it is polished, reliable and far ahead of previous iQOO flagships.
<h2>The iQOO 15&rsquo;s real-world performance is top-notch</h2>
If there is one thing iQOO has been known for since the beginning, it is sheer brute-force performance. Even their so-called entry-level flagships often trade blows with much more expensive devices. The iQOO 15 continues that tradition with a level of confidence that feels very deliberate. It is clear that performance is still the brand&rsquo;s favourite arena.
At the centre of the phone is Qualcomm&rsquo;s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. It is paired with LPDDR5X Ultra RAM and UFS 4.1 storage. The RAM deserves a special mention because the &ldquo;Ultra&rdquo; tag is not simply a marketing flourish. It actually runs at a higher clock speed than the standard LPDDR5X modules used in most flagships.&nbsp;
This gives the phone an incredibly responsive feel. Navigating the interface, loading heavy assets, switching between multiple apps or jumping into visually demanding games all feel genuinely instantaneous. During my entire testing period, the phone did not stutter or hesitate once.
Benchmark numbers match what you feel in day-to-day use. The iQOO 15 delivers around 3.89 million on Antutu. On Geekbench, it records 3672 in single-core and 10548 in multi-core. These results place the phone very close to the Realme GT 8 Pro and the OnePlus 15. Realme&rsquo;s flagship reaches approximately 3.83 million on Antutu with 3611 single-core and 10482 multi-core scores. The OnePlus 15 pushes slightly ahead with 4.06 million on Antutu and 3646 single-core and 11025 multi-core. In simple terms, the iQOO 15 is right in the middle of this pack and competes confidently.
However, benchmarks are only a small part of the story. The iQOO 15 becomes far more interesting once you start gaming. After adjusting a couple of in-game settings, I was able to get consistent 144 Hz output in both BGMI and Call of Duty Mobile. The smoothness is immediately noticeable, but the real highlight is not the high refresh rate. The most surprising improvement is how well the phone handles ray tracing in supported titles.
Ray tracing is known for destroying performance on gaming PCs. Seeing it run comfortably on a phone is genuinely impressive. This capability comes from the new Q3 Supercomputing chip that iQOO is using. It has its own dedicated RT core and works with Vivo&rsquo;s QNSS Super Rendering Engine. Games that support ray tracing, such as Genshin Impact, gain far richer reflections, more realistic lighting behaviour and deeper shadows. All of this happens without the performance dip you would normally expect.
The Q3 chip also brings two helpful technologies called Game Super Resolution and Lossless Frame Interpolation. Game Super Resolution allows the phone to render scenes at a lower internal resolution and then upscale them to 2K using AI. This significantly reduces the load on the GPU during heavy battles or open-world exploration. Lossless Frame Interpolation inserts artificially generated frames between real ones, which results in smoother motion and a more consistent frame rate. When both features work together, the iQOO 15 delivers an experience that feels very close to a dedicated handheld gaming device.
Thermal performance deserves credit as well. Even after long gaming sessions, the phone maintained comfortable temperatures. iQOO uses an 8K single-layer vapour chamber, and the company claims it is the largest cooling system in the industry. After hours of continuous testing, I can confidently say the phone stayed far cooler than expected.
If you want a device that performs like a top-tier flagship, excels at gaming and stays cool throughout heavy use, the iQOO 15 stands out as one of the strongest performers of 2025.
The software on the iQOO 15 feels like a clean break from everything the brand has done until now. Instead of the familiar Funtouch OS, the phone boots into OriginOS 6 built on Android 16, and that instantly changes the personality of the device.
<h2>iQOO 15&rsquo;s OriginOS 6 completely changes the user experience</h2>
The overall design direction feels far more refined. The interface leans into a lighter, more airy aesthetic with soft gradients, semi-transparent layers and rounded elements that give the UI a calmer look. Animations feel smoother, transitions flow more naturally and the entire OS carries a sense of polish that older iQOO phones struggled to maintain. Although a few aspects remind you of visionOS or iOS, the general styling still feels unique enough to stand on its own.
Performance within the OS benefits as well. App launches feel quicker, multitasking behaves predictably and background management has noticeably improved. I did not run into random closures or apps resetting themselves, which used to be a mild annoyance on earlier models. Most system apps have already adopted the new design language. The few that have not yet been updated do not interfere with usability.
OriginOS also introduces several thoughtful touches. Photo editing tools feel more capable, and moving data or interacting with other devices in the Vivo ecosystem feels more seamless. These are small changes, but they add up during daily use.
The AI feature set remains fairly basic. You get writing assistance and AI-based photo tools, but nothing that rivals the more advanced experiences offered by Samsung, Google, Oppo or OnePlus.
What stands out is iQOO&rsquo;s long-term update promise. Buyers get five years of Android updates and seven years of security patches, which gives the software experience a strong sense of longevity.
<h2>The iQOO 15 manages power and charging pretty well</h2>
The iQOO 15 behaves exactly like a phone with a massive 7000 mAh battery should. The extra capacity over the iQOO 13&rsquo;s 6000 mAh pack is immediately noticeable in daily use. Screen time stretches longer, power drops more slowly and the phone generally feels built for endurance.
Charging, however, sees a slight reshuffle. The wired system now tops out at 100 W instead of 120 W, but in return you get 40 W wireless charging. There is no magnetic alignment, so you need to place the phone carefully on a pad, although the charging speed remains consistently strong. Using the wired charger, the device went from 5 percent to a full charge in under an hour during my testing.
A full battery easily carries the phone through a full day of heavy usage. If you drop the resolution and manage background activity sensibly, reaching close to two days on one charge is very achievable.
<h2>Verdict: Is the iQOO 15 worth it?</h2>
After spending a considerable amount of time with the iQOO 15, I kept waiting for a major flaw to appear, and it never really did. The only area that consistently felt behind its competitors is the AI suite. For a 2025 flagship, the AI tools feel quite basic and lack the depth you see on devices from Oppo and OnePlus. To be fair, iQOO has never marketed this phone as an AI pioneer. The focus has always been on performance, day-to-day reliability and strong hardware, so the software limitations are not completely unexpected.
What you do get is a phone that handles the fundamentals extremely well. Performance is consistently top tier, the UI feels polished and responsive, and the camera setup finally steps into territory where it can comfortably compete with other brands in the segment.&nbsp;
The main and telephoto cameras deliver dependable results in almost every lighting condition. The ultrawide camera is the only part of the system that still needs a step up in low light. It performs well enough, but it does not fully match the standard expected from a premium flagship.&nbsp;
If photography is your primary reason for upgrading, the Vivo X300 or Oppo Find X9 will offer a more complete camera package. The OnePlus 15 also remains a strong all-rounder, although its display compromises make the choice a little more complicated.
What makes the iQOO 15 stand out is how well it balances everything. It does not chase one headline feature at the cost of another. Instead, it offers strong performance, reliable software, capable cameras, excellent battery life and premium design in a way that feels cohesive. For many buyers, this is exactly what a flagship should be.
The pricing shift is the one factor that will spark debate. The iQOO 13 launched below ₹60,000 and even dipped close to ₹52,000 during early sale offers. The iQOO 15 starts at ₹72,000 before discounts, which is a significant jump. However, the overall situation is more complicated. Rising component costs, the weaker rupee and higher RAM and storage prices give brands very little room to manoeuvre.
Whether long-time iQOO fans accept the new pricing is something only time will answer. What I can say with confidence is that the iQOO 15 earns its place in the 2025 flagship crowd. If you are planning an upgrade, it absolutely deserves to be on your shortlist.
&nbsp;

Realme GT 8 Pro Dream Edition review — racing-inspired flagship with Ricoh cameras, Snapdragon 8 Elite & 7,000mAh battery. See if the Dream Edition is truly worth it.

