On the first day of the Max 2021 virtual conference, Adobe announced the extension of Photoshop and Illustrator to the web. Likewise, iPad now supports RAW files as well. So, let’s get discuss what the new Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator for the web has to offer.
Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator on the web:
The new web editors for both Photoshop and Illustrator are a part of the company’s annual update to its Creative Suite. However, they are the toned-down version of the respective standard desktop apps.
This online version now lets you upload your PSD or AI files to the cloud, share a link with your colleagues, and review and comment in a new commenting panel. Furthermore, the sharing feature will be integrated into the Photoshop desktop software, making distribution much easier. Likewise, the editing tools included are cropping, selection, healing brushes, and others.
Once edited, you can copy the file link and share it with collaborators via your desired messaging or social media application. However, in order to modify files using Photoshop and Illustrator for the web, the sharer must have a Creative Cloud (CC) subscription. The receiver, on the other hand, can modify and add comments without requiring a subscription. Nevertheless, the file author must grant edit permissions for these actions.
Adobe is also bringing a handful of new features to Photoshop. This includes smart object masking, which allows users to hover over an item and convert it into a new mask using Sensei AI machine learning. This makes it easy to make changes to the selected object. Similarly, if you want to create masks for more than a single item, you can go to Layer > Mask All Objects.
The landscape mixing tool, on the other hand, allows users to change the landscape photos in a matter of seconds. Three new seasonal modes—summer, winter, and autumn—can be added to the original image to transform it.
RAW support for iPad:
Aside from that, Photoshop for iPad has received a substantial upgrade too. First off, it gets the support for Apple ProRAW images from the iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 lineup. It supports files that are compatible with the existing Adobe Camera Raw list and allows for light and color changes, as well as auto-adjustments and auto black and white transformation.
Furthermore, other tools that have made their way to the iPad are Sky Replacement, Healing Brush, and Magic Wand.
Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator on web Availability
Photoshop for the web is now in public beta, while Illustrator for the web will be released in private beta. Also, these web application versions are currently compatible with Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge only.
Meanwhile, check out our review of the Xiaomi 11 Lite NE 5G.
Today, I’ll be talking about the Xiaomi 11 Lite NE 5G in this review, which is the “upgraded” version of the Mi 11 Lite 4G. If you are wondering what the NE stands for, it’s short for “New Edition”. I am not quite sure how much sense that makes, because this phone is basically the Mi 11 Lite with a few upgrades here and there. Nothing necessarily new. Personally, I think this naming convention is a little odd and unnecessarily lengthy.
Xiaomi 11 Lite NE 5G Specifications:
Body: 75.72 x 160.53 x 6.81mm, 158 gm, Frosted glass back
In terms of pricing, this phone starts at INR 26,999 (or NPR 45,999 in Nepal), which puts it in the same league as the Realme GT Master Edition, Galaxy M52, and Xiaomi’s own Mi 11X/POCO F3. So, the NE has got quite a competition. Here, I have been testing the Xiaomi 11 Lite NE 5G for the better part of 3 weeks now alongside the Galaxy M52, so you’ll be seeing a lot of comparison between them in this review.
Design & Build
75.72 x 160.53 x 6.81mm, 158 grams
Glass front/back (frosted), plastic frames
If you remember, I was quite fond of the Mi 11 Lite 4G’s design, and this new edition is exactly the same with the identical weight and form factor. So, if you are someone who likes lightweight phones, the Xiaomi 11 Lite NE is the best option out there.
Design
1 of 2
Ports
Back
And its color options are quite appealing too. I have this Blue variant which looks quite nice while there is the Coral option that stands out as well. Plus, this frosted glass back does not attract fingerprints either. It also doesn’t feel hollow as the Galaxy M52. Hence, when holding the phone, you’ll find its build quality to be pretty ergonomic.
Having said that, I would have liked its form factor better if it wasn’t so wide. I mean, this phone is ridiculously light, yes, but it’s also a bit wide. So you might not find it as comfortable as you would expect.
Display
6.55-inches FHD+ AMOLED display
90/240Hz refresh/touch sampling rate
Corning Gorilla Glass 5, Dolby Vision
On the front, you get the same 6.55 inches AMOLED screen as the Mi 11 Lite 4G. Here, it bears some flagship perks like 10-bit color depth. As a result, it is able to render images with greater color accuracy.
Along with that, there is Dolby Vision and HDR10+ support as well. With all this, watching Dolby Vision content on Netflix on this screen has been a slightly better experience. It’s not a big difference, but it is noticeable if you ask me.
Regardless, seeing that this display refreshes at just 90Hz is rather disappointing, contrary to how practically every phone at this price range has a 120Hz refresh rate. And since I have used and tested a lot of phones with a higher refresh rate recently, going back to 90Hz is quite an underwhelming journey.
As a result, scrolling and swiping through Xiaomi 11 Lite NE’s UI is not a smooth sailing experience. Plus, with a 240Hz touch sampling rate, its touch response isn’t the best either. In comparison, the touch experience on the Realme GT Neo 2 that I have been using for a couple of days now is insanely smooth since its touch response can go as high as 600Hz.
Also, even though this phone has an AMOLED screen, Xiaomi has cheaped out a bit by including a side-mounted fingerprint sensor. Granted it is fast and accurate, at this price range, I think they could have easily included a fast optical in-display sensor instead.
Moving on, the stereo speakers on this thing is quite good, especially if you compare it against the single speaker setup of the Galaxy M52 and Realme GT ME. They’re quite loud and sound balanced.
Android 11 with Xiaomi’s MIUI 12.5 on top (upgradeable)
Getting to performance, you get Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 778G 5G chipset here which we have seen in action on several recent smartphones. So, I already know how it performs. Normal day-to-day tasks run without a hiccup here and it can handle even heavy multitasking without breaking a sweat.
It’s only when playing really demanding games like Genshin Impact in the highest graphics settings under 60fps mode that this phone shows signs of distress. The gameplay here is extremely stuttery, while the phone heats up near the camera module rather quickly as well. Even the 8GB RAM variant that I have with me is not able to handle the game in the highest settings.
On the contrary, relatively less taxing titles like PUBG Mobile run quite well in 60fps under Smooth graphics and Extreme frame rate settings. Call of Duty Mobile too runs smoothly at 60fps under Very High graphics and Max frame rate settings. And I am also happy to report that higher fps optimized games like Critical Ops and Oddmar utilize the 90Hz refresh rate and run at 90fps.
MIUI remains as under-optimized as ever
All in all, I didn’t encounter any major problems regarding the performance of the Xiaomi 11 Lite NE 5G. However, I do have a few things to say about the software side of things. Honestly, even though MIUI has its perks in terms of various customizations and all, I’m still not a huge fan of it.
Plus, if you’ve watched our review of practically every Xiaomi phone, be it a midrange or their flagship lineup, I have always been complaining about the lack of proper implementation of dark mode and the 11 Lite NE 5G comes bearing the same issue.
