Xiaomi Wireless AR Glass Discover Edition is most capable eyewear for the future of truly immersive visual experience

Mobile World Congress (MWC) is a platform for the biggest of brands to unveil their cutting-edge tech innovation that’ll set the way forward for the years to come. Taking the stage to reveal an AR headset, Xiaomi has sent ripples in the industry, dotted with bulky headsets for wireless AR consumption. The Chinese OEM launched a sleek, lightweight pair of AR glasses that you wouldn’t mind wearing in public.

Designed to herald an “ear of wireless AR,” this compact headset called Wireless AR Glass Discover Edition is designed to connect to user’s smartphone. Though it is a prototype for now, Yanko Design managed a hands-on with wireless eyewear at MWC, and we believe Xiaomi has done a great job with the design and feel: the glasses seem almost ready for the market, but we suggest you don’t start setting assigned your fortune for this one just yet.

Designer: Xiaomi

Xiaomi Wireless AR Glass Discovery Edition weighs only 126g or 4.4 ounces on the nose, which is insignificant compared to the chunkier AR/VR headsets we have seen in our day. This lightweight yet sturdy design is made possible with the use of a magnesium-lithium alloy and carbon fiber construction.

You can trim the design, use lightweight materials in construction, but the most weight on such a wearable device is its battery. Xiaomi has carefully installed an in-house developed silicon-oxygen anode battery that reduces the physical load, translating into a minimum weight increase on the device.

The Xiaomi AR Glass Discovery Edition is powered by a Snapdragon XR2 Gen 1 processor under the hood, and packs a pair of micro OLED displays boasting retina-revel resolution and brightness of up to 1200nit. Xiaomi says its AR glasses feature 58 pixels per degree (PPD) which is more than twice the PPD on the Meta’s Quest Pro that runs on the same Snapdragon XR2 Gen 1.

Courtesy of the retina-level display, these AR glasses deliver a truly immersive visual experience. The glasses allow a user to blend the virtual and real worlds, seamlessly accessing either with a single click. For this, the front lenses are electrochromic that adjust to light conditions, depending on the user’s preference. They can blackout when the user wants to focus on the virtual world.

Xiaomi has released a video presentation of the AR Glass Discovery Edition showcasing several features that the glasses have to offer. This includes specially developed hand gestures in addition to smartphone-based touch controls. The hand-tracking feature allows user to open apps, drag and drop virtual objects in the physical world, swipe through pages with a finger, and do a lot more.

However, exciting Xiaomi’s AR glasses concept may seem; there’s no word on price or availability as of yet so we will only have to live by the video presentation and the images below.

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Tecno Phantom V Fold could make heads turn with its folding capabilities

Folding smartphones are still a limited premium outside of China. Samsung probably is the only big seller. To give some competition to the mighty Galaxy Z Fold series, which is in its fourth edition already; Tecno has unveiled the Phantom V Fold at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2023 in Barcelona.

Foldable smartphones from Huawei, Motorola, OPPO et al have not really outpaced Samsung in the department. The South Korean electronics giant has thrived on its first mover advantage and has creased out anomalies that its initial foldable phones showed, to launch a better variant year after year.

Designer: Tecno

How much of a buzz will Tecno’s premium flagship foldable make in the 70-odd global markets the brand caters to; or more importantly, how many of these overseas markets will the Chinese OEM release the foldable variant in, is what remains to be seen. But for now, what we know is that the Phantom V Fold is here with an innovative design feature, which puts usability in the primary category.

By virtue of its marketing material, Phantom V Fold is the first left-right foldable smartphone. It is powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 9000+ processor; a flagship 4nm SoC promising smooth performance and low power consumption on a foldable smartphone.

Besides the Phantom V Fold, Tecno has debuted the Spark Pro 10 selfie phone and a refined Megabook S1 2023 laptop at the MWC. The Shenzhen-based smartphone maker has also released True 1 and Ultimate 1 TWS earbuds, a Wi-Fi router, a wireless security camera, and a few other smart home devices.

Tailored for the Gen Z, Spark Pro 10 arrives with advanced selfie capability for which the phone features a 32MP ultra-clear glowing front camera with dual flash. On the back, the phone has a 50MP solitary camera and is powered by a gaming-level MediaTek Helio G88 processor. Alongside this smartphone with a glow-up for selfies, Tecno has upgraded the Megabook S1 with a 13th-gen Intel Core processor. The 1.35kg laptop was launched initially in December 2022.

Coming back to the Phantom V Fold, the smartphone touts an interesting optics setup. The premium foldable smartphone rocks a penta-lens system: a trio on the back, and two on the front screen. The entire system, designed to make the photography experience exciting, is spearheaded by a 50MP main lens with a super light-sensitive custom sensor. We do not have information about the price and availability of the Tecno Phantom V Fold at the time of writing, but it wouldn’t be long now before we have official information rolling in.

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Best of MWC 2023: Mobile Gets Design-Conscious

Mobile devices have long been a part of our modern lives, from the smartphones that are always in our hands to the smartwatches on our wrists to even the laptops that have become our reliable mobile work partners. Despite almost two decades since the iPhone paved the way for modern smartphones, these devices have mostly been seen as geeky products that are more obsessed with specs and features rather than the humans using them. Trends, however, have started to change, and the players in this industry have started paying closer attention to the value of design, almost to the point of making it the next buzzword. MWC 2023 is unsurprisingly filled with the latest mobile innovations and thought experiments, but it is also showcasing the growing design awareness among brands. This year, we’ve taken a tour of what’s up for show in Barcelona to bring you Yanko Design’s top picks for the Best Product Designs at MWC 2023.

