Microsoft is integrating the AI-powered GPT-3 (Generative Pre-trained Transformer 3) language model with Power Fx – a low-code programming language to simplify PowerApps progress. The tech giant had acquired the sole license of OpenAI’s GPT-3—the underlying technology behind it. GPT-3 is now used in the Power Apps programs from Microsoft to convert natural language into ready-to-use code.
Microsoft Power Apps with AI-powered GPT-3
The new feature can only be used on the Power Fx. This is Microsoft’s open-source, low-code programming language which is based on Excel. The company announced this tech’s capabilities on the first day of the virtual “Build 2021” developer conference.
Almost no coding
I understand the agony of creating an application (web or mobile) and having it fail due to a minor error. For instance, if you skip only a “;”, a program might not run and might throw an error instead. And you may find yourself wandering through the code again and again.
However, using Microsoft Power Apps, one can achieve a rapid application development environment to create bespoke apps as needed. GPT-3 integration with Power Apps would also help you use plain language for a specific output.
For the time being, the focus is on Power Apps formulas. But despite the service’s low-code nature, you’ll need to eventually write a code sooner or later if you want to construct a complex app.
Charles Lamanna, Corporate VP for Microsoft’s low-code application platform says “Using an advanced AI model like this can help our low-code tools become even more widely available to an even bigger audience by truly becoming what we call no-code”.
Instead of mastering database queries, Power Fx’s natural-language integration will allow you to create code in natural language. GPT-3 AI algorithms transform natural language queries into usable code.
To search for a product, for example, programmers would need to write queries like “Filter(‘BC Orders’ Left(‘Product Name’,4)=”Kids”)”. But now, they can type “find products where the name starts with ‘kids’”. And GPT-3 will render the code for the same.
To note
While this does make coding easier and more convenient, programmers must still comprehend the logic of the application they are developing. Microsoft says “The features don’t replace the need for a person to understand the code they are implementing but are designed to assist people who are learning the Power Fx programming language”.
To some extent, it is similar to natural language query functions that are available in Excel, Power BI, or Google Sheets. GPT-3, on the other hand, can interpret more complicated queries.
Microsoft Power Apps with GPT-3 Availability
According to the company, these new features will be in public preview in the English language throughout North America by the end of June.
Meanwhile, check out our review of Razer Blade Stealth 13.
USB-C is a dominant standard for data and power transfer. It uses a small physical connector and supports various USB standards like USB 4 and USB Power Delivery. And to make it even better, the latest revision of the USB forum has upgraded the maximum power supply of USB-C up to 240W.
USB-C 240W power delivery
USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) has announced that it is doubling the amount of power that can be sent over a USB-C cable. The total power these new cables will be able to transfer is up to 240 watts, making it compatible to charge even high-end gaming laptops.
To compare, the previous iteration or the one currently in circulation allows for power transfer of up to 100 watts only, which isn’t sufficient for gaming laptops and other high-end devices like large monitors. But with the update, one can comfortably rely on a Type-C cable for their charging needs.
USB-IF has dubbed this latest 240W technology as “Extended Power Range (EPR)”. It will replace the previous top-tier “Standard Power Range”. To take advantage of the new features, you will also require a new range of USB-C chargers and cables.
To recognize the cables that support EPR, they should have a specific icon. The icon will help the user visually check and ensure that it supports up to 240W of power. To be compliant, a cable must support up to 5A current and 50V energy.
Final words
All of this is great news for those of us who have wished for the ability to charge multiple devices with a single charger. Step by step, we are progressing to adopt a unified module. Who knows, maybe by 2030, we’ll be able to use a USB-Type C cable to fuel an electric vehicle as well.
Meanwhile, check out our review of the Mi 11X (Poco F3).
Mini LED is at the forefront of this year’s display technologies. And as Apple launched its latest iPad Pro with a Mini LED display, most people are still unaware of what it actually is. So, let us try to understand what exactly it is.
