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Our Verdict

While we’re impressed with the spec and build of the Meizu Pro 5 Ubuntu edition, we’re not quite sold on the Ubuntu operating system – not just yet, anyway. We only had a limited time with the smartphone at MWC 2023 and with any new operating system, you need to spend time getting to know its features and how it works. However we found it to be pretty confusing and swipe gestures quickly became frustrating when not recognised. The operating system has potential, but we think its for die-hard Ubuntu fans – for now anyway. We’ll get one back to the PC Advisor Towers, spend some time using the Ubuntu OS and update this with a more thorough verdict soon.

While the majority of MWC 2023 is focused on Android-powered smartphones like the Samsung Galaxy S7 and LG G5, Canonical brought the Meizu Pro 5 Ubuntu Edition to the show to prove that Ubuntu is just as good as iOS or Android, and can work on a high-end smartphone. Did the company succeed, or should we stick to what we know? We went hands-on with the Meizu Pro 5 Ubuntu edition at MWC 2023, and here we discuss its design, features, spec and most importantly, the Ubuntu operating system. Read next: Best smartphones of 2023

Also see: Best Black Friday Phone Deals

Meizu PRO 5 Ubuntu edition review: Pricing and availability

The Meizu Pro 5 Ubuntu edition will be available to pre-order from the Meizu website soon, and you can head over there now to sign up for alerts. The company isn’t letting the cat out of the bag in terms of an actual release date, but we definitely know it’s coming this year – we’ll update this article once we have more information on a UK release date.

It’s a similar story with UK pricing too – while it has been announced that a 32GB Meizu Pro 5 Ubuntu edition will set US customers back $369.99, there is no word yet on UK pricing. However with this being said, rumours (and currency conversion) suggest that the smartphone may cost under £400, which, if true, is a fairly competitive price for the specs included in the smartphone.

Meizu PRO 5 Ubuntu edition review: Design and build

The Meizu Pro 5 is a sleek looking smartphone, which looks pretty similar to the iPhone 6s Plus with its brushed aluminium body and antenna lines. The body is slightly curved at the edge to make it more comfortable to hold in the hand, and the slightly curved 2.5D glass provides a seamless display-to-body design. In terms of dimensions, it’s pretty big due to the inclusion of a 5.7in display, and measures in at 156.7x78x7.5mm. It’s also fairly lightweight, weighing in at 168g, making it 3g lighter than Apple’s iPhone 6s Plus even with a 0.2in larger display.

Best MiFi 2023.

In the hand, the Meizu Pro 5 feels like a high-end flagship smartphone, which is pretty impressive if there’s any truth behind the sub-£400 price tag. In terms of colours, the Meizu Pro 5 comes in silver, grey, or gold with a white bezel, or grey with a black bezel.

See also: Best budget smartphone of 2023

Meizu PRO 5 Ubuntu edition review: Features and spec

The Meizu Pro 5 features a 5.7in AMOLED display protected by Gorilla Glass 3. Even though it features an AMOLED display usually associated with a QHD resolution (like the Galaxy S7), Meizu decided to keep the resolution to full HD (1920×1080). Even though it’s only full HD, the display is bright, crisp and vibrant, and boasts a fairly decent 387 pixels per inch.

Under the hood, the Meizu Pro 5 is a bit of a beast. It boasts the Samsung Exynos 7420 octa-core processor featuring 14nm FinFET technology, which the company claims is a first for a mobile processor. It’s coupled with either 3/4GB of LPDDR4 RAM depending on the model that you select, and a Mali T760 GPU. Meizu claims that the Meizu Pro 5 has a “higher specification than many other leading smartphones” although with the announcement of the Galaxy S7 featuring an Exynos 8890 chip, we’re not quite sure it beats them all.

The Meizu Pro 5 joins the club of smartphones that feature a USB Type-C port opposed to a traditional micro USB port. It makes the phone future-proof to a certain extent, but at the same time will make it pretty hard to find a charger if you haven’t got yours due to the lack of USB Type-C enabled devices on the market at this time. It also features 4G connectivity (though we’re unsure if UK LTE bands are supported at this time), 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.1, with support for Bluetooth LE.

In terms of storage, you have a choice between 32GB or 64GB, although if that isn’t enough then you’ll be happy to know that the Meizu Pro 5’s dual-SIM setup can double up as a MicroSD card slot. The MicroSD card slot can expand your storage by up to 128GB if needed.

Let’s talk cameras; the Meizu Pro 5 features a top-end 21Mp camera on the back with laser autofocus and dual-LED flash. An Ubuntu representative informed us that it featured a Sony sensor in the rear-facing camera, and we found that the photos taken were generally quite vibrant – even with the harsh lighting at the Ubuntu stand. In terms of a front facing camera, you get a fairly standard 5Mp camera. We couldn’t get the photos from the phone, but we’ll update this with sample photos once we get a sample back to the PC Advisor towers.

Meizu PRO 5 Ubuntu edition review: Software

The Meizu Pro 5 Ubuntu edition runs (spoiler alert) Ubuntu. Specifically, it runs Ubuntu Touch OTA-9 OS, which is a mouthful to say but provides an interesting alternative to iOS and Android, although we’re not quite sold on it just yet. The Ubuntu UI is interesting because it relies heavily on gesture/swipe input to navigate the phone.

It’s not like any other operating system on the market, with customisation and aggregation of content a huge focus throughout the operating system. This is due to the use of ‘Scopes’, which are essentially themed pages of content that you can swipe between on your phone. Ubuntu wanted to remove constant app switching and provide users with an easy way to get all the content you want in one place. For example, the News scope collects the latest news from a variety of different sources (which you can edit) to provide you with a personalised newspaper, much in the same way that Apple News works.

The Today scope provides users with a customised overview of their day including any reminders or tasks, recent calls and texts, along with location-based information like the current weather and local news reports. There are many other pre-loaded scopes including NearBy, which shows you any points of interest based on your current location including restaurants, concerts, public transport and the weather. We found that we could even input our current mood for different suggestions from the Scope, which was a small but nice touch. To find out more about Scopes, watch the below video:

As well as Scopes, you’ll find the Ubuntu Store, which will provide users with more familiar app-based content. The store features apps like Twitter and Amazon, although even Ubuntu admits on its website that the store doesn’t feature popular apps like WhatsApp or Candy Crush which, for many people, will be a deal breaker. Even with a variety of scopes and apps available, the Ubuntu Store can’t compete with the likes of iOS and Android in terms of the number of apps available.

Ubuntu’s convergence feature allows users to hook up Ubuntu powered devices to a keyboard and mouse to turn it into a full desktop, although sadly this isn’t supported on the Meizu Pro 5 due to the lack of a HDMI port and some issues with the USB Type-C port that the Ubuntu rep wouldn’t go into much detail about. He did say that a Wi-Fi based solution is currently being worked on and could arrive on the device soon, but we’ve got no word on when this may be.

Specs Meizu Pro 5 Ubuntu edition: Specs

Full HD 5.7in AMOLED display

Gorilla Glass 3

Ubuntu Touch OTA-9 OS

Fingerprint scanner

21Mp rear-facing camera

5Mp front-facing camera

32 or 64GB storage

Samsung Exynos 7420 octa-core processor

3/4GB RAM

Mali T760 GPU

USB Type-C

MicroSD card support

156.7x78x7.5mm

168g

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Meizu M3 Max Review: A Big

Our Verdict

We’re not fans of Flyme OS, nor this strange Android-iOS mashup Meizu seems to favour. But the M3 Max is a decent-value smartphone with a nice large screen, a good build and capable day-to-day performance.

