There is an immediately obvious use case for the rugged Tank 3 Pro and its 23,800mAh battery — it would do well as a camping companion. But even then, it might be a little overkill because the enormous battery (which features 120W fast charging), rear LED light, and rugged IP68-certified design aren’t the only standout features.

For starters, it’s also packing a 200MP main camera sensor among the five on offer. There’s also a 50MP wide-angle sensor, an 8MP telephoto sensor, and a 64MP night vision sensor. Another 50MP sensor handles front-facing hole-punch selfie shots. A high megapixel count doesn’t guarantee great snaps, but it’s great for bragging rights.

When a smartphone and a power bank love each other very much…

The most interesting feature of the Tank 3 Pro isn’t something we’ve seen many phones do before. It’s got a built-in 100 lumens 120Hz DLP (digital light processing) projector that even has an adjustable focus. It’s perfect for impromptu outdoor sales pitches or ‘camping’ indoors while your load is being shed.

The regular smartphone bits are worth mentioning too. There’s a large 6.79in FHD display that will manage up to 120Hz refresh rate. A MediaTek Dimensity 8200 SoC powers everything, helped by a generous 16GB or 18GB of physical RAM and 512GB of storage. If that somehow isn’t enough, it supports up to 2TB with a memory card.

For wireless connectivity, expect 5G, Wi-Fi 6, and Bluetooth 5.3 support.

Finally, a 40m laser rangefinder lives inside for… doing stuff like this…

Don’t expect to find the Tank 3 Pro on local shelves but if you’re serious about picking one up, it’s listed on the official AliExpress 8849 store for a respectable R11,300 before shipping and import fees.

Teetering on the good end of ‘mid-range’, the C67 is Realme’s latest smartphone to land on South Africa’s shelves. It’ll fetch R7,500 or R400/m if you pick it up on an MTN contract. Customers under the Vodacom umbrella will have to wait until April, unfortunately.

No fakers here

If you asked Realme, they’d tell you this is a great smartphone for “trendsetters everywhere”. If you asked us, we’d tell you it seems like a great smartphone for anyone sporting less than five digits in their bank account although we’ll need to get our hands on one to confirm that. It certainly helps that the C67 features one of the largest main camera sensors you can get in a mid-range device, clocking in at 108MP. The Snapdragon 685 processor, 8GB of RAM and up to 256GB storage specs aren’t shabby, either.

One downside of this particular Qualcomm chip is the lack of 5G support. It’ll hit those 4G notes just fine, but in a land where 2G and 3G are on the chopping block, we’d have liked to see a tad more support included.

It might lack the gaming chops necessary to run PUGB Mobile at the highest settings, but less-intensive titles will benefit from the C67’s 90Hz on offer from the 6.72in LCD display.

Read More: The Realme C51 smartphone is new in South Africa and wants your budget bucks

Realme’s blown most of the budget to get the C67’s camera spec into triple-digit territory. In turn, the accompanying macro and selfie shooters took a minor hit, brandishing 2MP and 8Mp sensors respectively. It might be worth familiarising yourself better with the phone’s other end for an Instagram-worthy post.

The second most notable feature is the 5,000mAh battery lodged inside. Not only does it put the C67 on par with Samsung’s finest, but it actually beats the Galaxy S24 and S24+ with its 33W charging capabilities. Whether the on-paper victories translate into real-world usage remains to be seen. But for R7,500 we doubt there’ll be many complaints.

While the Magic V2 isn’t exactly new — it launched in China in July last year — it could still prove disruptive to the local foldable smartphone market. When it lands, it’ll claim the title of being the thinnest and lightest folding smartphone in the country against Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Huawei’s Mate X3.

The Magic 6 Pro, on the other hand, is entirely new and was only recently announced at MWC last month. Honor has Samsung’s Galaxy S24 Ultra in its sights as the only other phone available in the country (so far) with on-device AI capabilities. Both devices also feature pretty respectable spec sheets.

Honor brings fresh Magic V2 to SA

Being slightly older, the Magic V2 sports last year’s flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 5G chipset with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. It might not be new but that chipset still offers impressive performance. Although, we’re eager to see how Honor handles the heat in the Magic V2’s remarkably thin and light chassis — we’re talking 156.7 x 145.4 x 4.7 mm unfolded and 156.7 x 74.1 x 9.9 mm folded while only weighing 231g.

