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Poco shares MIUI 14 update roadmap for smartphones

Mintu
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3
Poco shares MIUI 14 update roadmap for smartphones

MIUI 14 is here for a while, and Poco has now shared a list of eligible devices that will receive the new MIUI 14 for Poco update. As expected, this new custom skin introduces new features that the company adds with each iteration. So let’s go over the list of devices that will receive the Android 13-based MIUI 14 for Poco update.

MIUI 14 for Poco Update Roadmap:

For starters, MIUI 14 is based on both the Android 12 and Android 13 codebases. As a result, we are unsure which version of MIUI will be rolled out for Poco devices since the company itself hasn’t specified anything yet. Even the recently released Poco X5 Pro comes with MIUI 14, which is based on Android 12.

Anyways, the new custom skin was first introduced with the Xiaomi 13 Series. It brings some visual changes to the interface, including super icons, a new clock app, widgets, and other features. In terms of Poco, the brand will first update its current and former flagships, as well as its midrange smartphone lineup. The exact date of the rollout is currently unknown though.

Likewise, other phones from Poco are also entitled to get updates before the end of 2023. The list is as follows:

What’s new in MIUI 14 for Poco?

Super Icons and New Widgets

One of the key visual changes in MIUI 14 is its Super Icons. The feature allows you to set a custom size for icons on the homepage. You can also change the app icon’s shape to rectangular or square. Similarly, Xiaomi has included new widgets in MIUI 14 that allow for seamless switching.

MIUI 14 Photon Engine

The new iteration of MIUI also comes with Photon Engine. It’s said to significantly improve the speed of all third-party apps. The photon engine optimizes deep within the Linux kernel to provide MIUI users with a smooth experience. Xiaomi claims it will deliver 88% improved performance and increases efficiency by up to 16%.

Cleaner System

With MIUI 14, Xiaomi has decided to include fewer preinstalled apps than before. Obviously, those apps can be uninstalled along with some system apps too. Thus, those wanting bare minimum apps can easily remove system apps, leaving the core system app number to just 8. This ensures better storage management and more control for the user.

RAM and Storage Optimization

This new iteration also brings RAM and storage optimization features. To gain this, the system now cuts the auto-starting process, system app usage, and platform memory for more usual usable RAM. Likewise, for storage, MIUI 14 will auto-compress the apps unused for one month. Such optimizations will enhance multitasking, gaming, and storage management.

  • You might also like:
Samsung OneUI 5.0 Update Roadmap OnePlus OxygenOS 13 Update Roadmap Oppo ColorOS 13 Update Roadmap
Xiaomi MIUI 14 eligible devices and features Realme UI 4 Update Roadmap Motorola Android 13 Update Roadmap
  • You can also watch our Xiaomi 12 Lite’s review

Poco X5 Review: An Ambitious Smartphone!

GadgetByte
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1
Poco X5 Review: An Ambitious Smartphone!

Poco recently announced two new smartphones: the Poco X5 and the Poco X5 Pro. We have already published our review of the X5 Pro a while ago which you can read here. In this review, I’ll be going through my experience with the vanilla Poco X5. This phone is basically a rebranded Redmi Note 12, but with a more powerful processor and most importantly, an affordable price tag. It starts at just $200 for the 6/128GB variant and for that price I think it’s a killer value.

Poco X5 Specifications:

  • Body: 165.9 x 76.2 x 8mm, 189 grams, IP53 dust/water resistant
  • Display: 6.67″ AMOLED, 120/240Hz refresh/touch sampling rate, 1200 nits (peak), DCI-P3 color gamut
  • Resolution: FHD+ (2400 x 1080 pixels), 20:9 aspect ratio, 395 PPI
  • Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 (6nm)
  • CPU: Octa-core (2×2.2 GHz Cortex-A78 & 6×1.7 GHz Cortex-A55)
  • GPU: Adreno 619
  • Memory: Up to 8GB LPDDR4x RAM, Up to 256GB UFS 2.2
  • Software & UI: Android 12 with MIUI 13 for Poco on top
  • Rear Camera: Triple-camera;
    – 48MP primary
    – 8MP ultrawide
    – 2MP depth
  • Front Camera: 13MP
  • Audio: 3.5mm headphone jack, mono speaker
  • Security: Face-unlock, Fingerprint sensor (side-mounted)
  • Connectivity: Dual-SIM (Nano), WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 5.1, GPS L1 / Glonass G1 / Beidou B1 / Galielo E1, USB Type-C, 5G
  • Sensors: Proximity, Ambient Light, Electronic Compass, Accelerometer, Gyro, IR Blaster
  • Battery: 5000mAh with 33W charging
  • Colors: Black, White, Blue
  • Price in Nepal: N/A (Starts at EUR 249 in Europe)

Poco X5 Review:

Design

Starting the review with the design, as expected from a budget phone, the Poco X5 doesn’t have any premium features such as a glass back panel or aluminum frames, but it is still a pretty well-built phone.

Poco X5 Design

I like these slight curves on the sides that help with the grip and it has a nice heft to it as well, despite being relatively lightweight at 189 grams. I also like this frosted back finish, where the fingerprints and smudges don’t look as pronounced as they would on a glossy back.

That being said, this phone does not look that unique. To be very honest, this repetitive design choice with such a camera island has grown a little boring over time to me! Given how well Oppo, Vivo, and Realme have been doing in the smartphone design department, even with their budget phone, I think Poco really needs to step up its game now. The color options for the Poco X5 aren’t that exciting either.

Display

Regardless, one of its biggest strongest points is definitely the display. Here you get a 6.67-inch AMOLED panel with Full HD resolution, 120Hz refresh rate, and a DCI-P3 gamut. Thus, the contents look sharp enough with excellent contrast and near-accurate colors as expected.

Poco X5 Display

You can also stream Full HD videos on Netflix—thanks to the Widevine L1 certification. This screen can get plenty bright too. So even when you’re on the terrace, sun-basking in this cold weather, you won’t have any problems with the display.

Likewise, you will also enjoy using the 120Hz refresh rate screen with a 240Hz touch sampling rate on this phone. Poco has optimized it pretty well, so everything from scrolling to multitasking feels incredibly smooth and responsive.

Audio

Poco X5 Ports

But like the Redmi Note 12, its audio department leaves things to be desired. That is, the Poco X5 also misses out on a stereo speaker setup. So the content consumption experience, especially while listening to classic rock music isn’t the best I’ve had so far on this thing. Fortunately, there’s still a headphone jack here for your wired earphones.

Performance

As for the performance, the Snapdragon 695 chip on the Poco X5 is also capable of handling your everyday tasks with ease. And in case you’re wondering, its performance is nearly identical to Snapdragon 4 Gen 1 on the Redmi Note 12.

Poco X5 Gaming

Both of these chips have the same core architecture. Except that the 695’s CPU cores are clocked slightly faster, resulting in higher benchmark scores.

However, the performance improvement you get in your real-life experience is pretty minimal, to be honest. I haven’t faced any micro stutters or lags in my daily usage here. Apps open relatively fast and multitasking is decent as well.

It’s not quite fast as the midrange phones with Dimensity 1080 or the SD 778G nor it has that premium haptics while typing, but for the price, it’s good enough. Similarly, you can play popular games like PUBG and Call of Duty at medium settings just fine but pushing them to higher settings isn’t going to be that enjoyable.

MIUI needs refinement!

That being said, Xiaomi’s MIUI isn’t known for the most stable software experience and sadly, it’s the same with Poco X5. For instance, there’s this weird bug in Play Store where the screen decides to freeze randomly whenever I download an app. And I’ve also noticed a few times that the phone automatically disconnects from WiFi.

Poco X5 UI

Another thing I’d like to highlight is that the Poco X5 still runs on Android 12 with an older MIUI 13. So that’s something Poco needs to improve. And with Android 12 out of the box, I hope to see Poco commit to at least 3 generations of OS upgrades here.

Cameras

The Poco X5 triple camera setup is exactly identical to that of the Redmi Note 12 consisting of a 48MP primary, an 8MP ultrawide, and a 2MP macro lens—while there’s a 13MP selfie shooter up front.

Normal Images

With so much in common, photos from both these phones look pretty similar in daytime scenarios.

The main difference I’ve noticed is in terms of the color tone where Poco X5’s images turn out a bit warm as it tries to achieve a natural look. Whereas the Note 12 tends to boost the colors a bit to make it more pleasing. So it’s all just a matter of personal preference on which one to go with.

Nighttime Images

Lowlight photos from both these phones also look very similar, with Poco once again adding a bit of warmth to the images.

Portrait Images

For portraits, I prefer the photos from Redmi here since they have better sharpness and a good skin tone. Poco X5, on the other hand, makes the subject look a little pale for some reason.

Selfie Images

In terms of selfies though, both phones manage equally good shots.

Ultrawide Images

The 8MP ultrawide image, it’s exactly what you expect from a budget phone, strictly average with little detail to talk about.