Meizu makes decent but affordable Android phones, and its Meizu M3 Max will appeal to those looking for a large-screen phone on a budget. The M3 Max is currently available on Amazon in white from £244 and in black from £298. Also see: Best Chinese phone and Best dual-SIM phone

Geekbuying (current price £177.90), partly because the Amazon products are shipped from within Europe so you won’t have to pay import duty, and partly because these sites are not official partners of Meizu so won’t necessarily offer the same level of customer service.

We’ve certainly had no problems with the likes of Geekbuying and GearBest, however, and the prices are cheaper – even with the addition of import duty for products shipped from China. How this is calculated depends on the value written on the paperwork, and when we received our package containing the M3 Max and MX6 (review coming soon) we were hit with a bill for £95.51 from DHL. Although that is for two phones, it’s still a fair bit more than the usual £20- to £30 we’re charged, so should certainly be factored into the overall cost of the phone before you buy. We’ve rounded up some of the pros and cons of buying Chinese tech in our

Meizu M3 Max review: Design and build

Meizu phones are well-made, good-looking phones, but they don’t stand out for having a distinctive design of their own. The M3 Max looks a bit like an iPhone 6s Plus, but with an elongated rather than circular home button. For many users that won’t be a bad thing. Also see: Best phones 2023

It’s very difficult to fault this phone’s design. Although it’s large at 163.4×81.6mm with a 6in panel it has reasonably slim bezels on the left- and right edges and is thin at 7.9mm, which makes it easier to hold. We still found it impossible to reach the far corner of the screen with a thumb, and the phone is pretty weighty at 189g, so two-handed use is a must. A huge plus point of this extra size and weight is a high-capacity battery, which is rated at 4100mAh.

We really missed the One-handed mode of Xiaomi phones here, able to shrink down the displayed screen to a more manageable size, but we did find a SmartTouch option in the Settings that allows you to place onscreen a button that works with various gestures. By default a tap takes you back a step, sliding up takes you to the Home screen and sliding down pulls down the notification bar at the top of the screen. Sliding left and right lets you switch between tasks.

When you become familiar with SmartTouch it can be useful, although at the same time you’ll also need to become familiar with the Home button. And we have to say it’s not for us. With no back or multitasking buttons on either side of the physical home button you must tap it gently to go back, and a little harder to go to the Home screen – but not too hard as it’ll send the screen into standby mode. To access the multitasking menu you slide up from the bottom of the screen, but not directly above the home button. We found this out entirely by mistake.

The other thing to say about this Home button is that it is also an mTouch fingerprint scanner. In our experience it works well, so no complaints there.

In other respects the design is fairly standard, although that’s not to say bad. It feels as though it will withstand the perils of daily use with no issue, with a reasonably clean metal rear (including a completely flush camera) and chiselled edges that flow smoothly into the 2.5D glass covering the white plastic front. There are no sharp edges, no rough bits, no creaks, cracks or gaping holes – absolutely nothing here that would cause concern.

Unusually the headphone jack is found on the bottom of the handset rather than at the top, but to be fair at least it has one. Also here is Micro-USB for charging, a mic and five small holes that allow audio to pass through from the phone’s mono speaker. A slot-loading SIM tray sits on the upper left edge, and here you can opt to insert two SIMs or one SIM and a microSD card. With 64GB of storage built-in the need to choose between a second SIM or expandable storage shouldn’t be too frustrating an issue.

The screen is decent. We’ve already touched on its size, which is well suited to multimedia – watching videos in any case, if not gaming (see performance below). It’s a full-HD IPS panel, which is reasonably bright (Meizu claims 450cd/m2) and with realistic colours and great viewing angles.

The Meizu M3 Max is available in four colour options: rose gold, silver, grey and gold. We’ve reviewed the silver model here. Also see: Best Android phones 2023

Meizu M3 Max review: Core performance and hardware

Running the show here is a MediaTek MT6755M (aka the Helio P10) processor, Mali-T860 GPU and 3GB of LPDDR3 RAM. This is an octa-core processor, comprising eight Cortex-A53 cores with four at 1GHz for efficiency and four at 1.8GHz for power.

It’s certainly capable enough for day to day use, but the Meizu M3 Max’s performance in our gaming benchmarks leaves something to be desired. We found navigation of the smartphone fluid, with apps launching quickly and little signs of lag. In truth, our only real hesitation came from our inexperience of Flyme OS.

We’ve seen this Helio P10 chip before in the Elephone P9000, Ulefone Future, Vernee Mars, Sony Xperia XA and Meizu’s own

We’ve charted our various benchmark results below, but to suffice to say none of these phones particularly stand out in the group for performance. If anything the two Meizus stand out for their lower gaming framerates in GFXBench. Also see: What’s the fastest phone?

There’s actually very little difference in the specifications of the Note and the Max, with the phone reviewed here offering a slightly larger (6in versus 5.5in) IPS display and an extra gig of RAM. It’s a ittle slimmer but heavier, and performance is only a little improved.

As in the M3 Note there’s a generous 4100mAh battery. It’s not removable and neither does it support wireless charging, but Meizu does offer its own fast-charging tech, mCharge. It says this is able to charge the battery by 45 percent in just 30 minutes, which could get you through the best part of a day’s use. Exactly how long it will last you depends entirely on you usage – some will get two days, but if that large screen is left switched on for much of the time you’ll be reaching for a power bank before the end of day two. Also see: Best phone under £300

Meizu M3 Max review: Connectivity

The Meizu M3 Max is a dual-SIM phone that works in dual-standby mode. Or at least it can be, provided you don’t want to add a microSD card. UK users should note that it supports 4G LTE only via the 1800- and 2600MHz bands (aka bands 3 and 7). This means there is no support for 800MHz/Band 20, which is the only frequency used by O2, Giffgaff and a handful of other mobile operators in the UK. If you are a customer of one of these networks you will not be able to get anything faster than 3G connectivity in the UK. Also see: How to tell whether a phone is supported by your network.

The Max can also cater to dual-band 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS and GLONASS, but there’s no IR blaster or NFC – the latter is necessary for making mobile payments.

Meizu M3 Max review: Cameras

In common with many Chinese phones around this price point the M3 Max is fitted with a 13Mp Sony IMX258 camera with a five-element lens, f/2.2 aperture, PDAF and a dual-LED flash. For the money it’s a decent enough camera, although we are not talking flagship quality.

The camera app is basic, but sometimes uncomplicated can be a good thing. If you want to point and shoot, you just point and shoot – or point, tap to focus, and then shoot. If you want access to more settings you’ll find HDR in the Settings menu, and shooting modes such as beauty and manual via the icon to the left of the shutter. Running across the top of the interface are icons for accessing real-time filters, a countdown timer, the flash and switching the camera view.

Press the latter icon and you can access the 5Mp f/2.0 camera at the front of the M3 Max, which is as good as any other selfie or video chat camera. Also see: Best camera phone

Given good lighting the M3 Max can take a decent enough shot. Below you can see our standard test images of the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel, first with Auto settings and second with HDR. In the first we’ve entirely lost the sky, but the level of detail is reasonable and colours very true. The HDR shot is a clear improvement (with clouds and everything), although the traffic running down Euston Road caused problems given the time it took to capture the image.

