Technologies

I Tested a Low-Cost Phone With One of the Biggest Batteries We’ve Seen Yet

The Realme P4 Power introduces a 10,001mAh battery to a mass market product without any noticeable flaws.

Silicon-carbon batteries have been leading phones to eyebrow-raising battery life, and the Realme P4 Power includes one of the biggest batteries we’ve seen in a phone. It’s setting an even higher benchmark with a 10,001mAh battery. By comparison, this is double the capacity we see in more mainstream phones like the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra, which includes a 5,000mAh battery.

The Realme phone surpasses what we’ve seen in other phones with this type of battery, including the OnePlus 15‘s 7,300mAh battery and the RedMagic 11 Pro‘s 7,500mAh battery. Phones with batteries of this scale provide up to two days of use and often have faster charging speeds to go with it.

The Realme P4 Power is currently available in India — it’s unlikely to ever come to the US — but despite its chart-topping battery capacity, it’s relatively inexpensive at INR 25,999, or approximately $285. It’s just a little bigger than the 10,000mAh battery in the Honor Win, which I got to try out last year but didn’t get extended time in order to really test it out.

That’s why I was excited to put my SIM into the Realme P4 Power, during which I was able to test this phone through all of CNET’s battery tests, use it as my primary device and even as a power bank for my iPhone along the way.

All that battery without any major drawbacks

The best part about the Realme P4 Power is that it doesn’t sacrifice comfort for additional battery capacity. It isn’t a slim and light phone but at 9.1mm thick and 219g weight, it is lighter than some big flagship phones, including the iPhone 17 Pro Max and Google Pixel 10 Pro XL.

Realme’s TransView Design has a translucent look around the camera module, which accentuates its «Power» branding. I like this distinct design and in-hand feel. It has curved corners as well as slight curves on the back that make it easy to hold. (Please take note, Samsung.)

The Realme P4 Power has a plastic back and frame, while the front is protected by Gorilla Glass 7i. It is also rated for durability with IP66, IP68 and IP69 dust- and water-resistance ratings. This means, it can survive freshwater submersion and high-pressure water jets and is also protected against small dust particles.

On the front, you get a 6.8-inch AMOLED display with a 2,800×1,280-pixel resolution, 144Hz refresh rate, 1,800 nits brightness and 6,500 nits peak brightness for HDR-supported content. Like many phones, you have to manually set it to a higher resolution and refresh rate to take advantage of these features.

I had no issues with the screen, and using a curved panel after a long time was a refreshing experience. It was easily legible outdoors, and I enjoyed watching videos. However, I don’t like the absence of stereo speakers. The device has just one speaker at the bottom; while it is loud, you’ll need to connect your earbuds for a better movie experience.

I used the Realme P4 Power in day-to-day life, which included doomscrolling on social media apps like Instagram and X, answering emails and messages on Gmail, WhatsApp and Slack navigating on Maps and snapping a few photos. It comfortably lasted me up to two days of regular use and one and a half days on heavy use. And when you do need to charge it, you can use the bundled charger to top up the battery at 80 watts.

To better judge the new Realme phone, I put it through CNET’s 3-hour video streaming test and 45-minute battery endurance test.

Realme P4 Power battery benchmarks

	YouTube streaming drain test starting at 100%	45 min battery endurance
Realme P4 Power	1 hr: 97%; 2 hr: 95%; 3 hr: 91% (144Hz)	100% to 99%
Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max	1 hr: 100%; 2 hr: 96%; 3 hr: 91% (1-120Hz)	100% to 99%
OnePlus 15	1 hr: 98%; 2 hr: 94%; 3 hr: 90% (1-120Hz)	100% to 97%
Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra	1 hr: 97%; 2 hr: 92%; 3hr: 87% (1-120Hz)	100% to 95%

In the video streaming test, where I streamed a video over Wi-Fi with the screen at full brightness and the battery starting at 100%, it lost 3% battery per hour and ended at 91%. This puts it on top of CNET’s charts alongside the iPhone 17 Pro Max, followed by the OnePlus 15 (90%) and iPhone 17 (89%).

