Google's I/O, the tech conglomerate's annual developer conference, is scheduled to begin on the 20th of May. We already have a key piece of information regarding Google TV, however, and it sheds light on what we can expect for the future of the smart TV platform.

The software is based on the Android platform, which will be familiar to anyone with a Samsung, Google Pixel, OnePlus or Sony smartphone. However, unlike these devices, which tend to get annual updates, Google TV, it seems, will run a two-year cycle with its TV-optimised version of the software.

This means that the current version of the software (which is based on 2023's Android 14) will not be upgraded to the currently available Android 15 version, but instead skip straight to Android 16, which is set to launch later this year.

This nugget of information was spotted by Android Authority, and it can be found directly from Google here.

A technical session during the developer conference titled "Engage users on Google TV with excellent TV apps" mentions "preparing for Android 16 for TV", meaning the latest version of the operating system could be approaching quickly.

It's worth noting that, while the major system updates will carry most of the bigger upgrades, we expect Google to continue to offer regular software updates along the way.

Despite skipping Android 15, Google TV updates have been frequently rolled out since the Android 14 upgrade, with a recent update launching in February of this year.

Google TV is the operating system of choice for some of the best OLED TVs, including the Sony Bravia 8 and Philips OLED809, and it also features in TVs and projectors from the likes of TCL, Epson and Xgimi.

It's also the main draw of the Google TV Streamer, which touts the operating system as a headlining feature thanks to the raft of new Gemini AI features.

Google hasn't confirmed any new features or settings for this upcoming update, but we are willing to bet that AI will continue to dominate the advancements.

We eagerly anticipate our first glimpse of the Android 16 version of Google TV, which should, hopefully, be shown off during the Google I/O livestream on the 20th of May.

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Everyone's got a pair of "Pro" wireless earbuds these days. From the five-star AirPods Pro 2, the recently-reviewed Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro and the new Google Pixel Buds Pro 2, these products indicate their respective brand's flagship status with a now-widespread naming convention.

Into this arena of consummate professionals enter the OnePlus Buds Pro 3, a pair of noise-cancelling wireless earbuds that are seeking to take on the established class leaders with what their maker describes as "killer sound quality". Following on from the second-gen model, OnePlus has teamed up with Danish audio specialist Dynaudio in the hopes of producing, with the aid of multiple technical improvements, the brand's "best-ever earbuds".

The new contenders have been designed from start to finish in partnership with the audio engineers at Dynaudio and offer dual drivers with an 11mm woofer and a 6mm tweeter. The woofer sports an additional magnet and a rebuilt diaphragm for improved audio sensitivity and a more sonically accurate performance, whereas the tweeter makes use of an improved voice coil and diaphragm for "sound production exactly as the artist intended".  

Whether or not sound quality turns out to be as good as claimed, the buds' battery life looks like a winner either way. The Buds Pro 3 grant you a massive 43 hours of total listening time from a single charge, while a ten-minute boost will give you over five hours of playtime in a pinch. Those are outstanding numbers when you consider that the Sony WF-1000XM5 only offer 24 hours of total time and the AirPods Pro 2 will give you a maximum of 30 with the case, although they are beaten by the astonishing 52 hours total offered by the Cambridge Audio Melomania M100.

The OnePlus offer standard active noise cancellation (ANC), as well as an "Adaptive Noise Cancellation" mode which adapts on the fly depending on your environment, similar to what we've seen with Apple's Adaptive Audio" and Samsung's parallel "Ambient Sound Mode" technology. 

Many of the expected wireless earbuds features round out the OnePlus' capabilities. Google-compatible spatial audio technology is onboard, while Bluetooth Multipoint lets you connect to two devices simultaneously and switch between them on the fly. The IP55-rated buds offer on-ear touch controls via a squeeze and swipe system for managing functions such as play/pause, answering calls and changing music volume.

The OnePlus Buds Pro 3 are available now in two colours, Midnight Opus (black) and Lunar Radiance (off-white), priced at £199 (approx. $260 / AU$385).

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Qualcomm has just announced its latest flagship chipset which is set to power several next-generation flagship Android phones in 2024 – and its specification includes one significant audio feature.

The new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip, which is touted to power next-gen flagship Android phones “expected to be available in the coming weeks” and likely to be adopted by phone brands including Samsung, Sony, OnePlus, Oppo and Honor, has an audio specification that caught our eye during the announcement: support for Qualcomm’s XPAN (Expanded Area Network) technology. This will allow for the wireless playback of hi-res audio (up to 24-bit/96kHz) between the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip-toting devices and wireless headphones and speakers featuring the company’s latest S7 Pro Gen 1 audio chip.

Hi-res audio playback over an internet connection is already possible between phones and wireless speakers, of course, though the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and S7 Pro Gen 1 chips working in conjunction with one another could see a phone transmit hi-res streams to wireless headphones for the first time. Unless it is pipped to the post by a rival technology, of course. We expect the first product announcements on both sides to follow in the coming weeks, with eyes on the Samsung S24 lineup expected in January.

Aside from this new addition to Snapdragon Sound (Qualcomm’s umbrella term for its latest package of audio technologies), the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip promises 30 per cent faster performance and increased efficiency by 20 per cent as well as 25 per cent gains in graphics (GPU) speed and power efficiency compared with last year’s (Gen 2) chipset. It is also the company’s first mobile platform “designed with generative AI in mind”. To that end, Qualcomm has built into it an AI ‘subsystem’ called ‘AI Stack’ which will allow manufacturers to leverage and develop AI software features.

One of the neat AI phone camera features that can be facilitated by the latest chip is the ability to expand a photo, offering a much wider image than is ‘captured’. So if, say, you wanted to make a portrait shot a landscape one, you could, with AI filling in the ‘missing’ details. There’s also the potential for two of today’s most innovative camera features to be applied to video capture: magic eraser (which removes undesirable objects in a frame at the user’s request) and night vision (which enhances details in darkly lit environments). 'On-device' AI assistants integrated into phones will be designed to more naturally interact with your everyday usage and tasks, too, whether that's suggesting local restaurants based on dinner plans in your calendar, generating an image, or taking headline notes from voice calls.

Elsewhere, an enhanced graphics engine makes 240fps gaming (on 240Hz displays) possible, while support for the latest Wi-Fi 7 standard, with its maximum data speed of 5.8Gbps and data rate more than four times that of Wi-Fi 6, could unlock 8K video streaming.

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It’s too early to be sure, but we just might be entering into an Android tablet renaissance. After quietly dipping out of the tablet race back in 2014, and a few misfires with some Chrome-based slabs in the years between, Google has decided that 2023 is the year to make its grand return to the scene with the Pixel Tablet. Other manufacturers like OnePlus are attempting to bring Android tablets back too, and Samsung never really stopped; however, Google taking the plunge is big news.

Not to be confused with the Pixel Slate, which was technically the first “Pixel tablet” but we can ignore that for now, the Pixel Tablet can best be described as a really big Pixel phone as it uses the same design cues and software; although it does have one major trick up its sleeve to differentiate it from its cellular counterparts. Bundled in the box you’ll find a magnetic dock that not only charges the tablet but also houses a speaker which it will seamlessly switch to once you snap the tablet onto it – very interesting. 

So does that make the Pixel Tablet a smart home display (akin to an Echo Show) or a tablet? Technically it's a hybrid and not a shabby one at that, but a larger question still looms; can it stand toe-to-toe with the iPad?

Price

The Pixel Tablet will run you £599 / $499 / AU$899 for the 128GB model, or £699 / $599 / AU$999 for the 256GB model. Both storage options are paired with the Google Tensor 2 processor (the same one found in the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7a) and 8GB of RAM. It's running the latest Android 13 operating system out of the box and Google has done a good job adapting the software to work well on the larger screen.

It's available in Charcoal and Porcelain (AKA black and white) in all markets, although the US gets an exclusive Rose variant (a mix of pink and orange to our eyes). It's worth noting that only the Charcoal model gets black bezels around the screen, while the other two get white, which we find to be a bit distracting on our Porcelain review unit. 

As we’ve already mentioned, the magnetic charging/speaker dock is bundled in the box at no extra charge; in fact, it's the only way to charge the tablet that's included in the box, though you can use your own USB-C charger if you wish. You can, however, purchase extra docks for £139 / $129 / AU$189, a nice touch if you plan on having one dock in the kitchen and another in the living room or bedroom. 

If we subtract the price of the dock from the overall package, we find the value of the tablet itself to be £460 / $370 / AU$ 710. This puts the Pixel Tablet in an awkward spot; as a package, it’s competing with the iPad Air (5th Generation) at £569 / $599 / AU$929, but on its own it's closer to the budget-oriented iPad (2022) at £499 / $449 / AU$749. 

