Tag Archives: phones

This BlackBerry Cyberdeck Brings Back the QWERTY Keyboard, Powered by an old Intel Compute Stick

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Everyone has a drawer somewhere with a dead BlackBerry sitting at the bottom of it, wedged between a tangle of old chargers and a phone you swore you’d sell on eBay someday. Most of those BlackBerrys are never coming back to life, the batteries swollen and the software hopelessly outdated, fit only for nostalgia and the occasional TikTok unboxing. One Reddit user looked at that drawer of dead phones and saw raw material instead of trash. Rather than reviving an old BlackBerry as a phone, they ripped out just the keyboard and gave it an entirely new life and purpose. What came out the other end looks like a BlackBerry, types like a BlackBerry, and yet runs on hardware that has nothing to do with phones at all.

The build, posted by a Redditor going by thetechdoc, is currently named the blackberry cyberdeck while the comments section argues over something catchier. In place of a BlackBerry’s actual phone parts, the keyboard now sits on top of a tiny stick computer, the same kind of gadget people used to plug into a TV’s HDMI port to stream movies. It runs on a homemade power setup too, combining a charging circuit pulled from a phone charger with a battery salvaged from an old Android handheld, enough for about six hours of video so far. Everything is wrapped in a 3D printed shell that’s currently mint green, with a matte black version planned once the fit is finalized. There’s even talk of giving away the design for free, so anyone with a 3D printer and a soldering iron could build their own slice of BlackBerry nostalgia.

Designer: thetechdoc

BlackBerry’s keyboards were built for thumbs, with a slight curve on each key that helps you find letters without looking down. That shape is exactly why this build works, since the keys were already sized for something this small. We’ve covered cases like Clicks that bolt a similar keyboard onto an iPhone, though the phone grows noticeably longer to make room. This build skips that tradeoff by ditching the smartphone entirely and building a new device around just the keyboard. The footprint stays close to the keyboard’s own size, with a small screen stacked directly above it.

The project started as an attempt to retire an aging Palm Tx PDA, mainly for reliable alarms and a calendar. Small Android powered boards turned out to be a dead end, since none of them could properly sleep and wake. A rumored Palm OS port for the tiny Pi Pico chip also came up empty, with no public files anywhere. The fix ended up being an old Intel Compute Stick, a mini PC once meant for the back of a TV. It already has a working power button for sleep and wake, solving the one problem that kept derailing earlier attempts.

Crack the case open and it looks more like a tiny power station than a phone, with a charging board salvaged from a portable charger. A battery pulled from an old Android handheld powers it all, good for around six hours of video so far. A pair of USB ports and an HDMI output line the edge of the case for accessories or a monitor. Even the name is still up for grabs, with suggestions ranging from Deckberry to the slightly unfortunate Dickberry. Color is just as undecided, with the mint green prototype splitting opinion against the matte black finish planned for later.

What you can actually do with it once it’s finished is the more interesting question, since the x86 chip allows a real desktop operating system instead of the cut down mobile interfaces most pocket computers settle for. thetechdoc plans to run CentOS or Fedora as the main system, with an Android x86 build available as a secondary option for app heavy tasks. That means actual desktop software runs natively, browsers, terminal access, file managers, even basic coding tools, rather than a locked down phone interface pretending to be a computer. The original PDA goal of alarms and a calendar still works fine, but now it sits alongside the ability to SSH into a server, edit a document, or use the whole thing as a tiny desktop once it’s plugged into a monitor. What it adds up to is a genuinely useful pocket sized Linux machine that happens to type like a BlackBerry.

thetechdoc has floated releasing the design files for free, undercutting paid BlackBerry keyboard decks like the HackberryPi that sell for around $90 to $125 USD. All it would cost anyone else is a 3D printer, a soldering iron, and some patience. If the final version works, BlackBerry diehards finally have a good reason to dig that old keyboard muscle memory back out of storage.

The post This BlackBerry Cyberdeck Brings Back the QWERTY Keyboard, Powered by an old Intel Compute Stick first appeared on Yanko Design.

TECNO Just Built a Budget Phone With a Battery That Lasts 6 Years

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Budget smartphones have gotten remarkably capable in recent years, but one persistent problem hasn’t gone away. They still feel disposable. Batteries degrade within a year or two, frames collect scratches quickly, and performance starts slipping right around the time the device is paid off. Most people accept this as part of the deal and cycle through handsets every couple of years without giving it much thought.

The TECNO SPARK 50 Pro tries to change that calculation. Rather than chasing raw benchmarks or stacking camera hardware, it focuses on something more practical: building a phone that holds up, physically and internally, over a long stretch of use. At just 7.8mm thin, it doesn’t look like a rugged device, but the specs and certifications beneath that slim exterior tell a different story.

Designer: TECNO

Battery longevity is one area where the SPARK 50 Pro makes a clear statement. It’s offered in two variants, a 5,600mAh dual-cell model and a 6,000mAh single-cell version, both certified to sustain more than 1,900 charge cycles while retaining over 80% of their original capacity. That’s roughly six years of daily charging without significant degradation, which is a genuinely unusual promise for a phone at this price point.

Keeping a large battery from being a chore to top up is 60W Super Charge support, which gets the device to 63% in 30 minutes and fully charged in 55. Three adaptive charging modes let users balance speed and heat, and bypass charging routes power directly to the motherboard during heavy use, keeping the battery from straining when the phone is plugged in while gaming or streaming.

