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Samsung Galaxy S22+ Review: In The Ultra’s Shadows

Pratima Adhikari
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Samsung Galaxy S22+ Review: In The Ultra’s Shadows

A quick intro before heading into this review of the Samsung Galaxy S22+. It’s no surprise that among all three phones in Samsung’s Galaxy S22 series, the S22 Ultra has been getting all the attention while the regular S22 and S22+ are, well, living under its shadow.

And that’s totally understandable! I mean, the Ultra has gotten a complete design overhaul this time whereas it also brings the S-Pen built-in—and a fancier camera setup. But, this also begs another question, “Is Samsung deliberately skipping some essential features on the Plus model to make the Ultra look better?”

Samsung Galaxy S22+ Specifications:

  • Body: 75.8 x 157.4 x 7.6mm, 196 gm, Gorilla Glass Victus+ back, Armored aluminum frames, IP68 dust-water resistant
  • Display: 6.6-inches Dynamic AMOLED 2X, 120Hz refresh rate, 240Hz touch sampling rate, Gorilla Glass Victus+, 1750 nits peak brightness, Vision Booster
  • Resolution: FHD+ (2340 x 1080 pixels), 393 PPI, 19.5:9 aspect ratio
  • Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 5G (4nm mobile platform)
  • CPU: Octa-core:
    – 1x Cortex-X2 (3.0 GHz)
    – 3x Cortex-A710 (2.5 GHz)
    – 4x Cortex-A510 (1.8 GHz)
  • GPU: Adreno 730
  • Memory: 8GB LPDDR5 RAM, 128/256GB UFS 3.1 storage (fixed)
  • Software & UI: Android 12 with Samsung’s One UI 4.1 on top
  • Rear Camera: Triple (with LED flash);
    – 50MP, f/1.8 primary sensor, OIS, Dual Pixel AF
    – 12MP, f/2.2 ultrawide sensor, 120º FoV
    – 10MP, f/2.4 telephoto lens, 3x optical zoom, OIS
  • Front Camera: 10MP, f/2.2 sensor (hole-punch cutout)
  • Audio: Dual stereo speaker, Dolby Atmos audio, No 3.5mm headphone jack
  • Security: Ultrasonic in-display fingerprint sensor, Face unlock, Knox
  • Sensors: Accelerometer, Barometer, Gyro, Geomagnetic, Hall, Light, Proximity
  • Connectivity: Dual-SIM (Nano), WiFi 6E a/b/g/n/ac/ax (Dual-band), Bluetooth 5.2, GPS / AGPS / Glonass / Beidou / Galileo / QZSS, USB Type-C, UWB, 4G LTE (VoLTE), 5G
  • Battery: 4500mAh with 45W wired charging (no power adapter provided)
  • Wireless Charging: Yes (15W), Wireless PowerShare
  • Color Options: Phantom Black, Phantom White, Pink Gold
  • What’s inside the box: Galaxy S22+, SIM ejector, USB-C to USB-C cable
  • Price in Nepal: Rs. 129,999 (8/256GB)

Buy Samsung Galaxy S22+ here

Samsung Galaxy S22+ Review:

Now, don’t get me wrong—I think this is a reasonably good iterative upgrade from its predecessor. But I can’t help but think how this phone could have been so much better if Samsung had shared some spotlight of the Ultra on to the Plus variant too.

"Samsung

Anyway, I have been using it alongside the S22 Ultra for the past 3 weeks. And in this review, I will be sharing my experience of the Samsung Galaxy S22+ with you guys and also answering the question of whether it’s worth considering it over the Ultra as your daily driver or not. Let’s begin!

Design & Build

  • 75.8 x 157.4 x 7.6mm, 196 grams
  • Glass front/back, Armored aluminum frames
  • IP68 dust-and-water resistant

Okay, let’s start with the design side of things. When I first saw the official renders of the S22+, I thought “hey, it looks exactly like the S21+”. But looks can be deceiving after all since the hands-on feel of this phone turned out to be nothing like the Galaxy S21+.

Ditching the classic curved design, Samsung has gone with a more squared-off form factor with round edges this time—kind of like the iPhones.

And I am both happy and sad about this change!

Happy, because the boxier design helps with the grip a lot. Sad, because, well the edges of the S22+ are a bit… sharp—so holding it might not be that comfortable at times. I just wish Samsung had refined this design a bit more—similar to how the S22 Ultra feels so seamless on the hands.

With the glass back and Armored Aluminum frames, the phone does retain a good heft though. And because Samsung has decided to go with a smaller battery here, the S22+ is actually lighter than the S21+ and a bit thinner too.

And something that I’ve always liked about the “Plus” variants is that they are just the right size. They aren’t too small like the entry-level S-series phone and they aren’t that huge like your Ultras either!

As expected, Samsung hasn’t missed out on any flagship features here. You get Gorilla Glass Victus+ protection—both on front and back—then there’s IP68 dust-and-water resistance and also an awesome pair of stereo speakers.

Audio

  • Dual stereo speaker setup
  • No 3.5mm headphone jack

Now, these speakers sound really good. Samsung has fine-tuned the already impressive speakers of the S21+ to give us a more balanced output on the S22+. Pitting it against the Ultra, they sound pretty similar. It’s only that this one slightly boosts the highs while the Ultra’s audio is more leveled up. In most cases, you probably won’t notice the difference between the two though!

Display

  • 6.6-inches FHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X
  • 120/240Hz refresh/touch sampling rate
  • Corning Gorilla Glass Victus+ protection
  • 1750 nits peak brightness, Vision Booster

Samsung always makes sure to provide the best display experience in its flagship phones and you can expect nothing less from the S22+.

This 6.6 inches Dynamic AMOLED display is crisp, the color reproduction is amazing, and it has double the contrast ratio compared to the S21+, which means darker blacks and brighter whites! Not to forget, it achieves 1750 nits of peak brightness, so using it in the brightest environments is not going to result in any kind of visibility issues either.

Samsung Galaxy S22+ - Display 1

Even in terms of visual aesthetics, the bezels here are symmetrical and almost non-existent, so the viewing experience on the S22+ is among the absolute best. And just like the S22 Ultra, it also brings the “Vision Booster” feature which adjusts things like contrast and color saturation in harsh lighting conditions.

It’s something similar to the True Tone feature you’ll find on iPhones—although this is mostly geared towards maintaining excellent visibility under direct sunlight while maintaining excellent colors and contrast levels. But I found this feature to be quite subtle and even unnoticeable at times though!

Regardless, one thing that has bugged me about this display is how it’s not as adaptive as the S22 Ultra.

The S22 Ultra uses LTPO 2.0 technology and thus features an adaptive refresh rate, where the screen can go from 1 – 120Hz depending on your usage scenario. But the S22+ employs something called an LTPS backplane that can only shift between 48 to 120Hz.

Unnecessarily petty

Honestly, I am a little disappointed to see Samsung make such an unnecessary disparity between these two phones. I think it makes perfect sense to include LTPO 2.0 on the S22+ considering its smaller battery capacity and the fact that this is still a USD 1,000 flagship phone.

Samsung Galaxy S22+ - Display 2

Other than that, I’m quite satisfied with the display experience on this thing. This screen also includes an ultrasonic in-display fingerprint sensor and I have to say that Samsung has really perfected it over the years. The sensor’s response is blazingly fast and it’s quite accurate too.

Also, the haptic feedback here is just great—the vibration is strong but it’s not buzzy at all. Even when I had the phone in my bag, I’ve never missed a call and the typing experience on the S22 + is quite pleasant as well.

Performance

  • Octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 5G SoC (4nm)
  • 8GB LPDDR5 RAM, 128/256GB UFS 3.1 storage (fixed)
  • Android 12 with Samsung’s One UI 4.1 on top
  • 4 years platform, 5 years security updates guaranteed

Okay, supporting the performance on the S22 series is Qualcomm’s latest and greatest Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 or Samsung’s in-house Exynos 2200 chip depending on where you live. Previously, the Nepali market would always get the Exynos model. But it’s the opposite this time.

I’ll admit—I was quite bummed about not getting the Exynos variant since there was a lot of hype surrounding Samsung’s collaboration with AMD for RDNA 2 graphics on the Exynos 2200.

AMD RDNA 2 GPU in Samsung Exynos 2200 intial test 3D Mark Wildlife

I remember Samsung even posted a tagline saying “Playtime is over” to promote its latest flagship mobile chip. But ultimately, the Exynos 2200’s real-life performance met with a lot of criticism and the Snapdragon variant turned out to be the superior, more stable option after all!

And with that, I’ve found the real-life performance on the Samsung Galaxy S22+ to be great throughout the review period. The phone is fast, responsive, and capable of handling anything you throw at it. From the most demanding games to heavy multitasking, the S22+ can take it all.

As I mentioned before, I have been using it alongside the S22 Ultra and have been monitoring both their performances too. Naturally, with the same chipset and the same software optimization, both phones deliver similar performance during regular, everyday tasks.

Literally not as cool as the S22 Ultra

However, gaming and thermals under heavy load are where the S22 Ultra has a significant upper hand—mainly because of the newer and improved cooling solution it has, which includes a “Gel-TIM” thermal paste.

Samsung Galaxy S22+ - Design

According to Samsung, it can supposedly transfer heat up to 3.5x more effectively than its predecessor along with graphite sheeting for effective cooling—all of which are missing on the regular S22 and S22+.

Samsung Galaxy S22+ Review: Gaming

Hence, demanding games like Genshin Impact play better on the Ultra with slightly higher fps and sustained thermal performance under the highest settings and 60 fps mode turned on. You have to note that the in-game stability is almost similar between these phones though.

It’s just that the S22+ gets considerably warm rather quickly, and reaches around 43°C near and below the camera module after around 20 minutes into the game. To compare, the S22 Ultra was able to keep the thermals in check with a comparatively cooler surface temperature.

In other less demanding games like PUBG and COD though, both phones showed very similar results where the Plus mostly maintained below 40°C temperature, similar to the Ultra.

On a different note, I am also slightly disappointed in Samsung regarding the fact that being a USD 1,000 flagship phone, the S22+ is restricted to just 8GB RAM and up to 256GB storage while you can configure the Ultra with up to 12GB RAM and an insane 1TB storage.

One UI is still as fun and reliable as ever

Now, regarding the software experience, I like how the company has focused on minute details to improve the overall smartphone experience.

Samsung Galaxy S22+ - UI 1

I love how you can match the entire theme of the UI based on the wallpaper you choose and the adaptive refresh rate works flawlessly while switching from one app to another as well. I know, I know—the theming stuff is part of the Android 12 experience but it’s so well implemented on such a heavily customized Android skin.

