Several smartphone OEMs have launched their gaming smartphones this week. ASUS launched its ROG phone 3, Lenovo unveiled Lenovo Legion Phone Duel and Nubia came up with Red Magic 5S. Xiaomi adds one more phone in the market for gamers. The Black Shark 3S has launched in China as Xiaomi’s latest gaming smartphone in partnership with Tencent Games. The Black Shark 3S is an upgrade to Black Shark 3. Let’s take a look at updates and features it provides.
Overview
Display and Design
Starting with the display, it features a 6.67” AMOLED display with 1080×2400 pixel resolution and 20:9 aspect ratio. It comes with 120Hz refresh rate which is the biggest upgrade over 90Hz mode in its predecessor. Similarly, it ha 270Hz touch sampling rate and 17ms touch response rate. Further, the display offers 500 nits of brightness, 105% DCI-P3 coverage and a 3rd generation MEMC.
The handset has identical design as it predecessor. That means the phone has symmetric triangular module for rear camera and magnetic charging pins.
Camera
Talking about rear camera, it has three of them and hasn’t change. The camera modules are 64MP main shooter with f/1.8 aperture teamed with 13MP ultra-wide lens and 5MP depth shooter. For selfie and video calling, there’s a 20MP front camera on the top bezels.
Performance
Moving on, the handset is power by same old Snapdragon 865, while almost all the latest gaming phones were powered by Snapdragon 865+. The smartphone packs 12GB LPDDR5 RAM and UFS 3.1 storage. There are three storage configuration: 128GB, 256GB and 512GB.
Software
The smartphone boots on latest Android skin – Joy UI 12. Along with the new software various new features are added. The screen pressure 4.0 for 3D touch controls which can be mapped to different action. Black Shark Moment 3.0 allows game recording and editing. Voice control 2.0 allows users to adjust setting using voice command while in game. For instance, recording screen without taking hands off the controls while gaming.
The latest Joy UI 12 software comes with Game barrage to control notifications while gaming. You can create game macros to trigger several action in sequence.
Furthermore, the software comes with screen mirroring. It lets you to cast the device’s screen on a larger display. This mode will run at 60 fps with a delay of just 40ms.
Battery and Miscellaneous
The 4,720mAh battery fuels the device which charges at 65W over the USB-C connector. There’s also magnetic adapter that can charge at 18W simultaneously. The handset includes in display fingerprint sensor as security measure.
Xiaomi also unveiled couple of new gaming accessories. Black Shark Gamepad 3, Black Shark Gaming Finger Gloves, and an attachment that adds physical shoulder keys to the device.
Black Shark 3S Specifications
- Body: 168.7 x 77.3 x 10.4 mm, 222 g
- Display: 6.67 inches, AMOLED, 120Hz, HDR10+, 500 nits (typ)
- Resolution: 1080 x 2400 pixels, 20:9 ratio
- Refresh Rate: 120Hz
- Processor: Qualcomm SM8250 Snapdragon 865 5G (7 nm+)
- CPU: Octa-core (1×2.84 GHz Kryo 585 & 3×2.42 GHz Kryo 585 & 4×1.80 GHz Kryo 585)
- GPU: Adreno 650
- Storage & RAM: 128GB 12GB RAM, 256GB 12GB RAM
- OS: Android 100
- Rear Camera:
- Triple Camera:
- Primary: 64 MP, f/1.8, 26mm (wide), 1/1.72″, 0.8µm, PDAF
- Ultrawide: 13 MP, f/2.3, 120˚
- Depth; 5 MP, f/2.2
- Triple Camera:
- Front Camera: 20 MP, f/2.0, (wide), 1/3″, 0.9µm
- Video Resolution:
- Rear: 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60/240fps, 720p@1920fps
- Front: 1080p@30fps
- Audio: Stereo speakers, 3.5mm headphone jack
- Security: Fingerprint (under display, ultrasonic), Software based Face Unlock
- Connectivity: 4G LTE, dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS (A-GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, QZSS, BDS), NFC, USB Type-C 2.0
- Battery: Li-Po 4729 mAh
- Charging:
- Fast charging 65W
- Magnetic charging 18W
- Colors: Sky Cloud Black, Crystal Blue
Black Shark 3S Price in Nepal and Availability
The Black Shark 3S comes in two colors: Skyfall Black and Crystal Blue. The handset is up for pre order in China and are ready to ship out on August 4. The 128GB variant costs CNY 4,000, the 256GB model costs CNY 4,299 and 512GB variant costs CNY 4,799.
And the sad news, we don’t have any news of the Xiaomi Black Shark 3S launch in Nepal. If it makes to Nepalese market the Black Shark 3S will be priced at around Rs. 80,000.