Videos

Its video recording capabilities are severely limited too. It can only record videos in 1080p 30fps from both the front and back cameras. And even in this resolution, the videos aren’t that great as they come out quite stuttery. Also, its selfie video has quite a narrow field of view, average dynamic range, and such.

Battery

Poco X5 Charging

But unlike the videos, Poco X5’s battery life is really good—all thanks to that power-efficient Snapdragon 695 chip. In my daily usage, consisting of hours of social media scrolling, content consumption, and other routine activities, I’ve been getting around 8 hours of screen-on time here, which means it can easily last you for a day on heavy usage. For charging, its 33W power adapter takes about an hour to fully juice up the 5000mAh battery inside.

Poco X5 Review: Conclusion

To conclude this review, I believe the Poco X5 is an excellent value in the $200 price segment. From a stunning AMOLED display to a reliable Snapdragon 695 chip, and decent cameras overall, it delivers in most aspects a budget smartphone should. It does miss out on a stereo speaker setup while its design could’ve been a bit better as well. But the Poco X5 is still one of those budget phones that I can call an all-around package.

Poco X5 Review: Pros and Cons

Pros:

  • Lightweight design
  • Beautiful AMOLED screen with 120Hz refresh rate
  • Reliable performance
  • Decent primary camera
  • Good battery life

Cons:

  • A bit-boring design
  • Mono speaker
  • Not-so-good haptics
  • Average ultrawide camera

Microsoft updates Edge and Bing with OpenAI’s ChatGPT

Mintu
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1
Microsoft updates Edge and Bing with OpenAI’s ChatGPT

ChatGPT is a worldwide phenomenon these days. This AI chatbot, developed by OpenAI, has taken the world by storm with its ability to generate human-like responses to text inputs. Microsoft is now looking to make better use of ChatGPT’s ability to generate responses, having announced its integration in the Bing search engine and Edge browser. More about Microsoft Bing and Egde with built-in ChatGPT here.

Microsoft and OpenAI’s Alliance:

Microsoft and OpenAI have had a close relationship in recent years, with Microsoft being one of the key investors in OpenAI. OpenAI is a research organization dedicated to creating and promoting friendly AI that benefits humanity. The organization was founded in 2015 by Elon Musk, Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, Ilya Sutskever, Wojciech Zaremba, and John Schulman with the goal of advancing the field of AI in a responsible manner.

In 2019, the two companies announced a strategic partnership, with Microsoft investing USD 1 billion in OpenAI to bring advanced AI technologies to the Azure cloud platform. The goal of the collaboration was to incorporate OpenAI’s GPT-3 language model into Azure. It is the same language model that is currently used in ChatGPT.

With the unexpected success of ChatGPT, Microsoft is reportedly investing again in OpenAI. In addition, Microsoft has also announced the integration of a new GPT-4 language model into Bing, which will provide a ChatGPT-like experience within the search engine.

Bing and Microsoft Edge with ChatGPT

“It’s a new day in search,” said Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella at the February AI event, where he announced the new version of its search engine and browser.

Microsoft Bing

He further added, “The race starts today, and we’re going to move and move fast. Most importantly, we want to have a lot of fun innovating again in search, because it’s high time.”

As aforementioned, the new engine is based on GPT-4 model, which adds more features to the already powerful AI system. Microsoft claims that it can now respond to search queries with up-to-date information and interpreted results.

ChatGPT Powered Bing and Microsoft Edge
Microsoft showing an example of “Compose” on Edge

Not only Bing, but Microsoft’s Edge browser is also getting the equal benefit of ChatGPT’s AI power. There are two new AI-enhanced browser features: “chat” and “compose.” And these options will be available in Edge’s sidebar in the coming updates.

While “compose” is a writing assistant, “Chat” allows users to summarize and ask questions about the webpage or document they are viewing. This will assist in the generation of text, from emails to posts on social media, using a few starting prompts.

How to sign up for ChatGPT-powered Bing?

The new updates are now live on Bing, though it is somewhat limited for the time being. Only a few people have had the chance to test it so far. To get the full experience, you must join the waitlist. And here’s how to get on the waiting list:

  • Go to bing.com/new
  • Click on “Join the Waitlist” and sign in with your Microsoft account
  • Then, you’ll get a waitlist confirmation mail and that’s about it!

You can also move up the waitlist with the “Access the new Bing faster” option, says Microsoft. This will prompt you to set “Microsoft Defaults” and download the “Bing” app using the provided link or QR code.

Google joins the race

While Microsoft took the leverage of incorporating OpenAI’s formula into its search engine and browser, Google has joined the race by introducing “Bard,” it’s very own AI chatbot. It is also currently available to a small number of people, with a larger rollout expected soon. Google will most likely incorporate Bard into its search engine, so it will be interesting to see how its duel with Microsoft plays out.

  • Meanwhile, check out our review of the Vivo X90 Pro.

Realme GT Neo 5 unveiled with 240W charging, Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1

GadgetByte
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0
Realme GT Neo 5 unveiled with 240W charging, Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1

After months of anticipation, Realme has finally taken the wraps off of its premium mid-range smartphone, the GT Neo 5. It is the successor to last year’s GT Neo 3 and now has 240W charging, making it the world’s fastest-charging smartphone. So, let’s look at the specifications, features, availability, and expected price of the Realme GT Neo 5 in Nepal.

Realme GT Neo 5 Overview:

240W Fast Charging

At its launch, Realme GT Neo 3 was among the fastest charging phone with support for 150W charging. And its successor takes this even further. The GT Neo 5 supports a ridiculous 240W charging, making it the world’s first smartphone to do so.

For starters, the 240W rating is also the maximum charging power supported by the USB-C interface. There is also another variant with 150W charging support.

Prior to launch, Realme has already revealed the details of its 240W charging technology. To accomplish this, the brand designed a customized 12A charging cable made of the industry’s highest-rated 21AWG thickened copper wires. This allows the cable to handle a throughput of 20V/12A.

Realme's 240W charging details

The USB-C adapter, on the other hand, has double GaN components. But it’s still small, with a 2.34W/cu.cm density that makes it about the same size as the 160W SuperDart adapter.

For charging the smartphone, the new solution uses a three-way 100W charge pump parallel design to convert 20V/12A power to 10V/24A. That means the phone will have three individual battery cells. The company also hinted that the charger has a charging conversion efficiency of up to 98.5%.

A bunch of sensors

All this process is monitored by 13 real-time sensors to ensure safety, which limits the power if there is any danger. For added peace of mind, the charging solution includes fireproof materials. Moreover, the 240W SuperVOOC protocol is backward compatible with the 65W PD, QC, and VOOC protocols.

Furthermore, Realme claims that the battery’s health remains over 80% even after 1,600, full charging cycles with 240W fast charging. As for the actual battery capacity, the 240W variant of the GT Neo 5 features a 4,600mAh cell. Whereas the 150W version will include a bigger 5000mAh battery.

Also read:

Performance and Memory

Furthermore, the phone includes the industry’s largest cooling area, with Graphene phase-change cooling material occupying a 6,580 sq. mm area. This cooling solution will help the phone maintain its peak performance in demanding situations like gaming, while also keeping it relatively cool while charging at 240W.

Realme GT Neo 5 Cooling

Inside, Realme GT Neo 5 is powered by Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chip. Launched about a year ago, the chip has now been overtaken by the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 in Qualcomm’s diverse portfolio. However, it should not be a problem with the GT Neo 5 as it will compete in the premium midrange segment and not the flagship.

Similarly, the memory options for the 240W variant include 16GB RAM and either 256GB or 1TB storage.
The GT Neo 5 150W is available with 8GB, 12GB, or 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. On the software side, it will ship with Android 13 with the latest Realme UI 4.0 out of the box.

Camera

Realme GT Neo 5 also has a redesigned camera bump from its predecessor. Essentially, the top third of the phone’s back has been blacked out, with the rectangular camera module sitting inside to the left. It is home to three cameras arranged in two vertical circles, with the LED strip flash lying just outside.

The main camera on the back has a 50MP 1/1.56″ Sony IMX890 sensor, OIS, and an f/1.9 lens. Accompanying it is an 8MP ultrawide lens with a 112-degree field of view and a 2MP macro shooter. For selfies, you get a 16MP Samsung sensor located in the hole-punch cutout on the front.

Design and Display

Another interesting feature of the Realme GT Neo 5 is its RGB LED rectangle on the back, which can function as a notification light and is fully customizable for various apps. It also glows red when the battery is less than 20%, and can also be programmed for notifications and such.

Realme GT Neo 5 Design

On the front is a 6.74-inch OLED with a resolution of 2772 x 1240 pixels. The screen refreshes at 144Hz and has a PWM dimming rate of 2160Hz. Realme also says the display has a 7-stage adaptive refresh rate and is SGS certified for sensitive touch. Other display features include a peak brightness of 1400 nits, a JNCD of 0.33, and a 10-bit color depth.

