The performance gap between the Snapdragon and Exynos variants of past Samsung flagships is well documented. This year, however, fans were hopeful that Exynos 2200 would finally catch. However, Samsung has been tight-lipped about the Exynos 2200’s performance gains, and individual tests have revealed disappointing results versus the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1.
Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 vs Exynos 2200:
Specs Sheet
If you look at the specs sheet, Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 and Exynos 2200 have a lot of things in common. The two flagship processors are both based on Samsung’s 4nm process. They also make use of ARMv9 architecture with a 1+3+4 CPU arrangement. Both have Cortex-X2 (prime) at the heart, with Cortex-A710 (performance) and Cortex-A510 (efficiency) backing it up.
Samsung has not officially revealed the clock speeds of the CPU cores on the Exynos 2200. However, previous leaks have suggested it is using a lower-clocked prime core. This means there will be some difference in performance between the Exynos 2200 and Snapdragon 8 Gen 1.
But the biggest difference lies in the GPU. This year Samsung was supposed to move past Qualcomm’s Adreno GPU with the new RDNA 2-based Xclipse gaming. While Samsung has claimed console-like gaming performance with the Exynos 2200, there are no evidence to back it up.
As the Galaxy S22 series is finally making its way to users’ hands, we are finally getting some insight into Exynos 2200 real-life performance. However, things are not looking good for Samsung.
In a recent test conducted by Golden Reviewer, the Exynos variant of the S22 Ultra managed to secure an average frame rate of 30.2fps on Genshin Impact, with frames dropping as low as 16fps. In a similar test, Snapdragon 8 Gen 1-powered Motorola X30 had managed 448fps on average.
Test Result
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FPS
Power Consumption
Another thing to note here is that the power consumption on the Exynos 2200 is constant at 4.4W average. On the other hand, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 drew 6.3W power even when throttling.
Conclusion
What we can conclude from this test is that Samsung has focused on creating a power-efficient chipset at the expense of peak performance. On the other hand, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 has a completely different approach.
In one of his videos, Mrwhosetheboss stated that Samsung is working on a big update that would “drastically improve performance” via software update. However, it will not be wrong to say the gaming performance of the RDNA 2-based Xclipse 920 GPU on the Exynos 2200 has been disappointing so far.
Honor has finally returned to the Nepali smartphone market with the launch of the Honor 50 Lite. It is a mid-range phone that comes pre-installed with Google Mobile Services. In this article, we will be discussing the key specs, features, official price, and availability of Honor 50 Lite in Nepal.
Honor 50 Lite Overview:
Design and Overview
Honor 50 Lite sports a 6.67-inch TFT LCD panel with a pill-shaped camera cutout on the top right. The bezels on the side measure just 1.05mm, resulting in a 94.4% screen-to-body ratio. It boasts support for the DCI-P3 color gamut. Moreover, the phone can even adjust the colors based on the brightness for more realistic colors.
Honor says the 3D closed arc design of the phone will help users get a better grip. The phone is available in three colors options, Midnight Black, Space Silver, Deep Sea Blue.
Performance and Software
Under the hood, Honor 50 Lite packs the Snapdragon 662, which was first announced in 2020. It’s an 11nm chipset with eight Cortex-A73 cores arranged in a 4+4 architecture. Moving on, Honor sells the phone in 6GB and 8GB variants, both with 128GB internal storage. However, it’s not clear which memory configuration will arrive in Nepal.
In the software department, the phone boots on Magic UI 4.3 based on Android 11. Thankfully, it supports Google Mobile Services (GMS) outside of China.
Honor 50 Lite features a massive circular island on the back that houses four cameras. Leading the quad-camera setup is a 64MP primary lens with an f/1.9 aperture. There is an 8MP ultrawide camera with an f/2.4 aperture accompanying it. Completing the setup are two 2MP sensors for portrait and macro shots, respectively.
Upfront, there is a single 16MP selfie camera, though the screen has a pill-shaped camera cutout.
Rest of the specs
Fueling the phone is a 4,300mAh battery, and the phone also supports 66W fast charging. It even has a side-mounted fingerprint scanner for biometrics.
Currently, only the 8/128GB variant of the Honor 50 Lite is available in Nepal, whose price is Rs. 34,999. You can buy get one for yourself from authorized offline stores.
Honor 50 Lite
Price in Nepal (Official)
8/128GB
Rs. 34,999
Meanwhile, check out our review of the Xioami 11T Pro.
While OnePlus’ smartphone division is seeing this… identity crisis because of the whole OnePlus-OPPO merger thing, the company’s accessory business still has a distinct personality for now. It recently launched the Buds Z2 as the follow-up to 2020’s OnePlus Buds Z at double the price! For that price jump, it retains the design language of its predecessor—while also borrowing a lot of stuff from the more expensive Buds Pro. I’ve been testing it out for the past couple of weeks and will be sharing my full experience with the OnePlus Buds Z2 in this review.
OnePlus Buds Z2 Specifications:
Body:
Earbud: 33 x 22.4 x 21.8 mm, 4.6 grams (each)
Charging case: 73.15 x 36.8 x 29.1 mm, 42 grams
Color options: Obsidian Black, Pearl White
Sound driver: 11mm Dynamic Driver
Driver sensitivity: 98dB ± 3dB @ 1kHz
Microphone: Triple mic on each earbud (with ENC for phone calls)
Frequency response: 20Hz – 20kHz
IP certification: IP55 (earbuds), IPX4 (charging case)
Audio codecs: AAC, SBC
Noise cancellation: Yes, ANC (Up to 40dB reduction)
Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.2, Google Fast Pair Service
Starting with the design, as I mentioned earlier, these earbuds look visually identical to their predecessor—from the in-ear design to the stems. But OnePlus says it has managed to shorten the Z2 by 15%, which puts its dimensions closer to the Buds Pro or Apple’s AirPods Pro. It’s far from the svelte design I’ve come to love from Samsung’s Galaxy Buds lineup, but that’s okay.
The Buds Z2 is also quite lightweight and I had zero trouble putting these earbuds on for hours at a time. This is partially thanks to the soft silicone ear tips as well that helps attain a firm grip.
OnePlus ships it with medium-sized ear tips pre-installed which was the perfect fit for my ears.
Fit Test
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But that may not be the case for everyone which is why you’ll also find some extra pair of ear tips inside the box. With the right fit, you can also expect decent passive noise isolation. To get the said “right fit”, you’ll need to consult the companion app. Or if you pair it with the OnePlus 7 or newer models, that option—alongside all the other features—is baked right into the settings. More on that later.
What’s even more impressive is that OnePlus is offering IP55 dust and water resistance here. Not bad for a USD 100 pair of earbuds—not bad at all. Pair this with the fact that most high-end wireless earbuds settle with just sweat/water resistance, the Buds Z2’s value for money skyrockets! Even this charging case is IPX4 splash-resistant.
It arrives in this pill-shaped form factor with a glossy finish—just like the earbuds themselves. The hinge is sturdy and it shuts off with a satisfying click. Then again, I would’ve preferred a flatter design like the Buds Pro’s case that doesn’t stick out as much.
Pairing
Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity
Google Fast Pair compatible
Moving on, the Buds Z2 brings Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity—whose biggest upgrade over Bluetooth 5.0 is superior power efficiency. For initial pairing, you’ll need to press the function button at the back of the case for a couple of seconds or so. This triggers the LED indicator to glow white and the earbuds to be visible to nearby devices.
Moreover, it also brings back Google Fast Pair support. As a result, the Buds Z2 automatically shows up on all my Google account devices including smartphones and tablets without having to manually pair it one by one on all of them. As far as I can tell, Fast Pair has gotten a lot better since the last time I remember using it. I switch between phones every now and then and this feature has certainly made things somewhat easier.
Google Fast Pair
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Device Detected
Device Connected
I’ve faced no connection drop or audio interference with the Buds Z2 either. Yet, there were a couple of occasions where stereo sound output broke into separate left and right channels—and things would sound normal only after 5-10 seconds or so.
What I mean is say for instance I’m listening to “Hello” by Adele. Instead of regular stereo audio, it feels like there are two Adeles (almost) simultaneously singing the same song near my left and right ear—with a hint of sync-up delay.
Can’t believe I’m complaining about two Adeles singing directly into my ears.
