Qualcomm is in yet another legal standoff, this time on the smartphone side of the Snapdragon brand.

Qualcomm recently won most of its defense case against Arm over the Snapdragon X Elite chipsets, with a second suit (this time brought by Qualcomm) slated to hit the courts next year.

Per PhoneArena, this new suit against Qualcomm was brought by Collabo Innovations. Collabo is a wholly-owned subsidiary of WiLan, a company that states it is "critical to protect innovative technology by creating patents that describe and claim the innovative concepts." A Google search of Collabo Innovations primarily results in information about lawsuits it has filed for patent infringement.

This suit by Collabo against Qualcomm pertains to patented technology that Collabo acquired from Panasonic.

Whether you're invested in the Snapdragon name on laptops or phones, there's reason to watch for legal news involving Qualcomm.

But, before you get too concerned, here's what you need to know:

Qualcomm's new legal battle

Collabo's suit against Qualcomm hinges on a microcontroller on Snapdragon chips that handles the system's shutdown process. The lawsuit's outcome could affect how Qualcomm makes all of its phone and tablet chipsets in the future.

The vast majority — estimates range between 95-97% — of patent suits are settled, often with the defendant paying royalties or a sum of damages to the aggrieved party. Or those cases are settled before they go to trial with a monetary agreement between both companies.

However, that's not been Qualcomm's style as of late. Qualcomm recently requested that the judge dismiss Collabo's suit, but this request was deemed premature for this particular case.

A representative for Qualcomm clarified to PhoneArena, stating, "The court’s order is an early procedural step that doesn’t address the ultimate merits of the case. We look forward to briefing the issues again at a later time, as suggested by the court."

It appears Qualcomm intends to see the suit thrown out, even with extra steps involved in the process.

Qualcomm's ongoing suit with Arm

Qualcomm and Arm went to trial in December 2024, with Arm alleging Qualcomm had violated its licensing agreement by using the Oryon CPU cores in the Snapdragon X Series of PC chipsets, and that Qualcomm violated its agreement with Arm by puchasing a tech startup called Nuvia in 2021.

The jury ruled in favor of Qualcomm on these two points of contention.

Arm also alleged that Nuvia also violated its licensing agreement with Arm by providing those CPU designs to Qualcomm after Qualcomm acquired the startup in 2021. This was the question that left the jury hung and would likely not be resolved as Nuvia no longer exists as a separate entity.

Qualcomm is bringing a countersuit against Arm that will go to trial in early 2026, alleging Arm launched a campaign against Qualcomm to stifle competition and impede innovation.

That filing was recently amended to accuse Arm of misrepresenting itself, as Arm confirmed under oath that it is merely a chipset design firm, and not a "chipmaker." However, recent rumors of Arm launching its own chips have brought that claim under scrutiny.

The state of Snapdragon

Qualcomm's legal battle against Collabo Innovations is still in its early days, but it seems unlikely the outcome would prevent Qualcomm from continuing to manufacture the Snapdragon 8 chipsets that power flagship Android phones and tablets like the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra.

Worst case, Snapdragon phones and tablets could become a bit more expensive. But that's more likely to be caused by the US foreign manufacturing tariffs rather than a legal standoff.

The state of Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Series of laptop and miniPC chipsets is protected by the outcome of the first trial with Arm. Which means Qualcomm can go ahead with the Snapdragon X Elite Gen 2 launch currently slated for early next year.

Qualcomm is expected to announce the second generation of Snapdragon X computer chips at Snapdragon Summit this fall. While this does leave Qualcomm with an almost two-year gap in generations, the company is "not worried about competitors."

More from Laptop Mag

• Qualcomm gambled on repeating its own ads at Computex, but did it pay off?
• Qualcomm's Computex event is all about AI. Is that a mistake?
• Microsoft may give Copilot a literal face with Live Portraits in its push for personal AI

As predicted, Qualcomm's Computex Keynote focused more on AI and AI-powered features on the Windows on Arm ecosystem rather than new announcements.

Qualcomm is turning 40 this year, but as CEO Cristiano Amon stated, "it's a new Qualcomm," thanks to the company's investment in computing. Qualcomm launched the Snapdragon X series at Computex last year, but despite that timeline, Qualcomm's Computex presence did not revolve around chip announcements.

Essentially: Qualcomm spent the entire 60 minute keynote dodging around the rumors of the second Snapdragon X Series chip generation to instead focus on their often-repeated performance claims, new systems, and Windows on Arm ecosystem updates.

At a rather slim Computex for computing news, this could have been a moment for Qualcomm to shine with the second gen of it's Arm chips. Instead the company chose to gamble and focus on its partnerships with various manufacturers including Microsoft.

But, did Qualcomm's gamble pay off?

Snapdragon X Series updates

Qualcomm now has 1,400 games optimized for Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite. The company showed footage of Kingdom Come: Deliverance II on a Snapdragon X Elite system, though its uncertain whether the game will play smoothly across all of Qualcomm's Snapdragon X series.

Qualcomm showcased a lot of early gaming performance on the Snapdragon X Elite chipset on custom hardware, running on 80W systems that were never released to the public. Considering that history, it's hard to take Qualcomm's announcements at face value.

Qualcomm and Epic Games will also be bringing Fortnite to Windows on Arm, which makes sense considering Qualcomm announced Snapdragon support for Epic Games Online Easy Anti-Cheat back in March.

Qualcomm has reached 9% market share in the laptop market, thanks to a large portfolio of devices, including newly launched computes like the new Acer Aspire 14 and 16 AI, HP OmniBook 5, and new Microsoft Surface Pro 11-inch and Microsoft Surface Laptop 13-inch.

Amon also shared statistics on Snapdragon's performance compared to Intel's Core Ultra 7 processor. But this is a skewed comparison from the jump. Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite is a 12-core chipset while the Intel Core Ultra 7 256V is a mid-range 8-core CPU. And some of the comparisons were calculated on specific workloads like DaVinci Resolve's SuperScale FHD to 4K upscaling technology.

Amon also repeated the claim that Snapdragon has "leading performance on an SoC in the laptop ecosystem." While this was true during the Snapdragon X Elite launch cycle, it has been overturned by recent launches from AMD, Apple, and Intel.

Windows on Arm updates

Qualcomm has also expanded its portfolio of applications to include the top 200 most-used Windows apps into the Windows on Arm ecosystem. Part of this is thanks to Microsoft's new Prism emulation software which helps alleviate the key pain-point of Windows on Arm.

However, there are still limits to Prism emulation and the Windows on Arm ecosystem. After all, what are those 200 applications? And are they actually the most-used apps?

Qualcomm makes this claim based on data from Microsoft that was collected by snapshots of aggregated app usage data as of August 2024 on Copilot+ PCs. Of course, the problem with that data is that in August 2024, only Snapdragon X systems were in the Copilot+ ecosystem. AMD and Intel's AI PC chips didn't get rolled into Copilot+ until the end of 2024.

So it's a bit of a skewed sample set.

As always with Qualcomm's claims, Amon's claims are technically correct, but the real context is always in the details Qualcomm doesn't share.

That said, Qualcomm has put in some serious work to fill out the Windows on Arm ecosystem. Just over a year ago, the Windows on Arm software ecosystem was almost unusably bare. That is no longer the case.

But if you need a highly specialized application, it may not run on Windows on Arm, even emulated. Some key examples are the Autodesk suite, Parsec, and Adobe DreamWeaver and Substance 3DStager.

In fact, despite Qualcomm's partnership with Adobe, the only applications that run natively on Snapdragon are Photoshop and Photoshop Lightroom. Other applications like Illustrator and After Effects are expected to make it onto Snapdragon platforms, but are still not available through emulation yet.

Qualcomm deserves recognition for the work done to build up an ecosystem. But it will still be years before Windows on Arm can even come close to the level of app-support you find on x86 systems.

Cristiano Amon: Q&A

Cristiano took questions during the keynote from audience submissions and had them spoken aloud by a Snapdragon AI PC. So these questions ranged from AI for business to a hybrid future that combines computing, AI, automotive, and mobile ecosystems.

Because these questions were collected from the whole keynote audience including Qualcomm staff, guests, OEM partners, and Computex industry attendees, many fed straight into Qualcomm's usual marketing stance about Snapdragon X Series performance and Qualcomm's view of a hybrid future.

The most interesting statement from Amon during this segment was "I'm very bullish about smart glasses" and the future of AR and how it will evolve with AI PCs and better smartphones to augment our lives.

Amon also took questions from press and analysts after the keynote to expand on Qualcomm’s portfolio from data center to DragonWing to robotics. “Robotics is natural to Qualcomm,” Amon said. Claiming robotics will be a big market for Qualcomm similar to the automotive market. As robots require a high degree of performance and strong battery life, and “that’s our DNA.”

As for the future of the Oryon CPU cores behind the Snapdragon X Series processors, Amon would only enthuse “the CPU team is very busy,” and that those interested in the future of Qualcomm’s computing portfolio should “come to Snapdragon Summit, you’re going to like what you’re going to see.”

What's next

Qualcomm sees the future of computing as a hybrid environment between computers and smartphones, where one is an extension of the other. This view of the future colors everything Amon and Qualcomm's OEM partners discussed at Computex.

However, is it an accurate view of the future? You can already access your smartphone data on your laptop in the Windows and macOS ecosystems. While there are differences in functionality, with some combinations working better than others. But phone to computer communication has been in the works for years now.

In fact, I distinctly remember crashing my 2010 MacBook Pro by adding macOS X Mavericks on it to control my iPhone from my laptop back in 2013.

While Amon is also bullish about on-device AI features with Snapdragon, Apple, AMD, Nvidia, and Intel are also pushing the same development. So it's hardly a unique feature to Snapdragon systems.

To support this dream, Qualcomm is entering the commercial and data center spaces in the future.

As for the highly anticipated Snapdragon X Elite Gen 2, it seems Qualcomm is holding all details on that chip for Snapdragon Summit in the fall.

Qualcomm paid for travel and accommodations for Computex 2025. The company did not see the contents of this article before publication.

More from Laptop Mag

• "It's not because we don't love GeForce, GeForce got us here": Nvidia brings the power of RTX 5060 to budget-friendly gaming laptops
• Apple REALLY doesn't want you playing Fortnite on iPhone
• Trump warns Apple over India: what it means for the next iPhone

Today, Qualcomm has announced the Snapdragon X chipset at CES 2025 in Las Vegas, finally entering the budget-friendly laptop space with Snapdragon X systems. Qualcomm's latest chipset is expected to make Copilot+ computing more accessible than ever as it targets the $600 bracket.

The Snapdragon X processor is the entry-level chip of the Snapdragon laptop line which kicked off with the Snapdragon X Elite in June 2024. The Snapdragon X will join the Snapdragon X Plus 8-core, Snapdragon X Plus 10-core, and Snapdragon X Elite to round out Qualcomm's line of AI PC chipsets.

Snapdragon X: Features

The Snapdragon X is the fourth laptop processor from Qualcomm, bringing Copilot+ PCs to the $600 range, making AI PCs more affordable and accessible than ever.

The Snapdragon X will feature the same Qualcomm Hexagon NPU with 45 TOPS (Trillions of Operations Per Second) as the Snapdragon X Elite. The Snapdragon X chipset will feature 8 CPU cores alongside the Hexagon NPU and a Qualcomm Adreno GPU.

Qualcomm claims the Snapdragon X can offer 63% better performance at ISO power compared to the Intel Core 5 120U. Qualcomm also claims the Intel Core 5 120U would require 168% more power at ISO performance than the Snapdragon X.

However, Qualcomm is basing these claims on a custom Snapdragon X laptop compared to the consumer-level Dell Inspiron 14 (7440 2-in-1), so real-world results may vary.

Snapdragon X: Platforms

Snapdragon X systems will be designed mostly for creating presentations, web browsing, and streaming content, making them ideal choices for students, freelance workers, and budget-conscious consumers alike.

Not only will the Snapdragon X chipset launch on budget-friendly laptops, but it will also appear on mini desktops PCs in the $600 range.

Qualcomm expects the Snapdragon X Series to appear on computers from manufacturers like Asus, Acer, Dell, and Lenovo in laptop and mini-PC desktop formats.

The mini PCs expected to feature the Snapdragon X chipset will be the first desktops powered by Snapdragon processors after Qualcomm canceled the Snapdragon X Elite dev kit mini-PC last year.

What's next?

In a statement provided to the press ahead of the official announcement, Qualcomm's Alex Katouzian, Group General Manager, Mobile, Compute, and XR said, "The Snapdragon X Series portfolio offers the most powerful, intelligent, and power-efficient processors for Windows in their class, making Copilot+ PCs powered by Snapdragon the ultimate choice for users who want a laptop that can do it all.

"Our ecosystem of partners continues to build on Snapdragon to deliver innovative form factors and premium AI experiences that enable everyday PC users who want a laptop that can keep up with their busy lives.”

Obviously, we will have to wait until we can get our hands on a Snapdragon X processor to confirm Qualcomm's performance claims, but the Snapdragon X may be the chip that finally makes AI PCs affordable to most consumers.

Of course, Qualcomm's claims are based on a custom-built platform that will not be available to consumers, which makes it hard to take the company's performance claims at face value. We'll have to reserve judgment on the Snapdragon X until we get to test it ourselves later in 2025.

More from Laptop Mag

• Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite 2 rumors: Everything we know so far
• Qualcomm transformed the AI PC market in 2024 with Snapdragon X Elite. Can it do it again?
• Why Arm and Qualcomm's big legal battle could be far from over

If you use an Android phone, there's a good chance it's running on a Snapdragon processor. That's not the only place you'll find one, though. This year, Qualcomm, the San Diego-based Snapdragon chipmaker, brought its CPUs to a whole new stage: AI-powered laptops.

On May 20, 2024, Microsoft unveiled the first laptops in its new Copilot+ PC line, all powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon X series chips. This was Qualcomm's first significant entry into the laptop market, so the success of the Copilot+ PCs was crucial.

Qualcomm had big plans for its laptop processors, particularly the flagship Snapdragon X Elite chip.

As a Qualcomm spokesperson tells Laptop Mag, "The launch marked a pivotal moment for Qualcomm as we unveiled a new era of AI-enabled PCs. The Copilot+ PC devices powered by Snapdragon X Elite exceeded expectations in providing high performance-per-watt and long battery life — the top requirements for consumers."

How the Snapdragon X chips supercharged AI PCs this year

At first glance, you might wonder why Microsoft would risk the launch of a whole new series of laptops by working with a chipmaker that's relatively new to the laptop market. Qualcomm was up to the challenge, though. In fact, Snapdragon-powered laptops had some clear advantages right from launch.

For one thing, Microsoft's Copilot+ PC line-up was the largest collection of AI PCs ever launched when it debuted in June. The Snapdragon X chips at the heart of these laptops were designed specifically with AI in mind, resulting in stronger overall AI performance compared to older Windows 11 laptops.

"One of the most transformative user experiences enabled by Snapdragon X Elite processors is their ability to handle generative AI workloads on-device," a Qualcomm rep tells Laptop Mag. "For example, when devices are unplugged, our competitors’ performance falls between 30 to 45%, and there's no drop on Snapdragon."

That balance of processing power and battery efficiency also resulted in some seriously impressive battery life scores for Snapdragon-powered laptops. While there are a few outliers, most of the Copilot+ PCs Laptop Mag tested this year lasted 13 hours or more in our battery life test.

For instance, the Dell XPS 13 lasted a staggering 19 hours! Even more impressive, the Qualcomm-powered Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 broke our battery life record, outlasting any other laptop we've reviewed to date with a battery life of 21 hours and 3 minutes.

Those battery life results handily prove that Qualcomm's claims about power efficiency on its Snapdragon chips are the real deal. Even if you're not so interested in the AI features on Snapdragon-powered laptops, this level of battery life alone could seal the deal for prospective laptop buyers. It's enough to potentially win over people who might not have otherwise decided to try an AI PC.

And if you are an AI enthusiast or want to run AI apps on your laptop, Snapdragon may be the best platform for that, too. "Unlike other processors, Snapdragon X Elite features an integrated AI Engine capable of over 45 trillion operations a second (TOPS), allowing them to handle demanding AI tasks seamlessly," a Qualcomm spokesperson tells Laptop Mag,

With top-notch performance for running virtually any consumer AI app you want and battery life bordering on 24 hours, this first generation of Snapdragon-powered laptops set a high bar. Can the next generation take things even further?

Can Qualcomm stay ahead of its rivals in 2025?

Given the overall success of the Copilot+ PC line-up this year, many are intrigued to see what Qualcomm delivers next. On one hand, it will probably aim to continue the innovation achieved in 2024. However, Qualcomm will also need to connect with a larger pool of users, many of whom are still unclear about what exactly an "AI PC" is or why they need one.

A Qualcomm spokesperson tried to clear this u, telling told Laptop Mag, "'AI PC' refers to the integration of generative AI tools that function as real-time assistants to enhance productivity, creativity, and efficiency. Devices with Copilot+ capabilities go beyond traditional computing, enabling smarter and more personalized experiences that can keep up with AI."

They also added that "No matter how each user embraces and uses AI for their day-to-day, we believe AI PCs mark the future of computing, where AI becomes an intuitive and essential part of everyday workflows."

The message is clear: AI PCs aren't just for AI enthusiasts and developers. Regardless of what you use your laptop for, there's potential for AI to help and soon every new Windows 11 laptop will be an AI PC.

Qualcomm is aiming high as the AI PC market grows, a necessary outlook if it wants to stay ahead of Intel and AMD. That competition is good for users, too, because it will help move the needle on innovation.

A Qualcomm spokesperson gave us some hints about what they have coming up in 2025 and beyond, telling Laptop Mag, "You can expect high performance, deeper integration with edge computing, and continued innovations in battery efficiency and connectivity. Upcoming AI tools will elevate productivity with advanced search functions, enhanced photo resolution, smarter conference call features, and cutting-edge graphic design capabilities."

Those new features and tools sound great, but Intel and AMD are working on AI innovations of their own. We'll just have to wait and see if Qualcomm has what it takes to rule the AI PC market or if it was just the rookie of the year.

If you're anything from an AI enthusiast to the average AI tinkerer (or simply seeking out some of the additional features offered through Windows Copilot+ PCs or Apple Intelligence on Macs), then you'll need a powerful and performative laptop to keep up to speed with your needs.

At Laptop Mag, we review laptops year-round to ensure we're giving you expert-backed and up-to-date recommendations on which notebook is right for you. When it comes to the best AI PC category, our top picks are the excellent Asus Zenbook S 14 (UX5406) for Windows users and the impressive Apple Macbook Air M3 for those running macOS.

So, if you're shopping for a new laptop and looking to invest in an AI PC (or just a great laptop in general), check out our current top-tier picks below.

The Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 Copilot+ PC is the first Surface Laptop to integrate Microsoft's now-ubiquitous AI tool. Now, this sale at Amazon brings this high-end configuration to its lowest price since it launched in June.

This record-low price began during Amazon's Black Friday sales and rolled into Cyber Monday. You can now snag the 13-inch Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 Copilot+ PC for $1,499 — a deep 25% discount and a savings of $500 over the usual $1,999 price.

This laptop packs Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite processor, 32GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD. You can also get this configuration laptop directly from Microsoft for the same price with extended price protection and returns.

This version is the higher-end configuration of the Surface, and it's the same config as the one we evaluated in our Surface Laptop 7 review. We gave the Surface Laptop 7 3.5 out of 5 stars. We loved its stylish design, bright display, and excellent performance. Our reviewer docked this model for its lack of wide color depth support found in competing premium laptops. When we tested this model, our colorimeter found the Surface Laptop 7's display covers just 73.3% of the DCI-P3 color gamut). But we liked that the display measured at a bright 568 nits, and its fast 120Hz refresh delivered smooth navigation, animations, and media playback.

In our real-world tests, the Surface Laptop 7 performance excelled across the board. And it has one of the longest-lasting laptop batteries we've tested: Its battery lasted 15 hours and 44 minutes on our Laptop Mag Battery Test.

This premium Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 model is a solid choice if you want a Copilot+ PC AI upgrade. And with this $500 discount, it's one of the best laptop deals you can buy during Cyber Monday.

Today's best Surface Laptop 7 deal

The future of Copilot+ PCs is murkier than ever, as the legal battle between Qualcomm and chip architecture firm Arm continues to simmer.

In a recent escalation of the ongoing legal dispute Arm Holdings, has issued a 60-day cancellation notice for Qualcomm's license to build and sell chipsets with ARM architecture.

The legal entanglement has created a sticky situation for Qualcomm in particular. While Qualcomm manufactures the Snapdragon chips, those processors are built off Arm's technology. That means fallout from the lawsuit could theoretically halt Qualcomm's laptop, smartphone, and automotive chip-making business.

And if Qualcomm's chipmaking business gets shut down, what does that mean for the Copilot+ program?

What is the Qualcomm v Arm Lawsuit about?

Qualcomm has had a successful partnership with Arm Holdings since 2006, to use the ARM (Advanced RISC Machine) architecture to build smartphone processors. Arm Holdings also licenses its technology to Apple for the M-series processors. Nvidia and AMD also have licenses to build chips based on Arm technology.

In 2019 a group of ex-Apple and Google engineers headed by John Bruno, Manu Gulati, and Gerard Williams III founded a hardware company called Nuvia. Arm Holdings and Nuvia had a contract to build SoC (system on a chip) processors for servers. In 2021, Qualcomm acquired Nuvia and reassigned the team to develop a laptop processor which eventually became the Snapdragon X Elite and X Plus chipsets.

When Qualcomm acquired Nuvia in 2021, Arm Holdings canceled the chip licenses Nuvia held before the merger. So in 2022, Arm Holdings sued Qualcomm for failing to negotiate a new license for the Snapdragon X processors, as Arm alleges the laptop chips are a direct descendant of the server processors Nuvia had been building using its now-canceled license. Essentially, Arm argues that these chips constitute a breach of contract and trademark infringement.

Qualcomm is arguing that its existing license is broad enough to cover the Snapdragon X chipsets without renegotiating a new contract with Arm.

A new report from Bloomberg's Ian King indicates that Arm has escalated the legal battle by canceling Qualcomm's license. Arm has given Qualcomm a 60-day notice to end manufacturing and sales of all chips based on Arm's technology.

What happens to Qualcomm if the partnership with Arm falls through?

Qualcomm's entire chip portfolio currently uses technology licensed by Arm Holdings, including Qualcomm's Snapdragon smartphone processors which power most Android phones.

While Samsung has its own proprietary Exynos processor, Samsung's flagship smartphones like the Galaxy S24 Ultra often use the more powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 chipset. Google uses the Tensor processors for the Pixel line, and MediaTek has recently released the Dimensity 9300+ smartphone chip. So, while the Android market won't be bereft of chipset options if Qualcomm and Arm's relationship fails, smartphone manufacturers will be in some serious trouble.

On the automotive side, Qualcomm also sells Snapdragon chips to various car brands including BMW, Honda, Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, and Volvo.

As for laptops, Qualcomm released the Snapdragon X Elite chips in June of this year. These were the inaugural Copilot+ AI PCs. Qualcomm has released more processors in the Snapdragon X family, including the new Snapdragon X Plus 8-core processors. Qualcomm reportedly has the Snapdragon X2 Elite processor in testing.

Should the Qualcomm and Arm feud continue to escalate, Qualcomm will not be able to sell any of its smartphone and laptop processors or continue working on the second generation of Snapdragon X chips.

This tense legal battle between Qualcomm and Arm has fueled rumors that Qualcomm plans to buy Intel. After all, if Qualcomm can no longer make ARM processors, the next option is to use x86 architecture which is the basis of Intel's chips like the recent Intel Core Ultra 200V. It's ironic, given that Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon spent a large chunk of his Snapdragon Summit Day 1 keynote dunking on Intel's latest processors. Of course, driving down Intel stock prices could make an acquisition easier for Qualcomm. And buying a company that specializes in x86 architecture is a surefire way of mitigating the fallout from the legal battle with Arm Holdings.

But despite all of the chatter, it doesn't seem a Qualcomm takeover of Intel is really in the cards. Intel's business may not be booming, but there isn't a huge valuation gap between the two companies making an acquisition difficult. Additionally, Qualcomm's own stock is currently dropping after Arm delivered its license cancellation notice.

Ultimately, Qualcomm's future looks bleak if the legal battle with Arm isn't resolved in the next 60 days.

What that means for Microsoft and the Copilot+ AI PC program

Microsoft launched the Copilot+ program exclusively on Qualcomm Snapdragon laptops. While AI PCs bearing AMD's Ryzen AI 300 series and Intel's Core Ultra 200V series chipsets will become Copilot+ PCs, the death of the Qualcomm Snapdragon X platform will still have consequences for the entire program.

After all, Microsoft put the Snapdragon X chipsets in the Surface Pro 11 and Surface Laptop 7 as launch units for the Copilot+ program. A Surface Laptop 7 powered by Intel's Core Ultra 200V "Lunar Lake" series processors has already leaked, but the laptop has yet to hit the shelves. So if Qualcomm's relationship with Arm is severed, Copilot+ will have no available laptops or tablets until the AMD and Intel laptops get added to the program.

Copilot+ AI is also hardly a selling point for the platform, as the features aren't particularly unique or interesting. So if the inaugural Copilot+ laptops are de-listed, there will be no real reason to continue the program. Intel already has its own AI Playground software with similar AI tools, and AMD has a Ryzen AI software stack that allows for easy porting of TensorFlow and PyTorch models to Ryzen AI laptops. While both the Intel Core Ultra 200V and AMD Ryzen AI 300 series processors will hit Microsoft's Copilot+ NPU TOPS requirements, Copilot+ will be a program searching for a cause without the Qualcomm Snapdragon chipsets.

Qualcomm v Arm: Outlook

Qualcomm and Arm Holdings falling out would ultimately be pretty bad for both companies. Qualcomm needs that ARM license to continue selling chips for laptops, cars, and phones. Arm Holdings will lose a decent chunk of revenue if Qualcomm's business shuts down. Destroying the partnership is a poor financial decision on both sides.

So the likelihood of Arm enforcing the license cancellation is low, and the tactic is likely intended to push for a settlement out of court. The Arm Holdings v Qualcomm lawsuit goes to trial in December, which lines up with the 60-day cancellation deadline.

If the companies settle, little would likely change for the AI PC business and the Copilot+ program. While there will likely be some consequences from the settlement, those will probably impact Qualcomm and not the AI PC business as a whole.

If the companies are unable to settle out of court, the next year will be very difficult for Qualcomm and Microsoft as the legal battle drags on in the US court system.

More from Laptop Mag

• AMD's new Ryzen chip offers 'next-gen gaming' and it's coming soon
• Is Apple planning another surprise release? M4 MacBooks are likely on the horizon
• The Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen 7 workstation battery life is actually ridiculous

Qualcomm set the bar for AI PC performance and battery life this generation. Though Apple's M3 processors are still a constant point of reference for other chipmakers, the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite (XIE-80-100) is the current benchmark to beat while we wait for the full M4 launch.

Qualcomm likely isn't resting on those laurels though — evidence of the company's next-gen processor is already coming to light. According to WinFuture, Qualcomm's next generation of laptop processors is in testing internally. The rumored Snapdragon X2 Elite, model number "SC8480XP" codename "Glymur," is an update to the Snapdragon X Elite chipsets which hold the model number "SC8380XP" and were codenamed "Hamoa."

WinFuture's sources confirm the Snapdragon X2 Elite chips were in testing in July and August, just after the Snapdragon X Elite launch in June of this year. This bodes well for the future of Qualcomm's laptop processor division, but the Snapdragon X2 Elite will likely be announced next year.

But with the M4 MacBooks rumored to hit this month, where does that leave Qualcomm?

What do we know about Snapdragon X2 Elite performance?

Since we're still well away from an official announcement of the new Snapdragon processors, we don't have many expectations for the chips' performance. We don't know how many cores the processors will use or if they'll keep to the Snapdragon X Elite's 12-core model or opt for a more efficient 10 or 8-core design. We don't have clock speed information, so we can't guess boost performance either.

We merely have information that the chips are being tested. We also know the model number and codename for Qualcomm's next generation of Snapdragon X chipsets. The codename is rather interesting, too. Historically, Qualcomm has always used codenames related to places in Hawaii, which is the location of Qualcomm's annual Snapdragon Summit. For the Snapdragon X2 Elite chip, "Glymur" is the name of the second-highest waterfall in Iceland.

We do have high expectations for Qualcomm's follow-up to the Snapdragon X Elite processors, considering the Dell XPS 13 9345 (Snapdragon X Elite) ousted the MacBook Pro 16 M3 Max for the battery life record, and the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x outperformed the Apple M3 in both the MacBook Air 13 M3 and the MacBook Pro 14 M3.

What we know about Apple M4 performance

While Apple hasn't yet unleashed the M4 processor on its laptop lineup, we have seen the M4 chip in the iPad Pro (2024) earlier this year. There should be a bit of a performance difference, given the change in form factor between a laptop and a tablet, but the iPad Pro M4 rivaled high-end Qualcomm and Intel processors.

The M4 will have several processor variants, similar to the Apple M1, M2, and M3 chips with upgrades to processor core counts and various GPU configurations. Apple's processors for the last three generations have set records for battery life, and have either met or exceeded the performance of their Windows counterparts. So Qualcomm's lead in the performance and battery benchmarks may come to an end once the M4 MacBooks hit the stands this fall. The latest reports indicate a late October or early November launch window, similar to last year's M3 launch.

What this means for the future of Qualcomm

If Apple continues to push the boundaries of power and efficiency in laptop chips, it could make the Snapdragon X2 Elite critical for Qualcomm. After all, Qualcomm doesn't have the long history of mobile processor manufacturing that Intel and AMD have to keep them relevant, even if their chips fall short on battery or multicore performance.

Qualcomm has already started padding out the Snapdragon X platform with more efficient 8-core designs in the Snapdragon X Plus lineup. WinFuture's report on the Snapdragon X2 Elite also includes information on yet another budget Snapdragon X Plus chip, the XIP-24-100 variant. So clearly Qualcomm is heavily invested in growing the Snapdragon X laptop ecosystem.

