Spot, Boston Dynamic’s robot dog, has regularly made headlines for his unusual dancing moves and stunts. However, it now has a competitor to steal all the thunder. Kawasaki, the well-known motorcycle manufacturer, has recently unveiled “Bex,” a quadruped robot goat capable of carrying up to 100 kgs of load. Read along to know more about the Bex robot goat from Kawasaki.
Kawasaki Bex Robot:
Kawasaki has revealed its new robot “Goat” at the International Robot Exhibition (iREX) 2022 in Tokyo, Japan. And, it’s named “Bex” after a certain species of wild goat. It’s an outgrowth of Kawasaki’s Kaleido program, which has been focusing on developing bipedal humanoid robots since 2015.
Masayuki Soube of Kawasaki said in an interview, “Halfway between humanoid robots and wheeled robots, [we] wondered if there was an opportunity. That’s why we started developing Bex, a quadruped walking robot. We believe that the walking technology cultivated in the development of humanoid robots can definitely be applied to quadruped walking robots.”
Moving on, a user on YouTube has shared a video showing the Bex robot in action. As you can see, it has horns and can move like a normal goat—thanks to its four-wheeled foot. The robot can also hold the weight of an adult human and ride around like a horse. Likewise, the rider can control the robot via handlebars.
While Bex can surely walk like a goat, its pace is considerably slower than its real living sibling. So, when speed is a requirement, Bex utilizes its hybrid mobility system. It can lower its body and kneel on four pairs of wheels positioned on each knee, transforming it into a vehicle of sorts. Yet, this is only feasible on a leveled surface. The bot readjusts itself to stand on its four movable wheels when the ground becomes more uneven.
Modular and Practical
Despite carrying humans, Bex’s is designed is to transport building materials and other items from one site to another. Just so you know, it’s rated carrying capacity is around 200 pounds (100 kgs). Kawasaki aims to use the robot in performing remote industrial site inspections—similar to what Spot is doing at Hyundai facilities in Korea.
Moving on, the company has also designed the upper portion of the Bex to be completely modular. So, customers can customize it to meet their own requirements.
Kawasaki Bex Robot: Final Words
Besides Kawasaki, Hyundai has also developed a robot named “MobED” that carries your daily items; while China has recently unveiled a Yak-shaped robot to aid in military operations. Such innovations do make you feel that robots will help create a future where physical work will be a choice.
Check out our video of the Galaxy S22 Ultra vs iPhone 13 Pro Max gaming test.
Realme released its first number series phone for 2022—the Realme 9i—about two months. The company then followed it up with the relatively more premium Realme 9 Pro and the 9 Pro+ back in February. And now, the Realme 9 Pro+ is all set to make its Nepali debut on March 17. Here’s our early impressions or a mini-review of sorts of the Realme 9 Pro+ after having used it for a couple of days.
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)
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+ Impressions:
Right off the bat, the Realme 9 Pro+ is quite similar to the Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge in terms of overall specs, so it’s going to be interesting to see how these phones fare against each other.
Realme 8 Pro
Anyway, if you roll back a year, the Realme 8 Pro was heavily criticized by many for being a “not so good” value for money product, especially at a time when Xiaomi released its blockbuster phone, the Redmi Note 10 Pro Max. But I genuinely think that the company has made a comeback with the 9 Pro+. And it looks quite promising for Realme.
So, starting off with the things I have liked about it so far, the first thing that comes to my mind is the design. I have always been a fan of the compact form factor on Realme phones. And courtesy of its relatively smaller 6.43-inch screen, that trend follows with the 9 Pro+ as well. As a result, it doesn’t feel too heavy or too wide to use.
No more “DARE TO LEAP”
Plus, Realme has also included a glass back here. We are used to seeing plastic back on the company’s budget and mid-range phones, so this is some quality of life improvement that I actually appreciate. And because of this glass back, it feels much more premium than last year’s Realme 8 Pro.
Plus, I think Realme has learned its lesson against including big “Dare to Leap” branding at the back. There’s only a subtle Realme logo on the bottom left this time.
On the other hand, you might find this glossy back panel with reflective, shimmering glitter attractive, but I would have preferred a matte finish instead. The frames are still plastic, but the slight curves on the back help with the grip a lot. In my limited use so far, I’ve also liked its weight distribution and the minimal thickness, which according to Realme is the lowest ever in the number series.
Decent display
Upfront, the Realme 9 Pro+ features a Gorilla Glass 5-protected AMOLED screen with a 20:9 Full HD resolution and a 90Hz refresh rate. As expected, it comes with Widevine L1 certification alongside HDR10+ support. I have watched a couple of YouTube and Netflix videos so far without coming across any issues with HDR processing, contrast levels, or even brightness.
Realme says this display has a maximum brightness of 600 nits, which is a tad bit lower considering today’s standard, although I found its brightness to be adequate enough even under a bright ambiance. Complementing the display are the dual stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos and Hi-Res audio support.
They can get quite loud and the overall sound quality is pretty good as well. This screen also brings a 360Hz touch sampling rate, but it doesn’t feel as responsive when I’m typing and such. It seems that the phone enables the full 360Hz mode only when explicitly boosting the touch sensitivity to High under games.
But what’s certainly not inferior is the in-display optical fingerprint sensor here.
It’s incredibly fast and thanks to the phone’s overall compact form factor, unlocking with one hand is a lot easier as well. Additionally, this fingerprint sensor can even be used to monitor your heart rate. All you have to do is, go to Realme Labs → Heart Rate Measurement → and then place your finger on the fingerprint sensor for 15 seconds.