The folding internal OLED display measures 7.92in with a 2,156 x 2,344 resolution. It uses LTPO (Low-temperature polycrystalline oxide) tech meaning it can vary its refresh rate, reducing it to save battery and increasing it up to 120Hz for buttery smooth scrolling or gaming. The Magic V2 also features a 6.43in LTPO OLED cover screen with a 1,060 x 2,376 resolution and HDR10+ support.

The Magic 6 Pro packs an equally impressive 6.8in LTPO OLED screen with a reported max brightness of 5,000 nits — that’s only just shy of the Sun’s 1.6 billion nits but certainly the brightness display you can get here. Behind the panel sits the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset along with 12GB of RAM and 512GB storage options.

Honor’s marketing is making a big fuss about the Magic 6 Pro’s camera performance. It houses two 50MP sensors — one of which will use a variable aperture — along with a 180MP sensor behind a periscope telephoto lens. Up front, you’ll find another 50MP selfie cam and a TOF (time-of-flight) sensor for depth and biometrics.

The Magic V2 isn’t as focused on snapping pics but that doesn’t mean it won’t be capable. It also houses two 50MP sensors along with a 20MP telephoto shooter around back and a 16MP selfie cam.

When it comes to portable power, the Magic V2 uses Silicon-Carbon (Si-Ca) in its 5,00mAh battery, instead of the traditional Lithium-Iron Phosphate (Li-Po) used in most modern smartphones, and uses Honor’s 66W SuperCharge tech for refilling. The Magic 6 Pro packs a 5,600mAh battery which is based on the same Silicon-Carbon tech in the Magic V2 and will support charging at 100W wired and 66W wireless.

The Magic V2 and Magic 6 Pro will officially launch in SA next week. We’ll need to wait until then to find out when the devices will be available for purchase, although we don’t think it will be too long after the launch.

In other words; this is the South Korean’s mid-ranger portfolio, garnering a few thousand less than even the most basic S24 out there. But we’ll get into all the pricing later. South Africa doesn’t yet have official pricing, but we’ve got some rough European currencies to convert until that happens. It’s already turning up in some South African stores, however, with Vodacom leading the pack. Only on contract, though, at R540/m.

It’s a hard Knox life

As usual, Samsung’s Galaxy A55 and Galaxy A35 were some of the worst-kept industry secrets we’ve yet seen. We’ve already had our eye on the specs and even the devices themselves for some time now — but you can never be too careful around leaks. Best to wait for Samsung’s official say-so. Well, there we go.

The ringleader is the Galaxy A55, occupying a more premium end of the mid-range spectrum, closely followed by the budget-friendly Galaxy A35. Samsung’s thrown in a fair few upgrades this year — none that’ll have you Circling to Search — but a refurbished display and major security upgrades should be enough to make you forget about Galaxy AI.

The big differentiator for the A-series this year is the inclusion of Knox and Knox Vault — a first for the mid-range series. That’s where you’ll store your more secret passwords and biometrics “by constructing a secure execution environment that is physically isolated from the system’s main processor and memory.” Not a bad shout, Samsung.

Speccy gits

Both devices look about as Samsung as anything can, and, according to GSMArena, employ glass on both the front (duh) and the back of the devices — a first in the A-series. The A55 specifically uses Gorilla Glass Victus+ on both ends, while the A35 only gets a front coating. There’s no word yet on what glass will be found at the back.

That Gorilla coating protects the phones’ 6.6in FHD+ Super AMOLED displays that refresh at 120Hz on both devices. But aside from the shared 5,000mAh battery, that’s where the similarities end.

Inside, the A55 is sporting the Exynos 1480 SoC, and has the Xclipse 530 GPU to handle the other stuff. You’ll have a choice of 8GB or 12GB of RAM and 128 or 256GB of storage. Next, the A35’s Exynos 1380 processor, prominent in last year’s A54, supports 6GB or 8GB of RAM.

