These are the loudest phones of the year

We first launched our new speakerphone test back in early 2020 and about year and a half later, we have a solid database of phones that went through our review process. As we wrap up the year 2021, we would like to show you the loudest phones to go through our review process this year. The list is all about loudness and not quality. A separate article going through the best-sounding smartphones is in the works so stay tuned for that. The scores are not about peak loudness during a burst, but we measure the average loudness across a series of audio tracks, which is more relevant to...

Source: https://www.gsmarena.com/loudest_phones_of_the_year-news-51920.php

Weekly poll; what do you think of Motorola's five new Moto G phones?

Motorola unveiled five new Moto G phones this week - the G-series has offered quite a few value-for-money mid-rangers over the years, but Moto's definition of "mid-range" is quite broad this generation. Let's start with the Moto G200 5G. We're not going to burden it with the title "flagship killer" as that tends to start arguments, but this phone offers a Snapdragon 888+ chipset, a 144Hz display and a 108MP camera all on a budget of €450. Sure, it doesn't have Galaxy S21 Ultra's telephoto cameras, but the G200 is less than half the price, even with the discounts on the Samsung...

Source: https://www.gsmarena.com/weekly_poll_what_do_you_think_of_motorolas_five_new_moto_g_phones-news-51905.php

Weekly poll results: Poco M4 Pro 5G's success is contingent on a lower price

The Poco fanbase is price sensitive – that €50 price hike on the Poco M4 Pro 5G was not a popular move among the voters in last week’s poll. Sure, the phone brings some upgrades over the 6-month old model it is replacing, but the Poco M-series shouldn’t fly above its allotted price range. The M4 Pro did and it clashed with the Poco X3 Pro, the X-series being higher end than the M. This isn’t the first time a company’s rich (or crowded) product lineup causes internal conflicts like this. Looking at the poll and the comments, the phone received only a 20% positive vote, which grows to...

Source: https://www.gsmarena.com/weekly_poll_results_poco_m4_pro_5gs_success_is_contingent_on_a_lower_price-news-51899.php

MediaTek's Pentonic 2000 is the world's first 7nm TV chip, decodes 8K@120Hz

MediaTek is on fire these days. After announcing its flagship Dimensity 9000 SoC for smartphones, the company is now announcing its flagship TV chipset - the Pentonic 2000. And it appears that this silicon is the world's first in many aspects. First and foremost, this is the first 7nm chip for TVs and is based on TSMC's node. Secondly, it's the first to commercial TV chipset to support Versatile Video Coding (VVC) for H.266 content. That's a new codec with improved compression efficiency, mainly for streaming and broadcasting media. HEVC, VP9 and VS3 are also on the list of natively...

Source: https://www.gsmarena.com/mediateks_pentonic_2000_is_the_worlds_first_7nm_tv_chip_decodes_8k120hz-news-51935.php

Flashback: iPhone 5c, the cheap and cheerful phone that didn't sell very well

A couple of weeks ago we looked back at the iPod touch – an iPhone minus the phone part and also the cheapest way to get into the iOS ecosystem in the early days. Apple’s devices (phones and others) have typically been expensive, but the company does try to offer affordable options every now and then. One of those – the iPhone 5c from 2013 – is the topic of today’s story. It launched alongside the premium 5s and instead of a sleek metal exterior, it opted for a colorful plastic shell. For what it’s worth, it was a nice break from the usual Silver/Black/Gold color palette. The C...

Source: https://www.gsmarena.com/flashback_iphone_5c_the_cheap_and_cheerful_phone_that_didnt_sell_very_well-news-51923.php

Xiaomi almost ready to update 9 of its smartphones to MIUI 13

Xiaomi's CEO, Lei Jun, promised that the next major MIUI version would arrive before the end of this year without giving any specific time frame or a list of phones. However, a developer dug out a list of phones that might be getting MIUI 13 pretty soon. The list was found inside MIUI 13's source code and the stable version for the Mi Mix 4, Mi 11, Mi 11 Pro, Mi 11 Ultra, Mi 11 Lite, Mi 10S, Redmi K40, K40 Pro and K40 Pro+ will likely arrive pretty soon. Perhaps the rest will be getting their MIUI 13 in 2022 but as Xiaomi usually does, not all updates will be based on Android...

Source: https://www.gsmarena.com/xiaomi_almost_ready_to_update_9_of_its_smartphones_to_miui_13-news-51934.php