Realme GT 8 Pro Dream Edition review — Truly premium or just hype?

Realme GT 8 Pro Dream Edition: Premium or Just Racing Paint? Full Review  

The Realme GT 8 Pro Dream Edition mixes Aston Martin F1's styling with Ricoh-powered cameras, Snapdragon 8 Elite muscle, and a 7,000mAh battery for a loud, unapologetically extra flagship experience.

Back in May, Realme came out of nowhere with that Aston Martin Aramco F1 collab &mdash; the GT 7 Dream Edition. Nobody expected it, and suddenly people were like&hellip; okay, Realme is trying something.
Now six months later, we&rsquo;ve got the follow-up. The Realme GT 8 Pro Dream Edition. Same racing pedigree, full Aston Martin vibe, and a ₹79,999 price tag. For context, the normal GT 8 Pro starts at ₹72,999
But here&rsquo;s the thing&hellip; the moment you open the box, you kind of get it. This variant doesn&rsquo;t just show up &mdash; it performs an entrance. There&rsquo;s real premium energy here, and after using it, a lot of it actually lands.
There are also a few choices that made me tilt my head a little and go&hellip; huh. So let&rsquo;s break down what Realme nailed, and what probably needed another round of changes.&nbsp;
<h2>Realme GT 8 Pro Dream Edition: Top-Notch Unboxing Experience!</h2>
The unboxing is dramatic. Like, Realme actually committed to the bit.
You lift the lid and the box opens with these wing-style flaps inspired by Aston Martin&rsquo;s Silver Wing emblem. Sitting inside is the phone in full Racing Green. The texture on the back has these aerodynamic carve lines &mdash; it has grip, it has attitude, it looks fast even when it&rsquo;s not moving.
Even the SIM ejector tool looks like something pulled out of an F1 pit garage. It&rsquo;s extra&hellip; but it works. Then you flip the phone around and&hellip; boom. Aramco. Front and center. Loud and proud.
It kind of steals the spotlight from the Aston Martin badge sitting below it. And look...I understand the sponsorship thing. Aramco is Aston Martin F1&rsquo;s headline partner. Fair.
But nobody (and I mean nobody) is buying this because it&rsquo;s an Aramco phone. They&rsquo;re buying it because it&rsquo;s the &ldquo;Aston Martin edition,&rdquo; and yet the Aston Martin crest feels like it got demoted.
Realme also gives you a tiny Torx screwdriver in the box so you can remove the circular camera plate and swap it for a square one. It&rsquo;s cool for about five minutes. You do it once, look at it, realize the phone looks 98 percent the same, and then that screwdriver goes straight back into the box for the rest of its life.
And because of this whole swap system, Realme throws in two cases &mdash; one cutout for the round plate and one for the square. Cute idea, but let&rsquo;s be real &mdash; nobody is changing these plates every weekend.
Once you push the branding decisions and the novelty hardware aside, the phone itself is legitimately premium. The Realme GT 8 Pro Dream Edition feels great in the hand.
It&rsquo;s got a metal frame, a very manageable 214-gram weight, and legit durability with both IP68 and IP69 ratings. This is one of those phones you can actually use outdoors, not just admire on your desk.
<h2>Realme GT 8 Pro Dream Edition: 2K 144Hz AMOLED Display &nbsp;</h2>
The display is one of those parts you notice immediately. You&rsquo;re looking at a 6.78-inch 2K AMOLED panel that feels fast from the moment you unlock it. It&rsquo;s sharp, it&rsquo;s responsive, and every swipe lands exactly how you expect. Would LTPO have pushed it into ultra-premium territory? Definitely. But even as LTPS, the way it handles brightness, contrast, and colour makes it feel like a proper flagship display.
Now, Realme loves throwing big numbers around and yes, the display technically does 144Hz. The catch is that it only unlocks in a small list of supported games. Everywhere else, the UI is capped at 120Hz. On the plus side, the bezels are super thin and the panel is fully flat, which means zero accidental side touches and no strange edge reflections outdoors.
Brightness is where Realme goes full &ldquo;spec sheet chaos.&rdquo; They&rsquo;re claiming 7,000 nits peak and around 2,000 nits outside. And it actually holds up. Outdoor visibility is solved. Pair that with HDR10, HDR10+ and Dolby Vision, and HDR content pops without blowing out skin tones or nuking shadows.
The stereo speakers are loud, but kind of one-note. You get volume, but not much texture in the highs or weight in the lows. It&rsquo;s fine for TikTok runs and reels, but not something you&rsquo;ll brag about.
The good news is that everything else around the display feels locked in. The haptics land clean, and the ultrasonic fingerprint sensor is one of the most reliable I&rsquo;ve used. It just works every single time. &nbsp;
<h2>Realme GT 8 Pro Dream Edition: Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 Power</h2>
Once you look past the special green paint, the GT 8 Pro Dream Edition is running the same hardware as the standard GT 8 Pro &mdash; and honestly, that&rsquo;s a win. At the heart of it is Qualcomm&rsquo;s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, and the phone wastes no time flexing it. Heavy apps, big games, long sessions&hellip; nothing makes it hiccup. It stays smooth in the way a proper flagship should.
Benchmarks do bring out the drama, though. During stress runs, the phone can hit around 45&deg;C, which is hot, but not unusual for top-end silicone. In real gameplay, it settles under 40&deg;C even after an hour of BGMI. On Antutu, it drops a 3.8 million score. That&rsquo;s a step below the OnePlus 15&rsquo;s 4 million, but still very respectable.
You also get 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 512GB of UFS 4.1 storage, so multitasking never chokes and apps stay loaded for long stretches. My only real &ldquo;why though?&rdquo; is the USB 2.0 port on an 80K phone. That one stings.
Now, for the gaming side. BGMI and Call of Duty: Mobile run smoothly, and the display does switch to 144Hz. Realme claims its new Hyper Vision+ AI chip injects extra frames to make gameplay appear smoother, even when the game isn&rsquo;t actually rendering them. And yes, it does feel fluid.
However, in my testing, COD: Mobile still caps at 60fps if you want max graphics. I unlocked 120fps, but only by dropping everything to Low plus Ultra frame rate.
<h2>Realme GT 8 Pro Dream Edition: New Ricoh Cameras!</h2>
This is the first Realme phone made in collaboration with Ricoh, and they didn&rsquo;t treat it like a token marketing badge. Ricoh&rsquo;s GR series is iconic in the street-photography world, and Realme actually pulls some of that DNA into the camera app.&nbsp;
