Virgin Galactic, the space company founded by British billionaire Sir Richard Branson, is set to make history by launching its first commercial space flight, named ‘Galactic 01,’ at the end of June. Alongside Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic is part of private space firms that have pioneered the concept of sending civilians into space. However, the experience comes with a heavy price tag, as the tickets for the space journey are $450,000 per person.
Virgin Galactic “Galatics 01”
Launch Details
Virgin Galactic has confirmed a three-day window from June 27 to June 30 for the launch of ‘Galactic 01.’ The VSS Unity spaceplane will carry a crew of six people from Spaceport America in New Mexico. The company plans to conduct a research mission on microgravity during this commercial space flight, with three crew members from the Italian Air Force and the National Research Council of Italy joining three Americans. Branson has also announced ‘Galactic 02’ to take place within the next six months.
The Spaceflight Experience
Passengers aboard the VSS Unity spaceplane will get to experience Space in a 90-minute experience. The journey will begin with a carrier aircraft called White Knight Two, which takes off from a runway and gains high altitude. Then, at around 50,000 feet, White Knight Two releases the rocket-powered VSS Unity, which goes even higher.
VSS Unity will reach an altitude of over 50 miles, crossing the boundary of space as defined by the US Air Force and NASA. Passengers will experience the weightlessness and breathtaking views of Earth. The spaceship boasts 17 windows, providing passengers with incredible points to observe our planet.
Once the rocket motor shuts down, passengers on the Virgin Galatic’s “Galatic 01” will have the opportunity to unbuckle their seatbelts and float in the sensation of zero gravity. After re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere, VSS Unity gets back to the runway, offering passengers a smooth and comfortable end to their ride.
As Virgin Galactic moves into the commercial spaceflight phase, it plans to offer monthly spaceflights. While the initial focus is on high-paying customers, the long-term vision of Virgin Galactic, as well as other private space companies, is to make space tourism more accessible to a broader audience.
The tickets for Galactic 01 are available at $450,000 per person. Although the initial batch of tickets was sold for $200,000 each, the current price has increased. Virgin Galactic has reportedly sold about 800 tickets over the past decade. Furthermore, the high demand has resulted in some ticket holders waiting for over 14 years for their awaited journey.
Meanwhile, check out our informational video on Nepal’s own Munal satellite.
Ex-Xiaomi founding member Li Ming’s “JoyfulRobotics” has ventured into the AI + hardware space with the world’s first Android desktop robot. And it’s pretty affordable too. So let’s take a deeper look at the JoyfulRobotics Desktop Robot.
JoyfulRobotics Desktop Robot: Overview
Starting off, this is quite a tiny desktop companion, measuring just 16.5 cm tall. It features a 2.1-inch circular display and ear-shaped protrusions on either side and feet for movement. The bezel between the circular screen and the chassis is quite noticeable though. Overall, its design is quite unique; mostly thanks to the humanoid face and ears.
Features and Software
Moving onto the abilities of this guy, firstly it can display a wide range of rich emotions. Users can even install their own DIY emoticons and customize the face to their preferences. It runs on “GeeUI” which has different “interaction modes” that users can choose from. Including electronic pet mode, function mode, and hybrid mode.
Besides emoticons, the screen can display time, reminders, news, countdowns, stock prices, and calls. Moreover, JoyfulRobotics will be granting users full access to the Desktop Robot’s interface through future updates. That means you can install Android apps regardless of whether they are optimized or not. And if you want, the company will also be offering developer ROM via OTA updates that will grant full root access for unlimited customization.
What’s more?
Besides that, this robot has Chinese voice chat abilities and supports touch features and mobile input. Users will also feel haptic feedback while interacting with the robot, and it supports air gestures too. JoyfulRobotics even mentioned a “secret interactive mode” for the Desktop Robot but we will have to wait and see what that actually does.
This thing charges via a wireless charging pad that comes in the box. But you can also choose to juice it via USB-C cable as well.
JoyfulRobotics Desktop Robot Price and Availability
In China, this Desktop Robot is available for CNY 1,799 (around USD 250 / INR 20,500 / NPR 32,800). The company has partnered up with Tmall to bring this product to the global market as well.
JoyfulRobotics Desktop Robot
Price in China
Desktop bot
CNY 1,799
Meanwhile, check our top picks for the best TWS earbuds under INR 5,000
This is my full review of the MSI Raider GE68 HX (2023) after testing it for a couple of weeks. It’s got the latest chips from Intel and NVIDIA, and all the other perks you’d expect from a proper gaming laptop. In case you didn’t know, “Raider” is MSI’s most premium lineup of gaming laptops, second only to the “Titan” series. So of course, this year’s Raider is predictably bulky and heavy too. Weighing an incredible 2.7 kg for the laptop; or roughly 3.8 kg when counting its monstrous 280W power brick.
Here, my Raider GE68 HX is configured with a Core i7-13700HX CPU, an RTX 4070 GPU, 32GB of DDR5 memory running in dual-channel, and a whopping 2TB of PCIe Gen4 SSD. And it goes for around NPR 388,000 here in Nepal or around INR 260,000 in India. Whereas you can even get it with an i9/4090 combo if you need that kind of power.
