Xiaomi’s 13 Pro is an early look at 2023’s flagship phones

Xiaomi’s 13 series flagship smartphones are here, and as usual, they’re loaded with the latest technology and features. With the 13 and 13 Pro, Xiaomi is the second manufacturer to use Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 platform, following Vivo with the X90 Pro and IQOO 11 series. They also have new camera modules with improved image quality, ultra-fast charging and more. 

As with the previous models, the Xiaomi 13 and 13 Pro have separate designs. The 13 Pro uses a wrap-around 6.73-inch 2K+ AMOLED screen (3,200 x 1,400) with vegan leather or ceramic back versions. Meanwhile, the 13 has a flat 6.36-inch 2,400 x 1,080 AMOLED display, iPhone-like aluminum sides and either glass or leather back options. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 mobile platform offers hardware accelerated ray-tracing and improved gaming performance, so both phones have 120Hz displays to keep up.

Xiaomi's 13 Pro packs a 1-inch camera sensor and Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor
Xiaomi

The Xiaomi 13 Pro has top-flight camera specs, too. It packs a 50-megapixel (MP) f/1.9 main camera with a Type 1-inch sensor (like other Type 1-inch sensors it’s really only 8.8 x 13.2mm, but still significantly larger than with most smartphones). It also includes a 50MP 3.2 zoom camera (75mm equivalent) with optical image stabilization (OIS) and a floating lens, as pictured above. Finally, it has a 50MP f/2.2 ultra-wide camera (14mm equivalent), and 32MP punch-hole selfie cam. 

The Xiaomi 13 (below), meanwhile, has the same selfie camera, a 50MP f/1.8 OIS main camera with a smaller sensor, a 10MP 3.2x zoom OIS zoom camera and a 12-megapixel ultra-wide (15mm equivalent) camera.

Xiaomi's 13 Pro packs a 1-inch camera sensor and Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor
Xiaomi 13
Xiaomi

The 13 Pro offers impressive 120W charging (more than many laptops), bringing the 4,820mAh battery from zero to a 100 percent charge in just 19 minutes. That’s fast, but still significantly slower than Redmi’s Note 12 Discovery Edition. Wireless charging happens at “just” 50 watts, or 36 minutes to a full charge. The Xiaomi 13, has a slightly smaller 4,500 mAh battery and is limited to 67W wired charging (38 minutes to 100 percent) and 50W wireless charging (48 minutes to a full charge). 

Other features include LPDDR5X RAM and UFS 4.0 storage on both models (8GB and 128GB up to 12GB and 512GB on both models), Dolby Atmos on the Pro model and Leica camera tech. For the latter, Xiaomi and Leica built a color model based on 4,700 scenes, presumably allowing for improved accuracy. Prices start at 4,999 yuan ($720) for the Xiaomi 13 Pro and 3,999 yuan ($570) for the Xiaomi 13. Those are seriously good prices for such high spec phones, but as usual, you likely won’t be able to buy them in North America. 

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NASA’s Artemis 1 Moon mission has returned to Earth

NASA’s Artemis 1 mission has returned to Earth following a successful trip around the Moon. On Saturday, at approximately 12:40PM ET, the uncrewed Orion vessel landed off the coast of Baja, California, completing a nearly 26-day journey that saw the spacecraft break an Apollo flight record and send back stunning photos of Earth’s natural satellite

On its way to the Pacific Ocean, Orion performed what’s known as a skip entry. After entering the Earth’s upper atmosphere, the crew vessel briefly used its own lift to “skip” back out before re-entering for the final descent. In doing so, it became the first spacecraft designed to carry humans to carry out such a maneuver. 

“This is an extraordinary day,” Administrator Bill Nelson said during the NASA livestream. “… It’s one that marks new technology, a whole new breed of astronaut, a vision for the future that captures the DNA of particularly Americans — although we do this as an international venture — and that DNA is we are adventures, we are explorers, we always have a frontier, and that frontier is to now continue exploring the heavens.”     