I compared its measurement against my Apple Watch Series 7 and their results were quite similar. But I would have preferred a standalone app for it though. Talking about apps, the company has included a lot of bloatware apps here. Luckily, most of them can be uninstalled!
What about performance?
Performance-wise, we get MediaTek’s latest Dimensity 920 chipset along with up to 8GB of DDR4X RAM and up to 256GB of UFS 2.2 storage. We have seen the same configuration in Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge as well, so you can expect similar performance between these phones.
In case you’re unaware, the Dimensity 920 5G is a good midrange chip and is comparable to the Snapdragon 778G. Anyway, I played PUBG Mobile on the Realme 9 Pro+ for a few minutes where it could hit a stable 40 fps under HDR graphics and Ultra frame rates. Likewise, you can lower the graphics to Smooth and frame rates to Extreme to enjoy a smoother 60 fps gameplay.
Not the most powerful phone for gaming
However, the limitation with a mid-tier chipset like Dimensity 920 is reflected well on more graphics-hungry games like Genshin impact where I noticed slight lags at the highest settings. Hence, I have to keep it at 30 fps for stable gameplay.
So, if you are more into gaming, I would suggest you get Snapdragon 870-powered phones like the Xiaomi Mi 11X, Poco F3, or the iQOO 7 at more or less the same price as this phone.
As for the thermals, Realme says it has used a Vapor Chamber Cooling System on the 9 Pro+ which significantly reduces the temperature and keeps the phone in a high-performance state for a longer period. However, because it is so compact and thin, I have faced some heating issues. Be it gaming for more than 10 minutes or charging the phone, the phone is slightly vulnerable to heat.
In my throttling test, the CPU throttled to 94% in 15 minutes and to 91% after 30 minutes. On the contrary, Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge with the same Dimensity 920 processor didn’t throttle at all. In Realme’s defense, it does have a better GIPS—i.e. higher performance. So, what Realme is doing here is offering better performance at the expense of greater heat dissipation.
50MP Sony IMX766 camera with OIS
Moving on, the biggest “competitive advantage” for the Realme 9 Pro+ seems to be its cameras.
Here, the company has included a 50MP Sony IMX766 sensor with OIS, which is present in much more expensive phones. Likewise, you get an 8MP ultra-wide-angle lens and a 2MP macro camera.
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Realme 9 Pro+
Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge
Realme 9 Pro+
Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge
I haven’t had the chance to click too many photos, but with OIS on board, the 9 Pro+ can capture photos with better sharpness and details than the Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge.
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Realme 9 Pro+
Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge
Realme 9 Pro+
Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge
Even in terms of dynamic range, highlights, and exposure control, in most of the images that I have clicked, the ones from Realme are fuller and superior.
The Pixel influence
The portraits look very good on the Realme 9 Pro+ as well. It maintains a good skin tone and the background looks nice too. It seems to me that they have taken a slight inspiration from the Pixel phones when it comes to portraits.
Portrait
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Realme 9 Pro+
Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge
Realme 9 Pro+
Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge
Realme 9 Pro+
Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge
For nighttime photography, I roamed the streets of Kathmandu to click photos of temples and stupas and they looked good for the price too. All in all, the Realme 9 Pro+ feels like a good camera phone for the price. But I will be running it through more tests to give you a solid verdict.
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Nighttime
Night Mode
Nighttime
Night Mode
In terms of videos, the resolution option here ranges from 720p, 1080p, to 4K—although 4K resolution lacks the 60 fps option. And it looks like Realme has also disabled OIS at 4K resolution since the 4K/30fps footages aren’t that stable—while that doesn’t seem to be the case for 1080p videos.
Finally, the Realme 9 Pro+ comes with a modest 4500mAh battery that supports 60W fast charging. Since it has lived in my pockets for just about a day now, I haven’t had the chance to test its endurance properly.
Anyway, Realme says you can expect its battery to go from 0 to 100% in 54 minutes with the onboard charger which isn’t that fast compared to the competition—but that’s not a deal-breaker in any way.
Realme 9 Pro+ Impressions: Final Words
So that was it for our initial impressions of the new Realme 9 Pro+. To note, it certainly isn’t the most powerful phone you could find for the price. But Realme is heavily leaning on the design and camera side of things to deliver an overall balanced package instead. We are coming up with the full review of the Realme 9 Pro+ pretty soon so watch out for that as well.
Check out our unboxing and impressions video of the Realme 9 Pro+
This is our early impressions of the new POCO M4 Pro 4G. By the way, there’s already a 5G variant of this phone that launched way back in November 2021, by the way. Considering the competition, the M4 Pro 5G delivered decent performance and didn’t sacrifice a whole lot to bring 5G connectivity either. So what could POCO do with a cheaper 4G variant of the phone?
POCO M4 Pro 4G Specifications:
Body: 73.8 x 159.8 x 8.09mm, 179.5 gm, Plastic build quality
Battery: 5000mAh with 33W Pro fast charging (power adapter provided)
Color Options: Cool Blue, Power Black, POCO Yellow
What’s inside the box: POCO M4 Pro 4G, Transparent case, SIM ejector, 33W power adapter, USB-A to USB-C cable
Price in Nepal: N/A (INR 14,999 for 6/64GB)
POCO M4 Pro 4G Impressions:
Well, there are a few upgrades and a couple of obvious downgrades here—most notably in the performance department—to meet that lower price point. Talking about price, the POCO M4 Pro 4G starts at INR 14,999 for the base 6/64GB variant while the specced-out 8/128GB model goes for INR 17,999.