And lately, Samsung has been doing great in terms of software updates as well. This time around, it has even promised up to 4 years of platform and 5 years of security updates for its flagship phone! Finally, it feels like Android is almost on-par with iOS in terms of software support and I couldn’t be happier about it!

Cameras

  • Triple camera setup at the back
  • (50MP main, 12MP ultra-wide, 10MP telephoto)
  • 10MP selfie camera (hole-punch cutout)

Alright, let’s talk about cameras now. For this review, I compared the cameras on the Samsung Galaxy S22+ to last year’s S21+. As you might know, the company has made a series of changes in the cameras in this iteration. First off, the main sensor here is a 50MP wide lens followed by a 10MP telephoto camera capable of 3x optical zoom compared to the 3x hybrid zoom on the S21+. Finally, there’s a 12MP ultra-wide lens and a 10MP shooter up front for selfies.

Now, with these cameras, there were basically 2 things I wanted to check:

  1. How much of an improvement is there coming from the S21+?
  2. What are the differences between S22+ and S22 Ultra’s cameras?

Normal Images

Pitting the images from the S21+ and S22+ against each other, you can notice how Samsung has improved shadow processing with the new 50MP sensor where the details levels are relatively better too.

In general, I find the slightly warmer color tone of the S22+ to look more appealing than the cooler ones from the S21+.

Ultrawide Images

The warmer color tones and better shadow processing extend to ultra-wide images too, while the detail levels remain more-or-less the same.

Selfie Images

And I even found the selfies to have quite similar properties except that the S21+ has a reddish tint, whereas the photos from the S22+ have more of a yellowish tint to them.

As I mentioned earlier, I prefer a warmer hue but it’s totally a matter of personal preference. Also, contrast is a lot more balanced on the S22+.

Portrait Images

The S22+ natively uses its 3x telephoto lens for portrait images while the S21+ zooms in 2x to take the same shot.

S22+’s portraits look great with a nice subject focus and good details, but I wish the shadow processing on subjects was better.

The S21+ does soften the subject—a lot actually—but I found that it was able to process shadows better. Hence, in some scenarios, last year’s S21+ actually brings out better portraits.

Nighttime Images

On the other hand, I found the nighttime pictures of the S22+ to be slightly sharper, a bit brighter, and less noisy.

Night mode on both phones works well to reduce noise, but the S22+ still captures better-detailed shots with slightly superior exposure control too.

So yeah, Samsung has definitely refined the cameras on the S22+. But, it’s worth considering that except for a few subtle improvements, the S21+ is still a great camera phone. And a reliable one at that!

Samsung Galaxy S22+ Review: vs S22 Ultra

Now, comes the more interesting part. Are the cameras on the S22+ as good as the S22 Ultra? Well, if I don’t nitpick, I will say yes. Yeah, it cannot zoom in 100x times like the Ultra, but answer me this: how often would you really use those crazy zoom levels—if at all?

Apart from that, the normal daytime images from the S22 Ultra have better sharpness—even when you zoom in—and they have a slightly warmer color tone too. Besides that, there isn’t much visible difference here.

However, the bigger sensor on the S22 Ultra does struggle to lock focus on close-up subjects which is not a problem for the S22+.

But during nighttime, its 108MP main sensor does manage to capture more light and maintain better sharpness.

And yes, it comes with the same videography prowess as the Ultra where you can shoot up to 8K 24 fps footages with good stabilization. Actually, a lot better stabilization compared to the S21+. But then again, I don’t ever shoot in 8K, so it wasn’t a big deal for me.

Stable at 4K

On the other hand, 4K 60 fps footage is quite stable here, both from the front and the back camera. So if you are someone who’s into vlogging, this is certainly one of the best options out there after the iPhones of course.

Recently, I went on a trip and I shot a lot of videos from both phones. And what I will tell you is that if I go for another trip anytime soon, I will confidently take the S22+ or the Ultra with me for my videography needs.

Battery

  • 4500mAh battery with 45W fast charging
  • 15W wireless charging, Wireless PowerShare

Lastly, let’s talk get into the battery portion of this review of the Samsung Galaxy S22+. Aaaand… it hasn’t been extraordinary, which is a given considering its smaller battery capacity, a power-hungry processor, and the lack of a better dynamic refresh rate feature. In my normal usage, the phone would go from morning to evening with no trouble on a single charge, but that’s it.

If I had to go out for the night, I would have to recharge the battery again. Yet, Samsung seems to have improved the standby time here. With last year’s S21+, I had graphed the overnight battery drain to be as high as 7-8% but with this phone, that number comes to just 2-3%.

I know, not as good as the iPhones, but it’s noteworthy nonetheless.

For charging, the phone supports up to 45W charging, which seems like an upgrade compared to 25W charging on the S21 series, but there’s more to the story. Using a compatible 45W power brick, I logged the time it goes from 0 to 100% at exactly one hour whereas funnily enough, the phone takes just 5 minutes more for a fill-up using a 25W power adapter.

Samsung Galaxy S22+ - Charging

So, if you are thinking of getting the 45W charger for yourself, I would strongly suggest you save the trouble and your money, and go for the 25W charger instead!

Samsung Galaxy S22+ Review: Conclusion

Alright, we have now come to the end of this review and I have to admit that I’ve had a great time using the Samsung Galaxy S22+. I think this is an incredibly practical device for someone who wants to use a flagship Samsung phone, but does not want to go all-in with cash, does not use the S-Pen, and doesn’t need all those fancy zoom capabilities.

For those people, this phone ticks almost all boxes and nails the basics in a really impressive way. I mean, it’s got a great design, an impressive display, cameras that are almost on par with the Ultra, and you’re also getting similar performance levels—if not the same.

Despite everything I discussed throughout this review, I do think Samsung could have made the Galaxy S22+ even better, but decided not to because after all, they’ve got to sell the more expensive phone which has higher profit margins for the company. In the end, this is business!

In an ideal universe, it would have been a perfect phone, if it had all the goodness of the Ultra like the advanced LTPO 2.0 display, the 108MP primary camera, and the new cooling mechanism. Yeah, that would have been a pretty dope universe to live in! So… run, Barry, run… mess up the timeline again!

  • Watch our review video of the Samsung Galaxy S22+

Samsung Galaxy S22+ Review: Pros & Cons

Pros:

  • Premium build quality
  • Great display with symmetrical bezels
  • Fluid, top-notch performance
  • Best-in-class software update policy
  • Takes great photos and videos

Cons:

  • No LTPO 2.0 display
  • Misses out on S22 Ultra’s cooling system
  • Not the best battery endurance
  • 45W charging is not as linearly fast as 25W

AMD unveils FidelityFX Super Resolution 2.0 to take on Nvidia’s DLSS 2.0

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AMD unveils FidelityFX Super Resolution 2.0 to take on Nvidia’s DLSS 2.0

AMD has revealed the successor to its FidelityFX Super Resolution technology, which it launched last year. Dubbed as FidelityFX Super Resolution 2.0, it is intended to improve image quality and overall performance at various resolutions. Read along to know more about the AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution 2.0. 

AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution 2.0:

Before getting into FidelityFX 2.0, let’s learn a bit about its predecessor. The FSR 1.0 is a straightforward spatial upscaling technology that works with the current frame to produce a higher resolution image. This technique, however, has limitations of its own.

FSR 1.0 lacks its own anti-aliasing solution. So, it uses the game’s anti-aliasing technology to reduce distortion artifacts in images. This approach, however, may not be as effective as having its own’s anti-aliasing solution. As a result, any shimmering artifacts in the game would be evident in the FSR picture as well. Likewise, it doesn’t work well at low resolutions as there is just not enough data to upscale the frames. 

Advancements

AMD FSR 2.0

FSR 2.0 addresses these two shortcomings extensively. The new approach moves away from spatial upscaling and toward temporal image reconstruction. It employs frame color, depth, motion vectors, and data from prior frames to recreate a high-resolution image. Likewise, it no longer needs to rely on the game’s in-built aliasing, since it includes its own anti-aliasing solution which ensures more consistent image quality.

In a nutshell, it works on an almost similar principle as the new Nvidia’s DLSS 2.0 and Intel’s XeSS. However, both of these solutions rely on AI and machine learning algorithms to rebuild the image, which requires hardware-level assistance. FSR 2.0, on the other hand, doesn’t include an AI or ML component. This means it’s also compatible with GPUs from Nvidia and Intel.

Gameplay

AMD FSR 2.0 vs FSR 1.0 vs Native 4K

The company has also shown off its work on the DeathLoop game, which will be among the first title to include this feature. As one can clearly see, the FSR 2.0 keeps more details and depth in the visuals in the game’s Ultra graphics preset than the FSR 1.0 and native 4K resolution.

AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution 2.0 Compatibility and Availability

FSR 2.0 will be compatible with all devices that currently support FSR 1.0. Just as the first-generation FideltyFX, it can also be used in PCs, consoles, and even mobile devices. AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution 2.0 is expected to be rolled out in the second quarter of 2022.

  • Meanwhile, check out our comparison of Intel i7-12700K vs i7-11700K. 

Redmi K40S announced with mild upgrades over last year’s K40

GadgetByte
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Redmi K40S announced with mild upgrades over last year’s K40

Yesterday, Redmi hosted an online event in China, where the company unveiled the K50 Series. It also announced the K40S, which brings slight improvements over last year’s K40. In this article, we will be discussing the key specs, features, expected price, and availability of the Redmi K40S in Nepal.

Redmi K40S Overview:

Performance

To start, Redmi K40S has the same Snapdragon 870 chipset that powered the vanilla K40. That being said, the company claims to have improved the colling mechanism. Redmi K40S boasts a 400% larger liquid cooling surface, a 7-layer graphite heat dissipation area, and 9 temperature sensors.

The base variant of the phone comes with 6GB of RAM and 128GB storage, while the top-end model brings 12GB RAM and double the storage. As expected, the phone uses the LPDDR5 RAM and UFS 3.1 storage.

Design and Display

Moving on, Redmi K40S doesn’t look anything like the rest of the K40 lineup. In fact, it inherits the design cues from the K50 lineup. The phone has a flat edge and a re-designed camera bump at the back. It is available in four color options.

Redmi K40S Design and Display

On the front, there is a 6.67” FHD E4 AMOLED panel like the K40. It even has the 120Hz refresh rate and 360Hz touch sampling rate. The center-aligned punch-hole houses the 20MP selfie camera.