MSI Raider GE68 HX (2023) Review: Specifications
Dimensions: 14.05 (W) x 11.18 (D) x 0.87 – 1.10 (H) inches, 2.7 kg
What’s inside the box: Laptop, power adapter, quick start guide, MSI backpack
MSI Raider GE68 HX (2023) Review:
However—for all its power and all its glory—the MSI Raider GE68 HX has one big problem. I wasn’t expecting to say something like that about what is literally the fastest gaming laptop I’ve ever tested, but here we are. So let’s get into all that and everything else in this full review of the MSI Raider GE68 HX (2023).
Design and Build
14.05 (W) x 11.18 (D) x 0.87 – 1.10 (H) inches, 2.7 kg
Plastic / metal hybrid build quality
Okay, on top of all the upgrades on the inside, MSI has also switched up the laptop’s exterior looks by quite a bit this time. And I for one, welcome it with open arms. Compared to last year’s Raider GE67, this is… playfully more bold (if that makes any sense).
It’s still got an aggressive “gamer” aesthetics but I can definitely get behind this.
MSI has gotten rid of its own branding at the metal alloy lid, while the “MSI Dragon” logo is now backlit too. There are also a couple of additional aesthetic touches at the back of the laptop—like the red and gold accents along the edges. But perhaps the most notable design switch is the see-through casing for the light strip up front, which looks both retro and futuristic at the same time somehow. And of course, you can customize all the lighting effects via the pre-installed SteelSeries app.
Sturdy through and through
All of this sounds pretty great but what about durability? Thankfully, MSI has cut no corners on that aspect either. And everything from its redesigned hinge to the keyboard deck and the outer lid feels solid with little to no flex or creaks when applying some pressure. The palm rest area is nice to touch and the edges on the bottom panel are also tapered, which means I’ve had no problem gaming on this thing for long hours.
MSI Raider GE68 HX (2023) - Ports
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Left
Right
Back
The Raider GE68’s I/O selection leaves little room for complaint as well. It’s got one USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C port on all three sides, although only the one on the right supports PD charging and only the one on the left is Thunderbolt 4-ready. Then there are a couple of USB-A, one full-sized SD card reader, one combo audio jack, one HDMI 2.1, and one RJ45 connection.
Display
16″ anti-glare non-touch QHD IPS panel
240Hz refresh rate, 100% DCI-P3 gamut
Adaptive-Sync, Optimus, MUX Switch
And in terms of the display, I’m actually a little disappointed with what MSI has done here. While we got a gorgeous 240Hz OLED screen last year, all you can choose from are IPS panels on the Raider GE68. Don’t get me wrong—I certainly appreciate the upgrade to a proper 16″ display with a taller 16:10 aspect ratio—but why not both, huh?
Apart from the superior colors and contrast levels, OLED displays are also famous for their insanely fast response times. Which means if you play a lot of FPS or similar fast-paced games, you’d want to play it on an OLED screen.
But that’s not to say that this IPS display is horrible or anything though.
Terrific display overall
I’ve been using the QHD variant with a 240Hz refresh rate, and everything from its colors, viewing angles, and even response time itself is pretty great. And I didn’t notice motion blur or ghosting in all my gaming sessions.
I like how MSI has pre-loaded a bunch of different color profiles for different workloads too, and switching between them is as easy as clicking a button. And if the default tuning doesn’t look that good to your eyes, you can even play around with different settings like gamma, color temperature, and RGB levels just like that.
MSI Raider GE68 HX - Color Gamut
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AdobeRGB
P3
sRGB
Out of all the options available, I found the Display P3 mode to have the widest color coverage—managing 100% sRGB and 98% of the P3 gamut. Raider G68’s screen gets plenty bright too, with a peak brightness of around 400 nits. This IPS panel does have some mild backlight bleed around the bottom edge, but unless you’re playing a game with a dimly-lit environment or watching letterboxed videos in a room with not much ambient light, it’s not going to be a big deal.
Audio
4x 2W speakers (front + downfiring)
Dynaudio, Hi-Res Audio
On that note, MSI has also upgraded the audio setup for this year’s Raider GE68. Instead of just a couple of side-firing speakers, there are now two additional front-firing units too. And yep, these are indeed capable of producing room-filling sound with ample details, clarity, and even some bass. But for that, you’re gonna have to adjust the EQ a little because these are tuned with way too much bass by default.
Keyboard
Full-size SteelSeries keys with Numpad
Per-key RGB backlighting
The keyboard and the trackpad also get some love this time around. MSI is still reserving mechanical keys to the high-end Titan series, but this is still a pretty nice keyboard to type on. The keys are well laid out and have nice, strong feedback with a pretty quiet noise profile. Yes, these have per-key RGB backlighting and key bindings too, and you can customize them to your whim via the same SteelSeries app. And look, there’s even a Numpad now!
Trackpad
Glass trackpad with integrated left/right keys
“I’m absolutely loving this larger trackpad as well”, is what I would have liked to say but I’m afraid not.
You can probably already tell what’s wrong just by looking at it, and you’d be right. The issue here isn’t that it’s too wide or anything—obviously not—but it’s that MSI has centered the trackpad to the keyboard deck instead of the main alphanumeric keys. So accidental touches are just… wayyyyy too common on this thing.