But before you get the wrong idea, this has happened just two times in all my time with these earbuds so far. I did receive one firmware update whose changelog simply read “Known issues fixed” but apparently OnePlus didn’t know about this issue. Hopefully OnePlus addresses this issue with the next firmware update.
Controls
Touch-sensitive area on each earbud
Customizable via the companion app
As for controls, Buds Z2 has a flat, circular touch-sensitive area on either side. It feels a lot more instinctive and less prone to accidental touches than the arched control on Samsung’s Galaxy Buds 2 which I was using before this. The input latency is a bit slow as it takes roughly one second or so for processing each request and the consequent result, but I can totally live with that. Anyway, OnePlus lets you adjust basically every setting here besides volume adjustment.
This includes playback control, accepting or ignoring incoming calls, toggling through the noise cancellation profiles—and even switching between the last paired devices. I’m honestly a little surprised to see the latter work so well.
Be it across smartphones, or between my phone and my laptop, the connection switch is almost instantaneous! Plus, you can customize all these controls as well. If you own a OnePlus phone, those options will be available inside the Bluetooth settings—similar to what Apple does with AirPods. But for every other Android/iOS device, you’ll need to install the HeyMelody app.
HeyMelody App
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Homescreen
Controls - Left Earbud
Controls - Right Earbud
About
Firmware Update
Unfortunately, OnePlus has tried its hands on the “walled ecosystem” thing as you’ll find more features on OnePlus phones, like turning AAC on/off and such. Looking at the product page, we can even see the “Find My Buds” option for these earbuds—but I couldn’t find it on our OnePlus 9RT. Not sure what’s going on here. Regardless, the Buds Z2 also supports in-ear detection and it works like a charm.
Noise Cancellation
ANC with up to 40dB noise reduction
To justify the aforementioned price jump, the most notable upgrade OnePlus has introduced here is the support for active noise cancellation (ANC). Although the company claims up to 40 dB of noise reduction here—just like the Buds Pro—Z2’s ANC isn’t adaptive to the environment. Instead, you get three levels of noise cancellation including Transparency mode.
And right off the bat, I’m pretty impressed with its ANC capabilities. There’s a triple mic setup on each earbud to cancel out the ambient sound that works best against consistent, low-frequency noise.
Wearing it on my daily commute to the office, the Buds Z2 managed to substantially drown out the rumbles of the bus, in-ride music playback, people chattering, and even the traffic to some extent. Of course, it can’t keep things “pin-drop silent” but complementing ANC by playing music at 40-50% will do you a world of good! In an indoor office setting as well, it tunes out the surrounding noise a lot.
For example, I couldn’t hear my colleagues next to me talking that clearly—whereas the high-frequency noises like the keystrokes from their mechanical keyboard and the music playing in the background managed to sneak in a little too easily.
Not the cleanest noise cancellation
Also, the highs sound a little tinny, but the weirder thing here is that I struggled to pinpoint the direction of those noises. Unless the sound source is right in front of me, all of them sound like they’re playing above my head.
I also compared its ANC against that of the Galaxy Buds 2 and yeah… it didn’t hold up that well. For this, I had a phone playing a song at about 30% volume roughly a meter away from me—while I was typing up some document on my laptop. Here, the Buds 2 pretty much shut down the music and kept the noise from my keystrokes to a minimum.
On the other hand, I could hear the keypresses clearly enough on the Buds Z2, even though it didn’t let in the music that much. Mind you that all these tests were conducted under the “Max noise cancellation” mode on these earbuds which is supposedly one level stronger than normal ANC. But I really couldn’t notice the difference between the two modes.
Conversely, its Transparency mode works wonders. The incoming sound is clear, loud, and more importantly—natural. Buds Z2 can’t amplify the ambient audio but that’s quite alright for a USD 100 pair of earbuds. Therefore, I can carry on a conversation without taking off my earbuds and get back to my music once it’s over. All with a simple tap of a finger!
Audio, Call Quality
11mm dynamic sound driver
Environmental Noise Cancellation for calls
Let’s now get into the audio quality. OnePlus says it has used the same 11mm dynamic drivers of the costlier Buds Pro here—but tuned them for punchier bass and brighter trebles. There’s definitely a large demographics of people who’d enjoy such a “lively” sound signature, but I’m not among them.
Although I enjoy listening to hip-hop or rock songs as much as the next guy, I prefer a more balanced sound profile.
As a result, the Buds Z2 sounds overwhelmingly boomy to my ears. From the 1:41 mark where bass is introduced in the Dune soundtrack “Paul’s Dream”, the loud—and oftentimes muddy—bass reproduction is too overpowering to actually enjoy the music. There’s an audible bass bleed in Alessia Cara’s “Feel You Now”—especially during the chorus.
Likewise, the drawbacks of this “V-shaped” sound signature are most vividly represented in “Cold Shoulder” by Adele. The lows of the kick drum and the highs of the hi-hat pushes Buds Z2’s tuning to the limit. Even the vocals sound sharp and shrilling during the chorus. What’s worse is that there’s no default equalizer on board either.
So if you’re unfamiliar with customizing frequency response using third-party solutions, you’ll be stuck with this sound profile.
Wavelet Custom EQ
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But don’t worry, apps like Wavelet—or ViPER4Android FX for phones with root access—make fine-tuning equalizer so simple. Just creating a custom EQ like this with suppressed lows and highs improves the audio quality by a lot! Anyway, pairing the Buds Z2 with a OnePlus phone also enables Dolby Atmos playback for a surround sound experience.
Is the 94ms low-latency any good?
Another OnePlus-exclusive feature on these earbuds is the 94ms low-latency—which is activated when turning on the “Pro Gaming Mode”. As expected, 94ms is simply too slow to enjoy any competitive games like Call of Duty or Genshin Impact. This audio delay is a little too distracting for me. I found the 94ms latency unideal for relatively less dynamic games like Mario Kart as well.
On the contrary, I measured the latency on non-OnePlus phones at around 170-210ms. Granted it’s perfectly fine for binging shows, movies, and such—you can imagine just how worse the gaming experience is here.
Earbuds Latency Test
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Getting to call quality, the ENC-enabled triple mic setup onboard does a great job of minimizing the background noise. I never received any complaint about the clarity or loudness of my voice from people in the receiving end—whereas I could also hear them completely fine. But a couple of times when I was speaking with my mask on, I was getting notes on how my voice sounded muffled.
Battery Life
40mAh (earbud), 520mAh (case)
5 or 7 hours playback (ANC on/off)
USB Type-C port with quick charging
Finally, the OnePlus Buds Z2 hosts the same 40mAh battery as its predecessor and the Buds Pro. I usually kept the volume at 70-80% with noise cancellation turned on most of the time, and it lasted me roughly 4—sometimes 4.5—hours. Pretty average stuff.
That’s a little short of OnePlus’ estimates, but I can’t complain. With ANC turned off completely, you can expect a couple more hours of playback time. Regardless, it can add up to 2 hours of playback time with just 10 minutes of charge in case you’re in a hurry.
And I’m so thankful for this feature since there have been one or two occasions where both the earbuds and the case were at near 0% battery. With this, I could get enough juice for my way to the office without the earbuds dying on me.
I’m a millennial—I can’t travel 30-40 minutes without my music!
OnePlus Buds Z2 Review: Conclusion
Wrapping up this review, the OnePlus Buds Z2’s value proposition is… inconsistent across markets. In the western region where it currently retails for USD 99 or EUR 99, I’d strongly advise raising your budget by 20 to 30 dollars for Samsung’s Galaxy Buds 2 instead which is currently on sale for like USD 110. It’s got a better sound quality, better ANC, and even wireless charging support, unlike the Buds Z2.
Then again, the price disparity between these earbuds in South Asian markets like Nepal and India is a bit too extreme to suggest going for the Galaxy Buds 2. If your taste in music favors strong bass, my criticisms above probably aren’t going to matter to you. In that case, the Buds Z2 is a good fit for your ears. And if you’re like me who prefers a balanced sound profile, that’s still achievable by playing with the EQ. It’s a bit of a hassle—yes—but totally doable.
Last year, the Government of Nepal introduced a new rule in which new license holders would have to go through a year in probation. The new provision came into effect in June of 2021 and under it, the riders would get a different card. Almost a year later, there is finally a verification mobile application to authenticate such license cards using their QR codes.
