Xiaomi is on a launch spree in Nepal. Following the debut of two new members of the flagship Xiaomi 12 series a few days ago, the firm has now introduced two new ultrabooks in Nepal under ‘Mi’ branding—the Mi Notebook Pro, and Notebook Ultra. Here, we will walk through the specs, features, availability, and official price of the Mi Notebook Pro and Mi Notebook Ultra in Nepal.
Mi Notebook Pro, Ultra Overview:
Design and Display
To begin with, the Mi Notebook Pro and Ultra both feature a 6-series aerospace aluminum alloy body with a grey color finish. The latter weighs 1.79kg while the former is a comparatively lightweight machine that weighs 1.46kg.
Xiaomi Mi Notebook series
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Mi Notebook Pro
Mi Notebook Ultra
In terms of display, the Pro variant flaunts a 14-inch TrueLife screen with a 2.5K resolution. Whereas, the non-Pro variant has a 15.6-inch Mi TrueLife+ display with 3K resolution and a 90Hz refresh rate. Likewise, both devices have a 16:10 aspect ratio, 100% sRGB color gamut, DC dimming, and TÜV Rheinland low blue light emission certification.
On the performance side of things, the Notebook Pro is coupled with an Intel Core i5-11300H CPU while the Notebook Ultra comes with an Intel Core i7-11370H processor. Moreover, the memory options include 16GB of DDR4 RAM and 512GB NVMe SSD storage. The graphics tasks are handled by the integrated Intel’s Iris Xe GPU as both of them lack discrete graphics.
Rest of the specs
Furthermore, they feature a 3-level backlit keyboard with a scissor mechanism and a dedicated macro key. For audio, there are 2x 2W stereo speakers with support for DTS Audio. You’re also getting a 720p HD webcam and a fingerprint sensor with support for Windows Hello.
Here, the Mi Notebook Pro has a 56Wh battery contrary to a 70Wh cell on the Ultra. Both of them support 65W fast charging.
Moving on, the port option includes a USB Type-C, a Thunderbolt 4, a USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, and a USB 2.0 Type-A connection. The Pro variant, however, also ships with an HDMI, and a 3.5mm combo audio jack. Both laptops utilize WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.1 for wireless connectivity.
Mi Notebook Pro, Mi Notebook Ultra Specifications:
Ultra: 15.6-inch Mi TrueLife+ display, 3.2K (3200 x 2000), 242 PPI, 16:10 aspect ratio, 100% sRGB, 90Hz
Display Feature: DC dimming, TÜV Rheinland certification for low-light
Keyboard: 3-level backlit, scissor mechanism
Processor:
Pro: Intel Core i5-11300H
Ultra: Intel Core i7-11370H
RAM: 16GB DDR4@3200 RAM, 512GB PCIe NVMe SSD
Graphics: Integrated Intel Iris Xe
Webcam: 720p webcam
Audio: 2x 2W speakers with DTS Audio
Connectivity: WiFi 802.11 ax, Bluetooth 5.1
Ports:
Pro: 1x USB Type-C, 1x Thunderbolt 4, 1x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, 1x USB 2.0 Type-A
Ultra: 1x USB Type-C, 1x Thunderbolt 4, 1x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, 1x USB 2.0 Type-A, 1x HDMI, 1x 3.5mm audio jack
Battery:
Pro: 56Wh
Ultra: 70Wh
Charging: 65W AC adapter
Biometrics: Fingerprint sensor with Windows Hello
Mi Notebook Pro, Mi Notebook Ultra Price in Nepal
The Mi Notebook Pro is launched in Nepal for an asking price of NPR 109,999. Whereas, the Mi Notebook Ultra will retail for NPR 136,999. It’s available for purchase via Xiaomi authorized stores and official e-commerce stores like Hukut.
Laptop
Configuration
Price in Nepal (Official)
Mi Notebook Pro
Core i5, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD
NPR 109,999
Mi Notebook Ultra
Core i7, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD
NPR 136,999
Meanwhile, check out our review of the Asus Zephyrus G14 2021.
Motorola has announced a new smartphone in Europe, called the Motorola Moto G52. It’s the follow-up to last year’s Moto G51, with upgrades to the display and charging support. Here, we will be discussing the specs, features, availability, and expected price of the Motorola Moto G52 in Nepal.
Motorola Moto G52 Overview:
Design and Display
To begin, the Moto G52’s back boasts a matte finish with an oval-shaped camera module. The biggest gain, though, is in the phone’s total weight, which has been reduced to 169 grams from 208 grams in its predecessor. Similarly, the fingerprint reader is embedded in the power button and the device is water and dust resistant, thanks to the IP52 rating.
The front sports a 6.6-inch AMOLED display with Full HD resolution, as opposed to the G51’s IPS LCD. Also, the screen has a refresh rate of 90Hz for a fairly fluid navigation experience. The Moto G52 is available in Charcoal Grey and Porcelain White colors.
Under the hood, the phone is powered by a Snapdragon 680 chipset. It’s energy-efficient mobile silicon with a 6nm fabrication node and features four Cortex-A73 and four Cortex-A53 cores. On the other hand, the graphics are handled by an integrated Adreno 610 GPU.
Similarly, the memory configuration includes either 4GB or 6GB of RAM, paired with 128GB of internal storage. The latter can be expanded up to 1TB via a microSD card. In terms of software, the Moto G52 boots on the latest Android 12 based My UX custom skin.
Camera
Camera-wise, it boasts a similar triple camera configuration as its predecessor—headlined by a 50MP primary sensor. This is accompanied by an 8MP ultrawide and a 2MP macro lens. For selfies, there’s a 16MP camera on the front. Both the front and back cameras are capable of recording 1080p@30fps footage.
Rest of the specifications
Fueling the smartphone is a 5000mAh battery that supports 30W fast charging. The connectivity option includes WiFi 5, Bluetooth 5.0, NFC, and a USB Type-C port. There is a stereo speaker setup for audio, and the phone also has a 3.5mm jack.
