The era of the three main cameras has begun – but only in China. While we hope that Oppo changes its mind and does bring the new Find X6 series to the global market, all we can do for now is a full review of the X6 Pro (coming soon) and find out how those Hasselblad-branded cameras perform.
Oppo Find X6 Pro at the office
The Oppo Find X6 Pro is beautiful, especially in the gray metal plus brown leather combo. And it has one of the biggest camera islands we have ever seen, the cameras on there represent the best that smartphone tech has to offer in 2023.
This includes the 1”...
The vivo V27 is the latest device to came to our office this week so while it's paitiently waiting for its review to start, we'll do a quick unboxing.
The V27 ships with a mighty 80W charger, a USB cable, and a case, making for a solid package.
We have the Emerald Green vivo V27, which uses the Emerald Glass processing technique. Like vivo's Fluorite AG Glass designs, the Emerald Glass will also change its color when exposed to UV light.
Before it's exposed to UV, the phone is a light green that gradients to a deeper hue at the bottom of its rear panel. After UV light exposure,...
With the Fit Series, Boulies’ office chairs prides itself on high quality builds and ease of setup. Our experience of a Fit Series Pro unit was that it’s immediately comfortable and designed to facilitate good posture.
The polymer material is soft to the touch and, just generally, we’d recommend it if you have the money to spare. The main issues are that the arm rests, while quality, are too easy to adjust by accident, and that it’s quite hard to make precise adjustments to everything else.
Pricing and availability
If you’re on a budget, the Fit Series Pro, or even the Fit Series in general, isn’t for you. Normally, the Pro will cost $890/£619.99 in the US and UK, and the Regular will cost $770/£479.99 in most colors.
The key difference between the Regular and Pro, as far as we can see, is that the Pro comes with a taller back that has a headrest. Whether that’s worth the extra cost is up to you.
At the time of writing, there’s a sale on, offering $100/£50 off, but these are still far from affordable. Buy it for yourself, maybe if you’re a hardcore workaholic or a novelist shut into a hovel, and even then - cheaper options that you may find just as comfortable are available.
For the vain, the US Boulies site is severely lacking in color options, with the Pro available in black and the Regular in gray. The UK site offers the Pro and Regular chairs in Black, Grey and Green, while the Regular is also offered in an unpleasant looking (but, crucially, cheaper at £369.99) Zebra variant.
The UK site also offers the Pro in Nappa Leather (£819.99, usually), but our review unit was just the Pro in standard fabric.
Setup and assembly
The chair comes well packed in the box, with the separate components (the seat plus back portion, the arms, the pivot and the wheels) packed separately.
It’s worth noting that, upon lifting the back portion out of the box, an as yet unidentified part came with it. It doesn’t seem to fit anywhere, nor is it listed in the instructions, and the chair still functions as intended, but most of my setup time was spent failing to fathom what this was.
The chair was assembled in under ten minutes. The instructions are clear and, even looking at the chair directly, it’s fairly obvious where things are going to go, such as the armrests on the underside of the seat, which are then installed by a hex key (provided). You might have to push hard to get the wheels to fit into the casters.
The assembled top half of the chair fits simply onto the assembled bottom half, and the hydraulics into the wheel base.
In use and comfortability
The Boulies Fit Series Pro is comfortable to sit in and easy to maneuver. If great posture, a straight spine, and avoiding tech neck are important to you, it’s a safe, if pricey bet.
It's less easy to get the reclining back to lock, set the lumbar support, and adjust the chair’s base. You can do all of these things, but you may find you’re fidgeting around to set everything to your liking.
What you can’t do is lock the armrests. It’s at once a benefit that they can be tinkered with so easily, but the lack of resistance means that they’re easy to adjust unintentionally, especially when standing up.
At no point during testing did the chair feel flimsy, cheap, or as thought it was about to break. Having come from a chair with low quality armrest upholstery, I’m glad that the Fit Series’ armrests feel solid, and affixed to strong plastic.
The reclining back is easy to engage when unlocked and, for this reviewer, a revelation. I’m not quite sure what the practical implications are, but for sheer moments of comfort - yes, it’s alright. I wouldn’t spend a premium to get a reclining chair over a more basic one if I were you, though.