I guess that’s not really a dealbreaker for a gaming laptop since most people would be using an external mouse anyway, but it’s still pretty annoying.
Webcam
FHD (1080p) IR camera
Physical privacy shutter
And you know what else is annoying? This webcam. The dedicated camera shutter is a nice touch and this IR camera now lets you log in with your face as well, but its actual picture quality itself is some of the worst I’ve seen in recent times.
MSI Raider GE68 HX (2023) – Webcam Sample
For some reason, there’s this weird green tint around the middle of the frame, that turns everything rather jarring. From my skin tone to the color of my shirt. And even for a 1080p camera, its detail level isn’t that good. So I’m hoping MSI sorts it all out with a future update.
Performance
Intel Core i7-13700HX CPU (55W base power)
NVIDIA RTX 4070 (140W, 8GB GDDR6 VRAM)
32GB DDR5 RAM, 2TB PCIe NVMe SSD
That brings me to the performance. As I mentioned in the beginning, the 2023 edition of Raider GE68 packs Intel’s high-performance 13th Gen CPU and an RTX 40 series GPU inside. And the i7-13700HX and RTX 4070 combo on my unit absolutely rips through everything you throw at it. From casual everyday usage to editing 4K projects on Premiere Pro with multiple animation layers, color corrections, and stuff.
MSI Raider GE68 HX (2023) – Benchmarks
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Cinebench R23
7-Zip
3DMark Fire Strike Extreme
Unigine Heaven
CrystalDiskMark
And this laptop easily secures the top spot in different synthetic and productivity benchmarks on our database too. Be it CPU-centric like Cinebench and 7-Zip or GPU-focused like 3DMark and Unigine Heaven. The read/write speed of its PCIe Gen4 SSD is also some of the fastest I’ve seen so far. That reminds me, of the two M.2 slots available, one of them supports PCIe Gen5 SSD too. So if you’d like to upgrade to a faster Gen5 SSD down the line, that’s absolutely possible here.
The RTX 4070 problem
Okay, while all this sounds pretty impressive and all, there is something weird about RTX 4070 laptop GPUs you should know. You see, my Raider GE68’s peak power consumption is 195W—with a maximum of 140W assigned for the GPU and 55W for the CPU.
MSI Raider GE68 HX (2023) - Power consumption
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3DMark Fire Strike Ultra
Cyberpunk 2077
But under no practical usage scenario did this laptop ever hit the 195W limit in my testing. And as you can see from this graph, in 3DMark’s Fire Strike Ultra run, the Raider GE68 was mostly hovering around 120W only. Only in Cyberpunk 2077 with graphics and ray tracing set to Ultra at 1440p, the system peaked at around 160W. A notable upgrade from before but still nowhere near 195W, which is what it should be hitting.
When you’ve spent so much on a flagship gaming laptop and sacrificed portability out the window to squeeze out every bit of performance possible, you’d obviously want the CPU and GPU to perform at their absolute best, right? So why is this happening?
Why is this happening?
Simply put, it’s because NVIDIA has seemingly set a voltage limit on RTX 4070 laptop GPUs, which prevents them from drawing 140W of power in most cases. Like… if I put through Furmark’s stress test and Cinebench side-by-side, then the Raider G68 has no problem sucking up 195W of power.
But it never bothers disturbing that power limit on gaming or productivity workloads.
So what all of this means is that RTX 4070 laptops with high TGP won’t actually scale that well compared to something like a 100W RTX 4070. And somehow, this is not a problem with upper-tier RTX 40 series laptop GPUs like the RTX 4080 and 4090. If you want to learn more, Jarrod’s Tech has done a whole series of videos on this topic that’s definitely worth checking out.
Gaming results
Anyway, I tested 8 different games at both 1080 and 1440p at high settings with MUX Switch on, and the Raider G68 posted some pretty impressive numbers. Although I’d once again like to remind you that this laptop should really be doing much better according to its specs.
MSI Raider GE68 HX (2023) – Gameplay
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Borderlands 3
GTA V
Forza Horizon 5
Shadow of the Tomb Raider
I was getting 70+ fps on Borderlands 3, GTA V, Forza Horizon 5, and Shadow of the Tomb Raider at 1440p—whereas bringing it down to 1080p would result in somewhere between 20 – 60% better average fps.
MSI Raider GE68 HX (2023) – Gameplay
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Cyberpunk 2077 (DLSS 3 off)
Cyberpunk 2077 (DLSS 3 on)
Control
Hogwarts Legacy
CS: GO
But 1440p gameplay is less than ideal in GPU-heavy titles like Cyberpunk 2077, Control, and Hogwarts Legacy at the highest settings without the help of DLSS. And since Cyberpunk 2077 supports DLSS 3 with frame generation—which is exclusive to RTX 40 series, by the way—I tested it out as well. And wow, with DLSS 3, the gameplay is more than 3x smoother. Some artifacts are still noticeable every now and then, but I can’t say this impacted the overall gaming experience in any big way.
Is it cool?
