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Apple’s upcoming Beats Studio Buds appears with new form factor

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Apple’s upcoming Beats Studio Buds appears with new form factor

Apple’s AirPods lineup of TWS earbuds ranks among the best of its type. However, the company also owns Beats – an audio venture founded by Dr. Dre and later acquired by Apple in 2014. After the takeover, Beats has launched a slew of new products. Now, a new pair of Beats Studio Buds has appeared on the developer release of tvOS 14.6 and iOS 14.6, hinting it could launch anytime soon.

Beats Studio Buds Overview:

The new pair of earbuds have a completely different design language compared to other earbuds in Beats’ portfolio. Studio Buds is smaller in design and similar to in-ear TWS earbuds from companies like Samsung and Google. This is in contrast to AirPods that generally feature a long stem or Beats’ earbuds that include ear-wrap.

A different design

But this time, the upcoming TWS has a compact build with silicone ear tips. And what’s interesting is, Apple may ditch its stem design with the second-generation AirPods Pro too in favor of the new design as upcoming Studio Buds. However, this is just a rumor for now. 

MacRumors contributor Steve Moser also posted some animations of the Studio Buds on his Twitter threads, showcasing its design.

Multiple colors?

The buds, alongside the oval-charging case will debut in multiple color options as confirmed in the leaked image.

Launch Date

There is no official word on when Beats Studio Buds might go official. But since it appeared in the beta releases of iOS 14.6 and tvOS 14.6, we can expect it after Apple releases the respective software updates. 

  • Watch: Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro vs Apple AirPods Pro

Mahabir Pun and his team are leading from the front in the fight against pandemic

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Mahabir Pun and his team are leading from the front in the fight against pandemic

The second wave of COVID-19 has birthed a grim situation in Nepal, with the number of cases and deaths steadily rising. The country’s healthcare system is suffering from a lack of hospital beds, oxygen, medications, vaccines, and other resources. To assist Nepal in such dire straits, National Innovation Center (NIC) is doing its best to help fight the COVID pandemic.

National Innovation Center Overview:

NIC is a non-profit organization formally established on 9 November 2012 by Mahabir Pun. He is a teacher, activist, internet hall of fame inductee, and Chairperson of NIC. The organization contributes to research, innovation, and technological development—with works on multiple disciplines of science.

Here, National Innovation Center is also an open hub for creative ideas and their support for growth. The organization has been working on numerous projects in different sectors (agriculture, healthcare, Artificial Intelligence (AI), software, and IT). And in these trying times, NIC is doing all it can to aid Nepal’s healthcare system.

Works done by NIC during the pandemic:

During the pandemic, National Innovation Center was soon informed about the situation of different hospitals with a demand for medical equipment to prevent the spread of the virus. Soon after lockdown, a team at NIC started working on different ideas to generate as many medical equipments as they can in a productive and fast way. The firstmost priority was PPEs (Personal Protective Equipment) for doctors, nurses, and others in need.

The ideas to develop necessary medical equipment were not new but its actual production was uncharted territory for the NIC team. Now, in a time where oxygen has become such a scarce commodity, it is also supporting hospitals with repairing and developing emergency ventilators, repairing oxygen concentrators, oxygen plants, and kidney dialysis machines.

NIC is also distributing CPAP, BiPAP, Pneumasks, and viral filters. Furthermore, it has collaborated with professionals at TU Delft University (Netherlands), Stanford University (USA) to support and help engineers at NIC with their work on ventilators, masks, reusable PPEs, and UVC Disinfection Chamber.

Moving on, the organization has created a conceptual design for a mini oxygen plant with a prototype development currently underway. Similarly, 63 3D printed Y-splitters and 55 brass Y-splitters of oxygen supply pipe have been prepared and distributed to various hospitals. Here, Y-splitters help divide oxygen between patients from a single cylinder.

Those were the major publicized contributions made by NIC during the pandemic we’ve managed to compile. If you’re aware of some more, feel free to drop a comment down below and we’ll update the article accordingly.

Donate to NIC

NIC is helping hospitals and locals with their expertise and medical equipment free of cost. Moreover, they have been working selflessly without any greed or expectation of monetary benefit to help the country overcome this pandemic. NIC gets its financial support from several organizations, individuals, and Nepalese all around the world in the form of donations.

Moving forward, if you want to support NIC’s noble cause and help out in any way you can, feel free to personally contact Mr. Mahabir Pun at:

Plus, you can also contribute by assisting in different projects or with your own innovative ideas. You can assist National Innovation Center in its fight against COVID financially too. One can choose to donate via bank deposit, mobile wallets, or other available options. To know more about the ways to contribute, click here.

  • Meanwhile, check out our review of Mi 11X (Poco F3).

Sharp Aquos R6 is the world’s 1st phone with 1-inch camera sensor

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Sharp Aquos R6 is the world’s 1st phone with 1-inch camera sensor

Sharp isn’t a well-known name in the smartphone industry—at least in this part of the world. However, its latest device, the Sharp Aquos R6, is making waves in the smartphone industry. This phone is the world’s first to use a 1-inch camera sensor.

Sharp Aquos R6 Overview:

Display and Design

Aquos R6 is a high-end smartphone with a 6.6-inch WUXGA+ Pro IGZO (Indium Gallium Zinc Oxide) OLED panel. The display features a resolution of 1,260 x 2,730 pixels and a 240Hz variable refresh rate. It can toggle between 1Hz to 240Hz depending on the content, which is yet another “world’s first” title for Sharp Aquos R6. Furthermore, this screen can reach a peak brightness of 2000 nits, supports HDR, and has a contrast ratio of 20,000,000:1.