And over time, you will also face issues with MIUI here and there. Yet, I am pleased to see Xiaomi finally joining OnePlus and Samsung by committing to 3 years of OS upgrade and 4 years of security updates on its premium mid-range phones.
Cameras
Triple camera setup at the back
(64MP primary, 8MP ultrawide, 5MP telemacro)
20MP selfie camera inside the punch-hole cutout
Cameras
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Back
Front
So, when it comes to Xiaomi’s mid-range phones, the camera is one of the aspects where they don’t really hold a strong ground. But I feel like the company is slowly improving its algorithm and color science—which is reflected well on the 11 Lite NE.
Normal Images
With its 64MP main lens, you will get sharp and detailed pictures that are bright with slightly boosted whites.
Normal
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I compared its cameras with the Galaxy M52, which is arguably the best mid-range phone for photography, and found Xiaomi’s output competing amazingly well.
vs Galaxy M52 5G
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Xiaomi 11 Lite NE 5G
Galaxy M52 5G
Xiaomi 11 Lite NE 5G
Galaxy M52 5G
Xiaomi 11 Lite NE 5G
Galaxy M52 5G
Xiaomi 11 Lite NE 5G
Galaxy M52 5G
Xiaomi 11 Lite NE 5G
Galaxy M52 5G
Samsung’s color optimization is still better, but the pictures from 11 Lite NE aren’t bad either. I also noticed slight focus issues when shooting close-up shots on the Galaxy M52 while Xiaomi 11 Lite NE was able to handle that quite well.
Wideangle Images
Other than that, as expected, the 12MP ultra-wide images from the M52 are more detailed than the ones from 11 Lite NE’s 8MP sensor.
Ultrawide
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Xiaomi 11 Lite NE 5G
Galaxy M52 5G
Xiaomi 11 Lite NE 5G
Galaxy M52 5G
Xiaomi 11 Lite NE 5G
Galaxy M52 5G
Plus, Xiaomi’s ultra-wide shots are slightly darker in comparison too. So, it’s an easy win for Samsung in this department.
Portrait Images
On the other hand, portraits look good from this phone, although they are slightly beautified.
Portrait
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Xiaomi 11 Lite NE 5G
Galaxy M52 5G
Xiaomi 11 Lite NE 5G
Galaxy M52 5G
Xiaomi 11 Lite NE 5G
Galaxy M52 5G
M52 handles exposure better at most times, but Xiaomi’s output is quite eye-pleasing and social media-ready—so no complaints on that part.
Selfie Images
Even the 20MP selfies have similar properties as the portrait images with the mild beautification going on here.
Selfie
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Xiaomi 11 Lite NE 5G
Galaxy M52 5G
Xiaomi 11 Lite NE 5G
Galaxy M52 5G
Xiaomi 11 Lite NE 5G
Galaxy M52 5G
But the skin tone does look good though. To compare, Samsung’s photos look more natural, but Xiaomi does a decent job too.
Videography
But when it comes to videos, the 11 Lite NE performs much better than the M52. It is able to shoot stable videos across 4k 30fps, 1080p 60fps and 1080p 30fps modes whereas M52’s outputs are incredibly shaky. Yet, the NE crops the videos to maintain proper stabilization, and the recordings also appear slightly washed out. In any case, M52’s videos are almost unusable if you don’t use a gimbal for stabilization.
Battery
4250mAh battery with 33W fast charging
Finally, the battery life on the Xiaomi 11 Lite NE is good enough, despite featuring a modest 4250mAh cell only. In my typical usage, I got 5.5-6 hours of SoT on average with activities consisting of a lot of social media usage, streaming Netflix, a few calls and messages every now and then, and a little bit of gaming as well.
Battery
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Charging
Charger
This result is quite comparable to the Galaxy M52 and the Realme GT Master Edition, which is great! Likewise, you get a 33-Watt fast charger inside the box that takes the phones from 0-100% in about 1 hour and 10 minutes.
Xiaomi 11 Lite NE 5G Review: Conclusion
In conclusion, the Xiaomi 11 Lite NE 5G is a pretty balanced offering from the company. Its performance is on par with the competition, while it also brings competent cameras alongside an appealing design.
And I think this phone is priced well too. I just wish Xiaomi had included a 120Hz refresh rate instead of 90Hz—which would have made this phone even more compelling. Still, if you value performance over anything else, Flipkart is currently selling the Snapdragon 870-powered Mi 11X below INR 25,000 in India, which if you ask me, is an insane deal.
Watch our video review of the Xiaomi 11 Lite NE 5G.
After the launch of Vive Flow earlier this month, HTC is back in the news. This time, it’s announced a new pair of TWS earbuds. In this article, we will be looking at the specs, features, expected price, and availability of HTC True Wireless Earbuds Plus in Nepal.
HTC True Wireless Earbuds Plus Overview:
Design
HTC True Wireless Earbuds Plus features a short stem design. These are in-ear earbuds with removable ear tips. The company has slapped its logo on the flat surface that stays outside of the ear. You can choose between two colors: Black and White.
It arrives in a charging case with matching colors. There are three LED indicators on the front and the HTC logo on the top. The USB charging port is on the rear side.
The main highlight of the HTC True Wireless Earbuds Plus is its noise cancellation ability. It is equipped with both Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) and Environmental Noise Cancellation (ENC).
The former helps drown out outside noise, whereas the latter is intended towards making the user’s voice clearer during phone calls. There are two microphones supporting the two technologies for clear communication.
As for connectivity, the TWS has Bluetooth 5.0. It also has touch-based controls that support taps (single/double/triple), and press-and-hold actions. These TWS earbuds are also IPX5 rated and thus can be used during workouts.
Battery Life
HTC True Wireless Earbuds Plus boasts up to 6 hours of playback time on a single charge. The charging case can add three additional charge cycles, leading to 24 hours combined battery life.
HTC True Wireless Earbuds Plus Key Features:
Bluetooth 5.0 + EDR
ANC (up to 27±2dB) + ENC
IPX5 rating
Touch controls
6 hours of playback time (24 hours with case)
HTC True Wireless Earbuds Plus Price in Nepal
HTC True Wireless Earbuds Plus is currently available in the European markets for EUR 84. We expect the price of HTC True Wireless Earbuds Plus in Nepal to be NPR 12,500, if and when it launches here.
Wireless Earphones
Price in Europe
Price in Nepal (Expected)
HTC True Wireless Earbuds Plus
EUR 84/GBP 69
NPR 12,500
Meanwhile, check out our review of the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2.
AQFiT is a relatively new name in the world of smart wearables. The company recently launched the W9 smartwatch in Nepal, which supports phone calls over Bluetooth. There are not many smartwatches in the price range that bring this feature. I have been testing the AQFiT W9 for some time now, and I’ll be sharing my experience with it in this review.
Before we begin the review, let’s take a quick look at the official specifications of the AQFiT W9 smartwatch.
