Never mind rotating smartwatch crowns, rotating cameras rings are the next frontier. Nubia’s Focus 2 Ultra has a spinning dial around its rear camera, and it’s actually functional: it controls the phone’s camera zoom. It’s surprisingly easy to rotate with one finger while you’re holding the phone in portrait, and is a gimmick I’d probably end up using.
This is the Nubia Music 2. Like the first Music it packs a 2.1-channel sound system perfect for annoying people on public transit, designed to be 600 percent louder than the average phone. This year, it adds LEDs and an AI music generator. God help us if they ever release a Music 3.
The company’s first premium EV-only just went on sale in China for CN¥529,900 (around $73,000). It can go from 0 to 100 km/h in less than two seconds. It boasts a carbon fiber-heavy design, a 24K gold “Mi” emblem on the front, and a full array of smart features when connected to a Xiaomi phone.
Xiaomi promised yesterday to start releasing its EVs outside China “within the next few years.”
The 14 Pro and 14 Pro Plus, which launched in India last month, are coming to Europe, too, starting at €429.99 (around $450). The big hook is a temperature-sensitive, color-changing finish, with the pearlescent white back turning blue as it drops below 61 degrees Fahrenheit. And with an IP69 rating, Realme put both to the test at once by flooding the phone with cold water in a live demo at Mobile World Congress.
Honor has announced that its flagship Honor Magic phones will now receive seven years of Android OS updates and seven years of security support, starting with the recent Magic 7 Pro in the EU.
That makes Honor the first Chinese manufacturer to match software support pledges from Samsung and Google — Oppo and Xiaomi tend to offer four or five years of support for their phones.
The £179 (around $225) add-on for the company’s new 15 Ultra flagship hasn’t changed too much from last year’s except for the eye-catching color. The battery is bigger at 2,000mAh, though, so it’ll keep the 15 Ultra running a little longer. The two-stage shutter button and other controls are also now joined by a thumb rest, which may look like a film advance lever but sadly doesn’t do anything other than sit there.