Motorola Moto G52 Specifications:
Body: 160.98 x 74.46 x 7.99 mm, 168 gm
Display: 6.6-inch AMOLED panel, 90Hz refresh rate
Resolution: FHD+ resolution (2400 x 1080), 20:9 aspect ratio
Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 (6nm Mobile Platform)
Memory: 4/6GB RAM, 128GB storage (expandable up to 1TB)
Connectivity: Dual-band Wi-Fi 5 (802.11 ac), Bluetooth 5.0, NFC
Color Options: Charcoal Grey, Porcelain White
Motorola Moto G52 Price in Nepal and Availability
As for the pricing, the Moto G52 is available for purchase in Europe in a sole 4/128GB variant for EUR 249. We expect the price of Motorola Moto G52 to be around NPR 37,000, if and when it launches in Nepal.
Motorola Moto G52
Price in Europe (Official)
Price in Nepal (Expected)
4/128GB
EUR 249
NPR 37,000
Meanwhile, check out our review of the Poco X4 Pro.
We’re into the second quarter of 2022 and Samsung has already launched a bunch of smartphones ranging from budget to the flagship category. Some of the 2022 refreshes so far have been fairly impressive like the Galaxy A53 and even the A33 to some extent. We’ve already published our early impressions of both these phones, by the way. And today, I’m here with my full review of the Samsung Galaxy A23.
Battery: 5000mAh with 25W wired charging (15W power adapter provided)
Color Options: Awesome: Black, Blue, Peach, White
What’s inside the box: Galaxy A23, SIM ejector, 15W power brick, USB-A to USB-C cable, User manual and other documents
Price in Nepal:
Rs. 27,999 25,999 (4/64GB)
Rs. 31,999 29,999 (6/128GB)
Samsung Galaxy A23 Review:
But even without anyone’s proper review, you could probably tell that the Samsung Galaxy A23 is not a good phone for the price. Samsung has never been price-competitive with its non-flagship devices but this one just takes the cake—mostly because it belongs to the ‘A’ series.
In case you didn’t know, the Galaxy ‘A’ series is home to the company’s sub-flagship smartphones and they are naturally priced a bit on the higher end. Therefore, while the more expensive entries in this lineup can get pretty impressive overall, the cheaper ones don’t share the same fate.
Take last year’s Galaxy A22 4G for example. It was almost identical to Galaxy F22, but the A22 was a little too expensive simply because it’s an ‘A’ series phone with a couple of “standout” features like OIS-ready primary camera and slim build quality.
Unfortunately, 2022’s Galaxy A23 does nothing to break that sad tradition. At NPR 31,999 here in Nepal or INR 19,499 in India for the 6/128GB variant, this is easily one of the most overpriced phones in its price bracket right now. I mean… there are so many better alternatives available that I find it to be an entirely unnecessary product.
Cameras
Quad camera setup at the back
(50MP main, 5MP ultrawide, 2MP macro, 2MP depth)
8MP selfie camera (teardrop notch)
Cameras
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Back
Front
Even Samsung’s own Galaxy F23 5G looks like a much superior phone while being a couple of bucks cheaper! The one aspect where the A23 might seem like the better of the two—at least on paper—is the cameras. But when I compared the camera system of these two phones, I found that the F23 delivers better results in most cases.
Normal Images
Starting with the normal daytime shots, the F23 captures sharper images with much better color processing in almost every instance.
Normal
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A23
F23
A23
F23
A23
F23
A23
F23
Be it HDR optimization, contrast levels, or white balance, the F23 does it better! Maybe it’s Snapdragon 680’s inferior ISP but the Galaxy A23’s photos often look a bit unpleasantly flat.
Ultrawide Images
Ultrawide
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A23
F23
A23
F23
A23
F23
It’s the same with ultra-wide shots as well. Although its 5MP sensor surprisingly delivers similar details as F23’s 8MP ultrawide camera, the overall image looks much more pleasing from the F23.
Portrait Images
As for portraits, I’m more fond of how the F23 handles background bokeh too.
Portrait
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A23
F23
A23
F23
A23
F23
A23
F23
Skin tone looks a bit washed out from the Galaxy A23 with a hint of reddish tint—whereas the F23’s slightly warmer color does look somewhat better.
Selfie Images
But when it comes to selfies, there’s no clear winner between these phones.
Selfie
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A23
F23
A23
F23
A23
F23
A23
F23
Sometimes the A23 takes better selfies with nicer skin tone, while the F23 captures more pleasant images with better sharpness and dynamic range in some cases.
Nighttime Images
Then again, Galaxy A23’s OIS does come in handy under low-light conditions. As you can see, the phone captures sharper nighttime images with noticeably less noise in most cases.
Nighttime
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A23
F23
A23
F23
A23
F23
The overall image also looks brighter from the A23—even though I still prefer F23’s color optimization more.
Night Mode
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A23
F23
A23
F23
A23
F23
When turning on Night Mode, the F23 turns up exposure to some degree but they’re relatively grainier in comparison.
Videography
In terms of videos, Samsung’s official product page for the Galaxy A23 mentions that the phone can record at up to 4K 30 fps.
But there’s no 4K recording option in our unit, whereas we also know that the Snapdragon 680 caps out at 1080p 60fps videos. So… it’s most likely a typo on Samsung’s part. Or maybe 4K recording is arriving with a future update somehow—I can’t really tell.
As of now, the A23 can’t record beyond 1080p 30 fps, where the video comes off too wobbly compared to the F23. To make matters worse, the F23 also has “Super Steady Mode” for even steadier videos.
Upfront, both phones max out at 1080p 30 fps selfie videos and I’ll just… let the samples speak for themselves. Subjects have this really eerie skin tone from both phones even though Galaxy F23 crops in on the frame for somewhat stable results.
