Samsung is releasing its latest internal SSD today and has launched the 990 EVO, which is now available in a variety of storage capacity options. Think of the 990 EVO like the 990 Pro in that it has a huge increase in performance compared to previous models. If performance is your main concern, then the 990 EVO won’t steer you wrong. It offers a 43% increase in performance compared to the 970 EVO Plus SSD that came before it.
This is going to be a noticeable difference no matter what you’re doing on your PC. As it should cut down on the time it takes to access your data by almost half. From a moment-to-moment perspective, it might not seem like that would matter much. But think about all the things you might do on your PC on a given day. How many files you might open or how many GB of images or other data you might transfer from folder to folder. Over the course of the day this time you spend waiting will add up. So a faster SSD like this one is going to save you time in the long run and allow you to be more efficient.
Not to mention get back a few minutes so you can do something else. In terms of gaming, the performance boost is going to help immensely with load times. And we all know you’d rather spend more time playing the game than waiting for stuff to load. Because who wouldn’t?
The Samsung 990 EVO SSD is available starting today
If it’s time for an SSD upgrade you can snag Samsung’s 990 EVO starting today. Samsung will sell it directly through its online store but you can also pick it up at Amazon and other retailers. The SSD comes in two storage capacities — 1TB and 2TB. The 1TB model can be picked up for $124.99 while the 2TB model bumps the price up to $209.99. This is pretty reasonable pricing and matches what Samsung charges for the 990 Pro in the same sizes. At least when it comes to the model without the heatsink.
The 990 EVO SSD would be a great option for desktop PCs but it’s also an excellent idea for laptops if you have one that allows access to the SSD for upgrade. That’s because the 990 EVO has improved power efficiency over the previous model. According to Samsung, it sips power compared to the 970 EVO Plus and is up to 70% more efficient with power. The reason this matters for laptop users is that you’re going to use it off the charger from time to time. Maybe you only use it off the charger. And in those situations, you want every possible advantage in extending battery life.
With the SSD using less power to do its tasks, your laptop can last longer before it needs to be plugged in. Additionally, the 990 EVO delivers read speeds of up to 5,000 megabytes-per-second (MB/s) and write speeds up to 4,200 MB/s. It also comes with a heat spreader label for better thermal regulation. SSDs don’t get as warm as CPUs and GPUs but they can still produce heat. And the improved thermal regulation in the 990 EVO is going to ensure better-sustained performance over longer periods of use.
You’ll be able to keep this thing for a while
Aside from all the other really good improvements, the 990 EVO has another trick up its sleeve. It’s future-proof. Samsung designed it to be compatible with PCIe Gen 4 and PCIe Gen 5. It supports both PCIe 4.0 x4 and PCIe 5.0 x2 interfaces. So eventually when applications start coming out that require the PCIe 5.0 2x interface, you’ll get the benefits this drive offers with those applications. The main benefit here is going to be the ability to keep performance at optimal levels even with PCIe 5.0 apps.
So you won’t need to replace this SSD for quite some time.
So, you have 13 pictures of your cat in that new little sweater you bought it, and you just can’t bring yourself to get rid of any of them. That’s all fine and dandy, but you don’t need 13 similar images cluttering up your photo feed. Thankfully, Google Photos is bringing stacked photos to Android.
You know the drill, features typically launch on iOS before they launch on Android. That’s the case with this feature, as stacked photos in Google Photos landed on iOS back in November. Now, Android users don’t need to worry about similar-looking photos cluttering their feed (cat-related or not).
Stacked photos are making it the Google Photos for Android users
If you took a bunch of pictures in a short time frame that all look pretty similar, you have the option of compressing all of those photos into one tile on your photo feed. Google Photos will organize these photos automatically. The app will go by the time frame these photos were taken, and the kind of content in them.
When you see a stacked tile in Google Photos, the tile will have a little icon in the top right corner with a number. The number, of course, refers to how many photos are in the stack. When you tap on the stack, you will see a horizontally scrolling carousel open up, showing all the photos. Also, in this view, you can do some actions to customize the stack. For starters, you can choose a different thumbnail photo, and manage which photos to keep and which ones to ditch.
If you don’t want to view the photos as a carousel, you can press the 2×2 button that will show the photos in a 2×2 grid. This lets you see more of the photos at a time. If you want to share a stack of photos, you can choose to send only selected photos or the entire stack. Also, if you want to unstack photos and display them individually on your feed, you could also do that.
This feature is currently rolling out, so there’s a chance that Google hasn’t sent it to your device yet. Just make sure that the app is updated.
When the first foldable phones came out, they were gimmicky, fragile, and expensive. Nowadays, well, they’re just expensive. Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold phones still sit just shy of $2,000. However, according to a new report, Samsung may be working on a more affordable Galaxy Z Fold 6.
