The Phone Shrink

The most heated comparison is here, the one people have been talking about for days. You have read reviews, you have seen the specifications. We now compare these two competitors, fighting for the title of the best Budget Flagship. A classic case of Android vs iOS? Or is it more than just that? Here we take a look at our take on the best budget flagship out there right now. Design and build : Both these phones have premium designs, no doubts about that, with premium glass constructions on both phones. The 8 however is a much bigger and bulkier phone, coming in at 6.55 inches and weighing 180g. The SE, comes in a much palm friendly, small design at 4.7 inches and weighing just 148g. Now depending on your preferences, these could be good or bad things. For a power user, for whom the screen size is important, the 8 offers you that, but for someone who has been hating the trend of big screens everywhere, and would love to go back to something small, the SE is the pick for you. Also, ...

Motorola has never primarily been a major player in the premium segment of smartphones. Besides the Motorola Razr, the company's attempt at a foldable, the company has never been popular among the premium buyers, mainly because of its design. The company has now announced The Edge Plus, a phone with a beautiful, modern design, and top of the line hardware, at a correspondingly high price point of approximately $999. Here we see what the company has to offer, and what we think of the phone. The new Motorola Edge Plus, a premium flagship device by the company with the latest hardware. It's got all the bells and whistles and is a worthy opponent to the Galaxy S20 and the OnePlus 8 pro. Design : The Edge Plus comes with a beautiful  6.7 inch Super Amoled display, with a 90Hz refresh rate. It features the popular punch hole camera pushed to the side of the screen. The slim bezels and the edge display makes for a premium looking, futuristic smartphone. It also fe...

OnePlus, a company known for producing its "flagship killers", was always a competition, but never really a substitute for the Ultra Premium Smartphones like The Galaxy S and Note series of smartphones. All that has changed with the OnePlus 8 pro, the price of which, puts it right in the flagship territory, ready to take on the big boys of the phone industry. Here we shall see how the OnePlus 8 pro competes against the beastly Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra. Design and build : Both these phones are supremely premium, with beautiful glass designs, protected with Gorilla Glass 6 on the front and back. However, at 199 g, the 8 pro is lighter than the S20 Ultra, at 222 g. It is also a tad bit smaller, coming in at 6.78 inches versus the 6.9 inches on the S20 Ultra. Both these factors lead to a more ergonomic, palm friendly design on the 8 pro, with incredible weight balance. Adding to this, it comes with more punchy and attractive colors like Glacial Green, Ultramarine Bl...

With the ongoing Coronavirus Pandemic taking center-stage, things are not exactly smooth in the tech space too. Many countries are citing "poor Coronavirus transparency" as their reason to drop Chinese products as their vendors, or to stop doing business with them. Here is what we think the future holds for China. Recently UK decided to drop Huawei as their 5G vendor, and expressed a strong wish to cut all ties with the Chinese tech giant, in the foreseeable future. This doesn't come as a surprise, as people around us are mentioning the same thing, to try to reduce their reliance on Chinese products. But it really is easier said than done. Take the smartphone industry for instance. In India, the market share of Chinese smartphones is well above 65% ( source ). These phones primarily target the budget and mid-range sections of the market. India, being a huge market for the budget smartphones, is heavily dependent on these brands like Xiaomi, OnePlus, Oppo, Vivo, Rea...

With OnePlus, launching the cheaper version of its lineup, the OnePlus 8, it begs the question, how does it fare against the Samsung Galaxy S20? Of-course, strictly comparing prices, the s20 is a lot more expensive than the OnePlus 8, but there is more to these phones than just that. Here we shall see a detailed comparison, comparing all the major features of both the phones, and my thoughts on these devices.  Design and build: Both these phones are amazing in terms of their look and feel. They come with a beautiful design, featuring the punch hole camera, although in different locations. Both come with Corning Gorilla Glass 6 at the front and back. The S20 is the lighter of the two phones, and more comfortable in the hands. Also the S20 comes with an IP68 water and dust resistance, whereas the OnePlus 8 does not. Interesting point to note here, the OnePlus 8 actually is water resistant, as claimed by the company, however it has not received an official rating.  D...

