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This is the Mobile Tech podcast

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brought to you by World

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Podcasts.com Now here's your host,

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Tank Girl, Miriam Joire. Brought

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at the end of the show.

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Hi and welcome to the Mobile

0:21

Tech podcast. I'm your host Miram

0:23

Joire and today is Wednesday February

0:26

12th 2025 and I've got

0:28

the excellent Ryan Thomas here. Ryan,

0:30

how are you? I'm great, thank you. Thank

0:32

you for having me. I'm very excited to

0:34

be here. Absolutely, I'm super excited to have

0:36

you on the show. You know, we haven't

0:39

actually, I don't think, met in person yet.

0:41

And so I was really happy when you

0:43

responded, yes, I'd love to be on the

0:45

show, because I love your videos, and you

0:47

and I kind of seem to be camera

0:49

nerds a little bit too, mobile camera

0:51

nerds. So I figured we'd have a

0:54

lot to talk about to talk about.

0:56

So that's kind of what got me

0:58

all excited here. You saw the topics,

1:00

I think I want to talk a

1:02

little bit about your last couple of

1:04

videos, your personal channel, and of course,

1:07

the other work you do. So you

1:09

talked about the X100 Ultra and your

1:11

experience with that, and then, you

1:13

know, you had a whole discussion,

1:15

which I think is a really

1:17

interesting point about tele photos on,

1:19

well, let's say, you know, non-Chinese

1:21

phones, even though technically a lot

1:23

of iPhones are made in China,

1:26

but whatever, right? pixels made in

1:28

China? I don't know, I think

1:30

not all of them. I think

1:32

Samsung. I always get the comment,

1:34

yeah, but iPhones are Chinese technically

1:36

too, and it's like, sure, if

1:38

you want to be pedantic about

1:40

it. Well, they also make them

1:42

in India, and they also make them

1:44

in, I think, Vietnam now, or

1:47

they're starting to. But I think

1:49

pixels are also made in, like, like,

1:51

another part of the world. But

1:54

Samsung, pretty sure it's Korea Korea

1:56

still, so. But I think it's such a

1:58

significant phone. I've never had a chance to

2:00

play with it more than a few

2:02

minutes at a time unfortunately. So we

2:05

kind of live vicariously through you on

2:07

this one. We've got the X200 pro

2:09

right now. There's rumors of an X200

2:11

ultra, but until then, your assessment is

2:13

that this is the best camera phone

2:16

on the market today, which is a

2:18

pretty bold statement. Yeah, I mean, there's

2:20

so many factors to phones now, isn't

2:22

there, because it's not just hardware, there's

2:24

a lot of AI stuff coming into

2:27

play with the honest stuff, a lot

2:29

of the Chinese phones, a lot of

2:31

the Chinese phones, a lot of the

2:33

Chinese phones, a lot of the Chinese

2:35

phones, But I think there's just sometimes,

2:38

you know, no replacement for displacement as

2:40

they like to say in the car

2:42

world. That's right. You know, and I

2:44

think the Vivo, especially the ultra, is

2:46

such a difficult phone to meander around

2:49

because it's never, it was never really

2:51

sold outside of China and the Chinese

2:53

wrong that's on it, it's a little

2:55

bit tricky to sort of, you know,

2:57

westernize if you want to say that.

3:00

I'm familiar with that, yes. Yeah. And

3:02

I just think that, you know, you

3:04

know, it reminds me so much of

3:06

when Wawaway was... breaking through with stuff

3:08

in the P20, the P30. This is

3:11

like almost a 2023 or 2024 version

3:13

of that, where it's just more hardware

3:15

than you'll find on any sort of

3:17

ultraphone or pro max, whatever, over here.

3:19

And I think, you know, for us

3:22

camera nodes, sometimes, you know, you can

3:24

have as much portrait effect as you

3:26

want, you can have, you know, AI

3:28

do a great job, but sometimes you

3:30

just want to get the shot and...

3:33

When you're there in the moment, having

3:35

the hardware to capture that, you know,

3:37

obviously there's a lot of processing going

3:39

on as there is pretty much every

3:41

single smartphone camera, but with the Vivo,

3:44

it just feels so almost raw in

3:46

that sense that you have the one

3:48

inch sensor for the main, which for

3:50

me is underrated. The X200 Pro has,

3:52

I believe, the same tele photo, which

3:55

is a one over 1.4 inch, three

3:57

and a half ish times periscope. sort

3:59

of smaller optically than you'll find in

4:01

the pixel pro or the iPhone X

4:03

but actually the bigger sensor allows you

4:06

to get that that jump to 200

4:08

megapicksals you can do better and cropping

4:10

kind of twice basically. Yeah. You degrade

4:12

a bit as you zoom in, of

4:14

course, but you still give you a

4:17

lot of headroom, right? Absolutely. I just

4:19

think that, you know, the X200 Pro

4:21

has seen a lot of praises recently.

4:23

I've seen some more. I think Marquez

4:25

even showed it off in one of

4:28

his videos. Yeah, I was surprised. Yeah,

4:30

exactly. Me too. But I think that

4:32

phone is maybe just a little bit

4:34

more globally accepted, I guess, or it's

4:36

seen as more of an option versus

4:39

the X100100 ultra, which really wasn't intended

4:41

to be that that global device. And

4:43

I'll be very interested if the rumored

4:45

X200 Ultra is a global phone as

4:47

well. You know, if it is, maybe

4:50

it's just a reaction to how popular

4:52

the X200 Pro has been. So if

4:54

it makes me go, I'm actually, maybe

4:56

we do need to serve this to

4:58

a bigger audience. I think there's a

5:01

parallel to be had here. I was

5:03

an intractic around this time of year

5:05

last year. I did a cruise there

5:07

and I took the opophy fine X7

5:09

ultra with me. at the time the

5:12

Shami 14 ultra wasn't available yet. So

5:14

that was all I had. That was

5:16

China's best, basically, that I could get

5:18

my hands on. And then I brought,

5:20

of course, the iPhone 15 Pro Max

5:23

at the time, the S24 Ultra, and

5:25

the Pixel 8 Pro at the time,

5:27

and they did a comparison. And it

5:29

was very interesting, obviously, the upper one

5:31

overall, but I see a parallel because,

5:33

you know, I've got the fine X8

5:36

pro here. And... you know, I love

5:38

it. I love what I'm getting out

5:40

of that phone in terms of performance

5:42

and image quality, but as you said,

5:44

there's no replacement for displacement, like the

5:47

specs, and you know, it's not quite

5:49

as big of a set of sensors,

5:51

but somehow they've managed to get very

5:53

close, if not in some areas, like

5:55

zooming, I think, potentially exceed the X7

5:58

ultra. And so I think, and that's

6:00

the global phone, and there's rumors, of

6:02

course, a fine F9 F8. ultra-coming that's

6:04

also global. So I think Vivo and

6:06

Opo are kind of doing a parallel.

6:09

They're seeing the success they had, the

6:11

accolades they received for last year's ultra

6:13

that you're going to tell us more

6:15

about. And then, you know, they did

6:17

the pro and it went over really

6:20

well with the new series. Are they

6:22

thinking maybe we should do the ultra

6:24

as well? Yeah, and I think they

6:26

might have also seen, you know, the

6:28

S24 Ultra, the S25 Ultra, this generation

6:31

of pixel, iPhone, and Galaxy Ultra, just

6:33

really not necessarily... make as big a

6:35

leap over their predecessors as maybe some

6:37

people were hoping for and see that

6:39

opportunity, that gap in the market. I

6:42

actually know this is what an ultraphone

6:44

should look like, you know, because I'm

6:46

sure there's a lot more to it

6:48

than just, you know, making your phone

6:50

more available in different regions, but I

6:53

feel like there is an opportunity there

6:55

to really make, you know, put them

6:57

on the map for not just enthusiasm

6:59

like us, but, you know, just the

7:01

general public as well. I agree and

7:04

then you see the stagnation on the

7:06

iPhone and the galaxy I know. I've

7:08

got the S25 Ultra and it's a

7:10

very good phone. I can't fault it

7:12

per se, but you know, it's just

7:15

not very exciting. And you know, yes,

7:17

the photos are good, but they don't

7:19

excite me and I don't feel like

7:21

it's the phone I want to grab.

7:23

Right now I think for me, it's...

7:26

of the phones I have since I

7:28

don't have the Vivo's. It's a toss

7:30

between the FineX8 Pro and the Shami

7:32

14 Ultra from last year since I

7:34

don't have the 15 Ultra yet, obviously.