License Verification Mobile Application
The new license verification mobile application was handed over to the Metropolitan Traffic Police Division via a program on February 22. Namaraj Ghimire, Director General of the Department of Traffic Management presented the mobile application to the Senior Superintendent of Police, Umesh Raj Joshi, Chief of Metropolitan Traffic Police Division.
With the new license verification mobile application, it’s easier for Traffic Police personnel to check if a probationary license card is real or fake. The new app scans the QR code on the license card. It then provides complete details of the license and license holder. As a result, tracking down riders with counterfeit cards will be a lot more convenient now.
Prior to this application, there was no mechanism for such on-the-spot license verification. In case of any suspicion, Traffic Police personnel had to contact the respective Transport Management office for verification.
The Metropolitan Traffic Police Division hopes this license verification application will help punish traffic offenders. It will also reduce road accidents caused by such riders.
Current provision for the probationary license card
Under the current provision, new riders need to go through a year of probation. They are provided with a special probationary license card with a QR holding all their details. They are given the actual license after reviewing their road behavior during this period.
If a rider is found guilty of violating traffic rules more than five times in this period, he/she needs to go through the license examination again. There is also a provision for revoking the license of such offenders. The new license mobile verification will help streamline the whole process.
Document Tracking System (DTS)
Earlier this month, Metropolitan Traffic Police Division also introduced a Document Tracking System. It helps riders in tracking down the documents confiscated by the Traffic Division for a traffic rule violation. Users can now know the exact office location of documents by sending an SMS to 34001 in the given format:
Meanwhile, check out our full review of the Redmi Note 11.
Usually, I don’t review a lot of Vivo phones because well, their Y, S, and even V-series aren’t exactly a “value for money” product most of the time. But, the Vivo V23 Pro here seems like a fairly balanced offering which is why I bought it for this review. Even the Vivo T1 that launched recently looks like a good entry-level mid-range phone.
Vivo V23 Pro Specifications:
Body: 73.27 x 159.46 x 7.36mm, 171 gm, Anti-glare glass back, Polycarbonate frame
Display: 6.54-inches AMOLED panel, 90Hz refresh rate, Up to 240Hz touch sampling rate, HDR10+, Up to 1300 nits brightness, Schott Xensation α (alpha) glass
Resolution: FHD+ (2376 x 1080 pixels), 398 PPI
Chipset: MediaTek Dimensity 1200 5G (6nm mobile platform)
Battery: 4300mAh with 44W wired FlashCharge (power adapter provided)
Color Options: Stardust Black, Sunshine Gold
Price in Nepal: N/A (INR 38,990 for 8/128GB)
Vivo V23 Pro Review:
Here, V23 Pro’s price starts at INR 38,990 for the 8/128GB variant while its higher-end 12/256GB model goes for some INR 43,990. And considering the overall specs, it does seem a bit overpriced. But, we also have to take into account that this phone is intended for the offline market, which means you can get some pretty good discounts there.
Unfortunately, Vivo Nepal has no plans of launching this phone here. So I had to buy the Vivo V23 Pro from India where I got it for some INR 36,500 for this review. What this means is that you can get it for a slightly cheaper price than the Xiaomi 11T Pro and the OnePlus 9RT.
For that price, there are some pretty cool features here like a color-changing UV design, a curved display, and a special focus on the selfie camera. Its dual selfie camera has a whopping 50MP main lens with eye autofocus and a secondary 8MP ultra-wide angle lens for group selfies.
Cameras
Triple camera setup at the back
(108MP main, 8MP ultrawide, 2MP macro)
Dual selfie cameras (50MP main, 8MP ultrawide)
Cameras
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Front
Rear
Selfie Images
I have taken numerous selfies with it so far and I have to say that the V23 Pro is one of the finest selfies camera phones out there.
Selfies
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I love how it preserves the subject’s skin tone so well. More impressively, the camera not only optimizes the foreground but the background too, so the overall image looks very appealing. I compared it with the OnePlus 9RT a little and found Vivo’s selfies to have much better-looking subjects.
Selfies (V23 Pro vs 9RT)
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OnePlus 9RT
Vivo V23 Pro
OnePlus 9RT
Vivo V23 Pro
Then there are other cool features like dual Spotlight flash—which consists of two physical flashlights on the top that can change the color tone from cool to normal to warm depending upon your preference.
Selfie with front LEDs
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Without Light
With Light
How freaking awesome is that? So, even during low light conditions, you can get some bright, detailed selfies from this guy.
Selfie Videos
This feature extends to selfie videos as well, so content creators get their own portable ring light within the phone itself. Likewise, the video quality is great too. You can shoot up to 4k 60 fps selfie videos from the V23 Pro although the 4K footage isn’t the most stable.
On the contrary, 1080p recordings yield better stabilization, so if you move around while vlogging, I would suggest lowering the resolution to 1080p.
Wide-angle Selfie Images
Wideangle Selfies
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Next up is the second 8MP ultra-wide sensor for selfies that I mentioned earlier. It sports a similar color science to the primary selfie camera, but as expected, retains far less detail. It does come in handy when taking group selfies though.
Videography
Even from the back cameras, the V23 Pro can shoot at up to 4k 60 fps with decent quality and sub-par stabilization. You can choose the “Steady Mode” in 4k 30 fps resolution instead which basically crops the video for steadier results.
I wish that option was available in 4k 60 fps too. On the other hand, at 1080p 30 or 60fps, the footage comes relatively stable natively, but there’s also the option to use the “Steady Mode” for better stabilization.
So, because this phone is so focused on its cameras—including videography—this thing has bugged me a little. I feel like Vivo should have provided OIS here instead of just EIS. And that’s definitely not a big ask, considering how the V23 Pro is made for videography enthusiasts, like TikTok content creators and such.
Normal Images
Normal
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Anyway, getting to the main camera setup, the primary 108MP lens takes 12MP shots by default. The images have good details, dynamic range, and maintain contrast very well too.
Normal (V23 Pro vs 9RT)
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Vivo V23 Pro
OnePlus 9RT
Vivo V23 Pro
OnePlus 9RT
OnePlus 9RT
In comparison, OnePlus 9RT’s photos come off with boosted contrast with a hint of bluish tint. On the whole, I found that the V23 Pro’s cameras bring out relatively pleasing images than say the OnePlus 9RT or the Xiaomi 11T Pro.
Portrait Images
Portraits
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Portraits are yet another aspect where it preserves really good skin tone. Just like the selfies, the phone balances the subject as well as the background to bring out some nice pictures.
Portraits (V23 Pro vs 9RT)
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Vivo V23 Pro
OnePlus 9RT
Vivo V23 Pro
OnePlus 9RT
Bringing OnePlus 9RT into the mix, the V23 Pro is able to produce better skin tone, subject details, and background.
Wideangle Images
Ultrawide
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It’s only the ultra-wide images from the 8MP sensor where things fall into the average territory. Their color tone is nothing like the ones from the main camera and the pictures have very less details.
Nighttime Images
Nighttime
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Vivo V23 Pro - Nighttime
OnePlus 9RT - Nighttime
Vivo V23 Pro - Nighttime
OnePlus 9RT - Nighttime
Vivo V23 Pro - Nightmode
OnePlus 9RT - Nightmode
Vivo V23 Pro
OnePlus 9RT
I also compared its nighttime images against the 9RT and found that V23 Pro’s bigger 108MP sensor manages to capture more light and therefore, bring out slightly better details in most scenarios. 9RT’s photos have a slight boost in contrast but they also have a better exposure control. In general, I found OnePlus’s images to look better during the night.
Summarizing the camera capabilities of this phone, V23 Pro’s main sensor can pull off some good images.
And the selfies, as well as the portraits here are commendable—although I wish the company had focused a bit more on the ultra-wide camera. Plus, as I said earlier, I have also dearly missed OIS here. Had Vivo included OIS, this could have been the camera phone to beat for the price!
Design
73.27 x 159.46 x 7.36mm, 171 grams
Glass front/back, polycarbonate frame
Color changing AG glass (Sunshine Gold variant)
Moving on, another thing that I really, really love about this phone is the design. Its matte back changes color from golden to greenish-blue when exposed to UV rays and it looks awesome! Whenever I would be using this phone in public, many people would come up to me and ask “hey, which phone is that?” and I could tell that they were certainly impressed by this design.
Then again, you have to know that the color shift is more prominent when you’re outdoors where UV light is abundant. In indoor conditions though, it’s not as flashy.
