OnePlus Nepal has launched last year’s OnePlus Buds Z officially. It serves as a cheaper alternative to the more expensive OnePlus Buds Pro. Let’s check out the specifications, features, official price, and availability of the OnePlus Buds Z in Nepal.
OnePlus Buds Z Overview
Design
While the original OnePlus Buds ran into some problem because of its resemblance to the Apple AirPods. To avoid this, OnePlus has now tried to give the new earphones a distinctive look with a seashell design. The new earphones still sport a stem design but they now come with silicone ear tips. The company will be offering three sizes of ear tips inside the box. The earbuds are lightweight and weigh only 4.35 grams each.
The charging case of the Buds Z now resembles that of Samsung Galaxy Buds and Buds+. It features an LED indicator on the front just below the lid. Opposite to it, OnePlus has included a USB Type-C charging port and a button. OnePlus has also stamped its logo on the lid of the case.
Drivers and Connectivity
OnePlus Buds Z comes with a 10mm driver which is smaller than the 13.4mm one in the original Buds. It has included Bass Boost technology to enhance bass, while the earbuds will also support “3D Audio” thanks to Dolby Atmos. Buds Z will support wireless transmission via Bluetooth 5.0 connection. The wireless range of the earbuds is 10m.
Features
The earphones support Quick Pair that lets the earphone connect automatically with the last paired device when taken out of the case. In addition to that, there is a Quick Switch that allows a seamless transition between two recently paired Bluetooth devices. To make the switch, users will have to touch and hold the control on either earbud for up to 3 seconds. There is a dedicated gaming mode that helps bring down the latency as low as 103ms. Similarly, the earphones can automatically pause the music when they are taken out of the ear.
Battery
OnePlus has included a 40mAh battery in each earbud and it is said to offer up to 5 hours of music playback on a single charge. The 450mAh battery of the charging case can add additional 15 hours of playback time. The earbuds will also support fast charging. A 10-minute charge will be able to fill the earbuds with juice that can last up to 3 hours of playback (earphones + charging case).
OnePlus Buds Z Specifications:
Dimension: 3.798 x 2.335cm (Earbuds); 7.5 x 3.59 x 2.905cm (Charging case)
Oppo launched the F19 Pro and F19 back in April in Nepal. Both these variant didn’t see much success because of the exorbitant price and subpar specifications. And hence, Oppo Nepal has slashed the price of the Oppo F19 by Rs. 2,600. Sadly, its still overpriced and definitely shouldn’t be in your wishlist if you are thinking of buying a midrange phone this Dashain. Anyways, let’s learn more about the Oppo F19 including its specs, features, and official new price in Nepal.
Oppo F19 Overview:
Design and Display
Starting with the design, the device has a triple-camera module and a glossy finish at the back. The handset is available in two color configurations – Prism Black and Midnight Blue. Furthermore, it weighs about 175 grams and has a thickness of about 7.95 mm.
In terms of display, Oppo F19 features a 6.43-inch AMOLED screen with a maximum brightness of 800 nits and a resolution of 2400 x 1080 pixels. Like how its Pro sibling doesn’t feature a higher refresh rate, the Oppo F19 comes with a standard 60Hz display as well. However, you do get a 135Hz touch sampling rate which can be increased to 180Hz in the Game Mode. Oppo says this display covers 100% of sRGB and 92% DCI-P3 color gamut.
Powering the phone is Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 662 processor which can be found in phones almost half its price like the Redmi 9 Power. So, as you’d imagine, this 11nm chipset isn’t very powerful.
It supports dual-band Wi-Fi and utilizes Bluetooth version 5.0 for seamless connectivity. On the software front, the phone runs on the latest Android 11 on top of Oppo’s ColorOS 11.1. The device is available on a single memory configuration with 6GB of LPDDR4X SDRAM and 128GB internal storage. You can expand the storage via a micro SD card that has a dedicated slot in the SIM tray.
Camera
On the front, it has a 16MP punch-hole selfie camera aligned at the top-left position. Likewise, the back of the phone houses a triple AI camera module with a 48MP f/1.7 primary sensor and two 2MP f/2.4 sensors for portrait and macro shots.
With EIS video stabilization, the rear camera can capture 1080p footage at 30 frames per second. The front camera can record up to 1080p/720p videos at 30 frames per second too but it lacks stabilization. Oppo F19 has a dedicated night mode on both the front and rear cameras, as well as a slew of other features like Panorama, Portrait, and Time-lapse.
Rest of the specs
The phone is fueled by a 5000mAh battery that supports 33W Flash Charge technology. According to the company, Oppo F19 hits 54% in just 30 minutes. It also supports AI Night Charge that slows the charging speed overnight to avoid overcharging.
Oppo F19 also has an in-display fingerprint scanner and a dedicated face unlock for authentication. Furthermore, you also get a pair of earphones with the phone that connects to the 3.5mm headphone jack.
Months after its initial launch in India, Realme finally brought the Realme 8 into the Nepali market. It is the successor to last year’s Realme 7. While only the company only launched the 8/128GB initially, Realme Nepal has now added the 6/128GB variant into its portfolio as well. Let’s take a look at the specs, features, official price, and availability of Realme 8 in Nepal.
Realme 8 Overview:
Design and Display
The biggest upgrade that the Realme 8 has over its predecessor is the display. Realme has opted for a 6.4-inch Super AMOLED panel here, and in doing so, ditched the 90Hz refresh rate. You still get a touch sampling rate of 180Hz, though. Since it’s a Super AMOLED panel, the fingerprint scanner is now under the screen.
At the back, the “split design” is more profound because of the “Dare to Leap” branding. The phone is available in two color options – Cyber Black and Cyber Silver. Realme 8 is just 7.9mm thick and weighs around 177 grams.
There is nothing new on the performance front on this phone. Realme 8 inherits the same Helio G95 chipset that powered its predecessor. The top-end variant comes with 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 128GB UFS 2.1 storage. Realme also sells 4/128GB and 6/128GB variants of the phone. The phone ships with Realme UI 2.0 based on Android 11 out-of-the-box.
Camera
A 64MP sensor leads the quad-camera setup at the back. Except for the primary sensor, the camera setup is similar to that of its Pro sibling. There is an 8MP sensor for ultrawide shots and two additional 2MP lenses for macro photos and monochrome effects. While the Realme 8 doesn’t feature a 108MP camera, some of the new camera features of the Pro model are available here.
For instance, users will be able to enjoy Tilt-Shift Mode, second-gen Starry mode, and Dynamic bokeh on Realme 8. On the front, there is a 16MP selfie camera from Sony. It supports Super Nightscape, AI Beauty, Portrait, and HDR mode.
Fueling the device is a massive 5,000mAh battery with a standby period of 40 days. It supports 30W Dart Charge that can fill the device from 0 to 100% in just 65 minutes. The phone features triple card slots and has support for dual-band Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.1.
Battery: 5000mAh with 30W Dart Charge (25W adapter provided)
Color Options: Cyber Silver, Cyber Black
Realme 8 Price in Nepal & Availability
Under the new management, Realme has re-launched Realme 8 in Nepal. The new price of Realme 8 in Nepal is NPR 28,799 for the 6/128GB variant. But, the phone was supposed to cost NPR 27,199 only as per the initial announcement. You can buy Realme 8 in Nepal from Daraz or the company’s authorized stores across the country.
Before getting into this review of the Realme GT, a little bit of a backstory. It’s no secret that Realme, as a brand, started off with budget phones and slowly made its way into more premium offerings. In 2019, the company officially forayed into the premium mid-range segment with the Realme X series.
I personally loved the Realme X and the X2 Pro, which are still loved by many. But the follow-up to the X series didn’t receive much success. Even the recently launched Realme X7 Max did okay-ish only, despite its terrific performance and overall value.