Mini-LED Overview:
Simply put, it’s a more efficient, and more effective way of backlighting an LCD screen. This means it relates more to backlighting technology rather than a display’s pixels. There are tens of thousands of miniature LED backlights behind the LCD panel to offer superior local dimming characteristics.
These small LED diodes are also responsible to make images look brighter and natural. Here, the diode which is no bigger than 0.2mm is considered a mini LED.
How mini-LED differs from LCD or OLED?
To clarify its difference, let’s first define LCDs and OLEDs:
LCD
LCD primarily uses a single backlight that throws the light on the screen. Furthermore, the panel uses a thin film called the LCD matrix to handle the contrast. The matrix selectively blocks certain parts of the backlight to produce contrast on the individual pixels.
Due to a single backlight, the pixels that require white color and the pixels that require black color end up getting the same amount of light which prevents dark pixel from showing the true pitch-black color. This is called backlight bleeding.
On the contrary, OLED displays have per-pixel lighting, which means each pixel has control of its lighting and regulates itself as required. This allows the screen to have granular control over which pixels get to be darker and which one gets to be lighter. For instance, for completely dark content, the parallel pixel stays completely turned off. This gives it that punchy black goodness.
So, how do they differ?
Now consider that the single backlight in the LCD panel is divided into different parts (or zones in technical terms). The technology where the backlight is divided into multiple zones is known as “local dimming” and is a common feature in premium LCD.
Furthermore, thanks to technological innovations, LED diodes used in the LCD backlight have shrunk in size. This mini size allows the backlight to be split into a higher proportion of local dimming zones.
While a standard LCD monitor with local dimming can have dozens or hundreds of backlight zones to increase contrast, a mini-LED display can have tens of thousands of them. This ensures that pictures are bolder in color, deeper in black levels, and brighter in terms of HDR content.
In other words, mini-LED displays mimic the emissive nature of OLED but are implemented in LCD panels. It’s a kind of mixed strategy. Note that, these miniature LED panels won’t be as good as OLED ones but are ultimately better than the regular LCD screens.
Conclusion
Overall, mini-LED aims to offer the best of both worlds as it tries to offer the contrast of OLED panels while being relatively cheaper. Add to that the ease of manufacturing mini-LED panels, they can be used to construct small displays including those used on notebooks, tablets, and smartphones.
Meanwhile, check out our review of Razer Blade Stealth 13.
A while back, NVIDIA introduced a cryptomining limiter to its RTX 3060 GPU to discourage miners from purchasing it. The company has now expanded the restriction across other GeForce cards. These GeForce graphics cards with cryptomining limiters will have “LHR” (Lite Hash Rate) branding to differentiate them from the releases before them. But have you wondered how these limiters work and if they can really solve the problem of GPU shortage?
GPU market of today
RTX 30-series graphics cards were initially launched in September of last year. However, these cards have not been readily available in the market. The problem is not limited to NVIDIA. AMD’s Radeon RX 600-series has suffered the same fate.
While the ongoing global chip shortage has limited the production of graphics cards, a sizeable portion of what has been produced has gone to the hands of crypto miners. This has deprived PC gamers, content creators, and other target customers from acquiring one easily. Very few graphics cards end up reaching the retail market and those that arrive are ludicrously priced—because of low supply.
Hashing and Mining
You may have heard that crypto miners are solving complex mathematical problems but it is not entirely true. What miners do is that they try to come with a hash by using random inputs on a crypto-currency block. The input, which is a random sequence of strings, is put into a special mathematical model called a hash function.
Think of it as a black box that takes these inputs and outputs numbers of fixed lengths. This is a one-way process and one cannot determine the input just by the output.
Miners must be the first to come with an “output”, only then are they eligible for crypto coins as a reward. As a result, most of the time, miners find themselves trying out hashing with inputs with a single-digit changed from the previous input.
Why GPU?
Unlike a CPU which must accomplish a wide variety of tasks, a GPU has a single job in a normal setup – graphics rendering. This is a repetitive task where a handful of instructions are carried out in a sequence.
Thus, GPUs are designed to carry out similar and repetitive tasks, which makes them fit for cryptocurrency mining. Also, modern GPUs are programmable and one can deploy them for several applications including mining.