Build

The Pixel Tablet continues the design language that Google has carried across all of its products from the Pixel 7 to the Chromecast with Google TV. This includes muted, subtle colours and rounded, minimalist styling throughout. The chassis of the tablet is constructed entirely of aluminium and glass, making it feel sturdy yet lightweight. The tablet weighs 483g, which is a hair heavier than the iPad (2022), although it is thinner than the Apple tablet.

There are a few obstructions to the smooth and minimal exterior, which include a USB-C connector socket, fingerprint scanner/power button combo, volume rocker and a set of four magnetic pins for connecting to the docking station. There is also an 8MP camera lodged in the top left-hand corner of the backside and an 8MP front-facing camera in the centre of the top bezel on the front of the device.

Speaking of the front of the device, the Pixel Tablet features an 11-inch display with a 16:10 aspect ratio, but we’ll get more in-depth with this soon. You will also find four speaker grilles around the edges of the tablet that house the quad loudspeakers.

On the subject of speakers, let's talk about the dock. It's fairly compact, comparable in size to a pencil case and it's wrapped in a fabric mesh. There’s a flat surface which is what the Pixel snaps onto with a satisfying clunk and chime, and the tablet feels reassuringly secure when suspended on the dock. The placement takes a little while to get used to as there are no real indicators as to where the tablet goes, but a mix of trial and error, and pretty strong magnets, will help you to adapt to this transforming tablet. When docked, the Pixel Tablet looks nearly identical to the Google Nest Hub and functions like one too.

Features

We’ll start with the dock as it is the biggest feature of the Pixel Tablet. As we’ve established, the tablet snaps onto the dock with magnets and a set of connection pins in order to start charging the device. These pins also allow the sound output of the tablet to seamlessly switch to the speaker dock, with no need to connect via Bluetooth. It’s important to mention that the speaker cannot be used as a Bluetooth speaker separately from the tablet, as it is only compatible with the Pixel Tablet. 

You can however cast to the tablet once it's docked via Google Chromecast, meaning you can transfer music or a movie from a separate device onto the docked Pixel Tablet. Better yet, if you decide to keep watching on the Pixel, and want to remove it from the dock, your content will continue to play on the tablet itself. The dock features a 44mm full-range driver and it charges that tablet at a slightly wimpy rate of 15W, so we’d recommend having a wired charger on hand if you need to juice up the tablet quickly. 

Now’s a good time to mention battery life, as the Pixel features a 7020mAh cell which is ever so slightly lower capacity than the iPad. In use, the Pixel Tablet has an acceptable battery life by tablet standards, although it seems to discharge quickly when on idle standby mode.

Moving away from the dock and onto the tab’s screen, the Pixel Tablet uses an IPS LCD panel with a resolution of 1600 x 2560. It has a pixel density of 276ppi, a typical brightness of 500 nits and a 60Hz refresh rate, as well as HDR10 support. Overall, it's an almost identical spec to the iPad (2022)’s display, with the only real difference being the Pixel’s slightly higher pixel density. 

The tablet features quad loudspeakers, with two positioned on the left and right edges of the tablet when held in landscape orientation. While we appreciate the number of speakers, the positioning is very unfortunate as it's almost impossible to comfortably hold the tablet in the horizontal position without blocking any of the speakers. The tablet doesn’t support Dolby Atmos either, which is somewhat frustrating as it seems like the perfect feature to add to a tablet whose main focus is sound.

Picture

While we’ve drawn comparisons between the Google Pixel Tablet and Apple iPad (2022)’s displays, it's very apparent that while the specs might be similar, performance is quite different. 

Firing up Drive on Netflix, we’re pleasantly surprised by many of the aspects of the Pixel’s picture. As The Driver cruises through the gloomy streets of LA, the street light illuminating his face reveals nicely refined shading and a balanced approach to skin tones that means they look lively without broaching ruddy or overcooked. 

As the film cuts to Bryan Cranston's Shannon standing in the foreground of an interior shot of his garage, we’re met with well-defined edges and a decent sense of contrast, which creates a convincing sense of depth to the image. It’s not perfect, and if we’re being honest the iPad does it better – with a much greater tangible sense of depth, especially when it comes to the convex windscreens of the cars – but we certainly applaud the Pixel’s solid attempt. 

In this brighter scene, we can appreciate how detailed the Pixel’s screen is. Smudges and dents on the bodywork of the cars can be picked out, adding an extra layer of realism to the image, although we do wish some more detail was retained in the brick wall in the background. This tracking shot as the pair walk through the garage and behind various pillars and car lifts is also a good display of the Pixel Tablet's handling of motion; which doesn’t appear to stutter or judder despite the constant obstructions while the camera continues to track the motion. 

Switching to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, we see the Pixel's approach to colours, which undoubtedly errs on the side of restrained. The flora of the planet Lah'mu doesn’t exactly pop with vibrancy, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing as we’ve seen other mobile screens that can overdo it and verge on almost neon green. That being said when compared to the iPad, we have to side with the Apple tablet as it's bolder and richer, while still remaining balanced, resulting in a more engaging and cinematic picture.

Finishing off with the following scene of protagonist Jynn Erso escaping from the Empire into a dark cave, unfortunately the Pixel Tablet seems to fall apart under the pressure of trying to retain dark detail. A blocky light grey-ish texture seems to plague the darkest parts of the picture, and there’s a general lack of detail to be picked out in the darker sections of the scene too. 

While the picture on the Pixel Tablet handles everything well, it doesn’t particularly excel in any way, especially when compared to its iPad competitor. It's detailed, handles motion well and has good contrast, but the picture on the Apple tablet is richer, deeper and ultimately more cinematic. 

Sound

Sound is the name of the game with the Pixel Tablet, and thankfully it's pretty good when it comes to speaker performance. The quad loudspeakers are impressive by tablet standards, as they sound more full-bodied, clear and substantial than the iPad. It's more than adequate for movie watching, with the dialogue of Drive not only being perfectly legible but also adding a hint of subtlety and emotional inflection into the voices. During the car chase, the sound effect of the car’s engine has a convincing rumbling texture to the sound that isn’t always apparent with other phone and tablet speakers.

Switching over to some music, Don’t Take The Money by Bleachers on Tidal is satisfyingly punchy on the built-in speakers, with a hint of bass in lead singer Jack Antonoff’s voice, and there’s even a semblance of dynamics here too. The sound from the Pixel’s speakers feels clearer and more solid when compared to the iPad, making it the better sounding of the two devices in this regard.

Using the same track played through the Pixel Tablet’s speaker dock, there’s certainly a greater presence to the sound and undoubtedly more bass, but it's not a totally transformative experience. It sounds better at louder volumes than the built-in speakers, and there is a bit more detail and spaciousness to the sound, but truthfully we’d compare the performance to that of a Bluetooth speaker that costs a lot less than the asking price of the dock. Personally, we would have liked to see the built-in speakers of the tablet and the dock work together, as we feel like it would result in a “best of both worlds” scenario.

Finally switching over to headphones, it's no surprise here that the Pixel can’t outdo the iPad. That being said, the way the Pixel plays the song is perfectly fine, with no glaring performance issues, the timing is fairly stable and there is a sense of scale and dynamics – it just lacks enthusiasm and rhythmic drive. Comparatively, the iPad offers an almost unmatched sense of warmth, tonal balance, texture and energy to its sound that makes listening to music through headphones truly engaging and enjoyable.

Verdict

Truthfully, the Pixel Tablet is probably more suited as a smart display for your kitchen that you can detach and watch the occasional movie on the go with; but as a smart display/tablet hybrid, it works quite well. It's quickly becoming a desktop companion that we use to play background music and stick the occasional video on, and it's even a solid tablet for productivity tasks.

So has Google succeeded in reviving its Android tablet ambitions? With an overall pleasant image and generally impressive sound (not counting headphones that is), we’d say yes… mostly.

SCORES

• Picture 4
• Sound 4
• Features 4

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OnePlus’ ethos has always been more phone for less money, and while that is still the case with the OnePlus 11 5G, the definition of less money has changed since the brand’s first Android smartphone was released almost a decade ago. 

However, with prices that still undercut the likes of Samsung and Apple, and with flagship-level specs, build quality and features, it's easy to see the appeal of OnePlus' latest handset. If you’re after a 6.7-inch smartphone with a cutting-edge processor, you’ll be hard-pressed to beat the OnePlus on the specification-per-pound/dollar metric. But does that make the OnePlus 11 the best smartphone for AV enthusiasts? Not quite, but it certainly makes a convincing case for itself. 

Price

The OnePlus 11 comes in at £729 / $699 / AU$1199 which, by modern flagship smartphone standards, is fairly reasonable. That gets you 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, but you can alternatively opt for a 16GB of RAM and 256GB storage model for a total price of £799 / $799 / AU$1399. In a strange move from OnePlus, it looks like the base model only comes in the Titan Black finish, while the upgraded model only comes in Eternal Green.

