Tag Archives: smartphone

This Phone Runs Android, Linux, and Windows to Replace 3 Computers

Posted on by

Carrying more computers than you want is familiar. There is a personal phone, maybe a MacBook, and then a separate Windows laptop “just for work” or a Linux box for coding. Phone-as-PC ideas have been floating around for years, but they usually stop at a half-baked desktop mode that feels more like a demo than something you would actually use for hours at a stretch.

NexPhone is an Android 16 handset built on Qualcomm’s QCM6490, a long-term-support chip Qualcomm says will be backed through 2036. That is rare in phone marketing, but it matters when the device is also your computer. It has 12 GB of RAM, 256 GB of storage with microSD expansion, a 6.58-inch 120 Hz display, a 5,000 mAh battery, dual rear cameras, dual SIM, wireless charging, and MIL-STD-810H plus IP68/IP69K ruggedization.

Designer: Nex Computing

NexOS lets you treat the phone as three machines in one. On its own, it is a clean Android system with no bloatware. Plug it into a monitor, and you can switch into Android desktop mode or full Debian-based Linux with hardware acceleration, sharing folders between them. If you opt in, you can also boot Windows 11 on Arm, turning the phone into a tiny Windows PC when docked.

NexPhone builds a custom Windows Mobile UI on top of Windows 11, a grid-style launcher inspired by old Windows Phone tiles to make the OS less painful on a small screen. For desktop use, the phone ships with a five-port USB-C hub that fans out to HDMI, keyboard, mouse, and power. Any desk with a monitor becomes your workstation with a single cable, and you pick up at home where you left off at the office.

Windows 11 on Arm still has app compatibility gaps and relies on emulation for many x86 programs, which can hurt performance and battery life. Multi-booting Android, Linux, and Windows adds complexity that appeals to enthusiasts more than casual users. Putting phone, PC, and laptop brain into one device also means a single point of failure, and the rugged build does not remove the need for backups and a fallback plan.

With the optional NexDock laptop shell, you can plug in and get a 14.1-inch display, keyboard, and trackpad in airport lounges or coffee shops without carrying a full laptop. It is designed for people who already juggle multiple OSes and want to consolidate, but not for those hoping to escape complexity. The promise to support the device for a decade is either visionary or risky, depending on how seriously you take startup hardware commitments.

NexPhone is less about convincing everyone to ditch laptops and more about giving the Linux-comfortable, multi-OS crowd a serious shot at carrying one device instead of three. It treats the phone, the OS stack, and the docking experience as one design problem. Whether that holds up depends less on the specs and more on whether the software behaves like three clean experiences instead of one messy compromise.

The post This Phone Runs Android, Linux, and Windows to Replace 3 Computers first appeared on Yanko Design.

realme’s 10,001 mAh Phone Charges in 5 Minutes and Lasts Half a Day

Posted on by

Most people carry a phone and a power bank, nursing battery percentages by dimming screens and closing apps. Every café visit includes checking which table is near a socket, and late nights end early when the battery icon turns red. The ritual of charging overnight is so ingrained that a phone dying before bedtime feels like failure, even though the real issue is that most phones assume you will plug in every 24 hours.

realme P4 Power 5G flips that assumption. The phone is built around a 10,001 mAh Titan battery aimed at week-long endurance, marketed as India’s first smartphone to cross the 10,000 mAh line. realme is leaning into the idea that this pack can replace the power bank in your bag without turning the device into a brick, letting you leave the house without calculating whether you have enough juice.

Designer: realme

Living with 10,001 mAh means you stop thinking about charging for days. You can stream, navigate, and game without constantly checking the percentage. realme’s lab numbers claim over 30 hours of YouTube or double-digit hours of gaming, but the practical benefit is not hunting for outlets or dimming the display just to survive a commute or a long meeting that runs past dinner time.

realme built the battery to last, not just hold a charge. Silicon-carbon anode tech promises three to four times the life cycles compared to graphite, with 1,650 cycles claimed and TÜV Rheinland 5-Star Battery Certification. There is a four-year guarantee that health stays above 80 percent, with free replacement if it drops below that, signaling this is meant to be kept rather than replaced after two years.

Fast charging counters the worry that 10,001 mAh would take forever to top up. realme promises 80 W wired charging, with five minutes delivering roughly half a day’s power when you are rushing out. All-scenario bypass charging lets the phone draw directly from the charger during gaming without stressing the battery, plus 27 W reverse charging turns it into a power bank for earbuds or a friend’s device when everyone else is dead.

At 219 g, P4 Power is in the same weight range as many flagships with half the capacity. realme pitches this as “massive inside, minimal outside,” using the TransView design to keep the aesthetic clean rather than obviously rugged. The trade-off is carrying the equivalent of a phone plus a power bank in one device, but without separate cables, extra charging, or pocket clutter.

realme promises three years of Android OS updates and four years of security patches, aligning with the battery longevity story. P4 Power is one of the few phones explicitly designed to be kept for a full four-year cycle, both in hardware and software. For people tired of juggling chargers and yearly upgrades, that might be the most useful spec, a phone treating endurance and lifespan as features worth engineering around.

The post realme’s 10,001 mAh Phone Charges in 5 Minutes and Lasts Half a Day first appeared on Yanko Design.

The best midrange smartphone for 2026

Posted on by

Gone are the days in which you needed to spend a fortune to get a good smartphone. In 2026, features once exclusive to high-end smartphones – big batteries, multi-camera arrays, high refresh rate OLED displays and more – have made their way down to more affordable models. Yes, you’ll still need to buy a flagship smartphone to get the best camera or fastest processor, but you don't have to make nearly as many compromises as you once did if you have a strict budget to adhere to when you go shopping for your next smartphone. If you have less than $600 to spend, let us help you figure out what features to prioritize when trying to find the best midrange smartphone.

While the term frequently appears in articles and videos, there isn’t an agreed-upon definition for “midrange” beyond a phone that isn’t a flagship or an entry-level option. Most of our recommendations cost between $400 and $600 — any less and you should expect significant compromises. If you have more to spend, you might as well consider flagships like the Apple iPhone 17 and the Samsung Galaxy S25 if you want the best smartphone experience. Devices like Pixel phones often sit in this price range too, offering some of the best value for Android buyers.

Buying a new device can be intimidating, but a few questions can help guide you through the process. First: what platform do you want to use? If the answer is iOS, that narrows your options down to exactly one phone. (Thankfully, it’s great.) And if you’re an Android fan, there’s no shortage of compelling options. Both platforms have their strengths, so you shouldn’t rule either out.