But for the last year, rumors about Nvidia ARM processors have been circulating in the computing space. While Nvidia did not buy ARM entirely, the company did license several ARM architectures. AMD is also working on the ARM-based Versal AI Edge Series Gen 2, expected in late 2025. So the ARM computing space is becoming crowded, and increased competition for ARM processors means Qualcomm has more pressure to excel than ever. But with Nvidia and AMD both owning ARM licenses, does Qualcomm need to shift away from ARM and enter the x86 space?

Rumors that Qualcomm plans to buy Intel have been circulating for a while now. While those reports are far from convincing, there are plenty of reasons why Qualcomm would be interested in purchasing Intel, or at least Intel's manufacturing division. Not only is x86 architecture the computing standard, but Qualcomm had some legal trouble with ARM casting doubt on the company's future of ARM CPU licensing. So could the change in processor codenames for Snapdragon X2 Elite, from Hawaii to Iceland indicate a larger shift in Qualcomm's processor manufacturing? Are the next Qualcomm chips going to be x86 chips instead of ARM?

Only time will tell, but for now, it's some rather interesting food for thought. Especially as Intel, AMD, and Apple are still in the early days of this processor generation.

More from Laptop Mag

• Microsoft's controversial Recall feature is back — but is it safe to use?
• I just made a $700 bet on the PS5 Pro's enhanced gameplay — here's why
• Quick Insert with Google AI might be the best reason to buy a Chromebook Plus laptop

One of the many announcements made at Samsung's February 2023 Galaxy Unpacked event was that the South Korean tech giants were teaming with Google and Qualcomm to create a new mixed-reality platform.

The trio of Samsung, Google, and Qualcomm were originally presumed to be working together on a high-end mixed-reality headset to rival the Apple Vision Pro.

However, during a recent CNBC interview, Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon (hot off the heels of unveiling the company's latest 8-core Snapdragon X Plus chips at IFA Berlin) revealed that tech's supergroup is actually working on a pair of mixed-reality smart glasses that are designed to connect to smartphones.

See also: Samsung Smart Glasses in January 2025? Here's everything we know so far

Whether or not this is a separate project or a replacement for Samsung's headset is unknown, but given the Vision Pro's lackluster impact and Meta deciding to shelve its high-end Quest Pro follow-up, we'd venture that it's smart glasses all the way for Samsung going forward.

Samsung XR glasses: A smart glasses supergroup

Should these mixed-reality smart glasses be the project alluded to at last year's Galaxy Unpacked event, the trio's partnership would likely see Samsung handle the hardware side of the smart glasses, Qualcomm supplying the processor through its Snapdragon XR family of chips (the same used by the Meta Quest 3), and Google supply the software — which would likely see Samsung's mixed-reality smart glasses bring Google's Gemini AI-powered Project Astra from concept to reality.

Project Astra was showcased earlier in the year at Google I/O, and revealed the company's efforts to supply its multimodal AI assistant, Google Gemini, with visual cues and context to help with complex, voice-activated prompts. In a video demo released by Google, Astra is seen in action on a smartphone, before switching to a pair of smart glasses.

Once running through the glasses, Gemini could share the sight of the wearer and answer prompts based on what the wearer could view, while also displaying subtitles on the lenses themselves.

While Project Astra's reveal piqued people's curiosity over a potential revival of Google Glass, a former Google department lead with ties to the project believes this isn't the case. Speaking exclusively to Laptop Mag, the former department lead had claimed that "They [Google] want a partner to bring it [Project Astra] to market ... Google does not want the glasses to be Pixel Glasses."

They continued by informing Laptop Mag that "Google has no real vision or ambition in driving the XR space" making it far more open to working with others on future smart glasses projects — especially if that means preventing Meta's expanse across the mixed-reality market, with our source also revealing:

"The only reason Google is in the game is because Samsung decided they want to build something. And Google stepped in to block Samsung from doing the deal with Facebook/Meta."

A smart glasses showdown for 2025

Samsung's Galaxy Unpacked even in June 2024 saw Samsung's President and Head of Mobile Experience, TM Roh, state that the company's new XR platform would be "coming this year."

With only a few dates left on the calendar for Samsung to make good on that promise, the most likely date for this project's unveiling will be at the Samsung Developer's Conference on October 3, 2024.

This would likely see the release of Samsung's XR smart glasses pushed into 2025, where it will potentially face stiff competition from Meta's third-generation smart glasses — which are also said to feature an in-lens display referred to internally as a viewfinder.

Word of Meta's upcoming smart glasses comes from a leaked roadmap presentation where it was revealed that the company's next smart glasses would include a viewfinder display for reading messages, translating text visually, and even scanning QR codes at a glance.

Reportedly, Meta's smart glasses will also be paired with neural interface wristbands that allow the wearer to interact with the in-lens display via subtle hand gestures that are picked up through the registering of electrical signals passing through your arms.

Outlook

While some may be disappointed by Samsung's departure from mixed-reality headsets, its switch to smart glasses may result in an even more exciting product and the addition of one of the most advanced wearables the company has developed to date joining its excellent Galaxy catalog of devices.

However, it will place the company's new wearables in direct competition with Meta, who have a wealth of experience when it comes to both augmented reality and smart glasses already under its belt.

Should Samsung, Google, and Qualcomm's partnership result in a consumer-facing product, it could provide some much-needed competition to Meta on the smart glasses front, and hopefully help to propel each company into making the most of this wearable's incredible potential.

More from Laptop Mag

• What will the future of Meta Quest headsets look like?
• Meta Quest headsets just became a vital accessory for PS5, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch consoles
• I gave up my laptop for this XREAL spatial computer and smart glasses combo, I felt like I was living in the future

Qualcomm kicked off Computex with a Copilot+ PC sizzle reel, entirely shot on Snapdragon. The short video was based around the concept of “The PC Reborn '' with Snapdragon X and Copilot+. As Qualcomm President and CEO Christian Amon enthused, AI is “fundamentally changing how we interact with PCs.”

Amon’s keynote is the second keynote speech at Computex proper after AMD announced the Ryzen 9000 series of desktop chips and the Ryzen AI 300 series of laptop processors.

CES 2024: A new direction for Qualcomm

The Snapdragon X platform proves that “Qualcomm is changing from a communications company to a connected computing company.” The new chipsets and the Computex keynote represent something of a “graduation day” to Amon, as it is his first keynote at Computex Taipei. And it is a graduation that has been highly anticipated. “It’s kind of incredible,” to see competitors benchmarking against Snapdragon X Elite chipsets.

Amon confirmed that the Snapdragon X Elite and Snapdragon X Plus will launch with 22 different Copilot+ PCs. Snapdragon X Copilot+ PCs come in multiple form factors, from desktops and all-in-one computers to laptops, tablets, and convertibles. For a company that only barely dipped its toes into computers over the last few years, the Snapdragon X platform does represent a pretty sizable change in culture.

Qualcomm played a video by Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella, confirming Microsoft’s commitment to the Snapdragon X chipset on Copilot+, as the “fastest, most intelligent Windows PCs ever built.”

In addition to showing off all 22 Snapdragon X laptops, the Computex keynote focused heavily on the future of generative AI.

Future of Generative AI, according to Qualcomm

Qualcomm focused on the future of generative AI in a short video, showing what truly personalized AI assistants could do for users in the near future. From assisting with emails and business tracking to helping edit music, Qualcomm is heavily invested in AI and the Snapdragon X Hexagon NPU.

“The AI needs to run all the time… always in the background,” Amon said, iterating how Qualcomm approached building the Hexagon NPU. “In addition to TOPS, they need to be talking about Watts,” because AI requires power and performance. So Qualcomm compared the Snapdragon X Elite XIE-80-100 to the Macbook Pro M3 and Intel Core Ultra 7 155H, with the Snapdragon X Elite providing more power per watt than the Apple or Intel silicon.

Qualcomm did pull a number of its partners from Microsoft, Asus, Acer, HP, Samsung, Dell, and Lenovo to talk about the new Snapdragon X machines. In addition to the video by Nadella, Microsoft also confirmed that because Qualcomm Snapdragon X devices are Copilot+ PCs, they are able to use the Windows Copilot Runtime for better AI performance. Making AI function better on Snapdragon than its competitors.

At least for now. 

A short stint at the top?

AMD’s Ryzen AI 300 laptops will also become Copilot+ PCs, and Intel’s Lunar Lake chipsets are expected to also become Copilot+ PCs. Meaning Qualcomm’s early lead on Copilot+ and the most TOPS on an NPU will be irrelevant in a matter of weeks. But that early lead is commendable for a company that has never been a major computing company until this year. 

Qualcomm has also worked heavily with Microsoft and app developers to ensure that Snapdragon X computers will have access to all the same applications as Windows 11, so there are no optimization issues when moving over from Windows x86 to Windows on ARM.

There is plenty to be proud of when it comes to the Snapdragon X Elite and Snapdragon X Plus, but it is hard to sit through a keynote about how Qualcomm is a leader in AI when we know Intel is set to announce the Lunar Lake chipsets in less than a day that will outpace Qualcomm’s AI performance.

Outlook

Hopefully, that partnership with Odesza that Amon hinted at by the end of the keynote sets off enough fireworks to keep Snapdragon X Elite on the map, even with AMD Strix Point and Intel Lunar Lake waiting in the wings. If nothing else, the dig on Apple's old "I'm a Mac" ads with actor Justin Long ordering a Snapdragon X Copilot+ PC got a chuckle out of the audience.

More from Laptop Mag

• Windows 11's AI Recall feature can run on non-Copilot+ PCs: Here's how
• AMD's Strix Point CPUs get a rebrand and 50 TOPS of NPU performance
• Nvidia and Microsoft plan to make Copilot Runtime the only AI toolkit devs need — but what does that mean for you?

Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite chipsets may not have hit the shelves in any laptops yet, but that hasn’t stopped them from taking the CPU out on the rounds. During a meeting with Qualcomm this week, the company showcased the X Elite chips running a series of demos, from code generation to Da Vinci Resolve and then gaming performance.

With demos of Baldur’s Gate III, Control, and Redout II I was pleasantly surprised by the gaming experience on the new Snapdragon chipset. While the games were run at 1080p, everything was incredibly smooth and consistent.

Snapdragon X Elite gaming: how did it play?

The gaming demos were run on a custom-built platform created by Qualcomm, with a 2.8K display and 32GB of RAM. All three games were running at 1080p and looked fantastic with no dropped frames. And knowing the games were running on a Windows x86 emulator only made the performance more impressive.

As the lone racing title of the bunch, the technical performance of the Snapdragon X Elite chipset on Redout II was perhaps the most impressive. Racing is one of the game types where dropped frames can be very detrimental so seeing the buttery smooth visuals was a great indication of how well the chipsets can handle gaming. It would have been impressive for a gaming laptop, but knowing the demo unit was running on an integrated GPU made the 1080p performance shocking.

In Baldur’s Gate III I immediately ran into a large encounter outside the Druid grove o test how well the CPU and GPU handle some of the more complicated encounters in the tactical RPG. While lower-end PCs and game consoles can struggle with a CPU bottleneck in encounters with tons of NPCs, the Snapdragon X Elite didn’t even stutter. While I didn’t have access to the big “defend the Grove” fight in the demo, the first encounter outside the grove can be a difficult workload so this was a good showingl.

Remedy’s Control was an interesting game choice, as the title was one of the first to leverage raytracing technology to add extra depth to reflections, transparent reflections, raytraced shadows, and indirect lighting. The integrated Qualcomm Adreno GPU built into the Snapdragon X Elite processor isn’t a raytracing card, so you do lose out on some depth. However, Control is still a stunning game even without raytracing effects and it played smoothly on the Snapdragon chip. But it was the most underwhelming of the three games.

Snapdragon X Elite gaming: how does it stack up?

While Qualcomm did have demo units available for us to benchmark, none of the game titles they had access to were games with internal benchmarking tools. And the company’s only gaming benchmark stats they’re claiming so far are for 3DMark’s Wild Life Extreme benchmark, which is not the most strenuous gaming benchmark in the 3DMark suite. 

We typically benchmark smartphones using 3DMark Wild Life and Wild Life Extreme as the cross-platform benchmark is the most graphically demanding 3DMark benchmark available for smartphones. It is the only version of 3DMark that is fully cross-compatible between Windows, Android, and iOS devices so we often also benchmark Mac systems using Wild Life and Wild Life Extreme. So it isn’t the strangest choice, but it does mean our comparisons are a bit limited.

That said, the reported 37.1-38.5 FPS rating for Wild Life Extreme is nothing to scoff at. The Apple Macbook Pro 14 M3 averaged 47.1 FPS on that same benchmark back in November 2023, and the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra averaged 29.8 FPS on Wild Life Extreme earlier this year.

Snapdragon X Elite gaming: can we expect the same performance at launch?

As Qualcomm wasn’t using production models of any consumer laptops to run the demos, it is hard to say if we’ll see such impressive gaming performance once we get review units running the new ARM chipset. However, if the shipping laptops have comparable specs, including 32GB of RAM, it’s reasonable to assume the performance will be close to the demo units.

However, when it comes to production samples the chips are at the mercy of the OEM manufacturers and what specs they decide to offer. While the CPU and GPU are obviously doing a lot of heavy lifting with gaming tasks, and the NPU can help with hardware acceleration, the units RAM and even storage specs can alter gaming performance. Cooling systems will also have an impact, as any silicon will take a performance hit at high temperatures. Gaming was also the only time Qualcomm’s demo laptops needed fan cooling to keep up so performance loss due to heat issues could be an issue on the X Elite chipset when it comes to gaming workloads. Of course, we will need to get some review units into our lab to be sure.

That said, if you can settle for gaming at 1080p,  gaming on a laptop with a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite processor will be more than smooth enough for most. So casual laptop gamers rejoice, you may be able to ditch that clunky gaming laptop sometime in the near future.

Qualcomm expects units with the Snapdragon X Elite chipset to launch in mid-2024. So we could see systems as early as June or as late as September.

Qualcomm has made many promises about the highly anticipated Snapdragon X Elite chipset over the course of its lengthy pre-launch debut. From performance rivaling Apple's M3 chipset to a custom Chrome browser variant. 

This latest look at the Snapdragon X Elite silicon sheds a light on what kind of gaming performance we can expect when the chipset finally hits the shelves later this year. Qualcomm is currently expected to ship the Snapdragon X Elite chipset in the second half of 2024.

In a video leaked on Twitter, we can see a Snapdragon X Elite laptop playing Baldur's Gate III with an average of about 30FPS at 1080p resolution.

Snapdragon X Elite gaming

As spotted by Notebook Check, the Snapdragon X Elite's gaming performance on Baldur's Gate III appears comparable to the Intel Arc iGPU and AMD Radeon 780M. The Snapdragon X Elite will have an integrated Qualcomm Adreno graphics card, so if it matches up with the integrated Intel Arc GPU and the Radeon 780M, that's still some pretty solid performance. 30 FPS on high-end gaming titles for an integrated graphcis card is nothing to sneeze at. Especially as the Snapdragon X Elite will be running those games on an emulated version of Windows x64.

Of course, BG3 doesn't have its own internal benchmarking tool, which means testing frame-rates using Baldur's Gate is far from ideal. But it is a wildly popular game so this video is a pretty good indication of how the chipset will fare for most users.

As Qualcomm has targeted Apple's custom silicon for previous comparisons it is worth noting that Baldur's Gate III is a cross-platform title. While the Apple M3 chips have the best gaming performance on Apple laptops to date, the Apple Macbook Air 13 M3 only averaged 41 FPS on Sid Mieier's Civilization VI: Gathering Storm in our testing lab so the Snapdragon X Elite could easily outpace the base M3 chipset. We'll just have to wait to get the Snapdragon X Elite into our labs to do a fair comparison.

MORE FROM LAPTOP MAG

• I gave my gaming setup a Govee glow-up for a price Hue wouldn’t believe
• iPhone 15 Pro Max is practically free in extended deal from Amazon's Big Spring Sale
• Apple M4 vs. Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite: Everything we know so far

Windows on Arm is set to have a transformative year. While chip makers, from Nvidia to AMD to Qualcomm, are soon expected to unveil a slate of next-gen arm-based processors, Microsoft gears up to go all-in with fresh Surface hardware, special Windows updates, and services to push more developers to come onboard. But how much work is there left to do for Microsoft to catch up to Apple silicon and what’s it like to use Windows on Arm today? 

Over the past year, I’ve been living with an Arm-powered two-in-one PC from a new brand called Robo & Kala. For less than $1000, it offers far more than what you’d expect from this price segment, including a 2.5K OLED touchscreen, a sleek lightweight design, 16GB of RAM, an infrared camera for Windows Hello, and a keyboard you can operate even when it’s detached. The reason, however, this PC, unlike the rest I frequently test, stuck with me is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen3, an Arm-based system-on-chip. 

Thanks to Windows on Arm, I could experience the kind of consistency in performance and endurance I’m used to only on my Apple silicon-powered MacBook such as instant boot, a 10-hour battery life, and a noise-less, smooth performance. Windows on Arm is still far from perfect, though, and these perks have a huge asterisk hovering over them as third-party app support continues to be in short supply. Here’s what I love and hate about it after a year. 

It’s fast, cool, and quiet

At 7.3mm, the Robo and Kala two-in-one is incredibly thin — about the same as a MacBook Air if you include the detachable keyboard — but that’s hardly an upper hand since most Windows notebooks are now plenty slim. Also not uncommon is the absence of a fan inside. Where the Robo & Kala two-in-one stands out is unlike its fan-less peers, its exterior rarely gets warm, and even when it does heat a little while gaming, it never reaches an uncomfortable temperature. That’s a testament to the Arm architecture itself, which is tailored for efficiency. 

Of course, that wouldn’t matter if the Qualcomm chip can’t match its Intel counterparts in performance, and it does … sort of. As long as I stuck to Arm-optimized apps like Firefox and Spotify, the Robo & Kala PC flew through tasks, and made multitasking a breeze, outperforming even some of the high-end computers I’ve tested. Managing numerous browser windows wasn’t a challenge either and while that can partially be credited to the ample memory, most traditional Windows PCs often struggle to keep up after a dozen or so tabs. 

Unparalleled battery life

I’ve never had a particularly positive battery life experience on Windows PCs. While their endurance is able to match the advertised figures in the first few months, it typically rapidly drops later as I install new software updates and apps. 

The Robo & Kala two-in-one has been significantly more dependable. At medium brightness and Arm-compatible apps, I can spend nearly ten hours on it straight without reaching for a charger. This computer is also not an exception: most Arm-based PCs like Microsoft’s Surface Pro 9 average around ten hours of battery life.

A Wild West outside the native bubble

Although I was fortunate enough that most apps I need daily were updated for Windows on Arm, others may be less so, and that’s where the consistency I speak of begins to falter. What Apple has done especially well is even when I’m on traditional Intel-compatible software, the experience doesn’t fall apart, and while it may be slower or less battery-friendly, it will function as you’d expect. That’s, more or less, rarely the case with unoptimized Windows on Arm apps. It can feel like the Wild West once you leave that bubble. 

For example, I had an interview recently, and the firm scheduled to call me on WebEx, a video conferencing service from Cisco. Though I knew WebEx doesn’t natively support Windows on Arm, I assumed its x86 program would run fine via emulation. I was wrong: it kept crashing and refused to detect the external webcam. I’ve found the same to be true for a couple of other apps like Slack. Microsoft’s transition layer, which ideally should be invisible, simply isn’t as reliable as Apple’s. 

For a layman user, it can be more jarring to find Microsoft hasn’t made any Arm-friendly changes to Windows 11. If a program fails to run, for instance, it doesn’t automatically prompt to tweak the emulating settings to switch to a safer environment. You’ll have to dig through forums or the Windows on Arm guide to learn about the multi-step right-click process. Similarly, software that relies on a specific Intel component like a VPN will refuse to run altogether on Windows on Arm and the only way you can make it work is through a technical workaround, which you’ll have to figure out on your own as it is not detailed on Microsoft’s site.

A chicken and an egg problem

Microsoft’s Arm journey, plainly put, has been slow. It’s been at it for close to a decade and it’s still not ready for most users. What’s worse, the sluggish pace appears to have spawned a chicken and an egg problem. Because there are so few laptop choices (barely half a dozen) that run Windows on Arm, app makers don’t have much incentive to build for it. 

Even third-party resources are limited. For macOS, you’ll find a host of material to kickstart your experience, such as the “isapplesiliconready.com” website that lists all software currently optimized for Apple silicon. Windows on Arm has perennially felt like it’s been in a transition period and that may have damaged both users’ and developers’ faith in it.  

However, there’s still hope, and Windows on Arm may be turning a corner as Microsoft looks to address the two aspects crippling its progress: chips and apps. 

For starters, Microsoft has expanded its Arm Advisory Service, which aids developers in updating their apps with technical support, a direct line to Microsoft engineers, and more. It remains to be seen whether that leads to any major results but since I last wrote about Windows on Arm, a couple of big names have joined the Windows on Arm movement. 

Most notably: Google Chrome, which begin publicly testing its arm client a few weeks back. In comparison, though, it took Google a handful of days after Apple made its silicon official to roll out Chrome support. Nevertheless, Chrome’s arrival on Windows on Arm can prove vital not only for people who rely on it but also as a seal of approval to the rest of the app community. In benchmarks, Chrome’s Arm version performed three times better than its Intel counterpart on my laptop and about 30% better than the preinstalled Arm-optimized Microsoft Edge. 

Another key player soon making its way on Arm chips is NordVPN, which in a statement to Laptop Mag, confirmed it’s working on it but doesn’t have a timeline yet. Programs from smaller, yet popular startups, such as Stardock — a tool to personalize the start menu — are also now available natively on Windows on Arm. 

As for chips too, it looks promising for Windows on Arm. In addition to the much-hyped Qualcomm Snapdragon Elite X platform, which the silicon maker claims outperforms Apple’s M2 in select tests, Nvidia and AMD too are said to be developing Arm processors for Windows. Before all that happens, Microsoft is expected to roll out new Windows for Arm builds and subsequently get it fully compatible with Arm chips in part using a cloud-based approach. 

Qualcomm is hosting a "Snapdragon flagship" launch event on March 18 according to a recent post on its Weibo page (via notebookcheck). The event will focus on an upcoming Snapdragon chipset.

 "The new Snapdragon flagship is about to be released, let's welcome the new year and new atmosphere together," Qualcomm stated.  The event will likely focus on the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 though the official announcement was a bit vague about which chip we'll see launch. We could also have multiple product announcements during the event with Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 possibly making its debut as well.

What we can expect

Rumors indicate that the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 will launch at the event next week, which also means we'll get at least one new device featuring that chipset. For those who are not neck-deep in Qualcomm chipsets, the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 is not the same chip as the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 which has already launched in products like the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. The 8s Gen 3 is rumored to have "flagship level" performance though it will have lower clock speeds than the 8G3, which will result in better battery life at the expense of performance on strenuous tasks. The chipset is rumored to be a mid-point between the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 2. So it will likely feature in more budget-friendly smartphones.

The 8s Gen 3 launch product is expected to be the Xiaomi Civi 4 according to industry chatter. Of course, the Xiamo Civi 4 won't be available stateside, but we could very well see the 8s Gen 3 come to one of the Samsung A-series phones later this year.

Qualcomm's Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 is also slated for a launch sometime soon, so while it the 8s Gen 3 is likely the star of the show next week we could very well see the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 launch alongside the 8s. If the 7+ Gen 3 makes an appearance, it is rumored to launch with the Xiaomi Poco F6.

MORE FROM LAPTOP MAG

• Samsung Exynos thrashes Galaxy S24 Ultra Snapdragon in benchmark
• GameSir X2s Type-C review: Who needs a Steam Deck, anyway?
• Android 15: Potential release date, supported devices, rumored features and more

Every time I look up, a new OnePlus 12 leak makes me giggle at iPhone and Samsung owners. Recently, images have been popping up of the OnePlus 12, with OnePlus now releasing pictures and updates regarding what design changes we will see in the OP 12. 

Based on the OnePlus 12 rumors we have been seeing from many outlets, the OP 12 could end up being one of the most potent flagships on the market, and given OnePlus pricing history, it could be the phone that launches the year of the ditch. 

OnePlus is known for giving consumers flagship-level specs that can compete with Samsung and iPhones but for a better price. However, it appears the maker is looking to provide consumers with ultimate-level flagship specs while keeping its price within reach of most consumers' wallets. 

Pricing and availability

OnePlus hasn't even hinted at what the OnePlus 12 will cost or when it will be launched. However, based on previous launches, we could see the 12 in late January or early February 2024. 

Regarding pricing, OnePlus prides itself on delivering flagship specs at consumer-friendly prices. However, based on the expected specs, we could see a slight bump in price to $799 to start and possibly as high as $899. We also hope to see initial trade-in discounts like with the OnePlus Open. 

OnePlus 12: Features 

Most upcoming flagship phones will come with the latest and most excellent chipsets. For Android phones, it will be the newest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8, and for Apple's iPhone, it will be the Bionic, whatever number it's up to now. However, when it comes to the RAM amount, it usually starts at 8GB of RAM, with 12 and 16GB in higher-end devices. Well, that could be about to change. 

Devices in China are rumored to be moving to 24GB of RAM, which could become the new standard for flagship devices. Leaks for the OnePlus Ace 2 Pro (exclusive to China) are rumored to feature a 6.7-inch curved AMOLED panel with 120Hz refresh, a Sony IMX890 camera module, and 24GB of RAM along with 1TB of storage, which is similar to many current flagship devices, except in the area of RAM, which it blows everyone away. So it's not a stretch to imagine its brand sibling arriving with the same rumored 24GB of RAM. 

Leaks of the upcoming OnePlus 12 suggest it could be the first device to launch stateside with this level of performance-enhancing power. The OnePlus 12 is already rumored to come with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, which will use ARM's next-generation hardware, which few have any details yet. 

According to a tweet from insider Kamila Wojciechowska, the new Snapdragon chipset will come with a "2+3+2+1" core configuration, which sounds like Qualcomm won't follow Arm's layout recommendations because rebelling creates innovation. Also, the new chipset is rumored to drop 32-bit support after Qualcomm delayed the action last year, but it looks like it will be going full-on 64-bit with the new chipset.

When you possibly add 24GB of RAM to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, a periscope camera, and, in my opinion, the best skin of Android (Oxygen OS), you've got a device few others will be able to challenge, or even keep up with performance wise. 

I almost forgot that the leak also shares that although the OP 12 is similar in most ways to the 11, it will get a 5,400 mAh battery, which is a massive boost over the current 5,00 mAh battery in the 11. Supposedly, the battery will feature 100W fast charging while wired and 50W wireless fast charging. Wireless charging is missing from the 11; there were complaints, so it's nice to see OnePlus address this. 

During our review of the OnePlus 11, it lasted 12 hours and 48 minutes at 60Hz, and when we switched to adaptive 120Hz, we got 13 hours and 10 minutes of battery life. So, a larger battery could hypothetically push battery life into the 15-hour range. 

If all the rumors hold, The OnePlus 12 could be the flagship phone to rule them all. 

OnePlus 12: Design

While amidst all that is Cyber Monday, OnePlus revealed the design and some images of the upcoming OnePlus 12. You will immediately notice that the famous and iconic Alert Slider has been relocated to the lefthand side of the device. This move allows OnePlus to introduce a new integrated antenna and the Alert Slider solution on the new device to deliver an enhanced antenna performance for gaming. Also, the emerald green color in the image provided is quite striking. 

According to OnePlus, and based on their internal testing, it was determined that the optimal position for gaming antennas is between the forefingers of the user when the phone is held in landscape orientation. However, the Alert Slider has occupied the space on the OnePlus 11. OnePlus feels that by relocating the Alert Slider to the opposite side of the phone, better gaming antennas can be deployed on the OnePlus 12. 

OnePlus states that repositioning the Alert Slider presented a challenge in ensuring optimal antenna signal strength on the same phone side. So, to tackle this issue, OnePlus utilized Ultra-compact Full-band Antenna technology and industry-first Alert Slider Antenna Integration technology to minimize the space occupied by the Alert Slider to the greatest extent possible. As a result, a balance between better antenna signal performance and the presence of the Alert Slider is achieved on the OnePlus 12. According to the lab test data by OnePlus, the gaming antenna signal can be improved by 3dB, with the game latency reduced by 15%.

Outlook

Overall, from the provided images, we can see that outside of the Alert Slider move, the appearance of the 12 is very similar to the 11, which is still one of my favorite designs. Also, having experienced the fantastic image quality that we get with the OnePlus Open, and knowing the 12 will be scheduled to have even better cameras and Qualcomms, already much celebrated Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, the OnePlus 12 will be a flagship that competitors will take seriously. 

OnePlus cemented its foldable phone dominance this year. Will they now topple the likes of Apple and Samsung? Only time will tell, but 2024 could be a fascinating year for mobile devices. 

The iPhone 15 is here, and while Apple brought some solid upgrades to the table, we are just a couple of weeks away from Google's Pixel 8 reveal. So should you buy the iPhone 15 now or wait to see Google's latest?

With the combination of leaks and Google itself posting photos and details about the Pixel 8, we have a pretty complete picture of the phone already. So while there is still some guesswork here and we'll need to finish our full review of both phones to answer some questions, we should already be able to steer you in the right direction.

Apple already has its cards on the table, so let's try to take a peek at Google's and see where you should place your bet.

iPhone 15 vs. Google Pixel 8: Price

Apple is sticking to the same starting price on the iPhone 15 at $799 for the base model with 128GB of storage. Bumping up to 256GB takes it to $899 and you can max out at 512GB for $1,099.

Pricing for the Pixel 8 is not yet official, but rumors suggest that it is going up from the $599 that we've enjoyed for the last two generations. That's not shocking at all, we predicted this price increase after the launch of the Google Pixel 7a in May which offered an arguably better experience than the Pixel 7 for just $499. 

The good news is that Google is still reportedly going to keep things more affordable than Apple with a price point somewhere around $649-$699 for the base Pixel 8 with 128GB of storage. Anticipate paying $100 more for a 256GB model.