Let’s start with the design first. AQFiT W9 sports a classic watch design with a circular dial. As such, it is quite big and thick. Thus, it may not look good on people with smaller hands.
Coming to the screen, it’s big but lacking in quality. First, the resolution here is only 240 x 240 pixels. When you spread it across a 1.33-inch panel, the contents don’t look as sharp. Since it’s not an AMOLED panel, the colors are muted too. The watch has five levels of brightness, but even at the highest, the screen is difficult to read under bright outdoors.
The bezels around the screen are thick as well. There are two crown-like structures to the right frame. Both buttons pack the same set of functions of power/back. I wished AQFiT allowed customizing the action of either of them, but that’s not the case here. Getting to the strap, it’s removable and I didn’t have any discomfort putting it on either.
Moving on, the W9 runs on proprietary software—most likely based on RTOS. Swiping down from the homescreen brings up the status bar. Here, you get some quick shortcuts like settings, brightness, and more.
Similarly, swiping up triggers the notification tray where you can view individual notifications or clear them collectively. To the right of the homescreen, we have individual app tiles things like heart rate, SpO2, music control, camera shutter, and more.
Connectivity and App
Bluetooth 5.0, Da Fit app
AQFiT W9 comes with Bluetooth 5.0 to connect with your smartphone. To make the most out of this smartwatch, you’ll need to download the Da Fit app, which is available for download on both Google Play Store and Apple App Store.
The app has a very simplistic UI. It opens to a page with a summary of your health/exercise stats of the day. Clicking on them reveals a detailed overview.
Likewise, swiping right gets you to the device page, where you can play with settings like watch faces, firmware updates, and more. Finally, there is the user profile page to the left.
Health and Fitness Tracking
7 total exercise/sports modes
24-hour heart rate, SpO2 monitoring
Moving on, the AQFiT W9 covers all of the basic health and fitness tracking that you can think of on a budget smartwatch. It includes all-day heart rate monitoring, SpO2 level evaluation, sleep tracking, and more.
You can activate continuous heart rate monitoring from the Da Fit app. Even so, the watch only records heart rate once every 30 minutes. As expected, there is no continuous SpO2 monitoring here. Plus, the watch takes a while to get the readings out. Still and all, the data recorded by the W9 is in line with other fitness bands that I’ve used.
Sleep tracking is also quite reliable here. It was able to accurately record my time to bed and wake-up time. Plus, it was sensitive enough to recognize if I had woken up in between as well. The watch divides your sleep cycle into Light, Deep, and REM sleep. It even rates your sleep quality into a score. However, you will have to refer to the Da Fit app if you want all the details.
Besides these, the AQFiT W9 offers a total of 7 sports modes: walking, running, cycling, skipping, badminton, basketball, and football. It doesn’t have a built-in GPS, and there is no automatic workout detection either. You can enable GPS tracking for outdoor runs using the app though.
Call Quality
Built-in microphone, speaker
On the other hand, the AQFiT W9 comes with a dedicated speaker and mic, which is quite rare in this price range. As a result, you can take and make calls directly from the watch itself. It also has a dialer to type in the number you wish to call. You can even choose numbers from recent call records or favorite contacts.
The speaker here is surprisingly loud, and I had no trouble hearing through it. As for the microphone, I would have liked it better had it been equipped with some sort of noise reduction technology or a dual-mic setup altogether.
As it stands, my peers complained about my voice not being clear enough. This was the case most of the time when I was outdoors. Thankfully, things were a lot better indoors—but not perfect all the way.
Battery and Charging
280mAh battery, magnetic charging
AQFiT W9 features a 280mAh battery. In my usage, I got full 2 days of endurance when using the watch at the highest brightness level and with all the health trackings and notifications turned on. I would also take phone calls from the watch whenever possible. Once it switches to the low-battery mode, it limits health-tracking abilities and other smart features.
Even in this power-saving mode, the W9 can go on about 2 more days before needing a recharge. Using the 2-pin magnetic charger included in the box, the watch takes around 2 hours 30 minutes to go from 0 to 100%.
AQFiT W9 Review: Conclusion
Having used the AQFiT W9 for some weeks, I have to say that it has an interesting value proposition. Not many smartwatches in this price range come with a dedicated speaker and microphone to enable phone calls over Bluetooth. Its health and fitness tracking features are also on par with what the competitions are offering. That being said, compromises have been made in the display and battery departments.
Sony announced the Xperia PRO smartphone to go with its Alpha lineup of cameras back in 2020. And now, the company has announced its sequel in the form of Xperia PRO-I. Here, we will be discussing the key specs, features, expected price, and availability of the Sony Xperia PRO-I in Nepal.
Sony Xperia PRO-I Overview:
Camera
The main talking point of the Sony Xperia PRO-I is most definitely its cameras. It flaunts a triple camera setup at the back, including a 12MP telephoto and a 12MP ultrawide sensor. But the main highlight is the 1.0-inch Exmor RS image sensor with phase-detection autofocus.
This makes Sony Xperia PRO-I the first phone to launch outside of Japan to feature a 1.0-inch camera sensor. Sony has taken the sensor from its RX100 VII compact camera and optimized it for a smartphone. And yeah, the “I” stands for “Imaging” in this case.
Xperia PRO-I takes 12MP photos by default with individual pixels of 2.4µm. Above the sensor is a Zeiss-coated 24mm lens with a variable aperture between f/2.0 to f/4.0.
The phone also comes with the latest BIONZ X image processor for smartphones. The main camera has a total of 315 phase-detection AF (Autofocus) points that cover 90% of the frame. There is also support for real-time Eye AF, both for humans and animals.
The phone can track moving subjects with the help of AI and the 3D iToF sensor. Other notable features include 20fps burst shooting, 4K 120fps video recording, and 12-bit RAW format. Sony has also launched the Vlog Monitor to go with Xperia PRO-I. It attaches magnetically to the back of the phone and connects via the USB-C port.
Sony has also included two physical camera buttons here. One is a two-stage shutter key, while the other is a shortcut button mapped to launch the Video Pro app.
Moving on, Xperia PRO-I’s rest of the specs is quite similar to Xperia 1 III that was announced earlier this year. It features a 6.5-inch 4K HDR OLED panel with a 120Hz refresh rate, 240Hz touch sampling rate, and a 21:9 wide aspect ratio.
Under the hood, the phone packs Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 888 chipset. It is paired with 12GB of RAM and 512GB of internal storage. Fueling the phone is a 4,500mAh battery and Sony includes a 30W charger in the box.
Sony Xperia PRO-I will go on sale in the US starting from December where its price is USD 1,799.99. The company doesn’t launch its smartphones in Nepal for now. However, we expect the price of the Sony Xperia PRO-I in Nepal to be NPR 250,000 if it arrives here through unofficial channels.
Smartphone Model
Price in the US
Price in Nepal (Expected)
Sony Xperia PRO-I
USD 1,799.99
NPR 250,000
Meanwhile, check out our review of the Xiaomi 11 lite NE 5G.
