Gadgets round-up March 3: Google Pixel 8 update, OnePlus Watch 2 review, Redmi A3 features

1. Google Pixel 8 series wins best smartphone at the Mobile World Congress 2024: Google Pixel 8 Series won the ‘Best Smartphone’ award, for Google's “outstanding performance, innovation and leadership,” according to the GSMA. The Pixel 8 beat stiff competition from phones like the iPhone 15 series and the OnePlus Open. Indeed, Apple had been winning this award for the last two years: the iPhone 14 Pro was last year’s winner while the iPhone 13 Pro Max won the same award in 2022.

Also at MWC 2024, Qualcomm took home the ‘Breakthrough Device Innovation’ award for its new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset.

2. OnePlus Watch 2 review: OnePlus Watch 2 takes design inspiration from the distinctive K-shape design of the OnePlus 12 series. Both the round watch face and the 2.5D sapphire crystal cover are welcome design features. The smartwatch integrates the latest version of Google’s Wear OS with its own custom OS. Meaning you can use apps like Google Maps and Assistant while the heart of the watch is OnePlus’ Dual-Engine architecture with two different flagship chipsets (Snapdragon W5 performance chipset and the BES 2700 MCU Efficiency chipset).

The One Plus Watch 2 comes in Black Steel and Radiant Steel and starts at Rs 24,999.