7:37

So, you know, if I had to

7:39

pick one, you know, I know there's

7:41

others. It's like the pure phones from

7:43

Huawei that I've not managed to get

7:45

my hands on at all. I don't

7:48

know if you have... I've tried one

7:50

out, but I haven't been able to

7:52

sort of do a proper review of

7:54

one. Yeah. And it's a similar situation

7:56

in that, you know, they're not meant

7:59

to be, they're not the same kind

8:01

of Huawei that the Huawei was in

8:03

its prime, if you get what I'm

8:05

saying, it's not the same kind of

8:07

energy going there. It's still pretty interesting

8:10

what they're doing though, and I can

8:12

see. considering the restrictions I have I'm

8:14

kind of actually impressed with you know

8:16

there's still the one of the few

8:18

that's putting RYYB and variable aperture even

8:21

on major rangers like the Nova phones

8:23

yeah which is kind of interesting and

8:25

you know speaking of displacement again but

8:27

uh the other thing is you've obviously

8:29

played with the fine x8 pro like

8:32

how would you rate that say compared

8:34

to end the fine x7 ultra as

8:36

well I presume yeah so how would

8:38

you kind of like you know you

8:40

know put them on a scale. I

8:43

mean, to me, they're all really high

8:45

up there, right? But like, which one

8:47

do you prefer for what? Because I

8:49

think that's what it boils down to,

8:51

right? Like, if you look at, you're

8:54

comparing, like, last year's 14 ultra from

8:56

Shami, with the Opel FindX7 Ultra, it's

8:58

like, well, you know, I like the

9:00

variable aperture on the one inch sensor

9:02

versus not having it on the Opel,

9:05

but for tele photo, I kind of

9:07

felt like the Opel had like the

9:09

opo. somewhat in some ways more impressive

9:11

possibly because of what you discussed in

9:13

your video which is this AI zoom

9:16

which is a little iffy right like

9:18

sometimes we'll zoom on some text and

9:20

the text becomes less clear but the

9:22

rest of it is clearer and you're

9:24

like yeah it can't understand what it's

9:27

magnifying so it does gibberish on it

9:29

I hope they can fix that because

9:31

I'm very impressed with like 30X on

9:33

the X8 Pro is like What? You

9:35

know? Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. I think like

9:38

one of the use cases that I've

9:40

seen personally from friends and family who

9:42

have these phones with the big zooms

9:44

is like trying to make out what

9:46

a sign says in the distance. And

9:49

you know, if the text is just

9:51

going to turn to just a mess,

9:53

like what's the point? I think feel

9:55

like that's one of the the perfect,

9:57

you know, use cases for a zoom

10:00

lens. So to have an AI able

10:02

to interpret it and spit out the

10:04

correct, you know, it's very difficult to

10:06

do, but I'm sure not impossible, spit

10:08

out the correct, you know, text. on

10:11

a sign, that's like, I'm sure going

10:13

to please more of the general public

10:15

than, you know, what you might imagine

10:17

just as a thought experiment versus the

10:19

reality of people actually doing it. But

10:22

no, I totally agree with that the

10:24

Find X8 Pro, if I often think

10:26

about this, I suppose I have to

10:28

because it's part of my job, but

10:30

if... If I could have any phone

10:33

I think it would be the Find

10:35

X8 Pro for its balance because sure

10:37

it doesn't have the one inch sensor

10:39

doesn't have the crazy zoom and I

10:41

love those things about the Vivo. But

10:44

also like let you in a little

10:46

secret and my personal phone is still

10:48

a one plus 12. No I know

10:50

you tell you tell us all the

10:52

time I know it's great. So like

10:55

I just think what Opper and one

10:57

plus have done with the hassle blad

10:59

colors they make that camera system for

11:01

me even if The hardware isn't there,

11:03

maybe if it isn't technically as excellent,

11:06

maybe it's not giving you a shallow

11:08

depth of field, or it's not as

11:10

dynamic looking, the almost like filmic quality,

11:12

so the natural colors out of the

11:14

hassleblad setup, for me, just like, oh,

11:17

you can be here. I love their

11:19

color science, better than Leica, actually, better

11:21

than anything else, like Zeis on Sony

11:23

or Zeo, It's very impressive I have

11:25

to say and it seems to be

11:28

getting better even like I need to

11:30

probably pull out my fine X7 ultra

11:32

and update its latest version and you

11:34

know go and take more photos again

11:36

because it's been well probably nine months

11:39

since I've touched it other than just

11:41

basic you know like five seconds here

11:43

and there. So we'll see but I

11:45

think I'm with you I think the

11:47

most balanced flagship I've used so far

11:50

this year that's attainable globally is is

11:52

the fine x-8 pro and you know

11:54

the one plus 13's been really solid

11:56

but it's feels like a bit of

11:58

a letdown after you've played with the

12:01

x-a pro you know it kind of

12:03

does I I think with the 13

12:05

and I got a load of stick

12:07

for this for basically saying because when

12:09

I reviewed the one plus 12 everyone

12:12

was still saying the same, I'm sure

12:14

it's a conspiracy theory, but it's essentially

12:16

like, you know, what do you have

12:18

on a one plus review? Camera is

12:20

a bang average. But actually, I noticed

12:22

in the one plus 11, the cameras

12:25

were improving, and then when I got

12:27

to the 12, it was like, wow,

12:29

guys, these are actually really good. And

12:31

every other review, seemingly, I'm sure this

12:33

is not the case, but it felt

12:36

like it from my point of view

12:38

was. Yeah, the cameras are one plus

12:40

level. It's like, hang on, no, these

12:42

cameras are really good. I agree, I

12:44

was losing my mind, even on 13

12:47

reviews, literally I read reviews saying, the

12:49

camera is just, I'm like, are you

12:51

nuts? Have you used the camera? Like,

12:53

this is even in many ways an

12:55

improvement over the 12. Absolutely. And I'm

12:58

like, how can you not see that?

13:00

And I think that just goes to

13:02

show. that there's a lot of reviewers

13:04

that don't really review the phones very

13:06

extensively. They just go through the motions,

13:09

maybe it's because of crunch time, the,

13:11

you know, embargoes or whatever. I get

13:13

it, but also because unlike us, they're

13:15

not camera nerds. And I think they

13:17

don't understand or they don't really look

13:20

carefully and they're so used to, you

13:22

know, the status quo, right, which for

13:24

North America here, not here because I'm

13:26

in Germany, but North America is Samsung,

13:28

you know. Google and Apple and I

13:31

think that's part of the problem But

13:33

yeah, I couldn't believe the one plus

13:35

12 one plus 13 reviews I were

13:37

saying that also one plus open when

13:39

it came out I'm like that's a

13:42

leap. That's a massive leap That was

13:44

the first massive one plus leap in

13:46

my opinion that was like yeah, and

13:48

You know, we'll talk about the the

13:50

n5 very soon. I'd love to hear

13:53

your thoughts on the cameras on that

13:55

because there is some changes there But

13:57

I think overall Like, if you had

13:59

to guess that they're going to make

14:01

the extra 100 ultra available globally, do

14:04

you think that might become your go-to

14:06

or you can stay with the 12?

14:08

I don't know because I thought when

14:10

I bought my X100 ultra that I

14:12

would switch to it, but I think

14:15

I've just... I mean, I'm constantly changing

14:17

phones, right? of course, that's just kind

14:19

of like part of the job. That's

14:21

what we do. I always come back

14:23

to the 12, it was something that

14:26

I didn't necessarily realize, you know, I've

14:28

been reviewing phone spheres, didn't realize was

14:30

sort of part of my, what makes

14:32

a person, a good phone personally for

14:34

me, is the way that something feels

14:37

in the hand. And it's crazy because

14:39

we've seen this shift to flat-sided phones

14:41

or near enough flat-sided phones. The one

14:43

plus 13 is going way flat on

14:45

the sides, even versus the opo FindX8

14:48

pro. You know, the iPhones have been

14:50

flat sides for a while Samsung started

14:52

to do it as well. But I

14:54

just find that a slightly curved edge

14:56

in my hand, maybe a lot strange

14:59

shaped hand, just feels better. And it

15:01

will be interesting to see what the

15:03

X200 ultra does with the size. I

15:05

imagine it will be a flat front.

15:07

with sort of slightly tapered side sort

15:10

of like the fine X-8 bro, but

15:12

yeah, that for me is a way

15:14

bigger, a way bigger consideration than I

15:16

really thought it would be, especially like,

15:18

if you'd have asked me the same

15:21

question last year, I'd have said, no,

15:23

no, no, it's fine, you know, there

15:25

are way more important things than how

15:27

don't feel in the hand, whereas now

15:29

that's maybe my top thing, maybe aside

15:32

from the cameras, it's my top thing.