Meizu M3 Max review: Software

A key difference between this and a standard Android phone is the removal of the app tray, which means absolutely everything can be found on one of multiple home screens or within the Settings menu (which is itself fairly standard). Pull down the notification bar and you also get some customisable quick-access toggles for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and so on, plus a screen brightness slider.

We can handle the lack of an app tray – if nothing else you will know exactly where to find everything, and particularly if you’re an ex-iPhone user, but we thoroughly dislike the removal of the back and multi-tasking buttons either side of the home button. This multifunctional home button is truly Apple-esque, and it’s not a feature we want Android to borrow. Why have one confusing button plus a SmartTouch workaround when you can have three simple buttons for which operation just makes sense? They don’t need to be labelled or even visible as long as they are there.

The M3 Max supports a handful of gestures, such as double-tap to wake and slide up to unlock. You can also draw characters onscreen in standby mode to wake the screen and instantly launch an app of your choice, which is a timesaver only so long as you remember which letter represents which app.

Review: Telyhd Business Edition: Run Meetings From Any Hdtv

In the not-so-distant past, fully-featured videoconferencing was merely a pipe dream for small businesses and startups. Services from the likes of Polycom and LifeSize can cost tens of thousands of dollars per month, which is well beyond the budget of most SMBs. Luckily—as Bob Dylan so aptly put it—the times they are a-changin’. Now, offerings such as Google Hangout deliver video chat completely for free. And for companies that need a more fleshed out—and yet still affordable—option, there’s the Tely Labs TelyHD, a $499 hardware solution that is a simple as it is feature-packed. (A more basic consumer model is available for $249.)

On the surface, the TelyHD looks like a hefty webcam with a sleek and simple design. The cylindrical unit measures about a foot long and a couple of inches in diameter; it fit right in attached to the top of our 50-inch HDTV. Two grille-covered speakers on either end provide more than adequate volume during calls. The back of the device features an SD card slot, a USB port, an Ethernet port, a Mini HDMI port, and a power input. The box also includes the necessary telyHD remote, a simple affair with a five-way control, a mute button, and an end call key. The Android-based interface has some quirks, but is relatively straightforward.

As evidenced by the simple design, setting up the telyHD could not be easier. All in all, it took us about 10 minutes to get the unit up and running—no computer required. Simply attach the the power cord to an outlet, connect the HDMI cable to any HD TV, follow the oncreen setup prompts and you’re good to go. Although it’s not necessary due to the camera’s built-in Wi-Fi, we’d also recommend using a direct Ethernet connection if your TV is close enough to your router (details on why below). In addition, the UI was confusing at times, with the main button not always taking us back to the main menu, an inconsistency that was a minor annoyance.

The TelyHD Business Edition includes a whole host of features. Namely, six parties in varying locations can join in on a video call, whereas most competitors only allow between two to four remote participants. That makes it a better solution than the close-up meetings that smaller webcams and consumer conferencing apps enable. And of course—like its consumer-centric brother—the system allows for desktop sharing and document collaboration. It also creates an Internet-connected TV, so you can browse the Web and share information with participants. In addition, it’s Skype-certified, so not only will it automatically import all of your contacts, but anyone using a Skype-enabled device can connect with you via your TelyHD. Finally, the system is built on the Android OS foundation, which leaves it open to potential updates and third-party development in the future.

We put the TelyHD to the test by conferencing in three contacts in total. The 720p HD video was apparent, with all participants showing up crisp and clear. One thing to be aware of, though, is your subjects’ lighting and distance from the camera , although this is a concern with any videoconferencing units we’ve used. The one notable issue we ran into was so-so audio with some dropouts when we depended on using the Wi-Fi connection. Switching to Ethernet seemed to solve the problem, and that is recommended.

Bottom line

At the end of the day, the TelyHD Business Edition is a solid solution for SMBs on a limited budget. Of course, it’s not going to cost just $500. For one, most offices will require more than one unit. Also, there is a $199 annual subscription fee that goes into effect after the first year. Still, given the ease of use, we think this a reasonable price to pay to keep your business moving.

Oneplus 8 Pro Review: The ‘Pro’ Machine The Users Demanded?

The Breakdown

4.1

8.2

The OnePlus 8 Pro forms a solid choice packing in the gorgeous QHD+ 120hz display, and the Snapdragon 865 chipset. While the cameras aren’t as good as the one’s seen on the Galaxy S20, it performs decently well for a smartphone priced at Rs.55,000 in India

Build and Display

8.2

Performance

8.2

Optics

8.2

Battery and Charging

8.2

OnePlus in the past has been seen a stage where the brand had been running towards launching phones back to back, The OnePlus 7T Pro, which was launched in the last year, seemed like a half baked product which the brand had pushed out in a hurry. It brought no major changes compared to the OnePlus 7 Pro leaving aside the upgraded Snapdragon 855+ chipset and an additional camera lens at the back. However with the OnePlus 8 Pro, OnePlus has finally packed in all the features the users have been requesting for, and leaps a step forward becoming an almost perfect flagship. Here’s my review and why I do think the same about the smartphone.

Design:

If you ever have used an OnePlus branded smartphone in the past, the OnePlus 8 Pro would seem pretty ordinary to you with subtle changes: the display is rounded on both the side and as a consequence (in a positive way) the display offers an immersive feel, while also meaning that the fingers could accidently touch the screen at any point of time while holding the smartphone. Yes, this could be inconvenient while typing or having a chat, but OnePlus has done a decent job with the palm rejection keeping accidental touches blocked.

Buttons and Ports

Additionally, there’s the USB Type-C port placed at the bottom for charging and data transfers, right next to the primary speaker grille and the SIM tray on the left of the port. Flipping the phone apart and one could find three out of the four camera lens’s placed in a vertical array one below the other, while the fourth sensor along with the laser AF module has been placed right beside the three lenses. Without a doubt, the box includes a newly designed silicone case with the bold ‘Never Settle’ text written across it. While the case not only just is symbolic of a style but also grip, which is highly important considering the size of the smartphone.

Display:

Credit where its due, OnePlus is one among the few brands which allow the consumers to use the phone at QuadHD+ resolution and refreshing at 120Hz at the same time (..Cough cough Samsung). I have been using it at the max QHD+ and 120Hz refresh rate as it is the USP and let me get that straight: the OnePlus 8 Pro’s display is just fabulous and is among the best screen’s I have ever used till date. Viewing the phone outdoors is not at all an issue, the viewing angles are great, it has deep blacks, great colours and the screen is vibrant, However, the screen doesn’t get comfortably low in brightness as some of us would prefer: it is pretty bright even when set to the least brightness and could cause issues while viewing in the dark.

Content on OnePlus 8 Pro

Moreover, OnePlus has included tons of display features whether it’s calibrating the display’s colour to your liking or inserting frames while consuming content to making it look smoother, also called MEMC or Motion Graphics Smoothing. There’s a ton of other options too such as a Reading mode which could help your eyes strain less while reading or Vibrant Color Effect Pro which boosts video colours and contrast to make it look more vivid.