Samsung, a one of the most reputed companies in the smartphone industry, has also been a victim of a lot of criticism by people. Past experiences with this company have led to people losing faith in the company, but recent innovations have also got a lot of them coming back, and happier than ever. Here we take a look at our thoughts of this company, and what kind of a place this company holds in the market. In the past, in the mid range and budget market, Samsung phones were not up to the mark. They were seriously under-powered, and had almost nothing to offer which other brands weren't providing, and at much lower prices. Companies like Xiaomi, Honor, Realme, provided much better phones, with superior hardware. Even on the software front, Samsung wasn't as great. Companies like Motorola provided a stock android experience, while the Experience UI by Samsung was full of bloatware and was pretty laggy. I'm talking specifically about the J and the ON series. They...

As you all must be aware, Huawei had been blacklisted by Google, and they are not allowed to use google services and apps like the play store, google maps, etc. What does this mean for the company? Is it all over for Huawei? Or did this actually turn out to be a blessing in disguise? Now that google services have been revoked for the company, Huawei has been trying hard to develop their own ecosystem, in a manner similar to Apple. This was always in the talks, but the focus of the company has always been on the hardware front, trying to get bleeding edge technology to the markets. Now that Google imposed the ban, they had no choice but to give adequate amount of focus to the software part, and start to develop their own apps to replace the lost ones. They have a large community of developers working to develop apps for their own App Gallery. Also, they have developed their own OS, called the HarmonyOS, also called the Hongmeng OS in China. An...

Its no news that Apple has announced the brand new iPhone SE. This is a phone which gives you most of the bells and whistles of a fancy, expensive iPhone, all at a very compelling price point. Starting at around Rs. 42,000 , here is why this is an excellent move by the company, especially in a market like India. More for less : It is no surprise that people, in general, love getting more for less. The iPhone SE, does just that. It brings you, the power of the iPhone 11 pro, in a small 4.7 inch display smartphone. It houses the A13 bionic chipset, which is the most powerful processor on any mobile on the planet. This cruises through every game, every application, anything you want thrown at the phone, the phone can churn out brilliant performance, with ease. Cameras : At the mid-range segment, people are limited by the number of options they have in terms of camera specifications. The existing market is dominated by android at this price, and besides ...

Everywhere you look, the posts are all about the oneplus 8 Pro. You see ads, product reviews, comparison videos, testing, everything for the OnePlus 8 pro, while you really need to dig deeper to find something substantial about the OnePlus 8. Why isn't much emphasis given towards this device? Here is why the tech community is disappointed in oneplus… When the company started off, a oneplus device was supposed to be a flagship killer. That is what made the tech community respect the company so much. It was able to provide value at unbelievable prices. As the company grew it's ambitions also grew with it. Now with the oneplus 8 Pro they are totally in the flagship territory charging $900 for their top tier device. And of course being a successful company we cannot really blame them for trying to make their mark in the industry. The OnePlus 8 pro is truly a fantastic device, and even at $900, it still is one of the cheapest flagships out there, hardly comp...

The Coronavirus is all over the news, and it has not left the tech world in peace either. With a hit taken on all major services and product launches, along with the cancellation of major world conferences, it begs the question, is it really the right time to launch the OnePlus 8 series during this time? Here is what we have to say about this. Well to start off, it is not really a simple Yes or No kind of an answer. The delay of a phone launch has more significance than what may outwardly seem. With the ongoing Coronavirus Pandemic, there is a hit on all kinds of services. People are reluctant to buy basic necessities, let alone thinking of upgrading their phone. Normally, the launch of a phone would have been an elaborate arrangement, with the press and media going berserk trying to get to the launch event, and covering the launch over various platforms. This of-course was not possible this time, and many people felt that they should have waited for services to resume, and...

Greetings from The Phone Shrink, Aren't we, the tech community, always on the lookout for something new in the tech world, ever fascinated by the cutting edge technology and innovations in modern day smartphones? The Phone Shrink is an initiative by a fellow Tech-Geek from IIT Madras, where we are driven by the same urge to discuss smartphones: our thoughts, opinions and product reviews. Like a shrink, who dedicates himself to understand you, and help you out with your problems, we too are driven by the same zeal to help you out by providing the latest and relevant information about the world of smartphones. We present to you, our newsletter, where we provide concise articles in the form of emails, all about developments in the smartphone world. We shall send no more than one email per day, and no spam, we promise. Click on this link to subscribe to this service, and be a part of this wonderful ecosystem, the tech ecosystem. Additionally, we also help you d...