Feasibility
Like all other things, mining is not free. Even after you have assembled a mining rig, it will be sucking power that will be reflected in your electricity bill. Also, the heat produced from mining can deteriorate the setup over time adding to the cost of maintenance. So, it is only logical to mine cryptos only when it is profitable. The latest-gen GPUs were launched at a time when cryptos like Ethereum were going high and we already know how that story ends (i.e. significant boom in their value—except for the recent dip).
The problem would not have blown up if it were only a few enthusiasts getting GPUs for mining out of curiosity. People who are into mining have “farms” of their own for which GPUs come directly from distributors, leaving gamers frustrated at retail shops.
Cryptomining limiters to the rescue?
Before we get into cryptomining limiters, we should be familiar with hashrate. It is the speed at which a GPU or a mining rig can mine. It is simply represented as the number of hash calculations that the setup can perform in one second.
This is one aspect of the GPU that NVIDIA wishes to affect with its cryptomining limiters. To be more specific, these are hashrate limiters that reduce the hashrate of a GPU. This does not make the graphics card useless for games but will just make it a less attractive of a choice for miners. NVIDIA wants miners to go for their Cryptocurrency Mining Processors (CMP) that do not come with such restrictions (more on that later).
First shot at hashrate limiters
The first GeForce card to get this treatment was RTX 3060. It came with a new driver update that halved its hashrate. However, NVIDIA itself released a driver later (470.05) that bypassed the limiter – showcasing the weakness of the software-based security mechanism.
Though NVIDIA did not address the issue publicly, it sent statements to few press members that said it was an internal development and that it was already removed. Also, the driver never made it to Linux, which is the preferred platform for experienced miners.
NVIDIA has sent the following statement about the driver that bypasses the mining limiter:
„A developer driver inadvertently included code used for internal development which removes the hash rate limiter on RTX 3060 in some configurations.
NVIDIA launched another driver update with an updated hashrate limiter. The company also set the minimum driver version to 466.27 to restrict users from using the compromised driver.
A few more details on NVIDIA’s Ethereum rate limiter, straight from NV PR: https://t.co/XGnXKCaIG6
And now, the limiters have made it to other RTX 30 series GPUs including RTX 3080, 3070, and 3060 Ti. These new cards will have an “LHR” (Lite Hash Rate) branding to separate them from the initial models.
Will it solve the problem?
The main problem today is the global chip shortage which NVIDIA has no control over. What the company is trying to do is improve the distribution of cards between gamers and miners.
As previously stated, the cryptomining limiters or the hashrate limiters will not make the GPUs useless for miners. They can still be used for mining since the hashrate has been nerfed by half—instead of absolutely nullifying it. The limiters have been sturdy till now but given the profits that mining can bring, they will try their best at a workaround.
Also, the non-LHR graphics cards that are still in use in mining farms will continue to work with older drivers.Here, the upcoming LHR-branded cards will be less attractive of a choice to the miners.
NVIDIA wants crypto miners to shift to their newly announced Cryptocurrency Mining Processor (CMP). It is a new product category from the company specifically for crypto miners. These cards cannot output graphics and have lower peak voltage and frequency for up to 50% better mining efficiency.
CMP debunked
NVIDIA wants gamers to believe that wafers being used here do not meet the standard of a traditional GeForce card and that it will not affect the availability of the latter. However, the statement has already been debunked by Linus in one of his Tech Tips videos.
First, the silicon that NVIDIA gets during this global shortage is limited. Up until now, the company would have used it for GeForce cards only. However, now it must be distributed among GeForce and CMP cards.
Linus also argues that silicons that “don’t meet GeForce’s standards” will eventually be replaced by higher quality silicon. Thus, CMP cards eventually will just contribute to e-waste when their life runs out.
These will also have a huge effect on the second-hand market. When the mining boom crashes, lots of GPUs from mining farms end up in the second-hand market for relatively low prices. This makes them a better value-for-money compared to new GPUs off a retailer’s shelf. The last time such a situation arose, NVIDIA failed to meet its quarterly targets. However, such will not be the case if miners move to CMPs that cannot be repurposed for gaming.
