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Huion Note E Review: The Notebook That Never Runs Out of Pages

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PROS:


  • Streamlined and focused note-taking experience

  • Looks and feels like using a digital A5 notebook

  • Battery-free stylus with 8,192 levels of pressure and tilt support

  • Sharp display with anti-glare nano-etching, DC dimming, and soft light

CONS:


  • No microSD storage expansion

  • Cover attachment feels prone to breaking

  • Custom software has room for improvement

RATINGS:

AESTHETICS
ERGONOMICS
PERFORMANCE
SUSTAINABILITY / REPAIRABILITY
VALUE FOR MONEY

EDITOR'S QUOTE:

The Huion Note E delivers an enjoyable writing experience on a notebook that never runs out of pages.
award-icon

Huion has made a name for itself with digital drawing tools that empower creatives, both professional and hobbyist alike, regardless of their budgets. It has lately dabbled in the realm of standalone Android tablets, bringing its technologies that would allow designers and artists to let their creativity roam free, figuratively and literally. It even put out some “Smart Notebooks,” catering to the note-taking crowd more than artists.

Against this backdrop, the Huion Note E arrives with an ambitious goal: to be the electronic notebook to replace your handful of paper notebooks. It’s designed to even look the part! But this has been attempted before by many companies, including more expensive fruit-labeled slates, so how does the Note E fare in this regard? Is it able to deliver that paper-like writing experience, or is that just another bullet point in a smorgasbord of disjointed features? We take out our thinking caps, jot down our musings, and take it for a spin to find out.

Designer: Huion

Aesthetics

Huion dubs the Note E as an Electronic notebook, and the first impression you get definitely supports that characterization. Out of the box, it already sets itself apart from typical Android tablets and even from e-readers that have thick bezels and a wider left edge. That left edge uses a rough textured material that mimics the appearance and experience of spines on some paper notebooks.

In fact, the Huion Note E tries quite hard to push that notebook metaphor, almost to the extreme. Instead of your typical smooth edges, the tablet’s sides have an unusual ridged structure that looks like pages of a notebook. That is, if your notebook used black paper. All in all, the Huion Note E presents itself well as an electronic A5 notebook, which helps endear itself to those planning to make the switch from paper to digital.

The included cover adds a pinch of luxury to that presentation, with a PU leather material on the outside and a soft, felt-like texture on the inside. It’s reminiscent of premium journals and their leather-like covers, reinforcing the image of the Huion Note E as an electronic notebook. It’s nothing grand or spectacular, but small touches like these help give the product a distinct personality as a carefully designed object rather than just another tablet in the market.

The Huion Note E embraces a very minimalist design, at least aside from those aforementioned details. Without any physical volume controls, only the power button, USB-C port, and holes for the mics, speaker, and cover break the flow of the ridges around the device. The LCD screen with anti-glare nano-etching is laminated and lies completely flat, just like a page of a notebook. The back is also pretty bare, save for the Huion branding in the middle and the camera bump in a rather unconventional corner. The back has a somewhat matte texture that is, unfortunately, quite a smudge and fingerprint magnet.

The included stylus, a Huion PW510 with PenTech 3.0, follows that same minimalist aesthetic. It has no side buttons, for better or for worse, and aside from the pen nib, the only interaction point is the springy eraser on the other end. The 9mm-diameter barrel has two flat sides that keep it from rolling off a table. Amusingly, the pen seems to roll on its “back” more often than not, ensuring that the Huion name on the barrel is always visible.

Ergonomics

The comparison with a paper notebook doesn’t stop at the appearance. The Huion Note E is almost exactly the size and thickness of an 80-page A5 notebook. At around 348g, it almost weighs as much as one, though the cover adds around 100g more to that ensemble. It’s still light and slim enough to carry everywhere you’d normally take notebooks with you, with the advantage that you only need one Note E versus a stack of A5 notebooks.

That also means it’s convenient to hold the Huion Note E up in one hand, though your exact comfort will depend on your hand size and grip. Those with larger hands or longer fingers might be able to more comfortably grip both edges to hold the tablet like a notepad, while some might prefer gripping the textured left edge instead. That said, the device has enough heft that it can start to feel a bit tiring after a long period of time.

The Huion PW510 pen’s 9mm diameter also makes it a joy to hold and use. It has enough girth to feel comfortable without being too chunky. The body is also well-balanced, so nothing weighs down your hand to get in the way of writing. The lack of a side button aligns with the goal to mimic a pen and paper experience, though at the expense of some useful functionality. The pen magnetically attaches to the side of the Note E, making it easy and convenient to stow away the pen when not in use. There’s also a pen loop on the included cover, though designed in a rather unusual way.

That magnetic cover itself is a bit of an odd duck, sadly. While it’s understandable that Huion avoided using extra-strong magnets that would have affected the EMR pen’s performance, the mechanism they chose feels both unintuitive and flimsy. There are two small prongs inside the spine of the cover, and you have to slide the tablet up or down, depending on whether you’re removing or attaching it, respectively. Given the size of the prongs, it feels like an accident waiting to happen.

One rather curious note is the placement of the power button, which also functions as a fingerprint scanner, on the upper right edge. I usually open books or notebooks from that corner, so when I flip the cover open, my finger naturally brushes against the power button and automatically unlocks the tablet so I don’t have to do that step consciously. Whether that design was intended or not, it was still a nice touch, no pun intended.

Performance

Huion already has quite a number of Android-powered tablets in the market, including a 10-inch one with an E Ink screen. The Note E, however, has a distinct purpose that calls for a rather different combination of hardware and software features. It’s meant to be a highly portable digital notebook first and foremost, so everything else falls under this lens, both the good and the bad.

Specs and Battery

The Huion Note E is unambiguously what would be considered a mid-range tablet, especially with its MediaTek Helio G99 processor. While that may have been billed as a gaming chip for budget smartphones back in 2022, it doesn’t hold a candle to today’s mid-tier silicon, at least in theory. In practice, however, it actually performs quite well, especially with 6GB of RAM that gives apps sufficient space to operate. It’s no racehorse, for sure, but that isn’t even the point of this device in the first place.

The tablet comes with 128GB of RAM, which is modest by 2026 standards, especially without any option to expand it with a microSD card. It will be enough to hold notes, pieces of art, and ebooks aplenty, but you’ll definitely feel cramped for anything else. You will definitely feel the intentional limitations Huion put in place, preferring to focus on the core use cases for the device: note-taking with a bit of drawing and reading on the side.

Huion Note E (Left) | POCO X8 Pro (Right)

That’s also why the Huion Note E’s camera story is almost non-existent. There’s an 8MP shooter on the back that’s primarily for scanning documents, notes, and books. You can take passable photos, definitely, but the quality is so basic you’d be better off reaching for your smartphone. Yes, you can probably snap up a reference for your drawing, but don’t expect accurate colors, let alone fine details. Unsurprisingly, there is no front-facing camera, even for video calls.

A 4,500mAh battery sounds a little too modest for a tablet, but it does surprisingly well. On standby, with 2 or 3 benchmarks run, it lasted almost three days from full to 5%. On a full day of regular use, you won’t even need to reach for a power bank until the next day. The 18W “fast” charging speed is definitely a bummer, requiring 2.5 hours to top up.

Display and Pen

Where the Huion Note E excels is, of course, the screen and stylus experience, which isn’t surprising given the brand’s core technologies and target market. The 8.4-inch laminated LCD screen comes with an anti-glare nano-etched surface that is advertised to provide a traditional pen-on-paper experience. In practice, it feels more like writing on a sheet of smooth, high-quality paper, like the ones you’d find in Japanese-made notebooks and planners. It doesn’t exactly have that “scratchiness” of regular paper, but there’s enough resistance that it doesn’t feel like plastic sliding on glass.

With a 1920×1200 resolution, the 60Hz screen boasts a pixel density of 270 PPI, close to what ereaders offer. Huion doesn’t advertise it as something similar to E Ink, nor does it even talk about a paper-like reading experience. It’s still an LCD screen, though with some features aimed at helping reduce eye strain. For example, it opts for DC dimming over the more popular PWM to reduce flickering that hurts the eyes over long periods of use.

All of these come together to deliver a screen that is sharp, clear, and colorful, allowing for a variety of uses that go beyond just scribbling or reading. Under bright light, even under the sun, the screen is still readable, especially at max brightness. The anti-glare finish does affect viewing angles, but very few people would read or write at an extreme angle anyway.

The Huion PW510 stylus that comes in the box utilizes the brand’s PenTech 3.0 technology, promising 8,192 levels of pressure as well as tilt sensitivity. It definitely works as advertised with no latency in any app, reproducing that joyful feeling of seeing “ink” flow smoothly from the tip of the pen as it glides across paper. Sadly, the design of the 1.6mm felt nib makes it harder to take full advantage of tilt, but it’s definitely there.

