Gboard is one of the best Android keyboards out there, and Google keeps adding new features and improvements from time to time to keep things exciting. In December, Gboard gained thousands of new emoji kitchen combinations. Now the company is testing a neat feature that generates contextual stickers based on your texts.
As spotted by Android Police, Gboard is picking up a new feature that automatically generates stickers based on the text. As you type your message, Gboard identifies the text and displays various stickers in the suggestion row with different styles and colors. For example, typing “See you soon” followed by a heart emoji will generate the following stickers, as shown below.
Gboard shows a preview of the sticker in the left corner of the suggestion row, tapping on which reveals additional variants of the sticker with different styles. These stickers don’t appear in the emoji picker or the existing sticker gallery. Android Police reports that sticker suggestions work with both long and short phrases but don’t work with just about any text. The feature is quite similar to Gboard’s Emoji Kitchen, which lets you pick two different emoji and merge them into one to create unique supersized stickers.
Text-based stickers have rolled out to some users with the latest Gboard beta update. The feature isn’t live on my device running Gboard version 11.4.08.422524001-beta, suggesting this is a limited beta rollout. You can increase your odds by joining the Gboard beta program on the Google Play Store.
Google recently rolled out Gboard’s Pixel 6-exclusive grammar correction tool to other Pixel phones. The tool automatically catches your grammatical errors and provides corrections as you type. It works locally on your device and can be disabled from the keyboard settings.
Have you received the new text-based stickers in Gboard? Let us know in the comments below.
HMD Global has been selling Nokia-branded Android phones for years at this point, though in recent history, it has started to slip behind with software support. That isn’t stopping the company from making even more phones, and now there are three more budget devices on the way: the Nokia C21 Plus, Nokia C21, and Nokia C 2nd Edition.
HMD Global says the Nokia C series has already amounted to 16% of the company’s total smartphone sales in the last five years, even though the lineup has only been around for two years. There’s a decent level of demand for these phones, which is apparently why HMD is announcing three more at the same time.
Specification
Nokia C21 Plus
Nokia C21
Nokia C2 2nd Edition
Build
“Dark Cyan” and “Warm Grey” colors
“Dark Blue” and “Warm Grey” colors
“Dark Blue” and “Warm Grey” colors
Dimensions & Weight
164.8 x 75.9 x 8.55 mm
178 g (4000 mAh)
191 g (5050 mAh)
169.9 x 77.9 x 8.8 mm
195 g
153.95 x 75.9 x 9.55 mm
180 g
Display
6.5-inch “HD+” 20:9
6.5-inch “HD+” 20:9
5.7″ 480 x 960 18:9
SoC
Unisoc SC9863A
8-core, up to 1.6GHz
Unisoc SC9863A
8-core, up to 1.6GHz
Unspecified 4-core 1.5GHz SoC
RAM & Storage
2/3/4GB RAM
32/64GB internal storage
microSD card slot (up to 256GB)
2/3GB RAM
32/64GB internal storage
microSD card slot (up to 256GB)
1/2GB
32GB internal storage
microSD card slot (up to 256GB)
Battery & Charging
4,000/5,050mAh battery
10W wired charging
3,000mAh battery
5W charging
2,400mAh battery
5W charging
Security
Fingerprint sensor
Face unlock
Fingerprint sensor
Face unlock
Fingerprint sensor
Face unlock
Rear Camera(s)
13MP main camera
2MP depth sensor
8MP
8MP
Front Camera(s)
5MP
5MP
5MP
Ports
microUSB (USB 2.0)
3.5mm audio jack
microUSB (USB 2.0)
3.5mm audio jack
microUSB (USB 2.0)
3.5mm audio jack
Connectivity
4G LTE CAT4
Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n (Wi-Fi 4)
Bluetooth 4.2
GPS/AGPS
4G LTE CAT4
Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n (Wi-Fi 4)
Bluetooth 4.2
GPS/AGPS
4G LTE CAT4
Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n (Wi-Fi 4)
Bluetooth 5.0
GPS/AGPS
Software
Android 11 Go Edition
Android 11 Go Edition
Android 11 Go Edition
Other Features
IP52 splash/dust resistance
Two years of quarterly security updates
FM radio (wired only)
Two years of quarterly security updates
FM radio (wired only)
Two years of quarterly security updates
Removable battery
FM radio (wired + wireless)
First up is the Nokia C21 Plus, which is the best out of the three phones. It’s still a low-end budget device, with a Unisoc SC9863A chipset, two rear cameras (though one of them is just a depth sensor), IP52 splash/dust resistance, a 6.5-inch “HD+” screen (presumably 720p with added height), and a microUSB connector instead of USB Type-C. Even though USB Type-C is a better connector, these phones will likely be sold in countries where microUSB is still the norm.
The rest of the hardware will likely vary by country and model, with anywhere from 2-4GB RAM, 32-64GB of internal storage, and a battery capacity of 4,000 or 5,050mAh. On the bright side, there is a headphone jack and FM radio, which you won’t find on most flagship phones at this point.
Next is the regular Nokia C21, which drops the battery capacity to 3,000mAh, and also reduces the charging speed to just 5W — it’s gonna take a while to fully charge this phone. There’s also only one rear camera, at least according to the press release and specification sheet, but there are two camera holes. Either the announcement is wrong, or this phone has a fake camera.
The Nokia C 2nd Edition is the last of the bunch (pictured at the top), which is one of the worst product names for a smartphone I’ve heard in recent history. It has a smaller 5.7-inch display that is only 480p, 1-2GB RAM, 32GB of internal storage, and a 2,400mAh battery (with the same slow 5W charging). HMD wouldn’t even say what chipset this phone uses, only that it’s another Unisec SoC with four cores.