Realme GT Specifications:
Body: 73.3 x 158.5 x 8.4mm, 186 gm, 3D Glass Body/Vegan Leather
Battery: 4500mAh with 65W SuperDart Charge (65W adapter inside the box)
Color Options: Racing Yellow, Dashing Blue, Dashing Silver
Price in Nepal: N/A (launching soon)
Realme GT Review:
So, it was evident that moving forward, Realme needed something new to go on. Hence, the company has officially killed the X series and started fresh with the GT lineup. Under this series, Realme is offering a few choices.
There’s the Realme GT, which is a semi-flagship phone, the Realme GT Master Explorer Edition, which is a premium mid-range offering and finally, the lineup includes Realme GT Master Edition that caters to the mid-range segment. There’s also the GT Neo which is basically the Realme X7 Max but exclusive to the Chinese market.
In this review, I will be talking about the Realme GT that I have been using for about 2 weeks now. To be completely honest, this phone brings back some good memories that I had with the Realme X2 Pro, which if you remember, boasted top-of-the-line performance at its time, an incredible display, and good cameras. Ah, that was a good phone!
Android 11 with Realme UI 2.0 on top (upgradeable)
Let’s kick things off with the performance side of things. And this is where the Realme GT truly shines. At a starting price of INR 37,999 in India, it is the cheapest phone to feature the flagship Snapdragon 888 chipset.
With the 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 256GB UFS 3.1 storage variant that I have with me, as expected, my experience with the phone has been ridiculously fast and smooth. I will go as far as to say that its performance is comparable with a flagship phone.
Plus, Realme has optimized the 120Hz refresh rate of this display to run well with the powerful hardware underneath. Hence, I have never experienced any kind of sluggishness while using the phone either. Also, Realme UI is not that heavy and unlike Xiaomi’s flagship devices, there are no problems like half-baked dark mode or mediocre app optimization either, so I am quite happy about that.
The only thing that I really, really dislike on the GT is the pre-installed bloatware apps. I mean, this is Realme’s flagship phone and not the budget “C” or the mid-range number series. Yet, you are greeted with a ton of unwanted apps right out of the box.
Of course, you always have the option to remove most of them, but my point is that such useless apps should not come pre-installed in the first place. If this was a budget phone, I wouldn’t be complaining because that’s done to keep the price as aggressive as possible. But on a phone of this price, Realme should be focusing on delivering a premium experience, instead of such nuisances.
Gaming experience
Anyway, the combination of Snapdragon 888 and a 360Hz touch sampling rate of its display makes for a really good gaming experience as well. Demanding titles like Genshin Impact run well enough at 45-48fps in the highest settings with 60fps turned on. However, if you want more stable gameplay, you’ll have to dial down the graphics to high.
In PUBG Mobile, well, Realme has introduced 90fps mode. But as of now, you won’t be able to achieve 90fps gameplay. As you can see from the graph, the game maxes out at 62fps even under the 90fps mode. But the good thing is, you will be able to achieve a stable 60fps when setting graphics to HDR and frame rates to Extreme.
PUBG Mobile – 90fps Mode
Call of Duty, which is another graphics-hungry yet optimized game, runs at 100% stability with 60fps at Very high graphics and Max frame rates. I was also a little let down by the fact that games like Critical Ops, Oddmar, Grimvalor that have 120fps mode cap out at 60fps on the Realme GT.
So, I really hope the company collaborates with the game devs to bring higher fps support on such a powerful phone soon! By the way, I also tested games with the “GT Mode” turned on, which is supposed to improve the gameplay and overall stability. But sadly, I didn’t find any significant difference in fps or graphics quality when turning said mode on or off.
Thermal efficiency
Regardless, you must be curious about how the Realme GT handles the thermals because this phone comes with the Snapdragon 888, which has a bad reputation of overheating and getting warm when pushing this silicon to its limits.
To keep that in check, Realme has included something called a Stainless Steel Cooling system here. And for the most part, it does a decent job as I didn’t find the phone heating up like the OnePlus 9 or 9 Pro. That is certainly not to say that the Realme GT does not heat up though.
Playing Genshin Impact for like an hour gets this phone to reach around 43-44° near the camera module. But the heating issue isn’t as widespread as on the OnePlus 9 series since I didn’t notice fps instability in games either. So, that’s actually something better with the Realme GT.
Another thing I appreciate about this device and Realme’s recent 5G phones is that they don’t cheap out on 5G bands. Here, the Realme GT supports a total of 13 5G bands while in comparison, similarly-priced phones like the Mi 11X Pro and the OnePlus 9R max out at one or two 5G bands only.
Design & Build
73.3 x 158.5 x 8.4mm, 186 grams
Glass front/back, plastic frames
Vegan Leather option, No IP rating
Moving on to the design, I have this Racing Yellow variant that looks quite different and bold. The material used at the back is something Realme calls “Vegan Leather”. The company also says that it has used some kind of coating to prevent it from wearing in the long run.
I have been using this phone without a cover and so far, there hasn’t been any sort of discoloration around the edges and it hasn’t gotten dirty either. Plus, its texture is quite well refined and thus feels quite good on the hands. And if you compare it against Xiaomi’s bulky designs, this one’s definitely more ergonomic and comfortable to hold.
Design, Ports
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Power Button
Ports
Volume Rockers
Having said that, visually, I am not a big fan of this black stripe that runs down the camera module. I know Realme is going for a “racing track” vibe, but I like the cleaner and minimalistic looks of the cheaper GT Master Edition instead.
One more thing, the company has decided to go with plastic frames on this phone. Given its price tag, I think they should have included metal frames for added durability and a more premium hands-on feel. Also, the Realme GT does not have any kind of IP rating and sadly, there’s no rubber coating on the SIM tray either.
Battery
4,500mAh battery with 65W charging
To keep the phone’s weight to a minimum, Realme has fitted in a relatively smaller 4500mAh battery inside. Regardless, its endurance is actually quite good.
Throughout the review, I was consistently able to get around 6 to 7 hours of screen-on time while using the Realme GT under 120Hz—on a typical moderate usage pattern that includes a lot of phone calls, browsing social media, 1-2 hours of streaming videos, while also clicking a ton of photos for camera samples.
Usually, the phone would still retain 10-15% battery on average when I’d get the home by 8 PM. But with the 65-Watt charger like you get on the OnePlus Nord 2, the phone only takes around 35 minutes to go from 0-100%.
Still, I would have liked if Realme had provided a 65W PD Type-C to Type-C charger like on the OnePlus 9 series, that can fast-charge other PD-compatible devices too. Instead, they have included a proprietary 65W charger here.
Audio
Stereo speakers, 3.5mm audio jack
Yet, what’s appreciable from Realme, especially for gamers, is that they are keeping the beloved headphone jack alive on the GT. Apart from that, it also features a stereo speaker setup with Dolby Atmos and Hi-Res audio.
I wouldn’t say that its audio quality will absolutely blow you away. The highs are well presented but I found the bass to be slightly less punchy. But overall, the speakers are quite loud, don’t distort even at the highest volume, and I would say they’re quite balanced as well.
Display
6.43-inches FHD+ Super AMOLED display
120/360Hz refresh/touch sampling rate
HDR10+ compliant, 100% Wide P3 color
Moreover, these speakers perfectly complement the AMOLED display of the phone. This screen is HDR10+ compliant, has really good contrast, and maintains excellent visibility even under bright outdoor conditions.
On top of that, its touch response is great and the 120Hz refresh rate, as I mentioned earlier, is optimized quite well. I also like the fact that Realme has been thoughtful enough to include DC dimming here to prevent our eyes from low brightness flickering effect.
The screen houses an optical in-display fingerprint sensor that works well in both normal conditions and even when your hands are mildly sweaty or greasy which is surprisingly good! The haptic feedback while unlocking the phone or typing is nothing better than what a mid-range phone would offer.
And this is yet another aspect where Realme could have done better by offering a better vibration motor. Additionally, I am slightly disappointed—and more surprised—to see the lack of HDR playback compatibility in Netflix yet.