There&rsquo;s a dedicated GR shooting mode with 28mm and 40mm focal lengths, a 3:2 aspect ratio, film tones tuned by Ricoh, and a &ldquo;Snap Focus&rdquo; mode that lets you raise the phone, tap, and instantly capture fixed-focus shots the way street shooters do.&nbsp;
It&rsquo;s a surprisingly well thought-out creative tool but strip away the Ricoh flair and the hardware still holds its own. On the back you&rsquo;re working with a 50-megapixel main sensor, a 50-megapixel ultra-wide, and a 200-megapixel telephoto with 3X optical zoom, which is a first for Realme. Up front, there&rsquo;s a 32-megapixel selfie camera.
The main camera delivers crisp detail, vivid colours, and strong contrast, though it does nudge toward the saturated side. Night shots lean brighter than necessary at times, but the noise control is solid. Since it&rsquo;s using the same Sony IMX906 as the OnePlus 15, the results feel familiar.
The 200MP telephoto is easily the most fun lens on this phone. At 3X, portraits and zoom shots look sharp and clean with a nice depth to them. Push up to 6X and you&rsquo;ll see small losses in texture and clarity. Beyond that, it&rsquo;s mostly about bragging rights &mdash; yes, it does 120X, but the quality falls off well before you get there.
The ultra-wide is the weak link. It works fine in daylight, but fine textures get mushy, and low-light scenes lose dynamic range fast. It gets the job done, but it&rsquo;s not the lens you&rsquo;ll reach for unless you have to.
On video, Realme went aggressive. You can shoot up to 4K 120fps on the main and telephoto cameras, or 8K 30fps if you&rsquo;re feeling brave. You also get 10-bit LOG and Dolby Vision HDR, and the results are genuinely impressive for a phone in this price bracket.
Colour depth is strong, highlights don&rsquo;t blow out easily, and you can still use pro formats at 4K 120, which is wild. Stabilisation is the only area that needs polish &mdash; quick pans, fast movement and low-light clips can introduce wobble or jitter that breaks the otherwise solid footage.
The selfie camera lands firmly in the middle. In good lighting it&rsquo;s sharp and vibrant, but in poor light it slips quickly. There&rsquo;s no autofocus either, which hurts group shots or close-range framing more than you&rsquo;d expect.
<h2>Realme GT 8 Pro Dream Edition: &nbsp;Realme UI 7 is here!</h2>
On the software side, the GT 8 Pro Dream Edition boots straight into Realme UI 7 on top of Android 16. It&rsquo;s actually the first Realme phone to launch with it out of the box, so you&rsquo;re getting the newest version without waiting for an update.
Because this is the Dream Edition, Realme went all-in on the Aston Martin theme. The UI comes pre-dressed in racing green accents, custom icons, and F1-style wallpapers. It&rsquo;s cool for the first few days, but after that, I switched back to the standard icon pack because it&rsquo;s cleaner and way easier to live with.
Realme is promising 4 years of major Android updates and 5 years of security patches, which puts it in a comfortably &ldquo;flagship&rdquo; upgrade cycle. Not quite Samsung or Google territory, but much better than expected.
The big visual change is something Realme calls &ldquo;Light Glass.&rdquo; Think translucent widgets, softer highlights, and a more layered lockscreen that mimics depth. Yes, there&rsquo;s obvious inspiration from iOS 26, but to Realme&rsquo;s credit, it doesn&rsquo;t feel like a copy-paste. It feels like their take on the idea.
Expanded icons are genuinely useful &mdash; tap and stretch an app icon, and it turns into a mini widget with shortcuts. It&rsquo;s quicker than long-press menus and way more intuitive. There are also video lockscreen backgrounds and a revamped theming engine that finally paints the UI more consistently instead of half-colouring everything.
The AI additions are everywhere but not in your face. You get Google&rsquo;s big hitters like Gemini Assistant, Gemini Live, Circle to Search, and instant translation on-screen. Inside the gallery, Realme adds its own tools like AI Eraser, AI Ultra Clarity, Unblur, Perfect Shot, and a few other smart edits that actually deliver usable results. They&rsquo;re not &ldquo;demo features,&rdquo; they&rsquo;re things you will genuinely end up using.
Then there&rsquo;s Mind Space &mdash; the same system you&rsquo;ll find on the Oppo Find X9 Pro and on the OnePlus lineup as Plus Mind. It&rsquo;s basically a digital catch-all for everything your brain wants to collect throughout the day. Screenshots, notes, links, webpages &mdash; dump them all in, and AI organizes the chaos into summaries and reference boards. If you&rsquo;re a student, a reviewer, or someone who constantly screenshots ideas, this might be your new favourite app.
<h2>Realme GT 8 Pro Dream Edition: 7,000mAh Battery &amp; 120W Fast Charging</h2>
The 7,000mAh battery on this thing is borderline absurd &mdash; in a good way. I was cruising past six and a half to seven hours of screen-on time without trying to baby it.&nbsp;
But, as always, gaming is where the real story shows up. Forty-five minutes of Call of Duty: Mobile knocked off around 11% of the charge. That&rsquo;s almost double what the OnePlus 15 burns through in the same session, and that phone is literally pushing 165fps. So if you&rsquo;re grinding competitive matches or long sessions, the battery will remind you it&rsquo;s human.
Charging is where Realme flexes. With 120W wired charging and Smart Rapid enabled, it jumps from zero to full in about 45&ndash;50 minutes. Switch that mode off, and the charge time stretches past an hour, but the phone stays noticeably cooler while it juices up &mdash; which I&rsquo;ll take any day. There&rsquo;s 50W wireless charging too. Not crazy fast, but perfect for that &ldquo;drop and forget&rdquo; desk or bedside setup.
<h2>Realme GT 8 Pro Dream Edition Review: Verdict</h2>
The Realme GT 8 Pro Dream Edition does not try to blend into the lineup. It walks into the room loud, polished, and very sure of itself. And honestly, a lot of the package backs that confidence &mdash; performance is strong, the display feels premium in everyday use, and the Ricoh camera features actually make shooting more enjoyable.
But then you hit a few head-scratchers. A USB 2.0 port on an almost ₹80k phone. An LTPS panel instead of LTPO. A camera plate swap system that feels gimmicky.
Spend a few days with it though, and the real personality shows. This is Realme at its loudest, most experimental, and honestly, most fun.&nbsp;
So is it worth the extra ₹7,000 over the regular GT 8 Pro? If you&rsquo;re into F1, Aston Martin, or you just want a phone that looks like it came from a pit lane&hellip; you already know your answer.
If you just want the performance, cameras and battery without the cosplay? Save the cash &mdash; the standard GT 8 Pro gives you the same muscle minus the drama.