Is the Galaxy A54 a worthy successor to the A52s? The phone was a bright spot in the series, while the A53 just wasn’t quite as good. Based on last week’s poll, the A54 has potential, but it is going to have to prove itself in reviews.
The reason that the A52s was so well liked is its chipset, the Snapdragon 778G is powerful and efficient and was sitting greatly at its €450 price tag. The A53 had the Exynos 1280 and it managed to match its predecessor at 113h endurance, but it needed 500mAh extra in the battery to do so. And in terms of performance it wasn’t even close.
Now the Samsung...
The vanilla Moto G53 recently passed through the office for a full review. The budget device left us wanting a bit more in terms of value. It felt like Motorola sacrificed a bit too much in the way of specs to deliver 5G on a budget. As per a listing in the Google Play Console, the company is going to take at least one more stab at an affordable 5G device with what seems to be an upcoming Moto G53s 5G.
Google Play Console listing
The listing doesn’t reveal too much, but there are some specs included. The phone will be based on the Qualcomm SM4350 chipset, which is the Snapdragon...
The vanilla Moto G53 recently passed through the office for a full review. The budget device left us wanting a bit more in terms of value. It felt like Motorola sacrificed a bit too much in the way of specs to deliver 5G on a budget. As per a listing in the Google Play Console, the company is going to take at least one more stab at an affordable 5G device with what seems to be an upcoming Moto G53s 5G.
Google Play Console listing
The listing doesn’t reveal too much, but there are some specs included. The phone will be based on the Qualcomm SM4350 chipset, which is the Snapdragon...
It was only a matter of time before bendable displays such as the Corsair Xeneon Flex 45WQHD240 OLED hit the gaming industry. I just didn’t think they’d come so soon. We just got our first round of OLED gaming displays last year, after all. And, more 500Hz monitors might roll out soon, following the release of the Alienware AW720H, which I’m still not sure is something that can serve the general gaming population at this moment.
There’s also the fact that we’ve just come out of the pandemic and are now in the middle of inflation, which mean two things: we’re no longer spending as much quality time in front of our gaming PCs as most of us are back on the grind, and many just cannot afford such luxuries right now.
But while a part of me struggles to recommend a gaming monitor that’s clearly out of most people’s budget – my 55-inch Samsung TV, which I got on sale, cost me less than half its price tag, for god’s sake – an even bigger part of me screams, “What took them (manufacturers) so long?!”
The Corsair Xeneon Flex 45WQHD240 OLED’s main appeal is that you’re getting both a curved monitor and a flat one, as well as an ultrawide display, making it incredibly versatile for a wide range of uses and one of the best monitors I’ve ever tested.
I don’t spend a lot of time gaming myself because who has the time these days, but even I can see the potential here. The fact that it’s capable of displaying different game genres the way they’re supposed to be experienced – whether flat, at 1200R curvature, or at that deep 800R curvature – is already impressive to me.
Corsair pushes hard on the premise that different genres were never meant to be experienced on the same type of display, which is largely true. And with the Xeneon Flex, gamers are getting that all-in-one experience, which should benefit those of you who aren't very selective when it comes to the types of games you play.
In addition, because it is incredibly color accurate, with a Delta E of less than 1 (the lower, the better), and because of its color coverage, one can argue (read: help justify the price) that it’s also excellent for creative tasks, including video and photo editing. Heck, this has been my main monitor for work for well over a week, and just its 21:9 aspect ratio and 45-inch screen real estate alone has improved my productivity. Now my dream is for bendable monitors to become the norm so that we can all afford one without making our wallets bleed.
Clunky yet still elegant
Understandably, the Corsair Xeneon Flex 45WQHD240 OLED still has some clunkiness to it. Someday hopefully soon, we’ll look back at this time and marvel at the quaint way we used to bend and fold our displays while we’re pressing that special button on our monitors that gets them to the curvature we want. You know, much like you would adjust the height of a standing desk now.
But at this present time, there’s still physical work involved and a lot of creaking and clunking too. At least where this offering from Corsair is concerned (I will be testing the LG OLED Flex (LX3) soon so I’ll soon find out how LG’s bending process is). That isn’t to say that the display itself isn’t elegant because it is; it’s just the bending mechanism that needs some finessing.
