XDA Full Review

A full-fledged, highly in-depth review of a mobile device.

LineageOS 18.1 Review: Android 11, coming to an old phone near you

Corbin Davenport April 16, 2021

LineageOS was created in 2016 as a stock-like Android custom ROM, following the collapse of the corporate-backed CyanogenMod project. It has gone through several major updates since then, but LineageOS has continued to bring a stock-like Android (and optionally Google-free) experience to dozens of phones and tablets. The most recent release — LineageOS 18.1 —...

The Huawei Mate X2 made me realize how much I was missing out on

Mishaal Rahman April 13, 2021

The future of the smartphone is foldable. It's not a matter of if, but when foldables are priced low enough to overtake traditional flagships in popularity. Ask any person who's used a foldable phone, and they'll tell you the same thing: They're the future. Until this week, though, if you asked me about foldables, I...

OnePlus Watch Review: A Promising First Attempt at a Smartwatch

Mishaal Rahman April 13, 2021

It's been a few years since OnePlus deviated from its roots as a smartphone-only brand, but apart from a limited venture selling TVs in a handful of markets, the company is still primarily a smartphone and smartphone accessory brand. OnePlus' latest accessory for smartphones is a wearable device called the OnePlus Watch. Launching this week,...

The OnePlus 9 Pro cements OnePlus as a Premium Smartphone Brand

Mishaal Rahman March 23, 2021

Since its inception as a smartphone brand, OnePlus has struggled to address the dichotomy between its motto — "Never Settle" — and the actual hardware it puts out. In a sense, if you went with OnePlus, you had to settle in some aspect, usually the display or the camera (but never the performance). Last year...

The Xiaomi Mi 11 is an excellent bang-for-buck option, and here’s why

Adam Conway March 16, 2021

The Xiaomi Mi 11 launched globally at the start of February, following a China-only launch in December. Being the first Snapdragon 888-powered device to hit the market, it seemed imperfect given a litany of thermal issues and battery complaints from reviewers globally, even if the rest of the device held up very well. I've had...

OPPO Find X3 Pro Display Review: Solid Quality All Around

Dylan Raga March 12, 2021

Piggybacking off of last year's feats of "industry-leading color accuracy", OPPO continues to set its sights even further. With its new full-path color management system, the OPPO Find X3 Pro furthers OPPO's aim to improve image fidelity from camera to gallery. The Find X3 Pro also adds a new LTPO adaptive refresh rate panel, which...

The OPPO Find X3 Pro has the best ultra wide camera I’ve used on a phone

Ben Sin March 11, 2021

As recently as a couple of years ago, you could spot the difference in a new flagship phone at first glance. The screen bezels may have shrunken drastically. Or maybe the number of cameras doubled from last year's phone. That's not the case anymore over the past couple of years, as smartphone brands have become...

The ASUS ROG Phone 5 has everything you could ever want in a Gaming Phone

Mishaal Rahman March 10, 2021

I'm sure you've heard the saying: "The best camera is the one you have with you." I would argue the same is true for gaming, which is partly why the Nintendo Switch is so popular. Even though your typical gaming smartphone won't have access to the huge library of AAA games that are available on...

Redmi Note 10 Pro Review: Bringing a 120Hz display and 108MP camera to the masses

Ben Sin March 4, 2021

In the world of consumer tech, new cutting-edge hardware always begins life on premium phones with premium features and premium pricing, only to be commoditized later and become affordable for the masses. In most industries, that lifespan of exclusivity can last years, but in the fast-moving, cutthroat smartphone space — especially the Chinese one —...

Xiaomi Mi 10i Review: Stunning 108MP camera to patch the Redmi Note persona

Tushar Mehta March 3, 2021

Xiaomi's Mi 10i is the latest addition to the company's portfolio in India. Despite its endorsement as a product made especially for India, the Mi 10i mirrors Xiaomi's Mi 10T Lite in terms of the design and specifications — save for the new 108MP camera — and also resembles Xiaomi's Redmi Note 9 Pro 5G....

ASUS ZenBook Flip S (UX371) Review: A lightweight 2-in-1 laptop that’s all about visuals

Kunal Khullar February 14, 2021

The ZenBook Flip S by ASUS launched late last year as one of the most premium consumer laptop offerings from the company. Featuring a 4K OLED panel, the 2-in-1 laptop seeks to compete with the likes of the Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 as well as the HP Spectre x360. In fact, the ZenBook Flip S...

Xiaomi Mi QLED TV 4K 55″ Review: A premium Android TV experience at a compelling price

Tushar Mehta February 12, 2021

The smartphone market is incredibly saturated. After thriving in the smartphone business, companies traditionally branch out into other consumer product categories — smart TVs being one of them — and that's exactly the trajectory that Xiaomi has followed. In India, Xiaomi has been selling smart TVs since early 2018, and in less than three years,...