Cameras
Triple camera setup at the back
(64MP primary, 8MP ultrawide, 2MP macro)
16MP selfie camera in the punch-hole cutout
Cameras
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Back
Front
Almost all the semi-flagship phones struggle to deliver a great camera experience and unfortunately, that trend follows with the Realme GT too. Here, like any other midrange phone, you get a triple camera setup that skips a telephoto zoom lens. For this review, I compared its cameras against the one on Realme GT Master Edition.
Normal Images
Realme GT’s camera performance isn’t extraordinary as opposed to its flagship-grade performance and the display. Its primary lens is still good for casual photography with decent point-to-shoot capabilities.
Normal
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As you can see from these samples, the primary sensor delivers pleasing and detailed pictures during uniform lighting conditions. You can notice a boost in colors but most of the time, that works in its favor, so I can’t really complain.
Normal
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Realme GT
GT Master Edition
Realme GT
GT Master Edition
And this primary camera works well while processing difficult shots like this one. In comparison, the cheaper Realme GT Master Edition is not able to manage good dynamic range and sharpness in such areas while it’s no trouble for the standard GT.
Macro Images
Macro
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But, the other two cameras, the 8MP ultrawide and the 2MP macro sensors are strictly average.
Wideangle Images
Normal v Wideangle
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Normal
Wideangle
The ultra-wide shots from the Realme GT and the GT Master Edition look exactly the same and I am a bit let down to see that Realme did not differentiate the two phones in this aspect.
Wideangle
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Realme GT
GT Master Edition
Realme GT
GT Master Edition
Portrait Images
Moving on, portraits are also a hit or a miss on this thing.
Portrait
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Realme GT
GT Master Edition
Realme GT
GT Master Edition
Realme GT
GT Master Edition
Realme GT
GT Master Edition
Sometimes, the image processing is really good while you will notice a lot of saturation on the subject’s skin other times. Surprisingly, the GT Master Edition is able to produce a more balanced skin tone in portrait shots.
Selfie Images
Selfies, on the other hand, look good enough though. They are a little smoothened, but it does a fine job of maintaining highlights and skin tone.
Selfie
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Selfie
Portrait Selfie
Selfie
Portrait Selfie
Selfie
Portrait Selfie
Selfie
Portrait Selfie
Portrait selfies score similar marks when it comes to subject and background color representation while the edge detection is ever-so-slightly flawed.
Nighttime Images
Nighttime
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Realme GT
GT Master Edition
Realme GT
GT Master Edition
Night-time images from the Realme GT look okay-ish. As expected, you can notice them to be slightly grainy.
Night Mode
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Realme GT
GT Master Edition
Realme GT
GT Master Edition
The photos are more or less similar to those from the GT Master Edition under both the normal and night mode shots, so I wouldn’t say Realme GT’s nighttime performance is anything spectacular.
Videography
Still and all, the videography aspect is well covered by the Realme GT. You can shoot up to 4k 60fps videos from the primary camera, and the videos come out pretty stable with good exposure control and colors.
In fact, you can expect decent video quality across all resolutions, thanks to the onboard EIS. But do note that it will struggle to maintain focus during low light conditions.
Selfie videos cap out at 1080p/30fps only which is a major bummer considering the phone’s flagship stature. Even though the video comes off pretty good, the subject looks quite smoothened. Audio pickup from the microphone isn’t that bad either—while background noise reduction could’ve been better.
Overall, with the Realme GT, you will get slightly better photos and videos than your average mid-range phones like the GT Master Edition or the POCO F3 GT. But sadly, its camera performance is nothing extraordinary for the price.
I would have liked if Realme had included a telephoto lens, a slightly better ultra wide-angle camera, and maybe Optical Image Stabilisation (OIS) on its primary sensor for that added sharpness.
Realme GT Review: Conclusion
Okay, to conclude this review, would I recommend the Realme GT to you? Well, I think I would. Yes, it would have been much better if the company had gone even more aggressive with the pricing maybe, but all-in-all, if you value stellar performance over everything else, this is a great choice under INR 40,000 in India.
With the Realme GT, you’re getting flagship-grade performance with relatively cooler thermals, along with the compact form factor and excellent display. However, if a versatile camera performance is what you’re gunning for, this is where the problem lies with the semi-flagship phones including the Realme GT.
And for that, I would rather suggest you get the iPhone 11 or last year’s flagship Android phones. These phones will deliver quite a superior camera quality and some insane videography possibilities as well.
In our search for a perfect budget laptop, we’ve already come up with a full review of a couple of laptops—among which Lenovo’s IdeaPad 3 (2021) has impressed us the most. And now, we have the next contender for this prestigious title. The Asus VivoBook 15 packs Intel’s 11th gen processor and comes in a couple of funky color options. Let’s find out more in this full review of the Asus VivoBook 15 (K513).
Asus VivoBook 15 (K513) Specifications:
Design&Build: Polycarbonate build, 14.13W x 9.25D x 0.70H-inches, 1.70 kg
Color Options: Indie Black, Transparent Silver, Hearty Gold
What’s inside the box: Laptop, power adapter, quick start guide, backpack, wired optical mouse
Asus VivoBook 15 (K513) Review:
Design
14.13W x 9.25D x 0.70H-inches, 1.70 kg
Polycarbonate build, matte airbrush finish
Besides the usual performance, battery prowess that most manufacturers prioritize in their budget laptops, Asus is also pushing the VivoBook 15 into the lifestyle category. As a result, you’re getting a fairly premium-looking design that’s suitable for students or business professionals.
If this Gold variant is too flashy of a choice for you, Asus offers this laptop in standard Black and Silver finishes as well. The back of the device features a minimalistic “Asus VivoBook” branding in a reflective finish—while the entire surface is treated with a matte-like airbrush.
On top of this, the Silver and Gold color options get a gray-ish keyboard chassis that thankfully doesn’t attract fingerprints or smudges as much. I’m pretty fond of the big circular rubber feet as well. They offer a nice grip and help keep the laptop steady on a level. However, what isn’t quite sturdy is the hinge.
Wobbly hinge
This hinge is subject to significant wobble which raises doubts about its durability in the long run. But if handled carefully, I doubt this is going to actually be an issue. Even though the 16:10 aspect ratio is getting more common these days, that trend hasn’t caught up to the budget laptop category.
Thus, the VivoBook 15 is hammered with pretty significant bezels—especially on the top and bottom. At just 1.7kg, I’m reasonably happy with its weight as well. For a 15” laptop, that number is impressive! Plus, the 65W AC adapter that comes inside the box is incredibly lightweight as well.
Ports
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Left
Right
In terms of ports, there are two USB 2.0 Type-A connections on the left, while an additional Type-A port, but this one with USB 3.2 Gen 1 protocol resides on the right frame. Besides this, you can find a full-sized HDMI 1.4, a 3.5mm headphone out, a USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C, a micro SD card reader, and a barrel-pin power connector here.
Display
15.6″ anti-glare non-touch FHD IPS panel
60Hz refresh rate, 45% NTSC color gamut
Moving on to the display, the Asus VivoBook 15 hosts a 15.6” Full HD IPS LCD screen. You can choose between a bunch of display configurations, with a varying level of brightness and color gamut. Our review unit has 250 nits brightness and covers 45% NTSC color space.
Apart from this, there’s the 200 or 300 nits option in terms of luminescence levels—and an additional 100% sRGB variant. Unless your primary usage pattern consists of working in a room with controlled lighting, I’d advise against the 200 nits option altogether.
For the most part, I don’t have much to complain about this middle-of-the-line panel configuration that I have with me. The colors look adequately vibrant and its FHD resolution has yielded no trouble regarding content sharpness either.
