Almost two years after its launch, Fitbit Sense now has a successor of its own. The new Fitbit Sense 2 is a premium smartwatch with the company’s most advanced health and fitness tracking feature. In this article, we will discuss the key specs, features, expected price, and availability of the Fitbit Sense 2 in Nepal.
Fitbit Sense 2 Overview:
Design
As with all the launches under the “fall lineup,” most of the changes on the Sense 2 are internal. So, the design of Sense 2 has remained the same as the original Sense. Fitbit does claim its latest premium fitness tracker is both 10% slimmer and 15% lighter than its predecessor.
Much of it comes from Fitbit’s decision to integrate the sensor directly onto the display rather than on the back. Fitbit has devised a unique technique that turns metal electrodes into vapor for the same.
Moreover, Fitbit Sense 2 replaces the solid-state button with a mechanical one. The company has even raised it a little, so it’s easier to reach. Likewise, the strap attachment has also been raised for added comfort.
Continuous Stress Tracking
The main highlight of the Fitbit Sense 2 is the new continuous electrodermal activity (cEDA) sensor. The sensor detects stress by analyzing the electrical conductivity of the skin. A similar sensor was introduced with the original Sense, but with the Sense 2, Fitbit has added the option to continuously track the stress throughout the day.
Fit Sense 2 uses the data from the cEDA, along with other health metrics like heart rate, heart rate variability, and skin temperature to give users a better understanding of their stress levels, stress triggers, and ways to manage them.
With its ECG sensor, Fitbit Sense 2 can also detect symptoms of atrial fibrillation, but its availability varies by region. Another feature that is region-restricted is the blood glucose tracking through the app. Furthermore, Fitbit Sense 2 can track your sleep automatically and assign you sleep scores and a sleep animal based on your sleep profile.
Fitbit Sense 2 even doubles the number of supported exercises to 40. It has a built-in GPS to track your movement precisely. Also, there is automatic exercise detection for select workout modes.
Software
Interestingly, despite being owned by Google, none of the new Fitbit smartwatches (Sense 2 included) come with Wear OS. They still run on the Fitbit UI. That being said, the new Fitbit UI now comes with Tiles and an app drawer that clearly takes inspiration from the Wear OS.
Additionally, Fitbit has promised support for Google Maps and contact-less payment through Google Wallet. There is no mention of Google’s Voice Assistant, though Alexa is built-in.
Battery Life and Charging
Coming to the battery, Fitbit Sense 2 boasts 6 days of endurance on regular usage. It even has support for fast charging. As per the company, you will get a day’s worth of battery with just 12 minutes of plugging in.
Fitbit Sense 2 Price in Nepal and Availability (Expected)
You can now pre-order Fitbit Sense 2 in the US via fitbit.com for USD 229.95. The watch also comes with 6 months of free Fitbit Premium subscription. We expect the price of Fitbit Sense 2 to be NPR 43,499 when it launches in Nepal.
Smartwatch Model
Price in the US (Official)
Price in Nepal (Expected)
Fitbit Sense 2
USD 229.95
NPR 43,499
Meanwhile, check out our review of the Fitbit Versa 3.
The Aspire 5 from Acer has always been popular among students, officers, and anyone looking for reliable performance on a budget. The 2022 iteration of the laptop is among the cheapest 12th Gen Intel laptops that you can buy right now in Nepal. So, is this laptop for you? Let’s find out in this review of the Acer Aspire 5 (2022).
Before we begin the review, let’s take a quick look at what the Acer Aspire 5 (2022) offers in terms of specifications.
Acer Aspire 5 2022 (A515-57) Specifications:
Design & Build: Aluminum lid/plastic chassis, 362.9W x 237.8D x 17.90-mm, 1.77 kg
The variant that I tested has the Intel Core i5-1235U with 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD. It retails for around NPR 92,000. If you want something even cheaper, there is also the Core i3 variant, but I decided to skip that one. That’s because not only was I looking for an affordable laptop, but also something that would age better and one that could handle some office work without any hiccup.
Acer Aspire 5 2022 (A515-57) Review:
362.9W x 237.8D x 17.90-mm, 1.77 kg
Aluminum lid, plastic chassis
Design
Okay, let’s start with the design side of things. When it comes to budget laptops, a lot of brands tend to cut corners here, and Acer looks to be no exception. This plastic chassis with an aluminum-clad lid is reminiscent of the Aspire 5 (2021). Acer has changed a few things here and there, like the placement of its branding on the lid and the exhaust vent, but that’s about it.
The lack of a fresh design would not have been a problem if Acer had worked on strengthening the existing design though. As things stand, the Aspire 5 (2022) feels a little clumsy, even for a budget laptop.
Design
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Aluminum Lid
Front
Keyboard Flex
Its keyboard deck also has a lot more flex than I’d like. Then again, this is something you should be able to overlook since the flex is hardly noticeable when typing in real life. The keys feel a little mushy—yes—but it’s nothing I can’t live with.
Sadly, my unit doesn’t offer backlighting, while there are other models of the Aspire 5 (2022) with a backlit keyboard. So, if you’re someone who works at night or in a dimly lit room a lot, this is something you should know.
But what I appreciate is that Acer has given a dedicated Numpad here, which is getting harder to find even on 15 or 16” Ultrabooks these days!
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Keyboard Deck
Trackpad
That aside, I’m pretty impressed with this trackpad. It’s relatively large and responsive, and I also did not have any problem with gestures here. But just like the keyboard backlighting, my unit of the Aspire 5 doesn’t include a fingerprint reader either.