To keep things nice and cool, there are a couple of fans and six heat pipes inside, while the Raider GE68 blasts hot air from two exhaust vents on the side and two at the back. And for the most part, this cooling system works its magic just fine. After a couple of hours of continuous gaming, I recorded its peak surface temperature near the keyboard deck around 44 – 46°C. Yes, that’s definitely hot to the touch—but far from the worst I’ve seen on a gaming laptop.
MSI Control Center
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User Scenario
Cooler Boost fan profile
As for the fan noise, it’s loud. And under the “Extreme” performance mode with “Cooler Boost” switched on, this thing gets as loud as 57dBA! So just make sure you have your headphones on if the fan noise gets too distracting.
Battery
99.9 Watt-hour 4-cell battery
280W AC power adapter
Moving on, the MSI Raider GE68 has an enormous 99.9 Wh battery. But since this is a high-performance gaming laptop, after all, its actual battery backup is mediocre at best. Under the “Super Battery” preset with “Display Power Saver” turned on which drops the refresh rate to just 60Hz, it lasted around 3.5 hours.
Or just about 2 hours under the Balanced Mode with the display constantly refreshing at 240Hz. And the included 280W power brick takes a couple of hours for a complete refill.
MSI Raider GE68 HX (2023) Review: Conclusion
Okay, that was all for my full review of the new MSI Raider GE68 HX (2023). Needless to say that there’s definitely a lot to love about this gaming beast. Including its design, display, performance, and thermals. Yes, that RTX 4070 issue is a bit concerning but that’s an “NVIDIA issue” and not an “MSI issue”, so we can’t pile it all on MSI anyway.
So… what’s that “one big problem” I teased earlier. Well, it’s the price. Definitely.
At NPR 388,000, the Raider GE68 HX is quite an overpriced gaming laptop for everything it offers. And looking into alternatives from practically any other major laptop brand, you can find similarly configured gaming laptops for much lower prices. Like the Acer Predator Helios 16 (2023) which has the same RTX 4070 GPU and an even more powerful Core i9-13900HX CPU combo. And unlike the Raider GE68, it also brings Advanced Optimus support. Similar gaming laptops from Asus and Lenovo cost way less compared to what MSI is asking for the Raider GE68 as well.
And in some cases, you can take home a much more powerful i9/4080 setup without adding a whole lot of money. So unless MSI cuts down on its price by a significant margin, I really can’t recommend the Raider GE68 to you guys. There’s not a whole lot wrong with the laptop itself but at that price, it’s definitely not a good purchase.
Our video review of MSI Raider GE68 HX (2023) is coming up pretty soon
Shopping online is now a part busy schedule, but chances are we don’t find clothes as expected or cannot decide whether certain clothes fit us. Google has come up with solutions for this issue; Try-On and Fine-tune searching, which are now accessible in the United States. The newly introduced “Try On” feature enables women to observe how tops appear on real-life models of different sizes, colors, etc., assisting them in understanding the fit more effectively. Also, users have the ability to fine-tune their search criteria to locate the specific clothing item they are seeking.
Google Fine-tune searching
When it comes to shopping in physical stores, we have the convenience of finding clothes that match our preferences, trying them on, and getting suggestions. However, online shopping often requires us to tirelessly search until we discover the perfect item. To tackle this challenge, Google is working on utilizing machine learning models and visual matching algorithms.
This technology allows users to refine their searches through various colors, styles, and patterns and locate the desired clothing items with greater ease. Moreover, these algorithms go a step further by suggesting clothing options from multiple retailers, enhancing the overall shopping experience.
Buying clothes online and getting disappointed by how it looks on us has been a much more common story. Google’s new generative AI model can take a single clothing image and provide a representation of how it would appear on various real models. These models represent different sizes, colors, and ethnicities, allowing users to choose the one that closely matches their own appearance.
By considering different factors like draping, folding, clinging, and stretching, as well as the formation of wrinkles and shadows, the AI model provides a more understanding of how the fabric will appear on the user, allowing them to gain a clearer visualization of its overall look.
Availability and Expanding Accessibility
Google is working on enhancing and expanding these features to make them more optimized and accessible worldwide. While currently available only in the United States and limited to women’s tops of brands like Anthropologie, Everlane, H&M, and LOFT., Google has plans to extend the availability globally and is exploring the application of these features to men’s clothing as well.
Samsung Nepal has launched the long-awaited AirDresser, which can do all sorts of things from sterilizing and cleaning, to deodorizing and steaming your delicate clothes. This makes your laundry duty hassle-free without needing frequent visits to laundrymats and dry cleaners. So let’s see what Samsung 18-inch AirDresser has to offer alongside its official price in Nepal, availability, and more.
Samsung 18-inch AirDresser Overview:
In layman’s terms, AirDresser is basically a big closet that helps keep your clothes clean and fresh. It uses air and steam to get rid of dirt, dust, and germs from your clothes, while also removing odors from sweat, tobacco, unpleasant food, and more. You just hang your clothes inside the AirDresser and it takes care of the rest all by itself in as little as 20 minutes.
Samsung markets the AirDresser as a “must-have” clothing appliance that kills 99.9% of bacteria and viruses. It is mainly targeted toward corporate boardrooms, VIP lounges, clubs, hotels, luxury retailers, and designers. That being said, nothing is stopping parents from using one for their children’s outwear, bedding, and soft toys.