There’s even a flat INR 1,000 bank discount as an introductory offer, which makes it a really appealing budget phone. As per our sources, this phone is set to launch soon in Nepal as well. I’ve been using it for a couple of days now and this is my initial impressions, or rather a mini-review, of the new POCO M4 Pro 4G.
The ergonomics… hot damn!
Now, holding the phone in my hands, I’m immediately impressed by its design.
I mean… yes, POCO could have gone with a matte finish to prevent smudges and dust build-up at the back of the phone but besides that, the M4 Pro’s ergonomics is rock solid. I like how these slight curves at the back make handling the phone so easy, whereas it is also complemented by flat frames with a matte finish for that modern kick.
This all-plastic build quality doesn’t feel cheap, hollow, or any of those things either. At 179.5 grams, POCO says this is its lightest M-series phone yet but the M4 Pro still retains excellent heft and weight distribution.
Both power and volume rockers are placed on the right frame here, and reaching them with one hand wasn’t much trouble for me. The power button doubles as a fingerprint reader too—and it’s quite fast and responsive as you’d expect.
poco M4 Pro 4g is even IP53 certified against dust and splash damage, which is always nice to see on a phone in this price range.
POCO has also included an IR blaster, 3.5mm headphone jack, and stereo speakers, so you’re getting the whole package here. Unlike the M4 Pro 5G, its Z-axis linear motor has a fairly strong, loud, and “buzzing” feedback which makes the typing experience pretty enjoyable. While I prefer fluid, precise haptics myself, the M4 Pro’s vibration feedback is more than fine for a budget phone.
A great phone for your binge-watching sessions
Besides the great design, this is also an amazing phone for content consumption. POCO has upgraded to an AMOLED display this time, which is a major improvement over the IPS LCD panel on the M4 Pro 5G.
Protected by Gorilla Glass 3, this 6.43” Full HD screen delivers great colors thanks to the wide DCI-P3 gamut and pitch-black contrast with inky blacks and bright whites. Its viewing angle is equally great with no noticeable off-axis color shift. The phone is also Widevine L1 certified for HD playback on OTT platforms like Netflix, but do note that this budget phone lacks any form of HDR playback.
Moving on, I have no issue with the brightness on this thing though. POCO says the M4 Pro 4G achieves 700 nits under the High Brightness Mode (HBM)—whereas it can hit a peak brightness of 1000 nits.
This AMOLED upgrade doesn’t come at a sacrifice of a higher refresh rate or Always on Display support either. Because I’ve used a loooooot of phones with a 120Hz refresh rate, this 90Hz screen doesn’t feel all that special to me but if you’re coming from a regular 60Hz display, the M4 Pro’s smoothness is bound to be a visual treat.
And it’s adaptive as well, meaning the screen intelligently switches between 60 and 90Hz to save battery. Unfortunately, this display is subject to micro-stutters and jitters—which is something we’re well familiar with budget and mid-range phones from Xiaomi and POCO with a high refresh rate. This is most vividly noticeable once you’re scrolling through your Google Feed.
Is the chipset to blame for the micro stutters?
Other than this, I also noticed micro stutters when going over my apps on the POCO launcher and occasionally even when scrolling through a website on Chrome or opening the recent apps screen. It’s not that the POCO M4 Pro 4G has an incompetent chipset or anything since the Helio G96 powering the phone is equipped to handle up to 120Hz FHD displays. Hopefully, a fix is on the way!
Complementing this display is a set of stereo speakers, where the earpiece doubles as the secondary speaker unit. The M4 Pro gets fairly loud enough and is fine for listening to podcasts or binging your favorite shows. And there’s not much distortion at the max volume either. But the audio sounds almost flat when playing something with a high dynamic range as it boosts the mids and high frequencies over everything else.
How’s the performance then?
On to the performance of things, the POCO M4 Pro 4G is powered by MediaTek’s Helio G96. Apart from the aforementioned issue of micro-stutters, this 12nm chip handles usual everyday tasks pretty well. With 6GB RAM even in the base variant, you can expect a decent multitasking experience too. I usually juggle between 5-6 apps at a time and the M4 Pro managed to keep them in memory just fine.
Seems like Xiaomi has really improved RAM management with MIUI 13. It does come with a bunch of bloatware apps and games but you can uninstall most of them. However, the M4 Pro is still on Android 11 and not the latest Android 12-based MIUI 13. Although it’s more than likely that this phone will get the Android 12 update, that’s about it.
I don’t think Android 13 is on the cards for this budget phone.
And whatever happened to POCO UI, right? POCO had confirmed its custom UI to arrive by the end of 2021 but we’re well into 2022 and it’s still a no show.
Regardless, you can enjoy some casual gaming on the POCO M4 Pro 4G. PUBG Mobile maxes out at HD graphics and High frame rates but I prefer the stable 40 fps gameplay under Smooth graphics and Ultra frame rates instead. Yet, this 12nm chip does show its thermal inefficiency as the phone gets warm quite quickly.
After just 8 minutes into the game, I clocked the CPU and battery temperature at 42 and 38°C respectively. Relatively less taxing games like Asphalt 9 and Mobile Legends play without any frame drops either.
Decent cameras (wait what?)
On the other hand, it brings a triple camera array at the back consisting of a 64MP primary, an 8MP ultrawide, and a 2MP macro shooter housed inside this wide camera island. Upfront, there’s a 16MP selfie camera inside the hole-punch cutout.
Now, apart from the cameras, the POCO M4 Pro 4G is pretty much identical to the Redmi Note 11S. So if you’re conflicted between these two phones, I’d suggest going for this one because of the cheaper price tag. Plus, the 108MP camera on the Note 11S isn’t going to make a whole lot of difference for the additional money anyway.