Even though these are all budget devices, these phones are about as low-power as you can get and still technically run Android. HMD also didn’t mention pricing or exact availability for any of these phones, but the Nokia C20 Plus was originally priced at ₹11,099 in India, which is around $148. HMD has never sold its C-series phones in the United States, so these new models likely won’t be available in the US either.
The thing that really stands out about the MSI Creator 15 is its beautiful OLED display. Indeed, when you use it, you’re going to fall in love with it, especially if you’ve never used an OLED display on a laptop before. It’s incredible, and if you’re editing photos or videos, that kind of color makes a difference.
The biggest thing that feels a bit strange is that it feels like a repurposed gaming laptop. It has that thick and squared-off design that’s common in gaming devices, and it has a loud fan. When I put it next to other creator-focused devices like Dell’s XPS 15 or HP’s Spectre x360 16, the MSI Creator 15 definitely stands out as something different.
Aside from the OLED display, the other thing that I absolutely love about this machine is the battery life. It has a 99.9WHr battery, which is literally as big as it gets. Speaking of other creator laptops, I’m pretty confident that this one gets the best battery life, so when I talk about that boxy design, it just might be worth it.
The MSI Creator 15 starts at $1,849, but it’s frequently discounted.
There’s a higher-end model with a GeForce RTX 3080 and 1TB storage.
The MSI Creator 15 has been out since 2021, so it’s not too hard to get your hands on one. The model that MSI sent me for review includes a Core i7-11800H, 16GB DDR4-3200 RAM, a 512GB SSD, and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 graphics. The MSRP is $1,849, but it seems to be discounted pretty regularly.
That model is actually the base model, which is pretty impressive. You can get it with up to RTX 3080 graphics and up to a 1TB SSD. This top-end model costs $2,349, and it’s up to you what kind of graphics and storage you need. Personally, I think an RTX 3060 is pretty solid for a creator laptop.
This laptop isn’t very configurable, and there are only three options. Luckily, the OLED display comes standard.
MSI Creator 15: Specs
CPU
Intel Core i7-11800H
Graphics
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU 6GB GDDR6
Up to 1517MHz Boost Clock, 95W Maximum Graphics Power with Dynamic Boost.
Killer Gb LAN (Up to 2.5G)
Killer ax Wi-Fi 6E + Bluetooth v5.2
Webcam
IR HD type (30fps@720p)
Color
Core Black
OS
Windows 11 Home
Price
$1,849
Design: It looks and feels a lot like a gaming PC
Essentially, the black chassis has a boxy design that feels like a gaming laptop was repurposed as a creator laptop.
The MSI Creator 15 looks a lot like the company took a gaming laptop and swapped out a bunch of features to make it more appealing to creators. For example, there’s no RGB light bar in the front, there’s a 4K OLED screen instead of an FHD screen with a high refresh rate, it has an IR camera for Windows Hello, and the design is just more subtle. It comes in a color called Core Black, which you might know by its street name: black.
Obviously, it comes with the MDI logo stamped in the lid, and that’s subtle as well, as it’s only a darker shade of black instead of a more flamboyant chrome color.
But as you can see from the side view, it has that sort of boxy look. It’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s just a design that I expect to see more often from gaming devices. It does have lots of ports, which are all on the left and right sides. This is different from MSI’s gaming laptops, which have ports in the rear.
And here’s what’s cool about the ports. All three of the USB Type-A ports are USB 3.2 Gen 2, meaning they get 10Gbps data transfer speeds. You’ll find two of those on the right side, along with a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C port, a headphone jack, and an Ethernet port. That USB Type-C port also supports DisplayPort, so you can use it to connect another monitor.
On the left side, there’s an HDMI port that you can use to output to an 8K 60Hz or 4K 120Hz display, a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A port, and a Thunderbolt 4 port. Obviously, the USB Type-C port on this side is a lot more versatile than the one on the other side, supporting 40Gbps data transfer speed, dual 4K displays, or even an external GPU thanks to Thunderbolt. As always, I’m not a fan of the user having to know the difference between two ports that look the same, but at least they’re labelled.
Display: MSI brings that sweet, sweet OLED with the Creator 15
The 4K OLED screen means that the experience is as delightful as it gets.
Unfortunately, the webcam is 720p.
The MSI Creator 15 comes with a 15.6-inch 3,840×2,160 OLED display, and it’s awesome. Seriously, it makes the laptop an absolute delight to use. When you use an OLED display, your PC goes from being a utility to something more personal.
The 4K OLED display makes the MSI Creator 15 a delight to use.
If you’re not familiar with OLED displays, your phone probably has one if you use a premium device. Since parts of the screen actually get turned off, blacks are truly black, to the point where you wouldn’t be able to see where the screen ends and the bezels begin in a dark room. Colors rendered on top of that instead of a backlight are more vibrant.
With wider color gamuts, higher contrast ratios, and more, OLED displays are perfect for creative work like photo and video editing. MSI also has an app called True Color that lets you adjust for Adobe RGB, sRGB, and more.
In my testing, I came up with 100% sRGB, 90% NTSC, 96% Adobe RGB, and 89% P3. Those are really good, and you won’t get those scores from almost any non-OLED laptop.
Brightness maxed out at 411.9, and contrast maxed out at 28,020:1, although that contrast ratio is really just the largest that my SpyderX Pro is going to be able to read.
To be clear, none of these display tests are a surprise. This is what you get with a premium OLED display. The contrast ratios are essentially infinite, and it makes that much of a difference to the user experience.
Speaking of consumption, the dual 2W speakers sit in a soundbar above the keyboard. They don’t get incredibly loud, but they’re still fine for listening to music or streaming media. The quality is great though. Obviously, you’ll do fine with calls if you’re working from home too.