The OnePlus 8 Pro has the Widevine L1 certification meaning users will be able to stream HD content from streaming services such as Netflix and Prime Video with HDR enabled. While the jump from a regular 60hz to 90hz display is quite noticeable, the bump from 90hz to 120hz isn’t a major difference and shouldn’t be your deciding factor while purchasing the smartphone. Talking about curved displays, as Prakhar from PocketNow states “Curved displays make your phone look good but they lose out on practicality”, I completely agree with him.

Performance:

As a usual OnePlus flagship goes, the smartphones are power-packed with the latest and the greatest specifications under the hood and the OnePlus 8 Pro is a no exception packing in the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 chipset coupled with X55 5G modem. The unit I have been using is the one with 8GB of RAM and a 128GB of internal storage built-in. OxygenOS combined with the powerful hardware and the 120hz display forms a perfect combination barring a few instances which I will talk about in the latter part of the review.

The smartphone manages to perform all the daily day to day tasks either be it surfing the web, scrolling through social media feeds or playing games with ease. Additionally, thanks to the UFS 3.0 storage built-in, the app opening times are pretty fast and never caused a hassle. However, to test out the gaming performance and the thermal management, I played a couple of graphics demanding titles such as PUBG Mobile, Call of Duty Mobile and casual instances of Among Us on the smartphone and the performance was blazing smooth. The smartphone can run the games at the maximum possible settings and extreme framerates especially PUBG Mobile runs pretty smooth on 90 FPS.

Audio

Moving on to Audio, OnePlus ditched the 3.5mm headphone jack quite some time back, and it has not made a return with the OnePlus 8 Pro But, there’s a stereo speaker setup on the 8 Pro where the earpiece doubles as a secondary speaker to form a stereo effect. The sound output produced is pretty loud and crisp, it performs well for listening to movies or while playing games. Further, there’s support for Dolby Atmos too. On the side of call quality, the earpiece is loud enough and the person on the other end was able to hear me properly without much of a background disturbance.

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Cameras:

OnePlus devices have been struggling in the past with their optics, while they have been significantly improved with the OnePlus 8 Pro; yet it forms one of the key factors which doesn’t let the smartphone being called ‘the best’ overall. As for the details: there’s a 48-megapixel Sony IMX689 sensor paired with f/1.78 aperture lens and OIS; a secondary 8-megapixel telephoto lens with 3x hybrid zoom paired with an f/2.44 aperture and OIS; a 48MP ultra-wide-angle lens with a 120-degree field-of-view and f/2.2 aperture; and a 5MP colour filter lens.

The 48-megapixel ultra-wide angled lens used here is the primary sensor from the last year’s OnePlus 7 Pro, but with a wider field of view and that performs well. The details captured through the lens is good enough with a decent dynamic range and slightly warmer colours. However, there’s some colour shifting with the primary and ultra-wide angled lens; and is easily visible in the viewfinder while shifting from the primary to ultra-wide or vice versa. Interestingly, it can also function as a macro shooter to take some close-ups shots and performs much better than those additional two or five-megapixel macro lenses while being easier to focus comparatively.

Primary Lens

Moving on to the primary lens, the Sony IMX689 sensor used here captures some excellent shots in daylight; with negligible noise in the background and a good depth of field. To nit-pick, I have personally noticed certain instances where the camera tends to over saturate the colours; but that could be fixed with a software update in the future. The 8-megapixel telephoto lens is a hit or a miss with the colours, wherein the brand has opted in for a 12-megapixel sensor which has been cropped in to deliver 3x magnification. The output produced is decent and come nowhere near the Galaxy S20 series of smartphone. The lens requires a large chunk of light to perform optimally. While it can go as close to cropping in at 30x, image outputs over 10x arent recommended by me.

On to the software tricks, the night mode which OnePlus likes to call it as Nightscape Mode; performs well in low-lighting conditions. Shooting in low-light without the night mode often results in noisy images which can be reduced but not completely using the nightscape feature. However, portrait mode shots seem too contrasty for my liking with tat details even in darker parts of the image. Skin tones produced by the algorithm seem to be on point but with slightly warmer tones at instances.

Selfie Camera

Switching to the front-facing camera on the front housed in the punch-hole, there the 16-megapixel Sony IMX471 shooter. It can capture some good looking shots with a decent amount of details but struggles with dynamic range; especially in low or no lighting conditions. Portrait mode shots come out to be good looking; with a good amount of depth separation between the subject and the background.

Overall, the camera output produced from the phone seems decent but is just average considering it a flagship priced over Rs.50,000 in India. Yes, the phone takes some excellent shots during daylight but on the contrary, it struggles with selfies and portrait mode on the rear. Additionally, for now, OnePlus has disabled the 5-megapixel colour filter camera, so I wasn’t able to check it out.

OnePlus 8 Pro: Battery and Charging:

There’s a 4,510mAh battery on board with support for 30W fast wired and wireless charging. Do note that, this is the first OnePlus smartphone to come with support for wireless and reverse wireless charging. The OnePlus 8 Pro has the same Warp Charge 30T charging technology from the previous OnePlus 7T series of smartphones; where other brands have started offering 65W fast charging technologies under the Rs.20K price segment in India. However, the Warp Charge 30T adapter can get your phone charged from 0 to 50% in just half an hour; and up to 90% in about 65 minutes.

Before moving on and talking about my SOT and so on do note that my usage involves scrolling through social media feed, watching youtube videos, attending online lectures, shooting a couple of photos regularly. With the smartphone set to QHD+ and 120Hz, I was easily able to achieve 5.5 hours to 6 hours of usage; while shifting down to the FHD+ resolution adds additionally up to 10-15% of battery. I would recommend you use the phone set to QHD and 120Hz to take complete benefit of the display.

Software:

OxygenOS has made a loyal fanbase in the past which included me at a certain point of time; The OnePlus 8 Pro runs on OxygenOS based on Android 10, and is one among the first few phones to already have received the Android 11 beta. While OxygenOS is fast and fluid, there were certain instances in my usage period where the smartphone rebooted randomly, was frozen in the middle of an important task; wherein I had to reboot the phone to get it back normal.

OxygenOS includes a ton of features from changing the themes, the Always-on Display clock style, fingerprint unlock animations, the horizon light which lights up the edge when you receive a notification to changing the icon packs, digital wellbeing to monitor your usage and more. Not to mention, there’s the optical under-display fingerprint scanner which is pretty fast and accurate; there’s the loved face-unlock, Wi-Fi 6 onboard alongside support for VoLTE and VoWifi.

Verdict: Worth the Money?

The OnePlus 8 Pro has its areas where it excels and some areas where it doesn’t. The display, the build, performance and the user-interface are where it excels; providing a smooth 120hz display, being power-packed with the Snapdragon 865 and more. However, if you are looking to buy the OnePlus 8 Pro just for its camera’s, I would recommend you look for other options; under the same price such as the Xiaomi Mi 1o which has the 108-megapixel sensor. Incase camera isn’t your top priority, the OnePlus 8 Pro forms a solid choice; coming in for Rs.55,000 and being cheaper than the regular Galaxy S20 and even the Motorola Edge+.

Huawei Nova 10 Pro Review: Selfie

Pros

Fantastic main selfie camera

Strong rear cameras

Slim and light

Cons

No 5G

No official Google support

No IP rating

Weird secondary selfie zoom lens

Our Verdict

Huawei’s hardware holds its own against the competition for the most part, especially thanks to the excellent main selfie camera and slender design, but the Nova 10 Pro is held back by the lack of 5G and official Google software support.