Of course, also consider how much you’re comfortable spending. Even increasing your budget by $100 more can get you a dramatically better product. Moreover, manufacturers tend to support their more expensive devices for longer with software updates and security updates, so it’s worth buying something toward the top limit of what you can afford. 

Having an idea of your priorities will help inform your budget. Do you want a long battery life or fast charging? Do you value speedy performance above all else? Or would you like the best possible cameras with high megapixel counts? While they continue to improve every year, even the best midrange smartphones still demand some compromises, and knowing what’s important to you will make choosing one easier.

Every year, the line between midrange and flagship phones blurs as more upmarket features and functions trickle down to more affordable models. When Engadget first published this guide in 2020, it was tricky to find a $500 phone with waterproofing and 5G. In 2026, the biggest thing you might miss out on is wireless charging – and even then, that’s becoming less true.

One thing your new phone probably won’t come with is a power adapter; many companies have stopped including chargers with all of their smartphones. Performance has improved in recent years, but can still be hit or miss as most midrange phones use slower processors that can struggle with multitasking. Thankfully, their camera systems have improved dramatically, and you can typically expect at least a dual-lens system on most midrange smartphones below $600 with decent camera quality, selfie performance and software support to keep things running smoothly for years to come..

Support varies by brand, but most midrange phones receive around three to five years of software and security updates. Apple tends to support iPhones longer while companies like Google and Samsung now promise several years of Android and security patches for their midrange models. Budget-focused brands might offer less so it’s worth checking the update policy before you buy.

Yes, many midrange phones handle gaming well, especially popular titles like Fortnite, Genshin Impact and Call of Duty Mobile. They usually include capable processors, though you won’t always get the smoothest performance in the most demanding mobile games or at max settings. If you play casually or stick to less graphically intensive titles a midrange phone will feel more than adequate.

Georgie Peru contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/best-midrange-smartphone-183006463.html?src=rss

Honor Magic8 Lite: The Lightweight Phone That Lasts Three Days

Posted on by

PROS:


  • Excellent multi-day battery life with a huge 7500 mAh cell

  • Lightweight feel for its size

  • Strong durability story with IP69K, IP68, IP66 ratings

CONS:


  • Snapdragon 6 Gen 4 performance is only mid-tier

  • Unimpressive camera performance

RATINGS:

AESTHETICS
ERGONOMICS
PERFORMANCE
SUSTAINABILITY / REPAIRABILITY
VALUE FOR MONEY

EDITOR'S QUOTE:

Honor’s Magic8 Lite trades raw speed for stamina and toughness, and in doing so becomes one of the few phones you can trust to stay light in your pocket and alive for days at a time

There are phones that chase benchmarks and spec sheets. Then there are phones that quietly decide to solve a very boring and very real problem, which is running out of battery at the worst possible time. The Honor Magic8 Lite belongs firmly in that second group, and that is exactly what makes it interesting.

From the moment you pick it up, the Magic8 Lite feels almost contradictory. It carries a huge 7500 mAh battery, yet it settles into your hand with the easy lightness of a much smaller phone. That contrast sets the tone for the whole experience and gives the phone a very specific kind of charm.

Designer: Honor

This is a device that wants to disappear into your day rather than dominate it. It is not trying to shout about performance or AI tricks, and it does not weigh you down in your pocket or your bag. Instead, it leans into battery endurance, a bright OLED display, and a surprisingly tough body that is happy to live without a case if you are brave enough to try.

This is not a flagship, and it does not pretend to be one. If you are chasing the fastest processor or the most experimental camera system, you will not find that here. What you do get is a phone that feels designed for regular people who want something light, long-lasting, and resilient, a phone that survives a few accidents and still looks good on the table at the end of the day.

Aesthetics

The Honor Magic8 Lite is a reminder that “Lite” does not have to look cheap. Honor uses a plastic frame and plastic rear panel, which helps keep weight in check despite the oversized battery and keeps the phone feeling approachable in the hand. The camera island design has been updated. You get a large circular module that sits high on the rear panel, almost like a watch face sitting on the spine of a book, which continues the design language from its predecessor.

Instead of a single black disc, Honor has adopted a ring-based layout for the Magic8 Lite camera island. The black outer circle houses two cameras and the LED flash, while the inner circle carries the “Matrix AI Vision Camera” text as a graphic centerpiece. The circle is bold enough that your eye goes straight to it, which instantly gives the phone a recognizable appearance from almost any angle. It feels more like a deliberate design motif than a simple camera bump, and that makes the back visually memorable.

The Honor Magic8 Lite is available in Forest Green, Midnight Black, Reddish Brown, and Sunrise Gold in some markets, each one giving the camera ring a slightly different personality. The Reddish Brown version features a vegan leather finish that adds warmth and tactility, while the others use a matte surface that keeps fingerprints under control. The Sunrise Gold option adds a subtle, waterpaint-like pattern that shimmers as you tilt it, giving the phone a more premium character than the materials list would suggest.

Ergonomics

On paper, a 6.79-inch phone with a 7500 mAh battery sounds like a brick waiting to happen. In the hand, the Magic8 Lite is more balanced than you might expect. At 189 grams and roughly 7.8 millimeters thick, it is not featherlight, yet it avoids the dense, top-heavy feel that big battery phones often suffer from.

The matte back panel and brushed metal-like frame both do a good job of resisting fingerprints and smudges. You can use the phone without a case, and it still looks clean at the end of the day, which fits the whole low-maintenance character of the device. The surfaces feel practical rather than precious, so you are less worried about babying it in everyday use.

The flat sides help with grip, while the curved edges at the back soften the transition into your palm. Since the phone leans toward the wider side, you will still want two hands for extended typing or navigation, especially if you have smaller hands. The weight distribution feels centered, so the phone does not constantly try to tip forward when you reach for the top of the screen.

There is one ergonomic misstep. The fingerprint scanner on the side is positioned very close to the bottom edge, which makes the movement from holding position to unlocking feel less natural. Your thumb has to dip down in a way that breaks the otherwise smooth hand position, and it takes a little getting used to if you are coming from a phone with a higher side sensor.

Performance

Inside, the Magic8 Lite runs on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 6 Gen 4 with 8 GB of RAM and either 256 or 512 GB of storage. This combination sits firmly in the capable but not aggressive category. For messaging, social media, web browsing, and casual apps, the phone feels smooth enough, especially with the 120 Hz refresh rate helping animations and scrolling feel more fluid. You do start to feel the limits in heavier multitasking and demanding games.

Running MagicOS 9 on top of Android 15, the Magic8 Lite offers Google Gemini out of the box along with a suite of AI features, including AI photo editing tools and AI Translate. These extras sit quietly in the background until you need them, which suits the phone’s everyday focus.