15:34

That's interesting, yeah. curved edges or does

15:36

that have a flat screen? It's kind

15:38

of like tape at edges, not completely

15:40

flat from what I can work out,

15:43

so it's not like the iPhone, it's

15:45

maybe closer to what OPP is doing

15:47

with the X8 Pro where, you know,

15:49

under a microscope it looks curved, but

15:51

really it's just subtly curved, helped with

15:54

ergonomics. Yeah. Which is technically what I

15:56

prefer. I think I'm pretty happy with

15:58

that 2.5D glass front and back on

16:00

the current crop of... of BBK group

16:02

phones, the flagships, you know, I do

16:05

think it's interesting that the FineXA Pro

16:07

feels better in hand to me than

16:09

the One Plus 13, even though if

16:11

you look at them, overall design is

16:13

very similar, but you know what? I

16:16

think the other thing that makes the

16:18

X8 probe so nice for me is

16:20

that it's actually really thin. And it's

16:22

not like, I'm not in one of

16:24

those thickness freaks that it doesn't really

16:27

matter to me, but I have to

16:29

say that I've really noticed that. with

16:31

the X8 pro, even the 1 plus

16:33

13 is thinner than the 12, but

16:35

it doesn't feel that thin in hand

16:38

compared to the X8 pro for some

16:40

reason. And then you look at the

16:42

numbers and you're like, how do I

16:44

feel such a difference? And I think

16:46

it's just the way the edges are

16:49

finished, right? I think they're slightly more

16:51

integrated on the upo than the 1

16:53

plus, and then of course there's real

16:55

me with the GG7 pro, and that's

16:57

kind of more like the 1 plus,

17:00

it feels like to me in hand,

17:02

to me in hand, so. But yeah

17:04

in hand feel is super important and

17:06

I agree with you I'm a little

17:08

bum that you know we're going slapsides

17:11

for everything like even shawmies gone slapsides

17:13

on their flagships on the last couple

17:15

of years it's just so boring you

17:17

know well it's also like our hands

17:19

aren't shapes like that there's a reason

17:22

that we moved away from flat sides

17:24

in the first place because they're not

17:26

ergonomic they look cool I cannot deny

17:28

that when I see a render of

17:30

like a render of like a pixel

17:33

nine pro or whatever it's really the

17:35

big cell 9-pro is a bad example

17:37

because it being the smaller model and

17:39

the same thing with the 2016 pro

17:41

it does feel better but the bigger

17:44

ones the max is the old it's

17:46

just not you just yeah I mean

17:48

they can't really make a different shape

17:50

for you just wouldn't fit in the

17:52

lineup if they made two different shapes

17:55

are technically the same family phone but

17:57

no I agree with you that the

17:59

same with the the one plus 13

18:01

I had quite a few comments on

18:03

that video when that came out and

18:06

I said Yeah this just doesn't feel

18:08

great in the hand and everyone was

18:10

like yeah but it's thinner and I'm

18:12

like sure but it doesn't like you

18:14

got to feel it you actually have

18:17

to hold the thing to understand you

18:19

know the economics of it numbers are

18:21

very important I'm glad that you know

18:23

a lot of us use objective metrics

18:25

in some of our testing but some

18:28

stuff is also subjective. 100% yeah it's

18:30

the same with color signs right like

18:32

it's gonna Yeah, referencing. And then, you

18:34

know, the other thing too is like,

18:36

like, I was kind of curious how

18:39

you feel about this, a switch to

18:41

the triprism from the, the periscope on

18:43

the 3X on, you know, the latest

18:45

PBK group phones, you know, obviously, the

18:47

Z-depth is much more improving, it's much

18:50

more compact in terms of real estate

18:52

in the phone, and I get that.

18:54

But I do feel that. you're losing

18:56

a bit of clarity because you get

18:58

more mirrors there, right? And more reflections

19:01

going on. Like it's subtle, but it's

19:03

there. And in that sense, I'm kind

19:05

of hoping that the ultra phones coming

19:07

out this year are gonna not sacrifice,

19:09

you know, the traditional L-shaped periscope, at

19:11

the cost of maybe a battery or

19:14

real estate or thickness or something. Yeah,

19:16

no. I know it's stuff like you

19:18

can if it's 6,000 like that's awesome

19:20

I'm happy like it doesn't even 5,500

19:22

it'd be perfectly happy frankly so we'll

19:25

see right I guess yeah no I

19:27

totally agree when it first came out

19:29

the my 13 unit at the very

19:31

least was significantly softer a long range

19:33

compared to the 12 it's also using

19:36

from what I could tell a slightly

19:38

different sensor but There have been some

19:40

significant updates to the 13 and I

19:42

need to do an objective comparison once

19:44

again because the the 13 camera just

19:47

seems to kick out more not realistic

19:49

maybe reliably sharp long-range photos for me

19:51

and maybe it's doing something in processing

19:53

there that it wasn't doing when it

19:55

when they first released the phone because

19:58

there have been a couple of camera

20:00

updates. There was also an issue with

20:02

ultra-h-h-4-k 60 jitter which has since been

20:04

patched as well and yeah I want

20:06

to take another look at that because

20:09

it's just such a I get what

20:11

you're saying you kind of you you're

20:13

gaining that extra space by having the

20:15

smaller sort of package, but with the

20:17

silicon carbon batteries, you can make them

20:20

the same size as the previous batteries,

20:22

but with more milliamp hours in them,

20:24

then you don't need that extra space

20:26

if you get where I'm coming from.

20:28

You can afford to put a traditional

20:31

prism tele photo in there and still

20:33

have a massive battery. So yeah, it's

20:35

going to really depend on what they

20:37

can do in software to compensate. And

20:39

this is an issue, or maybe not

20:42

an issue, maybe a potential issue, that

20:44

we might run into in the next

20:46

couple of years, where sure these phones

20:48

out of China are going to have

20:50

crazy hardware in them, maybe over here,

20:53

with our galaxies, our iPhones, and our

20:55

pixels, these companies are just going to

20:57

use software to try and bridge the

20:59

gap. Because I don't really know many

21:01

people personally who use these phones, even

21:04

enthusiasts who are crying out for extra

21:06

hardware. And so maybe the big dogs

21:08

just go, well, why would we spend

21:10

another 10 million, whatever, trying to generate

21:12

something better when we can just do

21:15

it in software, send out a patch,

21:17

or save the patch for the next

21:19

phone, and we don't have to create

21:21

a new hardware there, and then just

21:23

sort of, you know, the perception is

21:26

the camera's improved, but to enthusiasm, we

21:28

know that the hardware might be the

21:30

same or only marginally different from its

21:32

predecessor. which wouldn't warrant to us an

21:34

upgrade but to everyone else who can

21:37

now like you know draw around their

21:39

friends and move them around in photos

21:41

and AI like wow this crazy new

21:43

feature and I'm not knocking that I

21:45

know that these tools especially with the

21:48

the Google pixels have become very popular

21:50

in the UK and I think it's

21:52

largely due to Google's almost all the

21:54

marketing around the pixel is magic magic

21:56

editor magic eraser and it makes sense

21:59

right because What if you just want

22:01

to get rid of someone in your

22:03

photo, you want to vote to you

22:05

and your friend, you don't want the

22:07

random standing behind you? move them? Like

22:10

this, these are genuinely useful things that

22:12

once before, maybe three or four years

22:14

ago, people were sending it to some

22:16

subreddit saying can you can you Photoshop

22:18

out this person for me please? And

22:21

now they can just do it on

22:23

their phone instantly and but again it

22:25

comes back to are we going to

22:27

see almost shortcuts being made because you

22:29

can just do it all in software

22:32

or are the Vivos and the Oppos

22:34

going to actually light a fire under

22:36

these other companies? to go, actually, we

22:38

do need to improve our hardware. Because

22:40

it's the same main sensor on the

22:43

S25 Ultra, I believe, is the S23

22:45

Ultra. So that's the three generations of

22:47

phones using exactly the same main camera

22:49

sensor. So we're verging on that. You

22:51

know, people used to meme their pixel

22:54

for having the same camera sensor for

22:56

five generations. We're starting to get for

22:58

that stage now, guys. Where is this

23:00

innovation coming from? And then eventually Apple

23:02

followed suit was when the P40 Pro

23:05

Plus, right, Maui, with the dual periscope

23:07

tele photos or dual tele photos. I

23:09

think one was periscope, one wasn't. And

23:11

you know, we saw that with the

23:13

S22 ultra or 21 ultra that had

23:16

the dual tele photo. And so they

23:18

finally were like, okay, we're doing this.

23:20

But Apple has really followed suit. They

23:22

went with it. triprism thing, you know,

23:24

like Google, they're just, there's this big

23:27

gap between, you know, 2X, which is

23:29

kind of pseudo-lossless and, like, 5X, and

23:31

when you shoot, like, 3.5, it's, it's

23:33

really not optimal. And I think this

23:35

is kind of why, and, you know,

23:38

I'll put, I'll link to your videos

23:40

in the show notes, but I think

23:42

the last video you just said, talking

23:44

about, you know, like, like, on Chinese

23:46

phones, the pros and altres that we've

23:49

just gotten, is so good, right? And

23:51

I think that's because... You're doing a

23:53

3X, but you're doing a really large

23:55

sensor or a large number of pixels

23:57

on the sensor. In the case of

24:00

the X100 ultra there, it's 200 megapicks

24:02

on it. It pays off, like you

24:04

can really see it. And it gives

24:06

you a nice continuous zoom ability, right?

24:08

And you don't lose that magic. You

24:11

say you should mostly at 3X. I

24:13

should mostly at 2X. And so, yeah,

24:15

you know, you don't, even at 2X,

24:17

you lose some, but it's not terrible.