But in case you’re not a fan of this kind of flair, there’s also the Stardust Black variant which has a sandy feel and no color-changing design like this one. I also like how Vivo went on to include these gentle curves on the sides. They are not obtrusive at all and since this glass back is quite slippery, the curves actually help quite a lot with the grip.
Ergonomic build quality
Its hands-on feel is also pretty premium. Measuring just 7.4mm thick, it’s also incredibly slim and comfortable to hold. The back panel here is covered with Fluorite Anti-Glare Glass, so it’s not glossy and does not catch fingerprints at all. Overall, I have two words for Vivo regarding this design: great job!
But since the design is another highlight of the V23 Pro, I would have appreciated it more if Vivo had included some kind of glass protection at the back. As it turns out, the front is protected by “Schott Xensation α” glass which is said to be as tough as Corning’s Gorilla Glass Victus, so some form of protection at the back would have been nice too.
Audio & Haptics
Single bottom-firing speaker
No 3.5mm headphone jack
Also, I wish the company had included a better vibration motor here. Its haptic feedback is quite mushy. In comparison, much cheaper phones like the Realme 9 Pro+ have significantly better haptic feedback. And because you are interacting with your phone all the time, good vibration feedback is really important, at least for me. So I am a little let down by Vivo in this aspect.
On top of that, the V23 Pro only has a single speaker setup. Even though its sound quality is not bad per se, I have definitely missed a stereo effect here. Plus, the audio doesn’t get very loud either—while there’s no audible distortion.
Display
6.54-inches FHD+ AMOLED display
90/240Hz refresh/touch sampling rate
Schott Xensation α (alpha) glass protection
Moving to the display part of this review, the front of the Vivo V23 Pro houses a 6.5 inch AMOLED display with a 90Hz refresh rate, a 240Hz touch sampling rate, HDR10+ compliance, and an iPhone-like bathtub notch housing the two selfie cameras. I am seeing this kind of notch on a mid-range Android smartphone after a long time, so it did take some time to get used to. But after a while, I wouldn’t even notice it that often.
Now, talking about the core quality of this display, well, it has great contrast and color reproduction. I haven’t faced any issues regarding brightness on this thing—even in bright outdoor conditions.
It’s just that there’s a prominent cold blue hue in most of the screen color options which is quite noticeable when browsing through websites and social media apps. You do have the option to adjust the color temperature in the display settings, so it should not be that big a deal. However, what I do consider to be a big deal is the fact that the V23 Pro comes with a 90Hz refresh rate only.
Having used the OnePlus 9RT, Xiaomi 11T Pro, and the Galaxy S21 FE before this, this 90Hz display feels quite inferior, be it while scrolling or navigating through the UI. Also, something that I noticed is that its “Smart Switch Refresh Rate” feature does not work very well.
Some display troubles
It would be rocking the 90Hz mode when navigating through the UI, but firing up Chrome, the phone would be stuck at 60Hz for some reason. So, knowing the “Smart Switch” option isn’t that smart after all, I kept the 90Hz option turned on at all times—which does take a toll on the battery life mind you.
Also, despite 2 security updates that I have received so far, there’s still no support for HDR videos on Netflix here. On a different note, this OLED screen is home to an optical in-display fingerprint sensor as well which is super fast and reliable. Since Vivo was actually the first to introduce such biometric options, I have to say that their implementation has only gotten better over time.
Alright, let’s now move on to the performance part of this review and see how the Vivo V23 Pro fares in terms of day-to-day usage as well as gaming. The phone is powered by MediaTek’s flagship Dimensity 1200 chip with either 8 or 12GB RAM. Now, we’ve seen the Dimensity 1200 in action in much cheaper phones before like the Realme X7 Max and OnePlus Nord 2. And upon testing it out, I found their performance to be pretty similar.
Also, the phone handles normal as well as demanding tasks with ease and I didn’t face any issue with its RAM management either. Plus, it supports seven 5G bands which makes it future-proof too.
How’s Funtouch OS 12?
Likewise, the phone boots on Android 12-based Funtouch OS 12 right out of the box unlike the OnePlus 9RT, Xiaomi 11T Pro, and even OPPO’s Reno 7 series that are still stuck on Android 11 for some reason.
Sadly, Vivo has not made any official commitment as to how many years of software updates the V23 Pro will get.
It did commit to providing 3 years of OS updates, but only to the flagship X-series of smartphones. And I think not pledging on software updates in such a premium mid-range phone is incredibly disappointing on Vivo’s part, especially knowing that brands like Samsung have started doing so since last year on their mid-range devices.
About Funtouch OS, well, I have to say that it has improved a lot from what I knew about it before. I remember the time when there was no search button in the settings menu, which used to be utterly painful. Now, the UI has been simplified and there are tons of customization options too.
Having said that, the V23 Pro is not free of bloatware and the first thing I did after booting this phone was uninstall/disable them and would advise you do the same for a cleaner experience. Unfortunately, these “Hot app” and “Hot games” apps can’t be disabled or even force stopped for some reason. Wow!
Gaming experience
Alright, on the gaming side, I would say its performance is pretty good—if not excellent. I played games like PUBG Mobile here which delivers a smooth 60 fps with 100% stability in HDR graphics and Ultra frame rates. Call of Duty fares similarly with a stable 60 fps at the highest of settings as well!
Then again, in higher fps supported games like Oddmar and Bombsquad, the V23 Pro is restricted to just 60 fps since it hasn’t been optimized to make use of the smoother 90Hz display in those games as of now. Even so, the gameplay is smooth at their respective highest settings.
Also, you can play relatively more demanding games like Genshin Impact at the highest graphics settings with 60 fps mode with around 40-45 fps on average and 67% stability. I tested the Nord 2 side by side which has the custom Dimensity 1200 AI chip. And both phones performed similarly in all the games, except in Genshin Impact where it managed slightly more stable gameplay than the V23 Pro.
More importantly, during all the gaming sessions, the phone never got unbearably hot, so that’s something impressive for a device with such a slim form factor.
Battery
4300mAh battery with 44W fast charging
But again, because of the said slim design, Vivo could only fit a comparatively small 4300mAh battery inside. So it was only natural of me to be skeptical about the battery life at first. However, I was quite wrong in this regard since V23 Pro’s battery backup is surprisingly good
Vivo is quite aggressive with its battery optimization, because of which the phone delivers such an excellent battery endurance.
On average, I got around 6 hours of screen on time from here with my usage pattern consisting of all my regular social media apps, watching videos, clicking photos and videos every now and then—and of course, handling calls and messages. That too with the 90Hz refresh rate turned on at all times! So yeah, not many complaints on the battery front.
Charging this phone with the default 44W charger takes a little less than an hour—51 minutes to be exact—to get its battery from 0-100% which is not bad either.
Vivo V23 Pro Review: Conclusion
So concluding this review, the Vivo V23 Pro is certainly a unique phone for the price with its distinctive design and a reliable selfie camera. In my opinion, it is a fairly balanced device.
I mean, besides the excellent design and selfie camera, it also has a great display, decent performance, a good enough battery life, while the rear camera arrangement is pretty solid as well—apart from a few hiccups here and there.
However, I do wish that Vivo had gone with a 120Hz refresh rate screen, provided better haptics, and included OIS support which would have elevated the experience even more. And yes, I definitely think it is priced a bit higher too. Of course, you can get some discounts in the offline market and catch some deals online too. But not everybody gets that, so that’s something to consider as well.
Redmi Note 11 is the latest budget smartphone from the Xiaomi sub-brand. The company was quick to launch it in Nepal, just a day after its official launch. I have been using the phone for close to a month now and I will be sharing our personal experience in this review. Before we start with the review, let’s take a quick look at the specs and pricing of the Redmi Note 11 in Nepal.
Redmi Note 11 Specifications:
Body: 159.97 x 73.87 x 8.09mm, 179gm, IP53 dust/water resistant
With the specs out of the way, allow me to kick things off with the things that I’m impressed from this phone. No prize for guessing—it’s the 6.43” AMOLED display. While its predecessor settled for a standard 60Hz refresh rate, Redmi has provided a faster 90Hz panel on the Note 11. As a result, scrolling through the UI feels a lot smoother here. More on that later.
This makes Redmi Note 11 the only device in its price range to offer a 90Hz FHD AMOLED screen. Currently, there is no phone other than the Redmi Note 11 in this price bracket that ticks all three boxes in Nepal—at least at the time of this review. It is also protected by Gorilla Glass 3.