It can hold up to 2 jackets and 2 pants at once, and here’s how it works:
JetSteam: First, the AirDresser uses hot air to sanitize and sterilize clothes by infusing heat deep into the fabric. With this, Samsung says it gets rid of 99.9% of viruses and bacteria, 100% of house mites, 99% of odor-causing gases, and 99% of other harmful substances.
JetAir: Then, JetAir and Air Hangers inside blow powerful jets of air to remove any dust or debris particles while maintaining minimal noise levels.
Heatpump Drying: Now, the AirDresser dries the clothes at low temperatures to reduce the risk of damage or shrinkage.
Deodorizing: In the final stage, Samsung AirDresser uses Air Filters to capture and reduce odor particles caused by sweat, unpleasant food, tobacco, or other things.
What about the smell?
But that would mean the inside of the AirDresser would be quite smelly right? Well, not quite. Samsung AirDresser also has Self-Cleaning Technology that dehumidifies, sanitizes, and deodorizes the interior. And it also notifies you every 40 cycles for maintenance and cleaning.
Besides those, Samsung AirDresser offers Dehumidification and Wrinkle Care features too. Dehumidification allows your clothes to be stored in optimal conditions for a long time while Wrinkle Care can smooth out light wrinkles using steam and air.
Moreover, the Samsung AirDresser is also sleek enough to seamlessly blend into the room. Samsung says this thing has built-in AI to learn your usage habit as well, whereas you can even remotely start, pause, and receive cycle recommendations on your phone via the SmartThings app. For quick controls, there’s an interactive LCD panel where you can view progress and different settings for the AirDresser.
Samsung 18-inch AirDresser Key Specifications:
Dimensions and Weight: 445 x 1850 x 632 mm, 85 kg (net)
Under Vivo’s latest “V” series of premium midrange phones, only the vanilla Vivo V27 has officially arrived in Nepal. And Vivo Nepal will most likely not launch the V27 Pro and the premium “X” series of phones that are more expensive than this guy. I used the Vivo V27 for more than two weeks as my primary phone, while also comparing it against Samsung’s Galaxy A54 (review). And here’s my full review of the Vivo V27.
Vivo V27 Review: Specifications
Body: 74.8 x 164.1 x 7.36mm, 180gm, Glass front/back, Plastic frames, No IP rating
Vivo phones are pretty well-known for their attractive design and the V27 series maintains the same impression. The Vivo V27 offers a stunning look with an elegant design and premium glass-sandwich quality. And the phone feels absolutely incredible to hold. At just 180 grams, it is also quite lightweight. Whereas the phone’s “Magic Blue” colorway has a marble-like finish and a color-changing back. And under the influence of sunlight or other UV rays, it transforms from light blue to dark.
Pretty cool!
Vivo V27
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Back
Display
Other than this, the dual curved finish further adds to the phone’s premium hands-on feel. The buttons are also positioned at just the right spot and can be reached without any struggle. Its camera housing also looks a lot minimalistic with 3 lenses and a circular LED flash called “Aura Light”.
But despite all its design wins, Vivo V27 does not have an IP rating, which is a quite disappointment considering its price. To compare, Samsung’s Galaxy A54 and even cheaper Galaxy A34 (review) bear an official IP67 rating against dust and water damage. And another disappointing thing about this phone is that Vivo has still settled with a single down-firing speaker instead of a proper stereo speaker setup. Likewise, its haptic feedback is just average too.
Display
6.78-inches FHD+ AMOLED panel
120/240Hz refresh/touch sampling rate
No Gorilla Glass protection
As for the display, you’re looking at a 6.78-inch FHD+ AMOLED panel that supports HDR10+ and is Widevine L1 certified for hi-res playback. But despite its HDR10+ support, it can’t stream HDR videos on OTT platforms like Netflix just yet. So hopefully Vivo V27 will get Netflix HDR10 certification pretty soon.
Anyway, Vivo has finally moved away from a pesky teardrop notch to a proper hole-punch cutout this time, which looks quite modern. And although this is a curved display, I didn’t come across accidental touches all that much except for a few times when I was gaming. This screen gets plenty bright too, and I had no trouble reading contents off of it in bright outdoor conditions.
But my biggest complaint with Vivo V27’s display has to be its refresh rate optimization. This is a 120Hz display alright, but it’s clear that the company hasn’t tuned it well across the phone. As a result, I noticed stutters when using different system apps like launchers and settings on multiple occasions.
And the reason why Vivo V27’s 120Hz refresh rate is so under-optimized could very well be because of the new MediaTek Dimensity 7200 chip that the company has used. If you look at its specs, the Dimensity 7200 is actually a big upgrade from Vivo V25‘s Dimensity 900 in terms of both CPU and GPU. In fact, its performance is somewhere between Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 778G and Snapdragon 870.
But as we all know, raw performance doesn’t amount to anything if the processor isn’t well-optimized for the phone. And that’s exactly what has happened here. Besides the refresh rate, the phone also occasionally falls behind in multitasking or even when just switching between different camera lenses.
At the time of writing this review, my unit of the Vivo V27 has received two software updates so far—both promising smoother system stability—but there’s still much work to do here.