24:19

And so I think that's kind of,

24:22

I want to see more of that,

24:24

but I have a feeling that when

24:26

a different world than you were when

24:28

the P40 Pro Plus came out, you

24:30

know, first of all, Huawei is no

24:33

longer, you know, that relevant, sadly in

24:35

the West. And then I don't know

24:37

if Shami and BBK Group are big

24:39

enough to influence Samsung and Apple, at

24:41

least in the Western markets. It's kind

24:44

of crazy to me, honestly, that Google.

24:46

as you said, they're popular in the

24:48

UK, they're doing great in Japan, they're

24:50

doing okay in the US, actually, better

24:52

than ever. And it's actually kind of

24:55

surprising, I'm a, you know, I'm a,

24:57

I always joke, I'm a pixel hostage,

24:59

you know, like that's my main phone

25:01

always, because, well, it works well in

25:03

the West, especially in North America, and

25:06

I love the pixel software, and I

25:08

kind of feel like I have Stockholm

25:10

syndrome because of it starting with the

25:12

Six-pro. have been solid, they're fine. Like

25:14

the, you know, they're not the crappy

25:17

hardware that they had when they had

25:19

that five generation of 12 megapixel OIS

25:21

main sensors, right? But at the same

25:23

time, it's not what you're talking about.

25:25

We're seeing on these Chinese phones. So

25:28

I kind of feel like I'm trapped

25:30

in pixel land from my daily driver,

25:32

but at same time, you know, I'm

25:34

always carrying more than one phone, so

25:36

it doesn't really matter, right too much

25:39

if I really want to. So as

25:41

far as the X100 ultra goes, obviously

25:43

the cameras are outstanding and that's not

25:45

too surprising. It's a Chinese phone. to

25:47

jumps with some hoops. Is there some

25:50

things about it that are not imaging

25:52

that you feel are really solid on

25:54

that phone? And there are some other

25:56

things that you felt like I'm like,

25:58

oh, that was a bit disappointing, you

26:00

know, because obviously not everything can be

26:03

great. Yeah, so it's similarly to the,

26:05

it's kind of built like a big

26:07

one plus 12. So it has the

26:09

curved sides on the front and back.

26:11

And I really like that about it.

26:14

My one, I bought secondhand, it came

26:16

with a screen protected pre-applied, kind of

26:18

don't want to get rid of it

26:20

because they're really hard to apply, so.

26:22

But yeah, no, I do like the

26:25

slight curves to it, especially on a

26:27

phone that big. I mean, it is

26:29

a massive phone. So I personally, I

26:31

personally appreciate that. So I personally, I

26:33

personally, that seems to be just a

26:36

trend of like, there's just no charge

26:38

from the box in Europe, and because

26:40

that phone was from China from China

26:42

initially, I'm from China initially, I have

26:44

something, I have something, I might understand

26:47

a charger not being in the box

26:49

on a cheaper phone where and usually

26:51

people upgrade cheaper phones more regularly so

26:53

they might have a charger from their

26:55

previous phone. When you're spending like a

26:58

thousand plus dollars, thousand plus euro or

27:00

pounds on a phone it doesn't come

27:02

with a charger in the box. I

27:04

understand that. when you need that charger

27:06

to get that speed right like it's

27:09

not like you can pull out like

27:11

some kind of p.d. 65 watt charger

27:13

and be happy right? It's like it's

27:15

not one universal standard which if it

27:17

was then it makes more sense like

27:20

someone's gonna have a type of charger

27:22

and then use that for every single

27:24

phone they buy you know regardless of

27:26

the brand but that's not really a

27:28

thing at least currently with a lot

27:31

of these Chinese phones at the very

27:33

least and I also I quite liked

27:35

the Vivo software, Hyper-O-S I believe it's

27:37

called. It reminds me much of when

27:39

RealMe had their version, I believe their

27:42

fork of Color-O-S, back with the RealMe

27:44

X2 Pro, which is like my all-time

27:46

favorite RealMe phone. I really like that

27:48

phone. a lot of time with it.

27:50

I had like three review units of

27:53

that phone, weirdly, and I loved it.

27:55

But the software, I think a lot

27:57

of people give a lot of these

27:59

companies, um, enthusiastically skip a lot of

28:01

these companies stick for software that isn't

28:04

as polished, let's say, as fixed experience

28:06

or one UI. I think maybe, you

28:08

know, with long-time software support, that's still

28:10

a concern because not all these companies

28:12

can match those guys. Right. In terms

28:15

of long-term support, which isn't just important

28:17

for if you keep your phone for

28:19

seven years, but also on the second-hand

28:21

market. The second and the third person

28:23

owns that phone, are they still going

28:26

to be able to get updates? To

28:28

me, that's very important. But the actual

28:30

usage, like the user experience, is it?

28:32

To me, that's very important. Yeah. But

28:34

the actual usage, like the user experience

28:37

of the software on the Vivo, which

28:39

isn't really that big of a deal,

28:41

if you know you're importing a phone.

28:43

Yeah, it's not wrong. You know, that's

28:45

all part of the process. I mean,

28:48

my audience can, this is totally okay

28:50

with that. Absolutely, absolutely. Right. But no,

28:52

I really enjoyed the software experience on

28:54

it. The hardware, like the, you know,

28:56

the performance, the display, there's just a

28:59

standard now that pretty much all the

29:01

phones are. I think it's, I wasn't

29:03

expecting to, it is such to me,

29:05

and everything's, you know, subjective, what I'm

29:07

about to say. But it just reminded

29:10

me so much of when Wawa did

29:12

the mate 20-bro, it was just that

29:14

phone where you're like, huh, yeah, this

29:16

is so much better than the galaxy

29:18

note. Why is everyone buying a galaxy

29:21

note? And it feels like that with

29:23

the galaxy ultra. Like, why would I

29:25

buy a galaxy ultra? This is just

29:27

better. But of course, because we're at

29:29

a time where... It isn't a global

29:32

phone, I'm sure the X200 Pro is

29:34

a fantastic alternative to it. Yeah, exactly.

29:36

That feeling, like, I've picked up so

29:38

many phones, I rarely get that feeling

29:40

of like, wow, this is just like...

29:43

Epic, this is ultra, but that phone

29:45

felt ultra. Yeah, yeah, now I get

29:47

it. Having used some of these ultra

29:49

phones last year from Shami and Apo,

29:51

yeah, they do really feel outstanding. And

29:54

you're not giving up too much in

29:56

the rest of the areas either. It's

29:58

like, you know, display performance, battery life,

30:00

software, as you said, it's a bit

30:02

subjective because it's Chinese, you know, OS,

30:05

but I don't generally mind. And most

30:07

of the time even... like payments, everything

30:09

seems to work fine. So that's that's

30:11

fine to me. But yeah, I was

30:13

going to ask you about something, maybe

30:16

you can solve a mystery for me,

30:18

because I haven't had a Vivo phone

30:20

with fast charging in a while. They

30:22

sent me the V-series, but I think

30:24

the last X series I've had was

30:27

the X80 pro or whatever it was.

30:29

And I'm wondering, is the SuperVook for

30:31

Opo Real Me and One Plus the

30:33

same technology that... Vivo is using for

30:35

fast charging. I believe so. I believe

30:38

so. This was something I was actually

30:40

meaning to test like yesterday, but when

30:42

I had it, I have on my

30:44

desk now. I'm pretty sure I can't

30:46

give you an absolute answer because I

30:49

cannot remember my memory is like... Put

30:51

it on social media and let us

30:53

know. I can go after this and

30:55

just bring you a message. Maybe when

30:57

I post the podcast on Sunday and

31:00

you want to piggyback on that. So

31:02

let us know, that would be great.

31:04

Because I would love to test it

31:06

and I have no way of doing

31:08

that right now. Yeah, I have the

31:11

100 watt charger from the, I believe

31:13

it's an 80 watt charger in the

31:15

box for the VVOR, it, or it's

31:17

a 90 watt. And it's a hundred

31:19

watt with the one plus 12. So

31:22

I will try the charge of that

31:24

it came with and the charge of

31:26

it came with the one. It'd be

31:28

interesting to see if they're compatible and

31:30

if it goes both ways. Yeah. But

31:33

yeah, that's one thing that I enjoy

31:35

about Chinese phones as well. It's the

31:37

fast charging. It's not every day that

31:39

you need it, but every now and

31:41

then you need it and you're like,

31:44

oh my God, yes, I can, you

31:46

know, top it off in no time.

31:48

And it's really, it's really, really, really,

31:50

really, really, really, really, really, really, really,

31:52

really, really, really, really, really great. And

31:55

same with wireless, I mean, you know,

31:57

of course you need a special charger

31:59

and it gets complicated. And I kind

32:01

of keep one of those, try to

32:03

keep a charger for every phone and

32:06

every wireless charger for every phone, like

32:08

for the fast charging, just in case.