Huawei’s phone business may not be what it once was, but the company hasn’t stopped releasing phones despite market challenges that have seen it forced to offer its own OS and stick to 4G.

For the most part it’s the company’s flagships that have grabbed attention over the last few years, such as the new Mate 50 Pro or foldables including the Mate Xs 2. But it’s releasing a few more affordable phones too, including this: the Nova 10 Pro.

Launched at the IFA tradeshow in September 2023, the Nova 10 Pro is a blingy phone that pairs a… distinct aesthetic with a focus on powerful front-facing cameras – a clear play for the social media savvy selfie crowd. But are those cameras powerful enough to overcome shortcomings elsewhere?

Design & build

Glitzy black and silver designs with gold accents

Slim and fairly lightweight

No IP rating or Gorilla Glass

You couldn’t accuse Huawei of phoning in the Nova 10 Pro’s design, and its designers clearly picked an aesthetic early on and ran with it.

Dominic Preston / Foundry

Available in either black or silver, the phone is adorned with a sparkly finish and gold accents around the logo and camera. I can’t say I’m a fan of the style, but there’s no accounting for taste – this may well be right up your street.

The upside either way is that the Nova 10 Pro is slim, at just 7.9mm thick, and feels pretty lightweight too. The curved screen and frame complete the effect, making this a slender, premium device that both looks and feels expensive, which is clearly what Huawei is going for.

It may look a bit like a flagship, but be warned that some of those similarities are surface-level. Unlike more expensive phones this has no IP rating – a guarantee of protection against dust and water – and doesn’t use Gorilla Glass or any equivalent toughened coating.

That means this is a phone you’ll definitely want to put in a case, and probably a tougher one than the bog standard transparent plastic one included as a freebie.

Screen & speakers

Large 6.78in display

Curved OLED with 120Hz refresh rate

Typical quality stereo speakers

It’s a good thing that the Nova 10 Pro is slim, because the 6.78in display is bigger than average even by modern Android standards. That will of course be a good thing for many, but bear it in mind if you prefer phones you can comfortably use with one hand.

Dominic Preston / Foundry

It’s a great screen at least: a bright, OLED panel with a 120Hz refresh rate. Colours are punchy, and the peak brightness is sufficient to keep the phone usable in direct sunlight. There’s basically not much to complain about here.

The curved edges aren’t so aggressive as to be annoying, and palm detection prevents most accidental touches.

As for audio, you’ll find stereo speakers, but they’re not much to write home about. Sound quality is fine, but still a little tinny. Standard fare for a smartphone really – it’ll do in a pinch, or deliver the goods while you’re gaming, but it won’t ever blow you away.

Specs & performance

Mid-range Snapdragon chipset

Under-powered for the price

No 5G support

The Nova 10 Pro is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G. That’s a mid-range chip, and a slightly old one at that. It’s absolutely fast enough for most day-to-day tasks, and the phone certainly isn’t slow to use, but you will find more power for less in other phones – especially when it comes to graphical performance and gaming.

That means power users and gamers should probably look elsewhere. But if your phone use is mostly made up of social media, messaging, and taking photos, then don’t be put off: this will do all of that perfectly well.

The chipset is paired with 8GB of RAM, and a choice of either 128GB or 256GB storage – though there’s no card slot to add to that, so make sure it’s enough when you buy the phone.

The other big caveat here, as with any Huawei phone, is that it’s limited to 4G connections. This is one of the quirks of Huawei’s current US trade restrictions, and how much of a bother it is will depend on your use case.

Most people still won’t see a huge jump in performance from moving to 5G, but if you expect to be streaming a lot of high-res video, taking video calls on the go, or playing online games when you’re not on Wi-Fi, then being limited to 4G may become a frustration. Of course, that all depends on the availability of 5G connections and plans where you live, so it may be a moot point anyway.

Camera & video

Dual selfie camera with unusual zoom lens

Capable 50Mp rear camera

Disappointing rear ultrawide

Cameras have always been one of Huawei’s strong suits. The same as true here, albeit with a twist: the Nova 10 Pro’s focus is on its front-facing cameras, not its rear ones.

And yes, that is cameras. There are two lenses on the phone’s front: a 60Mp main lens paired with an 8Mp telephoto. That’s an unusual pairing to say the least, especially since that main camera is technically an ultrawide, giving you a zoom range from 0.7x through to 2x optical, and up to a further 5x with digital zoom.

Dominic Preston / Foundry

There’s good and bad here. It gives you a huge range of selfie shooting options, from group selfies and expansive landscapes through to tight zooms on specific elements. It defaults to a wide angle, with a second option to crop in slightly, before you crop in further to the 2x telephoto lens.

The wide-angle makes sense – and isn’t so unusual – but how often do you really need to zoom in on a selfie? The default 2x setting here means that I need to hold the camera at full arm’s length just to fit my whole face in frame, and anything further is only good for taking close-ups of my nose – or, I suppose, using the selfie mode to in face surreptitiously take a zoomed-in shot of something behind you.

Strange as the setup may be, I can’t deny the results. This is one of the best selfie cameras on the market, with the main 60Mp camera delivering remarkably crisp, detailed photos with bright, rich colours and excellent dynamic range.

The 8Mp telephoto impresses a little less, but mostly just because the autofocus here sometimes struggles find its subject, meaning a few of my selfies came out strangely soft. The excellent main selfie camera is still impressive enough to make up for this slightly pointless add-on.

As for the rear lenses, you get three: a 50Mp main camera, 8Mp ultrawide, and bonus 2Mp depth sensor.

The main camera is mostly great, as you’d expect from Huawei, though the HDR clearly needs some tinkering – I had a couple shots where it misfired, resulting in aggressive sharpening in some cases and even ugly green and pink artifacting in the sky in one particularly bad case. This seemed particularly bad in dimmer or fading daylight – so much for golden hour producing the best photos.

The ultrawide is a real disappointment. Shots are washed out and often blurry, especially in lower lighting. Even in optimal lighting, the algorithm’s over-aggressive sharpening renders some shots downright awful as soon as you zoom in even a little. Photos will just about pass the glance test on social media, but not any closer inspection.

One perk of the phone is that you can record 4K video with both the front and back cameras, which isn’t always the case even in more expensive phones. The camera app’s vlogging section also gives you an array of possible layouts to record video with multiple lenses at once, whether that’s one on each side or using different lenses in the same direction.

Battery & charging

More than a day’s battery life

Fast 100W charging

The Nova 10 Pro is equipped with a 4500mAh battery, which is pretty typical of phones this size. Actual battery life impresses though – I’ve found the phone to comfortably last a full day of use, with battery left into the next.

I don’t think it’s quite likely to deliver two full days of use except for very light users, but there should be no need for battery anxiety if you can fit in a daily charge.

Dominic Preston / Foundry

That charging is fast, with a 100W USB-C charger included with the phone. In my testing that was enough to restore 60% of the battery in just 15 minutes – probably about enough for a day’s use – with a full charge taking less than half an hour.

The only real downside is that there’s no wireless charging support. That’s not too unusual for a mid-range phone, but this is just about expensive enough that I would probably expect to see wireless charging included.

