OnePlus reclaims the throne in India’s premium smartphone market

• OnePlus has reclaimed the top spot in India’s premium smartphone market, according to estimates.
• It still faces stiff competition from Apple and Samsung.
• The OnePlus 8 is also India’s most popular high-end handset.

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OnePlus has taken back the lead in India’s hotly contested premium smartphone market, according to an estimate — if only just.

Counterpoint Research has determined that OnePlus just edged past Samsung to claim the most market share for premium (over Rs 30,000 or $400) phones in the second quarter of 2020, snapping up 29% of the space versus just under 29% for Samsung. That’s less than a point difference, but it’s no mean feat when OnePlus is a relative newcomer and still considered a niche brand in most parts of the world.

Not surprisingly, the OnePlus 8 series played a large role in the comeback. The design and performance “attracted consumers’ attention,” Counterpoint said, while OnePlus’ ability to cultivate a loyal fan base also helped its chances.

See also: The best smartphones in India under 40,000 rupees

Apple sank to third in the country due to fiercer competition, the researchers said, although it dominated the “ultra-premium” (over Rs 45,000 or $600) segment with 42% share. It also had the most phones in the premium top five. While the OnePlus 8, Vivo V19, and Samsung Galaxy A71 occupied the top three spots, the iPhone SE and iPhone 11 filled out the remaining spots. The iPhone 11 could gain share now that Apple is making the device locally and might lower the price.

Counterpoint stressed that these phones represented just a small sliver of India’s smartphone base. The devices only represented slightly over 4% of the country’s smartphone shipments — the vast majority of customers are buying budget devices. It’s no wonder that OnePlus is aiming at budget buyers with the Nord, then. While it may be happy to rule the premium phone space, it has been ignoring a massive potential audience until now.

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Nvidia reportedly could reach deal to acquire ARM within weeks

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Last week it came to light that SoftBank may be trying to sell chipset design firm ARM, and according to a new report from Bloomberg, Nvidia could be interested. Citing the usual "people with knowledge," Nvidia has apparently approached ARM to court a deal with the Cambridge company.

Nothing has been confirmed, and it remains to be seen if ARM is even interested in Nvidia's offer, but it's one possible avenue for the company.

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Nvidia reportedly could reach deal to acquire ARM within weeks was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

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Google’s top search result? Surprise! It’s Google

In Google’s early years, users would type in a query and get back a page of 10 “blue links” that led to different websites. “We want to get you out of Google and to the right place as fast as possible,” co-founder Larry Page said in 2004. Today, Google often considers that “right place” to be Google, an investigation by The Markup has found. We examined more than 15,000 recent popular queries and found that Google devoted 41 percent of the first page of search results on mobile devices to its own properties and what it calls “direct answers,” which are…

This story continues at The Next Web

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The Oppo Watch is a beautiful Apple Watch clone, and it’s launching globally

Credit: Dhruv Bhutani/ Android Authority

• The Wear OS-powered Oppo Watch is launching in global markets, starting today, July 31.
• The Oppo Watch is the first smartwatch with a dual-curved display.
• Oppo included some interesting features that will likely help extend battery life.

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Oppo unveiled its flagship smartwatch last March, but it was only released in China and ran a proprietary operating system. Now, the Oppo Watch is launching globally, and it’s very different from the China-only version.

For starters, the Oppo Watch is running Wear OS, Google’s smartwatch operating system. That means it has access to thousands of apps, watch faces, and comes with direct access to Google Fit.

Oppo is releasing three Oppo Watch models for global markets: a 46mm LTE-capable version with eSIM, a 46mm Wi-Fi-only version, and a 41mm Wi-Fi-only version. The 46mm models are pretty much the same devices — aside from the obvious connectivity differences — whereas the 41mm model makes some sacrifices to reach a lower price point. The 41mm version’s rear surface is made only of plastic, while the 46mm models also feature ceramic. The smaller version also has a 3ATM water resistance rating, while the larger models get a 5ATM rating.