Camera

As for optics, Redmi K40S flaunts a triple camera setup at the back. Leading the lineup is the 50MP Sony IMX582 sensor, which now has Optical Image Stabilization. It is accompanied by an 8MP ultrawide and a 2MP macro camera. The latter is a downgrade as K50 had a 5MP module.

Rest of the Specs

The battery size has also remained unchanged at 4,500mAh. However, Redmi has included support for faster 67W charging. The phone boots on MIUI 13, and it has support for Wi-Fi 6, NFC, and dual 5G.

Redmi K40S Specifications:

  • Dimension: 163.2 x 75.95 x 7.7mm; 195 grams
  • Display: 6.67-inch Full HD+ E4 AMOLED, HDR10 +, 120Hz refresh rate, 1300nit brightness, Corning Gorilla Glass 5
  • Chipset: Snapdragon 870 (7nm)
  • RAM: 6GB / 8GB / 12GB LPPDDR5 RAM
  • Storage: 128GB / 256GB UFS 3.1 storage
  • OS: MIUI 13
  • Rear Camera: 48MP primary lens with OIS, 8MP  ultra-wide-angle lens, 2MP macro lens
  • Selfie Camera: 20MP
  • Battery: 4500mAh with 67W wired QC3 +/ PD3.0

Redmi K40S Price in Nepal and Availability (Expected)

Redmi K40S is currently a China-exclusive smartphone. Its price starts at CNY 1,799 and goes all the way up to CNY 2,399, depending upon the memory variant. If it launches here, we expect the price of Redmi K40S in Nepal to start at NPR 38,000.

Redmi K40S  Price in China (Official)  Price in Nepal (Expected) 
6/128GB  CNY 1,799  NPR 38,000 
8/128GB  CNY 1,999  NPR 42,000 
8/256GB  CNY 2,199  NPR 45,000 
12/256GB  CNY 2,399  NPR 50,000 
  • Meanwhile, check out our review of the Xiaomi 11T Pro.

Vivo T1 5G (iQOO Z6) Review: ‘T’ Stands For Tolerable

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Vivo T1 5G (iQOO Z6) Review: ‘T’ Stands For Tolerable

In this Vivo T1 5G review, I’ll be discussing all about this mid-range 5G phone. As you guys might know, Vivo boasts some of the best design and camera phones the industry has to offer. But, the brand hasn’t really been able to build a name for itself when it comes to delivering the best value-oriented smartphones.

Seems like the company wants to turn this tale around with its T-lineup of devices. For starters, “T” is an entirely new series from the brand that is geared towards the Gen-Z audience. And, at present, it consists of only one smartphone—the Vivo T1 5G which I have been using for over two weeks now.

Vivo T1 5G Specifications:

  • Body: 164 × 75.84 × 8.25mm; 187g
  • Display: 6.58-inch IPS LCD, 120Hz refresh rate, 240Hz touch sampling (Game mode only)
  • Resolution: FHD+ (2408 x 1080 pixels), 20:9 aspect ratio
  • Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 5G (6nm)
  • CPU: Octa-core (2×2.2 GHz Cortex-A78 & 6×1.7 GHz Cortex-A55)
  • GPU: Adreno 619
  • Memory: 4/6/8GB RAM, 128GB storage
  • OS: Android 12 based Funtouch OS 12
  • Rear Camera: Triple (50MP primary + 2MP depth + 2MP macro)
  • Front Camera: 16MP (teardrop notch)
  • Connectivity: Dual-SIM (Nano), Dual-band WiFi (2.4GHz, 5GHz), Bluetooth 5.1, GPS / AGPS / Glonass / Beidou, USB Type-C, 4G LTE (VoLTE), 5G
  • Security: Fingerprint (side-mounted)
  • Battery: 5000mAh with 18W wired charging
  • Color Options: Starlight Black, Rainbow Fantasy
  • Price in Nepal: N/A (INR 16,990 for 6/128GB in India)

Vivo T1 5G Review:

The new Vivo T1 5G comes in three memory options —6/8/12GB—while you only get 128GB storage. I have it in the 6GB RAM and 128GB storage configuration which costs some INR 16,990 in India.

That price puts it in the same league as the recently launched Realme 9 Pro 5G and Redmi Note 11T 5G. By the way, the new iQOO Z6 is the same phone as this one, but with a cheaper price tag. As a result, the T1 5G has got quite a competition here. So, is Vivo heading in the right direction with the new T1 5G smartphone, let’s find out in this review.

Design

  • 164 × 75.84 × 8.25mm; 187g
  • Plastic back/frames, Glass front

Vivo T1 5G Display

First things first, the most alluring aspect of this smartphone—like most Vivo phones—is its design. It is available in two color options—Starlight Black and Rainbow Fantasy—and I have it in this Black color that features a glitter embossed finish on the back.

After using some flashy-looking phones like V23 Pro and Reno 7 Pro, I wanted to go with something subtle, so I grabbed this one. And to be honest, this black shade looks much better in person than it does in pictures. Don’t you think? Plus, the T1 comes with a matte finish that does not attract any fingerprints or smudges. So, that’s good too!

Moreover, Vivo is touting the T1 as the slimmest 5G phone under the 20,000 price bracket in India. At 8.25mm it’s definitely slim—if not the slimmest—and with just 187 grams of weight, it is not bulky either. Then there are these 2.5D flat frames on the sides that provide you with a really comfortable grip. Likewise, for biometrics, the right frame houses a fingerprint sensor infused in the power button which is quite fast and accurate.

Here, I can see how much work Vivo has put in to achieve this design, but the one thing that has bugged me since I started using the phone is the dewdrop notch on the front. As one can easily tell, the notch makes the phone look quite outdated in 2022. I mean, how much effort or engineering would it have taken to cut a punch-hole in the center or on the left?

Display

  • 6.58-inch IPS LCD, FHD+ (2408 x 1080 pixels)
  • 120Hz refresh rate, 240Hz touch sampling (Game mode only)

Vivo T1 5G Display

Regardless, the front greets you with a 6.58-inch screen with an FHD+ resolution. Now, it’s not an AMOLED panel, but for the most part, it’s quite good. Content looks sharp with good colors and the screen can get sufficiently bright as well. And, while the display on T1 does not have any HDR 10 certification, you do get WideVine L1 support for Full HD streaming on OTT platforms like Netflix.

Moving on, this screen also boasts a 120Hz refresh rate to deliver a smooth UI scrolling experience while the touch sampling rate can hit 240Hz on the game mode. But things aren’t well optimized here to make full use of the higher refresh rate.

In my time with the device, there were multiple instances where I had to deal with frequent stutters in animations while opening the app or scrolling through my social media feeds, and sometimes it showed such serious lags to the point of frustration.

Vivo T1 5G UI

The issue got fixed to some extent with an update in the first week of March. Even though, one can still witness twitches in animation when multitasking between apps and sometimes even while scrolling through the Google News-feed. And, this issue is persistent in 60Hz and the 90Hz mode too. So I hope Vivo fixes this with another software update ASAP.

Performance

  • Octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 (6nm)
  • 4/6/8GB RAM, 128GB storage
  • Android 12 with Funtouch OS 12 on top

Keeping the transition issue aside, the T1’s performance is pretty swift for a mid-range device. Powering this handset is a Snapdragon 695 SoC which on a quick glance may feel like a mediocre processor—but actually, it’s not. In fact, Snapdragon 695 has newer Cortex-A78 and Cortex-A55 cores and can deliver performance comparable to the Snapdragon 750G.

As I have already used 695 in Moto G71, I am well aware of what this processor is capable of. The phone can easily handle regular day-to-day tasks while I have no complaints with its memory management either.

Gaming

On to the gaming side of things, PUBG mobile caps out at HD graphics and High frame rate settings where you get fairly stable gameplay with no major stutters. For the smoothest of experience, Smooth graphics and Ultra frame rate yields a better result. Similarly, Pokémon Unite which offers 60fps gameplay is well playable at its highest settings.

Vivo T1 5G Gaming

That said, Snapdragon 695 is not a gaming chipset by any means. Relatively heavier game like Genshin Impact is only playable at 30fps by dialing down everything in the setting to Low. But, even at the lowest of settings, you will still notice stutters every now and then. All in all, Snapdragon 695 is a pretty capable chipset for day-to-day performance but don’t expect it to give you an edge on gaming.

Battery

  • 5000mAh battery with 18W charging

Moreover, as this SoC is manufactured on a 6nm process, you can expect a good battery life here. And, despite the slim form factor, Vivo has managed to squeeze a fairly big 5000mAh battery within. So, during my review period with this phone, I managed to get at least 7-8 hours of screen-on time almost every day.

Vivo T1 5G Charging

However, Vivo has done cost-cutting on the charging front by providing just 18W charging support. To be honest, the 18W speed on a mid-range phone doesn’t feel like a fast-charging anymore, as it takes around 2 hours and 10 min to fully juice up this 5000mAh battery. Even a 30W charging support would have done wonders, but that’s what you get.

5G Bands

Like the charging speed, the company has also compromised on providing a good number of 5G bands, as the smartphone supports just two of them. This is much lower than what other companies are providing in this price range.

Software

Regardless, the T1 certainly has an edge over other mid-range phones in terms of software as it boots on FunTouch OS 12 which is based on Android 12. As a result, you get to enjoy major Android 12 privacy-focused features like Privacy Dashboard, camera or microphone indicator, and others.

Vivo T1 5G Software

Regarding the software update, there’s no official announcement from the brand about the number of Android upgrades the device will get. But, I am hoping that Vivo has plans to push at least up to the Android 14 update in T1.

Camera

  • Triple camera setup at the back
  • (50MP main, 2MP depth, 2MP macro)
  • 16MP selfie camera (dewdrop notch)

Okay, time to talk about its cameras. Hardware-wise, it’s nothing extraordinary here. The phone even misses out on an ultra-wide sensor and there are these 2MP gimmicky lenses for depth and macro shots.

I still don’t get why do brands even need to include these sensors in 2022 mid-range phones knowing that they are completely useless. Instead, I would be much happier to see a good ultra-wide sensor, which would have been quite beneficial for many. So, the only piece of the camera on the rear that one can be relied on is the 50MP primary lens.

Normal Images

And, thankfully its main camera can pull off some great shots. Here, the photos aren’t that oversaturated and have natural color tone while it maintains contrast very well too. And, the images retain a good dynamic range as well. Overall, I am quite happy with the photography prowess of the phone during good lighting conditions.