No support for Google apps or services

Able to use most – but not all – normal apps

No firm commitment to ongoing software support

Huawei’s Google problems are well-documented, but to reiterate in brief: thanks to US trade sanctions, the company is unable to officially license Google Mobile Services for Android.

That means that while the Nova 10 Pro still runs EMUI, Huawei’s operating system originally based on Android, it doesn’t support the Google Play Store – the de facto Android app store.

Instead, apps are accessible through two means. AppGallery is Huawei’s Play Store rival, an official portal that includes a small but growing proportion of the overall Android app library. You’ll find officially supported apps including TikTok, Snapchat, and Telegram here, but not every app has been officially ported over.

Dominic Preston / Foundry

For those, you’ll have to use Huawei’s Petal Search tool to manually install .apk files for other apps – essentially a way to access them unofficially. With this you really can get almost everything you’d have on any other Android phone, but there remain limitations.

For one, the official Google apps still won’t work this way. There are now some fiddly workarounds to access Google services through shell apps, but I’ve never managed to make them work without terrible lag and stuttering. The best approach is saving web shortcuts to the browser versions of Gmail or Google Calendar, but these are still deeply compromised experiences.

You’ll also find a handful of third-party apps that simply don’t work, because they rely on Google services to provide sign-in or simply run the app. It’s rare, but you have to accept that every now and then an app just won’t work.

Dominic Preston / Foundry

Finally, even for those apps that do work, updates are a bit fiddly. They’re not fully automated, and while Petal Search does its best to flag when updates are available, what actually happens when you update is it uninstalls the app and re-installs a more recent .apk. That gets you the newer version, but it takes longer and often forces you to sign into apps all over again after each update.

As for the OS itself, the phone runs EMUI 12. This still looks and feels an awful lot like other Android phones, albeit with Huawei’s distinct aesthetic and pre-installed apps (of which there are a lot).

Dominic Preston / Foundry

There are some clever technical integrations with other Huawei tech such as laptops and tablets, which might be enough to tempt you into a Huawei phone if you’re already embedded in the ecosystem, but otherwise there’s little that EMUI does better than Android proper.

One thing Huawei hasn’t done is publicly commit to a certain number of years of software support for the Nova 10 Pro, so we don’t know how long it will be kept up to date with new features or security patches.

Price & availability

The Nova 10 Pro was officially launched in early September, but at the time all Huawei said was that the phone would go on sale “in the coming months.”

So far that hasn’t happened yet, and it’s still not clear exactly when or where you’ll be able to buy a Nova 10 Pro. A UK launch is likely though, as Huawei did announce pricing in both UK and European currency: £629/€699.

That’s just above what we consider a mid-range phone, at the low end of the flagship space, where it’s up against the likes of the Google Pixel 7, Samsung Galaxy S22, and Xiaomi 12.

Dominic Preston / Foundry

Perhaps more appealing than the Pro is the £429/€549 regular Nova 10. It’s fractionally smaller, and has slower (but still impressive) charging at 66W. The biggest difference though is that it drops the 2x zoom selfie lens, but that’s a bit rubbish anyway – you wouldn’t miss it. Check out our ranking of the best Huawei phones for more options from the company.

Verdict

On a pure hardware level the Nova 10 Pro holds its own against the competition for the most part, especially thanks to the excellent main selfie camera and slender design, though the lack of wireless charging or an IP rating does sting a little, and the rear camera definitely lags behind the competition.

The software constraints and missing 5G hurt more though, and ultimately make this hard to recommend – there’s simply not enough this phone does that others can’t to justify the drawbacks.

If it cost a little less, the Nova 10 Pro could have been an affordable flagship alternative, but at this price you’re better off sticking with a mainstream Android brand.

Specs

EMUI 12

6.78in, 120Hz, FHD+ OLED display

Snapdragon 778G 4G

8GB RAM

128/256GB storage

4500mAh battery

100W wired charging

Camera:

50Mp, f/1.8 main camera

8Mp, f/2.2 ultrawide camera

2Mp, f/2.4 depth sensor

60Mp, f/2.4 selfie camera

8Mp, f/2.2 2x zoom selfie camera

Wi-Fi 6

Bluetooth 5.2

164x74x7.9mm

191g

Starry Silver, Starry Black

Review Del Macbook Pro (M2 Pro, 2023): Más Potente Que Nunca

Pros

Rendimiento fantástico

HDMI y lector de tarjetas SD

Cámara web de 1080p

Increíble autonomía de la batería

Contras

Sin puertos USB-A

Ese notch

Sin pantalla táctil

Nuestro veredicto

Hay pocas cosas que no nos gusten de los últimos modelos del MacBook Pro de 14″ y de 16″ de Apple, que añaden los nuevos chips M2 Pro y M2 Max a un diseño ya existente. Es difícil negar su potencia pura, y la duración de la batería es inigualable, pero permanecen las viejas quejas, especialmente la falta de USB-A y el notch, que todavía se hace extraño.

Mejores precios hoy: Apple 14-inch MacBook Pro (M2 Pro, 2023)

El portátil más potente de Apple tiene ahora un interior todavía más potente: la última generación del MacBook Pro incorpora los chips M2 Pro y M2 Max de la propia compañía.

Disponible con pantallas de 14″ o 16″, el nuevo Pro puede competir tanto con dispositivos de productividad compactos y asequibles hasta con estaciones de trabajo móviles de gran tamaño y potencia, con un rendimiento superior al de la mayoría de los ordenadores de sobremesa.

Se mantienen algunas críticas habituales a Apple. La compañía se niega obstinadamente a incluir un puerto USB-A (aunque incluya HDMI y un lector de tarjetas SD) y, a pesar de la antiestética muesca en la parte superior de la pantalla, sigue sin haber opción de desbloqueo facial.

Pero si quieres un Mac y necesitas potencia, esta es la mejor opción hasta la fecha, y debería seguir siendo una gran tentación para los incondicionales de Windows que dispongan de presupuesto.

Diseño, construcción y puertos

Clásica construcción de aluminio de Apple

Minimalista y elegante

Bastante pesado

Este año, Apple no ha retocado el diseño del MacBook Pro, sino que se ha ceñido a los principios básicos que estableció a finales de 2023, con una clara herencia de años anteriores.

Te encontrarás un diseño sencillo de aluminio, a elegir entre color plata o gris espacial, con un teclado negro y un trackpad ancho.

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

He probado el MacBook Pro de 14″, que es el más pequeño de los dos modelos de principios de 2023. Apple también vende un portátil Pro de 13″, pero este utiliza el diseño más antiguo, con menos puertos y la Touch Bar, y no incluye los últimos chips.

Como era de esperar, es más grueso que el MacBook descatalogado o el MacBook Air más reciente, con 1,55 cm de grosor, aunque también es definitivamente más grueso que la mayoría de los portátiles Windows de gama alta, a menos que empieces a compararlo con los modelos voluminosos para gaming y creatividad con GPU discreta.

El peso de alrededor de 1,6 kg es suficiente para notarlo, sin llegar a parecer excesivamente pesado. Ese peso también contribuye a la sensación de calidad y pulido del hardware: nadie podría acusar a esta belleza de parecer barata.

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

Tras las críticas que recibió el diseño anterior del MacBook Pro, que solo incluía puertos USB-C, Apple cambió de rumbo cuando rediseñó el chasis en 2023. Eliminó uno de esos puertos para dejar tres, todos compatibles con USB 4 / Thunderbolt 4, DisplayPort y carga.