Display
15.6″ non-touch matte FHD panel
45% NTSC, 200 nits of brightness
Now, before I talk about its display, I gotta address this rather alarming issue. While that keyboard deck flex is pretty dismissable, I simply can’t ignore the gap between the screen and the plastic bezel. It’s likely that in the long run, dust and similar small debris can accumulate there, which could cause some damage to the screen.
As expected, the actual quality of this 15.6” screen is average at best. I mean, it’s not the brightest or the most vibrant display out there, but I had no trouble using it indoors for things like editing documents or streaming YouTube videos.
However, if you’re into graphic design and stuff, then you’ll want to look elsewhere because the Aspire 5 (2022) color coverage is too low. Also, the low contrast ratio and poor viewing angles of my unit make me believe it’s a TN panel, so watch out for that as well.
One more thing. Acer has still used a 16:9 aspect ratio here, at a time when 16:10 displays are getting common even on budget laptops.
I’m not suggesting this is a dealbreaker or anything, but that tiny bit of extra vertical screen space makes quite a difference if you’re a programmer who has to review long lines of codes or just someone who does a lot of reading.
Webcam, Speaker
Its bezels on the Aspire 5 (2022) are also pretty thick and the one on the top houses an HD webcam, whose quality is fine for an entry-level laptop I’d say—especially when you’re in a well-lit room.
And the bottom-firing speakers are good enough for binging Netflix or casually listening to music, but nothing too fancy. I would have also liked it more if it got a little louder but budget laptops aren’t known for their outstanding audio anyway.
Performance
Intel Core i5-1235U CPU (10C/12T, up to 4.4GHz)
Integrate Intel Xe graphics (80 EU)
8GB DDR4 RAM, 256GB PCIe NVMe SSD
Okay, let me now talk about the most exciting aspect of the Aspire 5 2022, which is definitely the performance. Compared to the Core i5-1135G7 on its predecessor, the new 12th Gen Intel Core i5-1235U CPU brings significant improvements.
First and foremost, it introduces a hybrid architecture with two performance cores with hyperthreading and eight efficiency cores, taking the total core count to 10. In contrast, the i5-1135G7 is just a 4-cores / 8-threads CPU.
And as you can see from these Cinebench results, the generational performance gap is night and day—with around 22% higher single-core and a massive 77% higher multi-core score on Cinebench R23. It even outshines the new M2-powered MacBook Air in the single-core test!
Benchmarks aside, the Acer Aspire 5 is no slouch in real-life performance as well. I had no problem carrying out my regular office chores on this thing, which includes writing and editing scripts alongside multiple Chrome tabs opened at once. Even when adding Photoshop into the mix for some light editing, I never encountered stutters or any kinds of slow-downs.
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Photoshop
Visual Studio Community
I believe this can also be a good option for college students getting into the world of programming. I was pretty impressed with the fluidity of this laptop when running some small C# projects on Visual Studio 2022.
Upgradeability
But if you are serious about coding, I’ll recommend using the extra SO-DIMM slot to upgrade the RAM from 8 to 16GB, since IDEs like Visual Code are known to be memory hoarders. And let’s be honest, you will have multiple Stack Overflow tabs open in the background most of the time as well, so you’re gonna want that additional RAM.
Gaming Performance
On the other hand, I’m equally impressed with the cooling system of Aspire 5 (2022). The laptop never really got hot in my daily usage and I did not even hear the fan kick in until I tried playing some games. But since this guy does not have a dedicated graphics card, I restricted the gaming test to a few CPU-bound games at low settings only.
On CS: GO, it managed 84.4 fps on average with 36 fps 1% low. I did notice a few stutters here and there, but that didn’t impact the gameplay by a lot. Same thing on Valorant with the average and 1% low fps hitting 92 and 55.8 respectively. I also played FIFA 22 here which ran at a consistent 60 fps on average.
So yeah, the Aspire 5 (2022) can handle some lightweight games, but don’t expect anything more.
Okay, while the Aspire 5 remains cool enough under regular usage, its cooling system shows its limits when gaming. After three back-to-back sessions of Valorant, I recorded the surface temperature around the WASD keys at 40°C.
Acer’s dual-fan setup directly opens to the bottom right portion of the screen, and that area gets as hot as 48°C under continuous gaming sessions. This gives me yet another reason to fear for the display’s safety in the long run!
Battery and Charging
3-cell 50Wh Li-ion
65W AC power adapter (round-pin)
On to the battery now, the Aspire 5 (2022) comes with a 50Wh cell, which lasted me around 5 hours on average. I mostly used it under the Performance mode using the Function+F shortcut, and you can get slightly longer screen-on-time under the Silent or Normal profiles.
The laptop fuels up through a traditional 65W round-pin charger that comes in the box. But you can avoid the hassle of carrying it around for a more compact PD charger instead since it has a Thunderbolt 4 port. You can even use it to connect to an external monitor if required.
Ports and Connectivity
Thunderbolt 4, Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2
Apart from this, there are three USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, one HDMI, an ethernet port, and a Kensington lock slot. As for wireless connectivity, it even supports the latest WiFi 6E standard, but of course, you’ll also need a WiFi 6E compatible router to make the most out of it. Then there is the usual stuff like Bluetooth 5.1 to connect wireless peripherals.
Ports
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Left Side
Right Side
Acer Aspire 5 (A515-57) 2022 Review: Conclusion
Okay, that brings me to the end of this review. I believe it’s an easy recommendation for students or freshers who are looking for a reliable daily driver on a budget.
First and foremost, the Intel Core i5-1235U CPU brings significant performance gains over its predecessor. And things like Thunderbolt 4 and WiFi 6E are hard to find on a 600-dollar laptop too. You can even upgrade the memory down the line in case your workflow ever gets more intense.
But that’s not to say it is without flaws—especially in terms of the build quality and display. You can definitely find last-gen laptops with better specs in this regard, but that means they miss out on that sweet-sweet 12th Gen power.