32:10

But since I travel a ton, sometimes

32:12

it's not accessible. So yeah. Cool, well

32:14

listen, I'll link to your videos again,

32:17

and I want to kind of pick

32:19

your brain about some of the news

32:21

items this week. Starting with, finally, like

32:23

out of nowhere, Apple has kind of

32:25

made the fine end five official. Mine

32:28

is actually sitting at a DHL depot

32:30

in San Francisco right now for when

32:32

I get back on Friday. So by

32:34

the time the audience is listening to

32:36

this, I'll have it in my hands.

32:39

I'll try to post some photos. We're

32:41

allowed to post some photos. I'm super

32:43

excited about that phone simply because I

32:45

love the one plus open so much

32:47

and I used it for almost an

32:49

entire year. But also, well, you know,

32:52

having played with the Magic V3, which

32:54

was so thin, I kind of thought

32:56

I was cool, like I don't need

32:58

it to be that thin, but yeah,

33:00

it's very impressive. But, and this is

33:03

not fact folks, but there are rumors

33:05

that the cameras are a little downgraded

33:07

in some areas. There are rumors of

33:09

an 8 megapix altaroid, for example, which

33:11

I'm like, oh, come on, couldn't you

33:14

just give us three 50 megapixels? How

33:16

do you feel about that? If that's

33:18

true, which we don't know right now?

33:20

Yeah, I mean, if that is the

33:22

case, it does feel a little bit.

33:25

I mean, it's underwhelming, right, right. foldables,

33:27

foldable tech in general is very difficult

33:29

because you are making phones for an

33:31

extremely small percentage of people, you know,

33:33

and really think about it. And how

33:36

many of these people are going to

33:38

be the same, you know, camera enthusiasts,

33:40

how many people are actually going to

33:42

open that ultra-wide? I, it baffles me

33:44

how many people I've met who they've

33:47

gone to take a photo, say we're

33:49

all all together in a, you know,

33:51

restaurant setting or whatever, and I... I

33:53

go, well, you can pinch out to

33:55

get more people in the shot and

33:58

they're like, what? I didn't realize my

34:00

phone could do that. And some of

34:02

these are techie people, by the way.

34:04

Wow. So how many, you know, you

34:06

start segmenting the amount of people who

34:09

know what an ultra-ide is and then

34:11

are also using folder walls and then,

34:13

like, it's got to be really difficult

34:15

to balance those things to justify building

34:17

foldables in the first place. Because it's

34:20

not like, like, you need to really

34:22

think about this and there are real

34:24

implications if you spend hundreds of millions

34:26

whatever developing a phone and then it

34:28

just doesn't sell like I feel for

34:31

the companies that may need to make

34:33

these tough decisions but if they're just

34:35

doing it to cut costs and for

34:37

absolutely no other reason that's a really

34:39

That's a difficult thing to justify. I

34:42

think here it was thickness because also

34:44

rumors has it has wireless charging which

34:46

we, at least personally, I was complaining

34:48

about in the open because I love

34:50

wireless charging and so if it does

34:53

that, you know, I can understand there's

34:55

compromise to be made. I don't think

34:57

this was a cost thing because it's

34:59

going to be expensive. I look at

35:01

it a differently than you. I think

35:04

I agree as we take but I

35:06

think for me, you know, as a

35:08

person who didn't really care too much

35:10

about book style faultables until the balls

35:12

until the open. And then when I

35:15

got that, because it had such a

35:17

good camera, I was like, it's the

35:19

best of both worlds. And I started

35:21

actually really enjoying the larger canvas of

35:23

the inner screen and being more productive

35:26

on it. Now I want my cake

35:28

and eat it and eat more productive

35:30

on it. Now I want my cake

35:32

and eat it too. And so, you

35:34

know, I'm using a Pixel 9 Pro

35:37

fold right now a lot as my

35:39

main phone. But again, the cameras are

35:41

downgraded from the Pixel 9 Pro Excel.

35:43

And I'm like, it's good, but it's

35:45

good, but it's not. that's good and

35:48

and so I'm you know sample size

35:50

of one right I'm a case I'm

35:52

a use case but that being said

35:54

I also feel like the the folding

35:56

phones are in a way the halo

35:59

flagship it's like you know what I'm

36:01

saying, it's like you don't, it's like

36:03

the car manufacturers when they're making a

36:05

halo car, right? Accura NSX, Honda NSX

36:07

was an example of that, like you,

36:10

you're not gonna sell a lot of

36:12

them, but it puts you in that

36:14

kind of rarefied category. And like, you

36:16

know, you look at the Huawei mate,

36:18

X6, and there's no compromise on the

36:21

camera system, you get variable aperture, it's

36:23

still really super thin. And so the

36:25

question is. Can we come up with

36:27

a halo product as it were that

36:29

doesn't compromise camera and still foldable? And

36:32

I felt like the open was the

36:34

first one to really do that, at

36:36

least on the Western markets, right? And

36:38

you know, we've seen that from Shami,

36:40

we've seen it from Huawei, we've seen

36:43

it from, you know, well, Opo with

36:45

the N3, but I'm kind of curious,

36:47

you know, if there's anything that could

36:49

have done to just, you know. kind

36:51

of at least have parody with the

36:54

open. Because you know that I think

36:56

the main sensor and the tele photo

36:58

are going to be fine. Because even

37:00

the, if the hardware is a little

37:02

lesser, you know, there's been a big

37:05

improvement in almost two years or a

37:07

year and a half in image processing.

37:09

And seeing what the upofinix 8-Pro can

37:11

do, I'm not too worried. I'm just

37:13

so they'll be like, hmm, eight megabiga

37:16

pixel ultryides, even 12 would have been

37:18

a little better or better or somehow,

37:20

like, like, like, like, like, like, like,

37:22

like, like, like, like, like, like, like,

37:24

I don't know, we'll see. We'll see.

37:27

We'll see. But I'm very excited about

37:29

getting my hands on mine and seeing,

37:31

you know, seeing how it performs. And

37:33

are you going to get one? Are

37:35

you excited too? I'm not. I'm really

37:38

intrigued to see if they do that

37:40

as a base for the, I guess

37:42

a one plus open two. True, yeah.

37:44

Something like that. That would be more

37:46

like what I'd look at. The problem

37:49

with foldables in video creation, and maybe

37:51

it's different for rights articles. I haven't

37:53

written a review. in article form in

37:55

a few years, but at least on

37:57

the video side, unless you're Marquez or

38:00

making a video essay on your foldable,

38:02

a foldable video usually before incredibly poorly,

38:04

which it usually just weighs whether I

38:06

get a unit or not. The One

38:08

Plus Open, I did a couple of

38:11

videos on, they didn't do crazy numbers,

38:13

but I did really like the open.

38:15

It was, like you said, the book

38:17

style, I think it's just like, it's

38:19

such a good, it's one of those

38:22

phones where I actually did switch to

38:24

it permanently for like, I think it

38:26

was two months, and it wasn't something

38:28

I was expecting to do. I believe

38:30

I got my unit. off of one

38:33

of my colleagues, so they had already

38:35

made content with it, I'd received it,

38:37

and I started using it, I was

38:39

thinking, I'm glad I'm the end of

38:41

the chain here, because then I don't

38:44

have to send it to anyone else,

38:46

and I can just carry on using

38:48

it. Because I'd use the galaxy folds,

38:50

I believe I used the three, the

38:52

four, and the five, so that way,

38:55

I didn't use the first one or

38:57

the second one, but I always felt

38:59

like that ultra thin. cover screen and

39:01

it opens up and it's sort of

39:03

a taller aspect ratio. It just I

39:06

know that if you if you really

39:08

take a step back and look look

39:10

at it from a macro point of

39:12

view it doesn't make that bigger difference

39:14

but again it comes back to the

39:17

feeling of using it it just feels

39:19

like a much more usable canvas when

39:21

you're at that aspect ratio. I'm not

39:23

just the cover display which is obviously

39:25

far more usable but the internal display

39:28

and and yeah that's the the one

39:30

and only foldable, the one plus open,

39:32

that I really committed to using and

39:34

enjoyed. So I really hope they do

39:36

make a one plus open two and

39:38

use this as the base. That ultra

39:41

wide eight mega pixel situation. I don't

39:43

know if I could stomach that for

39:45

a personal phone. That's what I'm saying.

