Foldables are the hot take in the tech community at present. It seems as if every smartphone company is having its go in this category. However, all these products have a common thing — they cost an arm and a leg! But now, the paradigm finally seems to be shifting with the Huawei Pocket P series and Samsung Galaxy Z FE!
Budget Foldables Rumours Roundup:
Huawei Pocket P series
Huawei has been producing one of the most impressive foldable smartphones in the market. They released the Huawei Pocket S last year, which is one of the most budget-friendly foldables. But now the Chinese tech giant is one-upping themselves with an entry-level foldable in the works.
Rumours have it, that Huawei will be launching this foldable under the moniker of the “Pocket P” series. This scoop comes from the tipster, Revengus, who states that this foldable will come out in the first half of the year 2024. Furthermore, they also say that this foldable will have a price tag of USD 735 or lower. This will put the Huawei Pocket P series in the same price range as the Techno Flip V. Adding on, the global availability of the device is yet unknown.
Samsung Galaxy Z FE
It is well-known that the FE series are watered-down versions of much more potent offerings from Samsung. Reports say that Samsung is working on an FE version of its own foldables — which are held as the best in the line. This is the extent of information available regarding the Galaxy Z FE as of now.
However, sources are speculating this budget-friendly foldable from Samsung will go live alongside its premium folds. Such that, Samsung will probably unveil the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and the Galaxy Z Flip 6 somewhere around August 2024.
As a person who loves the concept of a folding phone, but however, not quite able to afford it — this latest development absolutely excites me! In order to cut down the prices, companies will probably opt for less capable hardware. Given that, foldable phones already make quite a few compromises on their hardware compared to their flagship counterpart, I am dying to see how these new affordable folds will unfold to be! *pun intended*
Meanwhile, check out our review of OPPO Find N2 Flip
Vivo, the Chinese smartphone manufacturer giant has launched a new mid-range phone in the form of Vivo Y78t in its home country. This smartphone made an appearance in the Chinese certification databases a while back with a model number V2312BA. But now — the Vivo Y78t has made its appearance in the market, let’s look at its specs, expected price in Nepal, and more!
Vivo Y78t Overview
Design and Display
Given that Vivo hasn’t been very vocal about this new release, there aren’t many official images and renders floating around. However, from what is known, it seems, that the Vivo Y78t is following the footsteps of the Vivo Y78 series, in terms of design. The “t” variant will also have a side-mounted fingerprint sensor for security.
On the front, we have a 6.64-inch LCD panel with FHD+ resolution with 2,388 x 1,080 pixels. Similarly, the screen will feature a refresh rate of 120Hz as well as a touch-sampling rate of 240Hz. The screen is likely to have a centre-aligned hole-punch camera cutout.
Performance
We have the Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 chipset serving as the brain of the Vivo Y78t. This Qualcomm chip features 8 cores and is built on relatively recent 4nm technology. Furthermore, one of three memory and storage configurations support the SoC viz. 8GB + 128GB, 8GB + 256GB, and 12GB + 256GB. The RAM featured here is an LPDDR4x unit while the storage is an UFS 2.2. And finally, the phone comes with OriginOS 3.0 based on Android 13.
Camera and the rest
In terms of optics, we are getting a dual-camera setup on the back. The primary of which is a 50-megapixel sensor. Similarly, the auxiliary unit is a 2-megapixel depth sensor helping out with portrait shots. And up front, we have an 8-megapixel unit helping out with the selfies. We can surely expect Vivo to add its camera flair, which it is so well known for.
Juicing up the entire unit is a massive 6,000 mAh cell that supports a 44W flash charge. Furthermore, the Vivo y78t accepts dual-SIM with VoLTE support. We also get dual-band WiFi and Bluetooth v5.1 support for wireless connectivity. Whereas we are getting a USB-C and the celebrated 3.5mm audio jack for a wired connection.
Front Camera: 8MP (Centre-aligned hole-punch camera cutout)
Security: Side-mounted Fingerprint sensor
Navigation: 6,000 mAh with 44W fast charging via USB Type-C
Connectivity: Dual-SIM, 4G VoLTE, Bluetooth v5.1, 3.5mm headphone jack
Vivo Y78t Price in Nepal and Availability
At this time, the new Vivo Y78t has been announced in China only and will go on sale on 22 October 2023. This new smartphone bears an astounding resemblance to the iQOO Z8x. However, if and when it does arrive in Nepal, we expect the Vivo Y78t price in Nepal to be NPR 32,999 for the 12/256GB variant.
Vivo Y78t
Price in China (Official)
Price in Nepal (Expected)
12/256GB
CNY 1,499
NPR 32,999
Meanwhile, check out our iPhone 15 Pro Max review after a month
Okay, the Oppo Find N3 is official in the global market alongside its doppelganger, the OnePlus Open. Yes, you read that right. Initially, the Oppo foldable was stated to be China-exclusive, to note. In this article, we’ll be discussing the specifications, features, and expected price of the OPPO Find N3 in Nepal.
OPPO Find N3 Overview
Design
On the design side, the OPPO Find N3 brings an upgrade to the Find N2, but with a similar weight and thinner design. At most, the leather version of this smartphone measures around 11.9mm when folded. Moreover, identical to its OnePlus siblings, the OPPO Find N3 brings in an Alert Slider.
Oppo has used an aviation-grade hinge, which is claimed to last a long time. For water resistance, Find N3 is rated to have an IPX8 rating. Furthermore, it is available in Classic Black/Red with vegan leather and Green/Champagne Gold with a matte glass finish.
Display
Getting to the display, the cover screen is a 6.31” AMOLED display with 2484 x 1116px in resolution, a 20:9 aspect ratio, and a peak brightness of 2800 nits. OPPO uses the LTPO3 tech that caps at 120Hz refresh and goes all the way down to 1Hz.