Normal, Ultrawide Images
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Here, the main 64MP shooter actually takes decent photos with a good amount of details and saturation, contrast levels—even though the overall shot comes off warm.
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Ultrawide
The ultrawide camera introduces a cooler hue instead but there’s not much detail to talk about here.
Portrait Images
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Portrait photos have acceptable edge detection but it messes up the subject’s skin tone rather horribly. You can notice the unnatural pink tint alongside a hint of beautification on its portrait shots.
Selfie Images
It’s the same with the selfie cameras too. What’s worse is that Redmi and POCO phones with a MediaTek processor have always struggled with maintaining a good skin tone—so I doubt a future update is going to solve this!
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Portrait Selfie
Selfie
Portrait Selfie
Nighttime Images
Low-light photos are pretty impressive on the M4 Pro with decent exposure control. With Night Mode turned on, you can get well-balanced photos with greater highlights, details, and reduced noise as well.
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Nighttime
Night Mode
Nighttime
Night Mode
In terms of videos, both the front and the back camera is limited to 1080p 30 fps recording—exactly like the POCO M4 Pro 5G and the Redmi Note 11S. As you’d expect, the videos are of strictly average quality with slight wobbles.
What to expect in terms of battery life
Finally, there’s no upgrade in the battery department this time since you’re getting the same 5000mAh cell that supports 33W Pro fast charging.
Under medium usage consisting of taking a bunch of photos/videos, streaming Netflix and Twitch, browsing the web, alongside some gaming every now and then, I managed to get around 7 hours of screen on time here. Pretty amazing stuff! As for charging, the phone can climb from 0 to 100% in a little over an hour.
POCO M4 Pro 4G Impressions: Final Words
Wrapping it all up, I think the POCO M4 Pro 4G is a great budget phone. Especially with that bank discount I talked about earlier (not sure the phone will launch at a similar price in Nepal though). Sacrificing 5G connectivity, it brings an AMOLED display which makes it an impressive device for multimedia consumption. And its battery life is pretty remarkable as well!
Sure there are a bunch of rough edges that POCO has got to sort out, like optimizing the cameras, responsiveness of the 90Hz refresh rate, and the Android 12 update thing. Nonetheless, that doesn’t keep the M4 Pro 4G from being a good budget phone under INR 15,000.
Check out our unboxing and impressions video of the POCO M4 Pro 4G.
Asus has launched the 2021 iteration of the ROG Flow X13 gaming laptop in Nepal. It’s a 2-in-1 laptop powered by AMD 5000 H-series processors and GeForce RTX GPUs. In this article, we will go through the specs, features, availability, and official price of Asus ROG Flow X13 2021 in Nepal.
Asus ROG Flow X13 (2021) Overview:
Design and Display
The Flow X13 is an ultra-thin gaming laptop with a convertible design. It sports a 13.4-inch IPS LCD display that has 4K resolution, 16:10 aspect ratio, and 60/120Hz refresh rate. Similarly, it’s a touch-screen with Pantone validation, stylus support and covers 85% DCI-P3 color gamut.
Furthermore, the 360° hinge here enables users to use this laptop in three different modes: tablet, stand, and tent. It has a backlit chiclet keyboard and houses a 720P HD camera on the top bezel.
In terms of performance, Asus ROG Flow X13 (2021) comes in two different CPU configurations—either AMD Ryzen 9 5900HS or Ryzen 9 5980HS. The latter variant is called the Supernova edition.
These processors are paired with either GeForce RTX 3050 or RTX 3050Ti or GTX 1650 graphics. All the GPUs come with 4GB of DDR6 VRAM with 35W TGP that can reach 40W in Dynamic Boost.
If you are not content with the GPU onboard, ROG Flow X13 even supports XG mobile docking station—an external GPU (eGPU) dock—which comes with GeForce RTX 3080 GPU at 150W TGP.
Over on the memory front, ROG Flow X13 comes with up to 32GB LPDDR4X RAM and 1TB of NVMe SSD storage. Fueling the device is a 62Whr cell that charges via a 100W AC adapter. As per Asus, it can charge 50% battery in just 30 mins.
Rest of the specs
Moving on, the I/O option includes a 3.5mm audio jack, an HDMI 2.0b, a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, one ROG XG Mobile Interface, and two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C (w/DP and PD) ports. Likewise, it utilizes WiFi 6 (802.11ax) and Bluetooth 5.1 for wireless connectivity.
Resolution: WQUXGA (3840 x 2400 pixels), 16:10 aspect ratio
Keyboard: Backlit chiclet
CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 5900H / Ryzen 9 5980HS
GPU: Up to Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Ti
RAM: Up to 32GB LPDDR4x (2 x SO-DIMM)
Storage: 1TB NVMe SSD
Audio: Dual speakers, Dolby Atmos, Hi-Res Audio
Webcam: 720P HD
Security: Fingerprint scanner
Battery: 4-cell 62Wh Li-ion
Power Adapter: 100W USB Type-C
Connectivity: Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax), Bluetooth 5.1
Ports: 1x 3.5mm audio jack, 1x HDMI 2.0b, 1x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-Am 1x ROG XG Mobile Interface, 2x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C (w/ DP, PD)
Asus ROG Flow X13 (2021) Price in Nepal and Availability
Asus ROG Flow X13 has finally launched in Nepal with a price tag of Rs. 238,888. For the price, you get a 120Hz panel, Ryzen 5900HS, RTX 3050 Ti, 16GB RAM, and 1TB SSD.
If you buy Asus ROG Flow X13 (2021) from Nagmani-authorized stores you will get two years of warranty, a laptop sleeve, and a mouse for free.