Now that Orion has safely returned to Earth, NASA will begin assessing all the data that the spacecraft collected on its 1.4 million-mile journey through space and begin preparing for Artemis II. That mission, currently scheduled for 2024, will see human astronauts fly aboard the Orion spacecraft. Then, as early as 2025 or 2026, NASA hopes to carry out its first lunar landing since the end of the Apollo program in 1972. It could take the US Navy up to five hours to recover the Orion spacecraft, though a preliminary inspection from a helicopter indicated the capsule was undamaged. 

Getting here wasn’t easy. NASA’s next-generation Space Launch System gave the agency plenty of headaches before it successfully carried Artemis 1 to space on November 16th. NASA spent much of the summer troubleshooting fuel leaks and engine problems. Come fall, Hurricane Ian and later tropical storm Nicole further delayed the launch of Artemis 1, but after all of that was said and done, the SLS produced one of the most memorable rocket launches in decades. A nighttime flight saw the rocket lit up the Kennedy Space Center.         

More broadly, the conclusion of Artemis 1 caps off one of NASA’s most successful years in recent memory. Among other achievements, 2022 saw the James Webb Space Telescope begin operation and start producing stunning images of the cosmos, and the DART spacecraft successfully alter the orbit of an asteroid. Now the agency turns its attention to the Moon and beyond.   

Watch NASA’s Artemis 1 splashdown here, starting at 11AM ET

After 25 days in space, Orion is about to conclude its uncrewed test run to the Moon. The Artemis 1 mission will draw to a close when the NASA spacecraft splashes down in the Pacific Ocean close to Guadalupe Island, which is 130 nautical miles off the coast of Baja California. Orion is scheduled to hit the water at around 12:40PM ET. NASA’s livestream will start at 11AM and continue after splashdown as a recovery team picks up the capsule. You’ll be able to watch the stream below.

NASA chose the landing trajectory and splashdown site so as not to pose a threat to people, land or shipping lanes. Just before re-entry, Orion and the European Service Module will separate, with the latter burning up in Earth’s atmosphere.

The crew mobile will carry out a skip entry technique to ensure it accurately arrives at the designated landing site. Orion will edge into the upper part of the atmosphere, then use that and its own lift to “skip” back out before re-entering for the final descent. The atmosphere will reduce Orion’s speed to 325MPH and the 11 parachutes will eventually slow it to a splashdown speed of 20MPH or less.

After multiple delays, Artemis 1 launched on November 15th as a precursor to the first crewed mission to the Moon in over 50 years. After carrying out a flyby in which it got as close as 80 miles to the lunar surface, Orion went into a distant retrograde orbit around the Moon. That allowed NASA to test various systems while minimizing fuel consumption — Orion’s cameras took some gorgeous pictures while it was out there too. The spacecraft left the Moon’s gravitational pull on December 6th as it made its way home.

Twitter Blue will relaunch on Monday with an $11 per month price tag on iOS

Following an unsuccessful first attempt at paid account verification, Twitter will start rolling out its revamped Blue subscription on December 12th, the company announced on Saturday. Twitter originally launched Blue verification for iOS devices in early November for $8 per month, but the company paused the rollout after the platform was overrun by verified trolls. On Saturday, the company also confirmed the service will cost $11 per month when users subscribe directly through its iOS. On the web, where Apple’s 30 percent commission on in-app purchases doesn’t apply, the subscription will cost $8 per month, as previously announced. 

Additionally, the company says it has implemented new measures to prevent a repeat of what happened last month. To start, users who want to display a blue checkmark on their profile will need to register with a phone number after subscribing to the service. Twitter adds subscribers can change their handle, display name and profile photo after obtaining verified status, but the company will temporarily take away their blue checkmark while it reviews their account again. “We’ve added a review step before applying a blue checkmark to an account as one of our new steps to combat impersonation (which is against the Twitter Rules,” said Twitter product manager Esther Crawford in a separate thread

As before, Twitter says Blue subscribers will get access to a handful of other features later, including the ability to post longer videos and see fewer ads. In the meantime, other Twitter Blue perks include the ability to edit tweets and upload 1080p videos.       

Next week will also see Twitter begin rolling out the new gold and grey checkmarks Elon Musk announced on November 25th, starting with the former for businesses. Later in the week, the company plans to begin rolling out the latter to government and “multilateral” accounts. The designators will replace the “official” label the company briefly experimented with after launching paid account verification. 

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