Even if you aren't familiar with Daniel Arsham, chances are you might have already come across his crystallized Pokémon sculptures. Fans can now get a similar makeover on a smartphone, by way of a collaboration between Xiaomi and the New York-based artist. The Xiaomi 12T Pro Daniel Arsham Edition features a faithful reproduction of the artist's iconic "fictional archaeology" vibe, which mainly consists of bronze crystals set in an eroded green patina. 

You won't find any protruding crystals on the phone, but the coating's printed gems and parts of the patina give off a convincing shine as you slowly tilt the device. Likewise, the software's matching theme comes with a live wallpaper that gently shifts according to the device's motion, in order to create a 3D illusion.

Xiaomi

Internally, the Xiaomi 12T Pro Daniel Arsham Edition is powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor, and it's maxed out with 12GB of RAM plus 256GB of storage. When we briefly played with the original model, we were intrigued by the results from the whopping 200-megapixel main camera. Like before, this package includes a 120W charger but in a matching dark green color, and it can apparently fully charge the phone's 5,000mAh battery in just 19 minutes.

The Xiaomi 12T Pro Daniel Arsham Edition is asking for 899 euros (about $930), and it'll be limited to just 2,000 units. These will only be available in Europe starting from December 16th, with Xiaomi and Highsnobiety taking online orders. If you happen to be in Berlin on launch day and the following day, you can also swing by the dedicated "Xiaomi x Daniel Arsham" pop-up store also.

If you're looking for an excuse to throw more cash at all things Diablo Immortal, ASUS has got your back. Following the ROG Phone 6 Batman Edition, the Taiwanese brand has since teamed up with Blizzard to bring us the ROG Phone 6 Diablo Immortal Edition, which is basically a specced-out ROG Phone 6 decorated with elements from the mobile game — both externally and internally, down to the notification sounds. In other words, you're getting a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor, 16 GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 512GB of UFS 3.1 storage, along with the ROG Phone series' signature AirTrigger 6 shoulder controls and front-facing stereo speakers. You'll be missing out on the 6 Pro's tiny screen on the back, but then again, there's plenty else for showing off here.

The ROG Phone 6 Diablo Immortal Edition features a "Hellfire Red" semi-matte finish on the back, which gives off a special flame effect when viewed at different angles. There's also an RGB-lit Diablo Immortal logo next to the game's titular demon, though I personally would have preferred some light trick on the Lord of Terror itself instead. Everything else — including the 65W charger and cable — remain the same.

ASUS

This wouldn't be a special edition phone if it didn't have matching accessories. In addition to the gold-colored "Immortality Ejector Pin" for the SIM tray, there's also a "Fahir's Light" UV torch for revealing hidden details on the Diablo-themed phone case. You can pull the same optical trick with the "Map of Sanctuary," though its real purpose is for wrapping the charger and cable — a handy bundle for travelling. The phone, case and pin are tucked inside a blood red "Worldstone" phone box, which is itself packaged alongside the map in a larger "Horadric Cube" box. Alas, much like the original ROG Phone 6, the Peltier-powered AeroActive Cooler 6 isn't included here — it'll cost you an extra $100.

The ROG Phone 6 Diablo Immortal Edition will be available on ASUS' online store from November 18, though it'll cost you $1,299 — that's $200 more than the regular version. For the same price, you can actually get a specced-out ROG Phone 6 Pro (with 18GB of RAM and 512GB of storage), but if you understood all the aforementioned Diablo references, then chances are you don't mind.

If you're lucky enough to track down a Steam Deck, chances are you've already experienced the sweaty palm syndrome with this handheld console — just as our very own Jess Conditt did in her review. Worse yet, the machine is prone to throttling or even crashing due to overheating, to the point where modders came up with their own creativesolutions. For the rest of us who don't want to void the warranty, though, Hong Kong-based Unitek is now offering the Cooler Dock Pro for Steam Deck. This is essentially Valve's official dock boosted with a thermoelectric cooler on the back, if you don't mind paying the extra $30.