ABLE Human Motion

We easily take our physical capabilities for granted until we suddenly see ourselves deprived of some of them. Some people, however, are not so lucky and might be born with some disability or encounter a tragic accident sometime in their lives. With today’s technologies, they shouldn’t have to be forever confined to a wheelchair or worse, and thankfully there are now many companies utilizing modern tools and techniques to improve the lives of people with disabilities.

Designer: ABLE Human Motion

ABLE Human Motion, for example, is dedicated to helping people with walking disabilities enjoy life to the fullest. We’ve seen exoskeletons designed to give well-bodied people more strength to lift or move stuff, but ABLE Human Motion’s exoskeletons are instead made to give people back what they might have lost. Best of all, you won’t feel embarrassed wearing something sleek and well-designed, especially if it makes you look like some armored superhero in the process.

Honor Magic Vs

It might still baffle people as much as awe them, but foldables are slowly but surely becoming more common in the market. Samsung still remains the most familiar brand in that niche market but was never the only one. Due to some rather colorful circumstances, however, Huawei’s foldable phones barely made it outside of China. Fortunately, its former subsidiary is helping bring its legacy to the global market, and it’s posing a challenge to Samsung’s dominance.

Designer: Honor

The Honor Magic Vs, an updated version of the brand’s first foldable, carries a mix of specs and features that definitely stir things up a bit. Unlike the Galaxy Z Fold, there is no gap when the phone is folded shut, a trait that is becoming more common among non-Samsung foldables. Its external display is interestingly curved at one edge only, making it visually distinct from other horizontal foldables. It isn’t perfect, of course, but another player in the market creates variety and good competition that will only help foldables grow.

HTC Vive XR Elite

Meta seems to be playing with fire when it comes to its metaverse vision and even its Quest line of VR hardware. It might have the luxury of playing around, but HTC is all-in on the extended reality or XR industry, whatever buzzword you might call it. On the heels of the Meta Quest Pro, HTC unveiled its own standalone Vive XR Elite headset, offering a design that seems to take us closer to that ideal minimalist eyewear painted by science fiction and Hollywood.

Designer: HTC Vive

As the product’s name suggests, the HTC Vive XR Elite takes the headset beyond just virtual reality, sprinkling a bit of augmented reality into the mix. Its more impressive feat, however, is being able to cram even better hardware inside a more compact design that makes you feel like you’re wearing large glasses rather than ski goggles. It’s still far ways off from sleek Tony Stark shades, but it represents a significant step forward in a market that has seemingly stagnated of late.

Huawei Watch Buds

The popularity of wireless earbuds only confirmed what we had known all along, that most humans have become terrible at remembering even the simplest things. Now people are likely to lose one of two buds, forget the charging case at home, or forget to charge the buds before going out. These accessories aren’t smart enough yet to remind you of all those things, so one stopgap measure it make sure they’re always with you all the time, always charged, and ready to go when you need them.[/caption]

Designer: Huawei

The new Nokia 5710 XpressAudio solves that by turning the phone into the buds’ charging case, but obviously, that can’t happen with our very thin smartphones. Huawei’s solution is to put the buds inside a smartwatch instead, creating a locket-like cover that reveals teeny earbuds charging inside. Sure, the design makes plenty of compromises, and it looks almost comical to a certain degree. It’s hard to deny, however, that the novelty certainly has appeal, especially if you’re the type to fancy yourself as a secret agent with spy tools hidden inside their timepiece.

Huawei Watch GT Cyber

Although many decry how smartwatches present fake luxury, there are definitely benefits in having the ability to change a watch face to fit your style or even your changing mood. That’s only true for the display, though, since you’re practically stuck with whatever watch body you purchased. At most, you can swap out straps for other colors or materials, but the chassis for the watch itself remains unchanged.

Designer: Huawei

The Huawei Watch GT Cyber tries to change the status quo by letting you swap out cases as well. Granted, the available cases all look more like stylish tanks, but the idea itself is probably something worth exploring. It does require a healthy ecosystem of case makers to meet the varied tastes of consumers; otherwise, it remains a design experiment with no future in sight.

Lenovo ThinkPad Z13 Gen 2 (woven Flax Cover)

Unless you’re going for a gaming heavyweight, chances are you’d want a laptop that’s sleek and stylish, almost like a luxury item you’d want everyone to drool over while you work in public. Plenty of laptops do fit that bill with their brushed metal or shiny covers, but nothing grabs the attention better than something that’s not common fare as far as laptops go. That “wow” factor is definitely what the new ThinkPad Z13 Gen 2 is going for, particularly with its brown, fabric-like cover that’s sure to turn eyes and heads around you.

Designer: Lenovo

This material, however, isn’t just eye-catching. Made from 100% agricultural product harvested from Flax plant fibers, this woven Flax material increases the new laptop’s sustainability prospect while also making it stand out with its unique elegance. This material is bonded to the top cover, which itself is made from 75% recycled aluminum. Thankfully, the ThinkPad Z13 Gen 2 isn’t just a pretty face, either, and it possesses the best that Lenovo has to offer for businesses and consumers alike.