It performed similarly well during CNET’s 45-minute endurance test, during which we play games, stream videos, scroll social media and take a video call with the battery starting at 100%. The Realme P4 Power ended up losing just 1% battery, sharing the top spot with the iPhone 17 Pro Max at 99%.

How about everything else?

The Realme P4 Power has a MediaTek Dimensity 7400 Ultra chipset, paired with up to 12GB RAM and 256GB storage. (The base model has 8GB RAM and 128GB storage.) This is more of a midrange chip that’s in a similar class as the Motorola Razr‘s Dimensity 7400X. It handles day-to-day tasks smoothly, and it has no major flaws. As for minor issues, I did notice apps taking longer than usual to load sometimes and the camera app taking a few seconds to process, but these issues are not a deal-breaker.

Realme’s user interface is smooth, snappy and highly customizable. It is similar to OnePlus and Oppo. However, you get multiple preloaded apps. (I uninstalled them as soon as I set up the phone.) Overall, this Realme UI 7.0 (based on Android 16) is fast and responsive. You’ll get three years of Android OS upgrades and four years of security upgrades.

The Realme P4 Power has two rear cameras and a 16-megapixel selfie shooter on the front. You get a 50-megapixel main camera and an 8-megapixel ultrawide-angle sensor on the back. Plenty of AI-powered tools are available to help you enhance or edit a shot.

It delivers a satisfactory camera experience. In daylight, the P4 Power can snap some good-looking photos. The colors are mostly accurate, contrast is balanced and the dynamic range is decent. It processes 2x portraits digitally, which works fine for the most part, but at times, certain areas can have a cutout-feel to them — like you’ve been pasted on a background.

Overall, the Realme P4 Power is a great phone for its excellent battery life. I was expecting it to perform well with its 10,001mAh battery, but I didn’t expect it to blow out every other Android phone in our tests. I love it more because this battery innovation is accessible to the masses, thanks to its lower price and not being gatekept on more expensive models.

Technologies

Ring Finally Goes Wire-Free for Its Latest 4K Video Doorbells

The launch of battery-powered versions of the company’s powerful AI doorbells has been highly anticipated.

Security company Ring on Wednesday announced a significant expansion of its video doorbell line, notably battery-powered versions of both its 4K and 2K models, priced from $80.

Both Amazon’s Ring and Google Nest debuted high-resolution video doorbells with new AI features in the fall of 2025. But they were wired only, and in my tests, I kept thinking, «I sure wish there were battery models available.»

Wireless video doorbells are far better for most front doors than models that require connecting to your existing doorbell wiring, which is often poorly positioned for a security camera. Mine, for example, is located on a wall beside my door that’s useless for any kind of video views, no matter how you angle a lens.

«Enhancing image quality in battery-powered doorbells means customers can enjoy reliable performance with the flexibility to install devices in a way that suits their space, whether renting or living in homes without existing wiring,» a Ring spokesperson said.

At first, I wondered whether the higher 4K resolutions and more advanced AI features would use too much power to support batteries. If so, Ring is the first to fix that issue with this suite of doorbells, including these models available for preorder right now:

Ring Battery Doorbell Pro — $250: This model offers up to 4K resolution and 10x zoom, and Ring says it features a redesigned internal architecture to support battery power.
Ring Battery Doorbell Plus (2nd-gen) — $180: This model includes a quick-release battery pack along with 2K video.
Ring Battery Doorbell (2nd-gen) — $100: This video doorbell includes 2K video, a 6x zoom and what Ring calls a «streamlined, rechargeable design,» which means you take the entire video doorbell to charge it, not just the battery — a design I greatly prefer, since Ring’s battery packs can get fiddly.