With a few clamshell foldable phones like the Motorola Razr 2023 and the Tecno Phantom V Flip comfortably under the $1,000 mark, the world is waiting for notebook foldable phones to start coming down in price. Phones like the OnePlus Open are rather affordable at $1,699, so there’s still a way to go before they’re considered what we call affordable.
Samsung could be working on a more affordable Galaxy Z Fold 6
From the sound of it, it appears that Samsung could launch two versions of the Galaxy Z Fold 6. One could have all the latest and greatest specs, while the other one could have less robust specs. It’s possible that it could get a smaller battery, less pixel-dense display, weaker processor, less powerful cameras, and RAM/storage. That’s only speculation, as those are the typical cutbacks you would get in a cheaper phone.
As per the report, Samsung could be considering bringing an entry-level Galaxy Z Fold 6. This could possibly be a move to make the device more appealing to the Chinese market. Several Chinese companies such as Oppo and Xiaomi have been able to bring more affordable foldable phones compared to what Samsung is offering. While that is the case, Chinese phones still manage to bring a ton of power and usability.
The report states that the entry-level Galaxy Z Fold 6 could launch sometime in the second half of the year. This is consistent with the Galaxy foldable launch cycle. Samsung usually launches its second wave of premium devices around August. Last year was an exception, as a company launched its foldable phones in July.
The Galaxy Z Fold phones might lose some weight this year
The report also states that Samsung could also make the Galaxy Z Fold 6 rather thin compared to the Z Fold 5. This could also be a play to make the phone more appealing to the Chinese market. Many affordable phones in the Chinese market are notably thinner than the Galaxy Z Fold phones.
Is Samsung finally waking up?
If the source is right, and Samsung is making these changes in order to appeal to the Chinese market, then it could be hinting at something that we’ve been wanting for a while. We’ve been pining for Samsung to be more conscious about competition and more willing to make changes to adjust to the times. Other companies have been leaving Samsung in the dust in terms of exciting features, innovative designs, and pushing foldable technology forward.
Samsung has gotten too comfortable being the top foldable maker in the world. This means that, year after year, the company has been able to basically regurgitate the design of its phones without making any changes. Samsung’s foldables haven’t really been exciting for a few years.
Well, hopefully, this means that Samsung is willing to make changes and deliver devices that are more competitive.
The French privacy watchdog body has fined Amazon for how the company tracks and evaluates its staff. The National Commission on Informatics and Liberty, CNIL, fined Amazon’s logistics subsidiary — Amazon France Logistique — €32 million ($34.8 million).
France has fined Amazon for “overly intrusive” surveillance
According to CNIL, Amazon uses a system to evaluate the worker’s performance which uses an “overly intrusive” surveillance system. This system primarily involves the use of barcode scanners in Amazon’s warehouses. When processing an order, an Amazon employee scans products with a connected scanner before packing them for shipping. The CNIL is concerned about the precision with which the system measures the inactivity time of these scanners, which could potentially require employees to justify every break.
So, the watchdog considers both “idle time” (scanner downtime of ten minutes or more) and “latency under ten minutes” (scanner interruptions between one and ten minutes) as illegal data processing under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Additionally, Amazon’s “stow machine gun” indicator is also on CNIL’s radar as a GDPR issue.
The watchdog also argues that the surveillance system’s data processing is excessively intrusive, and it questions the need for Amazon to retain all collected data and statistical indicators for a prolonged period of 31 days for all employees and temporary workers. Amazon allegedly uses this performance data to assess warehouse workers’ overall performance every week.
Amazon’s answer to the allegations
Amazon says that it strongly disagrees with the CNIL’s findings. It says that many companies in the logistics industry use a connected warehouse system, not just Amazon. Plus, the “stow machine gun” was designed to allow workers to inspect products for damage before storage.
Meanwhile, Amazon has chosen to extend the threshold limit in addressing the “idle time” metric. The company will extend the threshold limit. It will trigger after 30 minutes, offering flexibility to employees.
Furthermore, Jeff Bezos-owned company has joined other major tech firms in the decision to reduce its workforce. Amazon recently implemented a round of layoffs, affecting about thirty employees. This comes a week after the company hinted at laying off hundreds of staff from its Prime Video and MGM Studio division.
OnePlus‘ newest device, the OnePlus 12, finally dropped, and people seem to be pretty excited about this device. It’s a very powerful phone but, with great power comes great responsibility (and A LOT of heat). Thanks to a new teardown video, we got to look at the OnePlus 12s cooling system.
If you’re curious about the OnePlus 12, then you should look at our OnePlus 12 Review. It comes chock full of a ton of information about this phone. You never know if this is going to be your next favorite handset, so you should think about giving it a look.