Richard Lai/Engadget

Much like the official dock, Unitek's version cushions your Steam Deck — or any portable device, for that matter — with a strip of soft silicone, and there's a short USB-C cable dangling from the back for connecting to the console. The thermoelectric cooler, RGB-lit fan and metallic contact plate are all housed within a hinged module, which allows for minor tilt angle adjustment while supporting the Steam Deck.

The Cooler Dock Pro comes with a set of ports similar to those on Valve's dock, but with some placed at the front instead — the latter include two USB-A and one USB-C (up to 10Gbps), accompanied with two RGB lights. On the back, you get a USB-C PD socket (up to 100W passthrough), HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort 1.4 (up to 8K at 60Hz or 4K at 120Hz) and Gigabit LAN. It's worth noting that this dock supports Multi-Stream Transport i.e. daisy-chaining multiple monitors in the console's Linux desktop mode. If you want to use just the cooling function while on the go i.e. no displays nor accessories connected to the dock, you can simply plug a power bank into the 10W USB-C socket dedicated to the cooler.

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Unitek claims that while running Apex Legends, the Steam Deck's average surface temperature was around 46°C (114.8°F), but when used with the Cooling Dock Pro, this figure dropped down to 34.5°C (94.1°F) — falling within the recommended ambient temperature range. For a more extreme test, we ran Forza Horizon 5 on ultra graphics settings, in which case the Steam Deck would normally fail to start a race, but it managed to last for around six minutes on the Cooling Dock Pro. The company added that when lowered to high graphics settings, the game would crash after around 45 minutes of gameplay, but with its dock, it kept running even after an hour. Of course, your mileage may vary from one game to another, but it's more about prolonging your Steam Deck's lifespan.

The $119 Unitek Cooling Dock Pro is now available for pre-order, with shipments starting from around mid-December. There's also a cheaper $89 Cooling Dock for those who only need an HDMI 2.0 port (capped at 4K at 60Hz). It should be noted that there's no power supply included with either model (but they do come with a 2-meter 100W USB-C cable), while Valve's $89 official dock includes a 45W brick. Chances are you may already have a compatible power supply; Unitek recommends that you'll need 60W or above to get the most out of the Cooler Dock Pro.

The Xiaomi 12S Ultra surprised us with its 1-inch camera sensor and Leica co-branding back in July, but it turns out that the Chinese brand was working on something far more ambitious at the same time. Earlier today, the "Xiaomi 12S Ultra Concept Phone" was unveiled with an appearance almost identical to the namesake flagship device, but with a second 1-inch 50.3-megapixel sensor occupying the middle of the camera island instead. Let that sink in for a bit. Not only that, but this new sensor is designed to work with an interchangeable Leica M lens.

Xiaomi

Interestingly, Xiaomi has instead chosen to shield this additional 1-inch sensor — also a Sony IMX989 with 10-bit RAW support — underneath a large, circular piece of durable sapphire glass, as opposed to cutting out an opening for it as you'd find on traditional interchangeable lens cameras. While this would protect the sensor against dust and larger foreign objects, we do wonder how this extra layer of glass would affect the overall optical transmittance. But hey, better safe than sorry. 

Meanwhile, the 48-megapixel ultra-wide camera that was originally positioned in the middle of the camera island has been shifted to the side, taking up the space that once housed a 48-megapixel periscopic telephoto camera.

Agatha Tang

As shown in Xiaomi's video, in order to install an interchangeable lens onto this 5G concept phone, you must first unscrew the protection ring around the rear camera island, then by way of an adapter, you'll be able to mount any Leica M lens. As captured by a Xiaomi staffer in the above photo, the full assembly with a Leica Summilux-M 35mm f/1.4 ASPH lens looks rather impressive from the side. Previously, the closest thing to this intriguing combination would be one of those Yongnuo 4G-connected Android cameras (which never left China). Or you may travel further back in time and reminisce the good old days with the Samsung Galaxy NX.

Xiaomi

Xiaomi stopped short at saying whether the 12S Ultra Concept Phone will ever be mass produced. All we know is that this project was developed alongside the actual 12S Ultra, and in the end, only 10 units of the former were made. A few of those samples were seeded to some lucky influencers for some quick hands-on time, but with each unit costing around 300,000 yuan or about $41,210 to make, they better not drop them.