Sharp Aquos R6 Design Display

Similarly, the panel has a small punch-hole in the middle for the selfie camera. In terms of the back panel, it features a massive 1-inch camera sensor in a rectangular cutout and has Aquos branding in the center.

Performance

Moving on, the device is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 888 chipset. This has been coupled with 12GB of RAM, and 128GB of UFS 3.1 storage. You can also slot in an SD card of up to 1TB here. Furthermore, it ships with a huge 5000mAh battery that supports Intelligent Charge 2.0, but not wireless charging. It runs Android 11 out-of-the-box and has IP65/68 certification for dust and water resistance.

Camera

As expected, the camera is the star of the show here. Sharp has partnered with Leica to engineer a 20MP 1-inch image CMOS sensor into the Aquos R6. According to the company, this sensor is five times larger than the predecessor and performs exceptionally in low-light environments.

Sharp Aquos R6 Camera World's First 1-inch camera sensor

In addition, a ToF sensor and a single flash are located next to the main camera. It only supports image stabilization via EIS (Electronic Image Stabilization). On the front, it has a 12.6MP selfie camera in the aforementioned punch-hole cutout. For biometrics, Aquos R6 comes with Qualcomm’s 3D Sonic Max ultrasonic fingerprint sensor.

Rest of the specs

In terms of wireless connectivity, it features Bluetooth 5.2, NFC, and Wi-Fi 6. Sharp has retained the 3.5mm headphone jack on this phone too.

Sharp Aquos R6 Specifications:

  • Build: 162 x 74 x 9.5mm, 207g 
  • Display: 6.6-inch Pro IGZO OLED, 2730 x 1260 pixels, 2000nits, 240Hz refresh rate (variable), 20 million:1 contrast ratio, HDR, 1 billion colors
  • Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 5G (5nm)
  • Rear Camera: 20MP 1-inch CMOS sensor, 7-element f/1.9 Leica Summicron lens, 19mm equivalent focal length, ToF sensor 
  • Front Camera: 12.6MP (punch-hole cutout)
  • Memory: 12GB LPDDR5 RAM, 128GB UFS 3.1 storage (expandable up to 1TB) 
  • Operating System: Android 11
  • Battery: 5,000mAh with Intelligent Charge 2.0
  • Security: Qualcomm 3D Sonic Max under-display fingerprint sensor

Sharp Aquos R6 Price and Availability

Sharp Aquos R6 will go on sale in Japan in June, with black and white color configurations. However, the company has not provided the phone’s pricing details or any information on international availability yet.

  • Meanwhile, check out our review of the Mi 11X (POCO F3).

App, portable device helps diagnose gonorrhea in less than 15 minutes

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App, portable device helps diagnose gonorrhea in less than 15 minutes

Researchers from John Hopkins University (JHU) have created an app and a low-cost portable device that can diagnose gonorrhea in less than 15 minutes. It can also predict whether a certain strain would react to first-line antibiotics. Gonorrhea is a sexually transmitted infection (STI), and an accurate and prompt diagnosis will greatly aid in the patient’s recovery.

Gonorrhea diagnosis using a portable device & app

Here, gonorrhea is the second most prevalent STI in the United States. Over time, it has become highly resistant to the medications used to cure it. The disease has already affected more than 87 million people around the world. And antibiotic resistance is exacerbating the condition.

A team led by scientist Tza-Huei Wang from Johns Hopkins University has developed an app and a portable device to diagnose gonorrhea. The new device is PROMPT (portable, rapid, on-cartridge, magnetofluidic purification and testing platform). It runs on a simple five-volt battery and includes thermoplastic cartridges that cost about $2.

Testing

Testing from this system is not at all time-consuming. It needs a swab containing the patient’s body fluids, which reacts with a magnetic particle solution in a tube. After mixing it up, a drop of liquid is loaded into a cartridge, which is then inserted into the device. The liquid particles contact with reagents in the cartridge, which performs 40 cycles of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing before displaying the results on a smartphone.

Result

The outcome of the testing process is what is essential here. According to JHU, PROMPT testing in Baltimore and Kampala, Uganda correctly diagnosed the most prevalent strain of gonorrhea about 97 percent of the time. Furthermore, the device can fully detect (100%) whether the measured strain of the disease can react to ciprofloxacin. It is an antibiotic to treat infections that are immune to other antibiotics.

“Our portable, inexpensive testing platform has the potential to change the game when it comes to diagnosing and enabling rapid treatment of sexually transmitted infections,” says team leader Tza-Huei Wang. 

Availability

The team has decided to make this device available to people whenever they needed it. As a result, Wang and his team plan to set up a new company to handle regulatory approval, manufacturing, and delivery of the product.

  • Check out our review of the Mi 11X (POCO F3).

Researchers develop a lithium-metal battery inspired by a BLT sandwich

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Researchers develop a lithium-metal battery inspired by a BLT sandwich

We recently covered the news of a Japanese institute potentially resolving a big issue related to battery health, with is battery health loss in the long run. Meanwhile, a group of researchers in the US has created the “holy grail” of electric vehicle batteries, based on a BLT (Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato) sandwich design. They’ve used lithium metal in a battery rather than lithium-ion, as found in electric vehicles in the market.