The closest Android competitor at this price point is the Samsung Galaxy S23 (£849 / $799 / AU$1349), and while we’ve only spent some brief hands-on time with that device, we can say for sure that it packs a smaller, lower-resolution screen. On the iOS side of things, the iPhone 14 is the closest competitor at £849 / $799 / AU$1399. However, that too features a lower resolution, lower refresh rate and smaller screen, although specs on paper aren’t everything, as we very well know by now.

Build

We find the OnePlus’ unique design to be somewhat subjective. While the textured rear glass looks slick and adds much-needed grip to this fairly hefty handheld, the ludicrously large circular camera cluster is nothing short of an eyesore. OnePlus has attempted to integrate the metal housing into the frame of the phone in a fluid design reminiscent of the Samsung Galaxy S21, but it doesn’t detract from the clunky bulging optic module that takes up around a quarter of the phone’s rear. 

Flipping over to the front of the device, you’ll find a 6.7-inch display that curves very slightly over the edge for a minimalist, thin-bezel design. There is a single hole-punch camera tucked into the top left of the display, keeping content mostly free of obstructions – unlike Apple’s notch approach.

The OnePlus 11’s metal and glass construction feels solid and adequately weighty without verging on cumbersome, and it features the return of the iconic switch that can alternate the phone between ring, vibrate and silent modes after it was missing from last year’s 10T. Overall, the OnePlus feels suitably luxe for the price, with a pleasant blend of high-end materials.

Features

The OnePlus 11 5G packs in practically all of the top-end Android smartphone features you’d expect. We’ve already mentioned the expansive 6.7-inch size of the screen, but it’s also got a QuadHD+ resolution (1440 x 3216) with a pixel density of 525ppi. It reaches a claimed peak brightness of 1300 nits (practically on par with the iPhone 14) and it features a 120Hz refresh rate for smooth scrolling and gameplay. The display also supports HDR in the Dolby Vision and HDR10+ formats, which is a really nice touch when you consider that Samsung only includes HDR10+ on its more expensive Galaxy S23. It's a lot for your money. 

The phone even extends its impressive feature set into the audio department with support for Dolby Atmos on the device’s “Dual Reality” stereo speaker arrangement, as well as through headphones. You won’t find a headphone jack on this phone, as is the case with practically all modern smartphones (apart from Sony’s Xperia line), but you do have Bluetooth 5.3 with support for LE, A2DP and aptX HD codecs. You can also plug a wired headset into the USB-C port via a third-party adapter.

Onto the non-AV-oriented features of this phone, there’s the aforementioned camera cluster, which consists of three lenses: a 50MP main lens, a 32MP telephoto lens and a 48MP ultra-wide lens, which means you should be covered no matter what you’re shooting. The 11 features Hasselblad branding on the rear camera array, as OnePlus has partnered with the camera company for many of its recent models. Snapping a shot with the OnePlus provides us with a decent image, although the Pixel 7 and iPhone 14 are still the ones to beat in the smartphone camera game.

The OnePlus also gets Qualcomm’s latest flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, which keeps the OxygenOS (based on Android 13) system running smoothly. We are yet to encounter any bugs or glitches with the OnePlus 11, but the OxygenOS is a tad cartoonish for our liking. Thankfully, there don't appear to be any unnecessary bloatware apps preinstalled on the system, which frees up the internal storage space for apps, photos, movies and music. 

Battery life on the OnePlus is solid, with a 5000mAh cell powering the device. It’s backed up with OnePlus' SUPERVOOC 100W charging technology, which claims to charge the device from one to 100 per cent in just 25 minutes. Charging is super speedy indeed, thanks to the included fast charging plug, which is something of a rarity these days. However, it's wired charging or nothing with the 11, as it does not support wireless charging despite the company including this feature in last year’s OnePlus 10 Pro.

Picture

There’s plenty to like when it comes to the OnePlus 11’s display, which shouldn’t come as a surprise considering its specs. We set the phone to the cinematic picture setting, running at QHD+ resolution for our testing, as we believe it's the optimal set-up for watching content on this display. Firing up Drive on Netflix, the strengths of the OnePlus are immediately apparent, with plenty of texture detail in The Driver's skin, even when he's cloaked in shadow during the tense opening scene.

Black depth is also very solid, with the AMOLED panel producing true blacks. This adds a convincing depth to the night sky, as well as the segments of the car interior that are entirely obscured by shadow. This pairs well with the decent handling of contrast, notably when a beam of light hits The Driver’s silver jacket creating a reflective glow while retaining a solid amount of detail from the jacket’s material.

Outlines are sharp and well-defined against the background, and skin, clothing and environmental textures all retain a good amount of detail. The OnePlus’ display is much larger than the iPhone 14’s but it's also more pixel-dense, and it largely appears to put that extra density to good use, delivering lots of integral detail despite the more cinematically large screen.

The OnePlus isn’t quite perfect, though, and it becomes very obvious that the iPhone outperforms it when they are placed side by side. The iPhone produces a slightly crisper image with more balanced colours. The OnePlus features a bold and punchy display that looks great in some instances, but it's apparent that subtlety isn’t its main priority, as the iPhone’s picture feels much more authentic in comparison.

The iPhone also demonstrates its capabilities when it comes to contrast during this opening scene of Drive as a night-time aerial shot overlooking the LA streets pops much more on the Apple phone. This is thanks to its ability to pull out more pinpoint bursts of light from the street lamps and car headlights that pierce through the night sky and shadowy streets.

The OnePlus tries to make the most of its big, bold and sharp screen, but it generalises a bit too much and misses some of the necessary nuances that are needed for a truly cinematic experience. That being said, you will absolutely have a pleasant experience watching content on the 11’s display, especially if you enjoy a bit of punch to your picture. 

Sound

Sound quality is undoubtedly the weakest aspect of the OnePlus 11, as it fails to impress when it comes to both the speakers and headphone performance. Starting with the supposedly Atmos-enabled speakers, we don’t hear the spatial prowess that OnePlus is claiming they are capable of. The thumping electronic soundtrack of Drive sounds slightly thin and lifeless, although switching to Tidal to play The XX’s Crystalised, we do get a hint of dynamics. We're well aware that there are no smartphone speakers that can be described as objectively good, but some are better than others, and the iPhone's are better than the OnePlus', particularly in terms of depth and dynamics.

Headphone performance, while obviously better, is similar in character, as the OnePlus presents music with a noticeable lack of enthusiasm. There isn’t much in the way of dynamics and drive here – something that's apparent when Crystalised hits its supposed crescendo, which fizzles out on the OnePlus. Once again, the iPhone shows up the OnePlus’ shortcomings, as there is much more texture to the vocals and instruments, as well as a touch more energy to keep the track engaging. Overall, the OnePlus isn’t unpleasant to listen to through either the speakers or headphones, but it doesn't particularly impress either.

Verdict

When it comes to affordable smartphones, the cheaper options are getting better and better. Just look at the Nothing Phone (1), or the Sony Xperia 10 IV, which proves that solid AV performance on a smartphone doesn’t have to cost the Earth. That being said, the OnePlus signifies a step up from these devices, with a nicer build, better cameras and top-tier day-to-day performance that truly makes it a solid choice if you’re after your next Android smartphone.

With a screen that’s easy to enjoy thanks to it being impressively specced for the price, and an underwhelming but inoffensive audio performance, the OnePlus 11 offers a lot for the money, and that’s really its main draw. OnePlus set out to create a flagship device that undercuts the competition when it comes to pricing, and it has mostly succeeded in its mission.

SCORES

• Features 5
• Picture 4
• Sound 3

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Once upon a time, a rebellious company by the name of OnePlus sought to challenge the likes of Samsung, Apple and Sony to prove that you can get flagship performance without the flagship price tag. However, in the words of The Dark Knight’s Harvey Dent, “you either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain”.

With OnePlus phones now sporting price tags to rival those of iPhones, who will champion those that want to stick it to the man and tread the path less travelled when it comes to inexpensive and experimental smartphones? Ironically, it’s OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei who's come to the rescue, with a new brand that invokes the ethos of the early days of OnePlus.

It’s called Nothing, and you might be familiar with the company as we reviewed its first product, the Ear (1) wireless earbuds, back in 2021. Its first Android smartphone, the Phone (1), retains the naming convention and aesthetics of the company’s earphones, but can it deliver a quality AV performance at a genuinely competitive price point?

Price

The Phone (1) is a truly affordable smartphone that starts at just £399 / AU$749. Unfortunately, the Nothing Phone (1) is not available to purchase in the States via conventional means. You can sign up for Nothing’s Beta testing scheme, and for $299 you can become an early adopter of Nothing in the States – the brand is thankfully intending on bringing its mooted Nothing Phone (2) to the USA when it launches.