• iPhone 15: $799
• Google Pixel 8: $649-$699

We'll hold off on signaling a winner in this category until the Google pricing is official, but it's hard to imagine a $200 price jump based on the rest of what we know about the Pixel 8, so Google is almost assured to come out ahead here.

iPhone 15 vs. Google Pixel 8: Design

• iPhone 15 gets the Dynamic Island treatment and slightly curved edges
• RIP Lightning, you won't be missed. iPhone 15 joins the rest of the world with USB-C.
• Google Pixel 8 may pull a rare move in the phone world and get slightly smaller.

The iPhone 15 isn't a massive shift from its predecessor, but it does eliminate the notch in favor of the Dynamic Island that was exclusive to the Pro models last year. It also gets a gentler curve to the edges and camera array that should make it more comfortable to hold.

The change that will impact users the most is the move to a USB-C port after 11 years of Lightning. We've been following this one avidly as part of the Apple vs. EU saga, so it comes as no surprise. It's certain to be frustrating in the short term for those with a large library of Lightning cables, but most people should already have a stable of USB-C chargers and cables from other devices.

The Google Pixel 8 is a fairly similar story with minimal changes from the last two years, with Google's polarising camera bar still prominently dominating the back of the phone. Whether you fell on the love or hate side of things for the past two generations, that's where you'll stay this time around. 

Google's teaser video showed the phone in a light pink that Google is reportedly calling Peony Rose, and it will be joined by Grey and Obsidian Black. 

• iPhone 15: 3,349mAh
• Google Pixel 8: 4,485 mAh (rumored)

The Pixel 8 is rumored to get a slight increase in battery size to 4,485 mAh, which is 130 mAh up from the Pixel 7. It's a much-needed boost as battery life was the Achilles heel for the Pixel 7.

Regardless, it's a safe bet that it won't overcome the battery life of the iPhone 15, which rocketed back into a strong position, lasting 11 hours and 5 minutes in our sister site Tom's Guide's battery test. That's a massive leap from the 9 hours and 46 minutes for the iPhone 14.

iPhone 15 vs. Google Pixel 8: Display

• iPhone 15: 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR display, 2556 x 1179-pixel resolution
• Google Pixel 8: 6.2-inch OLED display, 2268 x 1080-pixel resolution, 120Hz adaptive refresh rate.

Beyond the change from the notch to the Dynamic Island, there are minimal changes to the iPhone 15 display. That's unfortunate as while it boasts a perfectly reasonable resolution and now a claimed 1,600 nits of peak brightness, the 60Hz refresh rate is something we'd expect on an Android phone for under $400.

On the other side, the Google Pixel 8 isn't getting any changes, but that means it will be superior in almost every metric with the exception of brightness. The 120Hz AMOLED display is a considerable upgrade over Apple's 60Hz LCD panel. 

iPhone 15 vs. Google Pixel 8: Processor

• iPhone 15: A16 with 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, and 16-core Neural Engine
• Google Pixel 8: Google Tensor G3

Apple continues to use the tactic of recycling its old parts on the base model iPhones, so this year the iPhone 15 gets the A16 Bionic from last year's iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max. While that may sound disappointing, it really shouldn't be, the A16 Bionic remains one of the most powerful in any phone for now. Good luck finding a task that it won't churn through in no time.

Google's Tensor G3 won't be able to match up with the A16 Bionic in many regards, but it should represent a massive leap from the G2 and feature ray tracing support, something only the A17 Pro in the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max offers from Apple. The projections are that the Tensor G3 will match up with 2022 flagship phone's CPU performance, while the GPU should be competitive with most 2023 flagship phones. Again that may not sound amazing, but it's a significant upgrade and Google has consistently delivered better performance than the benchmark scores would suggest.

iPhone 15 vs. Google Pixel 8: Cameras

• iPhone 15 gets a new 48MP wide camera
• Google Pixel 8 gets an upgraded 50MP wide angle and a slightly wider 12MP ultrawide

The camera wars are among the biggest talking points for smartphones, but it's also one of the most confusing at times as we've seen disappointing results from fantastic hardware. Computational photography has become such a critical piece of the puzzle, that the best hardware will not always win.

With that said, you need both, so let's take a look at the camera hardware in the iPhone 15 and Google Pixel 8, but we'll have to hold off until we have the phones in hand to let you know which actually captures the best images.

Outlook

It is too early to call a winner in this one, but I would certainly tell you to wait to make your decision until after the Google Pixel 8 launches if you are on the fence. The $100 or more in savings alone will be enticing for some and based on the images I've seen from the iPhone 15 so far, I'll be shocked if the Pixel 8 doesn't deliver better photos (video is another matter).

Now if you were waffling between the iPhone 15 vs. iPhone 15 Pro, that would change the equation considerably as the Pro models got a much more significant upgrade than the standard iPhone 15 models. If you're wondering about the iPhone 15 Pro vs. Google Pixel 8 Pro, read our take on that decision as well.

The biggest differentiators for the iPhone 15 are going to be battery life, where I expect it to maintain a healthy lead on the Google Pixel 8, and performance as the A16 Bionic is still likely to be in a class above the Tensor G3. 

In the Google Pixel 8's favor, you have the 120Hz adaptive display, the likely superior photos, and some of the unique software features offered by the Pixel line. That last one may still hold some surprises for us as Google hasn't revealed all of the new features coming to the Pixel 8.

Wait if you can, it's only a couple of weeks and then we'll have a more complete analysis of what are sure to be some of the best phones of 2023.

I’ve been living with an Arm-based Mac for close to five years now. Since Apple first debuted its in-house silicon, I have had few complaints, and whatever compatibility snags I faced when I reviewed the M1 Mac Mini have disappeared -- so much so that Apple’s set to phase out Intel chips altogether. 

Despite an eight year head start, Microsoft hasn’t had the same success.  Arm-based hardware like 2022’s Surface Pro 9 (SQ3) hasn’t done well either and met with underwhelming reviews. So when a new Chinese-American startup, Robo & Kala, sent me their latest, Arm-powered Windows two-in-one, I was skeptical, but to my surprise, weeks later, it’s become the computer I reach for daily to work and leisure. 

For a $799 Windows convertible, the Robo & Kala two-in-one, except for its tedious name, gets everything right on paper: it has a 12.3-inch, OLED 2.5K screen, 16GB of RAM, 512GB of upgradable SSD, and a light, slim design. But unlike most of its competition, it doesn’t run on a traditional AMD or Intel chip; Instead, it’s powered by Qualcomm’s ARM system-on-chip, the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 -- the same one found inside the Surface Pro 9 ARM, whose otherwise high-end experience was marred with a range of Arm compatibility issues. 

Half a year later, how far have Microsoft’s arm efforts come? Here’s what it was like to live with an arm-based Windows PC in 2023. 

ARMed to the teeth

If you are not familiar with how an Arm SoC differs from typical computer chips, it works similarly to the processor powering your smartphone. This architecture allows manufacturers to integrate various key components like the GPU and the CPU onto a single chip, enabling a more efficient output. 

However, traditionally such chips have been limited to smaller devices like a phone or a smartwatch, PC makers are now increasingly adopting them as well to capitalize on a host of upsides such as a much longer battery life, 5G compatibility, and more. Because it’s so different, it also needs its own kinds of apps, and developers have to update their services for arm-based chips to get the most out of them. While even when they don’t, an Arm SoC can run their x86 apps in an emulation, the experience won’t be nearly as efficient, or smooth as it can be. 

Historically, Microsoft has struggled to convince developers to release Arm versions of their software, unlike Apple, which is why you won’t find many Arm-based PCs on sale. But things appear to be taking a turn for the better. 

Over the last few weeks, I’ve extensively put the Robo & Kala computer through its paces. Many of the apps I rely on every day, including Mozilla Firefox, Zoom, Adobe Photoshop, VLC, and Spotify have already been updated for Windows on Arm, and run well. More, such as WhatsApp, and Dropbox, are expected to follow suit soon. 

When I exclusively work from Arm-native Windows apps, the results are impressive: Not only does the Snapdragon chip perform well and do a decent job at preventing lags even when I have dozens of tabs open, but the laptop also lasts comfortably up to nine hours and longer than most Windows PCs I have tested. Another Windows on Arm quality that’s on full display here is that the laptop boots near-instantly and barely warms up under heavy duress. 

In the last two years, Microsoft has made a series of updates to improve Windows on Arm. It has introduced better support for third-party developers, via kits, and Arm-native versions of Visual Studio and .NET platforms. Thanks to some under-the-hood Windows 11 updates, it’s also made it easier for developers to convert their existing x86 and x64 apps and ensure they’re stable even if they’re not completely compatible with Arm-based chips. 

Not quite there yet…

At the same time, there’s still a long way ahead for Windows on Arm to become a default choice for most buyers. While unlike before I’m not constantly reminded -- whether via poor performance or crashing apps -- that I’m on an Arm-based chip, non-native app support is far from perfect. 

For starters, many of the popular apps people look for immediately after setting up their PC like Google Chrome have not yet received the Windows on Arm overhaul. Though most run just fine in emulation, some like Slack are particularly bad and jittery. I could, however, overcome many of these issues simply by switching to a service’s web app or by changing their emulation settings from the right-click menu. 

More importantly, when you do actively work on non-Arm apps, you won’t benefit from the chip’s extended endurance, and in my experience, it can slash the battery life by nearly 2-3 hours. 

The biggest roadblock to Windows on Arm for many people could be the lack of VPN apps. Almost no VPN provider, from ExpressVPN to NordVPN, is available at all on Arm-based chips and doesn’t run in emulation either due to its incompatibility with the TAP adapter, a key module needed to configure safe virtual networks. After some back and forth with the ExpressVPN team, though, I did figure out a workaround and was able to set it up manually but I doubt most users would want to do that. Plus, you still don’t get to use the VPN app interface and have to connect or switch coverage areas through a tedious, technical process. 

Another thing to remember about arm chips is that they’re not nearly as capable of high-performance or graphic-intensive tasks. Adobe, for example, even excludes a bunch of tools from its arm-native Photoshop program like the oil paint filter and video layer edits. Often, new features such as Android’s Nearby Sharing, too are limited to Intel and AMD computers. 

Game on!

Gaming, surprisingly, is not terrible on Windows on Arm. Of course, you won’t be able to install most titles, let alone play them, but Microsoft has been steadily rolling out improvements. 

It recently updated the Xbox app for Arm-based chips so that you can stream any Xbox Game Pass Ultimate games to Arm devices, and added Unity engine support, allowing devs to target Windows on Arm devices to get native performance on current and future titles. 

What was more impressive was that I could effortlessly play a couple of older games such as Team Fortress 2 at 50-60fps. Hopefully in a couple of years, you won’t have to switch on another PC like me to play your usual desktop games. 

Bottom Line

There’s no denying the efforts Microsoft for Windows on Arm has put in have borne solid results. The Robo & Kala two-in-one is one of the best Windows experiences I have had in a while. Yet, Windows on Arm still often feels like an afterthought. Since it’s such a small user set, it’s difficult to get support for it too. 

I couldn’t find any material on VPN installation for Windows on Arm, for example, and there are no dedicated categories on the Microsoft Store for arm-native apps and games and you have to scroll all the way down to an app’s technical details to understand whether it’s compatible with arm chips. 

A Microsoft spokesperson told me the company “regularly shares resources and continues to listen to end-users and developers feedback in these areas, and have more planned ahead.”

The company appears to have momentum now with arm chips with many, reliable hardware like Lenovo’s ThinkPad X13s and Robo & Kala that have done well to showcase the best of Windows on Arm and we expect more from Microsoft itself at its upcoming Surface event. 

But this year and the next may very well be its chance to get it right. The question is whether it can get itself out of its long struggle with arm chips before buyers lose trust.

Two of the largest smartphone companies in the world enter the ring, but only one can leave. With Samsung in one corner, boasting its acclaimed Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, and in the other corner, Apple’s iPhone 15 Pro Max. Both phones are the highest-end models for their respective flagship series and are undeniable beasts.

We’re exclusively comparing specs in this competition, as we don’t have the iPhone 15 Pro Max in our hands just yet. We’ll update with our final decision once we complete our review, but based simply on what each phone is packing under the hood, let us see which one comes out on top.

iPhone 15 Pro Max vs Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra: Specs

iPhone 15 Pro Max vs Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra: Price

iPhone’s Pro Max series would have had the advantage over Samsung most years, as iPhone 15 Pro Max has solidified itself as the most expensive iPhone in this latest series, bumping up the price by $100. 

This means both the iPhone 15 Pro Max and Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra are $1,199, making the two companies evenly matched in cost for their most premium smartphone model

Winner: Draw 

iPhone 15 Pro Max vs Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra: Design

Tons of little upgrades are coming to the iPhone 15 series, but it’s hard to count something like USB-C ports as an “upgrade” when everyone else is already doing that (and that Apple was forced to do it). At the very least, the inclusion of the Action Button (a feature from Apple Watch Ultra) is massive, which provides a haptic response that can be modified to perform unique tasks.

But beyond functionality, iPhone 15 Pro Max has finally made its upgrade from stainless steel to titanium. This should make the phone lighter but also sturdier than ever. However, Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra wasn’t using stainless steel to begin with, as that was something Apple has always been a bit behind on.

Instead, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is made with “armored” aluminum. The question here comes down to a battle between aluminum and titanium, but the results online about which one is stronger are rather mixed. This isn’t just because the internet cannot come to an exact agreement, but because its use case, grade, and concentration can all make a massive difference. 

It would be rare if both Apple and Samsung used the exact same density and grade quality for their metals, so we won’t know which one is stronger until experts properly test the phones themselves. And while aluminum is way lighter than titanium on average, Samsung does not have the lighter phone. iPhone 15 Pro Max is 7.8 ounces, while the Samsung Galaxy S23 is 8.3 ounces. This could be due to many other factors, but at the end of the day, lighter is better.

Winner: iPhone 15 Pro Max 

iPhone 15 Pro Max vs Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra: Display

The iPhone 15 Pro Max features a 6.7-inch, 2,796 x 1,290 resolution OLED display with adaptive refresh rate from 1-120Hz. The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra features the same refresh rate, but also boasts a 6.8-inch, 3,088 x 1,440 AMOLED screen.

We can’t compare testing numbers between these two phones, as we’ve tested only the Samsung, but based on some previous numbers from iPhone 14 tests, we can make some assumptions. The iPhone 14 Pro Max was already brighter than the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, with the former achieving 1,565 nits at its peak, while the latter was a bit behind at 1,444 nits. 

During Apple’s September event, the company claimed that the 15 series displays would go as high as 2,000 nits of brightness. Whether or not this statement is entirely true will be determined when we can actually test the phone, but we can say with some confidence that it’s unlikely it will be worse than the previous generation, considering Apple is claiming it’ll be way better.

We can also make an educated guess based on the iPhone 14 Pro Max’s color performance that Samsung will have its next model beat once again. The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra achieved 136.7% of the DCI-P3 color gamut, while the iPhone 14 Pro Max was at only 83.2%. We’re not expecting this new phone to jump 50% higher, especially since a majority of Apple products normally hover around this 80% range.

Winner: Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra

iPhone 15 Pro Max vs Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra: Processor

Spoiler alert: The iPhone has this in the bag. Apple is making some massive moves with its processor development by introducing the world’s first commercially available smartphone with a 3nm chipset in the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max.

iPhone 14 Pro Max was already ahead of the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra in our Geekbench 5.4 tests, with the former hitting a score of 5,333 and the latter a tad behind at 5,081. By no means is this a massive gap, but it’s clear that Apple was in the lead and considering the company is continuing to innovate in processing power, we’re expecting that to remain the case.

Beyond just the potential for this to provide excellent performance boosts, it could also mean a huge change in battery life efficiency. We won’t know for sure until we get our hands on the iPhone 15 Pro Max and can test it ourselves, but there’s reason to believe that it could result in hours extra of battery life.

Winner: iPhone 15 Pro Max 

iPhone 15 Pro Max vs Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra: Cameras

iPhone 15 Pro Max has finally unveiled its periscope camera or, as Apple likes to call it, the “Tetraprism.” Beyond this just sounding like the latest McGuffin in a Marvel Cinematic Universe flick, it’s hilariously on point for Apple to be so extra in the design of something that already exists. I had previously written an explainer on the ins and outs of periscope cameras, which involves reflecting light at a 90-degree angle after lining multiple lenses to perform a greater optical zoom. But instead of just having light reflect through a 90-degree angle, the “Tetraprism” has it bounce off of multiple lens in a zig-zag to reach a 5x optical zoom.

But Samsung’s greatest assets are its incredible cameras. The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra features a 200 megapixel sensor as the primary, while it also has a 10MP camera with 10x optical zoom, which doubles what Apple is promising. iPhone 15’s primary camera is unfortunately still only 48MP.

Winner: Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra 

Outlook

Determining a winner solely based on specifications isn’t completely fair, as we still have to test the iPhone 15 Pro Max and see how it does in application. Beyond that, whether or not you should buy an iPhone or Samsung Galaxy depends on more than just specs, as each phone’s application suite might be most important to you.

But if we’re analyzing solely based on the numbers we see thus far, Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra overpowers the iPhone 15 Pro Max with better optical zoom, high megapixel sensor and potentially more vivid display. iPhone 15 Pro Max will almost certainly have superior nits of brightness, while its performance could blow us away alongside a lighter build. We have one draw, two wins for Apple and two wins for Samsung. At this point, the winner entirely depends on if the battery life rumors are true, but assuming they are, Apple takes this victory home.

Winner: iPhone 15 Pro Max 

The iPhone 15 Pro Max is official, and we have just one question to answer in this piece: is it worth buying right now, or should you wait and see what Samsung is cooking up with the Galaxy S24 Ultra?

We can answer this pretty solidly with a whole host of leaks coming out about Samsung’s next generation ultra premium phone — from its Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset to an improved display.

So, now that we’ve seen Apple’s brand new phone for the next 12 months, are the leaks of the S24 Ultra enough to suggest you wait? Let’s find out.

iPhone 15 Pro Max vs Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra: Price

As we saw, the iPhone 15 Pro Max got a $100 price hike, thanks to Apple dropping the 128GB model and offering 256GB as the base model. While there are no rumors circulating about the price of the S24 Ultra, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Samsung keep the same cost.

• iPhone 15 Pro Max: $1,199
• Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra: $1,199

Competing at the same price is going to make customers think carefully about their purchase, and the S24 Ultra’s spec sheet is looking mighty tempting from a “more is better” kind of perspective.

iPhone 15 Pro vs. iPhone 15 Pro: Design

• iPhone 15 Pro Max gets a titanium redesign with slightly curved edges
• Goodbye, lightning. iPhone 15 Pro Max gets USB-C! You can thank the EU for that one
• Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra design rumored to remain the same candy bar slab, but it may match the iPhone’s move to titanium

Aesthetically, the iPhone 15 Pro Max’s updates are subtle, but impactful: a slight curvature to the metal band that should make the phone a little more comfortable to hold in the hand, alongside a switch from the traditional mute toggle to an Action Button.

Another big change is the move to a USB-C port. Given the EU’s legislation, this was pretty much a guarantee for the company to adopt before an imposed 2024 deadline. We’ve been documenting this whole Apple vs EU saga, and it’s been a little dramatic to say the least.

Meanwhile, as you can tell by the rumored specs table, the Galaxy S24 Ultra isn’t rumored to get a ground up redesign. It looks like we’ll get that same luxurious candy bar with the vertical row of camera rings down the back, however, its chassis may get a considerable upgrade from aluminum to titanium. The lone concern with this change is regarding weight as aluminum is far lighter, but given titanium’s superior strength it will require less material and could be a wash.

No new aesthetic isn’t always a bad thing, as Samsung has got Apple’s number when it comes to battery capacity.

• iPhone 15 Pro Max: 4,422mAh
• Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra: 5,000 mAh

This is a warmly welcomed increase in stamina for the iPhone 15 Pro Max, but the Galaxy S24 Ultra is in a prime position to outlast it with this hardware advantage. The big question is whether Apple’s new 3nm A17 Pro (which we’ll get to later) offers enough of a power efficiency advantage to overcome Samsung’s battery size.

iPhone 15 Pro Max vs Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra: Display

• iPhone 15 Pro Max: 6.7-inch Super Retina XDR OLED display, 2796 x 1290-pixel resolution, 120Hz adaptive refresh rate.
• Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra: 6.8-inch OLED display, 3088 x 1440-pixel resolution, 144Hz adaptive refresh rate.

Not much has changed in the iPhone 15 Pro Max’s display — same resolution, same LTPO technology, and the same adaptive refresh rate from 1-120Hz. For the next big display upgrade, you’ll have to wait for the iPhone 16, which is rumored to make the most of a micro lens array (MLA) technology that provides better brightness and power efficiency.

Meanwhile, the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s panel is looking to be a tasty upgrade over the S23. It starts with a rumored maximum 144Hz refresh rate, which could be a game changer for the gaming credentials of this phone. On top of that, peak brightness could reach 2,500 nits — 750 more than the S23, and 500 more than the 15 Pro Max.

iPhone 15 Pro vs. Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra: Processor

• iPhone 15 Pro Max: A17 Pro with 6-core CPU, 6-core GPU, and 16-core Neural Engine
• Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra: Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 (U.S. and South Korea), Exynos 2400 for other regions

Apple, in a move that probably annoyed tech journalists pre-writing content across the globe, has dropped the Bionic tag and packed iPhone 15 Pro Max with the A17 Pro. There was big talk in the event about this challenging even desktop class CPUs, and the fact it sports a “pro class GPU.” But while there is a lot of vague hyperbole here, the reality is this is a beast of a chip.

Built on TSMC’s 3-nanometer process, the 19 billion transistors in A17 Pro (up from 16 billion in A16 Bionic) delivers 10% faster CPU performance, 20% faster graphics, and even supports hardware-accelerated ray tracing.

We don’t know too much about the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor in the S24 Ultra, except for the fact it will be manufactured with a 4nm process (given that Apple gobbled all of the 3nm chips up in its order to TSMC). But the rumor mill points towards an 8-core CPU with a speed of 3.75 GHz (faster than A17 Pro), a new Adreno 750 GPU, and support for the as-yet unannounced UFS 4.1 storage.

Leaker IceUniverse has made the vague claims that GPU performance has been “greatly improved,” and that the Gen 3 will “maintain the overall energy efficiency of the 8Gen2.” That last bit is great news as we saw a boost to battery life across the board for flagship Android phones this year and we’d hate to see them lose ground again.

iPhone 15 Pro Max vs. Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra: Cameras

• iPhone 15 Pro Max gets an updated 48MP wide camera, and the brand new 12MP 5x telephoto with periscope lens (or tetra prism if you’re nasty)
• Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra will still boast four cameras: : including a new 200MP wide, and a 10MP periscopic lens

Apple’s smartphone cameras are the stuff of legend. They’ve had some ropey times (the 14 Pro didn’t necessarily have the best computational photography), but on the main hand, the Cupertino chums continue to roll out the hits.

That is no different with the 15 Pro Max, as the 48MP sensor has been updated with a wider aperture, and instead of a standard telephoto lens (which has a fixed magnification), the Pro Max has made the leap to a 5X periscope lens, although Apple refers to it as a tetraprism design.

But the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is packing its own box of tricks too. Rumors aren’t pointing to much changing on the hardware side, but you can look forward to updates to that 200MP main camera. These will be more fundamental tweaks to the sensor and image processing, which will allow it to better capture more realistic color. 

Speaking of computation, Apple has added some user-friendly tweaks too, thanks to some machine learning knowhow. The biggest one is recognizing when you’re shooting a picture of a person, and saving all the depth of field information automatically to turn it into a portrait mode picture after the fact.

Outlook

The iPhone 15 Pro Max brings some impressive updates to its hardware design, performance, and cameras. But is it enough to recommend anyone who’s on the fence to not wait until the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra? I’m not so sure.

Because sure, the A17 Pro is going to continue the iPhone's run at the top as the fastest smartphone on the planet, and that camera system is going to be stellar. However, Samsung’s going to come out swinging with its 200MP camera system, a bigger capacity battery, a larger display with faster refresh rate, and the far more open Android OS.

iOS 17 has brought some warmly welcomed changes to the software side of it, and that OS is being paired with some tasty new hardware in the iPhone 15 Pro Max. But if you want to make a more educated purchase decision, I recommend holding off and seeing what Samsung has to offer.

The iPhone 15 Pro is the world’s first phone to adopt a 3 nanometer chipset — named A17 Pro. Apple has claimed its the fastest smartphone chip on the planet, but can that claim be believed?

Well, as this leaked Geekbench result states clearly, the answer is a resounding “yes,” as the results are far and above anything we’ve ever seen in a smartphone CPU benchmark.

Off the (geek)bench

The A17 Pro packs a 6-core CPU, 6-core GPU and a 14-core Neural Engine, and a leaked pair of Geekbench results give us a good indication of how much more powerful this 3 nanometer chipset is.

On top of this, the benchmark pages also revealed a 3.78 GHz base frequency — seemingly faster than the purported speed of Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. We’re seeing a 16% single-core score improvement over the A16 Bionic, and a 13% increase in multi-core speed.

There are no graphical test results yet to test the hardware-accelerated ray tracing claims made by Apple, but we’ll find these out soon enough!

Outlook

Apple talked a big game about the A17 Pro, and the numbers seemingly back it up here. On top of that, the Geekbench listings seemingly confirm the amount of RAM on board will be upped from 6GB to 8GB, which will be great for multitasking.

We now just have to wait for the power efficiency credentials of this chip, which we’re hoping will deliver a better battery life than what we saw in the iPhone 14 Pro.

Shop the Discover Samsung Fall Event and save big with weeklong deals of the day. For today only, you can get an unlocked Galaxy S23 Smartphone for just $599. Normally $799, that's $200 in savings and the lowest price ever for this phone outright. Plus, save up to an extra $725 via Samsung's trade-in offer. 

If you want to refresh your phone for the upcoming fall season, this is one of the best phone deals you can get.

Today's best Galaxy S23 deal

Samsung's Galaxy S23 is one of the best smartphones for Android users or anyone switching from iPhone. The base model Galaxy S23 features a 6.1-inch, (2340 x 1080) Dynamic AMOLED 2X 120Hz display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 8-core CPU, 8GB of RAM, Adreno 740 graphics, and 128GB of storage. Powering the phone is a 3,900mAh battery with Super Fast Charging 2.0. 

In our Galaxy S23 hands-on review, we were impressed by the phone's strong brightness and smooth scrolling One UI. We found it to be fast and responsive and loaded with Samsung features. 

For those who like to document their lives and create content, the Galaxy S23 makes it easy to capture amazing high resolution photos and videos. It's outfitted with a 50MP wide-angle,12MP ultrawide, and 10MP telephoto lens. Enhanced optical image stabilizer (OIS) helps you take blur-free images even in low light. Meanwhile, the Galaxy S23's 10MP front camera lets you snap selfies and video call friends and family.

Now $200 off, the Galaxy S23 is a wise choice if you're due for an upgrade. This deal ends Sept. 12. 

IFA 2023 (or Internationale Funkausstellung if you’re nasty) is easily the biggest consumer electronics show outside of Vegas — giving us a glimpse at the future of gadgets at home and on the go.

After a couple of wobbly years amidst the pandemic, the show is back to full strength and you best believe the announcements did not disappoint. From Lenovo’s big Steam Deck competitor in the Legion Go to Honor giving Samsung a run for its money with the Magic V2 foldable, this has been an important show.

We have scoured the show floor to find the cream of the crop. Here are our favorite pieces of tech for this year’s IFA.

Best of Show: Lenovo Legion Go

Could the Lenovo Legion Go be the best gaming handheld of 2023? Right now, it’s a strong “maybe.” There’s plenty to like about the Legion Go, starting with its stunning 8.8-inch, 2560 x 1600, IPS display with a 16:10 aspect ratio and 144Hz refresh rate. Then you’ve got the powerful AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme processor with AMD RDNA 3 Graphics, removable controllers, 10 mappable buttons and the ability to accommodate just about every PC gaming platform out there. 

And while some will definitely ding the Go for it’s hefty dimensions, if more powerful thermals and a larger battery life really live up to the hype, it’s an easy trade-off for me. Plus, the device is priced at a very competitive price. And while it’s not a perfect mobile gaming solution, but taking cues from other companies in the nascent space, Lenovo’s put the Legion Go in a prime position to be crowned king of the PC gaming handhelds. 

Sherri L. Smith, Editor in Chief

Best Laptop: Lenovo Legion 9i

Lenovo has come out of the woodworks with a staggeringly powerful gaming laptop oin the Legion 9i. Boasting an Intel Core i9-13980HX processor, Nvidia RTX 4090 Laptop GPU, up to 2TB of SSD storage, 64GB of 5600Mhz DDR5 RAM and a 16-inch Mini-LED 3.2K display with a 165Hz refresh rate, it's no understatement to say this is one of the strongest gaming laptops out there.

We're looking forward to pitting this beast against our various performance tests, and personally, I'm excited to see how its Mini-LED display does. I'm a sucker for bright and vivid screens, and while Mini-LED is definitely not OLED, it can be wonderful nonetheless.

Momo Tabari, Staff Writer

Best Smartphone: Honor Magic V2

Honor’s latest foldable has stolen the IFA spotlight with its impressively slim, sleek design that has put the likes of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 on notice. At just 0.39 inches when folded, with a weight of 8.1 ounces (the Z Fold 5 is 0.53 inches, and 8.9 ounces), this is quite the engineering feat — especially when you take a look at the spec sheet of this beast.

You’ve got a 6.43-inch display upfront, and opening the phone will reveal a 7.92-inch panel (both OLED 120Hz). On top of that, Honor has stuffed this with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset, a triple rear camera system with a 50MP main, 50MP ultra wide, and a 20MP telephoto. Up front, there’s a 16MP selfie snapper, and all of this is kept powered with a 5,000 mAh battery (a bigger capacity than the bigger Z Fold 5). 

One thing is clear. Honor is really taking the fight to Samsung this year for foldable supremacy.

Jason England, Content Editor

Best Innovation: Lenovo Legion Glasses

Yeah, gaming on an 8.8-inch display can be fun. But why settle for that small, albeit pretty screen when you can get a large display right in front of the face without taking over the TV? That’s where the Lenovo Legion Glasses come in. The relatively lightweight glasses utilize micro-OLED lens technology in order to deliver a high-resolution, virtual display that can range between 82  inches at three meters and 163 inches at 5 meters. It’s the difference between your average living room experience and a premium home theater.