ThinkPhone by Motorola

Motorola is one of the oldest names in the mobile phone market, predating even the smartphones that now rule the land, but now it is also under the ownership of yet another giant that has the lion’s share of the PC market. Given its history and pedigree, it was really only a matter of time before these two worlds collided in a very particular way, so the arrival of a ThinkPad-branded Motorola phone was both surprising but also long overdue.

Designer: Lenovo

Unlike a typical smartphone, even those made by Motorola, the ThinkPhone wants to make its association with the popular laptop brand obvious. From the iconic branding to the diagonal patterns running across its back, this phone wants to stand out visually among the rest of the crowd as something meant for serious business. It also has plenty of integration features with Lenovo’s ThinkPads, so its intention to be a mobile partner to those laptops is also unambiguous and clear.

Nokia G22

Today’s smartphones are beautiful and powerful pieces of technology, but all that becomes pointless when the battery dies out, or the screen gets cracked beyond use. Repairing phones is expensive and difficult, but it doesn’t exactly have to be that way; just that the current mobile industry has been set up that way. There are few champions of longer-lasting and easier-to-repair phones, and HMD Global just joined that club with the new Nokia G22.

Designer: HMD Global

Unlike the excruciatingly tedious and nerve-racking processes you’d see in teardown videos, it only takes a guitar pick and a screwdriver to open up this phone. Five minutes is all you need to pull out the battery and 20 minutes to replace a broken screen. It’s not exactly a trivial process, at least not yet, but it’s exponentially better than what we have as “standard” today. Hopefully, this trend will catch on so that we can have beautiful phones that last for years, no matter how many times you accidentally drop them.

Nothing Phone (1)

The phone (1) gets an honorary mention here for doing what no other phone company has managed to do with their debut product… make a big, industry-wide splash. While industry giants merely dismissed the Nothing phone (1)’s Glyph Interface as just a gimmick, it was surprising to see companies like OnePlus, Realme, and Unihertz copying the lighting feature on their own phones, announced at MWC this week. Major win for Nothing and its founder, Carl.

Designer: Nothing

The phone (1) is just the beginning for this new fledgling brand, and it gets the award for its impact, but also for holding its title of being the Flagship killer. Available now at just $299, the phone (1) is an absolute steal, with its drop-dead gorgeous design, more-than-average chipset, and impressive battery-life upgrade thanks to the new NothingOS 1.5 update. Of course, the transparent back and Glyph Interface still have our thumbs up, and we can’t wait to see what future devices will look like.

OnePlus 11 Concept

OnePlus’s claim to fame was that it Never Settled for mediocrity, trying to push the limits of what a smartphone can deliver without pumping the price up too much. Although it couldn’t stem the tide of market prices forever, it continues to be the outlier among its peers. It’s also one of the few brands willing to make seemingly crazy and outlandish experiments that may or may not become a real product. After the disappearing camera act of the OnePlus Concept One, the company is setting its sights on something cooler, literally and figuratively.

Designer: OnePlus

In a nutshell, the OnePlus 11 Concept’s Active CryoFlux is like PC liquid cooling for phones used to create a stunning visual effect. The concept phone’s clear back becomes something like a light show as the icy blue cooling liquid flows through pipes and around the circular camera bump. It’s definitely quite the sight to behold, and OnePlus naturally makes big claims about its effectiveness in keeping a phone cool, allowing it to maintain good frame rates longer. If it does become a retail model, it will definitely appeal to mobile gamers that might want something a bit different from the usual RGB designs.

OPPO Find N2 Flip

Although book-type horizontal foldable phones are definitely jaw-dropping the first time you see them, even Samsung admits that the clamshell-type foldables are more popular and approachable. Whether it’s because of their more familiar form or because of their more accessible price tag, the likes of the Galaxy Z Flip are expected to make up the majority of sales in this category. Ironically, there are even fewer players on this court, which makes OPPO’s belated challenger also more significant.

Designer: OPPO

Like its horizontal sibling, the OPPO Find N2 Flip pushes the envelope with what you can do with this kind of foldable. It offers a larger external screen and a more competitive set of cameras, packed together with flagship-level hardware and a nearly crease-less display. There are a few kinks here, and some missed opportunities there, but for a first attempt, it’s definitely a laudable move forward for the entire market segment.

OPPO Air Glasses 2

The high-profile failure of the Google Glass made many companies a bit warier of turning regular specs into AR-equipped devices, but that dream never really died. The industry now seems to be better prepared for this kind of wearable, and some are setting expectations right. It’s not going to be the hi-tech secret agent device of fiction, but the OPPO Air Glass 2 definitely takes the cake for being one of the most discreet smart eyewear around.

Designer: OPPO

Lightweight and sleek, the OPPO Air Glass 2 focuses (no pun intended) on a set of features that is more relatable rather than fancy, including real-time translation and captioning, navigation, and, of course, some messaging. The display seems like it’s embedded in the lens itself, but you can actually change it to use corrective lenses for those with eyesight problems. It’s admittedly less sensational than other AR glasses, but it is ultimately more practical and more approachable for regular consumers.