Performance comes from a MediaTek Helio G100 Ultimate processor scoring around 550,000 on AnTuTu, with Memory Fusion 4.0 pushing virtual RAM up to 24GB. The 6.78-inch IPS LCD runs at up to 120Hz, keeping scrolling and gameplay feeling fluid, while dual stereo speakers with DTS Sound lend more audio depth to videos and music than you’d typically get in this price bracket.

Photography centers on a Sony LYTIA 600 sensor with 50MP resolution, a 1/1.953-inch size, and an f/1.8 aperture, giving it a light-gathering advantage over the smaller sensors common in its class. FlashSnap technology pushes shutter speeds up to 1/10,000 of a second for catching fast-moving moments cleanly. AI Eraser 2.0 and AI Extender round out the imaging toolkit with cleanup and reframing options.

Physical protection is where the SPARK 50 Pro really sets itself apart from comparably priced options. IP68 and IP69 ratings cover it against dust, rain, spills, and high-pressure water jets, while SGS Five-Star Premium Drop Resistance certification means it’s been tested against multi-angle impacts and 41 independent drop scenarios. It comes in five finishes: Ink Black, Titanium Grey, Midnight Blue, Dynamic Orange, and Cloud White.

Running on HiOS 16 based on Android 16, the SPARK 50 Pro also brings the Ella AI Agent for daily assistance and an AI Health Assistant for health monitoring. FreeLink 2.0 enables off-grid messaging in supported situations, and AI Noise Cancellation cleans up calls in loud environments. It’s a package aimed at people who’d rather not think about buying a new phone anytime soon.

The post TECNO Just Built a Budget Phone With a Battery That Lasts 6 Years first appeared on Yanko Design.

Nothing 4a Pro with an E-ink Display Looks Way More Interesting than the Glyph Matrix

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The Glyph Matrix is nice, but it’s not really useful, is it? How much value can you extract from spinning the bottle on the back of your phone, or playing unique patterns on it every time your phone rings? Sure, Nothing will have you believe that the Glyph Matrix is the natural evolution of the Glyph Lights – but one redditor had a different idea. Ditch the matrix instead, give the consumers an actual screen.

This Nothing 4a Pro revised concept features a full-fledged e-ink display on the back, serving as a useful second space for notifications, alerts, QR codes, etc. It’s a little less manic than the original with the flashing lights and all, but I kind of like the silent seriousness of a phone that sports an e-ink screen on the back. Everything else remains the same, the exact same triple-camera layout, the same Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 processor, the same screen. Just, less flashy, more useful.

Designer: Taweros

Here’s where Carl Pei would come in objecting to this entirely. The Glyph Matrix is supposed to be Nothing’s secret sauce, the thing that makes you look twice at a phone, the element of surprise. Ditching flashing lights for an e-ink screen feels a little less TikTok and a little more LinkedIn. That’s not Nothing’s brand, and I can understand. It’s more YotaPhone or TCL NXTPaper than Nothing. However, reddit user ‘Taweros’ has a case to make.

“I’ve been thinking about an alternative to the Glyph Matrix on a future Nothing phone: a small always-on E-Ink display integrated into the same area on the back. Instead of only showing animations, it could display useful information with no power consumption,” Taweros says. “The idea is to keep the minimalist Nothing aesthetic while making the space more practical. Since E-Ink only uses power when the image changes, it could stay visible all day without significantly affecting battery life.”

This new glyph replacement offers a more discreet, low-power, always-on alternative that can be used for a bunch of things. Aside from actually displaying information (instead of wonky patterns), it becomes this ambient second screen that you learn to rely on. Keep it displaying weather notifications, or have it show the face of someone who’s calling, or even use it to display the QR code of your business at a networking event – all this is stuff you CAN’T do with the current Nothing 4a Pro, and to be honest, that feels like a bit of a shame.

To be clear, I don’t hate the glyph matrix. I saw it first-hand at a launch and was blown by how beautiful it looked. I just think beauty without utility is just… art. It’s fun. It isn’t function. Here’s to hoping the Nothing 5 will surprise us!

The post Nothing 4a Pro with an E-ink Display Looks Way More Interesting than the Glyph Matrix first appeared on Yanko Design.

Infinix GT 50 Pro Review: Gaming Greatness With a Catch

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PROS:


  • Distinctive design with LED accents and visible liquid-cooling

  • Strong gaming performance

  • Useful GT triggers and bundled MagCharge cooler


CONS:


  • Stereo speakers can sound slightly muffled at times

  • Price has gone up noticeably from the GT 30 Pro

RATINGS:

AESTHETICS
ERGONOMICS
PERFORMANCE
SUSTAINABILITY / REPAIRABILITY
VALUE FOR MONEY

EDITOR'S QUOTE:

Distinctive, capable, and clearly built with gamers in mind, the Infinix GT 50 Pro delivers a focused experience, even if tougher competition makes the value story less straightforward.

The Infinix GT 50 Pro continues a formula the GT series has followed since its debut with the GT 10 Pro in 2023. This has always been a gaming-focused smartphone line, both in how it performs and how it looks. With the GT 50 Pro, Infinix stays true to that identity while adding stronger hardware, a few thoughtful extras, and a more refined overall package.

There is plenty here that stands out immediately, from the Dimensity 8400 Ultimate and 144Hz AMOLED display to the GT triggers and bundled MagCharge cooler. At the same time, the GT 50 Pro arrives in a more competitive market and at a higher price than its predecessor. That makes it a more interesting phone to evaluate, because the question is no longer just whether it performs well, but whether it still does enough to stand out.

Designer: Infinix

Aesthetics

Ever since the GT 10 Pro debuted in 2023, Infinix has kept the GT series firmly anchored to one identity. This has always been a gaming phone line, and importantly, it has always looked the part. The GT 50 Pro continues that tradition with complete confidence, and the consistency gives the series a stronger sense of character.