Impressive brightness, viewing angles
Additionally, viewing angles on this thing is pretty good—with a notable dip in brightness and saturation only when looking at the screen at an extreme angle. With an advertised 250 nits of brightness, I was pleasantly surprised to see that our unit managed to hit 273 nits of peak brightness. Nice!
Display Properties
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Color Gamut
Gamma
As a result, setting the screen’s brightness to 30 – 40% was enough to deliver eased visibility most of the time. Likewise, I measured that this panel covers 49% NTSC, 68% sRGB, and 51% of the DCI-P3 color gamut.
The only mild… mild issue that I’ve noticed with this panel is a hint of IPS glow around the mid-right corner of the display. But since this is almost entirely unnoticeable under regular usage, I’m more than happy to let it slide.
Keyboard
Backlit chiclet-style keyboard (single-color)
Getting to the keyboard, the Asus VivoBook 15 brings a full-sized keyboard with a dedicated Numpad. That’s already a plus for accountants or just about anyone whose workload primarily consists of using spreadsheets. And one of the literal highlights of this setup is the lime/yellowish accent to the Enter key that Asus calls “color blocking”.
It sure is a striking design choice but nothing that will inherently have any sort of positive effect on your productivity. These keys aren’t the quietest ones I’ve used so far and I found them to be a bit mushy as well. Still, the 1.4mm key travel distance is right by my wheelhouse, and had absolutely no difficulty maintaining my usual typing speed on this thing.
Pretty terrible keyboard backlight
Asus is offering dedicated LED indicators for the power, Caps Lock, and Function button—although I would’ve preferred one for the webcam button as well. Additionally, the VivoBook 15 marks the hat trick in terms of a crappy keyboard backlighting we’ve seen in Asus laptops recently.
First, the TUF Dash F15, then the Zephyrus G14, and now this. So, unless you’re absolutely fixated on the silver finish of this laptop, getting the Indie Black variant would be a wise choice. I’m also a little to see the company’s signature ErgoLift hinge MIA on this device, while the keyboard deck flexes by quite a bit too.
Trackpad
Plastic trackpad with integrated left/right keys
Windows Hello login fingerprint reader integrated
Anyway, VivoBook 15’s trackpad is fine for a budget laptop. The multi-finger gesture works perfectly while its click response is good enough. Yet, I must say I would’ve liked it more if it were a tad bit larger. There’s also a Windows Hello-certified fingerprint sensor on the top-right corner of the trackpad. I was surprised to see it recognize fingerprint even when my finger was slightly greasy.
Regardless, its placement introduces a dead spot in the trackpad which could’ve easily been solved if the sensor were placed literally anywhere outside.
Audio
2x 2W down-firing speakers
Harman/Kardon tuned
Moving on, the dual-speaker setup of this laptop makes for a pretty sweet entertainment unit as well. As expected, these are down-firing units and the missing ErgoLift hinge that I mentioned earlier means the sound output doesn’t get enough room to breathe. Nevertheless, I was quite impressed with the audio quality from these Harman/Kardon-tuned stereo speakers.
The audio can get plenty loud and there’s a distinct stereo separation as well. You obviously can’t expect much in the bass department but everything from vocals to highs sound acceptably lovely here.
Webcam
720p HD camera
No privacy shutter
Asus VivoBook 15’s top bezel is home to a 720p HD webcam followed by dual-array microphones. The quality of these cameras is on par with what we’ve seen from other 720p cameras—meaning they’re perfectly okay for attending online classes or Zoom meetings.
The audio pickup from these mics isn’t that bad either. But ultimately, if you’re gunning for a more professional setup, you’re gonna have to cash out for an external webcam.
Performance
Intel Core i5-1135G7 CPU (28W TDP)
Intel Iris Xe (Integrated graphics)
8GB DDR4 RAM, 512GB PCIe NVMe SSD
Finally, let’s get into the performance side of things. Like I mentioned in the beginning, the VivoBook 15 K513 gets the Intel treatment—with the latest 11th gen Tiger Lake CPUs. Our unit comes with i5-1135G7 quad-core processor, integrated Iris Xe graphics, 8GB RAM, and 512GB NVMe SSD.
This configuration costs NPR 105,556 here in Nepal, some INR 64,000 in India, and roughly USD 649 in the US. Depending on the market, this laptop also has an i3 or i7 variant—alongside an option with NVIDIA’s MX330 or MX350 discrete graphics.
Now, I’ve used a bunch of 11th gen i5 CPU-powered laptops in the past so going into this review, I knew exactly what to expect from the Asus VivoBook 15: a stellar single-core followed by a mediocre multi-core performance. And surprise-surprise, this laptop is no exception to my expectations. It’s handled my lightweight workloads with flying colors and even the 8GB RAM variant has delivered an excellent multi-tasking experience.
Storage solutions
Oh, by the way, Asus has soldered one of the RAM sticks onto the motherboard here while leaving you with an additional SO-DIMM slot that can take up to 16GB memory stick. You can even add a 2.5” SATA HDD or SSD here—whereas you can find VivoBook 15 with an HDD+SSD combo on select markets as well.
CrystalDiskMark
Read (MB/s)
Write (MB/s)
SEQ1M Q8T1
1350.33
945.47
SEQ1M Q1T1
1243.31
864.69
RND4K Q32T1
331.93
425.14
RNK4K Q1T1
55.54
136.25
Cinebench R23
CPU: Multi-Core
5043
CPU: Single Core
1335
MP Ratio
3.78x
Geekbench 5
CPU: Single Core
1138
CPU: Multi-Core
2790
Compute (OpenCL)
11517
Unigine Heaven
(FPS: 15.9, Score: 402, Min FPS: 5.3, Max FPS: 36.7)
API: OpenGL
Multi-monitor: Disabled
Quality: High
Anti-aliasing: x2
Tessellation: Extreme
Fullscreen: Yes
Stereo 3D: Disabled
Resolution: System
Getting back to the topic at hand, simultaneously opening around half a dozen Chrome tabs at all times alongside LibreOffice, Spotify, and editing light photos on Photoshop doesn’t break a sweat to this machine. Complemented by a single fan cooling setup, I’m taken aback by its thermal performance as well. Maybe that’s got something to do with the large chassis or my relatively lightweight workload.
Multiple performance profiles
Under the MyAsus app, you can choose from three different performance modes: Balanced, Whisper, and Performance. Or better yet, use the Function + F shortcut to toggle between them. I mostly used the laptop under Whisper mode for the quietest performance. However, this does come at a sacrifice of fluid performance and even mild heating on the right half of the keyboard chassis.
For better results, I had to switch to the Performance profile that cranks up the CPU, fan performance to deliver as much as a 40% boost—according to Asus. And yeah, the improvement is definitely noticeable. The fan doesn’t very loud either unless you’re using demanding apps or gaming.
Gaming experience
Talking about gaming, I’ve expressed my content with the integrated Iris Xe graphics in the past. So, expecting a fairly capable gaming prowess from the VivoBook 15 was always on the cards. Here, Valorant is well playable under low graphics settings—delivering 88-90fps on average.
Yet, with the 60Hz screen onboard, I did notice multiple instances of screen tearing. On the other hand, CS: GO gives 47-50fps in low settings but with minor stutters every now and then. All in all, the Asus VivoBook 15 is a pretty capable budget laptop on its own. But seeing how AMD’s Ryzen 5000 series CPUs bring better multi-core performance, many would prefer the AMD variant of this laptop.
Windows 11 Compatibility
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TPM Chip
Windows PC Health
WhyNotWin11
Oh, this laptop has a TPM chip built-in—so you’ll be able to upgrade to Windows 11 for free when it’ll be available from October 5.
Battery
42 Watt-hour 3-cell battery
65W AC power adapter
Fueling the VivoBook 15 is a 42Wh battery and Asus is claiming an “all-day battery” life on this thing—based entirely on video playback benchmarks. But we’re smarter to realize that one’s use case from a laptop is far more dynamic. And my experience resulted in pretty unimpressive endurance results.