Realme GT Neo 5 Specifications:

  • Display: 6.7-inches AMOLED panel, 144Hz refresh rate, 2160 high-frequency PWM Dimming
  • Resolution: 1.5K (2772 x 1240 pixels)
  • Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 (4nm Mobile Platform)
  • Software & UI: Android 13 with Realme UI 4.0 on top
  • Rear Camera: Triple (with LED flash);
    – 50MP Sony IMX890 primary sensor (OIS)
    – 8MP ultra-wide camera, 112º FOV
    – 2MP macro lens (4cm focus)
  • Front Camera: 16MP sensor (punch-hole cutout)
  • Audio: Stereo speaker setup, Dolby Atmos
  • Battery: 5000mAh with 150W | 4,600mAh with 240W
  • Memory:
    • 150W: Up to 16GB RAM, 256GB storage
    • 240W: 16GB RAM / 512GB, 1TB storage
  • Colors: Purple Realm, Fantasy Sanctuary White, Black

Realme GT Neo 5 Price in Nepal and Availability

The smartphone is available in China for a starting price of CNY 2,499 for the 150W base variant. Whereas, the 240W variant starts at CNY 3,199. If and when the Realme GT Neo 5 is released in Nepal, we expect the price to start at NPR 60,000.

Realme GT Neo 5 Price in China Price in Nepal (Expected)
8/256GB (150W) CNY 2,499 NPR 60,000
12/256GB (150W) CNY 2,699 NPR 65,000
16/256GB (150W) CNY 2,899 NPR 70,000
16/256GB (240W) CNY 3,199 NPR 75,000
16GB / 1TB (240W) CNY 3,499 NPR 80,000
  • Meanwhile, check out our long-term review of the Realme GT Neo 3.

Dizo Watch D2 Power launched with Bluetooth calling, 100+ sports mode

Mintu
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1
Dizo Watch D2 Power launched with Bluetooth calling, 100+ sports mode

Dizo has launched a couple of new smartwatches in India. Dubbed the Dizo Watch D2 and D2 Power, these are budget-centric wearables with impressive features such as Bluetooth calling, 120 sports modes, and all. Let’s take a look at the specs, features, and expected price of the Dizo Watch D2 and D2 Power in Nepal.

Dizo Watch D2 and D2 Power Smartwatch Overview:

Dizo launched the Watch D2 in India a while ago, and the D2 Power is a new addition. However, the specifications of both of these smartwatches are nearly identical on paper, which could explain why the brand is selling them at the same price.

Design and Display

Both siblings have the same design, with plastic bodies that have a shiny metallic finish. The minor difference in the design is the rotating crown on the Watch D2 Power is located on the top, whereas the Watch D2 has it on the middle.

Dizo Watch D2 Design and Display

Besides this, their specifications are nearly identical. Both wearables feature a 1.91-inch screen on a square dial. And with a peak brightness of 500nits, readability in direct sunlight shouldn’t be an issue.

Likewise, although there is no official IP rating, the company claims that the wearables are washable. In terms of colors, the Watch D2 comes in Deep Blue and Classic Black. And the D2 power is available in Classic Black, Ocean Blue, and Silver Grey shades.

Features

The Watch D2 and D2 Power’s fitness features include over 120 sports modes. This includes all of the basic modes, such as running, walking, cycling, treadmill, and so on. For health-conscious users, the PPG sensor provides 24-hour heart rate monitoring. Similarly, both smartwatches can monitor your blood oxygen level, sleep with REM, and so on.

But one of the main highlights of these smartwatches’ is the Bluetooth calling feature. As a result, you can make and take calls right from the watch screen. There’s also support for noise cancellation for clearer calls. Wireless connectivity options include Bluetooth 5.2.

Rest of the Specs

Dizo Watch D2 Battery

The Dizo Watch D2 is fueled by a 260mAh battery that can last up to 7 days under typical usage. The D2 Power, on the other hand, is rated for 10 days of battery life, though its battery capacity is currently unknown. Other features of the watch include inbuilt mini-games, quick replies to calls, music control, smart replies to notifications, a camera shutter, and more.

Dizo Watch D2 and D2 Power Specifications:

  • Body: 255.2 x 38.9 x 12.65 mm, 40 grams
  • Display: 1.91-inches TFT LCD panel
  • Water Resistance Level: Unspecified
  • Companion App: Dizo Fit App (Android | iOS)
  • Sports Mode: 120 modes
  • Built-in GPS: Yes (GPS + GLONASS)
  • Battery:
    • D2: 260mAh, up to 7 days
    • D2 Power: Up to 10 days
  • Charging: USB Magnetic pin

Dizo Watch D2 and D2 Power Price in Nepal and Availability

Both smartwatches are available for the same price of INR 1,799 in India. When the Dizo Watch D2 and D2 Power are released in Nepal, we expect the price to be around NPR 4,500.

Smartwatch Price in India Price in Nepal (Expected)
Dizo Watch D2 INR 1,799 NPR 4,500
Dizo Watch D2 Power INR 1,799 NPR 4,500
  • Meanwhile, check out our video of the best budget smartwatches in Nepal.

OnePlus 11 Review: A Bold Return To Form

Nikhil Shrestha
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2
OnePlus 11 Review: A Bold Return To Form

In this review, I’ll be talking about my experience with the new OnePlus 11. Like always, it’s already been out in China for a while and OnePlus is finally bringing its latest flagship phone for all the world to see. And it starts at just USD 699 in the US, or INR 56,999 in India—although it is quite expensive here in Nepal. Starting at NPR 129,999.

Remember, this is not a “Pro” OnePlus 11 but just… OnePlus 11. In fact, there’s not going to be a “OnePlus 11 Pro” this time according to OnePlus China’s president. So compared to last year’s OnePlus 10 Pro, I like the new pricing of the OnePlus 11 in the global market. The company has even gotten rid of a few features like wireless charging and an IP68 rating to bring the cost down, and really push for the one thing it’s always been known for all those years before:

flagship-level performance at a sub-flagship price.

The past couple of years sure has been rocky for OnePlus, with the company struggling to find its footing in the market. But maybe—just maybe—things could turn around for OnePlus in 2023.

OnePlus 11 Review: Specifications

  • Body: 74.1 x 163.1 x 8.53mm, 205 grams, Glass front/back, Aluminum frames, IP64 dust and splash resistance
  • Display: 6.7-inch E4 AMOLED, LTPO 3.0, 10-bit colors, 120Hz refresh rate, Up to 1000Hz touch sampling rate, Gorilla Glass Victus, Dolby Vision
  • Other Properties: 800 nits (HBM), 1300 nits (HDR) brightness
  • Resolution: 2K QHD (3216 x 1440 pixels), 552 PPI, 20.1:9 aspect ratio,
  • Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 5G (4nm mobile platform)
  • CPU: Octa-core:
    – 1x Cortex-X3 (3.2 GHz)
    – 2x Cortex-A715 (2.8 GHz)
    – 2x Cortex-A710 (2.8 GHz)
    – 3x Cortex-A510 (2.0 GHz)
  • GPU: Adreno 740
  • Memory: 8/12/16GB LPDDR5X RAM, 128GB (UFS 3.1), 256/512GB UFS 4.0 storage
  • Software & UI: Android 13 with OnePlus’ OxygenOS 13 on top
  • Rear Camera: Triple (with LED flash), Third-gen Hasselblad Camera for Mobile
    – 50MP, f/1.8 Sony IMX890 primary, 1/1.56″ sensor, OIS
    – 48MP, f/2.2 Sony IMX581 ultrawide, 115º FoV
    – 32MP, f/2.0 Sony IMX709 telephoto, 2x optical zoom
  • Front Camera: 16MP, f/2.45 (hole-punch cutout)
  • Other Sensors: 13-channel Accu-spectrum Light-color Identifier
  • Audio: Built-in stereo speakers, No 3.5mm headphone jack
  • Security: In-display fingerprint sensor (optical)
  • Sensors: Accelerometer, Ambient light, Flick-detect, Gyroscope, M-sensor electronic compass, Proximity, Sensor core
  • Connectivity: Dual-SIM (Nano), WiFi 7 a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be (Triple-band), Bluetooth 5.3, GPS (L1+L5 Dual Band), Glonass, Galileo (E1+E5a Dual Band), Beidou, A-GPS, QZSS, 4G LTE (VoLTE), Dual 5G
  • Battery: 5000mAh with 100W SuperVOOC charging (100W adapter provided)
  • Color Options: Eternal Green, Titan Black
  • What’s Inside The Box: OnePlus 11, USB-A to USB-C cable, 100W power adapter, SIM ejector tool, OnePlus stickers, User manual and other documents
  • Price in Nepal: NPR 129,999 (8/128GB) | NPR 134,999 (16/256GB)

OnePlus 11 Review:

Design and Build

  • 74.1 x 163.1 x 8.53mm, 205 grams
  • Glass front/back, Aluminum frames
  • IP64 dust and splash resistance

Starting with the looks, the design of the Oneplus 11 is kinda polarizing. I’ve seen a lot of people like its sorta unique look, and an equal number of people calling this circular camera ring ugly and unsettling.