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The way it works is that there are two thick bars in the back that run about half the length of the display on both sides, and they’re responsible for guiding and supporting the panel itself during the bending process. So, when you’re adjusting the curvature of the panel, it’s really these bars that you’re controlling via the two handles that jut out of them on either side of the display. And that requires some upper body force from you – not a lot that you feel like you’ve just bench pressed at gym, but enough to make you nervous in your earliest attempt as it feels like you might break the very thin (more specifically, quarter of an inch thick) panel.
Luckily, the whole thing feels very robust so there seems to be no danger of damaging anything here when you’re bending or unbending. The stand and mount also feel very solid and stable, managing to weigh the display down and keep it steady during the process as well as when you’re adjusting tilt – though that also means that it is on the heavier side.
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Sadly, though, there aren’t any swivel or height adjustments here, which I”m guessing has a lot to do with the bending mechanism. Being able to adjust the height honestly would have been nice, especially because Corsair has placed the display’s USB hub and OSD and power buttons on the front of the stand just beneath the panel, just behind the bottom tilt handle. They’re a little harder to access especially if you’ve got a PC soundbar in your setup like I do. Although, don’t get me wrong; having a hub front and center is a nice and much appreciated touch.
On the opposite side of the stand are the rest of the ports, which I also appreciate as I don’t have to go through hoops to access them. And, there’s a decent helping of input ports too – two HDMI 2.1 for those with current-gen consoles, a DisplayPort 1.4, and a USB Type-C with DP Alt-Mode for your laptop.
Gorgeous at any curvature
Corsair has historically done an impressive job with its gaming displays, and the Corsair Xeneon Flex 45WQHD240 OLED doesn’t fall far from the tree. Clearly, the 3440x1440 is much more than enough to deliver excellent picture quality, even if its pixel density of 83 PPI may displease some gamers (95 to 110 PPI is usually ideal for gaming).
The games I played on this were still sharp and detailed to be immersive, and honestly, that’s more than good enough for most gamers. The fast refresh rate of up to 240Hz and 0.03ms GtG response time also helped faster games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Rocket League have reduced ghosting and motion blur – also resulting in better clarity picture quality.
Just bear in mind that you do need powerful hardware to run more demanding games at 240Hz. For example, I tested this monitor with my RTX 3060 Corsair PC Build Kit, and while the Cyberpunk 2077 consistently ran at 240Hz, the PC struggled to hit that mark with the newer Hogwarts Legacy. But, thanks to the display’s adaptive sync, I didn’t experience any screen tearing.
The colors are gorgeous as well. My colorimeter reading gave me just under 100% DCI-P3 and 100% sRGB as promised. Combine that with the fact that it’s more accurate than most monitors on the market, beating the common DeltaE<2 accuracy by averaging at less than 1, it’s good enough for content creation as well, which you should do on this display’s flat layout. For productivity, I liked it best at a shallower curve of 1200R.
It’s in gaming that its ability to bend at different curvatures really come into play. I found playing games like Rocket League and Sid Meier's Civilization VI to be disorienting at 800R or even 1000R curvature, with the field lines on the former weirdly arched and the map on the latter looking like it’s inside a fish bowl, but looking their best as soon as I switched back to the flat layout.
Meanwhile, Cyberpunk 2077 and Hogwarts Legacy felt much more immersive at 800R curvature, as if I were inside the actual games instead of viewing them on a gaming display. Better yet, I also didn’t have to overextend my eyes or crane my neck since everything feels like it's within my field of vision.
Sadly, the HDR here isn’t anything to write home about – well, unless you want to complain about it. Despite the 1000-nit peak brightness, you’re only getting HDR10 and not a VESA-certified HDR1000. So, although the display manages to brighten the screen when on HDR mode, the resulting picture quality looks washed out and overexposed. The contrast is drastically reduced, as is the color vibrancy. I would skip turning the HDR on, if I were you.