Over the years, we've seen smartphone charging speeds going from the already-impressive 30 minutes down to 15 minutes, but apparently that's still too slow for Xiaomi. In the new Redmi Note 12 lineup unveiled earlier today, one model dubbed "Redmi Note 12 Discovery Edition" stood out with a whopping 210W HyperCharge capability. This feature is controlled by three 100W fast charging chips, which fully charge the phone's 4,300mAh battery in just 9 minutes. To put things into perspective, both Xiaomi's earlier 120W HyperCharge and Oppo's 150W SuperVOOC need 15 minutes to juice up a 4,500mAh battery.

The Redmi Note 12 Discovery Edition also sees the debut of MediaTek's mid-range Dimensity 1080 processor, and it's completed with a 6.67-inch OLED screen (2,400 x 1,080, 120Hz), a 200MP main camera (Samsung's brand new HPX sensor; with OIS), an 8MP ultra-wide camera, a 2MP macro camera and a 16MP selfie camera. You'll also find dual-SIM slots, dual speakers, a 3.5mm headphone jack, an in-display fingerprint sensor, NFC, and an infrared blaster on this Android 12 device. 

As for RAM and storage, this model only comes with one combo: 8GB LPDDR4x RAM and 256GB UFS 2.2 storage. Unlike last year's Redmi Note 11 Pro+, microSD expansion is missing here, which may be a deterrent for those who are considering an upgrade. Still, not bad for 2,399 yuan or $330.

Xiaomi

Despite the name, the Redmi Note 12 Discovery Edition is actually based on the Redmi Note 12 Pro+, with the main difference being the lesser charging power (120W) but bigger battery (5,000mAh) for the latter. This model starts from 2,199 yuan or about $304, which comes with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage; or you can pay 2,399 yuan or around $331 to bump the RAM up to 12GB.

Then there's also the lesser but similar-looking Redmi Note 12 Pro, which swaps the 200MP main camera for a 50MP one (using Sony's IMX766 sensor), and it only uses 67W charging for the same 5,000mAh battery. This starts from 1,699 yuan or about $235, which gets you 6GB of RAM with 128GB of storage; and you can max out at 12GB of RAM with 256GB of storage for the price of 2,199 yuan or around $304 — the same as the Pro+'s starting price, interestingly.

Xiaomi

Last but not least, the Redmi Note 12 is positioned as an affordable smartphone, starting at 1,199 yuan or about $166. It packs a Qualcomm Snapdragon 4 Gen 1 chipset, a slightly lesser-grade OLED display of the same size (mainly lower brightness and contrast, as well as the lack of HDR support), less powerful cameras (48MP main, 2MP depth sensor and 8MP front), weaker charging power (33W) and just a mono speaker. In terms of variants, it starts from 4GB of RAM with 128GB of storage, going all the way up to 8GB with 256GB, respectively (1,699 yuan or around $235; same as the Note 12 Pro's base price).

As with recent Redmi phones, there's a good chance that these new models will make their way to international markets later, so we'll be keeping an eye out for further updates.

In addition to launching the 12T smartphone series today, Xiaomi also announced that its Robot Vacuum X10+ — which debuted in China back in April — is now headed to Europe. This is the company's most versatile robot vacuum to date: Not only can it vacuum with 4,000Pa suction and mop with pressurized dual rotating pads, but with its base station, it can automatically empty its trash, refill its water tank, wash its mops and dry them with heat as well. All told, the robot vacuum itself should require little maintenance; you'll just need to refill the base station's water reservoir and empty its waste water tank and dust bin from time to time.

This isn't the first time Xiaomi released a robot vacuum with both mop-cleaning and mop-drying features; it did so for the Chinese market almost a year ago. With other models, you'd have to detach and wash the mop yourself which, let's be honest, isn't the most pleasant job in the world. Even if you think the mop looks fine after each run, chances are it would eventually become smelly due to the moisture encouraging fungal growth. That's obviously not good.