39:47

It's like, it really does feel like

39:49

a downgrade and a bit of a

39:52

bummer because, you know, the open wasn't

39:54

just, you know, a really great folding

39:56

phone. It was like the first time

39:58

that one plus. had delivered a camera

40:00

system that was like flagship worthy, you

40:03

know, and then we saw a very

40:05

similar. camera system in the one plus

40:07

12 shortly thereafter. So yeah, I mean,

40:09

let's see, because we don't know for

40:11

sure, and, you know, obviously, there's a

40:14

lot of things we don't know, like,

40:16

we know, apparently we know it's not

40:18

Dragon 8 elite, so that's cool. And,

40:20

you know, it'll be interesting to see

40:22

what size batteries they managed to cram

40:25

in that thin. Shassie and you know

40:27

the thickness is very exciting. I think

40:29

I'm not you know again I'm not

40:31

like it's not the most important thing

40:33

to me but having played with Magic

40:36

V3 I have to say like once

40:38

you once you get that in your

40:40

hands you're not going back to Zfold

40:42

6 okay like Samsung's really gonna need

40:44

to step up their game this year

40:47

but I don't feel like they're going

40:49

to I think there's gonna be like

40:51

whatever. No I agree. Yeah it's kind

40:53

of sad. The next bit of news

40:55

we have is kind of related. There's

40:58

strong rumors of an alpofinx8 mini that

41:00

would not be too different from the

41:02

finex8, but the finex8 already has a

41:04

small 6.3 something in screen. So this

41:06

is also supposed to have a 6.3

41:09

inch screen and triple 50 megapixel rear

41:11

camera. So I'm like, I'm puzzled. What's

41:13

different? There's a different processor, like what,

41:15

like maybe a downgraded screen, like I

41:17

don't, what's meaning about it? It doesn't

41:20

seem to make much sense. It doesn't,

41:22

right? But then maybe, is it going

41:24

to be considerably lighter? Are they going

41:26

to use different build materials and try

41:28

and do, you know, trying to do

41:31

something that makes it a little bit

41:33

more palatable to people who don't buy

41:35

flagship phones? Is it going to be

41:37

considerably cheaper as a result? I'm not

41:39

sure about the Find X8, but the

41:42

X8 Pro is immediate tech. Is the

41:44

standard X8 also a media tech? Yeah,

41:46

400, so yeah, fantastic chipset, by the

41:48

way. I still get crap for calling

41:50

that a very good chipset on my

41:53

videos. But it is, it is. Like,

41:55

even if you don't think about the

41:57

user experience and you just look at

41:59

numbers, it's... still like at the level

42:01

of the eight elite. I know. And

42:04

I, yeah, I still find that hilarious.

42:06

Because, you know, I remember a time

42:08

when, oh, the phone has a media

42:10

tape chipset. Oh, it's just going to

42:12

be really slow and awful. But this

42:15

is not that, we don't live in

42:17

that timeline anymore. Like, we're on a

42:19

different level with this. So I don't

42:21

see if they're not, I mean, maybe

42:23

they're using a worse chipset, but I

42:26

don't see that being a possibility. Really?

42:28

Yeah, which is weird, you know, because

42:30

maybe it's maybe not. Maybe it's like

42:32

they have a new chip coming that

42:34

is a, you know, like a seven-gen

42:37

of some kind. A seven-year-old or something

42:39

that we don't know about yet. You

42:41

know, it's like, I don't know. I

42:43

mean, let's see how it pans out,

42:45

but it's a weird rumor and it's

42:48

still a rumor that could... happen so

42:50

I'm you know I keep I actually

42:52

keep track of what I'll pose up

42:54

to and related to that we have

42:56

one plus just out of nowhere said

42:59

hey we have a watch three coming

43:01

on February 18th and then they posted

43:03

a couple of pictures of it and

43:05

I'm like what yeah I mean it

43:07

does track because they launched a watch

43:10

two last year at MWC I'll be

43:12

there in Barcelona like in a few

43:14

in a couple of weeks so it'll

43:16

be interesting to see how this watch

43:18

three performs and what the deal is.

43:21

We obviously know very little about it

43:23

right now, so you know. It's kind

43:25

of more of a PSA to those

43:27

of you who like the watch too

43:29

or maybe the watch too are and

43:32

you know we're waiting maybe it's you'll

43:34

be able to buy a watch three

43:36

soon. So it's kind of cool. What

43:38

are you saying is fantastic. I really

43:40

like the watch too so I'm excited

43:43

to see what they do here. It

43:45

seems like one of the big areas

43:47

of improvement in a in a phone

43:49

battery. Imagine like the compute difference plus

43:51

the silicon carbide battery in a wearable

43:54

that could really give a normal. bulk

43:56

standard wearable an extra 30 to 40%

43:58

battery life which is considerable you know

44:00

something that's that makes you consider an

44:02

upgrade instead of just going oh that's

44:05

a slightly nicer model than what I

44:07

own you might go actually for me

44:09

a lot of wearable you know what

44:11

a lot of what makes a wearable

44:13

good or not is how long it

44:16

lasts sort of charge for me how

44:18

long do I have to put it

44:20

on charge for and how long is

44:22

it going to take to charge and

44:24

so I think you know if the

44:27

one plus watch two battery life was

44:29

fantastic yeah it really was if they

44:31

can improve on that even still like

44:33

we could be in for a good

44:35

time I also want to point out

44:38

on your podcast right now I'm not

44:40

a one plus fan boy as much

44:42

as I like talking about one plus

44:44

I'm a fan boy to no company

44:46

but they're making good stuff at the

44:49

moment you have to say their stuff

44:51

has been very solid they had a

44:53

bit of a renaissance starting with the

44:55

open you know absolutely And it's about

44:57

time, honestly. I've always been a big

45:00

fan of their stuff. So what else

45:02

we know? We know this is going

45:04

to have a titanium vessel on a

45:06

sapphire crystal, glass or face, just cool,

45:08

better than the stainless steel that was

45:11

on the watch too, but I think

45:13

the watch too also had sapphires. So,

45:15

well, let's see, we, you know, I

45:17

don't know what the pricing is going

45:19

to be and stuff, so stay tuned.

45:22

There's one on on the way, so

45:24

I'll be reviewing that for sure. Other

45:26

news, we get a couple of Samsung

45:28

rumors and leaks here. The first one

45:30

I kind of hesitated to include, but

45:33

I kind of feel like phones are

45:35

so boring in the West right now

45:37

that I have to get excited about

45:39

lightweight thin phones somehow. So like I'm

45:41

actually super stoked about what I'm hearing

45:44

about this iPhone 17 air. Like that

45:46

I think is going to be the

45:48

killer, especially if they only has one

45:50

camera because... My theory, and I could

45:52

be completely wrong because Apple could just

45:55

be complacent, but my theory is that

45:57

it's going to be like a big

45:59

sensor, like a 108 or 200 megapixel,

46:01

that starts at 0.5. it's an ultra-wide

46:03

yeah with auto focus on OIS and

46:06

it can like pin its way to

46:08

like a decent 5x zoom yeah that's

46:10

what I'm hoping they do whether they'll

46:12

do that it's if it's just another

46:14

well it's the main sensor at 50

46:17

megapicksal what? I hope that doesn't happen.

46:19

But speaking of which, there's rumors that

46:21

the galaxy S25 Edge, the super thin

46:23

one, is going to have a weight

46:25

of 160 grams, which is like we're

46:27

talking like a galaxy S10 levels of

46:30

weight here, just kind of nobody has

46:32

any idea how light of phone can

46:34

be these days anymore. So I think

46:36

hopefully it does feel that way when

46:38

you pick it up. So I don't

46:41

know if it's exciting, per se, and

46:43

it's only a rumor or leak, whatever.

46:45

So, you know, take it with a

46:47

grain of salt, but are you excited

46:49

about those thin phones? I'll say I'm

46:52

interested in them. Right. Why also, what

46:54

was, it almost is a catalyst for

46:56

my intrigue into what the market is

46:58

going to do over the next couple

47:00

of years. So I made a video

47:03

on Android, please, about how the market

47:05

is going to change with the One

47:07

Plus 13. being so good and the,

47:09

or you know, but this was before

47:11

it came out, I, you know, through

47:14

rumors, it seemed very good. I believe

47:16

it was already available in China. And

47:18

then the S25 Ultra was rumored to

47:20

be marginal upgrades over last year, which

47:22

is what happens. So you're welcome, I

47:25

was right. But also, I think that

47:27

maybe these phones, these edge air, whatever

47:29

you want to call them to the

47:31

lightweight phones, are just a reason for

47:33

Samsung and potentially Apple to have their

47:36

naming headlines in a positive light because

47:38

wow there's a new product line or

47:40

subline because their phones are going to

47:42

be just bang average. Yes for sure.

47:44

You know maybe it's not a hundred

47:47

percent of the reason they're making these.

47:49

things, but I feel like it's part

47:51

of the consideration. But that's what I'm

47:53

saying. I think, you know, it's kind

47:55

of a chicken and egg. I feel

47:58

like I'm excited because we're getting some

48:00

new different phones, but at the same

48:02

time is it's completely, yes, absolutely completely

48:04

manufactured, right? It's like, you know, it's

48:06

almost like they had a conference call,

48:09

you know, like, hi, I'm Tim, you

48:11

know, hi, I'm Samsung guy, let's have,

48:13

let's have, let's have something phones, phones,

48:15

yeah. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. But I think

48:17

it's, you know, it's interesting. I mean,

48:20

you know, some people really love their

48:22

small phones and, you know, obviously that's

48:24

been a hard sell as we know,

48:26

but I believe that's a valid thing.