Flip the phone over, and there is no mistaking what it is. The rear panel embraces an aerodynamic, almost mechanical aesthetic, combining angular detailing, a carbon-fiber-like pattern, customizable LED accents, and a transparent section that showcases the liquid-cooling system underneath. There is a lot happening visually, but it feels controlled. Rather than coming across as excessive, the design feels cohesive and deliberately built around the phone’s gaming-first identity.

The camera module follows the same approach. Its two rear cameras are placed on a raised platform in the top-left corner, with each lens individually framed within a square border. It certainly adds to the industrial, structured look of the back, though I have never been particularly fond of this kind of layout since the separate frames tend to collect dust more easily and make the area slightly more annoying to wipe clean.

There are three color options, and each one changes the mood of the design. Black Abyss unit I received, paired with green liquid-cooling accents, looks the most understated while still retaining that gaming edge. Silver Glacier, with blue liquid cooling, comes across as the most futuristic of the lot. Red Blaze is easily the boldest finish here, and it is the variant for those who want the GT 50 Pro to attract attention instantly.

What ultimately stands out is the restraint behind the boldness. The GT 50 Pro is distinctive enough to feel special, but it never crosses into the kind of excess that would make it awkward to use in everyday life. More than anything, it feels like a more refined and self-assured evolution of the GT design language rather than a dramatic reset.

Ergonomics

For a phone that leans this heavily into gaming aesthetics, the Infinix GT 50 Pro is surprisingly manageable in the hand. It measures 162.44 x 72.33 x 8.15 mm and weighs 198g, which firmly places it in large-phone territory, but it never feels unnecessarily bulky or awkward. The proportions are well judged, and the phone carries its size with more balance than the numbers might suggest.

The flat sides do help with grip, especially during gaming or extended video sessions where a more secure hold matters. Paired with the glossy back, the GT 50 Pro still feels steady in the hand rather than overly slippery. The rear panel does pick up fingerprints quite easily, but thanks to the carbon-fiber-like pattern and the liquid-cooling visuals underneath, smudges are less obvious than they would be on a plain glossy surface. The included case, on the other hand, feels quite plasticky, though you will likely want to use it anyway if you plan on attaching the bundled MagCharge cooler, which I will get to later.

One of the more distinctive ergonomic features here is the pair of GT triggers. These customizable pressure-sensitive triggers add something genuinely useful to the physical experience of the phone, especially for gaming. In supported games, they can make actions like aiming, firing, or switching controls feel quicker and more tactile than relying entirely on the touchscreen. Even outside gaming, the fact that they are customizable gives them some practical value and keeps them from feeling like a one-note gimmick.

The rest of the layout is otherwise fairly standard. The power button and volume rocker are easy enough to reach, but the fingerprint sensor sits a bit too close to the bottom edge for comfort. It works quickly, but it is not the most natural placement. Overall, the GT 50 Pro feels built more around grip, control, and gaming comfort than one-handed ease, and that feels entirely appropriate for what it is.

Performance

The Infinix GT 50 Pro is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 8400 Ultimate, paired with 12GB of RAM and either 256GB or 512GB of storage. On paper alone, that already puts it in a very comfortable position for a phone in this segment. In day-to-day use, the experience lives up to that promise. Animations are smooth, apps open quickly, and there is enough headroom here that the phone rarely feels like it is under any real strain, even when several things are happening at once.

Gaming is where the hardware starts to make the most sense. The GT 50 Pro handles demanding titles with the kind of confidence you would expect from a device built around this purpose. Frame rates feel stable, touch response is quick, and the GT triggers add a layer of physical control that makes certain games feel more intuitive than they do on a standard touchscreen-only phone. It is not just about having enough power to run games well. It is also about making the whole experience feel more deliberate and more enjoyable.

The bundled MagCharge cooler is part of the experience, too. Not everyone will need it all the time, but it does make the GT 50 Pro feel more complete as a gaming device. In my use, an hour of playing Delta Force at the highest settings kept the phone below 40 degrees Celsius, which is a reassuring result for extended sessions. It also works as a wireless charger while attached, so you can game for longer without having to put up with a cable jutting awkwardly out of the phone. The built-in lighting effects are a nice touch as well, and they fit neatly with the rest of the GT 50 Pro’s gaming-focused identity.

Software plays a major role in shaping that experience too. Running XOS 16 based on Android 16, the GT 50 Pro offers a wide range of gaming-focused features that fit the phone’s identity well. There is also a growing library of AI tools built into the system, though their usefulness will vary depending on how much you actually rely on those features in daily use.

The GT 50 Pro features a 6.78-inch AMOLED panel with a 1.5K resolution and a 144Hz refresh rate, and it is one of the phone’s biggest strengths. Everything looks sharp, motion is fluid, and the high refresh rate makes a difference not just in games but also in everyday scrolling and navigation. With a claimed peak brightness of 4,500 nits and 1,600 nits in high brightness mode, the screen is generally easy to see even under harsh sunlight. That said, I did run into a few moments where automatic brightness felt a little too conservative, leaving the display dimmer than expected until I adjusted it manually.

The audio experience is less convincing. The stereo speakers are decent enough for casual use, but they do not leave much of an impression. At times, some sounds come across as slightly muffled, which takes away a bit from the otherwise immersive gaming and media experience. It is not a deal-breaker, but it is one area where the phone feels less polished than its display.