Xiaomi

The X10+ solves this problem with its multi-functional base station. When docked, the two mops will be cleaned by rotating wet brushes underneath, followed by a two-hour, low-heat drying session. Basically, you'll likely never have to touch the mops until you need to replace them due to wear and tear. Additionally, the X10+ can detect carpets using its ultrasonic sensors, at which point it'll automatically lift its mops.

Like its predecessors, the X10+ uses LDS (laser distance sensor) for indoor mapping and navigation. It's also equipped with Xiaomi's very own "S-Cross AI" system — some software trick combined with the machine's dual-line laser and RGB camera — to recognize the types of objects ahead, in order to estimate the suitable clearance distance for each of them. Say you have a weighing scale in your living room — the X10+ will keep a distance of 2cm to 4cm from it just in case. As for general furniture pieces like coffee table or couch, the robot can go right up to them to perform its usual tasks. For those who are concerned about adding yet another camera to their private space, Xiaomi applied for a TÜV Rheinland Cybersecurity and Privacy Protection Standard Certificate for its X10+.

The Xiaomi Robot Vacuum X10+ will be available across Europe starting at 899 euros (about $900). Compared to the $1,099 Roomba Combo j7+ which is also shipping today, Xiaomi certainly has a price advantage, especially considering that barely of the competition is offering both self-cleaning and self-drying features on their mopping robots, let alone combining these with automatic dust bin emptying.

After debuting its first Leica-branded smartphones — including its super slim foldable phone — in China, Xiaomi is finally switching back to international mode with new flagships. The Xiaomi 12T series is comprised of two models, with the 12T Pro using Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor and being the world's second phone to pack a 200-megapixel camera. The 12T, meanwhile, utilizes MediaTek's Dimensity 8100-Ultra processor along with a 108-megapixel main camera.

Much like the Motorola Edge 30 Ultra (aka X30 Pro in China), Xiaomi's 12T Pro uses Samsung's ISOCELL HP1 sensor to capture 200-megapixel stills. While it's not as small as the more recent ISOCELL HP3, the HP1 is still able to offer features like 2x in-sensor zoom, 4-in-1 pixel binning to mimick 1.28um pixel sites for better sensitivity and 16-in-1 super pixel binning to simulate even bigger 2.56um pixel sites for dark environments. Should you choose to shoot in "Ultra HD" mode for 200-megapixel outputs, you can let the AI-powered "Xiaomi ProCut" tool to analyze those shots and suggest ideal compositions.

Additionally, this main camera has optical stabilization, and it's also capable of motion tracking focus, eye tracking focus, 8K video recording and HDR10+ video recording. The other shooters on the 12T Pro include an 8-megapixel ultra-wide camera (f/2.2, 120-degree field of view), a 2-megapixel f/2.2 macro camera and a 20-megapixel f/2.24 punch-hole selfie camera on the other side of the phone. It's the same list of cameras for the slightly more affordable 12T, except for the less powerful108-megapixel main camera powered by Samsung's ISOCELL HM6 sensor.

Richard Lai/Engadget

Oddly, there's no Leica branding here. Engadget reached out to Xiaomi on this matter, to which a rep replied: "While Leica is a partner in our strategic imagery upgrade, they won't necessarily contribute to every device." Presumably, the Leica collaboration is currently limited to Xiaomi's China-only phones, namely the Mix Fold 2 and the three models in the 12S series.

Both the 12T Pro and 12T have the same 6.67-inch AMOLED screen, with a sharp resolution of 2,712 x 1,220 (446ppi) at an aspect ratio of 20:9. You get an adaptive 120Hz refresh rate, with up to 480Hz touch sampling rate for better scrolling and gaming. The 12T Pro's display comes with a few additional features, including Dolby Vision, adaptive HDR, adaptive reading mode and SGS Low Visual Fatigue Certification.

The 5,000mAh battery in both 12T models supports 120W fast charging, which apparently takes just 19 minutes to go from zero to 100 percent; and don't worry, the charger and cable are included in the box. As with most flagship phones, the 12T series pack stereo speakers which support Dolby Atmos, though only the 12T Pro's have Harman Kardon tuning. Other features include NFC, Bluetooth (5.2 on the 12T Pro, 5.3 on the 12T) and infrared remote. With the Android 12-based 12T series, Xiaomi is guaranteeing three years of Android OS updates along with four years of security patches.