Unfolding the Find N3 reveals a better and bigger screen, with a 7.82” LTPO panel with 1-120Hz dynamic refresh rate and 2440 x 2268px resolution. Nonetheless, the peak brightness is the same as the cover display.
This device carries the most out of the hardware, as it brings the best Qualcomm chip for now, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 (4nm). This SoC includes 1x [email protected], 2x [email protected], 2x [email protected], and 3x [email protected], plus an Adreno 740 GPU. The chip is paired with 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 512GB of UFS 4.0 storage.
Color OS 13.2
As for software, the device delivers ColorOS 13.2, based on Android 13. This version of the OS upgrade brings a lot of new additions to utilize the big screen of the OPPO Find N3. One of the highlighted features is “Boundless View”.
By the looks of it, the Boundless View allows users to expand the window beyond the screen border while working in split-screen mode. With this view, one app is focused while other apps still stay within the view, so switching between the windows is much easier. Further, the new Canvas Shift helps to switch between expanded view, full screen, and normal split-screen view in just one click.
Further, swiping down with two fingers in the middle of the screen splits the screen in half for another app to open. There is even an “App Library” on the new “Global Taskbar” and a “File Pocket” to easily drag and drop files. Additionally, with Smart Split Screen, the device chooses the optimal layout for the apps you open on multiple screens.
Camera
At the back, the Find N3 brings in a triple camera setup with Hasselblad branding. The primary lens is a 48MP shooter with OIS and a f/1.7 aperture. Moreover, the OIS is also carried to the 3x zoom sensor, which can shoot a sharper 64MP resolution. Lastly, there is an ultra-wide lens with 114˚ FOV and a ½” sensor.
Similarly, as with most of the foldables, there are two selfie cameras. One is on the cover screen (20 MP), while the other is embedded in the inner display, which can shoot at 32MP resolution.
Battery and others
The Oppo Find N3 ships with a 4805 mAh lithium polymer cell. With 67W PD charging, 10 minutes of charging can juice it up from 0% to 35%. Connectivity options on this foldable include 5G, tri-band WiFi 7, NFC, GPS, and a USB Type-C port. Other than that, there is an in-display optical sensor for fingerprint unlocking.
In Singapore, the Oppo Find N3 costs SGD 2,399 for the 16/512GB. If it ever launches here, we expect the OPPO Find N3 price in Nepal to be NPR 273,000.
The Lenovo LOQ 15, was a pretty decent gaming laptop for the price. It did fall short on a few aspects like display and build quality but the LOQ 15’s performance was pretty impressive overall. And today I’ve got the Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 2023 with me, which addresses those exact concerns with its bright, color-rich display and a fairly premium build among other stuff.
It does cost a little more to accommodate all that so that made me question; does spending a little more on things like better build quality and display make sense or should you save a few bucks on performance and performance alone? Let’s find that out in my Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 2023 review.
Okay, starting with the price, the Helios Neo 16 costs NPR 225,000 for the 16GB RAM and 1TB SSD with RTX 4060 graphics in Nepal. And all this gets you Intel’s Core i7-13700HX processor, alongside an RTX 4060 graphics, 16GB of DDR5 RAM, and a terabyte of Gen4 SSD. While you can more bucks to get an RTX 4070 variant which costs NPR 258,000.
That reminds me — starting this year — Acer has divided its “Helios 300” lineup into two factions. There’s Helios 16 and Helios Neo 16, with the Neo model serving as the cheaper option of the two.
Webcam: HD (720p) camera, E-shutter, Array microphones
Connectivity: WiFi 6E, Bluetooth 5.1
I/O Ports: 2x USB Type-C (Thunderbolt 4), 2x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, 1x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x RJ45 (LAN), 1x mic / headphone combo jack, 1x power connector
Besides the processor of choice, the regular Helios 16 also enjoys other perks like a per-key RGB keyboard, a faster display, and a more subtle design language. Anyway, as you can see here on the Neo 16, you get these random numbers and letters on the lid. I would’ve preferred it more if it was just the “Predator” logo instead of all… this.
The Morse code-like patterns next to the I/O at the back also feel way too “form over function” for me. But the good news is that these patterns on the lid are easy to miss if you’re not looking at them up close.
And it turns out that Acer has hidden a message that we’re meant to decipher for an “exclusive reward”. I’m no cryptographer by any means so I went straight to the internet for help and it turns out all these ciphers will lead you to this website. Where solving all the clues will get you… drum rolls please… this “exclusive Predator wallpaper”, which I’m 90% sure is AI-generated!
Build
Dimensions: 399.3 x 295.5 x 26.8-27.6 mm
Weight: 2.6 kg
Anyway — looking beyond all the pseudo-cyberpunk aesthetics — the Helios Neo 16 is actually a pretty well-built machine.
Its aluminum lid feels solid (so does the hinge) and the keyboard deck here doesn’t flex much either. Then again, this is not the lightest gaming laptop as it weighs a hefty 2.6 kg, while this charging brick is nearly half as heavy as the laptop itself!
I would also have liked it if Acer had included some sort of anti-fingerprint coating on the lid since this guy catches fingerprint smudges a little too easily.
Acer has cut no corners when it comes to port selection though. It’s got one HDMI 2.1 and a couple of Thunderbolt 4 ports at the back, meaning you can practically connect up to three 4K 120Hz displays to the Neo 16.
Ports and I/O
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Both USB-A connections on the right are the faster ones with 10 Gbps speed too, while the left one is the older Gen 1 port with 5 Gbps speeds.
Display
16-inch WQXGA (1920 x 1200 pixels)
165Hz refresh rate
400nits peak brightness
The Helios Neo 16’s display leaves little room for complaint as well. Be it a smooth 165Hz refresh rate, a sharp QHD resolution, Advanced Optimus support, or G-SYNC compatibility to prevent screen tearing, it’s got everything you might look for on a gaming machine.
