Other “Pro” bits include better cameras, Dolby Atmos stereo speakers, a beefed-up in-display fingerprint reader, an improved vapor-cooling system and 35-minute, 65W “SuperDart” flash charge (it’s basically a rebranded version of Oppo’s “SuperVOOC 2.0”). These are all packaged into a low-profile “Moss Green” or “Rust Red” body, featuring a smooth frosted glass back which shows a subtle metallic shine at certain angles.

Oddly enough, Realme kind of went the opposite direction with the X50 Pro’s 1080p display. Rather than keeping the X50’s 6.57-inch 120Hz LCD (from JDI and BOE), the Pro model has to make do with a smaller, slower 6.44-inch 90Hz Samsung AMOLED panel. While some may be disappointed by the lack of a 120Hz AMOLED panel, this was most likely a price-conscious decision made by the brand. Not that this is a bad thing, mind; 90Hz AMOLED is already a noticeable upgrade for most people, and we liked it on both the OnePlus 7 Pro and the Oppo Reno Ace.

The X50 Pro maxes out at 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM with 256GB of UFS 3.0 storage. It comes with a 4,200mAh battery along with the usual NFC (Google Pay friendly), dual-SIM tray and dual-mic noise cancellation. But nope, no headphone jack here.

Much like the X50, the X50 Pro has a set of quad cameras on the back and dual cameras for selfies, but with a slightly different set of sensors and optics. The rear group is led by a 64-megapixel Samsung GW1 chip with a f/1.8 aperture for super high-resolution shots, or for 4-in-1 pixel-binning to boost sensitivity in low-light scenarios. Below that is an 8-megapixel ultra-wide camera, which also handles macro shots at down to 3cm. The top camera is a 12-megapixel telephoto shooter, which offers up to 5x optical hybrid zoom (or a gimmicky 20x hybrid zoom, if you’re really desperate). Last but not least, there is a 2-megapixel f/2.4 monochromatic camera at the bottom which assists the main camera’s portrait mode.

One of the main photography features that Realme is pitching for the X50 series is “Nightscape 3.0,” which comes with a “Tripod Mode” that does super long exposure of up to 50 seconds for some interesting night shots, so long as you can mount your phone onto a tripod. “Nightscape 3.0” also has an “Ultra Nightscape Mode,” which essentially boosts the camera’s sensitivity to take bright images even when illuminance is down to just 1 Lux. As for video, it’s just the usual 4K@30fps recording with two levels of video stabilization, and there’s also real-time bokeh effect video if you want to try something different.

On the other side of the phone, you get a 32-megapixel f/2.5 main selfie camera along with an 8-megapixel f/2.2 ultra-wide shooter, both powered by Sony sensors and are stuffed into the screen’s top-left punch-hole. Again, there’s real-time bokeh effect video recording here, but users will likely be more interested in taking slow-motion selfies at 1080p@120fps (just don’t call them “slofies“).

The Realme X50 Pro runs on Android 10 with Realme UI — essentially a near-stock Android experience with some goodies ported over from Oppo’s ColorOS, such as gesture navigation and smart assistant features. And of course, the software runs even smoother on the 90Hz display. One cool feature here is Dual Mode Music Share, which lets you play music through wired (USB) earphones and Bluetooth earphones simultaneously, and you can even pick up calls with the earphones you’re wearing while letting your friend continue listening to music with the other pair.

There’s no word on US availability just yet, as Realme is targeting Europe for now, with Spain being the launch market in April. The Realme X50 Pro will start from 599 euros (about $650) for the 8GB RAM + 128GB storage version, and topping at 749 euros (about $810) with 12GB of RAM + 256GB storage. These are cheaper than even some of the recent 4G flagships, but apparently the China prices will be even lower when the phone launches there locally.

There would be other welcome tweaks, including a larger 4,000mAh battery (up from 3,300mAh), a 3X rear zoom lens instead of 2X, 8GB of RAM and 256GB of built-in storage. And yes, you’d still see a 3.5mm headphone jack.

The Xperia 10 II, on the other hand, would be squarely aimed at the mid-range buyers. The 6-inch phone would stick to LTE as its fastest data option and would continue to use the Xperia 10’s 2,520 x 1,080 OLED screen, although there would be some useful performance upgrades like a Snapdragon 665 chip and 4GB of RAM. You could also expect three cameras on the back (8MP ultra-wide, 12MP standard and an 8MP 2X zoom) and 128GB of internal storage.

The leaks don’t mention release dates, although you could hear about both phones very quickly when the date on their system clocks conveniently mentions February 24th, around when Mobile World Congress 2020 was due to start before it was cancelled. There’s a good possibility you’ll see these Xperia updates available in the US as unlocked models at some point, although history suggests you may have to wait a while.

Starting off with the entry-level Vive Cosmos Play, eagle-eyed readers may already notice that this is the same design as the Cosmos in its teaser form back at CES 2019. Rather than packing six tracking cameras, the Cosmos Play only comes with four, so chances are there will be a slight drop in tracking performance. That said, HTC insists that this is still great for the likes of Viveport Video and Angry Birds VR. Another trade-off here is the lack of built-in headphones, but you can always just plug your own ones in.

Fortunately, you still get the same 2,880 x 1,700 LCD with a 110-degree field-of-view and 90Hz refresh rate, making it “the best VR display I’ve ever seen,” according to our very own Devindra Hardawar. Likewise, the headset has kept the flip-up visor, which is particularly handy for those who are trying VR for the first time. This is why the Cosmos Play is aimed at the likes of education, art and museum environments. It’s also worth mentioning that you’ll still be able to add the Vive Wireless Adapter to any of the headsets across the Cosmos family, though the target audience for the Cosmos Play may not go this far.