Software

That the Huion Note E is specifically designed for note-taking is perhaps best seen in the mixed bag that is the software experience. It runs on a customized Android experience that more closely resembles an e-reader than a typical Android tablet. Most of the features and settings are still there, just hidden and sometimes even locked down.

There is thankfully not much bloatware installed, save for some “basic” Google apps. Ironically, while the device does support Google Play, you have to take some extra, but thankfully easy, steps to register the device. It’s an unfortunate situation, but not a complete deal-breaker. Once you get past that, almost any app on the Play Store is available to install.

Huion’s built-in software, however, leaves some things to be desired. The launcher, which has “tabs” on the left, is designed to be minimal and distraction-free. It’s also the only way you can get to the Huion Notes and To-do apps, as they are baked into the launcher, following the practice of some Android ereaders. Unfortunately, it’s so minimalist that there’s no option to rearrange apps in the Favorites tab (but you can do that in the All Apps tab), nor is there a dark mode that will avoid blinding your eyes in a dark room.

The Huion Notes app is also capable but basic, designed more for quick notes rather than elaborate journals and planners. You have four “pens,” only one of which takes advantage of pressure sensitivity. There’s no way to directly type in text, forcing you to write by hand and then convert to text, but once text is already there, you can edit normally with a keyboard. One key feature is the ability to record audio while writing, for example while taking notes in a lecture, and you can later play the recording back and watch your handwriting appear in sync.

The built-in To-Dos app is even more basic, simply letting you scribble a task, which it converts to text, enter sub-tasks, and assign due dates and times. You can type in text at all, so you’ll really have to do everything with the stylus, which is the entire point in the first place. You don’t type in your paper notebook, after all.

HiPaint, which some consider to be the Android Procreate, is also pre-installed, but you can install any drawing app of your choice. With Huion’s display and pen tech, turning the Note E into a portable digital sketchbook is like second nature. Of course, you can also read books, comics, and, if you really want, scroll through social media, though the reading experience might be subpar compared to a color E Ink device.

Sustainability

The Huion Note E doesn’t exactly score well in this criterion. The device is mostly plastic, with no mention of recycled parts. The packaging is compact and minimal, but there’s still quite a bit of plastic there as well. The device itself is only rated for IP40, which practically means no protection even against accidental splashes. It does run Android 15, which was last year’s release, but there is no clear upgrade path moving forward.

The Note E’s sustainability advantage is in what it saves in the long run, even if indirectly. It is trying to create a culture of swapping out paper notebooks for electronic ones, at least for the more disposable use cases. The battery-free stylus is not only, well, battery-free but also saves up on energy you would have used to charge the pen. Small wins, definitely, and hopefully Huion would move toward stronger sustainable practices and materials soon.

Value

At $369, the Huion Note E is hardly what you’d consider a budget tablet. It does include an excellent stylus and a somewhat ambiguous cover, but if you’re looking for hardware chops, you’d best look elsewhere. A mono speaker and a single 8MP camera are not what you’d consider modern features. It is definitely not the only Android tablet with a stylus, either.

What Huion brings to the table isn’t just another Android device, but one that is clearly designed, both in hardware and software, for a specific, focused purpose. That it looks like an A5 notebook isn’t an accident, and, incomplete as it may be, the streamlined software experience is quite intentional. The Note E aims to be your one electronic notebook to replace your other paper notebooks, and it definitely gets the job done, with plenty of room for growth.

Verdict

There is no shortage of Android tablets that support pen input, from the large and expensive “Pro” slates to E Ink readers. At first glance, the Huion Note E looks like yet another entry in that market, but just turn it to the side, and you will immediately see that it’s a different beast entirely. It’s an electronic notebook first and foremost. Everything else is just side effects.

What really sets the Huion Note E apart is the carefully selected mix of features and limitations that make it look less like a mass-market device and more like a considered object. It looks like the object it’s meant to replace, and the limitations it has in place streamline rather than restrict the experience. Sure, there are a few quirks, most of which can be fixed with software updates, but, in the end, the Huion Note E still manages to deliver its promise: an enjoyable writing experience on a notebook that never runs out of pages.

The post Huion Note E Review: The Notebook That Never Runs Out of Pages first appeared on Yanko Design.

Nothing Phone (4b): Not Exciting, But Hard to Fault

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PROS:


  • Distinctive design that still feels recognizably Nothing

  • Large 120Hz AMOLED display is good for the price

  • Solid all–day battery life

CONS:


  • No telephoto camera

  • Noticeable bezel

RATINGS:

AESTHETICS
ERGONOMICS
PERFORMANCE
SUSTAINABILITY / REPAIRABILITY
VALUE FOR MONEY

EDITOR'S QUOTE:

Not especially thrilling, but thoughtfully balanced, the Nothing Phone (4b) is an affordable phone that knows its priorities.

It’s no secret that rising memory prices have become a major challenge for tech companies of every size. Some brands have responded by simply raising prices. Others have had to rethink their product strategy entirely. You know the situation is serious when a company decides not to release a successor to one of its most popular series because it cannot build a phone that feels good enough for its target audience at the right price.

With no CMF phone upgrade arriving this year, the Nothing Phone (4b) becomes the company’s new affordable entry point. Rather than pushing ahead with a compromised CMF successor in a difficult market, Nothing has brought that mission back under its main label. It is an entry-level phone by positioning, but one that still tries to carry the visual character and brand personality that make a Nothing device feel distinct. Of course, affordability in a market like this never comes without tradeoffs. The question is whether Nothing has chosen the right ones. Has it cut back in ways most users can accept, while still delivering a phone that feels stylish, capable, and true to the brand?

Designer: Nothing

Aesthetics

Nothing has built its reputation on a strong and instantly recognizable design identity. That identity first emerged with the Nothing Ear (1), the company’s debut wireless earbuds, whose transparent look immediately gave the brand a distinct visual signature. When Nothing later expanded into smartphones, it introduced the Glyph design as a new defining element of its phone lineup. Since then, the company’s design language has continued to evolve, sometimes through refinement, sometimes through experimentation, but never by standing still.

At a glance, the Phone (4b) still feels part of that family. It carries over familiar cues such as exposed screw details, geometric panel treatment, and a transparent-inspired camera bump that gives the rear a sense of structure rather than mere decoration. The phone is offered in White, Black, and Blue, and its unibody design helps the overall form feel more cohesive. All three colorways use black buttons, which create a subtle contrast, especially on the lighter finishes. The rear itself has a dual-tone look, with a more solid lower section and a transparent-inspired camera bump above it. On that bump, two vertically stacked cameras sit alongside the flash and a Glyph Bar that echoes the Phone (4a).

It is not as fun or as visually exciting as some other Nothing phones, especially the earlier ones. The design feels more restrained, with less of the playful boldness that once made the brand’s devices feel genuinely surprising. Even so, for a budget phone, Nothing has balanced design ambition and cost control well, preserving enough character to keep the Phone (4b) from fading into the background.

Ergonomics

Measuring 164.4 x 78.2 x 8.6 mm and weighing 210 g, the Nothing Phone (4b) is very much a modern big-screen budget phone. Its unibody construction helps it feel solid and cohesive in the hand, and the weight distribution is even enough that it does not come across as awkward or top-heavy. The matte texture is a nice touch visually and helps the phone avoid looking overly glossy, though it does not completely translate into a secure grip.

For me, the biggest issue is the width. At 78.2 mm, it is just a bit too wide to handle comfortably with one hand, especially when trying to reach across the display for interface elements or app icons. The handling can also feel a little slippery at times, so simple actions such as pulling down menus or tapping controls near the opposite edge can require a grip adjustment. As a result, the Phone (4b) feels more natural in two-handed use than in quick one-handed moments.

The fingerprint scanner placement does not help much either. It sits near the bottom of the display, which makes the unlock motion feel less seamless than it should. Once the phone is unlocked, your thumb is already positioned too low, so moving directly into navigation feels less natural than it would with a scanner placed slightly higher. It is a small ergonomic detail, but one that becomes easier to notice in everyday use.

Performance

The Nothing Phone (4b) is powered by the Snapdragon 6 Gen 4, paired with 8GB of RAM and either 128GB or 256GB of storage. That places it firmly in the lower mid-range rather than the true bargain-bin tier, and in daily use, that positioning feels about right. This is not a phone that tries to impress with raw speed or benchmark theatrics. Instead, it aims for a level of performance that feels dependable enough for the people most likely to buy it.

In everyday tasks, the Phone (4b) holds up well. Navigating the interface, switching between common apps, browsing the web, replying to messages, and scrolling through social media all feel smooth enough that the phone rarely calls attention to its limitations. Gaming is where its limits become clearer. Casual titles should run without much trouble, and lighter 3D games are likely to be perfectly playable, but this is not a device built for demanding graphics or long sessions at high settings. Heavier games will almost certainly require reduced visual quality to maintain consistency, and even then, this is not the sort of phone that feels eager to push beyond its class.