Qualcomm Snapdragon AR and XR Platforms

Although the rhetoric around the metaverse seems to have died down a bit, companies are still pushing the envelope in making the technologies empowering it more accessible. That means more headsets and glasses that try to deliver an extended reality experience without weighing us down or making us look laughable in public. There are quite a number of devices now that offer these capabilities without tying you down to a stationary desktop or laptop, and many of these standalone VR, AR, or XR wearables are unsurprisingly powered by Qualcomm’s processors.

Designer: Qualcomm

Qualcomm is the world’s leading silicon maker for mobile devices, but the large Snapdragon family doesn’t just cover smartphones, tablets, or even laptops. It also powers wearables, from smartwatches to this new generation of headsets and eyewear that carry their own computing power inside of them. As these devices get sleeker and more fashionable, it won’t be surprising to see Qualcomm’s Snapdragon AR and XR dominating this market as well, powering the gear that will make the metaverse, or whatever its name will be, our next real universe.

realme 10 Pro Coca-Cola Edition

Smartphones are no longer just hi-tech tools to make our lives easier, they have also become tools for self-expression. People slap on stickers, skins, and cases not just for protection but also for show, displaying their favorite colors, characters, brands, and much more. Some smartphone makers have tried to tap into this trend, and realme just one-upped everyone else with a partnership you never saw coming.

Designer: realme

You can definitely try to force some associations between smartphones and the world’s most popular beverage, but the realme 10 Pro Coca-Cola Edition is definitely special even without that. The mere fact that it’s weird and quirky speaks to the youthful and energetic vibe that both brands are aiming for. The phone itself is actually well-designed, and the attention to detail extends even to the smallest thing, like a SIM tray ejector in the shape of a bottle cap. It doesn’t hurt that the hardware is quite competitive as well, so die-hard Coca-Cola fans won’t feel left behind if they get their hands on this limited edition collector’s item.

Samsung Galaxy S23 Series

There are definitely many people that dislike how it diverges from the “vanilla” Android experience, but there’s no denying that Samsung is pretty much the leader of the Android market across many tiers. That doesn’t mean they always put out a winning flagship, like the ill-fated Galaxy Note 7, but they do have notable designs every so often. Although the Galaxy S23 series offers upgrades across the board, it looks almost similar to its 2022 predecessor, which is actually part of what makes it great.

Designer: Samsung

Rather than coming out with something different for the sake of being different, Samsung seems to have settled down on a more familiar and more stable design language that will become its DNA, at least in 2022 and 2023. This strategy has made the iPhones easily identifiable, even if you miss the telltale logo on the back. Additionally, the Galaxy S23 is a refreshing dose of minimalism at a time when smartphone camera bumps have become obnoxiously big. Hopefully, Samsung will stick to this classic look, even for just one more round.

Tecno Phantom V Fold

You know that foldable phones have made it big when even brands you might have never heard of start launching one. Tecno is a relatively younger and smaller player in the global scene, but it’s making a leap of faith by launching its first-ever foldable phone internationally from the get-go. The formula for horizontal foldables hasn’t exactly changed in the past four years, so it’s interesting to see newcomers that can bring fresh ideas to the table.

Designer: Tecno

The Tecno Phantom V Fold’s defining feature is pretty much its camera design, something you won’t see on any of its kind. The constrained spaces of foldable phones have pretty much limited where you could place components like camera sensors, so it is quite surprising that Tecno managed a feat that bigger brands have failed to accomplish. Whether that will be enough for it to grab sales, only time will tell, but it has definitely raised the bar for future foldables.

Xiaomi 13 Pro

Although we interact with our phone’s screens nearly 100% of the time, it’s really their backs that give them their character. Some manufacturers have taken that to heart perhaps a bit too much, creating camera and back designs that are truly eye-catching, though not always in a good way. Less sensational and simpler designs can sometimes be more memorable, and the new Xiaomi 13 Pro tries to walk the fine line between the two extremes with a unique yet minimalist design.

Designer: Xiaomi

The phone’s camera bump is admittedly big, but it tries to create the illusion of a smaller size by visually dividing it into three parts. That also has the effect of emphasizing each camera’s unique strength, especially because of their association with Leica. The back cover is also made from “medical-grade bio-ceramic material,” and while you won’t be able to see the difference, your hand will appreciate the softer touch. Of course, the Xiaomi 13 Pro also has premium specs, so you’d be getting your money’s worth both in looks and in performance.

Xiaomi AR Glass Discovery Edition

It seems that one of the most numerous mobile devices at this year’s event is smart eyewear. From full-on headsets like the HTC Vive XR Elite to more discreet glasses like the OPPO Air Glass 2, there is no shortage of wearables that offer all kinds of mixed reality experiences. This market segment is starting to get crowded, to Xiaomi is quickly making its presence known with an AR headset that could be one of the lightest of its kind.

Designer: Xiaomi

The Xiaomi AR Glass Discovery Edition might be a mouthful, but it practically encases the Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 Gen 1 inside a magnesium-titanium alloy and carbon fiber frame. That’s the same powerful processor that runs in the bulkier Meta Quest Pro but in a lighter body that only looks like oversized sunglasses. It still has to make room for hardware, of course, especially since it functions standalone without connecting to a computer. It’s still lighter than most AR and VR headsets but promises nearly the same capabilities without burdening your head too much.