The display is one of the Magic8 Lite’s strongest visual arguments. You get a 6.79-inch OLED panel with a resolution of 2640 x 1200 and a 120 Hz refresh rate. Honor quotes a theoretical peak around 6000 nits, and while you will not hit that number in regular use, outdoor visibility is excellent. The 3480 Hz PWM dimming also aims to make the display more comfortable for sensitive eyes during longer sessions.

Honor gives the Magic8 Lite a 108 MP main camera with a 1/1.67 inch sensor, optical image stabilization, and phase detect autofocus, paired with an ultrawide camera and a 16 MP selfie shooter. The main camera does a relatively good job in most everyday scenarios, delivering detailed images in good light. You can zoom up to 10x, but image quality drops off quickly, and the camera struggles to freeze motion, even in daytime, so it is best treated as a 1x to 2x camera for reliable results. The main camera can record video up to 4K at 30 FPS, and the results are good for the price range.

The ultra-wide camera performs as expected for this class. It is useful for landscapes and group shots, but detail and dynamic range are a step down from the main sensor, so you use it when you need the extra width rather than for pure image quality. The front-facing camera does a decent job, giving natural-looking skin tones and texture. For video recording, both ultra-wide and front cameras are capped at 1080p at 30FPS.

Battery life is the headline act, and the Magic8 Lite fully leans into it. The 7500 mAh silicon carbon battery is significantly larger than the 5000 mAh units that have become standard in many phones. Combined with the efficient Snapdragon 6 Gen 4, this translates into genuinely impressive endurance that reshapes how often you think about charging.

Portrait Mode

In mixed everyday use, you are looking at three full days with comfort, and four days or more if you are a lighter user. Long sessions of streaming, navigation, or social scrolling barely make a dent compared to what you might be used to. This phone simply does not provoke range anxiety, which makes it a very easy recommendation for anyone who hates watching the battery percentage.

Charging is handled by 66W wired fast charging, provided you use Honor’s SuperCharge standard. Some regions include the charger in the box, and others do not, so you may need to factor that into the overall cost. Once plugged in, the phone refuels quickly enough that even a short top-up before you leave the house can add several hours of real use, which fits perfectly with the “charge less, worry less” personality of the Magic8 Lite.

Sustainability

The Magic8 Lite approaches sustainability from a practical angle. The device carries IP69K, IP68, and IP66 certifications, which are unusually comprehensive for this class. That combination means full dust protection, resistance to high-pressure water jets, and safety during water immersion. In daily use, it translates into a phone that can handle heavy rain, spills, and rough handling while still functioning as normal.

Honor claims the Magic8 Lite boosts resilience with its industry-first Ultra Bounce Anti-Drop Technology. This system pairs ultra-tough tempered glass with a reinforced internal structure to better absorb everyday impacts. The idea is simple: keep the phone alive longer by surviving the kind of accidents that usually send devices to repair shops or landfills.

Value

The Honor Magic8 Lite is priced at £399.99, which works out to roughly $510 at current exchange rates. At that level, it sits in the crowded upper mid-range, where you can find phones with faster processors or more ambitious camera systems. What most of those rivals cannot match is the combination of huge battery, lightweight feel, and serious durability that the Magic8 Lite offers as a package.

If your priorities lean toward performance or advanced photography, you may find better raw specs for similar money. You are paying here for peace of mind, long gaps between charges, and a design that does not feel fragile in everyday use. For regular users who value stamina and resilience over benchmark scores, the overall value proposition is quietly compelling.

Verdict

The Honor Magic8 Lite is not the phone for spec chasers, and that is exactly its appeal. It is built for people who care more about getting through a long weekend on one charge than hitting the highest frame rates in the latest game. If you can live with “good enough” performance and the main cameras that are solid but not flagship level, you get a phone that feels light in the hand, tough in daily use, and genuinely low maintenance to own.

Where the Magic8 Lite really wins is in how all those choices line up around a single idea. The oversized battery, the bright and efficient OLED, the comprehensive water and drop protection, and the fingerprint-resistant finishes all work together to reduce friction in everyday life. It is the phone you grab when you are not sure where the next outlet is, or when you know it might get caught in the rain, and you do it without a second thought.

The post Honor Magic8 Lite: The Lightweight Phone That Lasts Three Days first appeared on Yanko Design.

Unihertz Titan 2 Elite fuels the physical QWERTY smartphone revival

Posted on by

The release of the iPhone in 2007 marked the beginning of the end of the BlackBerry era. The prospect of on-screen keys was undeniable, and the trend of having a pocket PC left everyone dazed over the years as smartphones evolved into their best version, year after year, for decades. However, things then go full circle, and we are plateauing with what bezelless smartphones can offer.

That tactile feel of typing with the physical buttons is reviving for good reason, and Unihertz brought back nostalgic memories of the Passport for good. The full QWERTY keyboard of the phone with a 1:1 aspect ratio was a refreshing introduction to the stale smartphone market dominated by phones that more or less look and feel the same, with few incremental hardware updates that one can hardly drool over.

Designer: Unihertz

Riding on the momentum of the Titan 2 released in the summer last year, the Shanghai-based brand has revealed the Titan 2 Elite. Unlike the Clicks QWERTY case or the Ikko MindOne Snap-In Case, which are extensions of the phone itself, the Titan line of devices is the real deal. Productivity and ease of use are the focal points with the Unihertz phones, and that element remains constant with the new release. Titan Elite 2 is an improvement over the predecessor with the thin bezel curved display having a punch-hole front camera in one corner. The function keys on the new version take the same layout, while the navigation keys are now placed alongside the spacebar. This results in a decrease in overall size while retaining the same function.

The phone will come powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 7300 processor, have 12GB of RAM, and 512GB of internal storage. There is no word on the display or the battery, but going by the previous release, it should be an AMOLED screen, and the battery should be 5,000mAh. Neither is there any word about the release timeline, pricing, or other features of the device right now. The sole official render of the phone suggests a sleeker-looking body, erringly similar to the Clicks Communicator. The only differentiator is the more squared form of the Titan 2 Elite vs the portrait-dominated aesthetic of the Communicator case.

It’ll be interesting to see what Elite elements the device brings for the users, to consider the niche device over other options. One thing is clear, though the tactile keyboard era is reviving in a big way, and we’re excited to see what will be on offer in the future as more manufacturers find the segment lucrative.

The post Unihertz Titan 2 Elite fuels the physical QWERTY smartphone revival first appeared on Yanko Design.