And you will really enjoy watching movies and series on this phone. Contents look plenty sharp since it is Widevine L1 certified for HD playback on streaming platforms like Netflix, while you also get to enjoy the vibrant colors and deep blacks of an OLED panel.
Note 11 even supports the DCI-P3 color gamut which makes colors pop more compared to the standard sRGB gamut. On the other hand, its brightness reaches up to 700 nits under high brightness mode which is enough to maintain easy outdoor visibility.
Still not perfect, though
That being said, this display is far from perfect. I found the automatic brightness adjustment a tad bit slower here. And since the default “Vivid” color mode uses it to adjust visuals, the contrast may seem off for split seconds at times.
Also, I have noticed some screen flickers—mostly during the night—when I usually keep the brightness at its lowest. Because it wasn’t a routine experience, it’s not an absolute deal-breaker for me but it’s something you guys need to know. There is no HDR playback either but that’s okay for a budget phone.
Multimedia Experience
Next, let’s talk about the audio setup which is another crucial aspect of the multimedia experience. If you are not aware, Xiaomi has kinda democratized stereo speakers by offering one on most of its budget and mid-range smartphones.
Redmi Note 11 Speaker Setup
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Top Speaker
Bottom Speaker
And Note 11’s speakers have made quite an impression on me. They can get sufficiently loud and I hardly noticed any imbalance between the audio quality from the top and bottom speaker units. Of course, there’s little to zero bass to enjoy here—but I’m just nitpicking at this point.
Design and Ergonomics
159.97 x 73.87 x 8.09mm; 179 grams
Glass front, Plastic back, Plastic frames
IP53 rating
Moving on, the phone brings a refreshed design with flat frames. Like many others, I was quite skeptical of this flat edge layout at first. But its rear panel thankfully retains a slight curve which results in a comfortable hands-on feel.
As a result, be it casual usage or gaming, you will have no trouble handling the phone. Weighing around 180 grams, it does not feel that heavy too. On top of this, it is also IP53 certified against dust and splash damage while an IR blaster finds its way on the Redmi Note 11 as well.
Redmi Note 11 Design
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Plastic Back
Flat Edges
Performance
Octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 4G SoC (6nm)
4/6GB LPDDR4X RAM, 64/128GB UFS 2.2 storage
Android 11 with Xiaomi’s MIUI 12.5 on top
Then again, its performance has divided people more than anything else about the phone. Underneath, there’s the new Snapdragon 680 chip which sounds like an upgrade over the Snapdragon 678 on last year’s Note 10. I mean—it does have a higher number in the name which means it should be superior, right?
Is Snapdragon 680 any better than the 678?
However, it’s not that simple. Monikers can be deceiving after all! First off, the 680 does bring some improvement over the 678—mostly on the power consumption side of things. It is built on a 6nm process that makes it more power-efficient than the 678 which was 11nm-based.
And there’s a definite advantage to this node jump. In my usage, Note 11 averaged 8 hours of screen-on time with a 15% battery still left at the end of the day.
Even the charging is quite swift here with the 33W Pro power brick that Xiaomi ships inside the box, which takes the phone from 0 to 100% in just 1 hour and 5 minutes. Not as fast as advertised but fast nonetheless.
In addition, the Snapdragon 680 brings support for 90Hz 1080p displays and a triple Image Signal Processor (ISP). Sadly, this is where its edge over the 678 ends. As you can see from this table, everything from the CPU to GPU is simply better on the 678.
680
678
665
Process Node
6nm
11nm
CPU (Kryo)
265 (Cortex-A73 + A53)
460 (Cortex-A76 + A55)
260 (Cortex-A73 + A53)
Max Clock Speed
2.4GHz
2.2GHz
2.0GHz
GPU (Adreno)
610
612
610
ISP (Spectra)
346 (Triple ISP)
250L (Double ISP)
165 (Double ISP)
Modem
Snapdragon X11 LTE
Snapdragon X12 LTE
Gaming Experience
In fact, Snapdragon 678’s CPU and GPU are a lot more comparable to that of the 665 instead. By the way, that’s the same chip that Xiaomi used on the Redmi Note 8 way back in 2019.
Therefore, the 680’s restricted hardware capability is evident when gaming. While you can play PUBG: Mobile at Balanced graphics and Ultra frame rate on the Note 10, its successor maxes out at Balanced graphics and Medium frame rate only.
However, if you want the best PUBG experience, I’ll suggest you to game on Smooth graphics and High frame rates like I did. The gameplay is a lot more stable here and the phone does not get warm over a long duration either.
Likewise, you can enjoy Asphalt 9 at high settings, but the visuals seemed a little off to me. I was also able to play Mobile Legends at High graphics and Ultra frame rate with negligible stutters here and there.
Is MIUI any different than MIUI 12.5?
That being said, the Note 11 can handle normal day-to-day tasks quite well. Performance is not an issue during casual web browsing, social media usage, and multimedia consumption. Moreover, it is among the first phones to ship with the new MIUI 13 out of the box and many of you have been asking me about what’s new here.
Unfortunately, I did not notice many differences between MIUI 13 and 12.5. Maybe it has to do with the fact that my Redmi Note 11 is still stuck on Android 11 at the time of this review.
As a result, many of the new features that Xiaomi announced on the Chinese launch of MIUI 13 are not present here. I did not even find the sidebar feature that the company announced on the Global launch—although that’s present on its Pro sibling.
Still stuck on Android 11
What’s even worse is that while my Note 11 is still on Android 11, some Redmi Note 10 users have already started receiving the Android 12 update. I am obviously not against the company pushing updates on older phones but the whole situation is quite confusing to me.
Additionally, it also comes with a bunch of pre-loaded apps but you can easily uninstall most of them. The UI seems well optimized for 90Hz though. I have not faced any issues like micro stutters here as well. Add the 180Hz touch sampling rate to the mix, the phone feels quite responsive.
Yet, the RAM management here feels okay-ish only. While it does not kill apps as soon as you leave them, it also does not keep them on memory for as long as I would’ve liked.
Bugs on the MIUI
On the other hand, you might know that we have been quite vocal about MIUI’s under-optimized dark mode in our reviews. Fortunately, the situation seems to have improved with the MIUI 13 since it does not force dark mode on all apps by default. But again, there’s no option to change the settings for individual apps, which seems like a bug to me.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The biggest issue that I have faced with my Redmi Note 11 is with the Wi-Fi connectivity. At times, the phone just completely fails to scan Wi-Fi signals. I have to restart it multiple times to be able to see the available Wi-Fi connections around me—whereas there would be no internet access even after connecting to Wi-Fi sometimes.
It’s just not me—a lot of people have shared a similar experience. Wi-Fi issues on MIUI are pretty well documented too, so I think Redmi should look into the matter ASAP!
Anyway, a lot of users complained about the proximity sensor on last year’s Redmi Note 10. But I am yet to face such an issue with its successor. I am also quite impressed with the haptics that Redmi has managed to provide in this price range.
Camera
Quad-camera setup at the back
(50MP main, 8MP ultrawide, 2MP depth, 2MP macro)
13MP selfie camera
Redmi Note 11 Camera Setup
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Selfie Camera
Rear Camera
Getting to the cameras, the Note 11 brings a quad-camera setup at the back. But only the 50MP primary camera takes decent shots here.
This Isocell JN1 main sensor is known to have the world’s smallest pixel size at 0.64µm. In case you don’t know, smaller pixels cannot capture much light and thus result in low image quality. To avoid this, Note 11 shoots natively at 12.5MP by combining four pixels together—aka pixel binning.
So, the image quality from this camera is heavily reliant on the ambient lighting condition. Under bright sunlight, it churns out decent photos with good color and adequate sharpness. However, it can get inconsistent at times—especially under relatively dim conditions.
Primary camera Sample
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Nighttime Images
Weirdly enough, the low-light photos get worse with Night Mode turned on. It does brighten up some dark areas of the image, but that doesn’t necessarily improve upon the details and overall picture quality. As you can see here, the end result has too much noise in it.
Nighttime vs Night Mode
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Normal Nighttime
Night Mode
Normal Nighttime
Night Mode
Normal Nighttime
Night Mode
Ultrawide Shots
Likewise, the 8MP ultrawide sensor fails to deliver the same dynamic range as the main camera and the photos aren’t that detailed either. At times, you can even notice the color shift when switching from primary to the ultrawide camera.