Ultra-wide, 0.6x

Main, 1x

Main, 2x

The camera system on the Infinix GT 50 Pro is more practical than ambitious, which feels fitting for a phone like this. You get a 50MP main camera with OIS, an 8MP ultrawide, and a 13MP front camera. The main camera does most of the heavy lifting, and in good lighting, it is capable of producing sharp, pleasing shots for everyday use.

Main, 1x

Main, 2x

Up to 2x zoom, image quality remains decent, but beyond that, the limitations become more obvious. The phone can go as far as 15x, though that upper range feels more like a bonus than something genuinely useful. Color processing also tends to lean warm and vibrant, which gives photos a lively look even if they are not always the most natural.

Main, 1x

Main, 2x

Battery life is another area where the GT 50 Pro benefits from its gaming-first priorities. Depending on the market, the phone comes with either a 6,150mAh or 6,500mAh battery, and either way, that is a generous capacity by current standards. The unit I received came with the 6,500mAh battery, and its endurance is impressive, easily lasting a full day even with a couple of hours of gaming mixed in. Charging support is also solid, with 45W wired charging and 30W wireless charging adding a welcome layer of convenience.

Sustainability

Sustainability is not always the first thing people look for in a gaming-focused phone, but it still matters, especially for a device that is likely to be used heavily over time. With the Infinix GT 50 Pro, the discussion is less about environmental branding and more about durability and software longevity. Those may not be the most exciting parts of the package, but they are often the ones that shape the ownership experience in the long run.

On the hardware side, the GT 50 Pro uses Corning Gorilla Glass 7i for added screen protection and carries an IP64 rating for dust and splash resistance. That does not make it a rugged device, and it is still worth being cautious around water since the protection is limited to splashes rather than full immersion. Even so, these are useful safeguards for a phone that is likely to be handled often and used intensively.

Software support strengthens the picture further. Infinix promises three years of Android OS version updates and five years of security patches, which may not lead the class but still counts as a meaningful commitment at this level. It gives the GT 50 Pro a better shot at remaining secure, relevant, and worth holding onto for longer.

Value

Value is where the Infinix GT 50 Pro still holds up well, but it is also where the conversation gets a little more complicated. In the Philippines, the 12GB + 256GB variant is priced at PHP 25,999, or roughly USD 427, while the 12GB + 512GB version comes in at PHP 29,999, or about USD 493. That is a noticeable jump from the GT 30 Pro, whose 12GB + 256GB version launched at PHP 19,999, or roughly USD 328.

To be fair, the GT 50 Pro still offers a lot for the money. You are getting a Dimensity 8400 Ultimate chip, a 144Hz AMOLED display, GT triggers, a bundled MagCharge cooler, and a large battery, which makes it a well-equipped gaming phone at this price. The challenge is that the improvements over its predecessor feel more incremental than transformative, and it now enters a market with tougher competition. So while the pricing is still reasonable, the GT 50 Pro may not feel quite as disruptive as the GT line once did.

Verdict

The Infinix GT 50 Pro is a capable gaming phone with a clear identity. It offers strong performance, a sharp and fluid display, useful gaming features, and dependable battery life, all wrapped in a design that feels distinctive without becoming impractical.

Its compromises are fairly clear, too. The camera system is decent rather than exceptional, the speakers could be better, and the higher price means it no longer feels quite as disruptive as earlier GT models did. Even so, if your priorities are gaming, display quality, and overall performance, the GT 50 Pro remains a compelling option in its class.

The post Infinix GT 50 Pro Review: Gaming Greatness With a Catch first appeared on Yanko Design.

The 8,000 mAh Mid-Range Phone With a Live LED Light Show on Its Back

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Budget and mid-range smartphones have gotten remarkably good at matching flagship features on paper, but battery life has remained one of the few areas where even expensive phones routinely disappoint. Most flagships are built thin at the cost of capacity, and charging cycles have become part of the daily routine rather than a secondary concern. For a growing number of users, particularly those who game, stream, and stay connected throughout the day, that calculus doesn’t quite add up.

The TECNO POVA 8 5G makes battery endurance its most unambiguous selling point. Its 8,000 mAh cell carries TÜV SÜD certification for two days of continuous use, and the numbers behind that claim are specific enough to take seriously: more than 60 hours of calls, more than 85 hours of music playback, or roughly 14 hours of Mobile Legends: Bang Bang on a single charge. That’s a full day of aggressive use and still having most of the battery left to show for it.

Designer: TECNO

The battery also holds up over time. It maintains over 80% of its original capacity after 2,000 complete charge cycles, which works out to roughly six years of battery life. When it does need a top-up, the 45W fast charging gets it to 50% in 35 minutes, and a 10 W reverse charging option means it can share that power with earbuds or other devices in a pinch.

The POVA 8 5G’s most unexpected feature, though, is what’s happening on the back. The Alive Matrix Display transforms the smartphone’s rear panel into a fully customizable canvas of light. When an event is triggered, the display lights up with corresponding animations, allowing users to know what is happening without flipping the phone over. It covers 49 predefined scenarios spanning calls, notifications, music, gaming, and charging, and users can add their own lighting sequences on top of those. It’s a design detail that reads as gimmicky in description but lands differently when the phone is actually face-down on a table.

Performance comes from a triple-chipset setup. The MediaTek Dimensity 7100 handles core processing at a stable 90 FPS in games like Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, while TECNO’s own G1 Signal Enhancement Chip and SE1 Wi-Fi Enhancement Chip add 100% stronger cellular reception in difficult environments and a 60% boost in 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi strength, respectively. The 144Hz IPS display carries TÜV Rheinland low blue light certification, which matters for a phone clearly designed for extended screen time.