ZTE nubia Pad 3D

3D is becoming more than just something you see in movies or games. With the advent of mixed reality technologies and experiences, the role that 3D objects play has become a little more significant. Most people presume that enjoying 3D content would require wearing a headset or at least some special glasses like those you’d use in cinemas. There are now some TVs and even a few laptops that will let you see “real” 3D content without having to wear those glasses, but ZTE is presenting something that is more portable and potentially more usable by everyone.

Designer: ZTE

The nubia Pad 3D is perhaps the first tablet of its kind to enable viewing stereoscopic 3D content without any eyewear. It leverages Leia’s technology and ecosystem to power its features, not just for viewing 3D content but also transforming plain 2D content, like streamed videos, into something you view in 3D. The large 12.4-inch slate has dual cameras front and back to also allow users to become creators as well, generating 3D visuals from real-world objects or even their faces.

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Realme’s latest phone comes with bizarrely fast 240W charging, and a Nothing-inspired light interface

The Realme GT3 240W can juice your entire phone from 0% to 100% in less than 10 minutes… and just 30 seconds of charging could give you enough battery life for a 2-hour call on a 5G network. It’s so fast that wireless charging suddenly doesn’t seem convenient anymore.

While most of Realme’s presentation at MWC was just stats, there was a nifty 80-second demo of the GT3 charging at 240W, going from 0 to a staggering 23 percent in just the 1 minute and 20 seconds. In fact, the battery consumed most of the phone’s keynote, with a little time spent on a ‘new’ detail that Realme calls the Pulse Interface. Housed right beside the camera module, this interface borrows heavily from the Nothing phone (1)’s rear design, sporting a transparent window with an LED rectangle within it. The LED rectangle shines in 25 different colors, and can be customized for a wide variety of notifications, although its most important ones are to let you know when you’ve got a low battery, when you’re getting a call/notification, and when your phone’s actually charging. Additionally, you can make the lights glow ambiently while gaming or listening to music, or counting down the timer when you’re clicking a photo.

Designer: Realme

With more than 15 full minutes of the keynote being spent on the GT3’s battery alone, it’s probably the most notable feature on the phone. The 240W charging capabilities give you 20% in less than one and a half minutes, 50% in four minutes, and a full 100% in under ten minutes, making the GT3 the fastest-charging phone on the planet right now and making that red battery icon on the top right a thing of the past. The fast-charging feature works while the phone’s in use too, with Realme boasting of a o-100 in just 17 minutes if you’re playing a game.

You’d think that that kind of rapid charging does an absolute number on the battery, but Realme has us believe that their battery and phone architecture are designed to optimize and preserve battery health over time. For starters, the phone has three strategically-located chipsets in the phone dedicated to just charging, and a new stainless steel vapor cooling system to cool the GT3’s ultra-thin 4600mAh battery. The battery is built to charge optimally in both high heat and sub-zero temperatures, with a life cycle that’s double what the average phone has – 1600 charge cycles before the battery degrades to 80% health. To help facilitate this 240W charging feature, the GT3 also comes with its own GaN charging adapter and a rugged 12A charging cable.

Flip the phone over and you see its second standout feature – the Pulse Interface. Sort of like the Nothing phone (1)’s Glyph Interface, but with a palpable lack of, well, glyphs… the Pulse Interface sits right next to the camera bump, under a transparent window. The LED rectangle has the words ‘Dare To Leap’, Realme’s slogan, on it, and right in the center is a nameplate bearing the Snapdragon logo on it. You wouldn’t be alone in wondering whether that’s actually the phone’s chipset… although I hate to burst your bubble, but it isn’t. The chipset sits well within the phone, surrounded by the vapor-cooling system. This, right here, is just a nameplate that serves a branding purpose more than anything. There is, however, an NFC-reader located right below the Pulse Interface… just where it says ‘NFC’.

A close-up of the Snapdragon nameplate and the Pulse Interface

The interface lights up to signify a variety of notifications, with as many as 25 colors to choose from. You can customize the color and blinking pattern of the Pulse Interface to go with various alerts too, with even the ability to color-code certain contacts so you know when they’re calling even with your phone facing downwards. Moreover, the LED ring glows red when your battery’s depleted, blue, when it’s charging, and green when you’re at 100%, so you know when to unplug your charger. Alternatively, you could just wait 10 minutes and unplug your charger anyway!

The GT3 240W also comes with a 6.74-inch 144Hz Ultra AMOLED display that has an in-display fingerprint reader, three main cameras (50MP wide, 8MP ultrawide, 2MP macro), and a 16MP wide-angle selfie camera. Available in 3 colors (black, white, and purple), the GT3 has five tiers to choose from, including a lower 8GB RAM + 128GB storage tier that starts at $649, going all the way up to an absolutely bonkers tier with 16GB RAM and 1TB storage, whose price wasn’t disclosed at the announcement. Hey Realme… does the 240W charger come in the box?

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The OPPO Air Glass 2 is easily the most fashionably sleek AR wearable on display at MWC 2023

In a sea of ski-goggle-shaped AR headsets, OPPO’s 2nd-gen Air Glass is slim enough to be mistaken for an actual pair of glasses. Look carefully, however, and you’ll notice the cleverly concealed reflective display in the eyepieces. To the wearer, however, the display impressively overlays virtual elements right on top of real life, helping you see the time, weather, notifications, etc.