Intel will be launching its own line of Arc-branded consumer-grade graphics cards next year. However, you can try out Intel’s dedicated GPU now if you want. Intel Iris Xe Max (codenamed “DG1”) has been announced on a handful of laptops this year including the Acer Swift 3X which we have in for review.
There is no doubt that Acer’s Swift 3 series is one of the most popular thin-and-light laptops out there. And the Swift 3X inherits all the key features of this lineup, while also offering a discrete Intel GPU.
The GPU in question is Intel’s Iris Xe Max and spoiler alert, it’s not a powerful one. However, it could be all you need if you are a student or an aspiring digital artist trying to hone your craft. So after having used it for around a month, I’ll be sharing my experience with the Acer Swift 3X in this full review.
Acer Swift 3X 2021 Specifications:
Design &Build: Aluminum body, 12.7W x 8.4D x 0.71H-inches, 1.37 kg
Graphics: Intel Iris Xe Max Graphics (discrete) with 4GB LPDDR4X VRAM
Audio: 2x 2W stereo speaker
Battery: 58.7Wh/3815mAh 4-cell Li-Ion battery
Power Supply: 65W barrel-pin power connector
Webcam: 720p HD camera, No privacy shutter
Connectivity: Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 ax), Bluetooth 5.0
I/O Ports: 1x 3.5mm jack, 1x Thunderbolt 4 (with USB charging), 2x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A (one with power-off charging), 1x HDMI 2.0
Price in Nepal: NPR 148,000 (i7-1165G7, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD)
Acer Swift 3X Review:
Design
12.7W x 8.4D x 0.71H-inches, 1.37 kg
Aluminum build quality, two color options
Let’s start with the design first. My review unit of the Acer Swift 3X comes in this Safari Gold shade that gives it a premium vibe. You can also go with the Steam Blue variant if you want something more subtle.
This laptop comes with an aluminum body. That being said, it’s not all metal. Acer has cheaped out by using plastic material for the hinge. You can clearly see the two different build materials in action above the keyboard deck.
Ports
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Left
Right
Port selection
All the I/O ports are distributed along the two sides of the laptop. On the right, you get a headphone jack, one USB-A, and a Kensington lock slot. Acer has even included two LEDs to indicate power and charging status. Over on the left side, there is a DC-in, one USB-A, one Thunderbolt Type-C, and an HDMI port. The latter is quite rare for Ultrabooks.
In terms of audio, its speakers are placed at the bottom, to the outside of the lower rubber feet. Vocals from these are crisp and clear, but the bass is just not there. Thankfully, you can play with the sound equalizers and orientation from the DTS Audio app that comes pre-installed. I was able to achieve a more likable sound output with a few seconds of tinkering.
Display
14″ anti-glare non-touch FHD IPS panel
60Hz refresh rate, 100% sRGB color gamut
Coming to the display, I think it’s one of the major selling points of this laptop. Here, you are getting a matte LCD panel measuring 14″. With a 100% sRGB color gamut, it is not recommended for professional graphics designing workloads, but it’s plenty enough if you are just starting out. I had no problem using this to design and optimize images for our website.
The brightness doesn’t disappoint either. The screen maxed out at 338.3 nits when tested with the SpyderX Pro. This, combined with the matte finish of the panel, makes it usable outdoors as well.
Display Properties
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Color Accuracy
Tone Response
Webcam
720P HD camera
No privacy shutter
While the side bezels here are quite minimal, the ones on the top and the bottom are comparatively larger. The former houses a 720P webcam, videos from which come out soft and grainy. Thus, you may want to invest in a good external webcam if you need to attend business conferences and meetings more frequently.
Keyboard
Backlit chiclet keys (white)
The keyboard on the Swift 3X is fairly average and you can notice mild flexing on the right side if you press the keys too hard. The key size and their travel distance are decent enough, but nothing out of ordinary.
It’s also a backlit keyboard, but you can’t switch between different brightness levels. And I didn’t find the default illumination level to be the brightest either.
Plus, there is no dedicated Numpad because of the space limitation either. Still, you can use the left-hand side of the keyboard as a Numpad by pressing the Numlock key.
Touchpad
Plastic touchpad with integrated left/right keys
The touchpad on this laptop is of a different color than the rest of the keyboard deck which makes it easier to differentiate. Its central placement leaves plenty of room on either side for the user to place their wrists; thus reducing chances of accidental touches. This plastic-made touchpad is pretty responsive and I had no problem whatsoever when using multi-finger gestures.
Biometrics
Window Hello-backed fingerprint scanner
I also like the fact that the fingerprint scanner is located separately to the side of the touchpad. In many of the budget laptops including the Aspire series, Acer puts it on the touchpad—thereby introducing dead zones on the latter.
Talking about its performance, I found this fingerprint reader to be both fast and accurate. Still, I would have been more comfortable with a circular scan area, which feels more natural to me than this rectangular implementation.
Performance
Intel Core i5-1135G7 / i7-1165G7 (28W TDP)
Intel Iris Xe Max (discrete GPU), 4GB VRAM
Up to 16GB DDR4 RAM, 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD
Moving on to the performance, my review unit of the Acer Swift 3X comes with the CPU-GPU combo of Intel Core i7-1165G7 and Iris Xe Max, 16GB RAM, and 1TB SSD.
It costs around NPR 148,000 in Nepal, USD 1,200 in the US, and INR 95,000 in India. There is also a Core i5-1135G7 variant with 8GB RAM and 512GB SSD which retails for around INR 60,000 in India and $900 in the US.
Unfortunately, the RAM is soldered onto the motherboard, but you can easily expand the storage by using the vacant PCIe x4 slot.
Day-to-day usage
That being said, this laptop had no problem handling my day-to-day tasks which mostly includes heavy web browsing, streaming YouTube videos, and light photo editing with Photoshop.
At one time, I had 20 tabs of Chrome open on the background with Photoshop running in the foreground. Yet, I did not notice any lag or sluggishness. While the laptop was cool for the most part, I did notice it to be slightly warm above the keyboard deck near the vents.
Anyway, I would mostly use the laptop in Normal mode, whereas you can even switch to the Silence and Performance modes from the Quick Access app (formerly Acer Quick Access). You can even toggle between these presets using the Fn+F shortcut. But for that, you will have to change the Function key settings from Media to Function from the BIOS.
Gaming experience
I also tried a couple of games at 1080p resolution to see how this discrete GPU fares. Playing Valorant at High settings yielded an average of 85fps. That being said, it could go as low as 70fps after a while.
Next up is CS: GO which was simply not playable at High settings. I scaled it down to Medium and the performance was much better, where I got 55fps on average. Even though I noticed some screen tearing here and there, GTA V was playable at Normal settings. On average, the Swift 3X managed upwards of 55fps here.