Wide vs Ultrawide
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Wide
Ultrawide
Wide
Ultrawide
Wide
Ultrawide
Portrait Images
Portrait shots look good enough with decent edge detection. However, the phone tries to brighten up the subject even without any beautification or other enhancement feature turned on.
Redmi Note 11 Portrait
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Selfie Images
Moving on, the 13MP selfie camera struggles to maintain background exposure. Photos have muted colors and the selfies look smooth as well. Honestly, I wouldn’t use these pictures for my social media posts.
Redmi Note 11 Selfie
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Normal Selfie
Selfie Portrait
Normal Selfie
Selfie Portrait
Normal Selfie
Selfie Portrait
Normal Selfie
Selfie Portrait
Videography
On the video front, Redmi has even dropped 4K recording support on the Note 11 which was available on its predecessor. It’s a chipset limitation since the Snapdragon 680 maxes out at Full HD recordings.
Coming to the core video quality itself, there is no stabilization of any kind here in both 1080P 60 and 30fps modes. As a result, the videos are shaky and also not that detailed.
Redmi Note 11 Review: Conclusions
And that brings us to the end of this review. Truth be told—the Redmi Note 11 has somewhat grown on me. As someone whose primary use-case consists of web browsing and content consumption, I am really impressed by what it offers for the price in terms of display, audio, and battery life.
However, it clearly is not for someone who values raw performance over everything else. Its downgraded performance means the older Note 10 still has an edge over the new Note 11 when it comes to gaming. And it gets more tricky since it is comparatively more expensive.
Moreover, the Note 11 is also strictly average when it comes to photography—but that isn’t anything new for a budget Redmi phone.
Redmi Note 11 Review: Pros and Cons
Pros:
AMOLED screen is good for the price
Decent stereo speakers
Exceptional battery life
Cons:
Downgraded performance compared to its predecessor
After multiple teasers, Realme has finally launched the 9i in Nepal. It’s the first phone to launch under the Realme 9 series in the country, while we also expect to see 9 Pro and 9 Pro+ in the near future. For now, let’s take a quick peek at the specs, features, official price, and availability of Realme 9i in Nepal.
Realme 9i Overview:
Design and Display
Realme has gone with a new Prism design for its latest mid-range phones. Over 3,000 machined lines together form the phone’s prism texture. In addition, Realme has used an 8-layer optical coating process for visual effects.
Over on the front, there is a 6.6″ FHD+ LCD screen with support for a five-level 90Hz refresh rate. It’s a downgrade from Realme 8i‘s 120Hz refresh rate, by the way. The phone retains the 180Hz touch sampling rate and boasts a brightness of up to 480 nits.
Performance and Memory
This time around, Realme has switched to Qualcomm for performance. Under the hood, you’ll find Snapdragon 680 chipset, which is based on a 6nm process. This should mark a significant improvement in thermal efficiency over last year’s 12nm-based Helio G96.
As for memory, Realme 9i comes with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of UFS 2.2 storage. The latter can be expanded up to 1TB using a MicroSD card.
Realme has re-designed the camera bump at the back of the phone, which takes cues from camera islands on the recent GT-series phones. In terms of the camera hardware though, nothing much has changed from last year.
Here, you are getting a 50MP primary camera accompanied by a 2MP macro and a 2MP portrait lens. Over on the front, there is a 16MP selfie camera with an f/2.1 aperture.
Battery
Realme 9i gets its juice from a 5,000mAh battery with support for 33W Dart charging. A compatible charger is included in the box. The phone still ships with Android 11-based Realme UI 2.0 out of the box, even though Realme UI 3.0 (Android 12) has already been announced.
The official price of Realme 9i in Nepal starts at Rs. 24,499 for the 4/64GB variant. On the other hand, the 6/128GB variant costs Rs. 27,999. You can buy Realme 8i from authorized sellers like Hukut.
Nubia has just announced its latest flagship gaming series in China. As expected, the Red Magic 7 series brings some new innovations, including 135W fast charging and a custom Red Core 1 gaming chip. In this article, we will be discussing the key specs, features, expected price, and availability of the Nubia Red Magic 7 and 7 Pro in Nepal.
Red Magic 7, 7 Pro Overview:
Performance and Cooling
Since these are gaming devices, let’s start with the performance. Here, the Red Magic Series is powered by Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset. It’s the latest flagship offering from Qualcomm and also the go-to chip for any flagship in 2022.
Nubia has paired the Snapdragon chipset with its own Red Core 1 chip, which it says will improve the gaming capability of the phones. For instance, it facilitates the 500Hz touch sampling rate of the shoulder trigger button. Likewise, it is also said to improve vibration, lighting, and sound during the games.
Moving on, Nubia has deployed ICE 8.0 cooling system on the Red Magic 7 gaming series for sustained performance. For starters, it also has a nine-layer heat dissipation structure. Like last year, there is also a turbofan capable of spinning at a speed of up to 20,000 RPM.
The new canyon air duct also adds a second air inlet which the company claims will increase airflow by 35%. Likewise, Nubia has also managed to keep the core temperature cooler by 3° Celsius.
Software
Complementing the gaming hardware on the Red Magic 7 Series is Nubia’s custom Red Magic OS 5.0, based on Android 12. The new skin brings an improved scheduler for CPU, GPU, and memory. The Touch Choreographer feature has also seen some improvements. As a result, users can expect more stable fps during games.
Furthermore, the Red Magic 7 series now supports 120Hz wireless projection, direct screen recording, and screencasting. Users can record their gameplay at 120Hz in 1080p H.26 format.
The new improved Game Space allows users to tweak the performance of the phone and also optimize the shoulder buttons.
Battery and Charging
This is where the Redmi Magic 7 and 7 Pro start to differ. The Pro model features a 5,000mAh battery with a whopping 135W wired fast charging. The phone can go from 0 to 100% in just 15 minutes.
On the other hand, the vanilla Red Magic 7 has 120W charging. It can fully charge the device in just 17 minutes. It is not as fast as the Pro model but fast nonetheless.
Nubia will ship 165W GaN chargers with both Red Magic 7 series phones. Users will also be able to charge laptops and other devices with them.
Moving on, the Nubia Red Magic 7 Series comes with a 6.8” FHD+ AMOLED display. The display on the Red Magic 7 refreshes at 165Hz while boasting a 720Hz touch sampling rate.
The Pro model, however, refreshes slower at 120Hz but supports a faster 960Hz sampling rate. It also has higher brightness (700 nits > 600 nits) and boasts additional features such as 100% DCI-P3 coverage, DC Dimming, 10-bit color depth, and more. You can even distinguish the two phones just by looking at their displays. Red Magic 7 Pro offers an uninterrupted display as it hides the selfie camera under the display. This makes it the first gaming phone to have an under-display selfie camera.
On the other hand, Red Magic 7 has the selfie camera on the top bezel.
Rest of the features
Nubia Red Magic 7 comes in three colors options. Cyber Night and Night Knight variants have RGB backlighting and breathing lights on the Red Magic logo. The logo and the lights are on the turbofan on the Deuterium Transparent Edition. The Pro model exchanges the Night Knight for a Polar Black Night option.
Red Magic 7 Series users can also buy an external Turbo Cooler for better cooling. As per the company, the cooling accessory can improve heat dissipation by 17% while also being 3dB quieter than other similar accessories.
Nubia Red Magic 7 Series Price in Nepal (Expected)
Nubia Red Magic 7 Series is now available for pre-order in China, where the price starts at CNY 3,999 for the Red Magic 7 and CNY 4,799 for the Pro variant. If Nubia Red Magic 7 Series launches in Nepal, we expect the price to start at NPR 80,000 and NPR 95,000 for Magic 7 and Magic 7 Pro, respectively.
Nubia Red Magic 7 Series
Configuration
Price in China (Official)
Price in Nepal (Expected)
Red Magic 7
8/128GB
CNY 3,999
NPR 80,000
Red Magic 7 (Transparent Edition)
12/256GB
CNY 4,899
NPR 97,000
Red Magic 7 Pro
12/128GB
CNY 4,799
NPR 95,000
Red Magic 7 Pro (Transparent Edition)
12/256GB
CNY 5,299
NPR 104,000
18/1TB
CNY 7,499
NPR 147,000
Meanwhile, check out our review of the Xiaomi 11T Pro.