48:28

And so if you want a thin

48:31

phone, great. And a light phone, there

48:33

you go. But related to that, it'll

48:35

be interesting to see because there's now

48:37

also rumors that the S26 series next

48:39

year is finally gonna get a carbon

48:42

and silicon silicon an anno batteries batteries,

48:44

which... I'm taking that one of the

48:46

grain of salt simply because I feel

48:48

like Samsung as a company as an

48:50

entity has like some kind of PTSD

48:53

trauma around the note seven fiasco and

48:55

because of that they're very going to

48:57

be very conservative and implement in silicon

48:59

carbon and I'm not sure that's going

49:01

to be as 26 but I could

49:04

be wrong and for all we know

49:06

the S25 edge could be the first

49:08

one because it could benefit right because

49:10

of the the reduction in thickness to

49:12

you know not compromise battery life. Maybe

49:15

they'll throw in a silicon carbon battery

49:17

or get their feet wet that way.

49:19

Yeah, if there was going to be

49:21

a phone that would benefit, that would

49:23

be the one to do it with.

49:26

I mean, it'd be terrible if they

49:28

shipped this S25 Edge and on the

49:30

box it says, you know, 3750 million

49:32

pounds, right? Like, ouch, because I don't

49:34

know if FAZ is Snapchat and 8

49:37

Elite, how that's going to pan out

49:39

in terms of performance, even though it's

49:41

a very efficient chip, right. That I

49:43

think I saw somewhere maybe as an

49:45

article I read about the the the

49:48

cooling they're gonna have a different cooling

49:50

setup for it. Yeah with the. potentially

49:52

with the edge, which, you know, part

49:54

of the reason I feel that the

49:56

XA has done so well in the

49:59

phones that it has been in is

50:01

that in each of those phones, the

50:03

calling setup seems to be a level

50:05

above what it was for the 8GN3.

50:07

Yeah, you're right. So maybe that has

50:10

an impact, maybe they undervolt it. Maybe

50:12

they just go, you know, what people

50:14

buying an an ancients. You read that

50:16

that secretly somehow Qualcomm out of nowhere

50:18

released a seven core version of the

50:21

eight elite. Oh, really? Yeah, and it's

50:23

made almost no news. It's on their

50:25

website. A few companies covered it. I

50:27

think Jessa Marina had an article about

50:29

it. But yeah, and they clearly state

50:32

it's optimized for thin and light phones.

50:34

So I have a feeling that, you

50:36

know, the optimization is one less core

50:38

and less heat. Which is fine. It'll

50:40

be interesting to see how the performance

50:43

changes in terms of like raw, you

50:45

know, max-perf when you're like doing gaming

50:47

and stuff. I think for the kind

50:49

of audiences we're going to buy these

50:51

phones, it's going to be completely irrelevant.

50:54

Like I'm over the, I'm absolutely convinced

50:56

that you can be running X, N

50:58

Up Dragon 8 Gen 1 and still

51:00

be perfectly happy or maybe not a

51:02

Gen 1, but because that one was

51:05

made by Samsung boundaries. I think the...

51:07

8 Plus Gen 1 was the redeeming

51:09

one. It had the TSMC Foundry. It's

51:11

basically the same phone with a different

51:13

manufacturing process and it's instantly, you know,

51:16

a better chip. So, yeah. 8 Gen

51:18

2 is okay. I mean, even so,

51:20

I think, I think the 8 Gen

51:22

1 for a lot of people is,

51:24

you know, it's going to be fine.

51:27

So we'll see how it goes if

51:29

they put these silicon carbon batteries in

51:31

the S26 next year or and even

51:33

in the X25 edge coming up. iPhone

51:35

SE, how do you feel about the

51:38

iPhone SE? Have you ever used an

51:40

iPhone SE? Yeah. I'm excited because, well,

51:42

not excited. I'm happy that the SE

51:44

is continuing simply because it's nice to

51:46

have an affordable iPhone even though it

51:49

does make some crazy compromises in some

51:51

areas like cameras. by having a single

51:53

camera that's just a main camera. It's

51:55

like weird, because ultra wide is kind

51:57

of what I'd want as well. Maybe

52:00

you can sacrifice on the telly. I'm

52:02

not sure how you feel, but I

52:04

feel like, for me, it's more like,

52:06

if I have to sacrifice one, it's

52:08

a tough one, but I've probably sacrificed

52:11

the telly before. Well, you were saying

52:13

earlier about the, the idea of an

52:15

ultra wide that just pinches in and

52:17

used computational photography, but that was. an

52:19

idea I had put in that video

52:22

sometime last year, where I just feel

52:24

like it can make a lot of

52:26

sense if we're going that computational photography

52:28

route, if you only are going to

52:30

put one camera in a smartphone, why

52:33

not make it like a one over

52:35

1.3 ultra-wide 100 megapixels, doesn't even have

52:37

to be 200, and you get 0.5

52:39

all the way to say two and

52:41

a half times. Exactly. That makes a

52:44

lot of sense. But I really like

52:46

the SC. a lot of people that

52:48

use that kind of phone. Yes. So,

52:50

you know, my mom had an iPhone

52:52

8, she switched to, I believe it's

52:55

a second generation SE, and I imagine

52:57

in a few years time she'll probably

52:59

end up with something like the fourth

53:01

or first generation SE. And it's just

53:03

one of those devices that it's not

53:05

glamorous, it's not exciting, it's not gonna

53:08

smash the reviews, but it's the people's

53:10

phone almost. It's just, you know, a

53:12

lot of people are still gonna buy

53:14

the base model regular regular iPhone. regular

53:16

iPhone. But there's a sizable chunk of

53:19

people who don't want to spend $700

53:21

on a phone, but still want the

53:23

iPhone experience and still like the way

53:25

that the mail was set up or

53:27

like only using the app store because

53:30

they have purchases within the Apple app

53:32

store or you know they take the

53:34

odd photo every now and then that

53:36

they want to show their friends of

53:38

family stuff but they aren't crazy enthusiastic

53:41

about it. And yeah I just like,

53:43

I really like that. Apple is still

53:45

doing an SE. I like that the

53:47

phone exists exactly. That's why I'm excited

53:49

that they're making another one and of

53:52

course it's going to be a big

53:54

upgrade in terms of you know. finally

53:56

having face ID and an Oled screen

53:58

and all that stuff. And so there's

54:00

renders that have leaked, check them out,

54:03

let me know in the social media,

54:05

what you guys saying, up the new

54:07

design. I think it's cool. And I'm

54:09

looking forward to that phone. My spouse,

54:11

who's also my producer, Theo, has had

54:14

iPhone SEs pretty much the whole time

54:16

since the, you know, I think after

54:18

the 5S of. something like that. They

54:20

went to an SE first gen, then

54:22

second gen, then third gen, and they'll

54:25

probably go to this one as well.

54:27

So kind of an important phone. It's

54:29

kind of like the Pixel A series,

54:31

right? It's like you can't go wrong

54:33

with that. You know, there are some

54:36

compromises, sure, but you can't go wrong.

54:38

And I think that in that sense,

54:40

you know, I guess maybe Galaxy A

54:42

series is similar for Samsung Land. But

54:44

also, motto razor... Plus 2025 is leaked,

54:47

the renders again. This would be the

54:49

razor 60 ultra-few in other markets. This

54:51

will be the successor to last year's,

54:53

you know, essentially flagship flip folding phone

54:55

from motto, since they don't make a

54:58

book style yet. I love the razor.

55:00

It's my favorite of the flip phones

55:02

that you can get in the West.

55:04

I think that, you know, it's better

55:06

than the Z flip, in my opinion.

55:09

I know that in terms of... like

55:11

reliably in ruggedness. I think Samsung still

55:13

has an edge. But I feel like

55:15

in terms of the way it looks

55:17

and the simplicity of the software experience

55:20

and you know cameras are still a

55:22

mode of things that needs to be

55:24

improved. But I think that for its

55:26

intended audience, the razor is a solid

55:28

phone and I'm looking forward to seeing

55:31

the new razor plus this year or

55:33

razor. or 60 Ultra. And hopefully they

55:35

go back to an ultra-wide and a

55:37

main instead of a main and a

55:39

stupid two-ex, unstableized portrait lens that nobody

55:42

needs. Yeah, and the screens were so

55:44

good on the previous raises, they were

55:46

always fast. I think it was 165

55:48

on the internal. That's right, which is

55:50

like, why do you even need that?

55:53

But yeah, like, they did it. And

55:55

it was great in the experience. The

55:57

motorola, it's frustrating. These are the kind

55:59

of phones that some people armchair enthusiasts

56:01

will never understand what makes the experience

56:04

of using arrays affordable. But when you

56:06

actually use these things, sure on paper,

56:08

they're not the same as the galaxies,

56:10

but you just feel like this was

56:12

designed on the ground up, software and

56:15

hardware to be a foldable device. And

56:17

yeah, sure, I really hope they do

56:19

make a book style. I don't know

56:21

if they will, just because I guess

56:23

the razor brand is, you know, really

56:26

leveraging its past being a flip phone,

56:28

right, for it to make a lot

56:30

of sense in the multi-missual. How about

56:32

a Modo Lenovo co-branded think book? I

56:34

would buy that immediately. Hundred of percent.

