Page 465 – GadgetByte Nepal

Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE Review: Great Value

Nikhil Shrestha

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July 30, 2021

Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE Review: Great Value

“Fan Edition” of existing products has been an astounding hit for Samsung. This was limited to smartphones until last year although it’s been expanded to tablets now. While the company’s primary philosophy of FE devices for smartphones consists of delivering a flagship-level experience on a relatively lesser asking price, things seem to have taken a turn in a different direction with the Tab S7 FE. Let’s learn more in this review of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE Specifications:

Body: 185.0 x 284.8 x 6.3mm, 608 gm, All-metal construction
Display: 12.4-inches TFT LCD, 60Hz Refresh Rate
Resolution: WQXGA (2560 x 1600 pixels), 16:10 aspect ratio, 243 PPI
Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 750G 5G (8nm Mobile Platform)
CPU: Octa-core (2×2.2 GHz Kryo 570 & 6×1.8 GHz Kryo 570)
GPU: Adreno 619
Memory: 4/6GB LPDDR4X RAM, 64/128GB storage (expandable)
Software & UI: Android 11 with Samsung’s One UI 3.1 on top
Rear Camera: Single (8MP sensor, 1080p/30fps videos)
Front Camera: 5MP sensor (1080p/30fps videos)
Audio: Dual stereo speakers (Tuned by AKG), Dolby Atmos audio
Security: Face unlock, No fingerprint reader
Sensors: Accelerometer, Gyro, Geomagnetic, Hall, Light
Connectivity: Single-SIM (Nano), WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (Dual-band), Bluetooth 5.0, GPS / AGPS / Glonass / Galileo / Beidou, USB Type-C, 4G LTE, 5G
Battery: 10,090mAh with 45W fast charging (15W adapter inside the box)
Color options: Mystic Black, Mystic Silver, Mystic Green, Mystic Pink
Price in Nepal: Rs. 69,999 (4/64GB | LTE)

Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE Review:

Before heading on to the review, I have to point out Samsung Nepal’s excellent pricing policy for the Galaxy Tab S7 FE. To note, this tablet costs Rs. 5,200 cheaper here in Nepal compared to what it retails for in India. This alone changes the value proposition for the Tab S7 FE.

Performance

Octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 750G 5G SoC (8nm)
4/6GB LPDDR4X RAM, 64/128GB storage (expandable)
Android 11 with Samsung’s One UI 3.1 on top

Anyway, as the name suggests, this tablet takes its inspiration from Samsung’s Tab S7 series from 2020. But unlike how the Galaxy S20 FE borrows the premium chip from its non-FE sibling, the Tab S7 FE introduces a different trend altogether. Unlike Snapdragon 865+ on the regular Tab S7 duo, performance sees a big dip here with its Snapdragon 750G chip on board.

Therefore, the Tab S7 FE is definitely not for those who want a powerful do-it-all tablet—or something that could replace your laptop since it also supports DeX and keyboard input. Samsung has paired this 5G-ready mid-range silicon with 4/6GB of RAM and up to 128GB of onboard storage. I have the base 4/64GB variant with me and for the most part, its performance is fairly acceptable for everyday usage.

Multitasking between lightweight apps is fine although keeping 4-5 apps open for a while will result in app-reload. Yet, with its big screen real-estate, multitasking on this tablet has been a delightful experience—despite the minor hiccups every now and then.

Samsung ships it with One UI 3.1 based on Android 11 and this time, the UI/UX feels a lot optimized while the minor visual changes are a welcome upgrade too—compared to One UI 2 on last year’s Tab S6 Lite. For instance, the volume slider now pops up on the side instead of making you drag your hand all the way to the top.

Multitasking madness

Still, the default system animations are a little heavy so I had to dial it down to 50% under the developer options for a smoother experience. Samsung also lets you utilize this big screen by allowing up to 3 apps to be opened at once.

As a result, I could be reading an article on the web, watching a YouTube video about it, and taking notes—all at the same time. And if that’s not enough, you can even add floating apps over the three, control their transparency/size, minimize/maximize them for the “productivity beastmode” moments.

But honestly, it just ends up looking like those horrifying multi-toolbar setups on Internet Explorer so I never really got around using it. Say you use a certain combo of apps often, there’s the option to pin them on the Edge Panel for quick launch too.

What about gaming?

Moving on, the gaming performance of this tablet is pretty respectable as well. Relatively less demanding titles like Asphalt 9 and Mobile Legends: Bang Bang play at their highest setting pretty smoothly.

Similarly, Call of Duty Mobile is playable at High graphics and Very High frame rate with practically zero frame drops or stutters whereas PUBG Mobile renders smooth gameplay under Balanced graphics and Ultra frame rate. While its large chassis ensures efficient heat dissipation, continuously gaming for about an hour or so gets it warm near the front camera module.

Yet, the aforementioned wide chassis makes sure that the heat doesn’t spread to the other edges of the tablet. All in all, the Galaxy Tab S7 FE is definitely not a winner in terms of its performance. For its price, I strongly believe Samsung should’ve gone with something like the Snapdragon 870 or even Snapdragon 860—at least.

The older UFS 2.1 storage protocol also shows its age when it comes to stuff like opening apps and such. Having said that, if your workload revolves around simple note-taking, attending online classes, or sketching, this tablet performs with flying colors.

S Pen

Bluetooth-free stylus
Less than 30ms latency

Moreover, Tab S7 FE’s S Pen differs from the one you get with its more expensive siblings as well. First off, there’s no magnetic strip at the back of the tablet to charge this stylus. Instead, this standard, Bluetooth-free stylus clips onto the side. It does come bundled inside the box, which is great.

Now, I’m no artist by any means so its <30ms latency wasn’t an issue for me under regular usage like note-taking, scribbling, and the likes. To compare, Samsung ships an active S Pen with an impressive 9ms latency on the flagship Tab S7 series.

Even so, I tried doodling a thing or two here and found that the advertised latency is barely noticeable. But I’m sure professional digital artists will disagree. Regardless, this screen’s palm rejection works wonders and I didn’t notice a single instance of accidental touches.

Comfortably helpful

Because of the tablet’s large form factor, I often found myself reaching for the S Pen to get around it. This stylus is more than lightweight enough to dismiss any notion of discomfort, while its touch response is great as well.

It is pressure-sensitive too, meaning you can switch the intensity of a brush on the sketchpad depending on how hard you press on it. Likewise, the side-button also doubles as an eraser when you’re making edits via Samsung Notes. Or, it can trigger the stylus shortcuts, provided that you have it pointing to the screen pretty closely.

Anyway, there are multiple standout features to talk about here. The one I like the most is called “S Pen to Text” which is similar to Scribble on iPadOS 14. Basically, this transforms every text input field into a writable area and converts your handwriting to text.

Throughout my usage, this feature has worked well despite my fairly rough handwriting. Oh, and for some reason, Samsung disables “S Pen to Text” by default so you’ll have to manually enable it. Other useful things this stylus can do include text translation, smart selection, and more.

Design

185.0 x 284.8 x 6.3mm, 608 gm
Metallic construction, glass front
Separate Keyboard Folio accessory

Okay, getting to the design—the Galaxy Tab S7 FE cuts no corners. Apart from the missing magnetic strip for a stylus at the back, its all-metal body is indistinguishable from the flagship Tab S7 series. A minimalistic Samsung logo sits parallel to the camera module at the back, while there’s a “Sound by AKG” branding on the bottom center.

Besides this, antenna lines run across the top and bottom edges of the back panel. As of now, Tab S7 FE is only available in the LTE/5G variant while the company says a WiFi-only option is dropping later on. Nevertheless, I’m all here for this metal construction as the tablet is extremely well-built and feels premium.

You can choose from four soft hue finishes and this Mystic Silver option that I have with me looks quite classy. Weighing 608 grams, it is most definitely not the comfortable thing to hold though. In fact, it is even heavier than the Tab S7+ which maxes out at 575 grams.

Hold it steady

Holding it for a while on a single hand had me searching for reinforcement—or someplace to mount this tablet steady. So yeah, this muscle exercise will definitely take some time to get used to. For easier handling and added productivity, Samsung also offers a Keyboard Folio that magnetically attaches to the side.

While I haven’t gotten around using it, its trackpad-less design immediately raises doubts about seamless productivity. Regardless, holding the Tab S7 FE with two hands is no problem—thanks to the excellent weight distribution and chamfered edges. Measuring 6.3mm in thickness, this tablet is pretty thin too.