The main camera uses a 50 MP Sony LYTIA 600 sensor co-engineered with Sony, with enhanced light intake for more vivid images and 2x lossless zoom, sitting alongside a 13 MP front camera. On the software side, the AI features are practical: AI YouTube Summary converts copied video links into structured notes with timeline markers and key points, while All-Scenario Noise Cancellation identifies the intended speaker’s voiceprint and filters out background voices automatically.

The POVA 8 5G launches in India at INR 29,999 with a global rollout to follow. It comes in 16-Bit White, Terminal Green, and Plasma Orange for India, with Arc White, Graphite Black, Helios Orange, and Echo Green planned globally. The device will receive two major Android OS upgrades and three years of security patches, and comes with three years of free 256 GB cloud storage. For something sitting in the mid-range bracket, that’s a fairly long runway for a phone that already has more battery than most phones twice its price.

The post The 8,000 mAh Mid-Range Phone With a Live LED Light Show on Its Back first appeared on Yanko Design.

This $249 Phone Becomes a Game Console With One $29 Snap-On Tile

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Feature phones have been having something of a quiet comeback, driven largely by people who are tired of the attention-capturing machinery baked into modern smartphones. Most of what’s on the market offers a stripped-back feature set with very little room to grow. Calls, texts, maybe a basic camera, and that’s about where the conversation ends, which hasn’t exactly made the category feel like an exciting place to be.

The Sidephone SP-01 has been quietly building a different kind of case for itself since its debut in 2025, not by piling features onto a simple phone but by letting users choose what kind of phone they want through a swappable modular keypad system. The Mini Controller Keypad is the fourth tile to join that family, and it’s the most unexpected one yet.

Designer: Sidephone

Unlike the T9 pad used for texting or the Sundial’s iPod-wheel-style controls for music, the Mini Controller brings a game controller layout to the front of the phone. It carries a D-pad, A, X, Y, and B action buttons, plus Start and Select, all of which will feel immediately familiar to anyone who has ever held a handheld gaming device. The keypad sells separately for $29, the same price as the other add-on tiles.

To go with the hardware, Sidephone has developed two mini games that ship alongside the keypad: Mini Asteroids and Mini Blocks. They’re clearly starter content rather than the main event, but they establish that this isn’t just a novelty tile. The company has plans to open a community development environment so that third-party developers can build their own games and apps for the platform, which is when things will likely get more interesting.

What Sidephone has been sketching out goes considerably further. GBA and arcade emulator support has been floated as a longer-term possibility, alongside universal smart remote functionality. If even a portion of that lands, the Mini Controller starts looking like less of a playful add-on and more of a meaningful expansion of what a deliberately simple phone can do on an idle evening.

The whole system rests on the premise that a feature phone doesn’t have to be a featureless object. The SP-01 runs a custom Android-based OS, carries a 2.8-inch touchscreen and a 12 MP camera, and supports essential apps without dragging in the full weight of a smartphone’s notification ecosystem. The swappable keypad system, which uses pogo-pin connectors and magnets to click tiles into place, is what allows the device to shift personalities without requiring a hardware upgrade.

The Mini Controller sits alongside a growing family of tiles that now spans T9 dialing, compact QWERTY typing, scroll-wheel media control, and controller-style gaming. What started as a phone built around the premise of doing less has turned into a modular platform that keeps finding new things to do, each one contained in a $29 tile that snaps onto the same core hardware.

The post This $249 Phone Becomes a Game Console With One $29 Snap-On Tile first appeared on Yanko Design.

Honor Magic V6 Review: Big battery, slim body, refined experience

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PROS:


  • Slim and comfortable design

  • Bright and crisp internal and external displays

  • Outstanding battery capacity, backed by fast wired and wireless charging

  • Great main and telephoto camera for a foldable

CONS:


  • Feels more like a small upgrade over the Magic V5 than a major generational leap

  • Ultrawide camera is decent, but not as impressive as the main and telephoto cameras</li?

RATINGS:

AESTHETICS
ERGONOMICS
PERFORMANCE
SUSTAINABILITY / REPAIRABILITY
VALUE FOR MONEY

EDITOR'S QUOTE:

Honor may not have radically changed the formula, but the Magic V6 shows just how far thoughtful refinement can go.

Honor unveiled its latest foldable, the Honor Magic V6, at MWC 2026 back in March. Now, three months later, the phone is starting its global rollout in Malaysia and Singapore. That shift from launch event to retail availability is where the real test begins, because foldables have reached a point where being thin or flashy is no longer enough on its own.

The Magic V6 does not completely rethink what Honor has already been doing with its book-style foldables. Instead, it builds on a formula that already worked well, pushing it further with a bigger battery, a slim and comfortable design, and a hardware package that feels unusually complete for a foldable. After spending time with it, the Honor Magic V6 feels less like a dramatic reinvention and more like a careful refinement of what Honor already got right.

Designer: HONOR

Aesthetics

Foldables still have a habit of looking oddly cautious. For devices built around one of the most dramatic ideas in modern consumer tech, they often arrive in the safest shades possible. Black, grey, silver, maybe a muted blue if a brand is feeling adventurous. The color choice itself is usually limited, which can make many foldables feel more sterile than stylish. Honor is one of the few brands that has tried to bring a little more personality into the category, and the Magic V6 sticks with that idea.

At first glance, the Magic V6 looks very similar to the Magic V5. The overall silhouette is familiar, the octagonal camera module is still there, and even the color direction feels like a continuation rather than a reset. This is clearly not a redesign for the sake of it. Honor seems comfortable with the look it has established for the Magic V line, so the V6 feels more like a polished follow-up than a fresh visual statement.