The A55’s rear shooter is a triple-sensor affair, bringing in a 50MP main camera, a 12MP ultrawide sensor, and a 5MP Macro. Flip it ’round and you’ll have a 32MP front-facer for selfies. The A35 mimics the A55’s main sensor and 5MP Macro lens, swapping out the ultrawide for a weaker 8MP sensor and a 13MP on its front end.

Samsung’s set the to €480 (roughly R9,800) for the 8/128GB model and €530 (R10,800) for the 8/256GB version. The 12/256GB A55 price has yet to be announced. The A35 will fetch €380 (R7,750) for the 6/128GB specs and only goes as high as €450 (R9,200) for the 8/256GB.

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MTN, one of the leading mobile network operators on the continent, saw this move coming and has already positioned itself as a leader in the mobile video streaming market through exclusive partnerships with Showmax and Disney+.

“Live TV is like a train. You have to be at the station at a particular time and if you miss out it’s gone,” said Jason Probert, MTN South Africa’s general manager of digital services.

MTN brings affordable streaming to your pocket

MTN is moving beyond the old entertainment model – where customers had to adapt around the service – by adapting its services to suit the needs of its customers. Partnerships with streaming platforms like Showmax and Disney+ are another step toward MTN’s streaming vision.

These partnerships now mean MTN customers can enjoy a host of ad-free mobile on-demand video streaming services that cover a wide array of the best local and international content, as well as all 380 football matches of the English Premier League – and that’s not even the best part.

Thanks to its exclusive partnership, MTN customers won’t have to fork out hundreds of rands a month just to watch some footy. The Showmax Premier League LivePass includes mobile streaming access to the Premier League games and enough mobile data to stream them all live for just R79/m.

“At MTN, we are committed to providing all our customers with the opportunity to enjoy the benefits of a modern connected life. Our partnership with Showmax marks a significant leap forward in this journey, giving our customers the ability to access the world’s most popular sports league at an incredibly affordable price while enjoying access to the best network in South Africa,” said Probert.

Now Listen: Streaming over mobile is the new entertainment, with MTN’s Jason Probert

One of the biggest barriers to any mobile-focused streaming service is the cost of data. With its new Showmax partnership, MTN is offering a worry-free streaming experience by providing customers with the mobile data they need already included in their package.

If the Premier League isn’t what you’re after, or you’re looking for more payment flexibility, MTN also offers a weekly Showmax Entertainment mobile package which includes 1GB of video streaming data for just R19/w.

You can sign up for MTN’s mobile-focused Showmax packages in a variety of ways. Premier League lovers can sign up through a web browser here, via the MTN app downloaded from Apple’s App Store or Google’s Play Store, or by dialling *123# from their MTN number and selecting the ‘video’ option.

These aren’t the first Galaxy A35 rumours to surface. In early January, AndroidHeadlines gave us what appeared to be a real peek at the device’s official renders ahead of Samsung’s official unveiling. Which, according to the leaks old and new, should be happening in the middle of March.

The Galaxy A35 Mid-ranger for mid-March

The report reckons we’re in for all the usual upgrades to the camera array and processor, but don’t expect the display to follow suit. It’s keeping a firm grip on last year’s A34 tech, which means a 6.6in Full HD+ Super AMOLED display rocking a 120Hz refresh rate. Oh, and it’ll be shrouded by the same IP67 rating we saw last time ’round, so water and dust will be mostly kept at bay.

The 5,000mAh battery and 25W charging may be returning but there’ll be differences elsewhere. If the rumours are true, the A35 will feature that Exynos 1380 chipset that you might recognize from the higher-end A54. It’ll be paired up with two memory solutions; a 6GB/128GB option, or the more expensive 8GB/256GB. If that isn’t enough, there’s space for a microSD in there somewhere.

A 50MP shooter is headlining the A35’s rear end, up from 48MP, but it’ll be joined by the same 8MP- and 5MP- sensors for ultrawide and macro capabilities, respectively. Around the front is a 13MP selfie camera baked into the display’s punch hole notch — another change from the A34’s waterdrop notch.

Read More: Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra review – The return of Ultra, man

It’s undergoing a slight revamp in the looks department, sticking with the overall flatter look Samsung devices have been sporting for a while now. There’s no word yet on what sort of material it’ll be encased in, but the leaks are pointing toward a 209g weight and 161.7 x 78 x 8.2mm measurements.