Mudita Minimalist Phone and Alarm Clocks Design a Calmer Day at CES 2026

Posted on by

The day often begins and ends with a smartphone, from checking notifications before getting out of bed to scrolling in the dark when you should be asleep. Even people who care about design and well-being end up with glowing rectangles on every surface, and that constant presence quietly shapes attention, sleep, and mood more than most of us like to admit. The usual fix is another app that promises to help you use your phone less, which is like asking the problem to solve itself.

Mudita has been quietly building devices meant to step in where traditional smartphones can cause the most trouble. At CES 2026, that takes the form of three products: Mudita Kompakt, a minimalist E Ink phone, Mudita Harmony 2, a mindful alarm clock with an E Ink display, and Mudita Bell 2, an analog-style alarm clock with a few carefully chosen digital tricks. Together, they sketch out a different way to move through a day, keeping connections and routines intact while pushing screens out of the moments where you may choose to be “disconnected.”

Designer: Mudita

Mudita Kompakt: A Phone That Does Less on Purpose

Kompakt looks more like a small e-reader than a slab of glass, built around a 4.3-inch E Ink screen that is paper-like, glare-free, and easy on the eyes. It runs MuditaOS K, a de-Googled operating system based on AOSP, with only essential tools on board: calls, SMS, offline maps, calendar, up-to-date weather forecasts, music, notes, a meditation timer, and an e-reader. There is no app store by design, keeping the interface focused on what you planned to do instead of what a feed wants to show you next. But if you do need some very specific functionality, your favorite apps are just a sideload away.

Offline+ Mode physically disconnects the GSM modem and microphones, while also disabling Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and the camera, turning Kompakt into a sealed, offline device when needed. That hardware-level privacy goes beyond airplane mode, which matters when you want verifiable disconnection. Long battery life, up to six days on a charge, and both USB-C and wireless charging mean it can live on a desk or in a bag without constant topping up.

A dedicated Mudita Center desktop app handles contact syncing, music, and file transfers from a laptop, keeping the phone itself simple and uncluttered, its user experience reflecting its mission. As a primary phone for someone stepping away from feeds, it keeps communication and navigation intact while stripping away most reasons to pick it up mindlessly. As a secondary focus phone for anyone who wants to disconnect from the hustle of a smartphone, it can handle calls and texts without the usual app notifications to help nurture balance and peace of mind.

Mudita Harmony 2: A Bedroom Without a Smartphone Glow

Harmony 2 is an E Ink alarm clock with three physical knobs on top for light, volume, and alarm settings, designed to live where a phone usually sits on a nightstand. The E Ink display is easy to read and uses an adjustable warm backlight that minimizes blue light, so you can check the time at night without a blast of white light or the temptation to swipe through notifications that make it harder to fall back asleep.

The wake-up experience is built around a gradual, ascending alarm that starts softly and increases in volume, paired with a pre-wake-up light that mimics a sunrise by slowly brightening five to fifteen minutes before the main alarm. Harmony 2 offers seventeen melodies, including real nature sounds, and lets you enhance alarms with light or upload custom audio via the Mudita Center app. The goal is to make waking feel less like an interruption and more like a natural transition.

Extra features support a phone-free bedtime, Relaxation mode with customizable sounds and white noise, a Bedtime Reminder to nudge you into a consistent routine, a Meditation Timer with gong sounds, and a Power Nap Mode. With over forty days of battery life and USB-C charging, Harmony 2 can stay on a nightstand without becoming another device you plug in every night, reinforcing the idea that the bedroom can be a low-tech space.

Mudita Bell 2: Analog Mornings with a Few Smart Tricks

Bell 2 is the more analog-leaning sibling, an alarm clock with a clear, minimalist dial and an internal quartz mechanism, but also an E Ink display and a light-enhanced gradual alarm. It offers nine gentle melodies and a pure-tone alarm that starts quietly and grows to a set volume, plus a warm wake-up light that can be activated before the alarm to mimic sunrise, easing you out of sleep without a harsh jolt.

A built-in meditation timer starts and ends sessions with a gong, and the deliberate absence of Wi-Fi or Bluetooth means Bell 2 does not compete for attention or add to the ambient connectivity load in the room. It runs on a 2,600 mAh rechargeable battery that can last up to six months on a full charge, with USB-C for the rare times it needs topping up. It is designed to be set and then mostly forgotten.

Bell 2 has been awarded a Platinum Calm Technology Certification, recognizing products that respect attention and promote well-being. Available in charcoal black and pebble gray, it is meant to blend into different interiors while still feeling like a considered object. In a home shaped by Kompakt and Harmony 2, Bell 2 completes the picture: a simple, focused object that reflects Mudita’s belief that technology can be present without being intrusive.

Mudita at CES 2026: Technology for Mindful Living

Together, Kompakt, Harmony 2, and Bell 2 create intentional, screen-free moments throughout the day; focused time on the go with Kompakt, a calmer evening and wake-up routine with Harmony 2, and a simple, analog-leaning start to the morning with Bell 2. None of these is meant to replace a smartphone entirely. Instead, they offer a considered alternative for the moments when a screen adds little value. This is an approach that stands out at CES, where innovation is often defined by more features, rather than more thoughtful use.

The post Mudita Minimalist Phone and Alarm Clocks Design a Calmer Day at CES 2026 first appeared on Yanko Design.

Honor Magic8 Pro Review: Brilliant Night Shots, Big Battery, Built to Last

Posted on by

PROS:


  • Versatile camera system with great low-light performance

  • Comfortable ergonomics

  • Comprehensive AI features

CONS:


  • Some users will prefer a completely flat screen instead of the gentle curve.

  • Slower shutter speeds, especially in low light

  • No teleconverter-style telephoto option like some close rivals offer

RATINGS:

AESTHETICS
ERGONOMICS
PERFORMANCE
SUSTAINABILITY / REPAIRABILITY
VALUE FOR MONEY

EDITOR'S QUOTE:

The Honor Magic 8 Pro feels like a carefully considered flagship, not a spec stunt. It mixes bold battery life, a genuinely comfortable design, and a playful yet reliable camera system with impressive low light performance, then adds long-term software support to tie it all together.

You might already have seen the Honor Magic 8 Pro, and you might already know all the specs. You might have caught its debut in China or noticed it arriving in parts of Asia and the Middle East last year. Now, Honor is finally bringing this big battery, big camera flagship to Europe, where it steps onto a larger global stage.

On paper, the Honor Magic 8 Pro is all about a trio of promises. It leans on a suite of AI features that aim to make the phone feel smarter and more helpful in the background. It builds around a camera system that claims strong low-light performance and long-range telephoto power. It wraps everything in a premium OLED display that is bright, sharp, and clearly meant to impress the moment you turn it on.