Designer: OPPO

The Air Glass 2 was announced last year at OPPO’s INNO Day event, with a broader reveal at this year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. It seems leaps and bounds ahead of the first Air Glass that debuted in 2021, with a mildly clunky, Google Glass-esque design. In its second iteration, the Air Glass 2 looks exactly like a regular pair of glasses, albeit with loads of impressive tech underneath its surface.

The Air Glass 2 is an ‘assisted reality’ wearable that now has two displays, one in each eyepiece. The way these displays work is using a MicroLED built into the frame, which projects images onto a resin SRG-diffractive optical waveguide lens, developed as a joint partnership between OPPO and meta-bounds. These new lenses are lighter, more drop-resistant, and safer, in line with consumers’ daily habits of using glasses, making them perfect for the Air Glass 2.

The eyepieces get their visuals from 0.13″ green microLED displays built into the sides of the eyewear, capable of outputting an impressive 1,000 nits per eye. You’ve also got an environmental light sensor, a touchpad for registering input, microphones, and speakers built into the Air Glass 2’s temple stems, completing the entire wearable experience. The glasses are powered by a Snapdragon 4100 processor, and the entire wearable runs on a built-in 200mAh battery that has a 3-hour lifespan and can be charged via a pogo-pin charger that connects to the end of the spectacles’ temple stems.

The entire hardware comes with a magnesium-lithium alloy outer construction and weighs a paltry 38 grams, making it about 8 grams heavier than its predecessor, but with double the tech. This lightweight design also means that the Air Glass 2 can’t be used as a standalone wearable. It needs to be wirelessly connected to a smartphone, which can then beam data to the eyepieces, allowing you to view navigation data, live translations, calendar alerts, weather updates, fitness tracking data, and other datasets. The microphone and speakers help wearers take calls, give voice commands, or even listen to music.

The OPPO Air Glass 2 app lets you control what you see in the eyepieces

Ultimately, the Air Glass 2 is perhaps the biggest flex from any company in the AR space (note: the Air Glass 2 is an ‘assisted reality’ wearable). The Air Glass 2 is surprisingly small and light, while looking just about as fashionable as any regular pair of acetate frames. The MicroLED display and diffractive optical waveguide lens system are light-years ahead of the competition, although the elements on the screen have their own limitations – they’re green, exist in only a small part of your FoV, and don’t do much as of now. That being said, the Air Glass 2 is still leaps and bounds ahead of other wearables, even though Google teased a similar pair of glasses last year in a concept video but didn’t show any actual hardware.

A close-up of the pogo-pin charger for the OPPO Air Glass 2

The OPPO Air Glass 2 was unveiled in both black and white frame variants, although pricing and release date details haven’t been made public. If this is anything like the 2021 Air Glass, OPPO will probably sell a limited number of units to enthusiasts in China before considering a global rollout.

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Unihertz Luna is a Nothing Phone (1) clone that turned eyeballs at MWC 2023

The Nothing Phone (1) didn’t live up to its hype as expected (maybe the expectations were sky-high) and better is likely to come in its successor. That said a knock-off version of Carl Pei’s smartphone got spotted at the ongoing Mobile World Congress 2023. Carl was even seen holding the device alongside his own Phone (1) and the similarity is undeniable.

The mobile device in question is Luna designed by Shanghai-based Chinese firm Unihertz. On the back, there’s a transparent shell with LED light strips that glow up in different hues as compared to the milky white Glyph interface on the Nothing (1).

Designer: Unihertz

The 6.81-inch display smartphone has a comparatively rough design detail, and on the inside, the hardware is also mediocre. Hence, one cannot praise it on any performance metrics much. If you thought the Nothing Phone (1) fell short of fan expectations with the Snapdragon 778G+ 5G SoC, then the Unihertz Luna doesn’t overshadow the phone by any stretch of the imagination. It gets a below-average MediaTek Helio G99 processor.

Other specifications are good with the phone; sporting 8GB RAM, 256GB internal storage, a 5,000mAh battery and 18W fast charging which should be good enough for most users. On paper, the rear-facing triple camera setup dominated by the 108MP camera and a 20MP Night Vision Camera seems like the USP of the device along with the colorful glyph interface. Not to forget mentioning, the device also has a 3.5mm jack, so audiophiles need to take note. On the front the device has a 32MP camera loaded with the Samsung S5KGD1 sensor, so it should be able to click good selfies.

The LED lights on the back can be toggled to any color which is a kind of cool feature. On the Nothing Phone (1) it is the glyph interface, but I’m sure Unihertz is going to have some fancy name for their version. For now, they are touting it as a simplified, geometric interface with minimalistic lines inspired by the ancient oriental philosophy of the round sky. As they very rhetorically put it, “The moon moves eternally in circles around the earth, and circular objects in the physical world are active, just like the round moon.”

Unihertz smartphone did turn heads at MWC this year, and according to company representatives, the mobile device should cost around $300. For that kind of price, the odd one or two compromises should not hurt a budget buyer. Especially the geometric interface with a customizable array of LED lights for app notifications and calls. The phone is slated for March 2023 release and should be interesting to see how it’s positioned in the global market.