A YouTube teardown video reveals the OnePlus 12’s cooling system
Smartphone processes are getting more powerful all the time to deal with more complex computing. However, this comes at the cost of generating much more heat. Heavy usage on modern phones can get uncomfortable after a while if there’s no proper cooling system.
Well, Zack Nelson from JerryRigEverything just posted a teardown video showing us what’s inside the new OnePlus 12. In it, we get a look at the wireless charging coil which can wirelessly charge the phone using 50W of power. We also see the dual-cell battery along with other important aspects of the phone.
However, the star of the show was the gigantic cooling system which OnePlus calls the Dual Cryo-Velocity cooling system. This further shows that OnePlus loves using over-the-top and flashy names for its products.
This cooling system is absolutely massive compared to others, and it actually encompasses both the processor and the battery. So, it helps keep more of the phone cool during usage and charging.
The Dual Cryo-Velocity cooling system is composed of two separate vapor chambers that draw heat away from the processor and battery and push it out through the screen. Since the screen is making contact with the open air, this helps it cool much faster.
The vapor chambers have a minute amount of liquid that evaporates from one area of the chamber and travels to another area to recondense. This process is what transfers the heat through the vapor chamber and out of the phone.
Along with the vapor chamber, OnePlus also opted to add thermal paste to several parts of the phone. This combination of materials helps keep the OnePlus 12 one of the coolest phones on the market- both literally and figuratively.
The LockBit ransomware gang has given Subway a deadline of February 2, 2024, to pay the ransom, or their data will be leaked.
International fast-food restaurant chain Subway is facing a potential PR nightmare due to an alleged ransomware attack carried out by the notorious LockBit ransomware gang. Reports suggest Subway’s systems were compromised by the LockBit gang, known for its aggressive tactics.
Subway has launched an investigation after the LockBit ransomware group claimed to have hacked the company’s SUBS internal systems and stole a trove of data. The ransomware-as-a-service provider added the company to its data leak site, stating that one of its affiliates stole gigabytes of sensitive data.
LockBit stated that they are giving some time for the group to protect the data “which includes hundreds of gigabytes of data and all financial of the franchise, including employee salaries, franchise royalty payments, master franchise commission payments, restaurant turnovers, etc.” If they do not, the group will sell it to competitors. The company has added the company to its data leak site.
The message was posted on January 21, and the attackers have given Subway time until February 2 to pay a ransom. However, Subway’s spokesperson claims the company is still validating the hackers’ claims.
LockBit’s message on its dark web site (Screenshot credit: Hackread.com)
For your information, LockBit is one of the most active ransomware groups, victimizing thousands of organizations. In June 2023, the US government reported that the LockBit gang has targeted 1,700 entities in the US since 2020, making over $90 million in ransom payments.
What’s surprising for many in this incident is that Subway was unaware of the ransomware attack. However, this isn’t strange because, lately, hackers are skipping the ransomware attacks’ encryption part and focusing on stealing data since designing, developing, maintaining, and deploying ransomware has become too difficult. Companies have substantially improved their data backup and defence; therefore, threat actors steal data and demand payment for not disclosing it publicly.
It is worth noting that Subway has 20,000 locations worldwide and over 400,000 employees, so the data leak could have lasting implications for its customers if it happened. To protect yourself from online threats, be cautious when clicking links or opening attachments, use strong passwords, enable two-factor authentication, keep software and operating systems updated, and invest in reputable antivirus and anti-malware software. Practice good cyber hygiene for the best defence against cybercrime.
Google Chrome is the most popular web browser on the planet, and one reason is that it’s always coming out with new and useful features. Google just announced today that Chrome is getting some amazing generative AI features that will help make using it much easier and more streamlined. This just shows that Google is working on bringing AI prowess to all of its users.
These new Chrome generative AI features are rolling out over the next couple of days
As with any Google rollout, availability will expand as the days go on. These features will be available first in the U.S. market, and then it will make it to others as the days go on.
Tab Organizer
You’re able to make tap groups using Chrome, and you have been for some time. However, choosing which tabs to organize into groups can take a while depending on how many tabs you have open. Also, it can become tedious picking and choosing which tabs to add to your groups. Well, Tab Organizer will automatically organize your tabs based on the types of pages you have open.
All you have to do is right-click on one of the tabs you want to add to the group and click on Organize similar tabs. Chrome will then analyze all of the tabs you have open and give you a list of suggested tab groups. So, if you have several tabs open with similar pages, Chrome will suggest groups based on those tabs. Once you click on the suggestion, Chrome will automatically create that group and place all the tabs under it.
Generative AI themes
With Android 14, Google brought the ability to create AI-generated wallpapers and themes. Well, the company is now bringing this to its browser. When this feature drops, you’ll be able to create your own Chrome themes using generative AI. All you have to do is go to the side panel and click on the Change theme button. After that, click the Create with AI button.