Portrait Images

Now, for portraits, as you can see, the T1 zooms in for a better subject focus. The images here have a nice background blur and a good skin tone while the edge detection is decent for a mid-range phone. Likewise, the exposure is nicely balanced even against the direct lighting environment.

Selfie Images

Moreover, the selfies are also quite good with a maintained exposure level in the background. It smoothens the subject a bit, but that doesn’t look unnatural by any means.

Nighttime Images

Now, normal nighttime images from the Vivo T1 have a decent level of detail with fairly controlled light flares.

The night mode, on the other hand, does help to improve the details. However, in the majority of situations, I found that it focuses solely on light sources and tries to control the exposure in such areas which results in an overall dark image than the regular nighttime shots.

Macro Images

Macro shots unsurprisingly miss out on sufficient details. Nonetheless, it does not oversaturate the colors.

Video

On to the video side of things, the Vivo T1 can record at up to 1080p@60fps resolution from its rear cameras. Unfortunately, it doesn’t come with any type of stabilization. As a result, there were noticeable shakes in the video while walking around. The story remains the same in the 1080p@30fps footage. Likewise, selfie video caps out at 1080p 30fps, and the videos aren’t stabilized here either. It also struggles to maintain the exposure in the background.

Audio

  • Bottom-firing mono speaker
  • 3.5mm headphone jack

Vivo T1 5G Ports

In terms of audio, it has a bottom-firing mono speaker that can get loud enough for your casual multimedia consumption. But, it definitely doesn’t provide the immersive-ness of a stereo speakers setup. Call quality is more than satisfactory though. I got no complaint from people on the receiving end about the loudness or clarity of my voice. There’s no trouble with the proximity sensor either.

Vivo T1 5G Review: Conclusion

Okay, this brings me to the end of my review of the Vivo T1 5G. So, should you buy this phone? Frankly speaking, I am hesitant to say a direct Yes! And I have some reasons for saying that.

Yep, it has a fairly capable chipset, that offers balanced performance and the camera can pull off great photos—something I believe most mid-range phones lack. But that’s basically where the edge of T1 comes to an end. Despite having a 120Hz display, it isn’t fully optimized, the ultra-wide sensor is missing from the camera stack, and while being a 5G focused device, it even lacks a sufficient amount of 5G bands. The device also has an old dewdrop notch that certainly looks out of place in 2022. And the company hasn’t even included a stereo speaker setup to enhance the multimedia experience.

So, putting these pros and cons side-by-side on a scale, I definitely do not need to tell which side has the upper hand. For a similar price, I believe Realme 9 Pro 5G should be a better value for money, as it has a higher number of 5G bands—at least higher than Vivo T1; supports 33W fast charging, and has an ultra-wide lens included camera array.

  • Watch our review video of the Vivo T1 5G (iQOO Z6)

Vivo T1 5G Review: Pros and Cons 

Pros:

  • Ergonomic design
  • Snapdragon 695 SoC
  • Decent battery life
  • Reliable cameras
  • Android 12

Cons:

  • Unoptimized 120Hz display
  • Dewdrop notch
  • No ultrawide lens
  • Two 5G band support
  • 18W chaerging
  • No stereo speakers

Redmi K50 Pro announced with Dimensity 9000, 108MP OIS camera

GadgetByte
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0
Redmi K50 Pro announced with Dimensity 9000, 108MP OIS camera

Last month, Redmi announced the K50 Gaming Edition smartphone. The company has finally pulled the curtains off the rest of the lineup. In this post, we will be discussing the key specs, features, expected price, and availability of the Redmi K50 Series (K50, K50 Pro) in Nepal. 

Redmi K50 Pro Overview: 

Design and Display 

Redmi K50 Pro sports a Samsung-made 6.67” E4 AMOLED panel with a resolution of 3200 x 1440 pixels. Refresh rate and touch sampling rate are listed at 120Hz and 480Hz, respectively. It is an 8-bit panel with DCI-P3 coverage and support for HDR10/10+ and Dolby Vision. Likewise, it has Gorilla Glass Victus protection. 

The phone has a glass back which is available in four colors. It weighs around 201 grams and measures 8.48mm in thickness. Further, it also has an IP53 rating. 

Redmi K50 Pro Color Options

Performance and Memory 

Under the hood, it is powered by MediaTek’s Dimensity 9000 chipset with brings the latest ARM Cortex Core and the power efficiency of TSMC’s 4nm process. Redmi has paired the chipset with LPDDR5 RAM and UFS 3.1 storage. The company is offering the phone with up to 12GB RAM and 512GB of internal storage. 

The cooling setup of the Redmi K50 Pro consists of a VC liquid-cooling and a 7-layer graphite surface. Redmi has adopted the same VC cooling technology as it did on the K50 Gaming Edition. 

Camera 

The re-designed camera bump at the back of the Redmi K50 Pro features a triple camera setup. Redmi has used the 108MP Samsung ISOCELL HM2 sensor for the primary camera. It brings a 1/1.52” sensor and a 6P lens. Likewise, it now also has Optical Image Stabilization.

The ultrawide has remained unchanged at 8MP. On the other hand, Redmi has downgraded the macro camera to a mere 2MP. The rear camera is capable of recording at 4K 30fps and 720p slow-mo videos.

Redmi K50 Pro Camera Setup

Over on the front, Redmi has used a 20MP Sony IMX596 sensor for the selfie camera. Its video capability is capped at 1080p 30fps. 

Rest of the Specs 

Fueling the phone is a 5,000mAh battery with support for 120W charging. Unlike other flagships with fast charging capabilities, Redmi K50 Pro uses a single-cell battery. This has been made possible with the in-house Surge P1 chip. Redmi ships the phone with a compatible PD charger. 

The phone boots on MIUI 13 out of the box. Other notable features of the Redmi K50 Pro include Wi-Fi 6 connectivity, NFC, dual stereo speakers, and infrared sensor. 

Redmi K50 

Redmi K50 is a slightly toned-down version of the Redmi K50. It brings the same 2K display as the Pro model but compromises on other aspects. For starters, it is powered by Dimensity 8100 chipset. Likewise, it replaces the 108MP HM2 sensor with Sony’s 48MP IMX582 primary sensor. That being said, it retains the OIS stabilization and the rest of the cameras. Finally, Redmi K50’s charging speed caps at 67W. 

Redmi K50, K50 Pro Specifications: 

  • Display: 6.67-inch QHD+ AMOLED, 120Hz refresh rate, 480 touch sampling rate, Gorilla Glass Victus protection 
  • Chipset: Dimensity 8100 (5nm) / Dimensity 9000 (4nm) 
  • RAM: 8GB / 12GB LPPDDR5 RAM 
  • Storage: 128GB / 256GB /512GB UFS 3.1 storage 
  • OS: MIUI 13 based on Android 12 
  • Rear Camera: 48MP/108MP primary with OIS, 8MP ultra-wide, 2MP macro 
  • Selfie Camera: 20MP 
  • Battery: 5,000mAh with 67/120W fast charging 

Redmi K50, K50 Pro Price in Nepal and Availability 

Currently, the Redmi K50 series is exclusive to China, where the price starts at CNY 2,399 for the Pro model and CNY 2,999 for the vanilla model. If Xiaomi decides to bring them to Nepal, we expect the price of Redmi K50 and K50 Pro to start at NPR 50,000 and NPR 81,000, respectively.

Redmi K50 Series  Memory Configurations  Price in China (Official)  Price in Nepal (Expected) 
 

Redmi K50 

 8/128GB  CNY 2,399  NPR 50,000 
8/256GB  CNY 2,599  NPR 55,000 
12/256GB  CNY 2,799  NPR 58,000 
 

Redmi K50 Pro 

 8/128GB   CNY 2,999  NPR 62,000 
8/256GB  CNY 3,299  NPR 68,000 
12/256GB  CNY 3,599  NPR 73,000 
12/512GB  CNY 3,999  NPR 81,000 

  • Meanwhile, check out our review of the Xiaomi 11T Pro.

Realme 9 Pro+ Review: Jack Of All, Master Of Many

Nikhil Shrestha
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1
Realme 9 Pro+ Review: Jack Of All, Master Of Many

Here’s our full review of the new Realme 9 Pro+ after having used it for a month. While the company’s GT lineup of smartphones has been a hit among critics and fans alike, its more mainstream number series… is a different story.

With intense competition from Xiaomi, the Realme 8 series was a possible breaking point and a glaring reminder that Realme really needed to get its act together if it wants to stay competitive and market-relevant. Well, it seems that the company has heard all the complaints loud and clear this time.

Realme 9 Pro+ Specifications:

  • Body: 73.3 x 160.2 x 7.99mm, 182 gm, Glass back, Plastic frames
  • Display: 6.4-inches Super AMOLED panel, 90Hz refresh rate, 360Hz touch sampling rate, Gorilla Glass 5, Up to 600 nits brightness (HBM)
  • Resolution: FHD+ (2400 x 1080 pixels), 409 PPI, 20:9 aspect ratio
  • Chipset: MediaTek Dimensity 920 5G (6nm mobile platform)
  • CPU: Octa-core:
    – 2x Cortex-A78 (2.5 GHz)
    – 6x Cortex-A55 (2.0 GHz)
  • GPU: Arm Mali-G68 MC4
  • Memory: 6/8GB LPDDR4X RAM, 128/256GB UFS 2.2 storage (fixed)
  • Software & UI: Android 12 with Realme UI 3.0 on top
  • Rear Camera: Triple (with LED flash);
    – 50MP, f/1.8 Sony IMX766 1/1.56″ sensor, OIS, EIS
    – 8MP, f/2.2 Sony IMX355 ultrawide sensor, 119º FoV, EIS
    – 2MP, f/2.4 macro lens, 4cm fixed focus
  • Front Camera: 16MP, f/2.4 Sony IMX471 sensor (hole-punch cutout)
  • Audio: Dual stereo speaker, Dolby Atmos audio, 3.5mm headphone jack
  • Security: Optical in-display fingerprint sensor (with heart rate monitor), Face unlock
  • Sensors: Accelerometer, Light, Proximity, Gyro, Magnetic induction
  • Connectivity: Dual-SIM (Nano), WiFi 6 a/b/g/n/ac/ax (Dual-band), Bluetooth 5.2, GPS / AGPS / Glonass / Beidou, USB Type-C, 4G LTE (VoLTE), 5G
  • Battery: 4500mAh with 60W SuperDart charge (65W power adapter provided)
  • Color Options: Sunrise Blue, Aurora Green, Midnight Black
  • What’s inside the box: Realme 9 Pro+, Transparent case, SIM ejector, 65W power adapter, USB-A to USB-C cable
  • Price in Nepal: Rs. 41,999 (6/128GB) | Rs. 45,499 (8/128GB)

Realme 9 Pro+ Review:

The new Realme 9 series brings a healthy upgrade over its predecessor—some more than others—where the top-of-the-line Realme 9 Pro+ is an especially interesting phone. As the first “Pro+” phone in the lineup, there are a lot of big talking points here. And that starts with the price itself!

