This Week In Tech: OnePlus 3 has almost everything you want in a smartphone

MANILA, Philippines – You may not have heard of Chinese smartphone startup OnePlus, but don’t discount it – especially if you’re after a top-end phone for way less than Apple’s or Samsung’s $750 flagship.

Now on its third iteration, the OnePlus 3 could potentially be the flagship killer its makers have been hoping for since their initial release. At least from a technical standpoint, with all the impressive specs thrown at this model, it should be more powerful than any phone Apple or Samsung has built so far.

And with a very attractive $399 price tag, it’s likely to appeal to a broader demographic.

The specs sheet reads like that of a current upmarket phone: 5.5-inch AMOLED display (albeit at 1080p resolution); home button doubling as a fingerprint reader; 16- and 8-megapixel rear and front cameras; Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 chip; 6GB of RAM to go along with 64GB of non-expandable flash storage; USB Type-C port with fast-charging support for the 3,000mAh fixed battery (over 60-percent capacity from a 30-minute charge); and Android 6.0 Marshmallow.

The front of the phone is identical to its predecessor, while the screen is covered in Gorilla Glass 4. The rear panel is made of aluminum, which comes in a gray or gold paint job, and is sleeker this time around. It should be easier to handle as well, thanks to its more rounded design.

But perhaps the most encouraging news of all is that you won’t have to deal with OnePlus’ invite system nonsense this year. You can simply ignore the hype, and head to the company’s website to purchase the OnePlus 3 today. But if you’d rather see the hardware first before throwing money at it, you’ll be able to buy the phone offline at select locations in New York, Paris, London, Berlin, Mumbai, New Delhi, and Bangalore.

Can Microsoft’s ‘most powerful console ever’ really play games at 4k?

E3 2016 saw the launch of a new Xbox One console that should give Sony’s PlayStation 4 a run for its money. Gaming’s biggest show also saw the soft unveiling of what is perhaps the most ambitious Xbox yet, a gaming beast which gobs more speed and graphics power than the machine Microsoft is shipping to stores this August. It certainly will be capable of more things than playing videos at super-sharp 4K resolution.

When Xbox Project Scorpio debuts in 2017, it is said to do 4K gaming and play nicely with high-end VR gear. If all falls into place, it will shake the very bedrock of the gaming industry and drastically change the landscape for years to come. And you’d find my rather newly acquired gaming PC up for sale on eBay.

Here’s the thing, though: Despite all the firepower Project Scorpio promises to bring – six teraflops of processing power is a massive upgrade over the Xbox One’s one teraflop – rendering games at native 4K is a big ask for any rig, even if you factor the fact that it will probably run a lighter, more streamlined operating system. For perspective, consider Nvidia’s best graphics card on the market today, the GTX 1080, which pumps out nine teraflops.

You’d think it wouldn’t break a sweat pushing graphics to the 4K range, but you’d be wrong; as early reviews have shown, the GTX 1080 misses the mark occasionally. The bottom line, as Eurogamer says, is that “6TF [teraflops] of GPU power isn’t enough to power a convincing 4K experience.” But hey, we’re still a long way from 2017, and a lot of things could change between now and then. (Don’t discount the wizards, I mean, engineers, at Redmond.)

But suppose Microsoft does come through with a product worthy of the hype, at what price will Project Scorpio sell to the public? It definitely won’t come cheap.

Remember the GTX 1080 card I was referring to earlier? The reference version is priced at a whopping $700. I can only imagine how expensive a console that fully supports 4K will cost. Pricing for the Xbox One S starts at $300, and goes as high as $400 for the model with 2TB of storage. It’s not hard to imagine Project Scorpio retailing for twice the price of its predecessor, what with all its impressive capabilities.

Sony’s Xperia X smartphones are coming to more markets soon

After announcing its new smartphone line in Barcelona last February, Sony is finally making good on its promise of rolling out its Xperia X smartphones across the globe. Following a May release in the UK, the Xperia X and XA are coming to the Philippines in mid-July.

The Xperia X and XA will retail for P29,990 and P13,990 respectively.

The Xperia X replaces Sony’s premium Xperia Z line of smartphones, signaling a shift in focus away from a more affluent user base Sony has been catering to for the longest time. And that’s important to note, because the midrange is shaping up to be the most important battleground for smartphone makers.

Of the phone’s many new features, its 23 camera is supposed to be a main highlight, so we thought we’d post a few. Are they impressive enough to justify Sony’s pricing? Let us know by visiting GadgetMatch.com and leaving us a comment.