The finishes do a lot of the work in giving the phone its character. Honor offers the Magic V6 in four colors, and they feel more thought-through than the usual selection in this category. The red version I received is the most striking, with a soft-touch finish, a subtle hairline pattern, a gold frame, and a matching gold camera ring that make it feel a little warmer and more expressive than most foldables. The gold version goes in a different direction with a crisscross pattern that gives the back more texture and a slightly dressier look. If you want something more restrained, the white and black versions are there too.

Honor has also paid attention to the accessories. Each color comes with a matching case with a built-in kickstand, while the optional Special Edition case adds a bit more flair. Designed with Yoni Alter, it uses red aramid fiber and a colorful mosaic-style horse motif, while also adding built-in magnetic support. It is a small detail overall, but it suits the phone. The Magic V6 may not change Honor’s foldable design language, but it does show that the company is still putting real thought into how this series looks and feels.

Ergonomics

The ergonomics feel more like a refinement of the previous model, and I think that is a good thing. To me, the Magic V5 was already the most ergonomic book-style foldable around, so Honor did not really need to rethink the formula. What it has done instead is rework the internal architecture to fit what is currently the biggest battery in a foldable phone while still keeping the Magic V6 among the thinnest in the category.

There are slight differences depending on the color. The white version is the thinnest and lightest, measuring 156.7 x 74.5 x 8.75 mm when folded and just 4.0 mm when unfolded, with a weight of 219g. The other color variants are slightly thicker at 9.0 mm folded and 4.1 mm unfolded, and they weigh 224g.

In use, the Magic V6 still feels like one of the most comfortable foldables around. The hinge feels secure and firm, and opening and closing it feels fluid and well-judged. The frame is now flat, but the edges are ever so slightly curved, so it does not dig into your hand. The volume rocker and the power button, which also doubles as the fingerprint scanner, are placed where they are easy to reach. You can also customize the double press on the power button, which is a nice little touch in daily use.

What I like most is that the Magic V6 does not really feel like a typical large book-style foldable when it is closed. Folded shut, it feels surprisingly close to a regular slab phone, which makes it much easier to use casually throughout the day. It is this kind of refinement that makes the Magic V6 so easy to live with day to day.

Performance

The Magic V6 is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, which puts it right where a flagship should be in 2026. It is paired with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, although other configurations are available depending on the market. There is no real issue here with multitasking or with playing demanding AAA titles. Apps open quickly, moving between tasks feels smooth, and the phone has the kind of power that lets the larger display feel properly useful rather than overambitious.

Software is often where foldables either come together or start to feel more awkward than they should. The Magic V6 runs MagicOS 10 based on Android 16, and as with Honor’s recent devices, the focus seems to be on giving users plenty of AI features and cross-platform connectivity. Honor is leaning quite hard into interconnectivity with Apple devices. Using Honor Connect, the Magic V6 supports two-way notification sync with iPhones and iPads, while an Apple Watch can display messages and notifications from both devices. Through Honor WorkStation, the phone can also connect to a Mac and act as an extension of the desktop environment, with support for wireless screen casting, content transfer, and one-tap file sharing, including original-format Moving Photo.

On a foldable, though, the more important question is whether the software makes good use of the larger screen, and here the Magic V6 feels well equipped. Multitasking on the V6 is solid. The inner display gives you enough room to run apps side by side without things feeling cramped, and the phone has more than enough power to keep everything moving smoothly. On a device like this, that matters just as much as raw specs, because a foldable only really makes sense if the larger screen feels genuinely useful in everyday use.

Honor has equipped the Magic V6 with a 6.52-inch 2420 x 1080 AMOLED outer screen and a 7.95-inch 2352 x 2172 AMOLED inner display, and both are vivid, sharp, and fluid. Both panels support a 1 to 120Hz LTPO refresh rate, with up to 5,000 nits on the inner display and 6,000 nits on the outer, alongside eye comfort features such as 4320Hz PWM dimming. In use, the displays are excellent. The crease is barely noticeable, though not quite as invisible as on Oppo’s Find N6. The stereo speakers are also plenty loud and punchy, which suits the phone well for video and games.

The Magic V6 comes with a 50MP main camera with an f/1.6 aperture and OIS, a 64MP telephoto camera with an f/2.5 aperture, a 1/2-inch sensor, and OIS, and a 50MP ultrawide. On paper, that is a solid setup for a foldable, especially in a category where cameras have often felt like one of the first compromises.

In practice, the main and telephoto cameras are both strong for a foldable. Images come out sharp, colors are pleasing, and the overall look tends to lean a little on the brighter side. The ultrawide is satisfactory, though it does not stand out in quite the same way as the other two cameras.

Battery life is one of the Magic V6’s biggest selling points. Honor has managed to fit a 6,660mAh silicon-carbon battery into a foldable that is still among the thinnest in its class, while the 1TB version in China goes even further with a 7,150mAh battery. That is a huge battery even by slab flagship standards, never mind in a foldable.

Charging is strong too, with support for 80W wired and 66W wireless charging on the global model. A foldable this slim with this much battery capacity and this level of charging support is still unusual, and it is a big part of what makes the Magic V6 feel so easy to trust as an everyday device.

Sustainability

When it comes to foldables, durability can still be a concern for some people. Honor is clearly aware of that. The outer screen uses silicon nitride-based Nano Crystal Shield glass with up to 5,600 ultra-precise coating layers, while the inner display uses UTG flexible glass and is said to be 33 percent more impact resistant than the Magic V5. It is also rated for 500,000 folds.