Redmi Note 11 Pro Design
Redmi Note 11 Pro (4G)

I mean, Realme’s number series has naturally always drawn comparison with Redmi’s Note series based on their similar pricing, but the 9 Pro+ is on a whole another level. Even the Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G—which is the most expensive entry in its lineup—is almost 20% cheaper than this guy.

Anyway, the Realme 9 Pro+ compares against the costlier Xiaomi 11i series instead—which is why I’ve been testing it out against the Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge for about a month now. And in this review, I’ll be discussing if the Realme 9 Pro+ is actually worth your money or not, among other things.

Design & Build

  • 73.3 x 160.2 x 7.99mm, 182 grams
  • Glass front/back, plastic frames
  • No official IP certification

Okay, let’s kick off this review of the Realme 9 Pro+ with its design and build quality. If you’ve already read our early impressions of the phone, you know that I’m quite fond of how well-built this thing is. Not that it’s a compact phone or anything but I’ve had zero trouble handling it with one hand during my everyday use.

This is all thanks to the curved back and how slim and lightweight its design is. At 182 grams, it’s certainly not the lightest phone I’ve used but most of the time I’d even forget that I have the phone in my pocket! Furthermore, everything from its build material to the button placement feels almost exactly tailored to my liking. Emphasis on almost.

Much to my disappointment, this is one flamboyant look! I guess I can’t say I’m surprised because it’s a Realme phone after all—a dull design is absolutely out of the question for the company. From plastering its “Dare to Leap” slogan at the back of the phone to coming up with looks inspired by a suitcase or even an onion, Realme simply doesn’t do boring.

Maybe boring phones, but never boring designs!

Then again, if you like this glossy, shimmering finish, more power to you! The “Sunrise Blue” color option even has a color-changing “photochromic” back like the Vivo V23 Pro. Its glass sandwich body also takes me back to the days of Realme 6 Pro which also had a dual-glass design—while Realme shamelessly dared to downgrade to a plastic back on the 7 and 8 series.

For the fans of the flair

Unlike the glossy rear panel that catches fingerprint smudges a little too easily, its plastic side rails arrive in a nice matte finish though. This Realme GT 2-inspired camera island looks pretty seek as well and I like how the TPU case that comes inside the box extends to individual lenses.

By the way, the camera bump is significant enough to cause wobbles when placed on a flat surface but slapping on the case minimizes it to a great extent.

Realme 9 Pro+ - Design 1

But for something that calls itself a Pro+ device, that bottom bezel feels quite out of place. Plus, the phone lacks any form of IP certification whereas even the SIM tray skips a protective rubber gasket. Xiaomi has been offering IP53 dust and splash resistance on phones that cost almost half as this, which is just embarrassing for Realme at this point.

Display

  • 6.4-inches FHD+ Super AMOLED display
  • 90/360Hz refresh/touch sampling rate
  • Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection

Moving on, the Realme 9 Pro+ brings a neat 6.4” Super AMOLED display with a 90Hz refresh rate and up to 360Hz touch sampling rate. It’s a sweet upgrade from the plain old 60Hz refresh rate on the 8 Pro but we all know that Realme should’ve gone 120Hz this time.

Like an official IP rating, Xiaomi has been putting out 120Hz AMOLED displays on much cheaper phones for over a year now. Needless to say, if you’ve already gotten used to 120Hz displays, this is going to feel less than impressive.

As expected, its 90Hz refresh rate is also adaptive—but not in the conventional sense. A traditional adaptive refresh rate means that the display intelligently switches between different levels based on the content on the screen, right?

Realme 9 Pro+ - Display 1

But the 9 Pro+ selects the best refresh rate for an app instead—meaning some apps enjoy the 90Hz smoothness at all times whereas some apps are stuck at 60Hz. Even the much more affordable Realme 9i implements variable refresh rates better!

Any trouble with outdoor visibility?

On the other hand, this display has a peak brightness of just 600 nits which is a heck of a lot less compared to 1000 nits of the Realme 8 Pro. I thought this was going to be problematic when using the phone outdoors but I was pleasantly surprised. With auto-brightness turned on, the 9 Pro+ was able to maintain visibility just fine.

But what’s not fine—at least for someone like me who prefers to use Dark Mode all day long—is how the screen drops the contrast level wayyyyyy too low when hitting peak brightness levels.

Realme clearly thinks this is a feature “to deliver superior visibility under harsh lighting conditions” with the “Adaptive contrast” option in the settings. However, even when I’d kept this option turned off, the issue persisted. And while I haven’t seen other reviewers or users face this issue, Always on Display simply doesn’t work on our unit either.

HDR playback

Plus, the phone has trouble handling HDR playback as well (except on YouTube). First thing first, the Realme 9 Pro+ doesn’t support Netflix natively. You can easily sideload it from third-party sources but the app just doesn’t appear on Play Store.

Update: As of March 22, 2022, Realme 9 Pro+ has native Netflix support—although HDR playback is still missing.

With this, although Widevine L1 support is present to stream in Full HD resolution, the phone can’t play HDR videos on Netflix. Same with Prime Video. Disabling hardware acceleration does liven things up a little but it’s visibly inferior compared to the Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge.

Realme 9 Pro+ - Display 2

All this is not to say the Realme 9 Pro+ has a mediocre display—absolutely not. It delivers excellent color reproduction with a near-perfect contrast ratio. There is a bit of a bluish tint in the default “Vivid” profile but you can effortlessly fix it with the color temperature slider. And even though it can’t play HDR videos on Netflix, the contents look plenty good with lively colors and proper sharpness.

Its optical fingerprint reader is also easy to reach, quick to unlock the phone, and embeds a heart rate monitor as well. Like we mentioned in our impressions of the phone, it would’ve been better if this feature had a separate app—or maybe a tile in the quick settings menu—instead of being hidden deep within the settings.

Audio & Haptics

  • Dual stereo speaker setup
  • Dolby Atmos audio
  • 3.5mm headphone jack

Adding to the content consumption experience is a set of Dolby Atmos-certified stereo speakers. While this is most definitely an upgrade coming from the mono speakers of the Realme 8 Pro, I wouldn’t necessarily call it a significant one because the 7 Pro already had a dual speaker setup.

Anyway, the 9 Pro+ can get loud enough with decent stereo separation and details. But compared to the Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge, its soundstage is noticeably narrower and the overall audio quality doesn’t sound as full either. That being said, this isn’t an issue when taking calls and such.

But what’s possibly best-in-class in the Realme 9 Pro+ is the haptics.

This is something often overlooked on budget and mid-range phones but I can’t emphasize enough just much difference a good vibration motor makes on a smartphone. The 9 Pro+ employs an X-axis linear motor that gives a short, crisp, and precise feedback—just the way I like it.

Performance

  • Octa-core MediaTek Dimensity 920 5G SoC (6nm)
  • 6/8GB LPDDR4X RAM, 128/256GB UFS 2.2 storage (fixed)
  • Android 12 with Realme UI 3.0 on top

Let’s get to the performance side of this Realme 9 Pro+ review now. Powering the phone is MediaTek’s Dimensity 920 5G, which is a fairly powerful chip for a mid-range phone in 2022. Interestingly, although Realme could’ve used faster LPDDR5 memory and UFS 3.1 storage with this chip, you’re getting LPDDR4X RAM and UFS 2.2 storage here. Xiaomi did the same with the 11i series too, by the way.

MediaTek Dimensity 920 5G

Then again, the phone has handled my everyday chores perfectly fine, while I can’t complain about the memory management on this thing either. I ran my usual app opening and multitasking test between the 9 Pro+ and 11i Hypercharge and both phones performed spectacularly by managing to keep all apps in memory.

Realme 9 Pro+ Review: Benchmarks

This is especially impressive seeing how the much more expensive OnePlus 9RT failed to keep most heavy apps in memory in our speed test. Yet, there is a noticeable dip in app load time—and even memory management—when turning off “High Performance” battery mode.

To note, both the 9 Pro+ and 11i Hypercharge boot with 3GB of virtual RAM enabled by default, but we all know just how little bearing that has on the overall performance of the device. Under normal usage and even during some pretty complex benchmark runs, the Realme 9 Pro+ shows no signs of overheating.

Just look at a few of these tests: from AnTuTu to PCMark to even 3DMark’s Wild Life Extreme Stress Test, the temperature jump is almost insignificant.

Gaming experience

Having said that, the phone does get significantly warm when playing some demanding 3D games like Genshin Impact at the max settings. For instance, under the Highest graphics quality with 60 fps turned on, the phone gives a rather choppy 20 – 30 fps on average.

Realme 9 Pro+ - Genshin Impact - Highest (60 fps)
Highest graphics, 60 fps, Motion blur off

As you can see from the framerate chart, the 9 Pro+ does hit 35 to 45 fps every now and then—but the gameplay is simply too inconsistent with just 66% fps stability. Likewise, I logged the peak temperature at the front and back of the phone at a whopping 42.4°C and 40.6°C after just 5 minutes into the game.

20 minutes in, the Realme 9 Pro+ got hotter by a degree more on both sides while the game was still incredibly stuttery with heavy frame drops on frequent occasions. Dialing it down to 30 fps mode, I was getting considerably better fps stability—at least for the first 5 minutes or so. Because the game doesn’t try to push as many pixels now, the frame rate chart shows a near-steady 30 fps here.

Realme 9 Pro+ - Genshin Impact - Highest (30 fps)
Highest graphics, 30 fps, Motion blur off

As a result, the phone’s temperature stays at a decent level as well. But after 20 minutes or so, there is still a slight dip in stability while the peak temperature reaches the same level as under the 60 fps mode.

What’s more?

On to some relatively less resource-hungry titles, the phone pretty much delivers a steady 40 fps on PUBG under HDR graphics and Ultra frame rates. Even after 30 minutes into the game, I was getting a constant 40 fps, but the CPU and battery temperatures were somewhat concerning.

So, I’d recommend keeping the game to Smooth graphics and Extreme frame rates for the best PUBG experience on the 9 Pro+. Besides smoother gameplay itself, the phone’s supposed vapor chamber cooling system is able to handle the heat dissipation much more effectively in this setting.