Blaupunkt 65-inch Mini QD Google TV brings premium design, bright Mini LED visuals, and a feature-packed Google TV experience at a premium price. But is it the right big-screen upgrade for 2025 buyers?

Blaupunkt 65-inch Google Mini QD TV Review: The Surprise Package of 2025?

Blaupunkt 65-inch Mini QD Google TV brings premium design, bright Mini LED visuals, and a feature-packed Google TV experience at a premium price. But is it the right big-screen upgrade for 2025 buyers?

Blaupunkt&rsquo;s reputation in India has always leaned more toward audio products than televisions. That&rsquo;s why the arrival of its first Mini QD Google TV in the country feels like a major shift &mdash; not just in product strategy, but in ambition.&nbsp;
This isn&rsquo;t another entry-level TV meant to blend into the crowded budget segment. At ₹94,999 for the 65-inch model and ₹1,49,999 for the 75-inch variant, Blaupunkt is deliberately entering territory dominated by established premium players.
And the brand doesn&rsquo;t tiptoe in. It walks in confidently, offering a 4K Mini LED panel with 1500 nits peak brightness, Google TV, Dolby Vision, Atmos support, and a premium design that immediately sets expectations high.&nbsp;
What becomes interesting is how this TV performs when you push beyond first impressions &mdash; because Blaupunkt gets several big things right, several small things wrong, and a few surprising things unexpectedly uneven.
<h2>Design &amp; Build: Understated but Firmly Premium</h2>
One thing Blaupunkt clearly didn&rsquo;t compromise on is build quality. The 65-inch unit I received for review has slim bezels, a metal stand, and a clean design that gives it a premium look many mid-range brands still miss.
It also feels solid. Whether you set it up on the stand or mount it on a wall, the panel sits firm and stable &mdash; a level of sturdiness you don&rsquo;t always see even on more expensive TVs.
This sense of physical quality matters more than people think. A TV this large becomes part of your living space, and Blaupunkt&rsquo;s design feels considered rather than decorative. It&rsquo;s a design that communicates, &ldquo;We may be new to premium TVs, but we understand what one is supposed to feel like.&rdquo;
<h2>Start-up Delay: The First Thing You'll Notice</h2>
Ironically, the very first interaction with the TV highlights one of its biggest usability drawbacks. From the moment you press the power button on the remote, there is a noticeable pause &mdash; roughly 10 seconds &mdash; before the screen lights up.
Ten seconds isn&rsquo;t catastrophic, but it&rsquo;s long enough to feel like the system is gathering itself before waking up. On a daily basis, the delay becomes part of the TV&rsquo;s personality: capable once running, but slow to get moving. It&rsquo;s unusual for a modern Google TV, and definitely an area where Blaupunkt needs optimization.
<h2>Picture Quality: Natural, Controlled and Dependably Bright</h2>
Blaupunkt&rsquo;s Mini LED implementation avoids the common trap of prioritizing sheer brightness over picture stability. Mini LED, essentially, uses more densely packed, smaller LEDs for better illumination control. The advantage is obvious in real-world use: higher brightness, stronger colours, better shadow separation than standard LED TVs.
But Blaupunkt doesn&rsquo;t push the panel into overly vibrant territory. Instead, it takes a balanced, almost conservative approach &mdash; and this turns out to be one of the TV&rsquo;s quietly impressive strengths.
Blaupunkt&rsquo;s take on brightness is actually pretty interesting. A lot of TVs in this price range try way too hard to look &ldquo;impressive,&rdquo; cranking up highlights until everything looks like it&rsquo;s glowing. This one doesn&rsquo;t do that.&nbsp;
With 1500 nits of peak brightness, it plays it cool. The picture stays steady and controlled. It looks consistent across different types of content, whether it&rsquo;s animation, travel videos or fast sports. Colours stay natural and don&rsquo;t slip into that fake, over-processed look.
Moreover, with Dolby Vision, HDR10 and HLG, the TV pulls out more detail from supported content. Highlights look cleaner and shadows show more depth, revealing things you&rsquo;d usually miss on a standard LED panel.
Where the TV feels immediately confident is in sports. Fast camera pans in football matches, and tennis smashes all hold up well. The action feels smooth, with minimal judder or artifacts.
The 120Hz panel refresh rate plays a huge role here. Even rapid transitions between brightly lit frames do not throw the TV off. Motion interpolation doesn&rsquo;t create that unnatural &ldquo;soap-opera&rdquo; sheen either &mdash; a welcome relief, given how often mid-range TVs mishandle fast content. Viewers who binge sports during the day will find this TV especially satisfying.
Darker scenes on this TV is&hellip; fine. Not amazing, not bad &mdash; just right in the middle. The 100,000:1 contrast ratio and local dimming do help, so you actually see more in the shadows than you would on a basic LED TV.
When you&rsquo;re watching darker scenes in crime dramas or thrillers, the little details don&rsquo;t disappear. You can still follow what&rsquo;s going on. That said, the panel still can&rsquo;t escape the inherent limitations of Mini LED technology.
Blacks hover closer to charcoal than true deep black, and certain scenes expose faint halos around bright objects. I noticed this clearly while watching Paul Thomas Anderson&rsquo;s One Battle After Another.&nbsp;
The film relies heavily on night sequences, and while the TV kept the overall image coherent and watchable, the deepest shadows never quite reached the inky richness you&rsquo;d get from an OLED. Subtle gradients in the darkness were visible, but they lacked the velvety smoothness that cinephiles would hope for.
<h2>Audio: Loud, But Lacking Control</h2>
On paper, Blaupunkt&rsquo;s 108W Dolby Atmos-certified system sounds formidable. Six speakers and two subwoofers should theoretically offer depth, power and spatial clarity. In practice, the system delivers volume, not finesse.
The TV can get genuinely loud &mdash; loud enough to overwhelm smaller rooms &mdash; but the audio profile becomes messy at higher volumes. The bass resonates so strongly that the frame vibrates, particularly during explosions, chase scenes or high-intensity soundtracks.&nbsp;
This isn&rsquo;t the controlled rumble you get from a premium audio system. It&rsquo;s a rattling, boomy vibration that interrupts immersion rather than enhancing it.
Dialogue clarity remains usable, but midrange tones sometimes compete with the overactive bass. The result is sound that feels unbalanced, powerful but undisciplined.
A soundbar is not merely an upgrade here &mdash; it is almost mandatory.
<h2>Software &amp; Performance: Perfect Polish</h2>
So the software here is Google TV &mdash; and honestly, that&rsquo;s a win right out of the box. You get all the usual heavy hitters: Netflix, Prime Video, JioCinema/Hotstar, Apple TV+. Everything&rsquo;s right there on day one, no hunting, no weird app store stuff.
And the UI? It feels clean. It feels intentional. Nothing looks slapped together. Your rows make sense, the recommendations aren&rsquo;t chaotic, and the whole thing just feels&hellip; modern. Like, this is what a smart TV in 2025 should look like.
Bluetooth 5.0 and dual-band Wi-Fi handle the connectivity side pretty well, so everything just stays connected without drama.
Chromecast is also built in &mdash; as it should be &mdash; so sending a YouTube video or a tab from your laptop is basically instant. Google Assistant also does its job without acting confused or lagging behind your voice.
But really, the best part is how the whole thing flows. App switching feels smooth, animations are subtle but satisfying, and the entire experience has that polished &ldquo;yeah, this is nice&rdquo; energy you usually expect from brands that have been doing premium TVs for years.
<h2>Remote Control: Too Busy for Today&rsquo;s Streaming World</h2>
The remote feels like a relic of an older TV era &mdash; large, button-heavy and visually cluttered. While Google Assistant performs well through the microphone, the physical button layout lacks intuitive flow. For a streaming-first television, the remote feels unnecessarily complicated.
<h2>Verdict: A Promising First Attempt With Clear Strengths and Gaps</h2>
The Blaupunkt Mini QD TV doesn&rsquo;t try to be something it isn&rsquo;t. It doesn&rsquo;t chase OLED-level deep blacks. It doesn&rsquo;t try to win with exaggerated colour. And it doesn&rsquo;t pretend to offer perfect audio.
What it does offer is a thoughtfully built, bright, stable, premium-looking TV with a natural picture profile and excellent daytime performance. For households that prioritize sports, streaming, general entertainment and all-day usage, the 65-inch model at ₹94,999 is more compelling than expected.
But if you require fast startup, disciplined audio, and better handling of darker scenes, you&rsquo;ll find the weaknesses harder to ignore.
&nbsp;For now, this TV stands as a respectable, confident debut aimed squarely at everyday Indian viewers rather than videophile purists.