From there on, it’s as simple as typing what you want your thing to be. When you do that, Google will generate a background and a color scheme for you. Maybe you want a desert theme; you can expect Chrome to generate images of large sand dunes. If you want a winter wonderland, Chrome will generate one for you.
This is all in addition to uploading your own photos to use as the theme and using pre-made themes in the Chrome Store.
Help me write for General text boxes
This feature will be released in next month’s update for Chrome. We’re used to using the Help me write feature in Google Docs and Gmail. Well, Google wants to bring this functionality to more places in Chrome. After the update, all you have to do is right-click on a text field and click the Help me write option. After that, type a few words, and the AI will start helping you out with what you want to write.
This is great for most situations where you want to properly articulate what you want to write. This could be for a social media post, emails, reviews, forum posts, Etc.
At the moment, these features are mostly for personal use. So Enterprise and educational accounts when I have access to these features just yet.
In a spy-vs-spy type of scenario, Microsoft has acknowledged that a group called Midnight Blizzard (also known as APT29 or Cozy Bear), gained access to a Microsoft legacy non-production test tenant account.
According to Microsoft, the group managed to access the account in November after subjecting it to a password spray attack, a type of brute force attack where the attacker tries a large amount of logins until they succeed. The group used this foothold to access some of Microsoft’s corporate email accounts and steal some emails and attached documents.
Cozy Bear, who is generally linked to the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, also known as the SVR, appears to have been curious to find out what information Microsoft had gathered about it. Cozy Bear is generally believed to be behind the SolarWinds attack and attacks on several US institutions, including the State Department, the White House, and the DNC. On all these occasions, the Dutch alerted the US intelligence services.
Microsoft’s investigation about the attack showed that the group was not after customer data or corporate information, but instead something closer to home:
“The investigation indicates they were initially targeting email accounts for information related to Midnight Blizzard itself.”
To date, there is no evidence that the threat actor had any access to customer environments, production systems, source code, or AI systems, but the investigation is still ongoing. Microsoft has promised to provide additional details as appropriate.
Generally speaking, the larger an organization is, the larger the attack surface, but with companies like Microsoft people expect a tighter security. It is, after all, a security software vendor as well. So, the fact that Cozy Bear was able to stay undetected for months comes as a surprise to many.
Apparently, the attack scared Microsoft itself as well: It says that it feels the need to speed up its cyberprotection advancement project, the Secure Future Initiative, given how well-funded and resourced the attackers are.
“We will act immediately to apply our current security standards to Microsoft-owned legacy systems and internal business processes, even when these changes might cause disruption to existing business processes.”
This attack can generally be seen as a warning to every other organization that has information which might be of interest to foreign governments.
The more an organization has grown, the larger the chance that legacy accounts exist and may even be neglected. Compare the organization to an office building: The more doors and windows (pun intended) exist, the larger the chance that one is left open. And if there are offices that are no longer in use, the chance of an opening grows exponentially.
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Motorola has shared the official list of phones eligible for the Android 14-based My UX update. It comes days after the company announced its plans to become the world’s third-best-selling smartphone brand. Now, it’s updating many devices to the latest Android version. Android 14 brings some cool features. These include customizable lock screens, better Monochrome theme support, improved battery life, new emojis, and accessibility tools.
List of Motorola phones getting the Android 14 update
Several Motorola phone models will receive Android 14 update. This includes the latest Edge series, such as the Edge 40 and Edge 40 Neo, as well as the Razr lineup, which comprises the Motorola Razr 40 and Razr 40 Ultra. Additionally, older devices like the 2022 Motorola Edge, Motorola Edge+, and Edge 30 Fusion will also receive the latest update.
Specifically, the Motorola Razr phone lineup eligible for Android 14 includes the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra, Motorola Razr 40, Motorola Razr+ 2023, Motorola Razr 2023, and Motorola Razr 2022.
For the Motorola Edge series, the Android 14 update will roll out on Motorola Edge+ 2023, Motorola Edge 2023, Motorola Edge+ 2022, Motorola Edge 2022, Motorola Edge+ 5G UW 2022, Motorola Edge 40 Pro, Motorola Edge 40 Neo, Motorola Edge 40, Motorola Edge 30 Ultra, Motorola Edge 30 Pro, Motorola Edge 30 Neo, Motorola Edge 30 Fusion, and Motorola Edge 30.
The Motorola G series is also not left behind. Android 14 update is coming to the Moto G 5G 2023, Moto G Stylus 5G 2023, Moto G Stylus 2023, Moto G Power 5G 2023, Moto G84 5G, Moto G54, Moto G73 5G, Moto G53 5G, Moto G23, and Moto G14. Additionally, Motorola may add the upcoming phones, the Moto G53 and G73, to this list.