Using the laptop under 30% brightness and Performance mode turned on, I managed to get 3.5 to 4.5 hours of screen on time on average. On the other hand, switching it to Whisper mode manages around 6 hours of SoT. Juicing it up via the 65W charger, it takes around one and a half hours to fully take this battery from 0 to 100%.
Asus VivoBook 15 (K513) Review: Conclusion
Summing up this review, the Asus VivoBook 15 is a decent performer for the price. The single-core and integrated graphics performance of Intel’s Tiger Lake CPU easily hold up to many budget user’s demands.
Plus, its professional design and fairly color-accurate display are other things to cherish here. Still and all, I wished it had a better battery endurance—while someone who wants a superior multi-core performance could go for the AMD variant of the machine, which should be even more affordable.
Back in May this year, Google revealed that it had been working with Samsung in developing a reimagined version of Wear OS for Android smartwatches. As expected, Samsung was the first to show off the new Wear OS-powered smartwatches with its Galaxy Watch 4 series. And it won’t come as a surprise when I say that these are some of the most exciting smartwatches to grace the market in recent times. More on our review of the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 and Watch 4 Classic.
Starting this review of the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 and Watch 4 Classic, let’s first get the basics out of the way. Samsung is finally unifying its smartwatch lineup with the Watch 4 series—meaning there isn’t going to be a separate “Active” device this year. The sporty version featuring a digital bezel is simply called the Watch 4, while the one with the beloved rotating bezel fittingly gets a “Classic” suffix in its name.
Now, that’s the most noticeable difference you could find between these two. But Samsung has also used distinct build materials here. The standard Watch 4 uses an aluminum frame—whereas the Watch 4 Classic commits to the “Classic” in its name by bringing a more premium stainless steel frame.
Multiple case sizes
Additionally, the regular Watch 4 comes in smaller 40 and 44mm cases compared to 42 and 46mm options for the Watch 4 Classic. Like how Samsung has been so surgical in identifying its target demographics for its newest foldable phones, the same tactics have been applied on the Watch 4 series as well.
Left: Watch 4 Classic | Right: Watch 4
The younger generation might be favoring the sleeker, more colorful Watch 4, contrary to the bold look of the next best thing. And of course, the price difference between the two is further serving this cause. The 40mm Bluetooth-only Galaxy Watch 4 retails for $249 whereas you’ll need to shell out 100 bucks more for the 42mm Bluetooth variant of the Watch 4 Classic.
There’s also an LTE-ready version of these smartwatches that cost even more. Besides the price, Samsung is sticking to its roots with the design language of these smartwatches.
Familiar form factor
Yeah, you’re only getting one big thing at a time—and that’s perfectly okay. Samsung is better off sticking to this tried-and-tested form factor rather than trying to do anything different. Interestingly, the company has managed to make the Watch 4 Classic marginally more compact and lighter than last year’s Galaxy Watch 3.
But the difference I’m talking about is too minuscule to deliver any palpable advantage. By default, these smartwatches ship with fluoroelastomer soft silicone bands—but with a slight contrast. You see, while the standard Watch 4 does have a buckle at one end, it is inspired by sports bands on an Apple Watch because of its inward looping mechanism.
On the other hand, the Watch 4 Classic hosts a traditional strap watch-buckle design with two band retainers. Apart from this, Samsung also sells sports, stainless steel, and leather straps in select markets.
Oh, by the way, no matter which case size you end up getting, all of them accept 20mm universal straps. Anyway, I’ve had no issues like skin irritation or allergy when putting on the Watch 4 and Watch 4 Classic throughout the day. The re-engineered strap is sweat-resistant as well so cleaning it off after workouts is as easy as they come.
Looks a bit weird
Still, I must say I was weirded out by the significant gap left by the watch on the sides when wearing it. This is an intentional and crucial design choice to ensure firm contact of the sensors with one’s wrist, I know—but I can’t help but feel how this makes the Watch 4 seem bulkier than it should.
Regardless, the Watch 4 series is 5ATM and IP68 certified for dust and water damage. So, you could be deep diving in a swimming pool or running in the rain without a care in the world. These smartwatches also get MIL-STD-810G certification against shocks, vibration, extreme temperatures, etc.
Redesigned buttons
Moving on, the buttons on the side also get a fresh redesign this time around. While last year’s Watch 3 had circular buttons, the ones on this iteration are wide and rectangular-shaped. And there’s a good reason behind this. You see, one of the breakout features in the Watch 4 series is body composition analysis.
For this, the electrodes required for the 3-in-1 BioActive sensor are extended to the buttons as well—apart from the one on the bottom. On top of this, you can customize these buttons to trigger different actions. A single tap of the home button takes you to the homescreen while Samsung lets you set custom actions for double and long-press actions.
Likewise, the back key can be configured to go back to the previous screen or list out the recently opened apps. Over on the left, you can find the speaker grille for making phone calls from the watch itself—or play onboard music files. And I don’t think any review of the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 and Watch 4 Classic can pass by without talking about their varying bezels.
Physical vs digital bezel
As you could probably already tell, the physical rotating dial on the Watch 4 Classic is easily the superior of the two. From the excellent tactile feedback to the sheer fun of using it, there just isn’t anything like the rotating bezel. On the other hand, its digital substitute on the standard Watch 4 simply doesn’t match the experience of the physical one—while also being finicky at times.
Display
1.2/1.4-inches Super AMOLED panel
Circular dial, Always on Display (AoD)
Gorilla Glass DX/DX+ protection
Moving to the display, Samsung lets you pick between a 1.2 or a 1.4” Super AMOLED screen for the Watch 4 series. Even though the size options remain the same from last year’s Watch 3, the company has brought a visible upgrade in terms of the display’s sharpness.
Contrary to the 360 by 360 pixels resolution in its predecessor, Samsung has bumped it to 450 x 450 on the bigger 44/46mm and 396 x 396 pixels on the 40/42mm cases. Personally, I had no visibility trouble with the Watch 3, to begin with.
So, the higher pixel count feels all but a reassuring move. Nevertheless, the Watch 4 and Watch 4 Classic enjoy different protection standards. The flatter of the two is expectedly safeguarded with Corning’s Gorilla Glass DX+ which brings enhanced protection from damaging impacts on top of improved readability and scratch resistance.
Makes sense because since the Watch 4’s screen doesn’t have an additional layer on top like the rotating bezel on the Watch 4 Classic, it is relatively more vulnerable to surficial impacts. In contrast, the Classic settles for the standard Gorilla Glass DX protection.
Expectedly top-notch
Anyway, as expected from a Samsung-made display, everything’s top-notch here. The colors look vibrant, punchy, and retain a great contrast ratio. I can’t complain about its viewing angles or brightness levels either. Unlike different selectable levels of brightness on the Watch 3, this Wear OS iteration offers you a brightness slider instead.
It also supports auto-brightness adjustment which works perfectly fine. This OLED panel lets you turn on Always on Display as well. But since the raise/tap to wake actions work like a charm, I didn’t really bother turning on AoD. That, added with the battery-consuming properties of Always-on Display makes my decision all the more simple.
In terms of watch faces, the ones built-in come in different themes—serving different visual aesthetics. I’m quite fond of the one called “Time-Lapse”. It is textbook minimalistic and shows all the info I need. Plus, I like how its color scheme changes depending on the time of the day.
Watch faces
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Besides all this, there’s a mountain of customization options. From color scheme, UI layout, components, to setting custom images, the Watch 4 series is a treasure trove for those who love personalization. And if you’re not a fan of the watch faces that come pre-installed, its Wear OS heritage means you can download from hundreds of watch face apps on the Play Store like Facer, Moods, etc.
Performance
Dual-core Exynos W920 SoC (5nm)
Wear OS Powered by Samsung
1.5GB RAM + 16GB internal storage
Now, while the design and display side of things sounds fairly familiar, the performance department is where the hyped upgrades really take shape. And if you think about it, the Watch 4 series will even feel like a couple of first-gen products in terms of their performance.