Here, the company has installed all the buttons on the top-right frame while the hybrid SIM tray sits below it. Over on the top, you’ll see a primary microphone and a speaker grille whereas the left frame includes the keyboard connector. Finally, the bottom of the tablet completes the dual-speaker setup and hosts a USB-C port.

Some minor misses

Despite all this, I do have a couple of minor complaints on the design front. You see, Samsung has omitted a fingerprint reader on the Galaxy Tab S7 FE—leaving you with 2D face unlock for biometric verification.

On top of its security flaws, face unlock sometimes fails to work here when you have the tablet in portrait orientation since the front camera is on the side. Additionally, the decision to skip a headphone jack baffles me as well.

Display

12.4-inches WQXGA TFT LCD screen
60Hz refresh rate, 16:10 aspect ratio

Over on the display, Samsung has installed a big 12.4” screen here. This size is similar to what you get with the Tab S7+ but the similarity between the two ends there. Unlike the vibrant Super AMOLED panel, this Fan Edition device opts for a TFT panel instead. As a result, things don’t look nearly as vibrant as they would on an OLED display.

Plus, this screen doesn’t incorporate a 120Hz high refresh rate either—unlike the other entries in the Tab S7 series. So, the noticeable jitter/delay when scrolling through the UI is a lot pronounced on this 12.4” display. Tuning down the animation scale under developer options does help a lot though.

Anyway, Tab S7 FE enjoys a 16:10 aspect ratio for a tall viewing experience. Unlike the squarish 4:3 aspect ratio of practically every iPad, this results in a lot less letterbox (black bars) when streaming videos. Packing a 2560×1600 WQXGA resolution and a 243 PPI pixel density, the contents look pretty sharp here.

From icons, texts, to other UI elements, I couldn’t notice pixelation on this screen. However, maybe it’s the GPU’s inefficacy of pushing enough pixels, games being under-optimized for such large screens, or it’s the relatively low pixel density, graphics in games like PUBG, COD looks slightly jaggy—even with anti-aliasing turned on.

Quite vibrant TFT panel

Moving on, Samsung has certainly tried to spice up this TFT panel. I mean, colors look extra punchy here—to the point where it looks oversaturated. But if you prefer vibrant colors, I doubt you’re gonna complain. Still, it obviously can’t match the contrast, colors, energy efficiency of an AMOLED panel.

I would’ve also liked to dial down the red levels here but the option for that is missing in the settings. In terms of brightness, the Tab S7 FE delivers respectable visibility even when you’re outdoors.

Viewing angles are fine as well although I did notice mild IPS glow in the bottom left edge of the screen. This is visible when the dynamic combo of dimly-lit content in a dark room comes together. Yet, I couldn’t tell this apart under most of my regular usage so it’s not that big a deal, I guess.

Cameras

Single rear camera setup (8MP sensor)
5MP selfie camera (landscape layout)

Cameras

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Let’s now shift our gears to the cameras. Unfortunately, Samsung’s downgrade drift continues on this department as well—although it’s not one I’d classify as a dealbreaker. While the standard Tab S7 duo features a dual-camera arrangement at the back, the Tab S7 FE skips the ultrawide sensor and brings an inferior 8MP camera instead of the 13MP sensor.

Over on the front, it has a 5MP camera in a landscape layout. And for a tablet, the quality of these cameras is pretty good. I attended multiple Zoom meetings with my friends and family and received no complaints regarding the video quality. Audio pickup from the microphone leaves no room for criticism either.

Once again, this landscape camera layout is a great design choice and therefore makes attending online classes a merry experience.

Normal

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Now, if you’re one of those “dads with iPads” who takes pictures from a tablet, you’ll be glad to know that Tab S7 FE’s dual cameras shoot half-decent photos.

Portrait

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Yet, images from the primary lens look a bit oversaturated while details turn out soft as well. It even supports the “Single Take” mode for taking multiple artistic shots at once.

Selfie

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On the other hand, the selfie camera dials down saturation by a lot although it can’t capture well-detailed shots either.

Audio

Dual stereo speakers
Dolby Atmos audio

Similarly, this tablet could be a good multimedia consumption device thanks to its dual-speaker setup. While this is still a rank below the quad-speaker array on the regular Tab S7 series, I found myself enjoying its output.

It can get more than loud enough to fill an average-sized room and the mids and highs sound quite clear—although it does sound a little distorted when cranking up the volume to max. Also, don’t expect too much from the bass department. Tuned by AKG, these speakers also support Dolby Atmos audio for an even more immersive listening experience.

Battery

10,090mAh battery with 45W fast charging
15W power adapter provided inside the box

In terms of battery, the Galaxy Tab S7 FE features a mammoth 10,090mAh cell—just like the Tab S7+. Samsung says this tablet can last up to 13 hours of video streaming and with that benchmark, I was expecting at least a day or two of endurance.

With a couple of sessions of everything, including gaming, web browsing, streaming videos, and attending video calls, I managed to get around 6-6.5 hours of screen-on time here—with the brightness level set to 60 – 70% on average. This is a fairly respectable endurance while it does fall a little short of my expectations. But the bigger disappointment here lies on the charging front.

Even though the Tab S7 FE supports 45W fast charging, Samsung has been greedy enough to ship a mere 15W adapter inside the box. With it, you’ll gonna have to wait around 3 hours and 4 minutes before this tablet fully juices up to 100%. I also tested out its charging speed with a 25W connector and that brought the number down to a little over 2 hours.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE Review: Conclusion

To wrap up this review, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE is a great value-for-money tablet—especially in Nepal. Its closest competitor, the iPad 10.2 (2020) is costlier considering how this LTE-ready variant of Tab S7 FE also comes with a free stylus. So, if you’re in the market for a sub-premium Android tablet in Nepal, this is the one to get.

Having said that, the Galaxy Tab S7 FE is far from perfect. One major thing that’s disappointed me here, is the lack of a flagship-grade chipset. Despite its potential to replace a laptop for many, the relatively underpowerful silicon keeps it from achieving its true potential. Still and all, Snapdragon 750G is a more-than-capable mid-range chip that will get you through your everyday lightweight workloads.

Watch our video review of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE Review: Pros & Cons

Pros:

Great value for money
Premium all-metal design
One UI 3 is well-optimized
Free stylus inside the box
Acceptable camera quality
Loud dual stereo speakers

Cons:

Relatively inferior chipset
Missing AMOLED display
No high refresh rate support
No 45W charger on board

POCO M3 Pro Review: Too Many Compromises For 5G

GadgetByte

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July 29, 2021

0

POCO M3 Pro Review: Too Many Compromises For 5G

POCO’s mid-range lineup strategy for 2021 is pretty straightforward. Here, you get to choose between two devices: X3 Pro and M3 Pro. The X3 Pro, as we know, focuses on the performance side of things, while the POCO M3 Pro 5G, which I will be discussing in this review, is intended towards 5G democratization.

POCO M3 Pro 5G Specifications:

Body: 75.34 x 161.81 x 8.92mm, 190 gm
Display: 6.5-inches IPS LCD, 90Hz Refresh Rate, 70.8% NTSC, Gorilla Glass 3
Resolution: FHD+ (2400 x 1080 pixels), 20:9 aspect ratio, 405 PPI
Chipset: MediaTek Dimensity 700 5G (7nm Mobile Platform)
CPU: Octa-core (2×2.2 GHz Cortex-A76 & 6×2.0 GHz Cortex-A55)
GPU: Arm Mali-G57 MC2
Memory: 4/6GB LPDDR4X RAM, 64/128GB UFS 2.2 storage (expandable)
Software & UI: Android 11 with Xiaomi’s MIUI 12 on top
Rear Camera: Triple-camera;
– 48MP, f/1.79 primary sensor
– 2MP, f/2.4 macro camera
– 2MP, f/2.4 depth sensor
Front Camera: 8MP f/2.0 sensor (punch-hole)
Audio: Loudspeaker, 3.5mm headphone jack, Hi-Res audio
Security: Side-mounted fingerprint sensor, Face unlock
Sensors: Accelerometer, Ambient Light, Electronic Compass, Gyroscope, Proximity, IR Blaster
Connectivity: Dual-SIM (Nano), WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (Dual-band), Bluetooth 5.0, GPS / AGPS / Glonass / Beidou, USB Type-C, 4G LTE, 5G
Battery: 5000mAh with 18W fast charge (22.5W adapter inside the box)
Color options: POCO Yellow, Power Black, Cool Blue
Price in Nepal: Rs. 23,999 (4/64GB)

POCO M3 Pro 5G Review:

But apart from 5G, is it a good phone for the price? For this, I have been testing POCO M3 Pro 5G alongside the Redmi Note 10S, so let’s get straight into the review.