The Magic V6 also comes with IP68 and IP69 ratings, which is the kind of protection you would more often expect from a slab flagship than a foldable. Honor is also promising seven major OS updates, which helps strengthen the long-term ownership story. What would make that sustainability angle more complete is greater use of sustainable materials, which is still an area where Honor could do more.

Value

Value is always a tricky part of the conversation with foldables because these devices are expensive by nature. No one is buying something like the Magic V6 because it is a bargain. Honor is beginning its wider rollout in Malaysia and Singapore. In Malaysia, the Magic V6 is priced at RM 7,699 for the 16GB RAM and 512GB storage version, which works out to roughly US$1,920 at a simple direct conversion. At that price, it is still very much a premium purchase, but the hardware does a lot to justify it. You are getting a slim and comfortable design, strong performance, large and bright displays, a huge battery, fast charging, and a durability story that feels more complete than what many foldables have offered in the past.

Value still depends on what you want from a foldable. If battery life, ergonomics, and high-end hardware matter most to you, the Magic V6 makes a very strong case for itself. If software polish is your top priority, some rivals may still feel a little more mature. Even so, the Magic V6 feels like a foldable that gives you a lot of substance for the money, not just novelty.

Verdict

The Magic V6 feels like Honor refining a formula that was already working well. It does not try to reinvent the book-style foldable, but it improves on the parts that matter most. The design still has personality, the ergonomics are excellent, the displays are strong, and the battery is genuinely standout for this category. The main and telephoto cameras are also better than what many people might expect from a foldable, which helps round out the overall package.

It is not without a few caveats, though. The software still does not feel quite as polished as the very best in the category, and the price places it firmly in ultra-premium territory. Even so, the bigger picture is very easy to like. If you want a foldable that feels slim, practical, powerful, and unusually easy to live with, the Magic V6 makes a very convincing case for itself.

The post Honor Magic V6 Review: Big battery, slim body, refined experience first appeared on Yanko Design.

This $99 Rugged Phone Has a Keypad and Won’t Let You Doomscroll

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The case for a second phone has gotten easier to make over the past few years. Whether it’s for a work line, a travel SIM, or simply a device that doesn’t pull you into a scroll every time you pick it up, the idea of carrying something smaller and simpler alongside a primary smartphone has moved from eccentric habit to reasonable strategy. What that second device should actually be, though, has been harder to settle.

Ulefone’s Armor Mini 5 answers that question with a format that most people assumed was retired alongside early BlackBerries and Nokia candy bar phones. It combines a physical alphanumeric keypad at the bottom with a 2.8-inch touchscreen above it, runs Android 11, and wraps the whole thing in a rugged shell certified to IP68, IP69K, and MIL-STD-810H standards. The result is something that sits deliberately between a feature phone and a smartphone.

Designer: Ulefone

The display at 240×320 pixels isn’t going to run any graphically demanding apps, and that’s clearly the point. Ulefone pre-loads WhatsApp and markets the device explicitly as a way to stay in touch with the people you care about while sidestepping the attention-draining machinery of a modern phone. WhatsApp calls, voice messages, and texts work fine at this resolution. Instagram doesn’t, which is by design.

At 142mm x 62mm x 16.5mm and 170g, the Armor Mini 5 fits comfortably in a chest pocket where most modern 6-inch devices wouldn’t. The physical keypad keeps texting fast for anyone comfortable with predictive T9 input, and the number keys double as a quick-dial interface, the kind of interaction muscle memory that never quite goes away once it’s formed. Calls are the first-class experience here, with the touchscreen adding access to apps when needed.

The rugged credentials are serious ones. IP68 means submersion up to 2 m for 30 minutes. IP69K adds resistance to high-pressure water jets, which is the standard applied to equipment that gets hosed down in industrial or outdoor settings. MIL-STD-810H covers drop, vibration, humidity, altitude, and temperature extremes. A phone this small is significantly more likely to be dropped than a larger device, so the reinforced shell earns its place.

Battery management is where the form factor pays its most practical dividend. The 2,500mAh cell powers up to 12 days of moderate use and reaches 311 hours of standby, numbers that come from the low-resolution display and efficient quad-core MediaTek MT6739 chipset rather than from a massive capacity. The battery is also removable, which hasn’t been a feature on most consumer phones for nearly a decade, and it means carrying a spare for genuinely extended off-grid use.

Storage is 8GB internally with 1GB of RAM, paired with a triple-card slot that accepts two nano SIMs alongside a microSD card. For a phone that handles calls, texts, and WhatsApp, 8GB is more than sufficient. The dual-SIM configuration makes it practical as a travel device, keeping a local data SIM and a home number active simultaneously without buying a second handset.

The Armor Mini 5 currently sells for $99.99, down from a regular price of $109.99. For a phone that most people would describe as a deliberate step backward in screen size and software capabilities, it makes a surprisingly coherent argument that fewer features, handled well and built to survive a job site, might actually be the more useful device for what a second phone is actually supposed to do.

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CASETiFY releases an original Tamagotchi, phone cases, charms, and exclusive accessories to pique nostalgia

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Tamagotchi, the virtual pet created by Bandai, a Japanese toy manufacturer, was seen constantly hanging from schoolbags in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when I was growing up. As brands now consistently mine millennial nostalgia for Gen-Z delight, many collaborations in the recent past have given birth to or revived the Y2K-era devices, of which the new Tamagotchi x CASETiFY collaboration is a true testament.

The device, which was a consistent charm for people, especially the kids, appeared clipped onto keychains or held as fidgets in the hand, is now getting a new life through the charismatic collaboration. The collection transforms the favorite nostalgic character into smartphone and tablet cases, charms, collectible accessories, and Tamagotchi chase cards.