A reimagined operating system complemented by a brand new processor—I mean, there are multiple reasons to be skeptical of how these smartwatches are gonna perform.
But putting those doubts to rest, the Galaxy Watch 4 series has performed with flying colors throughout my usage. Let’s first discuss the chipset itself. Powered by the company’s in-house Exynos W920 SoC, Samsung is promising a significant performance jump compared to the Exynos 9110 powering Watch 3, Watch Active 2, and the first-gen Galaxy Watch from back in 2018.
Brand new processor
The first 5nm silicon of its kind, Samsung says you can expect a 20% better CPU and a tenfold superior graphics performance from this chipset. Furthermore, the Watch 4 series is paired with 1.5GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage—up from 1GB RAM, 8GB memory on its predecessor.
All of this combines to deliver a pretty smooth user experience. And maybe it’s all these hardware reforms, the new operating system, or both, there’s a noticeable fluidity if you’re coming from Tizen-powered Galaxy Watch 3.
I mean, the responsiveness is there but this is by no means a lag-free smartwatch. And that’s primarily because of how Samsung is insistent on implementing such heavy animations here. But thanks to the new Wear OS platform, you can scale down the animation level inside Developer Options—something that was sorely missing in Tizen OS.
Okay, I feel like I’ve teased talking about Wear OS for a while now—so let’s finally get into it. Like I mentioned in the beginning, Wear OS 3 has been co-developed by Google and Samsung, with the latter committing to abandon Tizen OS in favor of this new platform for its upcoming smartwatches.
The best of both worlds
Feels like the best of both worlds, isn’t it? While Wear OS smartwatches have been historically lacking that “Midas touch”, Samsung’s Tizen OS faced criticism for its walled garden of app selection. But now, the merger of the two platforms means these arguments are going to be moot—hopefully. That’s mainly because of the first-gen nature of these smartwatches that I mentioned earlier.
A lot of promises that Google made during the announcement of the new Wear OS are still absent for now. The most notable of them has to be the Fitbit health services. With Google’s Fitbit acquisition finally done and dusted, its integration into Wear OS means the new platform could be a proper fitness-focused smartwatch—on top of all the bells and whistles.
I was absolutely floored with all the health-tracking features available on the Fitbit Versa 3 that I reviewed a while back, with stuff like Active Zone Minute (AZM) especially standing out. Google says it’s arriving in Wear OS 3-powered smartwatches when they launch H2 2022, but Samsung hasn’t pledged anything on the matter.
Samsung Health Services works perfectly fine
I guess I can understand why the company would want to stick to its own Samsung Health services for fitness tracking features. It’s well rounded, and with the new health-tracking abilities on the Watch 4 series, these smartwatches are on track to being some of the most capable fitness trackers on your wrist.
Samsung Health - UI
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Still, a guy can hope. Google Assistant’s a no-show either, although Samsung says it’s arriving sometime later on. For now, you’re gonna have to make do with Samsung’s Bixby. It can handle simple requests like translation, web searches, weather reports, making phone calls, etc. just fine while something like sending SMS to your phone’s contact is only available on Samsung smartphones.
Some Samsung exclusivity
That brings me to the next topic. Despite a supposed unified platform, some features of the Watch 4 series are still restricted to Samsung phones. And oh, it is straight-up incompatible with iPhones and HMS-powered Huawei phones.
Health tracking features like ECG and blood pressure measurement aren’t available in other Android smartphones. The former requires you to install the Samsung Health Monitor app that’s exclusive to Samsung’s Galaxy Store. And no, sideloading the APK file doesn’t work.
Talking about apps, Samsung smartwatches finally have access to Google Play Store under the Wear OS platform. Well, that’s not entirely true because the Galaxy Gear Live from 2014 indeed ran on Android Wear. But since then, the South Korean conglomerate had been shipping Tizen OS in its smartwatches.
I can finally use Google Maps on a Galaxy Watch!
Anyway, with Play Store support, I can finally use Google Maps on a Galaxy Watch. From its positional accuracy to the seamless turn-by-turn direction guidance, it’s amazing.
Apps
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Other personal favorite apps that I can now have on a Galaxy Watch include Google Keep and Messages. At launch, Spotify in Watch 4 series didn’t support offline playback but with a recent, I can now download my playlist into the smartwatch itself. Mind you, roughly only 8GB of the onboard 16GB storage is usable. Plus, the Spotify-downloaded tunes aren’t playable on the watch itself, unlike other locally stored audio files.
But you can connect the watch to a pair of Bluetooth earbuds so that you don’t need to carry around a smartphone whenever you’re out jogging and want to listen to some music. Samsung’s Microsoft partnership is seen on the Watch 4 series as well since they come pre-installed with Outlook on top of all the stock Samsung apps.
One UI on top of Wear OS
In order to make sure that previous Galaxy Watch owners don’t get lost when shifting to the new platform, the Watch 4 and Watch 4 Classic get a One UI skin on top. And for the most part, all the UI elements look similar to the way they do on a Tizen smartwatch.
Swiping down gets you to access the control panel while the left and right edges hold the notifications and the widgets (or Tiles as they’re called in Wear OS), respectively. The only major visual change is that swiping up from the homescreen now hosts the app launcher.
You can re-arrange them from the watch itself or via the Galaxy Wearable app. As expected, the incoming notifications on the Watch 4 series are actionable and it supports Nepali Unicode font, as well as emojis. You can reply by typing up the message, using text-to-speech, or even from a collection of customizable quick replies.
Weirdly enough, the Samsung Keyboard that comes by default doesn’t support swipe typing so I had to switch to Gboard. Thank you Play Store, once again!
Decent haptic feedback
I’m quite fond of the haptic feedback on the Watch 4 series as well. The vibration feedback is strong enough to alert me of any notifications. Still, I wished that there was a middle ground between the “Light” and “Strong” vibration intensity that Samsung lets you pick between. To compare, the Apple Watch Series 6 does haptic feedback right.
All in all, I’m absolutely enjoying the Wear OS 3—oops, “Wear OS Powered By Samsung”—experience on the Watch 4 series. Google Play Store support complemented with Samsung’s UI optimizations is absolutely what the Android smartwatch space needed, and I’m glad it’s finally happening.
Health, Fitness Tracking
95 workout modes with automatic detection of 6
Body Composition Analysis, SpO2, Sleep tracking
With that out of the way, allow me to talk about the health and fitness-tracking abilities of the Watch 4 series. Why not start with the breakthrough feature of these smartwatches, huh? Another first-gen feature in a Galaxy Watch (or any other smartwatch for that matter) debuting with these devices is “Body Composition” measurement.
This is thanks to the new 3-in-1 BioActive sensor, which incorporates an optical heart rate, an electrical heart rate, and Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA) sensor. As a result, it can detect AFib irregular heartbeat, measure blood oxygen, blood pressure, and your body composition.
Remember what I said about the electrodes in the buttons—yes, that’s how the Watch 4 and Watch 4 Classic measure different metrics like body fat, skeletal muscle, body water, and Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). Typically, you’ll need a body composition scale or a skinfold caliper to measure your body fat level.
Body Composition
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Compared to the electrodes on the underside and the buttons of the Watch 4 series, such body fat scales have way larger electrodes to read your body composition via your feet. So, it’s only normal to be skeptical of the BIA analysis of these smartwatches.
But Samsung assures that it hasn’t sacrificed the accuracy of these sensors. So much so that it claims that the results from this BioActive sensor have a 98% correlation with DEXA scans, which is apparently the most reliable way for measuring body composition. While I couldn’t test out those claims, I compared against the next best thing—sort of.
How does the body composition analysis hold up?