I even tried running Cyberpunk 2077 on it. It’s not hard to guess that this laptop is not made to handle such a taxing game. That being said, I was able to get around 20fps on the lowest of settings—when lowering the resolution to HD.
How is its cooling solution?
As for cooling, Acer has provided a single fan with dual-heat pipes here. The vents open up near the right side of the display. The hinge also provides some ventilation by lifting up the bottom deck of the laptop. Thankfully, the fan remains silent most of the time, even when switching to the Performance mode.
However, you’ll certainly hear it under demanding workloads including gaming. On top of this, can also notice the laptop getting warmer here. For instance, after 20 minutes of gameplay, I recorded temperatures of about 49ºC near the vents whereas the WASD keys were relatively cooler at 46ºC.
CrystalDiskMark
Read (MB/s)
Write (MB/s)
SQ1IM Q8T1
2245.37
927.17
SQ1IM Q1T1
1740.47
883.89
RND4K Q32T1
449.00
511.85
RNK4K Q1T1
51.90
160.14
Cinebench R23
CPU: Multi-Core
5398
CPU: Single-Core
1385
MP Ratio
3.90x
Geekbench 5
CPU: Single-Core
1562
CPU: Multi-Core
5812
Compute (OpenCL, Iris Xe)
18047
Compute (OpenCL, Iris Xe Max)
19128
Unigine Heaven
(FPS 29.9, Score: 754, Min FPS: 7.3, Max FPS: 67.2)
API: OpenGL
Multi-monitor: Disabled
Quality: High
Anti-Aliasing: x2
Tessellation: Extreme
Fullscreen: Yes
Stereo 3D: Disabled
Resolution: System
3D Mark (Time Spy v1.2)
Score
1876
CPU Score
4560
Graphics Score
1700
3D Mark (Fire Strike Extreme v1.1)
Combined Score
1141
Physics Score
13262
Graphics Score
2669
GFXBench
1440p Aztec Ruins OpenGL (High Tier) Offscreen
55.7937 fps
1080p Car Chase (Offscreen)
130.36 fps
1080p Manhattan 3.1 (Offscreen)
152.673 fps
1080p ALU 2 (Offscreen)
471.238 fps
1080p Driver Overhead 2 (Offscrean)
114.94 fps
1080p Texturing (Offscrean)
81.2067 fps
Deep Link Technology
As evident from above, the Iris Xe Max is only slightly superior to the integrated Irix Xe G7 GPU. The major difference between the two is the Deep Link Technology available on the former. It is software that dynamically adjusts power between the CPU and GPU based on the current workload.
Intel says it comes in handy in AI and content creation workload. Even so, there are only a handful of apps that actually support it—which includes Blender, Cyberlink, Open Broadcaster Software, etc. Fair to say, this makes the Iris Xe Max beneficial for a very niche group of users.
Software experience
Moving on, the Swift 3X comes with Windows 10 alongside plenty of apps pre-installed including Norton Security, Agoda, and Evergreen—all of which are apps that I don’t need. That being said, I got the Windows 11 update quickly enough. While I’m slowly adjusting to the new OS, the process has not been all-joy to me.
After the update, most of my games didn’t launch at all or would crash midway. A part of the issue was the graphics card’s driver, which was solved after I installed the latest stable Iris Xe Max driver. Still, I could not get Valorant running as it continued to show problems with TPM and Secure Boot, although we had them both enabled.
Battery
58.7Wh 4-cell battery
65W AC power adapter
Fueling this laptop is a 58.7Wh Lithium-ion battery. Acer rates it for up to 14 hours but I could only get close to half (~6 hours 45 minutes) of the claimed battery life. In terms of charging, the included 65W barrel-shaped charger gets the laptop from 10 to 100% in 1 hour 40 minutes.
You can even juice it up using a Power Delivery (PD) Type-C charger. Furthermore, the USB Type-A port on the right supports power-off charging that you can use to charge your phone and other accessories even when the laptop is turned off. This feature is accessible via the aforementioned Quick Access app.
Acer Swift 3X Review: Conclusion
So, should you buy the Acer Swift 3X when you can get budget gaming laptops with more beefed-up GPU for its asking price? Not quite. The thing this laptop excels at is its portable form factor and display quality, while also being rich in terms of ports.
Thus, it is a decent choice for students, or someone learning photo and video creation. But for everyone else, the Iris Xe Max doesn’t add much value. It’s not a gaming beast either and not many apps support its signature feature so far either.
If you want to give fitness bands a try and want to start by investing a little, then the Realme Band 2 that I have with me can be an ideal choice for you. For the price, this tiny guy boasts some amazing features. It’s the company’s second effort at a fitness band, which brings a significant improvement over its predecessor. As a result, the Realme Band 2 looks like a solid wearable in the budget, and I’ll go through it in detail in this review.
Realme Band 2 Specifications:
Dimensions (Wx H x L): 259.8 x 24.6 x 12.1 mm, 27.3 grams
Display: 1.4″ TFT panel, 167 x 320 pixels resolution
Dial Shape: Rectangle
Straps: Interchangeable, 18mm
Water Resistance: 5ATM (Up to 50 meters)
Sensors: 3-axis accelerometer, GH3011
Sports Mode: Up to 90
Health &Fitness: Blood oxygen (SpO2), 24-hour heart rate monitor, sleep tracking, step counter, calories, women’s health tracking, etc.
Starting off with the design, as you’d expect at this price point, the Realme Band 2 is a no-frills fitness tracker with a silicone band. Unlike the first-gen Realme Band which had a slightly curved body, this one has a rectangular design, which surely gives it a contemporary touch. Realme should’ve realized that the Microsoft Band-like design on the original Band was unappealing to users.
Anyway, contrary to the static straps on its predecessor, Band 2 now enjoys interchangeable 18mm straps—giving users the option to change it according to their taste. However, the one that comes with the watch feels stringent and I find it difficult to put on all day since my arms are more used to softer straps.
Furthermore, Realme has skipped tactile buttons on this edition as well in favor of a touch-capacitive sensor on the bottom bezels. It can wake the screen or take you back from menus/apps.
Display
1.4-inch TFT LCD display
167 x 320 pixels resolution
500 nits of peak brightness
Getting to the screen, it is now significantly larger than its predecessor. It measures 1.4 inches with 167 x 320 pixels resolution, even though Realme has still used a TFT panel. As a result, the colors don’t appear to be as crisp or vibrant, but I didn’t observe any pixelation issue either. Its sides have a comparatively narrow bezel, while the ones on the top and bottom are pretty wide.
Moving on, scrolling through the menus and within the apps is quite smooth here. This panel has a peak brightness of 500 nits which in my usage is adequate enough—even under direct sunshine. It also features the “raise to wake” feature, which works perfectly for the most part.
On to the watch faces, there are about 50+ options available in the companion app, although the band itself can only store 5 of them at a time. Moreover, I would’ve appreciated some more alternatives, like the live wallpapers available on the Realme Watch 2. Aside from that, Band 2 is water-resistant up to 5ATM, so a dive on a pool or open water won’t be a problem.