Corsair Xeneon Flex: Price & availability
How much does it cost? $1,999.99 / £2,099.99 / AU$3,299.99
When is it available? Available now
Where can you get it? Available in the US, UK, and Australia
The Corsair Xeneon Flex 45WQHD240 OLED is a massive investment at $1,999.99 / £2,099.99 / AU$3,299.99, so while that shouldn't stop budget-minded consumers from saving up to get it, I recommend really thinking it through before hitting that buy button.
To be fair, many ultrawide monitors sit within the $1,000/£1,000 to $2,000/£2,000. The LG UltraGear 38GN950 cost £1,499 (around $2,000 / AU$2,700) when it first came out while the Samsung Odyssey Neo G9 cost $2,499 / £1,749 / AU$2,999. Considering that the Xeneon Flex throws in that new flexible display technology, I think it's only reasonable it costs this much.
Note that LG's bendable monitor entry, the 42-inch 16:9 LG OLED Flex (LX3) 4K monitor, is even pricier at $2,999 (about £2,450 / AU$4,500).
Value: 3 / 5
Corsair Xeneon Flex: Specs
Should you buy the Corsair Xeneon Flex?
Buy it if...
You want to be an early adopter ...of the bendable gaming monitor tech. It's very expensive, as with all new technology, but it's a terrific display in its own right.
You want a versatile gaming monitor Whatever game you're playing, it'll look great on this monitor, thanks to its versatile bendable design that give you up to 800R curvature.
Don't buy it if...
You're broke like the rest of the world We're still in the middle of a cost of living crisis, so this might not be the right time to purchase this.
You want a 4K display This is a 3440x1440 display with just an 83PPI pixel density. If you want a higher resolution display, there are other options.
Corsair Xeneon Flex: Also consider
How I tested the Corsair Xeneon Flex
I tested the monitor for a little over a week
I used it for gaming, photo editing, media consumption and productivity work
I used a colorimeter as well as different types of games and photo editing software
Given that this is a gaming monitor, I primarily used it for gaming. But I also used it as my main monitor for work and photo editing for a little over a week. Naturally, I tested its bending mechanism as well.
I used four different games from different genres to test this display, comparing how each one looks in both flat and curve layouts. I also used Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom for photo editing, and several streaming services as well as utilized a colorimeter to determine its color accuracy and color gamut.
I've been testing productivity, creator, and gaming monitors for years, having reviewed them for different publications including some of TechRadar's sister site. I've also done multiple monitor reviews for TechRadar.
We pride ourselves on our independence and our rigorous review-testing process, offering up long-term attention to the products we review and making sure our reviews are updated and maintained - regardless of when a device was released, if you can still buy it, it's on our radar.
The Redmi Note 12 Pro+ unveiled in China last October debuted in India in January and launched in Europe this week. We've been using the Redmi Note 12 Pro+ for a few weeks now, and our detailed review is around the corner, but we thought we'd share part of our findings about the phone in advance.
Unboxing
Let's check the Redmi Note 12 Pro+'s retail box first. In India, the smartphone comes in a black-colored box, which includes a protective case, a SIM card ejection tool, a USB-C cable, a 120W charger, and the usual paperwork.
In comparison, in Europe the Redmi Note 12 Pro+ comes...
Tecno is apparently gearing up for a new release within its camera-centric Camon series. The Tecno Camon 20 Premier 5G just recently popped up online in a couple of images and with some leaked specs to boot. We have only seen the camera island of the phone thus far, and it sure is distinctive. As per the source, the Camon 20 Premier 5G will have a leather back to give it an extra premium look and feel.
Techo Camon 20 Premier 5G
Regarding specs, the phone is expected to feature an FHD+, 120Hz flat AMOLED display with a diagonal in the 6.X-inch range. Powering the phone, we...
Tecno is apparently gearing up for a new release within its camera-centric Camon series. The Tecno Camon 20 Premier 5G just recently popped up online in a couple of images and with some leaked specs to boot. We have only seen the camera island of the phone thus far, and it sure is distinctive. As per the source, the Camon 20 Premier 5G will have a leather back to give it an extra premium look and feel.
Techo Camon 20 Premier 5G
Regarding specs, the phone is expected to feature an FHD+, 120Hz flat AMOLED display with a diagonal in the 6.X-inch range. Powering the phone, we...