Display
6.6-inches FHD+ PLS TFT LCD
90Hz refresh rate, Gorilla Glass 5
Next up, the Galaxy A23 disappoints in the display department as well. While its predecessor featured a 90Hz Super AMOLED screen, this one has a 90Hz TFT LCD panel for some reason.
Yes, Samsung has bumped the resolution from HD to Full HD this time, but… that’s nothing!
Other brands have been offering a 120Hz FHD Super AMOLED display in this price category since last year—that too with a modern hole-punch cutout instead of a teardrop notch. And seeing Samsung—of all smartphone makers—stoop this low is honestly quite embarrassing.
Anyway, the Galaxy A23’s screen looks as dull as you’d expect. Its narrow color gamut means contents don’t look nearly as vibrant or lively as they would on an OLED panel. And I’m not sure if it’s exclusively because of the TFT panel but the way Samsung’s blue light filter is implemented on this phone looks pretty unnatural—especially under dark mode.
As someone who prefers using this feature all day long, it’s fair to say that the A23’s display hasn’t exactly been a feast for my eyes.
Can’t get bright enough outdoors
I’ve thoroughly struggled with outdoor visibility on this thing as well since it simply can’t get bright enough under harsh lighting conditions. Another thing, its viewing angle isn’t the widest either and the A23 easily has one of the worst cases of grayscale inversion I’ve come across in a smartphone recently. It’s like it has a pre-applied privacy screen protector, but one that doesn’t really work.
At least there’s a proper Gorilla Glass 5 protection here, so that’s… something I guess. Samsung has optimized the adaptive 90Hz refresh rate on the A23 quite aggressively well, so there’s that too. And it’s Widevine L1 certified, which means you can enjoy high-res streaming on Netflix and Prime Video without any trouble.
Audio & Haptics
Single mono speaker setup
3.5mm headphone jack
Adding to the media consumption experience is a single down-firing speaker. While it can get fairly loud enough, a mono speaker for a phone at this price is clearly not right. As a result, listening to anything with a wide soundstage is not an enjoyable experience here, whereas it also sounds a bit shrill and distorted at full volume.
Oh, and its Dolby Atmos audio only works with wireless earbuds, stereo headsets, and Bluetooth speakers by the way. And its soft, buzzy haptics is equally underwhelming, to say the least.
On to performance, Samsung has used Snapdragon 680 in the Galaxy A23—the same chip we saw on the Redmi Note 11 and the Realme 9i. So, we already have a good idea about what to expect here.
I’m using the base 4/64GB variant of the phone and it has handled most of my regular everyday chores quite alright. It’s just that 4GB of RAM isn’t enough to deliver efficient multitasking on the full-fledged One UI 4.1 that it’s running so you will encounter a few stutters here and there.
Based on Android 12, this Android skin is an absolute delight to use though. From its excellent optimization to all the available customization options, the software of things is pretty solid on the A23.
Samsung Galaxy A23 Review: Benchmarks
Benchmarks
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AnTuTu 8.5.3
AnTuTu 9.2.9
Geekbench 5.4.4
Browserbench JetStream 2
PCMark Work 3.0 (Performance)
Wild Life
(Stress) Wild Life
(Extreme Stress) Wild Life
GFXBench
(Battery, Manhattan 3.1) GFXBench
(Battery, T-Rex) GFXBench
AndroBench
Cross Platform Disk Test
PCMark Storage 2.0
And while the more expensive entries in this lineup will get 4 years of platform and 5 years of security updates, Samsung has promised 2 years of Android and 4 years of security updates for this one—which is still commendable.
Gaming experience
As for gaming, the Galaxy A23 maxes out at just Smooth graphics and High frame rate on PUBG Mobile. Under this, the phone manages a fairly stable 30 fps with minor frame drops every now and then. You can push it to Balanced graphics and Medium frame rates but the overall gameplay is noticeably worse under these settings.
Likewise, COD Mobile maxes out at Low graphics and High frame rates where the A23 swings between 40-50 fps in general, but the game dips to as low as 28 fps sometimes. I noticed the phone getting mildly warm next to the camera module after 6-8 minutes into the game as well.
Relatively less demanding titles like Mobile Legends give a pretty smooth 60 fps gameplay alongside cooler temperatures though. Samsung has also optimized the Galaxy A23 to run high-fps games like Mech Arena and Injustice 2. But because of such an under-powerful processor, the phone doesn’t hit the 90 fps mark in either game—and hovers around 60-70 fps instead.
Design & Build
76.9 x 165.4 x 8.4mm, 195 grams
Glass front, Plastic back/frames
No official IP certification
Moving on, Samsung has tried to emulate a premium design on the A23. Everything from its camera module to the color options is similar to the rest of the ‘A’ series phones this year. But while the Galaxy A33 5G has a matte back and matte frames, this one’s glossy all over. Needless to say, it invites fingerprint smudges way too easily.
And unlike the higher-end models, there’s no IP certification of any sort here, whereas its SIM tray also stays without a protective rubber gasket. Still and all, the phone is pretty well-built with the right amount of heft. The weight distribution could’ve been more even, but it wasn’t that big a deal to me. For biometrics, there’s a fingerprint reader mounted into the power button on the side which is admirably fast enough.
Battery
5000mAh battery with 25W charging
Finally, the battery life on this thing is great. Samsung says this is a 2-day battery phone and that’s 100% true. Under medium to heavy usage consisting of browsing social media apps, gaming, and even running some power-hungry benchmarks, I was getting 7-8 hours of screen on time on average.
PCMark Work 3.0 Battery Life
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Just take a look at this PCMark battery endurance benchmark! On the other hand, the phone supports up to 25W fast charging although you only get a 15W power brick inside the box. When using a compatible 25W charger, I was able to fuel its 5000mAh battery from 1 to 100% in around 1 hour and 20 minutes.