For this review, I compared the BIA of Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 and Watch 4 Classic against the Huawei Smart Scale. And the results from the Watch 4 series were… unflattering, to put it gently. On average, the Watch 4 gave 20% higher body fat readings than the Smart Scale. On the other hand, this smartwatch measured my body water, BMR level 6% and 3% lesser compared to the body fat scale, respectively.
Body Composition
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Galaxy Watch 4
Huawei Smart Scale
While the Huawei Smart Scale is by no means the gold standard for measuring body composition, I am inclined to trust its measurements more compared to Watch 4’s readings. Additionally, since you gotta update your weight every time you’re going to take a reading, measuring body composition from the Watch 4 series isn’t as instantaneous or seamless as Samsung has painted it out to be.
From my findings, I guess you can use its readings as reference values for minor adjustments in workout schedules, diet plans, but even Samsung says the Watch 4 and Watch 4 Classic aren’t a substitute to professional-grade medical equipment—despite drawing comparison to one.
No continuous SpO2 monitoring
Apart from this, the Watch 4 series can track everything from step count, sleep, women’s health, blood oxygen saturation, and stress levels. You can set the watch to record heart rate and stress levels continuously or manually. But I am a little disappointed to see that continuous SpO2 monitoring is only available during sleep, and not throughout the day.
Blood Oxygen
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Maybe an update can fix this but I doubt Samsung will bring one, keeping battery endurance in mind. During the review, I compared the SpO2 readings from the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 and Watch 4 Classic to Apple Watch Series 6. Here, I found that the SpO2 readings from all these smartwatches were almost identical—with about 2% deviation on average. Moving on, you can also have the watch send you alerts in case your heart rate goes higher or lower than the predetermined value. Nice!
Heart Rate
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Hourly min/max
Continuous
Watch 4 series has sedentary reminders as well but I found it to be rather ill-implemented. Time and again, I’d get notifications to get up and walk for a couple of minutes. But this one time, I ignored the alert and had to rub my eyes instead. To my surprise, Watch 4 congratulated me on getting active. I’ll be damned if that was sarcastic in any way!
Sleep monitoring could use some work
Sleep tracking on the Watch 4 series has been pretty accurate for the most part too. It gets my time to bed and the time I wake up almost spot-on. Like last year, there’s also a sleep score to help you analyze your sleep quality more easily. Yet, in a couple of instances, I noticed that the watch overcompensated the time I woke up.
Sleep
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Galaxy Watch 4
Apple Watch Series 6
I have a habit of using my phone for a while before I go about my morning hygiene routine. And in a couple of occasions, the Watch 4 failed to record my actual time out of bed and included the time I spent using my phone on the bed under that day’s sleep detail—which was not the case with Watch Series 6.
As a result, this adds an unnatural amount of awake time to my sleep schedule, thereby messing up with the overall sleep score. But to reiterate, this wasn’t a daily occurrence and I hope Samsung fixes this issue with an update pretty soon.
Blood pressure, ECG monitoring still isn’t available everywhere
Besides this, the Watch 4 series can track your blood pressure and ECG levels as well, although it is limited to 40 countries for now. Unfortunately, regions like Nepal and India miss out on both of these features.
Nevertheless, these smartwatches are capable of tracking up to 95 different workout modes including running, cycling, swimming, hiking, and more. It can also detect 6 of them automatically—while also being able to record location on walking/running exercises. And in this regard, everything works perfectly fine here. The GPS lock is fairly immediate although I do wish the auto workout detection worked a little faster.
Step, Stress
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Step
Stress
Throughout my tests, I noticed that it took an average of 10 minutes for the Watch 4 to detect my walking workout. Plus, if you wish to end the workout right there, that’s not possible as the watch makes you wait a couple of seconds more before terminating the workout. Auto-pause and auto-resume work flawlessly, so that’s something.
You can view the workout details on the watch itself or in the Samsung Health app on your phone. All the data are presented in an easy-to-read layout, which is great. I had no trouble with syncing my watch data to the app either.
Workout
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Galaxy Watch 4
Apple Watch Series 6
Compared to the Apple Watch Series 6, the health data recorded by these two smartwatches are quite similar in terms of heart rate levels. However, they differ by quite a margin in terms of factors like calories burnt, distance covered, etc. Also, I found that the Watch 4 series delivered better insights, metrics of your workouts compared to the competition.
Daily Activity to keep you motivated
Furthermore, the Watch 4 series also features Daily Activity—similar to Activity Ring on the Apple Watch Series 6. This consists of steps, active time, and activity calorie goals to motivate you to keep active throughout the day.
Daily Activity
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Samsung is also debuting something called “Together” with the Watch 4 lineup where you can challenge your friends and family on a real-time walking exercise challenge. The contest gets two metrics to indicate win/loss: the total number of steps taken, and the first person to hit the targeted step count.
Together
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While this is pretty impressive, I wish the Together challenge expanded to other factors like body composition, calories burnt, etc. as well.
These can even monitor your snoring habits. For this, you’re required to put your smartphone to your side, while it’s charging throughout the night. I don’t snore and thus couldn’t test it out—but I do wish it didn’t require you to charge the phone overnight.
Battery
247/361mAh battery, Up to 40 hours
WPC-based wireless charging support
Getting to the battery side of things, Samsung says all entries in the Watch 4 series are rated to last for up to 40 hours. Here, the smaller 40 and 42mm versions ship with a 247mAh battery whereas the bigger 44 and 44mm cases feature a bigger 361mAh battery instead. Throughout my usage, I’ve managed to net out a similar level of battery endurance from these two smartwatches.
Using the Watch 4 Classic with AoD turned off, brightness and WiFi set to auto, and about 20 – 30 minutes of GPS usage, the 46mm variant easily lasted me for one and a half days on average. This usage also consisted of at least a couple of dozens of notifications throughout the day and a couple of phone calls as well.
Call quality
About the call quality itself, there’s little to complain about. People at the receiving end didn’t have any trouble hearing me, although I can’t say the same about their voice.
I mean, there’s nothing wrong with the actual call quality itself but the audio from the speaker grille comes out a bit noisy. Anyway, the 40mm Watch 4 that I have, gave an almost identical battery life—that sometimes even extended to 2 days. But here, I’d turned off WiFi altogether while skipping on any GPS use.
On the charging front, Samsung’s new-gen smartwatches still disappoint. The Watch 4 lineup sticks to the same old 5W WPC-based Qi wireless charging that takes a little over 2 hours to go from 0 to 100%. The base of the watch sticks quite firmly with the charger, so no problem there. But having to wait 2 whole hours to juice up the battery is pretty annoying.
Wrapping up this review, the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 and Watch 4 Classic are undeniably the best thing to happen to the world of Android smartwatches in recent years. Samsung’s masterful hardware and elegant software design paired with Google Play Store compatibility make for a pretty amazing smartwatch experience.
So, if you have an Android smartphone and want the absolute best smartwatch money can buy, it simply doesn’t get better than Galaxy Watch 4 and Watch 4 Classic for now. Well, the Watch 4 Classic mostly. Yet, if your phone isn’t Samsung-made, you’re gonna have to make peace with missing out on a couple of features like blood pressure and ECG reading.
Watch our video review of the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4, Watch 4 Classic.
5G was such a big deal for iPhones that Apple spent a big chunk of the iPhone 12 launch event highlighting it. But it is nothing in front of the satellite connectivity that future iPhones are rumored to feature. Here, we will be discussing all the low orbit satellite communication rumors linked to the upcoming iPhone 13.
Satellite communication in iPhones
Recent news about satellite communication in iPhones is not new. It goes all the back in 2019 when Mark Gurman reported that Apple has a “secret team” working on advanced satellite communication technology. The initial plans date back even further to 2017.
The project is back to being on front-page news, thanks to Ming-Chi Kuo. Kuo is an analyst at TF International Securities and has a reputation as a reliable Apple leaker. According to him, Apple has already developed hardware capable of connecting to satellites. Here, the company is using a custom Snapdragon X60 5G modem for now.