Design

75.34 x 161.81 x 8.92mm, 190 gm
Plastic back/frame, glass front

As always, let’s talk about the design first. Here, POCO has gone with a glossy plastic finish, which kinda looks like glass at a glance. But sadly, it attracts fingerprints and smudges way too easily.

It would have been better had the company stuck with the faux-leather finish we saw on the cheaper POCO M3. Plus, this big black envelope near the camera module has a sizeable Poco branding, which is just too much for me. On the contrary, I prefer the subtle gradient colors and cleaner looks of the Redmi Note 10S.

It is a bit heftier than the Note 10S too—although it’s not uncomfortably bulky or heavy. In fact, POCO M3 Pro’s hands-on feel is like that of any other Xiaomi phone we’ve reviewed recently.

You also get a classic side-mounted fingerprint sensor here that doubles as a home button. This fingerprint sensor is located in just the right position and is a reliable one.

Display

6.5-inches FHD+ IPS LCD screen
90Hz refresh rate, Gorilla Glass 3

Upfront, there is a 6.5-inch FullHD screen with a circular camera cutout at the top center. It runs at 60Hz by default, but you can switch to the smoother 90Hz option as well.

All through my usage, I turned on the 90Hz mode and it was a fairly smooth experience when scrolling the web pages or navigating the UI. But, as with most of Xiaomi’s mid-range phones, if you scroll through say, Google Cards or the multitasking tray, at times, you will notice lags or micro stutters.

Besides this, the biggest downside with POCO M3 Pro’s LCD screen is that it simply can’t produce deeper black levels as an AMOLED panel can. Plus, I noticed its color reproduction to be on the cooler side too. As a result, it doesn’t look as saturated when compared to the Redmi Note 10S.

Overall, this is a pretty average screen to look at and for what POCO is asking for the phone, there are readily available alternatives with a superior OLED display.

Performance

Octa-core MediaTek Dimensity 700 5G SoC (7nm)
4/6GB LPDDR4X RAM, 64/128GB UFS 2.2 storage (expandable)
Android 11 with Xiaomi’s MIUI 12 for POCO on top

That being said, it’s the chipset where POCO M3 Pro has its best competitive advantage. Here, the phone is powered by Dimensity 700, which happens to be the cheapest 5G-ready chipset from MediaTek.

Talking about 5G, the global variant of the phone supports twelve 5G bands while the Indian variant caps out at just five, which is still more than some of the high-end phones. So, I can’t really complain.

As far as the core performance of the Dimensity 700 goes, it’s a capable device. It is quite similar to the Helio G95 powering the Note 10S. Hence, day-to-day tasks such as using social media, chatting, and the likes are easily handled.

Gaming experience

For gaming, you can play PUBG Mobile smoothly under Balanced graphics and Ultra frame rate and I didn’t notice any frame drops here either. The phone does get warm if you play for over 30 minutes or so but I wouldn’t necessarily call it a heating issue.

Likewise, COD Mobile runs smoothly in its max settings at Medium graphics and High refresh rate whereas a relatively light game like Mobile Legends is playable in 60fps.

Still, comparing it against the Note 10S, you will get slightly lower fps in most of the games here which is primarily because of the comparatively inferior GPU on the Dimensity 700. I noticed this when playing Genshin Impact where I encountered slight stutters even under the lowest settings.

What about the MIUI?

Another drawback of the POCO M3 Pro, which extends to practically every other mid-range Xiaomi phone as well, is the MIUI operating system.

It gets quarterly security updates a bit late, there’s a lot of pre-installed apps, and you will encounter frequent ads too. Likewise, MIUI’s dark mode is still broken, and even after the recent version 12.5 update on other Xiaomi phones, it’s not fixed yet.

Cameras

Triple-camera setup at the back
(48MP main, 2MP macro, 2MP depth)
8MP selfie camera in the punch-hole cutout

Cameras

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So far, the POCO M3 Pro, apart from its 5G capability, looks like an inferior product compared to the Redmi Note 10S. So, I was curious to know if its cameras could salvage the reputation somehow. Sadly, the phone disappoints in this regard as well.

Normal Images

As you can see from these samples, photos shot from the Note 10S is better in all the aspects like dynamic range, details, and sharpness while the POCO M3 Pro fails to maintain good contrast.

Normal

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Plus, the M3 Pro does not have an ultra-wide lens either which is a big miss for the phone in my opinion.

Portrait Images

In terms of portraits, the Redmi Note 10S once again comes off victorious as it preserves better skin tone, details, and highlights.

Portrait

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On the other hand, POCO M3 Pro’s portraits look washed out and soft.

Selfie Images

A similar trend continues with the selfie images too, where the POCO M3 Pro’s 8MP camera produces washed-out and soft-looking subjects. On the other hand, the superior 13MP shooter on the Note 10S retains better details and fuller-looking colors making it a better selfie camera phone.

Selfie

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But sometimes, the Note 10S introduces this red tint in its images which makes the selfies look a little weird.

Portrait Selfie

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You can notice similar properties with the selfie portraits as well. Edge detection is similar on both phones though.

Nighttime Images

Getting to the nighttime shots, as with most other mid-range phones, you will notice muddy images with sub-par details on both of them.

POCO M3 Pro - Low light

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When turning on night mode, the photos become bright and colors are boosted too, sometimes even unnaturally so. However, the details don’t improve so much here.

Videography

When it comes to video recording, you are limited to 1080p/30fps recordings on the POCO M3 Pro 5G in comparison to up to 4k/30fps mode on the Note 10S. 1080P/30fps videos look quite similar from these phones in terms of stabilization and overall quality where both devices produce a slightly wobbly output.

Battery

5000mAh battery with 18W fast charging
22.5W power adapter provided inside the box

Unlike the subpar cameras, the 5,000mAh battery of the POCO M3 Pro is pretty good though. It provided me with up to 8 hours of screen-on time under moderate usage, which translates to a full day of usage. And with the included 22.5W charger, the phone goes from 0 to 100% in around 2 hours.

As for audio, I was surprised to see POCO omit a dual stereo speaker here since the cheaper POCO M3 comes with one. In terms of the quality, as you would expect, it’s not that good. So, that’s another unnecessary compromise in my opinion.

POCO M3 Pro 5G Review: Conclusion

Overall, I feel like there are just too many sacrifices on the POCO M3 Pro for me to recommend it to anyone. It does have 5G, but besides this, it’s an inferior product when looking at the alternatives like Note 10S. And since the latter supports carrier aggregation in 4G connectivity, 5G isn’t an absolute need even if it’s available in your region.

Also, this problem isn’t exclusive to the POCO M3 Pro. The sad truth is almost every mid-range 5G phones are way inferior to their 4G counterpart. For instance, the Realme 8 5G, Narzo 30 5G, and the recently launched Vivo Y72 5G all bring a significant compromise in one aspect or the other.

Watch our video review of the POCO M3 Pro 5G.

POCO M3 Pro 5G Review: Pros & Cons

Pros:

90Hz refresh rate on a budget
5G-ready powerful chipset
Decent gaming experience
Impressive battery endurance

Cons:

Smudge-prone glossy design
Micro-stutters in 90Hz mode
Under-optimized dark mode
Relatively inferior cameras
Omits a dual speaker setup

Huawei FreeBuds Pro with dynamic noise cancellation now available in Nepal

GadgetByte

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July 29, 2021

0

Huawei FreeBuds Pro with dynamic noise cancellation now available in Nepal

Huawei FreeBuds Pro is the most advanced truly wireless earbuds the company has to offer. It looks to compete against Apple’s AirPods Pro that it is the namesake of. Finally, FreeBuds Pro is now available in Nepal as well. So, let’s check out the specs, features, official price, and availability of Huawei FreeBuds Pro in Nepal.

Huawei FreeBuds Pro Overview:

Design

It was clear that the design of the Huawei FreeBuds 3 was inspired by Apple’s AirPods lineup. With the FreeBuds Pro, Huawei has made it even more apparent. Its carrying case sports a design that is almost similar to that of Apple’s AirPods Pro. FreeBuds Pro is available in three color options – Ceramic White, Silver Frost, and Carbon Black.

Its stem looks distinct because of the rectangular form factor. However, the actual earbuds still borrow some aspect of the Apple AirPods Pro, especially the ear unit. It now comes with silicone ear tips that weren’t available with the FreeBuds 3.