There’s one problem though, which is that it has a 720p webcam. The quality of the webcam actually seems pretty decent for what it is, but with Intel’s new Evo spec, you’re about to see a lot of new laptops with FHD webcams on the market. If you’re on a lot of video calls, it’s something to be aware of.
Speaking of calls though, there’s another app on here called MSI Center Pro. It has lots of productivity features like battery optimization, but it also has noise cancellation, which definitely helps in the work-from-home scenario.
Keyboard and touchpad: The keyboard is RGB, and the touchpad is a bit small
The RGB keyboard also feels like something that’s more gaming-oriented.
The most interesting thing about the keyboard is that the backlight is RGB. That’s a feature typically reserved for gaming laptops, so the colors are more subtle, like pastel colors. The only other time I’ve seen something like this was from Razer with the Razer Book 13. I don’t mind it; it’s just an interesting choice, and it seems to be what happens when a gaming laptop company makes something aimed at another market.
As for using the keyboard itself, I feel like the keys require just a little too much force. This feels like the kind of keyboard that’s great for gaming, but for typing, it’s going to take a little bit of getting used to. I spent a lot of time with the MSI Creator 15, and I definitely made more errors writing articles than I usually do. Like I said, you’ll just have to get used to it a bit.
I just have to say it, but the Precision touchpad should be taller. It’s nice and wide, which is great. Now, it just needs to be taller. There’s some real estate on the deck that could have been used, but the whole thing could have been done differently; in fact, I wouldn’t be surprised to see it done differently in future generations. A lot of OEMs are moving to 16:10 screens, which makes them taller, adding more room on the deck for a taller touchpad.
The thing is, the touchpad isn’t even particularly small. It’s just that with it going so wide, the Y dimension feels small. If you look at something like a Dell XPS 15 or a MacBook Pro, which compete directly with this laptop, you can see what companies are doing with larger touchpads. It’s not a big deal. It’s just something I’d like to see from a laptop like this.
Performance: With a Core i7-11800H and RTX 3060 graphics, it gets the job done
The Core i7-11800H, RTX 3060, and 16GB RAM are great for photo and video editing, but there’s an option for an RTX 3080 if you want that extra boost.
The 99.9WHr battery is literally as big as it gets, so battery life is great for such a powerful laptop.
I mentioned earlier that the model that MSI sent me is the base model, packing a Core i7-11800H, RTX 3060 graphics, 16GB RAM, and a 512GB SSD, but to be honest, I don’t think most people need more than that. This thing flies, and most of the time, I used it connected to dual 4K monitors.
The higher-end model is going to be better if you need more storage for sure, but it also comes with an RTX 3080, so you’ll get more graphics power. If you’re looking for a creator laptop that can double up as a gaming machine, that’s the one you want.
The base model should offer all of the performance you need, but you can get an RTX 3080 if you want it.
But for what I used it for, the performance was great. That includes batch exports in Adobe Lightroom Classic, editing images in Photoshop, and of course, my general work flow of writing articles, having over a dozen Chromium tabs open (Vivaldi specifically), and using other apps like Slack, Skype, and OneNote at the same time. I did a bit of gaming too, playing some Forza Horizon 5. It doesn’t go for Ultra or Extreme settings, which is fine, but the game plays nicely, and it looks beautiful on the OLED display.
For benchmarks, I used PCMark 10, 3DMark, Geekbench, Cinebench, and VRMark.
MSI Creator 15
Core i7-11800H, RTX 3060
Acer Swift X
Ryzen 7 5800U, RTX 3050 Ti
Dell XPS 15 9510
Core i7-11800H, RTX 3050 Ti
PCMark 10
5,965
6,019
5,988
3DMark: Time Spy
6,880
4,046
4,801
Geekbench 5
1,417 / 6,217
1,447 / 8,104
1,538 / 7,514
Cinebench R23
1,370 / 8,382
1,434 / 10,568
1,491 / 9,399
VRMark: Orange Room
9,772
VRMark: Cyan Room
2,752
VRMark: Blue Room
2,101
The MSI Creator 15 also has a big old battery at 99.9WHr, and that’s as big as it gets. Anything bigger than that wouldn’t meet certain regulatory restrictions, such as being allowed on planes. In my testing, it got between four and five hours of usage, which is really good for a machine like this. that’s about average for what I get in an ultrabook or a convertible, but this thing has a 45W CPU and RTX graphics. Five hours of battery life under real-world use is killer.
The MSI Creator 15 has the biggest battery that exists in a laptop.
I didn’t use any particular setting this time. It’s not like a productivity machine where I can set the power slider to balanced all the time. There was a lot of photo editing happening, and sometimes, it was also powering a 15.6-inch FHD OLED display that was sent by INNOCN. I didn’t try to preserve power, or run a test by looping local video playback or something like that. This was straight-up real-world usage, and the results are really good.
Who should buy the MSI Creator 15?
There’s a lot about the MSI Creator 15 that’s really good, and there’s some that’s not that great, so obviously, it’s not for everyone.
Who should buy the MSI Creator 15:
People who want a laptop for photo and video editing, but also might want to play some games too
Customers that want to be delighted by an OLED display
Creators that aren’t able to be connected to power all the time
Who shouldn’t buy the MSI Creator 15:
Users who are on a lot of video calls and would benefit from an FHD webcam
People who are looking for a laptop that’s primarily for productivity
Other than the OLED display, which is absolutely stunning, one of the biggest things that stands out to me here is that boxy design. MSI’s laptops are traditionally made for gaming, and it feels like the firm took a gaming laptop design and swapped out a bunch of gamer-centric features for creator-centric ones. That’s not necessarily a bad thing; indeed, it might be quite the opposite, but it should give you an idea if this laptop is for you.