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ZTE nubia NeoVision Glass AR eyewear hides in plain sight as oversized sunglasses

Although it does have the word “mobile” in it, MWC has long ceased to just be about smartphones and tablets. These days, anything you can pick up and use on the go is labeled as mobile, sometimes including laptops. When it comes to portability, however, wearables have become quite the fad, and this category isn’t just limited to smartwatches or “hearables” like earbuds and hearing aids. One strong presence at MWC 2023 this year seems to be headsets and eyewear, particularly those designed for augmented and virtual reality applications. Not to be left behind, ZTE’s nubia is showcasing its first-ever AR eyewear, and it seems to be trying to be a bit more fashionable at the expense of a bit of freedom of movement.

Designer: ZTE

As far as mixed reality headgear and eyewear are concerned, the trend seems to be going in the direction of cramming all the necessary hardware inside the device, unlike the first-gen Oculus Quest and HTC Vive headsets that needed to be connected to a powerful PC with a cable. A standalone headset does have tradeoffs, though, especially when you consider the weight of the hardware and the built-in battery. That’s why some devices still try to aim for a completely lightweight and comfortable design, even if it means offloading the brunt of the work to external devices.

The new ZTE nubia NeoVision Glass is one such type of device. It’s incredibly lightweight at 79g, but it’s not lacking when it comes to display quality. It boasts Micro-OLED screens with 3500 PPI and a binocular resolution of 1080p, giving the wearer the equivalent of a 120-inch screen floating before their eyes. It doesn’t skimp on the audio either, with two omnidirectional speakers and a cyclonic sound tank. All in all, it promises a full range of multimedia experiences for both your ears and your eyes.

The nubia NeoVision Glass also advertises high compatibility with a wide range of devices, including phones, computers, and consoles. It’s “plug and play,” which suggests that it doesn’t come with its own computer inside, though ZTE wasn’t exactly clear on that part. It does mean that you can use any device or platform you want, though it also means you’ll be rooted on the spot near that device unless it’s something you can carry around.

ZTE does, however, pay special attention to both the looks of the eyewear as well as its accessibility. Magnetic lenses make it trivial to swap out different sunglasses designs, and it supports zero to 500-degree myopic adjustment for those that need to wear prescription glasses. It’s still relatively bulky compared to typical sunglasses, but few will realize that you’re viewing the world through a different set of lenses, figuratively and literally.

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ZTE nubia Pad 3D tablet offers an eyewear-free 3D experience for consumption and creation

3D graphics and objects are becoming more prevalent in our modern lives, and not just because of their presence in movies and games. AR, VR, and everything in between all relies on the existence of virtual 3D objects to make their fabricated realities more believable. “Real” stereoscopic 3D, however, has had the stigma of requiring headgear or at least specialized eyewear to see, which was true only until recently. Some TVs and even some laptops have started offering the ability to view stereoscopic 3D without the eyewear, and ZTE nubia’s latest tablet is bringing that same experience to both content consumers as well as content creators in a more portable manner.

Designer: ZTE

Because of the way our eyes are positioned, we are able to see an object from different angles, creating this perception of a three-dimensional figure. Stereoscopic 3D systems mimic that phenomenon by forcing our eyes to see different parts of a flat image, practically turning it into an illusion. The simplest way to make this happen is by using some sort of filter between our eyes and the projected image, which is basically how those 3D movie glasses work. Fortunately, it’s now possible to make that happen without wearing anything, thanks to advancements in technology.

The ZTE nubia Pad 3D applies these principles using technology from a 3D company named Leia. If you’ve kept abreast with developments in this field, the technology might not sound that novel, but the partnership between ZTE and Leia does take things one step further. More than just display content created specifically for stereoscopic 3D viewing, the device can use AI to “convert” 2D content, like videos from streaming services, into a 3D experience, all in real time.

The tablet isn’t just made for viewing 3D content, though, since that would make it not too different from new “3D laptops.” It also comes with tools to create such stereoscopic 3D content, starting with dual 16MP cameras on the back and dual 8MP cameras on the front. The former helps in shooting and recording content in real 3D, while the latter can be used for making 3D video calls, presuming your platform of choice supports such a fancy thing.

As a tablet, the nubia Pad 3D is somewhat caught in the middle of the old and the new, powered by a last-gen Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor. The large 12.4-inch 2.5K screen, however, offers enough space for comfortable viewing of content, whether 2D or 3D, while four corner Dolby surround sound speakers complete the entertainment package. The full metal body design of the tablet looks a tad too plain, save for the dual cameras popping up from the edge, but a vegan leather case could help make it look a little more stylish, especially when shooting that 3D film masterpiece.

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iPhone-style satellite connectivity on an Android phone? Motorola’s dongle lets you send SOS texts anywhere

Debuting (rather by surprise) at MWC 2023, the Motorola Defy Satellite Link does for all phones what Apple built into the iPhone 14 – gives them satellite connectivity so you can send texts in areas with little to no network coverage. The palm-sized dongle comes as a collaboration between Motorola and Bullitt, and connects to pretty much any Bluetooth-enabled smartphone, making the potentially life-saving tech accessible to many more people.

