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Is the Asus Zenfone 11 Ultra waterproof?
Learn the difference between water-resistant, waterproof, and safe from water jets
The Zenfone 11 Ultra is a new addition to Asus' excellent small phone selection, alongside its ROG gaming phone and (hopefully) its small-form-factor Zenfone 10. It has impressive hardware, an excellent display, a big battery, and lightning-fast charging, among other powerful and convenient features. One surprising thing is this flagship's rare headphone jack. Additional ports can theoretically make a phone vulnerable to moisture, which raises a question. How well does the Zenfone 11 Ultra resist water?
Samsung fined $9.6 million over misleading waterproofing claims
The company learns the difference between 'waterproof' and 'water-resistant' the hard way
How much attention do you pay to your phone's waterproofing? You may know that it carries an "IP" rating, but just how much protection does that confer? Some phones can handle a splash or two, while others can tolerate full immersion — and users aren't always aware of the difference between water-resistant and waterproof. Ideally, smartphone manufacturers would do their best to educate shoppers about all these distinctions, but now Samsung is finding itself in hot water (no pun intended) over a misleading marketing campaign that gave users the impression their phones were more water-resistant than they actually are.
App claims to test your phone's water resistance without a plunge
It uses a phone's barometric sensor to test internal IP seals
Android developers are the best. Watch them for long enough, and they'll come up with tools that you didn't even know were possible. For example, this little app claims it can tell you whether the water-resistant seals in your phone are still intact. Water Resistance Tester is a free download in the Play Store.
The OnePlus 8T was announced today, and T-Mobile is the only carrier that will sell it in the US. This time around, T-Mobile's model gets a "+" stuck to the end of the name. It turns out that the T-Mobile model will come with IP68 certification, something that the unlocked model does not boast.
Sony's sporty WF-SP800N wireless earbuds are water resistant and support ANC
Yet another true wireless option in Sony’s roster
Sony may have announced and discontinued a zillion truly wireless earphones since the category’s inception, but it seems nowhere close to being content. Each of its newer pairs uses a slightly different combination of the company’s proprietary sound and noise-canceling tech than the previous model and calls it a day. The latest to join the company's portfolio are the WF-SP800N earbuds that sit closer to the premium WF-1000XM3 — both in terms of features and price.This pair borrows a lot of features from its higher-end sibling; the biggest one of all is digital noise cancellation and the Ambient Sound Mode. The former is pretty self explanatory, and the latter has made its way into recent Sony headphones to help keep you aware of your surroundings. On top of that, Adaptive Sound Control automatically tinkers with ambient sound setting based on your current activity and location, if saved in the companion app.[EMBED_YT]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKNluxnSmF8[/EMBED_YT]Sony’s WF-SP800N are high-end earbuds that are IP55 rated to survive your workout sessions. Each earbud can receive an individual audio stream from the source device, has touch controls, and lets you talk with your phone’s voice assistant. Sony claims that with noise-canceling turned off, these earbuds can last for an impressive 13 hours, with the case providing juice for another round. And with ANC turned on, the battery life drops to 9 hours, which is still quite decent. Plus, a quick 10-minute top-up can last you an hour.Sony has priced the pair at $200, even though they’re supposed to succeed the older $130 WF-SP700N. The manufacturer’s highest-end WF-1000XM3, on the other hand, officially cost $230, though they lack any kind of splash resistance. You can pick the WF-SP800N up in shades of black, white, blue, and orange from BestBuy and Amazon right away.Source: Sony (1), (2)Buy: BestBuy, Amazon
The OnePlus 8 Pro is the company's first IP68 water-resistant smartphone
Not the OnePlus 8 — just the 8 Pro
The evolution of OnePlus's brand has seen it move from strong, cut-price smartphones to full-on flagship phones for only somewhat less than a typical flagship. Along the way, it has been able to afford more of the little things: flourishes in industrial design, global carrier partnerships, even advanced biometric and camera technology. With the OnePlus 8 Pro, the company now has brought another new thing at the table: an official IP rating for dust and water resistance.
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Samsung has a solid lineup of rugged smartphones, but they usually get sidelined by their myriad of mainstream, lifestyle peers. Something similar happened when it revealed a brand-new adventure-ready phone on the hush-hush in Finland alongside four new Galaxy A and Lite models. The Galaxy XCover Pro appears to come packed with a bunch of rugged features making it sturdy yet usable in rough environments.
Samsung began calling its flagship Galaxy phones "water-proof" or "water-resistant" with the Galaxy S7 series, which received an IP68 rating, meaning it should be okay to submerge it into up to five feet deep water for a maximum of 30 minutes. That hasn't stopped the company from aggressively marketing its phones as great devices to use at the pool or on the beach ever since, without actually covering any water damage under warranty. The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) disapproves of these "misleading advertisements" and is taking the Korean company to court over them.
LG may not have the perfect track record when it comes to things like strength (or reliability), but it really looks like they're doing everything they can to turn that impression around with the new G6. They've just released a new promotional video demonstrating the device's durability in humorous but obviously controlled circumstances.
LG's next flagship, the appropriately-named LG G6, will be revealed at Mobile World Congress next month. In the G6's latest (and possibly intentional) leak, CNET reports that the phone will have a Snapdragon 821 processor as well as feature Google Assistant.
Unlike some other flagship phones, Google's Pixel and Pixel XL are not officially water-resistant - their Ingress Protection rating is a mere 53, much less capable than some Samsung and Motorola designs. If you're left feeling a little exposed, LifeProof has a case to sell you. Previously only available on the manufacturer website, the FRĒ series of cases are now being sold on the Google Store alongside the phones themselves. The good news is that the cases have an IP68 rating, meaning they're dust-proof and submersible for up to two hours in 2 meters of water. The bad news is that the cases cost $89.95, for either the Pixel or Pixel XL.