If you are lucky enough to live in a region that the Phone (1) is available in, then you can expect a Snapdragon 778G+ processor – arguably Qualcomm’s best Snapdragon processor for mid-range phones – equipped with 5G and admirable performance to keep the phone running smoothly. The base model comes with 8GB RAM and 128GB of storage, while 8GB / 256GB and 12GB / 256GB models are also available. 

At its price point, the Nothing is an extremely competitively priced phone – but maybe not competitive enough. The Award-winning Sony Xperia 10 IV undercuts it by a fair amount, and its proven five-star AV performance will certainly give the Nothing a run for its money.

Build

The Phone (1) looks and feels much more expensive than its price may suggest. Upon first glance, you would be forgiven for confusing it for an iPhone 12, with its flat aluminium rails and dual vertical-stacked cameras on the back. That's where the similarities end, though, with both the iPhone and any other phone we’ve seen before, as the Nothing’s unique design might be its biggest selling point.

The back features a transparent glass panel that lets you take a peek at some of the internal components of the phone, as well as housing the Glyph system, more on which later. The device’s aesthetics certainly turn heads, and if you want a phone that doubles as a conversation piece, the Nothing might be right up your alley.

Features

Despite the low cost of the Nothing, it doesn’t disappoint when it comes to the feature set. As previously mentioned, the most unique feature of the phone is the Glyph interface – a series of LED light strips on the back of the phone that can act as a notification light, a camera flash and even a battery charging indicator. While we find it to be fairly gimmicky, we can’t dispute the fact that it also looks pretty cool.

On the subject of the rear of the phone, you’ll find two cameras, both 50MP, with one standard main lens and a secondary ultra-wide lens. The Phone (1) is a decent snapper, but with many Android phones toting three or more lenses these days, a telephoto zoom lens wouldn’t go amiss. You’ll also find a 16MP “hole-punch” style single front camera nestled in the top left corner of the display, which allows for unlocking via facial recognition.

On to the main event – the Nothing’s surprisingly high-spec display. The phone sports a 6.55-inch OLED display, with a resolution of 1080p (and a pixel density of 402ppi), and a buttery smooth 120Hz refresh rate. It’s a big, bright and responsive display that feels like the sweet spot at this price. The OLED means convincing blacks, while the 120Hz refresh rate should get the attention of mobile gamers. The display also supports HDR via the HDR10+ format, ideal for streaming on Amazon Prime Video; however, the likes of Netflix and Disney Plus are on team Dolby Vision which doesn’t feature here.

The Nothing Phone (1) runs Android 12 (dubbed Nothing OS) out of the box; though an update to Android 13 is just around the corner. It's a fairly stripped-back version of the Google operating system, but it takes on a lot of Nothing’s edgy aesthetic. It’s easy to navigate and runs smoothly, and the visual changes are easy to adapt to.

Picture

As the aforementioned screen specs might suggest, the Nothing’s display is impressive. There are certainly sharper displays on the market, but Nothing’s price-to-performance ratio is impressive. With its deep inky OLED blacks and considered handling of contrast, the Nothing gets a lot right.

Firing up Thor: Love And Thunder, it's immediately obvious that the Nothing is capable when it comes to contrast. Edges are well-defined and characters are placed firmly in the foreground of scenes, creating a tangible depth to the image. This is down to the OLED display’s commendable handling of contrast

Detail is solid across the board, with skin and environmental textures all looking adequately resolved. Skin tones also look mostly spot on. At times they can look a little too punchy, but this doesn’t detract too much from the display's overall strengths. In fact, the Nothing’s display leans towards the bolder side overall, with the vivid visuals found in the latest Thor flick bursting to life on the Nothing’s screen.

The OLED display brings its expected strengths when it comes to black levels, with the deep, dark vacuum of space looking convincingly black in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Distant stars do punch through the expansive black canvas, but we’ve seen this shot handled better on other phone displays, most notably that of the Sony Xperia 10 IV, which just manages to grab that extra bit of detail. The Sony also just edges out the Nothing when it comes to contrast here.

Overall, while the Nothing holds its own against the Sony Xperia 10 IV in many regards and provides a punchy and entertaining picture in its own right, it can’t quite rival the cinematic quality achieved by the Sony’s 21:9 display, which is literally made to watch movies on. 

Sound

The Nothing uses a combination loudspeaker and earpiece stereo pairing that has become commonplace in the smartphone world. And, much like many other smartphones, they’re not exactly the best way to listen to content. There’s a definite lack of bass and overall sharpness that makes the Nothing’s speakers only really useful in a pinch. We certainly wouldn’t recommend using them to stream your favourite songs.

Headphone performance is thankfully a different story. Connecting a pair of over-ears via a USB-C to 3.5mm adapter (did we mention the lack of headphone jack on the Nothing?), we’re met with a much fuller presentation, with heartier bass and even some detail in the upper range. Throwing our usual test track, James Blake’s Limit To Your Love, at the Nothing yields mostly positive results, with decent clarity to vocals and authenticity to the instrumentation.

In the dynamics, though, the Nothing somewhat drops the ball. The brief moments of silence before each new verse of crashing pianos and vocals kicks in feels lacklustre, not quite hitting as convincingly as they do from the Xperia 10 IV. Overall, the Sony provides the slightly more considered performance out of the two, with a touch more detail and clarity, as well as snappier timing, making it the better pick when it comes to headphone audio.

That being said, the Nothing still produces a mostly positive headphone experience; but with tough competition from the Xperia, we’re sticking by our favourite budget smartphone this time.

Verdict

The Nothing Phone (1) is a welcome oddity in the current smartphone scene. With iterative yearly updates from Apple, Samsung and Sony, it feels like the days when each new phone would have groundbreaking new features are slowly fading. 

Nothing, conversely, provides a phone with a unique aesthetic and feature set, sturdy build and 120Hz OLED display – all for less than half the price of the latest iPhone. If you want a smartphone that will turn heads, alongside providing a pretty solid AV experience overall, the Nothing Phone (1) might be the rebellious new alternative for you.

SCORES

• Features 4
• Picture 4
• Sound 4

MORE:

Read our review of the Sony Xperia 10 IV

Also consider the Google Pixel 7

Read our OnePlus 10 Pro review

These are the best smart phones for music and movies

We're often questioned as to why we review smartphones when our wheelhouse is primarily hi-fi and home cinema products. Simply put, a smartphone is the primary device for listening to music for the majority of people out there, and now that nearly every phone is equipped with an OLED screen, it's probably the highest quality display that many people own.

Taking music and movies on the go is more popular than ever before, and for those who value cinematic authenticity and an audiophile experience for their long-haul flights or daily commute. Therefore, we think scoring the latest handsets to see how well they fulfil these duties is pretty important.

We've reviewed the latest handsets from Apple and Samsung, bestowing each company with an Award, respectively. We also have Sony's latest flagship smartphone, the Xperia 1 VII, in our testing room, so keep your eyes peeled for that review coming soon.

There are a couple of omissions on this list that we're hoping to test in the near future. These include the iPhone 17 Pro and Sony Xperia 10 VII; one being a pricey flagship phone, the other a contender for the "best cheap" smartphone title on this very list.

Speaking of the list, each handset has been thoroughly reviewed by our expert team, testing picture and audio quality primarily, as well as crucial other features such as day-to-day performance and camera quality. You can find out more about how we test smartphones here.

Now, without further ado, here are the best smartphones for music and movies...

The quick list

The best smartphone overall

Apple's latest "standard" iPhone happens to be one of its best smartphones in years. It sports the best display of a non-Pro iPhone yet, with a larger and brighter 6.3-inch OLED screen that can reach a peak brightness of 3000 nits. Better yet, it finally has Apple's ProMotion display tech, which can adjust the refresh rate from 1Hz to 120Hz depending on the content you're viewing.

It supports Dolby Vision too, and when we play movies on this display, we're treated to a rich, vibrant and detailed image with improved contrast compared to its predecessor.

That's backed up by excellent audio, which includes support for Dolby Atmos via headphones and the built-in stereo speaker system. It delivers a crisp, natural and engaging sound, making it an accomplished portable music player too.

This superb AV performance is wrapped in a stylish and tough chassis with more scratch-resistant glass. You'll also find a superb camera system on board, Apple's latest A19 chipset and iOS 26 operating system, and an impressively stoic battery, which can keep the phone powered through many hours of movie watching.

Read the full Apple iPhone 17 review

The best premium smartphone

As well as covering all the expected chops of a smartphone these days, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra stood out to us for its excellent AV features. Its "solid and three-dimensional" image quality is partly down to the phone's new picture-enhancing and ProScaler feature.