Moving on. Even though it’s not a gaming phone, I tried playing a few games here. And because of the aforementioned lack of optimization and its compromised cooling solution to maintain a slim profile, Vivo V27 gets warm pretty fast. Vivo does mention that it has used a large vapor chamber cooling system here but it’s clear that that’s not enough as the phone climbs to 40 – 42°C pretty fast. And the actual stability was also lower than I expected in games like PUBG Mobile and Mech Arena.
What about software?
As for software, Vivo V27 runs on the latest Android 13-based Funtouch OS 13. Like always, Vivo’s memory management is a bit strict. Which means you’ll have to manually lock your desired app in memory if you don’t want it to reload every time you open it. And even though it’s pretty simple to get around, Funtouch OS itself doesn’t feel that modern compared to other Android skins out there.
But the biggest issue about its software is the fact that Vivo hasn’t committed to any kind of software update policy for this phone. Unlike most of its competitors like the OnePlus 11R and the Galaxy A54, which come with 3 and 4 generations of OS updates, respectively.
Camera
Triple camera setup at the back
(50MP main, 8MP ultrawide, 2MP macro)
50MP selfie camera (hole-punch)
Let’s talk cameras now. And the Vivo V27 features three of them at the back, including a 50MP Sony IMX766V primary sensor with optical image stabilization (OIS), an 8MP ultrawide, and a 2MP macro shooter. Last year’s Vivo V25 actually had a 64MP main sensor, so this may look like a downgrade—but it’s actually not.
Matter of fact, this IMX766V sensor actually has a larger 1.0µm pixel size compared to the 0.7µm pixel size of Vivo V25’s 64MP shooter. As a result, it can capture notably more light which should especially help with lowlight photography.
Lowlight Images
And compared to something like the Galaxy A54, Vivo V27 takes better-looking lowlight shots look a lot better. It has good highlight control and color rendition, whereas Vivo’s results aren’t as noisy either.
Lowlight
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Vivo V27
Galaxy A54
Vivo V27
Galaxy A54
Vivo V27
Vivo V27
Galaxy A54
Vivo V27
Galaxy A54
Daylight Images
But things go either way in normal daytime conditions, and both phones deliver pretty decent-looking photos. Galaxy A54 tends to shoot a bit of contrast-heavy photos at times though, whereas Vivo fails to handle exposure sometimes.
Daytime
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Vivo V27
Galaxy A54
Vivo V27
Galaxy A54
Vivo V27
Galaxy A54
Vivo V27
Galaxy A54
Vivo V27
Galaxy A54
Likewise, Vivo’s classic image optimization also favors notably saturated colors but if you’re not a big fan of such tuning, there’s the “Natural Mode” option that dials down the saturation levels down a notch.
Ultrawide Images
Getting to the ultrawide cameras, they’re pretty average though. And compared to the primary camera, their ultrawide images have a notable color shift too.
Ultrawide Images
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Vivo V27
Galaxy A54
Vivo V27
Galaxy A54
Vivo V27
Galaxy A54
Selfie Images
In terms of selfies, Vivo tends to brighten up the subject’s face up a bit and it can’t render the skin tone as well as the Galaxy A54 either. But some people may actually prefer such type of beautified processing.
Selfies
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Vivo V27
Galaxy A54
Vivo V27
Galaxy A54
Vivo V27
Galaxy A54
“Aura Light”
Vivo V27 also has a neat trick up its sleeve, called “Aura Light”. It’s essentially a miniature version of a ring light that sits at the back of the phone. And you can use it to take better portraits in lowlight conditions. While that sounds great and all, I wish Vivo also offered an option to adjust the intensity level of the Aura Light.
Videography
In terms of video recording, the V27 can shoot at a maximum of 4K 30 fps from both its front and rear cameras. And unlike Galaxy A54, Vivo hasn’t disabled OIS for videos either. So naturally, it delivers much steadier recordings—although proper exposure maintenance remains something of a struggle in videos as well.
Battery
4600mAh battery with 66W fast charging
Moving on, Vivo V27 brings a slightly bigger 4600mAh battery compared to a 4500mAh unit on the Vivo V25. And a bigger battery—paired with an energy-efficient 4nm processor—means I’m getting notably better screen time here. Around 6.5 – 7 hours on average. And its 66W power brick can completely refill the phone in about 55 minutes only.
Vivo V27 Review: Conclusion
Summing up this review, I think the Vivo V27 could actually be a good deal for anyone who values an attractive design and decent cameras above everything else. And while Vivo phones were usually pretty overpriced in Nepal compared to India, that’s not the case with the V27 either.
Having said that, I definitely think Vivo has a lot of work cut out for itself in the performance department. Dimensity 7200 is a mighty capable chip on paper and its experience should’ve been much, much better than this. And the fact that Vivo isn’t promising any number of software updates for such a premium phone is pretty disappointing as well.
So unless you’re totally sold on the Vivo V27, then Samsung Galaxy A54 and Nothing Phone (1) are a couple of great alternatives to consider. Besides a fancy design, these phones also bring a premium software experience among other stuff.
In this article, we’ve listed out the official screen replacement cost of different midrange phones in Nepal. And this smartphone segment is getting more and more competitive every year in terms of design, performance, durability, etc. But guess what? No matter how sturdy a phone is, it is not immune to breakage and damage. And the most common of them is a screen replacement.