MWC 2022 is officially underway in Barcelona, and instead of smartphones, HUAWEI is taking the stage to announce new Windows devices at the show. The lineup of devices coming in 2022 includes a new HUAWEI MateBook X Pro, the MateBook E 2-in-1 tablet, the MateStation X all-in-one (AiO), and the MatePad Paper e-reader. All of these devices are underpinned by HUAWEI’s Super Device connectivity, enabling cross-device collaboration in HUAWEI’s ecosystem, including HarmonyOS/Android smartphones and tablets.
HUAWEI MateBook X Pro
The first device coming out of MWC 2022 is the new HUAWEI MateBook X Pro laptop, which has been completely redesigned for this year. This new model is as thin as 15.5mm at its thickest point and weighs just 1.38kg. It has a 14.2-inch display in a sharp 3120 x 2080 resolution and a 3:2 aspect ratio, plus it has a 90Hz refresh rate and can reach up to 500 nits of brightness. It’s color-accurate, too, covering 100% of DCI-P3 and touting a Delta E < 1 rating for color accuracy. Above the display, there’s a 720p webcam for video calls.
HUAWEI says the new design of the MateBook X Pro (2022) allowed it to redesign the cooling system as well, promising 60% more airflow and 100% more heat dissipation compared to previous models. This allows the CPU to run at a higher wattage, though HUAWEI is still using Intel U-series processors. These are 11th-generation processors, though, so it’s not the newest hardware.
The new MateBook X Pro also comes with an improved touchpad that makes use of smart gestures. For example, swiping up or down on the left edge will adjust the display brightness, while swiping the same way on the right edge can change the volume. You can also swipe left or right on the top edge to rewind or fast-forward a video or movie. Finally, you can knock twice on the touchpad to take a screenshot.
The audio system is promising as well. There’s a six-speaker setup with what HUAWEI calls “sound field reconstruction” technology to deliver high-quality, powerful sound.
Finally, you get four USB Type-C ports, all of which support charging – but none of them supports Thunderbolt 4. Two have USB 3.2 Gen 2 speeds, while the other two have USB 3.2 Gen 1 speeds. The included GaN charger can deliver up to 90W of power to the MateBook X Pro, but you can also use on your HUAWEI phone, with support for 50W SuperCharge.
HUAWEI MateBook E
Next up from MWC 2022 is the HUAWEI MateBook E, a detachable 2-in-1 Windows PC, meant to compete with the likes of the Surface Pro. It does have some advantages, being just 7.9mm thin (compared to 9.3mm on the Surface Pro 8), and weight 709 grams, which is also less than the 891 grams of Microsoft’s premium tablet. The tablet has a magnesium middle frame and a carbon fiber back panel.
A big benefit of the HUAWEI MateBook E is the OLED display, which is something that’s still not too common in laptops. It’s a 12.6-inch panel with a resolution of 2560 x 1600, and it reaches a maximum brightness of 600 nits, making it pretty good for outdoor use. It also covers 100% of DCI-P3 and has a Delta E < 1, so color reproduction should also be great here. And of course, because it’s OLED, you get a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio, so colors should really pop, especially on dark backgrounds.
The HUAWEI MateBook E is powered by Intel’s 11th-generation processors, specifically the 9W models, and it uses a 3D cooling system to keep things running smoothly. For connectivity, you get a single USB Type-C port, which is also used for charging, but it does support Thunderbolt 4 if you want to use a docking station. There are also pogo pins used to connect the detachable keyboard.
On that note, the HUAWEI MateBook E supports the HUAWEI Smart Magnetic Keyboard, which also serves as a case and kickstand, since the tablet doesn’t have one built-in. The case wraps around both sides, and the keyboard features full-size keys with 1.3mm of travel, which isn’t bad for something this thin. There’s also a Glide keyboard sold separately, which is backlit and includes a passthrough USB-C port with 65W charging.
The HUAWEI MateBook E also comes with support for the M-Pencil (2nd generation), and it can actually attach magnetically to the side of the tablet and charge wirelessly. The M-Pencil supports 4,096 levels of pressure and has just 2ms of latency on Windows, so it should be a pretty good inking experience overall.
HUAWEI MateStation X
Moving on from the MateBook series to the desktop side of things, HUAWEI is also introducing the MateStation X at MWC 2022, an all-in-one PC. It’s powered by AMD Ryzen 5000 H-series processors, which are designed for laptops and no longer the newest hardware in town. You also don’t get discrete graphics of any kind, but you do get 16GB of RAM and a 1TB PCIe Gen 3 SSD.
The highlight of the MateStation X is the display, which is a 28.2-inch panel in the 3:2 aspect ratio, similar to the MateView monitor the company launched last year. it can reach up to 500 nits, it covers 98% of DCI-P3, and it has a Delta E <= 1, so color accuracy is also great, and to round things out, it’s a touchscreen with 10-point multitouch. HUAWEI describes it as a floating screen due to the minimal bezels and the 86.3% screen-to-body ratio. You can tilt the screen easily with one finger, too.
Sound should also be quite good, seeing as the MateStation X has three speakers built-in. There are two 5W full-range speakers and a 10W woofer, all using Devialet technology. The PC also has four mics for calls.
HUAWEI MatePad Paper
Finally, HUAWEI introdiced MatePad Paper at MWC 2022 – an e-reader running HarmonyOS. It has a 10.3-inch display and it seems impressive on a few levels. For starters, it has a “smart refresh” mode, which makes it more feasible to watch videos in a pinch, while still working great for text. This is also helped by a 256-level grayscale, which allows both text and images to display more naturally. It’s also readable at night thanks to backlight with 32 levels of intensity.