In addition to swappable nose pads, there’s a lens holder that you can take to the optometrist to be fitted with prescription lenses. It’s a great way to enhance your mobile gaming experience.

Sherri L. Smith Editor in Chief

Best Headphones: Soundcore Space One

Since the Soundcore Space Q45s impressed me next year, I’ve been wondering just what Anker is going to pull out the bag to continue this Space lineage. Well, now we know, as the Soundcore Space One headphones look set to continue the trend of offering impressive ANC while upgrading some key features.

These include an expanded battery life to 40 hours, tweaked 40mm drivers, and a change in codec support that brings LDAC to the party. On top of that, the ANC in here has been tweaked to bring 2x stronger human voice reduction, and Bluetooth 5.3 guarantees a far stronger, more stable connection.

Jason England, Content Editor

Best Monitor: Lenovo ThinkVision 27 3D Monitor

3D glasses are a pain, especially for someone who already has to wear glasses daily. But with new 3D technology, you can snap those lenses in half and experience the future with the Lenovo ThinkVision 27 3D Monitor. Unlike some stagnant pieces of tech, the monitor is paired with real-time eye-tracking to create 3D visuals. Lenovo ships the monitor with a 3D Explorer software designed for 3D creation and consumption. 

Its 3D functionality and ease-of-use is only one of its compelling features. This 27-inch monitor offers a 4K resolution with 99% coverage for both DCI-P3 and Adobe RGB color gamuts. It also features built-in speakers, USB Type-C docking and modular camera support. 

Rami Tabari, Editor

Best TV: TCL X955

IFA is usually a show full of TVs and washing machines. While we don’t cover the latter, I can safely say that the TCL X955 is the breakthrough choice for the best big screen in Berlin. The key here is MiniLED, which is offering an insanely good picture quality — available in both 85 and 98-inch sizes.

One key selling point here has to be the screen’s brightness. We’re used to seeing a number hovering around 500-1,500 nits in laptops, but over 5,000 nits of peak brightness? That’s insanity, and makes for a super bright HDR quality, which paired with the increased number of dimming zones makes for super deep contrast.

Jason England, Content Editor

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is expected to considerably up its game when it likely launches in February 2024. All signs indicate that a simple refresh is well and truly off the cards, with Samsung keen to improve the S24 Ultra across a number of key areas.

From what we know so far, Samsung is expected to transition the S4 Ultra to a titanium frame, boost its telephoto lens with a 50MP 3x optical zoom sensor, house the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor, switch to a flat display, and boost its response rate to a whopping 144Hz.

Bad news, good news

However, it’s not all good news, that flat screen has led to some chunkier bezels according to a recent leak by ever-reliable tech tipster Ice Universe. The Ultra S24’s bezels will reportedly measure at 3mm on the top and bottom, and 3.42mm on the left and right. However, before we hiss and scowl at Samsung’s crafting of the Bezelzebub, these numbers could prove to be inaccurate.

While the bezel size is a noticeable jump from the S23 Ultra’s 1.9mm measurements, it’s likely that the S24 Ultra will retain the rounded edges of its predecessor — meaning the rumored bezel width increase to 3.42mm could incorrectly include the frame’s curvature.

But, wait. There’s more! A follow-up leak from itnyang points to another much more positive and considerable upgrade heading to the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra: a peak brightness of over 2,200 nits potentially up to 2,800 nits. My god, it’s full of stars.

An Ultra-bright delight?

The rumored peak brightness of the S24 Ultra is a game changer for smartphones and could register as the brightest phone to ever hit the market when it arrives. The S23 Ultra’s display was already sitting at a considerable 1,750 nits and you’d be hard-pressed to find a single complaint about that phone’s bright and vibrant panel.

Apple’s current flagship iPhone the 14 Pro Max has an advertised peak brightness of 2,000 nits and it’s part of what makes the display so rich and effortless to use while out and about. It would seem that Samsung isn’t interested in keeping up with the Joneses on this one, instead, leapfrogging the competition and aiming for the top spot when it comes to eye-popping displays.

Why is screen brightness important for smartphones?

Why is this upgrade so important? And what’s the deal with screen brightness anyway? Well, it all comes down to maintaining the best visual experience no matter the environment you’re in. Phones with a lower peak brightness become hard to decipher in direct sunlight — especially while wrestling with screen glare. A panel with a brightness of over 1,000 nits is likely to hold up well in brighter outdoor conditions, but it will sometimes lack that same stand-out, vivid ‘pop’ that you see while indoors.

However, the higher your phone’s peak brightness, the more likely you’ll receive that same visual experience under all forms of external lightning. Given Samsung’s history of providing excellent photography options in its smartphones, you can bet the additional boost in brightness will be great for summer shutterbugs looking for the perfect snap.

Outlook

On paper, the upgrades in place for the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra easily culminate in one of the best smartphones to date. And, given this new information about its ultra-bright display, a true temptation for Apple alumni to switch to the dark side — which will be anything but.

That being said, all the spec upgrades in the world mean nothing when you don’t have the software in place to enthrall a user. That’s something Apple has had in place for years, offering a best-in-class user experience that’s simply too good to give up — no matter how much better a competitor’s hardware might be.

For news, rumors, and updates on all things tech, follow Laptop Mag on Twitter, Facebook, and Flipboard for the latest word as it arrives. 

Qualcomm has just announced its next-gen gaming handheld chipsets — named the Snapdragon G Series, which is primed to take on the likes of the Steam Deck and Asus ROG Ally.

With hardware-accelerated ray tracing for the first time, and impressive power efficiency capabilities, I don’t think Valve is Qualcomm’s competition. In fact, I believe we may see this chip make the jump to Steam Deck 2, but more likely in the next gen Nintendo Switch.

More was announced than the top of the range Snapdragon G3X, though. The company is staking its claim in three key areas, alongside building a reference model to point OEMs in the right direction.

Snapdragon G1: The game streaming option

Think the Logitech G Cloud class of system — a fanless handheld that is built purely for game streaming. The Snapdragon G1 Gen 1 is the lower end option from Qualcomm’s family, which comes packed with an 8-core Kryo CPU, and an Adreno A11 GPU that supports full 1080p cloud gaming at up to 60 FPS.

Would I have preferred to see Wi-Fi 6 support for higher data streaming rates, over the Wi-Fi 5 support it does offer? Sure. Plus, with no 5G support, cloud gaming on-the-go is a bit of a distant fantasy outside of areas with a wireless network to connect to.

But for all intents and purposes, this offers the right amount of power for remote play and cloud gaming.

Snapdragon G2: The happy medium

Moving up the range, we come to the Snapdragon G2 Gen 1, which brings some tasty upgrades to mobile gaming performance. 

Key upgrades over the G1 come in the form of that upgraded A21 GPU, support for Wi-Fi 6, and the Snapdragon X62 5G modem for mmWave data wherever you are. This boost in power allows for a max display support of a FHD+ resolution and up to 144 FPS. 

I know that Qualcomm points towards this being designed for dedicated gaming devices, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see the likes of RedMagic to use something like this in its future gaming-focussed smartphones — the absolute mad lads.

Snapdragon G3: The flagship killer?

The cream of the crop for gaming handhelds. Quallcomm’s Snapdragon G3x Gen 2 is an absolute beast when compared to the first generation of this chip — offering over twice the GPU performance and a 30%+ faster CPU.

This comes courtesy of a tuned up 8-core Kryo CPU and Qualcomm’s top of the range Adreno A32 GPU, which work to make this the first G Series chip to support hardware-accelerated ray tracing and super resolution tech. Enhancing the experience is support for low-latency audio thanks to Bluetooth 5.3, and support for Wi-Fi 7 (and of course 5G support.

What does all of this mean to you? Well, with what this chip is capable of doing, we could see this chip used in more than just Android-based handhelds — maybe even stretching its legs into PC gaming handhelds. This is why I have a hunch about Valve and Nintendo’s upcoming handheld systems. 

Outlook

With these new chips, Qualcomm is making big bets on three key areas: game streaming, mobile gaming, and handheld PC gaming. OEMs including AyaNeo, Inventec, and Thundercomm are already on board to build some new handheld gaming devices, but I think the new Snapdragon G Series has its eyes on bigger prey.

With rumors pointing to a Nintendo Switch 2 launching as soon as April 2024, and the Steam Deck 2 being in the works, this could be the kind of chipset these companies are looking for — powerful, yet power efficient.

Of course, all I can do is speculate as of this moment. But I’d be willing to buy my editor a pint if at least one of these systems doesn’t come packaged with a Snapdragon G Series chip. (Editor note: You're on.)

Best Buy currently has Chromebooks on sale from $149 during its ongoing back to school sale. One standout deal drops the 128GB model Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5  Chromebook to just $369 . Typically priced at $499, this Chromebook is now $130 below retail and at its best price yet. 

Hands-down, this one of the best Chromebook deals for the money.

Lenovo's IdeaPad Duet 5 Chromebook is the device you want if you want a laptop that doubles as a tablet. Perfect for the on-the-go student lifestyle, the Lenovo IdeaPad Chromebook Duet is super-portable and versatile. One of the best 2-in-1 detachable Chromebooks to buy, it's a cheaper alternative to the Surface Pro 9 with Pro Signature Keyboard. 

The device in this deal features a 13.3-inch (1920 x 1080) OLED 400-nit touch screen, Snapdragon 7C Gen 2 8-core CPU, 8GB of RAM, and Adreno graphics. There's 128GB of eMMC storage on board for storing your important files.

In our Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5 Chromebook review, we loved it so much that we gave it a solid 4 out of 5-star rating and our Editor's Choice Award. It wowed us with its vivid OLED display, long battery life, and practical 2-in-1 design. 

During real-world tests, it juggled 24 Google Chrome tabs, two YouTube 1080p videos, and Google Docs simultaneously with no issue. Back in our lab, it endured 13 hours and 31 minutes and continuous surfing over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness in our Laptop Mag Battery Test. 

At just 2.2 pounds and 0.27-inches thin, this lightweight 2-in-1 Chromebook slides easily into a backpack or shoulder bag. If you're looking for a modestly-priced Surface Pro-like Windows alternative, the Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5 Chromebook fits the bill.

The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra sees a $350 price cut this week amidst Galaxy S24 Ultra gossip. Best Buy currently offers the Galaxy S3 Ultra (Unlocked) for $849 with activation. This unlocked Samsung phone normally costs $1,199, so that's $350 in savings. 

Plus, take an extra $750 off when you trade-in an eligible device. For example, an iPhone 14 Pro Max in good condition has the highest value, so you'd be getting the Galaxy S23 Ultra for just $99 ($1,100 off). As an alternative, Best Buy offers the Samsung Galaxy S23 for $599 ($200 off) and Galaxy S23 Plus for $699 ($300 off). 

In terms of phone deals, this is one of the best we've seen this back to school season.

Samsung's Galaxy S23 Series flagship are among the best smartphones to buy. The base model boasts a 6.1-inch, (2340 x 1080) Dynamic AMOLED 2X 120Hz display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 8-core CPU, 8GB of RAM, Adreno 740 graphics and 128GB of storage. If you prefer a bigger display, you can get the 6.6-inch Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus for $699 ($300 off) with activation at Best Buy. 

As per our Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra review, we found the phone's bright, vivid display and powerful Qualcomm 8 Gen 2 processor impressive. We were also fond of the advanced camera and seamless integration with other mobile Samsung devices. We gave the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra a solid 4 out of 5-stars backed by our Editor's Choice Award. 

 During real-world testing, the Galaxy S23 Ultra was always up to the task. Not even 40 Chrome tabs with a YouTube video playing in the background while switching between apps could slow it down. Back in our lab, it achieved big scores on our benchmarks, notching 14,611 with 3DMark WildLife Unlimited. It beat flagship competitors including Apple's iPhone 14 Pro Max (8,652, 5-core Apple GPU) and Google's Pixel 7 Pro (6,725, Mali-G710 MP7 GPU).

Collectively, the Samsung Galaxy S23 features advanced camera systems for fool-proof high quality resolution photos and videos. For one, the Galaxy S23 Series' enhanced optical image stabilizer (OIS) captures blur-free images even in low light. Plus, wide-angle lenses make 8K video recording at 30 frames look more professional.

Now up to $350 off, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Series is worth considering if you don't want to spend upwards of $1,000 on an unlocked phone. 

We’ve just got the clearest view yet on the chipset that will be powering the iPhone 15 Pro, and to paraphrase Steve Jobs, it’s a screamer.

But even though this leak from Unknownz21 on X shows that a lot of the physical specifications will remain the same as last year’s chip, there are some key differences that make me confident we’re looking at the fastest smartphone chip on the planet.

More powerful, but also not?

We already know some key details about A17 Bionic, such as it being the world’s first phone chip to be built using TSMC’s 3nm process. However, this is the first proper look we’ve had at the specs of this chip.

Given the fact Apple has made all the transistors and cores smaller on this chip, it feels a little odd that the company is sticking with the same core count as last year’s chip. But the increased clock speed will see the iPhone 15 Pro speed up nicely. 

This leak also reveals that we’ll see A17 in the standard iPhone 16 next year too. One thing we’re a little concerned about is whether the increased manufacturing costs will contribute to a potential price increase.

Outlook

So why am I so confident this will be a faster, more performant phone than Android phones with Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 — a chipset with more cores? It all comes down to that 3.7GHz speed, and the fact that Apple seems to be a wizard when it comes to extracting every drip of power potential from its silicon.

Not only that, but the 3nm process essentially guarantees better efficiency, with is further bolstered by the rumors of increased battery capacity. We’ll know for sure when Apple’s September event rolls around.

Apple has been the performance king for quite some time, but according to a recent appearance in a Geekbench database (via SamMobile), the Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus is rocking a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor that's seemingly faster than the A16 Bionic chip ,which is expected to be packed inside the upcoming iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus models.

Here's what we know.

Is the Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus faster than the iPhone 15?

According to the Geekbench listing, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus (SM-S926U model in the listing) features the upcoming Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, which is set to be unveiled in October 2023.

On the Geekbench overall performance test, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus allegedly scored 6,661 (multi-core), which leaps over the iPhone 14 Pro Max's score of 5,333 with its A16 Bionic chip. That's a great jump, especially since it means Samsung could beat Apple's best (at least right now), and the iPhone 15 (reportedly). 

Samsung will still have to face off against the iPhone 15 Pro and Max versions when it comes some time this year, which have reportedly scored a whopping 7,860 on the Geekbench test.

In this report, we also know that the Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus is running Android 14. A separate leak (via Ice Universe) claims that the Galaxy devices will be adopting the Exynos 2400 in Europe and parts of Asia. According to @OreXda, the average score for that is 6,210 — that's still better than the iPhone currently.

We're expecting the Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus to arrive some time early next year, so stay tuned to see confirmation on what the new Samsung phones are packing.

Samsung is literally giving away the Galaxy Z Flip 5 for free with its generous back to school education discount. So if you want to step into the new semester with Samsung's latest phone, here's how to get the Galaxy Z Flip 5 for free. 

Preorder the Galaxy Z Flip 5 at Samsung.com starting from $999 and get a free storage upgrade to the 512GB model (valued at $1,119). Students, teachers, and faculty, select Samsung's Education Offers to save $100 which drops the Galaxy Z Flip 5 to $899. Take an extra $900 when you trade in your Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4, Galaxy Z Fold 4 or Galaxy S23 Ultra to drop the Galaxy Z Flip 5 down to the low price of free. 

You can also get the Galaxy Z Flip 5 for free when you trade in a Google Pixel Fold or Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max. This is one of the phone deals students and teachers can get.  

Samsung's Galaxy Z Flip 5 is the ultimate tool for self expression and showcases your personality. It features a 6.7-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X 120Hz 1,750-nit foldable display and Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 CPU with 8GB of RAM. When closed, you can access your favorite apps via a 3.4 Super AMOLED 60Hz 1600 nit display.

One thing's for sure about the Galaxy Z Flip 5, it makes it easy to capture images and videos on the fly. The Galaxy Z Flip 5 provides the best hands-free selfie experience, and features an expanded cover screen to access your apps and flex your style. It's the largest cover screen on a Z Flip yet. 

The Galaxy Z Flip 5 features a 12MP Wide, 12MP Ultra Wide and 10X Digital Zoom camera, complemented by a 10MP front camera. Great for creators, the Galaxy Z Flip 5 automatically switches to wide-angle when you're capturing images to include everyone in the frame. Notable Galaxy Z Flip 5 camera features include zoom, night capture, and stable video for shake free recording. Meanwhile, built-in AI reduces noise and enhances image and video quality. 

Introduced four years ago, Samsung's Galaxy Z Series of phones have revolutionized creativity, productivity and lifestyle. 

Galaxy Z Flip 5 preorders ship to arrive by the phone's Aug. 11 release date.

Samsung Galaxy Unpacked gave us our first official look at many of the latest and greatest Samsung Galaxy products coming to us in the near future, and the Galaxy Z Flip 5 was a notable part of the company’s presentation. If you’re on the fence about whether to invest in this new phone, we recommend stopping for a moment and hearing us out.

The Flip 5 is more of the same in many areas, but there are a few things that the company changed this time around. And depending on whether you already own a flip phone, or if you’re even willing to spend the money to begin with, it could be right or wrong for you. Here are three reasons to buy and skip the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5.

3 reasons to buy Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5

1: Larger cover screen 

The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip series has two screens, just like the Z Fold series, but how these utilize them is a bit different. The Flip series is a foldable phone that opens vertically, making it more compact than a regular smartphone.. But beyond just the normal main screen, there’s also a slightly smaller display on the front. With the Flip 4, it featured a relatively tiny 1.9-inch SUPER AMOLED, 260 x 512-pixel screen as its cover.

But the Flip 5 is taking things up a notch by up-sizing this to a 3.4-inch Super AMOLED 720 x 748-inch screen at 306 ppi and 60Hz refresh rate. The Flip 5 has clearly solved the problem of the Flip 4's cover screen size, if that was an issue for you.

2. A new processor 

The Galaxy Z Flip 5 is launching with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor. If you’re obsessed with squeezing as much juice out of every new phone launch, and are also a big fan of the Z Flip series, this is an expected but necessary jump. It is one of the few things that makes this phone new alongside its larger cover screen, otherwise it might as well just be the Flip 4 again.

When we tested the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 in the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, it yielded a Geekbench 5.4 multi-core synthetic score of 5,081. The Flip 4 was built with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1+, and running it through the same test resulted in a multi-core score of 4,105. Other factors can affect performance, but we predict that the new Flip will receive around a 1,000 point increase in its synthetic benchmarks. 

3: Flip phones are pretty cool 

If you’ve never used a flip phone before, they’re great compact devices for those who want to maximize their space efficiency. And they’re also an avenue into foldable screen technology without costing quite as much as Samsung’s Z Fold series. New flip phones, not like the old ones, could capture your heart if you're unfamiliar with them.

When we reviewed the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4, Editor Kimberly Gedeon claimed that it is an “engineering masterpiece.” However, she noted that its minor improvements from the previous iteration made her feel a bit mixed, which is actually a shared issue with the Flip 5.

3 reasons to skip Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5

1: Same old same old 

Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 5 offers a lot of the same, and although there are reasons you might still want it, don’t get your hopes up for a massive overhaul. Featuring the same megapixels for its cameras, 8GB of RAM, an identical 3,700mAh battery, and seemingly the same weight‌.

This could be a bad pick if you already own a Galaxy Z Flip 4, as there’s not much new here. This new flip phone is only exciting if you're really into its faster processor and bigger screen.. It’s a good choice if you don’t already have a recently launched flip phone. Otherwise, you’ll be fine skipping it.

2: Experimental cover screen style 

The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5’s cover screen features a distinct style when compared to its predecessor. While the Flip 4 simply featured a thin black bar at the top of the cover screen, this latest model has it take up a majority of the space of the cover. Featuring a 3.4-inch cover screen at 748 x 720-pixels, it’s significantly larger than ever before.

This may sound like a positive, but not to everyone. We can totally see you being put off by this far larger cover screen, as it practically takes up all of its space now. This sounds a little unwieldy to me, as I like to tell where my phone begins and ends. Almost all-screen is a bold choice.

3: Samsung still hasn’t figured out IP58 for foldable devices 

Samsung has yet to include IP58 dust-resistance standard for its foldable line-up. This also applies to the Galaxy Z Fold 5, which lacks this important rating alongside the Z Flip 5. Both phones are stuck at IPX8, which means they have water resistance that allows it to be submerged in up to 1.5 meters of freshwater for up to 30 minutes.

Many were hoping that Samsung would finally catch on with this latest model series, but that does not seem to be the case. Samsung's website even goes so far as to recommend being wary around “foreign substances or dust.”

Samsung Galaxy Unpacked revealed plenty of exciting products in the company’s line-up with the Galaxy Z Fold 5 being one of them. But after tons of rumors about it shaping up to be an underwhelming model, many are wondering if those leaks were true. Is the Z Fold 5 really worth buying?

The answer isn’t simple. In many ways, this phone is nowhere near as exciting of an upgrade as some of us might have hoped, but there are still reasons you might want to buy it. And if you happen to already own the Galaxy Z Fold 4, you should read more before biting the bullet. Without further ado, here are three reasons to buy and skip the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5.

3 reasons to buy Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5

1: The power of Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 

There are few significant differences between the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and its predecessor, but one key of the upgrades lie with the processor. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 will likely be zippier than the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1. We tested the 8 Gen 2 in the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra and its Geekbench 5.4 multi-core synthetic performance score was 5,081. Comparatively, the Galaxy Z Fold 4’s 8+ Gen 1 received a multi-score score of 3,831.

Many other factors can impact processor performance outside of the chip. For example, the Google Pixel Fold and the Pixel 7a share the same chip, but the Fold delivered an embarrassing multi-core score of 1,909 on the Geekbench 5 synthetic test while the Pixel 7a reached a score of 3,065. Regardless, we are expecting the Galaxy Z Fold 5 to be a far more powerful phone in processing power than its previous model. 

2: New colors offer more personality 

Akin to any big product launch, the latest models of the Galaxy Z Fold 5 is coming with new available colors. The Z Fold 4 featured Phantom Black, Beige, Burgundy and of course, Graygreen, which is a color I’d previously mocked as being for those afraid of color. The Z Fold 5 is expanding its horizons a bit this time, but not by much.

Phantom Black is sticking around unsurprisingly, and of course, there’s the neutral Gray option. Beyond just that, Icy Blue, Cream and Blue are also new. Blue and Gray are exclusive to Samsung’s website, though.

3: You want a foldable phone 

We go over this more in the “reasons not to buy section,” but the Galaxy Z Fold 5 is a solid choice for anyone who wants to get into foldable phones. It’s hard to ignore the steep cost, but even Google Pixel’s often more affordable line-up has failed in solidifying a more competitive edge in price with its foldable phone.

It’s also not a bad idea to purchase an older Galaxy Z Fold around the time this new model launches; previous iterations become less expensive as a result. But if you want the latest, most powerful foldable phone without going over $2,000, this is likely your best bet.

3 reasons to skip Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5

1. You already own a Galaxy Z Fold 4 

The Galaxy Z Fold 5 is shaping up to be a pretty impressive pick for those new to foldable phones, as it is undeniably superior to the previous model, but it;s not a big enough jump to justify purchasing one if you already own a Galaxy Z Fold 4. Rumors have suggested this for a while with employees reportedly saying it’s so boring it “can’t even be called Galaxy Z Fold4s.”

At the end of the day, both phones feature the same 7.6-inch QXGA+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X Infinity Flex Display with 2176 x 1812-resolution at 374 pixels per inch and a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate. They also share the 6.2-inch HD+ 2316 x 904-pixel 402ppi 120Hz AMOLED 2X cover display. All of the cameras have the same megapixels and the battery is still 4,400mAh. The only noteworthy differences are the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 upgrade and its reduction in weight.

2. Galaxy Z Fold 5 is not rated to the IP58 dust-resistance standard

This is no surprise if you’ve kept up with the Galaxy Z Fold 5 rumors, as it was previously stated that it would not be rated at the IP58 dust-resistance standard. This turned out to be true, which means the previous safety precaution required for the Fold 4 still applies here. If you go onto  Samsung's website for the phone’s predecessor, the company warns users to "be wary of foreign substances or dust."

If you’re not in the mood to panic about the presence of dust particles, sand, or anything grainy that could damage such an expensive product, you might not want to invest into the Galaxy Z Fold 5. However, this is an issue many foldable phones have. The Google Pixel Fold is similar, lacking a dust-resistance rating.

3. You don’t care for processing power

The Galaxy Z Fold 5’s largest upgrade comes from its Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 inclusion, but this isn’t for everyone. Assistant Managing Editor Sean Riley, Laptop Mag’s resident phone expert, has long held the belief that phones are often overpowered for what a majority of users need them for. Pixel phones have often gotten this one aspect right, as the Google Tensor G2 chip is notably less powerful than what Qualcomm or Apple can accomplish.

But for everyday use, this chip is great unless you want to run the most demanding software. If you have a similar opinion on this matter, you might not find what you’re looking for with the Galaxy Z Fold 5. Considering its processor is its main selling point, it probably won’t appeal to anyone who owns a foldable phone already.

It’s good to be king, and when it comes to foldables, Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip has reigned supreme. But is it worthy of the crown? Or was Samsung merely running unopposed in its quest for the throne? The last year has certainly seen some contenders rise up, primarily the Motorola Razr+ — the foldable revival of the flip phone fantastic circa 2004.

With Samsung Galaxy Unpacked’s Galaxy Z Flip 5 announcement, we now know what to expect with the latest flippy foldable from Samsung, and it’s time to see how it measures up against the competition. Whether you’re looking to “join the flip side” or “flip the script,” these two foldable phones are top of their game and excellent options.

However, we’re ready to pit Samsung’s best against Motorola’s cutting edge and see which one comes out on top.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 Vs. Motorola Razr+ 

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 Vs. Motorola Razr+ price

With both phones touting the same $999.99 price tag, two things become clear: Motorola did its homework and assumed the Galaxy Z Flip 5 would stick to its price pattern, and that the Lenovo subsidiary fully intends to challenge it for market dominance.

The Motorola Razr+ comes in only one configuration with 256GB of storage, however, the Galaxy Z Flip 5 has storage configurations of 256GB or 512GB with the latter pushing the price of Samsung’s foldable to $1,119. (Though a free limited-time free storage upgrade is currently in place.) 

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 Vs. Motorola Razr+ design

Both phones share a foldable clamshell design, with each featuring a similar “teardrop” or “dumbbell” hinge to limit the amount of creasing foldable phones have become synonymous with and to produce a gapless seam when closed. It’s also better for durability. Both foldables are capable of withstanding more rigorous use and folds than ever before.

The Razr+ is the largest, measuring 3.48 x 2.9 x 0.59 inches when folded and 6.7 x 2.9 x 0.27 inches when open. This allows for a slightly bigger internal and cover display of 6.9-inch and 3.6-inch in comparison to the Galaxy Z Flip 5’s 6.7-inch internal and 3.4-inch cover screens.

The Galaxy Z Flip 5 measures 3.35 x 2.83 x 0.59 inches in size when folded and 6.5 x 2.83 x 0.27 inches when open, giving it a marginally smaller footprint. However, both devices weigh roughly the same with the Galaxy Z Flip 5 and Motorola Razr+ weighing 187.1 grams and 187.9 grams, respectively.

Of the two, Samsung’s Z Flip 5 features superior protection. It inherits an IPX8 rating from the Z Flip 4, meaning the device will function properly after 30 minutes in freshwater of up to 1.5m in depth, but it lacks any certification against dust or particulates. By contrast, the Razr+’s IP52 rating only shields from water sprays less than 15 degrees from vertical and limited dust or particulate protection.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 Vs. Motorola Razr+ displays

The differences between these devices become more apparent when we get to their displays. The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 features a vastly improved cover display from the Z Fold 4 in terms of size, performance, and functionality.

The 3.4-inch AMOLED “folder” shaped display is sizable enough to handle a number of functions and widgets in a fair amount of detail bringing greater purpose to its cover screen than ever before. Its 720 x 748 resolution allows for a solid amount of detail and space for widgets and even an onscreen keyboard, and a 60Hz refresh rate keeps things relatively smooth.

However, the Motorola Razr+ blows Samsung’s new cover screen out of the water from the get-go, delivering a larger, smoother, and more functional external display that, for once, leaves Samsung on the backfoot. The 3.6-inch, edge-to-edge OLED panel has a silky-smooth refresh rate of 144Hz and a 1066 x 1056 resolution that affords much more screen real estate for apps to make use of.

The internal display of the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 is a spacious 6.7-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X panel with a FHD+ resolution of 2640 x 1080 pixels and a spritely 120Hz refresh rate. However, once again, the Motorola outshines with a larger and faster display. Open up the Razr+ and you’ll be met with a 6.9-inch OLED, FHD+ panel with a 2640 x 1080-pixel resolution and a super-fast 165Hz refresh rate.

The Galaxy Z Flip 5’s saving grace is its use of AMOLED 2X panels for brighter and more vivid pictures than the Razr+’s OLED counterpart. Still, its faster refresh rate, larger screens, and more functional cover display may still give it the edge over Samsung’s foldable for many.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 Vs. Motorola Razr+ performance

The Motorola Razr+ is outfitted with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 CPU with 8GB of RAM, affording it an impressive level of performance across the board. It’s the same chip found in both the Galaxy Z Flip 4 and One Plus 10T, solid devices with a wagonload of processing power and great Adreno 730 graphics — not to mention a considerable battery life to boot.

However, the Galaxy Z Flip 5 is similarly equipped with 8GB of RAM, but also features the newer Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor which is capable of all that of its predecessor and more. It’s the same processor you’ll find inside of Samsung’s flagship S23 Ultra, which delivered impressive benchmark scores when facing off against the Tensor G2-powered Pixel 7 Pro and Apple A16 Bionic-powered iPhone 14 Pro Max.

The Galaxy Z Flip 5 clearly has the edge with its more modern chip, but its Dynamic AMOLED display will also give it the leg-up, thanks to its ability to pump the brakes on its 120Hz refresh rate to make the most of its smaller 3,700 mAh battery capacity.