Cryptomining Limiters: Conclusion
To conclude, NVIDIA’s cryptomining limiters will not guarantee stocks of GPUs in the retail market since the production is limited. It is only to encourage miners for using new CMP cards instead of GeForce ones. Theoretically, CMP uses low-grade silicon and it should not affect the availability of GeForce cards.
But this theory is not flawless. So, the limiters are less likely to make any significant contribution to the stock shortage, especially in the long term. It can only ensure the success of the new CMP cards at the best.
Meanwhile, check out our review of the Razer Blade Stealth 13.
Self-driving or autonomous vehicles are the next big thing in the automotive world. While companies are still working to improve and eliminate any bit of error, Germany has passed a bill that will allow driverless vehicles on public roads by 2022.
Germany to allow driverless vehicles from 2022
Testing of autonomous vehicles is already available in Germany. In addition, the lower house of parliament has approved the bill for driverless vehicles, which opens the door for self-driving vehicles to roam through German roads.
Requirements
The law focuses on vehicles with Level 4 automation. It means a computer has full control of the vehicle and requires no human driver to control or monitor it. However, these self-driving cars may be limited to specific geographic regions only.
According to Germany’s Transportation Ministry, the bill was written to be as flexible as possible, with the new regulations not requiring a human driver to be on standby. “Individual permits, exceptions, and requirements — such as the presence of a safety assurance driver who is always ready to intervene — would not be necessary,” the ministry said in a statement.
Per the German government, the bill will allow the use of driverless shuttle buses and automated public transit buses that would run on predetermined routes. Companies that choose to run self-driving automobiles commercially will have to follow a host of other laws. This includes carrying liability insurance and having the power to remotely halt autonomous operations.
Driverless vehicles in Germany: Final words
With this “self-driving” feature, companies are attempting to change the way we drive. However, the recent Tesla car crash in the United States, in which two people died while using the self-driving feature, has reignited controversy about the capability and safety of today’s self-driving technology. So, I believe that before authorizing such technology, governments and companies should be absolutely sure of its safety first.
Meanwhile, check out our review of the Samsung Galaxy A52.
Haylou is a brand from Xiaomi’s ecosystem that manufactures affordable wireless earbuds and smartwatches. The company has just launched a new smartwatch called RS3 that comes with a dedicated GPS chip and a long battery life under $80. Let’s take a look at the specs, features, expected price, and availability of Haylou RS3 in Nepal.
Haylou RS3 Overview:
Design and Display
Haylou RS3 features a 1.2-inch circular AMOLED panel with a 390 x 390 resolution. It has 2.5D curved glass on top that gives it a premium look. The display is enclosed inside an aluminum alloy frame. Haylou has opted for a matte sand-like finish that it claims makes the device’s body resistant against scratch and fingerprints.
The watch is 5ATM resistant, which means it can survive under up to 50 meters of water pressure.
Haylou RS3 can keep track of your heart rate 24 hours a day. It also has an optical sensor that can measure oxygen saturation levels. It even records your sleep and categorizes them into light, deep, and REM sleep. This helps you have a better idea about your sleep quality. Similarly, there are guided breathing exercises for times when you feel stressed and overwhelmed.
Fitness tracking
Haylou RS3 can keep track of 14 different sports modes including swimming, basketball, cycling, hiking, and so on. The six-axis accelerometer helps the watch keep track of your movement and determine the number of calories burnt. Moreover, there’s a dedicated GPS chip that can track your distance covered during activities like running, cycling, and walking.
Rest of the features
Like most budget smartwatches, you won’t be able to make or take calls on the Haylou RS3. But, it will remind you of incoming calls, messages and notifications. Other features include weather forecast, music control, and pedometer.
The watch connects to your smartphone through Bluetooth 5.0. Its companion app “Haylou Fun” is available for both iOS and Android platforms.
RS3 has a 230mAh lithium battery that Haylou claims can last up to 7 days under normal usage. But with GPS turned on, it is said to last for up to 25 hours.