Harvard’s lithium metal battery:

A research team from Harvard’s John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS) has introduced new lithium metal batteries. These batteries have immense potential for energy conservation but they struggle or fail to charge. But now, the BLT-inspired lithium metal battery solves the charging issue and another long-lasting issue of dendrites. Dendrites are small, rigid tree-like structures that can expand within a lithium battery and accelerate battery failure. 

Design

As mentioned earlier, this approach takes its inspiration from a BLT sandwich. On the bottom is a piece of bread that acts as a lithium metal anode, and just above it is lettuce which represents graphite coating. On top of graphite, there are two pieces of tomatoes (electrolyte 1, 2), and between them is a second electrolyte represented by bacon. Finally, it is covered with a slice of bread illustrating the cathode.

Lithium metal battery working mechanism

Lifecycle

According to researchers, it can complete at least 10,000 charging cycles with the newly proposed configuration. Moreover, it can also increase the life of electric vehicles by 10 to 15 years. The researchers claim that there is no need to replace the battery during this time period. Furthermore, one can fully charge them in 10 to 20 minutes. Currently, the health of an EV’s battery steadily deteriorates over time, with a cumulative life of up to seven or eight years on average. 

Problem with existing batteries

Anode, cathode, and electrolyte are the three primary elements of lithium-ion batteries. During charging, lithium ions move from the cathode to the anode. But when lithium metal acts as the anode, dendrites start growing on the surface. Ultimately, these structures expand, which in turn pierce the bond between anode and cathode, possibly facilitating the battery to catch fire.

To address this problem, the researchers created a multi-layer battery that has varying stability between anode and cathode. Its architecture avoids lithium dendrite penetration by controlling them. These rigid structures grow between the graphite layer and the first electrolyte but the growing process stops when they meet the second electrolyte. That is, bacon (electrolyte 2) makes a foil to prevent dendrites from penetrating the battery. Moreover, it’s a self-healing battery which means, it can plug the holes created by dendrites.

  • Check out the public reaction to Yatri’s Project One electric bike. (Nepali)

Xiaomi might re-launch Redmi Note 8 in select markets this year

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Xiaomi might re-launch Redmi Note 8 in select markets this year

If the rumors are to be believed, Xiaomi has been working on re-releasing the Redmi Note 8 with improved specifications. However, the phone might launch in a few markets only. So, let’s walk through the specification and rumors of the Redmi Note 8 2021.

Redmi Note 8 2021 Rumors Roundup:

Realme recently unveiled the 2021 edition of Realme C11, which is already available in Nepal too. Now, Xiaomi seems to be doing something similar by preparing to release a 2021 version of the Redmi Note 8 (2019).

The device was uncovered by leakster Kacper Skrzypek, who revealed that the phone would launch with a MediaTek Helio G85 chipset and a 4,000mAh battery. Furthermore, the system will ship with MIUI 12.5 based on Android 11 out of the box.

Certifications

The phone was also spotted on the FCC website with the model number M1908C3JGG. Furthermore, Xiaomiui sheds more light on the product’s specs, mentioning that the handset will be powered by a 22.5W fast charger, up from over 18W in the 2019 model.

In addition, it will have a quad-camera system led by a 48MP main sensor. This will be followed by ultra-wide, macro, and depth lenses. Likewise, the device is will debut in two memory configurations: 4+64GB and 4+128GB.

Redmi Note 8 2021 Bluetooth SIG Certification

Moving on, Note 8 2021 has appeared on Bluetooth SIG certification as well, confirming its existence as a new device. This listing reveals the same model number as that found in the FCC database. Furthermore, the phone is equipped with Bluetooth 5.2, while the regular Note 8 featured Bluetooth 5.0 instead.

Redmi Note 8 (2021) Launch and Availability 

Having said all this, Note 8 (2021) is yet to be officially announced by the company. However, as it appears on key certifications, we can expect the official launch later this month or in early June. If rumors are true, it will be available in markets such as the EU, Russia, and a few other regions.

  • Meanwhile, check out our review of Mi 11X (Poco F3).

What is Carrier Aggregation in smartphones? Is it available in Nepal?

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What is Carrier Aggregation in smartphones? Is it available in Nepal?

Carrier Aggregation is a key feature of LTE-Advanced, allowing a network provider to merge multiple LTE (4G) carrier bands. This lets them boost peak user data rates as well as the overall capacity of their network. Here, we’ll be taking a look at the scenario of Carrier Aggregation in Nepal alongside its availability.

Carrier Aggregation Overview:

What is Carrier Aggregation?

As aforementioned, it is one of the key features that LTE can serve its user base. It combines two or more LTE carrier bands into a single data channel to increase the capacity of the network and the data rates by exploiting fragmented spectrum allocations.

The technology can be applied to either FDD (Frequency Division Duplex) or TDD (Time Division Duplex) variants of LTE with a maximum of five component carriers. Each carrier has a bandwidth of up to 20 MHz, with a total transmission bandwidth of up to 100 MHz.

How does it work?

Before we enter into how it works, let me give you a short overview of network carriers. These carriers, in simple terms, are a network band with a specific frequency range in the radio frequency (RF) spectrum. These frequencies are used by devices to communicate with one another. Initially, network operators only used a single band to send and receive data, which took a long time to complete the process.