The software experience plays a big role in making the Phone (4b) feel more polished than its hardware might otherwise suggest. Nothing’s interface has generally been one of the company’s strengths, and that remains true here. Notably, Nothing has not held back too much on software features, with AI tools and Essential Space both making their way to the Phone (4b). The software is also relatively clean, with only a small amount of pre-installed bloatware, something that remains surprisingly rare at this end of the market.

The Glyph interface is still here, though in reduced form as the rear Glyph Bar rather than the fuller system found on more expensive Nothing phones. It supports practical functions such as timers, charging progress, notifications, recording indicators, and one of my personal favorites, the camera countdown, so it is more than just a visual gimmick. Still, this pared-down implementation feels more like a modest nod to Nothing’s identity than a feature that adds much excitement to the experience.

The Phone (4b) features a large 6.77-inch AMOLED display with a 1080 x 2344 resolution, a pixel density of 381ppi, and a 120Hz refresh rate. Nothing also claims a peak brightness of 2,000 nits and 1,300 nits in outdoor brightness mode. It is a solid display package for the segment, offering the kind of size and fluidity that most users will immediately appreciate in daily use.

Visually, the panel does not do much to surprise. The bezels are relatively thick all around, with a more noticeable chin at the bottom, so it lacks the sleek edge-to-edge impression of more expensive phones. Even so, this is still a good screen for the price. The AMOLED panel gives the Phone (4b) the contrast and richness you would hope for, while the 120Hz refresh rate helps the interface feel smoother and more modern.

Main Camera, 2x

Main Camera, 1x

The speaker quality follows a similar pattern. It is still not especially impressive, but it is better than merely acceptable. The stereo speaker setup gives the Phone (4b) a more balanced audio presentation, and the sound avoids becoming muddy. It is not a standout for richness or power, but for everyday listening, the result is solid for the class.

Main Camera 2x (B&W Film Filter), Main Camera 2x (Normal)

Main Camera 2x (Portrait Mode)

The camera system is another area where expectations need to stay grounded. On the back, the Phone (4b) pairs a 50MP main camera, using a 1/2.76-inch sensor with an f/1.8 aperture and OIS, with an 8MP ultra-wide camera that uses a 1/4-inch sensor and an f/2.2 aperture. Up front, there is a 16MP selfie camera. This is a fairly typical camera setup for the segment, with the main sensor doing most of the meaningful work.

Ultra-wide 0.6x

Main Camera 1x

In good daylight, the results are generally solid. The main camera captures decent detail, pleasing contrast, and images that are more than good enough for social sharing. The phone can zoom up to 10x, but image quality starts to fall off noticeably beyond 2x, so that upper range is more there for flexibility than for genuinely reliable output. Low-light performance is also fairly good overall, though white balance can become a little wonky in certain scenes. For video, the main camera can record at up to 4K 30fps, while the ultra-wide and front-facing cameras are limited to 1080p, with the former capped at 30fps and the latter able to reach 60fps.

Main Camera 2x

Main Camera 5x

Main Camera 10x

Battery life should be one of the Phone (4b)’s more dependable strengths. The global version packs a 5,200mAh battery, and when paired with a relatively modest chipset and efficient software, the phone is clearly tuned for endurance rather than excess. In my use, it lasted a full day easily, which is exactly what most buyers in this category will want. Charging is less exciting. Wired charging tops out at 33W, which is not especially fast by current standards, but the inclusion of 5.5W reverse wired charging is still a welcome extra.

Sustainability

Sustainability is rarely a major talking point in the smartphone market, which is why Nothing deserves credit here. The company puts details such as the Phone (4b)’s carbon footprint and packaging composition directly on the product page instead of burying them elsewhere. That kind of transparency is still uncommon, and it makes the sustainability effort feel more concrete.

There is also a practical side to the story. The Phone (4b) has an IP64 rating for dust and splash resistance, while its unibody construction should help with structural strength. Software support is solid, with three years of Android updates and six years of security patches.

Nothing lists the Phone (4b)’s carbon footprint at 54.7 kg CO₂e, and says more than 99 percent of the packaging is plastic-free, excluding the PET-paper composite label. These are not the kind of details most buyers will focus on first, but they are useful to have. More importantly, this level of disclosure is worth praising and reflects a company that is at least willing to treat environmental responsibility as part of the product conversation.

Value

At £299, or about $400, the Nothing Phone (4b) is not trying to be the absolute cheapest option. Instead, it aims to offer a more polished and distinctive experience than many budget phones at this price. That gives it a slightly different kind of value proposition.

That mostly works in its favor. You get a recognizably Nothing design, a large 120Hz AMOLED display, clean software, stereo speakers, solid battery life, and dependable everyday performance. The phone is not without compromises, especially in its chipset choice and the lack of a telephoto camera.

The Phone (4b) may not be the obvious bargain pick, but it still offers solid value. It feels less like a phone built to win on one headline feature and more like one shaped by careful compromise. For buyers who want an affordable phone with personality and few major weaknesses, it makes a convincing case for itself.

Verdict

The Nothing Phone (4b) is a sensible response to a difficult market. Rather than forcing out a compromised CMF successor, Nothing has created a new affordable entry point under its main brand. The result is a phone that feels carefully judged rather than boldly ambitious.

It is not an especially exciting device, and some compromises are easy to notice. The chin bezel, modest chipset, and limited camera versatility all remind you where costs have been kept in check. Even the Glyph Bar feels more like a restrained nod to Nothing’s identity than a standout feature.

Still, the Phone (4b) gets the fundamentals right. It offers a good display, clean software, solid battery life, stereo speakers, dependable everyday performance, and a design that still feels recognizably Nothing. For buyers who want an affordable phone with personality and few major weaknesses, it makes a convincing case for itself.

The post Nothing Phone (4b): Not Exciting, But Hard to Fault first appeared on Yanko Design.

REDMAGIC Astra 2 Review: The Gaming Tablet That Finally Keeps Its Cool

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PROS:


  • Distinctive visible liquid cooling design

  • Gorgeous and responsive 9.06-inch 2.4K display

  • Impressive performance across the board

  • Dual USB-C ports for charging while playing

CONS:


  • Modest IP54 dust and water resistance

  • Very basic camera performance

RATINGS:

AESTHETICS
ERGONOMICS
PERFORMANCE
SUSTAINABILITY / REPAIRABILITY
VALUE FOR MONEY

EDITOR'S QUOTE:

The REDMAGIC Astra 2 is the rare gaming tablet that makes its engineering the most interesting thing about it.

Gaming tablets have long chased desktop-class performance, but thermal throttling has always been the real ceiling. The more demanding the session, the more heat builds up, and the more the chip has to dial back to protect itself. Vapor chambers and cooling fans have helped, but none has fundamentally changed the equation. The gap between peak specs and what a device can actually sustain has remained difficult to close.

REDMAGIC’s answer is the Astra 2 Gaming Tablet, which brings liquid cooling to a consumer tablet for the very first time. It pairs that with a 9.06-inch OLED display running at 185Hz and the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset, all in a design that’s as visually interesting as it is capable. And rather than just a bullet item on a spec list, the Astra 2 makes that defining feature visible for everyone to see. But does it deliver on its promise, or is it just another design gimmick to woo gamers? We take it for a spin to find out.

Aesthetics

Most gaming tablets announce themselves loudly, with aggressive angles and bold branding that leave little to the imagination. The Astra 2 takes a different approach. Its body is flat matte aluminium in dark charcoal Eclipse or light silver Starfrost, with a subtly embossed REDMAGIC trident at the center of the rear panel. There’s no camera bump, no competing surface details, nothing vying for attention against the one element the design clearly prioritizes.

That element is the transparent cooling strip along the top edge of the rear. Beneath it, serpentine liquid cooling channels glow in blue RGB, with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 badge and “COOLING SYSTEM” lettering etched into the surround. It reads like a nod to gaming PC culture, where lit, windowed hardware has long been a mark of serious intent. Here, that reference is earned.

The front face is equally considered. With 4.9mm bezels and a 90.1% screen-to-body ratio, the display fills almost all of the face, and the front camera is practically invisible at 1.9mm in diameter, the smallest on any tablet. A red Magic Key provides the only real color accent, small but deliberately placed. Between colorways, Starfrost makes the blue cooling strip more dramatic, while Eclipse keeps things precisely controlled.

The REDMAGIC Astra 2 offers a tasteful middle ground between loud gaming gear and professional tech gadget. It has a head-turning design that doesn’t distract constantly, letting that first impression last even when you’re no longer paying attention. It has that character of maturity that gamers of this generation are looking for in their gear, especially when they’re out and about.