Haylou RS3 is now available in AliExpress where its price is $79.99. The brand is not officially available in Nepal yet its products have popped into the market in past. So we are hopeful about the RS3 too. If it launches here, we expect the price of Haylou RS3 in Nepal to be around NPR 10,000.
Smartwatch
Global Price
Price in Nepal (Expected)
Haylou RS3
$79.99
NPR 10,000
Check out our pick for the best smartwatches in 2021.
Redmi Note 10 Pro is a great overall package in the mid-range market in Nepal. It currently ranks atop our list of best smartphones under Rs. 35,000 and is also among the handful of devices with a 108MP sensor. However, the Redmi Note 10 Pro doesn’t meet our expectations in terms of camera outputs and DxOMark also clarifies that the phone can’t compete against most flagship phones—which is in contrast to what Xiaomi promises.
Redmi Note 10 Pro camera review: DxOMark
With a 120Hz OLED screen, a decent battery life, and a premium build, the Redmi Note 10 Pro outperforms most of the competition in its price range. Xiaomi also refers to the Note 10 Pro’s 108MP Samsung ISOCELL HM2 sensor as an “Ultra Premium” camera while the entire setup is supposedly a “flagship-level imaging system”, which is quite misleading.
The DxOMark review also says the same. According to them, the phone’s cameras are on par with budget segment devices. The handset earned 106 points from DxOMark for its cameras, putting it in the 71st position on the smartphone leaderboard. To compare, this is what Apple’s iPhone XS Max scores as well.
On the other hand, Redmi Note 10 Pro ranks ahead of phones like Oppo Find X2 Neo, Samsung Galaxy Z Flip, and iPhone SE (2020). To note, all of these phones are way more expensive than the Note 10 Pro.
Review
Normal Images
We compared the cameras on Redmi Note 10 Pro to the Samsung Galaxy A52, which has a 64MP primary lens to see if Xiaomi’s claims hold accurate. Surprisingly, the Galaxy A52 takes better photos than the Note 10 Pro.
vs Galaxy A52
1 of 10
Note 10 Pro Max
Galaxy A52
Note 10 Pro Max
Galaxy A52
Note 10 Pro Max
Galaxy A52
Note 10 Pro Max
Galaxy A52
Note 10 Pro Max
Galaxy A52
The pictures from A52 are sharper, have a wider dynamic range, more details, and are much brighter. On the other hand, photos from Redmi Note 10 Pro are oversaturated, resulting in unnatural-looking colors.
Portrait
Portrait shots, on the other hand, aren’t great either. Images from the Note 10 Pro appear a little dark in daylight, but the Galaxy A52 processes images to have better skin tone.
Portrait
1 of 6
Note 10 Pro Max
Galaxy A52
Note 10 Pro Max
Galaxy A52
Note 10 Pro Max
Galaxy A52
Nightime
In low-light conditions, the Redmi Note 10 Pro stands out in terms of colors and its photos are pleasing to the eye. However, under extremely low-light conditions, the A52 continues to snap better-looking images.
Nighttime
1 of 10
Note 10 Pro Max - Nighttime
Galaxy A52 - Nighttime
Note 10 Pro Max - Nighttime
Galaxy A52 - Nighttime
Note 10 Pro Max - Night Mode
Galaxy A52 - Night Mode
Note 10 Pro Max - Night Mode
Galaxy A52 - Night Mode
Note 10 Pro Max - Night Mode
Galaxy A52 - Night Mode
Selfie
The selfie camera on the Note 10 Pro Max has a faint greenish hue, which makes images seem unnatural.
Selfie
1 of 6
Note 10 Pro Max - Selfie
Galaxy A52 - Selfie
Note 10 Pro Max - Selfie
Galaxy A52 - Selfie
Note 10 Pro Max - Portrait Selfie
Galaxy A52 - Portrait Selfie
Conclusion
To summarize, don’t be swayed by Xiaomi’s marketing tactics of selling a 108MP camera in the mid-range product. If you want an all-rounder smartphone and don’t care about the cameras, this is still a good option. However, it does not have an “Ultra Premium” camera, as Xiaomi claims.