Companion App
Realme Link
Android 5.1 / iOS 11 or later
Now, before I get into the health tracking aspect of things, let me give you a quick rundown of the companion app. As you may know, like with every other Realme AIoT product, the Band 2 also pairs with your smartphone via the Realme Link app. It’s available on both Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store—and is compatible with handsets running Android 5.1 / iOS 11 or later.
But what’s commendable here is that the app is integrated into the band itself, which allows you to control other Realme AIoT products paired with your smartphone. Other than this, the app allows you to customize different parameters, while the health tab offers a detailed picture of your steps, sleep, heart rate, and other metrics.
Health, Fitness Tracking
24-hour heart rate monitoring
Blood oxygen (SpO2) monitoring
Up to 90 sports mode
On to health tracking, Realme Band 2 is equipped with a GH3011 sensor that allows for continuous heart rate monitoring throughout the day. However, it records your heart rate every 5 minutes or you can customize the interval from the Realme Link app. The band also offers blood oxygen (SpO2) monitoring (albeit not 24 hours a day), as well as the ability to track women’s health and stress levels.
Health Tracking Features
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Heart Rate
Sleep
Workout Modes
Moreover, I found its sleep monitoring to be spot on as it recorded my sleep cycles quite accurately. This fitness band can track 4 stages of sleep including deep, light, awake, and REM. Also, it’s worth mentioning that the more expensive Watch 2 can’t record REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep, so having it on a cheaper device is a no-bargain deal.
Sports Mode
Moving on, the Realme Band 2 supports 90 different sports modes, yet the device can store only 14 of them at a time. You can rearrange them through the app, but there’s no option to swap out the indoor and outdoor run exercises.
Yet, it doesn’t have a built-in GPS, so you’ll have to use your phone’s location data to trail your workouts. Apart from this, you can also monitor your steps, calories burnt, or take breathing exercises here. Plus, it can even notify you of high or low heart rate levels, as well as make sedentary reminders and alert you to drink water.
While all this sounds pretty appealing, the major caveat I found here is that the band can not sync your smartphone calls. This is such a small yet important thing to have, which unfortunately goes missing here. Nevertheless, all the other incoming notifications can be accessed by swiping from the top of the display.
Battery and Charging
204mAh battery
Magnetic pin charger
Getting to the battery, Realme Band 2 has a 204mAh cell. To put that into perspective, that’s more than double the size compared to its predecessor. The company claims up to 12 days of endurance with this. Nonetheless, it easily managed 10 days of battery life during my usage.
Here, Band 2 had to deal with notifications every now and then. And I always kept all the health metrics turned on while switching the brightness levels according to the sun’s demand. For charging, it uses a USB-A to a magnetic-pin connector that takes around 1 hour and 20 minutes to fully juice up the battery.
Realme Band 2 Review: Conclusion
Summing up this review, Realme has truly raised the bar with the Band 2 over its predecessor with its larger display and bigger battery life. Plus, it even surpasses the company’s more expensive Watch 2 in terms of features and specifications.
However, its lack of phone call support is a slight bummer—although that’s understandable given its budget nature. Still and all, Realme Band 2 is a wonderful option to consider in the fitness world if you’re looking for a no-nonsense budget fitness tracker.
As Google has officially pulled the curtains off of Android 12, smartphone manufacturers have begun outlining their update rollout plans. In a similar vein, Realme has announced Realme UI 3.0 based on Android 12, which I got to play around with on my Realme GT 5G. So, let me take you through a walk describing what’s new and what has changed in Realme UI 3.
Realme UI 3.0 Overview:
Before moving forward, allow me to talk a mile a minute about Realme. It originally started as a sub-brand of Oppo before parting and embarking on a new journey as an independent venture. And, as of now, the firm serves not just the smartphone industry but also the IoT and even launched its sub-brand called Dizo.
But what hasn’t really changed is that Realme hasn’t quite managed to pull off its entire new Android-based user interface. At its origin, the brand relied on ColorOS, which later evolved into Realme UI in response to high consumer demand. However, it’s primarily a skin-over ColorOS with minor UI/UX tweaks. So, don’t be surprised if you see similarities between ColorsOS 12 and Realme UI 3.
Subtle UI changes
I’ve been a Realme user for quite a long time now, and from my experience with the new skin, I can say that Realme UI 3 has gone through minor changes in terms of its look.
While the overall interface seems more spread out, the notification drawer now occupies the whole screen and features distinct media output choices. The settings app feel less cluttered now.
Notifications and Settings
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Quick Access (Realme UI 3)
Quick Access (Realme UI 2)
Settings (Realme UI 3)
Settings (Realme UI 2)
App Drawer (Realme UI 3)
App Drawer (Realme UI 2)
The icons, on the other hand, have seen minor alterations as well. Realme claims to have eliminated extraneous strokes and shadows and to have adhered to a precise color palette to achieve a harmonic interaction between all of the elements.
“Material You” like Personalization
Google’s “Material You” in Android 12 is a feature that is adored by many users and it has arrived in Realme UI in the form of the “Smart Theming Engine”. Now, when you apply new wallpaper to your home screen, you’ll be given the choice to tweak the system theme to match the colors in the wallpaper. Additionally, there is a color wheel with which you can change icon backgrounds for the whole of UI.
New AOD Screen
On the Always-on Display (AOD), Realme UI 3 allows you to choose your portrait silhouette. This feature was initially seen on the OnePlus Oxygen OS, and it works in the same way. It creates a sketch of the image that can be used on the AOD screen later. The AOD also supports Omojis, which are bespoke 3D emojis that react in real-time to changes in face emotions.
Fluidity
Moving on, the “Smooth Animation Engine” in Realme UI 3 claims to give a smooth experience when scrolling around the UI. Personally, in my time with the UI, it felt a bit more smoother than the Realme UI 2, and it was the case in third-party apps as well.
In addition to fluidity, the new UI also aids in multitasking with Floating Window 2.0. Here, besides accessing the app from the Smart Sidebar, you can now scroll up the app to open a floating window. Also, by dragging a window to the right or left edge, you can easily conceal it.
Privacy
Native Android 12 features
Android 12 introduces a slew of new privacy capabilities, which the Realme UI also takes advantage of. The feature that I found very handy (and I’m sure you will as well) is that you can now check which applications are permitted to access your camera or microphone.
For instance, if you open the camera, a green dot will appear in the top-right corner, indicating that the app is granted a sensor permission. You can see which sensors the app is utilizing in the background by pulling out the notification drawer.
Furthermore, you can use the Privacy Dashboard option in Settings to track the permissions granted to each app. It also displays the time the apps were given permission. The Dashboard can also be used to manage all permissions.
Privacy Features
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Privacy Dashboard
Location
Likewise, with Android 12, you can now share your approximate location with apps. Here, each time an app asks your permission, you can choose either to share a precise or a nearby location.