Oppo Find X9 Pro brings a massive 7500 mAh battery, a powerful 200MP telephoto, a flat ultra-bright AMOLED and the Dimensity 9500. At ₹1,09,999, it wants to beat Samsung, OnePlus and Apple at their own game.

Oppo Find X9 Pro Review: Massive Battery, Pro Cameras, Big Price — Worth It?

The Oppo Find X9 Pro goes all-in with a 7500 mAh battery, a flagship-grade 200MP telephoto camera, a flat 6.78" AMOLED display and the Dimensity 9500 chip. At ₹1,09,999, it aims to be the premium Android flagship of 2025.

The Find X9 Pro doesn&rsquo;t try to ease into the flagship conversation. It comes out looking and feeling like Oppo finally wants to sit at the very top.
The camera hardware is noticeably better, the battery is the biggest you&rsquo;ll find on any premium phone right now, the build feels cleaner and more thought-out, and the whole package gives off this energy that says, yeah, this is the one we want you to judge us by.
But when a company swings for the top spot, the price tag usually jumps with it. And at ₹1,09,999, this phone has zero room to slack. Everything has to land. Let&rsquo;s get into it
<h2>Oppo Find X9 Pro: Design &amp; Build</h2>
The X9 Pro doesn&rsquo;t throw away Oppo&rsquo;s design language, but it definitely feels like someone went back through the blueprint with a red pen and fixed the things that mattered in everyday use. My Titanium Charcoal unit has a soft, almost suede-like finish on the back that instantly feels more secure than the glossy, curved surface from last year.
The new flat frame helps too. It gives your fingers something firm to hold without feeling sharp, and even though the phone weighs 224 grams, the balance is so even that you stop noticing it after a few minutes.
The camera bump has had a design ovrhaul as well. Oppo ditched the big circular island for a cleaner, squared layout that blends into the frame much better. Sure, it wobbles a bit on a desk, but the trade-off is a sleeker, less smudge-prone module that doesn&rsquo;t dominate the entire back of the phone.
The thing that really stands out, though, is durability. Oppo went all-in this time. You get IP66, IP68, and even IP69 &mdash; which basically covers dust, water, and high-pressure jets. Pair that with the aluminium frame and Gorilla Glass Victus 2, and it finally feels like a flagship built for more than careful desk use.
Overall, the design doesn&rsquo;t scream for attention, but it doesn&rsquo;t need to. It&rsquo;s clean, it&rsquo;s refined, and it immediately feels like a phone made for the top tier.
<h2>Oppo Find X9 Pro: Display Quality</h2>
The move to a flat display might look like a small tweak on the spec sheet, but the moment you start using the Find X9 Pro, it feels like the right call. It&rsquo;s still a 6.78-inch LTPO AMOLED with all the flagship buzzwords attached, but removing the curves changes the whole vibe.
No reflections catching the corners, no accidental palm inputs, no light bending off the edges. It just feels cleaner and easier to use, whether you&rsquo;re gaming or doom-scrolling at 2AM.
The bezels are another flex. Oppo shaved them down to roughly 1.15mm on all sides, and that uniform border gives the phone this near-floating screen effect. Watching HDR content feels more immersive simply because there&rsquo;s nothing pulling your attention away from the frame.
Speaking of HDR, brightness is kind of ridiculous here. The panel peaks at around 3,600 nits and sits comfortably at about 1,800 nits outdoors. That means sunlight is not a problem, and HDR10+, Dolby Vision, and HDR Vivid content all look punchy without over-cranking contrast.
Comfort is also clearly part of Oppo&rsquo;s plan. With 2160Hz PWM dimming and the ability to dip all the way down to a single nit, this is one of the easiest flagship screens to use late at night. No harsh flicker, no burning your eyes in a dark room.
You also get a couple of underrated extras. The ultrasonic fingerprint reader stays fast even with slightly sweaty or damp fingers. And Oppo&rsquo;s Vehicle Motion Alerts subtly stabilise the UI when the phone detects motion, making in-car reading noticeably less shaky.
So no, Oppo didn&rsquo;t reinvent displays here. What they did instead was refine every piece of the experience &mdash; the shape, the brightness, the comfort, the little usability upgrades &mdash; and the end result feels like one of their most mature panels yet.
<h2>Oppo Find X9 Pro: Camera Performance</h2>
After shooting with the Find X9 Pro for a while, the biggest thing that stands out is how confident this camera system feels. On paper it looks wild with a 50-megapixel main, a 50-megapixel ultra-wide and a 200-megapixel telephoto. Once you start taking photos, it becomes clear that Oppo is not just showing big numbers this year.
All three rear cameras now capture full-resolution 50-megapixel shots by default. You do not need extra toggles or hidden modes. Motion Photos also record in 4K instead of 1080p, so those short clips around your photos finally look clean and usable.
The 200-megapixel telephoto is easily the most interesting part of this setup. It uses a large 1/1.56-inch sensor with an f/2.1 aperture and a 70mm focal length, and it can focus as close as 9 centimetres. That allows proper macro-style shots on a zoom lens. At 3X and 6X, the images look sharp and detailed, and you can crop further without the photo falling apart. There is some sharpening and a bit of haloing around strong highlights, but it stays controlled.
The main 50-megapixel camera gets Sony&rsquo;s LYT-828 sensor, and it feels like a proper step forward. Autofocus is fast, dynamic range is balanced, shadows look natural and colours stay vivid without looking pushed. Older Oppo and OnePlus cameras used to brighten everything a bit too aggressively. This one looks more natural and cinematic.
Low-light results are strong as well. Even without Night mode, images stay detailed with minimal noise. When Night mode activates, it brightens the scene without blowing out highlights or creating that over-processed HDR look.
The ultra-wide camera is decent but clearly the weakest of the three. It uses the same 50-megapixel Samsung JN5 sensor found in the front camera. You get those wide, dramatic shots, but finer textures sometimes look softened, almost like a digital watercolour.
What is impressive is how consistent the output is across all lenses. Exposure, colour and tone remain steady whether you shoot ultra-wide, main or telephoto. Oppo&rsquo;s colour science with Hasselblad tuning has matured a lot. Images get a warm, slightly cinematic look with smoother highlight roll-off.
The phone also includes a small True Colour sensor that splits the frame into zones and measures colour temperature. It helps produce better white balance and more natural skin tones, especially indoors or in mixed lighting.
The pressure-sensitive Quick Button makes a return. A quick tap takes a photo, a long press fires a burst and in video mode it starts or stops recording. A capacitive slider underneath lets you zoom smoothly. It is clever hardware, even if the learning curve is not the easiest.
Video performance is excellent. The main and telephoto cameras record up to 4K at 120 frames per second. The ultra-wide and the front camera go up to 4K at 60. Footage looks sharp with accurate colours and wide dynamic range. Low-light video holds up well with controlled noise. Stabilisation is strong whether you walk, pan or hold the phone still.