When will the Android 14 update roll out?
Motorola is releasing Android 14-based My UX updates in groups for eligible phones. It might take some time to reach all users. Hence, throughout 2024, users could expect updates. The support page lacks specific launch timelines. However, Motorola users can rest assured that Android 14 updates are on the way.
I’ve been reviewing OnePlus smartphones for years, and generally, there’s always something wrong with them. Keeping them from being a nearly perfect phone. Usually, it has to do with the camera, and after a few updates, it would be way better and almost a totally different phone. But that changed last year with the OnePlus 11 and especially the OnePlus Open. I was utterly blown away by the OnePlus Open, in fact it’s the only foldable that I still use to this day.
So, heading into the OnePlus 12 briefing and review, I wondered how or if OnePlus could keep up that momentum. And I’m here to tell you that the OnePlus 12 is an early contender for smartphone of the year, even after using (briefly) the successor to last year’s smartphone of the year – Galaxy S24 Ultra. Let’s talk about it.
OnePlus 12 Review: Hardware and Build Quality
The hardware on the OnePlus 12 has not changed a whole lot compared to the OnePlus 11. It looks pretty similar and even has the same camera module. However, it does feel a bit thicker, which I don’t actually mind. I’d mind it even less if it were not a curved display phone. But more on that later on. OnePlus has kept the power and volume rocker on the left side, with the Alert Slider on the right. It’s still one of my favorite features on any phone. It just makes it so easy to put my phone on silent or vibrate.
The top and bottom of the OnePlus 12 are flat, while the sides are curved. This is done so that it makes it easier to hold. On the bottom, you’ll find a speaker grille, a USB-C port, and a SIM tray. Thank goodness OnePlus is not following the fruit company and going eSIM only – even though I am using an eSIM on this phone. On the top, you’ll find the microphone hole as well as the IR blaster. Boy, isn’t that a blast from the past? A few years ago, really almost a decade ago, IR blasters were the next big thing. Being added to every phone imaginable to control your TVs and other things. Today, most phones have done away with them, but not OnePlus. It does make for a cool party trick. I’m currently writing this review in an airport. I used the IR blaster to turn off one of the flight monitors and then back on.
OnePlus 12 has a stunning front, which is basically all-screen. It’s a curved 6.82-inch display that looks amazing. There is a hole punch camera on the front, and that’s really about it.
It does feel really great to hold in the hand, although a bit slippery. I really wish OnePlus sent over a case with their reviewers kit, like they have done in the past because I’ve almost dropped this phone many times. So, if you do buy one, make sure to get a case as well. OnePlus will have plenty available.
There is a fairly sizeable camera bump on the back of the OnePlus 12, but honestly, after carrying the OnePlus Open for many months, it’s really not that bad. And the trade-off here is that some pretty amazing pictures are coming out of this camera system. So it’s a fair trade-off, I’d say.
It’s solid hardware and either a design you love or hate. There’s really no in-between.
OnePlus 12 Review: Display
OnePlus is no stranger to great displays. And with the Open last year, they really seemed to have started the trend of incredibly bright displays. The OnePlus Open was able to go up to 2800 nits of peak brightness. Then the Google Pixel 8 series followed along at 2000 and 2,400 nits, respectively. Now, OnePlus is telling everyone to hold their beer; the new OnePlus 12 can go all the way up to 4,500 nits of peak brightness. That’s just bonkers. But it is also very useful.
I recently traveled to San Jose for Samsung’s Unpacked event and took the OnePlus 12 with me for the ride. The weather wasn’t perfect, a bit cloudy for part of the trip, but even in bright environments, the OnePlus 12 was very easy to see. And the kicker? It was not even at full brightness. Some will say that this much brightness is overkill. And it might be. But I’d definitely rather have it and not need it then need it and not have it.
While it might not go to a true 4500 nits of peak brightness, and even then, it’s only a portion of the screen, what I really appreciated is that it is easy to see outdoors, especially when it’s very bright. Just as another example here, there are a few inches of snow on the ground, and the skies are clear with the sun shining, making it super bright. Because the sun is reflecting off of the white snow, so it’s brighter than usual. And I could still see the OnePlus 12 outdoors without any issues. That is rather impressive and not something that most phones can achieve.
Additionally, the OnePlus 12 is brighter, clearly brighter than the new Galaxy S24 Ultra. Of course, it should be since the OnePlus 12 does have a much higher peak brightness. But you can see in the picture below that it is brighter, with basically the same home screen.
OnePlus 12 vs Galaxy S24 Ultra: Max Brightness
Like most of OnePlus’ other smartphones, this is also an LTPO display, so it can dynamically change the refresh rate from 10Hz to 120Hz. This helps to conserve battery, especially in apps where you really don’t need a 120Hz refresh rate since it is not always needed.