Samsung Galaxy A23 Review: Conclusion
Okay, so let’s wrap up this review. Like I spoiled it at the very beginning, the Galaxy A23 is a… travesty. I guess you can argue that it has a few notable qualities like the attractive design, optimized software, and solid battery life, but they are heavily outweighed by the overall value of the phone in regards to its price.
If you want a well-rounded phone in general, then the Redmi Note 11S and Realme’s Narzo 50 are a couple of great options in Nepal. And in the Indian market, the POCO X4 Pro 5G, Galaxy F23, Moto G71, and Realme 9 SE all offer a much better value than the Galaxy A23.
What I’m trying to say is there’s simply no justifying this travesty of a phone. Maybe Samsung already has a cheaper ‘M’ or ‘F’ series rebrand ready for the A23. But even then I doubt it’ll be able to match the competition with its price-to-performance ratio.
If there’s one company that can be accredited for making health and fitness tracking affordable to the masses, it’s Xiaomi. Aside from the beloved “Mi Band” lineup, it has been slowly expanding to the budget smartwatch segment as well. The Mi Watch Lite that we reviewed last year was a great smartwatch for its price, which was a rebranded Redmi Watch by the way. And in this review, I’ll be discussing its successor, the Redmi Watch 2 Lite.
It brings a bunch of features missing from the Mi Watch Lite but all those upgrades come at a price, quite literally. Compared to last year, the competition is pretty intense in the budget smartwatch segment in 2022. So it begs the question if that price jump is worth all the said upgrades at all. Let me answer that question in this full review of the Redmi Watch 2 Lite.
Like its predecessor, one of the biggest selling points of the Watch 2 Lite is its built-in GPS. And this time around, it’s only gotten better.
Navigation
4-system navigation
GPS, Glonass, Galileo, BDS
I vividly remember getting the “GPS signal is weak” error message on the Mi Watch Lite when I’d be indoors or in a relatively dense part of this city. Although the GPS lock is still not as instantaneous as you’d like, especially when you’re indoors, I find the Watch 2 Lite to be more than reliable enough to trail my workouts.
Workout Trail
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Roadmap
Satellite Map
Cross-checking my route on the companion app, both the roadmap and satellite map recorded by the watch turned out to be quite accurate. Well, “accurate” would be putting it a bit generously because the watch sometimes suggests I leaped through buildings like Matt Murdock. I do wish I was though—dammit!
Companion App
Mi Fitness (formerly Xiaomi Wear)
Available for both Android and iOS devices
But the way Xiaomi has configured app distribution for this smartwatch is messy, confusing, bizarre, and ultimately counter-intuitive. As prompted, I initially paired it with my Realme 9 Pro+ by scanning the QR code for the link to the app.
Instead of opening up the Play Store, Xiaomi wants you to manually install the Mi Fitness apk file. Fine, I sighed; that’s no trouble at all. By this time, the app was still called “Xiaomi Wear” by the way, whereas the company decided to rename it to “Mi Fitness” and the “Mi Fit” app to “Zepp Life” just a couple of weeks ago.
So far so good, right? But as you all know, switching between phones is pretty common for someone in my line of work. And when I shifted to iQOO 9 from the Realme 9 Pro+, I noticed some weird bugs on the companion app—that I once again downloaded from Xiaomi’s own server instead of the Play Store.
What’s… happening?
Most noticeably, this version of the app fails to show the actual trail of my workout and there are also Chinese texts in some sections. Even Strava integration is missing from this supposed Chinese fork of Mi Fitness.
Mi Fitness – Inconsistency
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Xiaomi and bugs pretty much go hand-in-hand and this is yet another fine example of that tradition. You could make a religion out of this. So the lesson here is that you should download the Mi Fitness app from the Play Store instead of Xiaomi’s website.
Mi Fitness app
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Health
Workout
Device
Profile
About App
App Notifications
Regardless, the redesigned app presents all your data in a clean layout that’s easy to read and understand. The “Device” tab is where you’ll find all the settings for the watch, which includes everything from customizing watch faces, widget layout, app notifications, and all those stuff. In case you’re wondering, the Redmi Watch 2 Lite works with iPhones too.
100+ sports modes, Auto workout detection supported
With that out of the way, let’s get into the health and fitness tracking side of things now. Like the Mi Watch Lite, it supports all-day heart rate monitoring besides sleep tracking and breathing exercises. I wore it alongside my Galaxy Watch 4 Classic and found that its sleep monitoring isn’t the most accurate.
On multiple occasions, the Watch 2 Lite failed to identify times I abruptly woke up in the middle of the night and log it as such.
Sleep Tracking
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Redmi Watch 2 Lite
Galaxy Watch 4 Classic
Galaxy Watch 4 Classic
Redmi Watch 2 Lite
Galaxy Watch 4 Classic
Galaxy Watch 4 Classic
As you can see from these charts, apart from my awake state, the watch also misses out on recording the REM sleep stage every now and then—on top of its inaccurate deep sleep logs. Moving on, you can also enable heart rate and blood oxygen monitoring overnight but be warned that this comes at the expense of battery life.
Heart Rate
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Unlike its sleep tracking ability, the Watch 2 Lite posted quite similar heart rate readings compared to Samsung’s 7 times more expensive Watch 4 Classic. Impressive!
Say hello to SpO2 tracking
Now, if you haven’t noticed already, blood oxygen saturation—aka SpO2 monitoring—is a new addition to this budget smartwatch. To be honest, this was a pretty stupid omission in the Mi Watch Lite, to begin with. So it’s nice to see Xiaomi not repeat its past mistakes. While it can record your heart rate throughout the day, it can automatically measure SpO2 levels during sleep only.
Health Monitoring
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Blood Oxygen (SpO2)
Calories
Standing
Step
Stress
Stress
Daily Progress
Daily Progress
A couple of other health monitoring features making their debut on the Redmi Watch 2 Lite include stress and women’s health tracking.
