Richard Lai

Nreal Light mixed reality glasses launch in Korea with the Galaxy Note 20

Starting today, folks in Korea can pre-order the Nreal Light as part of a mobile phone plan on the LG Uplus network, so long as you pick the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 or the LG Velvet as your handset.

The Petit Qoobo robotic cat tail pillow is available to pre-order on July 30th

Back in January, we got to meet a smaller, more portable version of the Qoobo cat tail pillow, which is aptly named Petit Qoobo. Today, Yukai Engineering announced that it will be using Indiegogo to take international pre-orders for the Petit Qoobo. Meanwhile, the regular Qoobo with a more realistic cat tail will also be available for $135 instead of the usual $149, in case you want to bring both cat tail cushions home.

This pressure-sensitive stylus lets you draw on the Switch

When the Nintendo DS came with a stylus at launch, some developers used this feature to create drawing games for the portable console. Fast forward to today, and while Nintendo sells a “dumb” stylus for the Switch separately, Andersson is taking one step further with his upcoming Colors Live, bundling it with the pressure-sensitive SonarPen.

Colors Live with SonarPen for Nintendo Switch

LG Velvet hands-on: The case for mid-range, dual-screen phones

The LG Velvet is a mid-range smartphone with dual-screen talents. But is it still just a gimmick?

LG Velvet sample shots

LG Velvet with Dual Screen case

Vivo's X50 Pro with gimbal camera will be available globally later this year

As it turns out, the X50 series consists of three 5G models, but only the X50 Pro comes with the gimbal camera system.

Oppo's Evangelion phone is surprisingly faithful to the anime

As you’d expect, the phone’s software interface received a similar design treatment, with my favorite being the animated A.T. Field overlay which shows up when the phone is being charged via SuperVOOC or AirVOOC.

Former HTC CEO Peter Chou reveals his next project: a social 5G VR headset

XRSpace’s Mova is a hugely ambitious VR headset, at a time when the sector has struggled to truly breakthrough to the mainstream. The result is a new VR headset aimed at regular consumers with intuitiveness and a social-first approach.

Vivo explains the X50 Pro's gimbal-like camera stabilization

The main benefit of this micro gimbal camera is obviously the more powerful optical stabilization, especially when shooting videos in low-light conditions — the combination of the dual-axis micro gimbal and 3-axis electronic stabilization vastly reduces shakiness.

Dyson finally unveils its canceled electric car

Unlike other traditional car brands, Dyson doesn’t have a fleet of profitable gasoline cars and diesel cars to offset the “huge losses” on every electric vehicle made — each Dyson electric car would have needed to make £150,000 to break even, according to the entrepreneur.

Razer Opus is a set of noise-cancelling headphones with THX audio

Much like its cute Pikachu earbuds, Razer once again proves that it can make cool headphones without slapping three snakes and RGB onto them.

Fitbit will launch a 4G smartwatch for kids this year

A source close to the matter told Engadget that Fitbit will launch a kids smartwatch with 4G connectivity later this year, and to do so, it has acquired Hong Kong startup Doki Technologies, which made the world's first kids smartwatch with video calling.

OnePlus downsizes European teams to focus on key markets

Engadget reached out to OnePlus regarding the latest layoffs, and a spokesperson referred those as part of a “normal restructuring” in Europe in order to focus on key markets. Before this announcement, OnePlus had around 2,000 employees worldwide.

Royole's next foldable phone is much better at bending

When we spoke to Royole CEO Bill Liu back at CES 2019, we were told that his company's -- and the world's -- first foldable phone wouldn't be just a one-off. Today, the manufacturer finally unveiled the FlexPai 2, which is equipped with a tougher and more vibrant flexible display, along with a new robust hinge to keep everything together. More importantly, Royole claims to have reduced the crease that's all too common on existing foldable phones, partly thanks to its new material simulation model used throughout the development process.

