Well look at that, no sooner does Oppo announce a compact foldable than Huawei is on its heels, with the Huawei P50 Pocket.

In an unconventional unveiling, Harper’s Bazaar China posted a series of photos showing the Huawei P50 Pocket with actress Guan Xiaotong holding and using the folded device. 

• The inside of the phone wasn’t shown but we did get a peek at the rear camera housing, and rounded external display which can be used for selfies, and the gold color scheme.
• Another tease posted yesterday revealed a textured finish on the back. 
• With the golds and whites on offer here, plus featuring in a fashion magazine, it could be described as a more feminine marketing approach from Huawei here, which is how Samsung positioned the Flip as well, though it appealed to me (a simple man) pretty strongly when I held it.
• The Huawei Flip Huawei P50 Pocket doesn’t give much else away but we do now have an official launch date: December 23.

Hmm:

• Huawei’s compromised position means we’ll probably never get our hands on the P50 Pocket, given its likely limits to a China-only launch. 
• And even if you did, no Google Mobile Services, limited to 4G, and so on.
• That doesn’t stop us wondering about what may be though, and again, competition and other ideas in the market is a good thing.
• But Oppo’s launch in China of its Find N was more exciting this week because of its ability to offer what we’re used to if it ever comes to Europe, India, and so on.
• Anyway, we’ll know about specs, build, and that internal screen, next week.

📁 Hands-on with the Oppo Find N (Android Authority).

👉 The Dimensity 9000 will land inside Oppo Find X, Redmi K50 phones (Android Authority).

🔇 OnePlus Nord 2 CE renders leak: Don’t expect an alert slider here (Android Authority).

👍 Samsung Galaxy Tab A8 is official: A good tablet with plenty of storage (Android Authority).

😬 The most underrated phones of 2021 (Android Authority).

⛅ Google really wanted Pixel phone owners to know about a storm in the Philippines (Android Authority).

🍎 LG possibly developing three new Apple displays, including Pro Display XDR with Apple Silicon chip (MacRumors).

🔊 Sony Glass Sound speaker Review: Lavish, weird (The Verge).

⚡ New York City bans new natural gas hookups in step toward all-electric future (Ars Technica).

📈 Reddit files with the SEC to go public on number of shares to be offered, and the price range has yet to be determined (Engadget).

🎁 The death of Reddit’s Secret Santa is a loss for all of us (FT, $).

🧀 21 things that made the world a better place in 2021, including that grate news that cheese isn’t bad (Wired).

☀ The Parker Solar Probe dipped into the Sun’s corona: Here’s what it’s like (wow) (Twitter).

🔔 Here, a collection of app notification sounds that’ll make you seem very important on calls (busysimulator).

🤔 “ELI5: How do some websites hijack my back button and keep me on their site until I’ve hit back two or three times?” (r/explainlikeimfive)

This is a little different but the film You’ve Got Mail came out this week back in 1998, a December 18 release. As Wikipedia bluntly puts it: “It tells the story of two people in an online romance who are unaware they are also business rivals,” featuring Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks.

• Some elements just haven’t changed: Hanks has an IBM ThinkPad 300, while Ryan uses an Apple Powerbook Classic.
• I mean, now people might meet with an iPhone and a Samsung Galaxy, but if people were writing dating emails like they’re 150 years old, a Mac and a PC laptop might still be the brands in use.
• Also, Starbucks, back then, was an up-and-comer.
• AOL, though? Less relevant now, you might say.
• There’s a cute little writeup of why You’ve Got Mail is now dated but in a fun way over at SlashFilms. It also reveals Hanks and Ryan were trained to use computers and email by… Kevin Feige. Yes, the president of Marvel Studios, Kevin Feige.

Cheers,

Tristan Rayner, Senior Editor.