Last month, we saw a lot of smartphone launches from various brands and it seems like the launch spree is continuing in February as well. And this is my review of the new Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge after testing it for almost 3 weeks now! If you are not aware, it is Xiaomi’s latest mid-range smartphone for the Indian market and the successor of the incredibly popular Mi 10i from last year.
In China, it goes by “Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G” and the company might even launch this phone with a different name elsewhere. As for the price, it starts at INR 26,999 for the base 6/128GB variant and INR 28,999 for the 8/128GB model. So, yeah—it’s priced way too higher than the Mi 10i.
In Xiaomi’s defense, they have included this 120W charger inside the box, which itself costs 4,000 Indian rupees according to the global VP of Xiaomi, Manu Kumar Jain. Goes on without saying that this charger is insanely fast and can take the phone from 0 to 100% in just about 18 minutes.
But what about the other crucial aspects of the device? Is it on par with the competition? Let’s discuss all that in this review of the Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge.
Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge Specifications:
Body: 76.19 x 163.65 x 8.34mm, 204 gm, Glass back, Polycarbonate frame, IP53 dust-and-splash resistance
Display: 6.67-inches AMOLED panel, 120Hz refresh rate, Up to 360Hz touch sampling rate, Gorilla Glass 5, 1200 nits peak brightness
Resolution: FHD+ (2400 x 1080 pixels), 20:9 aspect ratio, 395 PPI
Chipset: MediaTek Dimensity 920 5G (6nm mobile platform)
Battery: 4500mAh with 120W fast charging (power adapter provided)
Color Options: Camo Green, Stealth Black, Purple Mist, Pacific Pearl
Price in Nepal: N/A (INR 26,999 for 6/128GB)
Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge Review:
Design & Build
76.19 x 163.65 x 8.34mm, 204 grams
Glass front/back, polycarbonate frames
IP53 certified against dust/splash damage
So, starting with the design and build quality, it’s quite different from what other Xiaomi phones looked like in the past. It has this boxy-looking form factor, which is reminiscent of the iPhone 13 series. And if you use it without a case, you might have a difficult time holding it because of the sharp edges. But over time, you should get used to it.
The back here is made of glass and feels plenty premium. I have it in this light green color that looks quite refreshing and doesn’t gather too many fingerprints and smudges. There are also no complaints from my side in terms of weight distribution since it has that solid heft I’ve come to expect from a smartphone.
IP53 certified
Still and all, I would have loved it even more if Xiaomi had given metal frames here. But I completely get it since this is a part of the cost-cutting measure. Xiaomi still offers an IP53 rating on the 11i Hypercharge—and is among the few brands to provide such splash-resistant properties on its budget and mid-range phones.
Moreover, you also get an IR blaster and a 3.5mm headphone jack here. The latter, as you know, is pretty rare these days even on mid-range phones, so that’s something we got to admire about Xiaomi.
On the other hand, the volume rockers here aren’t the most tactile ones but get the job done. This power button doubles as a capacitive fingerprint sensor as well, which is fast and accurate. And definitely faster than the one you get on cheaper Xiaomi phones like the Redmi Note 11.
Display
6.67-inches FHD+ AMOLED display
120/360Hz refresh/touch sampling rate
Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection
Over on the front, we are greeted with a 6.67-inch display that ticks all the boxes—at least feature-wise—that you expect from a phone of this price in 2022. This AMOLED screen refreshes at 120Hz and is complemented by a faster 360Hz touch sampling rate, up to 1200 nits of brightness, HDR10 compliance, Widevine L1 certification, and what have you.
For protection, Xiaomi has gone with the good old Gorilla Glass 5 on the 11i Hypercharge. In actual real-world usage, this display is better than last year’s Note 10 Pro and slightly inferior to the one you get on the Mi 11X.
Plus, in the recommended “Vivid” picture profile, the colors are slightly more punchy and vibrant—but it looks really good.
The smaller bezels and a tiny punch hole cutout further improve the overall viewing experience.
As expected from an AMOLED panel, the contrast here is top-level, which is especially noticeable when watching content with a dark ambiance. This display can also get plenty bright and you will have no issue texting or checking your messages even if you are outdoor.
However, the minimum brightness on this thing is a bit higher, meaning not the most comfortable experience if you happen to be a night owl.
HDR playback issue
Top: Xiaomi 11T Pro | Bottom: Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge
Plus, one underlining issue that I faced with this display is that whenever I tried watching HDR videos on Netflix, there’s this weird pale hue and over-sharpening going on which completely ruins the experience.
I don’t know if this is the new MediaTek Dimensity 920’s inability to process HDR videos effectively—or I have Netflix to blame. At the end of the day, the frustrating thing is that despite multiple reports from both the general users as well as a few reviewers, neither Xiaomi nor Netflix have pushed any update addressing this issue.
Performance
Octa-core MediaTek Dimensity 920 5G SoC (6nm)
6/8GB LPDDR4X RAM, 128GB storage (upgradable)
Android 11 with Xiaomi’s MIUI 12.5 Enhanced Edition on top
To make matter worse, we are well familiar with the fact that Xiaomi doesn’t have the best-of reputation when it comes to software.
Apart from the poor dark mode implementation in some apps and some frequent freezes in Messenger, I haven’t faced any major issues with MIUI on this phone. But to be honest, you never know what you will stumble upon in the future. Likewise, I am pretty surprised to see Xiaomi not specifying the number of years of guaranteed software updates for the 11i and 11i Hypercharge.
This is a bit concerning because the company did promise 3 years of OS updates for the 11 Lite NE 5G, which costs the same as this phone. So, I think they need to maintain some level of consistency going forward.
Nonetheless, you will definitely enjoy using the Xiaomi 11i. It’s respectably fast enough, apps open quickly, and multitasking has not been an issue either with the 8GB RAM variant that I have.
But having used so many phones with the Snapdragon 870 or the Dimensity 1200 chip lately, this one feels a tad bit slower. Then again, if you are coming from a budget or mid-range phone, the Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge is going to feel faster—and also smoother—with that 120Hz display.
Another thing where the Dimensity 920 is good at is handling thermals. Be it while gaming or using heavy apps, this thing doesn’t throttle at all. If you recall, MediaTek processors were always a victim of overheating. And to come from that to this is a job well done. I’m also pretty satisfied with its gaming performance.
Gaming experience
Here, you can play most games at high settings with 100% stability. PUBG Mobile plays smoothly at 60fps with graphics set to Smooth and frame rates to Extreme. If you want better visuals instead, you can set the graphics to HDR and frame rates to Ultra—although the frame rates go down to 40fps here.
Similarly, Call of Duty is another high-end game that takes a toll on the graphics, but the Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge gives a stable 60fps in High graphics and Very High frame rates.
Genshin Impact, however, isn’t enjoyable in the highest of settings. But if you dial down the settings to 30fps, the overall stability jumps from 71% to 94%. Likewise, most 120fps games like Mech Arena and Oddmar can hit 120fps even in the highest of settings, which means Xiaomi has optimized these games well for this phone.
Audio & Haptics
Dual stereo speakers, Dolby Atmos audio
X-axis linear vibration motor
Additionally, the stereo speaker here is quite good. It can get plenty loud with a decent level of mids and vocals. It’s obviously not as good as the premium phones, but you should enjoy listening to music or podcast from this speaker setup.
Unfortunately, Xiaomi hasn’t included an impressive vibration motor on the 11i Hypercharge. It’s certainly good enough for most users, but this is one area where I would love to see companies take things to the next level by including flagship-tier motors. That’s because, from my experience, a high-quality vibration motor makes a big difference if you are typing or receive a phone call while riding a bike.
Cameras
Triple camera setup at the back
(108MP main, 8MP ultrawide, 2MP macro)
16MP selfie camera (punch-hole)
Cameras
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Back
Front
Similarly, given the price tag, I believe the camera is one area where Xiaomi’s mid-range phones don’t provide the best possible optimization and the same applies with this phone too. Here, you get a triple-camera setup at the back with a 108MP primary lens, an 8MP ultra-wide, and a useless 2MP macro sensor.
Normal Images
Starting off with the 108MP main camera, I found the daylight images to be pretty average given the price. At times, it can click some good pictures with boosted colors and the right amount of details, while at other times, it oversharpens the images and HDR doesn’t work very well either.
Normal
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Plus, because of the big sensor size, it couldn’t focus close-up shots that easily.