The 12T series will be available in three colors: blue, black and silver. The 12T Pro starts at 749 euros (around $740) with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, and the 12T starts at 599 euros (around $590) with the same configuration. Some regions may get up to 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, but one thing's for sure: Xiaomi has already confirmed that neither phone will be headed to the US. The nearest they'll come to the lower 48 will be Mexico, by way of Walmart and AT&T.

If you had been using Instagram's Android app in the past hour or so, you might have noticed that an error had been causing it to crash seconds after launching, rendering it almost unusable. You weren't alone: users from multiple regions flooded Twitter with complaints about this phenomenon. According to Downdetector, this bug first appeared around 12:44PM EDT today (September 23rd) — roughly matching the time when this author also started scratching head over the seemingly random crashes. At the time of writing this article, there were still fresh tweets grumbling about this issue.

A Meta representative confirmed to famed software engineer Jane Wong that the company is aware of the outage and it's working to restoring service "as quickly as possible." While this bug appeared to be exclusive to Instagram's Android app, Wong told Engadget that the iOS counterpart was also loading very slowly for her, indicating a backend issue.

At present, users who are able to open the app have noted limited functionality, including an inability to access Reels or DMs. We'll be monitoring the situation as service gradually resumes, and will update if Meta provides additional details on what went wrong.

Update 9/22/22 2:29PM EDT: Meta says Instagram is back to normal as of 2:25PM EDT, though it stopped short at sharing what went wrong. We will share more if we hear back.

After the launch of the ROG Phone 6 Pro gaming phone, some hardcore fans were left wondering what happened to the "Ultimate" variant. As it turns out, ASUS waited for over two months before unveiling its "one more thing": the ROG Phone 6D Ultimate. It's identical to the 6 Pro in almost every way, except for four things: the new "space gray" color, the interesting choice of the MediaTek Dimensity 9000+ processor (which is what the "D" in "6D" stands for), the switch to the faster LPDDR5X RAM, and the new "AeroActive Portal" design for blowing cool air into its internal heat-dissipation fins — I'll abbreviate this as heatsink from here onwards.

The AeroActive Portal itself is essentially a door flap that opens when the bundled AeroActive Cooler 6 is attached, so that a portion of the cool wind produced by the fan — at nearly 1,000cc per second — is guided through a wind tunnel and into the heatsink, with hot air coming out from the top slot. The heatsink is, of course, linked to the generously sized thermal layers covering the logic board and battery cells, in order to transfer heat from the components to the airflow. This is to help sustain a high frame rate over a longer period while gaming, as well as to ensure the phone is still comfortable to hold.

Richard Lai/Engadget

ASUS claimed that after 60 minutes of Perfdog benchmarking on Genshin Impact at 60Hz in air cooling mode, the ROG Phone 6D reached 36.9°C (98.42°F), which was 3.4°C lower than the ROG Phone 6 in the same mode. It appears that the AeroActive Portal does make a notable difference. Likewise in "Frosty" and "Frozen" modes (with the Peltier thermoelectric cooling chip enabled), and it's worth noting that the AeroActive Cooler 6 is the only Peltier-enabled cooler in the market that doesn't require additional power externally — it only needs that for the more powerful "Frozen" mode.

While the AeroActive Portal only kicks in when an AeroActive Cooler 6 is attached, you can open it temporarily in settings for cleaning purposes. The flap is otherwise shut tight to safeguard the phone's IPX4 splash resistance. It also has fall detection for automatically retracting the flap, and the stepping motor along with the zirconium alloy hinge are apparently good for over 40,000 flips — both of which are based on the learnings from the now-retired Flip Camera feature from the Zenfone series.

ASUS

The 6D Ultimate packs the same set of key features as the 6 Pro: 165Hz 6.78-inch AMOLED display, 720Hz touch sampling rate, up to 512GB of storage, 6,000mAh battery, 65W fast charging (42 minutes), Dirac-tuned front-facing stereo speakers, ultrasonic "AirTiggers" and a customizable "ROG Vision" color display on the back. It's also the same set of cameras: a 50-megapixel main camera with Sony's IMX766 sensor, a 13-megapixel ultra-wide camera plus a 5-megapixel macro camera; and on the front, there's a 12-megapixel selfie camera with a Sony IMX663 sensor.