Private Pic Share
Similar to MIUI 12, the Realme UI 3 allows you to share photographs without revealing your personal information. You may opt to delete your location, as well as phone model, aperture, shutter speed, and other parameters.
Connectivity
Moreover, as you may recall, Realme just released its first laptop, the Realme Book Slim. There, the company bragged about its “PC Connect” feature, which essentially creates a seamless connection between a laptop and a smartphone—but it was only available in the GT Master Edition.
However, you can now use it on other Realme devices as well, thanks to the new Realme UI. It includes features like the ability to run an app on your laptop, quick file transfer, seamless copy and paste, and smart notifications that you can read and respond to straight from the Realme Book
Realme UI 3.0 Rollout Plan
The Realme GT 5G is the first phone to receive early access to Realme UI 3.0, which is based on Android 12. But don’t fret, the new UI will be, obviously, available on more devices shortly. The company has unveiled an early access plan that runs up to Q2 2022, with devices ranging from the high-end GT Neo2 5G to the budget Narzo 30.
Realme UI 3.0: Verdict
To summarize, Realme UI 3.0 does not significantly alter the user interface. Still, the fact that all of Android 12’s privacy features are present here is something to be appreciative of. Personally, I like the simplicity of this UI, and Realme has maintained this consistency by not making any flashy and hefty modifications this time as well. As a result, upgrading to the new skin won’t make you feel out of place.
Earlier this year, Redmi entered the smart TV market with the “TV X” lineup. The company has already announced its successor in the form of TV X 2022. Here, we will be looking at the specs, features, expected price, and availability of the Redmi Smart TV X 2022 in Nepal.
Redmi Smart TV X 2022 Overview:
Design and Display
Redmi Smart TV X 2022 comes in two screen sizes: 55″ and 65″. Its body is all-metal, including the base. There is no 50″ model this time around. Irrespective of the size, Redmi Smart TV X flaunts a 120Hz 4K panel with support for HDR and Dolby Vision.
The screen covers 94% of the DCI-P3 color gamut. Its MEMC supports means that choppy contents can look relatively smoother here.
Powering the TV is MediaTek MTK 9650 processor with four Cortex-A73 cores. It is paired with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage. The TV runs on MIUI for TV 3.0.
Over on the audio, Redmi Smart TV X 2022 features a dual-speaker setup, each capable of 12.5W output. There is also support for Dolby Atmos audio. The TV even has microphones to detect voice commands from distance. Redmi Smart TV X 2022 features 3x HDMI ports.
You also get support for AMD’s FreeSync Premium here. The TV automatically switches to a 4ms low-latency mode when connected to a console or a PC. Interestingly, the TV also has an official recommendation from the Xbox team in China. Other ports include two USB-A, one ethernet, one AV in, S/PDIF, and an antenna input.
Redmi Smart TV X 2022 Specifications:
Display: 55/65-inches LED panel, 120Hz MEMC, 94% DCI-P3
HDR: Yes (HDR, Dolby Vision)
Resolution: 4K (3840 x 2160 pixels), 16:9 aspect ratio
Sound: 2 x 12.5W stereo speakers, Dolby Atmos
OS: MIUI for TV 3.0
Processor: Quad-core MediaTek MTK 9650 with ARM Cortex-A73
Redmi Smart TV X 2022 Price in Nepal and Availability
Redmi Smart TV X 2022 is currently available for pre-order in China, where its price is CNY 2,700 for the 55″ and CNY 3,500 for the 65″ model. The actual sale starts on October 31. We expect the price of the Redmi Smart TV X 2022 in Nepal to start at NPR 70,000, if and when it launches here.
Redmi Smart TV X 2022
Price in China
Price in Nepal (Expected)
55-inch
CNY 2,700
NPR 70,000
60-inch
CNY 3,500
NPR 90,000
Meanwhile, check out our comparison between Galaxy A52s and Galaxy M52.
It’s a new day, and I’m with yet another Realme smartphone review. Here, I’m carrying the new Realme 8i—the successor to last year’s Realme 7i—and the lowest rung on the 8-series ladder. The device brings upgrades over its predecessor while there’s a significant run-down in cameras. So, allow me to discuss more about the Realme 8i in this review.
But before that, let me discuss its pricing. For the 4/128GB variant, the 8i costs INR 13,999 in India and NPR 23,799 here in Nepal. Similarly, the higher variant (6/128GB) retails for INR 15,999 & NPR 27,199 in India and Nepal, respectively.
Connectivity: Dual-SIM (Nano), WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (Dual-band), Bluetooth 5.1, GPS / Glonass / Galileo / Beidou, USB Type-C
Battery: 5000mAh with 18W charging
Color Options: Space Black, Space Purple
Price in Nepal: NPR 23,799 (4/64GB) | NPR 27,199 (6/128GB)
Realme 8i Review:
Design
164.1 x 75.5 x 8.5mm, 194 grams
Polycarbonate body, Glass front
Starting with the design, it’s pretty much what we’re used to seeing on a mid-range smartphone. The phone has an all-plastic build and a reflective finish on the back. The shiny surface may attract your attention when put as a showpiece in a store, but mind that it is prone to fingerprints and smudges. Thus, I always wrap it in the transparent silicone case included in the box and recommend that you do the same.
Anyway, weighing 194 grams and measuring 8.5mm thick, the 8i is a comfortable fit in my hands. The device’s back also features slight curves that help attain a strong grip.
Moving on, there’s a fingerprint sensor on the side that works effectively in most situations. Though, as expected, it struggles to recognize the fingerprints with sweaty hands. Additionally, a thing to note here is that the 8i lacks a secondary microphone. Although it’s a minor detail, it is critical for noise cancellation and clearer calls. And Realme shouldn’t scrimp on such a basic feature—at least with an INR 14,000 (NPR 23,799) phone.
On the front, the Realme 8i has a 6.6-inch IPS LCD panel with 100% DCI-P3 color space and a screen-to-body ratio of 90.8%. In comparison to its predecessor, the screen resolution has been bumped to FHD+, which indeed improves the overall viewing experience. The color reproduction here is good and the screen looks well-saturated as well.
The refresh rate also sees a healthy upgrade from 90Hz to 120Hz this time, while there’s a 180Hz touch sampling rate support too. As a result, scrolling through apps or my Twitter feeds felt smoother and I had no trouble navigating through the phone’s UI. Also, the display self-adapts the refresh rate between 30 to 120Hz based on the tasks on the screen, which further aids in battery conservation.
Moreover, the panel boasts 600 nits of peak brightness. Thus, it can get plenty bright for indoor use while the outdoor use is also satisfactory—albeit the colors look slightly dull under direct sunlight. Aside from this, the device features Widevine L1 certification and supports Full HD streaming on OTT platforms like Netflix.