Of course, while better is better, both chips offer top-tier performance that many will barely scratch the surface of with typical day-to-day use. Power users and enthusiasts will gain the most from the Z Flip 5’s upgrade, but don’t feel like you’ll be missing out on too much otherwise.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 Vs. Motorola Razr+ cameras

Samsung knows a thing or two when it comes to delivering quality camera sensors, which only makes it all the more surprising that they appear to have made little to no changes from the camera array found in the Z Flip 4. Both 12 megapixel wide and ultra-wide sensors return alongside a familiar 10MP selfie camera. There are one or two tweaks when it comes to pixel density or focal length, but practically nothing worth highlighting.

In contrast, the Motorola Razr+, a foldable whose entire concept revolves around reviving a mid-2000s flip phone that had a camera so bad even Bigfoot would be embarrassed to pose in front of it, startlingly pulls ahead with a 12MP (f/1.5, 1.4μm) main sensor with OIS and a 13MP ultra-wide (f/2.2, 1.12μm) lens paired with a 32MP (f/2.4, 0.7μm) and 8MP quadpixel (f/2.4, 1.4μm) set of selfie/front cameras. 

Outlook

The final part of this head-to-head exemplifies exactly where Samsung’s problems dwell. Whether it’s through stagnation or overconfidence, the Galaxy Z Flip 5 does only the bare minimum to stay relevant. The Z Flip 5 improves on its performance and cover display to impressive effect, but forgets to show any willingness for improvement elsewhere.

This gives competition like the Motorola Razr+ an excellent opportunity to play catch up, pressing ahead in all areas to get the edge over Samsung’s foldable however it can. And in a few areas, that’s exactly what it manages to do. Its edge-to-edge cover screen, improved camera array, bigger and faster panels, and similar pricing make it a very real threat to Samsung’s market share.

Unless Samsung comes out swinging with the Z Fold 6, it’s hard not to imagine companies like Motorola completely overtaking them in the foldable market. For now, the Galaxy Z Fold can keep its throne, but only by a slim margin.

I love a big phone. That is why I’ve been inevitably drawn towards Samsung’s Z Fold line of smartphones and their screen largess. There’s just something about watching a smallish screen unfurling into what for all intents and purposes is a tablet that just gets me. But yet, due to this being a relatively new category with its fair share of hiccups, I’ve yet to take the plunge. 

But that might change with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5. I recently had the opportunity to demo Samsung’s latest foldable. And I have to say, even though this is more of an incremental upgrade, it still makes a strong case. Samsung found a way to slim down the foldable’s proportions, right down to its S Pen. It also has a few new software tweaks to show off including Taskbar and two-handed drag and drop. 

But is that enough to coax me into foldable land? I’m not sure yet. But come with me as I lay out the case for the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5. 

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 video review

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 pricing and availability

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 will officially be available on August 11. But until then, you can pre-order the foldable right now –– but it’s gonna cost you. Each configuration of the Z Fold 5 has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform for Galaxy processor and 12GB of RAM. 

The $1,799/£1,749 base model has 256GB of onboard storage, same as last year. The middle model has 512GB. Now if you’re like me and are an absolute content hoarder, never erasing a meme, document, video or picture, you’re going to want the 1TB version which is available exclusively on Samsung.com

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 design

Hmm. The Z Fold 5 looks mighty familiar. Probably because it’s wearing last year’s fashion à la the Z Fold 4 with a few notable moderations. It’s got the same Armor Aluminum frame as its predecessor, along with a rear panel covered in Corning Gorilla Glass Victus and housing for the trio of cameras. The Cover Screen is made from more tough Corning Gorilla Glass Victus. 

Connecting the two panels and making the whole foldable thing possible is the new integrated dual-rail Flex Hinge, which reduces that pesky interior display’s crease. And as I think back to my time with the Flex, I can say that the crease was still there, but it wasn’t as prominent as it’s been on other foldables. And speaking of the interior display, you guessed it, more of that durable Gorilla Glass. 

The Z Fold 5’s sides are made of Armor Aluminum with the power button that doubles as a fingerprint scanner. Flip the phone over, and you’ll spot the nanoSIM slot on the left, and then the USB-C charging slot along the bottom. 

Samsung hasn’t skipped on the colors — offering a variety including Icy Blue, Phantom Black and Cream. And if Cream or the other colors aren’t your cup of tea, you can go to Samsung.com for the exclusive hues of Gray and Blue.

Another key difference between the Z Fold 5 and the Z Fold 4 are the dimensions. The Fold 5 weighs 8.92 ounces and measures 6.1 x 2.64 x 0.53 inches folded and 6.1 x 5.11 x 0.24 inches unfolded, officially making it the lightest and thinnest Fold in the line. 

The Z Fold 4 weighs in at a portly 9.2 ounces and has a 6.1 x 2.6 x 0.55-0.62-inch frame when closed that changes to 6.1 x 5.1 x 0.21 inches when opened. The Google Pixel Fold comes in at a hefty 10 ounces, but is surprisingly thin with 5.5 x 3.1 x 0.5 inches when folded and 5.5 x 6.2 x 0.2 inches when splayed open. 

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 durability

Smartphones are already fragile pieces of tech. Throw in a hinge, improved or otherwise and you’re flirting with disaster. Samsung is hoping to keep the flirtation to a minimum by outfitting the Z Fold 5 with a measure of durability starting with the Armor Aluminum and Gorilla Glass. 

The foldable is also rated IPX8, which means the phone can withstand being submerged in up to 1.5 meters of freshwater. That means it can survive a dunk in a toilet and the subsequent panic and disgust that ensues as you decide whether or not to fish your nearly $2,000 phone from the toilet. It cannot, however, be exposed to salt water so take Z Fold 5 for a beach day at your own peril, especially since it’s also not dust resistant.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 display

I have to say, opening a foldable with as pretty a screen as the Z Fold 5 just does it for me. Seeing the pattern unfurl like a graceful Rorschach test is absolutely mesmerizing, especially with the crisp blacks and rich color. And when the spell is cast, I’m left with a stunning 7.6-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X display. 

The Infinity Flex panel has a 2640 x 1080-pixel resolution with a 21.6:18 aspect ratio. And you have the Adaptive Refresh Rate that automatically adjusts the refresh rate between 1-120Hz according to your recent activity. That means if you’re reading a book, the panel will refresh at a lower rate, but if you’re doing something a bit more taxing like playing a game, it’ll ramp up accordingly. 

And yes, you can fold the display transforming it into a cute facsimile of a tiny laptop for some splitscreen action, which in some cases can come in handy. But come on, where’s the fun in that?

That bountiful screen is begging me to watch the new Netflix movie “They Cloned Tyrone” on it or catch up on the latest episodes of “Lore Olympus.” And while the screen is definitely pleasing to my naked eye. I’m hoping that Samsung’s usual oversaturated razzle dazzle will grace the Z Fold (I know, I know, but I like my color seared into my eyeballs). 

If I have to go by the Fold 4’s benchmarks, I don’t have much to worry about as the foldable reproduced 158.7% of the DCI-P3 color gamut compared to 88.4% on the Pixel Fold. The Fold 5 is also pretty bright averaging 901 nits with Adaptive Brightness enabled. The Pixel Fold's Adaptive Brightness result was much dimmer at 435 nits. 

Samsung claims that it’s increased the Z Fold 5’s brightness by 30% up to 1,750 nits, making it ideal to use in direct sunlight. If this turns out to be true in benchmarking, the Fold 5 could be one of the brightest smartphones if not the brightest we’ve ever tested. Stay tuned for the full review to find out. 

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 Cover Screen

And while the interior display is unquestionably lovely, one shouldn’t forget the Cover Screen which has its own unique appeal. When you’re on the go, or just don’t feel like going through the hassle of opening up your device, the Z Fold 5’s Cover Screen has you covered. Although not as large as the main display, the 6.2-inch panel isn’t a slouch, in fact, it can go head-to-head with many smartphones currently on the market. 

Like its larger counterpart, the Fold 5’s Cover Screen is also a Dynamic AMOLED 2X display with a 120Hz Adaptive Refresh Rate. The only difference is the range that goes from 48-120Hz instead of all the way down to 1Hz. Also, since it’s used when the phone is folded, you’ve a different resolution and aspect ratio (2316 x 904, 23.1:9). The embedded camera and rounded corners mean that you don’t get the full expanse of the screen real estate, but it’s a minor quibble at best. I’ll also point out the Cover Screen is much narrower than the Pixel Fold’s external display.

In practice, the Cover Screen was smooth with crisp detail. I could type with ease, which would definitely come in handy for texting on the fly. And scanning through notifications is a breeze. However, Samsung hasn’t really added any notable updates to enhance the functionality. I don’t know, I was expecting a bit more I guess. 

While we don’t have any benchmarks for the Fold 5 yet, its predecessor could provide a small hint as to what we can expect. The Fold 4’s Cover Screen got 146.7% on the DCI-P3 color gamut compared to the Pixel Fold’s 90.1%. We saw an average of 807 nits for the Z Fold 4’s brightness while the Pixel Fold pulled off a surprise win of 1,172 nits. 

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 S Pen

It seems like a crying shame that Samsung’s treating one of my favorite accessories like an afterthought. One of the main reasons I’m rocking the S23 Ultra is because it proudly keeps one of my favorite parts of the now defunct Galaxy Note series alive –– the S Pen. 

Yes, the Fold 5 does support the S Pen, but there’s nowhere on the physical phone to house it like the included silo on the S23. Instead, the S Pen Fold Edition has been relegated to an optional accessory included with a special case dubbed the Slim S Pen Case where it resides along the back ready to be popped out and used. 

The good news is that it's slimmer than last year’s S Pen, but doesn’t sacrifice comfort. I know it might be a lot to ask, but I wish Samsung could find a way to create a silo in the foldable form factor, so consumers won’t have to fork out extra dough for a case. 

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 performance

Samsung equipped the Galaxy Z Fold 5 with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform for Galaxy processor. It’s the same chip featured in the Samsung Galaxy S23 which means that when it launches, the Z Fold 5 will be one of the most powerful foldables on the market.

Taking a look at the S23 numbers, barring an upset from the rumored upcoming OnePlus Fold, the Galaxy Z fold is poised to spank most Android smartphones, foldable or not, on the market. The only thing standing in the way of total smartphone domination will be Apple. But let’s look at the numbers shall we?

On Geekbench 5.4, the S23 reached 5,081, thoroughly trouncing the Pixel Fold (1,909, Google Tensor G2 chip) and the Z Fold 4 (3,831, Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 CPU)  but iPhone Pro Max 14 with its A16 Bionic chip was the winner with 5,333. When we ran the Adobe Rush Premiere video transcoding test, the S23 completed the task in 39 seconds with the Fold 4 posting 0:45 and the Pixel Fold creeping in at 1:01. The Pro Max, however, edged out the competition at 0:30. 

When we ran the Jetstream 2.0 web browser test, the S23 achieved 179.3, crushing the Z Fold 4’s 87 and the Pixel Fold’s 118.3. However, it couldn’t topple the Pro Max 14’s score of 273.7.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 battery life

I’m worried about the Z Fold 5’s battery life. It has the same 4,400mAh battery as last gen’s model, but with that Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip, which has proven to focus on power rather than efficiency, we could be in dicey territory. 

Still, the Z Fold 4 managed to last 11 hours and 31 minutes on the Laptop Mag Battery Test. While the S23 with its 5,000mAH battery lasted 13:09, so I could be somewhat paranoid. But can you blame me? This thing is almost $2,000!

The Pixel Fold (4,821mAh) tapped out at 10:21 while the Pro Max (4,323mAh) lasted 13:07. Ultimately, we’ll have to wait and see when we get the review unit into the lab.

In a big “womp womp,” I was disappointed to learn that despite the price, the Z Fold 5 is stuck with 25W fast charging when the S23 is cruising along with 45W. A phone this premium needs to have every bell and whistle humanly possible. 

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 cameras

I can’t tell you how badly I wanted to insert the two Spider-Men pointing at each other meme here, as the cameras on the Z Fold 4 and 5 are identical. Starting with the rear cameras, you have a 12-megapixel ultra-wide camera with a f/F2.2 aperture, 1.12μm and 123-degree field of view. 

Then there’s the 50MP wide camera (f/1.8,1.0μm, 85-degree FOV) and the 10MP telephoto (f/2.4,1.0μm,36-degree FOV). Since the hardware hasn’t changed, we’re going to have to look to software to bring us some novelty, hopefully. I do appreciate that Samsung’s made snapping a selfie with the camera trio a bit easier when the display is open. All you have to do is press an onscreen button and voila! A gorgeous pic. 

The 10MP shooter on the Cover Display is a last-gen hold over with f/2.2, 1.22μm and a 85-degree FOV while the 4MP under display camera brings back the f/1.8, 2.0μm and 80-degree FOV. 

While there aren’t any notable hardware updates, I’m really looking forward to the subsequent camera shoot-offs that are in our near future, particularly against the Google Pixel Fold in the low-light challenge. 

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 software

Ooh, something new! Samsung did manage to bring some freshness to the Z Fold 5 in the form of multitasking capabilities. As in previous generations you have Taskbar which is the keeper of your favorite apps. 

But now it can also display double the amount of your recently used apps, bringing the grand total to four. You can still run up to three apps simultaneously, but now you add the second app just by swiping it in from either the bottom or left side of the display.  

And since I tend to keep a ridiculous number of apps open at any given time, I really appreciate that I can turn any of them into a floating window for quicker access. I just dragged the chosen app down diagonally from the top right of the display.  

The company also tweaked the drag-and-drop functionality. For example, you can now drag an image from the Samsung Gallery with one finger while using another to launch the Samsung Notes app to drop the image. It’s little tweaks like that can make a big difference in quality of life for devices like these. 

The Galaxy Z Fold 5 will run Android 13 with Samsung’s One UI 5.1.1 skin. With the Z Fold 4, Samsung promised four years of OS support with five years of security updates. I’m expecting the same setup for the Z Fold 5

Bottom line

Look, I know I’ve been giving Samsung a hard time for the lack of compelling updates and hardware changes. It’s just that the company basically made foldables a thing and in the fifth iteration of the Fold and even the Flip, it seems Samsung is resting on its laurels. That’s not to say the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 is a bad phone. It’s not. In fact, it’s a top-tier premium phone with plenty of bells and whistles that will tantalize most of the foldable curious out there. 

Thanks to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset, it’s poised to be one of the most powerful Android smartphones out there if not the most powerful foldable. The displays hit the 3B’s: big, bold and bright, the multitasking is top notch and I’d definitely like to play with all of the phone’s cameras. And if it  can last at least 12 hours, Samsung makes a strong case. 

But damn it, I’m still holding on to my lost love, the Galaxy Note. As much as I love big screens (and I cannot lie), the S Pen has a hold on me that I just have been unable to shake. And yes, I know the Slim S Pen Case exists, but the idea of having to pay extra for that functionality doesn’t sit right with me when we’re talking about a $1,799 device. If the Z Fold line is meant to be for productivity, the S Pen needs to be included. 

But this is a very early judgment of a smartphone that has yet to be put through its paces. If the numbers are really impressive, I might have to eat my words and make the leap. Until then, stay tuned for the full review.

As the battle of the foldables continues to heat up, Samsung is poised to maintain its grip on the crown with its latest entries to the market, the Galaxy Z Flip 5 and the Galaxy Z Fold 5. Of the two new smartphones, the Flip 5 continues to act as the fun, sporty model while the Fold 5 is tailored to power users and professionals. The Z Flip 5 comes to market sporting some notable improvements, including a larger 3.4-inch cover screen and a powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor in a slightly slimmer chassis. 

I had the opportunity to go hands on with the Galaxy Z Flip 5 and while it’s not my phone of choice when it comes to foldables (that’d be the Galaxy Z Fold 5), I can’t deny the allure of its incredible pocketability and versatility. But I wish Samsung would have added some more bells and whistles. Read on to see what I mean.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 video hands-on

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 pricing and availability

When it launches in August, the base model of the Flip will cost $999/£1,049 and feature 8GB of RAM with 256GB of onboard storage. The top-tier model also has 8GB of RAM but bumps the storage to 512GB. Unfortunately, those hoping to score some savings with the 128GB iteration are out of luck, as that configuration of the foldable has been eliminated from the line up. And those looking for a 1TB iteration will have to set their sights on the Galaxy Z Fold 5. 

If you’re ready to make the leap, the Z Flip 5 is available for pre-order at Samsung.com as well as various carrier sites. 

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 design

There’s not much difference between the Z Flip 4 and the Flip 5. You’ve still got that flipability that our editor, Kimberly Gedeon, loved as it gave that old-school feeling of hanging up on someone in a huff. The two-toned color scheme on the top rear panel with a black housing for the pair of cameras also makes a return which is something she didn’t like nearly as much. But now, instead of only a portion of the top panel cover being coated in a shiny inky black material, the entire thing is blacked out with the rest of the panel taking on the main color in a matte finish. The good news is that most of this is a display. 

When it launches, the Z Flip 5 will be available in Lavender, Mint, Graphite and Cream. If you're looking for something less pastel, Samsung will offer the foldable in colors exclusive to Samsung.com, including Gray, Blue, Green and Yellow. 

The frame of the phone and the sides are made from Armor Aluminum, with the volume rocker and power button/fingerprint reader placed on the right, and the USB-C charging port sitting along the bottom. Flipping the phone open reveals a glossy display with deep, striking color. Something new to note is the Flex hinge –– a dual rail mechanism that is more deeply integrated into the phone itself, rather than sticking out like a sore thumb. The new hinge decreases the prominence of the display crease while allowing the device to close without a gap. 

When folded, the 6.6-ounce Galaxy Z Flip measures 3.4 x 2.8 x 0.59 inches compared to 6.5 x 2.8 x 0.27 inches unfurled. That’s not too far off from its predecessor (3.3 x 2.8 x 0.67 inches, folded / 6.5 x 2.8 x 0.27 inches, unfolded), which also weighs 6.6 ounces. The predecessor is a hair smaller. The Google Pixel Fold is thinner (5.5 x 3.1 x 0.5 inches, folded / 5.5 x 6.2 x 0.2 inches, unfolded) albeit heavier at 10 ounces. Plus, the Pixel Fold is plagued by hardware issues with reports of broken displays à la the original Galaxy Fold. 

However, with this being Samsung’s fifth trip to the foldable rodeo, I doubt we’ll see any issues with either the Z Flip 5 or Fold 5 (fingers crossed). 

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 durability

A foldable is inherently more delicate than your regular slab of smartphone. Samsung is alleviating some of the worry by reinforcing the Flip 5 with Armor Aluminum and making the rear panel and screen out Corning Gorilla Glass Victus. The phone is also IPX8 rated, meaning it can be submerged in 1.5 meters of fresh water for a limited time. In other words, freshwater lakes and toilets are fine, the beach is not, especially since the phone is not dust resistant. 

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 display

Like its predecessor, the Z Flip 5 has a 6.7-inch, Dynamic AMOLED 2x display. The Infinity Flex panel has a resolution of 2640 x 1080 with 22:9 aspect ratio. It’s a pretty good indicator that one of our more nitpicky complaints will make an appearance here with wider letterboxing appearing when watching video. 

As far as color, I’m rooting for Samsung on this, as during my rather brief hands-on the colors were pleasing to my eye. And I definitely liked how smooth scrolling through home pages and apps looked. The Z Flip 4 put up impressive numbers on both our brightness (772 nits) and DCI-P3 (132.2%) tests , being bested only by the Z Fold 4 (902 nits / 158.7%) during its review. The Pixel Fold delivered an impressive brightness of 1,173 nits with a rather lackluster 88.4% on the DCI-P3 scale. 

I’m really eager to see how the Flip 5’s main display holds up under benchmarking and everyday use. Speaking of use cases, the Z Flip 5 has an adaptive refresh rate that automatically adjusts the refresh rate between 1Hz and 120Hz depending on the activity. So if you’re gaming or watching a video, you can expect a higher frame rate while perusing a spreadsheet versus watching a film that usually needs only 24Hz.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 Flex Window

New phone, bigger display. Yes, that teeny tiny cover display from last year’s model has grown into a 3.4-inch, Super AMOLED 60Hz Flex display that’s great for screening notifications. The 720 x 748-pixel screen is a bold answer to our complaint that the previous model’s screen was too small to act as a selfie viewfinder or much else. I didn’t experience any problems reading notifications or setting up a good shot on the camera.

Similar to its main display, the Z Flip 5 definitely passed the eye test with clean, distinct text and colorful hues. But the Flex display is more than a medium for errant notifications, you have widgets where you can control your music, check the weather and other useful functionality. If you need to view multiple widgets, a quick pinch will activate Multi Widget View. Somebody sends you a text message? Answer it via Quick Reply. 

And of course, that larger Flex Window is perfect for making sure you’re selfie ready (more on that later). 

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 performance

With a 4-nanometer Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, the Z Flip 5 is packing. It’s on a par with the likes of the OnePlus 11 and Samsung Galaxy 23 Ultra. It’s a shame, but it can’t be helped since Qualcomm’s new chipset won’t be released until later this year. Don’t get me wrong, this processor is definitely an ass kicker, as it delivered 5,081 on Geekbench 5.4 in the Galaxy S23 Ultra while the OnePlus 11 hit 4,962. 

Is either enough to topple the likes of the iPhone Pro 14 (5,469) or iPhone Pro Max 14 (5,333) with their A16 Bionic chips? No, but it’s more than enough to spank the Pixel Fold’s (Tensor G2 CPU) abysmal 1,909. The S23 Ultra’s result also surpasses the Z Flip 4 and its Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor, which produced only 4,015, proving this is a definite step up in power. 

When we ran the Adobe Premiere Rush video transcoding benchmark, the S23 Ultra finished in 39 seconds, soundly beating the Pixel’s Fold and OnePlus 11’s times of 1:01 and 1:11, respectively while the Z Flip 4 posted a time of 0:44. It couldn’t dispatch either the iPhone 14 Pro or Pro Max, which had blistering times of 0:26 and 0:30, respectively.

On the Jetstream web browser test, the S23 Ultra scored 179.3. That was more than enough to stave off the Z Flip 4 (134.3), Pixel Fold (118.3), and OnePlus 11 (112.8). But once again, the iPhones laid waste to their Android counterparts with the iPhone 14 Pro reaching 285.9 and the Pro Max hitting 273.7.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 battery life

The Galaxy Z Flip 5 has a 3,700mAh battery, just like the Z Flip 4. This, barring any power efficiency tricks that Samsung and Qualcomm might pull out their hats, puts the Z Flip 5 within a stone’s throw of the 9 hour mark, as its ancestor lasted 8 hours and 57 minutes on the Laptop Mag Battery Test (continuous web surfing at 150 nits over network). 

The competition all have larger batteries, such as the Pixel Fold (4,821mAh), which scores its first potential win over the Z Flip 5 with a time of 10:21. The OnePlus 11 and Galaxy S23 clocked in with 12:48 and 13:09, respectively, with their 5,000mAh batteries. And by some feat of Apple Magic, both the iPhone 14 Pro (3,200mAh) and Pro Max (4,323mAh) managed to beat the Z Flip 4 by lasting 10:27 and 13:07, respectively.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 camera

When you look at the megapixels on the Z Flip 5, they’re singing the same old song with a pair of 12MP cameras on the rear and a 10MP front shooter. The wide (12MP, f/1.8, 1.8μm, 83-degree field of view) is virtually identical to last gen’s as is the ultra-wide shooter (12MP, f/2.2, 1.12μm, 123-degree FOV)  It’s disappointing that Samsung couldn’t find a way to up the ante, but that doesn’t mean that the company hasn’t made any changes whatsoever. 

In this case, we have to look to the front camera (10MP, f/2.2, 1.22μm, 85-degree FOV) which has a slightly smaller aperture compared to last gen’s (10MP, f/2.4,1.22μm, 80-degree FOV), but it’s negligible at best. The real change comes from the AI-powered software that brings improved Nightography mode, which means better shots in low-light environments. Using an AI-powered image signal processing (ISP) algorithm, the Z Flip 5’s cameras will automatically correct any visual noise that you’d usually find when snapping low-light images. The feature will also enhance details and color tone. Plus, you get clearer photos by way of the digital 10X zoom.Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 software

But the Flip’s main claim to fame is the Flex Window, which allows the more creative among us to take interesting photos with the unique angles that the phone can take advantage of. Speaking of unique angles, there’s Flex Camera for those look-ma-no-hands photos. With the expanded size of the Flex Window, you can get a better look at your selfie preview. If you want to take a few candids with friends, there’s Dual Preview so everyone can make sure they’re striking the appropriate pose. And you also have Flex Mode that lets you see and edit your shots into masterpieces. 

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 software

The Z Flip 5 comes with Android 13 skinned with Samsung’s One UI 5.1.1, which blends the company’s proprietary widgets and features into Android for a seamless experience. And since the Z Flip 5 carries a lot of the same features as its predecessor, it’s a safe bet to guess that Samsung will provide four years of major software updates along with five years of security updates.

Bottom line

While I am a proponent of the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mantra, Samsung will have to figure out how to make the next Z Flip into something truly special because the Z Flip 5 ain’t it. That’s not to say it’s not a good phone –– without any benchmarking to back it up right now –– it is. It’s still super pocketable and versatile. You can do a hell of a lot more with the larger Flex Window and the new Flex hinge is less intrusive on the overall design. And I’m never going to say no to a more powerful processor (even if it is on the more power-hungry side), but as it stands, the Galaxy Z Flip 5 is nothing more than an incremental step, just like the Z Flip 4 was. Now to where exactly Samsung is stepping to, I’m unsure, but I can say it’s getting there awfully slow. 

However, if you’re thinking of making the leap into the foldable space and don’t want to spend over $1,000 for the experience, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 is the way to go. But don’t take this as my final judgment, as there’s still plenty of benchmarking to do in this case and the numbers will be the final tale of the tape. 

The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 is official, but really, were there enough updates to get excited about? I’m not so sure.

Samsung may have fallen asleep at the wheel a little when it came to designing its latest generation of foldables. In spite of there being a new processor inside them, they sure are a chip off the old block in terms of pretty much everything else.

I’m not blown away, that’s for sure. I’d hazard a guess I’m not the only one either. If you’re a little antsy over what Samsung defines as fancy, I say we let the Galaxy Z Flip 5 fulfill its nosedive and take a look at three foldable phones with everything needed to thrive.

Forget the Galaxy Z Flip 5: Buy these 3 phones instead 

Samsung might’ve been the king of the hill when it came to foldables in recent years, but competition for the top spot is heating up all the time with more and more manufacturers looking to toss their hat into the ring and take their chances in this growing market.

Samsung might be the best at what they do right now, but if this year’s showcase has been anything to go by, they’re by no means untouchable. If you’re itching to “join the flip side,” but aren’t exactly wowed by what Samsung had to unpack, check out our selection of three foldable devices that are the flip to Samsung’s flop.

1. Motorola Razr+

Available for the exact same price as the Galaxy Z Flip 5, the Motorola Razr+ is a phenomenal alternative to Samsung’s flip-foldable that pairs all the performance of the Z Flip 4 with a design that the Z Flip 5 lacked the ambition to aim for.

A revival of the mid-2000s era flip phone that put the world into a frenzy, the Motorola Razr+ feels like a homecoming of sorts rightfully taking its place in the spotlight during the clamshell comeback. Backed by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor with 5GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, Motorola’s Razr+ is a well-equipped device with plenty of performance on hand.

Add to that a larger 6.9-inch internal OLED panel with a 165Hz refresh rate and a stunning 3.6-inch, fully-realized, 144Hz edge-to-edge cover display and you have one of the best-looking foldables on the market today.

If you already own a foldable device then this phone might not be top of your list when it comes to an upgrade. Owners of the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 are more likely than most to feel this as a side-step than anything else, though in all fairness, you’ll at least gain a better display and camera array than if you upgraded to the Z Flip 5.

2. Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4

Sure, Samsung just announced the Galaxy Z Flip 5, but that doesn’t mean you have to pay a blind bit of attention to it. And why would you? It’s essentially just this phone but a little faster and with a different cover screen and available at full price. Just save yourself the expense and pick up the phone that puts foldables in the spotlight once again?

The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 is going to tumble in price, which grants you a chance yet to lay your hands on a foldable device without breaking the bank. Not only will you save a decent sum of money but you’ll also be granted an impressively capable phone backed by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset, 8GB of RAM, and up to 512GB of storage.

It’s a beautiful piece of engineering and it has fantastic photo capabilities — also a great battery life considering the brightness and vividness of its dual screens. You will forgo the Z Fold 5’s larger cover screen and extended functionality, but the smaller 260 x 512-pixel cover screen of the Z Fold 4 is still a small-scale widget-wonderland when it comes to snaring information at a glance.

Already own a Galaxy Z Flip 4? Stick with it. If there’s one thing we can guarantee from Samsung’s unveiling of the Z Flip 5 at this year’s Unpacked event it’s this: You’re not missing out on much.

3. Oppo Find N2 Flip

Oppo’s Find N2 Flip is the “budget-friendly” foldable flip phone that’s been turning heads with its stylish looks, vertical cover screen, and plucky photography skills almost the world over. Almost, because the device’s global launch seemingly covered everywhere except the U.S., annoyingly.

You can still bag one online, but you’d best be sure that your carrier will support it before splashing the cash, as even though it’s one of the more affordable foldables on the market, an affordable foldable is still generally quite expensive.

The Oppo Find N2 Flip is powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 9000+ processor, which might not be a name you’re too familiar with outside of certain Chromebooks. However, while not as recognizable as an Apple Bionic, Tensor, Qualcomm Snapdragon, or even an Exynos chipset, the MediaTek processor is impressively capable. Backing up the CPU is 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage.

The Find N2 Flip features a 6.8-inch, AMOLED, FHD+ (2520 x 1080-pixel) internal display with a rapid 120Hz refresh rate and a 3.26-inch, AMOLED, 720 x 382-pixel cover display at 60Hz. That means bright and vibrant images and the perfect way to show off your Hasselblad snaps from the foldable’s 50MP main shooter, 8MP Ultra-wide camera, and 32MB front camera.

Outlook

If you’re no fan of Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 5 offerings then worry not. While the flip-foldable market is still relatively small there are other options out there to choose from, even last year's models are still fantastic choices that shouldn’t be overlooked.