Thus, we expect the new dual-ear cavity conduction design on the new FreeBuds Pro to be more comfortable to the ear than its predecessor. Huawei has included three pairs of silicone ear tips in the box for a better fit. It also supports Intelligent Compactness Detection that will recommend the best size that fits your ear.

Also Read:

Drivers and Connectivity

FreeBuds Pro features 11nm ultra-magnetic dynamic drivers. The earbuds are capable of automatically adjusting the sound and timber, based on the signals received by the in-ear earphones. Altogether, the TWS features three mics, out of which two are located on the outside. They are equipped with anti-wind noise cancellation to eliminate wind interference.

Huawei has also included a bone voice sensor that detects and strengthens voices by interpreting the bone vibration. The company has not specified the chipset used in the earbuds but says it is Bluetooth 5.2 certified. Coupled with dual Bluetooth antennas, Huawei claims that the FreeBuds Pro is capable of limiting the latency to just 180ms.

Also Read:

ANC and Voice Modes

Huawei claims that FreeBuds Pro is the world’s first earbuds with dynamic noise reduction technology. It claims that dynamic drivers together with the three mic systems can achieve noise canceling effect up to 40dB. You can toggle between three levels of noise cancellation.

It also supports two voice modes – Voice and Awareness mode. The latter tries to replicate’s Apple’s Transparency mode by letting in sound from the surrounding. The added Voice modes make the voices even more prominent by filtering out the noise and as it only lets voices pass through.

Battery

Moving on, FreeBuds Pro’s 55mAh battery can last up to 4 hours of continuous playback. Turn off ANC and it will last up to 7 hours. With the 580mAh battery in the power case, this number can be scaled up to 30 hours. The charging case can fill up the earbuds in 40 minutes. While it takes an hour to fully charge using the 6W charger (without the earbuds), with wireless charging, the charging time of the case doubles.

Huawei FreeBuds Pro Specifications:

Dimension: 26 x 29.6 x 21.7mm, 6.1g
Case’s Dimension: 70 x 51.3 x 24.6mm, 60g
Driver: 11mm, dynamic
Connectivity: Wireless (Bluetooth v5.2)
Music Time: 4hr (with Noice cancellation turned on), 20hr (with charging case)
Battery capacity: 55mAh (each earbud), 580mAh (power case)
Battery Charging time: 40mins (Earbuds), 1hour (Charging case)
Power Case Charger: Type-C (5V, 1.2A), Wireless (2W)
Controls: Press control (once/twice/thrice/long price), Swipe (up/down)
Active Noise Cancellation: Yes (three levels)
Extra Features: Wear Detection, Awareness mode, Pop-up & Pair, Voice Mode, Bone Sensor Supported
Color: Ceramic White, Carbon Black, Silver Frost

Huawei FreeBuds Pro Price in Nepal and Availability

Huawei FreeBuds Pro is now available in Nepal for the price of NPR 23,990. You can buy FreeBuds Pro from Huawei authorized retail stores across Nepal or contact the company on their official Facebook page for more info.

TWS Earbuds	Price in Nepal	Availability
Huawei FreeBuds Pro	NPR 23,990	Huawei authorized stores

Meanwhile, check out our review of the Realme Buds Q2.

Huawei FreeBuds 4i with an improved design, ANC launched in Nepal

GadgetByte

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July 29, 2021

1

Huawei FreeBuds 4i with an improved design, ANC launched in Nepal

Huawei announced FreeBuds 4i wireless earbuds in China back in February 2021. It is the successor to last year’s Freebuds 3i and comes with some significant upgrades over its predecessor. And it has finally made its way to Nepal. In this post, we will be taking a closer look at the specs, features, official price, and availability of Huawei FreeBuds 4i in Nepal.

Huawei FreeBuds 4i Overview:

Design

Let’s talk about the design first. It has a 3D bionic ergonomic design that the company claims will result in a closer fit. Compared to the Freebuds 3i, the head is more rounded while the stem is flat. Each earbud weighs around 5.5 grams.

The new charging case has a rounded design. It has the company’s branding and an LED indicator on the front. The charging case weighs around 36.5 grams.

Features

Each earbud features a 10mm sound driver. Paired with a polymer composite diaphragm, Huawei claims that it will offer a more immersive listening experience. It also has a dual-microphone setup consisting of two beamforming mics. The earbuds have touch-sensitive controls.

Talking about the features, Freebuds 4i comes equipped with Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) technology. This will help reduce environmental noise. There is also a transparent transmission mode that allows you to listen to the surrounding without having to take the earbuds off.

The dual-microphone picks up the vocals from noise using an AI neural network algorithm. The process is further aided by the special windproof design of the buds.

Also Read:

There is also a low-latency mode for gamers out there. FreeBuds 4i supports automatic pairing and wear detection too. However, you will need Huawei phones running EMUI 11 or above for the latter.

Battery

Getting to the battery, each earbud sports a 55mAh cell that offers up to 10 hours of music playback. Turning on the ANC, the earbuds will last up to 7.5 hours. The earphones get fully charge in 60 minutes while the charging case takes around 90 minutes. Once fully charged, the earphones and charging case together can provide battery endurance of up to 22 hours.

Huawei Freebuds 4i Specifications:

Driver: 10mm dynamic audio driver
Connectivity: Wireless (Bluetooth v5.2)
Battery capacity: 55mAh (each earbud), 215mAh (power case)
Music time: 10 hours (ANC off), 7.5 hours (ANC on)
Noise-canceling: Yes, ANC
Power case charger: Type-C
Charging time: 60 minutes (earbuds), 90 minutes (charging case)

Huawei FreeBuds 4i Price in Nepal and Availability

The price of Huawei FreeBuds 4i TWS earbuds in Nepal is NPR 11,990. You can buy FreeBuds 4i from Huawei authorized stores across Nepal. Or, contact Huawei Nepal on their Facebook page for more info.

TWS Earbuds	Price in Nepal	Availability
Huawei FreeBuds 4i	NPR 11,990	Huawei authorized stores

Check out our review of the Realme Buds Q2.

Asus TUF Dash F15 2021 Review: Hardcore Quad-Core

Asus
Reviews

Nikhil Shrestha

-

July 29, 2021

1

Asus TUF Dash F15 2021 Review: Hardcore Quad-Core

Asus has a wide range of gaming laptops catering to different market needs. The company’s TUF lineup brings powerful and durable hardware—at a relatively digestible price. Today, I have the Asus TUF Dash F15 2021 in for review which boasts the latest Intel 11th gen Tiger Lake-H processor and NVIDIA’s RTX 30-series graphics. Having used it for about a month or so, here’s what I have to say about this gaming laptop.

Asus TUF Dash F15 2021 Specifications:

Design & Build: Plastic + metal build, 14.17W x 9.92D x 0.78H-inches, 2.0 kg, MIL-STD-810H certification
Color Options: Moonlight White, Eclipse Grey
Display: 15.6″ matte IPS panel, 144Hz refresh rate, 62.5% NTSC color space
Resolution: FHD (1920×1080) resolution, 16:9 aspect ratio
Keyboard: Chiclet-style backlit keyboard (Lime Green)
Trackpad: Plastic multi-touch trackpad, Windows Precision drivers
Processor: Intel Core i7-11370H CPU (Tiger Lake), 4C/8T, 4.8GHz Max Turbo Frequency, 12MB Intel Smart Cache, 10nm process, 35W TDP-up
RAM: 16GB DDR4 RAM (3200MHz) (Up to 32GB)
Storage: 512GB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD (expandable)
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 80W (6GB GDDR6, discrete)
Audio: 2x 2W bottom-firing speakers with DTS:X Ultra
Battery: 76 Watt-hours 4-cell Li-Ion battery
Power Supply: 200W AC power adapter
Webcam: Unavailable
Connectivity: WiFi 802.11 6 (ax), Bluetooth 5.1
I/O Ports: 1x LAN (RJ45), 1x HDMI 2.0b, 1x 3.5mm headphone combo jack, 1x USB-C Thunderbolt 4, 3x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, 1x Kensington Lock
Price in Nepal: Rs. 205,000
What’s inside the box: Laptop, power adapter, Asus TUF backpack, Asus TUF gaming mouse, quick start guide

Asus TUF Dash F15 2021 Review:

Design

Plastic + metal build quality
MIL-STD-810H certified design

Starting with the design—as you could already tell—the Moonlight White color option that I have with me is sort of a bold statement. And a bit of a gamble. While it looks quite breathtaking and all, the eventual downfall of this snowy finish might’ve already triggered OCD to some cleanliness freaks “Monica Gellers” out there.