It also has a fast 3ms response time but make sure to turn ON the “LCD Overdrive” setting — which brings down the response time. It’s turned off by default, which is weird!
Display Benchmark
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Brightness
Color Gamut
Other than this, the Neo 16 delivers on its display promises just fine. Acer claims 500 nits of brightness. You got it! What about 100% sRGB colors? Yep, that’s here too. So aside from gaming, web surfing, and all that stuff, you can also use it for light photo/video editing.
Keyboard and Trackpad
As for the keyboard, the Helios Neo 16 brings a usual set of full-sized membrane keys with a couple of interesting shortcuts. Like a dedicated key to launch Acer’s performance control tool called “PredatorSense”. Or this nifty little hotkey up top that lets you shift through different power modes with a simple click.
Either way, typing on the Neo 16’s keyboard is a fairly enjoyable experience. And apart from the accented WASD and arrow keys, it also has a 4-zone RGB lighting.
But if you recall, last year’s Helios 300 actually had a per-key RGB thing going on for itself, while Acer has reserved that for the slightly more expensive Helios 16 only this time.
This plastic trackpad sees a nice upgrade on the Neo 16. It’s considerably larger now, so I had no trouble working with stuff like multi-finger gestures or drag-and-drop actions. The click response of its integrated left and right keys isn’t the best I’ve seen, but considering it’s a gaming laptop after all, I can let this one slide.
Audio and Webcam
Speakers: Dual Stereo Speakers
Webcam: 720p HD webcam
Unfortunately, the speaker system on the Helios Neo 16 is nothing to write home about. Acer likes to throw in words like “DTS X: Ultra” audio and whatnot to make it sound impressive on paper but honestly, there’s nothing significant in its sound output really.
And this webcam shares a similar story as well. You’re looking at a mere 720p camera and everything looks like it has a watercolor filter somehow… with little detail to talk about. I would’ve also liked to see a privacy shutter too but I guess you’re gonna have to just… tape it up if you’re that much of a privacy freak.
O…kay. That brings me to performance. And if we know one thing about Acer’s “Helios” lineup of gaming laptops, it’s that they bring some of the best performance for the price.
This time as well, Acer has tried to work its magic by going with Intel’s unlocked processor and the highest TGP graphics for the best gaming results.
More specifically, you can choose from three 13th Gen CPUs — all unlocked — and three RTX 40 series GPUs — all with 140W of maximum graphics power. Whereas my unit has the middle-of-the-line Core i7-13700HX CPU and an RTX 4060 graphics, next to 16GB of DDR5 memory, and a terabyte of PCIe Gen4 SSD with good read/write speeds.
And since it’s a gaming laptop, neither the memory nor the storage is soldered to the motherboard so you can freely upgrade them down the line.
Now, the Helios Neo 16’s gaming performance itself is… interesting to say the least. With its i7-13700HX processor, I was expecting it to perform notably better than the LOQ 15 which has AMD’s Ryzen 7 7840HS chip, but the results I’m getting are surprisingly similar in most games.
I know I’m just considering the CPU here because even though the Helios Neo 16 has a higher TGP RTX 4060 graphics card, that’s not a big deal as NVIDIA’s 40 series midrange GPUs can’t really hit above 100W or so in real life usage.
A leap over the Ryzen version?
Anyway, as I mentioned before, I’m not seeing that performance leap this Intel chip should be bringing.
There’s some obvious advantage in CPU-intensive games like the newly updated Counter-Strike 2 — with the Helios Neo 16 managing roughly 17% higher average fps. But other than this, the LOQ 15 is holding its ground perfectly fine.
Gaming FPS
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And these two are essentially seesawing in every other game I tested. The only exception I found was with Star Wars: Jedi Survivor, where the Neo 16 posted almost 30% higher fps at High graphics with ray tracing turned off. Although we’re back to getting similar scores when turning on ray tracing and DLSS 3.
Benchmarks
Not just games, but I ran CPU-focused benchmarks like Cinebench R23 too and these two laptops are neck to neck once again. I’m not really sure what’s going on here because I’ve tested this same CPU before on MSI’s Raider GE68 HX, and in comparison, this guy is posting significantly lower scores.
Maybe Acer is worried about thermals and is undervolting the CPU a bit but I don’t see any reason for this since the Helios Neo 16’s thermals are terrific. Truly.
Benchmark Comparison
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3DMark
Cinebench
It doesn’t look like Acer has made any changes to the cooling system from last year but man this thing stays cool. In all my gaming sessions, the highest temperature I logged around the keyboard deck was just around 34°C, which is beyond impressive. The same area on the Lenovo LOQ 15 — for instance — measured roughly 40°C!
I should warn you though — this comes at the expense of the fan noise — as the Neo 16 gets as loud as 60 – 61dB under the “Turbo” mode with the fan speed set to “Max”. And you’re gonna need a really good pair of headphones (maybe even ones with active noise cancellation) for the least amount of distraction.
Battery Life
90Wh, 4-cell Li-ion
230W AC Adapter
Moving on, the Helios Neo 16’s 90Wh battery usually lasted around 4 hours for me when setting it to “Balanced” mode and doing everyday chores. And when letting the laptop automatically switch between the integrated and discredited GPU. So… that’s pretty impressive.
Likewise, filling it up with this monstrous 330W power adapter takes just a little under two hours.
Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 Review: Conclusion
So in conclusion, the Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 is not the easy recommendation I was hoping it would be. Yes, it offers great 1080p (and even 1440p) gaming results — with commendable thermals, display, and everything. But I’m not sure if all that’s enough to justify its price tag versus all the competition.