Blackview is not a new name in the Android smartphone market. The company is best known for its rugged devices. Yet, it recently released a tablet, called the Tab 13 which provides internet connectivity without the use of WiFi or a SIM card. So, let’s get into the specs, features, availability, and expected price of the Blackview Tab 13 in Nepal.
Blackview Tab 13 Overview:
Internet without WiFi?
So the most interesting feature of the Tab 13 is its ability to access the internet without a working WiFi or SIM. For this, Blackview has partnered with SIMO, a leading network operator, that provides internet coverage without SIM or WiFi.
To use it, users must first register in the SIMO app or website and purchase a package that meets their needs. While SIMO coverage is available in over 135 countries, users in the EU, the United Kingdom, the United States, Mexico, Canada, and Japan can currently only use this service.
Anyways, the tablet is powered by a MediaTek Helio G85 chipset and 6GB of LPDDR4X RAM. It does, however, have a slower eMMC memory protocol and comes in a sole 128GB of storage.
Software-wise, it is pre-loaded with Android 12-based Doke OS P 3.0. There’s even a PC mode that allows you to use the tablet as a replacement for your desktop computer. It can also be paired with an external keyboard magnetically.
All of this is fueled by a 7280mAh battery that, according to the manufacturer, can provide 5.5 hours of continuous gaming.
Design, Display
The Tab 13 has a 10.1-inch display with Full HD+ resolution and 300 nits of brightness. The display is certified by TUV Rheinland for low blue light and there’s even a 16:10 aspect ratio to improve your content streaming experience. Likewise, you get a dual-speaker setup for audio.
Furthermore, the tablet has a boxy design with a matte finish on the back. The rear panel also has a protruded module that houses a dual camera setup of a 13MP primary and 0.3MP auxiliary lens. Similarly, for selfies, there is an 8MP camera on the front.
Blackview Tab 13 Specifications:
Display: 10.1-inch IPS LCD panel, Full HD, 300 nits
Chipset: MediaTek Helio G85 (12nm)
Memory:6GB LPDDR4X RAM, 128GB eMMC 5.1
Rear Camera: Dual (13MP Primary, 0.3MP Secondary)
Front Camera: 8MP
Audio: Dual speakers
Battery: 7,280mAh
Security: Face unlock
Colors: Lunar Silver, Twilight Blue, Space Grey
Blackview Tab 13 Price in Nepal and Availability
Tab 13 is available for purchase for USD 150. But you can get it for USD 133.99 through Blackview’s limited promotional offer here. If the Blackview Tab 13 ever makes it to Nepal, we expect it to cost around NPR 23,000.
Tablet
Price (Official)
Price in Nepal (Expected)
Blackview Tab 13
USD 150
NPR 23,000
Meanwhile, check out our review of the Realme Pad Mini.
In this review, I’ll be discussing the latest budget phone from OnePlus, the Nord N20 SE. This is the cheapest OnePlus phone that you can buy on the market right now. And what’s happening with OnePlus lately is that they are expanding their smartphone portfolio. If you are someone who’s into tech, you probably know this already.
They have evolved from making premium to mid-range and even budget devices now. And amidst this evolution, OnePlus is becoming more like OPPO, and this phone is a prime example of how the company is changing its strategy.
OnePlus Nord N20 SE Specifications:
Body: 75.03 x 163.74 x 7.99mm, 187gm
Display: 6.56-inches IPS LCD, 60Hz refresh rate, DC dimming
Resolution: HD+ (1612 x 720 pixels), 269 PPI, 20.1:9 aspect ratio
Battery: 5000mAh with 33W fast charging (33W power adapter provided)
Color Options: Celestial Black, Blue Oasis
What’s Inside The Box: Nord N20 SE, SIM ejector, USB-A to USB-C cable, Protective case, User manual and other documents
Price in Nepal: Rs. 23,499 (4/64GB)
OnePlus Nord N20 SE Review:
We knew OnePlus to be a brand that sold only flagship devices at very competitive prices. But in 2020 they entered the mid-range segment with the Nord series.
That very Nord series has also started catering to the budget segment now. And honestly, I am not particularly thrilled about this change.
OnePlus is losing its brand identity
We already have seen a few mid-range offerings in the Nord lineup like the OnePlus Nord CE 2 and Nord CE 2 Lite this year, which, weren’t the best-in-class devices. But they were still decent devices, so I didn’t step back when recommending them.
But this phone, the OnePlus Nord N20 SE, has very uninspiring specs and is ridiculously priced too. It comes with the 3-year-old MediaTek Helio G35 chipset, an HD display, and a dual camera setup with no ultra-wide lens! All for which the company is asking $199 in the global market and some Rs. 23,500 here in Nepal. At this price, the Nord N20 SE does not make any sense.
An OPPO rebrand
75.03 x 163.74 x 7.9 9mm, 187 grams
Glass front, Plastic back/frames
Now, this is a phone that is targeted toward the offline market. And the funny thing is that it’s the exact replica of the OPPO A77 4G that was recently launched in Nepal, India, and other parts of the world. Since it’s a rebranded OPPO phone, you can its design is really good, which is exactly what OPPO is known for.
So, it looks like OnePlus’ new strategy for budget phones isn’t to sell them at competitive specs and competitive pricing, which is what they are known for. At this point, they are just selling their brand name.
Yes, we as tech reviewers have criticized OnePlus a lot lately because of the whole OnePlus-OPPO merger. But what I have found is that OnePlus still has an excellent brand image in the eyes of general consumers. And I think OnePlus is taking advantage of that with this phone.
I mean, look at the design, it looks pretty amazing. And it is really well built too with this boxy form factor.