For some consolation, Asus says this paint job has been designed to last for a pretty long time so I don’t expect it to wash out anytime soon. Plus, throughout my usage, this variant has done a surprisingly impressive job of keeping things intact as a couple of wipes with a dry cloth is all it takes to take this Dash F15 back to its original glory.

But if you want something way more subtle and traditional-looking, there is also an “Eclipse Grey” finish of this laptop available. Moving on, compared to the TUF A15 that we reviewed last year, this machine is respectably thinner and lighter as well. To compare, the TUF Dash F15 measures 19.9m and maxes out at 2kg—while its predecessor was 24.7mm thick and weighed 2.3kg.

A TUF machine

Even though this is far from what other thin-and-light gaming laptops manage to achieve, Asus deserves a pat on the back for this enhanced design. Moreover, since it falls under the company’s TUF lineup, the Dash F15 is MIL-STD-810H certified too.

This ensures durability against drops, vibrations, extreme temperatures, and such—although I haven’t gotten around to verify any of those claims. Anyway, the plastic-build keyboard chassis has ridged lines on either side resembling a sideways mesa, whereas the front-facing exhaust vent features a funky angled layout to deliver the “gamer” aesthetics.

Completing the gaming vibe is the big (yet subtle) TUF branding on the metallic lid. You can notice an Asus TUF logo on the top right as well. Also, the hinge is quite solid—but I still wished it could lay flat 180º. Port selection on this laptop leaves no room for complaint either.

Port selection

Here, one Ethernet, one HDMI 2.0b, one USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, one USB-C Thunderbolt 4, and one 3.5mm combo audio jack can be found on the left frame alongside the barrel pin charging connector. On the opposite side, you get two more USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports and a Kensington lock slot.

Ports

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With the Thunderbolt 4 connection, Asus even lets you juice up this laptop using a 100W PD-compatible charger. Another neat design trick of this laptop is the front-facing LED indicators for power and battery status. There’s also a hard drive LED—which in this case indicates whenever the onboard SSD is being read from or written to.

Display

15.6″ matte non-touch IPS LCD panel
144Hz refresh rate, 62.5% sRGB gamut

By now, it’s pretty common knowledge that one key area where inexpensive gaming laptops compromise is the display. And the Asus TUF Dash F15 that we have in for review is no exception to this tradition either. Here, the pick of the litter is a 15.6” WQHD panel with 100% DCI-P3 color space, a 165Hz refresh rate, and a 3ms response time.

On the other hand, our review unit is the base model with a 15.6” FHD screen with 62.5% sRGB color coverage and a 144Hz refresh rate. To note, there is a 240Hz variant as well but I’d advise against it. See the thing is, to build a thin chassis, Asus has had to install a Max-Q design GPU here.

As a result, this laptop won’t be able to hit the 240fps mark in most competitive AAA or eSports titles—even under low graphics settings. While this configuration does introduce superior colors with a 100% sRGB gamut, the added cost doesn’t add a significant enough value I think.

In all fairness, this is an average yet acceptable screen—considering its mediocre color coverage. Obviously, things don’t look nearly as vibrant as they should but for a relatively affordable gaming laptop, it’s hard to complain. Looking up the hardware ID under Device Manager reveals that Asus has used the CMN1521 panel here, which is the same one found in a few 2020 models of Acer’s Predator Helios series.

Expectedly mediocre display

Regardless, the saturation level here is mediocre compared to other high-end laptops I’ve tested so far. Under factory color calibration, this screen tends to look slightly bluish with low black levels too. Using our trusty SpyderX Pro, we calibrated this display and it now delivers comparatively punchier colors.

Additionally, we measured that this display covers 67% sRGB, 50% AdobeRGB, 50% DCI-P3, and 48% NTSC gamut. Likewise, I noticed that the screen looked significantly worse with overblown highlights when the laptop was running on battery. To solve this, I had to disable “Display Power Savings” under Intel Graphics Command Center.

In terms of brightness, Asus hasn’t revealed any numbers on its official site but our test concludes that TUF Dash F15’s screen has a peak brightness of 297.8 cd/m2 (nits) and a 1030:1 contrast ratio. This is pretty much in line with what you get from similar gaming laptops so no complaints here.

Sufficiently bright indoors

For indoor usage, I had no problem with visibility here when setting its brightness to 50-60%. The anti-glare coating helps with the ambient lighting reflections as well. However, it’s not the best companion to have with you outdoors. Besides the subpar brightness, its viewing angle is okay-ish only.

TUF Dash F15 - LED Indicator — LED indicator

There’s an observable drop in saturation level when looking at the display from extreme angles—although this is almost dismissable under everyday usage. I also noticed mild IPS glow near the mid-left corner of the screen, but that’s unnoticeable when you’re in a fairly well-lit room.

Apart from the average colors, brightness, and viewing angles, I’m kinda let down by the fact that Asus decided to stick to the 16:9 aspect ratio on this laptop. While the side bezels on the TUF Dash F15 are pretty minimal, it’s got quite a pronounced chin with a minimalistic “Asus” branding.

I strongly believe the visual flair of this device would’ve shot up if only the company had opted for the taller 16:10 aspect ratio. Anyway, you can also notice rubber paddings on the side and top bezel (notice the lacking webcam here)—which are there to absorb pressure away from the panel when you shut down the lid.

Keyboard

Backlit chiclet-style keyboard (single-color)

Let’s now talk about its keyboard. Despite featuring a 15.6” chassis, the Dash F15 misses out on a Numpad. Right off the bat, our eyes catch the attention of the out-of-ordinary WASD keys. Even though it’s been meticulously disguised to give an optical-switch mechanical vibe, this laptop wholly employs island-style keys.

Instead, the translucent finish of the WASD keys is simply there to help you distinguish them apart. Plus, the ‘W’ key also has a small circular ridge to help you quickly position your fingers. About their quality, I’m quite satisfied with the typing experience on this thing.

Their 1.7mm key travel distance is right up my wheelhouse and I had no trouble maintaining my 70-80 WPM typing speed here. The keys are well spaced out and have a fairly quiet sound profile. To be precise, Asus benchmarks it as less than 30dB. They don’t rattle much either—although I can’t say the same for Tab, Backspace, Enter, and the right Shift key.

Single-zone RGB lighting

There are also 4 hotkeys on the top for quick access to volume, mic control, and Armoury Crate. Anyhow, this keyboard is backlit as well and you can play around with a total of three lighting modes. However, it doesn’t enjoy multi-zone RGB lighting and Asus has gone with a mint green backlight here.

I must say it looks pretty unique. Still and all, TUF Dash F15’s keyboard backlighting is pretty weak even under 100% brightness. You can clearly notice the uneven illumination in most of the keys—especially the ones with smaller etchings like colon and apostrophe. Another weird issue I noticed on this keyboard is ghosting.

Granted it doesn’t happen with most of the keys, it was still a bit of a nuisance for me. You see, when writing a tech article or editing one, I often come across using the word “GB”. And when typing it up with the left Shift acting as the Caps Lock substitute, the keyboard registers my input as “G B” instead of “GB ”. Surprisingly, this issue is non-existent when using the right Shift key.

Trackpad

Plastic trackpad with integrated left/right keys

On the other hand, Asus TUF Dash F15’s trackpad is acceptably average. It’s plastic-made so you’re not getting the most premium feel when sliding your fingers through its surface but I do appreciate the centered layout. Unlike the ones on the company’s ZenBook or ROG series, this doesn’t double as a Numpad either.

Its relatively compact form factor is not the best choice for efficient drag-and-drop exercises either. Regardless, none of this matters much considering the laptop’s gaming origins. I mean, you are going to use a reliable mouse for your gaming sessions—thereby rendering this touchpad useless.

There’s even the option to switch it off under the Armoury Crate. Here, you can notice the mint green theme across the trackpad as well. The integrated left/right keys click fine, whereas I had no trouble operating multi-finger gestures either—thanks to the Windows Precision drivers.

Audio

2x 2W bottom-firing speaker setup
DTS:X Ultra, Built-in array microphone

When it comes to the audio, the TUF Dash F15 enjoys a dual bottom-firing speaker setup with 4W of total output. The rubber feet on the bottom chassis elevate to minimize the extent of audio muffle but I feel like Asus could’ve done a better job with one simple design tweak.

Here, the rubber feet on the lower portion near the speakers are significantly shorter than the ones on the top. If only they were on a level with one another, the speaker grille could get a reasonably wider room to breathe. At any rate, its sound quality isn’t half bad.

