Daily Authority: Next Nord camera 📸

OnePlus has leaked features and news about its upcoming Nord 2, slated to hit the market next week on July 22nd. Previously, there was news that the phone is equipped with a Mediatek Dimensity 1200 instead of the usual Qualcomm mid-range SoC.

The announcement yesterday was bigger and focused on revealing that the Nord 2 has a flagship-level main camera.

The news:

• The Nord 2 will use a 50MP Sony IMX766 main camera sensor with OIS.
• This flagship sensor was also used by OnePlus in its ultra-wide cameras on the OnePlus 9 and OnePlus 9 Pro, and by its close company, the Oppo Find X3 Pro, in its main and ultra-wide cameras.
• In theory, that’s a good thing. The reviews praised the main and ultra-wide cameras of the Oppo Find X3 Pro.

Ask:

• However, OnePlus does not use the usual Qualcomm chipset, but instead has to learn and integrate with Mediatek’s image processing and hardware.
• The final product – the quality of the photos – is therefore not guaranteed and becomes a valid question.
• Could MediaTek do better? We saw a Realme Mediatek phone camera perform well in the Realme X7 Pro compared to the original Nord.
• But will it be more difficult to optimize a new system for OnePlus in the mid-range spec? And does all of this apply to OnePlus, which imports this into the US?

📈 According to an analyst firm, Xiaomi becomes the second largest smartphone OEM and is eating up Huawei’s losses. Global rankings among the top 3: Samsung (19%), Xiaomi (17%), Apple (14%) (Android authority).

🎧 OnePlus Buds Pro has fast charging and adaptive noise cancellation (Android authority).

👏 The disused Samsung Galaxy S8 is getting a new security update, and that shouldn’t happen, which is great! (Android authority).

👉 Big news for chips: Intel is negotiating to buy GlobalFoundries for approximately $ 30 billion (WSJ, $).

🍎 Apple employees say they will be leaving the company as it denies remote work requests in an obvious company-wide raid, though it’s much easier to say than actually leave. No comment from Apple (The edge).

🍏 Apple is finally bringing its free Today At Apple tutorials to YouTube. These are good if you want to learn to roll more hopefully soon (Youtube).

📦 The US is cracking down on “Fulfilled by Amazon” and citing the sale of over 400,000 dangerous items (Ars-Technica).

🎤 The new Anthony Bourdain documentary ‘Roadrunner’ relies in part on AI-generated audio from Bourdain’s voice. Some argue that this is appalling; others argue that it will be the norm in the years to come (Engage).

📎 Microsoft’s new 3D emoji includes Clippy, brought back to life in Office (The edge).

📡 Starlink Improves Latency For Competitive Online Games, Says Musk: 20ms Goal (Mashable).

🔭 NASA identifies possible causes of Hubble telescope malfunctions, including a power control unit for a payload computer (Gizmodo).

🤔 Hacker News Discussion on Open Source Insulin (HN).

⛵ “What keeps me legally and practically from going out of work, buying a boat and sailing into the sea” (r / nostupidquestions).

It is real! Valve announced that it is actually bringing out a handheld gaming PC called the Steam Deck, and it looks like a lot of fun.

Shortly:

• Valve immediately pre-ordered the Steam Deck, starting at $ 399, with availability in December 2021. (Pre-ordering is a small process to stop scalpers.)
• It runs custom AMD hardware and, given the size of the display and the resolution, should even be able to handle AAA games.
• These games come from your Steam library, which is where most PC gamers own a number of titles.
• It runs on SteamOS, which makes it a Linux-based PC handheld and more than just a gaming device.

Specifications, storage:

• This AMD hardware is interesting: The Steam Deck contains a four-core, eight-thread CPU, paired with eight RDNA 2 processing units for the GPU and 16 GB of LPDDR5 RAM.
• The screen is a 7-inch LCD screen with 1,280 x 800 pixels (720p) and a refresh rate of 60 Hz.
• According to Valve, the battery life varies greatly – from two to eight hours, depending on how demanding it is. For example, lower the frame rate and you will get more battery.
• The hardware design based on the pictures and videos has received mixed feedback. I will wait for reviews on how the buttons and joysticks come together in hand.
• The $ 399 price tag is deceptive – you only get 64GB of average speed internal eMMC storage. Get the 256GB version, which looks almost indispensable, and you’ll pay $ 529, which is even a little above the switch (OLED). The 512GB version costs $ 649 with premium anti-glare glass, a carry case, and more.
• Still, consoles generally sell at a loss on hardware, with software and accessories returning that over the life of the console.

Nintendo Switch:

• It’s impossible to avoid Switch comparisons since they’re both handhelds.
• They are very different.
• Nintendo is fully behind the Switch in its locked down way: a foolproof console that is equally suitable for adults and children, with a range of solid to extraordinary games. Most people don’t mind that it doesn’t do anymore because what it does does it very well.
• PC handhelds are different animals and have had less success so far.

Valve isn’t the first, but maybe the best:

• Valve doesn’t claim it’s the first. Instead, the catch is the unique integration directly with Steam and the flexible platform that allows one to run the Epic Games Store or even Windows makes it wild for tinkering. It can also be docked to a larger display via USB-C.
• It looks almost perfect as an Xbox handheld game console, depending on how it goes? Maybe it can just stream games too?
• And it’s very good to see a lot of competition from the Switch that has remained unchallenged by major manufacturers.
• I just wish the 64GB version wasn’t so overwhelming …

Likewise: IGN published a very good FAQ covering many important questions, with answers straight from Valve.

Bonus: Ranking of the new emoji finalists from Unicode (Gizmodo).

Have a good weekend,

Tristan Rayner, Managing Editor.