Deals: vivo X Fold3 Pro arrives in India, OnePlus 12 dresses in Glacial White, Narzo N63 on the way

2024-06-09

This week we welcomed the launch of the Glacial White colorway for the OnePlus 12. Inside, it is the exact same phone as before, but it has a fresh exterior with a smooth and frosted texture on the rear glass panel. It costs the same as the other colorways and all of them are listed with a ₹2,000 coupon to reduce the price slightly (the coupon will stick around until June 20).

The vivo X Fold3 Pro began its international expansion this week and India is the first market to get it. This is a premium foldable with an impressive set of Zeiss cameras – 50MP 1/3” main, 64MP 3x periscope and 50MP ultra wide, plus two 32MP selfie modules.

One selfie cam is on the 6.53” 120Hz cover display (with a sane 21:9 aspect ratio), the other is inside on the expansive 8.03” 120Hz LTPO main display. The phone is rated IPX8 and closes down to 11.2mm thickness. It weighs 236g, which isn’t too bad considering the massive 5,700mAh battery inside (with 100W wired and 50W wireless charging).

While not nearly as capable, the Tecno Phantom V Fold is around a third of the price of the vivo. It still has premium features like a 7.85” LTPO OLED panel (120Hz) inside and 6.42” LTPO OLED outside (which is slightly taller than 21:9). The Phantom doesn’t have the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 of the vivo, but the Dimensity 9000+ is still a powerful chip. As for cameras, there is a 50MP main (same 1/1.3” sensor size), a 50MP 2x tele camera and a 13MP ultra wide. The 5,000mAh battery supports 45W wired-only charging.

Moving away from foldables, the vivo Y200 is a mid-ranger based on the Snapdragon 4 Gen 1. It is equipped with a 6.67” 120Hz OLED display (FHD+) and a 4,800mAh battery with 44W wired charging. It has IP54 dust and water resistance. The cameras are quite basic – 64MP with OIS on the back (no ultra wide here, just a depth sensor) and a 16MP on the front.

The Realme Narzo N63 was just announced as a local variant of the C63. It is a cheap 4G phone (Unisoc T612 chipset) with a large but low resolution 6.75” IPS LCD (HD+, 90Hz). It has a 50MP camera on the back and an 8MP selfie on the front, plus a pretty fast 5,000mAh battery with 45W charging inside.

The Narzo N65 is slightly more expensive, but doesn’t fix the display situation – you’re still looking at HD+ resolution (6.67” 120Hz IPS LCD). The Dimensity 6300 does enable 5G connectivity, though you lose the fast charging and the 5,000mAh battery tops out at just 15W. Both the N63 and N65 are rated IP54.

The Lava Yuva 5G was on pre-order last week and is on sale now. As the name suggests, this is another cheap 5G model with a Unisoc T750 at the helm. Its 6.53” IPS LCD is another HD+ panel (90Hz) and we find another lonely 50MP camera on the back. The 5,000mAh battery isn’t that fast to charge at 18W max.

The Poco M6 Pro 5G is worth a look – this 5G phone (Snapdragon 4 Gen 2) flexes its 6.79” IPS LCD with FHD+ resolution (90Hz refresh rate). The water resistance isn’t quite on the level of the Narzo, but it’s very close at IP53. The phone still doesn’t have an ultra wide camera, though and the 5,000mAh battery still only does 18W.

The Poco M6 (non-Pro) drops down in price a bit and to an HD+ display (6.74” IPS LCD, 90Hz). This one uses the Dimensity 6100+ chip instead, so you can expect lower performance and there’s no dust and water resistance rating. The rest is about the same as the Pro.

We wrap things up with the Tecno Pova 5 Pro, which fancies itself a gaming phone – and it has the RGB lights on the back to prove it. Battery life isn’t great, but the 68W charging is quick to refill the 5,000mAh battery. The phone has a 6.78” 120Hz IPS LCD with FHD+ resolution, however, the Dimensity 6080 just doesn’t have the GPU to do 120Hz gaming. Still, the rich retail package includes a 68W charger, USB A-to-C cable, a transparent case and even a pair of wired earbuds.

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