While last year’s A34 may have launched with a R7,400 price tag, Samsung South Africa’s store is currently listing the device for R8,000. AndroidHeadlines is noting a €389 (R8,100) starting price for the 6GB/128GB model and €459 (R9,500) for the 8GB/256GB model. Expect Samsung to attach similar pricing in SA, with all the usual tax and import fees tacked on.

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Firstly, make sure the phone you’re setting up is either brand new or a properly formatted hand-me-down or secondhand phone. Either way, there are a few steps to follow that’ll streamline the setup process.

Step 1: Preparing for setup

Before diving into the setup process, it’s vital you go out and gather everything you need.

Back up your old phone: Start by backing up your old phone to ensure a smooth transition to your new one. Luckily, this part is pretty straightforward. Use Google’s backup feature to save your contacts, calendars, text messages and other essential data. Navigate to Settings > System > Backup (or Settings > Accounts and backup > Backup and restore for Samsung Galaxy phones) to initiate the backup.

Gather necessary items: Have your SIM card (or eSIM activation details), Wi-Fi network information, and Google account credentials ready. Additionally, if you plan to transfer data from your old phone, a USB-C to USB-C cable will come in handy.

Step 2: Okay, it’s time

Now that you’re prepared, let’s get started with setting up your new Android phone.

Insert SIM card and power on: Insert your SIM card into the new phone and power it on. Follow the on-screen instructions to select your region and language, connect to Wi-Fi, and sign in with your Google account details. That last step isn’t strictly required straight away but it could save you a few headaches later on.

Set up security features: It’s always a good idea to enhance the security of your device by setting up a screen lock method, such as a PIN, pattern or biometric authentication (fingerprint or facial recognition). While you’re at it, consider enabling your preferred electronic payment method, like Google Pay, Samsung Pay, or any of the other locally supported systems.

Restore backup: If you didn’t do it earlier, sign in with your Google account to restore data from your backup. This includes contacts, calendars, app settings and more. During this process, you’ll have the option to choose which data to restore.

Step 3: Post-setup details

After completing the initial setup, don’t forget these important post-setup tasks.

Update system and apps: Ensure your device is up to date by checking for system updates in Settings > System > System update. Additionally, head to the Play Store to update your apps, ensuring you have access to the latest features and security patches.

Add other accounts: Integrate additional accounts, such as social media, email, and cloud storage accounts, to your device for easy access. Navigate to Settings > Accounts (or Passwords & accounts) > Add account to add new accounts.

Step 4: Personalisation and Customisation

Configure Google Assistant: Maximise the capabilities of Google Assistant by customising its settings. Access Assistant settings by saying “Hey Google, open Assistant settings” or navigating to Settings > Google > Search, Assistant and Voice > Google Assistant.

Explore additional customisation options: Delve into the settings menu to explore customisation options such as home screen layout, display settings, and notification preferences. Android offers a wide range of customisation possibilities, so feel free to go mad here and really make the phone your own.

Read More: Exploring the walled garden: First-time iPhone setup tips

Step 5: Explore advanced Android features

Now that your phone is set up, take some time to explore advanced features and tips to enhance your Android experience.

Utilise gestures and shortcuts: Familiarise yourself with gesture controls and shortcuts to navigate your phone more efficiently. From swipe gestures to app shortcuts, mastering these features can significantly improve your productivity — even if that’s just reordering your apps so you don’t have to swipe and scroll to look for it.

Explore built-in apps and services: Take advantage of the built-in apps and services offered by Android, such as Google Photos, Google Drive and Google Maps. These apps seamlessly integrate with your device, offering powerful features for managing photos, files, and navigation.

Discover accessibility features: Explore accessibility features designed to make your phone more accessible to users with disabilities. From screen readers to magnification gestures, Android provides a range of accessibility options to accommodate diverse needs.

That turned out to be the Honor X9b, a follow-up to that scrappy mid-ranger we had a good time with about a year ago. It’s (almost) everything a sequel should be; improved specs, a new letter in the name, a much larger battery, and a minimum price jump – coming in at a R13,000 (or cheaper if you know where to look). Oh, and it does come in black. Whew.