Even so, I did notice intermittent frame drops to as low as 48-50 fps here with CPU/battery temperature hovering near the 40°C mark—which goes on to show how the phone’s thin-and-light design ultimately foils any hopes for effective heat management under heavy load.

Realme 9 Pro+ - Gaming

It’s the same with COD Mobile too. Be it under Max or Very High frame rates, the Realme 9 Pro+ ever so frequently skews away from the 60 fps mark—although the phone stays pretty cool in this instance. Moving on, I had a mixed bag experience with a couple of high-fps games I tried on the Realme 9 Pro+ during this review.

Mech Arena managed around 80-90 fps under Ultra preset while Oddmar was limited to just 60 fps altogether. To compare, the Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge can play both these games at 120 fps!

Android 12 experience right out of the box!

In terms of software, the 9 Pro+ boots on Realme UI 3.0 based on Android 12. While companies like Xiaomi, POCO, OPPO, and even OnePlus are shipping their mid-range phones in 2022 with Android 11, this is certainly something to appreciate.

if you’ve already used a realme phone—or an oppo phone for that matter—this should feel right at home.

Realme UI 3 has plenty of customizations available as well, including Android 12’s wallpaper color theming option—which isn’t present on all Android 12 phones, by the way.

Realme 9 Pro+ - UI

That’s not to say this custom Android skin is perfect. In fact, the bloatware situation here is some of the worst I’ve ever come across. The phone ships with a total of 16 bloatware apps on board—although all of them are uninstallable. More importantly, Realme hasn’t pledged on any long-term update for the 9 Pro+.

This is pretty common for the company’s number series of smartphones and it indeed has a pretty good track record of delivering 2 generations of Android updates for this lineup. Then again, OnePlus has been upping its game with guaranteed updates even in the mid-range segment. So yeah… Realme should definitely be doing better in this regard.

Cameras

  • Triple camera setup at the back
  • (50MP main, 8MP ultrawide, 2MP macro)
  • 16MP selfie camera (hole-punch cutout)

With that out of the way, let’s check out its cameras, shall we? Realme has been specially hyping up the camera capabilities of the 9 Pro+, which is mostly thanks to its flagship-grade 50MP Sony IMX766 sensor with OIS. Apart from this, the phone brings an 8MP ultrawide and a 2MP macro lens at the back.

Normal Images

For this review, I compared the cameras on the Realme 9 Pro+ against the Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge. And right off the bat, the one thing you can notice right away about Realme’s cameras is just how punchier and more vibrant its images look in the daytime.

Even HDR processing is much superior on the 9 Pro+ while the 11i struggles with processing shadows, maintaining black levels, and there’s a definite bit of oversharpening in some cases as well.

It is also subject to greenish tint—especially around the edges every now and then. There’s even something called “AI Scene Enhancement” on the 9 Pro+ for even more saturated photos.

I thought this would be overkill but I was pleasantly surprised to see it bring out better color details in some cases.

Ultrawide Images

Realme does dial down saturation levels when it comes to ultrawide shots though.

The 11i, on the other hand, manages even worse exposure control this time. And there’s not much to talk about in terms of details from both phones.

Portrait Images

As for portraits, the 9 Pro+ has this reddish skin tone with a hint of smoothening but everything from background separation to skin tone is still miles better here.

Xiaomi’s image processing retains unnatural beautification, low contrasts, and way worse highlight control. But during low-light conditions, its portraits come out much sharper.

In our early impressions, we’d mentioned how we felt like Realme had taken inspiration from Pixel phones for portraits. But unfortunately, the 9 Pro+ didn’t hold its ground when comparing it against the Pixel 6.

Be it the subject’s skin tone, subject focus, or background separation, Pixel does it better. So, the obvious lesson here is that you shouldn’t fall into a company’s marketing hypes and hardware isn’t everything on the photography front.

Macro Images

Even the macro images are more vibrant on the 9 Pro+ while they’re noticeably oversharpened too.

But since neither phone brings a macro camera with variable focus, taking close-up images isn’t the most comfortable experience here.

Selfie Images

Getting to the selfie camera, the 9 Pro+ dials down saturation levels by a lot and subjects look a bit soft too. Despite this, the overall photo looks livelier with nice exposure control here. Same thing with portrait selfies.

Lowlight Images

Likewise, the normal nighttime images from the Realme 9 Pro+ are sharper and with better details and color science.

The 11i Hypercharge tries to overprocess the shot and turns the photo hazy sometimes but it does maintain a more pleasing contrast in some cases.

With night mode turned on, the images are still quite sharp on the 9 Pro+ thanks to the OIS on board, but its post-processing time is a little too slow—taking almost 3-4 seconds.

In most instances, you can see how it lets in an unnatural amount of light which results in somewhat blown-out contrast. Yet, this does help the phone pull shadow details better—especially from the ultrawide camera.

Videography

In terms of videos, both phones can shoot at up to 4K/30 fps from the rear camera. Although OIS is disabled on 4K resolution, the 9 Pro+ still delivers comparatively steadier videos alongside better details and contrast.

Similarly, both 1080p/30 and 60 fps footages are much more stable here. Xiaomi has trouble maintaining exposure and sharpness levels this time as well. Upfront, the 11i Hypercharge does support 1080p/60 fps videos though—unlike the Realme 9 Pro+.

As for the regular 1080p/30 fps videos, Xiaomi has a narrower field of view but its videos aren’t as jerky. Yet, it once again retains worse exposure control besides soft details and pinkish skin tone.

All in all, this is a pretty great camera phone for the price. Realme could still optimize it a little better when it comes to saturation levels and HDR processing under low light conditions, but you get the point. Just be sure to limit your expectations on what it can deliver.

Battery

  • 4500mAh battery with 60W fast charging

Like the cameras, the Realme 9 Pro+ also has great battery endurance. On light to medium usage, I was easily getting 2 days’ worth of battery life here, whereas our PCMark battery life test shows incredible results for the 9 Pro+ too.

Even under a relatively heavy use case consisting of taking photos and videos, gaming, binging Netflix, and all those things, the phone manages 7-8 hours of screen on time. Fantastic!

I can’t really complain about its charging speed either. Realme claims that its 60W charging solution can fill up the 9 Pro+ from 0 to 100% in 44 minutes and that was pretty much what I was getting. The phone does get a bit warm in the first 10 minutes of plugging it in, but it’s nothing to worry about.

Realme 9 Pro+ Review: Conclusion

Summing up this review, after having used the Realme 9 Pro+ for over a month now, it’s certainly grown on me. This is not your typical value-for-money phone that prioritizes sheer performance over everything else. And gamers will be better off with Snapdragon 870-powered phones from last year like the iQOO 7, Mi 11X, POCO F3, and such for a little extra money.

Instead, the 9 Pro+ is more of a well-rounded package that balances design, display, cameras, performance, and battery life to provide a reliable smartphone experience overall. In fact, it one-ups all those overpriced OPPO and Vivo phones that skimp on performance in pursuit of an attractive design and somewhat better cameras.

Realme 9 Pro+ - Charger

At a similar price, the Xiaomi 11i series is its biggest competition right now which brings a smoother 120Hz refresh rate and 108MP cameras. But as evident from our tests, the 9 Pro+ has much better cameras while not everyone’s going to find the 11i’s burly build quality ergonomically pleasing either.

Still and all, the Realme 9 Pro+ would’ve been an absolute slam dunk if the company had somehow managed to go with Dimensity 1200 or even Snapdragon 870 chip. Also, Realme’s got to sort out all those major and minor concerns I talked about earlier like HDR playback on OTT platforms, future updates, and everything else.

  • Watch our review video of the Realme 9 Pro+

Realme 9 Pro+ Review: Pros & Cons

Pros:

  • Ergonomic build quality
  • Vibrant Super AMOLED display
  • Easily the best-in-class haptics
  • Fairly decent performance
  • The primary camera takes great photos, videos
  • Great battery endurance, 60W charging

Cons:

  • No official IP certification
  • Just 90Hz refresh rate
  • No guaranteed future updates
  • Comes with a bunch of bloatware apps

RedmiBook Pro 15 2022 goes official with 12th Gen Intel CPUs, RTX 2050

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RedmiBook Pro 15 2022 goes official with 12th Gen Intel CPUs, RTX 2050

Redmi has finally launched the much-awaited Redmi K50 series. In the same event, the company also refreshed its notebook series. The 2022 iteration of the RedmiBook Pro brings 12th gen Intel CPUs, along with other upgrades. In this article, we will be discussing the key specs, features, expected price, and availability of the Xiaomi RedmiBook Pro 15 2022 in Nepal.

RedmiBook Pro 15 2022

Design and Display 

Xiaomi RedmiBook Pro 15 2022 features a 15.6” screen with a 3.2K resolution and a 90Hz refresh rate. It boasts 100% coverage of the sRGB space and brightness of up to 400 nits. In terms of design, the laptop comes in a CNC-milled metal chassis. It measures 14.9mm in thickness and weighs around 1.8Kg. Compared to the previous generation, the RedmiBook 15 Pro is lighter by around 15%.

RedmiBook pro 15 2022 Design

Performance and Cooling 

In terms of performance, RedmiBook Pro 2022 is powered by the latest 12th Gen Intel processors. Here, Redmi has gone with the H45 processors. Likewise, the laptop is configurable with up to NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2050 GPU.

To keep up with the improved CPU and GPU, Xiaomi has even upgraded the thermals of the laptop. RedmiBook Pro 2022 now comes with two fans with a maximum speed of up to 300 RPM. Redmi also claims an increased airflow of up to 126%.

The fans are backed by triple heat pipes. In addition, Redmi has improved the air ducts for increased outlets.

Rest of the Specs 

Fueling the RedmiBook Pro 15 2022 is a 72Wh battery, which the company claims can last up to 12 hours of usage. It even supports 130W charging. With a PD 3.0-compatible charger the laptop can go from 0 to 50% in just 35 minutes.

Talking about ports, Redmi has included a Thunderbolt 4, USB-C, USB-A 3.1, an HDMI, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. There is also an SD card reader on board.