Ergonomics

At 363g and 6.9mm thin, the REDMAGIC Astra 2 is genuinely comfortable to hold through extended sessions. The flat back sits flush on any surface without rocking, which matters more in practice than it sounds. The 9.06-inch size puts on-screen controls within natural thumb reach in landscape mode, and the rounded corners distribute the weight evenly enough that the tablet doesn’t become a burden during a long session.

The dual USB-C layout is the real game-changer here, pardon the pun. A USB 3.2 Gen 2 port on the short side and a USB 2.0 on the long edge means a charging cable is always accessible regardless of orientation without blocking your hands, allowing comfortable play while charging. The Magic Key is customizable beyond its default GameSpace launch, and both fingerprint and face unlock work in wet conditions, a practical benefit for a device regularly used during intense gaming sessions.

Performance

The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 runs on a 3nm architecture with a peak clock speed of 4.6 GHz and notably lower power consumption than its predecessor. Alongside it sits REDMAGIC’s RedCore R4 co-processor, which dynamically allocates CPU, GPU, memory, cooling, and touch resources in real time based on what each game demands. You also get 12GB or 16GB of RAM, depending on your configuration, which is plenty not only for games but for some heavy-duty multitasking.

The AquaCore Cooling System 2.0 is what makes extended performance possible, with REDMAGIC being the first mass-produced tablet brand to pioneer liquid cooling. A piezoelectric micropump circulates fluorinated liquid through micron-laser-cut channels inside the device body. Liquid Metal 3.0 transfers chip heat rapidly to a large vapor chamber, which distributes it across the entire device. Together, these three components maintain stable performance during prolonged gaming sessions in a way conventional cooling simply can’t match.

What all these mean in practice is that you get higher FPS stability and faster responsiveness with lower power draw and less heat. Performance is stable and optimized, whether you’re gaming, enjoying a video binge, or, on rare occasions, being productive thanks to the plethora of apps available on Android 16. As with gaming PCs, good gaming hardware tends to result in good performance across the board, and the REDMAGIC Astra 2 proves it.

The 9.06-inch H5 OLED panel runs at 185Hz, currently the highest refresh rate on any OLED gaming tablet. Resolution sits at 2.4K, or 2400×1504, and peak brightness reaches 1,600 nits. These deliver a screen that is bright, vibrant, and a joy to look at, both for gaming and other visual content. The next-gen custom Synaptics touch controller delivers 300Hz average and up to 2,000Hz instantaneous touch sampling, making the screen feel immediately precise and responsive even with sweaty hands.

The battery is rated at 8,500mAh and supports fast 75W charging, though it eschews wireless charging for that feat. On regular tablets, that’s definitely enough to last for a day or two, but gamers know how fast you can burn through that in just a few hours of gaming, especially at max settings. Thankfully, the Astra 2’s dual USB-C design and safeguards not only allow but even encourage you to charge while playing, minimizing downtime as long as you’re near a wall socket.

While the REDMAGIC Astra 2 excels in most cases, it doesn’t have much to show when it comes to mobile photography. The single 13MP camera is, for the most part, decent, while the 9MP front camera is clearly intended for video calls and live streaming more than taking selfies. None of these is surprising, of course, as this is a tablet that’s laser-focused on delivering a super gaming experience first and foremost.

Sustainability

The Astra 2 is built to handle daily wear without fuss. The aviation-grade aluminium frame resists flexing, Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protects the display against scratches and impacts, and an IP54 rating covers dust protection and water splashes from any direction. That’s the appropriate level for a device that lives on desks, in bags, and in hands, covering the real conditions a gaming tablet encounters day to day. That said, it’s not exactly what you would expect from a device at this price point.

The Astra 2 ships on REDMAGIC OS 11.5 running Android 16, starting on the current version of the OS rather than entering the market already a software generation behind. Unfortunately, the brand has not made any commitment to future software updates, which does raise some concerns about its longevity in that department.

Value

The 12GB/256GB Astra 2 starts at $749 in North America and €699 in Europe. At that price, it’s the only tablet available with both a 185Hz OLED display and liquid cooling. Comparable gaming tablets in this range use LCD panels at lower refresh rates with conventional cooling, making the REDMAGIC Astra 2 the clear leader in terms of specifications that define sustained gaming performance.

The 16GB/512GB tier goes up to $849, and the software platform adds real value to both configurations. Frame Rate Boost uses interpolation to smooth gameplay on titles that cap their native frame rate, intelligently inserting extra frames for more fluid motion, while the system upscales games to 2K resolution for a visually impressive experience. The Astra 2 is Wi-Fi only, which is standard for gaming tablets at this level and accurately reflects where serious mobile gaming actually takes place.

USB On-The-Go support means keyboards, mice, and external drives connect directly without needing a computer as a host. DisplayPort output supports external displays at up to 8K resolution at 60FPS, and the Gravity X desktop mode enables full keyboard-and-mouse PC-style play directly from the tablet. It may not have a Switch-like modular design, but the capabilities allow the Astra 2 to meet gamers where they are, be it while waiting in line, in the comfort of their bed, or on an extended session on their desk.

Verdict

What makes the REDMAGIC Astra 2 interesting as a design object isn’t any single specification but how well the decisions relate to each other. The dual USB-C ports, the 185Hz OLED, the flat profile, and the vapor chamber geometry all feel purposeful rather than assembled from a spec sheet. There’s a coherence here that suggests these components were conceived together, not independently justified and bolted on.

The cooling strip is worth one final note, particularly for design-minded readers. Most consumer electronics go to considerable effort to hide their internal complexity behind smooth, opaque surfaces. The REDMAGIC Astra 2 puts a window in the back panel and lets the working hardware be the visual centerpiece, a straightforward and honest position, and one that’s genuinely satisfying to see in a product at this level.

The post REDMAGIC Astra 2 Review: The Gaming Tablet That Finally Keeps Its Cool first appeared on Yanko Design.

Infinix HOT 70 Series Review: Designed Like a Flagship, Not Priced Like One

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PROS:


  • Eye-catching designs that deliver a strong visual identity

  • Color-changing Thermo Orange opens DIY possibilities

  • Clous de Paris-inspired button makes AI more tactile and personal

  • Decent performance and strong value for its price

CONS:


  • No dedicated telephoto or ultra-wide cameras

  • Infinix HOT 70 (non-Pro) is limited to 4G networks only

RATINGS:

AESTHETICS
ERGONOMICS
PERFORMANCE
SUSTAINABILITY / REPAIRABILITY
VALUE FOR MONEY

EDITOR'S QUOTE:

The Infinix HOT 70 is proof that expressive, design-forward smartphones don't have to cost a fortune.
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The affordable smartphone market has long operated on an unspoken rule: you get your camera, your processor, and a solid battery, but genuine design ambition is a luxury reserved for pricier tiers. Walk into any mid-range phone aisle, and you’re likely to face the same predictable cycle, gradient blues and purples on glass-and-plastic slabs that look almost indistinguishable from one another, functional but rarely intentional.

Infinix is trying to challenge that assumption with the HOT 70 series with its Industry-First 12-Colorway Dynamic Shine Design. It comes in two distinct flavors: the HOT 70 and the HOT 70 Pro 5G. Both arrived for this review, the HOT 70 in Quiet Violet and the HOT 70 Pro 5G in Thermo Orange and Mirage Green, and all announced themselves as something genuinely

Designer: Infinix

Click Here to Buy Now: HOT 70 | HOT 70 Pro 5G

Aesthetics

Infinix has long understood something that a lot of phone brands still haven’t fully caught on to: young users aren’t shopping for specs alone, they’re buying something that reflects who they are and what they’re about. The HOT 70 series is the brand’s clearest statement on that front, organized around a “Colorful, Versatile, Fun” philosophy that treats aesthetic identity and personal expression as core design priorities, not afterthoughts.

Both phones share a design language Infinix calls the Dynamic Shine Aesthetic Design, and the common thread across both models is a Baby-Smooth Finish, a surface with an advanced anti-fingerprint coating. That silky, finely soft in-hand texture genuinely holds up in practice. After time with both phones, fingerprints and grease smudges are noticeably less of a nuisance than on most others in this price category, which counts for a lot.

Infinix HOT 70

The HOT 70 arrives in six colorways: Thermo Orange, Night Pulse, Silver Dancer, Dive Blue, Green Texture, and the Quiet Violet reviewed here. Where most phones at this price simply pick a color and commit to it, the Quiet Violet does something more considered. The Lumina Flare Dynamic Flame Texture layers micro-textures beneath the surface, creating a shifting light-and-shadow effect that reads differently depending on where you are.