For several years, Seagate has been working on dual-actuator hard drives. The Mach.2 Exos 2X14 is the company’s first dual-actuator hard disk drive (HDD). Although SSDs are getting cheaper and gaining more market share, HDDs are still quite popular and used in data centers because they can store large amounts of data at affordable prices. And Seagate plans to push the envelope even further with the world’s fastest hard drive, the Mach.2 Exos 2X14.
Seagate Mach.2 Exos 2X14 Overview:
In this instance, dual-actuator technology provides disk drives with two reads/write head actuators with dedicated channels, contrary to one on a traditional hard drive. As both actuators pass I/Os at the same time, the drive’s output speed is nearly doubled.
Increased speed
According to the company, the max sustained transfer rate of Mach.2 is up to 524MB/s, which is faster than the Exos 15E900 and faster than any other HDD in the world. With this speed, it is approaching the territory of SATA-based SSDs.
In terms of I/O performance, it gained 304 Input/Output operations per second (IOPS) for reading, 384 IOPS for write operations, with just 4.16 ms average latency. Contrary to this, traditional HDDs have around 100/150 IOPS and the same average latency.
Likewise, Seagate Mach.2 Exos 2X14 has 14TB of storage, which is basically two 7TB HDDs fused together in a “hermetically sealed helium-filled 3.5-inch chassis”. It has a spindle speed of 7200 RPM, a 256MB multisegmented cache, and a single-port SAS (Serial Attached SCSI) 12GB/s interface. When connected to a server, Mach.2 is listed as two logical drives that can be managed independently.
Higher power consumption
On the other hand, Exos 2X14 takes relatively more power to operate. In idle mode, it consumes 7.2W which goes up to 13.5W under heavy load. To compare, the standard level of power consumed by 3.5-inch HDDs is 12W. But if businesses want to use Mach.2 in low power, then they can use Seagate’s PowerBalance capability. However, this does come at a sacrifice to read and write speeds.
Seagate Mach.2 Exos 2X14 Availability
While Mach.2 is listed on Seagate’s website already, it is only available to a limited number of buyers. And the odds of finding them on the open market aren’t great either. Rather, we might see dual-actuator Seagate hard drives in other products pretty soon.
Meanwhile, check out our top 6 picks for the best smartwatches.
Redmi Note 8 is among the most successful smartphones in Redmi’s Note lineup, having sold 25 million units globally. The sheer popularity of the device has given the company enough confidence to refresh the model almost 2 years after its initial launch. Here, the Redmi Note 8 2021 is now official, with its detailed specs listed on Xiaomi’s global website. Let’s learn more about the Redmi Note 8 2021 including its features, expected price in Nepal, and more.
Redmi Note 8 2021 Overview:
Design and Display
Design-wise, the Redmi Note 8 2021 looks and feels exactly like its 2019 edition. At a time where mid-range phones have evolved to punch-hole cutouts, its waterdrop notch looks quite outdated. The 6.3-inch FHD panel has a noticeable chin with Redmi branding. Similarly, both the front and the back of the phone are protected by Corning’s Gorilla Glass 5.
At the back, we have an elongated pill-shaped camera bump. The rear panel also houses a physical fingerprint scanner. The phone has a splash-resistant nano-coating as well.
Performance and Memory
Under the hood, Redmi Note 8 2021 is powered by MediaTek Helio G85. It’s the same chipset that was used in last year’s Redmi Note 9. The company claimed back then that this chip performs 21% better than the Snapdragon 665 on the Redmi Note 8 (2019).
You get 4GB of LPDDR4X RAM that can be paired with either 64GB or 128GB of eMMC 5.1 storage. The device is already running on the latest MIUI 12.5 based on Android 11.
On the other hand, the camera setup has remained pretty much the same. The 48MP f/1.79 primary camera features a 1/2” sensor. It takes 12MP photos by default. Here, four 0.8µm pixels combine to form a Super Pixel of 1.6µm. There is an 8MP ultrawide camera and two additional 2MP sensors for macro and portrait shots.