In addition to all that, the MAtePad Paper also supports the M-Pencil with its full 4,096 levels of pressure. In fact, the e-reader has a PPMA textured surface to simulate the feel of paper more closely while writing on the screen. The device also has some cool features for taking notes. For example, you can take notes while recording a voice clip, and the notes you take are linked to time stamps on your voice recording, so you can always get the full context of the notes you took. There’s also handwriting conversion to text, if you want notes to be a bit easier to read.
As for the internal specs, the HUAWEI MatePad Paper comes with 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage, and the battery promises to last over four weeks in standby. There’s also a fingerprint reader built into the power button.
Since it runs HarmonyOS, the HUAWEI MatePad Paper supports the Super Device integration, too. You can easily share files from your Huawei phone to the tablet. You can even use it as a second screen for your PC, something that you can already do with HUAWEI tablets as well.
HUAWEI also announced the standard MatePad tablet, with a 10.4-inch FullView display and running HarmonyOS 2.
HUAWEI ecosystem
Connecting all of these devices is HUAWEI’s ecosystem integration, which it calls Super Device. You can easily connect these devices to each other to do all sorts of things, such as mirroring your phone’s screen on your PC, using a tablet as a second screen for your Windows PC, and easily moving files between devices. You can also easily connect peripherals like earbuds to your HUAWEI ecosystem using a simple drag-and-drop gesture.
Super Device as a brand is now coming to PCs for the first time, and that means you’ll see a new HUAWEI control panel on your taskbar. If you click it, you get a handful of quick actions, but you’ll also see the Super Device panel, which lets you easily connect wirelessly other devices with the drag-and-drop gesture mentioned above. Those devices also include the new PixLab X1 laser printer and the HUAWEI Sound Joy soundbar that were also announced today.
One of the big things coming to HUAWEI devices, specifically laptops, is the new Mobile App Engine for PC. This is essentially Android app emulation, similar to what’s built into Windows 11 now, but there’s a key difference: This works on Windows 10. This has been available in China for a while, and HUAWEI says thousands of apps are already compatible. For users in other markets, a beta version is rolling out today for various HUAWEI PCs as part of an update to HUAWEI PC Manager.
Samsung updates its flagship lineup of smartphones yearly, and every year, there’s always one contentious issue: which is better, Snapdragon or Exynos? Exynos is the company’s in-house chipset that powers some of its phones every year, though nearly always, Europe is the one region guaranteed to get an Exynos chip. The U.S. tends to get a Snapdragon chip, and then it’s a toss-up in all of the other regions what chipset they’ll get. This year, India got a Snapdragon chip for the first time in the Samsung Galaxy S22 series, and like clockwork, Europe got Exynos.
As we’ve noted, it appears that retail units of the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra have some major problems. There were display flickering issues that have since been fixed, and performance problems too. Since publishing our article, I’ve had numerous consumers reach out to me on Twitter to say that they have had similar performance problems on their Exynos-based S22 units. I’ve even seen some users saying that it has gotten worse since the most recent update. Keep in mind as well that, at least according to renowned leaker Max Jambor, Samsung is aware of the performance problems that Exynos devices are currently facing.
To be fair to Samsung, I have also had numerous consumers tell me that they have no problems with their units. The purpose of this article is not to say that every user will have this experience, but there is a sizeable number of consumers who are complaining about the performance of their devices. I’ve now managed to get my hands on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1-powered Galaxy S22 Ultra unit provided by Samsung PR in the U.S., and I put it to the test against my Exynos-powered retail unit purchased directly from Samsung Ireland. The results are probably in line with what you expected to happen.
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra: Snapdragon vs Exynos
For context, I was initially going to set up both of these devices as new to compare against each other, but I felt that any tests done would not be illustrative of an actual device that is currently in use. Benchmarks can be idealistic on an empty device with nothing installed, and people buy phones to use them beyond benchmarks, right?
Instead, developer options were utilized to prevent any background processes from running on the devices, and “don’t keep activities” was enabled on both devices. Where possible, these devices were also disconnected from the internet so that push notifications could not be received to interfere with the test. In essence, I ensured that no background processes were running, and I ensured that there was no network interference, either.
Both devices have also been updated to the latest available software versions, and build numbers and build date are below.
Exynos Version: S908BXXU1AVBF / S908BOXm1AVBF (Build date: February 23rd)
Snapdragon Version: S908U1UEU1AVA6 / S908U1OYM1AVA6 (Build date: January 8th)
Benchmarks
First and foremost, I benchmarked both devices side by side to test for differences. I ran a Geekbench 5 test on both of the Galaxy S22 Ultras that I have and asked Nils Ahrensmeier of TechnikNews to run it as well on his Exynos device.
These results already show a massive performance disparity between the Exynos variant of the Galaxy S22 Ultra and the Snapdragon variant, and even within two runs on the same unit. However, benchmarks aren’t everything, and it’s entirely possible for a phone to perform well while also not hitting the specific key indicators in a benchmark to net it a high score.
Throttling and sustained performance
Sustained performance is one of the most important metrics to pay attention to when using a smartphone. If the sustained performance is poor, then you’ll have greatly reduced performance after what could potentially be a short period of time. I ran the test comparing both of these devices, and while both were consistent in their performance, the Snapdragon chipset was ahead the entire time. This still showed a much more reasonable outcome for the Exynos though and is not indicative of a problem in itself.