It is quite scary, mostly in the premium section of smartphones. Replacing a damaged or broken screen for a $1,000 phone can go as high as $400—or maybe even more. You could make a religion out of this. However, today I’ll be discussing screen replacement costs for some of the popular midrange smartphones you can buy right now in Nepal.
The whole point behind purchasing an economical phone is cost minimization.
So it’s pretty ironic if their repair ends up being rather costly, right? Hopefully, this article will be helpful to our readers to make an informed purchase decision when buying a phone, or when you have to get the screen replaced.
The following list of smartphones is arranged in ascending order of their respective official screen replacement costs. And as for the screen-to-phone cost percentage, lower is better, which means the cost to replace the screen is relatively cheaper than the actual phone’s cost.
Screen replacement cost of popular midrange phones in Nepal:
1. Samsung Galaxy A33
At this point, Samsung Galaxy A33 (review) is over a year old now. Its 6.4-inch FHD+ AMOLED display has a U-shaped notch and a pretty thick bottom bezel. As expected from a Samsung-made panel, Galaxy A33 has a great screen.
At launch, this phone was quite overpriced at Rs. 46,999 for the sole 8/128GB variant. But it’s available for Rs. 42,999 right now. Now, the moment of truth. The official screen replacement cost for the Galaxy A33 is Rs.8,700, which is roughly 20.24% of the phone’s MRP.
2. Vivo V27e
Next on our list is the new Vivo V27e. It’s essentially a toned-down version of the Vivo V27 (review), but you get a smaller 6.62-inch FHD+ AMOLED panel here. And unlike Vivo V27, it doesn’t have a curved display either.
Here in Nepal, Vivo V27e retails at Rs. 41,999 for the 8/256GB variant. Its screen replacement, on the other hand, costs Rs. 9,000. Or about 21.43% of the phone’s retail price.
3. Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G
This last year’s midranger from Xiaomi, the Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G (review), features a 6.67-inch FHD+ AMOLED screen with a 120Hz refresh rate and Gorilla Glass 5 protection.
And if you were unfortunate enough to break or in any other way damage its screen, it will set you back Rs. 10,800. With a starting price of Rs. 38,499, the Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G’s screen-to-phone cost percentage of 28.06%.
4. OnePlus Nord CE 2
Here, the OnePlus Nord CE 2 (review) is a 2022 midrange phone from the Chinese company. It’s essentially a rebranded OPPO Reno 7 5G though, and sports a 6.43-inch OLED panel with a 90Hz refresh rate and FHD+ resolution.
On to its price, the phone costs about Rs. 48,999 for the 8/128GB configuration here in Nepal, while replacing its screen will put you short of a jaw-dropping Rs. 16,500. As a result, its screen replacement alone covers 33.68% of the phone’s price.
5. Realme 10 Pro+
The final entry on our list is the Realme 10 Pro+, which features a gorgeous curved display. You’re looking at a 6.7-inch FHD+ OLED panel with a hole-punch cutout, a 120Hz refresh rate, and 2160Hz high-frequency dimming technology.
Realme 10 Pro+ goes for Rs. 45,999 (8/128GB), and its official screen replacement cost is a whopping Rs. 16,000! That makes up around 34.79% of the phone’s price. So while its curved display sure is nice to look at and interact with, getting it replaced is going to be an expensive ordeal.
Summary
Smartphone
Price in Nepal (Starting price)
Screen replacement cost
Screen replacement cost in %
Samsung Galaxy A33
Rs. 42,999
Rs. 8,700
20.24%
Vivo V27e
Rs. 41,999
Rs. 9,000
21.43%
Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G
Rs. 38,499
Rs. 10,800
28.06%
OnePlus Nord CE 2
Rs. 48,999
Rs. 16,500
33.68%
Realme 10 Pro+
Rs. 45,999
Rs. 16,000
34.79%
Final words
In my books, a good phone isn’t just one that performs well; it should simultaneously be durable enough so that a yearly upgrade isn’t required. So when buying a new phone, I believe it’s important to consider its repairability as well, besides its price, specs, and everything else.
I know, I’m asking a lot of our Nepalese audience when I say they consider such factors. But the fact of the day is that the growing volume of smartphone production takes a toll on the environment as well due to carbon emissions. And costs incurred on smartphone repairs like screen replacement don’t come cheap either.
Meanwhile, watch our top picks for best phones under Rs. 30,000 in Nepal
Amazfit has announced the Pop 3S, which is the largest smartwatch in its lineup. This smartwatch is a successor to the recently launched Pop 2 with some notable changes. It now features a massive 1.96-inch AMOLED display and a metallic build. So, let’s get into the specs, features, expected price, and availability of the Amazfit Pop 3S in Nepal.
Amazfit Pop 3S Overview:
Design and Display
On the latest Pop 3S, Amazfit includes a 304 stainless steel strap as well as a button of similar build. Even the middle frame is metallic, providing some sturdiness right there. Besides this, you also get a plastic strap version. The 1.96-inch display discussed above has a 368 x 448-pixel resolution and 330 nits of peak brightness. Likewise, the 2.5D curved display supports more than 100 customizable watch faces.