The front camera finally gets a major upgrade. It is now a 50-megapixel sensor with autofocus. Selfies look sharp, HDR is handled well and the 4K60 recording makes the phone great for front-facing video.
Overall, this is the most complete camera system Oppo has made. It still has small issues like mild oversharpening and the ultra-wide trailing behind the other lenses, but the consistency and versatility make it a genuine flagship-level setup.
<h2>Oppo Find X9 Pro: Benchmarks &amp; Performance</h2>
The Find X9 Pro runs on MediaTek&rsquo;s new Dimensity 9500, a flagship chip built to take on the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 and Apple&rsquo;s A19 Pro. On paper it is finally a proper three-way fight, so I put the Find X9 Pro up against the OnePlus 15 and the iPhone 17 Pro Max to see how it actually performs.
In Geekbench 6, the OnePlus 15 posts 3646 in single core and a huge 11025 in multi core. That gives Qualcomm the strongest multi core numbers in this group. The Find X9 Pro scores 3198 in single core and 9383 in multi core.
The interesting bit is that this multi core number actually edges out the iPhone 17 Pro Max, which lands at 9634. Apple still keeps the lead in single core with a score of 3725, but this is the closest MediaTek has ever been in a flagship comparison.
The 3DMark Wild Life Extreme Stress Test tells a different story. The Find X9 Pro starts strong at 7248 and drops to 3560, which works out to 49 percent stability. That shows clear throttling during long gaming or GPU-heavy workloads.
The iPhone 17 Pro Max begins at 5531 and dips to 3769 for 68 percent stability, so performance stays more consistent. The OnePlus 15 comes out on top in sustained GPU results with a 7683 peak and 5282 minimum for 68.8 percent stability.
None of the phones dominate every benchmark, which is a good reminder that numbers only show part of the story. In the VN video export test, where the same 4K60 clips were stitched into a two-minute file, the Find X9 Pro finished first by a comfortable margin. It beat both the OnePlus 15 and the iPhone 17 Pro Max, which makes it the fastest when you look at real workflows.
The important thing is how the phone behaves in hand. Apps open instantly, the UI stays smooth under heavy load, and games run without stutter. BGMI held around 60 and pushed to 120 in supported modes, all while the phone stayed cooler than expected.
The 16GB LPDDR5X RAM and 512GB UFS 4.1 storage pair well with the Dimensity 9500, so the X9 Pro never feels like it falls behind any flagship in daily use.
<h2>Oppo Find X9 Pro: Software &amp; AI</h2>
ColorOS 16 sits on Android 16 and feels familiar if you have used any recent Oppo or OnePlus phone. However, the polish is where the difference shows. Animations feel smoother, the colour palette is more subtle and the whole UI feels less busy than before. There is some iOS influence in places, but that is becoming common across Android skins now.
There are a few smart additions. You can set a video as your lock screen wallpaper. Icons can expand to show shortcuts without long-pressing, which saves time if you use apps like Messages or the Camera frequently.&nbsp;
AI tools are everywhere this year. You get translation inside the recorder, Circle to Search, Gemini Live, and AI edits like object removal or sharpening. They work about as well as Samsung and Google&rsquo;s versions.
The standout addition is Mind Space, which collects screenshots, snippets and voice notes in one place. Oppo even added a Snap Key on the frame to make it easier. Tap it to capture whatever is on screen. Hold it to record a voice snippet that turns into text immediately. If you collect notes all day, this is genuinely handy.
AI Studio is the only part that feels unfinished. It turns your photos into stylised portraits, but the output looks odd and the gender selection options feel outdated.
Oppo says the Find X9 Pro will get five years of major Android updates and six years of security patches. It is not at Samsung or Google levels, but it is still a strong long-term commitment for an Android flagship.
<h2>Oppo Find X9 Pro: Battery &amp; Charging</h2>
The Find X9 Pro is carrying a battery that feels almost unfair. It packs a 7,500 mAh cell, the biggest ever in a mainstream flagship, and even bigger than the OnePlus 15&rsquo;s already huge 7,300 mAh pack. What makes it even more impressive is the fact that Oppo squeezed all of this into an 8.25mm body, thanks to its third-gen Silicon-Carbon tech that boosts energy density without adding bulk.
In day-to-day use, the phone holds up better than almost anything else right now. Light users can stretch it to two full days without even thinking about it. Heavy users still wrap up a full day with battery left. I was consistently seeing around seven hours of screen-on time, and even during gaming tests with BGMI and Call of Duty: Mobile, it only dropped roughly five percent in a half-hour session.
The streaming test was the biggest surprise. Three hours of YouTube took the Find X9 Pro from 100 to 93 percent. The iPhone 17 Pro Max dropped to 90 percent under the same conditions, and the OnePlus 15 ended at 91 percent. This is the best result I have logged in that test so far.
Charging speeds are solid as well. The 80W SuperVOOC charger takes the phone from almost empty to around 80 percent in about 70 minutes. Wireless charging hits 50W through AirVOOC, and the phone also supports 10W reverse wireless charging for accessories.
<h2>Oppo Find X9 Pro Review: Should You Buy it?</h2>
After using the Find X9 Pro for a while, it became obvious that Oppo wasn&rsquo;t trying to make a safe flagship this year. This feels like a phone built to sit right at the top of the Android stack, and most of the time, it actually does.
The camera system is the most complete Oppo has put on a phone, the performance goes toe-to-toe with the best hardware from Qualcomm and Apple, the battery life borders on overkill, and the build finally matches the durability claims on paper.
It is not perfect. The ultra-wide still trails the other cameras, and the Quick Button is more of a fun trick than a must-use feature. But none of these feel like dealbreakers.
What stands out is the consistency. Whether you are shooting photos, gaming, exporting videos, or jumping between apps, the X9 Pro behaves like a phone that knows exactly what lane it wants to dominate.
At ₹1,09,999, you are paying a premium, and that automatically raises expectations. The surprising part is that the Find X9 Pro meets those expectations in almost every area.
If you want raw power, long battery life, a seriously versatile camera system, and a level of refinement Oppo has never delivered before, this is the one to look at. Whether the price makes sense will depend on what you prioritise, but after living with it, I can say this much. Oppo finally made a flagship that justifies the number on the box.
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
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The OnePlus 15 takes a new direction with a 165Hz display, Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, huge 7,300mAh battery, and native 165 FPS gaming. It drops Hasselblad and uses smaller sensors, but focuses on performance, battery, and a cleaner design.