Dyson Corrale hands-on

Oppo's first Android smartwatch borrows a lot from Apple

Something felt a little familiar about Xiaomi's Apple Watch clone when we first laid eyes on it a few months ago, but Oppo's first entry into the smartwatch space may have made us do a double take. The aptly-named Oppo Watch was announced alongside the Find X2 series in Beijing earlier today. It's an Android-powered wearable that runs on Qualcomm's Snapdragon Wear 2500 chipset, and for those who care, this comes with 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage. Much like the latest Apple Watches, Oppo's smartwatch lets you make phone calls via an eSIM, make payments via NFC (at least in China) and keep track of your vitals like heart rate, exercise performance, menstrual cycles and sleeping quality. The obvious missing feature here is the electrical heart sensor, meaning no electrocardiogram capability.

Oppo Find X2 Pro hands-on

Oppo's Find X2 Pro is a huge, high-spec phone to rival the Galaxy S20 Ultra

Even though Oppo isn't as well-known in the US, chances are you might have come across one of its recent tech demos. This is the brand that brought us the pop-up camera wedge, periscope-based 10x hybrid zoom, under-screen camera, waterfall screen and 65W fast charging, among other things. But when it comes to design, it was the company's Find X which first stood out with its super minimalistic appearance, courtesy of its hidden cameras. It was definitely a one-of-a-kind smartphone. So naturally, phone nerds such as myself have high expectations for its successor, the Find X2 Pro, which is pitched as an "all-round 5G flagship."

Vivo’s new concept phone comes with a 'gimbal camera'

Now that we're well into 2020, it's about time Vivo gave us its annual update on the APEX concept line which, in its past two generations, had given us a taste of what was to come in the smartphone world -- namely in-display fingerprint reader, pop-up selfie camera, near-buttonless design and more. In the case of this 5G-enabled APEX 2020, it's all about the cameras, display and wireless charging. Starting off with the 16-megapixel periscopic camera on the back, it offers a continuous optical zoom range of 5x to 7.5x. This breaks the previous 5x upper limit on the likes of the Huawei P30 Pro and the Oppo Reno 10x Zoom, and will likely produce results that are almost as good as, if not better than, the 10x hybrid zoom offered by both devices. What's more impressive is that this camera module is only 6.2mm thick, which is slimmer than the 6.76mm-thick component on the Reno 10x Zoom.

Realme's X50 Pro is a cheaper 5G flagship with super-fast charging

Realme may be the lesser-known spin-off from Oppo, but thanks to its aggressive pricing and the occasional collaborations with design icon Naoto Fukasawa, it's been doing quite well in Asia. And just last month, the company brought us the Realme X50 which happens to be the most affordable phone with a 120Hz display; not to mention that it's also a mid-range 5G device. So what's next? The Realme X50 Pro, of course. Unsurprisingly, the "Pro" here is mainly referring to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 chipset, which is the staple for practically all 5G flagships so far this year. This means the phone will connect to more 5G bands (including Europe and India, where it will also launch) to take full advantage of its 360-degree surround antenna. Likewise, you'll get to enjoy WiFi 6 connectivity here. Another bonus with this chipset is the speedy LPDDR5 RAM stacked on top of it, which ensures the phone will respond quicker in general.

Realme X50 Pro hands-on

HTC's Project Proton is a preview of its next-gen VR headsets

While HTC is betting its VR future on the modular Vive Cosmos for now, it's also been working on next-gen lightweight headsets, under the title "Project Proton," that CEO Yves Maitre said will resemble "really, really close to normal glasses." Well, judging by the renders we received, this is debatable, but these wearables certainly seem more compact than the current crop of VR devices. In a statement sent to Engadget, a company rep said "Project Proton is a prototype of a future XR glasses-style device from HTC Vive that we hope to hear feedback on from the community as we continue to work on the product." We have absolutely no info on specs, but Project Proton does confirm HTC's intention to shift focus to mixed reality use cases, as well as adding 5G connectivity -- be it internal or external -- to its future headsets.

HTC's expanded Vive Cosmos family may help lure more VR users

HTC's Vive Cosmos is positioned as a high-end VR kit that's easier to use, and we liked it, but one concern we had was its $699 price -- a notable jump from Oculus' $400 offerings, tethered or otherwise. The good news is that according to Engadget Chinese, the company plans to release a more affordable version dubbed Cosmos Play, along with the more advanced Cosmos Elite and the experimental Cosmos XR. Best of all, these variants share the same core headset, meaning Cosmos Play owners can later upgrade with other faceplates to suit their needs.