Honestly, this does not look like a budget phone at all! The design has a very modern approach with a matte finish and these camera modules complement the overall aesthetics as well. So, when someone goes to an offline mobile store and the shopkeeper shows him this phone, he will definitely be in awe of the OnePlus Nord N20 SE. I would too.
Beyond mediocre display
6.56-inches HD+ IPS LCD panel
60Hz refresh rate
No Gorilla Glass protection
But internally, this phone has crappy specs for the price. Just look at the display, it has an HD+ resolution, which is not even AMOLED. And it refreshes at just 60Hz. If you look at the competition, they offer a smooth 90Hz refresh rate, AMOLED screen, and a Full HD resolution.
In some cases, you even get an in-display fingerprint sensor! But here, the display quality is just NOT upto the standard. Plus, there’s also the outdated waterdrop notch here! So, the Nord N20 SE feels like you are using a budget phone from 2018.
Now, I started using this phone a few days back and I have installed a few of my regular apps here. And it already feels sluggish.
So yeah, it does not even feel like you are using a OnePlus phone here. I also tried playing PUBG on this thing and guess what? It’s not playable at all! I think for the price, this is the worst value for money performing phone right now!
Sub-par cameras
Dual camera setup at the back
(50MP main, 2MP depth)
8MP selfie camera (teardrop notch)
Cameras
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Back
Front
I have also clicked some pictures with the OnePlus Nord N20 SE and you can see that they are not very inspiring. And its dual camera setup is completed by a depth sensor, not an ultra-wide lens! You do get a 50MP primary lens, but Helio G35’s subpar image processor has surely contributed to producing average results.
Photo Samples
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Even selfies and videography-wise, it is not very impressive. I think, at this price range, getting phones like Redmi Note 11, Galaxy F23, or Realme 9, you will get a much, much better camera, compared to the OnePlus Nord N20 SE.
One silver lining, the battery
5000mAh battery with 33W charging
In terms of battery, you get a standard 5000mAh battery with 33W charging which other brands also provide. And with such a low-powered processor and HD+ screen, you can expect very good battery life from this phone though!
OnePlus Nord N20 SE Review: Conclusion
So wrapping up this review, as I said in the beginning, the OnePlus Nord N20 SE is a pretty bad offering for the price. I only have been using this phone for a day or two and even so, I simply can’t recommend it.
It is similar to what my verdict for OPPO’s budget A-series phones has always been, which is “don’t ever buy the OPPO A-series”. And this is yet another OPPO A series phone in disguise. And the sad thing is that people might be deceived into buying the Nord N20 SE based on its looks and OnePlus’ brand value.
The reality, however, is that there are much better products at similar prices out there with superior specs in almost all aspects. So, do share this review with your friends and family to prevent them from making a big mistake buying this phone!
Motorola has updated its Edge lineup with the new Motorola Edge (2022). This upper midrange phone debuted in the US and is the first smartphone to pack the Dimensity 1050 chipset. So, let’s look at the specs, features, excepted price, and availability of the Motorola Edge (2022) in Nepal.
Motorola Edge (2022) Overview:
Design and Display
Motorola has not brought drastic changes when it comes to design. Moto Edge (2022) is available in a sleek Mineral Gray color and measures 7.99mm in terms of thickness. The power button and volume rockers are on the right-hand side. Additionally, the Edge is IP52 certified.
For display, Motorola uses a 6.6″ OLED panel with a 144Hz refresh rate. It has a resolution of 1080 x 2400 pixels, HDR10+ certification, and a 20:9 aspect ratio. Motorola Edge (2022) has a side-mounted fingerprint scanner instead of an in-display one that was on its predecessor.
Performance
Performance on the Motorola Edge (2022) is handled by the Dimensity 1050. As aforementioned, it is the first phone to ship with this processor. The Dimensity 1050 is based on a 6nm process and comprises two Cortex-A78 clocked at 2.5GHz, and six Cortex-A55 cores with 2.0GHz clock speed. The Mali-G610 GPU handles graphics.
On the Motorola US site, the handset is currently listed in only a single memory configuration with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage. Motorola also offers free 100GB of Google One storage for a year.
The triple rear camera system on the Motorola Edge (2022) is led by a 50MP sensor with OIS. Accompanying the sensor is a 13MP ultrawide camera with 120-degree FoV which also doubles as a macro shooter. Finally, there is also a depth sensor. For selfies and video conferences, there is a 32MP sensor up front.
Rest of the specs
A 5,000mAh cell with up to two days of battery life powers the Motorola Edge (2022). The phone supports 30W wired and 15W wireless charging. You have a stereo speaker setup with Dolby Atmos for audio. Unfortunately, it does not have a 3.5mm headphone jack.
For connectivity, the Motorola Edge (2022) has mmWave 5G, Bluetooth 5.2, Wi-Fi 6E, and GPS. It also has NFC capabilities. It, like its predecessor, only accepts a single SIM card.
Motorola Edge (2022) Specifications:
Body: 160.86 x 74.24 x 7.99mm, 170 gm
Display: 6.6-inch OLED, 144Hz refresh rate, HDR 10+, 10-bit, DCI-P3 color space
Battery: 5000mAh with 30W fast charging, 15W Wireless
Motorola Edge (2022) Price in Nepal and Availability
The Motorola Edge (2022) is available in the USA for USD 499. The first sale will be through T-Mobile. After the promo period, the phone is said to cost USD 599. Details about global availability are yet to be revealed. We expect the Motorola Edge (2022) to be sold for around NPR 71,999 if it launches in Nepal.
Motorola Edge (2022)
Price in USA (Official)
Price in Nepal (Expected)
8/256GB
USD 499
NPR 71,999
Meanwhile, check out our review of the Motorola G52.