Things can get loud enough for an average-sized room while there’s plenty of detail in mids and highs to enjoy as well. You can even customize the sound profile with the DTS:X Ultra app depending on the task at hand like listening to music or playing games. Moreover, the built-in array microphone on this thing also supports AI noise cancellation.

Performance

Intel 11th-gen Core i7-11370H CPU (35W TDP)
NVIDIA RTX 3060 GPU (80W, 6GB GDDR6 VRAM)
16GB DDR4 RAM, 512GB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD

Okay, let’s now get into the performance side of things. You can configure the Asus TUF Dash F15 with up to Intel Core i7-11375H CPU and RTX 3070 GPU. Our review unit ships with one tier lower i7-11370H processor and RTX 3060 graphics with 6GB of GDDR6 VRAM.

This has been paired with 16GB of single-channel DDR4 RAM and 512GB of NVMe PCIe Gen 3 SSD. Unlike most Ultrabooks these days, you can upgrade both RAM and SSD here. At any rate, this configuration costs NPR 215,000 (~ USD 1,800) in Nepal. The same model retails for some INR 125,000 in India or around USD 1,360 in the US.

CrystalDiskMark

	Read (MB/s)	Write (MB/s)
SEQ1M Q8T1	3490.34	2784.50
SEQ1M Q1T1	2115.10	1514.04
RND4K Q32T1	403.19	427.03
RNK4K Q1T1	64.30	136.78

Unigine Heaven

(FPS: 111.5, Score: 2809, Min FPS: 9.9, Max FPS: 228.3)

API: OpenGL	Multi-monitor: Disabled
Quality: High	Anti-aliasing: x2
Tessellation: Extreme	Fullscreen: Yes
Stereo 3D: Disabled	Resolution: System

GFXBench

1440p Aztec Ruins OpenGL (High Tier) Offscreen	150.678 fps
1080p Car Chase Offscreen	348.935 fps
1080p Manhattan 3.1 Offscreen	481.131 fps
1080p ALU 2 Offscreen	2029.71 fps
1080p Driver Overhead 2 Offscreen	200.117 fps
1080p Texturing Offscreen	204.605 fps

3DMark

	Overall	Graphics	Physics	Combined
Fire Strike Extreme v1.1	8377	8845	13499	4261

	Total	Graphics	CPU
Time Spy v1.2	6718	7211	4843

Like I mentioned in the beginning, Asus has had to use a Max-Q GPU to maintain the thin form-factor of this laptop. This RTX 3060 draws up to 80W of power or up to 85W with Dynamic Boost. To compare, you can find much more powerful RTX 3060-powered laptops with up to 130W TGP as well.

Ultraportable gaming CPU

Additionally, even though the i7-11370H is a Tiger Lake-H series CPU, this processor has been designed for ultraportable gaming laptops. What this translates to is the fact that unlike the traditional ‘H’ series processors with up to 45W of configurable TDP, this silicon can’t draw the same level of power for optimum performance.

Instead, the i7-11370H falls under Intel’s entirely new H35 series of CPUs with cTDP capped at 35W. What’s more—all the processors under the H35 lineup are quad-core, which is quite unorthodox for a typical gaming laptop.

Despite all this, the Asus TUF Dash F15 hasn’t let me down throughout all my workloads. Keeping 10-12 Chrome tabs open alongside typing up word documents, listening to music on Spotify, editing images on Photoshop results in zero hiccups to this beast.

Intel especially pointed out the stellar single-threaded performance of this CPU and that’s mirrored in real-life usage as well. Looking at the single-core benchmarks scores, we can see some impressive results.

Windows 11 Compatibility

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However, its quad-core design means if your use case involved 3D rendering, video editing, and such, the i7-11370H shouldn’t be your biggest bet.

Sub-par multi-core performance

In fact, Asus TUF Dash F15 posted worse multi-core benchmark results compared to the 25W hexa-core Ryzen 5 5500U on the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 that I had a chance to review recently. But since multi-core performance isn’t of much importance to a gaming laptop, I can sweep this one under the rug.

Cinebench R23

	Asus TUF Dash F15	Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5
CPU: Multi-Core	6605	7238
CPU: Single Core	1455	1164
MP Ratio	4.54x	6.22x

Geekbench 5

	Asus TUF Dash F15	Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5
CPU: Multi-Core	4809	5505
CPU: Single Core	1503	1094
Compute (OpenCL)	94455	13296

Before getting into gaming, I’d like to quickly discuss different performance profiles under Armoury Crate. Here, the Turbo profile maxes out CPU, GPU, and cooling trifecta while the Silent mode does the opposite in pursuit of a quieter performance. To note, I ran all the benchmarks and gaming tests under the Turbo profile for the best output.

Gaming experience

In graphically lax games like CS: GO, the TUF Dash F15 delivers 126fps on average under High settings whereas that number bumps to 168fps when dialing down the graphics to Low. Similarly, I got 97fps on average in Valorant with the graphics set to High while it averages at 102 and 106fps under Medium and Low settings, respectively.

This result is a tad bit underwhelming compared to other RTX 3060-powered laptops I’ve tested so far like the MSI GF65 Thin 10UE. There’s no noticeable frame drop with a couple of hours of continuous gaming so I’m left to blame the low-TDP CPU for this.

In terms of thermals, Asus has fitted in four exhaust vents in total: two on the side and two at the back. Likewise, its dual-fan configuration has been complemented by five heatpipes in total, connecting to the CPU, GPU, VRM, and VRAM. Under Turbo mode, the fan noise is pretty loud—with an almost whistling effect to it.

But unlike what MSI does with its fan settings, turning Turbo mode on the TUF Dash F15 only cranks the fan speed when you’re running CPU/GPU intensive tasks. Moving on, under heavy load, almost the entire keyboard chassis gets quite warm—whereas the Tab and Caps Lock row enjoy fairly respectable temperatures.

Fairly ineffective thermal solution

You could feel hot air blowing out of all four sides but it simply couldn’t keep up with the workload. Anyway, GPU-intensive titles like Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Star Wars Battlefront II are complemented with smooth gameplay too. With DX12 and DLSS turned on, the former manages 64fps on average under High graphics preset.

Comparably, that number climbs to 65 and 69fps with Low and Normal settings, respectively. On the other hand, turning on DX12 raytracing on Star Wars Battlefront II results in a pretty stuttery experience. At High graphics quality, I got just 29fps on average whereas it jumps to 34 and 36fps under Medium and Low settings.

But with raytracing turned off, you can get more than smooth gameplay here. To compare, it can hit 69, 76, and 88fps on average under High, Medium, and Low graphics, respectively. I also noticed Asus TUF Dash F15 2021’s gaming performance to be a tad bit underwhelming compared to the MSI GF65 Thin 10UE I got to review recently.

35W vs 45W CPU

This gaming laptop features a last-gen Core i7 10th gen CPU and RTX 3060 GPU with 75W power. Comparatively, it delivers at least 10-20% better FPS results on average than the TUF Dash F15.

Overall, if you mostly play games like CS: GO, Valorant, or FIFA with relatively low TGP demand, this setup is more than fine. However, if you are a serious AAA gamer, you’ll want to get the one with RTX 3070 GPU and an octa-core CPU for better gaming performance.

Battery

76 Watt-hour 4-cell battery
200W AC power adapter

With that out of the way, allow me to discuss its battery life. The TUF Dash F15 packs a sizeable 76 Watt-hour and Asus claims that it can deliver up to 16.6 hours of battery life on a single charge. While that was never going to reciprocate in terms of real-life usage, I managed to get acceptable screen-on time here—considering it’s a gaming laptop and all.

With iGPU and Panel Power Saver mode turned off, brightness set to 50-60%, and keyboard backlight set to 67%, I managed to get 3-3.5 hours of SOT. On the contrary, turning on iGPU, Panel Power Save, and Silent mode can yield 7-8 hours of battery endurance.

Pretty respectable battery endurance

Both these numbers sure sound spectacular but they obviously don’t include any gaming. Here, iGPU mode disables the discrete RTX 3060 graphics in favor of the integrated Iris Xe graphics. In addition, the Panel Power Save feature dials the refresh rate from 144Hz to 60Hz for battery-saving reasons.

On the charging front, the onboard 200W AC power adapter takes around 1 hour and 45 minutes to fully juice up this battery. As aforementioned, you can hook up a 100W USB-C power connector into this laptop too.

Asus TUF Dash F15 2021 Review: Conclusion

To sum up this review, the Asus TUF Dash F15 makes quite the statement for itself. This gaming laptop arrives in a relatively lightweight body and offers an impressive battery life. Also, its military-grade durability, well-spaced keys, and gaming performance are pretty decent for the price as well.