With more competition than ever, the lineup of available foldables looks set to grow and grow with more variety and potentially lower, more accessible prices. Are we witnessing the death of the static smartphone? Unlikely, but these bits of engineering wizardry are impressive bits of tech all the same — with some even finding their way into our list of best smartphones. 

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE and Tab S9 FE Plus tablets have seemingly been revealed over a week ahead of their predicted Samsung Galaxy Unpacked official unveiling – and Samsung’s fan editions look set to be real crowd pleasers.

Samsung Galaxy Unpacked will take place for the first time in Seoul, South Korea on July 26, 2023 and will likely see the official reveal of Samsung’s latest Galaxy smartphones, foldables, and tablets. Those among the expected lineup include the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5, the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6, and the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9.

That all makes for a pretty stacked event, but it’s entirely possible Samsung has even more to show off – including a range of Fan Edition devices starting with the Samsung Galaxy S23 FE and now including the Galaxy Tab S9 FE and Tab S9 FE Plus.

We’ve been granted our first look at the latter two devices thanks to rendered images supplied by reputable, and historically accurate, tech tipster @OnLeaks in collaboration with @MediaPeanutBlog and @WolfOfTablet. So how do they look, and how do they compare?

Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE: How does it look? 

Renders of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE indicate that the tablet will retain the familiar Galaxy Tablet design of old while sporting a 10.9-inch display with slim bezels for a near edge-to-edge aesthetic, a single elevated rear camera with space to dock the magnetic S Pen below it, dual speakers for stereo audio, and a volume rocker with a separate optical fingerprint reader on the side of the device.  

Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE leaked renders

Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE Plus: How does it look? 

When comparing the renders of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE Plus we see a larger 12.4-inch display with similarly trim bezels, two elevated rear cameras above the magnetic S Pen holder, dual speakers for stereo audio, and a similar optical fingerprint reader and volume rocker on the side.

The FE Plus exhibits the same minimalist design as previous Galaxy Tab devices, keeping the primary focus on that larger screen without too much distraction. 

Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE Plus leaked renders

Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE vs. Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE Plus rumored specifications: 

Of the little we know about these two devices it would appear that both will likely sport an Exynos 1380 chipset, something that will no doubt divide fans who are clamoring for Samsung to leave the SoC behind in favor of the superior QualComm Snapdragon chips found in other lineups. 

Traditionally Exynos chipsets were implemented in most Samsung devices outside of the US, South Korea, and Singapore, however there’s no word if the inclusion of an Exynos chipset is location based or expected across the board as of yet.

Recent Geekbench 6 sightings for the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE and S9 FE Plus have seemingly confirmed that both tablets will sport the same processor, as well as the FE Plus offering at least one variant with 8GB of RAM. Beyond this, in terms of specifications at least, things appear to be pretty similar beyond the S9 FE Plus’ secondary camera and larger 12.4-inch display.

Rough estimates on the size of each device has been provided from the CAD renders that see the smaller Galaxy Tab S9 FE with its 10.9-inch display measure in at 9.9 x 6.5 x 0.25 inches, while the larger Galaxy Tab S9 FE Plus will reportedly measure 11.23 x 7.29 x 0.25 inches in size.

Outlook

With the iPad’s continued dominance, the launch of the Pixel Tablet, and foldable devices becoming increasingly popular, there seems to be a real thirst for larger screen devices at the moment. While that means more competition for these tablets to go head-to-head with, Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S9 FE devices will have the Fan Edition price point on its side.

With many people’s purse strings feeling tight at the minute and many high-end tablets touting tall price tags Samsung’s revival of the Fan Edition range of devices could be a stroke of genius on the brand’s behalf, offering mid-range flagship phones and tablets at budget-friendly prices.

Will we see these two tablets make an appearance at this year’s Samsung Galaxy Unpacked event? It’s hard to say. A big stage reveal of the entire FE range of devices would go some way to getting the word out about Samsung’s affordable options, but they may also want to keep the spotlight firmly on the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Flip 5 – potentially pushing back the announce and reveal of its budget-friendly devices until August or September of 2023.

Prime Day 2023 Day 2 offers some amazing Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra deals. Today, you can get the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra (512GB) for $979 at Amazon. It typically retails for $1,399, so that's a whopping $420 in savings. It's the lowest price we've seen for this Unlocked Galaxy S23 Ultra with no-trade in. 

Amazon also offers the 256GB model Galaxy S23 Ultra for $849 ($350 off). Bear in mind, the Galaxy S23 Ultra doesn't have a microSD slot. We recommend investing in an accessory like the Ugreen USB-C microSD card reader for $10.

Samsung's Galaxy S23 Ultra is not just for Android users. It's also a great option if you're switching from an iPhone. The phone in this deal packs a 6.8-inch, (2340 x 1080) Dynamic AMOLED 2X 120Hz display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 8-core CPU, 8GB of RAM, Adreno 740 graphics, and 512GB of storage. Powering the device's 5,000mAh battery with Super Fast Charging 2.0 which lets you quickly juice up your phone when you're in a pinch.

In our Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra review we loved its bright, vivid display and game-changing Qualcomm 8 Gen 2 processor. The phone's advanced camera and seamless integration with other mobile Samsung devices impressed us. We loved the Galaxy S23 Ultra so much that we gave it an overall rating of 4 out of 5-stars.

Overall, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is at the top of the totem pole in the category of Android phones. It's a solid buy if you're looking for a powerful big screen phone that includes its own stylus.

It's Day 2 of Prime Day 2023 and the deals just keep on dealing. For today's best summer discounts on must-have mobile tech, gaming and more, visit our Prime Day 2023 deals hub. 

After announcing a new era of Snapdragon chips, Qualcomm unveils its all-new and rebranded Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, the latest 5G mobile platform boasting the world’s first 5G modem-RF that can dish out up to 10 Gigabit download speeds.

Revealed at the annual Snapdragon Tech Summit 2021, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 claims to be the "most advanced 5G mobile platform" to usher in a new standard of premium Android smartphones. From desktop-level gaming to the 7th Gen Qualcomm AI engine featuring double the processing power of its predecessors, expect to see next-generation flagship smartphones from the most popular phone brands. 

• What is 5G? The rising generation of wireless technology
• Best smartphones in 2021
• Best phone deals in 2021

According to Qualcomm, we can expect to see a new wave of phones from notable OEMs by the end of 2021; including Black Shark, Honor, iQOO, Motorola, Nubia, OnePlus, OPPO, Realme, Redmi, SHARP, Sony Corporation, vivo, Xiaomi and ZTE. As we now know, the Xiaomi 12 will be the first smartphone to boast the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip. 

Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 upgrades

Android smartphones are gearing up to topple the standard set by the iPhone 13's powerful A15 Bionic — most notably in connectivity. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 is equipped with a "4th gen Snapdragon X65 5G Modem-RF System," which can reach an impressive 10 Gigabit download speeds. Wi-Fi speeds are also expected to see a jump in speeds, supporting up to 3.6 Gbps over Wi-Fi 6 and 6E.

Android phones like the Asus ROG Phone 5 always excelled at mobile gaming, Qualcomm claims this new chip will deliver desktop-level gaming experiences. Thanks to the new Qualcomm Adreno GPU, gamers can expect a 30% boost in graphics rendering capabilities and a 25% improvement in power savings when compared to previous models. Plus, users will also experience the mobile-first "Variable Rate Shading Pro" and "Volumetric rendering" for improved fog, smoke and particle effects.

The new Snapdragon tech also delivers upgraded security and Android Ready S", with the latter being used for digital car keys, drivers’ licenses, and more. This is similar to what Apple introduced earlier this year, which means we may also see driver's license support and more down the line.

As for cameras, the chip is equipped with "Snapdragon Sight Technology," which boasts the first commercial 18-bit mobile ISP. This means users can capture over 4000x more camera data than previous smartphone models, including extreme dynamic range, color, and sharpness at speeds up to 3.2 gigapixels per second. Plus, the chip will be able to capture 8K HDR video, along with a special Bokeh engine and an "Always-On ISP."

There are a number of exciting features the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 aims to deliver, but we won't know how these all work until we try them out ourselves. Stay tuned for upcoming reviews, and for the best smartphones on the market right now, we've got you covered. 

Qualcomm confirms it will drop its own name on Snapdragon platforms to make way for a "new era" of standalone product branding. Say goodbye to triple-digit smartphone chips and hello to “fireball” logos.

The San Diego semiconductor giant announced a number of new changes coming in 2021, including separating its signature "Qualcomm" name on Snapdragon products, introducing new colors to represent the products category, and transitioning to single-digit branding on its popular mobile chips. Instead of Snapdragon 888, expect a new "flagship Snapdragon 8-series platform."

• Best OnePlus 9 Black Friday deals 2021
• Best smartphones in 2021
• Black Friday deals 2021

Other changes include Qualcomm's iconic "fireball" symbol being used to represent the brand more prominently, while new colors such as Midnight, Gunmetal, Nickel, Snapdragon Red, and Gold will be used to represent the "tier" of the product. For example, gold will be used on premium ships and products.

Interestingly, Qualcomm states 5G is synonymous with Snapdragon platforms, meaning the company won't need to put "5G" branding as "5G will be a given."

With Qualcomm and Snapdragon being separate brands, smartphone and laptop manufacturers that use Qualcomm chips, such as Samsung and other Android devices, will also being going through a few changes.

Nothing recently announced it is partnering with Qualcomm to use  Snapdragon chips to power upcoming devices, using its 5G mobile platforms across many different categories of devices. With tech giants such as Apple and Google making their own chips for devices such as the M1 MacBook or Tensor-powered Pixel 6, Nothing may take over to become the next king of Snapdragon-powered devices.

According to a report from Nikkei Asia, however, the days of Qualcomm Snapdragon chips may be numbered. Oppo is tipped to build its own custom smartphone chips, following Apple and Google, which means we may not see as many Snapdragon chips in well-known flagship devices. Still, there's no denying the power of Snapdragon SoCs, especially in our list of best smartphones. 

After the launch of the hugely popular Nothing ear (1) earbuds, the London-based tech brand Nothing seeks to build its lineup of smart devices by partnering up with one of the biggest smartphone chip manufacturers on the market: Qualcomm.

In an announcement, Nothing revealed its partnership with Qualcomm, stating it will be using its Snapdragon chips to power upcoming devices. With the semiconductor giant now in the mix, Nothing's next big product launch could be a first-generation smartphone. If it's anything like the ear (1) earbuds, we expect it to be a flagship killer. 

• Nothing ear (1) vs AirPods Pro: Which wireless earbuds are best?
• Where to buy Nothing ear (1) earbuds
• Best budget phones in 2021

The announcement states Nothing is planning to use "Snapdragon mobile platforms with 5G connectivity across many different categories of devices." With this in mind, along with the "ecosystem" Nothing is hinting at, the brand aims to build a tech ecosystem that may rival Apple's. While Nothing's true wireless earbuds have reportedly already shipped over 100,000 units since their release in August, it may be a while before we see a selection of devices to make up a Nothing ecosystem. 

“The successful launch of our first product, ear (1), proved that there is room for a new challenger brand to emerge and disrupt today’s sea of sameness. Users deserve better products that are simpler to use, accessible, yet look amazing,” said Carl Pei, CEO and co-founder of Nothing. “Seamless connectivity is paramount to achieving our vision of a future without barriers between people and technology.

Qualcomm Europe's senior VP continues: “By combining the power and efficiency of Snapdragon mobile platforms with 5G connectivity across many different categories of devices, we are fostering the development of innovative products that are intended to benefit consumers and deliver richer, more immersive experiences.”

With tech giants such as Apple and Google making their own chips for devices such as the M1 MacBook or Tensor-powered Pixel 6, Nothing may take over to become the next king of Snapdragon-powered devices. Speaking of Nothing and Apple, check out which wireless earbuds are best: Nothing ear (1) or AirPods Pro? 

During its unveiling, LG president Dr. Jong-seok Park boasted that the LG G2 is "the most ambitious phone in smartphone history." But aside from putting the volume and power buttons on the back, how does the G2 stack up against two of its biggest Android competitors, the Samsung Galaxy S4 and the HTC One?

The LG G2 sports a sizable 5.2-inch 1080p display, a touch bigger than the Samsung Galaxy S4's 5-inch 1080p screen. The HTC One has the smallest display size-wise, but has the greatest pixel density at 468.7 ppi, compared to 423.6 ppi for the G2, and 440.6 for the S4.

The G2's 2.26-GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor featuring a quad-core Krait CPU put it at the head of the pack in terms of raw processing power, compared to the Samsung Galaxy S4 which runs a 1.9-GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor. The HTC One brings up the rear with a 1.7-GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 chip.

MORE: Best Smartphones 2013

When it comes to capacity, the G2 packs a 3,000mAh battery, significantly bigger than the Galaxy S4's 2,600 mAH pack, and far ahead of the HTC One's 2,300 mAh battery. Despite this, the G2 cuts a thin 0.35 inch profile, skinner than the 0.37 inch thick HTC One but thicker than the 0.31 inch S4.

We can anticipate the G2 doing well in our next Smartphone Camera Shootout with a rear camera that matches the Galaxy S4's 13-megapixel resolution. Plus, the G2 camera's is equipped with Optical Image Stabilizer technology and multi-point autofocus to help keep your shots in focus.

From the specs alone, the LG G2 looks to be a formidable contender for the title of best Android smartphone. It matches or outdoes the Galaxy S4 in most categories, and if the back-mounted buttons are as intuitive as LG says they are, the G2 could turn plenty of heads, so long as the yet-to-be-announced price doesn't induce any sticker shock. The G2 will be rolled out on more than 130 wireless carriers in the next eight weeks starting in South Korea and followed by North America and Europe.  

• LG 2013 Rating: Best and Worst Smartphone Brands
• Smartphone Buyers' Guide 2013: 7 Things You Need to Know
• 10 Best Android Smartphones

If Best Buy’s leaked circular ad from earlier this week wasn’t convincing enough, the electronics retailer has begun offering pre-orders for the new Nexus 7 as of Wednesday morning. The product page went live on Best Buy’s website just hours before Google’s Android and Chrome chief Sundar Pichai's scheduled press event.

True to the rumors, the next-generation Nexus 7 comes with a 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor with 2GB of RAM , Android 4.3 Jelly Bean out of the box and an Adreno 320 graphics card. At $229.99 it’s a bit pricier than its predecessor, but it features an improved 1920 x 1200-pixel resolution display and two cameras. The main camera comes with a 5-megapixel sensor while the front webcam uses a 1.2-megapixel sensor.

Although the ASUS-crafted tablet is available for preorder in 16GB and 32GB variants, Best Buy’s page doesn’t disclose when it will ship or hit store shelves. The leaked ad from earlier this week advertised the tablet as “Coming Tuesday,” so we’re hoping to see a launch as soon as next week.

• Tablet Buyers' Guide 2013: 5 Questions to Ask Before You Buy
  
• Top iPad Alternatives
• 10 Tablets with the Longest Battery Life

The LG Optimus G Pro is a monster of a smartphone. Sporting a massive 5.5-inch, 1080p display and speedy quad-core processor, LG's flagship phablet has landed in the United States as an AT&T exclusive for $199 with a two-year contract. Still, a few things have been lost in translation compared with the international version. So, how does the U.S. version of the Optimus G Pro stack up?

Design

Click to EnlargeSporting a black plastic chassis, the Optimus G is attractive, but doesn't have the kind of panache that HTC's One does. Up front, you're met with a billboardlike 5.5-inch display, above which is a reflective LG logo, earpiece with chrome accenting and the handset's 2-megapixel shooter.

Below the display is the Optimus G Pro's physical Home button, ringed by customizable multicolor LEDs that illuminate when you start the phone or get a notification. For example, you can set the light to shine green if you missed a message or call, or flash rapidly when your alarm goes off. Unfortunately, the Home button is more recessed than we'd prefer.

To the left of the Home button is a capacitive Back button, and to the right, a capacitive Menu button. Both are invisible when not lit, although you can set them to stay on for as long as you like. Holding down the Home button brings up the task switching menu, as well as a shortcut to Google Now. Unfortunately, you can't double-tap the Home button to access Google Now, which is a bit of a pain.

Click to EnlargeOn the Optimus G Pro's left edge are the phone's volume rocker and what LG calls its programmable QuickButton. Set to launch the QuickMemo app by default, the button can be programmed to quick launch any app you want via the settings menu. The button cannot, however, be used to wake the phone from sleep.

The right edge plays host to the Pro's power button, while the lower edge houses the phone's microUSB port. Up top, you'll find a headphone jack alongside the Pro's IR blaster, which is used in tandem with the handset's QuickRemote app to control your TV.

Adorned with a faint checkerboard pattern, the top of the G Pro's removable back panel houses the phone's 13-megapixel camera alongside its flash and external speaker. Below that is an inlaid AT&T emblem. The carrier also offers a replacement back panel with an attached smart cover to protect the display.

Click to EnlargeA hulking beast of a smartphone, the Optimus G Pro measures 5.8 x 3 x 0.37 inches and weighs 6.2 ounces. That easily dwarfs the 5-inch Samsung Galaxy S4, which measures 5.3 x 2.7 x 0.25 inches and weighs a scant 4.6 ounces, not to mention the 4.7-inch HTC One (5.4 x 2.7 x 0.37 inches and 5.1 ounces). Still, the Optimus G Pro manages to undercut its closest competitor, the Galaxy Note II, which measures at 5.9 x 3.2 x 0.37 inches and weighs 6.4 ounces.

As expected, using the Optimus G Pro with one hand can be tricky. You'll have to stretch your thumb extra far to reach each of the Pro's four corners. Repositioning the phone in one hand will prove to be an excellent test of your fine motor skills.

MORE: Top 10 Most Stylish Smartphones

Display and audio

Click to EnlargeThe Optimus G Pro's 1920 x 1080 IPS display offered crisp visuals, whether we were viewing websites or watching video clips. Text on NYTimes.com was exceptionally sharp. Similarly, the massive robot stars of the upcoming film, "Pacific Rim," looked especially imposing on the Optimus G Pro's huge display. Still, when compared with the HTC One's stunning 4.7-inch 1080p display, the G Pro was lacking. Colors were significantly duller and viewing angles were shallower on the LG.

The G Pro's IPS display registered an impressive 322 lux on our brightness meter. That's better than the Samsung Galaxy Note II's 231 lux and the smartphone category average of 301 lux. Still, the HTC One offered a significantly brighter 433 lux, as did the Galaxy S4 (446 lux). That said, we could easily view the Optimus G Pro display in direct sunlight when set to full brightness.

Audio emanating from the G Pro's rear-mounted speaker was loud enough to fill a small room, but didn't blow us away. When listening to TV on the Radio's "Second Song," guitars and vocals sounded clear, but the sound became muddled when the bass and drums kicked in. Audio was a bit tinny overall, but no more so than most smartphone speakers.

Keyboard

Click to EnlargeVirtual keyboards loaded on the Optimus G Pro include the standard Android keyboard and LG's own LG Keyboard. We found the LG Keyboard to be a bit more accurate than most Android layouts, thanks to the decent amount of space between the keys. LG also includes a bevy of keyboard features, such as predictive text, a Swype-like Path Keyboard function and handwriting recognition.

To activate handwriting recognition, you simply tap the pen button on the left side of the keyboard, which brings up a small writing area. Start scribbling and the software will automatically recognize your handwriting and turn it into ASCII text. While we were impressed with the feature's ability to decipher our chicken scratch, we were disappointed by the fact that the Optimus G Pro doesn't include its own stylus; writing with our finger proved difficult.

Software and interface

Click to EnlargeThe Optimus G Pro ships with a heavily skinned version of Google's Android 4.1.2 Jellybean OS. You start out with three home screens that rotate like a carousel when you swipe from left to right and vice versa. Of course, you can add home screens over time as your initial three begin to fill up. Overall, the setup felt a lot like Samsung's Touchwiz overlay, so if you're comfortable with that, you'll feel right at home with the G Pro. Unfortunately, while the international version of this phone let us change the handset's theme, AT&T's Optimus G Pro does not.

At the bottom of the home screen, you'll find the ever-present, though customizable, Phone, Message, Browser, Camera and Apps buttons. The first main home screen features the standard AccuWeather.com widget and shortcuts to the Contacts, Calendar, Email and Play Store apps, as well as a folder for AT&T's various carrier-specific apps. The second Home screen includes a Featured Apps widget, which provides quick access to AT&T's suggested apps, a Google search widget and shortcuts to the QuickRemote, Gallery, Maps, Music and Facebook apps.

The G Pro's lock screen offers the ability to swipe to unlock directly to the Browser, Camera, Email, Messaging and Phone apps. You can also swap out these options for any app you like. Similarly, the large digital clock and calendar that cover the lock screen can be swapped for your choice of an analog clock, calendar, both an analog clock and calendar and a digital clock and the weather.

LG takes advantage of the Optimus G Pro's large screen by displaying as many apps as possible at once in the phone's Apps menu. By default, you get a 5 x 6 grid of apps that, at first glance, looks overwhelming, making it easy to lose the app you're looking for in the sea of small colorful squares. Thankfully, LG offers a 4 x 5 grid option that increases the size of the icons.

The Optimus G Pro's notification drawer is impressively robust, offering quick settings for various functions, such as Wi-Fi and NFC, access to QSlide apps, a menu for QuickRemote and a display brightness slider.

QSlide

Our favorite of LG's many custom features is QSlide, which allows you to run up to two of four possible LG applications in their own draggable, resizable windows that sit in a layer on top of the desktop. Each Qslide app can be toggled back and forth between Full-Screen Mode and Windows Mode and can be made transparent so you see and interact with the application running behind it. QSlide applications on our AT&T unit included Video Player, Note Pad, Calendar and Calculator.

On the other hand, the international version of the Optimus Q Pro included the aforementioned apps, as well as a browser, translation app and voice assistant. Those are some pretty big omissions, especially the QSlide-capable browser.

Still, we enjoyed being able to surf the Web in the standard browser window while watching a video in a resizable window. Many third-party apps in the Google Play store can provide you with floating browsers, calculators or video players, but QSlide apps are more attractive and functional and have the transparency feature.

Samsung's Multi Window feature doesn't offer transparency, either, but you have more apps to choose from when it comes to running two on screen at the same time. The Sprint version of the Galaxy S4, for instance, includes 11 apps for Multi Window versus four for QSlide. Plus, Samsung's feature integrates with third-party apps, such as Polaris Office, Gmail and Google Talk.

QuickRemote

Click to EnlargeThe LG Optimus G Pro comes with an infrared port that turns your handset into a remote control for your TV, cable box and the rest of your home theater. Unfortunately, the QuickRemote software is extremely limited in comparison to the apps provided by its competitors. While the Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC One provide full program guides, QuickRemote provides little more than a set of virtual buttons for changing the channel, the volume and the video source. Samsung goes even further with the ability to search its video store.

Configuring QuickRemote to work with a new device was easy enough. We simply selected a room of the house (living room, bedroom, etc.), selected the type of device we wanted to control and then selected the brand. The software then invited us to test whether we could power on/off the device and use some of its other controls. In our tests, we were able to successfully add a Samsung TV and control the set from across a large room.

Note Pad

Click to EnlargeFor a device without stylus support, the LG Optimus G Pro has a fair amount of note-taking and drawing functionality. Available directly from the notification drawer, Note Pad takes a screenshot and allows you to scribble all over it in the color and pen width of your choice. You can either save these memos directly to the gallery as images, or to the notebook app, which itself stores a series of multipage notes.

You can also enable Overlay Mode, which keeps your drawing floating as a layer on top of the screen as you perform other tasks. So, if you really want to remind yourself to "call mom," you can leave that scribbled on top of everything else until you're done.

Performance

Click to EnlargePacking a 1.7-GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor and 2GB of RAM, the Optimus G Pro proved more than fast enough to handle everyday tasks. We were able to watch video, surf the Web and take notes all at the same time without noticing any system slowdown. Games like "Jetpack Joyride" and "Super Monsters Ate My Condo" also ran smoothly.

That real-world performance translated to above-average benchmark scores, but other flagship phones are faster. On the Quadrant benchmark, which tests a phone's CPU, graphics and I/O performance, the Optimus G Pro clocked 8,930, well above the smartphone category average of 3,899. The HTC One, however, which offers the same CPU and RAM as the G Pro, notched a much higher 12,706. The Samsung Galaxy S4, with its Samsung-made quad-core Exynos processor and 2GB of RAM, meanwhile, scored 11,308.

On the An3DBench graphics test, the Optimus G Pro scored 7,395, which is higher than the category average of 7,245, but lower than the Galaxy S4 (7,570) and HTC One (7,716).

On the Geekbench benchmark, the Optimus G Pro's score of 2,156 once again fell below both the HTC One's score of 2,771 and the Samsung Galaxy S4's score of 3,242. Similarly, the Optimus G Pro fell short of the competition on the 3DMark Ice Storm Extreme benchmark, scoring 5,319, compared with the AT&T HTC One's 6,251 and the Galaxy S4's 6,765.

Our Optimus G Pro came with 32GB of onboard storage, which can be augmented via a microSD card slot capable of holding a card with up to 64GB of space.

To get a better idea of the Optimus G Pro's performance, we transcoded a 1080p movie trailer using the VidTrim app. The G Pro took 8 minutes and 29 seconds to complete the process, while the HTC One and Galaxy S4 finished transcoding in 6:48 and 6:44, respectively.

Camera and camcorder

Click to EnlargeThe LG Optimus G Pro's 13-MP camera took crisp, detailed images in both bright and slightly dim lighting conditions. Photos shot outdoors of a fountain and flowers offered vibrant colors. Shots taken indoors were just as sharp, but colors such as skin tones and clothing had a bit of a yellow tinge.

The 2-MP front-facing camera captured sharp, detailed images of our face in bright light, but washed out our features in dark rooms or with a light source behind us.

Click to EnlargeLG packs the Optimus G Pro's camera with a slew of helpful photo and video capture features that dramatically improve the picture-taking experience. Our favorite of these features is Time Machine Mode, which captures five additional pictures from the time right before you snap your picture, so you can go back and save any of those "missing moments."

The Optimus G Pro's camera isn't particularly fast. Though it supports Burst Mode, the camera took 2 seconds to shoot individual images, whether you're on the first picture of a session or subsequent shots. Compare that with HTC's One series of phones, which takes 0.7 seconds for the first shot and even less for the second shot and beyond. Also, when shooting in Burst Mode, all the images are automatically saved in the gallery, without a way to easily choose only the best shots from a series and discard the rest.

[sc:video id="E5d3A1cTp2i6qpiR_PNgakdZWx7eiUy2" width="575" height="398"]

Unlike some competitors that provide a ton of filters, LG offers only a few simple options, such as sepia, negative image and monochrome. A feature called Beauty Shot supposedly smoothes out skin on pictures of people, but, as with international version, we didn't notice much of a difference.

Taking a wide image with Panorama Mode was a snap; the Optimus G Pro's software simply directed us to rotate the phone around slowly and then stitched together an extremely accurate image when it had gathered enough data.

Panorama VR Mode allows you to capture more than just a straight horizontal band of images, as you can take pictures both above and below your original position. Though it took a while to snap all those angles, a panorama we took of a park stitched together really well, with just a couple of points where nearby trees and the ground didn't quite match up.

When it comes to 1080p video, the G Pro's camera is no slouch. The phone captured smooth, sharp images in a variety of situations, from a city street with passing cars to men and women wandering around a park during lunch hour.

LG's highly touted Dual Recording Mode allows you to shoot videos of both the front and back cameras at the same time, with one of the two sides appearing in a small box overlaid on top of the main video. When we shot a video using the feature near a fountain, both the front- and rear-facing camera feeds offered relatively clear image quality. Unlike Samsung's dual-camera feature, on the Optimus G Pro, you can only record video, not stills.

Video editing

LG's Video Wiz app makes it really easy to create fun music videos out of your stills and clips. Using the app, we created a video using a series of photos and videos we took at Madison Square Park in just a few minutes. First, we picked the photos and clips we wanted to combine and placed them on a timeline. Then we selected background music (which could be any music file, but we chose one of LG's three preloaded songs) and selected the exact section of the song we wanted to loop in the background.

We then chose a transition style from among six types, ranging from "no effects" to "spotlight," which shines a light on your content, or "scrapbook," which makes your video appear on the pages of a scrapbook that's turning between scenes. With very little fuss, the Optimus G Pro created a video of our flowers, a fountain and people passing by, complete with transitions and background music.

Apps

Click to EnlargeIn addition to your garden-variety Android apps, including the Play Store and YouTube, the Optimus G Pro includes a host of apps courtesy of AT&T. You'll find myAT&T, which lets you check your account information, and AT&T Drivemode, which can automatically send auto-replies to text messages, emails or calls with a prewritten message explaining that you are driving. The app can also be set to open whenever you're traveling faster than 25 miles per hour.

Other carrier-specific apps include AT&T Locker, AT&T Navigator, AT&T Mobile Hotspot, AT&T Smart Wi-Fi and Mobile TV. Despite hitting you with a glut of apps, the AT&T still lets you hide these apps from the Apps menu.

Productivity apps included with the Optimus G Pro include Polaris Office 4 and File Manager, which lets you easily manage and find files saved to your phone or microSD card.

MORE: 25 Best Android Apps

4G LTE and Web browsing

Click to EnlargeThe LG Optimus G Pro taps into AT&T's 4G LTE network, which is now available in 207 markets. Download speeds were impressive near our New York City office, but uploads could be better. On Speedtest.net, the G Pro averaged 15.7 Mbps down and 2.7 Mbps up. Websites load times were quite brisk. The mobile version of NYTimes.com popped up in 3.6 seconds, ESPN.com's mobile site loaded in 3.5 seconds. The image-heavy Laptopmag.com loaded in just 4.7 seconds.

Like AT&T's other handsets, the Optimus G Pro comes loaded with a modified version of Android's stock browser. Though there are no functional changes to the browser itself, AT&T does add a share bar at the bottom of the screen that allows for easy sharing to social media sites, including Facebook and Twitter, as well as email and text. If this bar annoys, just use Chrome.