Welcome to the twelfth edition of our weekly tech quiz. Take our quiz to put your tech knowledge to the test (no cheating, obviously). There are 15 questions in total, so it shouldn’t take more than 3 minutes. And the questions could be from any field—smartphones, gaming, music, and more. Let’s go!
The new gaming phone from Lenovo, the Legion Y70, ditches on the flashy gamer aesthetics but packs top-of-the-line hardware. So, let’s look at the specs, features, price, and availability of the Lenovo Legion Y70 in Nepal.
Lenovo Legion Y70 Overview:
Design and Display
As mentioned earlier, the Legion Y70 looks totally different from the current Legion lineup of gaming smartphones. There is no RGB backlighting or any other gaming aesthetics for that matter. It’s pretty much a normal-looking phone with gaming hardware underneath.
Over on the front, the Lenovo Legion Y70 sports a 6.67” FHD+ display with LG’s P-OLED panel. The screen refreshes at 144Hz and features up to 1500Hz of touch sampling rate.
Performance and Cooling
Talking about hardware, Lenovo Legion Y70 is powered by Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1. The chip is a mid-year refresh to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 and offers better performance and power efficiency.
To keep it running at the top level for longer, Lenovo has opted for a 10-layer cooling mechanism with multiple graphite layers and the largest vapor chamber of any phone. Alternately, users can get an external active cooler with detachable triggers from Lenovo.
Furthermore, the phone has up to 16GB of RAM and 512GB of UFS 3.1 storage. Here, you will find ZUI 14 running on top of Android 12 out of the box in terms of software.
At the back, Lenovo Legion Y70 flaunts a triple camera setup led by a 50MP primary sensor. Accompanying it is a 13MP ultrawide camera and a 2MP depth sensor. You can even see a tiny punch-hole on the top of the screen, which means there is no side-mounted pop-up camera as in previous Legion phones. Likewise, the punch-hole encloses a 16MP selfie shooter.
Rest of the specs
Fueling the Legion Y70 is a 5,100mAh battery, and there is support for up 68W charging. For connectivity, the phone has Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax, Bluetooth 5.2, and dual-band GPS.
The Lenovo Legion Y70 is priced at CNY 2,970 for the base 8/128GB model and goes up to CNY 4,270 for the 12/512GB variant. We expect the Lenovo Legion Y70 to start retail at around NPR when it launches in Nepal. For now, the handset is available for pre-order in China. It will go on sale starting August 22.
Lenovo Legion Y70
Price in China (Official)
Price in Nepal (Expected)
8/128GB
CNY 2,970
NPR 63,970
12/256GB
CNY 3,370
NPR 72,370
16/256GB
CNY 4,270
NPR 91,270
Meanwhile, check out our review of the Poco F4 GT.
Realme has just launched a new C-series smartphone in Nepal. Dubbed Realme C30, it’s a budget smartphone that brings a radical design to the table. So, let’s walk through the specs, features, availability, and official price of the Realme C30 in Nepal.
Realme C30 Overview:
Design and Display
Starting with the design, the C30 features a really distinctive look for a budget smartphone. It has flat frames with stripes that run across the whole rear panel. The camera island is unique in itself with a glossy rectangular module that houses a single camera in another circular cutout.
This is accompanied by a LED light. It will be available in Lake Blue and Bamboo Green colors.
The device’s front features a 6.5-inch HD+ display IPS LCD panel with a dewdrop notch. As expected from a budget phone, the C30 does not have a higher refresh rate. However, you do get 120Hz touch sampling rate support.
Powering the smartphone is a Unisoc T612 chipset paired with up to 3GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 32GB of UFS 2.2 storage. It boots on the Realme UI Go edition based on Android 11.
Moreover, the device gets its juice from a 5000mAh battery. It gets 10W charging support via a micro USB port.
Rest of the specs
Camera-wise, the C30 has an 8MP rear camera and a 5MP front camera. The connectivity option includes 4G, single-band WiFi, and Bluetooth 5.0. You also get a dedicated microSD card and 3.5mm headphone jack support.
The official price of Realme C30 in Nepal starts at Rs. 13,499 for the 2/32GB variant. Realme even offers a 3/32GB and a 4/64GB variant, priced at Rs. 14,499 and Rs. 15,999, respectively. You can buy Realme C30 from
In a time when entry-level smartphones are getting rarer, Benco has just launched one in Nepal. Benco V62 comes with modest specs and has an affordable price tag. So, let’s look at the specs, features, official price, and availability of Benco V62 in Nepal.
Benco V62 Overview:
Design and Display
Benco V62 is built around a 6.1-inch LCD screen. It’s an HD+ display with a waterdrop notch for the selfie camera. As expected, the bezels around the screen are quite noticeable, contributing to the 85% screen-to-body ratio.
The back of the Benco V62 is made of plastic with a “wave” pattern on top. It houses the camera module with a shiny plate and halo rings enclosing the sensor. The phone weighs around 170 grams and is 9.4mm thick.
Performance and Memory
Under the hood, Benco V62 packs the Unisoc SC9832e chipset, based on a 28nm process. It has a quad-core CPU with four Cortex-A53 cores clocked at 1.4GHz. Likewise, the graphics are handled by Mali T820 GPU.
Benco has paired the chip with 2GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage. The latter can be expanded via a microSD card slot.
Benco advertises the V62 as a dual-camera phone. However, there is hardly any mention of the second sensor. The primary camera has an unspecified Sony sensor with a 1.4μm and an f/1.7 aperture. Over on the front, there is a 5MP sensor for selfies and video calls.
