Pixel 8a, OLED iPad Pros, M4 iPad Airs official, Week 19 in review

Week 19 is over, let’s recap the top stories of the past seven days.

Google unveiled the Pixel 8a with a fresh new Aloe color. It’s a phone with less squared-off edges and more rounded corners. It’s IP67-rated and packs Gorilla Glass 3 upfront. It covers a 6.1-inch 1080p display with a 120Hz refresh rate. You get a 64MP f/1.89 main camera, and a 13MP f/2.2 ultrawide, and a 13MP f/2.2 selfie camera. Rounding up the specs is a Tensor G3 with 8GB of RAM and a 4,492mAh battery.

The Pixel 8a is priced at $499 / €549 / INR 52,999 for the 128GB model and $559 / €609 / INR 59,999 for the 256GB model. Units will ship on May 14.

Apple unveiled the new M4 chipset, and it powers the new OLED-equipped 11 and 13-inch iPad Pros. Apple also unveiled the M2-powered 11 and new 13-inch iPad Air.

The iPad Pros were the highlight of the show. They’re the thinnest Apple tablets ever at 5.3mm for the 11-inch and a whopping 5.1mm for the bigger 13 incher. These are also the first OLED-equipped iPads, but it gets more interesting – these are “tande OLED displays” – meaning two OLED panels layered on top of each other for sublime brightness – 1,000 nits full-screen brightness for SDR content and a 1,600 peak for HDR content.

Apple also unveiled its Pro stylus – the Apple Pencil Pro. It has a new sensor that senses how hard you squeeze the stylus, which can be used to trigger actions (e.g. for quickly changing tool settings while drawing). Squeeze gestures will be confirmed by a custom haptic engine. Also, the Pencil Pro connects to the Find My network, so you can track it down if you lose it.

The 2024 Apple iPad Pros are available online in 29 countries starting today and in Apple stores from May 15.

Yet another classic Nokia phone received a modernized look with the new Nokia 3210. While the naming is based on the Nokia 3210 from 1999, the new device looks more in line with the recently unveiled Nokia 6310 (2024). The phone has Bluetooth 5.0 and you also get a 3.5mm headphone jack, FM radio, and the fan-favorite Snake game. Nokia 3210 (2024) comes in Grunge black, Y2K gold, and Subba blue colors. Pricing is set at €80.

Vivo announced the launch date for the X100 Ultra and the X100s and X100s Pro – May 13 in China. A leak detailed the trio’s battery and display specs – the X100 Ultra will have a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, a V3 imaging chip, 100W wired charging, 30W wireless charging, and a 5,400mAh battery. The X100s gets a MediaTek Dimensity 9300+, a V2 chip, and a 5,100mAh battery with 100W wired charging. The X100s Pro ups the ante with a V3 imaging chip, and the same battery and charging as the Ultra.