I don’t want to harp on this too much anymore (mostly because I’ve already done so), but despite the Oppo Watch being a downright beautiful piece of hardware, I think a lot of people will be turned away from its Apple Watch-copying design. These watches are nearly identical, although the Oppo Watch doesn’t have the nice rotatable crown like Apple’s watch does.

Don’t miss: The best smartwatches you can buy right now

There are other spec differences between the two sizes. The 41mm version comes with a smaller 1.6-inch AMOLED display with a lower 320 x 360 resolution. The bigger version has a 1.9-inch screen and a higher 402 x 476 resolution. All three versions have curved displays on the left and right sides. We usually don’t like waterfall displays on smartphones, but we don’t think it will cause any usability issues on a smartwatch.

Oppo was also able to fit a larger battery into the 46mm variants — this version has a 430mAh battery, which Oppo claims will last 30 hours with normal use or 21 days in power saving mode. The smaller Oppo Watch has a 300mAh cell, which will last 24 hours with normal use or 14 days in power saving mode.

Performance should be pretty good, no matter which version you buy. The Oppo Watch is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Wear 3100 chipset, though it doesn’t have the newest 4100 chip. That should be just fine — we’ve used the 3100 Qualcomm chip on most 2019 smartwatches and haven’t found any major performance issues. It’s also backed by 1GB of RAM, which should be more than enough to handle Wear OS.

Oppo included another chip on the Oppo Watch to help with battery life. In smartwatch mode, the Oppo Watch uses the Snapdragon chip. For less processor-intensive tasks, the watch switches to the power-saving Apollo 3 chipset, which Oppo claims will result in a better balance between high performance and energy efficiency.

And finally, fitness. The Oppo Watch comes with built-in GPS + GLONASS and an always-on optical heart rate sensor. It can track a variety of activities with Google Fit, and Oppo included five workout modes with voice coaching: fitness run, fat burn run, outdoor walk, outdoor cycling, and swimming.

Oppo Watch specs

	Oppo Watch (46mm) LTE and Wi-Fi models	Oppo Watch (41mm) Wi-Fi only
Display	1.91-inch AMOLED 402 x 476 resolution 326ppi 72.76% screen-to-body ratio 500 nits	1.6-inch AMOLED 320 x 360 resolution 301ppi 65.22% screen-to-body ratio 500 nits
Processor	Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 3300	Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 3300
RAM	1GB	1GB
Storage	8GB	8GB
Battery	430mAh Smartwatch mode: Up to 30-hour battery life Power Saver mode: Up to 21-day battery life Charging: 5V 1.5A 75-min. charging time	300mAh Smartwatch mode: Up to 24-hour battery life Power Saver mode: Up to 14-day battery life Charging: 5V 1.5A 75-min. charging time
Water resistance	5ATM	3ATM
Sensors	GPS, GLONASS Optical heart rate sensor	GPS, GLONASS Optical heart rate sensor
Network	LTE model only: WCDMA: B1/B8 FDD-LTE: B1/B3/B7/B8/B20 TD-LTE: B38 Wi-Fi-only model: N/A	N/A
Carriers	LTE model only: Vodafone, Orange, Celcom Wi-Fi-only model: N/A	N/A
Operating system	Wear OS	Wear OS
Materials	Case: 6000-series aluminium alloy Rear surface: Plastic and ceramic Strap: Fluororubber	Case: 6000-series aluminium alloy Rear surface: Plastic Strap: Fluororubber
Colors	Black, Glossy Gold	Black, Pink, Gold, Silver Mist

Oppo Watch pricing and availability

Credit: Dhruv Bhutani/ Android Authority

The Wear OS-powered Oppo Watch is being released in select markets starting today, July 31. It goes on sale in India starting August 10 priced at Rs. 14,990 (~$200) and Rs. 19,990 (~$269) for the 41mm and 46mm versions, respectively. Meanwhile, smartwatch fans in the UK can pick up the 46mm version for £369 (~$484) from October or the 41mm from September 3 for £229 (~$300).