However, if we can bind multiple bands, the resulting output would have a higher transmission rate. Likewise with Carrer Aggregation, one can bind multiple frequencies to increase bandwidth.

Working principle of Carrier Aggregation

LTE has up to six available bands or frequencies that the operators can use. They are: 1.4 MHz, 3 MHz, 5 MHz, 10 MHz, 15 MHz, and 20 MHz. Despite the availability of six frequency bands, we can only use a limit of five of them at once, resulting in a maximum aggregated bandwidth of 100 MHz.

Furthermore, when two carriers are taken into use, we call it 2CA. Similarly, if there are three or four carriers, the abbreviation is 3CA or 4CA, respectively. The more the component carriers, the better will be the data speed.

Requisite

Let us now learn the prerequisites for using CA in Nepal.

Bands used by telecom operator

So far, we already know that there are six LTE bands available. Your telecom operator should now support at least two bands available to allow CA for different handsets. Ncell only has one LTE band in Nepal, rendering Carrier Aggregation in its network impractical.

On the contrary, Nepal Telecom has two different LTE bands: Band 3 (1800 MHz) and Band 20 (800 MHz). That means one can use CA with NTC’s network.

Supported Smartphones 

However, simply endorsing the network band does not qualify the device for Carrier Aggregation. Moreover, the phone itself should support CA from the chipset level. It is supported in phones operated by Qualcomm chipsets with an X5 modem or later. Furthermore, phones powered by MediaTek, Kirin, or Exynos chipsets support carrier aggregation as well.

Unfortunately, smartphone makers, on the other hand, disable CA at the software level. For instance, despite having supported SoCs, some Realme and Xiaomi phones do not support CA.

In the meantime, let me make it clear that if you’re using a phone made specifically for the Indian market, they won’t support CA in Nepal. This is due to the fact that such smartphones do not accept Band 20 (B20). As a result, those smartphones won’t be able to aggregate usable NTC bands. 

How to check if a phone supports Carrier Aggregation?

  • For iOS users, the iPhone 6s and all the newer models of iPhones all support CA.
  • For Android users, download the NetMonster app then grant location and phone permission.
  • It will list all of the bands that your smartphone supports, along with the “LTE” or “LTE-A” indicator.
  • If it just indicates LTE, it means the mobile does not accept Carrier Aggregation, while “LTE-A” means the phone supports CA.

Carrier Aggregation unsupported and supported devices in Nepal

Carrier Aggregation in Nepal: Conclusion

On top of expanding network coverage area, telecom operators in Nepal should also look into enabling features such as carrier aggregation for providing better cellular connectivity throughout the country. But in Nepal, this isn’t happening. They are mostly concerned with broad branding and advertising in order to draw in more consumers.

The key argument we are trying to make here is that the network providers should also concentrate on building a reliable infrastructure across the country. Plus, Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) should also regulate the import of smartphones such that only the ones supporting all carrier bands supported in the country hit the Nepali market.

  • Meanwhile, check out our review of the Mi 11X (POCO F3).

Nepal Telecom starts VoLTE service in the country, enabling HD voice calls

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Nepal Telecom starts VoLTE service in the country, enabling HD voice calls

VoLTE or Voice over LTE is a technology that supports high-bandwidth data and voice transfer over a 4G LTE network. This tech debuted many years ago and VoLTE has finally come to Nepal as well. Nepal Telecom has launched VoLTE technology in the country, thereby enabling HD voice calls on a 4G network.

Nepal Telecom’s VoLTE:

The company had started testing VoLTE service when it started the expansion of its 4G network to more cities and rural areas. The telecom operator has successfully extended its LTE coverage to all 77 districts and planned to begin VoLTE trials from May 17, 2021, although it is already available to many users.

What is VoLTE?

If you’re on a VoLTE network, then your phone calls will use the 4G network to relay your voice to the receiver. Without this, our phones have been switching to a 2G/3G network to make/answer calls even when using a 4G-ready phone. This was a required step to ensure your call was successful since phone calls over a 4G network isn’t possible without VoLTE.

However, once Nepal Telecom introduces VoLTE, voice data will transmit over the 4G network. It’s in the name itself—Voice over LTE. With this, users can enjoy a higher degree of call quality with lower background noise distortions. You can also use the HD video calling function in conjunction with high-speed data transmission. It’s a feature close to what we see on OTT platforms like Viber, Skype, Messenger, etc.

How to enable Nepal Telecom (NTC) VoLTE service?

Since the service is in its trial phase, you must manually activate VoLTE in your Nepal Telecom SIM to test it.

  • First, dial *444# on your keypad.
  • Then, the USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data) response will list three options.
  • To activate VoLTE, select the “Activate VOLTE” option by dialing 2 on your keypad.
  • Now, VoLTE is activated on your NTC SIM.
  • To disable it, type *444# on the keypad and select the “Deactivate VoLTE” option 

VoLTE offer for Early Birds

NTC is also offering a free 100-minute VoLTE service which is valid for up to 28 days applicable for NT-NT calls only. You need to dial *111# to claim free VoLTE calls.

How do I know if my phone supports VoLTE in Nepal? 

To use Voice-over 4G service on NTC’s network, the mobile phone must also support it. Also, you can dial *111# on the keypad to verify which devices accept VoLTE. If it displays the error message “Connection problem or invalid MMI Code,” means your device isn’t compatible. Note that, in its first round, NTC has included a handful of devices that can use its VoLTE service. The telecom operator is in talks with the handset suppliers to bring VoLTE support to more devices soon. To check if your device is on the company’s list, click here. 