Rest of the Features
Fueling the Benco V62 is a 3,500mAh battery and there is no fast-charging support. There is a physical fingerprint scanner at the back for biometrics. The phone runs on Android 11 Go. For connectivity, Benco V62 comes with 4G, Wi-Fi b/g/n, and Bluetooth.
Before we get on with the review of the Apple MacBook Air M2, let’s take a step back. Apple’s transition from Intel to Arm was revolutionary in every sense of the word. And 2020’s M1 MacBook Air was easily the most remarkable laptop of the last decade. Hands down. Apple had set the bar high; so much so that reports of Windows laptop makers fearing declining sales due to the popularity of MacBooks are pretty common news these days.
So how could Apple catch lightning in a bottle—for the second time?
Remember that simply pumping out a more powerful processor is not the way to go here. Not on a slim, lightweight chassis with a quiet, fanless system like the MacBook Air. Apple has already demonstrated that it can deliver more powerful chips in the form of M1 Pro, M1 Max, and M1 Ultra—all of which are essentially scaled-up versions of the M1 architecture with a bigger die, more transistors, and whatnot, by the way.
But for something like that to work on a MacBook Air, it would have to be actively cooled. And housed inside a beefier form factor; both of which go directly against the Air’s design philosophy. At least by 2022’s standard. So, the new MacBook Air with the M2 chip still sits below the 14″ and 16” MacBook Pros as far as raw performance goes. And also the M2 MacBook Pro with that regurgitated chassis.
Apple MacBook Air M2 (2022) Specifications:
Design & Build: All-aluminum unibody build (100% recycled aluminum), 11.97 x 8.46 x 0.44-inches (W x D x H), 1.24 kg
Color Options: Silver, Starlight, Space Gray, Midnight
Display: 13.6″ Liquid Retina display (LED), 60Hz refresh rate, Wide Color (P3), 500 nits brightness, True Tone
Resolution: 2K (2560×1664) resolution, 16:10 aspect ratio, 224 PPI
Keyboard: Full-size backlit keyboard, 1mm travel
Trackpad: Force Touch trackpad
Security: Touch ID (fingerprint sensor)
Processor: Apple M2 chip (5nm+), 8-core CPU (4 performance, 4 efficiency), 8/10-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine, 100GB/s memory bandwidth
RAM: 8/16/24GB Unified Memory
Storage: 256GB to 2TB SSD
Audio: Four-speaker sound system (2 tweeters, 2 woofers), Spatial Audio, Dolby Atmos support
Webcam: 1080p FaceTime HD camera, No physical shutter, Three-mic array with directional beamforming
Connectivity: WiFi 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac), Bluetooth 5.0
I/O Ports: 2x Thunderbolt 3 / USB 4 (Up to 40Gb/s), 1x MagSafe 3 charging, 1x 3.5mm headphone jack (high-impedance)
Price in Nepal: Rs. 199,000 (8/256GB) | Rs. 248,000 (8/512GB)
What’s Inside The Box: Laptop, 30W USB-C / 35W Dual USB-C power adapter, USB-C to MagSafe 3 cable (braided), Apple stickers, User manual and other documents
Apple MacBook Air M2 (2022) Review:
Therefore, the M2 MacBook Air goes beyond just a performance bump to make a case for itself. Especially with that new design. It ditches the iconic wedge aesthetics in favor of the symmetrical squared-off look like the 14 and 16” Pros.
There’s now a notch for the upgraded camera, a bigger, brighter display, the speaker system has been redesigned, and MagSafe charging is back on Air as well. Sounds great! However… I’m pretty sure you were already expecting a “however” to pop up any time now. However, Apple’s latest MacBook Air costs a full $200 more compared to its predecessor.
With the same memory configuration. That’s a lot of money for the next-gen upgrade. On top of this, you can even find the M1 Air for as little as $850 every now and then.
And after using it as my daily driver for about a month alongside its precursor, here’s what I think about it. Spoiler alert for this review of the Apple MacBook Air M2: this isn’t the easy recommendation I thought it would be, unlike the M1 Air.
Okay, let me start by talking about the biggest upgrade in this year’s MacBook Air—which has to be the design. If you were a fan of the tapered look on previous iterations, too bad.
The wedge is dead, long live the uniformly thin design!
I was already a fan of this look on the 14” and 16″ MacBook Pro. So this wasn’t a big deal to me really. And although it might seem that the old Air is the slimmer of the two because of its narrowing finish, it’s actually the other way around. The M2 Air is both thinner and lighter. Not by a whole lot to make a groundbreaking difference, but still.
Slimmer and lighter laptops are always welcome but that shouldn’t compromise the integrity of the device in any way, right? Fortunately, the M2 Air feels as solid as any other MacBook Apple has put out. Its all-metal enclosure feels premium through and through, whereas the lid is immune to any sort of flex as well. Wish I could say the same about this keyboard deck.
Meanwhile, check out all the prices and specs of MacBooks here
Not that it has a horrible keyboard flex or anything—obviously not—but it budges just a little easier compared to something like the 14” MacBook Pro. Or even the M1 Air for that matter.
Midnight madness
The color options sure are nice this time around though. Besides the usual Silver and Space Gray variant, Apple is also offering it in Starlight and Midnight finishes. I was super looking forward to getting the Midnight option with its brooding dark blue/black aesthetics. But I ultimately settled with the timeless Space Gray option because of the whole fingerprint magnet and easy-to-scuff thing.
With the updated design comes improved I/O choices too. As I mentioned earlier, the M2 Air also enjoys MagSafe charging; thus freeing up the two Thunderbolt ports whenever you need to top up the battery or something.
Ports
1 of 2
3.5mm headphone jack
And its color-matched braided cable is just the icing on the cake! I will say that I would’ve loved to see an additional USB-C connection on the right next to the 3.5mm high-impedance headphone jack, but oh well. And I don’t think some of you would be happy to hear that this thing can natively connect to only one external monitor either.