The Crystal Mood Island camera ring is where the craftsmanship gets more deliberate. It sits around the camera bump as a decorative ring that catches light and bends it into iridescent gloss, shifting tone with every viewing angle. On paper, that sounds like a marketing detail, but in practice, it adds genuine visual contrast between the ring and the rest of the panel behind it.

Then there’s the Active Halo, the light ring surrounding the camera area that pulses softly for calls, messages, charging status, and game launches. It’s tempting to dismiss this as a gimmick, but there’s a genuinely useful case for it: the phone is face down, silent, and the Halo quietly signals an incoming call without making you reach for it every few minutes.

Infinix HOT 70 Pro 5G

The HOT 70 Pro 5G is available in six colorways: Thermo Orange, Mirage Green, Silk Glow Purple, Night Pulse, Dive Blue, and the limited edition Depth Ring White. The Thermo Orange commands the most attention, and rightly so. Its Dual-way Thermo Sensing Skin technology physically shifts between a deeper orange below 0°C and a lighter tone above 65°C, and crucially, holds that state until the temperature resets it.

What the Thermo Orange also enables is DIY customization: cool the phone to its deep state, then press a heated stamp or trace with a hot glue pen at around 65°C to create patterns directly onto the back. The concept is genuinely novel for this price tier, and it’s quite fascinating to see the phone come out of the freezer with a different shade of orange. It also opens up possibilities for DIY designs with the stencils and the careful use of a glue gun to heat up only certain areas, creating eye-catching contrasts of light and dark areas you’d think the phone was designed with originally. Given that you are exposing the phone to extreme cold and hot temperatures, however, proper care should still be taken.

Mirage Green, exclusive to the Pro model, offers a more subtle yet equally stunning color-changing effect. Nearly-invisible luminous particles embedded in the leather-like finish on the back of the phone absorb light during the day. Once the sun sets, these dots glow like stars dots scattered against a dark green night sky. It’s a visual that is both premium and calming, perfectly reflecting its design.

The remaining hero finishes deserve more than a footnote. Silk Glow Purple builds its color from nano-scale structural layers rather than pigment, which means the purple actually shifts and travels across the surface as the angle changes. The Limited Edition Depth Ring White goes further, using a micro-lens array to create what reads as a floating 3D ring against an otherwise flat back panel.

The Active Matrix Cube is the Pro’s most distinctive rear-surface detail, a programmable light matrix that’s a flagship-level feature from Infinix’s premium product lineup. It handles status alerts, ambient lighting, mini-games, and custom pattern displays, and can even share those creations via NFC with a single tap. It turns the back of the phone into a secondary surface that communicates something, even when the screen is dark.

Ergonomics

At just 7.49mm thin and 195g light, the HOT 70’s pocket-favourite design offers effortless portability, slipping easily into pockets or small bags and ensuring smooth one-handed handling for commuting, travel, and everyday use. The HOT 70 Pro 5G is marginally heavier at 204g and slightly thicker at 7.85mm to 7.95mm, depending on the colorway, differences that don’t read as particularly significant in everyday handling.

The One-Tap AI Button on both phones is inspired by the Clous de Paris design, with a three-dimensional textured surface that delivers a refined, premium tactile feel. Its customizable shortcut logic enables One-Tap AI FlashMemo with a short press and activates Folax AI assistant with a long press, allowing intuitive control and more efficient smart interaction by streamlining everyday tasks. That physical anchor makes AI feel genuinely accessible rather than buried in software menus.

Both phones use punch-hole displays with narrow bezels, giving a clean, open canvas for everyday use. The HOT 70 and HOT 70 Pro 5G have very similar screen sizes at 6.78 and 6.76 inches, respectively, so the real ergonomic difference lies in the refresh rate. The HOT 70 Pro 5G’s 144Hz high refresh rate and 240Hz touch sampling rate deliver ultra-smooth scrolling without ghosting while browsing and streaming, while the HOT 70’s 120Hz panel handles daily navigation comfortably. The smooth visuals help ease eye strain while also improving the overall user experience.

Performance

AI is quite the trend these days, and Infinix isn’t one to be left behind. The HOT 70 Series delivers a full AI experience upgrade featuring a physical One-Tap AI Button, with a dedicated AI Button that supports intelligent intent recognition, enabling one-tap capture of ideas, meetings, emails, and more, with auto archiving and smart schedule creation based on content type. Long-pressing the button activates Folax, Infinix’s custom AI assistant, which answers questions based on whatever is on screen, from displayed text to a live camera view, with access to five or more AI models simultaneously. Between FlashMemo’s capture-and-organize logic and Folax’s any-screen contextual awareness, the two together cover most of what people actually reach for their phones to do throughout the day.

Battery anxiety is real, especially among the younger generation, so Infinix naturally has a solution. Both models offer a 15% larger battery capacity than the previous generation, featuring a 6,000 mAh single-cell design or 5,600 mAh in certain regional markets, a capacity difference driven by local regulatory requirements rather than any hardware compromise. Fortunately, both capacities support 45W Lightning FastCharge, and in Super Fast Charging mode, which allowed us to hit 50% in half an hour and fully charge in an hour. Bypass charging routes power directly from the charger to keep the phone cooler during heavy use, a critical safety measure when gaming or using the phone for navigation.

The Infinix HOT 70 runs on a MediaTek Helio G100 Ultimate, a powerful octa-core gaming processor designed for smoother daily use, multitasking, and light gaming. That said, the Helio G100 is a 4G-only chip, which means the HOT 70 can’t connect to 5G networks. The HOT 70 Pro 5G steps up to a MediaTek Dimensity 7100 with 5G support, a meaningfully stronger chip that pushes AnTuTu V11 scores above 780,000, delivers up to 90 fps in supported games, and brings faster 5G connectivity tuned for crowded real-world conditions.

The display difference between the two models is more significant than the size gap suggests. The HOT 70’s 6.78-inch 120Hz Eye-Care Display reaches 700 nits of HBM brightness for sunlight readability. The HOT 70 Pro 5G’s 6.76-inch FHD+ panel pushes that to 950 nits of HBM brightness, a genuine sunlight-legibility advantage, and the jump to Full HD+ resolution adds sharpness that becomes particularly noticeable when reading text or watching video.

Camera setups share a foundation but diverge meaningfully at the Pro tier. Both phones use a 50MP main sensor, with AI Live Photo on both automatically filtering out shaky frames from a burst. The HOT 70 Pro 5G’s imaging toolkit, however, rests on a 50MP Sony IMX882 with a large 1/1.95-inch sensor, f/1.8 aperture, and full-pixel autofocus, plus a 2x lossless zoom shortcut, giving it stronger low-light performance.

In both cases, both images and videos come out clear, detailed, and vibrant, punching above their price tier. Sadly, the lack of a dedicated telephoto or ultra-wide cameras will make you miss out on decent close-ups and breath-taking panoramas. It isn’t the series’s strongest suit, but it at least won’t let you down when you need to preserve important moments and scenes.

Sustainability

The HOT 70 carries an IP65 rating, featuring six-level full dustproofing and IP65 splash resistance, blocking dust, rain, and sweat effectively for safer daily commutes and outdoor use. It also boasts military-grade durability with an SGS-certified 5-star drop protection. The HOT 70 Pro 5G steps up to IP68, Infinix’s highest rating to date, rated for up to 2 meters of fresh water for 30 minutes, with screen and camera protected throughout, and further adds MIL-STD-810 military-grade certification for durability across more demanding conditions.

Both phones deliver long-term OS support, keeping the device smooth, secure, and reliable for years, with guaranteed three years of major XOS version upgrades (only for models with 6GB RAM or more) starting with factory-installed XOS 16, continuously updating to XOS 17, XOS 18, and XOS 19. Three OS upgrades aren’t quite on par with what some flagship brands now offer, but it’s a genuinely generous commitment for this price tier, where software longevity is rarely treated as a selling point at all. One caveat is that certain XOS features only apply if your configuration has 6GB of RAM or more.

Value

The Infinix HOT 70 starts at around $120, depending on configuration and market, and the package it delivers at that price is hard to dismiss. Tactile finishes, a physical AI shortcut, a generous battery, and a sunlight-readable display aren’t common at this tier. The Lumina Flare texture and Crystal Mood Island add visual differentiation that most competitors simply don’t bother attempting.

The Infinix HOT 70 Pro 5G starts at around $200, and the step up from the base HOT 70 is justified on multiple fronts. A faster 5G chip, a sharper and faster display, a more capable Sony camera sensor, full IP68 waterproofing alongside military certification, and the Active Matrix Cube add up to a meaningfully more capable and expressive package.

Neither phone asks for a premium price to deliver a premium-feeling design, and that’s genuinely rare. At comparable price points, the alternatives in this category tend to compete primarily on camera megapixels or battery size, without investing much thought into what the phone feels like to hold, look at, or interact with. The HOT 70 series treats those questions as worth answering, which puts it in a different conversation entirely.