Aesthetics

At first glance, the Honor Magic 8 Pro looks like a confident evolution of modern flagship trends rather than a radical break. It will look very familiar if you have seen the Honor Magic 7 Pro, with a similar silhouette and camera layout that signal continuity rather than reinvention. The proportions, curves, and overall stance feel like a refined second draft rather than a fresh sketch, which can be reassuring if you liked the previous generation.

Honor uses a large camera island that feels more like a sculpted element than a simple bump, and the overall back design reads as deliberate and composed rather than purely functional. The round camera unit sits on a raised, rounded square plate with ring chamfers, which adds depth and a sense of jewelry-like layering when light hits the edges. The black camera unit houses four circles, three of which are actual cameras, plus a small oval-shaped LED flash that tucks neatly into the composition instead of looking like an afterthought.

Color choices for the Magic 8 Pro include Sunrise Gold, Sky Cyan, and Black. The black unit I received features a matte, frosted glass-like finish that feels understated and professional in the hand. The other two color options also use a matte finish, but they add a subtle wave-like pattern, which gives the phone a more playful, tactile character. All three color variants use a color-matching camera island base and side frame, which helps the phone read as a single, continuous object rather than a sandwich of mismatched parts.

Ergonomics

The Honor Magic 8 Pro measures 161.15 mm x 75 mm x 8.4 mm, and weighs 213 g, which puts it on the lighter side of premium flagship smartphones in this size class. The slightly narrower width and relatively low weight make one-handed use more manageable than you might expect from a phone with such a large display and battery. Honor also sticks with a curved screen while many premium flagships have moved back to flat panels, yet the curve here is very slight, so it feels like it borrows the best parts of both approaches without the usual drawbacks.

The curvature of the side frame and back is carefully tuned, which matters a lot for comfort over a full day. The edges of the otherwise flat side frame curve just enough to soften the contact points without creating a slippery, knife-like profile that digs into your palm. The back panel has a gentle bow that nestles into your hand and helps the phone feel slimmer than the numbers suggest, even when you use it without a case.

Button placement is conventional, with the volume rocker and power button located on the left side where your fingers naturally rest. These are joined by a new AI button placed just below, which works a bit like the camera button on an iPhone and gives you quick access to Honor’s smart features. The AI key is slightly raised and has a distinct click that helps avoid accidental presses, and the ultrasonic fingerprint scanner sits high enough on the display that unlocking and general use feel smooth and natural.

Performance

Honor gives the Magic 8 Pro a 6.71-inch LTPO OLED panel with a 1.5K resolution of 2808 x 1256 px and a 120 Hz refresh rate. The company claims 6,000 nits of HDR peak brightness and 1,600 nits of global peak brightness, and while you will not see those numbers all the time, outdoor visibility is excellent even under strong sunlight. In everyday use, the screen feels crisp, fluid, and bright enough that you rarely have to think about legibility or glare.

The panel supports 1.07 billion colors and covers 100 percent of the DCI P3 wide color gamut, so photos and video look rich and saturated without instantly blowing out detail. Color profiles and temperature sliders let you nudge the tone toward either punchy or more neutral, depending on your taste. It is an easy display to enjoy, whether you are scrolling social feeds, reading long articles, or watching HDR content in a dark room.

Honor also pushes very hard on eye comfort. The Magic 8 Pro stacks features like 4320 hertz PWM dimming, Circular Polarized Display 2, Chip Level AI Defocus Display, Dynamic Dimming, Circadian Night Display, Natural Tone Display, and Motion Sickness Relief. These are meant to reduce eye fatigue, support healthier sleep patterns, and adjust color temperature more intelligently over the course of the day.

Audio gets similar attention. The Magic 8 Pro features dual speakers with a large 8 cubic centimeter sound chamber and Honor’s own spatial audio algorithms, which together offer a richer and deeper sound than you might expect from a slim phone. Volume is strong enough for video watching and gaming, and there is a satisfying sense of width and body to music and dialogue.

Portrait Mode

The Honor Magic 8 Pro’s camera system is built to impress on paper and feels very capable in real use, especially once the light starts to drop. At the hardware level, you get a triple rear setup built around a 50 MP main camera with an f/1.6 aperture, a 1/1.3 inch sensor, optical image stabilization, and CIPA 5.5 rated shake compensation. This is joined by a 50 MP ultra wide with an f/2.0 aperture and a 122 degree field of view, plus a headline-grabbing 200 MP telephoto with an f/1.6 aperture, a 1/1.3 inch sensor, optical image stabilization, and CIPA 5.5. Turn it around, and you find a 50 MP front-facing camera for selfies and video calls. Beyond the hardware, Honor has pushed its AiMage system with upgraded image engines that aim to improve detail, color, and low-light performance across all lenses.

The main camera and the telephoto handle most everyday scenes well, with good dynamic range, pleasing color accuracy, and a natural look that avoids heavy over-sharpening. Skin tones in particular look natural, which helps portraits feel more believable and less filtered, even when taken with the phone. Focus is quick and decisive in most situations, so you can frame and shoot without feeling like you are waiting on the phone.

Ultra-wide

In low light, the processing leans toward brightening the entire scene, often making it look noticeably more illuminated than what you actually see with your own eyes, while highlights stay well controlled, so streetlights and signs do not immediately blow out. The trade-off is that shutter speeds tend to be on the slow side, whether you use Night mode or stick with the standard Photo mode, yet stabilization works very well, so handheld shots still come out sharp more often than you might expect from the exposure times involved.

Honor also layers on a few creative tools that make the camera feel more playful. Magic Color gives you professional-like color tuning in a single tap, letting you mimic golden hour warmth or blue hour coolness even when you are not shooting at those exact times of day. Moving Photo now includes Motion Trail, Motion Clone, and Slow Motion effects, which let you capture a bit of motion around your subject and then stylize it without leaving the gallery, so everyday scenes can turn into something closer to a mini motion poster.

Video recording is similarly flexible, though not perfect, with the main camera able to shoot up to 4K at 120 frames per second, while the rest of the rear cameras and the front-facing camera are capped at 4K at 60 frames per second. Stabilization and exposure are solid, but colors can look a bit washed out compared to still photos, and while there is a Log recording option for more serious creators, it is limited to the main camera and only up to a 2x zoom range.

Magic Color – Warm Sunset

Motion Clone

Motion Trail

Inside the Magic 8 Pro, Qualcomm’s latest top-tier processor, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset, paired with 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, handles everything you throw at it. It is built for high performance in both traditional workloads and AI-heavy tasks. Day-to-day navigation feels snappy, with apps opening quickly and multitasking between social networks, messaging, and media happening without visible stutter. Even with many background apps, the phone maintains a fluid feel that matches its premium positioning.