Huawei has finally launched the MateBook 14 (2021) in Nepal. The notebook brings a sleek design, 2K “FullView” display, and an active cooling system. Here, we will be discussing the key specs, official price, and availability of the Huawei MateBook 14 (2021) in Nepal.
Huawei MateBook 14 (2021) Overview
Design and Display
Huawei MateBook 14 (2021) is primarily made out of metal. The laptop is fairly lightweight at 1.49 kg and is just 15.9mm thick. It is available in sole Space Gray color options.
Opening the lid, you are greeted with a 14-inch 2K screen with a 3:2 aspect ratio. It’s a FullView Display based on IPS technology. It even has 100% sRGB coverage and 10-point multi-touch. The display is also TUV Rheinland certified against blue light emission.
Under the hood, MateBook 14 (2021) packs the 11th Gen Intel Core i5-1135G7. It is a quad-core CPU with 8 threads and a maximum turbo frequency of 4.2 GHz. There is an active cooling system consisting of Huawei Shark fins and dual heat pipes. The base laptop variant of the laptop comes with 8GB of RAM and 512GB of SSD.
Rest of the Specs
Huawei MateBook 14 2021 features a 56Wh lithium-polymer battery. The company even includes a 65W USB-C charger in the box.
The laptop features two USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports, one USB-C port, one HDMI port, and a 3.5mm 2-in1 headphone jack. It has two speakers and four microphones.
Other notable features include the recessed camera, fingerprint sensor (integrated into the power button), touchpad with Huawei Share tag.
Huawei MateBook 14 (2021) Specifications:
Dimension: 307.5 x 223.8 x 15.9mm; 1.49kg
Build: Metal + Plastic
Display: 14″ IPS Touch panel; 100% sRGB; 300 nits; 90% screen to body ratio; 178-degree viewing angle; 10-points touch;
Resolution: 2160 x 1440 pixels; 3:2 aspect ratio
Processor: 11th Gen Intel Core i5-1135G7/ Core i7-1165G7
GPU: Intel Iris Xe (integrated)
RAM: 8GB RAM
Storage: 512GB PCIe NVMe SSD
Ports: 1 x USB Type-C (data, charging, DisplayPort), 2 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, 1 x HDMI and 1 x 3.5mm headphone jack
Audio: 2 x 2W speakers, 4 x microphone
Connectivity: Dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax (2×2 MIMO), Bluetooth 5.1
Keyboard: Full-size Backlit chiclet Keyboard
Webcam: 720P HD (hidden)
Battery: 56 WHr Lithium Battery
Charger: 65W USB Type-C charger
Color: Space Gray
Huawei MateBook 14 (2021) Price in Nepal and Availability
The official price of Huawei MateBook 14 (2021) in Nepal in Nepal is Rs. 1,48,990. It is for the base Core i5 variant with 8GB RAM and 512GB storage.
Alongside the Realme 9 5G and 9 Speed Edition, the company has launched a new wearable, called the Realme TechLife Watch S100. The smartwatch promises up to 12 days of battery life. So, let’s go through the specs, features, availability, and expected price of the Realme TechLife Watch S100 in Nepal.
Realme TechLife Watch S100 Overview:
Body
To begin, the Watch S100 features a 1.69-inch color touchscreen with a resolution of 280 x 240 pixels and a peak brightness of 530 nits. It has a metallic housing and is IP68 water-resistant up to 1.5 meters. The Watch S100 weighs 34 grams and comes in two color options—Black and Grey.
The wearable comes equipped with a Photoplethysmography (PPG) sensor for constant heart rate monitoring. It also features a three-axis accelerometer for activity tracking.
Health and fitness features include 24/7 blood oxygen and heart rate tracking, sleep monitoring, and others. The company has also included a skin temperature measurement feature to monitor the temperature of your wrist and body. There are also 24 distinct sports modes and 110+ watch faces to choose from.
Rest of the specs
The Watch S100 is fitted with a 260mAh cell that is rated to provide up to 12 days of battery life. It connects to your smartphone via a Realme Fit app and supports devices with Android 5.0+ and iOS 11+.
Realme TechLife Watch S100 Price in Nepal and Availability
The TechLife Watch S100 is priced at INR 2,499 in India, where it will be available from March 14. We expect the price of Realme TechLife Watch S100 to be NPR 5,000, if and when it launches in Nepal.
Smartwatch
Price in India (Official)
Price in Nepal (Expected)
Realme TechLife Watch S100
INR 2,499
NPR 5,000
Meanwhile, check out our review of the Realme 9 Pro+.
Realme announced two new 9 series phones today. It includes the new Realme 9, which brings a new processor and support for 5G connectivity. In this article, we will be discussing the key specs, features, expected price, and availability of the Realme 9 5G in Nepal.
Realme 9 5G Overview
Design and Display
Realme 9 5G comes with a 6.5” 90Hz display, which was not there on last year’s Realme 8. However, the company has also replaced the Super AMOLED screen with an IPS panel. That being said, it still retains the 180Hz touch sampling rate and the left-aligned camera cutout.
The phone is 8.5mm thick and weighs around 188 grams. You can choose between two colors: Stargaze White and Meteor Black.
Performance
Under the hood, Realme has gone with the 5G-ready Dimensity 810 5G chipset. In addition to the support for 5G connectivity, it even brings a newer 6nm process which makes it more power-efficient compared to the Helio G95 on the Relame 9i.
The two chipsets feature the same 2x Cortex A76 + 6x Cortex-A55 core configuration. However, the performance cores are clocked a little higher on Dimensity 810. Talking about graphics, Dimensity 810’s dual-core Mali G57 GPU is actually a downgrade from the quad-core Mali G76 on the G95.