Verdict

The HOT 70 makes a case for what affordable phone design can look like when treated as an actual discipline. The Lumina Flare texture, the Crystal Mood Island camera ring, the Active Halo, and the Baby-Smooth Finish come together in a device that rewards closer attention. It gets noticed on a table or out of a pocket, not because it’s loud, but because it clearly has a point of view. The HOT 70 Pro 5G takes that design ambition further into something genuinely experimental, with four optical behaviors across its colorways, a 5G chip with real gaming headroom, a Sony camera sensor that performs above expectations, and IP68 waterproofing for more demanding conditions.

Together, both phones say something interesting about where considered, expressive design is heading at the more accessible end of the smartphone market. At a price tier where “design” usually means picking between black, blue, or midnight black, the Infinix HOT 70 series is quietly raising the bar for what a phone at this price is allowed to look and feel like.

Click Here to Buy Now: HOT 70 | HOT 70 Pro 5G

The post Infinix HOT 70 Series Review: Designed Like a Flagship, Not Priced Like One first appeared on Yanko Design.

SwitchBot Lock Vision Series Review: Face ID for Your Front Door

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PROS:


  • Fast 3D face unlock that feels truly hands free and effortless.

  • Palm vein and fingerprint biometrics add secure, contactless backup options.

  • Geo-fence auto-unlock arms intelligently and avoids accidental walk-by unlocks.

  • Three-tier battery system reduces lockout risk and long-term power anxiety.

  • Weatherproof IP65 exterior and mmWave radar help sensors last and save power.

CONS:


  • Motor noise is noticeably louder, especially near a bedroom off entryway.

  • Auto-unlock only works for owner or admin, not regular family members.

RATINGS:

AESTHETICS
ERGONOMICS
PERFORMANCE
SUSTAINABILITY / REPAIRABILITY
VALUE FOR MONEY

EDITOR'S QUOTE:

Face unlock finally feels like a deadbolt you forget is even there.

You walk up to your front door with both hands full of groceries. You don’t stop. You don’t shift bags to free a thumb for a fingerprint sensor. You don’t dig for keys. The door unlocks before you reach it. That’s the promise of the SwitchBot Lock Vision Series, and it’s the first deadbolt I’ve seen that actually delivers.

The Lock Vision Series has two models. The Lock Vision at $169.99 (model W9022003) gives you 3D structured-light facial recognition, passwords, NFC, auto-unlock via geo-fence, app control, and voice control. The Lock Vision Pro at $229.99 (model W9022000) adds contactless palm vein recognition and a semiconductor fingerprint sensor. Everything else is identical between them.

Click Here to Buy Now: SwitchBot Lock Vision Pro | SwitchBot Lock Vision

This is the world’s first deadbolt to use 3D structured-light facial recognition. Same core technology as iPhone Face ID. Twenty thousand infrared dots projected across your face, a camera captures the deformed pattern, a 3D map reconstructs and matches in under a second. The false recognition rate is less than 0.0001 percent. It works in total darkness because the IR projector is its own light source. It resists photo and video spoofing. It works with glasses, wigs, and makeup.

The first time it happened, I didn’t believe it. I walked up to the door, heard the bolt snap back, and walked through. Fast. Effortless. I dare say magical. That’s not a word I throw around in reviews, but there it is.

Other smart locks I’ve tested share the same bad habit: the deadbolt motor is too slow, so if you push or pull the door before it finishes retracting, the bolt catches, the lock panics, and you have to unlock it all over again. The Lock Vision doesn’t do that. The motor is quick enough that the bolt clears before you register it moving, and the sound it makes isn’t a whir. It’s a thunk. That’s the difference between a lock you wait for and a lock you forget is there.

Design, Ergonomics, and Aesthetics

The Lock Vision Series is a rectangular slab in black zinc alloy with a circular keypad integrated into the lower half and a sensor module at the top. The exterior unit measures 6.42 by 2.76 by 1.10 inches and weighs 551 grams (19.4 ounces), with an interior unit at 7.09 by 3.03 by 1.26 inches. It isn’t tiny, but it doesn’t dominate the door the way some camera-heavy smart locks do. The proportions are clean. The branding is restrained. On a dark door, it disappears visually.

SwitchBot built the exterior for weather. IP65 water and dust protection means rain and grime don’t get inside. The operating range spans minus 20 to 55 degrees Celsius, and humidity tolerance runs 10 to 90 percent. Certifications hit BHMA Grade 3, FCC, IC, and ISDS.

The interior unit is where things get interesting. At 218 grams (7.7 ounces), it’s strikingly light. SwitchBot uses a combination of zinc alloy and PC+ABS. On paper you might wonder if it feels cheap. Doesn’t matter. You mount it to the door. You only touch it to lock or unlock from inside, and the knob has a click to it. Clean look, feels fine where it counts. I stopped thinking about the weight after day one.

The keypad features tactile mechanical buttons with red, white, and green LED indicators. Press and hold for 2 seconds to pair. Press and hold for 15 seconds for Matter pairing. There’s a knob for manual unlocking from the inside.

The included visual assets tell the story well. The key visual shows both models with a hand reaching for a palm scan and a face profile with a 3D wireframe overlay. Scene images show a woman with groceries (hands-free), a child using palm vein (family-friendly), and a dramatic ice-encased shot (weather resistance). All available in the Drive media kit.

Performance: How It Actually Works

I’ve been living with the Lock Vision Pro long enough to say this: everything works. The facial recognition, the palm vein sensor, the fingerprint reader, and the geo-fence auto-unlock all behave the way the spec sheet says they should. When you test as many smart home devices as I do, that kind of delivery is rare.

The auto-unlock geo-fence is the killer feature here. SwitchBot labels it beta in the app, which makes its reliability surprising. Here’s how the chain works.

You set a geofence radius around your home. When your phone crosses into that zone from outside, the lock doesn’t open. It arms. The SwitchBot app starts scanning for the lock over Bluetooth. A validity timer starts, default ten minutes. When you close to within Bluetooth range, your phone and the lock establish a connection. The bolt retracts.

No biometric step. No app interaction. You walk through.

That arming step is the design intelligence in a system that could have been a disaster. A dumb geofence that unlocked the door whenever your phone wandered into range would trigger every time you walked past your own house. SwitchBot’s version requires the inbound crossing, starts the timer, and disables itself if you don’t reach the door within that window. Leave and re-enter, a new cycle begins.

No hub required. GPS, Bluetooth, the app running in background, and Wi-Fi enabled on the phone are the only prerequisites.

The limitation worth knowing: auto-unlock only works from the home owner’s phone or an admin account. Family members and shared users with member permissions don’t get the walk-up entrance on their own devices. They authenticate at the door with face, palm vein, or a code instead. For a lock built around passive entry, that’s a real asymmetry, and it’s the first thing I’d ask SwitchBot to fix as the feature graduates from beta.

3D Structured-Light Facial Recognition

Your face becomes the key. Most smart locks with facial recognition at this price use 2D infrared cameras that a printed photo can defeat. The Lock Vision Pro does not.

A laser and IR dot projector embedded around the lens cluster fires more than 20,000 infrared dots across your face in a grid pattern invisible to the naked eye. An IR flood illuminator provides fill light for total darkness operation. An IR camera captures how that dot pattern deforms against the three-dimensional contours of your face and reconstructs a millimeter-accurate depth map. The system matches that map against your enrolled template, the same foundational principle behind iPhone Face ID, and throws the bolt if the geometry matches.

The sub-second unlock speed means you don’t pause at the door. The IR projector works through condensation and surface buildup on the housing exterior, so IP65 weatherproofing doesn’t degrade sensor accuracy over time. It works in total darkness because the IR projector is its own light source. It resists photo spoofing because a flat image can’t reproduce the spatial deformation pattern. It resists video spoofing for the same reason.

Glasses, wigs, and makeup don’t throw it off because the underlying facial geometry the dot grid maps doesn’t change. SwitchBot claims a false recognition rate under 0.0001 percent. Across my testing period I haven’t had a single false positive or false negative in any lighting condition.

Contactless Palm Vein Recognition

Palm vein recognition is what separates the Pro from the standard Lock Vision. The technology reads subcutaneous vein patterns using near-infrared light: the unique geometry of veins inside your palm, entirely internal to your body.

You hover your palm near the sensor without touching anything. The IR emitter penetrates the skin surface and maps the vein network underneath. The lock matches that vascular geometry against your enrolled template.

This matters more than fingerprint in practice. A surface impression doesn’t work because veins aren’t on the surface. A photograph fails. The contactless method sidesteps the hygiene friction of a shared fingerprint pad, and it keeps working when your hands are slightly wet or dirty because the sensor reads through the skin rather than off it. Palm vein readers have been in high-security facilities for years. Finding one in a sub-250-dollar deadbolt is what makes the Pro worth the extra money.