También tiene una toma de carga MagSafe 3 dedicada, un puerto de 3,5 mm para auriculares, un puerto HDMI de tamaño completo e incluso una ranura para tarjetas SDXC.

Nadie podría acusar a esta belleza de parecer barata”

Todo esto son grandes noticias. Lo que no es lo es tanto bueno es que, a pesar de todo, no haya ni rastro del que quizá siga siendo el puerto más utilizado de todos: el USB-A. Puede que sea tecnología antigua, pero, para bien o para mal, la mayoría de los periféricos todavía vienen con conexiones USB-A, y la mayoría de la gente tendrá que usar un dongle.

Apple no es ni mucho menos el único culpable en este sentido, pero resulta especialmente atroz dado que no hay forma de que la compañía pueda justificar la decisión por una limitación de espacio.

Teclado, trackpad y cámara web

Teclado con Touch ID cómodo

Trackpad háptico y ancho

Cámara web de 1080p mejor que la media

Los teclados excelentes son ahora innegociables en los portátiles de gama alta, y la competencia de rivales Windows como Dell y Huawei nunca ha sido más feroz. Por suerte, Apple no tiene mucho de qué preocuparse, con un teclado ligero y elástico con una acción de tecleo rápida y cómoda.

No es tan ágil como algunas de las mejores opciones de Windows, y las rejillas de los altavoces a ambos lados significan que es un poco más estrecho que otros, pero son quejas menores en cualquier caso.

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

El teclado también tiene un sensor de huellas dactilares integrado en el botón de encendido, que permite desbloquear el portátil y aprobar compras en la App Store y otros pagos mediante Touch ID. Es rápido y fácil de usar, y rápido de configurar.

El trackpad es amplio y generoso, y está dotado de la misma tecnología háptica que Apple ha utilizado durante años para simular un clic sin piezas móviles reales. Es una lástima que Apple no haya seguido los pasos de Dell, Huawei y otros en el uso de esa retroalimentación háptica para manejar controles adicionales del trackpad (como ajustar el volumen o el brillo), pero con lo básico no hay nada de qué quejarse.

En 2023, Apple también mejoró la cámara web del MacBook Pro y, de nuevo, este portátil viene con una cámara de 1080p. Se trata de un punto a favor cuando la mayoría de los portátiles todavía se limitan a unas míseras cámaras de 720p, y la nitidez de la imagen debería reducir la necesidad de gastarse un dineral en una webcam dedicada aparte.

La imagen no es perfecta: aunque las imágenes son nítidas, creo que la gama de colores no es la adecuada y se inclina hacia los tonos rojos y anaranjados. Aun así, pocas cámaras webs integradas son mejores que esta, así que, por ahora, es una victoria.

Cabe recordar que los usuarios de iPhone tienen ahora la opción de conectar de forma inalámbrica la cámara de su teléfono como fuente, lo que supone una mejora indiscutible.

Pantalla y altavoces

Opciones de 14″ y 16″

Alta resolución, miniLED, 120 Hz

Muesca en la parte superior

Altavoces estéreo contundentes con audio espacial

Lo primero que hay que sacar en claro es que sí, al igual que la generación anterior, los nuevos modelos de MacBook Pro tienen una muesca en la pantalla.

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

Una pequeña sección de la pantalla está cubierta por una pequeña barra negra que contiene la webcam del portátil. Es similar al diseño del iPhone, al menos hasta que se introdujo la Isla dinámica en los iPhone 14 Pro y Pro Max del año pasado.

El notch es feo, y molesta, especialmente porque no contiene un módulo Face ID completo, lo que hace que parezca bastante innecesaria si solo se usa para la webcam. Dicho esto, es probable que te olvides de que está ahí bastante rápido y, a excepción de algunas apps con barras de menú expansivas, en realidad nunca afectará a la usabilidad.

Si puedes pasar por alto la muesca, es difícil que no te guste esta pantalla. En cualquiera de los dos tamaños de pantalla (técnicamente 14,2″ o 16,2″, para ser precisos), se obtiene una resolución rica (3024 × 1964 en el de 14″, 3456 × 2234 en el de 16″), un impresionante brillo máximo de 1.600 nits y, lo mejor de todo, una tasa de refresco de 120 Hz.

Los fabricantes de Windows han tardado en adoptar paneles con tasas de refresco rápidas fuera de sus líneas gaming, así que es algo en los que Apple va por delante. Obviamente, poca gente aprovechará esta especificación para jugar en un MacBook, pero es una de las razones por las que el portátil en su conjunto es tan fluido y ágil.

El notch es feo, y molesta”

Por otro lado, un elemento en el que Apple está por detrás de sus rivales de Windows es que la compañía sigue sin incluir una opción de pantalla táctil. Esto no es tan malo para los portátiles como para otros dispositivos, pero, si estás acostumbrado a pulsar y desplazarte con la punta de tu dedo, es una omisión un poco irritante.

Dejando a un lado las especificaciones, disfrutarás de un contraste rico y colores brillantes de una pantalla que utiliza la misma tecnología LCD miniLED que encontramos en los últimos modelos de iPad Pro.

Usando nuestra herramienta de calibración SpyderX, no parece ser el panel más brillante, pero la gama de colores es excelente: 100 % de sRGB, 87 % de AdobeRGB y un poderoso 98 % de DCI-P3. Es uno de los paneles más precisos que hemos probado, aunque se ve superado por los de Dell XPS 15 y LG Gram 16.

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

En resumen: se verá genial tanto si trabajas como si ves Netflix en streaming, y tiene la precisión de color necesaria para las tareas creativas más exigentes.

El sonido también impresiona, con seis altavoces que probablemente ofrezcan el mejor sonido que existe ahora mismo en un portátil, y eso sin hablar de la compatibilidad con la tecnología de audio espacial de Apple. Puede que uses auriculares para escuchar música más a menudo que no, pero es capaz de ofrecer lo que necesitas.

Especificaciones y rendimiento

Los chips M2 Pro o M2 Max traen un excelente rendimiento

RAM de 16 GB a 96 GB

Almacenamiento de 512 GB a 8 TB

Lo más destacado es el cambio a los chips M2 Pro y M2 Max, anunciados junto a estos dos modelos de MacBook Pro.

Son los últimos procesadores diseñados por Apple y, por el momento, siguen ofreciendo una potencia y un rendimiento casi inigualables por su precio.

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

En realidad, hay cuatro opciones, no dos. El M2 Pro está disponible en dos configuraciones: una CPU de 10 núcleos y una GPU de 16 núcleos, o una CPU de 12 núcleos con una GPU de 19 núcleos (el modelo que he probado).

Por su parte, el Max ofrece siempre la misma CPU de 12 núcleos, pero permite elegir entre una GPU de 30 núcleos o de 38 núcleos para las tareas gráficas más intensas, junto con opciones de más memoria.

Las puntuaciones de los benchmarks pueden ser engañosas y compararlas entre dispositivos Mac y Windows es prácticamente como comparar peras con manzanas, pero incluso ejecutando pruebas básicas queda claro lo potente que es este equipo, y eso que ni siquiera he usado un modelo con M2 Max.