Limited to emergencies
With this new modem in place, iPhone 13 users will be able to make calls and send texts without a working cellular network. This could be helpful for people living in remote areas. However, Apple is planning to use this feature to send SOS messages during emergencies only.
This Emergency Message tool, codenamed “Stewie inside Apple”, will be activated once users type “Emergency SOS” on the place where they would normally type in the contact’s name. However, we can expect Apple to come up with a more convenient method later on.
This feature will be integrated into the Message app as a third-party protocol, alongside SMS and iMessage. It will be operational even in Do Not Disturb (DnD) Mode.
Moving on, Apple will also allow users to report emergencies like a deadly accident using the technology. Users will have to give details like the type of accident, parties involved, and the need for a rescue team.
This feature is quite similar to Garmin’s inReach satellite communication technology that allows users to share data like messages, travel routes, and location coordinates over satellite. It is reported that Apple will be using Globalstar for its satellite network project. But whether the company will integrate the feature into iOS or launch it as a separate subscription service is unclear right now.
Besides all the benefits, this technology has its complexities. For instance, users will have to manually connect their iPhones to the satellite system to use the new feature. The process will include walking in a certain direction with the phone for over a minute.
Apple already has a working modem that it can use in its upcoming iPhones. Still, satellite communication technology won’t go live on iPhones until next year. Thus, whether iPhone 13 series will get this feature is still unknown. However, the majority of Apple products in the future will support this form of communication, including the rumored Apple Car.
Meanwhile, check out our long-term review of the iPhone 12.
Fossil has launched its latest smartwatch called the Fossil Gen 6. It’s the first smartwatch to boast Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Wear 4100+ processor. So, let’s walk through the specs, features, expected price, and availability of Fossil Gen 6 in Nepal.
Fossil Gen 6 Overview:
Design and Display
Fossil Gen 6 comes in two case options: 42 and 44mm. Still, both variants have the same 1.28-inch screen. It’s an AMOLED display with 416 x 416 resolution and 326 PPI. They are also 3 ATM water-resistant, meaning you can go light swimming with the watch on your wrist.
Fossil Gen 6 comes in a stainless-steel case with a trio of buttons on the right, including a rotating crown in the center. It also features a speaker and a microphone, allowing you to accept or make calls directly from the watch.
Snapdragon Wear 4100+
Under the hood, Fossil Gen 6 is powered by Snapdragon Wear 4100+ chipset, which was launched last year alongside the regular Wear 4100 that we recently saw in Mobvoi TicWatch E3. The only difference between the Plus and non-plus variants is the presence of a power-efficient co-processor on the former.
According to Qualcomm, the Wear 4100 series brings 85% better CPU and memory performance compared to the Snapdragon Wear 3100.
Fossil has backed the chipset with 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage. Moving on, the smartwatch boots on last-gen Wear OS. However, Fossil has promised Wear OS 3 update in 2022. It also comes with Google Voice Assistant support built-in.
In terms of connectivity, it uses Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5 LE, GPS, and NFC SE. The health tracking options include 24/7 heart rate and blood oxygen (SpO2) monitoring. Alongside, there are sensors for tracking calories, steps, cardio fitness levels, sleep, and many more. The Fossil Gen 6 comes with a 24 hours+ rated battery life and can juice up to 80% in just 30 minutes.
Fossil Gen 6 is already up for pre-order in the US, where its price is USD 319 for the Smoke Stainless Steel variant. Similarly, you can get the other three options for USD 299. We expect the price of the Fossil Gen 6 smartwatch in Nepal to start at around NPR 40,000 if and when it launches here.
Fossil Gen 6
Price in the US
Price in Nepal (Expected)
Smoke Stainless Steel
USD 319
NPR 42,000
Brown Leather, Gold/Purple, Green Camo Grosgrain
USD 299
NPR 40,000
Watch: Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 and Watch 4 Classic impressions!
Tecno has officially launched the Pova 2 smartphone in Nepal. It’s the successor to the Tecno Pova launched back in February. So, let’s get into the specs, features, availability, official price of Tecno Pova 2 in Nepal.
Tecno Pova 2 Overview:
Design and Display
Starting with the design, the smartphone debuts with a 6.9-inch IPS LCD screen with a Full HD+ resolution. It’s a standard 60Hz panel, but with a 180Hz touch sampling rate. This display has 386PPI pixel density and 480nits of peak brightness.
At the back, it has a rectangular quad-camera setup and a glossy stripe running from the center of the phone. Tecno Pova 2 is available in three colors: Dazzle Black, Polar Silver, and Power Blue.
Under the hood, it packs MediaTek’s Helio G85 SoC coupled with up to 6GB of RAM and up to 128GB of onboard storage. Helio G85 is a 12nm chipset with an octa-core CPU architecture and Arm’s Mali-G52 MC2 GPU. For smooth gaming, the phone comes with Tecno’s “ET Game Engine” built-in.
Over on the software side of things, Pova 2 boots on Android 11-based HiOS 7.6. Similarly, fueling the smartphone is a massive 7000mAh battery with 18W Flash Charge support.
Camera
In terms of optics, it has a quad-camera setup led by the 48MP primary sensor. Following this is a 2MP macro, a 2MP depth, and an unspecified fourth sensor. At the front, there’s an 8MP shooter inside the punch-hole cutout and a dual front-flash setup.
Besides this, there’s a side-mounted fingerprint sensor for biometrics. The wireless connectivity options include 4G LTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and USB Type-C. Luckily, it also retains the 3.5mm headphone jack.
The official price of Tecno Pova 2 in Nepal is NPR 23,990 for the 6/128GB variant. You can buy Pova 2 in Nepal from Tecno authorized retail stores across the country.
Tecno Pova 2
Price in Nepal
Availability
6/128GB
NPR 23,990
Authorized stores
Meanwhile, check out our review of the Poco F3 GT.
The C-lineup in the Realme portfolio is reserved for budget smartphones. Last year, the company introduced quite a few smartphones under this series, while the Realme C20 has finally made its way to the Nepali market. In this post, we will take a look at the specs, features, official price, and availability of Realme C20 in Nepal.
Realme C20 Overview:
Design and Display
From the design perspective, the device looks a lot like Realme C12. It has a polycarbonate body. There is a square camera module on the back, while a vertical strip runs along the length of the device from the module.
On the front, there is a 6.5-inch IPS LCD display. Realme has used Gorilla Glass 3 for better durability. Being a budget phone, this display has an HD+ resolution of 720 x 1600 pixels with a 20:9 aspect ratio. The device has a waterdrop notch to house the front-facing camera.
Performance and Camera
Realme C20 is powered by MediaTek Helio G35 SoC. It’s an octa-core chipset with a clock speed of up to 2.3GHz. The device comes with 2GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage.
The latter can be expanded further using an external microSD card. Given the compromised memory, Realme should’ve gone with Go Edition of Android but unfortunately, the phone runs on full-fledged Android 10.
In terms of cameras, Realme C20 comes with a single rear camera setup consisting of an 8MP sensor. There are no additional cameras at the back although the camera module might imply so. On the front, there is a 5MP selfie shooter.
Rest of the specs
The phone features a massive 5000mAh battery. Realme has included a micro-USB charging port and there is no mention of the charging speed either. C20 also supports reverse charging and thus, can be used to charge other phones. In terms of connectivity, the device has a dual-SIM slot (Nano), dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.1
Connectivity: Wi-Fi ac (2.4GHz/5GHz), Bluetooth 5.1, Galileo / AGPS / GLONASS / Beidou, micro-USB, OTG
Battery: 5000mAh, supports reverse charging
Color Options: Cool Grey, Cool Blue
Realme C20 Price in Nepal & Availability
The official price of Realme C20 in Nepal is NPR 12,849 for the 2/32GB variant. You can pre-order Realme C20 right now from Daraz whereas it will begin shipping from September 1.