Slow shutter speed
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Moreover, as expected from a mid-range phone, the Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge doesn’t have the fastest shutter speeds and an excellent image processor to capture well-detailed shots of moving subjects like your pets too.
Portrait Images
What’s even more lackluster from this primary camera is that it oversharpens human subjects, especially under the portrait mode.
Portrait
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Portrait
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Portrait
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Portrait
And it just doesn’t look good. Xiaomi’s product team should’ve addressed this via an update ASAP, but here we are.
Ultrawide Images
As for the secondary 8MP ultra-wide-lens, it’s alright and nothing extra-ordinary.
Ultrawide
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Ultrawide
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Ultrawide
But that’s me lowering my expectations given the average primary lens.
Nighttime Images
Nighttime
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Nighttime
Night Mode
Nighttime
Night Mode
During lowlights, the 108MP camera on the Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge does a decent job to minimize noise levels and you can get even better shots with Night Mode turned ON. Then again, there’s a noticeable boost in contrast under this.
Selfie Images
Selfie
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Selfie
Portrait Selfie
Selfie
Portrait Selfie
Selfie
Portrait Selfie
On the front, its 20MP camera performs better than the back cameras. The selfies look good and it doesn’t oversharpen the images like with the portrait shots.
Videography
Video-wise, it’s not the best phone for you if you take a lot of videos. It maxes out at 4K 30fps where the output is wobbly and jerky if there’s an insufficient amount of light. It seems they have turned off EIS here for some reason. Even the 1080p 60fps videos lack stabilization.
So, if you want to capture stable videos from this phone, you’ll be restricted to 1080p 30fps mode—both from the primary and ultrawide cameras.
For selfie videos, the Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge lets you capture at up to 1080p 60fps where footages come off a little wobbly—although the results are relatively steadier at 30fps mode. Regardless, the video quality from the front camera is strictly average with quite a narrow field of view as well.
Overall, if you want a good camera experience, you should definitely skip the Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge. At a similar price, you can get Samsung’s Galaxy A52s or the iQOO 7, both of which offer way superior cameras.
Battery
4500mAh with 120W fast charging
Finally, let’s now talk about Xiaomi 11i’s best thing that I’ve saved for last—which is the battery and charging. Especially charging. Here, its battery life is nothing to write home about. If you are a heavy user, it will provide you with around 5 hours of screen-on time, which translates to a day’s worth of usage and nothing more.
But the charging tech that’s embedded here is just extraordinary.
As I mentioned at the beginning of the review, the 120W power brick that comes with the Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge fuels its 4500mAh battery from 0 to 100% in about 17 to 18 minutes in Boost mode, which puts it among the fastest charging phones out there.
Here, the “Boost” mode is a bit susceptible to heat, so I turned it OFF. With this, it takes like 22 minutes for a full charge. Xiaomi also claims that they have taken industry-leading quality measures with the charger by acquiring TUV Rheinland Safe Fast-Charge Certification and over 30 protection features.
On top of this, the company says that the Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge’s battery retains up to 80% capacity even after 800 charge or discharge cycles, whereas other smartphones retain only up to 60% of battery capacity after just 500 cycles.
Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge Review: Conclusion
So, yes—this is pretty high-tech stuff for a midrange phone, which brings me to the end of my review of the Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge. Should you buy this phone? Sadly, the answer for me is a no and I have some valid arguments to back it up.
While I do appreciate Xiaomi bringing such an amazing charging technology to the masses, in doing so, the price of the product has gone too high. If it had a 67W or even a 33W charger, the overall experience would have remained the same. Exactly what the regular Xiaomi 11i delivers for INR 2,000 less.
But, that’s not only the reason why I wouldn’t recommend this phone. What other companies are offering at a similar price range is equally important.
You can get the Galaxy A52s instead that offers a better display and cameras—alongside a very similar performance. On the other hand, you can also pick the good old iQOO 7 for INR 29,999 from Amazon India, which comes with a more capable Snapdragon 870 chipset on top of a good display and camera setup.
Watch our video review of the Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge:
After the mid-rangeNote 11 series last month, Redmi has now launched its first flagship device for 2022—the Redmi K50 Gaming Edition. There’s even a special edition of this phone built in collaboration with the Mercedes-AMG F1 team. Here, we will be discussing the specs and expected price of the Redmi K50 Gaming Edition in Nepal.
Redmi K50 Gaming Edition Overview:
Design
Starting off with the design, the gaming phone has an “X” shaped pattern on the back as well as on the camera module. Like its predecessor, the camera frame has LED strips that light up in case of any notification.
Design
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Standard
Mercedes AMG F1 Edition
Furthermore, the device has an AG Glass finish on the back, with metal frames. It also retains the tactile shoulder triggers on the right frame. Xiaomi says the new “Magnetic Shoulder Key 2.0” provides the real strike feel of professional gamepads.
As aforementioned, there’s also an AMG Petronas variant of the K50 Gaming Edition. It has two stripes running through the middle of the rear panel, while there’s also a Mercedes F1 logo in the top-right corner. Otherwise, it’s identical to the standard edition.
The Redmi K50 Gaming Edition will be available in Black, Silver, and Blue color. The exclusive Mercedes AMG F1 edition comes in a grey finish.
Display
The Redmi K50 Gaming Edition sports a 6.67-inch AMOLED panel with a 120Hz refresh rate and 480Hz touch sampling rate. It’s a 10-bit screen with FHD+ resolution,DisplayMate A+ certification, andGorilla Glass Victus protection.
Likewise, the panel has a 1920Hz high-frequency Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) dimming feature that reduces the discomfort caused by strobes on the eyes in low-brightness situations. Other features include MEMC, HDR 10+, and DCI-P3 color gamut.
Performance and Memory
Under the hood, the smartphone is powered by a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor. In terms of memory, it comes with 8/12GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 128/256GB of UFS 3.1 internal storage.
For thermals, the smartphone has dual vapor chambers that cover a 4,860 sq. mm area. The chambers transfer the heat from SoC, battery, and IC to its heat spreaders that, as per the company, are 20% more efficient than the last-gen. Users can also purchase Redmi’s custom metal heat dissipation magnetic shell for even better thermal management.
Redmi K50 Gaming Edition houses a triple camera setup at the back led by a 64MP Sony IMX686 sensor. Accompanying this is an 8MP ultrawide and 2MP macro lens. The module also has a flicker sensor that helps in real-time exposure maintenance. Over on the front, it has a 20MP selfie camera with the Sony IMX596 sensor.
Battery and Audio
Fueling the phone is a 4,700mAh battery that supports 120W fast charging. Xiaomi claims it can fully juice up the device in just 17 minutes.
Moving on, the K50 Gaming edition is the world’s first phone to feature a CyberEngine ultra-wideband X-axis vibration motor. To note, it’s the largest haptics motor on an Android smartphone.
Over on the audio front, the phone has the one-one speaker and tweeter combo on each side, resulting in a quad-speaker setup. It’s tuned by JBL and supports Dolby Atmos and Hi-Res Audio.
Rest of the specs
Apart from this, the smartphone is equipped with three WiFi antennas and supports WiFi 6E. Likewise, the phone boots on Android 12-based MIUI 13. For biometrics, there’s a side-mounted fingerprint scanner.
Redmi K50 Gaming Edition Price in Nepal and Availability
The K50 Gaming Edition starts in China at CNY 3,299 for the 8/128GB variant and goes up to CNY 3,599. We expect the price of the Redmi K50 Gaming Edition to start at NPR 70,000, if and when it launches in Nepal.
Moreover, the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Edition is priced at CNY 4199 and is available in sole 12GB+256GB configuration. Xiaomi says this special edition is limited to only 10,000 units and will go on sale on February 18.
Redmi K50 Gaming Edition
Price in China
Price in Nepal (Expected)
8/128GB
CNY 3,299
NPR 70,000
12/128GB
CNY 3,599
NPR 75,000
12/256GB
CNY 3,899
NPR 80,000
Special Edition (12/256GB)
CNY 4,199
NPR 85,000
Meanwhile, check out our review of the Poco F3 GT.
Honor says the 3D closed arc design of the phone will help users get a better grip. The phone is available in three colors options, Midnight Black, Space Silver, Deep Sea Blue.
You can even distinguish the two phones just by looking at their displays. Red Magic 7 Pro offers an uninterrupted display as it hides the selfie camera under the display. This makes it the first gaming phone to have an under-display selfie camera.