The Watch 4 Classic has been quite spot-on with logging my stress levels all through the day so I was eager to see how this guy performs. And I’d say “decent” best describes its stress tracking ability. Yes, it under-records my stress levels most of the time but at the end of the day, I can’t hold that against the Watch 2 Lite really.
What about workouts?
On the other hand, Xiaomi says this smartwatch supports 100+ fitness modes—which is a LOT compared to just 11 sports modes on the Mi Watch Lite. But hold on just a minute, there’s no reason to get excited about anything here since just 17 of them are professional modes.
What this means is that the remaining 83 options available don’t have custom metrics of measurement and all they track is your heart rate and calories burnt during the workout.
Workout
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For example, under pool swimming, the Watch 2 Lite lets you set pool length and keeps track of your pace and length covered. But similar water sports like “diving” or “finswimming” are restricted to logging heart rate and calorie levels only. At least you can set goals for every individual exercise, while they are also categorically organized. That’s… something I guess!
Oh, this thing is 5 ATM water-resistant, so you don’t need to worry about damaging the watch underwater.
Anyway, the Watch 2 Lite can auto-detect running and walking exercises and they work perfectly fine. On average, I noticed that it kicks in after 5 minutes or so—whereas I can’t complain about its auto-pause feature either.
I also like how you can view practically every stat of your workouts like heart rate zone, cadence, and such in the watch itself. Because of the limited screen real estate, you’re gonna have to refer to the companion app for checking out the workout route though. Perfectly understandable!
Display
1.55-inches TFT LCD panel, 311 PPI
120+ watch faces, 450 nits brightness
Talking about the display, Xiaomi has bumped the screen size from 1.4” on the Redmi Watch to 1.55” this time. Yet, it’s still a TFT panel with chunky bezels on all four sides. Don’t trust those misleading official renders! The company has also upped the brightness level from 350 nits to 450 nits here but I just can’t understand why Xiaomi would skip automatic brightness adjustment on the Watch 2 Lite.
As a result, I’d have to manually toggle through brightness levels under normal usage, when going out in the sun, or during nighttime.
At max brightness level, the watch stays legible enough on a bright sunny day as well, and the contents don’t look pixelated too. Weirdly enough, waking up this screen takes quite a toll on the watch. Whether you raise it, tap it, click it, bop it, twist it, pull it, or… there’s a one-second delay before the screen wakes up. Feels like this is something Xiaomi could easily fix with a firmware update, but we’ll see.
Also, say hello to… choppy animations!
If you recall our review of the Mi Watch Lite, one of the biggest complaints we had about its display—or rather its UI/UX element—was the lacking animation. Well… the Watch 2 Lite has it. And I’m not gonna lie, it’s not great.
Animations are slow, they look choppy, and you can even notice jelly-scrolling here and there. Now I can totally see why Xiaomi was skeptical about adding animations on the first-gen Redmi Watch. More about its UI/UX, well… nothing’s changed from last year.
Swiping left or right from the homescreen lets you go through the widgets, whereas a swipe up triggers the control menu, and a quick swipe down is how you access the incoming notifications. As expected, the Watch 2 Lite’s notifications are non-actionable except for phone calls. Although you can’t pick up a call because there’s no microphone onboard, you can silence or reject them here.
One more thing—Xiaomi has also optimized how notifications appear on this watch. Instead of center-aligning the text and breaking up words with hyphens, they’re now left-aligned and look much, much better. Emojis and support for Nepali, Hindi Unicode fonts are still lacking, but I digress.
Watch Faces
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And how could I finish talking about Watch 2 Lite’s display without discussing its watch faces? According to Xiaomi, it supports over 100 of them and I gotta say, most of them are incredibly well-designed and look absolutely stunning! Whether you’re a fan of digital or analog watch faces, I’m sure you’ll find the one you like after browsing through the options for a while.
Design & Build
All plastic build material
41.2 x 35.3 x 10.7mm, 35 grams
TPU strap, 5 ATM water resistance
As far as design goes, you won’t find any upgrades here either. Everything from its dimension, weight, to color options, is almost the same as last year.
Design
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Button
Strap
Xiaomi still prefers using a custom design strap which is pretty difficult to find in the aftermarket.
The home button still feels plasticky and doesn’t double as a back button.
Its TPU strap is still soft, comfortable, and fits all wrists without resulting in any issues like skin irritation or allergies.
Probably the only notable design difference you’ll notice on the Redmi Watch 2 Lite is when you plug it in.
Battery
262mAh battery
Up to 10 days of battery life
Contrary to the bulky charging dock of the Mi Watch Lite, Xiaomi has gone with a svelte, non-obtrusive magnetic charger to fill up the 262mAh battery inside. You can expect it to go from 0 to 100% in a little under 2 hours. In terms of battery life itself, the Watch 2 Lite is rated to last up to 10 days under “typical usage”.
Xiaomi’s battery life test excludes overnight SpO2 monitoring on top of just 35 minutes of GPS usage in a week, by the way. But when keeping all the features turned on and using GPS for roughly 10-15 minutes every day, I was able to burn out its battery in just 4-5 days. It’s not the greatest thing in the world, but certainly a lot better than what the high-end WearOS smartwatches manage.
Redmi Watch 2 Lite Review: Conclusion
All in all, the Redmi Watch 2 Lite is a terrific update over its predecessor—no doubt about that. But does that mean it’s a worthy smartwatch for the price in 2022? I have my doubts. Apart from the built-in GPS—which isn’t 100% reliable, to begin with—there’s not a lot going on here. So if you can make do without the built-in GPS, I strongly feel like the Redmi Smart Band Pro—that’s straight-up INR 1,000 cheaper is the better value for money.