During testing, we said: "The S25 Ultra wastes no time in showing us how capable its display is, with the John Wick scene in which Caine is recruited by the villainous Marquis Vincent Bisset de Gramont having an abundance of sharp details."

The handset's sound quality does not quite match up to that of its picture but we still deem it to be a solid effort from Samsung overall, dubbing it "clear and spacious". It supports Dolby Atmos via its stereo speakers (comprising the earpiece and downward-firing loudspeaker) and headphones (wired and wireless).

In terms of other features, the S25 Ultra takes much of what we liked about its predecessor, the S24 Ultra. The latter's Galaxy AI system is carried on to the S25 Ultra, including the incredibly useful Circle to Search with Google, Generative Edit photo editing suite, Live Translation tools and Chat Assist feature. Samsung upgraded this feature for the S25 Ultra, however, by including a new on-device large language model (LLM), which will reportedly make the generative fill tools in the photo editor more reliable and accurate.

Bundle that with lightning-fast performance, a quality camera system and a new titanium frame, and we think Samsung is onto a winner. If the next generation of Galaxy smartphones can nail the sound subtleties, then Sony and Apple could be in trouble.

Read the full Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra review

The best mid-range smartphone

Apple's smartphones have a tendency to lean towards the pricier side, so when rumours began of a reinvented take on its "SE" series, we were immediately intrigued.

The iPhone 16e wasn't what we expected, but we were impressed nonetheless. It delivers most of what we loved about the iPhone 16 in a cheaper package with a few stripped-back features. This includes dropping the Dynamic Island, MagSafe and secondary ultrawide lens.

However, the major AV features remained, with an OLED display which supports Dolby Vision and HDR10, as well as Dolby Atmos audio. Furthermore, it sports the Apple A18 chip found in the more premium iPhone 16, and it even works with Apple Intelligence.

Most importantly, it delivers most of what the iPhone 16 has to offer at a lower price. Movies and TV shows look balanced, crisp and punchy on the OLED display, and headphone audio is frankly superb thanks to its rich and detailed all-around performance.

If you're not open to spending flagship money, but only an iPhone will do, then the 16e is a great choice.

Read the full Apple iPhone 16e review

The best cheap smartphone

It's easy to think that you would get the best phone by paying top dollar, but Sony's Xperia 10 VI proves that this is doesn't have to be the case. While its AV features don't match up to more expensive models from the likes of Apple or Sony, it still offers a brilliant on-the-go entertainment experience.

Sony's Xperia series utilises the strategy of cutting down on premium build materials and camera performance, while retaining picture quality in order to reach a more affordable price point. It really pays off, as the Xperia 10 VI delivers a striking and balanced picture. We said in our review: "The opening sequence of Blade Runner 2049 is delivered with well-defined outlines and plenty of detailed texture in clothing, skin and the environment alike. While the display can appear to lean cooler than we prefer, the colours overall remain balanced and well-judged, leading to a pleasingly natural-looking image."

In terms of audio performance, it performs extremely well with headphones. When playing Taylor Swift's The 1, we described it as spacious and dynamic. Its speaker system without headphones is less remarkable but still very much acceptable, and the front-firing stereo pair produces a decent weight.

One thing to bear in mind is the Xperia's camera quality, as it failed to wow us in testing. It gets the job done for quick snaps here and there, but if you’re serious about smartphone photography, this phone will not satisfy your needs.

If that's not a problem for you and you're drawn in by the Xperia 10 VI's performance with music and movies, this could be the perfect budget phone for you.

Read the full Sony Xperia 10 VI review

Also consider

The best alternative smartphones we've tested:

Sony Xperia 1 VI: It's been succeeded by the Xperia 1 VII now, but the 1 VI remains an excellent option for those who want a smartphone that puts AV performance above all else. It features a headphone jack for wired audio, and all of the major Bluetooth audio codecs, as well as a crisp and detailed OLED display. It may not be a mainstream choice, but it's a great option for enthusiasts.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7: Foldable phones are firmly in the mainstream now, and it just so happens that Samsung's latest model is a great option. The Flip 7 sports a clamshell design which unfolds into a 21:9 OLED display; which happens to be the perfect aspect ratio for cinematic content. When folded, we especially like how it functions as a nifty portable music player.

How to choose the best smartphone for you

Picking the right smartphone that suits your needs best is harder than it sounds, and may in fact be a trickier task than picking the best TV or headphones. You use your smartphone every day, and for many of us it houses all the integral things we need to keep our day running smoothly. This is where the essentials come into play: good battery life, a design that's comfortable to hold, and a screen that's not too big and not too small.

Many of us also acquire our smartphones through a contract, most commonly these run for 24 months, so you need to plan ahead. Will the phone you choose have a powerful enough processor and enough RAM to last for two years? Which software platform do you want: Apple's iOS that's exclusive to iPhones, or Google's Android platform that's used by the likes of Samsung, Sony and OnePlus? And does the phone have enough features to keep you going for that time, such as a versatile camera or micro SD card support to expand the memory.

However, if you're after the highest quality AV performance (as we are), then that's where things become more black and white. You'll want an OLED screen for inky blacks and vibrant colours, with a 18:9 or 21:9 aspect ratio and minimal bezels, ideal for watching content uninterrupted and as the the filmmaker intended. As standard, many phones come with either a 1080p or 1440p, or in some cases a 4K display on the highest-end models. As smartphone displays are much smaller than TVs and even tablets, they are often very pixel dense, meaning that the highest resolution isn't always paramount, so don't be put off if your handset doesn't feature the highest-spec screen.

Audio is equally important, and the audio landscape on mobile phones has changed greatly in the last few years. Many now feature a stereo speaker setup that combines a loudspeaker and earpiece to create an often impressively loud and spacious sound. However what modern smartphones giveth, they must also taketh away as is the case with the 3.5mm headphone jack, which is an endangered beast on modern devices.

With all of these key factors in mind, many see it a daunting task to pick a new phone, dreading the day their contract is up. But fear not, all of the picks above are fully approved by us, which should be enough to help you make your decision.

Smartphone FAQ

How we test the best smartphones

While it’s true that smartphones aren’t our core focus at What Hi-Fi? (the clue’s in the name), the fact that they’ve become many people’s most-used item of technology, and for some the primary way they consume music and video, we think that it’s important to find out which ones are the best at doing just that.

Every product we test at What Hi-Fi? is subject to the same thorough process, which involves spending some time in our state-of-the-art testing facilities in London, Reading and Bath with our expert reviewers, but perhaps more than any other product type we also spend time with smartphones out in the real world. We use them in our day-to-day lives – while we commute, around the office, out and about at the weekends – testing every feature exhaustively.

Of course, we pay particular attention to the audio and video performance, so while it’s important to try out the camera and see how long the battery lasts, our smartphone reviews are skewed towards listening to music and watching videos. If that’s also important to you, you should read them carefully before taking the plunge on a phone that you might have to keep for the next two years or more.

Every smartphone we test is compared to its rivals, whether that’s the latest iPhone, Samsung Galaxy, or a handset from one of the newer upstarts like OnePlus, and all verdicts are the result of a collaboration that involves the whole editorial team, so you’re never getting the opinion of just one reviewer.

For more on how we test and review products, you can read our in-depth guide.

MORE:

Best wireless headphones

Best portable MP3 players

Best true wireless earbuds

A premium device at a premium price, Oppo’s Find X5 Pro smartphone boasts the flashy design and standout camera that we all now expect of flagship phones. Our primary concerns, though, are picture and sound quality, and here it’s a bit more of a mixed bag.

Still, those determined to avoid the usual high-end options and instead go for something out of the ordinary will find much to like here, particularly if they’re willing to spend some time in the settings menu.

With it coming up on a year since the Oppo Find X5 Pro's official announcement, we expect to see some news regarding a successor soon; likely the Oppo Find X6 Pro. There hasn't been much in the way of leaks or official news quite yet, but we anticipate the next Find X Pro device making its debut soon.

Price

As standard, the Oppo Find X5 Pro comes in a 12GB RAM and 256GB storage configuration costing £1049 / AU$1799 (about $1314 – unfortunately the Find X5 Pro isn’t officially available in the US). There appears to be a 512GB version available in China, but there’s no sign of that making its way to the UK or Australia. It’s worth noting that there’s no option to expand this via SD card.

The Oppo’s price puts it up against some stiff competition. For similar money you could buy an iPhone 14 Pro Max or Sony Xperia 1 IV, and you’re even encroaching on the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. Oppo’s sister company, OnePlus released its 10 Pro flagship last year, and it shares a lot of features with the Find X5 Pro, including a Hasselblad branded camera system, and it’s a fair bit cheaper. There is also the freshly announced OnePlus 11 5G which launches soon, another rival that provides similar specs to the Find X5 Pro for a fair bit cheaper. 