There’s also a new version of a Ring wired doorbell with 2K resolution, starting at $80. It wouldn’t be Ring without a plethora of doorbell devices to confuse newcomers, which is why I have a guide specifically for Ring video doorbells that will need some updating once I finish testing these new models.

Resolution plus an intelligence upgrade

Ring’s ordinary subscriptions of the Ring Protect plan give you cloud video storage and intelligent alerts for people, packages and vehicles, which are important but not really advanced AI. But spring for the $20-per-month Ring AI Pro cam, and this new generation of cameras opens up other capabilities.

Ring’s AI features include AI video descriptions, so if you get an alert, you can also get a summary of what the doorbell saw, including people and activities. A similar feature lets you search your video history with specific terms, such as «bike,» «truck» and so on. You also get the beta version of Ring’s Familiar Faces feature, which can ID logged faces of people who approach.

If these AI features make you uneasy and you’d rather protect your privacy, the best option is to avoid a subscription altogether or choose a lower-tier plan that gives you cloud storage without AI.

I also have a guide on how to turn off Ring’s detection and data-sharing features that might make you nervous, so you can keep what you like while ditching what you don’t.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Thursday, March 26

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for March 26.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Baseball is back! You’ll see baseball images patterned throughout today’s Mini Crossword grid, and when you solve the puzzle, they’ll spell out a certain word. Play ball! Er, read on for all the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Degrees for boardroom execs
Answer: MBAS

5A clue: «___ want for Christmas …»
Answer: ALLI

6A clue: What Hamlet holds while giving his «Alas, poor Yorick!» speech
Answer: SKULL

7A clue: Wild, as an animal
Answer: FERAL

8A clue: Sphere
Answer: ORB

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Word after «match» or «mischief»
Answer: MAKER

2D clue: Bit of writing on a book jacket
Answer: BLURB

3D clue: Penne ___ vodka
Answer: ALLA

4D clue: Window ledge
Answer: SILL

6D clue: Bay Area airport, for short
Answer: SFO

Technologies

McDonald’s KPop Demon Hunter Meals Include Bright Purple Nugget Sauce

The Derpy McFlurry mixes popping boba pearls and berry sauce into a soft-serve dessert.

McDonald’s has seen success with themed combo meals, including its holiday Grinch Meal. Now, the fast-food chain is capitalizing on Netflix’s Oscar-winning animated film, KPop Demon Hunters, with new upcoming menu items and both a breakfast meal and a lunch/dinner offering. Let’s hope you like the color purple.

The HUNTR/X Meal, named for the K-pop girl group in the movie, is a 10-piece chicken McNuggets meal that includes a medium drink and three special menu items.

Ramyeon McShaker fries come with a small bag of soy, garlic, sesame and spice seasoning, along with regular McDonald’s french fries. You sprinkle the seasoning into the provided bag, dump in the fries, shake it all up and eat.

The meal includes two new sauces for the fries and nuggets. Hunter sauce is a sweet chili sauce mixing notes of chili, garlic and pepper. But my favorite item on this new menu is Demon sauce, a bold mustard sauce with some heat and a bold purple color. There’s just not enough dark purple food out there.

There’s also a new dessert, the Derpy McFlurry, which blends creamy vanilla soft serve with berry-flavored popping boba pearls, served with a swirl of wild berry sauce. McDonald’s named it for the supernatural feline, Derpy Tiger, from the movie.

If breakfast is your bag, the new morning meal is the Saja Boys Breakfast Meal, named for the movie’s boy band.

It includes a Spicy Saja McMuffin sandwich, which is a sausage McMuffin with egg and a spicy Saja sauce, hash browns and a small drink.

Both meals come with a photocard for one of the bands and a Derpy card. The Derpy card includes a QR code you can scan to unlock online content about the film.

The full KPop Demon Hunters menu should be available at participating McDonald’s beginning March 31.

The McDonald’s Grinch meal (and its accompanying patterned socks) sold out quickly, so KPop Demon Hunters fans may want to mark their calendars and nab a meal when they are released.