Semiconductor Fingerprint Recognition

The fingerprint sensor is the third biometric layer. It’s positioned for kids and guests not in the face or palm databases, plus it works as a deliberate emergency fallback.

The semiconductor reader captures ridge patterns at the hardware level without storing images. All biometric data stays on the device, never routed to the cloud. It holds up to 90 user fingerprints and reserves 10 more slots for emergency prints.

The sensor reads quickly and reliably in dry and normal conditions. Wet fingers introduce the same challenge every semiconductor reader faces, but the palm vein sensor above it makes that edge case less relevant than it’d be on a lock without another contactless option.

mmWave Radar: The Power Manager

None of these biometric sensors stay active, and the mmWave radar unit handles that. It detects approach and wakes the recognition stack only when someone shows up. Without it, the 10,000mAh battery drains keeping a face camera awake. With it, the lock sleeps until you approach, wakes the sensors, and opens by the time you reach the handle. Across my testing it runs with no phantom triggers from passing cars or pedestrians.

The radar is separate from the auto-unlock GPS and Bluetooth chain. Auto-unlock handles the actual door opening via your phone. The radar handles sensor power management so the biometric readers aren’t burning battery scanning an empty porch all day.

A Note on Motor Noise

I’m not gonna sugarcoat this: the Lock Vision is noticeably louder than most smart deadbolts I’ve tested. The trade-off is speed. It’s the same trade-off you make with a fast garage door opener, more noise, faster movement. I’d rather have a motor that gets out of the way quickly than one that whispers and leaves me standing at the door.

That said, there’s a guest bedroom about five feet from our front door. It doesn’t get a lot of use, so most nights it’s a non-issue. When we do have guests staying over, the lock cycling is a little louder than I’d like. It’s one of the very few genuine downsides to this product, and the only people it will affect are those with a bedroom directly off the entryway.

The Access Hierarchy

The full unlock method count sits at 19, but the design intelligence isn’t in the number. It’s in how SwitchBot organized them by use case rather than technology type.

Passive biometrics, face and palm vein, for residents who should never have to think about unlocking. Fingerprint and NFC cards for recurring guests. Temporary and one-time passwords for deliveries and service visits. Geo-fence auto-unlock for the owner’s daily return. Physical key as the permanent legal fallback that requires no battery, no firmware, and no app update.

That’s a considered access hierarchy, not a feature list.

SwitchBot also built six tiers of security into the lock, and they all run behind the scenes. The alarm system records and notifies door status, ajar alerts, and tamper detection. Geo-fence auto-lock secures the door when you leave. On the unlock side, you get SOS fingerprint recognition, remote unlock confirmation, forced unlock for emergencies, and auto-lockout after repeated failed attempts. Data moves over AES-128 encryption, and every biometric stays local. Three-tier power management keeps the whole thing running with intelligent failover.

DualPower and DualBackup

Battery anxiety keeps people from buying smart locks. SwitchBot built a three-tier system.

Tier one: 10,000mAh rechargeable Li-Po. SwitchBot rates it for up to 12 months at 10 lock/unlock cycles per day, and the motor handles 50,000 cycles. Tier two: CR123A backup providing up to 500 emergency unlocks with 5-year standby. Auto-activates if main battery dies. Tier three: USB-C port on the keypad surface for emergency power. Connect a power bank, unlock, go find batteries.

I haven’t had it long enough to need a recharge yet, and that’s the whole idea. SwitchBot says the 10,000mAh battery lasts up to 12 months, and so far it hasn’t dipped enough for me to notice.

When it does run dry, the CR123A backup beats what most locks offer. Some competitors make you tap a battery pack to two contacts outside the lock for one open. This one has a dedicated cell already inside, good for 500 emergency unlocks and five years on standby. Haven’t needed it yet. Glad it’s there.

The mmWave radar handles power management. The lock only activates biometric sensors when someone approaches. The app provides real-time battery monitoring, push notifications at low power, and audio alerts at critical level.

Matter-over-WiFi and Ecosystem

Connects via Matter-over-WiFi. You don’t need a separate hub. Bluetooth holds a stable connection within 16.4 feet outside the door, and WiFi manages the same range through walls. SwitchBot listed Apple Home certification as in progress at launch. I don’t use Apple Home, so I didn’t test it, and that’s not a feature I personally value on a lock. The SwitchBot app handles everything: lock status, battery level, access management, unlock logs going back six months. Voice control works through Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri if you want it. If Apple Home integration is a dealbreaker for you, verify it’s live before buying. For me, the app does everything I need.

With the Smart Video Doorbell: monitor activity outside, lock/unlock from doorbell, automate entry. With the Wallet Finder Card: tracking card doubles as NFC key. With the Hub 3: doorbell chime plus lock status display. All biometric data stays local on the device.

Installation

Installation didn’t take long. My previous deadbolt had four screws. The Lock Vision’s bolt has a specific notch that mates with the SwitchBot housing, so I did have to swap out the deadbolt that was already in the door. That added maybe an extra minute to pull the old one and slide the new one in. Everything else lines up cleanly since the dimensions are standard.

Hardware swap took about 10 to 12 minutes. Setup: pairing the lock, enrolling my face, enrolling a palm, enrolling fingerprints, all of it happened fast. Under 20 minutes total and the new lock was live. If you’ve swapped a deadbolt before, this is the same job. If you haven’t, a single screwdriver and the included instructions will get you there.

Sustainability

The 10,000mAh battery is rechargeable and rated for 12 months per charge. CR123A backup lasts 5 years in standby. USB-C emergency port eliminates lockout. All biometrics stay local with no cloud dependency. SwitchBot rates the motor for 50,000 cycles.

One detail I really like: the battery compartment comes off the top with no screws, no tools. Just lift and the battery slides out. SwitchBot clearly thought about what actually happens when someone needs to swap or charge a battery, and they made it easy. That’s the kind of ergonomic detail you appreciate six months in when you finally need to pull it.

Value

At $169.99 (Lock Vision) and $229.99 (Lock Vision Pro), SwitchBot prices against the August Wi-Fi Smart Lock, Yale Assure Lock 2, and Level Lock Plus. None of those competitors offer 3D structured-light face unlock. The facial recognition alone puts the Lock Vision Series in a different category.

The $60 Pro premium gets you palm vein and fingerprint. I’d pay it. We’ve got a front door, a back door to the garage, and a garage door into the house. If I had to redo all three, I’d spend the extra for the Pro on every single door.

Bundle pricing: Lock Vision + Video Doorbell $259.99, Pro + Video Doorbell $329.99. Canadian buyers pay CAD 229.99 and CAD 299.99 for the locks, CAD 329.99 and CAD 399.99 for the bundles. Both models sell direct from SwitchBot and on Amazon in the US and Canada.

Verdict

The Lock Vision Series is the first smart deadbolt I’d put on my own door. The 3D facial recognition works in the dark. The battery system covers every failure mode. Matter-over-WiFi means no hub on your nightstand. And when the battery dies, there’s a key in your hand. Two of them in the box.

But it isn’t for everyone. Apple Home certification hadn’t gone live as of my testing. Not every home qualifies without power tools on the door compatibility front. And I want to live with the 218g interior unit for a month before I trust the long-term build.

It’s a lock that just works, no matter how you get it open. Face, palm vein, fingerprint, code, phone, NFC, geo-fence, and yes, a physical key. Comes with two. When the tech is optional and the brass key still turns, that’s a lock I trust.

Click Here to Buy Now: SwitchBot Lock Vision Pro | SwitchBot Lock Vision

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Honor Watch 6 Review: Great Endurance, Not Quite Perfect

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PROS:


  • Excellent battery life

  • Great AMOLED display

  • Unique soccer and badminton sports mode

CONS:


  • Honor Health app lacks polish

  • Twilight Brown leather strap feels stiff

RATINGS:

AESTHETICS
ERGONOMICS
PERFORMANCE
SUSTAINABILITY / REPAIRABILITY
VALUE FOR MONEY

EDITOR'S QUOTE:

The Honor Watch 6 pairs a gorgeous display with excellent battery life, even if its software and leather strap feel less refined.

With the Watch 6, Honor has given the series a complete visual reset. After the square-faced Watch 5, this new model arrives with a round case that feels more in step with the look of a traditional wristwatch. That redesign is backed by a fairly clear set of priorities. The Honor Watch 6 focuses on the things users are likely to notice first, such as a bright, attractive display and battery life that can stretch beyond a month.

After spending time with it, the Watch 6 comes across as a smartwatch built around practical strengths rather than bold innovation. The hardware makes a solid first impression, and the core experience is clearly aimed at people who want something dependable and easy to live with. At the same time, a few details, from the software experience to the quality of the leather strap, keep it from feeling quite as refined as it initially suggests.