Designer: CASETiFY

Officially launched on May 29, 2026, the CASETiFY’s Tamagotchi lineup includes customizable phone cases, earbud pouches, charms, a carry-on suitcase, and also features an original, limited-edition Tamagotchi device, each designed to be styled with interchangeable modular accessories. The exclusive range of products starts at roughly around $15 and goes up to $799.

The highlight here, of course, is the release of the Original Tamagotchi Casetify Limited Edition. This collectible object, reimagined as a usable tech accessory, is priced at $45, and comes in a small, egg-shaped form factor with three buttons, just like the real thing launched in 1996. This playable device will be available in a strictly numbered quantity through CASETiFY.

The full collection, including the original Tamagotchi, is now available at casetify.com and CASETiFY stores worldwide. Besides the rare piece, the collaboration, reviving the retro gaming imagery includes, Tamagotchi Collectible Plush Charm for $70, Tamagotchi Jumbo Pattern Snappy Cardholder Stand (MagSafe compatible) for $40, and Egg Tablet Case for the iPad at $79.

A restoration of the bright colors, character graphics, and the pixilated interfaces that made the Tamagotchi a force to reckon with is seen in the accessories covered in the character’s motifs, beyond the phone, tablet cases, detachable phone charms, and patterned straps. Amid these, the plush pouches designed to hold earbuds really stand out.

The collection, however, is not just about these smaller accessories. In fact, it comprises a customizable carry-on luggage from the CASETiFY Travel Tamagotchi luggage series. Using different Tamagotchi characters and retro typography, the appeal of the suitcase, available in pink and blue colors, can be enhanced to a decorative height that fans cannot deny.

It is difficult to point directly at what instigated Bandai for this collaboration with CASETiFY. But how it stands out, Tamagotchi nostalgia is seeing a rise in Japan. Themed displays inspired by Tamagotchi’s cute universe are everywhere, from cafes to parties. Reminding us that even after 30 years of its launch, Tamagotchi continues to have a fan following, which the two companies are leveraging through this collaboration.

The post CASETiFY releases an original Tamagotchi, phone cases, charms, and exclusive accessories to pique nostalgia first appeared on Yanko Design.

Oppo Made A MagSafe Display Accessory That Lets You Take Better Selfies With Your Rear Camera

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The rear camera has always been the better camera. That has been true for over a decade. Every benchmark, every low-light comparison, every zoom test confirms it, and yet selfie culture built itself entirely around the front-facing lens because there was no practical way to see what the good camera was capturing while it was pointed away from you. Oppo’s answer to that decade-old inconvenience is a circular magnetic screen that clips to the back of your phone and mirrors your rear camera’s live feed. Frame your shot, check your composition, tap to shoot, all without guessing.

Launched in China on May 25, 2026, the Oppo Bubble pairs with select devices in the Reno 16 lineup and streams a camera preview wirelessly up to 10 meters away. That range alone repositions it as a proper remote shooting monitor, useful well beyond selfies. The Bubble runs on a 550mAh battery, uses a circular AMOLED touchscreen, and supports custom wallpapers and media display when the camera preview is off. Apple has had the magnetic infrastructure for something like this since 2020. Six years on, the most ambitious MagSafe accessory in the lineup is still a card holder.

Designer: Oppo

Deep blacks, punchy colors, and a circular silhouette that reads more like tech jewelry than a utilitarian panel, the Bubble’s AMOLED touchscreen is the hardware doing the heaviest lifting in the whole concept. A washed-out, low-res preview would sink this accessory at its primary job, so putting a real AMOLED in here is arguably the secret sauce. The round form factor earns its keep on the design side too, giving the Bubble enough personality to avoid looking like a rectangular chunk glued to a phone case. Beyond the camera preview, Oppo lets you load it up with custom wallpapers, live photos, videos, and animated themes, so it has a visual life even when you’re not actively shooting. Yes, you can even load your boarding pass on it to show at the airport. No, you can’t play DOOM on it… yet.

 

Screenshot

Ten meters of wireless range turns the Bubble from a selfie tool into a legitimate remote shooting monitor, and Oppo built a remote shutter trigger in to go with it. At arm’s length, you’re checking your own framing before you tap. At 10 meters, you’re monitoring a camera on a tripod across the room, or confirming a group shot is actually composed before everyone has to reassemble for attempt number six. People used to buy separate Bluetooth remotes to approximate half of that workflow. The Bubble folds it into one small circular screen that lives on the back of the phone, which makes you wonder why no one shipped this sooner.

The live camera preview only works with select Oppo devices from the Reno 16 series it launched alongside, which means the headline feature is gated to a short device list even within Oppo’s own lineup at launch. That’s a real limitation for now, and one worth naming plainly before you get too deep into the pitch. Oppo has also teased a pendant variant of the Bubble, suggesting it has a standalone life beyond being phone-mounted, though whether that version carries the camera preview or strips back to a display has not been confirmed. The fact that Oppo is already thinking in form factor variations points toward a platform they intend to iterate on. Whether the compatibility net widens with the next generation is the question worth watching.

A rear camera selfie monitor that works 10 meters out, snaps on magnetically, and runs on a proper AMOLED display covers a gap that millions of people navigate every single day with timer sprints and front cameras they’ve quietly settled for. The Bubble is currently available in China, with no confirmed international rollout yet. Apple has had MagSafe on iPhones since 2020, built a respectable ecosystem of wallets, chargers, and cases around it, and left the screen real estate entirely untouched. Oppo just claimed it. How aggressively they expand the Bubble beyond a single phone series in a single market will say a lot about whether they actually believe in what they’ve built here.

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