Yes, it doesn’t have a squarish form factor but look on the plus side: an AMOLED screen… with an always-on display… and auto-brightness adjustment. And it has a longer battery life as well. Besides that, these two share similar health and fitness tracking feature too so you won’t be missing out on anything either.
But if you’re married to a traditional smartwatch look, Dizo Watch R is also something you can consider. Like the Smart Band Pro, this one’s also INR 1,000 cheaper and it has an AMOLED display. It did suffer from some rather troubling issues during the initial launch but the company has since fixed the said issues via a firmware update.
These two aren’t available in the Nepali market for now, but the Amazfit Bip U Pro, Honor Band 6, or even the Huawei Band 6 which you can currently find at an insane deal under Daraz’s new year sale are great options. I could go on and on. At the end of the day, even though the Redmi Watch 2 Lite isn’t necessarily a bad budget smartwatch, I don’t find it that appealing because of all the existing alternatives.
After weeks of rumors and teasers, Vivo has finally launched its first tablet—the Vivo Pad. It brings some pretty compelling hardware and is currently exclusive to China. In this article, we will go through the specs, features, availability, and expected price of the Vivo Pad in Nepal.
Vivo Pad Overview:
Design and Display
The displays on the Oppo Pad and the Vivo Pad are pretty similar. Moreover, their CNC aluminum body designs share many similarities as well, which is likely because both brands fall under the BBK umbrella. Here, you get an 11″ 2.5K display with 10-bit colors and Dolby Vision support. Additionally, its 120Hz high refresh rate makes the viewing experience pretty smooth on such a large screen.
The back of the tablet sports a circular camera bump embedded in a squarish module. The tablet is 8.5mm thick but maintains a weight of 489 grams which is comparatively lesser than similarly priced tablets like the Xiaomi Pad 5. As per Vivo, it has a screen-to-body ratio of 84.46%.
Powering the Vivo Pad is the Snapdragon 870, which is quite a powerful processor. Its octa-core CPU consists of a single Kryo 585 Prime (@3.2 GHz), three Kryo 585 Gold (@2.42 GHz), and four Kryo 585 Silver (@1.8 GHz) cores, while the graphics are handled by Adreno 650.
Meanwhile, check out all the prices and specs of Vivo tablets here
As for memory, this tablet comes with a single 8GB LPDDR4X RAM option, but users can choose between 128GB and 256GB of fast UFS 3.1 internal storage. Note that the storage is not expandable due to the absence of an SD card slot.
Camera and Audio
Moving on, the Vivo Pad has a dual-camera setup comprising a 13MP primary sensor and an 8MP ultrawide sensor on the back. Besides, the front camera uses an 8MP sensor. Compared to the Oppo Pad which has a single rear camera, this one feels like a more premium option even though they’re similarly priced.
Moreover, the Vivo Pad is equipped with four speakers that support Dolby Atmos audio. But it lacks a 3.5mm headphone jack like other tablets in this price range.
Rest of the specs
On the other hand, this tablet also supports a magnetic keyboard and a stylus which are sold separately. Vivo Pad boots “OriginOS HD”, which is a slightly modified version of OriginOS (based on Android) optimized for tablets. The company has heavily promoted the ability to cast the screen of a compatible phone on the tablet’s display as well. Finally, the Vivo Pad has an 8,040mAh battery that supports 44W fast charging.
Audio: Quad-stereo speakers, Dolby Atmos, No 3.5mm headphone jack
Security: No fingerprint sensor, Face unlock
Connectivity: WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (Dual-band), Bluetooth 5.2, NFC
Battery: 8040mAh with 44W fast charge
Color Options: Sky Blue, Space Gray
Vivo Pad Price in Nepal and Availability
Vivo Pad is now official in China where it costs CNY 2,499 for the 8/128GB model and CNY 2,999 for the 8/256GB variant. We expect the price of the Vivo Pad in Nepal to start at NPR 55,999 if and when it launches here.
Vivo Pad
Price in China
Price in Nepal (Expected)
8/128GB
CNY 2499
NPR 55,999
8/256GB
CNY 2999
NPR 65,999
Meanwhile, check out our review of the Xiaomi Pad 5.
After multiple leaks and teasers, Vivo has finally launched its first foldable smartphone. This makes Vivo the second brand under the BBK umbrella to unveil a foldable after Oppo. In this article, we will be discussing the key specs, features, expected price, and availability of Vivo X Fold in Nepal.
Vivo X Fold Overview:
Vivo X Fold sports an 8.03-inch Samsung-made E5 AMOLED panel. It is an LTPO2 panel, thus allowing the phone’s refresh rate to vary between 1Hz to 120Hz, depending upon the content being viewed. It features Schott UTG protection. For reference, Schott is the same company that supplies UTG films to Galaxy foldable.
Further, the main display of the Vivo X Fold boasts HDR10+ compatibility, an ultrasonic in-display fingerprint scanner, and A+ certification from DisplayMate.
1 of 2
The main display folds to unveil a 6.53-inch outer AMOLED panel, which also has an in-display fingerprint scanner. Here, Vivo has used an aircraft-grade floating wing hinge. This allows the Vivo X Fold to unfold completely at 180-degree or stay open at 60 and 120-degree.
Performance and Memory
As with most flagships launching in 2022, Vivo X Fold packs the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 underneath. The chip is paired with 12GB of RAM. Users can choose between 256GB and 512GB of internal storage.
Fueling the Vivo X Fold is a 4,600mAh battery, which is not much but reasonable given the phone’s dimension. It supports 66W fast charging and 50W wireless charging. In addition, there is also 10W reverse charging to charge accessories or even a secondary phone.
Vivo ships the X Fold with an 80W USB GaN charger. It is a PD charger with two USB ports. Thus, you can charge two devices simultaneously.
Vivo X Fold boots on Android 12-based OriginOS Ocean. The company has tweaked the in-house UI skin to take advantage of the folding form factor. As of now, users can use the phone as a laptop for a few apps like Note, QQ, and Youku.