OnePlus 15 Review: Playing the Long Game?  (ft iPhone 17 & OnePlus 13)

<h2>The OnePlus 15 takes a new direction with a 165Hz display, Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, huge 7,300mAh battery, and native 165 FPS gaming. It drops Hasselblad and uses smaller sensors, but focuses on performance, battery, and a cleaner design.</h2>

The OnePlus 15 is a turning point for the brand, and to really understand what this phone is trying to do, you have to look at it next to its closest rivals. So while this is a review of the OnePlus 15, it also makes sense to compare it to last year&rsquo;s OnePlus 13 and Apple&rsquo;s new iPhone 17 &mdash; because together, they paint a very interesting picture.
This year, OnePlus has taken a noticeably different direction. The OnePlus 15 comes with several trade-offs. The Hasselblad branding is gone, the display resolution steps down, the camera sensors are smaller, and even the haptics aren&rsquo;t as strong as before. On paper, it looks like OnePlus is pulling back.
Meanwhile, Apple is pushing forward. The iPhone 17 finally brings a smooth 120Hz ProMotion display to the base model, upgrades the ultrawide camera to 48MP, and starts at a much more practical 256GB.
And then you have the OnePlus 13, which still stands as a well-rounded flagship &mdash; strong performance, solid cameras, and that classic OnePlus feel.
So the question is simple: did OnePlus really take a step backward with the 15, or is this part of a bigger, smarter strategy? Let&rsquo;s dive in.
<h2>Design &amp; Build</h2>
The OnePlus 15 feels cleaner and more industrial this year. The new Sandstorm finish gives it a matte, grippy texture that hides smudges well, and the whole thing&rsquo;s flatter and lighter. This Sandstorm variant gets a glass-fiber back, while the black and purple versions use either Gorilla Glass 7i or Crystal Shield Glass.
So, depending on which color you pick, you&rsquo;re also getting a different material feel. Overall, it&rsquo;s a really comfortable phone to use and despite that 6.78-inch display, it doesn&rsquo;t feel bulky or oversized in the hand.
That said, I still prefer the frosty matte back on the OnePlus 13 &mdash; it has a nicer in-hand feel.
Side by side, the change is obvious. The circular camera bump is gone, and it&rsquo;s now a squared-off module. It's &nbsp;sharper, simpler, and clearly inspired by Oppo&rsquo;s design language.
The new nano-ceramic metal frame is aerospace-grade, 26% lighter than titanium, tougher, and better with heat. It feels dense yet cool &mdash; like metal and ceramic had a baby.
As for durability, the OnePlus 15 is rated IP66, IP68, IP69, and IP69K &mdash; basically meaning it&rsquo;s protected against dust, water, and even high-pressure jets. That&rsquo;s a level of protection you don&rsquo;t really see on other flagships.&nbsp;
For comparison, the OnePlus 13 has IP69 and iPhone 17 offers IP68, which is good, but not quite this extreme.
The OnePlus 13 still feels great in the hand &mdash; &nbsp; solid build, nice grip and yes, the alert slider&rsquo;s still here. Meanwhile, the iPhone 17 is the most compact and balanced of the bunch &mdash; light, premium, and classic Apple comfort.
<h2>Display</h2>
Now, let&rsquo;s talk about the display on the OnePlus 15 &mdash; this one&rsquo;s a bit of an oddball. It&rsquo;s the first phone with a 165Hz LTPO AMOLED panel, which sounds impressive&hellip; but you probably know by now that the screen resolution drops from QHD+ to 1.5K, and the 165Hz refresh rate isn&rsquo;t available when scrolling or swiping through the UI. That&rsquo;s capped at 120Hz.&nbsp;
Only select games, like Call of Duty Mobile, can take advantage of that high refresh rate. It does support 165FPS gameplay, but I&rsquo;ll discuss that later. &nbsp;So no, you&rsquo;re not seeing 165Hz magic in the UI or everywhere else. The 120Hz experience is still super smooth &mdash; but to be fair, you already had that on the OnePlus 13.
Infact, the OnePlus 13 still hits harder on paper with QHD+ resolution and 4,500 nits of peak brightness, but the 15 fights back with smarter HDR tone mapping and Ultra HDR support, giving you richer contrast and more lifelike colour. It also has some of the thinnest and most symmetrical bezels I&rsquo;ve ever seen on a smartphone.
As for the iPhone 17, it finally brings 120Hz to the base model and achieves a peak brightness of 3,000 nits. It&rsquo;s the smallest display here at 6.3 inches, but day to day, it&rsquo;s buttery smooth, incredibly bright, and the color accuracy is classic Apple &mdash; easily one of the most premium screens you can get right now.
<h2>Perfrmance and 165 FPS Gaming</h2>
The OnePlus 15 runs what OnePlus calls a Tri-Chip system, and it&rsquo;s kind of wild. There's the new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, a 330 Hz Touch Response Chip, and a Wi-Fi G2 chip that keeps connections rock solid, even with weak signal. Put all that together &mdash; CPU, touch, and connectivity &mdash; and you&rsquo;ve basically got a holy trinity of performance.&nbsp; &nbsp;
Compared to the OnePlus 13, which had the Snapdragon 8 Elite, you&rsquo;re looking at roughly a 20% boost on AnTuTu. Geekbench numbers tell a similar story &mdash; the 15 edges out both the 13 and the iPhone 17 in multi-core performance. It does run a little warmer under sustained load, but it barely throttles. (See video for exact benchmark results). That means even during long gaming sessions or heavy multitasking, you&rsquo;re not going to see sudden dips in performance.
Speaking of gaming &mdash; the OnePlus 15 takes things up a notch. As I mentioned earlier, it can run select games at a full 165 FPS, thanks to OnePlus&rsquo;s OP FPS Max technology. This isn&rsquo;t fake frame interpolation &mdash; it&rsquo;s true native 165 FPS on a custom 165Hz panel. We tested it with COD Mobile, and even after half an hour, the phone held that frame rate steady.&nbsp;
Will it matter to everyone? Probably not. Casual gamers won&rsquo;t see a huge difference beyond smoother motion. But for competitive players, that faster response and fluid gameplay can be a legit edge. Either way, it&rsquo;s super cool to see a phone actually hit native 165 FPS &mdash; because right now, no one else does.
Now, that&rsquo;s not to say the other two phones are bad for gaming. The OnePlus 13 can handle 120 FPS in supported games, and the iPhone 17 tops out at 60 FPS, but that A19 chip can crush any title you throw at it. But if you&rsquo;re chasing pure performance and high frame rates, the OnePlus 15 is the new king.