Having said that, Asus has used a literally underpowered GPU here—whereas the quad-core CPU powering the laptop isn’t the most powerful choice for a gaming laptop either. So, if you can sacrifice portability for sheer power, then there are better options to shop for. On the flip side, if you’re indifferent to the minor dip in performance, then this is still a decent gaming laptop for its price.

Asus TUF Dash F15 2021 Review: Pros & Cons

Pros:

Attractive, durable design
Smooth 144Hz refresh rate
Respectable key-travel distance
Fairly impressive audio quality
Decent gaming performance
Excellent battery endurance

Cons:

Underwhelming quad-core CPU
Sub-par color reproduction
Keyboard prone to ghosting
Doesn’t include a webcam
Pretty average trackpad

NTA opens up a way for 5G trials, process halted by recent political changes

5G

GadgetByte

-

July 29, 2021

0

NTA opens up a way for 5G trials, process halted by recent political changes

Nepal Telecommunication Authority (NTA) has published a working procedure for 5G tests, thereby opening the way for 5G trials in the country. The procedure contains the terms and conditions that telecom companies have to adhere to during, before, throughout, and after the 5G trials.

NTA opens the way for 5G Trials

The procedure guidelines published on July 19 are based on the decision of the Radio Frequency Policy Determination Committee. The committee falls under the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MoCIT).

Telecom companies need to submit an application to NTA detailing their plans and modality for 5G trials. Plus, they’ll need to include details regarding the trial site, frequency, and proposed timeline for operation connection and operation. NTA has made it mandatory for telcos to include both rural and town areas in their trial site.

5G infrastructure in Nepal

NTA will then decide to either approve or disapprove the request. Telcos can only start building the network infrastructure after the approval. If they fail to report any progress in infrastructure development, NTA can revoke their trial license. Once the trial is over, telcos can continue using network equipment for 4G after NTA’s approval.

Also Read:

Free 5G for customers

The frequency required for the 5G trials will be provided to telcos for free by NTA. On the other hand, they won’t be allowed to charge any fee from the customer during the trial period. This trial period can last up to 12 months.

Progress report

Telcos will also be required to submit reports to NTA about the progress of the trial every 3 months. They need to include opportunities, problems, and suggestions regarding 5G implementation.

5G in Nepal: The roadblock

State-owned Nepal Telecom (NT) is all but ready to start 5G trials in the country. The Sher Bahadur Deuba-led government is yet to pick a Communications and Information Technology Minister. This has halted the process of spectrum allotment. We believe the process will resume once the position in MoCIT is filled.

The recent political changes can hamper Nepal’s dream of becoming the first South Asian country to have fifth-generation mobile connectivity. Next in line is India which has already given green signals to a couple of telcos for 5G trials.

Meanwhile, check out our review of the ZenBook Flip 13.

Poco X3 GT with Dimensity 1100, Gorilla Glass Victus goes official

POCO

GadgetByte

-

July 28, 2021

0

Poco X3 GT with Dimensity 1100, Gorilla Glass Victus goes official

A few days after the launch of the Poco F3 GT, the company has unveiled its latest entry in the X series—the Poco X3 GT. The device is basically a rebranded version of the Redmi Note 10 Pro 5G launched in China in May. So, let’s get into the specs, features, availability, and expected price of the Poco X3 GT in Nepal.

Poco X3 GT Overview:

Currently, the Poco X3 lineup is home to standard X3 and X3 Pro, both of which follow the company’s own design language. Ergo, they’re not a reskinned Xiaomi/Redmi phone. However, that is not the case with the X3 GT.

Design and Display

Starting with the display, the Poco X3 GT flaunts a 6.6-inch LCD panel with a 120Hz refresh rate and 240Hz touch sampling rate. The screen boasts a Full HD resolution, is HDR10 certified, and has a punch-hole cutout for housing the front camera. It also hosts Corning Gorilla Glass Victus protection on the front.

Moreover, the phone has a polycarbonate body and a rectangular camera cutout on the back. Poco X3 GT is available in three color options – Cloud White, Wave Blue, and Stargaze Black.

Also Read:
- Realme Flash will be the first Android phone with magnetic wireless charging
- ZTE Axon 30 unveiled with an improved under-display camera technology

Performance

Under the hood, it packs MediaTek’s Dimensity 1100 SoC, which is a flagship chipset based on TSMC’s 6nm process. In terms of memory, the phone is available with up to 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM and up to 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage. Furthermore, the Poco X3 GT boots on Android 11-based MIUI 12.5. Fueling the device is a 5,000mAh battery that charges via a USB-C port using a 67W Turbo adapter.

Camera

In terms of optics, it features a triple camera module at the back led by a 64MP primary sensor. The main lens is accompanied by an 8MP ultrawide and a 2MP macro sensor. Likewise, on the front, there’s a 16MP lens for selfies and video calls. The rear camera is capable of recording 4K videos at 30fps.

Rest of the specs

Aside from this, Poco X3 GT has a side-mounted fingerprint sensor for biometrics. In terms of connectivity, the phone supports 5G, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, IR, and NFC. Lastly, you get a stereo speaker setup with Dolby Atmos audio.

Poco X3 GT Specifications:

Display: 6.6-inch LCD screen, 120Hz refresh rate, 240Hz touch sampling rate, Corning Gorilla Glass Victus
Chipset: MediaTek Dimensity 1100 5G (6nm)
Memory: 8GB LPDDR4X RAM, 128/256GB UFS 3.1 storage
OS: Android 11 with MIUI 12.5
Back Camera: Triple (64MP primary, 8MP ultra-wide, 2MP macro)
Front Camera: 16MP (punch-hole)
Biometrics: Side-mounted fingerprint sensor
Connectivity: 5G, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, USB Type-C, NFC, IR blaster
Battery: 5000mAh with 67W Turbo Charging

Poco X3 GT Price in Nepal and Availability

Poco X3 GT has been launched at an asking price of USD 299 for the 8/128GB variant while the 8/256GB model costs USD 329. The device will be available across Southeast Asia, Middle East, Latin America, and Africa. We expect the price of the Poco X3 GT to start around NPR 40,000 if and when it launches in Nepal.

Poco X3 GT	Price in the US	Price in Nepal (Expected)
8/128GB	USD 299	NPR 40,000
8/256GB	USD 329	NPR 45,000

Meanwhile, check out our review of the Redmi Note 10 Pro (Max).

Realme Flash will be the first Android phone with magnetic wireless charging

GadgetByte

-

July 28, 2021

0

Realme Flash will be the first Android phone with magnetic wireless charging

Last year, Apple announced iPhone 12 series with a magnetic MagSafe charger. Now, similar technology is making its way to Android phones. Realme has already admitted to working on its next flagship “Realme Flash”, which will be the first in the Android smartphone world to support wireless magnetic charging.

Realme Flash: Everything we know so far

The company shared a teaser poster of Realme Flash on its social media handles. There is no official information about the Realme Flash, except that it’ll the first Android phone with a magnetic charger.

The poster only provides a glimpse of the phone’s rear panel. Still, you can notice the left-aligned triple camera setup and rounded corners. It’s kinda reminiscent of the camera module on the OnePlus 9—kinda.

Leaked Specs

Detailed specs of the phone are already out, courtesy of GSMArena. According to the leak, Realme Flash will feature a curved screen with a circular cutout at the top-left.

Inside, the phone will be powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 888. Additionally, it will be paired with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage. However, we can expect other memory configurations at the time of launch. Similarly, the phone will boot Android 11 with Realme UI 2.0 on top.

Also Read:

MagDart Charger

The wireless magnetic charger will be called MagDart. It will attach to the back of the phone and will feature a USB-Type C port. From what we have seen so far, there will be at least be two variants of MagDart chargers. One looks quite similar to Apple’s MagSafe, while the other looks far from it.

Here, the bigger MagDart charger will have a faster charging speed than its Apple counterpart. The exact speed is not known yet, but it will be more than 15W.

Also, it will have a built-in fan and vents to keep the temperature in check. The leak also suggests that MagDart will be the fastest magnetic charger at its launch.

Realme Flash Official Launch Date

Realme Flash will be launched during the “Realme Magnetic Innovation Event” scheduled for August 3. It will start at 5:30 PM IST (5:45 PM NPT). Users will be able to watch the live stream on Facebook and YouTube.

