My top 5 phones of 2020 – Victor

Being knee-deep in the mobile industry on a daily basis is undoubtedly a dream job for me. For it lets me experience the latest and greatest tech. However, while far from complaining, there are certain aspects of my job I find a bit annoying. For a few years we've seen an avalanche of nearly-identical, bland handsets flooding the market, with an impossibly short turnover. I frankly hate that this is the state that a big chunk of the glorious smartphone industry is in. So, in order for a phone to make my personal top list it needs a purpose and clear goal - in other words a reason for...

Source: https://www.gsmarena.com/my_top_5_phones_of_2020__victor-news-46805.php

Flashback: periscope zoom cams with smooth zoom are the future, but we already had them

In 2019 the Huawei P30 Pro and Oppo Reno 10x zoom kicked off a zoom arms race with the introduction of the periscope telephoto lens – or should we say “re-introduction”. One phone had a periscope several years ago and with a design that was more advanced than modern phones. Currently, you can get a periscope-equipped phones from Huawei, Oppo, Samsung, Xiaomi, vivo and Honor. But they have two major downsides. One, they have very long focal lengths (100+ mm). And two, they are locked at that focal length. This means that mid-range zoom requires either digital zoom with the main camera...

Source: https://www.gsmarena.com/flashback_periscope_zoom_cams_with_smooth_zoom_are_the_future_but_we_already_had_them-news-46880.php

Weekly poll: smartphone design trends you'd hate to see continue in 2021

We already established the features you look forward to in 2021, but now we wanted to know the opposite – which recent trends in smartphone design would you hate to see continue next year? Most phones today have three or four cameras, even the entry-level models that can’t actually fit three real modules in the budget. This has led to a high number of low-res “depth sensors” and “macro cameras”, the benefit of which is marginal to non-existent. More annoyingly, some high-end phones also pad out their camera count with a 2 MP something-or-other module. Speaking of cameras, we saw...

Source: https://www.gsmarena.com/weekly_poll_smartphone_design_trends_youd_hate_to_see_continue_in_2021-news-46799.php

2020 Winners and Losers: Apple

It's been a difficult year for everyone, and even the giant that is Apple faced some atypical disruptions. It needed to sort a lot of supply and manufacturing hurdles in order to unload its considerable fleet of devices this year. It even needed to push the announcement of its golden goose - the iPhone line by as much as two months due to the pandemic. But still 2020 has been a slam dunk year for Apple. Using the strong momentum of sales of its iPhone 11 and XR series in 2019, Apple started the year off a bit later than it perhaps indented, but with a bang. Winner: Apple iPhone SE...

Source: https://www.gsmarena.com/2020_winners_and_losers_apple-news-46837.php

Huawei's first Kirin-powered laptop's specs leak

A while back we heard that Huawei is working on several PCs powered by its own silicon - desktop PCs and laptops. With the company already confirming its desktop PC powered by its own HiSilicon ARM chip, we now more details about the notebook too, albeit from a leak rather than an official source. A trustworthy Weibo tipster posted a photo of the notebook's box revealing some key specs. The device is powered by the Kirin 990 chipset paired with 8GB of RAM, 512GB SSD and a 14-inch 1080p display. The laptop runs Linux-based Deepin OS 20 but the transition to HarmonyOS will be made...

Source: https://www.gsmarena.com/huaweis_first_kirinpowered_laptop_specs_leak-news-46916.php

Weekly poll results: Under screen cameras the most expected trend of 2021

We asked and you told us: under display cameras will be your most anticipated smartphone feature of 2021. This is the second year in a row that you’ve selected this specific feature on top of your list and there’s good reason – the tech is slowly but surely making its way to phones on the market. Our ZTE Axon 20 5G review is out so you might just want to check it out and see how the first comercially available under screen cam fared in our testing. Nearly 35% of you want to see selfie cams tucked under the display on more devices this coming year which is miles ahead of the second spot...

Source: https://www.gsmarena.com/weekly_poll_results_underscreen_cameras_the_most_expected_trend_of_2021-news-46876.php