At the back, Realme 9 5G brings a triple camera consisting of a 48MP primary sensor accompanied by a 2MP macro and a 2MP portrait sensor. In contrast, Realme 8 featured a quad-camera setup with a 64MP primary sensor and an 8MP ultrawide sensor. On the front, there is a 16MP sensor for selfies and video calls.
Rest of the Specs
Fueling the Realme 9 5G is a 5,000mAh battery. The phone charges slower at 18W against its predecessor’s 30W charging. It still boots on Android 11 with Realme UI 2.0 on top. There is a side-mounted fingerprint scanner for biometrics.
Realme 9 5G is available in two memory configurations. The base variant has 4GB RAM and 64GB storage, while the top-end model comes with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage.
Security: side-mounted fingerprint scanner, Face unlock
Battery: 5000mAh with 18W SuperDart Charge
Realme 9 5G Price in Nepal and Availability (Expected)
Realme 9 5G will go on sale in India on March 14. There, its price is INR 14,999 for the 4/64GB variant and INR 17,499 for the 6/128GB variant. If it launches here, we expect the price of Realme 9 5G in Nepal to start at NPR 25,500.
After launching the 9 Pro and 9 Pro+ last month, Realme has added two more phones to its latest number series. Among the two phones announced today, Realme 9 SE is a completely new phone with no direct predecessor. In this article, we will be discussing the key specs, features, expected price, and availability of the Realme 9 SE in Nepal.
Realme 9 SE Overview:
Performance
Realme has justified the Speed Edition moniker by including Snapdragon 778G under the hood. In terms of raw performance, it is even better than the Snapdragon 695-powered 9 Pro. It brings faster Cortex-A78 performance cores (1x 2.4GHz + 3x 2.2 GHz) and a capable GPU in the form of Adreno 642L. However, this chip is based on an older 6nm process.
Though you can choose between 6GB and 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM, you will get 128GB of UFS 2.2 storage on both. Likewise, there is also an option to expand the storage further with an external memory card.
Display and Design
Moving on, Realme 9 SE brings a 6.6” LCD screen with support for a 144Hz refresh rate. This makes it the fastest display in the series. Likewise, the screen is said to switch between six different levels of refresh rate based on the app and content. The screen boasts a 240Hz touch sampling rate and 600 nits of peak brightness.
Over on the back, Realme 9 SE has a shining textured design with anti-fingerprint properties. It is available in Starry Glow and Azure Glow color options.
In terms of photography, Realme 9 SE brings a triple camera setup. The primary camera here uses a 48MP sensor. Accompanying it is a duo of 2MP sensors for portraits and macro, respectively. Unfortunately, there is no ultrawide shooter here. For selfies, Realme has included a 16MP shooter inside the left-aligned punch-hole display cutout.
Rest of the Specs
Realme 9 SE gets its juice from a massive 5,000mAh battery, and it has support for 33W fast charging. It has a side-mounted fingerprint scanner for biometrics. It even brings support for Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2. The phone still boots on Android 11, which is quite a bummer given all the specs that it offers for the price.
Security: side-mounted fingerprint scanner, Face unlock
Battery: 5000mAh with 30W SuperDart Charge
Realme 9 SE Price in Nepal and Availability (Expected)
Realme 9 SE will go on sale starting March 14 in India, where it starts at INR 19,999 for the base 6/128GB variant. If it launches here, we expect the price of the Realme 9 SE in Nepal to start at NPR 34,500.
Realme 9 SE
Price in India (Official)
Price in Nepal (Expected)
6/128GB
INR 19,999
NPR 34,500
8/128GB
INR 22,999
NPR 40,000
Meanwhile, check out our unboxing of the Realme 9 SE.
Last year, Huawei refreshed its MateBook D series of notebooks with the 11th gen Intel CPUs. The lineup consisted of two laptops: MateBook D 14 and D 15. The latter is now available in Nepal. So, let’s walk through the key specs, official price, and availability of the Huawei MateBook D 15 in Nepal.
Huawei MateBook D 15 Overview:
Performance
Huawei MateBook D 15 is powered by 11th Gen Intel Core i5-1135G7. It’s a quad-core CPU with 8 threads and a maximum clock speed of 4.20 GHz. There is no discrete GPU here, and users will have to rely on the integrated Intel Iris Xe graphics. As for memory, you get 8GB LPDDR4X RAM and 512GB of PCIe SSD.
Design and Display
As the monikers suggest, Huawei MateBook D 15 features a 15.6-inch IPS screen. The FHD screen has a 16:9 aspect ratio and typical brightness of 250 nits. Other than that, it has slim bezels and 178º viewing angles. Plus, Huawei has also attained TÜV Rheinland’s low blue light certification.
This metal chassis is available in two colors – Moon Silver and Deep Space Gray. It measures 16.9mm in thickness and weighs around 1.56 kg.
As for the ports, you get one USB-C connection with charging support, three USB-A, one HDMI, and a 3.5mm combo jack.
The keyboard on the Huawei MateBook D 15 is backlit and the power button is home to a fingerprint scanner too. One of the keys hides the 720p webcam, which pops up only when you need it.
Huawei MateBook D15 features a 42Wh battery with support for 65W charging.