Designer: Honor

Aesthetics

The Honor Watch 6 leans heavily into the visual language of a traditional wristwatch, and that gives it an immediate sense of familiarity. Its round face, sculpted lugs, and restrained detailing make it feel more like an everyday timepiece than a piece of sporty tech. That approach gives it some welcome versatility, allowing it to fit easily into casual or more polished settings.

At the same time, the design also feels a little too safe. There is nothing awkward or unattractive about the Watch 6, but there is also very little that feels surprising or distinctly memorable. It is clean, balanced, and easy to like, yet it stops short of making much of a visual statement.

Honor offers the Watch 6 in two versions. The Twilight Brown model I received pairs a silver-colored 316L stainless steel body with a brown leather strap, giving it the more classic look of the two. The Shadow Black version uses a black aluminum alloy body with a matching black fluoroelastomer strap, which feels more understated and fitness-oriented.

The leather strap on the Twilight Brown unit is where the aesthetic story loses some of its polish. From a distance, it looks fine and complements the silver-toned case well, but up close, it feels stiff and a little synthetic. Thankfully, it uses a 22mm quick-release system, so swapping it out for something better is easy.

Ergonomics

With its 46.5mm case and 10.8mm thickness, the Honor Watch 6 sits squarely within the familiar modern smartwatch zone in terms of size. It is large enough to feel substantial on the wrist and give the display room to shine, yet it never looks ridiculously bulky, even on my relatively small wrist. There is a definite presence here, but it is handled with enough restraint that the watch does not feel visually overwhelming in daily wear.

The Shadow Black version comes in at 41 grams, while the Twilight Brown model weighs 50 grams, both figures excluding the straps. That makes the Watch 6 relatively light for something this large, though not dramatically so. You are always aware that you are wearing a sizable device, but it does not become overly cumbersome during normal daily use.

The physical controls are straightforward and familiar. On the right side of the case, Honor places two buttons in a layout that will feel instantly recognizable to most smartwatch users. The top control is a rotating crown that lets you scroll through apps, while the lower button serves as a shortcut to the workout menu. The crown is responsive, and the haptic feedback is satisfyingly strong.

Gesture navigation is equally easy to grasp. Swiping down brings up the quick menu, swiping up reveals notifications, and swiping left or right cycles through panels. The touch experience is not completely foolproof. I noticed a few instances where a scroll gesture was interpreted as a tap instead, which led to accidental selections. It is a minor frustration, but it chips away at the sense of polish.

Performance

The Honor Watch 6’s display is easily one of the best parts of the entire experience. It uses a 1.4-inch AMOLED panel with a 464 x 464 resolution, and the result is exactly what you would hope for from a modern smartwatch screen. The bezel is not especially thin, but colors look rich, and text appears crisp, giving the display a bright, polished quality that stands out in everyday use. Brightness is another major advantage. With a peak brightness of 3000 nits, the display remains clearly visible even under bright sunlight, which makes a real difference during outdoor use.

The Watch 6 covers the broad health tracking essentials that most mainstream users actually want. It handles heart rate monitoring, blood oxygen monitoring, sleep tracking, step count, and general day-to-day wellness features in a way that feels accessible and easy to understand. Nothing here feels especially groundbreaking or deeply specialized, but that could also be part of the appeal. Honor has focused on delivering a practical set of features rather than overwhelming users with more data than they are likely to need.

The same can be said for the fitness experience. The Watch 6 does not try to present itself as a hyper-technical performance tool for elite athletes, but it does offer enough depth to keep active users engaged. The data is presented clearly, the core features are easy to access, and the overall experience feels designed for people who want useful feedback without having to decode a mountain of analytics.

There is also a healthy amount of variety for exercise tracking. The watch includes 122 sports modes, which should be more than enough for most people, whether they are casual walkers or more active users looking for something specific. If you are inspired by the World Cup, there is a professional soccer mode that adds a little more personality than the usual generic workout presets. During exercise, you can view step count and distance in real time, while post-workout data includes top sprint speed, average speed, and even a heat map.

Another unusual addition is the badminton mode, which goes beyond simple calorie tracking and actually tries to capture the rhythm of play. Here, you can check swing count, swing speed, shot power, forehand to backhand ratio, and stroke type. Features like these do not transform the Watch 6 into a specialist sports device, but they do make it feel more considered than a smartwatch that simply piles on empty exercise labels.

Other smart features include notifications, the ability to make and answer phone calls, and a remote shutter function. If the watch is connected to an Android phone, you can also control music playback. When paired with an Honor phone, it can be used as a voice recorder as well. Honor also says NFC support will roll out to available markets in July, which should add a little more convenience depending on where you live.

On the software side, the Watch 6 is functional but not especially refined. It works with both Android and iOS through the Honor Health app, which is good news for users who do not want to be locked into one ecosystem. Pairing and everyday syncing are straightforward enough, and the app gives you access to the usual health data, settings, and customization tools.

Still, the interface does not feel especially sophisticated. It gets the job done, but it lacks the polish and clarity found in the better smartwatch companion apps. Some of that lack of refinement shows up in the workout menu as well. Instead of grouping activities with the kind of color coding seen on many rival smartwatches, Honor presents them in a much plainer way. It gets the job done, but it makes the interface feel less intuitive and less thoughtfully designed.

That lack of refinement becomes especially noticeable when you start looking for watch faces. There are plenty of options available, which is great in theory, but the browsing experience could be much better. Instead of organizing faces in a way that helps users quickly narrow down what they want, too much of the selection feels thrown together. Compared to other smartwatch apps that sort faces into clearer styles or categories, Honor’s approach feels less curated and more cluttered. It is not a deal-breaker, but it does make personalization feel more cumbersome than it should.

Battery life, on the other hand, is impressive. The Watch 6 packs a 980mAh battery, and Honor claims it can last for up to 35 days. That figure is only possible if you turn off features like automatic blood oxygen detection, automatic stress detection, and raise to wake, while limiting exercise to light weekly activity. Even so, the claim gives a good sense of what the watch is aiming for, which is endurance far beyond what most smartwatches in this category can offer.

Honor says regular usage should deliver around 17 days of battery life, and based on my experience, that sounds believable. I have been wearing the watch for about 10 days and still have 55 percent battery left, so I have little reason to doubt the company’s estimate. When it is finally time to top up, charging is handled through the included magnetic pin charger.

Sustainability

Sustainability is rarely a headline feature for smartwatches, but the Honor Watch 6 does make a few sensible moves. Its IP69 and 5ATM ratings suggest it should hold up well against sweat, water, dust, and the wear of everyday use. In practical terms, that simply means it is built to take more abuse before becoming a problem.

Honor also says the watch uses recyclable aluminum alloy, which adds a small but welcome nod toward material responsibility. Paired with the excellent battery life, the Watch 6 feels like a device designed to stay in use rather than one that constantly asks for attention. It does not do anything groundbreaking on the sustainability front, but for a smartwatch, it makes a decent case for itself.

Value

At £229.99 for the Shadow Black version and £249.99 for the Twilight Brown model, the Honor Watch 6 sits in the upper mid-range part of the smartwatch market. That works out to roughly $295 and $320, respectively. It is not exactly cheap, especially for a smartwatch that does not offer the most polished software experience, but it does bring a few strengths that help justify the asking price.

The strongest part of its value proposition is that Honor has clearly invested in the features users will notice most often. The display is gorgeous, the battery life is genuinely excellent, and the core health and fitness features are broad enough for most people. At the same time, the stiff leather strap on the Twilight Brown version and the merely functional software keep it from feeling like a complete home run. The Watch 6 offers solid value if your priorities are battery life and screen quality, but it is a little harder to recommend purely on refinement alone.

Verdict

The Honor Watch 6 succeeds by keeping its priorities simple. It delivers a lovely display, excellent battery life, and a broad enough set of health and fitness features to satisfy most people who want a smartwatch for everyday use. Just as importantly, it wraps those strengths in a design that feels far more wearable and familiar than the square-faced direction Honor took before.

At the same time, it does not feel like a fully polished package. The software works, but it lacks the refinement and thoughtful organization that would make the experience feel truly premium. The leather strap on the Twilight Brown version also lets the hardware down a bit, since it looks better from a distance than it feels in the hand or on the wrist.

That leaves the Watch 6 in an interesting spot. It is not the most exciting smartwatch in its class, and it is not the one I would point to as the benchmark for software or overall finesse. But if your priorities are a gorgeous screen, long battery life, and a classic watch-like design, Honor gets a lot right here. The Watch 6 may not be the most memorable smartwatch of the year, but it is an easy one to live with.

The post Honor Watch 6 Review: Great Endurance, Not Quite Perfect first appeared on Yanko Design.