OnePlus 11 Design

I must say I’m kinda on the fence on this one though. It’s not the most visually attractive smartphone I’ve seen but it’s certainly not the worst thing in the world either. That said, I definitely would’ve preferred a matte touch instead of this “all-chrome ‘n’ gloss” finish on the green colorway. Maybe OnePlus should’ve gone with a ceramic finish on both color options like they did on the 10 Pro.

Somewhat uneven weight distribution

I also found the phone to be a little bottom-heavy, but that’s something I got used to after a while. The phone also feels quite comfortable to hold thanks to the gentle curves on both ends and its handy size, but I’m just not sure what that uneven weight distribution means for jerryrigeverything’s durability test! That would definitely be interesting to see!

Besides all this, OnePlus 11 is not IP68 dust and water-sealed either. Although it does have IP64 dust and splash resistance. I know… I know, this is yet another cost-cutting measure but for a flagship phone, maybe the company shouldn’t be compromising on such a basic thing. But unlike previous flagships from the company where only some markets like the US would get an official IP rating, at least OnePlus is making IP64 official in all regions, so that’s pretty good.

Making a comeback, however, is this alert slider. So it’s great to see the company realize its from the OnePlus 10T and rectify it. Hopefully, smartphone makers will bring back the 3.5mm headphone jack as well! Yeah… nah, that’s not happening.

Display

  • 6.7-inches 2K QHD E4 AMOLED panel
  • 120/1000Hz refresh/touch sampling rate
  • 800 nits (HBM), 1300 nits (HDR) brightness
  • Corning Gorilla Glass Victus protection

Over on the front, OnePlus 11’s display is gorgeous. The default color calibration looks pleasing to my eyes with nice contrast and white balance. You can even switch to QHD resolution for sharper texts and images but on a 6.7” screen, I find that to be an overkill. Not to mention, it’s not gonna play as nice with the phone’s battery life compared to Full HD resolution either.

Talking about the battery, OnePlus 11 has been giving me around 6 hours of screen-on time under a fairly heavy usage pattern. This includes playing games and testing the cameras on top of everything else, so that’s not bad either.

Anyway, I’m not the biggest fan of curved displays but the way OnePlus has so elegantly implemented it here deserves a special shoutout. It has a really subtle curve that results in the least amount of accidental touches while also giving a premium look and feel. Just… the best of both worlds.

Top-notch haptics

That reminds me, OnePlus continues to improve its haptics system and the vibration motor on the OnePlus 11, it is apparently 67% larger than the one on the 10 Pro! So yeah, I absolutely love how responsive it feels when interacting with this display.

But there are a few aspects OnePlus has compromised here. The biggest of which has to be in terms of brightness. Now, you may hear “1300 nits peak brightness” in most of OnePlus’ marketing materials but this screen’s max brightness in practical usage is just 800 nits. Which is not a whole lot for excellent outdoor visibility.

OnePlus 11 Display-1

That’s actually less than what some mid-range phones in 2023 like the Redmi Note 12 Pro manage. And since OnePlus is using the older E4 luminescent material instead of E6, it’s not as power-efficient either.

Performance

  • Octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 5G SoC (4nm)
  • 8/12/16GB LPDDR5X RAM, 128GB (UFS 3.1) / 256/512GB (UFS 4.0) storage (fixed)
  • Android 13 with OxygenOS 13 on top
  • 4 years of OS, 5 years of guaranteed security updates

So while the OnePlus 11 compromises quite a bit on the display front, there is nothing of the sort as far as performance is concerned. From the flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip to the latest LPDDR5x RAM and UFS 4.0 storage, this thing has it all. So needless to say, it has more than enough processing power to drive your everyday tasks. You can get it with as much as 16GB RAM—which is what I have—but if you’re someone who doesn’t keep multiple apps open at a time, the base 8GB variant should be just fine.

OnePlus 11 Software

The OxygenOS experience on OnePlus 11 is also great, despite all its similarities with OPPO’s ColorOS. Yes, OnePlus has failed to keep its own promise of “retaining unique visual design” on OxygenOS 13 but I don’t mind this OPPO influence all that much. The phone feels comfortably fluid and snappy—including the animations and all.

OnePlus’ longest software update commitment yet

In fact, I’m excited to see how this custom Android skin will evolve over the years since the OnePlus 11 is guaranteed to receive at least 4 major OS updates and 5 years of security updates; the highest ever for a OnePlus phone. Only Samsung has a similar update policy for its flagship and some premium midrange devices while most of the competition lags behind by a year each. Including Google itself.

Other than day-to-day tasks, OnePlus 11 can handle the most demanding games too. Just not as well as other 8 Gen 2-powered phones like the iQOO 11 that I recently reviewed. In all the games I tested, OnePlus 11 finished the warmer of the two by a couple of degrees at least, but this shouldn’t be a big problem since it pretty much matched iQOO’s performance in terms of fps and stability. This is nothing compared to how hot the 10 Pro used to get but this guy clearly isn’t winning the top-performer crown this year.

Cameras

  • Triple camera setup at the back
  • (50MP primary, 48MP ultrawide, 32MP telephoto)
  • Third-gen Hasselblad Camera for Mobile
  • 16MP selfie camera (hole-punch cutout)

OnePlus 11 Rear Camera

What about the cameras, then? Unlike its chief rivals, OnePlus hasn’t used a big 1” image sensor like Xiaomi and Vivo—or a high-res 200MP camera like Samsung. Instead, the phone has quite a modest triple camera array, consisting of a 50MP primary, a 48MP ultrawide, and a 32MP telephoto lens.

All complemented by third-gen Hasselblad mobile imaging system.

Normal Images

So I went for a brief photo walk with OnePlus 11 and I found its cameras to be decent enough. Of course, It’s not as good as the Galaxy S23 Ultra or the iPhone 14 Pro Max of the world. The optimization is nothing extra too, but these are not a bad set of cameras at all. The images are sharp, well-detailed, and have a good dynamic range.

The only complaint I have is that the images feature a distinctly warm tone in most cases which may not complement the picture all too well. Other than that, as I said, they are quite okay.

Ultrawide Images

Same with ultra-wide shots, good colors, nice white balance, and good enough details.

Telephoto Images

OnePlus 11’s 2x telephoto shots are pretty great too.

You can also take portrait shots from this lens, which OnePlus says mimics Hasselblad’s XCD 65mm lens. It brightens up the subject most times which looks good when you are shooting against the sun. I like the subject focus and blur from its cameras too, it’s quite DSLR-like!

Selfie Images

Selfies also retain good skin tone and the exposure is maintained well.

Lowlight Images

Similarly, I’m also liking its low-light shots. The images look lively with a nice amount of details, contrast and highlight control.

And what I also love is how you don’t necessarily need to switch to Night Mode for such results either. The usual photo mode takes care of things perfectly.

Videography

As for the videos, OnePlus 11 lets you shoot at up to 8K 24 fps. Or more realistically, at up to 4K 60 fps. And its video quality is quite nice. The colors look very rich and vibrant, alongside a nice dynamic range. But for a semi-flagship phone, it can only shoot at 1080p 30 fps. At a time when Samsung’s flagships can do 4K 60 fps HDR selfie videos, this is beyond embarrassing.

OnePlus 11 Review: Conclusion

So that’s it for my review of the OnePlus 11. With its aggressive pricing strategy, the OnePlus 11 sure seems like a well-balanced phone that should be on everyone’s radar who’s looking for a flagship experience but doesn’t want to throw away a thousand dollars or more. After all these years, OnePlus has realized that it can’t keep up with the mainstream competition in the absolute flagship space. Against the likes of the iPhone 14 Pro or the Galaxy S23 Ultra.

So skipping the “Pro” model and circling back to its original roots of offering the best performance-per-dollar is 100% the right move, in my opinion. But here in Nepal, that incredible value-for-money mantra of the OnePlus 11 isn’t resonated at all. While the phone is cheaper by at least a couple hundred bucks in the international market, it costs almost the exact same as the OnePlus 10 Pro’s launch price.

  • Watch our video review of OnePlus 11

OnePlus 11 Review: Pros and Cons

Pros:

  • Great value for money (in the global market)
  • Ergonomic build quality
  • Excellent haptics
  • Nice AMOLED display
  • Decent battery endurance
  • Great performance, software experience
  • Takes great photos from all three cameras

Cons:

  • No wireless charging
  • The display doesn’t get as bright
  • Thermals could’ve been better
  • Limited to 1080p selfie videos

Asus launches Vivobook 13 Slate with OLED display, Alder-lake CPUs

Mintu
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3
Asus launches Vivobook 13 Slate with OLED display, Alder-lake CPUs

Asus recently unveiled the new VivoBook Slate 13, a convertible laptop with a premium OLED display and budget processors. Successor to the Slate 13 OLED (2021), the laptop brings a much-needed refresh in terms of performance. So let’s look at the specs, features, availability, and expected price of the Asus Vivobook 13 Slate OLED (2023) in Nepal.