I’ve watched quite a few videos on this phone, and each time, I’m amazed at how good it looks. Watched quite a few YouTube videos on the OnePlus 12 while flying from San Jose back to Detroit, and the colors look incredible. It’s an OLED panel, so obviously, the blacks are nice and inky, too. Added in with the brightness, and even with the window shade open, I had no problem watching YouTube. That’s just another example of the brightness coming in handy here. Not to mention, the curved display allows for the content to “melt” over the sides. It looks incredible, but I’m still not a fan of curved displays.
Recently, we’ve seen quite a few phones ditching curved displays – Google’s Pixel 8, more recently, Samsung’s Galaxy S24 Ultra – and I have a feeling the OnePlus 13 might not have one. Curved displays seem to be a love or hate thing with smartphones. Some love how they look, especially when watching videos. But others despise them because they are uncomfortable to hold, get scratched easily, cause accidental touches and screen protectors really don’t work with cases. This is why I don’t like curved displays, but I have to say, so far, I have not had any of these issues – well, I don’t have a case or screen protector yet, but the other issues I have not experienced.
This might be one of the best displays I’ve ever seen on a smartphone, which is saying something since I’ve reviewed almost every phone on the market today.
OnePlus 12 Review: Performance
The OnePlus 12 is my first experience with the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor, and I have to say, it’s quite good. I’m going to compare this to the OnePlus Open and the Galaxy S24 Ultra quite a bit, which use the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and Gen 3, respectively. Moving around the OS on the OnePlus 12 is really fluid. Even more so than the Galaxy S24 Ultra, which is impressive since its version of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is overclocked a bit.
OnePlus also added in a much larger vapor chamber on the OnePlus 12, which did help it stay cool for quite some time. I played a few games on here for a bit, as well as running a ton of benchmarks, and the phone got warm – but not hot. That was, honestly, quite impressive to me. Most phones will get pretty warm, almost too warm to touch, when running Geekbench 6, 3D Mark, and PC Mark back-to-back-to-back. But not the OnePlus 12.
Let’s talk about those benchmarks. So, on the OnePlus 12 and every other phone we’ve reviewed recently, we run a handful of benchmarks. This includes Geekbench 6, which tests the raw performance of both the CPU and GPU. Then there’s the 3D Mark WildLife Extreme Stress Test. This particular test does a one-minute loop for 20 minutes. The point here is to see if the OnePlus 12 can sustain high performance and how well it can do it. Finally, we have PC Mark Work 3.0. This is a productivity test to see how well the OnePlus 12 can perform tasks like spreadsheets, emails, etc., you know, being productive on your phone.
The first test here is Geekbench 6. Single-core scores are in blue, multi-core scores are in red, and the GPU scores are in yellow. Here, we compared it to the OnePlus Open (Snapdragon 8 Gen 2), the Pixel 8 Pro (Tensor G3), and the iPhone 15 Pro Max (A17 Pro). It outperformed everything except for the iPhone 15 Pro Max, which to this day still has an incredibly wild GPU score. But it’s important to remember, especially for the GPU scores, that Geekbench 6 runs on different platforms for iPhone (Metal) versus Android (Vulkan).
This next test is the 3D Mark Wildlife Extreme Stress Test. It had some of the highest scores on phones we’ve tested, but the stability wasn’t all that high, stability was around 58.9%, generally it’s over 70% for most other phones. We’ll chop this up to the software not being final just yet and will retest this in a month or so to see if it changes.
Then we have PC Mark Work 3.0, as mentioned before, this is a productivity benchmark, meant to help determine how good this phone is able to deal with productivity tasks. Here, we compared it to the OnePlus Open and Pixel 8 Pro only since the app is not compatible with the iPhone, unfortunately. It beat both phones and beat the OnePlus Open by 23%. That’s a pretty sizeable increase year-over-year.
Finally, we have one more benchmark we run, which is a customized one that we decided to put together here at AndroidHeadlines. Since phone makers do like to “cheat” on benchmarks, this is one that they can’t really cheat at. It’s called the CapCut test. We use the popular CapCut video editing app to edit and export a one-minute video. It’s the same one-minute video with the same edits for each phone we test to keep it on a level playing field. The OnePlus 12 has set a new record in this test of under 10 seconds. Prior to that, the iPhone 15 Pro Max had a record at 13.5 seconds. This shows that the GPU on the OnePlus 12 is really impressive.
Overall, we’ve found the performance to be among the best of any phone we’ve reviewed so far. Now, that might change as more Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 phones come across our desk, but so far, it’s impressive.