Especially since a couple of them with more powerful last-gen RTX 3070 Ti graphics are currently available at much lower prices than what Acer is asking for this thing. But if you really want DLSS 3 — which is unfortunately exclusive to the RTX 40 series — and if you can find it on some amazing deals, then the Helios Neo 16 is definitely worth grabbing as well.
Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 (2023) Review Pros and Cons
OnePlus is entering the foldable space with a bang. Their latest OnePlus Open comes with all the bells and whistles to compete against market leaders like the Galaxy Z Fold, and Google’s Pixel Fold. Let’s learn more about it in this article where we discuss the design, specifications, and expected price in Nepal of the OnePlus Open.
OnePlus Open Overview
Design and Display
OnePlus has put a lot of effort into designing the Open. For starters, it is considerably lighter than the competition (Pixel Fold: 283g, Z Fold 5: 253g) and weighs about the same as last year’s iPhone 14 Pro Max (~240 grams). And, it opens flat and closes flush with no gaps which is impressive for a first-gen foldable. Reviewers also mention that the crease (on the inner screen) is barely visible on regular use which is always a plus.
Moving on to the displays, you get a regular-looking 20:9 6.31-inch OLED cover display outside while the larger inner screen boasts 7.82 inches of screen estate. Both are 10-bit 120Hz LTPO screens with an impressive peak brightness of 2800 nits.
And onto performance, the OnePlus Open continues to impress. It ships with the flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor with one X3 prime core at 3.2 GHz, two A715 and two A710 performance cores at 2.8 GHz, and three A510 efficiency cores at 2.0 GHz. Complementing that, you get 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM for multitasking and 512GB of fast UFS 4.0 storage.
The phone boots on Oxygen OS 13.2 based on Android 13.
Cameras
The Open features quite a bold look courtesy of its camera module. The large circular island features a 48MP main shooter, a 48MP ultrawide, and a 64MP telephoto lens. The inner screen features a 20MP selfie cam of f/2.2 aperture while the cover screen also features a 32MP front camera both of which are housed in their respective hole-punch(es).
Under the hood, the slim foldable is packing a respectable 4800mAh battery. According to OnePlus, you can fill the device from 1 to 100% in just 42 minutes using the included 67W fast charger. The fingerprint sensor is embedded into the side power button and the phone also features WiFi 7 alongside Bluetooth 5.3, and NFC for connectivity. Strangely, wireless charging is missing from the foldable.
The OnePlus foldable is available for pre-order in India for INR 1,39,999. If and when it makes it here, we expect the OnePlus Open price in Nepal to be around NPR 2,59,999.
The Chinese smartphone giant Oppo is going all in on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and plans to make its own Chat-GPT-like assistant. In this article, let’s take a look at what Oppo is planning to do with its latest venture AndesGPT.
OPPO AndesGPT Overview
It’s no secret that we use our phones every day and while some assistants like Google Assistant truly add a lot of value to that experience, most others are not very capable. So, with the recent rise of Large Language Models (LLM) like Chat GPT, many companies like Vivo, Xiaomi, Huawei, and Oppo are willing to bet on AI to supercharge their upcoming assistants.
LLMs and Smartphones
That being said integrating an LLM to a smartphone is harder than it sounds. Large Language Models are trained on thousands if not millions of text data and require a lot of computing power to work as intended. So, the obvious choice would be to run the LLM in the cloud which is how you and I can use ChatGPT on our smartphones regardless of our own hardware. But OPPO and others are planning to run the LLM locally on your smartphone. This will require a lot of computational power so it’s not an easy path to pursue, but if they are successful, there are lots of advantages too.
AndesGPT will work without WiFi
One of OPPO’s ventures is AndesGPT which will be powering its AI assistant Xiao Bu. AndesGPT is an LLM-like Chat GPT but one that will run locally. Now, it’s likely going to have way fewer parameters than Chat GPT but fine-tuning the model should allow OPPO to achieve impressive feats like local text generation, AI personalization, real-time language translation, accessibility features, and a whole lot more. Something like Infinix’s Folax does have integrated GPT-3 (cloud-based) but it leaves a lot to desire due to a lack of proper optimization so only time will tell how practical this approach pans out to be.
Right now, the development looks to be pretty promising as AndesGPT was able to score 98.33 in the “Knowledge and Encyclopedia” ability test of the SuperCLUE LLM benchmark. That’s just a couple of points behind GPT 4 which got a full score of 100.
OPPO has eyes on the greater prize as well. Though LLMs are all the rage right now, the company is also investing in other aspects of emerging AI like computer vision. Computer vision is an AI technology that enables the identification and understanding of objects and people in images and videos. In a sense, you can also see it as an extension of OPPO AndesGPT, where this model will not only be able to read your text inputs but also ‘see’ through images and ‘hear’ through voice.
Chinese company Meizu just launched a new phone called the Meizu 20 Classic. The 20 series already has the Meizu 20, 20 Pro, and 20 Infinity launched some months ago. Let’s dive into the specs, price, and availability of the new Meizu 20 Classic in Nepal.
Meizu 20 Classic Overview:
Design and Display
The Classic model introduces new colors this time: Green, Iron Grey, and Yusheng White. The Meizu’s new logo on the back cover is now relocated in the middle. As for the design, you get a boxy frame with flat frames and curved edges.
For display, it has a 6.55″ OLED panel with FHD resolution and 144Hz refresh rate as well. As seen in the pictures, the bezels also look quite minimal.
Performance and Software
Under the hood, the phone brings Qualcomm’s flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip inside. It is paired with 16GB RAM and up to 512GB of UFS 4.0 internal storage. As for the software, the phone boots on Android 13 based on Meizu’s Flyme 10 OS.
The device features a triple camera system on the back. You get a 50MP primary + 16MP ultrawide + 5MP macro lens setup. Over on the front, there is a 32MP snapper for selfies and video calls.