Asus Vivobook 13 Slate OLED (2023) Overview:

Design and Display

The Slate 13 OLED, as the name suggests, is a 13.3-inch Windows laptop with an OLED screen and a detachable keyboard. OLED screens for laptops aren’t uncommon, but what makes this one stand out is its detachable form factor.

This gives the machine an advantage over other 2-in-1 systems in that users can attach the keyboard as needed or use it as a standalone tablet. And since this is an OLED screen, you can expect excellent color reproduction. It is also Dolby Vision certified, has 100% DCI-P3 color coverage, 550 nits of (peak) brightness, and a quad-speaker sound system, making it a great option for on-the-go entertainment.

Asus Vivobook 13 OLED 2 in 1 Notebook 2023 Design and Display

As with most convertible machines, there is a stylus support (Asus Pen 2.0) for the Slate 13. The pen comes with 4096 pressure levels sensitivity and 4 swappable tips. Other display properties include a 60Hz refresh rate, 266Hz touch sampling rate, 0.2 ms response time, and TÜV Rheinland-certified eye care certification.

The Slate 13 also qualifies as a tough, well-built machine, as it secures MIL-STD-810 US military-grade certification. Asus also pledged to protect the environment by using 100% FSC-certified recyclable packaging for the laptop.

Performance and Memory

On the performance front, the VivoBook is equipped with Intel Alderlake-N silicons, which include Intel N200 and Intel Core i3-N300 processors. This is an upgrade over the Pentium Silver N6000 processor in the last-gen. The N200 is a quad-core chip with 6W Thermal Design Power (TDP), while the i3-N300 has eight cores and 7W TDP. The notebook boots on Windows 11 OS.

As for the memory, Asus has upgraded the LPDDR4X RAM from Slate (2021) to a faster LPDDRX5 in this generation. Meanwhile, the storage options may include either 256GB UFS 2.1 or up to 512GB PCIe 3.0 NVMe SSD. For memory expansion, users will be able to do so by a microSD card reader on the Vivobook.

Rest of the Specs

Moving on, the Vivobook 2-in-1 Notebook 2023 gets its juice from a 50WHr battery with support for 65W fast charging. For photography and video calls, the Notebook also sports a 13MP snapper on the rear side and a 5MP front camera. Likewise, there is a fingerprint reader for biometrics.

Talking of I/O ports, it includes 2 USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 ports and an audio jack. As for the other options, it comes with WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, and quad speakers with Dolby Atmos support.

Asus Vivobook 13 OLED 2 in 1 Notebook 2023

Asus Vivobook 13 Slate OLED (2023) Specifications:

  • Design and Build:  309.9 x 190 x 8.95 mm, 800 gram, Aluminum build, MIL-STD-810 certified
  • Display: 13.3″ Touchscreen OLED panel, 100% DCI-P3, 10-bit color depth, 550 nits, Dolby Vision HDR, Asus Pen 2.0 Stylus Support
  • Display Certification: VESA Display HDR True Black 500 certified
  • Resolution: FHD (1920 x 1080 pixels), 16:9 aspect ratio
  • Keyboard: Backlit, Color-blocked Enter key
  • Processor: Intel Alderlake-N Processors (Quad-core Intel N200 and Octa-core Intel Core i3-N300)
  • RAM: 8GB dual-channel DDR5
  • Storage: 256GB UFS 2.1 or 512GB PCIe NVMe 3.0 SSD
  • Audio: Quad Stereo speakers, Dolby Atmos Support
  • Security: Fingerprint scanner
  • Ports: 2x USB-C 3.2 Gen 2, 1x microSD card reader, and an audio jack
  • Battery: 50WHr battery
  • Power Supply: 65W AC adapter

Asus Vivobook 13 Slate OLED (2023) Price in Nepal and Availability

The brand is yet to announce the official pricing for the notebook. The last-gen model retailed at USD 599 for reference, so we expect a comparable price for the new generation. We will update the pricing details as and when the tablet goes official.

Product Official Price
Asus Vivobook 13 OLED (2023) TBA
  • Meanwhile, you can watch our review of the Asus Zenbook Flip 13.

OnePlus TV 65 Q2 Pro (QLED) with 70W speakers, Google TV OS announced

GadgetByte
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1
OnePlus TV 65 Q2 Pro (QLED) with 70W speakers, Google TV OS announced

At the “Cloud 11” event held yesterday, OnePlus announced a bunch of stuff. Including the OnePlus 11, OnePlus Pad (its first tablet), OnePlus Buds Pro 2, OnePlus Keyboard 81 Pro, and a TV. The new OnePlus Q2 Pro is a 65″ QLED TV that comes with some nice upgrades over the Q1 Pro. So, let’s see what the OnePlus TV 65 Q2 Pro brings along with its official specs, availability, expected price in Nepal, and more.

OnePlus TV 65 Q2 Pro Overview:

Design and Display

The Q2 Pro has a 65″ QLED panel. Compared to a regular LED TV, it has an additional quantum dot layer right between the blue LED backlit layer and LCD layer for better whites, colors, and improved brightness. OnePlus says this display covers 97% DCI-P3 color gamut, which helps deliver realistic colors and improves the viewing experience. As for color accuracy, this TV boasts an impressive delta E (ΔE) ≤ 1.5.

OnePlus TV Q2 Pro 65 with HDR Support

OnePlus TV 65 Q2 Pro TV also features 120 local dimming zones to provide deep and realistic blacks for punchier contrast. On that note, OnePlus claims this TV has a dynamic contrast ratio of 1200000:1. Likewise, different HDR standards including Dolby Vision, HDR10+, HDR10, and HLG are all supported for the best cinematic experience.

Also Read:

This TV also has a native 120Hz refresh rate so the Q2 Pro could be a decent gaming monitor as well. There are a total of three HDMI 2.1 ports here, out of which two of them support up to 4K 120Hz resolution and variable refresh rate (VRR) technology for smooth gameplay. OnePlus also says it has used the most powerful version of its Gamma Engine in this TV for optimizing the visuals to the best and for ultra-clear content.

OnePlus TV Q2 Pro 65 with 120Hz Refresh Rate

Sound

In terms of audio, the front-facing speakers on the OnePlus TV 65 Q2 Pro have a total 70W output from its 40W Horizon Soundbar and 30W subwoofer. The company has continued its collaboration with Danish audio device maker, Dynaudio, to co-tune these speakers. For a complete Dolby experience, there’s also Dolby Atmos support here.

Others

Getting to software, the Q2 Pro runs on Google TV OS. So you can summon Google Assistant hands-free (without using the remote), use Chromecast, and more. For the Indian market, OnePlus also ships it with the “OxygenPlay 2.0” content hub.

OnePlus TV Q2 Pro 65 with Google TV Support

It even supports NFC Cast, Miracast, DLNA, and MultiCast 2.0 to make streaming content off of your smartphone to the TV much easier. You can even connect, control, and share content from your phone offline via OnePlus Connect 2.0. Powering it all is MediaTek’s MT9617 processor with 3GB RAM and 32GB storage. This is currently MediaTek’s most powerful 4K chipset for TVs.

OnePlus TV 65 Q2 Pro Specifications:

  • Display: 65-inches QLED, Dolby Vision, HDR 10+, HLG
  • Resolution: 4K Ultra-HD (3840 x 2160 pixels)
  • Refresh Rate: 120Hz (native)
  • Brightness: 500 nits (typical), 1200 nits (peak) brightness
  • Picture Engine: Gamma Engine Ultra
  • Processor: MediaTek MT9617 chip
  • Memory: 3GB RAM, 32GB storage
  • Sound: 2.1 channel 7 unit speaker, 70W output, Dolby Atmos, Co-tuned with Dynaudio
  • Operating System: Android 11 (Google TV)
  • Voice Assistant: Google Assistant
  • Casting: NFC Cast, MultiCast 2.0, Chromecast built-in, DLNA, Miracast
  • I/O: 3x HDMI 2.1 (HDMI 1 with eARC support), 2x USB 2.0 Type-A, 1x Ethernet, 1x RF in, 1x Digital Audio output, 1x AV input (Mini 3 in 1)
  • Wireless Connectivity: Dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0

OnePlus TV 65 Q2 Pro Price in Nepal and Availability

The price of the OnePlus TV 65 Q2 Pro in India is INR 99,999, and it will be available from March 10 from the company’s different online and offline channels. We expect the price of the OnePlus TV 65 Q2 Pro in Nepal to be NPR 200,000 if and when it launches here.