RedmiBook Pro 15 2022 Ports

RedmiBook Pro 15 2022 Specifications:

  • Display: 15.6-inches 3.2K (3200 x 2000), 90Hz, 400 nits, 100% sRGB
  • Display properties: 16:10 aspect ratio, TÜV Rheinland Low Blue Light, DC Dimming
  • Keyboard: Full-sized backlit keyboard
  • Touchpad: Multi-touch supported PTP touchpad
  • Processor: 12th Gen Intel Alder Lake H45 Core i5-12450H / i7-11370H
  • RAM: 16GB LDDR45
  • Storage: 512GB PCIe 4.0 SSD
  • Graphics: up to NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2050
  • Audio: Stereo speaker setup, DTS Audio
  • Battery: 72 WHr, 130W USB-C power adapter
  • Connectivity: WiFi 802.11 6 (ax), Bluetooth 5.1
  • I/O ports: 1x 3.5mm mic/headphone jack, 1x USB 3.1 Type-A, 2x USB Type-C (one with Thunderbolt 4), 1x HDMI 2.0

RedmiBook 15 Pro 2022 Price in Nepal and Availability (Expected)

RedmiBook 15 Pro 2022 will be available for pre-order from today in China, where its price starts at 5,299 for the base variant. If it ever launches here, we expect the price of the RedmiBook Pro 15 2022 in Nepal to start at NPR 140,000.

RedmiBook Pro 15 2022  Price in China (Expected)  Price in Nepal (Expected) 
Core i5-12450H, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD CNY 5,299 NPR 140,000
Core i5-12450H, RTX 2050, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD CNY 6,499 NPR 170,000
Core i5-12650H, RTX 2050, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD CNY 7,199 NPR 185,000
  • Meanwhile, check out our unboxing video of the Redmi Note 11 Pro.

Price Hike Alert: Realme 9 Pro+ gets a little more expensive in Nepal

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Price Hike Alert: Realme 9 Pro+ gets a little more expensive in Nepal

Realme 9 Pro+ is the first Pro Plus device in the company’s number series which launched in India about a month ago. Thankfully, the phone is now available in Nepal as well with some interesting offers. So let’s check out the Realme 9 Pro+ in more detail, including its official price and availability in Nepal.

Realme 9 Pro+ Overview: 

Design and Display 

The design of the Realme 9 Pro+ is what we expect from a typical Realme smartphone. It’s a slim and light phone weighing around 182 grams. Likewise, the phone measures 7.99mm in thickness. The back is made out of glass, and it is available in three colors options: Midnight Black, Aurora Green, and Sunrise Blue.

The latter has a “Light Shift Design” with a color-changing back panel—like the Vivo V23 Pro. With this, the phone will shift from light blue to red upon exposure to sunlight. But do note that this design is only available on the Sunrise Blue variant.

Realme 9 Pro Plus - Color Options

Over on the front, Realme 9 Pro+ is a 6.43” AMOLED panel with FHD+ resolution. Not only is it smaller than the Pro model, but it also refreshes slower at 90Hz. That being said, the touch sampling rate is 360Hz here. Furthermore, it has Gorilla Glass 5 protection and features a small circular cutout for the selfie camera.

Read our review of the Realme 9 Pro+ here.

Performance 

Under the hood, Realme 9 Pro+ has Dimensity 920 5G chipset, which is based on TSMC’s 6nm process. It has a 2+6 core architecture with Cortex-A78 (@2.5GHz) as the performance cores and Cortex-A55 (2.0GHz) as the efficiency cores. Likewise, handling the graphics is the Mali-G68 GPU.

The chip is paired with up to 8GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage. Though the chipset has support for faster memory standards, Realme 9 Pro+ uses LPDDR4X RAM and UFS 2.2 storage. As for thermals, Realme has included a vapor chamber and a three-layer graphite heat dissipation structure.

Cameras 

Talking about the cameras, Realme 9 Pro+ has three of them at the back. This includes a 50MP primary camera with the 1/1.56″ Sony IMX766 sensor. It even supports optical image stabilization (OIS) and electronic image stabilization (EIS).

Similarly, Realme 9 Pro+ also has an 8MP ultrawide and a 2MP macro sensor. The front houses a 16MP sensor inside the punch-hole for selfies and video calls.

Realme 9 Pro Plus - Sony IMX766 sensor

The phone also brings a bunch of camera features including AI Noise-Reduction 3.0 for clearer, detailed images, Street Photography 2.0—whereas the larger IMX766 sensor reportedly lets in 63.8% more light compared to IMX586.

Rest of the specs 

Moving on, the Realme 9 Pro+ has a 4,500mAh battery that supports 65W fast charging. Realme says the phone can go from 0 to 100% in just 44 minutes using a compatible charger. Another highlight of the phone is its in-display fingerprint scanner, which now has a heart rate sensor. Furthermore, the phone boots on Android 12-based Realme UI 3.0.

Realme 9 Pro+ Specifications:

  • Body: 73.3 x 160.2 x 7.99mm, 182 gm
  • Display: 6.4-inches AMOLED panel, 90Hz refresh rate, 360Hz touch sampling rate, 409 PPI, Gorilla Glass 5
  • Resolution: Full-HD+ (2400 x 1080 pixels), 20:9 aspect ratio
  • Chipset: MediaTek Dimensity 920 5G (6nm)
  • Memory: 6/8GB LPDDR4X RAM, 128/256GB UFS 2.2 storage (expandable)
  • Software & UI: Android 12 with Realme UI 3.0 on top
  • Rear Camera: Triple camera;
    – 50MP f/1.8 primary lens, IMX766 sensor, OIS + EIS
    – 8MP f/2.2 ultra-wide lens, 119.7º FOV, IMX355 sensor
    – 2MP f/2.4 macro lens
  • Front Camera: 16MP f/2.4 Sony IMX471 sensor (punch-hole)
  • Audio: Dual stereo speakers, Hi-Res, Dolby Atmos
  • Security: Optical in-display fingerprint scanner, Face unlock
  • Battery: 4500mAh with 60W SuperDart Charge
  • Color options: Midnight Black, Aurora Green
    • Sunrise Blue variant not available in Nepal for now

Realme 9 Pro+ Price in Nepal and Availability

The latest price of Realme 9 Pro+ in Nepal is Rs. 42,999 for the 6/128GB and Rs. 45,999 for the 8/128GB variant. You can buy it from authorized stores like Hukut.

Realme 9 Pro+ Price in Nepal Availability
6/128GB NPR 41,999 42,999 Hukut
8/128GB NPR 45,499 45,999
  • Check out our unboxing, early impressions of the Realme 9 Pro+ here:

Moto Tab G70 Review: A Solid Mid-Range Android Tablet

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Moto Tab G70 Review: A Solid Mid-Range Android Tablet

The Android tablet space is blooming, which has created room for a lot of new players. And one such player is Motorola. The Lenovo-owned company recently launched the Tab G70 LTE—a product surprisingly capable of making waves in its market segment. In this review, I will be sharing my personal experience having used the Moto Tab G70 LTE for over a month.

Before we begin this review, let’s take a quick look at what the Moto Tab G70 LTE has to offer in terms of specs.

Moto Tab G70 LTE Specifications:

  • Body: 10.17″ x 6.4″ x 0.29″, 490 gm, Metal Body, IP52 rating
  • Display: 11″ IPS LCD panel, 10-point Multitouch, up to 400 nits brightness
  • Resolution: 2K (2000 x 1200 pixels)
  • Chipset: MediaTek Helio G90T (12nm Mobile Platform)
  • Memory: 4GB RAM, 64GB storage (expandable)
  • Software & UI: Android 11
  • Rear Camera: Single (13MP, autofocus)
  • Front Camera: Single (8MP, fixed focus)
  • Audio: Quad-speaker setup, Dolby Atmos
  • Connectivity: LTE, WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (Dual-band), Bluetooth 5.1, USB Type-C, 4-point Pogo Pin
  • Battery: 7700mAh with 20W fast charging
  • Color Options: Cyber Teal
  • Price in Nepal: N/A (INR 21,999 in India)

Moto Tab G70 LTE Review:

Motorola entered the Android tablet market last year with the Tab G20, which frankly was nothing extraordinary, and thus flew under everyone’s radar. The company then followed it up with the Tab G70 LTE which is anything but forgettable. This is the best mid-range Android tablet that I have tested in a while, even better than the Realme Pad, which was easily the best-in-class tablet last year. 

Display

  • 11″ IPS LCD panel
  • 400 nits brightness
  • Widevine L1 certification

For starters, the Moto Tab G70 comes with a big 11-inch screen. Not only this, its 2K resolution is pretty great as well. Now, it isn’t exactly unheard of in this price range, since the Nokia T20 that costs a lot less than the G70 also has a 2K screen. Regardless, the display is the main selling point of this tablet. At 400 nits, this screen is more than bright enough for indoor usage.

Moto Tab G70 Review

Also, the contents look sharp enough even when laid out on a display of this size. It maintains decent contrast levels as well but since it’s an IPS panel instead of AMOLED, you are obviously not going to get deep, inky blacks here. That being said, the screen is a little too warm in the default profile for my liking, although I can easily adjust the color scheme from the display settings.

Google Entertainment Space 

Anyway, if you primarily intend to use this tablet for multimedia consumption, you will love the new Google Entertainment Space that comes built-in here. It is basically a content aggregator that brings popular and trending shows from different platforms into a single shared space, thus making it easier to keep track of everything you are watching, have watched, and those on your wishlist.

Moto Tab G70 Google Entertainment Hub

While this concept sounds great, I was not able to make the most out of it. First, it doesn’t include Netflix in the main feed even though it is recognized as a streaming app (in the recent app section). Other apps that I use like Curiosity Stream and Nebula shared the same fate as well.

Also, the whole “Resume Watching” section was missing from my feed along with the “Listen and Read” category. I even tried updating the app but to no avail. It looks like a geo-restriction to me so I’m not sure if it’s going to be fixed anytime soon.

Video Playback

Getting to the playback quality itself, the Tab G70 even handled 4K videos on YouTube pretty well. For some reason, YouTube thinks this is an HDR-supported screen while Moto doesn’t mention it anywhere. As a result, you can technically play HDR videos on this tablet, but the color depth and illuminance levels are way off from what can be considered “HDR” quality.

Likewise, I also faced trouble streaming HD content on Prime Video, which is extremely popular in the Indian sub-continent. The thing is, Prime Video uses hardware acceleration for HD streaming. But it stops playing videos and throws an error message every time I try to turn that on my Tab G70.

I think this is a software bug on Motorola’s side since the tablet does have Widevine L1 certification and can stream HD content without any issue on Netflix. Hopefully, Motorola will patch this issue with a software update ASAP.

Great Sounding speakers

If you can look past the Prime Video issue, I still think Moto Tab G70 is a great tablet for multimedia, where its speakers further solidify my claim. You get a quad-speaker setup here with two units each on the opposite sides. They sound loud and I did not notice any audio crackling even at the highest volume. Also, its instrument separation is some of the best I have come across in midrange tablets.