Power consumption
I was able to measure the peak power consumption of both of the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra devices in my possession while running the CPU Throttling Test. I was shocked to find that with the screen on its lowest brightness on both devices, at the peak of the test, the Exynos variant and the Snapdragon variant drained 11.84W and 7.76W respectively. That is a massive difference in power consumption and shows how inefficient the Exynos chipset can be. This means that in long-term usage, the Exynos 2200 device will have reduced battery life when under load.
To be clear, some of this is contributed to by other factors of the phone such as the screen. Nevertheless, there is a big difference in energy usage.
In my testing, I also identified a high idle drain meaning that users will experience lower standby times on Exynos devices than Snapdragon.
App launch test
We’ve devised a real-world test of app launch speeds that launches a few popular apps we use each day in succession for 10 iterations. These apps are all “cold” launched on the device, meaning the app isn’t cached in memory before it’s launched. Timing is stopped when the app’s main activity first begins to draw, so there’s no waiting on content to load from the network. Thus, this test can determine how quickly a device can load an app from storage into memory, with the caveat being this test is sensitive to changes in the app and OS version. Given we are comparing two variants of the same phone though, it makes it much easier to draw direct conclusions.
The Snapdragon device is much, much quicker to launch apps than the Exynos device. The Exynos device is one of the worst-performing devices in this metric that I have ever come across. On average, it takes apps over a full second to launch. That doesn’t sound like much, but imagine trying to do multiple things at once on your smartphone quickly? It gets grating fast when you meet every little hindrance along the way between you and your work.
The Exynos Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra falters in general usage
Above, I’ve included a video to showcase just a few of the problems that I’ve noticed with the Exynos variant that does not exist on the Snapdragon variant. It’s included as evidence to show the real-world ramifications of some of these problems, and on both devices, I am logged into all of the same apps. I am not using either device differently than I normally would, and all of the same apps that I am logged into on the Exynos device are the same apps I was logged into on the OPPO Find N, the OnePlus 9 Pro, and the Google Pixel 6 Pro, to name a few.
All of these performance problems, from the delayed login to the UI stutters and the delayed S Pen integrations add up to form a poor experience. The phone is slow, it actively gets in the way of my work, and a software update did not improve the situation. It takes several seconds to even take a screenshot and crop it, whereas it’s a near-instantaneous process on the Snapdragon device. The Exynos 2200 experience is almost equivalent to using a budget device, with everything taking a second longer than expected from a top-tier flagship.
The Exynos 2200 experience is almost equivalent to using a budget device, with everything taking a second longer than expected from a top-tier flagship
As I’ve already mentioned, I’ve had several users reach out to me to talk about the poor experience they have had with the Exynos 2200 variant of this device. Not one user with a Snapdragon chipset has reached out to me to complain about the same. I’m not sure if every Exynos user will have these problems, but a sizeable number certainly will. I even went so far as to try to enable high-performance mode in my battery settings but it didn’t make a difference. I’m also not seeing any signs of memory management being an issue, as there is free RAM available at all times.
In other aspects of these devices, I haven’t really noticed any differences. Cameras are close — if not on par — with each other (though I think a slight edge goes to Qualcomm from my own usage) and stabilization appears to be about the same for anything not too extreme. Walking around in Barcelona and filming works just as well on both devices, and I haven’t noticed any problems in that regard.
Exynos is important to the Android ecosystem, but this experience is unacceptable
When talking about Android smartphones, it pains me to say it, but Exynos is important. Qualcomm has a near-monopoly in the Android flagship market… though admittedly, MediaTek is catching up quickly. Having Samsung, the biggest Android OEM in the space, use its own chipsets in a significant part of its portfolio puts some pressure on Qualcomm, and in an ideal world, an equal number of users would desire an Exynos chipset as the number of users that desire a Qualcomm chipset.
It’s hard to say what the cause of these problems is. It could well be the Exynos 2200, as other Exynos in the past haven’t exactly been neck-to-neck against Snapdragon either. Or it could be that Samsung has coincidentally managed to mess up the software on Exynos variants. It doesn’t appear that Samsung has publicly given a statement to any publication about Exynos variants, as ComputerBase even says that while the company reached out, it declined to say whether an update would be coming.
In the past, like with the Exynos Galaxy S21 Ultra, gaming performance remained poor all through the product lifecycle, as the Exynos 2100 just couldn’t perform, and no amount of software updates could bring it up to par with its Snapdragon counterpart. Consequently, the Galaxy S21 Ultra failed to get a blanket recommendation as an excellent performer, because how well you could game on the device was very largely dependent on where you purchased the device from. And that is rather unacceptable considering that the phone maintained its launch price of ₹1,06,000/€1,249.
As it stands currently, the Exynos 2200 Galaxy S22 Ultra is completely unusable as a daily driver
For now, the only thing I can say is to hold off on purchasing the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra if you live in Europe. As it stands currently, the Exynos 2200 Galaxy S22 Ultra is completely unusable as a daily driver. It’s incredibly laggy and the battery life is terrible, too. It hasn’t improved whatsoever, and I’ve had to top my phone off multiple times during the day. I find it hard to recommend a product that costs this much and performs this poorly, and I would be doing a disservice as a reviewer if I did not highlight these issues that I face on my retail unit. As long as other OEMs offer top-tier flagships that consistently perform like top-tier flagships in your region, there’s very little reason to buy the Exynos Galaxy S22 series and play a lottery of whether you will get a device that performs like a top-tier flagship. Some Exynos users get a good device, some don’t — and that’s unacceptable.
In closing, the Snapdragon Galaxy S22 Ultra and the Exynos Galaxy S22 Ultra are two entirely different smartphones in my eyes. When you buy the latest Samsung Galaxy S series smartphone, you’re buying an entirely different smartphone depending on the region that you live in. In nearly any other smartphone series, purchasing a device in one country would not mean that it would perform exceedingly better than the same device bought in another country, but that’s exactly the dichotomy that Samsung has created.