  • Meanwhile, check out our video of Worldlink Mobility.

POCO X3 Pro Review: Re-Establishing The POCO Legacy

Nikhil Shrestha
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POCO X3 Pro Review: Re-Establishing The POCO Legacy

POCO’s entire legacy is built on delivering exceptional value smartphones—so much so that the company has practically stolen the “flagship killer” crown from OnePlus. Well, OnePlus is equally to blame in this regard but that’s a topic for another video. Anyway, POCO recently launched the X3 Pro, debuting a flagship-grade chipset and a very familiar design. With everything that the phone is packing, is it the best phone in its range? Let’s find out in this review of the POCO X3 Pro.

POCO X3 Pro Specifications:

  • Body: 76.8 x 165.3 x 9.4mm, 215 gm, IP53 dust/splash resistant
  • Display: 6.67-inches IPS LCD “DotDisplay”, 120Hz refresh rate, 240Hz touch sampling rate, Corning Gorilla Glass 6, 450 nits brightness
  • Resolution: FHD+ (2400 x 1080 pixels), 20:9 aspect ratio, 395 PPI
  • Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 860 (7nm Mobile Platform)
  • CPU: Octa-core (1×2.96 GHz Kryo 485 Gold & 3×2.42 GHz Kryo 485 Gold & 4×1.78 GHz Kryo 485 Silver)
  • GPU: Adreno 640
  • Memory: 6/8GB LPDDR4X RAM, 128/256GB UFS 3.1 storage (expandable)
  • Software & UI: Android 11 with Xiaomi’s MIUI 12 for POCO on top
  • Rear Camera: Quad-camera;
    – 48MP f/1.79 primary lens, AF
    – 8MP f/2.2 ultra-wide lens, 119º FOV
    – 2MP f/2.4 macro sensor, 4CM (fixed focus)
    – 2MP f/2.4 depth sensor
  • Front Camera: 20MP f/2.2 sensor (punch-hole cutout)
  • Audio: Stereo speakers with Hi-Res Audio, 3.5mm headphone jack
  • Security: Side-mounted fingerprint sensor, Face unlock
  • Sensors: Accelerometer, Gyro, Proximity, Ambient Light, Electronic Compass, IR blaster
  • Connectivity: Hybrid Dual-SIM (Nano), WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (Dual-band), Bluetooth 5.0, GPS / AGPS / Glonass / Galileo / Beidou, NFC, USB Type-C, 4G LTE
  • Battery: 5160mAh with 33W fast charging (33W adapter provided)
  • Color options: Phantom Black, Metal Bronze, Frost Blue
  • Price in Nepal: Rs. 32,000 (6/128GB) | Rs. 37,000 (8/256GB)

POCO X3 Pro Review:

Design & Build

  • 76.8 x 165.3 x 9.4mm, 215 grams
  • Glass front, plastic back, plastic frame
  • IP53 dust and splash-resistant

Like I said earlier, the POCO X3 Pro is no stranger to the eyes. In fact, it bears the same visual aesthetics, form-factor, and everything else as the POCO X3 NFC. While we’re obviously on board with the company’s original design practices, reusing one that wasn’t as well-received feels like a misplaced trust here.

So yeah—it’s not the most comfortable phone to have in your pocket or your hand. Weighing 215 grams with a 9.4mm thickness, the POCO X3 Pro is definitely not for those who prefer a compact device. That’s not to say that the phone has downright terrible ergonomics, absolutely not. With all the other phones I’ve had for review this year, I personally found myself used to the build quality of POCO X3 Pro almost right away.

The weight distribution sure could’ve some work though since the lower half of the phone feels relatively heavier than the upper half. Regardless, the curved sides do help things a bit, and ooh—contrary to the all-glossy finish in its predecessor, POCO has implemented a matte look on the sides here.

Protected against dust or splashes

Moving on, the phone is IP53 certified against dust and splashes as well. That’s nice. Because of the borrowed design, X3 Pro has a plastic back and plastic frames which might feel a bit out of place for a phone that boasts a Snapdragon 860 chipset inside. In any case, it doesn’t catch fingerprints or smudges as much although the camera does result in slight wobbles when placed on a flat surface.

POCO X3 Pro has a power button on the side that doubles as a fingerprint sensor. It is easy to reach and unlocks the phone in a flash—unless your finger is sweaty or a little wet that is. Just above it is the volume rockers that click well and are fairly easy to reach too.

Similarly, the left frame holds the hybrid SIM slot that accepts two nano SIMs or one SIM and a MicroSD card. Finally, the top frame gets an IR blaster and a microphone whereas you’ll find a headphone jack, a USB-C port, another microphone, and the bottom-firing speaker grille on the bottom.

Display

  • 6.67-inches FHD+ IPS LCD display
  • 120/240Hz refresh/touch sampling rate
  • Corning Gorilla Glass 6 protection

Coming to the front, you’re greeted with the same 6.67-inch IPS LCD screen—now protected by Corning’s Gorilla Glass 6 instead of Gorilla Glass 5 on the POCO X3 NFC. The same display means X3 Pro also has a 120Hz refresh rate and a 240Hz touch sampling rate. Moreover, this screen embeds the company’s DynamicSwitch technology which switches the refresh rate between 50Hz, 60Hz, 90Hz, and 120Hz when selecting the High refresh rate mode.

