When your phone has a faster refresh rate than most monitors in the world: the XiaoMi Black Shark 2 Pro

[williamcll]

Following ZTE, Asus and Vivo, Mi has refreshed their gaming phone lineup with the Mi BlackShark 2 Pro, featuring currently the highest refresh rate monitor in the phone market. However it lacks a headphone jack or a card slot, and uses USB2 over USBC so expandability is limited. Also comes with exclusive Chinese E-sport team color versions.

 

Quote

Smartphone gaming is becoming increasingly popular and big names associated with PC gaming, including ASUS and Razer, have jumped the bandwagon and introduced their gaming smartphones in the recent years. The fad has also received significant attention from traditional smartphone companies like ZTE’s Nubia, entering the segment. At the same time, newer players like Black Shark have also been attracted towards the niche market and today, the company launches its mid-cycle iteration to the Black Shark 2 with improvements both in terms of the design and under the hood.

 

The first and major improvement to the Black Shark 2 Pro is its processor which makes it the second smartphone to be powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus mobile platform. Internally, the gaming smartphone sports 12GB RAM and the technology for the storage has been upgraded to UFS 3.0. The Black Shark 2 Pro comes with an upgraded back design for improved grips and two more RGB LED lights on the back placed on either side of the RGB-lit Black Shark logo at equal distance. black shark 2 pro black shark 2 pro Black Shark has improved the touch response of the 6.39-inch display which now has a touch latency of 34.7ms against the 43.5ms latency on the Black Shark 2. Additionally, there’s a minor upgrade in the secondary camera which is now a 13MP sensor instead of the 12MP sensor earlier. In terms of software, there aren’t many upgrades besides the new Black Space Dock 4.0 which is the company’s own game mode.

 

The Black Shark 2 gets a variety of designs and color options to choose from. Besides the traditional black-green and silver variants, the gaming beast will be available in three exciting and punchy Fantasy Edition colors. Additionally, there are three more color variants which the company in partnership with LNG Esports, which is a Chinese eSports team. Furthermore, there are some cool cases and bumpers to choose from.

 

The Black Shark 2 Pro goes on sale in China starting August 2nd and will only be available in two variants – 12GB/128GB and 12GB/256GB. Black Shark has made a major price cut in its portfolio and new gaming smartphone starts at CNY 2,999 (~$435) for the 12GB/128GB and CNY 3,999 (~$580) for the 12/256GB. Additionally, the company has introduced two gaming headsets, one of the in-ear type and the other, over-the-ear headphones. For now, the Black Shark 2 will be available in China but we may expect it to launch in India a few months later, just like its predecessor.

Chipset	Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus
Display	6.39-inch AMOLED at 1080 x 2340 pixels, 240hz refresh rate and input latency of  34.7ms, 430 nits peak and contrast ratio of 60000:1, 108.9% DCI-P3 colorspace
RAM	12GB LPDDR4X
Storage	128GB/256GB UFS3.0
Front Camera	20MP f/2.0
Rear Cameras	48MP f/1.75 + 13MP f/2.2
Cooling	Direct touch multilayer liquid cooling system AKA 2 heat pipes.
Battery	4,000mAh, 27W fast-charging
Security	In-display fingerprint scanner
Pricing	CNY 2,999 for the 12GB/128GB (~$435) and CNY 3,999 for the 12/256GB (~$580)

Source:
https://www.xda-developers.com/black-shark-2-pro-snapdragon-855-plus-12gb-ram-china/
https://item.mi.com/product/10000175.html
https://www.gsmarena.com/xiaomi_black_shark_2_pro-9779.php
https://www.price.com.hk/product.php?p=422678
 

Thoughts: Are there any games right now that can actually render up to 240fps? Probably not but I imagine regular browsing to me Smooth AF. My money is on the ROG phone 2 though, this phone has the same issues as the OnePlus 7 pro, makes me wonder if they fix it for their release on the upcoming 7T which got a leak recently.

[Jurrunio]

20 minutes ago, williamcll said:

input latency of  34.7ms

Nope nope nope

 

20 minutes ago, williamcll said:

4,000mAh

good luck in battery life

[williamcll]

9 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

Nope nope nope

 

good luck in battery life

It's not that bad to be honest:

Source: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWqSODoookc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oHGinQjt5c

 

[Jurrunio]

2 minutes ago, williamcll said:

It's not that bad to be honest:

https://displaylag.com/benq-zowie-xl2546-review-240hz-gaming-monitor/

 

like really, if your 240Hz panel's input lag is only as good as a 144Hz, then stick to using a 144Hz panel because it's better for the battery life. Yes, I think high refresh rate only made sense because input lag is reduced. 60Hz is plenty smooth for me, just not that fast.

[williamcll]

2 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

https://displaylag.com/benq-zowie-xl2546-review-240hz-gaming-monitor/

 

like really, if your 240Hz panel's input lag is only as good as a 144Hz, then stick to using a 144Hz panel because it's better for the battery life. Yes, I think high refresh rate only made sense because input lag is reduced. 60Hz is plenty smooth for me, just not that fast.

Well can you really compare PC latency to console/mobile ones? Input lag has never been a focus for cheap gaming products.

[SlimyPython]

Nice, though will games on the 855 ever reach that frame rate

[Jurrunio]

35 minutes ago, williamcll said:

Well can you really compare PC latency to console/mobile ones? Input lag has never been a focus for cheap gaming products.

If you still dont understand the battery life argument, I give up.