Health and Fitness Tracking
The Pop 3S covers a wide range of health-tracking features such as 24-hour heart rate monitoring, SpO2 measurement, stress tracking, and sleep tracking. Sleep tracking here can record light and count sleep duration and detect sleep stages. Additionally, the watch supports over 100 sports modes, catering to a wide range of fitness activities.
Battery life is one of the essential aspects of smartwatches, and the Pop 3S promises up to 12 days of usage on a single charge, presuming the Always-On Display (AOD) feature is disabled.
With all these, we can somehow say that the Pop 3S aims to be more than just a smartwatch. To add more, it includes a built-in microphone and speaker. This allows the users to make direct calls via Bluetooth connection. It also features a call history and a dialer in the contact apps. Furthermore, the microphone and speaker enable conversation with a digital assistant.
Battery: 300mAh, Up to 12 days of endurance (typical usage)
Charger: Proprietary magnetic charger (100% in 120 minutes)
Amazfit Pop 3S Price in Nepal and Availability
In India, the Pop 3S is priced pretty competitively with the silicone strap option costing INR 3,499. The metal strap variant is priced slightly higher at INR 3,999. As such, we expect the Amazfit Pop 3S price in Nepal to start at NPR 6,999 when it launches here shortly.
Amazfit Pop 3S
Price in India
Price in Nepal (Expected)
Silicone Strap
INR 3,499
NPR 6,999
Stainless Steel Strap
INR 3,999
NPR 7,499
Meanwhile, check out our review of Amazfit GTR4 / GTS 4.
Ultima Lifestyle is a growing Nepali brand offering TWS, BT speakers, and smartwatches. Now, it has launched the Ultima Dynamite Speaker in Nepal. This rugged design speaker arrives with IPX6 water resistance and up to 11 hours of playback. Okay, let’s head straight into the specs, features, and price of the Ultima Dynamite Speaker in Nepal.
Ultima Dynamite Speaker Overview:
Design
The Ultima Dynamite Speaker sports a compact design with rounded edges and a fabric coating for a rugged feel. This 250-gram speaker has a built-in lanyard on top, making it easy to carry it around, while the microSD, micro USB, and aux ports are hidden beneath a flap on the bottom. Besides that, it complies with an IPX6 rating for protection against water splashes.
As for the audio, the Ultima Dynamite speaker houses a 5W mono speaker. It is claimed to blast immersive audio with pumping bass. You get play/pause, volume up, and volume down buttons for controlling music playback. Likewise, one can activate voice assistants through a single press. Regarding connectivity, it relies on Bluetooth 5.0 with a range of up to 10 meters.
Getting to the battery, the speaker is powered by a 1800mAh Li-Po cell. The brand claims up to 11 hours of battery backup while the charging takes around 2 hours. And you get one year of warranty on the product.
Ultima Dynamite Speaker Specifications:
Dimension: 85 x 55 x 107mm
Weight: 250 grams
Audio Driver: 5W, 4 Ohm
Frequency Response: 70Hz – 18KHz
Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.0 + EDR (up to 10m)
Controls: Power on, Volume up/down, Multi-function button
Battery backup: Up to 11 hours
Protection: IPX6 (Water Resistant)
I/O: Aux in Jack, MicroSD / TF Slot, Micro-USB (Charging)
Built-in microphone: Yes
Ultima Dynamite Speaker Price in Nepal and Availability
The Ultima Dynamite Speaker price in Nepal is NPR 2,599. You can purchase it from our affiliate partner Hukut Store and get free shipping.
Back in the day, we could easily replace our smartphone batteries. Well, we can have those days back again — thanks to a new law passed by the European Union (EU). The rule makes it compulsory for gadgets, including smartphones, in the EU to have removable batteries. This means that even the companies like Apple, Google, and Samsung will have to make certain changes to their smartphone designs to follow the new law.
EU to bring back removable batteries in smartphones
In the past, our fingernails were enough to pop open the back of our phones and replace the battery. But, with the trend of smooth and stylish designs, it became difficult to adjust removable batteries in phones. However, with the new law, manufacturers have to redesign their gadgets and find better ways to make batteries easily replaceable by the end users.
Surprisingly, the European Parliament’s vote on this change was in favor with a count ratio of 587 to 9. This law aims to promote sustainability and reduce electronic waste. By making batteries easily replaceable, people can keep their devices for longer, reducing the need to get a new device when the battery fails.
It’s important to note that this law currently applies only to Europe. However, other regions could soon start discussions regarding the topic. Recently, we also heard about the EU passing the law to introduce USB Type-C chargers for all smartphones with the collaboration of India. Such a move towards standardization and environmental protection is commendable.
There is not any official statement from Samsung regarding their response to the regulations. However, we can expect both Apple and Samsung to take the lead in implementing the changes to protect the environment. The law requires the implementation of easily replaceable batteries before 2027, with the possibility of an extension in the deadline.
Overall, this new law marks a significant shift towards more sustainable practices in the tech industry. We might soon bid farewell to the days of glued-in batteries and welcome a future where smartphones are more user-friendly and environmentally conscious. The European Union’s initiative is a step in the right direction, and hopefully, it will inspire similar actions worldwide.