For the processor, ASUS made the surprise switch to MediaTek for its Dimensity 9000+ processor, which apparently scores a tad higher than the ROG Phone 6's Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1. The company added that while the Snapdragon flagship chipset packs a better GPU, the Dimensity's CPU is allegedly 10 percent more powerful (albeit with the same 3.2GHz maximum clock speed), and this is more crucial to most mobile games. The CPU is complemented by the faster LPDDR5X RAM as well, though this is the same reason as to why this is capped at 16GB instead of 18GB here.

ASUS

The ROG Phone 6D Ultimate will be available across Europe very soon, with the sole model (16GB RAM with 512GB storage) priced at €1,399 (around $1,400) or £1,199. Again, this premium model comes bundled with an AeroActive Cooler 6. There's also the ROG Phone 6D launching alongside, which is basically the ROG Phone 6 but packing MediaTek's chipset and LPDDR5X RAM instead (also, it's just an RGB logo instead of an ROG Vision screen on the back; and no AeroActive Portal, of course). This starts from €949 (around $950) or £799 with the 12GB RAM plus 256GB storage base model.

It's unclear what Insta360 has been feeding its team lately, but so far, the company has somehow managed to release one new product almost every month since March. It's an interesting mix, too: its modular action cam refresh, a 360-camera drone attachment, a 6K 360 camera with 1-inch sensors and, most recently, a gimbal webcam. Today, after almost two years since the One X2, Insta360 is finally updating its flagship all-in-one 360 camera with the aptly-named X3, with the main differences being the enlarged sensors, touchscreen and battery, among other bits of goodies.

The Insta360 X3 (sans the "One" sub-brand moving forward) continues to carry the candy bar form factor, and like its predecessor, it's waterproof down to 33ft or 10m out of the box. That said, it's worth reminding that you'll still need the optional dive case with special optics, in order to capture stills or footage underwater. The X3 is also a little chunkier, mainly due to its larger removable 1,800mAh battery — a notable jump from the old 1,630mAh. Another contributing factor to the extra weight is the full-grown 2.29-inch rectangular touchscreen with tempered glass, which replaces the old circular display for easier viewing and control. This is complemented with two additional glove-friendly physical buttons: one for toggling a customizable "Quick Menu" to access your shooting presets, and one for quickly toggling between 360 mode and single-lens mode.

Richard Lai/Engadget

Like before, the X3 outputs 360 videos at a 5.7K resolution with "FlowState Stabilization" and direction focus audio, but this time it benefits from its larger 1/2-inch 48-megapixel sensors — same as the one on the recent Link gimbal webcam, in fact — for improved image quality. Also new is support for active HDR when recording 360 videos, which is one step up from the X2's normal HDR mode. As for 360 stills, you can output at a massive 72-megapixel resolution instead of the usual 18, but you can only do so via the Insta360 Studio desktop software. 

Insta360 added some new shooting modes as well, with the most notable one being "Me Mode" for directly capturing "flat" selfie videos (1080p@60fps) with the selfie stick already rendered invisible. This saves you the trouble of reframing a 360 footage before you can output a "flat" video like the olden days. But of course, there's no stopping you from using "Deep Track 2.0" (manual target selection) or "Auto Frame" (AI-selected highlights), if you insist on capturing everything in 360 degrees just in case. Not to mention the app's Shot Lab feature which offers more than 30 cool effects for you to experiment with.

Another new feature is 8K 360 timelapse which is apparently a highly requested feature, along with a new 4K option for the single-lens mode (but you can dial down to 2.7K for the wide 170-degree field of view). These two require good lighting condition to work properly, though. Last but not least, there's now a "Loop Recording" mode which essentially turns your X3 into a 360 dashcam (say, for motorcyclists), and it only keeps, at maximum, the last 30 minutes of footage.

The Insta360 X3 is available now for $450, which is a little pricier than the X2 but still more affordable than the $800, prosumer-grade One RS 1-inch 360 Edition.