And this was one of the major complaints many users had with POCO X3 NFC’s promised 120Hz smoothness—or rather its imperfection. POCO isn’t the first company to offer a dynamic refresh rate on its phones and we haven’t really noticed such inconsistency when a screen automatically toggles between different refresh rates on other phones till now.

POCO X3 Pro - Display 1

Unfortunately, POCO’s implementation still leaves room for complaint as we could still notice micro-lags every now and then, especially when scrolling through the UI rather fast. We presumed this was happening on the X3 NFC because of its relatively under-powerful Snapdragon 732G chipset but this déjà vu makes us shift the blame towards the screen itself or the software optimization instead—it’s probably the former.

Besides, MIUI isn’t the most optimized Android skins out there and the “POCO” customization is almost next-to-nothing in this case. I feel like this issue could be solved simply by force enabling 120Hz refresh rate all the time so POCO’s indifference towards the issue is questionable.

Plus, turns out that it is absolutely possible since an XDA member unlocked a way to enable the 120Hz refresh rate all the time on POCO X3 NFC. But of course, you’ll need to have the phone bootloader unlocked and rooted.

Widevine L1 certified

Anyway, I’ve had no issue regarding the touch response though. Its viewing angles are pretty nice, colors pop fairly well for an LCD screen, and the punch-hole cutout is pretty minimal too. You can also stream HD videos on Netflix and other streaming sites since POCO X3 Pro’s screen is Widevine L1 certified as well. It is also HDR10 compliant but weirdly enough, the screen automatically evolves with a yellow tint when watching HDR videos on YouTube.

Stereo speakers with Hi-Res Audio

Talking about content consumption, POCO X3 Pro’s stereo speakers get plenty loud and the mids and highs sound pretty well balanced too. Yet, the bass reproduction is almost non-existent here. I’ve had no issue regarding call quality on this phone though.

POCO X3 Pro - Display 2

Moreover, this display doesn’t get very bright either. With 450 nits of typical brightness that POCO says can get even higher with Sunlight Mode turned on, I found it to be a bit of a struggle when looking at the phone under direct sunlight.

On the other hand, it can quite dim and therefore using the phone under the sheets has been a comfortable experience. One more thing, there’s also a notification LED right above the display. While I wished it was an RGB LED instead of plain white, the mere inclusion of a notification indicator is a win for me.

Performance

  • Octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 860 SoC (7nm)
  • 6/8GB LPDDR4X RAM, 128/256GB UFS 3.1 storage (expandable)
  • Android 11 with Xiaomi’s MIUI 12 for POCO on top

On to the performance side of things, POCO X3 Pro is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 860. This 7nm chipset is almost identical to 2019’s Snapdragon 855+. It reportedly has a slightly better AI engine and POCO says the 860 has a better ISP than the 855+ as well. So as you could tell, the X3 Pro is easily the best-performing phone in its price range.

Ther Snapdragon 860 here has been paired with 6/8GB of LPDDR4X RAM and up to 256GB of UFS 3.1 internal storage. With all this, my experience with the phone has been spectacular. Apps install and load quite fast and juggling through multiple apps is no hiccup here. Yet, with heavy apps or games into the mix, you will notice reloads on certain apps almost all the time. All of this boots up with MIUI 12 based on Android 11—alongside the aforementioned POCO customization.

Bloatware and ads

As expected from a Xiaomi (or Xiaomi inspired) phone, the X3 Pro comes with a couple of bloatware apps but you can choose to uninstall them. And of course, there are ads. I also feel like I should mention an obscure bug in Facebook Messenger I witnessed. For some reason, I would get text/call notifications even after I’d already tended to it the first time. Weird. Let’s now take a look at some benchmark scores:

POCO X3 Pro
Androbench Sequential Read 1455.53 MB/s
Sequential Write 525.39 MB/s
AnTuTu v8 Total 489153
CPU 133679
GPU 191850
Memory 82680
UX 80944
Geekbench 5 CPU (Single Core) N/A
CPU (Multi-Core) N/A
Compute (OpenCL) N/A
PCMark (Work 2.0 Performance) 10197
3DMark (Wild Life) N/A

Those numbers read real impressive, huh? But weirdly enough, the Geekbench app kept crashing whenever I tried to get a benchmark reading whereas the 3DMark app straight up wouldn’t let me run it—citing that POCO might’ve disabled it for some reason.

Gaming experience

Nevertheless, let’s talk about the gaming performance now. Powered by the pseudo-flagship-grade Snapdragon 860, I expected an exceptional gaming experience on the POCO X3 Pro. And thankfully, the phone delivered to my expectations to the most extent. But pushing the silicon to its limit heats up the device quite fast and to quite an extreme degree.

POCO X3 Pro - Design 2

For this review, I played Genshin Impact on its highest settings on the POCO X3 Pro. This includes all the graphics variables cranked to the max like 60 fps, High visual effects, High render resolution, and Extreme motion blur. Unfortunately, the phone’s cooling solution simply couldn’t catch up under this.

I graphed its initial CPU and battery temperature at 34ºC and 31ºC which quickly rose to 68ºC and 45ºC, respectively after just 5 minutes of gameplay. The CPU temperature jumped to 71ºC after 16 minutes and at this moment, it was getting really difficult to hold the phone. To further push Snapdragon 860’s limit, I continued playing it for a little over 40 minutes where I recorded POCO X3 Pro’s maximum CPU and battery temperature at 76ºC and 46ºC, respectively.

