Month: June 2022

The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is the spiritual successor to the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra – and that’s no bad thing.

When Samsung revealed the new Galaxy S22 range, it was largely business as usual – for the Galaxy S22 and S22+, anyway. The Galaxy S22 Ultra, on the other hand, offers a much more radical change that brings it closer than ever to the Galaxy Note range, with a redesigned chassis and a built-in S Pen.

The question is, does the spiritual successor to the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra offer enough to tempt users, especially at such a high price point? While it’s not the perfect smartphone, there’s a lot to love about Samsung’s top-end Galaxy S22 Ultra in 2022.

Design & Build
Galaxy Note design language
Slick, premium build
Slightly curved frame is nice in the hand
Compared to Galaxy smartphones before it, some might say the Galaxy S22 Ultra looks a bit simplistic – but I think simplicity looks great on a smartphone. We don’t all need in-your-face designs, refractive glass patterns, or big, bright flashy logos, especially on such a premium bit of kit.

When it comes to the S22 Ultra, less is certainly more, with a slick blend of metal and glass that does most of the talking.

The most notable difference compared to the rest of the S22 line is the lack of a camera ‘island’ surrounding the rear-facing cameras. While it does alienate the S22 Ultra among the rest of the range, it ties in with the minimalist design, with small details like polished metal housing around the cameras contributing to the high-end look.

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The Poco M4 Pro might sacrifice 5G connectivity, but the result is Poco’s best budget phone of 2022 so far

Poco phones traditionally give you a high degree of all-round multimedia competence for a budget price, and the Xiaomi Poco M4 Pro is no different.

Despite what the name might suggest, the Poco M4 Pro is much more than just a Poco M4 Pro 5G with the next-gen network connectivity lopped off.

It’s a surprisingly different package, from its design to its display, and from its camera to its CPU. Let’s not mince words here: the Poco M4 Pro is flat out the superior phone to its 5G brother and should be the preferred pick for anyone willing to forego the very fastest network speeds.

Design & Build
8.1mm
179.5g
No IP rating
Like the Poco M4 Pro 5G, the Poco M4 Pro does a pretty good impression of a flagship phone. Catch a quick glance of the phone lying face down on a table, and you might just be convinced into thinking that it’s worth three times its asking price.

Interestingly, Poco has mixed that rear design up a little from the 5G model. And I’m not just talking about the glossier, more reflective finish. While the latter goes with a vertical camera module sat within a flat black block, the 4G model gives you a whole extended camera module that spans most of the width of the phone.

Not all of that is actually camera, and the module still seems to be housed within a similar vertical strip in the top left corner. But it does leave the phone feeling more balanced – quite literally when it comes to laying it down on a flat surface.

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The upgrades here aren’t all that exciting compared to last year’s iPhone, but that doesn’t stop the iPhone 13 from being an astounding piece of kit

In 2020, across four iPhone models, most people’s decision making came between the iPhone 12 and 12 Pro. With this year’s seemingly incremental improvements, do overdue iPhone upgraders face the same conundrum or is the standard iPhone 13 the smartest pick of the bunch?

On the surface, little appears to have changed compared to last year’s iPhone – there’s a new palette of colours to choose between (including the new ‘green’ which is available from 18 March 2022), the rear cameras are now positioned at a diagonal and there’s a fresh piece of silicon running the show – but beyond that, the 13 almost looks almost like a carbon copy of its predecessor.

As ever with the iPhone formula, reviewing this year’s model is an exercise in understanding whether Apple has managed to pack its new standard model with enough new features to feel like a worthwhile upgrade, while also striking a price/performance balance that truly competes against the wider smartphone market.

Design and build
Beautiful design
Great colour options (including new green)
Top-notch water resistance
Last year, long-time iPhone fans had their sense of nostalgia tickled, when Apple moved from the 11 series’ rounded geometry to a more slab-sided look, as first seen on 2010’s iPhone 4, albeit with all the precision yo

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The iPhone 13 Pro Max offers a buttery smooth refresh rate, multi-day battery life and great camera performance, but is it the perfect iPhone for you?

Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max full review
The iPhone 13 Pro Max is the culmination of Apple’s work over the past few years, offering the biggest, fastest display and best battery life of any iPhone to date. However, the iPhone 13 Pro Max is also the most expensive iPhone currently available, and unlike last year, there aren’t upgrades unique to this year’s Pro Max variant.

With that in mind, is it worth paying the extra for the bigger display and longer battery life, or should you save yourself a bit of money and go for the equally-capable iPhone 13 Pro? Keep reading to find out.

Design and build
Slightly thicker and heavier than its predecessor
20% smaller Face ID notch
New colour finishes
The iPhone 13 Pro Max is the biggest in the iPhone 13 series, both in terms of display size and overall heft – even the move from an iPhone 12 Pro to the 13 Pro Max is noticeable. It’s something you adjust to fairly quickly, but I wasn’t expecting such a bulky experience when I first got my hands on the smartphone.

That’s not to say it’s not a stunning piece of kit though; if you like the industrial look first introduced on the iPhone 12 range, you’ll love the iPhone 13 Pro Max because it’s essentially the same. The iPhone 13 Pro Max sports the same stainless steel bezels, frosted glass rear and edge-to-edge display as its predecessor. it’s also protected by the same IP68 dust- and water-resistance and ceramic shield tech on the front too.

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If the figures are true and the iPhone 12 Mini accounted for just 6% of sales during the peak iPhone 12 launch period, then it’s safe to say there’s not a lot of demand for a small phone any longer.

Rewind to the iPhone 4, which launched in June 2010, and its 3.5in screen seemed perfectly normal and usable. Now, just over a decade later, we’re used to phones with near-7in screens. That’s not twice as big: it’s four times the display real-estate available on the iPhone 4.

Of course, the screen-to-body ratio has increased massively, which is why the iPhone 13 Mini can pack a 5.4in display into a device that’s easy to hold in one hand.

It also fits easily into a pocket and is so much lighter than most modern phones you can barely notice you’re carrying or holding it.

That makes it great for the minority of people with really specific needs: those who want a pocketable phone that’s light, powerful, has great cameras, and that they’re happy to spend a lot of money on. Not to mention one that’s made by Apple.

If that describes you, you’re probably weighing up whether to go for the 13 Mini or the 12 Mini, which is now cheaper than it was a year ago. For anyone wondering if they should upgrade from the 12 Mini: no. There’s not enough difference to warrant it.

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