Android 11 with Realme UI 2.0 on top (upgradeable)
Moving on in this review of the Realme 8i, let’s now shift the gear to the performance. Powering the phone is a MediaTek Helio G96 chipset coupled with up to 6GB of LPDDR4X RAM and up to 128GB of UFS 2.1 storage.
Moving on, it enjoys virtual RAM expansion by up to 5GB. Unfortunately, the 4/64GB variant that I have with me doesn’t support this feature. As evident from our past tests, the extended RAM feature is clearly nothing to be excited about—so I don’t really miss it either.
Also, if Realme actually thought virtual RAM is of any use to its customers, wouldn’t it make more sense if it were available on the lower-RAM variant instead of the one with already a spacious amount of RAM?
Regardless, the G96 has easily handled my daily usage. And thanks to the 120Hz refresh rate, navigating and launching apps is a breeze too. Plus, the Realme UI 2.0 on top of Android 11 is well optimized as well, but the caveat here is that it comes with tons of bloatware apps.
Now, leaving these things aside let me talk about the processor itself. Although the Helio G96 technically sounds like the successor to the G95, I deem it to be the inferior one. Like the G95, it is fabricated on a 12nm process and features two Cortex-A76 and six Cortex-A55 cores. However, the GPU is where the G95 excels as it has Arm’s Mali-G76 MC4 onboard, while the G96 on the 8i has an inferior Mali-G57 MC2 GPU.
Benchmarks
To see what I’m getting at, just look at these benchmark scores where the 8i’s G96 is clearly lagging behind the G95 on the Realme 8—most significantly so on the GPU front. In terms of 3DMark (Wild Life), we can see a difference of nearly 400 points between the two.
Realme 8i
Realme 8
Androbench
Sequential Read
521.65 MB/s
519.33 MB/s
Sequential Write
232.05 MB/s
337.05 MB/s
AnTuTu v8
Total
265949
296542
CPU
82892
93073
GPU
64214
84912
Memory
63948
60579
UX
50287
57978
Geekbench 5
CPU (Single Core)
528
526
CPU (Multi-Core)
1744
1639
Compute (OpenCL)
1489
2284
3DMark (Wild Life)
1090
1453
Gaming
Hmm, then what about gaming? In PUBG Mobile, it can go HD graphics and High frame rates where it runs without any stutters. But for the smoothest of experience with very little heating, Smooth graphics and Ultra frame rate yields a better result.
Similarly, Pokémon Unite which offers 60fps gameplay is indeed playable at 60fps and is quite optimized. I didn’t face any heating issues either, yet it does get slightly warm around the camera module. So, the most I can say is that the G96 does provide stable performance, but don’t anticipate any boost over the G95.
Cameras
Triple camera setup at the back
(50MP primary, B&W portrait, 4cm macro)
16MP selfie camera in the punch-hole cutout
Cameras
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Back
Front
When it comes to cameras, the Realme 8i is the underdog compared to its predecessor. The 7i had a quad-camera setup headlined by a 64MP lens, whereas the new 8i brags a 50MP triple-camera setup and misses out on a dedicated ultra-wide lens.
To compare, the Redmi 10 Prime which costs less than 8i features an ultrawide sensor. Anyways, accompanying the primary lens is a B&W sensor and a 4cm macro camera. Over on the front, there’s a 16MP selfie shooter.
Normal Images
Normal
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Here, the daylight photos from the primary sensors look pretty nice. They feature a balanced color tone and good dynamic range, thereby looking pleasing to the eyes. However, the shadows lack depth, and the image has a slightly warm tone to them. It also has difficulty maintaining exposure at times.
Portrait Images
Portraits
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As for portraiture, the first thing that strikes is how oversaturated the greens on the backdrop are. As a result, images look a bit unnatural. Furthermore, their color balance is poor, and it suffers from relatively poor edge detection.
Selfie Images
Selfies
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On the other hand, the selfies appear oversharpened and have a subtle reddish tint to the skin. It does, however, have a good dynamic range.
Selfie Portraits
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Moving on, the selfie portraits have a balanced color profile, but as the normal portrait shots, it does require improvement on edges.
Nighttime Images
Nighttime
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Now, under a low light condition, the images from the Realme 8i are lacking in terms of details. The photos come off murky, and it also struggles to maintain light flare.
Nightmode
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Yet, turning on night mode improves the scenario. It readily adjusts exposure and light glares, and its HDR processing ensures that the image comes bright.
Macro Images
Macro
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Then there’s the gimmicky macro lens. Unsurprisingly, they miss out on sufficient details. Nonetheless, unlike other Realme phones, it does not oversaturate the greens.
Videography
On to the video side of things, the Realme 8i can record at up to 1080p@30fps resolution. It has an ultra steady setting too, without which the video comes off quite shaky. Obviously. However, there is little-to-no difference in terms of stability even after turning on the Steady Mode. It also suffers from exposure flicker at times.
Battery
5000mAh battery with 18W charging
Battery and Charging
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Adapter
Charging
Moving on to the battery, Realme 8i packs a 5000mAh cell that supports 18W fast charging. While the battery endurance is pretty good, the charging time is quite a drag here. With my daily usage which includes hours of social media, video streaming, a few game sessions, clicking photos, and others, it managed to give around 7 hours of screen time.
As for charging, the 18W adapter takes around 2 hours and 30 minutes to fully juice up the battery. So, Realme should have offered 30W charging support here since even the Narzo 30 launched earlier this year at a similar price gets the 30W treatment.
Audio
Single down-firing speaker
3.5mm headphone jack
For audio, the Realme 8i features a mono speaker at the bottom. Its output is loud enough for watching videos and playing games—although it certainly won’t wow the audiophiles. The highs are rather noticeable, but there is hardly any presence of bass.
However, if you want a stereo sound experience, on an even more affordable device, then I would recommend going with the Redmi 10 Prime. Similarly, the call quality is decent as well and the earpiece sounds loud and clear.
Realme 8i Review: Conclusion
To wrap up this review, I’d say that the Realme 8i is a pretty decent budget phone. It performs admirably in all areas, and the fact that it brings a whole lot of improvements over its predecessor is a commendable effort by the company. Yet, the Redmi 10 Prime gives the 8i a serious run for its money, with nearly identical specs and a lower price tag.
And if you’re intending on getting the 8i’s higher variation, I recommend adding a little more cash and going with the standard Realme 8 instead. With this, you’ll be getting better performance, cameras, and display for a comparable price. Finally, I would advise Realme to do something extra to make their next iterations of the ‘i’ series a compelling deal.
Likewise, swiping right gets you to the device page, where you can play with settings like watch faces, firmware updates, and more. Finally, there is the user profile page to the left.
On to health tracking, Realme Band 2 is equipped with a GH3011 sensor that allows for continuous heart rate monitoring throughout the day. However, it records your heart rate every 5 minutes or you can customize the interval from the Realme Link app. The band also offers blood oxygen (SpO2) monitoring (albeit not 24 hours a day), as well as the ability to track women’s health and stress levels.