The ability to wirelessly cast a smartphone’s screen to other devices like a TV isn’t that difficult of an endeavor these days. In fact, when it comes to casting a YouTube video from your phone or tablet to your Smart TV, the little icon takes care of everything — from device discovery to seamless context switching. But in case you’re a command-line lover, you might want to see behind the curtain and take control of the whole casting routine through CLI. This is exactly what Marco Lucidi did and came up with a handy tool called ytcast.
What is ytcast?
Marco, a self-described twenty-something years old computer science enthusiast, who goes by the alias MarcoLucidi01 on GitHub, has coded the ytcast utility as a standalone replacement of the cast button. According to the developer, anyone can use the program to replicate the functionality of the “Play on TV” button right from the command-line interface. It is written in Go and you can run it on Windows, Linux, and macOS.
How ytcast works
Under the hood, ytcast uses the DIAL (DIscovery And Launch) protocol developed by Netflix and Google to handle the device discovery and app launching events. For targets that no longer use the DIAL protocol (e.g. Chromecast), the program also offers a manual pairing option powered by the “link with code” functionality of the YouTube on TV app. Next comes the screen identification part, for which the developer relied on the reverse-engineered YouTube Lounge API. Finally, it passes the video URL from the source device to the target screen.
Limitations
Since the project is in its infancy, there are a couple of shortcomings. The session handling is sometimes a hit or miss, especially due to the usage of undocumented APIs. The developer has yet to find a reliable way to pass YouTube playlist URLs through ytcast, but there’s a workaround that involves the youtube-dl executable. Last but not least, you may not find ytcast under the Settings > Linked devices menu.
Needless to say, the ytcast project is incredibly useful for power users. There’s a ton of potential, and we have to remember that it is clearly a beta quality software at this point. Once it reaches the stable milestone, it might be the best casting option for anyone who’s into scripting and automation.
Download ytcast
You can get started with ytcast by visiting the project’s GitHub repository. There are pre-compiled binaries hosted under the “Releases” section. Be sure to provide some feedback to help Marco perfect this program.
Generally speaking, even the flagship smartphone market is filled with compromises. If you want to pick up one of the best smartphones in the business, typically you’re going to end up foregoing something that another user may have felt was a dealbreaker. For some people, it’s the lack of a headphone jack, for some gamers, it’s the lack of game-related design choices, and for some enthusiasts, it’s compromises made in the performance. What if I told you that the RedMagic 7 is the ultimate smartphone and cuts virtually no corners?
For context, RedMagic is a gaming-oriented smartphone brand that aims to make the best gaming phones on the market, and the RedMagic 7 is the next iteration of that with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 powering the entire setup. It packs a built-in fan, shoulder triggers that can be mapped to the screen, and it even has a headphone jack atop the massive 6.8-inch 165Hz screen.
This phone really does seemingly have everything, but what’s the catch? Well as is typically the case with RedMagic phones, it’s a combination of software quality and software updates. If you don’t care about either of those things though (and it’s difficult to really get past the frustration at times), then honestly, I don’t really think there’s much of a catch at all. There’s also the lack of a physical retail distribution setup in most major markets of the world, but you should be able to buy the phone from the online store and have it shipped globally.
About this review: I received the RedMagic 7 for review from the company on the 26th of January, 2022. RedMagic did not have any inputs into the contents of this review.
RedMagic 7: Display
Big and bright AMOLED display
165Hz refresh rate
No notch, no punch holes
The RedMagic 7 features a full HD 165Hz 6.8-inch AMOLED panel, and it is huge. It’s completely unimpeded by a notch or punch hole, and it gets plenty bright. It’s fantastic for gaming or media consumption thanks to its size and the fact that nothing encroaches on the display, but it’s really hard to convey just how big it is. It makes total sense for a gaming phone though.
The RedMagic 7 is fantastic for gaming or media consumption thanks to its size and the fact that nothing encroaches on the display
As for the display quality itself, this is my first time ever experiencing 165Hz, and the difference over even a 144Hz display is slightly noticeable. There is definitely an element of diminishing returns as you increase in refresh rates, but 165Hz is great in its own right. There are also multiple options to choose from as you can choose 165Hz, 120Hz, 90Hz, or 60Hz, in order to decrease power consumption.
The display is surrounded by minimal bezel, with a small amount of space for the selfie camera and a small amount of space at the bottom of the display. It’s a completely flat panel, too, and comes with a pre-applied screen protector.
RedMagic 7: Design
Headphone jack
Shoulder triggers
Built-in fan
The RedMagic 7 packs basically everything you could want in a gaming smartphone. There’s a headphone jack at the top, shoulder-triggers at the top and bottom of the right-hand side, and a slider on the top left that enters your phone into gaming mode. The back features a very RGB-heavy faux-transparent design, while also displaying multiple pieces of marketing information.
I'm a big fan of the RedMagic 7's design
I’m a big fan of the RedMagic 7’s design, but I can definitely understand that it’s a polarising one. The three cameras are in line with the curved back of the phone so as to not stand out which is a plus, and the phone doesn’t really rock on a table.
The one issue that I had with this phone’s design is that the fan intake on the back of the phone can still be blocked if the phone is down on a table. It’s admittedly unlikely you’d be playing games while not holding your phone upright, though. The presence of the fan also means that the phone is not IP rated for water or dust resistance, which can be a dealbreaker for people considering several smartphones in the market now tout water resistance as a marketing feature.