Design

The Oppo Find X5 Pro comes in two stunning finishes, Glaze Black and Ceramic White, that adorn the weighty, premium ceramic body and smooth, polished aluminium frame.

The rear of the phone houses a camera bump unlike any other phone we’ve seen. Instead of a step-up style bump that feels separate to the rest of the phone, Oppo has engineered a fluid camera cluster that melts into the rest of the ceramic backing to create a seamless finish.

It's certainly unique and eye-catching, and it's equally as impressive as the camera system it is housing. Inside is a powerful array of Hasselblad cameras, consisting of a 50MP main camera, a 50MP ultra-wide camera that reaches a field of view of 110 degrees and a 13MP telephoto camera.

Features

The camera system is ideal for a budding photographer, with every lens you could need on a phone to capture both close up targets, or squeeze sprawling vistas into a single shot. Colours look punchy and, together with the phone’s colourful display, the Find X5 Pro is an ideal companion for snapping shots on the go. 

The Oppo Find X5 Pro features Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor which, when paired with the aforementioned 12GB of RAM, keeps things running smoothly at all times. Apps load quickly and there are useful software management options to make sure the phone is running at maximum efficiency. There are a few instances where this software is a bit intrusive, though. For instance, when you try to close all apps and the phone insists that’s unnecessary in terms of performance – we don’t care, Oppo, we would like to close all apps please.

Bundled in the box is the Oppo Find X5 Pro’s most convenient feature, an 80W SuperVooc charging adapter. It's always nice to get a charger in the box these days as many manufacturers are leaving them out, and it's especially nice when the bundled charger can juice up the phone at a blistering rate – a 50 per cent charge takes just 12 minutes.

The Find X5 Pro launched with Android 12 earlier last year, skinned with Oppo’s ColourOS on top. It has since received Android 13 (dubbed ColourOS 13) as of August 2022, which has brought a host of aesthetic changes to the software. This includes updated animations and a card-based system for a lot of the visual elements which makes organising the navigating the OS easier than ever. Arguably the biggest upgrade to ColourOS is the new always-on-display, which will now cycle down to just 1Hz while active. This supposedly offers a 30% power-saving increase to the Find X5 Pro.

Picture

Up front is a 6.7-inch curved display running at 3216 x 1440 resolution (525ppi) in a 20:9 aspect ratio, and the LTPO AMOLED screen supports variable refresh rates right up to 120Hz. The display has a hole punch camera nestled in the top left corner that can be used for facial recognition and remains fairly unobtrusive to the viewing experience. There is also an under-display fingerprint scanner for biometric authentication. 

As for picture quality, the Oppo Find X5 Pro is crisp and delivers a solid HDR performance, making for an enjoyable viewing experience overall. Netflix’s Lost In Space looks great on the Oppo’s AMOLED screen, with inky blacks to reflect the depth of endless space while the pinpoint stars burst through with surprising impact.

As the Robinsons’ ship loses power and the lights dim, it’s still easy to pick out details within the shadows and, to juxtapose, grandiose scenes of an ice-clad foreign planet retain their epic scale. It's not all perfect, though: the edges of the ice-capped mountains in the background of the scene are a tad fuzzy and when compared with our Award-winning Sony Xperia 1 III, the impression of depth and overall detail levels are slightly lacking.

By default, the Oppo comes in a slightly overbearing Vivid mode that tends to accentuate colours a bit too much, though there is a suite of picture settings, including a Cinematic mode that utilises Display P3 for apparently faithful colour reproduction, as well as a Brilliant mode that uses the widest colour gamut for an almost blindingly bright picture. There’s also the option to customise colour temperature in a couple of the presets. Even so, despite vast amounts of tweaking, the Find X5 Pro never quite reaches the cinematic accuracy of its Sony rival, particularly when the latter is in its Creator Mode.

That isn’t to say that the Oppo looks unnatural. Playing an episode of 2007 teen drama Skins, it retains the colour in characters’ vibrant clothing while keeping skin tones natural. That said, this lower resolution video suffers with soft edges and slightly ill-defined textures to skin and clothing. The Xperia does a better job of retaining detail and keeps edges a little sharper and more defined, with skin textures specifically looking noticeably better.

The other issue with the Oppo’s display is its curved edges, which create some distortion and, on white and lighter coloured backgrounds, produce a strange glowing halo effect that runs down the edge of the screen. Whilst this doesn’t cause too many issues as it’s such a slim part of the screen, it does bring into question whether the Oppo is more dedicated to form than picture performance.

Sound

While the Oppo Find X5 Pro’s picture is good overall, it’s rather let down by its audio performance, with a lack of dynamic expression and rhythmic drive, as well as slightly mushy bass when using a range of headphones (with the necessary third-party USB-C to 3.5mm adaptor). Grand compositions such as the London Philharmonic Orchestra's rendition of In The Hall Of The Mountain King feel unnervingly tight and claustrophobic, with little separation between the vast array of instruments. The instruments lack texture and reverberation, leading to a processed and unnatural delivery that fails to capture the grand scale of the piece. Dynamics also suffer here, with the jump from quiet to loud also feeling restrained.

The same can be said in relation to the Oppo’s speakers. They too make a mess of the classical piece with the same compressed, claustrophobic arrangement and overall lack of definition, stifling the piece's grand composition and making it a less than ideal option. 

For something more conventional, Billie Eilish’s Bury A Friend sounds decent, though not much better than that. The thumping bassline is certainly present (as much as we can expect from a product like this), but it lacks definition and sounds a bit soft. Thankfully, the bass isn’t too overbearing, so vocals remain clear and distinct.

Verdict

Oppo’s Find X5 Pro is a solid device in most ways. It's packed with features, user friendly software and it provides an enjoyable, if not mind blowing visual performance. However, it's marred by an audio experience that’s easily surpassed by the class leaders.

An iPhone 14 Pro Max costs roughly the same money and features fantastic sound and picture quality, as well as an equally solid build and feature set, and the Sony Xperia 1 IV is another great option if you prioritise picture and sound quality. 

Still, if you’re determined to go with an outsider choice for your next phone and sound quality isn’t much of a priority, the Oppo Find X5 Pro is certainly worth a look.

SCORES

• Features 5
• Picture 4
• Sound 3

MORE:

Read our review of the iPhone 14 Pro Max

Also consider the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra

Read our OnePlus 10 Pro review

These are the Best smartphones 2022: the best phones for music and movies

Big, premium and considerably less expensive than other flagship phones, the OnePlus 10 Pro is every bit the standard-bearer you’d expect. OnePlus has made a name for itself as a purveyor of high-end smartphones at a price that more people can afford and this 6.7-inch, 5G Android mobile is no exception. Several hundred pounds/dollars cheaper than the rest of the top-end competition, it’s going to make a lot of buyers’ shortlists.

The good news is that, if you’re after an impressive spec sheet and all the mobile mod-cons, then you’re definitely fishing in the right stretch of the river. For us, though, it’s screen and sound that count most. So, if you need your pocket portable to be a top-notch player first, and all other things mobile a definite second, then this is the low-down you need.

Price

There are two variants of the OnePlus 10 Pro to note. The Volcanic Black version comes with 8GB RAM and 128GB of storage space. It’s not available in the US but will cost a very reasonable £799 in the UK. This is the OnePlus 10 Pro that we have on test here.

The price of the souped-up 12GB/256GB OnePlus 10 Pro is £899 and it’s also available in the States for $899. It comes in Emerald Forest. Considering the prices of  similarly sized flagships from Samsung (S22 Ultra, £1149 / $1199) and Apple (iPhone 13 Pro Max, £1049 / $1099), both OnePlus models are undeniably aggressively priced.

Design

Whichever OnePlus 10 Pro model you choose, the basic design is the same. The key stat is its 6.7-inch curved-edged screen, which fronts the 8.6mm-thick, 201g chassis. While not quite in the same all-glass, all-metal field as the more expensive flagship handsets on the market, there’s undoubtedly a more quality feel compared to last year’s OnePlus 9 Pro.

The black plastic rear is protected by a layer of Gorilla Glass that offers a tactile boost as well as a little added security. The thin edges are well designed and appointed with all the controls in sensible places. There’s a USB-C socket and speaker vents on one end and, as with the OnePlus 9 Pro, we particularly like the three-position switch to select between silent, vibrate and normal sound modes.

What you won’t fail to notice pretty quickly is the oversized camera bump on the rear. The OnePlus 10 Pro is the company’s second collaboration with Hasselblad. The triple camera system and flash are the same hardware as before but we’re promised that the underlying software has been altogether refined.

One significant upgrade you won’t spot initially is that the fingerprint sensor has moved up the screen a little. Crucially, this adds a far better balance when trying to unlock the phone with one hand. It was all too easy to drop the OnePlus 9 Pro on the floor.