Designer: Motorola & Bullitt

Built with a rugged IP68 waterproof and dustproof exterior, the Motorola Defy Satellite Link comes with a portable design that weighs a mere 3 ounces (70 grams) and can strap around your keychain or even onto your backpack using a simple carabiner clip and the strap-loop built onto the Defy itself. The Defy sports three buttons, including a power button and location button on the left, and a larger, more visible SOS button on the right. A USB-C port helps charge the Defy’s 600mAh battery, which lasts for “multiple days,” according to Motorola and Bullitt.

A hallmark of the Motorola Defy Satellite Link is that not only is it device agnostic (supporting both Android and iOS devices), but it can be used by multiple phones together once paired via Bluetooth. The large, orange SOS button on the right side helps instantly call for emergency assistance, tapping into Defy’s partnership with FocusPoint International, an ERaaS (Emergency Response as a Service) company with 24/7 monitored response centers in 120 countries that handle emergency and assistance requests. The location button built on the other side sends your current location to your close contacts, and the Defy even allows you to send text messages via the Bullitt Satellite Messenger app.

The $99 Defy Satellite Link can connect to geostationary satellites 22,300 miles (35,888 km) above the Earth using the 3GPP NTN open standard “direct-to-device” satellite communications technology, although hardware doesn’t factor in the subscription you have to pay to actually use the service. Just the SOS feature starts at $4.99 a month, and there’s also an optional $149 bundle that gets you the Defy dongle with a 1-year subscription that also includes 30 outgoing and incoming messages per month using the Bullitt Satellite Messenger app, available on Android and iOS devices.

Satellite coverage should be live across Europe and North America at launch, followed by Australia and New Zealand, Africa, and Latin America in mid-2023, according to a report by CNBC. It’s unclear when Asia (where Motorola’s parent company Lenovo is based out of) will get satellite coverage to support the Defy Satellite Link.

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OnePlus 11 Concept’s liquid cooling technology is another example of innovation that’s commercially useless

It’s a great-looking concept, but is it capable of being more than just a concept?

Unveiled at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the OnePlus 11 Concept’s highlight feature is its ‘subsurface pipeline’ of liquid cooling, dubbed the Active CryoFlux cooling system (apparently it isn’t a dig at the Nothing phone (1)’s glyph interface). Designed to boost gaming performance by cooling the phone down by as much as 2°C, the Active CryoFlux cooling system also has the added advantage of literally looking cool too, with tiny bubbles traversing up and down the piping structure on the back panel and around the camera bump… but that’s pretty much all there is to it. Unveiled as a conceptual device, the smartphone’s cooling system seems to be nothing but an experimental technology that probably won’t make its way into phones because gaming phones are a niche that OnePlus has never catered to. So what exactly does the OnePlus 11 Concept hope to achieve? Well, Marques Brownlee rather bluntly says that it’s “just a PR stunt at the end of the day”.

Designer: OnePlus

After roughly a week of speculating what those blue lines on the phone’s rear were (notification lights, fingerprint sensors, etc.), turns out they’re OnePlus’ latest innovation in compact liquid cooling. The phone comes with an “industrial-grade piezoelectric ceramic micropump” and a network of pipes curving around the rear panel, which circulate a blue liquid around the phone’s battery and camera bump, cooling the device down by up to 2°C. It’s enough to result in a performance uplift of between 3 and 4 frames per second, or even help cool the phone while it’s charging, OnePlus says. Visually, it does add a unique dynamism to the phone’s rear. The blue pipes have pulsating, moving lights inside them, making it look like the liquid’s circulating around the chassis of the phone. Remarkably enough, the liquid cooling setup doesn’t even add any weight or thickness to the handset, making for a pretty compelling concept.

Although the amount of actual cooling the Active CryoFlux tech will do is pretty much debatable at this point (we can’t verify it either because it’s a concept), the focus of the phone really seems to be the ‘light show’ at the back. Somewhat feeling like a dig at Carl Pei, the 11 Concept’s rear light show also claims at being ‘functional’, like the Nothing phone (1)’s glyph interface. However, realistically, it really doesn’t merit proper discussion because the cooling feature isn’t really a feature if no consumer is ever going to benefit from it… and that really seems to be the ongoing trend with this current barrage of concept phones, whether it’s Xiaomi’s bonkers 12S Concept with attachable Leica lenses, or Lenovo/Motorola’s rollable phone from a few days back, or even OnePlus’ own concepts, including the partnership with McLaren in 2020.

The OnePlus 11 Concept is the third such concept from the Oppo subsidiary, following the Concept One with McLaren which featured electrochromic glass over the camera that turned opaque to block the lenses, and the 8T Concept, which had an entire back panel made from electrochromic glass, which could change color on demand, altering your phone’s aesthetic in seconds. As impressive as the technology seemed back then, it never was viable, given how expensive electrochromic panels were (Apple spent $427 million on electrochromic glass panels alone for their Cupertino HQ building windows). The Active CryoFlux cooling system on the 11 Concept is impressive too, but it feels like an R&D flex more than anything, with very little chance of application in real life. I’m willing to, however, give OnePlus the benefit of doubt that this technology will eventually be viable at scale and phones in the future will have oozing liquid-cooling pipes inside them. Until then, call me a skeptic… and call this a winning strategy because OnePlus got exactly what they wanted – coverage.

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