My workflow doesn’t require a multi-monitor setup so this hasn’t bothered me at all. But I know many people were expecting Apple to enable support for more than one external display with the new baseline MacBooks. Since MagSafe takes care of the charging front, you at least have a free Type-C port when using a docking station or a USB-C hub now. This isn’t exactly the sweeter end of the deal, but I guess it’s still something.
Display
13.6″ Liquid Retina display (glossy)
60Hz refresh rate, True Tone, Wide Color (P3)
500 nits peak brightness
Okay, enough of the external displays, what about the one on the MacBook itself? Let me tell you, it. is. gorgeous. The trimmed bezels make way for a larger, more immersive 13.6” screen, compared to the 13.3” on the M1 Air. And alongside the bigger display, there’s also a notch—just like the larger MacBook Pros.
But unlike the 14 and 16″ MacBook Pros with a smooooooth 120Hz refresh rate, this is still a 60Hz screen. Anyway, the menu bar now occupies that extra 0.3” screen space while the rest of the apps get slightly more room to breathe. But it’s sad to see that Apple still hasn’t come up with a solution elegant enough to make the notch any less invasive.
Nope, that “scale to fit below built-in camera” option which you have to individually enable on each app doesn’t count. Not to mention, it doesn’t even work on all apps, to begin with.
Left: M1 MacBook Air | Right: M2 MacBook Air
So if the app you’re running has a ton of menu items or you use a bunch of menu bar apps, chances are that macOS can’t figure out a way to make them visible or accessible all at once. But don’t worry. There are a bunch of free third-party apps like Hidden Bar or paid ones like Bartender to organize the menu bar better.
Finally a 1080p webcam
One good thing to come out of the notch though is the webcam. Apple has finally given a proper 1080p FaceTime camera on the MacBook Air, and the upgrade is quite easy to notice. And appreciate. Other than sharper videos with better image processing, I’m also impressed with the background noise suppression here.
I don’t know if Apple made any changes to the triple mic array in any way—except their placement—but this one definitely sounds better.
Let’s move on. The M2 Air’s Liquid Retina display is capable of producing over a billion colors, whereas it is 25% brighter than the M1 Air as well. And yeah, the difference between these two screens is quite palpable.
Colors look richer and with more depth on the M2 Air, which makes your viewing experience just a little more enjoyable. The contrast ratio is also noticeably deeper here, but it’s simply no match for the mini-LED displays on the larger MacBook Pros.
Display Properties
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M2 Air - Color Gamut
M1 Air - Color Gamut
M2 Air - Brightness
M1 Air - Brightness
M2 Air - Gamma
M1 Air - Gamma
And the similar color coverage on the M1 and M2 Air’s screens was quite surprising. With 100% sRGB, 88% AdobeRGB, and 99% P3 gamut on the M2 Air, compared to 98% on its predecessor. I also measured its peak brightness at 504 nits, versus 398 nits on the M1 Air. That’s quite bright! So it can be the perfect laptop to work with in a cafe, or for someone who does lots of field visits in their line of work.
Audio
Four-speaker system
Spatial Audio, Dolby Atmos audio
Also adding to the visual experience is the redesigned speaker system. Unlike the M1 Air—or any other MacBook that Apple currently sells—it doesn’t have speaker grills on the side. Instead, its four-speaker system with two tweeters and two woofers is located between the keyboard and the display.
Even though the M1 Air sounded better to my ears at first, the more I listened to this guy, the more I came to like it. Yes, the M2 Air is missing that “wraparound” effect a bit, but the audio separation, clarity, and crispness of the high frequencies here are undeniably superior. Even when cranking the volume to 100%, it doesn’t distort as much. And unlike the M1 Air, it also supports Spatial Audio on tracks with Dolby Atmos sound.
Keyboard & Trackpad
Magic Keyboard (backlit, 1mm travel)
Touch ID for biometrics
Force Touch Trackpad
As for the keyboard, the M2 Air feels fantastic to type on. The keys are well-spaced, the 1mm travel distance is extremely comfortable for my hands, and I like their fairly quiet sound profile too.
Some people have complained about the short key travel being difficult to adjust to, but I had no problem with it. Oh, and the function rows are also full-height this time. On the other hand, Apple’s spacious Force Touch Trackpad still sets the benchmark for one of the best trackpad experiences you could find on a notebook.
But one thing I noticed is that M2 Air’s trackpad feels relatively soft, almost shallow compared to the sharp, precise feedback on the M1 Air. Even so, it feels significantly better after switching the click speed from “medium” to “firm”.
Performance
Apple M2 chip (5nm+)
8-core CPU, 8/10-core GPU
Up to 24GB unified memory, 2TB SSD
With that out of the way, let’s now get to the performance side of this review of the Apple MacBook Air M2. And all the controversies surrounding it. According to Apple, the M2 chip inside this laptop offers 18% faster CPU and up to 35% faster GPU performance. That’s pretty impressive for a next-gen upgrade, right?
But more power also means more heat, which isn’t exactly news, but it’s not good news for a passively cooled system like the MacBook Air.
And yeah, it most definitely throttles under heavy load. Like… all fanless notebooks do. Looking at our 30 minutes Cinebench stress test, we can see that the M2 Air loses somewhere around 17% of its performance. To 0% on the actively cooled M2 MacBook Pro and just 4% on the M1 Air.
So if you’re someone who does a lot of 3D rendering or compiling big coding projects, this isn’t the MacBook for you. Also, because the M2 chip generates more heat for that extra pinch of power, the CPU temperature here comfortably (and quickly) climbs to 103 to even 108°C. With the center of the keyboard deck and its adjacent bottom chassis getting notably hot.