On the inside, it’s the all-new Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 at the helm with, according to OnePlus, so much cooling above and below the chipset that, laid out flat it would take up the size of an A5 piece of paper. 

The battery is now even bigger. It comes at 5000mAh capacity but can still fully charge in just 32 minutes when combined with the 80W power adapter that is included in the box.

Features

Like most Android phone manufacturers, OnePlus has its own UI skin on top of the stock Android 12 experience. OxygenOS 12.1's best feature is that it largely stays out of the way. There is the odd tiresome niggle in the way of app and service duplication – you get two file managers and two different photo apps, for example – but it never becomes a problem.

Again, it’s very much the same look and feel as Oxygen OS 11 on the OnePlus 9 Pro and comes with a set of wallpapers and widgets that feel in line with both Android in general and what OnePlus has done before. The company has promised that 10 Pro will support at least three years of Android software updates with an added fourth year of security patches. It’s also worth noting that Oxygen OS 13 was in development at the time of launch but we can’t comment on how much of a departure this might be when it arrives.

The main take home for software, though, is that it’s an entirely sensible and slick experience. How it will feel 20 months into a two-year contract is harder to say, but we've experienced nothing so much as a hiccup during testing. The one piece of advice we would offer is to use a phone case: it's all too easy for the very edges of the curved screen to register unintended touches from the hand holding the device.

The Hasselblad camera array is doubtless one of the most significant extras on the OnePlus 10 Pro. It’s a 50MP ultra-wide, 8MP telephoto and 48MP main camera triple threat. It’s capable of 10-bit photography, when shooting in Pro Mode using RAW files, with the colour production certified by Hasselblad. 

The familiar software allows for plenty of photographic play time. There’s a 150-degree ultra-wide fish-eye mode, Dual-video for simultaneous movie capture with both front and back shooters, and a solid bokeh effect when using the Portrait filter. Head to the Pro section for full control of settings such as aperture, shutter speed, ISO and white balance. Video capture goes up to 8K resolution at 24fps but you can unleash full 120fps speeds if you drop down to 4K.

With all those extra colour shades on offer, we've encountered no issues with banding in our photography testing. Captured images feel well balanced across reds, greens and blues. The results from some comparison devices are a little truer for colour and a little more natural when using filters, but we're in no doubt you’ll get great pictures with the 10 Pro.

Its dedicated Game Mode switches the power profile and adds a quick-access drop-down settings menu to the thumb areas when in landscape. In it are quick toggles for Discord, WhatsApp, Screen Recorder, orientation lock and touch optimisation, among others. The Performance Settings button takes you to a menu where you can set your battery usage. If you want that all-out edge against the competition, just hit ProGamer Mode for the top touch-sensitive experience and a cavalier attitude to battery consumption.

On the inside, the HyperBoost gaming engine promises a more stable and responsive gaming experience than before, using frame stabilisers and latency-reduction tech. LTPO is able to manage dynamic frame rates to scale up to and down from 120Hz as required.

Playing the likes of PUBG and the Asphalt Nitro games is as quick as we’ve found on any mobile device. Gaming is lag-free when playing online and, at the risk of suggesting it makes you a better gamer – we’re pretty sure it doesn’t – we have found ourselves winning a few more deathmatches than usual. Take what you will from that.

Picture

OnePlus has made significant picture quality improvements on last year’s flagship and that’s a great thing to see. On paper, its impressive-sounding 6.7-inch AMOLED with 10-bit colour depth and 525ppi pixel density are the same as last time but it’s in terms of quality where the difference lies.

Whereas the OnePlus 9 Pro was a touch washed out in the blacks, this latest model is as inky as they come. The display puts on a very impressive show when we watch the final episode of Pam & Tommy in HDR on Disney+. Tommy Lee’s jet black T-shirt is an excellent contrast to the bright LA sky shining through the blinds and into the office of the couple’s law firm.

This is no overly dynamic approach, though. There’s enough skill in the screen to bring out plenty of details in both bright areas and colours. It’s easy to make out the different knitted textures in Pamela’s cream dress, and the swirls in the high-polished mahogany meeting table look natural.

Equally both skin tone and details feel true. Pam’s foundation and eye-liner look is, of course, different to the stubble and goatee of her husband and the jowlier face of their lawyer, but their underlying complexions look properly contoured and shaded. The very best – and more expensive – flagships will look a little sharper, but that’s a fairly small difference and one that’s very much reflected in price.

Switching down a gear to SDR content with White Teeth on Netflix, the differences between the 10 Pro and something at the top of its game, such as the pricier iPhone 13 Pro Max, are minimal. The OnePlus matches Apple's handset in almost every department. For colour, for contrast, for detail, it’s practically the same picture. It’s really only that touch of sharpness that separates the two as Clara dances around her bedroom in the opening scenes but, at this slightly lower resolution source material, it’s even less noticeable than before.

The only areas where one could view any serious difference with the picture performance is in terms of peak brightness and shadow detail.

The 10 Pro just doesn’t have the same level of nits under the hood as the iPhone. That means it can’t create that same dynamic level of tonal highlights and lowlights in any given frame.

Watching The Adam Project in HDR on Netflix, the iPhone gives us a fully-realised picture in the night-time forest scenes where Ryan Reynolds' character first meets his younger self. The dark trees in the shadows are as discernible as the spaceship’s bright lights. With the 10 Pro, it’s all too easy for much of that dark detail to be lost and leave us wondering what’s going on that we’re not quite seeing in the background of each scene. It’s also worth noting that there’s no Dolby Vision support on the OnePlus 10 Pro either.

The result is that it’s clear where the hardware savings do impact picture performance. Nonetheless, it’s very hard to fault what the 10 Pro offers, given how much more affordable it is.

Sound

In terms of specs and features, the OnePlus 10 Pro certainly appears well placed for sound. It supports Dolby Atmos audio through headphones and presents the listener with a selection of EQ profiles in the form of scenario and environment-appropriate settings, such as Commute, Flight or Gaming instead of a slightly less tangible menu of frequency sliders. Movie or Music modes are the ones to use for most occasions, or you can use Smart to let the 10 Pro decide for you.

Listening to Blue Monday by New Order through headphones there’s a very likeable tonal balance to the sound. None of the high-pitched electro squiggles, the midrange vocals nor the bouncing bass dominate and it’s easy to get a good sense of the track.

There’s a decent effort with dynamics too, with some genuine dimension and depth. The bass notes feel nicely rounded, the vocals swing eerily from the background to the fore and back again, and there’s plenty of excitement to hold your interest.

Where the performance is not so fully formed is in terms of rhythm. There’s a slight breathiness to sounds such as the synth cymbals, the hi-hat and the bassline, where the timing is too loose to give a clean, crisp delivery. Head to a song with more attack such as Weapon Of Choice by Fatboy Slim and this more lackadaisical presentation can take up too much space and tend to obscure some of the detail that could otherwise be better separated.

Listen on a five-star flagship phone and you’ll get everything that the 10 Pro is missing. The iPhone 13 Pro Max, for example, really lifts Blue Monday. The music feels more carefully layered, and all the more complex and engaging for it. It’s dynamically superior too. There’s more punch to the bass, and with the Fatboy Slim track you get a more true to life representation of both the Hammond organ and the brushes used on the drums.

Interestingly, playing music via the OnePlus 10 Pro's speakers demonstrates very similar characteristics to when using headphones. The sound isn’t projected out quite as far as with the iPhone but it’s not a bad experience at all, as mobile phone speakers go. There’s still an impression of punch and it’s balanced enough to give a faithful account of the song. Again, the timing’s not quite there but, as with the rest of the audio, it’s well within the parameters of decent.

Decent, though, isn’t really enough when it comes to a flagship phone. Listening on a top portable should make you want to sit down and finish the track even after you’ve arrived at your destination. The OnePlus 10 Pro is a good enough music player to pick up your podcasts and get a good taste of your playlists while out and about, but you’ll have it switched off the second you’re through your door, and be itching to play your hi-fi instead.

Verdict

Comparing this cut-price flagship phone to other top-end mobiles is a bit of a rough ride for the OnePlus 10 Pro. Even so, it stands up to the test in most departments. In terms of build quality, photography, user experience, battery life and most other features, it’s more or less right up there and all for a smaller outlay. And, while it can’t quite reach the same heights on the video front, what you get for the price difference is actually very comparable.

Listening to music, though, is where you’ll notice the biggest downgrade. The audio performance is just not in the same class as the best flagship phones, nor really quite good enough for the step-down in outlay either. It makes a perfectly passable listen but ‘passable’ doesn’t win you five stars.

SCORES

• Screen 5
• Sound 3
• Features 5

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Well, here goes Nothing. If you think we’re being a little harsh or negative right from the get-go of this review, please note that our tone, were we able to speak to you, would be quite the opposite. In fact, with OnePlus’ co-founder Carl Pei at the helm, we have high hopes that the London-based startup he calls Nothing will, in fact, turn out to be quite something. 