Rest of the Specs
Vivo X Fold flaunts a ZEISS-branded quad-camera setup at the back. The primary camera here has a 50MP sensor with an f.1/8 aperture. Further, it even brings Optical Image Stabilization. It is accompanied by a 48MP ultrawide, 2X zoom lens, and 5X periscope sensor.
In terms of software features, Vivo X Fold supports Texture Portrait, Motion Capture 3.0, Super Night Scene, and Nature Color. All these features are developed in collaboration with Zeiss. As for selfies, X Fold has cameras, one for each display.
Other key features of the Vivo X Fold include stereo speakers, a three-mic setup, barometer, infrared sensor, and a physical alert slider.
Vivo X Fold Price in Nepal and Availability (Expected)
Vivo X Fold is currently exclusive to the Chinese market, where it retails for CNY 8,999 for the 256GB variant and CNY 9,999 for the 512GB variant. We expect the price of the Vivo X Fold in Nepal to start at NPR 180,000, if and when it launches in Nepal.
Vivo X Fold
Price in China (Official)
Price in Nepal (Expected)
12/256GB
CNY 8,999
Rs. 180,000
12/512GB
CNY 9,999
Rs. 200,000
Meanwhile, check out our initial review for the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3.
Vivo has launched a new smartphone in China, called the Vivo X Note. It sports a huge 7-inch screen on the front and is powered by Qualcomm’s top-of-the-line chipset, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. In this article, we will walk you through the specs, features, availability, and expected price of the Vivo X Note in Nepal.
Vivo X Note Overview:
Design and Display
As aforementioned, the X Note flaunts a 7-inch E5 AMOLED panel with a 21:10 aspect ratio. Yet, the phone is fairly slim at 8.37mm and weighs around 220 grams. However, the actual weight differs for the different color options. It’s also IP68 rated for water and dust resistance and has a Corning Gorilla Glass Victus protection on the front.
Likewise, it’s an QHD+ (3080 x 1440 pixels) resolution screen with DisplayMate A+ certification and a 120Hz refresh rate. The refresh rate is backed by LTPO 3.0 technology, which allows it to alter the refresh rate between 1 Hz and 120 Hz depending on the content.
Furthermore, the smartphone features a glass sandwich design. But Vivo has carved faux stitch marks and created a rough surface on the rear to give it a leather-like feel. A left-to-right elongated camera island with the Zeiss logo is also included.
Under the hood, the X Note is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor while the company has also used a self-developed V1 chip to achieve professional image quality enhancement, share GPU load, and optimize power consumption.
To keep the temperature in check, it has a large 47132mm² vapor chamber area and three-dimensional heat dissipation structure composed of a vacuum chamber soaking plate, PGS graphite thermal conductive sheet, and thermal conductive gel.
Security
Moreover, Vivo is the first to utilize Qualcomm’s SPU (Secure Processing Unit) to deliver chip-level security protection for account passwords, financial activities, and such.
Talking about security, the Vivo X Note has an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor with a large fingerprint sensing region, making it simple to unlock the phone. Interestingly, you can also choose a two-finger biometric option to complete the transaction during payment verification. In terms of memory, it is available with 8/12GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 256/512GB of UFS 3.1 storage.
Camera
As for the optics, the back has a quad-camera array headlined by a 50MP Samsung GN 1 sensor with optical image stabilization (OIS). This is accompanied by a 48MP ultra-wide lens, a 12MP portrait sensor, and an 8MP periscope telephoto lens with OIS. The latter features a 5x optical zoom range and a digital zoom capability of 60x.
The aforementioned Vivo V1 chip also aids in image optimization and has the capability to run face detection even while shooting a gathering of 30 people. On the front, it has an 8MP lens for selfies.
Over on the battery front, it has a 5000mAh battery that supports 80W fast wired charging and 50W wireless charging. As per Vivo, the smartphone can get from 0 to 100% in just 32 mins when tucked with its 80W charger.
Furthermore, the connectivity option includes WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, and NFC. For audio, the smartphone has a dual-speaker with support for Hi-Res Audio and the haptics engine includes X-axis linear motor.
As far as the pricing is concerned, the Vivo X Note starts at CNY 5,999 for the 8/256GB variant. Whereas, the higher 12/256GB and 12/512GB models retail for CNY 6,499 and CNY 6,999, respectively in China. We expect the price of the Vivo X Note to start at NPR 130,000, if and when it launches in Nepal.
Vivo X Note
Price in China (Official)
Price in Nepal (Expected)
8/256GB
CNY 5,999
NPR 130,000
12/256GB
CNY 6,499
NPR 140,000
12/512GB
CNY 6,999
NPR 150,000
Meanwhile, check out our review of the Vivo V23 Pro.
Months after its first teasing, Honor has finally released its ultrabook in Nepal. Dubbed as MagicBook X 15, it is powered by the 10th gen Intel processors. In this article, we will be looking at the specs, features, official price, and availability of Honor MagicBook X 15 in Nepal.
Honor MagicBook X 15 Overview:
Design and Display
Honor MagicBook X 15 sports an all-aluminum chassis that weighs 1.56 kg, and with a thickness of 16.9mm. The laptop is available in two color options: Space Gray and Mystic Silver. However, we’re not sure if both variants are coming to Nepal.
Over on the front, it sports a 15.6-inch FHD LCD panel with 45% NTSC color coverage. The bezels on the sides and the top are slim, resulting in an 87% screen-to-body ratio. The chin, on the other hand, is thicker and encloses an “Honor” branding.
Performance and Memory
Under the hood, the MagicBook X 15 packs 10th Gen Intel CPUs. One can choose between i5-10210U and i3-10110U. Likewise, this laptop can be configured with up to 16GB of RAM and 512GB of SSD storage. Here, Honor has adopted a single fan cooling system with high-density blades.