[Blademaster91]

This an interesting phone, but i'd still prefer the ROG Phone II because of the 6,000mAh battery.

[Master Disaster]

I love when reviewers spout a forced upgrade as a feature.

 

Google introduced UFS 3.0 as an optional feature with Pie and with 10 it is being forced, in other words if you want your device to run Android 10 then it has to support UFS 3.0.

 

Ftr UFS 3.0 makes rooting very difficult, afaik it's only been achieved on a single phone that uses UFS 3.0 and that's the Pixel 3 and even the the developer says you probably shouldn't use it because it's a very hacky solution.

[williamcll]

1 hour ago, Master Disaster said:

I love when reviewers spout a forced upgrade as a feature.

 

Google introduced UFS 3.0 as an optional feature with Pie and with 10 it is being forced, in other words if you want your device to run Android 10 then it has to support UFS 3.0.

 

Ftr UFS 3.0 makes rooting very difficult, afaik it's only been achieved on a single phone that uses UFS 3.0 and that's the Pixel 3 and even the the developer says you probably shouldn't use it because it's a very hacky solution.

OnePlus, Samsung and Asus would like to have a word with you

[Master Disaster]

28 minutes ago, williamcll said:

OnePlus, Samsung and Asus would like to have a word with you

And that has what to do with my post? Last time I checked none of those are running Android 10 and therefore would still be using UFS 2.0. Remember UFS 3.0 support is only optional on Pie, it will be mandatory on 10.

 

https://android.gadgethacks.com/how-to/root-your-pixel-3-android-10-0200295/

 

This is the basic gist of the changes, essentially Android 10 forces the use of logical partitions which can allow users to install custom ROMs on their devices without affecting the base ROM however it also means that editing the boot partion for root access is much more difficult.

 

It's possible on Pixel 3 and it's variants right now simply because they're the only phones that currently support Android 10.

 

Also I didn't say it was impossible anyway, I said it's much more difficult to achieve.

[williamcll]

2 minutes ago, Master Disaster said:

And that has what to do with my post? Last time I checked none of those are running Android 10 and therefore would still be using UFS 2.0. Remember UFS 3.0 support is only optional on Pie, it will be mandatory on 10.

 

https://android.gadgethacks.com/how-to/root-your-pixel-3-android-10-0200295/

 

This is the basic gist of the changes, essentially Android 10 forces the use of logical partitions which can allow users to install custom ROMs on their devices without affecting the base ROM however it also means that editing the boot partion for root access is much more difficult.

 

It's possible on Pixel 3 and it's variants right now simply because they're the only phones that currently support Android 10.

 

Also I didn't say it was impossible anyway, I said it's much more difficult to achieve.

Already done with Oneplus 7

[Doobeedoo]

Here we go, was wondering when someone will come with this on a phone hah. I mean cool and all pushing tech, but yeah taking advantage of it though.. 

[Trixanity]

4 hours ago, Jurrunio said:

If you still dont understand the battery life argument, I give up.

You don't seem to understand that touch latency isn't the same as panel latency.

[Master Disaster]

2 hours ago, williamcll said:

Already done with Oneplus 7

That would be a hacky workaround and again, I never said it was impossible, only much more difficult.

 

My main takeaway from that is the 1+ 7 already has Android 10?

[Jurrunio]

4 hours ago, Trixanity said:

You don't seem to understand that touch latency isn't the same as panel latency.

I talk input latency. Mouse or touch it doesnt matter

[Tech_Dreamer]

6" 430nits screen+ perf gaming chip & CPU pull, at peak performance how long can this thing run in terms of real world performance? i dont wanna phone that drains out in 20 minutes of gaming time.

[Crowbar]

Seriously who buys these phones?

 

Holding a hot 6 inch screen a foot from your face so you can see what's going on when you play games is a terrible experience.

 

Also, how many games will actually utilize that refresh rate?

[sowon]

They were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.

[Trixanity]

5 hours ago, Jurrunio said:

I talk input latency. Mouse or touch it doesnt matter

Why did you link a display review then?

[G00fySmiley]

4 hours ago, Crowbar said:

Seriously who buys these phones?

 

Holding a hot 6 inch screen a foot from your face so you can see what's going on when you play games is a terrible experience.

 

Also, how many games will actually utilize that refresh rate?

I have a Razer phone 2. the 120hz screen is great. several titles do actually use it, heck the razer site has a list of all the 120hz compatible games to sue... that said vs 60 fps on mobile its hard to see a huge difference. 

 

I do not hold it near my face but rather at a conformable arms length distance. It does get hot but takes about 20-30 min to get uncomfortable and even then I rarely hit that time as gaming usually only happens on it for a few min at a time when waiting for things like a dentist appointment or dr appointment (i have 3 kids so need to wait on lots of things like that)

[Jurrunio]

15 minutes ago, Trixanity said:

Why did you link a display review then?

because there is such test in it. Have you even read it from top to bottom? Tho the input lag test is somewhere in the middle

[2Buck]

240hz on a phone... WHAT'S THE POINT?? What games will it play? Can we focus on important shit like battery life already? "gaming phone" yeah that's cute.

[Trixanity]

2 hours ago, Jurrunio said:

because there is such test in it. Have you even read it from top to bottom? Tho the input lag test is somewhere in the middle

How, again, does the input lag of a display correlate with the latency of a capacitive touch layer in this instance?

 

What's even the point?

If the latency is accurate, then it's one of the lowest I've seen, so what exactly begs the criticism?

[Beskamir]

Dang this would be nice for VR, except the input latency is a bit large.