Like Clockwork (Orange)

If you’ve seen our review for the X9a, you’ve already got a good idea of what to expect from this younger sibling. Honor doesn’t like to fiddle where it’s not needed, so despite a shade like a forgotten toffee, the familiar design didn’t bother us at all.

The X9b is surprisingly light. Honor’s added 10g to the weight of the last model but at 185g, complaints are few and far between. It’s a bit thicker, but Honor’s managed to keep it from exceeding the 8mm mark (though only just), so it gets a pass.

Unfortunately, the best bit of our review model’s design — the vegan-leather backing that so excellently defends against fingerprints (and doubles as a conversation starter) — is exclusive to the Sunrise Orange hue we landed up with. It’s not a big deal, though. The included see-through cover rendered the discussion almost moot — meaning you won’t get a good feel of that leather-like backing anyway.

Surrounding those smooth metal edges are all the bits you’d expect. USB-C has the charging handled, parked right next to the SIM slot and singular speaker that proved to be quite lonely. The right-hand side is where you’ll find the volume rocker and power button. The IR blaster is the only blemish to the X9b’s minimal top rail.

Goodluck breaking this

Honor’s made quite a splash where the X9b’s display is concerned. We aren’t talking about the curved-edge display that returns for another round but rather the X9b’s launch event, where a crowd of people were instructed to try to break it. It doesn’t matter how tough your screen is. When there’s a R25,000 prize up for grabs, folks will find a way.

Break it they did but it still took a good three hours of constant drops, hits from a miniature wrecking ball, and shots of paintballs so it should survive the occasional drop without issues. Underneath the tough glass protection sits a 6.78in FHD+ AMOLED screen featuring a 120Hz refresh rate and 1,200 nits of peak brightness.

That refresh rate came in handy once we got to gaming, but we’ll sing those praises a little louder once we get round to the internals. The display played its part well; we didn’t notice any stuttering when loading up PUBG Mobile’s “Ultra” framerate setting or aimlessly scrolling around the OS.

If only the screen’s colour reproduction had us feeling as affectionate – often leaving the darker bits of the screen in the shadows despite the AMOLED tech — most noticeable during a late-night YouTube session. It didn’t bother us, but if Game of Thrones season 8 is your go-to mobile entertainment, it’s something to consider.

Chasing the Snapdragon

To keep the budget down, Honor shoved in Qualcomm’s octa-core Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 which proves to be a competent daily driver. It can’t compete with the flagship chipsets but those are usually more than double the price. The older entry-level chip means you won’t find any on-device AI capabilities, Honor’s saving those for its own flagship devices. Still, the X9b handles itself well considering its price bracket.

Our model showed up donning 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage – but you’ll regularly hear Honor touting 20GB of RAM here thanks to what it calls ‘Honor RAM Turbo’. The idea isn’t new but it’s supposedly in place to expand the device’s reach and make multitasking quicker. The X9b didn’t put up a struggle trying to multitask games and apps, but how much of that was down to the ‘RAM Turbo’… we can’t say.

Pair those specs with the Adreno A710 GPU and you’ve got yourself a nifty little gamer. We’ve already said PUBG Mobile behaved better than expected, but that was the case across the board. Marvel Snap might not seem like a difficult game to wring good performance out of, but bump the settings up and watch it struggle elsewhere. It did just fine here, even if the battery took a hit during longer stints.

Speaking of which, the 5,800mAh battery was superb, managing to provide around a day and a half’s worth of life before whining about it. Long gaming sessions bring that number down, but confine your usage to mundane tasks and you’ll net 36 hours easily.

The X9b’s not a very feature-packed phone (see the R13,000 price tag), but the few it does include work (almost) flawlessly. Only rarely did we have to jam our finger back on the display fingerprint sensor to get a correct reading and the face unlock worked rain or shine, day and night. Audio quality is where things begin to fall apart. It’s passable for scrolling socials but the lack of bass made almost any music sound hollow and thin. You’ll want to keep your wireless headphones within reach.

Enter the Matrix

Honor proves that bigger doesn’t always mean better. If you can get past the absolutely mahoosive three-camera array taking up a lot of the phone’s rear, you’ll find a 108MP main sensor doing all the heavy lifting, with a 5MP ultrawide, and 2MP Macro lens thrown in.