Battery, connectivity, and Others
The smartphone gets its juice from a substantial 4,700mAh battery and fast 67W wired charging support. In terms of connectivity, it features 5G, WiFi 6, NFC, GPS, and a USB Type-C port. For biometrics security, you get a 3D ultrasonic fingerprint sensor.
Meizu 20 Classic Specifications:
Display: 6.55″ (2400 x 1080 pixels) FHD+ OLED, up to 800 nits brightness
Others: USB Type-C, Stereo speakers, Bluetooth 5.2, 5G SA/NSA Dual 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 6E 802.11 ax (2.4GHz + 5GHz) 2×2 MIMO
Meizu 20 Classic Price in Nepal and Availability
The Meizu 20 Classic is already available in China and it costs CNY 3,099 (approx. $423) for the 16GB + 256GB model. For the 16GB + 512GB model, it costs CNY 3,399 (approx. $464). If the phone launches in Nepal then we can expect the price to start from NPR 67,999.
Meizu 20 Classic
Price in China (Official)
Price in Nepal (Expected)
16GB + 256GB
CNY 3,099
NPR 67,999
16GB + 512GB
CNY 3,399
NPR 74,499
Meanwhile, check out our review of Realme 11 5G Review.
Infinix is back at it again with another smartphone that has created a lot of hype. Just like the GT 10 Pro which I reviewed a month ago, the Infinix Zero 30 seems like a killer deal on paper with a 144Hz AMOLED display, powerful Dimensity 8020 chipset, 4k 60 front and back recording, and a 5000 mAh battery with 68W fast charging. But does it actually hold up in real-world usage? What’s the catch here.. Well..keep reading to find out.
But before my full review, here are the brief specifications of the Infinix Zero 30.
Infinix Zero 30 Review: Specifications
Body: 164.5 x 75 x 7.9 mm, 185gm
Display: 6.78-inch AMOLED, 144Hz refresh rate
Resolution: FHD+ (2400 x 1080 pixels), 20:9 aspect ratio
Chipset: MediaTek Dimensity 8020 (6nm Mobile Platform)
Memory: 8/12GB RAM (+ Up to 9GB Virtual RAM), 256GB storage
The Infinix Zero 30 just feels fantastic in the hand. It’s sleek and this vegan leather variant that I have feels premium to the touch as well. Infinix has also gone with quite a bold look for the camera module, and I found it to be pretty lightweight at just 183 grams.
It’s still a big phone, but overall I’m really impressed with the hands-on feel of this thing. Sadly there isn’t any sort of IP rating but I guess we can’t expect everything from a midrange phone in the first place.
Display
6.78-inch FHD+ AMOLED panel
144Hz refresh rate
10-bit colors, 950 nits peak brightness
Its impressive run continues on the display front too. You get a 10-bit 144Hz curved AMOLED panel here with up to 950 nits of peak brightness that’s great to look at. And these gentle curves make the Infinix Zero 30 feel more premium than it actually is… although as with curved displays, there are some accidental mistouches every now and then.
Infinix also offers a couple of color presets to choose from but I really wish both of them weren’t calibrated to look so rich and saturated. That means if you’re a fan of more neutral colors, this is something you’re gonna have to live with here.
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And HDR playback is a mixed bag as well. The Infinix Zero 30 can stream HDR videos on YouTube just fine, but it can’t do so on Netflix.
Speakers and Haptics
Stereo speakers with DTS
Watching movies and shows on it feels great, especially paired with the loud stereo speakers. The speakers don’t sound the fullest and lack some of that lower frequency but are very competitive for the price.
Haptics are nothing out of the ordinary and just about what you’d expect from a mid-ranger. It’s pretty weak and barely noticeable in your pocket, especially, if you’re moving around. I missed a good number of calls because of it, but unsurprisingly, that’s not the first time it has happened.
Performance
Octa-core MediaTek Dimensity 8020 5G SoC (6nm)
8/12GB LPDDR4X RAM, 256GB UFS 3.1 storage (fixed)
Android 13 (XOS on top)
Now for the performance. This Infinix (Zero) 30 comes with a pretty powerful Dimensity 8020 chipset which — like most other MediaTek processors we’ve seen this year — is also a rebranded product. More specifically, the 8020 is just Dimensity 1100 with a new name that launched almost 3 years ago.
Rebrandings aside, this is quite a competent chip I must say. As you can see from these benchmarks, it easily keeps up with if not straight outperforms, most of its competitors.
And the real-world usage is also no different. Getting through the UI is buttery smooth and responsive on the Zero 30 and I haven’t noticed any lag or stutter under regular everyday use like browsing the web, scrolling through social media, and stuff. Switching between apps and multitasking has not been a problem either.
I also like how Infinix has been generous in terms of memory since the Zero 30 comes with a base 8GB RAM and 256GB storage.
Gaming
If we are talking about gaming, however, the story takes a slight turn. Due to the slim form factor, the Infinix Zero 30 is not the best at dispersing heat. As such, the phone quickly throttles the CPU which isn’t great for gaming. It isn’t to say you can’t game on the Zero 30, just that you’ll be sacrificing some fps for the sake of everything else. Even then, the phone does get noticeably warm, especially on the front and around the camera module.
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Starting off with PUBG Mobile at Smooth and Extreme, the gameplay was fairly smooth with a few stutters here and there. The phone did get hot after a few minutes of gameplay and performance took a hit. So, compared to phones like IQOO’s Z7 Pro and Motorola’s Edge 40 Neo, the performance of the Zero 30 was slightly underwhelming.
On Injustice 2 at default settings, I was getting anywhere from 80-100 fps. It was smooth sailing with no noticeable drops or stutters.