Watch out for those thermals
The M1 Air, however, never once hit the triple-digit temperature in all my testing. But the thing is, this quiet, fanless guy isn’t meant to run large rendering projects and such in the first place. There are far beefier MacBooks for those tasks.
And in our custom 4K Premiere Pro render with heavy animation layers, the M2 Air was not that far behind the fan-equipped 13” MacBook Pro. The surface temperature was a couple of degrees hotter here, but performance throttling wasn’t that noticeable. And under regular, non-rendery use cases, the M2 Air blazes past everything you throw at it.
My everyday usage consists of running at least half-a-dozen Chrome tabs, drafting a few documents, and light editing on Photoshop while I enjoy some tunes on Spotify. A few Chrome tabs would occasionally have to reload here because I’m only rocking the base 8GB variant.
But other than that, the M2 Air never gave up on me. Also, both the CPU and GPU temperature stay nice and cool at around 40-45°C under such a casual usage pattern. The “thermal throttling” debate gets even weaker when running smaller projects or benchmarks.
Like, I ran the Xcode build test—which measures the system’s ability to compile large codebases—twice in a row. And the M2 Air was able to maintain its burst performance perfectly fine. The CPU temperature once again hits above the 100°C territory, but there’s no performance dip at all.
Any word on gaming?
Apple is also pushing gaming on Mac with the upcoming macOS Ventura. From developers not launching their latest titles on macOS to the lack of proper graphics API, macOS has never been the ideal platform for gaming. At least when it comes to modern AAA titles. But Apple claims Ventura is going to be the next big thing in terms of gaming on Mac.
At this point, I doubt Apple will ever catch up to the decades of head start that Microsoft has, but this is still promising news.
And I would’ve liked to run a few games on the M2 Air as well. But since macOS Ventura is currently in beta, I didn’t want to install it on my daily driver.
GPU Benchmarks
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Unigine Heaven
Geekbench 5
I did run some GPU benchmarks though, and Apple’s 35% faster claims turned out to be mostly true. The M2 MacBook Pro scores much higher than the M2 Air, but that’s just because its base model comes with a 10-core GPU compared to the 8-core GPU on the Air. Its active cooling has almost no bearing on these results.
What about the slow SSD?
Okay, let me now address the whole “slower SSD debacle”. Since the base 256 gigs configuration of the M2 MacBooks use a single 256GB NAND chip instead of two 128GB ones like on the M1 Air, their read/write speeds are notably slow. Absolutely.
AmorphousDiskMark 4.0
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M1 MacBook Air (8/256GB)
M2 MacBook Air (8/256GB)
M2 MacBook Pro (8/256GB)
It’s kinda like running one stick of 16GB RAM in a single channel instead of two 8GB sticks in a dual channel on PCs. And even though I never really noticed any sort of slow-downs on my everyday usage because of the slower SSD, it certainly makes a difference under heavy load. Especially when the system uses heavy swap memory.
To put it simply, swap memory is when the operating system temporarily uses the onboard storage (in this case, SSD) when it’s short on RAM. Windows does it, macOS does it, and even Linux does it—it’s a common technique. But since the entry-level M2 Air has significantly slower read/write speeds, you will notice a performance dip when the system is using large swap memory.
Just take a look at our copy speed test. With no foreground apps, copying a 15.78GB folder took the same time on the M2 and M1 Air. But with a bunch of active foreground apps, the M1 Air takes a notable lead. And this difference only gets wider as macOS hogs more and more swap memory.
Battery
52.6 Watt-hours Li-Po battery
30W / 35W USB-C power adapter
That’s quite disappointing. But what isn’t, is its battery life. The M2 Air brings a slightly larger battery over the M1 Air, although I didn’t notice any difference in their endurance. At full charge, it comfortably lasts me an entire workday with 10-12 hours of screen on time. Just like the M1 Air did back when it was still kicking with 100% battery health.
As for juicing it up, the included 30W MagSafe 3 charger takes a little under two and a half hours to fill it to 100%. Quite slow, I know. And Apple knows it too, which is why it lets you upgrade to the faster 67W power brick for $20 more.
Apple MacBook Air M2 (2022) Review: Conclusion
I guess that’s it, right? Let’s wrap up this review of the Apple MacBook Air M2. This is one heck of a portable machine—I can’t deny that. From its overhauled design, nicer display, better speakers, and webcam, to the all-new M2 silicon, there’s a lot to love about this machine. But as we’ve discovered throughout this review, the $200 cheaper, or occasionally even $350 cheaper Apple MacBook Air M1 from 2020 isn’t that far behind the M2 Air.
In certain cases, it even pulls off a healthy performance leap. So if you don’t really do much on a computer, and if absolute value-for-money is what you’re going for, the incredible M1 MacBook Air is still the way to go.
The M1 and M1 Pro dilemma
Even if you were looking to pull some heavy lifting on the M2 Air, at the very least you would need 16GB memory and 512GB SSD. And that config costs you a cool $1,700, which is just $300 shy of the M1 Pro-powered 14” MacBook Pro. And that machine is on a whole another level. Like, in every aspect you can imagine.
Maybe not in terms of portability, but that’s not saying much. The thing is, it’s actually a proper “Pro” laptop for creators. So while the M2 Air isn’t inherently a bad laptop in any way, the problem is that it is sandwiched between two of the most influential MacBooks Apple has to offer.
But if you can justify all its upgrades with the $200 price jump over the M1 Air, and don’t want to go all-in with the M1 Pro, this is still a solid everyday notebook. That SSD issue I discussed earlier is something to worry about, so I’d recommend getting the 512GB model which will age better over time.