OnePlus 12 Review: Battery life and Charging
These are two things that OnePlus has been known for in the last few years, especially the charging aspect. When I sat down with OnePlus in Las Vegas for a briefing on the OnePlus 12, I was told that this was a two-day phone. In my head, I thought, “Yeah, we’ve heard that before; I’ll believe it when I see it.” But it is truly a two-day phone. It takes about a day and a half to truly empty this battery, using it non-stop. So, if I were using it normally, it would definitely last two full days. That’s not something we see all that often with smartphones these days. So, it’s definitely a great thing to see here.
As I mentioned on Twitter last week, I took this with me to San Jose for Galaxy Unpacked. That means a couple of very heavy travel days to travel across the country. Typically, phones would have their battery destroyed by the end of the day. But not the OnePlus 12. I had about five hours of screen time, with around 57% battery left. Yes, fifty-seven percent. That’s pretty much the same as if I were at home using it on WiFi all day. Of course, putting it in airplane mode for a number of hours and using WiFi on the plane definitely helped, but remember, brightness was also up pretty high here.
Because of this, the OnePlus 12 has likely earned a spot in my bag for Mobile World Congress next month. Not only for the battery life but also for the charging and performance, as well as the camera. We’ll talk about some of these a bit later. But let’s move on to the scientific tests for battery life.
As we’ve been doing for the last few months with new phones, we run a YouTube video at full brightness and in full screen on the phone from 100% to 1%. It’s a 24-hour video, and no phone has lasted longer than the video so far, but this makes it easy to see how long it lasted. The OnePlus 12 lasted the third longest out of the phones we’ve tested. It lasted just over 19 hours. While the iPhone 15 Pro Max lasted about 21.5 hours, the top of the list right now is the iQOO 12, which lasted 21:52. These are all spectacular numbers. Especially since the OnePlus 12 was at full brightness at that time.
Another anecdote from this test is that despite being at full brightness for 19 hours, the OnePlus 12 did not overheat. It did get warm, but not uncomfortably hot. That was honestly very surprising to me, considering how bright this display can get and the fact that other phones have gotten quite hot in this test.
Charging the OnePlus 12 is magical
Here in the US, we don’t get a lot of very fast-charging smartphones. Samsung tops out at 45W (really, it’s 25W), Google and Apple don’t really go past 30W, but OnePlus continues to bring 80W charging to the US on its phones. So when I get to use a OnePlus phone, it really does become a treat.
While OnePlus does include a 100W charger in the box, it’ll only do 80W in the US due to our electrical grid; it can only do 80W on that charger. So if I plug it into my USB-C charger that I travel with, I’ll only get 60W. Which is still faster than most other smartphones that arrive in the US, so it’s really hard to complain about that. It is how I charged the OnePlus 12 most of the time, however.
But for our benchmarking, I did use the included OnePlus 100W SuperVOOC charger. It was able to recharge the 5400mAh capacity battery in 32 minutes and 13 seconds.
Now, OnePlus says you can fully charge in 30 minutes, but keep in mind that it is in a lab in perfect condition, not in a home where other things are drawing power and such. So this is still very close to OnePlus’ claim, and honestly, a full charge in just over 30 minutes is still very respectable. Considering every other non-OnePlus device we’ve tested that is available in the US has charging times of well over an hour.
OnePlus 12 Review: Software
With the OnePlus 12, the company has Android 14 and OxygenOS 14 on board. This is actually my first time using OxygenOS 14 since my OnePlus Open still hasn’t gotten the update. Honestly, there are a few changes compared to OxygenOS 13, but not that many. That’s pretty common with Android phones these days; we’re not seeing a lot of major changes with new updates, but instead, a handful of new features that you may or may not use.
Since OnePlus ditched Cyanogen OS many years ago and decided to create OxygenOS, I haven’t really been a huge fan of the operating system. I’ve always preferred a more stock Android approach, and really like the Pixel Experience that Google has built. But I have to say, after using the OnePlus Open and now the 12 extensively, I really am starting to like OxygenOS. It’s really starting to grow on me.
Here are a few things that I really like about OxygenOS compared to Pixel Experience; one of those is the Settings icon in the top corner of the Quick Settings. Google wants you to pull down the Quick Settings completely to get to the Settings – and then it’s at the bottom of the screen. Again, this is a small thing, but very useful for someone like me who is constantly checking battery life and other settings inside the Settings app.
I also really like the Quick Settings here. Google gives you huge toggles for everything, while OnePlus does this for WiFi and Bluetooth only. This is great because you can see what WiFi network you’re connected to, as well as whatever Bluetooth devices you have connected. Everything else is a smaller toggle, like mobile data, flashlight, location, airplane mode, etc, with a brightness toggle at the bottom. These are just so much easier to use compared to what Google offers on the Pixel. And I really like it.