Genshin Impact ran smoothly on Medium Settings ( Motion Blur Off and Frame Rate cap to 30) and gave consistent 30 fps. On Low settings with frame rate set to 60, I got an average of 48fps. As I said, this phone WILL get hot while gaming (39.3°C front, 36.5°C back, peak CPU temp 73°C) and you will notice frame drops during fights or intense scenes, but it isn’t surprising given the form factor.
I also played Mobile Legends and Asphalt 9, both of which ran with no problems.
Camera
Triple camera setup at the back
(50MP main, 13MP ultrawide, 2MP depth)
50MP selfie camera (hole-punch)
To be fair, Infinix isn’t exactly marketing this as a gaming phone. But it is promising a lot in the camera department. So let’s get into that now.
Here, the Infinix Zero 30 uses Samsung’s 108MP HM6 sensor for the main camera and it also brings a 13MP ultrawide shooter, while selfies are handled by a 50MP sensor that supports autofocus.
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Front Cam
Back Cam
4k 60 fps
And as I mentioned before, its biggest highlight is the ability to record 4K 60 fps videos from both primary and selfie cameras. Which is something no other phone in this price range can do, by the way. And after taking a lo…t of video samples, what I found is that its 4K 60 fps footages during daytime are pretty decent actually.
You can notice some minor jitters every now and then and it doesn’t drown out the ambient noise that well, but there are plenty of details and the overall stabilization isn’t nearly as bad as I expected.
I also won’t suggest you recording at 60 fps at night when there isn’t enough light since the videos turn out quite noisy.
This is because compared to something like a 30 fps video, you’re giving the camera exactly half the time to expose each frame, resulting in more noise in lowlight conditions.
Infinix Zero 30’s ultrawide camera can also record at up to 4K 30 fps, and the results are pretty similar.
4K 60 fps recordings from its selfie camera are decent too. The footages aren’t as steady as I’d like but if you’re serious about vlogging on a budget, I can easily see the Infinix Zero 30 being a perfectly workable tool when paired with a cheap gimbal and an external microphone.
Daylight
Likewise, I compared its cameras with the Galaxy A34, which is one of the best camera phones under 30,000 currently. And in terms of videos itself, it turns out that the Infinix Zero 30 doesn’t quite match Samsung’s level of stability and exposure handling at practically every resolution.
But I’m a little surprised to see how well it’s doing against Galaxy A34 in the photography department. During the day, photos from both phones come out nice with a good amount of details. Infinix does need to work on its color processing as its images are a bit warmer but overall, it’s not too bad.
Daylight
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Galaxy A34
Zero 30
Galaxy A34
Zero 30
Galaxy A34
Zero 30
Galaxy A34
Zero 30
Galaxy A34
Zero 30
And I like how its ultrawide shots are (somewhat) consistent with those from the main camera too. The detail level is consistently better (than A34) here and it handles highlights and shadows pretty impressively.
Ultrawide
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Infinix Zero 30 (Main)
Infinix Zero 30 (Ultrawide)
Samsung Galaxy A34 (Ultrawide)
Infinix Zero 30 (ultrawide)
Portraits and Selfies
As for portraits, the Galaxy A34 earns an easy point. Not only does it have better edge detection and color processing, but the Infinix Zero 30 tends to add a pinkish hue to the subject’s face which I am not a big fan of. Its selfies also leave a lot to be desired as the Galaxy A34 handles skin tones miles better.
Portrait and Selfies
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Infinix Zero 30
Samsung Galaxy A34
Infinix Zero 30
Samsung Galaxy A34
Lowlight
But the Zero 30 is a champ when it comes to lowlight photography. There’s not much shutter lag and they have more details and better dynamic range than A34.
Lowlight
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Infinix Zero 30 (Normal)
Infinix Zero 30 (Normal)
Infinix Zero 30 (Normal)
Infinix Zero 30 (Normal)
Galaxy A34 (Normal)
Galaxy A34 (Night Mode)
Infinix Zero 30 (Normal)
Infinix Zero 30 (Supernight))
Infinix Zero 30 (Normal)
Infinix Zero 30 (Supernight))
Infinix Zero 30 (Normal)
Infinix Zero 30 (Supernight))
You can also choose to shoot in the “Super Night Mode” which takes in more light but this gave me some weird-looking images from time to time.
Battery and Charging
5000mAh with 68W fast charging
Now let’s talk about the battery. I was surprised to find out that this slim guy is packing a 5000 mAh cell. And after some use, I can say that while the battery life is good it’s not great.
It lasted me through the day just fine, but the battery drain was quite horrifying as the Zero 30 lost anywhere between 15 to 20% overnight. After a little bit of digging, I did find that turning on “Bedtime mode” helps a lot but yeah, this is something Infinix needs to fix ASAP!
Infinix Zero 30 Review: Conclusion
To wrap things up, I think the Infinix Zero 30 is a great overall package for the price that pushes the boundary for smartphone cameras in the midrange arena. Especially in terms of videography. It does under-deliver on its promise of “stable, shake-free videos every time”, but I hope this encourages the competition to follow suit in the future anyway.
There are also a couple of optimization issues for Infinix to sort out but all in all, the Zero 30 makes a lot of sense under 25,000 rupees. I’ll admit — this segment does have a few other compelling options like the Motorola Edge 40 Neo(review) and the iQOO Z7 Pro as well — but it easily stands out against the competition. Mostly through its videography abilities.
Before I get on with my Motorola Edge 40 Neo review, the one thing that I’ve been saying a lot recently is how value-for-money the last few Moto devices have been, be it the affordable Moto G84 or the pricier Motorola Edge 40. And despite that, I feel like the Edge 40 Neo is Motorola’s best value-for-money phone right now. That alone should speak volumes about how I feel about this phone.
