Another Mobile World Congress is in the books, and it was great to be able to attend in person for the first time since 2019! Seriously great. MWC is always heavy on new smartphone releases, and this year was no exception. Even so, there were plenty of other remarkable devices touting worthy upgrades or making their debuts. So with that, I give you Gear Diary’s Best of MWC 2022.
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 5
The laptop I’m most happy using these days is the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4; it’s proven to be an absolute dream. The 16″ display is excellent for the type of remote work I do, and it packs the kind of power and performance punch that I usually only associate with gaming laptops.
Even so, the ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 5 takes everything I’ve appreciated about the X1 Extreme Gen 4 and makes it even more fantastic.
The ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 5 runs Windows 11 Pro on 12th Gen Intel i9 H-Series processors with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX Laptop GPU; there’s an option to get the supersonic NVIDIA RTX 3080 Ti graphics card that’s usually only seen for gaming laptops. You can get the X1 Extreme Gen 5 with up to 64GB DDR5 memory and optional dual Solid-State Drives (SSD) supporting up to a massive 8TB(!!). Does your desktop even have all of that?!
But it isn’t just the raw specs that are impressive; the ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 5 also offers Dolby Voice with AI noise cancellation and up to a 16″ WQXGA display with a 165Hz refresh rate for a super sharp viewing experience when you’re binging your favorite series.
This laptop is the beast that you’ll want for work and play! If you’re drooling as you think about all of that customizable power (as I certainly am), you’ll be glad to know that the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 5 will be available in June, starting at $2,049.
Realme GT 2 Pro
As realme’s most premium flagship yet, the realme GT 2 Pro has the world’s first 2K AMOLED Flat Display (love!) with LTPO 2.0 Technology; the 2K UHD display has a resolution of up to 525 PPI, and Corning Gorilla Glass Victus will protect it.
Using advanced LPTO 2.0 technology, the realme GT 2 Pro will have a 1-120Hz adaptive refresh rate with 1000Hz touch sampling to provide an exceptionally smooth picture with optimal energy efficiency performance. Stereo Dolby Atmos speakers will give a great sound.
It runs the top-of-the-line Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 mobile platform, and it will run Android 12 with the realme UI 3.0 overlay; it will also have a 5,000Mah Li-Po 5000 battery with 65W Super Dart fast-charge.
The three rear-facing cameras will include a wide-angle IMX766 50-megapixel with all pixel Omni-directional PDAF and OIS features, an ultra-wide-angle JN1 50-megapixel lens with a 150ºultra-wide mode and the world’s first fish-eye mode, and a 2-megapixel 40X macro lens for extreme close-ups.
The realme GT 2 Pro features an extensive heat dissipation area for up to 3º C of cooling to maximize the chip’s performance; it is constructed with a new 9-layer cooling structure with a 4,129mm² Stainless Steel VC area for sustained peak performance.
It will be equipped with realme’s Innovation Forward Communication, an antenna array matrix system that consists of a WiFi enhancer with a symmetrical and omnidirectional design vs. the typical asymmetrical and non-omnidirectional design for better WiFi signal strength; it will also have WiFi 6. The realme GT 2 Pro also has advanced 360º NFC and the world’s first Ultra Wide-Band HyperSmart Antenna Switching technology.
Prices start at €649 (~$721)
MediaTek Dimensity 8000 Series
The MediaTek Dimensity 8000 series borrows from the advanced technology found in their flagship Dimensity 9000 platform to bring flagship-level technology – connectivity, displays, gaming, multimedia, and imaging features – to premium 5G smartphones.
Built using the highly advanced TSMC N5 (5nm-class) production process, the Dimensity 8000 series will give users best-in-class power efficiency, balancing performance and efficiency t0 optimize AI multimedia, gaming, camera, and video experiences.
You can expect to see the MediaTek Dimensity 8000 series in phones coming out this year from Redmi, Realme, OnePlus, Vivo, and OPPO.
OnePlus 10 Pro 5G
The OnePlus 10 Pro has a lot of great tech specs rolled into a sleek package with a distinctive metal camera module. Rocking a 6.7″ 2K AMOLED LTPO 2.0 Gorilla Glass Victus display with an adaptive 1 to 120Hz refresh rate, it’s powered by the flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 mobile platform and has a 5,000mAh battery with up to 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage.
It sports a 32-megapixel front-facing camera, with three back cameras, including 48-megapixel, 50-megapixel, and 8-megapixel lenses powered by Hasselblad. The OnePlus 10 Pro 5G has a 5,000mAh battery, and it will charge with 80W SuperVOOC wired fast charging (the charger will be included in the box!) or an optional 50W wireless charger; the phone will also have reverse charging support.
In January, word came that the OnePlus 10 Pro would be launching in China, and now we know that we can expect to see it in the US by the end of this month, and it will be running Android 12 with an OxygenOS 12.1 overlay.
There’s no price info available yet, but a little birdie told me that it will be surprisingly affordable and that this is the phone to buy if you are still hanging on to your OnePlus 8T because the OnePlus 9 Series didn’t quite wow you for whatever reason.
The OnePlus 10 Pro 5G will be available in Volcanic Black or Emerald Forest.