You’ll get some half-decent shots that hold onto a good amount of detail — as long as you’re blessed with rays or the right lighting. Thrust it under the moonlight (or say, a cloud) and the images soften up on you, blurring the edges. Flipping to night mode can help — but it applies an artificial-looking filter on top of it all that we weren’t particularly fond of.

Expect similar performance from the 5MP ultrawide sensor, though images here tend to lean on the side of grainy. It’s ‘good enough’ for a R13,000 phone, but we’d advise throwing a few filters at those images before posting to Instagram. We had more luck with the 2MP macro lens, but it’ll take some fiddling to get right. Super macro mode was probably the best of the bunch, but it’ll need some very up-close subjects before it spits out anything detailed.

Honor X9b verdict

Hollywood, take notes. This right here is how you do a sequel. It retains what we loved about the first — in this case that mid-range price, decent 120Hz AMOLED display, and great body — and improves on the rest where it can. That’s evidenced by the impressive 5,800mAh battery and overall upgrade to the processor that makes this such an excellent daily driver and occasional gamer. It’s not faultless (looking at you, camera and speaker) but they’re much easier to overlook with that R13,000 RRP. Now just to get rid of that orange, man…

The Power Max P18K had one notable feature to thank for its thickness around the middle — an 18,000mAh battery. The Hard Case P28K, if you’re good at extrapolating numbers, has a similar feature. A 28,000mAh battery adorns its back, offering at least a week of uptime.

 A real Hard Case P28K

There’s little practical benefit for this smartphone to exist. As with other Energizer phones, it’s more of a marketing exercise to grab a few headlines for Avenir Telecom, the device’s creator. In that, it has succeeded but we’re also sure there are a few folks out there willing to stick more than half a kilo of smartphone in their pocket.

The 28,000mAh battery is also the reason why the P28K is almost 3cm thick but the 122-hour talk time (almost five days of consecutive phone calls), the weight, and thickness are where the remarkable features end. The other specs are less impressive.

There’s a 6.78in display, a MediaTek MT6789 Helio G99 processor, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage, as well as a triple camera array around back. GSMArena reckons there’s a 60MP main sensor backed by 20MP and 2MP secondaries in there, with a 16MP front-facer. The massive battery will arrive with a 33W charge speed (which isn’t great) and the phone will drop at a R5,200 price point. Expect a bit of a markup (but perhaps not much of one) when/if it launches here.

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Right now, the Galaxy S24 is a must for anyone looking to wield an AI-touting Samsung. Until March, that is, when Samsung will extend Galaxy AI to the S23, Fold, Flip and even some tablets as part of the One UI 6.1 update. Did we mention that it’ll be free, too? At least, until 2025. But we’ll worry about that when we get there.

Galaxy S23 for the win

And before you ask, no. The only way that S10 or something similar you’ve been holding onto will see AI is if you become acquainted with Spotify’s DJ. If you’re looking for ‘proper’ AI, however, you’ll have to go through one of the phones (or tablets) on the list.

“Our goal with Galaxy AI is not only to pioneer a new era of mobile AI but also to empower users by making AI more accessible,” said TM Roh, President and Head of Mobile eXperience Business at Samsung Electronics.

“This is only the beginning of Galaxy AI, as we plan to bring the experience to over 100 million Galaxy users within 2024 and continue to innovate ways to harness the unlimited possibilities of mobile AI.”

Those include the entire S23 line-up (including the S23 FE), Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Flip 5, as well as the Tab S9, S9 Plus, and S9 Ultra. The S24 series is obviously included, but we’re talking about grabbing these features at a reduced price. Samsung’s announcement doesn’t specify when the One UI 6.1 update will arrive, though we know it’ll be at the “end of March.”

Read More: Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra review – Samsung’s best but the gap is narrower than ever

Those devices aren’t being shorted, either. They’ll be getting the full AI treatment — like we saw on the S24 Ultra — when the time comes, meaning Circle to Search, generative edit, live translations, and smarter notes.

If you’ve become numb to the world’s favourite buzzword and would rather avoid any sort of artificial intelligence altogether, that’s also an option. You’ll need to head to Settings > Advanced Features > Advanced Intelligence and toggle each item off.