Toda esa potencia convierte, al nuevo MacBook Pro, en una opción excelente para cualquiera que necesite un gran rendimiento en el trabajo, aunque vuelve a ser cierto que no se puede aprovechar toda esa potencia para jugar. Apple insiste en que los Mac son mejores que nunca para el gaming, pero nos lo creeremos cuando los estudios empiecen a lanzar versiones compatibles con Mac en masa.

La RAM parte de los 16 GB (como el equipo que probé), con opciones de ampliación a 32 GB, 64 GB o incluso 96 GB de memoria, aunque las dos últimas solo están disponibles junto con la CPU M2 Max.

El almacenamiento es igualmente muy amplio. Empieza en unos ya respetables 512 GB y llega hasta la friolera de 8 TB.

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

Por último, la tecnología de red usada es básicamente la más reciente. No hay opción 5G, pero el Wi-Fi 6E y el Bluetooth 5.3 lo harán ágil y fiable para otras conexiones.

Batería y carga

Increíble autonomía de carga de todo un día

Carga rápida

Puede elegir entre cargar con MagSafe o USB-C

Si la potencia pura del chip M2 Pro impresiona, es la duración de la batería lo que realmente lo diferencia de la competencia.

Apple presume de que el portátil puede aguantar hasta 18 horas de reproducción de vídeo o 12 horas de navegación web, aunque en nuestra prueba de reproducción lo superó con creces, durando casi 24 horas de vídeo sin parar.

Eso significa que es fácilmente capaz de aguantar una jornada laboral completa sin tener que recargarlo, a menos que seas un usuario especialmente intensivo.

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

Como ejemplo real, he estado escribiendo este artículo sentado en una cafetería cerca de casa. He estado escribiendo durante un par de horas, dependiendo siempre de la batería, con un poco de multitarea. Acabo de comprobarlo y el portátil sigue al 98 %.

En cuanto a la carga, hay un poco más de variación. Por un lado, Apple suministra el portátil con varios cargadores: si optas por el chip más barato en el modelo de 14″, obtendrás un adaptador de corriente de 67 W.

Si aumentas la potencia de procesamiento, obtendrás un cargador de 96 W (que también es una opción de personalización con el silicio de especificaciones más bajas). Por su parte, los modelos de 16″ incluyen un cargador aún más rápido, de 140 W.

He estado escribiendo durante un par de horas, dependiendo siempre de la batería, con un poco de multitarea: el portátil sigue al 98 %”

Me enviaron el cargador medio de 96 W con mi ejemplar de muestra, que ofrece suficiente energía para cargarlo al 53 % en solo media hora con MagSafe, con una carga completa en poco más de una hora. Se trata de una velocidad similar a la de los portátiles de gama alta, por lo que no es necesario estar atado a un enchufe durante mucho tiempo.

El cargador incluido utiliza el puerto MagSafe actualizado de Apple, con un cierre magnético sorprendentemente fuerte para mantener el cable en su sitio. Si lo prefieres, puedes usar casi cualquier cargador USB-C suficientemente potente (o simplemente cambiar el cable y seguir usando el adaptador de Apple), lo que te permitiría recargarlo con el mismo cargador que usas para tu teléfono, tablet o Switch.

Software

No debería sorprenderte saber que el MacBook Pro funciona con macOS, actualmente en la versión 13, Ventura.

Es (que quede entre nosotros) un poco más parecido a Windows”

Voy a ser sincero: soy un hombre de Windows, y cada vez que me paso a un Mac siento que tengo mucho que aprender, ya que tengo que volver a aprender dónde está cada cosa y cómo funciona.

Las actualizaciones de Ventura se centran sobre todo en la multitarea y la compatibilidad con el ecosistema, especialmente el Organizador Visual, un nuevo modo que muestra todas las aplicaciones abiertas en la parte izquierda de la pantalla y permite organizarlas en grupos. Es (que quede entre nosotros) un poco más parecido a Windows, y por eso me ha resultado más fácil acostumbrarme a él.

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

A eso contribuye el hecho de que, en los últimos dos años, Apple haya ido acercando poco a poco macOS y iPadOS, unificando sus funciones e interfaces de modo que ambos puedan funcionar igual de bien para la productividad fuera de casa.

Sin embargo, las interacciones entre dispositivos van más allá, con opciones sencillas para enviar archivos y compartir pantallas entre casi cualquier hardware moderno de Apple, y la ya mencionada capacidad de utilizar un iPhone como cámara web.

Solo la integración del ecosistema de Huawei se le acerca, y es mucho más probable que tengas un iPhone que un teléfono Huawei, lo que convierte a Apple en el líder de facto del mercado.

Precio y disponibilidad

Ah, aquí está el problema. Un MacBook Pro nunca es barato, y nada ha cambiado en este sentido.

Los precios empiezan en 2.499 € / MXN$49,999 / US$1,999 para el modelo de 14″, y en 3.049 € / MXN$59,999 / US$2,499 para el de 16″, aunque puedes gastarte hasta 7.649 € / MXN$167,499 / US$6,499 por la versión más potente.

Obviamente, puedes comprarlo directamente desde la web de Apple, pero hay otras tiendas donde hacerte con uno, a menudo a mejor precio, como Fnac, Macnificos o K-tuin en España; y Best Buy y Walmart en Estados Unidos.

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

Dejando a un lado los ridículos precios por los modelos más potentes (sabrás si puedes justificar gastarte mucho más en RAM y almacenamiento), el precio de Apple es elevado, pero no tan poco competitivo.

Solo estarías gastando un poco menos al comprar un Dell XPS 15 o un Huawei MateBook X Pro, y se podría decir que ninguno de los dos se acerca al Mac en potencia o duración de la batería.

Existen portátiles Windows más potentes enfocados al trabajo creativo y a los juegos, pero por regla general son más voluminosos que el MacBook Pro, y rara vez mucho más baratos.

Dicho esto, si no necesitas mucha potencia, no dudes en apostar por uno de los modelos de MacBook o MacBook Air, más baratos: son más compactos y, aun así, muy potentes para el día a día.

Consulta nuestro ranking completo de los mejores portátiles para ver más alternativas.

Veredicto

El MacBook Pro de 2023 no es más que una actualización de especificaciones, pero vaya especificaciones.

El M2 Pro es uno de los chips para portátiles más potentes que hemos probado, si no el que más, y el M2 Max es aún más rápido.

Puedo encontrar algunos contras. La falta de un puerto USB-A es la más obvia, mientras que la muesca es un elemento de diseño que solo Tim Cook podría adorar, aunque yo al menos he llegado a tolerarlo.

Aun así, para cualquiera que pueda trabajar en macOS, es difícil superar el rendimiento y la eficiencia energética del MacBook Pro, incluso a los precios ligeramente inflados de Apple.

Es demasiado potente para la mayoría, pero un portátil realmente bueno para aquellos que puedan sacarle el máximo partido.

Lista de especificaciones

Chipset M2 Pro o M2 Max de Apple

Hasta 96 GB de RAM

Hasta 8 TB de almacenamiento

Pantalla miniLED de 14,2″ o 16,2″ (120 Hz)

Cámara web de 1080p

3 x USB-C 4 / Thunderbolt 4

1 x HDMI

1 x ranura para tarjetas SDXC

1 x MagSafe 3

Cargador de 67 W / 96 / 140 W

Wi-Fi 6E

Bluetooth 5.3

macOS

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