The OnePlus 15 pulls ahead when it comes to RAM and storage. The 16GB version uses LPDDR5X Ultra+ RAM, which boosts multitasking and overall responsiveness, while both the 12GB and 16GB variants get faster UFS 4.1 storage.
The OnePlus 13, on the other hand, offers up to 24GB of RAM but relies on regular LPDDR5X and slightly slower UFS 4.0 storage.
The iPhone 17 might only have 8GB of RAM, but Apple&rsquo;s tight integration between hardware and software keeps performance consistently smooth.
All three phones start at 256GB of storage, even the base iPhone 17.
Battery &amp; Charging 
&nbsp;The OnePlus 15 is packing a huge 7,300 mAh cell. That&rsquo;s one of the biggest batteries we&rsquo;ve seen in a flagship. Pair that with 120W wired charging &mdash; you&rsquo;re going from 0 to 50% in just about 17 minutes, and a full charge takes around 40. Plus, there&rsquo;s 50W wireless charging, making it a dream setup for gamers or heavy users.
The OnePlus 13 isn&rsquo;t far behind &mdash; 6,000 mAh battery, 100W wired charging and 50W wireless. This setup still offers excellent endurance and super-fast top-ups. For most people, that easily lasts a full day and more.
Then there&rsquo;s the iPhone 17 with just 3,692 mAh on paper, but Apple&rsquo;s efficiency is next level. The A19 chip and iOS optimization easily push it through a full day. Charging also got faster &mdash; 40W wired, 50% in 20 minutes, full in about 90. So yeah, smaller battery, but still really dependable in real-world use.
<h2>Camera Performance</h2>
Cameras are where you can see OnePlus shifting its priorities. When you line up the camera specs, it&rsquo;s clear the OnePlus 15 steps down a bit from the OnePlus 13. The new phone swaps last year&rsquo;s larger sensors and faster apertures for smaller ones across the board.
The main sensor moves from the 1/1.4-inch Sony LYT808 to a 1/1.56-inch IMX906. The ultrawide now uses a smaller OmniVision OV50D, and even the periscope zoom shifts from a larger IMX882 to the Samsung JN5.&nbsp;
OnePlus has also officially ended its partnership with Hasselblad. Instead, the company has moved to its own in-house DetailMax Engine for image processing.&nbsp;
Overall, photos clicked on the OnePlus 15 look sharp and detailed, but they do lean a little too saturated at times. Skin tones, especially, can come out warmer than they should. On the plus side, the video capabilities are seriously strong. You get 10-bit Log, 4K at 120 FPS video with Dolby Vision HDR, and even 8K at 30.&nbsp;
The tools are there, but it&rsquo;s clear OnePlus isn&rsquo;t trying to chase the absolute best camera crown this year. They&rsquo;ve made trade-offs to focus on performance and battery instead.
The OnePlus 13, on the other hand, feels more like the camera-focused OnePlus we used to know. You still get that triple 50MP setup (with larger sensors), and thanks to Hasselblad&rsquo;s color tuning, the images come out balanced and natural.
It&rsquo;s versatile across all focal lengths, and low-light performance holds up really well. Honestly, between the two, the 13 is still the better OnePlus camera phone in my opinion.
Then you&rsquo;ve got the iPhone 17, which takes the classic Apple route &mdash; a dual setup with a 48MP main and a 48MP ultra-wide. But here, it&rsquo;s not about the hardware, it&rsquo;s the processing.&nbsp;
Colors are consistent, dynamic range is excellent, and low-light shots look clean without getting noisy or crushed. And video quality is still the gold standard &mdash; smooth stabilization, natural tone, and that 24MP selfie camera with Center Stage is genuinely one of the best front-facing setups out there.
If you just want a phone that takes great photos and videos every single time without any tweaking, the iPhone 17 still makes that experience effortless.
<h2>Audio, Haptics &amp; Software</h2>
Now, let&rsquo;s talk about the little things &mdash; haptics, speakers, and all the extras that actually make using these phones feel premium day to day.
On the OnePlus 15, the speakers sound better this year. It's louder and more balanced, but the haptics have taken a hit. They feel softer than they did last year, and that iconic alert slider is gone. It has been replaced by a new programmable &ldquo;Plus Key,&rdquo; which is handy but lacks the same charm.
The OnePlus 13 keeps things classic &mdash; strong, crisp haptics and the alert slider still right where it should be. It just feels more familiar and satisfying to use.
As for the iPhone 17, it&rsquo;s peak polish. Haptics are perfect, stereo speakers are rich and full, and the overall experience &mdash; from hardware to software &mdash; just feels cohesive.&nbsp;
Sotware wise, the OnePlus 15 ships with OxygenOS 16 based on Android 16. I won&rsquo;t dive deep into it here, as we&rsquo;ve already written a full article on the topic when we tested Oxygen OS 16 on the OnePlus 13s. If you&rsquo;re curious, feel free to check it out. But in short &mdash; faster animations, deeper customization, and a bunch of new AI features that actually work pretty well.
&nbsp;The OnePlus 13 still runs OxygenOS 15 based on Android 16, but the OxygenOS 16 rollout has already started. So, most users should see the update hit their phones by the end of November. &nbsp;
On the iPhone 17, you&rsquo;re getting iOS 26. If you&rsquo;re an Apple user, you're probably going to swear by it. But even Apple fans would agree that Apple Intelligence still isn&rsquo;t quite on the same level as what OnePlus is offering with AI right now.
That said, Apple still wins on longevity &mdash; six to seven years of iOS updates versus four on both the OnePlus phones.&nbsp;
<h2>Final Verdict</h2>
Ok, so which one should you go for?
The OnePlus 13 remains the classic all-rounder &mdash; boasting great design, solid cameras, and that signature OnePlus feel. The iPhone 17 is easily the safest bet, especially if you are an Apple user&mdash; super consistent, great cameras, excellent software, and long-term reliability.
But the real standout this year, for me, is the OnePlus 15. It might look like a downgrade on paper, but once you actually use it, it&rsquo;s easily the most balanced phone of the bunch.&nbsp;
The performance is rock-solid, the battery life is excellent, and that new 165Hz FPS gaming feels ridiculously smooth. If the cameras were just a bit better, this would&rsquo;ve been an easy A+. But even as it stands, it&rsquo;s a solid A &mdash; and that&rsquo;s still pretty great.

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