As for colors, the 41mm model comes in Black or Glossy Gold and the 46mm version is available in Black, Silver, or Rose Gold.

There’s no word on whether or not it’ll be sold directly in the US. Regardless, importing one shouldn’t be too difficult, and the LTE bands will likely work with US carriers.

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The Oppo Watch looks good overall, but there are some obvious things that might turn people away — the Apple design cues, the lack of a rotatable dial, and the missing Snapdragon 4100 SoC are the big offenders. We’ll get one in for review soon, though, so stay tuned for more Oppo Watch coverage in the next couple weeks.

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We asked, you told us: The iPhone SE camera slaps the OnePlus Nord

The OnePlus Nord was always likely to face some stark comparisons to rival devices when it launched earlier this month. Packing six cameras in total, the phone embraces the more is better philosophy, but does this translate into stellar performance?

Well, we can only really decide by comparing it to its contemporaries. While the rumored Pixel 4a isn’t yet here, the iPhone SE most assuredly is.

In a recent OnePlus Nord vs iPhone SE camera shootout, we asked you to weigh in with your thoughts and pick the overall winner. Here’s what you decided.

Which phone takes better photos: the OnePlus Nord or the iPhone SE?

Results

We declared the iPhone SE as the marginal winner in our shootout but your votes and comments suggest a much larger gulf in quality between the two phones.

Of the over 4,000 votes cast, 65.4% believe that the iPhone SE shoots better photos. It’s not just a victory for the Apple device but rather the one-camera-to-rule-them-all philosophy as a whole.

The iPhone SE packs four fewer cameras than the Nord. A single 12MP sensor at the rear joins a 7MP camera up front. As the iPhone SE lacks an ultra-wide camera and macro sensor, we were unable to include comparisons there, so we imagine the Nord wins by default in that regard?

Related: OnePlus Nord vs iPhone SE: Which should you buy?

On that note, the Nord did receive just under 1,500 votes in our survey, or just under 35% of the thumbs up. That’s a fair response for a phone that arguably has a more versatile camera array. Despite this, there’s little doubt though that the OnePlus Nord’s 48MP snapper falls short of the iPhone SE. Shots snapped by the former lacked dynamic range, sharpness, and the color detail of its competitor’s prints. The Nord’s much larger 32MP selfie sensor doesn’t necessarily guarantee better shots either, something we’ve also noticed ourselves.

Quality versus quantity is the primary takeaway from this battle.

Here’s what you had to say

• Neil T: For me there wasn’t a shocking amount of difference in terms of quality. It’s there, but not a night and day difference. The biggest difference for me was the Nord’s pics look cooler while the iPhone’s pics looked warmer.
• Stephen C: iPhone is the winner here.
• Hrvoyay: Nord is very soft, even blurry at times. Not great at all.
• Ellio74: We were told OP was going to provide a flagship camera experience, it didn’t just say from which year…
• Thomas: This comparison shows that megapixel count and number of cameras are so overrated. Oneplus should’ve invested more into having a good main camera instead of adding a useless depth and macro camera.
• D9: iPhone for the win here, with the Nord being fairly mediocre. Oneplus should have ditched the additional useless camera sensors they included only to be able to say we have X number of cameras and instead had two quality cameras on the backside with good processing.
• VJ: iPhone SE. And this just shows you don’t need to have tons of cameras on your phones. Put only 2 but very good ones and same money as well.
• alfonzso: iPhone generally provides the most consistent photos. However, to me it seems like Nord’s colors are more realistic (guessing, since I didn’t see the scenes with my own eyes) in most of the shots.

That’s it for the results of our OnePlus Nord vs iPhone SE camera poll. Thanks for the votes and comments. If you have comments on the results of our shootout, be sure to drop them down below.

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