Battery life and call quality

On Our LAPTOP Battery Test, which involves continuous Web surfing over 4G LTE with the display brightness set to 40 percent, the Optimus G Pro's 3,140 mAh battery lasted 5 hours and 53 minutes, slightly better than the Galaxy S4's time of 5:49. The HTC One, meanwhile, lasted 5:55. None of the three, however, lasted longer than the smartphone category average of 6:05.

Call quality over AT&T's voice network was clear whether talking to a caller over a landline or cellphone. Speakerphone quality was equally good even outside near a busy street corner.

Verdict

Click to EnlargeThe Optimus G Pro is a big-screen beast of a smartphone with a boatload of features that will make power users quite happy. Its 5.5-inch 1080p display offers a bright and colorful picture, and we appreciate camera features such as Dual Recording and Time Machine. And while its benchmark results were a bit lower than Samsung's Galaxy S4 and HTC's One, the Optimus G Pro still offers smooth quad-core performance.

Our biggest issue with the Optimus G Pro is that the U.S. version is stripped of some of our favorite features found on the international version, such as additional QSlide options. We also found the device difficult to use with one hand, and wish that the remote control capability was as robust as HTC's and Samsung's offerings. Those complaints aside, the Optimus G Pro is a solid pick if you're looking for a powerful big-screen phablet.

• Top 10 Smartphones Available Now
• 10 Smartphones with the Longest Battery Life
• Top 10 Smartphones and Tablets of Mobile World Congress 2013 

HTC and Facebook have teamed up to unveiled the first phone to come preloaded with Facebook's new Android launcher called Home. Appropriately named the First, the phone highlights Facebook's social-centric Android experience.

The device retails for $99.99 with a new two-year contract and comes in four colors; red, white, light blue and black. It has a 5-inch super LCD3 screen with Gorilla Glass, a dual-core Qualcomm 8930AA 1.4 GHz processor, 16 GB internal storage, 1GB RAM, a 5MP rear camera, and a 1.6MP front-facing camera. The First has a smooth, matte back, and rounded corners reminiscent of the first iPhones. The design is clean, simple, and, frankly, a bit boring.

At a lunch event, Facebook employees showed off the HTC First and Facebook Home, the social network’s home screen launcher. During the demo, the phone was snappy and responsive swiping through photos or apps, thanks to the dual-core Snapdragon processor. The screen was clear and crisp, and colors looked natural.

A Facebook representative walked us through the experience of waking the phone and using Cover Feed. After tapping the wake button, she showed the notifications that appear on the first screen. With a simple swipe, she was able to hide one or all of the pop up notices. When she tapped on a notification, the corresponding app launched.

We also saw how easy it is to use Cover Feed which includes photos, status updates, and links that your friends share to their Facebook feed. The Facebook employee swiped right to show each Cover Feed update, and showed that if you tap on a photo it will zoom out to show the entire image. Every Cover Feed page is dedicated to one update and shows either a full screen version of the photo shared, or your friend’s cover photo if they share a link or status.

Finally, the demo showed that after swiping through every Cover Feed update, an app shortcut screen pops up where you can add most-used apps for quick access. Swiping past the shortcut screen brings up the full app drawer, which looks just like stock Android.

The most striking feature of Facebook Home, as seen in the demo, is that the launcher fills your screen with Facebook content. Even the Android notifications screen is hidden away, accessible by a quick swipe down from any screen. Though it hardly looks anything like typical Android, Facebook Home's design is clean and easy to navigate.

For a reasonable price of $99 with a new contract, the HTC First looks like it will be an attractive choice for those who really, really want to keep on top of their Facebook activity. Android power users probably won't gravitate towards such a social experience, however, because Facebook really does dominate the phone.

• 5 Reasons You Shouldn't Call Facebook Home
• How to Use Facebook Home Chat Heads

A phablet with big ambitions, LG's Optimus G Pro combines an impressive 5.5-inch 1080p display and a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor with an impressive set of proprietary applications. With strong productivity features that let you run several apps on top of each other and a suite of helpful camera apps, this phone's software is even more attractive than its powerful components. Is this the right big-screen phone for you?

Note: We conducted this review using a Korean version of the LG Optimus G Pro, which was not optimized for use on U.S. networks. We'll review the product again when the Optimus G Pro launches on U.S. carriers later this year.

Design

Click to EnlargeLike its main competitor, the Samsung Galaxy S4, the LG Optimus G has a shiny plastic body that's highly functional, but won't win any design awards. Available in black or white, the sides of the Optimus G Pro are adorned with chrome accents, while the back has a subtle, yet attractive checkerboard pattern.

Measuring 5.8 x 3 x 0.37 inches and 6.2 ounces, the 5.5-inch Optimus G Pro is one of the larger phones on the market, dwarfing the 4.7-inch, 5-ounce HTC One and the 4.8-inch, 4.7-ounce Galaxy S III. The Samsung Galaxy Note II is taller and wider (5.9 x 3.2 x 0.37 inches) and weighs a bit more at 6.4 ounces.

Click to EnlargeWhen we held it in our hands, the Optimus G Pro seemed quite large physically, but perhaps because its mass is spread out over a larger area, the plastic handset felt lighter than the aluminum HTC One. Nevertheless, we had to stretch our thumb to reach all corners of the screen when using the device one-handed.

Like Samsung's Galaxy phones, a capacitive back button, a hard clickable home button and a capacitive menu button sit beneath the display. Annoyingly, the two capacitive buttons on our white unit were completely invisible when not lit, though you can set them to remain lit as long as the phone is awake. The hardware home button felt stiff to us, and we don't like that it's recessed. However, this button offers a neat special effect: a ring of light around it that blinks different colors to alert you to different things (example: blinking green means you have a notification).

Pressing the menu button opens a list of settings instead of the layers (aka task switching button) that Google and Motorola use on their Android devices. To get a list of open tasks, we had to hold down the home button. Unfortunately, there's no way to get to Google Now using the navigation buttons; you have to tap the Google search widget on the home screen.

Click to EnlargeLG has made a couple of interesting choices with the Optimus G Pro's ports. On the left side, above the volume rocker, the company placed a programmable shortcut button called the QButton, which launches QMemo by default but can be set to launch any app. The top has a 3.5mm headphone jack, an infrared port for controlling your home theater and, on our Korean review unit, a telescoping antenna for receiving TV Korean broadcasts that's unlikely to appear in the North American version. Unlike many other phones, the Optimus G Pro has a removable back panel with a user-replaceable battery and a microSD card slot for memory expansion.

Display and Audio

Click to EnlargeThe Optimus G Pro's 5.5-inch, 1080p screen provided sharp images and wide viewing angles throughout our testing. With a measurement of 372 lux on our light meter, the screen was bright enough to read the screen in direct sunlight. While this score is well above the category average of 299 lux, it fell short of the HTC One's reading of 463 lux, which also produced richer colors.

When we played a 1080p trailer for "The Avengers" on both the HTC One and the Optimus G Pro, hues such as the red in Black Widow's hair or the blue in Captain America's uniform seemed colder and less vibrant. Because it fits the same amount of pixels in a smaller space, the images also seemed a bit sharper on the One's 4.7-inch screen.

While it won't replace your stereo, sound coming from the Optimus G Pro's rear-mounted speaker was loud enough to fill a small room. When we played a classical music piece that came bundled with the device, sound was fairly accurate but flat. However, when we tried listening to the guitar-laden "Holy Diver," sounds were harsh but not tinnier than most.

Keyboard

Click to EnlargeThe Optimus G Pro's virtual keyboard is distinguished by its tiny keys. While having lots of empty space between the keys made it less likely that we'd hit an adjacent key by accident, we wish the buttons were a bit larger, particularly the microscopic space bar, which wasn't much bigger than a single letter key in either portrait or landscape mode. On the bright side, the keyboard supports haptic feedback, though we wish the level of feedback were a bit higher.

Click to EnlargeHitting a pen button to the left of the keyboard activates handwriting recognition mode, which provides a small scribble space where you can write letters with your finger and watch as the system turns them into ASCII text. We were impressed with how accurate the optical character recognition was -- it even turned a messy version of our nonstandard name "Avram" into the right text a couple of times -- but it didn't always pick up the correct words. We wish the Optimus G Pro came with a pen, so we could write more accurately.

Software and Interface

Click to EnlargeThe LG Optimus G Pro runs a heavily skinned version of Android 4.1.2 Jellybean. The default theme, appropriately named Optimus, consists of a rather bland wallpaper image of some glass spheres with clouds inside of them, against an abstract light blue and gray background. The overall look and feel reminds us of Samsung's TouchWiz. If you don't like that theme or its icons, you can choose between three other equally inoffensive but rather dull-looking themes.

Independently of the theme, you can also choose a system from one of eight system fonts. Though LG's SmartGothic was the default on our phone, we prefer Roboto font, which is the typeface Google uses in stock Android.

Click to EnlargeThe Optimus G Pro's lock screen is both functional and attractive. On top of its wallpaper, our review unit had a colorful photo of red cherries, a set of clock widgets, network status and five customizable shortcuts, so you can unlock directly to the camera, phone dialer or app of your choosing. We were particularly impressed with the default unlock animation, which slowly reveals the contents of the phone screen in an expanding bubble as you swipe up. Using settings, you can configure the clock widgets, shortcuts, wallpaper and even the animation.

Like most Android phones, the Optimus G Pro has a series of shortcut icons at the bottom of each of its seven desktops. These are configurable, of course, but on our review unit they defaulted to contacts, the Web browser, SMS messaging, a video editor named Video Wiz and the apps menu.

The apps menu has some unique options in its settings menu, which allow you to choose between small and large icons, to change the wallpaper behind the icons and to sort by download date or alphabetically. You can search your list of installed apps from the menu.

QSlide

Click to EnlargeOur favorite of LG's many custom features is QSlide, which allows you to run up to two of seven possible LG applications in their own draggable, resizable windows that sit in a layer on top of the desktop. Each Qslide app can be toggled back and forth between full screen mode and windows mode and can be made transparent so you see and can interact with the application running behind it. QSlide applications on our Korean review unit included a Web browser, video player, memo pad, calendar and calculator, along with QVoice voice command software that only responds to Korean and a TV player that doesn't work in the U.S.

We particularly enjoyed looking up information in the floating browser window while answering emails below and writing notes on our to-do list in another window. We also enjoyed playing a video on top of the screen while we performed other tasks below. Many third-party apps in the Google Play store can provide you with floating browsers, calculators or video players, but QSlide apps are more attractive and functional and have the transparency feature.

Samsung's Multi Window feature doesn't offer transparency, either, but you have more apps to choose from when it comes to running two on screen at the same time. The Sprint version of the Note II, for instance, includes 11 apps for Multi Window versus seven for QSlide. Plus, Samsung's feature integrates with third-party apps, like Polaris Office, Gmail and Google Talk.

Notification Drawer

Click to EnlargeLG has added perhaps the largest and most functional notification drawer of any Android handset maker. While some may consider the three to four rows of controls that appear when you swipe down from the top to be overkill, we appreciate having so many functions right at our fingertips. The top row contains a scrollable list of icons that control everything from the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to the NFC chip and hotspot capability. While most of these icons simply toggle functions on and off, a few launch apps, including QMemo, QVoice and QRemote.

The second row of icons in the notification drawer consists of shortcuts to LG's seven QSlide apps, while a third row has a brightness slider and checkbox to toggle automatic brightness. We particularly appreciated the slider, because it displays the exact brightness percentage (example: 47 percent) where many other phones just show a bar. If enabled, a small music widget appears below the brightness slider with an album cover, progress bar and play/pause, forward and back buttons. Below that, you'll find any notifications from your apps.

QMemo

Click to EnlargeFor a device without stylus support, the LG Optimus G Pro has a fair amount of note-taking and drawing functionality. Available directly from the notification drawer, QMemo takes a screenshot and allows you to scribble all over it in the color and pen width of your choice. You can either save these memos directly to the gallery as images, or to the notebook app, which itself stores a series of multipage notes.

You can also enable overlay mode, which keeps your drawing floating as a layer on top of the screen as you perform other tasks. So if you really want to remind yourself to "call mom," you can leave that scribbled on top of everything else until you're done.

QRemote

Click to EnlargeLike the Galaxy S4 and HTC One, the LG Optimus G Pro comes with an infrared port that turns your phone into a remote control for your TV, cable box and the rest of your home theater. Unfortunately, the QRemote software is extremely limited in comparison to the applications provided by its competitors. Unlike Samsung and HTC, which provide full program guides and, in Samsung's case, the ability to search its video store, QRemote provides little more than a set of virtual buttons for changing the channel, the volume and the video source.

Click to EnlargeConfiguring QRemote to work with a new device was simple enough. We simply selected a room of the house (living room, bedroom, etc.), chose the type of device we wanted to control, then the brand. The software then invited us to test whether we could power on/off the device and use some of its other controls. In our tests, we were able to successfully add a Motorola cable box and an LG TV, but QRemote did not recognize a Samsung cable box on the Time Warner network. Even with the cable box it did recognize, the software did not provide a button for the cable Guide, only the settings, channel and volume.

QTranslate

Click to EnlargeTranslation apps are fast becoming table stakes in the Android smartphone race. Samsung's recently announced Galaxy S4 has voice translation and the ability to translate emails and text messages built-in. Google makes its own Google Translate app and LG has QTranslator on the Optimus G Pro. Using QTranslator, you can hover the camera over words on a piece of paper or sign and get translations as you move.

However, in our brief testing, QTranslator was not perfect. First, we had to choose which language we were translating from, a problem if you don't know whether the menu in front of you is Chinese Traditional, Chinese Simplified or something else. Second, we had to wait a couple of seconds as we hovered over each word and QTranslator pulled a translation down from the cloud. The app makes available offline dictionaries, which can speed up translation time and include accuracy, but you need to buy these; they were around 3,500 wan (around $3 U.S.) on our Korean review unit.

QTranslator's online translations, which come from Google Translate's database, were highly accurate. When we scanned a Chinese language flash card with some words and phrases on it, the app translated three out of four phrases correctly.

Performance

Click to EnlargeWith its 1.7-GHz, quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 CPU and 2GB of RAM, the LG Optimus G Pro offers blazing fast performance. Whether we were editing video, surfing the Web or swiping through the gallery, performance was smooth and seamless with no awkward pauses. When we played the graphically intense Jetski racing game "Riptide GP," images were sharp and motion smooth as we zoomed around the track.

On Quadrant, a synthetic benchmark that measures overall CPU performance, the LG Optimus G Pro scored a strong mark of 12,075, well above the 3,674 category average, the Galaxy Note II's mark of 5,763 and the Galaxy S III's score of 5,159. However, the HTC One, which has the same CPU, scored just a little higher, at 12,426.

The Optimus G Pro scored a solid 7,556 on the graphics-oriented An3DBench test, much better than the 7,111 smartphone category average and the Samsung Galaxy S III (7,272). However, the HTC One managed a stronger 7,724, as did the Galaxy Note II (7,707).

Camera

Click to EnlargeThe LG Optimus G Pro's 13-MP rear-facing camera took sharp, detailed images in good to slightly dim lighting conditions, but produced somewhat noisy pictures in low light. When we shot images outdoors during the day and early evening, colors were accurate but not particularly vibrant. Indoor shots in good light were also sharp, but colors such as skin tones and clothing had a bit of a yellow tinge. When we shot some photos of a baby in very low light, his features were clear and detailed but the image suffered from some visual noise.

The 2-MP front-facing camera captured sharp, detailed images of our face in bright light but washed out our features in dark rooms or with a light source behind us.

Click to EnlargeLG packs the camera with a slew of helpful photo and video capture features that dramatically improve the picture-taking experience. Our favorite of these features is Time Machine mode, which captures five additional pictures from the time right before you snap your picture, so you can go back and save any of those "missing moments."

When shooting pics of a toddler, we found Time Machine mode particularly useful, because our subject had usually turned his face away and stopped doing something cute by the time we hit the shutter button. Even so, we were able to get images of his smiling face among the five possible "missing moments" the program displayed. Unfortunately, once you take your next picture you lose the opportunity to retrieve missed moments from the previous shot.

Click to EnlargeThe Optimus G Pro's camera isn't particularly fast. Though it supports burst mode, the camera took 2 seconds to shoot individual images, whether you're on the first picture of a session or subsequent shots. Compare that to HTC's One series of phones, which takes 0.7 seconds for the first shot and even less for the second and beyond. Also, when shooting in burst mode, all the images are automatically saved in the gallery, without a way to easily choose only the best shots from a series and discard the rest.

Unlike some competitors that provide a ton of filters, LG offers only a few simple options such as sepia, negative image and monochrome. A feature called Beauty Shot supposedly smoothes out skin on pictures of people, but we didn't notice much of a difference when using it.

Click to EnlargeTaking a wide image with Panorama mode was a snap; the Optimus G Pro's software simply directed us to rotate the phone around slowly and then stitched together an extremely accurate image when it had gathered enough data. Panoramas we shot in both an outdoor setting and a roomful of moving people both stitched together accurately, without blur or distortion.

Panorama VR mode allows you to capture more than just a straight horizontal band of images, as you can take pictures both above and below your original position. Though it took much longer to snap all those angles, an image we took of a rooftop stitched together really well, with just a couple of points where the railing on the roof didn't quite match up.

When it comes to video, the 13-MP camera is no slouch, capturing smooth, sharp images in a variety of situations, from a city street with cars running down it at midday to a baby pushing his own stroller in sunlight. When we shot a video of the same baby playing in his crib in a dark room, the image had some noise. However, when we enabled WDR recording mode, the image became much brighter and cleaner.

[sc:video id="52bjJqcTriUUanKxoDzUvwimCSMZyN2G" width="575" height="398"]

LG's highly touted Dual Recording mode allows you to shoot videos of both the front and back cameras at the same time, with one of the two sides appearing in a small box overlayed on top of the main video. Unfortunately, we found that most of the time, the image of our face was covered in shadow. Whether we were standing on a roof filming the street below or teasing an infant in a sunny room, our visage was dark even when the content from the main camera was bright and colorful. Unlike Samsung's dual-camera feature, on the Optimus G Pro you can only record video, not stills.

Video Editing

Once you've recorded videos, LG provides a couple of compelling apps to help you edit them. The tersely named Video Editor allows you to cut videos, stitch them together, add soundtracks or even overlay text.

Click to EnlargeVideo Wiz makes it really easy to create fun music videos out of your stills and clips. Using the app, we were able to create a cute music video of our infant son in just a couple of minutes. First, we picked the clips we wanted to combine and placed them on a timeline. Then we selected background music, (which could be any music file but we chose one of LG's three preloaded songs) and selected the exact section of the song we wanted to loop in the background.

We then chose a transition style from among six types, ranging from "no effects" to "spotlight," which shines a light on your content, or "scrapbook," which makes your video appear on the pages of a scrapbook that's turning between scenes. Within a couple of minutes, we had a fun little video of a baby crawling around with a set of frequent transition effects -- the app decides when and where to place the transitions -- and background music. We could preview the clip right away, but exporting to the gallery took about 3 minutes.

NFC Support

Built into the back of the Optimus G Pro is an NFC chip that can be used with Wi-Fi Direct and Android Beam to transfer data from one device to another. However, it wouldn't work with an LG wireless-charging pad.

Battery Life and Call Quality

While riding on AT&T's 3G network, our LG Optimus G Pro's 3,140 mAh battery lasted a respectable 6 hours and 49 minutes, comfortably above the 6 hour and 5-minute smartphone category average and about on par with the HTC One's time of 6:45 minutes.

However, our LG Optimus Pro review unit was optimized for Korean carrier SK Telecom, so it's hard to tell whether the actual endurance will be better or worse when we test a handset that's been made specifically for an American carrier with 4G LTE. Call quality on AT&T's network was crystal clear when we dialed a friend on a landline.

Verdict

Click to EnlargeWith its powerful processor, billboard-like screen and powerful set of software utilities, LG's Optimus G Pro is one of the most feature-packed smartphones yet. We especially like the enhancements LG has made to QSlide for multitasking. However, some may question the need for such a large display without the benefit a stylus. And while there are a ton of camera features, the Optimus G Pro doesn't take the best pictures in low light.

Those who want a smaller handset might want to consider the HTC One, which has a better screen, more premium design and takes brighter photos. However, the One lacks the Optimus G Pro's removable battery and exciting suite of custom apps. Shoppers should also consider the upcoming 5-inch Samsung Galaxy S4 (which packs even more into a one-hand-friendly design) or wait to see what the Galaxy Note 3 has in store. However, if you want a big-screen phone with plenty of performance and great productivity features, the LG Optimus G Pro should be near the top of your list.

• Top 10 Smartphones Available Now
• 10 Smartphones with the Longest Battery Life
• Top 10 Smartphones and Tablets of Mobile World Congress 2013

In 2012, the HTC One X was the flagship Android phone that didn't get enough respect. Despite offering a much brighter screen and a more premium design than the Galaxy S III, Samsung ran away with the smartphone race. With the HTC One, the company hopes to shake its bridesmaid status with a bold new home screen with streaming content and an Ultrapixel camera that isn't afraid of the dark. You can even use the One as a TV remote. The aluminum design is pretty sexy, too, complete with a full HD display and powerful dual speakers. Does the One make enough noise this time around to be heard above the Galaxy din?

Editors' Note: Because we tested the international version of the HTC One for this review, we did not evaluate 3G/4G performance. When it becomes available in the U.S., the phone will be offered through AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile.

[sc:video id="tlcHA1cTr6HscerranISZriE7U53FaW-" width="575" height="398"]

Design

Click to EnlargeThe HTC One is the first Android phone that rivals the iPhone 5 in terms of build quality and fit and finish. Just put this phone in your hand and you'll understand why HTC says it takes 200 minutes to machine-cut each unit.

Using a process called zero-gap injection molding, the One combines an aluminum front and back with polycarbonate on the sides, top and bottom, resulting in a handset that feels super solid. Premium accents abound, including the polished chamfered edges, the spun-metal volume rocker and the etched antennas on the back of the phone. Just don't expect a removable back for swapping out the battery or a microSD Card slot.

Click to EnlargeNow, here's something clever: The power button on the One's top doubles as an IR blaster for controlling your cable box or TV. Here you'll also find the headphone jack. The volume control, which is almost too flush with the unit, sits on the right side, while the left side houses only the SIM Card tray. A microUSB port lines the bottom of the phone.

Weighing 5.04 ounces and measuring 5.4 x 2.7 x 0.36 inches, the HTC One feels fairly light for a handset that's not plastic, but it's not anywhere near as compact as the iPhone 5 or Droid RAZR M. You'll definitely have to shift the phone in your hand to reach the power button up top and menu buttons down below. Nevertheless, we found the design pleasant to hold because of the way the back curves upward toward the edges.

Click to EnlargeThe One is slightly heavier but thinner than the Droid DNA (5.5 x 2.7 x 0.38), which has a larger 5-inch screen. The Galaxy S III (4.7 ounces, 0.34 inches) is thinner and lighter than the One but it's also all plastic.

We're not fans of the button placement beneath the display. HTC opted to place an HTC logo right in the middle, which doesn't do anything, flanked by a Back button on the left and a Home button on the right. The previous HTC One X had a dedicated recent app button, which made it easier to multitask. Those with smaller hands will find they'll need to stretch their thumbs to activate these buttons.

MORE: Samsung Galaxy S4 vs. HTC One

Display

Click to EnlargeYou'd be hard-pressed to find a more gorgeous screen on a smartphone. The HTC One's 4.7-inch Super LCD 3 display offers full 1080p resolution, which translates to an impressive 468 pixels per inch. Text looks ultra-crisp on this panel, whether you're viewing the app menu or websites like NYTimes.com.

When viewing the HD trailer for "Star Trek Into Darkness," we could make out every wrinkle and pockmark on Chris Pine's face. Though blacks could be darker, explosions were a fiery orange and red, popping off the screen. Overall, viewing angles are very wide from every direction, although reflections were slightly distracting.

The HTC One's display registered an impressive 463 lux on our light meter, which is lower than the iPhone 5 (525 lux) but on a par with the HTC One X + (462 lux) and well above the category average (299 lux). The DNA registered 311 lux.

Audio

HTC calls the HTC One's dual front stereo speakers BoomSound, and it's very fitting indeed. When streaming The Killers' "Mr. Brightside" on Slacker, the phone delivered very powerful audio, filling our office with sound, even at half volume. With the Beats audio setting enabled, both Brandon Flowers' vocals and the bass had more presence.

During the "Star Trek" trailer, the soundtrack and voiceover had a haunting impact. This phone is one of the few that sounds even better when you crank up the volume. With the supplied Beats headphones, the Goo Goo Dolls' "Slide" sounded better with the Beats audio setting off; John Rzenik's vocals became overwhelmed by the drums.

New Sense Interface

Click to EnlargeHTC's new Sense software, which rides on top of Android 4.1.2, has a completely new look. A cross between Windows Phone's Live Tiles and Flipboard, the new BlinkFeed feature streams news and social updates to the HTC One's home screen. A setup wizard invites you to choose from several popular news brands (including AP, The Huffington Post, ESPN and Engadget) or you can select topic categories (Trending Topics, Business, Politics, etc).

The main home screen consists of a series of panels of varying sizes. If you tap on a story, you'll see a snippet of an article, and you can then choose to view the original story. Social updates (which tend to be smaller tiles) take you to Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn for HTC Sense apps.

Click to EnlargeSome may find the BlinkFeed stream too busy, but you can always swipe to the right to access a more traditional home screen with app icons. Or you can relegate the BlinkFeed screen to a secondary home screen. Part of us wishes that HTC would let you access your mail via a BlinkFeed widget, but at least the UI shows upcoming appointments.

The top of the main home screen includes toned-down versions of the clock and weather widget, along with options for posting to Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter, searching BlinkFeed, and Settings. The lock screen of the HTC One has a more modern look and feel, too, with the time and weather on the bottom along with four customizable shortcuts.

Click to EnlargeThe app menu has cleaner-looking icons and a tighter font than previous Android phones, and you have the option to change the grid size from 3 x 4 (which shows fewer apps) to 4 x 5; we prefer the latter. Our only complaint is that the shortcuts for Search, the Play Store and options such as Grid size remain hidden until you scroll all the way up on the app screen.

The notification menu on the HTC One looks more Nexus-like -- in a good way, with a quick toggle for the Power saver option and a Settings icon. Too bad you can't tweak the brightness, engage airplane mode and change other settings right from within the notification drawer, as you can on the Galaxy line.

If you didn't like HTC's 3D carousel for multitasking, you'll appreciate Sense's new approach. Double tapping the home button displays apps you have open in a 3 x 3 grid, and all you have to do to close an app is swipe up on the thumbnail. Long pressing the Home button launches Google Now.

Sense TV

Click to EnlargeNow that more and more people have their smartphones handy when they're watching TV, why not let them use their handset as a remote control? That's the thinking behind Sense TV, which leverage's Peel's software to let you see what's on and change the channel without touching your traditional clicker. The IR blaster behind the power button does all of the work.

Click to EnlargeSetting up Sense TV was fairly simple. Once we entered our ZIP code and cable provider, the HTC One downloaded the channel listings for our area. We were also asked to pick some of our favorite programs, which the software would automatically surface if they were airing. After we selected our cable-box brand and TV brand, Sense TV let us tune in a show just by tapping on a thumbnail, which is much easier than using a traditional program guide. We could also access our cable-box menu to look up On Demand content and access recorded content on our DVR.

If you want to learn more about a show, you can just tap the three dots underneath the photo. From there, you can favorite a program or share what you're watching via social networks, but you can't tell the HTC One to tell your cable box to start recording from this menu. You have to jump over to the separate remote-control menu. Overall, though, Sense TV makes it easy to find good stuff to watch.

Keyboard

Click to EnlargeHTC's keyboard proved fast and mostly accurate when typing URLs and messages. By default, the One provided light haptic feedback, just enough to offer a more tactile experience without slowing us down. As you type you'll see suggestions appear above the keyboard, which are easy to select. The Trace option lets you swipe from one letter to the next to enter words, working smoothly in our testing.

Performance

If you're wondering whether the new Sense software slows down the HTC One, you'll be pleasantly surprised to learn that this smartphone flies. Powered by a 1.7-GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor paired with 2GB of RAM, the One lets us zoom through stories on the BlinkFeed, open apps quickly and switch apps with little to no lag.

Click to EnlargeThe HTC One proved its mettle in benchmarks like Quadrant, which measures graphics, memory and I/O performance. The phone scored a whopping 12,426, which is much higher than the HTC One X Plus' mark of 7,568 (1.7-GHz Nvidia Tegra 3) and the Droid DNA's 7,011 (1.5-GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4 CPU). This showing is also more than double the Galaxy Note II's 5,763 (1.6-GHz Exynos).

For those scoring at home, that's off-the-charts fast, but we expect other flagship phones such as the Galaxy S IV and the Optimus G Pro to be in the same ballpark.

The One also blazed through the An3DBench graphics test, notching 7,724. That's better than the HTC One X Plus (7,488) but only a little higher than the Galaxy Note II (7,707).

The HTC One X doesn't come with expandable memory, but it does offer 32GB to start with a 64GB option. Also, consumers will get 25GB of Dropbox storage free for two years.

MORE: 12 Worst Android Annoyances and How to Fix Them

Camera and Camcorder

[sc:video id="NrcTJqcToJQKhK-uQAWi5XZ1TIh7vB8b" width="625" height="456"]

HTC is out to bust the megapixel myth once and for all with the Ultrapixel camera inside the One. Yes, it's just a marketing term, but this smartphone leverages a larger sensor than other handsets and an f/2.0 aperture lens to capture 300 percent more light. In other words, you don't have to engage the flash to get a good-looking photo in low-light settings.

To test the Ultrapixel camera we attempted to capture an image of a Lexus pulling out of a gas station just after dusk. Surprisingly, the image looked fairly bright. While the photo appeared fuzzy when we zoomed in, it was certainly good enough to share. Another shot we took of a painting with minimal ambient light looked much sharper than what the iPhone 5 could muster.

Click to EnlargeWhen there was plenty of light outdoors, the One delivered mixed results. When we captured a mailbox with graffiti scrawled all over it, we could easily see where there were extra gobs of blue paint, and the layers of silver and white from various artists' signatures popped. However, when zoomed in to 100 percent, a sticker on the side of the mailbox looked more pixelated than on the iPhone 5.