Honor gives the Magic 8 Pro a dedicated AI button and plenty of AI features, including tools for image editing and productivity. A long press on the AI button analyzes whatever is on screen and suggests context-aware actions such as Circle to Search, AI Photo Agent, AI Summary, and Blur Private Info. It does not always guess exactly what you want, yet it genuinely reduces the number of steps between seeing something on screen and acting on it, which makes AI feel like a physical part of the phone rather than just another icon in the app drawer.

If you do not fancy AI, you can still customize its behaviour, so a single press, double press, or press and hold can trigger different actions. That flexibility turns the AI button into a handy shortcut for whatever you use most, whether that is voice control, the camera, or a specific app you open dozens of times a day. Over time, it starts to feel less like a novelty and more like a small, well-placed tool that quietly adapts to your habits rather than forcing you into a specific way of using the phone.

The Magic 8 Pro packs a 6,270 mAh silicon carbon battery, which is still huge by flagship standards even if it is not quite as oversized as some of the more extreme phones on the market. In everyday use, that capacity translates into very comfortable endurance, with enough headroom to get through a heavy day and, for lighter users, even stretch into a second. Charging is handled by HONOR SuperCharge at up to 100 W wired and up to 80 W wireless, so topping up never feels like a chore, whether you plug in or drop it on a stand.

Sustainability

Honor approaches sustainability on the Magic 8 Pro through durability and longevity rather than bold recycled material claims. The phone carries IP68, IP69, and IP69K ratings, so it is protected against dust, immersion, and even high-pressure water jets, which makes it easier to treat as a true everyday object instead of something fragile. On the front, the HONOR NanoCrystal Shield promises up to ten times better drop resistance than conventional glass and is backed by an SGS 5 Star Drop Resistance Certification, which should help it survive the usual pocket and desk-level accidents with fewer scars.

Software support is the other major part of the story. Honor promises seven years of OS updates for the Magic 8 Pro, which puts it among the longest supported Android phones and encourages you to keep it far beyond a typical two or three-year cycle. Combined with the robust build and strong water resistance, that long support window turns the Magic 8 Pro into more of a long-term device and less of a short-lived gadget, which is a practical, user-friendly angle on sustainability.

Value

In the UK, the Honor Magic 8 Pro is priced at £1,099.99, around $1,350, for the model with 12 GB of RAM and 512 GB of storage. That puts the phone firmly in the ultra-premium flagship space, yet the pricing is aggressive in a quiet way when you line it up against the obvious rivals. An iPhone 17 Pro Max with 512 GB of storage sits noticeably higher on the price ladder, and a Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra with 512 GB tends to land in a similar or slightly higher bracket once you match storage. Honor counters with a bigger battery, a well-balanced, great-performing camera system, and very fast wired and wireless charging, which helps the package feel competitive even without the same brand pull.

If you look at closer competition, the Magic 8 Pro sits more naturally alongside phones like the Vivo X300 Pro and Oppo Find X9 Pro. All three offer well-rounded flagships with industry-leading camera performance and a strong focus on telephoto. Both the Vivo X300 Pro and Oppo Find X9 Pro add teleconverter-style lenses for extra flexibility, while Honor leans on well-integrated AI features, a display with one of the most complete eye comfort feature sets on the market, and long software support to make its case.

Verdict

The Honor Magic 8 Pro feels like a very confident statement from Honor. It is not chasing a single headline spec at the expense of everything else. Instead, it combines a sleek design, a genuinely comfortable in hand feel, a bright and eye-friendly display, and a camera system that is both capable and fun, then backs it all with a huge battery and long-term software support.

It is not perfect. Video colors could be richer in some scenarios, the shutter can feel slow, and the price is firmly in ultra-premium territory. Yet when you look at the full package, especially the 6,270 mAh battery, the long OS support, the AI implementation, and the well-tuned cameras, the Magic 8 Pro stands out as one of the more thoughtful big flagships of this cycle. If you want a phone that looks and feels high-end, lasts all day and then some, and leans into AI without feeling gimmicky, this is a very easy device to recommend.

The post Honor Magic8 Pro Review: Brilliant Night Shots, Big Battery, Built to Last first appeared on Yanko Design.

Realme 16 Pro+ Review: Naoto FUkusawa Helped Make a Battery Beast Beautiful

Posted on by

PROS:


  • Sleek design by Naoto Fukusawa

  • Strong portrait camera performance for the price range

  • Huge 7,000mAh battery with 80W wired charging

CONS:


  • Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 is carried over from the previous generation

  • No wireless charging

RATINGS:

AESTHETICS
ERGONOMICS
PERFORMANCE
SUSTAINABILITY / REPAIRABILITY
VALUE FOR MONEY

EDITOR'S QUOTE:

By combining Naoto Fukasawa’s Urban Wild design with a 7000 mAh battery and a sharp 200 MP portrait camera, realme 16 Pro+ proves that refinement and stamina can matter more than chasing raw benchmark numbers.

The realme 16 Pro+ seems to be a modest upgrade in the company’s Number Series. While it is not packed with major improvements in every area, it tries to win you over as a well-rounded package built around design, battery life, and cameras. On paper, it still reads like a wish list: a 200 megapixel main camera with 3.5x telephoto, a 6.8 inch 144 Hz AMOLED display, a 7000 mAh battery with 80 W charging, IP68 and IP69 protection, and a Naoto Fukasawa-designed back made from bio-based silicone.  

It also arrives with a few important caveats. The Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 chipset is carried over from the realme 15 Pro rather than being a big step up, and the rumoured pricing pushes the 16 Pro+ toward affordable flagship territory rather than a classic, value mid-ranger. That raises a clear question. Does the mix of master level design, big battery stamina, and creator-focused camera hardware do enough to justify the price, or are you better off with a more conventional spec monster? We took a closer look.

Designer: Naoto Fukasawa x realme

Aesthetics

For the realme 16 Pro+, realme partnered again with world-renowned product designer Naoto Fukasawa. The brand has previously collaborated with Fukasawa on the realme X Master Edition, X2 Master Edition, GT Master Edition, and GT2 Pro Master Edition, and this new phone continues that lineage. The design fuses natural elements with contemporary style in what realme calls the Urban Wild Design, aiming to bring a calmer, more tactile character to a very modern device.

The Urban Wild Design is articulated through a deliberate contrast of the mirror-polished camera deco set against a natural texture back panel. The back is built around what realme calls a Metal Mirror Camera Deco, a mirror finish metal plate that frames the lenses like a piece of jewellery on top of a matte, softly grained surface. The back panel uses a bio-based organic silicone derived from plant-based straw, processed with an eco-friendly method that the brand positions as an industry-first eco material. The result is a surface that feels soft, finely textured, and grippy, with a visual warmth and calmness you do not usually get from glass or glossy plastic.  