RedMagic 7: Performance
Latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset
Great sustained performance
The Red Magic 6R packs the latest and greatest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, which we would expect to see in a gaming phone. It has all the generational leaps over its predecessors and a 4nm node size for better performance without a substantial increase in power draw. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 retains the 1+3+4 configuration which Qualcomm has been running for a while, with the single Prime core being based on ARM’s new Cortex-X2.
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 in the RedMagic 7 performs just as well as you would expect
The Kryo cores are based on the ARMv9 architecture. The first CPU designs to be announced using the new technology were the Cortex-X2, Cortex-A710, and Cortex-A510, and those are the exact CPU designs that form the basis for Qualcomm’s Kryo chips. The Cortex-A710 promises a 30% boost in efficiency and a 10% performance uplift over its predecessor, the A78. The Cortex-A710 cores are clocked at 2.5GHz. As for the three Kryo Efficiency cores, they are based on the new Cortex-A510 design. A major criticism of last year’s Efficiency cores in the Snapdragon 888 surrounded the use of the aging Cortex-A55 cores, so now we should see a nice efficiency boost this year. The Cortex-A510 boasts a 35% increase in performance over the A55, with a 20% efficiency improvement, too. These cores are clocked at 1.79GHz.
We will be analyzing the performance of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 to a greater level of detail in a future article. However, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 in the RedMagic 7 performs just as well as you would expect, and I’ve found its performance in gaming (including in emulation through AetherSX2 and Dolphin Emulator) to be excellent.
Benchmarks: Geekbench 5 & AndroBench
The RedMagic 7 performs well in both storage speed and in Geekbench 5. Storage speed is important for gaming as it ensures fast, consistent load times in your games, as slower storage speed will act as a bottleneck.
Sustained performance is one of the most important metrics to pay attention to when using a gaming smartphone. If the sustained performance is poor, then you’ll have greatly reduced performance after what could potentially be a short period of time. I used the CPU Throttling Test app on the Google Play Store for half an hour to test the thermal throttling on the RedMagic 7, and I was impressed by the results. I ran the test twice; one with the fan off, and one with the fan on.
Both results were pretty good, especially with the fan enabled. The only problem was that I found the phone became too hot to touch towards the end of the test. That’s not what you want from a gaming phone, and was quite alarming even when thinking of what could potentially be the long-term health of the phone’s internals, particularly the battery.
RedMagic 7: Software
Bad software
Buggy
Poor translations
Software on RedMagic devices is where they really fall down, and this is no exception. It leaves a lot to be desired in the sense that, really, it’s just a poor experience. Inaccurate or strange translations plague the operating system and make it an interesting experience at times, and a lot of the design of the operating system is also very “gamery”. Furthermore, Google Pay doesn’t work, as it fails to pass Google’s Compatibility Test Suite when running a SafetyNet check.
The software on the RedMagic 7 leaves a lot to be desired
Despite all of that, I don’t mind a lot of the UX design of RedMagic OS, and I would be a lot more comfortable with it if it wasn’t so buggy. The launcher is terrible (and I can’t find a way to set a custom launcher of my own), I often can’t actually read notifications after unlocking my phone (it says that notifications are hidden as if I were on the lock screen), and it just feels very unpolished.
The sad thing is, this is the one major compromise I have found with the RedMagic 7. I genuinely love all of the other aspects of this phone, but somehow, it’s been completely screwed up by software. I couldn’t import my contacts in the Dialer (it told me “No vCard file found in storage”), and the always-on display can’t be set to be “always-on” — you need to choose a start time and an end time, which you can set one minute apart.
The only compliment I can really pass to the software is that it’s smooth and games run well, but that’s kind of the entire point of the phone. The most work has clearly been put into the company’s game space, which can be entered by flicking a red switch at the top left.
RedMagic OS Game Space
While it’s still filled with dodgy translations (and the occasional bugs), RedMagic’s game space is a lot better of an experience than anything else with this phone. It generally makes sense with a lot of useful features and attention to detail, something that you’d really be looking for from a gaming phone.
Game Space on the RedMagic 7 is one of the best gaming modes I've seen on a smartphone
Is it perfect? No, but it’s one of the best gaming modes I’ve seen on a smartphone. It will automatically enable the fans on your phone when you enter a game, and there are loads of features to engage with and try out while you’re gaming. It’s a pretty simple process to configure the shoulder triggers too, with special care taken towards helping users with PUBG Mobile in particular.
Is the RedMagic 7 worth your money?
Software issues are the biggest problem with the RedMagic 7, and I don’t just mean what I’ve outlined above. The company has a bit of a difficult history when it comes to consistently updating its smartphones, so you should judge the phone on what it is right now as against what it could become with a software update or two. You almost certainly will get some updates, but I would also be afraid of further bugs and other problems being introduced that it isn’t possible to roll back from. In an era when companies have polished UX and promise as many as four generations of Android updates, it is a bummer to get the experience that you get on the RedMagic 7.
As a result, unless you’re a die-hard gamer, this can be a hard phone to recommend. It’s the ultimate phone hardware — in that, it packs literally everything and the kitchen sink into one robust package — but it isn’t the ultimate phone because of that minute detail that the software is a completely poor experience. If you think you can get over that and all you want is a relatively inexpensive gaming phone, then by all means, the RedMagic 7 might well be worth your money.
The RedMagic 7 will go on sale starting March 10 from Nubia’s global website. It will be available in three colors: Obsidian, Pulsar, and Supernova. The base 12GB/128GB model is priced at $629 / €629 / £529 while the 16GB/256GB variant will set you back $729 / €729 / £619. Finally, the top model with 18GB RAM and 256GB will retail at $799 / €799 / £679. Nubia says it plans to launch the RedMagic 7 Pro globally in Q2 2022. For €629, this would be a good deal if you can get past the software, but that is a fair bit to ask.