The fledgling firm’s first ever product is the Nothing Ear (1) true wireless earbuds, priced at a headline-grabbing £99 ($99, AU$140). To describe this fee as next to Nothing might be a stretch, but it’s still very reasonable considering the features onboard.

Those features include three ANC profiles, Bluetooth 5.2, wearer detection and a transparent charging case that supports Qi wireless charging. Add decently solid build into the equation and Nothing looks to have delivered a lot for the money.

Build

These in-ears arrive in a refreshingly small, soap-sized package, but everything you need is right here: small and large eartip options to complete the set (a medium size comes pre-fitted), a USB-C charging cable and, of course, the rounded-edge, square, see-through case containing the headphones.

The case reminds us of Apple’s original EarPods packaging in that it is roughly the same size and transparent with a white base, so that you can see the buds nestled inside, on the diagonal – only this time said base houses connectors, magnets and batteries, plus Qi wireless charging support. The flip-top lid, which opens like a compact and utilises nice strong magnets to snap shut reassuringly, features a fisheye dip when closed, perfect for a thumb. This helps hold its cargo securely in place and means that you'll probably end up twizzling it like a fidget spinner.

Considering how keen Nothing is to move away from the physical product and to impress upon you the uniqueness of its inaugural proposition, we can’t help but remark that the glossy white pill-shaped driver housings and silicon tips are practically identical to those of Apple’s AirPods Pro.

Where the stems attach, however, the design does veer into the unknown. Here the hue is glossy black and the stems are encased in transparent plastic, thus showcasing the shiny metallic innards, including the battery connectors, circuitry and mics (there are three per bud). Another design flourish is the red dot on the right earpiece, which corresponds to a red dot in the well of the right earbud in the case – a simple but useful feature that means struggling to get the correct bud into its rightful well is a thing of the past. 

Each earpiece weighs 4.7g and feels light and comfortable in our ears, even without switching the eartips. It doesn’t necessarily feel secure enough for a heavy metal head-thrash, but as we take to the streets the fit is light and pressure-free, even as we switch between noise cancellation profiles. Under the bonnet, there’s a large 11.6mm driver plus Bluetooth 5.2, although there’s no support for aptX higher resolution audio. 

Connecting to a second device can be done by slipping the buds back into the case and long-pressing the button on the side of the box, next to the USB-C charger. In terms of battery, you’ll get just under six hours of playtime from the buds (just under five with ANC deployed) and up to an impressive 34 hours in total with the transparent charging case (or 27 with ANC on). A 10-minute charge promises up to eight – yes eight – hours of juice, too, a claim that rings true during testing.

Features

Ear (1)’s touch controls can be customised in the slick Ear (1) app for iOS or Android devices. This app features the same retro digital typeface that's printed on the case and the stem of the buds. Here, below a picture of the Ear (1) you will see two bubbles: ‘hear’ and ‘touch’. Hear pulls up a list of ways to customise the sound, including ‘light’ or ‘maximum’ noise cancellation, transparency mode, or off.

We take to the streets and find these profiles effective and useful. Cars and voices of passers-by are far more readily available to us when deploying transparency mode, but without the disconcerting wind-tunnel effect – and without negatively affecting the music we’re listening to. Noise cancellation is also surprisingly effective and the fact that you can get two levels of active cancellation is virtually unheard of in this price category.

Along with two visual themes, the option of turning off auto-pause wearer detection and the useful Find My Earbud feature (which emits a sound from your earbuds, for easier location if one has fallen down the back of the sofa, say) there’s also an equaliser tab. Although there’s no three-band EQ stage, you can switch from ‘balanced’ to ‘more treble’, ‘more bass’ or ‘voice’ presets – an excellent addition at this level.

During testing, pairing was perfectly acceptable, call quality good, and the genuinely likeable app never suffered bugs or crashes during our time with it.

Switching to the Touch tab, we’re given the option of customising the triple-tap or long-press of either earpiece. We tweak it so that triple-tapping the left bud skips back a track, triple-tapping the right skips forward, and long-pressing switches noise-cancelling profiles – although it’s worth noting that in terms of long-pressing, it’s either that, or no action. 

Interestingly, a single tap performs no function here, probably to avoid inadvertent track pausing but, sadly, we find double-tapping to play and pause tracks is resoundingly hit and miss. Volume adjustments can supposedly be made by swiping up and down the stem of either earpiece, but again, we find it hard to actually make this happen – especially without dislodging the units from our ears. At this level, digging out your phone to alter playback is hardly a deal-breaker, but if controls are included, it's reasonable to expect them to work satisfyingly.

Sound

Setting the profile to balanced, we find In the Fire by Dave expansive from the outset, through the opening samples and looped backing voices to Dave’s central and significant verse. Our playlist continues to Can’t Feel My Face by French The Kid and the brooding, heavily treated vocal sample through the bass registers goes deep, snaking from our left ear to our right and is nicely separated from the female “How’s your love life?” sample as the verse starts. 

The delivery is far from perfect though. Switching to Cambridge Audio’s original Melomania 1, now available for the same price, the bass is more impactful and zealous, making the Ear (1) feel altogether laid-back and lacking precision in terms of timing. While expansive, the Ear (1) suffers from tubbiness through the low end in direct comparison. 

Stream Coheed and Cambria’s The Black Rainbow and the post-apocalyptic low-level soundscape intro is more foreboding and dynamically accurate through the Cambridge earphones. The vocal is more neutral, textured and three-dimensional through the mids with the Melomania 1s too.

The Ear (1)’s tuning emphasises higher midrange vocals, bringing them forwards in the mix to gain detail and excitement, but the resulting sound comes off a little thin and is compressed through the higher frequencies to complete a somewhat confusing presentation overall. As the track builds to a reverb-heavy crescendo, we aren’t feeling the end of days quite as forcefully and cohesively as we might have hoped.

Verdict

Often, readers simply glance at the star-rating at the top of the review then skip here to get to the crux of the matter.

After scrolling past glossy images of Nothing’s futuristic near-transparent units, these readers have likely come to the conclusion that Nothing Ear (1) is a case of style over substance. To those readers, we must emphasise that this assumption is incorrect. The workmanship is good here, and the feature set – including a commendable new app – is even better. At this price-point, we have yet to experience easier access to noise cancelling. For many, the Ear (1)’s comely looks, easy fit, ANC, decent battery life, IPX4 splash-proofing and passable sound will suffice. 

Ultimately, however, sound quality is the making or breaking of a set of wireless headphones. Here, Nothing Ear (1) falls short of the class leaders in terms of timing and neutrality across the frequencies, as well as for bass grip and accuracy. That said, Nothing is definitely on to something here, and we cannot wait to listen to future iterations.

SCORES

• Sound 3
• Features 5
• Build 4

MORE:

Read our guide to the Best In-ear Headphones

Read our Cambridge Audio Melomania 1 review

Read our Cambridge Audio Melomania 1 Plus review

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OnePlus has announced its third pair of true wireless earbuds, and they seem to be gunning straight for the AirPods Pro. The OnePlus Buds Pro feature a very similar aesthetic to Apple's finest, with one clear differentiator – shiny chrome stems. It certainly sets them apart from the crowd.

They are OnePlus' most advanced earbuds yet, a step on from the wallet-friendly OnePlus Buds and the still very affordable OnePlus Buds Z. They feature adaptive noise cancellation, which means they automatically adjust the ANC to match your environment. Stand next to a pneumatic drill and they'll crank up the ANC, but head to a tranquil park and they'll tone it right down.

Each earbud contains three microphones and can cancel out noise at up to 40dB. According to TLC Direct, that's about the noise level of a fridge humming.

The Buds Pro support Dolby Atmos for virtual 360-degree sound, too. And using OnePlus Audio ID, you can create a personalised sound profile after taking an audio test. There's also a Transparency mode, which lets in outside noise so you can have a conversation with someone without taking the earbuds out.

They're mighty durable: the case is rated IPX4 to survive water splashes, while the buds themselves are IP55, meaning they're mostly dust-tight and can withstand water jets spraying them.

Battery life is another highlight. With ANC on, you get five hours from the buds, seven with it off. Throw in extra juicing up from the charging case, and you'll get 28 hours with ANC on, and 38 with it off before needing to find a plug socket. That beats the Sony WF-1000XM4 and AirPods Pro on paper. Impressive.

OnePlus' Warp charge gives 10 hours of use from just 10 minutes of charging, and wireless charging is also on the menu. Bluetooth 5.2 is the order of the day, and they have a low latency mode for gaming.

The OnePlus Buds Pro come in black or white finishes and are pretty affordable for such a stacked feature set. They cost £139 ($149, about AU$259) and go on sale on 18th August.

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