Smartphone	Launch Date
Realme Flash	August 3, 2021

Meanwhile, check out our review of the Realme X7 Max.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 price dropped in Nepal ahead of the Fold 3’s launch

GadgetByte

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July 28, 2021

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Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 price dropped in Nepal ahead of the Fold 3’s launch

Samsung has officially dropped the price of Galaxy Z Fold 2 in Nepal. With the unpacked event scheduled for August 11 where Samsung will be unveiling its latest Z flip 2 and Fold 3, the older generation Z Fold 2 has seen a massive price cut. Currently, it sees a price cut of Rs. 40,000.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 Overview

The original Galaxy Fold was a sort of experiment in the field of foldable phones. The idea was an innovative one but the phone faced a lot of durability issues. Its launch was postponed multiple times because of Samsung’s inability to solve all the problems. Samsung will likely avoid those situations with its successor.

As you may have already noticed, Samsung has tweaked the naming scheme to include the Fold 2 in the Z series. The Z series will be Samsung’s lineup of foldable smartphones. There are already two devices under the Z lineup – Z Flip and Z Flip 5G. So, the Galaxy Z Fold 2 basically has had two devices to take inspiration from. And it seems to have done a very good job.

Design and Display

There is a noticeable change in the design of the Galaxy Z Fold 2 from its predecessor, the Galaxy Fold. The outer screen is now a 6.2-inch HD+ display. It supports HDR10+ although the refresh rate is 60Hz only. Still, it has a tall aspect ratio of 25:9 and comes with a punch hole for a 10MP selfie camera.

Similarly, the size of the inner display has been increased too. It is now a 7.6-inch display as compared to the 7.2-inch panel of the Galaxy Fold. The panel is a Dynamic AMOLED 2X display. It supports HDR10+ and has a refresh rate of 120Hz.

Interestingly, the Z Fold 2 also brings the variable refresh rate tech from the Note 20 Ultra where the display can dynamically adjust the refresh rate between 11Hz & 120Hz depending upon the content on the screen.

Unfortunately, the 120Hz experience is only available on the main 7.6-inch display, and not on the 6.2-inch cover display. In terms of protection, the cover display is strengthened by the latest Corning Gorilla Glass Victus while the back panel makes do with its predecessor – the Gorilla Glass 6.

UTG to the rescue

The bezels are thin and instead of a notch, there’s a punch-hole that houses the selfie camera. Furthermore, the polymer glass of the Galaxy Fold has been replaced by the Ultra-Thin Glass (UTG). Moreover, the display structure has been changed too. It now employs the Under Metal Cushion.

A gap is visible when the screen is folded and it is necessary for the UTG to fold over. Moreover, the gap also makes it easier for the phone to open. Also, the hinge on the device shares the same flex mode feature as that of the Galaxy Z Flip.

The device can stay in place between 75 to 115 degrees thanks to the new CAM technology. There’s also the “sweeper” to sweep away dust particles from getting into the hinge and damaging this pristine piece of hardware.

Samsung offers its customers an option to customize the hinge color too. However, this feature will be limited to certain regions only. People elsewhere will have to do with the offered Mystic Bronze and Mystic Black color. Oh, and not to forget, the fingerprint sensor is no longer under the display. It is side-mounted and doubles up as the power button. And there’s no Bixby button either.

Performance and Camera

The Z Fold 2 is powered by the last-gen Snapdragon 865+ along with 12GB of RAM. Making use of the larger unfolded display, Samsung is introducing a bunch of new features like “App Continuity”.

Here, users will now be able to seamlessly transition between screens while continuing with the apps they were previously running. Another exciting feature is called “App Pair” where you can easily open multiple apps spanning the main display with a single shortcut.

This is kinda similar to what Microsoft did with the Surface Duo or Asus with its ZenBook Duo series of laptop. Just like the Note 20 Ultra, the Z Fold 2 also boasts Ultra-Wideband (UWB) tech for a faster data transfer between devices.

The device will flaunt a triple camera setup on its back. Its three cameras are arranged vertically inside the rectangular module, along with an LED flash. The module has a significant bump compared to the rear surface.

Galaxy Z Fold 2’s rear camera setup consists of a 12MP primary, 12MP telephoto, and 12MP ultra-wide-angle sensor. In terms of selfie cameras, there are two – a 10MP sensor on the main display, and the same lens on the smaller cover display. They support 4k 30fps and 4k 60fps recording at 16:9 and 21:9 aspect ratio.

Battery and rest of the specs

Galaxy Z Fold 2 features a 4,500mAh battery (dual cell). It supports 25W wired charging, wireless charging, and reverse wireless charging. On the software side of things, the device runs on Samsung’s own One UI.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 Specifications:

Outer Display: 6.2″ Super AMOLED with HD+ (2260 x 816 pixels) resolution; 60Hz refresh rate
Inner Display: 7.6″ Dynamic AMOLED 2X with FHD+ (2208 x 1768 pixels resolution); 120Hz refresh rate
Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 865+; 7nm Mobile Platform
CPU: Octa-core (1×3.09 GHz Kryo 585 & 3×2.42 GHz Kryo 585 & 4×1.8 GHz Kryo 585)
GPU: Adreno 650
Main Camera: Triple-camera; 12MP primary with f/1.8 aperture + 12MP, ultra-wide lens with f/2.2 aperture + 12MP telephoto lens with f/2.4 aperture
Selfie Camera: 10MP x 2 with f/2.2 aperture
Memory: 12GB LPDDR5 RAM with 256/512GB UFS 3.1 storage (512GB only in select regions like Hong Kong)
Software: Android 11 with One UI 3.1
Fingerprint sensor: Side Mounted (capacitive)
Battery: 4,500 mAh battery; 25W wired charging, 10W wireless charging, 4.5W Wireless PowerShare
Colors: Mystic Black, Mystic Bronze

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 Price in Nepal and Availability

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 was launched in Nepal for a price of NPR 2,49,999. However, after the price drop, you can get it for a ballpark price of Rs. 209,999. Samsung Nepal is also offering 1-year breakage insurance. You can buy the Galaxy Z Fold 2 from different Samsung authorized stores in the country.

Model Name	Old Price in Nepal	New Price
Galaxy Z Fold 2	NPR 2,49,999	NPR 2,09,999

Check out our review of Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra!

ZTE launches two new budget wireless earbuds in China

TWS
ZTE

GadgetByte

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July 28, 2021

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ZTE launches two new budget wireless earbuds in China

Nothing Ear 1 may have made all the headlines, but it was not the only wireless earbuds to have launched yesterday. ZTE Buds and LiveBuds Pro were unveiled alongside the company’s Axon 30 5G. Here, we will be looking at the specs, features, and expected price of ZTE Buds and LiveBuds Pro in Nepal.

ZTE LiveBuds Pro Overview

Let’s start with the premium one. As the name suggests, it is the Pro version of ZTE LiveBuds that was launched towards the end of last year. It gives continuity to the in-ear design. The earbuds are sweat-resistant.

The Pro feature here is the Active Noise Cancellation (up to 35dB). For it to work, ZTE has included three microphones on each earbud. There is also a transparent mode when you need to be aware of the surrounding.

There is also a game mode that reduces transmission latency to just 70ms. ZTE LiveBuds Pro boasts a combined battery life (case + earbuds) of up to 24 hours.

ZTE BudsLive Pro Features:

In-ear design with silicone tips
10mm dynamic drivers
Sweat-proof
3-mic ANC (up to 35dB)
Transmission mode
Game mode (up to 70ms)
24 hours of combined playback

ZTE Buds Overview

Moving on, ZTE Buds is the more modest of the two. It has an open-fit design, which means you don’t get silicone ear tips for a customized fit.

The earbuds are lightweight at just 3.4 grams and are sweat-proof. They have noise reduction technology for better call quality. Another highlight of the ZTE Buds is the 500mAh battery in the case.

ZTE Buds Features:

Open-fit design
3.4 grams (each earbud)
Noise reduction during calls
5 hours of music playback
500mAh battery in case

ZTE Buds and LiveBuds Pro Price in Nepal and Availability

ZTE Buds and BudsLive Pro are now available in China with price tags of CNY 169 and CNY 349, respectively. You will soon be able to buy it from ZTE Mall. We expect the price of ZTE Buds and BudsLive Pro in Nepal to be around NPR 3,500 and NPR 7,000 if and when they launch here.

Wireless Earbuds	Price in China	Price in Nepal [Expected]
ZTE Buds	CNY 169	NPR 3,500
ZTE LiveBuds Pro	CNY 349	NPR 7,000

Meanwhile, check out our review of the Realme Buds Q2.