While it originally launched at a starting price of INR 24,000 in India, Motorola has put it up for sale with a flat discount of INR 3,000 right now. Alongside some bank discounts to go with it. So at around INR 20,000, the Edge 40 Neo looks like a solid phone that impresses in more than one way.
Motorola Edge 40 Neo Review: Specifications
Body: 71.99 x 159.63 x 7.89mm, 172gm, IP68 dust/water resistant
The design is easily one of the biggest highlights of the Edge 40 Neo. There are three color options to choose from — all created in collaboration with Pantone — and the “Soothing Sea” option with its light shade of green looks really beautiful to my eyes. Add a curved back and a soft vegan leather finish into the mix, then you’ve got a phone that is absolutely incredible to hold.
But faster wear and tear is always a concern with such leather back phones, right? Which is why the Edge 40 Neo is also available in a “Beauty Black” shade with an acrylic/plastic finish.
Or better yet, you can slap in the color-matching case provided in the box itself which has a nice texture as well. Surprisingly enough, for such a thin and lightweight phone, the Edge 40 Neo has also got some heft to it.
So all in all, Motorola has done a 10/10 job in terms of the design here. There’s positively no doubt about it. But hold on, it gets even better. Just like its Edge 40 sibling, the Edge 40 Neo also gets IP68 dust and water resistance. So whether you’re out in the rain, in for a swim, or somewhere particularly dusty, it’s going to live through it all just fine. And I’m not sure about this but the Edge 40 Neo might be the most affordable IP68-rated phone too.
Display
6.55-inch FHD+ pOLED panel
144/360Hz refresh/touch sampling rate
10-bit colors, 1,300 nits peak brightness
I’m more than happy with its display as well.
You’re getting a gorgeous 6.5-inch OLED panel with an FHD resolution and there’s a lo…t to love here. From vibrant colors to the slim bezels, a smooth 144Hz refresh rate, and everything in between, this simply doesn’t feel like something you’d typically get on a budget phone.
And although I am not a big fan of curved displays, subtle ones like this don’t grind my gears as much. As for the colors, the default “Saturated” mode with its full-force of DCI-P3 gamut can look a bit too… saturated to some folks. So if you’re in that crowd, Motorola has got you covered with the “Natural” color profile that looks much easier on the eyes.
The Edge 40 Neo’s buttery 144Hz refresh rate further spices up the experience. I’ll admit I was a little concerned originally if the phone could even handle 144Hz that well but it turns out I was worried about nothing. And except for a couple of negligible micro stutters here and there, it’s been smooth sailing for the most part.
But just so you know, when settling with the “auto” refresh rate option, the phone switches between 60, 90, and 120Hz only — never 144Hz. Granted the display doesn’t skip a beat to shift through different refresh rates, but I would’ve liked to be able to run it at 144Hz at times while also saving up on power whenever necessary. All automatically.
A little slow to adjust brightness automatically
While I can live with this just fine, one thing that’s kinda been bugging me is that its auto brightness adjustment isn’t as swift as I want. Sometimes it works as intended but sometimes the Edge 40 Neo really takes its time to adapt to the ambient light.
Motorola says this is an HDR10+ certified screen as well. And although I had no trouble playing my local HDR-mastered videos or ones on YouTube, the Edge 40 Neo can’t play HDR videos on Netflix just yet. High-res streaming is absolutely no trouble since it is Widevine L1-certified but it looks like it’s going to be a while before HDR playback arrives on Netflix.
Audio
Stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos audio
On that note, the stereo speakers on this thing are pretty amazing though. The clarity is there and the phone gets quite loud too. Obviously, you can’t expect much in the bass department but with a little bit of fiddling in the settings, the Edge 40 Neo can end up sounding much better.
And that brings me to the performance. The Dimensity 7030 chip powering this phone — which is just a rebranded Dimensity 1050 from last year by the way — is far from the most capable processor you can find in this segment. Let me make that clear right away.
It outperforms the Snapdragon 695 quite comfortably but falls behind similarly-priced phones like the Infinix Zero 30 and the iQOO Z7 Pro which bring much more powerful Dimensity 8020 and Dimensity 7200 chips. Whether we’re talking about the CPU or the GPU.
Then again, raw performance isn’t everything.
The Edge 40 Neo has been more than capable of keeping up with my day-to-day chores without slowing me down.
Excellent software experience
Motorola’s default scale of system animation feels slightly slower than it should to me, so I’ve dialed it down by going into the developer options. But other than that, this clean, near-stock Android software is an absolute blast to use. It’s well designed, the multitasking is great, you can customize it to your heart’s content, and there are a lot of incredibly useful features baked in too.
Like Motorola’s “Ready For” suite, for example. From mirroring or extending the phone’s screen to straight up using your phone’s camera as a webcam, it’s quite the productivity tool. Which I wish was available on Mac as well. Whereas, I’ve also found a couple of other features like per-app volume control and double-tapping to launch an app or a shortcut pretty useful.
This experience should (in theory) continue to get better since Motorola has also promised 2 years of OS and 3 years of security updates for the Edge 40 Neo. But this is where I’m staying a bit doubtful because Motorola isn’t exactly known for timely software updates. Case in point, we’re in the middle of October already and my unit is still stuck on July’s security patch. So yeah — more than anything — Motorola really needs to up its update game. Fast.
How’s the gaming performance?
What about gaming then? Well, even though the Edge 40 Neo isn’t the most capable gaming phone in its price range, you can get a half-decent gaming experience here. I was getting near 60 fps average on titles like PUBG Mobile and Asphalt 9, while Genshin Impact was playable at Medium graphics with a little under 30 fps too. Not bad!
But its slim build quality definitely takes a toll on the thermals when you’re doing anything resource-intensive as gaming since the phone was nearing 40°C in all three of them after just 15 minutes. And in games like Mech Arena where the phone is attempting to push around 120 frames every second, it quickly dips to 90 – 95 fps.