Click to EnlargeThe One's HDR mode came in handy when shooting a bunch of flowers right near a window indoors, but resulted in some trade-offs. With HDR off, we couldn't even tell that there was a wood wall in the background. With HDR on, details in rose petals were much more pronounced, but the red looked less rich. Plus, some of the brighter flowers got blown out.

As with previous HTC phones, the One can capture photos continuously in a rapid-fire fashion, as well as take stills while you're recording video. The 1080p footage we captured of New York City traffic looked crystal clear and smooth. There's also an HDR option for video, but we didn't see much of a difference.

Activating the front-facing 1080p camera, which offers a wide-angle 88-degree lens, is as easy as swiping down from the top of the screen with the camera app. The One accurately captured the rich red bricks behind us, as well as the dark circles under our eyes.

Click to EnlargeHTC has redesigned its Gallery app to make browsing through your photos and videos feel more dynamic. For example, if you use the Event view the HTC One will automatically build a highlight reel of a given day's photos and videos, stitching everything together for you. You can always go in and remove certain content. The finished product looks pretty polished, complete with several theme choices with their own music. Alas, you can't choose your own tracks yet.

Zoes

We know what you're thinking: What the heck is a Zoe? By pressing the Zoe button on the left side of the camera app, the HTC one will capture 20 still frames along with 3 seconds of video. Plus, the camera starts a second before you press the button and finishes 2 seconds after you press stop, which means you're less likely to miss an important moment. The idea is that you'll want to share your Zoes, and HTC enables just that with a dedicated online portal (zoeshare.htc.com).

We had some fun by capturing a high-five between two colleagues, then sharing to Facebook. Others can't view your Zoe on Facebook or Twitter; they'll have to click on it to visit the Zoe site. Moreover, you can't like a Zoe or comment on it on HTC's portal. There is a neat viral aspect to Zoes, but right now it sort of feels like Vine-lite.

Click to EnlargeOne of the coolest things about Zoes is that you can edit them into Sequence shots, which means you can compose an image that contains several shots of the same moving subject in the frame. You just have to make sure you keep the camera still. HTC also includes an Object removal option if you want to take a certain something from the frame. We were able to remove a car from a Zoe in the background with a tap.

Apps

Click to EnlargeGiven that we tested a non-carrier branded version of the HTC One, the phone was refreshingly light on apps. Some of the more unique and compelling options, including the 7digital music store (we'll have to see if this is offered in the U.S.), Notes (which synchronizes audio recordings with your notes and integrates with Evernote), and Ploaris Office.

You'll also find Watch for downloading movies and TV shows, Dropbox, TuneIn Radio and a Parent Dashboard app from Zoodles that gives the HTC One a Kid mode. The Rescue App provides remote technical support. HTC's Weather, FM Radio and News apps are also on board.

MORE: 25 Best Android Apps

Battery Life and Call Quality

Click to EnlargeWith a 2,300 mAh battery, we weren't expecting a lot of endurance out of the HTC One. The good news is that the handset lasted 6 hours and 45 minutes on the LAPTOP Battery Test, which involves continuous Web surfing on 40 percent brightness. That's a half hour longer than the 6:05 smartphone average. However, we had to run our test on AT&T's 3G network because the international variant of the One doesn't support 4G LTE, which sucks down power faster. We would expect at least a half hour less battery life for the One on LTE.

Fortunately, HTC offers a Power Saver mode that can do things like conserve CPU usage, reduce brightness and put the data connection to sleep with the screen is off. We'll update this review once we've run our battery test with Power Saver engaged.

The One comes with HTC SenseVoice, which increases call volume and quality in noisy environments. When we made a call to a landline, the caller said we sounded a bit digitized, as did he. However, the One was very good at blocking ambient noise; even when a big rig rumbled past us, the caller never heard it.

Verdict

Click to EnlargeHTC took two pretty big risks with the HTC One in an effort to stand out against Samsung and other Android competitors. The company sacrificed sheer resolution in the Ultrapixel camera for brighter images and it re-imagined the home screen with BlinkFeed, streaming news and social updates instead of just presenting static apps. Despite some trade-offs, both gambles paid off in our book, answering one of the chief complaints smartphone owners have about their cameras while entertaining them in between photo opps.

HTC also deserves credit for integrating remote-control functionality for your TV watching pleasure and for delivering the best-sounding speakers we've ever heard on a smartphone. Most important, this is a device we'd proudly carry, thanks to its exquisitely beautiful industrial design. We just wish HTC had decided not to ditch the recent apps button and that it had included wireless- charging capability, especially since battery life over 4G LTE will likely be shorter than other phones. Although the Samsung Galaxy S IV looms large, the HTC One is a very satisfying smartphone.

• Top 10 Smartphones Available Now
• Top 10 iPhone Alternatives
• Guide to Smartphones

When Qualcomm first announced that its next-generation Snapdragon 800 series processors would run at a maximum clock speed of 2.3-GHz, we were instantly blown away. After all, that would make the chip one of the fastest in the land. But the Snapdragon 800 is more than just a speed demon. This processor also packs a wide array of impressive features that sound too good to be true, including the ability to capture and output 4K photos and videos, run high-quality games, play 7.1 Dolby audio and enable 4G LTE Advanced connectivity. To get a closer look at this processing behemoth, we stopped by Qualcomm's booth here at Mobile World Congress 2013 to see what the future of mobile tech holds.

4K Video Capture and Playback

The tech buzzword, er, phrase, of the moment is "4K resolution." TV manufacturers ranging from LG to Samsung are all working on their own 4K TVs sporting the latest in super sharp, high definition technology. At four times the pixel density of a standard 1080p display, 4K images and videos require serious horsepower to run smoothly. And yet somehow Qualcomm has managed to get its Snapdragon 800 to do just that.

Not only that, but the chip is also capable of capturing video and images in 4K and outputting them to a 4K display via HDMI. During one demo, Qualcomm representatives showed us a clip from the film "Life of Pi" in 4K resolution running off of a Snapdragon 800-powered Android tablet, and at no point did we notice any lag. During a second demonstration, we used a Snapdragon 800-equipped phone to capture 4K pictures of a Qualcomm representative and immediately transfer them to a 4K television.

Carrier Aggregation

Next we checked out the processor's ability to run a 4G LTE Advanced data connection. Such data speeds, which can reach as high as 145 Mbps, are possible as a result of a technique Qualcomm is using called carrier aggregation, which combines a carrier's radio channels across non-adjacent bands.

So what can a 145 Mbps data connection do for you? How about stream 4K resolution video as Qualcomm did during our demo? Qualcomm says it's not just making changes to its chipset to bring users such high data speeds, the chip-maker is also working with carriers to improve their networks efficiently and bring LTE Advanced to market in the not-too-distant future.

Mobile Gaming Powerhouse

Of course, we would be remiss if we didn't check out how well the Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 can handle mobile gaming. So we stopped by the company's gaming kiosk where we saw the Snapdragon 800 running three games, including the Android game "Modern Combat."

What really blew our socks off was the number of polygons the processor was able to handle while running a game demo of a group of dragons attacking a castle. At one point during the demo the lead dragon spits out a stream of fire that, when viewing the game as a collection of wire frames, turned into a seemingly infinite number of polygons.

After spending some time with the Snapdragon 800, it's clear that Qualcomm's next-generation chip is destined to be one of the most important pieces of silicon in the coming years. From 4K resolution and 7.1 Dolby sound to incredible network speeds and gaming power, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor is in a category all its own.

• Top 10 Smartphones 
• MWC 2013: Complete Coverage
• Top 10 Tablets

Information about LG's forthcoming Optimus G Pro has been trickling out for a while and, luckily for us, the company has finally decided to give us a look at their latest creation. Take a look at that 5.5-inch 1080 HD display, for starters. It features curved glass which gives everything a 2.5D effect according to LG. The phone comes in black or white and has the same digitized  pattern on the back as the LG Nexus 4.

The company didn't release the full specs yet, but its Korean press release does mention that the Optimus G Pro uses a quad-core processor, which is most likely the 1.7-GHz Snapdragon processor that was leaked last week. The processor will most likely be paired with 2GB of RAM, 32GB of internal storage and a microSD card slot.

While this is technically the Korean version of the LG Optimus G Pro, it is a good indication of what we can expect when it arrives on our shores. A release date has not be set yet for anywhere in the world, but hopefully, we'll get a closer look at it at Mobile World Congress.

via Engadget

• LG Optimus G Pro Leaked: 5.5-inch Screen and Drool-Worthy Specs
• Top 10 Smartphones
• Top 10 iPhone Alternatives

In the growing no-contract phone world, the HTC One SV for Cricket is considered a mid-range device. That's because for $329 you get an Android phone that has many of the latest and greatest features and a monthly plan that won't break the bank. The colorful One SV packs a 1.2-GHz quad-core processor, a 5-MP camera that can shoot continuously and unlimited music downloads via Cricket's Muve service. You get all of that--and LTE, depending on where you live--starting at $50 per month. Find out if the long-term savings is worth the up-front investment.

Design

Click to EnlargeWith its bright red back, plus matching buttons on the front, the HTC One SV is a smartphone with personality. We love the soft-touch finish on this device, which makes the handset easy to grip while resisting fingerprints. The curved corners and tapered edges make the phone look quite sleek.

Measuring 5 x 2.6 x 0.36 inches and weighing 4.3 ounces, the One SV is fairly light and compact for a device with a 4.3-inch display. It's comparable in size and weight to the One VX for AT&T (5.2 x 2.6 x 0.36 inches, 4.4 ounces), which has a slightly larger 4.5-inch screen.

Click to EnlargeThe power button up top is easy to reach, where you'll also find the headphone jack. The volume rocker lines the right side of the One SV, while the bottom houses the microUSB port. Around back you'll find the 5-MP camera and flash inside a dark chrome cutout, and the HTC logo gets a similar treatment.

Our only complaint about the design of the One SV is that the earpiece is so large (also complete with red accents) that it easily got pocket fuzz caught in its grille.

Display and Audio

Click to EnlargeWith its 800 x 480 resolution, the 4.3-inch Super LCD 2 screen on the One SV isn't very sharp compared to HD handsets, but it's fairly bright and offers generous viewing angles. When viewing the high-quality trailer for "World War Z" on YouTube we could make out every furrow in Brad Pritt's concerned brow. Fiery orange explosions also popped.

The One SV registered 446 lux on our light meter, well above the smartphone average (298 lux) and not far away from the One VX (471 lux).

Click to EnlargeDuring the above trailer the haunting soundtrack got very loud through the back-mounted speaker. The Neon Trees' "Everybody Talks" got loud enough for us to hear across a hotel room, but it sounded distorted near the max volume. You're better off plugging in headphones, which is when Beats Audio kicks in. The enhancement really brought out the low end in tracks, but you can always toggle Beats off.

Software and Interface

The bad news is that the HTC One SV is saddled with Android Ice Cream Sandwich instead of the newer Jelly Bean software. That's kind of sad to say in 2013. So, at least for now, you won't be able to take advantage of such features as Google Now and offline voice typing.

Click to EnlargeThe good news is that HTC's Sense 4.0 overlay is as intuitive as ever, even if the icons look a little dated. From the lock screen you can open any of four apps, including the camera, using HTC's ring interface. Just as you'd expect from a Sense phone, there's a large weather clock widget on the main home screen, and you can scroll through open apps by long-pressing the recent apps button beneath the display. Tapping the button quickly displays the menu options for any given app, which took some getting used to.

Swiping down from the top of the screen shows the notification drawer, where you can also access a settings button and the Beats Audio button (if you have headphones plugged in).

Performance

Click to EnlargeEquipped with a 1.2-GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor and 1GB of RAM, the One SV has the chops to go toe-to-toe with some of the faster phones on the market. In the Quadrant benchmark, which measures CPU, graphics and I/O performance, the One SV scored 5,147, well above the 3,379 category average and better than the One VX (5,333), Galaxy S III (4,731) and Droid RAZR M (4,495).

The One SV has plenty of graphics muscle, too. In An3DBench, the device scored 7,200, slightly better than the category average (7,189) and greater than the One VX (7,042) and Galaxy S II (6,994). The RAZR M notched a slightly higher 7,335

In terms of everyday use, the One VS proved responsive, launching the camera in just a second and opening and closing apps quickly. Some apps took longer than we'd like to load, such as HTC's Mail and Calendar apps, but overall we were pleased. We also had fun blasting blood-spewing zombies in the "Dead Trigger" game. Even with several bad guys on the screen at once the animations never became choppy.

4G and Web Browsing

Cricket's 4G LTE network is fairly small right now, limited to 17 cities in six states. So if you live in Arizona, Delaware, Nevada, Philadelphia, Pa., or Texas, you may be able to enjoy fast speeds. Otherwise, you'll be stuck on 3G EV-DO as we were in both Chicago and New York. On the Speedtest.net app we saw decent speeds ranging from 304 Kbps to 1.2 Mbps on downloads and uploads in the 448 Kbps to 688 Kbps range.

The bundled Cricket Browser app is pretty much the same stock HTC browser you'll find on most of the company's other phones. You can quickly access tabs up top next to the address bar and access a Read mode when you just want to scan content without having to zoom in.

Apps

Click to EnlargeCricket bundles several of its own apps with the HTC One SV, some of which you should just skip. A case in point is Cricket Navigator, which costs $5 per month when you can just use Google Navigation for free. Speaking of needless duplication, you'll also find Cricket Storefront, which provides links to graphics and applications. Under Top Games we found a single title, "TextTwist 2," which displayed a very tiny thumbnail when we clicked for more info. Please just use the Google Play Store.

Less offensive are the demo games of "Uno" and "Block Breaker 3 Unlimited." You'll also find Cricket411 (digital Yellow Pages) and MyAccount. HTC's selection of apps includes Dropbox, FM Radio, Friend Stream and People for managing your contacts.

Muve Music

Click to EnlargeIf you haven't heard of Muve Music, you might be pleasantly surprised to learn that Cricket enables subscribers who sign up for a 4G LTE plan to enjoy unlimited music downloads from a huge library of millions of tracks. Partners include Universal, Warner, Sony and EMI, as well as a number of independent labels. Even over 3G, download times were pretty quick, and we liked that we could access tracks in progress from the notification drawer. However, we couldn't pause or skip tracks from that menu, as you can with some other music apps.

It took us a little while to get the hand of the Muve Music app's interface, which looks somewhat crude compared to others we've used. To move back up in the menu tree at any time (say, Artists, My Music, Home) just press and hold toward the top of the screen and select the option you want. Our biggest issue with the app is that it crashed on a couple of occasions, but it's hard to complain too much when you're getting free music.

Camera and Camcorder

As this is an HTC One series phone, the SV's 5-MP camera is full of nifty features. You can snap photos while you're recording video, shoot continuously just by pressing down the shutter and take your pick from lots of fun effects, from Vintage Warm to Posterize.

Click to EnlargeOverall, image quality was mixed. Some shots, such as one we took near the water in Chicago, looked bright and detailed. Another shot of a group of cabs had fairly rich color saturation. However, some indoor shots, such as one we took of our hotel's neatly made bed, came out fuzzy. Same thing goes for a group shot of various snacks; it looked dull until we engaged the flash.

The 1080p camcorder on the One SV captured detailed footage but had trouble tracking fast-moving objects. While we could easily make out the individual lights behind a postal truck's blinker, playback seemed to slow down when moving cars entered the frame. The SV also had a bit of trouble adjusting to the bright sky when we panned up from the street. It took a couple of seconds for clouds to register.

[sc:video id="ByYTNqcTo00lR_exLpAy6_9MJFz9npzN" width="640" height="410"]

We were pleased with the One SV's 720p front-facing camera. It captured warm skin tones when we recorded some quick footage of our face. We just wish it were easier to switch modes; you have to press the settings button and then change the camera from Main to Front.

Call Quality and Battery Life

Click to EnlargeDuring our test calls on Cricket's network, the phone delivered clear call quality on both ends of the line. Even when a big truck was passing us in a moving vehicle the other caller said he didn't detect any background nose. On our end the volume was plenty loud, and because the ear piece is nice and wide we didn't have to futz with the phone to find a sweet spot.

The HTC One SV had an unfair advantage in our battery test because the 4G LTE radio wasn't doing any work. Still, 10 hours and 27 minutes of endurance over 3G when surfing the Web is nothing to sneeze at. We expect this 1800 mAh battery to last at least 7 hours on 4G, as we saw from the similarly equipped One VX. That would be an hour above the smartphone average.

Plans and Value

Cricket's regular/ongoing smartphone data plans contain unlimited voice and texts, plus 1GB of full-speed data on the $50 per month plan; 2.5GB for the $60 plan and 5.0GB for $70 plan. The 4G double-data plan (available for a limited time) offers 2 GB of full-speed 4G data on the $50 per month plan; 5.0GB for the $60 plan and 10 GB for the $70 plan. By comparison, AT&T charges $59.99 per month for 900 minutes and $30 for 3GB of data, or $90 per month. If you opted for the 4G double plan, you would save $960 over two years.

Verdict

Click to EnlargeAt $329, the One SV for Cricket is anything but an impulse buy. After all, you can pick up the nearly identical One VX for AT&T for just $50. However, you'll save a bundle in the long run and still enjoy a premium design, speedy dual-core performance and a feature-rich camera. We can overlook the low-res display on the One VS. What prevents this handset from earning a higher rating is Cricket's limited 4G LTE footprint and that the phone is running older Android Ice Cream Sandwich software. Overall, though, the One VS is a stylish no-contract phone that delivers plenty of value.

• Top 10 Smartphones Available Now
• HTC Windows Phone 8X (Verizon) Review
• Smartphone Buyers' Guide

The Optimus G isn't just the first phone on AT&T to feature a quad-core processor. It's also LG's first legitimate competitor against the Samsung Galaxy S III, the iPhone 5 and other premium smartphones. LG additionally packs this 4.7-inch device with a slew of innovative features focused on performing a number of tasks simultaneously. Throw in AT&T's smoking-fast 4G LTE speed and an eye-popping HD display, and you've got a lean, mean multitasking machine. Read on to discover why the Optimus G is the best device the company has ever made.

Design

Click to EnlargeFor better or worse, one look at the boxy shape of the Optimus G and you know it's an LG. The handset's rear panel features the shiny, geometric pattern that's become synonymous with the brand. The high-gloss factor plays up the pattern as it's held up to a light source, but was quickly marred by our fingerprints. The surface is also slippier than we'd like.

Click to EnlargeAn 8-megapixel camera sits in the left-hand corner, lined by a thin band of chrome. An LED flash sits directly beneath, while a chrome AT&T logo is located in the center. A slim, lone speaker resides in the bottom right corner.

A large, 4.7-inch display holds court in the front of the device, encased by a black bezel. Capacitive touch buttons (Back, Home and Menu) sit along the bottom, with a chrome LG logo at the top. A 1.3 megapixel camera sits in the top right corner.

The sides of the phone are wrapped in dark gray chrome, while the top and bottom are lined in black, ridged plastic. A small power button is on the right, flashing bright red as the phone charges. The left side of the Optimus G holds the volume rocker and a long port cover that conceals slots for a microSD and SIM card. A microUSB slot can be found along the device's bottom edge, with a headphone jack located on top.

We could fit the 5.15 x 2.82 x 0.33-inch device snuggly in our pants pocket. The 5.2-ounce Optimus G is slightly thicker and heavier than the Samsung Galaxy S III (5.4 x 2.8 x 0.3 inches, 4.7 ounces), but feels a little more solid. The Sprint version of the Optimus G is a bit lighter (5.1 ounces) and noticeably narrower (5.19 x 2.71 x .33 inches). The Sprint Optimus G lacks a microSD Card slot, but it comes with 32GB of storage.

Display and Audio

Click to EnlargeThe Optimus G's 4.7-inch, 1280 x 768p display is a wonder to behold. Colors on the True HD IPS Plus display were deep and luxurious. During the high-definition "Samsara" trailer, the arctic-blue sky accentuated the accidental beauty of a gnarled tree, blackened with age. Our eyes were drawn to the Tibetan monks' bright red robes juxtaposed against a prison yard of convicts dressed in accusatory neon orange. Viewing angles were nice and wide, too.

Thanks to LG's ZeroGap Touch -- a high-gloss, tempered-glass design -- we were able to view the display outdoors in direct sunlight. In terms of brightness, the Optimus G impresses, notching 387 lux on our light meter. That was more than enough to outshine the 299 lux Android phone category average and the 210 lux score of the Galaxy S III.

The Optimus G's sole speaker delivered audio loud enough to fill our small test room. However, it lacked depth and clarity. As we listened to the "I Don't Like" remix, the bass was non-existent. The gritty track sounded flat, and rappers Pusha T and Kanye West's vocals suffered greatly as a result.

Keyboard

Click to EnlargeLG features a trio of keyboards. First, there's the QWERTY keyboard, which has the trace technology usually found on LG's ShapeWriter keyboard. The Phone-keyboard configuration takes us back to times long past when flip phones were still in vogue. LG also included the Handwriting keyboard, for those of us who would rather scrawl off a quick note.

Both the QWERTY and Phone keyboard delivered strong haptic feedback as we typed out texts and emails.

Software and User Interface

The LG Optimus G runs Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) with the Optimus 3.0 overlay. Similar to the LG Intuition and LG Escape, swiping in any direction will unlock the phone. We absolutely loved the ripple effect accented by the rose petals floating serenely on the surface. Swiping one of the four icons along the bottom of the screen (Phone, Messaging, Browser and Camera) will automatically launch that app.

The lock screen features a large, easy-to-read digital clock with the date located just below. Another cool touch is the Iris-Out transition when you press the power button to turn off the screen. Similar to an old-school cartoon, the screen turns to black with an ever-shrinking circle, reminiscent of a closing camera iris.

Click to EnlargeLG includes three home screens that are ripe for customization via apps and widgets. You can add more screens by making a pinch gesture and then tapping the + icon, though it wasn't immediately apparent how to do this. Long-pressing a screen summons a split-screen where we could quickly drag and drop apps and widgets on the home screen of our choosing.

Five omnipresent apps (Phone, Messaging, Apps, Browser and Camera) sit below a sliding white bar that illustrates home-screen navigation. You can swap out these apps with a quick drag and drop.

Click to EnlargeLong-pressing the Home button cues up Recent Apps. From there, long-pressing an app calls up a smaller menu that allows users to check out the app's info or remove it from the list. A long-press of the Menu button brings up Google Search.

The notification area includes several shortcuts for various options, including toggling Wi-Fi, Vibrate, Bluetooth, NFC and GPS. You can also activate QuickMemo from here, which lets you scribble on the screen and share that image (more on that below). LG even lets you edit the order of these settings, and add and remove options. We added screen brightness and put it second on the list after QuickMemo.

Wise Screen , a new addition to LG, works just like Samsung's SmartStay feature. The function disables display timeout by scanning your face to detect whether or not you're looking at the screen. In a head-to-head comparison, we found the two devices were evenly matched. However, the S III was a little faster in detecting our faces.

Similar to recent LG phones, Optimus G users can create custom icons for apps, using LG's list of images or photos from the gallery. We could also create folders by dragging app icons on top of one another, which is a great way to conserve space. Folders can also be expanded to resemble widgets.

We also came across a few functions controlled by gestures, including flipping the device to mute calls, stop alarms and pause videos. The Optimus G also features tilt mechanics that enabled us to move apps from one screen to the next. We simply held down the app and tilted the phone in the direction we wished to move the app.

In the videos app, we used pinch to zoom in and out of features. Swiping to the right displays a large timestamp and progresses the video, while a left swipe rewinds. An upwards swipe increases brightness, and a downwards swipe decreases it.

Apps

The Optimus G is loaded with carrier-branded software. Some apps are more helpful than others. People experiencing difficulty using the phone can use AT&T DeviceHelp for quick usage-tips. AT&T Messages helps users streamline communications by aggregating voicemail, email and texts into one stream. The Locker gives users 5GB of free space to store images and videos. Other AT&T apps include FamilyMap, Navigator, Code Scanner, LiveTV, Smart Wi-Fi and My AT&T.

On the LG side, there's NotePad, which comes in handy for jotting down a quick note or two. We also like having the ability to attach images, audio and location to our notes, maximizing their usefulness. NFC fans will get a kick out of LG Tag+. Using LG's custom tags, users can create a set of rules to follow and commands to perform when two phones are touched together.

Click to EnlargeQuickMemo lets you draw notes on screenshots and share them with friends. For example, we found an image of Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick losing control of the ball during a crucial play, and sent it to a few diehard Eagles fans. It was most satisfying.

Third-party apps include Polaris Office 4.0, Twitter, YPMobile, Google Chrome, Amazon Kindle and YouTube.

Performance

Click to EnlargeAs the first phone on AT&T's roster with a quad-core processor, we expected big things. The LG Optimus G and its 1.5-GHz quad-core Qualcomm S4 Pro processor with 2GB of RAM delivered on most fronts. We zipped through the homescreens quickly, and most apps took less than a second to launch. Lag did creep in at times, however, such as when returning to the home screen from "Bad Piggies."

The Optimus G delivered a top-notch score of 5,706 on the Benchmark CPU test. That's double the 2,835 Android phone category average. It was also enough to blow the Samsung Galaxy S III (1.5-GHz Snapdragon S4 CPU) and the Samsung Galaxy Note II's (1.6-GHz quad-core Exynos CPU) scores of 4,786 and 4,643 out of the water.

We also saw a strong showing in terms of graphics. Despite having 4 apps running in the background, "Bad Piggies" played smoothly. On An3DBench, the Optimus G scored 7,350 to top the 7,157 category average. The Galaxy S III notched 7,272. When we ran Quadrant, which measures CPU, I/O and graphics performance, the Optimus G scored 7,316 to shatter the 2,986 average. The Note II and the S III delivered 5,763 and 5,159 scores, respectively.

4G LTE and Web Browsing

Click to EnlargeThe standard browser on the Optimus G features AT&T's Browser Bar, which you can display by swiping up from the bottom of the screen. It consists of two pages, the first displaying buttons to recommend pages on Facebook, tweet links and share via email or text messaging. There's even a button to launch a mini-Facebook browser. The second page launches Yahoo!-affiliated news such as Sports, Entertainment and Popular articles.

As AT&T's stable of 4G LTE phones steadily grows, we continue to be impressed with the network's speeds. On Speednet.net, the LG Optimus G averaged a download rate of 25.8 Mbps and a zippy upload speed of 9.4 Mbps.

Surfing the web on the Optimus G was nice and swift. The phone loaded the mobile versions of CNN.com, NYTimes.com and ESPN.com in 2.4, 2.7 and 4.5 seconds. Loading the desktop version of Laptopmag.com took a mere 6.5 seconds.

Camera

Click to EnlargeCrisp blue skies, vivid shots of sunflowers and detailed, pockmarked streets were some of the shots we captured with the Optimus G's 8-megapixel camera. Images also popped with color. One of our favorite photos was a single, orange flower set against a sea of dark-green leaves. Delicate striations along the flower's petals were nice and clear, as were the soft yellow and deep red of the plant's interior.

The 1.3 megapixel, front-facing camera delivered deep and rich color as well, evidenced by our bright-red coat in our photos.

LG included a "Say Cheese" feature with the Optimus G, which automatically snaps a picture when the phrase is uttered. The feature also works with several other phrases (Smile, Whisky, Kimchi and LG) for shutterbugs who want to shake things up.

We were impressed with the rear-facing camera's 1080p video. Despite an overcast day, we still saw bright blues, glossy blacks and opulent yellows in passing traffic. As we watched the playback on our desktop, we could easily read text from a sign across the street and on passing buses.

[sc:video id="NkOTRqcTorxTvL3zXcBdrycMj8vR2RCc" width="640" height="410"]

Live Zoom

Click to EnlargeHave you ever shot a video and wished you could zoom in on a specific portion? Now you can, thanks to LG's Live Zoom feature. We simply pinched to zoom in and out. While we were zoomed in, we used our finger to maneuver around the rest of the video. Unfortunately, the video became increasingly blurry as we zoomed in.

Q Slide

Click to EnlargeThe Optimus G introduces a cool, new way to multitask called Q Slide. It enables users to watch videos on their smartphones, while simultaneously using other applications. But it works differently than Samsung's Pop Up Video.

After launching a video, we tapped the Q Slide icon, which displayed a small slider. As we moved the slider to the left, the video became more transparent, enabling us to see our homescreen and launch apps, such as the browser. We restored the video's opacity by moving the slider all the way to the right. Unfortunately, the feature doesn't apply to videos downloaded via the Google Play store.

Dual Screen/Dual Play

Building on the multitasking theme, LG has enhanced its media-sharing experience. Dual Screen/Dual Play on the Optimus G enables users to share video with DNLA-compatible displays while performing other tasks. After making sure both devices were on the same Wi-Fi network, we selected the video we wished to share. It began playing on our 46-inch Samsung Series 8000 Smart TV after a 3-4 second wait. From there, we browsed the web as the video continued to play on the TV.

Overall, we really like the feature; it's a viable way for people to share business presentations.

Call Quality

We enjoyed loud, clear audio during our test calls to both landlines and mobile phones in New York and New Jersey. However, we did experience a few instances of fade-out during calls to mobile phones. The Optimus G's speakerphone was nice and loud, though our callers reported some echoing.

Battery Life

During the LAPTOP Battery Test (continuous web surfing via 4G LTE on 40 percent brightness), the LG Optimus G's 2100 mAh Li-polymer battery lasted 5 hours and 53 minutes. That's 7 minutes short of the 6-hour Android phone average. The Samsung Galaxy S III lasted a bit longer, at 6:28, but it also has a dimmer screen.

Verdict

Click to EnlargeThe $199 LG Optimus G is a powerhouse packaged in an unassuming shell. The quad-core CPU can easily handle the most demanding games without breaking a sweat, and enables multitasking features like Q Slide for watching videos even while you use other apps. The 4.7-inch display is gorgeous (and brighter than the S III), and the camera can compete with any Android phone on the market. However, the amount of AT&T software will be a turn-off to some, and Optimus 3.0 doesn't feel quite as polished or intuitive as Samsung's TouchWiz treatment. Overall, though, the Optimus G is a top-notch Android phone.

• Top 10 Stylish Smartphones
• How to Buy a Smartphone
• 10 Biggest Gadget Design Fails