The 16 Pro+ comes in two colors in most markets. Master Gold is described as the soft golden glow of ripened wheat, with a gentle shimmer that catches the light without looking flashy. Master Black is inspired by the smooth, muted sheen of river pebbles, giving a more understated and refined look. Each variant features a color-matched mirror-polished camera bump and side frame, so the camera island, mid frame, and back panel read as one coherent piece rather than separate parts.

Ergonomics

On paper, the realme 16 Pro+ is not a small phone, yet it feels more considered than the raw numbers suggest. The phone is 8.49 mm thick and weighs 203 g, which puts it firmly in the large phone camp without feeling unwieldy. The square camera bump does not protrude too much, and its sloped edges merge into the back panel to create a smooth transition. The back panel resists fingerprints and smudges quite well, though the glossy camera bump is a different story and picks up marks easily.  

Thanks to the balanced weight and the gentle flow from the slightly curved display to the slightly curved side frame to the slightly curved back panel, the phone is very comfortable to hold in the hand. The volume rocker and power button are positioned where they are easy to reach, so basic controls fall naturally under your fingers. The fingerprint scanner, on the other hand, sits close to the bottom edge of the screen, which makes the move from unlocking the phone to actually using it feel a bit less smooth than it could be.

Performance

Since there was no Pro+ version of the realme 15, there is no direct predecessor of the realme 16 Pro+, but many specs are unchanged from the realme 15 Pro, including the chipset. The 16 Pro+ is powered by Snapdragon 7 Gen 4, Qualcomm’s upper mid-range chipset. While it does not deliver brute flagship power, it is more than strong enough for long gaming or browsing sessions without noticeable throttling. In daily use, the chipset has no trouble keeping up with realme UI 7.0, based on Android 16. Swiping through the 144 Hz interface feels fluid, apps open quickly, and multitasking between social media, messaging, and browsing remains consistently smooth.

The realme 16 Pro+ features a 6.8-inch AMOLED display with a 1280 by 2800 resolution and up to 144 Hz refresh rate. According to the spec sheet, it supports a 240 Hz touch sampling rate, 1.07 billion colors, 100 percent DCI P3 coverage, a 5,000,000 to 1 contrast ratio, and a peak brightness of 6500 nits. It is a sharp, bright, and vibrant panel that looks flagship-grade and comfortable in day-to-day use.

Realme brings a 200 megapixel camera to its Number Series for the first time. The triple camera setup consists of a 200 MP main camera, a 50 MP 3.5x telephoto camera, and an 8 MP ultra wide camera, with a 50 MP front-facing camera handling selfies. In the camera app, you can choose between Vibrant and Natural color modes for the rear cameras, depending on whether you prefer punchier social media-ready shots or a more restrained look.

The 23 mm equivalent 200 MP main camera uses Samsung’s HP5 sensor with an f/1.8 aperture lens and both optical and electronic image stabilisation. It can capture very detailed shots with a wide dynamic range in good lighting conditions, and stabilisation helps keep images sharp when light levels drop. In the standard Photo mode, you also get an AI composition feature that analyses your framing and suggests small adjustments for a stronger composition, nudging you to tilt, reframe, or shift your subject for a more balanced shot. This tool is not available in Portrait mode, but it is genuinely helpful for quick point-and-shoot photography.

The 80 mm equivalent 50 MP 3.5x telephoto camera uses Samsung’s JN5 sensor behind an f/2.8 aperture lens, again with OIS and EIS. Portrait mode lets you shoot at 1x, 1.5x, 2x, 3.5x, and 4x, and results across these focal lengths are consistently strong, with pleasing separation and natural-looking depth. realme also packs in a wide range of dedicated Portrait filters, so you can switch between more cinematic, vintage, or punchy looks without leaving the mode.

The 15 mm equivalent 8 MP ultra wide rounds out the rear trio. It does the job for landscapes, interiors, and group shots, but image quality is more functional than exciting, with less detail and dynamic range than the main and telephoto cameras. On the front, there is a 50 MP OmniVision OV50D selfie camera with an f/2.4 aperture lens. This is unusually ambitious for the class. It can capture crisp selfies with plenty of detail.

As for video, the main and front-facing cameras both support 4K recording at up to 60 FPS. The telephoto and ultrawide cameras are limited to 1080p at 30 FPS, which feels a bit disappointing on the telephoto side, especially given how capable it is for stills. It would have been nice to see at least 4K 30 fps from the zoom camera to fully match the rest of the system.

realme 16 Pro+ is built around a huge 7000 mAh battery, and you feel that capacity in day-to-day use. With this much headroom, it comfortably handles a full day of heavy messaging, social media, camera use, and streaming, and lighter users can easily stretch into a second day without reaching for the charger. When you finally do need to charge, the 80 W wired charging support keeps downtime short.

Sustainability

realme 16 Pro+ makes a stronger effort on sustainability than many mid-range phones. The most visible element is the back panel material. Instead of conventional petroleum-based plastic or glass, realme uses a bio-based organic silicone derived from plant-based straw, processed through an eco-friendly method. It is designed to be safer for the skin, gentler on the environment, and more resistant to aging, dirt, and wear, which should help the phone look fresh for longer and reduce the urge to replace it early.

Durability also plays into sustainability. The phone carries both IP68 and IP69 ratings, meaning it is tested for dust tightness, immersion in water, and high-pressure water jets. In practical terms, that level of protection makes the 16 Pro+ far more likely to survive everyday accidents, from rain and spills to brief drops into water. A device that shrugs off this kind of abuse is less likely to be written off early, which again extends its usable life.

On the software side, realme commits to three years of Android OS updates and four years of Android security patches. That is not at the very top of the industry, but it is long enough that you can realistically keep the phone for a full contract cycle and beyond without falling behind on major features or basic security. Combined with the durable hardware and more sustainable back panel material, it makes the 16 Pro+ feel like a phone designed to be used hard and kept in service rather than quickly replaced.

Value

At the time of writing, realme has not confirmed official pricing, but multiple leaks suggest the realme 16 Pro+ will start at INR 39,999 (around $445) for the 8 GB and 128 GB variant. The 8 GB and 256 GB model is rumoured to land at INR 41,999 (around $470), while the 12 GB and 256 GB version could reach INR 44,999 (around $500).

If these figures hold, the 16 Pro+ will sit at the upper end of the mid-range bracket, nudging into affordable flagship territory. In that context, the phone’s value depends on what you care about most. For users who prioritise a premium design, camera versatility, a truly huge 7000 mAh battery, a bright 144 Hz AMOLED display, and sustainability, the package looks competitive.