56:37

With the software from Modo as well.

56:39

A brilliant. My spouse actually also, you

56:41

know, the second phone they have is

56:43

a razor plus 2023, so they wanted

56:45

the flip and they're like, I'm gonna

56:48

suffer through Android to have the flip

56:50

as my second phone and I was

56:52

like, yeah, do it and they love

56:54

it. They love it. Absolutely. So the

56:56

last thing we have for the week

56:59

is nothing headphones rumors. I would totally

57:01

not be surprised if that was a

57:03

thing because why, it's such a such

57:05

a low-hanging. Yeah, the earbuds have been

57:07

phenomenal. They're beautiful, but they also sound

57:10

incredibly good. And of course you want

57:12

to make noise canceling headphones like these

57:14

sonies, right? Like of course you want

57:16

to do that. Especially with the XM5s,

57:18

like not exactly smashing what the XM4s

57:21

were doing. Correct. And the fact that

57:23

we're getting new Sony headphones soon. apparently.

57:25

And so who knows what they're going

57:27

to do with that. I've never been

57:29

a fan of bows for for traveling

57:32

at least. I have an XM4 pair

57:34

as you can see that I'm wearing

57:36

right now. I also have an XM5

57:38

and I use the XM5 exclusively in

57:40

the house basically and then the XM4

57:43

is when I travel and I have

57:45

Bayer Dynamics for the podcast in the

57:47

studio. But honestly I'm on board 100%

57:49

like you know I love Nothing's products

57:51

in general and they're particularly their their

57:54

audio products and if they do this

57:56

I will want one badly. Yeah I

57:58

mean didn't they work with It was

58:00

DMS I believe on the nothing ear

58:02

to I used the ear to my

58:05

my airports pro first-gen died the other

58:07

day and I there was like a

58:09

crossover I owned the ear to like

58:11

the six months prior and I still

58:13

use them I run with them on

58:16

the indoor bike in them I wear

58:18

them around the office when I'm shooting

58:20

V-roll and I love what DMS did

58:22

I used the ear one and didn't

58:24

love the way they sounded but I

58:27

really like how nothing has that one,

58:29

you know, original one plus energy that

58:31

Carl Paybore listened to the community and

58:33

just to fix the stuff that people

58:35

has to fix. And yeah, I honestly,

58:38

I don't want to, I don't want

58:40

to come across as more of a

58:42

one plus fan boy. If they made

58:44

the headphones, I'm probably going to preorder

58:46

those and I don't intend to preorder

58:49

products. But yeah, the beer too was

58:51

so good that I think I'd have

58:53

to go for the. the headphones. And

58:55

I think their products in general have

58:57

been, you know, there's something to be

59:00

said about, Carl, right? I think he's

59:02

got, he's got a knack for making

59:04

great product. And, you know, the One

59:06

Plus Nord, the last phone he did

59:08

for One Plus, right, the original Nord,

59:11

was such a hit. Like, I felt

59:13

like, oh my God, like, that was

59:15

like the pixel A of the One

59:17

Plus world. Now, I have, I got

59:19

the Nord 2, I never got the

59:22

three or two, I never got the

59:24

three or the three or the three

59:26

or the three or the three or

59:28

the four. But I'm wondering, like you

59:30

use these, you've probably had them, like

59:33

are they still as good as they

59:35

used to be? I haven't used the

59:37

most recent Nords, but with the Nord

59:39

one, I just remember distinctly reviewing, I

59:41

believe it's the 8T, either before or

59:44

after, just before, just after, and just

59:46

going, yeah, the Nord does most of

59:48

this. I don't know why I would

59:50

buy the AT, because the 8 in

59:52

the 8th Pro were phenomenal. The AT

59:54

felt like almost a step back, but

59:57

also felt so close to the Nord,

59:59

like why would I not just buy

1:00:01

the Nord? And that blue color was

1:00:03

gorgeous as I know. I felt like

1:00:05

he did such a great job with

1:00:08

the Nord that Pete looked at it

1:00:10

and went, you know, that's just, we

1:00:12

can't make money with this, it's just

1:00:14

too good for its price. And, you

1:00:16

know, and Colin was like, but that's

1:00:19

whole point. That's, that's exactly why this

1:00:21

is, you know, this is what I

1:00:23

was trying to do here. And I

1:00:25

think, you know, my theory is that.

1:00:27

that's how they parted ways. Like they

1:00:30

didn't agree on on where to go

1:00:32

forward from there. I think it was

1:00:34

amicable, but I'm just saying like, and

1:00:36

that's when he was like, wait, I

1:00:38

can do my own thing. I know,

1:00:41

I know all them factory people and

1:00:43

the supply chain people and now I

1:00:45

can hire some designers and I've got

1:00:47

my friends at Teenage Engineering because you

1:00:49

know, he's Swedish as well. And so

1:00:52

it just kind of gelled with nothing

1:00:54

and I really like the nothing software

1:00:56

on their phones. Like the phones themselves.

1:00:58

The glyphs great but I can do

1:01:00

without but I really do feel like

1:01:03

their their OS experience is really great.

1:01:05

Of course cameras can be better they

1:01:07

still need to work on that you

1:01:09

can tell but it's fine. Just partner

1:01:11

with Hasselblad that will fix everything. Spoken

1:01:14

like a one plus fan. All right

1:01:16

Ryan do you want to tell folks

1:01:18

where they can find you on the

1:01:20

internet your very social media handles and

1:01:22

of course tell them about your YouTube

1:01:25

channel which is really awesome you guys

1:01:27

need to subscribe. Yeah, so I post

1:01:29

videos mostly on Android police on YouTube

1:01:31

and on my channel, which is just

1:01:33

Ryan hyphen Thomas or The Ryan Thomas

1:01:36

on socials I'm underscore Ryan Thomas, although

1:01:38

honestly I don't post too much social

1:01:40

media these days But yeah, you'll find

1:01:42

me making videos. That's that's my main

1:01:44

thing. Yes, and you like me are

1:01:47

into mobile photography. So if you are

1:01:49

into model photography as well, you really

1:01:51

absolutely have to to watch Ryan's videos

1:01:53

and you know where to find me

1:01:55

folks I might tinker like the comic

1:01:58

book character but drop the vowels T&K,

1:02:00

GRL on all the social, I'm still

1:02:02

somehow like lurking on Twitter, I kind

1:02:04

of hate it, but I'm mostly on

1:02:06

Blue Sky, I'm on threads, I'm on

1:02:09

Instagram, so find me there and talk

1:02:11

with me and Ryan about this podcast,

1:02:13

and then you know where the podcast

1:02:15

is, it's mobile tech podcast.com, we're on

1:02:17

all the major podcast platform, so please,

1:02:20

if it's your first time here, please

1:02:22

consider subscribing, tell your friends about it,

1:02:24

rate the show and review the show

1:02:27

on your app if you. can. And

1:02:29

then there's a YouTube channel as well.

1:02:31

It's not very, you know, busy in terms

1:02:34

of content, but I do post some

1:02:36

hands-ons and unboxings occasionally. Mobile Tech

1:02:38

Podcast is the YouTube channel, of

1:02:40

course. And you know how YouTube

1:02:42

works. Like subscribe, tell your friends,

1:02:44

click the bell, comment, all that

1:02:46

stuff. You can comment about the

1:02:48

podcast itself on the videos, if

1:02:50

you want. I'll respond. And finally,

1:02:52

there's a patron. If you want

1:02:54

to support me, there is a

1:02:56

video version of this podcast that's

1:02:58

exclusive to my patrons, at least

1:03:00

in the first week. And you

1:03:03

get in an advance, you get it

1:03:05

about 12 to 24 hours ahead of

1:03:07

the audio version, which is free in

1:03:09

public. So you get to see us.

1:03:11

Sometimes we have devices that we brandished.

1:03:14

Sometimes FedEx shows up in the middle

1:03:16

of the show, and it's kind of

1:03:18

fun. I leave a lot of bloopers

1:03:20

and things in there. I leave a

1:03:22

lot of bloop. So consider supporting me

1:03:25

patreon.com/tanker, that's patiana.com/tnk, GRL. And I want

1:03:27

to thank our sponsor for this show,

1:03:29

Mint Mobile. You know I review a

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lot of phones, so I'm constantly juggling

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of money for wireless service on

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multiple Sims. Thankfully, there is Mint

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with Mint Mobile. Anne Ryan, thanks

1:05:36

so much for taking your time to join

1:05:38

the show this week. It's so great to

1:05:40

have you on. No thank you so much for

1:05:42

having me. It's been phenomenal. Love

1:05:44

that. Fantastic. We'll have you

1:05:47

on sometime in the future again and

1:05:49

folks I will have another show next

1:05:51

week so stay tuned for that. Until

1:05:53

then, cheers everybody. This has

1:05:55

been the mobile tech podcast

1:05:57

with Tank Girl proudly presented.

1:05:59

by World Podcasts.com. You

1:06:02

can visit us

1:06:04

online at Mobile

1:06:06

Tech Podcast.com.