The hand-rest area is uncomfortably hot whereas the camera module is even hotter. Gameplay in this setting, on the other hand, is fairly smooth with a stable 60fps gaming most of the time. But, I did notice minor stutters every now and then, although the performance didn’t throttle as much even when the phone got extremely hot.

Dialing it down

So, it’s more than fair to say that Genshin Impact isn’t meant to be played at its max settings on this phone. Therefore, I dialed down the settings to High graphics and 30 fps. Here, the gameplay got significantly better—especially in the thermal department. After 20 minutes, the CPU and battery temperature rose to 63ºC and 41ºC, respectively while the gameplay was relatively smoother as well. The camera module still got pretty hot but not as much when playing at the highest setting.

Likewise, comparatively less demanding titles like Call of Duty Mobile run extremely well at their max setting. I set the graphics to Very High and frame rate to Max while also turning on anti-aliasing. Under this, the gameplay was buttery smooth although the temperature got a little out of hand than I’d anticipated—but not to the uncomfortable point though. PUBG Mobile can hit HDR graphics and Extreme frame rates or Ultra HD graphics and Ultra frame rates.

Under both settings, the gameplay is fairly smooth while I did notice few stutters after around 20 minutes into the game. Finally, Shadowgun War Games, which is a 120 fps optimized title runs smoothly under Ultra High graphics and 120 fps.

All in all, POCO X3 Pro’s gaming performance is impressive although its thermal solution struggles when pushing through graphics-intensive titles. The company says it has used multi-layer graphite heat dissipating material but from my experience, that seems simply insufficient.

Cameras

  • Quad-camera setup at the back
  • (48MP main, 8MP ultrawide, 2MP macro, 2MP portrait)
  • 20MP selfie camera inside the punch-hole cutout

Time to get to the camera portion of this POCO X3 Pro review. Surprisingly, the phone has a downgraded quad-camera setup compared to the POCO X3 NFC—in terms of megapixel count that is. Here, you get a 48MP primary and an 8MP ultrawide sensor compared to the 64MP and 13MP lens respectively on its predecessor.

Besides this, it brings the same 2MP depth, 2MP macro lens alongside a 20MP selfie camera. For this review, I compared the cameras on POCO X3 Pro against that of the Redmi Note 10 Pro Max which has a 108MP main sensor.

Normal Images

Here, the normal daytime images from the Note 10 Pro Max retain more detail and look sharper. Plus, it also produces close-to-natural colors whereas the POCO X3 Pro tends to oversaturate them by a bit.

However, the X3 Pro usually has a better dynamic range and on some occasions, photos tend to look a bit brighter too.

Wideangle Images

There is a noticeable color shift when switching to the ultrawide mode on the POCO X3 Pro. Yet, that’s a good thing. Here, the saturation has been dialed down to a relatively natural level and the highlights are improved too.

But compared to the Note 10 Pro Max, it missed out on finer details and looks a bit grainy and oversharpened. Still, ultrawide photos from Note 10 Pro Max have low black levels.

Portrait Images

Subjects in portrait images look considerably dark from the POCO X3 Pro. It also looks excessively sharp while also missing out on edge detection on certain occasions.

You can also notice a slight reddish hue here whereas Note 10 Pro Max’s portraits look comparatively more natural with a soft undertone.

Macro Images

Macro images are significantly better on the Note 10 Pro Max, which is mainly thanks to its variable autofocus distance of 3 – 10 cm. On the contrary, shooting close-ups from X3 Pro’s 4 cm fixed focus is quite frustrating.

As you can see, macro shots from Note 10 Pro Max retain better details albeit with a wild boost in saturation.

Selfie Images

Coming to the selfie, once again, subjects look over-sharpened on the X3 Pro with low black levels and boosted saturation. It also tends to have a soft yellowish tint.

Selfies from Note 10 Pro Max look softer with muted colors while highlights are a little overblown here.

Portrait selfies share a similar story while the X3 Pro thankfully churns out brighter-looking photos. On most occasions, edge detection is better on the X3 Pro.

Nighttime Images

Getting to low-light photos, the images pop in terms of color on the Note 10 Pro Max and therefore look livelier. It also retains better details with less noise while nighttime images from X3 Pro tend to have better sky details in some instances.

Turning on night mode, the X3 Pro delivers better highlights and more details while also looking oversharpened, whereas night mode photos from Note 10 Pro Max look brighter, have better shadow details and dynamic range.

You can also shoot lowlight photos from the ultrawide lens on the POCO X3 Pro. But the photos look too soft with little detail preservation.

Night mode does help a bit in controlling the exposure but it’s nothing to write home about.

Like the Realme 8 series, POCO X3 Pro also has Tit Shift mode for miniature photography.

Videography

You can shoot up to 4K/30fps videos from both phones and in this resolution, I found that the X3 Pro wins out with relatively better stabilization. Additionally, the 1080p/60fps footages are slightly more stable on the X3 Pro as well.

1080/30fps videos are neck-and-neck in terms of stabilization from both phones while the Note 10 Pro Max has worse exposure control. The latter goes for other resolutions too. Upfront, the 1080p/30fps selfie videos retain similar stabilization on both phones while subjects look oversaturated on Note 10 Pro Max.

Does Gcam help at all?

For this review, I also installed Gcam on POCO X3 Pro to see if it would bring any improvement.