Verdict

realme 16 Pro+ is not a revolution for the Number Series, but it is a carefully tuned evolution that leans into design, cameras, and battery life instead of chasing raw specs in every direction. The Naoto Fukasawa Urban Wild Design, bio-based silicone back, and Metal Mirror Camera Deco give it a distinctive look and feel, while the solid ergonomics and IP68 plus IP69 ratings make it more robust than many mid-range rivals. Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 is familiar rather than exciting, yet in practice, it keeps realme UI 7.0 and the 144 Hz AMOLED display running smoothly, and the 7000 mAh battery with 80 W charging turns it into a genuine all-day workhorse.

As for the camera, the realme 16 Pro+ consistently turns out pleasing portraits across its various focal lengths, with good subject separation and flattering rendering. The front-facing camera also performs well. Where things get complicated is value, because the rumoured pricing nudges the 16 Pro+ into premium mid-range territory rather than classic budget-friendly mid-range. If you prioritise a phone that looks and feels special, lasts comfortably through heavy days, and gives you reliable portrait and selfie performance, realme 16 Pro+ makes a strong case for itself even as a modest generational upgrade.

The post Realme 16 Pro+ Review: Naoto FUkusawa Helped Make a Battery Beast Beautiful first appeared on Yanko Design.

Punkt. MC03 Is a Smartphone You Buy With Money, Not Your Data

Posted on by

Most phones make a familiar bargain: free services and slick apps in exchange for constant tracking, profiling, and data being treated as currency. The line about how if you do not pay for the product, you are the product, has gone from cliché to lived reality. Punkt. has been quietly pushing back against that logic for years, starting with minimalist feature phones and now moving into full touchscreen territory with the same philosophy intact.

The Punkt. MC03 is a premium secure smartphone designed in Switzerland and built in Germany, running AphyOS instead of mainstream Android skins. It is subscription-based by design; you pay for the OS and services, so you are not paying with your data. The pitch is simple: a modern, fully capable phone where privacy is the default, not a buried settings menu you hope you configured correctly.

Designer: Punkt.

AphyOS splits the phone into two spaces. Vault is the calm, minimalist home screen with Punkt. curated, privacy-friendly apps and Proton services, a hardened enclave for mail, calendar, messaging, and files. Wild Web is a swipe away, where you can install any app you want, but each one lives in its own privacy bubble, with clear controls over what data flows where and who gets to see it.

The interface is deliberately color-free and stripped back. Icons are simple, backgrounds are monochrome, and the whole thing is designed to reduce visual noise and cognitive load. The idea is to make the phone feel less like a slot machine and more like a tool, nudging you toward intentional use instead of endless scrolling, without taking away the apps you actually rely on for work or getting around.

Privacy tools include Digital Nomad, the built-in VPN that protects connectivity on the move, and Ledger, which lets you dial app-specific permissions from full access to full restriction, even showing the carbon impact of background activity. The MC03 can be de-Googled, reducing reliance on Google Mobile Services, and Proton Mail, Drive, VPN, and Pass live in Vault, reflecting a Swiss Tech ethos where you pay to retain your data.

The hardware is quietly competent, a 6.67-inch FHD+ OLED at 120 Hz, a 64 MP main camera with ultra-wide and macro companions, dual stereo speakers, and a removable 5,200 mAh battery with 30 W wired and 15 W wireless charging. It is IP68 rated and manufactured at Gigaset’s German facility, leaning into durability, repairability, and a European supply chain as part of the trust equation, not just marketing.

The MC03 is talking to people who are tired of feeling like their handset is a tracking device with a screen attached, but who do not want to retreat to a feature phone. It suggests a different path, a smartphone that still does all the smartphone things, but asks you to pay for the privilege of keeping your data yours, and makes that trade-off feel intentional instead of hidden. For anyone looking for an alternative to the usual iOS or Android bargain, Punkt. keeps building that alternative, one monochrome screen and one Swiss principle at a time.

The post Punkt. MC03 Is a Smartphone You Buy With Money, Not Your Data first appeared on Yanko Design.

This Phone Concept Stacks a 3.5-Inch LCD Above a 5.2-Inch E Ink Screen

Posted on by

Modern phones have turned into pocket TVs, huge OLED slabs that are great for video and games but terrible for focus. Most E Ink phones go to the opposite extreme, either dropping color screens entirely or putting an E Ink panel on the back while keeping a full-size color display on the front. This dual-screen concept tries a different take, stacking both screens on the same face, with a small color LCD above a larger monochrome E Ink panel.

The basic layout is a 3.5-inch IPS LCD at the top and a 5.2-inch E Ink panel below, both on the front. The numbers are 1280 × 800 resolution at 120 Hz for the LCD and 1300 × 838 at 300 ppi for the E Ink. The clear back with a single camera and simple branding quietly signals that this phone is not chasing the usual multi-lens, all-screen spec race, instead treating the front as a composition of two very different surfaces.

Designer: Mechanical Pixel

The smaller LCD becomes the “burst of color” zone for time, notifications, music controls, and quick interactions, while the larger E Ink area is reserved for reading, notes, and simple widgets. This creates a hardware-level hierarchy; the calm, monochrome screen is where you spend most of your time, and you consciously move your attention to the smaller, brighter panel when you really need it, which changes the default state of the device from hyperactive to quiet.

The obvious pros are less visual noise, better eye comfort, and potentially much better battery life. E Ink only draws power when it refreshes, so a reading-first layout means the phone can idle for long stretches without burning through charge. For people who mostly message, read, and check calendars, the big E Ink panel could handle most of the day while the LCD stays off or in a low-duty role, extending runtime significantly.

The trade-offs are nothing to scoff at, though. A 3.5-inch LCD, even at 120 Hz, is not ideal for immersive video, complex productivity apps, or touch-heavy games. UI designers would need to rethink layouts for that smaller window, or accept that some tasks are better on a tablet or laptop. The E Ink panel’s slower refresh also limits it to taps and page turns, which is fine for reading but not for fast, gesture-driven interfaces that rely on immediate visual feedback.

This concept uses hardware to enforce a kind of digital minimalism. Instead of relying on focus modes and grayscale filters, it bakes the idea into the front of the phone, a big, calm screen for reading and a small, hyperactive one for everything else. For people who like the idea of a phone that nudges them toward books and away from endless feeds, that stacked layout feels like a surprisingly sharp design argument, where the very shape of the device encourages a different relationship with what lives on it.

The post This Phone Concept Stacks a 3.5-Inch LCD Above a 5.2-Inch E Ink Screen first appeared on Yanko Design.