Unsurprisingly, the bass is missing in the default equalizer settings, but you can always tweak it to your liking via the Dolby Atmos app that comes pre-installed. While a bunch of budget and midrange tablets also support Dolby Atmos audio, I have seen the equalizer app come built-in only on the Tab G70 and a handful of Lenovo tablets so far.

Inside the app, you can choose from different pre-built sound profiles or make a custom one. There are even some AI-enabled functions like reverb reducer and dialogue enhancer.

Design and In-hand

  • 10.17″ x 6.4″ x 0.29″, 490 gm
  • Metal + Plastic Body
  • IP52 rating

Let’s now talk about the design and the hands-on feel of the tablet. It weighs a little under half a kg which does seem a lot when you think about it. But let me tell you that it doesn’t quite reflect in terms of comfort under daily usage. A part of it is because of how uniform the weight distribution is over such a large surface.

Motorola has also cleverly gone with plastic for almost one-third of the back panel here. On one hand, it helps keep the tablet lighter, while it also makes for a great grip to hold the device. It also incorporates IP52 dust and water repellent design, which is just the icing on the cake.

Moto Tab A8 Rear Design

Performance

  • Octacore Helio G90T (12nm)
  • 2x 2.05Ghz Cortex-A76 + 6x 2.0Ghz Corte-A55
  • 4GB RAM, 64GB internal storage (expandable)

Since Motorola has put so much thought into the design and display on this tablet, you would think it has cut some corners on the performance department. Well, not really. With everything I have discussed so far, the company has still managed to fit in Helio G90T inside. This gaming-focused midrange processor was nothing sort of a revolution when it debuted in the Redmi Note 8 Pro some two-and-a-half years ago. And I have the same feeling with the Tab G70.

Let’s face it, there is no other tablet with a better chipset in this price range. The Galaxy Tab A8 and Realme Pad come close with the Unisoc T610 and Helio G80 respectively, but they’re still not quite as powerful as the G90T.

Realme Pad (Helio G80) Galaxy Tab A8 (Unisoc T618) Moto Tab G70 (Helio G90T)
AnTuTu v9 Total 217905 199588 281586
CPU 70627 70122 88325
GPU 37592 42092 76371
Memory 40894 32647 50120
UX 68792 54727 66770
Geekbench 5 CPU (Single Core) 345 365 477
CPU (Multi-Core) 1310 1291 1586
Compute (OpenCL) 1120 970 1823
PCMark (Work 3.0 Performance) – 7350 8059
3DMark (Wild Life) 691 710 1328

Gaming Performance

While I mostly used this tablet for content consumption with binging tons of movies and videos on Netflix and YouTube, I also enjoyed quick gaming sessions every now and then—especially PUBG Mobile and MLBB.

You can bump graphics to HD and frame rates to High on PUBG Mobile, although I found Balanced graphics and Ultra frame rate to be the best settings. Under this, the gameplay was quite smooth for the most part.

Additionally, I did not expect the gyro sensor to work as well as it did either. As expected, relatively lightweight games like Mobile Legends: Bang Bang play just fine even at the highest settings.

Moto Tab G70 Gaming

Having said that, the Tab G70 does get a little warm as you near the half an hour mark—especially on the top plastic portion—thereby resulting in some stutters and frame drops. But that’s to be expected from a mid-range tablet I guess.

Battery and Charging

  • 700mAh battery
  • 20W fast charging (included in the box)

Furthermore, extensive gaming takes quite a toll on the battery as well. On a normal usage though, I got at least 7 hours of screen on time from its 7700mAh battery. Motorola ships the Tab G70 with a 20W charger, which is quite faster than what the competition is offering. Despite this, it still takes close to three hours (2 hours 50 minutes) for a full charge.

Software Experience

  • Stock Android 11 experience

Moving on, the one thing that has bugged me during the review is just how little time Motorola has spent on optimizing the software given how great Moto Tab G70’s hardware is. It boots on Android 11 out of the box and I am quite disappointed that it’s plain vanilla Android with no “Moto magic” of any sort.

And pure Android experience on a tablet can get confusing—like how you need to swipe a little further than you would normally on a smartphone to trigger the recent tabs. There is not any sidebar or quick settings to help you with navigation either.

Also, most apps that I use on a daily basis aren’t quite optimized for the big screen. The tablet just blows out the mobile version of the app to fit into the larger screen estate, which is quite evident when you are switching between apps. You can even notice lags when navigating through the UI! It’s not as bad as other budget tablets, but they’re still noticeable.

Cameras

  • 13MP rear camera with flash
  • 8MP front-facing camera

The other not-so-great thing about the Moto Tab G70 LTE—or any other midrange Android tablet for that matter—is the cameras. It brings an 8MP camera on the front and a 13MP shooter at the back, and neither of them is anything to write home about.

They’ll get you through your casual video calls and online classes, but that’s about it. Don’t expect it to take great images or anything.

Moto Tab G70 Video Calling

Photos from the Moto Tab G70 are too contrast-heavy and with little detail. Interestingly enough, you can take portraits from both cameras.

The rear camera even has a flashlight, which is something we don’t see that often in midrange tablets. As a result, you’ll be able to scan documents and notes even when it’s dark.

Few more things…

Oh! I almost forgot. You can even buy a third-party stylus and use it to take notes here. Or attach a keyboard folio via the pogo pins and use it as a mini laptop. Though Motorola hasn’t specified any compatible accessories, your best bet will be to go with the ones made for Lenovo tablets since the Tab G70 is a rebranded Lenovo P11 Plus after all!

Pogo Pins

Also, thanks to its LTE support, you can insert a SIM card and enjoy mobile data wherever you go. I wouldn’t exactly recommend taking calls via its four giant speakers for privacy reasons though! But if you have wireless earbuds lying around, that shouldn’t be a problem. Mind you that the Tab G70 skips a 3.5mm headphone jack! Likewise, Motorola offers this tablet in a sole 4/64GB variant, but the storage is expandable via an external microSD card.

Moto Tab G70 Review: Conclusion 

This brings us to the end of this video. And you might have figured it out already that I’m quite impressed with the Tab G70. It does have some flaws but the overall package that you are getting for INR 22,000 is quite good. It brings a great 2K display, good-sounding stereo speakers, decent performance, and all-important LTE connectivity. In addition, there’s also the option to buy third-party accessories to boost your productivity.

Despite all this, I strongly believe that Motorola needs to work on the software side of things. For a device with such a heavy emphasis on content consumption, the aforementioned issue with HD streaming on Prime Video shouldn’t be a thing! I’m also hoping the overall software experience gets better with the Android 12L update.

Moto Tab G70 LTE Review: Pros and Cons

Pros

  • 2K screen at midrange segment
  • Great sounding speakers
  • Decent performance for the price

Cons

  • Software UI requires polishing
  • No HD playback for Prime Videos

Ripple Pandora Creator Edition with 12th gen Alder Lake CPU launched in Nepal

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Ripple Pandora Creator Edition with 12th gen Alder Lake CPU launched in Nepal

Ripple has announced a budget-friendly laptop for creators, called the Pandora Creator Edition. As the name signifies, this is the Creator Edition of the already existing Ripple Pandora. In this article, we will go through the specs, features, availability, and official price of Ripple Pandora Creator Edition in Nepal. 

Ripple Pandora Creator Edition Overview:

Design and Display

The new Pandora Creator Edition features a 14-inch display with WQXGA resolution and 100% sRGB color gamut. Being a creator-focused device, Ripple has offered a 16:10 aspect ratio, while there’s also support for a 90Hz refresh rate. Similarly, the screen has ultra-thin bezels on all four sides and also has a color accuracy of Delta E less than 2 (△E<2).

Ripple Pandora Design and Display

Moreover, it comes with a backlight keyboard and a key travel distance of 1.2mm. The laptop weighs just 1 kg and measures 17.1mm thick.

Performance

Powering the machine is the 12th gen Intel i5-1240P processor that features 12 cores and 16 threads. The silicon has 12 cores (4 performance + 8 efficiency), 16 threads, and has a base and turbo clock speed of 1.7/4.4GHz. Graphics-intensive tasks are handled by integrated Iris Xe Graphics(UMA) G7 80EUs GPU. 

Ripple says the processor is faster than Apple M1. To keep the temperature in check, the company has also included a liquid metal cooling mechanism. 

Over on to the memory front, the base variant of the device has 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD. Both the RAM and storage are expandable—thanks to the additional SO-DIMM and M.2 slots. 

Rest of the specs

Moving on, the I/O option includes two USB Type-A, one USB Type-C, a Thunderbolt 4, and one-one HDMI 2.1, an SD card reader, an audio jack, and a Kensington lock. The laptop also features WiFi 6 support for better connectivity. In terms of audio, it has a stereo speaker setup with Nahimic Audio support. 

Fueling the device is a 3-cell 46Whr battery that is rated to provide up to 10 hours of battery life. Likewise, it charges via a 65W adapter. 

Ripple Pandora Creator Edition Specifications:

  • Dimension: 313.9 x 218 x 17.1mm, 1 kg
  • Display: 14-inch IPS panel, 100% sRGB, △E<2, 90Hz
  • Resolution: WQXGA (2880 x 1800 pixels), 16:10 aspect ratio
  • Keyboard: Backlit chiclet keys (white), 1.2mm travel distance
  • Processor: Intel i5-1240P (12C/16T, Up to 4.4GHz)
  • Graphics: Iris Xe Graphics(UMA) G7 80EUs (Integrated)
  • RAM: 8GB DDR4, 2x DDR4 SO-DIMM slot
  • Storage: 256GB NVMe SSD, 2x M.2 slots
  • Connectivity: Intel WiFi 6, Bluetooth
  • I/O Ports: 2 x USB Type-A, 1 x USB Type-C, 1 x Thunderbolt 4, 1 x HDMI 2.1, 1 x SD card reader, 1 x audio jack, 1 x Kensington lock. 
  • Battery: 3-cell 46Wh battery, 65W adapter
  • Audio: Stereo speakers, Nahimic Audio

Ripple Pandora Creator Edition Price in Nepal and Availability

The Ripple Pandora Creator Edition is up for pre-order at NPR 112,000. You can pre-order it by contacting Ripple via its social media handles. 

Laptop Price in Nepal 
Ripple Pandora Creator Edition NPR 112,000
  • Meanwhile, check out our review of the Ripple Nova Pro.
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