Huawei MateBook D 15 Specifications:
Body: 357.8W x 229.9D x 16.9H-mm, 1.56 kg
Display: 15.6-inches FHD (1920 x 1080) IPS, 250 nits
Keyboard: Full-sized backlit keyboard
Touchpad: Multi-touch supported touchpad
Processor: Intel Core i5-1135G7
Memory: 8GB LPDDR4X RAM, 512GB NVMe PCIe SSD
Graphics: Intel Iris Xe
Audio: 2x speaker
Battery: 42 WHr, 65W USB-C power adapter
Webcam: 720p HD camera (hidden)
Connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax (2×2 MIMO), Bluetooth 5.1
I/O ports: 1x 3.5mm mic/headphone jack, 2x USB 2.0 Type-A, 1x USB Type-C (charging supported), 1x HDMI, 1x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A
Huawei MateBook D 15 Price in Nepal (Official)
The official price of the Huawei MateBook D 15 (2021) in Nepal is Rs. 109,990 for the sole 8+512GB variant. You can buy the MateBook D15 from Huawei-authorized stores in Nepal.
This is our review of Intel 12th Gen Alder Lake CPU (Core i7-12700K) on Windows 10 and Windows 11. If you’ve watched or read our comparison between the 11th Gen Rocket Lake and 12th Gen Alder Lake CPUs, then you know that Intel is back with a bang! To pull this off, the company had to use every trick up its sleeve—from the hybrid core architecture to the new 10nm process node and everything in between.
What’s new with Alder Lake?
By now, you might already be familiar with the said hybrid architecture but in case you’re not, here’s a quick recap.
UNlike every other x86-based intel and amd processor of the past, alder lake is different. in a good way.
Contrary to a homogenous CPU design consisting only of high-performance cores, these 12th Gen CPUs also bring low-power high-efficiency cores into the mix. With this, Intel is promising a significantly more power-efficient workflow alongside improved performance.
Image: Intel
For instance, the company claims that the Core i9-12900K delivers the same level of performance at 65W—compared to what the Core i9-11900K manages at 250W! Besides the core layout itself, the new CPU microarchitectures, cache architecture, and a multitude of other factors contribute to the upgrade as well—but you get the gist.
Intel 12th Gen Windows 10 vs 11: Thread Director
So, to make sure this novel CPU design doesn’t end up misbehaving with the operating system, Intel has worked closely with Microsoft to develop something called “Thread Director” that reportedly yields the best performance on Windows 11.
Image: Intel
Basically what it does is give the OS a better view of thread requests and the state of each core to help it decide whether a thread goes to a performance or an efficiency core. According to Intel, Thread Director monitors instructions at a nanosecond level and communicates with the OS on a microsecond level.
All this sure sounds fantastic on paper. But if history has taught anything, jumping on the new OS bandwagon this early on is not a good idea. So the question has to be asked: just how good is Alder Lake on Windows 11—if at all? For this, we ran a bunch of benchmark and gaming tests on Windows 10 and 11.
Test system specs
More specifically, all our Windows 10 (Pro) tests were running on the 21H2 version (OS build 19044.1466). On the other hand, our Windows 11 (Pro) machine was also on version 21H2 (OS build 22000.438).
In terms of system specs, it’s the same that we used in our 11th Gen-12th Gen comparison. Once again, if you haven’t seen or read that comparison, I’ll highly recommend doing so because we’ve discussed all the nitty-gritty details of Alder Lake apart from its upgrades over 11th Gen there.
Intel 12th Gen Windows 10 vs 11: Performance
7-Zip
Anyway, looking at the 7-Zip 32MB dictionary compression and decompression, their minimal difference can be simply written off as run-to-run variation. Same with Blender.
Blender Open Data
The BMW render took 1 minute 49 seconds on Windows 11 and a second less on Windows 10. The i7-12700K was slower by a couple of seconds on Windows 11 in the Classroom render as well. Likewise, this CPU completed all Blender benchmarks in 28 minutes and 5 seconds on Windows 10—which is 8 seconds faster than on the newer OS.
Blender
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Render (bmw27, Classroom)
Render (All tests)
Power Draw, Temperature
Besides render speed, I didn’t find any substantial advantage for this 12th Gen CPU on Windows 11 when it comes to power usage or temperature either. In Blender’s all-core full benchmark test, I clocked the CPU temperature on Windows 10 and 11 and 86 and 88°C respectively—while their power draw was also negligibly different at 186.796W and 188.146W.
AIDA64 Stress Test
AIDA64’s stress test yields identical outcomes on both operating systems—with an unthrottled CPU and similar power usage and temperature.
Cinebench R23
Cinebench R23 tells the same story in both single and multi-core benchmarks. Here, this Alder Lake processor’s single-core score on Windows 11 came to 1842—a roughly 1.68% worse result than on Windows 10.
Cinebench R23
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Single Core
Power, Temperature
Five minutes into the test, Windows 11 posted about 9.75% cooler CPU temperature although it was marginally behind in terms of power usage.
The Core i7-12700K was once again slightly better on Windows 10 under the Cinebench R23 multi-core test. Not that it matters at all, but it scored 22527 on Windows 10 and 22372 on Windows 11. Then again, running its multi-core 30 minutes stress test somewhat flipped the results in Windows 11’s favor.
Corona 1.3
Corona 1.3 render test puts it ahead of Windows 10 by a modest 3.08% as well. Wow, I’m almost running out of synonyms for these minute variations.
Handbrake
Thankfully, Handbrake conversion finally shows some meaningful upper hand for Alder Lake on Windows 11—or does it? You see, the i7-12700K completed converting a custom 895MB 4K H.264 file to H.265 in 1 minute and 28 seconds on Windows 10.
To compare, Windows 11 finished the conversion 57.14% faster at just 56 seconds. Now, based on everything else I’ve discussed so far, this result is suspiciously fast. Further raising our doubts is the fact that this CPU pulled off the 1080p H.264 to H.265 conversion at the exact same time.