Model Price In India Price in Nepal (Expected)
OnePlus TV 65 Q2 Pro  INR 99,999 NPR 200,000

iQOO 11 Review: Come For The Performance

Nikhil Shrestha
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3
iQOO 11 Review: Come For The Performance

Before getting into this iQOO 11 review, let’s first talk about the chip powering this phone itself. It’s been a few months since Qualcomm announced its flagship mobile processor for 2023—the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. While the Chinese market has already gotten to play with this chip, it’s now steadily popping up in the international market as well. And in India, the iQOO 11 is the first phone to come with Qualcomm’s latest chip. It costs INR 59,999 for the 8/256GB model and INR 64,999 for the 16/256GB configuration.

iQOO 9 iQOO 9T iQOO 11
8/128GB INR 42,990 INR 49,999 N/A
8/256GB N/A INR 59,999 ↑
12/256GB INR 46,990 INR 54,999 N/A
16/256GB N/A INR 64,999 ↑
Bank discount (INR 4,000) (INR 4,000) (INR 5,000)

Ouch—compared to the iQOO 9 or the iQOO 10 that launched under the iQOO 9T disguise in the Indian market, that is quite a steep price jump.

Even after considering all the bank discounts and other benefits. I’ve been using the iQOO 11 for a couple of weeks now and I really wanted to see if the iQOO 11 actually manages to deliver a flagship-level experience to justify that price tag. Or are you better off with the competition like Google’s Pixel 7, the new OnePlus 11, or even last year’s iPhone 13? Let’s find out from our iQOO 11 review.

iQOO 11 Review: Specifications

  • Body: 77.07 x 164.86 x 8.4–8.72mm, 205–208gm, Glass front/back, Aluminum frames, Organic silicone leather (Legend finish), No IP rating
  • Display: 6.78-inches E6 AMOLED panel, Up to 144Hz refresh rate, 300Hz touch sampling rate, Gorilla Glass Victus, LTPO 4.0, HDR10+
  • Other Properties: 1100 nits (typ) brightness, 1800 nits (HDR) brightness, 1440Hz PWM dimming, ΔE≈0.3
  • Resolution: 2K QHD (3200 x 1440 pixels), 517 PPI, 20:9 aspect ratio
  • Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 5G (4nm mobile platform)
  • CPU: Octa-core:
    – 1x Cortex-X3 (3.2 GHz)
    – 2x Cortex-A715 (2.8 GHz)
    – 2x Cortex-A710 (2.8 GHz)
    – 3x Cortex-A510 (2.0 GHz)
  • GPU: Adreno 740
  • Memory: 8/12/16GB LPDDR5X RAM, 128GB UFS 3.1 storage or 256/512GB UFS 4.0 storage (fixed)
  • Software & UI: Android 13 with Vivo’s Funtouch OS 13 on top
  • Rear Camera: Triple (with dual LED flash);
    – Wide: 50MP Samsung ISOCELL GN5, f/1.88, 1/1.57″ sensor, OIS
    – Ultrawide: 8MP, f/2.2, 120° FoV
    – Telephoto: 13MP, f/2.46, 2x optical / 20x digital zoom
  • Front Camera: 16MP, f/2.45 sensor (hole-punch cutout)
  • Audio: Built-in stereo speakers, No 3.5mm headphone jack
  • Security: In-display fingerprint sensor (optical)
  • Sensors: Accelerometer, Ambient light, E-compass, Gyroscope, Proximity, Infrared (IR blaster)
  • Connectivity: Dual-SIM (Nano), WiFi 6 a/b/g/n/ac/ax (Dual-band), Bluetooth 5.3, GPS / AGPS / Galileo / Glonass / QZSS / Beidou / GNSS / NavIC, USB-C port, NFC, 4G LTE (VoLTE), Dual 5G
  • Battery: 5000mAh with 120W fast charging (120W adapter provided)
  • Color Options: Legend, Alpha, Isle of Man Special Edition (China only)
  • What’s Inside The Box: iQOO 11, USB-C to USB-C cable, 120W power adapter, SIM ejector tool, Transparent case, 3.5mm headphone jack adapter, User manual and other documents
  • Price in Nepal: N/A (Starts at INR 59,999 in India)

iQOO 11 Review: 

Performance

  • Octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 5G SoC (4nm)
  • Up to 16GB LPDDR5X RAM, Up to 512GB UFS 4.0 storage (fixed)
  • Android 13 with Vivo’s Funtouch OS 13 on top

Okay, let’s get straight to the performance side of things because well… that’s what’s most exciting about the iQOO 11. This is the first Snapdragon 8 Gen 2-powered phone to come into our office and I was really excited to check out its raw performance. Besides the new chip, iQOO has also used the newest memory standards like LPDDR5x RAM and UFS 4.0 storage here.

So I ran a bunch of benchmarks on this thing and as you’d expect, it tops every single chart we have. Be it in terms of CPU, GPU, or storage. And the sheer difference in performance between 8 Gen 2 and its predecessor is quite staggering too.

So much so that this is easily the most significant generational upgrade I’ve seen from Qualcomm in recent years.

Enough of the raw numbers, what about the actual, real-life performance? Don’t worry, the iQOO 11 is a real beast when it comes to gaming as well.

Terrific gaming experience

With 8 Gen 1-powered phones, I remember having to explain their performance with a lot of intricate (and frankly a little boring) details. But almost all of that changes with 8 Gen 2. Even in GPU-heavy games like Genshin Impact, the iQOO 11 manages a steady 60 fps at the Highest setting with negligible frame drops. The phone’s temperature doesn’t get alarmingly hot or anything either, so that’s good too. But iQOO’s promise of 144 fps gaming has left me disappointed.

With frame interpolation, iQOO says it can deliver 144 fps on Genshin Impact, although it never went above 48 fps in all my testing. I’m not sure how long or how steadily it can handle 144 fps gameplay but this feels like a software issue, so let’s hope the company fixes it as quickly as possible.

iQOO 11 also maintains a stable 60 fps on other popular titles like PUBG Mobile, Apex Legends, and Asphalt 9 at their respective max visual settings. I even tried a few 120 fps-optimized games including Injustice 2 and Mech Arena but the iQOO 11 couldn’t constantly hit 120 fps—hovering around 115 fps instead.

Even terrific(er?) gaming experience

Anyway, to further enhance your gaming experience, iQOO 11 has a few neat tricks as well. Like the dual-axis haptics motor to keep you immersed in the game, and the ability to set virtual pressure-sensitive buttons or motion control for quick in-game actions.

iQOO 11 - Gaming

Gaming aside, the everyday performance on this phone is also quite nice. Be it memory management or UI fluidity, there’s not much to worry about Funtouch OS 13. Which is Vivo’s take on Android 13. And after complaining about it in basically every other iQOO smartphone review, I’m glad to see the company finally step up its software update game to 3 generations of OS and 4 years of security updates this time. The only this is, Funtouch OS 13 comes with a bunch of bloatware apps pre-installed and unfortunately, iQOO doesn’t let you uninstall or even disable some of them.

Design and Build

  • 77.07 x 164.86 x 8.4–8.72 mm, 205–208 grams
  • Glass front/back, Aluminum frames
  • Organic silicone leather (Legend option only)
  • No official IP rating

Getting to the design, the iQOO 11 does many things right. Like… it looks unique, this organic leather back is nice to hold, and its overall build quality feels premium to me. And for the fans of subtlety, there’s also the Alpha Black color option that settles with a regular frosted glass finish instead of leather and no BMW marking of any kind.

iQOO 11 - Design

I must say I’m not a big fan of how wide it is though. I guess that’s to be expected from a gaming phone but this tall, broad form factor means using the iQOO 11 in one hand has been a constant struggle. Especially for someone like me with small hands. And since iQOO has chosen to put the in-display fingerprint reader so far down, even unlocking the phone has become an irritating thumb exercise. But perhaps the biggest letdown here is that iQOO 11 still does not have any form of IP rating despite that significant price jump.

Display

  • 6.78-inches 2K QHD E6 AMOLED panel
  • 144/300Hz refresh/touch sampling rate
  • 1100 nits (peak) brightness, 1800 nits (HDR)
  • Corning Gorilla Glass Victus protection

As for the display, iQOO has thrown in all the big numbers you’d expect from a flagship smartphone on this guy. Including a sharp 2K resolution, 144Hz refresh rate, 300Hz touch sampling rate, LTPO 4.0, and the brand new E6 AMOLED panel made by Samsung. And most of that translates to an excellent viewing experience in real-life usage as well. I found that its default color calibration is especially stunning with fairly natural colors, contrast, white balance, and such.

iQOO 11 - Fingerprint Sensor

Outdoor visibility hasn’t been a problem either since that E6 panel can hit an impressive 1100 nits at best—although it seems that the company is mostly marketing the 1800 nits HDR peak brightness number only. So in case you’re unaware, this 1800 nits max brightness simply refers to a short, local burst of brightness when watching HDR videos. And yes, watching HDR content on Netflix was really nice having the bright highlights shine through in shows like Arcane.

Not true stereo speakers

On that note, iQOO 11’s stereo speakers also get quite loud and the overall audio quality sounds rich and detailed. But since it’s still using the earpiece as the second channel speaker, there is some imbalance in the sound output.

Is this really a 144Hz display?

Another (sort of) controversial spec about this phone’s display is the 144Hz refresh rate. I was nearly ready to send my unit for replacement because it was maxing out at just 120Hz, but apparently, that’s how iQOO has tuned things here. Be it system or most third-party apps, 120Hz is all you get. And only some handpicked games and benchmarking apps like Genshin Impact, AnTuTu, Geekbench, and 3DMark have been optimized to run at 144Hz for some reason.

