Deals: nubia Z60 Ultra, Red Magic 9 Pro, Galaxy Tab S9 FE and Tab S9 FE+, Poco F6 and F6 Pro
The nubia Z60 Ultra keeps it traditional with a 35mm lens on the main camera, while most other smartphones typically feature a wide lens (around 24mm). This camera uses the Sony IMX800 sensor (1/1.49”, 1.0µm pixels) and a 7 element lens with f/1.6 aperture and OIS. There’s also a capable 85mm periscope (3.3x optical zoom) with a 64MP sensor (1/2.0”) and an unusual ultra wide – at 100° (18mm), it’s not the widest, however, it has both autofocus and OIS, plus its large 50MP 1/1.55” sensor produces excellent shots.
That isn’t even the last unusual camera, the Z60 Ultra is equipped with a 16MP under display cam. The photo quality isn’t amazing, but it keeps the rectangular display free of blemishes and its bezels are so thin. This phone is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset and a 6,000mAh battery with 80W fast charging.
If your hobbies lean more towards gaming than photography, the Red Magic 9 Pro offers the same Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset for £170 less. It has the same 6.8” 120Hz OLED display with slightly higher than FHD+ resolution. It has the same 16MP selfie camera too (and here its iffy quality is less important).
The camera department isn’t as capable, of course, but you still get a 50MP main camera (with a wide lens with OIS and a 1/1.57” sensor), plus a 50MP ultra wide (with a smaller 1/2.76” sensor). Additionally, the 6,500mAh battery is bigger. That’s plenty of capacity to fill, but the 80W charger does its job in just 35 minutes.
Note that this model has an active cooling fan to help with sustained performance – something that the nubia Z60 Ultra struggles with – though that also means losing the IP68 dust and water resistance.
If gaming is your thing, the Poco F6 Pro is cheaper than the Red Magic while still offering a capable chipset – the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. It’s older, but the Adreno 740 is still fast enough for AAA games. The 6.67” 120Hz OLED display is smaller but sharper with QHD+ resolution.
The 5,000mAh battery is small relative to the two phones above but it has even faster 120W charging. The IP54 dust and water resistance is fairly basic (but at least there is some resistance) and the 50+8MP camera is hobbled by an outdated ultra wide and poor video quality.
While it’s not great at photography, the Poco F6 Pro is a solid all-rounder. And so is its cheaper sibling, the Poco F6. This one is powered by the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3, which is even more bang for your buck, considering that this model is £140 cheaper than the Pro.
The 6.67” 120Hz OLED display splits the difference between FHD+ and QHD+. Also, the 50MP main camera gets a smaller sensor (1/1.95” vs. 1/1.56” on the Pro), but at least it keeps the OIS. The charge system for the 5,000mAh battery drops down to 90W, so it needs 35 minutes for a full charge instead of 19 minutes.
We’ve been seeing leaks for the Galaxy Tab S10 series, but we haven’t heard anything about new FE models. Samsung may be skipping a generation (there was no Tab S8 FE, it went from S7 FE to S9 FE).
This means that the Galaxy Tab S9 FE and Tab S9 FE+ are unlikely to be replaced this year. Both have 90Hz IPS LCDs instead of OLED panels. The vanilla model measures 10.9”, while the Plus is 12.4”. Both are powered by the Exynos 1380 chipset and support DeX (but there’s no video out through the USB 2.0 port). The two tablets are rated IP68, so you can take them by the pool or even to the beach.
If you just want something cheap, the Honor Pad X9 offers a large 11.5” LCD with 120Hz refresh rate. The Snapdragon 685 isn’t particularly fast, but with 6 speakers on board this is a great Netflix tablet.
The Honor Pad 9 goes bigger with a 12.1” IPS LCD (120Hz) and a Snapdragon 6 Gen 1. Not the fastest either, but for £30 more you can get the keyboard cover and use it for work or at school. You can also use a stylus for notes and sketches. This tablet is not all work and no play either, it has 8 speakers for even better audio.
Speaking of play, the PlayStation VR2 headset is 34% off at the moment. You can use it with a PS5, of course, or you can use the official adapter and hook this up to your PC (note that the adapter will be released in early August).
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