The last big thing that I like about OxygenOS is arguably the only thing reviewers care about, and that’s the battery life screen. It’s not perfect, but it is one of the best options out right now. Now, when you go into the battery section in Settings, it tells you how long it’s been since the phone was unplugged, as well as whether your screen is on time, with a 24-hour graph above. Below that, there are a few apps that are using the most battery. It’s just so easy to follow, and I love it.
Speaking about the battery, OnePlus also has a few settings for Battery Health, like showing you the Maximum Capacity, as well as the ability to stop charging at 80%. This is a feature we saw get added to the iPhone 15 last year, and it’s great to see Android OEMs are quickly adding this as a setting now.
Finally, let’s talk about how fluid the software has been on this new hardware. OxygenOS has always been rather lightweight, and I have to say, it just flies on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. As mentioned before, this is the 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage model, so there’s plenty of power in this phone. I’ve never experienced a slowdown on the OnePlus 12 running OxygenOS 14, and I really don’t expect to.
OnePlus is promising four years of OS upgrades and five years of security updates. So, it is not quite the seven years that Samsung and Google are promising these days, but hopefully, that will change with Open 2 or OnePlus 13.
OnePlus 12 Review: Camera
I’ve been raving about the camera on the OnePlus Open pretty much since I was able to talk about it last October. Why? Because it has some of the best hardware and produces some of the best pictures out there. It is also a stark contrast to OnePlus devices from a few years ago where the camera was not great at launch, and after a few updates, it was a much better camera. It’s great that OnePlus has figured things out before launch, especially since the first impression is everything.
With the OnePlus 12, we’re looking at a camera setup similar to the Open. This includes a 50-megapixel main sensor, a 64-megapixel periscope telephoto sensor, and a 48-megapixel ultrawide sensor. And OnePlus has kept the option for automatically shooting at 1.5x or 35mm. That’s the best focal length, in my opinion, because you get a really nice depth of field, providing a creamy bokeh effect. Which you can see in a few pictures below.
I took the OnePlus 12 with me to San Jose for Unpacked and got some pretty sweet pictures on the way there, including a few from the plane. Shooting at 6x zoom and flying at over 500 miles per hour, you can still get some really crisp images, as you can see down below. These absolutely look amazing, and I’m still shocked I was able to take them.
The ultimate test for me with a smartphone camera is taking a photo of my dog. I have a rescue from Aruba, and her DNA test shows that she is an American Staffordshire Terrier, a Rat Terrier, and a Belgian Malinois mix. I tell you all this to say that she’s black and brown with some white fur and doesn’t sit still (that’s the Belgian Malinois part). So for a camera to be able to take a photo of her and be sharp is pretty rare. But it’s starting to be a bit less rare these days. Here are a few pictures I took of her while reviewing the OnePlus 12. It did struggle a little bit in portrait mode, but it still did better than a lot of other phones, so definitely impressed on that front.
OnePlus has really started to take the camera super seriously on its last few phones, and of course, the Hasselblad partnership has definitely helped. That partnership is due to expire pretty soon, and I really hope OnePlus is able to renew because the Open and 12 have become some of my favorite cameras in smartphones, and I really can’t wait to see what they do in future phones.
Now let’s talk about our testing for the camera. What we have started doing very recently is taking a rubiks cube and putting it into a photography tent. Turning the light all the way up, and taking a photo. This gives us the same lighting for each phone, as well as a subject that is very colorful. Allowing us to test out the color reproduction on each phone. In the example below, we have the Galaxy S24 Ultra, iPhone 15 Pro and the OnePlus 12 on display.
Now if you look at the comparison above, the Galaxy S24 Ultra definitely looks like it’s the brighter and better picture, but actually it’s the OnePlus 12. The OnePlus 12 actually looks more like real life compared to the other two. Samsung is artificially brightening the picture in post-production using AI. I’ve seen that happen in a lot of photos with that camera, actually. Then the iPhone 15 Pro is actually a bit on the warm side here. While OnePlus 12 does look more true to life, which is what you want in a picture here. This Rubiks cube is more of a metallic finish Rubiks cube, so it does look darker than a regular Rubiks cube.
Should you buy the OnePlus 12?
So now, the big question is, should you buy the OnePlus 12? I would say definitely. And this is a bit weird for me because this time around, there’s no “you should only buy it if…” to this sentence. If you need a new phone, the OnePlus 12 is the way to go. And here’s why: pricing on the 12 starts at $799, or you can jump up to 512GB of storage for just $899. That’s cheaper than just about every other comparable phone on the market today. OnePlus also nailed just about everything this year, from the camera to performance, to battery life, to the display, and everything in between. The only complaint I have is that it is a curved display; I’d much rather have a flat display on the OnePlus 12.
You should buy the OnePlus 12 if:
You want a spectacular camera setup.
You want the best battery life on a smartphone in 2024.
You want incredibly fast charging.
You want a bright display that you can use outdoors without a problem.