Therefore, I manually set Handbrake’s thread schedule priority to “High” from “Normal” for a rematch. Mind you that this is not regulation for most applications or most users—meaning the operating system’s scheduler automatically does it for you. But because Alder Lake introduces a hybrid core architecture that supposedly works better with Windows 11, I thought it was somehow necessary.
And lo and behold, Windows 10 actually completed the 4K conversion in 55 seconds when making this small change. It might be something to do with the scheduler, or this contrast is app-specific entirely—I’m not sure.
V-Ray, Premiere Pro
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V-Ray 5 (CPU)
Adobe Premiere Pro
Moving on, we’re back to the tale of dismissable differences under the V-Ray 5 CPU render where this processor posted 15636 on Windows 11 and 15686 on Windows 10. Our custom Premiere Pro render was also nominally slower on Windows 11.
Time Spy (CPU)
In a necessary change of pace, the i7-12700K scored 4.56% higher on the Time Spy CPU test on Windows 11.
PugetBench Photoshop
PugetBench’s Photoshop benchmark was moderately ahead on Windows 11 as well.
As you can see from the chart, this Alder Lake CPU managed a 1018 overall score on Windows 10 and 1099 in the competition. Besides this, the GPU, General, and Filter scores are also better on Windows 11.
PugetBench Premiere Pro
On the other hand, PugetBench’s Premiere Pro benchmark delivered a mixed outcome.
While i7-12700K’s results were superior on Windows 11 in terms of the overall score, Standard Export, and GPU—it fell behind on the Live Playback and Effects tests.
SPECworkstation 3.1
Our performance benchmark ends with SPECworkstation 3.1. As the name implies, this is a workstation benchmark that evaluates a system’s performance across various professional applications. Here, Windows 11 achieved its biggest victory on the Media & Entertainment (M & E) CPU test—outclassing Windows 10 by a decent 18.1%.
It was marginally leading in the Product Development (PD) CPU benchmark as well. On the contrary, Windows 10 secured a win in the Life Sciences (LS) CPU test since its 3.64 score is around 2.54% faster than Windows 11’s 3.55.
Intel 12th Gen Windows 10 vs 11: Gaming
By the way, I kept ray tracing, VSync, and DLSS OFF (wherever available) for all these gaming tests.
CS: GO
With that out of the way, let’s see if Alder Lake is any different on these two OS on the gaming front. Starting with CS: GO, the Core i7-12700K averaged 361.5 fps on Windows 10 and 371.6 fps on Windows 11 at 1080p resolution and Very High settings.
CS: GO
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1080p, Very High
1440p, Very High
There’s a similar difference when switching to 1440p—whereas the 1% low fps is almost the same between the two operating systems. However, the 0.1% lows are almost ridiculously low on Windows 11 at both resolutions. I didn’t notice any significant frame drops or anything here—but even after multiple tests, the result was indistinguishable.
Forza Horizon 5
Regardless, Forza Horizon 5 has practically the same result on Windows 10 and 11 at either 1080p Extreme or Ultra preset. More importantly, both 1% and 0.1% lows stay at a respectable margin.
Forza Horizon 5
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1080p, Extreme
1080p, Ultra
Civilization VI: Gathering Storm
But the Civilization VI Gathering Storm AI benchmark favored Windows 10, where Windows 11 was slower by 10.54 and 8.62% on 1080p and 1440p resolution respectively.
Cyberpunk 2077
The i7-12700K achieved basically identical scores on GPU-bound games like Cyberpunk 2077 too.
Cyberpunk 2077
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1080p, Medium
1080p, High
Under 1080p High settings, it managed 105.3 fps average on Windows 11 and 104.3 fps on Windows 10, while bringing it down to Medium graphics bumped those numbers by roughly 20%.
Red Dead Redemption 2
Red Dead Redemption 2
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1080p, Medium
1080p, High
Red Dead Redemption 2 matches this conclusion at 1080p High and Medium settings as well.
Control
Control
1 of 2
1080p, Medium
1080p, High
Likewise, Control yields 135.2 fps average at 1080p High preset on Windows 11 and 132.2 fps on Windows 10. The results are also comparable under Medium settings—but contrary to CS: GO—the 0.1% lows are far better on Windows 11 here.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider
Moving on, Shadow of the Tomb Raider’s in-game benchmark gave 7.92 and 2.63% higher average fps on Windows 11 at 1080p Highest and High settings.
Hitman 3
Hitman 3’s average fps is pretty much the same on either OS, but the 1% and 0.1% lows are considerably better on Windows 11.
Borderlands 3
Similarly, Borderlands 3 manages an average of 109.8 fps under 1080p Ultra graphics preset on Windows 10 and 110.6 fps on Windows 11. But this time, the 1% and 0.1% lows are much worse on Windows 11.
Finally, let’s look at the 8 games/14 settings average fps of the Core i7-12700K on the two OS. On Windows 11, we’ve got 168.61 fps—keeping it slightly ahead of Windows 10’s 166.23 fps.
Intel 12th Gen Windows 10 vs 11: Conclusion
All in all, from everything I’ve discussed so far, it’s pretty clear that there’s really not much of a competitive advantage to Intel’s 12th Gen Alder Lake CPUs on Windows 11 when it comes to gaming or creative workloads. Maybe Thread Director’s algorithm isn’t mature enough to deliver the promised optimization on Windows 11—or maybe it was marketed more as Windows 11’s promotion instead.
In any case, if your professional workflow runs perfectly fine on Windows 10 and you don’t see any Windows 11-exclusive features or visual overhaul to be that useful, stick with what you have. 12th Gen CPUs are great—but not necessarily on Windows 11. Not yet.