TCL NXTPAPER MAX 10
The TCL NXTPAPER MAX 10 is an immersive 10.36? FHD display tablet that will be offered in both WiFi and 4G configurations. It runs a MediaTek MT8788 chipset with 4GB RAM and an expandable 64GB storage, and it has an 8,000mAh battery that supports 18W fast charging over USB C. That may not sound too impressive, but you’re going to want to pay attention to the display.
The NXTPAPER display is a unique multi-layer system where each layer plays its own role in filtering out any harmful blue light while protecting the user’s protecting eyesight. The display is topped with an anti-glare glass layer that reduces reflected light, resulting in a tablet that looks and feels like paper and offers a more comfortable, natural reading and writing experience. If you do a lot of reading, you will love it!
The TCL NXTPAPER MAX 10 will sell in Asia first in the middle of the second quarter this year, starting at €269.
Honor Magic4 Pro
The Honor Magic4 Pro rocks a 6.81″ 120Hz AMOLED LTPO display, up to 12GB RAM and 512GB storage, as well as the top-of-the-line Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 5G Mobile Platform. Its 4,600 mAh battery supports 100W wired fast charging and 100W wireless fast charging, making this one of the few (if not the only) phones we’ve seen that doesn’t make you compromise when you wirelessly top-off; you can get a 50% charge in just 15 minutes!
The Honor Magic4 Pro also has excellent cameras, including a 50-megapixel wide camera with a 1/1.56-inch color sensor, a 122º 50-megapixel ultrawide, and a 64-megapixel periscope zoom camera with 3.5x Optical Zoom and 100x Digital Zoom. All of those lenses come packed inside one of the more interesting rear lens modules that we’ve seen on a very reflective glass back — as evidenced by its picking up the reflection of a painting on the wall at the DRY Martini in Barcelona.
Starting at €1,099 (~$1,200) for the 8GB/256G version, it will initially be available in cyan or gold.
OPPO 150W SuperVOOC Charging with Battery Health Engine (BHE)
If patience was never one of your strong points, you’re going to love OPPO’s new SuperVOOC fast charging technology that delivers 150W. Simply put, it can charge a 4,500 mAh battery up to 50% in five minutes or to 100% in 15! This technology also includes the new Battery Health Engine that just debuted on the OPPO Find X5 Pro; they say it will help the phone maintain optimal battery life over a more extended period of time – up to 1600 charging cycles, which OPPO points out is roughly two times the industry standard lifespan.
We can expect to see OPPO’s 150W SuperVOOC fast charging on a OnePlus device that will be selling in the second quarter of 2022, and realme will be offering it on their upcoming GT Neo 3; we can’t wait!
Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 3 Chromebook
The Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 3 Chromebook has an 11″ screen with a 2K near-borderless display that’s TÜV-certified2 for low blue light. It has a detachable keyboard with anti-pry and water-resistant keys, which seems like a nod to the fact that ChromeOS is often used on the go and in educational settings where extra durability matters.
The IdeaPad Duet 3 Chromebook will sport both a 5-megapixel front camera for video calls and an 8-megapixel rear camera, and it will be powered by the Snapdragon 7c compute platform Gen 2 with up to 8 GB RAM and 256GB storage. Look for it in May 2022 in Storm Gray or Misty Blue, starting at $399.99.
OPPO Find X5 Pro
The OPPO Find X5 Pro boasts a clean and modern style, flagship specifications, a massive battery, and top-of-the-line cameras that include enhanced Hasselblad Natural Color Calibration and Master Filters. It has a 6.7″ AMOLED WQHD+ (3216 x 1440) LPTO display with an intelligently managed dynamic refresh rate of 1 to 120Hz that will optimize performance based on what you’re doing.
Powered by the top-of-the-line Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 5G Mobile Platform, the Find X5 Pro can handle even the most demanding applications and games; if you are a gamer, you’ll appreciate the touch sampling rate of 1000Hz.
Making its debut on the OPPO Find X5 Pro is MariSilicon X, OPPO’s recently-unveiled self-designed imaging NPU. This neural processing unit uses advanced in-house algorithms to deliver a leap in computational photography performance. OPPO says that with MariSilicon X, “the Find X5 Series is the first flagship smartphone series capable of capturing clear 4K Ultra Night Video that can rival what is seen by the human eye.”
OPPO promises a result that is a four times improvement in perceived night video resolution, with less grain, and with superior color reproduction that makes “4K Ultra Night Video possible for the first time on an Android smartphone, with each frame as clean as a still photo.”
The OPPO Find X5 Po has a 5,000mAh dual-cell battery, and it introduces a Battery Health Engine, which will help the phone maintain optimal battery life over a more extended period of time – up to 1600 charging cycles, which OPPO points out is roughly two times the industry standard lifespan.
When it’s time to recharge the battery, the Find X5 Pro has 80W SUPERVOOC Flash-charging technology so that it can be charged from nearly empty to 50% in 12 minutes. It also has 50W AIRVOOC, which will wirelessly charge the phone from almost empty to full in just 47 minutes.
The OPPO Find X5 Pro runs Android 12 with the ColorOS 12.1 overlay, and it will be available with 12GB RAM and 256GB storage in Ceramic White or Glaze Black; it will sell for €1299.