Luckily, it does. Normal images enjoy balanced saturation, well-managed highlights, and even better dynamic range in most instances.

Selfie photos look more natural from Gcam too. Moreover, it also unlocks 4K/60fps recording but it’s quite shaky. Likewise, I found videos to be more stable from the phone’s native camera app compared to Gcam.

Battery

  • 5160mAh battery with 33W fast charging

With that out of the way, let’s get into the battery life. Packing a big 5,160mAh battery, I expected around a day’s endurance from the POCO X3 Pro and the phone pretty much met my expectation. Using the phone under 120Hz refresh rate and brightness set to around 60%, I managed to get 6 – 6.5 hours of screen-on time here. My usage mostly consisted of a couple of hours of gaming, juggling through social media apps, and binging YouTube.

POCO X3 Pro - Design 1

I did find X3 Pro’s battery-saving algorithm a bit on the aggressive end. Certain apps like AccuBattery’s background process would get terminated overnight. Regardless, the phone juices up pretty fast. In our test, the 33W charger inside the box took POCO X3 Pro from 1 to 100% in 1 hour and 9 minutes. To compare, we clocked Redmi Note 10’s smaller 5000mAh battery to fully juice up in an hour and 22 minutes via a 33W charger.

Conclusion

Wrapping up this review, the POCO X3 Pro is an excellent phone for the price—no doubt. Its stellar Snapdragon 860 chipset will handle almost everything you throw at it and the 120Hz screen, while not well optimized, is most definitely better than a standard 60Hz display. So, if you’re a mobile gamer and are looking for a mid-range phone that can push through the most demanding titles, then this is the one to get.

However, it is also priced the exact same as Redmi Note 10 Pro and excels in the area where the Poco X3 Pro struggles. The Note 10 Pro brings an AMOLED screen, better looking and ergonomic design, plus way superior camera performance.

So, if your priority is not gaming, and rather an overall all-around phone, skip the Poco X3 Pro and get the Note 10 Pro Max instead. As for the Poco X3 Pro, well it’s the only midrange gaming phone you can buy right now and I am really surprised that none of the other smartphone brands has actually thought of what Poco achieved with the X3 Pro.

POCO X3 Pro Review: Pros & Cons

Pros:

  • Excellent value—an easy recommendation
  • Flagship-grade Snapdragon 860 chipset
  • IP53 dust-splash resistance certified
  • Decent battery endurance, fast charging
  • Fairly reliable camera performance
  • Fast side-mounted fingerprint sensor

Cons:

  • Relatively wide, chunky build quality
  • 120Hz display still not well-optimized
  • MIUI has a big room for improvement
  • Phone heats up quite bad under load

Mi Band 6 with a big AMOLED screen, SpO2 monitoring goes official in Nepal

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Mi Band 6 with a big AMOLED screen, SpO2 monitoring goes official in Nepal

Xiaomi launched the Mi Band 6 alongside the Mi 11 series in China a couple of months ago. And now, this budget fitness tracker has made its way to Nepal as well. Let’s dive deeper into the Mi Band 6 (or Mi Smart Band 6) along with its official price and availability in Nepal.

Mi Smart Band 6 Overview:

Compared to all of its predecessors, Mi Band 6 offers a larger screen. 50% larger than the Mi Band 5, to be precise. The display is pill-shaped and measures 1.56-inches. It has rounded corners and a resolution of 152 x 486 pixels. Furthermore, the peak brightness of the display is up to 450 nits. According to Xiaomi, the band will have 130 watch faces, with the option to add custom ones.

A new inclusion this year is that of the SpO2 tracker. It helps you to track your blood oxygen levels during exercise. Furthermore, it also helps to track breathing quality. Other than that, there is a PPG heart-rate sensor, a 3-axis accelerometer, and a 3-axis gyroscope sensor. There’s an NFC edition too. However, its availability is exclusive to China.

Mi Smart Band 6 - Display

There’s a total of 30 exercise modes on the Mi Band 6. And among those, 6 of them are automatically detected by the tracker. Other features of the band include 5ATM water resistance, sleep tracking, stress monitoring, idle alerts, and more.

As for the battery, the Mi Band 6 has a 125mAh unit. On a full charge, the tracker should last up to 2 weeks. Charging the device takes less than 2 hours.

Specifications:

  • Display: 1.56″ AMOLED display, touchscreen, 152 x 486 resolution, 450 nit
  • Strap: Silicone
  • Sensors: PPG Optical Heart-rate monitors, 6-axis-motion-control-sensor (3-axis accelerometer + 3-axis gyroscope motion sensor), SpO2 sensor
  • Features: Sleep tracker, 24/7 activity tracker, music playback controls, notifications, alarms, reminders, blood oxygen level
  • Water Resistance: 5ATM (50m/164ft for 10 minutes)
  • Compatibility: Android 5.0+ or iOS 10.0+
  • Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.0
  • Battery: 125 mAh, magnetic charging base
  • Companion App: Mi Fit (Android | iOS)

Xiaomi Mi Smart Band 6 Price in Nepal & Availability

The price of Mi Band 6 in Nepal is NPR 5,999. Mi Smart Band 6 will be available across Xiaomi authorized stores in Nepal shortly.

Fitness Band Price in Nepal (Official)
Mi Smart Band 6 (Standard) NPR 5,999
  • Meanwhile, check out our review of Honor Band 6.
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