That’s next to useless.

It’s not that the 8 Gen 2 can’t handle 144Hz—even at 2K resolution—so this has more to do with iQOO prioritizing thermals and power consumption above somewhat smoother UI response. I’ve used a few 144Hz smartphone displays before and I’m not saying it’s a drastic upgrade over 120Hz or anything, but the way things are, I think calling this a 144Hz display is purely misleading.

iQOO 11 - Display

Likewise, the iQOO 11’s resolution is also set to Full HD by default instead of 2K. But I honestly don’t care about such high-res smartphone screens because I can’t really tell the difference between FHD and QHD… 99% of the time. On top of this, a lower resolution also means better battery life so it’s a win-win situation for me.

Battery

  • 5000mAh with 120W fast charging
  • No wireless charging support

That reminds me, iQOO has also upgraded to a big 5000mAh battery on this phone, even though its actual endurance is just above-average. Under a medium usage pattern with casual web browsing, some gaming, and taking lots of photos, I’ve only been getting roughly 6 hours of screen-on time. 7 hours if I really pushed it. But iQOO 11 does support wicked-fast 120W charging that fills up the phone completely in around 25 minutes.

iQOO 11 - Charger

And I must compliment iQOO for this charger. Not only does it come bundled inside the box itself, but it also supports up to 65W USB-PD and PPS charging protocols. Normally what we’ve seen from brands like Xiaomi is that their proprietary fast-charging technology requires a specialized charger that isn’t compatible with universal standards like the ones above.

Cameras

  • Triple camera setup at the back
  • (50MP main, 8MP ultrawide, 13MP telephoto)
  • 16MP selfie camera (hole-punch)

iQOO 11 - Camera

Finally, let’s now talk about the cameras. The iQOO 11 has a 50MP Samsung GN5 primary sensor with OIS, complemented by a 13MP telephoto camera capable of 2x optical zoom. And surprisingly, there’s a downgraded 8MP ultrawide sensor in place of a 13MP camera whereas it’s still got the same old 16MP selfie shooter.

Normal Images

And credit where credit’s due—iQOO 11 indeed shoots nice photos during the day with plenty of details and good dynamic range. It does prefer quite punchy saturation by default which can result in images looking a bit overprocessed sometimes.

But you can always sort it out by turning on the “Natural Color” mode which brings much more natural-looking colors.

Ultrawide, Telephoto Images

I also like how all three of its cameras have so similar image processing most of the time.

Usually what I’ve seen from other Chinese smartphone brands (even in the premium midrange segment) is that they produce somewhat different results from their primary and other cameras but iQOO is quite the exception.

Portrait Images

iQOO 11 does struggle a little with portraits though—even from that telephoto camera. From contrast, exposure handling, and depth estimation, to the subject’s skin tone, I think iQOO could’ve done a better job.

Selfie Images

As for selfies, it’s quite the opposite. I like how it manages balanced composition with good details and everything else.

Nighttime Images

The low-light images from iQOO 11 are also pretty great.

It handles light glares just fine while the colors come off quite pleasing too. Highlight control is something that could be improved with future updates but overall, its nighttime photography is a solid A.

Videography

Moving on, iQOO 11 lets you shoot up to 8K 30 fps videos but I’m more than happy with my 4K recordings. At both 30 and 60 fps modes, the videos are decently steady and I also like how you can switch between the main and telephoto camera while you’re filming.

You can switch to 1080 / 60 fps for the most stable results but do note that it uses frame cropping for such results. Now, this sounds pretty great and all but iQOO 11’s selfie video situation is just embarrassing. Forget 4K recordings, it doesn’t even support 1080 / 60 fps videos! Why do so many Chinese smartphone brands overlook selfie videos in this day and age, I’ll never understand.

iQOO 11 Review: Conclusion

Summing up this review, iQOO 11 is an interesting phone, to say the least. It absolutely nails the performance and gaming aspect and I think this will continue to remain a solid contender throughout 2023 as far as pure performance is concerned. Likewise, its display and cameras are also quite impressive—although I wouldn’t call iQOO 11’s cameras flagship level in any way.

You’ll consistently get better photos from something like the Pixel 7—especially in daylight conditions. So yeah, it certainly looks like we have a solid flagship killer in our hands with the iQOO 11. It does miss out on some important features like IP rating, wireless charging, and such, but you can’t have it all at those prices anyway.

The dilemma

I guess the biggest dilemma with everyone who’s considering this is if they should go with other established companies that have good brand value like the Pixel 7 or the iPhone 13. Instead of spending well over INR 50,000 on an iQOO phone. After all, iQOO 11 even got quite a steep price hike compared to both iQOO 9 and iQOO 9T before it. No wonder the iQOO 11 Pro didn’t make it to the international market. Because at such high prices, this Vivo sub-brand simply can’t compete against the top dogs in the premium arena.

iQOO 11 - Design Back

OnePlus figured this out as well and has even confirmed that it won’t launch a “Pro” model of its flagship phone this year. And if I were you, I’d actually wait for its comparisons against the new OnePlus 11. Which we’re also coming up with, by the way. Besides better brand value and better software experience, it also has a more versatile set of cameras. And that could just end up making the biggest difference when deciding between these two phones.

  • Watch our video review of iQOO 11

iQOO 11 Review: Pros and Cons

Pros

  • Excellent performance
  • Organic leather feels nice to hold
  • Great display overall
  • Decent battery endurance
  • 120W fast charging
  • Fairly dependable cameras

Cons

  • Still no IP rating
  • Could be a bit too wide for some
  • Not really a 144Hz display
  • No 4K selfie video recording option

Vivo X90 Pro Review: In The Right Lane!

Yural Maskey
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Vivo X90 Pro Review: In The Right Lane!

In this review, I’ll be talking about my experience with the new Vivo X90 Pro. For a price of $800, the Vivo X90 Pro has all the flagship features you can think of. Including a big 1-inch camera sensor with Zeiss optimization, a curved 10-bit AMOLED display, the new Dimensity 9200 chipset, and so much more. It’s incredible to see that Vivo has only been making truly high-end flagship phones for just about 2-3 years now, and the improvements they’ve been able to make with every generation year after year are nothing short of spectacular.

Vivo X90 Pro Specifications:

  • Body: 164.07 x 75.53 x 9.34mm, 225 grams, IP68
  • Display: 6.78-inch curved AMOLED, 120Hz refresh rate, 300Hz touch sampling rate, 1300 nits peak brightness, HDR10+
  • Resolution: 2K (2800 x 1260 pixels); 20:9 aspect ratio
  • Chipset: MediaTek Dimensity 9200 (4nm)
  • CPU: Octa-core
    – 1× Cortex-X3 (3.05 GHz)
    – 3x Cortex-A715 ( 2.85 GHz)
    – 4x Cortex-A510 (1.80 GHz)
  • GPU: Arm Immortalis-G715
  • Memory: 8/12GB LPDDR5 RAM, Up to 512GB UFS 3.1/UFS 4.0 storage
  • Software & UI: Android 13 with Funtouch OS 13 on top
  • Rear Camera: Triple (with LED flash);
    – 50MP IMX989 primary
    – 50MP IMX758 portrait
    – 12MP IMX663 ultrawide
  • Front Camera: 32MP, f/2.5
  • Security: In-display fingerprint sensor (optical)
  • Sensors: Accelerometer, Proximity, Ambient light, E-Compass, Gyroscope, IR, Color Temperature, Laser Focusing
  • Connectivity: Dual-SIM (Nano), WiFi 5 a/b/g/n/ac (Dual-band), Bluetooth 5.1, GPS / AGPS / GLONASS / BeiDou / Galileo, USB-C port, 4G LTE (VoLTE), Dual 5G
  • Battery: 4870mAh with 120W fast charging (wired), 50W wireless charging
  • Price in Nepal: N/A

Vivo X90 Pro Review:

This year, however, Vivo isn’t launching its most high-end smartphone—the X90 Pro+—in the global market, which I think is a very smart move from the company! Because despite all the progress, Vivo isn’t quite there yet to compete against the likes of the S23 Ultra or the iPhone 14 Pro Max of the world. Those phones are just on a different level, in my opinion!

Vivo X90 Pro Display

But with the X90 Pro, Vivo is NOT trying to beat them anyway. Instead, it’s trying to undercut the said competition in terms of price-to-performance ratio. And I think they have absolutely nailed it with this phone!

I am currently testing the OnePlus 11 and have already reviewed the iQOO 11. And one thing I know for sure about both these phones is that they have compromised in one way or other to maintain a fairly aggressive price tag! But the X90 Pro is a perfect example of a balanced flagship phone, although you got to pay a little bit more here!

Design

  • 164.07 x 75.53 x 9.34mm, 225 grams
  • Glass front, Leather back
  • IP68 dust/water resistance

Alright, the first thing that I really like about the X90 Pro is its design. Vivo has tried a different approach to make the phone look unique and modern, and I think the company’s vision has worked out really well in implementation.