Honor MagicBook X 15 packs a 56Wh battery with support for 65W fast charging. As for ports, you get one USB-C, two USB-A, one HDMI, and a 3.5mm combo audio jack. Other notable features of this Ultrabook include a fingerprint scanner and Multi-screen collaboration for devices running Magic UI 4.0 and above.
Honor MagicBook X 15 Specifications:
Display: 15.6-inch FHD display, 45% NTSC, 87% screen to body ratio
Resolution: FHD (1920 x 1080 pixels)
Processor: 10th Gen Intel Core i3-10110U / i5-10210U
Graphics: Intel UHD (Integrated)
RAM: 8/16GB DDR4
Storage: 256/512GB PCIe NVMe SSD
Ports: 1x USB Type C (with fast charging support), 1x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, 1x USB 2.0 Type-A, 1x HDMI, 1x 3.5mm headphone jack
Battery: 42Wh battery
PowerAdapter: 65W USB-C fast charger
Honor MagicBook X 15 Price in Nepal and Availability
Honor MagicBook X 15 is launched in Nepal at an asking price of NPR 75,000 for the i3 variant paired with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of SSD storage. Likewise, the Core i5 configuration with 8/256GB memory combo retail at NPR 90,000. You can purchase it from Honor authorized stores across Nepal.
Honor MagicBook X 15
Price in Nepal (Official)
Core i3, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD
NPR 75,000
Core i5, 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD
NPR 90,000
Meanwhile, check out our review of the Ripple Nova Pro.
When it comes to videography, Sony a7S II has been one of the best cameras for quite a time now. The company announced its successor, the Sony a7S III back in July last year. And now, the camera is available in Nepal for a discounted price. Let’s check out the specs, official price, and availability of the Sony a7S III mirrorless camera in Nepal.
Sony a7S III Overview:
Sony’s a7S was launched in 2014. It was widely acclaimed for its low-light performance. The maker replaced it with Sony a7S II a year later. Videographers loved it as it supported internal 4K UHD video recording. The a7S II wasn’t much different from the a7S except for internal 4K recording, in-body stabilization, and few changes in the design. Both featured a 12MP CMOS full-frame sensor.
Camera Sensor
The new a7S III comes with a 12.1MP Exmor R sensor. Sony says that the CMOS sensor along with the BIONZ XR processing engine improves color reproduction and texture rendering while still maintaining the sensitivity that the a7S lineup is known for. Sony has lowered the base ISO to 80, thus the normal ISO range on the a7S III is 80 – 102,400. It can be stretched to 80 – 409,600 for video and 40- 409,600 for still shots.
Earlier last year, Kenji Tanaka, an executive from Sony, revealed in an interview that the ability to record 4K videos at 60fps has been the most demanded feature from the users. Now, Sony a7S III can shoot 4K videos up to 120fps. Similarly, 10-bit 4:2:2 video capture also makes its debut. The camera supports 4K 60fps 16-bit RAW video capture via the HDMI Type- connector as well.
Design and Durability
Talking about the design, Sony has redesigned the grip for better comfort. The new design also offers better protection against dust and moisture. Sony also added a heat dissipating structure that doesn’t require a fan or cabinet vents. The company claims that it can dissipate heat effectively and keep the temperature low even while recording at 4K 60p 10-bit 4:2:2 for over an hour.
a7S III is the first in the series to offer hybrid autofocus. It comes with 759 AF points that cover around 92% of the sensor. The combination of phase and contrast detection allows the user to track subjects even with a narrow depth of view. The Real-time Eye AF now has 30% better performance and it is activated automatically when the system detects an eye.
Sony has also included seven settings under AF Transition Speed and five levels of AF Subject Shift Sensitivity. Users can now use touch focus on the LCD screen or the Imaging Edge Mobile application.
Rest of the specs
a7S III features dual CFexpress Type-A compatible card slots. These slots also support UHS-I and UHS-II SDXC/SDHC cards. Sony has revamped the menus for better navigation and faster response. Users can now set different settings for still shots and movies and quickly switch between the two. The camera now supports USB PD, allowing users to charge the device even while using it.
Sony a7S III Price in Nepal and Availability
Sony a7S III mirrorless digital camera goes for $3,500 abroad (body-only). The official price of the Sony a7S III in Nepal is NPR 490,500.
Vivo has launched Y01 as its latest budget phone in Nepal. The phone was launched alongside the more premium V23 5G. In this article, we will be discussing the key specs, features, official price, and availability of the Vivo Y01 in Nepal.
Vivo Y01 Overview:
Design and Display
Vivo Y01 comes in an all-plastic body with a 3D curve at the back. The rear panel features numerous textured stripes that add to the aesthetics of the phone. There are two color options to choose from: Elegant Black and Sapphire Blue. The phone weighs around 178 grams and is 8.28mm in thickness.
Over on the front, Vivo Y01 sports a 6.51-inch IPS LCD screen with a waterdrop-style notch. It is an HD+ panel with Eye Protection mode that filters out harmful blue light.
Performance and Memory
As for performance, Vivo has gone with the Helio P35 chipset, which is an octa-core chipset first announced in 2018. Hardware-wise it is similar to the Helio G35, but it misses out on HyperEngine gaming technology.
The phone is available in 2GB and 3GB RAM variants, both of which feature 32GB internal storage. In terms of software, the phone boots on Funtouch OS 11.1 based on Android 11 Go Edition.
Vivo Y01 features a total of two cameras. The primary camera on the back features an 8MP sensor with an f/2.2 aperture. It is accompanied by an LED flash. Upfront, the waterdrop notch houses a 5MP selfie camera with an f/2.0 aperture.
Rest of the Specs
Vivo Y01 gets its juice from a 5,000mAh battery, and it even supports 10W fast charging. In terms of connectivity, it supports 4G LTE, dual-band Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth 5.0. It even supports OTG via the Micro USB 2.0 port.