Cameras
Dual camera setup at the back
(50MP main, 13MP ultrawide)
32MP selfie camera (hole-punch)
Let’s talk about the cameras now. First things first, I really appreciate the fact that Motorola has given a proper dual camera setup on the Edge 40 Neo with a 50MP primary and a 13MP ultrawide shooter. Instead of going with gimmicky and utterly useless macro and depth sensors.
Having said that, I think the camera experience could have been better here.
Daytime Images
What you need to know is that the Edge 40 Neo prefers really punchy colors, warmer tones, and a pinch of additional contrast that can come off looking unnatural and compromise the dynamic range at times. Whereas I also noticed some oversharpening going on here.
Motorola Edge 40 Neo – Daytime Images
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This type of processing does look nice sometimes but yeah, Motorola does have some work cut out for itself in terms of optimizing the cameras.
Ultrawide Images
Surprisingly enough, its ultrawide shots preserve better white balance than those from the main camera. And although it clearly can’t compete in terms of details, the Edge 40 Neo’s ultrawide photos are pretty decent overall.
Motorola Edge 40 Neo – Ultrawide Images
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Portrait and Selfie Images
Motorola’s punchy and contrasty processing can be seen in the portraits as well. Still, I like how you can shoot at three different focal lengths for better subject focus here.
Motorola Edge 40 Neo – Portraits
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24mm
35mm
50mm
24mm
35mm
50mm
It’s a simple digital crop and nothing more but this comes in handy more often than you’d think. The selfies from this thing are just okay-ish too.
Motorola Edge 40 Neo – Selfies
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Lowlight Images
But the Edge 40 Neo’s lowlight images are something else.
Motorola Edge 40 Neo – Nighttime Images
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Normal
Night Mode
Normal
Night Mode
Normal
Night Mode
The ones from the main camera at least. It really preserves that essence of the night with fairly detailed and well-exposed shots. Highlight control can be tricky at times but turning on Night Mode mostly does the trick.
Videos
As for the videos, this guy can shoot at 4K 30 fps from all three of its cameras. With the 60 fps option locked to the main sensor at 1080p only.
And you know what? I was expecting the footages to come off wobbly and all but Motorola has done a terrific job in terms of stabilization. So if you can spare the larger file sizes, there’s no reason to settle with Full HD recording here. Yet, its exposure handling and background noise suppression are not the best I’ve seen.
Battery
5000mAh with 68W fast charging
Finally, the Edge 40 Neo’s battery life is an easy B+ in my books. Which has been netting me 6 – 6.5 hours of screen time on average, even on days with a lot of gaming, camera usage, and more. Juicing up its 5000mAh battery is also pretty quick. You get a 68W adapter inside the box (which also supports PD charging by the way), and it takes the phone to 50% in under 15 minutes. Or around 42 minutes for a complete refill with “Charge Boost” enabled.
Motorola Edge 40 Neo Review: Conclusion
So that was all for my full review of the Motorola Edge 40 Neo. And needless to say, this is one heck of a phone for some INR 20,000. What I especially love about it is that Motorola hasn’t made any big, dealbreaker type of compromise to meet that price point either.
Yes, there are definitely a few things that could’ve been better here, including the camera optimization, software updates, and the haptics. However, for anyone looking to buy a well-designed, well-built budget phone that checks a lot of boxes, this is a solid choice. It’s a bit frustrating to see that Motorola hasn’t been able to stock it as per the demand, but if you manage to get your hands on one, I’m sure you’re gonna love this.
Flip phones were a smash hit back in those days with people flaunting Motorola and Nokia clamshells. Even in recent times, foldable flip phones have become quite a thing. While P-UP World, a Japanese company is reviving the good ol’ flip phones. And its Mode 1 Retro II flip phone with Android OS is official. Here, we’ll be discussing the Mode 1 Retro II’s specs, features, and expected price in Nepal.
Mode 1 Retro II Overview:
Design and Display
Beginning with the design, the Mode 1 Retro II brings in the traditional flip phone looks with a flip module. So, there are numerical and menu toggle keys just like an old phone. It reserves a compact form factor with 145 grams weight.
On the display side, the phone houses a 3.5-inch IPS LCD panel with 1440 x 720p resolution and 460PPI pixel density. Plus, there is also a secondary display on the rear side that displays time.
Camera
As for the optics, there is a 48MP primary camera on the back, rimmed on a circular module. P-UP World has also equipped a 13MP front camera.
Performance
Running the chores under the hood is a Mediatek Helio G85, a 12nm fabbed chipset. It features two ARM Cortex-A75 and six Cortex-A55 cores at 2.0GHz and 1.8GHz clock frequencies. Handling the graphics is Mali-G52 MP2 GPU. The chip is paired with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage. You can also expand the storage up to 1TB via a microSD card.
The key USP here is Android 13 software with a pre-installed Google Play Store. Users can install Android apps of their choice.
The flip phone is fueled by a 2,500mAh battery that charges via a USB Type-C port. Talking of the connectivity options, it supports 4G, WiFi 5, and Bluetooth 5.0.
Mode 1 Retro II Specifications:
Display: 3.5″ LCD panel,
Chipset: Mediatek Helio G85
Software: Android 13
Connectivity: 4G VoLTE
RAM: 4GB
Storage: 64GB internal, expandable up to 1TB (via SD card)
Battery: 2500 mAh removable battery, USB Type-C charging
Colors: Sheep White, and Wolf Black colors
Mode 1 Retro II Price in Nepal and Availability
In Japan, the Mode 1 Retro II retails at JPY 29,800. We expect the Mode 1 Retro II price in Nepal to be NPR 32,999 if and when it launches here.