This leather finish at the back looks classy and elegant and I am sure business users will love this design. And since the phone’s not that wide either, I also like how it feels in my hands. It has a nice grip thanks to the gentle curves on both sides.

Vivo X90 Pro Design

And although it weighs 215 grams, it doesn’t feel that heavy because of the even weight distribution. This leather back also doesn’t catch any fingerprint smudges or dust, and it’s not that slippery either!

Now you might be thinking that this big protruding camera lens wobbles a lot when keeping the phone face down. But it surprisingly doesn’t. Plus, Vivo hasn’t compromised on IP rating as the X90 Pro comes with IP68 dust and waterproofing.

The only thing that I personally am not a big fan of—as far as design is concerned—is the curved display. I don’t mind curved displays as long as they’re subtle but this just looks old school and reminds me of the older Galaxy S-series phones!

Display

  • 6.78 inch 2K curved AMOLED
  • 120Hz refresh rate, 10-bit color depth
  • 1300nits peak brightness

But if you can look past this, the quality of the display is actually excellent. Obviously, it cannot get as bright as the iPhone 14 Pro Max or the S23 Ultra’s display, but it gets the job done just fine.

By the way, this is not a Samsung-made AMOLED panel like we see on most flagship phones. But it is in fact made by BOE, a Chinese display maker! So, it’s good to see competition in this space.

Vivo X90 Pro Display-2

Overall, I like the quality of this panel. It has an almost bezel-less design, the colors are nice, and it also supports 2160Hz PWM dimming which protects your eyes from screen flickering. You can even customize the color profile of this screen, with 4 modes to choose from. And the “Zeiss Natural” option with its subtle and not-as-punchy color saturation level is exactly the way I like it.

You also get a very reliable in-display fingerprint sensor here, which is definitely one of the fastest I have seen on a smartphone. Weirdly, it’s not an ultrasonic one like we saw on last year’s X80 Pro and its placement has also changed. I would have preferred it right around here instead, but I must say I got used to it pretty easily so no complaints there.

Vivo has also included good haptics on the X90 Pro. Pair that with a speedy touch sampling rate, I’ve really enjoyed interacting with this display no matter what I’m doing. Like scrolling through the menus, typing up messages, or even playing games. I also like its speakers. It’s as good as the one you’d find on an iPhone or Galaxy device.

Dimensity 9200!

  • Octa-core MediaTek Dimensity 9200
  • Up to 12GB RAM, Up to 512GB storage
  • FunTouch OS 13 based on Android 13

Talking about X90 Pro’s performance in this review, Vivo has reserved the more expensive Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip for the X90 Pro+. So for this guy, Vivo went with MediaTek’s flagship Dimensity 9200 chip, which is surprisingly really good! MediaTek has been doing really well in the mobile chipset industry in the past couple of years and the Dimensity 9200 here delivers big time! I have been using a lot of phones with Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 these days and honestly, you really can’t find the difference between the two. Both of them feel equally fast!

Vivo X90 Pro Gaming

Vivo has also used a big vapor chamber cooling system here so I have never felt the phone getting warm under basic tasks. And in some games, I was even getting better thermals from the X90 Pro than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2-powered iQOO 11.

Here, you can enjoy 60 fps gaming in the highest of settings in both PUBG and Genshin Impact with almost 100% stability most of the time. However, some games like Asphalt 9 and Mech Arena are still not optimized to run at high fps, but they should be fixed with the next update.

Overall, I am totally impressed with just how capable Dimensity 9200 is. And if you want to learn more, we have also made a dedicated video comparing this chipset with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and Apple’s A16 Bionic that you can check out from here.

Software

Now, as far as the UI is concerned, I think Vivo has made some massive improvements in this aspect compared to how Funtouch OS was back in the day. Still, it could take some time for you to get used to it because it’s a little bit different than most other Android skins out there.

Vivo X90 Pro UI

And I won’t say it’s on the same level as the stock Android experience on Pixel phones or Samsung’s One UI, but Vivo has optimized their OS really well. With 12GB of RAM and a faster UFS 4.0 storage, apps load instantly and they can stay in memory for a long time. So once you reopen them again, there’s no delay or such either.

Battery

  • 4870mAh battery
  • 120W wired, 50W wireless charging

Vivo X90 Pro Charger

Even in terms of battery, the optimization Vivo has done is quite appreciable. The X90 Pro has a typical 4870mAh battery, and I was able to get an entire day’s worth of endurance in medium to heavy usage. What’s even better is that its 120W charger can fill in the phone from 0 to 100% in less than 30 minutes! And it supports 50W wireless charging as well.

Cameras

  • Triple camera setup at the back
  • (1-inch Sony IMX989 50MP Primary, 50MP Telephoto, 12MP Ultrawide)
  • 32MP selfie

So until now, I have already discussed the design, display, and performance aspects, in which the Vivo X90 Pro gets straight A’s. The thing is though, even cheaper phones like the OnePlus 11 and iQOO 11 deliver on those fronts. So the main reason why you are paying that extra money here is for the cameras! And the first thing I absolutely love about X90 Pro’s cameras is how great its portraits are.

Usually, when it comes to shooting human subjects, iPhones, Pixels, and Samsung phones come to mind and Chinese phones were never actually in the same league as the competition. But the Vivo X90 Pro has genuinely surprised me!

Portraits

A 50mm lens is widely regarded as one of the best options for taking portraits and the X90 Pro’s 50MP portrait camera with a 50mm equivalent focal length takes absolutely stunning shots. They are almost like they are taken from a professional DSLR camera.S

Take this image for example; the lens flare, depth estimation, and background bokeh are just perfect here. And not just that, I think Zeiss optimization has made it even better because the phone can maintain great skin tone and subject focus as well. I will go as far as to say that in many scenarios, I will pick X90 Pro’s portraits over those of most other high-end phones.

Selfies

Its 32MP front camera delivers equally good-looking selfies with good HDR and details.

Normal

With all this, I had high expectations from its main camera lens too, which is the beloved Sony IMX989 1-inch sensor. The same one we saw on the Xiaomi 12S Ultra. But it seems that Vivo hasn’t optimized this sensor all too well, especially in daylight conditions.

You might know that I use the iPhone 14 Pro Max as my primary phone and switching to this, I immediately noticed how Vivo’s photos didn’t have the same level of detail, subject focus, and balance that I am used to with an iPhone.

Similarly, the X90 Pro also has something called “Zeiss Natural” color optimization but I found it to be a little inconsistent. While you do get neutral, close-to-natural colors with this mode turned on, in some instances, the images look too pale and not pleasing to the eyes.

And when turning it off, this Sony sensor occasionally struggles with maintaining accurate color details too.

Ultrawide

Vivo X90 Pro’s 12MP ultrawide sensor is just okayish as well—and not quite as good as other flagship phones.

Nighttime

But under low light conditions, Vivo’s image processing and the big 1-inch sensor really shine. Even in pitch-dark situations, you can get great-looking photos with good details and almost zero noise. Especially when turning on Night Mode.

Videos

In terms of videos though, Vivo is still playing catch-up with something like the iPhone 14 Pro Max. Yes you can shoot at up to 8K here and the 4K recordings turn out pretty stable as well, but I will still pick an iPhone when it comes to shooting videos any day. And the fact that the X90 Pro can do just 1080p 60 fps selfie videos is a big disappointment for a flagship phone.

Anyway, Vivo’s native camera app is also pretty interesting. There are so many options and settings to play with here. Like you have a bunch of lighting and bokeh effects for portraits that mimic different professional Zeiss lenses, an AI group portrait mode, and there are a few other options including “Astro Mode” and “Supermoon” which make low-light photography more fun.

Vivo X90 Pro Review: Conclusion

So let’s conclude this review of the Vivo X90 Pro. If you look at the flagship phones in the $800 to $1,000 price range, you’ll find that most of them have some weird, unsettling trade-offs. That’s because brands are more interested in pushing more expensive phones instead.

The iPhone 14 and 14 Plus, for example, carry a last-gen processor, a slower 60Hz display, and not the same level of cameras as the Pro models. Samsung also skips its premium cameras on the vanilla S23 and S23 Plus, whereas Google’s Pixel 7 Pro doesn’t compete in terms of performance.

Vivo X90 Pro Design-2

So compared to all of them, the Vivo X90 Pro stands out as a balanced offering that really doesn’t compromise much. Therefore if you don’t want to spend a whole lot on those full-fledged flagship phones, the X90 Pro is an excellent choice for the price. However, if you want to play it safe and are willing to spend well over $1000, the iPhone 14 Pro Max or Galaxy S23 Ultra is a no-brainer!

Vivo X90 Pro Review: Pros and Cons

Pros:

  • Standout design
  • Excellent display
  • Nippy performance
  • Speedy 120W charging
  • DSLR like Portraits

Cons:

  • Zeiss Camera mode needs further optimization
  • Ultrawide camera is just okay-ish
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