HMD might have struck gold with the Skyline – the cellphone’s design mixes nostalgia for the Nokia N9 with a daring Neon Pink hero coloration and the repairability angle (whereas not distinctive) does earn some brownie factors.
The cellphone is surprisingly succesful – the Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 is by far probably the most highly effective chip inside an HMD cellphone. Admittedly, the competitors is the Snapdragon 695 and a few Unisocs, however we’re glad to see that HMD is lastly shifting to higher chips. The cellphone’s 6.55” show is a 144Hz OLED (FHD+) and incorporates a 50MP selfie digicam on high. On the rear, a 108MP predominant (OIS), 50MP 2x tele and 13MP extremely huge cameras.
The 4,600mAh battery is person replaceable, although you want instruments. It helps each 33W wired and 15W wi-fi charging. And notice that this helps Qi2 charging (with magnets, like Apple’s MagSafe), which is unprecedented in Android land. Talking of instruments, with instruments and guides from iFixit, you need to be capable of substitute the display screen at residence in simply 10 minutes. The one draw back stays software program help – HMD is committing to solely 2 OS updates and three years of safety patches. That’s at the very least a yr wanting what we want to see from a €550 cellphone.
For €50 much less, you possibly can have the Realme GT 6. It has a greater, bigger show – 6.78” 1264p+ LTPO panel that runs at 120Hz and as much as 6,000 nits. It’s protected with Gorilla Glass Victus 2 as an alternative of GG3 just like the HMD. The mud and water resistance ranking can be higher at IP65 (vs. IP54). And also you get a extra highly effective Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 chipset, although with out the microSD slot. The 5,500mAh battery is 900mAh bigger and helps 120W quick charging (no wi-fi, although).
The 50MP predominant digicam options a big 1/1.4” sensor and the 50MP 2x portrait digicam is comparable, as is the 8MP extremely huge. There’s additionally a 32MP selfie digicam. Realme guarantees 3 OS updates and 4 years of safety patches, but it surely doesn’t focus as a lot on repairability.
There’s additionally the Realme GT 6T for €100 lower than the GT 6 (and €150 lower than the HMD). It nonetheless has a greater chipset – Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 – and a big, quick 5,500mAh battery with 120W charging. Nevertheless, it loses the tele digicam and the sensor within the 50MP predominant is smaller. This one can be on observe for 3 OS updates and 4 years of patches.
For a bit greater than the Skyline, you possibly can have the Nothing Cellphone (2). It has a 6.7” LTPO show (120Hz), but it surely’s decrease decision than the Realmes (FHD+). This one is powered by the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 and a 4,700mAh battery with 45W wired and 15W wi-fi (unique Qi, so no magnets).
It has a 50MP predominant and a 50MP extremely huge, plus a 32MP selfie digicam, however no telephoto lens. Like Realme, Nothing guarantees 3 OS updates and 4 years of patches, however understand that this can be a 2023 mannequin, so subtract one from these numbers.
The Nothing Cellphone (2a) drops the LTPO panel, however retains the show at 6.7” FHD+ 120Hz. It has the identical 50+50MP rear and 32MP entrance digicam setup (however 4K video recording tops out at 30fps as an alternative of 60fps).
The 2a makes use of the Dimensity 7200 Professional chipset, which edges out the Skyline chipset in graphics checks. The 5,000mAh battery helps solely 45W wired charging, no wi-fi. The replace schedule for the 2a is identical because the Cellphone (2), however as a 2024 mannequin, this one began life with Android 14, so it has a leg up.
For the final cellphone as we speak, we picked out one thing fairly low-cost. The Realme Be aware 50 is a €100 cellphone that runs full Android 13 on the decently quick Unisoc T712 chipset. The 6.74” IPS LCD is massive, however brief on pixels with HD+ decision (it has 90Hz refresh fee). The 5,000mAh battery is massive, however so sluggish to cost at solely 10W. We gained’t point out the digicam, because it’s not value mentioning. The microSD slot and three.5mm headphone jack are good to see, although.
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