Still, this 2021 edition can only record up to 1080p 30fps videos while the original Redmi Note 8 was capable of 4K recording.
Rest of the specs
The phone gets its juice from a 4,000mAh battery. A 22.5W charger is included in the box when the phone can only charge up to 18W. There is dual-band Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.2 in terms of wireless connectivity. Redmi Note 8 2021 is available in three color options – Neptune Blue, Moonlight White, and Space Blue.
Despite “2021” in the moniker, the phone doesn’t feel like it justifies its name. The design is the same and it borrows the majority of the specs from the 2019 model too. The biggest change here is the Helio G85 that is already a year old by now. Also, the phone misses out on features like a side-mounted fingerprint scanner and a higher refresh rate that are now popular in a 2021 mid-range smartphone.
Security: Fingerprint scanner (rear-mounted), Face unlock
Battery: 4000mAh with 18W fast charging
Redmi Note 8 2021 Price in Nepal & Availability
Since the phone has been listed on Redmi’s global site, the company may be looking for a global launch. As of now, Redmi is yet to comment on the availability and price of the Note 8 2021. We will update you with the official price and availability once the Redmi Note 8 2021 launches in Nepal.
Meanwhile, check out our review of the Mi 11X (POCO F3).
Poco Nepal has finally launched its latest flagship product – Poco F3. The device is based on the Redmi K40 (China) and Mi 11x (India). The Poco F3 brings a flagship-level 120Hz AMOLED screen with 360Hz touch sampling rate, Snapdragon 870 5G chipset, and premium design in a sub-50,000 price tag. Let’s learn more about the Poco F3 along with its full specification and official price tag in Nepal.
Poco F3 Overview:
Design and Display
Poco F3 sports a 6.7-inch E4 AMOLED panel with a 120Hz refresh rate and 360Hz touch sampling rate. The display boasts a peak brightness level of 1300 nits and can play HDR10+ content. There is a tiny punch-hole cutout on the top centre of the device for the selfie camera. The display covers 100% of the DCI-P3 color gamut.
At the back, the phone has a glass design with a gradient finish. You also get the curved-rectangular camera module that is becoming the new norm for premium Xiaomi devices. The phone is available in three colors: Arctic White, Night Black, Deep Ocean Blue.
Powering the Poco F3 is the Snapdragon 870 chipset. This SoC is based on last year’s Snapdragon 865/865+. The only difference here is the overclocked Prime core which now can reach up to 3.2GHz. The phone comes with up to 8GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage. It runs on MIUI 12 for Poco based on Android 11 out-of-the-box.
Camera
The phone features a triple camera setup on the back. The primary camera makes use of the 48MP Sony IMX582 sensor. It is accompanied by an 8MP ultra-wide angle. Finally, there is a 5MP telephoto-macro lens. Poco F3 is capable of recording 4K/30 fps videos via the primary camera. On the front, there is a 20MP selfie camera contained within the punch-hole cutout.
Rest of the specs
Poco F3 features a 4520mAh battery with support for 33W fast charging (QC3+ & PD 3.0). You don’t get a headphone jack but the phone does have dual stereo speakers. You also get Hi-Res audio and Dolby Atmos certifications. There is a side-mounted fingerprint scanner for biometrics.
Others: 5G, USB Type-C, Bluetooth 5.1, GPS (L1 + L5), NavIC, NFC, Hi-Res audio, Dual speakers, Dolby Atmos, IR Blaster
Battery: 4520mAh with 33W wired QC3 +/ PD3.0
Poco F3 Price in Nepal & Availability
The official price of Poco F3 in Nepal is NPR 46,999 for the base 6/128GB variant. The 8/256GB variant costs Rs. 51,999. Poco is offering One-year breakage insurance for the consumers who buy Poco F3 before 30th June 2021.
Poco F3
Price in Nepal
6/128GB
NPR 46,999
8/256GB
NPR 51,999
Meanwhile, check out our review of the Poco F3 (Mi11x):