Sadly, there’s no word on pricing nor date just yet, but here’s hoping the bundle — with two Cosmos controllers included — will cost somewhat closer to the $400 price point offered by HTC’s main rival.

Next, we have the Vive Cosmos Elite, which is clearly made with gamers in mind. Rather than using the Cosmos’ inside-out tracking, the Elite’s headset comes preinstalled with an External Tracking Faceplate (the same one HTC teased back in September) that can be paired with both generations of SteamVR base stations for higher precision. The Elite bundle includes two 1.0 base stations along with a pair of Vive controllers plus built-in headphones, and it’ll cost NT$29,900 when it launches later this quarter (this is around US$990; US local price will likely be lower). You can pre-order from February 24th and get two months of free Viveport Infinity subscription.

In the following quarter, existing Cosmos owners can also upgrade with the External Tracking Faceplate for NT$6,600 (about $219) per piece, but they’ll obviously need to source the base stations and Vive or Vive Pro controllers as well. This upgrade path makes sense to those who own a Vive kit and a Vive Cosmos, as the latter would then add a sharper display plus a handy flip-up visor to the sturdy motion tracking experience.

Last but not least, we have the Vive Cosmos XR which, as the name implies, is designed to bring mixed reality experience to a VR headset. This business-focused faceplate is essentially the Cosmos Play (so just four tracking cameras) with two additional high-resolution passthrough cameras on the front, which apparently deliver passthrough field of view of up to 100 degrees. That’s a lot higher than the field of view on the current crop of mixed reality headsets like Hololens 2 and Magic Leap, thus making VR collaboration more versatile, especially when you want to check out virtual objects in the real-world environment using the Vive Sync collaboration platform.

But then again, considering how those mixed reality devices offer real-world vision instead of mixing that onto a display, there are certain benefits that the Cosmos XR may not be able to provide. We have to assume that there’s bound to be some latency between the real world and the version rendered in front of our eyes. We shall see what the developers say when they get hold of the developer kit in Q2 this year, and more info about this upcoming device will be released at GDC in March.

A bunch of things in tech got the proverbial nails slammed into their coffins this week. Andy Rubin’s Essential phone company shut down, MWC got canceled due to fears over coronavirus and the Motorola Razr folding flip phone is pretty likely dead on arrival thanks to Samsung’s new Galaxy Z Flip. Cherlynn is joined by senior mobile editor Chris Velazco (Devindra is off on vacation, yay!) to talk about their Galaxy phone coverage and commiserate over no longer going to Barcelona.

Listen below, or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you’ve got suggestions or topics you’d like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments! And be sure to check out our other podcasts, the Morning After and Engadget News!

Subscribe!

Links

Credits
Hosts: Cherlynn Low and Chris Velazco
Producer: Ben Ellman
Music: Dale North and Terrence O’Brien

According to Bloomberg, the GSMA said the coronavirus outbreak has made it “impossible” to host the event as planned.

Last year, more than 100,000 people attended MWC. Many of those individuals were either based in China or worked for Chinese companies. The coronavirus has hit China hardest of all. As of this week, the number of confirmed cases increased to over 42,000, and more than 1,000 people diagnosed with the virus in China have died.

The announcement comes after several large companies, including Amazon, LG, Sony and NVIDIA, said they plan to skip the conference to keep their employees safe from the virus. Before today’s cancellation, a CNET report said Samsung had planned to scale back its presence at the event as well.

In most cases, we likely won’t have to wait long to see whatever devices those companies had planned to announce at MWC. Sony, for instance, said it would unveil its newest phones on YouTube. LG, meanwhile, plans to hold separate events in the “near future” to reveal its first batch of handsets for 2020.

LG, NVIDIA and Ericsson had already pulled out of the how in recent days. Samsung is also believed to have scaled back its presence, although it should still have a footprint at the show. Huawei and ZTE are still attending despite the outbreak having its roots in China, although they’ve told Chinese staff to isolate themselves and have pulled in European workers to cover for employees who can’t go.

MWC has maintained that the trade show will go on, but it’s implementing measures that include an outright ban on guests from China’s Hubei province (where the outbreak began), temperature screening and proof that people who’ve been to China haven’t been to the country in the past 14 days.

There’s a lot of time to go between now and MWC’s February 24th start, though, and the rapid-fire departures raise questions about what the show will be like by opening day. Although there are still major names left, there’s now a greater temptation for them to bow out — both because of the coronavirus and the absence of would-be business partners.

For the longest time, LG’s phone releases ran like clockwork: you could expect a G series phone around Mobile World Congress in late February, while V series devices would appear either in the fall or when LG had some big new feature to promote. It appears to be shaking things up this year, however. Well-known leaker Evan Blass has posted promotional images suggesting that the phone previously thought to be the G9 is actually the V60 ThinQ, which would ‘bump’ the G series as the spring flagship device. It’d have the loaded specs you’d expect, including four rear cameras, four mics, a headphone jack and a beefy 5,000mAh battery.

The company didn’t comment on the report.

In addition to high-profile companies leaving the show, the GSMA (which organizes MWC) has also implemented some screening efforts in a bid to reduce the chances of coronavirus infections. It’s banning all guests from China’s Hubei province, where the outbreak started, and will require that visitors who have been to China prove that they haven’t been there for the last 14 days. They’ll also have to go through temperature checks and attest that they haven’t been in contact with infected people.

Samsung doesn’t need MWC as much as some of its competitors do. The company is set to make its biggest announcements at its Unpacked event on February 11th, and anything new at MWC would likely be secondary to that. Even so, a partial exit could represent a significant blow by preventing the business deals that frequently take place at the show. It would also show the extent to which coronavirus fears are affecting the tech world. You know health concerns are serious if a heavyweight like Samsung shrinks its presence at a trade event where it frequently dictates the conversation.